March 3, 2001
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The Indian team's dismal performance in the first Test at Mumbai seems to have affected ticket sales at Kolkata. The city is to host the second Test match from March 11. A CAB official lamented that the response to the sale of tickets was very poor but felt that the demand for tickets will go up once the two sides reach Kolkata. Looking to get some badly needed batting practice against the Aussies, Sourav Ganguly expressed his desire to the Indian selectors to play the three-day warm up match between the Board President's XI and Australians at Delhi on March 6 to 8. The second Test match begins at Kolkata, his home ground on March 11. Ganguly will be the captain of the side and Vijay Dahiya will be his deputy. Nadeem Memon, the curator at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, had his own to say about accusations by the Indian camp that the pitch was not what they would have liked. Memon clarified that the match saw good performances from both batsmen and bowlers, which means there was something in it for everyone. He said it was the bad shots by the Indian batsmen that lost them the match and not the pitch. Steve Waugh is said to have commented that the pitch was not of Test standards and the Indian camp feel he is not complaining because he eventually won the match. The Tamil Nadu government has declared holiday for government offices in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur districts on March 19. The third and final Test match in Chennai begins on March 18. The holiday would not apply to banks. The government has ordered March 31 (for government offices) and May 12 (for state electricity boards) as working days to compensate for the holiday.  Jason Brown will make his first appearance for England in the one-day match against a Colts XI at Kurunegala. Brown will replace Ashley Giles. Michael Vaughan, Matthew Hoggard and Paul Nixon also come into the side, with Mike Atherton, Andy Caddick and Alec Stewart being rested. England: N Hussain (capt), P Nixon (wkt), M Trescothick, GA Hick, G Thorpe, M Vaughan, C White R Croft, D Gough, M Hoggard, J Brown Colts XI: R Kaluwitharana (capt/wkt), A Gunawardana, L de Silva, I de Saram, U Fernando, J Kulatunga, T Samaraweera, M Warnapura, E Upashantha, I Gallage, R Herath The England captain Nasser Hussain is considering batting lower down in the order in an attempt to try and revive his poor form. He felt there was too much pressure on him to make runs in the top order. Meanwhile Sri Lankan coach Dave Whatmore said he was not happy with the Englishmen complaining about the standard of umpiring. He said both the teams had their share of bad luck from he umpires. He said he felt outraged by some reports in the English media suggesting that some of the Sri Lankan players cheated. He said such derogatory remarks will only make the team more determined to win the next Test and with it the series.
The Pakistan Cricket Board's Director of Cricket Operations Brigadier Munawar Rana, denied the reports going around that the coach Javed Miandad was to resign his post after the humiliating defeat in the one-day series in New Zealand. It was reported that Miandad threatened to resign if Ijaz Ahmed was brought back into the side. Ijaz was mysteriously pulled out of a club game he was playing saying he had to go to New Zealand but only to be left behind at the last moment. Meanwhile the Pakistan team for the Test matches in New Zealand have been announced. Moin Khan (Capt/wk), Saeed Anwar, Saleem Elahi, Yousuf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Imran Farhat, Mushtaq Ahmed, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Abdur Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Saqlain Mushtaq, Arshad Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Humayun Farhat, Mohammad Sami. The Pakistan Cricket Board announced that Shoaib Akhtar's case would be referred to a panel that will include former cricketers Abdul Qadir, Ijaz Faqih and Mohsin Kamal. Once this local panel, clears his action he would be then referred to international bowlers like Imran Khan, Michael Holding and Jeff Thomson. If the panel, identify the necessary areas of change to be made to the bowler's action, he would be trained accordingly. Shoaib has been called for a suspect action (throwing) for the second time in 16 months during the recent tour of New Zealand. Meanwhile former Pakistani fast bowler Imran Khan has blamed the ICC for its inept handling of suspected bowling actions and ball tampering issues. He felt if the umpires on the field felt a bowler was throwing he should not be allowed to continue to bowl. He felt such issues should be resolved on the field immediately and not off it, after the match is over. The West Indies Cricket Board has finally approved the recommendation of the selectors to appoint Carl Hooper as the new captain of the West Indies cricket team. The Board however thanked the outgoing captain, Jimmy Adams, for his contribution in leading the West Indies team during a very testing period and has wished him the very best for the future. Hooper, who had retired from international cricket in April 1999, will become the 26th player to lead West Indies in Tests. Test record holder for maximum wickets Courtney Walsh goes into the first Test against South Africa with the hope of becoming the first bowler in Test history to take 500 wickets. Walsh, 38, is just six short of the historic landmark. However an injury he suffered during a local match may prevent him from being fit for the first Test beginning on March 7 at Georgetown, Guyana. All the seven Ranji Trophy quarter-final ties to be held in various centers through out the country from March 8-11 have been put off in view of the fact that several players are members of the Board President's XI team to play Australia at Delhi. The matches will now be held from March 10-13. A cricket bat autographed bat signed by the Indian, Pakistani and the Australian teams fetched the highest bid of Rs. 12, 50, 000 (US$ 27, 000) at an action in Mumbai. The auction of late Sir Donald Bradman's memorabilia and other cricket items was also held. A framed picture of the 20th-century Test captains went for Rs. 2, 35, 000 (US$ 5000). Some of the proceeds from this auction will go the Gujarat earthquake victims. 'Whatever happened to that hit-and-run driver?' 'He's top of the batting averages in the prison team.' Yesterday's News
Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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