March 7, 2001
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The match between the Board President's XI and touring Australian's has no third umpire. It puts umpires Sanjeev Rao and Subrata Banerjee under pressure in close call situations. It seems strange that the hosting association did not deem it fit to appoint a third umpire despite of the match being telecast live. Centuries by skipper Steve Waugh (109) and Ricky Ponting (102) helped Australia pile up an imposing 413 for 8 wickets on the first day of the third tour match against a Board President's XI at New Delhi. Michael Slater believes that his on-field confrontation with umpire Venkatraghavan & Rahul Dravid was unnecessarily blown out of proportion. Slater was heavily critisised by both the Australian and Indian media for his unsavory outburst. Speaking for the first time to the press on the incident Slater however maintained that he felt he had done nothing wrong. He said he had sorted it out with Dravid after the match. Meanwhile the ICC may not take kindly to the above remarks made by Slater in a radio interview as the ICC rules forbids him from speaking on the issue as match referee Cammie Smith as censured him for verbal abuse. Former Indian cricket coach Aunshuman Gaekwad is of the opinion that Sourav Ganguly should open the innings with SS Das while relegating Sadagoppan Ramesh down the order. By opening the batting with his skipper, young Das should gain more confidence and help to ensure a good foundation on which Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar can capitalise. India's off-field woes continue too as Ajit Agarkar is as good as ruled out for the second Test at Kolkata due to a virus infection. Srinath who injured a finger in the Mumbai Test has made himself available although it is not known if he will pass the fitness Test. In such case Zaheer Khan, Venkatesh Prasad or Ashish Nehra may find themselves in the team. However, Mongia, who too was injured in the Mumbai Test seems to have recovered.  Sri Lanka looks to Muthiah Muralitharan to weave his magic and clinch the Test series for them. The second Test begins in Kandy today. Sri Lanka do not have a very impressive record at Kandy where they have won only two out of the 10 Tests played. Local boy Muralitharan was the hero on both these occasions.
After an initial hiccup the touring South Africans reached 124-3 in the second innings in their three-day match against a Busta XI at Georgetown. Brief scores are as follows: South Africa: 1st ings 271-9 (Mark Boucher 56) Busta XI 1st innings 196-9 South Africa 2nd ings 124-3 Former West Indian fast-bowler and now popular television commentator Michael Holding has resigned as a television commentator following the appointment of Carl Hooper as captain of the West Indies. Holding felt that for a person who had shown such scant disrespect for West Indian cricket in the past Hooper does not deserve to be given such a post. He felt that just because Hooper had made runs and taken some wickets, does not in any way prove that he is committed to West Indies cricket and the job. The fast bowler said he is severing all ties with West Indies cricket following the selector's decision to bring back Hooper who has come back to West Indies cricket. Hooper had retired from West Indies cricket just before the last World Cup in April 1999, although he did play club cricket in Australia since then. The team for the first Test: CL Hooper (Capt), RD Jacobs (wkt), CA Walsh, BC Lara, S Chanderpaul, CH Gayle, RR Sarwan, D Ramnarine, RD King, M Dillon, NAM McLean , WW Hinds, MN Samuels. Former West Indian skipper Jimmy Adams who led West Indies through one of its leanest patches in test history does not find a place in the side. It is becoming a fashion with skippers of Test playing countries to precede a tour with a war of words. Statements were fired at each other preceding the Mumbai Test by Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly and Australian skipper Steve Waugh. Jayasuriya in Sri Lanka warned the touring Englishmen that the criticisms against them (regarding umpiring and appealing) will only make them more determined. Now the newest Test captain Carl Hooper does not want to be left behind. He fired the first shot when he said that the South Africans would not be as tough an opposition as Australia. Hooper said he would like to get the young West Indian side to respond to him in the same way that his Guyana side did. Hooper led Guyana to victory in the domestic Busta Cup. South Africa go into the first Test against the West Indies at Georgetown, Guyana attempting to challenge Australia's superiority as the best test team in history. South Africa has managed to win ten out of their last 15 series including Test wins in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In terms of consistency of performance both home and away the quietly efficient South African's seem to be the only team that can challenge the Aussie supremacy. The South Africans managed to score 271-9 at close of play during their first tour match against a Busta XI at Georgetown, Guyana. Wicket-keeper Mark Boucher was the only batsman to reach a fifty. He made a quick-fire 56 which helped the visitors to recover from 135 for four to a decent total at close.
It seems the two giants of Indian cricket Raj Singh Dungarpur and Sunil Gavaskar have decided to let bygones be bygones. The two came face to face at a function at Bombay Gymkhana Club on Monday and buried the hatchet as they shook hands signaling the end of a squalid episode in Indian cricket history. Gavaskar had resigned from the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in December last due to differences with Dungarpur over one of his columns in a newspaper where he had questioned the validity of fielding a NCA XI against the touring Zimbabweans. This resulted in a war of words between the two. In the meanwhile, Gavaskar is scheduled to meet Dungarpur and former India captain Polly Umrigar to decide the future of NCA. Former Indian pace bowler and Mumbai coach Balwinder Singh Sandhu is likely to be the new chief coach of the NCA. With former India coach Aunshuman Gaekwad expressing his unwillingness to be a full time coach of NCA and former Indian all-rounder Roger Binny busy with the junior teams, Sandhu is certain to take over the new position. Sandhu currently is the coach for the Maharashtra Ranji Trophy team. The president of the BCCI AC Muthiah and secretary JY Lele met the sports minister Uma Bharti in New Delhi. It is believed that the meeting was to urge the Indian government to pass the approval of India's participation in the Sharjah tri-nation tournament where Pakistan and Sri Lanka are the other teams. The BCCI had assured the ICC in last month's Melbourne meeting of its participation in the tournament. Former South African opening batsman Adam Bacher has criticised the Wanderers pitch in Johannesburg and said the venue is not fit to host the final of the 2003 World cup. Bacher's comments were sparked of by his team's loss in a Super Sport Shield match. He felt that the fact that neither of the two sides scored more than 200 and 17 wickets falling in a day proves that condition of the pitch is far from satisfactory. He felt the problem of maintenance could be because of overuse of the stadium. Adam Bacher, incidentally is the nephew of Dr Ali Bacher, who now heads the committee in charge of the 2003 World Cup. Former Australian fast bowler and Western Australia's longest serving captain Tom Moody, 35, will retire from first class cricket. Moody is expected to lead his side in the remaining two Sheffield Shield matches. He said he had signed a deal with the English county Worcestershire and would now spend most of his time in England. Moody played in 76 ODIs and 8 Tests for Australia in the 1990s. Former Sri Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga could face arrest for allegedly beating up students from the neighbouring Asoka College for hitting a ball into their family home. Ranatunga's father, Reggie Ranatunga who is the food minister in President Chandrika Kumaratunga's cabinet, denied his sons had beat up anyone. Minister Ranatunga said the students had used foul language towards his wife and then tried to damage a wall of their family home while attempting to retrieve a cricket ball. Meanwhile, the college remained closed as students took to the streets in protest. The education ministry is stepping in an attempt to calm the situation. The education minister has visited the injured students in the hospital. Australia in India Asutralia vs Board Presidents XI at New Delhi (1st day) Australia: 413-8 (M Hayden 31, M Waugh 62, S Waugh 109, R Ponting 102; Sarandeep Singh 4-103). Highlights of the match: Ricky Ponting reached 9,000 runs in his first- class career during his innings of 101. Playing in his 119th match and 199th innings, Ponting has now aggregated 9052 runs (avg. 53.25). Incidentally the hundred was his 30th in first-class cricket. Australian skipper Steve Waugh (109) playing in his 295th first-class match scored the 62nd hundred of his career. This was his third hundred against a local Indian side and his second on this tour. Incidentally Waugh has still not scored a Test hundred in India. Board President's left-arm pace bowler Surinder Singh Bagal became the first Jammu & Kashmir player to appear in a first-class match against a touring side. This was the 35th match played by a Board President's team against a touring side. The team styled as such first appeared in 1950-51 against the second Commonwealth team. Saurav Ganguly emulated Mohammad Azharuddin to become the only second Indian Test captain to lead a Board President's team against a touring side. Azhar did so against New Zealanders in October 1995 at Rajkot. Australia's 413 for eight in 90 overs on the first day is the maximum scored by a visiting team in a day on Indian soil. Mumbai had scored 410 runs (for the loss of six wickets) on the second day at the Brabourne Stadium on February 25, 1998. In fact with the Australians scoring 36 for three at close - a total of 446 runs were scored on the second day by both the teams in 1998. Yesterday's News
Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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