March 21, 2001
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The Chennai Test stands tantalisingly poised with two days and two innings to go. India managed to bat through out and ended the day with 480-9. The highlight of the day was the sedate 125 by Sachin Tendulkar - his 25th Test hundred. India is now 89 runs head with just a wicket in hand. Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds has been cleared by the Australian Cricket Board for the one-day series beginning in India from March 25. Symonds had injured his shoulder a few days ago, while packing his bags for the trip to India. While the rest of the replacements for the one-dayers arrived in Mumbai a couple of days ago, Symonds is scheduled to leave for India today. Meanwhile, taking into consideration the prolific form of left-handed opener Mathew Hayden it is likely that he will not be sent back after the Test series. Hayden seems to be one of the few batsmen who has adapted to Indian conditions and spin bowling and has scored consistently in all the Tests. Hayden was to return home after the Test series but Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said he was left with no option but to look at retaining Hayden considering his form. Hohns said he would talk to the skipper Steve Waugh before the final decision is made.  After an emotionally exhausting Test series and a well earned rest the English players gear up for a warm up one- day game against the Board President's XI at Colombo. England's main players Marcus Trescothick, Darren Gough, Alec Stewart and Craig White are to be rested with Mark Alleyene keeping wickets. All-rounder Andrew Flintoff will bat in the middle order, while bowling will be spearheaded by Andrew Caddick and Alan Mullally. Meanwhile left-handed opener Nick Knight has flown in from England just for the one-dayers. England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff has passed the fitness test and will play the one-day series against Sri Lanka. Flintoff whose international career has been plagued with injuries has been much criticised at home for his weight and fitness problems. H also incurred the wrath of the England team management by not informing them of an injury to his ankle that he sustained while playing football in a training session for his county Lancashire. Being a contracted player Flintoff was bound to keep the team management informed of any injury which he didn't until he arrived in Sri Lanka.
The skippers of the two sides are hopeful that the pitch at the venue of the third Test at Hamilton will be more helpful. Fleming said he was keen to have a wicket that would provide more life as the Kiwis were looking to square the series after a humiliating loss in the first Test at Auckland and a dull draw in the second at Christchurch. Moin Khan, said the Hamilton track has a history of being conducive to seam bowling and that should be helpful for his team.
South Africa have left the West Indies with 232 runs to win on the final day. South Africa were bowled out following another magical spell by the untiring Courtney Walsh who took 6-61 as South Africa were dismissed for 287 in the second innings. At close on the fourth day West Indies were 32-1, with both teams having an excellent chance to go one up in the series. The normally safe and agile wicket-keeper of South Africa Mark Boucher has said his poor form behind the stumps during this West Indies tour has a lot to do with the wickets he has had to keep on. Boucher had suffered an injury on his hand some time ago and said his poor keeping form had nothing to do with the injury, but more so due to the problems with the unpredictable bounce in the Caribbean wickets.
The secretary of the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) V Madkholkar, who was in Mumbai for the first Test against Australia as a BCCI observer was asked to return after being found on the Mumbai Cricket Association premises in a drunken state by the staging Association. Meanwhile, the VCA has dismissed Madkholkar from the post of secretary following his misconduct although the VCA confirms that he has been relieved due to health reasons. The International Cricket Council (ICC) will have a new Chief Executive Officer. Malcolm Speed, currently the CEO of the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) will now take on this additional responsibility from the out going David Richards who has been holding the post since 1993. Speed begins a three-year term starting July 2001. The President of the ICC Malcolm Gray said that Speed has amply displayed his capabilities with his handling of the ACB, and expressed his happiness that Speed accepted the post. The 54 year old Speed happens to also be a qualified lawyer and owns his own sports management company. Besides being the CEO of the ACB he is also the Chairman of the National Basketball league of Australia. The ICC president Malcolm Gray is in Chennai witnessing the third Test match between India and Australia. At a press conference he said he would like to do away with the image of the ICC being a toothless tiger and functioning at a platform away from the problems affecting the reality of the game. Gray discussed various issues at length including umpiring, player misbehaviour, match-fixing and on the India-Pak stalemate. Gray stressed that he was very much aware of all these factors affecting cricket and would work on them. Gray also said the ICC will be looking into the matter of operating two neutral umpires to curb player misbehaviour and sledging. It appears that the President Malcolm Gray of the ICC is in India with the sole intention of persuading the Indian government to allow the Indian team play Pakistan. Gray is scheduled to meet the Indian sports minister Ms. Uma Bharati and the external affairs minister Jaswant Singh during his stay in India. Gray is also keen that India host the next ICC Knockout tournament and will be working towards achieving this goal. Contradicting all speculations regarding his retirement is Australian quickie Paul Reiffel. Reiffel is to skipper his state side Victoria in the final of the Australian domestic tournament, the Pura Cup. The 35-year-old Reiffel wants to play at least one more season of first-class cricket. Former Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee will be working closely with Pakistani Shoaib Akhtar in an attempt to clear his action from allegations of chucking. Akhtar has since left for a Western Australia university that will be assessing the natural bend of his arm. Lillee said he was keen that the entire process be completed as soon as possible so that the Pakistani fast bowler could get back to playing cricket. Anil Kumble's golden moment at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground against Pakistan in February 1999, has been encapsulated in the form of a "perfect ten" memorabilia that was launched yesterday in Chennai. It consists of a framed picture of the magic moment and smaller photographs of his famous all ten dismissals with the scorecard of the match in between. All the pictures have been autographed by Kumble himself. Proceeds from the sale of the item will go to the Gujarat earthquake fund. AC Muthiah, president of the BCCI received the first copy.
Australia in India 3rd Test at Chennai (3rd day) Australia: 391 (M Hayden 203, J Langer 35, M Waugh 70, S Waugh 47; Harbhajan Singh 7-133) India: 480-9 (SS Das 84, S Ramesh 61, VVS Laxman 65, SR Tendulkar 125, RS Dravid 81; G McGrath 3-69) South Africs in West Indies 2nd Test at Port of Spain (4th day) South Africa: 286 (HH Gibbs 34, JH Kallis 53, D Cullinan 103; N MacLean 3-60). 287 (HH Gibbs 87, D Cullinan 73, M Boucher 38; C Walsh 6-61, M Dillon 3-58) West Indies: 342 (WW Hinds 56, M Samuels 35, R Sarwan 34, C Hooper 53 RD Jacobs 93 not out; A Donald 4-91, Pollock 3-55). 32-1 West Indies are chasing 232 to win Mumbai vs Punjab 1st quarter-final at Mumbai (1st day) Punjab: 299-4 (Ankur Kakkar 46, Pankaj Dharmani 68, Yuvraj Singh 86 not out, Reetinder Sodhi 35 not out; Paras Mhambrey 2-61) Yesterday's News
Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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