March 23, 2001
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England get ready to lock horns with Sri Lanka once again but this time in the one-day series that begins today. Leading the side in Nasser Hussain's absence is Graham Thorpe, who said he hopes to round off the tour with a series win. Thorpe, incidentally, who came back to international cricket from a self-imposed exile has risen like the phoenix to come up with some superlative performances in tight situations during the Test series in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The first match of the three match series will be played at the new Rangiri Dambulu Stadium, which becomes the fifth international venue in Sri Lanka. Dambulu is the home of ancient rulers and a seat of Buddhist learning and is located in central Sri Lanka, to the north east of Kandy. 
Harbhajan Singh, who dominated the Aussies with 32 wickets in this series, came to India's rescue with the bat when he scored the winning runs as India won by two wickets at the Chepauk, Chennai. After bowling Australia out without much fuss, in a little more than an hour, India set about chasing what appeared to be modest target of 155. After much huffing and puffing and a heart stopping last few overs India reached the target and ensured that the "last frontier" remained unconquered. A group of Australian fans who have been travelling with the team to all the venues have lodged a protest against three Indian cricketers in particular. In a written letter to the Australian Cricket Board the leader of the group said that Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh and Venkatesh Prasad made obscene gestures as the Indians made their lap of honour at Kolkata. The fans have demanded an apology from the team members. The Indian team manager Chetan Chauhan said that, if obscene gestures have been made by the players concerned, then he would ask the players to tender an apology. Meanwhile some Australian journalists have also joined the Australian fans in agreeing that if Australian players had made an obscene gesture to Indian fans in Australia there would have been a huge outcry of racism. With the "World Champions" Australians losing the Test series, this is surely a case of sour grapes? The Indian cricket team has been given a Rs. 15 lakh (approx US$ 32, 000) bonus by the BCCI following the series win against Australia. The BCCI president AC Muthiah said he was happy with the positive approach adopted by India. The Tamil Nadu government too announced a cash award of 5 lakhs (approx US$ 11, 000) to the Indian team. Meanwhile. the former chief minister of Delhi, Sahib Singh Verma announced a cash award of 1 lakh (approx US$ 2, 200) to Harbhajan Singh for his outstanding performances during the series. India are now the only team to beat Australia in Tests and one-dayers in the last 12 months. It may be recalled, in a match that was given much publicity and hype at Nairobi during the ICC-knock out trophy 2000, India came out victors with a comprehensive win by 20 runs. India were eventually runners up to New Zealand in the tournament after beating Australia and South Africa en-route the final. Venkatesh Prasad, the lanky Karnataka quickie said that he was shocked to learn that he has been dropped from the one-day squad. A fuming Prasad said he was not sure if the selectors had considered his performance at Kolkata or had something else in mind. Bowling of the flat Kolkata wicket after a making a come-back after a gap of 13 months would have tested any one. Prasad felt he was more effective in the death overs of a one-day match and said even coach John Wright was aware of this. Prasad said he would come back and that he was eyeing the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. Could someone explain to Prasad that he needs to field and bat too in a one-day game! The British Association of Cricket Umpires and Scorers, along with the MCC and the England Cricket Board (ECB) took the first step towards rectifying the concerns raised in recent times against the declining standards of umpiring. The trio associations have got together to produce a training video 'The Laws of Cricket - 2000 Code', that will help umpires in understanding and applying the rules. The video has been shot in Barbados. Many former cricketers feature in it. Veteran Indian umpire VK Ramaswamy, who is in Islamabad, to conduct an advanced course for the umpires in a seminar organised by the Asian Cricket Council, said the recent controversy surrounding umpires from the sub continent is a creation of the media. He said Asian umpires work under the most demanding of conditions and acknowledged that no umpire willingly makes mistakes. He lamented the lack of backing by the Boards in international forum for the umpires. Meanwhile, the arrival of Ramaswamy and fellow umpire K Hariharan, in Islamabad was delayed by two days due to some visa problems. Hariharan, who is one of the participants in this seminar, may soon officiate as a Test umpire, following the retirement of SK Bansal. The chief of the ICC Malcolm Gray, after meeting the sports minister Ms Uma Bharati also met finance minister Yashwant Sinha and home minister LK Advani in an attempt to clear the impasse regarding India's reluctance to play Pakistan solely because of political reasons. Gray said he fixed a deadline of April 30 for the Indian government to explain its final stand. Gray said he understood this was not a matter where the ICC could do anything as the Indian government had political reasons for their current stand and there was no question of the ICC refusing to stage any of its tournaments in India. Talented Kiwi left-arm pace bowler Geoff Allott has retired from international cricket following the six stress fractures he suffered in the recent past. Allott will be most remembered for his exploits in the 1999 World Cup in England when he along with Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne was the highest wicket taker in the tournament with 20 wickets. Allott in 31 one-day matches from 1997 to 2000 had taken 52 wickets (avg. 23.21), However in Test cricket he was less successful with just 19 wickets (avg. 58.47) in 10 matches from 1996 to 1999. West Indian fast bowler Marlon Black who was assaulted by three men in Australia outside a night club in Melbourne said he is prepared to return to Melbourne to give evidence if the three men charged with assault have to stand trial. A Melbourne court however had the bail of the three men extended yesterday. Late Sir Don Bradman's granddaughter 21 year-old Greta, will be performing at the Bradman memorial at Adelaide on Sunday. She is a part of the Adelaide Chamber Singers. Bradman's grandson, Tom, 19, along with son, John, 61, will be the speakers during the ceremony, which is to be televised live on Sunday.
Australia in India 3rd Test at Chennai (5th & final day) Australia: 391 (M Hayden 203, J Langer 35, M Waugh 70, S Waugh 47; Harbhajan Singh 7-133) 264 (M Hayden 35, M Slater 48, M Waugh 57, S Waugh 47; Harbhajan Singh 8-84) India: 501 (SS Das 84, S Ramesh 61, VVS Laxman 65, SR Tendulkar 125, RS Dravid 81; G McGrath 3-75, C Miller 3-160) 155-8 (VVS Laxman 66; C Miller 3-41) Result:India won by 2 wickets to take the three match series 2-1 RANJI TROPHY ROUND UP Mumbai vs Punjab 1st quarter-final at Mumbai (3rd day) Punjab:383 (Ankur Kakkar 46, Pankaj Dharmani 68, Yuvraj Singh 135, Reetinder Sodhi 46; Paras Mhambrey 5-77, RV Pwar 3-115) 124-0 (RS Ricky 47, Manish Sharma 68) Mumbai: 285 (V Mane 97, Jatin Paranjpe 68, AA Muzumdar 48; Gagandeep Singh 3-51, RS Sodhi 3-63). Baroda vs Tamil Nadu 2nd quarter-final at Baroda (1st day) Baroda: 285-8 (SS Parab 110, J martin 34, Ajit Bhoite 50 not out; MR Srinivas 4-58) Madhya Pradesh vs. Orissa 3rd quarter-final at Gwalior (1st day) MP:320-6 (HS Sodhi 57, DS Bundela 78; Jai P Yadav 64; P Mullick 2-36) Railways vs Karnataka 4th quarter-final at Delhi (1st day) Railways: 237-6 (Sanjay Bangar 46, TP Singh 80; SK Vadiaraj 2-42). Yesterday's News
Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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