|
Sri Lanka claimed sweet revenge by winning the second one-day international at Colombo. In a day-night fixture Sri Lanka batting first posted a modest score of 226 thanks largely to an unbeaten century by Mahela Jayawardena. England in turn was bowled out for160 with offie Mutiah Muralitharan taking 3-11.
Acting England skipper Graham Thorpe said that England need to do something to ensure the future of their team. He said that in spite of the fact that the team had put in so much effort they fell short in the one-day series, which goes to show that something is lacking. Thorpe lamented that England did not play enough one-day cricket, and said a lot of work is needed to be done before the 2003 World cup. He said it was time to replace some of the old players in an effort to infuse new and enthusiastic blood in the team.
Pakistan coach Javed Miandad and senior player Ijaz Ahmed who were reportedly at loggerheads with each other are said to have ironed out their differences at a meeting called by skipper Moin Khan at Wellington. The two were asked to iron out their differences in open. Ijaz had blamed Miandad for favouring his nephew Faisal Iqbal over him and Miandad clarified that he had never tried to prevent Ijaz from being rushed to New Zealand following injuries to other senior players.  India out-batted Australia in the first day-night one-day international of the five match series at Bangalore. After posting an imposing 315 India kept picking Australian wickets at regular intervals to win in the end by a comfortable margin of 60 runs. The star Indian performer being newcomer Virender Shewag who made a quick 58, also claimed three vital wickets. The two teams now clash for the second one-dayer at Pune on March 28.
Buoyant after their win in the second Test of the series South Africa put up a professional display in their three day match against a reasonable strong West Indies' Board XI team. The home team were limited to 186 in their first innings and South Africa at close were 29-0 in the second innings after making 271 in the first. The "will we, won't we" finally ended yesterday with the Indian sports ministry spokesman confirming that India will not be allowed to play in the Sharjah three-nation tournament beginning on April 8. The decision was later conveyed to the officials of the BCCI. Stung by India's refusal to play Pakistan yet again the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Lieutenant General Tauqir Zia said that Pakistan would not play India "any where any more". He also confirmed that Pakistan would be sending their team to Sharjah for the tournament. Gen Zia also confirmed that Pakistan would not participate in the ICC knock-out tournament to be held next year if India would host it.
Meanwhile, according to some source, the Indian Government's refusal to play at Sharjah has nothing to do with Pakistan. The government feels that it is not the right time for the Indian team to participate at Sharjah, specially with the match-betting enquiry still being investigated there. In fact, India and Pakistan had appeared recently in a hockey final at Dhaka.
Bangaldesh's 30th year of independence is to be commemorated by a day-night cricket match between a Bangladesh XI and an international XI at Dhaka later this week. The international XI side is likely to be led by former Sri Lanka left-handed batsman Hashan Tillekeratne and will include Indians Sadagoppan Ramesh, Shiv Sunder Das, Yuvraj Singh, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Reetinder Singh Sodhi along with Pakistan's Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir and Shabbir Ahmed. Kenya's star batsman Steve Tikolo, Bengal's left-handed batsman Rohan Gavaskar, and former Pakistani left-arm spinner Mohammed Hossain may also participate in the match. The Bangladesh XI will be led by Naimur Rahman. The world paid final tributes to the Australian batting legend Sir Don Bradman at a memorial service held at St Peter's cathedral in Adelaide on Sunday. Among those who attended were Australian Prime Minister John Howard, former West Indies skipper, Sir Viv Richards and five of Bradman's team-mates in Australia's 1948. Millions all over the world witnessed the event that was telecast live. Sir Donald's son John said he was surprised that Bradman had touched so many people's lives. A musical tribute to the late Sir Don was rendered by the Australian singer John Williamson. The Indian representative at the service was the former Nawab of Pataudi, Mansur Ali Khan and his actress wife Sharmila. Australian spinner Stuart MacGill said he was mentally prepared to miss the Ashes series too with Australia continually relying on pace. MacGill who was left out of the tour of India with off-spinner Colin Miller being preferred, said he is prepared to wait till his time came.
A protest was staged by the local scribes at Gwalior over the alleged misbehaviour of two of the Madhya Pradesh team members Narendra Hirwani and Jai P Yadav. The start of play of the quarter final match between Madhya Pradesh and Orissa was delayed by 40 minutes and play resumed only after the MP skipper Chandrakant Pandit and the duo apologised to the scribes.
ENGLAND IN SRI LANKA 2nd one day international at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Sri Lanka: 226-6 in 50 overs (M Atapattu 57, M Jayawardene 101 not out; RB Croft 2-40) England: 160 in 45 overs (A Stewart 55; M Muralitharan 3-11) Result: Sri Lanka won by 66 runs Man of the match: M Muralitharan (SL)
INDIA vs AUSTRALIA
RANJI ROUND UP
MADHYA PRADESH v ORISSA
RAILWAYS v KARNATAKA Russell Crowe, who won the 2001 Oscar as the best actor for his role in the Gladiator last night, is the cousin of former New Zealand captains and batsmen Martin and Jeff Crowe.  Yesterday's News
Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
|