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Dalmiya for world championship of Tests

The International Cricket Council is seriously considering starting a Champions Trophy for Test cricket, on the lines of the one-day World Cup, ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya indicated.

The proposal is due to come up for discussion in June.

As provisionally envisaged, the tournament will take about three months to complete, would come for discussion in june. The tournament would require two to three months and there should be no other international cricket engagement during that period.

Comparing tests to classical music and one-day internationals to pop music, Dalmiya said he personally preferred the longer version, which he said was the real thing. "We can bring back crowds to Test cricket", he added while discussing the pending proposal.

Dalmiya said his priority remained the globalisation of the game, and said he was glad that a recent tournament held in Kuala Lumpur had a team from Japan.

The Test championship is the other big priority, he added.

Meanwhile in Bombay, news is that Bomi Jamula of Mumbai, who was put into cold storage for more than two years after an adverse report from present Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin, returns to the international arena from next week.

The BCCI announced the list of umpires and observers for the forthcoming triangular one-day contest between hosts India, Australia and Zimbabwe starting from April one at Cochin.

The list includes Jamula's name, for the match at Ahmedabad. Jamula was considered by the MCA as a bright Test prospect a few years ago, but to his misfortune he got zero marks from Azharuddin in a domestic match in which Azhar's side, Hyderabad, lost.

The full fixtures are as follows:
April One: India versus Australia, Cochin.
April 3: Australia versus Zimbabwe at Ahmedabad
April 5: India versus Zimbabwe at Baroda.
April 7: India versus Australia at Kanpur
April 9: India versus Zimbabwe, Cuttack
April 11: Zimbabwe versus Australia, Faridabad
April 14: Final at Delhi