India withdraw from Asian Test Championships

Ending all speculation the Indian giovernment announced that it will not allow the cricket team to participate in the Asian Test Championship (ATC) that involves playing a match against Pakistan in Pakistan.
The first match of the series is to be played between Bangladesh and Pakistan and Multan on August 29. India were to travel to Pakistan in mid September for the match which was to be played at Lahore. Indian sports minister Uma Bharati said no amount of threats or coercion by the officials of the Asian Cricket Council would work on the government's policies.

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Five television companies - ESPN, Sony, Zee, TWI and WSG are in the fray to earn television rights for the Asian Test Championship. The ACC previously had a deal with TWI that expired in June. The deal will include telecast rights of all ACC events including the Asia Cup, ACC Trophy, under-19 and under-17 for a period of five years from 2002 to 2007.

India in Sri Lanka

India are banking on Sri Lanka's poor record at Kandy to restore some of their shattered pride after the hosts pulled of an emphatic 10 wicket win over India in the opening Test at Galle.
Sri Lanka have not won any of the last three Test matches played at this venue against Pakistan (drawn), South Africa and England - lost last two. Rain had however curtailed the practice sessions of both the teams.
It also remains to be seen if the Sri Lankan's opt to play the young all rounder Suresh Perera after he has been reported to the ICC for throwing. All in all a do or die situation for India as skipper Sourav Ganguly tries to prevent the hosts from pulling off their firsts series win since 1985-86.

Australia in England

Stand in Australian captain Adam Gilchrist said he had no regrets about the bold declaration made that enabled England to script a memorable Ashes win at Headingley on Thursday.
Gilchrist said the amount of time lost due to rain did not allow him for many options although on second thoughts he felt a few more runs would have been welcome. He said the challenge now was in coming back after defeat something they did not do against India.

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Mark Butcher's unbeaten 173 at Headingley two days ago that helped England script a remarkable win in the Ashes and prevent a 5-0 whitewash has been rated by Wisden as the 48th best innings of all time.
The Wisden top 100 is a complex rating system, which takes into account a variety of factors in judging the all time best batting and bowling Test match performances.
The system rates Sir Don Bradman's 270 for Australia against England in Melbourne in the 1936/37 season as number one with 262.35 points out of a possible 300. Butcher's innings is considered the eighth best by an England player, with Graham Gooch's 154 not out against West Indies at Headingley, Leeds in 1991 as the best by an English player.

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Steve Waugh said there was a fifty percent chance that he would play the fifth and final Ashes Test beginning at the Oval. Waugh had suffered a calf muscle injury while playing the third Test at Trent Bridge and could not take part in the recently concluded Leeds Test match.

Miscellaneous

India have been grouped along with South Africa, Bangladesh and an qualifying team from America for the under-19 World Cup to be played in New Zealand in January 2002.
Sixteen teams including three qualifiers will split into groups of 4 each for the preliminary matches. The seeding of the teams is as follows: India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Australia, England, West Indies, New Zealand, South Africa, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Namibia, Scotland.
The qualifiers will be decided from amongst teams from the Americas, Asia and the East Asia/Pacific. Incidentally the last Under 19 World Cup in January 2000 was won by India when it defeated the host nation Sri Lanka by six wickets in the final at Colombo.

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India have been allotted Durban as the training camp base during the 2003 World Cup to be played in South Africa. Defending champions Australia have been allotted a remote mining town they requested for, while the host team will be based at Cape Town.
Australian cricket authorities requested Potchefstroom, an unexciting backwater 100 kilometres southwest of Johannesburg, as their base because of the positive feedback given by the Australian under-19 squad, who had trained there during the 1998 Junior World Cup. Bangladesh have been allotted Pietermaritzburg Sri Lanka, Central Kimberley. Pakistan & Canada Johannesburg, and Namibia train at Benoni.
Meanwhile, all 14 teams in the competition are expected in the country at least a week prior to the tournament where they play at least two side games against provincial sides.

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Pakistan cricket coach Richard Pybus said that he hoped Pakistan would match the consistency of the Australians and their will to succeed. He felt it was all about continuity and that was why the Australians were playing fantastic cricket. Pybus had requested the Pakistan Cricket Board for short-term contracts due to personal problems. He also added that Pakistan recent dismal record at home would not deter him from trying to bring out the best from the players.

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The International Cricket Council has confirmed that new Zealander John Reid will indeed officiate in the Asian Cricket Championships (ATC). The PCB had yesterday objected to the appointment Reid as match referee as they felt he was not objective regarding some of the incidents the Pakistan team were involved in a previous series.

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