England's tour of India

Two new faces have been included in the England side that has been named to make the tours of India and New Zealand from December to February - twenty-one year old off-spinner from Yorkshire Richard Dawson & keeper-batsman James Foster of Essex.
The selectors, however, are still unhappy over the decisions of Alec Stewart and Darren Gough over not touring India and have also raised doubts over the future of Stewart's career. Lancashire wicket-keeper Warren Hegg has also been recalled.
The England team for India & New Zealand:
Nasser Hussain (captain), Usman Afzaal, Mark Butcher, Andrew Caddick, Robert Croft, Richard Dawson, James Foster, Ashley Giles, Warren Hegg, Matthew Hoggard, James Ormond, Mark Ramprakash, Graham Thorpe, Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Craig White.

________________

Darren Gough who decided not to tour India claiming that he needed to rest for a while said he would be back next summer when Sri Lanka and India would be touring England.
Gough has been excluded from the side to tour New Zealand by the selectors for not making himself available to tour India. Gough added that he has been the leading wicket-taker for England in the past four Test series and was confident of doing better after a rest.
Gough may be recalled to the side for the one-day series against India that is to be played in January.

________________

Meanwhile, England skipper Nasser Hussain said he understood the reasons behind Gough and Alec Stewart choosing not to tour India but insisted that players had no right to pick and choose which tours they want to go on.
Hussain said that the ECB has been considerate to players needs by drawing up contracts but then they had to draw a line somewhere.
He further added that he was not keen on players choosing to play in one part of the tour and not the other.

________________

Former England skipper and opening batsman Michael Atherton announced his retirement from international and first class cricket.
After being left out of the squad named to tour India and New Zealand Atherton said he was looking to fulfill his commitments with Lancashire for the season and then retire.
He said he had enjoyed the 15 years he spent playing cricket and thanked all those he had been associated with during this period.

England's tour of Zimbabwe

James Foster along with two other newcomers, James Kirtley of Sussex and Jeremy Snape of Gloucestershire have been included in the one-day squad to tour Zimbabwe.

________________

England are most likely to go through with their tour of Zimbabwe despite the political instability in the country. Tim Lamb, chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board said there was no question of the tour being called off.

Asian Test Championships

The first match of the Second Asian Test Championship gets underway at the brand new stadium in Multan today. Hosts Pakistan take on Test cricket's minnows Bangladesh. Much of the glamour of the tournament has been lost with India pulling out.
Incidentally only one Test match has been played at this venue - way back in 1980-81 between Pakistan and West Indies.
The teams: Pakistan (from): Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Saeed Anwar, Imran Nazir, Taufiq Umer, Younis Khan, Faisal Iqbal, Yousuf Youhana, Inzamam-ul Haq, Abdur Razzaq, Rashid Latif, Irfan Fazil, Danish Kaneria, Shoaib Malik, Naved Latif.
Bangladesh: Naimur Rahman (captain), Akram Khan, Aminul Islam, Enamul Haque, Habibul Bashar, Hasibul Hossain, Javed Omar, Khaled Masud, Monjural Islam, Mehrab Hossain, Ranjan Das and Al Shariar.
Umpires: Darrell Hair (Australia), Peter Manuel (Sri Lanka). Match referee: John Reid.

Miscellaneous

The BCCI it seems has sough legal opinion on whether the controversial politician and now the president of Cricket Association of Bihar Laloo Prasad Yadav, should be allowed to participate in the Board's Annual General Meeting to be held next month.
The Board's decision follows a letter from Sanjay Singh who claims he is the genuine representative of the Bihar Cricket Association and not Yadav.

________________

Sachin Tendulkar who has flown to South Africa for treatment under famed orthopaedician Mark Fergusson is to undergo some more tests. Tendulkar's toe is still causing pain while he runs. Fergusson said once the test results were obtained the treatment would be prescribed that would enable him to play freely.
He added that he was looking at a special kind of footwear Tendulkar would be required to use while playing. He is confident about being fit for the tour of South Africa. Tendulkar has been referred to Fergusson by his teammates Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath who had earlier consulted the South African specialist for their shoulder injuries and expressed satisfaction with the treatment.

________________

Zimbabwe are to play two Tests and three one-day internationals when they tour Bangladesh in November. The first will be played in Dhaka from 8-12 November and the second from 15-19 November. The one-dayers would be played on November 23, 25 and 27 at Chittagong and Dhaka.

________________

New Zealand's Test opener Mark Richardson's 112 enabled New Zealand A reach 231-3 after 87 overs on the first day of the final of the All-India Buchi-Babu tournament played at Chepauk, Chennai against the Cricket Association of Bengal.

________________

The second string Bangladeshi team called the Bangladesh 'A' will tour Western India from October 13 to November 10. They play their opening three-day match against the Cricket Club of India (CCI) President's Eleven at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai from October 16 to 18.
The visitors also play a limited-overs match against the same opponents on October 19. They then take on the Mumbai Colts at the Wankhede Stadium from October 22 to 24. This will be followed by a one-dayer against Mumbai Cricket Association Eleven on October 25.
The tourists then play a three-day and a one-day match against Maharashtra Cricket Association Eleven at Pune. The three-day affair starts October 29 and the limited-overs match is on November 1.
On the final leg of their Indian tour, the Bangladesh 'A' team are expected to travel to Baroda to play a three-day (November 4-6) and one-day match (November 7) against the local selection before returning home on November 10.

Yesterday's News .........................  News Roll archive