Indians back home

The Indian cricketers got back home on Monday, from yet another tour with not much to show for their efforts. India got off to a promising start beating Zimbabwe convincingly in the first Test at Bulawayo to quench the thirst of a nation yearning for a victory out side of the subcontinent. In the Tests and the one-day series that followed India displayed a typical tendency of cracking under pressure at the crux.
The Indian team manager Chetan Chauhan said that apart from two bad days the rest of the tour was a tremendous success. Chauhan had words of praise for all the youngsters (Ashish Nehra, Reetinder Singh Sodhi and Shiv Sunder Das) who he felt were exciting prospects for the future after proving themselves on the tour. A sullen-looking skipper Sourav Ganguly refused to talk to the media.

The Indian tour of Sri Lanka

India leave on a tour without Sachin Tendulkar. The little master batsmen has not been included in the one-day squad that will play a triangular tounament in Sri Lanka alongwith the hosts and New Zealand. Tendulkar, however, may be included in the side if India makes it to the finals of the tournament. The one-day tournament will be played from 18 July to 5 August.
The team for the one day series is as follows: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid (vice-captain), VVS Laxman, Hemang Badani, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Virendra Sehwag, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Sameer Dighe, Debashish Mohanty, Rahul Sanghvi, Yuvraj Singh, and Amay Khurasiya

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The Dambulla crisis has finally been resolved. A statement issued by the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) said that three of the matches of the tournament featuring India, New Zealand and hosts would be played at Sri Lanka's newest one-day venue.
The future of cricket at Sri Lanka's latest venue was hanging in balance after Buddhist monks in the area raised queries regarding the legality of the land on which the stadium was built. The sacked head of the Sri Lankan Board, Tilanga Sumathipala initiated the construction of the stadium.

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Sanath Jayasuriya, the skipper of the Sri Lankan team said he felt that the greatest threat to the hosts in the forthcoming one-day triangular would be New Zealand. He said that though the Indians were playing good cricket, the Kiwis would be the team to watch in the tournament.

The Ashes Tour

Nasser Hussain's bad luck continued as he was ruled out of the second Test against Australia after breaking his little finger. He has been advised three weeks rest. The selectors are faced with the captaincy dilemma as Alec Stewart, who stood in for Hussain in the Natwest triangular series has expressed his unwillingness to do so again.

West Indies in Zimbabwe

Injury problems seem to haunt the West Indies too, as their fast bowler Mervyn Dillon is likely to return home from Zimbabwe following a knee injury. He is the fourth West Indian to return home from Zimbabwe after Brian Lara, Kerry Jeremy and Cameron Cuffy all returned home midway through the tour due to various ailments.
Replacements are on the way. Meanwhile Courtney Browne will keep wickets for the West Indies in the first Test beginning next week after Ridley Jacobs was suspended for the Test.

Miscellaneous :

The much-awaited three match one-day series (to be played between September 21-23) between India and Australia at the Colonial indoor stadium, Melbourne is likely to be called off. India is committed to participate in the Asian Test Championships and the dates of the one-day series clash with India's tie against Bangladesh. Australia is unlikely to take kindly to India's double booking as they had altered the dates once earlier to suit India's convenience. The Australian series was originally scheduled to be played between 10-16 of September.

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South African cricket administrators are denying the rumours going around, about the rift that seems to be developing between the World Cup Committee (CWC) and The South African Board (UCBSA). Speculations of tension between the two groups arose when Ali Bacher, the CWC director and Rodney Hartman(communications manager of the UCBSA) failed to attend a seminar called by the South Africa Board. Both the officials had apparently gone across to Zimbabwe to watch the tri-series match going on there and to inspect the venues in Zimbabwe that are to host a few matches of the World Cup.

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With nothing to do after being slapped with a ban from participating in any kind of cricket activity, South African skipper Hansie Cronje has decided to go back to university and has enrolled from a Masters degree in Business Leadership from the University of South Africa.

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The chief executive of the UCBSA, Gerald Majola has said that the Board does not plan to interfere in the personal affairs of the banned skipper Hansie Cronje. Cronje had objected that the ban was preventing him from doing charity work with disabled cricketers while the UCBSA insist that Cronje has been barred from all aspects of the game of cricket including writing, commentating and coaching of any sort. However Ali Bacher the chairman of the 2003 World Cup committee sprang a surprise last week hinting that Cronje may have a role to play in the World Cup to be hosted in the country.

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Former South African captain Kepler Wessels is still calling the shots. The former skipper who made his international debut for Australia won a gold medal in archery in the national championships held in Bloemfontein recently. Wessels is a strong contender to represent his country in the next Olympics. Wessels 14-year old son was a gold medallist too in the under-15 category

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Pakistan's coaching woes seem never ending as the current coach of the side Richard Pybus refused an offer made to him by the Pakistan Board to continue as coach of the national team. Pybus cited his inability to relocate to Pakistan a year prior to the World Cup as the reason for refusal. Considering the fact the he has been twice sacked and hired again by the Pakistan Cricket Board, one can understand the hesitancy on the English born, South African resident Pybus in taking up the job on a permanent basis.

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