India in South Africa

India appears all set to face a quietly efficient home side in the first match of the tri-series that will begin in Johannesburg on Firday.
India may be having a slight problem with regard to the fitness of their skipper Sourav Ganguly who insisted that he was sure he would be playing the game.
If his swollen index finger does not improve Baroda's Jacob Martin will be making his debut. Ganguly was hit on his finger by a rising delivery during the practice match against South Africa A.
Since the wicket may not be conducive to including two spinners Harbhajan Singh may be sitting out with Kumble making a comeback to the side for the first time since his surgery.

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South Africa's 'A' team fast bowler Charl Langeveldt got the shock of his life when a power packed drive from Yuvraj Singh smacked right into his temple even as he had just delivered the ball and was and getting into his follow through.
The incident occurred during India's run chase in the practice game at Benoni. Langeveldt collapsed to the ground writhing in pain and had to be helped off the ground. The umpire too rattled by the ferocity of the drive mistakenly declared it a dead ball. The ball despite hitting the bowler raced to the long on boundary, such was the ferocity of the drive.

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Nicknamed the Bombay Duck after a string of zeroes, Ajit Agarkar now seems to have regained his form as an all-rounder with impressive performances in Kenya and now in South Africa.
Agarkar has performed consistently with both the bat and as well as the ball in Mumbai's tour of Kenya later last month and played an important role in India's win over South Africa 'A' in the warm-up match two days ago.
Not wanted in the team by the selectors, Agarkar was included in the side only because of the backing by the skipper and the coach. Friday's game will be a chance for the quickie to prove his critics wrong.

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The Indian team for the three-match Test series to be played in South Africa beginning on November 3rd will be announced by the third week of October. India is to play three Test matches after the one-day series at Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth, and Centurion Park.

England in Zimbabwe

England's joy at posting their first win in one day internationals after 11 consecutive losses was short lived when Pakistan's match referee Col Naushad Ali expressed his concern over the action of England's pace bowler James Kirtley.
The match referee has called for video footage of the bowler in action before deciding if he needs to officially report him to the ICC. Kirtley was reportedly pulled up for his action in an England A match against New Zealand two years ago, and was eventually cleared by the English Cricket Board.
Kirtley is said to be suffering from "hyperextention" the same condition that has dogged Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar. England play their second one day international against Zimbabwe on Saturday.

Miscellaneous (International)

Pakistan fast bowler Muhammad Akram said he had no intentions of giving up his cricket career. The Pakistan Cricket Board banned Akram for a year for leaving the team training camp last August without permission.
Akram however said he had not received any intimation from the Pakistan Board informing of him the ban. Reports had been circulating in the media that Akram had left Pakistan cricket to take up a job with the London Metropolitan Police

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The International Cricket Council will present its vision for the future at a special event to be held at the Lord's Cricket Ground in London on October 8.
The President of the ICC, Malcolm Gray and Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed, will brief the cricketing world on the plans for the future.
The event will be hosted by noted Indian media person Harsha Bhogle and the audience will include representatives from the international cricket community, media and sponsors.

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New Zealand have named a 15 man team for the upcoming three Test series against Australia. All-rounder Chris Cairns makes a comeback to the side after being out of action for nearly a year following a knee injury and subsequent surgery.
The full team is as follows:
Stephen Fleming (Capt), Nathan Astle, Matthew Bell, Chris Cairns, Chris Martin, Craig McMillan, Dion Nash, Shayne O'Connor, Adam Parore, Mark Richardson, Mathew Sinclair, Glen Sulzberger, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori, Lou Vincent.

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The Sri Lankan High Commission in Pakistan has sent a report to its foreign office on the prospects of Sri Lanka touring Pakistan for a short three -match series primarily from the security point of view. The Sri Lankan Board had in principle agreed to make the tour subject to the clearance by its high commission in Pakistan.

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The Pakistan Cricket Board in the meanwhile anticipating a short tour by Sri Lanka has called for a team training camp from October 10.
The matches if held, are scheduled between October 10-15 at Karachi and Lahore. The PCB has also requested its coach South African Richard Pybus to report in the country by next week and take charge of the camp.
Pakistan are to play a triangular in Sharjah along with Sri Lanka and New Zealand towards the end of this month.

Miscellaneous (National news)

The new president of the BBCI said that in future he would ensure that proposals for tours especially to Pakistan would be sent to the government well in advance so as to avoid the last minute embarrassment of withdrawal causing financial losses to the hosts.
He confirmed that it was the government's prerogative to approve or disapprove of a tour and said the BCCI would abide by it.

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VVS Laxman will lead the Rest Of India team in the Indian domestic seasons traditional opener, the Irani Trophy.
The Irani Trophy is played between the last winners of the Ranji Trophy (in this case Baroda) and a Rest Of India team. Laxman had missed the Test series in Sri Lanka following injury and had subsequently been taking treatment in Australia.
The Rest of India team will be selected from the following.
V V S Laxman (Hyderabad, Capt.), Akash Chopra (Delhi), Vinayak Mane (Mumbai), Dinesh Mongia (Punjab), Yere Gaud (Railways), Hrishikesh Kanitkar (Maharashtra), R R Parida (Orissa), Ajay Ratra (Haryana, WK), Shalab Srivastava (UP), Tinu Yohannan (Kerala), Debasish Mohanty (Orissa), Surinder Singh (J and K), Rahul Sanghvi (Delhi), Sarandeep Singh (Punjab).

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Baroda Cricket Association secretary J Y Lele said he was willing to host the Irani Trophy tie between Baroda and Rest Of India.
Reports had been circulating that the BCA had declined to host the match as their GSFC ground lacked sufficient facilities.
Scribes, players and media persons had complained about the absolute lack of facilities at this ground when the Ranji Trophy final was played in April this year between Baroda and Railways.
Meanwhile the Gujarat Cricket Association has expressed its willingness to host the tie at Ahmedabad. Pune is also said to be one of the likely venues for the event.

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WV Raman, the former Tamil Nadu opening batsman, may be appointed the new coach of the Bengal Ranji Team.
Raman has been appointed in the place of Karsan Ghavri who had to resign from the post to enable him to be in Mumbai with his ailing mother.
The CAB had decided to recruit outstation coaches early this year in an effort to reverse the fortunes of the Bengal team that has not been very impressive in the last few seasons.

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