Standard Bank Triangular series in South Africa

Kenya meet India in the 6th match of the Standard Bank triangular series at Port Elizabeth today. India are likely to yet again experiment with the team line up with the possibility of Reetinder Sodhi and Harvinder Singh being included in the playing eleven extremely likely. Ganguly however confirmed that he and Tendulkar would definitely be playing.

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Kenya has put up a lackluster performance in all their matches so far and now they find themselves in more trouble with skipper Maurice Odumbe suspended for his outpouring against the umpires in the game against SA at Kimberly.
Their manager Mahmood Querishey who was accompanied Odumbe to the official hearing with the match referee AM Ebrahim suffered a heart attack. Odumbe will thus miss tomorrow's match against India and the next against South Africa the next week.

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Fast bowler Nantie Hayward has been included in the South African one-day squad for their next one day international against India to be played at East London on Friday. Hayward who made an impressive start to his career was however plagued by injury and loss of form the whole of last year. With the big hole left in the South Africa bowling without Alan Donald, Hayward is the one being groomed to take his place.

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The BCCI's executive secretary Sharad Diwadkar today played down the reports that had appeared in the media over the fitness of Zaheer Khan. He said no certificate from any doctor other than the BCCI appointed doctor would be entertained by the Board. The Board secretary Niranjan Shah will fix the date for the fitness tests of both Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra once he returns from Kuala Lumpur after the ICC meet.

England hesitant

The president of the PCA, that plays host to the first Test at Mohali, said the Englishmen should not have security worries playing in Mohali as it is one of the safest venues of the world.
Scoffing at reports appearing in the English media about its proximity to Afghanistan IS Bindra said that Mohali was nearly 500-600 miles away from the Afghan border, he added that Mohali had no Muslim community and that the airbase nearby was not being used for anything to do with Afghanistan.
He added that there was a moat around the ground which no spectator has ever crossed. Mohali and Ahmedabad are the venues of the first two Tests that the English are uncertain about.

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The chairman of England and Wales cricket board Lord MacLaurin continued to maintain that the England tour of India is on adding that a final decision would be made in the next couple of weeks. He said the situation was being monitored on a day to day basis and that he would not want to put the players at any risk of any kind.

Miscellaneous

Former Australian wicket keeper Rodney Marsh said that he believed that England had the capability to become the world's leading cricket team by the year 2007.
Marsh who successfully led the Australian cricket academy was recently appointed head of the newly formed academy in England. He is to soon lead a bunch of 17 players from the England academy to play a series of games in Australia against their Australian counterparts.

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The Zimbabwean players had considered going on a strike just before the final one-day match against England. Reports said that the players had not been played for six weeks and had not received fresh contracts. The players also felt that the imposition of racial quota (at least three black players should be in the side) was dividing the team. Zimbabwe have lost their last 12 one day internationals in a row.

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Former South Africa skipper Hansie Cronje will know today if his appeal against a life ban against the game will be thrust on him or not.
The ban of Cronje followed his admission last year that he accepted money from bookies for poor performance in international matches. If the ban is lifted Cronje could be seen in action either as coach or in the media or even get back to playing domestic cricket.

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The International Cricket Council is likely to discuss the rearrangement of its 10 year playing schedule following the developments in the Asian subcontinent. The ICC are also considering playing these matches at neutral venues like Sharjah, Dhaka or Morocco.

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The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka announced that their three-year television, radio and sponsorship deal with WSG Nimbus had been terminated with immediate effect. The reason for termination of the contract so abruptly was because WSG had repeatedly delayed payments, putting the BCCSL in serious financial difficulties. The BCCSL finally decided to terminate the contract when the WSG group yet again failed to keep up to payment scheduled ahead of the West Indies tour.

Irani Trophy

Rest of India were fighting to save the match at stumps on the fourth day of the Irani Trophy tournament being played at Nagpur. Baroda who were 124-2 overnight went on to make 285 setting the Rest a target of 273 to claim the prestigious trophy. Sarandeep Singh took 3-75 with all the other ROI bowlers chipping in with a couple of wickets.
ROI did not begin their chase too well losing two early wickets. But with two prolific run scorers at the crease in the form of VVS Laxman and D Mongia and an entire day ahead, ROI have everything going for them.

SCORES AT A GLANCE

Irani Trophy (4th day)
Baroda vs Rest Of India at Nagpur
Toss: Rest Of India
Baroda:
318 (CC Williams 133, N Mongia 31, Himanshu Jadhav 43, Rakesh Patel 44; Sarandeep Singh 5-78).
285 (C Williams 83, N Mongia 52, Himanshu Jadhav 42, IK Pathan 32; Sarandeep Singh 3-75)
Rest of India:
331 (V Mane 48, Dinesh Mongia 125, Ajay Ratra 61; V Buch 5-94, IK Pathan 3-95) 60-3 (VVS Laxman 26 not out, D Mongia 6 not out)
Rest of India need 212 runs to win on the final day with 7 wickets in hand

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