Preparations for the South African tour

The Indian cricket team arrived in Chennai to a quiet reception and the players dispersed to their respective home towns for a few weeks rest before the tour of South Africa.
Skipper Sourav Ganguly admitted the patchy performance by the team was the reason for the failures on the tour. Ganguly however hoped to put the disappointment of Lanka behind him and concentrate on South Africa. The team for the tour will be picked on September 7.

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Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath are all likely to be fit for the October/November tour of South Africa. Kumble has been out of cricket since nearly a year now while Tendulkar and Srinath missed the tours of Sri Lanka due to various injuries.

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The Indian team for South Africa is likely to leave on September 24, earlier than usual to South Africa to enable them to practice and get acclimatised to the conditions. India play their first match against a Nicky Oppenheimer XI on October 1 and a preparation one-day match against a South African A side on October 3. The triangular tournament featuring the hosts and Kenya begins on October 5. The decision to reach South Africa early was taken by the coach John Wright, selection committee chairman Chandu Borde and BCCI secretary JY Lele.

New Zealand tour of Pakistan

Pakistan have decided to keep faith in their highest wicket taker, Wasim Akram, by retaining him for the home series against New Zealand despite the fact that he did not claim a single wicket in the first Asian Test Championship match against a lowly Bangladesh.
Meanwhile batsman Inzamam-Ul-Haq will miss the first two one day internationals against the visitors as he has to serve a ban imposed on him by New Zealand match referee Brain Hastings for showing dissent on being given out in the final of the NatWest Trophy played in England in June. New Zealand arrive in Pakistan next week to play three one-dayers and three Tests.

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Pakistani fast bowler Wasim Akram is looking to coach Richard Pybus to help him get through the lean patch he is currently undergoing. Akram has taken just seven wickets in the last five Tests and went wicketless against minnow Bangladesh.
Akram revealed that he had spoken to the coach who assured him that there was nothing wrong with his bowling and it was just a matter of time before he began taking wickets again. Pakistan skipper Waqar Younis also expressed his confidence in Akram saying it was just a matter of time before he starts taking wickets again.

South Africa tour to Zimbabwe

South African fast bowler Allan Donald is likely to miss the Test series in Zimbabwe as he is suffering from flu. South Africa, play two Tests and three one dayers with the Test matches beginning on September 7.
Selectors have named a new pace bowler 26 year old Charl Langeveldt to take Donald's place. Skipper Shaun Pollock hopes Donald will be fit enough for the one-dayers. The full team touring Zimbabwe is as follows:
S Pollock (Capt), M Boucher, B Dippenaar, H Gibbs, C Henderson, J Kallis, J Kemp, G Kirsten, L Klusener, C Langeveldt, N McKenzie, A Nel, M Ntini.

Miscellaneous

Wisden 100 has ranked Sri Lankan Muralitharan's 8-87 in the first innings of the recent Colombo Test match against India as the 40th best bowling performance in Test cricket history.

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Former England pace bowler Graham Dilley has been appointed Assistant Coach for England's tour of India. Dilley who has earlier worked as coach with the England Women's side and the England Under 19s said he is thrilled about the offer and is looking forward to be a part of the England dressing room again.

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The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) alongwith NatWest Bank have combined to launch a new programme to encourage volunteers at grass root level to get involved with the game. Named "Get Involved" the campaign aims to encourage parents to support club and junior cricketers with a view to provide a major boost to the game.

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The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has requested its Pakistani counterparts to provide more coaches to help them improve their overall standard of cricket. Bangladesh had appointed Pakistani batsman Javed Maindad as its batting coach but the later had quit the post hardly a month after being appointed following differences with the chief coach Australian Trevor Chappell. The BCB who have requested the PCB to send left arm spinner Iqbal Qasim and leg-spinner Abdul Qadir, have also asked the BCCI to send Erapalli Prasanna and Bishen Bedi to conduct coaching clinics all over Bangladesh. Meanwhile cricket has now become the number one sport in Bangladesh and has surpassed football in its popularity.

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The richest sports body in India - the BCCI could land into serious financial troubles unless the government does not provide it with tax exemptions. The BCCI chief AC Muthiah gunning for a third term in office expressed this sentiment. He added that the Board would be faced with serious problems if the tax exemptions did not come through.

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Australian leg spinner Shane Warne has expressed his fear that the new ICC regulations will make him a less effective as a bowler. According to the new regulations a ball outside the leg stump that does not spin back, will be called as a wide.
Warne said it was a skill he developed to beat the batsmen round his legs that was achievable after years of practice. Warne is also unhappy about the change that states that deliveries, which go over a batsman's head, will be called as a no-ball.

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Dashing Pakistani batsman Shahid Afridi who joined the English county Leicestershire, mid season as a replacement for the injured Daniel Marsh has registered an amazing strike rate of 218.80 for the county so far.
In the National One-day League Afridi has scored 256 runs in 6 matches at seemingly modest average of 42.66 but at an amazing strike rate of 218.80.
In ten one-day games for the county he has scored 529 runs at an average of 37.78 and a strike rate of 182.21.
His attractive style of play has made him the talk of the county circuit this season. His county Leicestershire, currently lead the National League Division One table with 44 points and for all practical purposes have clinched the 2001 title.

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