Confusion still prevails

The confusion over the status of Ashish Nehra's fitness continues as the bowler insists that he has fully recovered from the groin injury and is positive about clearing the fitness test scheduled for the team at Mumbai on Saturday.

Nehra said he did not bowl all out at the MRF nets at Chennai as he had just returned following treatment from England a few days ago and gradually wanted to build up the tempo. Nehra said it was all just a big misunderstanding.

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Meanwhile according to a radiologist the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) report on the injured ankle of pace bowler Zaheer Khan, who was forced out of the one-day squad to South Africa, has shown that the bowler has developed tissue inflammation.
However repeated bone scans performed on the Baroda speedster's ankle revealed no abnormality. Zaheer it seems needs to rest his ankle for at least four to five weeks and is expected to be fit for the three-match Test series in South Africa.

Miscellaneous

The England tour of Zimbabwe is to go ahead despite the uncertainty of the political situation prevailing in the country as well as the world in general. The Zimbabwe government who had earlier banned BBC journalists from covering the tour, have relented to pressure and agreed to issue accreditation to all media personnel

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Sir Paul Condon, the chief of the International Cricket Council's ACU has said the ugly menace of match fixing is now under control. He said he was confident that he had suppressed the problem and was now looking to eradicate it completely from the game.
Condon is soon to publish a list of recommendations to clean up the game. Important among them are suggestions to improve the pay of international cricketers so that they are not tempted to earn money by unlawful means and the appointment of a full time security manager for each international team whose job is to make sure no approaches are made to players and umpires. Condon is at present in South Africa to supervise the measures being taken to ensure a clean World Cup in 2003.

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Sri Lankan cricket officials are reportedly consulting astrologers over the team's continued losses at Kandy. Sri Lanka has two matches scheduled at Kandy in the upcoming season against West Indies and Zimbabwe.
Instead of traditionally hosting the second Test of the series Kandy will this time host the third Test against each of the two teams.
The Sri Lankan Cricket Board (BCCSL) spokesman Kushil Gunasekera said many thoughts have been made on the team's three consecutive losses (to South Africa, England and India) at Kandy and so it was decided a change in scheduling which may perhaps bring in a different result.
Galle, Kandy and Colombo have traditionally hosted the Tests in Sri Lanka in that order. Sri Lankans, by tradition are known to consult astrologers in most matters and often schedule important events accordingly.

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Meanwhile the schedules for the West Indies and Zimbabwe tours of Sri Lanka are as follows
West Indies tour:
Nov. 4-6: v Sri Lanka 'A' in Colombo
Nov. 9-11: v Sri Lanka 'A' in Matara
Nov. 14-18: first Test in Galle
Nov. 22-26: second Test in Colombo
Nov. 30-Dec. 4: third Test in Kandy.
Zimbabwe tour:
Dec. 21-24: v Sri Lanka 'A' - venue to be decided
Dec. 27-31: first Test in Colombo
Jan. 4-8: second Test in Galle
Jan. 12-16: third Test in Kandy.

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The father of Yuvraj Singh and former Test cricketer Yograj Singh has been put in jail for failing to turn up as a witness in the model Jessica Lal murder case.

Yograj, one of the prime witnesses did not turn up on three separate occasions and when he did finally appear in court yesterday he was promptly remanded to the Tihar Jail for contempt of court.

Yograj pleaded he was unwell and undergoing treatment for arthritis but the judge refused to relent since his condition was not that serious.

Yograj Singh is a close friend of the main accused Manu Sharma, son of a politician who shot Jessica in an illegal bar where she was working after she refused to serve him drinks after closing hours.

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South African skipper Shaun Pollock is likely to tie up a contract with his former English county Warwickshire within the next two weeks. Pollock is to replace West Indian fast bowler Vasbert Drakes in the side. Former team mate Allan Donald also had a stint with Warwickshire for a while as a player and coach.

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Former India captain turned commentator Sunil Gavaskar has written to the BCCI president AC Muthiah requesting that former players be treated with more respect.
Gavaskar was obviously referring to another former captain, Polly Umrigar being given only economy class tickets to attend a meeting in Bangalore. He also requested the president to issue passes for cricket matches to all former cricketers.
He argued that officials are given passes at will for cricket matches. Gavaskar is also unhappy over the expenditure incurred by the Board in hiring foreign professionals condemning it as a waste of money.

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Australian skipper Steve Waugh became a proud father for the third time yesterday as his wife Lynette gave birth to a baby girl. Meanwhile fellow teammate Glenn McGrath has to wait for another day before his wife delivers his child.
Waugh's and McGrath's wives were to due on the same day at the same hospital, however Lillian Mary Opal Waugh, a sister to Rosalie and Austin was born a day earlier than expected.

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The International Cricket Council still considers India as the best possible venue to stage the next year's ICC Knock out tournament. The formal decision will be made at the ICC's October meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
India may however lose out on the government's stand over Pakistan. Moreover the BCCI has not confirmed its willingness to host the tournament fearing tax and other legal problems.

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The International Cricket Council (ICC) washed its hands off the responsibility of rescheduling New Zealand's tour of Pakistan as the circumstances were beyond their control. The ICC claimed that its job was to draw up the 10-year schedule and honouring it was up to the respective countries. The New Zealand Cricket insists however that they would honour their commitment to touring Pakistan but only when the time was right.

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Opening batsman Vinayak Mane steered Mumbai to an exciting two-wicket victory over Ranji Trophy champions Baroda in the triangular one-day cricket tournament in Nairobi on Wednesday.
Mane scored 75 off 61 balls, with 11 fours and two sixes to enable their team overhaul Baroda's 236 all out in 49.1 overs.
Earlier middle order batsman Himanshu Jadhav top-scored for Baroda with 98 off just 70 balls, with four fours and two sixes. The victory was Mumbai's fifth in the league stage; they are already in the final.

Briefscores:
Baroda 236 all out (49.1 overs) (H Jadhav 98, C Williams 40, N Mongia 34, N Kulkarni three for 16, S Bahutule two for 17)
Mumbai 237/8 (49.1 overs) (V Mane 75, V Kambli 41, A Agarkar 29 not out, V Buch three for 44, A Bhoite two for 27, I Pathan two for 48).
Result: Mumbai won by two wickets.

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