April 5, 2001
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The Aussie whining continues. This time it was not about the toss at Viskhapatnam, for which Ganguly turned up at the center 15 minutes in advance. Steve Waugh said he had intimated the match referee that Gnguly had broken an ICC regulation by not wearing the team dress at the toss. Ganguly had turned up in his training shirt for the toss. Meanwhile the Australian journalists have called Ganguly "the international cricket's version of a spoilt child". Goa, the venue for the final match of the one-day series is all set for the cricket carnival. A lush outfield and a typical one-day strip will see the toss again playing a crucial role in deciding the result of the game. The Nehru Stadium at Fatorda, Margoa has received a facelift for the occasion with the state government spending nearly 1.5 crores for the improvement of facilities here. 
The South African's vulnerability against spin has prompted a change in the West Indian squad for the fourth Test that is to begin on April 6 at St John's at Antigua. Left-arm spinner Neil McGarrell is likely to be brought into the side to assist leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnaraine along with skipper Carl Hooper. McGarrell will replace the untried Dave Mohammad. Bangladesh began the tour of Zimbabwe on a promising note when it beat a CFX Academy team by a convincing 7 wickets at Harare. 16-year old pace bowler Mohammad Sharif's 5-30 and Habibul Bashar's 79 from 77 balls were the highlights of the win Scores: CFX Academy XI: 183 in 48.5 overs; Bangladesh 184-3 in 32.2 overs Zimbabwe has brought in two new faces into the squad for the one-day series against Bangladesh that will be played at Harare from 7 April. They are 23-year old pace bowler Brighton Watambwa and batsman Dion Ebrahim. The full team is as follows: Heath Streak (Capt), Guy Whittall, Alistair Campbell, Andrew Flower, Grant Flower, Andy Blignaut, Stuart Carlisle, Bryan Strang, Douglas Marillier, Brian Murphy, David Mutendera, Dirk Viljoen, Brighton Watambwa, Dion Ebrahim.
Western Australia beat KwaZulu-Natal by six wickets at the WACA, Perth to win the inaugural Champions Cup title. The Natal total of 243-8 in 50 overs was overhauled by the Australian team in the last over of the match with 6 wickets to spare.
Former batsmen South African Barry Richards and Australian Greg Chappell have been short listed as the likely coach for the Pakistan cricket team. Current coach Javed Miandad had resigned after his team's unsatisfactory performance during the recent tour of New Zealand. There is also a move to hire former all-rounder Mudassar Nazar to replace Miandad for Pakistan's tour of England in May-June this year. Meanwhile a former Somerset player Julian Fountain has already been hired part time as fielding coach. An English curator Andy Atkinson has also been working in Pakistan for a while on how best international standards pitches can be made and maintained.
Arjuna Ranatunga has denied all claims made about him by the Indian book-maker Mukesh Gupta as false. He said he was prepared to face a full investigation by the ICC in this regard. He felt the sacked Board was targeting him as he had been one of the severe critics of the style and functioning of the Board. The Natwest Trophy winners in 1999 and 2000 Gloucestershire have a new title to defend. The trophy has a new sponsor from this year till 2003 and will be called the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy. The ECB had recently signed a three million pound deal with the new sponsors, a financial services company. The banned South African player Hansie Cronje and his wife who were holidaying in Victoria Caravan Park in George were robbed of nearly 15,000 rands worth of items, including cellular phones and a digital camera and other valuables. The daring robbery took place in the morning when Cronje and his wife were away for a walk, when the thieves ransacked the valuables from the tent they were staying. Meanwhile the South African Cricket Board confirmed that Hansie Cronje was not being prevented from working outside the jurisdiction of their authority. Earlier the banned cricketer had claimed that he was restrained by the Board from seeking any employment and were interfering in his endeavours to make amends for his earlier conduct. Cronje said because of the ban he is unable to coach the underprivileged children and promote the game at schools level. Refuting Cronje's claim the UCBSA president Percy Sonn said that the ban imposed on Cronje was because of his involvement in the match-fixing scandal. Punjab will meet Railways at Mohali while Baroda play Orissa at Baroda in the semi-finals of the 2000-01 Ranji Trophy tournament. A rather unlikely lineup for the semi-finals with the big guns of Indian cricket including Mumbai, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad being knocked out of the last four by their lesser known foes. Orissa has emerged a new force in domestic cricket after SS Das and Debasish Mohanty emerged as international stars, while Punjab will be deprived of its main players - Harbhajan Singh, Sarandeep Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Mongia who are currently on national duty. Earlier the BCCI had refused Punjab's request for a postponement of the semi-final tie to enable four of its players on national duty to appear in this vital match.
PERTH CHAMPIONS CUP Final: At Perth, Australia Western Australia vs KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal: 243-8 in 50 overs (ML Bruyns 33, JC Kent 81 not out, ELR Stewart 46) Western Australia: 244-4 in 49.1 overs (MJ North 55, J Langer 34, SM Katich 67 not out), Result: Western Australia won by 6 wickets Man of the tournament: WR Wingfield (WA)  Yesterday's News News Roll archive
Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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