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July 9, 2001
Cricket |
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The Zimbabwe tour post mortem
He said he would disagree with the accusations made against his team that the batsmen threw away their wickets and also justified his decision to put the West Indies in after winning the toss saying, he fancied his chances more chasing as the West Indies has only three specialised bowlers. He however did admit that the match was lost once the top 4 Indian batsmen went cheaply. Chandu Borde, the chairman of the selection committee, said he was utterly disappointed with the performance of the Indian team in the final. He said the loss was inexplicable considering the form of the team in the run up to the finals. He said he was disappointed with the body language of the players who appeared to give up on the match once the West Indies got of to a rollicking start. Borde however complimented the West Indian on their systematic performance despite being handicapped by the absence of their crucial players. 
India, New Zealand in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka have made sweeping changes to their one day side that are to meet India and New Zealand in a triangular series that is to be played in Sri Lanka in two weeks. Five fast bowlers and two spinners figure in the 15-man squad. The recently appointed selectors said that the logic behind the selection was to form the core of the team with the World Cup 2003 in mind.
The Ashes Tour
England's 33 year old, Indian born skipper Nasser Hussain suffered yet another blow on his fingers on the fourth day of the first Test against Australia at Edgbaston. Hussain had just recovered in time for the first Test after he had broken a finger against Pakistan in the Test series played prior to the NatWest Triangular. Doctors confirm that he has sustained a displaced fracture and is likely to be out of action for a while. This is the fourth time Hussain has suffered injuries to his fingers since 1999
Miscellaneous : South Indian film star Nagma who was visiting Tirupati, the famous temple in Andhra Pradesh said the media had concocted all the reports regarding her alleged affair with the Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly. Denying the entire episode Nagma said she did not want to go back into the past and discuss the incident when she was seen along with Ganguly in a temple near 40 km from Madras. Former Pakistani captain and coach Javed Miandad and West Indian Andy Roberts are to join Australian Trevor Chappell in coaching the Bangladesh national team. While Miandad will be the batting coach, Roberts will look after the bowling department. The two are expected to arrive and begin work in August so as to have the team ready for the Asian Test Championships that begin in late August.
The officials in cricket circles are awaiting the summit meeting between Indian Prime Minister AB Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf eagerly. The talks are likely to pave the way for India's visit to Pakistan for the Asian Test Championships in September. India had last year backed out of the tour of Pakistan following the refusal of the Indian government to allow the team to visit Pakistan.
Former Indian skipper Bishan Singh Bedi has let for England along with a team of young cricketers for a one-month tour. The team is a mixture of youth and experience. Some of the known names of the team are Rahul Sanghvi, Vijay Dahiya and Sunil Joshi. Twelve-year old Sumit Dhiman, the youngest member of the team. The team just concluded a six-week training camp that covered all aspects o the game including personality development and self-belief.
Did you know? The England and Australian captains of the 1905 Ashes series Francis Stanley Jackson (England) and Joseph Darling (Australia) were both born on the same day, 21 November 1870.
SCORES AT A GLANCE
England vs Australia (1st Test) |
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Utterly disappointed at having lost the final of the Coca-Cola tri-series in Zimbabwe, Sourav Ganguly has called for the need to play best of three finals in tournaments of two or more teams. Ganguly said he had seen this happen to many sides in recent times, which have played unbeaten to the final only to stumble on the last step. He quoted the case of Pakistan in Sharjah this April. Pakistan lost out to Sri Lanka in the final despite having won all the games in the league phase.
Australia crushed England by an innings and 118 runs to take the first Ashes Test on the fourth day at Edgbaston. Resuming at the overnight score of 48-1, 234 runs behind England showed signs of a spirited fight back with Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher taking the attack to the Aussies. The fight however didn't last long as wickets began to fall in a heavy tumble. England's hopes nose-dived further when they skipper Nasser Hussain broke a finger trying to fend off a delivery from Jason Gillespie. Hussain did not return to bat.
The President of the BCCI AC Muthiah dismissed the recent allegations in a magazine that the Indian cricketers were using performance-enhancing drugs. He said the drug issue was spoken about at length in the recent ICC meeting and that the supreme body would work out ways of preventing drug use in cricket if it is found prevalent. On being asked if the Indian players will be told to test blood samples Muthiah said India had no laboratory facilities for drug tests. Muthiah also said the BCCI was drawing up plans to send 'A' teams to South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka with a view to giving the second string enough international exposure.
Sixty one year old English umpire David Shepherd had to leave the field midway through officiating a Norwich Union League match between Somerset and Nottinghamshire at Taunton. Shepherd's discomfort was caused by a calf muscle problem and he had to be helped of the field midway through the Somerset second innings. Shepherd has umpired 56 Test matches and 98 one-day international.
Asia's largest prison, the Tihar Jail in Delhi has removed the name of the banned Indian cricketer Manoj Prabhakar from one of its wards. In 1993 Kiran Bedi the then Director General of the jail had invited Sachin Tendulkar, Manoj Prabhakar and Vinod Kambli to the jail and named a ward after each of the cricketers for being role models to the prisoners. Following Prabhakar's involvement in match fixing and more recently in a financial scam the current Director General Ajay Agarwal said he had Prabhakar's name removed.