Nehra joins the sick list

Delhi's left-arm pace bowler Ashish Nehra is the latest to be ruled out of the tri-nation one-day tournament in South Africa beginning on October 5. Earlier VVS Laxman (knee), Hemang Badani (back) and Zaheer Khan (foot) had been ruled out of the original squad.
The national selectors are to hold a selection trial in Mumbai where Ajit Agarkar, Debasis Mohanty and Baroda's Rakesh Patel have been asked to be present.
The replacement for Nehra will be chosen from amongst the above three. Agarkar and Patel are in Nairobi representing Mumbai and Baroda respectively in the triangular contest also featuring the home team Kenya.

News from India

A tussle is brewing between the Cricket Association of Jharkhand (CAJ) and its parent body the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) over the occupation of the office premises at the Keenan Stadium, in Jamshedpur. The former has demanded that the office be handed over to them, while the later insist that they need not until the CAJ gets formal recognition by the BCCI. Last week some members of the CAJ attacked the office and ripped of the logo and signboards outside the office. CAJ officials however denied having any involvement in the episode.

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The revolt against BCCI secretary JY Lele among the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) member is rising surely but steadily. An Annual General Body Meeting has been convened on October 8 to discuss the no confidence motion against Lele. Leading the protest against Lele is former India wicket keeper Kiran More. Meanwhile, the members have demanded that the president of the association represent the BCA at the BCCI's AGM this month end.

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The Indian government has refused visas to a Pakistani veterans cricket team, led by former captain and all-rounder Majid Khan. The team was scheduled to play one-day games against the Indian veteran cricket team at Jodhpur, Patna, Lucknow and Calcutta.

Miscellaneous

Indian batsman VVS Laxman who has been in Australia for a while undergoing surgery on his knee and now physiotherapy and training denied reports that had appeared in the media yesterday that he would be playing for a Sydney club. Laxman is said to be concentrating on getting fit to make it to South Africa for the three match Test series.

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The Australian Cricket Board and Women's Cricket Australia are to unite their operations to try and ensure better development for the game in the country.
The idea behind the merger of the two bodies was to provide an opportunity to develop the game further effectively using the existing system and ensuring more efficient and effective allocation of resources through a streamlined system of administration.
It was felt that having separate organizations, which was playing the same role, was not attracting enough aspirants to take up the game especially among women.

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The South African team's latest series win (1-0) in Zimbabwe has narrowed the gap between them and Australia in the ICC Test Championships table. South Africa continue to occupy the second place with an average of 1.5, just behind the Australians who are in first place with 1.62. England with an average of 1.14 are in third place.

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Australian Ricky Ponting put one step closer to his being appointed as Australian skipper when he took over the reigns of his state Tasmania.
Jamie Cox, the current skipper decided to step down to allow Ponting to have early experience. Ponting expressed his gratefulness to Cox for his decision and said his experience and advise would certainly be used on the field.

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Former West Indian skipper Jimmy Adams dropped from the team after the disastrous tour of Australia last year says he has still not given up hope of making it back to the national side.
Adams is to take up a six month contract with the South African domestic team Free State as captain. He said he was still looking forward to playing international cricket. Adams has been playing first class cricket since 1984 and made his international debut in 1992.

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Former Sri Lankan opening batsman Roshan Mahanama has been appointed as manager and head coach of the Sri Lankan A team and Development squad for a two-year term.
Former wicket-keeper/batsman Hemantha Devapriya, who has successful coached the squad since South Africa toured Sri Lanka in July 1998, will work alongside Mahanama and will also take over full control of the Under-17 squad.

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World women's champions New Zealand's tour of India in November is still on. Although the men's team tour of the sub-continent was called off, the women's tour may go on as schedule since there was plenty of time for the New Zealand Cricket officials to review the current situation in the sub-continent.

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