India to South Africa

The Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has said that he was determined to lead his team from the front on the long and arduous tour of South Africa. He insisted that he would carry out the job entrusted to him by the selectors and was never one to walk away from shouldering a burden. Ganguly said he had a 60% success rate in Test matches although the worrying factor was his own form with the bat. To this effect he has made some changes in the type of bat he will be using in South Africa and has been going through long practice sessions with it. He said he would continue to be positive all through out the tour.

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The fitness or rather the lack of it is what led to the team coach John Wright to request for a special fitness test at Mumbai.
Many Indian players he felt were under a cloud despite having fitness certificates. Wright said the aim of the tests that are to be conducted at the Wankhede Stadium today was to prove their fitness.
Wright agreed that many of the players had low base fitness and that he and physio Andrew Leipus were working towards improving it.

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Meanwhile Andrew Leipus who had left for South Africa after the conclusion of the Sri Lankan tour is back in Mumbai to conduct the fitness tests.
He said the tests would be conducted fairly to determine the player's levels of fitness as well to confirm if they have recovered from their injuries as well.
Leipus refused to be drawn into the controversy surrounding Ashish Nehra and concluded that only those who passed the fitness test would be able to tour.

South Africa in Zimbabwe

South Africa after convincing performances in the Test matches warmed up to the three one-day internationals, which begins on Sunday, with a seven wicket win over a Zimbabwe-A side at Bulawayo yesterday.
While the home team could only muster up 128 runs in 42 overs the visitors rattled up the required runs in 20 overs. The only resistance from the home side came late in the innings from Paul Strang who remained unbeaten with 45.
Pace bowler Andre Nel claimed 5-11 in an eight over spell that included two maidens. Chasing the modest total, South African opener Boeta Dippenaar top scored with 60.

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South Africa have included Jonty Rhodes in their one-day squad that are to play three one-day internationals beginning on Sunday. Kallis, the man of the series of the Test matches, will bowl only if necessary as he is suffering from a sore back. The hosts have included Henry Olonga and all-rounder Mluleki Nkala for the one-dayers. The full team is as follows.
Zimbabwe: Heath Streak (Capt), Guy Whittall, Gary Brent, Alistair Campbell, Stuart Carlisle, Dion Ebrahim, Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Travis Friend, Douglas Marillier, Hamilton Masakadza, Mluleki Nkala, Henry Olonga, Paul Strang, Craig Wishart.
South Africa: Shaun Pollock (Capt), Mark Boucher (vice-capt), Herschelle Gibbs, Gary Kirsten, Jacques Kallis, Neil McKenzie, Boeta Dippenaar, Jonty Rhodes, Lance Klusener, Claude Henderson, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Justin Ontong, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt.

Miscellaneous

Former cricketers in Pakistan have refused to accept the flimsy excuses given by the ICC that it was not responsible for New Zealand not making the tour of Pakistan.
Most of the ex-cricketers felt that the ICC was showing it lacked spine by saying it was not responsible for the cancellation.
They insisted that being the highest governing body in the game the ICC should make sure that Pakistan are made up for the financial losses suffered in recent times by tour cancellations by India and now New Zealand.
They all argued that if the ICC had taken the responsibility of arranging tours, it was its duty to monitor if the schedule was being followed.

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Brian Lara has begun playing cricket once again after a long lay-off following a stubborn hamstring problem that was niggling him since West Indies made tours of Australia and the home series in South Africa.
Doctors have confirmed that he is now ready to come back to active cricket. Lara however declined to lead his domestic side Trinidad and Tobago and this has resulted in leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnaraine being appointed skipper instead.

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Banned former cricketer Ajay Jadeja could have landed himself in further trouble after participating in two matches for a US based club (Hollywood Cricket Club). His team defeated another local club - International PIA, who protested after the match that Jadeja should not be playing, since he was banned, and promptly informed the ICC. The ICC has in turn approached the BCCI for clarification. Jadeja could be looking at an extension of his already five-year ban from all forms of cricket. Jadeja who is still in the US was unavailable for comment.

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New Zealand have been granted two extra tour matches leading up to the first Test against Australia at Brisbane in November. The New Zealand Cricket Council had requested its Australian counterpart for extra matches following the cancellation of the Pakistan tour. The first Test begins in Brisbane on November 8.

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Former Australian skipper Ian Chappell has turned down an invitation to join the Technical Committee of the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS) at Sharjah.
The CBFS is looking to revamp their Technical Committee and the aim is to leave out officials who are under any doubt regarding the match-fixing controversy.
It is understood that Chappell turned down the invitation on the grounds that he was unhappy with the manner former CBFS chief coordinator Asif Iqbal and World Tel's Mark Mascarenhas were treated by the CBFS. The CBFS earlier this year had forced the former to resign as chief coordinator after his name appeared in the media in connection with match-fixing controversy. The CBFS then ended its long-standing television contract with WorldTel. The present Technical Committee has Indian Sunil Gavaskar, Pakistani Javed Burki, Bangladeshi Syed Ashraful Haq and England's Geoffery Boycott as its members. It seems only Gavaskar among them is likely to be retained on the new committee.

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Bob Merriman is the new chairman of the Australian Cricket Board. His appointment was confirmed at Friday's ACB Annual General Meeting in Melbourne, after the long-serving Denis Rogers did not seek re-election. Merriman, of Victoria, was an ACB director since 1991 and was appointed to the position of deputy chairman in May 2001. He also was the manager of the various Australian cricket teams He had toured India in this capacity in 1979-80.

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