India's tour of England

Cricket Board on Tuesday said it would provide the 'best possible treatment' to injured batsman Yuvraj Singh, one of the heroes of India's victory in the Natwest tri-nation series final at Lords.

Yuvraj, who defied a chipped bone in his left little finger on Saturday to score a quickfire 69 off 63 balls, has been ruled out of action for at least three weeks due to the injury. He is scheduled to return to India today.

According to the report of team physio Andrew Leipus, the player would thereafter have to undergo physiotherapry to restore mobility in the finger.

"It was decided that the best possible treatment would be provided to him by the Board.

Thereafter, he would undergo the fitness schedule prescribed by Leipus and fitness trainer Adrian Le Roux so that he can be in proper physical condition before the ICC Champions trophy in September," BCCI chief Jagmohan Dlamiya told reporters after an emergent meeting of the selection committee.

________________

Tour match, Arundel, day one of three:
India 253-7 v West Indies A

Half-centuries for VVS Laxman and Dinesh Mongia were the highlights as India warmed up in cautious fashion for their Test series against India.

A draw with West Indies A was already looking the most likely outcome as India, having won the toss, batted through the day at a rate of 2.82 to reach 253 for seven.

Laxman, captaining the side in the absence of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, hit 85 from 132 deliveries, with nine fours.

Mongia, who heard from India's selectors during the day that he could stay for the rest of the tour but would not be considered for the Tests, top-scored with 87.

The pair added 86 for the third wicket and, once Laxman had been caught off Chris Gayle, and Sanjay Bangar also fell to the spinner for a duck, Mongia consolodated with Ajay Ratra.

India:
S S Das, W Jaffer, V V S Laxman (Capt), D Mongia, S B Bangar, M Kaif, A Ratra (Wkt), P A Patel, A B Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, T Yohannan.

West Indies A:
D Ganga (Capt), D S Smith, D J Pagon, L M P Simmons, R O Hinds, D J Bravo, C H Gayle, K H Hibbert (Wkt), J J C Lawson, M I Black, R D King.

________________

Mohammed Kaif and Dinesh Mongia have been added to the Indian squad for the remainder of the tour of England after playing a key role in the NatWest Series success.

But, despite being included in the team to face West Indies A, they will not be considered for selection for the four Tests unless there are injuries to other batsmen.

"We don't want to disturb the composition of the Test squad," said Indian Board president Jagmohan Dalmiya.

"If the team management felt necessary to field either of those two players in a Test match, it will need to seek the Board's permission."

Batsmen Shiv Sunder Das and Wasim Jaffer, all-rounder Sanjay Bangar and wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel have also joined the party after being chosen for the second half of the tour only.

World Cup

Fans face a long wait if they want to follow their team through the World Cup after ticket packages for eight of the 14 teams were sold out within the first two days.

Apart from tickets to the biggest games, fans were asked to select packages either for individual grounds or teams when tickets went on sale on Monday.

By Tuesday, packages for Johannesburg's Wanderers Stadium, Newlands in Cape Town and Kingsmead in Durban were sold out, despite heavy traffic through the World Cup website.

And team packages had been sold out for England, India, Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Australia and New Zealand.

At 1515 BST on Tuesday, 129,000 tickets in had been sold of the total 233,000 made available. But organisers admit that more tickets could be available for all games up to the semi-final stage when individual tickets go on sale on 2 December.

Miscellaneous

The International Cricket Council has acknowledged the demands being placed on top players because of the congested Test and one-day calendar.

The 10 Test captains met at Lord's on Monday with the topic of player burn-out high on the agenda.

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said the consensus was that the volume of cricket played had "gone about as far as it can go".

The Australian said he believed the current level was 'manageable' but promised to prepare a consultation document for national boards to see if the problem could be solved.

"The captains asked the ICC to look at whether there can be a break in the scheduling and we're happy to take their concerns on board," said Speed.

________________

Australian selector Allan Border has warned that Steve and Mark Waugh will not be able to rely indefinitely on past performances to prolong their Test careers.

The 37-year-old twins were dropped from the one-day squad earlier this year, and the selectors are likely to show the same ruthless streak with the Test side, if necessary.

Both Waughs are keen to prolong their international careers, with the twin targets of playing in this winter's Ashes series and regaining their one-day places in time for the 2003 World Cup.

Border, a former Australian captain, believes both will know when the time is right to walk away.

________________

Test great Allan Border has urged authorities to give the game back to its umpires after they were stripped of more power yesterday.

Cricket's great debate - man versus machine - flared again after umpires were instructed to use video assistance in lbw decisions.

The International Cricket Council approved the move on a trial basis for September's Champions Trophy tournament in Sri Lanka with a view to having it introduced permanently. ICC cricket manager Dave Richardson said lbw decisions provoked most errors among umpires and needed to be addressed.

Umpires already had the power to use the video replay for catches, stumpings and run-outs. "Lbw will be one of the areas where umpires can consult, but only in certain areas such as whether the ball pitched outside leg-stump or took the inside edge," Richardson said.

The laws of the game state any delivery which pitches outside leg-stump or catches the edge cannot be given out lbw.

"I believe technology should be limited and I think this is dangerous because it is changing the values of the game," Border said.

________________

Efforts to mentally toughen up the South African cricket squad will already begin this week when they gather for a training camp in Centurion.

The whole squad, with the exception of players with English County obligations, will gather from Wednesday to Friday to prepare for next month's triangular tournament in Morocco, which would mark the beginning of their road to the World Cup.

SA coach Eric Simons said that apart from net practice just to get the players going again, the psychological side of their makeup would also come under scrutiny.

Specialist speakers in the field would address the squad. "A talk would be held with the players on Thursday to try and get the team operating as a unit more effectively," Simons said.

Shaun Pollock (Warwickshire), Allan Donald (Worcestershire), Nicky Bojé (Nottinghamshire) and Paul Adams (Rishton - Lancashire League) would not attend this week's training camp.

ACC Trophy tournament

Home team Singapore hit a one-day record 440 for two off 50 overs on Tuesday as they trounced Thailand by 325 runs in the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Trophy tournament.

The total is two more than the previous record for a set by English county side Surrey just a month ago.

And it beats the previous international record 398 for five, made by Sri Lanka against Kenya in 1995/96.

Man-of-the-match Kapila Mendis blazed his way to 191 off 139 balls, including 15 fours and nine sixes, while captain Zubin Shroff made 159 from 127 balls with 16 fours and five sixes. And poor Thailand were bowled out for 115.

But Singapore's performance was only of interest to record-keepers, with the side no longer in a position to make the semi-finals.

The 10-nation tournament involves the non-Test playing nations from Asia and the Middle East.

Womens' cricket

Women's one-day tri-series, Durham: New Zealand 113-3 (31 overs) beat England 111 (38 overs) by 7 wickets

England's Women learnt that they still have plenty of room for improvement as Emily Drumm's polished 63 not out carried the world champions into Saturday's final.

Hopes of an upset were high in the home dressing room following their win over India in Jersey last week, but they were let down by a batting effort which saw the top eight fall for single figure scores.

Chasing a modest target, the White Ferns lost Rebecca Rolls early on, but Drumm hit 10 fours to steer her side home with 19 overs in hand.

England never recovered from losing their first four wickets - skipper Clare Connor, Charlotte Edwards, Claire Taylor and Arran Thompson - with only 40 on the board.

Yesterday's News .........................  News Roll archive