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The three-day conclave of the Asian Cricket Foundation (ACF),beginning in Kolkata on Tuesday, will deliberate on various issuespertaining to the development of the game in the Asian region.The ACF’s Development, Screening and Technical Committees will meetand discuss various subjects listed in the agenda and was expected tofinalise programmes to be taken up during the year.The high-profile conclave of the ACF, which implements the programmesof the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), may also discuss theorganisational problems related to the forthcoming Asian TestChampionship, particularly in the light of the Indian Government’sreservations over granting permission to the Indian team to play inPakistan.The meeting was earlier scheduled to be held in Kolkata on July 31 andAugust 1 but was postponed to get adequate time to go through theagenda and programme documents of the International Cricket Council’sDevelopment Committee which is scheduled to meet in Amsterdam onSeptember 10 and 11.The ACF’s Development Committee will meet on the first day to discussthe implementation of the development plans for the Asian region.The committee, chaired by former Sri Lankan captain Duleep Mendis,comprises Mazhar Khan of the United Arab Emirates, Anil Kalavar ofSingapore, J Jaykumar Shah of Nepal and T Krishnaswamy of Malaysia.ACF chairman Jagmohan Dalmiya will be a special invitee.The screening committee will meet on August 15 to begin the process offinalising the development officers from each of the four Test playingnations in the Asian region.The committee will go through the credentials of all the nomineesbefore finalising the panel of development officers. The screeningcommittee, chaired by Dalmiya, comprises Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, ZakirSyed, Duleep Mendis and Ashraf-ul-Haq.The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has nominated fourformer Test players for the post of development officers. Nationalselectors Ashok Malhotra and Madanlal, and former Test players RogerBinny and WV Raman are the four BCCI nominees.Pakistan and Sri Lanka had also sent their nominations for the post ofDevelopment Officers.While Pakistan has sent a list comprising former skippers MushtaqMohammed and Zaheer Abbas and medium pacer Iqbal Sikander, Sri Lankahad recommended former Test cricketers Roy Dias, Rumesh Ratnayake andBrendon Kuruppu.The technical committee will meet on August 16 to discuss thetechnical aspects of the programmes. The committee comprises SunilGavaskar (India), Zaheer Abbas (Pakistan), Asantha De Mel (Sri Lanka)and Gazi Ashraf Hossain (Bangladesh).BCCI secretary JY Lele has also been invited to discuss certainmatters regarding the Asian Test Championship.

Delhi-based Shradhanand College put University of Technology, Sydney out of contention for a place in the semi-finals, after beating them by six wickets in their Group A encounter at the Abhimanyu Cricket Academy on Wednesday.For the second-straight match SC’s fast bowler, Abhishek Vats, found himself amongst the wickets, as he dismissed UTS’ openers, Nicholas Charlwood and Christopher Spratt, in his first-two overs.He then accounted for captain, Harry Dalton, in his third over and then Angus McKay his in fourth. His four-over spell left UTS’ top-order in tatters and they failed to recover from the setback and managed just 69 in their innings.UTS’ fast bowler, James Campbell, gave his side just the start that had hoped for, when he struck thrice in his first over.But a 50-run stand between Shubham Dhaiya and Jitish Saroha was all it took for Shradhanand College to cross the line.The win put Shradhanand College through to the semi-final, in Group A, alongside Loughborough MCC University. UTS and European University of Bangladesh failed to make it through to the knock-outs.International College of Business and Technology from Sri Lanka made the semi-finals from Group B by beating Heriot Watt University by a 74-run margin.ICBT’s openers, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Nipuna Ganage provided a solid 126-run platform for the side after they won the toss and elected to bat.Samarawickrama slammed 57 from just 42 balls and Ganage 65 from 39. Following their departure three-balls apart in the 14th over, ICBT fumbled.They lost five-quick wickets, but still managed to post 172. Rohit Singh from HWU showed signs of form with the bat, with a solid 48. But the other batsmen failed to provide any resistance. The team from UAE managed just 98 in reply.Defending champions Assupol TUKS easily overcame Jinnah Degree College, Karachi by nine wickets in the last match of the day.JDC batted first but found it difficult to score freely, as TUKS bowlers maintained their discipline to strangle any signs of a JDC attack.JDC managed just 103 in their 20 overs. TUKS lost opener Aiden Markram in the first over itself, but Murray Coetzee and Gerald Pike added 147 runs for the second wicket to take their side home in ten overs.

Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium has been confirmed as the venue of the final of the IPL on June 1. Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, said the match had to be shifted out the Wankhede Stadium because the capacity of the DY Patil Stadium is much higher.”That stadium has more capacity and also there are many ICC representatives who will be attending the final and Wankhede doesn’t have so much space to accomodate,” Pawar told reporters in Mumbai. “Wankhede can accommodate only around 32,000 and DY Patil can house around 55,000. It’s (difference) huge.”Originally the DY Patil stadium, which is in Nerul (about 40km from south Mumbai’s business district), was scheduled to host Mumbai’s five league games between April 27 and May 16. But the MCA told the DY Patil authorities that since Mumbai’s next two games – against Chennai and Kolkata – take place on weekdays, it would be difficult for the fans to travel such a distance late in the evening after their office hours. Both games were shifted to the Wankhede Stadium, in South Mumbai’s business district. Wankhede, however will host the two semi-finals as scheduled.With the Wankhede Stadium set to host the final of the 2011 World Cup, Pawar said plans were on to demolish the stadium and rebuild it from scratch to meet ICC standards.”We had a meeting with the Mumbai Hockey Association and they have given us in writing that one portion of their space can be utilised by us. There’s no way we can conduct the World Cup final in present conditions. ICC will not accept it. We need to build better facilities for all, including for the media.”We will start work in August. The whole structure will be razed down first and a fresh one built. The refurbished stadium will be ready by December 2010 and the World Cup is in March-April 2011.”

Zimbabwe have dropped out of the ICC Test Championship as a result of them only playing eight Tests in the last three years. Test match rankings have historically been based on a minimum of 10 Tests played by each country over the three to four-year period.At the top of the table, Australia have stretched their lead and are now 26 rating points clear of second-placed England. Sri Lanka are another eight points further back having moved up two places to third position, and South Africa are also up two places from sixth spot to fourth. Pakistan are the big loser after the update having dropped three places from third to sixth.The annual update is carried out to ensure the LG ICC Test Championship table continues to reflect recent form with older results being discarded. As such, the new table only includes results from series completed after August 1, 2004.The update is always scheduled to take place on August 1 each year, but as no series are set to finish ahead of that date, it can be carried out now. By updating the table now it means that England and India will know what progress they can make before their series starts on Thursday.

In a reversal of sorts, Sourav Ganguly has launched an attack against his long-time mentor Jagmohan Dalmiya, accusing the former cricket board chief of “playing” with his career.Ganguly, who lost his place in the Indian team after a spat with Greg Chappell, the coach, chose the upcoming presidential elections for the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) to hit out at Dalmiya, facing a challenge for the post from Prasun Mukherjee, the police commissioner.Currently playing county cricket for Northamptonshire, Ganguly, trying to make a comeback into the national team, sent an email to his brother Snehashish supporting Mukherjee. The email was released by Mukherjee at a press conference in Kolkata. Ganguly said in the email: “People who leak e-mails and sacrifice players’ careers should be heavily punished. There are people in CAB who are playing with players’ careers to suit them. They should not be allowed to go scot-free as it takes years of hard work to reach a certain level in sports.”Complaining of unethical practices in the CAB, Ganguly also expressed satisfaction at the stand taken by the West Bengal chief minister, Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, who openly said that Dalmiya should stay away from the CAB presidential race. “I am happy that the Chief Minister and people concerned are addressing the issues and working towards the right path,” Ganguly wrote.Ganguly’s email, which also accused Dalmiya of leaking Chappell’s controversial email to the board in September last year, comes as a major boost to the dissident faction ahead of the polls on July 30. Chappell’s email, which contained damning criticism of Ganguly, created a furore after its contents appeared in a Bengali daily in the midst of the board’s Annual General Meeting.Ganguly’s outburst is the latest twist in the drama for control of the CAB, where Dalmiya is facing a determined challenge from dissidents being backed by Bhattacharjee and other former Ranji Trophy cricketers from Bengal. Ganguly’s message in support of the police chief comes a day after Subhas Chakraborty, the West Bengal sports minister known to be soft on Dalmiya, admitted his failure to dissuade him from contesting the elections. Chakraborty’s statement had been interpreted as a confirmation that Dalmiya was prepared to fight it out in the polls.Chakraborty, who had been directed by the chief minister to convey his stand on the CAB polls to Dalmiya, also said that his attempts for a compromise between the two factions had not borne fruit. The police commissioner had filed his nomination yesterday, while his close lieutenant and former Bengal cricketer Raja Venkat threw his hat in the ring for one of the two joint secretaries’ posts during the day, which also saw Dalmiya filing his nomination for the top post.

Sri Lanka A 171 for 3 (Tharanga 74*) beat West Indies A 168 (Ganga 52) by seven wickets
Upul Tharanga guided Sri Lanka A to a seven-wicket win over their West Indian counterparts in a rain-shortened match at Moratuwa.Opening the innings, Tharanga top-scored with an unbeaten 74 from 95 balls, after Sri Lanka had been set a target of 169 in 35 overs. He was helped to the finish by his captain, Russel Arnold, who played the sheet-anchor role with 39 not out from 76 balls after West Indies’ Darren Sammy had taken two early wickets to reduce the Sri Lankans to 39 for 3.Earlier, West Indies had been indebted to their own captain, Daren Ganga, whose brisk 52 enabled them to set a decent target in spite of a flimsy collapse from the tail. Sewnarine Chattergoon made 38, but no-one else topped 16 as the last nine wickets tumbled for 97 runs.&

Haroon Rashid is likely to stay on as the manager of the Pakistan team despite his one-year term coming to an end after the series against India. According to a report in The News, a Pakistan daily, Rameez Raja, the chief executive of the Pakistan board, gave Rashid his vote of confidence. “I don’t think we will be going for a change in the managership when we sit down to announce the details and procedure of the Pakistan team’s future assignments.”The report also quoted Rameez as saying that he was firmly in favour of giving the entire team management an extended run, rather than sacking them after every poor performance by the players. “My personal opinion is that we can’t have the team management – and that includes the captain, coach and manager – on trial after every series.”We need to show confidence in them and we can’t have them under observation all the time. The way I see it we will be giving out a long-term contract to the manager also and I don’t see any reason in changing Haroon or anyone else now.” The board has already announced that Javed Miandad and Inzamam-ul-Haq will continue as captain and coach.Speaking about the hiring of Greg Chappell, Barry Richards and Daryl Foster as consultants, Rameez said that they would work primarily with junior players and members of the National Cricket Academy, but would also be available to assist the senior team. “Basically Chappell, Foster and even Barry Richards are coming to develop concepts and strengthen our cricket think tank. We will be getting their feedback on the National Cricket Academy (NCA), schools cricket and preparing a panel of coaches for international assignments,” he explained. “But we would also like them to spend some time with the senior team players and help them out in anyway they want.”Rameez also informed that Waqar Younis would join the academy as a bowling coach. According to the report, Rameez said: “He is keen to get involved with Pakistan cricket and we have reached an agreement with him.”

Sri Lanka’s triumph in the 1996 World Cup brought back strong memoriesof the West Indian victories of 1975 and 1979. For one thing, SriLanka, co-hosts along with India and Pakistan, did not lose a singlegame, even if Australia and the West Indies had forfeited their gamesciting security concerns.

Secondly, the Sri Lankan approach to batting very much resembled theflamboyant Caribbean style. Openers Sanath Jayasuriya and RomeshKaluwitharana in particular made nonsense of restrictive bowlingtactics and field-placings in the first 15 overs, so the slog did notcommence from the 40th over but from the very first. The apotheosis ofthis innovative strategy came in their match against Kenya at Kandy,when the first 50 was notched up in an astonishing 3.2 overs, en routeto 398 for five – still the highest-ever total in a one-dayinternational.The sixth World Cup returned to the subcontinent, and this time theformat was changed as the competition had extended to 12 participatingteams. The nine Test-playing nations were joined by three associatemembers – the United Arab Emirates, Holland and Kenya – and the 12sides were placed into two groups.Pool A comprised Australia, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, India,Zimbabwe and Kenya, while Pool B was made up of South Africa,Pakistan, New Zealand, England, the UAE and Holland. The top fourteams in each group qualified for the knock-out quarter-finals.With Australia, the West Indies, India and Sri Lanka from Pool A andSouth Africa, England, New Zealand and Pakistan from Pool B making itto the last eight, it would appear that there were few upsets in thepreliminary stage, but in fact, there were some surprising results.Few, for example, would have expected Sri Lanka to top the group,although detractors would argue that they were helped by bothAustralia and the West Indies refusing to travel to Colombo after abomb-blast rocked the capital weeks before the start of thetournament. Considering the manner in which Sri Lanka played, however,a victory over both Australia and the West Indies could not be ruledout, and this argument received certification when Sri Lanka defeatedAustralia by seven wickets in the final at Lahore.In the three remaining group matches, Sri Lanka defeated Zimbabwe bysix wickets, India by the same margin and Kenya by 144 runs. By thistime, they had emerged as the team to beat, and there was no stoppingthem in the knock-out stage either. In the quarter-final they rompedto a five-wicket victory over England with 10 overs to spare, and inthe semifinal against India at Calcutta, they were well on top whenrioters disrupted proceedings by setting the stands afire and throwingobjects on the field.The circumstances were unfortunate, especially for a traditionallycricket-loving city, and match referee Clive Lloyd awarded the matchto Sri Lanka after they had led off by scoring 251 for eight in 50overs and India were tottering at 120 for eight in 34.1 overs. In thefinal, they capped a memorable tournament by coasting to victory overAustralia, making light of what seemed to be a challenging Australiantotal of 241 for seven by racing to victory with seven wickets andnearly four overs to spare.The speed at which the Sri Lankans made their runs was quiteastonishing. At the end of the tournament, four front-line batsmen hada strike rate of over 100. Kaluwitharana’s strike-rate was 140.38 per100 balls, Jayasuriya’s 131.54, Arjuna Ranatunga’s 114.76 and Aravindade Silva’s 107.69. De Silva was in splendid form, getting 448 runswith two hundreds and two fifties at an average of 89.60. He emulatedMohinder Amarnath by nabbing the Man of the Match awards in both thesemifinals and final.Jayasuriya scored 221 runs in swashbuckling fashion, demoralising thebowlers totally. He also picked up seven wickets and was adjudged asthe Player of the Tournament. Ranatunga (241) and polished left-handerAsanka Gurusinha (307) were the other batsmen who played a notablerole in the triumph. Such was the strength of the batting that theservices of Hashan Tillekeratne and Roshan Mahanama were hardlyrequired. The bowling mainly revolved round Chaminda Vaas and MuttiahMuralitharan, and the two did their job commendably.

If Sri Lanka topping their group was a major surprise, the singlebiggest shock was provided by Kenya. The African nation pulled offarguably the biggest upset in the competition’s history by defeatingthe West Indies by 73 runs. In the face of a Kenyan total of 166, theWest Indies collapsed dramatically for 93. Kenya, however, stillfinished at the bottom of the group; following Sri Lanka wereAustralia, India and the West Indies in that order.In group B, things moved more according to prediction. South Africawon all five matches to finish on top, taking heavy toll of thebowling of the two weak teams, the UAE and Holland, and notching uptotals of 300-plus each time. Against the UAE, Gary Kirsten notched up188 not out, still the highest score in the World Cup. Pakistan, NewZealand and England followed in that order.The highlight of the quarter-finals was a high-voltage encounter atBangalore between India and Pakistan. To the jubilation of the homecrowd, India won by 39 runs. There was a minor surprise when the WestIndies got the better of hotly fancied South Africa, who buckled underpressure to lose by 19 runs at Karachi. In-form Sri Lanka were toostrong for England at Faisalabad, while Australia overcame a gallantchallenge from New Zealand at Madras.In the penultimate round, the West Indies, after having things wellunder control, went down to Australia by five runs at Mohali. In theface of an Australian total of 207 for eight in 50 overs, the WestIndies seemed to be cruising home at 165 for two. But the last eightwickets fell in a heap, and the West Indies were all out for 202 inthe last over.In the other semifinal at Calcutta, India too were in a strongposition with a score of 98 for one in reply to Sri Lanka’s 251 foreight. Thereafter it was a veritable procession of wickets, andLloyd’s decision in awarding the match to Sri Lanka following theresultant disturbances was the right one.

While the Sri Lankans predictably garnered many of the individualhonours, a few other players too left their mark. Sachin Tendulkar wasthe leading run-getter, scoring 523 runs with two hundreds and threefifties. Mark Waugh was not far behind with 484 runs, in the processbecoming the first player to get three centuries in a single WorldCup. Saeed Anwar (329), Aamir Sohail (272), Hansie Cronje (276),Andrew Hudson (275), Gary Kirsten (391) and Brian Lara (269) wereothers to be among the runs.Batsmen generally called the shots on subcontinental wickets, butthere were a few bowlers like Roger Harper (12), Damien Fleming (12),Shane Warne (12), Waqar Younis (13) and Anil Kumble (15) who bravedadverse conditions and performed commendably. The tournament alsomarked the end of Javed Miandad’s distinguished career, making him theonly cricketer to play in all the first six World Cup competitions.

14-20 Oct ’01 Preparation Week at RMA SandhurstSat 27 Oct ’01 Depart Heathrow (tbc) Arrive Adelaide 29 Oct ’01Fri 16 Nov ’01 1-day v South Australian Cricket Association Academy at Adelaide19-22 Nov ’01 1-day Tournament at Adelaide involving Australian Cricket Board Under 19, Bangladesh Cricket Board Under 19, South Australia 2nd XI, Queensland Association of Sport03-06 Nov ’01 4-day v Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy (Australian equivalent of ECB NA) at AdelaideSat 15 Dec ’01 Depart Adelaide (tbc) Arrive Heathrow 16 Dec ’01Jan ’02 (tbc) Preparation Days 2 days – Venue tbcSat 12 Jan ’02 Depart Heathrow (tbc) Arrive Adelaide 14 Jan ’0221-24 Jan ’02 4-day v Victorian Cricket Association 2nd XI at the MCG, Melbourne26-29 Jan ’02 4-day v Australian Capital Territories 2nd XI at CanberraSat 02 Feb ’02 1-day v Australian Cricket Board Country XI at Bowral11-14 Feb ’02 4-day v South Australia 2nd XI at Adelaide25 Feb-01 Mar ’02 1-day Tournament at Sydney involving Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy, New South Wales 2nd XI, New South Wales Colts10-13 Mar ’02 4-day v Western Australia 2nd XI at PerthFri 15 Mar ’02 Depart Adelaide (tbc) Arrive Heathrow 16 Mar ’02

India completed a comprehensive victory over England in the first Test match at Mohali after the tourists were bowled out in their second innings for 235, leaving the home side needing just five runs to win. Anil Kumble took six for 81 as only Graham Thorpe put up any significant resistance. As their captain Nasser Hussain said afterwards, England have a lot of thinking to do before the second Test starts in Ahmedabad next week.It didn’t take India long to prise the first opening this morning, after Mark Butcher and Marcus Trescothick resumed their overnight partnership. Trescothick took two early boundaries with square drives off Yohannan, and Butcher took his first from Yohannan as Sourav Ganguly bungled a dive at extra cover. But Butcher was then fatally late on a pull shot, perishing as the top edge went to the substitute, Jacob Martin, at midwicket.Nasser Hussain showed his current form with two flowing boundaries off Anil Kumble, one through the covers and the other through mid-on. But Yohannan struck again when Trescothick (46) failed to get on top of a hook and was brilliantly caught by Iqbal Siddiqui, running round from the long leg boundary. Hussain then tried to cut a ball from Kumble that was too full for the shot and bounced more than he expected, chopping it into his stumps. The England captain had made 12 and departed with the score on 87 for 3.Graham Thorpe relieved some of the tension with a flowing off drive, and Mark Ramprakash took his first two boundaries with sweeps behind square leg. At lunch England were still 104 runs behind with seven wickets left.The afternoon session started quietly, with the 50 partnership coming up as Ramprakash steered Yohannan past point for three as Harbhajan chased down to third man. Harbhajan himself, inexplicably ignored for much of the morning by his captain, eventually came on to bowl the 53rd over of the innings, and was greeted by a sumptuous drive by Thorpe to the extra cover boundary. Ramprakash produced a quality stroke of his own in Kumble’s next over, deftly using the pace of the ball to run it down for four to third man.But Kumble inflicted another body blow on England when he trapped Ramprakash, plumb lbw back on his stumps with a quicker, skidding delivery to leave England on 159 for 4. Flintoff began with a boundary on his 25th birthday, but that was as far as the celebrations went. He was on his way next ball, caught by Ganguly at silly point off bat and pad to leave England deep in the mire. Craig White also began aggressively, with boundaries off Kumble through the covers and Harbhajan over mid-off.Sadly for White and for England it wasn’t to last. It was a defensive shot that undid White as he pushed forward to Harbhajan; he got a thin outside edge and Dasgupta completed the dismissal. James Foster managed to avoid a pair in his first Test, but had made just five when he tried to sweep Harbhajan just as he had done in the first innings, and was given out lbw by umpire Venkat. James Ormond followed swiftly, bowled off his pads for a duck as he went back to Kumble to leave England on the brink at 207 for 8. England’s final hope was extinguished with Graham Thorpe, who fell for 62, caught and bowled by Kumble as he tried to hit the leg-spinner back down the ground.Shortly after ensuring that India would bat again, England lost their last wicket when Dawson was bowled through the gate by Kumble to leave England 235 all out. India took just two balls to complete their victory as makeshift opener Siddiqui took four off Hoggard to third man and then a single to midwicket. In the end India had done it at a canter, and Anil Kumble was made man of the match for his six for 81.