All posts by csb10.top

Delhi and Uttar Pradesh finished their league engagements with outright wins over Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad respectively to top their groups. Saurashtra and Baroda duly played out draws in their final games to end up second in their groups. The top two teams in each group ended tied at the same number of points, and were separated on the basis of outright wins and better quotient. UP had won one more match than Baorda, while Delhi had a better quotient than Saurashtra. In the semi-finals, UP will face Saurahstra in Vadodara while Delhi will take on Baroda in Indore.
ScorecardWith Delhi needing 95 runs to win the match, the only contest in Chennai was whether Delhi would get a bonus point. That contest ended when Aakash Chopra got out in the 11th over of the day, even as Delhi cruised to an eight-wicket win over Tamil Nadu. With Saurashtra drawing their match against Mumbai, the bonus point proved immaterial as Delhi still ended at top of Group A. Gautam Gambhir scored 40, and Mithun Manhas a quick 32 off 21 balls.
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Coming in at No. 7, Dwaraka Ravi Teja scored an unbeaten 133 off 112 balls, including a last-wicket partnership of 84 with Vishal Sharma who contributed 12, but could only delay the inevitable as Uttar Pradesh won by 132 runs with time to spare. Teja came in to bat at 121 for 5, after Praveen Kumar and Sudeep Tyagi had taken three quick wickets in the morning. But Teja took the attack to the bowlers, scoring his highest first-class score and his second century.Praveen Kumar, though, kept chipping away, and steadily brought Hyderabad close to their end and finished with career-best figures of 6 for 65. With the win, UP assumed the top position in Group B.Karnataka 545 for 9 dec beat Maharashtra 276 and 140 (Vinay Kumar 6-38, Joshi 4-18) by an innings and 129 runs
Scorecard A season that had started brightly ended in gloom for Maharashtra as they folded meekly in the second innings to lose to Karnataka by an innings and 129 runs in Ratnagiri. R Vinay Kumar, who had rattled Maharashtra with a hat-trick yesterday, took three more wickets to extend his lead in the wicket-takers’ list, the 6 for 38 being his best bowling figures. Vinay Kumar, who has 40 wickets at an average of 18.52, will take no further part in the Ranji Trophy, though, as Karnataka had been knocked out even before the start of the match. The other four wickets went to Sunil Joshi, who is currently the third-highest wicket-taker with 34 wickets.Resuming the day at 18 for 3, needing another 251 to make Karnataka bat, Maharashtra never looked like they would make a fight of it. Although there was a fifth-wicket partnership of 68 between Venugopal Rao and Yogesh Takawale, once Takawale fell at the team score of 107, the rest added only 33. Rao scored 56.
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The match between Mumbai and Saurashtra ended for all competitive purposes the moment Delhi completed their chase against Tamil Nadu in Chennai. Only a first-innings result was possible in Saurashtra – not that it would make any difference in the semi-final line-up – and Saurashtra grabbed that lead after Mumbai collapsed from 426 for 4 to be bowled out for 463. Overnight batsmen – not out in the eighties – Amol Muzumdar and Ajinkya Rahane scored big hundreds, but the rest of the line-up got out cheaply. Muzumdar scored 187, Rahane 149 and Sandeep Jobanputra took his third five-wicket haul of the season, as Saurashtra made it to the semi-finals.
ScorecardBaroda opted for batting practice in another inconsequential draw, as only an outright result between Baroda and Orissa could have altered the table standings. With three days gone and only a lead of 81 to Baroda’s credit, going for a win was always going to be improbable. Pinal Shah made his first century of the season, to go with two half-centuries, as he scored 148. Rajesh Pawar scored 91 as Baroda had reached 424 for 9 when play was called off.

England A 228 for 7 (Solanki 94, Bell 61, Khuram Khan 3-56) beat United Arab Emirates 186 for 9 (Ashgar Ali 42, Khuram Khan 41, Shah 4-40) by 42 runs
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England A recorded a 42-run victory in the first of four matches against the United Arab Emirates. Batting first in a floodlit match at Sharjah, they made 228 for 7, with most of the runs coming in a second-wicket stand of 138 between Vikram Solanki and Ian Bell, the captain.Solanki and Bell came together after Matt Prior was caught and bowled for a duck by Ahmed Nadeem. Solanki smashed five sixes – but only two fours – as he romped to 94. Bell was slightly more circumspect, managing only two sixes and three fours himself, as he scored 61. Both eventually fell to Khuram Khan, the UAE’s 33-year-old captain and left-arm spinner, who finished with 3 for 56.Wickets fell at regular intervals after that, although Alex Gidman (21 not out) and Alastair Cook (20 from 14 balls) played brightly towards the end.The UAE’s innings began badly. They slumped to 23 for 3 after Rashid Khan was run out and David Harrison and Jon Lewis took a wicket apiece. Then Khuram and Asghar Ali shared a handy partnership of 79, before Asghar fell for 42. The wicket came from an unexpected quarter: Owais Shah, who didn’t bowl at all in 21 one-day games for Middlesex at home last season, and who has taken only eight one-day wickets in a ten-year county career, had Asghar caught by Solanki. Shah’s offspin then accounted for the dangerous Khuram for 41, after he had hit two sixes and a four. Shah also removed Ahmed Nadeem and Fahad Usman, to end up with 4 for 40.Shah’s surprise burst left the UAE struggling at 138 for 7, and although Ali Asad (24) and Sameer Zia (22 not out) played sensibly, there was never much danger of an upset.The second of the four floodlit matches will be played tomorrow (Sunday Feb 27) at Sharjah.

South Africa 175 for 1 (Gibbs 93*, Smith 58) beat Zimbabwe 174 for 8 (Streak 54) by nine wickets

From a neutral spectator’s point of view, this was one-day cricket at its most unappetising. The side batting first – Zimbabwe – never scored enough runs and their lack of firepower meant that they had little chance of springing an upset when South Africa batted. The only surprise was that the half-full ground at Sophia Gardens had not left in search of a more even contest – the school bully picking on the smallest boy in the local playground for example – long before the formality of Herschelle Gibbs hitting the winning run.With South Africa finding their form, the odds were stacked against Zimbabwe anyway, and when Heath Streak lost the toss in conditions which were going to favour the bowlers early on, and on a ground where the side chasing is historically at an advantage, Zimbabwe were on the back foot. From the start of their innings through to the premature end of the match, they never got off it.South Africa’s decision to field under leaden skies at Cardiff was justified by a polished bowling performance which left Zimbabwe struggling to post any kind of total. Only a defiant fifty by Streak enabled Zimbabwe to reach 174 for 8 in their 50 overs, but that was far more than looked likely at the halfway stage when they were languishing at 67 for 4. South Africa were in no mood to be generous, and Graeme Smith and Gibbs powered them to within touching distance of the finishing line with clinical efficiency.Zimbabwe’s innings never gained any real momentum – the run-rate hovered under three an over almost throughout – and none of the top-order batsmen tried to break the stranglehold first applied by Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini. Only one over in the first 25 went for more than four runs – the eighth of the innings from Ntini which produced 13 – and the batsmen found the combination of a seaming ball and some good ground-fielding almost impenetrable. The early frustration accounted for Doug Marillier – caught for 4 when he tried to pull a ball from Ntini which was on him quicker than he expected (11 for 1) – and Travis Friend, who was bowled by Charl Langeveldt attempting a indescript leg-side waft for 12 (36 for 2). When Jacques Kallis got one to leap at Dion Ebrahim there was little the batsman could do except fend the ball to the wicketkeeper, Mark Boucher (38 for 3).Grant Flower and Tatenda Taibu set about rebuilding, and for a time looked to have stemmed the flow of wickets. Taibu rode his luck, edging Ntini over Boucher’s fingertips off an attempted hook, but the introduction of Paul Adams brought the stand to an end. Adams’s variety worried the batsmen – some balls were bang on target, others surprisingly wayward – but Taibu was deceived by a straight one and trapped leg-before with the last ball of the 25th over. When Stuart Matsikenyeri clipped Andrew Hall straight to Jacques Rudolph at backward square-leg for 1 a sub-100 total loomed (80 for 5).Streak had other ideas and, circumspect at first, he then counter-attacked, smashing two fours off in one over from Hall, then cracking Kallis for a four and the next ball bringing up his fifty with a lofted six over extra cover. The crowd, subdued for most of the morning, finally, briefly, came to life. Kallis got his revenge with the first ball of his next over when Streak dragged a wide ball into his stumps for 54.Faced with an undaunting asking rate of under three-and-a-half an over, Smith and Gibbs could have bored the crowd into submission, but they chose to smash the bad balls, and there was no shortage of them from the wayward Zimbabwe bowlers. Smith reached his fifty without really looking convincing while Gibbs, who came into this match wondering where his next run was coming from, was not going to waste the opportunity to make a score, even if he will face more testing challenges in his local club’s nets. England’s bowlers will not have appreciated Zimbabwe’s profligacy in bowling him back into form.Gibbs, who was named Man of the Match, had two pieces of luck. He survived a confident appeal for a catch behind off Streak – the replays were inconclusive but Streak clearly through he had his man – and was then bowled off an Andy Blignaut no-ball. Gibbs might look back on this match as a watershed, but even if he had been dismissed on either occasion the outcome of the match would not have been affected.Smith eventually fell for 58, nibbling at Sean Ervine with 21 runs needed, but by then Zimbabwe’s body language showed that the white flag had long since been raised. They travel to Bristol to play England tomorrow needing to improve on every single aspect of their game. The gulf between them and South Africa today was a chasm, and their win over England at Nottingham must feel as if it was an age ago.

Jimmy Adams and Chris Tremlett return to Frizzell Championship action for Hampshire, when they take on Glamorgan at The Rose Bowl this week (Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri 15,16,17,18 July). Robin Smith and Alan Mullally are still unfit and there is still no place for Ed Giddins.Jimmy Adams returns having played the opening Championship match of the season at Worcester, having captained Loughborough University and impressed with a string of good scores for the Hampshire 2nd XI.Chris Tremlett who bowled well in the National League defeat on Sunday, returns after a 7 week absence.Robin Smith and Alan Mullally both with hamstring problems were close to selection, however it was decided not to risk either. It is hoped both will be fit for the floodlit encounter at Trent Bridge next Monday evening.Hampshire Team: Derek Kenway, Jimmy Adams, Simon Katich, John Crawley (captain), John Francis, Nic Pothas (wicket-keeper), Dimitri Mascarenhas, Shaun Udal, James Tomlinson, Chris Tremlett and James Bruce.

Karnataka 145 and 350 (Rowland 81, Arunkumar 58, Bharadwaj 50) beat Rajasthan 168 (Khoda 61, Kanwat 54, Ganesh 5-72) and 254 (Kanwat 84, Gupta 58, Ganesh 6-91) by 69 runs
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Karnataka registered their first victory of the season as Dodda Ganesh’s six-for dashed Rajasthan’s hopes at Jaipur. Chasing 328 for victory, Rajasthan were on course at 200 for 5 with Rahul Kanwat (54) and Pankaj Gupta (58) at the crease. But three wickets from Ganesh and two from Sunil Joshi settled the issue as Rajasthan fell 69 runs short.The bowlers made merry on the first two days as Karnataka were bowled out for 145. Ganesh made sure that Rajasthan gained only a slender lead despite half-centuries from Gagan Khoda and Rahul Kanwat. But the Karnataka batting showed marked improvement the second time around, with Barrington Rowland leading the way with a patient 81. However, the match belonged to Ganesh, who fittingly took the final wicket, to complete the victory.Railways 234 and 244 for 7 (Jai Yadav 101) beat Delhi 195 (Manhas 62) and 278 (Chawla 82, Dahiya 61) by 3 wickets
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Jai Prakash Yadav’s century steered Railways to a thrilling three-wicket victory over Delhi at the Karnail Singh stadium in Delhi. Pradeep Chawla got good support from the tail as Delhi added 80 runs to their overnight total. At 96 for 4 Railways’ task seemed insurmountable, until Yadav stood up to be counted.Both teams had disappointed in the first innings with the bowlers calling the shots. Mithun Manhas’s 62 was the only half-century scored by either team in the first innings. Delhi put up a better show in the second innings with Vijay Dahiya giving good support to Chawla. Even that was just not enough as Delhi tumbled to their second defeat in as many matches.Tamil Nadu 188 (Badrinath 86, Paul 7-44) and 397 for 4 (Badrinath 190, Sharath 101*) and 188 (Paul 7-44) drew with Bengal 400 (Haldipur 100, Sanyal 89)
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S Badrinath and S Sharath hit centuries as Tamil Nadu hung on for a draw against Bengal. Badrinath hit a massive 190, which included 32 fours and one six, while Sharath remained unbeaten at the end with a composed 101. Shib Paul toiled all day and took three wickets in his 35.4 overs.Earlier in the match Nikhil Haldipur and Sanjib Sanyal ensured that Bengal, for the first time this season, posted a worthy total. A depleted Tamil Nadu, without three of their main batsmen, crumbled to the medium-pace of Paul on the third day. Badrinath played the lone had with a fighting 86. Bengal were definitely better off at the end, but an outright victory would have smelt sweeter.Uttar Pradesh 205 (Pandey 77*) and 205 for 7 (Raina 50, Bahutule 6-48) drew with Mumbai 332 (Morris 93*, Thakkar 71)
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The Uttar Pradesh batsmen grimly hung on for a draw even though Sairaj Bahutule threatened to run through them at Lucknow. Suresh Raina and Jyoti Yadav shared a useful partnership, and Rizwan Shamshad also contributed with 35. Bahutule picked up six of the seven wickets to fall, but in the end Mumbai had to be content with first-innings points.The UP batsmen had struggled on the first day with only Gynendra Pandey’s 77 saving their blushes. The Mumbai top-order also found the going tough, although Robin Morris flayed the bowlers in his quickfire 93 and gave Mumbai a great chance. In the end, it counted only for first-innings honours.Hyderabad 410 for 9 (Yadav 91, Khaleel 89, Anirudh 68, Vinay 53, Konwar 6-141) drew with Assam 537 (Sathish 133*, Sukhvinder 112, Saravanan 89, Das 71)
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It was batsmen all the way at Guwahati as Hyderabad refused to get bowled out and finished the match unscathed. Assam did not even get first innings points since they could not bowl out Hyderabad even once. Arjun Yadav and Ibrahim Khaleel missed out on hundreds, but spent sufficient time in the middle to ensure a drawn result.Ono the first two days, the Assam batsmen had made merry with R Sathish and Sukhvinder Singh feasting on centuries. Only the two offspinners, JS Yadav from Hyderabad and Assam’s Arnald Konwar, had a good time with the ball, picking up five and six wickets respectively.Andhra 458 (Venugopala Rao 115, Srinivas 116, Prasad 82) drew with Kerala 354 (Hemanth 94, Oasis 51)
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Andhra gained valuable first-innings points against Kerala at Vishakapatnam. After Andhra piled up 458 on the first two days, Shahid Shabuddin and Shankara Rao picked up four wickets apiece to bowl out Kerala for 354. Hemanth Kumar hit 94 and Sunil Oasis chipped in with 51, but in the end their efforts were in vain.Plate Championship First Round
Vidarbha 220 (Khare 56, Kapoor 6-84) and 287 (Gawande 60) drew with Tripura 336 (Sachdev 110, Jaiswal 76, Acharya 6-65) and 70 for 4
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A six-wicket haul by Aashish Kapoor could not ensure victory for Tripura, as the game petered out to a dull draw. Vidarbha’s innings closed at 220, after the lower order rallied around Samir Khare (56), which set Tripura a target of 172. But 34 overs were not enough, and Tripura shut shop, ending the day at 70 for 4.The match was notable for Kapoor’s match haul of 10 for 185, which kept his team in contention. Vidarbha’s batsmen spent a lot of time at the crease, but unlike Tripura’s Chetan Sachdev (110), could not convert their starts into substantial scores.Orissa 466 for 8 (Mullick 134, Behera 87, Mohapatra 83, Jakati 5-99) beat Goa 235 (Swapnil 126, Mohanty 5-44) and 132 (Bipin 5-46) by an innings and 99 runs
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Goa’s first match of the season ended in defeat, as it took Orissa only 33.3 overs to wrap up a comprehensive win. Goa’s second batting collapse dashed any hopes of a draw, as Orissa bundled out nine batsmen on the final day for only 91 runs. Bipin Singh, the medium-pacer, played the lead role, claiming a career-best haul, dismissing half the side for just 46 runs.In Goa’s first innings, Ashok Swapnil scored an unbeaten 126, even as wickets tumbled at the other end in the face of probing bowling by Mohanty and Bipin Singh. More than half the Goa total of 235 came off Swapnil’s bat. The Orissa openers replied with a hundred partnership, but were both dismissed when centuries were there for the taking. Pravanjan Mullick did not miss out, however, scoring a blazing 134 off 163 balls, and Orissa declared at 466 for 8. Goa’s best bowler by far was Shadab Jakati, who claimed 5 for 99 with his left-arm spin. Ultimately, the batting was toothless and Goa succumbed to a heavy defeat.Haryana 304 (Shafiq 71, Sunny 66, Ganda 57, Khajuria 5-117) and 102 for 2 (Jitender 56*) beat Jammu & Kashmir 96 (Vashisht 6-32) and 309 (Mahajan 63, Dar 50, Vashisht 6-102) by 8 wickets
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Gaurav Vashisht picked up 12 wickets in the match as Haryana comfortably beat Jammu & Kashmir by eight wickets at Rohtak. After following on, J&K put up a better batting display in the second innings, but a target of 102 was hardly threatening and Jitender Singh, Haryana’s captain, hit an unbeaten 56 to ease them home.After collapsing for 96 in the first innings, the J&K batsmen built useful partnerships with Dhruv Mahajan and Manzoor Dar notching up half-centuries. Haryana had scored 304 after batting first, with Shafiq Khan top-scoring with 71. Himachal Pradesh 291 (Virender Sharma 134, Fazil 5-73) and 118 for 5 (Bisla 76*) beat Services 233 (Reddy 66, Verma 58, Malik 5-56) and 175 (Chawda 56, Malik 6-42) by 5 wickets
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Maninder Bisla hit an unbeaten 76 and helped Himachal Pradesh begin the season on a winning note against Services. Services, 79 for 2 overnight, collapsed in a heap as Vikramjeet Malik picked up 6 for 42. Krushnasinh Chawda, the opener, was the only one who passed 50 in the Services second innings.Earlier, Virender Sharma’s 134 had swelled the HP innings to a healthy 291. Services too had a good start, but ultimately had no answer to Malik’s tricks.

More than 1,000 mourners filled Melbourne’s St Paul’s cathedral today to farewell Keith Miller, Australia’s greatest allrounder.Miller, who died on October 11 aged 84, played 55 Tests for Australia. He was also a wartime pilot who flew many Mosquito missions over Germany, a VFL footballer, a media personality and a raconteur. The mourners were led by Miller’s second wife Marie and his four sons Bill, Peter, Denis and Bob, his seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.Richie Benaud, the former Australia Test captain who played alongside Miller, said everything written and said about Miller since his death was true. “His name will live for as long as cricket exists,” Benaud said.Another former Australian captain Ian Chappell told of being taken to the Adelaide Oval by his father in the early 1950s to be given one simple instruction: “Watch Miller.” “That’s all my father told me, and that was all that I did,” Chappell told the congregation.While Benaud declared all the Miller stories true, John Bradman contradicted a few. Bradman, the son of Sir Donald, said any suggestion that Miller and his father had an uncomfortable relationship was false. “My father told me that he never had a more loyal supporter than Keith Miller,” Bradman said. “People speak of contrasts, but the similarities go deeper.”Among those who paid tribute at the state funeral were the governor of Victoria John Landy, Miller’s team-mates from the 1948 Invincibles, Neil Harvey, Sam Loxton and Bill Brown, and the Test players Lindsay Kline, Ian Meckiff, Ian Craig, and Paul Sheahan. Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting also attended.The funeral was followed by a wreath laying at the foot of Miller’s statue at the MCG where a wake was to be held in a room named in his honour.

It seems increasingly likely that Herschelle Gibbs will opt out of South Africa’s forthcoming Test tour of India, the scene of his infamous dalliance with match-fixing in 1999-2000, which led to a six-month suspension from the game.Gibbs, along with Nicky Boje, has been seeking assurances from the Indian board that he would be immune from prosecution if he was to set foot in the country again, and last week the pair answered and returned questionnaires sent by the Delhi Police as part of their ongoing investigations.However, the situation has been compounded by Gibbs’s wretched run of form in both international and, latterly, domestic cricket. He scored a scintillating hundred against West Indies in the Champions Trophy, but aside from that he has not passed fifty in either form of the game since March, and after consecutive defeats, he has been dropped by his provincial side, Western Province Boland, for the next round of the SuperSport Series.Western Province Boland were thumped by the Titans in their most recent SuperSport fixture, a defeat which has led to a purge of their senior players. Graeme Smith is taking a break to meet with South Africa’s new coach, Ray Jennings, but both Paul Adams and the former Zimbabwe allrounder, Neil Johnson, have joined Gibbs on the sidelines.In Gibbs’s absence, Henry Davids takes over at the top of the order, where he will form a new opening partnership with Andrew Puttick, the man who stepped in as cover for Gibbs in Sri Lanka earlier this year, and who will be among the favourites to take his place on the India tour. “Herschelle has made himself unavailable for India,” Western Province Boland’s coach, Peter Kirsten, told iafrica.com “and right now he’s taking a break. He’ll be back, and when it really counts, I’m sure we’ll see the real Herschelle Gibbs.”The United Cricket Board has yet to make such a forthright statement as Kirsten, although their spokesman, Gerald de Kock, did concede that Gibbs’s withdrawal was on the cards. “It won’t be a black mark against his name if he doesn’t tour,” he emphasised. “But it’s still not definite that he won’t go to India.”

Day Two report: Weekes and Brown make Zimbabwe payClose Middlesex 516 for 6 dec (Weston 129) and 86 for 1 (Strauss 36*, Shah 0*) lead Zimbabwe 401 for 4 (Carlisle 137, Taibu 49*) by 201 runsA sprinkling of rain brought Zimbabwe’s tour match at Shenley back to life, as Tatenda Taibu declared at tea on 401 for 4, still 115 runs adrift of Middlesex’s first-innings 516 for 6. By the close of a curtailed day, Middlesex had added 86 runs to their lead, for the loss of their first-innings centurion, Robin Weston.Zimbabwe’s man of the moment was Stuart Carlisle, who scored 137, his sixth first-class century. Carlisle played with care throughout his innings, although he scored more freely than appeared to be the case. He reached his fifty off 81 balls and celebrated with two handsome straight-driven fours, and after going to lunch on 93, he reached three figures five minutes into the afternoon session.His partner for most of the morning was Grant Flower, who had reverted to his early limpet days as an opening batsman. He scored just eight runs in the first hour and took 85 minutes and 60 balls for his first boundary, a cut past gully, although he followed up with two successive boundaries off Chris Peploe to reach his fifty off 125 balls.The Middlesex bowlers were more accurate than their Zimbabwean counterparts, but were unable to cause either batsman concern on a placid pitch. Finally, almost on the stroke of lunch, Flower swung at Peploe and was caught at the wicket for 65, from 154 balls. He rarely looked convincing and is still struggling for fluency.Carlisle’s century took him 177 balls – his third in two months after seven barren seasons. Gradually he began to play his strokes with more time to spare, more ease and grace, and with Taibu settling in at the other end, batting was at last beginning to look a simple business.Finally, though, Carlisle gave it away for 137, tipping Tim Bloomfield straight to the fielder on the square third-man boundary (351 for 4). Ervine took his time to settle in but then began to display his range of crisp, powerful strokes, including a pull off Bloomfield that landed far over the midwicket boundary.A light rain brought tea three minutes early, at which point Taibu declared, depriving himself of a fifty but resuscitating the match in the process. Unfortunately only 17 balls could be bowled before the rain returned, rather heavier this time. Play did not restart for 85 minutes and the extra hour was put into operation.Middlesex made a flying start, aided by the usual supply ofloose deliveries from the Zimbabwean seamers. Travis Friend’s openingspell of three overs yielded 26 runs, and some uncharacteristicmisfields did not help matters. The 50 came up in the eighth over, and Weston helped himself to 10 fours in his 41 off 43 balls. But Friend had the last laugh, producing a straight, good-length delivery totrap him lbw (74 for 1).Play finished 17 minutes early due to bad light, with Middlesex 201ahead, Strauss on 36 and Owais Shah yet to score. The stage was set fora very interesting final day.

Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has been in discussions with the rebel players in a bid to end the seven-month dispute which has left Zimbabwean cricket in chaos.A report in the Zimbabwe Independent claims that two board members – Ozias Bvute and Tavengwa Mkuhlani – approached Ray Gripper, one of the leading critics of ZC, at the end of October in a bid to kick-start talks between the two factions. A result was that meetings were held which put forward proposals aimed at reworking the board’s constitution, drafting new contracts and holding fresh elections.”Initially I was approached by Mkuhlani, who brought up the suggestion. I agreed with him and raised the matter with the players who also agreed,” Gripper told the paper. “We later held meetings with Mkuhlani and Bvute and we came up with proposals.”The paper added that it had seen minutes of the meetings, which referred to the rebels being brought back into the fold. “The qualification criteria for selectors as put forward by the players is accepted in total and not only partly,” the minutes stated. “The players who do agree to come back will be valued by [Zimbabwe’s coach] Phil Simmons. The only criteria to be used in this assessment are cricket skills and value, nothing else. Maybe any rejections could be supported by a report from Phil as to how he arrived at his assessment.”There is to be no interference by board members in selection or cricketing matters and their contribution should be largely restricted to the boardroom and committee meetings.”Bvute confirmed to the paper that there had been meetings. “Gripper made some suggestions to Mkuhlani. I met with Gripper, Mkuhlani and Pichanick and agreed that we had to take the suggestions to the board.”But Gripper warned that there was a long way to go, adding that the lack of any feedback or official response from ZC indicated that it might not be willing to agree to the proposals.

Deposing before the review committee on Tuesday, Sourav Ganguly professed his respect for Greg Chappell and pledged to play under him. According to a BCCI source, it was one of the key moments of a drawn-out drama that finally ended in compromise, with both men asked to work together for the betterment of Indian cricket.With the Indian board having a gag order in place, none of the cast involved was willing to talk on record, though Ganguly himself told reporters in Kolkata that he was looking forward to “some rest”. However, a member of the review committee told the Press Trust of India: “Indian cricket has reasons to be pleased with the outcome. Unfortunately, the media has missed the bigger picture and worked itself into a frenzy over the Sourav vs Greg theme”.The committee has neither worked out a compromise nor made Chappell’s position untenable, the member has claimed. “It’s rubbish to believe that Chappell is quitting. It is also absolutely wide off the mark to believe that Ganguly has gained ground and Chappell has been slighted,” he added. It was also stressed that if the committee had made public its disposition either in favour of Ganguly or Chappell, “the next few weeks would have whipped up extreme public reactions in favour or against the two gentlemen and it would have meant disastrous preparation ahead of the visit by the Sri Lankan team.”The contents of Chappell’s contentious e-mail have clearly not been forgotten though. According to the source: “As things stand today, the ball is in Ganguly’s court. He would be under pressure to perform in the next two series. If he does well, Indian cricket will move forward. If he fails, even then a new chapter in Indian cricket will take place.”Ganguly is conscious that the accusations by Chappell are still in the public domain, and every action of his would now be minutely observed. The next few series are in India which would imply that he can’t escape the glaring spotlight, observed the source. It was learnt that the only time Chappell was caught off-guard during the meeting was when Ganguly brandished two e-mails which the coach had written to journalists in which he had portrayed a poor picture of the Indian captain.One of the other significant issues discussed at the meeting was the possibility of the Indian team having separate Test and one-day captains. An eye was also cast at the five-member selection committee as it exists today. According to the source: “These are peripheral issues at best. Much of it will also depend on which way the board’s elections shape up.”Meanwhile, it was also revealed that Chappell had received an important “thumbs up” for his man-management skills from an official who toured with the Indian team in Sri Lanka in July-August. “It is distressing to see that Chappell is being portrayed as some kind of control-freak in relations to team members. From my Sri Lanka experience, I can safely say that he was most open and honest with team members and encouraged everyone to speak up their minds.”He has been encouraging everyone to develop their own rationale. It’s just not six-hat theory and all. I find it amazing when I read that he is stifling to others because my observation was exactly the opposite.”Ganguly has made known his intention to play in the Challenger Series, scheduled for Mohali between October 10 and 14. Interestingly, Chappell has also expressed his desire to watch the proceedings from the sidelines. The Irani Trophy, the curtain-raiser for the domestic season, is to be played in New Delhi from October 1 to 5, but neither Ganguly nor Chappell is likely to be seen there.