Bad weather turning out to be spoilsport

Bad weather, which forced the opening one-day match of Tamil Nadu's tour of Sri Lanka to be cancelled at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Thursday, is threatening to spoil the entire series scheduled against the Colombo District CA. The weather showed no improvement from what it was in the past few days, and the Colombo DCA were to meet late on Thursday to decide on the fate of the two remaining one-day matches scheduled at the Premadasa Stadium for Friday and Saturday.

The Tamil Nadu cricketers led by Ashish Kapoor, who arrived on Tuesday have so far been confined to practice at the NCC indoor nets because of the adverse weather conditions. Their main match of the tour is the four-day Gopalan Trophy against the Colombo DCA starting at the SSC grounds on Monday. The visitors are likely to be strengthened by the inclusion of Reuben Paul, T Kumaran and S Ramesh. The three players, who were among the 23 probables, were not included in the Indian side for the ICC knock out tournament in Nairobi next month.

PCB to suffer $200m loss if Indian visit is cancelled

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Tauquir Zia said that the PCB would incur a loss of $200 million if India calls off its tour to the country in December. Zia said this to reporters in Multan on Wednesday after attending a gold medal ceremony to honour ace Pakistan batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq. Zia added "India had earlier refused to take part in the Sahara Cup which caused a loss of Rs 55 million." Asked whether the matter would be taken up at the International Cricket Council (ICC), Zia said "there would be no use in raising the issue at the ICC because the Indian government would have the final say."

The PCB chairman however said contingency plans have been planned. He said "in case of India's refusal, Pakistan would play four Tests against Bangladesh and a six One-day International series against a World XI." A decision on India's tour to Pakistan by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be taken up at the AGM at Chennai on September 29-30. But it is upto the Government to clear the tour for it had earlier refused to give clearance to the Indian team to participate in the Sahara Cup in Toronto.

Plans to relocate NCA irks a few

The recent decision by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to shift the National Cricket Academy (NCA) from Bangalore to Chennai has come in for criticism. The honorary secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) Brijesh Patel, talking to Deccan Herald asked "Where is the need to move the academy to Sholinganallur, which is three hours drive from Chennai." He added "The Karnataka government has agreed to provide 30 acres of land near Peenya for the purpose. But many cricketers feel there is no need to move the academy as the Chinnaswamy stadium has all the requisite facilities."

Another board source asked what made the NCA chairman Raj Singh Dungarpur, who had praised the facilities at Bangalore, to shift the academy to Sholinganallur. NCA director Hanumant Singh, however, has refused to comment on the proposed BCCI move. KSCA sources said that Hanumant is reported to have said "I'm only the director of the NCA and I'll go wherever the BCCI takes the academy to."

Recently, board secretary JY Lele said in Mumbai that the Board had accepted the Tamil Nadu Government's allotment of free land for setting up the NCA in Chennai.

© CricInfo