* Yet another change in England tour schedule

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was at their favourite game of making changes to the already announced India-England itinerary on Monday. The latest change sees the fifth one-dayer being shifted from Kanpur to Mumbai. The third one-dayer scheduled earlier to be held at Mumbai will (surprise, surprise) now be held at Kanpur.

The change has reportedly been made to make it easy for the England team to take a direct flight to New Zealand where they will be touring next. Meanwhile, the opening tour game at Mumbai has also been changed into a two-day affair. That the changes have followed the visit of England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Tim Lamb is noteworthy.

Warm-up games: Nov 18-19 Mumbai President's XI (Mumbai), Nov 22-24 Board President's XI (Hyderabad), Nov 27-29 India A (Jaipur)

Tests: Dec 3-7 First Test (Mohali), Dec 11-15 Second Test (Ahmedabad), Dec 19-23 Third Test (Bangalore) A break for Christmas

Jan 17 Practice one-dayer (Mumbai), Jan 19 Practice one-dayer (Mumbai) One-dayers: Jan 22 First ODI (Chennai), Jan 25 Second ODI (Calcutta), Jan 28 Third ODI (Kanpur), Jan 31 Fourth ODI (New Delhi), Feb 3 Fifth ODI (Mumbai)

* Give the players a fair run: Ganguly

Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly reportedly feels that players must be given a longer tenure at the international level if India has to have a better team. He made the comments while talking about the way the team has failed in crunch situations.

"Definitely, it's frustrating when hopes are not fulfilled. It is natural to be disappointed. But it is also true that if you want the best performance from a cricketer, you will have to give him a good length of time. If you keep changing and chopping players frequently, you cannot build a team," the Press Trust of India quoted Ganguly as saying to Bengali newspaper 'Ganashakti'.

The Indian skipper also felt that the openers, who did a decent job in Sri Lanka, needed to translate good starts into big scores. He though was confident that with the injured five - Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra - having returned, the team would measure up to the challenge in South Africa.

"It is good that all the injured players have returned. There is no doubt it is the most difficult tour but we have a full strength team, so I am hopeful of doing well there", he said.

* Rameez Raja wields the stick

Former Pakistan captain Rameez Raja has come down heavily on India's decision to pull-out of the Asian Test Championship (ATC).

"I am sure history will see this (India's refusal to play against Pakistan) as an immature step," Raja told reporters. "Politics should stay away from cricket. There is no point in cricket boards making moral judgements."

The Board of Control of Cricket in India had decided to pull-out the Indian team of the tournament after the union government refused to let the team to play Pakistan in Pakistan.

Raja also said that he did not see the two countries clashing on the cricket field in the immediate future. "Not in the near future... It's a sad story... (Indian) Cricket Board is a toothless body. They want to play but are not being let to play. The problem before us in Pakistan (cricket establishment) is whom do we talk to (in India to resume cricket ties)."

* Dev and Prabhakar head IT defaulters list

Outlook says that the Income Tax (IT) department has found Kapil Dev, Manoj Prabhakar and Mohammad Azharudin among others to be guilty of concealing huge amounts.

The magazine says that 'Operation Gentleman', which the IT sleuths conducted to flush out concealed income, assets and investments of cricketers, board officials, bookies and their "associates", has yielded findings that make shocking reading.

Kapil Dev's undisclosed income reportedly works out to be close to Rs 2.5 crores, "which could cross Rs 3 crore once the assessment proceedings begin". The report also discloses the amounts the others reportedly stashed away: the "James Bond of Indian cricket" Manoj Prabhakar - Rs 2.5 crore; Azharuddin - more than Rs 2 crores; Ajay Jadeja Rs 1.4 crores; opener-turned-commentator Navjot Singh Sidhu - about Rs 1 crore; former Indian off-spinner Nikhil Chopra - Rs 40-50 lakh); and Ajay Sharma - Rs 20 lakh.

Current Asian Cricket Council president and strongman of Indian cricket Jagmohan Dalmiya too might have to answer charges of money laundering if the report is to be believed.

© CricInfo