Cricket's tainted image after the match-fixing saga has cost Indian captain Sourav Ganguly one of the country's highest awards - the Padma Shri. Ganguly, who has no connection to the scandal, became an unfortunate victim of the game's tarnished reputation as his nomination for the prestigious Award was rejected despite his name being recommended by the panel of judges. No cricketer was originally nominated for the awards this year, but the panel added Ganguly's name to a list, which comprised several other sport stars. The panel however removed Ganguly's name from this year's awards.

West Indian Test umpire Steve Bucknor called a Windward Islands bowler for throwing in a Busta Cup match. Off spinner Shane Shillingford was removed from the attack on the opening day of the Windwards' game against Leeward Islands at St George's, Grenada, after Bucknor no-balled thrice". Shillingford was called twice when Bucknor was standing at square leg. When he was switched to the same end at which Bucknor was standing, the veteran of 54 Tests and 80 one-day internationals called Shillingford again. Under Law 24 of the Laws of Cricket, the bowler had to be removed immediately from the attack for the remainder of the innings following his third transgression.

The Southern Premier League in England have been asked to have a policy change over the implementation of stricter restrictions on overseas cricketers playing in the English Club competition this summer. The league has been asked to reverse a decision accepted in March to restrict overseas players to one per club during the coming season. Clubs should continue to be free to 'sign on' as many overseas players as they like, provided only one 'foreign national' plays in a particular match. It has been argued that it is 'unfair' for their second teams to be restricted to English-only players when 13 other clubs - whose 1st XIs play in Division 3 - could theoretically turn out overseas players against them. The Southern Premier League has an important development role to play in the ECB's endeavour to raise the playing standards in the country. It is the Premier League's belief that, unless tighter controls on overseas players are introduced, promising 'home grown' youngsters could lose their opportunities and lose interest in the game. The Premier League wants overseas players turning out in the league to get involved in coaching and help run junior cricket in the clubs.

West Indies greats from the past 50 years have been asked to play a part in building a successful team of the future. The likes of Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Viv Richards, Joel Garner and Curtly Ambrose will be invited to provide coaching at a new West Indies cricket academy, which opens at St George's University in Grenada in May this year.

Former Australian great Dennis Lillee cautioned India that they should bear in mind the absence of injured leg spin ace Anil Kumble while preparing pitches for the coming three Tests series against Australia as they could fall victims to Shane Warne or Stuart MacGill instead. "If the BCCI is going to prepare turning wickets, they should remember Kumble's absence", he said, adding in the case of flat wickets "the Australians will be more successful than the Indians".

After Steve Waugh's good deeds in Kolkata it's the turn of Sourav Ganguly. Kolkata's own prince Sourav Ganguly has decided to auction one of his signed cricket bats to raise funds for a 10-year old boy. The youngster, whose name is Bidurin Chakrabarty stays in Siliguri and needs a bone marrow transplant immediately. Ganguly will himself be present at the auction, which takes place on January 30. Ganguly stated that he was proud to be associated with such an event. "A bone marrow transplantaion costs something to the tune of Rs 10 lakhs. So if I can contribute in raising a part of the amount, I will feel that I have done something for the boy. Like everyone else, he also deserves a chance to enjoy life." The West Bengal Minister for State Urban Development had approached Ganguly, who readily agreed. Ganguly will only auction one of his bats. He however, did not specify as to which bat he would put up for auction.

The Indian cricket team is reported to have acquired a new computer software product that will allow quicker and more accurate analysis of players' performances. According to the team coach John Wright the software is a very sophisticated piece of editing and data collection, which makes the task of watching performances easier for a player or coach. The software product would be installed on a laptop computer, which would in turn be connected to a television feed of the game. It allows players to look at their own performances at the end of the game or during the game. The software, developed by a Bangalore based company, has an added advantage of combining the visuals with the statistics.

Scores at a glance…

At Agartala (East Zone vs South Zone)
South Zone:
113 (Mohanty 10-46) & 177 (VVS Laxman 40, RS Dravid 66; DS Mohanty 4-45, Sukhvinder Singh 6- 57)
East Zone:
124 (J Srinath 6-32) & 71-2 (SS Das 49 not out)

At Delhi (North Zone vs Central Zone)
North Zone:
690-8 decl. (V Dahiya 81, V Rathore 94, Yuvraj Singh 34, D Mongia 208, V Shewag 43, RS Sodhi 137, Harbhajan Singh 42; DS Bundela 3-108, R Kanwat 3-122)
Central Zone:
81-1 (AR Khurasiya 45 not out)

Carlton Series in Australia
At Adelaide (8th match)
West Indies:
123 in 35.1 overs (Brett Lee 4-33, Damien Fleming 3-32)
Australia:
124-0 in 2.5 overs (Darren Lehmann 50 not out, Damien Martyn 69 not out)
Result: Australia won by 10 wickets
Man of the match: B Lee (Aus)

DID YOU KNOW?
India's inaugural Test match at home (against England at the Bombay Gymkhana) was the first ever Test match to include play on a Sunday - December 17, 1933 - the third day of the Test match. It was also the day when Lala Amarnath scored India's first ever Test hundred.

Yesterday's News

Compiled by: Mohandas Menon