West Indies in India

The Indian cricket board will not reschedule any of the one-day series against the West Indies despite crowd trouble at all the three matches played so far. "There is no threat to the series, it will be completed as scheduled," said Karunakaran Nair, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) The tourists won first two matches in Jamshedpur and Nagpur, both of which were briefly interrupted by missile-throwing fans. But Tuesday's game in Rajkot was forced to be abandoned after West Indian fielders were hit by plastic water bottles. The next two of the remaining four matches will be played in Ahmedabad on Friday and Baroda on Monday. Tamil Nadu right arm medium pacer L Balaji, who has been chosen among the 15-member Indian cricket squad for the fourth and fifth one-day internationals against the West Indies, said on Wednesday that the honour of playing for the country was a "God's gift" and that he must cement his place "with good performance in the matches." "I am hoping to be in the playing eleven and once that happens, I am confident of chipping in with good performances," he told today before leaving for Mumbai enroute to Ahmedabad to join the team members. Balaji, who was also in the India 'A' team on tours of South Africa and Sri Lanka earlier this year, said playing in the first division league in Chennai also helped his confidence. "The league in Chennai is the most competitive one in the whole of India and having been playing here I have improved upon my performance," he said. The Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) stands to earn up to Rs 80 lakh from New India Insurance if the India-West Indies match, to be played at Motera, near Ahmedabad, tomorrow, is abandoned for any reason, including crowd disturbance. Also, the GCA has group insurance for more than Rs 2.75 crore if either players or spectators are injured, according to Jitesh Patel, GCA media in-charge. In case of players, the cover includes injuries suffered from play or if spectators get unruly. In case of spectators, the insurance covers the GCA if someone has to be hospitalised. Nagpur Deputy Police Commissioner Vineet Agarwal, whose men had to check crowd misbehaviour during the second one-dayer between India and West Indies, has suggestions to offer other venues so that a repeat of the disruption at Rajkot can be avoided. His suggestions include the installation of a closed-circuit TV system. While the first and third one-dayers, at Jamshedpur and Rajkot respectively, were plagued by hooligans in the crowd - with the Rajkot one being abandoned - the Nagpur match was relatively incident-free and completed without any major disruption. There were only 600 policemen to tackle a crowd of 42,000 at Nagpur, Agarwal said. He said a closed-circuit camera system should be installed at all grounds. "Most stadiums in India, including the one at Nagpur, do not have such a system." Agarwal added, "In most cases, stadiums are packed to capacity and policemen have no place to move. Cricket associations should not be greedy for money. They should leave some places vacant for policemen in all stands."

England in Australia

England captain Nasser Hussain admitted his team was edgy in the opening Test match at the Gabba in which the visitors were trounced by 384 runs. And Warne joined Australian captain Steve Waugh and paceman Glenn McGrath by attempting to further undermine the tourists' confidence by firing yet another barb. England is yet to record a victory in five outings in Australia this summer and will have to produce a monumental turnaround to avoid slumping to its eighth Ashes series loss in a row. "They will be more nervous in the next one after going one-nil down and going to Adelaide," Warne said in Perth today. "I'd like to think they will be even more nervous." With such a constant attack on and off the field, it was no wonder Hussain quipped on tour eve he would have to make sure his soon-to-be-born child left Australia quickly in case it reverted to sledging him. The England team minus Hussain, who is in Perth to be with his pregnant wife Karen, will look to turn around its dismal tour in a three-day match against Australia A in Hobart starting on Friday. But Warne didn't believe a full-time sports psychologist would necessarily ease the tourists' problems. Australia have named an unchanged squad for the second Ashes Test against England. The hosts have stuck with the 12 men who won the first Test in Brisbane by 384 runs. While the batting order appears settled, Australia's fastest bowler Brett Lee is competing with Andy Bichel for a place in the starting XI. Lee was dropped for the opening Test and responded by taking 10 wickets for New South Wales in an interstate match against Tasmania. Bichel took 2-74 in England's first innings, removing tailenders Andy Caddick and Ashley Giles, and was not called upon by Waugh in the second innings. The second Test begins in Adelaide on 21 November. Lillee claimed England's cricket officialdom partly had itself to blame for the team's catastrophic injury toll as Gough and several other injury-riddled players should never have been risked on Australian soil. "I couldn't believe they bought Goughy out," Lillee said in Brisbane yesterday. "They had a couple of guys who were a bit suspect and then they've had a bit of bad luck with young Simon Jones. "The cards haven't fallen right but maybe it wasn't the greatest of planning to start with, with bringing out a couple of guys that were under injury clouds. "That's sort of not been a smart thing to do." Gough was unable to bowl in Australia and flew back to Britain on Sunday after England made the inevitable decision to send him home with his painful knee injury. From the time he landed in Perth, he was constantly troubled by the injury and reported swelling and discomfort after net sessions in Brisbane and Adelaide. Australia A may have a personality problem, but there's no doubt about the job over the next three days - keep the English cricketers on the ropes. The problem has nothing to do with the players' characters. It is, as coach and national selector Allan Border said today, a question of just what sort of players should be in Australia's second best team. England's problems far more immediate. Coming off a first Test hiding, its problems compounded today with fresh concerns about the fitness of key allrounder Andrew Flintoff, who is in doubt for the match which starts at Hobart's Bellerive Oval tomorrow. The inclusion of seasoned batsmen like captain Jimmy Maher, Greg Blewett and Matthew Elliott in Australia A was criticised by Victorian coach David Hookes because everyone knew what they could do - pulverise England. Border said the makeup was an issue and the selectors had tried to work out exactly what it should become. "Talk to the players and they want Australia A to be the next best, they rate it that highly," the former Australian captain said.

Sri Lanka in South Africa

Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan will miss the five one-day internationals against South Africa this month after being ordered to tests on a hernia. And if surgery is required the off-spinner could miss Sri Lanka's one-day tour of Australia in December in order to be fit in time for the World Cup. Muralitharan is in little pain and will be available for this weekend's second Test at Centurion Park. But the tourists will be without captain Sanath Jayasuriya, who damaged ankle ligaments during last week's innings defeat in the first Test. Muralitharan, who was hit in the groin area while batting against South Africa's Andrew Hall, will return to Sri Lanka following the Test. As one would expect after a comprehensive innings victory, the South African cricket camp is in pretty buoyant mood, and they had their spirits further lifted on Wednesday. With Sri Lanka reeling from the loss of inspirational captain Sanath Jayasuriya with an ankle injury, South Africa's batting dynamo Herschelle Gibbs looked like he has recovered from the back injury he picked up minutes before the first Test at the Wanderers last week. A test to prove Gibbs' fitness was postponed until Thursday, but the Western Province opening batsman said on Wednesday that he was "confident" of starting Friday's second Test against the tourists in Centurion. "I have not felt any discomfort at all this week. Things are quite positive and I am confident of playing. Hopefully I can get a game this week," Gibbs said just before participating in the team's training session at the match venue yesterday.

Miscellaneous

New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns will make his long-awaited comeback from injury in a Canterbury trial match on Sunday. Cairns has played no cricket since breaking down in the Christchurch Test against England in March. He required surgery to his leg after that match in Jade Stadium and instantly faced a six-month lay-off. Now, across town at Hagley Park, Cairns will lead one of the two Canterbury sides in a one-day match. The 32-year-old has been a tremendous servant to New Zealand cricket, but injury has restricted him to 55 Tests and 151 one-day internationals.

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