Plot and silver plate for Sourav Ganguly

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation will present Indian cricket skipper Sourav Ganguly a plot of land for setting up a gymnasium and a silver plate with Kolkata's landmarks etched in gold for his contribution to Indian cricket.

The plot belonging to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is adjacent to Ganguly's Behala residence, Mayor Subrata Mukherjee told newspersons

The silver plate which Ganguly would receive at a felicitation function on July 30 would have Kolkata landmarks such as Howrah Bridge, Victoria Memorial and the Shahid Minar etched in yellow metal.

The Indian skipper would be given a citation on a silver plate framed in mahogany and also a diamond studded platinumring.

KMC's largesse would also extend to Ganguly's wife Dona, who would be gifted a set of gold ornaments.  

CAB to have alternate cricketing venue

In a bid to reduce the frequency of matches at the Eden Gardens, the Cricket Association of Bengal  has decided to have an alternate cricketing venue at a campus of the Jadavpur Univerisity near the E M Bypass.

The project, which will require a budget of Rs 26 lakh from the kitty of CAB for ground preparation, would mainly host the Board matches and local league engagements, CAB joint secretary Bablu Koley said.

"We have entered into an arrangement with the university to host our local league and junior level matches at the new ground. It will also be used by the university for their cricketing engagements," Koley said.

The CAB, he said, has entered into the agreement for a period of 10 years and would complete the ground preparation by end of this year.

Given the approval of the BCCI, some of the cricket matches in junior and local level would be held at the new venue from next year.

Waugh praises battling Bangladeshis

Steve Waugh says Australia will be chasing a quick kill on the third day of the first Test with Bangladesh but says his team will have to work hard for their victory.

Australia were perfectly placed to wrap up victory inside three days after building a 310 lead on the first innings and reducing Bangladesh to 70-1 in their second innings on Saturday.

History and form suggest Australia will cruise to victory, but Waugh said Bangladesh had impressed him with their fighting spirit.

"They can obviously play but they've got a lot to prove," Waugh said. "A lot of people have written them off and it was good to seem them play well."

Waugh completed a century before declaring Australia's first innings at 407 for seven, but said it was difficult scoring freely against the Bangladeshis.

"We really had to work hard for our first 150 runs so I think you have to give Bangladesh some credit for that, they bowled and fielded pretty well," Waugh said.

"They're very inexperienced...but we've found out that they can play." Darren Lehmann also scored a century but was full of praise for the Bangladesh bowlers.

"Obviously they haven't got a lot of quick bowlers but what they did was bowl in the right areas and make it tough to score runs," said Lehmann, whose 110 was his first century on home soil.

"They bowled with discipline, they don't try and fire you out, they really try and work on their patience and that's a good game plan for them.

"We had to work really hard for our runs."

Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore said his side would have bowled out any other team in the world except Australia and he was encouraged by their performance.

"I really think the bowlers did a pretty good job," Whatmore said. "Against other sides, there were enough good balls to bowl them out, but we're playing Australia, the number one ranked team, and we saw what they're capable of.

It's going to be a long day for us tomorrow and we'll be tested to bat the whole day...but I reckon we're going along okay."

Australia considering more winter Tests

Australia is considering playing regular out of season matches in the country's tropical north after a successful start to playing Tests in winter.

Faced with an ever-tightening international programme, Australia broke with tradition by scheduling Test matches against Bangladesh in Darwin and Cairns, where it remains hot all year round.

Players and officials from both teams have already heralded the move as a great success and Cricket Australia boss James Sutherland said there were plans to play winter tests against Sri Lanka next year.

"We are keen to play a test against Sri Lanka here this time next year, but there is a bit of fine-tuning still to do on Sri Lanka's side," Sutherland told Australian radio.

"The weather is perfect to play cricket at this time of year and we are thrilled with the response we've had from the locals to this week's test match."

Miandad's nephew to lead Pakistan Academy to SA

Pakistan have identified discarded batsman Faisal Iqbal as a future leader by naming him to captain their Academy team to South Africa next month.

Iqbal, nephew of Pakistan coach Javed Miandad, has been chosen ahead of more seasoned players despite being dropped from the senior team after the Sri Lankan tour in May.

The 22-year-old will lead a 14-man squad that will visit South Africa from August 4-25 to play two four-day and five one-day games.

The Squad:

Salman Butt, Faisal Athar, Bilal Asad, Naved Latif, Faisal Iqbal (captain), Asim Kamal, Junaid Zia (vice-captain), Adnan Akmal (wicketkeeper), Mansoor Amjad, Yasir Ali, Fahad Masood, Abdul Rauf, Khaqan Arsal Raja, Sohail Ahmad.