BCCI to finalise dates of Sri Lanka, South Africa tours

The Tour Programmes and Fixtures Committee of the Indian cricket board is to meet in Mumbai on May 31 to finalise the dates for the tours of Sri Lanka in August and South Africa in November-December.

The Committee, headed by Shashank Manohar, vice-president BCCI, will also finalise the India A and U-19 team's programmes for the coming season as well as the domestic cricket programme, including the Ranji, Duleep and Irani trophy tournaments, Niranjan Shah, BCCI Secretary and convenor of the meeting, told PTI.

Shah was in Colombo for the Asian Cricket Council's executive board meeting recently and discussed with Sri Lankan counterparts the proposed dates for the tri-series in Lanka featuring South Africa as the third team.

Shah is scheduled to go to New York along with Inderjit Singh Bindra, Punjab Cricket Association chief, for a June 3 meeting with West Indian board officials to finalise the proposed bilateral one-day series in September in North America.

The board is also planning to hold a triangular series at home after the team's return from South Africa and before the World Cup in March-April, 2007. "We are planning a two-week triangular programme featuring India, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, probably in January," said Shah.

The Champions Trophy's organising committee is also slated to meet in Mumbai on June 1, the date on which the Board's Special General Meeting to carry out amendments in its constitution has been convened, Shah added