Indian news round-up

The East Zone qualifying league matches for the Wills Trophy, hosted by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), will be played at the Eden Gardens and the CC & FC grounds, Calcutta from December 3 to 10. The following are the fixtures:

Dec. 3: Bengal vs Assam (CCFC); Orissa vs Tripura (Eden). Dec. 5: Orissa vs Assam (Eden); Bihar vs Tripura (CCFC). Dec. 7: Bengal vs Tripura (CCFC); Orissa vs Bihar (Eden). Dec. 9: Bengal vs Bihar (Eden); Assam vs Tripura (CCFC). Dec. 10: Bengal vs Orissa (Eden); Bihar vs Assam (CCFC).

Meanwhile, the victorious Calcutta Colts Cricket Club arrived from a month-long tour of England where they won 18 of the 19 matches it played. Five players of the side have been asked to stay back by some local English clubs.

Hyderabad will host the all-India invitation Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup cricket tournament for the Coromandel King Trophy from September two. Amit Pathak will lead the Andhra team in the tournamant and Madhukar will be his deputy.

The squad: Amit Pathak (captain), N Madhukar (vice captain), MSK Prasad (wicket keeper), RV Prasad, I Srinivas, YS Ranganath, LN Prasada Reddy, Y Venugopala Rao, Noor Md Khan, H Watekar, VJT Ram Mohan, Y Gnaneswara Rao, PAVN Raju and ASK Varma.

Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta was elected unopposed and retained as the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) president while Nandan Bezberuah was elected the secretary. Ghanashyam Baruah was elected as the treasurer of the association. The ACA elections were held during the annual general meeting held in Nagaon on Sunday reports the Assam Tribune.

Six vice-presidents Probin Gogoi (Central), Dr Brajen Gohain (East), Rupkamal Kakoty (North), Dr Kamala Kalita (West), Rabin Deka (Rly), Sudhendu Paul (South) - were elected uncontested. Bikash Baruah and Shyamal Bora were elected joint secretaries while Achyut Borthakur is the assistant secretary.

Kent's overseas star Rahul Dravid's more than run a ball century helped Kent score a comfortable victory over Worcestershire at Canterbury on Sunday in the National League Division One. Worcestershire were bowled out for 184 in 41 overs chasing Kent's total of 228 for 8 of 45 overs and lost the game by 44 runs.

A middle order collapse, triggered by Kent's Saggers, McCague and captain MV Fleming who between them picked up seven wickets led to Worcester's downfall. From 81 for one they lost seven wickets for the addition of just 29 runs. SJ Rhodes (41) and RK Illingworth (21) revived the innings with their 45-run partrnership for the eighth wicket but this was not enough.

Earlier, Dravid coming in at the fall of the second wicket at 23, and JB Hockley (64) added 99 runs for the third wicket to rescue Kent. Along with PA Nixon, Dravid added 85 runs for the fifth wicket. He was the sixth batsman dismissed when the score was 212. Dravid's belligerent 104 was made off 98 balls which included 12 hits to the fence and two sixes. This is Kent's fifth victory in 13 games and they have 24 points so far. They are placed sixth in the competition.