Indian news round-up

BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele said on Saturday that the Australian cricket team's itinerary for their tour of India would be decided on December 22. Talking to PTI, Lele said the itinerary would be finalised during the tours and programme fixtures committee meeting to be held in Mumbai.

The tour fixtures which were to have been finalised by the first week of December, had to be postponed following the unavailability of the BCCI vicepresident and chairman of the tour and fixtures committee Kamal Morarka, as he was away on a foreign tour. Australia who arrive on February 7 next year, will play three Tests and five one-dayers.

A Pakistan Cricket Board official was quoted by the Pakistan newspaper 'The News' that the Pakistan side is ready to play India at any venue including the Sharjah where both the sides are to play in a tri-nation tournament, contrary to their earlier stand. PTI quoting the official who spoke to the 'The News' said Pakistan were willing to play India at any venue. "That's is why we've also agreed to play India in either Malaysia or Dhaka in a triangular series if it comes through," quotes PTI.

The PCB official was quoted as saying that "Pakistan had decided to stick to their policy of not mixing sports with politics and would be going to Sharjah as per their commitment with the Cricketers' Benefit Fund Series (CBFS). Pakistan had earlier said that it would not play its subcontinent neighbours elsewhere as the Indian Government had refused permission for the Indian squad to play a series there.

Kanpur police officials are keeping their eyes and ears open for the fourth oneday international between India and Zimbabwe to be played in Kanpur on Monday. A police official said that a sophisticated electronic surveillance net has been cast in Kanpur as part of stringent security measures to crack down on bookmakers and prevent match-fixing during the game, reports IANS.

A senior official of the Special Task Force (STF) Arun Kumar said "We will maintain strict vigil in and around the match venue through a call-scan system that has been installed in Kanpur." He added "The system will tap all mobile phone conversations in and around the Green Park stadium over the next three days. This will allow us to trace any call aimed at betting or match-fixing," However, Kumar refused to comment on the modus operandi saying "We cannot divulge our trade secret."

The second ICC under-17 Asia Cricket Cup tournament will be held in Dhaka, in February next year. This was announced on Saturday by a senior official Mahmudul Ul Haq Manu, the joint secretary of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).

Talking to AFP, Mahmudul ul Haq said "We have not fixed the schedule yet, but it will be held in February and we have started preparations." The BCB officials said "The preliminary rounds of the tournament are to be held in Rajshahi, Rangpur and Chittagong with Dhaka hosting the final."

The inaugural 12-nation tournament was hosted in Karachi this year, as part of the ICC's cricket development programme in Asia. Bangladesh won the opportunity to host the second tournament ahead of Sri Lanka and Singapore.

Sreekumar Nair, who is in the Kerala Ranji Trophy side will lead the State under-22 side against Tamil Nadu in South Zone under-22 tournament to be played in Chennai from Dec 14 to 16. This was announced by the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) secretary S Haridas. Kerala's next two matches will be against Karnataka (Dec 20 to 22) and Goa (Dec 26 to 28).

The team: Sreekumar Nair (Capt), Ramakrishnan (Vice-capt), Varun Girilal, Premjith, Vipin Lal, Samith, Baiju, M K Vinod, C M Deepak, C M Shyam, Shaju Mathan, Prashant Chandran, Tinu Yohannan and Mohammed Fazil. Coach: S Rajesh. Manager: C Balachandran