Indian news round-up

Despite being slapped with a ban in the last match of the India- Zimbabwe Oneday series, Ganguly has retained the spot of Numero Uno with respect to the batting averages for the calender year 2000, finishing with a tally of 1,569 runs from 32 matches at an average of 56.39.

Ganguly who finished his engagements for the year with the Zimbabwean tour of the country finished way ahead of the South African opening batsman Gary Kirsten who tallied 1,467 runs in the 36 matches he got to play. Incidentally this is the third time in four years that Ganguly has headed the averages. Sachin Tendulkar who finished first in 1998 broke the sequence.

For the record, Ganguly actually missed two matches this year, the first being the last match of the Carlton and United series in Australia and then the last match of the Zimbabwean series at Rajkot for which he was suspended.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in a press release in Mumbai on Monday said that the England Under-19 team would play three `Tests' against the Indian under-19 team at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai (from January 9-12, 2001), Chennai (from January 20-23) and Hyderabad (from January 26-29).

The team is also scheduled to play three one-day matches soon after the `Tests', at Rajkot (February 4), Ahmedabad (February 6) and Baroda (February 8) before leaving for the United Kingdom on February 9. The English team would also play two three three-day games at Pune (January 1-3), Mumbai (January 5-7) and Chennai (January 15-17) prior to each of the three `Tests'.

The itinerary: Dec 28, 2000: Arrival in India; Dec 29-31: Rest/ practice in Pune; Jan 1-3, 2001: Three-day game in Pune; Jan 5-7: Three-day game at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai; Jan 9-12: First `Test' at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai; Jan 15-17: Three-day game at Chennai; Jan 20-23: Second `Test' at Chennai; Jan 26-29: Third `Test' at Hyderabad; Feb 2: One-day practice game; Feb 4: First one-day international at Rajkot; Feb 6: Second one-day international at Ahmedabad; Feb 8: Third one-day international at Baroda. Feb 9: Departure for UK from Mumbai.

The secretary of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), Ratnakar Shetty said in Mumbai on Saturday that the reigning champions of the Ranji Trophy tournament, Mumbai, has been invited to take part in a three day long one day tournament to be held at the WACA in Perth from March 29 to April 4, 2001.

Speaking to Press Trust of India, Shetty said that MCA had been informed of the invitation by a fax and added that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has also confirmed the team's participation to the Australian Cricket Board (ACB).

Apart from the Mumbai team, the tournament will feature the current domestic champions from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India. The Western Warriors, Western Australia's state cricket team are the Mercantile Mutual Cup champions for 1999-2000 while the winners of the South Africa's Standard Bank Cup and New Zealand's Shell Cup are yet to be decided.

The proposed itinerary of the tournament: March 29: South African champs vs New Zealand champs; March 30: Western Warriors vs Mumbai; March 31: South African champs vs Western Warriors; April 1: South African champs vs Mumbai; April 2: New Zealand champs vs Western Warriors; April 3: Mumbai vs New Zealand champs; April 4: Final.

The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) in a press release in Mumbai on Saturday said that India's star batsman Sachin Tendulkar and Indian paceman Ajit Agarkar have been included in the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team for their match against Baroda to be played at the MIG ground in Mumbai from December 23 to 26.

The team, which is being led by stumper Sameer Dighe, will be retained for their next match against Maharashtra slated to be played at Kolhapur from December 29 to January 1. Ashok Mankad will be the coach of the team.

The team: Samir Dighe (captain), Amol Muzumdar (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli, Ajit Agarkar, Wasim Jaffer, Paras Mhambrey, Sairaj Bahutule, Nilesh Kulkarni, Vinayak Mane, Robin Morris, Rajesh Pawar, Ramesh Powar, Santosh Saxena and Abhijeet Shetye.