Indian news round-up

The screening committee of the Asian Cricket Foundation (ACF) met in Kolkata on Wednesday to begin the process of finalising the panel of Development Officers as part of a programme to promote the game in the Asian region.

The screening committee, chaired by ACF chairman Jagmohan Dalmiya, went through the credentials of all nominees from three Test playing nations - India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The ACF had taken the decision to appoint three Development Officers with considerable cricketing background at its conclave in Lahore in May to improve the standard of the game in non-Test playing nations in the region.

Apart from Dalmiya, the screening committee comprises Tauqir Zia and Zakir Syed (both Pakistan), Duleep Mendis (Sri Lanka) and Ashraf-ul- Haq (Bangladesh). Tauqir Zia, the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), however, could not attend the meeting due to some other engagement in Pakistan.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has nominated four former Test players for the post of development officers. National selectors Ashok Malhotra and Madanlal, and former Test players Roger Binny and WV Raman are the four BCCI nominees. While Pakistan has sent a list comprising former skippers Mushtaq Mohammed and Zaheer Abbas and medium pacer Iqbal Sikander, Sri Lanka has recommended former cricketers Roy Dias, Rumesh Ratnayake and Brendon Kuruppu.

The Punjab Cricket Association has decided to organise an under-19 Minor District tournament from August 28 in which 14 district teams will take part. Giving this information, MP Pandove, secretary of the PCA said that the matches up to quarterfinal stage will be played at different district headquarters and the final will be played at Mohali on September 1.

The association is taking care to curb the menace of playing over-age players in the tournament and has drawn up a comprehensive plan to tackle it. All the district secretaries have been directed to get various X-rays of the players participating in the tournament and get these verified from the authorised radiologist on the prescribed proforma about the age of the player, Pandove added.

The secretary further said that the selectors of the Minor district committee have been appointed match wise to note the performance of the players so that the combined Minor Districts team may be selected. This team will play in the main tournament for the Dhruv Pandove Trophy along with five major district teams - Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala, Ludhiana and Chandigarh.

Former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar will lead the India over-30 team in the Cricket Club of India (CCI) one-day cricket tournament to be held at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai from December 29 to January 3.

According to CCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) from England and the Melbourne Cricket Club of Australia will be the two other contestants.

The MCC team is likely to be led by former England captain Mike Gatting while Sandeep Patil, K Srikkanth, Madan Lal, Dilip Doshi, Yashpal Sharma and Kiran More are expected to turn out for the Indian team.