Indian one-day series scrapped

LONDON - A mooted one-day cricket series between Australia and India in September has been scrapped.

Australian Cricket Board chief executive James Sutherland made the announcement with regret at Lord's today.

"India has withdrawn from the Super Challenge series," he said.

"From an ACB point of view we are quite disappointed, given that previously we had undertakings from the board in India that it would go ahead and we had put plans in place for it to go ahead.

"It was a great opportunity for Australian fans to see the great Indian players that we saw in the series just gone."

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president AC Muttiah informed the ACB by fax that his players were unavailable because of an already congested schedule.

The three-game series would have been held in Brisbane and Melbourne, indoors at Colonial Stadium.

A replacement for India will not be sought.

Australian captain Steve Waugh had previously questioned the availability of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and himself because their wives are due to give birth in September.

"They were all available to play and they were all going to play subject to nature taking its course," said Sutherland.

"It was a full strength Australian side but if someone went into labour at a time that clashed, we were going to be as understanding as possible."

Sutherland also said playing Test and limited overs matches in winter in tropical areas like Darwin, Cairns and Alice Springs was "a good option."

"One of the great things about the country we live in is that we can play cricket all year round if we find the right place," he said.

"I wouldn't like to put time frame on it, wouldn't like to be definitive but we've certainly looked closely at it."