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The Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA), during an internal meeting today, has formed 10 sub-committees that will work under court-appointed observer, former Justice Mukul Mudgal, in regards to the organisation of the fourth Test between India and South Africa. Justice Mudgal will be going to the Feroz Shah Kotla at 11am on Saturday morning for his first meeting with senior DDCA officials.”Today we have formed the 10 sub-committees that will be working for the smooth conduct of the Test match. Each committee will have a chairman and also have three-four members,” DDCA treasurer Ravinder Manchanda told PTI. “Tomorrow Justice Mudgal will be coming to Kotla for inspection and first meeting with the officials. We have asked all our executive committee members to be present.”However Manchanda said that they are yet to finalise the names of the members in each committee. “We will fill up the names by tomorrow. We will need tosee what Justice Mudgal advises,” he said. “We will certainly obey and follow his instructions.”

Four internationals helped themselves to half centuries as India A ended the opening day against Zimbabwe Select at the Harare Sports Club on 331 for 5. Mohammad Kaif won the toss and his batsmen, led by Robin Uthappa’s characteristic 88 off 85 balls, made largely untroubled progress.Uthappa and his opening partner Cheteshwar Pujara got off to a brisk start, adding 56 before Pujara fell for 9, edging to the slips. Parthiv Patel, coming in at No.3, made 67 and was involved in two half century stands. He added 77 and 68 with Uthappa and Kaif respectively, strengthening India’s position. After his departure, Kaif (63) and Rohit Sharma (65) scored patient half centuries but they too failed to convert their scores to three figures. S Badrinath, the Tamil Nadu middle-order batsman, was undefeated on 24 at the close.Chandrakanth Pandit, the coach, said he was satisfied with the number of fruitful partnerships. He also praised Uthappa for his aggressive knock. “They all batted extremely well and dominated the fast bowlers,” Pandit told the . “The only thing I thought could have gone better was that if one or all of them had gone on to get hundreds.”

Darren Gough has been ruled out of the remainder of the Natwest Series due to an injured left shin. Graham Onions, the Durham pace bowler, who is in England’s Champions Trophy 30 has been called up as a replacement and will join the squad on Monday.After playing in the Twenty20 against Pakistan as well as the opening two matches of the NatWest Series, Gough will miss the last three matches after an MRI scan revealed a bone stress reaction in his left shin.”Darren has been released following pain in the outer aspect of his left leg,” Dr Peter Gregory, the ECB Chief Medical Officer, said. “Prior to the Twenty20 he had rested for two weeks to settle mild bone bruising of the left shin. The pain from this had settled when he joined the England squad but has returned over the course of the past three matches.”An MRI scan today showed a marked bone stress reaction in his fibula and Darren has been advised to rest from bowling for six weeks. He will return to Essex to receive ongoing assessment and rehabilitation.”Gough added: “I’m obviously extremely disappointed that this injury has ruled me out of the England side, I was looking forward to a strong NatWest Series which could have helped my chances for the upcoming winter tours.”I’ve had a niggle for about a month which seemed to clear up with a couple of weeks rest before the NatWest Series but unfortunately it has returned to the point where I can’t go any further at the moment.”Gough failed to take a wicket during his brief return to the national team, suggesting he has lost penetration with the new ball. However, the bowler himself said: “I was pleased with the way I bowled without much luck during the first few matches so it’s disappointing I won’t be able to play any further part in this series.”England were already due to name a replacement pace bowler in their squad after Steve Harmison was ruled out with a back problem before the opening match. England are 1-0 down in the five-match series following Sunday’s seven-wicket defeat at Lord’s.

Greg Chappell, the India coach, has defended India’s batting performance which saw them set a modest target of 226 against an inexperienced Zimbabwe bowling attack, saying that criticism from outside was easier than performing in the middle.”Sitting outside perhaps it is not easy to understand how difficult the wicket was in the centre. It was moving and slow as well and the bounce was spongy,” Chappell was quoted as saying by PTI. “There has been some encouragement in the sense that all batsmen have managed to spend time in the middle, sometime or the other. It’s all a question of bringing it together and building up on the start.”Chappell backed Sourav Ganguly, the Indian captain, who yet again failed to play a long innings. “I am pretty happy with the way he [Ganguly] has shaped up. He was looking confident. On the ball he was dismissed, usually he hits it for a single but today he wanted to hit it for four. These things happen in the game.”He also said that he understood that batting collapses such as the one against New Zealand where India were 44 for 8 happened occasionally. “Having played the game myself, I know how wickets can fall in a clutter. The best way to come out of it is to not yell at the batsmen. Maybe now that they have had this experience they know how to react to such situations in future.”Venugopal Rao who has two ducks in as many games in the series also recieved Chappell’s support. “He [Venugopal] is a fine youngster with good attitude and he knows that the team is behind him,” said Chappell. “Unfortunately, twice in two games he got two very good balls.”Though Ganguly termed India’s victory by 161 runs over Zimbabwe as a much better performance than in their match against New Zealand, he still felt that there was scope for improvement. “We batted better and it should improve further as the tournament goes on,” said Ganguly. “The team needs to put partnerships together at the top of the order and batsmen need to get hundreds to win games for us.”Ganguly admitted that India has lost their way during the middle overs but also said that the wicket at Harare was soft and spongy. “The wicket in Bulawayo was quicker but here the ball came slowly off the pitch.”

Scorecard

The NatWest Series eventually got underway today at Edgbaston – well, almost.Like the opening match, the second one, between New Zealand and West Indies, was abandoned, but at least there was some action today. After a quickfire innings by Brian Lara boosted West Indies to 122 for 4 from their reduced and interrupted quota of 21 overs, New Zealand were cruising towards their revised target of 140 when the rain returned after 13.4 overs to force the umpires to call the match off at around 7.20pm.It was a stop-start day all along. When play finally began at 2.15, Stephen Fleming won the toss and unsurprisingly chose to bowl first. West Indies progressed to 39 for 0 from 10 overs before another lengthy rain-break, and then added 82 more runs afterwards. New Zealand then reached 97 for 2 from 13.4 overs before the rain had the final say.West Indies’ innings was one of two parts. Before the showers returned in the afternoon, Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who was wearing two black anti-glare stickers under each eye similar to an American football player, made a solid start as the New Zealand attack failed to take advantage after winning the toss. However, in keeping with the series so far, the rain came back and the covers were whipped back on.Play resumed a little under two hours later, and New Zealand immediately hit back as the batsmen struggled against the seaming ball. Scott Styris struck with his first delivery when he trapped Chanderpaul lbw for a sluggish 14 from 42 balls (56 for 1). Dwayne Smith then clipped a wide one from Styris behind to Brendon McCullum for 1 (59 for 2), and Gayle edged Jacob Oram to McCullum for 30 (59 for 3).Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan got things back on track for West Indies. Sarwan cut and hooked Oram for four, and Lara clipped Oram past fine leg for his first boundary. Then came the improvisation from Lara, who smacked Oram for 22 runs in one over. The first three balls he shuffled right across to the off side and whipped him past fine leg for four, then smacked the next two over the off side for a four and a six.Lara was then out in bizarre circumstances. He again moved over to the off, and after he hit Chris Cairns to leg, his bat swung right round and touched the stumps (115 for 4). Sarwan then squeezed Cairns past fine leg for another boundary, and West Indies had given themselves a sporting chance of victory.Ravi Rampaul, though, had a nightmare first over, bowling four wides and two no-balls as it went for 18. However, Ricardo Powell helped to forget that bad start with a wonderful diving catch at backward point to dismiss Fleming for 12 (20 for 1), and Jermaine Lawson then took his second wicket when Nathan Astle edged him to Gayle at first slip for 12 (50 for 2).As the skies darkened and the drizzle returned, Styris and Hamish Marshall progressed with few scares towards New Zealand’s target. But as the rain became heavier, the umpires had no choice but to go off, allowing the weather eventually to win the day. West Indies – and England – will be hoping for more luck tomorrow at Trent Bridge.

Andrew Leipus, the physiotherapist of the Indian team, may get a two-year extension to his contract instead of the one year that he has been offered so far. Sources from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) told Rediff.com that the abrupt departure of Adrian Le Roux had shaken up the management, and they were keen to make sure that Leipus stayed with them for the long term.Leipus has been on an annual contract since he began working with the Indian team in 1999. The BCCI had extended it by another year after the World Cup. But after Le Roux’s exit, the BCCI decided to preempt the possibility of Leipus quitting by offering him a two-year extension.Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the BCCI, was the brain behind the idea, arguing that a longer contract would elicit more commitment and loyalty from the physio. BCCI sources said: “He [Dalmiya] has informally spoken to Leipus, and the proposal should be ratified by the working committee soon.”It was unclear if John Wright, the coach, would also be offered a two-year contract. Wright was given a one-year extension after the World Cup.

Dilhara Fernando, Nuwan Zoysa and Suresh Perera – bowlers with questionmarks against their fitness or bowling actions – were all named in a Sri Lanka pool of 20 by the national selectors to prepare for the three-nation Champions trophy cricket tournament in Sharjah next month. Sanath Jayasuriya was retained as captain with Marvan Atapattu as his deputy.Fernando (sore back), Zoysa (fractured right ankle) and Perera (suspectbowling action) figure in the pool which also sees the recall of all-rounders Upul Chandana and Tilan Samaraweera, middle-order batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan and fast bowler Akalanka Ganegama.Fernando was rested from the one-off Test against Bangladesh last weekas a precautionary measure and is expected to make it to the final 15 which will be picked in the first week of October.Left-arm fast bowler Zoysa has not played since the last tournament inSharjah five months ago after fracturing his right ankle. According toCricket Board sources he is fighting hard to regain his fitness for the Sharjah tournament.Perera has yet not got the green light from the local bowling reviewcommittee after he was reported to the International Cricket Council (ICC) by ICC umpire Steve Bucknor over his bowling action at the end of the first Test against India at Galle last month.The committee comprises Bandula Waranapura, K.T. Francis, ChampakaRamanayake and Lalith Kaluperuma.”We are awaiting the tapes and comments on the areas of concern from the ICC. But in the meantime, we are going ahead and reviewing the match tapes available to us,” said Francis.Francis said they want to make sure that Perera is totally cleared fromall allegations over certain deliveries bowled by him which had upsetumpire Bucknor.If a bowler is reported three times within one year, then the matterwill be taken off the hands of the local review committee and passed on to the ICC who will continue with the investigations.Francis is confident that Perera would be made available for selectionto Sharjah which is usually made a fortnight before the team’s departure.The Sharjah tournament which also features Pakistan and Zimbabwe commences on October 26 with the final scheduled for November 4.Francis said that Darryl Foster, the fast bowling coach from WesternAustralia would be arriving in Sri Lanka at the end of the month and areport from him would also be taken to be sent to the ICC.Foster cleared Sri Lanka’s champion spinner Muttiah Muralitharan afterhe was called for chucking by Australian umpire Darrel Hair six years ago.All 16 players picked to represent Sri Lanka in the Coca Cola one-dayinternational triangular have been retained in the pool which will commence training from September 19.Sri Lanka pool for Sharjah:Sanath Jayasuriya (captain), Marvan Atapattu (vice-captain), Mahela Jayawardene, Russel Arnold, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Avishka Gunawardana, Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Silva, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Dilhara Fernando, Suresh Perera, Kumar Dharmasena, Dulip Liyanage, Dinusha Fernando, Upul Chandana, Thilan Samaraweera, Tillakeratne Dilshan, Akalanka Ganegama.

Seamer Gurinder Sandhu and batsman Jimmy Peirson starred in Australia‘s 71-run win over Scotland in Brisbane. Australia put up 315 runs after Peirson smashed his way to a 123-ball 128. Scotland stayed in contention during the chase, courtesy Mathew Cross’ 104, but Sandhu’s five-wicket haul, which included a hat-trick, finished the contest.Sandhu’s effort overshadowed Scotland left-arm seamer Aman Bailwal’s 5 for 52; he ran through the Scotland’s middle and lower-order as the last six wickets fell for four runs to eliminate Scotland’s chances of an upset.In a last-over thriller, captain and opening batsman Chad Bowes’ 104 not out carried South Africa to a four-wicket win against Bangladesh. When the sixth wicket fell in the last ball of the 49th over, South Africa still needed 10 runs to win. But a nerveless No. 8 Prenelan Subrayen, who smashed a six in the last over, helped them reach home with a ball to spare. For Bangladesh, Al-Amin shone with both bat and ball; he scored a 73-ball 60 and later picked up a couple of crucial wickets.Naresh Budayair’s 114 wasn’t enough to help Nepal beat the target of 268 against New Zealand, as the team fell short by 19 runs. In a spirited chase, Nepal was well on course after opener Subash Khakurel, who scored 59, and Budayair added 129 for the second wicket. But only one other batsman made a double-figure score as New Zealand came back into the match by picking wickets regularly. With Budayair’s wicket in the 48th over with 37 runs to win, Nepal lost their chance to inflict an upset.New Zealand’s innings revolved around captain Will Young, who scored 97, and middle-order batsmen Henry Walsh, who scored a half-century, and wicketkeeper Cam Fletcher. Seamer Saurav Khanal took three wickets.Left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh’s five for 32 helped India dismiss Afghanistan for 219 to allow India to record a 52-run victory. India’s innings was based on three half-centuries by the top three batsmen – Prashant Chopra, captain Unmukt Chand and Baba Aparajith. Their innings faltered later with the last five wickets falling for 38 runs, as they ended up with 271 for 7.Afghanistan got off to a positive start with an opening stand of 42 runs, and half-centuries by captain Javed Ahmadi and Shabir Noori seemed to be guiding them towards victory. But a flurry of wickets, similar to the Indian collapse, with seven wickets falling for 56 runs as Harmeet ran through the middle and lower-order, put paid to their hopes.Zimbabwe collapsed for 89 against England to lose by 131 runs, with only three of their batsmen registering double-digit scores. They were in deep trouble at 31 for five before Campbell Light and Nyasha Mayawo briefly led a recovery with a 29-run stand, but the contest was over by then, with a target of 221 well out of reach. Seamer Brett Hutton took three for 28 in his nine overs; Shozair Ali, captain Adam Ball and Tom Knight were the other wicket-takers.Hutton also shone with the bat, with 55 off 66 balls, to rescue his side after they were eight down for 167 in the 42nd over.In a low-scoring match, a six-wicket haul by offspinner Tharindu Kaushal ripped apart Ireland‘s middle-order, allowing Sri Lanka to win by 50 runs. A 55 by Ireland opener Ryan Hunter, which was the highest any batsman had scored in the match, was the only contribution of note. Wickets fell regularly throughout the match but unlike Sri lanka, Ireland couldn’t string small partnerships together. Apart from a 65-run stand for the second wicket there was little the Ireland batsmen could offer.The highest scorer in Sri Lanka’s innings was 29 by opener Pabasara Waduge, but with four batsmen scoring in the 20s, and 32 extras, they reached 188.West Indies crushed Namibia under a weight of a commanding total of 328, limiting them to 182 to win by 146 runs, thanks to a century by Sunil Ambris, half-centuries by captain John Campbell and Anthony Alleyne, and contributions from fast bowlers Ronsford Beaton and Marquino Mindley.For Namibia, No. 3 Jano Coetzee put up a resistance with 89, but four wickets by Beaton and three by Mindley put paid to Namibia’s hopes. Beaton destroyed the top-order, reducing Namibia to 41 for 3, and Mindley took the final few wickets to complete the win.Pakistan opener Sami Aslam scored a 99-ball 132 to guide them to an eight-wicket victory over Papua New Guinea. Aslam’s century contained 22 fours and three sixes as Pakistan reached the target of 195 in the 33rd over. For Papua New Guinea, opener Lega Siaka, who scored a century in their previous warm-up game against Nepal, top-scored with 46, as middle-order batsmen Dogodo Bau and Nigel Boge struck a 91-run partnership to help them reach 194. Legspinner Usman Qadir took three wickets.

Double impact
One of Sreesanth’s gifts as a fast bowler is his ability to move the ball both ways and he showed off his skill with great effect in the first over of the match. He seamed the first two balls away from Wasim Jaffer, brought the third back into the right-hander, and then took the fourth away once again. The mixture left Jaffer addled and he poked inside the line at the fifth delivery, which moved away from him and took the outside edge to the wicketkeeper. Cameron White was perhaps expecting an outswinger the very next ball and drove away from his body, Sreesanth threaded the bat-pad gap with the inswinger and uprooted middle stump.Not quite Jonty
Both teams were abject in the field today with several lapses resulting in boundaries but there was one offender who stood out prominently. Punjab’s VRV Singh began the match with two poor throws from the deep, one of which conceded overthrows, but his fielding was about to get much worse. Later on he let a cut from Dravid slip past him at short third man, a lapse which prompted Yuvraj Singh to move him to short fine leg. Later in the over a leg side delivery slipped past the wicketkeeper and VRV was unable to run quickly enough to save the boundary.Communication breakdown
A seaming pitch and two early wickets meant that the situation was tailor-made for the steady styles of Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid. While Dravid responded with a gritty innings, Kallis was a victim of an awful mix-up. He was sent back to the non-striker’s end by Virat Kohli after he had nearly completed the single and was hopelessly stranded.Duck hunting
There were as many as five zeroes in Bangalore’s innings. The first three wickets were all ducks – Jaffer and White falling off successive deliveries before Kallis was also run out before he could score. Praveen Kumar was the next duck, edging his second ball off Piyush Chawla to Uday Kaul while Zaheer Khan lasted one delivery, getting bowled through the gate a Chawla googly.Many times bitten, never shy
Ramnaresh Sarwan has lost his wicket several times in the past – in Tests and ODIs – to the miscued hook or pull. Today he resisted the urge when Praveen Kumar bounced him the first time and just about managed to sway out of the way. When faced with a second bouncer the very next ball, Sarwan went for it, aiming for the deep-square leg boundary. He didn’t get on top of the bounce and edged a catch to the wicketkeeper.A fitting end
One run to win, several balls remaining and Anil Kumble ends Bangalore’s misery with a wayward delivery down leg side. It summed up his, and Bangalore’s, night. Kumble had begun well, conceding three off his first over but finished with 0 for 36 off 3.2. Bangalore were shoddy in all departments: they failed to assess the conditions quickly while batting, ran shoddily between the wickets, and bowled and fielded poorly while defending a below-par total.

Eleven first-class players have been named in the Australian Academy squad that is aiming to win the Emerging Players Tournament for the first time. The 17-man outfit, which begins its campaign with two Twenty20 games on the Sunshine Coast on Monday, has been boosted by the inclusion of Mark Cosgrove, the former one-day international, and Luke Ronchi and Brendan Drew, who are in Australia’s 30-man preliminary squad for the Twenty20 World Championships in South Africa.Cullen Bailey, the Cricket Australia-contracted legspinner, has been selected with New South Wales’ opening batsman Ed Cowan and the Western Australians Luke Pomersbach and Aaron Heal. The coaching contingent is also impressive with the national bowling mentor Troy Cooley working alongside the fielding expert Mike Young and assistant Dene Hills to back up the head coach Brian McFadyen.The World Cup winner Darren Lehmann is also part of the squad’s management and he will help prepare the players for the three Twenty20 and seven one-day fixtures against teams from South Africa, New Zealand and Karnataka in India. McFadyen said the tournament would test his men after they completed a 12-week preparation phase at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane.”Many players have looked to expand their skill sets during the high-density training programme and we are excited about the prospect of improvement,” he said. “There is no doubt that they are all fitter and more advanced in all areas of their games than last year, so they enter this tournament with great confidence.”A side from India won the inaugural Emerging Players Tournament in 2005 while South Africa were successful last year. The event begins on Monday and finishes with the finals in Brisbane on July 28.Australian Academy squad Craig Philipson (Qld), Matthew Wade (Vic), Ben Cutting (Qld), Brendan Drew (Tas), Aaron Finch (Vic), Shawn Gillies (WA), Aaron Heal (WA), Luke Pomersbach (WA), Luke Ronchi (WA), Grant Sullivan (Qld), David Warner (NSW), Ed Cowan (NSW), Moises Henriques (NSW), Cullen Bailey (SA), Mark Cosgrove (SA), Michael Hill (Vic), Phillip Hughes (NSW).