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| Tuesday, May 23, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Badani,
Bhandari get nod
Pak-WI Test evenly poised |
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Humpy looks set to claim title
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Badani,
Bhandari get nod PUNE, May 22 (UNI) — Stylish southpaw Hemang Badani of Tamil Nadu and Delhi medium-pacer Amit Bhandari have been included in the 14-member Indian squad to be led by Saurav Ganguly in the Asia Cup cricket at Dhaka beginning on May 28. National selectors headed by Chandu Borde met here this morning and held discussions along with Ganguly and BCCI Secretary Jaywant Lele, who arrived from Mumbai along with coach Kapil Dev. The team, which was finalised after 90 minutes of deliberations, has star batsman Rahul Dravid as the vice-captain. Lele, while announcing the team, clarified that the Indian board had earlier received a request letter from Kent and Liecestershire to allow Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble to assist their respective counties if they were not selected in the Indian side for the Asia Cup. The surprise omissions in the squad were flashy Mumbai left-hander Vinod Kambli and wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia. “We had a long discussion over their induction but keeping in mind the shorter version of the game we found Badani and Saba Karim more suitable,” Borde said. Badani being an excellent fielder tilted the balance in his favour, Borde noted. About Kambli, he said: “Vinod certainly is more useful for the Test matches. So is Mongia.” When asked whether it was an end of the road for the Baroda stumper, Borde answered in the negative. “He still continues to be in contention.” To a query, Borde said that medium-pacer Amit Bhandari had performed “exceedingly well” in the domestic circuit and has been knocking at the doors for quite some time. In the absence of Karanataka seamer duo of Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad it left Ajit Agarkar as the strike bowler supported by T. Kumaran and Bhandari, he added. The team : Saurav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid (vice-capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Robin Singh, Hemang Badani, Anil Kumble, Ajit Agarkar, Saba Karim (w.k), Sunil Joshi, Nikhil Chopra, T Kumaran and Amit Bhandari. Badani, who had scored 762 runs in the Ranji Trophy this season including a 162 against Mumbai in the semi-finals, has been rewarded for his good showing. Surprisingly what was considered as a virtue in Badani’s case is seen as a flaw in Kambli’s case. “We all thought that Kambli will be more suitable for Tests matches than limited overs game,” Borde observed. Kambli was the top run-getter in the Deodhar Trophy this season scoring 330 runs with the highest 119 with two centuries. He also had a hundred in the Duleep Trophy and was Mumbai’s best batsman in Ranji Trophy this season with an aggregate of 866 runs with four hundreds and four fifties. The other players, who were discussed elaborately, were Uttar Pradesh left-hander Mohammed Kaif, Sreedharan Sriram of Tamil Nadu, Punjab all-rounder Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Maharashtra left-hander Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Tamil Nadu’s Sadagoppan Ramesh, Borde said. “We have evaluated the pros and cons with one-day cricket in mind,” the chairman stressed. Coach Kapil Dev praised the outstanding capabilities of both Badani as a middle-order batsman and seamer Bhandari and all-rounder Sodhi, who was the youngest player in the conditioning camp. When asked to comment on left-arm medium-pacer Zaheer Khan of Baroda, Lele said though he is “hundred per cent fit, he is recovering from a stress fracture. We (selectors) do not want to take any risk.” The Baroda bowler had a profitable season this year capturing a total of 45 wickets in the domestic season. To yet another query as the Karanataka speedster Srinath did not want to play the limited overs game, Lele said he wanted a break for two months. Srinath through a letter informed the cricket board to have a break of two months and that he would be back in contention from August onwards, Lele explained. Srinath’s partner Prasad has been out of favour while Orissa’s Debashish Mohanty was left out. The 10-day conditioning camp, which was shifted from Calcutta to Pune, wound up two days in advance. Earlier, coach Kapil Dev wanted at least a 25-day camp. Lele said that the Indian coach wanted only an eight-day camp with four to five hours of work outs for the probables to get physically fit. Out of the eight days one full day was robbed off due to rains as the probables had to train in doors. Meanwhile, injured all-rounder Robin Singh has recovered and is fully fit. So is seamer Agarkar, who had a minor bout of flu. Robin Singh had collided with S Sriram while playing football on the second day of the camp and had received five stitches on his right forehead. Rahul Dravid and Anil
Kumble will be joining the India team directly at Dhaka.
The team will reassemble at Delhi on the evening of May
27 before leaving for Dhaka the next day, he added. |
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BRIDGETOWN, May 22 (AP) — West Indies bowlers hit back after a Pakistan opening stand of 219 to restrict the visitors to 345 for seven, a lead of exactly 200, at close on the fourth day of the second cricket Test here at the Kensington Oval. It sets the stage for a gripping final day today as both teams seek to gain first blood in the three-Test Cable and Wireless series. Pakistan resumed with openers Imran Nazir (94) and Mohammad Wasim (53) already having posted 152 without loss. Nazir, at 18 years and 157 days old, soon became the third youngest batsman to score a Test century, bringing up his landmark with his 15th boundary. The right-hander from Lahore spent just over three hours and 143 balls to notch his maiden century in just his second Test. But his partner could not follow suit. Wasim was dismissed at 82 to end the marathon partnership. Wasim, who also scored his first Test century as a teenager on his debut in 1996-97, batted 249 minutes, faced 164 balls and hit eight fours. Fast bowler Reon King, in a spell in which he took three wickets just before lunch, broke through by trapping Wasim leg before to an inswinger. Imran Nazir had pushed on to a chanceless 131, adding five more fours, when he provided King with his second wicket, driving a catch to Jimmy Adams at extra cover. The teenager batted 261 minutes and faced 180 deliveries in his innings. Younis Khan blazed his way to 23 off 17 balls with five fours but could not sustain the onslaught, edging a square cut to the wicketkeeper. Curtly Ambrose bowled without reward, but Courtney Walsh got the prize wicket of Inzamam-ul-Haq when he was looking dangerous on 29. Inzamam scooped a return catch to the bowler off his 74th ball after stroking three fours. Nixon McLean, roughly treated throughout the day, claimed his only wicket five balls later, Yousuf Youhana lofting his drive straight but low to Adams at extra cover. Youhana, a century-maker in the first innings, spent 80 deliveries over his 19 without hitting a four. Abdur Razzaq exploded after tea by lashing McLean for three fours in one over as Pakistan seemed to break the shackles. But he was pegged back by Ambrose and the left-arm spin of Adams after that. Razzaq struck five fours in his unbeaten on 32 off 117 balls, but lost two partners to Adams in the last hour. Scoreboard Pakistan (1st innings): 253 West Indies (1st inning): 398 Pakistan (2nd innings): (overnight 152/0) Wasim lbw b King 82 Nazir c Adams b King 131 Khan c Jacobs b King 23 Haq c and b Walsh 29 Youhana c Adams b McLean 19 Razzaq not out 32 Khan b Adams 14 Akram c Hinds b Adams 0 Saqlain not out 2 Extras (lb-4, w-1, nb-8) 13 Total (for 7 wkts in 123) 345 Fall of wickets: 1-219, 2-232, 3-248, 4-294, 5-294, 6-341, 7-341. Bowling: Ambrose
30-13-49-0, Walsh 28-4-76-1, King 23-7-62-3, McLean
23-4-107-1, Adams 17-6-34-2, Chanderpaul 2-0-13-0. |
Prabhakar to go public ‘very soon’ NEW DELHI, May 22 (PTI) — Former India all rounder Manoj Prabhakar today charged the cricket board with exerting pressure on him to express regret for his allegations about match-fixing and said he would not succumb to such tactics and go public over the issue in a week’s time. Asked to comment on a report quoting board President A.C. Muthiah saying stiff action would be taken against him, Prabhakar reacted sharply and said there was no question of his saying sorry for “I have done no wrong”. “They (BCCI) wanted me two say sorry,” Prabhakar told PTI here and asked: “Sorry for what? I have not done anything wrong against the board, neither did I say anything against it”. Whatever steps the board intended taking against him, he said: “Is not my problem”. Prabhakar said he had decided to break his silence and he intended to make everything public ‘very soon’. Asked how soon was very soon, he said: “In a week’s time”. Prabhakar parried a question on former board chief I.S. Bindra’s claim in a TV interview that it was Prabhakar who told him that legend Kapil Dev had offered him Rs 25 lakhs for playing below his potential in a Singer Cup match in Sri Lanka in 1994, saying: “I shall talk about it too at the press conference I intend addressing”. BCCI chief’s threat UNI: BCCI President A.C.Muthiah earlier said that former all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar, who first raised the match-fixing controversy in India, would face stiff action if he does not come out with the truth about the malpractice. “I can promise you that if Prabhakar is not telling the truth then he will face stiff action from the board,” he said in an interview to rediff.Com yesterday. The BCCI President said he expected Prabhakar to go to the CBI and reveal the truth about match-fixing because it was he who has been demanding a CBI inquiry into the matter since 1997. Asked about the reason for Prabhakar’s non-appearance before the CBI even after about three weeks of the announcement of the CBI probe, he said it was difficult to guess what he was planning. However, he should have been the first to go to the agency. The way he has been putting off his deposition before the agency gives the impression that he has very little or nothing to tell, he added. When asked why the board was not releasing the benevolent fund due to Prabhakar, Muthiah said it was with an attempt to prevent him from turning back and saying that the money has been released by the BCCI to keep him silent. It was also likely that he might then decide to say nothing to the CBI. Whether he had any meeting with Prabhakar in recent times, Muthiah told the website that he had met him some time back and had asked him whether he had met the CBI officers. The former all-rounder had responded that he would be doing so in due course of time. Clarifying the reasons for the BCCI not holding its own inquiry into the match-fixing scandal, Muthiah told the website that at one point of time the board had thought of holding its own inquiry to clear up things, but dropped the idea after the government announced in April end that it was handing over the matter to the CBI. Whether he had spoken to Kapil Dev after Bindra levelled match-fixing allegations against him, he said he had not had any occasion to speak to the Indian coach, but Kapil has informed other board officials how he feels about the whole issue. “He (Kapil) feels that he is being unnecessarily harassed.” When asked did he believe Kapil, he replied in affirmative. What action the board was contemplating to take against Kapil, if found guilty, the BCCI chief said the board has already announced that any player who was found guilty in the match-fixing case will be banned for life and his records erased from the records books. He admitted that the
focus of the ongoing match-fixing controversy has shifted
to ‘fixing’ of individuals, and conceded that
the BCCI was passing through one of the most difficult
periods because of mudslinging by certain board members. |
Struggling Sampras upset by Hrbaty DUESSELDORF (Germany), May 22 (Reuters) — American Pete Sampras was beaten in three sets in his opening match of the World Team Cup yesterday despite leading 6-0, 4-2 against Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia. Sampras, struggling to recapture his form after another spell out with injury, overwhelmed Hrbaty in the opening set but his game fell apart after a lengthy break for rain and he lost 6-0, 4-6, 4-6. ‘‘I had the match in hand and let it slip away,’’ said Sampras. He had shown flashes of brilliance in the opening set before the match was interrupted by a three-hour rain break. ‘‘It’s disappointing,’’ said the former world No 1, now ranked fifth in the ATP Champions Race. ‘‘I lost momentum when the rain came. I did everything right in the first set. I was hitting the ball well. But I got careless, I just couldn’t close the match.’’ Just two games away from victory, Sampras lost nine of the next 10 games. He watched his 4-2 lead in the second set turn into a 4-6 loss and he then fell behind 1-5 in the third set before rallying by taking three games on the trot. He staved off five match points before finally succumbing. Sampras’ defeat by Hrbaty meant the USA lost their opening round match to Slovakia. Karol Kucera beat Vincent Spadea 6-3, 6-3 earlier. In the other Red Group match on Sunday, Germany and Sweden were level at 1-1 and a doubles match rescheduled for Monday will decide the contest. Germany’s Tommy Haas beat Thomas Enqvist of Sweden 5-7 6-2 6-2 before Mikael Tillstrom evened the score by beating Rainer Schuettler 6-4, 7-6 (7-2). Sampras, hoping to tune up his game before the French Open starting on May 29, was beaten in the Hamburg Masters Series in the second round last week. That was his first event after five weeks out of action with a thigh muscle injury. HAMBURG: Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil on Sunday defeated Russian Marat Safin for the first time in his career to capture his second 2000 title in dramatic fashion, with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3) win at the Hamburg Masters Series tournament. Fifth seed Kuerten, a winner in Santiago earlier in the year and runner-up at the Masters Series events in Miami last month and Rome last week, prevailed in a three hour and 51 minute marathon against the 12th-seeded Safin with his seventh ace. But the 23-year-old made life difficult for himself, failing to serve out the second set leading 5-4, wasting a one-break lead twice in the fourth set and a 3-1 lead in the fifth against the stubborn Safin. ROME (DPA) : Monica Seles dominated Amelie Mauresmo of France 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) yesterday to claim a second title at the $ 1.08-million Italian Open 10 years after her first. The 26-year-old
Serbian-born American twice served for the match in the
second set, but was forced to take to a tie-breaker. The
decider eventually made the difference for the seed as
she collected the 47th victory of her career after 77
minutes. |
Champions Trophy sans Pakistan KARACHI, May 22 (ANI) — The 22nd Champion’s Trophy starts in Amstelveen, Holland, on May 27 for the first time without former champions Pakistan. Pakistan, who introduced the tournament more than two decades ago, are out of the six-nation event as they finished last in the 1999 edition held in Brisbane, Australia. Pakistan will be ruing the fact that they will not be competing in the Trophy — the last major event before this September’s Olympic Games in Sydney. They could have benefited a lot by playing against the world’s top six nations: Holland, Australia, Germany, Spain and Korea. It is perhaps because of this reason that the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has decided to send a ‘‘team’’ to Amstelveen. Islahuddin Siddiqui, Hanif Khan and Shahid Ali Khan, who form the team management, will be going to Holland to get what the PHF president Arif Abbasi describes as a ‘‘three-dimensional view’’ of the tournament. ‘‘The Champion’s Trophy is a very important tournament as all the leading teams will be there,’’ Abbasi points out. The job of the trio will be to watch all the teams and prepare an analysis which may help them while training the national team for the Olympics. Pakistan coach Hanif thinks that the trip is a very good idea. ‘‘The trip will help our Olympic Games’ preparation programme,’’ says Hanif. ‘‘We’ll be able to watch the top teams in action. That will give us firsthand knowledge of all the sides and their players.’’ Hanif and fellow
officials Islahuddin (manager) and Shahid (assistant
coach) will be concentrating on team like Holland and
Australia against whom Pakistan have not played for a
long time. ‘‘Our toughest rivals in Sydney will
be Holland and Australia. We’ve not played them for
quite some time now and that’s why we need to know
where they stand,’’ says Hanif. The officials
leave for Amstelveen on May 25 and will stay there till
the final which is scheduled for June 4. |
Capital
flooded with cricket coaching academies NEW DELHI, May 22 — Delhi has now become the ‘capital’ of cricket academies. Come summer, the Capital is flooded with instant cricket coaching academies. But in this jungle of ‘get-quick-rich’ cricket culture, a new academy is coming up. And with the promise of making a difference. The ‘Dronacharya Cricket Foundation’ being set up by Dronacharya coach Gurcharan Singh, and his one-time trainee, ex-Test player Maninder Singh, at the sprawling Yamunavihar Sports Complex in association with the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), has the potential of turning out into a true cricket nursery. Gurcharan says the idea of setting up a cricket coaching academy germinated as a large number of young boys had to trudge long distances from east Delhi to attend cricket coaching classes. This lack of a proper coaching centre was being exploited by unscrupulous elements who fleeced parents in the name of cricket coaching without delivering any result. Moreover, a number of qualified cricket coaches live on the eastern side of the Yamuna, rather condescendingly called east Delhi, and according to Gurcharan, he and Maninder Singh ‘deliberated’ quite at length about the feasibility of starting a cricket coaching centre, and after carefully analysing all the pros and cons, came to the definite conclusion that a modern cricket coaching centre was very much in order, to cater to the burgeoning population of east Delhi. And when the DDA agreed to lease out a piece of land at the mammoth sports complex at Yamunavihar for the cricket academy, the Dronacharya Cricket Foundation finally took shape. The formal launch of the Foundation will be held on June 11, but already, news has spread about the academy, and tremendous interest has been generated among aspiring cricket stars to get selected into the academy. But Gurcharan and Maninder insist that the selection would be done purely on merit. But it’s not a charitable venture, though. Not by a long shot. “There is nothing called a free lunch”, says Gurcharan, implying clearly that it’s a commercial venture, but with a promise to deliver. Considering the cricket reputation of both Gurcharan and Maninder, it’s sure that deliver they will, but the kind of money they are planning to charge from each trainee — Rs 750 per month—make the whole project beyond the reach of the common people. Maninder Singh says he has even decided to give up his umpiring career (he’s a qualified umpire) to concentrate on the coaching job. The foundation will soon set up its own website to give coaching tips on cricket. The foundation will have a profit sharing agreement with the DDA, with 35 per cent of the income going to the coffers of the DDA, and the rest 65 per cent to the foundation, but the Rs 2000 non-refundable ‘admission fee’ charged from each boy will be retained by the foundation. The total strength of the trainees would not be more than 100 (in the 8 to 19 age category), and assuming this number as the final figure, the foundation would be netting a cool Rs 20 lakh in admission fee alone! Not a bad deal at all. But Gurcharan hastens to add that ‘incentives’ would be provided to ‘top talent’, and if a boy is selected for the under-16 or under-19 teams, he will be given 30 per cent concession in fees, on being selected to the universities team 50 per cent, Ranji Trophy and above 70 per cent, and India A/India team, free of cost. The `poor and highly talented’ will be given free coaching, on the recommendation of the chief coach. To start with, the foundation will have two cement pitches, and two turf pitches. The cement pitches will be covered by synthetic mats, being imported from England. There are also plans to provide bowling machines, and other equipment for scientific training. Before picking the boys for the foundation, two ‘talent hunt’ camps will be held in May and June for 21 days, for which each boy will be charged Rs 500. The number of boys to be included in the talent hunt has not been specified. The fee of Rs 750 per month charged from each boy selected for regular coaching will also be accepted only on a ‘quarterly basis’. The name of the game,
thus, is money. As Gurcharan very aptly put it,
“there is nothing called a free lunch”. Very
correct, in these days of very very corrupted cricket
atmosphere. Former Test stars Bishan Singh Bedi, Madan
Lal, Gursharan Singh, Chetan Sharma etc are already into
serious cricket training. Another ex-Test star, Atul
Vassan, too, is gearing up to start an academy. As they
say, the more the merrier! |
Kumble helps Leicestershire win LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) — The Kent Spitfires squandered the chance of flying to the top of the national league Division One when they suffered their first defeat of the season against the Leicestershire Foxes on Sunday. Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble took three for 26 in nine overs to restrict the Spitfires to 141 for nine in their 45 overs. Twenty-three year-old seamer Kristian Adams then had the home side on the back foot after taking four for 19 in the first 21 balls of his Kent debut. But the Foxes recovered to reach 142 for seven with six overs to spare, Trevor Ward making the top score of 53. The Gloucestershire Gladiators also missed the chance of going clear at the top, losing by 35 runs to the Yorkshire Phoenix at Headingley in a contest reduced by rain to 33 overs a side. David Byas (48) and Richard Blakey (43 not out) steered Yorkshire to 160 for three, with the Gladiators all out in 30.2 overs for 129. At Taunton, half-centuries from Marcus Trescothick (68) and Keith Parsons (54 not out) secured a four-wicket win for the Somserset Sabres over the Northamptonshire Steelbacks, who remain without a point at the foot of the table. In Division Two, the Warwickshire Bears made it three wins out of three with a comfortable five-wicket victory over the Hampshire Hawks (154) at Edgbaston. The Nottinghamshire Outlaws (189 for six) remain level on points at the head of the table after maintaining their 100 per cent record with a four-wicket win over the Derbyshire Scorpions (186) at Trent Bridge. But the Surrey Lions and Middlesex Crusaders lost ground on the leaders after their meeting at the Oval was abandoned without a start. In the other rain-affected game, at Chester-le-Street, the Glamorgan Dragons (70 for two) beat the Durham Dynamos (91 for three) by 15 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis scoring system. On the final day of a county championship game at Hove, Worcestershire completed a seven-wicket win over bottom-of-the-table Sussex. Australian fast bowler
Glenn McGrath finished with four for 30 as Sussex were
dismissed in their second innings for 148, leaving the
visitors a victory target of just 96 from the last 29
overs. |
Humpy looks set to claim title AHMEDABAD, May 22 (PTI) — International women master Koneru Humpy and Nabeela Fareen further cemented their claims for the under-14 boys’ and girls’ titles, respectively, as they maintained a clear lead at the end of the 7th round of the National Children’s Chess Championships here today. Overnight leader Humpy (7) of Andhra Pradesh defeated Deepan Chakraworty of Tamil Nadu in a Reti Opening game and increased her lead to 1.5 points. Going into the penultimate round tomorrow, Humpy, who has maintained a clean slate thus far, needs only a draw from two games to win the title. Fareen was leading her nearest rival in the girls section by a clear one point after a fluent 23-move win over M Amruta of Maharashtra in a Sicilian Paulson game. This took her tally to 6.5 as against her second placed statemate M Priyadarshini (5.5). Three players, overnight
leader K Nadig (Maha), M Rajdarshini (TN) and Shobhana
(TN) were sharing the top spot in the girls’
under-12 section with six points from seven rounds while
in the boys’ u-12 section, topseed Deep Sen Gupta
and A A Kore were clubbed together at the top with six
points. |
Srinath “sought 2-month break” PUNE, May 22 (UNI) — Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary J.Y. Lele today clarified that Javagal Srinath had not taken ‘retirement’ from one-dayers as reported and would be considered for the shorter version of the game from August. Srinath had only sought a two-month break from cricket and had not given any indication to the cricket board that he was retiring from one-dayers, Lele told reporters while announcing the 14-member squad for the Asia Cup in Dhaka, to be played later this month. “Srinath has written a letter to us asking for a two-month break,” Lele said. “He will be available for selection from August,” the BCCI Secretary added. Indian coach Kapil Dev had told mediapersons in New Delhi after the team’s return from Sharjah in March that Srinath wanted to opt out of one-day cricket to concentrate on Test matches. The pace spearhead was
not played in the last two matches featuring India during
the tri-nation tournament in Sharjah with Pakistan and
South Africa. With Kapil’s statement, there was
considerable doubts about his one-day career. |
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MUMBAI, May 22 (PTI) — Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte outclassed double-IM norm holder Sriram Jha to consolidate his footing with five points after the sixth round at the 37th National ‘A’ Chess Championship here today. Defending champion G M Krishnan Sasikiran and teammate T S Ravi held on to the second spot with 4.5 points each to their credit. In-form Kunte, playing with the black pieces, faced the Sicilian Alapin of Jha and equalised easily after the exchange of queens on the 5th move. Jha’s king got stranded around the centre and Kunte posted his rooks on the attacking files to exert pressure. The black knights got total control soon after and Jha succumbed to the pressure. A tactical piece sacrifice by Kunte netted him two extra pawns forcing Jha to resign on the 21st move. Sasikiran surprised I M
Surya Shekher Ganguly by moving the king pawn on the
first move. The game took shape in the closed Ruy Lopez
and Sasikiran got a slight advantage in the middlegame. |
Woodies win 57th title, equal record HAMBURG, May 22 (Reuters) — Australians Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde equalled the all-time record for doubles titles yesterday when they beat compatriots Wayne Arthurs and Sandon Stolle 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, 6-3 in the Hamburg Masters Series final. It was their 57th career title and with it they drew alongside two other legendary doubles teams, Bob Hewitt and Frew McMillan, and Peter Fleming and John McEnroe. ‘‘We finally got there’’, Woodforde said. ‘‘Last year we did not play so well. This year it is nice to make it to a few finals and win them. But we don’t want to stop here. We want to get the record on our own. ‘‘It is a great achievement and a bit of a relief,’’ Woodbridge added. ‘‘It would have been a shame not to achieve it since we were so close.’’ ‘‘We’ve struggled all our career on clay and to equal the record on clay here is even more special,’’ Woodforde said. ‘‘It will mean way more to win number 58.’’ The semifinals in Hamburg had already set a record as all eight players came from the same country, Australia. Arthurs and Stolle beat Josh Eagle and Andrew Florent on Saturday while Woodbridge and Woodforde beat Lleyton Hewitt and Pat Rafter.
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Zimbabwe team threatened to boycott tour LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) — Zimbabwe’s cricket team threatened to pull out of their tour of England because of a dispute over pay earlier this month. The national side, who were thrashed by an innings and 209 runs by England in the first Test at Lord’s yesterday, demanded an immediate increase in pay three weeks ago, threatening to abort the tour and the two Tests against England. “The situation was obviously that serious that the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) reacted immediately and sought to resolve it by discussion with the players,” the ZCU said in a statement on their website. Zimbabwe cricket chiefs flew to England and discussions took place earlier this month with the players’ lawyer. An agreement was reached with the players to set up a remuneration committee which would include a representative of the players, the ZCU said. The players were happy that this committee would in future deal with pay, it said. “As a gesture of goodwill the ZCU made an interim award in the form of an increase in the match fees payable to the players,” the statement said.
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