Kolkata, July 16
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today directed the national selection committee to take a decision on whether to include banned Sourav Ganguly in the squad for the tri-series in Sri Lanka later this month.

The latest development puts the onus on the five selectors to handle what appears to be a highly tricky situation with ICC Dispute Resolution Commissioner Justice Albie Sachs unlikely to give a final ruling before the team departs for Sri Lanka.

“It will be decided by the Chairman of the selection committee,” BCCI President Ranbir Singh Mahendra told reporters here.

BCCI Secretary SK Nair also made a similar comment.

“We have directed the selectors to decide on the Ganguly issue,” said Nair, adding that it would be a 15-member squad that would leave for the island nation on July 23.

The team is to be selected on July 18.

It still remains unclear whether the Indian captain would be provisionally accommodated in the team pending a final verdict on the ban which was slapped on him for slow over rate during the one-day series against Pakistan at home in April this year.

Ganguly, who has already sat out for two matches, had his appeal against the ban turned down by ICC Appeals Commissioner Michael Beloff. The BCCI had taken up the issue with the ICC, disputing the process by which Ganguly’s appeal was heard.

Sachs has given the ICC and the BCCI time till July 20 to file the written submissions and further two days (July 22) to give their replies. He has not set a time frame for his verdict.

The Board’s top officials held informal parleys to decide on how to deal with the vexed issue.

Besides Nair, BCCI President Ranbir Singh Mahendra, Vice-President Rajeev Shukla, Joint Secretary Goutam Dasgupta and former Board chief Jagmohan Dalmiya were among those present at the meeting which discussed the briefing to be given to the national selection committee on whether to include Ganguly in the team.

The selection committee, headed by Kiran More, is slated to meet in Bangalore five days ahead of the scheduled departure of the squad from Chennai on the morning of July 23.

“Normally, such instructions are not given to the selectors. But since this involves something connected to the ICC Code of Conduct, we are meeting informally to decide what instructions should be given to the selection committee about Ganguly,” Nair said earlier in the day.

The BCCI is not in a position to postpone the team’s departure as the Sri Lanka board acceded to its request for an extra practice match prior to the tri-series. The team is to play two practice matches on July 25 and 27.

India take on hosts Sri Lanka in the inaugural one-dayer on July 30 at Dambulla.

West Indies are the third team in the tournament which runs up to August 9.

Meanwhile, the BCCI has roped in the country’s two leading legal brains, Soli Sorabjee and Siddhartha Shankar Ray, in its bid to prepare a water-tight defence for Ganguly before Justice Sachs.

Sorabjee and Ray have been actively involved in preparing the BCCI’s written submissions to the South African Judge.

Along with the two senior barristers, BCCI lawyer U.N. Banerjee has also been busy drafting the papers, that will contain answers to some queries posed by Sachs.

Sachs has ruled out an oral hearing, saying that submissions presented in black and white are enough to determine the dispute raised by the BCCI. — PTI

Colombo, July 16
Muttiah Muralitharan grabbed six for 36 on his return to international cricket after almost a year as Sri Lanka thumped the weakened West Indies by six wickets in the first Test here today.

The off-spinner, out of action for 11 months due to a shoulder injury, led Sri Lanka’s victory march in their 150th Test with his 45th haul of five wickets or more in an innings.

Seamer Chaminda Vaas chipped in with four for 15 as Sri Lanka skittled out the second-string West Indies for 113 in their second knock in the morning session of the fourth day.

Set a modest target of 172, the hosts survived a Jermaine Lawson scare to romp home after tea and take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

Scoreboard

West Indies (1st innings) 285

Sri Lanka (1st innings) 227

West Indies (2nd innings)

Joseph c Jayawardena b Murali 2

Marshall lbw b Vaas 2

Morton lbw Vaas 0

Deonarine lbw Vaas 7

Chanderpaul not out 48

Smith lbw Vaas 0

Ramdin lbw Murali 11

Banks c Dilshan b Murali 7

Powell c Jayawardena b Murali 0

Best st Sangakkara b Murali 27

Lawson c sub b Murali 0

Extras (b-8, nb-1) 9

Total (all out, 60 overs) 113

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-3, 3-15, 4-21, 5-21, 6-48, 7-69, 8-69, 
9-113.

Bowling: Vaas 18-9-15-4, Malinga 12-5-22-0, Muralitharan 21-9-36-6, Jayasuriya 6-1-20-0, Herath 3-0-12-0.

Sri Lanka (2nd innings)

Jayasuriya c Marshall

b Lawson 15

Atapattu c Ramdin

b Lawson 28

Sangakkara c Joseph b

Lawson 0

Jayawardena not out 41

Samaraweera lbw

Lawson 51

Dilshan not out 30

Extras: (lb-6, nb-3, w-1) 10

Total (4 wkts, 38.3 overs) 175

Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-34, 3-49, 4-135.

Bowling: Powell 8-0-44-0, Lawson 12-2-43-4, Best 8.3-1-40-0, Banks 7-0-31-0, Smith 3-1-11-0. — AFP

Bangalore, July 16
VVS Laxman cracked a century while Rahul Dravid got out for a first-ball duck in a practice match played here today as part of the ongoing cricket skills camp.

Rahul Dravid XI and Virender Sehwag XI, drawn from the group of Indian team probables attending the camp, played the one-day game at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here to gain match practice ahead of the tri-series in Sri Lanka commencing on July 30.

Batting first, Sehwag XI made 226 for eight in 45 overs. In reply, Dravid XI hit the required runs in 32.4 overs for the loss of five wickets.

Sehwag was obviously not in his element. He made one run from 13 deliveries and was trapped leg before to Amit Bhandari.

Laxman dug in and notched a 111-ball 101 with 10 fours. Mohammad Kaif (5) retired hurt after a hamstring pull. MS Dhoni kept wickets for Dravid XI initially but was later replaced by Parthiv Patel, who had actually been listed in the rival side. Coach Greg Chappell, who was keenly watching the proceedings, probably wanted to see both in a match situation.

JP Yadav (30), Hemang Badani (22) and Joginder Sharma (18) were the other notable contributors for their side.

Irfan Pathan, Amit Bhandari and Sreeshant took two wickets each, while SS Paul scalped one.

Dravid XI started disastrously, losing their skipper in no time. Dravid was caught by wicketkeeper Dinesh Kaarthick off Laxmipathy Balaji. Yuvraj Singh made a polished 56 off 54 balls with eight fours and one six. Dhoni rode on two dropped catches to chip in with 35.

In the end, Neeraj Patel (34 not out) and Venugopal Rao (27 not out) saw their side through with ease with an unbroken partnership for the sixth wicket. Earlier, Suresh Raina made 38 and Dinesh Mongia 20.

JP Yadav was the pick of the bowlers for Sehwag XI taking two wickets, while Balaji and Murali Kartik accounted for one each.

The probables will play two more games — a day-night benefit match for former Test cricketer David Johnson tomorrow and another one-day game on the concluding day of the camp on July 19. — PTI 

Patiala, July 16
Sports Authority of India (SAI) coaches across the country have decided to meet the Director-General (DG) of the SAI in New Delhi on July 19. The DG, Mr R.P. Wattal, is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on July 18 from his foreign visit.

A senior SAI official has said Mr Wattal will have a lot of explaining to do to the government relating to the transfer issue as the decision to transfer coaches en masse has come in for criticism from various quarters, including sports departments of several states with which SAI coaches are on deputation.

Confirming that coaches will gather at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on July 19, the Secretary General of the All-India SAI Coaches Welfare Association (AISCWA), Mr K.S. Gulia, while speaking from Sonepat, has said if the DG does not lend them a sympathetic ear, they will approach Sports Ministry officials.

Mr Gulia, who is posted as SAI athletics coach at Sonepat, has said the Haryana-based SAI coaches affected have tried to meet the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, but in vain.

He has added that a meeting of the executive committee of the AISCWA will be held on July 19 or 20 to chalk out the next plan of action.

A delegation of West Bengal-based coaches, led by the President of the AISCWA, Mr Ananta Ghosh, is leaving Kolkata for New Delhi tomorrow.

In a related development, the Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to back the coaches and the Director of Youth Services and Sports of the state has asked sports officers not to relieve any of the coaches transferred till the matter is sorted out.

Sydney, July 16
David Nalbandian won his delayed singles match and then teamed up with Mariano Puerta to win the doubles as Argentina took a 2-1lead over Australia in their Davis Cup quarterfinal here today.

Nalbandian beat Wayne Arthurs 6-3, 7-6, 5-7, 6-2 in the second singles rubber before teaming up with Puerta to defeat Lleyton Hewitt and Arthurs 7-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Hewitt had given Australia the perfect start with his 7-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 victory over Guillermo Coria in yesterday’s first singles but today’s results left the South Americans in control of the tie, needing to win just one of tomorrow’s two reverse singles to join either Slovakia or the Netherlands in the semifinals.

Nalbandian needed just 28 minutes to level the tie at 1-1 after resuming his match against Arthurs. The rubber had been abandoned overnight at the end of the third set because of rain.

Hewitt faces Nalbandian in tomorrow’s first reverse singles match, needing to win to keep the tie alive, before Arthurs meets Coria in the concluding reverse doubles match.

MOSCOW: Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra gave France a 2-1 lead over hosts Russia in their Davis Cup quarterfinal match on Saturday, beating Igor Andreev and Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 6-4, 6-7, 6-2.

The French duo broke Youzhny in the 12th game to win the opening set, then secured another key break on Andreev’s serve to build a two-set lead.

The newly formed Russian pair, cheered on by an enthusiastic home crowd at Moscow’s Olympic Stadium, raised their game in the third set, coming through the tiebreak 7-3. However, the French took control again in the fourth set as Youzhny lost his serve twice in succession.

The tie was evenly balanced after Friday’s singles when French teenager Richard Gasquet, making his Davis Cup debut, thrashed Andreev before world number seven Nikolay Davydenko levelled it up with a straight-set victory over Paul-Henri Mathieu.

BRATISLAVA: Slovakia moved a step closer to their first Davis Cup semifinal on Saturday when Karol Beck and Michal Mertinak won the doubles to give them a 2-1 lead.

Beck recovered from his five-set marathon defeat to Peter Wessels on Friday to lead his country to a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Dutch pair Paul Haarhuis and Melle van Gemerden.

In Friday’s opening singles, Dominik Hrbaty broke his jinx against Raemon Sluiter to put Slovakia 1-0 ahead with a 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory, his first in four matches against the Dutchman.

Dutch number one Wessels then beat Beck 6-7, 7-5, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 in a match lasting four hours.

SPLIT (Croatia): Croatia and Romania were locked 1-1 after the first day of their Davis Cup quarterfinal on Friday. Andrei Pavel beat hometown favourite Mario Ancic 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to put Romania in front before Ivan Ljubicic hit back for Croatia by sweeping past Victor Hanescu 6-3, 6-2, 7-6.

Pavel, Romania’s most experienced player, took almost four hours to defeat Ancic.— Reuters 

San Francisco, July 16
BALCO Laboratories founder Victor Conte, BALCO vice-president James Valente and trainer Greg Anderson have pleaded guilty to anabolic steroid charges in a federal court here.

The trio were at the centre of the largest doping scandal in American sports history, one that had tainted Olympic athletics stars and Major League baseball greats and prompted tough new laws and league penalties for doping cheats.

Conte and Anderson pleaded guilty to illegal drug distribution and money laundering charges. Valente pleaded guilty only to the distributing charge.

Remy Korchemny, an athletics coach who was also indicted in the BALCO case, was seeking a plea bargain deal. His change of plea hearing was set for July 29.

Conte was not compelled to testify against others in any related cases.

Actual sentencing was scheduled for October 18 before US Federal Court Judge Susan Illston here, but the government recommended Conte receive four months in prison, four months of home detention and two years of supervised release.

Valente was recommended to receive only probation while Anderson, the personal trainer of San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds, could receive six months in prison and probation in a sentence to be argued in court.

“This investigation has helped reveal how the use of anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs can be surprisingly dangerous and harmful,” said US Attorney Kevin Ryan. “Athletes cheat not only themselves but also those who would follow their example as well as their fans”. — AFP

Endicott (New York), July 16
Arjun Atwal carded an four-under 68 and stayed within striking distance of the leaders after the second round of the B C Open at the short-and-narrow En-Joie Golf Club course.

The Indian, who was seventh after his seven-under in first round, spoilt his second nine with two bogeys and ended with a four-under 68, that gave him a two-day total of 11-under 133 to be tied fifth.

The leader was 49-year-old veteran David Edwards, playing only his sixth event of the year. Edwards had a nine-under 63 to follow up his first round 66 for a 15-under 129 total. He was one shot ahead of first-round co-leader Matt Hendrix, who shot a 67.

Atwal had now made 11 cuts in a row this year and his streak of 13, including two from last two events of 2004, currently made him the fifth in the list of longest streak of ‘cuts made’ on the Tour.

Atwal started on the 10th and slotted birdies on the 13th, 15th and 16th to turn in three-under and at that was tied for the lead. He added one more on the first, and seemed poised for another fine round.

But two bogeys on the sixth and seventh derailed Atwal’s plans before he made up with birdies on the eighth and ninth to end four-under. — PTI