NEW DELHI, May 15: The Indian cricket board has closed the matter of alleged "anonymous calls received by Australian cricketers at Chennai during the third and final cricket test as a dead issue"..............more

Dighe may be first choice
in Zimbabwe, says Ganguly

BANGALORE, May 15: Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly today indicated that Samir Dighe is going to be the first choice for wicket-keeping for the country in Zimbabwe.......more

Surinder Singh
replaces Rakesh
Patel in camp

BANGALORE, May 15: Left-arm medium pacer Surinder Singh Bagal of Jammu and Kashmir has replaced Baroda seamer Rakesh Patel, who has a knee problem, in the ongoing preparatory camp here for the upcoming Zimbabwe tour, skipper Sourav Ganguly said today......more

‘Match-fixers records
to stay intact’

LONDON, May 15: Players found guilty of match-fixing will still have their records maintained in....more

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, May 15: The Minister for Youth Services and Sports, Mr Harbans Singh.......more

DG NCC visiting
Jammu today

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, May 15: Director General, National Cadet Corps, Lt General A S Rao, PVSM......more

Manager operations
MIER attends UNESCO
training programme

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, May 15: Mr Adit Gupta, manager operations, Model Institute of Education and........more

Big win for Cantt Club in
Rajesh Memorial Tourney

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, May 15: Cantt Cricket Club today defeated Citizen Cricket Club by a big margin......more

BCCI treats fresh Aussie phone call issue as closed

NEW DELHI, May 15: The Indian cricket board has closed the matter of alleged "anonymous calls received by Australian cricketers at Chennai during the third and final cricket test as a dead issue".

According to sources, the board had received a letter from David Rogers of the Australian cricket board on March 24 by fax informing that "Colin Miller, Adam Gilchrist and coach John Buchanan received anonymous calls seeking information about the test match in Chennai".

The letter had also advised bcci not to take any action for the present as the matter has been referred to Sir Paul condon, ICC’s investigator. The ACB letter also asked BCCI to await instructions from condon.

The sources, however, said BCCI secretary J Y Lele had written to all the hotels where both the Indian and Australian teams were to stay that "no telephone calls should be connected to any player or official of both the Indian and Australian teams unless the caller identifies himself and the receiver also agrees to receive the call".

BCCI had written such a letter long before ACB intimated it. "In fact, it was a routine affair even according to the rules and decisions of ICC after the `match fixing allegations in April last year,’ they said.

Meanwhile, the question that is now being asked is why the Australian cricketers took the calls in the first place and then term them as ‘anonymous’ and also as to why such allegation was raised after the Australians had returned home.

However, as far as BCCI is concerned the matter is closed as a ‘dead issue’, the sources added. (PTI)

Dighe may be first choice in Zimbabwe, says Ganguly

BANGALORE, May 15: Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly today indicated that Samir Dighe is going to be the first choice for wicket-keeping for the country in Zimbabwe.

"Samir Dighe has done well in the series against Australia. He has probably won the series for us. He has also scored important runs. He should be a handy prospect for Zimbabwe," he told reporters here.

Ganguly said the players in the preparatory camp were also practicing yoga. "I think yoga is good for the body and the mind. You stretch a lot better."

On his own form, Ganguly said he had one failure against the Australians, baining form on the tour of Zimbabwe.

Declining to compare India coach John Wright with any other coach, Ganguly said "he (Wright) is a good man. All the boys have good rapport with him".

He refused to discuss India’s prospects in the tri-series involving the West Indies, saying "it is too far (away)."

He said he did not see any problem if the wicket favoured seamers in Zimbabwe. "That’s going to help us. We have some fast bowlers in the team. It is important to put enough runs on the board for seamers to take wickets."

On the Indian team’s hectic international schedule in the next few months, Ganguly said: "you got to accept it. You are playing professionally for India. Itinerary is fixed. You play ten years of international cricket and should make the most out of it."

Meanwhile, Indian captain Sourav Ganguly today expressed confidence of striking form again in the coming Zimbabwe series after his first ever failure against the Australians this year.

"I failed in only one series (in the recent one against Australia)...There is a lot of talk going on....I have been around for five years. It’s the first time I have struggled. This is bound to happen...It’s past now," Ganguly said.

Stating that he was now looking forward to the series against Zimbabwe, Ganguly told reporters after the morning session in the ongoing conditioning camp here that he was working hard on his cricket the same way as he used to do before."I am pretty positive about the next series," he said.

"It is important to take forward the good work done against the Australians. We played well against Australia. We hope to continue that in Zimbabwe. If we play well, I don’t think there is any reason why we should not win."

Stating that the Zimbabwe series was going to be challenging, he said "Zimbabwe is a good side. They are a much improved side than what they were. They are a formidable side at home."

Asked if the test series win over the mighty Australians had given the Indians a new confidence, he said "every win gives you confidence. It’s important winning abroad." (PTI)

Surinder Singh replaces Rakesh Patel in camp

BANGALORE, May 15: Left-arm medium pacer Surinder Singh Bagal of Jammu and Kashmir has replaced Baroda seamer Rakesh Patel, who has a knee problem, in the ongoing preparatory camp here for the upcoming Zimbabwe tour, skipper Sourav Ganguly said today.

‘Rakesh Patel has got some problems with the knee. We have got replacement for him,’ Ganguly told reporters here.

Ganguly said Bagal is a ‘good prospect’ and ‘that is why he is back in the camp’.

It may be recalled that Bagal also participated in the Chennai camp prior to Australia’s tour of India earlier this year. (PTI)

‘Match-fixers records to stay intact’

LONDON, May 15: Players found guilty of match-fixing will still have their records maintained in Wisden cricketers’ Almanack, the editor of the game’s bible said today.

A report in the Sunday Times suggested that Sir Paul Condon, head of the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit, was putting forward the expunging of records from the game’s supreme statistical authority as one of a number of recommendations in his first report into corruption into cricket, due to be made public on May 23.

But Wisden editor Graeme Wright told AFP here such a proposal was unworkable. "From a Wisden point of view we are utterly opposed to retrospectively altering records’’.

"The more you go into it, the more absurd it becomes. For example, partnership records by definition involve more than one person, so what would you do then?’’

"We are not going to be retrospective. About ten years ago ICC said that matches played on rebel tours in South Africa should no longer be regarded as first-class. But they were considered so at the time and we did not change our records. We did not alter our records for political reasons and we are not going to change them as some kind of punishment for match-fixers’’.

"My one worry in all this is that while Sir Paul Condon is undoubtedly a competent investigator, I wonder quite how deep his knowledge of cricket is’’.

"Cricket statistics are a minefield for those who are well-versed in the game never mind those on the fringe."

Wright was also concerned that this retrospective action would not help play a significant role in preventing match- fixing. "Unfortunately most icc action tends to be retrospective. One of my predecessors wrote that when it came to ICC you could always hear the sound of horses galloping over the horizon’’.

"It would be better if ICC did something to keep them bolted in the stable." (AFP)

YHAI Jammu unit holds annual function
Harbans calls on youth to serve suffering humanity

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, May 15: The Minister for Youth Services and Sports, Mr Harbans Singh has called upon the youth of the State to come forward and join hands with the NGOs to serve the suffering humanity.

He was speaking at the annual prize distribution cum cultural programme organised by the Jammu unit of the Youth Hostels Association of India (YHAI), here today.

The Minister said that this Youth Hostels Association has achieved the status of the biggest NGO in the world in the shortest time span. He said that YHAI has done commendable job in the service of the earth quake victims of Gujarat for which it deserved appreciation by all.

He announced that children participating in this year’s Youth Hostel camp, to be organised at Patnitop, would be provided free accommodation for seven days and he will try to join them for one day.

The chairman of the YHAI, Jammu unit, Mr Gurjeet Singh welcomed the distinguished gathering. In his brief speech, he said that this prestigious association has branches in 23 states and 350 district units having 95,000 members in India. He said that YHA has 4.5 million members on international base and is providing 35 million bed nights in the world.

Later, Minister distributed prizes among the students who excelled in different competitions during the last year.

Earlier, students from different educational institutions enthralled the audience by presenting the colourful cultural programme which was highly appreciated by the audience.

Others prominent present on the occasion were Secretary, State Sports Council, Sheikh Fazal Ahmed, Divisional Youth Services and Sports Officer, Veena Bakshi and Joint Secretary, Sports Council, B K Magotra.

Those given the prizes were: IQ Test (Senior group): Anhil Gour, DBN, Amar Villa, Ist; Shveta Gandotra, DBN, 2nd and Bimmy Kour, DBN, third. Junior group: Sahil Sudan, DBN, Ist; Sharanjeet, Lawrence Public School, 2nd and Nitin, DBN, third. Sub-Junior: Shallu Sharma, KV No. 1, Gandhi Nagar, Ist; Amit Kour, Lawrence Public School, 2nd and Priya Singh of Carmel Convent School and Pooja of Lawrence school shared third place.

Memories test: Rajpreet Singh, Cooperative Public School, Ist and Amit Suri of New Shastri MHSS, 2nd.

Symposium: Dhruv Singh of GHP School, Ist; Shveta Kotwal of DBN SNS, 2nd and Sanjeev Bindroo of NSM HSS, third.

Quiz competition: Sunita Mattoo and Vineet Raina of DBN Amar Villa, Ist; Sanjeev Bindroo and Rohit Bindroo of New Shastri Memorial HS School, 2nd.

Drawing and Painting competition: Priyanka Sharma of KV No. I, Ist; Binny Koul of DBN, 2nd and Bharati Sharma of SNS DBN, third.

Fancy Dress competition: Sumit Handa of DBN, Ist and Rahul Pandit and Rohila Dhiman of DBN, Amar Villa finished second.

Best male dance—Master Sumeet Handa and best female dance—Shivali of DBN. Sanamdeep Singh of GHP school got best singer award, while most social and cooperative camper was Nomita Razdan of DBN, Mubarak Mandi.