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Saurav Ganguly has been retained as the captain of Indiancricket team for the tour of Zimbabwe from May 27.The selection committee met in Baroda on Saturday under its chairman ChanduBorde and took “two minutes” in arriving at the decision, CricketBoard secretary Jaywant Lele said.”No other name was considered by the selectors,” Lele said,adding that the decision was unanimous. Indian team will play two Testmatches with Zimbabwe followed by a triangular one-day series alsoinvolving West Indies.All national selectors, Madan Lal, Ashok Malhotra, Sanjay Jagdaleand TA Sekhar, were present when the committee took this decision.Ganguly will join the selectors here tomorrow to pick the probablesfor the tour, Lele said.The selection committee will pick 22 probables who will attenda five day conditioning camp beginning at Bangalore from May 13th, hesaid.The final team will be selected on May 18 and it will leave forZimbabwe on May 24. The Indians will also play two side games againstCPX academy at Harare (from May 28 to 30) and Zimbabwe A at Mutare(from June 2-4), Lele said.The first Test will be played in Harare from June 7-11 while thesecond will be played at Bulawayo from June 15-19. The triangularseries would be held from June 23 to July 7.

The Sports Ministry in Sri Lanka denied on Wednesday that the forthcoming India and New Zealand tours to Sri Lanka in July would face any disruption because of the cash crisis that engulfed the cricket board on Monday when their bankaccounts were frozen by the High Court.Secretary of the Sports Ministry, Dr Ramanujan, expects the two tours tocost 25 million rupees (USD $ 280,000) and believes that a government loancan be sought to cover this expense should the need arise.”Cricket is the most important game in this country and we will make surethat it is not disrupted,” he promised.The Sports Minister, Lakshmann Kiriella, is expected to submit a proposal tothe cabinet shortly requesting the loan from the Treasury.Members of the Interim Committee, however, are believed to be confident thatthe court order issued on Monday, which prohibits the Bank of Ceylon fromreleasing cricket board funds because of the ongoing dispute over thedecision to dissolve the board in March, will be overturned swiftly. Thecase returns to court on June 1.In a separate case, filed by the former secretary and treasurer of thedissolved board, which is at an appeal stage and is entering the second dayof proceedings, a decision is expected soon.The ex-board members are requesting that the court suspends the InterimCommittee, appointed by the Sports Minister straight after the boarddissolution, arguing that there was no due reason for it’s dissolution andthat the process of dissolution was itself plagued by proceduralmalpractice.Solicitor General C.R. de Silva argued yesterday in court that thesuspension of the Interim Committee would bring cricket in Sri Lanka to agrinding halt at an important time.

Match abandoned
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
The inconsequential game between Trinidad & Tobago and Uva Next, both of whom were already eliminated, was rained out after T&T posted a strong 181 for 3. The two men who were at the centre of T&T’s batting resurgence on Wednesday, Denesh Ramdin and Darren Bravo, were among the runs in the game against Uva as well to muscle their side to what was comfortably the highest score of the qualifying stage.Unlike yesterday, Bravo and Ramdin were given a platform to build on. Against Yorkshire, T&T’s top three had been dismissed within three overs, but today William Perkins began with a series of powerful lofted extra-cover shots to score at over two-runs-a-ball, and Lendl Simmons was slightly more controlled than his swing-at-everything avatar yesterday. By the time Simmons fell in the 10th over, T&T had motored to 86 for 3, bringing together Ramdin and Bravo.The pair began a bit cautiously but soon opened out, making sure that each of the final six overs went for ten or more. Uva had five bowlers with international experience but only Andrew McDonald was taken for less than eight an over. There have been questions raised over Ramdin batting as high as No. 5, but he has put them to rest with successive half-centuries.It may be a huge total but T&T suffered against Yorkshire due to a lack of depth in their bowling. To compound matters, they left out their two best bowlers from this dead rubber; Ravi Rampaul and Samuel Badree were on the bench, which meant Uva weren’t out of the game yet despite facing a tall target.The chase got off to the worst possible start as Dilshan Munaweera upper-cut a catch to third man off the first ball of the innings. The drizzle then intensified and forced the players off the field, and the Johannesburg storm did not ease up in time for the game to resume.

One unfortunate incident aside, a player touted as a future captain of Australia emerged as the shining light at the ‘Gabba on an intriguing day two of the Pura Cupmatch between the Queensland Bulls and the Western Warriors. With a magnificent innings of 101, Simon Katich not only continued a run of great personal formagainst Queensland but also succeeded in saving significant face for the Warriors, helping to haul back a massive first innings deficit of 140 runs and propelling theminto a potentially handy lead at the mark of 7/253 by stumps.The highly rated left hander has now accumulated the remarkable tally of 570 runs at an average of sixty-five upon the usually bowler-friendly ‘Gabba strip. Thisrecord now also includes the impressive statistic of three centuries in the space of just four matches.When Katich walked to the wicket late in the first session today, his team was in enormous trouble. In some ways, it still is. But the predicament would have beensubstantially more dire without his compilation of a highly sophisticated century.Katich assembled an innings of high control and high quality, dispensing with all the Bulls bowlers that were arraigned before him. It started from just the second ball ofthe Western Australian innings – opener Mike Hussey (0) having succumbed to a contentious caught behind decision from the first – but it represented littleinconvenience. Even first innings hero Joe Dawes (2/73) looked a shadow of the bowler who had played the starring role as Western Australia was skittled for thedismal first innings total of 78 yesterday.The young left hander’s innings included sixteen boundaries and a number of beautiful drives before it was all finally ended by a sensational catch from AndrewSymonds shortly after tea. Katich unleashed a cracking off drive and had many of the members of the crowd looking to the extra cover boundary in an attempt tolocate the ball before they realised that fielding dynamo Symonds, standing in the covers, was triumphantly holding up the ball instead.Then came an interesting few moments. Katich, naturally disappointed with the manner of his dismissal, appeared to be on the receiving end of a stream of abuse froma section of the small ‘Gabba crowd as he headed from the field. In turn, this produced a rarely-seen public outburst from a first-class cricketer. Katich seemed togesture back to his detractors and the general consensus was that he had indicated to them that he would like to return the favour in a less public arena. It was uncleartonight if any disciplinary action would be taken against him.When the Bulls finally dismissed the gifted left hander, there was a sense that the game could finish quickly. However, tailenders Mark Walsh (28*) and MatthewNicholson (27*) had other ideas. Like not only Katich but also Tom Moody (32) and Murray Goodwin (31) before them, they battled away doggedly against anattack that had tightened its line well by the end of the day. The pair had added an unbroken forty-five runs for the eighth wicket by the time that stumps were finallydrawn.Earlier, two quick strikes from Brendon Julian (3/59) helped the visitors restrict Queensland to a final first innings total of 218. Martin Love (71) had shaped as thekey to a big extension of the Bulls’ lead but fell to a great diving catch by Moody after adding a mere eight runs to his overnight score. A valuable last wicketpartnership of twenty-five for the final wicket between Dawes (18) and Scott O’Leary (6*) did add some annoyance but, in the end, the Warriors were probablythankful to escape with a deficit that did not extend, as Katich was to prove, to completely unmanageable proportions.But the task ahead of the Western Australians still appears a tough one. It seems that they might, in the morning, require some more of the sturdy resistance thatgoverned the play of their middle order if they are able to conjure up a lead of sufficient size to place the Bulls under pressure.Whatever the case, we might well be in for another interesting instalment in this never-dull match tomorrow.

Australian cricket’s new-found dedication to performance has uncovered another area to seek a competitive edge, with England’s Dukes ball to be used down under to better prepare players for its subtleties on next year’s Ashes tour.Known for offering decidedly different characteristics to the Australian Kookaburra ball, the Dukes will be be trialled in the under-age championships and a handful of second-XI games during the summer.If they stand up to the rigours of firm Australian pitches, they are then likely to be used in some late season Sheffield Shield games.There are also plans afoot for stocks of India’s SG ball to be brought to Australia for similar exploratory use, in order to aid the knowledge of Australian players when they deliver it on the subcontinent.Understanding and taking advantage of the differences inherent in each ball is traditionally something players must develop upon arrival at an overseas destination, but Cricket Australia’s plans may help to build greater familiarity and ultimately skill.”The medium to long-term view is we want our Australian players using different balls in our competitions to help them prepare for international tours where the Kookaburra ball is not used,” CA’s senior cricket operations manager Sean Cary told . “The idea is not going to be just to focus on the Dukes ball in England. Ideally, we’d like to introduce the different makes of balls from countries if they differ from Kookaburra.”‘The first step is to find out whether the ball can handle our conditions, and we can do that in under-age championships, then if they do, work out a strategy to introduce them into senior competitions to help players prepare for upcoming international duty. [When] our Test team travels to India, if we know a number of our Test players are in Shield cricket, why couldn’t we introduce the SG ball to help them prepare in competition?”The use of English and Indian cricket balls may be considered a way of enhancing the preparation of the national team in an era when warm-up tour matches have become an increasingly rare proposition. Australian bowlers have struggled to replicate the kind of movement generated by their English and Indian counterparts on recent Test tours, having not won a series in England since 2001 and India since 2004.Cary admitted there was also a cost-saving measure to the use of overseas balls, which are cheaper than the Australian-made Kookaburra. The local manufacturers are concerned that their long-standing relationship with Australian cricket will be terminally undercut if the use of overseas balls becomes standard practice.”If we are not supported by cricket in Australia then Kookaburra won’t exist basically,” Kookaburra director Rob Elliott said. “If Cricket Australia and if cricket’s not supporting Kookaburra and wants to go down the imported path, then the manufacturing of cricket balls will go to the subcontinent and it will be the end of Kookaburra as we know it.””I thought it would be appropriate for us to be using the only Australian made ball as opposed to a ball that’s made in the sub-continent in Pakistan or India. That’s the thing that concerns me is that all of a sudden this sort of thing erodes Australian manufacturing and Australian jobs.”

ScorecardAn unbeaten 115 from left-hand batsman Rilee Rossouw put South Africa A firmly in command of the second unofficial Test against Australia A in Rustenberg.Resuming the day on 22, Rossouw struck 15 fours during his innings to take South Africa A to 356 and establish a lead of 210, after an abject batting display on the first day saw Australia A destroyed by pace for 146.South Africa A lost Temba Bavuma early in the day, but Rossouw hit back by putting up crucial stands of 59 and 66 for the fifth and seventh wickets with Justin Ontong and Simon Harmer, respectively. Legspinner Fawad Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers for Australia A, ending with figures of 4 for 80.Australia A had a shaky start to the second innings as well, as Aaron Finch departed cheaply for 5 in the third over, and shortly afterwards, Shaun Marsh was dismissed by Harmer’s offspin for 24.Precariously placed at 38 for 2, Alex Doolan and Nic Maddinson fought back with an unbeaten third-wicket stand of 74.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRohit Sharma fought hard on a difficult surface to remain unbeaten on 48•AFP

After a four-and-a-half hour rain interruption, Sri Lanka had ten wickets available over a truncated 26 overs to chase 178. India needed to restrict Sri Lanka to 167 or below to make the final ahead of West Indies. In an ideal Twenty20 world, this was a situation loaded in favour of the chasing side. The Queen’s Park Oval pitch, with patches of green spiced up by all the rain, was an ideal Test bowler’s paradise, though. And Bhuvneshwar Kumar used it to perfection, ending the chase early and taking India to the final with a spell of 6-1-8-4, his best international figures.Bhuvneshwar got the ball to do so much, even survival became a lottery, leave alone a chase that began at an asking rate of close to seven an over. Some moved in, some moved away, some hit a green patch and bounced extra, with Bhuvneshwar’s impeccable control forcing the batsmen to play at almost everything. It was only his 16th ODI, but Bhuvneshwar has already built up a reputation for striking early in his spell. Again, he did not disappoint.Upul Tharanga flashed to the slips in Bhuvneshwar’s second over, Kumar Sangakkara got a first-ball shocker of a leg-before decision, Mahela Jayawardene could not keep a cut down, and Lahiru Thirimanne hit an airy drive. In no time, Sri Lanka were 31 for 4, and India already had the final within their sights. Of course, it was the asking rate that made the batsmen play all those strokes, but against the combination of Bhuvneshwar and the pitch, the attempts were doomed to fail. The spinners found generous help from the pitch as well, and made sure there was no fightback from the Sri Lanka lower middle order. The margin of the win showed just how futile a T20-style chase can be on a difficult pitch.This pitch was so difficult it forced even the usually flashy Rohit Sharma to play the survival game. A battered and struggling Rohit fought the conditions, his own lack of touch, and a disciplined Sri Lanka attack but still hung in to build a base for India. But we will never know what could have been in this Rohit knock as the rain terminated India’s innings at 119 for 3 in 29 overs.Though the normally free-flowing Rohit’s grind wasn’t easy on the eye, it was far more refreshing to see him unwilling to fall to a soft dismissal, though he benefited from a dropped catch off Lasith Malinga when on 11.Despite West Indies losing both their games on the same ground after choosing to bowl, Angelo Mathews had no hesitation in doing the same. And his attack bowled far better than West Indies had, which was highly commendable, considering they had sent down 41 overs a day ago against the hosts. There was swing, seam, sharp lift, and the occasional low bounce.Rohit was beaten several times by the movement initially, but to his credit, he played the original line close to his body. For some time, Virat Kohli looked even more uncomfortable than Rohit had and even played out a maiden to Malinga for the first time.Kohli slowly started to come to terms against the fast bowlers and put away the rare wide delivery. Perhaps the pitch made Kohli hesitant to get forward against spin as well, and led to his downfall, when he went back and was caught in front by a flighted Rangana Herath slider, cutting short a second-wicket stand of 49 in 14.1 overs.Rohit, meanwhile, continued to find it hard, inside-edging onto the box, and taking blows on the glove. He did slog-sweep Herath for six but the left-arm spinner hit back in his next over, when another India batsman played back to him. This time, Dinesh Karthik got a turner that spun away to hit his off stump. India were three down now, making it even more important for Rohit to not give it away. As it turned out, though, he had already done enough, after which Bhuvneshwar took over.

N Srinivasan seems to have staved off the stiff opposition from within the board and will continue as the BCCI president, at least for now and possibly till the AGM in September. A day after the arrest of Gurunath Meiyappan – his son-in-law and a senior official of the Chennai Super Kings franchise – on charges of betting on IPL games, the momentum that seemed to have built up overnight to force a change at the top of the BCCI has apparently fizzled out.More than half the board members attended a dinner hosted by former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya in Kolkata on Saturday night – notable absentees included vice-president Arun Jaitley, Srinivasan’s presumptive successor, joint secretary Anurag Thakur and treasurer Ajay Shirke – but the mood seemed to be one of preserving the status quo.Indeed, the mood was set before the dinner began, when a senior board official indicated to ESPNcricinfo that the members ‘will not demand’ Srinivasan’s resignation. Srinivasan and IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla had a private discussion in Kolkata before heading for the dinner, the source said, adding that the likelihood of Srinivasan stepping down before the AGM was ‘very slim’.It was in keeping with Srinivasan’s defiant stand through the day. Soon after he landed in Mumbai on Saturday afternoon, he reiterated that he had no intention of resigning. “I cannot be bulldozed or railroaded into resigning by the pressure being applied,” he said. “The BCCI will follow strictly all its rules. The law will take its course. Somebody wants to replace me, let him get elected.”

Where N Srinivasan can go from here

Scenario 1: If Srinivasan steps down voluntarily
The BCCI has to find an interim president till the annual general meeting (AGM) is convened in the last week of September. When a president steps down before his term is over, it is usually the vice-president from the same zone as the president who takes over as the interim president. In that case, it would be Shivlal Yadav. If the vice-president refuses, then it has to be one of the eligible representatives from the same zone who takes over.
Scenario 2: If board members want Srinivasan ousted immediately
One-third of the voting members – 10 – must write in to the BCCI secretary urging him to pass a motion against the president for tarnishing the board’s reputation. The secretary then has to convene a special general body meeting (SGM) at the earliest. At the SGM, if two-third of the members – 21, to be precise – vote against the president, he has to step down.
Scenario 3: If the board acts at the AGM
Srinivasan will remain as president till the AGM in September, when he will have completed two years of his term. According to the amended BCCI constitution, an office bearer’s term is extendable by another year at the end of two years. If Srinivasan wants to remain in power for another year, he will have to contest an election. The winner of the election – held by secret ballot – is decided based on simple majority.
Scenario 4: Compromise
If the BCCI members agree that Srinivasan is the best person to be the BCCI’s face, he will remain in charge till September 2014.

The board members know that if Srinivasan does not resign from the job, their options are both limited and complicated (see sidebar). According to the BCCI constitution, a special general body meeting can move a resolution against its president with a three-fourth majority only if the president is directly involved in a corruption case – which is not the case so far.Should the BCCI call an emergency general body meeting, it may come down to electoral numbers. Besides the 27 affiliated units who compete in the Ranji Trophy, the Cricket Club of India, the National Cricket Club, Kolkata and All India Universities have a vote each. If the incumbent president is presiding over the AGM, he is also entitled to a separate vote, thus extending the tally to 31. The last time the BCCI had a contested election for the post of president was in 2005, when Sharad Pawar defeated Ranbir Singh Mahendra to break Jagmohan Dalmiya’s monopoly over Indian cricket’s administration.There remains much internal grumbling about where this controversy around the Chennai Super Kings’ official and Srinivasan has left the BCCI. A former board official said that Gurunath’s arrest has “tremendously harmed the credibility of Indian cricket. And the process to restore credibility cannot even begin till he [Srinivasan] remains at the helm.”The twist in the entire saga is the Gurunath angle. Srinivasan has already constituted a one-man commission of inquiry, headed by Ravi Sawani, to investigate the spot-fixing allegations against the three Rajasthan Royals players.If Sawani’s report implicates anyone – a player or a member of support staff or management team – from Chennai Super Kings, the report will be forwarded to the disciplinary committee. With Srinivasan, in his capacity as the president, being a member of the three-member committee, there would be clear conflict of interest.In such a case, his only option would be to recuse himself from the disciplinary committee by stepping down as the president.Saturday night’s events were an about-turn from what transpired on Friday, well before Gurunath’s arrest, with several significant statements being made across the spectrum of politics and business that controls Indian cricket. Sahara chairman Subroto Roy, who had earlier this week announced his team’s pullout from the IPL and his company’s decision to not renew its sponsorship of Indian cricket, indicated he would be willing to reconsider the decision if there was a change of guard. He went so far as to say Sharad Pawar, a former BCCI president, was an “apt” person to head the board once again.Around the same time a senior member of Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party issued an unambiguous statement saying Srinivasan should go, though the party issued a clarification saying it was issued in a personal capacity and didn’t reflect the party’s views. On Saturday, Pawar told ESPNcricinfo that the party had no view on the matter. “I have resigned [from the BCCI] five year ago to go to the ICC and don’t want to come back.”

Five uncapped players have been named in Sri Lanka’s squad for the one-off Twenty20 that will complete the Bangladesh tour in Pallekele. Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Nuwan Kulasekara have been rested for the match. Mahela Jayawardene has recovered sufficiently from a finger fracture to be available for selection, but was not picked either.*Allrounders Shehan Jayasuriya, Chaturanga de Silva, Ramith Rambukwella, and fast bowler Ishan Jayaratne were the new additions to the squad, while batsman Angelo Perera, already in the ODI squad, also found a place.The selectors’ focus on youth development is writ large in their latest team, as all five uncapped players are yet to turn 24, with Jeevan Mendis the only player named in the squad above the age of 30.Kithuruwan Vithanage, who debuted in the Test series and is in the ODI squad, retained his place for the final assignment of the tour. Sachithra Senanayake was the only specialist spinner, with no room for either Ajantha Mendis, Akila Dananjaya or Tharindu Kaushal.The match will be Dinesh Chandimal’s first as Twenty20 captain, with Malinga set to be vice-captain for the first time. The squad for the third ODI was unchanged from the side named for the first two matches, after the second game was washed out in Hambantota.Twenty20 squad: Kusal Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dilshan Munaweera, Dinesh Chandimal (capt & wk), Angelo Mathews, Jeevan Mendis, Kithruwan Withanage, Angelo Perera, Lasith Malinga (vc), Sachithra Senanayaka, Shaminda Eranga, Chathuranga de Silva, Shehan Jayasuriya, Ramith Rambukwella, Ishan Jayaratne, Thisara Perera

Alan Hamer, Glamorgan’s chief executive, has admitted that Cardiff’s role as one of the host venues for the Champions Trophy “raises the stakes” for county and country and that their success or otherwise will have a direct impact on the SWALEC Stadium’s prospects as a venue for international cricket in Wales.Cardiff is up against Birmingham and London as one of three grounds hosting the June 6-23 event. While three of the five games at each of The Oval and Edgbaston sold out in the first round of ticketing, only one of Cardiff’s – the opening fixture between India and South Africa – did so, with sales in the other matches, which include England’s group game against New Zealand, described as average. A second, limited batch of tickets for all Champions Trophy matches, including India v Pakistan at Edgbaston, will go on sale on Monday morning at 10.30am BST (09.30 GMT).With the next four-year cycle of international match allocations in England to include the World Cup and Ashes in 2019, as well as the proposed World Test Championship in 2017, Hamer believes an impressive Champions Trophy showing will help state Cardiff’s case. While not a ground as storied as the likes of Lord’s or Headingley, Hamer emphasised the importance of continuing to create that history and wants a “sports hungry” Welsh public to play their part, with the eyes of the cricket world watching. Welsh cricket is on a charm offensive.”This is the first time we’ve had a global event here so it raises the stakes, not just for us but for the country as a whole because the TV audience isn’t just UK-based, it’s worldwide,” Hamer said. “And it gives an opportunity for people overseas to understand a bit more about Wales and Welsh cricket. It is important to us because if this tournament goes well then it puts us in a strong position when it comes to staging future global events.”We’re still a relatively new ground in terms of history of international matches. The only way we’re going to increase our ‘database’ is by staging more games. Other grounds have a lot more history and a lot more games than us. We’ve only got one Test match in the current four-year cycle, the 2015 Ashes, which is probably right, and at the end of the cycle we’ll be in a far stronger position in terms of support base.”While Cardiff may well be judged in comparison with attendances in London and Birmingham when measuring success, Hamer said that any rivalry was friendly. “All the venues are trying to work together to support their respective matches, so as well as us doing well here, we need The Oval and Edgbaston to do well as well. It’s good competition,” he said.Tickets for the Champions Trophy – which is being held for the final time – are priced as low as £20 for adults sitting in the family sections, with the most expensive being the £60 “Gold” seats for the final at Edgbaston. Strategies for Cardiff include targeting the city’s student population and invoking the successful sporting events held in Wales in recent years, from the Ryder Cup to multiple FA Cup finals and the 2009 Ashes Test.Although there is the perennial competition from rugby and football for attention, there is a sense that the impending arrival of the world’s best cricketers in Wales will catch the public’s imagination. The tournament will open in Cardiff, with a ceremony at the medieval castle in the city centre, while teams preparing between matches will be based in nearby Newport, using local facilities.Glamorgan will hand over control of their SWALEC Stadium – which will be rebranded as the Cardiff Wales Stadium – to the ICC for the duration of the tournament, meaning ticket revenue goes back to the governing body, but thronging crowds are likely to increase the “secondary spend” on food and drink, to go with the venue hire fee. “It is very much financially in our interest to do well,” Hamer said. “We’re incentivised to get as many bums on seats as possible.”