The battle for telecast rights of cricket matches in India has heated up with the Zee network having apparently tabled a bid worth US$262million, about $30million more than ESPN-Star Sports, who were thought to be the favourites to clinch the deal. According to a report in The Times of India, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the Indian board president, indicated that money wasn’t the sole criterion in the issue, but Subhash Chandra, the Zee network chairman, expressed his confidence that Zee would win the rights.”We want the best deal for Indian cricket in every way – money is not the only criterion,” Dalmiya was quoted as saying in the report. “Telecast rights are our property. We may call a single channel or all five [bidders] for discussion before taking a decision.” Sony Entertainment Television, Ten Sports, and Prasar Bharati, the national broadcaster, are the others who have bid for the rights.ESPN-Star Sports has claimed that Zee hasn’t produced any international cricket, one of the vital requirements for a bidder. Rick Dovey, the managing director of ESPN-Star Sports, said: “They have merely acquired the rights as a license and have telecast them [the matches].”However, Chandra countered these claims. “We wouldn’t have submitted a bid if we hadn’t met the conditions,” Chandra told the newspaper. “We have one of the largest in-house production and telecasting units and channel networks in the country and have been telecasting live cricket in the US, UK, Europe and Africa for more than a decade. We had spoken to a number of office bearers and officials in the BCCI before entering the fray. They have assured us that we qualify.”Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the audit firm which is handling the tenders, has already submitted its report to the board, which is expected to announce its final decision on Tuesday.

Scorecard

The Rest of India couldn’t carry on the good work with the bat this morning, but their bowlers helped them seize the initiative on the second day of the Irani Trophy match at Mohali. Fifteen wickets fell in the day as Mumbai were shot out for just 198 in their first innings. The Rest’s openers added 51 in quick time, but two late wickets meant that they had reached 84 for 2 – an overall lead of exactly 200 – when stumps were drawn.Resuming at 293 for 6, The Rest were undone by the nippy medium-pace of Robin Morris, and collapsed to 314 all out inside 10 overs in the morning. Both Parthiv Patel and Murali Kartik, who had added a valuable 95 yesterday afternoon, fell early on, and the tail hardly offered any resistance. Morris finished with 6 for 69, the fourth time that he picked up a five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.But Mumbai’s batsmen also floundered, with only two of them passing 20. Zaheer Khan had a satisfying return from injury, while Shib Shankar Paul, who had a successful tour with India A in Zimbabwe and Kenya, also chipped in with three scalps. Paul struck with two early wickets, and there were no sizeable partnerships throughout.Only Ramesh Powar’s effort helped Mumbai inch towards 200. Powar, who played in two ODIs during India’s tour of Pakistan, smashed eight fours in his 86-ball 55, and cobbled together some useful runs with the lower order. Powar was the last man to fall, and the Rest of India began their second innings with a handy 116-run lead.Gautam Gambhir and Aakash Chopra consolidated, putting on 51, but it was Powar again who gave Mumbai a faint sniff at he end of the day. He trapped Gambhir lbw for 30 and caught and bowled Sriram in the penultimate over of the day. Chopra was still there at the close with 26, and with his team well ahead and in sight of the first trophy of the season.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

An exhibition of batting had been expected on the third day. Instead, India set a pattern of excessive caution early on, and their laboured approach lulled the large Eden Gardens crowd into a stupor. Bursts of activity punctuated the dreary proceedings but, each time the contest appeared to come to life, the teams’ limitations became more obvious – neither side had the resources to exploit the other’s weaknesses. Only after India acquired the lead was the action sustained. They ended the day 54 runs ahead, on 359 for 6.South Africa were disciplined, rather than lethal, in their approach and gave away only 230 runs in the day. But they lacked the bowlers to knock India over after the top order had gone. When VVS Laxman departed after securing the lead, South Africa were only three runs behind. However, the lower order once again put on a show of strength. Dinesh Karthik and Irfan Pathan began slowly, but steadily gained momentum to build India’s lead.Proceedings were largely controlled by the bowlers. They absorbed the impact of an early-morning assault – as Rahul Dravid pulled and pushed fours and Virender Sehwag struck a blow into the stands at long-on – and stuck to their task.The story goes that when Ray Jennings, South Africa’s new coach, was asked what his plan for Sehwag was, he jovially announced that it involved shooting him at the hotel. But the real plan – one that worked out – was rather more legal, and just as threatening. Makhaya Ntini, delivering from wide of the stumps, got one to bounce at Sehwag’s face, and it looped off his glove to Graeme Smith, who ran in from first slip and took the catch (144 for 2).

Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar then displayed a lot of self-control. They set out to wear down South Africa’s new-ball attack, before turning their attention to the back-up bowlers. As a result, the scoring came to a standstill for much of the morning, and a repeat of the dour batting that has plagued this series was on display once again. But the approach failed, for Tendulkar (20), rendered almost strokeless by his own restraint, pushed down the wrong line and dragged Zander de Bruyn into his stumps (189 for 3).At the other end Dravid, past 50, cut loose for a brief while after lunch, and then inexplicably shut up shop again until he played yet another incoming delivery onto his stumps (238 for 4). Meanwhile, Sourav Ganguly did not potter around. He repeatedly attempted to pierce the off-side field, but a battery of fielders intercepted his searing strokes. When the bowlers strayed to leg, he pulled and edged them to the fence. He targeted Justin Ontong’s loopy offerings, making room to drive through cover. But just as his innings began to flourish, it ended. de Bruyn pitched one outside leg which hit Ganguly’s pad – also outside leg – and the ensuing appeal was upheld by Simon Taufel (267 for 5).Laxman’s dig was a ditty, and there were signs that his star was in the ascendancy. But after taking India ahead he perished to his own impertinence. After stroking sparkling boundaries, he cut an Ntini delivery that had pitched too far up, and presented Ontong with a simple catch at point (308 for 6). Gradually, the tide turned India’s way.Two days now remain, and the batting runs deep on both sides. A result is still possible, for the will to win remains evident. All we need is for that will to be backed by suitable firepower.

The Green Cross Assistance Programme (GCA), part of Florida State University’s Academy of Traumatology has come forward to assist the Tsunami survivors. Sports Oriented Persons have been invited to participate in this five-day programme, organized by Cricket-Aid – Sri Lanka Cricket that will begin on Monday, 17th January 2005.The Hon. Jeewan Kumaranathunga Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs will inaugurate the programme.The specifics of the programme are:
* Date – Monday 17th January 2005
* Time – 10.00 am onwards
* Venue – National Sports College – Conference Hall, dependence Square, Colombo – 07.
Please be good enough to send a Journalist and a Photographer/ Camera Crew to cover this event, as it would be of considerable news value.

In light of the growing chaos surrounding Kenyan cricket, the ICC has today announced that their Intercontinental Cup fixture against Namibia at Windhoek, which was scheduled for 25 to 27 February, will be postponed.”In light of the current litigation and uncertainty concerning the governance of cricket in Kenya, the ICC has taken the decision to postpone this match,” said Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive. “This match will be rescheduled at the earliest opportunity.”The announcement came less than a fortnight after the Kenyan Cricket Association had said that its request for the game to be postponed had been declined by the ICC.The second season of the ICC Intercontinental Cup will now begin with the match between United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong at Sharjah in April.

John Dyson’s long-term future as Sri Lanka’s coach remains uncertain, but the cricket board has indicated a willingness to offer him a fresh contract. Dyson and the board are expected to sit down for contractual discussions before the team’s departure to New Zealand later this month.There has been lingering confusion over Dyson’s future since the end of the year. Leaks to the media from high sources in Sri Lanka Cricket’s executive committee first indicated an unhappiness with his performance and a possible search for alternatives. Then came an announcement a few weeks later that a new contract would be offered.Dyson’s contract was due to expire at the end of March 2005, after the previously scheduled Pakistan tour which was shifted forward after the Zimbabwe player crisis, but he has returned to Sri Lanka for the start of national team’s training, and agreed to look after the team in New Zealand during April.”I am looking forward to the New Zealand tour now,” Dyson told reporters on Friday night. “It’s going to be difficult playing there at that time of year and the boys are going to have to dig very deep and be at their very best – hopefully Australia will trounce New Zealand and make it a bit easier for us!”At this stage I am still in discussions with the cricket board about my contract and I hope to have talks with them in the next couple of weeks before New Zealand to clarify a few matters. Before the end of that tour I hope we will know exactly what is happening.”From a personal point of view, I’ve really enjoyed my time with the team thus far and I think the results have been pretty good. But there are a lot of things to consider, including family issues, which are very important for me and need to be addressed.”Mohan de Silva, the president of Sri Lanka Cricket, meanwhile, told the newspaper on Thursday that “in all probability he [Dyson] will be offered a fresh contract for up to a year although no final decision has been made”. de Silva denied rumours of a pay cut, but suggested that any fresh contract would include a “win bonus system”.Dyson was a surprise appointment straight after the 2003 World Cup, and was not Sri Lanka’s first-choice candidate. But although some players were initially wary of his lack of coaching experience, they appeared to warm to his style during the course of 2004, a year in which they climbed up the ICC’s Test and ODI tables.However, despite Sri Lanka’s success on the field, there have been murmurings of discontent emerging from the board’s committee-room. But this is not new: Dav Whatmore spent nearly six successful years coaching the national team over two stints, and there wa almost always division in the committee-room over his performance and future.In recent weeks the rumour mill has been working overtime, with several high-profile names discussed in the cricket community and media as possible alternatives, including Steve Waugh, John Buchanan, Geoff Marsh, Tom Moody, Gus Logie and Peter Moores. Some Sri Lankan names have also been tossed around, including Rumesh Ratnayake and Roy Dias.

South Africa 340 for 3 dec (Smith 131, de Villiers 98) beat Zimbabwe 54 (Kallis 4-13) and 265 (Ebrahim 72, Blignaut 61, Boje 4-106) by an innings and 21 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Zimbabwe batted better than they had on that terrible first day, but they still proved unequal to the task and succumbed to an embarrassing defeat inside two days at Newlands. They were bowled out in their second innings for 265, to go down by an innings and 21 runs, despite some late fireworks from Andy Blignaut which threatened to make South Africa bat again.Matters had returned to something like normal in the morning session, as the batsmen hopped obediently into line and played patiently on a good batting pitch. Only two wickets went down before lunch, and only one more in the first hour afterwards – but the afternoon drinks interval obviously served up something surprising, as four quick wickets tumbled, including the top-scorer Dion Ebrahim for 72, to put the skids under Zimbabwe.The lunch score of 95 for 2 would have been an ideal start on the first day of a Test. The trouble was that after yesterday’s nightmarish performance, when Zimbabwe were shot out for 54, they were already firmly behind the eight-ball. Graeme Smith surprised some by declaring at the overnight total of 340 for 3, setting a daunting target of 286 just to avoid an innings defeat.The openers immediately looked more at home than on the first day, when lack of footwork betrayed batsman after batsman as the ball moved around more. Stuart Matsikenyeri, the only man to reach double figures yesterday, got the ball rolling with a single off Shaun Pollock, then settled his nerves by thick-edging Makhaya Ntini for a four over gully. He had advanced to 13 when he fended a short one from Ntini low to Jacques Rudolph at short leg (25 for 1).Still the floodgates remained resolutely closed. Ebrahim’s defensive game is ideally suited to a rearguard, and he dug in doggedly. He did pop up one hook, but mistimed it so badly that it plopped to earth well short of the deep fielder. He lost Barney Rogers, the other opener, when he wafted through to Mark Boucher after battling to 28 (59 for 2). It was a second wicket for the impressive Ntini, who toiled through an initial ten-over spell on a steaming-hot day.

Ebrahim then put on 98 with Hamilton Masakadza, who played sensibly for 46. But he became tied down as he approached his half-century, and after living dangerously against Nicky Boje he finally cut him uppishly to Herschelle Gibbs at backward point (157 for 3).It was now that Zimbabwe’s resolve weakened. Brendan Taylor got underneath an attempted lofted drive off Boje and spooned it high over mid-off, where Charl Langeveldt clung on to a swirler (173 for 4). Tatenda Taibu survived a confident appeal for caught-behind off Langeveldt – the umpire Billy Doctrove was unsighted as ball brushed glove on the way through – but he didn’t last much longer, pulling Langeveldt to be well caught low down at midwicket by the exotically named substitute Waylain September (183 for 5).Three runs later Elton Chigumbura was gone too, for a duck, missing a well-flighted delivery from Boje that gripped a little and knocked back his off stump. And next ball Ebrahim’s long vigil ended, on the point of tea. After scoring 72 in 202 minutes and 153 balls, with ten fours, he misjudged an inducker from Langeveldt, played no stroke, and swished his bat in frustration when Doctrove raised the finger (186 for 7).Heath Streak departed for 12, perhaps wondering if his much-publicised return to Test cricket was such a good idea, but his fellow returnee Blignaut injected some fun into the last rites by blasting 22 off one over from Boje, including three sixes, one of which landed on the railway line outside the ground. In all he smashed six sixes, five of them in a 39-ball half-century. But the fun couldn’t last: first Graeme Cremer was run out, and finally Blignaut was stumped attempting more violence off Boje, whose figures he had rather ruined.Tatenda Taibu, Zimbabwe’s ever-enthusiastic captain, had to admit last night that it was “the worst day since I started playing for Zimbabwe”. Today was a little better – but not much. It was the first two-day Test since Australia humbled Pakistan at Sharjah in October 2002, and even that game never descended into the farce that was the first afternoon here, when South Africa piled on 249 runs in 33 overs that resembled a prep-school Fathers’ Match more than it did a Test. Those worried about Zimbabwe’s suitability for international cricket might have been a little less outspoken today, but they won’t go away.Steven Lynch is the editor of Cricinfo.

Daily life in Zimbabwe throws up some bizarre stories, but few as odd as the one doing the rounds this week concerning the Zimbabwe Cricket Union’s new logo.Introduced in November as part of a brand re-launch, the new logo has apparently attracted the attention of the government’s infamous Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) who, so the reports go, held an investigation into a possible hidden agenda.The logo appears harmless at first glance, featuring three stumps, a white line (representing a boundary line) on a green background, and a cricket ball. But that innocence was lost on the CIO which saw more in the emblem than most. Instead of three stumps, it saw a letter M; the cricket ball became a D; and the boundary line became a C. That spelt out the initials of the Movement for Democratic Change, Zimbabwe’s major opposition party.A source close to the ZCU told Cricinfo that the matter had been raised at a board meeting although that was categorically denied by Lovemore Banda, the ZCU’s media manager. It is inconceivable that the ZCU (patron, Robert Mugabe) would in any way be linked with such a potentially embarrassing situation. It is probably more an indication of how paranoid the authorities have become about anyone opposing the government.But the incident has a darker side. A former Zimbabwe Cricket employee told Cricinfo how he was nearly beaten up by ruling ZANU PF supporters when he was spotted wearing a Zimbabwe one-day replica shirt with the new logo. The supporters asked him why he was wearing an MDC T-shirt and he had to do some fast-talking to avoid being attacked. He said that the situation was inflamed by the colour of the T-shirt. Red is synonymous with the MDC.

Desmond Haynes, the former West Indian opener, has thrown his hat in the ring for the Indian coaching job. The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced that its panel, comprising Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Ranbir Singh Mahendra and Jagmohan Dalmiya, would interview the short-listed candidates on May 19 in Delhi. The others in the frame are Greg Chappell, Tom Moody and Mohinder Amarnath.Haynes, who is the secretary of the West Indies Players’ Association, coached the Barbados team in 2002, and has also chaired the National Sports Council of the island.Sandeep Patil, who was earlier short-listed for the job, has withdrawn from the race. He conveyed this to the board in a written response to an invitation to be interviewed. John Emburey, the former England offspinner, was also connected with the job, but he too has expressed his inability to take up the post were it to be offered to him.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul was in a buoyant mood after West Indies sealed their 276-run win over Pakistan. He said that the performance was a great team effort: “I want to say thanks to the fans for their support over the last couple of months. We set out our stall from the beginning, we wanted to stay in front from the start of the game and we did.”I’m glad we came out on top and I just want to say well done to all the guys, Brian [Lara] in the first innings, Corey [Collymore], Chris Gayle. The bowlers all did well, Corey with a sore shoulder, he hurt it diving for a ball last night, but came out this morning and put the ball in the right place and I want to say well done to him.”Chanderpaul, himself, had a stunning match, scoring 92 and an unbeaten 153, plus the run out of Younis Khan yesterday evening, and the crucial catch to end Shahid Afridi’s explosive innings. “It’s just part of the job.” he said modestly. “You just go out and try and get things done and I’m pleased I was able to get it done this time.”And he hopes West Indies can take their form from this match into the second Test, starting in Jamaica on Friday. “We’ve been lacking a bit of confidence but this should help us. We just need to lift our games a little more and look at the next match. We still have another match to play and hopefully we can take the confidence from this game into the next.”Chanderpaul added that Dwayne Bravo and Ian Bradshaw, who both missed this Test with injuries, will be assessed by West Indies’ physio over the next couple days and a decision on their availability for Jamaica will be made then.Meanwhile, Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s coach, lamented their poor batting display. “You can’t get bowled out for 144, it’s ridiculous,” he said. “Not having Inzamam and Youhana made a difference but I thought we were spineless. They got themselves out very stupidly and there was no fight, that is what was surprising.”