Sunday roundup (-worma)

World XI made a winning start against Victoria...and guess who were the key performers for them! Dravid made a typical anchoring 66(70b) when the WXI were wobbling in mid innings...with Gayle(batting at 8!) and Pollock providing the partnership. Shoaib and Murali then had good spells with the ball.

But the match turned out to be close..since Victoria also had some quality players, close on national fringes...and Hodge and White made it count. Harwood was their best bowler(dunno much about him).


Back to Indian news...and Sachin, who had earlier stated that there was still some pain in the elbow, has now confirmed further that his foray into the middle is just at the right time, and after the requisite expert consultations.

I am doing this after consulting the doctor who performed the corrective surgery in England. We decided that this is the right time to at least go and have a hit

And he has also been repeating that this, afterall, is his way of judging the status of the elbow and the whole situation...and not an outright confirmation of his return to international scene.

I would exactly know where I stand and basically that becomes my target. After the Challenger, I will be in a better position to figure out how it (left elbow) is

Kiran More, does say here that some of the names missing in the Challenger squad were still in contention and age has not been the criteria for ruling out players.

Which brings back the Kumble question, as I said yesterday. Now there is one report which does mention him being under rehab for four weeks...although no specific reasons mentioned.

Some more positive news....as mentioned in the review committee report (yes 'that' review committee)...there was discussion on doing away with the zonal selection system. Given the immense importance of this issue, it was surprising how little it was talked about in the media.... and even here. But this report again mentions(if you ignore the heading) that there are enough indications of the change being considered seriously. Maybe as soon as the next AGM (yes the postponed one).

I guess if the election issue is settled beforehand, then there are chances of this being brought up. Meanwhile...here is one reason why a delay of a couple of months on such a big change won't make too much of a difference(as long as it does come later)

A senior Indian cricketer told The Indian Express: "The current 16 players in the Indian team are the best available. So there is no need to change things for the time being."

Here is an interview with Sandeep Patil, touching on this issue among others. Also mentions this important bit

I would also be happy if the BCCI appoints a permanent manager. South Africa has had Ghoolam Rajah for several years and Australia has Steve Bernard and both have produced results. Continuity has to be maintained to avoid anomalies creeping into reports submitted by different managers

Meanwhile, read here(towards the end of the article) what Ian Frazer has to say about the fitness schedule of our team. Also...this bit was important

He also had another significant observation: seniors aren'’t passing on enough tips to the youngsters. "‘I'’d like to see the Sachins talk a lot more to the young boys, try and tell them about their experiences and how they handled a particular situation."’

Ofcourse he didn't actually mean Sachin, since he(and GC) haven't yet worked with him...but still this comes as a surprise to me.