Dubai, Dec 7 : The International Cricket Council (ICC) has made a change to the previously announced umpire appointments for the upcoming Test series in India.
Pakistani nationals require city-specific visas when travelling to India. This week Asad Rauf, the Emirates Elite Panel umpire who was to officiate in both Tests, received his passport back with a visa appropriate for the original venues. With the change in venues he required a new visa but due to the weekend, followed by the Eid al-Adha holidays, there was insufficient time for one to be issued, so he has had to step down from the first Test.
He will be replaced by Billy Bowden, also of the Emirates Elite Panel, who will officiate in the first Test in Chennai, beginning on December 11.
Abu Dhabi, Dec. 7 : England cricket coach Peter Moores has said that there is a possibility of all-rounder Andrew Flintoff skipping the tour to India, which was recently ravaged by a terrorist strike.
"I''m fairly confident everybody will go (to India) if the security report is okay. But it is a difficult situation and everybody sees things differently. The worry is that if somebody makes their choice, they get marginalized," The Sunday Times quoted Moores, as saying.
Sydney, Dec. 7: The South African cricket team can fancy its chances of beating the Australians for the first time on their home soil for four very solid reasons.
London, Dec 7: England''s decision to return to India to play two Test matches, a fortnight after the terrible terror attacks in Mumbai commands respect for two reasons, says noted cricket commentator Peter Roebuck.
According to Roebuck, first, it shows that captain Kevin Pietersen can lead a team through a crisis, and second, England''s willingness to go back, makes the long-awaited split on racial lines less likely.
In his article for the Sydney Morning Herald, Roebuck contrasts this with the lack of spunk shown by the Australians, saying that cricketers from Down Under "have repeatedly turned to jelly in the face of arbitrary danger."
Sydney, Dec. 7 : Out of favour Australian left-arm swing bowler Nathan Bracken is trying to force his way back into the Australian Test squad as a spinner.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Bracken, who was ranked the world''s No. 1 one-day bowler, has secretly been working on his spinners in the nets and is hoping to unleash them soon in a game.
"I''ve been practising them a fair bit. I''ve been bowling them at training but the hardest thing has been trying to get the chance to bowl them in a game," he told the Sun Herald.
During the last Sheffield Shield game against Tasmania, where Bracken took a match total of eight wickets, he asked Blues skipper Dominic Thornely for the chance to bowl spin in the second innings.
Sydney, Dec. 7 : Former Australian captain and opener Bobby Simpson expects current opener Simon Katch to maintain technical poise and adapt a simple approach while dealing with the South African pace trio of Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini and Morne Morkel during the upcoming Test series.
"I''m very pleased and proud of what he''s been able to do. He''s a lad who''s approached the job in the simplest possible way, which is the way I like it. He''s sorted out the technical things we''ve talked about and he''s now doing them exactly as we planned about two years ago. I''ve got great pleasure from that, the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Simpson, as saying.
