Anti-corruption declarations evoke good response
The new Anti-corruption form of declaration which was announced recently by the International Cricket Council (ICC) has evoked positive responses from all quarters, especially India. Speaking to Reuters, the secretary of the BCCI, JY Lele said that ``it is a good thing to propose and I see no reason for the Indian board to have any objection to it.'' However he felt that the new rules would not make much difference to the game and match fixing. He said if somebody does not want to declare anything, he cannot be stopped or forced.

The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) spokesman Brendan McClements said that the ACB would support any initiative by the ICC to help get rid of corruption in the game while the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) has stood by the ICC rulings over their cricketers Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams.

UCBSA communications manager Bronwyn Wilkinson said that the board is pleased over the fact that the ICC has endorsed the disciplinary action that followed with regard to Gibbs and Williams. He added the board was not expecting the cricketers to challenge the bans because Lord Griffiths had reviewed the case and the disciplinary actions taken and had confirmed the penalties.

Yuvraj to replace Ganguly for Asia XI-World XI match
India's new find Yuvraj Singh is to replace Indian captain Sourav Ganguly in the Asian XI, captained by Sachin Tendulkar, for the match against the World XI in Oman during that country's National Day celebrations on November 3. Apart from Tendulkar and Yuvraj, two other Indians Vinod Kambli and Ajit Agarkar figure in the Asian XI.

Speaking to Gulf News in Sharjah, Capt Allwyn Saldanha of Global Events Management, confirmed that Tendulkar would lead the side. Elaborating on the event, he said that the company had a lot of difficulty in organising the event, especially in getting some of the cricketers to play in the match. He added that the negotiations were on with Sony, ESPN and Doordarshan to telecast the game.

The Asian XI includes Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli, Ajit Agarkar, Yuvraj Singh, Moin Khan, Wasim Akram, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Waqar Younis, Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan and Naimur Rehman while the World XI includes Courtney Walsh, Brian Lara, Adam Hollioake, Alistair Campbell, Maurice Odumbe, Heath Streak, Ben Hollioake, Andy Flower, Steve Tikolo, Ricardo Powell, Mark Greatbach and Tom Moody.

Ankush Singh named captain of Rajasthan under-19 side
The Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) has named Ankush Khan as the captain of the State Under-19 team for the Central Zone Cooch-Behar Trophy Under-19 tournament. Rajasthan are slated to play their first match against Madhya Pradesh from October 22 to 24 at Jaipur.

The team: VRP Sharma, AV Maan, DA Singh, Afroz Khan, Ankush Singh (captain), Tahir Khan, DH Yagnik (wicketkeeper), NG Gehlot, S Ranjan, Vivek Yadav, S Gehlot, H Kardam, AR Chauhan, MK Verma and Shamsher Singh.

Bihar names Rajdeep Roy to lead Under-14 team
Rajdeep Roy has been named captain of the Bihar Under-14 team for the first two matches against Orissa and Sikkim for the East Zone league of the Board of Cricket in India's (BCCI) Under-14 Zonal League tournament. Bihar are slated to take on Orissa in their first match from October 24 to 26 and then Sikkim from October 31 to November 2. Both the matches will be played in Jamshedpur.

The team: R Roy (captain), KR Mridul, KRP Bajpai, Sukhbinder Singh, Rahul Singh, S Tiwary, M Coaubey, Arvind Jha, KRA Sharma (wicketkeeper), F Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Jitendra Kumar, Santosh Kumar, Ratnesh Kumar, S Nadeem, Ashwini Kumar, Madan Kumar, PK Shrivastava and Vineet Singh.

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