* Badani is TNCA Cricketer of the Year

The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) celebrated its 71st Annual Day at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, on Friday. AC Muthiah, the President of BCCI and TNCA welcomed the august gathering. He expressed great satisfaction in the success of the TNCA in hosting international matches and running the game in the state. JY Lele, the secretary of BCCI who was the guest of honour said that TNCA was one of the best administered associations. He was quick to add that the BCCI could learn a few things from the TNCA Annual Report, which is a perfect document.

ME Vasu, Executive Director, Southern Region, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. presided over the function and gave away scholarships and awards to leading players from the state. Hemang Badani was named Cricketer of the Year. Since Badani is away in Zimbabwe, playing for India in the Coca Cola Cup triangular series, his father received the award.

Other notable awardees: Anirudh Srikkanth (son of former India opening batsman K Srikkanth) received the SW De Alwis Trophy for the Junior School Cricketer of the Year. K Vasudeva Doss received the C Subramaniam Trophy for the School Cricketer of the Year. S Vasanth Saravanan from Thiruvallur DCA was named as the Cricketer of the Year from the districts. MR Shrinivas was named collegiate Cricketer of the Year and a special memento was presented to Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan for his century in the Ranji Trophy pre quarterfinal against Delhi, coming in at No 11. For their outstanding performances in the Ranji Trophy, S Sharath (Highest Aggregate), S Mahesh (Consistent Performance) and S Sriram (Best Fielder) were also honoured.

* Bengal umpires' gesture to ailing JD Ghosh

The Umpires of the Cricket Association of Bengal on Thursday presented Rs 10,000 to former Test and One Day International umpire Jiban Dhan Ghosh who is suffering from cancer. Ghosh said that he had written to the BCCI and the CAB in this regard but the umpires association was the first to help him. Ghosh is the first Bengal umpire to officiate in an ODI. He supervised Four Test matches and three ODIs. He was the Board Panel umpire from 1958-59 to 1991 which is a record. He supervised 38 Ranji Trophy matches including the final in 1980, nine Duleep Trophy matches including two finals and seven Deodhar Trophy matches including two finals.

The AGM of the Umpires of the CAB was also held in Kolkata on Thursday. Seventy seven umpires who are officiating matches for the CAB were present at the meeting. The umpires were presented two shirts for supervising matches in the coming season. Before the meeting, they arranged a blood donation camp where 52 umpires donated blood. The camp was inaugurated by former international umpire, former Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court and the chairman of The Bengal Human Rights Commission Mukul Gopal Mukherjee. Sekhar Chowdhury and Arya Kishore Chatterjee were re-elected as the secretary and president of the Association.

* Shivlal Yadav re-elected HCA selection committee chairman

Former Test off spinner Shivlal Yadav has been re-elected chairman of the Hyderabad Cricket Association senior selection committee for 2001-2002 at a meeting held in Hyderabad on Thursday. The other members of the committee are: V Manohar, MV Ramanamurthy and Moses Nityanand.

Moses Nityanand is the chairman of the state junior selection committee. The other members are: Imran Mahmood, Surender Agarwal and Fiazuddin.

School Selection Committee: Fiazuddin (chairman), Satish Nelluri, Vidyut Jaisimha and P Venkatmurthy

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