The ICC Contract controversy

Indian cricket fans are firmly behind the national team in their dispute with the game's governing body over contracts for next month's Champions Trophy tournament. A group of around 30 supporters protested against the International Cricket Council outside the Eden Gardens Test ground in Calcutta on Tuesday. And a poll conducted by an Indian TV station showed 80 per cent of those who voted back the team, which is currently preparing for the final Test of their tour to England. The Indian players say they will not take part in the Champions Trophy, which starts in Sri Lanka on 12 September, unless "unacceptable" clauses are removed from the contracts, which force players to suspend personal endorsement deals. They have also been given the backing of former captain and coach Kapil Dev, who was recently voted as India's Cricketer of the 20th Century.

ICC Champions Trophy

The International Cricket Council says "sensible" security measures will be in place during the forthcoming Champions Trophy tournament in Sri Lanka. But world cricket's governing body has dismissed reports of a Big Brother-style surveillance operation to prevent any possibility of players being approached by or contacting bookmakers. An Agence France Presse report quoted an unnamed police source as saying that they would be mounting a "commando operation" against match-fixing. Measures would include, the report said, closed circuit cameras in dressing rooms, in car parks and team hotels, and that incoming batsmen would be escorted to the boundary to prevent last-minute contact with bookmakers. India's cricketers will seek further clarification on individual player endorsements before they agree to play in the ICC Champions Trophy. The players have asked for more time to consider a ruling which has dogged the build-up to the tournament for weeks. Meanwhile, South Africa's players are also waiting until the eleventh hour before making a decision.

India in England

Sachin Tendulkar is relishing a "very special" achievement in becoming the youngest player to win 100 Test caps. The Indian batsman will cap a century of appearances for India in the fourth Test against England on Thursday despite being just 29 years old and a sell-out crowd will be there to watch him. He said: "Reaching 100 Tests is very special for anyone, especially being only the fourth Indian player to do so. "I've learnt a lot of things in those 13 years and I've still got a lot to learn." Tendulkar made his Test debut against Pakistan as a 16-year-old but the 100-Test mark was never his long-term goal.

Miscellaneous

Darren Gough says he is still confident of making this winter's Ashes tour to Australia. The England paceman has had three operations on his knee and has barely played this summer. As a result the England management have arranged for Gough to spend three weeks strengthening his leg at the National Sports Centre at Lilleshall. And despite his recent difficulties the England paceman believes that he will be fit to face the Aussies. "I'm confident I'll make the tour, everybody's confident - the surgeons, the physios, the coaches and the selectors," Gough told. "Obviously there are no guarantees and I'm not going to stand here and say I'll definitely be 100% fit, because I thought I'd have been 100% fit after my first operation. England batsman Michael Vaughan may need knee surgery ahead of this winter's Ashes tour to Australia, according to reports. Vaughan has hit three centuries and averaged 73 in six Tests this summer. The England opener is set to play in the fourth and deciding Test against India at the Oval which starts on Thursday. But the Daily Express newspaper said Vaughan will discuss the problem with his right knee on Wednesday. "It's just wear and tear - it might need a clean-out," he said. Any surgery would almost certainly count Vaughan out of the ICC Champions Trophy, which takes place in Sri Lanka later this month. United Cricket Board (UCB) chief Gerald Majola had to vigorously defend his board's controversial decision to scrap "quotas" for the national squad when he met parliament's sports committee on Tuesday. Majola explained that the controversy around quotas arose because of confusion about terminology. He said the UCB had not used the term quotas, but transformation and representivity targets. Some of these targets had been reached ahead of schedule, hence the decision to remove quotas, and take the UCB affiliates "on trust" to reach transformation targets. The decision to do away with "quotas" was reached at a conference in July last year by unanimous agreement of all the UCB's affiliate unions. Black players had objected to being viewed as "quota" players and they want it to be known that they were selected on merit, Majola explained. He said after the meeting that it had been "good and constructive". Chairperson of the Sport and Recreation Committee Ruth Bhengu had urged MPs not to "judge" the UCB representatives since the committee would discuss and evaluate the presentation later.

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