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First Division

Chris Tremlett and James Tomlinson’s brave last-wicket stand of 84 lifted Hampshire to a healthier total of 327 against Lancashire at The Rose Bowl. Andrew Flintoff made just 2, one of four edges snapped up by Nic Pothas, as Tomlinson and Dimitri Mascarenhas made inroads into Lancashire’s reply. Lou Vincent should have been held by Rory Kleinveldt at slip early in his innings, and he made Hampshire pay with 83 from 168 balls. After putting on 96 in 31 overs with Stuart Law (43), Vincent played a rare rash shot against Tomlinson, and Mascarenhas removed Law in the next over. At the close Lancashire were 229 for 5, trailing by 98.After Yorkshire had much the better of the first day, Azhar Mahmood’s persistence brought him six wickets to finally dismiss them for 410 at Canterbury. Mahmood ended with 6 for 55, leaving Yorkshire to perhaps rue not having pressed home their advantage. There was more to come from Kent, too, with the bat. Robert Key showed his determination with an unbeaten hundred that pushed Kent to 298 for 6 by the close, Joe Denly and James Tredwell both having fallen for 48 but not before they had provided Key with some useful assistance. Tredwell’s stand with Key amounted to 139 before he offered a simple bat-pad catch to short-leg on 48.Zander de Bruyn’s century led Somerset to 324 for 6 on the second day against Durham at Chester-le-Street after rain had washed out the opening day. James Hildreth and Peter Trego also chipped in fifties to lift the visitors who were at one stage 42 for 3 courtesy of Steve Harmison, who picked up Neil Edwards, Hildreth and Justin Langer for a duck in the space of six balls. Harmison was the only Durham bowler who troubled Somerset, with both Liam Plunkett and Graham Onions – returning from a heel injury – struggling on a placid pitch. Trego was unbeaten on 67 from 88 balls at the close going into the third day.For John Ward’s summary of Nottinghamshire’s match against Surrey at Trent Bridge, click here.

Second Division

Thirteen wickets fell on the second day as Derbyshire lost 7 for 97 to tumble to 208 all out and then Leicestershire in turn collapsed to 109 for 6, still trailing by 99 at Derby. Wavell Hinds’ run-out on 44 sparked the touchpaper for the blaze of Derbyshire wickets, Jim Allenby and Tom Smith picking off wickets at will to end with three each. Matthew Boyce mustered 38 in Leicestershire’s reply, though three of their South Africans were out cheaply much like some of their international countrymen at Lord’s. It was another South African, Charl Langeveldt, who did the damage with 3 for 24 as Leicestershire slipped to to 117 for 6.It was a pair of South Africans who lent cheer to Northamptonshire, however; Lance Klusener and Johan van der Wath picking up their side from 153 for 7 with an unbroken stand so far worth 87. Both reached their fifties by the close, pushing their team’s lead to 118 against Worcestershire at New Road. For the first time this summer Simon Jones went wicketless, bowling 16 fruitless overs as Klusener and van der Wath took the attack to Worcestershire. Klusener’s innings was not without alarm – a fortunate edge over the slips off Matt Mason – and it was his partner who showed the greater fluency, smashing three fours in one particularly damaging over. van der Wath was not-out on 69 from 86 balls at stumps going into the final day of this rain-curtailed match.Danish Kaneria wasted no time making up for a lost opening day, his five wickets removing Glamorgan for a sorry 132 at Cardiff. Essex made strides into the total, with Varun Chopra and Jason Gallian moving them on to an unbeaten 54-run opening stand by stumps. The other wickets were shared around for the visitors, with their current golden boy Graham Napier making the first breakthrough, removing Richard Grant for 10. Michael Powell and Gareth Rees reached their thirties but they could do little to stop their side losing the last eight wickets for 31. Essex showed Glamorgan how to do it, Chopra and Gallian smacking 54 before play was abandoned in the afternoon due to rain.Eoin Morgan’s unbeaten hundred lifted Middlesex from a wobble at 64 to 4 to a commanding 282 for 6, and he was joined in his efforts by the impressive Ben Scott, the pair adding a confidence-restoring 172 for the fifth wicket. Scott finally fell on 83, one of three catches behind for a toiling Gloucestershire at Bristol. It was Morgan’s maiden Championship hundred and, though his and Middlesex’s innings rarely flowed freely, matters weren’t helped by several frustrating breaks for showers. Ian Saxelby, Gloucestershire’s young trialist bowler, picked up his maiden wicket when Tim Murtagh feathered a short delivery outside his off stump, and Scott fell to Chris Taylor for 83.

Jonty Rhodes, the former South Africa player, will be the top draw in a unique Israel team – including a collection of Jewish cricketers from South Africa, Australia, Ireland and India – that will take on an India A squad to mark the 60th anniversary of Israel’s founding.Rhodes, 38, who retired from the game five years ago, has confirmed his participation for the three one-dayers to be held in Tel Aviv and the port city of Ashdod from July 13-16, Stanley Perlman, the chairman of the Israel Cricket Association, told Cricinfo.Perlman said he was particularly happy at being able to give an international look to the Israel 60th Anniversary XI, which also has an Indian Jew – Bensiyon Songavkar, who has represented Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy. The squad has seven overseas players whose Israeli contingent includes a left-arm spinner from the Army and a wicketkeeper still in school.”It was very difficult to find enough first-class cricketers from around the world who are Jewish,” Perlman, who is also an ICC board member, said. “But as you can see, we finally managed to get a cricketer even from India.”Except for Rhodes and Netherlands’ Roland Lefebvre, who are “supporters of cricket in Israel”, the Israel team will comprise entirely of Jewish cricketers including Adam Bacher (South Africa), Steven Herzberg (Australia), Jason and Greg Molins (Ireland) and Songavkar. The two Israeli players who are sure to make the XI are Shai Chayun, the wicketkeeper, and Solomon Varsulkar, from the country’s armed forces.”I just hope Solomon gets leave and Shai’s exams don’t clash with this event,” Perlman said. “Israel celebrated its 60th birthday recently and it is a very special occasion for us. Believe it or not, no other sport here has organised any such celebration and I am so happy cricket is the game that has gone ahead. It is also a great opportunity to bring in a group of good cricketers and show Israel what the game is all about.”My first thought was who would I want to celebrate this with? The answer was clear: my friends from India, who share very rich historical ties with us.”The BCCI had accepted an invitation earlier this year from Perlman to send a team for the event, and Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, told Cricinfo that the squad would consist of a “collection of fringe India players and some under-19 cricketers”.Shah, who is based in Rajkot and is also the secretary of the local Saurashtra Cricket Association, said he had suggested Songavkar’s name for the event after receiving a request from Perlman to identify Jewish cricketers from India to be part of the Israel XI.”I will be playing against an Indian team in Israel for an Israeli team and that will be a bit strange. But I am looking forward to the trip,” Songavkar, 22, a left-handed batsman and right-arm off-spinner who works for the Indian Railways, told Cricinfo.

Entertainment won’t be lacking at the Basin Reserve in Wellington over the next five days – that’s the view of New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming as he takes on India in the first of two National Bank Series Tests.Fleming said the pitch for the match is one of the hardest he has seen at the ground.”There is great grass cover.”I was fortunate enough to play on it a week ago and it had good bounce and I think that it will be great. It will provide some entertainment,” he said.Whether New Zealand’s batsmen would be key contributors to the entertainment factor was not quite so certain.Fleming said it was a fine line between being entertaining and taking undue risks.”If we get the opportunity we’d like to because scoring is one way of putting pressure back on the bowlers.”It does really depend on what you’re delivered. On these types of wickets, if it does nip around too much, one may have your name on it,” he said.It also came down to the individual approach of players.”We’ve got different styles of players all the way through our innings. Some are instinctively attacking, others are more circumspect.”All I’m saying to our guys is look what’s best for you in the current situation, then just trust it,” he said.While a lot had quite rightly been made of the wicket, it all still came down to basic technique.”We haven’t got a secret technique of playing a green seaming wicket that is going to help us. Nothing can really help you if it nips around quite a bit.”I guess it just comes down to your basic technique and in their [India’s] batting order there are some of the finest techniques in the game so they should be able to adjust and they should be able to adapt,” he said.If there was an advantage to the home side it was in their knowledge of the conditions.Fleming said he was happy with his attack because the bowlers concerned were thinking players who had been thinking for quite a while about the task in front of them in this series.It was tough on bowlers when a green wicket was laid on, because everyone’s expectations were that they should be able to move the ball around.It was like the pressure that goes on a batsman to score heavily when he is confronted with a flat pitch.”There’s a certain amount of nervousness about having to perform, and needing to perform. Sometimes that can lead to over-effort and a bad bowling performance. We’ve talked about that and looked at that already,” he said.”We just need to go about our business and even forget about the fact that it might be a big green seamer. We just have to be workmanlike.”Indian coach John Wright had given New Zealand’s solitary spinner Daniel Vettori something to work on when claiming there was only one world-class spinner in the match, Harbhajan Singh because Vettori’s average was a little high to suggest he was in world-class.”So he’s got a point to prove here,” Fleming said.Wright was a significant advantage for India going into the game, as Fleming acknowledged.”Not only has he been successful with them, but he has very good knowledge of how New Zealand wickets traditionally play.”Finally, there is the underlying knowledge that after the recent upheavals in cricket in New Zealand, when first-class players resorted to strike action during contract negotiations, the players will be under even closer scrutiny from the local public.”It’s an important time for a number of reasons for us.”We’re building up a pretty good record at home, like the 1980s, and we want to respond well,” he said.There is every chance circumstances will give New Zealand every opportunity to put their case over the next five days.Given their lack of cricket, New Zealand face the tougher test, but India have not won a match in New Zealand since 1975/76, they have their own demons to face.

Superior bowling and solid batting by the Victorian Spirit overcame the Western Fury with victory by 8 wickets at Abbett Park in Perth today.The Fury were bowled out for a score of 126 in the forty-third over of their innings. In reply the Spirit lost two wickets on their way to victory in the thirtieth over.The main difference between the teams today was in their bowling. The Spirit had the pace and penetration to regularly take the Fury wickets whilst their opponent relied on spin and medium pace.In contrast to yesterdays match – the Fury players were running well between the wickets. There was virtually no hesitation throughout their innings. The fielding of the Spirit side was marginally better than yesterday, it was the bowlers however who won the day for their team.Conditions were perfect – clear skies and a mere zephyr of wind at the start of play. Zoe Goss won the toss for the Fury and elected to bat first.Openers Elwyn Campbell and Angelle Gray had put 15 runs on the board when Gray was trapped in front – leg before wicket to Clea Smith after scoring 3 runs from 10 balls.Campbell and Fury captain Zoe Goss saw off the Victorian pace bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick adding 36 to the score when Goss 11 (from 23 balls) was bowled around her legs by Jodi Dean in the fifteenth over of the innings with the Fury score two wickets for 51.Campbell and Sarah Collyer added 21 more to the score when Campbell 34 (84)played inside the line of a delivery from Jane Franklin and had the off stump removed and was out bowled when the Fury score was 72 for the third wicket.The fourth wicket partnership of English pair Collyer and Dawn Holden cameundone when the score was 87. They were together only eight minutes addingfifteen from seventeen balls when Holden 5 (11) guided a Sarah Young delivery into the safe hands of Louise Broadfoot at second slip.Collyer and Avril Fahey added twelve runs for the fifth wicket, bringing the Fury score to 99 when Collyer 24 (44) bottom edged a ball from Franklin into the gloves of Spirit wicket keeper Amelie Hunter who was standing up at the stumps.Avril Fahey 3 (17) was trapped in front by Young out leg before wicket, before her sixth wicket partner Lauren Stammers could open her account and thus the sixth wicket went with 102 runs on the scoreboard in the thirty-third over.Breaking the seventh wicket partnership worth fourteen runs, Shannon Young had Lauren Stammers 10 (16) caught by Melanie Jones. The Fury fighting hard to stave off the attack with 116 runs.Kelly Tyrrell 2 (5) lofted into the outfield off an outside edge and was caught out there by Kelly Applebee off the bowling of Louise Broadfoot.The ninth wicket to fall was that of Renee Chappell 3 (16) who lofted a drive off Young and was at mid off caught by Belinda Clark. The Western Fury were had scored 121 in the thirty-ninth over.Zoe Kissane 4 (13) failed to dig out a full ball from the pace bowler Fitzpatrick, second ball of her new spell, bowled out and the last batsman out, leaving Connie Wong 2 (15) undefeated for the second time in two games. So the Western Fury were all out for 126 two balls into the forty-third over.At at asking rate of just 2.54 per over the Victorian Spirit were set for aquick victory. They were propelled to that position by their bowling. Each of the six bowlers used was rewarded with at least one scalp. The best figures were of Shannon Young who took four wickets conceding 23 runs from eight overs. Jane Franklin chipped in with two wickets for 14 from five overs and Louise Broadfoot one wicket for 9 from five overs was the most economical. The other bowlers used were Cathryn Fitzpatrick, Clea Smith and Jodi Dean with a wicket each.The first wicket partnership of Louise Broadfoot and Belinda Clark erased 78 runs from the target before their union in the middle was broken. Clark chased at a ball outside off from Kelly Tyrrell and gave a catch off the driven edge to Angelle Gray at a wide second slip position.An hour into the Victorian reply, a stiff westerly breeze arrived. This greatly assisted the slower bowlers from the Fury, adding drift to the spin they were exerting off the pitch. The bowling in general lacked the penetration of the Victorian Spirit.The wicket of Louise Broadfoot fell when she was caught at first slip by Zoe Goss off the bowling of Dawn Holden for 23 (61). Twelve runs was the value of the second wicket partnership with Kelly Applebee. Their partnership was broken with the score of 90 in the twenty-first over.Kelly Applebee 29 (42) and Melanie Jones 10 (25) brought the Spirit ship home in the thirtieth over.The Fury used six bowlers in the defense of their total. Only Kelly Tyrrell (1-8) and Dawn Holden (1-17) were successful. The other bowlers used were Zoe Goss, Sarah Collyer, Patrice Berthold and Avril Fahey.Shannon Young was awarded the man of the match award for her four wicket haul in the Fury innings.The next matches for Victoria Spirit is away to the New South Wales Institute of Sport in Sydney, 7 and 8 December 2002. At the same time the Western Fury will be playing their next matches away to the Southern Scorpions at Adelaide.

The first half of the Logan Cup season is over, and a number of players who have shown top form have played themselves into the national Test squad: Mark Vermeulen, Blessing Mahwire, Campbell Macmillan, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Sean Ervine, Richie Sims and Gavin Ewing. Congratulations to them all; Vermeulen has played in one one-day international and Ervine in eight, but none have yet played in a Test match.CONTENTS

• LOGAN CUP:
  • Division A:
    Mashonaland v Midlands, scorecard and reports
    Matabeleland v Manicaland, scorecard and reports
  • Division B:
    Masvingo v Mashonaland B, scorecard
    Midlands B v Manicaland B, scorecard
• Interviews:
  Alistair Campbell – captain again
  Andy Blignaut – back to the spotlight
  Andy Flower – a season with Essex
  
• 10 Years on: Andy Flower’s memories of Zimbabwe’s first Test matches
• Letters

If selected, they will of course find there is a tremendous and unavoidable gap between Logan Cup and Test cricket. The Logan Cup matches were marked by fast, high scoring by the batsmen on fine batting pitches; bowlers for the most part struggled. But, as Heath Streak has said, this is probably the best possible scenario regarding our first-class competition. Batsmen get the best possible opportunity to play long innings, while bowlers will have to scratch their heads and get down to some really hard work to tighten up and improve their game if they are to enjoy any success in the future.It’s a hard game for them, but they will never elevate themselves to Test-match standard by taking easy wickets on seamer-friendly tracks, because that sort of pitch is rarely seen in Test cricket. When the going is tough, as it has been for most of our bowlers, seamers especially, the tough get going. When the second half of the programme takes place next April, perhaps we will see a more even contest – not because the conditions have changed, but because the bowlers will have changed, for the better.Here are the Logan Cup logs to date. Mashonaland and Midlands paid heavy penalties for their poor over rates in their recent match. Match points are 12 for a victory and 3 for a draw.

A DIVISIONMatch Bonus PenaltyP W L D pts Bat Bowl pts TOTALMashonaland 3 2 – 1 27 12 9 5 43Manicaland 3 1 1 1 15 8 11 0.5 33.5Matabeleland 3 1 2 – 12 9 6 2 25Midlands 3 – 1 2 6 9 10 9.5 15.5B DIVISIONMatch Bonus PenaltyP W L D pts Bat Bowl pts TOTALMashonaland B 3 2 – 1 27 8 11 0 46Manicaland B 3 1 1 1 15 10 10 0 35Matabeleland B 2 1 1 – 12 4 8 0 24Masvingo 2 – – 2 6 7 7 4.5 15.5Midlands 2 – 2 – 0 4 2 0 6

The Pakistanis are coming – but so are the rains. There have been widespread rains in Zimbabwe this week, longer in duration that is usual for this time of year. In October and November rains tend to be in short, sharp bursts rather than the prolonged rains that we have had. Hopefully the rain, much needed, will not interfere too much with the cricket, but that is always a risk that needs to be taken when teams visit Zimbabwe at this time of year. Some years, in January and February especially, cricket can be almost impossible, and we were indeed fortunate when Pakistan first visited us in 1994/95 that there was little rain in February to spoil a memorable series.Is there an award for the Selfish Player of the Week? Jacques Kallis, during South Africa’s mauling of hapless Bangladesh in the Second Test at Potchefstroom, was caught at the wicket fairly early on, off his glove. He refused to walk and was given not out. He went on to collect another Test century.This is at least the second Test century Mr Kallis has recorded after being fairly dismissed but mistakenly allowed to stay by the umpire. He did the same against Zimbabwe in Harare last year.Players give various excuses for not walking. There are those who claim it is always the umpire’s decision and they will abide by it – but should there be an umpiring error against them they will make their disapproval plain. Some say that if they walk it will be to the detriment of their team, which will suffer, and I imagine this to be a common excuse among Zimbabwe players, who often need all the help they can get. Some may say their place in the team is in jeopardy and by staying and taking another chance to play a major innings they can make it more secure.So what excuse would Mr Kallis give, if so required, for his failure to walk? His team was in a very strong position, and his own place in it is quite secure. He robbed the opposition of a valuable wicket they had fairly earned, as he did against Zimbabwe last year.And, as was also the case against Zimbabwe, he robbed his own team-mates as well. Ashwell Prince and Martin van Jaarsveld, both at the start of their Test careers, would have benefited greatly had they been able to come in to bat with the opportunity to play a major innings. Instead, Kallis shared a huge stand with Gary Kirsten, and these two youngsters did not get a chance to bat until a declaration was imminent and they had to look to score quickly. The aforementioned Mr Kallis’s decision to hog the crease and gorge himself against the easiest bowling available in Test cricket robbed the two youngsters of the chance to gain vital experience.Shame on you, Jacques Kallis! If that was not pure selfishness, then what other justifiable reason could you give for your refusal to walk when you knew you were out? One of the commentators described it as unprofessional behaviour in such circumstances. To add to the crime, this innings helped Kallis to win the Man of the Match and Man of the Series award, so obviously the adjudicators did not consider the moral element to be of any importance.The message coming across is that selfish behaviour pays very well. If I were an international umpire, I would be very eager to put my finger up against Mr Kallis, were I given half a chance. But then I probably would not last very long. Unlike certain players whose motto in life seems to be to look out for number one to the exclusion of all others.

The South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) has named the finaltwelve-man squad for the first ING Cup match to be held this Saturday,October 19 at Adelaide Oval.The squad sees Graham Manou take up wicket-keeping duties, with NathanAdcock also coming into the side.Completing the squad are Greg Blewett (c), Chris Davies, John Davison, DavidFitzgerald, Ryan Harris, Mark Harrity, Mark Higgs, Ben Johnson, MichaelMiller and Paul Rofe.The ING Cup match is a day game, with play starting at 9.30am and gatesopening at 8.30am. Tickets are $8 for adults and $2 for children. Ticketscan be purchased at the gates.

The fifth match between Australia ‘A’ and South Africa ‘A’ in EastLondon, South Africa, has been abandoned without a ball being bowled.The decision was made after heavy rain left the field waterlogged.The next match is in Bloemfontein on Sunday. Australia ‘A’ hold anunbeatable 4-0 lead in the series.

Despite captain Sanath Jayasuriya’s comments to the contrary, Sri Lanka remain firm favourites to win the final of the Morocco Cup 2002 on Wednesday.Jayasuriya appeared uncomfortable with the favourites’ label after his side’s comfortable six-wicket defeat of South Africa on Monday, their third consecutive win."No, you can’t say that we are favourites, South Africa can always come back," said Jayasuriya, wary of Sri Lanka having lost their last two Sharjah finals after dominating the group stages.However, coach Dav Whatmore admitted that South Africa were now underdogs.”Played four, won three – I suppose you could say that, but we’ve played them a lot in the past and we know what they are capable of. The conditions might be different but that’s no reason to think it’s your God-given right to win the final,” Whatmore said.The fact is that as this tournament has progressed, the conditions haveincreasingly favoured Sri Lanka’s spin-based attack, which has been able toextract significant turn from the pitch.Sri Lanka bowled 30 overs of spin in their last game, despite the absence oftheir star off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, and will consider playing justtwo fast bowlers in the final.That would allow them to bolster their middle order, which has so far not been tested because of the form of Aravinda de Silva, who has won two Man-of-the-Match awards, and Jayasuriya, the tournaments highest run-scorer with 228 runs at 57.By sharing ten overs between Jayasuriya, De Silva and Russel Arnold, Sri Lanka would be able to play Tillakaratne Dilshan at number seven.But it’s a difficult decision to make, with pace bowler Pulasthi Gunaratne, the one who would stand down, having taken four wickets in his last game.South Africa captain Shaun Pollock is certainly keen to take early wickets,believing the key to winning will be to put pressure on the Sri Lankan middle order."At the moment the lower order has not really been tested, we have to make inroads upfront," said Pollock.They will be targeting de Silva, who has nudged and nurdled his way to two match-winning unbeaten half-centuries against the Proteas."De Silva is the key, he is their rock that they are batting around at themoment," Pollock said.And despite two comprehensive defeats, he remained upbeat about his side’s chances."We know what we have to do – where we have gone wrong and improve," he said. "If we put that right I can’t see why we can’t win."South Africa have been boosted by the news that Jacques Kallis will play a full part in the final, despite sustaining a knee injury during his 84 yesterday. Jonty Rhodes, suffering from a bruised finger, has also been given the all clear.South Africa, though, are also faced with selection problems, particularly theidentity of Pollock’s new-ball partner.Both Roger Telemachus and Mahkaya Ntini have proved expensive and appearunlikely to play, meaning Kallis takes the new ball and left-arm spinner Nicky Boje bowls his full quota of overs.With only five specialist bowlers, Justin Ontong, who has thus far failed with the bat, may play ahead of left-handed batsmen Graeme Smith because of the back-up provided by his part-time spin.Sri Lanka: Sanath Jayasuriya (Capt), Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, MahelaJaywardene, Russel Arnold, Aravinda de Silva, Tillakaratne Dilshan, UpulChandana, Hasantha Fernando, Chaminda Vaas, Chamila Lakshitha Gamage, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Pulasthi Gunaratne, Charitha Buddika Fernando.South Africa: Shaun Pollock (Capt), Mark Boucher, Paul Adams, Nicky Boje, Boeta Dippenaar, Allan Donald, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Gary Kirsten, Lance Klusner, Makhaya Ntini, Justin Ontong, Jonty Rhodes, Graeme Smith, Roger Telemachus.

Somerset Under 11’s travelled to West Buckland School last weekend, to play against their Devon counterparts.Somerset won the toss and batting first amassed 199 for 7 before declaring. Will Robinson dominated the innings with a fine 85, and there were also useful contributions from Jamie Howson (15) Dan Tomkins (14) Chris Dent and Ross Jenkins who both made 12.In reply the hosts were dismissed for 142 to give Somerset victory by 57 runs.For Somerset Jack Leach enjoyed figures of 10 overs, 2 maidens, 3 wickets for 18 runs.

Age fudging could potentially rear its ugly head during the forthcoming Vijay Merchant Trophy with the BCCI’s medical expert, who verifies players’ age eligibility, stepping down nearly a month before the tournament.ESPNcricinfo has learned that Dr. Abhijit Salvi, BCCI’s chief medical officer, has resigned. Salvi moved out after the New Zealand Test series which finished on December 7 in Mumbai. He is believed to have stepped down for personal reasons. The BCCI is yet to make Salvi’s exit public. The board has also not given any indication if it intends to advertise for his replacement.The timing of Salvi’s departure is significant, considering the BCCI is scheduled to conduct the Under-16 national championships, otherwise known as the Vijay Merchant Trophy, from January 9, 2022. There are 36 teams with matches spread across the country. What has this got to do with Salvi? He was in charge of the age verification process, put in place by BCCI to uproot age-fraud, a malaise that former Indian captain and current men’s head coach Rahul Dravid said was “toxic” and equivalent to “fixing”.Related

• BCCI issues guidelines to states to tackle age-fudging

• India players barred from playing multiple U-19 World Cups

• Reintroduce children to the magic of cricket – Dravid

• Age-fudging no different from fixing – Dravid

Normally, Salvi would have been busy now conducting the bone density test, otherwise known as the Tanner Whitehouse 3 method, used to determine the age of the player based on the growth of the bones in the wrist. The TW3 method is used only at Under-16 level by BCCI. The board’s age-verification team’s main responsibility is to tally the TW3 rating along with date of birth proof documents before submitting the final eligibility report for each player. As CMO, Salvi was the authorising head for the eligibility report.One key potential danger of there being no medical expert interpreting and validating the eligibility process is genuine players could get disqualified for the Under-16 tournament, which could further endanger their participation in BCCI’s Under-19 tournaments in the future.Salvi, who joined the BCCI in 2012, was the one-person medical arm of the board – leading the medical and anti-doping wings. Recently, Salvi was also the CMO at the men’s T20 World Cup in the UAE and Oman.The development, though, will not have an impact on the India’s tour of South Africa. While he travelled as the team doctor on India’s trips to Australia in 2020-21 and then to Sri Lanka, Salvi was never meant to travel to South Africa. It is learned that the BCCI has appointed Charles Minz as the team doctor for the South Africa trip.During the pandemic, Salvi’s responsibilities stacked up massively as he had to prepare the biosafety norms for all cricket played in India, including the last two editions of the IPL. His biggest challenge came during the first half of IPL 2021, which had to be halted at the halfway stage after Covid-19 cases in the tournament bubble grew quickly.When it came to anti-doping, the BCCI had a 24X7 helpline, which essentially was Salvi. The BCCI adopted the WADA code only in 2009 and testing in domestic cricket started in 2012 when Salvi teamed up with Vece Paes, father of the former Indian tennis player Leander. Vece Paes was then the BCCI’s medical head and anti-doping manager. The pair worked hard to create an anti-doping education programme and conducted workshops in the off-season, visiting different states. It was Salvi who travelled across the country to both educate players, and emphasise on the importance of anti-doping.