Umpires announced for India-England ODIs The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the list of umpires called up to do duty in the forthcoming one-day series between England and India. Although not as prestigious as standing in the longer version of the game, there is great demand to umpire one-dayers as well. Most umpires trying to make a mark see the one-dayers as a stepping stone to bigger things. Unlike Test matches, there is also no qualification stipulated by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to stand for one-day internationals. The BCCI has a rotation policy in place by which umpires are selected from a national pool on a series by series basis. As a result, four different umpires officiate in each match, with even familiar names like Subroto Porel and VK Ramaswamy getting a look-in only once each - at New Delhi and Cuttack respectively.

The victors and the vanquished speak forth Even the Indian women would not have imagined that England would succumb so meekly in this five-match women's one-day international series. At the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad, India took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series, thereby closing the door on England. A thumping 113-run win settled the issue, with India outplaying England in every department of the game. At the end of the game, skipper Anjum Chopra said, "Mithali Raj and Mamatha Maben batted brilliantly to get us into such a good position. Don't forget Arundhati Kirkire's knock; that too came at just the right time." The skipper went on to add, "It was a planned batting effort. We wanted Mithali to bat out the full 50 overs, while players at the other end took the initiative. When we came on to bowl, things were a bit tight initially, but Sunita and Nooshin gave us the breakthroughs and things became much easier," she said of the comprehensive victory. English captain Clare Connor, utterly disappointed at the result, began by saying, "We didn't expect to be beaten so easily. But there is a fair bit of the tour to go yet. We will now be focussing on the Test, where we can regain some pride by putting in a good showing." The England captain went on to spell out some of the areas that let the team down. "We really did not build any partnerships, and that is something you have to do in any form of the game to succeed. We also lacked the freedom to play shots, something we hope to sort out soon." Get all the tour action on CricInfo.

Ganguly sweats it out in Eden Gardens nets In the last 20 Tests, Sourav Ganguly has not been able to reach the magical three-figure mark even once. The Indian skipper has come under tremendous fire for his run of low scores, and one recent advertisement encapsulated his position succinctly - 'Sorrow, Ganguly' it read. At the end of the Test series against England, and before the limited-overs matches begin, Ganguly has taken the opportunity to get back to the basics. Back home at Kolkata, the Indian skipper spent long sessions at the nets at the Eden Gardens. Since the Bengal Ranji team was away playing Orissa, Ganguly enlisted the help of four local bowlers to have a knock. And if batting proved to be a bugbear, Ganguly took some solace in bowling, rolling his arm over in the nets after his session with the willow. Predictably, though, the Indian skipper stayed away from the press, although he obliged autograph hunters and fans alike.

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