da pixbet： West Indies captain Carl Hooper said in Bulawayo on Sunday that thevictory against Zimbabwe in the Coca Cola Cup triangular series hadgiven a lot of confidence to his side and he was now looking forwardto defeating India in the next game to be
Staff and Agencies02-Jul-2001* Hooper hopes to win dress rehearsal on WednesdayWest Indies captain Carl Hooper said in Bulawayo on Sunday that thevictory against Zimbabwe in the Coca Cola Cup triangular series hadgiven a lot of confidence to his side and he was now looking forwardto defeating India in the next game to be able to go into the finalwith a positive frame of mind."We need a confidence booster before the final and hope to win againstIndia at Harare," Hooper said after his team clinched a five-wicketwin over Zimbabwe in a nail-biting finish to confirm their place inthe final. "The final against India would be a good match. Zimbabwepushed us real hard," he said after pipping Zimbabwe with just a ballto spare.Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak said it was unfortunate to sufferanother loss. Patting the middle order for the splendid recovery,Streak said "After the quick loss of the three top order batsmen,Wishart, Flower and Whittal chipped in with good scores. I thought 250was a competitive score."* Abid Ali is new coach of Andhra Ranji teamFormer Test all rounder Syed Abid Ali will be the new coach for theAndhra Ranji team for the 2000-2001 season, according to N VenkataRao, secretary of the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA). This wasdecided at the executive committee meeting of the ACA held atVijayawada on Sunday. The meeting also approved a budget for Rs 55lakh for the year 2001-2002, according to a press release.The meeting also finalised the state selection committees,administration managers and coaches for all age groups for the seasonincluding allotment of Ranji matches at home. The Andhra-Goa matchwill be held at Vijayawada, the Andhra-Karnataka game at Kurnool andthe Andhra-Tamil Nadu tie at Visakhapatnam. The meeting also finalisedthe venues for other inter-state matches.* Ghavri likely to coach BengalFormer Indian all rounder Karsan Ghavri is likely to be the Bengalcoach for the 2001-2002 Ranji Trophy season. According to TheTelegraph, Ghavri has not signed the contract but has had a verbalagreement with Jagmohan Dalmiya on the matter. According to theagreement, Ghavri’s term will initially be for one year. The renewalof his contract will depend on the team’s performance.Ghavri, now 50, was the coach of the Mumbai team which won the RanjiTrophy in 1993-94 under Ravi Shastri’s leadership. The left hander hadplayed with distinction for Bombay in the seventies and eighties.Ghavri represented India in 39 Tests from 1974-1981 scoring 913 runsand bagging 109 wickets. He also played in the 1975 and 1979 World Cupcompetitions.* Andhra play three Ranji matches at homeAndhra first home game in the South Zone Ranji Trophy campaign for the2001-2002 season will be a match against Goa to be played atVijayawada from December 2 to 5. Andhra will play two more matches athome. They take on Karnataka at Kurnool from December 10 to 13 andmeet Tamil Nadu at Visakhapatnam from December 18 to 21.This was decided at the executive committee meeting of the AndhraCricket Association in Vijayawada on Sunday. The meeting alsofinalised the other fixtures for the state in various competitionsduring the ensuing season.In the Under-22 P Ramachandra Rao Trophy and M Chinnaswamy Trophytournament, Andhra will play all their three home matches at Kakinada.They take on Goa from October 27 to 30 and then play Karnataka fromNovember 4 to 7. Their next opponents will be Tamil Nadu, who theyplay from November 11 to 14.In the Under-19 Cooch Behar and Ghulam Ahmed Trophy matches, Andhrameet Tamil Nadu at Vizianagaram from September 22 to 25 and then playGoa at the same venue from October 6 to 9. In the Under-16 VijayMerchant and V Pattabhiraman Trophy matches, Andhra play all theirhome matches at Vijayawada. They first meet Goa on November 20 to 22.The other matches are against Tamil Nadu (December 8-10) and againstKarnataka (December 14 to 16). In the Under-14 P Krishnamurthy Trophymatches, Andhra play all their home matches at Visakhapatnam. Theyfirst play Goa (December 2 to 4) and then take on Karnataka (December10 to 12) and Tamil Nadu (December 18 to 20).