da bet7： Forget the “International All-Star” shambles from last month
Rick Eyre15-Sep-1999Forget the “International All-Star” shambles from last month. Today, inCalifornia, the most serious and most credible attempt so far to takebig-time cricket to the United States gets under way. The five-match AXNAmerica Challenge starts today at Woodley Cricket Field, Van Nuys, insuburban Los Angeles, between Australia ‘A’ and India ‘A’. The tournamentis being conducted with the co-operation of the USACA, ACB and the BCCI.WorldTel are promoting the tournament which will be telecast live into Indiaby Sony TV’s AXN channel.Though for both countries the main cricketing focus is currently in otherparts of the world – India, with the role in the Toronto series just ended,and with Australia, the tour of Sri Lanka under way – but the success orotherwise of this series will be watched closely as future plans to takeinternational cricket to the USA are formulised, with hopefully the flow-oneffect of fostering interest in the game locally. The USACA have alreadyexpressed their intention to make the series an annual event, with fullnational teams playing in official one-day internationals in future. Plansto make this inaugural series a three-way event including West Indies ‘A’fell through after the WI were invited at short notice to take part in whatis now the Toronto Cricket Festival.Both Australia and India have sent strong sides to Los Angeles. Australia’A’ includes six players with ODI experience (Adam Gilchrist, Damien Martyn,Shane Lee, Brad Young, Andrew Symonds, Michael Di Venuto), with captainGilchrist having been a member of the victorious World Cup side on final dayin June. India ‘A’, led by VVS Laxman, includes four players with full Testor ODI experience, the others being Rahul Sanghvi, Harbhajan Singh, andDodda Ganesh.Unlike some past exhibition cricket events in the US, this series will beplayed on a genuine cricket ground, Woodley Park Cricket Fields being incontinuous use throughout the summer by the Southern California CricketAssociation.Matches will be played on Wednesday 15, Thursday 16, Saturday 18, Sunday 19and Tuesday 21 September. An extra challenge as part of the AmericaChallenge comes with the start time each day – play due to begin at 8amPacific Daylight Time. This may well have been dictated by the Indiantelevision market, this being 8.30pm IST. (Sunrise today in Van Nuys, Ca.is 6.34am local.) The tournament is not being televised live intoAustralia.Squads:Australia A: Adam Gilchrist (capt), Damien Martyn, Ryan Campbell, BradCreevey, Gerard Denton, Michael Di Venuto, Lea Hansen, Brad Hodge, BrettLee, Shane Lee, Corey Richards, Andrew Symonds, Brad Young. Coach: AllanBorder.India A: VVS Laxman (capt), Sameer Dighe (vc), Vijay Bharadwaj, DoddaGanesh, Devendra Bundela, Mohammad Kaif, Devangh Gandhi, Harbhajan Singh,Virendra Shewag, Rahul Sanghvi, Jai Prakash Yadav, Ashish Nehra, S Sriramand SS Das.