Extras

GOLD COAST: Australian players writing newspaper columns during the World Cup are to have their articles vetted by the team manager, who can reject it if he8217;s not happy with it.

The move follows the row over a piece by Shane Warne in last week8217;s London Times when he said the sport would be better off without Sri Lanka8217;s World Cup captain Arjuna Ranatunga because of his on-field behaviour.

WORCESTER: Australia8217;s cricket World Cup victory over Scotland may have surprised no-one, but it settled an old score which has been bothering a handful of cricket8217;s more diligent historians Down Under.According to David Potter8217;s Encyclopaedia of Scottish Cricket, Scotland have actually beaten Australia at cricket in 1882.

DHAKA: Bangladeshi schools and colleges have been asked to suspend classes on Monday to allow students to watch the country8217;s World Cup debut match.

Cricket fever has mounted with residents of onesouthern town warning local power supply officials they will be stripped in public if there are any power cuts during the match, newspapers reported.

The Ittefaq daily reported that unofficial instructions had been sent out in major cities to suspend classes for the Bangladesh-New Zealand Group B match which will be telecast live.

Most schools and colleges were almost deserted during the opening World Cup match between England and Sri Lanka on Friday, sources said.

LEICESTER: Coach Bob Woolmer, whose experiment with earpiece on the field was plugged out at Hove on Saturday, wants to wire the whole South African team for sound.

8220;Given a choice, I would see all 11 players wearing them,8221; Woolmer was quoted in media reports as saying.

COLOMBO: Sri Lankans applying for British visas to watch the World Cup tournament have to undergo a cricket quiz as part of the screening process, British High Commission officials said.

They said thequestions were to ascertain whether applicants were bona fide cricket fans.