South African is referee for series against AussiesMUMBAI: South African Peter Van Der Merwe has been appointed as the International Cricket Council's (ICC) match referee for the three-Test series between hosts India and Australia next month as well as the triangular one-day series to follow from April 1-14.The third country umpires for the Test series are George Sharp (England) - for the first Test at Chennai (March 6-10), Bulathsinghalage Cooray (Sri Lanka) - for the second Test at Calcutta (March 18-22) and David Shepherd (England) - for the third and final Test at Bangalore (March 25-29).Indian umpires to stand along with the third country umpires in the test series are to be decided tomorrow.Dalmiya denialCALCUTTA: The former secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Jagmohan Dalmiya today dubbed as "false and fabricated" Manoj Prabhakar's claims that he had taken him into confidence and disclosed the name of the cricketer who had offeredhim money to perform below par. Dalmiya said that Prabhakar responded to a BCCI letter by stating that "no useful purpose would be served by stating any more facts, especially because it would be virtually impossible for me to prove the incident that had occurred".India to hostBANGALORE: India will be hosting the Second World Natural Body Building Championship on November 3 and 4 at the Kanteerava Stadium here. More than 12 countries are expected to participate in the meet before they move on to Natural Olympic competition in Greece on November 8.
