MELBOURNE: Australian Cricket Board chief executive Malcolm Speed left for Pakistan today to resolve Australia's position in the festering bribes investigations.

Speed met ACB chairman Denis Rogers here today and brought forward his trip from October 20, following requests for Australian players to give evidence in a bribery inquiry in Pakistan dating back to Australia's last tour there in 1994.

The Australian team received an official request yesterday for players to appear before Justice Malik Muhammad Qayyum to give evidence into match fixing and bribery allegations.

Aussies bring in four new players

SYDNEY: Australia has included four uncapped players for the Champions Trophy men's hockey tournament in Lahore this month and is resting six of its Commonwealth Games gold medal side.

Six players from the Kuala Lumpur team will miss the October 31-November 8 event in what coach Terry Walsh said was a rest after a long, tough season.The ideawas to expose as many players as possible to top-level competition in the build-up to the 2000 Olympics, he said.

New no-ball rule introduced

HARARE: A new no ball rule came into effect with the third and final Hero Honda One-day series between India and Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club ground yesterday.

Hitherto the International Cricket Council (ICC) rule (Clause 19 law 24.8 penalty) stipulated that off a no ball runs accrued to the batting team either off the bat or as extras.

Under the changed rule, the batting side will get one run as extras for the no ball besides any run scored off the bat. An extra ball will also have to be bowled.

However, there is a distinction between One-day and Test rules. In One-dayers, this applies only to short-pitched balls that climb above the shoulder of a batsman in upright position.

In Tests though, all legal no balls will provide for an extra ball, an extra run off the no ball and any other run scored.

Duleep semifinals shifted toValsad

MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has shifted the Duleep Trophy semi-final between Central Zone and winners of the South versus North quarter-final from Ahmedabad to Valsad. The other semi-final, also to be played concurrently from December 9-13, would be held at Rajkot as scheduled.

The quarter-final between South and North is to be held at the Wankhede Stadium here from December 1-5 and the final is slated from December 17-21 at Pune's Nehru Stadium.

The Duleep semi-final was shifted from Ahmedabad to Valsad at the request of the Valsad District Association which is affiliated to the Ahmedabad-based Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA), according to BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele.

Second seed Ravi suffers shock

SPICNAGAR, TUTICORIN: Second-seeded TS Ravi of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) was shocked by C Natarajan of Tamil Nadu in the third round the eleventh International Rating chess tournament here today.

International Woman Master Anupama Gokhale of BharatPetroleum Corporation scored a facile victory over Karnataka state champion PR Rekha in one of the shortest games on the top tables.