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On the second day of the fifth and final Test at Kingston, West Indies fought back to bundle out the visitors for 141and gain a crucial lead of 84 runs. In the second innings the home team scored 34 without loss while extending their overall lead to 118.
The West Indian captain Carl Hooper is likely to be the first victim of the new system of fines imposed on the players for missed catches, sloppy fielding and poor shot selection. Hooper, was caught trying to hook despite two fieldsmen being posted in the deep.
Reserving their best form for the last, Sri Lanka blew the wind off the sails of Pakistan firstly by posting a formidable score of 297 and then by withstanding the opening onslaught of the Pakistani batsmen. Despite being backed by a sell out crowd of about 25,000 people, Pakistan could only manage only 220 runs and thus losing the final by 77 runs. Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya claimed his 200th wicket of his one-day career in the final match at Sharjah, to become the first all-rounder in history score over 6000 runs and claim 200 wickets in one-day internationals. Earlier in the match, Pakistani off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq became the third Pakistani and the seventh bowler to take 250 wickets in ODIs. By needing just 138 matches to achieve this landmark, he is the fastest to do so in least matches. Fellow Pakistani Waqar Younis needed 148 matches to reach his 250th wicket mark in 1996-97. The CBFS has donated US$105,000 for the benefit of ex-Sri Lankan cricketers to be nominated by the Sri Lankan Board. At a dinner hosted by CBFS, a cheque was handed over to the Sri Lankan manager by Abdul Rehman Bukathir of the CBFS. The young Pakistani off spinner Shoaib Malik was reported by the Zimbabwean ICC match referee Justice AM Ebrahim for a suspect bowling action. Justice Ebrahim issued a statement after the final game at Sharjah, that he would be sending his report to the ICC along with the video footage. Earlier, West Indian Michael Holding in his television commentary during the final match also felt Malik's action as illegal. He however hoped that the young bowler would rectify it immediately.
A century by Guy Whittall (119) along with a century partnership with Andy Flower (73) helped Zimbabwe reach 287-5 at close on the second day, after being 30-2 at one stage. They now lead Bangladesh by 30 runs. Andy Flower posted his seventh successive score over fifty to equal the Test record held by West Indian Everton Weekes during 1948-49.
After an initial stumble when they looked like faltering the Railways got back on track and secured the crucial first innings lead in the Ranji Trophy final against Baroda on the second day. Resuming at 91-1 Railways were helped to a total of 318-8 largely due to the efforts of TP Singh (67), Sanjay Bangar (62), and in-form batsman Yere Gowda (65). Lower-order batsman Murali Kartik (46 not out) ensured that Railways get past the Baroda total. Dropped catches by Baroda fielders made Railways task easier.
Former Zimbabwe batsman and now a Western Australia cricketer Murray Goodwin has replaced Michael Bevan as the overseas player for Sussex this season. Goodwin is hoping to match Bevan's performance for the county last season when he (Bevan) had aggregated over 2000 runs. Bevan, who is a part of the Australian squad this summer, will appear for Sussex next year. England's left-handed batsmen Nick Knight began this season too with an unbeaten 140 in his first match for Warwickshire against Hampshire. Knight had begun the last season with a career best 233 against Glamorgan. Injury had since kept him out of the international squad. To Glamorgan's Michael Powell (106) goes the distinction of scoring the first century in the 'CricInfo County Championships'. Powell achieved his hundred on a cold and dull day in the opening match against Northamptonshire at Northampton.
Australian cricket authorities are likely to increase the number of random tests on players in light of Western Australia's Duncan Spencer being banned for taking banned steroids. Spencers offence was found out after a random check was done after his team lost the Mercantile Mutual Cup final to New South Wales. Spencer claimed innocence saying he was prescribed the drug for back pain. He has been suspended for 18 months. The Union Sports Minister Ms Uma Bharati said the Code of Conduct for all national sports federations was almost ready and will be implemented soon. This was part of the government's initiative to reduce betting and match fixing in sport after the cricket scandal broke out last April. The code of conduct was prepared after studying the existing laws present in many other countries, the minister said. Former Test all-rounder and now a politician, Kirti Azad, has slammed former BCCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur and the Cricket Club of India (CCI) for honouring Asif Iqbal and Abdul Rehman Bukhatir with the life memberships of the Club. He felt CCI's move was to belittle the government, specially after Asif Iqbal, a former Pakistani captain, had accused the Indian government for not giving permission to the Indian team to play in the just concluded tri-nation tournament at Sharjah. The five Indian cricketers from Kerala, who were reportedly missing after landing in Adelaide on March 25, on their way to a two-week coaching stint at the Australian Cricket Academy (ACA) are said to be safe. The five boys, members of a cricket club in Mangalore, are presently staying with a friend and are in search of jobs in Australia. This obviously, mean that the boys had no intention of undergoing any coaching in Australia and have used this opportunity to lookout for jobs. It is time for the BCCI to investigate this matter since this episode will surely affect the chances of genuinely interested cricketers hoping to undergo coaching at the ACA. A Hyderabad Civil Court has directed the BCCI's inquiry commissioner K Madhavan to submit his inquiry report on the match-fixing scandal on June 25, the next date of hearing in the case filed by former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin challenging the life ban on him. Sachin Tendulkar will lead a team of right-handed players against a team of left-handers, led by India captain Sourav Ganguly in a limited-overs cricket match at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on April 29. This event will be a benefit match for former Mumbai keeper-batsman Sulakshan Kulkarni.
INTERNATIONAL CRICKET 5th Test: West Indies vs South Africa at Kingston (2nd day) West Indies: 225 (BC Lara 81, D Ramnaraine 35 not out; A Donald 4-54, S Pollock 5-28) 34-0 (LV Garrick 21 not out, CH Gayle 10 not out) South Africa: 141 (ND McKenzie 45; C Walsh 3-31, M Dillon 4-32)
1st Test: Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh at Bulawayo (2nd day)
ARY Gold Cup in Sharjah (Final)
DOMESTIC CRICKET
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Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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Playing in his 56th Test match, South African skipper Shaun Pollock (24, when on 12) reached his 2000th run of his career. With already 227 wickets to his credit, he now becomes the eighth all-rounder in Test history to do the double of 2000-plus runs and 200-plus wickets. The others to do so are: Australian Richie Benaud, West Indian Gary Sobers, Englishman Ian Botham, Indian Kapil Dev, Pakistanis Imran Khan and Wasim Akram and New Zealander Richard Hadlee.
