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Pakistan has delayed announcing its team to England by a few days to give time to a few injured players to take fitness tests and make themselves available for selection. The injury list includes former skippers Wasim Akram and Moin Khan, Yousuf Youhana, Azhar Mahmood and Shoaib Akhtar. It is rumoured that current skipper Waqar Younis is against the selection of Wasim Akram after the two fell out, following claims by Waqar that Wasim tried to destroy his career by keeping him out of the side. Meanwhile the Pakistan Cricket Board is also awaiting the report following fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar's tour of Western Australia to take remedial measures to his suspect action.
The following are the list of 22 probables who will attend the five-day conditioning camp at Bangalore from May 13 before the tour of Zimbabwe. The final team of 15 players will be selected on May 18 at Bangalore. The probables: Saurav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Hemang Badani, Sadagopan Ramesh, Shiv Sunder Das, Mohammed Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Virendra Sehwag, Dinesh Mongia, Sameer Dighe (wk), Ajay Ratra (wk), Deep Das Gupta (wk), Javagal Srinath, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Harvinder Singh, Ashish Nehra, Debasish Mohanty, Rakesh Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Sarandeep Singh, Rahul Sanghvi, Sairaj Bahutule and Reetinder Sodhi.
South Africa needing 386 runs to win the final Test at Kingston are 140 for three at close on the fourth day. They still need 246 runs on the last day, while the West Indies require six South African wickets. The visitors have already won the Test series by winning the Tests at Port of Spain and St John's. Early last week following the injury to South African spinner Nicky Boje, Natal's left arm spinner Gulam Bodi was called up to replace him for the one-day series in the West Indies. Bodi, who was playing league cricket in Lancashire discovered much to his dismay that his trip to the West Indies was finished even before it even began. It is believed that the 22-year old Bodi has broken his finger while playing in the English league. It has still not been known who will replace Bodi.
A 14 member West Indies team with Carl Hooper as skipper was announced for the first two of the five one-day internationals to be played against South Africa beginning April 28 and May 2 at Kingston, Jamaica and St John's, Antigua respectively. The rest of the team: Chris Gayle, Leon Garrick, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brian Lara, Ricardo Powell, Wavell Hinds, Marlon Samuels, Ridley Jacobs (wk), Neil McGarrell, Mervyn Dillon, Cameron Cuffy, Kerry Jeremy and Nixon McLean.
Test new comers Bangladesh crashed to an innings and 32 run defeat on the fourth day of the first Test against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo. Resuming at 91-2 with only ten batsmen, following the injury to wicket-keeper Khaled Masud the visitors crumbled to 168. The only form of resistance came from opener Javed Omar who carried his bat to make an unbeaten 85. Incidentally Javed Omar now emulates Zimbabwean Grant Flower and Pakistani Saeed Anwar to become the only third opening batsman to have carried his bat through-out an innings in both Tests and one-day internationals. This was Zimbabwe's fourth Test win in 49 Tests, while it was Bangladesh's second defeat in as many Tests since November 2000.
Essex raced to victory with more than a day to spare against Leicestershire at Grace Road. Following on 214 runs behind Leicestershire were all out for 205 mainly due to the efforts of Ricky Anderson who took 5-50. Anderson had impressive match figures of 9-71. Former Middlesex batsman Mark Ramprakash made his debut for Surrey in style with a sparkling century. Ramprakash who made 146 helped Surrey reach 374-5 at tea against Kent at the Oval. He shared fruitful partnerships with Aly Brown (72) and Adam Hollioake (49). Kent had earlier declared their innings at 456-8. Replying to Glamorgan's imposing total of 548-6, Northamptonshire declared at 446-7 with a major contribution from keeper-batsman Russell Warren (175). He added 250 runs for the sixth wicket with Anthony Penberthy (132 not out). Rain prevented the possibility of any play in the Lancashire-Somerset game at Taunton. Scotland's World Cup player James Brinkley claimed 6-32 for Durham against Gloucestershire at Chester-le-Street after his side was dismissed for 242. The Gloucestershire, who was 188-4 at one stage soon found themselves all out for 198 thanks to Brinkley's effort.
After bowling out Baroda for 373 and needing to score just 223 for an outright win, Railways have made a hash of things, and found themselves reduced to 91-4 at close on the fourth day of the Ranji Trophy final at Baroda. Some tight bowling and a turning track saw Railways lose their top batsmen Amit Pagnis (31) and Sanjay Bangar (7) with not much on the board. Railways need another 132 runs with six wickets in hand on the last day to register their first title win in the country's premier domestic championships.
A triumphant Sri Lankan team returned home after winning the recent tri-nation ARY Gold Cup at Sharjah. Armed guards were there to receive the team and help skipper Sanath Jayasuriya with the one kilo gold trophy worth about US$ 9,000.00. This was the first time armed guards had been deployed to protect the trophy, which in all probability will be kept safely in a bank vault. In addition to the trophy the Sri Lankan team also won US$ 50000.00 for winning the tournament. Former Australian wicket keeper Rodney Marsh has backed Sir Garfield Sobers' comments last week regarding the excessive appealing carried on by players these days. Marsh also feels that the third umpire should be done away with since the field umpires today do not concentrate as much on the field as is necessary and often leave the decision making to the third umpire. The umpires who have officiated in international matches are likely to be questioned by the ICC's anti-corruption council. It has been rumoured of how umpires officiating in Sharjah used to receive money in brown envelopes for their co-operation in fixing crucial matches. The Pakistan Cricket Board already has umpire Javed Akhtar to face a judicial inquiry into some of the Test and one-day matches officiated by him. Meanwhile, former international umpire Dickie Bird of England said he was upset that a day has come when the umpire's integrity is being questioned.
INTERNATIONAL CRICKET 5th Test: West Indies vs South Africa at Kingston (4th day) West Indies: 225 (BC Lara 81, D Ramnaraine 35 not out; A Donald 4-54, S Pollock 5-28) (CH Gayle 32, M Samuels 59, R Jacobs 85; S Pollock 4-66) South Africa: 141 (ND McKenzie 45; C Walsh 3-31, M Dillon 4-32) 140-3 (HH Gibbs 51, ND McKenzie 40 not out)
1st Test: Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh at Bulawayo (4th day) Man of the match:Javed Omar (Bangladesh)
DOMESTIC CRICKET
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Compiled by: Mohandas Menon
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