England in India

Ashley Giles, England's most experienced spinner, is not playing in the first Test at Mohali. "Ashley Giles is just not fit enough to go into a five-day game at the moment," Hussain conceded. "We will work on him and hopefully get him fit for the second Test."

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India are without their leading seamers Javagal Srinath, who fractured a finger batting in South Africa, and Venkatesh Prasad, who has a stiff neck.
But rather than look to the reserves from that series, notably left-armer Ashish Nehra and Agit Agarkar, they have opted for an uncapped trio in their 14-man squad.
Sanjay Bangar, Tinu Yohannan and Iqbal Siddiqui do not have a cap between them. But captain Sourav Ganguly has denied reports that he is unhappy at the selection of a novice pace attack.

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Sourav Ganguly has denied news reports quoting him that he had hit out at the selectors for picking a new set of inexperienced trio of pacemen for the first Test against England on Monday.
“ I have not spoken to any reporter after landing in India. All I did was to confirm to a media person, who had asked me a question in South Africa, that the selectors had not consulted me while choosing the team. I strongly deny these media reports”, he told a vast assembly of Indian and foreign reporters at the post-nets briefing.

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With Virender Sehwag having been ruled out of contention, although he remains with the squad, Jacob Martin was the 15th name added to the Indian possibles.
Martin captained the Board President's XI against England in a warm-up match at Hyderabad, scoring an accomplished 89 against the tourists.

New Zealand in Australia

Warne was out for 99 from what became the final ball of the third day in Perth. He was caught at deep midwicket by Mark Richardson, slog-sweeping Daniel Vettori in a suicidal attempt to reach three figures.
Left-arm spinner Vettori finished with figures of six for 87. It was the sixth time a Test batsman has made 99 at the WACA ground, tying with Lord's for the record.

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The 22-year-old took six for 87 as the Kiwis bowled Australia out for 351 in reply to New Zealand's 534 for nine declared.
It was the best performance ever by a visiting spinner at the WACA Ground in Perth, which is generally a paradise for fast bowlers with its true bounce and pace.
Vettori joked that captain Stephen Fleming asked if he wanted a fielder on the roof when he came on to bowl.

West Indies in Sri Lanka

The West Indies will be hoping that Ramnaresh Sarwan and Brian Lara continue to attack Sri Lanka on the final day of the third Test.
After coming together at 20 for two, the pair took the game to their hosts in a blistering 125-run partnership.
The visitors, already two Tests down in the three-match series, resume 92 runs adrift.

Miscellaneous

Former Yorkshire captain Brian Close has said that Darren Gough made the wrong choice when he agreed to remain at Headingley on Sunday.
Yorkshire ended months of speculation over Gough's future at the county club by announcing the England fast bowler will honour his contract until the end of next season at least.

SCORES AT A GLANCE

Sri Lanka v West Indies (3rd Test)
4th day
Played at Sinhalese Sport Club ground, Colombo
Toss: West Indies

West Indies:
390 (RR Sarwan 69, BC Lara 221, CL Hooper 56; C Vaas 7-120)
145-2 (RR Sarwan 57*, BC Lara 76*)
Sri Lanka:
627-9 (Tillakaratne 204*, Samaraweera 87)

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Australia v New Zealand (3rd Test)
3rd Day
Played at WACA, Perth
Toss: New Zealand

New Zealand: 534/9d (L Vincent 104, S Fleming 105; J Gillespie 3-79)
Australia: 351 all out (JL Langer 75, D Martyn 60; S Warne 99, D Vettori 6-87)

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