England in India

Coach Duncan Fletcher has reminded absent batsman Graham Thorpe that he will need to decide soon whether he will be available for England in the New Year.
Surrey left-hander Thorpe, 32, flew home on the first day of the second Test to attend to marital problems.

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Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has defended coach John Wright following reports that the New Zealander could be on his way out after recent poor performances.
"There is no question of changing John Wright. He has been a very good coach," Ganguly told private news channel Zee News. "He has been working really hard with the players. Everyone should realise how much he is contributing to the team."

South Africa in Australia

Neil McKenzie and Mark Boucher steered South Africa out of difficulty, but they were all out 65 runs short of Australia's first innings in Adelaide.
The pair added 141 for the seventh wicket after Lance Klusener became the second of Shane Warne's victims to leave the tourists 214 for six.
South Africa were bowled out for 374, McKenzie top-scoring with 87.

Images | Match report | Scorecard

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Shane Warne said Australia were in a good position to win the first cricket test against South Africa after his five-wicket haul helped his team to a useful lead after the third day.

Miscellaneous

Bangladesh coach Trevor Chappell is looking at the match against New Zealand in a positive frame of mind.
"We learnt a lot against Auckland and while we got hammered and at times we played some pretty ordinary stuff, particularly in the batting, we can improve against New Zealand," Chappell said.
"They are expected to stuff us inside three days and obviously our job is to stop that. "If we can't stop them thrashing us, we must at least get into the fifth day and make them work for a win."

Bangladesh lost by an innings and 193 runs to Auckland last week.

SCORES AT A GLANCE

Australia v South Africa - 1st Test (Day 3)
Adelaide Oval
Toss: Australia

Australia:
439 - 1st Innings
3/0 - 2nd Innings
South Africa: 374 (Neil McKenzie 87, Herschelle Gibbs 78, Mark Boucher 64, Warne 5-113)

Detailed scorecard: Australia 2nd innings
Images - day 3

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