Standard Bank Triangular series in South Africa

Minnows Kenya takes on the quite professionalism of the home team when they play their first match of the triangular series in Benoni today. This talented side has shown traces of flamboyance in the past and will be sure to put up a decent fight in the tournament, and may be who knows cause an upset or two.
The teams will be selected from:
South Africa: Shaun Pollock (Capt), Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Jonty Rhodes, Lance Klusener, Neil McKenzie, Mark Boucher, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Justin Kemp, Claude Henderson. Kenya: Maurice Odumbe (Capt), Steve Tikolo, Ravindu Shah, Kennedy Otieno, Thomas Odoyo, Hitesh Modi, Martin Suji, Tony Suji, David Otieno, Peter Ochieng, Joseph Angara, Sandeep Gupta, Brijal Patel, Jimmy Kamanade

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A sullen Indian captain Sourav Ganguly put the blame for his sides defeat solely on the poor bowling of his medium pacers. He said if his bowlers were unable to defend a total of 279 they were in trouble for the rest of the tournament.

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Vendors were reportedly selling pro Hansie Cronje T-shirts outside the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on the day of the first match of the triangular series. The T-shirts had "I still support Hansie," printed on the back. There were however not many takers and soon the vendors started giving them away free. Officials from the Gauteng Cricket Board soon had the vendors removed from the pavement on the ground saying they did not have the permission to be there.

England in Zimbabwe

Yet another docile performance from Zimbabwe gave the visiting England team their second win in the series this time by a thumping 8 wickets. Batting first the home side managed only 195 with paceman Mathew Hoggard (3-37) made early inroads into the batting. Opener Alistair Campbell top scored with 49. The only other meaningful contribution came from S Carlisle (40). England coasted to the target in the 38th over with opener Nick Knight making an unbeaten 82 and skipper Nasser Hussain a compact 50.

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The English Cricket Board have contacted the International Cricket Council over their concerns on the handling of the James Kirtley episode. They felt it was not handled properly as there was no case for the match referee to leak the information to the media. The ECB chief Tim Lamb said however said they would leave the entire episode to the ICC to handle in the best possible way. Kirtley played the second one-day match and claimed a wicket as well.

Miscellaneous (International)

Coming back after a layoff caused by injury Brian Lara slammed 129 as his side Trinidad and Tobago rattled up 409-6 in 50 overs of a Red Stripe Bowl game against Northern Windwards. Lara's side won by 176 runs. The total of 409-6 was only 4 runs short of the all time first class record achieved by Somerset against Devon in a 60 over game (initially limited over matches were played for 60 overs not 50) in 1990.

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Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram has sent a legal notice to former cricketer Sarfaraz Nawaz demanding an unconditional apology for making false allegations against him before the World Cup inquiry commission. Pakistan lost two matches (vs India & Bangladesh) but that did not stop them from qualifying for the super-six and subsequently the final at Lord's. Sarfraz is said to have told the Commission that he believed Wasim Akram, Saleem Malik and Ijaz Ahmed were the ones involved in the match-fixing saga and that the Wasim over the years had acquired had assets over Rs 3 billion. An angry Wasim said this was not the first time Sarfraz had tried to defame him, and insisted that he would put a stop to it.

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Sri Lanka have excluded Suresh Perera from their team to play a triangular in Sharjah. Perera was not considered as he was yet to be cleared on his bowling action by the ICC. Two uncapped players Charitha Buddhika and Dinusha Fernando, have been named. The full team is Sanath Jayasuriya (Capt), Marvan Atapattu, Avishka Gunawardene, Mahela Jayawardene, Russel Arnold, Kumar Sangakkara, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Chamara Silva, Chaminda Vaas, Dulip Liyanage, Dilhara Fernando, Dinusha Fernando, Charitha Buddhika, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Dharmasena.

Miscellaneous (National)

The New President of the BCCI Jagmohan Dalmiya has called a meeting of the national selectors of the junior and senior sides, to discuss about the performance of the teams. Dalmiya said he was upset that India was placed only 8th among the Test playing countries and was very keen to reverse it.

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The Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) Chief Laloo Prasad Yadav, who had yesterday made a virtual revolt against the newly elected BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiya over the issue of affiliation of the BCA, today said their differences were sorted out. He said he was sorry about the whole episode and that it was just a case of misunderstanding.

SCORES AT A GLANCE

ENGLAND IN ZIMBABWE
At Harare (2nd ODI)
Toss: Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe: 195 in 49.1 overs (A Campbell 49, S Carlisle 37, C Wishart 34; M Hoggard 3-37)
England: 196-2 in 37.3 overs (M Trescothick 46, N Knight 82 not out, N Hussain 50)
Result: England won by 8 wickets.
Man of the match: MJ Hoggard (Eng)

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