Standard Bank Triangular series in South Africa

In a shocking display of abject surrender, Kenya lost to India by 10 wickets at Bloemfontein yesterday. The match, both innings put together did not last 50 overs (48.4 overs to be precise). The meaningfulness in playing a tournament where two powerful sides whose appearance in the final is decided even before the first ball of the tournament was bowled has been cropping up watching this Kenyan team perform. Batting first after winning the toss Kenya were on the back foot straight away with Agarkar yet again striking of his first over. Wickets kept tumbling as the Kenyans had no answer to neither pace or spin of the Indians. They finally managed 90 in 37.1 overs which is their lowest score in one day internationals so far. India rattled up the required runs with all their wickets in tact with a new opening pair of Dasgupta and Sehwag.

Match report | Detailed Scorecard

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The ICC's high performance manager Bob Woolmer will assist the Kenyan team on technical aspects for the rest of the tour. Maurice Odumbe said having some one like Woolmer to assist would be of great help.

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South Africans G Kirsten and A Nel are to skip the home sides second match against Kenya at Kimberly. Kirsten is out due to a calf muscle tear and will be out of action for at least a week. Nel has been given a rest to enable the selectors to have a look at other players. Dippenar should take Kirsten's place and either Kemp or Langeveld will replace Nel.

England in Zimbabwe

England meet Zimbabwe in the fifth and final one day international at Bulawayo today. It will be interesting to see if England decide to play James Kirtley, (who has expressed his desire to play to his coach and captain) despite his being officially reported to the ICC for a suspect action. As per ICC regulations Kirtley faces a 12-month ban if he is reported 3 times in a year.

Pakistan's dilemma

The chief executive of the New Zealand Cricket Board Martin Snedden said he would be willing to play Pakistan on a neutral venue. He said as long as the facilities are safe and up to the mark and the country in which they would have to play was accessible, New Zealand would be willing to make the tour. The important aspect of Pakistan hosting matches on neutral venues would be the television rights as lawfully that would go to the hosting nation.

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The Pakistan Cricket Board has sent a tentative itinerary to the West Indies Cricket Board for their next year's tour of Pakistan scheduled to be held between January 29 and March 6. The final draft would be made when the officials of both the boards meet in Kuala Lumpur during International Cricket Council meeting on October 15-19. The PCB Director, Brigadier Munawwar Rana said that the tentative itinerary had been decide upon few days back as the West Indies had confirmed that they would tour to Pakistan. And until now the PCB has not received any intimation from them that they might not tour.

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Former Pakistan batsman Mansoor Akhtar has been named a beneficiary for this year's Sharjah tournament. He has played 19 Tests between 1980-81 and 1989-90.

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It has been learnt. English born South African coach Richard Pybus quit his post as Pakistan coach for reasons more than security. Pybus had wanted more powers in team selection and was unhappy about the fact that he and the skipper had no say in selecting the squad. He had also asked for powers to appoint people for different areas of team support. Since nothing came out of his talks with PCB officials Pybus is reported to have quit.

Miscellaneous (International)

Shane Warne and his wife were blessed with their third child, a girl early yesterday morning. A delighted Warne said he had not been home during the birth of his elder two children as he was away on tour.

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The England skipper Nasser Hussain has said that he was keen that the players also have a say in the final decision on whether England will make the tour of India in November. Three Test matches and five one dayers are to be played between 18 November and 3 February with a fortnightly break for Christmas. Hussain said he needed to clarify if it was a hundred percent safe to go.

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Former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram has come out in support of cricketers undertaking lie detector tests to try and stamp out the evils of match fixing. He however insists that the ICC will have to clear the legal ramifications of using them on cricketers, as these tests are to be used only by law enforcement agencies.

Miscellaneous (National)

The new president of the BCCI Jagmohan Dalmiya yesterday met with Home Minister LK Advani and Sports Minister Uma Bharti to discuss the security arrangements for England's tour of India in November. Dalmiya confirmed that the tour was on and that there had been no request from his English counterparts for any changes in venues following the political crisis that has struck Asian region.

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The 39th Irani Trophy tournament gets underway in Nagpur today after being pushed and pulled around. Originally scheduled to be held in Baroda it was moved to Pune following the internal squabbles in The Baroda Cricket Association. Pune also could not play host after heavy rains lashed Maharashtra last week making pitch and outfield preparations next to impossible. The Vidarbha Cricket Association finally came to the rescue by offering to stage the tie. Traditionally the Irani Trophy is the opening match of the Indian domestic season and is played between the last season Ranji Trophy winners (in this case Baroda) and a Rest of India side. The two teams are:

Rest of India:
V.V.S. Laxman (Hyd) (Capt), Ajay Ratra (Har) (wk), Akash Chopra (Del), Vinayak Mane (Mum), Yere Goud (Rlys), Hrishikesh Kanitkar (Mah), Rashmi Ranjan Parida (Ori), Dinesh Mongia (Pun), Sarandeep Singh (Pun), Rahul Sanghvi (Del), Debashish Mohanty (Ori), Salabh Srivastava (UP), Surinder Singh Bagal (J&K) and Tinu Yohannan (Ker).

Baroda:
Connor Williams (Capt), Nayan Mongia (wk), Satyajit Parab, Tushar Arothe, Himanshu Jadhav, Rakesh Solanki, Rishikesh Parab, Valmik Buch, Irfan Pathan (Jr), Hardik Parmar, Irfan Pathan (Sr), Umang Patel, Milap Mewada and Rakesh Patel.

SCORES AT A GLANCE

Standard Bank Triangular Tournament in South Africa
India vs Kenya (4th match)
Played at Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein
Toss: Kenya

Kenya: 90 all out in 37.1 overs (A Suji 18; A Agarkar 4-27, Kumble 3-14).

India: 91-0 in 11.3 overs (D Dasgupta 24, V Sehwag 55).

Result: India won by 10 wickets
Man of the match: A Agarkar (Ind)

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POINTS TABLE

Teams	P	W	L	T	Points	Bonus	Total	Net RR
South Africa	3	2	1	-	8	1	9	1.619
India	3	2	1	-	8	1	9	0.315
Kenya	2	-	2	-	-	-	-	-3.067

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