Zimbabwe in India

India are to appoint a fitness coach for the first time, a day after coach John Wright claimed his side were not fit enough.

Board of Control for Cricket in (BCCI) president Jagmohan Dalmiya said that a dedicated physical trainer would be named before the Indian team leave for the West Indies in April. The trainer's immediate priority will be to achieve peak fitness levels in the side by the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

New Zealander Wright, who took over as India's first foreign coach in 2000, criticised the team's poor fielding despite their innings win over Zimbabwe in the first of two Tests at Nagpur.

Skipper Sourav Ganguly and wicket-keeper Deep Dasgupta were the prime targets for criticism after recent errors.

Ganguly said he would ideally like to see a conditioning camp before every series to improve on fitness but that a busy schedule left them with very little time.

England in New Zealand

One-day international, Dunedin:
New Zealand 223-5 (48.5 overs) beat England 218-8 (from 50 overs) by five wickets. New Zealand win series 3-2.

Nathan Astle hit a superbly paced century to guide New Zealand to a series-winning victory in the deciding one-day match of the series against England in Dunedin.

Astle hit an unbeaten 122 off 150 balls, included five towering sixes and 12 fours, as he recorded his 12th limited-overs international hundred in his 150th appearance.

Craig McMillan shared in a 100-run fourth wicket partnership with Astle and scored 44 before falling lbw to Darren Gough in an inspired last-gasp spell by the bowler that gave England hope.

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England are still some way short of the level required to give themselves a realistic chance of winning the World Cup, according to skipper Nasser Hussain.

He said his side had done 70% of the basic one-day skills well during series in Zimbabwe, India and New Zealand, but now had to work out how to find the extra 30%.

Speaking after their five wicket defeat in Dunedin, which gave New Zealand a 3-2 series victory, Hussain identified England's batting as the area of greatest concern.

"One of the batters needs to go on and get a big hundred like Nathan Astle did (for New Zealand) today - we need to get more hundreds from the top order - and in the last 15 overs all winter we've been poor.

Asian Test Championship

Pakistan left out veteran pace bowler Wasim Akram from the squad of 14 for the second Asian Test Championship final against Sri Lanka, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced here overnight.

The final will be played in Lahore from March 6 to 10. Akram, who recorded two hat tricks in the first Asian Test Championship and led Pakistan to the title in 1999, has been struggling for fitness.

Akram, 35, missed Pakistan's two-match Test series against the West Indians in Sharjah earlier this month after injuring his hamstring in Bangladesh in January.

He was played in only one of the three one-day games against the West Indies, taking only one wicket.

Akram left for India Monday night to appear in a television show.

The Championship, which decides the best Test team of Asia, lost its sheen after India pulled out in September last year, protesting Pakistani policy towards Kashmir.

Australia vs South Africa

South Africa's selectors are considering a recall for veteran batsman Daryll Cullinan following the national side's record Test defeat by Australia in Johannesburg.

Cullinan, who will be 35 next week, has been named as captain of the South Africa A team to play the tourists in Port Elizabeth on Friday.

And a good score could mean a return to the Test side for the first time since April with Boeta Dippenaar and Neil McKenzie both out of form.

Cullinan has scored more than 4,500 runs in 70 Test appearances, including 14 centuries - a figure matched only by Gary Kirsten.

The selectors will also have the opportunity to assess more youthful candidates such as Graeme Smith, who was 12th man in Johannesburg, and Jacques Rudolph.

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Australia Test great Neil Harvey has slammed the standard of world cricket in the wake of South Africa's stunning loss in the first Test by an innings and 360 runs against Australia.

"Apart from Australia, I don't think I've ever seen a worse lot of Test cricket teams in my life and I think world cricket is almost bordering on disgraceful," Harvey told Fox Sport TV's Inside Cricket program.

With South Africa ranked the second best Test nation in the world, Harvey believes the divide between Australia and the rest of the world's cricketing nations has become impossible to ignore.

"I don't know why it is, but Australia are so far ahead of any other country that it's not fair," Harvey said. "We could pick another team and beat all the countries again with our second XI."

Miscellaneous

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has moved to quell accusations of bias in the selection of a new, elite panel of Test match referees.

Reports in the Pakistan media on Tuesday claimed that none of the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) nominations had been accepted to sit on the panel of five.

Naushad Ali, Talat Ali and Wasim Hasan Raja were reportedly the names put forward for consideration.

"These comments, attributed to the PCB, are uninformed, inaccurate and unhelpful," said ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed.

Speed, alongside Sunil Gavaskar, chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee, have been charged with selecting and appointing four men to work with chief referee Ranjan Madugalle.

The panel will commence operations with effect from 1 April, along with an elite group of eight Test umpires.

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Champions New Zealand must defeat arch-rivals Australia in the preliminary round if they are to defend the re-named ICC Champions Trophy in September.

The International Cricket Council has announced a new title and format for its twice-yearly tournament, but has still to confirm the host country.

A final announcement is expected after the ICC executive board meeting on 16 March, with Sri Lanka the favourites to hold the event.

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England fast bowler Darren Gough has moved up to sixth in the world one-day bowling rankings following his magnificent performance against New Zealand.

Gough, who has moved up nine places after taking 13 wickets in five games, is the only England player in the top 10 of the bowling and batting lists.

He also lies seventh in the Test match ratings, but will not be involved in the three forthcoming matches against the Black Caps after opting out of the pre-Christmas series in India.

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