England in India

Nasser Hussain will play his first international match in the city of his birth on Friday - and with plenty of the England skipper's relatives in the Madras area the match promises to be a momentous occasion for him.

The England team's arrival in Madras, in the south-east of India, was delayed by several hours with India on high security following Tuesday's terrorist shooting in Calcutta.

Hussain moved with his family to Essex when he was just five years old and he remembers little about his childhood on the sub-continent.

Pakistan in Bangladesh

Bangladesh cricket captain Khaled Mashud said the burden rested with his specialist batsmen if his side was to have any chance of competing with Pakistan.

The two teams play the second in the three-match series in a day-night encounter in Dhaka on Thursday.

In Saturday's 49-run defeat in the first one-day international in Chittagong, the home side slumped to 68 for six.

That was before Mashud, 54 not out, gave their score some respectability with Enamul Haque, 32, lending support.

West Indies-Pakistan

Sherwin Campbell is keen to make up for lost time after his return to the West Indies squad for the Test series with Pakistan in Sharjah.

"I feel it's another good opportunity for me to re-establish myself and regain that old form that I had when I first got into the team," the former vice-captain said.

"I feel in good form. I'm really enjoying my cricket again." Out of Test cricket since the 5-0 series whitewash in Australia a year ago, Campbell has been sidelined by a shoulder injury of late.

Tour itinerary:
31 Jan-4 - Feb 1st Test
7-11 Feb - 2nd Test
13 Feb - 1st ODI
15 Feb - 2nd ODI
17 Feb - 3rd ODI

Triangular in Australia

Australia have moved to defend the scheduling of their tri-nations one-day contest after complaints from touring captains Shaun Pollock and Stephen Fleming.

ACB chief executive James Sutherland insisted that both Pollock's South African team and Fleming's New Zealanders had agreed in advance to the programme.

"We ensure that before any programme is confirmed, every country has agreed to it - and that happened in this case," Sutherland said.

His comments came after Pollock said earlier this week his team would be lucky to find 11 fit players ahead of Tuesday's dismal eight-wicket loss to Australia in Sydney.

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Australian skipper Steve Waugh was delighted that his team had proved their critics wrong following their second win over South Africa in the space of three days.

The world one-day champions looked more like their old selves as they bowled out the tourists for 106 in Sydney and cruised home by eight wickets.

"Nothing has changed. We've got faith in the players and faith in the way we play the game. "There's no hiding from the fact that we weren't playing well but things have turned around - and that happens in one-day cricket," Waugh said afterwards.

England Women in India

England's batting frailty returned to haunt them as India took a 4-0 lead in the five-match series.

The tourists wasted an opening stand of 89 between Arran Thompson and Caroline Atkins, with Laura Newton the only other player to reach double figures.

England again had no answer to spinner Neeta David, who took four for 15, despite Thompson enhancing her reputation by scoring 58.

The game was in the balance as India were reduced to 49 for three in reply, but skipper Anjum Chopra made an unbeaten 49 to see her side home with more than eight overs to spare.

Under-19

Group C:
England 223-4 (28 overs) beat Papua New Guinea 222-6 (50 overs) by six wickets.

Papua New Guinea made a respectable total in Christchurch with opener Frank Joseph falling eight runs short of a deserved century.

But their inexperience came to the fore at the end of their innings as they added just 52 in the final 10 overs despite having eight wickets in hand.

England openers Kadeer Ali (73) and Nick Compton (58), grandson of former England Test batsman Denis, got them off to a flier.

Ali took 22 off one over from Kohu Dai - featuring some glorious cover drives - and England reached their target with plenty of time left to spare.

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Group D:
Australia 200 (49.2 overs) beat West Indies 158 (44.5 overs) by 42 runs.

Australia's victory in Dunedin came after the West Indies had dismissed their opponents in the final over with fast bowler Ryan Nurse taking five for 28 and Narsingh Deonarine 3-28.

The Australian innings was given substance by a 59-run eighth wicket partnership between Beau Casson (28) and Xavier Docherty (23).

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Group A:
India 227-8 (50 overs) beat South Africa 156 (43.4 overs) by 71 runs.

The two heavyweights in group A met at the Colin Maiden Park in Auckland with India trumping South Africa thanks largely to a brilliant 105 from wicketkeeper Chandan Madan.

The elegant right-hander struck eight fours and two sixes as the South African attack struggled to find any consistency.

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Group B:
New Zealand 203-4 (36.3 overs) beat Namibia 201-5 (50 overs) by six wickets.

New Zealand's bowlers failed to find their groove against Namibia at Hagley Oval with Barton Van Rooi, man of the match in Namibia's win over Sri Lanka, continuing his good form with a rapid 62, which included seven fours and a six.

Miscellaneous

South African organisers of the 2003 Cricket World Cup have promised a opening ceremony "bigger than anything that cricket has before experienced".

The announcement was made on Wednesday at Cape Town's Newlands Ground, venue for the ceremony and the tournament's opening match between South Africa and West Indies on 8 February.

About 5,000 performers and 1,000 back-up staff are expected to be required for the ceremonies, with 180 rehearsals taking place in the six months leading up to the tournament.

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Former Australia fast bowler Paul Reiffel has announced his immediate retirement from first-class cricket. The 35-year-old, who called time on his international career after being part of the World Cup-winning squad had been expected to call time at the end of the year.

But injury has restricted the Victoria captain to four matches and 10 wickets so far this season. And Reiffel said he would not play in Victoria's match against New South Wales in Sydney, starting on Friday.

"But we respect Paul's decision and thank him for his enormous contribution to his team during his career, in particular the last two seasons as captain," said Victorian chairman of selectors Shaun Graf.

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