England in India

India 219-2 (29.4 overs) beat England 218-7 (39 overs) by eight wickets
Match reduced to 39 overs a side

Sachin Tendulkar and new opening partner Virender Sehwag produced some sparkling batting to give the home side a comprehensive win in Kanpur.
Amazingly, both Indian openers might have been out for ducks - but were crucially given the benefit of the doubt.
They then put on 134 for the first wicket in next to no time with stroke-play of the very highest order.
Tendulkar cruised past 11,000 runs in one-day cricket to finish on 87 not out - as India won easily.

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English skipper Nasser Hussain says he is convinced Indian batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar was out first ball at Kanpur.
"I as well as my team-mates were convinced that Tendulkar snicked the first ball. It would have become a very close game then (had Tendulkar been given out)," he said.
Tendulkar, who survived a caught-behind appeal in paceman Darren Gough's opening over, went on to score an unbeaten 87 as India thrashed England by eight wickets to gain a 3-1 lead in the six-match series.

Triangular in Australia

Match winning spinner Nicky Boje, who took 4-31 in South Africa's crushing 93-run demolition of New Zealand in Adelaide on Sunday, almost missed the match because of an injured back.
Starting XIs have to be finalised at least half an hour before the start of an international match because the captains must exchange teams at the toss - yet Boje was so touch and go for the match that Justin Kemp was still on stand-by just five minutes before the team had to be named.
"Yes, it was quite close...very close," Boje admitted after practise in Perth.
"I picked up a back spasm the day before the match but after a voltarin injection and a lot of work from (physiotherapist) Craig Smith I was able to get fit."

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Skipper Steve Waugh says Australia will back their ambitious stroke play in today's do-or-die VB series clash with New Zealand at the MCG.
Scoffing at suggestions Australia need to adopt a less adventurous approach with the bat given the changing face of one-day cricket, Waugh said yesterday his men would set the trends rather than be dictated by them.
"I don't think we should change the way we've been playing over the past 18 months," Waugh said.
"We know we haven't played well.
"But I think you can get caught up in over-analysing and worrying about too many things rather than just going out and playing.

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South African captain Shaun Pollock says video replays are ineffective in assessing contentious low catches, and has suggested a return to a system based on player honesty.
Pollock was at the centre of a catching controversy at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday night when he claimed to have caught New Zealander Adam Parore low to the ground at slip.
When the Kiwi keeper stood his ground, umpire Bob Parry referred the matter to third umpire Steve Davis for video assessment.
Despite Pollock's conviction that he had taken the catch, Davis flashed the green light to give Parore not out.

Miscellaneous

The International Cricket Council has dismissed claims that it is set to switch its headquarters from Lord's to Monte Carlo.
French news agency AFP reported on Monday that the ICC was moving its operation to the tax-free principality.
AFP said cricket's governing body had already set up an office and hired staff in Monte Carlo.
AFP claimed that the ICC - headed by president Malcolm Gray and chief executive Malcolm Speed - was waiting on a final decision from Prince Rainier for their move.

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Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lanka's former cricket captain and now a lawmaker, said he was planning to run for the presidency of the Sri Lankan cricket board - the country's richest sports body.
"I have been approached by many clubs and many cricketers to contest the elections," said Ranatunga, who led Sri Lanka in 1996 to victory in the cricket World Cup.
"Since I have been approached by people who want cricket to prosper in this country, I am planning to contest for the post of the president," he said.
A new board will be elected in March when the term of the current interim board ends.

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For Tendulkar, it was a stunning piece of news when the scribes informed him of WorldTel boss Mark Mascarenhas's death here in Kanpur. "I'm shattered... I don't know what to say. He was a very close friend, more of a family member to me," said Tendulkar.
Tendulkar said his relationship with Mascarenhas went beyond the agent-star relation. "He went out of his way to help me out... I never looked at him as an agent because he always wished well for me."

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