The 15-man Zimbabwe squad for the first Test against India beginning June 7 at Bulawayo, was announced yesterday. The playing eleven will be announced before the match.

The team is as follows:
Heath Streak (capt), Guy Whittall (v-capt), Andy Blignaut, Alistair Campbell, Stuart Carlisle, Dion Ebrahim, Andrew Flower, Grant Flower, Travis Friend, David Mutendra, Brian Murphy, Mluleki Nkala, Raymond Price, Gavin Rennie, Bryan Strang and Brighton Watamba. The officials are Babu Meman (manager), Carl Rackemann (coach), Amato Machikicho (physiotherapist), Malcolm Jarvis (fitness trainer).

Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akthar's run of ill luck continued as he had to be taken to the hospital on the first day of the second Test match at Old Trafford, Manchester. Akhtar was not selected in the final eleven, as he had been unwell since the morning. He is suffering from an infection that has caused fever. Pakistan coach Richard Pybus said he was suffering from a similar ailment in Pakistan and was taken to hospital to ensure his current problem was not linked to that.

A century from the gutsy Inzamamul Haq saw Pakistan pile up runs fluently on the first day of the second Test at Old Trafford. England looking for their fifth consecutive series win took four wickets for 94 at lunch but Pakistan steadied themselves with a partnership of 141 between Inzamam and Younis Khan (65). Inzamam, who reached a personal milestone when he reached 5000 Test runs, had a lucky escape when he was caught behind off the bowling of Domimic Cork, when on 31, off a no-ball. At close the visitors were 370-8.

Continuing the pre-match verbal duels, that has now become a ritual with the Australians as they gear up to defend the Ashes, fast bowler Glenn McGrath said he along with Gillespie and Lee would blow away the England batting. He said the Aussies were confident about facing the hottest new bowling pair of Gough and Caddick. Incidentally, Lee, Gillespie and McGrath have played together in only one Test so far, against the West Indies in Perth last year.

The India team has found a new sponsor. Sahara India, who had sponsored the India-Pakistan one-day series in Toronto, Canada, has entered into an agreement with the BCCI for the next three years. The deal is reported to be worth about Rs. 100 crore (US$ 21 million).

Pakistan's sports minister Col SK Tressler has criticised the BCCI stating that lack of coordination within the Indian Board was the reason for the problems other countries had to face. The minister was referring to the conflicting statements made by the BCCI and the Indian Government with respect to the Indian team's participation in the Asian Test Championships. It seems AC Muthiah and Jayawant Lele, who were in Lahore last week for a meeting of the Asian Cricket Council, had produced a letter from their government allowing the Indian team to play Pakistan in multi-nation events. However, Indian sports minister Ms Uma Bharti, denied giving any such permission.

Cricket, is one of the issues, Pakistan's military ruler Gen. Parvez Musharraf will take up when he visits New Delhi this month. According to Pakistan sports minister Col SK Tressler, Musharraf will discuss the future of India-Pakistan cricket with Indian prime minister AB Vajpayee, among other things in the agenda.

Former ICC President Jagmohan Dalmiya has criticised the Condon report as just a "cosmetic" exercise. Dalmiya, was the out-going president when the ICC set up the Anti Corruption Cell (ACU). Dalmiya said the work of the ACU disappointed him as no players or officials were identified as guilty and nothing new came out of it that would help solve the problem of match fixing.

India's law minister Arun Jaitley, who is also the president of the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) said at present no penal provisions existed for punishment of those involved in betting and match fixing. Since the cricketers themselves were involved it was up to the Board to take action, which they have done. However the minister said if such acts continue to be repeated the ministry would come out with provisions for punishment under the Indian Penal Code.