David Graveney, England's chairman of selectors has suggested that the 'magic eye' that is used in tennis to detect service faults, be used in cricket too to detect no-balls. The suggestion comes in the wake of England's defeat in the second Test against Pakistan at Old Trafford where at least four English batsmen were given out on no-balls by the umpires.

Former Pakistan skipper Asif Iqbal said he was delighted with Pakistan's win at Old Trafford. He laughed off at the allegations of ball tampering insisting that Waqar would not have taken the new ball if the old one had been tempered with. Further he added that the balls were checked by the umpires after every over and neither umpire has reported anything suspicious. Asif put the blame squarely on the England batsmen saying losing eight wickets in a session in a Test match would normally cost the match.

Barrie Stuart-King, the head of the Association of Umpires and Scorers has condemned as disgraceful the umpiring by David Shepherd and Eddie Nicholas in the second Test at Old Trafford, saying their loss in concentration cost England the match. He reiterated that the umpires had to be physically and mentally fit to be able to concentrate hard on all five days of a match.

After a series of injuries England all rounder Craig White has been given the clearance to resume his bowling. White had suffered a stress fracture on England's tour of Sri Lanka that was diagnosed only before England's first Test against Pakistan. White is one of England's contracted players. Although he was advised not to bowl, he played for Yorkshire as a batsman during this season.

English county Middlesex inflicted a surprise defeat over world champions Australia, in their first warm up one-day match at Lord's yesterday. Ben Hutton, the grandson of the late Len Hutton, top scored with 73 (in 105 balls) ensuring Middlesex reached the target easily. Australia batting first made 232 thanks largely due to the effort of Ricky Ponting (57 in 47 balls) and a late order assault from Ian Harvey (84 in 65 balls). Middlesex overhauled the target for the loss of only four wickets and with almost three overs to spare. The visitors now play Northamptonshire on Thursday, prior to taking on Pakistan at Cardiff two days later in the tri-nation tournament, which is going to be a repeat of the 1999 World Cup final.

India will make their third tour to South Africa beginning October 1. India play three Tests at Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth and Centurion Park. Kenya will be the third team in a triangular tournament, which follows the Test series. The full schedule is given below.

Oct 1 v Nicky Oppenheimer XI, at Randjesfontein
Oct 3 v South Africa A, at Benoni (d/n)

Triseries schedule:

Oct 5: South Africa v India, at Johannesburg (d/n)
Oct 7: South Africa v Kenya, at Benoni
Oct 10: South Africa v India, at Centurion (d/n)
Oct 12: India v Kenya, at Bloemfontein (d/n)
Oct 14: South Africa v Kenya, at Kimberley
Oct 17: India v Kenya, at Port Elizabeth (d/n)
Oct 19: South Africa v India, at East London (d/n)
Oct 22: South Africa v Kenya, at Cape Town (d/n)
Oct 24: India v Kenya, at Paarl (d/n)
Oct 26: Final at Durban

Oct 29-31 v SACB President's XI (3-day), Chatsworth

Nov 3-7: 1st Test at Bloemfontein
Nov 10-13: v South Africa "A" (4-day) at East London
Nov 16-20: 2nd Test at Port Elizabeth
Nov 23-27: 3rd Test at Pretoria, Centurion

The South African Cricket Board have decided to cut down the number of matches in their schedule following complaints from the players that they were being overworked. South Africa's new schedule against Zimbabwe in the upcoming tour finds the match between the tourists and the CFX Academy as cancelled. Australia will be touring South Africa early next year. The Test matches against the Aussies are scheduled for Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

South African skipper Shaun Pollock was caught on the wrong foot when he boarded a plane from Johannesburg intending to fly to Cape Town and realised that the plane was going to Durban instead. A member of South African parliament, who was on the same flight recognized Pollock and approached him for a chat during the course of which Pollock realised he was heading in the wrong direction. The helpful flight crew however helped a visibly embarrassed Pollock out of the sticky wicket, which enabled him to arrive in Cape Town in time for his meeting with Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour.

Goa's former deputy chief minister Dayanand Narvekar who was arrested yesterday following the fake-ticket scam during the India-Australia ODI match on April 6, has been hospitalized after he complained of chest pains. He was advised rest by the doctors who said he was suffering from high blood preassure. Narvekar was arrested after the Supreme Court interpreted the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court order on his anticipatory bail that one month bail period granted to him by the bench had already expired.

Former Gujarat Ranji Trophy cricketer Ghulam Hansia (52), was arrested under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Act by the Surat police. Reports say that Hansia used to go abroad frequently and was involved in smuggling of gold and diamonds. In September 2000, Hansia was arrested at the Mumbai's Sahar International Airport with diamonds worth nearly 2.85 crores. Hansia had appeared in 24 Ranji Trophy matches from 1969-70 to 1979-80 while scoring 791 runs (avg. 20.81) with three scores over fifty.