Trevor Nyasha Madondo, the only fourth black to represent Zimbabwe in Test cricket, after Henry Olonga, Mpumelelo Mbangwa and Everton Matambanadzo, died in a hospital in Harare on June 11. The 24-year-old opening batsman who toured India last year was suffering from malaria. He had appeared in three Test matches from 1998 to 2000 and in 13 ODI matches from 1998 to 2001.

Madondo, who became the first Zimbabwe Test player to pass away, was the also the third youngest Test player ever to die. See list below:

23 yrs - 164 days Archie Jackson (Australia) died in 1933 of tuberculosis

24 yrs - 158 days Cyril Christiani (West Indies) died in 1938 of malaria

24 yrs - 201 days Trevor Madondo (Zimbabwe) died in 2001 of malaria

24 yrs - 288 days Gus Kempis (South Africa) died in 1890 of fever

Zimbabwe has announced their squad for the second Test against India that begins in Harare on Friday, June 15. The only change is the inclusion of medium pace bowler Travis Friend in the place of the injured Henry Olonga. Interestingly, for the Bulawayo Test match it was Olonga who had replaced the injured Travis.
The team:
Heath Streak (Capt), Guy Whittall (V capt), Andy Blignaut, Alistair Campbell, Stuart Carlisle, Dion Ebrahim, Andrew Flower, Grant Flower, Brighton Watambwa, Travis Friend and Brian Murphy.

Meanwhile, Indian opening batsman Sadagopan Ramesh is reported to have strained his back. He was rested from yesterday's practice session and will be reassessed by the team physio before the Harare Test match.

Despite a 137 from opener Marcus Trescothick, England just failed to beat Pakistan by just two runs at Lord's. After being sent into bat, the visiting team reached a decent 242 runs, thanks to Yousuf Youhana's 81. A partnership of 170 runs for fourth wicket between Trescothick and Owais Shah (62) could not stop England from losing its eighth game in a row.

Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has been showed the door, and will not play in any more matches in the NatWest Triangular series. Shoaib after bowling the fastest ball ever to be recorded against Australia at Cardiff is reported to have vomited and spat blood in the dressing room. Pakistan manager Yawar Saeed defending his decision to release Akhtar said, if the bowler was unable to bowl 10 overs in a match then he is of no use to the team. Yawar said that despite seeing seven doctors in the past six days still nothing is known about what exactly is wrong with the controversial fast bowler.

Meanwhile, Shoaib Akhtar, is scheduled to join the Lashings Cricket Club, in Kent this weekend. Incidentally, the Lashings Club already boasts a number of West Indians, including Brian Lara. Akhtar is likely to play his first match for Lashings on Friday after the PCB chief Tauqir Zia who arrives in England today, for the ICC meet, will make the final decision on Shoaib.

It seems India will tour Australia in September after all for the three match one-day series at the Colonial indoor stadium at Melbourne. The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) will decide today as to whether to advance the dates by a week for the series so as to enable India to visit the country and also participate in the Asian Test Championships.

The secretary of the BCCI JY Lele said that India has objected to Dhaka being the venue of the final of the Asian Test Championships. Lele argued that there was no logic in holding the final in a country when the host team does not figure in it. He proposed that the venue be decided based on the two final teams. If India and Pakistan make the final, then the match should be held in India, since the league game between the two teams would be played in Pakistan. If India and Sri Lanka make the final, the game should be played in Sri Lanka as India would be hosting the league game, and so on. Lele said that India has agreed to participate in the Asian Test championships but a change of dates would be worked out at the Asian Cricket Council's (ACC) next meeting to suit the Indian schedule.

Following India's example, it is now the turn of England to back out of the next Sharjah tournament, citing the betting and match fixing controversies in Sharjah as one of the reasons. However English chairman of selectors David Graveney said he also considered the workload on his main cricketers as one of the reasons for the pull out.

Percept D' Mark, a well known event management company based in Mumbai has sued the Sony Entertainment Television for Rs 25 crore (US$ 5.3 million) for backing out of the telecasting on the "Left vs Right" three match series that was to be held in Mumbai in the first week of May. The management company has demanded a compensation of about Rs 5 crore (US$ 1.6 million) for the losses suffered due to the cancellation of the series. Sony, explaining its reasons for the pull out said the novelty of the series was spoilt by the telecast of a similar Left vs Right match a few days before the Sony series began.

Thirty-seven year old former West Indian fast bowler Curtly Ambrose is involved in coaching these days. Being employed with the Antigua Government's Ministry of Sports, allows him to stay in touch with the game he graced by his presence for many years. He said he was involved in coaching mainly at school level, as cricket needs to be developed from the grass roots. Ambrose and his new ball bowling partner Courtney Walsh shared between them 924 Test wickets and will be sorely missed during the West Indies' tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya later this month.

Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief, has warned against rushing into using tennis technology to detect no-balls after the recent controversy. The English Cricket Board are pressing to adopt this technology that will indicate when a bowler has overstepped the line after some controversial decisions were made against English batsman which could have cost the home team the second Test at Old Trafford. Speed said that mistakes in cricket made by players, officials and administrators are always areas of concern, but they need to be addressed thoughtfully and using of technology is not the solution.

The Hong Kong Sixes tournament is likely to be staged this year after a gap of four years in the second week of November. Cathay Pacific Airlines and Standard Chartered Bank will sponsor the tournament, which has always attracted big names in the past. Eight teams will be participating, with each team consisting of six players, will play two innings of five overs each. Each member of the fielding side except the wicketkeeper has to bowl one over. Batsmen are forced to retire once they have scored 31. Pakistan was the winner of the last tournament. Total prize money for the tournament will be $HK two million (approx $US 256,000), with the winners walking away with $HK 623,000 ($US 80,000). All matches will be played at Kowloon Cricket Club.

Australia will host New Zealand and South Africa in the 2001-02 Carlton and United limited over series. The 15 match tri series will begin on January 8, 2002 and will end on February 10, with a best of three finals. The Australian Cricket Board has meanwhile, awarded a five-year sponsorship contract to the Carlton and United Brewries that will contribute heavily to the financial stability of Australian cricket.

India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is said to have unearthed an underworld-bookie nexus based in Dubai and Pakistan. The CBI has also collected a lot of information on the involvement of players and administrators in underworld operations related to betting and match fixing. The CBI however declined to disclose any of the evidence, as the matters are still being investigated.