India in South Africa

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly won the toss and put South Africa into bat on a seaming track. The day was primarily dominated by the home side and their opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs (155 not out) who piled up his second consecutive hundred against the visitors.
India's old warhorse Javagal Srinath claimed 3 of the 5 wickets to fall as the hosts reached 237-5 at stumps on the first day of the second Test.

Zimbabwe in Bangladesh

Bangladesh's woes in the world of Test cricket continue as Zimbabwe helped by centuries from three of their batsmen Gripper (112), A Flower (114 not out), and Wishart (114) raised a total of 542-7 before eventually declaring.
At stumps on the second day Bangladesh were struggling at 57-1 after having lost their first wicket for just 15 in the fourth over.

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Zimbabwean captain Stuart Carlisle was fined 50 percent of his match fee for showing dissent to umpire Asoka deSilva (SL) after he was given out. Carlise who kicked the ground after being given out was called upon by match referee Hanumant Singh and warned besides being fined.

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The crowd response to the Test match in this cricket crazy nation has been completely disappointing. The stadium capable of hosting 25,000 people has been largely empty mainly due to the high pricing of tickets and the need to purchase tickets on a daily basis.

West Indies in Sri Lanka

Resuming the day on 343-3, the Sri Lankans piled up a massive 590-9 before they declared, 142 runs ahead of the West Indies. Overnight centurion Sangakara went on to make 140 before he was run out, but veteran Tillekeratne (105 not out) and T Samaraweera (77) kept piling on the runs.
At stumps on the fourth day West Indies were in a precarious position having lost 1 wicket for 9 runs still 133 runs behind Sri Lanka. With the whole of the last day left, Sri Lanka are hope to force a victory.

Australia in New Zealand

Australian Test discard Greg Blewett notched up a century against the touring New Zealanders in South Australia's tour match at Adelaide.
Blewett now has three centuries in the four first class matches he has played this season. The Kiwis rested Chris Cairns and skipper Steven Fleming. Craig McMillan is leading the side.
South Australia: 281-8 (G. Blewett 106, D. Fitzgerald 50; D. Vettori 3-60, D. Tuffey 3-71)

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Australian selectors have named an unchanged side for the second Test at Hobart starting on 22 November. The home side just managed to brush aside a loss by a narrow margin of 10 runs.
The full side is: Steve Waugh (captain), Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Mark Waugh, Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath, Andrew Bichel.

England in India

England are still undecided about the line up they would like to play for their first tour match against a Mumbai Cricket Association XI.

Coach Duncan Fletcher was worried about the lack of experience among the bowlers, unlike the batsmen who are a mixture of youth and experience.

Miscellaneous

Reported for the third time for a suspect action and plagued by injuries Shoaib Akhtar has now turned to club cricket.
It is likely that he will play for a Sydney club Mosman along with the other fastest bowler in the current international circuit Brett Lee.
According to the general manager of the club Akhtar was keen to play for Mosman because of his friendship with Lee and the quality of the club's bowling coaches who can give him good advise on how to improve his action

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Shoiab Akhtar was profusely apologetic about this behaviour against the Sri Lankans in the recently concluded Sharjah Cup final.

Akhtar on dismissing Mahela Jayawardene spewed venom on the batsman walking back and followed it up with unnecessary gestures.

Akhtar said it was just a response that came in the heat of the moment on taking a crucial wicket and that he had nothing against the side or the batsman.

Akhtar has been fined and suspended for the next one-day international match that Pakistan play.

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Mark Waugh joined his brother Steve in saying that they both would like to continue playing cricket until they were 40. Both have highlighted their desire to return to India in 2004, not having forgotten the defeat in a bitterly fought series earlier his year.

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Australian batsman Stuart Law will be Lancashire's overseas player for 2002. Law has played 5 seasons for Essex and was their leading run scorer in 1999 but decided to change county after the poor performance of Essex in last year's championship.

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The National Development Committee of the BCCSL began its good work by distributing kits and cricket matting to schools and clubs all around the country.
The first presentation under this scheme was carried out at Galle. This move is part of the BCCSL's scheme to develop cricket at the grass roots level and raise the standard of competition within the country.

SCORES AT A GLANCE

South Africa vs India (2nd Test, day 1)
Played at Port Elizabeth
Toss: India
South Africa:237-5 (H Gibbs 155, H Dippenaar 29; J Srinath 3-51)

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West Indies vs Sri Lanka (1st Test, day 4)
Played at Galle
Toss: West Indies

West Indies:
448 (D Ganga 47, RR Sarwan 88, BC Lara 178, CL Hooper 69; Vaas 4-95, Muralitharan 6-126)
9-1 (D Ganga 3 not out, R Sarwan 5 not out)
Sri Lanka:
590-9 decl (M Atapattu 61, K Sangakara 140, M Jayawardene 99, R Arnold 33, H Tillekeratne, 105 not out, T Samaraweera 77; D Ramnaraine 3-158)

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Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh (2nd Test, day 2)
Played at Chittagong
Toss: Bangladesh

Zimbabwe:
279-4 (DD Ebrahim 41, T Gripper 112, G Flower 33, A Flower 114 not out, C Wishart 114, D Marillier 52; Murtaza 2-101)
Bangladesh: 57-1 (Al Shariar 25 not out, H Bashar 21 not out)

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