South Africa in Zimbabwe

Andy Flower stood between the South Africans and a crushing victory with yet another ton. At stumps on day four Zimbabwe (304-7) were only ten runs away from making South Africa bat again.
Andy Flower (138 not out) came up with his second century of the match following his 142 in the first innings to prevent the visitors from running away with a win on the fourth day. Young batsman Hamilton Masakadza (85) was involved with the keeper in a face saving 186 run fourth wicket partnership.

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Andy Flower became the first wicket-keeper to achieve the feat of scoring a century in each innings of a Test match. He also joined younger brother Grant Flower to become the only second Zimbabwean to score two hundreds in the same Test. Grant had scored 104 and 151 against New Zealand in Harare in September 1997.

England to India - revised itinerary

The proposed itinerary for England's tour of India beginning mid November this year has been revised yet again following requests from the ECB to swap venues to enable the tourists to fly out from Mumbai directly to New Zealand. According to the revised dates Mumbai will now host the last one-dayer. The complete revised schedule is given below:

November 14: Arrival in Mumbai.
November 15-17 Rest and practice in Mumbai.
November 18-19 Two-day match against MCA President's XI in Mumbai.
November 20-21 Rest and practice in Hyderabad.
November 22-24 Three-day match against BPXI in Hyderabad.
November 25-26 Rest and practice in Jaipur.
November 27-29 Three-day match against India 'A' in Jaipur.
November 30 Travel to Mohali.
December 1-2 Rest and practice in Mohali.
December 3-7 First Test in Mohali.
December 8 Travel to Ahmedabad.
December 9-10 Rest and practice in Ahmedabad.
December 11-15 Second Test in Ahmedabad.
December 16 Travel to Bangalore.
December 17-18 Rest and practice in Bangalore.
December 19-23 Third Test in Bangalore.
December 24 Departure to UK.

2002
January 12 Arrival in Mumbai.
January 13-16 Rest and practice in Mumbai.
January 17 First practice one-dayer in Mumbai.
January 18 Rest and practice in Mumbai.
January 19 Second practice one-dayer (d/n) in Mumbai.
January 20 Rest and practice in Mumbai.
January 22 First one-day international (d/n) in Chennai.
January 23-24 Rest and practice in Kolkatta.
January 25 Second one-day international (d/n) in Kolkatta.
January 26-27 Rest and practice in Kanpur.
January 28 Third one-day international in Kanpur.
January 29-30 Rest and practice in Delhi.
January 31 Fourth one-day international in Delhi.
February 1-2 Rest and practice in Mumbai.
February 3 Fifth one-day international in Mumbai.
February 4 Departure to New Zealand.

Miscellaneous

The wisdom of granting Test status to minnows Bangladesh is being questioned after they suffered their fifth consecutive loss by huge margins in the recently concluded Asian Test Championship match against Sri Lanka at Colombo.
Of the five losses three have been by innings margins and the other two by 9 wickets and 8 wickets respectively. The Bangladesh coach Trevor Chappell said his immediate goal was to get his batsmen to make at least 250 plus in both the innings.

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The ashes of Australian cricket legend Sir Don Bradman are to be scattered over the Bradman Oval in Bowral, about 80 kms south-west of Sydney, at a ground named after him in the town he grew up in.
The event a private family affair would take place some time after two months. Richard Mulvaney, the curator of the Bradman Museum said it was the wish of the late Sir Don that his ashes be scattered over the cricket ground at his home town rather than be kept in a museum.
Incidentally the ground has been used by the Australian Cricket Board for one-day matches against touring teams since 1990-91 and last year staged a women's international between Australia and England.

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The England chairman of selectors David Graveney hit out at the comments made by the Australian coach John Buchanan on the state of English Cricket as "cheap and utter nonsense". He felt Buchanan's views must have been affected by the unhappy stint he had with Middlesex as their coach in 1998.
Graveney also completely played down Buchanan's comments on the rivalry between Gough and Caddick by calling it nonsense. He said it was not a done thing to make criticisms of the teams you defeat.

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The former England skipper Graham Gooch will replace another former skipper Keith Fletcher as head coach of the Essex County cricket team. Gooch who will be taking over from next month said he was delighted at being offered the challenge.
Essex is about to implement a new cricket structure following their being relegated from the first division of the county championships.

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The Feroze Shah Kotla ground, a Test venue in New Delhi since 1948, will receive a facelift and be provided with a new and better seating arrangement that can accommodate at least 45,000 people.
The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) also proposes to have a brand new club house and taller east and west stands for better viewing. The facilities are likely to be ready by the time Delhi hosts England for a one-dayer in January next year.

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A proposal has been presented to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) by the Cricket Club of India (CCI), that the two jointly own the planned national cricket museum in south Mumbai. Around 3,500 square feet area for the project will be given by the CCI free of cost to the BCCI who will be in charge of maintaining it.
The details will be finalised at the Board's AGM to be held in Chennai at the end of this month. Meanwhile, some members of the CCI have expressed their unhappiness over the Club gifting the land away to the BCCI at a throw away price. However, president of the Club and former BCCI chief Raj Singh Dungarpur has refuted the charges by these members.

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Former Test pace bowler Yograj Singh and father of current Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, was issued a non-bailable warrant by a Delhi court for failing to make an appearance in the court for his indirect involvement in a Delhi murder case that had taken place in April 1999.
The cricketer is facing charges of harbouring the prime accused at his home in Chandigarh. Incidentally Yograj, a petrol pump owner has also been involved in a petrol adulteration case some time ago.

SCORES AT A GLANCE

Zimbabwe v South Africa (1st Test)
Played at Harare (4th day)
Toss: South Africa
South Africa:
555-5 (H Gibbs 147, G Kirsten 202 not out, J Kallis 157 not out).
Zimbabwe:
286 (DD Ebrahim 71, A Flower 142, T Friend 30; A Nel 4-53)
304-7 (H Masakadza 85, A Flower 138 not out; S Pollock 3-50)
Zimbabwe following on need 10 runs more to make South Africa bat again

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