South Africa in Zimbabwe

Jacques Kallis used the final day's play to pile up the highest Test score of his career. Batting for just under 600 minutes, Kallis made 189 (with 19 fours and three sixes) to remain unbeaten.
Neil McKenzie too consolidated to make a useful 88 as South Africa declared their innings closed at 519-8 leaving Zimbabwe to bat for the last session of the match.
Spinner Claude Henderson once again gave the home team some anxious moments while taking three quick wickets as the match came to an end with the hosts 96-3. South Africa thus won the two-match Test series one-nil.

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Kallis who batted for 581 minutes to score an unbeaten 189 took his total time at the crease without being dismissed to 1,027 minutes, thus breaking the previous record set by England's Nasser Hussain by five minutes.
Kallis' unbeaten scores this series were: 157* (381 mins) & 43* (65 mins) at Harare; 189* (581 mins) - a total of 389 unbeaten runs in 1027 minutes. England captain Naseer Hussain, the previous record holder had scores of 70* (in 302 mins v SA at Port Elizabeth, Dec 1999); 146* (in 635 mins v SA at Durban, Dec 1999) and 15 (in 85 mins v SA at Cape Town, January 2000) before being dismissed. Kallis who is still unbeaten in this sequence can extend this record until he is next dismissed.

Cricket team or a casualty ward?

After VVS Laxman it is now the turn of replacement Hemang Badani and Zaheer Khan to be declared unfit despite being named in the one-side for South Africa next week. The BCCI sports medicine expert Dr Anant Joshi put the duo through the fitness routine and found them to be unfit.
Badani is said to have suffered a stress fracture in the back probably during the recent Moin-Ud Dowlah tournament in Hyderabad, while Zaheer according to Dr Joshi is yet to recover from his shin injury picked up in Sri Lanka.
Ashish Nehra too was found to be not up to the mark by the Mumbai doctor, though Nehra himself insists he felt no pain in the groin. Baroda's Jacob Martin and Punjab's Harvinder Singh will replace Badani and Zaheer for the one-day series.
Zaheer may be played in the Test matches if he recovers by then.

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The chairman of the selection committee Chandu Borde who named Hemang Badani to replace VVS Laxman said he was completely unaware of any injury to Badani and for that matter to Nehra and Zaheer as well. Borde apparently heard the news after various television channels.

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Sachin Tendulkar who has been going through a vigorous regiment over the past week will take a break for two days. Tendulkar after all the exercises said he was feeling no discomfort while running on the injured toe. The fitness test on the team to South Africa will be taken in Mumbai on Saturday and the team is to leave two days later.

Miscellaneous

The Punjab Cricket Association has decided to slash the ticket rates for the first Test between England and India to be played at Mohali in the first week of December.
The 3000 English fans expected to be touring India will now need to pay only 50 pounds instead of usual 100.
The PCA is also to include a VIP family ticket for Rs 500 that allows a family of four to watch the match. Special tickets for students will also be made available at a reasonable Rs 30 instead of the normal Rs 50.

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The Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) has also decided to allot two of the Deodhar Trophy matches to be played at its venues as benefit matches to former Ranji players Krishan Mohan and Arun Sharma. The North Zone-West Zone tie to be played at Amritsar on February 20, 2002 has been allotted to Krishan Mohan while Arun Sharma gets the North Zone-East Zone match to be held at Ludhiana on February 22, 2002.

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The Indian team skipper Sourav Ganguly and his state teammates today took time off to shoot a commercial for the Emami Group of Companies, the new sponsor of the Bengal Ranji Trophy team.
The advertisement features Bengal players - Sourav Ganguly, Deep Dasgupta, Devang Gandhi, Rohan Gavaskar, Sanjib Sanyal, Sourashish Lahiri and Arindam Das in traditional Bengali attire. Emami is to sponsor the Bengal Ranji team for the next two seasons.

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Meanwhile the launching of the Indian cricket team by its new sponsors Sahara India that was put off a couple of months ago will now be held on Saturday at a Mumbai hotel.
The team will walk the ramp in their new cricket gear and casual wear with designer Rocky S designing the outfits that will be worn by the team.

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The famed Lord's Cricket Ground saw a new statue of a batsman overlooking the nursery ground recently. The MCC also propose to have one of a bowler installed shortly.
The MCC is also in the process of purchasing a statue of W.G. Grace - by the Australian sculptor, Louis Leman, which is now in the MCC Museum at Lord's.

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England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff's injury woes continue as he is suffering from a thumb injury leading up to England's tour of Zimbabwe.
He is however hopeful of recovering by the time the team leaves next week. England has lost the last eleven one-day matches it has played and the tour of Zimbabwe is a hurriedly organised affair by coach Duncan Fletcher to give the team some practice in the one-day version, before they undertake the tour of India.
Leicestershire pace bowler James Ormond has already been ruled out because he is suffering from tendinitis in his right knee.

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Former chief minister of Maharashtra Sharad Pawar will represent Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) in the Annual General Body Meeting of the BCCI to be held in Chennai towards the end of this month. With the presidential elections to the BCCI due at the meeting it was not known who the Mumbai vote would go to. Former President Jagmohan Dalmiya is pitted against current president AC Muthiah who is running for a second term.

Scores at a Glance

Zimbabwe vs South Africa (2nd Test)
Played at Bulawayo (5th and final day)
Toss: Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe:419-9 decl (A Campbell 77, D Ebrahim 71, S Carlisle 49, A Flower 67, G Flower 44, H Streak 31, P Strang; C Henderson 4-143)
96-3 (H Masakadza 42 not, C Henderson 3-33)
South Africa: 519-8decl (H Gibbs 74, G Kirsten 65, J Kallis 189 not out, N McKenzie 88, S Pollock 41; R Price 5-181).
Result: Match Drawn (South Africa won the two match Test series 1-0)
Man of the match: J Kallis (SA)

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