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August 5, 2002
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India's tour of England
Durham fast bowler Stephen Harmison has replaced the injured Simon Jones in the England squad for the second Test against India starting at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

Kent's Robert Key will open the batting with Michael Vaughan while Surrey pace bowler Alex Tudor returns after injury in a squad of 13 named on Sunday.

Jones made an impressive Test debut at Lord's on a lifeless pitch but picked up a side strain during England's comprehensive 170-run victory. He will undergo another scan on Monday.

Harmison's county career has been repeatedly interrupted by injury but, like Jones, he has the raw pace that captain Nasser Hussain has been seeking both against the talented India batting line-up and during the forthcoming Ashes tour of Australia.


India are a moderate team in Test cricket and their batting frail, according to former England captain Michael Atherton.

"Nasser Hussain continually talks up India's batting line-up. The truth is that India are a moderate team in Test cricket and their batting frail. Even with injuries, England are good value to keep their successful spell going," Atherton wrote in the Sunday Telegraph analysing England's chances in the second Test starting at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

He also opined that the injuries to key players helped the English selectors to shed their conservative approach.

"In the long run the injuries may even be a good thing, forcing the selectors out of their inherent conservatism. At the end of the summer the team could be winning, and the selectors will have a larger pot than usual to dip into," he said.

Bangladesh in Sri Lanka
First one-day international, Colombo:
Sri Lanka 228-5 (44.4 overs) beat Bangladesh 226-8 (50 overs) by five wickets.

The Sri Lankan openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu set the platform for their team's five-wicket win over Bangladesh in the first one-day international in Colombo yesterday.

Atapattu, opening in the ab-sence of the dropped Romesh Kaluwitharana, hit 83 off 101 balls, while his captain and opening partner Jayasuriya blasted 40 off 32 as Sri Lanka chased just 227.

Once Jayasuriya's explosive cameo was over, the same approach was picked up by Kumar Sangakkara, who hit 29 off 23, including seven fours.

Other useful contributions came from Mahela Jayawardene, 18, and Russel Arnold, 29, the latter still at the crease with Hasantha Fernando when Sri Lanka passed the Bang-ladeshi total with less than four overs left. Khaled Mahmud took two wickets, claiming the scalps of both Sangakkara and Jayawardene.

Earlier, middle-order batsmen Tushar Imran and Khaled Mashud provided the bulk of the runs for the tourists, who totalled 226 for eight off their 50 overs having won the toss.

Miscellaneous
The late Don Bradman chose six members of Australia's 1948 "Invincibles" in his Ashes dream team for a new book which is set to be launched by his biographer, shunning Steve Waugh's all-conquering side of recent years.

Bradman biographer Roland Perry's new book "Bradman's Best Ashes Teams" is to be launched in Australia on Monday and the dream teams were listed in an extract in Sunday's Sun-Herald newspaper.

The Australian XI includes Bradman, Arthur Morris, Neil Harvey, Keith Miller, Don Tallon and Ray Lindwall from the 1948 team which beat England 4-0.

England's team features Jack Hobbs and Len Hutton as the openers, middle-order batsmen Wally Hammond and WG Grace and wicketkeeper Godfrey Evans. All-rounder Ian Botham is the 12th man.

The dream teams were compiled in 1998 and confirmed in 2000, but Perry suggests Adam Gilchrist may have replaced Tallon as Australia's wicketkeeper "had Bradman lived to the middle of 2002". Bradman, considered the game's premier batsman, died aged 92 in February 2001.

Waugh, the third highest run-scorer in the history of Test cricket who also led Australia to a world record 16 consecutive Test victories, is missing from Bradman's dream team.

Shane Warne, voted one of Wisden's five cricketers of the 20th century, also lost out to spinners Clarrie Grimmett and Bill O'Reilly.

Teams:
Australia: Bill Ponsford, Arthur Morris, Don Bradman, Neil Harvey, Charlie Macartney, Keith Miller, Don Tallon, Ray Lindwall, Dennis Lillee, Bill O'Reilly, Clarrie Grimmett, Richie Benaud (12th man).

England: Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Denis Compton, Peter May, Wally Hammond, WG Grace, Godfrey Evans, Fred Trueman, Alec Bedser,SF Barnes, Hedley Verity, Ian Botham (12th man).


South African coach Eric Simons was pleased with the hard work of his squad as they wrapped up their preparations for the three-nation one day series to be held in Morocco starting next week.

Simons was particularly impressed with the form of Western Province all-rounder Jacques Kallis who scored 64 runs off just 56 balls in yesterday's practice match which also involved players from a Northerns Academy XI at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

"It's ridiculous how good he looks and he also bowled well and got the ball to swing," said Simons.

South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan will compete for the $250 000 Morocco Cup in Tangiers next week, the first international tournament to be held in North Africa.

"We've heard that the conditions are very much like the sub-continent, that's why we've picked Paul Adams, because we expect it turn, particularly later in the tournament," added Simons.


Zimbabwe will definitely be a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup - that's official.

All five matches scheduled for Harare and Bulawayo will definitely take place in that country, Ali Bacher, executive director of the ICC Cricket World Cup, said on Saturday.

There were fears earlier that the matches scheduled in that country would have to be played in South Africa and the entire World Cup scheduled would have to be re-drawn.

But Bacher announced that two heavyweights of the International Cricket Council - chief executive Malcolm Speed and Campbell Jamieson the commercial manager, who is based in Monaco, will arrive in Johannesburg on Monday before heading off to Harare to officially launch the 2003 Cricket World Cup in Zimbabwe.

"It has always been our aim to take the game to all parts of southern Africa and we were not even thinking of re-scheduling the games originally set for Zimbabwe," Bacher said.

Design: Imran Shaikh


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