England in India

A security cordon of nearly 10,000 police officers will protect the England team when they arrive in India for the start of the one-day series.
Commandos from the Rapid Action Force will also be on hand when Nasser Hussain's men touch down in Calcutta on Friday morning in preparation for the first limited-overs international on 19 January.
Police will employ closed-circuit television monitors and sniffer dogs at the ground to combat possible terrorist attacks. And fans will be banned from attending England's practice sessions.

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Captain Nasser Hussain has said that England are unlikely to go into a one-day match in India with all three of strike trio Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick and Matthew Hoggard.
And Hussain said that, unless the tourists find a very green strip for one of the games, at least one of the pace bowlers would have to miss out.
None of the three is an acknowledged batsman, and Hussain said that to play all of them would give the side an unnecessarily long tail.
"One-day cricket is about being adaptable and being able to perform in two of the three disciplines," said Hussain. "Its not just bowling that is important; it's the combined efforts which decides who gets into the side."

Pakistan in Bangladesh

Abdur Razzaq has hammered a career-best 114 not out as Pakistan tightened their grip on the first Test against Bangladesh at the Bangabandhu National Stadium here.
The 22-year-old all-rounder's third Test century in 16 matches enabled Pakistan to post 6-436 in reply to Bangladesh's 160 at stumps on the second day. Inzamam-ul-Haq was unbeaten on 22.
Razzaq struck three sixes and 14 fours in his 216-ball knock to surpass his previous best of 110 not out against Bangladesh in an Asian Test Championship match at Multan last year.

South Africa in Australia

Graham Ford's attempts to remove himself from the on-tour selection panel were unsuccessful last week but, bizarrely, vice-captain Mark Boucher and Ford's assistant, Corrie van Zyl, were dropped from selection duties in Australia before the warm-up match against Australia 'A' in Adelaide on Thursday.
Boucher and van Zyl have been members of the tour selection panel ever since they assumed their positions as coach and vice-captain and their sudden demotion caught most observers by surprise.

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Jimmy Maher and Darren Lehmann shared in a crucial third wicket stand of 72 to steer Australia A to a five wicket win over South Africa in Adelaide.
Australia A have now made it two wins out of two, having beaten New Zealand on Tuesday, to provide stiff opposition in the warm-up games ahead of the triangular one-day series.
South Africa batted poorly early in their innings, and were indebted to a knock of 69 from the mecurial Jonty Rhodes and a half century from captain Shaun Pollock as they reached 215-9.
Australia A (219-5 from 49.1 overs) beat South Africa (215-9 from 50 overs) by five wickets.

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Physiotherapist Craig Smith admitted before the start of South Africa's one-day campaign in Australia that Shaun Pollock's team is not as fit as previous sides have been.
"I don't want to criticise the guys because we are team mates," Craig Smith said, "but there is no doubt that they don't have quite the same intensity as they used to when it comes to fitness."
"The South African team between 1995 and 1997 was easily the fittest in the world," Smith concurred.
"But this team is not quite as fit. A few members of the team could be a little bit fitter but I'd rather not mention names!"

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Steve Waugh will approach the triangular limited overs series in Australia with one eye on winning the tournament and another on next year's World Cup in South Africa, the Australia captain has said.
"We've been trying things for the World Cup for the past 18 months and we won't change," Waugh told a news conference.
"We have an eye to winning the series, that's obviously our priority. But that doesn't mean you can't look ahead as well. We'd be stupid not to look towards the World Cup. It's only 12 months away.
"You've got to try some things now. There's no good trying them in the practice matches before the World Cup. But at the same time we still expect to win the triangular series."

Miscellaneous

Australia will go ahead with their planned tour to Zimbabwe, despite political unrest in the African country.
The world champions are scheduled to play Zimbabwe for two Tests and three limited overs internationals in April and May.
But the current political situation in the country has prompted fears over the players' safety.
However, the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) said it has fully evaluated the security measures for the tour.

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Mumbai Colts won the Cooch Behar (Under-19) cricket tournament by virtue of 47-run first innings lead against Gujarat here today.
Despite fighting knocks by Dilip Hadiyol (96) and Timil Patel (93), Gujarat Colts could not get past Mumbai's first innings score of 520 and the entire team was bowled out for 473 runs in their first innings thereby conceding the all important first innings lead to Mumbai.
Vikrant Velligatti and Goutam Yadav were the main wicket takers for Mumbai claiming four wickets each.

Brief Score: Mumbai 1st Innings 520. Gujarat 1st Innings 473 (B Thakker 69, D Hadiyol 96, T Patel 93, J Janardhan 62, G Yadav 4-106, V Velligatti 4-106, H Raole 1-69).

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India Seniors skipper Sourav Ganguly made up for his batting failure by grabbing four wickets, but could not prevent India 'A' from scoring a two-wicket win in the opening match of the N K P Salve Challenger Trophy in Bangalore on Thursday.
Ganguly, who could score only two runs, had figures of four for forty, but his efforts were nullified by India 'A' who, chasing a victory target of 230, finished at 235 for eight with 11 balls to spare.
Yuvraj Singh top-scored for India 'A' with a stroke-filled 55 from 77 balls, including six fours, and added 88 runs for the fifth wicket with wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra (36) to put his side on the road to victory after they had been struggling at 91 for four.

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India entered the final of the International Schools' Cricket Tournament notching up a comfortable 103 run victory against Nepal in Ludhiana.
Chasing a target of 244 runs, Nepal were bundled out for 141 runs in 37.3 overs in the 40 overs a side match.
A masterly 80 by Karan Goel and his second wicket stand of 126 runs with Rahul Arora 54 enabled India to post a challenging 244 for seven wickets. The other significant contribution came from Sunny who was unbeaten with 45 off 30 balls.

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