England in India

England will play their first one-day match since their successful tour of Zimbabwe in October against a local Bengal team in Calcutta on Thursday.

All eyes will be on Graham Thorpe, their star batsman who missed the last two Tests before Christmas due to marital problems which have now been resolved. Thorpe admitted that the 62 he scored in the second innings when England were beaten in the opening Test in Mohali meant little to him.

"I would have probably rather not have been there," he told BBC Radio's Pat Murphy in an interview in Calcutta on Wednesday.

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Marcus Trescothick was a surprise choice as wicketkeeper as England began the first practice match of their one-day tour.

Trescothick could take on the role of reserve one-day wicketkeeper as England look at options for next year's World Cup. The Somerset left-hander kept wicket during his formative years as a cricketer.

Trescothick will share the duties with James Foster as England take on the Bengal Cricket Association in a match of 45 overs a side with both teams using 15 players.

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All-rounder Craig White is confident he will have recovered from knee surgery in time to join England's one-day squad in New Zealand in three weeks' time.

White had endoscopic surgery on his left knee last week after tearing cartilage in the field during the drawn third Test with India in Bangalore.

England begin the second leg of their one-day programme in Hamilton on 8 February, with two warm-up games ahead of the first one-day international against the Black Caps the following week. But first they play a six-match limited overs series in India, with the first ODI in Calcutta on Saturday.

Triangular in Australia

Fleming was ruled out of today's day-night match against Australia at the SCG after he was struck on the forearm during the warm-up. All-rounder Chris Cairns will lead the side in his absence.

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming has been cleared of a broken arm and is expected to be fit to lead his team in a tri-series match against South Africa on Saturday. New Zealand manager Jeff Crowe said Fleming was taken to hospital for X-rays which revealed no fracture but deep bruising.

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South Africa's perfect start to the triangular one-day series in Australia suffered its first setback with the news that Allan Donald may have broken a finger. The veteran paceman, whose re-discovered form in the competition is symptomatic of the entire team, will have X-rays on the suspect digit.

Captain Shaun Pollock said: "There's quite a bit of swelling and we've got three days to check it out so he'll go for an X-ray to determine what's wrong with it.

Pakistan in Bangladesh

Bangladesh were put in a spin by Pakistan once again, bowled out for just 148 on the opening day of the second Test in Chittagong.

Spinners Saqlain Mushtaq and Danish Kaneria shared nine wickets, veteran off-spinner Saqlain taking five for 35.

By stumps, the touring side's batsmen had drawn within 49 runs of the paltry first innings total. Younis Khan and Taufeeq Umar were both 47 not out. Opener Shadab Kabir was the only man out, having edged Mohammad Sharif behind for four.

Counties

English county cricket could get an injection of quality from 2003 if a proposal to allow three overseas players to appear in the same county side sees the light of day.

County chief executives claim that due to the intensity of the international calendar it is virtually impossible to get the services of one class non-English player to commit for the whole season.

An even bigger issue has been the introduction of central England contracts, which stops counties calling on their star players as often as they once did. Currently counties can only have one overseas player signed to play for them at any one time.

England Women in India

Overnight rain all but ensured that England's batting efforts would be for nought in the one-off women's Test against India.

The bad weather meant that play could not begin until 3pm on the third day, leaving just 36.1 overs possible.

In that time, the hosts moved from an overnight 21 without loss to 95 for one. Opening bowler Lucy Pearson gained a reward for seven overs of pace and accuracy with the wicket of opener Shinde for 29.

But that was the only wicket to fall, captain Anjum Chopra and predecessor Anju Jain putting on an unbeaten 49 for the second wicket.

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