India in South Africa

South Africa continued their dominance on the second day of the officially unofficial Test match against India at Centurion. India held out for 7 overs before they were dismissed for 232 with Srinath not coming out to bat following an injured finger. Helped by a watchful 90 from G Kirsten and stroke-full 59 from Gibbs South Africa reached 261-4 at stumps on the 2nd day.

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The ICC has admitted that the two umpires on the field of play at Port Elizabeth did not report anything untoward against both Sachin Tendulklar or Sourav Ganguly. This admission by ICC substantiates the criticism of Denness' action by man who feel hat he should not have initiated against Indian players without complaints from the two umpires on the ground. The ICC however continued to defend Denness saying that Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Shiv Sunder Das and Deep Dasgupta, the other four Indians were penalised, after having been reported by the umpires, one of whom was from South Africa and the other from Zimbabwe.

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The ICC responded to Indian chief Jagmohan Dalmiya's statement that the ICC president did not have the right to withdraw the Test status of any match. The ICC issued a statement saying that since India and South Africa chose to reject the properly appointed match referee that was appointed by the ICC president or the ICC chief executive the match would not be called official.

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Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Saturday said that his government would not take any action over the issue involving the Indian cricket team in South Africa after match-referee Mike Dennes penalised six Indian players, including Sachin Tendulkar. The issue has sparked off a raging controversy in the country putting even the Kashmir and Afghanisthan issues in the background. "The BCCI is handling it and the government will not interfere in it," said Vajpayee when asked whether government proposed to take any steps in the matter. The decision by Denness had led to an uproar among Indian cricket fans as also in Parliament with members demanding immediate recall of the team from its tour of South Africa.

England in India

England managed to hold out to a draw on the third day of the 3-day match against the Board President XI at Hyderabad yesterday. The BP XI declared their innings closed at 339-7 in reply to the visitors 320 and reduced them to 163-9 when play came to an end. Railways skipper Sanjay Bangar claimed 5-32 to restrict the hosts.

West Indies in Sri Lanka

It was Muthiah Muralitharan again who ran through the West Indies batting line up along with Chaminda Vaas to reduce them to 191 in reply to the Sri Lanka first innings score of 288. At stumps on the fourth day Sri Lanka were 149-1 with a lead of 252 runs and 9 wickets still in hand.

Miscellaneous

The one-man inquiry commission in Pakistan has been given a two-month extension until January 15 to submit its report. The commission saw many former Test players Majid Khan and Sarfraz Nawaz testify against the national team, but several current members of the team have denied the allegations. But the final date was extended after the commission failed to hear from all-rounder Wasim Akram, who was skipper during the World Cup. Wasim did not turn up to testify on the date prescribed by the commission.

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Pakistani paceman Shoaib Akhtar said Saturday he was confident he would make a quick return to Test cricket. He said his action had nothing to do with his arm. He said his arm itself was basically abnormal and the joints would not move the way he wanted them to, because of the hyper-extension in the elbow. That cannot be changed. "It's got nothing to do with the coaching." said Shoaib.

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The cricket county Yorkshire continue to be left waiting as their fast bowler Darren Gough keeps them tenterhooks on whether he will play with them in the future. There has been a split in the Yorkshire committee over the Gough issue with some of the members reportedly not wanting him after he has neglected the county's matches. Many other county's are standing by watching the situation and hoping to grab Gough if he makes the decision to leave Yorkshire.

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Zimbabwe meet Bangladesh in the second of the three match ODI series to be played at Dhaka today. The game will be a day night fixture. Stuart Carlisle will lead the Zimbabwe side while keeper-batsman Khaled Masud will lead the hosts.

SCORES AT A GLANCE

India vs South Africa (3rd Test Unofficial, Day 2)
Played at Centurion
Toss: South Africa
India: 232-9 (SS Das 46, D Dasgupta 36, A Kumble 27, Harbhajan Singh 29; Hayward 4-74)
South Africa: 261-4 (H Gibbs 59, G Kirsten 90, J Kallis 41, N McKenzie 33)

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West Indies vs Sri Lanka (2nd Test, Day 4)
Played at Kandy
Toss: Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka: 288 (M Jayawardene 88, H Tillekeratne 87; S Collins 4-84, M Dillon 3-55, D Ramnaraine 3-75)
197-2 (M Atapattu 77, S Jayasuriya 55, K Sangakara 45)
West Indies: 191 (C Gayle 44, B Lara 75; C Vaas 4-57, Muralitharan 4-55

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Australia vs New Zealand (2nd Test day 4) Played at Hobart Toss: New Zealand Australia: 588-8 decl (J Langer 123, M Hayden 91,Ponting not out 157, A Gilchrist 39, SK Warne 70; D Vettori 5-138) New Zealand 197-4 (M Richardson 30, S Fleming 71 not out, C McMillan 51 not out)

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