Standard Bank Triangular series in South Africa

A much improved performance by the Kenyans in their batting helped them post 229-7 in 50 overs after electing to bat first at the diamond city of Kimberly.
Ravindu Shah (55), M Odumbe (60) and T Odoyo (53) made sure the visiting team did not collapse yet again.
But the bowling, which was also much more disciplined than in the previous game lacked the venom to trouble South Africa. SA knocked off the required runs easily for the loss of only Gibbs (70).
Dippenaaar (74 not out) replacing the injured Gary Kirsten and Klusener (75 not out) ensured the hosts got to a comfortable victory.

________________

The Kenyan skipper Maurice Odumbe took offence at one of the umpires comments in his country's match against hosts South Africa at Kimberly yesterday.
Without naming the umpire, Odumbe said his behaviour was against the spirit of the game. Odumbe had asked the umpire for a clarification on where exactly he was overstepping at the bowling crease and received a reply, "Look for yourself, the marks are there".
The umpires for yesterday's match were South Africans Dave Orchard and Wilf Diedricks.

________________

India's Test opening bat, SS Das, assured one and all that he is fit. Das who was fielding at forward short leg took a blow on the head when trying to avoid a fierce pull by Shaun Pollock of Kumble at Centurion.
Das was taken of the field and rushed to hospital for a precautionary X-Ray. He has been cleared of any serious injury.
The Indian team meanwhile, arrived at Port Elizabeth the venue of their next match against Kenya on Wednesday.
The big guns of the team Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Javagal Srinath were given a day off while the rest had practice under the watchful eyes of coach John Wright.

England unsure

A last minute dramatic rescheduling of matches could be the only way to save the England tour of India that also looks in doubt following the concern of the English authorities about the safety of traveling to the region following air strikes by the US in Afghanistan.
The English feel uncomfortable about playing in Mohali and Ahmedabad, both on the western side of India relatively close to Pakistan border.
England skipper Nasser Hussain has asked the ECB chief's to make a decision either way as soon as possible to enable his team to prepare well if they have to make the tour.

Miscellaneous

Some of the youngsters in the experimental English side that toured Zimbabwe and won the one-day series 5-0 have impressed both skipper Nasser Hussain and coach Duncan Fletcher.
Nasser Hussain said a few of them were likely to be rewarded with a place on the tours of either India or New Zealand.
Hussain said he was happy the experimental side he picked had clicked and performed well and was hopeful of building a competitive pool of players for the World Cup.

________________

Carl Hooper will lead a 16-man side to Sri Lanka to play three Test matches and a triangular series that will also feature Zimbabwe.
Brian Lara and Marlon Black makes a come back to the side. Black will be playing his first match since he was assaulted in early 2000 outside a nightclub in Australia.
Lara is making a comeback after a troublesome calf muscle injury forced him to pull out of the tour of Zimbabwe in June this year.
The tour however remains in doubt as some of the players have expressed their doubts about playing in the region and have offered to host the tour instead.
The West Indian team:
Carl Hooper (Capt), Ridley Jacobs (wk), Marlon Black, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Merv Dillon, Daren Ganga, Leon Garrick, Chris Gayle, Reon King, Brian Lara, Neil McGarrell, Dinanath Ramnarine, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Colin Stuart.

________________

The attacks on their country have not deterred the Afghan cricket team from putting aside all the uncertainties and arriving in Pakistan as ambassadors of peace, to play cricket and to show to the world that they were not terrorists.
The Afghan team led by Allah Dad Noori flew in to Peshwar from Jalalabad one of the towns hit in recent days by the US strikes.
Cricket has a quite following in Afghanistan mostly since refugees from the Soviet invasion, picked up the game from the Pakistani camps they lived in.

________________

The former head of the Pakistan Cricket Board Majid Khan yesterday deposed before the one-man commission looking into the match fixing allegations of the 1999 World Cup.
Majid is reported to have told the commission that he had suspicions over the legality of the final between Australia and Pakistan that Australia on easily by 8 wickets.
The commission yesterday recorded statements of Majid Khan, Javed Miandad, Khalid Mehmood, and Riaz Sami, the former high commissioner to United Kingdom.
Cricketers Wasim Akram, (who was captain during the World Cup) Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saeed Anwar, Moin Khan, Waqar Younis and Saqlain Mushtaq have also been asked to appear before the commossion on October 20.

Irani Trophy

Rest Of India managed to restrict Baroda to 318 in their first innings largely due to a good spell of spin bowling by Punjab off-spinner Sarandeep Singh who claimed 5-78.
Baroda was helped along towards the end of its innings by fighting performances in the lower middle order from Himanshu Jadhav (43) and Rakesh Patel (44).
The Rest of India bowlers began sedately with the openers putting on 53 for the first wicket with young Mumbai opener Vinayak Mane falling two short of a half century.
VVS Laxman made a quicksilver 13 inclusive of 3 sweetly timed hits to the fence before he was lapped by a delighted Valmik Buch of a loose shot.
At Stumps ROI were 179-4 still needing 139 to over haul Baroda's first innings total.

Did you know?

The 27-year old right arm fast bowler of South Africa Charl Kenneth Langeveldt, who made his debut for South Africa against Kenya is employed as a warden in Drakenstein Prison, near Cape Town.

SCORES AT A GLANCE

Standard Bank Triangular Series
South Africa vs Kenya (5th match)
Played at Kimberly
Toss: Kenya
Kenya: 229-7 in 50 overs (R Shah 55, S Tikolo 29, M Odumbe 60, T Odoyo 53; S Pollock 3-41)
South Africa: 230-1 in 41.1 overs (B Dippenaar 74nnot out, H Gibbs 70, L Klusener 75 not out)
Result: South Africa won by 9 wickets
Man of the match: HH Gibbs (SA)

________________

POINTS TABLE

Teams	P	W	L	T	Points	Bonus	Total
South Africa	4	3	1	-	12	1	13
India	3	2	1	-	8	1	9
Kenya	3	-	3	-	-	-	-

________________

Irani Trophy (2nd day)
Baroda vs Rest Of India at Nagpur
Toss: Rest Of India
Baroda: 318 (CC Williams 133, N Mongia 31, Himanshu Jadhav 43, Rakesh Patel 44; Sarandeep Singh 5- 78).
Rest of India: 179-4 (V Mane 48, Dinesh Mongia 47 not out, Ajay Ratra 35 not out; IK Pathan 2-45)

Yesterday's News .........................  News Roll archive