Standard Bank Triangular series in South Africa

South Africa quietly and efficiently crushed a hapless Kenya by 208 runs in the 8th match of the triangular series at picturesque Newlands Ground in Capetown.
Opting to bat first South Africa piled up a massive 354-3 in 50 overs with G Kirsten (124) and N McKenzie (131) putting on 209 for the second wicket.
Towards the end Mark Boucher (51 in 20 balls) gave the South Africans just the momentum they needed towards posting a record total.
Kenya was never in the race and lost wickets regularly before they were eventually all out for 146 without even a semblance of a fight. Kenya were without their match winner Joseph Angara who had to return to Kenya after his mother died.

The England tour

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced yesterday that it would go ahead with the tour of India and left the ultimate decision of whether to tour or not with the players. The English have expressed their concerns about going to India following trouble in Afghanistan.
An ECB spokesman John Read said he had received information from the foreign office saying it was all right to go ahead with the tour. Former England players too have been vehemently advocating cancellation of the tour following the tensions in the region.

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The British High Commissioner to India, Sir Rob Young, has told the English cricketers to India that it is safe for the England cricketers to tour India in November.
Sir Young has officially written a letter to the England and Wales Cricket Board. This however seems to go against the advice of the foreign office who had said that all British nationals in the region were advised to keep a low profile.
The 16-man squad is divided on the issue of whether to go ahead with the tour with Nasser Hussain saying he left it to individual players to decide.

New Zealand in Australia

The touring New Zealand side are trying to hang on and avert defeat in their practice game against a not so fancied ACT President's XI at Brisbane yesterday. With Vettori injured, the home side belted the Kiwi bowlers all around the park.
After declaring their first innings at 439-6, the ACT President's XI restricted the tourists to 133-1 at stumps on the second day with a day still remaining.
ACT Presidents XI: 439-6 d (J. Smith 156, G. Lambert 101, D. Hazel 56; S. O'Connor 3-89) New Zealand: 133-1 (M. Sinclair 51 not out, M. Bell 44 not out).

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Australian captain Steve Waugh will be fit for the first Test against New Zealand beginning on November 8. Waugh played just a practice club game leading up to the Test and is certain of making it to the team, unless he suffers a sudden health setback. Waugh will not be playing in any of the domestic games as he felt a few extra days of training would do him better than actually playing a game. Bret Lee's place in the Test side however still seems uncertain despite taking 3-49 in a limited over game he played in Sydney last week.

Miscellaneous

Former captain of Sri Lanka Arjuna Ranatunga has taken fresh guard this time in the field of politics and joined the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led by Chandrika Kumaratunga.
The 37-year old Ranatunga became a household name when he led an un fancied Sri Lanka to victory in the 1996 World Cup. Ranatunga however has not had such a good time since. He retired from international cricket last year after an acrimonious relationship with officials of the BCCSL.
In March this year he was taken to court over allegations that he, his brother and several others assaulted teenage cricket players outside their home in Colombo.

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The Zimbabwe Cricket Union forced the CBFS to revert to the original schedule planned for the tri-nation series beginning on October 26.
The CBFS had changed the schedule to allow Pakistan to play Sri Lanka in the opening match of the tournament on Friday, a holiday in the city with the view to attract maximum crowds.
The ZCU protested against this saying that would force them to play 4 matches in 5 days, while the Pakistanis would get a break after each of their matches. The schedule is as follows
26 Oct Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe
27 Oct Sri Lanka v Pakistan
28 Oct Pakistan v Zimbabwe
30 Oct Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe
31 Oct Pakistan v Zimbabwe
02 Nov Sri Lanka v Pakistan
04 Nov Final

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West Indies batsman Brian Lara has been given the clearance to make the tour of Sri Lanka. His participation in the tour was in doubt when he experienced uneasiness while at the team training going on in Jamaica. Lara has been training actively the past three days and the doctors are up till now reportedly satisfied with the results. However the final decision on the fitness has been left to the master batsman himself.

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The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) is confident that young all rounder Suresh Perera will be cleared regarding his bowling action before the West Indies arrive in Sri Lanka. Australian coach Daryl Foster has been working on the young all rounder.
The panel looking after illegal bowling is in the process of drafting the final report to the International Cricket Council. West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor, who was unhappy with certain deliveries bowled by during the first Test against India at Galle in August, reported had reported him to the ICC.

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The maker of one of Sri Lanka's leading tea brands has been named the new sponsor of the cricket team for the next three years.
They take over from the Singer group, which sponsored the team for the last six years. MJF Group of companies, who are makers of Dilmah Tea, and the Sri Lankan Cricket Board, announced a sponsorship deal of $3.30 million.
The sponsorship agreement covers the use of brand on all official team clothing and the team's participation in selected kinds of promotional activity.

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Former Indian captain Kapil Dev has been exonerated of all charges of match fixing by the BCCI's internal inquiry. All cases against him have been closed.
The inquiry commission headed by K Madhavan concluded that there was no misconduct of any kind in the Ahmedabad Test against New Zealand in 1999 when India did not impose the follow on despite being in a position to do so.

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The United Cricket Board of South Africa said former South African skipper Hansie Cronje was misadvised on the move to challenge the life ban in court that has severely harmed his prospects of getting back into the game.
Cronje had been offered a job to coach in schools before he decided to go ahead and challenge the ban.

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