England in India

India have named three specialist spinners in a 14-man squad for the first three one-day matches against England. Sourav Ganguly - retained as skipper - will lead his team into the six-game one-day series against England.

The first match takes place at Calcutta's Eden Gardens on 19 January. India will be able to call on a trio of slow bowlers after leg-spinner Anil Kumble and off-spinners Harbhajan Singh and Sarandeep Singh were all named.

Pacemen Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan, both omitted from the Test series against England which India won 1-0, are recalled.

The selectors left out eight players from the 15-man squad which lost in the final of a one-day tournament involving Kenya and hosts South Africa late last year.

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England fast bowler Andy Caddick is relishing the challenge of having to fight for his place in the forthcoming one-day series in India and New Zealand.

The advance of Matthew Hoggard means Caddick and regular new ball partner Darren Gough can no longer be regarded as automatic selections.

Caddick opened the door to Hoggard by opting out of the pre-Christmas Test series in India because of safety concerns.

The lay-off has, however, given him extra time to rechange his batteries and he is now keen to resume his international career.

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England's difficult relationship with the Indian Cricket Board deepened following two days of complaints about practice facilities in Calcutta.

First, coach Duncan Fletcher claimed the Indian authorities should have had Eden Gardens - scene of the first one-day international on 19 January - ready for immediate practice. England were instead forced to practice in nets at the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club (CCFC), but they have not been satisfactory, it seems.

The squad's spokesman Andrew Walpole said: "We are not happy at the facilities but we are also not taking up the matter at the highest level."

Triangular in Australia

Adam Gilchrist will miss Thursday's crucial one-day match against New Zealand in Sydney because his newborn son is ill.

The Australian wicketkeeper's wife Melinda gave birth to the couple's son, Harrison, on 20 December but the birth was reportedly a difficult one. Gilchrist will be replaced by Ryan Campbell after the Australian Cricket Board announced that the first-choice wicket-keeper was returning home "to spend some time with his wife Melinda and newborn son Harrison."

Vice-captain Gilchrist took four good catches for Australia as they recorded their second defeat in the VB Series against South Africa on Sunday.

But he was also dismissed for a duck to the first ball of Australia's innings and compounded that misfortune by dropping Herschelle Gibbs at the very start of South Africa's reply.

Miscellaneous

West Indies batting star Brian Lara is cautiously optimistic about fit to return to action in the home series against India in March.

The left-hander suffered a hairline fracture of his left elbow when he collided with Sri Lanka's Marvan Atapattu during a one-day match in Sri Lanka last month.

And the injury means he will miss the historic series against Pakistan, which will now be played in Sharjah.

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Zimbabwe stumbled from 153 without loss to 171 for four at the Galle International Stadium, but Muttiah Muralitharan was prevented from getting his 400th Test victim as Grant Flower and Heath Streak held firm.

The fith-wicket pair added 59 off the last 27 overs of play to take Zimbabwe past the follow-on and Murali has just two victims from 53 overs of toil - for 398 in Tests.

With the tourists desperate to grab a draw here to avoid a 3-0 whitewash, Stuart Carlisle and Trevor Gripper added to their useful platform from Sunday night to take things into the second session of Monday's play without further loss.

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Veteran Sri Lankan batsman Aravinda de Silva has been handed a glimmer of hope that he may return to the national side.

A brand new four-man selection committee is in place and at a recent meeting they made it clear that the 36-year-old would be considered for selection for Sri Lanka's tour of England starting in April.

The four national selectors were appointed on Thursday by the Sports Minister and, headed by former captain Michael Tissera, they made immediate contact with De Silva.

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Former South African wicket-keeper Dave Richardson has been appointed to an important new role with the International Cricket Council.

He is to take up the post of general manager, with a wide-ranging brief which includes re-evaluating the format of the ICC World Test Championship, which was launched last year. The 42-year-old is qualified lawyer and has acted as the legal and commercial representative of the South African team since retiring from the game in 1998, as well as working as a TV commentator.

Richardson played 42 Tests and 122 one-day internationals during his career, taking 298 catches and scoring more than 2,000 runs.

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