NatWest series (India, Sri Lanka and England)

With his pace attack looking settled, captain Sourav Ganguly has a problem about which spinner to play in today's day-night game against England in the NatWest triangular one-day series here.

"I sometimes find it difficult who to pick and who to drop," said Ganguly today after the practice session at the Riverside ground as clouds gathered overhead threatening heavy showers. Ganguly was obviously referring to his predicament in choosing between ace leg-spinner Anil Kumble and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

The medium-pace trio of Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar have started to gel well together and have invariably pulled things back whenever the situation threatened to get out of control as it appeared at one stage against both England and Sri Lanka in India's first two games.

"The best thing is the way they have bowled in the death overs especially Zaheer Khan has been fantastic in the last overs. He doesn't seem to go for anything in the death," said Ganguly.

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England veteran Alec Stewart will reach another milestone on Thursday when he plays his 150th one-day international.

Victory over India at Durham would put England in an excellent position to reach the final at Lord's on 13 July.

Wicket-keeper/batsman Stewart, who was recalled to the team at the start of the summer after James Foster broke his arm, has been in excellent form so far in the NatWest Series.

He scored 83 in the opening game against Sri Lanka and then guiding England to a second win over Sanath Jayasuriya's side at Headingley on Tuesday with an unbeaten 38 off 31 balls. "I'm 39, but I'm still learning," said Stewart.

ICC to appoint Ehsan Mani

Pakistan's Ehsan Mani, a London-based chartered accountant, is to be the next International Cricket Council president.

He will take over from Malcolm Gray of Australia next June and will serve a two-year term. In the run-up to the presidency, Mani will serve as ICC's vice president for one year, during which the World Cup will be held in South Africa from February to March, 2003.

"I was honoured on behalf of Pakistan cricket to be nominated for this prestigious position and delighted to be formally installed as Malcolm Gray's successor at last week's annual conference," Mani said in a statement.

"I already enjoy a close working relationship with Malcolm, fellow directors and chief executive officer Malcolm Speed, and look forward to the next 12 months and the build-up to my own term in office."

Mani, who has represented Pakistan in the ICC since 1989, was also a member of the organising committee for the 1996 World Cup in Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka and has served on the Asian Cricket Council.

When asked in an interview with BBC Sport Online on Wednesday what his major ambition for the ICC would be, Mani replied: "I would dearly love the United States to play in the World Cup in 2007.

"If we can bring the standard up to those levels in that country it would be a great achievement."

New editor for Wisden

Tim de Lisle has been appointed editor of the Wisden Cricketers Almanack for 2003.

De Lisle, who was previously editor of both Wisden Cricket Monthly and Wisden.com, is the youngest editor of the prestigious publication since the second World War.

The 40-year-old replaces Graeme Wright who had agreed to take over during the sabbatical of previous editor Matthew Engel.

Wright caused controversy with the 2002 Almanack which heavily criticised county cricket and promoted city cricket in it's stead.

De Lisle will hold the reins for just one annual until Engel returns next year. Sir Paul Getty, chairman and proprietor of Wisden, paid tribute to Wright's second tenure, having also edited the publication from 1987-92.

"Graeme has made a magnificent contribution to Wisden over many years, much of it in ways that the public would never notice," he said.

Miscellaneous

Australian selector Allan Border has hinted that Steve and Mark Waugh still have every chance to making the squad for next year's World Cup in South Africa.

The brothers, now aged 37, were dropped from the one-day squad earlier this year following Ricky Ponting's appointment as captain.

But former captain Border indicated that form, rather than age, would determine whether they could regain their places.

"Whoever's playing first-class cricket, they're in the hunt. "They're very determined blokes, aren't they, so anything can happen," he said.

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Surrey's Mark Ramprakash was within a whisker of a fabulous double century when strumps were taken on day one against Somerset at Taunton.

The former England batsman plundered an unbeaten 199 as the Division One pacesetters put on 448 runs for the loss of five wickets.

It was Ramprakash's 58th first-class ton and he will have his eyes firmly fixed on eclipsing his best offering, 235 against Yorkshire in 1995, when play resumes.

As timely as it was sublime, the massive knock steered Surrey out of a sticky patch early in the innings.

Kenya's Test match status

Kenya's bid for Test match status has been put on hold for at least a year by the International Cricket Council.

The game's world governing body will not grant the African country full member status until its domestic cricket structure has been strengthened.

Kenya currently takes part in one-day internationals against the major Test-playing nations and staged the ICC Knockout tournament in Nairobi two years ago.

But the ICC believes that until Kenyan cricketers begin playing four-day games, the step up to five-day Test matches will be too great.

"They only have a club structure at the moment but are working to put in place a provincial system, which should enable them to play four-day games," said ICC Development Manager Andrew Eade.

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