NatWest series (India, Sri Lanka and England)

5th ODI, Chester-le-Street
England 53-1 (12.3 overs) v India 285-4 (50 overs). Match abandoned.

Rain saved England from an umpromising position after Sachin Tendulkar's unbeaten century put India into the driving seat in the NatWest Series match at Chester-le-Street.

Both sides picked up two points which all but eliminates Sri Lanka from the final after the match was abandoned 12.3 overs into England's reply.

Tendulkar rose to the occasion of India's 500th one-day international by posting his 32nd limited overs international ton.

The batting maestro blasted an unbeaten 105 from 108 balls, including a six and eight fours as India racked up an imposing 285-4.

England lost the toss and were asked to field, but Darren Gough made the perfect start by pinning Indian captain Sourav Ganguly lbw with the first ball of the match.

Ind in Eng | Scorecard | Match report | Slide show

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Umpire David Shepherd has allegedly hit by an object thrown by a disgruntled spectator during the rain-hit one-day international between England and India at Riverside.

The 61-year-old Englishman, who was officiating with South Africa's Dave Orchard, was returning to the pavilion following an inspection of the ground when the alleged incident happened.

Chasing India's 4-285, England were 1-53 after 12.3 overs when rain forced a no result in this triangular day-night series clash.

Both umpires were booed off the field by the capacity crowd when they decided to halt play after a light drizzle.

After a 15-minute break the players returned to bowl just three balls before leaving the field for the final time.

The incident has come at a time when Riverside is preparing to host its inaugural Test match between England and Zimbabwe in May next year.

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Sir Viv Richards, probably the best batsman of his era, believes Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar should work on consistency.

The West Indian legend was commenting on Tendulkar, the apparent successor to his crown, in Antigua, where India are playing the fourth Test of their current Caribbean series.

Sir Viv's words came in the same week that Sunil Gavaskar announced he had spotted a recent flaw in Tendulkar's technique.

Asked to compare the Indian batsman with Trinidadian Brian Lara, Sir Viv told: "I believe Tendulkar could have been a bit more productive in terms of consistency.

"But when Brian Lara is on fire there isn't a better sight in world cricket. "Having two brillinat individuals at the top of the pecking order when it comes to batsmanship... I just think it's a privilege we can have the two.

"And if one fails we can expect something from the other two. Saying that, I would love to see Brian Lara in full flow all the time."

Sir Viv added that he would "never, ever get to the point of separating" Lara and Tendulkar.

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The England and Wales Cricket Board has written to Yorkshire to seek an explanation for the poor attendance at Tuesday's one-day game between England and Sri Lanka.

Ticket sales have been excellent at other venues for the NatWest Series tournament, but only 9,000 spectators turned up at Headingley, a ground which holds 15,000.

The game was rain-affected. however, and had to be reduced to 32 overs per side, with England winning by three wickets.

"It is important to us that all our venues sell out or get as close to that position as possible.

"Apart from the revenue aspect, the players prefer to play in front of full houses - and a big crowd makes for a much better spectator experience," said ECB director of corporate affairs John Read told.

Triangular competition in Morocco

Pakistan have recalled all-rounder Abdur Razzaq and spin bowler Saqlain Mushtaq for the first-ever one-day international tournament to be played in Morocco.

The two are currently playing county cricket in England, Razzaq for Middlesex and Saqlain for Surrey, and missed the recent three-match Super Challenge II series in Australia.

But they have been included in an initial squad of 19 for the triangular competition in Morocco which runs from 12-21 August and also involves South Africa and Sri Lanka.

"Saqlain and Razzaq will be joining the team in Tangiers from England," confirmed chief selector Wasim Bari, although the squad will be reduced to 15 before the start of the tournament.

ICC Test rankings

New Zealand's historic series win in the West Indies has strengthened their position in third place on the Test Championship table, the International Cricket Council said.

The Kiwi's 1-0 victory, courtesy of the 204-run win in Barbados and a drawn match in Grenada, adds two points to New Zealand's total and improves their series points average to 1.18.

Australia top the table on 1.54 points, followed by South Africa on 1.50.

Sri Lanka (1.07) and England (1.06) remain in fourth and fifth places respectively.

Stephen Fleming's side are the first from New Zealand to win a series in the Caribbean.

The last meeting in the West Indies in 1995-96 ended in a 1-0 victory for the home team.

The West Indies' latest defeat leaves them in sixth place, but with a reduced series points average. The record now shows six wins, eight defeats and a single draw from the 15 series they has played in the Championship.

The complete table

PwC Test bowling rankings

New Zealand paceman Shane Bond has moved into the top 20 in the latest Test bowling rankings.

The 27-year-old from Christchurch has improved nine places to 20th in the PwC list after taking 12 wickets in two Tests against West Indies in the Caribbean.

Bond, who has now taken 26 wickets in six games since making his debut against Australia last November, was named Man of the Series.

The bowling rankings are still headed by Australian seamer Glenn McGrath, with Andrew Caddick (seventh) and Darren Gough (eighth) the leading England players.

The only change in the top 10 sees Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh move above New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns, who missed the tour to the Caribbean because of injury.

Australian wicket-keeper batsman Adam Gilchrict remains number one in the batting list, having displaced India's Sachin tendulkar two months ago.

Miscellaneous

Former England Captain Ted Dexter has initiated an investigation by MCC into slow over rates, an issue that will figure at the ICC's cricket committee management meeting in Tobago next month.

Dexter spoke about the issue at the governing body meeting of MCC last week followed by a meeting with ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed.

"We have all failed and should hang our heads in shame," Dexter said.

The statutory requirement in Test cricket is that a side has to bowl 90 overs a day. In 1992, there were five occasions when teams failed to bowl the required number, and in 2000 that figure rose to 27.

The investigation is being carried out by the laws, spirit and ethos sub-committee of MCC which still has responsibility for the laws of the game. Sunil Gavaskar, chairman of ICC's cricket committee concurred with him stating that something has to be done about it.

"We have been looking into what it is that slows the game down so much and I think we need a better balance between the laws, the playing conditions and code of conduct," Dexter said.

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In a decision likely to have a major bearing on UAE's performance, the International Cricket Council has approved its long standing demand for a change in the rules concerning eligibility of players to represent the country in major international tournaments.

Under the new ICC rule, persons who have been living in UAE for more than seven years can now qualify to play for the country, president of Emirates Cricket Board Abdul Rehman Bukhatir said adding "we can also select two players who have been residing in UAE for more than four years".

The UAE, which qualified for the 1996 World Cup staged jointly by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, was badly affected in the subsequent years by the earlier ICC decision that restricted the number of expatriate players in the team.

UAE failed narrowly to qualify for the 2003 World Cup due to its poor performance in the ICC Trophy at Toronto.

"I am happy that this rule change will not restrict good players from being included in the team now. This will help us field many of them who have been doing well in domestic cricket," Bukhatir, who recently attended the ICC meeting in London, was quoted by the Gulf News as saying.

Women's cricket

Women's One-day international, Dublin:
New Zealand 179-2 (30.3 overs) beat Ireland 176 (47 overs) by 8 wickets.

Rebecca Rolls made a polished 86 as New Zealand's excellent all-round performance gave them a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

The White Ferns were determined to return to winning ways after rain denied them in the opening game and raced to their target with almost 20 overs to spare.

Ireland's total was built around an innings of 56 by Catriona Beggs. She shared a third wicket stand of 53 with Miriam Grealey (24), but once they had gone, Frances King and Haidee Tiffen cut through the lower order.

The last six wickets went down for 19 runs as King finished with four for 27 from seven overs and Tiffen claimed three for 22.

The home side needed early wickets but Rolls and opening partner Kate Pulford (40) were in aggressive mood and effectively settled the issue with a stand of 106. The final game takes place at College Park on Sunday.

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