NatWest series (India, Sri Lanka and England)

Keen to go into the final of the NatWest triangular one-day series with a positive frame of mind, India will look to finish off their league engagements on a winning note when they take on Sri Lanka in a day-night match today.

Having impressed in the tournament after winning three matches and ensuring a place in the final against England at Lord's on Saturday, India suffered a 64-run defeat on Tuesday against the hosts and were also bowled out within their quota of 32 overs in the rain-curtailed match.

But that has not deterred Sourav Ganguly who was keen to dismiss the defeat as a one-off thing, saying he wanted to be focussed completely on the big final.

That they will take upon Sri Lanka, who have taken enough knock on their pride throughout their summer campaign in England and have only one win against England to show off in the tri-series, have made things easier for Ganguly.

The Indian skipper indicated he might like to give a look-in to speedster Tinu Yohannan and have Ajay Ratra continue as he would want Rahul Dravid, who has been in good nick in the tournament, to recover sufficiently from the minor hamstring injury before the final.

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The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed that white bails (instead of black) will be used on the normal black stumps for the remaining three matches of the NatWest Series.

Discussions between the ECB, the umpires and match referee resulted in the change of colour to assist the umpires in their decision-making for run-outs and stumpings.

In a further development, it is confirmed that three individuals who encroached on to the playing surface during the npower Test Match at Edgbaston earlier this season have all been successfully prosecuted. As a result they all now have a criminal record and their DNA profile has been added to the national database.

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Dominic Cork has been drafted into the England squad for the NatWest Series following James Kirtley's withdrawal with injury.

England face India at Lord's in Saturday's series final.

The Derbyshire swing bowler will join up with the squad for practice at Lord's today. Chairman of Selectors, David Graveney, said: "Dominic continues to be in fine form for his county and if he is called upon to play on Saturday, his 'big match' experience at international level will serve him in good stead."

Cork said: "I am delighted the selectors have recognised that I have a role to play as a one-day player and it will be tremendous to be involved with the squad in the run-up to a Lord's final.

"Lord's has been a happy ground for me in the past and I feel that I have been bowling and batting well this summer.

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Ronnie Irani was a controversial choice for this triangular tournament, but he has barely put a foot wrong and grabbed every opportunity going.

Following his remarkable all-round display at the Oval, he must have ensured that he is part of the next phase of England's one-day plans.

These do not, as yet, include the World Cup itself. After this series, there is a mini World Cup in Sri Lanka followed by the usual World Series tournament in Australia over Christmas and the New Year.

It is only then that serious decisions have to be taken, and there is still plenty of scope for last minute changes of selectorial minds.

Irani is a more mature player in every way than the one who appeared to have appeared for the last time in an England shirt in 1997.

Miscellaneous

Retired Australian Test cricketer Paul Reiffel is hoping to start a new international career as an umpire.

The veteran of 35 Tests and 92 one-day internationals says he became hooked on umpiring after officiating at a low-grade club match in Melbourne.

The 36-year-old has been added to a special training programme run by the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) that encourages ex-players to try their hand at umpiring.

Under the scheme, Reiffel will spend the next Australian summer officiating in first-grade district matches but could be fast-tracked to first-class games if he shows promise.

"The ACB is striving to develop the best umpires in the world and I am confident our umpiring initiatives will make this happen," ACB chief executive officer James Sutherland said in a statement.

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The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has named a shortlist of 20 players to be considered for the National Academy in Adelaide this winter.

Among the 20 names are four players - Ian Bell, Simon Jones, Chris Tremlett and Mark Wallace - who made the trip to Australia last year.

Hugh Morris, ECB Performance Director, said: "At this stage of the season we wanted to concentrate our minds on the kind of players who might be invited to the National Academy this winter.

"Creating such a list allows us to concentrate our resources and to film, study and analyse these players in-depth, which will enable the NA Staff to create individual programmes for them.

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Adam Gilchrist has become the third Australian to win the FICA International Cricketer of the Year award in its five-year history.

FICA is the official body representing all players around the world. Gilchrist, the explosive number seven batsman who also keeps wicket for his country, boasts a batting average of 60.00, the best for any current player.

He is also ranked the number one batsman in the PwC ratings. His best score was an unbeaten 204 in Johannesburg.

The left-hander came top of a list of six nominees, who were all bidding to win the award for the first time in their careers.

Sri Lankan pair Mahela Jayawardene and Muttiah Muralitharan missed out, along with Jacques Kallis, Sachin Tendulkar and Matty Hayden.

But one Sri Lankan did collect a prize - Kumar Sangakkara was named the Young Player of the Year.

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South Africa's United Cricket Board (UCB) appears to have reversed - in part at least - its decision to abandon quotas at international level, announcing on Wednesday its commitment to have a minimum of five black players in its 14-man squad for the 2003 World Cup.

A high-powered and seemingly tense meeting between government and cricket officials outside Pretoria was convened at the request of Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour.

It followed the UCB's decision on Sunday to abandon its racial quota system for provincial and national teams involving a mandatory four coloured players.

Balfour made little secret of his concern that quotas had not yet served their purpose while the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League threatened to disrupt the World Cup, due to start in under nine months, if quotas were not maintained.

A lengthy statement from the UCB following the meeting with Balfour and other senior politicians reaffirmed the board's commitment to "the transformation of South African cricket into a truly national sport representative of all the people of South Africa."

Morocco Cup triangular

Pakistan will clash with South Africa in the first match of the Morocco Cup triangular next month, adding the north African city of Tangier to cricket's world calender.

Sri Lanka are the third team in the $250 000 (about R2,5m) series to be held from August 12-21, it was announced on Wednesday.

The series, featuring three top nations preparing for next year's World Cup in South Africa, follows the International Cricket Council's (ICC) decision to make Tangier the newest stop on the circuit.

Matches will be held at the $25m Tangier Cricket Stadium which was constructed by the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS), organisers of cricket internationals in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

World cup 2003

On 15 July, 222,000 tickets for the Cricket World Cup go on sale to the general public for the first time, and organisers expect there will be a massive demand for them.

In all, 300,000 tickets - 35% of total capacity - will be made available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Already, 20 million rands (GBP1.3 million) worth of tickets have been sold. The figure is largely made up of season ticket holders and debenture holders from South Africa's leading cricket clubs, who have pocketed 360,000 of the total 856,000 tickets on offer.

An undisclosed amount of tickets have been sold direct to travel agents. The World Cup's executive director, Dr Ali Bacher said: "Part of our commitment is to promote tourism to our country - something that is vital to enhance our economy, uplift our people and create jobs.

Bangladesh in Sri Lanka

Bangladesh flew out for their tour of Sri Lanka on Wednesday still awaiting their first Test win.

The team are coached by former Pakistan fast bowler Mohsin Kamal for the first time since he took over from Australian Trevor Chappell.

Bangladesh have played 11 Tests drawing one and losing the other 10, since being granted full membership of the International Cricket Council two years ago.

Despite their record, captain and wicketkeeper Khaled Masud said Bangladesh would play positively and try put previous calamities behind them.

"We want to start afresh," said Masud Our motto would be to give 100 percent against Sri Lanka," said Masud.

Bangladesh team manager A.S.M. Faruque also expressed his confidence that the team could put on a better show this time.

Women's cricket

Women's one-day tri-series, Jersey
England (60-4) beat India (59 all out)

England's women ended a miserable run of nine straight defeats in one-day internationals with a convincing win over India in Jersey.

Charlotte Edwards proved her worth in her first game back after a year out following cruciate ligament surgery, guiding England home with an unbeaten 31.

India had earlier collapsed dramatically, with none of their batsmen able to make double figures as off-spinner Laura Harper took four wickets.

The victory was England's first since they beat Sri Lanka during the 2000 World Cup, and they have since suffered a 3-0 whitewash in India.

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