NatWest series (India, Sri Lanka and England)

India take on England in today's NatWest Series final at Lord's looking for their first one-day tournament victory in three years.

Since India's last tournament victory in Sharjah in 1998/99, they have reached eight tournament finals, and come out from each empty-handed.

But India's only other final at Lord's came back in 1983, when they won the World Cup by defeating West Indies.

"The last time we played in a final at Lord's we won it," Ganguly said. "We will draw inspiration from that and win it."

Ganguly's side has lost only once in the last six matches and warmed up for the final by handing Sri Lanka a 63-run defeat on Thursday evening.

Always the bridesmaid...

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When Kapil Dev lifted the World Cup at Lord's 19 summers ago, it was for many Indian fans the greatest day in their cricket history.

In recent years, however, they appear to have forgotten how to win on the big occasion, losing the last nine one-day finals in which they have appeared.

Today's NatWest Series final against England at the same venue will be India's 504th limited overs international.

But, significantly, they have not won any competition involving more than two teams for almost four years.

Since winning two finals in Sharjah in 1998 - against Australia and Zimbabwe - they have suffered nothing but frustration.

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Delighted over the amazing support that Indians are getting in England during their tri-series campaign, batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar has called on the Britain-based Indian supporters to back the team in the NatWest series final against England at Lords.

"The final will be a very important day for us. There is nothing like lifting a trophy at Lord's. We will be trying our best. We appreciate the support we have had here and we hope it is the same at Lord's too", Tendulkar said after his 102-ball 113 helped the team register a 63-run victory over Sri Lanka in the final league match of the series at Bristol Thursday.

Tendulkar said he was pleased with his match-winning knock against the Lankans and added he wanted to enjoy himself in the middle.

"Since we were already in the finals, I decided to go out and enjoy myself".

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Dominic Cork says that his call-up to England's one-day side ahead of the NatWest final against India could not have come at a better time.

Cork was brought into the squad in place of injured fast bowler James Kirtley and, should the conditions favour an all-seam attack, he is likely to make his 31st ODI appearance.

With an Ashes tour of Australia beginning in November and the World Cup next February, Cork knows that this is the ideal chance to impress.

"I was surprised with most of the one-dayers gone and just the final left to be brought in," he told.

"But I'm delighted at the timing because at the end of the summer the teams will be picked for the winter and the World Cup.

"If I can impress then my name will be in the hat for that."

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The 36-year old middle order batsman, Aravinda de Silva who once contemplated retirement and was in the shadows for various off-field demeanours may be resurrected as Sri Lankan captain following the disastrous performance of the team under the leadership of Sanath Jayasuriya in England, according to a Colombo based website.

Sources close to the selectors told that Aravinda will be appointed captain for the home series against Bangladesh beginning on July 21. Aravinda de Silva played in the Test series against England. He scored 88 in the first Test at Lord's, 10 and 47 at Birmingham, 18 and 40 at Manchester.

Sri Lanka lost 2-0 against England and failed to qualify for the NatWest Series finals.

There has been wide criticism of Sanath Jayasuriya's captaincy in England and suggested that he had run out of ideas. His lacklustre with the bat hasn't helped matters either, though he showed revival of form with a classic century against England at Leeds in the losing cause.

Australia's tour of Pakistan

The Australian Cricket Board have confirmed that they are prepared to allow their team to play a Test series in Pakistan in October providing their safety can be guaranteed.

The tour was thrown into doubt earlier this year when New Zealand cut short their visit after a bomb explosion in Karachi, killing 14 people.

The Pakistan Cricket Board had been considering alternative venues but national president General Pervez Musharraf has now intervened.

He plans to contact the Australian government and urge them to persuade the ACB to let the tour go ahead.

An ACB spokesman, however, said the safety issue was one for the Pakistani board to resolve. He said: "The ACB's position on this is that we would like the tour to go ahead.

Miscellaneous

Eight of the 10 current Test captains will gather at Lord's next Monday to discuss the current state of international cricket.

They will have a series of meetings with with senior International Cricket Council officials, including chief executive Malcolm Speed, Sunil Gavaskar, chairman of the Cricket Committee-Playing and Lord Condon, head of the Anti-Corruption Unit.

Captains attending:
S Carlisle (Zim)
S Fleming (NZ)
S Ganguly (Ind)
N Hussain (Eng)
S Jayasuriya (SL)
K Mashud (Ban)
S Pollock (SA)
Waqar Younis (Pak)

"Over the past 12 months the ICC has regularly sought the views of the captains on matters such as standards of on-field behaviour, the new umpires and referees panels and Lord Condon's proposals to combat corruption.

"That feedback has been important in shaping decisions made by the ICC in recent times," said Speed.

"We recognise that captains should have direct input into how the game is played and managed, and this meeting provides the opportunity for that dialogue to take place with the majority of the team leaders present."

Women's cricket

Women's one-day tri-series, Jersey:
England v New Zealand. Match abandoned due to rain - 2 pts each.

The first half of the triangular competition ended in anti-climax as bad weather prevented a single ball being bowled between England the reigning women's world champions.

Both sides were looking to improve their chances of a place in the final with each having recorded a convincing win over India on the opening two days of action at the Grainville ground.

But persistent rain prevented the players from making it out to the middle and the umpires called the match off in mid-afternoon.

"It's a very disappointing way to finish here. They had the pitch covered but the run-ups and the area around the pitch were still damp," said England manager Gill McConway.

"If we come here again we'd insist they had adequate covers available, but normally they don't need them.

"The ground has a reputation for being quick drying, but they've had so much rain this summer, the water table was very high."

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