India's tour of England

Tour match, Southampton, day three:
Hampshire 123 & 186 lost to India 236 & 139-4 dec. by 66 runs.

Anil Kumble grabbed a four-wicket haul as India warmed up for this week's first Test against England with a facile 66-run win over Hampshire at Southampton.

The victory would have been more emphatic but for a ninth-wicket stand of 57 between Shaun Udal and youngster James Tomlinson.

Hampshire's cause was not helped by the absence of England batsman John Crawley, who was unable to take the field because of food poisoning.

However, Crawley is expected to be fit in time for the first Test against India at Lord's on Thursday.

Needing 253 to win after a generous India declaration, Hampshire resumed on their overnight 43 for two but suffered a huge blow when skipper Robin Smith (19) fell to the third ball of the day.

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Darren Gough has been ruled out of England's first Test against India with a knee injury. Gough suffered pain and stiffness in his right knee during Yorkshire's current Frizzell County Championship Division One match against Lancashire.

England are already without Andrew Caddick (side strain), Marcus Trescothick (broken thumb) and Alex Tudor (shin splints).

It means Glamorgan's Simon Jones will almost certainly make his Test debut on Thursday. Gough has already missed the series against Sri Lanka, and will now see a specialist in Sheffield on Tuesday.

Chairman of selectors David Graveney said: "This latest setback is very disappointing news for Darren and for the team.

"Everyone knows what an important member of the side he is and he will be sorely missed at Lord's. "At this stage, we can't look too far ahead as to what the prognosis might be for the rest of the Series.

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England batsman John Crawley is ready to stake a claim for a place on this winter's Ashes tour when he plays in the first Test against India at Lord's.

Crawley was a member of the squad which toured Australia in 1998-99, but was then overlooked by the selectors until the opening Test of this summer against Sri Lanka.

He lost his place for the second match despite making 31 and 41 not out, but Marcus Trescothick's broken thumb has given him another chance to re-establish himself at international level.

Crawley will be 31 in September, but Hampshire coach Jimmy Cook believes he is just reaching his peak.

"I think as a batsman you improve a little bit with age and from 27 onwards you begin to understand your game and become a little bit more consistent," said Cook.

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Exactly a year after responding to a crisis and agreeing to open in the ODIs (during the tri-series in Sri Lanka), Virender Sehwag has "consented" to do the same - if required - in the Test series against England, beginning at Lord's Thursday.

Captain Sourav Ganguly himself spoke to Sehwag on the eve of the game versus Hampshire and, once the dasher from Delhi agreed, he was played in the three-dayer as specialist Wasim Jaffer's partner.

As of now, then, Sehwag is "most likely" to become India's newest Test opener.

Of course, what is confirmed is that Shiv Sundar Das will be dropped for only the first time in his 20-month career. Shiv Sundar had a poor run in the West Indies, aggregating 124 in the five Tests (top score of 35) and, to queer the pitch even more, failed against West India A last week.

Triangular series in Nairobi

The Pakistan Cricket Board has confirmed that Kenya will replace New Zealand in a triangular series - also involving Pakistan and Australia - to be played in Nairobi from August 29.

"We had sent out an invitation to Kenya to play in the triangular series and they have accepted it," PCB Director Chishty Mujahid said about the tournament, switched from Pakistan because of security concerns.

The PCB was forced to approach the Kenyan Cricket Association after New Zealand turned down an invitation last week to play, citing a hectic international schedule.

The series was shifted to Nairobi after the Australian board and senior players voiced concerns about security in Pakistan.

"The tournament itinerary will be released soon but it will be held from August 29th to September 7th. That is confirmed," Mujahid said.

He said no final decision has been taken yet on where Pakistan will play the scheduled Test series under the Future Tours Programme (FTP) against Australia.

"As things stand we still remain confident that we will be able to convince Australia to play the Tests in Pakistan in October. But nothing is finalised as yet," Mujahid said.

World Cup

Steve Waugh rated Australia, Pakistan and South Africa as the top contenders for next year's World Cup.

"Australia is one of the finest teams, hosts South Africa will be tough to beat at home, while Pakistan is a well-balanced side," Waugh said.

The World Cup will be held in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

"In limited-overs engagements, any team which plays well on a given day emerges triumphant. Moreover, the tournament is still about six months away," said Waugh, who has scored 9600 runs in 148 Tests and 7569 in 325 one-dayers.

The Australian captain also praised India's win in a recent tri-series in England. "They played excellently in England," said Waugh.

India won six of their seven matches, including a remarkable victory over England in the final when they successfully chased a 326-run target.

Waugh, dropped from the recent Australian one-day teams, said he hopes he will be back in the squad for the World Cup.

Bangladesh in Sri Lanka

First Test, Colombo, day two:
Bangladesh 161; Sri Lanka 541-9.

Sri Lanka set a record for the most runs scored by one team in a day's play as Aravinda de Silva led a fierce batting display against Bangladesh.

The hosts began the day on 32 without loss, and added 509 runs for the loss of nine wickets at the close.

The previous record of 503 runs in a day was set by England against South Africa in 1924. De Silva hit 28 fours and one six in a tally of 206 off just 234 balls, in doing so recording his 20th Test century and second double hundred.

De Silva shared in two massive stands after a bad start had seen Sri Lanka slump to 56 for three.

First was a partnership of 150 before Kumar Sangakkara was run out for 75. Then skipper Sanath Jayasuriya came in and the pair put on 234 before De Silva was out leg before off the bowling of Enamul Haque.

Jayasuriya's dismissal for 145 led to a flurry of cheap wickets, but Buddika Fernando and youngster Sujeewa de Silva were left at the close on 31 and five runs respectively.

Miscellaneous

The International Cricket Council said today that its upcoming technology trial would help judge the realities of increasing the use of technology.

Speaking from Colombo at the launch of the ICC Champions Trophy, ICC Chief Executive, Malcolm Speed, said that the trial would enable the issue to moved forward after several years of debate.

"The issue of the use of technology in cricket has been around for many years and opinions are clearly divided. Great players such as Alan Border are against any change while people such as Sunil Gavaskar would like to see more use of technology," he said.

"After so long listening to competing views, it's about time we stopped speculating about what might happen and found out what does happen."

Mr Speed said that the ICC Champions Trophy provided an ideal opportunity in which to conduct a limited trial of the use of technology and it would allow a fact-based assessment to be made on the realities of this system.

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Worcestershire batsman Ben Smith could be the man to replace Graham Thorpe in England's one-day squad.

That is the opinion of Smith's teammate Steve Rhodes, who played 11 Tests and nine one-day internationals during the early 1990s.

Smith has been in magnificent form this summer after moving to Worcester following 11 years with Leicestershire.

The 30-year-old has scored more than 500 runs in one-day cricket at an average of almost 54 this summer, helping Worcestershire to top spot in Norwich Union League Division One and the semi-finals of the B&H Cup and C&G Trophy.

He has also made 880 first-class runs, including an innings of 108 in their last game against Northants.

"Ben has been in marvellous one-day and four-day form and the way he has gone about his business for Worcestershire has been a credit to him," said Rhodes.

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Clive Harburg, the commentator who called the 1960 tied Test between Australia and the West Indies at the 'Gabba, has died. He was 90.

Harburg began his career in the outback Queensland town of Longreach in 1937. He was appointed sports editor of ABC Radio in Brisbane in 1946 and held that position until 1970.

Harburg was awarded an MBE in 1965 for work on behalf of ex-servicemen. He was also a pioneer sports broadcaster in television, describing sheepdog trials, rodeos, Davis Cup tennis, and rugby league and union matches.

His son, Peter, told that his father was in good health until two years ago and attended 40th anniversary celebrations of the tied Test.

The funeral will be held at 2.30pm (AEST) tomorrow at St Stephen's Anglican Church in the southside Brisbane suburb of Coorparoo.

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