India's tour of England

India are considering Virender Sehwag as an opening batsman for the first Test against England at Lord's.

The 23-year-old regularly opens for the one-day side, but has batted in the middle order in his five Test appearances so far.

He was sent in first, however, in their final warm-up game against Hampshire and looks set to continue his partnership with Wasim Jaffer on Thursday after scores of 41 and 22.

"He is a very positive player, who will put pressure on the opposition if he gets the opportunity early," coach John Wright told the Press Trust of India.

Sehwag is one of India's brightest prospects and scored 105 in his debut Test against South Africa at Bloemfontein last November.

England seem certain to give a debut to Glamorgan youngster Simon Jones in the first Test against India starting on Thursday.

It means all-rounders Craig White and Dominic Cork will be left to battle it out for the final bowling spot.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire seamer Chris Silverwood has been added to the squad as the selectors desperately seek cover.

Top seamers Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick and Alex Tudor are all unavailable for the first Test against India at Lord's on Thursday.

But one more injury in training would leave them bereft of cover, which means Silverwood, who has played five Tests so far, has been drafted in.

England fast bowler Darren Gough is optimistic that he will be able to play a part in the Test series against India.

He was originally named in the squad for the opening match, which starts at Lord's, but withdrew because his knee is not yet strong enough for five-day cricket.

Gough made his comeback in the recent one-day NatWest Series following two operations on his knee and turned out for Yorkshire against Lancashire in last week's Roses match.

But he insists he knew he was never going to make the match at Lord's despite the selectors' decision to pick him.

"It's just too soon as I continue the rehabilitation on my injured knee, but I'm aiming to be back before the end of the series," he wrote in his column for Teletext.

Bangladesh in Sri Lanka

Muttiah Muralitharan is on course to overtake Shane Warne as the most successful spin bowler in Test history after another match-winning performance for Sri Lanka.

Muralitharan picked up 10 wickets in the first Test against Bangladesh and now has 430 in 76 appearances, compared to Warne's 450 from 101.

The 30-year-old afterwards insisted that he was still not 100 per cent fit after dislocating his left shoulder earlier this year.

But he is focused on becoming the first spinner to reach 500 Test wickets, which would put him only 19 behind West Indies paceman Courtney Walsh's all-time Test record.

"If I keep playing for four or five years, I think I can do that," he said. Muralitharan has already equalled Sir Richard Hadlee's record of taking five wickets in an innings 36 times.

"I'm looking for 50," he added. Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya praised Muralitharan's performance, but said it was time for their seam bowlers to stop relying so heavily on the team's star performer.

"Others should also deliver. We faced the same problems in England, the fast bowlers have not been able to bowl a good line and length consistently," he said.

Triangular series in Nairobi

Confusion has hit Kenya's bid to host the triangular one-day series involving Pakistan and Australia in Nairobi next month.

The Kenyan sports minister has advised against it, because the Kenyan Cricket Association (KCA) is not recognised by the Government.

Kenya had been asked by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to replace New Zealand, which withdrew from the series originally scheduled to be played in Pakistan in March.

The KCA glady accepted to host the tournament, starting 29 August. But that followed the dissolution of the entire KCA chief executive by Sports Minister Francis Nyenze in May.

The KCA moved to court and obtained an injuction against the minister's intervention, claiming their eligibility as the rightly-elected body.

Miscellaneous

The extra technology available to umpires in September's ICC Champions Trophy will not rely on recent innovations provided by television companies.

The tournament, which features all 10 Test-playing nations, plus Kenya and Holland, will allow umpires to refer virtually any decision to a third 'TV' umpire.

But ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said that the television pictures available would not extend beyond the 'Strike Zone' innovation.

The Strike Zone assists in determining where a ball pitches. Speed said: "For aids such as 'Hawkeye,' 'Snickometer' and the 'Magnifying Glass,' there are sufficient doubts about their efficacy and/or the speed with which they can be accessed."

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