New Zealand in West Indies

Third one-day international, St Lucia:
New Zealand 210-7 (50 overs) v West Indies 211-3 (40 overs). West Indies win by seven wickets.

Brian Lara hit an aggressive unbeaten 59 to lead West Indies to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over New Zealand in St Lucia.

With one match having been abandoned, West Indies now have an unassailable 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

New Zealand, comprehensively outplayed in Sunday's defeat, began by batting poorly, with their 210 in 50 overs at least 50 runs short of a competitive target.

Their opening bowlers then crumbled in the face of a withering assault from Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who put on 33 in the first five overs.

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West Indies' experiment with Shivnarine Chanderpaul opening the batting paid off when he scored a century in Saturday's victory over New Zealand.

"We had been thinking of moving him up for a while," said captain Carl Hooper.

"He was pretty keen on opening and batting right through the innings, and it worked well for us today."

The Guyanese took the lead with an unbeaten 108 to consign the tourists to a six-wicket victory in the second one-day international.

Pakistan in Australia

Melbourne may contain the most sports crazed fans in the country but they are yet to be sold on the concept of midwinter cricket in their chilly city.

The Australian Cricket Board yesterday confirmed that ticket sales for the two one-dayers against Pakistan at Colonial Stadium this Wednesday and Saturday had been below expectations.

"We are not where we want to be at this stage ... the sales have been steady but not spectacular," an ACB spokesman said yesterday. "We are expecting a good walk-up crowd."

While no official figures were available, the spokesman confirmed pre-sold tickets were below those of the corresponding series against South Africa two years ago when three matches at Colonial averaged 31,000 for the 48,000-seat stadium.

That series had the novelty of being Australia's first indoor tournament.

Sri Lanka in England

Mark Butcher will be given until Tuesday morning to prove his fitness for the third Test against Sri Lanka.

The Surrey batsman requires surgery on a knee problem but was named in England's 13-man squad and hopes to play at Old Trafford before undergoing an operation after the match.

He will receive treatment in the build-up to the game and must convince the management he can get through five days.

"I'm going to have to have it operated on at some point but whether I can make it through the next game or not we will find out on Tuesday," Butcher told BBC Radio 5 Live.

If Butcher, 29, was to break down during the match with the same problem England would not be permitted a substitute fielder.

Miscellaneous

Opening batsman Daren Ganga has been confirmed as captain of the West Indies A team to begin their tour England next week.

The side includes experienced Test bowlers in Reon King and Marlon Black and off-spin all-rounder Gareth Breese.

Breese will arrive late as he is currently involved in the one-day series against New Zealand.

King toured England with the West Indies senior side in 1999 but has since been troubled by stress fractures and loss of form.

Ganga, who has 15 Test caps, had been named provisional captain pending a decision on whether Wavell Hinds would make the trip.

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The International Cricket Council will step into the sledging controversy that has engulfed Australia following the recent tour of South Africa.

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed yesterday confirmed sledging would be on the agenda at the ICC annual captains' meeting in London next month.

The issue has been dramatically propelled into the public arena following repeated, detailed claims by South African batsman Graeme Smith outlining sustained abuse by the Australians during his Test debut.

Australian one-day captain Ricky Ponting last week said the team had targeted Smith as a young and vulnerable player but claimed none of it was personal abuse.

Speed was less than impressed with Ponting's response.

"We want captains to play a major role in this, so I was a bit disappointed to see Ricky saying this will continue," Speed said on Channel Seven's Sportswatch program yesterday.

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