NatWest series (India, Sri Lanka and England)

NatWest Series, Lord's:
India 272-4 (48.5 overs) beat England 271-7 (50 overs) by six wickets.

Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh steered India to a six-wicket victory in the second match of the NatWest Series with seven balls remaining at Lord's.

It was only the third occasion in which a side has successfully chased a total of 272 or more at the home of cricket.

In a thrilling match that remained in the balance until the final few overs, both sides wasted good starts, but India were the side that recovered better.

Coming together after a mid-innings clatter of wickets, Dravid and Yuvraj began slowly. But they upped the pace when required, hitting boundaries at crucial times to keep the tempo high.

Scorecard | Match report | Slide show

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Yuvraj Singh revealed that the secret to his match-winning performance against England, was the presence of his mother at Lord's.

The 20 year-old left-hander made an unbeaten 64 and took three wickets with his part-time spin bowling as the tourists clinched a six-wicket victory with seven balls remaining.

"I would like to thank my mother because it is the first time she has seen a match at Lord's and I think she was lucky for me," the Punjabi all-rounder said.

"Playing at Lord's is a great sight and that made the day for me." After sharing a 131-run partnership with Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj also thanked the senior players on the team for encouraging him through a poor start to the tour.

"In the warm-up matches I didn't do well and I was short of confidence," he admitted. "But the senior players told me to do the basics and see it through to the end and that's what I did."

New Zealand in West Indies

Second Test, Grenada, day two:
New Zealand 373 v West Indies 63-1.

Debutant Scott Styris hit 107 as New Zealand amassed 373 in their first innings of the second Test against West Indies.

In reply the hosts were 63 for one at the close of day two. Styris, batting at number eight, clubbed eight fours and a six to become the seventh New Zealander to make a century on debut.

His 178-ball innings ended when he was the last man out - bowled by Adam Sandford.

The 27-year-old was only the sixth Kiwi to make three figures batting at number eight.

He shared in stands of 48 with Craig McMillan (14), 56 with Robbie Hart (20) and 49 with Shane Bond (17)as the tourists recovered from 208 for six.

World Cup 2003

South Africa can finally come full circle in its development as a nation free of racial division when it stages the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

That is the firm belief of Ali Bacher, the executive director of the World Cup and former chief of the United Cricket Board (UCB).

Big strides have been made in South Africa since the apartheid era, but Bacher feels the country still has some way to go before its black and white communities are truly unified. And he feels the World Cup can be the ideal vehicle to achieve those aims.

"This event is far bigger than cricket," said Bacher.

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For the first time in any cricket World Cup, the 2003 event will see the screening of ticket-seekers.

" The underlying reason, quite clearly, is security and all particulars will figure in the spectators' data base," revealed Dr Ali Bacher, the 2003 World Cup's executive director, this morning.

[While the tournament's opening ceremony is in Cape Town on February 8, the final is slated for March 23 in Johannesburg.]

Dr Bacher added: "Every ticket will be bar-coded... Moreover, I'm confident the screening will be foolproof." Though Dr Bacher declined to comment on whether the procedure was largely aimed at keeping the Marlon Aromstams away, the home bookies' 'infiltration'-factor must surely have influenced the screening bit.

Miscellaneous

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly wants another crack at English county cricket before the end of his career.

Ganguly endured a frustrating summer with Lancashire two years ago, scoring only 644 runs in 13 Championship games at an average of 33.89 and failing to make a single century.

Despite that, he is keen to find time in a busy international schedule for a second season on the county circuit.

"I would love to do it one year before I finish my cricket because I didn't have a good time with Lancashire when I came in 2000.

"I had probably played a bit too much cricket, I was a bit jaded. I want to do well once, whenever it is," he told.

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