Zimbabwe in India

The 16-strong Indian squad to the West Indies is to be chosen at Kochi on March 13, the same day the third India-Zimbabwe ODI is to be held.
"There won't be enough time left if we were to choose the team after the ODI series (which ends on March 19)," board secretary Niranjan Shah said.

On the same day the selectors will also choose the squad for the last two ODIs to be played at Hyderabad (D/N, March 16) and Guwahati (March 19), he added. Saurav Ganguly is set to retain his job as captain for the Windies tour, which commences in the first week of April. The squad is scheduled to depart from Mumbai on April 1.

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India coach John Wright praised Dinesh Mongia's contribution with bat and ball after the 64-run win over Zimbabwe in the second one-day international on Sunday.

India amassed 319 for six batting first and then bowled out Zimbabwe for 255 to level the five-game series after losing Thursday's opener by one wicket with two balls to spare.
Mongia hit a strokeful 45 in a century opening stand with his captain and then took three wickets with his slow left-arm spin.
"He is a thinking cricketer," Wright said of the 25-year-old. "Mongia has a hundred in him. It is good to see players like him contributing to the team."
Mongia has also proved an effective opener after being drafted in to replace Sachin Tendulkar, absent from the series with knee trouble.

Australia in South Africa

Second Test, Cape Town, day four (stumps): Australia 382 & 131-1 v South Africa 239 & 473

Opening pair Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden both hit half-centuries to leave Australia needing 200 more runs for victory over South Africa in the second Test.
The highest winning total ever achieved in a Test at Cape Town's Newlands ground is just 180, and the highest fourth innings score 335.
But Australia gave themselves four full sessions to reach the target after finishing off South African for 473 just before tea on the fourth day. And by stumps they had reached 131 for one in 33 overs - a rate of almost four runs per over.

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Neil McKenzie, who was run-out on 99 during his team's innings, said the mood in the South African dressing room was "fired up".

"We believe we can bowl them out but it will not be easy," he said. "We will have to be really disciplined and take all our chances."

McKenzie became the second South African to be run out for 99 against Australia this season, following a direct throw from Damien Martyn at short extra cover. Jacques Kallis suffered the same fate when he was last man out in Melbourne in December.

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The slimmer Shane Warne has shown he could yet beat Muttiah Muralitharan to Test cricket's most treasured bowling record with his marathon performance in his 100th Test.

Warne's match figures of 8-231 from 98 overs in the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town boosted his career haul to 444 wickets and pushed him closer to Courtney Walsh's title of Test cricket's leading wicket-taker.

Sri Lankan Muralitharan (412 wickets from 73 matches) is the only bowler with a realistic chance of beating Warne to Walsh's record of 519 wickets and the pair are locked in an intriguing race.

Warne needs 76 wickets to pass Walsh - the same number of wickets the Australian leg-spinner has taken from his last 16 Tests.
Muralitharan has claimed 121 wickets from his last 16 Tests and Warne expects the off-spinner to finish with more career wickets than him, even tipping him last week to reach 1000

England in New Zealand

Ashley Giles has been passed fit to play in the first Test between England and New Zealand.

Warwickshire's left-arm spinner was unable to take part in practice on Monday and was instead restricted to stretching exercises with physiotherapist Dean Conway.

He had woken with the problem on Sunday morning having bowled 23 overs the previous day.

But Giles came through tests early on Tuesday to boost the England team. "As long as I don't wake up tomorrow in agony, everything is fine," he said.

Miscellaneous

Former Hampshire captain Dick Moore, who created a club record by scoring 316 in a single day against Warwickshire in 1937, has died aged 88 at his home in Colwyn Bay.

Born in Charminster, near Bournemouth, Moore was Hampshire captain for two years from 1936 and scored 6,026 runs for the county. He died on 5 March.

Moore was an all-rounder, representing his county on 137 occasion, and hitting 10 centuries and 19 fifties. He also took 116 catches in a career stretching between 1931 and 1939.

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