South Africa’s 1-0 win in the two-Test series in Zimbabwe has edged them closer to Australia at the head of the ICC Test Championship points table.The high-scoring drawn second Test at Bulawayo ensured they took maximum points away from the series and improved their points per series average to 1.50. This brings them within striking distance of holders Australia, who are just 0.12 ahead on an average of 1.62.South Africa have now played 16 qualifying Test series, winning 11, drawing three and losing just two – at home (1996/97) and away (1997/98) to Australia.While the two sides will square off for ICCTC supremacy in Australia in December, they each have preceding assignments to defend existing points against other opponents at home. Only a South African victory over India and an improbable New Zealand win in Australia would see the silver and gold mace trophy change hands before then.India has never won a Test in South Africa while New Zealand has gone winless in Australia since 1985/86.A series victory in Australia would be enough to absolutely ensure South Africa takes the ICCTC title, regardless of other results in the interim. A drawn series, which would see South Africa take one of Australia’s existing points to boost its own total, would also be good enough for them to become the new leaders provided that they do not lose ground in the meantime.The next series scheduled in the ICC ten-year programme was to be Pakistan’s home series against New Zealand. However, the New Zealand side returned home from Singapore, en route to the subcontinent, due to uncertainty caused by last Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in the United States of America.The series is yet to be officially cancelled but, with the subsequent New Zealand tour of Australia approaching and Pakistan committed to play one-day matches in Sharjah at the same time, the likelihood is that it will be deferred until some time in the middle of next year.

Playing New Zealand’s postponed games with Pakistan on neutral territory would not concern New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden.New Zealand pulled out of its tour to Pakistan last month in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States. It has said it will honour its commitment to play the games in the future.One of the items on the International Cricket Council’s agenda at its meeting in Kuala Lumpur next week is the penalties to be imposed when countries don’t meet their commitments under the ICC’s Future Tours programme.”There will be a considerable amount of sympathy at the meeting for Pakistan’s position,” Snedden said.Recent talk of playing at neutral venues, possibly Sharjah or Morocco, would not worry Snedden. Use of neutral venues was an unfortunate thing and he saw it as only a short term option.”As long as the facilities are safe and up to standard, and as long as the country was accessible, we would play.”The key thing for Pakistan is that they have lost television rights for their series, not only against us, but India, which was probably more significant than ours.”Obviously, television rights at neutral venues would be theirs,” he said.Snedden also threw in Northern Australia as a potential site for future cricket, especially during the southern hemisphere winter.He said that New Zealand A coach Ashley Ross flew home from the New Zealand A team’s aborted tour of India via Darwin and had been most impressed by the facilities there.New Zealand’s main interest was for A team or New Zealand Academy cricket.The ICC are looking at instituting a financial penalty of $US2 million, or if the budgeted gross revenue was greater, the higher amount for non-complying countries. Two ICC Test championship points would also be awarded to the host country.However, the ICC was clear that countries would be exempt from penalties where fixtures were cancelled due to force majeure, natural disaster, war or where the safety of players and officials was proven to be at risk.Snedden said he is happy with his decision to postpone the tour. The ICC had acknowledged its concerns by moving next weekend’s meeting, which was originally to have been held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, to Lahore, Pakistan and finally, after the terrorist attacks, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Sri Lanka had decided not to go ahead with a brief tour.”Everything I would thought would happen, has happened, and now there are protests in the streets,” he said.The introduction of recommendations of the Condon report on corruption would result from the meeting although Snedden felt there would be considerable discussion about the enormous costs involved in providing the required security for players at grounds and in hotels.”The ICC have really made some progress in implementing education of international players. A generic video is being produced and it will be tailored to each country.”I believe it will become part of the Academy process here and part of the induction of players into the international game,” he said.Snedden also believed the prospect of introducing a One-Day International World Championship would achieve one of Condon’s requirements that ODIs have more meaning.The meeting will also receive an update on the move towards the naming of the elite panel of eight umpires and the back-up international panel. There will also be five full-time match referees and their availability would be based on their ability to be full-time in the position.There will also be discussion on a suggested compulsory retirement age of 55. There is a feeling that the appropriate age should be 60.Snedden said he was still evaluating the ICC strategic plan but it was clear that new ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed had quickly immersed himself in the job and the body was going in a very clear direction on a number of issues.The executive board of the ICC meets on Thursday and Friday while there will be meetings earlier in the week of the finance and marketing committee and the cricket committee-management.

Queensland captain Stuart Law is headed for Lancashire this winter, after being named the English county’s new overseas professional.Staff at Old Trafford officially released the news overnight, confirming that they have tied the 33-year old to a deal that extends over the next two northern seasons. It comes at the end of a concerted campaign to lure Law to the county in the wake of internal turmoil last season at Essex, his former English home.”I am delighted that Stuart has agreed to join Lancashire. He is a world-class player with a proven record in county cricket and has expressed an ambition to do well for the county, whilst assisting in the development of our younger promising players,” said Lancashire Cricket Manager, Mike Watkinson.Law played with Essex for six seasons, amassing more than 8,500 first-class runs at an average of 59.06 over that period. He was also the County Championship’s leading run scorer in 1999 and has been consistently rated as one of the most valuable overseas professionals in the English game.Despite blood-letting within the club that ensured that he was destined not to return for a seventh season, he also enjoyed a brilliant final first-class summer with Essex with 1311 runs at 65.55 during 2001. The haul included four centuries and eight half-centuries.”I am delighted to be joining a county with such long traditions and I am really looking forward to playing a big part over the next two years. I only wish the season started next week!” said Law in a brief statement from Brisbane.In replacing Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan as Lancashire’s import player, Law joins at least nine other Australians already formally committed to county duties in 2002.

Brian Lara, temporarily at least, silenced his vocal band of critics onTuesday with a superb century on his return to Test cricket in the firstTest against Sri Lanka at Galle.Lara, who pulled out of the West Indies tour to Zimbabwe and Kenya in Julyand August with a long-standing hamstring injury, scored an unbeaten 117 asthe West Indies piled up 316-3 on the opening day.There are always going to be critics," he admitted. "But I have got to goout there and do my job. The coach asked me what I want to do this seriesand I told him that I want to make plenty of runs and spend a lot of time inthe middle."Critics voiced concern over his inclusion in the squad for Sri Lanka when itwas revealed that he was still suffering from his hamstring injury.Moreover, they argued that the 32-year-old Trinidadian batting genius hadlong lost his hunger for runs.He, though, claims that the emergence of new West Indian batting talent hasprovided the stimulus to develop his game."The competition within the side is greater than what it has been in yearsgone by," he said. "The young players like Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan andDaren Ganga are special and batting with them brings out the best in me.""I have been working on a few things in the last six weeks since I returned.I am looking to play bit straighter and show the full face of the bat. It isnice to go out there, work on something, and get the results"Ominously for Sri Lanka, Lara, the record holder for the highest scores inboth Test and first class cricket, maintains that he is not yet finished inthis match: "I’m very happy now, but I am going to come back tomorrow andlook for something really big.""It’s a very good position but it is very important that the second inningsis not a very important innings. We need to get 500-600 runs and put SriLanka under pressure. We cannot allow them to get back into the game."Hopefully, the wicket will crumble, as we are now playing three spinners.The longer we stay out there the better."Lara came to the wicket at the fall of Daren Ganga, with the West Indianinnings evenly poised on 95-2, but quickly took the came away from Sri Lankawith a 150 ball century in a 145 run stand with Ramnaresh Sarwan and anunbeaten 76 run fourth wicket partnership.He was dropped on 31 and 93, but was only consistently troubled byoff-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who rolled out 40 overs of testing spin."Muralitharan is a very good bowler and it’s a great competition betweenus," he said. "I appreciate his ability to bowl off-spin. He is somethingspecial in world cricket.Lara looked to play him positively, right from the start when he got off themark with a fine sweep for four."I think you have to keep him thinking," he said. "He is going to keep youunder pressure if you just look to stay there, so I think you need to keepscoring."

At teatime this afternoon Marcus Trescothick was on the telephone to The County Ground to update the club with his news.He said, “I’ve had a day off today and spent the time playing golf on a local course which was most enjoyable. Fortunately I’ve recovered from my tummy upset, and now I’ve found an English takeaway that fits in with my diet!”He went on, “Tomorrow we fly down to prepare for the next Test which starts on Tuesday. Sunday we have a day off, but we’re rather limited by the strict security – I haven’t even had time to do any shopping – and then we will be practicing all day on Monday.”He continued, “The temperature is cooling down which is much better for us, today I have been walking around in a tracksuit which makes a refreshing change.”Marcus also said that he had been visiting the Somerset Website to help him to keep up to date with all the news from Taunton.I’m sure that all Somerset supporters will be thinking of Marcus on Tuesday and wishing him all the very best for a successful match.

The Otago Under-21 women’s team has been named for the national tournament in Christchurch from December 27-January 1.The team is: Sarah Tsukigawa, Megan Kane, Elizabeth Scurr, Natalie Bannerman, Kirsten Spence, Katey Martin, Katherine Lynch, Kirsty Baird, Kim Smith, Alana Kane, Jenna Innes, Claire Thompson.Players are asked to attend practise at the University Oval No 2 ground on Saturday, December 22, starting at 2pm.

Central Districts and Wellington with eight points each, share the lead in the National Under-17 tournament being played at Nelson Park in Napier today.Central Districts 192 and 124/7 (M Sim 55; P Carey 2-6, J Morgan 2-9) beat Northern Districts 169 (K Read 37, A Devicich 25; D Bolstad 3-19, D MacDonald 2-30), on the first innings.Otago 129 and 201/5 (W Henry 72 not out, C Smith 69, T McLean 31; C McDowell 3-41) lost to Auckland 173/7 dec (D Winger 80 not out, C McDowell 52 not out; B Paterson 4-16) on the first innings.Wellington 258 beat Canterbury 144 (M Goldstein 67; K Forde 4-14, S Rennie 3-36, L Crisp 2-10) and 163/4 (D Crosbie 43, M Ling 39, B Findlay 35 not out, T Astle 31 not out; A Corless 2-36) on the first innings.Points are: Central Districts 8, Wellington 8, Northern Districts 4, Auckland 4, Canterbury 0, Otago 0.

If it stops raining here by tomorrow morning, the second tri-series final will go ahead as scheduled, according to Sydney Cricket Ground curator Tom Parker.”If the rain stopped at 9am tomorrow it would help us immensely,” Parker said on the eve of the second final between South Africa and New Zealand.”What we need is the rain to stop – we need that something terrible.”However, that looked unlikely, with the forecasters predicting thunderstorms tomorrow.If the rain continued through the day, Parker said it would then be up to the match referee and umpires to decided on a cancellation.There must be 25 overs per side to constitute a game, meaning play can start as late as 6pm.If the match was called-off, Sunday’s scheduled third final would be the deciding match in the series.The forecast for Sunday is for the sun to break through.Parker admitted he’d been through the toughest week of his life as a groundsman with his staff working around the clock for the past two days to get the pitch ready.Groundstaff have been working under a marquee which measures 30 metres by 10 metres and Parker said the tent had kept the pitch dry.”It’s the hardest job I’ve had – it’s something unique making a wicket under a marquee.”He said there was no danger of the pitch being under-prepared.”There’s no way it’ll be dangerous at all. If anything it’ll play a little slow and a little low – I term it playable at this stage,” Parker said.”Everything’s up to scratch at the moment but it’s been a big battle for us over the past few days.”We’ve been working 24 hours a day to get a wicket ready. At the moment the wicket itself is very dry and very flat and devoid of grass.”

Sourav Ganguly is a puzzled man. He does not know why India losesthe crucial matches. By his own generous admission, he would havewon more such matches for India if he knew the problem. Oursatellite channels faithfully telecast the Indian captain’swonderfully humble attempt at self-analysis, as if to acquit himof all charges of repeated failures as captain and player.

To be fair to him, though, the Prince of Calcutta was a littlemore forthcoming than that. He wondered aloud if inexperience wasthe root cause of India’s continued inability to win matches,even against Nasser Hussain’s scratch combination – though theywere made to look like world beaters in India – under homeconditions, with the help of incompetent umpires whose mistakescame in handy when the hosts were down. He was a trifledisappointed – and he said this with the appropriate expressionof condescending indulgence towards the newcomers in the Indianeleven – that, after he had brought the side to the threshold ofvictory in the final one-dayer, the rest of the batting simplyfolded.There was, thus, no hint of regret that he had thrown his wicketaway playing a loose, even arrogant lap-shot instead of stayingat the wicket until victory was achieved. How smug and selfsatisfied he looked, absolving himself of all guilt while puttinghis younger teammates on the mat! The selectors too seem equallysmug.Ganguly had not done badly, actually, according to chairman ofselectors Chandu Borde. After all, he had won the Test series anddrawn the one-day rubber against England. The captain’s almosttotal capitulation as a batsman, especially in Test matchcricket, does not seem to have worried him unduly.The selectors must be pretty sanguine that the forthcomingZimbabwe series will not tax the Indian players’ technique ortemperament unduly. One neat series win later, all will beforgotten and forgiven in the euphoria of victory, they seem tobe reassuring themselves, to offer the least offensiveexplanation of their penchant for the status quo.Not too long ago, there was some much-publicised rhetoric by theBCCI president declaring that those in charge of Indian cricketwould be held accountable for the results they produced. Inhindsight, it seems to have been no more than an attempt to getrid of John Wright and Andrew Leipus, the unwanted ‘foreigners.’The captain, in contrast, seems to be immune from any suchrequirement. After all, was it not suggested by many, just priorto his sensational return to Test cricket in 1996, that Gangulywas Jagmohan Dalmiya’s boy?But Indian cricket has a way of making fools of everyone. For allwe know, an Andy-Flower-inspired Zimbabwe could still spring asurprise or two, and by the end of the series, the selectorscould face pretty much the same situation as they face today. Andonce again, they will decide to let sleeping dogs lie and play itsafe with the selection of the captain and the team for the WestIndies tour.

SYDNEY, Jan 2 AAP – England captain Nasser Hussain won the toss and elected to bat on the opening day of the fifth Ashes cricket Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground today.Brad Hogg was named 12th man for Australia while Paul Collingwood was given the job of carrying the England drinks.Andy Bichel comes into the Australian team for the injured Glenn McGrath.For England, wicketkeeper Alec Stewart returns from injury and replaces James Foster.Play is set to get underway in fine, mild conditions.Teams:Australia: Steve Waugh (captain), Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Martin Love, Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Stuart MacGill, Andy Bichel, Brad Hogg (12th man).England: Nasser Hussain (captain), Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Mark Butcher, Robert Key, John Crawley, Alec Stewart, Richard Dawson, Andy Caddick, Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Paul Collingwood (12th man).