West Indies in India

Ramnaresh Sarwan said the sight of his team-mates willing him on allowed him to hit the last ball four needed for victory in the first one-day international in India. "I was always thinking positive," said Sarwan whose unbeaten on 83 from 89 deliveries included six fours and three sixes. "I could see everyone standing on the dressing room balcony and that motivated me," said Sarwan. "I was looking for a yorker. I thought the best chance would be to hit straight or through extra cover," he added.

England in Australia

Australian opening batsman Justin Langer believes speedster Brett Lee will become a better player for his being dropped from the national side for the first Ashes Test against England at the Gabba. Lee is regarded as one of the fastest bowlers in the world and it was thought that he would be a potent weapon against the English batsman who are not used to extreme pace. But the national selectors decided to go with Andy Bichel, who knows the Gabba conditions well playing as he does for Queensland. "For Brett it is a tough call because he has been bowling better and better with every spell. But my gut feeling is that this disappointment could be an important moment in our young speedster's career." "He is a very determined and talented young man who will take this as a wake-up call to keep going forward in his cricket career. This will be a minor glitch in the career of Brett Lee and it won't be long before he is back at his best in the baggy green cap." Former England all-rounder Ian Botham has told the tourists they must take the fight up to Australia if they want to regain the Ashes. "They’ve got to fight fire with fire and give it to the Aussies, get stuck into the Australian batsmen and give a bit of lip," he said. "What worries me is England going out trying to limit the situation. If they do that, they’ll get steamrolled."

Pakistan in Zimbabwe

Pakistan's batsmen continued to gain some valuable match practice before declaring on 456 for six in their warm-up match against Zimbabwe A at Harare. The bowlers then reduced the hosts to 200-5 before bad light stopped play. Hasan Raza with an unbeaten 64, Shahid Afridi (49) and Kamral Akmal (43 not out) all had productive stays at the crease to add to 80s by Younis Khan and Taufeeq Umar the previous day.

Miscellaneous

Safety, rather than politics, will decide whether World Cup fixtures can be played in Zimbabwe next year. A delegation from the International Cricket Council (ICC) will make a trip to the country later this month to help decide whether six matches scheduled for Harare and Bulawayo can go ahead. The delegation, headed by ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed, will spend three days in the country from 26 November, and will prepare a report within 10 days. ICC president Malcolm Gray said that each of the six countries scheduled to play in Zimbabwe, including Australia and England, had committed to do so. Four players from Bangladesh's national cricket team have been injured after the motorised rickshaw they were in was involved in an accident in Dhaka. Alok Kapali, Tushar Imran, Tapash Baisya and Rafiqul Islam all required hospital treatment and only Tushar has been sent home. A Bangladesh Cricket Board official said their vehicle overturned while averting a collision with a truck in the Dhanmandi area of the capital. The four players were part of the national team that toured South Africa for a Test series last month. The ICC Player Contracts Committee which met for the first time via telephone recently to consider the Player Terms for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 has started working on the issues raised. "The submissions received were valuable in clearly identifying the concerns over the player terms," said Malcolm Gray, chairman of ICC Development International, the commercial arm of the ICC. "While the issues are not new, they remain complex and difficult and today's meeting was just the first step in seeking to resolve these matters," he said. Gray said the Committee was able to consider the submissions from Boards and players which identified their concerns. Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble became only the third bowler in history to claim 300 wickets in both Tests and one-day internationals when he bowled West Indian Marlon Samuels on Wednesday. The 32-year-old Kumble is playing his 234th one-day match. He also has 349 scalps in 76 Tests. The only other bowlers to achieve that double are Pakistani frontline seamers Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.

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