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KINGSTON – Kenrick Dennis, a promising fast bowler who played briefly for Jamaica in the late 1980s, died in a road accident in the United States yesterday, according to Jamaica Cricket Association sources.He will be remembered for his misfortune in spilling two catches as a substitute fielder in the final over of a nailbiting one-day final against Barbados at a jam-packed Sabina Park in 1988.His fielding errors led to a Barbadian triumph. Dennis never represented Jamaica after that game and migrated shortly after.

• It was the 1728th ODI in cricket history.
• Pakistan became the first team in one day internationals to play 500matches .Australia was playing its 487th match.
• It was the 60th match between these two sides. The record now reads :Australia 33,Pakistan 24,tied one and abandoned 2.
• Umpires David Shepherd and Peter Willey were officiating in their 97thand 23rd match respectively.
• Australia and Pakistan were facing each other in the final of atournament for the eighth time. Australia has won on seven occasionswhile Pakistan emerged victorious only once.
• The wicket of Abdur Razzaq was 50th for Brett Lee in his 29th match.He became 22nd Australian and 125th bowler in all to reach thislandmark. Lee also became the fourth fastest for Australia to do soafter Dennis Lillee (24), Shane Warne (25),Len Pascoe (26) andalongwith Carl Rackemann (29)
• Lee needed only one year and 165 days since his debut (v Pakistan atBrisbane on January 9,2000) to complete his 50 wickets which is thesecond shortest period for Australia after Shane Warne who reached hismilestone in one year and 35 days. The ODI record, however, is held byIndia’s Ajit Agarkar who needed only 182 days for his 50 wickets.
• Inzamam-ul-Haq on 12 became third batsman after Mark Waugh (5132 runsin 128 innings) and Sachin Tendulkar (5078 runs in 133 innings) tocomplete 5000 runs in a career in matches batting first.
• Australia’s win by nine wickets was the fourth largest in the final ofa tournament by a team batting second. India had beaten Zimbabwe byten wickets in the final of the Champions Trophy in November 1998which remains the largest win by a side in the final of a tournament.The details :

• By winning the match with 141 balls to spare Australia recorded thesecond largest victory by any team batting second in the final of atournament. Interestingly the all time ODI record was also made inthe match between these two sides and at this same venue when Australiabeat Pakistan in the final of ICC World Cup with 179 balls to sparein June 1999.The following table has the complete detail of all suchinstances :

• The win was Australia’s 21st in a competition comprising of at leastthree teams.
• Adam Gilchrist was winning his ninth Man of the Match award in his119th match.
• At the end of the series :
• Australia’s overall ODI record : played 487, won 279,lost 190,tied 6and abandoned 12.
• Pakistan’s overall ODI record : played 500,won 261,lost 223,tied 6 andabandoned 10.
• England’s overall ODI record : played 331,won 162,lost 158,tied 2 andabandoned 9.
• Steve Waugh’s captaining record : played 98,won 63,lost 31,tied oneand abandoned 3.
• Waqar Younis’ captaincy record : played 15,won 10,lost 5.
• Alec Stewart’s captaincy record : played 40,won 14,lost 25 andabandoned one.

The Indian Cricket League (ICL) is preparing for a legal battle against the English board if the ECB rejects the appeals of cricketers involved in the league to register for their respective counties.”It is unfortunate that the ECB has chosen not to register some players who are currently playing for the ICL,” Himanshu Mody, business head, ICL, told Cricinfo. “These players and their respective counties have begun the process of appeal, and are confident that the ECB will see reason.”Many ICL players, including South Africans Justin Kemp (Kent), Johan van der Wath and Andrew Hall (both Northamptonshire), New Zealander Hamish Marshall (Gloucestershire) and West Indian Wavell Hinds (Derbyshire) have expressed concerns in the wake of the regulations recently released by the ECB that prohibit county players from playing in the ICL.Recently, Tony Greig, a member of the ICL’s executive board, had cautioned that the ECB’s stand would leave the players with no other alternative but to take legal action.”If their appeals fail, the players and their counties may have no option but to adopt a legal remedy in English courts. ICL, on its part, will support the players,” Mody said.Mody added that the BCCI’s threat to file a complaint against the ECB if it cleared ICL players to join counties was “just another way to create a barrier”. The BCCI’s move came after the PCB granted NOCs to Mushtaq Ahmed and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan to play for the counties. But the BCCI has an understanding with other boards that they wouldn’t allow any of their players to participate in the ICL.Mody welcomed the PCB decision and felt the other boards will also follow suit. “The PCB’s decision to give the Pakistani players the NOC is a decision of the PCB and the ICL appreciates the decision. The ICL is hopeful that justice and sense will prevail and the other boards realise the contribution of the ICL.”The Edelweiss 20s challenge, the ICL’s latest tournament, has entered the final stages with the best-of-three finals being staged over the weekend. The ICL will then conduct an ‘international’ tri-series involving a World XI, a Pakistan XI and an India XI.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan captain, has backed Dav Whatmore to be appointed as coach of the Pakistan team. “He has a lot of experience and a strong coaching background like Bob [Woolmer] did,”Inzamam told Reuters. “He appears most likely to be selected as coach.”The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has interviewed three Australians – Whatmore, Geoff Lawson and Richard Done – for the coaching position which fell vacant after the death of Woolmer during the World Cup in March.Inzamam, who retired from ODIs and stepped down as captain after Pakistan’s early exit from the World Cup, said Whatmore had a lot of experience working in the cricket set-up in the region.”He has coached Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and produced good results. So I think he is the one the board will eventually select.”The Pakistani players need an experienced and strong coach like Woolmer to guide them and get the best performances out of them. I have always said our team needs a qualified coach.”Inzamam had earlier also stated his intention of wanting to continue playing Test cricket.

New Zealand officials are prepared to bite the bullet and axe several senior players, according to a report in the New Zealand Herald.The news comes less than a fortnight before the annual contracts are announced on June 1, and the report suggests that Chris Harris, Craig McMillan, Paul Wiseman and Daryl Tuffey are all likely to be discarded.It is thought that New Zealand Cricket are keen to bring in some fresh blood, and to do that they need to create vacancies. While those mentioned are long on experience, the time may have come for them to give way to those who represent the future.Those mentioned as possible replacements include Peter Fulton, Jamie How, Michael Mason, Jeetan Patel, and Ross Taylor.

Allegations of bungled management, racial divides, and a WesternProvince clique intent on embedding themselves into powerful positions to the detriment of the future have been made about the South African national set-up by a handful of current internationals. They told Durban’s : “We would love to be quoted with our names but fear we will be pushed even further into the background and have no chance of playing for South Africa. It is very sad, but we feel we must speak out.”The un-named players accused a clique of established stars of freezing out new coloured players. Meanwhile suggestions of a Western Province “takeover” seem to be based on the fact that the captain Graeme Smith, the coach Eric Simons, Omar Henry, the convenor of selectors, and Tim Southey, the manager, are all from there.An emergency meeting of the United Cricket Board’s general council was held yesterday to discuss the allegations. The council comprises presidents of provincial unions, and Cricket South Africa, which controls professional cricket in the country. They decided to give the chief executive of the UCB, Gerald Majola, ten days to assess and investigate the claims with due attention to any legal and contractual consequences should anyone involved resign.Majola said: “These are serious allegations and powerful and convincing proof would be needed to back them up.” He added, “None of the players I spoke to within the last week made any mention at all to me of being a victim of a racist incident.”

England 242 for 5 (Taylor 82) beat South Africa 142 for 9 (Birch 3-28) by 100 runs
ScorecardEngland’s women sealed the five-match ODI series with a thumping 100-run win over South Africa at Johannesburg. Claire Taylor’s rollicking 82 from 76 balls formed the backbone of an impressive total of 242 for 5 – one that proved far too much for a South African team that has failed to live up to expectations after their thrilling victory in the opening match.England won the toss and were given an excellent start by Charlotte Edwards and Laura Newton, who added 78 for the first wicket. Both fell in quick succession, and Clare Connor didn’t last long either – the first of three wickets for Cri-Zelda Brits – but Lydia Greenway scampered her way to an unbeaten 41 from 52 balls, which included a solitary boundary.South Africa made a stodgy start to their reply, and had managed just 38 runs in the first 14 overs when Connor gained revenge over Brits and bowled her for 20. She was followed swiftly by Johmari Logtenberg (39 for 2), but the innings truly fell apart in a crazy over from Rosalie Birch. Alison Hodgkinson and Cindy Eksteen were both dismissed within three balls of each other, and then before another run had been added, South Africa’s mainstay, Daleen Terblanche, was run out by Greenway for 25 (58 for 5).Edwards made it a brace of Terblanche run-outs when Claire followed suit for 10, and at 89 for 6 the game was well and truly up. Alicia Smith rallied the tail with a defiant 38, but she soon became Birch’s third victim, as England took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series with one match to come.

SYDNEY, Jan 2 AAP – Australia dropped two catches to let England off the hook on the opening morning of the fifth Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.England, having won the toss, was 2-79 at lunch with Mark Butcher on 42 and captain Nasser Hussain on 14.Australia would have secured a more dominant position if Damien Martyn and Stuart MacGill had not spilled chances.On 13, Butcher drove at Andy Bichel and Martyn failed to take a difficult opportunity at gully, diving low to his left.MacGill should have taken a relatively simple caught and bowled chance from Hussain when he was six and the score was 2-63.Fast bowler Brett Lee made the initial breakthrough this morning, having Michael Vaughan caught behind for a duck.Lee bowled superbly in an opening spell of 1-12 from five overs, getting genuine outswing at speed.Andy Bichel sent Marcus Trescothick on his way for 19 when the England opener attempted to cover-drive a wide delivery.He found a thick edge, which wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist took with a flying catch high to his left in front of first slip.Lee finished the session with 1-17 from eight overs, Bichel had 1-21 from six, MacGill 0-26 from eight and Jason Gillespie 0-14 from six.

• It was the 1720th ODI in cricket history.
• It was the 58th match between these two sides. The record now reads :Australia 32, Pakistan 23, tied one and abandoned 2.
• It was the fifth match between these two sides on English soil.Australia is now ahead with 3-2 score.
• Umpires Peter Willey and AGT Whitehead were officiating in their 22ndand 14th match respectively.
• Rashid Latif (66) scored his second fifty in his 103rd match. This wasalso his highest ODI score beating the 50 that he made against Indiaat Sharjah on 15-04-1996.
• Latif’s innings is the highest by a Pakistani wicketkeeper againstAustralia beating Salim Yousuf’s 59 at Sydney on 25-02-1990.
• The 124 run-partnership between Yousuf Youhana and Rashid Latif is thealltime record for seventh wicket in ODIs. The pair surpassed the 119run-partnership between Kenyan pair of Thomas Odoyo and Tony Sujiagainst Zimbabwe at Nairobi (Aga Khan) on 16-10-1997.
• The previous highest seventh wicket partnership for Pakistan was of108 runs between Rameez Raja and Anil Dalpat against New Zealand atChristchurch in 1984-85. The previous highest seventh wicketpartnership against Australia was worth 100 runs between SauravGanguly and Sunil Joshi at Colombo SSC on 06-09-1996.
• Brett Lee’s figures of 10-1-85-1 (RpO 8.50) are the most expensive byan Australian in a ten over spell. The previous record was of 75 runsjointly held by Craig McDermott (v India at Jaipur on 07-09-1986) andBrendon Julian (v Pak at Lahore on 10-11-1998).
• Lee’s figures are also the fourth joint most uneconomical in a tenover spell in One-Day Internationals’ history. The accompanying tablehas the details :

RpO Figures Bowler For Vs Venue Date9.70 (10-0-97-1) ALF De Mel SL WI Karachi 13-10-19879.40 (10-0-94-3) ST Jayasuriya SL Pak Nairobi Gym 04-10-19968.60 (10-0-86-0) T Kumaran Ind Pak Dhaka 03-06-20008.60 (10-0-86-2) Waqar YounisPak SL Benoni 15-04-19988.50 (10-0-85-1) Ata-ur-RahmanPak Ind Sharjah 15-04-19968.50 (10-0-85-0) BS Lee Aus Pak Cardiff 09-06-2001

• Adam Gilchrist with three dismissals in this match has now taken histally of victims against Pakistan to 21 which places him second amongthe Australians behind Ian Healy (39 dismissals from 25 matches) andahead of Rodney Marsh (20 dismissals from 13 matches).
• The wicket of Shoaib Akhtar was 100th for Glenn McGrath on foreignsoil. He became third Australian after Shane Warne (138 wickets in 94matches) and Damien Fleming (108 wickets in 65 matches). IncidentallyPakistan’s Wasim Akram with 371 wickets from 252 matches holds theworld record of most wickets in `away’ matches.
• Ricky Ponting (70) was scoring his fourth consecutive fifty againstPakistan. He had scored 53 at Melbourne on 23-01-2000, followed it upwith 50 also at Melbourne on 02-02-2000 in the first final of WorldSeries Cup and then notched up 78 at Sydney on 04-02-2000 in thesecond final.
• Shoaib Akhtar’s figures of 5-0-41-1 (RpO 8.20) are the most expensiveby a Pakistani in a five over spell against Australia. Mohsin Kamalhad conceded 39 runs in his five overs at Lahore on 14-10-1988.
• Ricky Ponting was winning his ninth Man of the Match award.

Sachin Tendulkar has picked legspinner Imran Tahir as one of the bowlers to watch during South Africa’s upcoming tour of India. Speaking at an event in Mumbai, Tendulkar said India’s batsmen would have to handle him well, and he was “looking forward” to the contest between two balanced teams.”AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla are strong players, and don’t forget Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel,” Tendulkar said. “Then when you talk about the googly, Imran Tahir is one of the good bowlers. We have to play against him properly. Possibly he can be one of the leading bowlers.”Tendulkar said he knew the Indian players would be fully committed to giving their best and that, coupled with South Africa’s consistent fine performances, made the Test series an exciting prospect.”I think the Indian team is fantastic. They are extremely talented and committed. A lot of things are said about the players but I know them very closely, and when it comes to cricket there are no shortcuts. The guys are committed.”It will be an exciting series. The Test series is something I am looking forward to. Great team balance, both sides of the fence. The visiting South African team is a quality side, I never played against a South Africa side which I can say is just an okay side. They are always a strong side and it is no different right now.”The tour’s international games begin on October 2, in Dharamsala, with the first of three Twenty20s. Five ODIs follow, before four Tests in Mohali, Bangalore, Nagpur and Dehli, ending on December 7.