AUSTRALIA - Manager: Mustafa Khan

A disastrous start for the Australians in the league. A very disheartened Mustafa Khan said "It is the worst possible way to start. I had worked so hard with the boys and this result I did not deserve. We were completely whitewashed by the opposition and never looked in a good position. Well now what has gone has gone. We will try to put up a much better show in round 2 against Pakistan." The demoralized Aussies will face Pakistan in round 2 and have to beat them there to make up for this humiliating defeat.

ENGLAND - Manager: Dan Thomas

England got off to a winning start in Warwick Todd's World Test Cricket Championship. A winning margin of 307 runs hides the fact that it was a tough struggle for England.

On a damp overcast morning at Lords West Indies won the toss and had no hesitation in sending England in to bat. This looked like a very good decision as Ambrose, Walsh and Bishop reduced England to 95-5. With Ramprakash the last of the recognised batsman left West Indies must have been looking to press home their advantage. Thankfully this was not to be the case as Rhodes defended well whilst Ramprakash raced to a 69 ball 50. Rhodes was dropped twice in a valuable 6th wicket partnership of 135. The West Indies captain Lara also dropped Ramprakash on 91. Ramprakash went on to score exactly 100 before Murray caught him of the bowling of Walsh with the new ball. This was not the end of the run scoring though as Gough played some glorious shots in a well crafted 54 ably supported by Croft (29) and Cork (18) which enabled England to reach 352 a total much higher than could have been expected at one time.

The West Indies innings was a story of wickets falling in 2s or 3s followed by some rescue partnerships. Chanderpaul scored a slow 58 and Ambrose also scored a surprising patient 58. All the English bowlers bowled marvellous line and length and really restricted the normal free scoring West Indians. Cork was the pick with 5 wickets and despite 5 catches being put down West Indies were dismissed for 218 giving England a first innings lead of 134.

In England's 2nd innings this lead was built upon with an excellent opening partnership of 75 by Atherton (47) and Stewart (33) which was then further extended with good batting by Thorpe (80*), Hick (36) and Ramprakash (45*) allowing England to declare at 384-5 setting West Indies the unlikely target of 419 to win or more likely 101 overs to survive.

Gough never gave then a chance to think of survival. 2 quick wickets on the 4th evening were followed by a spell of 12 overs on the start of the 5th day which brought him 3 more wickets including Lara who looked very uneasy scoring just 1 off 22 deliveries faced. His bowling figures were 18 overs 12 maidens 5 wickets for just 14 runs, a truely inspired performance. At lunch West Indies had reached 67-5 with Murray very lucky to have survived a lbw appeal by Croft. After lunch the spin duo of Croft and Tufnell started weaving a spell and the West Indies were dismissed for just 111.

The downside of the victory was that first innings bowling hero Cork injured himself trying to hurdle the stumps when Chanderpaul was LBW to Croft giving England the victory. In his place the ever reliable Fraser is brought in for England's next match against Zimbabwe who won a low scoring match against Pakistan. As Zimbabwe are coached by the organiser of the championship England hope it will be a fair match.

The team to look out for in this championship is the guest team Warwick Todd's XI who crushed their Aussie counterparts by an innings with Todd scoring 234 and Dean Jones 174. Certainly an impressive start to the championship as they dropped just 1 bonus bowling point to lead the table by 2 points from England.

INDIA - Manager: Mat Kenneally

Disappointment is a key word when describing India's performance against Sri Lanka. Kumble, Srinath, and Prasad bowled poorly allowing Sri Lanka to crawl to 450. Tendulkar should have gone on with his 133 and the bowling on day 5 was mediocre at best. Manager Mat Kenneally said 'We were over confident after reading the Sri Lanka managers press release we didn't think he had a clue' which would explain India's lacklustre display. India's fielding was also ordinary but Mat has promised they will be practising hard this week to get it right. 'We have to hold our catches especially against Warwick Todd's XI' Mathew said when asked about next week. India will really be tested and their aggressive batting style may have to be scrapped after this week.

Manager Mat Kenneally confirmed his faith in Azharuddin. 'He gave Sachin a deadline to make 100 and Sachin just missed out, you have to think of the team'. Tendulkar agreed saying 'It was my own fault we probably should've declared earlier anyway with me on 60 odd'. India are excited about playing Warwick Todd's XI but they are outsiders.

NEW ZEALAND - Manager: Ben Buchanan

NEW ZEALAND STUMBLE AT THE LAST HURDLE

Disappointment was evident in the New Zealand camp early yesterday when they went down in the first round to a rejuvinated South African side by 3 wickets. After being on top for most of the match, the young New Zealand side stumbled at the last hurdle with Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher and Lance Klusener guiding the away team home after being in all sorts of trouble at 6/133 chasing 270 to win.

New Zealand won the toss and decided to bat first on a good Eden Gardens pitch, but lost Craig Spearman for 3 to leave them in early trouble. The middle order then steadied and the first innings finished at 254. Notable contributions were from Nathan Astle (60) and debutant Llorne Howell (46).

South Africa's batting never looked too impressive under the constant pressure from the New Zealand bowling attack. They crashed to be 7/118 but thanks to lower order contributions from Mark Boucher (36) and Pat Symcox (31no) they got their score up to 205, a deficit of 49 runs. Chris Cairns started the series off well grabbing 5/78 (23.2) while Daniel Vettori also looked good with his 2/30 (18).

New Zealand had to bat for about 90 minutes before stumps and crashed. They lost Craig Spearman and Craig McMillan for a duck and then Simon Doull (nightwatchman) also for a duck to be 3/12. Stephen Fleming was sent back for 3 and at stumps New Zealand were in all sorts of trouble at 4/25.

At 7/119, Nathan Astle (83) and Chris Cairns (39no) joined forces to put together a 58 run partnership and put New Zealand back in a good position. New Zealand finished on 220 giving South Africa a daunting task of scoring 270 to win.

This became even more daunting when Shayne O'Connor ripped through the South Africans top order to leave them at 6/133 before Pollock, Boucher and Klusener guided South Africa home. O'Connor finished with 6/84 (36) in an inspirational performance in a losing side.

It was New Zealand's fielding that let them down in the end with Pollock, Boucher and Klusener being dropped several times during their innings.

Ben Buchanan was disappointed after the match saying "We really let that one slip. Fielding was our big flaw. The bowlers did their job and the batsman weren't too bad. You just can't afford to drop catches."

When asked about Nathan Astle's performance (60 & 83) Buchanan said, "He was supurb in this match. It was a pity that he basically ran out of partners in both innings. We might look at batting him higher next match."

Looking onto next week, New Zealand face a tough battle in the West Indies. There will be 2 forced changes with captain Stehen Fleming injuring his wrist while fielding and Craig Spearman pulling a hamstring while running. The inclusions are likely to be Bryan Young and Marty Horne.

PAKISTAN - Manager: Nathan Porter

SOUTH AFRICA - Manager: Steve Hill

CLOSE CALL FOR CRONJE's COMRADES

Hansie Cronje's South African side managed to slide home with 3 wickets in hand in the first match of the Warwick Todd series. A brilliant display of fast bowling by white lightning man of the match Allan Donald paved the way for the victory with youngster and one of the best all rounders in the world, Shaun Pollock helping with the ball and then adding the finishing touches with a superb 68 not out.

A fighting spirited performance away from home and a message to the other countries that South Africa has got immense depth in their line up and can not for one minute be written off.

One victory up now sees SA at position 4 on the log. With a good start behind them and if they continue to diplay this kind of determination throughout the series, they must be top contenders for the title.

The squad for the next match will be announced shortly before the next match with only one likely change being a replacement for the injured Kirsten.

SRI LANKA - Manager: Keith McLeod

Despite the loss of century-maker Kumara "Sweet Potato" Dharmasena, the Sri Lankan squad was in a jubilant mood this week. 'We are all in a jubilant mood.' said manager Keith McLeod, from the Sri Lankan camp in South Africa. 'We really expected to go down in flames last week and the guys are really chuffed with the draw.' When asked about their aims for the weekend's test against South Africa, McLeod stated that they would be overjoyed if they could replicate the previous week's result. 'You know, a draw is totally under-rated. Losses too. Nothing wrong with getting a good old-fashioned drubbing every now and then', said McLeod, when this strange attitude was questioned.

Despite a managerial style obviously lacking in finesse, panache, skill, aptitude, style, grit, determination, or seemingly any other quality, McLeod seems to have interfered little with the Sri Lankan players' natural skills. 'It takes more than my incompetence to bring down this great bunch of cricketers', McLeod was quoted as saying.

Against India, the Sri Lankans managed a creditable draw with an excellent fourth innings display, particularly from veterans Asanka Gurusinha (117*) and Hashan Tillakaratne(49*). In the first innings, Jayasuriya once more outlined his class with a gutsy 145 and Chaminda Vaas shone with the ball. Certainly the South Africans shouldn't take a win for granted in the upcoming test.

So, the Sri Lankans go into the second round of the Warwick Todd World Championship with nothing to lose, everything to gain, and, quite frankly, they seem to be ambivalent about the result. It is not this sort of attitude which wins test matches and South Africa have to go into the match as favorites after a comfortable win against the hapless Kiwis.

WEST INDIES - Manager: Joshua Johnson

Well it was a disappointing start in the Warwick Todd Championship for the West Indies with a lovely thrashing by 307 runs dealt out by Dan Thomas' English squad. The boys started off well, managing to reduce the England batting side to 5/95 before Ramprakash strode to the crease to make a Man Of The Match performance scoring 100. The final total of 352 was by no means insurmountable, but not one member of the squad stood up to be counted. Plenty of the batsmen made a start, but the high scorers were Chanderpaul and Ambrose, both making 58, unable to go on and turn that into a century. With the side go down for 218 the task was daunting having conceded a first innings lead to England of 134 runs.

That lead must have enlivened the home team as they came out batting confidently before Stewart finally declared that innings closed with a lead of 418. This lead led to a dismal performance at the crease by the West Indian boys. Gough ploughed through the top order taking a quick 5/14 which must have put him into contention for that MOM award. The team was left at 5/54 at this stage and quickly capitulated to be all out for 111.

The overall performance of the team in this test match left a lot to be desired. Obviously the batting line-up is in terrible need of some help, but the bowling performance was nothing special either. The big hitters Adams and Lara failed to perform at all, hopefully this was due to first match jitters as they are capable of much more than what they displayed in this match. Ambrose was the only member of the squad who did a reasonable job with the bat and ball. He averaged 35 with the bat and took 5 wickets at 26.00.

As a first-time manager I am hoping that I can spark some life into the boys for their round 2 clash with New Zealand, this time at home. The side is going to remain the same for this match, in hope that some members of the team will play themselves into some form. This match will act as a testing ground, with non-performers facing the axe to allow some of the others to try their luck with the bat.

ZIMBABWE - Manager: Dave Hickey

Round 1 of the Warwick Todd World Test Cricket Championship saw Zimbabwe make the very difficult trip to Karachi to play the highly unpredictable Pakistan team. Some may say that the off-season captaincy turmoil may have contributed to a poor Pakistan performance, but that would be underselling the efforts of a spirited and enthusiastic Zimbabwe team.

Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to face up to the new ball attack of Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram straight away. With a shiny new ball and a first morning wicket, it was no surprise to see Pakistan claim two quick wickets to have the visitors 2/26. Zimbabwe steadied to be 2/61 at lunch but struggled all day against very tight bowling to finally be dismissed for 132. These runs were scored at a painfully slow rate - 72 overs in 5 hours - which tested the patience of the crowd as well as the batsmen.

With 16 overs to bowl in fading light, Zimbabwe were hopeful of making early inroads into the Pakistan batting. Streak took the wicket of Aamir Sohail in the third over and Mbangwa claimed Saeed Anwar and nightwatchman Mushtaq Ahmed in successive deliveries to leave Pakistan at 3/48 at stumps.

On the second day, Pakistan also found the conditions difficult to bat in, as the Zimbabwe bowlers also managed to bowl very tightly. In a mirror image of the Zimbabwe first innings, Pakistan struggled before finally reaching 147, off 72 overs. Azhar Mahmood showed great patience, eventually running out of partners on 40no.

Batting again, Zimbabwe were once again in trouble as Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram struck early, finding themselves at 2/26. The veteran Dave Houghton joined Murray Goodwin and steered Zimbabwe safely to stumps at 2/68.

The Goodwin-Houghton partnership continued the next day. Goodwin reached his 50 but soon after was involved in a tragic mix-up which saw Houghton run out on 45. A collapse was on the cards but Andy Flower joined Goodwin in another solid partnership. With plenty of time on their side, Zimbabwe squeezed every available run from the Pakistan attack and were eventually dismissed for 328, off a marathon 147 overs.

With a lead of 313 runs, Zimbabwe were very confident, knowing that runs were now extremely difficult to score. For the second time in the match, Mbangwa was on a hat-trick, taking Sohail's wicket with the last ball of the fourth over and then Anwar with the first ball of the sixth over. Inzamam survived the hat-trick but Pakistan were now in deep trouble at 2/10. Things only got worse as Pakistan found themselves at 3/22, then 4/26, 5/66 and 6/72. the Pakistan tail showed some resistance but the innings ended at 199, giving Zimbabwe a comfortable 114 run victory. Man Of The Match Mpumelo Mbangwa finished with 6/61 and completely destroyed the Pakistan top order.

Manager Dave Hickey was delighted by the victory but added that next week's top of the table clash with England would be a much tougher assignment. "England are always tough to beat, given that Dan Thomas invented the game, but recent problems with versions 1.24 and 1.25 show that he is losing his edge and so we are very confident of our chances." Hickey also noted comments attributed to the England manager about the fairness of the match. "He is clearly worried about us and so he is already looking for excuses. We must really have them running scared."

Despite Hickey's confidence, Zimbabwe will need to perform above all expectations. An injury to Andy Flower will force Houghton to once again don the gloves, and the under-performing Craig Wishart will get an earlier than expected chance to claim a batting spot. England also have their injury problems and the result may hinge on the performance of the replacements, not to mention the choice of tactics of the opposing managers.

WARWICK TODD'S XI - Manager: Warwick Todd

"Toddy!, Toddy!, Toddy!
Oy!, Oy!, Oy!
"Toddy!, Toddy!, Toddy!
Oy!, Oy!, Oy!
"Toddy!, Oy!
"Toddy!, Oy!
"Toddy!, Toddy!, Toddy!
Oy!, Oy!, Oy!"

The famous victory song rang out in the SCG dressing rooms after the highly experienced Warwick Todd's XI put the cleaners through the 1998 version of the Australian Test team. Revenge was sweet for many of the players in the Todd XI as they took great delight in finally getting one back on the ACB. The three stars were prominent discards Greg Matthews (8 wickets), Dean Jones (174no) and the man himself Warwick Todd (234).

When asked about his innings Todd could only say "that rotten umpire - how could that be lbw - where was he looking - I was just getting my eye in". Needless to say, this outburst (and a similar one as he walked off) have got the match fines kitty off to a flying start.

The victory by the Todd XI was the talk of Round 1, and other teams are clearly in awe of the performances from a team of players generally thought to be past their use-by date. However, it must be remembered that if there was one game that the "Todd Squad" were going to be fired up for, it was always going to be this one.

Other news during the week was the announcement that Dean Jones was retiring from first class cricket to concentrate on his performances for the Todd XI. This is announcement was generally received as being the smartest decision that Deano had made since asking Curtly Ambrose to take off his wrist bands.

After a solid week of celebrating, it remains to be seen if the Todd XI can maintain this level of performance this weekend in India. As a precaution, they have already sent Greg Ritchie over to Madras to do some Mahatma Cote street interviews to get things rolling. (The boys are still laughing about this - they are playing in Calcutta! Nice one, Merv!)