AUSTRALIA - Manager: Mustafa Khan
FINALLY AUSTRALIA WIN!!!
After a big struggle the Aussie Cricket Team finally won a match against the highly competitive South African side. It was not the best of batting performances from both teams as Mark Waugh was the lone run scorer in a very sporting Durban wicket. Electing to bowl 1st South Africa just managed a mere 131 runs on the board. Shane Warne was the star on the 1st innings taking figures of 27-15-30-4. Paul Reiffel was very impressive after a loss of form also getting good figures of 12-6-16-3. With an absolutely brilliant 140* Mark put Australia on top in their 1st innings. His role was most crucial as he did not get much support after an opening partnership of 119 with Ricky Ponting(42).
Making a modest 239 and leading by 108 runs the Aussies managed to get the South Africans all out on just 170, needing 62 runs for victory. Out of the blue the South Africans took five quick wickets and at a stage looked threatening. Shaun Pollock led from the front taking 3-13 from 11 overs.
Captain Shane Warne injured his spinning finger attempting a very difficult chance at slip. A medical report says that Warne will be out of cricket for at least three weeks. "I am very happy with the teams performance and I hope we will continue our present form. The finger is sore and it hurts but the good thing is that it is a very mild fracture and I should be bowling soon." said Warne.
Mark Taylor is back in the side after a little injury problem. Mark Waugh is leading the side in the absence of Shane Warne.
The Australians are really looking forward to their match against the once mighty West Indies.
ENGLAND - Manager: Dan Thomas
England continued their impressive start with an innings victory over New Zealand. For once Gough did not dominate only taking 5 wickets and scoring 24*. It was enough though for him to now be the highest rated bowler in the league. He is also England's second highest rated batsman!
The match finally saw some much needed runs from Atherton who was in danger of being dropped. Too often England have not made the real big scores despite several batsman getting starts. Up to now it has not mattered but with the Warwick Todd match looming fast top form is needed from all the players. Atherton and Hick's 100s were the first scored by an Englishman since Ramprakash's in the very first round.
This week sees England taking on Sri Lanka who suffered their first defeat to Zimbabwe and with 3 players missing through injury should hopefully mean England can maintain the 100% record ready for the big clash the following week against the Warwick Todd XI who have yet to drop a single bonus batting point and this week scored 595 to trounce the West Indies. Hopefully England will prove stiffer competition.
INDIA - Manager: Mat Kenneally
After succeeding in defeating Australia India were extremely confident they could defeat the Pakistan side. However, a disappointing display followed angering manager Mathew Kenneally, 'We must get consistent if we want to be a force in this league. Azharuddin said the same as well as berating Tendulkar, 'We have not been consistent but our star player has given his wicket away easily.
India paid the price for ordinary batting last week and must improve. Tendulkar and Dravid have really let the team down. This week Mathew Kenneally is dropping Harvinder Singh and adding Ajay Jadeja to the sqaud.
NEW ZEALAND - Manager: Ben Buchanan
NEW ZEALAND REACHES ROCK BOTTOM
Morale is low in the New Zealand camp after England handed them a shattering defeat by an innings and 49 runs. The team is in crisis mode at the moemnt trying to figure out how they can turn this form slump around.
New Zealand won the toss and decided to bat first on a good wicket and steadily progressed towards a good total of 287 with Craig Spearman making an excellent 92.
But this was then turned into a mediocre score when England blasted 473 to lead by 190 runs on the first innings. Chris Harris and Shayne O'Connor took 3 wickets each.
New Zealand then capitulated badly being bowled out for 137. Blair Pocock made a good double with two scores in the 40's but it wasn't enough.
Injuries have again rocked the New Zealand camp with Vettori and Astle out injured for the next match against Pakistan.
PAKISTAN - Manager: Nathan Porter
Pakistan finally notched up their first home win of the season, easily conquering arch rivals India. Using the nuclear arms race and passionate hate of their neighbours as motivation the Pakistani team finally found some good form, coming home with 10 wickets to spare.
The batting was much improved with Saeed Anwar notching up a masterful 172 and he was well supported by the rest of the team who finally managed to pass the 400 mark after winning the toss and electing to bat on a hot, sunny day.
The bowling has kept up its good form, once again all bowlers pitching in with excellent performances with no stand-outs apart from all of them.
With this win under their belts it is a confident Pakistan who will travel to New Zealand who are currently on the bottom of the table. An unchanged side has been named with no important players out injured, with confidence increasing and now at 5th position on the ladder things are looking up for the Pakis.
SOUTH AFRICA - Manager: Steve Hill
SOUTH AFRICA STUMBLE
South Africa suffered their 3rd defeat in 4 games to Australia, a game that should easily have been won.
Dismal batting was once again the key to SA's loss and their bowlers struggled against the odds and were just not able to drive the final nail home.
Disappointed manager Steve Hill said that something drastic is going to have to be done in order to have a chance in the tournament.
The side sees a change with the return of Jacques Kallis in for Andrew Hudson.
SRI LANKA - Manager: Keith McLeod
SRI LANKA BROUGHT BACK TO EARTH WITH A THUMP
After a good start to the Warwick Todd World Championship, the Sri Lankan team were brought back to earth last week by a fired up Zimbabwean side, ably coached by Dave Hickey, and led by Alistair Campbell. The Zimbabweans showed true class to annihilate the Sri Lankans, winning by an innings and 47 runs. The main destroyers were openers Rennie and Flower, each matching the other with 137 runs a piece in an opening stand of 280 runs.
Despite good contributions by Gurusinha in the first innings (135) and Tillakaratne in the second (66*), the Sri Lankans were never in the match. The bowling and fielding were appalling, and the batting little better. Significant improvement and a great deal of fortitude will be necessary for the Sri Lankans to come back with a positive result against Dan Thomas' powerhouse English team.
Making the task even more difficult is Sri Lanka's continuing injury woes. Although bolstered by the return of de Silva, the twin loss of Muralitharan and Tillakaratne, as well as the continuing absence of Mahanama will certainly make life difficult for the Sri Lankan team. Silva and de Silva will return to the side for the newly injured players. Thankfully, the injuries are minor, and all injured players are expected to be back for Sri Lanka's sixth round match against New Zealand.
WEST INDIES - Manager: Joshua Johnson
WARWICK TODD'S XI CONTINUES IT'S RUN OF GOOD FORM
The Warwick Todd XI continued its run of extremely good batting form at Bridgetown to completely destroy the West Indian line-up. Centuries by both Wood (111) and Border (108) and half centuries by the top 5 batsmen ensured a big total for the visitors. The West Indian bowlers could do nothing to stem the flow of runs over the first two days. The best (if that is what you could call it) of the bowling came from Walsh (5/125), Ambrose (2/110) and newcomer to the squad Cuffy who took an impressive 3/95 against a formidable line-up. The visitors were eventually dismissed for a fine first innings score of 595.
The first innings started dreadfully for the W.I. with the first 5 batsmen amassing a total of 83 combined! Lara (6) and Adams (1) continued their run of bad form. The only highlight of the innings from the West Indians perspective was Junior Murray's cautious century before he was dismissed for 103. The side was eventually dismissed for 278 through some great bowling by Greg Matthews who took 5/70.
The WTXI enforced the follow-on and with a target of 317 runs to avoid the innings defeat the West Indians were expecting to become the next innings-defeat victim of the WTXI. But some gutsy batting by the middle order ensured the visitors would have to bat again for the victory. An unfortunate dismissal on 99 for Chanderpaul destroyed his chance at scoring his first century in this competition. Some great pace from Craig McDermott (5/91) eventually dismissed the West Indies for 335, with the WTXI requiring 19 runs for victory. This came at the cost of 1 wicket with the dismissal of Wood for a duck.
When questioned about the defeat West Indian coach said "I don't know what it is about those old fellas, but they can sure still hit a cricket ball. Once again our batting side top order failed to fire and as a result our 3rd loss is registered. With next week's game being played against Australia who have just scored their first victory in this competition, it is hoped that the boys will get some much needed batting practice and score a much needed win."
ZIMBABWE - Manager: Dave Hickey
Zimbabwe climbed into third place on the ladder after a convincing win over the previously undefeated Sri Lanka in Round 4 of Warwick Todd's World Test Cricket Championship.
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat and were dismissed for 342. After earlier being 3/229, Sri Lanka probably would have liked to have made a few more. Zimbabwe replied with a 280 opening stand before eventually declaring at 9/606. Sri Lanka struggled in their 2nd innings and when they were all out for 217 they had lost the match by an innings and 47 runs.
Zimbabwe manager Dave Hickey was delighted by his team's performance which he rated as "the best by any team so far in this competition." He was later rocked by the news that star batsman Gavin Rennie and captain Alistair Campbell would both miss the crucial Warwick Todd Trophy match next week against Warwick Todd's XI.
"Yes, we do fancy our chances in this tournament but it will be tough without these guys" offered Hickey. "But we are in good touch, so anything is possible."
The Warwick Todd v Zimbabwe clash is shaping up as a very good match. With many experts already declaring the Championship to be a two-horse race between Warwick Todd's XI and England, Zimbabwe will be keen to give a good account of themselves to keep their title hopes alive.
WARWICK TODD'S XI - Manager: Warwick Todd
"Another week, another victory - pass the Esky, please!"
Rumours of complacency in the Warwick Todd XI camp were hotly denied this week by captain-manager Warwick Todd after their Round 4 victory against the West Indies.
The feature of the Warwick Todd XI performances so far has been their powerful 1st innings batting and this week was no exception. Batting first, they made a mammoth 595, with centuries to Wood and Border. The Windies made a shaky start before recording 278 in their first innings and then 335 in their second. Marsh, Wood and Jones then wiped off the necessary 19 runs for victory to retain the Warwick Todd Trophy.
The Todd XI return to Sydney next week to defend the trophy against Zimbabwe. As none of the Todd XI have ever played Zimbabwe before, they are entitled to be a little wary. However, given that they have shown no respect to any bowling attack so far, it is unlikely that they will be worrying about the inexperienced Zimbabwe line-up.