AUSTRALIA - Manager: Mustafa Khan

THE PREDICTION IN GENERAL COMES TRUE

Australia fail to defeat rivals England on home soil. The English take the game quite easily. England, going in to bat first really did not get a great start but the brilliance of Thorpe was the finisher. He took England to a grand mark of 400 with a brilliant 188, where at the beginning it looked impossible. The England innings should have come to a cheap end but Thorpe, with the help of Hick and Ramprakash, took control of the bowlers. Off-spinner Gavin Robertson got figures of 5-124. The most impressive fact about England's batting was that they lasted for a heck of a long time, frustrating the bowlers completely as all the bowlers had to bowl very long spells.

The 1st Australian innings was not that bad as the team put on 343 with Steve Waugh making 111 and Mark Waugh 81, but it was not enough. The bowling was too weak and there was not much the demoralized batsmen could do. Life was difficult against a good attack consisting of Croft, Cork and Gough.

Aussie captain Shane Warne has passed the fitness test so is playing for the match against New Zealand. The Aussie captain said "I was really looking forward to the match against England as I have performed well against the English side. Well now that I am finally back. We really want to make up for the humiliating defeat by performing well against New Zealand."

Ian Healy is suffering from a loss of feeling on the right arm after receiving a nasty blow on the arm while batting. He is expected back after 3 weeks. Darren Lehmann is also out for about a week as he has to attend to a personal function.

The team and manager is looking forward to the match against New Zealand where they feel they can make up for the disastrous performance against England.

ENGLAND - Manager: Dan Thomas

England continued their winning streak with an Ashes victory. After the euphoria of beating the Warwick Todd XI, England did not relax and defeated Australia by 212 runs.

The decision to alter the batting order to allow Thorpe to hopefully play himself back into form worked a treat. The Surrey left-hander stroked a masterclass 188 supported in the main by Hick (93) and Ramprakash (67) as England amassed 457.

In reply Australia were looking very well placed at 283-3 with Steve Waugh (111), Mark Waugh (81), Ponting (53) and Healy (55) scoring freely. Croft, though, pegged back the Aussies and they collapsed to 343 all out.

England extended their lead in the 2nd innings scoring 304 with everyone bar Thorpe getting into double figures and Hick getting a second 50 in the match. Requiring 419 to win Australia were never in the hunt as Gough, Cork and and Croft all took 3 wickets each.

The only bad point from the test was an injury to Ramprakash which means a recall for Robin Smith for the home test against India.

Warwick Todd's XI got back into the normal swing of things thrashing New Zealand by an innings. They are only 7 points behind England and with bonus points likely to play a big part to deciding the final champions, they crucially have 8 more batting points than England.

INDIA - Manager: Mat Kenneally

NEW ZEALAND - Manager: Ben Buchanan

PAKISTAN - Manager: Nathan Porter

SOUTH AFRICA - Manager: Steve Hill

SRI LANKA - Manager: Keith McLeod

Another loss for Sri Lanka, and they're relegated firmly into the middle of the table. "It isn't out of the realms of possibility for us to win the comp from here", manager Keith McLeod said in a press conference yesterday, "but it would take a major effort over the rest of the season." That effort will need to start this weekend as Sri Lanka take on the tough Warwick Todd XI, in a match which has been dubbed 'Mission Impossible' by many commentators here in Sri Lanka.

"Words like 'geriatric' and 'over-the-hill' have been bandied around with reference to the Warwick Todd team, not to mention words like 'drunken', 'imbecilic', and 'obnoxious'", said McLeod. "I can't comment on the latter, but the former is certainly not the case. They will be a tough nut to crack, and the loss to Pakistan hasn't been the best preparation for us."

Few positives can be taken out of the Pakistan match. The batting in particular lacked commitment, and the Sri Lankan team looked lethargic in most facets of play. In saying that however, heart can be gained from the strong performance of the bowlers, particularly pace bowler Nuwan Zoysa, who had a fine game in a generally respectable all-round Sri Lankan bowling performance.

When asked to sum up the prospects of the Sri Lankan team this week, McLeod had this to say, "We're dead meat. No chance. We might as well give them the points now." Some may say an overly negative response, but one can't help but sense that there may be some truth in these fatalistic words.

Sri Lanka, good luck, you're going to need it.

WEST INDIES - Manager: Joshua Johnson

The second win of the series was finally achieved by the West Indies against a terribly out of form South Africa. The South Africans won the toss and decided to bat on a pitch that looked as if it may start to deteriorate quite early in the test. As it turns out only Kirsten (92) was able to hang around for any real length of time with most of the middle order managing to make a start, but failing to make big scores. The man of the match, Curtly Ambrose, came up with his best performance of the series, taking 7/59 and almost single-handedly limiting the South Africans to a first innings total of 288.

The West Indies began their first innings well, with a 75 run partnership between Campbell and Williams. Great centuries from Campbell (167) and Lara (105) were the backbone of the innings and together they shared in a 154 run 3rd wicket partnership. The team was eventually dismissed for 424, with a first innings lead of 136.

The South Africans began the second innings confidently with a first wicket partnership of 115, but they were quickly left at 3/116. Good innings by Kirsten (63) and Cronje (82) were enough to drag the team to a second innings score of 319. Under the circumstances this score was quite good and the West Indian bowlers were frustrated in the attempt to quickly dismiss the South Africans. Ambrose was again the leading wicket taker with figures of 4/86, taking his match wicket tally to 11.

With only 184 runs required for victory, it would have been easy to say that the West Indies would have no problems. But given recent form and some of the innings totals in previous matches, nothing was guaranteed. The South Africans got the start they wanted, reducing the West Indies to 3/66. A partnership between Lara (51) and Chanderpaul (60*) steadied things and the West Indies eventually managed the win with 6 wickets to spare.

The major loss of the match was the hand injury to Campbell after his great innings of 167 in the first innings. He will definitely be missing for the next match and will be replaced by the out of form Samuels, who can hopefully make up for his performances in the first few matches. The team takes on the in-form Pakistan who now reside 3rd on the ladder. Hopefully this win will spur on the boys, as they have the talent, they just need to make a few runs. Well we'll see what we can do against the Pakistanis.

ZIMBABWE - Manager: Dave Hickey

Zimbabwe cricket was in crisis today after Zimbabwe's Round 7 loss to 4th placed India. Zimbabwe have now lost their last three matches and have slumped from 3rd place to now be in 7th place, just four points clear of 8th placed West Indies. The Zimbabwe Cricket Union had high expectations coming into this series and inside sources have indicated that they are quickly running out of patience with the inconsistency of their team. Manager Dave Hickey's position is not yet believed to be in danger, but further losses will no doubt strengthen the rumours which are beginning to circulate.

"I am only concerned about the performances on the field" Hickey offered. "Clearly, we are a better team than our position on the ladder indicates and we are all very determined to turn things around in the weeks ahead." Hickey refused to blame injuries for Zimbabwe's plight, saying "Yeah, sure we've had a bad run with injuries, but that is going to happen. Good teams rise above that and our replacements should have been able to do the job."

Zimbabwe lost the toss and India elected to bat. They batted very cautiously and reached 0/60 at lunch. The scoring rate increased marginally in the second session as the Indian batsmen took a few risks. Zimbabwe made the most of this and at tea India were 4/147. Led by Jadeja, India took control in the final session and at stumps were 6/250. The Zimbabwe bowlers struggled again the next morning and despite claiming the last 3 wickets cheaply, India had got away from them to reach 357.

With in-form opener Gavin Rennie still on the injured list, skipper Alistair Campbell (himself just back from injury) decided to spare Andy Flower the strain of opening and went in first with Grant Flower. Unfortunately, constant changes to the batting order have created instability and uncertainty and Zimbabwe were quickly in trouble and were finally rolled for 119. This score was looking worse before Adam Huckle added a quickfire 25 at the end to boost the score over 100.

Forced to follow-on, Zimbabwe's 2nd innings was steady with all of the top order reaching double figures. Unfortunately, none of the batsmen could go on to make the big score needed to rescue Zimbabwe and when their innings ended at 293, India only required 56 runs to win. The Zimbabwe batsmen could not come to terms with the pace of Javagal Srinath who took 11 wickets for the match.

India lost three wickets in reaching their target to record their third win on the trot.

Zimbabwe next week will host South Africa in the African local derby. South Africa are also in a form slump, having lost their last seven matches. They are overdue for a win and they are bound to being gearing up for a big showing against their neighbours. This is a "must-win" match for Zimbabwe if they wish to get back on track for the rest of the series.

WARWICK TODD'S XI - Manager: Warwick Todd

After a week of drinking warm beer in England, Warwick Todd's XI returned to the familiar surroundings (and cold VB) of the Sydney Cricket Ground for their Round 7 clash against "cellar-dwellers" New Zealand. New Zealand won the toss and surprised everyone by inviting the Todd XI to bat first, but at 4/145 they would have been quite pleased with themselves.

Unfortunately for the Kiwis, the Todd batsmen returned to form with a vengeance. Successive partnerships between Todd and Border (132 runs), Todd and Matthews (115 runs) and Todd and Zoehrer (121 runs) quickly advanced the score to 6/513. Todd made his second double century of the series to finsih on 259 and the Todd XI innings ended soon after for 565.

By this stage, New Zealand were completely demoralised and despite a steady start, their innings ended on 176 as Craig McDermott claimed 7 wickets.

Following on, the Kiwis again made a steady start but once again wickets tumbled and when New Zealand were all out for 149 the Todd XI had won by an innings and 240 runs.

Having lost last week to England, the Todd XI are aware of the importance of bonus points in the coming matches. However, a proposal for bonus points to be awarded for beers consumed or practical jokes played is sure to fall on deaf ears. This week the Todd XI return to the sub-continent to play the hot and cold Sri Lankan team. The Todd XI's injury worries continue this week with Merv Hughes the latest victim of post match celebrations getting out of hand. He is expected to be out of action for just one week as he recovers from injuries received in falling from the Members Stand balcony. The balcony is expected to be out of action for three weeks.