AUSTRALIA - Manager: Mustafa Khan

A DISAPPOINTING FINISH FOR THE HOST AUSTRALIA TO AN EXCITING TEST

The Melbourne Cricket Ground was the host to a spectacular test match. The home side the top favourites went down to the underdogs Zimbabwe by only a mere 25 runs.

Shane Warne's luck favoured him as usual and he won the toss for Australia and shockingly put Zimbabwe in. On a good batting strip it raised a few questions. A curious Geoffrey Boycott asked the Australian captain about his choice and Warne said in reply "Yeah, I do think this is a good batting pitch and bowlers will have to work hard but with the overcast conditions we want to make the best of the morning moisture and movement."

The Australians surprised the world as Shane Warne gave himself the new ball!! Shane and Glenn started things off very well as they had Zimbabwe on the back foot, at 2-12. Murray Goodwin and David Houghton steadied the innings. Murray made 83 and Dave 40 and Craig Wishart made an important 43. Warne was not as successful as he would have liked but ended up with figures of 3-79. McGrath bagged 3 wickets and Robertson and Bevan took 2 each.

The Australian 1st innings was really bad as they were all out for 162. They played 93.5 overs for those. The new ball bowlers captured 3 wickets each and the two leg-spinners Strang and Huckle got 2 each.

The Australians were determined to really put Zimbabwe out as they once again made Warne open the bowling with McGrath and he bowled non-stop from one end and kept taking wickets and giving no runs at all. Warne came up with his best figures of the year in test cricket and the Todd league with:

The bowling was phenomenal, ending up with figures of 80.3-37-119-10. Warne has come back from his injuries in style as his league stats read:

He went for under a run an over and only Andy Flower and Wishart were able to give some resistance. The thing to look at there is the economy, 2.14 an over in present day test cricket is amazing.

Their innings ended with just 167 on the board leaving Australia just 227 for victory but who knew it would be too much.

Matthew Elliot played an innings full of defiance when he collected 56 off 348 balls with just one boundary. This must have been the slowest 50 of the league. He got it in a massive span of 288 balls. He watched the whole batting line-up collapse in front of him and he had nothing to do. The Australians falling short by 25 runs and Adam Huckle who received the MVP award ahead of Shane Warne was responsible for the dismissal taking fine figures of 6-54.

Australia meet England in England this week and hope for positive results.

ENGLAND - Manager: Dan Thomas

The England management have now become big fans of Pakistan. This is despite their recent loss to them. The reason for this sudden change of allegiance is that Pakistan will play Warwick Todd's XI in Round 18. If they repeat the form they showed against England and beat Warwick Todd's XI, it is possible England can still win the championship.

An injury to Cork means Fraser is drafted in for this weeks Ashes clash.

INDIA - Manager: Mat Kenneally

"WE'RE BACK"

Indian skipper Saurev Ganguly echoed the feeling of many fans of Indian cricket as the side won their second game on the trot. The incredible form of Dravid and Tendulkar continued with Srinath and Kumble leading the bowling attack. However, manager Mathew Kenneally was adamant the side would not be fit to be considered a good side if they don't beat Zimbabwe this weekend. Mathew referred to this weeks game as "a battle for credibility."

With Mongia out, the pressure on Dravid will mount, however Azharuddin is rediscovering his form.

NEW ZEALAND - Manager: Ben Buchanan

New Zealand hit back against Sri Lanka today with a hard fought 86 run win. After winning the toss New Zealand amassed a respectable total of 378 giving them a good platform for the rest of the match. Fleming (83) and Howell (65) batted well. Zoysa and Muralitharan both claimed 3 wickets.

Sri Lanka's innings started off badly and was only rescued by Dharmesana (61) and Tillekeratne (47) late in their innings. They finished at 286 with Chris Cairns taking 6 wickets. This gave the Kiwis a lead of 94. They then raced to a handy lead with both openers, Spearman (62) and Howell (59) scoring freely. Sri Lanka then hit back and reduced New Zealand to 236 giving themselves a chance of victory.

However Sri Lanka fell short in the end with Cairns and Vettori claiming 4 wickets each. Sri Lanka were dismissed for 242 losing by 86 runs. Chris Cairns was outstanding taking 10 wickets for the match as was Llorne Howell with the bat. This win gives confidence to the team as they try to do the impossible and beat the Todd XI.

Pocock and Astle will be missing from the team next week due to injury.

PAKISTAN - Manager: Nathan Porter

SOUTH AFRICA - Manager: Steve Hill

SRI LANKA - Manager: Keith McLeod

WEST INDIES - Manager: Joshua Johnson

This week's match saw the West Indies come back from their massive defeat at the hands of the Australians to show some form in their match against India in Calcutta.

As in the Australian match the West Indian attack allowed the game to slip away in the first innings as the Indian scored 525. Dravid played some magnificent cricket to score 198 and had good support from Tendulkar who made 86.

In response to this huge first innings total the West Indians played more composed cricket than we have seen in the past. Williams and Murray provided the backbone of the 402 runs, scoring 102 and 91 respectively. The great spin of Kumble providing the major problems as he took 4 wickets. With a first innings lead of 123 the Indians looked quite comfortable but some attack from Ambrose left a very small chance of victory for the West Indies. A century from Tendulkar and 81 from Dravid provided the majority of the Indian runs as they were all out for 299, leaving the improbable target of 422 runs for a West Indian victory.

Unfortunately the West Indies were not up to the task and were all out for 305, 117 runs short of victory. Adams played brilliantly to score 139, but to no avail.

A niggling injury means the in-form Williams will miss the next match against the bottom of the league South Africa. Cuffy has been dropped to provide a little extra batting power in the tail end and Rose has come in to replace him. Samuels also returns to the side to replace the injured Williams.

ZIMBABWE - Manager: Dave Hickey

After recently beating Sri Lanka to stake a claim for fourth place, Zimbabwe this week faced an in-form Australian team who were also keen to continue their recent rise up the ladder. Rookie captain Shane Warne won the toss, asked Zimbabwe to bat and promptly gave himself the first over. Once again the Zimbabwe openers went quickly to bring in the reliable duo of Goodwin and Houghton, who took the score from 2/12 to 2/103. Wishart added further valuable runs with the tail to take Zimbabwe's first innings total to 221.

Australia batted very cautiously, taking no chances against some very tight bowling. Only Elliott and Mark Waugh made more than 20 as Australia were restricted to 162.

With a 59 run lead, Zimbabwe also started cautiously but when they lost their first wicket in the 12th over, they had not added a run. Andy Flower eventually got the scoring going, with support from Wishart and Rennie. Zimbabwe made 167 to leave Australia 227 for victory with a day and a half to go. Australia were confident that they could reach this small target but Zimbabwe knew that to do so Australia would have to pull out the biggest innings of the match. Warne again opened the bowling and finished with 7/40 in a shameless bid to claim the Australian bowling award.

Australia again batted slowly, scoring at just over one run per over. At one stage it appeared that Australia were going to be happy to bat out time for the draw. At 3/151 Australia were headed for victory but Adam Huckle decided to take on Warne in the leg spin bowling competition. Huckle went through the Australian middle order to finish with 6/54 to leave Australia 25 runs short of their target.

Next week Zimbabwe will take on India in another attempt to gain revenge for a first round loss. Since losing to India in Round 7, Zimbabwe have won 7 out of their last 8 games, losing only to competition leaders England. Zimbabwe manager Dave Hickey believes that his team can complete the season without another loss and maybe just sneak into the top three.

WARWICK TODD'S XI - Manager: Warwick Todd

Round 15 finally saw the long-awaited top-of-the-table clash between England and Warwick Todd's XI, with the winner almost certainly guaranteed to take out the Championship.

England won the toss and stunned everyone by inviting the Todd XI to bat first. The Todd XI batting has been sensational in Sydney, often racking up scores well over 400 to seal victory on Day 1. Clearly, Stewart had great faith in his bowling attack and a very even battle between bat and ball ensued. Todd topscored for the home side with 51, with support from Ritchie, Matthews, Border and Jones as the Todd XI made 217.

With an hour and a half to bat, England made a steady start and were well-positioned at 1/51 as stumps approached. They then lost Stewart and Thorpe in successive overs to end the day at 3/54, with two nightwatchman at the crease. The next day the Todd XI expected to quickly get amongst the wickets. Tufnell survived for only 20 minutes but Cork was still sticking around at the other end. He outlasted Hussain and Hick before becoming the 7th wicket to fall with the score on 99. Ramprakash and Rhodes came together and added 65 and then Ramprakash and Croft added another 20. England eventually reached 188, with Ramprakash unbeaten on 57.

With a first innings lead of 29, Marsh and Wood took control of the match with a 101 run opening partnership. Wood and Jones added another 104 as the England bowlers struggled against the aggressive batting. Cork finally found some line and length and picked up three quick wickets. Croft joined in with four wickets, but the damage had been done - the Todd XI now led by 377.

England lost Atherton in the half hour before stumps but the next day good partnerships bewteen Stewart and Cork, Stewart and Thorpe and Thorpe and Hussain kept their innings on track. Then at 3/154, a terrible mix-up occurred, resulting in the run out of Thorpe. Clearly shaken by this, Hussain could not add any further runs and England then lost Hick, Ramprakash and Rhodes in quick succession as they slumped to 8/170. With almost no chance of victory remaining, Gough, Croft and Tufnell defied the attack for over two hours, taking the match into the 5th day and adding a further 92 runs.

However, by this stage the victory party had already started, and as Merv Hughes, Greg Ritchie and Warwick Todd attempted to console the Poms, Boonie led a rousing chorus of "Under The Southern Cross" over the PA. Manager/Captain Warwick Todd then grabbed the microphone to make a stirring speech about the reluctance of the Australian selectors to pick players over the age of 30 "when clearly their best cricket is ahead of them." Unfortunately, most of his speech cannot be printed here, suffice to say that a further addition to the Todd match fine account is likely.