The ICC has announced that the winner of the India-Pakistan series, to be decided in the fifth one-dayer on March 24, will be ranked higher than the other in the ICC ODI championship table.At present, Pakistan is ranked fifth with 107 points, and India and England are just behind on 106 points. If India win the series, they will climb to fifth, with 107 points, and Pakistan will go down to 106. If Pakistan win, they will go to 108, with India slipping to 105. If the series – and the final match, of course – is tied, then the status quo will be maintained.Australia, of course, head the table, with a mammoth 135 points.

Zimbabwe A 294 and 306 for 8 dec (Gripper 97, Utseya 89, Chandana 4-80) drew with Sri Lankans 461
ScorecardAn impressive batting performance by Zimbabwe A enabled them to draw their three-day match against the touring Sri Lankans at the Takashinga club in Harare. Resuming on 28 for 1, the A team batted throughout the day, declaring shortly before the close at 306 for 8.The overnight pair, Trevor Gripper and the nightwatchman Prosper Utseya, more or less made the game safe by extending their second-wicket partnership to 193. Gripper dropped anchor in characteristic fashion, batting for four minutes over four hours and hitting 16 fours. He missed his century by just three runs when he was bowled by the legspinner Upul Chandana for 97.Such trademark resistance was expected of Gripper, but Utseya’s fine knock was more of a surprise. Only just 19, he slammed eight fours and three sixes in a career-best 89, which lasted 193 minutes – not bad for someone whose first-class average before this match was a modest 16.55.Mark Vermeulen (26 in 57 minutes) and Sean Ervine (27 in 55) ensured there would be no embarrassing collapse, while Heath Streak batted for more than an hour for his unbeaten 24. He was still there when the declaration ended the match with Zimbabwe a 139 ahead and no time for ther Sri Lankans to bat.Chandana took four wickets, and there was a rare scalp for Kumar Sangakkara, who usually keeps wicket but handed over the gloves to Prasanna Jayawardene in this match.The first Test starts at the Harare Sports Club on Thursday (May 6). It remains to be seen how many – if any – of Zimbabwe’s so-called rebel players are selected.

After the disappointment of losing Shane Watson to warmer climes of Queensland, there was better news for Tasmanian cricket today, as their fast bowler Adam Griffith agreed to a two-year extension to his contract."The Tasmania Cricket Association strives to keep Tasmanian-born players in the state," said their chief executive, David Johnston. "We welcome Adam’s decision to remain in with the Tigers, and he has agreed to a two-year contract."Griffith, a tall fast-medium bowler, burst onto the scene in 2002-03. He was immediately identified as a player of the future and was included on an Australian assimilation tour to India. Injury interrupted his season in 2003-04, but not before he had represented Australia A in two one-day internationals against India and Zimbabwe."Adam is a quality bowler," added Johnston. "and we hope he continues to impress and build upon his Australian A representation last season.Griffith himself was delighted with the deal. "It was a fairly simple decision at the end of the day as I decided the Tasmanian baggy green cap was the one I wanted to play for. I am a Tasmanian-born player and I couldn’t see myself playing for anyone else. By signing for two years, it not only gives me security but shows Tasmania and the TCA that I am committed for the next two seasons, and hopefully for the remainder of my career."

Sri Lanka’s cricket authorities are adamant that the Asia Cup will proceed as planned, despite Wednesday’s suicide bombing in Colombo that killed five people.The Asia Cup, in which the Test nations of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will be joined by the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, is set to begin on July 16, and continue for a fortnight.But Ray Illangakoon, a spokesman for the Sri Lanka Cricket Board, told BBC Sport that there was no threat of cancellation. “It is not a bad situation here. Not one cricket board has approached us and asked for a re-scheduling of the tournament.” he said, adding that extra security would be provided on request, although no team had yet seen fit to do so."Security is a matter of concern," added SK Nair, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, “though it was not discussed at the selectors meeting. We will be coordinating with the Sri Lankan board on this issue.”

England’s players have been given until the end of the Champions Trophy this weekend to decide whether they are prepared to tour Zimbabwe next month. The deadline follows the announcement by Steve Harmison yesterday that he was not willing to take part in the trip.The official line of the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) is that no more withdrawals are expected, but newspapers today are reporting that several players, most notably Andrew Flintoff, are having serious doubts.Flintoff was one of the players who was adamant that England should not travel to Harare during the last World Cup, and given that the situation there has not improved – and arguably has deteriorated – it is conceivable that he might join Harmison. Flintoff became a father earlier this month, something which is likely to have hardened his stance further.Insiders say that about half of the 15-man squad were against playing in Zimbabwe last year, and Harmison’s comments in his News of the World column hinted that there were still serious reservations. “My decision was made in Cape Town over 18 months ago when England’s World Cup squad spent an horrendous four days before finally deciding not to go to Harare,” he wrote. “Nothing has changed for me. The situation there is worse now.”Richard Bevan, the chairman of the PCA, said that no other cricketers had flagged with him that they were considering withdrawing. “If any player does have an issue for personal conscience reasons, he’s already been told he doesn’t have to travel,” Bevan told the BBC. “That’s not to say the ECB or anybody else is ignoring the issues going on in Zimbabwe and certainly this will not be treated as a normal tour. I think the majority of players will be going and will be supporting the ECB. But let’s wait until the selectors have picked a side.”

Western Australia lost a cricketing icon when Ken Meuleman passed away on Friday night at Hollywood Private Hospital in Perth after a battle with bone cancer.Meuleman, who turned 81 last Sunday, is synonymous with Western Australian cricket as three generations of Meulemans represented the state. Ken, his son Robert and grandson Scott all played for them over seven decades.Ken Meuleman began his cricketing career in Victoria where he played six seasons of first-class cricket and one Test match, against New Zealand in 1946 where he made a duck in his only innings.He moved to Western Australia in 1952 and immediately became a star in the team. In 48 matches, he made 3398 runs at an average of 51.48 with 11 centuries, 13 half-centuries and a top score of 234 not out.Meuleman was a strong supporter of grass roots cricket and coached for many years after his retirement. He had a direct hand in the development in many of Western Australia’s finest Test cricketers including current Australian opener Justin Langer.

Ricky Ponting
On the match
It has been a huge turnaround for us. We almost ambled through the first two days, not playing anywhere near our best, and then played two of the best days of cricket that you’re ever likely to see. It reminded us how we can play, and how we should play.Whether the first two days were a hangover from India
Maybe, I don’t know. On the first two sessions of the first day we played well, we might have run out of steam at the end of the day. We had a bit of a think about our tactics and we changed the way we bowled in the second innings.On New Zealand’s performance
They were very competitive for the first two days. Jacob Oram turned the game around in their favour on day two, and I thought they bowled well. But quite often our best qualities come out when our backs are to the wall. Adam and Michael [Clarke] changed the game for us, then Jason and Glenn [McGrath] drove a few nails in.On the final partnership “killing them off”
That had a lot to do with it. You could see their body language change. Tailenders scoring runs can be pretty demoralising. What it gave us was momentum to play well for the rest of the game.On batting on this morning
I was happy for them to bat as long as they could and keep New Zealand in the field a bit longer.On the clash between Gilchrist and Craig McMillan
It was just a spur-of-the-moment five-second thing over the course of a four-day game – a slight difference of opinions. We were pretty confident that he nicked that ball, and he was telling us that he might not have.On the argument continuing after the game
They just had a bit of a chat, it’s all part of the game. It’s all done and dusted.On what happened when McMillan stood his ground
Generally when there’s one that we think might be out and a batsman is standing his ground, quite often you are going to receive words. It happened in our innings with Justin Langer, and there’s no big deal being made of that.On there being animosity between the teams
No, not at all. I thought the game was played in an extremely good spirit.

On walking
That’s not our philosophy at all. We’ve got one player on our side that walks. I think the whole walking thing has been blown completely out of proportion. Adam doesn’t expect that of anyone else, he doesn’t expect anyone else to walk. It’s pretty simple. The whole thing seems very complicated.On accepting the word of the fieldsman
It’s something I’ve tried to do in all my series as captain and I brought it up at the referee’s meeting before the series. Flem [Stephen Fleming] and I had some discussion before the game and on the morning of day two: he made it clear that most of his players were happy to go along and a few weren’t.Jason Gillespie
On his wacky half-century celebration
I was just having a bit of a laugh. I told a few clubmates at the mighty Adelaide Buffalos that if I ever got a Test fifty I’d ride my bat like the little person did in Happy Gilmore.On getting a Test fifty
It’s a good laugh – but I probably got more pleasure out of Glenn getting his than mine, because it was totally unexpected.On sensing if New Zealand would capitulate
When talking to Glenn we thought the wicket was playing well because we were getting runs, and we thought it would be a pretty hard slog. Glenn got a couple of early ones and the momentum was with us, we got a few wickets and that was the end of it.

Shane Watson and Andrew Symonds will return to the Queensland team for their one-day match against Victoria on Friday at the Gabba. Both Watson and Symonds were in the Australian squad for the Chappell-Hadlee series against New Zealand, which ended last week. Aaron Nye and Daniel Payne have been omitted from the 12.Meanwhile, the selectors decided to leave out Martin Love from the line-up. Love had been forced to miss the earlier games after breaking his finger in the first ING Cup match of the season, but had been cleared to play last week.Queensland haven’t lost a one-day game this season and lead the points table six points clear of second-placed Tasmania, while Victoria are in third place.Squad
Jimmy Maher (capt), James Hopes, Clinton Perren, Shane Watson, Andrew Symonds, Craig Philipson, Chris Hartley, Andy Bichel, Ashley Noffke, Nathan Hauritz, Shane Jurgensen, Brendan Nash.

The venues of the three Tests and five one-day internationals for Pakistan’s tour of India, which starts next month, have been announced. According to the rotation policy followed by the Indian board, Delhi, Mohali and Ahmedabad were in line to host the Tests. However, with Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium still undergoing renovation, Bangalore got the opportunity to stage its second Test of the season, having hosted the Australians in October.Pakistan, who will arrive on February 25, will also play a five-match one-day series in Kochi, Vishakapatnam, Kanpur, Jamshedpur and New Delhi. Though the dates for the matches have been announced, the order in which they will be played will be decided only after the Indian government cleared the itinerary.Ahmedabad could come under scrutiny from Pakistani security experts after the state of Gujarat was hit by communal riots as recently as three years ago. According to Kamal Morarka, chairman of the fixtures committee of the BCCI, “It is up to the government to consider since it is an India-Pakistan matter. A Pakistan security team will tour the venues before their cricket board gives its approval.”India currently have nine Test venues, with each ground given an opportunity on a rotation basis. Of these nine, six have already hosted a Test in the 2004-05 season – Bangalore, Chennai, Nagpur and Mumbai staged Tests against Australia, while South Africa played at Kanpur and Kolkata.The last time Pakistan toured India, in 1998-99, Delhi hosted a historic match in which Anil Kumble took all ten wickets in Pakistan’s second innings and guided India to a huge win. That was Pakistan’s second loss in four Tests in Delhi. Given their record in Bangalore – two draws and a win in three matches – Pakistan would be only too happy to skip Delhi and play in Bangalore instead.Pakistan will start the tour with a three-day warm-up game from February 27, while the first Test will start on March 4.

Graeme Smith will miss the third and final match of the one-day series against Zimbabwe, at Port Elizabeth on Wednesday (March 2), to rest his injured ankle.Smith, who cracked 117 – his highest ODI score – in the second match at Durban today, which South Africa won to clinch the three-match series, has pulled out after receiving medical advice about his injury.Shaun Pollock, who missed the first two matches with an ankle injury of his own, will also sit out the third game, as will Jacques Kallis and Makhaya Ntini. All four are expected to be fit to play in the first Test against Zimbabwe, which starts at Cape Town next Friday (March 4).Nicky Boje, the vice-captain, will skipper South Africa in the final ODI against Zimbabwe.