With its best efforts at emulating Lazarus receiving another emphatic expression in the process, Tasmania has today swept to an innings and 76 run crushing of Western Australia here at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart.

Though this may have been Australia's national day, New Zealanders' cricketers were again the ones with cause for celebration as another enchanting victory came their way in the VB Series today

In the sort of arm-wrestle that befitted a battle between finals aspirants, Tasmania and Western Australia played out a fluctuating opening day of their Pura Cup clash in Hobart today

It was at about this time last season that Australian cricket lost another of its most dedicated servants in Tom Moody

Paul Reiffel's distinguished first-class career has come to an end today with the news that the Victorian captain has decided to retire with immediate effect.

Michael Slater's disastrous season took another turn for the worse today when selectors axed him from the New South Wales team to play Victoria in a Pura Cup match starting in Sydney on Friday.

Australia's selectors have today embarked on the unexpected step of removing Matthew Hayden from the squad that will play out the remainder of the VB Series of one-day international matches against New Zealand and South Africa.

What shaped as a David and Goliath battle was transformed into the Shane and Sean show as two outstanding young players helped Tasmania slay Queensland by an innings and 50 runs in an amazing finish to the teams' Pura Cup clash here in Hobart today.

David Saker and Shane Jurgensen are known predominantly as fast bowlers

South Africa has today prolonged a proud unbeaten record in limited-overs matches against New Zealand that stretches all the way back to February 1999

Tasmania's selectors have reacted to their team's dismal recent form by swinging the axe today, dropping three of the state's most experienced players from the side to play Queensland in a Pura Cup match in Hobart starting on Thursday.

Vice-captain Adam Gilchrist has withdrawn from Australia's team to play New Zealand in the day-night clash in Sydney on Thursday.

The last time a Queensland team played a one-day match in Hobart, it suffered a crushing loss that effectively ended the state's limited-overs season

Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist is set to make history today by becoming the first international cricketer to carry commercial sponsorship on his bat.

If this New Zealand team was a racehorse, it would probably need to be swabbed

Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath has been charged with dissent following an incident in tonight's one-day international match against New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Fast bowler Brad Williams and the use of bonus points will feature in an Australian one-day international for the first time when the home team takes on New Zealand in the opening match of the VB Series tomorrow.

New South Wales and Australian batsman Michael Bevan has been named as Leicestershire's overseas professional for the 2002 county cricket season.

Test leg spinner Stuart MacGill has today been named captain of a new-look New South Wales team for this week's vital ING Cup match against South Australia.

Most recent attempts at staging cricket matches in Tasmania have been aborted because of rain, but the sun finally returned to bless one of its venues today