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The International Cricket Council's (ICC) high performance manager Bob Woolmer has cited the rise of Sri Lanka from being a nobody to becoming a somebody in world cricket by winning the World Cup in 1996 as a perfect example to the four teams he is entrusted with to assist on the way to the 2003 World Cup. Says Woolmer in his progress report to the ICC: "In recent cricketing history a prime example of rapid development is that of Sri Lanka cricket, so much so that from 1976 when I first toured there, to 1996. In 20 years they went from a minor affiliate to World Cup champions. They are indeed a wonderful example to Kenya, Namibia, Canada and Holland of what can be achieved. While in reality it will be difficult to compete against the larger countries there are great possibilities with the aforementioned".

"The one-day game holds many challenges and often many surprises as we have witnessed over the years, so it may not be beyond the realms of reality that the next World Cup could see more surprises. How are we going to approach these challenges, well we will start by looking at the major cricketing nations and what makes them as good as they are. Apart from the experience of playing regularly against top opposition, each country has in place a variety of structures that insure a continuous production line, from junior schools to Test level. They have clearly defined paths to the top and they have coach education programs that ensure good teaching practices and sound basics from a young age," wrote Woolmer.

While Sri Lanka have reached the pinnacle of one-day international cricket, they are currently striving to achieve similar success in the longer game - the ICC Test Championships.

Sri Lanka's historic 3 -0 whitewash of the West Indies has moved them up to share equal third place with England on the Test Championship table. The result is the first time in their Test history that Sri Lanka has achieved such a result in a Test series.

Prior to the West Indies series Sri Lanka were lying fourth behind Australia, South Africa and England with 1.08 points. But their win over West Indies has increased their points tally to 1.14 and brought them level with England.

What happens in the next month or so will decide whether Sri Lanka can progress any further up the ladder. If England lose their three-Test series to India, then they will drop down from the No. 3 slot. England have already lost the first Test in the series played at Mohali.

By holding table leaders Australia to a 0-0- drawn series, New Zealand move up the ladder to fifth place with 1.00 point, ahead of West Indies, who now drop fifth to sixth place. The New Zealand result has placed leaders Australia from an unassailable position to one of vulnerability.

From 1.62 points they have come down to 1.54 points, fractionally ahead of South Africa's 1.50. This means Australia has to win the three match series starting in Adelaide on Friday 14th December, to maintain its table-topping position. Any other result would see Shaun Pollock's team claim top spot for the first time since the Championship was officially launched in May this year. A drawn series would take South Africa to the top of the table with a 1.56 series points average over Australia's 1.46. A win for Pollock's team would open up a significant gap of 1.62 against Australia's 1.38 points The three-Test series is bound to be followed with great interest around the world and officiating as match referee will be none other than Sri Lanka's Ranjan Madugalle, who quite recently was appointed the Chief Referee by the ICC.

History however is against South Africa beating Australia in their own backyard. In six previous tours to Australia, South Africa have never won a Test series. In 1952/53 (under Jack Cheetham), in 1963/64 (under Trevor Goddard) and in 1993/94 (under Kepler Wessels) South African teams returned with a share of the spoils. The other three sides, most recently in 1997/98 under Hansie Cronje, all lost. So should it be any different this summer? Time will tell whether Pollock's men can make South African cricket history. For some it will be a last chance, for others perhaps the only chance.

A full-time lawyer for ICC - The ICC has appointed its first in house lawyer who will work with their senior management team. Urvasi Naidoo, currently working as part of the Salt Lake Organising Committee for Olympic Winter Games of 2002, will join the ICC in April next year when a lot of things are expected to take place with the formation of the elite panels for match referees and umpires, among other things. Educated in the UK, Urvasi holds both British and South African nationality. She is a specialist in sports law and has worked as a solicitor in practices in the UK since the early 1990s.

"There is a sizeable and growing amount of complex legal work connected to the business of cricket and it is important that the world governing body has its own specialist resource to handle it in a professional and decisive way," Chief Executive Officer of the ICC Malcolm Speed said of the appointment.

The ICC have found itself in tricky situations in the recent past when dealing with the legal aspect of the game, most notably from Sri Lanka's view point the no-balling for throwing of celebrity spinner Muttiah Muralitharan by Australian umpire Ross Emerson in a World Series Cup game at Adelaide in January 1999. This incident led to the Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga, throw down the gauntlet and challenging the decision. At the hearing into the incident, Ranatunga brought lawyers in his defence and the ICC match referee could do nothing, but hand out a suspended sentence, when a wider section of the cricketing fraternity expected him to fine and ban the Sri Lanka captain, for the maximum penalty of six one-day matches.

The new appointment will at least ensure the ICC is well-advised in dealing with legal issues in the future.

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