Ganguly cleared for Test as ban appeal held over

The India captain, Sourav Ganguly, will be allowed to play against South Africa in the first Test starting tomorrow in Kanpur, despite the threat of a two-match ban.

The India captain, Sourav Ganguly, will be allowed to play against South Africa in the first Test starting tomorrow in Kanpur, despite the threat of a two-match ban.

Ganguly will be available because his appeal against the ban could not be arranged before the game, the International Cricket Council said. The New Zealand barrister Tim Castle could have decided to deal with the appeal on the morning of the game by teleconference, but opted to delay the hearing until after the match on 25 November "rather than disrupting the Indian team's preparations", an ICC statement said. Ganguly was banned by match referee Clive Lloyd for his side's slow over rate in last week's one-day international against Pakistan in Calcutta. India are due to play two tests against South Africa.

* England have been frustrated in their preparations for the tour of Zimbabwe with heavy storms hampering their early practices at their Namibia base.

They have been restricted to workouts in the gym and fielding practice on the outfield at the Windhoek Wanderers ground, the venue for two practice matches against Namibia on Sunday and Tuesday.