Quick singles: Findings held up

New Zealand Cricket has delayed releasing its findings into the Durban nightclub incident, which ended with Chris Cairns being punched, until today.

Cairns suffered a cut lip in the fracas last week. Team manager Jeff Crowe forwarded his report about the incident to NZC yesterday, but chief executive Martin Snedden delayed its release to clarify some points.

A NZC spokesman said that Snedden's findings would be made public today. He said NZC wanted to talk to the players and ensure they were briefed of its findings before the media.

Akram asked

Pakistan's veteran allrounder Wasim Akram has been approached by English county Hampshire to replace Australia's banned spinner Shane Warne for next season.

Warne, who played for Hampshire in 2000 and had signed another two-year contract, was banned from all cricket by the Australian Cricket Board on Saturday after testing positive for a banned diuretic.

Wasim, who played for Lancashire for 10 years, is expected to confirm whether he will turn out for the new county this week.

Minor damage

Key England batsman Michael Vaughan was given a boost yesterday after a scan on his strained right calf showed no major damage.

Vaughan, who scored a half-century in England's pool A win over Pakistan at the weekend, but did not field, is expected to train today and if there is no reaction he should be available to play against India in Durban, in a game which is likely to decide whether Nasser Hussain's team qualify for the Super Six stage.

Claim denied

Captain Heath Streak yesterday denied that Henry Olonga had been left out of Zimbabwe's playing XI because of his public opposition to human rights abuses in the strife-torn country.

"No, that's not the reason he's not playing," Streak said after their loss to Australia in Bulawayo.

"Yes, he is available for selection. He played well in the first game but then allrounder Andy Blignaut came back from injury and, with Henry being an out-and-out bowler, it made it a bit tougher to select him."

Fast bowler Olonga and team mate Andy Flower made a statement mourning the "death of democracy in our beloved Zimbabwe" before the team's opening match against Namibia on February 10.

Wishart tops

Seven hundreds were scored in the first 14 matches, with a further three posted in the next 11.

The highest was recorded by Zimbabwe's Craig Wishart, with a 149-ball 172 not out - the 10th highest in history, 16 runs behind the World Cup record and 22 behind the one-day all-time record - against Namibia in Harare.

The first 25 matches have produced a total of 9338 runs, at an average of 186.76 per innings. There have been four innings scores above 300, while 20 have totalled below 150.

And when West Indies' Ricardo Powell hit a 30-ball 50, the fastest of the tournament, against Bangladesh in Benoni he joined Pakistan's Shahid Afridi as the only two batsmen scoring at more than a run a ball in their one-day careers.

And finally, Bangladesh's 10- wicket defeat to South Africa in Bloemfontein last weekend meant they had not won for a world record 30 one-dayers in a row, spreading all the way back to the 1999 cup.

World Cup schedule

Points table