/ 20 July 1999

NOT QUITE CRICKET

ORGANISERS of the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester plan to drop one-day cricket but rugby sevens, hockey and netball will remain, the New Zealand Olympic Committee said on Tuesday. Organisers have finalised a list of 14 individual sports and three team sports they planned to host, New Zealand Olympic Committee chief executive Michael Hooper said in a statement on his return from a fact-finding mission to Manchester. Formal decisions on the sports to be included in the games are not due to be made by the general assembly of the Commonwealth Games Federation until October. “One-day cricket has been excluded from the programme…but judo, table tennis, triathlon and wrestling have been added,” said the committee, which also handles Commonwealth Games matters in New Zealand. The team sports made their debut at last year’s Kuala Lumpur games, although netball had been a demonstration sport at the Auckland games in 1990. South Africa took the cricket gold medal but the matches were not officially recognised by the International Cricket Council (ICC).