Sporting Digest: Cricket

K T Francis, Sri Lanka's best known umpire, announced yesterday that he is to retire after Thursday's third and final Test between Sri Lanka and Australia. It will be his 25th Test in charge and he also stood in 62 one-day internationals. He will now work as the director of umpiring at the Sri Lanka Cricket Board. A local cement manufacturing company gave him 200 bags of cement as "a fitting foundation" for his retirement to help him build a home.

Lance Klusener hit an unbeaten 101 off 104 with 11 fours and four sixes as South Africa beat Zimbabwe by nine wickets in the LG Cup in Nairobi yesterday. "You're seeing the best player in one day cricket this year. We have to give him as much opportunity as possible," Hansie Cronje, the South African captain, said of the decision to have Klusener open the bat.