Cric Info

2010-01-29T05:43:00.000-08:00

Australia 8 for 277(Hussey 67, Hauritz 53*, Asif 3-42) beat Pakistan 142 (Umar Akmal 38, Harris 5-19) by 135 runs

Australia mercilessly ripped through a feeble Pakistan at the WACA to keep alive the prospect of inflicting upon the tourists only their second 5-0 whitewash in ODIs. Michael Hussey and Nathan Hauritz starred with the bat, before Ryan Harris tore through the batting with a second successive five-for to set up a crushing 135-run win. Remarkably, given how poor Pakistan have been in this country, this was Australia's first win over them in an ODI in Perth.

Pakistan's tour has been one long, dark and miserable spiral since the fourth day of the second Test in Sydney and it continued with another dispirited, stuttering performance. They did battle in the field but let Australia get away at a critical stage once again, and contrasting fifties from Michael Hussey and Nathan Hauritz then took them to 277.

For much of the innings, control was a loose concept. Every time Pakistan struck, an Australian partnership settled. But every time the batsmen threatened to take over, Pakistan struck, so that momentum never rested decisively with either side. The final shift, however, came after the 40th over as an 80-run partnership between Hussey and Hauritz propelled Australia to the kind of total Pakistan haven't looked like chasing down at any point this summer.

Australia were 6 for 190 at that point and James Hopes had just been dismissed by the excellent Mohammad Asif. Hussey had hung around unnoticed from the 22nd over, stealthily keeping Australia afloat. Hauritz frustrated Pakistan with the ball through the Tests and today he did so with bat, swinging four sixes with all the freedom of a man no longer trying to prove himself in a 39-ball 53.

Hussey had hit one boundary in his fifty, but timing is everything and as he did in Adelaide, he utilized the PowerPlay beautifully, ensuring that sixty runs came in the last six overs. Death bowling was once Pakistan's trump card, but on this tour it has cost them.

Pakistan had shaded the start, much of the groundwork laid in a fine opening spell from Asif, who immediately hit the length that makes him so dangerous, not allowing batsmen to drive or to defend back with any great ease.

Brad Haddin provided Australia with some momentum but just when he was looking dangerous, he went. Michael Clarke was undone in a manner in which he has sent back so many batsmen - a smooth direct hit from cover running him out. Ricky Ponting scratchily tried to soldier on as Pakistan giving him plenty of pulls. It wasn't convincing and it didn't last, as Shahid Afridi got one to go across him; now Pakistan were on top.

Cameron White initially looked every inch a man averaging 60 in the series when he came in. But as the heat picked up and Saeed Ajmal came in, he had to fight. The doosra wasn't picked but he didn't get out to it and there were plenty of singles to keep things moving.

Ajmal's spell through the middle overs was crucial; only two boundaries came between overs 22 and 36, but only one wicket fell. That was White, frustrated despite having sneaked into the 40s. It should've been Pakistan's innings from there, but Hussey and Hauritz had other ideas.

The chase was never on. Pakistan have long been renowned for producing fast bowlers, but that assembly line is no match for Australia. They have been without Brett Lee for a while, Ben Hilfenhaus is also injured and they chose to rest both Mitchell Johnson and Doug Bollinger for this game. Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle were their third new-ball pairing of the series and they've hardly missed anyone progressing towards, potentially, a whitewash.

Harris bustled in Adelaide a few two nights ago and coolly picked up a maiden five-for and he did much the same here. He bowled at the brisk pace all Australian pacemen seem to have, in the mid-140s kmph, and curved the ball considerably away from the batsmen. Salman Butt was fed a few coming in, before the inevitable one angled across him got the edge. Younis Khan has had time off from the game but his form seems no closer to coming back to him and he was soon gone, fishing uncertainly at another outswinger.

Siddle was more erratic but carried with him the menace he has done through a luckless summer. If his two wickets were gifts, no one has deserved them more. Umar Akmal and Fawad Alam steadied the ship, as they did in Adelaide, and Afridi swung carelessly, but Harris bulldozed his way through, returning for a double-wicket maiden to essentially finish things off.

Zaheer burst sets up 2-0 victory

2010-01-27T18:33:00.000-08:00

India 544 for 8 dec (Tendulkar 143, Dravid 111 retd hurt, Dhoni 89) and 2 for 0 beat Bangladesh 233 (Mahmudullah 96*, Ishant 4-66, Zaheer 3-62) and 312 (Tamim 151, Junaid 55, Zaheer 7 for 87) by ten wickets

From a position of relative strength to utter disarray in the space of half an hour - that was Bangladesh's story on the final day of the series in Mirpur. From 290 for 3, they lost six wickets for 14, and only a couple of hefty blows from Mushfiqur Rahim ensured that the innings defeat was avoided. But Zaheer Khan, who had spent much of the morning wearing a back-brace before returning to scalp three in an over, needed just three balls after lunch to make a mess of Rubel Hossain's stumps, and when Shakib Al Hasan's second ball went for byes, the match was over.

Pragyan Ojha had taken the wickets of Mohammad Ashraful and Shakib Al Hasan, before ceding the limelight to Zaheer, easily the pick of the bowlers in the series. But there was no hint of the drama to come as Bangladesh made serene progress in the opening hour. Ashraful drove Zaheer through cover, but was largely an amused onlooker as Shahadat Hossain, the nightwatchman, took to the attack with some gusto.

A pull for four off Ishant Sharma bolstered his confidence and though a subsequent top-edged heave over slips betrayed his tail-end roots, there was nothing fortuitous about a lovely straight six off Ojha or a copy-book cover-drive off Zaheer. With Gautam Gambhir then conceding four overthrows, and Ojha clubbed for another four through midwicket, there would have been Indian supporters whose minds strayed to the prospect of a tricky fourth-innings chase.

The sense of unease was compounded when Amit Mishra dropped Shahadat at deep midwicket after he'd given Harbhajan Singh the big heave-ho. There were 51 runs scored before drinks and it was only when Shahadat tried to wallop Harbhajan over long-on again that the wheels came off. This time, Amit Mishra held on to the catch, and the 68-run partnership was over.

Ashraful, who had shown uncharacteristic patience all the while, followed in Shahadat's wake, undone by a beautiful Ojha delivery from round the wicket. Shakib played the most bizarre of innings, striking the first ball he faced for a straight six, and then sweeping one straight to Gambhir at square leg. Resistance breached, MS Dhoni turned to his best bowler.

Brace or no brace, Zaheer was a man on fire. Raqibul Hasan shouldered arms to one that came in with the angle from round the wicket, while Mahmudullah was defeated by late movement and a magnificent catch from Murali Vijay, who took the catch an inch from the ground while diving to his left at second slip. Shafiul Islam's stumps were splayed next ball, and it took some defiance from Mushfiqur to make India bat again. In the event, they didn't even need to play a shot in anger.

Ryan Harris grabs five as Australia take series

2010-01-26T18:03:00.000-08:00

In his second one-day international, Ryan Harris kept a cool head under pressure to deliver Australia a 40-run victory and an unassailable 3-0 series lead after Shahid Afridi lit up a match that had threatened to fizzle out. Workmanlike half-centuries from Shaun Marsh and Michael Clarke, and a late Michael Hussey blitz, set up Australia's 6 for 286 before Harris grabbed 5 for 43 to confirm Australia's win.

It was a remarkable effort from Harris, who finished up as the Man of the Match having only been called into the squad late on match eve as cover for Peter Siddle, who had a sore back. He began with a wicket in his first over and returned with three in two overs during the batting Powerplay when Afridi and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan were giving Pakistan hope of a famous fightback.

They had taken 37 from the first three overs of the field restrictions. Harris was introduced with 65 needed from 42 balls and promptly yorked Afridi, who had raced to 40 from 29 balls, and two balls later had Umar Gul caught skying for a duck. The fifth for Harris came in his next over when Rana (33) was caught at midwicket and Nathan Hauritz finished things off in the 48th over with Mohammad Asif caught top-edging.

That wrapped up the match and the series and consigned the two matches in Perth over the next week to dead-rubber status, which will test the patience of Australian fans for ODIs in a summer featuring ten of them. It would not have escaped Cricket Australia's notice that the crowd of 15,521 was smaller than the attendance for the domestic Twenty20 final at the same venue on Saturday, when 17,722 turned up to the Adelaide Oval.

There were late onslaughts in both innings and the hint of a surprise comeback, but overall the manner of Australia's win won't do a lot for the cause of the 50-over game. Professional though they were, from the start of the 20th over to the beginning of the 44th Australia struck only four boundaries and added 114 runs. It's precisely these middle overs that the Twenty20 format eliminates.

Clarke's first four didn't come until he had 56 runs on the board as he gladly pushed singles and twos to the defensive field. Despite the lack of pizzazz, it was the sort of innings his team was hoping for and he built three important partnerships, 85 runs with Marsh, 55 with Cameron White and 80 with Hussey.

The fun came in the last ten overs when, led by Clarke and Hussey, Australia added 95, helped by sloppy work from Pakistan, who had earlier missed run-outs and dropped Clarke on 32. The 48th over, bowled by Gul, featured three consecutive no-balls - an overstep, a full toss above waist height, and a delivery with too many fielders outside the circle. The over took nine balls and cost 23 runs.

Clarke (80) and Hussey, who hit 49 from 28 balls, both fell to Gul in the 50th over but by then they'd done their job. The platform had been built by Marsh and Shane Watson, who combine for a 63-run opening stand that ended when Watson was bowled trying to slog a wonderful offcutter from Asif.

Marsh went on to pass fifty for the seventh time in one-day internationals and looked set for his second hundred when he was stumped for 83, lured at a wide, spinning ball from Saeed Ajmal. Ajmal was the hardest of Pakistan's bowlers to get away, with 1 for 41 from his ten overs, but they'd dropped their other spinner Shoaib Malik and Australia handled the fast men with ease.

It wasn't quite the same for Pakistan, even though Australia's three main fast seamers entered the game with a combined 14 matches of experience. Harris kicked things off with Kamran Akmal lbw for 1 in the second over in a decision that, while tight and probably striking him a fraction outside off, was not a howler from Asoka de Silva.

His next call was. Salman Butt loomed as the man most likely to anchor Pakistan's innings and had 34 when he was sent packing by de Silva, who upheld Clint McKay's appeal despite the ball pitching a long way outside leg stump and sailing well over the top of the bails, according to Hawkeye's prediction.

There was no doubt about the second of McKay's three wickets. Younis Khan, who had taken 20 balls to get off the mark, was surprised by a sharp rising bouncer that took the top edge and was snaffled by Haddin. Mohammad Yousuf followed when he chopped on to Watson and it took an 85-run stand from Umar Akmal (59) and Fawad Alam (33) to give Pakistan a sniff.

Afridi and Rana gave them more than that before Harris spoilt their fun. It will be a brave selection panel to leave Harris, a cover player in Adelaide, on the sidelines for the next two games.

2010-01-25T18:04:00.000-08:00

India 459 for 5 (Tendulkar 143, Dravid 111 retd hurt, Gambhir 68, Sehwag 56) lead Bangladesh 233 by 226 runs

Having failed to take advantage of the toss, Bangladesh paid the full penalty on the second day, as India's batsmen built up a formidable total in favourable conditions. There were centuries for Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid after Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir put together their seventh three-figure partnership. With plenty of batting to come and the lead already well over 200, Bangladesh were staring at another heavy defeat.

It could have been worse if not for a Shahadat Hossan bouncer that didn't lift appreciably and smashed into the side of Dravid's face. He retired hurt straight away, and was taking for a precautionary check-up. By then, the partnership with Tendulkar was worth 222, with both men taking heavy toll of a tiring attack.

Tendulkar had taken 89 balls for his half-century, but he needed only a further 45 deliveries to bring up his 45th hundred. He played his usual array of sweeps, some of them with immense power, and threaded the odd ball through the offside cordon as the runs came in a flurry. Dravid too speeded up with a hundred in sight, and got there with a magnificent off-drive off Shakib Al Hasan.

After his exit, Tendulkar and Murali Vijay consolidated. Vijay timed the ball superbly in front of the wicket, and played a delicate late-cut off Shakib in a 30-run cameo that ended when he came down the track and found the man at mid-on. By then, Tendulkar had gone in similar fashion, having already struck Shakib for six and four down the ground earlier in the over. Harbhajan Singh edged the day's penultimate delivery from Shafiul Islam behind, but with Yuvraj Singh to come, Bangladesh's bowling travails were far from over.

They hadn't helped their cause by dropping Tendulkar twice, while Dravid too enjoyed his fair share of fortune. Raqibul Hasan had batted poorly on the opening day and his catching, or lack of it, cost his team on Monday. Tendulkar had just survived an inside-edge off the impressive Rubel Hossain when he miscued one in the direction of gully. Raqibul got both hands to it, and dropped it. He was on 27 at the time, and when he had made 50, Raqibul put down a more difficult chance to his left at point. This time, Shahadat was the luckless bowler, and Tendulkar celebrated the reprieves by batting with real fluency in the half hour before tea.

Shakib had gone off with a shin problem, and as hard as the bowlers toiled, with so few runs on the board, there was little pressure on the batsmen, who picked the gaps and moved the score along steadily. Both men came down the pitch occasionally to the spinners, and drove beautifully through the covers, while Dravid also played some fine strokes through midwicket. His good luck had arrived before lunch, and he made the most of it. He had made just nine when Shafiul claimed a run-out after Gautam Gambhir smashed one straight back down the pitch. The Bangladeshis were convinced that Shafiul's little finger had brushed the ball, but with replays inconclusive, the third umpire had to rule in the batsman's favour.

Then, when he was on 28, an excellent bouncer from Rubel caught him unawares. The fend was superbly caught by Junaid Siddique at slip, but even as Dravid trudged off, Billy Bowden was signalling a no-ball. Having resumed on 69 for 0, the Indians had seen Sehwag survive a very good shout from Shahadat early on, and when he then cracked one through the covers to reach 50, the omens were ominous. Gambhir too was in fluent touch, clipping Shafiul through midwicket and using both cute deflections and the straight bat to pinch fours off Shahadat.

Sehwag bludgeoned one straight to bring up three figures, but the very next delivery reared up at him and took the glove on its way to Mushfiqur Rahim. Dravid took his time to play himself in, and Gambhir assumed the scoring mantle, with a back-foot punch and a guide through the slips off Shafiul taking him to a half-century for the 11th match in succession - equalling the record set by Sir Vivian Richards.

Having found his bearings, Dravid started to play some gorgeous strokes through cover, off pace and spin alike, and when Gambhir was caught in an ungainly tangle by Shafiul's bouncer, it was very much against the grain of play. But with Tendulkar easing his way into the proceedings with a nudge here and a push there, it was still India that held the ace-hand as the teams went to lunch. After that, with Bangladesh unable to hold on to the chances that came their way, it was all one-way traffic, 390 runs worth of it.

Cameron White century secures Australian win

2010-01-22T18:22:00.000-08:00

Australia 5 for 275 (White 105, Clarke 58) beat Pakistan 274 (Butt 72, Watson 4-36) by five wickets

Cameron White finally showed he could be a potent force at home as his muscular century pushed Australia to a five-wicket win in the opening ODI against Pakistan. Over the past six months White has starred in England and India to confirm himself as a key batting figure and he powered the hosts as they over-hauled the target of 275 with nine balls to spare.

It was the first time White, playing his 48th ODI, had passed fifty in Australia and he almost made it to the end before falling for 105 off 88 balls. Australia were uncomfortable after slipping to 3 for 84 with Ricky Ponting's exit, but White joined with Michael Clarke in settling the nerves and then took on the major responsibility with the vice-captain's departure.

White is a hulky figure and he peaked with three consecutive sixes off Shahid Afridi between long-on and midwicket in the 41st over that downgraded Australia's assignment from difficult to comfortable. Afridi is used to dishing out that sort of sequence and did his best to provide the memorable moment of the day with a 26-ball 48, but White made sure it was his fireworks that will be recalled first.

He picked up four sixes and eight fours, including an unorthodox cross-bat down the ground off Rana Naved-ul-Hasan followed by a textbook cover drive in the same over, and added his second century to follow the 105 against England in Southampton in September. He was bowled by Rana trying for another boundary and left to a standing ovation. Michael Hussey, who was unbeaten on 35, finished off the match to earn a 1-0 lead in the five-match series

The result continued Australia's successful summer and stopped Pakistan, who had been heavily reinforced after the 3-0 Test loss, from gaining any momentum ahead of Sunday's second game in Sydney. They had chances to contain Australia further in the field following their useful start, but a few run-outs or catches will always be missed by this outfit.

Both Australian openers departed by the ninth over to leave Ponting and Clarke trying to consolidate during a 47-run partnership, but that ended when the battling Ponting (27) drove at Afridi and was taken behind point. Clarke was in much better touch and accumulated cleverly, hitting 40 singles on the way to 58, and put on 102 with White. However, Clarke departed when attempting a quick single only to be beaten at the striker's end by Rana's underarm.

Mohammad Aamer was slippery in his opening spell and Shane Watson was so behind in a defensive push on 5 that the ball hit the end of his handle and flew to Saeed Ajmal at mid-on. Aamer followed up by hitting Ponting on the hip and in his second spell stung Clarke's ribs with a lifter. By the end of the match it was the only lasting pain inflicted on the hosts.

Salman Butt's 72 put Pakistan on track for a sizeable total and Afridi made sure it happened with a powerful late surge that took them to 274. After winning the toss, the visitors had a series of useful stands over most of the innings but none that dominated the game until Afridi arrived at No. 7.

Australia had fought back from Butt's display through Watson and Clint McKay, but after the visitors wobbled to 7 for 227 in the 44th over Afridi quickly steadied them. Afridi forced a six to long-off from Nathan Hauritz before pulling Peter Siddle into the stands at midwicket to provide a much-needed boost during the batting Powerplay. He also found three boundaries in a row off McKay before the final delivery of the over went for four legbyes.

After swatting Watson for six to long-on, he was caught at midwicket trying for another clearance and the innings soon ended with Mohammad Asif's run-out with two balls remaining. Watson finished with a career-best 4 for 36 off 10 while McKay returned 3 for 61 in a mixed bowling display for the Australians, who had less support than usual with the crowd of 19,758 the smallest for an ODI at the ground in 11 years.

Butt added 62 with the recalled Kamran Akmal (34) before joining forces with Younis Khan. He dominated the partnership with Younis, who scored 8 of the 55 for the second wicket, but fell to his 81st ball when he top edged a pull off Doug Bollinger to become one of Haddin's four catches. Yousuf (2) quickly followed when he played on to a steepling delivery from Bollinger and Pakistan were on the brink of trouble at 3 for 123.

Younis came in for his first match since giving up the captaincy and was struggling with the added intensity on the way to 46. He knew he would get better with time and hung in to be the support partner in stands with Butt, Umar Akmal (23) and Shoaib Malik (28). When he departed pulling McKay to deep square leg the tourists were in trouble. Afridi dug them out briefly before White came of age at home.

India coast to win despite Mushfiqur century

2010-01-21T18:05:00.000-08:00

India 243 (Tendulkar 105, Sehwag 52, Shakib 5-62, Shahadat 5-71) and 413 for 8 dec. (Gambhir 116, Laxman 69, Mishra 50) beat Bangladesh 242 (Mahmudullah 69, Zaheer 3-54, Mishra 3-66) and 301 (Mushfiqur 101, Tamim 52, Mishra 4-92, Ishant 3-48) by 113 runs

Tamim Iqbal's brief resistance and Mushfiqur Rahim's crowd-pleasing century were way too inadequate for Bangladesh who had no surprises lined up on the final day. Even with an off-rhythm Sreesanth making it a virtual three-man attack, Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan paved India's way to an eventually comfortable win despite their first-innings failure and murky conditions curtailing action on every day of the match. Despite Mushfiqur's knock - the fastest hundred for a Bangladesh player - alongside the tail, they could not last until the final session.

In the end, it was the batsmen who let the Bangladesh bowlers down. Their bowlers might have shown they were better than ordinary, getting India out for 243 in the first innings, but both their batting efforts were ordinary. In the final innings, none of the batsmen showed either the aptitude or the inclination to bat out long periods on a flat pitch and on a day where bad light was bound to cut the day short.

The signs were all there in the first ten minutes of the day. Mohammad Ashraful carried on from an edgy first innings. After surviving two slashes and edges in the first three overs, he drove on the up at an Ishant delivery that held its line enough to take a healthy edge. Raqibul Hasan showed the willingness to fight it out, even taking a blow on the elbow, but Ishant's re-discovered offcutter proved to be too good for him, trapping him plumb in front.

The only bit of fight came from Tamim, who survived the early thorough examination given by Ishant and Zaheer. He concentrated hard, and quelled his natural game for the first hour. Except for one loose drive in the second over, he resisted the cover-drives, and instead relied on bunting the balls close to him for singles. He did not concentrate for long enough, though. The way he tried to open up against Sreesanth and Amit Mishra showed that the first hour had taken a big extra effort. From 27 off 81, when the back-up bowlers were introduced, he moved to 50 off 106, bringing up the milestone with a reverse-sweep.

Eight minutes before lunch, Tamim gave it all away. Virender Sehwag had replaced Sreesanth, and in his second over, Tamim went for a big booming drive when he was close to neither the line nor the length of the delivery. The outside edge was snapped well by an alert Rahul Dravid, and India were sensing the win.

The only man who could hold them up was Shakib Al Hasan, and post the break, he got a special googly from Mishra that kicked at him and took the shoulder of his bat on its way to silly point. Mahmudullah, who scored 69 in the first innings, got into a personal battle with Zaheer, and eventually Bangladesh paid for it. Bouncers, verbals, hooks, upper-cuts, and then a tame edge outside off.

Mushfiqur stood on the burning deck, hit his way to a personal best, added 60 for the eight wicket, then cut, pulled and lofted some more, made Sreesanth mouth off like a madman for no reason, manoeuvred the strike expertly, and managed a consolatory maiden century. Mishra kept at the task, mixing the googlies well with the legbreaks, and took out the last three wickets.

Bangladesh face fight for survival

2010-01-20T18:21:00.000-08:00

Light permitting, eight Bangladesh wickets were left with the imposing task of playing out a minimum of 90 overs to save the Chittagong Test, and only an outside chance of getting the 348 runs needed to win it. Having set Bangladesh an improbable target, thanks largely to Gautam Gambhir's fifth century in five consecutive Tests, India made important breakthroughs in the 18 overs they managed on the fourth evening.

On a pitch that had become easier to bat on in comparison to the first innings, Zaheer Khan created opportunities against the left-hand top order, but Tamim Iqbal looked more resolute than usual. The positive for India was that the amount of play lost to bad light had gradually decreased over the last two days: 84.4 overs were possible on the fourth day despite the two lost during the changeover.

Tamim showed remarkable restraint for a man reputed to be a dasher. He stayed away from adventurous shots away from his body, and twice followed verbals from Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma with sensible shots, and not quick ripostes. Imrul Kayes and Shahriar Nafees, though, couldn't find the same application. Kayes edged a ball from Zaheer that slightly held its line outside off. Nafees tried his best to get out to Zaheer, but VVS Laxman dropped him once at second slip, and the second edge fell just short of him. When Ishant squared Nafees up for the second time in the match, Virender Sehwag took a smart catch low to his right at gully.

The first two sessions and a bit of the third were an exercise in setting up the declaration. Bangladesh seemed resigned to having to save the Test as Gambhir accumulated - at a strike-rate of 90-plus - his way to his fifth second-innings century. Amit Mishra, the nightwatchman, had some fun too, scoring his first Test fifty.

Bangladesh hardly ever looked like striving for wickets in the first session. The sunniest day of the Test spelled gloom for the hosts; it meant we got 135 minutes of play before lunch, which went for 137 runs. Gambhir started the day by reaching at least fifty in 10th straight Tests, one short of the record held by Viv Richards. From coming to one within Richards' record to moving to one within Don Bradman's - six hundreds in six Tests, it was an inevitable stroll for Gambhir. Bangladesh gave him one-day fields, and he milked ones and twos as if in the middle overs of a 50-over match.

Mishra, on the other hand, gave up his cavalier approach from the previous evening, and started to play like a proper batsman. It helped that he could afford to stay in the crease and keep working the ball, because the spinners didn't look to draw him forward.

From 46 to 95, Gambhir hit just four boundaries, but kept finding gaps in the spread-out field. Both Gambhir and Mishra were dropped once each on the way to their milestones, Gambhir on 55 by Kayes, and Mishra on 41 by Nafees.

In typical fashion, as with his last four tons, Gambhir brought up the century by stepping out and hitting over the infield. He had for company the holder of the Indian record for most centuries in consecutive Tests, Rahul Dravid. Slightly uncharacteristically, Dravid afforded himself a big laugh and high-fived Gambhir on the achievement. Gambhir's wicket was followed by Dravid running himself out, plonking his bat as opposed to sliding it into the crease.

Post lunch, an aggressive Rubel Hossain turned up. He got reverse-swing going, bowled at around 140kmph, and mixed in a fair number of bouncers. He was rewarded with Sachin Tendulkar's wicket and uncomfortable moments for Yuvraj Singh. With both of them falling, VVS Laxman's class almost batted Bangladesh out.

After Yuvraj's wicket, with the lead at 314 and a lot of time left in the Test, Laxman had to be more circumspect. He played some elegant wristy shots, though, and maintained a strike-rate of close to 70. He even slog-swept twice, top-edging safely once, and connecting the other one properly.

Dinesh Karthik and Zaheer took more risks at the other end, and six overs post tea, India declared with Bangladesh needing two runs more than they have ever managed in the fourth innings. They have scored 200 or more in the fourth innings of a Test only three times. Their 217 for 6 got them a famous win in West Indies, and the 413 against Sri Lanka featured a heart-breaking collapse from 403 for 6, in a chase of 521 in Mirpur.

India seize advantage despite Mahmudullah heroics

2010-01-19T18:03:00.000-08:00

A brain freeze from the Bangladesh lower order squandered the initiative that a 108-run seventh-wicket stand had secured them. With Bangladesh throwing away their last four wickets and falling behind by one run, India didn't look the gift horse in the mouth and went on to extend that lead to 123 with nine wickets in hand.

From 98 for 6, Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim had carried Bangladesh past 200 when common sense deserted them. Mushfiqur, who had survived an edgy period early on, threw it away by slog-sweeping an innocuous-looking Amit Mishra from wide outside off. No. 9 Shahadat Hossain came out swinging like the climax of a Western, as opposed to giving the strike to Mahmudullah, who was already past his maiden Test fifty by then.

In the last over before tea, Shahadat chipped Mishra straight to cover. Back after the break, Mahmudullah smote the first ball for four, but when he lofted the fifth ball of the over over mid-on, he came back for two - any other settled batsman would have taken a single and seen out the whole of the next over. Under pressure to take a single next ball, he opened the face and edged Sreesanth to Dinesh Karthik. In the next over, Shafiul Islam got off the mark in Tests with a mowed six, but sliced the next ball to point. Just like that, a golden opportunity of keeping India in the field till about stumps had passed Bangladesh by.

They lost wickets in clusters: the last four for 36 runs, and the first six for 45. Of those six, three came early on the third morning. Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma continued from their impressive spells from the second day and the batsmen kept obliging. There was slight seam movement and bounce in the pitch, enough to make the batsmen regularly play down the wrong line.

Mohammad Ashraful was all at sea, playing Zaheer away from the body, and getting squared up by Ishant. The ever so slight holding of the line from Ishant, and a shade of extra bounce, was enough to awkwardly square up Ashraful and take the shoulder of the bat. Shakib Al Hasan looked to counterattack, hitting four boundaries in the next four overs. Again, all it took was a slight straightening of the ball, and a slash at a wide delivery was flying over gully when Virender Sehwag intercepted it perfectly.

When Zaheer and Ishant were taken off simultaneously, their partnership had resulted in five wickets for 59 runs, during the 23 overs they bowled on the trot. Sreesanth came back to end Raqibul Hasan's resistance, who too played inside the line of a straight delivery, and edged.

The seventh-wicket partnership stopped the procession of dismissals to outside edges and made India go wicketless for almost a full session, leading Bangladesh to a first-innings lead at the same time. Zaheer, the pick of the bowlers, struggled for support, with Sreesanth warned once for running on the pitch and over-stepping almost every second delivery. Mishra was not looking effective at all and Mahmudullah got stuck into him. Between them, Sreesanth and Mishra bowled 12 no-balls.

The duo didn't entirely abort the shots that had proved to be fatal for the earlier batsmen, but were slightly more sensible. They did get away with plays and misses to begin with, but when they chased the wide ones, soft hands meant the ball didn't fly towards slips. In fact, the third man area leaked eight boundaries.

The other big difference the two made was the running between the wickets. They ran hard, and they ran more often, which meant neither of the batsmen got stuck at one end for too long. Nineteen boundaries had been hit before the two came together and 14 came during their stand.

As the stand grew bigger, the batsmen grew surer. Mahmudullah started targeting Mishra, driving him through the covers, lofting him over mid-on, and paddling him to alternate the strike. But then, Bangladesh chose to display their lack of experience.

Coming into bat one run ahead, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir were more circumspect than in the first innings. They saw off the aggressive Shahadat without much adventure, and punished the other fast bowers, Shafiul and Rubel Hossain. With eight of their overs going for 55, Shakib had to bring himself on early again. By then, almost nonchalantly Sehwag and Gambhir had added 56 in 10 overs.

Sehwag stayed quiet against his first-innings nemesis for a bit, and had taken only five off 16 Shakib deliveries when he stepped out and launched him over long-on. Four balls later the slog-sweep against the turn consumed Sehwag. Sent in originally as nightwatchman, Mishra reversed roles, and got his own back at Mahmudullah, dancing down the track and lofting him over mid-on twice on the way to an unbeaten 24 off 21 deliveries. He subjected the other spinners to three other boundaries, taking his tally to one more than Gambhir's, who had seemed inconspicuous and yet scored 47 off 56.

India hit back on truncated day

2010-01-18T18:07:00.001-08:00

Bangladesh's collapse, like India's, started in the 15th over. India lost three wickets for six runs, Bangladesh lost three for five. India had 79 runs on the board before their collapse, Bangladesh 59. India continued collapsing, bad light granted Bangladesh stay orders. In fact the murky conditions allowed only 24.5 overs of play in the whole day, which means 90.1 overs have been lost on the first two days.

After Sachin Tendulkar reached his 44th Test century, scoring 29 of India's 30 runs on the second day, Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes provided Bangladesh a solid and quick start, reaching 38 in eight overs. The coming together of Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma reduced scoring opportunities, the batsmen started playing and missing, surviving lbw shouts, and two runs in three overs resulted in Kayes slashing outside off, a shot that told the bowlers they were not far off a wicket.

One more close lbw shout against Kayes later, Zaheer got one full and straight enough, and caught him on the crease. Shahriar Nafees, coming back from the ICL, top-edged a pull second ball, and then found Ishant to be too good for him. The ball landed on middle, back of a length, and then nipped away. Nafees had to play at it, and the movement squared him up, taking a healthy edge. In the next over, Zaheer, by now frustrated at missing the edge repeatedly, got one to nip in, squeeze under Tamim's bat, and take the off stump.

In 11 balls, Bangladesh had gone from hoping to dominate India to hoping for a Tendulkar-like stay to carry their fledgling innings. Tendulkar it was who added some respectability to India's total, scoring 105 runs out of the 164 scored since he came to the crease. Resuming on 76 on the second morning, he manoeuvred the strike well and scored his 89th international century. Shakib Al Hasan and Shahadat Hossain reached five-fors - for Shakib, a sixth five-wicket haul in 15 Tests.

Bangladesh came in with the mindset of attacking Nos 10 and 11, and hoping that Tendulkar wouldn't cause irreversible damage in the meantime. In the first four overs, Tendulkar let Ishant play just six balls, only one of which troubled him. And during those four overs, with the field coming up for the last two balls, Tendulkar hit 2, 4, 1, 4, and 6 to get into the 90s. Shahadat then moved round the stumps and the change of angle proved to be too much for Ishant to handle, who edged a delivery going across.

Sreesanth got a single first ball, and Tendulkar reached his century off the last two balls of that Shahadat over - Shakib was seen applauding Tendulkar's effort. At the other end, Sreesanth didn't look overly comfortable against Shakib who got alarming turn, but somehow saw off one over. Shahadat did his bit by bowling a wide yorker and keeping Tendulkar at his end. In the next over, Shakib got a leading edge that ended India's innings.

Bowlers hand Australia 3-0 clean-sweep

2010-01-18T18:06:00.000-08:00

Australia 8 for 519 dec and 5 for 219 dec beat Pakistan 301 and 206 (Manzoor 77, Siddle 3-25, Hauritz 3-30) by 231 runs

Australia wrapped up their 12th consecutive Test victory over Pakistan on the final afternoon in Hobart, where Khurram Manzoor's fighting half-century was not enough to salvage a draw for the visitors. Nathan Hauritz added to his growing reputation as Test bowler by picking up the key wicket of Manzoor and finished with three, while Peter Siddle also grabbed a trio of victims.

Despite showers being forecast, the only sprinkling of rain came during the lunch break and it wasn't enough to delay Australia's charge to a series clean-sweep and a fifth Test win of the summer. Australia have now equalled the record for the most consecutive Test wins by any country over any other nation, matching the 12-game streak currently held by Sri Lanka over Bangladesh.

The only slight concerns for Australia came during a 66-run seventh-wicket stand between Manzoor and Mohammad Aamer. Manzoor, who came in for this Test at No. 3, enhanced his chances of keeping his place in the side with a patient 77 from 239 deliveries that gave Pakistan, for the morning at least, a tiny sniff of saving the game.

Manzoor showed impressive resolve for most of his innings but it didn't hold, and soon after an injudicious swipe against Hauritz he slashed at a cut against the spinner and was caught behind. The rest of Pakistan's resistance fell away and Hauritz had Umar Gul brilliantly caught at slip by Michael Clarke for a duck, before Mohammad Asif (0) was bowled by Mitchell Johnson.

Hauritz finished with 3 for 30 and was comfortably the leading wicket-taker for the series, with 18 at 23.05. Siddle was also happy with his 3 for 25, which was his best return of a lean summer, and he wrapped up the victory with the second new ball when Danish Kaneria played on for 1.

Pakistan's victory target of 438 was not the issue for Australia, they simply needed to grab the remaining wickets while the weather held up. Showers had been tipped on the final day but the Tasmanian local Ricky Ponting, who was confident in his knowledge of the state's weather, had his decision not to enforce the follow-on vindicated.

Australia began the day impressively wth Shoaib Malik caught behind off Siddle for 19, after adding only one to his overnight score. That was the key breakthrough for Australia as it opened the way into Pakistan's lower order, and the wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed finished his debut Test with a disappointing batting return when he was caught at slip off Hauritz for 5.

Sarfraz departed in strange circumstances, when his edge clipped the gloves of Brad Haddin, went through the hands of Clarke and onto his boot before bouncing up for Clarke to complete the catch. If Pakistan had made their catches stick throughout the series it might have been a more enjoyable tour for them. Now they must wait until the two Tests in England in July to redeem themselves.

Manzoor fights as Australia close in

2010-01-17T18:12:00.001-08:00

Australia moved two wickets closer to victory by lunch on the fifth day in Hobart but Khurram Manzoor refused to surrender and gave Pakistan at least a sniff of saving the Test. Manzoor's third Test half-century was slow and patient and at the break he was on 59 with Mohammad Aamer on 12, as Pakistan moved to 6 for 168.

Their victory target of 438 was not the issue for Australia, they simply needed to grab the remaining wickets while the weather held up. There was no rain on the final morning and the skies looked clear and promising despite showers being forecast.

Australia began impressively with Shoaib Malik caught behind off Peter Siddle for 19, after adding only one to his overnight score. Sarfraz Ahmed managed 5 before he was caught at slip off Nathan Hauritz in strange circumstances, when his edge clipped the gloves of Brad Haddin, went through the hands of Michael Clarke and onto his boot before bouncing up for Clarke to complete the catch.

There was no further joy for Australia and Manzoor's 194-ball half-century frustrated the hosts, who had a couple of close calls turned down. Manzoor survived a tight lbw shout in the first over when Asoka de Silva declined Siddle's appeal, and Australia's review was rejected when Hawk-Eye showed he was struck in the zone of uncertainty, perhaps just outside the line of off stump.

A perilously close run-out call also went in favour of the visitors when Brad Haddin whipped the bails off at the striker's end and the Australians thought they had Aamer caught short. The batsman was given the benefit of the doubt when the third umpire decided he could not be sure if Aamer had made his ground.

Shakib and Shahadat leave India reeling

2010-01-17T18:11:00.000-08:00

India 213 for 8 (Tendulkar 76*, Sehwag 52, Shakib 4-52, Shahadat 4-51) v Bangladesh

Bangladesh, all pumped up and incisive, roared back "extraordinarily", taking eight Indian wickets for 130 runs and forcing Sachin Tendulkar to dig deep and try and take the visitors towards a respectable total. Shakib Al Hasan, who bowled 25 overs unchanged for 48 runs, and Shahadat Hossain, who bowled in hostile spurts, were at the centre of the comeback. The duo took four wickets apiece for 103 runs between them, and proved the Indians were "still human beings". Every wicket pumped Bangladesh up more and was met with wild celebrations. The special one was Shahadat's after Dinesh Karthik's wicket - a finger on his lips, telling his opponents in no unsubtle terms to watch their mouth.

Virender Sehwag, who had called Bangladesh an "ordinary" side in the lead-up, got off to an aggressive start in a curtailed first session, after fog and murky light delayed the start of the match. When he went into lunch, despite the balls stopping and coming and the turn available for the spinners, Shakib would have wondered if he had made the right decision by putting India in. India had raced to 63 for 0 in 13 overs, and immediately after the break Sehwag hit Shahadat for three boundaries in one over, reaching his fifty at more than a run-a-ball.

Yet Sehwag wasn't totally in control. He had hit Shakib for a first-ball four, but the turn had Sehwag in an edgy frame of mind. During the 13 balls of spin he faced prior to his dismissal, Sehwag was forced to abort attacking shots because he was beaten in flight, rapped on the pads by arm balls, and had one bat-pad fly wide of forward short leg. He eventually lost patience and hit the 14th - a shortish delivery -straight to short cover. Shakib 1, Sehwag 0.

Sehwag's dismissal kickstarted a period of aggressive, smart bowling and captaincy, which eventually resulted in soft dismissals. Gautam Gambhir, who had been circumspect in playing outside off, went to cut a wide delivery from Shahadat and the extra bounce caught the edge. Rahul Dravid came to bat in a situation tailormade for him, but played all around a swinging near-yorker, and 79 for 3 became 85 for 3 in a matter of 17 deliveries.

Shakib kept his fast bowlers fresh by rotating them from one end, and upped the pressure by bowling himself unchanged until stumps. With Rubel Hossain getting reverse-swing from the other end, there were no free hits, boundaries were plugged away, and Laxman, especially, struggled to get off strike. For 13.4 overs there wasn't a single boundary.

Shakib mixed the offbreaks and the arm balls well, varying the degree of the flight as well. After a series of near dismissals - leaving alone an arm ball that almost shaved the off stump, hitting uppishly one bounce to short cover, and scoring 7 off 29 balls, Laxman finally over-balanced when looking to drive Shakib. The ball went straight on, took the inside edge onto the pad, and then rolled along to an alert Mushfiqur Rahim, who found Laxman short of his crease.

There was no counterattack forthcoming from Yuvraj, who prodded and nudged dangerously for 30 deliveries, before the lack of clarity of thought consumed him. Caught completely in the defensive frame of mind, Yuvraj could have done many things with a gentle leg-side fulltoss, but lobbing it down mid-on's throat wouldn't have been high on the agenda. Immediately, Shakib got Shahadat back, and as if on cue, Karthik drove at a wide delivery and edged low to gully.

All the batsmen who got out had a lesson to learn from the man they passed when they walked back. Tendulkar, dropped on 16 by Imrul Kayes at wide slip, respected that the pitch was not flat, Shakib and Shahadat were bowling really well, and cut out undue risks. He didn't play away from the body, worked the singles, found the gaps for twos, and even the edge that flew to the left of slip came against the run of play. Tendulkar capitalised on that, and without taking risks, maintained a strike-rate of 50-plus in reaching his 98th score of 50 and above.

The other end, though, remained vulnerable. The tea break came just at the right time, and Shakib and Shahadat came back fresh. Tendulkar and Amit Mishra added 32 for the seventh wicket, but Shahadat came back to produce a low, reversing full toss to Mishra. Unlike Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan couldn't make the most of a dropped catch, and the 27-run eight wicket ended when an arm ball got the latter.

Before bad light kept India's first innings fighting for another day, two statements were made that suggested that Bangladesh were not as ordinary as India had thought. Tendulkar was forced to try and farm the strike, and more often than not Shakib bowled smartly enough to keep him at the other end and expose the tailender for a complete over to Shahadat. And just before stumps, Shakib, not lacking in a sense of drama, bowled with three slips, a silly point, a forward short leg, and a leg gully to Ishant Sharma.

South Africa square the series in style

2010-01-17T18:09:00.000-08:00

South Africa 423 for 7 (Smith 105, Boucher 95) beat England 180 (Steyn 5-51) and 169 (Collingwood 71) by an innings and 74 runs

Morne Morkel routed England's lower-order in a spell of 3 for 0 in seven deliveries, before JP Duminy extracted the battling Paul Collingwood for a brave but futile 71, as South Africa levelled the series - and retained the Basil D'Oliveira Trophy - with a crushing innings-and-74-run victory at the Wanderers. The victory was delivered on the stroke of the lunch-break when Ryan Sidebottom missed a slog-sweep to give Duminy his second wicket in an 11-ball spell.

England had resumed the fourth day in deep trouble on 48 for 3, still trailing by 195 with two full days remaining in the contest. The situation demanded runs as well as crease occupation, and Collingwood responded with a gutsy and well-judged 71 from 88 balls, as he shed the outright obduracy that had carried England to safety at Centurion and Cape Town, and climbed into his cross-batted repertoire whenever South Africa strayed in line or length.

But he alone located the correct balance between watchfulness and aggression, as he picked 12 fours and a six in total, comprising an even mixture of cuts, pulls, drives and genuine edges. But all too few of his colleagues were capable of emulating his efforts. His overnight partner, Kevin Pietersen, hung around for 10 overs in the first hour and seemed to be finding his range once again as he contributed an improbably meagre three runs to a fourth-wicket stand of 36. But the debutant Wayne Parnell tempted him with an outswinger that drew a rash snick to the keeper, and that was the end of that.

Ian Bell, who has impressed with his more settled temperament on this tour, once again looked in control of his nerves as he held up an end for seven further overs while dodging a series of bullets from Morkel's lethal lift and tight line. But eventually he jabbed at another rising delivery outside off, and Jacques Kallis at second slip clung onto a flying edge.

That soon proved to be the end of England's rapidly fading hopes, for Matt Prior then came and went in an impressively woeful double-whammy. His first ball, from Morkel, was dropped by Hashim Amla at short leg; his second was outside off and drew a wafty pull shot. Graeme Smith at first slip backpedalled to claim a spiralling top-edge, and Prior trooped back to the dressing-room as his captain, Andrew Strauss, vacated the balcony in disgust.

Four balls later, and Morkel had his third of the morning, as Stuart Broad - who came close to being timed out after taking an eternity to arrive in the middle - was sent trudging back in the same direction with his indignation palpable, after being caught off the glove by a bouncer down the leg-side. The initial appeal was turned down by umpire Tony Hill, but this time Daryl Harper in the third umpire's hotseat had no trouble picking up the audible snick.

Graeme Swann, who last night told his Twitter followers to look out for his maiden Test century, joined Collingwood in a rollicking eighth-wicket stand of 30 in 26 balls, and briefly looked good for his promise as he cracked three fours in six balls after being dropped by Ashwell Prince in the gully. But one ball later, Steyn's full-length swing proved too much, as he drew a defensive dab for AB de Villiers to collect the thick edge at third slip.

Collingwood kept up the intensity, lacing Ryan McLaren through the slips before hoisting Steyn up and over long-off for the first and only six of England's innings. But with just two wickets still standing and a deficit of 89 still to be surmounted, he was eventually extracted by JP Duminy's first delivery of the day - a top-edged hoick off an ignominious long-hop, that flew at a comfortable height straight to Morkel at deep square leg.

And so it all came down, as it always tends to do, to England's ninth-wicket pair. With their lucky charm, Graham Onions, watching glumly from the dressing-room, Sidebottom and James Anderson played their shots for 16 deliveries, before Sidebottom sized up one slog too many, and the rattle of timbers signalled a richly deserved South African win.

Katich and Ponting race Australia ahead

2010-01-16T18:21:00.000-08:00

Simon Katich finally posted the century that had eluded him all summer as he and Ricky Ponting compounded Pakistan's pain with a brutal opening session on the fourth day. Australia added 141 and extended their advantage to 418 runs as Pakistan continued to set defensive fields and waited for Ponting's declaration.

Katich has had trouble reaching triple-figures this season and had posted scores of 92, 80, 99 and 98. He hadn't scored a hundred since the Ashes opener in Cardiff and when he moved to 99, Pakistan tried to increase the pressure, but he found an easy single behind square on the leg side to register his century from 137 deliveries.

In the next over, Katich holed out to deep midwicket off Danish Kaneria and departed for an even 100, leaving Michael Hussey to accompany Ponting for the remaining ten minutes before lunch. At the break, Australia had reached 2 for 200 with Ponting on 88 and Hussey on 3 and no signs of the rain that was forecast. Ponting was left to decide whether to declare at lunch or bat again after the break.

Ponting survived a review on 62 when Pakistan felt sure they had him caught-behind off Mohammad Aamer. Asoka de Silva gave Australia's captain not out and there was no sign of an edge on Hot Spot, which left Ponting free to continue demoralising Pakistan with his attacking play.

With a hefty lead already in place, Ponting went after the bowling during the session and was happy to be inventive, driving in the air over fielders and taking balls from outside off to the leg side. The lack of intensity from Pakistan helped both batsmen, and Katich was gifted a boundary when his drive sailed straight through the legs of the cover fielder Salman Butt, who inexplicably failed to get a hand to the ball.

Katich's innings finished with 13 boundaries while Ponting went to lunch having struck 12 fours. If he bats again after the break he will have an opportunity to become only the seventh batsman in Test history to score a double-century and a century in one Test.

England on the ropes after South Africa declaration

2010-01-16T18:19:00.000-08:00

Not even the loss of an average of 30 overs per day, nor the smokescreen of an ECB-led witch-hunt into the failings of the UDRS system, seem likely to save England from a crushing series-squaring defeat in the fourth and final Test at Johannesburg, after another day in which South Africa's superior technique with bat and ball overcame a series of interruptions for thunderstorms and bad light. When play was suspended with 20 overs of the third day still to be bowled, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood were clinging on desperately, having watched as three of their colleagues were blown away by a trio of pumped-up pace bowlers.

If England were lucky to escape with draws at Centurion and Cape Town, then at least it can be said that they were equal to the specific challenges that they faced on those pivotal final days. With a maximum of six sessions of this contest still to come, however, a third escape in four games would be the most incredible result of the lot, regardless of how many overs are gobbled up by the weather. With Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel proving once again that they are the pre-eminent new-ball pairing in world cricket, South Africa claimed two wickets in seven overs before a break for bad light, then returned in the gloaming to extract the vital scalp of Andrew Strauss for 22, trapped lbw to give Wayne Parnell a precious maiden Test wicket.

By the close, England had limped for 48 for 3, and were still a hefty 195 runs from asking South Africa to bat again. If that is to happen, it will require an innings of re-established brilliance from Pietersen to turn their current predicament around, because his solid unbeaten 9 from 20 balls was about as comfortable as any England batsman looked in the 13.2 overs before the close. Alastair Cook, the rock of their batting at Durban and Cape Town, lasted six deliveries before Morkel's steepling bounce found a defensive edge to first slip, while Jonathan Trott's shattered confidence could not be repaired by a brace of fours including a periscope deflection from a Morkel bouncer. The first delivery he received from Steyn was full, fast and swung away at the last moment, for AB de Villiers to snaffle the edge at third slip.

Strauss did his damnedest to dig in for the cause, swaying out of line from a lethal Steyn bouncer that left him on his backside, before riding a Morkel throat-ball that led to a sharp exchange of words between two men whose encounters have been somewhat one-sided in this series. But this time it was Parnell who prised the captain from the crease, finding a full length with his left-arm line, allied to an increase in confidence after a nervy three-over spell on the first day. In what turned out to be the penultimate over of the day, he skidded his ninth ball into Strauss's front pad, and after a review that was more in desperation that hope, Strauss was sent on his way for the final time this series.

If England made the day's conditions look especially tricky, then their struggles merely conferred an extra heap of plaudits onto an exceptionally paced performance from Mark Boucher, whose 95 from 118 balls was the driving force behind an impressively timed declaration. South Africa resumed on 208 for 2 overnight, a handy lead of 28, but from the outset they realised that quick accumulation was the order of the day if they were to guarantee themselves sufficient time to beat both the weather and the opposition. What they got was a masterclass in tempo-setting from Boucher, who brushed off the loss of three big wickets inside the first hour of the day to drive the innings along at nearly four runs an over.

In the course of his innings, Boucher became only the second specialist wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist to pass 5000 Test runs, and though he eventually fell five runs short of a richly deserved sixth Test century, he did his job and more. He added 120 for the fifth wicket in a 29-over stand with AB de Villiers (whose well-compiled 58 nevertheless contained a handful of moments that highlighted the current flaws in the review system) and 64 in 87 balls with the debutant Ryan McLaren, who rose above a nervy start to compile a useful 33 not out. A violent downpour forced an early tea, but when play resumed, South Africa racked up 41 runs in ten further overs, before Graeme Smith declared on 423 for 7, a lead of 243.

Boucher's innings began in the second hour of the day's play, after a spirited fightback had reduced South Africa to 235 for 5, a slightly precarious advantage of 55. Hashim Amla added only two runs to his overnight 73 before edging Stuart Broad to a diving Matt Prior behind the stumps, before Jacques Kallis flapped a surprise bouncer from Ryan Sidebottom to James Anderson in the gully, who hurtled forwards, stuck out his left hand, and clung onto a brilliant low chance.

With the new ball looming, England's seamers were finding plenty assistance from a still-lively track, but it was their golden-armed spinner, Swann, who made the next incision, as he continued his remarkable habit of striking early in a spell. This time he didn't even need a sighter, as JP Duminy, whom he also bagged for a first-ball duck at Cape Town, propped forward to a sharp offspinner that bounced and turned, and Collingwood at slip did the rest. Remarkably, Swann even repeated the feat three hours later, when Boucher top-edged the first delivery of his post-tea spell to a tumbling Trott at deep square leg.

Boucher, however, had broken England's resolve long before his departure, and the seeds of their discontent were sown in the course of his morning partnership with de Villiers. Though he batted with typical confidence, and even seemed to make light of a hamstring strain, de Villiers required a hefty dollop of good fortune to progress as far as he did. In the course of his innings, he successfully overturned two upheld appeals from Swann, the first of which - a gloved sweep-shot - appeared from later replays to be too close to call with a "high degree of confidence", as per the ICC's guidelines. De Villiers then survived an apparent inside-edge off Sidebottom shortly before lunch that England would surely have reviewed, had they not just wasted their final lifeline on a speculative and slightly desperate lbw appeal against Boucher.

In a further pair of ironies, the Sidebottom caught-behind appeal came only moments after the ECB announced that they had formally asked the ICC to reinstate the review that they had lost during the controversy involving Smith on the second morning. And what is more, Boucher would already have fallen lbw to Swann, and England would consequently still have had that extra chance up their sleeve, had England used their final lifeline in his previous over, when a seemingly innocuous appeal was shown by the Hawkeye replay to have been heading straight into leg stump.

By the close, however, all such gripes had been rendered utterly redundant, despite the best efforts of the ECB chairman, Giles Clarke, who toured the various media outlets at the Wanderers during the course of the day to make his views abundantly clear. The only thing that truly mattered, however, was the battle going on out in the middle. And in that regard, England are already closer to defeat than they ever appeared to be in Tests one and three.

2010-01-15T18:22:00.000-08:00

Graeme Smith's second century in as many innings hoisted South Africa into a position of utter authority on the second day of the fourth and final Test at the Wanderers, but England's fading hopes in the contest were boosted by a massive thunderstorm that swept across Johannesburg midway through the afternoon session, and left the outfield completely underwater. Although play resumed briefly after a four-hour delay, there was time for just 23 deliveries before bad light closed in, leaving South Africa well placed on 215 for 2, a lead of 35, but braced for a race against time if, as expected, this match is to be interrupted by more bad weather in the coming three days.

Only 51.2 overs were possible on the second day, although in the time available, South Africa did their utmost to cement their dominant position. They resumed on 29 for 0 and lost just the solitary wicket in the morning session, that of the out-of-form Ashwell Prince, for 19, while rattling along at almost four runs an over. Though Smith eventually fell three overs before the heavens opened, his uncompromising 105 from 187 balls had laid the platform from which the middle-order, weather permitting, will be able to compile a formidable first-innings lead.

With Hashim Amla unbeaten on 73, and Jacques Kallis still fresh at the crease on 7 not out, there's plenty of runs still to be extracted from South Africa's line-up, but the second day was all about Smith, who used his heavyweight reach and every inch of his bat to withstand a tricky first hour against a still-new ball, before growing in stature as the conditions eased and the morale of England's bowlers began to lag. At Cape Town last week, his magnificent 183 proved insufficient to revive his team's hopes of a series win, but he's never yet lost a rubber in which he has reached three figures. Whatever transpires this time, it won't be for want of trying.

By and large, England bowled and fielded without inspiration in the three-and-a-half hours at their disposal. Ryan Sidebottom, who was controversially preferred for this match to the hard-working Graham Onions, eventually ended Smith's stay with a well-directed seamer that zipped off the edge and struck Andrew Strauss like a cannonball at first slip, but his contribution was under scrutiny from the moment he resumed the attack in the second over of the day. During that crucial first hour, his natural tendency to move the ball away from the left-handers meant that once again too many deliveries were allowed to pass harmlessly through to the keeper, and England's likeliest utiliser of the overhead conditions, James Anderson, wasn't introduced until the day was 40 minutes old.

Nevertheless, Sidebottom was involved in the single biggest moment of controversy of the day, when Smith, on 15, survived a review for a caught-behind decision as he swished loosely at a wide bouncer, and appeared to get an audible top-edged snick through to Matt Prior. Umpire Tony Hill turned down England's frenetic appeals, as did the third umpire, Daryl Harper, although the reasoning given was bizarre. In the absence of HotSpot and the Snickometer, such decisions were always likely to be marginal, but by insisting that he had heard no noise at all, Harper went against the evidence heard by most viewers around the world, and raised interesting questions about the quality of the TV feed available to the decision-makers.

England did have some consolation three deliveries later when Prince propped forward to a good-length delivery from Broad and edged into Graeme Swann's midriff at second slip. But Smith was never likely to be perturbed by the controversies raging off-field (which would eventually culminate in an official complaint from the England management) and he set about surviving the remainder of a probing full-length spell from Broad, before signalling a change of tempo with drinks looming by pulling Anderson in front of square for his most confident stroke of the morning.

Swann, as ever, caused a few flutters of alarm, finding typically sharp spin from his very first over and tempting Smith into an injudicious drive that looped off a leading edge to no-man's-land at short cover. But Smith responded instantly, by clubbing Broad for two more fours in his next over, to reach his half-century from 105 deliveries. By lunch, he had continued to get the better of his duel with Swann to move to 84, and his hundred came up after the break from 182 balls, as he chopped firmly at a wide delivery from Sidebottom, and threaded his stroke through point.

All the while, Amla bedded in for the long haul, as he reverted to the stoic attitude that had carried him to his hundred at Centurion in the first Test, and contributed an equal share to a second-wicket stand of 125. He gave his innings a kick-start with a pair of nudged fours off the hip as Sidebottom lost his direction early on, before driving and carving Anderson for two more boundaries in consecutive deliveries. He brought up his half-century before lunch with a similar whistling drive through the covers, but for the most part he was content to deal in ones and twos, as he provided a lesson in crease occupation to the skittish England batsmen who had squandered their opportunities on the first day.

Butt half-century steadies Pakistan

2010-01-15T18:20:00.000-08:00

Salman Butt took the first steps to repaying his team for running out two of his partners yesterday afternoon, with a patient half-century at Bellerive Oval. Butt and Shoaib Mailk guided Pakistan through the first session of the third day without any further loss, following the four wickets that fell late on Friday, and the visitors reduced their deficit to 361.

They had reached 4 for 158 with Butt on 74 and Malik on 28, although they needed a further 162 to avoid a follow-on that Ricky Ponting is keen to enforce. Butt calmly compiled his runs without taking risks and continued to be one of the better performers in the Pakistan top order - he has made a start in every innings on the tour.

His half-century came from 140 deliveries and by lunch he had struck 14 fours, and was particularly strong off the back foot through the off side. He and Malik had taken their partnership to 74 runs without any major worries, and only twice during the session did the Australians come close to a wicket.

A confident lbw appeal against Malik was rightfully turned down before Butt, on 61, edged Shane Watson marginally short of a diving Marcus North at first slip. They were the only nervous moments for Butt and Malik, who demonstrated a resolute mindset that has so often been lacking from Pakistan on this trip.

Ponting tried various changes to break the partnership and while Doug Bollinger's move around the wicket made Malik less comfortable, nothing snapped the concentration of the batsmen. Australia were hoping to run through the Pakistan first innings as soon as possible and make them follow on with showers forecast, although the rain might not hit until this evening.

2010-01-14T18:01:00.001-08:00

England's hopes of emerging from South Africa with a memorable series win were dealt a devastating blow on an eventful first day at Johannesburg, as Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel combined with ruthless intent on a helpful but not unplayable surface. The pair claimed eight wickets between them, including four inside the first ten overs alone, to bundle England out for a meagre 180 inside two sessions, and take a massive stride towards the victory that would square the series at 1-1.

In reply, South Africa's openers, Graeme Smith and Ashwell Prince, negotiated 12 tricky overs in gloomy evening conditions, reaching 29 for 0 after much of the afternoon session had been wiped out by rain and bad light. Though England's seamers found prodigious swing to keep the run-rate in check, they were unable to make the incision that could have lifted their spirits after a morale-crushing display in the opening gambits of the match. Nevertheless, the loss of two hours of play, and the promise of similar weather for the rest of the week, could yet provide them a route to salvation.

England's recent visits to the Wanderers have rarely been dull affairs, and this match began in sensational fashion, reminiscent of their 2 for 4 collapse in November 1999, when Andrew Strauss became the first England cricketer since Stan Worthington in 1936 to fall to the very first delivery of a Test match. The ball that got him, from Steyn, was a largely anonymous sighter on leg stump, but Hashim Amla had been cleverly positioned at backward short leg, and reacted in an instant to dive full-length to his right and scoop a brilliant low chance.

Strauss had earlier won the toss and batted first with some slight trepidation, recognising the likelihood of a tough first hour in dank conditions against a pumped-up new-ball pairing. Without his rock-solid temperament to guide their approach, England's middle-order faltered disastrously, much as they had done in their hapless meltdown at Headingley in the summer. Within ten overs they had slumped to 39 for 4, and though Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell provided a mini-revival with a fifth-wicket stand of 76, Steyn returned after lunch to mop up the tail for the richly-deserved figures of 5 for 51.

Prior to the match, England had spoken strongly of taking a positive mindset into a match that they need only draw to claim the series, but when they were put on the spot, the top-order suffered from a collective freeze. Jonathan Trott produced his nerviest and least convincing Test innings to date, inside-edging his fourth delivery, from Morkel, inches past his leg stump before being pinned plumb lbw for 5 in the same over, which brought Kevin Pietersen to the middle, under pressure following one of the leanest spells of his career, and habitually anxious to get off the mark.

Pietersen could have run-out his partner, Alastair Cook, before he had scored, and though he settled his nerves with a sweet clip through midwicket off Morkel, he fell meekly in the same over, wellying a muffed pull to Wayne Parnell, one of South Africa's two debutants, at mid-on. Cook meanwhile looked as composed as anyone in the situation. He survived a tough chance on 4 when Amla at short leg couldn't cling onto a firm push off the pads, but had moved calmly along to 21 when Morkel struck for the third time in his spell - a full-length delivery that zipped from a leg-stump line to trap Cook on the crease. The decision went to review, and though there was some suspicion of a no-ball, umpire Daryl Harper rightly upheld the onfield decision.

And so, at 39 for 4, it was down to the guts and grit of Collingwood and Bell once again. Of the two, it was Collingwood who set the tempo in an innings of significantly greater aggression to his stonewalling performance at Newlands. With attacking fields in place, there were plenty runs on offer for his favourite clips and nudges, as well as his trademark one-day pull shot, with which he picked off two sixes, including one, off Jacques Kallis, from the very last ball of the morning session.

By lunch, Collingwood was 44 not out from 55 balls, which was four more runs than he had managed in 133 more deliveries in his previous Test innings. But after the break, he added just three more to that tally, before Ryan McLaren - a surprise selection ahead of Paul Harris - found his leading edge with a sharp seamer that ducked from leg to off, and JP Duminy scooped a lobbed catch as he leant forward at point. The major threat at this stage, however, was Morkel, who was extracting some fearsome lift from a good length, and on 34, Bell might have gone to an outstanding one-handed take in the gully, only for Prince to spill the chance as he crashed to earth.

It wasn't a costly miss, though. With England firmly under the cosh, Bell was prised from the crease one run later, courtesy of an exceptional piece of bowling from Steyn, who set him up with a succession of sharp outswingers, before flipping the shiny side and zipping an perfectly pitched inducker through his half-formed defences. Matt Prior attempted a counterattack, pulling Steyn in front of square for an aggressive boundary, but then nicked a similar shot through to Boucher four overs later.

At 136 for 7, the innings was once again in freefall, and Stuart Broad opted to go down swinging. He scythed Kallis for a brace of hoicked fours through the covers and midwicket, but then over-extended himself in the same over and flapped a tame swat to mid-off. The recalled Ryan Sidebottom never had a chance to get going, seeing out five dot-balls before snicking his sixth, from Steyn, to the keeper, and once again it was left to the unquenchably optimistic Graeme Swann to slap a merry run-a-ball 27, and provide the scorecard with some sheen of respectability.

Fittingly though, it was Steyn who snared him, via another thin edge to the keeper, as England were rolled over inside 48 overs. They've clung on twice in desperate scenarios so far in this series, but getting out of this predicament will test their Houdini impersonations to the max.

Ponting and Clarke add to Pakistan's pain

2010-01-14T18:00:00.000-08:00

Michael Clarke reached his highest Test score and combined with Ricky Ponting for a 322-run partnership that continued to grind Pakistan into submission on the second day in Hobart. The pair smashed all sorts of records in their ongoing stand, which will enter a fifth session when they come out after lunch aiming for quick runs before a declaration.

At the break, Australia were on 3 for 393 with Ponting on 180 and Clarke on 153. Their partnership was the 15th triple-century stand by an Australian pair in Test history, and the team's highest for any wicket since Ponting and Justin Langer added 327, also against Pakistan, in Perth in 1999-2000.

It was also comfortably the highest Test partnership at Bellerive Oval, beating the 260 between Steve Waugh and Dean Jones in the inaugural Hobart Test 20 years ago. Clarke moved to his highest Test score, surpassing the 151 he made on debut in Bangalore in 2004 when he burst onto the scene as a 23-year-old.

He survived a confident appeal from Pakistan on 113 when Umar Gul felt he had Clarke caught behind. Rudi Koertzen's not-out decision was upheld on review after the third umpire found no evidence to overturn the call. Clarke was later picked up by the stump microphone telling Ponting he felt he hadn't hit the ball but did hear a noise.

Ponting, who was dropped yesterday before he had scored, was also given another life today on 167 when he drove Danish Kaneria and the ball flew through the hands of Imran Farhat at cover. But by that stage Australia were going for their shots and in truth, they were rarely seriously troubled during the fourth session of the match.

Clarke and Ponting added 91 in the session and Ponting will face a tricky decision on when to declare. Although the second day was being played in perfect conditions, there was expected to be some rain for the remainder of the match, which could affect his decision on when to call an end to the innings.

Calm Jayawardene takes Sri Lanka home

2010-01-13T17:55:00.000-08:00

Sri Lanka 249 for 6 (Jayawardene 71*, Sangakkara 55) beat India 245 (Raina 106, Kulasekara 4-48) by four wickets

Historically, when it comes to finals of triangular tournaments, Sri Lanka have had the upper hand over India, who in the last decade succeeded in winning just four in 21 finals. A familiar tale panned out in Dhaka, where a frenetic start was followed by an enthralling finish and the result was yet another tournament win for Sri Lanka over India.

Of all the individual contributions that were spread across 96.5 overs of fluctuating cricket in Dhaka, the one that towered over all others was a 71. Those were the runs scored by Mahela Jayawardene, and it undermined the importance of his surprise call-up to the squad midway through the tri-series. Building on the good work of Sri Lanka's bowlers, especially the Man of the Match Nuwan Kulasekara, Jayawardene smoothed over two spin-induced wobbles and paced the chase precisely to steer them home with nine balls to spare on a chilly evening.

Suresh Raina's first ODI century against serious opposition - his previous two were against Hong Kong and Bangladesh - had boosted India from 60 for 5 to a respectable 245 but they were a strike bowler short after Ashish Nehra took a wicket and left the field. Harbhajan Singh produced two openings with his tidy offspin yet Jayawardene was flawless in his match-winning effort. And to think he'd initially been ruled out of the series through injury.

When India dismissed the well-set pair of Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara in the space of 14 deliveries on a rare dew-free evening, their total seemed around 40 runs more than it actually was. India turned in a fighting performance after Sangakkara and Dilshan fell, but fittingly it was Jayawardene, Sri Lanka's most experienced player, who anchored the chase.

After Nehra sent back Tharanga for his second consecutive duck, only to hobble off with a dodgy groin after bowling eight deliveries, Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth, especially, struggled with their bearings and Sangakkara, with very good use of the wrists, latched on readily. He was away with two expertly placed boundaries, just using the pace and putting width away through the off-side arc, and followed those up with two glorious drives past extra cover and point. With Sangakkara striking the ball sweetly, Dilshan set about erecting a platform that would see Sri Lanka through.

However, 93 for 1 soon turned into 109 for 3, with spin giving India some hope. MS Dhoni turned to Yuvraj Singh for the 17th over, and it took him one delivery to raise India's spirits. Dilshan, on 49, tried to cut but the ball stayed low and Dhoni made no mistake holding the bottom edge. In the 20th over Sangakkara, who had raised his half-century off just 48 balls, was tempted by a loopy one from Harbhajan Singh that forced him back and then drew the edge to slip.

Boundaries dried up and the tension was palpable, as was perhaps the batsmen's surprise at the minimal effect the dew had. Where cuts and glances had been abundant, suddenly hard-handed chops to backward point and inside edges off hurried drives became frequent. There was big turn for Harbhajan and Dhoni threw in a leg gully to go with a slip.

But Jayawardene is just the man you need to walk in with the asking rate under control and a batsman in good nick at the other end. He aided Sri Lanka's chase with customary effectiveness: a forward press here, a clipped single there, a deft boundary here, a cheeky two there. It was typical Jayawardene - aware of what the situation demanded and knowing which bowlers to take runs off and how.

Having eased the pressure with a lovely dab wide of backward point for four, Thilan Samaraweera failed to spot Ravindra Jadeja's arm ball and dragged it onto his stumps. That wicket snapped a 48-run partnership, but few circumstances ruffle Jayawardene and he ensured he was around till the end. Harbhajan's dismissal of Thilina Kandamby in his second spell didn't bother Jayawardene, who raised his fifty with a characteristic nudge off the pads. A drop by Harbhajan at point when Jayawardene was on 54 was as close as India came to dismissing him. Even the run out of Suraj Randiv with 18 needed from 21 balls wasn't enough. With three successive boundaries off Sreesanth, each played to different areas and with varying degrees of control, Jayawardene sealed the deal.

Jayawardene's innings overshadowed a splendid century earlier in the day. Raina's effort was the fourth-highest ODI score by an Indian at No. 6 and kept India afloat but Sri Lanka finished off well, taking the last four wickets for 32 runs in 5.2 overs. By bowling India out in 48.2 overs with some tight bowling at the end, they were always ahead in the match.

For the first 11 overs of the game on an overcast and mildly chilly Dhaka afternoon, India's innings resembled an automobile ignition on a wintry morning in Denmark. A mishmash of indiscreet shot selection, accurate new-ball bowling, efficient left-arm pace and smart catching is often a recipe for a lop-sided contest and India so nearly made it one. The top order played without purpose - completely failing to make use of the chance to bat time at the crease - and wickets fell in a heap within the first ten overs.

Gautam Gambhir's first-over dismissal - bowled off the pads while trying to glance Kulasekara - set about a brief period of chaos where India's batsmen made the slightly nippy Chanaka Welegedara look like Jeff Thomson. Though hovering in the late 120 to early 130 kmph, Welegedara drew a tentative waft from Kohli and made Yuvraj - who had not batted so early in the innings since November 8 against Australia - look like a novice with two slips licking their lips.

Overconfidence did Dhoni and Virender Sehwag in after a mini-recovery, as both fell to the accurate Kulasekara, and with India struggling at 76 for 5 after 15 overs, this was threatening to be one of the quickest finals in recent memory. Luckily for India, Raina and Jadeja proceeded to buckle down and give the innings some substance.

Raina never allowed the situation get to him. He was alert to the singles, was skillful at finding the gaps, and ran well with Jadeja. A pull through midwicket in the 20th over changed the tempo from caution to slow acceleration, and an open-faced steer between mid-off and extra cover was the shot of the innings. Forty one of Raina's runs came behind the wicket, all through dabs, steers, glances and gentle maneuvering, but it was the crisply struck drives that had spectators cheering. The cover area was regularly threaded, especially as Raina made room to dominate the bowlers.

At 166 for 5 in the 35th over, India appeared on course for 250 but Dilshan trapped Jadeja (38) plumb in front. Raina's attempt to boost the tempo after reaching his century didn't come off, with India losing wickets cheaply. Despite facing 53 dot balls, Raina's strike-rate was a swift 92.17; marvelous considering the mess he had walked out to. His excellent contribution at least gave India something to bowl at, but 245 just wasn't enough to prevent Sri Lanka from securing their first tri-series success since the 2008 Asia Cup - against the same opposition.

Kohli cracks unbeaten ton as India ease home

2010-01-11T19:32:00.000-08:00

With a place in the final already clinched and nothing much at stake, most of India's batsmen batted sloppily. However there was no such charity from Virat Kohli as he struck a mature unbeaten century to ensure that India went into Wednesday's game on the back of three successive wins.

Shakib Al Hasan's 85 and a 106-run partnership with the lively Mahmudullah had lifted Bangladesh from a dismal 95 for 5 to 247 for 6, but on a placid track and against a line-up in form, it was nowhere near enough. India cantered home with seven overs to spare.

Kohli played with commendable concentration until victory was in sight, driving and cutting beautifully even as wickets fell around him. He got his first reprieve on 83, when Mohammad Ashraful put him down at deep midwicket off Syed Rasel, and the butter-fingers epidemic appeared to catch on, with Mushfiqur Rahim fluffing a stumping off Shakib in the next over. Ashraful's woeful outing continued when he dropped Suresh Raina two balls later. It summed up Bangladesh's evening in the field though the match was as good as over by then.

The only interest towards the end of the game centred around whether Kohli would get to his second century. The first 50 had taken just 47 balls, and he was especially severe on Shafiul Islam in his final spell, off-driving and pulling with authority. Naeem Islam was punched off the back foot for four and when Rasel decided to test him with a short one, he pulled it behind square for four. Victory and three figures were completed in a hurry, with an off-drive and a leg-side swish off Shakib.

Bangladesh needed early wickets to send any tremors through the Indian ranks but they didn't get them. Shafiul bowled some fine deliveries, but also offered width that Dinesh Karthik was quick to capitalize on, cutting powerfully past the inner ring for fours. With Gautam Gambhir glancing anything directed at his pads and Karthik easing one through the covers, India were off and away.

When Abdur Razzak came on, Karthik greeted him with a fierce heave over midwicket, but his cameo ended on 34 when he under-edged Shafiul to the keeper. Shafiul continued to be expensive though, with Gambhir taking three fours in an over, and it was left to Naeem to strike in his first over and give the team some hope.

Gambhir sauntered down the track to Naeem and swiped airily, only to see his stumps broken. But with Kohli cutting Shakib for boundaries and playing a gorgeous on-drive, the asking rate was in no danger of climbing. Yuvraj Singh was becalmed against spin though, and after a superb cover-drive, Naeem had him playing down the wrong line to be trapped in front. MS Dhoni glimmered briefly for 32 before clipping Shakib to mid-on, but there were no further alarms as Raina and Kohli saw it home in dew-heavy conditions.

Naeem had contributed a brisk 22 late in the Bangladesh innings as they took 47 from the batting Powerplay and 95 from the final 10 overs to reach a respectable score. Mahmudullah continued his good form against India, remaining unconquered on 64. Shakib was dropped by Dhoni off Yuvraj when he had made just 38 and he took advantage with some punishing strokes in the final stages of the innings. A huge six over midwicket off Ravindra Jadeja started the acceleration, and he took Amit Mishra in the same direction when he dropped short.

There was some fortune, with a top edge clearing Dhoni for four, but there was also plenty of ability, with Sudeep Tyagi being pulled for two fours and then scooped impudently down to fine leg. But when he tried to repeat the stroke off Ashish Nehra's slower ball, he only found Dhoni's gloves.

Mahmudullah had started off with a thump over cover off Mishra, and he then lofted Nehra to long-off for four more. Sreesanth was cut powerfully to the ropes and Mishra hit over long-on for six as the runs came far more freely in the final stages. Naeem swung Nehra for a six at the end and slashed another four as the sparse crowd celebrated a frenetic finish to the innings.

India had started much the better. After a maiden from Tyagi, Imrul Kayes had flailed twice through the off side as Sreesanth pitched too wide, but when he tried the same approach against Tyagi, Kohli snaffled him at point. Ashraful had no thoughts of consolidating - after playing one reckless shot to third man, he decided to give Sreesanth the charge and played on via the pads.

Raqibul Hasan played some chancy strokes, and a delightful pull off Tyagi, while Tamim Iqbal, after a cautious start, lofted Sreesanth over mid-on and then pulled him for four. But again, a wicket fell when they could least afford it, with Tamim driving Nehra on the up to mid-off, where Tyagi took an excellent catch on the run.

Raqibul was then run out as Yuvraj managed to deflect a Shakib drive on the stumps, and though Shakib gave the fans something to cheer with some crisp strokes through the off side, Mushfiqur lobbed a slower one from Yuvraj straight to the man at cover to leave the side in disarray with half the overs remaining. Honour was partially restored by the end, but once again India were just too strong, even with Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan not taking the field.

India dominate Sri Lanka on way to final

2010-01-10T18:08:00.000-08:00

India's best fielding performance in ODIs since the Champions Trophy in September last year set up their march to the final by way of a thumping win. It wasn't anything spectacular: half chances were taken and easy ones not missed, marking a big improvement on their recent fielding form. That, coupled with impressive bowling from Zaheer Khan and Amit Mishra, pulled Sri Lanka from an explosive start and restricted them to a paltry 213, which was chased down with 17.2 overs to spare.

Zaheer was the pick of the bowlers, creating one half chance, and two fairly easy ones. At one stage his figures read 6-2-11-2. Sri Lanka had chosen to bat to allow their bowlers experience first-hand the wet conditions before the final, but it took resilient half-centuries from Kumar Sangakkara and Suraj Randiv to take the match far enough for the dew to set in.

If Sangakkara and Randiv had to work hard, India's runs came with predictable ease: Gautam GambhirVirat Kohli made it to his fourth 50-plus score in his last five innings. scored his 19th half-century, Dinesh Karthik narrowly missed a fourth, and

But it was the first 11 overs of the match that staged the decisive action: two wicket-maidens, a wicket in the first over of new spells on three occasions and, between that, scintillating batting from Tillakaratne Dilshan. Coming back from a groin injury, Dilshan decided to do away with the running. He just drove, cut, pulled and late-cut eight boundaries in 17 deliveries to deflate any confidence India and Sudeep Tyagi would have gained from getting Upul Tharanga out in the first over.

When Zaheer was brought on, in the sixth over, Dilshan had hit seven boundaries in his 29, and Sri Lanka nine in their 38. He was pulled for a four second ball. The next ball took a thick edge, and was dying on Gambhir at fine gully before he snared it. Zaheer was pumped, and proceeded to bowl to a plan that worked just fine for him. Nothing to drive, a short cover in place, playing on the batsmen's patience with the nagging accuracy. Mahela Jayawardene gave in, driving a ball that should not have been driven, and Kohli hung on to a sharp catch at short cover.

Back came Sreesanth, whose first two overs had gone for 16, and Thilan Samaraweera walked across to a straight delivery and missed. Forty-two for 1 in 5.2 overs became 61 for 4 in 10.2. Soon Thilina Kandamby was run out, his fifth such dismissal out of 23. This time, though, he was sold a dummy by his captain, and was done in a by a smart throw from Karthik and quick backing-up by Zaheer.

Thissara Perera, bounced and verbalised by Zaheer, tried to target Mishra, but Yuvraj Singh pulled out a diving catch at wide long-on, not his last contribution to Sri Lanka's woes. Sangakkara, who had reached 32 off 42 by then, responded to Perera's wicket by stepping out and hitting Sreesanth for four. He dominated a seventh-wicket partnership that took Sri Lanka closer to 150, but that's when Yuvraj struck.

Sangakkara had tried to make full use of every loose delivery that came his way, and also took calculated risks to keep the scoreboard from stagnating. But when he pulled a Yuvraj delivery which was too full, he had completed 43 innings without a century. Randiv and Thilan Thushara added 59 for the eighth wicket, a stand that saw Randiv through to his first List A fifty. But when the time came to press on, when they opted for the Powerplay in the 44th over, the tail came up short, and Sri Lanka were bundled out by Zaheer and Mishra, with four overs still to go.

If there was any doubt to which way the match was going, Karthik and Gambhir removed it by taking 86 off the first 10 overs. Sri Lanka's last chance of preventing India from getting the bonus point vanished when Dilshan and Tharanga dropped Gambhir on 41 and 44 respectively.

Karthik did no harm to his chances of pushing for a place in further matches by following up a catch and a smart run-out with a dominating role in the opening partnership. He started off with a streaky boundary past the slip but soon got into the groove, punishing errors in both line and length. Anything straying on the pads was flicked through midwicket, and the ones short were cut through point and covers. Gambhir smartly assumed the second fiddle, capitalising on width when not milking singles.

Once with Kohli, and with fields spread, the two got down to exploiting the gaps, running almost on intuition, scoring 60 off their 72-run partnership on foot. Upon Gambhir's dismissal, Kohli asked for the Powerplay and quickly finished Sri Lanka off, accelerating from 33 off 48 to 71 off 68.

Jayawardene and Tharanga script thumping win

2010-01-08T18:59:00.000-08:00

A succession of bowling changes within the first eight overs of the chase indicated where the match was heading. Bangladesh, under immense pressure to defend a modest - by this tournament's standards - 250, found themselves at the receiving end of an annihilation by Sri Lanka. Mahela Jayawardene and Upul Tharanga compiled centuries with risk-free cricket and the hosts were at the mercy of the conditions again. The decision to advance play by half an hour to protect the bowlers from the dew made no iota of difference.

Tharanga and Jayawardene caressed the ball around, as if the fielders didn't exist. Jayawardene, initially rested for this tournament, was rushed to Bangladesh as an injury cover and he didn't waste much time settling down. He imposed himself with three boundaries in the second over, off Rubel Hossain, flicking and driving through the off side. Shakib Al Hasan, sensing the futility of bowling his seamers in tandem, took them off after the third over.

It made no difference. Shakib himself was taken for consecutive boundaries by Tharanga as soon as he brought himself on, in the fifth over. The same treatment was reserved for Mahmudullah, who was punished by Tharanga in his first over for dropping it short. It was sensible cricket against some very ordinary bowling. The bowlers couldn't grip it properly and fed many deliveries on the pads.

Batting from the crease had never been this easy. The pair complemented each other stroke for stroke, giving room to glide the spinners past the keeper for boundaries to third man. The spinners were almost forced to bowl it flat because of the dew, and that allowed the batsmen enough time to rock back and place their shots in the gaps. A flick down to fine leg brought up Jayawardene's fifty, while Tharanga reached his milestone with a fierce cut off Ashraful past backward point. Tharanga continued to pick the gaps with his eyes shut, taking Rasel for three effortless boundaries in an over. With every punch, flick and cut, the game drifted away from Bangladesh, who had already thrown in the towel.

Shakib didn't opt for the bowling Powerplay in the 11th over because he had no other option but to go on the defensive. By the eighth over, he had used five bowlers, and, by the 14th, he had used seven. They were hurt by the absence of a raw quick bowler to hurry the batsmen with bounce. The bowlers were made to wait for the batsmen to make mistakes but instead, they were made to witness a batting performance close to perfection.

With the target well within reach, it was a question of who would get to a century first. Jayawardene punished the easy short deliveries which Rubel dished out and reached three figures with a cut for four to deep point. Tharanga got to his milestone with a similar shot. Jayawardene had all but taken his team home, when he edged Naeem Islam to the keeper for 104. It was Bangladesh's only success of the evening.

Looking back, the hosts would have wished they batted better. After the top order wasted good starts, the middle order took time to consolidate. They still had wickets in hand to accelerate in the last ten overs, but despite saving the Powerplay almost till the end, couldn't seal the innings with a flourish.

However, the game still had the makings of yet another high-scoring encounter when Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes set off confidently again. But Tamim, Ashraful and Kayes made starts and got out at the wrong time. It was upto the Hasans - Shakib and Raqibul - to consolidate after that. Shakib was trying to play himself into form after two successive failures and was happy to push the singles. There was a boundary drought for 14.1 overs, before Raqibul broke the shackles with a powerful sweep off Malinga Bandara to deep midwicket.

The pair added 77 in nearly 20 overs before a false shot cost Raqibul his wicket. Mushfiqur Rahim certainly impacted the decibel levels in the crowd when he mowed Thilan Samaraweera for two sixes in an over off deep midwicket and heralded the Powerplay with improvised boundaries. But Shakib and Mushfiqur perished while trying to clear the boundaries and with those breakthroughs, Sri Lanka clawed back.

With the field restrictions in place. Mahmudullah was trapped in two minds whether to attack freely or adopt a more cautious approach. The bowlers changed their pace very effectively to strangle the scoring. Sri Lanka tightened their grip by picking up a wicket in each of the five overs, for 32 runs. It was the second-worst performance in the batting Powerplay in ODIs, after Pakistan lost 6 for 41 against India at Centurion in last year's Champions Trophy. Bangladesh ended with a total which, by the end of the game, seemed a 100 short.

Kanishkaa Balachandran is a sub-editor at Cricinfo

Dhoni and Kohli seal comfortable win for India

2010-01-08T18:57:00.000-08:00

A commendable performance with the bat, followed by an inspired opening burst wasn't enough for Bangladesh to pull off a surprise win against India at the Shere Bangla Stadium. The Indian middle order, led by Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, kept the hopes of the expectant crowd at bay with an ice-cool stand under pressure. For a while in the beginning of the chase, it seemed as if Shakib Al Hasan's decision at the toss would be vindicated, but the hard realisation hit home that even 296 wasn't enough to counter an in-form batting unit and a familiar foe called dew.

It undid all the hard work by a trio of half-centuries by Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes and Mahmudullah. Bangladesh posted their highest ODI total against a major Test playing country, surpassing their 285 against Pakistan. With India in trouble at 51 for 3, there was hope for Bangladesh. Shakib got his strategy right by unleashing his slow bowlers early and India had to sweat it out before they found their feet.

Abdur Razzak and Syed Rasel opened the bowling and kept the pressure by attacking the stumps. But it was a combination of casual running and purposeful fielding which led to Virender Sehwag's run-out, off a direct hit by the bowler Razzak. Sehwag failed to dive but he knew he was gone before the third umpire adjudicated. Gautam Gambhir dragged one on to his stumps and Yuvraj Singh played inside the line and lost his off stump to Rasel.

The match then turned when Dhoni and Kohli collaborated. Although Dhoni emerged the top scorer with 101, it was Kohli at the forefront in the stand of 154 for the fourth wicket. He displayed the kind of attitude and application one would associate with Rahul Dravid - cool under pressure, prepared to wait for the loose deliveries, push the singles and not get too bogged down if the boundaries aren't coming.

They struggled initially, hitting the ball straight to the fielders but later started to find the gaps. Two early boundaries off Abdur Razzak got Kohli going and he showed his strengths on both sides of the wicket , sweeping the spinners, cutting square and pulling whenever they dropped it short. The pressure began to tell on Bangladesh with a couple of misfields at the boundary - one by Tamim and the other by Razzak - was just what India needed. Kohli knocked it around and reached a valuable fifty.

As the dew worsened, the spinners were forced to bowl it flat and that gave the batting pair an opening as they kept the scoreboard ticking, without ever lagging far behind the required rate. Their stand featured 36 runs off boundaries, indicative of the number of singles and twos they picked up. The field was spread out and Bangladesh started going through the motions. They fluffed the only chance which came their way - a return catch put down off Dhoni by Shakib. At that stage, he was on 61.

Kohli started cramping up and called for a runner (Gambhir). However, he fell nine short of a century when he spooned one back to Shakib, this time hanging on to the catch. But the spinners failed to spark a collapse. Dhoni was quick to pounce on anything short and regularly rocked back to club it past midwicket. Suresh Raina joined him to finish the game comfortably with 15 balls to spare.

The defeat masked a sound batting performance by Bangladesh. Tamim batted with supreme confidence for an exciting 60 while Imrul played the supporting role, looking to occupy the crease and build partnerships. India clawed back during the middle overs before Mahmudullah scripted an attacking fifty during the batting Powerplay.

Tamim and Kayes added 80 in 11 overs on a sun-baked pitch which had no pace or movement for the seamers. Tamim played some enterprising shots on the on side, forcing Dhoni to get proactive with his field placings. His fifty came off 33 balls, the fastest by a Bangladesh batsman against India. Unfortunately, the entertainment ended when he tried to pull Sreesanth and found Gautam Gambhir at short midwicket. Kayes wasn't as flamboyant, but proved just as threatening. He preferred to stay at the crease and play his shots, grafting against the spinners and pushing the singles. He wasn't afraid to sweep Harbhajan Singh against the turn from round the wicket, and found the gaps at fine leg and deep square leg.

Bangladesh lost their way a bit after they lost Mohammad Ashraful and then Shakib for a duck. That was followed by another period of consolidation, between Raqibul Hasan and Mahmudullah who added 32 in 6.2 overs. Mahmudullah was scoreless for 11 deliveries but opened up with a sweep for four off Yuvraj. He was setting himself up for the batting Powerplay, which was delayed till the last five overs. Like in their opening game against Sri Lanka, the home fans were treated to another final-over flourish, this time by Mahmudullah. Three consecutive boundaries in the over, off Sreesanth, helped Bangladesh surge to 296. There was hope from the stands for another couple of hours before it all vanished.

Strauss and Cook start the climb

2010-01-06T06:07:00.000-08:00

Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook completed the first leg of England's survival bid in the third Test at Newlands, successfully negotiating a typically hostile new-ball onslaught from Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn to carry England to 38 for 0 at tea on the fourth day, after South Africa had declared early in the afternoon session on 447 for 7, a lead of 465.

With four sessions of the match remaining, and the ball now 16 overs old and losing its shine and hardness, the manner in which Cook and Strauss endured will have given their team-mates heart as they brace themselves for a long and torturous finale to the contest.

Their opening gambit was not without alarms, as Strauss, on 1, edged Steyn inches short of Graeme Smith at first slip before being pinned on the shoulder by a rapid bouncer that nearly knocked him into his stumps, but he eased the pressure both on himself and his team by driving Steyn handsomely through the covers for three fours in a row, to reach 15 not out at the break.

Cook, meanwhile, resumed his watchful approach, leaving both new-ball bowlers diligently outside off stump, before raising his tempo in the final overs of the session, as he welcomed the spinner Paul Harris with a clip through midwicket, before rocking back to pull Friedel de Wet in front of square.

Earlier in the session, South Africa's marathon second innings was finally brought to a close after a tempo-raising cameo from the under-pressure JP Duminy had been ended by a catch down the leg-side off James Anderson. Duminy, who came into the innings on the back of consecutive first-ball ducks, added 31 runs in 7.2 overs to his lunchtime score of 5 not out, including a glut of cover-drives and a big six over midwicket.

AB de Villiers had also looked to press on in the session, but was expertly caught by Stuart Broad, running back from mid-off in the second over after lunch to give Anderson his second wicket of the innings, while Mark Boucher came and went in a hurry, smacking the first ball of Graeme Swann's spell over midwicket for six, before top-edging another sweep in the same over - the 14th instance of Swann striking a blow in his first over of a spell.

The mainstay of South Africa's innings, however, was their captain, Graeme Smith, whose epic innings came to an end on 183 when he top-edged a pull off Graham Onions to deep backward square leg after six-and-a-half hours of determined agenda-setting. He had resumed on 162 not out, and quickly found his range by crunching Anderson through point for the first boundary of the day, before edging him safely through third man in the same over.

Onions, however, settled into a constraining line and length with some appreciable movement off the seam of the new ball that England had claimed as soon as play began. He soon earned his reward when Smith climbed into a pull for Paul Collingwood to complete a comfortable catch on the backward-square boundary. Later replays, however, suggested that the delivery ought to have been called a no-ball.

Without their captain to drive the agenda, South Africa's momentum began to meander, with Kallis typically content to play to his own unflustered tempo. With his second half-century of the match looming, however, he unfurled an expansive drive at Anderson, and snicked a thin edge to Matt Prior to depart for 46.

Samaraweera, Perera take Sri Lanka to second successive win

2010-01-06T06:05:00.000-08:00

Rarely does a centurion get overshadowed in a match of middling scores. But though Thilan Samaraweera finished with an accomplished unbeaten 105, the headlines were stolen by Thissara Perera, who celebrated his third cap with a power-packed 15-ball 36. From needing 54 off 39 balls when he arrived at the crease, Sri Lanka romped home with two overs to spare, as India's quest for yorkers merely resulted in one too many no-balls and full tosses. Chanaka Welegedara's five-wicket haul had killed India's batting momentum at crucial times, and with the dew playing such a factor in the evening, 279 was not quite enough.

After taking Zaheer Khan through cover to get off the mark, Perera transformed the game in Ashish Nehra's seventh over. He had been India's best bowler, but Perera pierced the off-side cordon, flicked behind square and then nonchalantly hoicked the free hit for six in the same direction. Samaraweera got to his hundred straight after, but was then more than content to watch the fun from the other end.

Zaheer was then carved through the covers twice, as he made light of being struck in the ribs, and a meaty club through wide long-on finished off matters well ahead of time. Sri Lanka had been given a brisk start by the new opening pair of Upul Tharanga and Lahiru Thirimanne, the debutant who replaced Tillakaratne Dilshan, but once India conceded just 16 in the five overs of bowling Powerplay, the onus was very much on the old hands to see it home.

Tharanga had set the tone with a casual loft for four off Zaheer, and then two then took 16 from an over that also featured wides down the leg side. With runs leaking, MS Dhoni gave the ball to Sreesanth, only for Thirimanne to reveal glimpses of his potential with three cracking drives through the covers. It was too good to last though. In Sreesanth's next over, he got into a tangle trying to pull off the front foot and the ball ballooned to midwicket.

Soon after, Harbhajan Singh was introduced and Tharanga chipped his fourth ball straight back. But Samaraweera came in and wrested the initiative with deft cuts and a paddle for four. And with Kumar Sangakkara unafraid to come down the pitch and chip over the infield, the innings quickly revived. By then the towels were out, and the Indian focus was as much on keeping the ball dry as it was on taking the wickets needed to win the game.

Samaraweera was the primary aggressor, scooping Sreesanth for four in an over that cost 16, and Sri Lanka were cruising when Sangakkara, who had eased to 60, stepped out and lofted Harbhajan Singh straight to cover. Thilina Kandamby then top-edged a wild swipe to midwicket and when Suraj Randiv backed up too far, they were in trouble. Perera, though, ensured that India would get no reprieve.

Earlier, Yuvraj Singh had marked his return to the XI with 74 from 84 balls, while Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja all contributed decent cameos after Virender Sehwag had played a typically effervescent hand. He cruised to 47 from 30 balls before playing too early at one bowled with fingers rolled across the seam from round the wicket, and after his exit, India had to build steadily on a surface where the ball didn't always come on to the bat.

Sehwag had announced his intentions from the outset, off-driving Welegedara for four, but there was an early setback for the Indians as he sneaked a yorker underneath Gautam Gambhir's bat and on to the base of leg stump. With Sehwag taking Suranga Lakmal for three fours in an over, and Virat Kohli playing a lovely straight drive, the 50 of the innings came in just the seventh over. The game changed, though, in the space of two eventful overs from Welegedara.

Sehwag had scythed two off-side fours and been caught behind off a no-ball by the time Kohli tried too cute a deflection to a ball pitched outside off stump. Having conceded 18 in that over, Welegedara came back in the next to have Sehwag caught at mid-off by Thirimanne. India had taken 76 from the first Powerplay, but only 13 came from the bowling one as the bowlers kept a leash on the new batsmen. Both Yuvraj and Dhoni clipped boundaries through point, but with Randiv getting pretty sharp turn, and Kandamby filling in with part-time spin, the runs were no longer coming at Sehwag pace.

When Muthumudalige Pushpakumara went off injured after a dive in the outfield, Sangakkara had to turn to his occasional bowlers, and Yuvraj quickly cashed in, pulling Samaraweera for four and then heaving Kandamby for two consecutive sixes to reach his half-century. At that point, Perara, deputising for Chamara Silva, was called on, and Dhoni's attempt to force the issue only found Sangakkara's gloves. Soon after, he induced a miscued pull from Yuvraj, and by the time the batting Powerplay was taken after 43 overs, there were only 225 on the board.

They took 14 from the first of those overs, bowled by Welegedara, but with Jadeja going four-six-four-four against Thilan Thushara, the innings finally had some energy. But back came Sri Lanka again, with Welegedara castling Raina and Zaheer, and Harbhajan playing a hideous stroke to point. By the time Jadeja holed out in the final over, all hopes of 300 had long since disappeared, leaving Sri Lanka with a chase that they timed to perfection.

Hussey ton sets up stunning win for Australia

2010-01-06T05:36:00.000-08:00

Australia completed a nerve-shredding 36-run victory over an exasperating Pakistani side to become just the sixth team in Test history to triumph after trailing by 200-plus on the first innings. An obstinate 123-run ninth-wicket partnership between Michael Hussey and Peter Siddle drew Australia back into a contest they appeared to have conceded after a calamitous opening day, and a penetrative final-day bowling display completed one of the great comebacks witnessed on these shores.

The Australians, who resumed play on Wednesday eight wickets down and only 80 runs ahead, set the Pakistanis a challenging target of 176 following the brilliant, improbable stand of Hussey and Siddle that almost matched Australia's entire first-innings aggregate. Pakistan's batsmen positioned themselves for a victory charge at several junctures of their innings, but Nathan Hauritz's second five-wicket haul in as many matches ensured the tourists fell agonisingly short in their pursuit.

In the end, it was a game of "who blinks first". The Pakistanis have made no secret of their plans to attack Hauritz throughout the summer, and looked to erase large chunks of their deficit while the Australian spinner was in operation. Such a tactic was inevitably going to lead to chances, and Hauritz proved good enough to take them on a gripping afternoon at a ground that has come to resemble Australia's theatre of dreams.

Hauritz began his series-clinching spell with a caught-and-bowled catch that threatened his further participation in the contest. Mohammad Yousuf, whose timid tactics in the morning session played into the hands of the Australian batsmen, belatedly found his aggression and bludgeoned Hauritz's third delivery after lunch with the force of a thousand ordinary drives,. Alas, he did so in the bowler's direction and an unflinching Hauritz held onto an excellent catch that cut open his left thumb and required medical treatment.

Far from finished, Hauritz removed the out-of-sorts Misbah-ul-Haq two deliveries later, then rolled through the Pakistani tail to complete a polished performance that served as further evidence of his evolution into a legitimate international spinner. His efforts were complemented by those of Mitchell Johnson, who finished with three wickets and commenced Pakistan's terminal slide with the dismissals of Salman Butt and Faisal Iqbal in the same over. Doug Bollinger, too, thrived in the pressure-cooker atmosphere, dismissing the potent duo of Imran Farhat and Umar Akmal in a spell defined by pace and discipline.

Earlier, Hussey took full advantage of Yousuf's oddly defensive captaincy and a placid SCG pitch to restore Australia's victory prospects. Hussey and Siddle carried their bats through the first session and at one stage looked set to break the 116-year-old ninth-innings Australian partnership record at the SCG set by Syd Gregory and Jack Blackham.

Australia's revival was assisted greatly by the timid tactics of the Pakistanis who, as a result, were faced with a testing chase. Yousuf's defensive field configurations - which included eight men on the fence for Hussey, who was barely threatened up to lunch - did little to enhance his own reputation as a tactician and played as large a role in drawing Australia back into the match as the team's turgid catching of previous days.

Hussey has made more fluent centuries, but few as important as that completed on Wednesday. Having watched on from the non-striker's end as Australia lost 5 for 40 the preceding evening, Hussey seized control of the Australian innings on a flat batting surface and, in the process, relieved any lingering doubt hanging over his position in the team.

Hussey declined the charity singles being offered by Yousuf and instead looked to pierce the boundaries with drives that seldom left the carpet. He entered the nineties with back-to-back cover-driven fours off the bowling of Danish Kaneria and sealed his first ton of the summer with a glorious straight drive off Umar Gul. Hussey punched the air in delight upon reaching the milestone, acutely aware of the innings' importance in the context of the match. Siddle, meanwhile, batted with tremendous discipline and restraint to raise his highest Test score of 38.

Mohammad Asif and Kaneria claimed the final two Australian wickets six overs after the lunch break, but not before the hosts had added 95 runs on the fourth morning. Asif ended the dogged stand of Hussey and Siddle by removing the latter to a shorter delivery gloved to slip. Kaneria then completed the innings and a personal five-wicket haul by bowling Bollinger with a delivery that ricocheted off the batsman's elbow and foot.

It mattered little. Australia were already back in the contest.

2010-01-05T05:44:00.000-08:00

The Sydney Cricket Ground museum has among its many artefacts the shirt Danish Kaneria wore during his seven-wicket haul against the Australians five years ago. The curator may have to clear further hanging space should Kaneria's four-wicket collection at the SCG on Tuesday prove the catalyst for a Pakistan victory 15 years in the making.

Not since 1995 have Pakistan defeated Australia in the Test arena, and the efforts of Kaneria and Umar Gul on the third day have them perfectly poised to end their 10-match losing streak and keep alive the current three-match series. The Australians, who looked in ominous batting form after Shane Watson and Phillip Hughes posted a century opening stand, were exposed over the final two sessions on Tuesday to close at a perilous 8 for 286, holding an overall lead of 80 runs.

Pakistan might have been further advanced down the path to victory had Kamran Akmal, the tourists' embattled wicketkeeper, not dropped Michael Hussey three times off the bowling of Kaneria. Hussey went onto post an unbeaten 73 as wickets fell around him to keep alive Australia's faint hopes of becoming just the sixth side in Test history to post a victory after trailing by 200-plus on the first innings.

If not for the contributions of Hussey and Watson, the latter of whom was dismissed in the nineties for the third time in four matches, Australia might already be packing their bags for Hobart. The loss of five middle order wickets for just 40 runs on a decent batting surface served as further evidence of a soft underbelly and Pakistan, ranked a lowly sixth on the ICC Test ladder, exploited Australia's frailties with an efficiency somewhere short of clinical.

Kaneria proved the principal architect of Australia's demise over 33 punishing overs. His haul of 4 for 117 exacted a harsh physical toll - he was carried from the field late in the day with what appeared to be leg cramps - though not before he had accounted for Phillip Hughes, Marcus North, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson. Kaneria commenced proceedings by ending Australia's 105-run opening stand with the wicket of Hughes to a sharp return catch. He returned to remove North and Johnson with wrong-uns both batsmen failed to pick, and trapped Haddin lbw to a delivery that survived a video challenge.

His efforts were complemented by those of Gul, who showed up the selectors' decision to omit him from the first Test with the prize scalps of Watson and Ricky Ponting to go with the lower order wicket of Nathan Hauritz. Unerring in line and testing in length, Gul hardly allowed the Australian batsmen a moment of respite and was rewarded with the prize wicket of Watson who, to that point, had threatened to take the game away from the tourists.

Watson was the beneficiary of a number of reprieves, commencing with Kaneria's dropped catch over the fine-leg boundary that took him past the 1000-run mark in Test cricket. He might also have been run out on the stroke of lunch, only for Kamran Akmal to neglect to remove the bails while he was well short of his ground. It has been a tour to forget for the Pakistani gloveman.

Gifted an extra life, Watson adopted an aggressive mindset at the crease and peppered the boundaries with a series of authoritative drives and pull strokes. He bookended Sami's first over after lunch with a pulled six and cut four, and proceeded to punish Pakistan's tactic of bowling wide of off-stump to 7-2 field settings by blasting anything short between midwicket and long-on.

A more circumspect Hughes headed to the lunch break unbeaten on 31 from 71 deliveries, but his resistance ended early in the second session when a return catch was brilliantly reeled in by Kaneria. Ponting continued his forgettable outing at the SCG by chasing the second ball of Gul's second spell and edging to Faisal Iqbal in the slips, and Watson's bid for back-to-back centuries was terminated when he attempted to cut Gul too close to his body on 97. The collapse had begun.

Yuvraj half-century lifts India to 279

2010-01-05T05:41:00.000-08:00

Either side of being flayed by Virender Sehwag and bowling too many no-balls, Chanaka Welegedara stemmed the Indian batting tide by picking up five wickets. But with Yuvraj Singh marking his return to the XI with 74 from 84 balls, and MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja all contributing decent cameos, Sri Lanka were still left to chase 280 for victory under lights. With dew expected to be a factor, though perhaps less so than on Monday, Kumar Sangakkara's side were marginal favourites.

Sehwag had romped to 47 from 30 balls before playing too early at one bowled with fingers rolled across the seam from round the wicket, and after his exit, India had to build steadily on a surface where the ball didn't always come on to the bat. He had announced his intentions from the outset, off-driving Welegedara for four, but there was an early setback for the Indians as he sneaked a yorker underneath Gautam Gambhir's bat and on to the base of leg stump.

With Sehwag taking Suranga Lakmal for three fours in an over, and Virat Kohli playing a lovely straight drive, the 50 of the innings came in just the seventh over. The game changed, though, in the space of two eventful overs from Welegedara. Sehwag had scythed two off-side fours and been caught behind off a no-ball by the time Kohli tried too cute a deflection to a ball pitched outside off stump. Having conceded 18 in that over, Welegedara came back in the next to have Sehwag caught at mid-off by Lahiru Thirimanne.

India had taken 76 from the first Powerplay, but only 13 came from the bowling one as the bowlers kept a leash on the new batsmen. Both Yuvraj and Dhoni clipped boundaries through point, but with Suraj Randiv getting pretty sharp turn, and Thilina Kandamby filling in with part-time spin, the runs were no longer coming at Sehwag pace.

When Muthumudalige Pushpakumara went off injured after a dive in the outfield, Sangakkara had to turn to his occasional bowlers, and Yuvraj quickly cashed in, pulling Thilan Samaraweera for four and then heaving Kandamby for two consecutive sixes to reach his half-century. At that point, Thissara Perara, deputising for Chamara Silva, was called on, and Dhoni's attempt to force the issue only found Sangakkara's gloves. Soon after, he induced a miscued pull from Yuvraj, and by the time the batting Powerplay was taken after 43 overs, there were only 225 on the board.

They took 14 from the first of those overs, bowled by Welegedara, but with Jadeja going four-six-four-four against Thilan Thushara, the innings finally had some energy. But back came Sri Lanka again, with Welegedara castling Raina and Zaheer Khan, and Harbhajan playing a hideous stroke to point. By the time Jadeja holed out in the final over, all hopes of 300 had long since disappeared, leaving Sri Lanka, even without Tillakaratne Dilshan's explosive presence at the top, quietly confident of maintaining their perfect start to the tournament.

Smith and Amla push England to the wall

2010-01-05T05:38:00.000-08:00

Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla batted throughout the afternoon session in an unbroken second-wicket stand of 134, as South Africa extended their lead to an imposing 183 with one session remaining of the third day at Newlands. By tea, both men had reached their half-centuries and were looking good for several more, against a frustrated England attack that was beginning to toil on the hottest day of the series so far.

South Africa started their second innings with a slender lead of 18, thanks to Morne Morkel's stand-out figures of 5 for 75, but England were given their now-habitual early breakthrough when the struggling Ashwell Prince was extracted in Graeme Swann's second over for 15, to bring to an end an opening stand of 31 that was South Africa's biggest of the series to date.

But Amla launched his innings in a positive vein, clipping Stuart Broad for four through fine leg, as England's seamers failed to find the same patience and penetration that had marked their first-day performance in overcast conditions. Amla in particular took full toll of their unsettled line of attack, cutting and clipping 12 boundaries in total, most of them through the arc of point and third man, as he was offered too much width.

Smith, meanwhile, saved his most aggressive tendencies for Swann, whom he looked to work against the spin and through midwicket at every opportunity. He did, however, have one massive let-off on 51, when Swann straightened a delivery on middle stump that was initially adjudged lbw, but Smith rightly suspected that the ball was bouncing too much. Sure enough, the replays showed it would have skimmed over the top of off stump, and so his vigil went on.

It was the second reprieve that South Africa enjoyed via UDRS, although the first - in the third over of the day - was extraordinary. James Anderson appealed speculatively for caught-behind as Prince waved his bat at a leg-side delivery, and after a lengthy delay, umpire Harper raised his finger. The reviewed decision showed that his bat had been at least six inches from making contact, and Prince, on 5 at the time, had a let-off.

He could not, however, make it count. On 7, he inside-edged Graham Onions millimetres past his leg stump, but on 15, his luck finally ran out. Swann was brought into the attack in the 10th over and caused instant palpitations as Smith survived an lbw shout, a low edge towards slip and a top-edged sweep in the space of five balls.

Prince negotiated the final ball of his first over, but that was as far as he could go. Swann's very next delivery trapped him plumb in front of middle, and despite the optimistic use of a review, there was no reprieve. Astonishingly, it was only the fifth delivery that Prince had faced from Swann all series, and he had been dismissed by three of them. Little wonder he left the field shaking his head.

Earlier, Matt Prior had carried the attack back to South Africa after Morkel had claimed back-to-back breakthroughs in his first over of the day, as England added 32 runs to their overnight 241 for 7 to finish their first innings on 273.

Prior, who resumed on his overnight 52, was powerless to react at first as Morkel ripped through England's lower-order, dismissing Swann without addition to his overnight 5 courtesy of a fourth-ball lifter that took the glove and flew to Smith at first slip, before Anderson was handed the second duck of his Test career as Smith again claimed a regulation edge.

England's No. 11, Onions, survived the hat-trick ball, but at 241 for 9, England's deficit was still a sizeable 50 runs. Prior took it upon himself to whittle the lead away, taking on Morkel with a swished edge over the slips for four, before advancing down the wicket twice in his next over, to drive and clip a brace of very welcome boundaries.

Onions, who was limited to a handful of deliveries each over, joined the fun when he slashed outside off at Morkel and edged through Smith's fingertips for four, but it was Prior who eventually fell for 76, as he attempted to work Dale Steyn for a single to keep the strike, but under-edged onto his stumps.

Tillakaratne Dilshan masterminds easy victory

2010-01-04T08:43:00.000-08:00

Tillakaratne Dilshan made 2009 his own, scoring ten centuries in all forms, and he didn't start too badly in the new year either, compiling another robust ton to guide Sri Lanka to an easy win in the tri-series opener. Bangladesh gave a good account of themselves with the bat in getting to 260, but their bowlers lost the battle against Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and the dew.

Defending totals under lights will pose a challenge to all teams in this competition, with the dew factor kicking in, and tonight, Bangladesh were bitten after losing the toss. Shakib Al Hasan said this was a "minimum 250" wicket and his batsmen obliged. Early into the Sri Lankan chase, they realised that they were at least 30 short.

The opening over by the debutant Shafiul Islam was a sign of things to come, as he leaked ten runs. Upul Tharanga was in fine touch, caressing the ball square of the wicket on the off side with very little effort. Bangladesh had packed the off-side field to restrict the left-handers but both Tharanga and Sangakkara managed to pierce them.

However, Tharanga threw it away, chasing a delivery angled across him. Sangakkara was very harsh on anything wide of the off stump and played some delightful drives along the ground. The instinctive Dilshan didn't mind hitting it in the air, clearing his back leg to pull and clip it over midwicket. In the process, he went past 4000 runs in ODIs.

Shakib wasn't amused. Early in the chapter, he showed his frustration by placing his hands on his head, without a clue about what to do. He brought himself on in the sixth over after his seamers had already leaked 52. Not that the introduction of spin made any difference. Shakib, Abdur Razzak and Mahmudullah were impeded by the dew, which didn't allow them to grip the ball properly.

They often dropped it flat and quick, in order to get the ball to skid through, but Sangakkara and Dilshan managed to get on top of them, rocking on the backfoot and crashing it past the infield. Both proceeded towards their half-centuries at the same pace, reaching their milestones in the 21st over, bowled by Razzak.

Sangakkara was also heading towards a century but fell off a very loose shot, tamely edging Shafiul to the wicketkeeper. Dilshan continued to grind the opposition, nudging it in the gaps for singles and pounding the off boundary. He was harsh on anything short and rendered the spinners impotent with his sweeps. He brought up his hundred with a slash off Mohammad Ashraful past point. The Bangladesh fielding too wasn't upto the mark, and those extra runs only hastened Sri Lanka's progress.

Dilshan suffered a scare when he pulled a hamstring while turning for a second run. Sangakkara came out as a runner and hung around almost till the very end, before a full-blooded pull by Dilshan landed in Naeem Islam's hands at short midwicket. Dilshan walked off for 104 and Sri Lanka will wait on his fitness for their second game tomorrow against India. Thilan Samaraweera then sealed what was a very one-sided period of play under lights.

It took Bangladesh a lot of hard work and concentration to get to a formidable score. It was not without some anxious moments though, when the top order pushed the self-destruct button to lose four wickets for the addition of nine runs. The score went from 65 for 0 to 74 for 4 primarily through irresponsible batting. Imrul Kayes, Tamim Iqbal and Shakib all perished in that manner, trying to clear the infield when it really wasn't required. Raqibul Hasan fell to a stunning one-handed take by Samaraweera at second slip and that was the only top order wicket which wasn't gifted away.

By the 17th over, Bangladesh had to start all over. Ashraful and Mushfiqur Rahim scripted a steady and patient recovery with dogged resistance. Ashraful was forced to let his guard down and look for the singles, which the pair managed to do fairly easily during their 58-run stand for the fifth wicket. They were more focused on accumulation rather than domination.

Ashraful didn't change gears after Mushfiqur departed and continued grafting against the spinners, this time with Mahmudullah for company. Incredibly, Ashraful picked up his first boundary off his 37th ball - a loft over extra cover off Thilina Kandamby - in sharp contrast to the way he normally plays. It's a style of play he's getting used to, after being criticised time and again in his career for throwing his wicket away after making a start.

His 75 was significant mainly because it kept the Sri Lankans at bay, helped the innings last the entire 50 overs, something Bangladesh have struggled to do in the past. Naeem's final-over fireworks (off Suranga Lakmal) pushed the score past 250 and as the Bangladesh players walked off in satisfaction, there was hope of a contest. An hour and a half later, those smiles vanished.

Steyn and Morkel unsettle England

2010-01-04T08:41:00.000-08:00

Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn hauled South Africa right back into contention in the third Test at Newlands, and the series as a whole, claiming six wickets between them on an extraordinary day that began with a clatter of South African wickets and ended with England's lower order fighting to avoid a first-innings deficit. Despite clear-blue skies that implied a perfect day for batting, 11 wickets fell in 83.4 overs, including seven in the morning session alone, four of which fell in 17 balls to bring South Africa's innings to a swift and undignified end.

By the close, however, England were the team on the ropes, as Matt Prior struggled to locate his timing in an uncharacteristically gritty half-century, with Graeme Swann alongside him and primed to take on the second new ball in what promises to be a pivotal first session on the third morning. In reply to 291, England's deficit was a manageable 50 with three wickets still standing, but every run so far in this match has had to be chiselled, as if from Table Mountain itself.

After the first 15 minutes of the day, England believed they had stolen all the momentum by reducing their opponents from 279 for 6 to 291 all out, but in reply, the first-over dismissal of Andrew Strauss, courtesy of his nemesis, Morkel, redressed the balance dramatically. Steyn, operating as first-change after an unconvincing comeback match at Kingsmead, then announced his return to strike-bowler status with two wickets in three balls, including Kevin Pietersen for a second-ball duck, and when Morkel pinned Paul Collingwood lbw for 19 after lunch, England were in danger of conceding an insurmountable lead.

For the remainder of the afternoon session, South Africa were thwarted by Alastair Cook and Ian Bell, whose fifth-wicket stand of 60 provided further evidence of the pair's revived confidence, following their twin centuries in last week's Boxing Day Test. For nearly four hours, Cook was bloodymindedness personified as he hung back in his crease and relied on the bowlers losing patience before he did, as he left outside off time and time again, feeding almost exclusively on tucks through the leg-side whenever they straightened their line of attack.

But whereas in Durban, nothing could crack Cook's concentration, this time the tea interval unhinged his resolve. Once again it was Morkel who struck the mortal blow, in the first over of the resumption, as Cook was caught in two minds for the only time in his innings, and shovelled a half-hearted pull to Ashwell Prince at short midwicket. Bell responded to that dismissal with a classy stamp of authority, easing Steyn for three fours in the very next over, all through backward point, but just when it seemed he was ready and capable to carry the fight for his country, he gave his innings away on 48 with a loose wafted cut.

The ball, from Jacques Kallis, was a rank long-hop that was asking to be hit, but Bell's eager slap flew straight to backward point, and as he departed with a grimace of self-admonishment, England's innings had slipped back into the mire at 174 for 6. But Prior, playing a shot to almost every delivery but timing next to none, was joined by Stuart Broad, and together they ground out a 51-run stand for the seventh wicket before Steyn popped up with the new ball looming, and nicked Broad's bails with a perfect delivery that zipped through the gate.

Prior, showing great determination in a situation that did not suit his free-flowing style, reached his half-century from the penultimate ball of the day, his 95th, as he and Swann successfully fended off the new ball for 10 deliveries before the close. At that stage, England trailed by 50 with three wickets still in hand, but as England themselves had demonstrated at the start of the day, there's nothing quite like a new nut for cracking the tail in this series.

South Africa had resumed their first innings against a ball that was just 3.2 overs old, with Kallis unbeaten on 108, his 33rd Test century, having added 63 vital and confident runs for the seventh wicket with Steyn. However, Graham Onions' second delivery of the morning was simply too good - bending in towards off, it pitched, seamed, and nicked Kallis's outside edge, to send him on his way without addition, and set in motion an extraordinary sequence of events.

Next to go was Steyn, who had batted well for his overnight 26, but now fell to James Anderson's first delivery of the morning - a fat edge to Jonathan Trott at third slip, who made good ground to accept the chance to his right. Three deliveries later, Morkel hung out his bat outside off for Swann at second slip to atone for his first-morning miss with a fine low catch, diving to his right, and one over later, Anderson completed his eighth five-wicket haul as Friedel de Wet was pinned on the front pad by a nip-backer, and sent on his way for a duck despite the futile use of a review.

South Africa's collapse exceeded England's most optimistic calculations, but the challenge for Strauss and Cook was to capitalise on the chaos. Instead, it was Morkel who struck the next blow, and arguably the biggest of the morning, when his steepling bounce from his awkward round-the-wicket line once again proved too much for England's captain. Cunningly handed the first over of the innings, Morkel forced Strauss deep into his crease with a series of lifters, before pitching his sixth ball up and finding the edge of an unbalanced drive.

Strauss swished his bat in anger as he left the crease with England tottering at 2 for 1, although that scoreline was soon massaged by Cook and Trott, who batted calmly to add 34 for the second wicket in 11.4 overs. Trott provided the aggressive intent, pulling de Wet in front of square before driving Morkel handsomely through the covers, while Cook hung back in his crease and waited for the bowlers to err in line and length. However, it was the belated introduction of Steyn that swung the balance firmly back in South Africa's favour.

After an exploratory start to his spell, Steyn exploded into life in his first over after the drinks break, as Trott paid the price for his aggressive intent and inside-edged a hard-handed drive onto his off stump. Two deliveries later, Pietersen had been and gone as well - the situation was one that he habitually relishes, and the extra bounce in the surface might have suited his attacking instincts. But Steyn drew him into a loose and airy drive, and reached out with his right hand to pluck a vital return catch.

At 36 for 3 after 13 overs, South Africa were swarming, and though Collingwood's cool accumulation allowed England to reach lunch without further loss, he was swiftly extracted after the break for 19, as Morkel found a devastating full length to trap him plumb lbw. At 73 for 4, Bell's new-found mettle was under the sort of scrutiny he had avoided at Durban. Though he failed to convince all the doubters with another partially formed performance, his contribution may yet prove invaluable in the final analysis. Today, despite the sun on their backs, was no day to be a batsman.

Pakistan dominate with 204-run lead

2010-01-04T08:39:00.000-08:00

An attritional first two sessions gave way to an explosive finale as first Mohammad Yousuf and later Umar Akmal helped propel Pakistan to an imposing 204-run first innings lead. Their frenetic efforts capitalised on the 109-run opening stand of Imran Farhat and Salman Butt as Pakistan advanced to 9 for 331 at stumps, having displayed greater discipline and match-awareness than their Australian counterparts the previous day.

The tourists endured a testing opening to the second day in gloomy, seaming conditions, but brightened in line with the weather over the course of the afternoon. Yousuf provided an immediate lift to procedings by adding 27 runs in the space of 28 deliveries in the period leading to tea, while Akmal made his skipper look relatively pedestrian by striking five boundaries from his first seven deliveries faced en route to a 48-ball innings of 49.

That Yousuf and Akmal fell short of half-centuries was due partly to Pakistan's penchant for attacking strokeplay in the final session and partly to the persistence of the Australian bowlers. Having been provided little to work with by their batsmen, Australia's attack stuck to their task admirably and were rewarded with seven final-session wickets, many caught in the deep as Pakistan sought quick runs.

Pakistan could be accused of taking their foot from the throats of the Australians in the lead-up to stumps, having at one stage thrust to 205 for the loss of two wickets on a surface drying by the hour. That may be so, but the tourists nonetheless outplayed their rivals in four of the five sessions through Monday, and are ideally positioned to break their ten-game losing streak to the Australians at the very venue where they last tasted victory.

The hosts made amends for an indifferent morning in the field with a series of excellent catches, none better than Haddin's spectacular diving effort to remove the dangerous Yousuf. The veteran batsman had, to that point, threatened to take the game completely away from the Australians, and Haddin's interception restored a semblance of competitive edge to the match. That notion was reinforced when the television umpire, Rudi Koertzen, overturned Billy Doctrove's decision to rule Akmal not out to a full, straight Doug Bollinger delivery, denying the Pakistanis further use of their potent middle-order weapon.

Pakistan's lower order failed to replicate the heroics of their more established batsmen, but still cobbled together enough cameos to take their lead beyond 200. Australia's batsmen will feel confident of a better showing amid drier pitch conditions when next they mark centre, however the hectares of ground they conceded on Sunday may yet prove irretrievable.

The hosts would do well to analyse the manner in which Farhat and Butt set about their respective innings on the second day. The Australian top-order, minus Watson, fell to forceful strokes on a seaming wicket in their ill-fated first innings; a direct contrast to the cautious and patient approach of the Pakistani openers. Content to accumulate rather than dominate, Farhat and Butt shelved their cross-bat strokes and successfully repelled threatening spells from Bollinger, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Johnson and Watson to post their third career century stand and first against Australia.

Farhat and Butt have emerged as a dependable solution to Pakistan's problematic opening slot. Their stand of 109, which took their first-wicket partnership average to a robust 47.43, built upon the foundation laid by Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Sami the preceding day to deliver the tourists to a position of dominance in the match. The union was not without its anxious moments, most notably when Farhat was dropped by Marcus North to a regulation slips chance off the bowling of Siddle on 11, but both stood firm on an improving pitch.

Farhat went on to raise his 13th half-century before skying an attempted sweep off the bowling of Nathan Hauritz shortly after the lunch break. Butt also fell in the second session, edging a full-length delivery from a deserving Johnson, however Faisal Iqbal and Yousuf ensured there were no further setbacks with an unbroken 46-run third-wicket partnership heading into tea. Iqbal was first to fall after the break to an athletic, back-pedalling catch from Watson at backward point off the bowling of Siddle. That prompted a mad flurry of runs and dismissals that saw Bollinger and Watson combine for five wickets and Pakistan attempt to blaze the second new ball to all corners of the SCG.

Sami and Asif demolish Australia

2010-01-02T22:30:00.000-08:00

Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Sami decimated the Australian batting order with sublime spells of fast bowling that yielded seven first-session wickets. Following Ricky Ponting's contentious decision to bat first on a green-tinged wicket, Sami and Asif took complete control of a rain-delayed opening session to reduce the hosts to 7 for 67 and place them in danger of posting their first sub-100 total at home since 1984.

Sami, playing his first Test in more than two years following a stint in the unauthorised ICL, scythed through Australia's top order with seven overs of express pace and prodigious movement to account for Phillip Hughes, Ponting and Shane Watson before the first drinks break. Asif then swung into gear in the period leading up to tea with the wickets of Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Marcus North and Brad Haddin. Both pacemen found themselves on hat-tricks. Australia were on the ropes.

Sami was an eleventh-hour inclusion in the Pakistani side after the withdrawal of Mohammad Aamer, one of the heroes of Melbourne, with a groin injury. The move almost paid immediate dividends when Sami had Hughes dropped by the hard-handed Umar Akmal at backward point from his first delivery. Retribution followed in the next over, however, when Sami lured Hughes into an aggressive push to a straighter, fuller delivery that flew low to Faisal Iqbal at second slip.

The inspired paceman then removed Ponting with his very next delivery, wafting at a shorter delivery that reared off the surface, and might well have completed a hat-trick had Billy Doctrove ruled Watson out to an excellent lbw appeal that struck him on the front toe. The Pakistanis sent the decision for video review and Hawk-Eye confirmed Sami's 150 km/h bolt had struck him outside the line of off stump. Watson successfully dodged that bullet, but was not so successful in Sami's next over, edging a seaming, straightening delivery to Kamran Akmal.

That left Sami with figures of 3 for 5 from his first four overs, and Australia gasping for breath. Clarke rounded out an eventful hour by successfully overturning Asoka de Silva's decision to adjudge him lbw to an Umar Gul delivery that was comfortably clearing the stumps, but his defiance ended shortly after the drinks break when he was bowled through the gate to an Asif delivery that straightened off the pitch.

The task fell to Hussey and North, both well short of peak form, to pull Australia from the mire. Neither looked comfortable repelling Asif's relentlessly probing lines and it came as little surprise when Hussey fell to a top-edged pull-stroke that was accepted by Misbah-ul-Haq in the slips. North followed next ball, waving at a delivery outside his off-stump, and Asif completed the first session rout by removing an attack-minded Haddin.

Ponting was left to rue the decision to bat first on a green, seaming Sydney Cricket Ground wicket after rain delayed the coin toss until shortly before 2pm. Not since his infamous decision to send England into bat at Edgbaston in 2005 has Ponting called correctly and opted to bowl. He has now batted first in 23 consecutive Tests after winning the toss.

Earlier, Pakistan named a vastly different attack to that which took the field for the Boxing Day Test last week. Danish Kaneria and Sami replaced Saeed Ajmal and the injured Aamer, while Gul took the place of Abdur Rauf. They faced a new-look Australian opening combination, with Hughes called in at the top of the order to replace Simon Katich, who failed a fitness test on his damaged right elbow on Sunday morning.

Twenty20 will 'finish' Pakistan cricket - Mohammad Yousuf

2009-12-31T08:04:00.000-08:00

Mohammad Yousuf has issued a stark warning of the impending dangers of too much Twenty20 cricket, insisting that it is "necessary" that Pakistan plays as little of the format as possible. Otherwise, the Pakistan captain told Cricinfo, he believes the format will "finish Pakistan's cricket."

Yousuf's counsel comes in the wake of Pakistan's defeat to Australia in the first Test in Melbourne, where their batsmen struggled on a placid pitch in a 170-run loss. Australia declared twice in the Test, but Pakistan were bowled out for 258 and 251 - the second after being 170-3. But his words come in a broader context: those totals continued a long run of sub-par performances by the batsmen in the Test arena; in 14 Test innings now, they have crossed 350 only twice.

They have struggled with their openers and their No.3 batsmen, and have been caught in a number of Test collapses through the year in Sri Lanka, New Zealand and now Australia. As in Melbourne, a number of batsmen have settled in, before getting themselves out. The failure, Yousuf believes, comes from Twenty20 cricket.

"It [batting failures] used to happen before but now because of Twenty20 cricket no player knows how to stay at the wicket anymore," Yousuf told Cricinfo. "Batsmen are finding it very difficult. I know the format has money, players get it and boards do but if Pakistan hypes up Twenty20 too much, Test and ODI cricket will really go down."

Pakistan are the reigning world champions in the format, having won the World Twenty20 in a stirring display in June in England. They reached the final of the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 and have the best win-loss ratio of all nations in the format. In Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq they have, arguably, the format's sharpest game-changers.

They were also one of the first countries to adopt the format domestically, holding wildly successful events in Lahore and Karachi in 2005 and 2006, and the first three years of the tournament attracted what many believed to be the largest domestic crowds ever in Pakistan. Additionally, a number of their players had successful first seasons with the IPL; they weren't allowed to participate in tournament's second edition, but a number of them are very keen to be involved next season and over 12 players have applied for a place in the auction. Afridi, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Gul and Sohail Tanvir have all played, or are playing Twenty20 cricket, for Australian state sides as well.

Most Pakistanis are brought up on a diet of 20-over cricket at club and street level. That, Yousuf believes, has left much of the current crop unsuited to the longer, unique demands of Test cricket and even ODI cricket. "Both in Tests and ODIs we have problems," Yousuf said. "We struggle to bat 50 overs. Against New Zealand [in Abu Dhabi] we couldn't make 212 in 50 overs. Everyone played shots and got out.

"Twenty20 is easy for Pakistanis because they know how to hit, nobody knows how to defend. Until players do not play with discipline and play ball to ball and leave balls they are supposed to we will struggle in ODIs, let alone Tests. If you see a ball, hit it because you have to score. But if you are going to slog all the time what is the point? I could have hit jumping out but unless you get a ball to hit what is the point? That is the point of Test cricket. It is necessary that Pakistanis, the media, the board, the fans realise that we play as little Twenty20 as possible.

"One domestic tournament is enough and a World Cup apart from that, but my belief is that you have to reduce Twenty20 heavily. They shouldn't play it in club cricket - even there you play 20 overs, not 40-over matches. I only have 2-3 years left in my career but I worry Twenty20 will finish Pakistan's cricket."

Yousuf himself has a strained relationship with the format. He was incensed at being dropped from Pakistan's squad for the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 in South Africa. Having criticized the selectors for not picking him, he aligned himself with the ICL, before being lured back into the Pakistan fold by the board. But once he was overlooked for another multi-nation Twenty20 tournament in Toronto in August 2008, he signed up with the ICL again, playing a few unsuccessful games for the Lahore Badshahs, before finally quitting and coming back to the Pakistan side earlier this year.

Alongside Younis Khan, Yousuf has been Pakistan's most reliable and successful Test batsman during and after the Inzamam-ul-Haq era. And with Younis and Javed Miandad, he is the only Pakistan batsman with a 50-plus Test average. His worries are the pre-eminent factor behind his request for Younis on this tour, though authorities in Pakistan have yet to accede to that.

"You look at England, South Africa and Australia. They give Test cricket and ODIs the attention they deserve," Yousuf said. "Until we do the same, we will not progress. They also play Twenty20 but they do it in a controlled way. In our country we only want to play Twenty20 and no Tests. I think we have given up on Test cricket: either we look for the money or we look to revive Pakistan cricket."

2009-12-30T05:39:00.000-08:00

England's cricketers needed just 18 overs on the final morning at Durban to wrap up a thumping innings-and-98-run victory in the second Test, as South Africa's tail crumbled under the sheer weight of scoreboard pressure bearing down on them following the team's desperate performance on the fourth evening. Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad were once again the stand-out performers, as they shared nine of the ten wickets in the innings, with Swann claiming the spoils with 5 for 54 in 21 overs.

South Africa resumed their fight on 76 for 6, with Mark Boucher and Morne Morkel entrenched in a 26-run stand for the seventh wicket, and though Morkel pulled Broad with some confidence through midwicket for the first boundary of the day, he was unable to deal with the wiles of Swann, who continued once again his extraordinary penchant for striking early in a spell.

In total, Morkel faced three deliveries from Swann, and might have been dismissed by the lot. The first was tossed up from round the wicket and spun sharply past his edge. The second was snicked to slip, where Andrew Strauss - deputising in that position for the injured Paul Collingwood - couldn't get a hand on the chance. The third, however, was the perfect follow-up. Fuller, flatter, and faster, and Morkel barely moved his pad before he'd been pinned lbw for 15.

Paul Harris was the next man in, and he received a rough reception from Broad in particular, who sensed a vulnerability to the short ball, and tested it to the max with a barrage of lifters that struck him variously on the chest, ribs and armpit. But he did his best to endure as he anchored himself on the back foot, and each of his first three fours came from steers through point off Broad, only one of which was genuinely involuntary.

The real body blow for South Africa's faint hopes occurred at the other end, however. Boucher is one of the best scrappers in world cricket, but the magnitude of this particular task proved to be beyond him. On 29, Broad fizzed a lifter down the leg-side, and there was an audible snick as the ball flew through to Matt Prior behind the stumps. Umpire Aleem Dar initially turned down the appeal, but Strauss and his team-mates were convinced, and the referred decision showed a clear deflection off the glove.

Harris did his best to hang in there, edging Swann through third man before cracking him more emphatically down the ground for another boundary, at which point Strauss decided it was time for a change. James Anderson entered the attack from the Umgeni End, and he needed only four balls to make the breakthrough, as Harris was deceived by late swing from a full length, and Broad - though denied a shot at a five-wicket haul - nevertheless made good ground at mid-off to scoop a low catch.

Instead the honour of the five-for went to Swann, the man who had set the collapse in motion before tea on the fourth day. Dale Steyn propped forward in front of off and was instantly sent on his way lbw for 3, and England's fielders hurtled from the field to begin their celebrations. The final Test of the decade had finished as a remarkable innings victory for England, their first in South Africa since 1964, as they set off to Cape Town with their spirits soaring and the series seemingly theirs to lose.

Hauritz five seals Australian victory

2009-12-30T05:37:00.000-08:00

The Australians rounded out 2009 with their most clinical final day bowling performance of the year to seal a 170 run victory over Pakistan. Nathan Hauritz, placed on notice by Australia's selectors prior to the series,
Nathan Hauritz achieved his maiden five-wicket haul claimed his first career five-wicket haul as Pakistan crumbled from 3 for 170 overnight to be all out for 251 shortly after lunch on the final day.

Hauritz's ability to exploit wearing pitches had been called into question of late, not least by Andrew Hilditch, and he proved himself worthy of the challenge on Wednesday. Unable to replicate the biting turn that accounted for Faisal Iqbal the previous day, Hauritz instead utilised flight and bounce to challenge Pakistan's lower and middle orders and was rewarded with four final-day scalps.

Australia began the day in emphatic fashion with Mitchell Johnson removing Umar Akmal and Misbah-ul-Haq with consecutive deliveries in his first over. Hauritz then repeated the dose with the back-to-back dismissals of Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Aamer shortly after the first drinks break to extinguish any hope of an improbable Pakistan fightback.

Mohammad Yousuf showed admirable determination to post 61, but support for the Pakistan captain was thin on the ground. With wickets falling in clusters, the Australians required only four overs after lunch to seal victory and claim a 1-0 series lead in the best-of-three series. The result took their Test record in 2009 to an encouraging seven wins, three defeats and three draws; a substantial improvement on their 5-5-4 record from the previous year.

The younger Akmal was the first victim of the final day, pushing at a fast, swinging delivery from Johnson that was claimed millimetres above the MCG turf by a tumbling Brad Haddin. Misbah fell to an identical mode of dismissal, albeit to a straighter ball, leaving the tourists' hopes of a fightback in tatters less than an over into the day. Kamran Akmal denied Johnson his hat-trick, but almost triggered one for Hauritz when, after an hour of stern resistance, he was stumped attempting a reckless charge to a slower, bouncing delivery. Hauritz then beat Aamer for bounce with his next ball, resulting in a gloved catch to Simon Katich at short leg.

Abdur Rauf survived Hauritz's hat-trick delivery - which featured the rare sight of nine fielders around the bat - but fell soon after to Doug Bollinger. Rounding out a forgettable match, Rauf played onto his stumps to expose the Pakistan tail shortly before lunch. Hauritz completed the rout after the break by removing Yousuf to another bat-pad catch, and Saeed Ajmal to a wild swipe that was accepted by Shane Watson, who was later named Man of the Match.

The breakthroughs ensured Johnson and Hauritz a positive end to a 2009 campaign that has proved testing in the extreme. Both bowlers have been subjected to criticism - Johnson for his erratic ways during the Ashes series, Hauritz for his lack of penetration on deteriorating tracks - but have emerged better for the experience. Though not quite back to his wrecking ball ways of South Africa, Johnson is nonetheless a bowler far improved from that which struggled for much of the Ashes series. Hauritz, meanwhile, has continued his steady evolution as an international spinner, as demonstrated by his subtle changes of flight and angle on Wednesday.

For Pakistan, there is much to ponder before the Sydney Test. The selection of Rauf over the experienced and versatile Umar Gul was flawed, and the catching at the MCG largely lamentable. The likely return of Danish Kaneria and the possible reintroduction of Younis Khan could prove a significant boost for the tourists, but on the evidence of the past five days, there remains much work to do.

If nothing else, Pakistan have at least closed the chapter on the annus horribilus that was 2009. In a year that witnessed the Lahore terrorist attack, and the subsequent stripping of host venue status, the Pakistanis can look ahead to the New Years' Test with hope for healing and renewal.

Stubborn Pakistan hold out for final day

2009-12-29T08:58:00.000-08:00

Pakistan stubbornly refused to concede the first Test in the face of a would-be world record run chase, but a steady trickle of wickets ensured the Australians maintained the upper hand entering the final day. Set an improbable victory target of 422, the tourists headed to stumps in relatively good health at 3 for 170 following an entertaining day that witnessed Shane Watson register a nerve-jangling maiden Test century and Mohammad Aamer become the youngest fast bowler in history to claim a five-wicket haul.

Pakistan's cause appeared hopeless when Doug Bollinger rapped Imran Farhat on the pads in the seventh over, an appeal that was orginally turned down by Rudi Koertzen, the on-field umpire, but overturned by the video official. Brief periods of revival were later punctuated by Mitchell Johnson's dismissal of Salman Butt and Nathan Hauritz's removal of Faisal Iqbal, but Mohammad Yousuf and the impressive Umar Akmal survived through to stumps, still requiring a further 252 for victory on the final day.

Australia had an opportunity to seize complete control in the final half hour of play with the introduction of Simon Katich, the occasional wrist spinner, into the attack. Katich had not bowled a ball all summer to that point, but promptly had Akmal dropped by Hauritz at mid-on with his first delivery and almost stumped a ball later. Akmal survived, however, ensuring the Australians an uncomfortable night's sleep, given the difficulties they have encountered bowling teams out on the fifth day.

Two themes from this young series - Watson's nerves in the nineties and Pakistan's woes in the field - were brought to bear in the second session as Australia positioned themselves for a victory charge. Watson, whose issues converting half-centuries to three figures this summer have been well documented, was dropped by Abdur Rauf at gully off the bowling of Mohammad Aamer on 99, scampering through for a single on the misfield to seal his maiden Test ton.

For the third time this summer, Watson endured a nervous journey through the nineties. He headed to lunch unbeaten on 98, having cautiously seen off a maiden from Saeed Ajmal to close out the session. More anxious moments were to follow after the break, as Watson chased a succession of wide offerings outside off stump. Pakistan's tactic - complete with an 8-1 off-side field - appeared to have worked when the right-hander slashed a full, wide Aamer delivery to Rauf in the gully, only for the embattled fielder to turf the chance and hand Watson his century; 66 minutes after he had entered the 90s.

Pakistan's fifth dropped catch of the match ensured Watson became the first Australian batsman since Michael Hussey at The Oval to reach triple figures in a Test, breaking a team sequence of 20 unconverted half-centuries. In 12 innings as Australia's Test opener, he has now scored 716 runs at the eye-catching average of 65.09. Phillip Hughes will have a while to wait yet.

Earlier, Pakistan reprised memories of Australia's second-innings collapses during the Ashes and, more recently, the Perth Test on a spritely opening to Tuesday. Aamer emerged as the perfect weapon - relentlessly attacking a top order in pursuit of quick runs and an early declaration - to become the second youngest bowler in Test history to claim a five-wicket haul. Only Nasim-ul-Ghani, a left-arm spinner-cum-medium pacer, achieved the feat at a younger age, doing so against the West Indians more than half a century ago.

Michael Clarke was Aamer's first victim, caught behind chasing a delivery that tailed away ever so slightly. Marcus North and Brad Haddin then fell in the space of two balls as part of a double-wicket maiden in his 18th over, ensuring the 17-year-old entry into a most exclusive club.

Favouring a predominantly around-the-wicket approach to Australia's right-handers, Aamer proved destructive in the extreme with a combination of express pace, probing lengths and subtle reverse swing. His efforts put the brakes on Australia's brisk early scoring rate, but given the discrepancy between the teams' first innings totals, they always seemed likely to be in vain.