Australia top order battles hard

Tea Australia 2 for 111 (Khawaja 26*, Clarke 4*) v England

A determined effort from Australia's top order laid a solid foundation on the opening day at the SCG as the hosts reached 2 for 111 when rain brought an early tea in their quest to salvage Ashes pride. Phil Hughes and Shane Watson battled hard against the new ball on an overcast morning before both fell to disappointing shots, but Usman Khawaja settled impressively into Test cricket.

The openers were four balls away from surviving the first session when Hughes edged Chris Tremlett, the pick of England's bowlers, to third slip and Watson, who didn't collect a boundary during the first two hours, fell to Tim Bresnan after yet another unfulfilled innings. Khawaja, though, sped to 15 from his first eight balls and was joined by new captain Michael Clarke who received a mixture of boos and cheers when he walked in.

Clarke earlier won his first toss as Australia's 43rd Test captain and although batting first is normally the preferred option on a pitch that takes turn, a muggy morning meant England's quicks were not without encouragement. However, whereas they regularly found the edge in Melbourne here the ball beat the bat frequently, especially in the first hour, without getting reward.

Tremlett caused the most problems during a probing first spell where he trouble Watson and Hughes with extra bounce. James Anderson also found swing to have a couple of stifled lbw shouts although he was troubled by his take-off area, almost turning his ankle with his second ball, and also gained a warning for his follow-through from Billy Bowden. His first spell ended with figures of 5-0-5-0 and after 12 overs Australia had 17 runs, but the value of not losing early wickets was far greater than what the scoreboard showed.

The determination started to pay off as Hughes tucked into Bresnan's second over with a drive followed by a cut to collect consecutive boundaries and he then cut Graeme Swann's second ball for four to raise Australia's fifty.

Watson gave a good lesson in leaving on length as Tremlett's deliveries kept sailing over the stumps, but Hughes wasn't quite equal to the challenge when he pushed outside off and offered a simple chance to third slip having begun to show England he could handle the top level. It meant Khawaja had 40 minutes to ponder his first ball in Tests, but he calmly clipped his opening offering from Tremlett through the leg side for two then cracked away a bristling pull next ball.

Watson finally located the boundary from his 89th ball with a clip through midwicket, but it was Khawaja who was now attracting the attention. He was given another gift on leg stump which was flicked away and had the skill to play with soft hands so when he twice edged it fell short of second slip.

Either side of a needless stoppage for bad light, he appeared to have plenty of time to play his shots, guiding Tremlett down to third man, and was confident to come into the front foot in defence. Watson was also starting to find his rhythm with a front foot pull through midwicket and a sweet clip off the pads that whistled to the boundary.

However, with another half-century in sight Watson played forward to Bresnan and the ball shaped away a touch to find the edge and was well taken at first slip. Watson slammed his bat in frustration before dragging himself off the pitch. After a mixed reception, Clarke leant on a cover drive first ball to open his account but the rain was closing in and three overs later the players went off with the contest brewing up nicely.

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Amla and Kallis steer through testing day

South Africa 232 for 4 (Amla 59, Kallis 81*) v India

South Africa's batsmen were tested severely by seam and swing on a stop-start day dominated by drizzle, murky light and a Table Mountain shrouded in cloud. By the time Newlands was bathed in glorious evening sunshine, though, the home team had lost only four wickets and had denied India the rewards that appeared imminent during the morning and afternoon. Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis, the most resolute of South Africans, manned the frontline and three consecutive half-century partnerships ensured the hosts edged ahead in the fight for the series.

The weather, the pitch and the Indian seamers examined South Africa's batting skills after MS Dhoni won his first toss in the New Year, having lost all but one of his previous 14. There were two rain interruptions and the natural light had to be supplemented by artificial ones, which required the batsmen's concentration to be at its peak. The pitch offered the bowlers assistance throughout, forcing the batsmen to be alert to the one that would suddenly jag back in, or seam sharply away. They edged plenty, but most flew into gaps in the field.

South Africa's innings had come to a standstill after they lost their openers - Graeme Smith shortly before the first rain interruption and Alviro Petersen soon after. It sparked to life during the period between the second rain break and tea, with Amla playing the protagonist.

Amla had batted with discipline, leaving majority of the deliveries outside off stump, especially when Zaheer Khan seamed them across him from over the wicket. Zaheer also went around the stumps and caused problems, beating Amla with a blockhole delivery outside off, inducing an inside edge past the stumps and a leading edge that lobbed dangerously towards cover - all in one over.

The pitch at Newlands wasn't as quick or bouncy as the one at Kingsmead, where batsmen could leave the ball on length. India's bowlers had not attempted a single bouncer when bad light and rain stopped play for a second time, with South Africa 61 for 2 after the 21st over. It was not that sort of pitch.

It was a pitch on which the bowlers needed to bowl fuller, and the Indians did. It was a pitch on which the batsmen needed to be made to drive, and the South Africans did. Kallis had driven Sreesanth with power through cover just before the rain, but Amla took charge after the second resumption.

He drove the first ball after the break from Zaheer through point, the next wide of mid-on, where Sachin Tendulkar dived over the ball, and another between midwicket and mid-on - all for boundaries. Sreesanth also urged Amla to drive by delivering swinging half-volleys outside off, two of which disappeared across the moist turf towards the cover boundary. In 4.1 overs after the second drizzle, South Africa had scored 30.

Sreesanth then tried a different line of attack, placing men at long leg and deep square and bouncing Amla, who hooked the first for six to reach 50 off 69 balls. Amla continued to attack, but not all his shots came off. He edged Sreesanth twice, first over gully and then wide of second slip. Zaheer also produced two crackers that pitched straight and seamed across the outside edge of Amla's forward pushes. On 59, Amla pulled Sreesanth again, but this time he spliced the short ball to Cheteshwar Pujara on the deep-square boundary. It was the only wicket that India took during the second session and it ended a partnership of 72.

Kallis had been quiet during Amla's burst but he assumed leadership of the resistance with AB de Villiers for company. Kallis had shouldered arms to his second delivery, from Ishant, and had been hit high on the thigh. He was later struck on the body while pulling, and he was batting with a wrist bruised during his dismissal at Kingsmead.

He faced a difficult over from Ishant right after tea, getting beaten by deliveries that straightened from a good length just outside off stump. He responded to that by flicking the bowler confidently through midwicket, growing his partnership with de Villiers, who had to tailor his free-scoring game to the conditions.

Harbhajan Singh was bowling economically, and the fast bowlers were always threatening to strike. Sreesanth did, inducing the edge from de Villiers with a perfect outswinger, snipping the stand at 58. Sreesanth also had an lbw shout against Kallis, on 54, but his appeal wasn't convincing even though replays indicated the ball would have hit the top of leg stump.

A noticeable aspect was the lack of aggression from India's bowlers today, compared to their performance in Durban, and they were slower in pace too. And once the sun came out, and the seamers tired, survival became relatively easier. Kallis was assured towards the end of the day, Prince was edgy at the start of his innings and they also added 68 runs to make Smith the happier captain at stumps.

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All-round Razzaq flattens New Zealand

Pakistan 183 for 6 (Shehzad 54, Razzaq 34*, Franklin 2-12) beat New Zealand 80 (Styris 45, Afridi 4-14, Razzaq 3-13) by 103 runs

Abdul Razzaq pummeled an 11-ball 34 to propel Pakistan to 183, before returning to flatten the New Zealand top order with the new ball, as the visitors stormed to a 103-run victory in the third Twenty20 in Christchurch. Razzaq capitalised on some inexperienced death bowling from Adam Milne to hammer 31 from the last nine deliveries of the innings, and picked up three wickets for 13 as New Zealand imploded dramatically, effectively surrendering the game within the first three overs of their chase.

The chase was derailed almost before it had begun as the top four batsmen all collected ducks. Martin Guptill began the catastrophic collapse when he edged Razzaq to point, pushing away from his body with hard hands to one that nipped away a touch. Jesse Ryder turned in his third failure of the series in the following over when he top edged a pull, and Dean Brownlie's decision to sneak a quick single to get off the mark backfired when Shahid Afridi effected a rare Pakistani direct hit. Ross Taylor was unfortunate to be adjudged lbw to one that struck him slightly above the knee roll, but didn't do himself any favours by playing all around the straight delivery. Three overs into the innings, New Zealand had lost four wickets for three runs, and when James Franklin lost his head, and his middle stump, two overs later, there was only one direction the match was heading. New Zealand had made 11 runs for the loss of five wickets from their first five overs. Pakistan were 51 for no loss at the same stage.

Styris resisted bravely, throwing his bat to collect a couple of boundaries over cover in Razzaq's last over, and even swatting a six over midwicket to give the Christchurch crowd something to cheer about, but with the required run-rate tipping 15, and wickets falling regularly at the other end, there was little he could do. Peter McGlashan dragged Abdur Rehman onto the stumps attempting to reverse sweep and Nathan McCullum didn't hang around long, succumbing to Shahid Afridi's straighter one. Styris eventually fell for 45, and Afridi wasted little time cleaning up the tail - an 134 kph arm ball to dismiss Tim Southee first ball being the highlight of his spell. Styris aside, none of the other New Zealand batsmen managed double figures. They made 28 collectively.

Pakistan's impressive total was set up by an explosive opening partnership between Ahmad Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez, who blasted 81 in 8.4 overs to set pulses racing at the AMI stadium. Shehzad in particular, was quick to punish anything on a length, peppering the midwicket boundary repeatedly, while also driving through the covers when the ball was pitched up. Hafeez too got into the action scooping Mills over the shoulder for four, before unfurling a wristy swat that sent the ball sailing over deep square-leg a few overs later.

The introduction of slow bowling into the attack did the trick for New Zealand though, as both openers perished attempting to maintain the frenetic scoring rate, and three more wickets followed soon after. Younis Khan was run out, attempting a suicidal single, Asad Shafiq was caught on the boundary after having used up 15 deliveries for his 8 and Shahid Afridi departed for a quickfire 14.

Umar Akmal kept Pakistan ticking with some intelligent hitting, but it was Abdul Razzaq who boosted the visitors' total and swung the momentum decidedly Pakistan's way with a brutal display of power hitting. Razzaq swung in the V, launching Tim Southee twice over midwicket before taking on Milne in the last over. Razzaq smoked the short deliveries over cover, and sent the fuller ones racing along the ground to the boundary, and 19 runs came off the last five deliveries, despite Milne's best efforts to vary the pace and find the blockhole.

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India level series with 87-run win

India 205 (Steyn 6-50) and 228 (Laxman 96) beat South Africa 131 (Harbhajan 4-10) and 215 (Sreesanth 3-35, Zaheer 3-57) by 87 runs

India reiterated that they are no longer poor travellers by pulling off a series-levelling win in Durban, the scene of one of their worst Test defeats in 1996. Monday's victory at Kingsmead, after a humiliating loss in Centurion, joined other famous successes over the past decade on some of the world's fastest tracks - Headingley, Jamaica, Nottingham, Johannesburg and Perth.

The match was even at the start of the fourth day but India's bowlers barely sent down a bad ball in the morning session to seize control of the Test. A Sreesanth snorter to Jacques Kallis started South Africa's slide, before two lbws - one a marginal decision and the other a howler, both sure to refuel the UDRS debate - hurt them further. Ashwell Prince tried to resist but India plugged away to remove the tail an hour into the second session and set up a decider in Cape Town next week.

The ebb and flow of the match was matched by Sreesanth's bowling form. The wayward, antic-loving Sreesanth was missing in the morning as he sent down an accurate spell of sustained hostility. The highlight was in the day's seventh over - an unplayable bouncer that reared up sharply and jagged in towards Kallis, who had no way of avoiding it. He jumped and arched his back in an attempt to get out of the way but could only glove it to gully. It was the snorter needed to remove the kingpin of South Africa's batting. There was no over-the-top Sreesanth celebration either, just a fist pump before getting back to business.

That wicket put India slightly ahead, and there was no doubt who the front-runners were when AB de Villiers offered a half-hearted forward defensive against a Harbhajan Singh delivery from round the wicket. He was struck in front of middle, looked lbw and the umpire agreed, though Hawk-Eye suggested the ball would have bounced well over the stumps.

Mark Boucher has, over a decade in international cricket, built his reputation as a scrapper and, with Prince also around, it wasn't yet lights out for South Africa. Boucher, though, made only 1 before he was given lbw to a delivery that was angling across him and comfortably missing off stump .

South Africa had lost three wickets, and there was still no boundary in the morning, a testament to the scarcity of bad deliveries. When the first four did come, from Dale Steyn, it was an edge to third man. Steyn had pinged Zaheer Khan on the helmet with a quick bouncer on Tuesday, and was the target of a string of short balls. After three of those, Zaheer slipped in a fuller delivery, which Steyn duly nicked to slip.

At 155 for 7, with lunch 45 minutes away, the game looked set for a quick finish. Prince and Paul Harris, however, resisted with some dour batting and a couple of confident boundaries from Prince. They saw out the 10 overs to the break but a pumped-up Zaheer, chatting with the batsmen after almost every ball, ended the stand in his first over after the resumption with a peach that clipped Harris' off stump.

Prince and Morne Morkel then stood firm for an hour, reducing the required runs to double digits. India's wait seemed to have ended when Ishant Sharma had Morkel wafting to gully, but that turned out to be his regulation wicket off a no-ball. In his next over, though, Ishant didn't overstep when he found the edge off Morkel to Dhoni. Two balls later, an alert Cheteshwar Pujara threw down the stumps from short leg, catching the No. 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe short, and sparking celebrations. The Indians were ready to grab the stumps as souvenirs, when they realised the third umpire had been called for. The dismissal was confirmed moments later and there was no stopping the celebrations this time.

India came into this Test with their No. 1 status questioned after the clobbering in Centurion and doubts over whether they had the bowling to take 20 wickets. They provided answers to both in Durban, handing South Africa their third straight defeat at the venue.

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England retain the Ashes with innings win

England 513 (Trott 168*, Prior 85, Cook 82, Strauss 69, Pietersen 51, Siddle 6-75) beat Australia 98 (Tremlett 4-26, Anderson 4-44) and 258 (Haddin 55*, Watson 54, Bresnan 4-50) by an innings and 157 runs

England have retained the Ashes in Australia for the first time in 24 years, after inflicting one of Australia's heaviest losses, with a margin of an innings and 157 runs on the fourth morning at the MCG. It took less than 90 minutes for England to collect the three wickets they needed for victory, and when Tim Bresnan picked up his fourth wicket, an edge behind from Ben Hilfenhaus, the celebrations began.

Bresnan finished with 4 for 50 and was mobbed by his team-mates when the final wicket fell, and the big collection of England fans at the MCG burst into full voice. It was a wonderful moment for England, who will now aim to turn their 2-1 lead into a series victory at the SCG next week, but as the holders of the Ashes before the tour they have done enough to retain the urn.

For the first time in history, Australia have lost two Tests in a home series by an innings, and the margin was their worst defeat in Australia in 98 years, and their eighth-worst of all time. There was some fight from Brad Haddin and Peter Siddle, who put together an 86-run partnership after the early loss of Mitchell Johnson, but it was only ever a matter of time for England.

During the Haddin-Siddle stand, both men cleared the boundary off Graeme Swann, providing something to cheer for the Australian fans who had turned up despite the certain result. Haddin's half-century came in 86 balls and Siddle posted his highest Test score, before the end came in a rush with Siddle and Hilfenhaus falling in quick succession, and the injured Ryan Harris unable to bat.

Johnson was bowled by Chris Tremlett in the second over of the day for 6 and it seemed like the morning's play would be over in a rush, before Haddin and Siddle came together. It took a while for the next wicket, Siddle (40) caught on the boundary straight down the ground when he slogged Swann, and England knew their goal was almost achieved.

Now, the questions turn to Sydney and what each team can achieve with the Ashes already decided. For England, the goal is obvious - win or draw and ensure they take the Ashes outright, rather than simply retaining them.

For Australia, the series can still be drawn, but they must decide whether to make changes, including whether to risk Ricky Ponting with his broken finger. Ponting had x-rays during the morning, and when he spoke straight after the defeat he didn't know the results, but was still hopeful of playing at the SCG.

"I've got a point to prove to myself and the team, with my performances in the past four Tests," Ponting said. "I will be doing everything I can to be ready for Sydney. I still think I've got a lot to offer the Australian cricket team."

"It's pretty hard to accept," Ponting said of the loss. "We haven't deserved it, that's the bottom line, haven't played well enough. It was tough, but wasn't a 98 all out wicket. They showed us how to bat. We can still level the series, which has got to be the motivation for us. Get to Sydney and salvage some pride. We've let ourselves down and our supporters down."

After the past 18 months were all geared towards regaining the Ashes, Australia's future must involve some changes. Andrew Strauss and his England team can celebrate a much-deserved triumph.

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