Australia take series with 51-run win

Australia secured the one-day series with two matches to spare after a comprehensive 51-run victory at the Gabba as England's batting once again flopped. The top order was rocked by the pace of Brett Lee, then John Hastings removed the key pair of Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell before the innings subsided rapidly to give Australia their first piece of silverware since March last year.

The hosts' innings had been far from problem-free but Michael Clarke registered a much-needed half-century, which was his first since the Adelaide Test. He fell to the Man of the Match Chris Woakes, who took 6 for 45, England's best overseas analysis in one-day internationals, but he was a lone shining light. Although the visitors have twice nudged 300 in the series - at Melbourne and Adelaide - there has been far too much inconsistency and soft dismissals.

Pietersen and Bell battled nicely to steady England from 3 for 22, but having been given a life on 34 when Steve Smith missed a return catch, Pietersen picked out mid-on as he tried to pull a Hastings slower ball. Eoin Morgan continued his poor series when he lofted his fourth ball to long-off against Smith, even though the required rate was below a run-a-ball. Morgan has struggled to live up to his reputation as a world-class finisher in the series after his extended period on the sidelines during the Ashes.

England's last real hope disappeared when Bell, who had been at his most fluent, dragged Hastings into his stumps. Shane Watson bagged two in his first over in front of an appreciative home crowd, who could put the troubles of the past month behind then at least for an evening. A record-last wicket stand of 53 between James Anderson and Steven Finn, on his ODI debut, only narrowed the margin and showed up the batsmen.

Australia's bowlers hunted as a unit and the one-day attack has most bases covered, even though Xavier Doherty was left out with a stiff back. Lee bowled with real venom early on, twice whistling rapid bouncers past Andrew Strauss's helmet and Doug Bollinger wasn't far behind when he struck Matt Prior in his opening over. But neither of England's openers wanted to back down and Prior responded with three boundaries against Bollinger. However, Lee was a different prospect and Prior lost his off stump when he tried to play square on the off side.

From the next delivery, the first ball of Bollinger's third over, Strauss picked out square leg with a pull and it became worse when Lee put himself on a hat-trick as Jonathan Trott flicked a delivery off his hip straight to short fine-leg. Although the hat-trick ball to Bell was a no-ball it was also a rapid bouncer and Australia were in no mood for this series to stay alive.

Even though their total proved plenty, it was a tale of missed opportunity as several batsmen made starts only to give their wickets away. Watson (16) cut to point and Brad Haddin (37) walked across his stumps to give Finn his first ODI wicket. Shaun Marsh (16) lazily flicked to midwicket and David Hussey chopped on against Woakes for 34, having set a platform alongside Clarke with a 65-run fifth-wicket stand. Cameron White couldn't do much about his dismissal as an excellent ball from Woakes bounced and took the edge.

Clarke's innings had three distinct phases. After being booed to the crease, he began with aggressive intent and moved to 17 off 13 balls, but then slowed considerably with 18 off his next 41 deliveries before driving Finn through cover. The fifty came from 70 balls but he couldn't carry on, top-edging Woakes while trying to work through the leg side on 54.

England were hampered in the closing overs when Ajmal Shahzad injured his hamstring and Johnson took 15 off his eighth over during the batting Powerplay. Smith and Hastings also cashed in as Finn was struck for 14 off his ninth but Woakes, who was preferred to Michael Yardy and struck three times in the first over of a spell, returned to have Hastings caught at deep midwicket to complete his five, after which Lee carved to third man.

Woakes' figures sit behind Collingwood's 6 for 31 against Bangladesh, at Trent Bridge in 2005, but they were a hollow success. England are now left with the task of avoiding a 6-1 scoreline to match the drubbing after the 2009 Ashes.

Read more »

Japan crowned Kings of Asia

Substitute Tadanari Lee was the hero as his goal led Japan to a 1-0 win over Australia at the Asian Cup Final.

Lee volleyed home Yuto Nagatomo's left-wing cross after 108 minutes at Khalifa Stadium to clinch the title and deny Australia a maiden triumph.

The Socceroos had the game's first chance when a slick move ended with Carl Valeri feeding Matt McKay but he sliced wide of the far post.

Mark Schwarzer then nearly gifted Japan the opening goal when, in trying to prevent the ball going behind for a corner, he kicked it straight to Nagatomo. The defender's effort from distance to sailed over the bar with David Carney scrambling back to cover.

Japan keeper Eiji Kawashima did well to push Harry Kewell's close-range header away in the 18th minute after Tim Cahill had met Carney's corner on the far side of the box.

Kewell hit the side netting from a narrow angle when he latched on to Cahill's knockdown from Lucas Neill's diagonal ball just after the half-hour mark and Ryoichi Maeda fired over from outside the box following Yasuhito Endo's lay-off as the first-half ended goalless.

Australia came agonisingly close to taking the lead two minutes after the interval when Kawashima mis-judged Luke Wilkshire's cross, with the ball hitting the bar and then the on-rushing Cahill, but Maya Yoshida was on the line to keep it out.

Kewell lashed over from inside the six-yard box before Japan almost broke the deadlock in the 65th minute when Shinji Okazaki met Nagatomo's delivery from the left but his glancing header was just the wrong side of the post with Schwarzer motionless.

Kewell then wasted the best chance of the game six minutes later when he latched onto a long ball following a mistake from the Japanese defence and raced clear on goal but Kawashima denied him with his outstretched right leg.

Substitute Robbie Kruse almost made an immediate impact for Australia in the first period of extra-time but his header from Brett Emerton's cross was clawed away by a desperate Kawashima from under the bar.

Japan finally broke the deadlock in the 108th minute when Nagatomo surged down the left wing and his cross found Lee unmarked eight yards from goal. The substitute waited an age for the ball to drop but his fine left-foot volley left Mark Schwarzer with no chance as it flew into the back of the net.

The Australian keeper held Endo's free-kick and Carney struck a set-piece into the wall as Japan clung on to claim a historic victory.

Read more »

Hafeez, Afridi star in series-levelling win

A solid maiden ODI century from Mohammad Hafeez, a monstrous assault in the death overs led by Shahid Afridi and a spirited performance in the field were features of a roaring comeback by Pakistan in the ODI series, which they leveled 1-1 with a 43-run win at the AMI Stadium in Christchurch. Hafeez counter-attacked after Pakistan had been dented in their start and dropped anchor in the middle overs to set up a launching pad for Afridi and Umar Akmal to smash 126 runs in the last ten overs. Faced with a stiff chase, New Zealand fought hard but timely breakthroughs meant they were always struggling to measure up to the asking rate, eventually leading to their downfall.

The greenish appearance of the track proved deceptive as the movement off the seam that Ross Taylor had banked on when opting to field proved negligible. At the same time, conditions weren't too easy for the batsmen early on either as the pitch played slow and low and the ball didn't come on. Hafeez, who has often squandered starts since his promotion to the top of the order, lost two partners, Ahmed Shehzad and Kamran Akmal, to deliveries that appeared to stop on the batsmen. But New Zealand's seamers lacked discipline and failed to apply pressure consistently, which allowed Hafeez to wrest the initiative.

The short square boundaries at the AMI Stadium were inevitably favoured as the bowlers didn't help their cause by consistently pitching short. Not long after he had nipped out two wickets, Tim Southee was pulled for consecutive boundaries by Hafeez; Hamish Bennett, struggling to bowl into the wind and dropping significantly in pace, was welcomed with a swipe to fine leg and six over long-on while Jacob Oram, in the very over he dismissed Younis Khan, was dispatched over midwicket.

New Zealand had a few chances to limit the damage. Hafeez was dropped on 49 by Brendon McCullum, diving full length to his right and failing to hold on to a difficult catch; Misbah-ul-Haq, who added 94 with Hafeez, was given a reprieve through a missed stumping by McCullum, and Bennett dropped a relatively simple catch off Afridi that, otherwise, could have checked the one-way traffic towards the end of the innings.

Even as Pakistan tried to rebuild their innings, Hafeez was at ease, displaying an excellent ability to adapt, rotating the strike with Misbah and threading the gaps with adept footwork and timing. He stepped out to smash debutant Luke Woodcock for a straight boundary, lofted Oram over the in-field and, after securing his century and taking the batting Powerplay, scooped and slogged Southee for successive fours before signing off by heaving Kyle Mills for a six.

By the time he fell, Umar had warmed up with a couple of meaty hits and Afridi only had to join in. He targeted Oram, who was struggling with his lengths, in the 46th over, hammering him for two sixes on the leg side and a boundary through cover. The seamers either bowled too full or dragged the ball too short and Afridi, paddling, swatting and slapping, collected sixes over fine leg, cover point and long-on on his way to equalling the fastest half-century - off 19 balls - by a batsman in New Zealand, a record also held by McCullum.

New Zealand began brightly in their reply with Martin Guptill and Jamie How capitalising on the short boundaries to add 44 in quick time. But Pakistan's seamers, unlike the New Zealand bowlers, relied more on variations in pace with Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz and Umar Gul ensuring the pressure of a big chase never diminished. How holed out to deep midwicket, failing to pick the slower ball; Ross Taylor, after a watchful start, stabbed at a good-length delivery to be caught at slip by Younis and Guptill, after four boundary-less overs in the second Powerplay, punched Riaz to point where Shehzad clung on to a low chance.

The hosts were in the hunt when Scott Styris and Kane Williamsom preserved their wickets, picked out the gaps to ensure a steady flow of ones and twos and accumulated 81 runs for the fourth wicket to stage a recovery. But while the seamers had picked up the wickets and restrained the batsmen, the slow bowlers, too, proved difficult to step up against, adding to the pressure on New Zealand. Afridi and Hafeez got through their overs quickly and gave little away. Hafeez eventually broke the stand as Styris failed to clear deep midwicket and when Williamson and McCullum departed within three runs of each other - bowled by Riaz and run out by Umar respectively - the game was all but sealed.

Pakistan's approach to their innings was reminiscent of the strategy they had adopted in the 1999 World Cup, progressing slowly with wickets in hand in the middle overs to set the stage for a violent surge in the last ten. Not a bad thing to prepare for the 2011 edition in much the same way.

Read more »

Trott heroics keep England alive

England 8 for 299 (Trott 102, Prior 67, Hussey 4-21) beat Australia 7 for 278 (Watson 64, Trott 2-31) by 21 runs

Jonathan Trott's calculating century ensured England stayed in the series with a 21-run victory that upset Australia's national holiday in Adelaide. The tourists began the game needing to win and the scenario won't change when they head to Brisbane for Sunday's fifth ODI, but they have been boosted by an end to four consecutive limited-overs losses.

Trott's perfectly timed 102 off 126 balls stood tall on a day that was meant to be a celebration of all things Australia, but the home supporters left unhappy as the series score-line in the seven-game contest settled at 3-1. Trott, bowling his steady medium pace, even managed the valuable breakthroughs of Cameron White (44) and David Hussey (28) to end the pair's rescue act.

England's 8 for 299, which was reduced slightly by effective slow bowling, was more than enough for Australia, especially when the dangerman Shane Watson fell for a bright 64. England's bowlers did not allow the batsmen to gain any rhythm on a sluggish pitch and were able to wait for the locals to make mistakes as they tried to force the pace.

The opener Brad Haddin burned brightly for 20 before chipping Chris Tremlett to cover and Shaun Marsh (1) was caught and bowled by James Anderson (2 for 57). Michael Clarke's run struggles continued when he was bowled on 15 by the frugal Paul Collingwood and the side was 4 for 116 when Watson aimed a big drive and was caught behind off Ajmal Shahzad. Steven Smith managed a personal best of 46 and Brett Lee registered 39 as the game wound down, with the pair seeing the side to 7 for 278.

While Trott's bowling was a bonus, his best work was undoubtedly done with the bat. His century built on Matt Prior's brutal 67 off 58 as the top order maintained a ferocious pace.

Trott backed up his 84 not out in Sydney on Sunday with a much more fluent contribution that drove England towards a formidable total. He unfurled a couple of delightful straight drives, including one off John Hastings to move to 85, and reached his century with a single to midwicket.

He didn't push on after the milestone and played-on to Hussey shortly after raising his bat, walking off with six boundaries and a long ovation. The only major discomfort he experienced before then came on 30 when he found himself at the same end as Prior after his defensive shot rolled on to the base of the stumps. Lee followed through but his wild throw back to the bowler's end was wide and Trott survived.

Collingwood, who launched Lee for six to midwicket in the Powerplay, and Michael Yardy provided some late muscle to ensure the big score. Collingwood passed 5000 ODI runs, the first England batsman to do so, during his run-a-ball 27 while Yardy grabbed an unbeaten 39 off 27. Hussey, the offspinner, was called late, knocking over Collingwood and then dismissing Shahzad in the final over.

Hussey, who sneaked 4 for 21 off four overs, and Smith (3 for 33 off seven) collected career-best figures as they restricted batsmen who had enjoyed the offerings of their faster team-mates. Xavier Doherty also enjoyed the conditions as he gave away 44 from his 10 overs.

Prior and Trott delivered the early pain to the Australians after the visitors won the toss. He and Trott put on 113 at almost a run a ball for the second wicket following the early loss of Andrew Strauss for 8. Prior wasted little time in getting going and his half-century came when he pulled Lee off the front foot for six, with England moving to 1 for 100 after 15 overs.

Smith, the legspinner, picked up Prior in his second over when he cut to point and had more success when Kevin Pietersen (12) chipped to long-on. Two balls later Ian Bell exited without scoring, leaving England stuttering at 4 for 158.

Australia's fast bowlers seemed in trouble from the moment Lee's first over went for 12, with him starting with five wides down the leg-side. Lee finished with 1 for 68 off eight while Bollinger also struggled at the start and finish, giving away 55 in nine. The generosity helped England ruin the hosts' party, but the visitors still require victory in the remaining three games to steal the trophy.

Read more »

Rain wipes out second one-dayer

Pakistan 31 for 0 v New Zealand Abandoned

Queenstown is the place for adrenaline-junkies but there was little excitement on Wednesday as persistent rain allowed only 4.2 overs of play in the second one-dayer between Pakistan and New Zealand.

There were showers early in the morning, but it cleared up before start of play, raising hopes of the fans who had gathered. The rains returned, however, soon after Daniel Vettori chose to field, as every international captain has done after winning the toss in Queenstown.

New Zealand stuck with their plan of giving James Franklin the new ball, ahead of the much quicker Hamish Bennett, and it didn't work as 19-year-old Ahmed Shehzad took 16 off his two overs. Shehzad, playing his first one-dayer in 20 months, showed no signs of rustiness as he smashed the third ball of the match over square leg for six. He also slapped Tim Southee for a couple of fours before the rains came back, and stayed through the day to cause the match to be abandoned.

The third one-dayer of the series is in Christchurch on Saturday, and the bad news is that rain is predicted during that game as well.

Read more »

Marsh and Bollinger star in Australian victory

Australia 230 (Marsh 110, White 45, Tremlett 3-22, Shahzad 3-43) beat England 184 (Trott 32, Bell 32, Bollinger 4-28) by 46 runs

Shaun Marsh wasn't deemed good enough to be in Australia's World Cup squad, but in his first outing as Mike Hussey's injury replacement he cracked a brilliant hundred to lift his team from a hopeless position to 46-run victory at Hobart. Marsh's 110 rescued the hosts from two collapses, then England put together a poor run chase as Doug Bollinger completed a fine all-round match with four wickets.

Australia's top order slumped to 4 for 33 and, following a 100-run stand between Marsh and Cameron White, they slipped to 8 for 142, before Marsh turned the game on its head. But his matchwinning effort wouldn't have been possible without Bollinger, who showed previously unknown batting prowess to hit 30 in an Australia record ninth-wicket stand of 88.

Marsh was given a life on 61 when Ajmal Shahzad dropped a return chance and went from 84 to 101 in the space of one Michael Yardy over, the 45th of the innings, with two boundaries through midwicket followed by a six in the same direction to bring up his hundred from 101 balls. The run chase should still have been within England's grasp but they never formed a solid foundation.

Bollinger was key to that when he extracted Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen with consecutive balls. Strauss was struck on the back leg and was happy to take the umpire's lbw verdict, only to be talked into a wasted review by Jonathan Trott. Pietersen then got an inside into the stumps, although Bollinger missed a hat-trick when Ian Bell pulled wide of short fine-leg.

Bollinger later returned to snuff out any last-ditch charge from the lower order when he had Tim Bresnan, batting with a runner due to a calf strain, caught at third man and trapped James Tredwell lbw in a performance that has confirmed his World Cup credentials.

However, Australia's victory came at a cost. Nathan Hauritz suffered what appeared to be a dislocated shoulder when he dived in the outfield, and it was shocking luck for a player making his first appearance since the start of the Ashes. He left the field and went straight to hospital in serious pain. A short while later, Shaun Tait limped out of the attack five balls into his sixth over having pulled a muscle in his left thigh.

England's innings had made a poor start when Matt Prior marked his recall in opposite style to Marsh with a third-ball duck when he edged Brett Lee to first slip. There was no shortage of pace from the Australia attack and Trott had no clue about the bouncer from Tait which he gloved over the slips.

However, Trott and Bell began to settle the run chase only for it all to come unravelling as the evening closed in on Hobart's first floodlit one-day international. After the fire and brimstone from the quicks, the sight of Steve Smith would have been a signal to increase the tempo but instead Trott pulled his second ball straight to midwicket.

With Michael Clarke sensing a crucial moment he recalled Lee, who snaffled Bell with a wide delivery that was cut to point. It continued the trend in the early stages of this series of England handing Australia wickets on a plate. Yardy and Eoin Morgan suggested a fightback and their pair opted for the Powerplay in the 34th over only for Morgan to be superbly caught by Tait running towards the boundary and Yardy run out.

England will ask themselves some serious questions about how they twice let Australia off the hook. The pick of the attack was Chris Tremlett, another World Cup discard, who claimed 3 for 22 and Ajmal Shahzad also claimed three but the problem came in a lack of incisive support for the three main quick bowlers with the absence of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann.

This was the same England pace attack that played against Australia A here in November when they were classed as the reserve unit to the Test trio, but with Anderson and Broad still away from the squad they are currently the main men. Shahzad found early swing and took Watson's inside edge into the stumps with Brad Haddin following in similar fashion as he tried to drive.

That left the out-of-form Clarke under pressure to steady the innings. It was a situation made for Test-style batting and Clarke battled against the moving ball without ever threatening fluency except for one flick over midwicket off Shahzad. However, the manner of his dismissal won't have done him any favours when he slapped a wide ball straight cover to leave Australia 3 for 21.

David Hussey was then well caught in the gully when he fended at Tremlett. Without his brother to guide a rescue mission Australia needed someone else to bail them out of trouble. The innings was first revived by White, who escaped a top-edged pull on 2 that split three fielders, and Marsh as they negotiated the tough period before cashing in against the reduced threat of England's spinners. Marsh did an excellent impression of the man he has replaced, Mike Hussey, as he latched onto anything loose and showed good footwork.

White is more of a stand-and-deliver batsman and they formed a productive pair which also benefited from the left-right-hand combination that made life tougher for the bowlers. The momentum was just switching to Australia with White using his feet to elegantly drive Yardy through the covers, but next ball pushed back a return catch on 45.

That began Australia's second slide of the innings and when Lee missed a straight ball from Yardy the end was coming quickly, but confidence is slowly returning to this team and they hauled themselves off the floor in emphatic style.

Read more »

Yusuf shines as India win thriller

India 223 for 8 (Yusuf 59, Harbhajan 23*, Morne 3-28) beat South Africa 220 (du Plessis 60, Duminy 52) by two wickets

Yusuf Pathan swung the game India's way with three brutal shots and Harbhajan Singh sealed the win with two violent game-breaking hits. Morne Morkel had threatened to derail India's chase with an inspired performance but it was India who held their nerve, and took a 2-1 lead in the series. India were 104 runs adrift of the target when Yusuf cemented his World Cup spot by biffing Johan Botha for three sixes in an over to push India ahead. When he fell, 39 runs short of the target, Harbhajan crashed Wayne Parnell and Morne for stunning sixes at vital moments of the chase to clinch the game, with 10 balls to spare.

India had lost five wickets and looked down for the count on a sluggish pitch where stroke-making wasn't easy when Yusuf launched a violent assault on Botha. He muscled three sixes, the last of which flew out of the stadium, to loot 19 runs in the 30th over. Yusuf added 75 runs with Suresh Raina, who threw his wicket away with a wild shot in the 37th over, before falling in the 40th to a stunning catch by Morne, who arched back to pouch an upper cut over his head at third man. His dismissal put South Africa ahead but Harbhajan seized the moment. He added 26 runs with Zaheer Khan before stitching together another 15 with Ashish Nehra to take India home. Harbhajan took the Powerplay in the 43rd over, smote Parnell for a six over wide mid-off in the 45th, and flat-batted Morne, bowling his last over, beyond long-off in the 47th to kill the contest.

Control was a loose concept during the match as whenever South Africa got ahead, India pulled them back and vice versa. In the end Yusuf's innings proved the difference. Yusuf's strength is his mental tenacity. His short-ball woes are well documented but he rarely lets a delivery in his hitting arc go unpunished. Unlike Raina, he doesn't hang back and expect bouncers every ball, and today, too, that temperament was on display.

Until that game-breaking 30th over bowled by Botha, it was South Africa who held the edge, courtesy of Morne. He dismissed the in-form Virat Kohli to put India in trouble early, later got rid of Raina to resuscitate fading hopes, and grabbed a stunning catch to dismiss Yusuf, but still had to end up on the losing side.

In hindsight, South Africa will feel they were 25 runs short. A shaky Graeme Smith was the reason South Africa dawdled at the start, and it was also due to him that they stayed afloat for a while. However, his dismissal in the 23rd over left them wobbling at 90 for 4, but JP Duminy and the debutant Faf du Plessis showed admirable maturity to revive the innings and give it respectability.

du Plessis' serenity under pressure was reflected by the fact that he hit his first boundary - a crisp cut off Yuvraj Singh - after he had reached 39. It's not a criticism but a tribute to his mature approach that there were just two shots that stood out in his innings: the first was that cut shot and the second, which came after his half-century, was a skillful one that hinted at a larger repertoire that he had deliberately held under check. He went down the track to Munaf Patel, adjusted to the slower one, and managed to punch it on the up and over mid-off. Mostly, he kept things risk-free like an experienced pro and dealt in calculated nudges and pushes. He brought up his half-century with a dab to the on side and brought up the century partnership with Duminy, in the 44th over, with a swatted pull through midwicket.

For his part, Duminy, who set off South Africa's collapse in the second ODI at the Bull Ring by holing out to long-on, too remained patient and worked the angles. He flicked and square drove and adjusted to the slow pace. The ball didn't come on to the bat neatly but he waited on the front foot, to steer and dab his way through the difficult period. However, both batsmen fell in the space of four deliveries, after they took the Batting Powerplay in the 45th over, and South Africa crumbled in the end overs, losing their last six wickets for 20 runs.

It was a torrid time for Smith, first against Zaheer, and soon against everyone. However, perhaps due to the brittle nature of the lower order, he never dared to hit his way out of trouble. During a sequence of 11 deliveries from Zaheer when he was beaten nine times, Smith actually looked at the bowler and smiled. There was a touch of embarrassment in it but it was also a smile of a man who seemed to have accepted the situation he was in; he chose to graft and was willing to look ugly from then on. Considering what happened in Johannesburg, where Smith made 77 but the batting collapse after he was out, it was perhaps the right thing to do as his team needed its leader to fight. Inspired by his grit, Duminy and du Plessis batted with care to propel South Africa to a fighting total but Yusuf and Harbhajan did enough to chase it down.

Read more »

Misbah, Younis set up drawn match and series win

New Zealand 356 (Vettori 110, Gul 4-87) and 293 (Guptill 73, Gul 4-61) drew Pakistan 376 (Misbah 99, Martin 4-91) and 226 for 5 (Younis 81, Misbah 70*)

Pakistan weathered a hostile opening spell that reduced them to 42 for 3 in the first hour, worked their way to safety in the second session, and made a half-hearted attempt to win the Test before settling for a draw that gave them the series 1-0. It was their first victory outside the subcontinent since the triumph in New Zealand in 2003-04, and their first anywhere since 2006-07. It was another impressive result for a team that has managed to hold its own on the field - with Test wins against England and Australia, and a drawn series against South Africa - despite facing a mountain of problems off it.

Pakistan's resistance was led by Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan for the second time in the match, after Chris Martin and Tim Southee had hustled out the top three. The action unraveled at a furious pace in the morning before settling into classic Test-match grind during the afternoon. New Zealand's woes were compounded by Daniel Vettori's disappointing show, on a pitch where even Mohammad Hafeez's part-time fare had turned viciously on day four. As things transpired, Pakistan adopted the path of complete caution, which ultimately left them short of time to push for a win against an attack that withered, despite a late surge from Vettori in his last Test as captain.

New Zealand's bowlers began in stark contrast to the manner in which they finished. Martin bounded in from wide of the crease and bent his inswingers into the right-handers, while Southee got his legcutters to straighten lethally. Their menacing rhythm crippled Pakistan's chase before they could find their bearings.

Taufeeq Umar succumbed first ball, as Southee got one to land on off stump, straighten and burst through the forward press to hit the back pad. Martin got the inswingers going, and mixed them cleverly to plant seeds of doubt in the batsmen's minds. Hafeez was conscious to push forward and negate the inward movement, but ended up groping for the ones that held their line. He played one off a thick outside edge through the covers, and survived a possible edge off Martin that umpire Rod Tucker did not spot.

Tempers frayed, and words were exchanged between Southee and Hafeez following a couple of pacy short balls that were dispatched to the boundary, but Martin plugged away without a fuss. Azhar Ali walked into a flick to be trapped by another inswinger, and Younis barely survived a couple of deliveries that whistled past his outside edge. Hafeez eventually ran out of luck, as Martin enticed him to edge one behind, and the dejected batsmen slapped his helmet with the bat in admonishment as he walked off.

Younis overcame the uncertain start to settle down with an assurance that justified his enviable fourth-innings record. With the ball losing its shine, Martin's inswing disappeared, allowing Younis to pick him for boundaries behind square, straight and through gully. Vettori held the key, but his ineffectiveness was epitomised by the fact that his only weapon was the quicker one that skidded through. Younis handled him with clear and decisive footwork, while Misbah resorted to playing inside the line with soft hands.

With the main bowlers failing in their opening spells after lunch, Vettori resorted to James Franklin who nearly produced the breakthrough. With the score on 108, Misbah carved him uppishly past the covers, his only major error on a day of immense resolve. On either side of that blemish, Misbah was so efficient that he was almost completely unnoticed. He only opened up with tea in sight, pulling and steering Southee off the back foot to take his side past 150.

Misbah's approach meant the spotlight was completely on Younis, and his trademark flourish shone through despite the dullness of the proceedings. His hallmark in the first innings was his shot selection, but today it was his judgment. Brent Arnel tested him with a slew of full deliveries, but Younis played him out before capitalising on a half-volley. When the spinners - Vettori and Martin Guptill - came back in search of turn, Younis pounced, stealing five boundaries to leave New Zealand worried. His dismissal at the stroke of tea, edging a harmless delivery behind, was completely out of character and against the run of play, and it decisively altered Pakistan's approach after the break.

The final session was an anti-climactic period of attrition, with both sides more anxious to avoid defeat than to push for a victory. With Younis gone, Misbah fastened the shutters he had already downed. Defending 114 in a minimum of 33.2 overs, New Zealand were not keen on a full frontal attack, either. Asad Shafiq was on a pair for 22 balls before opening his account with a six and a four through Vettori's open straight fields. He later unfurled a couple of pleasing hook shots when a tiring Southee pitched short. Misbah was not tempted so easily, scoring almost exclusively when he was fed on his pads, to move to his sixth successive half-century, three of them unbeaten.

Realising that Pakistan had shut shop, Vettori brought some fielders close in and removed Shafiq in the 84th over. It was the first time in the day that he had managed to look threatening, and it had come too late for his side. His loud appeals as the game sputtered to a close were in contrast to Misbah's unwavering calmness. The battle may have ended in stalemate, but Misbah had won the war for his side.

Read more »

Ruthless South Africa win by 135 runs

South Africa 289 for 9 (de Villiers 76, Duminy 73, Amla 50) beat India 154 (Kohli 54, Tsotsobe 4-31) by 135 runs

India had to survive the new ball if they were going to make a fist of chasing 290 but they were gasping for breath within 11 overs, after slipping to 43 for 4, and never quite recovered. South Africa had threatened twice to run away to a mammoth total in their innings. India pulled them back on both occasions to keep the target below 300, but the chase went nowhere. South Africa were 82 for 2 in the 14th over before Munaf Patel removed Hashim Amla to slow the innings down, but the hosts bounced back to reach 213 for 3 in the 36th over, when AB de Villiers fell and India clawed their way back once again.

The ball was expected to do a bit under lights and the top order, barring Virat Kohli, collapsed without much fight. The dismissal of Yuvraj Singh perfectly captured South Africa's dominance on a bouncy track. Morne Morkel got one to kick up and jag away from Yuvraj, who got his feet into an awful tangle, and ended up stabbing the ball to second slip.

It was that kind of a night: the India batsmen struggled to adapt to the conditions and they went down in a heap. M Vijay was trapped in front in the first over of the innings by a full delivery from Dale Steyn and Sachin Tendulkar perished to a pre-determined move to shuffle across his stumps. There was a short fine-leg in place for Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Tendulkar moved across to drag a short-of-length delivery past that fielder but only succeeded in top-edging a dolly to Steyn.

India recovered from 13 for 2 to reach 41 without further damage but a double strike by Morne Morkel pushed them further back. Morne had hustled and hurried Rohit Sharma into having a few injudicious wafts outside off but Rohit was eventually unlucky to be given out, caught behind by AB de Villiers. It was a gem of a delivery that kicked up and straightened just outside off and Rohit hit his pad with the bat as he pushed inside the line but the umpire mistook the sound for an edge.

Yuvraj proved a walking wicket in these seaming conditions and India were left staring down the barrel after MS Dhoni's run out just before the half-way mark. Kohli hit a straight drive but the bowler Wayne Parnell got a hand on it to accidentally run out Dhoni and leave India with a mountain to climb. Kohli hung around for a while but once he fell to Steyn, the lower order just crumbled.

South Africa's bowlers blew away India but it was their batsmen who set up the win. It was a fascinating late afternoon at Durban after Amla's exit. There was an imminent threat of a collapse in the air: South Africa had a long tail, JP Duminy can be an iffy starter against spin and the ball was starting to stop on the batsman a touch. de Villiers and Duminy initially batted like men who were aware of these threats. They added 47 runs in a little over 12 overs and the hosts had reached 132 for 3 in 25.4 overs when a single shot turned things around for them. de Villiers charged down the track to Harbhajan Singh and didn't quite seem to connect well, but his sliced golf shot sent the ball into the screaming fans beyond long-off. When Duminy slog swept Yuvraj Singh for a six in the next over, it was official: they had broken free of the shackles.

They followed it up with a smart move: they took the Batting Powerplay in the 28th over and looted 45 runs off the five overs. de Villiers made 28 of them, with a hat-trick of fours - a pull, a skillful inside-out hit over cover, and a slice over point - against Ashish Nehra in the final Powerplay over to leave South Africa sitting pretty at 192 for 3.

Things were looking dire for India and Dhoni decided to bring in part-time spinners Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina. de Villiers pulled Rohit straight to deep midwicket in the 36th over, David Miller played inside the line to lose his off stump against Raina in the 39th, and then in the 42nd Duminy missed a reverse sweep and was trapped in front by Rohit. The tail didn't have the skill to add too many and South Africa meandered along to their final score.

It was quite a contrast to the frenetic start to the innings, with Amla going after Nehra in some style. The bat-speed was rapid, and time and again he played on the up and through the line. There were some trademark cover drives on a stretched front foot and the highlight was the hat-trick of fours he unleashed against Nehra in the seventh over. Amla whacked a short ball to the midwicket boundary, then walked down the pitch to lace a length delivery to the left of mid-off before he pinged that region with an off drive. There was a caressed straight drive for three runs in the same over and he put away a couple of slower ones from Munaf for boundaries. His dismissal put pressure on the middle order but de Villiers and Duminy ensured that their bowlers had a score to defend.

Read more »

FIFA Ballon d'Or winner 2010 - Lionel Messi

Read more »

Messi: It was a wonderful surprise

Sporting a disbelieving look but smiling all the same, Lionel Messi joked at how heavy the newly presented FIFA Ballon d’Or felt. After his Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola offered to take it home for him, the Argentinian magician stepped down from the stage and spoke about his triumph to FIFA.com.

FIFA.com: Lionel, how are you feeling?

Lionel Messi: I’m happy, but I didn’t expect it because everyone had been talking so much about Xavi and Andres [Iniesta]. They also deserved it for the wonderful year they had. They won the World Cup, which usually goes a long way to deciding who wins this award, and they both had big parts to play in that. That’s why I thought one of them would be going up to collect the trophy. It was a wonderful surprise.

How do you think they are feeling?

I don’t think they’re sad about it. It was a great thing for the three of us and the club to have got this far. I think we all enjoyed the gala.

You obviously feel they deserved to win it, but what do you think tipped it in your favour?

Well, the people who voted decided to choose me and I’m very grateful for that. This is my second world player of the year award and I feel just as happy as I did the first time, if not more so. We’re going to enjoy it.

It was a great thing for the three of us and the club to have got this far. I think we all enjoyed the gala. Messi on Iniesta and Xavi

Did you feel that your performances at South Africa 2010 might have worked against you?

Yes. We didn’t have a bad World Cup but we didn’t achieve the goal we’d set ourselves, which was to be champions. That was the one big regret I have from last year.

Can you make up for it in this year’s Copa America?

That’s our next goal at international level and it’s in Argentina too. It would be great for the country, the fans and for us too because it will allow us to have a more relaxed build-up to the next World Cup.

It would also be something of a relief for you after all the criticism you’ve attracted with La Albiceleste.

Yes it would. I want to achieve something big with the national side and this would be a great opportunity to do just that.

Who are you going to dedicate the award to?

To all my team-mates for helping me to win it, to my family and to everyone who supports me.

Read more »

Messi, Marta, Mourinho and Neid crowned as the best of 2010

Argentina’s Lionel Messi collected the FIFA Ballon d’Or, his second consecutive title, while Brazil’s Marta continued her winning streak by claiming her fifth FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year award at the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala held at the Zurich Kongresshaus on Monday evening. Meanwhile, José Mourinho, the Portuguese coach of Real Madrid, and Germany’s women’s national team coach Silvia Neid were the inaugural winners of the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football and FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football awards, respectively.

These awards were decided after a poll in which the captains and head coaches of the men’s (for the two men’s football awards) and women’s (for the two women’s football awards) national teams as well as international media representatives selected by France Football voted for candidates in each of the four categories. The votes from each of the three groups counted for one-third of the final result.

It was a night to remember, with on-stage appearances by former and current football stars, top celebrities and a performance by musician by Jamie Cullum to mark the first-ever awarding of the FIFA Ballon d’Or following an alliance to combine the FIFA World Player of the Year award with the France Football Ballon d’Or agreed by FIFA and the Amaury Group in Johannesburg in July 2010.

Messi had an outstanding 2010, winning the Spanish league with his club Barcelona. Messi obtained 22.65% of the votes, ahead of his club team-mates Andrés Iniesta (17.36%) and Xavi (16.48%).

Marta thrilled fans in the Women’s Professional Soccer League in the USA, where she won the Golden Boot and was elected best player of the season with FC Gold Pride. She collected 38.20% of the votes, ahead of Germany’s Birgit Prinz and Fatmire Bajramaj, who received 15.18% and 9.96%, respectively.

Mourinho, who led Inter Milan to the UEFA Champions League, the Italian Serie A and the Italian cup before moving to Real Madrid in the summer of 2010, won with 35.92% of the votes, ahead of Spanish national coach Vicente del Bosque, who received 33.08%, and Barcelona’s Pep Guardiola (8.45%).

Meanwhile, Silvia Neid, coach of current world champions Germany, led the women’s coach category with 24.06% of the votes, ahead of Germany’s U-20 women’s team coach Maren Meinert (18.26%) and the Swedish coach of the USA women’s national team Pia Sundhage (11.68%).

The FIFA/FIFPro World XI to honour the best eleven players of the year 2010, as chosen by over 50,000 professional players from all over the world, went to a “dream team” consisting of Iker Casillas (Spain) in goal; Maicon (Brazil), Lúcio (Brazil), Gerard Piqué (Spain) and Carles Puyol (Spain) in defence; Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), Xavi (Spain) and Andrés Iniesta (Spain) in midfield; and Lionel Messi (Argentina), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) and David Villa (Spain) up front.

The FIFA Puskás Award for the “most beautiful goal” of the year as voted for on FIFA.com by over one million fans was also handed out. This prize, created in honour and in memory of Ferenc Puskás, the captain and star of the Hungarian national team during the 1950s, went to Turkey’s Hamit Altintop for his fantastic goal in the UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying match between Kazakhstan and Turkey played in Astana on 3 September 2010.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu received the FIFA Presidential Award from President Joseph S. Blatter for his outstanding commitment to youth development worldwide and his contribution to the use of football as a catalyst for positive social change, as well as for the support he gave to the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™, the first one on African soil.

The FIFA Fair Play Award was given to the Haiti U-17 women’s team, who had to endure many hardships following the earthquake which struck their country in January 2010, during which their head coach sadly passed away. The team showed great courage to make it to the final round of the CONCACAF qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2010, where their performance was applauded by the fans despite their eventual elimination. The award was collected by the captain of the team, Hayana Jean-François.

Read more »

India win despite van Wyk fifty

India 168 (Rohit 53, Raina 43) beat South Africa 147 for 9 (van Wyk 67) by 21 runs

Morne Van Wyk defined irony on a lovely Durban night at the marvellous Moses Mabhida Stadium. On the day where he went unpicked by the IPL franchises, van Wyk hit a cultured 39-ball 67 to threaten to overhaul India's strong 168, but he fell in the 11th over to trigger a collapse and India closed in quickly. South Africa had deployed three spinners on a slow, low surface, but Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina propelled India to a match-winning total.

Van Wyk had the crowd in screaming in delight with his strokeplay: He looted 25 runs from six deliveries, spread over two overs, from Munaf Patel: There was a stunning pick-up shot over midwicket boundary, a pulled six and a cut boundary but the best shot was a scorching square drive to a ball that landed just short of the blockhole. And when he crashed R Ashwin for a four and a slog-swept six in the final over of the Powerplay, South Africa had reached 59 for 2.

It took an unlikely run out to switch the momentum India's way. Aashish Nehra relayed a throw from the deep to Suresh Raina, who fired a direct hit from midwicket to catch AB de Villiers short of his crease in the 10th over. JP Duminy fell in the next over, trapped by Yuvraj Singh, and things got worse for the hosts in 11th over, when van Wyk flicked Praveen Kumar straight to Nehra at deep square-leg. It was the beginning of the end, as no one barring Johan Botha, to an extent, could adapt to the slow track.

The football stadium hosted its first cricket international and Makhaya Ntini's last. It wasn't quite a perfect night for Ntini, but he had his moments to savour: He caught Rohit at the long-on boundary and faced the penultimate delivery of the game before he was cheered off by the Indians.

The slow pitch and the design of the stadium, with its short square-boundaries, dictated the style of play. The new ball and seamers leaked runs, the spinners pegged back the run-rate, and the batsmen heaved square to collect boundaries. India raced to 57 in six Powerplay overs, another 57 came in the next eight overs, bowled by the spinners, for the loss of three wickets before Suresh Raina pushed India ahead.

The openers, M Vijay and Virat Kohli, set the ball rolling with a few trademark hits: M Vijay unfurled a flamboyant lofted hit to long-on off Ntini and Kohli put his signature swat-flicks to great use, but it was Rohit who gave a solid foundation to the innings. He started with an edgy drive through the slips but almost immediately played a stylish pick-up shot for a six over midwicket off Ntini. He was dropped by de Villiers, the keeper, after being beaten in flight by Botha, and celebrated that reprieve by looting 16 runs in the 12th over, also bowled by Botha. He heaved a couple of boundaries to midwicket and hit a scorching inside-out cover drive. Rohit provided the crowd a moment to celebrate when he holed out to long-on, where Ntini caught the ball just inside the boundary to trigger huge cheers.

India slipped from 109 for 3 to 136 for 5 after Yuvraj Singh was run out and Yusuf Pathan edged an intended big hit on to his stumps but Raina ensured India reached a competitive score. He kept going for his slog-sweeps and swung Ntini and Rusty Theron for sixes and though the run-rate dipped a notch in the end overs, 168 was always going to be a strong total on this surface.

Read more »

Pakistan seal win on dramatic day

Pakistan 367 (Shafiq 83, Misbah 62, Arnel 4-95) and 21 for 0 beat New Zealand 275 (Southee 56, McCullum 56, Ahmed 4-63) and 110 (McCullum 35, Rehman 3-24, Gul 3-28) by 10 wickets

What Pakistan inflicted on New Zealand on a dramatic third day in Hamilton was nothing short of an embarassment. On a still-placid track, the hosts were victims of some incisive Pakistan bowling but let themselves down through some equally inept batting, transforming a Test that had been closely-fought on the first two days into a hopelessly one-sided contest in just one session.

Pakistan's build-up to this Test had been hijacked by the spot-fixing hearings in Doha but they managed to infuse plenty of significance to a Test that otherwise appeared as a sideshow. Missing several of their first-choice players, for reasons ranging from allegations of corruption to indiscipline and fitness, Pakistan were propelled to victory on the back of strong performances from their inexperienced players under a fresh captain. Misbah-ul-Haq's team had held South Africa to two draws in the UAE, but this win, for all the distractions off the field and though against a less prominent opposition, would go miles in restoring some pride after a turbulent few months.

For New Zealand, who had challenged India in their Test series there, it marked another low, and a dispiriting start - discounting the Twenty20 series prior to this - to John Wright's tenure as coach.

Pakistan's lower order, including its bowlers, had played a crucial role in stretching the first-innings lead to 92 after the loss of two early wickets in the day. And the confidence with which they went about extending their team's advantage with the bat, showed in the way they attacked on the field in the session after tea.

While New Zealand dropped catches, Pakistan hardly gave anything away. While New Zealand's seamers often overpitched to the tailenders, the Pakistan bowlers backed their superior pace by varying their lengths. And while Daniel Vettori was negotiated safely, his left-arm spinning counterpart Abdur Rehman never seemed far from taking a wicket.

Rehman was the pick of the Pakistan bowlers in the first innings, strangling New Zealand's run-flow with a spate of maidens in the session after lunch on the first day. It was no surprise then that Misbah turned to him as early as the ninth over in New Zealand's second attempt.

Rehman doesn't rely too much on spin but plenty on alterations in place and length. He should have had Brendon McCullum out lbw almost immediately with a quick straighter one, but just an over later he fooled Tim McIntosh, who stepped out to a flighted delivery that was held back, played inside the line and was stumped. The psychological edge he had gained over Martin Guptill in the first innings, tying him down with five straight maidens, reaped rewards in the second, as the batsman top-edged an ill-planned slog-sweep. The icing on the cake was the wicket of Vettori, done in by a bit of turn from the footmarks and trapped plumb.

Rehman had been the beneficiary of three dropped catches during his stand of 72 with Adnan Akmal that took Pakistan in to the lead, but, barring an early lapse from Taufeeq Umar at slip, the visitors were ruthless on the field. Ross Taylor had begun his innings with a couple of confident drives but he was unable to beat a direct-hit from Misbah while attempting a risky single. And when Kane Williamson inside-edged Wahab Riaz onto his pads, the spontaneous appeal for an lbw did not distract Azhar Ali at slip from diving low to claim a catch that was later upheld.

In the interim, Riaz was fortunate to get a caught-behind decision against McCullum - the ball deflected off his thigh - and his extra pace accounted for Jesse Ryder first ball as he failed to bring his bat down in time against an inswinging yorker. Umar Gul wrapped up the innings, when he had debutant Reece Young caught at deep square leg off a short delivery, and then bounced Chris Martin not long after he had completed 100 runs in Test cricket. From 60 for 2, New Zealand collapsed to 110 all out, including losing four wickets for one run and the humiliation was only 19 runs away.

New Zealand had tried hard to even things out on the third morning, but as has been the trend throughout this Test, Pakistan pulled them back to surge ahead. Williamson and Southee's resistance in the first innings ended quickly on the second day, Misbah and Shafiq led the team's recovery after they had been reduced to 107 for 4, and Adnan's counterattack today compensated for the early departure of the overnight duo.

When the seamers strayed on the pads, Adnan flicked them elegantly to the fine-leg boundary; he cut powerfully when they dropped short and drove when they pitched up. His boundary-filled 66-ball stay not only gave Pakistan the lead but eased the burden off those who followed, and their carefree batting yielded more runs. His approach rubbed off on Rehman, who broke a 30-ball runless drought with two sixes off Vettori, while Gul and Tanvir Ahmed did their bit down the order, including smacking Brent Arnel for 15 in an over. The last four wickets added 111, and by the time Martin claimed Ahmed as his 500th first-class victim, the foundation for victory had been firmly laid.

Read more »

Dan Christian top buy early on Day 2

List of players involved in the IPL auction held in Bangalore on January 8 and 9, 2011. The list of players bought is in descending order of their final bid price. Players sold on Sunday are in bold

Gautam Gambhir sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for a record $2.4 million.

Yusuf Pathan to Kolkata Knight Riders for $2.1 million.

Robin Uthappa to Pune for $2.1 million

Rohit Sharma to Mumbai Indians for $2 million.

Irfan Pathan to Delhi Daredevils for $1.9 million.

Yuvraj Singh to Pune for $1.8 million.

Saurabh Tiwary to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $1.6 million.

Mahela Jayawardene to Kochi for $1.5 million.

David Hussey to Kings XI Punjab for $1.4 million

Dale Steyn goes to Deccan Chargers for $1.2 million

Muttiah Muralitharan to Kochi for $1.1 million.

AB de Villiers to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $1.1 million.

Cameron White to Deccan Chargers for $1.1 million.

Jacques Kallis to Kolkata Knight Riders for $1.1 million.

Ross Taylor to Rajasthan Royals for $1 million.

Angelo Mathews to Pune for $950,000

Ravindra Jadeja to Kochi for $950,000

Johan Botha to Rajasthan Royals for $950,000.

Dan Christian to Deccan Chargers for $900,000

Dinesh Karthik to Kings XI Punjab for $900,000

Piyush Chawla to Kings XI Punjab for $900,000.

Sreesanth to Kochi for $900,000

Adam Gilchrist to Kings XI Punjab for $900,000.

Zaheer Khan to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $900,000.

R Ashwin to Chennai Super Kings for $850,000

Ashish Nehra to Pune for $850,000

Andrew Symonds to Mumbai Indians for $850,000

S Badrinath to Chennai Super Kings for $800,000.

Praveen Kumar to Kings XI Punjab for $800,000.

Abhishek Nayar to Kings XI Punjab for $800,000

Umesh Yadav to Delhi Daredevils for $750,000

David Warner to Delhi for $750,000

Munaf Patel to Mumbai Indians for $700,000

Venugopal Rao to Delhi Daredevils for $700,000

Cheteswar Pujara to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $700,000.

Doug Bollinger to Chennai Super Kings for $700,000

Kumar Sangakkara to Deccan Chargers for $700,000.

Dirk Nannes to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $650,000.

Tillakaratne Dilshan to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $650,000.

Kevin Pietersen to Deccan Chargers for $650,000.

Daniel Vettori to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $550,000

Lakshmipathy Balaji to Kolkata Knight Riders for $500,000

Pragyan Ojha to Deccan Chargers for $500,000

Rahul Dravid to Rajasthan Royals for $500,000.

Graeme Smith to Pune for $500,000.

RP Singh to Kochi for $500,000.

R Vinaykumar to Kochi for $475,000

Manoj Tiwary to Kolkata Knight Riders for $475,000.

Morne Morkel to Delhi Daredevils for $475,000

Brendon McCullum to Kochi for $475,000.

Ishant Sharma to Deccan Chargers for $450,000.

Brad Hodge to Kochi for $425,000.

Shakib al Hasan to Kolkata Knight Riders for $425,000

Michael Hussey to Chennai for $425,000.

Brett Lee to Kolkata Knight Riders for $400,000

Stuart Broad to Kings XI Punjab for $400,000

VVS Laxman to Kochi for $400,000.

Ashok Dinda to Delhi Daredevils for $375,000

Eoin Morgan to Kolkata Knight Riders for $350,000.

James Hopes to Delhi Daredevils for $350,000.

Ryan Harris to Kings XI Punjab for $325,000.

Brad Haddin goes to Kolkata Knight Riders for $325,000.

Shaun Tait to Rajasthan Royals for $300,000

Callum Ferguson to Pune for $300,000.

Aaron Finch to Delhi Daredevils for $300,000

Amit Mishra to Deccan Chargers for $300,000

Shikhar Dhawan to Deccan Chargers for $300,000.

JP Duminy to Deccan Chargers for $300,000

Manpreet Gony to Deccan Chargers for $290,000

Parthiv Patel to Kochi for $290,000

Naman Ojha to Delhi Daredevils for $270,000

Tim Paine to Pune for $270,000

Abhimanyu Mithun to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $260,000

Jaidev Unadkat to Kolkata Knight Riders for $250,000

Paul Collingwood to Rajasthan Royals for $250,000.

Sudeep Tyagi to Chennai Super Kings for $240,000

Ajit Agarkar to Delhi Daredvils for $210,000

Scott Styris to Chennai Super Kings for $200,000

Steven Smith to Kochi for $200,000

Dwayne Bravo to Chennai Super Kings at $200,000

Davy Jacobs to Mumbai Indians for $190,000

Ramesh Powar to Kochi for $180,000

Wayne Parnell to Pune for $160,000

Joginder Sharma to Chennai Super Kings for $150,000

Charl Langeveldt to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $140,000

Clint McKay to Mumbai Indians for $110,000

Nuwan Kulasekara to Chennai Super Kings for $100,000

Matthew Wade to Delhi Daredevils for $100,000

Ben Hilfenhaus to Chennai Super Kings for $100,000

Nathan McCullum to Pune for $100,000

James Franklin to Mumbai Indians for $100,000

Wriddhiman Saha to Chennai Super Kings for $100,000

Suraj Randiv to Chennai Super Kings for $80,000

Thissara Perera to Kochi for $80,000

Roelof van der Merwe to Delhi Daredevils for $50,000

Luke Pomersbach to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $50,000

Steven O'Keefe to Kochi for $20,000

Unsold on Sunday: Jonathon Trott, Bryce McGain, Jacques Rudolph, Jason Krejza, Aaron Heal, Ray Price, Abdur Razzak, Suhrawardi Shuvo, Xavier Doherty, Tim Southee, Chaminda Vaas, Thilan Thushara, Kemar Roach, Rusty Theron, Peter Siddle, Grant Elliot, Moises Henriques, Elton Chigumbura, Dillon du Preez, Samit Patel, Justin Ontong, Zander de Bruyn, Vernon Philander, Wasim Jaffer, Upul Tharanga, Darren Bravo, Adam Voges, Michael Lumb, Colin Ingram, Mohammad Kaif, Ian Bell, Chamara Silva, Nikita Miller, Malinga Bandara, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Sulieman Benn, Robin Peterson, MS Panesar, Rangana Herath, Paul Harris, Kyle Mills, Farveez Maharoof, Ryan McLaren, Jacob Oram, Dwayne Smith, Justin Kemp, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Ravi Bopara, Michael Yardy, Sanath Jayasuriya, Tim Bresnan, Indika de Saram, Denesh Ramdin, Tatenda Taibu, Chris Hartley, Gareth Hopkins, Brendan Taylor, Dinesh Chandimal, Niall O'Brien, Luke Ronchi

Unsold on Saturday: Tamim Iqbal, Chamara Kapugedera, Murali Kartik, Ajantha Mendis, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Dilhara Fernando, Luke Wright, Matt Prior, Mark Boucher, Graeme Manou, Brian Lara, Herschelle Gibbs, Jesse Ryder, Sourav Ganguly and Chris Gayle.

Read more »

IPL auction: Who got whom

*Gambhir sold to Kolkata to $2.4 million dollars.

*Dilshan sold to Bangalore for 650,000.

*Zaheer Khan, sold! To Bangalore for $900,000. Small change compred to Gambhir!

*Ross Taylor, New Zealand batsman, sold to Rajasthan Royals for $1 million.

*Yusuf Pathan sold to Kolkata for $2.1 million dollars.

*Kevin Pietersen sold to Deccan Chargers for $650,000 (only).

*Mahela Jayawardene has been sold to Kochi for $1.5 million dollars.

*Yuvraj Singh has been sold to Pune for $1.8 million dollars.

*AB de Villiers, South African batsman and potential wicketkeeper, sold to Bangalore for $1.1 million dollars.

*Ganguly is the first unsold player.

*Cameron White has been sold to Deccan Chargers for $ 1.1 million dollars. He is the first Australian sold.

*Kolkata buy Jacques Kallis for 1.1 million dollars.

*Rohit Sharma sold to Mumbai Indians for $2 million dollars.

*Andrew Symonds sold for $850,000 to Mumbai Indians.

*Kumar Sangakkara sold for $700,000 to Deccan Chargers.

*Punjab make their first buy, Adam Gilchrist for $900,000.

*Rahul Dravid joins Shane Warne at Rajasthan Royals for $500,000.

*Pune buy Graeme Smith at $500,000.

*Robin Uthappa sold to Pune for $ 2.1 million.

*Johan Botha lands jackpot with Rajasthan Royals for $950,000.

*Kochi is the only bidder for VVS Laxman and they get him at base price of $400,000.

*Bangalore pick up Daneil Vettori for $550,000.

*McCullum's gone for only $475,000 to Kochi.

*Kochi entered the bidding at $900,000 for Sreesanth and made a winning bid.

*Chris Gayle goes unsold. No bids for Gayle. This is unprecedented.

*Irfan Pathan sold for $1.9 million dollars to Delhi.

*RP Singh sold to Kochi for $500,000.

*No bids for Jesse Ryder.

*No bids for Herschelle Gibbs either.

*Hussey was bought by Chennai for $425,000.

*Shaun Marsh went to Punjab for $400,000

*JP Duminy sold to Deccan at $300,000.

*Shikhar Dhawan sold to Deccan Chargers at $300,000.

*Saurabh Tiwary goes to Bangalore for $1.6 million.

*David Hussey sold to Punjab for $1.4 million.

*Delhi buy David Warner back for $750,000.

*Brian Lara goes unsold at base price of $400,000. No bids for him

*Graham Manou is the first one. Base price $50,000. There are no bids for Manou.

*Parthiv goes to Kochi for 290,000.

*Wriddhiman Saha goes to Chennai for $ 100,000.

*Dinesh Karthik goes to Punjab for $ 900,000.

*Naman Ojha goes to the Delhi Daredevils for $250,000

*Tim Paine goes to Pune for $270,000.

*Matt Prior goes unsold at base price of $200,000.

*Mark Boucher goes unsold at base price of $200,000.

*David Jacobs sold to Mumbai Indians for $190,000.

*James Hopes sold to Delhi for $350,000.

*Kochi buy Ravindra Jadeja for $950,000.

*No bids for Luke Wright. He goes unsold.

*Shakib Al Hasan goes to Kolkata for $425,000.

*Punjab buy Stuart Broad at base price of $400,000.

*Punjab buy Abhishek Nayyar for $800,000.

*Angelo Mathews, Sri Lanka allrounder, sold to Pune for $950,000.

*Chennai buy Dwayne Bravo at base price for $200,000.

*Kochi get Steven Smith for $200,000.

*James Franklin goes to Mumbai Indians at base price of $100,000.

*There are no bids for Dilhara Fernando.

*There are no bids for James Anderson.

*Ishant Sharma sold to Deccan Chargers for $450,000.

*Praveen Kumar to Punjab for $800,000.

*Ashish Nehra to Pune for $850,000.

*Only one bid for Lee and he goes at base price $400,000 to Kolkata.

*Morne Morkel sold to Delhi for $475,000.

*Dale Steyn to Deccan Chargers for $1.2 million dollars.

*Ryan Harris sold to Punjab for $325,000.

*Bangalore pick up Dirk Nannes for $650,000.

*Chennai have bought Doug Bollinger back for $700,000.

*Kochi have Muttiah Muralitharan at $1.1 million.

*Graeme Swann gets no bids and remains unsold.

*Punjab get Piyush chawla for $ 900,000.

*R Ashwin, sold to Chennai for $850,000.

*Surprisingly there are no bids for Ajantha Mendis.

*Deccan buy Pragyan Ojha for $500,000.

*No bids for Murali Karthik.

*Deccan Chargers buy Amit Mishra for $300,000.

*Nathan McCullum sold at base price to Pune at $100,000.

*Kochi buys Ramesh Powar for $180,000.

*Chamara Kapugedera's bidding starts at $100,000 but he gets no bids.

*Aaron Finch sold for $300,000 to Delhi.

*Kolkata buy Eoin Morgan for $350,000.

*Kochi bid 425,000 and will buy Brad Hodge for that much.

*Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal, base price $100,000. He's a bargain buy but there are no bidders.

*Callum Ferguson sold to Pune at $300,000.

*Kolkata buy Manoj Tiwary back for $475,000.

*Bangalore buy Cheteshwar Pujara for $700,000.

*S Badrinath sold to Chennai for $800,000. Chennai are buying a lot of their players back.

*Paul Collingwood sold to Rajasthan at $250,000.

Read more »

Teams spend big to overhaul their rosters

Shaking off months of controversy, litigation and uncertainty, cricket's biggest, richest and most brassy domestic event, the Indian Premier League, sprang into life again, breaking records and banks on the first day of auction weekend in Bangalore.

From the 88 players auctioned today, 15 new millionaires were created by the ten IPL franchises who will compete in season four, but there was another sorry bunch of 16 players who were left 'unsold' when the auction finally ended at 6 pm.

Minutes after his name was the first to be randomly pulled out from a list of 'marquee players' at 11 am on Saturday morning, Gautam Gambhir earned the highest playing contract in cricket, $2.4m for two years with the Kolkata Knight Riders. With the top seven of the 15 new 'millionaires' being Indian, the day was marked by big spends for the small 48-strong pool of home-grown talent available to the ten teams, who must now compete to create new squads from scratch. Just over a month ago, the number of teams in the auction had been unclear, with Kochi trying to establish an undisputed ownership pattern and Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab fighting the BCCI against their sudden expulsion from the lucrative league.

In Bangalore on Saturday though, with differences quelled for the moment, the auction diverted the IPL spotlight away from legal disputes towards the Bollywood and business-driven spectacle it was meant to be. There were 72 players (30 Indians, 42 foreign players) sold on the first day of the auction for $52.8m. If Gambhir was the highest-earning Indian ever in the league (going for more than Sachin Tendulkar, M S Dhoni and Virender Sehwag's 'retention' salaries), Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene became the highest-earning overseas player, signed on for $1.5m by Kochi, the only team left to declare its formal, merchandise-friendly IPL name. They have until April 8 to decide, the IPL beginning just a week after the end of the World Cup.

If there was a single trend through the giant auction player pool, it was this: younger, high-impact men, whether with bat or ball, and genuine multi-tasking all-rounders went for the highest price, even if it was the sole big spend a team could make. The player's marketability was an additional bonus. It is what explains the $1.9m for Irfan Pathan, who has spent a good portion of the domestic season injured and now finds himself out of India's World Cup probables as well.

The short supply of Indians in categories of all kind meant that a younger bunch of Indians suddenly found themselves receiving wages far higher than their more experienced colleagues. The Pune Warriors' $2.1m spend on Robin Uthappa (only the third $2m man), for example, was well ahead of their $1.8m on Yuvraj Singh, who may well eventually be named Pune captain.

South African Twenty20 captain Johan Botha went for almost double the price of his Test and ODI captain Graeme Smith to Rajasthan Royals, the team Smith had played for in the first three years. Along with the franchise owners and coaches present in the auction room, the team's captain-coach Shane Warne spent the day in consultations over the telephone with the franchise.

There were several approaches at work today: Kolkata made their intentions clear early on, first winning all-rounder Yusuf Pathan at the second-highest bid for the day, $2.1m. By lunchtime, they had spent another $1.1m on South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis. As the only team to have three millionaires on their payroll, Kolkata were willing to gamble early on spending more than half of the $9m salary cap on three players.

Most of the other teams also tried to overhaul their personnel in an attempt to avoid the mistakes of the previous three seasons. Going against that grain, though, Chennai Super Kings, the current IPL Champions as well as the Champions League Twenty20 winners, retained as many as eight players from their successful campaigns. Four of those were retained before the auction which cut their salary cap by half and today, despite being the most infrequent bidder, Chennai managed to both sign on key members of their old squad and stick to their restricted budget.

A Chennai official said the team's approach was not surprising given that it had been asking the BCCI to allow it to retain players for the last year. "We had the strategy to retain as many players as possible. They players definitely wanted to stay back with us and it helps maintain the winning the form. Our aim has been that our team should gel well and hence we have always felt we shouldn't change it. You can't get a player only for two months and then discard them."

He said the men behind keeping the unit intact were the-captain-and-coach pair of MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming: "The coach and the captain believe in this same ethos and they are the ones who have established this trend."

The IPL, which has broad-based and transformed cricket's entire economy, once again produced unexpected, unorthodox and some illogical changes as well.

The returns from the IPL auction for the England players continue to remain uneven: three players from their World Twenty20-winning team, Graeme Swann, James Anderson and Luke Wright were unsold (along with wicketkeeper Matt Prior, while Kevin Pietersen, Stuart Broad, Eoin Morgan and Paul Collingwood were bought for a total of $1.65m). The Ashes may well be a sign of doom for the Australian cricket establishment but at the IPL, they remain the most sought after overseas hirings, with 18 Australians being signed on today.

The three West Indian cricketers who have turned down central contracts with their board have been dealt with differently: Kieron Pollard has been retained by Mumbai Indians, Dwayne Bravo was bought cheap at $200,000 by Chennai, but the most experienced of the three, left-handed opener Chris Gayle finds himself without a contract of any kind.

On a day when franchises signed up as many as 42 overseas players, Sri Lanka's Ajantha Mendis found himself unsought after as did Bangladesh's attacking opener, Tamim Iqbal, and New Zealand's Jesse Ryder, who should by all logic, find his name as New Zealand's leading impact man after Brendon McCullum.

In the symbolic statement of representing both the shorter, sharper, faster and more demanding format of Twenty20 and therefore the 'Gen Next' cricketer, older men like the retired Brian Lara and the semi-retired Sourav Ganguly have been left on the shelf. Similarly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, mainstays of the Indian Test middle order, also struggled to get a bid any distance over their 'base price'. Dravid finds himself in the cash-strapped Rajasthan Royals franchise on a $500,000 salary while Laxman went at his price of $400,000 to the first and only bidder Kochi. Three years ago, this would have been a handsome wage, but in the time of the $2.4m contract and in the IPL's unreal pay scales, these are lean pickings.

The presence of Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds in the same Mumbai Indians dressing room will serve as a handy marketing pitch for the tightly-controlled high rollers of the IPL. For all the advertising about the rationale and practicality of franchise purchase, several auction equations remained unbalanced: the $1.6m spend on Saurabh Tiwary did not exactly go hand in hand with the absence in the auction of some highly rated IPL names - Manish Pandey, Sidharth Trivedi, Ambati Rayudu. Piyush Chawla's $900,000 compared to IPL 3's top wicket-taker Pragyan Ojha's $500,000 could not be explained but then again neither could the general silence around Murali Kartik, whose economy rate for the struggling Kolkata last season was better than both younger men.

One the men who has benefitted the most in the auction would be allrounder Ravindra Jadeja who was left out of the Rajashthan team last season for entering into discussions about a transfer to the Mumbai team. Jadeja came to within $50,000 of being IPL 4's Mr Millionaire No. 16.

At the auction tomorrow, there will be 71 more players up for sale, with the number of Indians now down to 18.

Read more »

New Zealand let it slip after lunch

Tea New Zealand 160 for 5 (Young 2*, Williamson 12*, Rehman 2-32) v Pakistan

Pakistan compensated for the lack of assistance from the Seddon Park pitch with a more determined effort after lunch that undermined a strong foundation laid for the New Zealand innings by Brendon McCullum. His dismissal shortly after the break, the subsequent stagnation against Abdur Rehman's left-arm spin and the run-out of Jesse Ryder, just when he was trying to inject some fluency to the innings, tilted the scales after it had seemed Pakistan had erred by opting to field on a dryish surface.

New Zealand had themselves to blame for the turn in the tide. Their batsmen didn't take advantage of opportunities given, through umpiring errors or lapses in the field, and lost track during a shift in momentum brought about by Martin Guptill's self-imposed grind. He played out five consecutive maidens against Rehman, who kept a tight line around middle and off and despite the lack of turn was met respectfully with a straight bat that seemed devoid of intention to force the pace.

It was McCullum's wicket, though, that was the trigger. Since giving up wicketkeeping duties in Tests, McCullum has enjoyed his role at the top of the order and looked set for a big score when he took off this morning. He went after Umar Gul in the first over, driving him over the in-field and despite there being a deep point and two fielders square on the leg side, showed no inhibitions playing the cut and the pull with success. He was even more ruthless against deliveries that were pitched up, driving Younis Khan and Wahab Riaz to the extra-cover boundary before dispatching Gul over the ropes soon after lunch. He followed up with a mow over midwicket for another six but fell to a trap, slashing Gul the same over to a perfectly-placed deep point.

Rehman, brought on after lunch, attacked with a slip and two close-in catchers on either side of the pitch. He bowled quicker through the air, from a flat trajectory and only managed to extract some spin when he flighted the ball. None of this, however, was by any means threatening but the nagging line sent Guptill into a shell that he only managed to free himself from with his wicket.

Balls were either pushed back to Rehman, or knocked around past the close-in fielders but the singles were absent. Guptill had looked quite assured against pace, leaving deliveries in the channel outside off in the morning session where there was a bit of nip, and kicking things off with a couple of lovely straight drives. But his misery against Rehman - he had scored 4 off 44 balls against him - ended when the bowler had given him the best possible chance to score; the full toss, however, was gifted as a catch to cover.

In the interim, Taylor, who had a poor time in the Tests against India, feathered one to the keeper as he tried to cut Rehman while Ryder, keen to restore the advantage gained earlier in the day, batted enterprisingly. Deliveries strayed on the pads by the spinners were deftly shown the way to the fine-leg boundary and when the opportunity came, Rehman was slog-swept for a six over midwicket. But a moment of ill luck robbed him of his wicket as he was run-out backing up too far as Wahab Riaz deflected a straight drive onto the stumps at the non-striker's end. Despite his half-century, it was a forgettable day for the man who played that drive, Guptill.

Read more »

England complete crushing Ashes victory

England 644 (Cook 189, Prior 118, Bell 115) beat Australia 280 (Johnson 53, Anderson 4-66) and 281 (Smith 54*, Anderson 3-61, Tremlett 3-79) by an innings and 83 runs


England ended 24 years of hurt in crushing style at the SCG as they secured an innings-and-83-run victory to take the Ashes series 3-1. The crowning moment came shortly before noon when Chris Tremlett found Michael Beer's inside edge to bowl him leg stump. It was the first time in their history that Australia have suffered three innings defeats in a series and left nobody in any doubt where the balance of power now lies.

The England players immediately embraced at the striker's end and savoured their moment in a tight team huddle. This has been a victory fashioned by exemplary planning and hard work where no stone has been left unturned. The defeat in Perth, by 267 runs, which levelled the series for Australia, only inspired the visitors to hit new heights and they proceeded to crush the hosts in Melbourne and Sydney.

England were frustrated for a while as showers scudded across the ground to cause a 45-minute suspension and then by an 86-run stand between Steve Smith and Peter Siddle. However, Graeme Swann broke through shortly before the new ball and a short time later Tremlett removed the last obstacle.

Smith and Siddle at least showed some fight as they came out and played their shots. Siddle's batting improvement since his return from injury is one of few bonuses to emerge from a terrible series for the hosts, and it highlights their problems that his run-scoring record is not far off that of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke.

The England bowlers couldn't quite recapture the intensity of the fourth evening when they claimed the extra half hour to try and wrap up victory. Tremlett appeared a little down on pace after his roaring burst the previous day, but England knew all they had to do was remain patient and their moment would arrive.

Swann had bowled well in the innings without reward so when he had Siddle taken at deep midwicket it was deserved success for giving Andrew Strauss control at vital stages. That was Swann's final bowl, though, as the new ball was taken straight away and Anderson, who will head home for ten days' rest, found Ben Hilfenhaus' edge to give the impressive Matt Prior another catch.

By now the Barmy Army were in full voice. Smith had time to bash his way to a second Test fifty, but he knew the end was close as he swung from the hip. A single exposed Beer to three balls of Tremlett's over and he only needed one delivery. England will party the day and night away in Sydney, yet knowing the focus of Strauss and Andy Flower they will soon be back preparing for the next challenge. Next stop: the best team in the world.

Read more »