Scorecard

Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting shared an unbeaten 151-run stand off a mere 24.2 overs to power Australia to a nine-wicket win against Zimbabwe at Sydney. The victory – which sealed the short series 2-0 – was set up in large measure by Simon Katich’s left-arm wrist-spin. His 6 for 65 ruined Zimbabwe’s hopes of setting Australia a challenging fourth-innings target.Set a modest 172 to win, Australia romped home in emphatic style, with Hayden scoring his second century of the series off just 84 balls. His innings included 11 fours and three sixes, and took his series aggregate to 501, and his tally for the calendar year to 951, at an average of 79.25.Hayden finished it off for Australia, but a large chunk of the credit should go to Katich. Given Brett Lee’s absence, the Zimbabweans had a realistic opportunity to take advantage of the situation, but Katich came up with crucial breakthroughs, many of which were, admittedly, down to poor strokes by the batsmen.When they reflect on the Test match, the Zimbabweans will identify the morning session on the fourth day as the period where they let it slip away. They added only 79 runs and lost four wickets, all of them through silly errors. Especially vital were the dismissals of Craig Wishart (45) – who charged down the wicket to Katich and was stumped – and Heath Streak, whose promising innings of 25 ended in a run-out after a mix-up with Tatenda Taibu (212 for 6). Taibu battled hard, facing 150 balls for his 35, before he was dismissed in an unlucky fashion. He pulled the first ball of a new spell from Katich, but Ricky Ponting, fielding at short leg, held on to the rebound after the ball hit his chest (230 for 8).Three balls after lunch, Raymond Price was dubiously given out lbw to Katich for a duck, when replays suggested that the ball would have missed off. With only Blessing Mahwire left, Andy Blignaut launched into a belated assault. Brad Hogg suffered in the next over, as Blignaut pulled him for six and then cut and off-drove two fours. But his luck ran out when Brad Williams held on to a lofted shot off Katich at long-on. Blignaut made 44, the fourth Zimbabwean in the innings to get out in the forties.Australia’s run-chase began poorly, when Justin Langer failed again, nicking to Taibu off Streak for just 8 (21 for 1). However, Hayden soon put the innings on track with his powerful hitting – most notable was the brutality of his sweeping against Price’s left-arm spin. Ponting, who was caught off a no-ball from Blignaut when on 7, used his feet superbly against Price, and was severe on Streak as well. Two overs after his letoff, he hammered 12 from a Streak over with drives past the bowler, through mid-on and through cover. It was majestic batting, and the Zimbabweans were powerless to stop the scoring.Hayden toyed with the bowling, and brought up his 16th Test century with his third six of the innings, a huge hit over midwicket off Gavin Ewing. That shot also tied the scores, allowing Ponting, the Man of the Match, the privilege of scoring the winning single and to end on 53 not out off 71 balls.

All Today’s Yesterdays – November 16 down the yearsNovember 15 | November 171971
Birth of the Burewala Bombshell. There have been few more scintillating sights in cricket history than Waqar Younis in his pomp. With batsman hopping and stumps flying, he and Wasim Akram took reverse-swing to a new level in the early 1990s with their toe-crushing yorkers. They were close to unplayable, particularly for new batsmen: in 1992 alone, England lost 4 for 1 (Lord’s), 8 for 28 (Headingley) and 7 for 25 (The Oval). Remarkably, over half of Waqar’s Test wickets have been out bowled or lbw (by contrast, the figure for Dennis Lillee and Courtney Walsh is 33%). He was at his best in the early 1990s – after bursting onto the scene against New Zealand in 1990-91, Waqar took 109 wickets over a three-year period at an average of 18.07, at the incredible strike rate of 33.55 balls per wicket. He later became captain of Pakistan, and took 7 for 36 – the second-best figures in ODI history – against England at Headingley in 2001. He retained that job until the 2003 World Cup, but a poor showing by Pakistan hastened an unceremonious exit. He was also a huge success in county cricket, first for Surrey and then Glamorgan, for whom he took a career-best 8 for 17 against Sussex at Swansea in 1997.1862
Birth of the man known as “The Terror”. Australian seamer Charlie Turner was a formidable opponent, particularly on wet surfaces, and he took his 101 Test wickets at the startling average of 16.53. Among Aussies with 100 wickets the next-best, Alan Davidson, conceded exactly four more runs per wicket. With his long, rhythmic run and virtually square-on delivery, Turner took 6 for 15 on debut against England at Sydney in 1886-87. And in 1888 he took 21 wickets at an average of 12, despite England winning two of the three matches by an innings. In 155 first-class matches in all he took an improbable 35 ten-fors. He died in Sydney in 1944.1982
Just another day at the office for Chris Tavaré, who took 63 minutes to get off the mark in the second innings of the first Test between England and Australia at Perth. In all Tavaré made 9 from 82 balls, and in the first innings he took almost eight hours over 89. In the course of that innings Tavaré was stuck on 66 for 90 minutes – it was the second time in three Tests that he’d twice spent an hour without scoring. The match itself was a fairly dull draw, notable for a freak injury to Terry Alderman, who rugby-tackled a pitch invader and dislocated his shoulder so badly that he did not play first-class cricket again that season. The match was also notable for Norman Cowans becoming England’s 500th Test cricketer.1983
The third Test at Ahmedabad proved to be a landmark match for Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, but West Indies were still victorious by 138 runs. In the course of his first-innings 90 Gavaskar overtook Geoff Boycott as the top runscorer in Test history (at the time), while Kapil (9 for 83) became the tenth person and the first captain to take nine wickets in a Test innings. But in a low-scoring game India were blown away as they chased 242 to win. Michael Holding, fresh from spanking 58, took out the top order with 4 for 30, and at 39 for 7 and then 63 for 9 India were in danger of humiliation. They recovered to 103, but West Indies took a 2-0 lead in the six-match series with three still to play. An eventual 3-0 victory left nobody in any doubt as to their ability to thrive in all conditions.1940
Birth of one of the few men to play Test cricket and League soccer in recent years. Chris Balderstone played cricket for Yorkshire and Leicestershire, and soccer for Huddersfield, Carlisle and Doncaster, and in September 1975 he played in the County Championship until 6.30pm and kicked off for Doncaster an hour later. He was a scrapper of a batsman and a useful left-arm spinner, particularly on wearing wickets, who was rather unfortunate to play his only two Tests against a formidable West Indies side in 1976. Balderstone’s last appearance, at The Oval, was a nightmare: he was cleaned up twice by Michael Holding for a pair, and he dropped Viv Richards, who went on to smash 291. He went on to become a Test umpire between 1993 and 1996. Balderstone died of cancer in Cumbria in 2000.1952
India hammered Pakistan by 10 wickets in the decisive third Test at Bombay to take the first series between the sides 2-1. India were in control from the moment Pakistan slid to 60 for 6 on the first afternoon, and despite a brilliant 96 from the 17-year-old Hanif Mohammad (who also had to keep wicket) that gave the first indication of his abundant talent, India romped home on the fourth day. Left-arm spinner Vinoo Mankad completed the Test double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in only his 23rd match. It was a record until 1979, when Ian Botham managed it in his 21st.Other birthdays
1827 James Southerton (England)
1944 David O’Sullivan (New Zealand)
1968 Eboo Essop-Adam (Zimbabwe)

Another of Canterbury’s warm-up games for the forthcoming New Zealand domestic season will be played in Timaru on Sunday against South Canterbury. The match will start at 11am.The Canterbury team is: Michael Papps (captain), David Kelly, Andrew Robertson, Aaron Redmond, Andrew Ellis, Ian Robertson, Steve Cunis, Warren Wisneski, Paul Rugg, Leighton Burtt, Adam Chambers.

Pakistan 277 for 4 (Hameed 127*, Farhat 107) beat New Zealand 228 for 6 (Marshall 62*, Jones 49) by 49 runs, and won the series 5-0
Scorecard
Yasir Hameed and Imran Farhat notched up commanding hundreds as Pakistan beat New Zealand by 49 runs in the final one-day international at Rawalpindi. The victory completed a 5-0 rout in the series, and struck a psychological blow to Pakistan’s opponents before the upcoming tour of New Zealand.Hamish Marshall stood out for New Zealand, scoring an fighting unbeaten 62, after his more distinguished team-mates failed to make much of a fist of the run-chase. Good technique, a keen eye, late adjustments, and good judgment of a run were the building blocks of Marshall’s innings.New Zealand required a good start – the kind the Pakistan openers have provided with astonishing consistency – if they were to have a fighting chance. However, Richard Jones and Craig Cumming found it difficult to get the ball away on the slow pitch. Not many strokes were played with authority, except for Cumming’s savage hook off Shoaib Akhtar and a glorious cover-drive off Shabbir Ahmed’s first delivery. Even singles were hard to find. The run-drought continued when Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood replaced the opening bowlers with their sharp medium-pace.Cumming struggled throughout his stay, and though he showed glimpses of attacking form, the miserly bowling had him groping for runs, until an offcutter by Razzaq trapped him in front (50 for 1). Even Jones, otherwise characteristically watchful, had a zany moment in the 21st over, when he casually flicked Razzaq over midwicket for six. One run short of his half-century, though, Jones played the ball on to his pad and ran halfway down the pitch, only to hear Mathew Sinclair shout a late refusal. Farhat picked up the ball and threw down the stumps before Jones could regain his crease (106 for 2).The mounting run rate claimed its next casualty when Sinclair (36) played a delivery to short third man and wandered down the pitch for a single. Azhar collected the ball and hurled it to Moin Khan, who did the rest (141 for 3). Chris Cairns’s atrocious day at the office came to an end when he swung a delivery from Akhtar to Shoaib Malik at square leg. Jacob Oram then ran himself out, and Brendon McCullum stood no chance when Azhar struck him right in front with an inswinging yorker (179 for 6).Amid the carnage, Marshall refused to concede ground, tackling pace with daring cuts, and Malik’s spin with deft glances. An express delivery from Akhtar was lifted over the keeper’s head for four with time to spare. His fine exhibition made him New Zealand’s highest runscorer in this series.The first session had also belonged to Pakistan, as Farhat and Hameed put on 197 and strode to the pavilion with enhanced reputations with a pair of centuries to their name. New Zealand will remember the first match of the series with longing: Pakistan’s opening stand in that one was 2. After that, the openers put on four century stands, a telling comment on how the team has achieved big totals with regularity.Farhat rode his luck against some good-length bowling by Oram and Daryl Tuffey, edging the odd delivery past slip. But the hazards of attacking on a tricky pitch did not hold him back as he powerfully hooked and drove successive balls to the fence. The friendly medium-pace of Cairns and Paul Hitchcock served up some shortand over-pitched deliveries, which were dispatched to the boundary with panache, and even Hameed, who had played with extreme caution, cashed in on a few loose balls. The openers reached their half-centuries in contrasting fashion, with Farhat on the attack while his partner played it safe.And there were no nerves when Farhat reached his first one-day century after three near-misses. But his quest for quick runs brought about his downfall, as a lofted shot off Canning ended in a catch in the deep (197 for 1). A mini-collapse ensued, and demonstrated the difficulty in scoring runs, before Hameed took the onus on himself to score rapidly, and reached his century in a flurry of boundaries.Razzaq, a success in every previous knock in this series, could not help chipping a ball to long-on bringing, a meek end to his explosive series (204 for 2). Shoaib Malik misjudged a quick run to cover, and was short of his crease by a comfortable margin. It was left to Moin Khan to score 14, including an effortless six over midwicket, as Pakistan scampered 277 – rather less than looked likely when the openers were going so well.But in the end it was more than enough, as New Zealand conceded the advantage to a reinvigorated Pakistan team that played with great style throughout this five-match series.

WESTERN Australian fast-bowling legend Jo Angel will retire after the Pura Cup match against NSW at the WACA Ground starting this Friday.Angel said that by leaving the side he was hoping to create opportunities for some of the young bowlers coming through the WA ranks.”Hopefully some guys can get an opportunity over the last couple of games to go on and be ten-year players, which I’ve been very fortunate to be,” he said.Angel debuted for WA in 1991-92 against New South Wales at the WACA Ground. The NSW team included Mark and Steve Waugh.”It’s ironic I suppose that the last game will be against them (NSW),” he said.”It would be nice to get them plus a few others hopefully in this game and hopefully we can get a few points and finish off on the right note.”I have thoroughly enjoyed my time it’s gone very, very quickly, my first game only seems like only yesterday.”Angel said the game has changed in his 13 years at the top.”Everything’s more professional these days, all the I’s are dotted and all the T’s are crossed,” Angel said.”I think back in the old days it was a bit more hap-hazard. It’s amazing how much the game has changed and developed.”The game will move on, I hoped I’ve left a bit of a legacy there to aim for and I hope someone can beat my record.”Angel said that he wanted to give something back to the game through coaching.Angel is WA’s leading wicket-taker in first-class cricket. In 120 first-class matches for WA Angel has taken 480 wickets at an average of 25.14. In 104 Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup games he has taken 414 wickets at an average of 24.90.He has taken five wickets in an innings on 16 occasions and has once taken 10 wickets in a match.Angel is the second highest wicket-taker in Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup history. Only legendary leg-spinner Clarrie Grimmet has taken more with 513 wickets, a record unlikely to ever be beaten.Angel and Grimmet are the only bowlers to take more than 400 wickets in the Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup.The WACA Ground has been a happy hunting ground for Angel. In 53 Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup matches here Angel has taken 248 wickets at an average of 22.94 with 10 five-wicket hauls.He recorded career-best figures of 6-35 against Queensland at the WACA Ground last season.The WACA has dedicated the final home Pura Cup match of the season to Angel and will hold a lunch in his honour on Friday at the WACA ground. Many past WA greats are expected to attend.In other news Warriors fast-bowler Michael Clark will not be available for the Pura Cup match against NSW after he strained a quadriceps muscle while batting against NSW in WA’s ING Cup win last night.Darren Wates comes into the WA 12 for the game. John Taylor is on stand-by for Beau Casson who is nursing a stitch in the webbing of his left hand. Casson suffered the injury while fielding for WA last night.A decision on whether the left-arm wrist spinner will play will be made before play tomorrow morning.The WA SquadJustin Langer (c), Jo Angel, Ryan Campbell, Beau Casson, Ben Edmondson, Murray Goodwin, Kade Harvey, Michael Hussey, Scott Meuleman, Marcus North, Chris Rogers, John Taylor and Darren Wates.With the call up of Brad Haddin to the Australian VB Series side Nathan Pilon has joined the NSW team and will take over wicket-keeping duties.The NSW TeamSteve Waugh (c), Dominic Thornely, Phil Jaques, Mark Waugh, Grant Lambert, Stuart Clark, Nathan Bracken, Greg Mail, Matthew Nicholson, Stuart MacGill, Nathan Pilon, and Aaron O’Brien.The match starts at 11.00am with gates opening at 10.00am

The Indian team is in line to reap the financial rewards for their splendid performance in Australia. According to a report in the Times of India, each member of the squad is expected to receive a bonus in the range of Rs 2,00,000 to Rs 5,00,000 (approx US$ 4255 to US$ 10,640) from the Indian board.Confirming the news, a senior board official told the daily: “They have exceeded all our expectations. As a recognition to that, the idea to reward the team with performance bonus was mooted at a meeting in Kolkata after they won the Adelaide Test. Had they won the final Test in Sydney and thereby the series, we would have announced the bonus then itself. Now, we do not want to jump the gun and are waiting for the triangular series to get over. Even if they lose the finals [of the VB Series], performance bonus will still be given.”The players aren’t the only ones who will benefit – the support staff of John Wright, the coach, Andrew Leipus, the physiotherapist, and Gregory Allen King, the trainer, will also be rewarded. However, the board official added that Bruce Reid, who assisted the team for much of the tour as the bowling coach, will not share the booty. The official also clarified that the bonus would be paid by the board, and not the team sponsor.This would be the second time in less than 12 months that the Indian team has won a bonus from the board – each player got Rs 25,00,000 after India reached the final of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

Mohammad Kaif has been recalled by the Indian selectors for the five-match one-day series in Pakistan, which starts on March 13. Ramesh Powar, the Mumbai offspinner, was called up for the first time, but surprisingly there was no place for Rohan Gavaskar, who made a reasonable start to his one-day career in the recent VB Series in Australia.After a four-hour meeting in Mumbai, the selectors eventually emerged to reveal the names of the 15-man party. The team for the Tests will be uinveiled on March 22.Powar, 25, replaces Anil Kumble, who has not fully recovered from a shoulder injury sustained in Australia. Ajit Agarkar, too, misses out after his shin injury was slow responding to treatment. But there is a return for Zaheer Khan, who missed the latter part of the Australian tour. Kulamani Parida and Sarandeep Singh were reportedly also considered for the spare spinner’s spot, but Powar’s superior batting – he has four first-class centuries under his belt – swung the issue.India one-day squad
Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid (vice-capt), Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Hemang Badani, Parthiv Patel (wk), Ramesh Powar, Irfan Pathan, Murali Kartik, L Balaji, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra.

Day 3 Gauteng 286 and 73 for 2 require another 385 runs to beat Easterns 405 for 4 dec and 338 for 9 dec (Z de Bruyn 88, Toyana 63, Cullinan 65, Mathebula 5-56) v
ScorecardEasterns extended their lead to 457 before declaring their second innings on 338 for 9, with Zander de Bruyn following his century in the first innings with 88 in the second. In the process, he became the only batsman to exceed 1,000 runs for the season. Daryll Cullinan’s 65 also moved him into the second spot behind de Bruyn with 839 runs for the campaign. Brian Mathebula, in only his second first-class match, recorded his first five-for after bowling with far more discipline than he did in the first innings. At the close, Gauteng had reached 73 for 2.Eastern Province 432 lead Boland 324 by 108 runs
ScorecardNo play due to rain.

At last Jermaine Lawson – and West Indies – have some good news. The board’s bowling committee has decreed that Lawson’s new action is completely legal, and he is now available for selection for the national side.The committee studied Lawson’s action while trawling through video footage of his performance during the Vice Chancellor’s XI warm-up match against England in March.The board was all praise for Lawson, who first came under suspicion this time last year and then underwent remedial action to kink out any problems.They applauded the effort and commitment he put in, as well as singling out Lawson’s coaches.

Ray Mali, president of the South African board (UCB), has reacted to reports about an anonymous fax which excludes himself and Gerald Majola, the current chief executive, from a new board of directors for Cricket South Africa, the UCB’s commercial arm.Mali said that whoever was responsible for the fax was trying to derail the transformation of cricket in South Africa, and would not succeed. A report based on the anonymous fax, which was titled “Let’s get South African cricket back where it belongs!”, appeared in The Star, a South African newspaper.”We have been aware of the undercurrents for some time, and it appears that any smokescreen will be used by these elements to achieve these ends,” Mali said in a statement today. “As president of UCBSA, I am committed to the transformation policies as laid down by the general council and I will do all in my power to ensure that transformation progress is not impaired.”The UCBSA administration since Majola became CEO has led to it being one of the top empowerment companies in South Africa,” he continued. “UCBSA is also the only sports body to achieve ISO accreditation from the South African Bureau of Standards and on the field, we are one of the best in the world.”Top UCB officials immediately distanced themselves from the fax, with Rob Kurz, the current vice-president of the board who was named as the new chairperson in the fax, dismissing it as “hogwash” and as “an attempt to create mischief”. Brandon Foot, who was named as the new chief executive, said that he first saw the letter on Monday (July 19), adding: “I immediately sent it through to Gerald [Majola], saying I had no knowledge of it and distancing myself from it.” Foot is currently the Eastern Titans’ director.Mali also said in his statement that the financial irregularities allegedly commited by Ditheko Modise, the UCB’s former general manager of finance, were very unfortunate. In March this year, it was revealed that millions of Rands had gone missing from the UCB’s accounts. An audit uncovered massive fraud, allegedly commited by Modise. It was alleged that Modise misappropriated approximately R7.5 million (US$1.25 million) over two years, and there were also concerns raised about an amount of R1 million that were marked under “miscellaneous”. Ian Smith, the former financial director, raised concerns about Modise well before the alleged fraud was uncovered, but his claims were not taken seriously.Mali explained that all the proper remedial procedures had been put in place, and that the matter was now in the hands of the police and the courts. “We have a watershed season ahead of us,” he added, “and we will do all in our power to ensure that out CEO and his staff have a clear operational path to make it a success.”The appearance of the mystery fax comes just days before the UCB’s annual general meeting, on July 24.