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Scorecard

Irfan Pathan troubled the batsmen with his control and venom ©Getty Images

After a series of insipid matches, the VB Series finally came to life with a pulsating contest at Brisbane. There were two centuries of widely contrasting styles, plenty of other classy innings and almost 600 runs scored in the match. In the end, India’s total of 303 – the highest ever in a one-day international at the Gabba – was just enough to eke out a 19-run victory and take their points tally to 12 from three games.On a superb pitch, India’s much-vaunted batting line-up came to the fore once again: Sachin Tendulkar overcame a circumspect start and an ankle injury to score 86, VVS Laxman stroked a delightful unbeaten 103, his third ODI century – all of them against Australia – and Rahul Dravid contributed an elegant 74.Australia responded with a typically spirited effort, but despite a 107-ball 109 from Matthew Hayden, fell short. There was some cheer for the young Indian seamers as well, as Lakshmipathy Balaji (4 for 48) and Irfan Pathan (3 for 64) held their nerve under mounting pressure and bowled with exceptional control.Needing to score at over a run a ball, Adam Gilchrist and Hayden got the Australian run-chase off to a furious start, driving, pulling or just plain slogging almost every ball. Gilchrist’s luck ran out early, though, when he top-edged an attempted swing to leg and was caught by Balaji at mid-on (46 for 1). Hayden’s contest against Pathan and Ashish Nehra was enthralling – every once in a while, they pushed him back with well-directed bouncers, but whenever the ball was pitched up, Hayden, already batting out of his crease, plonked his front foot further forward and clunked powerful drives over mid-off and mid-on.However, wickets kept falling at the other end – Laxman held on to a swirling skier when Ricky Ponting top-edged a hoick (86 for 2), and Damien Martyn guided a swinging half-volley to Yuvraj Singh at point (94 for 3). Balaji, whose performance was a huge improvement on his previous displays, picked up both wickets.Andrew Symonds threatened a revival, but Rohan Gavaskar – in the team for the injured Virender Sehwag -got his maiden ODI wicket off his fifth ball when he brought off a fine diving return catch to dismiss Symonds (141 for 4).Then came the period when Australia looked most likely to pull off their run-chase. Michael Clarke, displaying all the calm of a Zen monk, coolly tapped the ball around to keep the score ticking over, while Hayden, after a manic start, settled down to play sensibly, ensuring that the asking rate was kept within striking range.With Australia requiring only a run-a-ball for their last 100, Ganguly turned to Pathan, and he responded immediately. Balaji dropped a clanger to let off Hayden off the first ball of Pathan’s spell, but two balls later Pathan nailed his man, when Hayden nicked to Dravid (204 for 5). Four overs later, Clarke, who once again demonstrated just why he is rated so highly in Australia, threw it away chasing a wide one from Pathan (224 for 6). Ian Harvey lashed at a few, then clipped a half-volley from Nehra to Gavaskar at midwicket (249 for 7). Meanwhile, Bevan kept the fight going, but with only the tail for company, and an asking rate that kept climbing, the target proved just too much against an Indian attack that refused to bowl four-balls.India’s huge total was dominated by two prominent partnerships – Tendulkar and Laxman added 110 for the second wicket, and then Dravid joined Laxman to put together 133 for the third.For much of his innings, Tendulkar was hampered by an injury to his right ankle, which he twisted while playing a ball to leg. However, that only galvanised him into action, as he uncorked some glorious drives to get India off to a rousing start after they won the toss. Despite Sourav Ganguly’s early dismissal, India raced to 89 off the first 15 overs.Both Tendulkar and Laxman were especially severe on Brett Lee, driving down the ground or pulling whenever he erred in length. Ten runs came in each of Lee’s first three overs, and he ended up with 1 for 83 from 10 overs – the second-most expensive figures by an Australian in an ODI (the most expensive figures, incidentally, were by Lee as well, against Pakistan at Cardiff in 2001.)The boundaries gave way to singles and twos as the fielding restrictions were lifted and the slower bowlers came on, but Tendulkar, despite clearly being hampered by his ankle injury, refused the option of taking a runner – Ganguly came out fully padded up and was promptly sent back. Like the Indians later in the evening, the Australians missed a handful of run-out opportunities, but apart from that, there were few chances that came their way.The partnership finally ended in rather tame fashion, when Tendulkar slapped a short ball from Symonds straight back to the bowler (147 for 2). Dravid ensured that the momentum didn’t fall away, working the ball around superbly from the outset, and immediately showing the rich vein of form he was in. His fifty contained just one four, and yet it came off a mere 49 balls. It was a batting masterclass, from a player at the peak of his form and confidence.Laxman, meanwhile, played with a calmness he has often struggled to find in one-dayers. He located the boundaries when the field was in, and then settled down to nurdle the ones and twos effortlessly. Dravid was dismissed in the search for quick runs, but Laxman carried on, and reached a well-deserved hundred off the last ball of the innings, tonking a full toss from Harvey over midwicket. In the end, the total turned out to be just enough.

Australian captain Cameron White thought his side were going to be chasing 500 the way New Zealand started in their Super League match at the ICC Under-19 World Cup at Bert Sutcliffe Oval at Lincoln University today.But in a classy display of control, White used his slower bowlers to contain New Zealand, and after he had done that he played a key role in a 139-run stand for the third wicket that ended New Zealand’s tournament with a seven-wicket loss.For all their early bluster, the New Zealanders could not bat out their 50 overs, being dismissed for 194 in 46.3 overs.White said the early assault took the Australians by surprise but he decided to go with his spin bowlers.”We picked a team with a few spinners and we tried to slow it down with them. I hadn’t seen any of the New Zealanders before and [Jesse] Ryder hit the ball well,” he said.But if his leadership in the field was outstanding, White was even more emphatic with the bat in hand. He was 80 not out off 107 balls at the end as Australia romped home in 39.3 overs for the victory.New Zealand, not blessed with the same playing assets as the Australians, opted for innovation, and while it was working well it was a successful ploy.New Zealand opened the bowling with two spinners in a bid to break up the Australian assault, aiming especially at the preponderance of left-handers in the opposition order.They got two wickets, for 21 runs, but the Australians kept ploughing ahead.White said the New Zealand ploy with the bowling had been surprising but he understood they had to try something.But joining Shaun Marsh with the score on 21/1, he knew that three and four were key batting spots in the side and he wanted to set a batting example to other players in his side.Marsh and White batted superbly and really put the New Zealand attack through the mill. There were no openings, and there were to be none of the fairytales that surrounded the last trans-Tasman match on the ground when the CLEAR White Ferns beat Australia to win the CricInfo Women’s World Cup.They added 139 runs for the third wicket before Marsh was run out for 70 off 97 balls. His 50 had come up off 73 balls while White hit his off 80, bringing it up with successive boundaries.Sadly for New Zealand, however, it didn’t have sufficient resources to ensure the absolutely maximum effort it was going to take to beat this talented Australian team.Its greatest hopes lay in hard-hitting batsman Ryder getting a big score, preferably a three-figure score which has so far eluded the Super League sides.He provided every opportunity for himself by scoring 70 off 62 balls, including six fours and three sixes. When he was dismissed to a soft caught and bowled chance by left-arm spinner Jarrad Burke, New Zealand were 107/2 in the 18th over.The chance was provided for an all-out assault for a genuinely big total but it depended on two things – the skill of the remaining batsmen and the approach taken by the Australian skipper White in marshalling his bowlers.There was only one winner – Australia.White had a fine response from his attack and shut New Zealand out of the game.Firstly, it was Burke who put the brakes on and after coming on for the fifth over, he bowled his 10 overs through to end with the outstanding figures, under the circumstances of one for 35.When he finished Aaron Bird came back after his first two overs at the top of the innings had gone for 21. His last eight cost 29 but he claimed three wickets to leave the New Zealand middle-order gutted.

Guru Nanak College Ground, Chennai was the venue for the South Zone Ranji TrophyOne Day Tournament match between Kerala and Hyderabad. Kerala who had scoredback to back wins against Goa and Andhra Pradesh were hopeful of an upsetvictory against Hyderabad. Mohammad Ghouse dashed all Kerala hopes with awhirlwind knock of 20 in just 8 balls including three consecutive sixes and thenbowling an economical spell of 10-2-29-1.On a crisp Friday morning, Hyderabad won the toss and elected to bat. The grassyoutfield had more to it than what met the eye. Grass was uneven and the outfieldbumpy and to add to the misery the Kerala fielders found it painful divingaround. Hyderabad amassed 272/7 in their 50 overs. Thanks to the useful knocksby Daniel Manohar (60), Vanka Pratap (55) and D Vinay Kumar an unbeaten 53. ForKerala Ananthapadmanabhan picked up 3/45. The 48th over of the innings bowled bySreekumar Nair produced 28 runs as Mohammad Ghouse swung three sixes in a rowover the midwicket fence. Tinu Yohannan who bowled the 49th over, sent Ghouse’soff stump cartwheeling of a no ball, which summed up Kerala’s day.Clear blue skies, brilliant sunshine and a stiff breeze that swayed the treesthat stood all around the ground, was just picture perfect for a cricket match.Kerala batsmen strolled into the middle with absolutely no idea of making amatch of it. The pitch also made things worse with an uneven bounce. At onepoint, Kerala were batting as if to save a four day match, defending the ballswith dour determination. Opener MP Sorab who has had a reasonable run with thebat in this tournament again got a start and made 44 in 85 balls. KChandrashekhara tried his best with an innings of 55 in 62 balls. The reliablecaptain Sunil Oasis disappointed as he tried to steer an arm ball from Indiareject Venkatpathy Raju and was bowled for 24 (33 balls). Sreekumar Nair hithard to make 16 in 10 balls, but all was over for Kerala in the 48th over whenthe innings folded for 208. Raju had an afternoon out with no effort at all tofinish with 3/32. Hyderabad took two points while Kerala took none.

Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur side went into Monday’s Premier League clash with Everton in a run of rather inconsistent form, with Spurs having lost four and won two of their last six outings in all competitions – something the Italian manager would have undoubtedly been hoping to put right against the Toffees.

And, with Michael Keane lashing the ball past Jordan Pickford in just the 14th minute of the match, before Son Heung-Min doubled the home side’s advantage just three minutes later, Tottenham could not have hoped for a much better start.

Harry Kane joined in on the act just before half-time, cooly slotting home after latching onto the end of a defence-splitting pass by Matt Doherty, before Sergio Reguilon made it four with his first touch of the game after being introduced at the break.

The rout was complete midway through the second half, when Doherty once again linked up with Kane, with the 28-year-old volleying home the Irish international’s floated cross to make it five and secure all three points at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

However, while it will almost certainly be the England captain who steals the headlines this morning, it will have undoubtedly been the performance of Doherty that most pleased Conte on Monday night, as the right wing-back finally took his big chance under the Italian.

87 touches

After being given the nod ahead of Emerson Royal on the right flank, Doherty shone over his 90 minutes against the Toffees – both in a defensive and an attacking capacity.

Indeed, the £10.8m-rated right-back enjoyed a whopping 87 touches of the ball, completed 52 passes, created two big chances, made four key passes, completed four long balls, was successful with one dribble and ended the match with two assists to his name.

The £74k-per-week defender also won eight of his ten duels – a success rate of 80% – made five tackles, made two interceptions and won one free-kick for his side.

These returns saw the player who was once dubbed a “weak link” of the Tottenham side earn a quite astonishing SofaScore match rating of 9.3, ranking him as the best performer from either team on the night.

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As such, it would very much appear as if the Republic of Ireland international will now be Conte’s first choice at right wing-back over the remainder of the season, as the 30-year-old finally took his big chance under the Italian on Monday night.

In other news: Conte had a disaster on “phenomenal” £100k-p/w dynamo, it could cost Spurs big time

Scorecard

	VRV Singh snared five of East Zone’s top six batsmen to put North Zone in control © AFP

VRV Singh’s five-wicket burst put North Zone in control on the second day of their match against East Zone in Rajkot. East were skittled out for 143, to give North a massive 213-run first-innings lead and put them on the brink of a place in the final.Resuming at 260 for 7, North’s lower-order continued their spirited showing to take their side to 360. Chetanya Nanda did the bulk of the scoring, carting nine boundaries in his 59-ball 58. After Shib Paul dismissed overnight batsman Uday Kaul (48) to grab his 15th first-class five-wicket haul, Vikramjeet Malik (13) and VRV (20*) chipped in with aggressive cameos.East’s reply started off belligerently and despite the early loss of Arindam Majumdar and Anustup Majumdar, the run-rate continued to hover around the six an over mark. VRV, who had inflicted the first two blows, removed the experienced Shiv Sunder Das (23), and Manish Vardhan off successive deliveries to reduce East to 69 for 4.VRV, who was part of the Indian squad to the Australia tour, was still not done though, removing wicketkeeper Halhadar Das four overs later to leave East in serious trouble at 93 for 5. Wriddhiman Saha was the only batsman to stand firm against the onslaught, remaining unbeaten on 56. The next highest contributor was extras with 25, including 17 no-balls.With East’s prospects of making the finals looking bleak, North piled on the agony in their second innings with Aakash Chopra’s unbeaten 56 taking them through to 109 for 2 at stumps, an overall lead of 326.

Only two weeks since the USA Cricket Association (USACA) was stripped of its membership in the community of cricketing nations, some familiar patterns are beginning to emerge in US cricket. And depending on how one reads the tea leaves, they may bode well for its future.True to form, of course, the USACA website carried no mention of its suspension, let alone an explanation of its actions that had led to this unfortunate event. The site did carry a brief note saying that “More than 70% of the member clubs voted in favor of ratifying the proposed USACA constitution. 29.97% were against,” ignoring the fact that this so-called ratification was under court challenge and had also failed to meet the standards set by ICC for a valid tally.If the USACA was playing its usual game of inscrutable secrecy, the media were under no such constraint. Stories of USA’s suspension appeared in newspapers and on websites all over the world, even in far-off places like India, Pakistan, Africa and Singapore. The idea that the USA could be suspended for anything by a world body must have tickled people’s fancies – it was as if the United Nations had disqualified the USA for failing to live up to its international obligations.Some folks even wondered if the whole thing was a marketing ploy by the ICC, USACA or some other interested parties– after all, it did draw attention to US cricket, more than anything else had done in the past 20 years. Unfortunately, the situation is real enough, as are its intended and unintended consequences.One of those consequences has been the ascendancy of the rejuvenated Council of USA Cricket League Presidents, or USACA-CLP (called CLP for short) as the unchallenged leader in the active arena of US cricket politics. The original members of the CLP’s policy-making group, the Interim Committee as it was called, had been browbeaten into silence by a salvo of lawsuits filed by Gladstone Dainty’s lawyers against both the CLP as a whole and separately against all its individual members. Their place was taken by newly elected representatives of US cricket leagues who had had enough of the USACA Executive and its antics.They have raised the banner of cooperative democracy under which USACA had originally been founded, and rejected the actions of the current USACA executive as anti-democratic, unconstitutional and irrelevant to the issues confronting US cricket. And now that ICC has implicitly supported the CLP position in its official letter to Dainty, they have every hope that the long nightmare of the past three years of egregious mismanagement of US cricket may at last be coming to an end.Meanwhile, US cricket is not waiting on the USACA to resolve its internal problems. Plans for long-run development are being implemented, on a decidedly ambitious timetable.The LA Open, which has established itself as a leading 20/20 tournament where international teams descend on Woodley Park to mix it up with aspiring regional talent in a frenetic display of skill, is on for September 5 to 8. Meanwhile, a quadrangular affair between the four cricket leagues in the rapidly growing Pacific Northwest region is being planned for a weekend in late March. A team representing the Midwest Cricket Conference in Chicago is on an invitational tour if Hyderabad, and may be the first overseas team to play in the new state-of-the art stadium built to accommodate first-class international cricket in South India.Meanwhile, the Houston Astrodome, with the full support of municipal authorities, is going through a multi-billion dollar reconstruction featuring cricket as its showcase sport. And Broward County, having helped to stage the successful Interstate championship organized last year by Major League Cricket (MLC), is trying to get the ECB and the WICB to use their newly developed facilities as cricket’s equivalent of baseball’s Cactus League in Arizona, beginning in 2007 and continuing thereafter.All of which goes to show that the problem with US cricket has never been with those who have actively participated in the sport. As the ICC itself has stated, “It is especially disappointing that the USA players have had to be penalized in this way …The ICC hopes … that all those with the good of the game at heart will come together and take control of this unfortunate situation.” This is precisely what the CLP is proposing to do, and one can only wish them success in this difficult endeavour.

Adam Gilchrist, who collected six catches at Cape Town, removes Jacques Kallis in the second innings © Getty Images

Australia found the ideal bowling balance at Cape Town and the three fast men should be confident of playing in Friday’s second Test at Durban, according to Adam Gilchrist. Gilchrist, the vice-captain, said the attack now had “fantastic variety”, and the superb performance has not helped Stuart MacGill’s prospects of making a strong impact on the series.MacGill was expected to play at Cape Town, but Stuart Clark was a late inclusion and picked up 9 for 89 on debut while Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz also performed well as Australia won by seven wickets. “When previously we had three quick bowlers in the group there were question marks or perhaps slight criticism that, other than Brett, the other two or three were very similar and much the same as each other,” Gilchrist told . “But it seems that the balance of this bowling line-up had fantastic variety.”Gilchrist said on the evidence of the first Test the seam bowlers should arrive in Durban in an upbeat mood. “We’re well-stocked, well-balanced and hoping to carry this momentum into the rest of the series,” Gilchrist said. “It was line ball whether we played three and one or two spinners, and I think we got it right with the selections.”Six catches helped Gilchrist stay ahead of Mark Boucher on the all-time wicketkeeper’s list and move him to within 12 dismissals of Rod Marsh’s 355. “To walk off with a keeping performance that I took every chance that came my way really, that’s as pleasing as anything I can do in the game of cricket,” Gilchrist said. Marsh sits second behind Ian Healy’s 395, which is made up of 366 catches and 29 stumpings in 119 Tests.Two days after the match the bowler-friendly surface is still being discussed and Gilchrist said it “wasn’t particularly great”. “We would all like one that offers a bit to bowlers early on and then plays well through the middle and breaks up towards the end,” he said. “There was a lot of movement off the wicket and it made for exciting cricket, I guess. But I hope, from a batting point of view, we get something a bit flatter and without so much sideways movement.”Micky Arthur, the South Africa coach, had asked before the match for the pitch to suit the seamers, but he agreed the surface was “not ideal”. “It was very dry when we arrived and Christo [Erasmus] obviously wet it,” Arthur said. “I think he might have put too much moisture in it. Ultimately, it didn’t play as we wanted.” South Africa were dismissed for 205 and 197 and lost the Test in three days.

Scorecard

Andy Flower got into the groove for the new season with an unbeaten hundred at Lord’s© Getty Images

Andy Flower struck an unbeaten century as MCC successfully reached a target of 296, with eight overs remaining, on the final day of their match against Warwickshire. Flower, the former Zimbabwe captain and honorary life member of MCC, became the third century-maker in the season curtain-raiser as Warwickshire’s bowling attack was given a thorough working-over.After the opening day was washed out, this fixture became an old-fashioned three-day match and Nick Knight responded to John Stephenson’s second-day declaration by closing Warwickshire’s second innings on 225 for 4. Tony Frost fell nine short of a century after adding 161 with Jonathon Trott. MCC were hampered by the absence of Sajid Mahmood, the Lancashire seamer, who did not bowl in the second innings after feeling pain in his left ankle.Warwickshire’s attack were missing Dewald Pretorius, with a leg injury, and the gentle nature of the pitch and short Grandstand boundary meant MCC’s target was not as steep as may have appeared. For the second time in two days MCC were given a bright start by Alastair Cook and Matt Prior, but just as Prior was beginning to look threatening he was caught behind off Heath Streak (39 for 1). Michael Powell, the Glamorgan batsman, didn’t last long, trapped lbw by Dougie Brown (54 for 2) but then came the match-winning partnership.Cook showed that yesterday’s century was no flash in the pan, as he and Flower took control, and ensured the asking rate was never out of control. Cook was on the verge of rounding off a memorable Lord’s performance with his second century of the match, but fell three short when he was caught by Michael Powell off the innocuous medium-pace of Trott (235 for 3).Mark Pettini, the promising Essex batsman, joined Flower to complete the run-chase and was determined not be overshadowed by his more illustrious partner, striking 41 at a run-a-ball. Flower faced 114 balls, and struck 12 fours, in an innings that will have pleased Essex as the championship season approaches. All the bowlers suffered, but Alex Loudon’s figures took a particular hammering, conceding 74 runs from his 11 overs of offspin. Warwickshire have some work to do before they start the defence of their title, against Glamorgan on Wednesday.