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Nottinghamshire could face an uncomfortable final day after getting the worst of a rain-ruined match against Sussex at Trent Bridge

Les Smith24-Jun-2013
ScorecardNottinghamshire could face an uncomfortable final day after getting the worst of a rain-ruined match at Trent Bridge. Sussex ended the third day firmly in control with the pace and accuracy of Chris Jordan breaking through the top order before Monty Panesar made more incursions by the close.At the start of play both Ed Joyce and Rory Hamilton-Brown had achievable personal objectives: Hamilton-Brown a century and Joyce a double. Both would come to pass. Hamilton-Brown went on to 113 before Luke Fletcher, Nottinghamshire’s stand out bowler in the innings, had him caught behind. Joyce went on his merry way though, and brought the innings to its conclusion in explosive style.When Samit Patel came on at the pavilion end to bowl his first over of the day you could almost hear the sound of Joyce licking his lips as he eyed the short leg side boundary. Sure enough, he hit three sixes over mid wicket, in addition to a 4 and a single. The over yielded 26 runs, Joyce had 23 of them, and when the last 6 took Sussex beyond 500 and Joyce beyond 200, he promptly declared.Notts made it through seven overs before lunch, though not without discomfort in the case of Riki Wessels. That Steve Magoffin struck him very unpleasantly was made clear over lunch. Wessels tweeted, “That really hurt”. The tweet was accompanied by a frightening photograph of a shattered item of protective equipment.The mood and momentum of the innings shifted when Chris Jordan replaced Magoffin at the Radcliffe Road end to bowl the 14th over of the innings. He was hostile and accurate from the start, and soon had Wessels beaten for pace, his attempted pull spooning up off the top edge to the safe hands of Monty Panesar at mid-on.Next he skittled Steven Mullaney before unleashing two brutish deliveries which did for Samit Patel and David Hussey. Patel was caught at short leg after an act of justifiable self-protection, and Hussey gloved a bouncer to Matt Prior.Not so long ago James Taylor was playing in England’s Test middle order. He is only a year older than Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root, but seems to have been around longer.He demonstrated the skills and application that saw him selected for his country. He was busy and, as so often, particularly effective on the back foot and through the leg sideBy the close, he had made 81 not out with eight boundaries, and in doing so passed 6000 first class runs.His captain Chris Read provided pugnacious support until Panesar bowled him with one that turned. Paul Franks followed in Panesar’s next over, offering a bat pad catch to Rogers, leaving it all to for Notts on the final day to avoid having to follow on.

Kevin Pietersen scored a fighting century but Australia’s bowlers worked their way through the line-up to maintain hopes of the victory required to stay alive in the series

The Report by Daniel Brettig03-Aug-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ballKevin Pietersen’s hundred kept England in the game but late wickets lifted Australia•PA PhotosFor a little more than two hours, England asserted the measure of control they required to secure this match, and the Ashes themselves. Though Australia’s bowlers had toiled manfully and persistently, finding life where their opposite numbers had not, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell stood firm, the former thrusting to a fine hundred, the latter caressing his way towards a third such score of the series.But right at the moment the tourists may have begun to flag, Ryan Harris found a way through the previously impassable Bell, tilting back his off stump and revitalising Australia. The wickets of Jonny Bairstow and Pietersen himself followed, leaving the Old Trafford Test finely balanced with two days remaining and maintaining Australia’s heartening revival as belatedly serious contenders for the urn.On a day of high quality and considerable intrigue, Harris, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle and Shane Watson all delivered searching spells. Pietersen and Bell can seldom have played better, their calculated attack on Nathan Lyon a critical passage on a pitch taking turn and bounce throughout. There were imponderables, too. Pietersen on 62 would have been out lbw had Michael Clarke assented to Watson’s opinion that his old-ball inswinger was bound for the stumps. When Starc dismissed Pietersen lbw there was Hot Spot evidence of the merest nick.Starc’s contribution should not be underestimated, for his knack of taking wickets countered a tendency to lose his length and line at times. A mediocre delivery accounted for Alastair Cook thanks to a supreme leg-side diving catch by Brad Haddin, but Bairstow and Pietersen fell victim to a sublime spell of reverse movement as the evening drew in.Recovered from an apparent stomach bug, Harris had opened up for Clarke alongside Siddle. Their early overs were relentlessly probing, offering only the most occasional scoring chances for Cook and Jonathan Trott, neither of whom looked comfortable despite a ball that was no longer new and a pitch possessing few demons.Trott, who had begun the series in grand touch, was particularly scratchy, becalmed in much the same way Joe Root had been the previous night. Unable to get off strike, or hit the middle of the bat, Trott ultimately succumbed while doing his best not to play a shot at all, edging to Clarke at second slip while trying to leave Harris.Pietersen’s first few deliveries were no more convincing, as he fiddled loosely at balls zinging past him outside off stump as though wanting to offer a nick to the Australia cordon. Harris nearly burst a yorker through Pietersen also, but the entry of Starc and Watson to the bowling attack – while Lyon was oddly given only two overs – allowed a little pressure to be relaxed.With Pietersen scoring freely and Cook carrying on stoically, England appeared set to reach lunch without further loss. But 12 minutes before the break a Starc delivery angling towards Cook’s hip drew a fine leg glance and a rasping catch by Haddin, clasping the chance in the tip of his right glove as he threw himself full length. In the dying moments of the session Bell may have given up the thinnest of edges to Haddin off Starc, but only Australia’s wicketkeeper went up for the catch.That moment did not linger too much in Australian minds, but there was to be another midway through the afternoon. Pietersen and Bell had counter-attacked confidently and fruitfully, their chief achievement the removal of Lyon from the attack despite Australia’s offspinner bowling well on a pitch that offered turn and bounce. Twice Pietersen lofted Lyon for six and Bell followed up with one of his own; not once could the bowler be said to have offered up something to hit.Nonetheless, his withdrawal left Clarke searching for wickets, but when Watson found a hint of swing after replacing Lyon, the moment of success passed without the captain realising it. Pietersen had lurched forward and across to play through midwicket, and though Watson seemed adamant in his appeal Haddin and Clarke suggested the ball was swerving down the leg side.But Hawk-Eye revealed it to be hitting leg stump squarely enough for Tony Hill’s verdict to be overturned, and the sight of Darren Lehmann raising a glum finger from the balcony left Clarke pondering whether his moment had passed. Certainly there were few other glimmers offered by Pietersen and Bell, both well entrenched by the time the interval arrived and already taking some shine off the second new ball.Safe as both batsmen looked, Australia required something beyond the sturdy stuff dished up in the first two sessions. True to his form so far in the series Harris would provide it. Moving most deliveries fractionally away from Bell, he conjured a nip-backer that beat an accomplished technician for length, pace and deviation, striking the top of off stump and reviving his team.Bairstow and Pietersen then prospered for a time, but never with the security of the previous stand. Each bowler troubled Bairstow in turn, while Watson singed Pietersen’s outside edge with a series of deliveries bending subtly away. Watson’s frustration at this sequence was plain, but it did not prevent him from pouching a sharp low chance when Starc’s angle eventually tempted Bairstow to flirt at a ball whirring across him.Starc was by now finding the reverse swing that won him selection ahead of Jackson Bird, and two overs later he ensured Australian hope would be raised for the remainder of the match by pinning Pietersen lbw. The ball straightened down the line and would have crashed into middle stump, though there was the suspicion of an edge so thin that even Pietersen did not pick it up. Stuart Broad and Matt Prior were left to scratch around in the lengthening shadows, the match and the series still tantalisingly open.

Kandurata Maroons will represent Sri Lanka in the Champions League T20 qualifiers next month in India, after they overcame a meandering Basnahira Greens by seven wickets in the Super Fours final

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando17-Aug-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Nuwan Kulasekara’s figures of 3 for 19 unsettled the Basnahira top order•AFPKandurata Maroons will represent Sri Lanka in the Champions League T20 qualifiers next month in India, after they overcame a meandering Basnahira Greens by seven wickets in the Super Fours final. Kandurata had been the best side of the tournament, having won their first two matches, and in this game accomplished what no other team had done before – win a match batting second.Nuwan Kulasekara’s early wickets formed the bedrock of the victory, as Basnahira failed to muster a counterattack, despite an unbeaten 53 from Angelo Mathews. With only 110 to chase, Kandurata’s batsmen were rarely tested, and cruised to the target with three overs remaining.Mathews arrived in the sixth over after three wickets had already fallen, and with more team-mates deserting him soon after, he launched his lonely restorative effort at a mild pace. Kaushal Lokuarachchi’s spell was treated with particular reverence, with neither Mathews nor his middle-order colleagues venturing a jaunt down the pitch to counter his disciplined legbreaks. Lokuarachchi conceded only 11 runs from his full quota, and Ajantha Mendis commanded similar respect in his first three overs, in which he gave away only 10. Between the fifth and 17th overs, Basnahira struck only one boundary, taking few risks against a tight Kandurata bowling performance, but were so paralysed by their restraint, they failed to hit even poor balls to the fence.Mathews managed two fours off Mendis’ last over, which cost 13, and hit a six in the penultimate over of the innings before completing his fifty in the last, but having dismissed both Basnahira openers in his first spell and taken another wicket in his second, Kulasekara finished strongly to keep Basnahira to 109 for 7. His three wickets cost him 19 from four overs.Kandurata’s openers began swiftly in response. Basnahira had hit only six fours in total, but Upul Tharanga and Thilina Kandamby had already eclipsed that tally in the fourth over, when Tharanga hit three successive boundaries off Isuru Udana. Kandamby departed soon after, but had helped whittle off more than a third of the target when he left, before Kumar Sangakkara continued in a similar vein as his replacement at the crease.Sangakkara was dropped on 17, but was dismissed for 21, one over after Upul Tharanga had also fallen. The double strike came too late for Basnahira, however, who only had 34 more to defend with eight overs remaining. Lokuarachchi and Lahiru Thirimanne took the chase home with a flourish.

Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar will face off in the opening match of the Champions League

The Preview by Kanishkaa Balachandran20-Sep-2013Match factsSeptember 21, 2013
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Shane Watson ended his England tour on a high, which is bad news for the opposition•BCCIBig PictureThe IPL champions, Mumbai Indians, take on the side that finished third in the tournament this year, despite all the adversity and negative publicity surrounding them because of the spot-fixing scandal. The attention will be on two legends on either side who will be playing their limited overs farewell tournament – Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. Speaking ahead of the game, Dravid, the Royals captain, insisted that it was a contest between two teams and not two individuals. There’s a match to be played, a tournament to be won and the Sawai Mansingh Stadium is a good place to start for the Royals who were unbeaten at their home venue throughout IPL 2013.Royals have the core of their side intact. Shane Watson, who had a mixed tour of England, is coming off his match-winning 143 in the final ODI against England at the Rose Bowl. James Faulkner, the allrounder, finished the IPL season with 28 wickets at 15.25, and the Australian pair will be key to Royals’ fortunes. They have the experienced Brad Hodge in the middle order, and Paddy Upton, the coach, said the team also had promising youngsters. “We are fortunate that the upcoming players like Sanju Samson and Dishant Yagnik and also Pravin Tambe, who was not so prominent, have done so well,” Upton said. “It would important for us to keep the team in better shape because we have limited players now after the ban on few of our squad players.”Mumbai will have to learn quickly to cope without Lasith Malinga, who’s skipped the tournament for family reasons. Mitchell Johnson and Harbhajan Singh will have to carry the attack in his absence. They will rely on their batsmen to fire and there’s no shortage of power hitters in the line-up. Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik were in good form in the IPL, and will look to continue in the same vein.Players to watchThere’s no clarity yet on whether Harmeet Singh, the left-arm spinner caught in the spot-fixing scandal, is available to play. Royals are short on specialist spinners and Ashok Menaria, the allrounder, could take on the role. Menaria, who also bowls left-arm spin, has form on his side, with ten wickets in three one-dayers against New Zealand A recently, and a fifty as well. Dravid hinted that Menaria may fit into the line-up.One of the best outcomes for Mumbai in the IPL was the emergence of Rohit Sharma as an able replacement for Ricky Ponting, who was dropped from the line-up. Rohit took over the captaincy and led Mumbai to their elusive IPL title. The captaincy had a positive influence on his batting as he finished as their leading run-scorer. Can Rohit maintain that consistency in the Champions League?

Liam Dawson and James Vince both hit unbeaten centuries as Hampshire took a stranglehold on their game against Leicestershire at Grace Road

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Sep-2013Hampshire 362 for 2 (Vince 145*, Dawson 136*) v Leicestershire
ScorecardMatthew Hoggard had an early catch dropped and his day didn’t get any better•PA PhotosLiam Dawson and James Vince both hit unbeaten centuries as Hampshire took a stranglehold on their game against Leicestershire at Grace Road.Put into bat after the first day wash-out, Hampshire reached 362 for 2 with Vince making 145 not out and Dawson unbeaten on 136 at the close. The third-wicket pair shared a record partnership of 248 that put a big dent in Leicestershire’s hopes of securing their first Championship win in their final game.There looked to be plenty of grass on the wicket so it was no real surprise when acting captain, Niall O’Brien, decided to bowl first on winning the toss. It should have paid immediate dividends. Matthew Hoggard, given a guard of honour by his team-mates when he walked out to start the last match of his career having announced his retirement, saw a catch dropped in his first over.He found the edge of Jimmy Adams’ bat, only for Michael Thornely to put down a shoulder-high catch at slip. The day did not get any better for Hoggard or Leicestershire.Adams and Sean Terry rode their luck in the first hour or so as the ball moved around in the helpful conditions. Both of them played and missed on several occasions before Adams finally nicked one off Ben Raine to give O’Brien a routine catch behind the stumps with the score on 50.Terry continued to struggle at times, but was also quick to seize on anything off line as he and Dawson put together a useful second-wicket stand of 64. By the afternoon the batsmen were completely on top, and the runs began to flow at an ever increasing rate as the Leicestershire attack became more and more erratic.Terry reached his 50 off 112 balls with eight fours, before being trapped lbw by a good delivery from Shiv Thakor for 57 with the score at 114.That proved to be the home side’s last success, with the rest of the day dominated by Dawson and Vince. Dawson reached his 50 off 79 balls with eight fours, and it was an indication of how much the bowlers had strayed down the leg side that only four of his runs came on the off-side.Vince reached his 50 off 65 balls with 10 boundaries and at tea the third wicket pair had put on 110 runs in 24 overs, with Hampshire scoring 141 runs in the session.There was no respite for Leicestershire after the interval, with both batsmen moving on to their centuries. Dawson reached his off 164 balls with 13 fours and Vince followed in the next over having faced 119 balls and hit 16 fours plus a six off left arm spinner James Sykes.They were still together at the close having posted a record third wicket stand for Hampshire against Leicestershire. Vince was on 145 off 168 balls and Dawson on 136 off 228 balls.

Rubel Hossain’s six-wicket haul, including a hat-trick, turned the first ODI on its head, helping Bangladesh win by 43 runs by the Duckworth-Lewis method

The Report by Mohammad Isam in Mirpur29-Oct-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMushfiqur Rahim fell 10 short of a hundred•AFPRubel Hossain’s six-wicket haul, including a hat-trick, turned the first ODI on its head, helping Bangladesh win by 43 runs by the Duckworth-Lewis method. The visitors were starting to get away with the game despite a steep target after the 105-minute rain break, needing 124 off the remaining 13 overs, but Rubel’s spell marked the turning point.The last time Rubel faced New Zealand in Mirpur, he took four wickets including the last one of Kyle Mills that sealed the 4-0 series win. This time, he took the wickets of Corey Anderson, Brendon McCullum and James Neesham in consecutive balls in his third over, and later added two more to become only the second Bangladeshi, after Mashrafe Mortaza, to take six wickets in an ODI.New Zealand’s target was revised from the original 266 to 206 in 33 overs after heavy rain forced a long interruption 20 overs into the chase. New Zealand were behind on D/L at that stage and had there been no further play, Bangladesh would have won. Play resumed, but the visitors failed to grab their second chance. New Zealand’s chase lost momentum from the promising position after rain, when they needed 86 off 60 balls before Rubel started his third over. They smashed 38 runs off the three overs immediately after the rain break, having been set a stiff total to chase.The game changed in the 24th over. Anderson had smashed four sixes and three fours till that point and hence posed a threat to Bangladesh’s chances. But he tried one too many slogs, and was bowled by Rubel off the third ball of the over.McCullum got a ball that took off on him as he advanced on the front foot, taking a leading edge that was taken easily at point by the substitute Shamsur Rahman. Rubel had taken a hat-trick in a domestic one-day competition only last month but oddly, it escaped his attention. This time, he had the 25,000-plus crowd to remind him. He bowled a short one down the leg side and Neesham tried to flick it away. Mushfiqur Rahim took an excellent catch diving to his right, and once the umpire Enamul Haque was convinced, Rubel wildly celebrated with his team-mates, among whom was Sohag Gazi who took a Test hat-trick earlier this month in Chittagong. Rubel became the third Bangladeshi to take a ODI hat-trick, after Shahadat Hossain (2006) and Abdur Razzak (2010), both against Zimbabwe.He added the wicket of Nathan McCullum in his fifth over to claim his maiden five-wicket haul. He claimed his sixth when Mortaza took a superb running catch in the 30th overs and the game ended at that point, because Kane Williamson, who had injured his hand while fielding, did not come out to bat.New Zealand made a poor start to their 266-run chase. Hamish Rutherford tried to hit Gazi down the ground, but missed and was bowled in the fourth over. Grant Elliott was promoted in place of the injured Williamson, but he didn’t force matters. In the 11th over, debutant Anton Devcich missed a heave across the line to Mahmudullah, to be clean bowled like Rutherford.Ross Taylor started off luckily, under-edging one past the wicketkeeper’s left-hand and one past the first slip in the same over off Mortaza. He became Rubel’s first victim when he tried to cut close to his body but ended up edging to Mushfiqur. The other side of the rain break belonged to Bangladesh.Earlier, Mushfiqur and Naeem Islam took hold of a situation that had all the makings of a typical Bangladesh collapse, when they were struggling at 25 for 3. Naeem’s dour start, alongside Mushfiqur’s flair, guided the home side out of trouble, as they added 154. Mushfiqur brought out a range of shots, from his favoured slog-sweep to the spinners to the more conventional cuts and drives. He played the upper-cut on a few occasions and also pushed the singles, especially when Naeem got stuck early in his innings.Naeem took 17 balls to get off the mark, but slowly started finding the gaps. Naeem got to 50 off 75 balls, while Mushfiqur reached his half-century off 53 balls. Mushfiqur continued to be aggressive towards the latter part of his innings, but fell in the second over of the batting Powerplay, edging Neesham’s off-cutter to the wicketkeeper for 90 off 97 balls. Naeem too fell to the same bowler for 84 off 115 balls, trying to hoick a slower one but edging it to the wicketkeeper.Before that, Naeem added 51 for the sixth wicket with Mahmudullah, which was crucial because Bangladesh’s usual finisher, Nasir Hossain, was out in the same over as Mushfiqur, the 37th. The New Zealand bowlers held things back in the last ten overs, conceding just 62 runs. They took four wickets in the last five overs after Naeem fell in the 45th over, with Neesham ending with four wickets. In the end, rain and Rubel came in their way.

Victoria captain Matthew Wade will miss the Sheffield Shield game against Western Australia, after Cricket Australia dismissed his appeal against a suspension

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Nov-2013Victoria captain Matthew Wade will miss the Sheffield Shield game against Western Australia, which begins in Perth on Friday, after Cricket Australia dismissed his appeal against a suspension. Wade had been banned for one match and fined half of his match fee for pitch tampering.Wade had been reported by the umpires during last week’s Shield match against Tasmania in Hobart, where he was alleged to have altered the state of the pitch while scoring 119 in his side’s first innings. Wade denied the charge of unfair play and was given a hearing in front of match referee Daryl Harper, who upheld the charge. Victoria had appealed the suspension on Tuesday.

Adrian Birrell, South Africa’s assistant coach, believes they have the ability to bat out the fifth day against India, like they did against Australia in Adelaide in 2012

Firdose Moonda in Johannesburg21-Dec-20130:00

There will be fight all the way – Birrell

A year and a month ago, almost to the day, South Africa finished the fourth day of a Test on 77 for 4, trailing Australia by 353 and staring at a heavy defeat. That evening in Adelaide, Russell Domingo, who was then the assistant coach, said South Africa’s chances were “probably out of the window,” and the team appeared to have accepted defeat.That was not to be. Faf du Plessis led the defiance campaign against Australia to secure a hard-fought draw. South Africa have not been involved in a Test that has gone to the fifth day since. Until now.Domingo is now the head coach, and South Africa have finished the fourth day on 138 for 2, trailing India by 319, but they do not believe they will be beaten. Their assistant coach Adrian Birrell brought nothing but fighting talk to the press conference.”We are drawing on past experiences and we believe we can do it. We’ve shown resilience, we batted a whole day before,” he said. “This team has done remarkable things in the past and we get a bit of a lift from that. It would be a remarkable thing if we can do it again.”Negotiating India’s fresh seamers in the morning will be crucial to South Africa’s chances of saving the Test, or winning it•AFPLast year, Australia had been a bowler down after James Pattinson left the field with a rib injury and the pitch stayed placid throughout the game. India’s arsenal, however, is fully fit and the Wanderers surface has shown signs of variable bounce with the cracks opening up, making chances of salvaging something from this Test more difficult.With India scoring more freely in the second innings than they did in the first, Birrell is hopeful the surface will not become a minefield. “When you are in, runs flow. It’s a high scoring ground, you get value for shots,” he said. “The pitch doesn’t have too many demons, we know we can survive there and get runs there.”With a set batsmen in Alviro Petersen and the man who did it in Adelaide, du Plessis, at the crease, Birrell believed South Africa have the best people at the crease to start the final morning. Both are men under pressure. Petersen had not scored more than 30 in ten innings before this one, while du Plessis’ last fifty was seven innings ago.Petersen has already eased some of the load by surviving a challenging period, scoring briskly and passing fifty. “Alviro played fantastically today. He is well placed for a big score,” Birrell said. “They are both fighters, they are not going to give it away. It’s a great opportunity for both of them to play a meaningful and long innings.”Spending time in the middle is South Africa’s primary aim, and Birrell advocated the importance of taking it step by step. “It’s not an easy task to bat a full day. All we are doing is saying, let us have a look at the end of every session,” he said. “We didn’t look at 135 overs when we started. We looked at seeing it to tea with as little damage as possible.” South Africa got to the first break having faced 11 overs for no loss.Next, they will look to bat the first hour and then the morning session – something which du Plessis had described in Adelaide, when the team survived 148 overs in four-and-a-half sessions to save the Test. “We are still well placed to bat through the whole day,” Birrell said. “We don’t look at the bigger picture, we try and look in smaller bits.”In Adelaide a draw was the realistic goal, but with the runs South Africa need here, if they bat out the full day victory is not impossible. Birrell indicated they knew as much but stressed the primary goal was to draw. “We just bat. We are thinking of batting long. The runs will come. If we do bat 90 overs, it will be a fantastic game,” he said. “At the moment we are thinking draw but you never know. If we bat the full day and we bat at the rate we normally bat at, we won’t be far away. We will worry about that when we are 85 overs.”Before that, many other things will come into consideration. Dealing with India’s fresh bowlers will be one of them. Negotiating a second new-ball after lunch will be another, and fatigue – physical and mental – will also play a role. Already, they are guarding against the last of those.South Africa did not send Jacques Kallis in at No.4 because he had bowled more than his usual quota of overs, and the management felt that “an extra night’s rest would be of benefit to him.” They didn’t promote AB de Villiers either because he had kept wicket all day.”We’ve been under the pump before. They are professionals. You expect every time you start a Test, it will go the full distance,” he said. “It’s another hard day tomorrow. But there is a lot of fight in that dressing room. There will be fight all the way.”When they held Australia at arm’s length in Adelaide, South Africa punctured the hosts’ confidence, and du Plessis believed it played a role in them winning in Perth. Given that the deciding Test against India is in Durban, where South Africa have lost their last four matches, they will want a similar morale-booster.

Michael Clarke could become the first man to win five Allan Border Medals, with Mitchell Johnson looming as his only serious competition for the award. The medal will be presented in Sydney on Monday evening and while Johnson has been the standout player

Brydon Coverdale19-Jan-2014Possible Winners

Allan Border Medal
1) Michael Clarke
2) Mitchell Johnson
3) Ryan Harris
Test Player of the Year
1) Michael Clarke
2) Ryan Harris
3) Steve Smith
ODI Player of the Year
1) George Bailey
2) James Faulkner
3) Mitchell Johnson

Michael Clarke could become the first man to win five Allan Border Medals, with Mitchell Johnson looming as his only serious competition for the award. The medal will be presented in Sydney on Monday evening and while Johnson has been the standout player of the home summer, his absence from the Test team for most of the year may hurt his chances of taking the medal.Clarke will benefit from being a consistent performer throughout the year in the Test side – he scored four hundreds during the voting period, which began on February 1, 2013. Although he played less than half of Australia’s ODIs during the period, Clarke should pick up some useful votes from the limited-overs matches that followed the Ashes in England, which may help him become the first player to win three consecutive medals.However, much will depend on how many votes Clarke and Johnson pick up in matches in which they provided contributions without being the stand-out player. In calculating the Allan Border Medal tally, votes from Test matches are given a weighting of six, votes from ODIs are given a weighting of three and votes from Twenty20 internationals are given a weighting of two.If Johnson is able to make a late run for the medal, it would be a remarkable feat given that he played only one of the first nine Tests of the voting period, and will certainly earn no votes from that sole outing in Delhi. His strength on the one-day tour of India and in the home Ashes will push him up in the voting, with the next tier of players likely to include Steven Smith, Ryan Harris, George Bailey, Shane Watson, James Faulkner, Peter Siddle and Brad Haddin.Haddin’s rescues of Australia during the home Ashes are unlikely to be enough to make him a medal contender, although his strong work with the gloves during the Ashes in England may increase his tally from his peers. However, he is likely to poll few votes from the shorter formats, and the medal typically goes to a player who is able to register votes in at least Test and ODI cricket.Clarke is the leading candidate for the Test Player of the Year given his omnipresence in the team throughout the voting period, although Johnson’s Ashes campaign and the consistency of Smith, Harris and Haddin throughout much of the year means any of them could push the captain. Clarke has won the past two Test titles and has won the award three times overall.Clarke was the top Test run scorer during the voting period, with 1030 runs at 44.78 and while Watson was second, he is unlikely to poll highly in the Test count as his contributions were often overshadowed by stronger performers in the same Test. It is not out of the question that his only votes will come from his century at The Oval, as his hundred in Perth came in a match that featured numerous key contributors.In the ODI count, Bailey looks set to win his first award thanks to an outstanding tour of India that brought him 478 runs at 95.60; he finished the voting period with 961 runs at 80.08. Faulkner’s all-round efforts throughout the year make him the most serious competition for Bailey, with Johnson and Watson also likely to poll well.Perhaps the only certainty of the men’s international awards is that Aaron Finch will be the Twenty20 international player of the year. Australia played only four T20s during the voting period and Finch will unquestionably take the maximum votes from two of those games. He should join David Hussey and Watson as the only winners of the T20 title since it was instituted in 2011.The two new inductees into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame have also been announced, with Belinda Clark set to become the first woman added to the Hall of Fame and Mark Waugh to join his brother Steve in the list of inductees. David Crow, the Hall of Fame chairman, said it was a “special year” for the organisation with Clark breaking new ground.”Women’s cricket continues to emerge as a very important part of Australian cricket and the time is right for us to recognise the wonderful feats of some of our women on the international stage,” Crow said. “Belinda’s performances have been outstanding and she is clearly the most dominant Australian women’s cricketer of the modern era.”Mark Waugh’s career provided us with many brilliant moments, which millions of spectators have had the honour to witness. Whether batting, bowling or fielding, playing Tests or ODIs, he was a joy to watch.”The Hall of Fame began in 1996 with the induction of ten players. Clark and Waugh will bring the total number to 29 members.Hall of Fame inductees: Warwick Armstrong, Richie Benaud, John Blackham, Allan Border, Sir Donald Bradman, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Belinda Clark, Alan Davidson, George Giffen, Clarrie Grimmett, Neil Harvey, Lindsay Hassett, Ian Healy, Clem Hill, Bill Lawry, Dennis Lillee, Ray Lindwall, Charles Macartney, Rod Marsh, Stan McCabe, Glenn McGrath, Graham McKenzie, Keith Miller, Arthur Morris, Monty Noble, Bill O’Reilly, Bill Ponsford, Bob Simpson, Fred Spofforth, Mark Taylor, Hugh Trumble, Victor Trumper, Charlie Turner, Doug Walters, Shane Warne, Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh, Bill Woodfull

England won a game on Australian soil for the first time since mid-November, though there were still a couple of areas of concern despite the wide margin of victory

Alan Gardner14-Jan-2014
ScorecardJos Buttler cracked 61 off 60 balls to help England to a winning total•Getty ImagesEngland won a game on Australian soil for the first time since mid-November, although there were still a couple of areas of concern despite the wide margin of victory. Alastair Cook’s run of single-figure scores continued and England were in a spot of bother at 5 for 129 halfway through the match but Gary Ballance and Jos Buttler struck fifties before the bowlers dismantled the Prime Minister’s XI in 26 overs.With Mitchell Johnson in line to return for Australia in Brisbane on Friday, having sat out the first ODI, footage of Cook and Joe Root falling to the pace of Brett Lee – 37 years old but still with a click in his heels – will doubtless make the video dossier compiled by Darren Lehmann’s analysts. Root followed up a 23-ball 3 on Sunday with 1 off 14 balls in Canberra and, without a half-century since making 87 in the second Test, his form is a cause for concern.Ravi Bopara was again deployed as England’s fifth bowler and he ran through to tail to produce eye-catching figures of 4 for 3 from three overs. The rest of the attack all performed creditably, against a batting line-up that seasoned youth with a couple of experienced hands; Boyd Rankin, Chris Jordan, Tim Bresnan and James Tredwell sharing five wickets.”It’s great to get a win. It’s going to be a morale-boost for everyone, no matter who it is against,” Buttler said afterwards, his comments reflecting just how difficult this tour has become for England since they beat a CA Invitational XI in Sydney two months ago, in the final warm-up before the Tests.”There were a lot of positives that came out of today. We got up to a challenging total and put them under pressure straight awaywith the ball. We had a lot of energy and we really tried to target early wickets and we got those. Everyone is pleased to get a win and hopefully we can take that momentum forward to Brisbane.”As in Melbourne, which ended in a six-wicket win for Australia, Cook won the toss and chose to bat, only to be sent back inside the first over – this time caught behind off a short ball from Lee. Root also did not last long but Michael Carberry, in the side for Ian Bell, steadied the innings with 47, only for another wobble to ensue. Ballance compiled 56, with just three boundaries, and Buttler then added 80 in partnership with Bresnan to help post a competitive total – perhaps aided by Lee only bowling seven overs, due to the heat.With Steven Finn again left out – his tour remains stuck in a rut – and Ben Stokes rested, Rankin and Jordan continued to lead the pace attack. Jordan made the opening incision, as Peter Handscomb dragged on for 8, and Rankin then struck twice in consecutive overs. When Brad Hodge, another former Australia international in his late thirties, who top-scored with 28, picked out Carberry in the deep trying to slog Tredwell’s offspin, the PM XI were struggling on 4 for 58.Bopara then had a hand in each of the last five wickets to fall, including a run-out, as the end came quickly. The chances of Australia being similarly obliging at the Gabba appear slim.