A Century on his last appearance at Home Ground

Adam Gilchrist celebrated a century on his farewell appearance at the WACA as Australia beat Sri Lanka to go top of the Commonwealth Bank Series table.




The big-hitting wicketkeeper cracked 118 on his home ground as the Australians made 236 in 49.4 overs and then bowled out Sri Lanka for just 173 as the tourists were made to pay for a host of dropped catches and misfields towards the end of the Australian innings.

Gilchrist, who is set to retire from international cricket after the series, smacked nine fours and three sixes from his 132-ball knock, but the hosts' total had looked achievable on a decent pitch with a quick outfield.

Kumar Sangakkara took the fight to Australia, but the wicketkeeper was offered precious little support from his team-mates to finish on 80 as the game drifted away from Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka started their run chase in a hurry and Brett Lee went for 16 from the first over, openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya both hitting boundaries.

But Jayasuriya was soon sent packing by Nathan Bracken for a rapid 12, James Hopes taking the catch at third man, and Mitchell Johnson, brought into the attack in place of Lee, removed Dishan's middle stump in his first over for 11.

The next partnership of Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene looked ominous for Australia as the pair sprayed the ball to all corners of the ground with a steady flow of fours to keep the run rate well above a run a ball.

Johnson though struck again with a late-swinging delivery held by Ponting in the slips to dismiss Jayawardene for 21.

Andrew Symonds, diving low to his left, then took a stunning one-handed catch with the ball barely off the ground to get rid of Chamara Silva for a duck off the bowling of Bracken.

Sangakkara's scoring slowed dramatically after those two wickets and his partnership with Chamara Kapugedara produced just two fours, both from the new batsman.

It was not until the 32nd over that the wicketkeeper brought up his 50 from 80 balls to move the tourists on to 129 for four.

Kapugedara was caught next ball by Michael Hussey off James Hopes for 26.

Brad Hogg did for Farveez Maharoof (7) and Chaminda Vaas for a golden duck in the space of two balls before Nuwan Kulasekara (0) lobbed a Bracken delivery into Symonds' hands and Johnson shattered Malinga's stumps with the Sri Lankan on five.

Lee rounded off the win by bowling Sangakkara.

Earlier, Lasith Malinga had been the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers with figures of four for 47.

The paceman struck first to dismiss Matthew Hayden for just four, Maharoof taking the catch, while number three Ponting was next to fall for a quickfire 25, caught by Jayawardene off the bowling of Vaas.

Opener Gilchrist proved more difficult to remove and raced into the 90s before his next partner Michael Clarke went for a pedestrian 43, Muttiah Muralitharan fooling him with a doosra and Sangakkara whipping off the bails.

The left-hander was stuck in the 90s for some time and his pursuit for 100 seemed to slow the Aussies down as first Clarke and then Symonds looked to give him the strike and the chance of glory rather than hit big.

Gilchrist edged slowly closer to three figures with a succession of singles and finally reached the landmark after Symonds had edged a Maharoof delivery to wicketkeeper Sangakkara for four to move Australia on to 180 for four.

He was dropped by Kapugedara off Muralitharan on 116, but the fielder made amends the following over as he held on when the batsman got a leading edge trying to hit a Malinga delivery down the ground.

Hussey, having come in for Symonds, survived a stumping appeal and a woeful drop from substitute fielder Upal Tharanga before he went for 25, caught by Jayawardene off Kulasekara.

Kulasekara had struck earlier to dismiss Hopes for two, while Brad Hogg was clean bowled by Malinga for five shortly after.

In the closing stages, Johnson was run out for a duck after a fine direct hit on the stumps from Dilshan and Lee was the last man out for two, the victim of a Malinga yorker.

Bucknor to return as Test Match Umpire

Umpire Steve Bucknor will return to cricket for two test matches between Bangladesh and South Africa this month.

Jamaican Bucknor was dropped by the International Cricket Council (ICC) from a test series in Australia last month following pressure from India, who had criticised his performance in their 122-run defeat against the hosts in Sydney.

Bucknor will stand in with Pakistan's Alim Dar in the first and second tests between Bangladesh and South Africa, starting on February 22 and 29 respectively.

India had also accused Bucknor of playing a major role in the row over their spinner Harbhajan Singh, who was charged with racially abusing Australia's Andrew Symonds, a charge which was later dismissed by an independent judge.

The decision to drop Bucknor was one of the factors which allowed the Australia tour to continue after India's cricket board had threatened to take their team home.

Widely respected and instantly recognisable, Bucknor has umpired a record 120 test matches, as well as 167 one-day games.

Only David Shepherd of England and Rudi Koertzen of South Africa have umpired more one-day internationals.

The 61-year-old Bucknor has also stood in five successive World Cup finals.

Cricket ( NZ vs ENG 3rd ODI at Auckland ) on 15th FEB 2008

Collingwood Steers England to a Six Wicket Victory

CAPTAIN Paul Collingwood hit a quickfire half-century to guide England to a rousing six-wicket victory over New Zealand and keep the outcome of the five-match series alive.

Humiliated in the opening two matches in the series, Collingwood typified England’s determination not to lose the series in successive matches and delivered a defiant performance at Eden Park.

Chasing a revised target of 229 in 47 overs after New Zealand posted a competitive 234 for nine, Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen helped the tourists recover from losing both openers with a 120-run stand.

But after Bell scored a determined 73 off 89 balls, his first one-day half-century in 12 innings, both he and Pietersen fell to New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori in successive overs to once again put the outcome in doubt.

Collingwood arrived at the crease, however, and raced to an unbeaten 70 off 50 balls, which included six fours and three sixes, to help England claim their first win of the series with three overs remaining.

Phil Mustard had run himself out in the third over of England’s reply – the seventh run out of the series for the tourists – and Alastair Cook pulled Jacob Oram straight to mid-on shortly after the restart after the rain.

England could have suffered a further run out with Bell (on 22 and 52) twice being given reprieves after throws missed the stumps with him well short of his ground.

He weathered those nervous moments, however, and looked set for his first one-day international century in 15 matches, only to be adjudged lbw to left-arm spinner Vettori despite television replays suggesting he got an inside edge onto his pad.

Pietersen followed in Vettori’s next over, but this time there was no cause for complaint over the decision, leaving England once again jittery until Collingwood settled their nerves during an unbroken partnership with Owais Shah.

The tourists had earlier allowed New Zealand to recover from 95 for six to post a competitive 234 for nine after important innings from all-rounder Jacob Oram and Vettori.

The pair shared a crucial 74-run stand off 72 balls and helped add a crucial 81 runs off the final 10 overs after their top order had been decimated by England’s new ball attack.

England had made two changes to their line-up in a desperate attempt to change their fortunes with Ravi Bopara and spinner Graeme Swann both being dropped and replaced by all-rounders Luke Wright and Dimitri Mascarenhas.

The changes were successful initially with Lancashire seamer Jimmy Anderson striking with the 10th legitimate ball of the innings to remove dangerous wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum and shared the first four wickets to fall with the impressive Stuart Broad.

With Paul Collingwood also claiming two wickets to remove Peter Fulton and Ross Taylor, England seemed in the dominant position and also had luck on their side with umpire Asad Rauf ruling an Oram drive for four as a dead ball because he was not in position at the bowler’s end.

Three balls later Taylor fell to an lbw appeal and New Zealand could have lost their composure at the injustice of the situation, but instead relied on the wise heads of Oram and Vettori to steer them towards a competitive score.

Their stand was all the more galling for England, who had missed Vettori before he had scored with Anderson missing a one-handed catch at mid-on off Collingwood.

Vettori went on to hit four fours and a six off in his 42 off 35 balls before being superbly caught by Owais Shah on the mid-wicket boundary attempting to hit Collingwood for successive fours with eight overs remaining.

Oram was in sight of only his second one-day international century and moved closer to it by hitting Broad for successive sixes in his final over.

But, attempting to clear the cover boundary off a full toss from Ryan Sidebottom, Oram mis-timed his shot and was superbly caught by a diving Ian Bell having hit four fours and four sixes in his brilliant 88 off 91 balls.

Cricket - Stephen Fleming to retire after England Series

Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming announced today he will retire from international cricket after the third Test against England next month.

The third Test will be played in Napier from March 22-26, after which Fleming said he would concentrate on business opportunities and also play in India's Twenty20 Premier League.

"I always indicated that I was likely to retire from international cricket at some point in the near future, and the time is right for me and my family to do that now," Fleming told a press conference in Auckland today.

Fleming departs with a sackful of New Zealand Test records. No New Zealander has played as many Tests (108), scored as many runs (6875), taken as many catches (166), captained as many games (80), or led as many wins (28) as Fleming.

Appointed at 23, he was the country's youngest Test skipper and only Allan Border, who led Australia through 93 Tests, guided his team in more games. When Fleming retired from one-day international cricket last September he left with a similar bunch of records. At the same time as Fleming quit ODIs New Zealand handed the Test captaincy to Daniel Vettori, which disappointed Fleming, who wanted to see if separate captains could help New Zealand's consistency.

When he made his Test debut in 1993-94 it was immediately apparent the selectors had found an important player for the future success of the side. In a team led by Ken Rutherford against India in Hamilton, Fleming made 92 in his opening Test, and he followed it just days later with 90 in his ODI debut in Napier.

He led New Zealand to their first triumph in a major tournament - the Champions Trophy in Nairobi in 2000.

The one-day arena was also where Fleming experienced some of his biggest disappointments, and failing to get his team into a World Cup final was a regret. Following last year's semi-final knockout at the hands of Sri Lanka, Fleming quit the ODI captaincy, which precipitated a chain of events that gradually led to his removal from the Test leadership. Fittingly, though, he has been afforded the right to end his playing career on his own terms.

The Glam Slam Final -Australian Open Women's Singles Final

Is the FedEx going to derail?

This seems to be the million dollar question among all the tennis fans world over.Federer has set himself very high standards so that even a semi final exit is considered a disaster which in any other tennis player's career would go down as a good showing.But I feel Federer still has it in him to win half a dozen more grand slam titles,but it would take him a lot more effort than it took him for his first twelve grand slam titles as he has to fight his way among the young brigade of rising tennis stars-Djokovic,Nadal,Tsonga,Tipsarevic and lots more.

Last to beat Federer in Grand Slams

Australian Open: Novak Djokovic (SF 2008)

French Open : Rafael Nadal (F 2007)

Wimbledon : Mario Ancic (R1 2002)

U.S.Open : David Nalbandian (R4 2003)

Cricket (Aussies Unlikely to tour Pakistan)

Australia's tour to Pakistan, scheduled for March-April, is looking increasingly doubtful following last week's meeting between the chairmen of both boards in Dubai.

Following the get together, Creagh O'Connor, Cricket Australia's (CA) chairman, sent a letter to the Pakistan board expressing reservations about the security situation inside Pakistan.

"We received a letter yesterday from CA following our meeting and though they reiterated their commitment to supporting Pakistan cricket, they said that security briefings they have received in Australia are advising them against touring," Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, told Cricinfo.

A CA security delegation is due to visit the country in the aftermath of the general elections due to be on February 18. But a report in the Urdu daily Jang said CA were unsure whether sending a delegation would serve any purpose now, indicating perhaps that a decision to not tour had already been made.

"They have asked us whether we still want a security delegation sent here and if so when," Ashraf said. "In response to this, we have told CA that we still firmly believe that the environment for cricket and cricketers is still safe here. We have also said that the security team should visit Pakistan from February 25, exactly one week after the elections."

Australian players have expressed concerns about touring Pakistan for what would be their first visit in a decade, following a year of increasing violence and instability through the country. Despite this South Africa and Zimbabwe have both completed tours in recent months without any glitches.

But privately, board officials now concede that the trip is becoming an unlikely prospect and the PCB has already insured the series against cancellation. "Certainly public utterances coming from Australia seem quite indicative of them not wanting to tour Pakistan so it wouldn't be a surprise if they pulled out," one official told Cricinfo.

Pakistan will, however, continue to press for the visit to go ahead. Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB's chief operating officer, is scheduled to meet James Sutherland, CA's chief executive, in Kuala Lumpur and further discuss security arrangements. "We stress that incidents could happen anywhere in the world," Ashraf said. "They happen in Sri Lanka, they happened in Glasgow last year when we were there for an ODI and bombs went off in England in 2005 when Australia were there. We have to make decisions not just on perceptions, but ground realities.