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Oh, no!
You are used to seeing him walk without much ado but you rarely see Adam Gilchrist walking away with a shrug, showing dismay at the umpire’s decision. Sreesanth’s previous ball was a tight one, not allowing Gilchrist freedom to swing his bat. The third ball of the match was a sharp inswinger. Gilchrist’s feet were in an awkward position as he inside-edged the ball on to his pads. However, Rudi Koertzen failed to hear it as he raised the dreaded finger in robotic fashion. It was a sad pitstop on Gilchrist’s farewell tour.Punter’s agony
This could be one of the worst slumps of Ricky Ponting’s career. And more than anyone, two Indians have been annoying him all summer. If Harbhajan Singh continued his torment of the Australian captain, Ishant Sharma doubled the suffering with his extra pace, movement and the bounce. He had bowled one the best overs to Ponting at the WACA last month, something Ponting acknowledged, and had his number once again at the MCG. The ball pitched short of a length, Ponting squared up but was beaten by the extra bounce and the edge flew straight into the hands of first slip.Planned to perfection
It was a perfect set-up. Brad Haddin had been trying to negate the spin by stepping out of his crease. Harbhajan Singh speared one down leg, Haddin stepped out and tried to sweep, but he missed and Mahendra Singh Dhoni took off the bails in a trice. Simon Taufel signalled a wide but Haddin wasn’t even waiting for the third umpire’s decision.Where were you, Mr Cricket?
Removing the helmet and raising the bat to all sections of the crowd arecelebrations typically reserved for a hundred but MichaelHussey was so pleased to reach his half-century that he made the most ofthe moment. True, it was a very important innings after Australia slumpedto 6 for 92 but Hussey averaged 55.90 coming in to the match. So why wouldhis minor milestone mean so much? Perhaps it was because he’s had a lean12 months in ODIs – he had not passed fifty in anODI since last February’s Chappell-Hadlee Series.Over and out
It all seemed to be going wrong for Ishant in his second over withthe new ball. A pair of edges off Matthew Hayden flew over the slip cordon tothe boundary, another delivery was driven for four to long-off and twoconsecutive no-balls were followed by an aborted run-up. Eighteen camefrom the over, enough to dent the spirit of most 19-year-olds. But Ishanthas already proved more mature than many teenagers, and his decision tokeep attacking brought a well-deserved wicket in his next over when he hadHayden caught behind.Speared in
155.9 kph. Now that came straight into Virender Sehwag from Brett Lee who had the batsman’s measure in the first over but was unlucky. This time Sehwag got his bat just in the nick of time to avoid the humiliation of seeing any damage to his woodwork.Shots of the day
Lee was rattled after Tendulkar hit him past square for a four. The next ball was 150kph just around the good length but the ricochet came off the bat at the same speed, hitting the boards. Resounding. Next ball: 151kph attempted yorker at his off stump. Tendulkar brings that heavy bat down and just guides it past the bowler’s right hand for another exquisite boundary.Hard luck
This one would be debated for a while. Tendulkar charged out to send one over the long MCG boundary off the last ball of Stuart Clark’s first over. It looked more of a slog and he missed miserably and in the process nicked it to Gilchrist. But Koertzen again failed to hear the edge, which was later confirmed by snicko. The Aussies couldn’t believe it and the crowd sighed a loud “boo”.To dive or not to dive
He was not sure if it would fly past just like Tendulkar was unconvinced about playing the stroke. Mitchell Johnson had bowled a slow off cutter and Tendulkar was in two minds but went for the drive over the inner circle. Lee stood his ground and then when he saw it was within reach, dived as if it was penalty shootout to pouch it high on his wrong side. Yes. What a catch.

Anna Dodd, who was unavailable for New Zealand’s tour to India, has been appointed captain for New Zealand A’s matches against New Zealand and the Australia Youth team.New Zealand international Katey Martin is the vice-captain, while two other internationals, Beth McNeill and Ros Kember, are also part of the A squad. While McNeill, a right-arm medium bowler for Canterbury, has taken 10 wickets in her 10 ODIs, Kember, an Auckland batsman, has only played two ODIs.Rachel Priest, the Central Districts wicketkeeper, and Lucy Doolan, the Wellington batsman, will be playing their first A team matches.The team is scheduled to play two 50-over matches and a Twenty20 game against New Zealand between February 6 and 9 at Lincoln before New Zealand travel to India for a four-nation series on February 14. The A team will then play three matches against the Australian Youth side between February 13 and 16 at the same venue.Gary Stead, who played five Tests for New Zealand in 1999, will coach the side assisted by former New Zealand player Katrina Keenan and Canterbury coach Kirsty Bond.Squad Anna Dodd (capt), Katey Martin, Rachel Candy, Amanda Cooper, Lucy Doolan, Ros Kember, Victoria Lind, Beth McNeill, Zara McWilliams, Elizabeth Perry, Rachel Priest, Amy Satterthwaite, Megan Wakefield

Tom Moody, the Sri Lanka coach, says his side will not get involved in any verbal jousting with Australia and South Africa in the upcoming VB Series.Sri Lanka arrived in Australia having completed a five-match series against New Zealand, and were training at the Melbourne Cricket Ground today ahead of a warm-up match against Victoria beginning tomorrow. Moody said that the focus for Sri Lanka would be cricket, and not a game of words and insults against their opponents. He did add, however, that Australia and South Africa could be expected to trade verbal taunts.”It’s no surprise that the South Africans have come and met the Australians head-on,” he said. “It’s their nature, they play the game hard. It’s no surprise that there was a little bit of verbal going into the series and during the series. It’s tough out there.”Despite a 4-1 loss to New Zealand, Moody was confident of Sri Lanka’s ability to perform against the top two teams in one-day cricket. “We’re starting on the same level-playing field as them,” he said. “We’ve got talented cricketers, we respect that Australia’s got those as well, but why can’t we win?”The VB Series kicks off at Melbourne’s Docklands Stadium on Friday with Sri Lanka playing Australia.

Michael Clarke has been cleared of foot stress fractures after severe pain prevented him from fielding in Pakistan’s second innings at the SCG. Clarke, who made 35 in Australia’s 568, reported the injury during the match and his condition will be reviewed over the weekend.”He was in a lot of pain over the past few days and that’s why we had the scans done,” Ricky Ponting said. “All the scans were very clear and we’re keeping ourfingers crossed that he’s right for the start of the one-dayers.” The VB Series, which also includes Pakistan, begins with Australia playing West Indies at the MCG on January 14.

Glamorgan have announced the following 12 man squad from which the team toplay India A will be chosen for the three day match starting at Swansea tomorrow:

J HughesIJ ThomasDD CherryMJ PowellMA Wallace +AD ShawRDB Croft *SD ThomasDS HarrisonDA CoskerOT ParkinRE Watkins

Sri Lankan physiotherapist, Sean Slattery, expects injured fast bowler NuwanZoysa to be fully fit before the three-match Test series against WestIndies.Zoysa, 23, suffered a stress fracture of his ankle in July, forcing him tomiss the Coca-Cola Cup, the Indian Test series and Sharjah.Presently, the left arm seam bowler has started bowling in the nets, butSlattery feels there’s no need to rush him to play competitive cricket:"Zoysa is alright now. There’s no pain, no swelling and he has startedbowling in the nets. But he has to wait for another two weeks before takingpart in any competitive cricket."Even if he is fit to play the selectors may prefer to wait until he has morecompetitive cricket under his belt. A comeback during the triangular serieswith Zimbabwe and West Indies is the most likely option.Slattery will be with the Sri Lankan squad for a short while until AlexKontouri returns from his study leave in Australia.

ScorecardShreyas Gopal brought up his third first-class century•PTI

In a typically dominant and clinical fashion, Karnataka headed towards their first win of the season by taking a first-innings lead of 225 runs and then dismissing two Bengal batsmen in a curtailed last session of the third day. Karnataka’s overnight lead of ten runs was extended by centuries from Shreyas Gopal (139) and Shishir Bhavane (119), who returned after an injury, and they declared on 537 for 9 with one full session to go in which Bengal scored 58 runs, before bad light stopped play. Bengal still trail Karnataka by 167 runs.The centuries from Gopal and Bhavane made sure Karnataka did not stutter once Karun Nair edged one to the keeper off a cover drive after adding only seven runs to his overnight 119. Bhavane drove impressively off the front foot while Gopal used some late cuts and back-foot punches to hit several fours on the off side. Besides defending the ball patiently in the first session, Gopal attacked when the Bengal pacers erred with their lengths.Bhavane, meanwhile, had to depend more on singles and twos because of his wrist injury. He took the top hand, which was injured, off the bat a few times while playing some shots and looked in slight discomfort with the impact of ball hitting the bat. He brought up his fifty off 127 balls by smashing Pragyan Ojha to the wide long-on boundary and by lunch Karnataka’s lead had reached 115. Gopal did not spend too much time in the 90s. He cut a ball to third man to move from 93 to 97 and soon flicked Ojha to the midwicket boundary for his 16th four to bring up his third first-class hundred.Ojha continued to bowl relentlessly from one end and the way both batsmen played him against the turn showed there was not much for spinners in the pitch. Gopal, in between, got a message from the dressing room to up the tempo with an eye on declaration. He started coming down the track to Ojha after lunch and struck Ashok Dinda and Sourav Sarkar for fours in consecutive overs. Bhavane also changed his strategy when he approached his hundred.He frustrated Ojha by sweeping one to square leg for four, and when Ojha moved long leg to square leg before the next ball, Bhavane swept him fine for another boundary. But just before he could reach his century, Veer Pratap Singh brought one delivery sharply into Gopal and had him lbw for 139 to break the 142-run stand. Bhavane then brought up his maiden first-class hundred in the next over by steering Ojha to third man for two.Karnataka started attacking immediately after Gopal was dismissed which resulted in quick runs with the fall of three more wickets. Vinay Kumar showed his intentions by getting off the mark with a reverse sweep for four and dispatching Dinda over the covers for another boundary. The plan cost Vinay when he made room again and was bowled by the same bowler. Bhavane’s vigil also ended in the next over when he pushed at a delivery away from his body and edged it for Wriddhiman Saha who took a good, low catch.Abhimanyu Mithun fell the way his captain was dismissed – he dispatched Veer Pratap for a six and was bowled next ball and with a massive lead in hand, Karnataka declared at the stroke of tea.Karnataka were made to work for the two wickets as the Bengal openers saw through the opening spells of Vinay and Mithun, which made them bring legspinner Gopal in the ninth over, but he also went wicketless. The batsmen capitalised on the loose balls on offer, before the fourth bowling change of HS Sharath brought them success when he trapped Abhishek Das in front of leg stump in the 12th over. Six overs later, Shreevats Goswami looked to sweep the ball with the turn but edged it onto the stumps with J Suchith striking in his first over.

Zimbabwe 256 (Dabengwa 79) and 417 (Williams 107, Taibu 78, Chigumbura 71, Utseya 57) beat South African Composite XI 353 (McLaren 80, Koortzen 80, Jeggels 53, Utseya 5-70) and 186 by 134 runs
Scorecard

A Zimbabwe XI secured a comprehensive win over a South African Composite XI at Kimberley, battling back from a first-innings deficit to win by 134 runs on the final afternoon.Zimbabwe slid to 111 for 6 on the first day before Keith Dabengwa’s 79 steered them to a respectable 256. A brace of 80s from Adrian MacLaren and Petrus Koortzen enabled the home side to take a lead of 97, and it would have been more but for a marathon spell from Prosper Utseya, who finished with 5 for 70, on the second afternoon.Resuming on 42 for 2, still 55 in arrears, Zimbabwe lost Hamilton Mazakadza early on the third day, but then Tatenda Taibi, on a pair, and Sean Williams stole the show with a fourth-wicket stand of 184. The irony was that the selection of Williams, who completed his second first-class hundred, was opposed by some hardliners among the Zimbabwe selectors. When the two of them went, Zimbabwe were still in trouble on 270 for 6 before Elton Chigumbura and Utseya cut loose against a tiring attack.Set a target of 321 in almost a full day, Christopher Mpofu blasted out both openers as the SA Composite XI slid to 64 for 5. Riaan Jeggels and Wendell Bossenger steadied the ship and the for a time rain took the players from the field. But when they resumed it took only 15 balls for the Zimbabweans to grab the last three wickets and secure a well-deserved victory.

Rajesh Sharma, the young Punjab offspinner, has been reported to the Board of Control for Cricket in India for having a suspect bowling action, Cricinfo has learned. This follows recent proactive measures taken by the BCCI to empower match officials on this issue, including a two-day workshop conducted by S Venkataraghavan and Javagal Srinath, one a former ICC umpire and match referee and another a current ICC match referee.Sharma, it is understood, has been mentioned in separate despatches from match officials, including the match referee and the on-field umpires, to the BCCI expressing their concerns about his bowling action.Sharma has 76 wickets from 25 matches, including a career-best 6 for 143 in the last Ranji Trophy match he played, against Maharashtra. In that match, played at Kolhapur, he bowled a mammoth 61 overs, giving umpires VN Kulkarni and Subroto Porel plenty of opportunity to closely watch his action.So far Sharma has played a modest role in Punjab’s Ranji campaign, picking up 13 wickets from five matches. He’s had much more success in the Duleep Trophy earlier this season, where he topped the wicket-takers’ chart, picking up 17 wickets from three matches and was a crucial factor in North Zone winning the Duleep Trophy. North Zone beat Sri Lanka A in the final, with Sharma picking up nine wickets in the match. The umpires standing in that match were Amish Saheba and Suresh Shastri.Cricinfo has learned that one umpire initially believed that Sharma had a suspect action but was reluctant to call the bowler in a game. He expressed his concern to BCCI officials, who assured the umpire that he would have the backing of the board if he honestly believed a bowler had a problem and needed work.

ScorecardDisciplined bowling from Trinidad and Tobago aided by some indifferent batting restricted the Leeward Islands to a modest 155 for 8 on the second day of their severely rain-affected second-round match in the 2005-06 Carib Beer Series at Webster Park. Rayad Emrit along with spinners Dave Mohammed and Sherwin Ganga collected two scalps apiece, after the Leewards elected to bat in a match which has lost a day and a session due to rain and soggy conditions.Leewards batsmen Shane Jeffers, Austin Richards Jr, Runako Morton and Tonito Willett all got starts, but failed to carry on. Openers Jeffers and Richards began by mixing the occasional aggression with some watchful defense, but both left-handers had strokes of luck. Jeffers, on 31, got half-way into an attempted hook off a Mervyn Dillon bouncer, but the resulting top-edge flew high over the head of Gibran Mohammed, the wicketkeeper. Richards edged a drive off medium-fast bowler Richard Kelly, but the ball dropped just short of Daren Ganga at second slip.In their 47-run opening stand, however, they both executed some attractive drives, but Kelly made the breakthrough when he had Jeffers caught at square leg for 31 playing a tame hook. Richards, who was then joined by Morton, had to endure some chin music from Dillon and Kelly, before eventually succumbing to the persevering medium pace of Emrit, caught behind for 28.The home team were dealt a further blow just before tea, when left-arm unorthodox spin bowler Mohammed bowled Sylvester Joseph, the Leewards captain, for 2, playing an ill-advised pull. At tea, Leewards were 76 for 3, and T&T sustained the pressure in the final session.Emrit deceived Morton with a slower delivery that cut back and bowled the batsman off the inside edge for 23 and Leewards were 106 for 4. Two wickets – Willett for 24 and Cornwall for 4 – fell in quick succession to leave Leewards on 116 for 6. Willett, sweeping once too often to a full-length delivery from Mohammed, was trapped lbw and Cornwall, heaving at Sherwin Ganga’s offspin, was bowled. Carl Simon failed to trouble the scorers, edging Sherwin Ganga to slip.When bad light stopped play with five overs left, Omari Banks was not out on 26, with Alderman Lesmond on 2.