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Scorecard

Matthew Elliott just missed out on his second one-day hundred in a week, but his 94 against Queensland in Adelaide helped South Australia make it two wins in five days following their midweek success in Perth. Their seven-wicket win means they are now in second after beginning the week in fifth; an excellent Christmas bonus – and it was Queensland they leapfrogged.Elliott continued in a rich vein of form, his innings making him the leading runscorer in this year’s competition, and he was in super touch with some typical clean hitting. He also paced his innings well and picked the gaps with ease.He was particularly impressive through the on-side, both straight and square, until he holed out at deep midwicket by Clinton Perren off Aaron Nye going for a swept six trying to bring up his hundred and win the match. It wasn’t to be but he left his team-mates with little work to do.Daniel Harris provided an excellent support act in an opening stand of 94, and he made a solid 34 until edging through off stand-in skipper James Hopes. Daniel Christian followed soon after, a soft catch off Michael Kasprowicz to Aaron Nye at short midwicket, but the platform had been set, and Mark Cosgrove’s pacy, unbeaten 27 duly saw them home.The batsmen had been given room to swing following an excellent bowling and fielding display which tied Queensland in knots after Hopes, deputising for the injured Jimmy Maher, chose to bat on a good batting pitch. They slumped to 5 for 67, without Shane Watson, who had a virus, and under pressure from Paul Rofe and Ryan Harris, who each bagged two wickets, and Jason Gillespie, who grabbed one.Their 170 represented a mini-recovery: Ashley Noffke and Nye both helped out with 45, but the total was always going to be well short.Nathan Adcock’s bowling again proved useful and he was on a hat-trick after bowling Carseldine and taking a screaming return catch off Grant Sullivan. His third ball, to Kasprowicz, only just missed off stump. Dan Cullen also found good turn, and a wicket, as all the bowlers impressed.South Australia, then, will take great seasonal cheer from their fielding, too, with Cosgrove taking two lightning catches in the slips and Gillespie’s direct hit removing the unlucky Hopes who had made a good start with 39 until he ran in to Rofe. Noffke, who had begun to lead the recovery, was then also run out, another important wicket.It was unseasonally cold in Adelaide, but the home side’s performance was a heartwarming Christmas present for the Redbacks who have now won five of their last six games. It was Queensland who provided the only blip in among those wins, but that was in a rain-affected encounter at the WACA. On Sunday, however, nothing could stop them and they can already look forward to the new year.

Michael Clarke has regained his fitness and could open the batting for Australia in their first match of the VB Series against West Indies at Melbourne on Friday (January 14). Clarke, who was a doubtful starter for the match due to a foot injury, showed no signs of discomfort during training on the eve of the game and has been tipped to partner Adam Gilchrist at the top of the order.Ricky Ponting stated that Clarke or Damien Martyn would take up the slot. “Clarke wants to open as well and has done it before, he got a hundred in Zimbabwe doing that, so we’ve got a couple of options there,” Ponting said, according to ABC Sport. “Damien’s done extremely well when he’s had the chance to open before. So we’ve got the two options, but probably leaning towards Clarke at the moment.”Earlier, the spot left vacant by Matthew Hayden’s omission was expected to be filled by Simon Katich, but Katich himself is a doubt for the game due to a throat infection which forced him to miss practice on Wednesday. Ponting indicated that Katich only had a 50% chance of playing. “He has improved a lot and we’ll have a look at him later today and then again tomorrow morning before we name the team.”

Andhra completely dominated the opening day’s play in the South ZoneCooch Behar Trophy (under-19) tournament match against Kerala at theUkku stadium in Vishakapatnam on Monday. After skittling out Keralafor 56 runs, Andhra replied with 164 for one wicket at stumps.Opting to bat after winning the toss, Kerala struggled for 37 overs tocompile their meagre total. Only NJ John (18) reached double digits.Three batsmen failed to score. Md Faiq was quite unplayable andfinished with the excellent figures of 13-5-15-5. He was wellsupported by Appala Raju (two for 10) and Gnaneswara Rao (two for 9).Kerala had the comfort of an early wicket when D Vinod was out fornine when the total was 27. But for the rest of the day, the otheropener Tahir Hussain (79) and Gnaneswara Rao (61) batted confidentlyto register 137 runs for the unbroken second wicket partnership off38.1 overs. While Hussain faced 175 balls and hit eight of them to theropes, Rao faced 94 balls and hit six fours and a six. Andhraoverhauled the Kerala total in 26.2 overs.

Darren Lehmann says he was vetoed by Cricket Australia for a position on the Australian selection panel because he plans to carry on playing in the first-class arena. Lehmann, 35 and dumped from the Test team in December, said he had been sounded out for the role by Cricket Australia executives and other selectors.”But basically if you’re a player or a coach, you’re not allowed to become a selector,” Lehmann, who will captain South Australia next season, said. “I reckon that’s hogwash. But that’s not from Cricket Australia, it’s come from higher up in the board. I’m very disappointed in that, but that’s one of those things and if they want to go down that path, that’s fine.”A Cricket Australia spokesman confirmed the board had decided last week to rule on eligibility for Border’s replacement. “A few names were thrown around as a possible replacement, one of them was Darren,” he said. “A number of candidates had significant state cricket roles and the board thought it would clarify its position. The board wants the best-qualified candidate, but did not believe he should have a significant operational role, such as a player or coach, while he’s a selector.”Allan Border, who joined the panel in February 1998, resigned last April citing growing commitments. Lehmann played 27 Tests and scored 1,798 runs at an average of 44.95.

All Today’s Yesterdays – July 7 down the yearsJuly 6 | July 81989
The end of an era. That might be over-egging it slightly, but it felt as if Steve Waugh had been batting forever when he was finally dismissed for the first time in the series, bowled by England’s debutant seamer Angus Fraser third Test at Edgbaston. It ended 13 hours, four minutes and 393 runs of sheer pain – those 393 runs are an Ashes record. Wisden Cricket Monthly said it was like “watching the final episode of a very long-running serial, the end of which had never realistically been forecast.” Sadly for England, Waugh commissioned umpteen sequels.1981
The end of another painful era for English cricket – and the beginning of a glorious one. Ian Botham’s reign as England captain encompassed no wins in 12 Tests, and reached a nadir when he bagged a pair against Australia at Lord’s. Botham resigned – in a classy touch, the chairman of selectors Alec Bedser later told the world he’d have been sacked anyway – and vowed never again to raise his bat to the Lord’s members. They’d blanked him when he was bowled round his legs by Ray Bright for his second duck. England were in disarray, but within two months they were celebrating perhaps the greatest summer in English cricket history.1856
Birth of George Hearne, the oldest of the three Test-playing Hearne brothers (Frank and Alec were the others), and cousin of the famous JT Hearne. He played only one Test, against South Africa at Cape Town in 1891-92 – Frank was on the opposite side – a match in which he scored 0 and didn’t bowl. But he did take 686 first-class wickets for Kent, at an average of just 17. He died in London in 1932.1958
A debut century. Gloucestershire opener Arthur Milton made a chancy 104 not out for England against New Zealand at Headingley, and England lost just two wickets in winning the match by an innings. Tony Lock and Jim Laker shared 19 wickets as the Kiwis were swept away for 67 and 129. In between England declared on 267 for 2. But Milton played only six Tests, never again making more than 36. He also played one match for England’s football team, after only a few league appearances.1970
In Mumbai, an English left-arm spinner is born. Kent’s Min Patel was the victim of a classic piece of nonsense selection. In 1996 he was given his Test debut – against India, whose batsmen are imperious players of spin. On a green seamer at Edgbaston Patel hardly got a bowl, and then was cuffed around on a Trent Bridge shirtfront. Shane Warne probably knows how he felt. Two years earlier, when New Zealand were in town, Patel had been taking wickets for fun in county cricket, but didn’t get picked. Whether he was Test-class is a moot point; it would have been nice if he’d been given a proper chance to find out.

The Asia Cup is back: the latest incarnation starts in Sri Lanka on Friday (July 16). In contrast to the past, when first India then Pakistan contrived to avoid taking part for one reason or another, all four of Asia’s Test nations will be there. Making up the numbers are the United Arab Emirates and, for the first time, Hong Kong, who made their way here via a qualifying tournament.There’s a fly in the ointment. The matches have been scheduled for a time when it invariably rains in Sri Lanka. (Click here and scroll down for a ten-day weather forecast for Colombo: “Scattered T-Storms” are predicted on each and every day.) Also, as if to make up for all the cricket that is likely to be rained off, the organisers scheduled rather too much of it. After all six teams play a league phase, the four qualifiers play another all-play-all round-robin to determine the finalists.But if the rains hold off, the Asia Cup could still serve up some wonderful cricket. Muttiah Muralitharan will be back in the playing arena, India will be looking to recreate the momentum of the last season at the beginning of this challenging one, Pakistan will play for the first time under their new coach, Bob Woolmer, and Bangladesh, coached by Dav Whatmore, will be out to inflict an upset or two. No offence to Bangladesh, but the tournament will certainly be won by one of the other three.Take a look at the ICC ODI table: Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India occupy places 4 to 6, within four points of one another, with Nos 2 and 3 not far ahead. In fact, all the teams barring Australia are bunched so close together that this season represents a great opportunity for one of them to string together some impressive wins and climb to No. 2, and establish a gap on the others. All of these three teams are capable of doing just that, and the Asia Cup will be a good place to start. This is not just another meaningless one-day tournament; it is a vital cog in the progress of each team.India are coming off some quiet months following the successful tour to Pakistan, and they will be quietly confident. Their batting has been excellent of late, and they have had a problem of plenty: so many fast bowlers were in contention for the squad that they were forced to leave out Ajit Agarkar, and a further quandary will present itself if they decide to play just one specialist spinner, and have to choose between Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, who is returning after injury. Sourav Ganguly has also dropped hints recently that the question of who will open the batting is not yet settled, so that will be interesting to watch. Virender Sehwag has indicated that he would like to score one-day international cricket’s first double-century against one of the minnows, and Sachin Tendulkar also has an eye for records – the India v UAE game on July 16 promises to be exciting for that reason alone.But once the tournament gets serious, India might face a problem if one of their batsmen is injured – there are no back-ups for them in the squad. Either Parthiv Patel, or an extra bowler, might have to come into the side then. Patel had been selected as a specialist wicketkeeper even after the team management had made it perfectly clear that they would ask Rahul Dravid to open, and the management and the selectors need to be on the same wavelength if India are to continue advancing in world cricket.Pakistan will also be a side to watch. My colleague, Osman Samiuddin, commented recently on Pakistan’s refreshing decision to opt for continuity, even after their defeat against India, and that, as well as their move to hire Bob Woolmer, indicates that they mean business. From the era of amateur coaches who beseech their team to “put 150% effort” to a professional age, under one of the finest modern coaches – if Pakistan continue on this road, which India embarked upon when they hired John Wright, it could transform their cricket. Will the first signs of change be visible in this Asia Cup? The world will be watching closely.Both India and Pakistan will be hard-pressed to beat Sri Lanka. At home, and with Murali in their ranks, Sri Lanka are a powerful side. Also, unlike their opponents, they come into this tournament with plenty of recent match practice behind them. Will they be sharp after their battles in Australia, or weary (surely that’s just wishful thinking)?And what can Bangladesh do? They almost won a Test in the West Indies, but beyond that, there are few signs that Whatmore has made much difference to a notoriously diffident side. But the process of becoming a contender from a minnow is a long one, and Whatmore has been down that road before, with Sri Lanka. Does he have enough talent available to repeat that process with them? Can Bangladesh cause an upset or two in this tournament? Well, maybe they can. But first, they must get past the even minnower talents of Hong Kong.Amit Varma is managing editor of Wisden Cricinfo in India.

Nottinghamshire will be without the services of Stephen Fleming during August as he will be captaining New Zealand in Zimbabwe. However, he will be back towards the end of the summer for the conclusion of the Championship and National League.Fleming said: “It’s unfortunate that I will be away from Nottingham at a crucial stage but I have my commitments with New Zealand. The Notts players have shown their qualities in the first half of the season and I have every confidence they will maintain and improve on those standards while I am away. We are in a group of five or six teams who have a chance of the title and I sincerely hope that I can help us finish top of the pile come September.”Fleming is currently sixth in the first-class averages with 727 runs at 72.7, including four hundreds, with a top score of 238.Mick Newell, the director of cricket, said: “We expect Stephen will be missing for five weeks, through August and early September, but he will still have an important part to play in our end of season run-in. We are looking to sign a replacement for the period he is missing and ideally he will be a high calibre batsman who can slot straight into Stephen’s place in the batting order.””We will need to give a lot of thought to the captaincy, but hopefully his influence over the side will still be felt as we aim for the Championship and fight tooth and nail to steer clear of relegation from the National League.”

The former Indian allrounder MJ Gopalan has died at the age of 94 in Chennai. Before his death he was the oldest surviving Test cricketer, a mantle which has now passed to Don Cleverley, who played twice for New Zealand – either side of the war – and who was born on December 23, 1909.Gopalan played his only Test against England at Calcutta in 1933-34, taking one wicket and scoring 18 runs. He was more successful in first-class cricket, taking 194 wickets as a fast bowler as well as scoring 2916 runs in 78 matches.Gopalan was a double international, who also represented India at hockey as a centre-half. In 1936 he was faced with a difficult choice when he was picked for both the cricket tour of England and for the hockey team at the Berlin Olympics. He opted for cricket, arguably an unwise move. He was almost assured of a gold medal at Berlin, but instead he was part of an unhappy tour of England. He had only modest success in the limited opportunities he was given on a trip was marred by some eccentric captaincy from the Maharajah of Vizianagram.A tower of strength in Madras cricket for around 25 years with his allround skills, Gopalan bowled the first delivery in the Ranji Trophy, against Mysore at Madras in November 1934. He also captained them for several years.He was a Test selector in the late 1950s and early ’60s. For about 30 years until the match lapsed in the late 1980s, Madras and Ceylon (later Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka) competed in an annual contest for the Gopalan Trophy.Gopalan’s date of birth, as given in Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, was June 6, 1909. But some reports have suggested he was older than that, having been born in 1906 – which would have made him 97 years old at the time of his death.

Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain, has drawn positives from India’s three-wicket loss to Sri Lanka in the first match of the Indian Oil Cup. Dravid has said that he was impressed by the way the bowlers very nearly won the match for India.He said the fact that they had scored 30 runs too little and that they could not contain Sanath Jayasuriya, who made 43, proved decisive. “If we had enough runs on the board we could have won, but the batsmen did not particularly do well. We could have got Sanath and got 30 more runs,” said Dravid quoted by PTI. He said that the bowlers, who made Sri Lanka toil for their 209 runs, and the youngsters, had done well after a three-month break from cricket. “I am proud of the way the bowlers bowled. I could not have asked for more from them. We have to come back strong from here on”.Dravid admitted that the back spasm that VVS Laxman suffered on the morning of the match had caused some selection problems. He defended the decision to drop Anil Kumble and JP Yadav, even though India were a bowler short, saying that they needed the extra batsman because the batting line-up lacked experience. “Frankly I don’t think the combination was an issue. It was our top order who didn’t come good, I do think it was a 250-run wicket,” said Dravid. “We picked three seamers because the wicket did assist swing bowling and there are lights here. The bowlers did well and fought hard.”Marvan Attapattu, the Sri Lankan captain, admitted that there was scope for improvement and admitted that India had fought well. “They fought back well. But we were fortunate to have Sanath,” he said. “There is room for improvement in all the areas. We will try to improve in our next match which is on August 3.”Sanath Jayasuriya suffered a dislocated shoulder during the Indian innings but came back to play a crucial role in steering Sri Lanka to victory. “That’s [opener] my place. I am happy to bat at number five and win the match for the country,” said Jayasuriya. “I told them [batsmen] to stay at the crease and runs will come.” He said that he was in pain at the start of his innings. “Initially I was in pain since I had just taken the injection and it takes 20 minutes for it to work. I couldn’t cut or pull,” said Jayasuriya who rated his knock as one of his most memorable. “We needed to win and my approach was to occupy the crease and bat till the end.”Dravid was all praise for Sanath Jayasuriya and said that his innings was a lesson for all cricketers. “He was terrfic. To do what he did with his dislocated shoulder was outstanding. He is a champion cricketer,” said Dravid. Atapattu said that Jayasuriya would not have batted had Sri Lanka been in a comfortable position instead of 112 for 5. “But we wanted to be in a position where if something goes wrong we could send him in with an injection.” He said it sometimes became tricky to chase a low total. “A low target could be a tricky one. The approach becomes different and you don’t know whether to score fast or get the run rate going.”

Sussex have been given an injury scare during their crucial Championship match against Lancashire at Hove with Mushtaq Ahmed picking up a groin strain. Mushtaq left the field on the second evening with one ball remaining in his 19th over and didn’t bowl on the third morning.Mushtaq entered the match with pain in his neck and shoulders, but with the current encounter being of such importance in the Championship race – Lancashire started one point ahead at the top of the table – he was battling through the pain.If Mushtaq is forced to miss any Championship action it would be a huge blow to Sussex who are already having to do without Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. Mushtaq has 62 wickets this season and with the pitches becoming more spin-friendly he is Sussex’s trump card in the Championship race.The match at Hove has claimed two high-profile casualties, with Dominic Cork injuring a finger while taking a catch at slip and needing hospital treatment for a dislocation.