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Scorecard1st day

Although Bradman had revealed dazzling form in an inter-state match, his six innings against English bowling had been 3, 10, 36, 13, 18 and 23. It was obvious that, against the fast leg-side attack, he lacked his normal confidence. Bradman seemed jaded mentally – a condition to which a contributing factor was the stress of efforts to have his press contract sanctioned by the Board of Control. The result was that two doctors, who examined him on the eve of the Test, pronounced him not in a fit condition to play, although organically sound. Neither of the slow right-hand bowlers, Brown nor Mitchell, was included in the English XI, and the other four omitted were Tate, Duckworth, Bowes and Paynter. Magnificent bowling by Larwood, who dominated the attack, put England on top early. Several Australian batsmen wore chest-pads as well as thigh-pads, and there was an outcry about leg tactics, although Worrall, the former international, who is probably the soundest critic in Australia, wrote: “Larwood opened with an orthodox field and although later this was changed and he bowled outside the leg stump, it was legitimate fast bowling as far as he was concerned. Voce’s half-pitched slingers on the body-line provided about the poorest attempt at what should be Test bowling it is possible to conceive. Even Larwood bowled ten on the leg to one on the wicket, and Voce did not bowl half a dozen balls on the wicket in 24 overs.” Woodfull won the toss and although Ponsford made a determined stand until after lunch, Australia’s first four wickets fell for 87. Attempting an on stroke against one of Larwood’s straight balls, Ponsford moved too far across and left his leg stump open. In the next two hours, Richardson and McCabe carried on to 216. As the sting of the attack lessened, McCabe began to score freely with strong on strokes, cuts behind point, and good drives.Richardson was rather unluckily out at 216, for he hit a ball beautifully to square leg where Hammond brought off a fine catch. Oldfield never settled down, but Grimmett managed to stay, and when stumps were drawn the total was 290 for six, McCabe not out 127 and Grimmett not out 17.2nd day
When the game was resumed the English bowlers quickly met with success, but with Wall as his partner, McCabe by “death or glory ” methods scored with delightful freedom and hit up 60 in less than an hour before the innings closed. Wall’s share of the last wicket stand of 55 was only 4. McCabe batted four hours and hit 25 boundaries. The best batting he had shown on a good wicket was produced by Sutcliffe in an excellent opening partnership of 112 with Wyatt, who was confident with all the bowlers but Grimmett. When 43 Sutcliffe had a very narrow escape as he played a ball from O’Reilly onto his stumps without disturbing the bails, but at the drawing of stumps he was 116 not out, Hammond 87 not out, and the total 252 for one. Hammond was in his best form, his footwork against Grimmett being perfect and his driving most powerful. He reached his 50 in 57 minutes.3rd day
The wicket was still good when Sutcliffe and Hammond continued their partnership, which was not broken until 300 had been reached.Their stand of 188 for England’s second wicket surpassed the previous record of 152 by W. Gunn and Shrewsbury in 1893 at Lord’s. There were 15 boundary strokes in Hammond’s 112, and 13 in Sutcliffe’s 194, which occupied 7 hours and was the Yorkshireman’s individual record against Australia. The way for a colossal total was paved when the board showed 423 for 2, but Wall summoned up a great effort and when stumps were drawn the score was 479 for 6, Pataudi not out 80.4th day
Emulating Ranjitsinhji and Duleepsinhji, Pataudi gained the distinction of scoring a century in his first Test against Australia. Neat in his footwork, he was extremely cautious, and scored most of his runs behind the wicket. Australia’s hopes of making a fight were dashed by a disastrous opening in their second innings. McCabe and Richardson fell to successive balls from Hammond, and a stubborn 40 by Fingleton was to score. An innings defeat seemed likely, but Wall helped Nagel in a tail-end stand and 164 for 9 was reached at the close of play. Ames missed stumping Nagel and thus caused the game to last until the fifth day.5th day
After Allen had bowled a maiden to Nagel, Voce dismissed O’Reilly with his third ball with no addition to the score. Larwood was the outstanding figure of the England attack. His 49 overs for 10 wickets was a herculean effort. He stuck to his heavy duty with great heart, although troubled by a strained left side in the second innings. At one stage he had only two fieldsmen on the off side, and his control was as impressive as his pace. It was clear that the Notts fast bowler would be a match-winning factor for as long as he continued in this form. Australia’s steady and persistent bowling was better equipped with spin types, but contained nothing approaching the dynamic influence of a Larwood. To ensure that his energy would he conserved, he was not called on to bowl again until the second Test. In one spell Larwood bowled 10 overs for 17 runs and four wickets.

Ali Bacher, the former chief executive of the United Cricket Board, is making good progress after his second heart bypass surgeryBacher underwent heart surgery yesterday at the Morningside Medi-Clinic and according to the clinic he was “amazed” at how techniques had changed since his last heart bypass operation 25 years ago. “I really feel strong and healthy today,” he told staff.”Only one in 30 of our patients have bypasses these days. However, recent research has raised some questions about the long term durability of stents,” John Benjamin, Bacher’s cardiologist, told the news agency.”In Bacher’s unusual case, stenting his old bypass graft would have been technically simple, but we chose the long term proven safety of a modern arterial bypass instead,” added Benjamin. It was not immediately known when Bacher would be discharged.

There is little to play for at the Telstra Dome tomorrow save individual pride and records. The cynics were predicting a contrived dream finish for the series on Friday morning, but Australia had little regard for the ideal script, and their clinical demolition of a star-studded World team has robbed the final match of all significance and occasion. The only tangible gain for the World XI could be some meaningful practice for some of their leading batsmen before the Test that starts at the Sydney Cricket Ground next week.The performances of some of the leading World batsmen has been the most disappointing factor in this one-sided series so far. Between them, Virender Sehwag, Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara and Rahul Dravid have managed only 81 runs in two innings, 22 less than what Adam Gilchrist scored in one. These four will form the backbone of the Test XI, where they will come up against a more formidable Australian bowling attack that will include Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.Lara and Kallis came to the series with very little competitive cricket in recent times and looked completely out of sync. Lara has lasted only 15 balls so far, being dismissed in identical fashion twice, driving Nathan Bracken to Andrew Symonds’s lap at cover. Sehwag, whose continued failure in one-day cricket should be a major concern, got out in a manner that that should be a cue for the Australian bowlers in the Test. He has a tendency to be caught on the front foot against sharp short balls and Brett Lee got him fending one in front of his face.Ironically, the World XI are set to lose their most successful batsman in the series so far after the one-day games because the selectors reckoned Mark Boucher was a better bet behind the stumps than Kumar Sangakkara on a potentially turning pitch at Sydney. That Sangakkara has far greater experience in keeping to Muttiah Muralitharan was apparently of little consequence before Boucher’s expertise against a line-up of spinners where Nicky Boje is the most distinguished member. Coincidentally, Chris Gayle, the only other World team batsman to have scored a fifty so far, will also head home after Sunday’s match.The World team failed to announce their 12 the day before the match because they are still unsure about the fitness of Kevin Pietersen, who left the field clutching his hamstring in the last over of Australia’s innings on Friday and later batted with a runner. His condition was not serious, said John Wright, the World team coach. A scan has shown a slight strain and a decision will be made on Sunday morning. It might be a folly to risk him in a meaningless match considering England are about to embark on a significant tour to Pakistan shortly.Australia have their own injury worry with Simon Katich – who has been a successful replacement for Matthew Hayden, scoring 58 and 47 in the first two matches – receiving treatment for a groin injury. If Katich is found unfit, Australia might field James Hopes, the 26-year old allrounder, who has opened in one-day cricket for Queensland.But Australia will be boosted by the return of Glenn McGrath who sat out the second match and he will be doing no favours to the World team batsmen before the Test.Likely teamsWorld XI1 Chris Gayle, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Rahul Dravid, 5 Jacques Kallis, 6 Brian Lara, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Andrew Flintoff, 9 Shaun Pollock (capt), 10 Daniel Vettori, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan, 12 Makhaya Ntini.Australia1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 James Hopes, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Michael Hussey, 6 Michael Clarke, 7 Shane Watson, 8 Andrew Symonds, 9 Cameron White, 10 Brett Lee, 11 Glenn McGrath, 12 Nathan Bracken.

England 197 for 5 (Bell 75, Vaughan 56) beat Zimbabwe 195 (Chigumbura 52, Gough 3-34) by five wickets
Scorecard

England won the opening one-dayer of this four match series at Harare Sports Club by five wickets – if the margin of victory gave the impression that this was a contest, the result wasn’t ever in doubt. England cruised, losing late wickets as concentration and enthuasiam drifted and running between the wickets took on a comedy air. The performance was unspectacular and somewhat clinical, but a win was what a ring-rusty side needed after the traumas of the last few days.To give credit to Zimbabwe, they played as well as anyone expected. Their enthusiasm was evident, as was that of the crowd, but sadly so was the enormous gulf between the sides. In an interview on the BBC this morning, former ECB chairman Lord MacLaurin described them as “a third-rate side … a bunch of club cricketers.” That was a little harsh, but not that wide of the mark.Zimbabwe’s innings only spluttered into life in the opening overs, when Stuart Matsikenyeri and Brendan Taylor benefited from Darren Gough and Anderson’s profligacy, and later during a breezy sixth-wicket stand of 82 between Dion Ebrahim and Elton Chigumbura.

The 18-year-old Chigumbura is one of the youngsters who has grasped the chance given by recent conflicts and looked a genuine international prospect. He showed few nerves and tremendous confidence, albeit with a lack of self-control as highlighted by the heave which eventually cost him his wicket, but his 47-ball 52 brought a decent-sized crowd to life. He signalled his intent with a top-edged four over the wicketkeeper, but a subsequent straight six and clubbed pull through midwicket were class.The shame was that both he and the dreary Ebrahim fell within five balls at a time England were just beginning to look a little ragged. Early successes after Vaughan had won the toss, aided by three top-order batsmen playing on, had given way to frustration. Zimbabwe’s naivete was underlined by the way their tail succumbed to a series of swishes and ridiculous run-outs.Their most unnecessary own goal involved Mark Vermeulen and Ebrahim, two of the more experienced players. They had briefly stopped the rot after Zimbabwe had lost three quick wickets when Vermeulen was run out by a superb diving stop and throw by Andrew Strauss at backward point – the misunderstanding was such that the batsmen had barely crossed at the moment of the direct hit.All England’s bowlers, with the exception Alex Wharf in his opening spell, struggled at times, and the total of 17 wides might have been decisive against any other opponents. But it was preferable England got it out of their system against Zimbabwe before heading south in eight days time.Chasing 196 – about 50 short of anything likely to cause real jitters -England lost Vikram Solanki for 7 early on, but then a stand of 111 in 23 overs between Ian Bell (rarely can a debutant have faced a more friendly international attack) and Vaughan ended the contest.

Christopher Mpofu, 19 yesterday and making his debut, bowled a superb opening spell, conceding six off five overs, but otherwise there was far too much inconsistency to trouble the batsmen. Entrusted with the new ball, Tinashe Panyangara lacked any control, and the experienced Hondo wasn’t much better. Only the introduction of some fairly ordinary spin upset England’s applecart.Vaughan departed for 56, falling short attempting to heave Stuart Matsikenyeri airily over the midwicket boundary, and then Andrew Strauss spooned an attempted drive back to Matsikenyeri for 8.With two inexperienced batsmen – Bell and debutant Kevin Pietersen – at the crease – a little pressure might have brought another wicket. But Tatenda Taibu held back, probably as a result of spending almost all his brief career as captain on the back foot. Although Bell somehow contrived to nick the innocuous offspin of Taylor to Taibu for 75 and then Paul Collingwood ran himself out, it was too little, far too late.One suspects that this represented Zimbabwe’s best chance of an uspet. England now know their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and have dusted off many of their own accumulated cobwebs. It should be one-way traffic hereon in.Martin Williamson is managing editor of Wisden Cricinfo

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.

For India, the second Castle Lager/MTN Test match against South Africa starting at St George’s Park on Friday is something of a "do-or-die" affair. That’s not the Indian perspective, mind, but the view of the home captain, Shaun Pollock.Speaking on Thursday as rain forced the South Africans into the St George’s Park indoor nets, Pollock said: "It’s a bit of a do-or-die for them, but that’s what happens in a three-Test series. Every game becomes vital. There’s not really time to mess one up."If Pollock does get tense and nervous before a Test match, he rarely shows it. And you could say that being one-up with two Tests to go entitles him to be relaxed. Still, he feels that the gap between the two sides in Bloemfontein was not as pronounced as South Africa’s nine-wicket winning margin suggests."I think our first innings batting was the vital part," he said. "To get 370 … for us to get a lead was important, so I don’t think the margin was that big. Obviously you can read things into it once you’ve seen the result, but I don’t think it was as far apart as that."The South African captain said that he would prefer to keep the combination together that won the first Test, indicating that Jacques Rudolph, added to the South African squad this week, would probably have to wait to make his Test debut.And he confirmed that Nantie Hayward, stricken by a stomach bug on Wednesday, had reported fit on Thursday and would play. "He’s better today," said Pollock. "His stomach’s recovered. He’s probably a bit hungry today, but he’s fine."Although it was still heavily overcast in Port Elizabeth at lunchtime on Thursday, the early morning rain had stopped. Sunny weather is forecast for Friday, but there could be some moisture about and the captain winning the toss could be tempted to exploit whatever help is provided by the pitch by electing to bowl first.

ScorecardJames Hildreth made his fourth first-class hundred of the season•Getty Images

James Hildreth helped himself to a fourth first-class century of the season as Somerset batted themselves into a strong position against Worcestershire on the first day of their LV= County Championship game at Taunton.The 30-year-old batsman began the season in fine form with centuries in April against the MCC and Middlesex, but this was his first since scoring a fine 115 against the touring New Zealanders on May 11 and it helped Somerset to 349 for 5 at stumps.Having chosen to bowl first, Worcestershire briefly thought that day one would belong to them when Jack Shantry trapped Johann Myburgh lbw for nought, at 8 for 1.However, on a wicket that gave the Worcestershire seamers plenty of early encouragement, Marcus Trescothick and Tom Cooper added 108 for the second wicket before the latter edged Joe Leach to Alex Gidman at 116 for 2.Cooper might have been short of first-class runs this season, but he struck the ball positively and was understandably miffed when he picked out the former Gloucestershire captain Gidman at first slip, three balls after lunch.Trescothick continued to bat with due care and attention and having passed 23,000 first-class runs during the morning session and 50 from 94 balls, shortly before lunch, he was eventually bowled by Brett D’Oliveira for 85, at 209 for 3.It was not only an innings of significance in terms of the game, but one that rolled back the years. The 39-year-old county captain took precious few chances throughout his 175-ball stay at the crease, but punished anything that was either too full or short and wide.Hildreth picked up where Trescothick left off and passed 13,000 first-class runs in between lunch and tea. His half-century came off 63 balls with ninefours and with Jim Allenby providing solid support at the opposite end, Somerset edged ever closer to maximum batting points.The fourth-wicket pair took 18 overs to post their 50 partnership, with Hildreth reaching three figures off the fifth ball of the 80th over. He faced 143 deliveries and hit 17 fours.To their credit, Worcestershire continued to bowl with purpose, but with Hildreth looking better and better by the over, Somerset continued to make hay. Hildreth and Allenby registered the highest partnership of the day, with the latter becoming the fourth batsman to pass 50, with eight overs remaining.Shantry eventually found the outside edge of Allenby’s bat at 331 for 4, but that disappointment apart, it was a decent day for Somerset.

New Zealand’s coach Mike Hesson has expressed his disappointment that the Basin Reserve pitch offered little seam movement for the fast men after the first session of the match. In the lead-up to the Test it was at times hard to determine which strip on the pitch square was to be used, such was the consistent grass cover, but Hesson said he would have liked it “much greener than it was” on match morning.The toss proved significant as Steven Smith called correctly, sent New Zealand in and Australia rolled them for 183 before tea. Although New Zealand picked up a couple of early wickets in Australia’s first innings the pitch flattened out much quicker than many of the players expected, and the Australians were able to go on and post 562 in their only innings.”I would’ve liked this to be much greener than it was,” Hesson said on Tuesday. “It certainly only seamed for two hours and I think that meant that both sides weren’t able to be exposed in those conditions. It’s a bit different when it seams for two hours, it makes the toss a little bit more important.””Ideally you want both sides to have a bit of a crack at it if it does seam. You look at the wickets we lost in the first session they were all from good length deliveries and they were able to get the ball to move off the straight and expose some of our techniques. That’s something we’d like to think if we were in a similar situation we’d be able to do something similar.”We had four guys out defending in the first hour. I don’t think that’s mental error; there are times that you have to accept that they put the ball in good areas, the ball seams you’re going to nick it. When the ball seams you do end up playing a little bit wider than you’d like to. We certainly did that in the first hour or so.”However, Hesson acknowledged that it was up to the batsmen to work out a way of coping in the seaming conditions, given the likelihood of a similar pitch in Christchurch on Saturday for the second Test. Although the New Zealand top order performed better in the second innings in Wellington, including with an 81-run opening stand, by then Australia were too far ahead in the match.”We faced different conditions throughout the match,” Hesson said. “We were challenged in the first session and if we were able to get through three down instead of five, possibly things could have been a little bit different. That’s something we’re going to have to get right in the next Test because likely we’ll face conditions that will seam as well.”The other notable factor in the second innings was the reverse swing that Australia’s fast bowlers managed to master early in the innings. The uncertainty that it created in the minds of the New Zealand batsmen contributed to the downfall of Kane Williamson, who was so productive in the recent Test series in Australia but made only 16 and 22 in the Wellington Test.”When you’re getting it to swing both ways that’s a challenge,” Hesson said. “Batsmen were talking about it a lot yesterday afternoon in terms of different ways to combat it. Kane’s better than most in terms of being able to adjust his game but when the ball reverses both ways it’s challenging and you need to think about what is the most challenging delivery – the ball that’s attacking your stumps or the one going away.”Every player has a slightly different technique on that. To be fair in New Zealand you don’t get a lot of reverse swing 18 overs into a game on day three. It’s something we face a heck of a lot more on the subcontinent than something we do here.”

Following Pakistan’s narrow five-run defeat to India in the ICC World Twenty20 final at the Wanderers, former Pakistan captains criticised the team for not overcoming its jinx against India in major tournaments and blamed the batting for the loss. Wasim Akram and Intikhab Alam praised both teams for making the final a memorable one while Javed Miandad lashed out at the lack of planning when Pakistan were set to chase 158.This was Pakistan’s second consecutive defeat to India in the tournament after the first was settled in a bowl-out after the scores were tied. Pakistan lost to India in all their World Cup encounters and their solitary win in a major tournament came during the Champions Trophy in England in 2004.”It’s a repeat and it will hurt the fans and players alike for some time. But apart from that jinx both teams played superbly and cricket was the winner,” Wasim Akram told . “It was a close game and the better team won. No regrets. It was only a game and people have to take it as a game and must appreciate the quality of cricket.”Akram however wasn’t pleased with the shot selection of a few senior batsmen. Both Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi fell to lofted strokes while Misbah-ul-Haq, who nearly took Pakistan home in the final over, perished trying to scoop Joginder Sharma to fine leg, a risky stroke given the circumstances.”I would blame Pakistani batsmen Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi for their reckless strokes,” he said. “In the end Misbah-ul-Haq should have played a straight bat shot.”Commenting on the positives to emerge from Pakistan’s campaign, Akram singled out Shoaib Malik for his leadership and added that Pakistan had the potential to lift the next World Cup.”Shoaib Malik has emerged as a great captain and the way he led the team from the front, I see Pakistan winning the World Cup in 2011.”Miandad came down hard on the decision to promote Kamran Akmal at No. 3, ahead of Malik who was in good form. RP Singh dismissed Akmal for a third-ball duck, bowled after swinging across the line.”We have maintained our losing streak to India in World Cup matches and I would blame poor planning for that,” Miandad said. “Why did Malik not come in at No. 3 instead of Kamran Akmal?”Alam acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts in reaching the final after a difficult few months following their shocking exit from the World Cup in the West Indies earlier this year.”The World Cup jinx continues and India seems to have an edge over us in all World Cup matches,” Alam said. “But I am grateful to the Pakistan team for making the final a fitting one.”

The 2007 English county season will begin on April 13 at Lord’s with Sussex, the county champions, taking on MCC in the traditional opening fixture. Sussex, who yesterday found out they will still have the services of Chris Adams, then open their defence of the title with a home meeting with Kent on April 18.The fixture list, released today by the ECB, has pitted the Championship runners-up Lancashire in an away tie against Warwickshire at Edgbaston while newly promoted Surrey will face Yorkshire in the first set of matches.The 50-over one-day trophy, still searching for a new sponsor after C&G ended their association last season, starts on April 22 and the group stage runs until June 13. In the one tweak to the tournament, four teams will progress to a new semi-final stage instead of the two top teams moving straight to the final. The semis are pencilled in for June 20 and the final will be at Lord’s on August 18.Once again The Twenty20 group stages take place over a concentrated two-week period at the height of summer. Leicestershire, the holders, start with a home match at Grace Road on June 22 against Yorkshire. The quarter-finals will take pace on July 17 and 18 with four teams progressing to finals day at Edgbaston on August 4.The Pro40 begins on July 13 with a floodlit Division One game between Worcestershire and Hampshire at New Road and the competition features a further 22 matches under lights in the second half of the summer.