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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
AB de Villiers put the finishing touches on a comfortable win•AFP

South Africa, led by Roelof van der Merwe and Wayne Parnell with the ball and AB de Villiers with the bat, recovered from their opening-game loss to beat New Zealand in Centurion. New Zealand struggled to put up runs after being put in under slightly overcast conditions, with van der Merwe starring with ten cunning overs while Parnell claimed five wickets.Ross Taylor played a responsible innings that gave New Zealand stability after they were reduced to 92 for 3, but losing their last seven wickets for 51 was a crime. With this win, impossible without de Villiers’ cool half-century, Group B is now wide open with England yet to play a match.The pitch was the same one used a couple of days ago when South Africa were mauled by Sri Lanka, but the result was very different. Early on it offered more pace and bounce than the track on which Tillakaratne Dilshan blazed away, but as the afternoon wore on stroke play became increasingly tougher, especially against the older ball. By the time New Zealand were midway into their innings, after Parnell took two early wickets, the spinners found appreciable bounce and the abrasive nature of the pitch made the ball grip the surface.van der Merwe and Johan Botha bowled with control and the effort was complemented by the attacking fields Graeme Smith set, which played a major role in suffocating the batsmen. Runs came at a trickle with New Zealand managing just 72 between the 15th and 35th overs. During that span, the spinners conceded just three boundaries.Taylor had a few close shaves against van der Merwe but overcame his nerves to play a substantial role. He was pleasing when cracking the ball in the arc between point and gully but more than those odd field perforations his contribution was valuable for the manner in which he shored up the pressure of seeing New Zealand through difficulty. Grant Elliott had his moments of indecision when balls from van der Merwe just about missed the edge of the bat, yet managed to pierce the wall of fielders with some excellent shots through cover.His dismissal for 39, bowled by a peach from van der Merwe, snapped a 71-run stand and allowed South Africa back spectacularly. The last five fell for 11 runs in 18 balls, with Parnell nipping out three in the batting Powerplay, and that decided the match. Taylor had carried the innings but the lack of sizeable partnerships hurt them: there were four stands of 30 or more, but none topped 71 as South Africa plugged away. The bowlers did a fine job, and the sharp turn the spinners achieved suggested that batting in the evening would be even more difficult.This is where de Villiers made the difference. Smith failed to get going, chipping Daryl Tuffey to mid-on, after which Jacques Kallis briefly put New Zealand on the back foot. Kallis biffed a 39-ball 36, batting as if the world was his stage, but his dismissal left de Villiers to shepherd the chase.Warning of de Villiers’ intentions came early with two sumptuous drives down the ground off Daryl Tuffey. He didn’t lag thereafter, embellishing his presence with lovely clips off the pads and excellent judgment of singles and doubles. Daniel Vettori got sharp bite and used his arm ball well, and it was with one that gently turned that he sent Hashim Amla on his way for 38 from 65 deliveries. Kyle Mills returned and was the beneficiary of a wicket as an attempted cut from JP Duminy went off the bottom edge and Brendon McCullum took a sharp catch.de Villiers refused to panic. He collected the singles, punished the loose balls, and didn’t buckle under the pressure exerted by a tight spell from Vettori. Singles were vital to South Africa’s progress yet sporadically, to give the fans something to purr about, de Villiers found the boundary. He brought up his 19th ODI fifty off 54 balls and Mark Boucher seemed set to seal the win with him until he lost his concentration in the 36th over. South Africa, though, already had the game wrapped up.

Kevin McClean, the 21-year-old Combined Campuses and Colleges allrounder, has been named replacement for the injured Daren Powell in West Indies’ squad for the Champions Trophy.Powell was named in the original 15-man squad but failed to recover from a groin strain that could keep him out for four to six weeks. The ICC’s technical committee approved McClean as Powell’s replacement. Powell was included in the preliminary 30-man squad despite reportedly turning down the chance to be part of the West Indies side after Chris Gayle and Co. decided to strike. According to , Powell wrote a letter to the board informing of his injury and visited the WICB medical doctor, who will file a report on his injury.McClean, who made his first-class debut in 2008, has scored 291 runs and taken 39 wickets, from 13 matches.

Australia 340 for 9 dec (Watson 95, Hussey 65) beat England Lions 237 (Dalrymple 58, Lee 3-37) by 103 runs
ScorecardBrett Lee took three wickets but is an unlikely selection for The Oval•PA Photos

And, now, the selection headache. Australia turned in a clinical and collaborative bowling performance against the England Lions on Sunday, but with no individual radically advancing his cause, the make-up of the tourists’ line-up for the fifth Test will remain a mystery for several days yet.Brett Lee was statistically the best of the Australian bowlers in Canterbury, removing both openers and skittling Liam Plunkett later in the day for figures of 3 for 37 from 16 overs. It seems highly unlikely, however, that his performance will be enough to convince selectors to part ways with one of the four incumbent fast bowlers who propelled Australia to victory inside three days at Headingley last week.Lee, in his first competitive outing in six weeks, began inauspiciously on Saturday evening but increased in pace and intensity on the second morning. His endeavours were rewarded with the wickets of Joe Sayers and Stephen Moore before lunch – the latter to a brilliant, diving catch from Simon Katich at point – but Lee reserved his highlight-reel moment for Plunkett. Unleashing a fast, full delivery, Lee scythed through Plunkett’s defences to splay the stumps, then watched on as one of the bails was pilfered by a souvenir-seeking seagull and flown to a nearby roof. “We were trying to see if he was going to eat it,” Nathan Hauritz said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”Australia’s main selection battle ahead of the Oval Test – that which pitches Hauritz against Stuart Clark for the final bowling berth – remained unresolved on Sunday, with both proving more probing than prolific. Hauritz dismissed Andrew Gale and Steve Davies in consecutive deliveries after the lunch break, and Clark accounted for James Harris, Glamorgan’s teenage allrounder, later in the day, but neither could manage a definitive knockout blow in their bid to impress Andrew Hilditch’s panel.Hilditch intimated last week the Australians would lean towards their preferred three-quicks-one-spinner formation for the Ashes decider, although the final decision will be largely influenced by conditions. Clark could feel justifiably aggrieved if overlooked for the fifth Test given his major contribution to Australia’s innings-and-80-run victory at Headingley, and his solid outing in Canterbury. Steven Kirby incurred his wrath with three bouncers to the helmet, but Harris would be his only victim of the day, caught by Chris Hartley, Australia’s replacement wicketkeeper, in the 76th over of the innings.Potentially working in Clark’s favour ahead of the fifth Test were the performances of the part-time spinners, Katich and Marcus North, both of whom claimed a wicket and reaffirmed themselves as legitimate bowling options. Hauritz, though, remains Australia’s preferred choice, and did his selection chances no harm with 16 controlled overs.”Selection will come down to how the wicket is and what they think the best mix is,” Hauritz said. “It will just come down to how the conditions are. The wicket may still be dry and they might want to take four quicks. If picked, I know I’ll do my role well. Every time I’ve had the opportunity I’ve done that.”Every Test you play you learn more about yourself and what you can or can’t do. Before I came out I was labelled a defensive bowler who didn’t spin the ball. But I think I’ve shown on a spinning wicket what I can do. That defensive tag was weird but I can’t change people’s perception. I suppose that came about because I didn’t spin it that much when I first started. It doesn’t really faze me. I can also play a role even if it’s not spinning. I think I’ve done okay.”

Sri Lankan offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan has said he will retire from Test cricket next year. Murali, who is the highest wicket-taker in Tests with 770 wickets in 127 Tests, announced that the two-Test home series against West Indies in November 2010 would be his last.Speaking at the end of the first ODI against Pakistan, in which he won the Man-of-the-Match award, the 37-year-old Murali said he would focus on playing one-day cricket until the 2011 World Cup, to be held in the subcontinent, and would thereafter stick to Twenty20 cricket.”I am not going to play for a long time. Next year’s West Indies series will be the last two Test matches I will be playing,” Muralitharan said. “That’s the right time for me because I will be 38 years old. The 2011 World Cup is my aim, but I will enjoy playing Twenty20 cricket for a few more years.”The hardest game in cricket is Tests. The hardest part is you have to take wickets and get batsmen out and sometimes you have to spend two days on the field. You have to mentally prepare yourself for every game. In Twenty20, you look to contain the batsmen and he tries some shots and gets out. Fifty-over cricket is also the same. In Test cricket you have to read the batsmen, set the fields properly and get the wickets.”Muralitharan missed Sri Lanka’s 2-0 win in the recent three-Test series against Pakistan due to a torn tendon in his right knee, which could be one of the factors in his decision.”I put in a lot of effort in the last one month to be fit,” said Muralitharan. “I trained very hard with the physio Tommy [Simsek] and trainers Jade [Roberts] and Mario [Villavarayan] who helped me to get through the difficult period. I also enjoyed the rest. I trained hard although I knew my knee was not right.

“The doctors said that I have to go through with it and train harder. I can’t go for an operation because I will be out for six to seven months. That will mean my career is almost over and that I am not going to play for a long time.”A torn tendon is a very big injury and it will take a long time to heal. The best suggestion was for me to rest for two to three weeks, train hard and play with a little pain. I was prepared to go through with it. The doctors said that I can definitely play with the injury for about one to two years but in the end when I finish I will have to operate on it.”Muralitharan, who once harboured hopes of becoming the first bowler in Test history to take 1000 wickets, said the lack of Test cricket for Sri Lanka had made it difficult for him to achieve the milestone.”If I am to get 1000 Test wickets we have to play Test matches regularly,” Muralitharan said. “These days we play fewer Test matches.”In 2010, Sri Lanka have only the two-Test series at home against West Indies to look forward to. However, Muralitharan said 800 wickets would be a more realistic target as Sri Lanka are due to play two home Tests against New Zealand starting next month, followed by three Tests in India at the end of the year.Muralitharan made his Test debut against Australia in 1992, and became Test cricket’s leading wicket-taker when he went past Shane Warne’s record of 708 wickets against England in December 2007, fittingly on his home ground in Kandy. He achieved the grand double of being the highest wicket-taker in ODIs as well when he went past Wasim Akram’s record of 502 wickets in 2009.He currently has 507 ODI wickets from the 330 ODIs played, at an average of 22.74. He has also featured in eight Twenty20 internationals, picking up 11 wickets at 16.81.

Sri Lankan spinner Rangana Herath is confident about his team pulling off a victory the third and final Test, provided they bat the way they did in the final two sessions of play on the fourth day at the SSC. “The pitch is spinning but not alarmingly,” Herath said. “You have to treat each ball on its merits. There is a little extra bounce at the press box end, otherwise there is no danger. It might take slow turn but it is not turning as much as it did at Galle and at Sara Oval.”The 31-year-old said the dismissal of Mahela Jayawardene was a ‘big blow’ but remained optimistic that the rest of the batting could chase down the massive total of 492. Sri Lanka finished the fourth day at 183 for 3, still requiring 309 on the final day with seven wickets in hand.Herath, who took only his second five-for in an innings during a ten-year Test career since his debut in 1999, provided the little joy for Sri Lanka and was responsible for getting crucial breakthroughs. He also bagged his 50th Test wicket, dismissing Umar Gul for 46.”If I had got similar opportunities the way I have in this series I would have obtained more Test wickets for my country,” Herath said. “But, only 11 can play in a team and on most occasions there is room for only two spinners. I need to grab whatever opportunities come my way. This series has been the highlight of my career. My conscience says that I have been bowling well in the last 10-15 years.”Even on occasions when I don’t take a wicket I am confident that I have bowled well. It is because of the patience and belief that I have in myself I was able to take five wickets in the second innings although I went wicketless in the first.”Herath’s wicket tally for the three-Test series stood at 15, at an average of 26.93. And given the dream run, he hoped for the best in the future. “Whether the selectors want to continue with me once Muralitharan is fit and they want to bring Mendis in is upto the selectors,” Herath said. “All what I can say is if I am given the opportunity I am always ready to play for my country.”