New South Wales Breakers survived a late collapse to stumble across the line by one wicket in a thrilling first final at Melbourne’s Central Reserve. The Breakers looked set to overhaul Victoria Spirit’s 136 and needed only two runs with three wickets in hand.But the loss of 2 for 0 within nine balls put the game back up for grabs until a wide and a single nudged New South Wales home. The Breakers, last year’s champions, were well led in their chase by Kate Blackwell (41) but Cathryn Fitzpatrick’s 4 for 29 from ten overs ensured a tight finish.Fitzpatrick began well, taking two wickets as New South Wales stumbled to 2 for 16. But Blackwell steadied and pushed her side close enough to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three finals series.Victoria’s batsmen struggled to convert starts and were bowled out in the 47th over. Charlotte Anneveld and Rene Farrell claimed three each as the home side failed to build a threatening partnership. Jessica Cameron, 17, top-scored with 28 but she was one of five in the innings to reach double-figures and fall short of a big score.
Australia suffocated under a massive total set up by Sanath Jayasuriya’s century-making return from a shoulder injury as Sri Lanka sealed their second win of the VB Series. Jayasuriya’s brilliant 114 from 96 balls bounced the tourists to a massive 7 for 309 and while Australia felt in touch on a couple of occasions they were unable to conquer the unusual situation and lost by 51 runs.Trying a strange line-up that omitted the in-form Phil Jaques and Glenn McGrath, Australia were punished for their experiments as their back-up seamers were thrashed and the opening batsmen missed their chances to push for longer stints in the current roles. Sri Lanka carried the vibe of their wonderful batting performance into the field and Australia suffered a poor start – the required run-rate was already above seven at 3 for 41 in the 13th over – to place too much pressure on the rest of the order.Michael Clarke spent ten balls on zero before making a useful 67 and when he was partnered by Andrew Symonds, who crashed 31 in 32 balls, Australia were hopeful, but as Symonds departed to a horrible mix-up at 6 for 184 the cause was downgraded to hopeless. Sri Lanka, the world’s No. 7 team after a poor run in New Zealand and India, have beaten both of their top-two rivals in the past week and this success was due to the clever changes of pace from their seamers, the spinning problems created by Malinga Bandara, who captured 4 for 58, and Jayasuriya’s inimitable strokeplay.”Everything is falling in place and everyone wants to keep going the way they are going,” Marvan Atapattu said. “It’s all about winning habits. There was a time when we couldn’t chase 225, but everything falls into place when you’re winning.”Jayasuriya left the one-day tour of New Zealand earlier this month after falling in the shower and hurting his shoulder, but he showed no signs of discomfort – or slipping – as he flayed his third century at the SCG. Arriving in Sydney on Friday, Jayasuriya shook off the jetlag with a 39-ball fifty and his hundred arrived 46 deliveries later to give his side a stunning start against the world champions.In a 163-run partnership with Kumar Sangakkara, whose sweet 78 from 95 was delicious support, Jayasuriya lifted a sleepy start with a burst of fierce boundaries once Nathan Bracken and Brett Lee finished their opening spells. Brett Dorey was thrashed for 34 off four overs and quickly Supersubbed while James Hopes went for 36 from three, including 19 from his first, as Sri Lanka reached 100 in the 16th over.The onslaught forced Ricky Ponting, who refused to delay the Powerplays, to bring back both Lee and Bracken, who collected 2 for 40 from nine, to stop the demolition and he spent the remainder of the innings constantly reshuffling. The changes didn’t worry Jayasuriya and he continued to trouble Australia until he started to cramp.Jayasuriya’s boundary blasting – he hit ten fours and four sixes – ended when he played a weary shot and was stumped off Brad Hogg at 2 for 187. Sri Lanka used the platform extremely well and careered past the 300-mark thanks to Mahela Jayawardene’s 56 off 48 balls and a late 31 from Marvan Atapattu.Ponting also adjusted his batting line-up after the early problems and Brad Haddin was employed at No. 5, pushing Symonds and Michael Hussey back to seven and eight. Haddin was the most comfortable of Australia’s batsmen until he was bowled between his legs by Muralitharan’s doosra for 41, but the gamble stole time from his senior and regular team-mates.Haddin makes way for Adam Gilchrist this week after a two-game stint and there will be further questions over the make-up of the opening pair following Jaques’s 94 in Melbourne on Friday and the failures of Damien Martyn and Simon Katich. Ponting worried about his batting order after the previous match and his concerns remained tonight.Under severe run-making pressure, Australia could not find regular fluency and needed James Hopes (43) and Brad Hogg (22 not out) to prevent a Sri Lankan bonus point. What they really wanted for such a big chase was an in-form Jayasuriya.
Australia Damien Martyn c Kulasekara b Vaas 8 (1 for 16) Ricky Ponting c Muralitharan b Perera 13 (2 for 26) Simon Katich c Mubarak b Perera 13 (3 for 41) Brad Haddin b Muralitharan 41 (4 for 110) Michael Hussey run out 0 (5 for 111) Andrew Symonds run out 31 (6 for 184) Michael Clarke c Muralitharan b Bandara 67 (7 for 188) Brett Lee c Dilshan b Bandara 3 (8 for 197) James Hopes c Vaas b Bandara 43 (9 for 257) Nathan Bracken c Atapattu b Bandara 0 (258) Sri LankaJehan Mubarak c Haddin b Lee 2 (1 for 24) Sanath Jayarsuriya st Haddin b Hogg 114 (2 for 187) Kumar Sangakkara c&b Symonds 78 (3 for 227) Leading edge trying to play to legMahela Jayawardene b Bracken 56 (4 for 280) Tillakaratne Dilshan c&b Clarke 6 (5 for 289) Russel Arnold run out 6 (6 for 297) Chaminda Vaas c Hussey b Bracken 2 (7 for 309)
Ricky Ponting, Australia’s captain, has called for an urgent review of security measures at grounds in New Zealand after some of his players were hit by missiles thrown from the crowd during the first one-day international of the current series at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium, which Australia won by 10 runs.Play was held up a number of times after some of the Australian fielders – among them Glenn McGrath and Simon Katich – told the umpires they had been hit by plastic bottles.”Someone’s going to get hurt,” said Ponting at the after-match press conference. “A full plastic bottle hitting someone in the eye or the back of the head – we don’t want that. You have to have more security guys around the players on the boundary. They’ve got to have some sort of power – get the police involved, whatever.”Katich got into a tense exchange with a section of the crowd at the Westpac Stadium after catching Brendon McCullum on the boundary. Holding the ball aloft in the direction of the crowd, Katich let out some verbals at those who had thrown full plastic beer bottles in his direction. That incident followed a verbal altercation between McGrath and a security guard after McGrath misjudged a catch on the third-man fence. That eventually led the guard being removed.McGrath, who was named the Man of the Match for his fine spell, admitted that he had over-reacted. “I had, an altercation might be the right word, with a security guard on the fence,” McGrath said. “But I was a bit fired up at the time, so I probably should accept 50% of what happened there myself.”Five years ago Steve Waugh, when he was Australia’s captain, threatened to take his players off the field after similar crowd disturbances in New Zealand.
Grant Flower’s return has strengthened Zimbabwe’s squad, who return to Australia, to take part in the VB Series against Australia and India, starting next month. Flower missed the earlier Test tour due to a broken finger.Also returning is Douglas Hondo, who damaged a thigh muscle before the Test series against Australia started, and wasn’t able to play. Heath Streak will captain the side with Tatenda Taibu as his vice-captain.Streak said the one-day series was another opportunity for the talented young players in the Zimbabwe squad to develop their skills. He said, “we know that this tournament will be another step up in terms of intensity against the teams that met in the final of the World Cup in March.”Geoff Marsh, the Zimbabwe coach, welcomed Flower back to the side. “He and players like Heath Streak, Stuart Carlisle and Craig Wishart form a group with more than 500 one-day international caps between them. Add the talent of younger players like Taibu, Andy Blignaut, Raymond Price, Mark Vermeulen, Sean Ervine, Travis Friend and Douglas Hondo and we have a squad that is capable of doing well against two of the best one-days teams in the world.Zimbabwe open their tour with a match at Perth against Australia A on New Year’s Day with another match against Australia A in Adelaide on January 7, following a January 4 match against Western Australia. Their first VB Series game is a day-night match against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground on January 11.Squad 1 Heath Streak (capt), 2 Vusi Sibanda, 3 Mark Vermeulen, 4 Stuart Matsikenyeri, 5 Craig Wishart, 6 Stuart Carlisle, 7 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 8 Andy Blignaut, 9 Sean Ervine, 10 Grant Flower, 11 Travis Friend, 12 Douglas Hondo, 13 Blessing Mahwire, 14 Ray Price.
Close to 362 days will pass before the matter formally requires resolution. But, after hitting a second successive century to guide Australia into a commanding position on the third day of the Second Test in Melbourne today, it’s safe to assume that Matthew Hayden has already been excised from South African cricket’s Christmas card list.Hayden (138) batted with the authority of a headmaster today, devastating the tourists’ attack with an innings that helped him create a new statistical feat alongside Justin Langer (85) at the top of the order and to shatter even more records upon his opening partner’s departure.By stumps, the strongly-built Queenslander’s assault had not only yielded for him the greatest number of Test runs scored by an Australian in thecourse of a calendar year. Nor simply permitted him, in concert with Langer, the chance to own the three highest opening partnerships in Testhistory by a pair of left handers. Not merely granted him 1000 first-class runs for the Australian domestic season either.Instead, it had also laid the foundation for yet more Australian domination, leading the home team’s ascent to a total of 9/487 – and a lead of 210runs – by the end of another extended day.Not even Melbourne’s previously-sullen skyline remained in sympathy with the South Africans’ position as a 202-run opening blitz was followedby substantial innings from Steve Waugh (90) and Damien Martyn (52) besides. That Waugh was dropped twice – at 24 and 39 – by short legfieldsman Boeta Dippenaar only compounded the sense of frustration.It was as well for the Proteas that Waugh was eventually run out for 90 – a world-record tenth experience of finishing a Test innings within 10 runsof a century. And that they claimed a number of wickets in bursts, foremost among them those of Ricky Ponting (22) and Hayden in the space offive deliveries on either side of lunch.To their undying credit, the tourists showed great heart through the two closing sessions as their best two bowlers, Allan Donald (3/103) andNantie Hayward (2/109), blunted Australia’s charge. Hayward was especially impressive, vengefully unsettling several members of the Australianmiddle order with the sort of short-pitched bowling to which he has already been subjected himself in this series. Donald, the unlucky man bothtimes as Dippenaar’s attempts at diving catches were grassed, also performed stoutly in the face of adversity.Like Langer, who perished to a mistimed hook at Donald only 15 runs short of another century of his own, Hayden ultimately became the victim ofaggression as he launched a delivery from spinner Claude Henderson (1/108) to deep mid on.Yet his progression to a total of 1388 runs for the calendar year (equal third-most by any Test player in history and seven more than the tally thathad made Bob Simpson’s haul in 1964 the previous best by an Australian) had already set the tone for the day by then.And, from a team that generally embodies all the qualities of Ebernezer Scrooge once it establishes command, there were to be few concessionsthereafter.Not even umpire Darrell Hair’s controversial decision to send Waugh reluctantly on his way – after wicketkeeper Mark Boucher had appeared todisturb the stumps before a ball thrown in superbly by Herschelle Gibbs at cover point did the same – could really alter the balance.More than a double century of runs behind already, and again about to be confronted with the task of defying a rested Australian attack for aconsiderable period, South Africa’s fate is unenviable.
Australia captain Steven Smith will stay at No. 3 in the batting order in the absence of the injured Usman Khawaja, opening up a spot in the middle order for the day-night match in Adelaide.The squad for Adelaide will be named on Wednesday, and Smith’s pronouncement makes it likely that the selectors will opt for a middle-order option. While Shaun Marsh is favourite for the role, George Bailey is among the leading run-makers in the Sheffield Shield this summer and would add useful knowhow to a young team, while Glenn Maxwell is highly regarded if enigmatic, and made 98 and 38 in the Sheffield Shield match between Victoria and Western Australia at the MCG.”It depends who comes in but I think I’ll probably bump myself up to No. 3 with Usman being out,” Smith said. “I’ll keep that spot warm for him until he comes back.”Australia have other selection queries following the retirement of Mitchell Johnson, the indifferent form of Mitchell Marsh, and the heavy workloads endured by Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood in Perth. James Pattinson, James Faulkner and Moises Henriques have all been mentioned as possible inclusions.Smith stated his dissatisfaction with the Kookaburra balls used in this match, with an extraordinary 11 replacement balls required across the Test outside the usual allocation. However he expressed optimism that the pink ball would hold up well in Adelaide under conditions carefully concocted to support it.”It’s just up to the powers above me to sort that out with Kookaburra,” Smith said of the red ball. “It was a little bit disappointing the way we had to change so many balls throughout this Test match. I think it wastes a lot of time and it’s always different as a batter or a bowler to change the ball continually, to get in a rhythm. So hopefully they can resolve those issues.”We played the Shield game with the pink ball in Adelaide a couple of weeks ago and the ball stayed together pretty well. I think there was eight millimetres of grass on that wicket and it’s likely to be a pretty similar wicket for the Test match next week. Hopefully saying that the ball stays in shape the same way it did a couple of weeks ago.”As for the WACA pitch, which hosted the fourth highest scoring Test ever played in Australia, Smith said he was disappointed by its lack of life, but equally had no intention of handing too straightforward a chase to New Zealand on the final afternoon. The final target of 321 in 48 overs was never realistic, even before rain arrived.”It would have been nice to get about 360 off about 65-70 overs,” he said. “It was obviously pretty hard, I thought they bowled really well. As we saw there at the back end, the wicket was still extremely good so I didn’t want to give them much of a sniff. The two guys out there at the end, we’ve struggled to get them out this Test match. Well, Kane in both Test matches.”Traditionally the wicket out here has had a lot more pace and bounce. Going into the game that’s what the groundsman indicated it was likely to be like. It didn’t turn out that way unfortunately. I was a bit disappointed with the way the wicket played. It was really tough to take wickets. So I don’t think there was much more we could do.”
Wolves are reportedly eyeing up a summer move for Tottenham Hotspur defender Cameron Carter-Vickers.
The Lowdown: Kilman out?
Chelsea are reportedly considering a move for Max Kilman in the summer, and as a boyhood Blues fan, it may be too hard for him to turn down.
That would mean that the Midlands club would have to dip into the market for a new centre-back, if they had not planned to do so already, given the injuries they have had in that position so far this term.
The Latest: Carter-Vickers in?
As per TEAMtalk, Wolves are among a number of clubs who are monitoring the progress of Carter-Vickers ahead of a potential swoop in the summer.
Leicester City, West Ham United, Burnley and Watford are doing the same, while Middlesbrough, West Brom and Bournemouth are also showing interest.
However, Celtic want to sign him on a permanent deal from Spurs after his loan at Parkhead expires, and they have negotiated an option-to-buy which is worth more than £10m including add-ons.
The Verdict: No-brainer
Given the injuries that Bruno Lage’s team have had at centre-back, and the rumours that Kilman could leave, it is surely a no-brainer for Wolves to try and snap up Carter-Vickers in the summer.
Described as ‘quick’ by his former Bournemouth manager Jonathan Woodgate, the American is unusually fast for a man of his 6 foot 1 stature. He can also execute the ‘ugly’ side of the game, as former Lilywhites teammate Jan Vertonghen even went as far as to call him a ‘beast’ when the 24-year-old was coming through the ranks in north London.
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Dubbed ‘excellent’ this season by former Hoops striker Chris Sutton, Carter-Vickers is currently ranking as the joint-seventh best player in the Scottish Premiership, and the best centre-back (WhoScored); and with his contract expiring, now is the best time for the Old Gold to pounce.
In other news, Wolves are also eyeing a move for this ‘sensational’ midfielder
Damien Hough does not want to go down as the first curator in the storied history of the Adelaide Oval to create a Test pitch where a spinner is redundant, as Nathan Lyon emphasised the importance of the role in Australia despite only bowling two overs in the Ashes series to-date.Lyon and Hough shared an embrace on Monday at Adelaide, a ground where they once worked together, and Hough attended a ceremony on the western side where Lyon was added to the Avenue of Honour that commemorates some of the best Test performances at the stadium.Lyon was celebrated for his 12 wickets against India in 2014 at the venue, joining the likes of Sir Donald Bradman, Shane Warne and Mitchell Johnson among others on the outer wall of the Chappell Stand.But it comes at a time when Lyon is stalled on 562 Test wickets, two shy of passing Glenn McGrath to go second all-time among Australia Test bowlers, having not been selected in two of the last three Tests and only bowled two overs in the game in between at the start of this Ashes series.Related
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However, Hough is certain Adelaide Oval will spin this week as it has done in the three day Sheffield Shield games at the venue this season and Lyon is poised to return to Australia’s XI despite England opting to retain part-time offspinner Will Jacks ahead of their No.1 spinner Shoaib Bashir.”[Spin is] really important,” Hough said on Monday. “I don’t want to be the curator at Adelaide where you don’t pick a spinner. Spin needs to play a part here. It always has. Even last year when [Lyon] didn’t bowl a lot of overs, I felt that the pitch would have spun. But Pat [Cummins] was able to take wickets with the quicks but spin needs to play a part in pitches around Australia, and we want it to play a part.”Lyon only bowled one over in Australia’s last Test in Adelaide, which was a pink-ball game against India in 2024. That is part of the reason why he has been left out of Australia’s two most recent pink-ball Tests with Australia’s selectors concluding that spin is not needed in day-night games.Australia hold a 2-0 lead in the Ashes against England•CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images
But Lyon has also only bowled eight overs in total in his last two red-ball Tests in Australia. He bowled just six overs in the SCG Test against India in January and only two in the first Ashes Test in Perth. He was asked how important it is that curators continue to produce pitches in Australia that do allow spinners to play a role.”Well, you’re asking a spinner,” Lyon said. “I think it’s incredibly important. I think the variation in Test cricket, understanding that Test cricket goes for five days, and there’s a lot of opportunity for pitches to wear and spinners to be able to produce their craft.”I’ve always said as soon as the ball spins there’s more eyes on TVs, and I stand by that. You look at when we go over to India, and you look at the conditions there, and the exciting cricket when the ball is spinning, how many people pay attention to it. So for me, spin is incredibly important in the game of cricket, in junior cricket, in first-class cricket, in white-ball, red-ball, it doesn’t matter what format, what game of cricket, I think spin plays a massive role here.”Lyon only bowled 15.3 overs in the last day Test in Adelaide in January 2024, on a pitch where the game ended before lunch on day three. Lyon did pick up three wickets, but two were West Indies’ No. 11 Shamar Joseph when he was out slogging at the end of both innings as the visitors made just 188 and 120 in a 10-wicket loss.That game featured a lot of seam movement and variable bounce. But Hough claimed it was due to the use of a different grass type on the drop-in pitch, which has since been abandoned.”That was a Legend pitch, Legend is a grass variety,” Hough said. “This is a Santa Ana Couch, what we’ve used since 2013, outside of two years. We’ll go back to what we know. It’s still that mat of grass. We still want that, and we just want to get the compaction right and the moisture levels right. Once the coin is tossed, it’s over to the players.”Spin has played a big part in the Shield fixtures so far this season. Victoria left-arm orthodox Doug Warren took a career-best 5 for 69 in the opening round in early October. Queensland legspinner Mitchell Swepson, who has played four Tests for Australia, took 10 wickets in mid-October. South Australia played two spinners in their most recent match against Tasmania and both took wickets. There have been five team scores of over 300 with a highest of 426. There have been seven individual centuries scored including one by Marnus Labuschagne. South Australia seamer Wes Agar has a five-wicket haul, while Test seamer Michael Neser has one of four four-wicket hauls also taken by seamers. But all three red-ball Shield games have had a result, with the only Shield game this season to end in a draw being a rain-affected day-night pink-ball game.”Our Shield pitches have played really well,” Hough said. “They’ve been a really good contest. The feedback has been really good.”We’re just are trying to get a contest between bat and ball.”The calibre of bowlers step up at international level. We know that compared to Shield level. But we’ve got some hot weather, and you would expect with hot weather that the spinners will come into it because of that hot weather.”
Zimbabwe get an opportunity to play a competitive game ahead of their five-match one-day series against West Indies when they take on a South African franchise side in a four-day contest at Benoni on Thursday.Zimbabwe had originally been scheduled to stay in Bulawayo from Monday up to Friday but that was discarded when Zimbabwe Cricket secured the four-day match. The 13-man squad leave Zimbabwe early Wednesday morning for Johannesburg and return home on Monday, a day before the West Indies arrive in Zimbabwe.However, three key players will miss out on the tour through injury. Chris Mpofu is yet to be passed fit by the team physiotherapist after picking up a side strain; Sean Williams has not fully recovered from a migraine and Keith Dabengwa has a groin injury. In spite of Graeme Cremer’s ten wickets for Zimbabwe A recently, he has not been selected for the touring party.The first one-dayer gets underway at Harare on November 30.
India’s women will embark on their quest for a hat-trick of Asia Cup titles when they face Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the triangular tournament which will be played at Jaipur from December 13 to 21.India won the inaugural tournament in Sri Lanka in 2004 and successfully defended the title the following year in Pakistan. Now India launches their title defence against their main rivals Pakistan. This year’s tournament will take place at Sawai Mansingh Stadium. This will be first time the Pakistan team has made an overseas appearance since the PCB took charge of women’s cricket.Mithali Raj, India’s captain, is confident her team can claim their third title. She hopes the tournament will also provide them with a good opportunity to get ready for next February’s quadrangular series also involving the world champions Australia, England and New Zealand in Chennai. “There is no doubt our objective is to complete a hat-trick of titles and make our country proud,” she said. “Pakistan and Sri Lanka may be relatively new to this level but still we have to produce our best to achieve the goal. At the same time this tournament will provide us with a good opportunity to try out a few new girls and also different combinations so we are better prepared for next year’s quadrangular series.”I think women’s cricket has really grown ever since the IWCC/ICC merger and both the BCCI and ICC are playing leading roles in creating opportunities for young girls to take up this great sport. I am sure, in days to come, we will see more multi-talented girls taking up the sport.”Her Pakistan counterpart, Urooj Mumtaz Khan, said her team is young and inexperienced but believes things are heading in the right direction. “The girls are improving day-by-day and with a comprehensive women’s cricket plan in place, I am sure we will cover the long distance in a relatively short period. This event is our build-up to our next month’s tour to South Africa for a five-match series and then the 2007 Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament.”Pakistan women will face South Africa women at Pretoria between January 20 and 27 then the qualifying tournament for the World Cup will he held in Pakistan late next year. Eight qualifiers will vie for two slots at the 2009 World Cup in Australia.