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Pakistan’s preliminary Champions Trophy squad have come clean after results on the dope test conducted by WADA-accredited officers of the Anti-Doping Organisation of Pakistan on July 19 in Lahore turned out negative.Twenty-six players in the 30-man squad were tested, while four players including Younis Khan who failed to attend due to other commitments, will be tested at a later date. The samples were sent to a WADA-accredited doping control centre in Penang, Malaysia for verification.”The tests were conducted on 26 of the 30 players in the preliminary squad for the Champions Trophy and I can say that it’s a great relief that all the tests are negative,” Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer told .The PCB, while announcing the squad on July 14, had said that players would be ineligible for selection if they tested positive. The board has taken a strict anti-doping policy after the various scandals to have dogged Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, including the pair testing positive for the banned substance Nandralone before the 2006 Champions Trophy in India. Both were subsequently let off after appealing on a technicality.While Shoaib has cleared this test, perhaps paving the way for his return to the national squad, Asif is currently suspended by the PCB for testing positive for a banned substance during random dope tests conducted on the sidelines of the IPL, where he played for theDelhi Daredevils.

Paddy Upton, India’s conditioning coach, has taken over the responsibilities from head coach Gary Kirsten, who flew back to South Africa yesterday evening to be with his ailing mother. In Kirsten’s absence, Upton wasn’t worried about having to delegate responsibilities to the Indian team, instead stressing to make sure the basics are all in place for a must-win game for India.”Each person knows their role,” he said during India’s practice session at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium. “It’s a case of just doing what we’ve always been doing and doing that well.”Kirsten’s hands-on role, especially working on fielding drills with seniors such as VVS Laxman or the two wicketkeepers, Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel, was obvious all series. Today that responsibility was shared between Upton and fielding coach Robin Singh, but Upton was comfortable being more conservative.”There are guys out there who have captained India,” he said. “For me it’s just a case of coordinating the expertise which is already in the team. Gary would give his expert input and receive input from the players, and even though he’s not here, there are other experts.”India already have two specialist coaches, Venkatesh Prasad (bowling) and Robin, plus Upton in the support staff, and the Indian board isn’t rushing anybody as cover for Kirtsen.”The key is to prepare for every single possibility,” Upton said. “Every game is critical in Test cricket. We know its 1-1 and we know how important it is. The players don’t need too many reminders. Whether we win or lose the toss, our preparation is the same. We focus around what needs to happen to win. We’re happy to take the consideration of the toss out of the picture.”It was a pretty hot day, with temperatures hovering around 30 degrees, but not something India’s players are unaccustomed to. Anil Kumble mentioned in Galle that players were allowed to leave training once they felt they had done enough, and Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly were no different. They practiced earlier in the morning and left to freshen up while the rest of the team stayed on till early afternoon.Parthiv had long batting and wicketkeeping stints but Upton said the choice of which wicketkeeper plays the final Test was not a decision he would be a part of. Sachin Tendulkar had the longest batting session, first receiving throw downs from Robin, virtually all of which were well timed, and then moved over to the nets, adjacent to Rohit Sharma’s. Tendulkar, who needs 96 runs to overhaul Brian Lara’s record of 11,953 runs in Tests, looked in a decent groove, though he was troubled a couple times by Prasad.Which brings us to the nature of the pitch. One glance at it revealed how hard it was, even under a green tinge. There was plenty of grass on the track, but even Geoffrey Boycott would have found it very difficult to force a key in there. Shoaib Akhtar, Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn have all rattled teams here in recent years, and there looks to be some encouragement for the quicks, especially India’s opening pairing of Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan.It is a different game and different pitch from the last two matches but as Upton said, India’s strategy was the same – go in and win.

Australia’s confident 84-run win over West Indies has regained them the No. 1 one-day ranking from South Africa. Ricky Ponting’s team was deposed from the top spot on the ICC table after losing the CB Series final to India, but the latest victory has pushed the young team ahead.Australia had been defeated three times in a row in the format before Shaun Marsh’s 81 set up the success in St Vincent and they have another chance to show their improvements in the second match in Grenada on Friday. It was a strong start from a squad that is rebuilding after the retirements of Adam Gilchrist and Brad Hogg, while Matthew Hayden is back in Australia with an achilles injury.Brad Haddin, who scored a half-century in the opening win, has taken over from Gilchrist while Marsh stepped in for Hayden. Cameron White, the legspinner who went wicketless in six overs on Tuesday, and the back-up wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi are also part of the set-up in the Caribbean.”It’s a pretty formidable squad that we’ve got here with a lot of flexibility,” Ponting told AAP. “The flexibility around our group at the moment is probably as good as I’ve seen it around the Australian team.”

Scorecard

The match is well balanced at Old Trafford after two days, although a draw is an increasingly strong possibility as only six wickets fell on both days. Nottinghamshire replied strongly and positively to Lancashire’s first-innings total of 384, which was boosted by a determined century from Steven Croft, closing on 148 for 2.Resuming on 260 for 5, Lancashire’s priority was clearly to keep on amassing runs, which they did without too much concern about how long it took. This tied in well with Croft’s aim of reaching his maiden first-class century. He settled in firmly with Luke Sutton, his overnight partner, who started the day with a superb cover drive to the boundary off Charlie Shreck.Croft was working away with dedication, and finally an on-drive for four off Shreck brought him the three figures he had narrowly missed at Headingley last week. It came off 197 balls and contained few memorable strokes, but a great deal of hard work and dedication.This valuable partnership was only broken by a run-out, as the energetic Sutton sought a fourth run off a hit to the distant midwicket boundary, and was stranded in mid pitch thanks to good work out there from Matthew Wood. He made 43, rather slowly but valuably, and Lancashire were 336 for 6.Croft did not change his approach after reaching his hundred, continuing to accumulate steadily, until he was finally caught at the wicket for 122, driving at Graeme Swann. In all he faced 256 balls and hit 14 fours. This was the pattern of the Lancashire innings, which plodded on at less than three an over. The only batsmen who actually exceeded this rate were Dominic Cork (18) and Sajid Mahmood (10) in their brief innings. This approach brought them a very handy total, but it did use up a day and a half.Swann was the most successful of the Nottinghamshire bowlers, taking 3 for 78, with two wickets to both Shreck and Franks. Darren Patterson, wicketless, and Mark Ealham, with just one wicket, deserved better for their fine efforts, but luck did not go their way.Could Lancashire’s rather slow scoring be excused by a pitch that did not allow a good run rate? Nottinghamshire did not think so, as they scored their runs at about four an over for most of their truncated innings. They did begin cautiously, but the bowlers did not find much assistance from the conditions and provided width at times, and the runs began to flow.Wood fell early for 10, pushing forward to Mahmood and being caught at the wicket, while his opening partner, Will Jefferson, was just regaining confidence and showing his range of strokes when a loose slash off Oliver Newby to gully cut him off for 32. Nottinghamshire were 60 for 2 and the innings was in the balance.Adam Voges, however, joined Mark Wagh and the two shared a fluent partnership of 88, unbroken by the close. Croft, with his little medium-pacers, was the only bowler to put a brake on the scoring. To the annoyance of the crowd, the batsmen chose to take the bad light when the umpires offered it to them, despite being well set.Nottinghamshire do not always make pleasant opponents these days, and there was a distasteful incident during the morning when Shreck deliberately stood in Sutton’s way as the latter went for a quick single, almost forcing the batsman to barge him as he ran through. The umpires stepped in and spoke to the bowler and captain, and the matter may well be taken further. But this incident could have been avoided if the umpires, especially Tim Robinson who was at Shreck’s end, had stepped in earlier with one or two quiet words.Only a few minutes earlier Shreck had given Sutton some verbals, and it was not simply a case of the bowler having a bad day or getting out of bed the wrong side, as he had also shown such gratuitous aggression on the first day, apparently overlooked by the umpires then. He was not the only Nottinghamshire offender, and it was unfortunate that the umpires waited until an actual incident took place rather than reckoning that prevention was better than cure.

Somerset fast bowler Richard Johnson was returning to the County Ground this morning after a hard six mile training session on his new bicycle.’Johnno’ told me: “My training is going very well this year and so far I’m feeling pretty good about things. This winter we have changed things round a bit and we have introduced swimming and cycling into my weekly routines, which I am enjoying. I usually cycle two or three times, swim twice and work in the gym three times each week.”In addition to working at his fitness levels the former Middlesex man told me that he was also working hard at his cricket skills. He told me: “At the moment both Matt Bulbeck and myself are working at improving our batting and next season we might even both become all rounders!”This closed season ‘Johnno’ is staying in Taunton. He continued: “I’m going to stay local this winter rather than go away. It will be the first time that I haven’t gone away for the winter for ten years.”Regarding the Cidermen’s new signings ‘Johnno’ told me: “These are both exciting signings. Nixon McLean is a Test match cricketer. He has been bowling well in South Africa and will certainly challenge me for six hitting.”He went on: “Aaron Laraman is a very good young cricketer and I rated him highly when I was at Middlesex. He is an exciting player who can bat and bowl and is coming to Taunton to develop his career like I did because the set up here and the attitude is very encouraging. If you are prepared to work then you will get full support from Kevin Shine and his team.”‘Johnno’ continued: “It is just so different down here. For one thing it’s more cosy and you can get into the ground easily from wherever you live. In London it could sometimes take nearly two hours each way. Down here all the players live locally and comes into the gym everyday which means that you see everybody regularly.”

It looked like one of the most one-sided of one-day matches at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo when Pakistan ran up 302 for four and then removed four Zimbabwe batsmen for just 32 runs. But the Zimbabwe later batsmen resisted strongly and enabled the side to go down with honour, remarkably beaten by only six runs. It could cynically be described as a typical Zimbabwe effort: a superb fightback once the match was already lost. In the event it captured the imagination of the crowd to the end, though Pakistan always had just enough in hand.On a hot day in Bulawayo, Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat on a flat pitch that promised plenty of runs for the batsmen.This match was designated as a warm-up for the World Cup, with all the elaborate security arrangements now universally required by the ICC in operation. Most Zimbabweans consider them totally ludicrous and unnecessary; Zimbabwe is still one of the safest places in the world to watch cricket and it is indeed an irony that the country should be considered by many an unsuitable World Cup venue, supposedly for security reasons.Such is Pakistan’s bowling strength that they were able to leave out both Saqlain Mushtaq and Mohammad Sami, relying instead on the all-rounders Azhar Mahmood and Shahid Afridi. To match this, Zimbabwe lacked the services of Heath Streak, Douglas Hondo and Travis Friend, all injured. They actually chose to play three debutants in batsman Stuart Matsikenyeri, who opened with Alistair Campbell, and all-rounders Barney Rogers, a batsman who can bowl off-spin, and Richie Sims, an off-spinner who can bat and recently scored a Logan Cup double-century.Zimbabwe struck an early blow, as Taufeeq Umar, after taking a single from Andy Blignaut’s first over, faced Sean Ervine, opening the bowling in a one-day international for the first time. Taufeeq tried to turn the first ball to leg and was found plumb lbw.Stuart Matsikenyeri almost made his mark on international cricket within minutes of stepping on to the field, a direct hit almost running out Yousuf Youhana as the batsmen stole a leg-bye. After that the batsmen settled down and Ervine was probably kept on too long, conceding 41 runs in his six overs. Youhana was in masterly form, reaching his fifty off 52 balls, while Saleem Elahi followed with his off 65 balls.Richie Sims bowled quite an impressive first spell of off-spin in international cricket, but made his mark first by picking up a mistimed slash at backward point off Grant Flower to dismiss Saleem for 53. Pakistan were 127 for two.When Inzamam-ul-Haq came in the scoring rate hardly slowed, and Zimbabwe called on eight bowlers to try to halt the momentum. Yousuf batted relentlessly onward, reaching his century off 110 balls and rarely seeming hurried, apart from when he chose to assert his authority over Sims with two big sixes. He was immediately dropped at midwicket off a very hard chance to Grant Flower.For the most part the batsmen were content to work the ball around the field, scoring ones and twos almost at will. Inzamam’s fifty came off 55 balls, as Zimbabwe were unable to provide any threat, although as often Grant Flower was the most economical. Inzamam fell for 55, hitting the expensive Olonga straight down the throat of Blignaut at long-on; Pakistan were 236 for three after another century partnership.Shahid Afridi scored only 4 before holing out to long leg off Grant Flower in the latter’s last over; he conceded only 33 runs off his ten overs. Younis Khan (33 not out off 18 balls) continued the onslaught, and Pakistan finished with 302 for four wickets. Yousuf Youhana, in from the second over, took out his bat for 141 off 147 balls, with three sixes and 13 fours, his best one-day effort and a match-winning innings.Wasim Akram, short of match practice, began with two leg-side wides, and then bowled three more, together with a no-ball, before completing his 12-ball over. However in his second over he picked up the wicket of debutant Stuart Matsikenyeri (1), who was perhaps unluckily adjudged to have edged a cut to the keeper. Andy Flower walked in to delighted chants of "Andy, Andy, Andy" from the noisily enthusiastic stands of black spectators who now form the majority in Bulawayo matches.Alistair Campbell never looked comfortable, and had only 4 to his credit when he was bowled neck and crop by a ball from Waqar Younis that went right through him. As if this was not enough, Grant Flower ran himself out without scoring off a no-ball, and Zimbabwe were helping to dig their own grave at 17 for three in the fifth over.It nearly grew worse, but Barney Rogers deserved his beginner’s luck as he escaped with a miscued chip shot that somehow cleared mid-on. Rogers (13 off 16 balls) continued to look aggressive, but a fine yorker from Waqar uprooted his off stump one ball after he survived a close lbw appeal.Craig Evans, plying his first international match for three years, came in to join Andy Flower with Zimbabwe 32 for four. Struggling against the two ageing but still potent Ws, he curbed his natural instincts, not scoring his second run until his 20th ball. Andy Flower found no alternative but to accumulate, which he did steadily, as any attempt on the target now would be futile.Evans tried a few fiddly and unsuccessful little sweeps when the spinners came on before finally obeying his instincts and hitting Taufeeq straight for six, followed by a four to square leg. Flower reached his fifty off 74 balls, immediately followed by the hundred partnership, and then Evans’s fifty, off 66 balls. Sadly a fine partnership came to an inglorious end in a mix-up as Flower changed his mind over a single and Evans was run out for 68 thanks to quick work by keeper Kamran Akmal. Zimbabwe were 167 for five after a stand of 135, in the 33rd over, but Evans had certainly justified his recall.Wasim returned and immediately dismissed Andy Flower (77), skying a catch into the covers off a leading edge as he aimed a leg hit; 185 for six. Blignaut and Tatenda Taibu continued the fight, but there was a further worry for Zimbabwe as Blignaut’s leg gave him increasing problems and he required Grant Flower as a runner. His fifty came off 36 balls, but soon afterwards he skyed a catch to depart for 55. Another run-out removed Sean Ervine, like Grant Flower out without facing a ball, a rare occurrence twice in the same innings.The required run rate was slowly increasing, until 31 were needed off the final two overs. Taibu emulated Doug Marillier, strangely omitted from the one-day squad by scooping Waqar to fine leg for four, but was then bowled for 35. Olonga mowed Waqar in unlikely fashion for two fours, leaving 19 required off the last over, bowled by Wasim, with the last pair together. But Wasim is just too good a bowler, and Zimbabwe finished just six runs short with one wicket in hand – Sims had 7 and Olonga 13.Ironically, had there been penalties for the side bowling second, Zimbabwe would surely have been declared winners, as the Pakistani over rate was so abysmal that they overran their time allocation by 35 minutes.

The England captain Nasser Hussain today admitted that England may have to go through the entire Ashes series without Darren Gough, who has been sent to the Adelaide academy for intensive treatment on his knee injury.Although Hussain did not rule Gough out of the series, he told the BBC: “It’s been going on for a year or so and Darren is very disappointed.”We need to get him right. I’m not worried about the Ashes as far as Darren goes now. I’m just worried about getting Darren back.”I’d have to be honest in that we’ve learnt to live without Darren. For me I’d like to see him back on the cricket field, whether it’s the Ashes or not, because it’s his career.”With Gough already out of the first Test which starts in Brisbane on Thursday,England have also to decide whether Andrew Flintoff is fit to play after taking part in just one match since his double hernia operation.Although Flintoff bowled 26 overs and took two wickets in this week’s drawn warm-up match with Queensland, he was noticeably stiff on the second day. England have the option of playing Craig White, who was added to the squad as cover for Flintoff.”That will be the main debate in the selection over the next few days,” Hussain said. “Both the all-rounders have played in a game and we will have to weigh things up.”Andrew has nothing to prove in our team. He’s been there for a year or two and has performed and the only thing he has to prove is whether he can do it two or three days’ running because of his body now and whether we take that gamble.”The first day of this week’s game he was fine, but on the second day he was stiff and I don’t know if he can do that over five days of intense Test match cricket if he’s not 100% fit.”Hussain also rebuffed suggestions in the Australian media that Flintoff’s Test record – he averages 19.48 with the bat and 47.15 with the ball – raises questions over whether he should have been selected for the tour in the first place.”Statistics aren’t everything,” Hussain insisted. “As captain there are certain players you like having in your side and there are certain players with the potential of doing things that other players can’t.”There are certain players that when the ball is 70 overs old and other people are hiding will hold their hands up and do the tough yards for you, will always want to stand at slip to take the catches and who are strong enough to go out there with those statistics with the belief he can do it and Andrew Flintoff is one of those people.”He’s got to improve those statistics definitely, but anyone who has watched us and watched Freddie progress over the last year or so will have seen him do certain things that other people in England can’t do.”A decision on who plays is likely tomorrow, when England will train at the Gabba for the first time tomorrow after a day off today.”Australia haven’t seen the best of the England cricket team for a long while and it’s up to whoever is selected to put that right this time,” added Hussain.”How we’ve done in the practice games does not have any great bearing on the Test, it’s how we are on Thursday and Friday that counts.”If Australia see the same old England then they will be very pleased, but if they see a new, strong, vibrant England with good body language who are doing the basics right then they will realise they are in a real fight this series.”You play differently when you’re under pressure, whatever side you are and too often now Australia have dictated terms by putting pressure on the opposition. When you have no fear of losing a game and you can show all your skills and the crowd can get behind you, it’s a very easy life and a very easy game.”I’ve played against Australia and I don’t believe our failings are down to a mental thing. It’s down to basic cricket skills. I believe they practise their skills at such a level that it pays off in those pressure situations. That’s what we have to learn.”

Jeremy Snape has, over the past year, become an established member of the England one-day set up. At the same time, he has fallen out of favour with his county, Gloucestershire, to the extent that he only appeared in four county championship matches for them during the season just finished. He lost his place at the end of May and failed to get it back although he did appear in limited-overs cricket. Now comes news that the 29 year-old off-spinning all-rounder has been released by Gloucestershire and will have to find a new county.The news came in a press release issued by the county in which it was said: “This has been a difficult decision about a player who has performed very well for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club and achieved a lot of success in the four years he has been with us. However, his relationship with the cricket management over the past 18 months has been very poor and has reached the stage where we believe it is unlikely to improve.”It was no secret that he had not seen eye-to-eye with the coach, John Bracewell (apart from the fact that Bracewell stands 6′ 2″ and Snape is only 5′ 8”), and his release is an unfortunate outcome for someone who, only recently, stated that he wanted to continue playing for the county he joined in 1999 after making his debut for Northamptonshire in 1992. He contributed fully to the Gloucestershire success in winning five one-day tournaments in his first two years, catching the attention of the national selectors.He won the man-of-the-match award when he made his one-day international debut against Zimbabwe in Harare almost exactly a year ago. He had both the Flower brothers stumped in the same over on his way to figures of two for 39, and also held a brilliant catch to dismiss Guy Whittall.He is an outstanding fielder in the covers, scores useful runs in the lower middle order, while his control of flight has brought him success with his bowling. At a time when there is a paucity of spin bowlers in English cricket, he should not have too much difficulty in finding another county.

If anything, the second ICC KnockOut competition saw even moreenthralling contests and a higher standard of play, cementing itssuccess. In keeping with the globalisation process, the InternationalCricket Council this time held the competition in Nairobi from October3 to 15, 2000.

When the idea of such a competition was mooted, Bangladesh and Kenyaseemed next in line for Test status. By the time the Nairobitournament was held, Bangladesh had already been granted the exaltedstatus and were a month away from playing their first Test match.Kenya remained hopeful that the successful conduct of the mini-WorldCup as also a good performance from their cricketers – the number ofthe teams had been raised to eleven to include Bangladesh and thehosts – would move them a step nearer being given Test status.The tournament certainly was a success from the organisational pointof view and much of the cricket was of the ethereal variety, but therewas no storybook script for the hosts who lost to India by eightwickets in the opening match of the competition.Batting first, Kenya were restricted to 208 for nine in 50 overs. Thetotal was never going to be one to pose any problems for the Indiansand thanks to skipper Sourav Ganguly’s 66 and Rahul Dravid’s unbeaten68, they romped home with eight wickets and 7.3 overs to spare.Similarly, England faced little opposition from Bangladesh emergingwinners by eight wickets with 6.1 overs to spare. Bangladesh did wellin getting 232 for eight in 50 overs but against ordinary bowling,Alec Stewart (87 not out) and skipper Nasser Hussain (95) had littledifficulty in negotiating some ordinary bowling during their secondwicket partnership of 175 runs.The format again meant that one Test nation had to be knocked out inthe first round and this time the West Indies failed to cross thishurdle. A stroke-filled 132 by opener Avishka Gunawardene and histhird wicket stand of 160 runs with Mahela Jayawardene (72) saw SriLanka post 287 for six in 50 overs, a total that proved to be tooformidable for the West Indies who were dismissed for 179 in 46.4overs.The quarterfinals were marked by three one-sided results but thepulsating Australia-India game made up for this. Australia were firmfavourites but this was a rejuvenated Indian side, under the captaincyof Ganguly and including three potentially fine players in newcomersYuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Vijay Dahiya. After Australia made theearly inroads, a breath-taking innings from Yuvraj saw India wrest theinitiative and the advantage thereafter stayed with India.The pugnacious left-hander hit 84 off 80 balls treating the pace ofMcGrath, Lee and Gillespie with utter disdain. India ultimately posteda challenging total of 265 for nine in 50 overs. Then it was the turnof another youngster to strike. Bowling with hostility, Zaheer Khanremoved Adam Gilchrist and Steve Waugh and some fine work by thevaried attack, backed up by some superb work in the field in whichYuvraj was outstanding saw Australia bowled out for 245 in the 47thover.Unfortunately, the other three quarterfinals lacked such heroics anddrama. In prosaic contests, Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by ninewickets, New Zealand beat Zimbabwe by 64 runs and South Africaoutplayed England by eight wickets.The Pakistan-Sri Lanka game was billed as a scorcher. But once Lankawere bowled out for 194 in 45.4 overs no batsman reached 40 theywere always going to be up against it. Saeed Anwar’s unbeaten 105 sawPakistan home with 6.4 overs to spare. New Zealand’s total of 265 forseven in 50 overs, thanks in the main to Roger Twose’s bright 85,proved to be beyond Zimbabwe’s reach and despite a splendid 67 byStuart Carlisle they were bowled out for 201 in 42.2 overs with PaulWiseman finishing with four for 45.Similarly, England were no match for South Africa’s professional allround skills. Graeme Hick top-scored with a gallant 65 but England’stotal of 182 in 44.1 overs was always going to be inadequate. SouthAfrica with Jacques Kallis (78 not out) and Boeta Dippenaar (65)figuring in an unbroken third wicket partnership of 132 runs rompedhome with 11.5 overs to spare.Two splendid semi-final matches made up for the generally lacklustrefare in the previous round. Anwar hit a second successive hundred(104) as Pakistan scored 252 in 49.2 overs against New Zealand. AzharMahmood, then, reduced the Kiwis to 15 for two but Nathan Astle (49)and Roger Twose (87) initiated a recovery process by adding 135 runsfor the third wicket. Pakistan came back strongly and had a distinctedge when New Zealand were 187 for six. However, Craig McMillan (51)and Scott Styris (26) figured in an unbroken seventh wicket stand of66 runs to steer New Zealand home amidst much excitement with one overto spare.The other semifinal lacked a close finish but in many ways it was justas enthralling. The entertainment started early with Ganguly in hiselements. Doing pretty much what he liked with the attack thatincluded the likes of Pollock, Donald, Klusener, Kallis, Boje andTelemachus, the Indian captain hit a run-a-ball 141 not out in a totalof 295 for six in 50 overs. With Rahul Dravid (58), Ganguly dominateda second wicket partnership of 145 runs while Yuvraj (41) matched hisskipper in stroke and run production in a third wicket stand of 82runs.The youngsters continued to excel with Zaheer Khan picking up thewickets of Andrew Hall and Dippenaar cheaply in his opening spell andDahiya effecting three dismissals. Even South Africa’s professionalskills came to nought against the new look Indian side and they werebowled out for 200 in 41 overs.And so in the title clash were two unexpected contestants, India andNew Zealand. None could say, however, that they were undeserving of aplace in the final. And the two teams, in keeping with the form theyhad displayed, produced a high calibre game, marked by much tensionand excitement, twists and turns. Ganguly hit another century (117)and his first wicket partnership of 141 runs with Sachin Tendulkar(66) paved the way for the challenging Indian total of 264 for six in50 overs.At various stages – 37 for two and 132 for five – New Zealand weregasping for breath. But they received timely oxygen in the form ofChris Cairns. The star all-rounder took charge and with the help ofthe old warhorse Chris Harris (46) revived New Zealand’s hopes with asixth wicket partnership of 122 runs. In true storybook fashion,Cairns reached an unbeaten 102 in the process of steering New Zealandto victory with four wickets and two deliveries to spare in agrandstand finish.

In his debut Test, Scott Boland produced a truly memorable performance on his home ground. After two in three balls rocked England on the second evening – bringing raucous approval from Bay 13 – he raced through the following morning to complete a five-wicket haul in just 19 deliveries, equalling the record for men’s Tests. He then added a sixth for good measure, in just four overs, as Australia wrapped up an innings win and sealed their defence of the urn.10.3 Hameed c Carey b Boland 7 – He’s got him! Outside edge and the MCG roars for its local hero. A lovely delivery from Boland, back of a length at off stump, nips off the seam and takes a thin nick as Hameed is squared up. That’s also a wicket for the work of Starc and Cummins10.5 Leach b Boland 0 – Gone, left it alone, loses off stump! Carnage at the MCG. Round the wicket, length delivery shapes back, Leach doesn’t play and the ball pings into the top of off stump. What scenes22.5 Bairstow lbw b Boland 5 – Huge appeal! And given! A long look from umpire Wilson, that looked hugely adjacent, but Bairstow reviews. He was thumped on the knee-roll, not very far forward. No sign of an inside-edge, so this is likely to be curtains. Not sure it’ll be outside the line… indeed, it’s Umpire’s Call! On impact and hitting the stumps. But he was beaten all ends up by the wicket-to-wicket, line and length, tailing in. No complaints about that being given!24.4 Root c Warner b Boland 28 – Hard-handed drive, and that truly is the end of that! Angled in once more, Root flashes through the line, feeling the need to keep England moving, somehow, towards a lead. But Warner at slip clings onto a fat deflection. This is unlikely to last beyond lunch now26.1 Wood c & b Boland 0 – Straight back to him, it’s a five-wicket haul! What a match for Boland. It’s a full ball at off stump, Wood comes forward to drive and just pops a return catch back down the pitch. Can you believe these figures? 3.1-1-5-5. Mind-boggling stuff26.3 Robinson c Labuschagne b Boland 0 – Edged, taken at third slip! INCREDIBLE SCENES. SIX FOR BOLAND. Length ball outside off, Robinson props forward and it’s a snaffled by Labuschagne