Live: CB Series Game 8 Aus V NZ

Australia won by 8 runs.
Great chase by NZ, led by a brialliant century by Jacob Oram but they fell agonisingly short. England will have to watch out on tuesday.

Australia has won the toss and decided to bat. It's going to be tough work for NZ in the field as it's 40 degrees in Perth at the moment. Australia have made two changes, Nathan Bracken and Glenn McGrath are back in place of Brad Hogg and Stuart Clark. For NZ, Lou Vincent comes in for Nathan Astle who retired from international cricket the other day.

Mathew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist will open the batting for Australia. Gilchrist neede 72 runs to take him to 8600 ODI runs. Hayden needs 62 to take him to 4400.

Kyle Mills to open the bowling.

Over 1:
Good line and length from Mills. Getting a bit of late swing. Maiden.
0/0 Run Rate: 0
Gilchrist 0 (6 balls)
Hayden 0 (o balls)
Mills 1-1-0-0
Over 2:
Mark Gillespie into the attack.
3rd ball Hayden dropped by Vettori, should have been taken. Another maiden.
0/0 Run rate: 0
Gilchrist 0 (6 balls)
Hayden 0 (6 balls)
Gillespie 1-1-0-0
Over 3
2nd ball FOUR! Gilchrist
0/5 Run rate: 1.66
Gilchrist 4 (12 balls)
Hayden 0 (6 balls)
Mills 2 O 1 M 0 W 5 R
Over 4
2nd ball 5 wides
4th ball 5 wides.
14 runs from the over
0/19 Run rate: 4.75
Gilchrist 5 (14 balls)
Hayden 3 ( 10 balls)
Gillespie 2-1-0-14
Over 5
3rd ball FOUR! Gilchrist
5th ball FOUR! Gilchrist
6th ball WICKET! Gilchrist hits one in the air trying to smash another through the covers. Great take by Patel, the ball was travelling very qucikly.
Gilchrist C Patel B Mills 13 (20 balls 3 4's)
1/28 Run Rate: 5.6
Hayden 3 (10 balls)
Ponting 0 ( 0 balls)
Mills 3-1-1-14
Over 6
Smoke, presumably from a bushfire has started to enter the ground.
1/29 Run Rate: 4.83
Hayden 4 (11 balls)
Ponting 0 (5 balls)
Gillespie 3-1-0-15
Over 7
2nd ball Hayden dropped again. Nobody called it, Taylor ended up going for it but made a mess of it.
5th ball. Hayden FOUR! Hayden.
1/35 Run rate: 5
Hayden 9 (15 balls)
Ponting 1 (8 balls)
Mills 4-1-1-20
Over 8
4th ball FOUR! Hayden
1/42 Run Rate: 5.25
Hayden 13 (18 balls)
Ponting 2 (10 balls)
Gillespie 4-1-22-0
Over 9
1st ball FOUR! Ponting
1/47 Run Rate: 5.22
Hayden 15 (19 balls)
Ponting 7 (15 balls)
Mills 5-1-1-25
Over 10
Oram into the attack
1st ball FOUR! Ponting
Boony just asked for a beer.
4th ball FOUR! Hayden
1/59 Run Rate: 5.9
Hayden 20 (23 balls)
Ponting 14 (17 balls)
Oram 1-0-0-12
Over 11
Vettori into the attack. Powerplay not taken.
6th ball. Ball up in the air, taken. Huge appeal, third umpire called. Looks like it's been hit into the ground. Hayden should be safe here. 3rd umpire says not out.
1/62 Run rate: 5.63
Hayden 21 (27 balls)
Ponting 15 (19 balls)
Vettori 1-0-0-3
Over 12
Oram off after 1 over, Patel into the attack.
1 run off the over
1/63 Run Rate 5.25
Hayden 21 (28 balls)
Ponting 16 (24 balls)
Patel 1-0-0-1
Over 13
The Fremantle doctor has arrived.
1/67 Run rate 5.15
Hayden 21 (28 balls)
Ponting 20 (30 balls)
Vettori 2-0-0-7
Over 14
5 off the over
1/72 Run rate: 5.14
Hayden 23 (31 balls)
Ponting 23 (33 balls)
Patel 2-0-0-6
Over 15
2 off the over.
1/74 Run Rate: 4.93
Hayden 24 (36 balls)
Ponting 24 (34 balls)
Vettori 3-0-0-9
Over 16
1/79 Run rate: 4.94
Hayden 25 (39 balls)
Ponting 27 (38 balls)
Patel 3-0-0-11

18 overs gone 1/87 Run rate: 4.83

Australia ended up scoring 343 for the loss of 5 wickets. Ponting and Hayden put on a 200 run partnership and both got centuries. New Zealand is currently 0/38 off 7.2 overs.

Australia scorecard (thanks to cricinfo)

Australia innings (50 overs maximum)			R	B	4s	6s	SR
	AC Gilchrist	c Patel b Mills	13	20	2	0	65.00
	ML Hayden	b Vettori	117	111	15	0	105.40
	RT Ponting	c Fulton b McMillan	111	122	8	1	90.98
	MJ Clarke	c sub (HJH Marshall) b Patel	7	8	0	0	87.50
	A Symonds	b Gillespie	24	13	0	2	184.61
	MEK Hussey	not out	29	16	0	3	181.25
	CL White	not out	20	12	1	1	166.66
	Extras	(lb 2, w 18, nb 2)	22
	Total	(5 wickets; 50 overs)	343

Fall of wickets1-28 (Gilchrist, 4.6 ov), 2-228 (Hayden, 38.4 ov), 3-254 (Clarke, 41.5 ov), 4-275 (Ponting, 44.1 ov), 5-293 (Symonds, 45.6 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	KD Mills	10	1	72	1	7.20	(2w)
	MR Gillespie	10	1	76	1	7.60	(1nb, 3w)
	JDP Oram	5	0	50	0	10.00
	DL Vettori	10	0	34	1	3.40	(1w)
	JS Patel	10	0	67	1	6.70	(1nb, 1w)
	CD McMillan	3	0	26	1	8.66
	RL Taylor	2	0	16	0	8.00	(1w)

New Zealand Scorecard

New Zealand innings (target: 344 runs from 50 overs)			R	B	4s	6s	SR
	L Vincent	lbw b Clarke	66	82	8	1	80.48
	SP Fleming	c Gilchrist b McGrath	28	27	6	0	103.70
	PG Fulton	c Hayden b Johnson	23	26	4	0	88.46
	RL Taylor	b Clarke	39	50	2	0	78.00
	CD McMillan	run out (Johnson)	5	6	1	0	83.33
	JDP Oram	not out	101	72	4	6	140.27
	BB McCullum	not out	46	39	4	1	117.94
	Extras	(b 2, lb 5, w 18, nb 2)	27
	Total	(5 wickets; 50 overs)	335

Fall of wickets1-47 (Fleming, 9.3 ov), 2-107 (Fulton, 18.3 ov), 3-142 (Vincent, 25.4 ov), 4-150 (McMillan, 27.2 ov), 5-198 (Taylor, 35.2 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	B Lee	10	0	53	0	5.30	(1w)
	NW Bracken	10	1	75	0	7.50	(1w)
	GD McGrath	10	0	72	1	7.20	(2nb)
	MG Johnson	6	0	48	1	8.00	(2w)
	MJ Clarke	9	0	48	2	5.33	(2w)
	A Symonds	5	0	32	0	6.40	(2w)

Michael Bevan retires from first class cricket.

Former Australian batsman Michael Bevan has announced his immediate retirement from first class cricket.

The 36-year-old, who won two World Cups with Australia and is regarded as one of the country's greatest ever one-day players, said on-going injury and recovery problems had prompted him to call stumps on his playing career.

"It got to the stage where injuries and pain were holding back my motivation, and it got to the stage where I was finding it hard to get up for matches and that was probably a pretty clear indication that it was time to move on," Bevan said.

Full Story.

Australia: Too far ahead of the pack?

Recent results seem to suggest that nobody is anywhere close when compared to Australia. The recent Ashes series was 1 Vs 2 yet Australia won 5-0. The 2 games played so far in the Commonwealth Bank Series have been won easily by Australia. The first 1 Vs England by 8 wickets and the 2nd Vs NZ by 105 runs. Australia have been so good for so long, surely they have to start failing one day.
Australia didn't lose a test match in 2006 whereas the West Indies didn't win a match.

Tests
Team                Tests      Won     Lost    Drawn     Tied      Win %
Australia              10       10        0        0        0     100.00
Sri Lanka              11        6        3        2        0      66.66
Pakistan               12        4        3        5        0      57.14
New Zealand             8        3        3        2        0      50.00
India                  12        3        3        6        0      50.00
England                14        5        6        3        0      45.45
South Africa           11        3        7        1        0      30.00
Bangladesh              4        0        4        0        0       0.00
West Indies            10        0        5        5        0       0.00

5 of the top 10 best averages in 2006 were Australians. With 1 very very surprising name at 1. Jason Gillespie thanks to his 201* against Bangladesh has an average for 2006 of 231.

Highest Test Averages of 2006.

Name                Mat    I  NO  Runs   HS     Ave     SR 100 50   Ct St TeJN Gillespie          2    3   2   231  201* 231.00  43.50   1  -    2  - AUS
Mohammad Yousuf      11   19   1  1788  202   99.33  62.64   9  3    3  - PAK
RT Ponting           10   18   3  1333  196   88.86  60.78   7  4    8  - AUS
MEK Hussey           10   15   3   965  182   80.41  53.34   2  7    5  - AUS
MJ Clarke             6    9   3   429  135*  71.50  61.11   2  1    2  - AUS
LPC Silva             2    4   1   213  152*  71.00  69.38   1  1    2  - SL
KC Sangakkara        11   20   2  1242  287   69.00  59.03   4  4   20  2 SL
PA Jaques             1    1   0    66   66   66.00  67.34   -  1    1  - AUS
Younis Khan          11   20   2  1179  199   65.50  58.74   3  6   12  - PAK
M Kaif                5    7   2   317  148*  63.40  47.17   1  1    2  - IND

Australia's one day record for 2006 was not bad either, winning 71.42% of matches. Only 1 series (including tournaments) was lost 2-3 to South Africa in January.
ODIs

Team                 ODIs      Won     Lost     Tied       NR      Win %
Australia              29       20        8        0        1      71.42
New Zealand            14        9        5        0        0      64.28
Bangladesh             28       18       10        0        0      64.28
South Africa           24       15        9        0        0      62.50
West Indies            33       18       14        0        1      56.25
Sri Lanka              36       19       15        0        2      55.88
Pakistan               23       11       10        0        2      52.38
Ireland                 3        1        1        0        1      50.00
India                  30       13       15        0        2      46.42
Kenya                  16        7        9        0        0      43.75
Netherlands             8        3        4        0        1      42.85
Bermuda                12        4        8        0        0      33.33
Zimbabwe               29        8       20        0        1      28.57
England                20        5       14        0        1      26.31
Canada                 10        2        8        0        0      20.00
Scotland                5        1        4        0        0      20.00

All lists used with thanks to Statsguru

Australia win by 8 wockets.

Scorecard

Also Pietersen out of one dayers

Brett Lee - You are the one for me.

Stats: Retirees and the series.

Retirees

Shane Warne will finish his career with the unwanted record of most test runs without a century (3154) Unless he is sent in early he will finish his career with batting stats of Matches: 145 Innings: 199 Not Outs: 17 Runs: 3154 High Score: 99 Average: 17.32 paulyt Average*: 15.84 Balls Faced: 5470 Strike Rate: 57.65 Centuries: 0 50's: 12 Ducks: 34 Fours: 353 Sixes: 37
Bowling Stats: Overs: 6784.1 Maidens: 1761 Runs: 17995 Wickets: 708 BB/I: 8/71 BB/M: 12/128 Average: 25.41 Economy Rate: 2.65 Strike Rate: 57.4 5/I: 37 10/M: 10

Glenn McGrath also has an unwanted record, most ducks by an Australian (35). His career stats (again assuming he doesn't come out early) Matches: 124 Innings: 138 Not Outs: 51 Runs: 641 High Score: 61 Average: 7.36 paulyt Average: 4.64 Balls Faced: 1570 Strike Rate: 40.82 100's: 0 50's: 1 Ducks: 35 4's: 51 6's: 1

Bowling - Overs: 4874.4 Maidens: 1470 Runs: 12186 Wickets: 563 BB/M: 8/24 BB/I: 10/27 Average: 21.64 Economy Rate: 2.49 Strike Rate: 51.9 5/I: 29 10/M: 3

Justin Langer: Matches: 105 Innings: 182 Not Outs: 12 Runs: 7696 High Score: 250 Average: 45.27 paulyt Average: 42.28 Balls Faced: 14192 Strike Rate: 54.22 100's: 50's: 30 Ducks: 11
4's: 912 6's: 40

Series Stats
Highest Batting Averages:

1. Hussey - 91.60 (458 runs 7 innings 2 not outs)
2. Ponting - 82.28 (576 runs 8 innings 1 not out)
3. M. Clarke - 77.80 (389 runs 7 innings 2 not outs)
4. Symonds - 58.00 (232 runs 4 innings 0 not outs)
5. Pietersen - 54.44 (490 runs 10 innings 1 not out)

Most Runs

1. Ponting - 576 (8 innings)
2. Pietersen - 490 (10 innings)
3. Hussey -458 (7 innings)
4. Collingwood -433 (10 innings)
5. Hayden - 413 (9 innings)

Highest Scores

1. Collingwood - 206
2. Ponting - 196
3. Pietersen - 158
4. Symonds - 156
5. Hayden - 153

Highest Strike Rates

1. Gilchrist - 101.77
2. S. Clark - 85.00
3. Warne - 71.27
4. Langer - 70.79
5. Symonds - 66.09

Back later with bowling stats
*paulyt Average = Runs divided by total innings. Normal average is runs divided by times out.

Been away for a while.

I had to suddenly leave to go to Port Macquarie and had no internet access. What's been happening since I last posted?

Australia won the 4th test in 3 days.

Cricinfo has picked it's Test Team of the Year.

Richie Benaud says retirements won't hurt the Aussie team.

SHANE Warne may face disciplinary action and a possible fine for dissent.