Mitchell Marsh 'excited' as he poses with the World Cup trophy.

Australian under-19 captain poses with the Under-19 world cup ahead of the final on saturday. Is it just me or does he seem a bit too 'excited?'

Australia beat WI. NZ beat Pakistan.

Australia have beaten West Indies by an innings and 65 runs despite a brilliant debut century by Barath. My pick for MOM is Hilfenhaus, Cricinfo says there will be no qualms if Barath gets it, I disagree. Hilfenhaus took 5 wickets in the match and 2 good outfield catches in the 2nd innings. Hauritz also bowled well and was on hat trick at one stage, as was Watson.

In other news NZ has bowled well at the end to deny Pakistan. Pakistan were 6/195 at one stage chasing 251 but lost their last 4 wickets for 23 to lose by 32 runs. Shane Bond was his usual self taking 8 wickets.

More to come.

Australiak win 6th ODI and series.

Australia has racked up a comfortable win in the 6th ODI against India to seal the series.

Indian captain MS Dhoni must have been ruing the decision to bat after winning the toss with Mitchell Johnson and Doug Bollinger teaming up to reduce India to 5/27 before the 10 over mark. Dhoni and Jadeja dug in and combined for a slow 48 run partnership before Jadeja and Kumar added valuable runs towards the end to take the toal to all out for 170. Kumar's highest ODI score (54* from 51 balls) included 7 fours and 4 sixes. All of Australia's bowlers bowled well but it was Bollinger and Johnson who did the most damage. Johnson took 3/39 from 9 overs including 2 in the first while Bollinger took 5/35 from 10. Watson was once again in the wickets taking 2/27.

Australia's reply got off to a fast start with Watson scoring a run a ball 49 before a couple slowed the scoring rate. The winning runs were hit in the 42nd over. Voges and Hussey were the not out batsmen with Hussey scoring from 35 from 62 and Voges 23 from 21. 9 bowlers were used by Dhoni. Harbhajan took 2/23 from while Raina and Patel took 1 each. Tendulkar bowled what proved to be the last over with his 5 balls going for 11 runs.

Australia beat India by 3 runs in the 5th ODI

Australia has beaten India by 3 runs in the 5th ODI to go up 3-2. Despite a magnificent 175 from the master Sachin Tendulkar India fell agonisingly short of what would have been the highest successful run chase on Indian soil. Set up by a century to Marsh and 90 to Watson Australia posted a massive 4/350. Marsh's maiden ODI century eventually ended for a run a ball 112 while Watson was out for 93 off 89 balls. A rapid 57* from 33 balls by Cameron White which included 5 sixes helped  Australia post the 7th highest score in India and the highest on this ground. Australia's 13 sixes were the most scored by a team against India in India. Harbahjahn Singh was the pick of the bowlers, while only taking 1 wickets his 10 overs only went for 44 runs while Kumar, Jadeja, Nehra and Patel all went for more than 7.5 an over.

In reply India got off to a quick start and a brilliant 175 from 141 balls by Tendulkar and a run a ball 59 from Suresh Raina took India close before the panic set in and a flurry of run outs saw India fall short. . Clint McKay bowled brilliantly on debut picking up 3/59 off his 10 overs while Watson chipped in with 3 wickets as well. Bollinger, Hauritz, Hilfenhaus and Hussey were all expensive.

Scorecard


Quotes 
Ponting " It was one of the amazing games and certainly one of the best innings ever from Sachin. You just have to keep hanging in there, you just have tell your bowlers to keep bowling to the plan. just one bad shot and we could come in but Sachin didn't play many bad shots today! Its really unbelievable how we have played, considering al the injuries. Marsh played realy well.:"


Dhoni "They got off to a good start and we never got into a postion to contain them. It was up to us to chase it. We got a good start and we came in the end due to Tendulkar and Raina. We lost it in our mental calculation, not because of our talent. It was one of the good ODI tracks we have seen in India, you have to be smart. Hopefully we will be up for the next two games."

Cricinfo "Congrats Australia, a team battered with injuries has hung on for a memorable win.. Sixty one years ago, at the end of a tour of England by Don Bradman's famous pack, John Arlott put it thus: "Australianism," wrote Arlott, "means single-minded determination to win - to win within the laws but, if necessary, to the last limit within them. It means where the 'impossible' is within the realm of what the human body can do, there are Australians who believe that they can do it - and who have succeeded often enough to make us wonder if anything is impossible to them. It means they have never lost a match - particularly a Test match - until the last run is scored or their last wicket down."

Man Of the Match
My MOM - Clint McKay and Sachin Tendulkar
Official MOM - Sachin Tendulkar


The last word - A brilliant game of cricket and one the best innings of all time by Tendulkar. As I said in my congratulations on 17,000 runs port we are lucky to be able to watch such a brilliant batsmen, especially when he plays like he did tonight.

Australia fined for slow over rate

Michael Clarke may have escaped with his unbeaten captaincy record intact following Australia's last-gasp victory in the fourth ODI on Friday while he was deputising for the injured Ricky Ponting, but he couldn't avoid a fine for a slow over-rate.

He lost ten per cent of his match fee in his first ODI as captain, the third time he has skippered Australia having led them in two Twenty20s. His team-mates were each docked five per cent after Australia were ruled to be one over short of their target when time allowances were taken into consideration.

Full Story

Australia V South Africa

Update: Australia won by 83 runs. Scorecard

Matthew Hayden has blasted the fastest ever World cup century to get Australia off to a flyer against South Africa. Hayden's centru came off just 66 balls beating the old record by 1 ball. Hayden fell for 101 off 68 balls, an innings which included 14 fours and 4 sixes.

Gilchrist's wicket was the first to fall when Australia were on 106, Gilchrist scored a quickfire 42 off 42 balls.

Australia are currently 2/177 off 26 overs.
Ponting 26 (38 balls 2x4 1x6)
Clarke 5 (9 balls 0x4 0x6)

Update:
2/188
Ponting 29 (44 balls 2x4 1x6)
Clarke 11 (15 balls 1x4 0x6)
Ponting has just joined the 10,000 club. He is just the 7th batsemn in ODI history to reach the milestone.

Chappell-Hadlee Series Game 3

Mathew Hayden has blasted the highest score by an Australian in ODI history to lead Australia to 5/346 off their 50 overs in the 3rd and final match of the chappell-hadlee series.
All kinds of records tumbled as Hayden carried his bat to finsih 181 not out. He eclipsed Mark Waugh's 173 in the 2001/01 series to register the highest score by an Australian in ODI history.

Before today the highest by a player from any country in a one-dayer in NZ was 156 by Andrew Symond last year in the Chappell-Hadlee series.

Hayden hit 10 sixes to break the record for most sixes in an innings by an Australian which was 9, set by Ponting last year in that 430 odd score against South Africa. Hayden now sits in 8th place on the all-time list for highest individual score in ODIs.

Hayden's 181 came off just 166 balls with 11 fours and 10 sixes.
Watson chipped in with 68 off 69 balls as the openers put on 122 for the first wicket in 25 overs.

FoxSports Scorecard

Australia lose 2nd Chappelll-Hadlee trophy match.

They also have lost their number 1 spot one-day spot on the ICC rankings.

Stephen Fleming won the toss and chose to field. Australia got off to a slow start and when departed for 24 Australia were 2/52 off 12.2 overs. After the way Australia has been playing lately there could have been a collapse but Hussey was on a mission. He put on 70 for the 3rd wicket with Haddin (489 off 61) in just 13 overs. Hussey and Hodge then put on 130 in 17 overs to take Australia to 4/252 off 42.3, Hussey out for 105 off just 84 balls with 8 fours and 6 sixes. Hodge once again ran out of balls falling just short of his maiden one day century finishing on 97 not out off 86 balls. He and Cameron White blasting their way to an unbeaten partnership of 84 off just 45 balls. Australia finished on 4/336.

New Zealand, led by a century to Taylor which included 16 fours chased the runs down with 8 balls and 5 wickets remaining.

Domestic Tables

Ford Ranger One Day Cup

Team	Mt	Pts	NRR
QLD	10	26	0.081
VIC	9	26	0.348
WA	10	22	0.322
TAS	8	17	-0.203
SA	9	17	-0.146
NSW	10	13	-0.445

Pura Cup

Team	Mt	Pts	Qt
NSW	8	26	1.036
VIC	7	24	1.352
WA	8	22	1.232
QLD	8	20	0.942
TAS	7	20	0.863
SA	8	6	0.743

World Cup Squads

Australia

1.	RT Ponting (captain)
2.	NW Bracken
3.	MJ Clarke
4.	AC Gilchrist (wicketkeeper)
5.	BJ Haddin (wicketkeeper)
6.	ML Hayden
7.	BJ Hodge
8.	GB Hogg
9.	MEK Hussey
10.	MG Johnson
11.	B Lee
12.	GD McGrath
13.	A Symonds
14.	SW Tait
15.	SR Watson

Bangladesh

1.	Habibul Bashar (captain)
2.	Shahriar Nafees (vice-captain)
3.	Abdur Razzak
4.	Aftab Ahmed
5.	Javed Omar
6.	Mashrafe Mortaza
7.	Mohammad Ashraful
8.	Mohammad Rafique
9.	Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper)
10.	Rajin Saleh
11.	Saqibul Hasan
12.	Shahadat Hossain
13.	Syed Rasel
14.	Tamim Iqbal
15.	Tapash Baisya

Canada

1.	JM Davison (captain)
2.	KT Sandher
3.	DR Chumney
4.	A Bagai (wicketkeeper) - vice-captain
5.	GEF Barnett
6.	U Bhatti
7.	IS Billcliff
8.	A Codrington
9.	GR Codrington
10.	AC Cummins
11.	S Dhaniram
12.	AA Mulla (wicketkeeper)
13.	H Osinde
14.	Qaiser Ali
15.	AM Samad

England

1.	MP Vaughan (captain)
2.	JM Anderson
3.	IR Bell
4.	RS Bopara
5.	PD Collingwood
6.	JWM Dalrymple
7.	A Flintoff
8.	EC Joyce
9.	J Lewis
10.	SI Mahmood
11.	PA Nixon (wicketkeeper)
12.	MS Panesar
13.	KP Pietersen
14.	LE Plunkett
15.	AJ Strauss

India

1.	R Dravid (captain)
2.	SR Tendulkar (vice-captain)
3.	AB Agarkar
4.	MS Dhoni (wicketkeeper)
5.	SC Ganguly
6.	Harbhajan Singh
7.	KD Karthik (wicketkeeper)
8.	Z Khan
9.	A Kumble
10.	MM Patel
11.	IK Pathan
12.	V Sehwag
13.	S Sreesanth
14.	AR Uthappa
15.	Yuvraj Singh

Ireland

1.	DT Johnston (captain)
2.	WK McCallan (vice-captain)
3.	AC Botha
4.	JP Bray
5.	KED Carroll
6.	PG Gillespie
7.	D Langford-Smith
8.	JF Mooney
9.	PJK Mooney
10.	EJG Morgan
11.	KJ O'Brien
12.	NJ O'Brien (wicketkeeper)
13.	WTS Porterfield
14.	WB Rankin
15.	AR White

Kenya

1.	SO Tikolo (captain)
2.	TM Odoyo (vice-captain)
3.	R Bhudia
4.	JK Kamande
5.	T Mishra
6.	CO Obuya
7.	DO Obuya
8.	N Odhiambo
9.	PJ Ongondo
10.	LN Onyango
11.	MA Ouma (wicketkeeper)
12.	ML Patel
13.	RD Shah
14.	AO Suji
15.	HA Varaiya

Netherlands

1.	LP van Troost (captain)
2.	B Zuiderent
3.	Adeel Raja
4.	PW Borren
5.	TBM de Leede
6.	MBS Jonkman
7.	AN Kervezee
8.	Mohammad Kashif
9.	DJ Reekers
10.	E Schiferli
11.	J Smits (wicketkeeper)
12.	WF Stelling
13.	ES Szwarczynski
14.	RN ten Doeschate
15.	DLS van Bunge

New Zealand

1.	SP Fleming (captain)
2.	SE Bond
3.	JEC Franklin
4.	PG Fulton
5.	MR Gillespie
6.	BB McCullum (wicketkeeper)
7.	CD McMillan
8.	MJ Mason
9.	JDP Oram
10.	JS Patel
11.	SB Styris
12.	RL Taylor
13.	DR Tuffey
14.	DL Vettori
15.	L Vincent

Pakistan

1.	Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain)
2.	Younis Khan (vice-captain)
3.	Abdul Razzaq
4.	Danish Kaneria
5.	Iftikhar Anjum
6.	Imran Nazir
7.	Kamran Akmal (wicketkeeper)
8.	Mohammad Asif
9.	Mohammad Hafeez
10.	Mohammad Yousuf
11.	Naved-ul-Hasan
12.	Shahid Afridi
13.	Shoaib Akhtar
14.	Shoaib Malik
15.	Umar Gul

Scotland

1.	CM Wright (captain)
2.	RR Watson (vice-captain)
3.	JAR Blain
4.	DR Brown
5.	GM Hamilton
6.	RM Haq
7.	PJC Hoffmann
8.	DR Lockhart
9.	RT Lyons
10.	NFI McCallum
11.	JD Nel
12.	NS Poonia
13.	GA Rogers
14.	CJO Smith (wicketkeeper)
15.	DF Watts

South Africa (15 to be omitted)

1.	GC Smith (captain)
2.	LL Bosman
3.	J Botha
4.	MV Boucher (wicketkeeper)
5.	AB de Villiers
6.	HH Dippenaar
7.	JP Duminy
8.	HH Gibbs
9.	AJ Hall
10.	PL Harris
11.	JH Kallis
12.	JM Kemp
13.	GJP Kruger
14.	CK Langeveldt
15.	JA Morkel
16.	A Nel
17.	M Ntini
18.	JL Ontong
19.	AN Petersen
20.	RJ Peterson
21.	VD Philander
22.	SM Pollock
23.	AG Prince
24.	JA Rudolph
25.	DW Steyn
26.	R Telemachus
27.	AC Thomas
28.	T Tshabalala
29.	JJ van der Wath
30.	MN van Wyk (wicketkeeper)

Sri Lanka

1.	DPMD Jayawardene (captain)
2.	RP Arnold
3.	MS Atapattu
4.	CM Bandara
5.	TM Dilshan
6.	CRD Fernando
7.	ST Jayasuriya
8.	KMDN Kulasekara
9.	MF Maharoof
10.	SL Malinga
11.	M Muralitharan
12.	KC Sangakkara (wicketkeeper)
13.	LPC Silva
14.	WU Tharanga
15.	WPUJC Vaas

West Indies (15 to be omitted)

1.	BC Lara (captain)
2.	OAC Banks
3.	CS Baugh (wicketkeeper)
4.	IDR Bradshaw
5.	DJ Bravo
6.	PA Browne (wicketkeeper)
7.	S Chanderpaul
8.	CD Collymore
9.	N Deonarine
10.	TM Dowlin
11.	FH Edwards
12.	RR Emrit
13.	CH Gayle
14.	RO Hinds
15.	WW Hinds
16.	SC Joseph
17.	RN Lewis
18.	D Mohammed
19.	RS Morton
20.	KA Pollard
21.	DB Powell
22.	D Ramdin (wicketkeeper)
23.	DJG Sammy
24.	MN Samuels
25.	RR Sarwan
26.	LMP Simmons
27.	DR Smith
28.	DS Smith
29.	JE Taylor
30.	GC Tonge

Zimbabwe (15 to be omitted)

1.	P Utseya (captain)
2.	TMK Mawoyo
3.	GB Brent
4.	CJ Chibhabha
5.	E Chigumbura
6.	T Chisoro
7.	CK Coventry
8.	AG Cremer
9.	KM Dabengwa
10.	T Duffin
11.	TN Garwe
12.	RS Higgins
13.	T Hove
14.	AJ Ireland
15.	T Kamungozi
16.	F Kasteni
17.	NB Mahwire
18.	T Maruma
19.	H Masakadza
20.	S Matsikenyeri
21.	CB Mpofu
22.	TV Mufambisi (wicketkeeper)
23.	T Mupariwa
24.	ML Nkala
25.	EC Rainsford
26.	HP Rinke
27.	V Sibanda
28.	GM Strydom
29.	BRM Taylor (wicketkeeper)
30.	SC Williams

CB Series final points table and selected stats.

Points Table

Team	P	W	L	NR	T	BP	Points	NRR	For	Against
Australia	8	7	1	-	-	3	31	+0.667	1860 / 355.3	1826 / 400
England	8	3	5	-	-	1	13	-0.608	1655 / 399.5	1702 / 358.3
New Zealand	8	2	6	-	-	1	9	-0.007	2016 / 400	2003 / 396.5

Finals
England won 2-0

Batting Stats
(These stats will feature more players from Australia and England than New Zealand and Aus and Eng played 2 extra games.)

Highest Average (Minimum 100 runs)
Name Inn NO Runs HS Avg
Oram 5 2 261 101* 87.60
Ponting 8 2 445 111 74.16
Collingwood 9 1 379 120 47.37
Hayden 10 1 387 117 43
Hodge 5 1 154 99* 38.50

Most Runs
Ponting 445
Hayden 387
Collingwood 378
Bell 292
Joyce 288
Taylor 282
Highest Strike Rates (minimum 4 innings)
Oram 124.28
Plunkett 109.43
Hodge 101.98
Gilchrist 95.27
Ponting 87.25
Flintoff 85.41

Highest Scores (clicking name/score will open the match scorecards)
Collingwood 120*
Hayden 117
Ponting 111
Joyce 107
Collingwood 106
Fleming 106
Ponting 104
Oram 10
Hodge 99*

Bowling Stats
Most wickets
Name M O W
McGrath 7 68 13
Plunkett 6 49. 5 12
Lee 7 68 12
Bracken 8 71.1 12
Flintoff 10 81.1 12
Bond 6 56.5 11
Best Averages(minimum 20 overs)
Anderson 20.62
Plunkett 23
McGrath 23.26
McMillan 24.24
Johnson 26
Best bowling in an innings
Flintoff 4/21
Vettori 4/24
Lewis 4/36
Anderson 4/42
Johnson 4/45
Bond 4/46

England win the CB series.

One of the most unexpected series wins of all-time has been achieved by England. Paying $41 for a $1 bet a few weeks ago after people bowled out for 110, they have bounced back superbly and will now lift the CB series trophy. At the time of writing Australia still has a minute chance of winning the 2nd final but looking at the radar the rain won't stop in time.
Congratulations must go to England who were down and out and less popular than a Sheik Al-Hilaly at Cronulla beach on Australia Day about a week and a half ago. They will gain a tremendous amount of confidence coming up to the World Cup and the Australian selectors will have a huge task of getting the team right.

Selectors in pace predicament.

SHAUN Tait and Stuart Clark have become the centre of a selection room shootout for the prized final pace place in Australia's World Cup squad.

Neither has a chance to advance their cause because the squad will be chosen on Thursday before Australia's next match on Friday, the first limited-overs tri-series final.

Tait's sizzling form on Sunday, when he pushed the speedometer to near-world record 160kph against New Zealand, has put him in firm contention for the fifth and final pace place in Australia's 15-man squad.

One, but not both Tait and Clark, will be chosen.

Glenn McGrath, Nathan Bracken and Brett Lee are certainties while Mitchell Johnson is considered just ahead of Tait and Clark.

It is an agonising choice for the panel, which feels deeply indebted to Clark for his stunning Test form which carried Australia to recent series wins against South Africa and England.

Full Story

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)

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.

The Ashes. What people are saying.

Cricinfo reports that Duncan Fletcher has said that the English players still respect him.

Also on Cricinfo - Ricky Ponting jumps to the defence of Flintoff and Fletcher saying the criticism of them is "harsh"

FoxSports reckons England should be embarassed with how they handled Monty Panesar

The BBC's "Robbo" takes a look at how England lost the "Thrashes"

The Sydney Morning Herald tells of Terry Jenner (Warne's Bowling Coach) predicting Ian Bell to be Warne's 700th wicket.

Goodbye Damien

Australian middle-order batsman Damien Martyn has announced his retirement from international and domestic cricket, effective immediately.

Australian middle-order batsman Damien Martyn has announced his retirement from international and domestic cricket, effective immediately.

The Western Australian said on Friday that he was no longer able to dedicate himself fully to the game and that it was 'time for me to move aside'.

Since scoring a match-winning century at the Wanderers in Johannesburg earlier this year, Martyn has struggled with the bat, notching up scores of 4, 7, 29 and 11 in three Tests against Bangladesh and England.

The 35-year-old has played 67 Tests since making his debut against the West Indies at the Gabba in 1992, scoring 4406 runs at an average of 46.37.

Martyn also played 208 one-day international matches, racking up 5346 runs at 40.80.

"I would like to advise of my retirement from cricket, effective from today (Friday). I do so with a deep awareness of the opportunities that the game and Cricket Australia have provided for me," Martyn said.

"However, I'm also aware of the tremendous challenges facing Australian cricket including this current Ashes series. Such challenges require people who are more than 100 percent committed, dedicated, disciplined and passionate about the game, what it seeks to achieve and how those involved in the game can best serve cricket, sport and the wider community."

"I feel, therefore, it's time for me to move aside. I have enjoyed everything the game has given me. I have gained from it more then I could have ever imagined. I have made, in the playing of cricket, lifelong friends."

Martyn said his decision came down to retaining the respect and friendship of his team-mates.

"They have always been utterly supportive, totally professional and completely committed to all that their responsibilities require of them," he said.

"I said to myself when I made this decision in the last 48 hours that I may lose friends in doing what I'm doing. But I also said to myself that if I stayed doing what I was doing I may equally lose respect for myself and the friendship of those around me who are entitled to expect from me more than 100 percent."

Australian captain Ricky Ponting said Martyn was one of the most 'unsung' players in the cricket world and his experience would be missed.

"Damien is one of the world's most unsung players in both forms of the game and I don't think it is really understood how good a player he actually is," Ponting said.

"In recent times he won the Test in Johannesburg off his own bat and played a huge role in Australia claiming the ICC Champions Trophy in India for the first time."

"He is one of those players who, as the conditions and situations got harder and more difficult, the better he became. Some of his innings in Sri Lanka and India on turning pitches proved his class and I know I will miss his influence on the Australian team."

The squad for the third Ashes Test in Perth is expected to be announced later on Friday afternoon once the national selectors decide on Martyn's replacement.

Article here


Goodbye Damien
Though I never knew you at all
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled
You crawled out of the woodwork
And you caressed it through the gap
They set you on the treadmill
And they made you change your game

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never fading with the sunset
When the rain set in
And your footsteps will always fall here
Along WA's greenest hills
Your candle's burned out long before
Your legend ever will

Loneliness was tough
The toughest role you ever played
Western Australia created a superstar
And pain was the price you paid
Even when you hit a ton
Oh the press still hounded you
All the papers had to say
Was that Damien should be dropped


And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never fading with the sunset
When the rain set in
And your footsteps will always fall here
Along WA's greenest hills
Your candle's burned out long before
Your legend ever will

Goodbye Damien
From the young man in the 22nd row
Who sees you as something as more than conservative
More than just our Damien Martyn