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England are facing an innings defeat in the second Test at Adelaide after Australia’s bowlers ripped out three of their top batsmen for just 36 runs in the final session of the third day. It followed Steve Waugh’s declaration on 552 for nine, a lead of 210 runs.A partnership of 242 between Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn set up a commanding position for Australia. They started the day watchfully to build on the foundations laid by openers Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer. Ponting crafted a magnificent 154 to put Australia into the lead, and in doing so proved how mature a batsman he has become. His innings up until his century included just four boundaries against accurate bowling.The two batted through the first session, putting on 94 runs. Martyn played a supporting role, until just five runs short of century he got a short one from Stephen Harmison which flicked his gloves and went via his thigh into the waiting hands of Nasser Hussain. It gave Harmison his first Ashes wicket and England the breakthrough they needed. The right-hander had been troubled with the short ball all day. Andrew Caddick had hit him on the helmet and Harmison struck him twice on the upper body.His departure brought Steve Waugh to the crease. The Aussie captain started briskly at better than a run a ball, prompting Ponting to raise the tempo as well. Trying to match his captain, he fell victim to Craig White, who dug in the first ball of a new spell for Ponting to pull, finding Richard Dawson on the mid-wicket boundary. White then dismissed his brother-in-law, Darren Lehmann, the hometown hero who was looking to justify his position at number six. The left-hander slashed to Andrew Flintoff, who was subbing for Hussain, in the slips. He juggled the ball before claiming the catch.Waugh, after making 35 off 39 balls, mistimed a cut for Mark Butcher to take a great catch in the gully. Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne then survived until tea. Warne made 25 before he tried to drive Dawson and the 22-year-old off-spinner caught him in his follow through. Andrew Bichel, hoping to keep his place over Brett Lee for the next Test, crafted a decent 48 with some magnificent shots off both the front and back foot, giving Gilchrist good support. Eventually, trying to push a Matthew Hoggard delivery to leg, he edged the ball back on to his stumps. His dismissal gave Hoggard his first wicket of the series after toiling hard through Brisbane and Adelaide.Jason Gillespie came out to a thunderous roar but Gilchrist, trying to force the pace, was immediately caught behind off Harmison, prompting the declaration.Showing signs of tiredness after a day’s fielding, Marcus Trescothick was trapped lbw by a Gillespie special without scoring. It was the seventh time the 27-year-old had fallen to Gillespie, and the bowler’s 50th Test wicket in Australia. Glenn McGrath then snared Butcher, plumb lbw for four. McGrath was so confident of the wicket, he did not even turn to see Steve Bucknor’s decision.As he had done on day one, Waugh called up Bichel to bowl the last over of the day. After beating Hussain with his first ball, he dismissed the England captain with his second, a beauty which clipped the top of the off stump. Michael Vaughan remains unbeaten on 17. Rain is forecast overnight and for tomorrow, but with two days of the match remaining England’s chances of survival look slim indeed.

Scorecard
West Indies continued their unbeaten record on their Europe tour but not without some scares when they slipped to 66 for 5 in the second one-dayer against Netherlands. Juliana Nero stood firm with only her second fifty in 32 ODIs, but one which proved vital to maintaining their win tally.Coming in at 11 for 1, she bravely fought on as her comrades fell, until she had helped push the score on to 135 for 9, West Indies eventually setting Netherlands 145 under tricky conditions. Nero ended with 50 from 105 balls.The home side were 91 for 3 in reply, with an excellent chance of running up their first win in 13 matches – that record stretching back to 2003 – but Stacy-Ann Kirby and Kirbyiana Alexander conspired to ruin their dreams. The pair took five of the final seven wickets between them – Alexander involved in a sixth, a run-out which was set-up by Anisa Mohammed – as Netherlands slid away 20 runs short, a rain break having forced Duckworth-Lewis into the equation. Debbie-Ann Lewis had kicked off proceedings with three handy victims.Netherlands will not be best pleased that they gave away 25 wides; West Indies 13. Netherlands have to win the final two matches to level the four-ODI series but before that comes their second stab at Twenty20 cricket, West Indies’ third, with their match on Sunday.

Floodlit cricket returns to Canterbury on Tuesday 30 July when Kent Spitfires play the Warwickshire Bears in Division One of the Norwich Union League. Preparations are already well under way at the St Lawrence Ground, the first outward signs of which will be the testing of the lights on Sunday 28 July and Monday 29 July and the arrival of the Sky television crew ahead of the game.A bumper crowd is expected, with play commencing at 4.10 p.m. on the day. Gates will open at 2.00 p.m. and, in order to cope with the expected high volume of traffic, the Police are to implement a one-way system along the Old Dover Road. Extra parking has been arranged at the nearby Simon Langton School.The match is to be televised and there will be an array of events throughout the evening including bands, a free-fall parachute display and many other activities. Warwickshire currently lead the table and can expect a tough challenge from Kent ahead of their Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy Semi Final at Taunton on 1 August.

A young Somerset team scored a memorable victory over Gloucestershire Seconds at Bristol University in a three-day match.Batting first Gloucestershire scored 235, with Wes Durston taking four for 29 for the visitors.In reply Somerset scored 315, with Arul Suppiah making 69, Wes Durston 61 and Richard Timms 59.Batting in their second innings Gloucestershire declared at 302 for five, and the Cidermen’s young hopefuls reached their target for the loss of seven wickets, thanks again to Wes Durston who made 59 to round off a very good all-round match for him, and Arul Suppiah who made 54.After the game Somerset second eleven coach Mark Garaway told me: "This was a very pleasing all round performance."

It doesn’t pay to be successful in the TelstraClear Black Caps side at the moment – you become a target for the injury gods, and Nathan Astle is the latest victim.New Zealand’s player of the year after his outstanding batting form over the summer Astle, will not play in tonight’s second One-Day International against Pakistan and will return home immediately having been diagnosed with a tear in the patella tendon of his left knee.The extent of the tear is not known and is why he is being flown home to be diagnosed by the New Zealand Cricket medical team.A precautionary scan has been taken of the knee as the result of Astle experiencing increasing discomfort since the one-day tournament in Sharjah.New Zealand Cricket’s operations manager John Reid said: “We want to get him home for further diagnosis from our medical team and start him on rehabilitation as quickly as possible.”That’s operations as in technical administration of New Zealand’s Cricket but it might just as well be medical operations manager such has been the attrition rate among the leading New Zealand players since the World Cup of 1999.Geoff Allott, Chris Cairns, Daniel Vettori, Shayne O’Connor, Dion Nash, Scott Styris, Shane Bond and now Astle have all suffered severe injury setbacks which have drastically reduced New Zealand’s capacity to compete as efficiently as it could without such an injury load.Astle’s place in the side is being taken by Mathew Sinclair.Sinclair had just returned home from Sharjah and will now rejoin the side on Friday. Astle’s injury is the perfect opportunity for Sinclair to reclaim his place in the New Zealand Test side after being dropped for the home series against England.

Karachi Whites thrashed Bahawalpur by a huge margin of 173 runs, as their pace man Imran Javed bagged 7 wickets for 40, sending the tourists packing for 102 while chasing 275 for victory.Put into bat first, Karachi-W were helped by fine innings from Hasan Raza (63 off 83), Arif Mahmood (56 off 48) and Saeed Bin Nasir (43 off 80), as they posted an impressive 275 for 5 on the board.It was then all Imran Javed with his deadly yorkers and lovely out-swingers, accounting for 7 of the Bahawalpur batsmen for 40 runs in his ten overs. Hammad Tariq (75 off 91), the opener, fought single-handedly all through the innings, but failing to find any contribution whatsoever from the other end, he only saw his side disintegrating inside 23 overs, with the second highest individual score being only 3.In the second Pool A match, Lahore Whites surpassed Peshawar by 113 runs, after posting 268 in their fifty overs. Led by wicket keeper/batsman Humayun Farhat, Lahore had an opening partnership of 98 in about 13 overs, as Salman Butt and the skipper himself led the charge against Peshawar bowlers.The skipper made an attacking 60 off 45 balls, helped by 8 fours and a six, and Salman got a patient 53 off 95 ball. Sohail Idrees and Rizwan Aslam also batted well getting 42 (64 balls) and 41 (38 balls), respectively.Peshawar made an impressive start, getting 25 in the first two overs, but dramatically lost momentum, losing wickets at regular intervals. The 16-year-old lad Azhar Ali proved their main destroyer, bagging five wickets for 23 with his leg breaks. He was aided by Saad Janjua who got 2 for 25, whereas Rizwan Ahmed got 2 for 31, thus, restricting the opposition to 155 in 37.4 overs.The third encounter of this Pool, played between Islamabad and Rawalpindi, was arguably the most interesting match so far in the tournament, with the latter emerging winners by only one wicket.Chasing a target of 239, Rawalpindi were cruising along at 150 for 4 by the 30th over, after Mohammad Nadeem and Naeem Akhtar had batted well, respectively, for their 48 and 43. However, the next ten overs witnessed a remarkable turnaround, as Islamabad claimed 5 wickets with the addition of just about 35 runs, reducing the opposition to 188 for 9 by the 41st over.It was then up to an unbeaten 53-run partnership between Iftikhar Mahmood and Junaid Zia, which ultimately led their side through in 49.5 overs. Making full use of Islamabad’s slackness in the field, the two tail-enders found runs without much ado. Iftikhar remained not out on 29 (35 balls) and Junaid scored an unbeaten 27 (28 balls, 2 fours, 1 six).

The Board of Control for cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) announced a 15-mansquad for Sri Lanka’s forthcoming three-Test tour of England on Tuesdaynight.As revealed by CricInfo at the weekend, Aravinda de Silva, 36, has beenrecalled for the tour starting 26 April at Canterbury, Kent – his home fortwo seasons in the mid-1990s.Otherwise, the only surprise is the omission of Romesh Kaluwitharana,veteran of 40 Tests and 170 ODIs, casting serious doubt over his Testfuture.Kauwitharana has been replaced by Prasanna Jayawardene, 22, who is widelyregarded as the best wicket-keeper in the country, although a less naturallytalented batsman.However, Jayawardene will only be traveling as replacement wicket-keeper, asKumar Sangakkara remains the first choice gloveman.The selectors will pick a further pace bowler shortly to increase the squadto 16, probably in Sharjah when they a have seen how Pulasthi Gunaratnereacts to the pressures of international cricket.Dilhara Fernando, potentially Sri Lanka’s most destructive fast bowler, hasbeen selected for the tour but he first needs to recover from a bank injury.No replacements have been named.The selectors will make changes to the squad for the Natwest one-day seriesthat follows the Test matches and are expected to announce those changesafter Sharjah.

ScorecardSouth Western Districts, who were given provisional affiliate status by CSA in August last year, pulled off a stunning coup when they beat Western Province by an innings and 54 runs inside two days in Oudtshoorn. Debutant fast bowler Marcello Piedt took 7 for 6 as Western Province were bowled out for 34 in their second innings.Piedt has played under-19 cricket but this was his first foray into first-class cricket and he had a match to remember. Bowling alongside Warriors seamer Gurshwin Rabie, he took two wickets in the first innings while Ross McMillan took three as Western Province were dismissed for 141.Adrian McLaren, a former franchise player at the Knights, held the SWD innings together. His 67 was the only half-century on the card. Another youngster, 19-year old Travis Muller claimed 6 for 55 but SWD took an 88-run lead into their second innings.The rest of the match belonged to Piedt. He took two wickets each in his second, fourth and fifth overs to ensure Western Province never had a chance. He only needed to bowl ten overs. Rabie and Douglas Baartman cleaned up the rest and SWD had earned a memorable win. The match was SWD’s first of the season, while it was Western Province’s third. They still top the table despite the result but have played more matches than any other team.

Guided by the good form their batsmen found themselves in, Uttar Pradesh stamped their supremacy in the Under-16 category by winning the Madhavrao Scindia Trophy by virtue of their 163 run first innings lead over Rest of India at the Kamla Club ground in Kanpur on Tuesday.Opting to bat first on the opening day, Uttar Pradesh amassed 455 for 7 on the board. The UP skipper Rahat Ilahi (122) was the top scorer. He drew able support from A Alam (88) with whom he shared a 89 run stand for the fourth wicket. This was followed by a 141 run stand with S Raina (63). Rahul Arora (2 for 33) and SA Pai (2 for 27) were the pick of the bowlers for the Rest of India side. During a three and a quarter hour stay at the crease, Ilahi faced 271 balls and hit just four boundaries and two sixes.In response, Rest of India who batted for the rest of the second day and the third were all out for 292. The top scorer was the Rest of India skipper Rahul Arora with 55. K Vasudeva Das (45), opener SO Kukreja (43) and SA Pai (46) made useful contributions. Praveen Gupta (5 for 61) was the most successful bowler for UP.

Sri Lanka fast bowler, Lasith Malinga, who became the first bowler in World Cup history to take two hat-tricks, has said that he learnt to bowl his deadly yorkers by watching Pakistan’s legendary pair of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. Malinga ran through the hapless Kenya batting to take a career best 6 for 38 runs, and pick up the Man-of-the-Match award, as the opposition crumbled under his assault for a mere 142 runs.”This is a slow pitch and bouncers will not work so I decided to go for yorkers,” Malinga said. “I didn’t have any idea of how to bowl a yorker when I first came into the national team but I was taught how to bowl them by Champaka Ramanayake and Rumesh Ratnayake (two former Sri Lanka fast bowlers).”I also watched Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis bowl and I learnt a lot from them.”Malinga missed his side’s opening two matches with a sore back, but came back strongly to take the wickets of Tanmay Mishra, Peter Ongondo and Shem Ngoche with successive, full, swinging deliveries, with the latter two having their stumps rearranged. His hat-trick was spread over two overs – the last ball of his seventh and the first two balls of his eighth. In all, four of his six victims were bowled and the two others were trapped lbw.In the 2007 World Cup, Malinga grabbed the headlines with four in a row against South Africa at Guyana. “I rate the performance in South Africa with four wickets in four balls as the best. But I am happy that I got six wickets today which was my career best.”Malinga stated that he could have played in the second match against Pakistan but did not on the advice of the team physio, Tommy Simsek. “I was sad and also lazy when I was not playing the first two matches. I didn’t play because I was not fully recovered.”He said that he was happy to perform the way he did in front of the Sri Lankan public. “I didn’t have much hopes to play for a long time when I was coming to cricket. My only aim was to contribute as much as I can to the team whenever I play for them. I will give my 100 percent in whatever the game I participate. That makes me happy.”I have played for the national team for the past seven years. A lot of people have said that I would not be able to play for a long time (due to injury concerns). But I am happy to have played for the last seven years.”Contemplating his future the 27-year-old fast bowler said, “I don’t know how long I could play, but I am happy to contribute to the team whenever I play. I believe I can still play Test cricket after considering my injury concerns. When I feel that I can’t do anything for the team, I will happily retire.”