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Newcastle navigated their way through the January transfer window without a permanent director of football in place at St. James’ Park.

PIF delayed making an appointment and were still able to enjoy a strong month, with Chris Wood, Kieran Trippier, Matt Targett, Dan Burn and Bruno Guimaraes all coming in.

However, they are reportedly ready to bring Dan Ashworth to the club at the end of the season to oversee all footballing matters to assist Eddie Howe moving forward.

Early disaster

The ex-Brighton chief will be thrown in at the deep end in the summer to bolster Newcastle’s team with new signings ahead of the 2022/23 campaign. He must also engage in squad management with the current crop of players by deciding who should and who should not stay.

One player he must avoid an early disaster with is central defender Fabian Schar. Ashworth is heading for a quick blunder as it stands as the Switzerland international is out of contract at the end of June and is set to leave on a free transfer.

Unless the situation is resolved before the former FA supremo officially takes the role on, it would be a huge howler not to hand the centre-back a fresh deal. Thus, Ashworth’s first decision in the job should be to offer him a new contract to extend his time with the Magpies as he has been in sensational form of late under Howe.

Since the turn of the year, Schar has played seven matches for the Magpies in all competitions and averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.31. Newcastle won four of those games and kept three clean sheets, with the defender also picking up an assist in the win over Brentford as he teed up Joe Willock for the second goal.

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Journalist Dominic Scurr recently dubbed him as “absolutely outstanding” and his statistics certainly reflect that. A rating of 7.31 in the Premier League would place him second, only behind Kieran Trippier (7.68) in the Newcastle squad this season – highlighting just how impressive he has been for the team.

Therefore, it would be a major blow to lose the £40k-per-week tank for nothing in the summer. The Magpies cannot afford to let him leave for nothing and Ashworth must make keeping him on a long-term contract one of his priorities at the end of the season, as losing him would represent an early disaster for the Englishman in the role.

AND in other news, “I know..”: Journo delivers exciting Newcastle claim that’ll leave fans buzzing…

The BCCI ombudsman Justice AP Shah has received a fresh set of complaints alleging conflict of interest, this time involving BCCI media manager Nishant Arora and national selector Vikram Rathour.Freelance journalist Niraj Gunde wrote an email to Shah on Tuesday saying Arora and his wife were involved in a commercial venture that has on its clients list senior Indian cricketers Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh and also the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Assocation, where BCCI secretary Anuraj Thakur is the president.In the email, which Shah has forwarded to BCCI president Shashank Manohar and Ratnakar Shetty (manager, game development), Gunde said Arora had violated the conflict of interest rule pertaining to BCCI employees, which states neither he nor his near relative can be associated in any commercial venture with a member association and also cannot represent a cricket player.”Mr Nishant Arora was formerly manager/agent of Mr. Harbhajan Singh and Mr. Yuvraj Singh, current cricketers of the BCCI,” Gunde wrote. “In addition, Mr. Nishant Arora’s wife Ms. Neha Soni Arora is a Director of a company called Final Score Management Pvt. Ltd. This company has had commercial relations with various persons associated with the Board.”Gunde also attached the client list of Final Score which included Yuvraj Singh Centre of Excellence (YSCE), YouWeCan (the cancer foundation promoted by Yuvraj), Harbhajan Singh Institute of Cricket, and a photo of Thakur along with the HPCA insignia. Arora was not available for comment, but a BCCI official pointed out that Arora had dissociated himself from Final Score completely before joining as the board’s media manager. He also clarified that Arora had never managed Yuvraj and Harbhajan and only done public relations work for the two players. As for Final Score, the official said it was a “defunct” business.In the case of Rathour, Gunde produced a scan of the former India opener’s passport that had him listed as a British citizen. According to Gunde, Rathour’s “loyalty” to the BCCI “is conflicted” and hence he should not be part of the board.Shah asked BCCI to respond by February 2 after which he will decide whether to send any notice to Arora and Rathour. Gunde has now sent four applications to Shah accusing various people of conflict. Last week he had pressed allegations of conflict against former India captain Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan.

Ricky Ponting wonders if India can maintain their on-field aggression through four Tests and the tri-series © Getty Images

Glenn McGrath believes India’s upcoming tour of Australia will be a major test for Sreesanth, who he says needs to start backing up his aggression with more consistent bowling. Sreesanth took nine wickets from four ODI outings in this month’s home series but he was expensive and his efforts were overshadowed by his frequent clashes with members of the Australia team.”I’ve had a chat to him a few times and it doesn’t seem to be in his character,” McGrath told the . “He’s trying to be aggressive and it’s a little bit unusual. You want your fast bowler to be aggressive.”Giving blokes send-offs or sledging when you talk back I don’t agree with but that’s up to the officials to sort out. At the end of the day you’ve got to be able to back it up. You can talk the talk but if you can’t go out there and perform then you’re not going to be around for very long.”Sreesanth was rested for three of the recent ODIs but he will be a key factor in India’s Test and one-day tour of Australia starting in December. Stuart MacGill said Sreesanth and his team-mates would find it difficult to maintain their fiery approach in Australia.”It’s always easier when you’ve got a lot of support at home to ride your emotions,” MacGill said in the . “They only need to look around and know they’ve got a billion countrymen supporting them. I think you’ll find it doesn’t work for them if they’re pretending.”Ricky Ponting said a seven-match ODI series was a completely different scenario to four Tests and the tri-series, which would test India’s resolve. “They made it pretty clear right at the start of the series they were going to fight fire with fire,” Ponting said on returning home from the trip.”We know that’s generally not the way they play their cricket. We’ve got a lot of cricket against them in the next few months, so it will be interesting to see just how long that aggressive-natured cricket does last from them.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Upul Tharanga and Kumar Sangakkara’s third-wicket partnership of 165 is the highest in Champions Trophy history © Getty Images

Upul Tharanga’s rich vein of form continued as he hammered his second hundred in a row and his fourth in nine innings, to help Sri Lanka coast to a 144-run win against Zimbabwe and all but ensure a place in the main draw of the Champions Trophy. Tharanga’s 110, and his 165-run third-wicket stand with Kumar Sangakkara, lifted Sri Lanka from an ordinary start to an imposing 285 for 7. Zimbabwe briefly looked in the mood for a fight when Brendan Taylor and Hamilton Masakadza were involved in a 63-run partnership for fourth wicket, but a heap of wickets on either side of the stand meant it was yet another dreary one-sided contest.To be fair to Zimbabwe, though, this effort was some improvement on their shambolic display against West Indies. During large parts of the Sri Lankan innings they kept the runs under control – in fact it was the first time in six innings that Sri Lanka didn’t top 300 – and bowled and fielded with plenty of enthusiasm, with the 19-year-old legspinner Tafadzwa Kamungozi being the pick of the bowlers. However, Tharanga and Sangakkara eventually turned it on, and when it was Zimbabwe’s turn to bat, their utter lack of ability against top-class bowling was again ruthlessly exposed.When Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and chose to bat, he would probably have expected another deluge of runs from the start, but Zimbabwe’s bowlers weren’t in the mood to follow the expected script. Sanath Jayasuriya and Jayawardene went cheaply without striking a single boundary between them as Anthony Ireland and Tawanda Mupariwa, the new-ball bowlers, kept a tight leash over the runs with their control over line and length.Tharanga and Sangakkara began the rebuilding exercise, but after 30 overs there were still only 137 on the board, with the slow bowlers taking over from where the seamers had left off. Gradually, though, the batsmen took charge, taking more risks, using their feet and peppering the boundaries.Tharanga continued from where he had left off against Bangladesh, driving sumptuously through the covers and point off either foot, and once even tonking Mupariwa straight and long for a superb six. When the spinners came on, he creamed more fours the offside, making room and hitting into the gaps to perfection.Sangakkara’s start was very subdued – after 42 balls he had 22 – but recognising the need to up the pace he changed gears in style, putting the spinners on the defensive by using his feet to clip it through midwicket or drive through cover. Both batsmen targeted Prosper Utseya, who had a rare off day and even bowled a couple of no-balls, and Kamungozi in a seven over burst which fetched 65 and changed the momentum of the innings completely.Both Tharanga and Sangakkara – who went past 5000 ODI runs during his innings – fell in successive overs after adding 165, the highest third-wicket partnership in Champions Trophy history. Sri Lanka lost a couple of quick wickets thereafter, and though Marvan Atapattu batted with plenty of urgency at No.5, Sri Lanka managed only 65 in their last ten overs, with Kamugozi showing plenty of maturity in bowling during the slog.As it turned out, the total was more than sufficient. There was a brief threat – and signs of a challenge – during a 12-over period when Taylor and Masakadza went after the bowlers with aplomb, flaying fours through the off side against a listless Dilhara Fernando and Farveez Maharoof and forcing Jayawardene to cast furtive glances at the scorecard. However, both bowlers hit back with wickets, and when Zimbabwe lost three in five balls – including those of Taylor and Masakadza – to slump to 89 for 6, the match was as good as over. Utseya and Mupariwa resisted stoutly, but it only served to delay the inevitable and marginally reduce the margin of defeat.

<Sri LankaSanath Jayasuriya run out (Chigumbura) 9 (38 for 1)
Mahela Jayawardene c Taylor b Ireland 4 (49 for 2)
Upul Tharanga b Matsikenyeri 110 (214 for 3)
Kumar Sangakkara c Matsikenyeri b Chibhabha 80 (219 for 4)
Tillakaratne Dilshan c Kamungozi b Utseya 6 (235 for 5)
Farveez Maharoof lbw b Kamungozi 13 (259 for 6)
Muttiah Muralitharan c Matsikenyeri b Kamungozi 10 (273 for 7)
Zimbabwe
Piet Rinke b Perera 1 (7 for 1)
Tafadzwa Mufambisi c Jayawardene b Malinga 5 (7 for 2)
Chibhabha c Dilshan b Malinga 4 (23 for 3)
Brendan Taylor b Fernando 30 (86 for 4)Hamilton Masakadza c Sangakkara b Maharoof 30 (86 for 5)
Elton Chigumbura run out 2 (89 for 6)
Stuart Matsikenyeri c Jayasuriya b Fernando 2 (107 for 7)
Prosper Utseya c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 20 (126 for 8)
Anthony Ireland c Sangakkara b Muralitharan 0 (134 for 9)
Tawanda Mupariwa b Malinga 20 (141 all out)

New Zealand Cricket Board (NZC) confirmed the appointment of JustinVaughan and Steven Riddell as its two new directors, at NZC’s AnnualGeneral Meeting in Christchurch today. They will replace Terry Jarvis and Peter Sharp, who did not seek re-appointment.The outgoing directors were congratulated by Martin Snedden, the chiefexecutive of New Zealand Cricket. “Both these directors selflessly gave their time and expertise to assist with the governance of cricket in New Zealand and have assisted in steering NZC to develop and maintain cricket as the country’s number one summer game,” he said.Vaughan is the chief executive of a medical technology company and has played six Test matches and 18 One-Day Internationals for New Zealand. He was the captain of the Auckland team for four seasons and was twice voted Auckland Player of the Year. He has served on the board of Auckland Cricket since 2001.Riddell is a company director who has served on the board of Canterbury Cricket since 2001. He has served on the management committee of the Buller Cricket Association and is its life member.The new directors will be faced with the task of lifting the board out of its current financial crunch.New Zealand Cricket posted a loss of $6,105,152 in the 2004/05 financial year, NZC announced in its annual report.”Revenue was down on budget as NZC felt the full impact of theabandonment of the Sri Lanka tour of New Zealand. Fortunately we shouldrecover most of these lost revenues when Sri Lanka tour in January nextyear,” NZC Chief Executive Martin Snedden said today.”Revenue was also affected by the ICC’s continued prudent retention offunds from the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup.”It is hoped the ICC’s contractual dispute with the Global CricketCorporation can be brought to an end during the current financial year, at which time NZC should receive a final distribution from the retainedfunds.”NZC operates a four year financial cycle to cope with the fluctuatingnature of revenues received between world cups. In some years revenue is significantly higher due to NZC’s participation in international cricket tournaments and in other years revenues are significantly reduced due to lower overseas broadcasting income from inbound tours. The 2004/05 year is the third year of the current cycle.

Herschelle Gibbs – twisted his ankle© Getty Images

Herschelle Gibbs has emerged as a doubt for South Africa’s tour of Sri Lanka in August, after injuring his ankle in a training session on Thursday. “There is enough doubt for us to make preparations to call up a substitute,” said Eric Simons, South Africa’s coach, after Gibbs sustained the injury at the High Performance Centre at Tuks University in Pretoria.”We have spoken to the selection committee, and if necessary will call in a replacement. However, we are reasonably confident that he will be able to come with us on Monday.”South Africa are scheduled to play two Tests and five one-day internationals on their trip, which kickstarts another arduous season of cricket, which also includes the Champions Trophy in England, a two-Test tour of India in November, and the visit of England over Christmas and New Year.”We have a very big season, with many challenges, coming up,” said Simons. “Last season was very up and down. The team and some individual players enjoyed some great successes, but there were also a number of disappointments. We spent this week looking back and looking ahead, and I believe that in two or three seasons, we will look back on this week and see it as a major step ahead.””Conditions in the sub-continent are unique,” said Graeme Smith, South Africa’s captain. “When we travel to England or New Zealand, the conditions are similar to what we have grown up with here. But we have to do a lot of preparation for Sri Lanka. I have been doing a lot of reading about the conditions there, and I guess we have to be prepared to mix and match. We may even have some strange field settings.”

The following is the official Canadian Youth Team selected for the Americas Championship July 12-19th, 2003

Bhatti, Umar CaptainAnjaria, SohamBaksh, AdamBastiampillai, GavinBastiampillai, TrevinJethi, KarunKeshvani, AabidKeshvani, ShaheedLall, RyanQazi, MuhammadRoberts, Jonathan w/kRodrigo,ChristianSoraine, DurrandUpton, Simon

Manager: Patrick Christian<br.Coach: Franklyn Dennis

Alternates:

Chatterpaul, AndrewHolz, JustinAhmed ShoebShantikumar, JasonMorton, Joel Michael

Under the bright lights of the Sharjah Cricket Association stadium Pakistan captain Waqar Younis held aloft the Khaleej Times Trophy 2001 after beating Sri Lanka by five wickets. It was the kind of performance that was more sensible than heroic, more calculated than sensational. After being asked to take the field Waqar and his men shot out the Sri Lankans for 173, thereby making their task so much easier.Easy or not, the Pakistan batting has a knack for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. And it did almost capitulate in the face of some fine spin bowling from Muthiah Muralitharan. Showing off his complete repertoire, Murali ended with the figures of 10-3-22-3. An outstanding showing from Murali with a very small total to defend.The rest of the Sri Lankan bowling however, lacked the experience, skill and imagination needed to make a miracle happen. The same attack would certainly have looked completely different had there been another fifty odd runs on the board.A sensible steady knock of 35 from Shahid Afridi, followed by 40 from Yousuf Youhana and a sprinkling of cameos saw to it that Pakistan reached their target with more than five overs to spare.But it was really the Sri Lankan batting that set the tone of the match.It was a keen contest between two explosive openers and two experienced fast bowlers. While Sanath Jayasuriya, the man known for his hitting at the top of the order, and Avishka Gunawardene attempted to get Sri Lanka off to a good start, the Pakistanis did everything in their power to stop them. The first casualty of the twin W’s was Gunawaradene, who simply could not break the shackles. The pressure exerted by Waqar forced Gunawardene to go after a delivery that would have normally sailed harmlessly through to the keeper. Fending at a ball that shaped away from the left-hander, Gunawardene only managed to present Azhar Mahmood at slip with a low catch. Gunawardene managed just 2 off 11 balls as Waqar struck in the fourth over.While Jayasuriya adjusted to the circumstances very quickly and adopted a defensive, wait-and-watch approach, his partner out in the middle, Marvan Atapattu was dealt a cracker of a delivery by Akram. The left-arm seamer softened up Atapattu with a few short deliveries before pushing one through a bit quicker. Trying to play at the ball, Atapattu tickled it through to stumper Rashid Latif.Atapattu did not trouble the scorers.The initial breakthroughs coupled with the fact that runs dried up made things very difficult for the Lankans. The fact that none of the Sri Lankans made even a half-century is telling. Jayasuriya (34) was not his usual self and did his best to keep one end steady. Mahela Jayawardene (43) batting with great flair took one risk too many and was cleaned up by a pumped up Shoaib Akhtar.Russel Arnold soldiered on manfully while the wickets fell around him. Chipping the ball into the gaps and accumulating the runs, Arnold helped himself to an almost run-a-ball 47, the highest score of the Lankan innings.For Pakistan the wickets were spread around – Waqar and Akhtar had three each while Akram and Afridi bagged two apiece.

South Australia have a new on-field leader with Nathan Adcock taking over from Darren Lehmann as the captain © Getty Images

South Australia should be feeling positive about the approaching season and at least things can’t go much worse than last summer. The Redbacks have a new coach and a new captain and it’s hardly surprising they are looking forward rather than back. Sensibly, they are also making no wild predictions about 2007-08.”I’m not focusing too much on outcomes and results at this stage,” the new captain Nathan Adcock said. “We need to get our backyard in order and then let the outcomes take care of themselves.”Getting their backyard in shape has been such a lengthy and ongoing process that not even Jamie Durie could make it an overnight job. South Australia were on the bottom of the Pura Cup table throughout last season and their only win came in the final game. They fared a bit better in the one-day competition where their five victories placed them fourth.Off-field problems were equally worrying in 2006-07. There was concern from within the South Australia camp that a partying culture existed when the players were on the road and questions were raised over the squad’s leadership. Jason Gillespie was upset the team’s administrators mentioned the problems in the media and while all this was happening the Redbacks kept losing.This year they have expanded their squad to 29 including rookies and Adcock expects that to help the team’s drive. “The boys have been immaculate in their pre-season preparation,” he said. “With the competition that’s on for places, people know that they can’t let themselves down on or off the field.”Mark Sorell has taken over as the head coach and Kym Harris is overseeing the batting department. Harris’ role presents a particular challenge as only three Redbacks scored Pura Cup centuries last season. Adcock said the coaching changes had already had an impact with more individual attention fore each player.”We’ve been doing a great deal of batting volume work with real purpose,” he said. “The other thing we’ve tried to implement after that is a very intense competition scenario. So whether it’s in the nets or centre-wicket, it’s a really competitive situation between the batsmen and bowlers. We’ve tried to make it as close to a match situation as we can.”Bowling has been less of a concern in recent years, with Shaun Tait and Gillespie carrying the pace burden and Dan Cullen and Cullen Bailey making a handy spin duo. Tait could see more national action in 2007-08 and there is also a chance Bailey or Cullen will be called up, but Adcock is confident with the attack’s depth.”It’s fair to say our bowling record in the previous years has been a strong point for us,” he said. “I couldn’t be more excited if we have to delve deeper into our bowling stocks because guys are playing for Australia.”

The Redbacks are dangerous when Shaun Tait leads the attack but he is likely to have more national responsibilities this summer © Getty Images

The newly-retired Greg Blewett and the fast bowler Trent Kelly, who transferred to Western Australia, were the only departures from last year’s senior list. Peter George has been added to the fast-bowling group while Tom Plant and Jason Borgas will boost the top order.The major on-field change is the captaincy handover after nine years of Darren Lehmann’s leadership. Adcock has no intention of copying Lehmann’s style but is pleased his predecessor will be on hand to bounce ideas off. He also knows that after such a lean 2006-07 the Redbacks cannot expect things to turn around immediately.”I’d really like to measure [our success] on two things,” Adcock said. “If we can be seen to have improved, individually and as a group, that’s a step forward. And if we’re really competitive and neck-deep in four-day games on the last day, then we can hopefully get things going our way.”Captain Nathan Adcock
Coach Mark Sorell
Squad Nathan Adcock, Cullen Bailey, Cameron Borgas, Jason Borgas, Ben Cameron, Mark Cleary, Mark Cosgrove, Dan Cullen, Shane Deitz, Matthew Elliott, Callum Ferguson, Peter George, Jason Gillespie, Daniel Harris, Ryan Harris, Darren Lehmann, Graham Manou, Tom Plant, Gary Putland, Paul Rofe, Shaun Tait. Rookies Jake Brown, Andy Delmont, Jason Donnelly, Jake Haberfield, Simon Roberts, Chadd Sayers, Ken Skewes, Jamie Smith.2006-07 results Pura Cup 6th, FR Cup 4th, Twenty20 4th.

Match abandoned
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

On the roll: Johnson snares Tendulkar © Getty Images

Australia were denied a certain victory in the third match of the DLF Cup, as the wet weather played havoc for the second match in a row at the Kinrara Oval. After Australia mustered 244, India, set a revised target of 170 in 29 overs, were decimated by an outstanding spell of fast bowling by Mitchell Johnson, who ripped out the heart of the Indian batting in two hostile overs. He returned magnificent figures of 4 for 11 to have the Indians reeling at 35 for 5 in eight overs, before the rains returned to save India the blushes.Already having lost a rain-affected match to West Indies on Thursday, India were lagging in third place on the points table, but their bowlers put in a fine show after Australia won the toss, recovering from an early battering to restrict them to 244. Shane Watson, promoted to open the innings for the first time in his ODI career, rode his luck early on and bludgeoned some fine blows en route to a career-best 79 while Michael Clarke made a controlled 64. But the Indian attack, led by the irrepressible Harbhajan Singh (2 for 24) hit back in fine style, ensuring that India needed an asking rate of less than five an over to get their first points of the tournament.Sachin Tendulkar versus Glenn McGrath was the big contest everybody had been waiting for, and their tussle, though brief, lived up to the hype. McGrath rattled Tendulkar on the helmet off the first ball he bowled to him, and then kept Tendulkar guessing with excellent variations in length and seam movement. Tendulkar hit back with an audacious down-the-pitch hoick over midwicket before the rains sent the players scurrying back with India on 16 without loss after five.The three overs of play after resumption was the most dramatic passage of the entire day. Johnson has been touted as the next big thing in Australian fast bowling, and he showed just why he is so highly rated, destroying the famed Indian line-up with pace, swing and seam. The revised target of 154 in 24 overs clearly meant the batsmen had to up the pace instantly, and the pressure told, as Dravid scooped a drive to cover. Irfan Pathan walked out, and was greeted with a jaffa – the ball pitched on middle and off, and took off stump even as Pathan shaped to get into line.Virender Sehwag briefly provided respite with an upper-cut off Stuart Clark for six, but then succumbed to a misunderstanding with Tendulkar, who himself was next out after surviving the hat-trick ball. When Yuvraj Singh edged a catch to slip, India had lost five wickets for 19 runs in three overs, and were staring at a humiliating defeat, before they were rescued by the rain.The Australian innings was split into two parts – the first one was all about their batsmen – especially Watson – dominating completely, while the second part belonged to the Indian bowlers.

Shane Watson set a scorching pace at the start, getting to a career-best 79 off just 74 balls © Getty Images

Watson and Phil Jaques, his opening partner, got the innings going in fine style after a circumspect first six overs, which fetched only 23. The next four overs produced 41, though, and the Australians were well and truly underway, as both batsmen launched into Ajit Agarkar and Munaf Patel – the Indian new-ball pair – with a series of pulls, lofted straight-drives and punches through the off side. India had one chance to stop the rot before it had even begun, when Watson – then on 13 – got a leading edge off Agarkar, but Harbhajan made a mess of the chance at cover.The first wicket added 64, and though Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn didn’t contribute much, Australia were rollicking along thanks to Watson. Plonking his front foot down the pitch, he took full toll whenever the bowlers pitched it up, thumping fours down the ground and through cover. And when they pitched it short, Watson unleashed some fierce pull shots, none more destructive than the one off Munaf in the eighth over – the ball soared over midwicket for six. Irfan Pathan, still woefully short on confidence, was taken to the cleaners too, as he leaked four fours in an over. Then Harbhajan was introduced into the attack, and the momentum shifted completely.Controlling his length, pace and flight superbly, Harbhajan immediately commanded respect from the batsmen. The pitch afforded him some turn, and he used it perfectly, turning it in from outside off, and keeping the batsmen guessing with the occasional doosra. He soon got the vital wicket of Watson – who clipped one to midwicket – and then rode on that success. Mark Cosgrove didn’t have an answer to his guile either, and with Sehwag offering fine support at the other end, Australia were suddenly on the defensive.With Australia losing the momentum, it was left to Clarke to play the role of sheet anchor. His approach too changed as the wickets fell, and fluent strokeplay gave way to nudges and pushes as he sensibly reined himself in. He finally fell trying to force the pace, as Agarkar and Munaf returned with accurate second spells. A brief spell of rain forced the players off the field with seven deliveries left, but, on resumption, they needed only three more to take the final Australian wicket and wrap up the innings.Dravid woud have been looking forward to four points at the halfway mark, but by the end of the game, he would have been mightily relieved to get two.

Phil Jaques c Sehwag b Munaf 25 (64 for 1)
Ricky Ponting c Tendulkar b Pathan 19 (92 for 2)
Damien Martyn c Dhoni b Singh 4 (113 for 3)
Shane Watson c Raina b Harbhajan 79 (157 for 4)
Mark Cosgrove c Dravid b Harbhajan 1 (167 for 5)
Brad Haddin run out (Sehwag) 16 (200 for 6)
Michael Clarke c Raina b Munaf 64 (230 for 7)
Mitchell Johnson c Dhoni b Agarkar 1 (232 for 8)
Stuart Clark c Singh b Munaf 7 (243 for 9)
Hogg c Dhoni b Agarkar 12 (244 all out)
IndiaRahul Dravid c Martyn b Johnson 6 (20 for 1)
Irfan Pathan b Johnson 0 (20 for 2)
Virender Sehwag run out (Clarke/Haddin) 8 (34 for 3)
Sachin Tendulkar c Haddin b Johnson 12 (34 for 4)
Yuvraj Singh c Hogg b Johnson 0 (35 for 5)