1st Test, Day 2: India v. Australia: Hussey's Century Put Australia on Top!

Day 2:

Australia were bundeled out for 430 on Day 2. Mr. Wall of Austraia, Mike Hussey scored 146 which helped Australia to go past 400 mark.

The consistent run scorer and dependable Mike Hussey missed 150 by four runs when he was bowled through an inner edge by Zaheer Khan. He was the last batsman to be dismissed.

Resuming from 254 for 4, Watson did not last long and was bowled by Ishanth Sharma. Mike Hussey and the debutant Brad Haddin played slowly and steadily and were picking the singles.

Break through was provided by Zaheer Khan when Haddin was caught by VVS Laxman throgh a slower delivery for 33. The partnership between Haddin and Hussey was 91 runs for the 6th wicket.

Another debutant White was caught by Harbhajan at covers for 6 of Ishanth Sharma. At this point in time, India had very good chance of restricting Australia to less than 400.

Lee and Hussye added 59 runs for the 8th wicket off which Lee scored 27. He was bowled by Khan. Johnson was also bowled by Khan for 1.

Finally Hussey was bowled by Zaheer Khan for 146 came off 276 balls with 15 fours and a six.

The two pace bowlers dominated the Indian bowling attack with Zaheer picking 5 wickets and Ishanth Sharma 4.

India started their innings with Sehwag and Gambhir opening the batting. They have to bat 28 overs. Sehwag started positive. India reached 50 in 13 overs. Sehwag remained not out on 43 and Gambhir batting on 20 when rain stopped play in the 19th over.

Test: 1st Test
Venue: Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Dates: October 9-13, 2008
Teams: India and Australia
Hosts: India
Captains: Anil Kumble and Ricky Ponting
Toss: Australia

Score at the end of Day 2:

Australia 1st Innings 430 all out in 149.5 overs (ML Hayden 0, SM Katich 66, RT Ponting 123, MEK Hussye 146, MJ Clarke 11, SR Watson 2, BJ Haddin 33, CL White 6, B Lee 27, MG Johnson 1, SR Clark 0 not out, Extras--15 (lb 11, w 1, nb 3), Z Khan 29.-4-91-5, I Sharma 30-7-77-4, Harbhajan Singh 41-8-103-1, A Kumble 43-6-129-0, V Sehwag 6-0-19-0)

India 1st Innings 68 for no loss in 18.1 overs (G Gambhir 20 batting, V Sehwag 43 batting, Extras--5)

Click here to read Day 1 Report

Pakistan Demolishes Bangladesh! Takes 5-0 Series Win!

With Australia withdrawing the tour to Pakistan citing security concerns as the reason, PCB requested Bangladesh to tour Pakistan. It was agreed by both the cricket boards that Bangladesh will play 5 ODIs during this summer.

All the five matches played in this April, in no match Bangladesh was able to come close to Pakistan except the 3rd ODI in which Pakistan won by 23 runs. Rest of the games were one sided game.



Man of the series was given to Salman Butt of Pakistan for scoring 451 runs in 5 matches at an average of 90.2. His successful series consisted of 2 hundres and 2 fifties.

Short Scores of all five matches:

Match 1: April 8, 2008
Venue: Lahore
Toss: Pakistan and decided to bat
Result: Pakistan won by 152 runs in D/L method
Man of the Match: Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan)Score:
Pakistan 322 for 5 in 50 overs (Salman Butt 33, Mohammad Yousuf 108 not out, Shoaib Malik 85, Misbah-ul-Haq 38, Shaid Afridi 27 not out, Mashrafe Mortaza 2 for 52, Farhad Reza 2 for 41) beat Bangladesh (revised target due to rain under D/L method 282 from 39 overs) 129 all out in 29.5 overs (Mashrafe Mortaza 25, Sohail Tanvir 3 for 29, Iftikhar Anjum 2 for 16, Shahid Afridi 3 for 41)

Match 2: April 11, 2008
Venue: Faisalabad
Toss: Bangladesh and decided to bat
Result: Pakistan won by 7 wickets with 10 balls remaining in D/L method
Man of the Match: Salman Butt (Pakistan)
Score:
Bangladesh 225 for 8 in 48.2 overs (rain stopped play) (Tamim Iqbal 60, Mahmudullah 58 not out, Farhad Reza 26, Dhiman Ghosh 27, Sohail Tanvir 2 for 36, Iftikhar Anjum 2 for 34, Shahid Afridi 3 for 33) lost to Pakistan (revised target due to rain under D/L method 158 from 25 overs) 160 for 3 in 23.2 overs (Salman Butt 76, Mohammad Yousuf 32 not out)

Match 3: April 13, 2008
Venue: Lahore
Toss: Pakistan and decided to bat
Result: Pakistan won by 23 runs
Man of the Match: Salman Butt (Pakistan)
Score:
Pakistan 308 for 8 in 50 overs (Salman Butt 132, Kamran Akmal 100, Shoaib Malik 33, Mashrafe Mortaza 2 for 47, Shakib Al Hasan 2 for 50) beat Bangladesh 285 for 7 in 50 overs (Tamim Iqbal 63, Aftab Ahmed 42, Shakib Al Hasan 75, Shahid Afridi 2 for 48)

Match 4: April 16, 2008
Venue: Multan
Toss: Bangladesh and decided to bat
Result: Pakistan won by 7 wickets with 33 balls remaining
Man of the Match: Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh)
Score:
Bangladesh 210 all out in 49.1 overs (Shakib Al Hasan 108, Mashrafe Mortaza 38, Mohammad Asif 2 for 35, Umar Gul 3 for 48, Sohail Khan 3 for 30) lost to Pakistan 212 for 3 in 44.3 overs (Salman Butt 74, Kamran Akmal 36, Bazid Khan 51, Mohammad Yousuf 37 not out)

Match 5: April 19, 2008
Venue: Karachi
Toss: Pakistan and decided to bat
Result: Pakistan won by 150 runs
Man of the Match: Mohammad Asif (Pakistan)
Score:
Pakistan 329 for 9 in 50 overs (Salman Butt 136, Younis Khan 69, Shoaib Malik 27, Misbah-ul-Haq 35, Mashrafe Mortaza 4 for 65, Shahadat Hossain 3 for 76, Abdur Razzak 2 for 56) beat Bangladesh 179 all out in 40.5 overs (Mohammad Ashraful 30, Mahmudullah 37, Dhiman Ghosh 29, Abdur Razzak 33, Mohammad Asif 3 for 35, Umar Gul 2 for 41, Shahid Afridi 3 for 40, Wahab Riaz 2 for 23)

Day 2 of the first test in Chennai belonged to South Africa. They scored 236 runs and lost 6 wickets in little over 2 sessions.

Resuming the day at 304 for 4, Amla scored the first century of the series. The four through extra cover brought his 4th century in 173 balls with 14 fours. de Villiers was struggling at one end though he scored few quick fours of Kumble, but didn't last long. He was caught behind when tried to drive through off side. The new ball gave the break-through that India wanted.
Amla and Boucher continued the domination, but Boucher's poor call put a break to Amla's good innings. He crossed 150 in 248 balls and was timing the ball well. The cut to cover off Kumble seem to be a run, but good fielding by Sreesanth created the mess between stricker Boucher and Amla. Boucher was few steps down in the pitch, but Amla was almost through the run. The throw by Sreesanth to the wrong end didn't stop Dhoni to pass the ball to Kumble in the bowling end to run out Amla, who was too far away from the crease. This was his first century against India.

Boucher who scored his 28th half-century in Test Cricket, was hitting the ball well. He hit 9 fours in his 70. When he tried hit the ball across over long-on, it took the edge and flew high towards slip where Dravid grabbed it humbly. The score was 510 for 7 and Morkel joined.

The pitch was not helping the bowlers much. Morkel scored an useful 35 and was caught and bowled off Harbhajan. It was a straight and simple catch to the bowler.

The last two wickets added 20 runs to the board. Harris didn't pick the straight ball from Bhajji and edged the ball to first slip. Last batsman to be dismissed was Steyn. He hit the ball high in the air, RP Sing ran across from long-on and took a good catch to finish the South African innings at 540.

Harbhajan was the pick of the bowlers. He picked 5 wickets giving away 164 runs and Kumble picked 2 wickets, Sreesanth and Shewag picked 1 each.

The Indian chase started with 21 overs to play in the day. Shewag and Jaffer opened the innings positively. They were playing shots through gully and driving and cutting the ball to the fence. Shewag hit Nitni for a six over third man. It was a short ball and upper cut over the boundary. Similar shot was played by Jaffier off Nitni for a six.

Shewag scored his 50 off 59 balls with 6 fours and a six.

At the end of day 2, India are 82 for no wicket in 21 overs. Jaffer batting on 25 and Shewag is on 52.

Score:

Toss: South Africa

Venue: Chennai, India

Date: March 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 2008

Captain: Smith (SA), Kumble (India)

Score:

South Africa 540 all out in 152.5 overs (Smith 74, McKenzie 94, Amla 159, deVilliers 44, Boucher 70, Morkel 35, Kumble 2 for 106, Harbhajan 5 for 164)

India 82 for no loss in 21 overs (Shewag 52 batting, Jaffer 25 batting)