3rd Test: England Win Series in Style! Beat New Zeland by an Innings and 9 Runs!

In the third and final test of the series, New Zealand started with the final test with the hope to level the series. But, it went against them and they lost the series 2-0 with the 1st test drawn.

New Zealand won the toss and put England to bat. Though Vettori's team picked the first 5 top order wickets for 86, Pietersen played an innings of his life. Strauss (37), Cook (6), Vaughan (16), Bell (0), and Collingwood (0) failed miserably giving a bright chance to New Zealand.

But, Pietersen along with Ambrose built the innings slowly and steadily. They both added 161 runs for the 6th wicket. Pietersen got out caught behind of O'Brien for well made 115 off 223 balls with 14 fours. Ambrose fell after adding 15 to the England total. At this stage of the game, New Zealand still had a good chance with England struggling 262 for 7.

On could easily say that it is one of those matches were the bowling team did not put pressure on the tail enders or bwol on the right areas. Broad and Anderson added66 for the 7th wicket in which Broad scored an useful 64. Milis and O'Brien picked 3 and 4 wickets respectively. England finished their 1st innings at 364.

New Zealand batting struggled like England at the beginning losing 6 wickets for 93, but like England, they were not able to bounce back. How top scored with 40. Taylor (21) and Hopkins (15) were the other two digit scorers.

Anderson was in song. The similar dismissal of Redmond and McCullum were master piece. He pitched up and middle stump and left the batsman. Both of them missed the line and the off stump uprooted. He picked all the 6 wickets that fell at the end of Day 2.

On Day 3, Sidebottom picked a wicket and Broad picket 2. Anderson added one more to his tally to finish his figures at 7 for 43 in his 21.3 overs which had 8 maidens.

Click here for 1st Test Results!

Click here for 2nd Test Results!

England forced the follow on with a lead of 241 runs. New Zealand, though did a better job than the first innings, but could not make up the last 9 runs deficit to make England bat again.

McCullum scored 71 and Oram was not out on 50. Flynn scored 49. But all these were not enough to avoid the innings defeat. Sidebottom picked 6 wickets in the 2nd innings, Anderson and Broad picked 2 each.

Anderson was declared man of match; Strauss and Vettori were decalred joint winners of Man of the Series.

Test: 3
Venue: Trent Bridge, Nottingham, England
Teams: England and New Zealand
Captains: Michael Vaughan and Daniel Vettori
Toss: New Zealand won the toss and decided to field
Match Result: England won by an innings and 9 runs
Series Result: 2-0 (England won the series; first test drawn)
Man of the Match: JM Anderson off England
Man of the Series: AJ Strauss of England and Daniel Vettori of New Zealand
Score:

England 1st Innings 364 all out in 126.5 overs (AJ Strauss 37, KP Pietersen 115, TR Ambrose 67, SCJ Broad 64, JM Anderson 28, KD Mills 3 for 76, IE O'Brien 4 for 74)

New Zealand 1st Innings 123 all out in 46.3 overs (JM How 40, JM Anderson 7 for 43, SCJ Broad 2 for 10)

Beat New Zealand 2nd Innings (follow on--trail by 241 runs) 232 all out in 72.3 overs (BB McCullum 71, DR Flynn 49, JDP Oram 50 not out, RJ Sidebottom 6 for 67, JM Anderson 2 for 55, SCJ Borad 2 for 77)

Click here for 1st Test Results!

Click here for 2nd Test Results!

Tri-Series - Kitply Cup - Bangladesh, Pakistan and India - Points Table

Below is the points table of the three nation tournament involving host Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.

Team	P	W	L	T	NR	Pts	NRR	For	Aga
Ind	2	2	0	0	0	10	+2.373	553/85.1	412/100.0
Pak	2	1	1	0	0	5	-0.778	423/90.0	493/90.0
Ban	2	0	2	0	0	0	-1.789	385/90.0	456/75.1

Match 1 of Tri-Series: Pakistan Win Easily!

The first match of the tri-series hosted by Bangladesh started today with Pakistan taking the host. The match was reduced to 40 overs a side because of the rain.

Bangladesh never showed any fight in chasing the target of 234. In fact I started asking myself whether Bangladesh knew that they are playing an ODI game and not a test match. If they knew, whether they knew that they are playing a 40 over match.

Ashraful, the skipper scored 56 not out, but he too never showed any aggressiveness. They finished their innings at 163, losing the match by 70 runs.

Wahab Riaz and Afridi picked 3 wickets each and Umar Gul took 2.

Earlier, put into bat, Pakistan posted 233 on the board in 39.3 overs losing all their wickets. It was a challenging total, not impossible. Salman Butt scored 70 and Mohammad Yousuf scored 59. The slow bowlers in the middle of the innings curtailed Pakistan to a moderate target.

Match Details:

Trophy: Kitply Cup - Tri-Series in Bangladesh
Match #: 1
Venue: Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
Date: June 8, 2008
Teams: Pakistan and Bangladesh
Captains: Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Ashraful
Toss: Bangladesh won the toss and decided to field
Result: Pakistan won by 70 runs
Man of the Match: Salman Butt of Pakistan
Score:

Pakistan 233 all out in 39.3 overs (Salman Butt 70, Kamran Akmal 25, Younis Khan 0, Mohammad Yousuf 59, Shahid Afridi 20, Shoaib Malik 9, Misbah-ul-Haq 39, Fawad Alam 2, Sohail Tanvir 2, Umar Gul 0 not out, Wahab Riaz 0, Extras--7 (lb 1, w 6), Mashrafe Mortaza 7-0-36-2, Shahadat Hossain 6-0-46-0, Dolar Mahmud 4-0-27-1, Abdur Razzak 7.3-0-35-3, Mahmudullah 7-0-39-0, Alok Kapali 8-0-49-3) beat Bangladesh 163 for 8 in 40 overs (Tamim Iqbal 29, Shahriar Nafees 9, Mohammad Ashraful 56 not out, Raqibul Hasan 8. Alok Kapali 0, Mushfiqur Rahim 15, Mahmudullah 7, Mashrafe Mortaza 0, Dolar Mahmud 0, Abdur Razzak 26 not out, Extras--13 (w 12, nb 1), Umar Gul 7-1-28-2, Sohail Tanvir 8-0-41-0, Wahab Riaz 7-2-22-3, Shahid Afridi 8-1-19-3, Fawad Alam 6-0-34-0, Salman Butt 3-0-19-0, Younis Khan 1-1-0-0)

2nd Test: England win by 6 Wickets

New Zealand messed up their batting in the second innings, which resulted in England leading the series 1-0. After deciding to bat first, though New Zealand struggled losing 4 wickets for 123 runs. Taylor's briliant 154 helped New Zealand to post a decent total on the board. Mill's added 57 to his part and took New Zealand to 381.

England's first innings was not that great. The first four players 135 runs in total and then no one touched double digit except Broad, who scored a decent 30. Vettori picked 5 wickets. England were all out for 202 giving 179 runs lead to New Zealand.

Read here for 1st Test Results!

With the lead of 179 in hand, any team would have tried to add another 200 to 250 and put pressure on the last innings. But, wonderful bowling by Panesar helped England bundle the New Zealand for 114. Panesar picked 6 wickets giving away 37 runs in his 17 over spell which had 5 maiden overs and giveen as the man of the match. JM How was the top scorer for New Zealand with 29.

Chasing 294, England should thank Strauss this time for leading the fight with a wonderful century. The jouney was easy for them and target never looked dangerous. He was supported well by skipper Vaughan (48), Pietersen (42).

Test: 2
Venue: Oldtrafford, Manchester, England
Teams: England and New Zealand
Captains: Michael Vaughan and Daniel Vettori
Toss: New Zealand won the toss and decided to bat
Match Result: England won by 6 wickets
Series Result: 1-0 (England leading the series; first test drawn)
Man of the Match: MS Paensar off England
Score:

New Zealand 1st Innings 381 all out in 90.3 overs (JM How 64, AJ Redmond 28, LRPL Taylor 154, JDP Oram 38, KD Mills 57, RJ Sidebottom 2 for 86, JM Anderson 4 for 118)

England 1st Innings 202 all out in 83.3 overs (AJ Strauss 60, MP Vaughan 30, KP Pietersen 26, SCJ Broad 30, KD Mills 2 for 38, IE O'Brien 3 for 49, DL Vettori 5 for 66)

New Zealand 2nd Innings (lead by 179 runs) 114 all out in 41.2 overs (JM How 29, JAH Marshall 28, RJ Sidebottom 2 for 26, MS Panesar 6 for 37)

lost to England 2nd Innings (target 294 runs) (AJ Strauss 106, AN Cook 28, MP Vaughan 48, KP Pietersen 42)

Read here for 1st Test Results!

Australia v. WI, 2nd Test: Chandrapaul and Sarawan Help WI to Draw!

Ponting described the Australian bowling attack was not better and that was the reason for not picking the wickets on the final day to clinch the test.

Of course after losing two main bowlers to retirement--McGrath and Shane Warne, Australian bowling attack was not that same.

Though Brett Lee was there as the main strike bowler and Stuart Clarke picked 5 wickets in the first test, the attack did not go beyond that.

In the first innings, Kaitch and Michael Clarke scored 113 and 110 respectively and helped Australia to declare at 479.

Chandrapaul scored 107 not out and helped West Indies avoid the follow on, but WI still conceeded 127 run lead to Australia.

Australia declared their 2nd innings at 244 and set a target 372 for West Indies.

West Indies struggled by losing the first two wickets with 19 on the board. Smith and Marshall were dismissed for a duck and 5 respectively. For the third wicket, Mortan and Sarwan added 65. Lee dismissed Mortan for 14. Sarwan and Chandrapual fought through the innings and ensured that WI did not lose the test. Though they did not go for winning or even tried to attack Australian bowling, they were able to manage the decent pace attack. They played 53 overs together in which they added 143 runs for the 4th wicket. Sarwan scored a wonderful century, his 11th in test cricket.

Chandrapaul was declared man of the match for his century in the first innings and test saving innings with his 77 in the second innings.

Test: 2
Venue: Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua
Teams: Australia and West Indies
Captains: Rickey Ponting and RR Sarwan
Toss: Australia won the toss and decided to bat
Match Result: Match Drawn
Series Result: Australia leading 1-0 (2nd Test Drawn)
Man of the Match: S Chandrapaul off West Indies
Score:

Australia 1st Innings 479 for 7 declared in 136 overs (SM Katich 113, RT Ponting 65, MJ Clarke 110, BJ Haddin 33, B Lee 63 not out, MG Johnson 29 not out, JE Taylor 3 for 95)
West Indies 1st Innings 352 all out in 107 overs (XM Marshal 53, RS Sarwan 53, S Chandrapaul 107, DJ Bravo 45, B Lee 5 for 59, MG Johnson 2 for 72, MJ Clarke 2 for 20)
Australia 2nd Innings (lead by 127 runs) 244 for 6 declared in 61.5 overs (PA Jaques 76, MEK Hussey 40, PT Ponting 38, A Symonds 43 not out, FH Edwards 2 for 28, JE Taylor 2 for 33)
Drew with West Indies 2nd Innings (372 target) 266 for 5 in 93 overs (RR Sarwan 128, S Chandrapual 77 not out, B Lee 3 for 51)

Click here to read 1st Test Result!

Click here to read 3rd Test Result!

Warne Rules Out Come Back!

Everything related to Shane Warne's return to test cricket is in compltely confused state! He said he would consider coming back for 2009 Ashes if "Stuart MacGill is injured and not able to bowl and Ponting ask his help."

When asked about Warne's return, Ponting said he was not aware about Warne's return. Warne did not speak to him about it. He said, Warne's return is not possible as he has already retired.

"I've got no interest at all at this stage," Warne told AAP. "I'm very happily retired, I'm comfortable where I am at the moment."

He was the captain and coach of the IPL winning team of Rajasthan Royals. The winning of IPL and the success of bringing the team together for the should have made him to think about coming back to test cricket.

I actually said I was happily retired and if Stuart MacGill broke his leg - which he hasn't, he's retired - and there was no other spinner in Australia and if Ricky Ponting asked me, I'd consider it," Warne said. "If that's coming back out of retirement, I'm not sure. I don't think it is."

Ponting has not called Warne. "I'm sure if I rang him and said, `I'd like you to come back in South Africa and India,' he would probably put his hand up," Ponting said in the Courier Mail. "Warney made it pretty clear that if there was absolutely no one else around, he might consider it.

He further added, "I haven't entertained the idea of asking Shane to come out of retirement, no. He's probably hoping I have, but I haven't just yet."

Click here to read about Warne's come back Story!

Click here to read about Stuart MacGill's retirement Story!

Stuart MacGill Calls it a Day!

The Australian leg spinner Stuart MacGill has called it a day. Yes, he has announced his retirement from test cricket. He is the third cricketer from Australian cricket to announce retirement in the last few months. Adam Gilchrist and Brad Hogg are the others.

He has cited injury as the reason and could not come back. He also said that he would like to contribute to the Australian cricket by taking wickets but he is not sure whether he can do it now. He also said that he should be able to remove the top 5 batsman, but he is not sure whether he can do it now.

His Batting career, a snap shot:

Type	M	I	NO	R	HS	Avg
Test	44	47	11	349	43	9.69
ODI	3	2	1	1	1	1.00

Read as:
M - Matches; I - Innings; NO - Not Out; R - Runs; HS - Highest Score; Avg - Average

His Bowling career, a snap shot:

Type	M	I	B	R	W	Avg
Test	44	85	11237	6038	208	29.02
ODI	3	3	180	105	6	17.50

His best bowling were:

In Test, Best Bowling in an innings: 8 for 108
In Test, Best Bowling in a Match: 12 for 107

He has acquired 5 wickets in an innings 12 times and 10 wickets in match twice.

Read as:
M - Matches; I - Innings; B - Balls; R - Runs; W - Wickets; Avg - Average

Good luck MacGill!