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

Adam Gilchrist catapulted Australia from the brief possibility of following on to trailing by 10 runs at the end of a swinging and absorbing day at Christchurch. Backed by Simon Katich, who scored 118 to seal his short-term career at No. 6, Gilchrist grabbed his cape to smash a century that threatened to break New Zealand for a second time this season.But just as they started planning a lead of up to 100, Australia were finished off by the impressive Daniel Vettori as he collected five wickets following some stinging Gilchrist treatment. Batting at No. 8 once Jason Gillespie was used as a nightwatchman, Gilchrist arrived at 201 for 6 when another wicket could have exposed the tail to a nervous period to avoid batting again.The 212-run seventh-wicket rescue act had a feeling of déjà vu for Stephen Fleming after his side controlled the game’s first seven sessions. But the eighth, a 133-run jaunt in which Katich brought up his second Test century, proved the most damaging until Australia lost their last four wickets for 19 runs. New Zealand walked unscathed through six overs to be 9 for 0 at stumps.Making 126 at Brisbane in November, Gilchrist’s cracking display was overlooked as Michael Clarke crashed 141 to turn a losing situation into an innings victory. This match was heading in a similar direction until he holed out to Vettori chasing a seventh six in an innings devalued only by the regularity of his 14 Test centuries. Gilchrist’s previous innings was an unforgettable 113 against Pakistan at Sydney. Before that was Brisbane, and four matches further back was the 104 at Bangalore. Two of those three responses came in the first game of the series when his side was in trouble.The danger with Gilchrist’s play is that the knocks will merge. His 121 came from 126 balls and was set up by an uninhibited attack on Vettori. Fuelled by lunch, Gilchrist targeted New Zealand’s most dangerous bowler and planted him for three sixes in three overs, earning 29 runs. Tempo set, he rattled up more boundaries and despite changes in flight and speed, Vettori was unable to break through until Ian O’Brien caught a slight mishit at deep mid-off. The cruel treatment suddenly eased and Vettori wiped over Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath to finish with 5 for 106. Once again he had tricked Australia, but once again he was short of quality support as the game ran away.Australia’s turnaround from on their backs to eyes level was impressive and familiar. Boundaries flowed and the deficit dropped when the two saviours arrived. Gilchrist was the star attraction but Katich was a capable deputy as he sprinkled moments of brilliance in his return from five Tests away watching his replacement Darren Lehmann.Katich’s century came from 173 balls and depended on positive play despite miscues and bouts of frustration. A hard day of graft seemed the best option for batsmen, but the logic didn’t convince Katich and he eyed 20 fours and one six. His pulling on a slowing wicket was powerful and regular; his off-side driving was careful, patient and often piercing.After being dropped twice in the past year to mean decisions, he wanted to cement the No. 6 spot and can stop looking at challengers for the rest of the series. Katich’s timing was crucial and Gilchrist gave him his moment to celebrate before it was interrupted by a spectator who was crash-tackled by security. At that point Fleming felt equally wounded.Ricky Ponting and Clarke had been deceived in the day’s very early stages and 36 runs were eked in the first hour. It is rare for Australia to bat ugly, but in the first session runs were difficult against penetrative swing bowling from Chris Martin and James Franklin.Before play many commentators – mostly Australian ones – generously decided the match was evenly poised. It was a brave verdict considering they started 292 runs behind with seven wickets in hand on an uncomfortable pitch for free-flowing strokes. Fleming’s band came out ready to starve and strike. Martin bowled a wonderful over to force a jumpy edge from Ponting and Clarke made a minor misjudgement to Franklin’s left-arm angle.When Gilchrist returned from lunch the mood of everybody changed. The bowlers worried and their radars wobbled, Fleming waited for too long for something positive to happen, and Katich settled in alongside his partner. The pair cruelly and efficiently combined to re-float Australia in a contest that became delightfully and unbelievably even.How they were out
Ponting c McCullum b Martin 46 (147 for 4)
Ball moved away off the pitch to surprise Ponting and he pushed an edge to McCullum, who caught smartly low and to his right.Clarke c McCullum b Franklin 8 (160 for 5)
Flirted slightly away from his body to an angled ball, forcing McCullum to come forward for an even better – and lower – catch.Gillespie c Cumming b Vettori 12 (201 for 6)
Propped front leg defensively, but straight ball hit high on the bat and skirted to short leg.Gilchrist c O’Brien b Vettori 121 (413 for 7)
Tried to launch a six over mid-on but fell a couple of metres short and O’Brien took the running catch.Katich c Vincent b Astle 118 (418 for 8)
Struggling for runs after Gilchrist’s departure, he aimed a tired, wide drive to an outswinger and found cover.Warne c Astle b Vettori 118 (426 for 9)
Slashed hard to a faster ball and Astle took the pace off with his first touch, grabbing it with his second.McGrath lbw Vettori 0 (432)
Swept across the line to give Vettori his fifth wicket.

New South Wales have nominated Marshall Rosen, a former Sheffield Shield opening batsman, to replace Allan Border as a national selector. The Blues must hope international experience is not a prerequisite for a place on Trevor Hohns’s panel after Victoria pushed for Ray Bright and Western Australia picked Tom Hogan.”I’d find it disappointing if the fact Marshall didn’t play Test cricket was to count against him,” David Gilbert, the New South Wales chief executive, told the Sydney Morning Herald. “There have been other good national selectors who did not play Test cricket, and we’ve all seen what a good coach John Buchanan has been for Australia.”Rosen, 56, has been a state selector for three years and Gilbert told the paper he was an astute judge who would be an excellent addition alongside Hohns, David Boon and Andrew Hilditch. Brian Taber, the former Test wicketkeeper and the current New South Wales chairman of selectors, was also considered before Rosen, who played 19 Sheffield Shield matches in the 1970s, was nominated.The deadline for applications was extended last Friday and Cricket Australia will approach contenders before making a choice next month. Damien Fleming and Darren Lehmann have also been suggested as possible replacements for Border, who stood down in April.

Javed Miandad is unlikely to be granted a visa to visit India again after it was announced that his son, Junaid, will marry Mahrooq, the daughter of Dawood Ibrahim, who is still wanted in India in connection with the Mumbai blasts of 1993. The wedding is to take place in Karachi, with a reception in Dubai.The decision to deny Miandad a visa in future was taken at a meeting of officials from India’s Ministry of External Affairs, according to an article in . Though it was agreed that officially declaring Miandad persona non grata would provoke a response from Pakistan, the officials have apparently decided that any requests for a visa from his side in the future would be politely turned down.Miandad has visited India several times in the recent past to watch matches and offer his views on TV analysis shows. But with this marriage alliance queering the pitch as far as India is concerned, it could be a long time before he appears on Indian TV screens again.

John Buchanan, the Australian coach, has refused to hit the panic button, even after Australia’s fourth consecutive loss, including a humbling at the hands of Bangladesh. “I have not experienced anything like this with this particular team,” Buchanan told Angus Fraser in an interview in . “We are in a situation we have never been in before. In the past when we have had a loss, the team has rebounded pretty quickly. But we are now in new territory and, I say this tongue in cheek, England are in new territory, too. It will be interesting to see how they deal with that.”Buchanan believed that the team would bounce back soon enough. “We will definitely come out of it and I think we will be better for the whole experience,” he said. “The skill of the players is unquestionable, and they have not lost that in the last couple of months.”Looking ahead, Buchanan pointed out what the team needed to do, and the pitfalls they needed to avoid. “”The first thing I have to do with everyone is keep what is taking place in perspective,” he said. “There is always a danger that you can over-analyse when things are not going well, and this can potentially lead to players not wanting to back their skill or their decision-making.”You don’t want the players thinking, ‘I’d better not do this in case it leads to an error’. I would rather they had a go, because at least then they have made a decision. If it then goes wrong it comes down to execution or poor decision-making. But at least then you have something to work with, which is not the case when you make no decision at all.”We also have to make sure that we don’t get caught up in the emotion of what is going on. We have to concentrate on the process that has made us a good side.Buchanan attributed his team’s failures to a lack of rigorous cricket in the recent past, and felt that the break they had may have done them more harm than good. “We may have lost today [Sunday] but I thought there were far more encouraging signs,” said Buchanan. “We were up for the game, you could see that in the players’ body language, and I hope it will be like this from now on. But I still believe that the performances are a result of us having a good break. Our skills at this moment in time are not bad but it has been the application of them in the one-day game that is the problem. And the one-day game asks questions of you straight away.”To play good one-day cricket you need a good cricket base underneath you. We have some good training underneath us, but we have not got a lot of game-time. And this means that when the skills of the players are being tested it is difficult for them to grab the right menu. In the games we have played every player has grabbed a bit of the menu but as of yet they have not been able to grab the whole lot.”Australia’s next game in the NatWest Series is against England – a day-nighter at Durham on Thursday, June 23.

Marvan Atapattu knows the value of home advantage, and he certainly thinks beating Pakistan in Pakistan will be a challenge. “Cricket is a game of uncertainties and I wouldn’t want to predict anything at this stage,” said Atapattu, as Sri Lanka departed for Pakistan on Sunday to play in the Paktel one-day triangular series and two Tests.”Pakistan is a good and well balanced side. The way they have played in the past few months under Inzi’s [Inzamam’s] captaincy, they have done exceptionally well. Beating them is as difficult as somebody coming here and defeating us.”Pakistan had more strength in their bowling till very recently. However, they have found some good players to get runs at the top and in the middle. They are a very competitive side.” Atapattu said the squad of 16 players picked for the one-day triangular tournament covered all areas to suit the conditions they are going to play in Pakistan – four seamers, three spinners and eight batsmen. “We have covered all options to play any side at any given moment.”Pakistan is the team to beat for Sri Lanka even though Zimbabwe is also part of the competition. In the past six months Sri Lanka have beaten a struggling Zimbabwe six out of six times, the last occasion being the Champions trophy game at The Oval last month when they won by four wickets.Zimbabwe have been playing Sri Lanka so often in the last few months that they are gradually picking up the strengths and weaknesses of the players and are not going to be any pushovers. It was to be Sri Lanka’s only win in the Champions trophy tournament for in their next encounter against England they lost and were eliminated.”It was one of those games that every team goes through. There were teams with more hopes than us. We went there with 18 wins out of 22 games. It was purely bad luck. I don’t think we played the game that we are all good at against England,” said Atapattu. “Nothing went right. Had everything gone to plan we would have won. I don’t want to pinpoint to anyone. We take credit as a team and likewise we take the blame also.”Atapattu said that to make Sri Lanka the best one-day side, they had to keep on improving in all three areas – batting, bowling and fielding. “To be competitive in the cricketing world you have to be updated and be looking at improving day by day, maybe 1%. We make an effort to constantly do something different at practices not just go through the motions. It may not come right every day but it helps.”The areas we need to work on sometimes depends on the country that you are play in. At home the margin is less. You may have heard from various other teams that Sri Lanka is a difficult place to play. Going into a country like England maybe we got to concentrate on the middle overs and probably the top order batting. You learn by experience. You should be prepared to do experiments.”On seamer friendly wickets if you safeguard your wicket for a while it would do you good. It depends on the country that you play, the attack that you are facing and the wicket that you are playing on. Generally we need to keep improving in all three areas.”Atapattu said that he would still go for seven batsmen in a one-day side unless the conditions forced a change. He said the absence of any warm-up games ahead of the two Tests against Pakistan has given less opportunity to fringe players to make any impact for selection. Sri Lanka will open their tour against Pakistan at Karachi on October 6. They play Pakistan and Zimbabwe twice each before the final on October 16 at Lahore after which they go straight into the two Test series starting at Faisalabad on October 20 and at Karachi on October 28.

Bob Woolmer has already worked some minor miracles in his short stint as Pakistan’s coach, but he is well aware that something special will be required on the final day at Faisalabad, if Pakistan are to avoid slumping to defeat against Sri Lanka, Woolmer’s first home Test at the helm.Sanath Jayasuriya set Pakistan up for the fall with a rollicking 253, before Dilhara Fernando completed a deflating day with a four-wicket burst before the close of the fourth day. The upshot was that Pakistan needed a further 314 for victory, with six wickets standing. “It’s going to be tough work to save the game,” admitted Woolmer, “but we will have a go.”We’ve had enough bad sessions to be on the wrong side of this game,” he added. “Our batting was disappointing in the first innings to say the least.” Pakistan had a golden opportunity to take command of the match after Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami dismissed Sri Lanka for 243, but they could muster no more than 264 in reply.”We are looking for players to bat for two days in Test matches just like Jayasuriya did,” added Woolmer, although he admitted that Pakistan’s recent schedule had not been in their favour. The team has had a glut of one-day matches since the series against India back in April, and there have been no domestic four-day games in the meantime.”I would like to see more Test matches,” he continued, “so you are not always just playing 15 one-day internationals. Surely there should be three or four Test matches and then five one-day internationals so that players can alternate better.”The Sri Lankan camp was a much happier place, and Jayasuriya was beaming after carrying his side into a winning position. “I have never thought about individual landmarks,” he said, “but getting such a score obviously is very pleasing. I hope my innings helps us win this Test match because all of us want to show everyone that Sri Lanka is a team capable of winning abroad.”It is always important for me when I get runs outside Sri Lanka but I am satisfied today because I scored runs when my team needed it the most.”

Phil Simmons, Zimbabwe’s coach, is on the verge of being fired, according to sources close to the national side.Simmons was already under pressure before the recent two-day humiliation by New Zealand. He had been publicly criticised by a selector following the Test and ODI series losses in Bangladesh earlier in the year.A report in today’s Zimbabwe Independent suggested that the Zimbabwe board had already sounded out possible replacements, with Sandeep Patil, who took Kenya to the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup, among the frontrunners, although Ozias Bvute, the board’s managing director, denied the claims.Bvute did, however, admit that there was a thorough review of the performance in the Harare Test being undertaken. “It’s obviously important that we introspect to enable us to do better,” he told the paper. “Our intention is never to go into a match with the desire to lose.”We shall look into consulting widely to ensure all our structures are adequately improved so that our performance reaches the expectations of our fans and spectators alike.”But an unnamed source said that Simmons’ time had run out. “Phil is finding it difficult to get the message across to the players,” the source said. “He has not added any value to the team at all and, actually, the young players have got worse since he took over. We need someone with good work ethics, and we certainly need to find a better coach from somewhere. Phil is a good coach, but Zimbabwe Cricket overrated his ability, and he has been found wanting at this level of cricket. It seems that he cannot identify the problem with the team. “In Simmons’ defence, coaching the Zimbabwe national side is an unenviable job with most of the decent players either having retired or moved abroad, and the majority of the remainder just not being good enough. It is hard to see who would want the role. The best prospect would be a former player, but most of those with the credentials are abroad with little desire to return under the current political regime.Dean du Plessis, a local commentator, said that Simmons was just too nice. “He doesn’t have hardness to coach at Test level,” he told the Independent. “He’s a happy sort of guy, a gentle giant. He likes to socialise with everyone. There is nothing wrong with that, but that is one of his major weaknesses. He lacks the ability to discipline his players. He has simply not adjusted well as a Test coach.”That view was supported by an editorial in the same paper. “Phil Simmons is not good enough to coach a nascent Test side like Zimbabwe,” it said. “The gentle giant is not only too soft for the job but has clearly failed to inspire confidence into the players.”While the dissonance between players in camp may be a result of the rebel saga as well as age and social differences, Simmons has failed to harmonise relations and to instil discipline among the cricketers.”And it warned that it was not just Simmons in the firing line. “The whole technical set-up should be reviewed – from provincial to national level.” Zimbabwe cricket desperately needs to turn round it fortunes, but in the meantime it also needs a scapegoat. Simmons is likely to be that person.

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Darren Lehmann, who selflessly offered his Test place to Michael Clarke, is Cricketer of the Year. The award is recognition of Lehmann’s belated, unlikely and romantic international purple patch, which is currently on hold after he injured his hamstring in the third Test at Nagpur.The 2004-05 edition of , published today, is a history-making edition: the front image of a roaring Shane Warne is the first full-colour pictorial cover in 141-year history. mourns the modern trend towards “McCricket”, calling for a stop to “back-to-back Tests, whistlestop tours, two and four-Test series and all other dunderheaded attempts to jam Test cricket into a polystyrene carton and shove it down our throats as quickly as possible”. For its first 125 years, the five-Test series was cricket’s prestige forum. But Australia have played only one in the past three years and India one in the past seven. New Zealand last played a five-Test series 33 years ago, Pakistan 12 years ago and Sri Lanka have never played one. new editor Christian Ryan writes in his Editor’s Notes: “Only when Australia play England are we now assured the unique thrill of a five-Test series. And beware the hardheads: with their calculators for brains and cash registers for hearts, they are plotting to take even that away from us. Cricket tampers with its own crazy, bewitching rhythms at its peril.”The disappearance of the five-Test series is one of several troublesome issues confronted by a feistier, revamped edition. Cricket Australia (CA) comes in for the fiercest criticism. Of the board’s eagerness to play against a race-based Zimbabwean side, and its description of this year’s tour to Zimbabwe as “a tick in a box”, wonders: “Have Australian cricket administrators no heart, no moral existence at all?”Of the Sri Lankan offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan’s refusal to come to Australia last July, it says CA did not try hard enough to change his mind. “Anything, everything should have been done to make sure he felt comfortable … Australia is the only cricketing nation Murali has felt compelled to stay away from. History will judge us accordingly.”Kerry Packer’s Channel Nine network, the long-time broadcaster of Australian cricket, also comes under attack for televising its quiz show at the moment Shane Warne equalled the world bowling record in Darwin. It was Channel Nine, again because of rival scheduling commitments, who insisted on the bizarre 9.30am starts to this year’s Tests in Darwin and Cairns.”Packer’s priority has only ever been his own prosperity, not cricket’s,” it says. “But so long as the two went hand in hand, all was hunky-dory. In the past year, Packer has appeared happy to suck the game dry and give very little back … It makes you wonder whom cricket belongs to: Packer or the people. Maybe it’s time Cricket Australia reminded a certain billionaire who’s really Boss.”The 2004-05 edition of is at 976 pages the biggest ever and the first – in Australia or England – to incorporate balls faced and boundaries hit in Test scorecards. Among several innovations is a new section called “Farewells”, women’s player profiles, a beefed-up back half and two new tables listing the full career records of every Australian Test and one-day player in order of appearance.

New Zealand 215 (McMillan 54, McCullum49) beat India 164 (Yadav 69, Pathan 50, Bond 6-19)by 51 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Shane Bond blazed through India’s top order and later prised open a threatening partnership between Jai P Yadav and Irfan Pathan to take New Zealand to victory by 51 runs in the second match of the Videocon Cup in Bulawayo. The pair had put on 118 after Bond’s initial spell left India at 44 for 8 and, just as visions of an improbable victory arose, he returned to dash Indian hopes conclusively, ending with 6 for 19.In seven opening overs of super mayhem, Bond took 5 for 13, and demonstrated that for all the supersubs, powerplays and other hyperbolic terms added to rejuvenate the game, the sport – like other sports – is sustained by drama involving the participants; it should make for a good story. The first over was a tale by itself. Sourav Ganguly opened, and Bond had the new ball. The first ball, slanted across at great pace, looped up off a protective prod and fell between the two. The next, pitched short outside leg, climbed past Ganguly’s chest above off, barely giving him time to register the ball. The third, a similar delivery but pushed further up, was fended without conviction. The fourth, again short and cutting across, carried the threat of injury but Ganguly evaded it reflexively. Cricket at this pace had become all about adrenaline, bravery and instinct by the batsman. And one delivery after another, Bond was dissecting the batsman’s tools, laying him bare. Yet only four balls had gone by. The fifth was a repeat of the fourth. Even Bond’s run-up was intimidating now. The force with which he delivered the last ball was like a farewell explosion, aimed at the head, the edge, the batsman’s self-respect. Somehow Ganguly survived. His weaknesses were well-known; Bond hit all the right pressure points.The next over Bond picked him off with a short ball down leg which was gloved to the wicketkeeper. The next ball Venugopal Rao, the supersub, was late on a super-quick inswinging yorker that slammed into the stumps. Rahul Dravid then tried cutting a short incoming delivery and chopped it onto his stumps. Mohammad Kaif cut one as well, and it carried to the fielder at third man. Then Virender Sehwag, who had begun his innings with a pulled four, slashed one to point and found a sprawling Hamish Marshall in the way.For a while, when Yadav and Pathan batted, Bond’s effort could have been in danger. No other bowler appeared threatening; Andre Adam’s wickets came due to the pressure Bond applied as batsmen looked to lash out at the other end. Once Bond went off, Yadav and Pathan set about rebuilding and drawing India closer to 216. They crossed their fifties quickly, enjoying fair luck, but also striking calculated fours. Yadav swept Vettori powerfully and delicately, and swung him over midwicket for six, while Pathan preferred the lofts down the ground for his boundaries. On 50 he departed, flaying at a quick delivery from Bond that caught the edge and traveled to the keeper. That was more or less it for India. Three balls later, Yadav mis-hit one to mid-off to end it all.You wouldn’t have known it, but India started the day on top. Ashish Nehra stuck to a line outside off for the left-handers and slanted it across for the others. He curved the ball late and experimented with his length without offering room, and this had the effect of rooting the batsmen to the crease. Stephen Fleming nicked one. Nathan Astle, paralysed, was trapped lbw. Pathan trapped Lou Vincent in front and did Marshall and Scott Styris in as well. At 36 for 5, New Zealand were a few wickets away from a low total.But Agarkar was brought in and he provided width at a friendly pace. In three overs to Craig McMillan and Styris he conceded 17 runs and was taken off. The morning’s pressure slowly dissipated and just as gradually, the batsmen found their feet. Oram swung Harbhajan for large sixes over long-on and mid-off. McMillan took few risks after surviving an lbw shout on zero and then powerfully smote Yadav over long-on for six. After they parted Brendon McCullum and Cairns accelerated, combining deft touch with powerful blows over cover. But just as he got started, Cairns fell, lightly swinging a Yadav ball to Harbhajan at short fine-leg. However, McCullum went on, twice hitting Nehra through the off-side for fours in an over and taking two off Agarkar as well, before falling last man, to Agarkar, with seven overs remaining.India have been undone by quick bowlers before, but rarely have they been unable to place bat on ball this way. It was utterly demoralizing and, like Miandad’s last-ball six, could have lasting effects on a line-up unsure of itself.

Ian Chappell, the legendary Australian captain, has come out with his thoughts on the Greg Chappell-Sourav Ganguly controversy and feels that Ganguly should have been prepared for an honest and ruthless answer the moment he asked for a “frank opinion”. Ian Chappell, Greg’s elder brother, described the manner in which they had been brought up and said he was least surprised by the way events unfolded.”Greg can be a very patient man, much more diplomatic than either his father or his elder brother,” wrote Ian Chappell in his column in ,a Mumbai-based tabloid. “However, if you don’t want to hear the truth, then don’t ask him for a frank opinion. Greg Chappell grew up in a household where frank opinions were served up at the breakfast table more often than cereal and fruit juice.”If Indian cricket wanted someone who would passionately seek to help players who wanted to improve, would do his utmost to put the best team on the field for every match without fear or favour and would offer a frank opinion when asked, then they were on the right track with Greg Chappell.”He mentioned Greg Chappell’s insistence on a high standard of fielding and fitness and said it was ingrained in them from an early age. “We all [Ian, Greg and Trevor Chappell] had reputations for being either a good catcher or an excellent ground fielder,” he said. “As a player Greg maintained an exceedingly high standard in both facets of fielding and it used to get right up his nose when he felt others were being lazy in the field. It probably still does.” These comments come in the wake of Greg Chappell’s e-mail to the Indian board which said Ganguly was “no longer able to meet the standards of mental and physical fitness that international cricket demands.”The elder Chappell also pointed out the tough decisions in pursuit of success that Greg had taken when he captained Australia and later when he was appointed national selector. “Greg was part of a panel that took some tough decisions that eventually led to the lengthy period of success,” he wrote. “In drawing up the blueprint for a successful future, that panel sacked some talented but undisciplined players. They replaced them with skilful cricketers who had pride in their own performance as well as an extreme desire to achieve victory for the team.”