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England in South Africa 2009-10 

At Cape Town

South Africe V/S England, 3rd Test.

 

Eng: 9/1 (3.3 Ovs)

RSA: 291

Day 2: First Session

England trail by 282 runs

Newlands, Cape Town

January 3-7, 2010

England won the toss and elected to field

Live TEst Match India v srilanka, Live Cricket, Live Cricket score

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Sri Lanka tour of India, 3rd Test: India v Sri Lanka at Mumbai (BS), Dec 2-6, 2009

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Sri Lanka 366/8 (89.0 ov)

India

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat

Stumps - Day 1

• Sri Lanka in India Test Series - 3rd Test
• Test no. 1937 | 2009/10 season
• Played at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
• 2,3,4,5,6 December 2009 (5-day match)

	Sri Lanka 1st innings		R	B	4s	6s	SR
	NT Paranavitana	c Dravid b Harbhajan Singh	53	81	7	0	65.43
	19.5 Harbhajan has struck. He has been bowling really well and has got the breakthrough. Paranavitana, who was looking so good, is gone. It was a loopy flighted delivery around the off stump and Paranavitana edged his attempted cover drive to first slip. Done by the dip. 93/1
	TM Dilshan	c Vijay b Harbhajan Singh	109	160	10	2	68.12
	64.6 Dilshan is not too happy. Given out caught at short-leg. Oh dear oh dear .. what a poor decision by Llong. It turned in and Dilshan stretched forward to defend. The ball was long away from the gloves or the bat and bounded straight off the pad. Oh what a crucial moment this. He played so well so far. But he has to go now. 262/5
	KC Sangakkara*	c †Dhoni b Ojha	18	35	2	0	51.42
	30.5 And he has been strangled down the leg side. What a way to go. This one was turning down leg side, going past his hips when Sanga tried to glance but got a faint tickle through to a delighted Dhoni, who takes a neat catch 128/2
	DPMD Jayawardene	c Sehwag b Sreesanth	29	63	4	0	46.03
	47.4 Done in by the bouncer. Yuvraj hugs Sreesanth. It was the short-pitched delivery, Mahela swivels to pull but top edges it straight to deep backward square-leg. Just reward for a fine spell. 187/3
	TT Samaraweera	c Vijay b Harbhajan Singh	1	2	0	0	50.00
	48.1 Samaraweera walks after edging. Almost Ponting like dismissal, if you know what I mean. It was flighted outside off on a length, Samaraweera lunged forward to defend and got a bat and pad to short leg. Double strike and India are back in the game. Much depends on Dilshan who has played a fab knock so far. He has to carry on for a really big innings 188/4
	AD Mathews	not out	86	119	13	0	72.26
	HAPW Jayawardene†	c Harbhajan Singh b Ojha	43	47	6	1	91.48
	79.6 moves down the track but is beaten in flight and hits it straight to mid-on. Ojha shouts out few words at the departing batsman. 329/6
	KMDN Kulasekara	c †Dhoni b Khan	12	15	3	0	80.00
	84.6 Finally Zaheer lands one on target and gets a wicket. It was full in length, moving away from Kulasekara who gets a thin edge through to Dhoni 359/7
	HMRKB Herath	c Dravid b Harbhajan Singh	1	12	0	0	8.33
	87.2 one more down as the shadows lengthen. It was around the off stump line, Rangana goes for the sweep and it goes off the toe end of the bat to first slip where Dravid takes a good tumbling catch 362/8
	M Muralitharan	not out	0	4	0	0	0.00
	Extras	(b 4, lb 4, w 2, nb 4)	14
	Total	(8 wickets; 89 overs)	366	(4.11 runs per over)

To bat UWMBCA Welegedara

Fall of wickets1-93 (Paranavitana, 19.5 ov), 2-128 (Sangakkara, 30.5 ov), 3-187 (DPMD Jayawardene, 47.4 ov), 4-188 (Samaraweera, 48.1 ov), 5-262 (Dilshan, 64.6 ov), 6-329 (HAPW Jayawardene, 79.6 ov), 7-359 (Kulasekara, 84.6 ov), 8-362 (Herath, 87.2 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	Z Khan	19	2	70	1	3.68	(4nb, 1w)
	84.6 to Kulasekara, Finally Zaheer lands one on target and gets a wicket. It was full in length, moving away from Kulasekara who gets a thin edge through to Dhoni 359/7
	S Sreesanth	14	1	66	1	4.71	(1w)
	47.4 to DPMD Jayawardene, Done in by the bouncer. Yuvraj hugs Sreesanth. It was the short-pitched delivery, Mahela swivels to pull but top edges it straight to deep backward square-leg. Just reward for a fine spell. 187/3
	Harbhajan Singh	29	2	107	4	3.68
	19.5 to Paranavitana, Harbhajan has struck. He has been bowling really well and has got the breakthrough. Paranavitana, who was looking so good, is gone. It was a loopy flighted delivery around the off stump and Paranavitana edged his attempted cover drive to first slip. Done by the dip. 93/1 48.1 to Samaraweera, Samaraweera walks after edging. Almost Ponting like dismissal, if you know what I mean. It was flighted outside off on a length, Samaraweera lunged forward to defend and got a bat and pad to short leg. Double strike and India are back in the game. Much depends on Dilshan who has played a fab knock so far. He has to carry on for a really big innings 188/4 64.6 to Dilshan, Dilshan is not too happy. Given out caught at short-leg. Oh dear oh dear .. what a poor decision by Llong. It turned in and Dilshan stretched forward to defend. The ball was long away from the gloves or the bat and bounded straight off the pad. Oh what a crucial moment this. He played so well so far. But he has to go now. 262/5 87.2 to Herath, one more down as the shadows lengthen. It was around the off stump line, Rangana goes for the sweep and it goes off the toe end of the bat to first slip where Dravid takes a good tumbling catch 362/8
	PP Ojha	23	1	97	2	4.21
	30.5 to Sangakkara, And he has been strangled down the leg side. What a way to go. This one was turning down leg side, going past his hips when Sanga tried to glance but got a faint tickle through to a delighted Dhoni, who takes a neat catch 128/2 79.6 to HAPW Jayawardene, moves down the track but is beaten in flight and hits it straight to mid-on. Ojha shouts out few words at the departing batsman. 329/6
	Yuvraj Singh	4	0	18	0	4.50

	India team

V Sehwag, M Vijay, R Dravid, SR Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni*†, Harbhajan Singh, PP Ojha, Z Khan, S Sreesanth

Match details

Toss Sri Lanka, who chose to bat

Player of the match tba

Umpires DJ Harper (Australia) and NJ Llong (England) TV umpire SK Tarapore Match referee JJ Crowe (New Zealand) Reserve umpire UV Gandhe

Close of play day 1 - Sri Lanka 1st innings 366/8 (AD Mathews 86*, M Muralitharan 0*, 89 ov) Source: India v Sri Lanka, 3rd Test, Mumbai, 1st day

Efficient India complete 100th Test win

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India 642 (Gambhir 167, Dravid 144, Sehwag 131, Herath 5-121) beat Sri Lanka 229 (Sreesanth 5-75) and 269 (Samaraweera 78*) by an innings and 144 runs

	Harbhajan Singh and Gautam Gambhir celebrate Prasanna Jayawardene's wicket © AFP
Related Links Matches: India v Sri Lanka at Kanpur Series/Tournaments: Sri Lanka tour of India Teams: India | Sri Lanka

India achieved their biggest victory against Sri Lanka and in the process clinched their 100th Test win on the fourth day of the second Test in Kanpur. India's previous best against their neighbors was a victory by an innings and 119 runs in 1994 and they bettered that with ease today. Thilan Samaraweera resisted the inevitable with an assured fifty but it was always just a matter of time before India wrapped up the game.

The only question at the start of the day was how long Sri Lanka would delay defeat. They batted positively, adding 149 runs in the first session, but India kept taking wickets at regular intervals. Samaraweera was involved in two fighting partnerships with Prasanna Jayawardene and Ajantha Mendis, which not only proved that the pitch wasn't bad for batting but also showed the top order in poor light.

India's only concern was Zaheer Khan's no-ball problems (12 in this game and 21 in the series) but he started the day by dismissing Angelo Mathews in his first over. Mathews had hit three consecutive fours, which included a pull, and Zaheer placed a man at deep square-leg and tested Mathews with more bouncers. The first was fended off in an ungainly manner and the next was top-edged to backward point where Rahul Dravid took a lunging catch.

Samaraweera proceeded to stitch together a 61-run partnership with Prasanna who, much like in the first innings, flattered to deceive. He was looking good with his cuts and sweeps but was cleaned up by an off break from round the stumps from Harbhajan Singh. It drifted away and broke back in but Prasanna left a big bat-pad gap and was bowled. Muttiah Muralitharan indulged himself with a typical hit-and-giggle knock filled with slog sweeps but fell, going for yet another big hit.

Samaraweera, who then added 73 runs with a determined Ajantha Mendis to frustrate India, was rarely troubled during his stay, the highlight of which was a whippy on-drive to a delivery on off and middle stump from Sreesanth. He rarely looked hurried, tackled the spinners and seamers and unfurled several pleasing on drives. The series now moves to Mumbai for the third Test that starts on December 2.

The Ashes 2009, The England & Wales Cricket Board, Flintoff to play Ashes decider

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The England & Wales Cricket Board are confident Andrew Flintoff will be available for the Ashes finale at The Oval following a positive diagnosis from his knee specialist, Andy Williams. With England facing a must-win encounter at The Oval next week following their humiliating defeat in Leeds, a return to match fitness for Flintoff - in what would be his final Test match appearance before retirement - looms as a massive boost to their prospects of regaining the Ashes.

"The advice received was that the swelling in his knee has significantly eased following the decision by the England management team to rest him from the last Test Match and that subject to further rest and intensive treatment, he will be available for selection for the 5th npower Ashes Test at The Brit Oval," the ECB said in a statement

The assessment tallies with Flintoff's own take on events, because he himself believed he could have taken part in the Headingley debacle. In his absence, England lost by an innings and 80 runs inside two-and-a-half days, but Flintoff later claimed that his participation was vetoed by the captain Andrew Strauss and the coach, Andy Flower. "He told them that he was fit enough to get through," his agent, Chubby Chandler, told The Times, "but they didn't want him."

News of Flintoff's return to fitness will buoy Flower, who on Sunday warned that England could not afford another repeat of Headingley. Flintoff was only informed of his omission on the eve of the match, and the official announcement was held back until an hour before the toss, disrupting team selection. "I think we'd like to know before that," he said. "I don't think we'd want to leave it very late.

"He wanted to play, he was desperate to play but he acknowledged that he wasn't fully fit and he was struggling a bit, so we couldn't play him under those circumstances," said Flower. "If the advice is that he will be fit enough to take part as an allrounder at The Oval, then we will listen to that advice and listen to Fred's information about his own body as well."

A fully fit Flintoff would be the perfect tonic for a beleaguered team, but Flower denied that his fitness battle was having a destabilising effect on the team, as they attempt to mount a comeback in the series, and seal the Ashes for only the second time in the past 20 years. "We've gone whole series waiting on his fitness, so this match is no different," he said. "I would think we'll get some good information back from the specialist, and also some information from him on how he feels, because there's a good chunk of time between now and The Oval, so we'll have a better indication."

Either way, Flower and the England think-tank are already braced for life after Flintoff, and the selection dilemmas inherent therein. "The balance of the side when you haven't got an allrounder at 6 or 7 is always the problem, and it's one we're going to have to face up to because Flintoff is retiring from Test cricket," he said. "That is a problem, because [without him] we seem light either on the batting or the bowling side. If he's not fit for The Oval, we'll have to make a decision on where we settle for our strong point."

England received further positive news on Monday, with James Anderson cleared of a serious hamstring injury. Anderson suffered a slight strain while running between the wickets in the first innings at Headingley, but is expected to play at The Oval. Cricketmore ...