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

India won their first series in England since 1986, albeit 1-0, after England held on for a draw on the final day of the last Test at The Oval. It was a fitting denouement to a hard fought and evenly contested series as India’s bowlers seldom slackened in their effort to force a win whereas England’s batsmen displayed remarkable application. Kevin Pietersen helped himself to a workmanlike century and provided the backbone for England’s resistance as they ended on 369 for 6. On a day when wickets fell at regular enough intervals to keep India interested till the very end, England held on, but Michael Vaughan’s unbeaten home record slipped from his grasp.England’s batting in the second innings was in sharp variance to their first. While the first was dotted with cameos and generously sprinkled with batsmen error, the second was one characterised by abstinence and self-denial. England’s batsmen focused purely on eliminating risk, to the exclusion of all else, and that paid off.India, having chosen to bat on as long as they could in their first innings, rattling up 664, not declaring even after Anil Kumble reached his maiden Test hundred, and then having decided not to enforce the follow-on, were clearly thinking not in terms of a match win but the bigger series win. They would settle for a draw if it came to that, and it did.But that’s not to say the bowlers did not try their hardest. Sreesanth bowled better than he has all series, finding the right line, attacking the stumps. Zaheer Khan continued to swing the ball both ways, and probed both from over the stumps and around. Kumble, charged up till the very end, metronomically sent down delivery after delivery, but the pitch had not really broken up as India would have hoped, and batsmen were able to play him on the back foot, reading him off the pitch. Sachin Tendulkar served up his enticing mixture of legbreaks, offbreaks and seam up, and with more luck could easily have picked up a wicket.What England needed to do – and managed quite handily – was break the day’s play down into small chunks and negotiate each one. The first phase was the relatively new ball, which the openers needed to see off, and they did so without serious problems. It wasn’t until the 12th over of the day, when RP Singh was introduced into the attack, that the first breakthrough came. Andrew Strauss played a touch away from his body and nicked a late outswinger into VVS Laxman’s hands at slip. Soon after India tasted second success, the only time in the day where one wicket would be followed closely by another.Alastair Cook’s penchant for glancing uppishly led to him playing the stroke to Kumble, with Laxman at backward short leg, positioned there for just the eventuality. England were then 86 for 2, and still had more than 75 overs to play.Vaughan and Pietersen came together, and barring one moment – when Rahul Dravid, at slip, dropped a straightforward edge from Vaughan off Kumble – were in control of proceedings for more than 25 overs. Pietersen was a perfect example of a high quality batsman changing his natural game to adapt to a challenge, as he put away his natural attacking instincts, instead using his considerable talent to just keep the bowling out.Vaughan, for his part, ensured that he did not play anything that could just as easily be left alone. That is, for 94 balls, before a brief break in play for bad light broke his concentration. Sreesanth had slipped Vaughan the booming inswinger, and followed that up with a well-directed away-swinger, which Vaughan flashed at, off the back foot, and nicked to the keeper. By then almost 61 overs had been consumed.

Paul Collingwood replaced Vaughan and proved to be a more-than-adequate foil to Pietersen. Collingwood’s naturally dour game was just what the situation demanded, and he stonewalled defiantly, while not losing out on the odd chance to score, putting away the really loose deliveries quite efficiently.Collingwood and Pietersen added more than 100 runs and saw off close to 24 overs, and just when they had appeared to have steered England to safety, Collingwood fell to the first delivery sent down with the second new ball. Sreesanth managed to get on to pitch just outside off and come in a touch, and Collingwood, who was expecting the outswinger, played down the wrong line and was trapped in front of the stumps.There was just the slightest flutter in the England camp, and this became a full-fledged tremor when Pietersen, who had just reached his 10th Test hundred, drove away from his body and edged Sreesanth to Dinesh Karthik at first slip. Pietersen had consumed 159 balls for his 101, and when he went, India were within sniffing distance of the shaky tail, with Ian Bell and Matt Prior at the crease. Bell batted positively, as he has done all game, and brought up a run-a-ball fifty, even taking four consecutive fours off Kumble. Perhaps overexcited by this, Bell played, and missed, an unwise sweep against Kumble, and watched in agony as the lbw decision went India’s way. But Ryan Sidebottom and Matt Prior managed to keep the bowling out, taking England to safety.England had drawn the game, but India were still celebrating, for they’d just managed a series win in England, just the third time ever by India on English soil and something no-one in this team has ever tasted before.

India have left themselves a mountain to climb to win this series; down 0-2 and with four games to play, they will have to raise their game significantly, knowing Australia need only a half-chance to shut out the opposition in the fourth one-day international at the Sector 16 Stadium in Chandigarh.India have, however, responded well to such extreme pressure in the recent past. Trailing 3-1 in the NatWest Series in England, they were out for the count but managed to stretch the series till the final game at Lord’s. At the World Twenty20, India were faced with three must-win games against Pakistan, England and South Africa and won all three to make the semi-finals – and the two knockout games as well.The trend in the series has been for Australia to bat first and score 300, putting the Indian batsmen under immense pressure against an incisive new-ball attack. India’s openers haven’t coped well – 1, 11 and 10 in three innings – and the lack of partnerships at the top has crippled their run-chases.Monday may just be different because, for the first time in this series, India have the option of opening with Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, who has recovered fully from his hamstring strain. Both of them went in first during the net sessions and had lengthy stints.There was confusion in Hyderabad over why Ganguly was left out: was it because he didn’t fit into the team combination, as the BCCI secretary, Niranjan Shah, said, or that he hadn’t recovered enough from his injury? The decision to play him in Chandigarh might be made easier with news that Gautam Gambhir strained his groin during a net session and hobbled back to the dressing room. He was sent for an MRI and will be assessed by John Gloster, the physio.

The failures of the top order have left the rest with too much to do and Robin Uthappa said the batsmen had to “take responsibility” for they had “let the team down”. Uthappa and Mahendra Singh Dhoni played cameos at Kochi and Yuvraj Singh scored a century in Hyderabad, but to beat Australia they must fire at the same time.Another worry is Rahul Dravid’s form – 31 at Kochi and 0 at Hyderabad – given his vital steadying role at No. 5, which allows Yuvraj and Dhoni to bat aggressively. Dravid’s last substantial contributions came in England where he scored 92 at Bristol and 56 at Edgbaston. Since then he has struggled and, not coincidentally, India slipped to defeat in England and started the series against Australia poorly.Equally under the scanner will be India’s bowlers, who have conceded 307, 306 and 290 in the matches so far. India played five bowlers at Bangalore and Kochi and four at Hyderabad and Uthappa said they were likely to play five bowlers again. That means Murali Kartik, the left-arm spinner who replaced Ramesh Powar in the squad, forming a two-pronged spin attack with Harbhajan Singh. His inclusion could be at the expense of Rohit Sharma in the middle order.Harbhajan bowled an economical spell in Hyderabad – 0 for 38 – but Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke were able to see him off because there wasn’t enough pressure from the other end. Kartik’s left-arm spin, in tandem with Harbhajan’s offspin, could build pressure during the middle overs where Australia have dictated the pace and built the platform for their assault in the death overs.

They’ll have their task cut out though, for Australia’s batsmen have been in such form that Ponting virtually ruled out a change to their batting line-up. Brad Hodge hasn’t contributed much in the series – 0, 3, 3 – while Brad Haddin was dropped in Hyderabad after scoring consecutive half-centuries. Ponting, however, said that they would stick with Hodge.”Our batting’s pretty settled at the moment,” Ponting said. “We had a tough decision to make, leaving Haddin out in the first place and leave Hodge in the side. But Hodge has a record that has stood up well over a two-year period. He has trained really well today so if he gets an opportunity tomorrow I think he’ll get runs.”One change Australia are likely to make is in their bowling department. Nathan Bracken, the left-arm medium-pacer, didn’t play at Hyderabad but Ponting indicated he had a strong chance of making the XI.”Bracken is one of the top ranked one-day bowlers in the world. If the rest of the guys pull up okay, we’ll have to make a tough decision and leave one of the guys who have been playing out and bring Bracken back in.” Bracken’s ability to swing the ball, his precision and clever changes of pace will add an extra dimension to the Australian attack and make life harder for an Indian batting line-up that is struggling to put in a collective performance.Monday’s game is the first ODI being played at the picturesque Sector 16 Stadium in nearly 15 years and Ponting felt the pitch was dry and would get drier and slower as the day progressed. He did not hesitate in saying that he would bat first if he won the toss. If that is the case, the first half of this match could go the way of the previous three games with Australia scoring 300. Whether the Indian batsmen pull together could determine how the match and the series is decided.Teams
India (likely) 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Sourav Ganguly, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Rahul Dravid, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Irfan Pathan, 8 Murali Kartik, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Sreesanth.Australia (likely) 1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Brad Hodge, 7 Brad Hogg, 8 Brett Lee, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Nathan Bracken, 11 Stuart Clark.

Michael Bevan has responded to another excellent Mark Ramprakash hundred byfiring a sweet half century of his own to afford Sussex a slight edge overMiddlesex after three days of the teams’ absorbing County Championshipfixture at Southgate.Bevan (57*) reached his milestone in smart time to lead the visitors to asecond innings mark of 118/3 by stumps, one which leaves them precisely 150runs short of victory in a contest in which they have always appeared tohave their noses slightly in front. Typically, it was the Australian’s eyefor spotting gaps in the field, and placing his shots into them with aminimum of fuss, which lay at the core of his innings. Although aninjudicious attempt from Toby Pierce (25) to loft a Phil Tufnell (2/39)delivery over mid wicket and a similarly ill-timed lapse in concentrationfrom Chris Adams (20) in pushing out an arm ball from the same bowler didnot help the cause, his efforts largely ensured that Sussex was back ontrack for success by the time that stumps were finally drawn.Just in case no-one had noticed the events of two days ago, it had earlierbeen Ramprakash (112) who had dominated the opening two sessions of theday’s play with a brilliantly crafted fiftieth first-class century. Rightnow – with another Test axing hanging over his head and his Middlesexbatting teammates seemingly doing precious little on the field to help easethe pain – he could have been forgiven for cutting a tragic figure. But,in again summoning the mental and physical resources to prove himself a cutabove his colleagues, he proved the very antithesis. It was a courageousdisplay and was full of character, no mean feat considering that he spentthe first half of it watching another succession of batsmen come and go atthe other end. It wasn’t until Richard Johnson (52) followed his lead, andbatted with unstinting application to contribute half of a priceless 104run stand for the eighth wicket, that the formidable right hander finallyattained the support that he deserved.

Virat Kohli is the highest-paid cricketer in the IPL, according to salary figures released by the league on Friday.While Kohli will cost his franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore Rs 12.5 crore (approximately USD 1.89 million) from their salary purse, they will actually pay him Rs 15 crore (USD 2.26 million). MS Dhoni, for long believed to be the most expensive IPL cricketer, will be paid USD 1.89 million, which is equal to his purse deduction, by the Pune franchise. Pune secured Dhoni in a draft of players who were part of the suspended Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals franchises.Apart from Royal Challengers, who are paying Kohli and Chris Gayle more than the purse deduction, Mumbai Indians are paying Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga and Ambati Rayudu more than the purse deduction they result in.However, contrary to the general perception that quite a few players used to get paid much more than the official purse deduction, quite a few have actually taken big cuts. Manan Vohra, retained by Kings XI Punjab, will get less than 10% of his Rs 4 crore (USD 600,000) purse deduction. Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir and David Miller are among those getting paid less than the purse deduction they are responsible for.Each franchise is required to spend a minimum of Rs 40 crore (USD 6 million) but not more than Rs 66 crore (USD 9.96 million) on their squad. However, when the franchise retains players, the purse-deduction slots are what are considered for the purpose of calculation of what it can and should spend.Kings XI are thus keen on saving money; after negotiating the salary with Vohra, they can actually spend far less than USD 600,000 on him. However, they will still lose USD 600,000 from their purse ahead of the auction. Royal Challengers, on the other hand, don’t seem to mind spending extra.In the case of former Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals players, though, the new franchises didn’t have any room to negotiate. The BCCI had assured the players left without teams but drafted by the two new teams they would be paid the same amount as they were earning earlier. So while Ravindra Jadeja might take away Rs 9.5 crore (USD 1.43 million) from Rajkot’s purse, he will actually get only Rs 5.5 crore (USD 0.83 million).

Brendon McCullum, New Zealand’s captain who is set to retire from international cricket next month, will give the annual MCC Spirit of Cricket lecture at Lord’s in June.McCullum has been widely praised for the way his side have played the game since he took charge at the start of 2013. An emphasis on team spirit, enjoyment and fairness coincided with one of the most successful periods in New Zealand’s history and saw the team feted at home – where rugby usually dominates – and around the world during their run to the 2015 World Cup final.The MCC Spirit of Cricket lecture was first delivered by Richie Benaud in 2001, with notable speakers including Desmond Tutu, Imran Khan, Kumar Sangakkara and Ian Botham. McCullum will become second New Zealander to deliver the address, after Martin Crowe in 2006.The MCC has also announced that McCullum will join its World Cricket Committee – a think tank that examines issues affecting the game, from the development of pink balls to Olympic participation – from October.”It was an honour to be asked to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey lecture – especially given the stature of some previous speakers – so I was very pleased to accept the invitation,” McCullum said. “There are a number of important issues in world cricket at the moment that I am looking forward to addressing, and I hope it is an interesting evening for everyone watching. I’m also very pleased to be joining the World Cricket committee in October and being given the chance to discuss and have an impact on world cricket.”McCullum was handed the New Zealand captaincy in difficult circumstances, with his predecessor, Ross Taylor, unhappy at the way he was removed from the job. Taylor opted out of the subsequent tour of South Africa but, after two innings defeats – New Zealand were bowled out for 45 in Cape Town – McCullum quickly turned the team around, presiding over a two-year unbeaten run in Tests that was ended by Australia in December.His attacking style of captaincy was epitomised by continuing to stack men in the slips during ODIs and New Zealand were many neutrals’ favourites after reaching their first World Cup final – though they were heavily beaten by Australia at the MCG.In 2014, McCullum became the first New Zealander to score a Test triple-hundred, against India in Wellington, and last month he drew level with Adam Gilchrist as the only batsmen to hit 100 sixes in Tests. McCullum will sign off his 14-year international career with three ODIs and two Tests against Australia in February.MCC president Roger Knight said: “Brendon McCullum is one of the best cricketers of his generation and I’m sure will be a very engaging speaker, especially given his insight in to the modern game. He has embodied the play hard, play fair message of the MCC Spirit of Cricket throughout his playing career, especially in his captaincy, so is a perfect fit for this event.”We are delighted that MCC’s relationship with Brendon will continue after the lecture when he joins our World Cricket committee in October, and I’ve no doubt his experience will be a valuable asset to the group.”After the Spirit of Cricket lecture, which will take place on June 6, McCullum will join a panel of players for a question-and-answer session that will discuss topics arising from his speech and other issues affecting the game.

Efforts to resuscitate Bob Woolmer, after he was found unconscious in his hotel room, were hindered by the position of his body, said the first doctor to attend to him, at a coroner’s inquest heard on Friday.Woolmer, the former Pakistan coach, was found unconscious in his room at the Pegasus Hotel a day after Pakistan’s shock defeat to Ireland in the World Cup. Dr Asher Cooper arrived a few minutes after Novelette Robinson, the team’s registered nurse, but could carry out resuscitation measures only after Woolmer was moved out of the bathroom.”When I went to the room, Woolmer’s head was under the toilet bowl and I could not do resuscitating exercises,” Cooper told Patrick Murphy, the inquest’s coroner and an 11-member jury. “I was only able to take pictures with my cellular phone camera, which I gave to the police.” Woolmer was moved to the hall with the help of the police after which he was administered CPR and chest compression.The measures were continued until the arrival of the ambulance, even though Woolmer was without a pulse and had stopped breathing. Cooper said there were no signs of life before Woolmer was taken to the University of West Indies hospital, where he was declared dead.Dr Simone French, who attended to Woolmer on his arrival at the hospital, said that further efforts were made to revive him before he was declared dead. “After the body was taken to the hospital we put him on the cardio machine and there was no response.”Dennis Forbes, a detective constable, also testified by displaying pictures he had taken, which showed Woolmer lying on a stretcher at the hospital. Woolmer’s face was blood-stained, with a purplish discolouration to his left side. The pictures also showed a red mark on his left hip.The inquest, which started on Tuesday, is being held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston.

After the one-day series defeat against West Indies, England’s attentions turn back to Test cricket with India the second visitors of the season. It promises to be a fascinating contest with Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble going head-to-head with Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen and Monty Panesar.And the even better news is that it’s time for another Cricinfo competition and there are some terrific prizes on offer. To mark the release of , featuring Pietersen on the box, there is a Citizen Eco-Drive watch and a host of Woodworm goodies to give away thanks to our friends at Empire Interactive.All you have to do is answer this question:Which England player is featured on the box of International Cricket Captain III and how many runs did he score in the recent Test series against West Indies?The winner will receive the Citizen watch and four runners-up will get the Woodworm gear consisting of a cap, backpack and training shirt.THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED

Outspoken former South Africa coach Ray Jennings believes there are better candidates to captain the national side than Graeme Smith.Jennings has no issue with Smith the batsman, who recently posted a new world Test opening partnership with Neil McKenzie, but does have reservations when it comes to him leading the side. “Graeme Smith is a superb cricketer. He has presence and mental toughness,” he told The Wisden Cricketer. “From a captaincy point of view I believe there are one or two other guys who are able to lead the team better than he does.”When pressed to name his preferred candidates, Jennings replied: “Names aren’t really important to me. I believe there are better guys to do the job but that’s my opinion. As a batsman there’s no doubt I’ll have Graeme in my side. He’s a solid cricketer and a fighter.”When asked to comment on the recent high profile fall out between senior administrators about racial quotas, Jennings said: “South African cricket has to understand that they don’t need to put issues like this in the media. They could have had the fight behind closed doors and iron it out there. It has put me and a lot of cricketers in an awkward position.”I’m sad that coloured players in the team could have a stigma attached, where they feel they are underprivileged when that’s not the case. It’s not about having a 50-50 or 60-40 split between white and coloured players. In our country the sides are picked on their cricketing ability because the players of colour are good enough to play.”Jennings, who served a six-month stint as national coach, also said he would take up the post if it came around again, but only under his own terms. “I would definitely take it up again but there would be a few conditions. I would look at the combination of the side: how it gets picked. I would also look at my management staff and how I put that together.”In a terse media release, Cricket South Africa said Jennings claimed to have been “misquoted” in the article.

The Editors Guild of India has said the revised guidelines issued by the Indian Premier League on Tuesday are still harsh and will affect the freedom of newspapers.In a press release circulated to all its members and other media bodies, including the Indian Newspaper Society, and the Sport Journalists’ Federation of India, Guild secretary KS Sachidananda Murthy said the final terms of media accreditation for the IPL’s first season were unacceptable. He said the conditions would seriously influence the independence of editors, especially when it comes to the selection and use of photographs.Although the IPL formally withdrew some of the original contentious clauses, it maintained its hardline stand on websites – their representatives will not be allowed into the venue during matches and they will not have access to photographs.Murthy said the IPL’s demand that newspapers and news agencies must provide free of charge the photographs requested by the IPL for use and reproduction was unacceptable. While the Guild noted that there was some relaxation in the originally proposed terms and conditions, the blanket prohibition on the use of photographs taken by a newspaper or news agency, which are their exclusive property, for online use or syndication is unacceptable.The Guild felt the IPL should not be putting a quantitative limit on the number of photographs a newspaper or news agencies can uphold to its website, as it was clearly the domain of the editor to decide. In its new guidelines, the IPL allowed newspapers with their own web publication to upload six different pictures on their online photo galleries in addition to the pictures published in print.The original guidelines, published last week, had provoked widespread outrage, with the Editors Guild criticising the “prohibitive conditions”, which it said were “unprecedented and unacceptable to the Indian media.”

Three Englishmen, an Indian and a West Indian have been named as the Five Cricketers of the Year, cricket’s oldest accolade, in this year’s which is published today.Ian Bell, Ryan Sidebottom and Ottis Gibson were chosen for the award alongside India’s Zaheer Khan and the West Indian, Shivnarine Chanderpaul. All were chosen for their influence on the past English season, the traditional criteria for selection. Four of the five were picked for their achievements on the international stage, but Gibson’s nomination came for his outstanding performances for Durham last season.In the autumn of his career, Gibson led Durham’s attack magnificently to end the season with 80 wickets – only ten fewer than Mushtaq Ahmed and as one of two lone seamers in the top five wicket-takers in the Championship. His coup de grace came in July when he skittled Hampshire for 115, becoming the 79th player to take all ten wickets in an innings.Bell stood out as the England batsman who grew up, even if statistically he lacked the huge scores everyone continues to expect from him. It was in one-day cricket that he progressed the most, with an un-English strike-rate of 93. “It was hard to ignore the style,” Lawrence Booth wrote. “The confidence placedin him as a senior batsman helped bring out that diminutive, almost impish,aestheticism; his cover-drive won the team’s beauty contest hands down. Thecatches he has made at short leg, or at silly point when Monty Panesar hasbeen bowling, have long indicated a ball-sense of world-class standard.”From a burgeoning talent to one man’s renaissance: Sidebottom forced his way in and, such has success been, that he is now one of the first names on the team sheet. A late developer, Sidebottom finally took his first Test wicket six years after his made his Test debut in 2001. Now, as Simon Hughes writes,” he was now sure of his ability and trusted hismethods of fast-medium-pace and probing left-arm inswing from an impressive6ft 3in frame. They soon brought rewards. After the appalling waywardnessof Harmison and Co in early summer, his steadiness was immensely reassuring,and his duel with a struggling Tendulkar in the Trent Bridge Test was, for thepurist, one of the highlights of the summer”.Another left-armer stole the limelight from Sidebottom later in the summer, however. Zaheer took 18 wickets in the three Tests, including nine during India’s seven-wicket win at Trent Bridge, leading many to consider him the best left-armer India had ever possessed. His excellence was of little surprise to Worcestershire’s supporters, the club at which Zaheer honed his variations in 2006. “Playing for Worcestershire meant playing in different conditions, pitch and weather for five months. You had to innovate, use your thinking power,” he told Pradeep Vijayakar in his piece in the Almanack.Chanderpaul’s inclusion was perhaps the most expected of all. No other West Indian batsman showed his resilience, guts and skill against England. As Ian Bishop wrote, “that no other West Indian managed a score of more than 60 in the Tests speaks of the yawning gap between his skill, commitment and experience – and theirs”.Jacques Kallis was named as the Leading Cricketer in the World for 2007, while Kevin Pietersen adorned the front cover.