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Queensland 6 for 282 (Simpson 71, Love 52, Nye 59*, Bracken 3-42) v New South Wales
Scorecard

Australia’s loss has been New South Wales’s gain. Nathan Bracken, not wanted by the Test selectors for the tour of Sri Lanka, ripped through Queensland’s middle order on the first day of the Pura Cup match at the SCG, taking 3 for 1 in 24 balls, including the prized scalp of Martin Love, to keep New South Wales’s title defence alive.But the patched-up Queensland team, forced to rush Damien McKenzie onto a flight from Brisbane to Sydney when Ashley Noffke was a late withdrawal with an ankle injury, refused to surrender, reaching 6 for 282 at stumps as Aaron Nye made an unbeaten 59 on debut.”It’s interesting at the moment, pretty evenly poised,” said Bracken. “We’ve just got to get out there tomorrow and if we bowl well for an hour, we can do some serious damage and hopefully finish them off quickly.”Bracken was untouchable after tea. It must have been something he ate. Starting the final session wicketless with Queensland travelling relatively comfortably at 3 for 181, Bracken claimed the vital wicket of Love for 52, trapped James Hopes lbw for 8, and had Chris Hartley caught by Michael Clarke at third slip for a duck as the Bulls staggered to 6 for 202.Hundreds of schoolchildren, on hand to watch Steve and Mark Waugh’s last game at the SCG, had just gone home. They contributed to a crowd of 2409 – about 2000 more than normal for a day at the Pura Cup. Steve Waugh – who would have expected to roll Queensland over before stumps after sending them in – bowled the last over as the crowd in the Noble Stand sang “For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow”.Bracken’s burst, combined with Matthew Nicholson (2 for 68) getting rid of the prolific Stuart Law for just 10 and Glenn McGrath’s miserly effort of 0 for 26 from 17 overs, gave NSW every chance to pull off the outright win both sides require to sneak into the Pura Cup final. To get there, NSW or Queensland also need Tasmania to go pointless against Victoria at Hobart.New South Wales could have done without a late 80-run partnership between Nye and Andy Bichel (46*). “We were in a position where we had the opportunity to go through them but they dug their heels in,” said Bracken, who finished with 3 for 42 from 17 overs. “We were looking at 350 as being the par score for the day, so we’re happy.”Dominic Thornely took 12th-man duties to new heights. Squeezed out of the starting XI, he grabbed two vital catches – one of them a blinder, the other just plain difficult – to send Love and Law back to the pavilion. Having only taken the field because Adrian Tucker needed treatment for a finger injury, Thornely dived full-length to his left at square leg to catch Law, before accepting a lofted pull-shot from Love as he ran in the opposite direction to the pitch at midwicket. They were big breakthroughs – Law is Queensland’s highest alltime runscorer, and Love is sixth on the list.The New South Wales camp denied they were keeping close tabs on Tasmania’s progress against the Vics. “We’re 100% on this one here,” said Bracken. “If we don’t get six points [by winning outright], there’s no point even worrying about that game.”

Scorecard

Mithun Manhas helped Delhi edge ahead after the second day of their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Baroda in Indore. A match in which no other batsman topped 50, Manhas scored a fluent 97 and was largely instrumental in Delhi managing a first-innings lead of 72. They were bowled out just before close of play for 271, while Baroda’s openers saw off four overs without too many alarms to ensure that they still have a good chance of fighting back.The Baroda bowlers kept it tight throughout the day, with Sankalp Vohra, the left-arm medium-pacer, being the pick of the lot. Pitching it in the corridor and getting the ball to angle away from the right-handers, Vohra finished with impressive figures of 4 for 39, and was helped significantly by Yusuf Pathan in the slips, who snaffled four catches.Resuming at 49 for 3, Delhi’s overnight batsmen, Manhas and Aditya Jain, put the team on the ascendancy with a fine 131-run stand. The Baroda new-ball bowlers had managed plenty of swing and seam late on the opening day, but neither Sumit Singh nor Salim Veragi could repeat the act on the second morning, which allowed both batsmen to drive through the line of the ball much more freely. Manhas was the more aggressive of the two, and turned it on even more when the spinners were introduced into the attack. Pathan, the offspinner, was deposited over long-on for the first six of the match, while Rajesh Pawar, the left-arm spinner, was driven down the ground for four as Manhas used his feet effectively.Jain played his part well, and was just two short of his fifty when he played the ball square on the off side, raced down the pitch, and had no chance of regaining his crease when Manhas refused the single. Manhas reached his 26th first-class half-century from 83 balls, and was motoring towards his hundred when a rush of blood spoilt all the good work: he charged down the pitch to Pawar, but miscued his lofted drive to Pathan at long-on.Rajat Bhatia and Puneet Bisht, the wicketkeeper, added 40 and helped Delhi past Baroda’s first-innings total of 199, but the pair was separated soon after when Pawar trapped Bisht in front as he lunged forward and was hit in line. Bisht looked surprised at the decision, but replays showed it was the correct one.Bhatia and Sumit Narwal – one of the bowling heroes from the opening day – got another useful partnership going before the second new-ball did the trick for Vohra and Baroda. Bhatia had batted patiently for his 38, but couldn’t resist the cut shot when offered some width. The edge flew to Pathan, and Delhi were seven down with the lead just 38. It got even better for Vohra when Narwal and Amit Bhandari fell in the same over – Narwal poked an edge to Pathan at second slip, and Bhandari carved a drive to cover.Parvinder Awana, the No. 11 batsman, frustrated Baroda briefly, hitting a couple of fours on his way to 12, before fending a short one to the waiting hands of Pathan. Baroda’s bowlers had restricted Delhi to 271 on the second day, and the deficit to 72. With the pitch still playing well and all ten wickets intact, Connor Williams and Co will feel the bowlers have given them an excellent chance of coming back into the match despite their feeble first-innings performance.

Glenn McGrath believes the MCG Test is the ideal time for Australia to relax the tradition of playing a spinner and pick a pace quartet instead. Stuart MacGill’s wrist surgery has left Brad Hogg as the only frontline slow-bowling choice, but McGrath thinks Australia’s speed options provide enough variety.McGrath said with India’s prowess against turn, using four fast men on Boxing Day was a possibility. “Australia has always gone in with a spinner, but it isn’t the way it has to be,” McGrath told AAP. “You have to look at the make-up of the team, Stuey Clark, Mitchell Johnson and Brett – they’ve all done a great job.”If a fourth quick bowler was required McGrath said it would have to be Shaun Tait. Tait seems to have shaken off an elbow injury, bowling strongly in the Pura Cup, and was promoted to Australia’s limited-overs teams to face New Zealand this week.”It would be pretty awesome to see Brett, Mitchell and Shaun coming in, bowling 150kph plus,” McGrath said. “That would be something that hasn’t been seen around world cricket for a long time.”McGrath, who retired after the World Cup in April, was confident Australia could deflect the challenge of India during the four-Test series. “The way the Australian team plays, especially at home, India are going to have to do something very special,” he said.”If you look at our batting line-up, and then the bowlers, it’s a pretty awesome team still. Sourav [Ganguly] and the Australians have always had a love-hate relationship, but he’s a quality player, and Sachin [Tendulkar] is class, so I’m sure there’ll be testing times there but I back Australia the whole way.”

Adam Gilchrist says the Australian team is tired of the criticism from former players, which is mostly directed towards the former coach John Buchanan. In the past few days, Shane Warne and Ian Chappell have picked on Buchanan, with Chappell stating that his daughter might have done better than Buchanan and Warne labelling Buchanan “a goose”.”I must say there has been a lot said in the papers this week,” Gilchrist said. “I guess one of the traits that we have a lot of pride in wearing the baggy green is that we show a lot of respect. That’s what we have prided ourselves on. It is an elite club and we have always felt that a major characteristic of being in that club is to show respect. It just seems that some guys in retirement have lost that.”Gilchrist also hoped the Test series against India would be free of the tension that was around during the ODI series in India. “It will be hard fought,” he said. “They are a team that has said that they want to take the challenge to us in an aggressive manner. Hopefully we won’t go down that route again in terms of the amount that was written about and time it took. It all got a bit out of control in the one-day series early on in India.”We are both aggressive teams, we are talented teams. I think we will just be trying to play hard aggressive cricket and not go too far with it.”On Australia’s bowling combination for the Test, Gilchrist said it would depend on the conditions, but he preferred a spinner in order to have a balanced attack. “As a general rule, I have always thought a spin bowler in a Test team is very well balanced as an option. But I must put an asterisk – it depends on the conditions and that’s what we have got to weigh up.”We definitely have got the arsenal to warrant four quick bowlers if the conditions suit. We have got a world-class spin bowler in Brad Hogg. He has proven that in one-day cricket and he’s now very excited about the opportunity to try and prove that he deserves to play Test cricket.”Gilchrist was not concerned about his record against India. His career average in Tests is 49.27, but in the 14 matches against India it drops to 29.95. “There’s no sort of box left unticked,” he said. “I have scored a couple of hundreds against them in very very difficult circumstances.”

Shahid Afridi has said that he harbours ambitions of making a century while batting in the lower order and has cited Adam Gilchrist’s fantastic 113 at Sydney recently, against Pakistan, as a knock that inspired him. He added that he was not planning to change his dare-devil approach to batting, which brought him success on the tour, and hoped that he could boost Pakistan’s chances of upstaging India in the much-anticipated forthcoming rubber.”I think I’ve been selected for this tour as a bowler who can bat instead of 1999 when I was picked as a batsman who could bowl,” Afridi told the Press Trust of India. “Which means batting down the order and bowling more than before.”Afridi had a scorching run in the VB Series, where Pakistan lost in the final, with 231 runs at a stunning strike-rate of 167.39. His power-hitting proved crucial in a number of games, he even notched up the record for the most sixes in ODIs, as fielders were reduced to spectators in the big Australian grounds. “I want to continue with my style of batting which is extremely simple: hit the ball back with same force,” he added. “I like hitting the ball into stands and want to hear the cracking sound that comes out of my bat. I don’t know why but that sound [of wood] and sight of seeing the ball land in enclosures gives me immense pleasure and satisfaction.”Afridi has had success in India earlier: he scored a matchwinning 141 in the Chennai Test in 1999 and helped Pakistan clinch an epic encounter. He has tormented India regularly and has one century and four fifties against them. The last tour of India saw Afridi the opener display his destructive ability. This series, though, may see Afridi the legspinner and lower-order dynamite prove a point or two.

SYDNEY, Jan 2 AAP – Mark Butcher and Nasser Hussain made Australia pay for a raft of missed opportunities to steady England after a worrying start to the fifth Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground today.By tea on the opening day, the pair had steered the tourists to 2-150 with an unbroken partnership of 118.Butcher was not out 67 and Hussain was on 57.Both had survived dropped chances in the first session and Butcher was handed another life after lunch.Australian legspinner Stuart MacGill spilled a straight forward caught and bowled chance off Hussain when he was on six with England floundering at 2-63.Butcher was lucky on 13 when Damien Martyn got a hand to what would have been a spectacular catch off Andy Bichel’s bowling.On 43, Butcher edged a Jason Gillespie delivery which bounced in and out of Adam Gilchrist’s gloves as the wicketkeeper stretched to his left.Earlier, Gilchrist managed to hold an excellent catch, launching himself high to his left to dispose of Marcus Trescothick (19) off Bichel.That dismissal left England in trouble at 2-32 after opener Michael Vaughan had been caught by Gilchrist off Brett Lee in the fourth over of the match for no score.Bichel received treatment on the field for what appeared to be a dislocated left index finger after fielding Hussain off his own bowling.

Surely, Test cricket never came any better than this. Three innings of class and aggression, from Alec Stewart, Adam Gilchrist and above all from Steve Waugh, for whom you simply couldn’t have written a better script. On his home ground, after becoming only the third batsman to pass 10,000 Test runs, the Australian captain drove the final ball of the day from Richard Dawson to the cover boundary to complete his 29th Test hundred, equalling Sir Donald Bradman’s record. England, truly combative at last, are still 125 runs ahead with Australia on 237 for five.Waugh and his vice-captain resume an unbroken sixth-wicket partnership of 87 tomorrow, which threatens England’s hopes of a substantial first-innings lead. They came together at a paltry 150 for five, after first Andrew Caddick and then Steve Harmison had shown rare fallibility in Australia’s top five. Their response was immediate and electrifying. Waugh’s 102 came off just 130 balls, while Gilchrist, perhaps more predictably, rattled off a run-a-ball 45.The day ended amid high drama, as the will-he-won’t-he issue of Waugh’s hundred kept virtually every spectator glued to his seat until that memorable last ball. With Gilchrist blazing away in idiosyncratic style, it was a joyful reminder of cricket’s capacity to entertain regally on multiple fronts. Hardly in the game’s history can gate money have been better spent.Australia’s initial response to England’s 362 had been far less imposing. Three wickets for Caddick had reduced the hosts to a perilous 56 for three, and brought the Somerset opening bowler to 227 Test wickets, just one behind his former new-ball partner Darren Gough.Matthew Hayden, after an attacking 15, was first to go, lbw to a swinging full toss. Ricky Ponting followed in Caddick’s next over, trying to leave a lifting delivery that brushed his bat on the way through to Stewart. Four overs later Justin Langer, trying to hook, got a top edge for Matthew Hoggard to run in from the long leg boundary, doing magnificently well to take a high, swirling catch.Waugh then joined Damien Martyn to feature in the first of two telling partnerships. The two put on 90 for the fourth wicket, with Waugh racing to his 50 off just 61 balls. He joined Sunil Gavaskar and Allan Border on the 10,000 run landmark with a back-foot push for four off Dawson, but lost Martyn (26), playing a wild pull at a short ball from Harmison which was caught by Caddick at wide mid-on, leaving Australia on 146 for four. That became 150 for five when Martin Love edged a lifting Harmison delivery to Marcus Trescothick at slip.Waugh’s record-breaking knock was not the first of the day. Stewart, England’s veteran wicket-keeper batsman, overhauled Geoff Boycott’s 8,114 runs to become England’s third-highest run scorer, and then treated another sell-out SCG crowd to a delightful display of strokeplay. He hit 15 boundaries in an 86-ball innings of 71 before he was bowled off his pad trying to put an Andy Bichel half-volley through mid-wicket.Stewart, who had shrugged off a bout of chicken pox, received a standing ovation on the ground he regards as his second favourite after Lord’s, but was quickly followed by Dawson as England’s innings went into a tailspin. The Yorkshire off-spinner was caught behind pushing firm-footed at Bichel.Caddick became leg-spinner Stuart MacGill’s first wicket of the innings, bowled trying to sweep, and Hoggard was stumped in MacGill’s next over. Last man Harmison was run out at the non-striker’s end to finish the innings, leaving John Crawley unbeaten on 35. England had lost their last five wickets for only 30 runs in 13 overs.

In a departure from his earlier stand, VVS Laxman has indicated that he is willing to bat at the top of the order. According to a report by the Press Trust of India, Laxman said: “I would not mind opening the innings.”Talking about his performances as an opener, Laxman expressed his disappointment with his record as a Test opener: 658 runs at 28.60. "I tried my best as an opening bat, but I think I did not live upto my own expectations. Also, the moment I failed one or two times they branded me a non-regular opener. I thought I could do better as a middle-order batsman because that’s the position I have batted throughout my career."Looking back at his omission from the World Cup squad, Laxman said that it was a "huge shock". "It was the most depressing moment in my cricketing career. For the past one year prior to the event, I was preparing really hard to contribute."Shrugging off that disappointment, Laxman said that he was back in top shape after having recovered from his side strain. "I had sustained a side strain on the West Indies tour [with the India A team] and had to take a month’s rest. Since then I have been doing exercises to strengthen my back."Laxman was also full of praise for the idea of holding a preparatory camp at the start of the season. "It is a really good idea to have this camp and it is good that they are emphasising a lot on fitness. Already, this camp has helped me recuperate and make the back really strong."India play a two-Test series against New Zealand next month, and Laxman was keen to make up for his failures on India’s tour to New Zealand. “We had a bad away series in New Zealand and the entire team is looking forward to this one. It is important that before we go to Australia our confidence level should be really high, so this series is important.”

Legspinner Stuart MacGill and Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin have both been ruled-out of the SpeedBlitz Blues line-up for the Pura Cup match against Western Australia at the SCG, starting on Tuesday November 4th. Both have leg injuries. MacGill has been replaced by Liam Zammit, who’ll make his 1st Class debut for NSW. Zammit is a former Australian under 19’s representative who has also played Colts and 2nd XI for NSW. Haddin has been replaced by Nathan Pilon.The SpeedBlitz Blues side is:

Stephen Waugh (C)
Michael Slater
Greg Mail
Simon Katich
Phil Jaques
Mark Waugh
Nathan Pilon
Matthew Nicholson
Stuart Clark
Don Nash
Liam Zammit
Grant Lambert

Five former Test players have been included in the South Africa A team for their three-day match against England which starts in Potchefstroom on Saturday.HD Ackerman, Mark Boucher, Justin Ontong, Martin van Jaarsveld and Charl Willoughby have the chance to stake their claim for future Test selection, and Ackerman will lead a side which also includes some younger players. “He has vast experience as a captain and has been in fine form with the bat,” explained one of the selectors, Haroon Lorgat.Boucher has the opportunity to make a strong case for a return to the Test fold, and has already received the backing of Ray Jennings, the South African coach. “I don’t really know why he was taken out of the equation, but I think he’s paid his dues and I think he will definitely be back in contention for the national team,” Jennings told the SuperSport website.Boucher was left out of the South African team that toured India in November. His replacement, Thami Tsolekile, hardly distinguished himself, although he has been named in the squad for the first Test against England which starts on December 17.Van Jaarsveld and Ontong each played one Test during the recent two-match series in India but did not distinguish themselves. Van Jaarsveld, a top order batsman, scored a total of 15 in his two innings in the first Test, while Ontong picked up one wicket in the second Test. Langeveldt, meanwhile, was selected for the Indian tour but withdrew through injury.Squad HD Ackerman (capt), Justin Ontong (vice-capt), Mark Boucher, JP Duminy, Charl Langeveldt, Ethy Mbhalati, Alsbie Morkel, Andrew Puttick, Alfonso Thomas, Martin van Jaarsveld, Charl Willoughby. Coach: Vincent Barnes.