Wade eyeing chance to England ODI series


Sydney-Matthew Wade has the chance to cement his place as Australia's long-term wicketkeeper in the ODI series against England starting on Friday, ahead of the Ashes.

Wade's performances in the Caribbean have set up a fascinating 3-way battle with Brad Haddin and Tim Paine.

Haddin has retained his Cricket Australia contract and will be careful for the next Test against South Africa in Brisbane in November.

In the interim, Wade's former mate Paine is on the return trail after having his career stalled by an injured finger.

Paine is still much rated and has been given a chance to impress in Australia A's 4-match tour of England starting next month, the AAP reports.

Sri Lanka Win the Series, Sri Beat Pak by 2 Wickets in Final Match

COLOMBO: Angelo Mathews’ unbeaten 76-ball 80 took Sri Lanka to a thrilling 2-wicket win over Pakistan in the 5th and final ODI.

Mathews punish Pakistan for a deplorable day in the field and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat after the hosts had look out of the contest at 138-6 in the 35th over, in pursuit of Pakistan’s 247.

The punishing all-rounder featured in a series of brisk stands and lastly hit 15 runs, including a 6 and 4, in Mohammad Sami’s final over of the innings to get about a nail-biting win with 2 balls to spare. The result enabled Sri Lanka to claim the 5-match series 3-1, with one match abandoned due to rain. Pakistan dropped 2 catches, messed up a series of run out chances, and conceded 22 extras, allowing  AD Mathews to brains quick partnerships with the lower order that swung the momentum back the way of the hosts.

Sri Lanka were jolted early in the chase as left-arm paceman Sohail Tanvir sent back the openers, Upul Taranga and Tillakaratne Dilshan, cheaply - within the 1st 6 overs. The home team was resurrected by a 78-run partnership between Kumar Sangakkara (40) and Dinesh Chandimal (54).But Shahid Afridi took 2 wickets in two balls in the 25th over of the innings to peg the hosts back. Sangakkara was run out by the wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed off Afridi, and on the next ball new man Mahela Jayawardene was caught and bowled for a golden duck. It lastly took Mathews' being there in the middle to guide Sri Lanka over the line.
Earlier, Misbah-ul-Haq selected to bat and was served well by opener Imran Farhat and Umar Akmal, who cracked half-centuries as Pakistan posted a spirited 247-7. Farhat, playing his first ODI in four months, hit an imposing 56 and Umar Akmal a winning 55 in the day-night match to keep alive their team's hopes of leveling the series. Earlier, Pakistan batted progressively after losing out-of-form opener Mohammad Hafeez (6), with Azhar Ali (30) and Farhat adding 60 for the 2nd wicket, and then Akmal putting on 61 for the 5th wicket with captain Misbah-ul-Haq (32).
Akmal smashed 2sixes and 5 fours in a 61-ball knock for his 15th half-century in one-dayers.
Hafeez, who was bowled by paceman Nuwan Kulasekara in the 6th over, has now scored just 20 runs in his last 4 one-dayers. Farhat dominated the Sri Lankan attack in the initial overs, twice beating Kulasekara for 3 fours in an over

Farhat pulling seamer Thisara Perera to deep mid-wicket where he was caught by Chandimal after smash 9 fours in his 12th half-century in ODI. Leg-spinner Jeevan Mendis, playing his 1st match of the series, was the most imposing bowler with 2-30 off nine overs while Kulasekara completed with 2-53 off 10 overs.
Sri Lanka made one change from the team which won the final match by 44 runs on Saturday, replacing Safeway Weerakoon with Mendis.Pakistan brought in Farhat and paceman Mohammad Sami in place of Younis Khan and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal.

Man Of The match :    AD Mathews

Man Of THe Series:   NLTC Perera

Eng Vs West Indies Final test draw

June 11: Rain had the last say as the 3d and last Test between England and the West Indies ended in a draw at Edgbaston here on Monday.

In a match where 3 days out of a possible 5 were washed out, it was no surprise neither side had got in a position to force win.

And, after yet more rain, the umpires lastly called the game off shortly before 3.15pm local time (1415GMT) following no play at all on the last day. The draw gave England, who'd already retained the Wisden Trophy, a 2-0 win in this 3-match series after 5-wicket and 9-wicket wins at Lord's and Trent Bridge respectively.

Overnight, England was 221 for 5 in reply to West Indies' 1st innings 426, a deficit of 205 runs and needing a further 56 to avoid the follow-on. Ian Bell, attempt to become the 1st Warwickshire batsman to score a Test hundred on his Edgbaston home ground, was left on 76 not out and night watchman Steven Finn nought not out.

West Indies' total owed much to Tino Best's whirlwind 95, the highest score ever by a Test match No 11th batsman. Best faced just 112 balls with 1 six and 14 fours on Sunday's 4th day. Together with wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin, who made 107 not out, Best shared a partnership of 143 - the 3rd highest 10th wicket stand in Test history and a West Indies record.

And, before Sunday's close, fast bowler Best removed both England skipper Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Bairstow. England, with the series already win, controversially chose to rest 1st-choice new-ball pairing Anderson and Stuart Broad from this match. In their places came fellow seamers Graham Onions and Finn.

Durham fast Onions, who 2 years ago suffered a career-threatening back injury, took 4 wickets for 88 runs in 29.3 overs, with Finn managing 3 for 109 in 32.After this match, England and the West Indies play 3 ODI and a standalone Twenty20, starting with Saturday's 50-over clash at Southampton.

The West Indies will warm-up for the limited overs fixtures with an ODI game against Middlesex at Lord's on Wednesday.


Brief scores

West Indies 1st Innings 426 (D Ramdin 107 no, T Best 95, M Samuels 76; G Onions 4-88, S Finn 3-109, T Bresnan 3-111)

England 1st Innings 221-5 (K Pietersen 78, I Bell 76 no)


Result: Match drawn

Series: England win three-match series 2-0

Man of the match: Tino Best

Man of the series: Marlon Samuels Andrew Strauss

India-Pakistan series if it is beneficial. said Dhoni

Gurgaon, India's cricket skipper Dhoni Thursday said Team India was open to play against arch-rivals Pakistan if the 2 boards agree to have a bilateral series in India.
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Zaka Ashraf, who was invited to watch the IPL last between the Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders, had fruitful talks with Board of Control for Cricket in India officials to revive cricket ties between the 2countries.
An elated Dhoni said India-Pakistan series at home would be the best thing to have. India has suspended two-sided sporting ties with Pakistan since the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai by Pakistani national.

We are open for it. But according to schedule, I don't know where it will fit," said Dhoni, on the sidelines of the investiture of his chain of gyms, sports instruction fit.Dhoni also paid rich tributes to Indian chess legend Vishwanathan Anand, who Wednesday wins the world title for the 5th time in Moscow. Dhoni said Anand was an idol for all sportsperson.
Anand is an inspiration for all sportsperson. I had a rare chance to meet him once and found he was very humble and down to earth. What he has done recently is simply inconceivable. And what he has been doing consistently is marvelous, said Dhoni.

Dhoni was also taken aback when he hears the news of retirement of England batsman and former captain Kevin Pietersen from ODIs and Twenty20.

I am surprised with his decision. He has been a great cricketer in both the formats of the game. We have all enjoy his batting and he had a great impact in this year's IPL as well. He will be honestly missed in these years World Twenty20. It is good that he will carry on playing in Test cricket and I wish him luck in his future, said Dhoni.

The India captain Dhoni also said that he wants to make the best use of the one-and-half month's break from international cricket.

The break is very important for me. But there is lot of prior commitments. I have to do some work with the 'Territorial Army' and 'Save the Tiger' movement. We have been playing without a break for the last 4 years and now with any luck I can spend some excellence time with my family. I may even go for a vacation," he said.