Adelaide

Australian cricket authorities told England’s Barmy Army on Thursday that its trumpeter cannot perform during the second Ashes Test at the Adelaide Oval. Police hit a sour note with England fans when they ejected classically trained trumpeter Billy Cooper from the first Test at Brisbane’s Gabba last week.

Matthew Hayden has warned England’s batsmen they face a torrid examination from master leg-spinner Shane Warne on a cracking Adelaide Oval pitch in Friday’s second Ashes Test. Opening batsman Hayden, who regularly stands at slip when Warne comes into the attack, believes he will be particularly tough work for the left-handers, Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, out of the foot marks late in the Test.

Wayward fast bowler Steve Harmison lingered under a stay of execution on Wednesday as England gravely weighed their bowling options ahead of the second Ashes cricket Test against Australia, starting at the Adelaide Oval on Friday. England have been able to make only running repairs, mental and physical, since Monday when Australia completed a 277-run first Test win.

England pace spearhead Steve Harmison is in doubt for next week’s Ashes opener with a side strain that forced him out of the tourists’ final lead-up match on Friday. Harmison, who has taken 179 wickets in 45 Tests, was left out of the three-day tour practice match against South Australia at Adelaide Oval as a precaution.

Australian gambling authorities on Wednesday launched an investigation into why a bookmaker accepted a bet on a race horse that had been dead for more than two weeks. The probe got under way after bookmaker TAB took a wager on Chickaloo, even though the unlucky beast had been put down on September 9 after shattering a front leg in a race in the city of Adelaide.

Nobel Prize-winning South African author JM Coetzee became an Australian citizen on Monday, saying he had been attracted by the country’s ”free and generous spirit”. Coetzee was born in South Africa in 1940 and his writing, which won him the Booker Prize twice as well as the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature, reflected the sufferings of a country torn by the racial policy of apartheid.

Sri Lanka defeated Australia by 22 runs to win the opening triangular series one-day cricket final at the Adelaide Oval on Friday. Tillekeratne Dilshan destroyed the Australians’ hopes with four run-outs as Australia were all out for 252 off 49,1 overs in reply to Sri Lanka’s 274 for eight off their 50 overs.

Simon Katich made 52, the only half-century in a low-scoring match, to lead Australia to a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in a tri-series limited-overs cricket match on Thursday. Sri Lanka’s innings of 218 for eight was built around a series of modest scores and minor partnerships.

Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan surpassed 400 wickets in one-day internationals on Tuesday but couldn’t prevent South Africa from beating Sri Lanka by nine runs to keep alive their chances of winning cricket’s limited-overs tri-series. Opener Boeta Dippenaar carried his bat for 125 to anchor South Africa’s innings of 263 for five.

Sri Lankan offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan surpassed 400 wickets in one-day internationals as an unbeaten century by Boeta Dippenaar lifted South Africa to 263 for five in the first innings of a tri-series cricket match on Tuesday. Muralitharan took two wickets within two balls in his opening over.

South African captain Graeme Smith said on Monday Australia do not have the strength in depth to rest key players, after their second-string bowlers were carted around the ground by Sri Lanka. Smith said the Australian attack without pace spearhead Glenn McGrath had been exposed.

Australia beat the West Indies by seven wickets in the third cricket Test to sweep the series 3-0 at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday. The Australians, set 182 runs for victory, mopped up the required runs at 182 for three just after lunch on the final day. Matthew Hayden remained unbeaten on 87.

Outstanding young West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo stalled Australia’s push for victory in the third Test with a spirited half-century on the fourth day at Adelaide Oval on Monday. Bravo, a century-maker in the second Hobart Test and the taker of six wickets in the first innings, was the tourists’ last hope of building a challenging last innings total for the Australians to chase.

The writing is on the wall for Darren Lehmann’s international cricket career and he won’t tour England with the Australian team later this year, former batsman Mark Waugh said on Monday. Waugh also says England don’t believe they can beat Australia in the five-Test series.

The West Indies beat Pakistan by 58 runs in their crucial tri-series one-day cricket international at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide on Friday. The West Indies, inspired by a dazzling 156 from captain Brian Lara, set a ground-record 339 for four, with Pakistan managing 281 for nine in reply.

At least eight people, including two children, died as bushfires fanned by searing temperatures and high winds raged through parts of South Australia state on Tuesday, threatening towns and destroying properties. Police said eight people have been confirmed killed, but a number of others are still unaccounted for and the toll could rise.

Two great white sharks attacked and killed a teenage boy on a surfboard off a packed Australian beach as his horrified friends looked on Thursday, in the country’s second fatal shark attack in five days. The 18-year-old was being towed on a surfboard behind a speedboat off a beach in Adelaide when the giant man-eaters struck.

Australia have continued their policy of resting senior players, announcing on Monday that captain Ricky Ponting would be given a break from the triangular one-day series against Sri Lanka and South Africa. Ponting, who made just 13 runs during Australia’s loss to Sri Lanka in Sydney on Sunday, will be replaced by batsman Brad Hodge when the two teams next meet in Adelaide on Thursday.