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/ 31 December 2006
The playing future of Australian opener Justin Langer is attracting fresh speculation after his father hinted his son may be close to retirement. Langer has refused to say whether he will join Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath by quitting Test cricket after next week’s final Ashes Test in Sydney.
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/ 31 December 2006
A young Australian woman got more than she bargained for during a dinner conversation when she laughed so hard she accidentally swallowed a spoon. The 26-year-old ingested a teaspoon when she was overcome by the giggles while eating spaghetti, the <i>Sunday Telegraph</i> newspaper said.
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/ 30 December 2006
England off-spinner Jamie Dalrymple says he wants to the chance to break up Australia’s retirement parties in the final Ashes Test if he can earn a place in the tourists’ team. Dalrymple is in line to bowl in spin tandem with Monty Panesar at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), which has a reputation as a spin-friendly pitch.
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/ 29 December 2006
Australian coach John Buchanan has ensured the Ashes series won’t peter out by accusing England star batsman Kevin Pietersen of selfishness. Buchanan claimed Pietersen has distanced himself from his teammates and dictated where he bats in the order.
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/ 28 December 2006
Another demoralising loss has England captain Andrew Flintoff facing a scenario he can’t even bear to contemplate. Sixteen months after ending its Ashes drought with a 2-1 series upset in England, the English are staring down the barrel of a 5-0 series whitewash in Australia.
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/ 28 December 2006
Australia thrashed England by an innings and 99 runs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday, wrapping up a fourth straight win in the Ashes series with more than two days remaining. Australia secured victory after tea on the third day when they bowled the tourists out for 161 to remain on course for a first 5-0 whitewash over their oldest rivals.
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/ 27 December 2006
In 2000, good mates Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds found themselves in the water struggling for survival after their boat capsized while fishing near Queensland’s North Stradbroke Island. On that occasion the determined pair swam more than a kilometre to shore and safety.
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/ 26 December 2006
Shane Warne — roared on by an Ashes record crowd — created Test history by becoming the first bowler to claim 700 wickets as dispirited England collapsed on the opening day of the fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday. The master leg-spinner captured 5-39 off 17.2 overs.
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/ 26 December 2006
Shane Warne captured his 700th Test wicket to roaring home-town acclaim as Australia took a grip on the fourth Ashes Test against England on the opening day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday. The master leg-spinner bowled opener Andrew Strauss for 50 to become the first bowler in Test history to take 700 wickets.
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/ 24 December 2006
Australia go into the fourth Ashes Test beginning on Tuesday seeking to remain on track for a series whitewash that would be a fitting farewell to retiring bowlers Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath. Both Warne (37), Test cricket’s greatest wicket-taker, and McGrath (36) announced last week that they would retire from Test cricket at the end of the current Ashes series.
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/ 23 December 2006
Veteran Australian fast-bowler Glenn McGrath said on Saturday he would bow out of cricket after the 2007 World Cup tournament, following in the footsteps of teammate Shane Warne. McGrath (36) announced that the Sydney Test match next month, on his home cricket ground, would be his last five-day game.
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/ 22 December 2006
Sanath Jayasuriya blazed an unbeaten half-century to steer Sri Lanka to victory over New Zealand in their rain-affected Twenty20 international in Wellington on Friday. Sri Lanka were awarded victory by 18 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis system after racing to 62-1 off 5.5 overs in reply to New Zealand’s 162-8.
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/ 22 December 2006
Australia fast bowler Glenn McGrath has tried to dampen speculation he plans to follow Shane Warne into retirement, telling reporters it ”was business as usual”. Rumours have been rife in Australian media that McGrath is planning to join Warne in quitting Test cricket after next month’s final Ashes Test in Sydney.
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/ 21 December 2006
Shane Warne will retire from international and Australian domestic cricket after the fifth Ashes Test against England next month. The 37-year-old leg-spinner, Test cricket’s leading wicket taker with 699 dismissals, made the announcement on Thursday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
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/ 21 December 2006
England fast bowler Steve Harmison announced on Thursday he was retiring from one-day cricket, three months before the World Cup. Harmison (28) decided to suddenly quit after being left out of England’s 16-man squad for the upcoming triangular series whit Australia and New Zealand, the last tournament before next year’s World Cup in the West Indies.
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/ 21 December 2006
A 150-year old Australian public library has a new true-romance section after introducing speed-dating nights for lovers of classic texts. The state library of Victoria in Melbourne introduced dating with a literary twist after the idea was raised at a staff party.
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/ 20 December 2006
Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne and fast bowler Glenn McGrath are planning to retire from international cricket after next month’s fifth Ashes Test against England, Australian television reported on Wednesday. The Nine Network said Warne would announce his pending retirement at a news conference in Melbourne on Thursday.
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/ 20 December 2006
Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne has set his sights on an Ashes whitewash and a 700th Test wicket in front of his home crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Test cricket’s leading wicket-taker bowled Monty Panesar to seal the series-clinching victory in the third Test on Monday and he is already looking forward to the fourth match starting on December 26.
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/ 18 December 2006
Australia defeated England by 206 runs to win the third Test at the Waca and regain the Ashes after taking an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match series on Monday. Australia wrapped up victory on the second ball after lunch on the final day when Shane Warne bowled Monty Panesar for one as England collapsed to be all out for 350 after resuming on 265 for five.
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/ 17 December 2006
Tens of thousands of iconic Australian creatures, including koalas and kangaroos, may have died in fires that swept through vast tracts of southern Australia this week, environmentalists say. The blazes have devastated thousands of hectares, razed clusters of homes and claimed one life since they began earlier this month.
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/ 16 December 2006
Australia were on the verge of regaining the Ashes after their batsmen, led by a devastating Adam Gilchrist, smashed England all over the park on day three of the third Test at an oppressively hot Western Australia Cricket Association ground in Perth on Saturday. The Australians declared late in the day at 527 for five.
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/ 15 December 2006
Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden scored half-centuries to help Australia seize control of the third Ashes Test against England in Perth on Friday. Ponting continued his insatiable run-feast with an unbeaten 57 and Hayden posted his best score of the series to reach the close on day two, also on 57 not out, with Australia on 119-2 in their second innings, 148 runs ahead.
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/ 14 December 2006
Flanker Richie McCaw was named New Zealand’s player of the year to complete a clean sweep of the major individual rugby awards. The All Blacks captain was also named player of 2006 by the International Rugby Board and the International Players’ Association.
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/ 14 December 2006
Monty Panesar captured five wickets on his Ashes debut to help England bowl out Australia for 244 before struggling to 51-2 on the opening day of the third Test on Thursday. The left-arm spinner claimed the scalps of Justin Langer, Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Brett Lee to finish with figures of 5-92.
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/ 13 December 2006
Wallaby back Mat Rogers is poised to immediately leave rugby union and to return to rugby league after more than four years playing in the 15-a-side code, it was reported on Wednesday. The Australian Rugby Union said the utility back would meet senior officials on Thursday afternoon to discuss a release from his contract.
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/ 13 December 2006
A wildlife worker in Sydney, Australia, pulled a 2m-long python from a septic tank on Wednesday after a plumber found it hiding in a domestic toilet, officials said. Peter Phillips, of the Northern Territory’s Parks and Wildlife Service, was called to remove the snake after a plumber fixing a blocked toilet discovered it curled in the pipes.
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/ 13 December 2006
Residents of at least three small Australian towns braced for disaster on Wednesday as bushfires that have ravaged an area twice the size of Mauritius roared towards them. Prime Minister John Howard was set to visit fire battle zones in the island state of Tasmania and in Victoria, where the worst of the blazes is raging.
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/ 12 December 2006
The alcohol-fuelled office Christmas party is becoming a thing of the past in Australia now that lawyers are willing to start the new year by sending out compensation claims for staff injured during the big night in the office. Bosses are now rather treating their staff to lunches in posh restaurants.
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/ 12 December 2006
The forecast of a spin-friendly Western Australian Cricket Association (Waca) wicket could see champion Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne become the first bowler to claim 700 Test wickets during the third Ashes Test. After his fifth day heroics in Adelaide, Warne is poised on 694 Test wickets.
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/ 11 December 2006
Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds knows he has just about run out of chances at Test level, but he won’t be putting undue pressure on himself to perform should he get the nod for the third Ashes Test against England at the Waca ground, starting on Thursday.
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/ 10 December 2006
Michael Vaughan has conceded he has no chance of making an unlikely Ashes comeback down under. Talk of the 2005 Ashes hero, who is on the comeback trail after knee surgery earlier in the year, returning late in the current Ashes series gathered momentum when he played in two one-day matches for the England Academy in Perth last week.
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/ 7 December 2006
Much-vaunted England spinner Monty Panesar says he is ready to produce if given an Ashes call-up, despite a lack of match practice on the tour. The left-arm finger spinner was a frustrated onlooker for the first two Tests, with England selectors preferring Ashley Giles’s extra experience and superior batting ability.