Brisbane

Adam Gilchrist hammered the fastest one-day hundred by an Australian in a Valentine’s Day massacre of Sri Lanka’s bowlers at the Gabba in Brisbane on Tuesday to clinch the triangular limited-overs series. Gilchrist thrashed a spectacular 122 off 91 balls and shared in a 196-run opening stand with Simon Katich to set up the Australians for an overwhelming nine-wicket victory.

A determined Sri Lanka shrugged off a recent run of poor one-day form and humbled South Africa in the tri-series limited overs competition at the Brisbane Cricket Ground on Tuesday. Sri Lanka achieved a 94-run victory, their seventh straight win in one-day internationals against South Africa.

Kumar Sangakkara and Jehan Mubarak made half-centuries as Sri Lanka reached 282 for six, punishing South Africa’s decision to bowl first in their tri-series limited-overs cricket match on Tuesday. South African captain Graeme Smith sought to replicate the formula that gave his team a five-wicket win over Australia on Sunday.

South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first in their tri-series one-day cricket match against Sri Lanka at the Brisbane Cricket Ground on Tuesday. The South Africans, already hit by injuries, suffered a further blow when all-rounder Jacques Kallis was ruled out of the match with an elbow injury.

South Africa have issued a warning to both Australia and Sri Lanka that they deserve respect in the tri-series one-day competition, using power-hitter Justin Kemp to deliver the message. Australian all-rounder James Hopes said on Monday that Kemp had lived up to his billing as the new Lance Klusener.

Australia’s summer of discontent with arch-rivals South Africa continued on Monday when yet another of their players was cited for dissent. Hard on the heels of misconduct charges against pacemen Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath, wicketkeeper and limited-overs opener Adam Gilchrist is now in trouble with officialdom.

Mark Boucher and Justin Kemp combined for an unbeaten 69-run partnership on Sunday to give South Africa a thrilling five-wicket win over Australia in a tri-series limited-overs cricket match. South Africa, with its first win on its Australian tour, scored 231-5, chasing Australia’s 228 with seven balls to spare.

South Africa’s injury-weakened bowling attack humbled the much-vaunted Australian top order on Sunday, leaving the world champions struggling to reach a modest total of 228 in their tri-series one-day international at the Brisbane Cricket Ground.

South Africa’s injury woes worsened ahead of Sunday’s tri-series clash with Australia as seamer Charl Langeveldt joined fast bowlers Andre Nel and Makhaya Ntini on the sidelines with a groin strain. Langeveldt (31) was able to bowl in the nets on Saturday but he was unable to shake off the problem which has hampered him since the end of the Test series.

South African strike bowler Makhaya Ntini could make a surprise return for the triangular one-day series in Brisbane after Andre Nel was found to have a severe stress fracture in his left foot on Friday. Nel, South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in the 2-0 Test series loss to Australia, will fly home early on Saturday, missing the upcoming series which also includes Sri Lanka.

Damien Martyn blazed 96 runs from 56 balls as Australia thrashed South Africa by 95 runs on Monday in the first Twenty20 international on Australian soil. Martyn clubbed seven fours and two sixes but fell agonisingly short of the first-ever Twenty20 century when he was caught at point off Monde Zondeki in the last over.

All-rounder Jacques Kallis will miss South Africa’s Twenty20 cricket international against Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane on Monday. Kallis will be rested along with pacemen Andre Nel and Charl Langeveldt and all-rounder Justin Kemp, coach Mickey Arthur said on Sunday.

The West Indies will take some mental scars to their second Test with Australia after their 379-run hammering in the opening Gabba Test in Brisbane on Sunday. Pre-match optimism dissipated in the face of the same old inadequacies as the tourists capitulated for 129 in their second innings to suffer one of their heaviest defeats to Australia.

Australia were batting the West Indies out of the opening Test after Shane Warne claimed five wickets to mop up the tourists’ tail at the Gabba on Saturday. Warne’s 5-48 bundled the West Indies out for 210 to claim a crushing 225-run innings lead. The Australians again refused to enforce the follow-on and built their lead to a formidable 376 runs by tea on the third day.

Captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul put on a brave face on Wednesday as he confronted the task his West Indies team have of beating Australia in a cricket series here for the first time in 12 years. The West Indies are the last touring team to have vanquished Australia on their home wickets when Richie Richardson’s tourists won the five-Test series 2-1 in 1992-1993.

Australian outside centre Stirling Mortlock is in considerable doubt for Saturday’s Test match against South Africa in Sydney because of a hamstring injury. Australian coach Eddie Jones said on Sunday that Mortlock has less than a 50% chance of playing in the Mandela Cup match after straining his hamstring in Australia’s 37-31 win on Saturday over France in Brisbane.

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones is pleased to have matched attacking skills with a lively France but rates next opponents South Africa as having the most confrontational forward pack in world rugby. The Australians sparkled in a six tries-to-four crowd-pleasing win over France here on Saturday, but Jones said the Springboks were different to any other Test-playing nation.

The crisis-torn Queensland Reds are calling on the Australian Rugby Union to relax restrictions on the use of overseas players as they battle to field a competitive outfit for next year’s expanded Super 14 rugby competition. Queensland have fallen on hard times with the exodus of a large chunk of their squad.

Ben Tune made a fairytale comeback to give Queensland a welcome break from their Super 12 miseries against South Africa’s Sharks on Saturday. Tune scored one try, set up two others and was a constant menace to the visitors in his first start in two years as the Reds triumphed 30-25 at Ballymore.

Under-siege Queensland look likely to avert an exodus of key players despite the defection of Wallabies lock Nathan Sharpe to Perth. The Reds have been buoyed by promising prop Greg Holmes signing a new two-year deal, while hooker Stephen Moore has also agreed to stay in Queensland.

The Queensland Reds’ injured-plagued Elton Flatley announced on Wednesday that he is giving up the team captaincy, putting pressure on his stand-in replacement, Nathan Sharpe, not to defect to new Super 14 franchise Perth. Flatley missed the Reds’ past two Super 12 games after being concussed against the Crusaders on March 12.

Queensland captain Nathan Sharpe will be forced to keep his emotions in check during Friday night’s clash against the Highlanders after the Reds launched a desperate campaign to retain the Wallabies enforcer. Sharpe, off-contract at the end of the season, is one of several high-profile Queensland players being head-hunted.

Reds flyer Drew Mitchell believes carefully concocted offensive tactics will help Queensland break the Highlanders’ Super 12 defensive stranglehold on Friday night. Mitchell Wednesday revealed Queensland’s coaching staff have pinpointed several weaknesses in their opponents defensive structure that permitted only six tries in five games.

The ACT Brumbies started their Super 12 title defence with a costly 32-21 win over Canterbury, overcoming injuries to captain Stirling Mortlock and winger Clyde Rathbone in Saturday’s rematch of the 2004 final. Wellington beat the Queensland Reds 24-10, and the Cats, last year’s wooden-spooners, upset the Bulls 23-17 in Johannesburg.

West Indian cricketing superstar Brian Lara offered Australia’s premier pace-bowler, Glenn McGrath, some friendly advice in Brisbane on Tuesday — think twice about playing in the 2007 World Cup. Lara said McGrath is a champion bowler but his age — he will be 35 next month — could count against him.

A blind man was jailed for eight years by an Australian court on Monday for slashing a deaf man’s throat because he was so enraged by the noise from his stereo and television. George Gerard Goeldner (49) pleaded guilty at the Brisbane Supreme Court to the manslaughter of Francis John Butcher (54).

The Roman Catholic Church said on Friday that an Australian community centre did not commit fraud or gain financially from a weeping-statue hoax that drew worshippers from around the world. Thousands flocked to the Vietnamese Community Church after several religious statues were reported to be weeping tears and bleeding.

One of Australia’s largest agricultural competitions was engulfed in scandal on Tuesday after farmers were caught injecting fluids into their animal’s udders to make them look bigger. Security patrolling the Brisbane show ground on Sunday had caught four people injecting Jersey and Holstein dairy cows.