India ended their tour of Australia on a high note when they beat the hosts by nine runs on Tuesday to win their best-of-three finals series 2-0. Sachin Tendulkar scored a superb 91 and paceman Praveen Kumar went on to capture four wickets as the tourists followed up Sunday’s six-wicket win in Sydney with a thrilling victory at the Gabba in Brisbane.
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/ 28 February 2008
Claims and counter-claims flew on Thursday after senior Australian batsman Matthew Hayden was officially reprimanded for calling Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh an ”obnoxious little weed”. Tensions continue to simmer in a summer of cricket acrimony ahead of Sunday’s first final in the one-day tri-series between the two fiercely-competitive rivals.
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/ 26 February 2008
Australian fast bowler Brett Lee defended his team’s on-field behaviour on Tuesday and played down talk of another rift with India. The lingering ill-feeling between the sides surfaced again when Indian paceman Ishant Sharma was fined 15% of his match fee for a verbal altercation with Australian batsman Andrew Symonds during Sunday’s tri-series clash in Sydney.
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/ 22 February 2008
Sri Lanka’s chances of reaching the tri-series finals were dealt a serious blow when Australia beat them by 24 runs in a rain-shortened one-day match on Friday. The visitors’ gamble to bowl first — expecting the match to be shortened by the weather — looked to have paid off and they restricted the hosts to just 184-7 from their 50 overs.
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/ 15 February 2008
Adam Gilchrist hit a century in his final hometown appearance in Perth to lead Australia to a 63-run victory over Sri Lanka in Friday’s tri-series match. Gilchrist bowed out with 118, scoring half of Australia’s all-out total of 236. It was his first one-day hundred since he made a breathtaking ton against Sri Lanka in last year’s World Cup final in Barbados.
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/ 15 February 2008
The money-spinning Indian Premier League (IPL) could boost cricket around the world but organisers had to ensure there was as little overlap with internationals as possible, said South Africa’s Graeme Smith. ”Scheduling is obviously going to be the key for the IPL,” the South African captain told reporters in Dhaka on Friday.
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/ 10 February 2008
Teenage fast bowler Ishant Sharma reinforced his status as one of the most exciting young talents in world cricket with a man-of-the-match performance to inspire his side to victory in a tri-series match against Australia in Melbourne on Sunday.
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/ 8 February 2008
Australia crushed Sri Lanka by 128 runs in a surprisingly lopsided tri-series one-day international at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday. The Australians racked up a respectable total of 253-6 from their 50 overs then bowled the Sri Lankans out for just 125 in the first meeting between the sides since last year’s World Cup final in Barbados.
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/ 29 January 2008
India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been cleared of racial-abuse charges at a hearing in Australia, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said on Tuesday. ”He has been cleared — the racial charge has been dropped against him,” BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said.
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/ 28 January 2008
Australia earned a 2-1 series victory over India on Monday after the fourth and final Test ended in a draw at Adelaide Oval. With neither side in any position to push for a result, India opted to bat out the last day before their captains agreed to an early finish.
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/ 27 January 2008
Australian captain Ricky Ponting equalled Sunil Gavaskar by notching up his 34th Test century on the fourth day of the fourth Test against India on Sunday. But retiring wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist fell cheaply in what is likely to be his last Test innings as the home side went to tea at 509 for six.
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/ 24 January 2008
Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar posted a fairy-tale century to lift his side towards a challenging total on the first day of the fourth and final Test against Australia on Thursday. In what seems certain to be his last Test on Australian soil, Tendulkar shook off a personal hoodoo at Adelaide Oval to score his 39th Test hundred.
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/ 23 January 2008
Australia captain Ricky Ponting has done some extra homework on Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh ahead of the fourth Test at the Adelaide Oval, starting on Thursday. Harbhajan was dropped by India for their third Test win, but expectations of a spin-friendly wicket are likely to see him return to resume his duel with Ponting.
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/ 18 January 2008
Australia were battling to avoid their first defeat since the 2005 Ashes series after India seized control of the third Test in Perth on Friday. The Indians piled on 294 in their second innings to set Australia a near-impossible target of 413 to win, then picked up two early wickets to leave the home team in deep trouble when play ended on the third day.
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/ 16 January 2008
India’s master batsmen Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid made half-centuries before Australia fought back with a flurry of wickets on an absorbing opening day of the third Test on Wednesday. Dravid top scored with 93 while Tendulkar made 71 after steering the tourists out of trouble early on to reach stumps on 297-6 in their first innings.
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/ 15 January 2008
Embattled cricket umpire Steve Bucknor expressed disappointment on Monday in being sent home from the Test series between India and Australia. Bucknor said he was ”disappointed that I am not continuing the tour between Australia and India, in Australia. But I respect the International Cricket Council’s authority in the matter.”
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/ 15 January 2008
India are poised to recall Virender Sehwag for the third Test against Australia starting at the Waca on Wednesday as the tourists look to keep the series alive. The dashing opener pushed his claim with a century in the tour match in Canberra at the weekend and captain Anil Kumble said he was almost certain to be picked.
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/ 14 January 2008
Australia will hope to put the acrimony of recent days behind them as they chase a world record 17th straight Test win against India this week. Batsman Michael Clarke said the home team were ”keen as mustard” to get back on the field after the fall-out of the second Test in Sydney.
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/ 12 January 2008
Australian coach Tim Nielsen said one of the biggest issues facing his side as it prepared for the third Test against India at the Waca Ground was confronting the bitter fall-out from the controversial second Test in Sydney. The Australians have been subjected to accusations of poor sportsmanship, following their 122-run win over the Indians.
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/ 10 January 2008
India’s cricketers arrived in Canberra on Wednesday hoping to put the drama of the past week behind them and resume playing after being cleared to continue their troubled tour of Australia. The tour was suspended for two days when the Indian board ordered the players to remain in Sydney.
India resumed its cricket tour of Australia on Wednesday, arriving in Canberra two days behind schedule after the International Cricket Council brokered a peace settlement. The Indians are in the Australian capital for Thursday’s tour match against an Australian Capital Territory XI.
International cricket officials were on Monday night locked in intense negotiations to try to resurrect India’s tour of Australia after allegations of racism against one of the tourists’ leading players threatened to plunge the game into crisis. The Australians allege that Singh called Symonds a ”monkey” in a heated exchange during the second Test in Sydney.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting has been urged to hold peace talks with Indian skipper Anil Kumble to try and resolve the escalating crisis between their teams. Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland wants the rival captains to hold a private meeting to avert any threat of the tour being cancelled as tensions threaten to boil over.
Australia beat India by 122 runs in an amazing finish to the second test on Sunday to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and equal their own world record of 16 successive victories. Part-time spinner Michael Clarke captured three wickets in five deliveries to wrap up an incredible victory with just seven balls remaining after India looked to have done enough to salvage a draw.
Matthew Hayden scored his second century of the series on Saturday to equal Don Bradman’s career tally of 29 Test hundreds and provide Australia with a glimmer of hope of pressing ahead for victory over India in the second Test. The left-handed opener hit a stylish 123 to guide Australia to 282-4 at stumps in their second innings.
India spinner Harbhajan Singh faces a charge of racial abuse against Australian player Andrew Symonds under the International Cricket Council’s code of conduct, the ICC said on Saturday. The citing follows an alleged incident during Friday’s third day of the second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Andrew Symonds smashed a breathtaking century in a record partnership with Brad Hogg to put Australia in control of the second Test against India on Wednesday. The powerful all-rounder demolished India’s bowling attack with an unbeaten 137 after Hogg made a vital 79 to steer Australia out of danger to 376-7 at stumps on the first day.
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/ 30 December 2007
Australian skipper Ricky Ponting says leg-spinner Brad Hogg will be a better and more confident bowler in Wednesday’s second cricket Test against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Hogg, singled out as a weakness by the Indian team before the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, responded with four match wickets.
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/ 29 December 2007
Australia thrashed India by 337 runs to win the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series on the fourth day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday. The Australians claimed their 15th consecutive Test victory and will look to equal their world record of 16 wins set from October 1999 to February 2001 in next week’s second Test.
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/ 28 December 2007
India will have to do what no other Test team has done before to come from behind and win the first cricket Test after Australia set them an historic run chase at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday. The Australians offered the Indians 499 runs to win with two days left after declaring their second innings at 351-7 late on the third day.
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/ 26 December 2007
Stuart Clark struck a body blow for Australia with two wickets, including the crucial wicket of Sachin Tendulkar, just before tea to leave India struggling at 122 for five on the second day of the first Test on Thursday. Tendulkar, who with Saurav Ganguly had been rebuilding India’s innings from 55 for three, chopped a delivery from Clark onto his stumps to be dismissed for 62.
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/ 19 December 2007
Australia’s bowlers backed up captain Ricky Ponting’s second successive one-day international century to lead their side to a 114-run win and series victory against New Zealand in Hobart on Thursday. Ponting, who made 107 not out in Australia’s seven-wicket victory in the first game in Adelaide, struck an unbeaten 134.