Sydney

New Zealand completed a comfortable 58-run win over England on Tuesday, all but guaranteeing themselves a place in the tri-series finals against Australia. Lou Vincent, Ross Taylor and Jacob Oram blasted half-centuries to help New Zealand post a record total of 318-7 on a perfect batting pitch in Perth.

Australia heaped more humiliation on England with a nine-wicket victory in their tri-series one-day international at Adelaide Oval on Friday, as the tourists produced their worst batting display of the disastrous tour. Australia cruised to an easy victory with more than half of their 50 overs to spare, booking their place in the finals after England crumbled to be all out for 110.

England’s cricketers are under siege after a dismal series of performances in Australia evoked stinging criticism from opponents, media and even their own fans. The tourists had already been slammed after losing the Ashes to Australia 5-0, but they plumbed new lows with a 90-run loss to New Zealand in the one-day series.

An Australian abalone diver told rescuers on Tuesday he was partly swallowed head-first by a great white shark but managed to fight his way free, suffering a broken nose and bite marks around the chest. The 25-year-old diver said he was underwater off Cape Howe, near Eden on Australia’s south-east coast, when the shark attacked on Tuesday.

Veteran New Zealand batsman Craig McMillan rode his luck and came to the rescue as the Kiwis made 218 in their triangular one-day series clash with Australia here Sunday. McMillan’s vigorous 89 enabled his side to recover from 136 for seven and post a competitive total after winning the toss and electing to bat.

Mike Hussey showed why he is regarded as the best finisher in one-day cricket when he guided Australia to a four-wicket win over England in a low scoring tri-series international on Friday. Hussey scored an unbeaten 46 in Brisbane to steer the world champions to their victory target with more than 11 overs to spare.

In a lycra revolution, a cover-all swimming costume is bringing Muslim women on to Australian beaches as lifeguards, unzipping racial tensions which divided parts of Sydney little over a year ago. The two-piece ”burqini” is proving key to reshaping surf lifesaving down under — once a bastion of white Australian culture and still a heartland of the country’s sun-bronzed, heroic self-myth.

An Australian zoo is claiming a world first by putting humans on public display in one of its enclosures. Six humans took up residence in a disused Adelaide Zoo orangutang enclosure last week for a month-long experiment dubbed ”the human zoo”.

England coach Duncan Fletcher said on Saturday he would like Shane Warne to cross the great cricket divide and work as a spin doctor for Australia’s old Ashes enemy. The champion leg-spinner played his 145th and final Test in Australia’s 10-wicket victory over England in the fifth Sydney Test on Friday to claim an 86-year-old 5-0 Ashes clean sweep.

All video footage showing Australia’s ”Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin dying from a stingray barb to the heart will be destroyed now that it is no longer needed by investigators, Irwin’s manager said. The footage, in which Irwin is seen being attacked by the stingray, was returned to his widow, Terri Irwin, last month.

Australia beat England by 10 wickets to win the fifth Test in Sydney on Friday to complete the first 5-0 Ashes series whitewash in 86 years. England capitulated on the fourth morning to score just 147 runs in their second innings to leave the Australians needing 46 runs for victory to claim a slice of history.

An Australian bank has blushingly admitted issuing a credit card to a cat. Messiah, a ginger tom, was given a credit limit of Aus$4 200 ($3 300) dollars. Messiah’s owner applied for an additional Visa card in his name on her account with the Bank of Queensland to test its identity security system — and was astonished when it was granted.

England were just 12 runs in front of Australia with five wickets left in their second innings as the spectre of an Ashes whitewash loomed large in the fifth Test at Sydney on Thursday. Shane Warne was the man again, topscoring with the bat and then grabbing the big wicket of skipper Andrew Flintoff just before stumps.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting has praised the work of coach John Buchanan for much of the team’s success and believes his successor has an enormous role to fill. While the headlines ahead of Tuesday’s fifth and final Ashes Test against England have been dominated by the retirements of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer, Buchanan will also be the team coach for his last Test match.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.