Tim Paine suffers hand injury

Tim Paine, Australia's backup wicketkeeper, faces some time on the sidelines after injuring his hand during the All-Stars Twenty20 match in Brisbane. Paine was batting when he was struck on the right hand by a 148.2kph rising delivery from Dirk Nannes, and he immediately retired hurt.

Channel Nine had Paine miked up during his innings and as he left the field with his glove off, he said it felt "seriously no good". When asked if he thought a bone was broken, he replied: "I think so."

Paine was sent to hospital to have the injury assessed; a broken finger might allow him to be back in action soon, but a fractured hand could mean a much longer lay-off.

Paine firmly established himself as the second in line to Brad Haddin this year, playing four Tests in England and India while Haddin was injured. Paine performed well in his first Tests, collecting 17 dismissals and averaging 35.87 with the bat.

However, Paine was not expected to play any part in the Ashes unless Haddin suffered another injury. Haddin will play the first Test at the Gabba starting on Thursday, and it will be his first Test appearance since the tour of New Zealand in March.

                          source by :espncricinfo

India assume firm control of series-decider

Virender Sehwag continued toying with the bowling, Gautam Gambhir continued his return to form, after which Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar took India to a dominant position in the series-decider. As Dravid and Tendulkar accumulated risk-free runs after the openers' aggressive start, the faces of the New Zealand players wore a resigned look for the first time on the tour.

On the same flat pitch, New Zealand had been bowled out for 193, and are now looking at the prospect of having to bat out roughly two days to save the match. They lost their last three wickets for 45 today, thanks to Ishant Sharma's impressive spell. He got good bounce from lengths that weren't quite short and wasted little time in getting Brendon McCullum, who had moved a bit more freely today. One thick edge flew past gully, but the delivery immediately after was closer to the body and took the edge through to the keeper. He had New Zealand down to 165 for 9, but some lusty hitting from Southee kept India in the field a little longer. After three sixes in three overs, one Southee mis-hit ended up with Sehwag, who then rushed to pad up.

Sehwag was in the same rush with the bat, but he was helped by the opposition too. New Zealand bowled to Sehwag the reputation, not Sehwag the batsman, and paid the price. Chris Martin hit him on the finger with a short ball first up, but overdid the short bit on a sluggish surface. Sehwag pulled and upper-cut with ease, scoring 39 off the 23 short deliveries bowled to him. Martin did manage to get him to fend uppishly on one occasion, but there was neither short leg nor leg gully to take advantage.

Martin had taken a quick five-for in Ahmedabad with traditional swing bowling, but barely pitched anything up to Sehwag here. That hit on the fingers only encouraged him to keep bowling short. In Martin's second over, Sehwag pulled him for boundaries twice in front of long leg. It didn't help that when Martin pitched up later, he was driven square for four.

The pitch was so slow that Sehwag once swayed out of the line of a short delivery, and then nonchalantly, as an afterthought, sliced it over gully. He was waiting to tuck into the full ones, whipping the next length ball off the pads.

At the other end Gambhir, who did the dirty work in Hyderabad by scratching through for his first half-century in 10 months, looked confident. His clips off the pads went where he wanted them to, the walk down the pitch to counter swing was back, and so was the steer to third man. However, the steer, when attempted a touch carelessly, would eventually cost him a century.

Gambhir was getting the singles to give Sehwag the strike. It wouldn't have been a good idea to keep Sehwag away from the strike. He welcomed Daniel Vettori with a six over long-on - a mere flick that went the distance - and then late-cut him for four delightfully. After lunch, he looked to keep feasting on the bowling, taking 17 off the first two overs after the interval.

By the time the slowness of a Vettori delivery cost Sehwag his century, he had added 100 or more with Gambhir for the ninth time. Still, India needed to guard against the tendency to lose momentum once Sehwag gets out.

Gambhir, although not trying to score at Sehwag's pace, made sure nothing of the sort happened, allowing Dravid time to get going. He brought up his fifty with a loft over mid-on, and followed it up by going back and cutting the same bowler, Vettori, in his next over. Best of all, he charged at Williamson, then merely caressed him between mid-off and extra cover.

With India one short of New Zealand's score, Gambhir chased a wide delivery from Southee, and to his horror looked up and saw a fourth slip and a gully placed for that shot. It was an angry Gambhir that made the walk back.

Dravid soon drew attention to himself with a lovely straight-drive just before tea. Post the interval, though, with Sehwag and Gambhir gone, New Zealand could bowl to a plan. The run-rate fell from 4.9 when Sehwag got out to around 3.5, but the two senior batsmen knew they had enough time on their hands.

So it fairly sedate march to a 19th century partnership between them - except for a couple of blows Tendulkar took on the forearm, and an edge from Dravid that fell short of the keeper . Both men made half-centuries, making it 198 scores of 50 or more between them.

                                                         source by :espncricinfo

AB de Villiers double-century propels South Africa

South Africa finally ended the agony for Pakistan, declaring two overs after tea on the second day on a mammoth 584 for nine. That allowed AB de Villiers to go past Graeme Smith as holder of the top individual score for South Africa in Tests. A six and a four off Mohammad Hafeez in the the first over after tea had brought up a whirlwind century partnership for the last wicket with Morne Morkel, made at nearly eight runs an over.

Despite bowling well in patches, Pakistan sagged as the day wore on and Tanvir Ahmed's six-for - the second-best figures by a Pakistani on debut - was a not-so-bright bright spot.

The story and direction of the Test so far was set by de Villiers. His was a muted, inevitable progression, a continuation of the stealthy way in which he went along on the first day. At no point did he choose to cut loose and it was really a matter of choice, for at no point in the day did he look insecure.

A verbal dance with a luckless Umar Gul on the virtues or otherwise of walking - Pakistan thought de Villiers was out twice yesterday - was his highlight of the morning's first hour. He did break out 80 minutes in to the morning in one over against a tiring Tanvir; a delicious drive sandwiched by a pull and punch through midwicket, the last brought up 150.

The damage to Pakistan didn't seem apparent at first: 74 runs and two wickets in the morning, in fact, was even-stevens. But as the day wore on, de Villiers killed Pakistan gradually, orchestrating a succession of useful lower-order stands. Seventy-three were put on with Mark Boucher, 42 with Johan Botha and, most irritatingly for Pakistan, 59 with Dale Steyn and an unbeaten 91 with Morne Morkel. Even Paul Harris was handy, helping add 35.

Through them all were regular reminders of the simplicity of his strokeplay, such as an easy glide through gully off Mohammad Sami. To bring up the double as tea approached, he first pulled Gul in front of square before guiding him through gully for another four. A flurry of boundaries as matters came to tea amply demonstrated his complete and total superiority.

Steyn was probably the most fun post-lunch union. There were flick-pulls, drives hit as hard as concrete as well as a magnificent dance-down six over long-on. By the end, as Gul foolishly peppered him with bouncers - pumping him up no doubt for later in the day - it had become too predictable. Another pull just before the second drinks break of the day meant he had helped de Villiers add 50. Morkel struck out at the end but the fight was long gone then.

Pakistan had actually begun well, with Gul and Tanvir particularly tight. The latter struck first, a sharp, late inswinger surprising Boucher. The Flintoff-esque celebration was impressive and understandable for a five-for on debut.

Even Sami bowled an outstanding spell pre-lunch, full of whizzing outswingers. One such caught the edge but two truths of Sami's career remained unchallenged: one, he has no luck and two, catching is not an Akmal family strength.

But as the day wore on and their luck didn't look like changing, Pakistan were mentally and physically gone. de Villiers drained them thoroughly and every boundary Harris and Morkel hit was a further, debilitating prick on an already numb body. That the half-hour tea extension was actually more advantageous to South Africa than to Pakistan said it all.

                          source by :espncricinfo