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Christchurch, Dec 30 : Pakistan have bowled out New Zealand for just 80 runs to win the third Twenty20 international by 103 runs, with Abdul Razzaq taking 3-13 and Shahid Afridi 4-14. New Zealand lost its first four batsmen for ducks, slumping to 3-4 as Razzaq crashed through its middle order, giving Pakistan its first win of the three-match series. At 11-5 after 4.4 overs, New Zealand had the lowest score for the loss of five wickets by any team in the history of Twenty20 internationals. Scott Styris revived the innings slightly with a top score of 45 and was New Zealand's only batsman to reach double figures. Earlier, Ahmed Shehzad made 54 and shared an 81-run opening partnership with 81 with Mohammad Hafeez (34) in Pakistan's 183-6. Scoreboard: Pakistan : Ahmed Shehzad lbw b Franklin 54, Mohammad Hafeez c Taylor b Franklin 34, Asad Shafiq c Mills b McCullum 8, Younis Khan run out 5, Umar Akmal c Brownlie b Milne 30, Shahid Afridi b Southee 14, Abdul Razzaq not out 34, Wahab

Melbourne, Dec 29 : England retained the Ashes on Australian soil for the first time in 24 years by completing an emphatic innings and 157-run win over Australia on the fourth day of the fourth test. England travels to the final test in Sydney starting Sunday with a 2-1 series lead, but as the Ashes-holder, England needs only to draw the series to keep the urn. Tim Bresnan claimed the final wicket and his fourth of the innings when Ben Hilfenhaus was caught behind for a duck to dismiss Australia for 258. Last batsman Ryan Harris could not bat due to a foot injury. Brad Haddin brought up a gutsy half century in an 86-run eighth-wicket partnership with Peter Siddle, but they could only delay the inevitable. Haddin ended the match on an unbeaten 55 with four boundaries and a six. After Australia resumed on 169-6, Chris Tremlett dismissed Mitchell Johnson in the second over of the day when the tailender edged a seaming delivery onto his stumps without adding to his overnight score of 6. S

Hamilton, Dec 28 : New Zealand beat Pakistan by 39 runs in the second Twenty20 cricket international played at Seddon Park here today. New Zealand scored 185 for 7 with two good knocks of 44 runs by Martin Guptill and 40 runs by James Franklin with Saeed Ajmal taking 3 wickets for 35 runs. In reply, Pakistan could make 146 for 9 in 20 overs as Nathan McCullum grabbed four wickets for 16 runs. Umar Akmal made 26. The hosts are now up 2-0 in the current T20 series. Scoreboard: New Zealand Innings= Jesse Ryder c Umar Akmal b Razzaq 0, Martin Guptill c Afridi b Ajmal 44, James Franklin c Umar Akmal b Afridi 40, Ross Taylor not out 30, Scott Styris c Shehzad b Shoaib 34, Peter McGlashan lbw Wahab 26,Nathan McCullum c Shafiq b Ajmal 1, Kyle Mills std Umar Akmal b Ajmal 0, Extras (1b,4lb,4w,1nb) 10 TOTAL (for 7 wkts) 185 Overs: 20. Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-91, 3-94, 4-133, 5-175, 6-184, 7-185. Did not bat: Luke Woodcock, Ian Butler, Tim Southee. Bowling: Abdul Razzaq 2-0-12-1, Shoaib Akhtar 4

Melbourne, Dec 27 : Jonathan Trott hit a masterful, unbeaten century to lead England to 444-5 at stumps and an emphatic 346-run lead after the second day of the fourth Ashes Test against Australia on Monday. Trott will resume the third day on 141 with Matt Prior on 75, sharing a 158-run partnership. Trott brought up his second century of the series and third overall against Australia when he cut a Ryan Harris ball through mid-wicket for four. England will retain the Ashes with a win here. Seam bowler Peter Siddle claimed three wickets and took two catches before tea to revive Australia’s slim hopes, but could only go part-way towards making up for the home side’s disastrous start to the match on Sunday when it was sent in to bat and bundled out for 98. After dismissing openers Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss to start the day, Siddle (3-41) trapped a dangerous-looking Kevin Pietersen for 51 after lunch with his third delivery with the second new ball. Pietersen brought up his half-cent

Kolkata: India made a disastrous start to the Test series against South Africa but middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh is confident that the number one side would bounce back in the remaining two matches. India lost the series-opener by an innings and 25 runs at Centurion. "India have lost the first Test but I am sure they will bounce back. We have been the number one Test team for the past two years," Yuvraj said during his visit to the city. The left-hander, who will feature in the One-day and Twenty20 matches against the Proteas, said he is preparing well for the assignment. "It's not going to be an easy tour for us. It's tough out there. The wickets will be different. So, we need to practice accordingly," Yuvraj said about one-day and Twenty20 series. Yuvraj, who have had a forgettable 2010, battling with injuries and loss of form, said the series against New Zealand that India won 5-0 gave him a lot of confidence. "The Ranji matches that I played bef

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh leg-spinner Piyush Chawla was a surprise inclusion in the Indian squad that will take on South Africa in the one-off Twenty20 and five match ODI series that starts on January 9. Apart from Chawla, regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, senior-most player Sachin Tendulkar, dashing opener Virender Sehwag and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh - all of whom opted for rest during the New Zealand ODI series made a comeback. Incidentally, the South Africa ODI series will be India's last assignment before the World Cup in sub-continent next year. With a last chance to settle the core team before the World Cup, one can be rest assured that most of the players who will be playing against South Africa will be in the World Cup squad also. Chawla's inclusion means that selectors want to check out what's in store in the slow bowling department after their experiments with Ravindra Jadeja hasn't exactly paid rich dividends. Also surprising was Parthiv Patel's non

Centurion, Dec 20 (PTI) South Africa took a little less than six overs on the final day of the first cricket Test to wrap up the last two Indian wickets and clinch the high profile series opener with a resounding innings and 25 runs victory here today. But more than South Africa's convincing victory against the number one ranked side in the world to take a 1-0 lead, the match at the SuperSport Park here will go down in history books as the one which witnessed Sachin Tendulkar reach the coveted landmark of scoring 50 centuries in Test cricket. After they finished the penultimate day staring down the barrel at 454 for the loss of eight wickets, India's hopes, more than Tendulkar's broad shoulders, rested on the weather gods. While Tendulkar remained unbeaten on 111, there was no rain interruption on the fifth and final day as the South African pace duo of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel sealed the issue in their team's favour in no time.Resuming at 454 for eight, India could

Centurion: Rahul Dravid today overtook former West Indian captain Brain Lara as the the third highest run-getter in the history of Test cricket when he reached 11 in the first of the three-match series against South Africa in Centurion today. Coming into the match needing 11 runs to surpass Lara's 11,953 in the all-time run-getter's list, Dravid reached the milestone with a double, clipping Dale Steyn off the back foot towards the square-leg region at the Supersport Park. Dravid, who has an average of 53.31 before this Test, achieved the feat in his 148th match. His team-mate and Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar leads the chart with 14,3666 runs from 175 Tests, followed by Australian captain Ricky Ponting, who till date has scored 12,332 runs from 151 matches. Dravid is also just one short of becoming the first cricketer to take 200 catches in Test. PTI

Johannesburg: South Africa captain Graeme Smith had termed Sachin Tendulkar as "great ambassador of the game" and said his desire to become a cricketer got wings after watching the Indian batting maestro during his childhood. Smith was a 11-year-old kid when Tendulkar first toured the Rainbow nation following the country's readmission to the international fold after decades of isolation because of apartheid. But on Thursday, Smith will lead South Africa in the first Test against India at Centurion in what could well be Tendulkar's last tour to the country. "He (Tendulkar) is a world class player and a great ambassador for the game," Smith said as he reminisced at an official reception for the Indian cricket team last night. "As a youngster I watched the games and that's where all my dreams started. You see the players (like Tendulkar) on TV and you think that I want to be like that one day, and here we are," he said. India is presently touring

Johannesburg, Dec 13 : "Record books don't lie", said South Africa coach Corrie van Zyl while reminding India of their rather unimpressive past performances here as the battle of wits continued between the two sides ahead of the Test series starting on Thursday. India are the world's number one Test side but van Zyl said they just need to look at the record books to know what an enormous task awaits them here. Even India coach Gary Kirsten has declared that without a series win in South Africa, the visitors cannot regard themselves as the best Test side in the world. "We don't pay much attention to what the Indian goals are in the series, but rather concentrate on what is ahead of us," Van Zyl was quoted as saying by 'Sport24.com'. PTI

Mumbai, Dec 9 : A day after Bombay high court ruled in favour of Kings XI, the BCCI on Thursday began arguments in its appeal against the stay granted to Rajasthan Royals. Board's counsel C A Sundaram said that the Jaipur team was not sharing its shareholding pattern with BCCI. He said BCCI had a right to know who it was "dealing with" and to drive home his point he even said, "what if Mr (Dawood) Ibrahim holds 5% stake in the company?" He mentioned the "the most wanted person" as an extreme example of what could happen if BCCI does not know who holds shares in the holding and related companies of the franchise, reports Times of India. He even said, "We are all aware of match-fixing and money laundering activities... " He was expressing his concern over why BCCI must employ KYC norms to know its franhchisee owners well. Royals had been won by Emerging Media, a company registered in the United Kingdom in January 2008 for $67 million, $9 millio

New Delhi, Dec 8 : Riding on his popularity, Indian cricket team captain Mahindra Singh Dhoni has signed a Rs 29- crore endorsement deal with Maxx Mobile for a period of seven years. "Maxx believes in Dhoni's potential and the performance that he has delivered over the years is a testimony to his talent. The seven-year deal reaffirms our belief in him and is undoubtedly a big reinforcement for the Maxx brand," Maxx Group CMD Ajjay Agarwal told PTI. The deal comes within days of Dhoni signing Rs 26-crore deal with the world's second largest spirits firm, UB Group. Maxx Mobile, one of the recent entrants in India's mobile phone market, has emerged as a force to reckon with after having sold millions of handsets in less than two years. It has already captured over four per cent market share and has set an ambitious target of having 10 per cent market share by March 2012. Asked about the long periodicity of the deal (seven years), Agarwal said "this has been dec

Bangalore, Dec 7: Yusuf Pathan butchered the New Zealand bowlers as he struck a 79-ball century to guide India to a fantastic five-wicket victory in the fourth ODI here today. Courtesy Yusuf's (123, 96 balls, 7x4, 7x6 and three for 49) all-round performance, India now lead the five-match series 4-0. When Kyle Mills came on to bowl the 43rd over India needed 72 runs off 42 deliveries. The senior Pathan hit Mills for three boundaries and a huge six over mid-wicket. He took 21 runs from the over and brought equation down. In the next over he hit Andy McKay for a flat batted tennis shot over long to complete a well deserved maiden century in ODIs. The best of the seven sixes was the one off Mills which was hit more than 100 metres hitting the roof of the stadium and disappearing further. Even an hour's delay due to rain couldn't stop Yusuf as he lifted Vettori for a huge six of the first delivery he faced after break. Yusuf had two fruitful partnerships --- first with Rohit Sha

Mumbai, Dec 7: Opener Virender Sehwag changed his original plan to leave for South Africa with four other Indian cricketers yesterday due to viral infection and he will depart tomorrow, Cricket Board sources said today. "Sehwag pulled out late as he was not well, down with viral infection, and will be leaving tomorrow morning with eight other cricketers and manager Ranjib Biswal," a BCCI source told PTI today. "Those who are to leave tomorrow apart from Sehwag are captain (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni, Sachin (Tendulkar), Harbhajan Singh, (Pragyan) Ojha, (Shantakumaran) Sreesanth, Wriddhiman Saha, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma and manager Ranjib Biswal," the source said. "Today Rahul (Dravid) departed for South Africa from Mumbai while VVS Laxman left from Hyderabad," the source said. The remaining members of the Test squad, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan and Murali Vijay who are busy playing the ODIs against New Zealand that conclude on December 10, would leave on De

New Delhi, Dec 6: Amidst reports of Sourav Ganguly's possible release from Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL4, former Bengal captains Sambaran Banerjee and Gopal Bose have said that the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned franchise might lose its support base in Kolkata in absence of its most popular sporting icon. "Sourav is the best option to lead KKR in the upcoming IPL. I don't understand the rumours about his possible release by the team management. It is really unnecessary and unwanted. Team needs him the most," Sambaran Banerjee, a former national selector and under whom Ganguly made his first-class debut told PTI Bhasha from Kolkata. There are rumours that KKR have decided to let Kolkata's favourite son be up for auctions and not retain him. More importantly, they won't retain any player although they are keen on retaining explosive West Indian opener Chris Gayle. "If Sourav is not there, KKR will lose the sentimental attachment that people of Bengal share with t

Vadodara, Dec 4: Skipper Gautam Gambhir cracked an unbeaten 126, his second century on the trot, to power India to a series-clinching nine-wicket victory over New Zealand in the third ODI here today. The Delhi left-hander played a captain's knock that followed his match-winning unbeaten 138 in the second ODI in Jaipur on December 1 as India easily chased down the target of 225 in 39.3 overs to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. Gambhir, who smashed 16 boundaries with his flicks and drives in the 117 balls he faced, put on 115 runs for the opening wicket with Murali Vijay who made a slow 30 in 50 balls before being run out. The solid foundation laid by Gambhir, who notched up his ninth ODI hundred in 103 matches, with Vijay was carried forward by number three Virat Kohli, who continued his form from where he left in the previous two matches. Kohli, who had scored a match-winning ton at Guwahati and a half century in Jaipur, remained unbeaten on 63 in 70 balls wi

Vadodara, Dec 3: India might be comfortably placed to wrap up the five-match series going into the third ODI against New Zealand with a 2-0 lead tomorrow, but skipper Gautam Gambhir today warned about the dangers of complacency creeping into the mindset of his team. "I have always felt players need to be wary from becoming complacent. We are going to see it now as three-match series. New Zealand are a dangerous one day side and we are looking forward to the contest tomorrow," said the India captain at his pre-match media conference at the Reliance Stadium. Gambhir, who would not be a part of the senior members team going to South Africa early for acclimatization, said his entire focus is now on the current series and in particular tomorrow's match. "I am not thinking about South Africa. My focus is on the series at hand and tomorrow's match. I have been given a responsibility to captain the team and only after completing it I would think about South Africa tour,&

Vadodara, Dec 3: Bolstered by the return of pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, India would look to stamp their superiority and clinch the five-match series against New Zealand with a third straight victory in the third cricket one-dayer here tomorrow. A series triumph at the Reliance Stadium tomorrow would not only be a morale boost for India ahead of the forthcoming tour of South Africa and the World Cup after that but would also keep the team entrenched in second spot in the ICC rankings behind leaders Australia. That India finds itself in this happy situation despite the absence of key players Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh, is an indication of the team's resilience and bench strength though they are playing at home. Skipper Gautam Gambhir and in-form batsman Virat Kohli are certainties in the team, but the absence of the leading lights has allowed a few others like Murali Vijay, Yusuf Pathan and Ravichandran Ashwin to try and perform, and t