Brisbane, November 29
England head to this week's second Adelaide Test with all the momentum after dominating Australia over the final two days of the Ashes opener which ended in a draw at the Gabba today.

England ensured they would not be beaten in the first match of their Ashes defence after conceding a 221-run innings deficit when Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott shared in England's highest partnership in Australia of 329 runs.

Cook became only the fourth Englishman to score a Test double-century in Australia with his unconquered 235, while Trott hit 135 not out before skipper Andrew Strauss called a halt at 517 for one, 40 minutes before tea.

Australia tried to avoid further collateral damage in their 26 overs to the close and were 107 for one when the match finished in a draw.

Ricky Ponting scored his 56th Test half-century to be 51 not out and Shane Watson was on 41.

Records and personal bests kept tumbling for England on the anti-climactic last day as Cook and Trott pummelled the Australian bowlers.

Cook joined Wally Hammond (3), Reg Foster and Paul Collingwood as double centurions with his 625-minute epic off 428 balls in the highest score by either team in 19 Ashes Tests at the Gabba.

Their unbroken partnership surpassed the previous highest stand by England in this country of 323 held by Jack Hobbs and Wilfred Rhodes at Melbourne in 1911-1912.

When Trott's 100 came up it was the first time three English players have scored a century in an innings of a Test match since 1924.

On that occasion the top three batsmen -- Jack Hobbs (211), Herbert Sutcliffe (122) and Frank Woolley (134 no) -- all scored hundreds against South Africa at Lord's.

Cook surpassed his previous highest Test score of 173 and also passed Ian Botham's 138 as the highest English run scorer at the Brisbane ground, set back in 1986.

It was also only the second match in Test match history to feature two 300-plus partnerships following Mike Hussey-Brad Haddin's 307-run stand in Australia's first innings 481.

The other was the drawn Pakistan v India first Test in Lahore in 2006.

England landed psychological blows on the Australians as Cook and Trott had frolicked before a small last-day crowd dominated by England's taunting Barmy Army fans, which made it more like a Test at Lord's.

More salt was rubbed into Australia's wounds with two more embarrassing dropped catches, making a total of five for the match.

Vice-captain Michael Clarke put down a regulation chance off Trott (75) at slip off Shane Watson's bowling and Ponting dropped Cook (222) in the slips.

It only got worse when Simon Katich was caught at first slip by Strauss off Stuart Broad for four in the sixth over of Australia's second innings.

Australia will have plenty to ponder ahead of Friday's second Test at the Adelaide Oval after England came away from the Gabba without losing for the first time since the drawn Test in 1998.

Over the course of the five days only 22 wickets fell, and just seven over the last three days on the bat-friendly flat Gabba pitch. AFP

London, November 29
Rafael Nadal will end the year as the world No 1 and holder of three Grand Slam titles, but if the Spaniard needed any reminder that his greatest World Tour Finals. Roger Federer had lost six of his previous seven matches against Nadal but got the better of him in an enthralling final, winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 after an hour and 37 minutes.

Victory came with a first prize of $1.63m (about (pounds sterling)1.04m) and 1,500 rankings points but the restorative psychological boost it could deliver Federer may be more significant. Nadal has regularly stolen Federer's thunder over the last three years, but this was proof that the former world No 1 intends to hang around for a while yet.

Nadal has still won 14 of his 22 matches against Federer, but that head-to-head record is distorted by the fact that he has won 10 of their 12 meetings on clay. On faster surfaces, Federer retains the edge. Indeed, Nadal has only ever won one indoor tournament, in Madrid five years ago. Federer won with a superb display of attacking tennis.

Nadal, playing in the final of these year-ending championships for the first time, may have paid the price for his exertions in his semi-final 24 hours earlier. Andy Murray had detained him for more than three hours, while Federer took less than half that time to beat Novak Djokovic.

The game's top two players have shared the world No 1 ranking for the last seven years and won 21 of the last 23 Grand Slam titles.

The last time they met in Britain was at Wimbledon two years ago, when Nadal won what many regard as the greatest match in history. Tournament organisers could hardly have wished for a better finale, even if the home audience had been disappointed to see Murray lose in Saturday's semi.

This was the first time for 24 years that the world's two top-ranked men had contested the final and the first since 1993 that the two finalists had won all their group matches. Federer had gone into the final without even dropping a set.

The O2 Arena's eighth capacity crowd of the week - for the second straight year, more than 250,000 people have attended the tournament - included a host of celebrities. Diego Maradona, who attended every single day, was there again and was joined by, among others, Ronnie Wood, Kevin Spacey, Thierry Henry and Boris Johnson.

If the crowd's support seemed to have been equally split between Nadal and Murray 24 hours earlier, it was Federer who drew the biggest cheers on this occasion. — AFP

New Delhi, November 29
Handicapped by a dislocated thumb and up against a two-time world champion, Indian boxer Vijender Singh today said he still managed to pull off the Asian Games gold medal as "luck was back" on his side a month after deserting him at the Commonwealth Games.

World number one Vijender blanked Uzbekistan's two-time world champion Abbos Atoev in the Asian Games final despite dislocating his thumb in the opening three minutes of the bout.

Recalling the tense moments, the 25-year-old, whose hand is currently heavily bandaged, said a power-packed left hook led to the dislocation and leaving him to fight practically with one hand.

"My hand was in a terrible state even before the Asian Games but it completely broke at the worst possible time.

It was in the closing stages of the first round. I got the score for that left hook but I knew my hand was gone. I immediately told my coach that I cannot move it," Vijender said upon his return to the country from Guangzhou today.

"I asked the coach what the scoreline was, he told me it was 2-0. I thought I will give it a shot and continued. In the second round, I was not using my left hand at all. I was just swaying it once in a while to scare off Atoev, who thankfully didn't get an idea as to what had happened," he said.

"When I took a 5-0 lead in the second round, I knew the bout was mine from here. I kept praying to almighty and I think that also helped. In the end, I guess I got lucky, god was with me," he added.

The Olympic and World Championships bronze-medallist had settled for a rather disappointing bronze at the CWG here after losing in the semifinals due to a couple of warnings for clinching. And Vijender said the Asiad gold has finally wiped off the disappointment. — PTI

Chandigarh, November 29
Here’s the single and indispensable fact about team selections and decisions: If it works, it works. That’s all. Everything else is static.Now this one seems like a curious move. Eight senior Indian players (plus the coach) flying off to South Africa ahead of the rest of the team in a bid to get used to the challenging conditions that they are likely to encounter in those parts.

So, how many extra practice sessions are these eight senior players going to get in SA? Maybe three. Perhaps four. Nothing more than that. (These players will be flying on December 6 and the rest of the players will be leaving on December 11). In three extra net sessions, the seniors will attempt to get a measure of the African conditions and be battle-ready when the real contest begins on December 16. Sounds pretty thin and unconvincing. But if it works, it works.

Coach Gary Kirsten will get some extra days at home (in Cape Town). In fact, these senior players will be practicing at Kirsten’s academy there. The first Test of the series will be played in Centurion, the second in Durban but the players will practice in Cape Town. Sounds unreasonable. But again, if it works, it works.

The whole idea of team sport is the TEAM. You can’t have some members going early and the rest going a few days later. Agreed, the rest of the players are playing in the ODI series against New Zealand. But this is something the BCCI should have worked out earlier.

This is going to be the series between the number one and the number two Test teams in the world. It’s already being referred to as the ‘Final Frontier’ for the Indian Test side. So the BCCI should have chalked out the itinerary with a little more thought and imagination.

Even when it comes to team composition for this crucial Test series, the Indian selectors (and captain) have chosen to ignore Yuvraj Singh, opting for Suresh Raina instead. Even a cursory glance at Raina’s technique against short-pitched bowling in the recent Nagpur Test told a different story -- he will struggle is SA. But if it works, it works.

Sources say that the reason why Yuvraj finds himself out of the Test team is not bad form. It is bad choice of friends. When all hell broke loose against Lalit Modi a few months ago, Yuvraj was the first one to post him a friendly message of support on Twitter. Top BCCI officials (we all know who) have not liked Yuvraj’s open show of friendship towards Modi. So, Yuvi has no place in the Test team.

Agreed, Yuvraj will not be the panacea of all ills in SA. But in Tests, at No. 6, he still remains the best bet. And, a lot more experienced than Raina. (Yuvraj has played 34 Tests with an average of 36, while Raina has played seven Tests and averages 40).

The number one Test spot in the world will be at stake in SA. The BCCI should forget about personal likes and dislikes and put the best team on the playing field. Both, this idea of breaking the team into two groups while departing for this tour and dropping Yuvraj for Raina for the Tests, seem like wrong choices. But if it works, it works.