India end Day 5 on 166 for 3 Series ends at 1-1 Gambhir scores gritty 64 Kallis is Man of the Match Also wins Man of the Series award

Cape Town, January 6
Set a daunting target of 340 for a win, India opted to play safe and bat their way to a draw in the third and final cricket Test against South Africa to end the high-profile series 1-1 here today.

The Indians never made an effort to chase down the stiff target and the batsmen played out time to crawl to 166 for three in their second innings before play was called off to mark the end of a fascinating three-match series.

Although the Indians could not achieve their dream of a maiden away series win over South Africa, it was a creditable achievement for the visitors as they drew a Test series for the first time on the African soil. The result also meant that India maintained their number one ranking.

The visitors lost the first Test in Centurion by an innings and 25 runs but showed great character to bounce back and win the second Test in Durban by 87 runs.

The Indians could have entertained hopes of going for the target had Virender Sehwag (11) fired but the dashing opener fell cheaply to end the series without too may runs to his credit.

Gautam Gambhir defied an elbow injury and played a resolute knock of 64 to be the highest scorer in the second innings. Sachin Tendulkar (14) and VVS Laxman (32) were at the crease when play was called off after 82 overs.

The engrossing series between the the two top ranked teams in the world will be remembered for Tendulkar's historic 50th Test century and the batting heroics of Jacques Kallis who scored three centuries.

Faced with the stiff target, the two Indian openers Gambhir and Sehwag adopted a cautious approach and were more content in playing out the new ball without taking too many risks.

Both the South African pacemen Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel got some movement and bounce from the fifth day track at the Newlands. Some of the balls rose alarmingly but the two batsmen managed to get themselves out of the way.

In the very second over, Gambhir needed some on-field treatment after being hit by Morkel's first delivery. The ball bounced sharply outside off stump and hit him on the elbow.

Both Sehwag and Gambhir were prompt to despatch the loose deliveries to the boundary, both Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe being given that treatment.

Sehwag, who has not been among the runs right through the series, got a reprieve when he went for a cut and the ball just eluded the outstretched hands of substitute fielder J P Duminy at the point region.

But Sehwag could not capitalise on that chance and returned to the pavilion soon after, falling prey to Morkel who tested on his patience.

Sehwag leaned forward to defend a delivery which straightened after pitching and only succeeded in edging the ball to captain Graeme Smith in first slip.

The umpire checked whether it was a no ball from the third umpire and ultimately ruled the batsman out much to the jubilation of the home crowd.

Dravid, who joined the action after Sehwag's dismissal, was quite content in defending following which India's runrate fell sharply.

Resuming at the lunch score of 53 for one, both Gambhir and Dravid played cautiously and were just content in playing out time.

Barring the occasional aggressive shot, the two batsmen defended most of the balls and restrained from playing any strokes to the deliveries going outside the stumps.

Gambhir, who had scored 93 in the first innings, notched up his 16th half century when he cut Dale Steyn to the point boundary shortly after the lunch break.

With the experienced Jacques Kallis not on the field because of a rib injury, South African captain Smith bowled a few overs himself to make up for the loss of the fifth bowler.

Spinner Paul Harris got a few balls to jump from the rough and both the batsmen had to face a few anxious moments. Dravid survived a confident leg before shout when he was struck on the pads off Harris but umpire Ian Gould ruled him not out. — PTI

South Africa 1st innings 362

India first innings 364

South Africa 2nd innings 341

India 2nd innings

Gambhir c Boucher b Steyn 64

Sehwag c Smith b Morkel 11

Dravid c Prince b Tsotsobe 31

Tendulkar not out 14

Laxman not out 32

Extras (b 7, w 5, nb 2) 14

Total (3 wickets; 82 overs) 166

Bowling: Steyn 18-6-43-1, Morkel 15-6-26-1, Tsotsobe 13-4-29-1, Harris 30-19-29-0, Smith 4-0-27-0, Petersen 2-0-5-0.

Sydney, January 6
England has all but secured its first test series victory in Australia in 23 years after posting a record total and moving within three wickets of another innings victory in the final test to cap its Ashes domination. Matt Prior scored the third hundred of the England innings before the visitors were dismissed for 644 - their highest total ever in Australia - shortly after lunch today.

Then pacemen Jimmy Anderson, Tim Bresnan and Chris Tremlett took two wickets apiece to have Australia reeling on 213-7 at stumps on the penultimate day, needing another 151 runs just to make England bat again. Allrounder Steven Smith (24) and tailender Peter Siddle (17) navigated the last 41 minutes of an extended evening session for Australia to ensure the match will go into the fifth and final day.

England, which had already retained the Ashes by taking a 2-1 lead with an innings victory at Melbourne last week, looks certain to claim a test series Down Under for the first time since 1987. The England seamers started to get reverse swing in the afternoon session and worked as a unit to frustrate Australia's batsmen with disciplined line and length.

Shane Watson was first out, inexcusably run out for 38 after a mix-up with Phil Hughes that resulted in both batsmen at the same end. Hughes (13) was caught behind off Bresnan as Australia slipped to 52-2 before tea. Anderson had debutant Usman Khawaja (21) and stand-in captain Michael Clarke (41) both caught behind by Matthew Prior before Bresnan chimed in again to have Mike Hussey (12) caught in the gully.

Tremlett took wickets with consecutive balls to remove Brad Haddin (30) and Mitchell Johnson for a first-ball duck before Siddle, who took a hat-trick in the series-opening test at the Gabba, blocked the hat-trick ball from the lanky England paceman. Haddin tried to play a bouncer but pulled out of the shot and lobbed an easy catch to Matthew Prior.

With England so close to securing victory in back-to-back test matches in Australia for the first time since 1978-79, play was extended by 30 minutes to allow the bowlers time to finish it off. But Siddle and Smith, Australia's last recognized batsman, played with composure to make it to stumps. — AFP

Brief Scores:

Australia 280 & 213/7 (67.0 ov)

England 644

Australia trail by 151 runs with 3 wickets remaining

Jaipur, January 6
Subramanium Badrinath's brilliant knock of an unbeaten 175 (605 minutes, 381 balls, 20x4) went in-vain as minnows Rajasthan created history by becoming the first team from Plate group to enter the final of the Ranji Trophy beating Tamil Nadu by virtue of first innings lead of 167 runs.

Tamil Nadu will now play Baroda in the final to be played at Vadodara from January 11-15. After piling a mammoth 552 for seven, Rajasthan bowlers led by leggie Vivek Yadav (4/87) bowled out Tamil Nadu for 385. As if to add insult to the injury, Rajasthan captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar asked visitors to follow-on and introduced Rashmi Ranjan Parida into the attack.

Rajasthan will play in the final for the first time in 36 years having last played the title round match way back in 1973-74 season. Badrinath, whose epic vigil of 10 hours and five minutes will go down as one of the finest domestic innings ran out of partners as none of the other Tamil Nadu batsmen could even reach a target of 50.

It was a disciplined performance by the hosts who played with a plan and executed it perfectly. Starting the day at 190 for three, Badrinath and K Vasudevdas (38) took the score 222 before the latter played onto a Pankaj Singh delivery. Badrinath continued in his calm and composed manner and a push past gully brought up his 25th century in first-class cricket.

With Rajagopal Sathish (27, 69 balls, 5x4) for company Badrinath 61 for the fifth wicket. Sathish was however troubled by Sumit Mathur and Deepak Chahar. Chahar in particular bowled some beautiful inswingers. It was a poor shot by Sathish that saw him caught at short cover by Yadav off Mathur's bowling. Chandrasekhar Ganapathy (4) played a pull-shot and was holed out in deep by Ashok Menaria.

All this while Badrinath was fighting a grim battle to take team's total to 465 which would have taken them past run-rate of Tamil Nadu.

Brief Scores:

Rajasthan 552/7 dec (A Chopra 139, H Kanitkar 100 no, A Menaria 106).

Tamil Nadu 385 (S Badrinath 175 no, V Yadav 4/87, P Singh 2/112, S Mathur 2/84). — PTI

Sydney, January 6
England allrounder Paul Collingwood will retire from test cricket when the Ashes series finishes this week. Collingwood told teammates yesterday and the England Cricket Board confirmed the decision today, on the fourth morning of the fifth Ashes test.

Collingwood has scored 4,259 runs in 68 test matches at an average of 40 since his debut against Sri Lanka in 2003, but has struggled in the current Ashes series and scored only 83 runs.

Collingwood will continue to play limited-overs cricket and is expected to play an integral role in England's World Cup campaign starting next month. He is England's Twenty20 captain. "Representing England at test level has always been a dream of mine and I've been fortunate enough to have enjoyed some amazing highs throughout my test career," Collingwood said.

"I'm proud of the fact that I've always given my all for the England test team but I feel that this is the right time to leave test cricket having reached some very special achievements, none more satisfying that retaining the Ashes in Australia." — AP

London, January 6
Chelsea were sent spinning to a shock 1-0 defeat at Wolves as the Premier League champions fell further behind in the title race and left manager Carlo Ancelotti clinging to his job. An own goal by defender Jose Bosingwa after five minutes handed victory to Wolves, who climbed out of the relegation zone as Chelsea's miserable run of form — just one win in nine matches — continued.

Ancelotti, who had admitted before the match that he was lucky not to have been sacked, will now face fresh scrutiny after a result last night which leaves Chelsea nine points adrift of leaders Manchester United, who also have a game in hand.

"At this moment it's very difficult to explain what's happening to us," a stunned Ancelotti told Sky Sports. "We have to keep going ... we have to stay focused more on the little details. Because the little details lose the game." In the battle for second place, Arsenal and Manchester City fought out a 0-0 stalemate at the Emirates. Arsenal dominated throughout but were unable to find their way through a blanket City defence.

The game ended on a sour note after Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna and City's Pablo Zabaleta were given red cards after clashing on the touchline.

The other big headline of the night came at Ewood Park, where Blackburn piled the pressure on Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson with a 3-1 victory over the troubled Merseysiders.

Hodgson, reportedly set to be replaced by the club's American owners, fielded a strong side, with Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres both starting.

But the result was virtually sealed by half-time, with Martin Olsson opening the scoring on 32 minutes before Benjani Mwaruwari doubled the lead six minutes later. Benjani rubbed salt into the wound with Blackburn's third on 57 minutes.

Gerrard scored a late consolation but hopes of an unlikely comeback were extinguished when the Liverpool skipper missed a late spot-kick. — AFP

Dehradun, January 6
Pakistan will be the team to watch out for in skiing events during the South Asian Federation (SAF) Winter Games that will be held at Auli, Chamoli, from January 14 to 16. The ice-skating events will be held in Dehradun from January 10 to 12 but Pakistan is not taking part there.

“Most of our players are from regions that remain snow-bound for about four to five months. The children are introduced to skiing as early as three years of age. Thus we can bank on good training there and hope we will perform our best in the SAF Games,” said Pakistan team coach Sohail.

“One of our players Mohmmad Abas had participated in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games. Though he didn’t win any medal but he performed well,” said Javad Iqbal, one of the officials of the team.

The officials said the team will take part in two events of skiing — Alpine and Slalom, including Giant Slalom.

Other teams like the Maldives and Nepal that have reached are not as experienced. The Maldives are taking part in the Winter Games for the first time and have no infrastructure to practice back home.

Deempa, an official with the five-member Maldives squad, said they were making their debut in the Winter Games and had never even practiced ice-skating before. “Ours is a tropical country and the weather there is not that friendly to winter sports,” she said.

“We don’t have much experience but will give our best during the Games,” said ice-skater Shamrooh.

Nepal’s situation is somewhat similar. Their coach Sher Bahadur Gurung who retired as a Subedar Major from the Indian Army and has won a National gold medal in 1991, said, “We have slopes in Nepal but they are very far and there is no infrastructure for practicing the sport.

“Since we don’t have practice facilities, we sent our players one by one to Dehradun, Auli and Himachal Pradesh for the same,” added Basant Raj Karki, an official with the Nepal contingent.

Dehradun, January 6
A 27-member Pakistan contingent, including four women skiers, arrived here today to take part in the first South Asian Federation (SAF) Winter Games, scheduled to be held in Dehradun and Auli from January 10.

Pakistan has been put up at Bijapur state guesthouse amid tight security while the other teams have been put up in a hotel on Rajpur Road. The Pakistan team is likely to leave for Auli tomorrow for practice.

The preparations for the Games are almost complete. The participating teams from the Maldives and Nepal have already arrived. Sri Lanka and Bhutan are yet to reach Doon while Afghanistan is not taking part.

The Winter Games will be held in Dehradun from January 10 to 12 and in Auli from January 14 to 16. A winter sports team for the forthcoming 7th Asian Winter Games to be held in Kazakhstan would also be selected shortly.

Brig. S.S. Patwal (retd.), President, Winter Games Federation of India (WGFI), said, "Our preparations are well in place and the indoor stadium in Doon will be the venue for ice hockey. As many as 300 participants from India and six South Asian countries are participating in the Games.”

Grand opening and closing ceremonies have already been planned. Acclaimed Indian musician Kailash Kher will be performing at the opening ceremony. The cultural highlights of the inaugural ceremony will be dances from host state Uttarakhand, Ladakh, Assam and Himachal Pradesh, and Sufi dance by renowned dancer Manjari Chaturvedi.

Chandigarh, January 6
The 3rd National Level Rural Tournament for Boys and Girls under – 16 started at Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College here, today. Yashvir Mahajan, Deputy Commissioner, Fatehgarh Sahib was the chief guest and declared the tournament open. Mahajan disclosed that the district administration had acquired 10 acres of land near Madhopur Village in Fatehgarh Sahib for construction of a Sports Complex for all major games. He further said for this purpose a grant of Rs. 10.00 lakh had been provided by Chief Minister, Punjab. He assured that the upcoming complex will be one of the top stadiums in the country. He also inspired the participants to play the game in the true spirit of sportsmanship.

In Boxing Sonu of Haryana won Harwinder Singh of Punjab and Kranthi of Andhra Pradesh defeated Vishal of Himachal Pardesh on the basis of points.

BRIEFLY

SA include spinner Tahir
Cape Town: Pakistan-born leg-spinner Imran Tahir, who was recently granted South African citizenship, was today named in the squad for the ODI series against India, starting January 12. In-form Jacques Kallis was not considered because of the rib injury he sustained in the third Test here while Mark Boucher still remains out of South Africa's limited-overs plans. Left-arm spinner Paul Harris, who played in all the three Tests against India, was dropped. South Africa Squad: Graeme Smith (C), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Alviro Petersen, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir and Lonwabo Tsotsobe. — PTI

Warne reveals plans to lift Aus
Melbourne: Legendary Australian spinner Shane Warne has come up with a 10-point action plan to revive the state of cricket Down Under and said that tough decisions need to be made for the team to regain the number status in ICC Test rankings. Warne said "it's time to draw a line in the sand with Australian cricket" as was done in the mid-1980s, if the team wants to be No. 1 again. "Big decisions need to be made from the top down by Cricket Australia, selectors, the coach and the captain. Tough decisions on what is most important for Australian cricket, who is accountable for the selections in the past two years that have left us at this point, do we have the right leadership and who are the experienced players or fresh faces to take us into the future," Warne wrote in his column for the Herald Sun. — PTI