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Pattinson ruled out of Test series due to foot injury
Clarke sounds pace warning for India at Perth
Dejected Dhoni finds faults in both batsmen and bowlers
Kallis steers SA to win
Clijsters retires injured, Murray beats Baghdatis
Saina loses in quarters
Chennai Open
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Sydney, January 6 India lost the first Test at the MCG by 122 runs and now for the second successive time they have lost with more than a day to spare. They have now suffered the ignominy of losing as many as six consecutive Test matches on foreign soil. Resuming at 114 for 2, India were all out for 400 with 25-odd overs of the fourth day's play still remaining. There were as many as four half centuries in the Indian innings - Gautam Gambhir (83), Sachin Tendulkar (80), VVS Laxman (66) and Ravichandran Ashwin ( 62) - yet none produced a gritty effort that could take the match into the fifth day. Tendulkar again came close to the historic milestone of 100 international centuries but was dismissed by part-timer Michael Clarke to break a few million Indian hearts. Even though the visitors chalk up 400 runs in their second innings, 114 runs came for the last three wickets by when the match was as good as over. Ben Hilfenhaus ripped the heart out of India's batting, claiming Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Laxman and Mahendra Singh Dhoni as his victims for figures of 5 for 106. Peter Siddle took 2 for 88 while James Pattinson, Michael Clarke and Nathan Lyon shared the other three wickets. The two teams will now travel to Perth for the third Test beginning January 13. — PTI
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Pattinson ruled out of Test series due to foot injury
Sydney, January 6 The pacer was taken for X-rays and scans after the match and was even cleared of stress fractures but was diagnosed with early stages of stress-related bone trauma on his left metatarsal. "He bowled pretty unrestricted in the game but he did have pain towards the end of the match," said the CA spokesman. "As such, he had X-rays and scans after the game that has cleared him of stress fracture but he would be managed carefully over the next week. "He wouldn't be available for the rest of the Test series," he added. There are two more matches remaining in the Test series, to be held in Perth and Adelaide, respectively. Ryan Harris and Mitchell Starc have been included in the squad for the third Test in Perth and the two will compete for the vacant spot. "James Pattinson has been omitted from the squad due to a foot injury and has been replaced in the XII by Mitchell Starc," Chairman of selectors John Inverarity said in a statement. — PTI
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Clarke sounds pace warning for India at Perth
Sydney, January 6 Clarke was already looking forward to the third Test to be played at what is considered the world's fastest pitch -- the WACA ground in Perth. "We need to assess conditions. Four fast bowlers for Perth are possible. I hope the wicket is similar to last summer with pace and bounce and some sideways movement. If that's the case that's an option (to go with four fast bowlers) there," Clarke said at the post-match press conference here. "It's not been a cakewalk. We have played hard fought Test cricket. It's against a number two team with a lot of great players. We are really happy with the first two (Tests). There's a long way to go. The series is still not won. We really want to win in Perth." "We are able to build pressure, we are bowling a lot of dots and maidens and that's what is taking wickets. Against good players, no very good players, you have to build up pressure as an attack," stated Clarke. "We have wicket-taking bowlers. We can make reakthroughs. You can turn to anyone to take wicket and it makes life easier for me. Our execution was very good. I give credit to our bowlers. They set up the Test for us — to be able to take 10 wickets on really flat wickets here today, they deserve a lot of credit," he said. — PTI
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Dejected Dhoni finds faults in both batsmen and bowlers
Sydney, January 6 "If you see the last two series, our performance in England and now here, we didn't put enough runs on the board. It's important to take 20 wickets but you also need the cushion of extra runs," said a fazed Indian captain. "We haven't put enough runs. Even in England, not often we scored 300 runs. It doesn't allow bowlers to experiment a bit when the rival batsmen are set. They never got the cushion of those runs." India made only a paltry 191 runs in the first innings. Australia replied with 659 for 4 declared and the match was as good as over at that stage. "On the Sydney track, over 300-350 in the first innings would have been a good score. Once you get out cheaply, the whole mindset of opposition changes." "We not only were not able to take wickets but also couldn't stop them from scoring briskly. After scoring 200 runs, when you see batsmen scoring freely, you get confused whether to get them our or to stop them from scoring briskly. "We need to come up with ways. If we can't break we should be able to contain so that we can wait for second new ball. But if they have already scored close to 300 runs, it becomes very difficult," he said. — PTI
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Cape Town, January 6 Kallis, having scored 224 in the South African first innings, claimed three for 35 to end an obdurate Sri Lankan second innings on 342, leaving the hosts with a nominal target of two runs to win. Kallis, playing his 150th test, also took four catches to equal the South African record for the most catches by an outfielder in an innings as well as the mark of six catches in a Test set by Albert Vogler in 1909/10 and matched by Bruce Mitchell in 1931/32. South Africa's win brings to an end a run of four win-less series at home dating back to 2008/9. They were held up on the fourth day by the determined Thilan Samaraweera, who scored a defiant 115 not out in 325 minutes, off 215 balls. Angelo Mathews scored 63 and the tail-enders had some fun as well as they helped the experienced Thilan Samaraweera to prolong South Africa's time in the field to nine minutes after the scheduled tea break. Samaraweera scored unbeaten 115. — Reuters
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Clijsters retires injured, Murray beats Baghdatis
Brisbane, January 6 The 28-year-old four-times grand-slam champion returned but lost the next game and then retired. Hantuchova, who received a walkover into the semifinals after Serena Williams pulled out of the tournament with an ankle injury, will meet either Francesca Schiavone or Kaia Kanepi in the final on Saturday. In the men's draw, top seed Andy Murray looked far sharper than in his earlier matches and romped into the semi-finals with a 6-2, 6-2 thrashing of Marcos Baghdatis. The world number four, bidding to break his grand-slam drought at the Australian Open in Melbourne later this month, had been less than convincing in his two previous matches but was ruthless against the Cypriot. The 24-year-old Briton broke the former Australian Open finalist's serve four times and served out in 66 minutes. "I felt solid on the ball and because I was moving better he didn't hit too many winners," said Murray, who played doubles with Baghdatis in Brisbane. The Scot was pleased with his movement around the court. "It's a huge part of my game and when that goes well then normally the rest of my game improves a lot. "I can dictate more of the point, I can make it harder for my opponents to get the ball through me. That's what I did from the start." Murray will now meet Bernard Tomic after the Australian teenager beat Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-3, 7-6. — Reuters
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London, January 6 "Thierry Henry has today rejoined Arsenal on a short-term loan deal," the north London club said in a statement. "After negotiations between Arsenal, Henry, the New York Red Bulls and Major League Soccer, the striker will team up with the Gunners on a temporary basis during a period of fixtures in January and February that will see Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh depart for Africa Cup of Nations duty." — Reuters
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New Delhi, January 6 The fourth seed Indian lost 17-21, 10-21 to the world number six Jiang in a 36-minute battle in the women's singles competition. The 21-year-old started off well in the opening game and was leading 5-1 but couldn't sustain the pressure as the Chinese drew parity at 8-8 and then kept widening the gap, moving to 14-10. In the mixed doubles competition, Indian pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju waged a grim battle before going down in straight games to the third seeded combo of Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark. — PTI
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Chennai Open Chennai, January 6 Fourth seed Raonic, the recipient of ATP Newcomer Award for 2011, took 90 minutes to get the better of world ranked 83rd, Sela 7-6 (4) 6-3 in the quarterfinal of the USD 450,000 event. Raonic, who jumped 131 places to a career-high 25 last year, will now face the winner of the quarterfinal match between second seed Nicolas Almagro of Spain and Japanese qualifier Yuichi Sugita to be played later tonight. Against Sela, the young Canadian was not at his usual best. Even though Raonic's strong point, his service was not up to the mark today, it was enough for him to get past his Israeli opponent. As a matter of fact, Sela was serving better than Raonic in both the sets but in the end the Canadian's ability to come up with aces on crucial points made the difference. In all, Raonic fired 15 aces in the match. The first set was a hard-fought affair as Sela matched Raonic stroke-for-stroke, but the Israeli failed to capitalise on a break point cum set point at 6-all, which brought the tie-breaker into action. In the tie-breaker it was all Raonic as riding on his booming serve, the Canadian first took a 4-0 lead and then closed out the set at 7-4. In the second, Raonic had some anxious moments in the ninth game when Sela got to break points but he failed on both occasion. The 21-year-old Raonic then broke Sela in the sixth game of the second set to go up 5-2 with a thundering ace. Raonic, who made it to the fourth round of the Australian Open last year, drew curtains to the encounter with two more aces in the final game. — PTI
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Sydney, January 6
Brisbane, January 6
match, bettering the 7 for 114 against India at Melbourne in the first Test of
the present rubber. For the second time in his Test career, Hilfenhaus has taken five wickets in an innings - 5 for 106 - his second in consecutive Tests. In the Melbourne Test, he had taken 5 for 75 against India, his best ever. Hilfenhaus has become the first bowler to bag 15 wickets at an average of 18.06 in the present series.
Laxman and Tendulkar
added 103 for the fourth wicket - India's fourth century stand at SCG. The pair has recorded nine century stands overall, managing 3513 in 72 innings at an average of 51.66. Four out of nine stands have been registered by them against Australia, including two at SCG.
Gautam Gambhir
(83 off 142 balls) has recorded his highest innings in Tests in Australia. Gambhir's knock is his first fifty in 10 innings away from home. His last fifty on foreign soil was 64 against South Africa at Cape Town in January last year.
