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Cricket fans in Australia will get a chance to watch the Women’s World Cup finalin South Africa after television network Foxtel today secured the rights to show the game live from SuperSport Park in Pretoria. Australia will take on India on Sunday, April 10 in a repeat of the men’s final in 2003 and Foxtel’s coverage of the match will commence at 1800 (AEST) on its Main Event Channel.”This is an outstanding result for Australian cricket fans,” said James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s CEO. “And we are absolutely delighted with the support and enthusiasm shown by Foxtel and the Chief Executive of Fox Sports, David Malone, to bring the telecast of this game into Australia.”Normally, the Main Event Channel is a pay-per-view channel,” Sutherland added, “but once again Foxtel have put their support behind our women’s team and advised that the match on Sunday will be telecast free of charge to Foxtel,Austar and Optus subscribers.”Australia had finished as runners-up in the last edition of the Women’s World Cup in 2000 after suffering a heart-braking loss to New Zealand in the final. This time they start favourites after a comprehensive five-wicket win over England in the semis.

The four sports channels – ESPN-Star, Zee, Sony and Prasar Bharti – have submitted their bids to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for four-year telecast rights of international and domestic matches in India. According to the , Ten Sports, the Dubai-based channel, has withdrawn from the telecast race. The board has fixed the floor price at US$2.14 million for each day of cricket.The bids will be submitted to the marketing committee of the board, who will examine them in a two-stage process. “The marketing committee will study the technical tender and only the bids of those who qualify will be opened,” Ratnakar Shetty, the executive secretary of the BCCI, said to NDTV. “There are some qualifications in the tender form itself which have been mentioned. And all the parties are aware of what the qualifications are.”With the board having included a three-year experience clause in the tender, it remains to be seen whether Zee will be considered eligible for the contract. However, Ashish Kaul, the senior vice-president of Zee Telefilms, had other ideas about Zee’s eligibility. “… that is why we went to the court in the first place,” he said, “because we do not believe that in a fair and a just bidding process such hurdles should be placed.”The telecast rights were fought over in court last year when Zee, who had initially won them, filed a case against the board’s decision to cancel the tender process in the Supreme Court. The appeal was, however, dismissed by the court after a protracted court battle.

As Ricky Ponting’s XI wrapped up the Test series against Pakistan at the MCG today with an unassailable 2-0 lead, the fans took yet another opportunity to hail their Baggy Green-wearing heroes. The occasion seemed appropriate for the conducting of a vox pop. After all, over 121,000 people had attended the match, all of whom were acutely aware that the chances of Australian victory were better than odds on. And after all, this present team has changed the face of the five-day (or four, or three, or two as the case may be) game beyond recognition.So, in the homage to the “Where to now?” arm of global cricket’s administrators, I posed the question: “Isn’t Australia’s domination just the teeniest bit boring?” When the results of the survey were tallied and checked, the answer seemed to be a resounding “No!”Matty from Perth was the first to offer his words of wisdom. “I’m old enough to remember Australia being thrashed in the ’80s, especially by the West Indies,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, the more wins the better. The circle will turn eventually, a lot of these guys will retire and we’ll start losing again, and the other teams will rise, so until then, let’s go with it.”His friend Simon, who had made the trip from Adelaide to experience a Boxing Day Test at the “G” was happy to take the argument a step further. “Us beating the pants off everyone is good for the game, and anyone who doesn’t agree with me has got a short memory,” he suggested, while waving his Australian flag through the chilly currents of the south-westerly breeze. “It’s up to the other nations to bring their game into line with ours. And with money and development that will happen soon enough.”But I pushed the controversial line of interrogation: what has happened to the age-old Aussie tradition of barracking for the underdog? Aren’t we, according to cultural stereotypes at least, supposed to admire those who “try and fail” far more than those who “brag and succeed”? Aren’t we supposed to be egalitarian by nature? Aren’t we supposed to live in the land of the “fair bloody go”?Peter from the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton was having none of this sociological claptrap. “How can you not love this team? How can you not support this team?” he asked while aiming his multi-megapixel digital camera towards Gilly for a close-up of some behind-the-stumps squatting action. “They’ll be talking about this lot in a hundred years’ time. And anyway, when did winning become such a bad thing? As far as I’m concerned it’s a good thing. A very good thing,” he added, while zooming in on the slips cordon.Peter’s wife Helen was keen to add some logic and balance to the discussion. “There are kids following cricket now who think 350 runs in a day is normal,” she smiled. “That’s what this team has accomplished. That’s why it’s still thrilling to see them win. That’s why it will never be boring. Because of them Test cricket will never be the same again.”OK. So much for the “fair go” theory I thought, as my trudging continued along the length and breadth of the MCG. But surely there must be dissenters, somewhere. Surely there must be someone, anyone, willing to venture away from popular – or vox-popular – opinion? When all the votes were in, I’d found two.The first was Fiona from Clayton who, from her vantage point in the Great Southern Stand, voiced her psychological concerns. “I’m totally sick of the cockiness of these guys,” she frowned. “It’s as if they’re starting to believe their own publicity. I’d like to see them brought down a peg or two. Winning doesn’t necessary breed character. And the ‘we’re so hot’ attitude of these guys is really beginning to annoy me.”The second was Paul from Caulfield, who, from the second tier of the Members’ Stand, was approaching the solemnity of the survey with all the consideration of a seasoned philosopher. “I’d like to see two teams battling it out and introducing some real tension to the game. We haven’t had that for a while. Plus it’d be nice for a Test to go for the full five days.”Meanwhile, coming quickly back in to bat for the “negative” was his friend Adam from Canterbury, who shook his head at the notion of a level playing field. “We’ve got to take these victories while we can,” he advised. “Some teams dominate. Some teams have winning streaks. Sink the boot in. That’s what sport is all about.”At the end of the match, as Ricky Ponting’s XI walked towards the presentation area, the fans took yet another opportunity to applaud and cheer their all-conquering heroes. OK, I thought, so much for vox pops.Christine Davey is a freelance writer based in Melbourne.

Ricky Ponting is expected to recover in time to bat, after suffering an upper back injury on the second afternoon at Kandy. Ponting had leftthe field in the morning after complaining of severe pain andbreathlessness.”He has strained muscles in his upper back,” said Alex Kontouri, Australia’s physiotherapist. “It is a lot better now after quite a lot of treatment and we expect him to bat tomorrow. I would be more concerned if it was in the lower back – the upper back is easier to manage.””We have been treating him every half an hour to keep his back moving and make sure it does not stiffen up. We will do the same in the night, give him some anti-inflammatory [tablets] and start treatment early tomorrow.”Australia are hopeful that he could come in at No. 5: “He has really improved and the plan is for him to bat next, but the key test for him will be how he wakes up tomorrow.”

Jacques Kallis has promised his side will show no mercy to Zimbabwe in their forthcoming three-match ODI series, due to begin at Goodyear Park in Bloemfontein on Friday.Kallis, standing in for Graeme Smith as captain, said his side will play as hard against Zimbabwe as they would against Australia as South Africa begin a season that will culminate with the World Cup in the West Indies next April.Kallis was quoted on a South African website as saying that the series would be ideal for a group of players, including himself, who have been out of action for a while. “This series is especially valuable for the players who have not been in action for a while. This is a good way for them to get back into things.”Kallis, who returns to international cricket after missing the tour to Sri Lanka with an elbow injury, confirmed that everything the Proteas do from now on would be with the World Cup tournament firmly in mind. Kallis has also had a bout of flu and was one of three players who did not participate in the team’s fitness tests at the University of the Free State on Wednesday.Kallis said he had just about shaken off a cold and that the elbow injury that had kept him out of the game was not troubling him much any more. “I have hit a few balls that were thrown to me. The high-intensity net practices during the next few days will be the real test. I believe I’ll be ready.”Mickey Arthur, South Africa coach, said the series would be useful for the Champions Trophy. “I expect Zimbabwe to be very competitive, but we are going to focus on our own performance. One could use these fixtures as practice matches, but we would rather ensure that our combinations and match-plans are in place for India.”South Africa will also play the Lions and the Titans after the three outings against Zimbabwe and then three matches in Indian before their first match of the tournament on October 15, against New Zealand. “We are going to play these two matches according to international one-day rules. They are part of the training camp in Pretoria before we leave for India.”One can practise in the nets as much as you want to, but it’s not the same as out in the middle. I want the lads to train with consequences. If you play the ball down someone’s throat in the nets, you continue batting. If you do so in a match situation, you have to go and take a shower. I want the players to train under pressure.”Shaun Pollock, with a sore calf, and AB de Villiers missed the fitness tests. Pollock was injured in a Twenty20 match while De Villiers has a minor foot injury. Smith, meanwhile is still recovering from ankle surgery and trained away from the rest of the team, watched by the team’s physiotherapist, Shane Jabaar.

Australia 359 for 5 (Hayden 126, Martyn 67, Symonds 66) beat India 151 by 208 runsScorecard

In a performance which was, if anything, even more ruthless than the one they put up in the 2003 World Cup final, Australia crushed India by 208 runs, clinching the VB Series in style and proving, quite emphatically, that they remained by far the best one-day side in the world. In the process, they inflicted on India their second-worst ODI defeat (after the 245-run loss against Sri Lanka in Sharjah in 2000-01), and ensured that a series which had so many memorable moments for India ended in dismal fashion.The match ran almost exactly to the script that was written at Johannesburg almost a year ago. For Ricky Ponting, who smashed an unbeaten 140 in that match, read Matthew Hayden, who struck a beautifully paced 126 here. Damien Martyn played the ideal foil for the second time with a fluent 67.Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke then gave a brutal exhibition of power-hitting in the slog overs, as 110 came off the last eight overs, lifting the total to 359, exactly as many as in the World Cup. The best India could have hoped for from there was to salvage a semblance of pride, but even that turned out to be too much to hope for as the top five were back in the hutch within the first 15 overs.The Indians were on the back foot right from the start, after Ponting won the toss and opted to bat on a shirtfront. Already handicapped by the absence of Anil Kumble and Ajit Agarkar, the Indian attack had little in their bowling armoury to challenge the might of the Australians, and showed all the fatigue of having spent three gruelling months on tour. By the time the slog overs approached, Sourav Ganguly, like in the World Cup final, could only watch helplessly and wait for the 50 overs to be bowled out.Adam Gilchrist and Hayden began in typically frenetic fashion, bringing up the fifty in the eighth over, as both Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji, in an attempt to cramp the batsmen for room, drifted on leg stump and were duly punished. India briefly mounted a comeback, getting rid of Gilchrist and Ponting in quick succession, but then came the 173-run second wicket stand which laid the perfect platform for the final assault.Hayden’s was a typically characteristic innings, punctuated by plenty of clunky blows at the start off the seamers – his fifty took just 37 balls – and then some meaty slog-sweeps and down-the-pitch hoicks off the spinners. Equally importantly, he nursed a circumspect Martyn back into form during the crucial middle overs, keeping the runs coming at a fair clip and allowing Martyn to find his groove by milking the attack for singles.

Realising that the pitch didn’t have much pace or bounce, Ganguly pressed the slower bowlers into service, and while that briefly reduced the run-glut briefly, regular service resumed as Hayden tonked a couple of sixes off Virender Sehwag and Murali Kartik, whose nightmare tour continued to get worse. Martyn gained in fluency too, reaching his fifty off 58 balls, and then unveiling some sumptuous square-drive and flicks.The third wicket partnership finally ended when Martyn holed out to Hemang Badani at midwicket off Pathan (230 for 3), and though Hayden went soon after, missing a too-ambitious reverse-sweep off Sachin Tendulkar (248 for 4), that proved to be a blessing for Australia, for it brought on stage Symonds and Clarke.Pulling and flicking the ball with awesome power, the pair put together a tremendous exhibition of power hitting. It wasn’t as if Ganguly didn’t try out different bowlers: Pathan, Tendulkar, Kartik, Nehra and Balaji all tried their luck, and they all disappeared for more than ten per over, as the pair added 99 in a mere 7.5 overs as the Indians became increasingly ragged in the field. Nehra finally landed a yorker on target to dismiss Symonds, but by then the demolition job had already been done to perfection.Thoroughly demoralised by the utter carnage in the afternoon, the Indians came out to bat knowing that the only question that remained was the margin of defeat. There were the odd sparks of defiance – Sehwag clipped the first ball of the innings, from Jason Gillespie, over fine leg for six, while Tendulkar played a couple of delightful flicks and punches off the back foot, but both were done the Gillespie-Lee combine – Lee, fielding at short fine leg, picked up a stunner when Sehwag attempted to hoick one to leg, and then picked up a more straightforward catch to get rid of Tendulkar.From there it went rapidly downhill for India, as 49 for 2 became 59 for 6 in the space of eight overs. VVS Laxman spooned a catch back to Lee, a dismissal which needed the third umpire to confirm it wasn’t a bump ball, Rahul Dravid was run out by Martyn’s direct hit for 0, ending a record 120-match run without a duck, Ganguly slapped a drive straight to point, and Yuvraj Singh nicked one to the keeper. The rest of the batsmen helped themselves to a few meaningless runs, but the contest was over well before Brad Williams got through Balaji’s defences to put an end to the Indian misery.

All Today’s Yesterdays – August 6 down the yearsAugust 5| August 71998
Lucky numbers for Mark Butcher, who scored his maiden Test hundred in his 13th Test, against South Africa at Headingley. It was a vital contribution: England won by only 23 runs to take the series 2-1.1997
Sanath Jayasuriya’s date with destiny. He woke on 326 not out, within 50 of the highest score in Test history, against India in Colombo. But Jayasuriya added only 14 before he fell to Rajesh Chauhan for 340. There were a few other records though: Sri Lanka stormed to 952 for 6 – the highest score in Test history – and Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama batted throughout two full day’s play. In all they added 576, a record for any Test wicket. Pity poor Indian spinner Nilesh Kulkarni. He nabbed Marvan Atapattu with his first ball in Test cricket – and ended with figures of 70-12-195-1.1999
The day Peter Such got a standing ovation – for a duck. Such had survived 51 balls and 72 minutes against New Zealand at Old Trafford – and helped Mark Ramprakash add 31 – but his reception summed up the desperate, almost blackly comic, mood of English cricket. Rarely has it got any lower than this. England didn’t lose this Test, but their first-innings 199 came off a buttock-clenching 109.1 overs, and then New Zealand took 496 pieces of candy off a desperate England attack. Rain gave England a reprieve … but only for two weeks. Thirteen days later, at a dark, dank Oval, England lost the match, the series – and became the worst team in the world according to the Wisden World Championship table.1953
Slow left-armer Iqbal Qasim was born. Often partnered by Abdul Qadir, he took 171 wickets in 50 Tests for Pakistan and his 7 for 49 against Australia in 1979-80 is in the Wisden 100.1994
In a drawn match at Headingley, South Africa’s Peter Kirsten scored his only Test century at the age of 39. His half-brother Gary Kirsten was also in the team. The next Test at The Oval, which England won to square the series, was Peter’s last.1985
A captain’s innings of 146 not out by Allan Border saved Australia from defeat at Old Trafford after England had led by 225 on first innings.1966
Opening batsman Peter Lashley took the ball and dismissed Geoff Boycott with his third delivery in Test cricket, the only wicket he took for West Indies, whose win at Headingley sealed the series.1933
Birth of Indian batsman Kripal Singh, who scored 100 not out in his debut Test innings, against New Zealand in 1955-56, but managed only another 322 runs in the rest of his 14-Test career.Other birthdays
1911 Norman Gordon (South Africa)
1947 Tony Dell (Australia)
1965 Vince Wells (England)
1969 Simon Doull (New Zealand)
1971 Piyal Wijetunge (Sri Lanka)

A fortnight after Sunil Gavaskar had a little dig at the Australians during his Spirit of Cricket address at Lord’s, Steve Waugh reckoned that television had made too much of too little.Delivering a talk on “Leading a winning team” in Bangalore, he said, “There is far too much talk of sledging. These days, cricket is played in the right spirit, though occasionally things do go wrong. And when they do go wrong, you have 20 or 30 [television] replays and people come to talk about it.”Waugh was of the opinion that sledging was often misinterpreted, with the critics, more often than not, placing too much faith on conjecture. “My definition of sledging is when someone has been giving personal viewsin a one-on-one situation, or a group of individuals against one person,” he said.Waugh then perplexed some in the audience when he said that the Australians didn’t indulge in sledging. “Occasionally there are things said on the cricket field, and we have examples of it during the last six to 12 months,” he said. “I am very aware that we do not want that to happen in my side as we play the game hard and fair,” he added, in an oblique reference to the Glenn McGrath-Ramnaresh Sarwan incident which so tarnished Australia’s 3-1 series win in the West Indies.Waugh also spoke about the strength of character and magnificent team spirit that have made Australia peerless. “The key is the characters we pick in our team,” he said. He then cited Justin Langer – who spent over a year practising how to hit the slow bowlers over the infield – and Andrew Bichel as examples of the work ethic and attention to detail that have given Australia the edge.Bichel has been a fringe player for most of his career, but Waugh said his selfless spirit was an inspiration to the rest of the side. “If someone hits a century or gets five wickets, he [Bichel] takes a photo with his camera and says, ‘Here is a momento’. He did a lot of things to make the side what it is,” he said.Waugh said the team was looking forward to the Indian tour next year. Their last attempt at conquering what was referred to as “the last frontier” ended in a 1-2 defeat in 2001. “It’s a big challenge to win in India,” he said. “India are a great side on the home soil.”Waugh is in India to promote certain charities and also to fulfil some commercial obligations.

As India notched up the winning runs, Nagraj Gollapudi spoke to a few former Indian players who have been part of Indian teams winning abroad – either in Tests or significant one-day international tournaments.

Ajit Wadekar
My best memory of this match would be Rahul Dravid’s innings – responsible, calculated and built on minimal risks. He was the pivot. The aim of getting close to the Australian total was the first priority and he was the best man to accomplish that task. This was a convincing victory against the best side [in the world] and should boost the future part of our tour. It’s a well-balanced setup, which is clicking as a unit, and the best Indian side ever.The win takes me back to 1971 against England at the Oval, where the sequence of events was almost similar to those in Adelaide. As that victory was a morale booster for us, the same will apply to Sourav Ganguly’s side. But his team should guard against complacency – there will be mad media hype and players shouldn’t get carried away in this euphoria.Karsan Ghavri
We achieved victory in 1981 [against Australia, at Melbourne] on an uneven wicket, whereas this Adelaide Oval pitch has been firm. The teams that toured Australia then and now are completely different: we had strong allround talent then, while batting is the strong point of the present Indian team. Our batsman successfully chased the massive Aussie first-innings total and piled enough runs for our bowlers to have a go at the Aussies. And that worked. I thought it would end as a draw, but Ajit Agarkar’s spell turned things our way.Yuvraj Singh
Hard work has been the chief characteristic of this New India. It’s a great day in Indian cricket, and we should be proud. When they had taken five wickets in their second innings, my hopes soared, and I was confident that we could do it. Rahul [Dravid] and [VVS] Laxman batted superbly and showed the art of maintaining calm in the testing conditions. They have just displayed the maturity of the side, which has been consistently performing.Chandu Borde
It’s a tremendous achievement, and a morale booster for Indian cricket. This win has shed the inferiority complex that existed against the Australians. All the talk about Australia being the best, and the world beaters etc, will not bother us anymore. One bright point I have noticed in this team is the bowlers – the medium pacers especially. They did their homework properly and implemented successfully their dressing-room strategies by playing on the weakness of the opposition.Krishnamachari Srikkanth
I can’t believe it. It was an extraordinary performance. Who could believe that a team, chasing 556 in the first innings, that had collapsed to 85 for 4, would rebuild valiantly under pressure to achieve one of the tightest victories in Test cricket ever. From the Indians’ point of view this victory is better than the 2001 Kolkata triumph, considering that this was an away win – and in Australia. One of the chief strong points of this side is the solid middle order, which has the likes of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, whose partnerships over the years have become a major worry for the opposition.Navjot Singh Sidhu
Occasions will not make men strong or weak, they will show what mettle they are made of. This win has enhanced a tarnished Indian image. Indian cricket has received a huge shot in the arm. Only if they go on to win the series will this be considered India’s best-ever Test win.Nagraj Gollapudi is sub editor of Wisden Asia Cricket.

Webmaster – “John, we are six weeks into the season, your first as Hampshire captain, how has it been going”.Crawley – “On the whole the results will say we have not had a particularly good start to the season, two real factors I think are, we have been disrupted quite heavily in the Championship by the rain, which hasn’t helped anything. We have actually when we have got on the field have gone out there and played good stuff, and have been competitive in the matches we have played in, with certainly at certain times chances of winning each of them. That’s one outstanding thing, the others were almost freak wins by Middlesex in the National League and Sussex in the Cheltenham & Gloucester, which were games we had already won and they took the games away from us, that early on in the season is not very easy to come back from. The only game we have played poorly in, I think was the National League game against Lancashire at Old Trafford. Apart from that everything has been going reasonably well. There is obviously room for improvement, but I think on the whole there has been not as much doom and gloom as the results might say.Webmaster – “Scotland coming up at the weekend, then Durham in the Championship, Sunday must have been a big relief”‘Crawley – “Yes, I think we played really well, it was great day for Derek (Kenway), he played really well, he has been struggling for runs, and struggling for form, as an opening batsmen a loss of form is not particularly easy to deal with. The two knocks he played were brilliant really for us and for him. They were two different types of pitches. The one on Sunday was I think, the best pitch I’ve played on here at The Rose Bowl, and it was great for us to play so well on that sort of surface”.Webmaster – “What about your own form this season?”Crawley – “In and out really, obviously I had a good start to the Championship season, and should have gone on really in one of those 4/5 half centuries, I should have gone on to make a big score in one if not two. The One Day stuff started slowly, which is disappointing.Webmaster – “You may not want to talk about it, but, left out of the England squad, a big disappointment”?Crawley – O a hugh disappointment, I think I have not spoken openly about it to many people. I am still pretty bewildered and amazed by the whole thing to be honest, I did have chats with some of the selectors beforehand and they gave me the odd reason. Nobody has spoken to me since the selection has been made, but the reasons that they were putting forward before hand were not really satisfactory from my point of view. In the last eight test matches since coming back into the side, I played a big part in two of England’s wins at the time, helped to save the game against Sri Lanka at Lord’s, and averaged 47 plus with the bat. OK, I didn’t really light up any bonfires in the winter, but there were a lot of other batsmen who didn’t also, and I can take a lot of credit from the fact that I can look myself in the mirror and tell myself in all honesty that I have fought as hard as I possibly could for England. To be dropped after that for not really any reason as far as I can see, is by far and away the most utterly disappointing thing that has happened to me in my cricket career”.Webmaster – “Are you still optimistic that you could get back?Crawley – “Well certainly, the ball is in my court to do so, I’m not sure because as the season goes on and obviously the press is very powerful in this country, and they will be clamouring for more and more young faces in the side, so the pressure will be on the selectors to go that way I think they probably will, whether it is right or wrong they are under pressure, so that is the way it will go, so I will have to perform. I just really have to score double hundreds on more than one occasion.Webmaster – “OK, John that super, thank you very much.