New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum ties Twenty20 series with Australia
• New Zealand wicketkeeper smashes 116 not out
• Southee holds nerve to secure win in extra over
New Zealand won a thrilling Twenty20 international against Australia in Christchurch after an extra “super over”. The Black Caps’ win tied the two-match series.
With both sides having made 214 the one-over tie-break was required. Tim Southee, who had bowled superbly at the death for New Zealand, restricted Australia, who used Cameron White, David Warner and Brad Haddin, to six for one. Australia’s Shaun Tait then bowled two wides as the man of the match, Brendon McCullum, and Martin Guptill made nine for no loss in New Zealand’s over.
McCullum’s unbeaten 116 spearheaded New Zealand’s innings. For a while the target of 215 looked like it would be too much for Australia, but 47 from Haddin and half-centuries from Michael Clarke and White left the game in the balance. Southee produced a fine spell of bowling at the end, with White and Clarke unable to get the 12 runs required from the final over.
McCullum attacked from the off – his hundred came in 50 balls, matching Chris Gayle’s world record, set against South Africa in September 2007, but the wicketkeeper could not knock the West Indian off the top of the highest Twenty20 scores list, finishing one run shy.
After the first-over departure of his fellow opener, Peter Ingram, he maintained his aggressive approach, with Guptill turning over the strike. The pair put on 52 for the second wicket before Guptill holed out off Ryan Harris for 17.
New Zealand then lost three wickets for 15 runs in four overs as Clarke introduced his slower bowlers. But Gareth Hopkins and McCullum then hit 68 runs in 30 balls. Hopkins hit two sixes and three fours in his 17-ball 36 before he stepped on to his wicket while sending a Dirk Nannes delivery to the rope.
Australia’s reply began well, with Warner quick to punish Southee. But after reaching 20 off 10 balls he holed out to Southee off Shane Bond.
Haddin and Clarke added 73 for the second wicket before Haddin pulled James Franklin’s first ball to Ingram at deep midwicket. Clarke brought up his 50 off just 31 balls, then David Hussey was bowled by Franklin to leave Australia 132 for three.
White hit two sixes off Daniel Vettori and survived a couple of nervous moments – being dropped by Nathan McCullum and avoiding a run-out when Hopkins fumbled – and he and Clarke forced the tie and set up a thrilling finale.
Farewell Brett Lee, a very modern purveyor of good old-fashioned pace
The Test retirement of the fastest bowler of his generation will be keenly felt by Australia
In a bar in Melbourne in December 1998 an old Australian Test cricketer was barely able to contain his excitement. Rodney Marsh, director of the Australian academy at the time (he would go on to do the same job for the England and Wales Cricket Board) and a frequent contributor to the Observer’s sports pages, was so excited he barely had time to sip his beer.
England had just gone one down in the Ashes series, but this was not the reason Marsh was jumping up and down like a kid with a new toy. The explanation came in his column of that week. “Just to cheer you up some more,” he wrote. “I’ve just watched the academy side beat Victoria’s second team – and I’m in a state of some exhilaration. Fast bowlers always excite me and I’ve just witnessed one in action. My boys asked me whether I had seen anyone quicker. ‘Just one,’ I said. ‘Thommo.’ The bowler in question is called Brett Lee. Remember that name.”
Well, there you go – the Observer first with the news again. In that bar I remember Marsh summoning young members of his academy side as witnesses, just in case I thought Rodney was getting carried away in his old age.
Marsh was right. Lee, who retired from Test cricket last week, was fast. Shoaib Akhtar and Shaun Tait may have bowled quicker deliveries now and again, but Lee, day in day out, has been the fastest bowler of his generation and the most exhilarating to watch.
He made his Test debut, just over a year after that highly convivial evening with Marsh, in the Boxing Day Test of 1999, when he took seven wickets against India. He would go on to take 310 wickets for his country in 76 Tests. Only Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Dennis Lillee have taken more for Australia.
Lee has been a thoroughly modern fast bowler. He has never played a Test in Pakistan. He has his own website. I presume he tweets. And he has chosen to retire from Test cricket in the hope that he may be able to prolong his one-day career. In the past the retirements came the other way round, but in the 21st century the logic is incontrovertible. Twenty‑over matches are not so sapping as a five‑day Test and they bring much better remuneration. Once the body sends those signals it is time for the speedster to stop pounding in for 20 overs a day. Four will do, 10 at a pinch. Lee now joins Andrew Flintoff, whom he consulted about retirement, and Shane Bond among modern pacemen who have forsaken the red ball.
Lillee focused on Lee’s constant pursuit of pace in his tribute – “Brett is going to go down as one of the great all-time express bowlers,” said Lillee, “150-plus kph puts a huge strain on the body and it can only take so much.” Lillee and McGrath may have taken more wickets but neither bowled as consistently fast and neither smiled as much on a cricket field.
Lee always gave the impression that you could take him home to meet mum and dad without any reservations, which cannot be said of every Australian fast bowler. He has recently had a very public separation from his wife, Liz Kemp, which has slightly dented his wholesome image. But Lee remained the darling of female fans with his good looks and ready smile even if opening batsmen around the world viewed him rather more suspiciously.
Below him in the table are some great fast bowlers such as Ray Lindwall, Keith Miller and Jeff Thomson. All these were his superior and Lee could not snarl like most of them, either. But he was a superb athlete, thrilling to watch at full tilt, who relied mostly on extreme pace and some swing, whether conventional or reverse. He was relatively guileless, which may be why he was so endearing to all those potential in-laws; dropping his pace – like Lillee did – was never really an option. He had to bowl fast to be effective.
Occasionally he could be nasty, though it did not seem to come as naturally to him as some of his predecessors. At one stage he bowled enough beamers for onlookers to ask whether they all happened by accident and in 2002 in Perth he displayed a memorably ruthless streak to the English tail upon his recall to the Australia side. Alex Tudor received a sickening blow to the head and a greenhorn Steve Harmison soon endured the same treatment.
Yet the oddity about Lee is that he was less effective against England than against any of the other major Test nations. So he never induced the same terror as Thomson, Lillee and McGrath. Even Merv Hughes has a far superior record against England. In Lee’s 18 Ashes Tests against he took 62 wickets at 40 apiece; in England his 29 wickets cost 45 apiece and he leaked runs at more than four an over.
Lee’s poor record against England is hard to explain. Maybe he missed the extra pace of Australian pitches; maybe he was happier with a Kookaburra ball. Maybe England’s batsmen of the 21st century were actually rather good against extreme pace. It is a surprising fact – though it may not remain the case forever – that Dale Steyn, who is now the undisputed top dog among the world’s pacemen, also has a relatively modest record against England.
The punters may miss Lee more than the Punter (Ricky Ponting). Australia’s current Test attack is pragmatic, craggy and disciplined (Peter Siddle, Doug Bollinger and Ben Hilfenhaus fit that bill, alongside the more volatile Mitchell Johnson) but they do not set the pulse racing like Lee used to as he hurtled to the wicket.
However, Australia have done without Lee since the Boxing Day Test of 2008; they are now accustomed to his absence in Test cricket cricket. Arguably Lee was an even more effective one-day player – and hopes to remain so. Yet Australia have gone through their summer unbeaten in one‑day cricket without him.
Australia are confident they can cope after Lee’s retirement but we will miss his smile and we will miss his pace. The volume of international cricket is so all-consuming that there are fewer bowlers out there prepared to bear the pain of bowling fast with a red ball. I doubt whether Siddle and Co can deflect our Rodney from his beer.
Brett Lee faces ‘tough challenge’ to make Australian one-day side
• Vice-captain Clarke unsure if Lee can recover from injury
• ‘If he’s fully fit I’m sure he’ll make his way back’
The Australia vice-captain Michael Clarke is unsure whether Brett Lee will be fit enough to resume his one-day career, despite Lee retiring from Test matches to focus on the shorter game.
The 33-year-old faces a lengthy rehabilitation following surgery on his elbow in December and described the injury as the “most painful” of a Test career in which he took 310 wickets but struggled with injury.
Clarke, speaking before Australia departed for their tour of New Zealand, said: “I think he’s still facing a tough challenge to get his elbow right and see if he can come out and go back to bowling how he used to bowl.”
But Clarke believes that if Lee can get back to full fitness he will remain a valuable part of the Australia side.
“His statistics don’t lie. In all three forms he’s a wonderful player and has been for a long time for Australia, so if he’s fully fit I’m sure he’ll make his way back into any form of the game.”
Lee missed last year’s Ashes defeat after picking up a side strain in the tour game against England Lions on the eve of the first Test and has not worn the baggy green since the 2008 Boxing Day Test against South Africa.
“He’s been a wonderful player in all three forms of the game for a long time (and) he’s a very good friend of mine and someone that I’ll continue enjoying playing international cricket with,” Clarke added.
Lee retires from Test cricket
• Fast bowler took 310 wickets in 76 Tests at 30.81
• He played his final match for Australia in 2008
Brett Lee’s decision to retire from Test cricket was made after talking to his friend Andrew Flintoff, the two cricketers who came to represent the spirit of the 2005 Ashes series. The picture of the England player consoling his rival at the end of the Edgbaston Test left an indelible image.
It is understood that Lee had been close to retirement for some time. But according to reports in Australia he made his final decision after consulting Flintoff. His departure, added to those of Flintoff, who decided to retire from Test cricket at the end of last summer’s Ashes campaign, and New Zealand’s Shane Bond, means the modern game has lost three of its outstanding fast bowlers in the space of a few months.
Lee, Australia’s fourth highest wicket-taker after Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Dennis Lillee, took 310 wickets in 76 matches at 30.81. “I’m not 21, I’m 33,” he said today. “Trying to bowl at 150kph for five days is very hard on the body.” His final Test was in Melbourne in 2008.
A side strain kept him out of last summer’s Ashes contest. But he fought back to fitness by the end of the summer and had he played in the final Test at The Oval, along with the off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, the result of the series could well have been different.
Lee may not rank alongside Lillee, McGrath and Ray Lindwall in the front rank of Australian fast bowlers. But he was competitive and genuinely fast and showed character too in overcoming elbow and foot injuries.
He added: “As far as my cricket goes, anything is possible – I may play one-dayers, or no cricket at all. I may never bowl another ball and if that’s the case, I’m so satisfied with my career and my longevity. I’m not saying it’s definitely over, but I’m not sure what I want to be just yet.
“I’m not sure what I still want to do in my cricketing life. I need to get to the stage where, if I want to, I can do what I need to do on the field. If it’s the case that I don’t play again, well, that’s the case. There is a part of me that would like to play some sort of cricket.”
Lee, like Flintoff and Jacob Oram, is expected to become a one-day specialist. He has an Indian Premier League contract with Kings XI Punjab and is expected to target the 2011 World Cup as his last big event.
The national selector Merv Hughes said: ” You look at Shoaib Akhtar [46 Tests] and Shaun Tait [three Tests] and certainly Brett Lee was right up there in pace, his longevity at that pace was superb and I really can’t believe that people questioned his ability.”
Brett Lee set to announce retirement from Test cricket for Australia
• Lee to announce decision to retire in Sydney tonight
• Bowler set to undergo surgery on elbow injury
Australia’s Brett Lee is expected to announce his retirement from Test cricket Sydney later today. The 33-year-old fast bowler intimated last week he was considering walking away from the longer format of the game as he faces a lengthy rehabilitation following elbow surgery in December.
Lee has described the injury as the “most painful” of a 76-Test career that has yielded 310 wickets but has been undermined by injury in recent years. He missed last year’s Ashes series after suffering a side strain on the eve of the first Test and has not worn the baggy green since the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in 2008.
A press conference has been called at the Sydney Cricket Ground tomorrow morning local time (10.15pm GMT tonight). Speaking last week Lee, the fastest bowler in the world at his peak, revealed he was considering his future following his latest setback.
“As far as my cricket goes, anything is possible – I may play one-dayers, or no cricket at all,” he said. “I may never bowl another ball and if that’s the case, I’m so satisfied with my career and my longevity. I’m not saying it’s definitely over, but I’m not sure what I want to be just yet.
“To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure what I still want to do in my cricketing life. I need to get to the stage where, if I want to, I can do what I need to do on the field.
“If it’s the case that I don’t play again, well, that’s the case. There is a part of me that would like to play some sort of cricket again.”
Brad Haddin and Shaun Tait help Australia to T20 win over West Indies
• Australia 179-8; West Indies 141-8
• Windies undone as top order capitulate
Another top-order batting collapse from West Indies handed Australia an easy 38-run win in the Twenty20 international at Bellerive Oval.
Set a challenging 180 to win, the Windies slumped to 53 for six before a 73-run partnership between Denesh Ramdin (44 off 26 balls) and Runako Morton (40 from 40) added some respectability. West Indies finished on 141 for eight from their 20 overs.
The fast bowler Shaun Tait, who took three for 30, was named man of the match and was well supported by Dirk Nannes (three for 21) and Mitchell Johnson (two for 28).
The visitors desperately needed a good start but were again let down by the men at the top. Chris Gayle’s disappointing run continued, bowled for five in the second over attempting to swing the hostile Tait over midwicket.
Narsingh Deonarine was out next for a golden duck, beaten for pace and edging Tait to second slip, where Shane Watson held on to a sharp catch.
In the next over Tait held his nerve at third man to take a skied catch from Lendl Simmons off Nannes. Pollard (12) became Tait’s third victim in the fourth over, edging a rearing delivery to Brad Haddin.
Watson produced a fine running catch to end Wavell Hinds’ stay on 11 and Dwayne Smith soon followed, caught by Steve Smith on the midwicket rope off the bowling of Johnson.
Ramdin and Morton then combined to send the score past 100, but it was only delaying the inevitable. When they both departed with the score on 126, the end was nigh.
Some big hitting from Haddin late in the innings had helped Australia set the West Indies a competitive total earlier.
They risked throwing away a tremendous start when they slumped to 151 for seven on the first ball of the 19th over. But Haddin picked up the pace, cracking two sixes in his 16-ball 37 to drag Australia’s towards 180.
Dave Warner and Watson, who clubbed four sixes, sped to 83 from just 47 balls at the top of the order before the side lost their way. Watson (37 from 19) was the first man out, deceived by a well-flighted Gayle delivery and skying a simple catch to the wicketkeeper Ramdin.
Just three runs later a typically exhilarating Warner innings came to a soft end just one run short of his half century.
He pushed a Dwayne Smith full toss straight back to the bowler. The New South Welshmen’s knock lasted 32 balls and contained six fours and two sixes.
West Indies had done well to stay in the contest during the early onslaught, but it got away from them at the end.
Having lost six wickets for 46 to be pegged back to 129 for six in the 16th over, Australia then accelerated as Haddin took it upon himself to push the total well beyond the 150 mark. He single-handedly rescued the innings, his intelligent knock in the closing overs ensuring the West Indies were left confronting a total they never threatened to overhaul.
Australia close in on unbeaten summer
• Hosts coast to 125-run ODI victory at Sydney MCG
• Two T20 games away from matching run of 2000-01
Australia edged closer to their first unbeaten summer in nine years as the one-day international series against West Indies came to a predictable end at the MCG. In another one-sided match, the Windies were abysmal as Australia coasted to a 125-run win.
The margin flattered the tourists, who at one stage collapsed to 135 for eight before being bowled out for 199 in the 37th over in reply to Australia’s 324 for five. The match was played in front of just 15,538 fans – the lowest crowd for a one-day match between these two sides at the MCG.
The visitors managed to drop five catches, giving lives to Australia openers Brad Haddin [twice in one over] and Shane Watson, as well as captain Ricky Ponting and James Hopes.
The win gave Australia a 4-0 series triumph, after game three in Sydney was washed out, following 2-0 and 3-0 Test series wins over the Windies and Pakistan respectively as well as the 5-0 one-day series whitewash over Pakistan in January. That means that as long as Australia don’t lose either of their two Twenty20 internationals against West Indies they will have gone through the summer unbeaten for the first time since 2000-01.
From the time Haddin was dropped twice in just the fourth over, the game was a no-contest as he and Watson, who was dropped on 29 in the eighth over in his first innings, put on 81 for the first wicket in 14 overs. Watson made a run-a-ball 51 and Haddin hit 32 before the latter was bowled by Kieron Pollard in the 17th over with Pollard the only Windies player to offer any resistance with bat and ball.
Ponting, who was dropped on 47, and Michael Clarke then put on a 104-run stand off just 101 balls for the third wicket before Ponting was caught behind for 62 off the first ball of Pollard’s second spell. After Clarke [47 off 58 balls] and Cameron White [22 off 33 balls] departed, man of the match Hopes [57 not out off 26 balls] and Adam Voges [45 not out off 36 balls] piled on the misery for the visitors as Wavell Hinds dropped a regulation catch in the deep to give Hopes a life on 24.
West Indies’ effort with the bat was just as bad as Travis Dowlin departed for a first-ball duck, lbw to Doug Bollinger in the first over, before Bollinger yet again claimed captain Chris Gayle in his next over.
Once Gayle [14 off five balls] again departed quickly, there was a sense of inevitability about another batting collapse from the visitors as only Pollard [45 off 51 balls] knuckled down before Steven Smith – on his one-day international debut – ended his stay with a fine running catch on the boundary at deep square off the bowling of Hopes in the 18th over.
Khalid Latif’s Waca attacker fined A$9,000 by Australian court
• David James Fraser banned from Waca for life
• 37-year-old admitted to being drunk prior to incident
An Australian court has fined a spectator A$9,000 (about £5,120) for attacking the Pakistan batsman Khalid Latif on the outfield after invading the pitch during a one-day international last month.
David James Fraser, 37, was found guilty after running on to the ground at the Waca in Perth and tackling Latif to the ground from behind as he fielded against Australia on 31 January. The 24-year-old injured his neck and required medical attention.
Fraser was fined A$6,000 on a charge of trespass for entering the playing field and A$3,000 for common assault, after pleading guilty to both counts. He had already been banned for life from the Waca.
Fraser said he had been drinking all day and had run on to the field following a dare from a friend.
The West Australian Cricket Association said that following the hearing it would continue to work with the state government and other major sporting bodies to push for tougher minimum penalties for pitch invaders.
“Invasions by spectators during major sporting events are dangerous, disrupt major public events and can influence the outcome of those events, while also damaging Australia’s and WA’s reputation in the eyes of international viewing audiences,” it said in a statement.
“The International Cricket Council has the power to revoke the Waca ground’s accreditation to host international cricket matches, and the Waca supports harsher penalties that would encourage members of the crowd to think twice before attempting to enter the field of play.”
Australia beat West Indies by 50 runs to secure one-day series victory
• Australia 324-7; West Indies 274-8
• Hosts lead five-match series 3-0 with one to play
Australia won their five-match one-day series against the West Indies with a 50-run victory at the Gabba in Brisbane. After being set 325 to win the fourth match in the series, the tourists reached 274 for eight from their 50 overs. Australia lead the series 3-0.
Kieron Pollard top-scored for West Indies with 62 off 55 balls and combined with Dwayne Smith (58 not out) in a 102-run partnership. Doug Bollinger and Ryan Harris took two wickets each for Australia, with Bollinger again dismissing the West Indies captain, Chris Gayle.
Ricky Ponting set Australia on their way after they were put in to bat, scoring 106 from 112 balls. Ponting’s 29th one-day century was his first in Brisbane and helped Australia to reach the highest one-day international score at the ground.
Ponting was involved in a 52-run second-wicket stand with a fellow Tasmanian, Tim Paine (24), followed by a 131-run partnership with Cameron White, who made 63 from 78 balls. Mike Hussey (23 off 17) and James Hopes (42 off 21) then added some late power-hitting.
Gayle hit six boundaries in the first five overs for West Indies but two wickets then fell in quick succession. Travis Dowlin (eight) edged Ryan Harris to Paine behind the stumps and in the following over Gayle was out in identical fashion, after making 34 from 21 balls.
Hopes removed Lendl Simmons for one to leave West Indies at 55 for three. Wavell Hinds and Narsingh Deonarine moved their side past 100, but a mix-up in the 21st over saw Hopes throw down the stumps with a direct hit, dismissing Hinds for 20 after Deonarine refused a quick single.
Deonarine brought up his half-century by shovelling Hauritz over midwicket, before finding Harris at long-off. Denesh Ramdin (15) was the next out, playing Bollinger’s delivery on to his stumps.
Pollard and Smith then came together, the former bringing up his first one-day international half-century in the 43rd over, off 43 balls. Their partnership came to an end when Pollard picked out Hussey off Johnson.
Smith’s half-century came in the same over when he hit Johnson for consecutive sixes down the ground. Darren Sammy was bowled for a duck with Harris’s final delivery before Smith and Nikita Miller played out the final over.
Australia cruise to one-day victory over West Indies
• Ponting and Clarke shine as hosts chase down 171-run target
• Now lead 2-0 in five match series
Australia have cruised to another comfortable one-day international victory over the West Indies. The hosts now lead 2-0 following an eight-wicket win in Adelaide with three matches remaining.
Set a target of 171, Australia cantered to victory in the 27th over with captain Ricky Ponting (57 not out off 55 balls) and his deputy Michael Clarke (27 not out off 28) leading the side home.
A belligerent 53 off 50 balls from opener Shane Watson ensured the run chase was going to be comfortable while Shaun Marsh was the other early contributor with 27.
Doug Bollinger was named man of the match for his four wickets earlier in the day.
Australia got off to a bright opening after Kemar Roach bowled a no-ball from the first ball of the innings and Watson thrashed a boundary down the ground off the resulting free hit.
The home side raced to 50 before Marsh chopped a Dwayne Smith delivery on to his off stump. It was another frustrating innings for the batsman who has struggled to make the most of his positive starts for Australia this summer.
The dismissal should have lifted Windies spirits but a tactical blunder by captain Chris Gayle meant Australia continued their dominance.
Gayle called for the bowling power play and watched on as Australia smashed 42 runs off overs 11-15 – Watson’s second six through the on-side the best of several highlights in this purple patch.
The end of the power play signalled the demise of Watson who was caught behind pushing forward to a Roach delivery.
Ponting was joined by Clarke and the experienced duo took their time against Nikita Miller and Roach. But they then went for the killer blow by calling for the batting power play in the 20th over – Ponting smashing some lusty hits off both pace and spin.
Earlier, the tourists won the toss, elected to bat and slumped to 77 for six before some lower-order resistance helped them reach their modest tally.
Smith top scored with 43 off 63 balls and was the last man out – brilliantly caught by Mike Hussey off Clint McKay – while Kieron Pollard (32 off 39) and Denesh Ramdin (30 off 42) got starts but could not hang around long enough.
The Windies have now occupied the crease for just 74 of a possible 100 overs in the first two matches of the series after being dismissed for 143 in the first one-day international in Melbourne.