Cricket Briefs
The Age
Tuesday February 9, 2010
Warriors stumbleSOUTH Australia claimed the key wickets of Western Australia skipper Marcus North, Adam Voges and Luke Pomersbach in quick succession to take the upper hand in the Sheffield Shield clash at the WACA Ground yesterday. The Warriors went to tea on day one precariously placed at 5-196, with Mitchell Marsh (21 not out) and Luke Ronchi (10 not out) at the crease. WA was cruising at 2-159 but lost 3-12 as North, Voges (54) and Pomersbach (one) were dismissed. Redbacks paceman Jake Haberfield (3-44) was the chief destroyer.Bulls fight backA 172-RUN partnership between Queensland pair Wade Townsend and Chris Hartley led the Bulls to a comfortable position on day one of the Sheffield Shield match at Bellerive Oval yesterday. At stumps Queensland was 7-244, with skipper Chris Simpson unbeaten on one and Ben Cutting on four. Townsend notched his maiden shield century with one of 15 fours as the Bulls recovered from a disastrous start against Tasmania.Kiwis win easilyAN AIR of predictability hung above University Oval as Ross Taylor ensured New Zealand again made short work of Bangladesh to seal the one-day series yesterday. The hosts ran down Bangladesh's inadequate 8-183 with five wickets and more than 22 overs up their sleeves, in the process securing the series 2-0. The Black Caps, who caned the tourists by 146 runs in the first match, were steered to their target by Taylor, who was in vintage touch scoring 78 off 51 deliveries.Steyn strikes earlyDALE Steyn picked up two quick wickets to derail India's reply on the third day of the first Test against South Africa yesterday. The express paceman got rid of Sachin Tendulkar and Murali Vijay while Morne Morkel (1-31) dismissed Gautam Gambhir to reduce the hosts to 3-119 at lunch in Nagpur. Aggressive opener Virender Sehwag tried to repair the damage, completing his 22nd Test half-century off 70 balls with seven fours. At the break, Sehwag was batting on 63 with debutant Subramaniam Badrinath (21) with India trailing the visitors by 439 runs with seven wickets in hand, in reply to South Africa's first innings of 6-558 declared.Akmal droppedBELEAGUERED wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal has been dropped from the Pakistan squad for two Twenty20 internationals against England in Dubai this month. Akmal came under severe criticism for his poor performance in recent Test series against Australia. Sarfraz Ahmed was named as Pakistan wicketkeeper yesterday.
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