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At the start of the season Australia were intent on retaining their world-beating status and by the end were just trying to limit damage. With much hindrance from a committed opponent, they failed with both aims. The No. 1 one-day ranking will be lost to South Africa if they beat Bangladesh 3-0 this month and the drop would be another dent for a team that has struggled with its identity since the fractious Sydney Test.In the first week of the New Year Ricky Ponting won a world-record equalling 16th Test in a row and was preparing to head to Perth for what should have been the easiest contest of the series with India. Instead it became the most difficult due to a mix of public reaction to Sydney, a flat surface and a touring team that had been galvanised during their threats to take all bats, balls and briefcases home. Australia lost at the WACA and over the next two months were mostly unrecognisable from the all-conquering outfit of 2007.How much Australians turned against their national team is hard to gauge exactly, but the players were shocked when large sections criticised their overall performance at the SCG. The Test ended in the most remarkable result but was instantly over-shadowed by a rash of controversies. Following team discussions covering behaviour and attitude, the side retained its spirit-of-cricket pledge and vowed to be “hard but fair” – the same way they believed they had always performed.Australian players in the Perth contest said it was the quietest Test they had ever been part of due to the fear of offending. Australia lost in four days, the streak was over and the aura slowly diminished. Having shed a quartet of outstanding competitors the previous summer, Australia had actually done well to keep things together for so long. Adam Gilchrist’s departure, which he revealed during the draw in Adelaide, will make things much harder as they try to recover ground and mojo.While the Test series was a success despite the swing in the final two games, Australia’s CB Series stumbled towards disaster even when they were winning. Four bonus points were collected by the home team, but the fringe benefits flattered an outfit that was struggling with fatigue, a range of issues that never seemed to disappear, a wobbling batting order and an underperforming captain and key allrounder. A more vibrant Indian side was not brought down by the various controversies, which seemed to act as spurs instead of weights.If Ponting and Andrew Symonds had completed merely average returns things could have been different. Instead the pair, which was heavily involved in the Indian Premier League developments, combined for only 365 runs in ten matches and the bowlers could not sustain their miracle escapes in the two matches that mattered most. Nathan Bracken, who is now a one-day specialist, was incredible in capturing 21 wickets and the Man-of-the-Series award, while Brett Lee was inspirational until the finals, when he looked as tired as a new parent.In a three-team tournament Australia needed more from than their batsmen than finishing fifth (Gilchrist), sixth (Michael Clarke), seventh (Matthew Hayden) and eighth (Michael Hussey) on the run list. It was the lack of output that resulted in the absence of the series trophy for the second year in a row. A 2-0 defeat was an appropriate outcome and something the players accepted.India irritate Australia’s senior men in a way no other team can manage and the uneasy relationship adds to the home side’s confusion. Australia knew they should have been better than their eclectic opponents, but they were unable to remember the valid reasons why.The age-old talk became nasty by modern standards and India’s new breed had not been kicked around in previous series. Big-name reputations didn’t matter and Australia’s substance went missing. The future will be fascinating as the players wrestle with their outlooks while battling opposition sides that will now give themselves a serious chance of winning.

An unusually crisp and cold March greeted the players from India and Zimbabwe in the capital city New Delhi where the second and final Test was to be played. Down one-nil, the visitors had to win the match to square the series. The Feroz Shah Kotla wicket on first viewing looked like it was going to deteriorate and might not even last the five days. A batsman’s party track and the spinners could look forward to the turn that the pitch would provide as the days went by.Both sides made one change from the side that played in the city of oranges, Nagpur. Gavin Rennie made way for Dion Ebrahim for Zimbabwe and V V S Laxman was replaced by Virendra Sehwag for India. Stuart Carlisle won the all-important toss and elected to bat; Sourav Ganguly’s bad luck with tosses continued as he had to do what the opposition demandedZimbabwe did not have the ideal start as the two openers, captain Carlisle and Trevor Gripper, were dismissed cheaply. Zimbabwe were in deep trouble, and the tale of woe seemed to continue. The silver lining came in the form of young Dion Ebrahim, playing in his 12th Test, who played an innings of character, surpassing his personal best but unfortunately missing out on what would have been his first Test century by only 6 runs. Scoring your first Test century is a feeling that is indescribable. There is a sense of achievement, a sense of fulfillment and above all a sense of confidence.The other ray of hope was the positive in-touch Andy Flower who stroked the ball with immaculate touch. He inched his way to a much awaited century but fell eight short. One must admit that it was good to see Andy back in the limelight, after staying away in the shade for what seemed like a long time. The other star performance came from the dauntless and gutsy Travis Friend who battled almost alone to get his team to a respectable score. Eventually Zimbabwe were bowled out for 319.For India, Anil Kumble added three more wickets to his tally, and Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath and Harbhajan Singh pocketed two wickets each, showing a satisfactory all-round display in the bowling department.India started with a few hiccups, but seemed to settle down on a pitch that promised runs. Even though the star master – Tendulkar – could not score a large number, the captain Sourav Ganguly took the reins in his hand and got to his eighth Test century, but more importantly he broke the 28-month period where no hundreds were scored. The new sensation with the willow for India, the Tendulkaresque Virendra Sehwag, played a useful innings and helped India to get close to the Zimbabwean total. India were bowled out for 329.For the visitors, Heath Streak impressed on a wicket that was nowhere near ideal for pace, as he claimed four wickets, and spinner Ray Price bowled sensibly as he added three more to his tally.Zimbabwe failed to make a mark in the second innings as wickets fell like a pack of cards (for want of a better metaphor). The only performances worth mentioning were a 37 from the captain Carlisle and a gutsy 49 from Grant Flower. The spin twins for India ruled the day as they claimed all the wickets among themselves, with Harbhajan claiming six wickets and Anil Kumble adding four more to his ever increasing tally of Test wickets.The hosts were required to get a modest 122 to win the match and thereby the series. But the number 122 will ring loud for some of the team as a few years ago they lost a Test match to the West Indies, failing to get to the same total. They started on the wrong note, losing wickets cheaply, but one solid partnership saved the day for the hosts. They won the match by four wickets on paper, but the real winners were the Zimbabweans, who put up a gutsy fight right till the end. They deserved to win, but then that is cricket: you don’t always get what you deserve.The honours went to the Indians, but the visitors can take heart from the fact that, in the eyes of many cricket lovers, the sheer willingness to perform did wonders for the game.The Indian spin twins walked away with accolades, Harbhajan adjudged the man of the match and Anil Kumble the man of the series.That was curtains on the two-match Test series between India and Zimbabwe, with the hosts taking the final bow. With every series there are things to be learnt, and in this never-ending quest for knowledge, teams enhance their greatness.There will be another encounter, another place, another time and the game of cricket will continue to enthrall. One thing is for certain – the cricket show will go on!

A fine unbeaten 142 by Amit Pagnis and his unfinished third wicket partnership of 147 runs off 57.4 overs with skipper Abhay Sharma (61) helped Railways score 267 for 2 wickets in 90 overs at the end of the first day’s play in the Central Zone Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh at Karnail Singh Stadium in New Delhi today.Abhay Sharma won the toss and decided to bat. Pagnis, who joined Railwaysfrom Mumbai this year, opened the innings with Sanjay Bangar. The two put on 91 runs before Bangar was caught by debudent wicket keeper Gurucharan Singh off the bowling of JP Yadav. Bangar scored 41 off 64 balls with the help of 4 fours and a six. Murli Kartik was out for 8 off JP Yadav.Pagnis completed his century in 4-1/2 hours off 218 balls with the help of 15 fours and 2 sixes. By close he had batted six hours, faced 308 balls and hit 20 fours and two sixes. Sharma had faced 162 balls, hitting six of them to the ropes. Not even the new ball taken at 260 for two after 84.5 overs, made any impression on the two batsmen.For MP, medium pacer JP Yadav took both the wickets conceding 65 runs off25 overs.

Somerset are confident that Andrew Caddick’s back injury, which has kept him out of the Championship match against Lancashire, is not linked to the surgery he had last Christmas. He has been diagnosed with a muscle tear and is aiming to return for Somerset’s match against Hampshire on May 7.Caddick limped off midway through his fifth over in the second innings against Cambridge University last week and the initial fears were that it could be another serious problem. He had an operation on Christmas Eve to correct a disc problem, but Caddick is hopeful of a swift return this time.”I had a cortisone injection in my back under sedation in Musgrove on Saturday and things seem to have settled down,” Caddick told the Somerset website. “I am now having a lot of physiotherapy and hoping to start bowling again next week. Obviously we are being cautious but I am hoping to be fit to play against Hampshire the week after next.”Brian Rose, the club’s director of cricket said: “Caddy has got a slight muscle tear in his upper back which is not as serious as we thought at first. We don’t think it is linked to the operation and believe it is a separate issue.”Caddick took 70 Championship wickets in 2007 to spearhead Somerset’s promotion push and his new-ball partnership with Charl Willoughby was set to be one of the team’s key weapons this season.

Mohammad Amir should not be welcomed back into international cricket and should have been excluded from the game for life for his involvement in spot-fixing, according to Kevin Pietersen.Pietersen has become the first England player involved in the 2010 Lord’s Test, which ended in uproar with newspaper revelations about the scam, to state openly that all players involved in the spot-fixing should never play cricket again.His comments are made in , a follow-up to his controversial autobiography a year ago which railed against his removal from the England team.”I know Mohammad Amir was only 18 when he got into trouble, and that he was a special talent,” Pietersen says. “I also know that he and Mohammad Asif were from poor backgrounds and were offered a hell of a lot of money for a few seconds’ work.”But I don’t care; they should not be coming back. I don’t feel badly towards them and I wish them well in their lives, but the game is bigger than us, the game will be around a lot longer than us, and we don’t have the right to steal from it.”We play fairly, we play tough, we play positively, we play negatively, people play the way that they want to play. But there’s no place in the game for corruption, and if you get caught you have to be given a life ban.”Amir was predicted to be a world star when he wrecked his cricketing career by deliberately bowling two no-balls to order during the Lord’s Test. He served three months in a young offender institution in the England after he was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court, along with Asif and Salman Butt, of a conspiracy to cheat and accept corrupt payments.His five-year ICC ban ended in September and he has vowed: “I let everybody down but I will return with honesty and dignity.”Pietersen would show no mercy. “When the spot-fixing story broke… that day was the worst I’ve experienced in cricket. The guys didn’t even want to bowl to them, we didn’t celebrate the wickets that we took; everything about it was horrendous. We just felt so much anger towards them. We could not believe what they’d done.”Match-fixing, spot-fixing – I’m fierce about anything like that. If you’re caught you should never play again, because we have an amazing game. There are so many honest blokes out there, trying their hardest and committing to everything to make a living, and if you’re cheating then sorry, I’m afraid that’s got to be it.”Pietersen said his attitude towards match-fixing first hardened when he was playing for Natal in a one-day warm-up against South Africa, during which South Africa’s captain Hansie Cronje ran from the field to receive a message. The next day revelations about match-fixing filled the papers and Cronje’s career was disgraced.”I’m not a person who has lived a perfect life,” Pietersen said. “I don’t think that anybody has the right to judge anybody: if you make mistakes, you make mistakes. We all do, because nobody’s perfect and I was raised to recognise that. He obviously just loved money and got into the wrong scenario. So once he’d apologised and been punished, I was proud of how the country forgave him and happy that he could stay a hero. But that doesn’t mean I disagreed with his life ban.”

ScorecardCaptain Nic Maddinson top scored for New South Wales with 80 (file photo)•Getty Images

Nic Maddinson led New South Wales to a tense victory in his first match captaining the state as the Blues chased down 214 in the dying overs of the fourth day against Queensland in Mackay. In what had been a slow-scoring match that had seen run-rates hovering around 2.5 an over for the first three innings, New South Wales lifted their tempo to reach their target in 58.4 overs.Maddinson’s 80 off 72 balls was the key – he struck seven fours and four sixes having come to the crease with New South Wales wobbling against Queensland’s spinners at 2 for 59. The Blues had been 2 for 66 at tea, still requiring another 148 runs in the final session and Maddinson made it possible, despite the best efforts of Jason Floros (4 for 71) and Mitch Swepson (3 for 69).Maddinson fell with 23 runs still required and the loss of his partner Ben Rohrer for 31 in the next over gave Queensland a sniff once again, needing five wickets. Sean Abbott and Ryan Carters both departed cheaply, which left the Bulls in need of three more breakthroughs and New South Wales needing 12 more runs as the light closed in.But Steve O’Keefe and Gurinder Sandhu were able to get New South Wales over the line, Sandhu striking two consecutive fours off Swepson to seal the result.