Haddin backs Clarke as captain

Brad Haddin spent his first full day as Australia's vice-captain insisting Michael Clarke, his new master, is the right man for the top job. A new cricket leader is usually a time for celebration in this country, but Clarke's appointment for Monday's fifth Ashes Test at the SCG has been greeted with extreme caution.

Ricky Ponting is missing the match due to a broken finger and Clarke enters the fixture in poor form and with only pockets of public support. None of that matters to Haddin, who says the team is 100% behind the leader.

"He is ready to do this job," Haddin said at the SCG. "He'd be excited about the prospect of captaining Australia and he will do a very, very good job. We're 100% behind him and, being a good mate of mine, I'll support him in any way I can. He deserves to be in this position ... he's the best man for the job."

Haddin, 33, said the public reaction to all the Australian players changed from week to week. However, Clarke's rating among large sections of the community, particularly in his home state of New South Wales, has been more consistent. His lack of runs in the series - 148 in eight innings - hasn't helped endear Clarke to the detractors and the lukewarm response adds to the pressure on the country's 43rd Test captain.

"You are one good innings away, or sometimes one good cover drive away, from the support being with you," Haddin said. "Michael is a very strong character so things will be okay. He has got a very good cricket brain and you saw that through the T20 World Cup [when Australia made the final]. He thinks a lot about the game, he is going to do a very good job."

Haddin, who hopes his elevation is temporary, has played 31 Tests since replacing the retired Adam Gilchrist in the middle of 2008. He has leadership experience with New South Wales and gets a close-up view of the game as wicketkeeper. It will be interesting to watch how he juggles his post as one of the team's verbal enforcers with his new responsibilities.

The first aim for Australia is to show some signs of collective improvement after being thoroughly out-played in three of the four matches. The hosts are upset to have failed in their push to regather the urn - Haddin said the results were "unacceptable" - but they will aim to take comfort in a victory in Sydney.

"It's disappointing we have lost the Ashes and we are disappointed in our own performance, but you have to move on pretty quick in sport," he said. "We have to win this Test match to make this series 2-all."

Vettori firm on quitting captaincy after World Cup

Wellington, Dec 27 (IANS) New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori Monday reaffirmed that he would step down from the post after the 2011 cricket World Cup.
Vettori, who has opted out of the ongoing T20 Internationals against Pakistan for resting his back, said he would stand by his decision irrespective of the team's performance in the tournament co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

'I still stand by those words of finishing up after the World Cup,' Vettori was quoted as saying by the New Zealand Herald.

'I understand things can change and there may be a chance for that, but at this point I will finish after the cup.'

New Zealand have been struggling for form and most recently had disastrous tours of India and Bangladesh. The slump in form also led to John Wright taking over as the coach from Mark Greatbatch last Monday.

Vettori and team mate Ross Taylor were all praise for the new coach.

'His real skills are getting around players and making them feel confident,' Vettori said.

'After that many losses (11 straight ODI defeats) guys tend to question their game, but he is a positive guy and that will rub off on the players.'

Taylor talked about Wright's ethos.

'That is the first thing he has instilled in us,' Taylor said.

'Every time he talks, it is that if we play as a collective we give ourselves the best chance. He is trying to get everyone to trust himself.'

Sehwag ruled out of ODI series in S Africa

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India opener Virender Sehwag will skip the one-day international series against South Africa because of a troublesome shoulder, his country's cricket board (BCCI) said on Thursday.
"Virender Sehwag has been advised to withdraw from the ODI series against South Africa to tend to his shoulder. Rohit Sharma will replace him in the squad," BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement.
However, Sehwag is expected to play in the third and final match of the test series which is currently tied at 1-1 after India won in Durban on Wednesday.
Test opener Murali Vijay has been asked to stay on in South Africa as Sharma is a middle-order batsman and Sehwag's absence leaves India with just two specialist openers -- Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar.
Sehwag missed the Twenty20 World Cup with shoulder problems earlier this year and the cricket board's decision to rest him is perceived as a precautionary step ahead of the ODI World Cup starting on Feb. 19.
Following the final test starting in Cape Town on Sunday, India take on South Africa in the first of the five one-day internationals on Jan. 12 at Durban.

All-round Razzaq flattens New Zealand

Abdul Razzaq pummeled an 11-ball 34 to propel Pakistan to 183, before returning to flatten the New Zealand top order with the new ball, as the visitors stormed to a 103-run victory in the third Twenty20 in Christchurch. Razzaq capitalised on some inexperienced death bowling from Adam Milne to hammer 31 from the last nine deliveries of the innings, and picked up three wickets for 13 as New Zealand imploded dramatically, effectively surrendering the game within the first three overs of their chase.

The chase was derailed almost before it had begun as the top four batsmen all collected ducks. Martin Guptill began the catastrophic collapse when he edged Razzaq to point, pushing away from his body with hard hands to one that nipped away a touch. Jesse Ryder turned in his third failure of the series in the following over when he top edged a pull, and Dean Brownlie's decision to sneak a quick single to get off the mark backfired when Shahid Afridi effected a rare Pakistani direct hit. Ross Taylor was unfortunate to be adjudged lbw to one that struck him slightly above the knee roll, but didn't do himself any favours by playing all around the straight delivery. Three overs into the innings, New Zealand had lost four wickets for three runs, and when James Franklin lost his head, and his middle stump, two overs later, there was only one direction the match was heading. New Zealand had made 11 runs for the loss of five wickets from their first five overs. Pakistan were 51 for no loss at the same stage.

Styris resisted bravely, throwing his bat to collect a couple of boundaries over cover in Razzaq's last over, and even swatting a six over midwicket to give the Christchurch crowd something to cheer about, but with the required run-rate tipping 15, and wickets falling regularly at the other end, there was little he could do. Peter McGlashan dragged Abdur Rehman onto the stumps attempting to reverse sweep and Nathan McCullum didn't hang around long, succumbing to Shahid Afridi's straighter one. Styris eventually fell for 45, and Afridi wasted little time cleaning up the tail - an 134 kph arm ball to dismiss Tim Southee first ball being the highlight of his spell. Styris aside, none of the other New Zealand batsmen managed double figures. They made 28 collectively. 

Pakistan's impressive total was set up by an explosive opening partnership between Ahmad Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez, who blasted 81 in 8.4 overs to set pulses racing at the AMI stadium. Shehzad in particular, was quick to punish anything on a length, peppering the midwicket boundary repeatedly, while also driving through the covers when the ball was pitched up. Hafeez too got into the action scooping Mills over the shoulder for four, before unfurling a wristy swat that sent the ball sailing over deep square-leg a few overs later.

The introduction of slow bowling into the attack did the trick for New Zealand though, as both openers perished attempting to maintain the frenetic scoring rate, and three more wickets followed soon after. Younis Khan was run out, attempting a suicidal single, Asad Shafiq was caught on the boundary after having used up 15 deliveries for his 8 and Shahid Afridi departed for a quickfire 14.

Umar Akmal kept Pakistan ticking with some intelligent hitting, but it was Abdul Razzaq who boosted the visitors' total and swung the momentum decidedly Pakistan's way with a brutal display of power hitting. Razzaq swung in the V, launching Tim Southee twice over midwicket before taking on Milne in the last over. Razzaq smoked the short deliveries over cover, and sent the fuller ones racing along the ground to the boundary, and 19 runs came off the last five deliveries, despite Milne's best efforts to vary the pace and find the blockhole.

Innings Dot balls 4s 6s Powerplay 16 - 20 overs NB/Wides Pakistan 44 22 6 64/0 66/2 0/3 New Zealand 59 9 1 17/5 1/1 (15.1 - 15.5) 2/2

Clarke replaces Ponting as Test captain

Michael Clarke is Australia's 43rd Test captain after succeeding the injured Ricky Ponting for Monday's fifth Ashes Test in Sydney. Clarke, who has been the deputy since 2008, takes the coveted job at a time when the team is at its nadir and the 29-year-old is in a severe batting rut.

Ponting's broken left pinky not only means he may never add to his 152 Tests, but it accelerates the transition to Clarke during a summer in which his performances have indicated he is not ready for the role. He now has no choice after his appointment - and the elevation of Brad Haddin to vice-captain - was approved in a unanimous decision by Cricket Australia's board on Thursday afternoon.

"Obviously I'm honoured, it's for this Test match and hopefully we can get Punter right as soon as possible and get him back into whichever team," Clarke said at the SCG. "The sooner we can get him back into the one dayers, the better for us."

Clarke is in charge of a 12-man squad as it attempts to draw the series with England, who retained the Ashes with their innings victory in Melbourne on Wednesday. Usman Khawaja has been included to make his debut at No. 3 while Doug Bollinger was recalled to replace Ryan Harris, who suffered a stress fracture in his left ankle at the MCG.

But the major focus is on how Clarke will deal with his switch from energetic lieutenant to the man who has to juggle his own game with all the extra commitments required to run a team. He has led Australia in 18 ODIs and another 18 Twenty20s and has usually enjoyed giving the captaincy back to Ponting.

In his dream Clarke would have taken the job in peak form, but he has experienced a poor campaign against England with 148 runs at 21.14 and only one half-century. Even that came with criticism after he tweeted an apology for not walking when he was dismissed late on the penultimate day in Adelaide.

"I make no bones about it, my form has not been good enough throughout this series," he said. "I've had a couple of innings where I've felt really good but I need to get out here and make sure I get some runs on the board, and that's my focus right now. I've had the chance to captain Australia in the Twenty20 form and a handful of one-dayers as well, and I don't think it's hurt my performance. Hopefully that's the same this week."

Clarke is a modern cricketer and his metrosexual tendencies and A-list activities have created lingering questions over his suitability for the leadership. His on-field moves will now be analysed intently as he hopes for a way out of such a dire period for Australia.

Ponting's fractured finger deteriorated during the fourth Test that finished with him failing to win the Ashes for a record third time. If the urn was still up for grabs he would have pushed to play but gave into medical advice.

"I'm devastated to tell you the truth, it was the news I was dreading," Ponting said after landing in Sydney. "During the game I didn't think I'd done too much more to it." When asked if he was considering retirement he said: "I'm not thinking about it at all."

Ponting, who scored only 113 runs in the first four games, could face surgery on his finger, but is expected to be fit to guide Australia in their push to win a fourth consecutive World Cup. He had an x-ray on the final day of the Melbourne defeat and it showed the fracture had moved during the match.

"What I need right at the moment is just as much time as I possibly can to let it heal and make sure that I'm 100% right for the start of the World Cup," he said. "That's really how the decision was made, so I've just got to do everything in my power over the next little bit to look after it as well as I can."

He will see a specialist again over the next day to decide on the best way forward. "Hopefully he will commence training in the later part of the Australian summer," Alex Kountouris, the team's physiotherapist, said. "He is expected to be fully fit for the World Cup."

Ponting's Test future is less clear as Australia's next five-day engagement is currently scheduled for Sri Lanka in August, although there is a talk of a series against Bangladesh after the World Cup. He is already 36 and Australia have realised during their poor Ashes performance that they have to start rebuilding through young players.

India vs South Africa - TEST; INDIA won by 87 runs

A defiant Ashwell Prince stood in the way of India's charge for their second Test win in South Africa. In front of a disappointingly thin crowd at Kingsmead, the venue where India suffered one of their worst-ever Test defeats in 1996, their bowlers rarely bowled a bad delivery on the fourth morning, to put their side in sight of victory. A Sreesanth snorter to Jacques Kallis started South Africa's slide, before two lbws - one a marginal decision and the other a howler - that are sure to refuel the UDRS debate, hurt them further. India are firmly in charge at lunch, but teams have fought back from seemingly hopeless situations before in this Test.

If the match has to-and-fro-ed over the week, so has Sreesanth's bowling form. The wayward, antic-loving Sreesanth was missing on the fourth morning, as he sent down an accurate spell of sustained hostility. The highlight was in the seventh over of the day - an utterly unplayable bouncer which reared up sharply and jagged in to Kallis, who had no way to avoid it, arched his back in an attempt to get out of the way, but could only glove it to gully. It was the snorter that was needed to remove the kingpin of South Africa's batting.

That wicket put India slightly ahead, and there was no doubt who were front-runners after AB de Villiers decided to not offer a shot to a Harbhajan Singh delivery from round the wicket. He was struck in front of middle and looked lbw and the umpire agreed, though Hawk-Eye suggested the ball would have bounced over the stumps.

Over a decade in international cricket, Mark Boucher has built his reputation as a scrapper, and with Prince also around, it wasn't yet lights out for South Africa. Boucher, though, made only one before he was given lbw to a delivery that was angling across him and going to comfortably miss off stump.

South Africa had lost three wickets, and there was still no boundary in the morning, a testament to the scarcity of bad deliveries. When the first four did come, from Dale Steyn, it was an edge to third man. Steyn had pinged Zaheer Khan on the helmet with a quick bouncer on Tuesday, and the Indian responded with a string of short balls to the South African spearhead. After three of those, Zaheer slipped in a fuller delivery, which Steyn duly nicked to slip.

At 155 for 7, with lunch still 45 minutes away, the game looked set for a quick finish. Prince and Paul Harris, however, resisted with some dour batting, in addition to a couple of confident boundaries from Prince. They batted out the 10 overs to the break, to leave South Africa 121 adrift of an improbable win.

Laxman sets South Africa 303 to win

India have been bowled out for 228 in their second innings which means, the target for South Africa is 303 runs.VVS Laxman produced his seemingly customary second-innings gem to defy South Africa's bowlers on a Kingsmead pitch that was still spicy, and pushed India to a position of strength. On another see-saw day, India finished the morning session well on top but South Africa hit back after lunch, needing only 10 overs to nip out the final three wickets and limit the lead from ballooning too far beyond 300. Laxman had earlier strung together the two biggest partnerships of the match, first with MS Dhoni and then with Zaheer Khan, to set South Africa the stiff challenge of chasing 303.

This healthy a lead looked unlikely when a steepler from Morne Morkel had Cheteshwar Pujara playing on in the second over of the day. Both Morkel and Dale Steyn were getting late swing, and with the odd delivery rearing up, life was hard for Laxman and Dhoni. There were several air-drives and edged boundaries past and over the slips. To South Africa's dismay, the pair didn't just survive, but scored quickly as well, with a bunch of fours from Dhoni helping raise 41 in seven overs.

Steyn was seen off, the partnership grew and a classic Laxman backfoot-drive past point, off Morkel, soothed Indian nerves, but once again Lonwabo Tsotsobe produced the breakthrough. He had Dhoni poking at a delivery angling across, feathering an edge to Mark Boucher. Harbhajan Singh fell three overs later, rooted in the crease as he prodded at a Morkel delivery, and edged to the safe hands of Jacques Kallis at second slip.

The lead was 212, and South Africa sensed a quick end to the innings, but Zaheer and Laxman tilted the game towards India with a 70-run stand. A long partnership didn't look likely given the way Zaheer started his innings: looking to swipe nearly every delivery out of the ground, and rarely managing to connect. Laxman was his calm self at the other end, working the singles around and becoming the first player to make a half-century in the game.

Laxman was much more in control in the second half of the session, looking for the gaps and not worrying too much about Zaheer's impetuous strokes. With Kallis and Paul Harris bowling, the pressure was also reduced, and the runs started to flow. South Africa's frustration grew as Laxman cracked Harris past backward point for four, and another century beckoned for Laxman.

Zaheer also played his part. He had sparked India to life with the ball on Monday, and his aggression with the bat paid off today. He didn't mind the swing-and-misses, or the umpteen lbw appeals - including a dead-plumb one off Steyn that was turned down - and kept going for his shots. The session ended with India in charge, emphasised by a couple of powerful boundaries from Zaheer off the last two deliveries before the break.

South Africa will be buoyed by their performance after lunch, though, as their bowlers nipped out the remaining wickets for the addition of only 10 runs. Zaheer joined the long list of batsman that gave the slips catching practice in this Test, Ishant fended a bouncer to short leg and Laxman, looking for the big hits with the last man around, edged Steyn to Mark Boucher to fall short of what would have been a sixth second-innings hundred.

Inspired India take lead on dramatic day

An hour into the day's play at a sunny Kingsmead it seemed the series was dead and buried as India's tail wilted in the face of some relentless quick bowling, but it soon come roaring back to life as the returning Zaheer Khan inspired a barely believable turnaround. There was also a fortuitous Jacques Kallis run-out, an unplayable legcutter from Sreesanth, and some outstanding catches - including No. 200 for Rahul Dravid - all of which led to India taking a priceless 74-run first-innings lead.

On the first day, the track had plenty of juice in it, making life difficult for India's batting line-up, but with the sun shining on the second day, the batsmen were expecting an easier time - only for 14 wickets to fall for 153 runs. Most Indian fans would associate Durban with the infamous drubbing dished out in 1996, when India were bowled out for 100 and 66 in their two innings, but it hasn't been the best ground for South Africa either in recent times: they made 138 against Australia in 2008-09, and 133 against England last year, and this time fared even worse, folding for 131.

Things were going to plan for South Africa till ten minutes before lunch, by when they had moved to 67 for 2 with their middle-order bulwarks, Hashim Amla and Kallis, building a partnership. Amla punched a ball back towards Ishant Sharma, who half-fielded it and unintentionally parried it back onto the stumps at the non-striker's end, catching a diving Kallis out of his ground. Worse followed for South Africa, when de Villiers was dismissed by a ripper from a hitherto off-colour Sreesanth, bouncing sharply and cutting away to surprise the batsman, who thumbed it to the keeper.

Still, there was no need to panic as Amla continued to be in supreme form. His back-foot drives were the stand-out shots in a calming innings for the South African fans, but he missed an offbreak from Harbhajan Singh to be struck in front of middle and out lbw for 33. Like most other batsmen in the match, he too failed to convert his start; this was only the seventh time since 1935 that no batsman from either team has made a half-century in the first innings.

The last specialist batsman, Ashwell Prince, was troubled by Zaheer's movement right through his innings. He made an edge-filled 13 before finally falling to Zaheer; the ball cannoned onto the stumps as he attempted a footwork-free drive.

It continued the outstanding work Zaheer had done with the new ball, that too with little support from a wayward Sreesanth. If India were demoralised by their limp batting, Zaheer showed no signs of it. He was accurate, relentlessly attacking the stumps, extracting movement and frequently mouthing off at the batsmen. He was rewarded with the wicket of Graeme Smith - for the 10th time in Tests - as a leaden-footed prod ended in MS Dhoni's gloves. Then, a confident Alviro Petersen walked across the stumps to a Zaheer delivery, attempting to work the ball to the leg side, but had the misfortune of seeing his bails dislodged as the ball was dragged back from his pads.

A lead for India didn't look on the cards in the morning, when Steyn and Morkel ripped out the four remaining wickets in under 10 overs. Steyn completed his 15th five-wicket haul, and Morkel pitched it up to hassle the tail-enders. There was a brief counterattack from MS Dhoni, hammering Steyn over long-off for six after top-edging a four over the keeper. He soon holed out to sweeper cover before Sreesanth picked up a golden duck when an attempted mow traveled only as far as the wicketkeeper.