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Heath Streak has recently been reappointed as captain of the Zimbabwe national team, less than a year after resigning.The 28-year-old all-rounder handed in his resignation after the England tour last October, finding the job too stressful and feeling that he was not getting enough support from the administrators. It was quite a problem who was to replace him. Of the senior players, Andy Flower had been sacked unceremoniously after the England tour of 2000 after conflicts with the administrators; he was the players’ choice as captain but he is no doubt still considered too strong a man for delicate times. Alistair Campbell did not want the job again, while Grant Flower and Guy Whittall both had problems with their personal form.So the selectors turned to the younger players and appointed Brian Murphy. Murphy has a sharp cricket brain and showed excellent leadership qualities as captain of the national Under-19 team, but unfortunately he was lacking in personal confidence and still feeling his way at international level. Even more unfortunately, he injured a hand in Bangladesh, and although he tried to return he missed the rest of the international season.Stuart Carlisle was the next man to accept the job, which he did with reluctance. It seems the reluctance was on both sides, as he never felt he had the confidence of the hierarchy and was reappointed at virtually the last minute on a tour-by-tour basis. He did his best and a fair job, which was appreciated by the Board, but they felt that Streak, if he was available, was a more prominent personality in the country and a more prominent figure in the game.So Streak was offered the job again, and he felt that things behind the scenes had changed enough for him to accept. The invitation came as some small compensation for tragic events in his personal life. His family has farmed near Turk Mine in Matabeleland for four generations and Zimbabwe is the only home they have. Yet, under the current `land redistribution’ scheme, they were ordered to leave the farm by 10 August, along with thousands of other white farmers, and Heath’s father Denis was briefly arrested for failing to do so. The courts have given a temporary respite, but their future livelihood is in serious jeopardy.Heath is not the only international player to suffer in this way: Sean Ervine’s father was also imprisoned briefly, Dirk Viljoen’s family have been removed from their farm, and the future of Guy Whittall’s family farm hangs in the balance. Gary Brent and assistant coach Kevin Curran are others whose farms have been requisitioned.Heath’s personal form with the ball suffered badly during his first stint as captain. He was no longer the formidable spearhead of the Zimbabwe attack, which in consequence often looked totally toothless, most notably when South Africa toured a year ago. In contrast, his batting flourished with the responsibility."I worked hard after relinquishing the captaincy," he says. "That was one of the major reasons I resigned, feeling I needed to work on my game. I have put in a lot of work during the winter and hopefully I can continue where I left off last season. I felt I was regaining some of the form that I know I am capable of, and hope I can continue that trend. I know it’s important for the team that I perform consistently, and I’m looking forward to the challenge. I intend to spend enough time on my personal performance to produce what is best for the team."To the suggestion that he should concentrate on ensuring his bowling was the best he possibly could, and consider his batting a bonus, he replied, "Geoff Marsh and I have discussed that, and it’s what I intend doing."Why did he take on the captaincy again? "I think the major difference now is that there is a major support structure around me as captain, with Geoff and Kev Curran there. We have a good professional management now and the administration side of the game is a lot better and more professionally run now. I think there is a lot more help for the captain, so hopefully I can focus on my own game as well as strategy and team aspects, and spend enough time with the coach to work out things on the field. Things are run much more professionally now under Vince Hogg as managing director."After the Board AGM in July, where they discussed the issue of captaincy, the Board and coaching staff asked me if I would rethink the matter of captaincy. After a few meetings and discussions with the Board and the convener of selectors and coaching staff, I decided to take the challenge. I look forward to working with the guys and with Geoff."Is he satisfied with all the changes that have been made? "I think there’s a lot that’s working in the right direction and the trend is a good one. We just need to keep improving the player-administrator relations and realize we’re planning together and need to pull in the right direction. Certainly things are looking positive – there have been some very positive moves by the ZCU, with appointments of people like marketing managers within proper marketing structures. We now have public relations and media affairs people, and committees set up to arbitrate on player issues. There has been another look at the structure of our domestic cricket – I think four first-class teams is a fantastic idea – and also a provincial one-day tournament."I think these are all very positive steps. They now have provincial managers, running cricket at a provincial level, and we are now having players contracted to provinces. I think those are all steps in the right direction. I see the trend as a good one; the players are fortunate to have all these positive steps and I hope they can justify them by going out and focusing on the games without having to worry about issues off the field. The guys can concentrate on playing and the administrators on running the game, but with input from players and players representatives."Heath spent the off-season taking a break and resting a niggling foot injury, which has given him no more trouble. "Then we just worked on our base fitness with Malcolm Jarvis, and the guys are a lot fitter at the beginning of this season now," he says. "That’s a plus for us. We also worked on specific skills with our bowling, batting and fielding. Now we’ve got into some match practice, so we’re nice and fresh after a bit of a break and raring to go."

Inconsistency is the bane of Indian cricket teams and the currentsquad in the West Indies is no different. One can’t really be surewhen the side will touch the heights of glory or when they will plumbthe depths. They alternate so quickly between the two extremes that itbecomes extremely frustrating. Just last year it happened in Zimbabweand Sri Lanka and now again they have followed up a notable triumph atPort of Spain with a humiliating loss at Bridgetown only some ten dayslater.

But then of course the Indians must have known that conditions at theKensington Oval would not be as amiable as those prevalent at theQueen’s Park Oval. There are batsmen who intimidate bowlers andbowlers who intimidate batsmen. But here we have a ground that has ademoralizing effect on the Indians.Seven defeats in eight matches at this venue ­ including five in arow, which makes it next only to Lord’s where the Indians lost sixsuccessive Tests in the period 1932-1967 ­ is frankly an unnervingrecord. The West Indies would seem to hold all the psychological acesagainst India at Bridgetown and unless the visitors are able to shakethis off ­ like they did with a splendid fighting performance in 1971­ more defeats are bound to follow.After all, it is not just the pace of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding,Ian Bishop, Malcolm Marshall, Courtney Walsh, Curtley Ambrose andFranklyn Rose that has laid the Indians low at this jinxed venue. Eventhe spin of Sonny Ramadhin, Lance Gibbs and David Holford has been thecause of much misery for the visitors. And the infamous collapse in1997 when the Indians, set to get just 120 runs for victory, werebowled out for 81 symbolises India’s dismal showing at Bridgetown.The Indians did just about everything wrong but there is little doubtthat the batting caused more problems than the bowling. When a side isbowled out for 102 on the first day, it is an arduous uphill journeyfrom then on and only some incisive bowling followed by determinedbatting can possibly save the day. Sadly, both were missing.The bowling was generally wayward. There was little planning or efforttaken to think a batsman out. During the long fifth wicket partnershipbetween Carl Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, frequently it seemedas if the bowlers were just going through the motions of completingthe over.A deficit of 292 can be crippling but it was hoped that the Indians,by a better showing the second time around on a pitch that looked tohave eased out, could put up a fight. The optimist’s mind instantlywent back to Lord’s in 1979, when despite being shot out for 96 on theopening day and finishing 323 runs behind on the first innings, theIndians came back to save the Test thanks a 210-run third wicketpartnership between Gundappa Viswanath and Dilip Vengsarkar, one ofthe most famous rearguard actions in Indian cricket.It was quaint to think of such heroics but we were all to be badlydisillusioned. The second innings was an improvement over the first ­anything would be ­ but that was not enough.There are a couple of disturbing thoughts even as the Indians licktheir wounds. One is that the remaining two Tests are at Kingston,Jamaica and St John’s, Antigua. The Indians have not exactly coveredthemselves with glory at these venues, especially at Kingston, wherethe tally reads five losses and three draws. Conditions at Sabina Parkare generally similar to those at the Kensington Oval.The Indians will be a bit more comfortable with their record atAntigua where both the Tests in 1983 and 1997 have been drawn. All thesame, the fun and games of Bourda and Queen’s Park Oval are over andthe tough part of the tour starts now. But one wonders whether theIndians are mentally, physically and technically prepared to tackleit.The second worrying aspect is that there is precious little that canbe done to work out any change in strategy. Yes, the top-order is abit more secure with Wasim Jaffer proving to be a success and ShivSundar Das providing some semblance of substance. The failure of thefamed middle-order ­ with the notable exception of the skipper who atlast seems to be coming into his own ­ did cause some dismay but it isstrong enough to make one feel that this was just an aberration.The main problem concerns the bowling. The spin department, inparticular, is a major worry with neither Anil Kumble nor HarbhajanSingh inspiring confidence. Both have bowling averages of 40 plus whenit comes to Tests abroad. And whichever combination the teammanagement opts for ­ three seamers and one spinner or two seamers andtwo spinners ­ there is nothing to suggest that the four bowlers willdeliver the goods.The line-up, to be candid, is quite problematic but then there arehardly any other options for the selectors and one supposes the teamwill have to soldier along with this tried and tested ­ though onlypartly successful ­ quartet for the rest of the series. And that is asobering thought even for the most optimistic Indian cricket fan.

Andrew Symonds is “in a good place” and has impressed Cricket Australia with his effort and application since being dumped from the national squad, according to the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland. However, no time-frame has been set for Symonds to return to the Australia side and Sutherland said the lack of runs Symonds had been making for Queensland was “one of the missing bits of the jigsaw”.Symonds was sent home from Australia’s ODI series in Darwin in August after he went fishing when he should have been at a team meeting. It was the last straw for the team’s leadership group, which had already been concerned about Symonds’ attitude over the previous few months.Since declaring his intentions to fight back into the Test and one-day international teams, Symonds has struggled to score big runs at Queensland, where his only major contribution was 73 in a one-day game and he has 36 from four Sheffield Shield innings. Sutherland met with Symonds recently and said he was happy with the allrounder’s progress.”We had a good chat,” Sutherland told the . “Over the last month or so, I’ve had regular chats with Andrew over the phone and I caught up with him face-to-face in Brisbane a few weeks ago, as much as anything, to be able to talk to him face-to-face and see how he’s coming along.”It was a good chat. He understands where we are up to and vice versa. He’d probably be liking to make a few more runs. I think he’s in a good place. I know talking to him and others who are close to him as he seeks to come back to full strength – mental, physical and skill-wise – that he’s progressing really well.”He’s in a good place and perhaps one of the missing bits of the jigsaw at the moment is just his on-field form. Certainly in terms of effort and application, everything is really, really good.”Symonds was not considered for the tour of India and has lost the No. 6 position in the Test side to Shane Watson, who has been a strong contributor in the first two Tests. However, there will be considerable debate as to whether Symonds will be ready to return when Australia’s home Test summer begins in Brisbane against New Zealand in late November.

There have been many one-day games won and lost in the final over and won andlost by four runs or less. But few had the importance, the occasion, thedrama of today’s final of the 2000 CricInfo Women’s World Cup.Today’s game – won by New Zealand by four runs with five balls remaining -was filled to the brim with drama and tension. For me, it surpasses theencounter at Lord’s in 1975 between the West Indies and Australia as thegreatest World Cup Final, men’s or women’s, of all time. It may even surpassthe 1999 semi-final at Edgbaston, the tied match between Australia and SouthAfrica, as the greatest World Cup match of all.It was a game with almost everything. A match which, on form, Australiashould have won comfortably – and looked like they would when New Zealandcrumbled to be all out for 184.But New Zealand quickly took the ascendancy with the early removal of the twooutstanding batsmen of the tournament, Lisa Keightley and Karen Rolton.Belinda Clark, whose World Cup with the bat started shakily but gatheredmomentum as the tournament progressed, played an elegant and controlledinnings. She dominated the Australian fightback, scoring roughly threequarters of her team’s runs while she was at the crease.Clark was playing the innings of her life and steering Australia toits fifth Women’s World Cup… until she was on 91. She attempted a sweep toa ball that many less talented players would have chosen to drive on the onside – and was bowled around her legs. It was a masterpiece of an innings,yet in the end so tantalisingly futile.And with the wickets tumbling and Australia’s required run-rate hoveringaround the run-a-ball mark, there was the most sensational of events at thestart of the 49th over when Cathryn Fitzpatrick’s leg bail fell to groundsome time after the ball has passed through to the keeper. Had the ballbrushed the stump or did the wind blow? The third umpire, after a long, longlook, gave Fitzpatrick out bowled.With the first ball of the fiftieth over, the seventh World Cup reached itsclimax, as Charmaine Mason got a faint nick to a ball from Clare Nicholsonwhich was taken by Rebecca Rolls. New Zealand, the host team, the underdogsof this final, had come from behind to win the most important title in thenation’s cricketing history.The game was also a fitting farewell to two of the legends of New Zealand’swomen’s cricket, Debbie Hockley and Catherine Campbell.A four-run victory to New Zealand, and it is just as well that the strayplastic cup inside the boundary rope this morning, shaving two runs off acertain Kiwi boundary, didn’t make a difference.In a World Cup tournament which has been very predictable in its overallresults (though never, I hasten to add, dull), the joyous unpredictability ofthe sport came home to roost on the final day. The form side of thetournament, and indeed one of the great national teams in the history ofAustralian women’s sport, had been held to second-best on the day when itreally mattered.

“Show me the money,” hails from the film , but it could just as easily fit with the ECB in recent months. When Allen Stanford landed his helicopter at Lord’s in June he offered England’s elite players a chance at the biggest payday of the lives. And it hasn’t stopped there. Now county cricket gets its slice of the action after it was confirmed the winners of Saturday’s Twenty20 Cup will form part of the Stanford Super Series event in Antigua in October.The highlight of that tournament is the All-Stars match on November 1, but one successful county will play three matches – against the England XI, Stanford All-Stars and Trinidad and Tobago – with the prospect of a bumper payday if they are successful. If the winning county beats Trinidad and Tobago, the reigning Stanford 20/20 champions, they stand to pocket US$400,000 (£200,000).It adds even more spice to Finals Day, when defending champions Kent along with Durham, Middlesex and Essex will battle for the big prize. To put into perspective the riches on offer, winning the Twenty20 Cup itself brings a cheque for £42,000.Even before Stanford’s latest proposal, there was a huge financial carrot being dangled in front of the counties with the multi-million dollar Champions League. However, that event continues to be shrouded in doubt with Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, maintaining the stance that any team with ICL links wouldn’t be invited to join. That would rule out Durham and Kent if either progressed to the Twenty20 final.It has gone against the odds that two of the three counties without ICL players – Essex and Middlesex – have made it to Finals Day, but even if they both qualify there is still plenty of uncertainly whether the Champions League will get off the ground. The other aspect is that before Stanford’s offer, the semi-finals where shaping as the most important matches of the day, but now the result of the final brings more than just the domestic Twenty20 crown.It’s notoriously difficult to pick where the trophy will finish in Twenty20, but Durham have a side packed with international stars and also have the advantage of playing a recent Twenty20 match – the delayed quarter-final where they thrashed Glamorgan. They have managed to retain Shaun Pollock while Shivnarine Chanderpaul gives the top-order an international feel. This will also be Steve Harmison’s biggest stage since he was dropped by England.

Essex, though, are the form team going into Finals Day and have played outstanding one-day cricket this season. Graham Napier has become one of the most talked-about players on the circuit, and could yet be tapped up by the IPL following his record-breaking 152 against Sussex. They have a well-balanced team, with Danish Kaneria’s legspin being their trump card with the ball.But you can’t discount any defending champions; Kent have the been-there-done-that knowledge of how to succeed on Finals Day. As with all four sides, Kent bat deep into their order but their key weapon, especially when the pressure is on, is the death bowling of Azhar Mahmood and Yasir Arafat. Joe Denly was one of the surprise omissions from England’s 30-man Champions Trophy and has another chance to show the talent that has brought him 384 runs this year.Middlesex are the dark horses of this year’s tournament, having had a miserable Twenty20 record since it began in 2003. They have formed a powerful unit and swept all before them during the qualifying stages, yet saved their most impressive performance for the quarter-final against Lancashire. They were 21 for 4 when 20-year-old Dawid Malan played one of the innings of the season with 103 off 54 balls before the bowlers took over. Their five main bowlers have all taken at least 10 wickets, a key to them being able to restrict opposition.The live music and mascot race which have been part of Twenty20 cricket remain – and like everything in this form of the game the mascot race is bigger this year – but the format has developed out of sight from its early days. No longer is it a bonus trophy, but the path to previously unheard-of riches. This is serious cricket with a serious prize at the end.

SYDNEY, Nov 17 AAP – A late flurry of wickets to former NSW allrounder Mark Higgs handed South Australia victory in a thrilling Pura Cup cricket match at the SCG today.Higgs, recruited from the Blues in the off season, bagged four wickets under immense pressure, propelling his new state to a 27-run win in a match that had everything, including the placement of former Test star Mark Waugh on report for dissent.Higgs’ 4-25 from 9.4 overs helped bowl the star-studded home side out for 255 in its second innings, short of the 283-run target late on the final day.That was after the Redbacks had already claimed first innings points with 397 on the back of man-of-the-match David Fitzgerald’s fine 153 before NSW skipper Steve Waugh closed his side’s first innings at 9(dec)-296.Higgs top scored for SA’s second innings of 181 with 70 but his finest moment came when he bowled Michael Bevan for 114 to end the match.Test skipper Steve Waugh defended his decision to send South Australia in on a green wicket in gloomy conditions, which later turned fine, after winning the toss.”The way the coin falls does not determine whether you win or lose a game,” Waugh said.”We bowled poorly first day, dropped some chances, and day four we batted poorly, we should have won the game so it’s pretty simple – we threw it away today.”But South Australia hung in there well, it was a good performance by them.”SA skipper Darren Lehmann was thrilled with the win that put SA on par with Victoria at the top of the table on 14 points, two ahead of NSW, after an action-packed battle that included 18 wickets and 404 runs on day three.”To beat a quality side with so many Test players in it like New South Wales and to come up here to Sydney with an inexperienced side, blokes who haven’t been to Sydney before, we were really happy with that,” Lehmann said.”I think it was probably the best game of cricket I’ve played in for a long time, in Shield cricket, for pure entertainment for four days, to go down right to the last hour was fantastic.”Michael Slater joined Bevan in a 150-run partnership after the home side resumed on an unsteady 2-11.Slater looked in good touch, stroking eight fours and a six to reach 91 before he was caught by Ben Higgins at short leg off the bowling of John Davison after lunch.Steve Waugh was unable to repeat his first innings heroics as he fell lbw to Ben Johnson for just seven, a stark contrast to his earlier knock of 135.Davison struck again when Mark Waugh was given out, caught behind by Shane Deitz for a duck.The batsman clearly didn’t like the decision, standing his ground for some time with one hand on his hip after the judgement was made and he was seen talking to umpire Darrell Hair as he left the field.Hair called on the batsman to appear at a hearing before commissioner Alan Sullivan QC after play with a decision to be made later in the evening or another day.Having bowled just one over before tea, Higgs was returned to the fray and the move paid off when Nathan Pilon (seven) smacked a full toss to Lehmann for a sharp catch at mid wicket.Brett Lee may have starred with the ball, taking 11 wickets for the Blues, but he only managed one with the bat before being bowled by Higgs.Harris finished with 2-37 while Davison added 2-67 to his first innings 5-81.

A despondent skipper Sanath Jayasuriya labeled his team’s performance as "unacceptable" as Sri Lanka slumped to a humiliating 177 run defeat against South Africa at SuperSport Park on Friday night."It was a very disappointing performance today," said Jayasuriya. "Everything was poor: the batting, bowling and fielding."With Sri Lanka asked to chase a mammoth 317 for victory after a lackluster performance with the ball the odds were always stacked against the visitors.But Jayasuriya believed such a Herculean task was achievable on a pitch that had favoured the batsmen all day."After the first innings we didn’t panic because we knew that score could be chased on this ground," said Jayasuriya."But someone had to go and get a hundred. I was batting well, but got out in the 40’s. That’s inexcusable, you cannot afford to get out once set."But Jayasuriya was not the only batsmen to fail as the Sri Lankans were bowled out for a paltry 140, their second consecutive score of under 150."I wouldn’t have minded so much if we had been bowled out for 250 or 275, but to get bowled out for 140 is unacceptable – the wicket was not bad."South Africa captain emphasized with his counterpart."It is always difficult when you are chasing a big target," said Pollock. "What often happens is that you either get really close or you lose a lot of wickets up front and the game peters out to an easy victory."Jayasuriya was equally scathing on the bowlers: "They kept wickets in hand and we bowled both sides of the wicket. We simply weren’t disciplined enough today.""We now have to lift ourselves and play more disciplined cricket," he added. "We have to do the basics well like South Africa are doing at the moment."Pollock praised his batsmen: "To get 300 you really have to bat well.""Batting is an area that we have identified as a problem and it’s great to see the guys rectify it."Partnerships were vital. Graeme (Smith) and Boeta dug in and gave us a good platform to allow Jacques (Kallis) to come in bat and play with freedom."

South African captain Shaun Pollock was unhappy with the state of the pitch for Thursday’s loss but blamed his batsmen.”The pitch played its part. It deteriorated and the ball held onto it. It became difficult and difficult to bat on it but I don’t think it was the main reason for our defeat,” Pollock said at the post-match conference.He added: “Dismissals (of Jacques Kallis and Gary Kirsten) and then the batsmen’s inability to hang in there was the reason. But then when you play on such a pitch knowing that Muttiah Muralitharan will come sooner or later, its definitely plays apart in the back of your mind and in the end we were left chasing 214 to deny them a bonus point.”Muralitharan conceded 12 runs from his eight overs and allowed Dilhara Fernando, Upul Chandana and Sanath Jayasuriya pick seven wickets between them from the other end.Pollock didn’t feel his bowlers gave away too many runs and instead praised Aravinda de Silva who scored an unbeaten 73 off 84 balls.”We didn’t concede too many boundaries. We just failed to stop the single and that’s because Aravinda batted beautifully. He worked the ball into the gaps and kept the scoreboard moving”.The Warwickshire player believed it was now do-or-die for them in the remaining two matches.”We have to win both the games. We know if Sri Lanka win one matchthey go through. But we are fortunate because we play last and will know what to do.”Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya defended his decision of fielding first in the first game against Pakistan.”I thought the wicket was damp and the overcast conditions would assist the bowers. I admit we misread the wicket. But today, we all know what we have to do if we win the toss,” he said.The left-hander said the first 15 to 20 overs will be very crucial because the ball would soften up and the wicket would also lose its bounce and the ball would tend to stay low.Jayasuriya was not happy with the format of this tournament in which Sri Lanka has to play four matches in six days.Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore said it would be fair to say that batting first would be the best option after what had happened in the first three games.

Australia’s captain Steve Waugh admits he struggled to find pleasure in his side’s crushing win over a young and fragile Pakistan in Sharjah on Saturday.Australia’s first Test match in the Middle East resulted in one of the most emphatic victories in Test history – the win coming well inside two days after Pakistan was bowled out for 59 and 53.Australia made 310 for a winning margin of an innings and 198 runs, with Matthew Hayden (119) scoring more on his own than Pakistan did in two innings.Only three other teams have recorded a lower match tally than the 112 Pakistan scrounged together here and it’s the lowest match aggregate in 56 years.It’s also only the second time in 50 years a Test match has finished inside two days, with England’s win over the West Indies at Headlingley two years ago the other.That game lasted 156.5 overs whereas Australia needed only 148.5 overs to win.”It does a feel a little hollow,” Waugh said of the win.”You expect to have to fight a bit harder than that to win a Test match.”It’s actually hard to comprehend the game’s over at this stage.”Waugh said he had some worries about the state of cricket generally following such a win.”When a team gets bowled out for 50-odd twice and they’re supposed to be one of better sides going around it probably is a bit of a concern … we want to see Test matches being tough.”Waugh said Australia’s bowling display was one of the best of he’d seen under his leadership.”It’s the best we’ve bowled for a long while – you never it expect it to be quite that easy but we did put a lot of pressure on the Pakistan batsmen.”Pakistan captain Waqar Younis said his team’s inexperience was exposed by the hard-nosed Australians.”Nobody stood up,” Waqar said.”Matt Hayden played an excellent innings. He grafted hard for his runs and none of our guys did anything like that.”Pakistan, already with experienced batsmen Yousuf Youhana and Inzamam-Ul-Haq out with injury, also lost all-rounder Abdur Razzaq today when Brett Lee broke his wrist.Waugh praised Hayden’s innings, which was 75 runs better than any other player’s contribution.”Matt Hayden’s innings was crucial to set up a big first-innings lead and after that it was always going to be hard for them to bat again,’ Waugh said.Hayden’s innings was an act of will power against the intense heat. The air temperature was around 40 degrees but on the ground inside the stadium, 51 degrees was recorded.Waugh said it was the hottest Test he has played in since the famous tied Test against India in Madras in 1987.Hayden batted for a shade over seven hours for his ninth Test century – his eight in the past 18 months.The century continued a remarkable spell in recent Tests for the strapping Queenslander, who was the heftiest run-scorer in the game last year.Since the start of the series against India last year, which marked his emergence as a world class player, he has been scoring centuries at a rate of one every second Test.And he seems to thrive on adverse conditions, with this century on a par with the double-century he made in Madras last year in the third Test against India where heat and humidity were the equal of blazing sun here.In Madras, he batted for nearly eight hours and was last man out while here he batted for seven hours and 13 minutes, facing 255 balls of which nine went to the boundary and another over the rope for six.That swat over long-on into the empty stands brought up his century but the stadium was so deserted and quiet, it took Hayden a few seconds to register the fact he’d reached three figures.After winning the first Test by 41 runs, victory in the series will go a long way towards ensuring Mark Waugh lasts another Test match after back-to-back to failures in his past two innings.Waugh, like his brother and captain, has been under immense pressure to score runs but as long as Australia is winning the twins will be forgiven their shortcomings, which amounted to dismissals in successive balls on the first day here.On a positive note, Mark Waugh’s catching was back to its best and he took three excellent catches in Pakistan’s second innings to make up for the three he dropped in the second innings of the first Test.

Yorkshire have a lot of work to do if they are to avoid another defeat at Guildford at the hands of the Championship leaders. Surrey took a first-innings lead of 210 after Rikki Clarke (56), Saqlain Mushtaq (44) and James Ormond (39) ensured another impressive performance by the tail. Chris Silverwood and Ryan Sidebottom ended with three wickets apiece. Half centuries from Victor Craven (56), Darren Lehmann (55*) and Michael Lumb (68*) have taken Yorkshire to a slender lead of 44 at the close, with seven wickets remaining.An unbeaten opening partnership of 151 between Trevor Ward and Iain Sutcliffe has put Leicestershire back into their game with Kent after yesterday’s poor start at Grace Road. Matt Whiley took three for 60 as Kent were eventually bowled out for 339 today, before Sutcliffe (74*) and Ward (66*) came within 57 runs of wiping off the arrears.Nick Knight duly completed his double century, finishing unbeaten on 245 as Warwickshire were bowled out for 493 by Sussex at Edgbaston. Jason Lewry (four for 151) and Kevin Innes (three for 106) were the main wicket-takers. An unbeaten 105 from Tony Cottey was then at the core of the visitors’ reply, which had reached 237 for four at stumps, still 256 runs behind.Chris Tremlett (five for 68) and Shaun Udal (four for 25) made it a poor first day for Lancashire at The Rose Bowl. The visitors were dismissed for just 183, with an innings of 66 from Alec Swann the only substantial contribution from the visitors.In Division Two, Glamorgan hammered an incredible 499 runs in a day of drama for both sides at Chelmsford. James Foster, playing in only his third match of the season, broke his left thumb and is now expected to be out of action for six to eight weeks. It was much brighter for Glamorgan, though, as their batsmen steered them into a comfortable lead of 274. Steve James dominated throughout, recording his highest score of the season with an unbeaten 235. With Matthew Maynard (76) he added 156 for the fifth wicket as the Essex bowling fell apart. Glamorgan closed on 505 for six.Durham made a woeful reply to Nottinghamshire’s total of 362 at the Riverside. Greg Smith (four for 24) and Richard Logan (three for 36) were the pick of the bowlers as the home side were forced to follow on after being bowled out for just 116 in their first innings. Jonathan Lewis (70) and Bradley Hodge (42*) led the fight back with a second-wicket stand of 112, but Durham still need 62 runs to make the visitors bat again.Middlesex need a miracle if they are to avoid the follow-on against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham. The home side were eventually dismissed for 494 after Alex Gidman (94) fell narrowly short of a maiden Championship century. Middlesex started positively in reply, with Andrew Strauss (49) leading from the front. However wickets then fell at regular intervals, and despite another impressive performance by in-form Owais Shah (65), the visitors, on 218 for six at stumps, still trail by 276 runs.Derbyshire suffered a late collapse at Northampton, as they were dismissed for 388 after losing their last seven wickets for 58 runs. Earlier, opener Andrew Gait had produced a superlative batting display, with a career-best 175 to put his side in the driving seat. He put on 156 with Chris Bassano for the second wicket before off-spinner Graeme Swann claimed six quick wickets, including Gait and Dominic Cork (released from England duty) for a duck.