where kickin it India!!!
Martyn another century with clarke set for one aswell!!

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Martyn, Clarke, Lehmann spark Australia


Another heroic, innings-saving century from Damien Martyn, as well as grand contributions by Darren Lehmann and Michael Clarke, have helped haul Australia to 7-362 against India at stumps on day one of the third Test at Nagpur.

Martyn complemented his epic 210-ball 104 in Australia's second innings of the second Test in Chennai with a more aggressive, but always elegant, 114 - his ninth century in 47 Tests.

He and Lehmann, who smacked a timely, form-finding 70 that included 10 fours and came off only 83 balls, revived Australia's first innings with a convincing fourth-wicket partnership of 148 from 30.1 overs, while Martyn and Clarke, who finished with a stylish and often audacious unbeaten 73 (11 fours) off 129 balls, continued the fightback with a dominant fifth-wicket stand of 80 off 21.3 overs.

But Australia's hopes of a 400-plus total slipped when Martyn, Adam Gilchrist (2) and Shane Warne (2) departed in the space of 30 balls in the final session - the second such three-wicket collapse of the innings.



Martyn faced 165 balls and hit 16 fours and a massive six over long off from the bowling of leg-spinner Anil Kumble - two balls before he tried to repeat the shot and skied a catch to Ajit Agarkar at deep mid off.

Gilchrist gave left-arm spinner Murali Kartik a bat-pad catch off his own bowling and Warne was stumped by wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel off Kartik, leaving Australia at 7-337.

Four balls later, Patel missed a leg-side stumping chance offered by Clarke, then 56, off Kumble, and Patel also failed to catch Clarke, on 62, off left-arm opener Zaheer Khan, allowing Clarke and Jason Gillespie (4no) to see off the last 12.1 overs without further loss.

Australia benefited from an opening stand of 67 by Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer but then lost 3-19 in five overs to slip to 3-86 before Martyn and Lehmann started their rescue mission just before lunch.

The pair plundered 131 off 26.3 overs in the second session until the third-last over when Lehmann was caught high off the bat by Rahul Dravid at slip after trying to guide a big turner from Kartik behind point.

Two overs earlier, Lehmann had needed treatment for a strain at the top of his right hamstring and after calling for treatment and then a runner (Hayden), before on 68 giving a sharp caught-and-bowled chance to part-time leg-spinner Sachin Tendulkar, who was unable to accept it.

Relishing a quicker, bouncier pitch than the dry, dusty strips used for the first two Tests, Hayden and Langer shared a chanceless, if sometimes adventurous, liaison before Hayden (23) snicked a defensive push at Zaheer to Patel in the 17th over and Langer (44) edged a drive off Zaheer to Dravid at first slip in the 21st over.

Simon Katich (4) left in the next over, caught bat-pad by Akash Chopra at forward short leg off Kumble.

Gilchrist won the toss for the third time in the series, on a good-looking pitch containing more grass than is usually seen on Indian pitches.

While Australia again retained the same XI, India made four changes to its second Test team, bringing in Tendulkar, who has had an elbow injury, Agarkar, Kartik and Chopra for captain Sourav Ganguly (thigh strain), Irfan Pathan (side), Harbhajan Singh (flu) and Yuvraj Singh.

Looking good, I was worried when I woke up and the radio said we were 3 for 90 something. Bit of a late slump towards the end, but a score of around 400 should be a good enougth start.

who do you guys reckon should be left out when ponting comes back. my vote is katich, clarke has proven his class and will be there for many years to come. katich is good but thats about it.

Looks like Lehman will be out, so Ponting will take his spot, of course with a change in the batting order.

India will be doing hard to get out of this one! Australia looks like winning its first test series in India since 1969!!! woohoo!

Very bad luck for Simon Katich, out for 99. But Australia are looking very good, hope the weather stays good.

damn! 99, how bad would one feel? lol
anyhow, we killin em! Indias torture should be over soon.

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Katich comes up short as Australia builds


Simon Katich has fallen just one run short of his second century in 12 Tests while helping to steer Australia to a seemingly unbeatable 415-run lead against India after three days of the third Test at Nagpur.

Katich fell lbw to left-arm spinner Murali Kartik for 99 in the 62nd over to leave Australia's second innings at 3-171, before first-innings centurion Damien Martyn (41no) and youngster Michael Clarke (10no) took the total to 3-202 off 73 overs at stumps.

It was a powerful platform from which to force a 2-0 lead in the four-Test series and clinch Australia's first series win in India since Bill Lawry's team recorded a 3-1 victory in five Tests late in 1969.

Left-hander Katich, who faced 157 balls and hit 11 fours, revealed all the composure and shrewd shot selection so evident in his 125 against India in the fourth Test in Sydney last January.



Matthew Hayden (9) was bowled by left-arm opener Zaheer Khan in the 11th over - the second after lunch (1-19) - and Justin Langer (30, with two fours, off 119 balls in nearly three hours) holed out to VVS Laxman at wide long on off Kartik in the 42nd over (2-99).

Australia was 0-19 off nine overs at lunch and then 1-87 off 37 overs at tea after Katich and Langer, initially and not unreasonably with two days still to play, had seemed more intent on using up time than risking their wickets by striving to increase the lead quickly.

Langer scored only 14 of the 68 runs he and Katich put on in the second session and 21 of the 80 added for the second wicket.

Earlier, Jason Gillespie grabbed Australia's bowling honours with a five-wicket haul as India was bowled out for 185 in its first innings, leaving it 213 behind.

But stand-in Australian skipper Adam Gilchrist did not enforce the follow-on, preferring to try to give India a fourth-innings target well in excess of 400.

India resumed at 5-146 off 77 overs and lost 5-39 off 14.5 overs, with Gillespie taking 3-9 off 4.5 overs for figures of 5-56 off 22.5 overs - his eighth bag of five or more wickets in an innings in 57 Tests.

And the fourth of Gillespie's five wickets lifted him above Clarrie Grimmett (216 in 37 Tests) into eighth position on Australia's all-time list.

Glenn McGrath's 3-27 off 25 overs - leaving him with 449 wickets in 100 Tests - meant he and Gillespie shared the immaculate analysis of 8-83 off 47.5 overs.

Shane Warne gained the day's first breakthrough by having Parthiv Patel (20) caught at slip by Hayden with his third ball - only the ninth of the day - and the second new ball was taken at 6-166 off 82 overs.

Gillespie's third ball forced Ajit Agarkar (15) to edge to second slip where Michael Clarke accepted a sharp two-handed catch to his right.

McGrath continued the procession with Mohammad Kaif edging comfortably to Warne at first slip, and Gillespie had Murali Kartik (3) caught by Clarke at second slip and then knocked over the off stump of Zaheer Khan (0) to end the innings, in which Kaif's 55, with a six and seven fours, off 151 balls, was easily the standout performance.

I can't believe that the first Aussie Captain to lift the trophy in India in nearly 5 decades won't be Tubs, Waugh or Punter, but Adam Gilchrist.

The other thing I can't believe is Matty Hayden's lack of big scores.


Go figure!!!

i cant believe how shit india's batting has been compared to last summer in Australia. remember when they scored 700 odd or what ever it was.

pretty impressive win!!

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Australia conquers final frontier




Australia has clinched its first series win in India for 35 years by skittling the home team for 200 in its second innings, setting up a crushing 342-run victory in the third Test at Nagpur.

Australian fast bowlers Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath and Michael Kasprowicz and leg-spinner Shane Warne needed only 53.3 overs on the fourth day to dismiss India a second time and take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the series, with the fourth and final Test starting in Mumbai on Wednesday.

After taking five wickets in the first innings, Gillespie was again the chief destroyer with innings figures of 4-24 off 16 overs and a magnificent match return of 9-80 from 38.5 overs.

Set the seemingly impossible victory target of 543 in five sessions, India looked doomed to a massive defeat at 5-37 off 15.2 overs - but a stubborn sixth-wicket stand of 65 between Virender Sehwag and Parthiv Patel, plus some surprisingly bold, late defiance by Ajit Agarkar, Murali Kartik and Zaheer Khan, delayed the inevitable.



Gillespie bowled Akash Chopra (1) and Rahul Dravid (2) in the space of seven balls in his second and third overs, and McGrath had Sachin Tendulkar (2) caught at gully by Damien Martyn in his sixth over - his 450th wicket in 100 Tests.

Kasprowicz then tempted VVS Laxman (2) to hook a straightforward catch to McGrath at fine leg with his first ball before having Mohammad Kaif (7) caught by Adam Gilchrist wide to his right with his eighth ball.

Sehwag made 58 form 94 balls, hitting eight fours, but was caught by Michael Clarke at extra cover off an extravagant drive off Warne and Patel (32) edged Gillespie to Gilchrist three overs later, leaving India, at 7-114 in the 35th over, in danger of not reaching its lowest home score against Australia - 135 at Delhi in 1959-60.

Justin Langer missed a very difficult diving chance at third slip in McGrath's third over before Sehwag had scored, while Matthew Hayden also put down Patel before he had opened his account.

Gillespie bowled Anil Kumble (2) in the 41st over, McGrath had Kartik (22) caught by Gilchrist in the 47th and Warne had Zaheer (25) caught on the long-on boundary by Martyn after Zaheer and Agarkar (44no) had flogged 52 off 41 balls for the 10th wicket.

Earlier, Martyn fell just three runs short of becoming only the 13th Australian to score a century in each innings of a Test, but did help the tourists to a second-innings score of 5-329 declared after they had resumed at 3-202 (Martyn 41, Clarke 10) off 73 overs.

Martyn complemented his first innings 114 with 97, hitting nine fours off 184 balls, and Michael Clarke contributed a brilliant 73 that included one six and 11 fours off 95 balls, before stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist (3no) declared late in the first session.

The Martyn-Clarke third-wicket partnership was worth 148 off 33.3 overs until Clarke was caught low at short midwicket by Kaif off Anil Kumble in the 96th over, before
Gilchrist closed the innings when Martyn was caught by wicketkeeper Patel off Zaheer Khan's first ball of the 99th over.

Martyn gave only one chance - a difficult, diving one to Sehwag at gully off Ajit Agarkar when he was 85 at 3-290 in the 92nd over. The over eventually cost 21 runs - the most expensive of the match.

Martyn hooked the first ball for four, got two to square leg off the second, was dropped off the third and took a run, and Clarke pounded the fourth over long off for six, before hooking the fifth for four and smashing the sixth over long on for four.

Martyn has now amassed 389 (average 64.83) in this series - three and 45 at Bangalore, 26 and 104 in Chennai and 114 and 97 in this match.

Clarke, in his debut series, has scored 376 (average 75.2) - 151, 17, five, 39no, 91 and 73.

The 12 Australians to score a century in each innings of a Test are Greg Chappell and Allan Border (twice each), Warren Bardsley, Arthur Morris, Don Bradman, Jack Moroney, Bob Simpson, Doug Walters, Ian Chappell, Dean Jones, Steve Waugh and Matthew Hayden.

Hayden was the last to achieve the feat, with 197 and 103 against England at the Gabba in 2002-03, and Bradman remains the only one to do it against India - 132 and 127no in Melbourne in 1947-48.

Five Australian teams had not won a series in India since Bill Lawry's team beat the Nawab of Pataudi's side 3-1 (in a five-Test series) in late 1969.

Australia lost 0-2 (six Tests) under Kim Hughes in 1979-80, drew 0-0 (three Tests - one tied) under Allan Border in 1986-87, lost 0-1 (one Test) under Mark Taylor in 1996-97, lost 1-2 (three Tests) under Taylor in 1997-98 and lost 1-2 (three Tests) under Steve Waugh in 2000-01.

Australia had not won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since Steve Waugh's team beat Sourav Ganguly's side 3-0 (three Tests) in Australia in 1999-2000.

India won it back in 2000-01 and retained it by drawing 1-1 (four Tests) in Australia in 2003-04.

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