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Australia have scored another emphatic victory over England by winning the second Ashes Test at Adelaide inside four days, by an innings and 51 runs.On Sunday, England were bowled out for 159 to allow Australia to take a 2-0 lead in the series.Australia showed exactly how a classy all-round team performance can win Test matches. As simple as it may seem, Australia won was because their batsmen played positively and scored the runs, and because their bowlers put the ball in the right places to take the wickets.On a wicket which did deteriorate for the batting side, England were unable to put runs on the board after the first day. This despite Australian No 9 Andrew Bichel making 48 runs on Saturday.The overnight break after day three gave the visitors no joy or respite. The second complete over of the morning resulted in the loss of Robert Key for one. Key, hailed as a possible threat for the Australians after his 174 not out against Australia A, pulled Bichel straight to Darren Lehmann at mid-wicket. Bichel’s two wickets and runs will help his cause in the fight with Brett Lee for the final position for the third Test in Perth.Key’s departure brought Alec Stewart to the crease and with him came some old British bulldog fight. He carved out a fifty, showing brashness and ingenuity.But Stewart, who made 57, was a lone warrior. He brought up his 8,000th Test run to put him twelfth on the all-time list of run-scorers.Opener Michael Vaughan, after his first innings score of 177, offered some support. But he holed out to Shane Warne (three for 36) after some Glenn McGrath magic. On 41, Vaughan tried to dismiss Warne over the boundary only to be on the receiving end of one of the catches of the summer.McGrath, fully outstretched and parallel to the ground, caught Vaughan at deep mid-wicket with one hand. The ball bobbed out of his left and into his right to give Warne his first wicket of the innings. It was a wonderfully-timed piece of fielding, with McGrath never taking his eyes off the ball.A light sprinkling of rain gave both sides a longer lunch but it only seemed to delay the inevitable. When play resumed, all-rounder Craig White lasted over three quarters of an hour until he was caught by substitute fielder Lee, at mid-on, off the bowling of McGrath (four for 41). White could only add five to the total with Warne completely shutting down his end and the pacemen not giving much width.Stewart fell victim to Warne for the 14th time. Warne trapped the 39-year-old lbw with a slider, signalling the beginning of the end. Paceman Matthew Hoggard was bowled by McGrath, and Stephen Harmison, trying to play to the onside, fell lbw to Warne without troubling the scorers.The final partnership between Richard Dawson (19) and Andrew Caddick (6 not out) put on 25 runs. Dawson, in particular, played some strong square drives – once taking 12 off McGrath with three consecutive boundaries. He became McGrath’s fourth wicket of the innings after the quick tempted him outside off. Trying to put it away, the 22-year-old got an inside edge to Adam Gilchrist.The final day was an excellent exhibition of controlled bowling from the Australians. The bowlers gave England no peace and were continually hungry for wickets. England will need to consolidate and turn things around in the next five days, with the third Test starting at the WACA on Friday.

Veterans Neil Fairbrother and Graham Lloyd made runs but a catalogue of poorrunning kept West Indies A on top of their tour match with Lancashire.Fairbrother hit 101 and Lloyd 68 as the home side responded to a commandingWest Indian first innings with impressive gusto. Devon Smith had been the star of that innings, with 181 in a six and a half hour stay at the crease before he was last out.Fairbrother and Lloyd added 158 for the fourth Lancashire wicket in a little over two hours. The evening session saw West Indies A take charge, as Lancashire were reduced 279 all out.A mix-up with Lloyd bought Fairbrother’s innings to end. As an act of penance, and in a move which must have doubled the expletive count in the dressing room, Lloyd ran himself out the very next ball. To complete a bizarre hour, Ryan Driver (5) was also caught short for the third run out of the innings.Lancashire lost Jamie Haynes and Kyle Hogg to Reon King and Sulieman Bennrespectively soon after tea as they threw away an excellent position. After a short rain delay, the same bowlers returned to wrap up the innings. Daren Ganga (11 not out) and Chris Gayle (23 not out) did not waste the ten overs available before the close, hitting 38 to extend the West Indian lead to 128.Fairbrother is a special cricketer. He is an excellent professional, hits the ball crisply, and is as capable of smashing boundaries as he is at nudging singles. He reached his century from 121 balls, including 17 fours. It was the 47th century of a fine career.Conversely, Lloyd is an enigma. It is never quite possible to tell what sort of performance the Accrington-born right-hander will give. Generally, he likes to play his shots, and today everything looked like working. After spending a year in the wilderness in John Crawley’s last year of captaincy, Lloyd has been given more opportunities under Warren Hegg.The pair, both former England internationals, played with great assurance.Fairbrother in particular was always busy, nudging at every ball, chipping into the gaps, and punctuating his innings with fierce front and back foot shots. They looked totally at ease, and it is only right that the visiting bowlers were credited with neither wicket.Earlier, Lancashire had wrapped up the West Indian innings quickly. Smith was last to go for 181, a third wicket for James Anderson. In reply, Lancashire lost Mark Currie and Alec Swann to Test bowler Darren Powell. David Byas soon gave a catch to Keith Hibbert, to give the pacey Tino Best his first victim.

Somerset Cricket Board XI continue their challenge for a place in the second round of the 2003 Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy this morning when they will be looking to beat Cornwall at Camborne, after rain brought an early finish to proceedings yesterday.Batting first the Minor County side scored 301 for 8 in their allotted fifty overs, with young Michael Parsons being the pick of the Somerset bowlers, ending with 3 for 70 and Matt Dimond taking 2 for 65.There were also good returns from the slow men with left armer Arul Suppiah having just 36 scored from his ten overs, and Wes Durston taking 1 for 43 in his ten over stint.Opener’s Kevin Parsons and Kevin Sedgebeer got the Somerset reply off to a good start putting on 68 before Parsons was out for 33. Sedgebeer stayed a little longer until with the score on 89 he was out for 37.Somerset had moved onto 93 when with Durston and Michael Coles at the wicket the rain came down and the game was called off for the day.Play resumes today with Somerset requiring 209 for victory with 36.5 overs and 8 wickets remaining.

In the 14 months since the Colombo defeat which cost them their home series against England last year, Sri Lanka have carried virtually all before them. They have won all but one of the 11 Tests they have played since, and in so doing beaten India (2-1), Bangladesh (1-0), West Indies (3-0) and Zimbabwe (3-0), all at home, and for good measure defeated Pakistan at Lahore in the final of the Asian Test Championship. By contrast England have not won a rubber in the same period, drawing 1-1 with Pakistan, losing 4-1 to Australia and 1-0 to India, and then squaring their most recent series in New Zealand at a game apiece.Despite those relative records, England are still hot favourites to win the first Test starting at Lord’s tomorrow, with the emphasis on the word hot. Although the weather forecast is for an improvement in temperatures, conditions will still be alien to the tourists.As they have found during their travels round the country, the Sri Lankans will be faced with a seaming pitch offering, no doubt, extravagant movement ideally suited to the likes of Andrew Caddick and his friends. If it is warm and humid, there could well be similar movement through the air as well.The pattern of the tour so far has been one of inconsistency from the Sri Lankan batsmen. Top rate individuals they might be, but they have yet to perform as a unit. One fears for their well being if they bat first at Lord’s and England’s pace attack get the ball in the right place and the flamboyant batsmen go for their shots. All out for 180 ten minutes after lunch would have to be a possibility if all those factors materialise!Having said that, the opposition are usually inspired by the surroundings of Lord’s and the Sri Lankans have shown in the past that they are capable of rising to the occasion. It will be a major surprise if they do not find much better form than they have in their warm-up matches.Granted, Muttiah Muralitharan has been ruled out of the Lord’s Test with the shoulder injury he sustained in on his 30th birthday in the Sharjah Cup final. But beware of Sanath Jayasuriya’s assertion that Murali’s absence at Lord’s, if not for the next two Tests, gives Sri Lanka the chance to prove that they are more than a one-man team.Nor are they. Jayasuriya is averaging 41 in Tests, Mahela Jayawardene close on 50. Aravinda de Silva may be 36, but he too averages over 40 and has invaluable experience of English conditions. Kumar Sangakkara may not be the tidiest wicket-keeper in the world, but his average of 53 from 20 Tests is remarkable, and he has made runs abroad.Purely on averages, the top England batting is not as impressive. Graham Thorpe is the only man averaging over 40; Alec Stewart (39), Marcus Trescothick (37) and Nasser Hussain (36) come next. If Chaminda Vaas relishes conditions as he should, those averages might well be in for a reduction rather than enhancement.Even so, the England batting line-up appears so strong that it is hard to see them being bowled out cheaply twice. The discussion is whether Alec Stewart or Andrew Flintoff bats at number eight, which is a ridiculous problem for the management to face!On the evidence of the tour so far, the tourists might well get bowled out cheaply once. Whether it happens again will be dependent on their own will to succeed, the discipline of the England attack and, above all, the notoriously fickle English weather at this time of year.

Somerset will be without the services of their skipper Jamie Cox after it was confirmed that he has a hairline fracture of his thumb as a result of receiving a blow to his right hand whilst he was batting against Hampshire at Bath.Jamie, who is currently at the top of the Somerset batting averages has played in all five championship matches so far this season and scored 385 runs at an average of 55, but he will be missing from the line up when the Cidermen travel to Edgbaston to face Warwickshire on Wednesday.Earlier today Jamie had to be a spectator at the County Ground as others trained. He told me: "Of course I am very disappointed at not being able to play. We haven’t had much cricket so far this season because of the weather, and just when it looks like being fine I’ll be missing."When was he hoping to return I asked. He told me: "I`m hoping to be back for the one day game against Worcester Royals on July 7th, but if not then it will be the championship match against Yorkshire at Scarborough."Chief executive Peter Anderson told me: "This is the second time in two years that Jamie has received a hand injury at Bath. He will be missing for at least two weeks and will miss some vital games for us."

The United Cricket Board is unlikely to have anything to do with the Gauteng Cricket Board’s inquiry into South African cricket, announced at the weekend in the wake of the Daryll Cullinan affair.For reasons no one fully understands, the GCB took it upon themselves to stage an inquiry into Cullinan’s actions last week when he withdrew from the South African team for the second Test after failing to be given what he believed to be an appropriate contract.On Wednesday the GCB announced that Cullinan had been suspended pending an inquiry into the matter. The inquiry was held on Saturday after which the GCB announced it planned to broaden the scope of its inquiry into pretty much South Africa as a while.Unfortunately, the union neglected to inform the UCB of its intentions before making them public. UCB officials have reacted with a mixture of incredulity any and annoyance and UCB vice-president Robbie Kurz said on Monday that all the issues raised by the Cullinan affair would be discussed at the General Council meeting on March 21 and 23.With UCB president Percy Sonn out of the country observing the Zimbabwe elections, it has been speculated that Gauteng’s actions may have be the precursor of another bid by GCB chairman Dr Mthuthuzeli Nyoka to oust Sonn at this year’s UCB annual meeting.Alternatively, the GCB may have realised that it has little part to play in what is a dispute between the UCB and Cullinan and may now be seeking ways to save face after what seems to be a gross over-reaction.Plans for a strategic overhaul of South African cricket are at an advanced stage and it is difficult to understand exactly what purpose the GCB’s inquiry will serve. The GCB has said that its inquiry will be conducted on a voluntary basis. The union may well find precious few volunteers prepared to give this inquiry the time of day.

West Zone may have virtually sealed the Duleep Trophy in their favour by notching up 526 in the first two days, but overnight rain further confirmed their imminent victorious status.Play could begin only at 4:35 p.m. due to the wet conditions, and inexplicably, West Zone chose to play 10 minutes and two overs before declaring on 529 for six, a mammoth total by any standards, but a particularly important one considering that West merely need to draw this match to win the tournament.East Zone played four overs before the close of play, but Parag Das retired hurt after 3.2 overs. East reached three for no loss, with Debang Gandhi unbeaten on two and Rashmi Ranjan Parida yet to score.Except for academic purposes, this match is over. The fourth day may provide an opportunity for some individuals to shine, but West Zone’s celebrations may as well start tonight.

England A found themselves under pressure in Anguilla today when LeewardsIslands made the most of some wayward bowling and a fast scoring track.

Despite the first day of this final round Busta Cup match being shortened tojust over 81 overs due to rain, Leewards rattled up 300 for five, Alex Adamsand Ridley Jacobs providing some of the best entertainment of the tournamentso far with some ebullient strokeplay.On such a lively pitch, control of the game was always going to lie with theside that made the least mistakes so a disappointing day for England Astarted when skipper Mark Alleyne lost the toss, giving the chance forLeewards’ batsmen to make first use of a pitch which promised plenty ofruns.The onus was on the seamers to stem the flow but Alex Tudor, who missed thelast two games with a side strain, took his time to find his rhythm, hisfirst four overs going for 25.In keeping with the recent weather patterns, a monsoonal shower swept acrossthe island just 20 minutes into play and the groundstaff scurried on withthe covers to protect the glossy sheen that groundsman Dale Rogers hasworked hard in recent weeks to achieve.Rogers, a mechanical engineer who tends the Webster Park pitch in his sparetime, has produced the best track in the Caribbean, he says, and he is notfar wrong. Flat, quick and bouncy, it offered something for everyone withruns coming thick and fast for the batsmen and bowlers rewarded forconsistent line and length.The first half hour break for rain proved worthwhile for England A, whoexploited a lapse in concentration by the batsmen. Junie Mitchum failed toget behind the line of a ball from Chris Silverwood and mistimed a hook shotdown to long leg. The catch was safely taken by Tudor, which went some wayin making up for the hammering he took earlier.He made up more lost time after changing ends when he struck with twowickets in three balls, Stuart Williams eventually caught in the slips aftera fumble from wicketkeeper James Foster and Sylvester Joseph bowled for aduck.But the introduction of spin into the attack gave Adams and Wilden Cornwalla chance to find their feet and Cornwell pounced, hitting four identicalboundaries off the back foot off in one Graeme Swann over.The onslaught continued until the stand was worth 69 runs when Cornwall,flashing wildly at a wide ball from Tudor, edged it to slip giving Swann thechance to wreak his revenge.A second stoppage for rain served to focus the mind of Adams and the rest ofthe day belonged to him and later to Jacobs, who on Tuesday landed inAnguilla following his exhausting three month tour of Australia.The fielders could do little about the barrage of boundaries coming from theblade of the powerful Adams as he found gaps all round the wicket with acomposure and instinct that makes him an exciting prospect for the future.By the time he fell lbw to Jon Lewis, he had made 75, in an attractiveinnings that included 11 fours. His departure paved the way for anotheronslaught, this time by Jacobs who seemed relieved that after three monthsof facing Glenn McGrath, he was back in paradise able to play whatever shothe chose to good effect.At stumps, he had made his way to a quickfire 88, his partner Carl Tuckettincreasing in confidence with an unbeaten 43.Afterwards, coach Peter Moores admitted England A’s bowling had fallen belowthe normal standards shown on this Busta Cup tour.”It was a different sort of wicket with much more pace and bounce and one ofthose where anything too full or too short or wide was penalised,” he said.”But you have to give them credit – they played really well and took thegame to us, keeping the pressure on us all day. Jacobs and Adams wereparticularly strong. In all our previous games, we have been able to squeezepeople and allow them to make mistakes but today we did not bowl well enoughand on a proper pitch like this, you have to get the ball in the right areaevery time. We bowled too many `four’ balls and paid the price,” Mooressaid.

Yorkshire dominated the day’s play at Chelmsford reaching 376-9, a total that owed much to flourishing contributions from their middle and late order batsmen.The features of the innings were the performances of James Middlebrook and Chris Silverwood which roused their side as they added 126 runs in 25 overs. Both punished mercilessly the wayward Essex bowling and were particularly harsh on paceman Ashley Cowan who, despite claiming three wickets, conceded 111 runs from his 23 overs.Both Middlebrook and 26-year-old Silverwood reached career-best figures with the bat, executing drives and pulls providentially. Silverwood had reached 70 from 74 deliveries with one six and 11 boundaries before he edged a catch to the wicket-keeper while his partner was only 16 runs short of a maiden century when he attempted to cut a ball from Ronnie Irani and was caught at third man by Cowan.Having won the toss and elected to bat, Yorkshire had seemingly lost the initiative when half their side were dismissed for 130 in 45 overs. Scott Richardson, a 23-year-old making his championship debut was the first to go after making a pleasing 22 before he became one of two wickets for Mark Ilott.The Essex left-arm paceman’s second scalp was that of prized Australian Darren Lehmann who, having scored seven, chased a wide delivery immediately after the lunch restart to edge a catch to the keeper.It was David Byas who began the fightback with a sterling innings of 55 from 99 deliveries to halt the slide and 41 from Richard Blakey saw the side move away from their difficult position. Then came the profiteering performances from 24-year-old Middlebrook and Silverwood to give the innings prosperity.

Daniel Vettori has said that his participation in New Zealand’s tour of Sri Lanka in November is in doubt after the recurrence of his Achilles problem during the World Twenty20. Vettori’s availability status will be confirmed on Friday after he sees a specialist.”I think it will be a little bit of a break,” Vettori said. “I don’t think I’ll make the Sri Lanka tour. It’s a bit of a chronic injury that flared up during the tournament [World T20]. I’m seeing the specialist tomorrow. I’ll have more of an idea about it then.”Vettori had to pull out at the last minute after he experienced soreness in his ankle ahead of New Zealand’s last Super Eight match against West Indies. He also had to sit out both Tests during the recent tour of India due to a groin injury.New Zealand are scheduled to play two Tests, five ODIs and a T20 in Sri Lanka from October 30, and Vettori’s absence could come as a blow to the team. However, Vettori said he expects to be back for New Zealand’s tour of South Africa that starts with a Twenty20 in Durban on December 21.Vettori, 33, still hopes to be around till the 2015 World Cup, but said he will have to take the stock of the situation once he recovers from the injury. “I think when injuries come and start to plague you, you have to reassess your goals.”