Sri Lanka beat South Africa in Champions Trophy

Sri Lanka 319 for 8 (Dilshan 106, Jayawardene 77, Sangakkara 54) beat South Africa 206 for 7 (Smith 58, Mendis 3-30) by 55 runs (D/L)

Tillakeratne Dilshan and Ajantha Mendis led Sri Lanka to a 55-run win over hosts South Africa as the opening match of the Champions Trophy was decided by the Duckworth-Lewis scoring method on Tuesday.

Dilshan struck 106 off 92 balls as Sri Lanka amassed 319 for eight, their highest one-day score against South Africa. Spinner Mendis then claimed three for 30 as the hosts finished on 206 for seven from 37.4 overs after rain intervened.

The 24-year-old Mendis was playing against South Africa for the first time and frequently bamboozled the opposition batsmen in the Group B match.


Sri Lanka innings

T. Dilshan c Morkel b 106
S. Jayasuriya lbw b 10
K. Sangakkara c&b 54
M. Jayawardena c Duminy b 77
T. Samaraweera c Van der Merwe 37
A. Mathews b 15
T. Kandamby c Duminy b 6
N. Kulasekara run 1
M. Muralitharan not 0

Extras (lb-5, w-5, nb-3)13
Total (eight wickets; 50 ) 319

Fall of wickets: 1-16 2-174 3-181 4-297 5-297 6-314 7-3178-319.

Bowling:
Steyn 9-2-47-3 (w-1), Parnell 10-0-79-3 (w-3,nb-1), Kallis 7-0-43-0, Morkel 4-0-39-0 (nb-1), Botha 9-0-53-0(w-1, nb-1), Van der Merwe 10-0-42-0, Duminy 1-0-11-1.

South Africa innings
G. Smith b 58
H. Amla b Mathews 2
J. Kallis c Mathews b Mendis 41
A. de Villiers c Jayawardena b Malinga 24
JP. Duminy b Mendis 0
M. Boucher lbw b Mathews 26
A. Morkel not out 29
J. Botha c Mathews b Malinga 21
R. van der Merwe not out 3

Extras (w-2) 2 Total
(for seven wickets, 37.4 overs) 206

Bowling:
Malinga 7.4-0-43-2 (w-1), Kulasekara 7-0-44-0,Mathews 8-1-43-2, Muralitharan 8-0-46-0, Mendis 7-0-30-3 (w-1).

New Zealand all out for 155

46.3 overs New Zealand 155 (Nehra 3-24, Yuvraj 3-31) v India

Batting

BB McCullum 3
JD Ryder 0
MJ Guptill 22
LRPL Taylor 11
GD Elliott 22
JDP Oram 24
NT Broom 21
DL Vettori 25
KD Mills 6
IG Butler 6
SE Bond 10*

Bowling
A Nehra 3/24
RP Singh 2/22
I Sharma 2/26
Yuvraj Singh 3/31
Harbhajan Singh 0/39
SK Raina 0/4
YK Pathan 0/5

Gautam Gambhir will miss the ongoing one-day tri-series

India's in-form opener Gautam Gambhir will miss the ongoing one-day tri-series in Sri Lanka with a groin injury, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) said on Thursday.

Left-handed Gambhir strained the muscle and will return home to rest for 10 days, the BCCI said in a statement.

Virat Kohli has been named as his replacement.

India open against New Zealand on Friday and play Sri Lanka the following day with the final slated for Sept. 14 in the short series -- their build up to the Champions Trophy in South Africa later this month.

India is already without explosive opener Virender Sehwag and bowling spearhead Zaheer Khan. Both are recovering after shoulder surgery and will be sidelined until after the Champions Trophy.

England won Ashes victory

England completed an emotional victory over Australia in the fifth and final test on Sunday to regain the Ashes they surrendered so abjectly in 2006-7.

Scoreboard after England beat Australiaby 197 runs to win the fifth Ashes test and the series at theOval, London on Sunday.

England win the five-test series 2-1.

England first innings 332 (A. Strauss 55, I. Bell 72)
Australia first innings 160 (S. Katich 50, S. Broad 5-37)
England second innings 373-9 declared (A.Strauss 75, J.Trott 119, G.Swann 63; 4-98)


Australia second innings (80-0 overnight)
S. Watson lbw b Broad 40
S. Katich lbw b Swann 43
R. Ponting run out (Flintoff) 66
M. Hussey c Cook b Swann 121
M. Clarke run out (Strauss) 0
M. North st Prior b Swann 10
B. Haddin c Strauss b Swann 34
M. Johnson c Collingwood b Harmison 0
P. Siddle c Flintoff b Harmison 10
S. Clark c Cook b Harmison 0
B. Hilfenhaus not out 4

Extras: (lb-7, nb-6, b-7) 20
Total: (all out; 102.2 overs) 348

Fall of wickets: 1-86 2-90 3-217 4-220 5-236 6-327 7-327 8-343 9-343 10-348

Bowling:
Anderson 12-2-46-0 (1nb),
Flintoff 11-1-42-0 (1nb),
Harmison 16-5-54-3 (4nb),
Swann 40.2-8-120-4, Broad 22-4-71-1,
Collingwood 1-0-1-0.

First test, Cardiff - Jul 8-12: Draw
Second test, Lord's - Jul 16-20: England won by 115 runs
Third test, Edgbaston - Jul 30-Aug 3: Draw
Fourth test, Leeds - Aug 7-9: Australia won by an innings and 80 runs
Fifth test, Oval: England won by 197 runs

England vs India 1st test chennai

Lunch England 63 for 0 (Strauss 31*, Cook 31*)

England's openers have barely picked up a bat since September, but Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook defied the pre-match predictions of being severely undercooked by guiding England to 63 without loss at lunch on the opening day in Chennai. It was slow going, but the main priority for the visitors was to avoid early damage and a wicketless first session will have given the dressing room a huge boost.

In the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks 15 days ago this series appeared unlikely to take place but at 9.00am Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kevin Pietersen appeared for a toss that signified something more important than a normal cricket match. However, as both captains said before the match, minds had begun to switch back into game-mode, and Pietersen was able to make the simple decision to bat on a flat Chennai pitch after he won the toss.

By the end of the first session it was easy to see why. Despite having only a little more than a week's notice for this match, the groundsman had put together a typical batting track. Harbhajan Singh was in the action by the ninth over and within the first hour Dhoni was down to one slip and a gully. During the series against Australia, catches at cover and midwicket produced wickets and Dhoni was clearly hoping for similar results.

However, Strauss and Cook showed impressive resilience. The opening overs against Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma were about judging where the off stump was and gauging any movement, of which there was little. Both bowlers maintained tight lines, but realised early on that it was going to be hard work.

The first boundary, a clip to fine leg by Strauss, came in the seventh over when Zaheer drifted too straight. Strauss and Cook got away with miscued pulls into the leg side as they struggled for their timing - a sign of their lack of practice - but were not overly troubled by pace and combated Harbhajan's early overs.

Cook produced the shot of the morning, a straight drive against Zaheer which comfortably made the boundary despite the outfield being slow due to the recent rain. If anyone knows how to perform without much preparation it's Cook: in 2006, he was thrown in for a Test debut in Nagpur, just two days after arriving from the Caribbean.

India managed to get the ball changed in the 18th over, and although the replacement did more the breakthrough didn't materialise. The most interesting bowling of the session came from Amit Mishra, the legspinner who claimed 5 for 71 on debut against Australia. His first over went for nine as Strauss swept him twice from a full length, but he teased the batsmen with his variations of flight.

Cook almost gave a catch to backward point when trying to cut but both openers survived their opening challenge against spin. There will be plenty more to come, but it was a better start than England could have imagined.