Clarke quits Twenty20

Michael Clarke has opted to turn his back on international Twenty20 cricket in order to focus on his Test career.

Clarke, who replaced the injured Ricky Ponting as Australia's captain for the final Ashes Test in Sydney, had previously skippered the side at the World Twenty20 in the West Indies.

However the 29-year-old batsman has now decided to quit the shortest form of the game - meaning he will now miss the two T20 games against England.

"I'm retiring from international Twenty20 cricket," Clarke confirmed.

"Looking back on this series, my Test cricket isn't where I want it at the moment - so I guess this gives me the opportunity now to focus wholly and solely on Test and one-day international cricket.

"I'll use that time to play more domestic and first-class cricket for New South Wales, and become a better Test player.

"I've always said Test cricket is the ultimate for me, and this gives me that opportunity."

Cameron White is the most likely replacement for Clarke as Australia's Twenty20 captain.


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England complete victory in fourth test, retain Ashes

England have retained the Ashes in Australia for the first time in 24 years, after defeating Australia with a margin of an innings and 157 runs on the fourth day morning at the MCG.

It took England less than an hour and a half to wrap up the Aussie tail leaving Haddin unbeaten on 55 who was waging a battle. England were on top from the moment the coin was tossed and went on to dismiss Australia cheaply for 98 in the first innings.

Bresnan was the star performer for England in the fourth innings as he scalped in-form Hussey for a duck and finished with 4 for 50. He was mobbed by his team-mates as he dismissed Hilfenhaus the last wicket to fall, and the England fans at the MCG burst into celebration.

There was some fight from Brad Haddin and Peter Siddle in the 4th day morning as they put together an 86-run partnership after the early loss of Mitchell Johnson, but it was only ever a matter of time for England.

The victory gave England a 2-1 lead in the ashes series, which will be completed with the fifth and final test in Sydney next week

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HUGHES READY FOR ENGLAND BARRAGE

Phil Hughes has denied he has any problems with short-pitched bowling, saying he will not "lose any sleep" over England's plans to bounce him out during the third Ashes Test in Perth.

The 22-year-old opener has been recalled to Australia's squad to take the place of Simon Katich, who injured his Achilles during the second-Test loss in Adelaide and will now miss the rest of the series.

Having lost his position as Australian opener midway through the last Ashes series in England, Hughes has played just two Tests for Australia since, filling in for other injured players.

He did score a power-packed 86 from just 75 balls earlier this year against New Zealand and still has a Test average of 51.25 after a sizzling first-up series against South Africa in March 2009.

But doubts continue to linger over Hughes' technique after it was brutally exposed by a bouncer barrage from Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff during the last Ashes series.

"The media have got a hold of it and gone on about the short ball," Hughes told the Herald-Sun.

"I'm not worried about it. I'm not concerned about the short ball at all.

When asked his thoughts on England captain Andrew Strauss' plan to hit him with more bouncers on the fast Perth wicket, he added: "I won't lose any sleep over it.

"I've been working on my game. A lot of that stuff about me struggling against the short ball was hyped up through the Ashes, but I won't be changing a lot."

Hughes and his NSW team-mate Steve Smith were told of their escalation to the Test squad by selector Greg Chappell during the last day of the Blues' eight-wicket Sheffield Shield win over South Australia, although Hughes failed to celebrate it properly by being dismissed for a duck during the run chase.

In fact, Hughes has only managed 201 runs from eight first-class innings at 25.12 this summer, although he did manage to score 81 for Australia A in their tour match with England in Hobart.

Despite the lean scoring this summer, Hughes has received the backing of former Australian opener Matthew Hayden.

Like Hughes, Hayden was a domestic cricket run machine who took five years to establish himself in the Australia team during the 1990s.

But Hayden believes Hughes has what it takes to eventually earn a permanent position in the side, a process that may start in Perth next week.

"I think there's people that comment about Phil's technique being this, that and the other thing," said Hayden. "At the end of the day it doesn't matter.

"He scores the runs and he scores a lot of runs.

"Within the side, he's got a great mentor in Justin Langer, whose role specifically is to develop him.

"There's none tougher in the business than him, so he's got some really good support and I think that's going to make a difference in Phil's career."


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Ricky Ponting Takes A Slump In Ranking

Ricky Ponting has fallen out of the world's top 20 batsmen for the first time since 2001 following his double failure in Adelaide as Australia were crushed by an innings-and-71 runs in the second Ashes Test.

The man who removed him for a first-innings golden duck, James Anderson, has risen to a career-best No.3 in the bowling rankings while Graeme Swann has closed the gap on Dale Steyn at No.1.

Ponting didn't survive the opening over in Adelaide, when he was caught at slip first ball, and could only manage 9 in the second innings before he was removed by Swann.

It meant he had only 70 runs in four innings for the series, 51 of those in the second innings in Brisbane as the match was drawn.

Anderson overtook Zaheer Khan to secure third spot following his match figures of 6 for 143.

He began the match in stunning style by removing Ponting and Michael Clarke as Australia slumped to 3 for 2 and then, on the final morning, found himself on a hat-trick after claiming Brad Haddin and Ryan Harris.

Swann, meanwhile, bounced back from a disappointing performance in Brisbane by playing a key role in England's innings-and-71-run victory.

He took two important wickets in the first innings, but came into his own second time around as he bagged five on a wearing pitch.

He is now just 14 points behind Steyn at the top of the table and, if he performs well in Perth and Melbourne, has a chance to finish the year as the leading bowler in the world.

However, Steyn will be looking to consolidate his position when he leads South Africa's attack against India in the Test series that starts on December 16 After conceding 620 runs it's not surprising that Australia's bowlers slipped, with Doug Bollinger sliding four places to No.13 and Peter Siddle, who hasn't claimed a wicket since his Brisbane hat-trick, slipping three to No.17.

England also made significant gains on the batting front, with Jonathan Trott continuing his rise after securing a career-best position last week and moving further up to sixth place, while Alastair Cook's mighty form has seen him climb to No.13 and he now has the most points of his career.

Kevin Pietersen is also marching back up the ladder after ending his lean run with a career-best 227.

The one bright spot for Australia has been Mike Hussey's form and he gained ten places following his match double of 93 and 52 in Adelaide.

Michael Clarke's second-innings 80 has prevented him from slipping down the list.

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Ashes: England complete innings win in Adelaide Test

The expected deluge of rain failed to save the Australians as they resumed in warm sunshine 137 runs behind on 238-4.

After Michael Hussey fell for 52 in the sixth full over, James Anderson struck twice with successive deliveries.

Graeme Swann took the final wicket an hour before lunch by bowling Peter Siddle to finish with figures of 5-91.

It was an exceptional performance from England, with almost everything going according to plan from the first over of the match, when Jonathan Trott ran out Simon Katich and Ricky Ponting was caught at slip off the next ball.

There was a brief moment of concern on the final morning when wicketkeeper Matt Prior failed to cling on to a thin edge from Hussey three balls after the obdurate left-hander had recorded his 23rd Test fifty, prompting fears that the man known as 'Mr Cricket' might somehow help Australia scrape a draw.

A reprieve for such a renowned occupier of the crease, coupled with uncertainty over the weather, might have led to some anxiety for England but 10 balls later Prior was relieved to see Hussey heading back to the pavilion.

The 35-year-old Western Australian attempted a reckless, out-of-character pull at the impressive Steven Finn, who used the new ball intelligently in the absence of the injured Stuart Broad, who has been ruled out for the series.

Hussey was not in control of the shot as the ball reared up higher than he expected and he could only top edge straight to Anderson at mid-on.

England still had to contend with the combative Brad Haddin, who had made a battling half century in the first innings, and he struck successive fours off Anderson.

However, the Lancashire swing bowler soon took his revenge when an exceptional delivery moved away and caught the edge, giving Prior a routine catch behind the stumps.

The denouement as Peter Siddle is the last Australia wicket to fall

Ryan Harris offered no shot to the next delivery, which swung back the other way, and was given out lbw, a decision confirmed after a referral to the TV umpire.

He became only the second Australian, after legendary wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist, to be dismissed for a king pair - out first ball in both innings - in a Test match.

Marcus North was the only senior batsman left and well though he played for 22, he was sent on his way after England referred an lbw appeal by Swann and replays indicated the ball would have gone on to hit the middle stump.

Australia were capitulating dramatically in much the same way England did at the hands of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne on numerous occasions, including a final-day collapse in Adelaide four years ago.

On that day England lost nine wickets for 60 runs, a feeling Australia became increasingly familiar with as North departed to become the fourth wicket to fall in the space of six overs for the addition of only 25 runs.

Xavier Doherty's unhappy match ended when he was bowled by Swann, who fittingly ended the contest with a perfect off-break that turned in between Peter Siddle's bat and pad to give England their 100th Test victory against Australia, their first win against them by an innings for 24 years, and only their ninth in 30 Tests at Adelaide.

The final wicket also gave 31-year-old Swann, playing only his 26th Test, his 10th five-wicket haul, making him the second England spinner, after Derek Underwood with 17, to reach the mark.

For Australia, the torrential rain they had hoped for did eventually arrive late in the afternoon but by then the England celebrations were in full swing.

And, needing only to draw the five-match series in order to retain the Ashes, it is the tourists who are very much in the ascendancy as the series moves west to Perth for the third Test beginning on 16 December

Ashes 2010: England must hit ground running in Adelaide

While everyone connected with English cricket was both buoyed and mightily impressed with the fighting draw in the first Ashes Test at Brisbane, the message from the management to the players has been to keep their feet firmly on the ground.

Andrew Strauss was quick to make that point again this afternoon, repeating Andy Flower's observation that the match was no more than drawn, and the score line remains 0-0.

Strauss confirmed that everyone in the squad is fit and from that we can conclude that England will probably be unchanged, but there are areas that have room for improvement.

The first is the frustrating business of England's first innings scores.

There has to be much more focus on batting with the same discipline and commitment shown by Strauss, Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott in the second innings at the Gabba - but when it really matters in the first innings.

It can be easier second time around, when there is a definite target to aim for, be it a score to beat or a specific number of sessions to survive.

Batting first has no such obvious focal point other than the aim to score as many runs as possible, and the top six batsmen really need to knuckle down and bat Australia out of the match if they possibly can.

The other area of concern - albeit it mild at the moment - is Graeme Swann's form. Strauss strongly defended him on Wednesday, as you would expect, but the off-spinner was well below his best at Brisbane.

Pulled far too often by Michael Hussey in the first innings, Swann was then driven down the ground by Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson in the second, suggesting he is still searching for the right length here.


Things might have been different had Paul Collingwood taken a routine slip catch, which did rather sum up Swann's match.

Ponting always likes to name his team in advance if he can, and I reckon this is the first time against England he has been unable to do that.

The decision to drop Mitchell Johnson was entirely the right one, even though Ponting seemed to load the blame, as it were, on to the four selectors.

Australia had to do something with the bowling attack and I fully expect Doug Bollinger to play, but dare they drop Ben Hilfenhaus as well and replace him with Ryan Harris?

Hilfenhaus bowled pretty well on that flat pitch, and Harris and Bollinger are both returning after injuries.

With doubts about Michael Clarke's decision to declare himself fit for Brisbane, and then bat as if he was seriously discomforted, Australia cannot afford to take a chance that one of their bowlers could break down again.

There is a little more grass on the pitch than usual, but with hot weather forecast for the first two days at least, this is wicket that you definitely want to bat on first.

Then we can see if either team has the firepower to bowl the other out twice.

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Cook's simple recipe makes Aussies stew as England opener goes back to basics

That was some statement from Alastair Cook and some statement from England.

In each of the last three Ashes series, they have finished the first Test with a question mark hanging over them. This time, all the question marks are hanging over Australia. Both teams know it and so does the Australian public.

England owe Cook a debt. The pitch may have been flat and the bowling ordinary, but a bloke who was fretting over his technique for most of the summer has now gone out there and beaten Don Bradman's record score at the Gabba. Not a bad riposte.

I've watched Cook closely for some time and I think what he did in this game - and what he did when he saved his place at The Oval with that hundred against Pakistan last summer - was to forget his technical issues and concentrate on keeping things simple.

Seeing the ball and playing the ball does not sound like the sexiest mantra, but that is essentially what Cook did during his 235 not out. If you think too much about your technique, you can get into trouble. It's good to be self-critical, but not if it paralyses you.

It's true that Cook has made a couple of minor adjustments. He's bending the front knee more into the drive and not hanging back in expectation of a short ball. The quality of his front-foot play has improved as a result

I would add, though, he has scored his runs on a pitch that offered barely any sideways movement. His first-innings dismissal came when Peter Siddle was jagging it about, so the problem hasn't just vanished overnight. But that is what England must accept with Cook.

In tricky conditions, as we saw last summer, he might struggle. But he ticks all the other boxes: mental strength, heart, calmness, converting 50s into big scores, being a team man and a lack of fear of the Aussies. The way he played out there helped England avoid the fate of so many touring teams before them.

Fortress Gabba is usually the place other teams leave feeling deflated and ridiculed. Mentally disintegrated, I believe they call it. But England didn't implode after falling 200-odd behind on first innings and Australia cannot hide from a scoreboard reading 517 for 1.

That total has done two things. It has shown the England guys they can get runs against this Australian attack. And it has alleviated a lot of the pressure they may have felt after the third day of this game. At that point plenty of supporters on both sides would have thought: 'Here we go again. Same old England, same old Australia.' But you look at Australia's bowling and all their dropped catches and you realise that just isn't the case any more.

Ponting was right: this wasn't a typical Gabba pitch. But then it wasn't a typical Australian performance, either. And that will worry him greatly.

The toss now becomes crucial at Adelaide. Not only do the bowlers - especially the Aussies - need a bit of a rest after flogging their guts out at the Gabba, but Adelaide tends to break up a bit more on the last two days.

Brisbane stayed intact. Both sides will need to work out how they're going to get 20 wickets after taking 11 apiece in the first Test, but the greater problems are with Australia.

Xavier Doherty looks like a bit of a roller of the ball rather than an out-and- out spinner and Mitchell Johnson may be drinking in the last-chance saloon.

But I like the look of Dougie Bollinger, who's been added to the squad. He's had a good start to his Test career and he's a real effort bowler. He's quick and strong, and although he may be a bit undercooked after coming back recently from injury, he's an old-fashioned, in-your-face snarler - a bit like Merv Hughes.

England can't get too cocky after conceding 481 and 107 for 1 in Brisbane, so there are some issues for them to consider. But I wouldn't worry too much about Graeme Swann. Off-spinners tend to struggle in Australia. Muttiah Muralitharan averaged 75 in Tests here and Harbhajan Singh averages 73. Sydney apart, it's not the sort of place where an off-spinner rocks up and takes 5 for 50.

Swann's done tremendously well in the last two years, but we have to be careful we avoid a Monty Panesar scenario. We built Monty up to be the next spinning genius, when he has always been no more than a very good slow left-armer. The same applies to Swann. He shouldn't be judged on one tough game on a flat pitch. As long as he outbowls the opposition spinner and chips in on wearing pitches, he'll be doing his job. And, so far, England have done theirs.




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Siddle Takes Hat Trick in First Ashes

Australian Peter Siddle grabbed a dramatic hat-trick on his 26th birthday to reduce England to 197 for seven midway through the final session on the first day of the first Ashes test on Thursday.

The Victorian had already taken the wickets of Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood in eleven balls in his second spell after lunch but better was to come in the third session.

His first victim was opener Alastair Cook, who had held the England innings together with a dogged half century before the bustling right-arm quick had him caught by Shane Watson at second slip for 67.

Siddle then produced a venomous full delivery that took out wicketkeeper Matt Prior's middle stump and sent him back to the dressing room with a golden duck, bringing the Gabba crowd to their feet as Stuart Broad walked out to the crease.

Siddle produced another brilliant swinging full delivery that struck the batsman on the toe, umpire Aleem Dar raising his finger for lbw with his decision upheld after Broad appealed to the television umpire.

Graeme Swann managed to fend off the last delivery of the over and Siddle was given a standing ovation as he returned to his fielding position on the boundary as only the 11th Australian to take a hat-trick in a test match.

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STRAUSS DECLARES ENGLAND READY FOR ASHES ACTION

Andrew Strauss' England are as ready as they will ever be for their date with destiny in the 2010/11 Ashes. Strauss has one more team talk to deliver before England take the field at the Gabba in defence of the urn, and in the hope of overturning almost a quarter of a century of Ashes failure down under.

By universal agreement, their preparation - since arriving in Australia almost a month ago - could hardly have gone any better. With two wins and much the better of a rain-affected draw from their three first-class matches, a settled first-choice team and no injuries, there appears to be barely a cloud on the horizon for the tourists.

The same cannot be said for the Brisbane skyline, persuading many that whoever wins the toss tomorrow might even consider bowling first as a viable option. Strauss will confirm that decision only if and when he has to. In the meantime, his job is all about harnessing expectation and tensions for a group of players portrayed by many as the logical conquerors of Ricky Ponting's hosts.

"We're all just very keen to get amongst it now," said the England captain. "It's been a big build-up and obviously very exciting, the prospect of representing your country in an Ashes series - and we're standing here on the edge of it." Alongside him, barring injury, will be the same players who beat Western Australia in Perth and had to settle for a stalemate in Adelaide.

Australia, by contrast, have had some awkward selection issues to overcome - and in the end, after vice-captain Michael Clarke's recovery from a back injury, have dispensed with his stand-by Usman Khawaja and left-arm fast bowler Doug Bollinger. Strauss appears unconcerned with the fine-tuning of Australia's personnel.

"You never know what's going on in the opposition camps, and spending too much time speculating on what might or might not be happening is not too helpful," he said. "We know that any XI Australia put on the park is going to be a strong one - and each of their bowlers have their particular strengths and weaknesses. "We've got to be good enough to counteract them."

Strauss is well aware England's chances are being talked up, and believes there is substance to the hype this time round. "I think we have got a good opportunity, there's no doubt about it," he said. "We've started the tour well; we're in a good place as a side. "But at the same time we recognise this is a tough assignment - not many sides come out here and win. "We understand the size of the challenge ahead of us. But we couldn't be in a better place mentally to take it on."

Ability and durability are the qualities Strauss is prizing most. "It's going to take a lot of good cricket, some guys pulling out some good performances when it really matters, and guys digging pretty deep," he predicts.

"But I'm fully confident we have the players able to do that."

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