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Australia's bowlers vindicated Ricky Ponting's bold first innings declaration with a disciplined and aggressive display on the second day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Shane Watson and Nathan Hauritz followed their enterprising half-centuries with a top-order wicket apiece, but the major blow was landed by Peter Siddle on the stroke of stumps when Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan captain, was ruled by Billy Doctrove not to have edged to Brad Haddin, only to have the decision overturned by the video umpire.

Asoka de Silva's ruling left the Pakistanis reeling at 4 for 109 in pursuit of Australia's 5 (dec) for 454. Hot Spot and slow motion replays supported de Silva's assertion that Yousuf gloved the ball down the leg-side in a flinching motion, but the knowledge will come as little comfort to the tourists, who are now faced with a mountainous climb to remain competitive in the match.

Ponting demonstrated Australia's ruthless intent by delcaring less than an hour after the lunch break on Sunday, having watched each of his first five batsmen, the nightwatchman included, notch half centuries. Mitchell Johnson was first to back-up his captain's endeavour by trapping Imran Farhat lbw to a tailing delivery, while Watson, Hauritz and Peter Siddle swung into action in the final session to leave the tourists in a grim fight for survival.

Hauritz, contending with a groin injury that hampered him throughout his 152-ball stay at the crease, coaxed Faisal Iqbal into a cut-shot that was accepted by Michael Clarke at slip. Watson then pressed home Australia's advantage with an excellent spell of reverse swing bowling that accounted for Salman Butt (45) and severely tested the defences of Mohammad Yousuf and Umar Akmal.

Score: Pakistan 4 for 109 (Butt 45) trail Australia 5 for 454 dec (Katich 98, Watson 93, Hussey 82, Hauritz 75, Ponting 57) by 345 runs

Andrew Strauss took a leaf out of Dale Steyn's batting textbook, and launched England's innings with a 49-ball half-century - his fastest in Tests - as the second Test at Durban produced yet more dramatic momentum shifts on an eventful second day.Strauss, however, was that one England wicket to fall, bowled for 54 in the fifth over after tea by the one man to have troubled him consistently throughout this tour, Morne Morkel. Strauss had already enjoyed one massive slice of good fortune when the third umpire, Steve Davis, overturned an lbw appeal in Morkel's first over of the same session, despite inconclusive evidence of an inside-edge onto the pads, but second time around no replays were needed. Morkel's height, pace and off-stump accuracy combined to blast through Strauss's defences, and bring to an end the brightest of a series of cameos that lit up an otherwise piecemeal day's cricket.Strauss has been in the form of his life in the past 12 months, and such was his dominance in the early part of his innings that his opening partner, Alastair Cook, was feeding on scraps at the other end, with 8 from 36 balls at the interval. Strauss crashed nine fours in his innings, including four in eight balls against a toiling Ntini, whose medium-paced offerings fed all three of Strauss's strengths - the pull, the cut and the drive. Steyn, bubbly after his 58-ball 47, provided some hairy moments with late swing from a tight new-ball line, and Morkel also found Strauss's edge with a lifter on off stump, but Jacques Kallis's rusty swingers were no match for a man in Strauss's mood, as he was drilled for two fours in consecutive balls.

Score: England 103 for 1 (Trott 17*, Cook 31*) trail South Africa 343 (Kallis 75, Smith 75) by 240 runs

Following are the statistical highlights of the fifth and final one-day international between India and Sri Lanka which was abandoned due to unfit pitch conditions at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium.

# With a no-result game, India have played 31, winning 17 and losing 10 this year. Four games involving India could not produce results - the most by any country in 2009. India`s winning per cent is 62. 96.

# Sri Lanka have won 12 and lost 14 out of 27 contested with only one no-result game this year. Sri Lanka`s winning per cent is 46. 15.

# Sanath Jayasuriya (20 years 1 day) has become the third player after Javed Miandad (20 years 272 days) and Sachin Tendulkar (20 years 6 days) to have played ODIs for 20 years.

# Appearing un his 85th ODI on Indian soil, Harbhajan Singh, with Jayasuriya`s wicket, has become the fifth bowler to take 100 wickets in India, joining Anil Kumble (126), Ajit Agarkar (109), Javagal Srinath (103) and Kapil Dev (100).

# Dilshan`s tally of 353 (ave 70.60) is a record in Sri Lanka-India ODIs, outstripping Mahendra Singh Dhoni`s tally of 346 in five innings at an average of 115.33, in 2005-06 in India.

# Both Gordon Greenidge (353 in 1983-84) and Dilshan share a record for most runs in five-ODI series against India.

# Zaheer Khan is the top wicket-taker in the series – 7 at an average of 40.00.

In the fallout of cancellation of the final ODI between India and Sri Lanka due to an unsporting pitch at Feroze Shah Kotla Ground, former India cricketer Chetan Chauhan resigned from his post in the Pitch and Ground Committee.

The pitch curator has also tendered his resignation after the much-awaited ODI was called off after the uneven bounce of the pitch yielded some bad blows to the batting side.

The chairman of the committee Chetan Chauhan, convener Sunil Dev and curator Vijay Bahadur Mishra were among those who resigned after a meeting of top DDCA functionaries.

"At a meeting of senior officials of DDCA , the chairman and members of pitch and ground committee of DDCA including the curator resigned owing moral responsibility after the abandonment of the India Sri Lanka ODI," DDCA Secretary S P Bansal said in a statement.

The BCCI has also disbanded its grounds and pitches committee with immediate effect for the pitch fiasco.

The game was abandoned after Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara refused to play on a dangerous pitch. The visitors were tottering at 83 for 5 when batsman Thilina Kandamby complained to the on-field umpires, which led to an on-field conference involving Match Referee Alan Hurst, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sangakkara, coaches from both sides Gary Kirsten and Trevor Bayliss and the Kotla curator Mishra.

DDCA officials, including its vice president and former Test player Chetan Chauhan, offered another strip to Hurst but the match could not be saved.

India have already pocketed the series 3-1.

The BCCI and the DDCA have begun with their blame game with neither of the two bodies accepting full responsibility of the fiasco while the danger of a 2-year ban looms large over the ground.

The New Zealand cricket team is preparing to pull out of the rescheduled tour of Zimbabwe after the collapse of Zimbabwe`s public health system which means that major Western governments are advising against non-essential travel to the troubled African state.

New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan and New Zealand Cricket Players` Association boss Heath Mills yesterday flagged major concerns about the proposed trip, which has already been delayed once.

The foreign ministries of Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have warned that all public hospitals were experiencing shortages of staff, water, power, medicines and equipment.

Hospitals were unlikely to offer treatment for certain illnesses or assistance in an emergency, some basic prescription medicines (including insulin) were not available, and in the event of a serious accident, a medical evacuation to South Africa would be necessary.

"The pragmatist in me suggests that there`s still another two years to go in the current international playing programme and we could look to postpone again," Vaughan said.

"Medical facilities are a concern. You can go to countries and protect yourself against infectious diseases and the like as long as you`ve got a decent standard of hygiene and healthcare services available to you.”

"We`re not in possession of all the facts quite yet, but it appears that [health] could be quite a significant concern. Certainly, NZC is non-negotiable on the matter of putting our team at risk at any time," he said.

Mills said he would be fearful for player safety if the medical situation didn`t improve in Zimbabwe.

New Zealand originally postponed the tour for a year when the government vetoed the trip on political grounds, a decision that protected NZC from being fined for breaching a touring contract.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be presented with the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship mace today in New Delhi.

The ceremony will take place at the Taj Palace Hotel, 2 Sardar Patel Marg, New Delhi - 110021, at 1930 (India time) on Sunday and the presentation will be made by ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat.
Dhoni will accept the mace on behalf of the Board of Control for Cricket in India for leading his side to the top of the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship.

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has dismissed reports that Spain is putting pressure on the club into sending their star striker Fernando Torres for surgery to ensure that he is 100 per cent fit for the 2010 World Cup.

No force is being applied to have Torres undergo surgery to cure a niggling groin problem.

Anfield insiders say it is not going to happen anyway because Torres does not want to go under the knife, The Sun reports.

Liverpool has stressed all along that the best way to get Torres fit was to let him rest and then work with the physios on a daily basis. And manager Benitez believes their patience is about to be rewarded, with the Spanish striker ready to play a much bigger role in the second half of the season.

Benitez said: “Torres’ condition is improving all the time and he could manage a full Christmas programme. In training this week he was fine. We’ve been patient with him and it is working.

“It has not been a straightforward thing to deal with. Sometimes he can play and, after the game, you never know how he will react. We don’t know if his next game will be easy or difficult for him. There has not been any contact with Spain. None. They know we will do what is best for the player.”

“At this moment, he will carry on training and working with the physios every day. That is the correct treatment. We knew we had to manage this problem during the whole season, so sometimes he is good after the treatment and sometimes not,” Benitez said.

“The other problem is match fitness. We have some players who have to improve that like Torres, Fabio Aurelio, Alberto Aquilani and Steven Gerrard. We have to balance it for each one but we know we have to win games, so we have to bring the best from each player,” he added.

Benitez denied Aquilani’s injury problems were worse than Liverpool suspected when they paid Roma 20 million pounds for him in the summer.