Thu, Mar 27, 2008 page20

• Panesar stars as England clinch three-match series

  • AP
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  Monty Panesar returned Test-best figures of six-for-126 as England beat New Zealand by 121 runs in the third cricket Test yesterday and clinched the three-match series 2-1.

  Off-spinner Panesar completed his seventh five-wicket haul in Tests, claiming three of the five wickets to fall on the final day and hastening New Zealand's dismissal for 431 as they chased 553.

  England recovered after losing the first Test at Hamilton comprehensively, by 189 runs, to win the second at Wellington by 126 runs and to dominate the third, breaking a run of series defeats overseas after losses to India and Sri Lanka.

  New Zealand resumed their second innings yesterday at 222-for-five, still 330 runs behind England and lost all chance of saving the match when overnight batsmen Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum both fell to Panesar inside the first hour.

  By lunch New Zealand were 360-for-nine and it took England only 31 minutes in the afternoon to wrap it up.

  Taylor was out for 74 and Brendon McCullum for 42 after a partnership of 104 for the fifth wicket which delayed England's victory and briefly raised New Zealand's hopes of a draw.

  New Zealand were able to further delay the end through a partnerships of 48 for the eighth wicket between Daniel Vettori (43) and Jeetan Patel (18).

  Teenage fast bowler Tim Southee then pounded nine sixes and four fours in an unbeaten 77 from 40 deliveries which lifted New Zealand to 431, putting on 84 for the last wicket and ensuring the Kiwis went down with a hint of defiance.

  Southee's innings incorporated the fastest half century by a New Zealander in Tests, from 29 balls, and was the sixth fastest by a player from any nation in Test history. He added that distinction to his haul of 5-55 in England's first innings, which made him the sixth New Zealander to take five wickets in an innings on Test debut.

  England's wins in Wellington and at McLean Park marked an astonishing turnaround after Hamilton.

  The English reacted to that defeat by making the harsh decision to drop veteran fast bowlers Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison and to impose the bowling responsibility on relative newcomers Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

  It was those bowlers, and Panesar in the last innings of the summer, who turned the series around. Sidebottom took 24 wickets in the three Test matches, including five, six and seven wickets hauls and a hattrick, at an average of 17. In doing so he took more wickets than any other English bowler in a three-Test series in New Zealand, beating the previous mark of 19.

  Panesar was voted player of the series.

  "It's been a fascinating series played by two teams who have a lot of respect for each other," England captain Michael Vaughan said. "Both teams have tried and fought very hard. After going one down in the series at Hamilton, we showed a lot of heart and fight to get us out of some tricky positions."

  "We've played hard and I think we played the better cricket but I'm really looking forward to the return series in England because I think it will be just as topsy-turvy," he said.

  South Africa v India

  South Africa opener Neil McKenzie fell six runs short of posting successive Test centuries and Hashim Amla compiled an unbeaten 85 yesterday as the tourists dominated the opening day of the first Test against India.

  Amla's sedate knock followed an imposing opening stand of 132 between McKenzie (94) and skipper Graeme Smith (73) that powered South Africa to 304-4 at stumps, on a placid pitch offering little assistance to the bowlers.

  Batting first after winning the toss, South Africa overcame the challenge of Indian spin, along with intense heat and humidity. The temperature was touching 32?C and the relative humidity was measured at 74 percent.

  Amla struck 10 boundaries off 159 deliveries, and was closing in on a fourth century from 23 Tests.

  Amla witnessed the departure of seasoned batsmen Jacques Kallis (13) and vice captain Ashwell Prince (23) in the day's final session, with A.B. de Villiers (10-not-out) the other not out batsman at the close.

  Smith and McKenzie continued the run-amassing form of their previous Test in Bangladesh, where they put on a world record 415 for the opening wicket that eclipsed a five-decade-old record set by India's Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad.

  West Indies v Sri Lanka

  Dwayne Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan scored an unbeaten 74 together as the West Indies made an encouraging start on Tuesday in their quest to avoid defeat against Sri Lanka in the opening cricket Test.

  The West Indies closed their second innings on 96-for-one, and needed to bat through yesterday's final day to secure a draw or reach an improbable victory target of 437 at Providence Stadium.

  Earlier, the West Indies had resumed on 269-9 and avoided the follow-on but conceded a huge first-innings lead of 196.

  The tourists consolidated that advantage by cruising to 240-7 before declaring 40 minutes after tea.

  Bravo, promoted to open the batting for the first time in his career, struck six fours and a six in a fluent undefeated 46 off 70 balls.

  Right-hander Sarwan followed his first-innings topscore of 80 with another confident knock of 34-not-out. He hit three fours off 55 deliveries.
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