Ponting, Clarke tons as Australia plunder India

ADELAIDE: Resurgent Ricky Ponting posted his 41st Test century and skipper Michael Clarke his second ton of the series as Australia plundered India in the final Adelaide Test on Tuesday.

Ponting passed 13,000 Test runs with his second hundred in three innings while Clarke raised his 19th Test ton following his unbeaten triple century in Sydney.

The experienced pair shared in a ground record fourth wicket partnership to have the tourists on the rack as relentless Australia sought to ram home a 4-0 series whitewash.

India, who relinquished their top Test ranking when they were crushed 4-0 in England last year, face their eighth consecutive away defeat if they cannot prevent another Australian victory this week.

Ponting and Clarke combined in another domineering partnership with an unbroken 251 runs after their 288 stand in the second Sydney Test over the New Year and batted through the last two sessions.

At the close on a sweltering opening day, Australia after winning the toss were 335 for three with Ponting unbeaten on 137 off 254 balls and Clarke 140 off 188 balls.

To underline the gulf between the two sides, Australia’s batsmen have compiled six centuries while India have still to register one.

Ponting is only the third player to register 13,000 career Test runs behind Indians Sachin Tendulkar (15,432) and Rahul Dravid (13,262).

India, looking to restore some pride after drubbings in the first three Tests, were thwarted again by Ponting and Clarke on a typical high-scoring flat Adelaide batting strip.

Adelaide is a happy hunting ground for former skipper Ponting, who has now scored six of his 41 Test hundreds in the City of Churches including a knock of 242.

Clarke, who scored an unbeaten 329 in the second Sydney Test earlier this gave two chances on 50 and one on 133, both off Ishant Sharma.

The tourists claimed the wickets of David Warner (8) and Shaun Marsh (3) cheaply in the opening 10 overs and Ed Cowan (30) nearing lunch.

Warner, who smashed a 69-ball century on the way to a swashbuckling 180 in the third Perth Test win, only lasted 23 balls before he was trapped leg before wicket by Zaheer Khan.

He was followed by the imperilled Marsh, who again fell cheaply, lasting only 12 balls when he was bowled by a straightened delivery from off-spinner Ravi Ashwin.

Marsh did nothing to dispel doubts over his Test career with just 17 runs in five innings in the series batting at number three.

Cowan looked to have done all the hard work in his 110 minutes consolidation at the crease before he was caught low down in the covers by Laxman for Ashwin’s second wicket 10 minutes before lunch.

Stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag was proactive with his bowling changes in the morning session, wheeling in Ashwin in the fourth over of the innings and was rewarded with Marsh’s wicket in Ashwin’s fourth over.

Sehwag also bowled his offbreaks in tandem with Ashwin in the first session of the Test before he was guilty of allowing the game to drift.

The opening batsman was deputising for skipper M.S. Dhoni, who was suspended from the third Perth Test for slow over rates.

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Super Mario sinks Spurs, United down Arsenal

LONDON: Mario Balotelli struck a dramatic injury-time penalty as Manchester City overcame a brave Tottenham fightback to win 3-2 and maintain their lead at the top of the Premier League on Sunday.

Substitute Balotelli blasted in his spot-kick deep into injury time after the Italian striker had been bundled over by Ledley King for a clear-cut penalty.

But the City forward’s winner was tinged with controversy after television replays suggested he was lucky not to be sent off in an earlier tangle with Scott Parker where he appeared to kick out at the Spurs midfielder’s head.

The finale capped a remarkable game which had seen Spurs recover from 2-0 down to level at 2-2 with goals from Jermain Defoe and Gareth Bale after City had taken the lead through Samir Nasri and Joleon Lescott.

The victory helped preserve City’s three-point lead at the top of the table after second-placed Manchester United kept up the pressure with a hard-fought 2-1 win at Arsenal.

United striker Danny Welbeck struck the winner nine minutes from time after Arsenal captain Robin van Persie had cancelled out Antonio Valencia’s first-half opener for the champions.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was subjected to angry chants from the home fans towards the end of the game for his controversial substitution of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain shortly after the young winger set up van Persie’s equaliser.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was delighted at his team’s attacking display.

“We’ve had to play well today and for most of the game we did play well,” Ferguson said.

“Winning after City had won their game, that was the important thing. But I think we’ve done it in the right way – we were adventurous, positive and had belief in ourselves.”

Wenger admitted his decision to replace Oxlade-Chamberlain with Andrey Arshavin was costly, especially as the Russian allowed Valencia to set up the United winner.

“When it was 1-1 it looked like we would win but in the end one tactical mistake lost us the game,” he said.

“I do not want to dwell too much on that now but one second of inattention can cost you.”

The story from a pulsating day of Premier League action remained at Eastlands, where Spurs boss Harry Redknapp was fuming at the failure of referee Howard Webb to send off City match-winner Balotelli.

“Yes, I do think that,” said Redknapp when asked if Balotelli should have been sent off.

“It’s not the first time he’s done that is it? I’m sure it won’t be the last.

“I’m the last person to talk about getting people sent off, but it’s blatantly obvious if you see that, he reacts like that at times to challenges.

“I’m surprised the linesman hasn’t seen it. The first (stamp) could be an accident, but the second one? He’s back-heeled him straight in the head.”

Assistant City manager David Platt declined to comment on Balotelli’s clash with Parker.

“I haven’t seen the incident with Balotelli so I can’t comment on it until I see it,” Platt said.

“If we continue to amass points and carry on winning we’ll be tough to beat, but it doesn’t change anything in terms of the title race.”

After a scrappy first half where neither side managed to get a grip on the game, the contest exploded into life shortly after the restart with four goals inside nine minutes.

City drew first blood with a wonderfully worked opener on 56 minutes, David Silva releasing Nasri with a perfectly weighted through ball which took the French international beyond the Spurs defence.

The former Arsenal star ghosted away from Kyle Walker and Younes Kaboul and unleashed an unstoppable first-time shot that flew past Brad Friedel.

City looked to have taken a stranglehold on the match within three minutes when Lescott made it 2-0.

Edin Dzeko rose to flick on from a corner and Lescott was on hand to bundle the ball home after outmuscling Parker near the goal-line.

But City’s goal celebrations had barely subsided before Tottenham were handed a way back into the game after a mistake by Stefan Savic.

A hopeful clearance forward from Kaboul was headed back towards the City goal by the Montenegrin defender but fell only as far as Defoe, who coolly rounded Joe Hart before stroking home to make it 2-1.

Five minutes later and Spurs were level. Aaron Lennon glided in off the left flank and laid off to Bale on the edge of the area, who unleashed a curling shot into the top corner beyond Hart.

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Ijaz Butt lauds Pakistan for Test win

LAHORE: Former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ijaz Butt has hailed the performance of the Pakistan team, especially of its captain Misbah-ul-Haq and bowlers Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul in the first Test which England lost by ten wickets.

“The entire team worked very hard to achieve this convincing victory, but the way Misbah led the boys is the main factor behind

this big achievement and similarly the individual performances of Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul deserve high praise,” Ijaz told FTNews.

“The PCB faced heavy criticism when we appointed Misbah as captain but now that he has proved himself by leading Pakistan superbly, we stand vindicated with our choice,” he said.

He said the team was also doing remarkably better as far as discipline was concerned and for that the entire team management including head coach Mohsin Hasan Khan and manager Naveed Akram Cheema deserved lot of credit.

Ijaz said no one was expecting such an easy win over a top side like England, but the current team achieved the unthinkable because they played like a unit.

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