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Kaushal Lokuarachchi, the allrounder who bowls legspin, and Rangana Herath, the left-arm spinner, have been called up as replacements for Muttiah Muralitharan for Sri Lanka’s forthcoming five-match one-day series against South Africa. The addition of the two spinners expands the squad to 15.Sri Lanka’s selectors will decide on Muralitharan’s replacement for their 14-man Champions Trophy squad after they receive a full medical report from his surgeon, Dr David Young. That is expected by the end of the week.Lokuarachchi, although just 22, has enjoyed a rollercoaster career since starring in the Under-19 World Cup in 2000. Having broken into the national squad in early 2003, he was then suspended after his involvement in a fatal late-night car accident.He reclaimed his place in the squad against Australia earlier this the year, before being dumped again, and was overlooked during the Asia Cup. But after a fine tour of England with the Sri Lanka A team, the selectors have given him another chance.Herath, who made his one-day debut earlier in the year against Zimbabwe, has slowly cemented his place in the Test squad and is the likeliest selection for the Champions Trophy.”Obviously the loss of Murali leaves us with big shoes to fill, but we drew a Test without him in Australia and we won against South Africa without him,” said John Dyson, the coach, in conversation with reporters. “The guys are starting to feel that they can perform without him and this is a great opportunity to prove that.”Sri Lanka take on South Africa under lights at Premadasa International Stadium on Friday.Sri Lankan squad: Marvan Atapattu (capt), Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Saman Jayantha, Avishka Gunawardene, Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas, Upul Chandana, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Zoysa, Dilhara Fernando, Rangana Herath, Kaushal Lokuarachchi.

Further integration, below the national level, seems likely in Australia after Cricket Victoria announced today that it was starting a two-year trial integration with the Victorian Women’s Cricket Association.Earlier this week, Cricket Australia announced the integration of the national women’s body of Australian cricket into its structure.Cricket Victoria chief executive officer Ken Jacobs said the announcement was both historic and exciting. “It heralds a new and exciting era for cricket within Victoria. The decision recognises the growth of women’s cricket across the state and ensures that we are all working together for the betterment of the game.”The move comes after a sub-committee was set-up in May last year to invesitage would benefit Victorian Cricket.Under the integration, Cricket Victoria now becomes the sole state sporting organisation for cricket in Victoria and will assume responsibility for women’s cricket in the areas of elite programs, game development, marketing and business operations. The VWCA will continue to administer the traditional club cricket competition for women and girls.With over 20,000 Victorian women and girls now playing some form of organised cricket, the move to integrate was both timely and necessary Jacobs said. “The market for women’s cricket is now significant and continually growing. We believe the integration will generate more efficient operating procedures and avoid much duplication.”The integration is designed to promote and administer the game of cricket in a manner reflecting the ongoing changes in today’s society.”

The Sri Lankan cricket board ended fears of a television black out duringthe West Indies tour of Sri Lanka when they announced on Saturday thattelevision, radio and selected sponsorship rights have been awarded to TajTelevision for the next three-years.The BCCSL terminated an existing USD 27.1 million deal with WSG Nimbus 18days ago, complaining of a breakdown in the working relations and WSG Nimbus’s frequent failure to meet payment deadlines. The BCCSL, backed by theAttorney General and seemingly protected by a High Court injunction orderagainst WSG Nimbus interference, immediately initiated a fresh tenderprocess.Bids were opened on 29 October and according to a BCCSL media release: “Anevaluation was carried out by PriceWaterhouse Coopers, who then recommendedTaj Television, who are covering the ongoing Champions Trophy in Sharjah.”The recently formed Dubai based Taj Television, owned by Arab business tycoon Abdul Rahman Bukthatir, the founder of the CBFS Series cricket in Sharjah, beat offers from Trans World International (TWI), who had been tipped as favourites having just missed out to WSG Nimbus in the original tender process last December, and SET India, who held Sri Lankan cricket rights for 18-months from 1999-2000.Only a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the two partiesso far, but a full contract is to be signed shortly.The final amount paid the BCCSL was not disclosed, but board sourcesmaintain that “this is a better deal for Sri Lankan cricket” arguing thatthe deal is financially better, with the BCCSL not having to share production costs and retaining all revenue from team sponsorship deal struck with Dilmah Tea earlier this month, but also less restrictive than the WSG Nimbus contract.”Against all the odds, having been forced to take action, the BCCSL is veryhappy with the new deal,” said the spokesman. “We are confident ofestablishing a sound working relationship with Taj Television that will beto the benefit of both parties.””The previous agreement impinged too much on the rights of the board, theplayers and third parties. This agreement, however, is clearly defined andaffects four areas: television, radio, title sponsorship and a specifiednumber of ground runners.”The legal dispute between the BCCSL and WSG Nimbus is, however, by no meansfinished. WSG Nimbus have resigned themselves to not covering the WestIndies tour, having cancelled hotel reservations and proposed contracts withlocal employees, but still maintain that the “termination” was unlawful andare contesting the boards actions in court, both in Sri Lanka and Singapore

Not so long ago, Monty Panesar would have looked forward to the announcement of the England Test squad for a tour of the UAE secure in the knowledge that his name would be included.But on the day England included three spinners in their 16-man squad, it was announced that Panesar had been released by Essex after two and a bit seasons.His record for the club – 67 wickets in 24 first-class games at an average of 28.62 – is good, but the news is no surprise. Panesar has played only three Championship matches this season and, after a disagreement with his captain in the field during one game, had become a peripheral figure in a team which tends to play its home matches on pitches offering more help to their seam bowlers.The move to Essex was to have been a new start. After his release from Sussex in 2013 for well-documented reasons, he took Essex close to promotion in 2014 when he claimed 46 first-class wickets at 24.86. His release leaves him without a club and facing an uncertain future.Aged 33, he has the time – and the will – to come again. His intention at present is to play some club cricket in the winter, probably in Australia, and then search for another county in the new year. Many counties will be interested in his potential but wary of the baggage that his acquisition appears to bring. While it cannot be presumed that he will play county cricket again, his ability to shoulder a heavy workload, bowling economical overs on unhelpful pitches and threatening when conditions allow, is likely to ensure he finds a new home.It may be that the ECB have a role to play. It is understood they helped subsidise Panesar’s stay at Essex and, at a time when England’s spin bowling resources are limited, they may be minded to help ensure he remains in the professional game. If he were somehow able to recover his best form and fitness, he would still warrant England consideration. Tours to India and Bangladesh loom in 2016-17.His potential remains unquestioned. The retirement of Graeme Swann at the end of 2013 should have heralded a new dawn for Panesar in international cricket, but his personal issues have compromised his ability to focus on his cricket.He continues to benefit from the support of Neil Burns, the former county wicketkeeper who fulfils a mentoring role for several players, but the PCA will also have a role to play with a brilliant but troubled man moving into a vulnerable phase of his life.Essex have also announced the release of 32-year-old allrounder Greg Smith, 22-year-old seamer Matt Salisbury and 19-year-old wicketkeeper Saf Imtiaz.The club, which is currently searching for a new coach after the departure of Paul Grayson, is also understood to be in the market for another seam bowler or two.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsChamu Chibhabha’s four wickets, including that of the in-form Mohammad Shahzad, pulled the plug on Afghanistan’s chase•Chris Whiteoak

Zimbabwe were defending 30 less than a total that was single-handedly chased down by Mohammad Shahzad last week. On Monday, Shahzad was left with the unenviable task of steering his team out of a proper top-order wobble if they had any chance of achieving the 227-run target to seal the series. But the pressure of a chase on a Sharjah deck that was superbly used as an ally by Graeme Cremer and Chamu Chibhabha told as Zimbabwe won by 65 runs to take the series into the deciding final ODI on Wednesday.Normally known for his belligerence, Shahzad transformed himself into a slow accumulator, seemingly intent on batting himself into a position from where he could pull off a heist. Run-scoring wasn’t easy, and Zimbabwe’s fielders made the target look 20 runs greater than it was. Eventually, the frustration of being unable to unfurl the big hits consumed Shahzad as Chibhabha, who conjured a fighting half-century earlier in the piece, prised out the big fish for a 72-ball 45, to leave Afghanistan in tatters at 88 for 5.Hashmatullah Shahidi held one end up, but Afghanistan’s freefall left him with little to work with. He fell for 31 as the wheels came off the chase soon after. Crèmer’s loopy legspin earned him two wickets, while Chibhabha had four scalps with his accurate seam-up. Afghanistan were bowled out for 161 in 45 overs as Zimbabwe earned a shot of redemption as the series was back on an even keel.Afghanistan’s batting approach upfront, at least in the series, has often bordered on the thin line between aggressive and over-aggressive. But this time around, they seemed intent on proving the doubters wrong by showing they possess a solid defensive game too. As a result, deliveries that would have otherwise been met with a fierce swing were either defended or left alone, and within the bat of an eyelid, they were behind the eight ball right from the start.Nevill Madziva, who relies on angles and late swing, gave Zimbabwe their first breakthrough when he had Noor Ali Zadran nick one to Richmond Mutumbami. Five overs later, Asghar Stanikzai flicked a low full-toss to midwicket to leave Afghanistan in trouble at 13 for 2. The early losses seemed to affect Shahzad’s shot-selection as he soon went into his shell.The two-paced nature of the pitch, which accounted for Rashid Khan’s wicket when a leading edge was well taken by a diving Hamilton Maskazda at point, induced more doubts in Shahzad’s mind. But it wasn’t yet the crisis it turned out to be later, for there was hope at least till Mohammad Nabi was around. But his wicket simply threw Afghanistan’s innings off the wheels and they hurtled with every blow that came after, as Chibhabha’s middle-order wreckage left the tail with too much to do.The effervescence of Zimbabwe’s efforts with the ball and on the field almost took the focus away from an insipid batting effort that resulted in their losing their last seven wickets for 56 runs. In two of the three ODIs so far in the series, Zimbabwe’s half-hearted approach towards shot-making on sluggish pitches exposed their lower order much earlier than they would have liked. The end result was scores of 82 and 175.On Monday, the lower order faced a challenge of a different kind, as the top-order batsmen, who got off to starts, fell to a succession of misguided strokes, resulting in Zimbabwe failing to cash in on the 92-run opening stand between Chibhabha and Peter Moor. After a slow start, Moor, who had tallied all of 86 runs in five previous ODI innings, found his hitting range and struck four sixes, all over deep midwicket off the spinners, to bring up a half-century.But Rashid Khan, the 17-year old legspinner playing in only his sixth ODI, had the last laugh as he triggered Zimbabwe’s collapse. He finished with 3 for 43, while Amir Hamza, the left-arm spinner used generally as an attacking option, did his bit by picking up two wickets.What should have been a stroll suddenly turned into a struggle as one batsman after another walked in and walked out, even as Afghanistan’s pacers, particularly Dawlat Zadran, proved there was more to their attack than just a plethora of slow bowlers capable of applying the squeeze. But the inability of the batsmen to rise to the party somewhat reduced the bowling effort to a footnote.

Chris Adams led from the front with a 49-ball 70 to steer Sussex to a two-wicket win with seven balls in hand over Hampshire at Hove. Michael Lumb (108) and John Crawley (68) got Hampshire off to a flier with a first-wicket stand of 147 and when they were parted Sean Ervine with a 41-ball 56 kept the scoreboard rattling along. Set 261, Sussex wobbled after a good start before Adams and Andy Hodd added 61 for the sixth wicket and even though Adams was caught and bowled by Shaun Udal, Hodd, who helped Sussex bat out a draw yesterday, kept his head to see his side to victory and hand Hampshire their first defeat.Stephen Fleming smashed 90 off 60 balls to lead Nottinghamshire to a resounding win over Northamptonshire at Trent Bridge. Fleming, left out of New Zealand’s Twenty20 squad for the World Championships, hit 12 fours and three sixes as Notts reached their target of 212 with six wickets in hand 62 balls to spare. David Hussey took 3 for 26 for Notts while Chris Rogers and David Sales struck 58 and 52 to take Northants to 211 for 6, a target that proved insufficient after Fleming’s onslaught.Heath Streak claimed four wickets as Warwickshire pulled off a six-run win against Essex at Southend. After the frustration of their Championship draw against Sussex it was a timely result for Warwickshire. Grant Flower’s 49-ball 53 gave Essex a decent chance of claiming the points, but Streak removed him late in the chase. Alex Loudon produced a tight spell of offspin and Lee Daggett grabbed two scalps. After the match was cut to 34 over per side Darren Maddy and Kumar Sangakkara hit 41 apiece then useful innings from Loudon and Tim Ambrose lifted Warwickshire to 188.

An all-round performance from Darren Stevens, who took 3 for 15 and then thumped an unbeaten 85, guided Kent to a three-wicket win over Durham in the table-top clash at Canterbury with seven balls to spare. Michael Di Venuto and Dale Benkenstein looked to be guiding Durham to a formidable score but James Tredwell removed Di Venuto and that triggered a slide in which the seven wickets fell for 58. At 101 for 5 chasing 204, Kent had problems of their own, but Stevens and Geraint Jones put on 60 for the sixth wicket and Stevens kept his head despite Gareth Breese’s late three-wicket haul.The rain already moving into the west of the UK put paid to Glamorgan’s match against Somerset at Colwyn Bay. The umpires called play off two hours before the start with the outfield saturated.

One can quite understand why there is so much fierce competition to administer cricket in Sri Lanka. In the next six months, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) coffers will be boosted by as much as US $ 9.17 million when they participate in two ICC tournaments.The SLC is set to receive one million dollars as participation allowance (formerly known as guarantee fees) for next month’s Champions Trophy in India. For next year’s World Cup in the Caribbean, they will benefit to the tune of an additional $8.17 million. SLC sources told that 25 percent of this figure will be paid to the cricketers, 25 percent utilised for SLC expenses and the balance used for cricket development.Meanwhile, newly appointed secretary of the SLC interim committee M Mathivanan said that from the 2006-07 domestic season, cricketers of the 14 division one-clubs playing in the Premier League (Segment A) and limited-overs tournaments will receive a 300 percent pay hike.”A player can earn upto between Rs. 127,000 to Rs. 140,000 a season playing in these two competitions,” said Mathivanan. “This is in comparison to the Rs. 40,000-Rs. 50,000 they have been getting in the past. As the clubs have been reduced from 20 to 14 we are able to give this increase. We have done this to ensure that there is more quality and competition in the tournament. We want to make it as professional as possible.”With a personnel of close to 40 cricketers working for him at East West Marketing, Mathivanan revealed that only around 40 percent of the 210 players who are playing in the Premier division are employed. The rest, he said, depended largely on the income they derive from the clubs they represent and the league cricket they play in England. With the SLC having plans to prune down the number of clubs playing in the Premier division further to ten for the 2007-08 season, an increase in payments for the players is on the cards, he added.The groupings for the 2006-07 Premier League season, which commences on November 10, are:Segment A: (Group A): SSC, Ragama CC, Bloomfield, BRC, NCC, Panadura SC, Saracens. (Group B): Chilaw Marians, Colts, CCC, Tamil Union, Moors SC, Badureliya CC, Sebastianites.Segment B: Galle CC, Singha SC, Police SC, Kurunegala YCC, Air Force, Lankan CC, Army SC.The bottom five clubs from Segment A will be demoted to play in Segment B, while the Segment B winner will be promoted to Segment A for the 2007-08 season. The 2006-07 season commences with the Premier one-day limited-overs tournament on November 1. Matches will be played every Wednesday of the week.

A new concept gives Australia a chance to scratch a new guard. Following a winter of serious discontent the team will attempt to dissolve their Ashes memories and start answering some of the pages of questions from a series that highlighted gaping chinks and forced changes. The squad that the World XI will face in the first of three one-day games starting in Melbourne on Wednesday carries players unknown and untried – these are characteristics similar to the Super Series.Australia will test their experiments against a line-up unmatched in its global brilliance, even with the absence of Sachin Tendulkar. Previous Rest of the World outfits were picked during last minutes, but there is no doubting the quality of candidates. Inzamam-ul-Haq has eventually replaced Tendulkar and Shaun Pollock can choose a fast bowling attack for the first game from himself, Shoaib Akhtar, Jacques Kallis and Andrew Flintoff with Muttiah Muralitharan and Daniel Vettori as the slow bowling back-up.The cheerful mode of the visitors will be matched by a nervous yet publicly confident mood from the Australians. As a Cricket Australia outfit ploughs through the England wrongs, Ricky Ponting and his squad talk about “one bad series”. They appear relaxed about an assignment that a year ago appeared to be a formality, but now has quickly marked them as eager underdogs.Over the past month Ponting’s role has been dissected in an almost prime ministerial capacity. Now he can answer his critics collectively on home turf. With a couple of new faces arriving and more wrinkles set to appear, Ponting has the opportunity to develop a squad in his own image rather than hanging on to the dusting relics of Steve Waugh’s rule.Act one begins with three one-day matches on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday before the most compelling game of a concocted series, the six-day Super Test in Sydney starting on October 14. The glare in the undercover and air-conditioned Telsta Dome will be striking, but there is little chance of the roof raising – although Kevin Pietersen will surely try it – during the limited-overs matches that should offer undoubted bouts of brilliance without the lasting reminders of a Test.

Changes in Australian personnel as well as the Ashes loss and the end of local football seasons have slowed ticket sales. A first-up contest of Pollock to Simon Katich holds less appeal than him running in to a clubbing Matthew Hayden. Cameron White, the Victoria legspinner who was called in for the equally anonymous Brad Hogg, and Stuart Clark, a replacement for Shaun Tait, line up in the 14-man squad alongside James Hopes. The three new players who can shop unbothered in their local supermarkets will stare at men reluctant to step away from bodyguards shielding them from masses of admirers. They will not be the only ones in a peaceful state of shock and awe.The World XI, which omitted Makhaya Ntini and Chris Gayle from match one, is a team of such riches – one of Sehwag, Lara, Pietersen, Dravid, Flintoff, Kallis, Sangakkara and Afridi will bat at No. 8 – that it will provide Australia’s generation next with a guide to whether the 2007 World Cup is an event to be watched from the dressing room or the lounge chair.Although Ponting dismissed this series as the official start of the road to the West Indies, it provides Australia with renewed purpose against a wildly impressive unit of united nations, who will be intent on impressing with their vibrant mix of skills and personalities. Individually, the contest will be fascinating, but there is little doubt as to which team has more to play for.For the World XI prize money, prestige and a chance to defeat a giant are the lures. Australia, who sealed their No. 1 status in both forms of the game before the Ashes and held it despite the England slips, begin an era that will be analysed more than any period over the past decade.Shown to be fallible, they are waiting to discover whether the next chapter is one of further mortal stumbles or a swift return to lasting success. The Super Series will help supporters across the globe form judgments, but the performances of Australia will also be critical to a custom-made contest sweating on similar verdicts over novelty, commercial and acceptance values.Teams
World XI
1 Shahid Afridi, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Rahul Dravid, 5 Jacques Kallis, 6 Brian Lara, 7 Kevin Pietersen, 8 Andrew Flintoff, 9 Shaun Pollock (capt), 10 Daniel Vettori, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan, 12 Shoaib AkhtarAustralia
1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Simon Katich, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Michael Hussey, 6 Michael Clarke, 7 Shane Watson, 8 Andrew Symonds, 9 Cameron White, 10 Brett Lee, 11 Glenn McGrath, 12 Nathan Bracken

50 overs India 260 for 6 (Dravid 104, Ganguly 55) beat United Arab Emirates 144 (Tauqir 55, Tendulkar 3-21, Pathan 3-28) by 116 runs
Scorecard

This was supposed to be a gentle initiation into the new season for the Indians, where Virender Sehwag would be gunning for the first double-century in one-day international history, Sachin Tendulkar for his 38th ODI hundred, and India for a total way in excess of 350. None of that happened, but while UAE stayed in the game till the halfway stage, allowing India to score just 260, their incompetence with the bat meant that India were still able to canter to a comfortable 116-run win and take home the bonus point as well in their Asia Cup campaign opener at Dambulla.The Indians hadn’t played international cricket for three months, and it showed. Many of the batsmen struggled for timing and form – with Sourav Ganguly being especially woeful through the first half of his innings. However, Rahul Dravid showed the way – yet again – with a classy 104 off just 93 balls, while the trio of Indian seamers had just too much firepower for a batting line-up which was woefully out of their depth.However, till Dravid stamped his authority on the game, the Indians were in serious danger of being embarrassed by a spirited UAE side which bowled with plenty of discipline and control, and showed lots of spirit in the field. They had last played a one-day international more than eight years ago, but if today’s performance is any indicator, that period has been well spent.The script went wrong for the Indians at the very start – Sehwag flicked the third ball to leg, started off for a single, then saw Tendulkar stop after initially committing to the run. Sehwag out for 0, 200 short of his projected score; India 0 for 1. Tendulkar himself left soon after, inside edging a flick to short midwicket for 18 (30 for 2). Fahad Usman pocketed the catch, and Asim Saeed won himself the small matter of US$1000, which was on offer for the wicket. India could have been in even greater strife if UAE had pouched a couple of catches from Ganguly when the batsman was on 0 and 3.Struggling for form and fluency, Ganguly repeatedly groped for the ball early on, and the ball repeatedly sneaked past outside edge and inside edge, or rapped him on the pads. Ali Asad, the right-arm seamer, was the pick of the bowlers, consistently getting the ball to swing away from the right-handers. Better support from the fielders – both of Ganguly’s missed chances came off his bowling – would have given him far better figures than the none for 38 he ended up with.India managed just 58 in the first 15 overs, and then lost another wicket soon after when VVS Laxman chipped back a return catch to Mohammad Tauqir, the offspinner, ending an innings which promised much – his effortless pulled six off the front foot to bring up the Indian 50 was among the shots of the match – but delivered only 14 runs (65 for 3).Then came the revival, with Dravid at the forefront. The slow pitch had bothered most of the others, but not Dravid, who simply rocked back, waited, and repeatedly guided the ball in the arc between backward point and extra cover. There was little risk in the approach, yet the runs flowed effortlessly. Equally importantly, he injected some much-needed urgency into the running between the wickets, an aspect of India’s game which had been awfully shoddy early on.

At the other end, Ganguly’s monumental struggle ended for a laboured 55, when he holed to long-on (153 for 4). Yuvraj played a short cameo, and Dravid continued to show splendid one-day nous. With the overs running out, he shifted gears effortlessly, defeating the cordon of off-side fielders and the huge, slow outfield to find the boundaries. His century came with one such clean strike, a magnificent cover-drive off Rizwan Latif. He finally fell in the last over of the innings, bowled going for a cross-batted swipe off Latif, but by then he done enough to ensure that India had a reasonable score to defend.As it turned out, 260 was more than sufficient. Not for the first time a minnow side showed far more skill with the ball than the bat. Repeatedly shuffling across the stumps, their batsmen were sitting ducks for Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji, who kept swinging the ball into the batsmen and trapping them in front. They shared the first five wickets, before Zaheer Khan, returning after a long injury layoff, celebrated with a wicket off his first over, forcing Syed Maqsood to edge to Laxman at slip.UAE had slipped to 45 for 6, and an extremely early finish seemed likely, before the lower order decided to play spoilsports. Tauqir braved a barrage of short deliveries from Zaheer, taking plenty of blows on the body and helmet, in scoring a half-century on debut, before Tendulkar winkled out the tail in a trice.S Rajesh is assistant editor of Wisden Cricinfo.

The former Australian opening batsman, John Dyson, has been confirmed as Sri Lanka’s new coach. He replaces his fellow countryman, Dav Whatmore, who has now taken charge of Bangladesh, and has agreed a contract which will run until 2005.”I am very excited to be coach of the Sri Lankan team, which has great potential,” said Dyson, who will take over in September. He has not previously coached at international level, but the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lankan (BCCSL) is confident of his abilities.Dyson has big plans for Sri Lanka, believing that they had the “depth and skill” to “knock the Australians off their perch” as the top-ranked Test side.Dyson reached a “memorandum of understanding” with Sri Lanka while the team was in the Caribbean recently. He had been approached about the role when Whatmore was relieved of his position after the World Cup. Bob Woolmer, Graham Ford, John Bracewell and Steve Rixon were in the frame but turned the job down, so Duleep Mendis was put in charge on a temporary basis.Dyson played 30 Tests for Australia between 1977 and 1984, scoring 1359 runs at 26.64, including two centuries. The first, at Headingley in 1981, had set Australia on their way to a crushing victory until Ian Botham and Bob Willis famously turned the tables. The second, at Sydney in January 1982, lasted for more than six hours and saved Australia from defeat against West Indies.