KOLKATA : India Vs South Africa Cricket, ICC Test Rankings, India defied an unbeaten century from Hashim Amla to crush South Africa by an innings and 58 runs in the final Test on Thursday to draw the series 1-1.

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Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh claimed 5-59 as the tourists, trailing by 347 runs on the first innings, were bowled out for 289 in their second knock with just nine deliveries remaining in the match.

Amla returned unbeaten on 127 to finish the series with an astonishing average of 494 after making 253 not out in the first Test and 114 in the opening innings of this match.

The 26-year-old from Durban battled for 394 deliveries and struck 16 boundaries in his ninth Test century, but failed to prevent his team from snatching a thrilling draw.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Indians, who lost the first Test in Nagpur by an innings and six runs, retained their number one Test ranking with 124 rating points.

Second-ranked South Africa, who would have taken over from India if the match had ended in a draw, were left on 120 points.

Last man Morne Morkel (12) kept Amla company for 21.4 overs before being leg-before to Harbhajan in the penultimate over of the match in front of 40,000 relieved fans at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Wayne Parnell, who put on 70 for the eighth wicket with Amla, was dismissed in the fourth over after tea for 22. He was caught at mid-on off seamer Ishant Sharma.

Sharma also had Paul Harris caught in the slips for four, before Morkel and Amla almost pulled off a thrilling draw.

As the South Africans fought hard, India sorely missed pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, who was confined to the dressing room the entire day with a knee injury.

The overnight pair of Amla and Ashwell Price put on 47 for the fourth wicket, before Harbhajan broke through two hours after the start under bright sunshine.

The off-spinner beat Prince in the air and the miscued drive lobbed to Sharma at mid-off.

Left-handed Prince made 23 after scores of zero and one in the previous two innings of the series.

Leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who left the field briefly for treatment on a sore right shoulder, returned to trap AB de Villiers leg-before for three with a googly just before lunch.

South Africa, who went to lunch at 164-5, slipped to 180-7 as Harbhajan claimed both Jean-Paul Duminy and Dale Steyn leg-before soon after play resumed.

Meanwhile, the Indian cricket board said in a statement that Zaheer will not feature in the one-day series against the Proteas which starts on Sunday.

South African captain Graeme Smith will also miss the one-dayers due to a fractured finger and all-rounder Jacques Kallis will lead the tourists in his absence, the team management said.

The internationals will be played in Jaipur (Feb 21), Gwalior (Feb 24) and Ahmedabad (Feb 27).

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PERTH: Australia Set 278 Target Vs Pakistan, Pakistan were set a difficult target of 278 runs by Australia in the fourth One-day International here at the WACA ground on Friday.

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Winning the toss, Australian captain Ricky Ponting decided to bat first and his team made 277-8 in the allotted 50 overs.

Pakistan were looking a beeter team with an improved fielding and their bowlers bowled quite well to dismiss four Aussie batsmen for 110 runs in 22 overs.

However, Cameron White and Michael Hussey came to their rescue and they took the score to 159 before White went on 44.

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2010: Five fashion weeks in Pakistan, As many as five fashion weeks would be held in the country this year, a decision to this effect has been taken owing to the success of November 2009 Fashion Week.
Pakistan Fashion Council has announced to hold two fashion weeks per year in Pakistan, while a private company would hold one fashion week in Karachi. The first fashion week of this year would start from January 31 to February 3, while the 2nd fashion week would start from February 16 to February 20. According to Karachi Fashion Council, the third fashion week would be held in the first week of March, while the venue for the fourth and fifth fashion week has not been finalized yet.

Charles Tillman Injury:Charles Tillman injured during the fourth quarter of a game against the Minnesota Vikings. Although the injury is somewhat ambiguous, it doesn’t appear as if there is any type of paralysis fear.

Twitter feeds are burning up. One Tweet reads “bears_insider Charles Tillman has a rib injury and is out for game. Thankfully stretcher wasn’t 4 any kind of paralysis fears.Charles Tillman injured during the fourth quarter of a game against the Minnesota Vikings. Although the injury is somewhat ambiguous, it doesn’t appear as if there is any type of paralysis fear.

Twitter feeds are burning up. One Tweet reads “ bears_insider Charles Tillman has a rib injury and is out for game. Thankfully stretcher wasn’t 4 any kind of paralysis fears.

India took the remaining six wickets of Sri Lanka an hour before Tea to wrap up the second Test at Kanpur with an innings and 144 run-victory. The hosts took four wickets in the first session itself but were kept waiting for about 90 minutes with tailender Ajantha Mendis putting on a frustrating 73-run stand with Thilan Samaraweera (78*). 

Zaheer Khan provided the perfect start for India this morning by bouncing out Angelo Mathews in the second over of the day’s play. He along with Sreesanth lost the plot though to be replaced with spin at both ends. India had to wait for about an hour before Harbhajan Singh found a way to spin one through the bat pad gap of Prasanna Jayawardene (29) from round the sticks. Harbhajan’s off break broke the 6th wicket stand of 61.

Harbhajan Singh got one more wicket when the left handed Rangana Herath missing a sweep to be lbw and Muttiah Muralidaran (29 from 11 balls) too missed a sweep but to get bowled. Pragyan Ojha was the bowler to dismiss Murali. India had to come back after lunch to take the remaining two wickets and the match was finished when no.11 Chanaka Welegedara was caught and bowled off a leading edge by Pragyan Ojha.  Before than Yuvraj Singh broke the frustrating 9th wicket partnership by trapping Mendis with an arm ball. Samaraweera stayed unbeaten on 78 (from 123 balls with 11 fours). Sri Lanka were bowled out for 269 in less than 66 overs.

Sreesanth was given the Man of the Match for taking six wickets yesterday. Incidentally this is the 100th win for India in Test Matches.

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Pakistan have New Zealand reeling at 147 for 8 at stumps on Day 4 in their second innings with Mohammad Asif picking up four wickets. New Zealand still have a slight edge over Pakistan in winning the Test match with a lead of 244 and two wickets in hand. Weather conditions will play a crucial role in deciding the result of the game, it had his toll even on the fourth day with rain and bad light eating off crucial time.

The visitors stretched their first innings total to 332 from an overnight score of 307 for 8 which cut the New Zealand lead to 97 runs. In their second innings, Mohammad Aamer came up with another first over dismissal, this time removing Martin Guptill in the fourth ball. In the 3rd over, Asif provided the double break with Flynn getting out lbw for a duck as well.

New Zealand recovered from 0 for 2 to 68 for 2 at lunch with Ross Taylor batting fluently on 48. Pakistan after lunch shot back with quick wickets to turn the match on its head. Five wickets went down in a hurry at the addition of just 36 runs. Khurram Manzoor initiated the downfall for the Kiwis with a direct throw to run out Ross Taylor (59 from 83 balls with 7 fours and a six). Peter Fulton and Brendon McCullum were out for 0 to make it four ducks in this Kiwi innings! First innings hero Daniel Vettori was dismissed by Asif cheaply.

The Kiwis still have Grant Elliott batting on 20 along with Iain O’Brien who is not a bad tailender at all. Pakistan have certainly got back into the match through their bowlers but now its all upto their top order to come good and seize the moment provided the weather holds good. Asif had a rich haul of 4 for 41 in 17.5 overs to follow up with his 4 for 108 in the first innings. Aamer complemented him with a couple of wickets.

? 2009, CricketMove.Com. All rights reserved. Partner with APakistanNews.com

Thanksgiving Quotes Inspirational,Thanksgiving quotes will bring up many opportunities for you to be thankful for the many blessings in your life.

Thanksgiving Day is observed in both the US and Canada. While it falls on the fourth Thursday in November in the US, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October in Canada.

CINCINNATI: World number one Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic will contest the Cincinnati Masters final after both claimed impressive victories on Saturday.

Federer beat holder Andy Murray 6-2 7-6 while a rejuvenated Djokovic hammered former world number one Rafa Nadal 6-1 6-4.

Murray was trying to become the fourth man to win the Canada and Cincinnati Masters Series titles back to back.

But he could not even force a single break point and the Swiss broke serve twice in the first set and then saved two set points in the tiebreak to reach the final.

“It was just overall a very good performance,” said Federer, who beat world number two Murray for only the third time in their nine meetings.

“I stayed aggressive. I was always looking to make the plays and I think in the end I deserved to win, just because I wasn’t scared to go after my shots. And I think I served well.”

Attacking from the start, Federer broke Murray’s serve in the fourth and eighth games to take the first set.

The Briton battled hard to stay on terms in the second set and forced two set points, at 6-5 and 8-7.

But Federer saved the first with a big serve and the second when Murray’s attempted backhand pass landed inches wide, before going on to win it 10-8.

In three of their most recent four meetings, Federer won the first set only to lose the match.

This time, the Swiss said, he felt he would have been confident of victory even had the match gone to a decider.

“(In some of the matches), I really felt like, this is going to get really hard in the third set. I kind of felt it
coming that I was not going to win the match.

“Today was different. Even if I were to lose that second set, I would have been in the match with a good mindset. I played a really good match.”

Murray was pleased with his fightback in the second set, but disappointed at his overall performance.

“In the first set, I was leaving the ball short and giving him a lot of second serves to look at and not making a whole a lot of returns, so therefore I was unable to put any pressure on him,” he said.

“He was going for his shots because I was leaving the ball in the middle of the court. But I was happy I managed to up my game in the second set.”

Last year’s runner-up Djokovic produced his best performance of the American hardcourt season to see off Nadal, who was playing only his second tournament back after two months out with knee injuries.

The Serb forced Nadal into a series of uncharacteristic unforced errors and after claiming the first set in 29 minutes, he held off the Spaniard in the second to book a meeting with Federer.

CINCINNATI: World number one Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic will contest the Cincinnati Masters final after both claimed impressive victories on Saturday.

Federer beat holder Andy Murray 6-2 7-6 while a rejuvenated Djokovic hammered former world number one Rafa Nadal 6-1 6-4.

Murray was trying to become the fourth man to win the Canada and Cincinnati Masters Series titles back to back.

But he could not even force a single break point and the Swiss broke serve twice in the first set and then saved two set points in the tiebreak to reach the final.

“It was just overall a very good performance,” said Federer, who beat world number two Murray for only the third time in their nine meetings.

“I stayed aggressive. I was always looking to make the plays and I think in the end I deserved to win, just because I wasn’t scared to go after my shots. And I think I served well.”

Attacking from the start, Federer broke Murray’s serve in the fourth and eighth games to take the first set.

The Briton battled hard to stay on terms in the second set and forced two set points, at 6-5 and 8-7.

But Federer saved the first with a big serve and the second when Murray’s attempted backhand pass landed inches wide, before going on to win it 10-8.

In three of their most recent four meetings, Federer won the first set only to lose the match.

This time, the Swiss said, he felt he would have been confident of victory even had the match gone to a decider.

“(In some of the matches), I really felt like, this is going to get really hard in the third set. I kind of felt it
coming that I was not going to win the match.

“Today was different. Even if I were to lose that second set, I would have been in the match with a good mindset. I played a really good match.”

Murray was pleased with his fightback in the second set, but disappointed at his overall performance.

“In the first set, I was leaving the ball short and giving him a lot of second serves to look at and not making a whole a lot of returns, so therefore I was unable to put any pressure on him,” he said.

“He was going for his shots because I was leaving the ball in the middle of the court. But I was happy I managed to up my game in the second set.”

Last year’s runner-up Djokovic produced his best performance of the American hardcourt season to see off Nadal, who was playing only his second tournament back after two months out with knee injuries.

The Serb forced Nadal into a series of uncharacteristic unforced errors and after claiming the first set in 29 minutes, he held off the Spaniard in the second to book a meeting with Federer.

BULAWAYO: Bangladesh raced to a five-wicket defeat of Zimbabwe for a 4-1 series win in the final One Day International at the Queen’s Sports Club here on Tuesday.
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Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat but hopes of a repeat of their 312 total in the fourth game never materialised with the hosts all out for 209.

That was by no means enough to push Bangladesh, who made 212 for five, to end the series on a triumphant note – Mushfiqur Rahim’s 98 the starring contribution.

Zimbabwe’s fate had been sealed when they slipped to 69 for six in the 14th over with Bangladesh bowler Dolar Mahmud’s contribution proving incisive, his performance earning him the player of the match award.

“It’s good to perform well in international cricket and I played well this time. The wicket was providing assistance and I made use of it,” said Dolar.

Dolar, flown in during the series, dismissed Vusi Sibanda for two, with Charles Coventry, who had scored a record-equalling highest one day score of 194 here on Sunday, out for nought.

Dolar’s next victim was Malcolm Waller, who just made it into double figures, with Elton Chigumbura sent back with another big inswinger after Syed Rasel had seen off Sean Williams.

The patient Brendan Taylor did his best to salvage something from a tricky situation and he duly made 61 before he was lbw to Mehrab Hossain jnr.

Bangladesh did not get off to the quickest starts but marshalled by opener Mushfiqur they dictated this finale.

He was stopped from reaching a deserved maiden century by Ray Price.

Tamim Iqbal, with 300-odd runs over the series including a match-winning 150-plus in the fourth ODI, picked up the player of the series award.

“This is my first such award and hopefully there’ll be more to come,” said Tamim.

“The 154 was my best innings and hopefully there’ll be many more. The top order played very well this series, and Junaid (Siddique) supported me really well. The boys have performed superbly and we’re very happy.”

Zimbabwe’s Prosper Utseya paid tribute to the winning tourists. “Yes, we are disappointed but Bangladesh proved they were the better team.”