The England batsman Jonathan Trott has denied allegations from Michael Vaughan that he partied with South Africa after they won a Test in 2008. In his new autobiography, Time to Declare, Vaughan has accused the Johannesburg-born Trott of celebrating with South Africa’s players after England lost at Edgbaston last summer.

"It was a sad day for English cricket that on my last day against South Africa I saw Jonathan Trott celebrating with South Africa, when the week before he had been our 12th man at Headingley," wrote Vaughan. "I was going into the press conference and I saw him patting them on the back. It hit home what English cricket has become like."

In response, Trott has said that he was talking to the spinner and his old friend Paul Harris shortly after the Test. "Warwickshire finished a game at Leicester and myself, Neil Carter and Allan Donald raced back to Edgbaston because the Test looked like being a close finish," he said. "We were standing between the changing rooms when both teams were on the field at the end. I’ve known Paul Harris since I was 16 and we played together at Warwickshire. I just said something like, ‘Cheers, well done on your victory.’

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At the half-way mark of the chase the game was in a stalemate with India in consolidation mode at 101 for 3 but India pulled away courtesy Yuvraj. He was mainly dealing in singles and twos initially but  Yuvraj pressed down on the accelerator in the 34th over with the equation reading 94 from 17 overs. He collected a flicked six and hit a gorgeous extra-cover drive off Moises Henriques. The six was nothing more than flick of the wrists, and was the sort of shot that can completely demoralize the opposition.

Yuvraj did not stop here he repeated the sequence next over with a bludgeoned six over long-on and a square driven boundary against Adam Vogues. The momentum completely shifted after that and Yuvraj went on to indulge himself with several peachy drives. Each of his boundaries were superbly timed and trademark Yuvraj Singh shots. On a slow wicket he just took away the game from the Aussies in a matter of few overs. He would have finished of the match but was unlucky to be given out leg before.

Today’s innings just showed why Yuvraj is considered one of the most dangerous middle order batsman in limited overs cricket.

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Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni shared a serene 148-run stand to help India win a battle of attrition on a sluggish track and take a 2-1 lead in Delhi. Australia would perhaps rue the fact that they had settled for 229 when they batted.

“A total of 220 should be a good score on this pitch,” Ponting had said after winning an important toss and Australia’s approach while batting reflected his mindset. They did pick up three top-order wickets to leave India wobbling at 53 for 3 but Yuvraj and Dhoni batted superbly to see India through.

They mainly dealt in singles and twos initially before Yuvraj pressed down on the accelerator in the 34th over and went into top gear with the equation reading 94 from 17 overs. He collected a flicked six and hit a gorgeous extra-cover drive off Moises Henriques before he repeated the sequence next over with a bludgeoned six over long-on and a square driven boundary against Adam Vogues. The momentum completely shifted after that and Yuvraj went on to indulge himself with several peachy drives. There would have been a moment of apprehension when he fell 29 runs short of the target but Dhoni ensured there wouldn’t be any drama with couple of crunchy blows.

Earlier in the match Aussies were in a spot of bother in the middle of their innings but Hussey’s innings was tailored to the situation. You don’t usually remember a stand-out shot from a Hussey innings. What strikes you is his total self-awareness of his own game with its limitations. Today, was no different. His innings was straight out of Michael Beaven’s book. He played numerous little dabs and nudges, cut and swept whenever he could, and never got ahead of himself at any stage. Hussey came to Australia’s rescue with an assured knock but it didn’t prove enough to stop India from going ahead in the series.

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Shakib had reason to be pleased after his top-order batsmen heeded his call to turn in an improved performance; opener Tamim Iqbal blasting 80 and No. 3 Mohammad Ashraful finding form with a patient half-century. The improved batting performance made sure that Bangaldesh go 2-1 up in the five match series.

Zimbabwe were undone, as they have been on numerous occasions this year, by Bangladesh’s phalanx of spinners. As many as six of them were used, and they forced Zimbabwe to lose their way after opener Hamilton Masakadza had powered the visitors to a healthy 148 for 3. The last six wickets went down for 48 runs.

Masakadza’s stroke-filled 84 was the most sizeable contribution of an utterly disappointing scorecard and the lack of support – the next best was 29 – was testament to how the slow bowlers persevered.

Bangladesh, in contrast, never let the Zimbabwe bowlers dominate: every time the runs were kept in check, the home side managed to break free with a boundary. Opener Tamim had declared before the match that he would turn in an improved performance after two flops in the series, and he lived up to his promise. His partner, Junaid Siddique, had another forgettable outing and increased the scrutiny over his place in the side by falling for 5.

Tamim, though, switched Bangladesh into top gear with a flurry of fours off Chigumbura in the sixth over. He was supported by another man who is out-of-form, Ashraful, who took his time initially before opening out. The pair piled on 98 runs at a brisk pace to virtually put Zimbabwe out of the game. Tamim was toying the Zimbabwe spinners, and was on his way to a century, when he was stumped after being beaten by Graeme Cremer.

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Ricky Ponting: “We were in a good position at 60 for 3, we needed to take a couple of wickets in the middle of the innings, Yuvraj and Dhoni were superb, we had our moments but did not capitalise.
“The ball change was the best time to score (when Aus were batting) but we lost a bit of momentum there. India outplayed us today. It was definitely a better batting surface earlier in the day. We have lost two games in a row, hopefully we’ll get a few more runs on the board in Mohali.”

MS Dhoni: “With Yuvraj at the other end it is always easy. With seven wickets in hand and a Powerplay to go, we wanted to play out their best bowlers and go after their part-timers.
“On this wicket, I think everybody bowled well. I’m really happy. If there was no dew 220-230 could have been difficult to chase. The pitch was looking really ugly. All in all, it was a great team effort.”

Yuvraj Singh is the Man of the Match: “Yeah, I was a bit rusty at the start. It was a slow wicket at the start, so I wanted to take some time.”

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Toss – Australia won the toss and elected to bat first.
Scoreline: Australia 229/5 in 50 overs, Hussey 81*(82), Ponting 59(92), Watson 41(59) | Ravindra Jadeja 9-1-41-2, Harbhajan 10-0-37-1
India 230/4 in 48.2 overs, Yuvraj 78(96), Dhoni 71*(95) | Mitchell Johnson 9.2-2-43-1
Result – Indian beat Australia with 6 wickets
Part 1

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Masakadza says ” We were below par with batting and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. We need to work on our batting and we played the spinners well today but we needed to be more decisive “

Shakib says” We tried a few experiments, which did not work. We will try it some other time. If we play to our merits we will win as these are our home conditions. Whenever the top-order scores runs it becomes easier for the middle order”

Tamim Iqbal is the Man of the match: He says” I am not happy because I did not go on to get the century and did not finish my job. The boys are really working hard and am happy with the team’s progress. On any given day, the team that plays better cricket will win the match”

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Australia won the toss yet another time and decided to bat first. Aussies started off well with good partnership between Watson and Ponting. Kotla pitch is quite slow and spinner friendly. Score around 220-240 is what they needed and they managed it to get it. Michael Hussey again played a brilliant knock and smashed 3rd consecutive half century against the India.

Fall of Wickets (Australia Inns) -
1-72 Shane Watson (16.2 ov), 2-128 Ricky Ponting (31.1 ov), 3-129 Cameron White (32.4 ov), 4-172 Adam Voges (41.5 ov), 5-200 Moises Henriques (46.3 ov)

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Australia in India, 7 ODI Series, 2009

India vs Australia - 3rd ODI

Played at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi , Nagpur, 31 October 2009

Result – India beat Australia by 6 wickets

Fall of Wickets (Australia) -

1-72 Shane Watson (16.2 ov), 2-128 Ricky Ponting (31.1 ov), 3-129 Cameron White (32.4 ov), 4-172 Adam Voges (41.5 ov), 5-200 Moises Henriques (46.3 ov)

Power Play: 1-10, 11-15 (bowling), 46-50 (batting)
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On the last ball of the 18th over bowled by Harbhajan Singh Gambhir intercepts a full blooded pull at forward short leg of Ponting’s bat and he got hit on the neck, he has been off the field since then.

Hope this is not a serious injury.

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