IPL 5: Chennai thrash table-toppers Delhi

Chennai Super Kings bowlers exposed the vulnerability of the Delhi Daredevils' top-order as the defending champions thrashed the current table toppers by nine wickets in an Indian Premier League match, here on Saturday. With this Chennai moved to fourth on the points table of the IPL.

Chasing 115-run target, Chennai Super Kings lost Michael Hussey (38) after he put on a 75-run opening stand with Murali Vijay. From there, Vijay and Suresh Raina guided the hosts to an easy victory and finished the match well within 16th over.

Irfan Pathan struck in the eleventh over to give Delhi a crucial breakthrough but it seem too little too late. Hussey hit a six and five boundaries in his quick 32-ball innings as he laid a solid platform for the hosts to win the match comfortably.

Earlier, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's decision to bowl first after winning the toss enjoyed great success as the Delhi were restricted to a modest total of 114 for 5. Ben Hifenhaus snaffled 3 for 27 and also received great support from Albie Morkel (1 for 15) and R Ashiwn (1 for 17) to put the skids on the home side.

Put into bat, Delhi lost Virender Sehwag (4), last match's centurion David Warner (8) and Naman Ojha (3) early thanks to brilliant bowling by Hilfenhaus. In another couple of deliveries, it was four down with Mahela Jayawardene (8) also back in the dug-out courtesy Albie Morkel. Delhi were tottering at 24 for 4 in just six overs.

Delhi Daredevils had to rebuild the innings from there, and Yogesh Nagar (43 not out) chalked up a crucial stand of 48 with Venugopal Rao (27). But the going was slow, and the Delhi side had to content themselves with adding only 42 more runs in their last seven overs. Venugopal did try his bit as he lofted Ravindra Jadeja for a straight six --- the first of the match in the ninth over. The duo mainly played in singles and doubles but boundaries were hard to come by.

However a brilliant piece of work by Albie at short cover saw the back of Venu and it slowed things down further. Irfan Pathan (13 not out) hung around with Nagar to help Delhi post 115 on board.

2nd Test: WI lose three to give Aus dominance

Port-of-Spain, Trinidad: Australia took three final-session wickets to restrict West Indies to 49-3 by stumps Monday on the second day of the second Test, building a 262-run lead despite Kemar Roach's five-wicket haul for the hosts. Roach took 5-105 from 27 overs as West Indies dismissed Australia for 311 after having resumed at Queen's Park Oval on 208-5. Kraigg Brathwaite (0), Adrian Barath (7) and Kieran Powell (19) were all out to lbw decisions, ensuring West Indies face a battle to stay in the series. Australia leads 1-0 with one more Test left to play.

There was a wicket apiece for Australian quicks Ben Hilfenhaus, James Pattinson and left-arm spinner Michael Beer. Australia's total was boosted by Michael Hussey's 73 in a seventh-wicket stand of 89 with James Pattinson, who made 32. Roach led the hosts' attack while offspinners Shane Shillingford's 3-92 and Narsingh Deonarine's 2-32 also contributed.

The day had begun brightly for West Indies with Roach removing wicketkeeper Matthew Wade for 11 with the second ball of the second over. Wade drove at a good length delivery and edged low to second slip for Darren Bravo to hold the catch and make it 208-6. Roach and Fidel Edwards, armed with the second new ball, were unlucky not to claim another breakthrough in the first hour with Hussey and Pattinson both being beaten on several occasions. But the pair of left-handers gradually emerged to share an important stand. Hussey, overnight 26, brought up his 50 off 137 balls with a push through extra cover off Darren Sammy's medium pace.

The 21-year-old Pattinson shrugged off two nasty blows to his right arm from Roach and Edwards to hit three confident boundaries. The duo took lunch at 267-6, with rain arriving to stall play for nearly two hours. Upon resumption, Hussey and Pattinson continued to build the innings before West Indies hit back by claiming the last four wickets for 14 runs. Spin finally earned the crucial breakthrough for the hosts, with part-timer Deonarine removing Hussey to a driven catch to extra cover. Hussey struck four fours and a six off 208 balls in four hours.

Next over, Pattinson's 119-ball marathon was ended when he skied the ball into the off side off the leading edge off Shillingford. The fast bowler hit five fours in two and a half hours. Roach returned to wrap up the tail, bowling Ben Hilfenhaus (5) and trapping last man Michael Beer (2) lbw in successive overs on the stroke of tea. The 23-year-old Roach, in his 16th Test, claimed his third five-wicket haul.

West Indies, however, was quickly in trouble when batting. The Caribbean side had not scored when Brathwaite was trapped shuffling across the crease to Hilfenhaus. Australia further seized the initiative when Barath was out to Beer, who ended with 1-22 after taking the new ball with Hilfenhaus. Powell counter-attacked before he fell to Pattinson's first delivery to leave the total on 38-3. Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the team's most reliable pair, survived to the close. Bravo struck two straight boundaries off Beer while Chanderpaul was content to be the anchor as the partnership reached 11. Pattinson, although wayward at times, took 1-6 while Hilfenhaus grabbed 1-12.

Australia maul India by 110 runs

Brisbane: Riding on Ben Hilfenhaus' maiden five-wicket haul in one-day internationals, Australia bundled out India for 178 to win the seventh match of the tri-series by 110 runs in Brisbane on Sunday. India's chase of 289 was over before it started when they failed to recover from three early strikes. Australia now have 14 points from five matches while India are second in the table with 10 points from five games.

It was again the batting which failed India, particularly the top order. From a scoreline of 36 for 4, only MS Dhoni stood out with a battling 56 as India were handed a heavy defeat. Hilfenhaus, returning to Australia's one-day side after a long gap, finished with career-best figures of 5 for 33 that included the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar (3).

After early wickets, there was no consolidation from the lower-order, other than the stand of 46 between Dhoni and Suresh Raina (28) for the fifth wicket. The Indian batsmen fell prey to some brilliant bowling by Hilfenhaus and Brett Lee (3 for 49) and never recovered from their new-ball strikes.

After electing to bat, Australia got off to a good start as David Warner (43) and Matthew Wade (45) added 70. Wade was dropped by Rohit Sharma on 0 off the second ball of the innings and made the Indians pay, while Michael Hussey enjoyed three reprieves during his game-changing 59 off 52 balls. India had done well to get rid of Warner and Ricky Ponting, but failed to go for the kill.

Wade and newcomer Peter Forrest played watchfully and kept the scoreboard ticking. MS Dhoni made the folly of continuing with fill-in spinners Suresh Raina and Rohit, and even Rohit's dismissal of Wade – who chipped a simple return catch back to the bowler – failed to stop Australia from posting a big total.

Michael Hussey's innings began in bizarre circumstances. On 1, he stretched forward to a delivery from Raina that beat the bat, and Dhoni took off the bails in a flash. The on-field umpires went upstairs, and after replays showed Hussey had dragged his back foot in, the third umpire Bruce Oxenford inexplicably pressed the 'out' button. This mistake was corrected immediately and the on-field umpires called Michael Hussey back.

Hussey was dropped on 13 by Rohit at short midwicket off Raina, and stamped his authority with a 100-run stand with Forrest. Irfan Pathan struck to remove both batsman in the 44th over, but David Hussey and Daniel Christian plundered 110 runs from the last 10 overs. In the 49th over Christian hit four consecutive boundaries off Vinay Kumar, and his unbeaten 30 off 18 balls took his team's score to 288.

Australia hammer India, lead series 2-0

Sydney: What started as a day of high anticipation ended up in smoke for MS Dhoni's men as India lost the second Test against Australia by an innings and 68 runs at the Sydney Cricket Ground, after Sachin Tendulkar once again missed out on an opportunity to get to his 100th international century.

Ben Hilfenhaus notched up his second five-wicket haul of the series as the Indians were bowled out for 400 to give the hosts a 2-0 lead in the four-match series. Triple-centurion and captain of the Australian team Michael Clarke, who was declared Man of the Match for his sublime innings of 329, was elated with the victory.

"It was a tough wicket to take 10 wickets but our bowlers were brilliant. I've spoken about consistency and our guys are doing that now. In any team you need experience and youth and I think now this Australian team has it. I was as relieved as Punt [Ponting]. His attitude around the group has been exceptional," Clarke said.

Clarke was also the one to deny Tendulkar the magical milestone of a 100th ton, when he had him caught by Michael Hussey at first slip for 80. "It [Tendulkar's wicket] is a very handy one to have," he said.

Carrying on from their overnight score of 114 for 2, India started off in convincing fashion through Tendulkar, who struck boundaries at will through the offside.

However, the visitors lost Gautam Gambhir soon after. A leading edge from his bat off the bowling of Peter Siddle ended in the hands of David Warner, who completed an easy catch at backward point. Gambhir departed after playing a useful hand of 83 from 142 balls, and struck 11 boundaries on the way.

Tendulkar continued to be in great touch, bringing up his 65th half-century in Tests with a glance down to fine leg and exhibited the 'daylight' that has existed between him and the rest of the Indian batsman in the series so far.

He and VVS Laxman were in complete control, taking the team's score to 243 for 3 at lunch. After losing just Gambhir's wicket in the first session, the turn of events post lunch was truly disastrous to the Indian cause.

With his score on 80, Tendulkar edged a Clarke delivery to Hussey at first slip which well and truly opened the floodgates. Laxman, who had brought up his half-century a little while earlier, was then cleaned up by Hilfenhaus, as he played across the line to a delivery that pitched on off-stump and held its line, to be bowled for 66.

The Aussie fast bowler got into the act again, getting the wicket of Dhoni (2) although there was some confusion as to whether it was a bump ball or not, but replays confirmed that Dhoni had scooped the ball straight into the hands of the bowler.

After terrorising the Indian batsmen in the first innings, Pattinson finally got his first wicket in the second essay by trapping Virat Kohli (9) lbw to a delivery that kept low. A few lusty hits by Zaheer Khan made for some interesting viewing, but with seven wickets down the writing was very much on the wall for the Indians.

The fireworks from Zaheer finally come to an end when he was dismissed by Siddle, who picked up his second wicket of the innings. Zaheer's innings lasted 26 balls which yielded 35 runs and included five fours and a six, before he backed away to a short delivery from Siddle only to hit it as far as Shaun Marsh in the cover region, who took a fine running catch.

Offspinner Nathan Lyon then got his first wicket of the match by trapping Ishant Sharma (11) in front of his stumps.

Meanwhile with wickets falling at the other end, R Ashwin, who had brought up his fifty (nine fours, one six), holed out to Lyon, who ran from mid-on to bring an end to India's misery. Ashwin made 62 before he became Hilfenhaus' fifth wicket.