Latest - Australia rolled through the Indian batting order after lunch on Saturday to dismiss the tourists for 244 and take a 94-run first-innings lead at tea on the third day of the third test at Sydney Cricket Ground.
Matthew Wade, Tim Paine and Steve Smith Photo: PHOTOSPORT
A double blow from the Australian pacemen to remove Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara in successive overs midway through the session started the rot and the final six wickets tumbled for the addition of just 49 runs.
Notwithstanding some fine fielding from the hosts, Indian fans will be most aggrieved that three of their batsmen were run out on a day when they needed to occupy the crease for as long as possible and wait for the Australian fast bowlers to tire.
Pujara needed no encouragement to do just that and while his fifth-wicket partnership with Pant was intact, India would have fancied their chances of getting close to or overhauling Australia's first-innings 338.
Pat Cummins (4-29) inadvertently triggered the breakthrough when he struck Pant on forearm with a bouncer that left the wicketkeeper-batsman in considerable pain.
Pant never looked comfortable from then on and departed soon afterwards for 36 after edging a Cummins delivery to David Warner in the slips.
Pant was later taken to hospital for scans on his injury and will not keep wickets at the start of Australia's second innings.
Josh Hazlewood, who brilliantly ran out Hanuma Vihari for four in the opening session, dealt the second blow to remove the obdurate Pujara caught behind for 50 runs from 176 deliveries.
Ravichandran Ashwin was the next batsman out, ambling down the wicket when called for a single by Ravindra Jadeja with Cummins at mid-off making sure he was punished.
All-rounder Jadeja scored 28 not out as the tail-end wickets tumbled around him but took a nasty blow on his thumb which might constrain his bowling.
The hard-fought series is tied 1-1 after the first two tests in Adelaide and Melbourne, with the final clash scheduled to start in Brisbane next week.
- Reuters
Worker shows the way with maiden ton
A maiden T20 century to George Worker has pushed Central Districts further up the points table in the men's domestic T20 cricket competition.
Central Stags' George Worker Photo: PHOTOSPORT
With 12 matches for the Black Caps to his name, the left-handed opener blasted 106 from 58 balls in the Stags 53-run win over Otago in Dunedin.
Black Caps test squad member Will Young chipped in with 50 from only 25 balls as CD posted 223-5 batting first, with the hosts finishing on 170-8 despite a fighting 75 off 54 from Nick Kelly.
Earlier, the Otago women were comfortable 7-wicket winners over Central Districts.
The Hinds managed just 102 for 7 from their 20 overs, with the Sparks getting there with 28 balls to spare.
Opener Polly Inglis guided Otago to victory, finishing not out on 43 from 38 balls.
Galloway gets second national title
Mike Galloway has claimed his second national bowls title, 20 years after his first.
Galloway, of the Royal Oak club, has beaten host club favourite Rory Soden 21-9 in the final of the men's singles at Carlton Cornwall in Auckland.
Mike Galloway lifts the national men's singles trophy. Photo: Supplied
It came two decades after he and David Clark won the men's pairs.
Earlier, Val Smith and Lisa Prideaux won their second women's pairs title in three years, coming from 15-8 down to beat Dale Rayner and Selina Smith 17-16 in the final.
Smith and Prideaux scored a two on the 18th and final end to snatch the crown from the fellow composite combination.
It is Val Smith's sixth national title and Lisa Prideaux's second.
Test well set in Sydney
The third cricket test between Australia and India in Sydney remains well poised heading into day three.
Ravindra Jadeja Photo: Photosport
Replying to the home team's first innings of 338, India were 96 for 2 at stumps on Friday night.
Ravindra Jadeja emerged as India's man with the golden arm earlier in the day, claiming four Australia wickets and then producing a moment of sheer brilliance to prove why he is considered one of the best fielders in contemporary cricket.
The all-rounder was the pick of the Indian bowlers, claiming 4-62 with his crafty left-arm spin.
The highlight of Jadeja's performance, however, was his rocket throw which ended Steve Smith's stellar knock of 131.
- Reuters
Concussions subs for Club World Cup
FIFA will trial concussion substitutes at next month's Club World Cup in Qatar.
The decision comes after the game's rule-making body IFAB gave the go-ahead to additional trials last month.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The trial at the Club World Cup, which will be held from February 1-11, will allow one permanent concussion replacement in cases of head injury, regardless of the number of substitutions a team has made already.
England's Premier League are hoping to introduce concussion substitutes later this month, while FIFA is also ready to trial the system at this year's Olympic Games.
FIFA said teams participating in the Club World Cup are also permitted to make up to five substitutions per game rather than three - a rule brought in to protect player welfare amid Covid-19 related fixture congestion.
However, teams will only have three opportunities to make changes during the game and also at halftime.
- Reuters
Pro cyclists get Covid vaccine
Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar and his UAE Emirates teammates have been vaccinated against Covid-19 at a training camp in Abu Dhabi.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
They are the first professional cycling team to be vaccinated.
Among those vaccinated was Colombian Fernando Gaviria, who last October became one of the rare patients to have had the disease twice.
The pandemic forced the 2020 cycling season to shut down for four-and-a-half months before resuming in August, with Pogacar ending up winning the Tour in September.
The 2021 World Tour season is set to start with the UAE Tour scheduled for February 21-27.
- Reuters
LeBron lambasts Trump
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has blamed this week's mob violence at the US Capitol on President Donald Trump and questioned what would have happened had the rioters been Black.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
"We live in two Americas," James said after their home loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday (NZ time), one day after the unrest in the nation's capital, Washington DC.
"And that was a prime example of that yesterday, and if you don't understand that or don't see that after seeing what you saw yesterday, then you really need to take a step back.
James blamed Trump for lighting the spark for Thursday's breach of the Capitol, which occurred during the official certification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College vote count and ultimately resulted in the deaths of five people.
"The events that took place yesterday was a direct correlation of the president that's in the seat right now -- of his actions, his beliefs, his wishes," James said.
"He cares about nobody besides himself. Nobody. Absolutely nobody. He doesn't care about this country. He doesn't care about his family. He doesn't care about anybody besides himself."
- Reuters