Mumbai, Dec 5 (IANS) Sri Lanka were 84 for one in the second innings against India at lunch on the fourth day of the third and final cricket Test at the Brabourne Stadium here Saturday.

Tharanga Pranavitana was batting on 42, and Kumar Sangakkara 22 as Sri Lanka reduced the deficit to 249 runs. Tillakaratne Dilshan fell for 16.

India declared their first innings at 726 for nine in reply to Sri Lanka’s 393.

Clarke was nursing a back injury which had kept him out of the one-day series against India.

Australia, battling through a massive injury crisis, won the seven-match series 4-2 earlier this month.

Except for Doug Bollinger replacing Stuart Clark, Australian selectors have not made any changes to the squad which lost the Ashes to England a few months ago.

Regular wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has recovered from his finger injury that he picked up during the Ashes to make the cut for the series opener against the Caribbeans.

“The squad includes only one change from the side which played the last Test of the Ashes series in England. Doug Bollinger comes in for Stuart Clark,” Australia’s National Selection Panel (NSP) Chairman Andrew Hilditch said.

London, Oct 30 (ANI): England batsman Kevin Pietersen, who had an operation on his Achilles and faced the last ball on July 18, is refreshed and will bat for the first time in three months.

Pietersen’s hands will be too soft and he will be stiff afterwards but, more significantly, after a year of disillusionment with cricket, he will enjoy himself.

Pietersen accepted that his enforced rest due to injury came as a chance to recharge.

“The big thing is the mental rest. This year has been one of the toughest of my career, with the captaincy debacle in January plus the injury. This break has refreshed my head and who knows how I’ll come back as a player,” The Times quoted Pietersen, as saying.

“My Achilles won’t hamper me any more and I definitely feel fresh mentally. I’ll be starting off really enjoying myself – and this year I haven’t particularly enjoyed playing cricket because I was in pain and because of what happened in January. It’s been a tough thing for me,” he said.

Pietersen needed a break and the operation gave it to him. “I believe everything happens for a reason and these three months have happened to refresh me and knowing that I was sort of falling out of love with the game, it was a symbol or a sign for me to refresh and recharge my batteries.”

He will travel to South Africa for England’s winter tour from November 9 or 10 and his comeback will be in a warm-up game against South Africa A in Potchefstroom on November 17.

His first competitive match should be the first one-day international in Johannesburg three days later. “I can’t wait. I haven’t been at my best since India last year,” he said.

“Preparation is what I bank on and preparation has definitely been hampered because of external thoughts. These last three months have cleared my brain and my thoughts,” he added. (ANI)

The New South Wales team has proved themselves as the dominant provincial side in the world, let alone Australia, so the selectors might pick the Test side with 10 players from Blues plus captain Ricky Ponting, who lives in Sydney.

New South Wales can win the Ashes urn for Australia. A Blues-Only-Plus-Ricky-Ponting Test team isn’t remotely far-fetched, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Phillip Hughes, Phil Jaques, Simon Katich, Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Brett Lee, Nathan Hauritz, Doug Bollinger and Stuart Clark will make a legitimate Test team, the paper said.

Every one of these players is already in possession of a baggy reen cap. None of them could be considered unworthy and have a ealistic chance of making Ponting’s side. So why not all of hem, asks the report

An all-NSW batting line-up is a very real possibility. Watson’s eventual destination is No.6 despite recent experiments with him as an opener. He’s moved from Queensland to

London, Oct.6 (ANI): England all-rounder Paul Collingwood has been ruled out of this month’s Champions League tournament due to a torn muscle in one of his buttocks.

Collingwood, 33, was due to play for his Indian Premier League franchise Delhi Daredevils in the two-week club tournament, which starts on Thursday, reports The Independent.

However, a scan yesterday revealed a grade two tear in one of his gluteal muscles and he has pulled out of Delhi’s 15-man squad on medical grounds.

“We have a contract with the IPL about making our players available, however Collingwood has picked up a little niggle in his buttock,” revealed coach Andy Flower, before England departed South Africa at the weekend.

The injury is not expected to affect Collingwood’s participation in England’s tour to South Africa next month.

“It’s anticipated with rest and rehabilitation, he will be available for the tour of South Africa,” an England and Wales Cricket Board spokesman said. (ANI)