Australia rout India at Adelaide to complete whitewash

India didn't have any chance of chasing down the target of 500 runs after Australia captain Michael Clarke's second declaration of the match at 167 for five in their second innings yesterday and were duly thrashed by 298 runs.

The Australian team celebrate victory during day five of the fourth Test Match against India at the Adelaide Oval

It took Australia less than an hour on the final day of fourth Test at the Adelaide Oval today to complete their decimation of India and subject the tourists to their second consecutive whitewash in an away Test series. So, much for this mighty embarassing one-sided series being promoted as 'Thunder Down Under'!

India didn't have any chance of chasing down the target of 500 runs after Australia captain Michael Clarke's second declaration of the match at 167 for five in their second innings yesterday and were duly thrashed by 298 runs; but to make the humiliation worse, the visitors went down again without showing the stomach for a fight and making the hosts work hard for the win. Australia's complete domination over India comes a year after they were thrashed in the Ashes series, and the Don Argus review undertaken by Cricket Australia in the backdrop of that loss, has certainly put the team back on the path to playing consistently and winning. That's certainly something that the BCCI should have done after the whitewash in England, but if it isn't undertaken now, such humiliations will continue for India.

The latest thrashing completed a dismal first leg of the tour of Australia for the former No. 1 team in Tests. India was routed by 122 runs in Melbourne; by an innings and 68  runs in Sydney; and by an innings and 37 runs in Perth. Batting woes have been India's bane in their last two away Test series, and Adelaide was supposed to be the best chance for the line-up to redeem themselves. But, the same sordid story was repeated at the flat Adelaide Oval wicket as well where India was bowled out for 272 and 201. In contrast, 

Australia made optimum use of the batting-friendly conditions on offer and declared their first innings at 604 for 7 thanks to double centuries from Clarke and Ricky Ponting.

India's run chase got off to the worst possible start when Gautam Gambhir was dismissed in the fifth over 

Australia captain Michael Clarke was deservedly named Man of the Series.

of their second innings and they went into stumps on the fourth day at 166 for 6 with the experienced middle-order failing yet again. Ryan Harris and Man of the Match Peter Siddle (22 wickets in the series) had night watchman Ishant Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha respectively caught behind by Brad Haddin in the third and fourth overs of the day to hasten the end of the match. Zaheer Khan hit three boundaries in his 18-ball 15 before he was caught by David Warner at short cover off Ben Hilfenhaus's bowling. 

Hilfenhaus topped the bowling charts with 27 wickets, which is the most in a series for an Australian bowler after legendary leg spinner Shane Warne's 40 wickets in the 2005 Ashes series. Nathan Lyon took his fourth wicket of the innings to end the match when he had Umesh Yadav caught by Haddin behind the stumps with R Ashwin remaining unbeaten on 15.

The only bright spot for India in the fourth Test was Virat Kohli scoring his maiden Test century in the first innings and he also finished as the team's leading scorer in the series with 300 runs at an average of 37.50. Kohli's mind fade to go for a risky single and be run out needlessly off the last ball of the penultimate over of the fourth day though just about summed up India's abject surrender Down Under.

Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 287 runs, had the satisfaction of being the second highest run-scorer for India in the series, but that's not saying a lot. However, Rahul Dravid (194 runs), VVS Laxman (155 runs) and Virender Sehwag (198 runs) all let themselves down badly and their collective failure was one of the main factors that led to India's humiliation.

In contrast, Clarke and Ponting, who came into this series under a cloud were in sublime form. While Clarke was struggling to gain acceptance as captain, Ponting was being hounded by critics, who felt the time had come for him to retire. But, both of them answered their critics in the best manner possible - by piling up the runs.

Clarke, who has also been praised for his astute and attacking captaincy, ended the series with 626 runs, including a triple century and a double century, at an average of 125.20. He is the only captain in 135 years to smash a double and triple century in the same Test series, and was deservedly named Man of the Series. Ponting scored 544 runs in the series, including two centuries and three half-centuries, at an average of 108.80. He showed signs of regaining his form when he scored two half-centuries in the Boxing Day Test, and that gave him the confidence to get back to his best as the series went on and silence the critics.

Dominance: Victoria Azarenka beats Maria Sharapova to win Australian Open, move to No. 1

Victoria Azarenka

Women's tennis has a new Grand Slam champion and a new No. 1 player in the world.

Victoria Azarenka defeated Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-0 in Saturday night's Australian Open final to win her first Grand Slam title. The emphatic victory vaults Azarenka to the No. 1 ranking, replacing Caroline Wozniacki.

Sharapova got off to a quick start in the match, going up 2-0 in the first set and 30-0 on Azarenka's serve in the third game. The Belarusian then rattled off 10 straight points and cruised to a first-set victory.

The second set was even easier. With Sharapova's serve giving her the usual troubles, Azarenka capitalized. It wasn't the double faults that did in Sharapova, it was her fear of them. A lack of confidence on her second serve led to her losing 14 of those 17 points. Azarenka broke in every service game of the second set, handing Sharapova a 6-0 bagel.

It was one of the most dominating performances in a Grand Slam final in recent years.

Azarenka fell to the baseline when Sharapova netted a shot on match point. "What happened?" she yelled to her player's box. "It's crazy."

Unlike other first-time finalists, Azarenka never showed nerves being on the sport's biggest stage. Her brashness and confidence served her well, even as she struggled early. The 22-year-old responded to questionable calls with a sarcastic smile and she danced in the service box before the start of the second set.

Sharapova knew she was bested.

"As in any sport you have your good days, you have your tough days and you have your days where things don't work out," Sharapova said to the crowd after the match. "Today, Victoria was better on so many levels and played too good."

Lindsey Vonn wins World Cup super-combined event

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland – Lindsey Vonn won a World Cup

 super-combined event Friday to extend her lead in the overall standings

 against second-place Tina Maze.

Maze of Slovenia was 0.41 seconds back and third-place Nicole Hosp of Austria trailed Vonn by 0.58.

The American defended her lead from the morning downhill with a solid slalom leg to clock a combined two-run time of 2 minutes, 28.35 seconds.

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Vonn earned 100 World Cup points for the victory and leads Maze by 302. The 48th career World Cup win began her defense of the season-long super-combined title.

Vonn won the super-combined title the past two years. She has seven victories this season in her quest to regain the overall crown.

She held her nerve when Maze and Hosp put down the two fastest slalom runs after they finished the downhill sixth and seventh, respectively.

Elisabeth Goergl of Austria was second in downhill, 0.61 behind Vonn, but skied out in the slalom.

Defending overall champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany had a big mistake midway down the slalom and hiked up the mountain to resume her run. She finished 21st, more than five seconds behind the leader.

The Olympic champion in super-combined was third after the morning run.

Hoefl-Riesch is winless this season after denying Vonn a fourth straight giant crystal globe last year.

Older and bloder

Celtics erase 27-point deficit, beat Magic 91-83

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)—The Orlando Magic trudged out of Boston this week, toting only embarrassment following a lopsided 31-point loss to the Celtics.

For a while it appeared as though the Magic would return the favor. Instead, the Celtics took advantage of Orlando’s fourth-quarter meltdown and erased a 27-point deficit to hand the Magic an even more humbling defeat on their home floor, 91-83 on Thursday night.

Paul Pierce had 24 points and 10 assists, and E’Twaun Moore added 16 points off the bench to help Boston beat Orlando for the second time this week.

Pierce and Moore had 10 points each in the fourth quarter to surge past a Magic team that led by 11 points entering the fourth quarter before shooting 2 for 17 from the field in the final 12 minutes. They scored just eight points in the period.

“Everybody was big,” Pierce said. “Obviously, when you got a rookie (Moore) who hasn’t played too much to come in and do the things he did—that’s big for us.

“This team decided to stand up and fight.”

Moore said the Celtics needed a game like this.

“It’s definitely a confidence builder for our whole team,” Moore said. “Knowing we can play with some of the best teams out there.”

Dwight Howard led the Magic with 16 points and 16 rebounds.Jason Richardson added 13 points, and Ryan Anderson had 12.

The Celtics have won three straight for just the second time this season. It also was their fourth consecutive victory over the Magic, dating to last season.

Since a season-best, five-game winning streak, the Magic have lost three times in five games, including a 31-point defeat at Boston on Monday.

“We thought it was going to be easy after the first two quarters,” Howard said. “We can’t allow that to happen. We’ve got to change. We have to change what we do, and guys have to know their roles and do it. That’s just the bottom line.”

The Celtics disrupted the Magic’s offensive flow in the fourth, so much so that it led to a pair of late, frustration technical fouls on Howard and Anderson.

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said tempers boiled up so much that it got to a point where players were simply driving to the basket trying to make plays on their own.

“Their pressure, again, really pushed us sideways,” Van Gundy said. “We got frustrated with the officials and we got totally off our game.”

Asked if he thought the Celtics did better with Xs and Os late, Richardson said there wasn’t a singular scapegoat issue.

“It was everything,” he said.

After being mostly manhandled on both ends for three quarters, Boston found its energy in the final 12 minutes, sparked by Pierce and Moore.

The Celtics opened the fourth quarter with a 15-1 run and grabbed their first lead since the opening period, 79-76 with 7:32 to play.

The Magic went 0-for-7 from the field, missed 5 of 6 free throws and committed three turnovers during Boston’s spurt.

A free throw by Pierce after Anderson’s technical foul made it 84-78 with 3:47 remaining. The Magic got within 84-80 after a pair of free throws by Hedo Turkoglu, but no closer.

“That was a character builder for our team, it really was,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “It’s all that we talked about at halftime. Not a big game plan, we didn’t make any big changes. We just kept talking about it being a character builder for this basketball team.

“We needed every single guy today and that was terrific.”

Early on, it seemed like the Magic’s night.

In a reversal of its dismal performance in the first half of Monday’s loss, Orlando led 58-37 at halftime on Thursday—eclipsing its point total in the entire first game by a basket in the opening 24 minutes.

With three starters out, including center Jermaine O’Neal, Rivers was forced to start Kevin Garnettopposite Howard.

The move worked out early.

Howard was whistled for two quick fouls—one while setting a screen, and the second defending Garnett about 15 feet from the basket. He was forced to the bench less than three minutes in.

The Magic picked it up on both ends without him, and closed the quarter on a 30-11 run to build a 16-point lead.

But all that energy evaporated when it counted.

Now the Magic, a team that was seemingly ready to turn a corner will have to look inward if they’re going to become an elite team, Van Gundy said.

“We’ve got to get to where we can just play the game,” he said. “I’ve got to find a solution to that.”

Notes: This marked the biggest lead the Magic have blown in a loss since 2001 when it blew a 22-point lead at Dallas. … Magic owner Rich DeVos and former guard Nick Anderson presented Howard with a plaque to commemorate him passing Anderson as the Magic’s career leading scorer. Howard broke the mark against Indiana earlier this week. … Rivers was given his third technical foul of the season with 8:47 left in the first quarter. … The Celtics played without G Rajon Rondo, who missed his fourth game because of a sore right wrist, G Ray Allen, who was out for a second game with an injured left ankle, and C Jermaine O’Neal, out because of a sore left knee. Rivers said Rondo is still in pain, and there is no timetable for his return.

Azarenka, Sharapova into Australian Open final

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—After 25 Grand Slam tournaments, Victoria Azarenka is through to her first final. Maria Sharapova, her opponent in Saturday’s Australian Open title decider, has been there five times before, and won three.

That’s all history from Azarenka’s perspective.

Victoria Azarenka of Belarus

“It’s no concern for me. I mean, I worked hard to be in this situation, so why stress about it?” Azarenka said Friday of the match that has a Grand Slam title and the No. 1 ranking on the line. “I want it and that’s what I’m looking for.”

Azarenka and Sharapova are two of the loudest “grunters” in women’s tennis. Others refer to it as shrieking, and Azarenka’s is more in alto, while Sharapova’s is a tad higher on the musical scale.

When the pair last played at Key Biscayne, Fla., last year, Azarenka said she felt her grunt was quieter than Sharapova’s.

At Rod Laver Arena this year, fans have started to mimic Azarenka during her matches. Stay tuned for more of the same when the fans hear it from both sides of the court Saturday.

The 22-year-old Azarenka and 24-year-old Sharapova are 3-3 in head-to-head meetings. But Azarenka holds the edge in two finals, having beaten Sharapova in straight sets at Stanford in 2010 and in Florida last year.

Instead of thinking dominance, Azarenka thinks Sharapova might be out for revenge.

“It’s very different, you cannot really look back,” Azarenka said. “It’s always difficult to play somebody you’ve beaten before. They have extra motivation to beat you.”

If Azarenka wins the final, she would be only the third player to rise to the top ranking after her first Grand Slam win. Martina Navratilova rose to No. 1 for the first time after winning Wimbledon in 1978, while Ana Ivanovic did the same after winning the 2008 French Open.

A win by Sharapova would mark the fourth time in the Russian’s career that she’s held the top ranking, the most recent in June 2008. Overall, she’s been No. 1 for 17 nonconsecutive weeks.

Sharapova dismisses any thoughts of playing for the top ranking.

“Having been in the position before … I think, for me, it’s more about the Grand Slam win than the No. 1 ranking,” she said. “That’s just always been the goal for me.”

It’s been four years since Sharapova won the last of her three major titles — here in 2008, and nearly eight years since she lifted the Wimbledon trophy at 17. In between, she won the U.S. Open in 2006.

“It means so much to be back in a Grand Slam final,” Sharapova said. “It’s nice to get that far again (here) after losing quite early in the last couple of years.”

Sharapova has already been on tour long enough to experience the ups and downs of tennis. After winning the 2008 Australian Open, she had shoulder surgery that sidelined her for nine months.

Maria Sharapova of Russia 

It took much longer for her to get back to anywhere near her peak, and she lost at the Australian Open before the quarterfinals on her last two visits. She reached the Wimbledon final last year, but lost to Petra Kvitova—the player she beat in Thursday’s semifinals.

“With the shoulder, I knew some examples of some people that did not quite recover from surgery and that was a little frightening, but I really had no option,” she said. “Of course it took a long time and it was a process, but it was just something that was in my steps that I had to go through. And I did.”

A handful of women came into the tournament with a chance to hold the No. 1 ranking at the end of it. Caroline Wozniacki ensured she’d vacate the top spot when she lost to defending champion Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals.

Azarenka, by beating Clijsters in the semifinals, took her winning streak to 11 matches after claiming the Sydney International title ahead of the Australian Open.

Like Sharapova, Azarenka has dropped just two sets in Melbourne, including one against Clijsters in the semifinals.

“She’s a really, really good player, and I haven’t had great success against her in the last couple of events that we’ve played against each other,” Sharapova said. “I’d really like to change that. It will be important to tactically play right. She makes you hit a lot of balls and she’s aggressive as well.”

Azarenka agreed strategy will be involved.

“It’s a battle for giving really your all and how well you can manage it,” the Belarusian said. “I know Maria’s game; she knows my game. So of course it’s going to be a little bit of a similarity there.”

Djokovic edges Murray, sets up final vs Nadal

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—Novak Djokovic overcome his breathing problems and fatigue to beat his old friend Andy Murray in an almost five-hour Australian Open semifinal Friday night and move into his third straight Grand Slam final.

Standing between Djokovic and a record shared by some of the greatest players of all time will be No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal, a man he beat in six tournament finals in 2011.

Despite appearing tired and sore from the second set, Djokovic rallied to beat Murray 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 7-5 in a rematch of the 2011 final at Melbourne Park.

After wasting a chance to serve out the match at 5-3 in the fifth and letting Murray back into the contest, Djokovic cashed in his first match point when the Scottish player missed a forehand after four hours, 50 minutes.

“You have to find strength in those moments and energy, and that keeps you going,” he said. “At this level, very few points decide the winner.

“I think we both went through a physical crisis. You know, him at the fourth set, me all the way through the second and midway through the third. It was a very even match throughout, from the first to the last point.”

Djokovic dropped onto his back, fully laid out on the court. He got up and shook hands with Murray, before jogging back out onto the court like a boxer, dropping to his knees and crossing himself.

It was already after 12:30 a.m. Saturday when he got up again and pumped his arms triumphantly.

“Andy deserves the credit to come back from 2-5 down. He was fighting. I was fighting,” Djokovic said. “Not many words that can describe the feeling of the match.

“Evidently it was a physical match … it was one of the best matches I played. Emotionally and mentally it was equally hard.”

It was a bitter setback for Murray, who lost the previous two Australian finals.

Djokovic finished last year at No. 1 after winning three of the four majors, including a straight-sets win over Murray in the Australian final. His only loss at a Grand Slam in 2011 was against Roger Federer in the French Open semifinals.

It was phenomenal season after previously only winning one major—the 2008 Australian Open—and not returning to a final for 11 Grand Slams.

“To be honest, I think I matured as a player. I started to believe on the court I could win majors,” he said. “Rafa and Roger are the most dominant players for the last seven, eight years. … It was very hard to take away the titles from them. They will not give you the titles. You have to earn it.”

He is now aiming to be only the fifth man in the Open Era started in 1968 to win three straight majors—only Rod Laver, Pete Sampras, Federer and Nadal have achieved it before him, with only Laver going on to complete the Grand Slam by winning all four majors in a season.

The Australian great was in the arena named in his honor to watch Friday night’s semifinal, as he had been when 2009 Australian Open winner Nadal came back from a set and a break down to beat four-time champion Federer in four sets the previous night.

Djokovic’s 70-6 win-loss record in 2011 included those six wins over Nadal in finals—including Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

Both players had their form dips, but Djokovic’s were more obvious. He led by a set and a break before Murray started coming back at him. Then Djokovic started walking gingerly and appeared to be struggling for breath—just as he had been in his straights sets quarterfinal win over No. 5-rankedDavid Ferrer.

At one point, he pointed to his nose and seemed to indicated to his support group that he was having trouble breathing.

He stayed in the points, despite Murray scrambling and trying to get him involved in long rallies.

“You try to get energized in every way,” he said. “A lot of liquids, try to eat something, as well, that gives you energy.”

He put his breathing problems down to allergies, and said he’d seen a doctor for it.

After losing a tight tiebreaker and virtually conceding the fourth set, Murray rallied again after slipping behind 5-2 in the fifth. He broke Djokovic at love when the Serb was serving for the match on a three-game streak that put all the pressure back on the defending champion.

But Djokovic composed himself and seemed to be gathering energy as the match wore on. He held serve and then broke Murray to finish it off.

“I’m extremely delighted to be in the final,” Djokovic said. “What can be a bigger challenge than playing against Rafa Nadal, one of the greatest players ever.

“I’m going to try to recover. Obviously it’s going to be physical as well. So I need to do some push-ups tonight.”

Despite being friends and childhood rivals, this was only the second meeting between Djokovic and Murray at a Grand Slam. Djokovic beat Murray in the 2011 Australian final and had a 6-4 lead in their overall head-to-heads at tour level.

Murray won the Brisbane International and came into the semifinal on a 10-match winning streak and with new coach, eight-time major winner Ivan Lendl, in his support crew.

Cook misses hundred before Pakistan fight back

Ajmal took three wickets late on Day 2 to restrict England to just 

207-5 in the second Test.

Ajmal celebrates Morgan's wicket in the final over of Day 2.

ABU DHABI: England opener Alastair Cook missed a century by six runs and Jonathan Trott made a half-century before Pakistan hit back with four wickets in the last session in the second Test here on Thursday.

Cook was trapped leg-before-wicket off spinner Saeed Ajmal for 94 -- his fourth nervous ninety dismissal -- and added an invaluable 139 for the second wicket with Trott (74) to take England to 207-5 in reply to Pakistan's 275.

Ajmal took three of those last four wickets, dismissing Kevin Pietersen (14) and Eoin Morgan (three) in the last over for the addition of four runs to bring Pakistan back into the game after Cook and Trott had foiled their bowling.

At the close on the second day, Ian Bell was unbeaten on four with England needing another 50 runs to overhaul Pakistan's first innings total on an Abu Dhabi pitch that is helping bowlers.

England, aiming to level the three-Test series after their 10-wicket defeat in the first match in Dubai and maintain their world numer one ranking, will look to out-of-form Bell and the rest to give them a lead on Friday.

Pakistan, meanwhile, will hope that Ajmal, who has figures of 3-67, can bowl England out early.

Cook and Trott had negotiated the dangerman Ajmal well, before both fell to spinners.

Trott missed a turning delivery from Abdul Rehman that spun across his bat and hit the off-stump. He hit seven boundaries off 158 balls.

Cook looked certain to reach his 20th century as he hit Ajmal for his 10th boundary to move to within a stroke of the milestone but two balls later he missed a ball that kept straight and hit him in front of the stumps.

Trott had survived three confident leg-before appeals, two of which were unsuccessfully challenged by Pakistan.

Both completed their half-centuries before tea and looked set to bring England level with Pakistan's total before the Pakistani spinners led by Ajmal hit back.

When England began their innings, Cook and Strauss were opening together for the 100th time, but the captain's early fall for 11 meant they were unable to mark the milestone with a big stand.

Pakistan introduced Hafeez in the seventh over and were rewarded with the wicket of Strauss, who edged a sharp turner that flew off his pad to Asad Shafiq at short leg.

In the morning, Stuart Broad completed bowling figures of 4-47 to bowl out Pakistan, who added just one run to their overnight score of 256-7.

James Anderson (2-46) ably assisted Broad as they took 16 deliveries to wrap up Pakistan's innings, the last three wickets falling within just seven balls.

Misbah-ul Haq added just one to his overnight score of 83 before being trapped leg-before by Broad.
Misbah hit five boundaries and four sixes during his 173-ball knock.

From the other end Anderson, wicket-less on Wednesday, trapped Ajmal and then had the last man, Junaid Khan, caught by Graeme Swann to finish off the innings.

Off-spinner Swann finished with 3-52.

The third and final Test will be played in Dubai from February 3-7. Both teams will also play four one-day and three Twenty20 internationals.