Clarke 329 is Highest Test Mark in Sydney

SYDNEY: After erasing some of Donald Bradman's marks with an unbeaten triple century, Michael Clarke didn't risk upsetting anyone by going on to surpass the great man's highest score.

So he declared Australia's innings at 659-4 when he was 329 not out - five short of the revered Bradman's mark of 334 - at the drinks break in the middle session on Thursday, exactly halfway through the second Test against India.

Australians had a commanding 468-run first innings lead, but on a flat wicket where the bowlers were struggling, Clarke could have easily justified batting on, and breaking a slew of batting records including Brian Lara's mark of 400 for the highest score.

He had already beaten Bradman's record for highest score on home soil by an Australian captain (270), then he'd added the highest score ever at the historic Sydney Cricket Ground, followed by the first triple century at the ground and then just about doubled his own previous highest score of 168.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm stoked that I've managed to make 300-odd runs today but the most important thing for me now is that we win this ," Clarke said, deflecting the attention from the timing of his declaration.

"It's about putting the team first. What I love most about this game, is seeing this team win," he said. "I've been like that as a player and I'll be no different as a captain.

"If it was best for the team to continue batting then I would have continued to bat."

His innings was not even within 50 of an Australian record - Matt Hayden scored a then-world record 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003 - but it was a sign of respect for a more recognized and enduring mark: the 334 scored by Bradman, and equalled but deliberately not surpassed by Mark Taylor.

Clarke's epic innings will go a long way to tipping public support his way, having often struggled to win over a demanding nation of fans who consider the national cricket captaincy second only to the prime minister in terms of importance.

Clarke's talent had never been in doubt since he burst onto the scene in 2004, more than 18 months after establishing himself in the limited-overs squad, by scoring 151 on debut against India at Bangalore.

That innings reflected the precocious talent of the brash youngster from Sydney's western suburbs, who had earned the nickname 'Pup' due to his youthful prowess in provincial cricket and was long considered as a flamboyant run-maker rather than a captain in waiting.

The public's reticence toward Clarke has largely been based on style rather than substance, with fans hesitant to embrace a man who takes a very different approach to the trademark no-frills manner of iconic recent captains like Allan Border and Steve Waugh.

He models underwear, has a collection of tattoos, and is highly conscious of his image - not exactly traits Australian cricket fans would ascribe to favourite sons like Dennis Lillee or David Boon.

His locker room spat with former opener Simon Katich for wanting to leave to spend time with his girlfriend rather than keep celebrating a victory in Sydney has become the stuff of legend and polarized opinion.

Clarke's struggle for fans' acceptance was illustrated last Australian summer when he was booed by a crowd when he walked out to bat in a one-dayer in the wake of Ashes series defeat, when the national team at its nadir after a decade at the top of the game.

But Clarke's four centuries in nine Tests since officially replacing Ricky Ponting as captain have hushed some critics who didn't think he was leadership material.

"It's about respect, it's about continuing to earn the public's respect. That's all I've ever wanted," Clarke said after his 18th and, by far his biggest, hundred. "If people are going to dislike me that's life, that's the way it is. But the most important thing for me, especially being the Australian captain now, you want your home fans to respect you."

His latest innings had a precarious start, with Australia at 37-3 after removing India for 191 on the opening day of the 100th at the SCG. But after sharing back-to-back partnerships of 288 with Ponting (134) and 334 with Mike Hussey (150 not out), he increased his batting average as Australian captain above 59.

Clarke's campaign to bat his way into public affection is progressing well, if judged by the prolonged and raucous standing ovation he received Thursday when he clipped off his pads through mid-wicket for a boundary to bring up his 300.

It came in the wake of a tumultuous initial stint as captain, which included a horrendous loss in Cape Town when Australia was bowled out for 47 followed by a courageous win over the South Africans in Johannesburg.

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Clarke 329 is Highest Test Mark in Sydney

Despite MCG loss, Indians get set to hit back at Sydney

The Indian camp has digested a hat-trick of Boxing Day Test losses to Australia. Sure, they refused to look at newspapers yesterday, diligently answered phone calls. But, they did not disappoint the fans who gathered outside the Lingham Hotel here on Thursday evening, signing autographs and obliging to picture requests. They appeared in happy spirits. "It's just a process of acclimatisation, we'll be back," selector Mohinder Amarnath says in a passing remark to MiD DAY.

Amarnath's remark should be taken seriously. India are slow starters. They would have lost the first Test at Sabina Park earlier this year if it wasn't for Darren Sammy dropping Rahul Dravid on the third day. Before that, India last won the first Test of an away tour at The Bull Ring in 2006-07. A poor start was estimated. But, when you consider that Bet Fair and Ladbrokes favoured an Indian win on Thursday morning, and the local media had lost hope in their side after Cardiff 2009, Mohali 2010-11, Cape Town 2011-12 and Hobart 2011-12, the loss is all the more significant, hard to fathom.

Fifth in a row

The Indians know that it's their fifth consecutive defeat abroad. They are aware that the batting line-up has flopped again, managing a 300-plus total only once in their last 16 outings abroad. They also know that the ageing batting line-up can't be banished, because it's the younger lot, the Kohlis, the Gambhirs that are failing to deliver.

Keep in mind, the star quartet of Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar has 9,152 Border-Gavaskar Trophy runs against Australia. What would do if you're MS Dhoni or Duncan Fletcher? Are the Rahanes and Sharmas going swoop in to fix this? No. This is India's best possible XI. Kohli hit two fifties in his last Test. Can you look past his splendid last-day knock at Wankhede Stadium against West Indies last month?

An opportunity

The local media here has capitalised on a wonderful opportunity to remind India of their persisting batting woes. "MS Dhoni has conceded India's great weapon (batting) is now its weakness -- a cast of batting flops who must prove they are not flat track bullies," The Daily Telegraph wrote.

"Most of the smart money in Mohali, Mumbai and Melbourne was on India quickly sweeping aside the last of the Australian resistance and then unleashing the demi-gods of their batting line-up," The Australian wrote, referring to the last-wicket stand of James Pattinson and Ben Hilfenhaus that made a difference to India's eventual target of 292.

"The boys don't want to read papers. They have been in such situations before. We are drawing lot of positives from the first Test," manager Shivlal Yadav tells MiD DAY. The 'flat-track bullies' have a reputation to protect. Otherwise the accolades garnered over the years will reach a watershed, respect will be lost.

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Melbourne Tourism News: Pattinson, Sehwag in Head-to-Head Combat at Melbourne's MCG

AUSTRALIA'S young swing bowler came up against a batsman who likes to swing from the hip yesterday. Had they been in a bar, and not in the middle of a pulsating MCG, James Pattinson and Virender Sehwag might even have taken a swing at each other, so steamy was the atmosphere when they crossed paths.

Sehwag, running into the line of Pattinson's follow-through, waggled his bat in the fast bowler's personal space. Pattinson, furious, shot back some choice words at India's renegade opening batsman, while his wingman from Dandenong and Victoria, Peter Siddle, flew in to lend support. Sehwag pointed Siddle back to his fielding position, and an international incident of Lillee-Miandad proportions was avoided.

Fortunately, the only blows were of bat on ball, occasionally of ball on Sehwag's body and, in the end, of ball on stumps that splayed in all directions to signal Pattinson's triumph and coming of age as a Test bowler.

Pattinson's conquest was significant not so much because he got his man, but because he had to do it on his own, against one of the world's most destructive batsmen.

Whistling through New Zealand's suspect top order in his first two Tests was one thing, but taking on Sehwag in a belligerent mood, as the new local hero in his first Boxing Day Test, was a challenge on a different scale.

More than that, Pattinson rebounded from two monumental disappointments, after Sehwag was twice put down off his bowling.

Mike Hussey used to catch like a Venus fly trap in the gully but since last year's Ashes Test in Adelaide his hands have been less sticky. Sehwag was batting as if his feet had roots, and had just crashed Pattinson through the covers. The next ball was steered in the air to gully. Hussey dived but couldn't hang on.

The most testing moment of all for Pattinson, one that not long ago might have caused the 21-year-old to drop his bundle, came in the first over of his second spell. Sehwag, on 58, drove hard at a ball seaming away from him and edged towards first slip. Brad Haddin flung himself horizontally to his right, too far in the end, and the ball clanged into his thumb and hit the grass.

You don't have to have witnessed Sehwag's world-record 219 in a one-day game against the West Indies earlier this month to know how costly Haddin's drop could have been.

The world's most watchable batsman, who breezed past 8000 Test runs yesterday, scores at a rate of 82 per 100 balls, taking the pressure off his more risk-averse batting partners, in this instance the world's second most prolific Test batsman, Rahul Dravid.

On this occasion, Sehwag's second reprieve meant the young colt, Pattinson, had to find within himself another 4.1 overs of gut-busting effort. There was a roaring appeal for a catch at short-leg, after which Sehwag called for treatment on his hip where the ball thudded into him, and a nasty short ball that was barely controlled into the ground.

Finally, Sehwag chucked the kitchen sink at a wider ball and dragged it onto his stumps for a typically entertaining 67, in 83 balls.

There would be no repeat of his astonishing 195 on Boxing Day eight years ago, but limiting the damage could not mask the troubles with Australia's wicketkeeper.

It's one thing to have turfed a catch he should have gloved, but Haddin's batting the previous evening suggested he is also wrestling hard with his natural strokeplaying instincts, after being condemned for ill-chosen shots in recent collapses. In Haddin's important 72-run stand with Siddle, the fast bowler looked the more comfortable of the batsmen. And when Haddin did attempt a more expansive shot, to a tempting half-volley from Zaheer Khan, he got out to it.

On this issue, the selectors are stuck in a twilight zone. Haddin's natural successor, Tim Paine, has just had a third round of surgery on his badly mangled hand and the best-case scenario is that he will be available again next summer. Seemingly, they are reluctant to to muddy the wicketkeeping waters by promoting Matthew Wade to the Test team, and so have stuck with Haddin and even promoted him to vice-captain while Shane Watson is hurt.

That Pattinson rose above the disappointment said much about the head on his broad shoulders, and his spell of 1-7 from five overs should be cherished alongside his two five-wicket spells against New Zealand. When he said he would not be intimidated by India's batting royalty, he wasn't kidding, and he was the most dangerous of Australia's bowlers on a testing day.

The trouble for Australia was that the noise of 52,000 celebrating Sehwag's dismissal was indistinguishable from the roar that welcomed the new batsman to the crease. A bloke called Sachin Tendulkar was in the house.

Pattinson, Sehwag in Head-to-Head Combat at Melbourne's MCG

India Ready to Bury Flustered Aussies

INDIA has adopted a ruthless mind set for its tour of Australia and is determined to heap the pressure on Michael Clarke's struggling side from the outset on Boxing Day.

Its 'Big Three' of Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid spent quality time in the middle in India's practice match against a Chairman's XI side in Canberra today.

The tourists feel that will only increase the heat on the Australians.

No Indian team has ever won a Test series here and, for senior players like Tendulkar and Dravid, time is running out to achieve the elusive milestone.

But rather than distancing themselves from the pressure, they are embracing the challenge.

"Of course, it's something which we're looking at," Sharma said, who made 56 not out in the drawn practice game.

"I think we should be very much happy with the way things have gone ... in our preparation."

The fall-out from Australia's humiliating loss to New Zealand in Hobart also hasn't been lost on the tourists.

"It's a good sign they are having a batting camp so we know their weaknesses and what they've gone through the last couple of weeks," Sharma said.

"We have all kept that (Australia's under pressure) in mind and going into the first Test match we will walk out there and we need to put pressure on them."

The emergency batting boot camp called by Australia to address its worrying collapses can't be anything but music to the ears of the Indian seam attack, led by Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma.

Australia has made capitulations of 150 runs or less a worrying habit over the past year and has long struggled against a moving ball.

Rohit Sharma said Australia's deficiencies against swing bowling is the No.1 weakness India has pinpointed ahead of the four-Test series, as it looks to recover from its own humiliating 4-0 whitewash to England in July-August.

"I heard they're having some problems against swing bowling so we are very much putting all our thoughts together and we will try and come hard at them," Sharma said, who discounted the poor performances of the Indian bowlers against the Chairman's team on what was a flat Manuka wicket.

"As far as the swing is concerned, we have a very good bowling unit which can put pressure on the Australians.

"It's still 10 days before we play our first Test match so it's a good time to see what they're doing correctly and not doing correctly so I think we can put pressure on them."

Monday December 26th 2011 - Australia v India at Melbourne, 1st Test Match

Australians Let it Slip in First Test at the Gabba

NEW Zealand was 5-176 when bad light forced players from the field on the opening day of the first Test against Australia.

Daniel Vettori was not out 45 with Dean Brownlie on 32 when tea was called early after the tourists won the toss and elected to bat this morning in Brisbane.

Two dropped catches have cost Australia with New Zealand’s lower middle-order rallying after a mixed start to the innings.

Captain Michael Clarke fumbled a sitter from Brownlie off the bowling of Peter Siddle when the batsmen was three and the score 5-102.

The Black Caps' batsman, who was born and raised in Perth, was then dropped at point by David Warner in the next over when debutant Mitchell Starc was bowling.

Brownlie (32no) has gone on to combine with former captain Vettori (45no) for a 80-run partnership that has wrested back Austrlia’s early advantage.

esse Ryder (6) was the only batsman to fall in the session, caught at point by Warner to give Starc (2-52) his second wicket on debut.

The Kiwis were struggling at 5-96 at that point and had catches been held it was hard to see them achieving a respectable total.

Starc and fellow debutant James Pattinson, went to lunch with a wicket against their names.

Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon also made breakthroughs.

New Zealand’s batsmen showed poor concentration, falling to 4-93 after getting off to a good start thanks to Brendon McCullum (34).

Starc (1-18), had a great start. The left armer brings the ball back into the right hander and was always dangerous.

He roughed up McCullum who had plundered some nervous early offerings from Pattinson (1-40) before having the batsman caught at point from a poor shot.

Lyon got grip and turn and really troubled the batsmen. He had Kane Williamson (19) caught at short leg by Usman Khawaja who had dropped an earlier chance in the same spot off Pattinson.

Siddle was reliable and made the first breakthrough, getting Martin Guptill (13) caught behind when the score was 0-44 from 11 overs.

Pattinson was brought back on to bowl the 20th over and overcame his early nerves.

He was unlucky not to get Taylor when the catch was dropped in his first comeback over, but had his man two overs later, swinging the ball in, catching an inside edge and shattering the stumps.

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Cricketer Shane Watson Shocked By Aussie Match-Fixing Claims

ALL-rounder Shane Watson says Australian cricketers have been smeared by false match-fixing claims.

The allegations, aired in a London court, were dismissed by a senior International Cricket Council corruption investigator.

The investigator, Alan Peacock, gave evidence to the court a day after the claims were aired in a covert tape recording of sports agent Mazhar Majeed.

Majeed said on the tape, recorded by an undercover journalist, that Australian players would fix "brackets", a set period of a match on which to bet.

"The Australians, they are the biggest. They have 10 brackets a game," Majeed said in recordings played to the court on Monday.

But Peacock told the court on Tuesday: "We have no evidence that the Australians had committed 10 brackets a game - or any brackets."

Majeed's claim surfaced at the trial of ex-Pakistan cricket captain Salman Butt and fast bowler Mohammad Asif.

Both have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments.

Australian vice-captain Watson, on tour in South Africa, said the claims were shocking.

"They've been very disappointing and pretty shocking really to see these allegations that have come out from this court case that is going on at the moment," he told reporters in Cape Town.

" ... It challenges the integrity of the game we all love so much.

"People not just in cricket but outside cricket start to question certain things that happen in games.

"In sport, crazy events sometimes do happen.

"You never want people questioning what exactly is going on so it's very disappointing when these things come out."

Majeed, in the recordings, claimed he managed ex-Australian paceman Nathan Bracken, who rejected knowing the agent.

Watson urged Bracken and other cricketers named in court to act quickly to defend their integrity.

"Absolutely it does (question integrity) and it's unbelievably disappointing," Watson said.

"There's no doubt that if my name came up in that as well, especially when you know exactly how much you give every time you play and you're only there to get the best out of yourself and perform.

"If your integrity gets questioned, there's no doubt you have to do everything you can to make sure you do clear your name because the majority of people who play sport and play cricket, you're only there to get the best out of yourself and performing as well as you can every single game.

"When that's questioned, it's really just a huge question on your character and you've got to try and clear your name as soon as you can."

Queensland Tourism News: Queensland Secures Right to Host World's Young Cricket Stars

Queensland will host the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2012 for the first time ever in an event which will see the best young cricket talent in the world playing in Brisbane, on the Sunshine Coast and in Townsville next year, Premier Anna Bligh announced today.

Securing the event, through a partnership with Events Queensland, Cricket Australia and Queensland Cricket, represents a major milestone for cricket in Queensland - and it's only the second time in the event's 24-year history it's been held in Australia.

Queensland Tourism News: Queensland Secures Right to Host World's Young Cricket Stars