Sri Lanka 5 for 411 (Atapattu 133, Sangakkara 74, Samaraweera 53*) trail Australia 517 by 106 runs
Scorecard

Australia have not lost a Test in Queensland in 15 years, which is almost aslong as Joh Bjelke-Petersen – implausibly undemocratic yet unfailinglypopular – spent running the joint. For two hours this morning Sri Lanka, ledby their admirable captain Marvan Atapattu, made slow but steady inroadsinto one of cricket’s safest fiefdoms. Just as slowly, and a little lesssteadily, Australia’s bowlers hit back with two pantomime wickets afterlunch and another after tea. By the end of a tense and twisting third day’splay, prematurely cut off by rain and bad light, Sri Lanka trailed by 106runs with five wickets in hand.Commonsense and recent history dictates that if any side is to win thisintriguing contest, which has spawned 928 runs in three days, it must beAustralia. Before lunch, however, with Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene infull effortless swing, anything seemed possible. Ricky Ponting juggled hisbowlers and shuffled his field, in much the same way Bjelke-Petersen used toshuffle the electoral boundaries when he was in a tight spot. It workedwonders for old Joh but brought only frustration for Ponting, captainingAustralia for the first time on home soil. Seldom were the batsmeninconvenienced, much less imperilled.The history of Sri Lankan batting has mostly been a story of dashers andcrashers, of destroyers and de Silvas. Apart from occasional outbreaks ofdogged mutiny – or dogged Wettimuny, if you want to get really specific -the general philosophy has been to hit out lest you get out.Atapattu is cut from different cloth: hard to distract from the task athand, even harder to dislodge once set. His 133 today was his third hundredin five innings since taking over the captaincy from Hashan Tillakaratne,another resilient type. It would be premature to leap to conclusions – twoof those centuries came against a team masquerading as Zimbabwe’s 4th XI,after all – but he would appear to be grooming this Sri Lankan side in hisown image.Where Tillakaratne could be unflappable to the point of strokelessness,Atapattu exudes a sense of purpose about his patience. This morning he wasscintillating through the covers, severe on anything short and stoic at allother times. So prolific was he on the cover-drive that Ponting, more inhope than inspiration, planted a row of three short covers with the aim ofluring a catch. Atapattu kept his head and the ball along the ground – andhe kept cover-driving too. With yet another clinical snap of the wrists, hebrought up his 15th Test hundred.Much of the pre-play pontificating had inevitably centred on Shane Warne,and whether yesterday’s ominous late spell might mean he stood a better thaneven chance of breaking Muttiah Muralitharan’s world record. Happily fornostalgics, today’s play was televised ad-free throughout Australia on theABC, with Channel 9 preferring to serve up a midwinter’s footy smorgasbord.Kerry Packer, confronted by the vague possibility of his star employee’scrowning moment, might briefly have entertained second thoughts.He needn’t have fretted. Atapattu sat on Warne for the most part and pouncedon anything short, twice cutting him for three and once pulling him forfour. Warne was removed after two overs, brought back on the hour, butlacked verve and variety, turning his legbreak painfully slowly. At theother end Jayawardene looked no less secure, albeit slightly less likely toset hearts aflutter. Sri Lanka, resuming on 2 for 184, went to lunch at 2for 280. If not quite in the ascendancy, they had at least got the better ofAustralia for the fourth consecutive session.Old habits, however, tend to die hard. Two hours of grinding certainty werelargely undone in two overs of blinding recklessness. Glenn McGrath, after atight but rarely testing opening spell, tossed down a slow loosener secondball after the break. Atapattu, the lunchtime barramundi barely digested,caressed it sleepily to gully. Next over Michael Kasprowicz dug in a shortball high outside off. Jaywardene, apparently attempting to swat itcrossbatted over the bowler’s head, succeeded only in hoicking it straightup for a return catch.Tillakaratne Dilshan uncoiled successive pulls for four off McGrath to carrySri Lanka past the target, probably notional, to avoid the follow-on. He andThilan Samaraweera calmly added 65 before post-break madness descendedagain. Dilshan had lunged forward at one of Warne’s sliders just before teaand survived a convincing lbw appeal. Now, with only three runs added, hecharged at Warne, failed to get to the pitch of the ball and drilled itstraight to mid-on, where Kasprowicz juggled a comfortable catch. Victim522; the record hunt was on again.

For a few moments Warne, perhaps sensing it was now or never, looked his oldself. He mixed his flight and varied his pace; his drift, more importantly,had re-materialised. The new man Romesh Kaluwitharana, playing his firstTest in a year, appeared temporarily dumbstruck but soon settled, using hisfeet industriously and adding a vital 66 runs with Samaraweera.It felt like an important innings for Samaraweera who, until today, averaged71 at home and only 18 away. Unlike his skipper he scarcely drove at all,preferring to wriggle inside the line and alternately hook over square legor spoon over third man. By stumps, light-footed and inventive, he was notout on 53, his first Test half-century abroad.And so for the second time a Test match in Australia’s tropics extends to afourth day. A result one way or the other still looks a fair possibility,despite the blustery rain and gloomy light – another first on this Top EndTour – which cajoled the players off the field 21 overs early.Ah, the Queensland weather. There’s one thing even Bjelke-Petersen couldn’tfix.

The Greeks would sympathise. There has been something Athenian about the doubts and delays that have dogged England’s preparation for the ICC Champions Trophy, which gets underway at Edgbaston and The Oval on Friday. While the Zimbabwe crisis was raging, there was a genuine threat that the tournament would be whisked away to India, and as for the venues – neither The Oval, which is midway through its long-overdue facelift, nor the Rose Bowl, with its recently laid pitches, looked as if they could possibly be ready for such a high-profile event.Factor in all those other peripheral matters, such as the wisdom of staging such a jamboree so late in the English season, sluggish ticket sales, and the blink-and-you-miss-it format, which seemed tailormade for another embarrassingly early exit for the hosts, and there were all the makings of cricket’s dampest squib since … well, the opening ceremony of the 1999 World Cup at a rainy Lord’s.But then again, it is not every day that you get all the world’s top players (give or take a Tendulkar or Muralitharan) gathered together in one place, and it is not every day that English cricket finds itself on a roll of quite such staggering proportions. So far, touch wood, even the weather looks as if it might play along. Far from being a tournament too many, the coming fortnight has all the makings of a celebration of cricket – and, assuming they don’t fall at the first hurdle, a celebration of England’s remarkable season as well.That factor could be the clincher. With apologies to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, it is not being unduly one-eyed to suggest that the tournament’s best hope of capturing the public’s imagination is for England to progress beyond the group stage – for the first time in the competition’s history. The whole show will be done and dusted in 15 manic days, which is a far cry from the bloated, seven-week slog everyone endured at the last World Cup. The longer the host nation is involved, the better.Given the disparity between the competing teams, the four groups of three could hardly be better balanced. There is little prospect of an upset from any of the four underdogs (and in the case of USA v Australia, those of a weak constitution ought to look away now). In fact, the only side that might conceivably fancy their chances are Bangladesh, the best of the rest, who have been drawn alongside those two faltering powers, South Africa and West Indies.The tasty ties, however, are Australia v New Zealand in Pool A, and India v Pakistan in Pool C. Quite apart from the local rivalries involved, each throws up the prospect of a clear challenge to the established pecking order. Australia, as they showed against Pakistan at Lord’s on Saturday, retain an uncanny ability to wriggle out of any tight corner, but both they and India have shown signs of vulnerability in their recent performances.As for India, their victory over a Flintoff-free England in the last match of the NatWest Challenge was hailed in some quarters as the turning of a corner. That might be over-egging the game’s significance slightly – the mere fact that England selected Anthony McGrath as Flintoff’s stand-in was ample proof that England have, to borrow Brian Lara’s phrase, no Plan B, not when it comes to their one-day side, anyway. It is time for Duncan Fletcher to cross his fingers and pray that his first XI can come through four more matches unscathed.There is, of course, one potential match-up lurking around the corner that could conceivably shunt even Wayne Rooney and Graeme Souness off the back pages of the British tabloids for a day or two. If England can see off a Murali-less Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl, and Australia send everything pear-shaped for the Kiwis at The Oval, then the big two will square up at Edgbaston on September 21. It will give England a chance to lay the ghost of that two-wicket defeat at last year’s World Cup, not to mention a marker or two for next summer’s Ashes.It’s not all going to be fun and frolics, however. The ICC has seen to that with their absurdly draconian stance on spectators’ picnics (never mind British Rail suffering from the wrong sort of snow; to be apprehended for the wrong sort of cheesy nibbles really takes the, er, biscuit). And all the while, the climate threatens to jeopardise the entertainment. Never mind the threat of rain, the real fear is that too many matches will be decided by the toss of a coin, as fielding sides take the chance to exploit the moist conditions that will prevail early in the morning.But all such doubts remain, at this stage, mere speculation. A global audience of millions will be tuning in over the next fortnight; there is prizemoney of US$1.15million at stake, and new stump-microphone technology has been introduced to aid the umpires in adjudicating on caught-behind decisions. All of this and more goes to show how high-profile this tournament is intended to be. It’s time to put the cynicism to one side, and let the games begin.Andrew Miller is assistant editor of Wisden Cricinfo.

A searingly quick fast bowler; an elegant, free-flowing batsman, and an inspirational leader who emerged from retirement to carry his country to World Cup glory. Few cricketers can have enjoyed such a successful a career as Pakistan’s legendary Imran Khan. And yet, Imran’s greatest victory of all occurred off the pitch, in Lahore, where he established Pakistan’s first and only cancer hospital.In 1984, Imran’s mother, Shaukat Khanum, was claimed by the disease after a painful few months, and at that moment, Imran realised that, for all the trappings of fame and fortune, one’s existence was too precarious to be taken for granted. So he vowed to raise a sum of £5 million, with which to establish a hospital – in his mother’s name – that would treat the poor of Pakistan for free.It was not a project that he took lightly. The government of Pakistan donated 20 acres of land on the outskirts of Lahore, but having laid the foundations it was clear to Imran that his first estimation would cover only the initial phase. To keep up the running costs, he would have to commit himself to the project for the rest of his life.And so, in December 1994, a decade of hard graft, tireless fundraising, and sweat and toil came to fruition, as the hospital was inaugurated and the first patients were admitted. To this day, Imran remains the single biggest contributor to the running costs, as the hospital is maintained entirely through charitable donations and without any assistance or aid from government organisations. Rarely can a son have given such a tribute to his mother.

Ray Jennings, the South African coach, has been rebuked by Gerald Majola, the chief executive of the Cricket South Africa, for outspoken comments made to the media. The board was further embarrassed by the fact that the email found its way to reporters through Gerald de Kock, the media manager.Majola was apparently upset over comments that Jennings had made about Mark Boucher in an interview with South Africa’s . Jennings was quoted as saying that he didn’t know why Boucher, formerly Graeme Smith’s deputy, had been left out of the squad that toured India, and that he favoured his recall since “he had paid his dues”.According to the , Majola’s email reminded Jennings that he was coach and national selector, and hence forbidden from making any statements that would bring the game or the board into disrepute. It added that if he had any complaints or observations to make, they should be addressed first to the board rather than the media.As per the code of conduct, Jennings is not allowed to comment on the correspondence with Majola, but de Kock said that he would not face any sort of disciplinary action for the gaffe.

A man armed with a revolver was arrested by Kanpur police on the last day of the first Test between India and South Africa at Green Park.Television cameras had spotted a man with a gun sitting behind photographers close to the sightscreen while South Africa were batting out time until stumps. According to the arresting officer, Tripurari Pandey, the man had a .38 calibre revolver.The man, who was reportedly the son of the president of the Kanpur Cricket Association, was found to be drunk. He had a pass for the whole ground, but he had breached security regulations by bringing a firearm into Green Park.Police are investigating exactly how he managed to bring the gun into the ground, as all visitors are searched before the match.

With a bowler, you can ask how many wickets, with a batsman, how many runs. With a coach you can ponder the win-loss record. But, how do you judge a physio? Injuries come and go, striking even fittest of cricketers in the freakiest circumstances. It’s never easy to judge how well a physio is doing his job. Yet, if the players he trains, and the coach he works with, have a decent comfort level, that’s always a good sign. With Andrew Leipus, who is leaving the Indian team at the end of the Bangladesh tour after five years on the job, there’s no doubt how the team feels.”Andrew [Leipus] has been outstanding,” says John Wright, fulsome in his praise. “He is a thorough professional but I think the biggest thing about him is his work ethic. He is going to be very hard to replace; you don’t find too many Andrews around. You try and put good people around you and he is definitely one of those people.”Leipus, though pleased to hear Wright’s comments, is modest. “I’m flattered he says that, we have grown to become a bit of a family. Obviously you spend so much time with people that you develop relationships and get good understanding of how each of us operate. We know the little quirks, when to back off and when to approach each other. It will be tough when someone else takes over, but it’s life, no one is irreplaceable, ultimately.”When Leipus first began, in late 1999, he was able to quickly adjust to India and her people because he had already visited the country before, as a backpacker, with his girlfriend. “I think it really helped me to be honest; I knew the culture, I knew the country and I knew what to expect. It wasn’t a huge culture shock; it’s not like I got out of the plane and then have a central shock,” he says. “I had seen India from the trains, buses, tuk-tuks and stayed in guest lodges so I experienced it from the ground level. Obviously at the other end of the spectrum I am standing with heroes and superstars of Indian society so I have seen probably both ends of the spectrum.”But what was harder to get used to was the media attention his job received. Every injury fuelled speculations and rumours. “I never expected that much attention when I first got here,” he reflects. “Nowhere else in the world does the physio get that much attention from the media. You get periods when you get a bit of injury or something happens and you rest a player then the media sort of jumps on the story; it’s a story and I know you are doing your job.”We are trying to keep the injury sort of quiet for whatever reason from the gamesmanship point of view that becomes a bit of problem. I get a bit of annoyed when there is too much going behind the scenes. Those are tough times; obviously when you are under the pump and there are a few injuries and the media is jumping on, asking ‘is Leipus doing his job?’ that’s tough but generally, I have had a decent relationship with the media. I respect you guys for your job; it’s a very tough job to do. You’ve a harder job than me, I think.”But if doing the job as Indian physio was hard, deciding to give it up was harder. “It wasn’t easy, it was probably a tough decision to make; chuck the best job in the world and try and do something different,” he says. “From that point of view, it’s probably been the hardest decision in my life. But it wasn’t an over and out thing, it was growing for a while.”Looking back at his tenure, Leipus could not pin-point one moment as an obvious high. “There are so many of them, really. Every tour you have your highs and disappointments. The World Cup was great, beating Australia (in India in 2001) was great; beating Australia in Adelaide was great.” That was a special match for him, Liepus emphasises, because Adelaide is his hometown.Then he singles out the personal milestones that the players achieved during his tenure, Tendulkar’s 34th Test hundred, Sehwag’s 309 and Laxman’s innings in Kolkata, “They are all personal milestones that you feel proud of. It’s a pity that I won’t be around for Sachin’s 35th hundred. It would have been nice to been a part of that. I am a bit disappointed about it.”But not half as disappointed as the team, who would have lost a good man.

Scorecard

Phil Jaques’s monumental 240 not out put New South Wales in a commanding position at the end of the second day at the Bankstown Oval in Sydney. In reply, Queensland were in dire straits at 6 for 141 with the two Stuarts – MacGill and Clark – sharing the bowling honours.Jaques, who hammered 33 fours in his 583-minute effort, became the first NSW batsman since Bob Simpson, the former Australian captain, to score two double-centuries in a domestic season. Simpson achieved the feat in 1963-64. Jaques also leapfrogged to second place in the Pura Cup run-scorers chart – with 708 runs in the season so far – and has only Michael Bevan (765 runs) ahead of him.However, Jacques fell just three short of equalling his highest first-class score when the declaration came. Brad Haddin, the captain, struck a breezy 36 from 38 balls before deciding to send Queensland in. For Queensland, Andy Bichel was the most successful bowler, finishing with 3 for 80.Queensland were in a deep hole at the end of the day as MacGill and Clark snapped up two wickets apiece. Clinton Perren (62) and James Hopes (47) resisted a collapse but none of the others crossed 20 as NSW took control.

Shane Warne will fulfil a promise to Muttiah Muralitharan by flying to Sri Lanka today to help the rebuilding process after the Boxing Day tsunami. Warne, who took 2 for 20 in Victoria’s ING Cup win over Queensland at Ballarat yesterday, will return in time for the crucial clash against New South Wales on Sunday as they push for a place in the final.Warne is scheduled to travel to some of the worst hit areas including Galle – "where one of my favourite cricket grounds in the world was washed away" – and he will direct money from his children’s charity to Sri Lanka. Warne said he was also dealing with the Melbourne City Council in a bid to restore the ground at Galle."Right after the tsunami tragedy I promised Murali I would do whatever possible and while my Foundation was set up to aid Australian children in need, through our friends we will channel funds into this worthy cause," Warne wrote in his Daily Telegraph column.Warne, who played in the charity match at the MCG and the three-game series in New Zealand, said he "just wants to help" and will travel with Brad Grapsas, the chief executive of the Shane Warne Foundation, to see where the money raised by the organisation will go."Murali and I have always got along okay, I have huge respect for him, but fate and its tragedy has thrown us together in this and no doubt it has brought us closer," Warne wrote. "Our head-to-head battle for the world Test-wickets record is a terrific joust on the sporting field, but on this issue I’m proud for us to be brothers in arms for such a cause."

ScorecardAdam Voges and Peter Worthington made it a day to forget for New South Wales, adding 136 for the seventh wicket, and enabling Western Australia to extend their score past 600, and their lead past 300. The bowling attack, lacklustre and short of bite, could only take one wicket all morning, that of Voges for 128. Worthington battled on to 73, adding 57 for the eighth wicket with Steve Magoffin, who made 29 not out.Taking a lesson from these lower-order batsmen, Greg Mail and Phil Jacques added 112 for the first wicket, but New South Wales lost four quick wickets after that, three of them to Marcus North. They finished the day on 4 for 184, still 118 behind. Jacques had fallen for 73, but Mail was not out on a stodgy 63.

Cullen Bailey, the 20-year-old legspinner, has been chosen for South Australia’s final Pura Cup match of the season against Tasmania at Adelaide, which begins on Thursday. Bailey has replaced Darren Lehmann in the 12-man squad after he decided to have surgery on his injured shoulder.A rookie-contracted player, Bailey is expected to make his debut in the match and has been in outstanding form for his club side Sturt, topping the A-grade wicket list with 44 at an average of 20.36. The combination of Bailey with the offspinner Daniel Cullen will be closely watched as the Redbacks attempt to stay ahead of their nearest rivals for the wooden spoon. Tasmania are on 10 points, two behind South Australia, who beat Western Australia at the weekend.South Australia Shane Deitz, Daniel Harris, Greg Blewett, Callum Ferguson, Nathan Adcock, Graham Manou (capt, wk), Cameron Borgas, Ryan Harris, Paul Rofe, Daniel Cullen, Shaun Tait, Cullen Bailey.