Kartik destroys Australia with 6 wicket haul

India’s Murali Kartik destroyed the high-flying Australian batting for a measly 193 with a devastating career-best spell of spin bowling in the seventh and final cricket one-dayer here on Wednesday.Kartik, who grabbed two wickets off successive balls to be on a hat-trick twice, sent the visitors to their doom in the dead-rubber tie with a six-wicket haul to bring back memories of a similar display against the same opposition in a similar series-winding Test contest almost three years ago.

Australia, choosing to bat first, were shot out in only 41.3 overs with Kartik grabbing a magical 6 for 27, his first-ever haul of more than three wickets in 33 ODIs, bettering his previous best of 3 for 36 against the West Indies at Jodhpur in November, 2002.

The bowler had taken seven wickets, including three at a crucial time in the second innings when the top team in the world chased 107 and were shot out for 93, on November 5, 2004 at the same venue and secured the man of the match award on that occasion.

The 31-year-old Railways bowler, recalled to the squad midway through the series at the insistence of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, removed Brad Hodge (16) and Andrew Symonds (0) off successive balls in the last two balls of his second over to bring the Australians down a bit after they went into the match aiming for a 5-1 score-line in the rubber.

After being denied a hat-trick in the first ball of his third over, Kartik struck three big blows in his eighth over, off the first, fourth and fifth balls, to get rid off Brad Haddin (19), Brad Hogg and Brett Lee, both for ducks, to leave the tourists gasping at 162 for eight in the 32nd over.

Butt receives dressing down for ‘irresponsible’ comments

LAHORE: Pakistan vice-captain Salman Butt has got a dressing down from the team management for criticising the bowlers at a press conference during the second cricket Test against South Africa last week.

Sources in the team said that Butt was forced to apologise to the bowlers and other teammates who rounded on him for his critical comments.

“Leg-spinner Danish Kaneria as well as the pacers were not happy when they read Butt’s comments and confronted him,” sources said.

“One bowler told Butt on his face that being the vice-captain did not give him a license to blame the bowlers publicly and if the team did not do well it was everyone’s responsibility,” he said.

“He also told Butt that by making such statements he should not spoil the spirit in the dressing room.”

Butt had tried to play down the issue by blaming the media for blowing up his comments and claiming that he had been misquoted.

“But when the team management also pulled him up and warned him to be careful with his choice of words, Butt apologised to other players,” he said.

“The team manager and captain advised him that he would only create problems in the side if he was not careful with his words and attitude,” the source said.

The left-hander was also fined 50 per cent of his fees by match referee Alan Hurst for criticising some umpiring decisions in the Test.

Butt was a surprise choice for vice-captaincy before the Twenty20 World Cup and many felt that his appointment was because of the fact that he was one of the few players in the side who were well versed in English.

Butt did not click in the Twenty20 World Cup and was also castigated by the team management during the tournament when he gave a statement on the Shoaib Akhtar-Mohammad Asif brawl.

Federer shows little rust in beating Ginepri

MADRID, Spain (AP) – Roger Federer needed less than an hour and half in his first match on tour in over five weeks, winning 80 percent of the points on his first serve to beat Robby Ginepri 7-6 (2), 6-4 at the Madrid Masters on Tuesday.

The defending champion, who dispensed the 72nd-ranked American qualifier in the quarters last year, saved all three break points he faced in his first match on tour since winning his fourth straight U.S. Open title on Sept. 9.”I took a rest so I could be 100 percent here, and now I’m fresh and eager to play here again,” said Federer, who hasn’t lost to an American in four years, a streak of 39 matches. The top-ranked Swiss served two consecutive aces to thwart Ginepri’s double-break chance in the seventh game of the first set.

Ginepri forced Federer into 17 of his 30 unforced errors in the first as both players held serve to the tiebreaker, which Federer clinched with one of his 10 aces. Both players held serve again to open the second before Federer scored the decisive break in the fifth game, lobbing his return over Ginepri as he came to the net.  Ginepri hit long in the eighth game on his only other break chance.

“I was struggling in the beginning a little bit, but I served well to get out of trouble,” Federer said. “I’m happy I won this first match, for me it was a big win today.”

Federer — whose only competitive matches since the U.S. Open were two singles encounters in the Davis Cup — will play the winner of Wednesday’s clash between Argentines Agustin Calleri and 13th-seeded Guillermo Canas. Calleri advanced after rallying for a 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Dimitry Tursunov.

Juan Ignacio Chela and Tommy Haas were the first seeded players to be eliminated from the tournament. Andy Murray played near perfectly in the first set before holding off the 15th-seeded Chela 6-1, 6-3. Juan Monaco had to work a little harder in a 6-4, 7-5 win over the 11th-seeded Haas.

Fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko withdrew from the tournament, citing a right elbow injury.

“I tried, but I can’t play here. It’s too dangerous to play this week, and I try as hard as possible to recover for the next week,” Davydenko said.

Davydenko will fly to Germany on Wednesday for physiotherapy in an attempt to be fit for the St. Petersburg Open next week. The Russian already has qualified for the Masters Cup in Shanghai next month with his Kremlin Cup win Sunday.

Earlier, David Nalbandian rallied to beat Arnaud Clement of France 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, while Ivo Karlovic blew 17 aces past 2004 champion Marat Safin in a 6-3, 6-4 victory.

Nalbandian led 4-0 in the first set, but 25 unforced errors allowed Clement to break the Argentine three straight times.

After recovering to take the second set, Nalbandian held serve in the third before getting the decisive break in the seventh game. He consolidated his advantage by saving two break points in the next game. Clement finished with 44 unforced errors.

Safin failed to convert his second break point while trailing 4-3 in the second set. On the next point, the 2.08-meter (6-foot-10) Karlovic hit an ace.

“I (didn’t) expect anything from this one,” Safin said. “Just finish the year and that’s it.”

Also, 2003 champ Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Colombian qualifier Alejandro Falla 6-4, 7-5, France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu held off Mardy Fish 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, Nicolas Kiefer defeated Stanislas Wawrinka 7-5, 6-3, and Nicolas Almagro beat Fabrice Santoro of France 6-4, 6-4.

Serena qualifies for WTA championships

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) – Serena Williams has qualified for next month’s season-ending WTA Championships in Madrid.

Williams arrived at the Zurich Open on Monday to discover she was the fifth player to qualify, along with Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Ana Ivanovic.The Australian Open champion reached Sunday’s final of the Kremlin Cup before losing to Elena Dementieva.

The year-end championship ranking calculations are long and complicated at this point of the season because of the number of players still in the hunt, various injuries that can prevent them from gaining points, and the number of tournaments remaining.

The championship features the season’s top eight singles players. At least six other players can still qualify for the remaining berths in the Madrid championships Nov. 6-11.

Williams is among seven of the world’s top 10 players at the Zurich event. Reigning champion Maria Sharapova withdrew on Saturday because of a long-standing right-shoulder injury. The tournament also lost Martina Hingis, who pulled out with a hip problem.

Williams, who withdrew from the last two tournaments in Zurich, is slated to play her opening match against local favorite Patty Schnyder on Tuesday. Williams lost in the second round of the 1997 qualification stage and won the doubles event with sister Venus in 1998.

McMillan draws stumps on career

Craig McMillan announced his retirement from cricket today for health and personal reasons.

He said he wanted to spend more time with his family and had issues with his diabetes.

He has played over 50 tests and nearly 200 one-day internationals for the Black Caps. He has also quit the domestic scene.

Rumours of McMillan’s plans to retire surfaced a couple of weeks ago after an email was leaked to the media, where he informed close friends and team mates of his intentions to end his career.

Beating Australia a career pinnacle – Kallis

South Africa’s record breaking all-rounder, Jacques Kallis said beating Australia in a test series would be equivalent to winning a World Cup.

Kallis said a win against Australia next year in their own backyard would be the pinnacle of a career that has spanned 109 tests and 261 one-day internationals.

“I am not huge on personal goals but as a team the key goals for South Africa definitely would be winning the World Cup or beating Australia and England in England next year,” Kallis said.

“Beating Australia would probably be the number one thing for me. It is a tough tour and they are the best in the world.

“You want to test yourself against them and beating them would be equivalent to winning the World Cup in a test series and I would want to be heavily involved in it,” South Africa’s leading run scorer said.

South Africa are scheduled to tour England then Australia in 2008.

The 32-year old had a run glut against Pakistan in the recent two-test series scoring 421 runs with three hundreds since returning to the team after being dropped for the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.

He put his success there down to a good rest from cricket and pitches he felt comfortable on.

“I think in Pakistan they have the best batting wickets. The wickets are pretty flat and batter friendly and I just needed a slight adjustment from South Africa where the ball bounces more.”