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A day after refusing to confirm his retirement, Glenn McGrath is expected to announce his departure date at the MCG today. McGrath has called a press conference for 1.10pm local time to “discuss his future plans” and is tipped to follow Shane Warne into Test retirement at his home ground in Sydney.McGrath, the leading Test wicket-taker with 555, has endured a week of speculation that he will walk away from the international game after the World Cup. Regaining the Ashes at Perth on Monday has meant a number of Australia’s senior players have ticked a significant box in their career goals after they were responsible for handing over the urn at The Oval in 2005.Having returned from an 11-month Test lay-off to start the current series, McGrath opened with 6 for 50 at the Gabba but even though he has produced some crucial spells he has been below his best during the series. Aged 36, McGrath has spent 13 years in the Test set-up after making his debut as a stringbean fast man against New Zealand at Perth.He started with match figures of 3 for 142 and was immediately dropped and it wasn’t until he was part of the first victory in the West Indies for 32 years that he became an essential member of the side. The 1994-95 Caribbean campaign was crucial to McGrath as he refused to be intimidated by the home side’s bowlers and fearlessly bounced them despite his limited ability with the bat. Australia sealed the series and McGrath’s reputation continued to be enhanced.Employing a simple action and applying regular check-ups, he was able to nag away with an unrelenting line and pick up kitbags full of wickets with movement off the seam. A shy and calm man off the field, he had no problem firing up when bowling and his behaviour often came under scrutiny. In the West Indies in 2002-03, when he arrived late to the series after his wife Jane was diagnosed with cancer, he had an angry, finger pointing exchange with Ramnaresh Sarwan. He admitted to “carrying on like a pork chop” at times but Australia would not have changed anything about their long-term spearhead.McGrath passed Dennis Lillee’s 355 Test wickets – it was the most famous Australian bowling milestone until Shane Warne overtook it – at The Oval in 2001 and became the country’s first fast man to play 100 Tests when he achieved the mark at Nagpur in 2004. It was a particularly satisfying record as he was out for a year with a serious ankle problem requiring two bouts of surgery. He briefly considered retiring and there were questions over whether he could return to his best. It became a regular theme during his career.Following his long lay-off to care for his family when his wife experienced another relapse of the disease in January, McGrath’s comeback ability was doubted again. He started slowly in the Malaysian tri-series and was part of Australia’s first Champions Trophy victory in India before re-setting his sights on England.

Supporters in the United Kingdom did not understand the McGrath fuss when he first toured England in 1997 and Australia lost the opening Test at Edgbaston. He stepped in quickly to assure them he was a player of the highest quality. In the rain-ruined second Test at Lord’s he was responsible for knocking England over for 77 with his incredible 8 for 38.Michael Atherton was a victim, one of 19 times in his career, and they were his best figures until he produced 8 for 34, the second-best haul by an Australian, against Pakistan at the WACA in 2004-05. When it comes to wickets he has an almost photographic memory and his removal of the opposition’ best players are recalled proudly. Brian Lara was taken 15 times in Tests while Alec Stewart was also high on the list with 10. His comedic 61 against New Zealand two years ago also showed the hours of work he put into his often-ridiculed batting.McGrath passed Courtney Walsh’s world record of 519 wickets during the one-off Super Test against the World XI in 2005-06. It was suitable company for such a wonderful bowler. A country boy from central New South Wales, McGrath has grown from a spindly adolescent who was told he couldn’t bowl into one of the most durable fast men in Test history. His record over 122 matches is amazing and will always be treasured.

A magnificent 209 runs partnership for the fifth wicket, between opener Kamran Sajid and skipper Faisal Iqbal, enabled Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to gain a big first innings lead over Pakistan Customs, on the second day at the United Bank Limited (UBL) Sports Complex Ground No.1.PIA ended on 318 for 5, which means that they are now 119 runs ahead of the Customs’ modest first innings effort of 199 all out, with five wickets still in hand. At one stage early in the morning, Customs looked like turning the tide their own way, as four PIA men were back in the pavilion with only 54 scored. The nightwatchman Umar Gul was gone soon after his team resumed at 46 for 2 and Bazid Khan lasted only four balls before perishing for a duck.However, Kamran and Faisal then took control with an excellent display that saw them both scoring centuries. The 22-year-old Kamran from Lahore achieved his career-best knock of 147, playing in his 50th first-class match. The all-rounder, who represented Pakistan at the 2001-02 Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, reached his fifth hundred. It was a patient knock, as he stayed at the crease for just over six and a half hours, faced 313 balls and hit 21 boundaries.Faisal has so far scored an unbeaten 107, in almost five and a quarter hours, off 237 deliveries with the help of 15 fours and a six, his fourth century of the season. Even after Kamran’s departure, Faisal found another able partner in the veteran Mahmood Hamid and the two have added 55 for the unbroken sixth-wicket stand.An interesting match is developing at Sheikhupura as Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) equaled Service Industries’ first innings score, by the close of play on the second day. However, after Service had been bowled out for 191, ZTBL replied with exactly that amount of runs but they still have a wicket standing.At 65 for 6 it appeared that ZTBL would concede a first innings lead. The seam bowler Asim Butt and opening bowler Jamshed Ahmed had them in deep trouble but then came a useful cameo innings of 42 off 68 balls from wicket-keeper Adnan Akmal, the younger brother of Pakistan stumper Kamran Akmal. He helped add 45 for the seventh-wicket stand with Tanvir Ahmed (19). Later on, the tail-enders Kashif Daud (24) and Siddiq Khan (22 not out) continued the reconstruction.Butt has so far captured a career-best 6 for 29 in 18 overs, his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. Earlier, after having resumed at 174-6, Service were all out for 191. Mustansar Ali added only one run to end his innings at 56 and Kashif Daud, a 19-year-old quick bowler, finished with figures of 5 for 47 in 14 overs.Struggling Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) turned the tables on Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) by claiming the crucial first innings lead, on the second day at the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Sports Complex.Faced with KRL’s under-par first innings total of 220, SNGPL were spun out for a poor 157 yesterday that handed KRL a 63-run advantage. By the close KRL had boosted their overall lead to 101 runs with all wickets intact. SNGPL were undone by the off-spin of Saeed Ajmal, who captured 4 for 25 in 17.4 overs. He was ably supported by 3 for 51 from Alamgir Khan. The only bright spot in the SNGPL innings was a 63-run fourth-wicket partnership between the Test duo of Mohammad Hafeez and the skipper skipper Misbah-ul-Haq (28). Hafeez hit 40 off just 56 balls with five fours and a six.Left-arm paceman Sajid Ali finished with 5 for 46 for SNGPL while wicket-keeper Mohammad Salman completed five catches. Even if KRL gain nine points from this match, they’ll remain faced with the danger of relegation to next season’s Grade-II circuit. They were beaten in all their first three matches and are making their last appearance in the league round.On yet another day curtailed by heavy fog and fading light Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) moved to 216 for 6 against National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) at the Lahore City Cricket Association (LCCA) Ground on Thursday. A thick blanket of fog had reduced the first day’s play on Wednesday to a mere 45 deliveries.On the second morning two wickets fell with the score having got to just 23. Adil Nisar began the recovery with a watchful 37 in a little over two and a quarter hours. Then came an invaluable 123-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Aamer Sajjad top-scored with 74 runs off 139 balls with seven boundaries. Mohammad Sami took 2 for 60 in 18 overs and the medium-fast Yasir Arafat bagged 2 for 51, while Kamran Akmal held two catches.

Pakistan XI 188 for 2 (Salman Butt 91*, Taufeeq Umar 68) beat Rest of Pakistan 187 (Aamer Bashir 70, Danish Kaneria 4-42, Mohammad Sami 3-32)
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The senior Pakistan side, captained by Shoaib Malik, cruised to victory over the Rest of Pakistan in a one-day charity game at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium to raise funds for tsunami relief and the recent Baluchistan flood disaster. After The Rest were bowled out for 187, the result was never in doubt after Salman Butt and Taufeeq Umar put on 151 for the first wicket. In the end the senior XI won by eight wickets with more than ten overs to spare.Mohammad Sami, who had been under an injury cloud, proved his fitness for the forthcoming Indian tour by taking three important wickets, including the opener Faisal Athar for 0 as The Rest stumbled to 13 for 2. Then Danish Kaneria took over, grabbing four wickets as the batsmen struggled – the only decent stand was one of 92 for the fourth wicket between Aamer Bashir, who top-scored with 70, including nine fours, and Faisal Iqbal, who made 34. In all the last seven wickets tumbled for only 44 runs.In reply Butt and Taufeeq had few problems, piling on 151 befopre Taufeeq edged Imran Tahir through to Zulqarnain Haider after scoring 68. He hit ten fours and a six. Shoaib Malik was also caught behind after a quickfire 23 from 18 balls, but it mattered little: Butt was still there at the end, having hit 13 fours.

A potential race-relations disaster has been averted with the the news that the planned performance by former Test player Greg Ritchie of his Punjabi parody figure, Mahatma Cote, during next week’s second Test between Australia and India at Adelaide, has been cancelled.Rather surprisingly, Ritchie was booked by one of the South Australia Cricket Association’s (SACA) corporate sponsors to perform his routine during the first day’s lunch break. While the performance was intended purely for the commercial clients, it would have been be audible to sections of the crowd.As the story was picked up by the media, the SACA initially looked to distance itself from the potential backlash. “One of the sponsors has hired Greg Ritchie to perform,” said a spokeswoman. “We haven’t organised it. They come and hire the platform. We only provide the venue.”But, unsurprisingly, the sponsors began to have second thoughts and after talking to Ritchie, it was agreed that the plans should be scrapped.The show – widely condemned as culturally and racially inappropriate – risked causing offence to Indian spectators and players.Reactions in the press box had been mixed. Some visiting journalists warned that the use of the name Mahatma would likely offend many Indians, others said that the performance was likely to be "more amusing than offensive". One reporter summed up the act as being absurd. "No Punjabi could be called Mahatma," he explained, "and Cote is not an Indian name.”

Captain Stephen Waugh admitted he had never played in such a complete Australian performance after his team surged to a record-breaking win against South Africa in Johannesburg today.The Australians celebrated into the night after beating South Africa by an innings and 360 runs in the first Test at the Wanderers.It was the second biggest win in Test cricket history, littered with team and individual records including Adam Gilchrist’s fastest Test double century.Waugh’s team also posted Australia’s highest total against South Africa while Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath moved into second and eighth spots on Testcricket’s all-time wicket-taking list.Waugh has played 146 Tests through good and bad times in Australian cricket, including the world record of 16 consecutive Test wins.But the 36-year-old said he could not remember a better team performance.”It was a great performance,” Waugh said.”We put them under enormous pressure and that’s what Test match cricket is all about – whether you can handle the pressure.”In this game South Africa didn’t. They may handle it better next game. It is certainly going to be very difficult to come back from here.”Stand-in South African captain Mark Boucher insisted the Proteas could come back in this series despite losing four Test matches to Australia this summer by 246runs, nine wickets and 10 wickets before today’s collapse.The Proteas scored just 159 and 133 in reply to Australia’s 7-652 declared, and the Test finished after tea on the third day.Warne took six wickets for the match, including 4-44 in the second innings, while McGrath’s match haul of 8-49 included 5-21 in the second innings.Warne now has 436 Test wickets – second to West Indian great Courtney Walsh (519) – while McGrath (385) moved past former England all-rounder Ian Botham(383).Waugh said he wasn’t surprised at the margin of the win even though this series will officially determine the International Cricket Council’s best team.”Our record has been pretty good over the last couple of years,” Waugh said.”You don’t win 16 Test matches in a row if you are not a pretty good side. We played some superb cricket.”We have excellent cricketers in this team and we all came together for this Test match and basically clicked.”Everyone played pretty well. Once again we put enormous pressure on South Africa and they didn’t respond.”It gives me great satisfaction the way we played that Test match, the level at which we played and the intensity. We didn’t drop off for any period at all.”The Australians will enjoy two rest days before travelling to Port Elizabeth for a four-day tour match against South Africa A, starting Friday.They will then head to Cape Town, hoping to wrap up the series when the second Test begins on Friday week.

Coming on the back of two consecutive wins in the Shell Cup for the 2000/2001 season including a previous win over Auckland at Eden Park, the Otago Volts hopes were riding high when their fifth round match in the series against Auckland started at Molyneux Park today.Winning the toss and electing to bat the Otago team was- Lee Germon(Captain), Craig Cumming, Martyn Croy, Simon Forde, Chris Gaffaney, Andrew Hore, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Warren McSkimming, Craig Pryor, Kerry Walmsley, Karl O’Dowda (12th man)Auckland – Blair Pocock(Captain), Llorne Howell, Lou Vincent, Mark Haslam, Dion Nash, Kyle Mills, Richard Morgan, Andre Adams, Aaron Barnes, Tama Canning, John Aiken, Chris Drum (12th man).State Otago Volts started in brisk fashion with Andrew Hore leading the way with a workmanlike 37. Craig Cumming however was the anchor and proceeded to work the ball around particularly in the early stages while others fell around him. He made 66.The exception was Chris Gaffaney who was unexpectedly out for 37 and Craig Pryor at the end of the innings who placed the ball well and smashed Tama Canning in his last over for two sixes and a four. Pryor was 55 not out and he saw Otago through to a respectable but not unbeatable 260. 18 leg byes featured in the Otago total.Bowling for Auckland Canning with 4/60 from his allotted 10 was the main destroyer while Mark Haslam had only 37 runs hit off his maximum spell.Auckland began their run chase for the 261 for victory with a four off the first ball of Kerry Walmsley and things looked a little ominous but the loss of Llorne Howell at four, Aaron Barnes at 29, Blair Pocock at 33 set the Northerners back on their heels. Enter John Aiken and Dion Nash who put on 67 for the fourth wicket before Nash was run out for 35. Aiken was bowled Walmsley for 60 and Nash run out for 35.And then came Tama Canning who makes a habit of winning matches for Auckland. He began cautiously but then some strong hitting took over and he and Richard Morgan put on 121 for the eighth wicket.Morgan was out for 44 but Canning continued on and got Auckland to the situation where they needed eight from the final over. A four, a two, a single, a dot ball, and so one run needed off two balls by them. A nick for two to fine leg and the game was theirs by 2 wickets with a ball to spare. No praise could be too high for Canning who finished 92 not out. Surely a New Zealand selection beckons in the future.For Otago Simon Forde with 1/18 from 7 overs was very economic while Warren McSkimming 3/37 from 10 overs was also good. Walmsley, Cumming and McCullum all went for over 50 but in good batting conditions it was probably to be expected.A good win to Auckland in a thrilling situation and perhaps the highlight of the game being Cannings batting and the Otago Volts ground fielding.

Phil Jaques is a modern opener who is ready to join Matthew Hayden at the Gabba next month, according to Mark Taylor. Taylor, who held a place at the top of the order for 104 Tests, said Jaques would be a fine choice to fill the gap left by Justin Langer.”I’d probably say yes he has done enough, he’s probably done more than enough,” Taylor said in the . “I have no doubt that if Phil is selected he’ll do a damn good job because he’s a very professional cricketer, he’s never whinged about continually making runs and being sent back to state cricket.”Two events since the start of the season have boosted Jaques’ claims to play Sri Lanka at the Gabba from November 8. His 167 in the second innings of the Pura Cup match against Western Australia gave him the edge over his rival Chris Rogers, who was then scratched with appendicitis. Jaques, who has played two Tests, has another chance to secure his position this week during games against Queensland at the SCG.”Being on the fringes is probably the hardest spot to be in on any cricket team,” Jaques, who was speaking at the launch of CricKids Playing in Harmony, told the paper. “Hopefully the pressure of being on that edge and trying to perform at a top level for so long will count in my favour.”Taylor has been impressed by Jaques’ play and the way he backs himself to score runs. “One thing about Phil is that he typifies the modern game … much more prepared to go for the bowling early on,” Taylor said. “He’s one of those guys who can be 80 not out at lunch. Back in my day I dreamed about being 80 not out at lunch. If I could be 80 at about tea I thought ‘this is good’.”

ScorecardTushar Saha’s magnificent spell of left-arm spin, the best figures by a Tripura bowler, put his side in a commanding position at the end of the second day’s play at Agartala. Saha, who ended with a superb 5 for 8 in 10.5 overs, and Vineet Jain (4 for 40) made full use of a lively pitch to reduce J&K from 91 for 4 to 128 all out. Tripura ended the day on a confident 129, with R Bainak, Rasudeb Dutta and SD Chowdhury making handy contributions.
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Jai Prakash Yadav rocked the top order while Sanjay Bangar ran through the tail as Railways shot out Madhya Pradesh for 158, gaining a 145-run lead. Yadav prised out three quick wickets to leave MP limping at 44 for 4. Syed Abbas Ali put up a fight, stitching together a 69-run stand for the fifth wicket with Amay Khurasia (21) but Yadav trapped him to re-open the floodgates. One run later, Bangar removed Khurasia and proceeded to rip apart the tail as MP folded up meekly.
ScorecardJ Arunkumar’s 78 helped Assam strengthen their position at the end of the second day at Guwahati, finishing on 288 for 6 with a lead of 154. Stitching together useful partnerships – of which the 73-run stand between PK Das and Arunkumar was the most prominent – Assam took control. Six of the seven top-order batsmen crossed 20 and though they chose to crawl along at less than three an over, Assam had gained a firm footing in the contest.
ScorecardPowered by Faiz Fazal’s 70, Vidarbha finished 100 runs in arrears, with five wickets standing, by the end of the second day at Palakkad. Vidarbha were comfortablyplaced at 132 for 1 when the run out of Alind Naidu sparked of a mini-collapse, losing 3 for 4. However, O Afzal lifted Vidarbha out of trouble with an unbeaten 35. Earlier, Cheruvillil Deepak, overnight on 5, made 41 and steered Kerala to a healthy total.
ScorecardSourabha Sehgal prised out three quick wickets, including centurion Yashpal Singh, as Orissa fought their way back at Cuttack. Services were sitting pretty at 310 for 4 when Sehgal got into the act, removing Sarabjit Singh before inducing Yashpal to edge behind. A cosy 317 for 6 turned to 319 for 8 when Sehgal and Sanjay Satpathy dealt two further blows. Niranjan Behera made an unbeaten 39 to steer Orissa to 71 for 2 at the end of the day.
ScorecardAshok Thakur, the Himachal Pradesh left-arm seamer, impressed with a five-wicket haul to bundle out Jharkand for 146, giving his side an imposing first-innings lead of 140 on the second day at Dharamsala. Jharkand, after wrapping up the opposition early, lost wickets at regular intervals, with opener Manish Vardhan the only batsman to offer some resistance, scoring 43. Thakur gave his side the upper hand, getting rid of the top order. Himachal got off to a shaky start in their second innings, losing three wickets for 46, but Paras Dogra and Maninder Bisla added an unbeaten 49 till stumps to strengthen their position in the match.