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Australia cruised to a seven wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first one-day international in Kandy .Mitchell Johnson claimed six for 31 from his 10 overs as the hosts were bowled out for 191 at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium

Simple chase for Australia, runs in 38.1 overs with Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke all passing 50.Having won the toss, opening batsmen Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan initially looked at ease against the Australian pace attack, with a sequence of fours in the opening overs. But with the partnership on 54, Tharanga was the first wicket to fall for 34 that sparked the start of Sri Lanka's troubles as Johnson took control with the ball.

Kumar Sangakkara followed soon after, pushing to short extra cover for 13.Randiv and Nuwan Kulasekara put up more of a fight for the eighth wicket, hitting six fours and three sixes between them in an entertaining spell which charmed the home crowd and reaped 60 runs. It was Johnson who finally broke the partnership, though, to complete his five-wicket haul, removing Randiv on 41.

Dismissing Watson for 69 off 51 balls, which included five fours and six sixes. That left Australia 81 for two, and Ponting and Clarke were content to score at a more pedestrian rate to ease their side to victory. The pair progressed to add 101 for the third wicket before Ponting fell for 53, bowled off his pads by Randiv, leaving Clarke (53no) to hit the winning run.

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Andy Murray suffered a crushing 6-3 6-1 defeat to hot prospect Kevin Anderson in the second round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal. The world number four never looked happy as the big-serving South African handed him a shellacking in just 69 minutes.

Anderson conquered from the outset, winning 93 percent of first serves in taking the first set, breaking to lead 4-2 and effectively serving it out. Murray's serve then unsuccessful him in the next as his challenger picked off his second serve almost at will, while the Scot coughed up five double faults in the match.

Anderson set the tone early on with an ace as he took the first game to love, breaking Murray in the next with the Briton double faulting twice. The world number 35 was persistent, again share to love for 3-0, before Murray finally got on the board in the fourth game.

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England must be forced on with an uneatable 2-0 lead in the kitty, while reveling in the state of souring eagerness to win the third Test. Victory at Edgbaston will protected them the popular place on top of the globe. Under pressure Indian side meanwhile will be looking to restore themselves and drag the hosts down to the grassy-earth of Edgbaston for some retaliatory action.

India that has been crushed in two forceful losses must back themselves with the belief that the 4-match Test series is still far from over and that the time is nigh for them to show their mettle. The tourists should hence take comfort and courage from the fact that they have one of the world's best opening combinations in Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir back in the ranks, not to mention an in-form man Rahul Dravid. Together these three optimize strength and class.

With middle order stalwarts in Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman just about finding their footing, they should now lead the harrying English pace trio a dance. The Indian fan would like to see bolder back-foot punches from the Little Master and more confidently-executed repertoires from VVS, while Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina will be likely to put their best foot forward after a hitherto unsteady summer.

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Ajantha Mendis became the first bowler to take six wickets in a Twenty20 international as Sri Lanka finished a 2-0 series win over Australia. The spinner bowled Mitchell Johnson for the crucial wicket to end with figures of 6-16 in Pallekele. Earlier, the hosts were thankful to opener Mahela Jayawardene who hit 86 as they made 157-9 after winning the toss.

Shane Watson hit 57 in an opening stand of 71, but Mendis tore throughout the Aussies who ended eight runs short. Mendis, whose figures were the joint fourth best in Twenty20 history, also becomes the first Sri Lankan to take five wickets in a Twenty20 international, and the third player to take six in a T20 game in the last month.

He removed Watson, his partner David Warner and had Shaun Marsh stumped for a duck as the tourists lost four wickets for four runs. Captain Cameron White (39) led a partial recovery before Mendis returned to bowl Steve Smith, Brad Haddin and Johnson as Australia collapsed. John Hastings (3-14) was Australia's best bowler.

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India was dealt a essential blow as Zaheer Khan has been ruled out of the England series. His hamstring injury has shown no sign of development. The 32-year-old pace bowler needs ankle surgery, which will rule him out until November. Zaheer Khan is suffering from a recurrent right hamstring strain and a right ankle impingement.

Zaheer continual a hamstring injury in the first Test at Lord's after bowling just 13.3 overs, which ruled him out of the second Test. Although he returned to action in the two-day match against Northamptonshire, he bowled just three overs before exit the field for treatment.

India has called up left-armer RP Singh for the rest of the tour, which continues on Wednesday with the third Test at Edgbaston. The 25-year-old Singh finally played a Test match in April 2008 and an ODI in September 2009.

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Skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan struck his maiden T20 international century as Sri Lanka beat Australia by 35 runs in the first of two games at Pallekele. Dilshan fired 12 fours and five sixes in a outstanding unbeaten 104 from 57 balls as his side posted 198-3.David Warner hit 53 in 31 balls with six fours and two sixes but Australia could only muster 163-8.

The second and final match of the series takes place on Monday. The home side was asked to bat by Cameron White and at the end of the 15th over Dilshan had made a modest 41, but he proceeded to hit four fours off John Wayne Hastings. He then shattered two sixes and two fours in the 18th over, bowled by Shane Watson, and repeated the feat in the last but one over of the innings, bowled by Mitchell Johnson.

In reply Watson flicked the first ball of the second over for six but was bowled through the gate two balls later. Warner, who hit seamer Suranga Lakmal down the ground for six and launched Dilshan over square-leg for another maximum, saw wickets frequently fall around him. Steve O'Keefe fired a six and two fours in three balls but Australia were soundly beaten as Sri Lanka open their first home Twenty20 international success at the fifth attempt.

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Australia opens its battle in Sri Lanka with two Twenty20 Internationals on Saturday and Monday which could set the manner for the rest of the tour. Seasoned Australian fast bowler Brett Lee said he felt the Twenty20 games were the right way to start the seven-week tour, which also features five One-Day Internationals and three Tests.

Australia will look to restore its tattered status during the tour after falling to fifth place in the Test rankings, one behind Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka, led by hard-hitting opener Tillakaratne Dilshan, will miss currently retired off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and fast bowler Lasith Malinga, who is injured.


Australia: Cameron White (capt.), Shane Watson, David Warner, Brad Haddin, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Aaron Finch, Steven Smith, Steve O'Keefe, John Hastings, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, James Pattinson.

Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt.), Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Jeevan Mendis, Dilruwan Perera, Thisara Perera, Dhammika Prasad, Suranga Lakmal, Ajantha Mendis, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suraj Randiv, Rangana Herath, Chamara Silva, Shaminda Eranga.

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Andy Roddick has pulled out of next week's Montreal Masters, casting extra uncertainty over his fitness ahead of September's US Open. This is the second successive week Roddick has withdrawn from a competition, after he pulled out of Washington, and it remains to be seen if the American will have enough time to recover match fitness for the US Open.

The 28-year-old has been overwhelmed with injuries over the past two years, and also pulled out of Roland Garros just two months ago. Roddick did get well in time to play in Wimbledon, where he fell in the third round to Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, but the big-serving American has yet to play a match since he lost to David Ferrer in the Davis Cup quarter-finals.

According to the Montreal Gazette, Robin Soderling, Jurgen Melzer, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Xavier Malisse have all reserved from next week's tournament from a huge number of reasons.

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The Indian team woke up on Thursday morning to what was not a very pleasant sight.

Sehwag had his first session of the tour after arriving in England on Wednesday. The Indians were required indoors by a steady drizzle, and Sehwag made a spectacular entrance, parting the finished to enter the fast-bowlers' area. Sehwag settled quickly. He appeared to be picking up both the length and the swing early.

The vital signs were good: Sehwag looks batting-ready; the surgically-repaired shoulder doesn't seem to be worrying him, but his match-fitness needs testing. Gautam Gambhir, who missed the second Test with a injured elbow, looked ready as well. He bantered with Sehwag before requesting, as he usually does, for another batch of throw-downs.

Also asking for a second set was M.S. Dhoni, who scarcely laid a bat on one during his time with the fast-bowlers; he left many, but played and missed a fair few. Zaheer Khan, another Indian cricketer over whom looms the cloud of injury, looked the nearby he has to his usual bowling self since leaving the field at Lord's.

Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh have been ruled out of the remaining matches of the Test series because of injuries. A statement from the Board of Control for Cricket in India on Wednesday said Yuvraj has broken his left index finger, while Harbhajan has a Grade One abdominal muscle strain.

Yuvraj's injury will take around four weeks to heal, while the off-spinner's revival will take three weeks, it added. With both players ruled out of the last two Tests in the four-match series, Virat Kohli and Pragyan Ojha have been named replacements. Zaheer Khan missed a major part of the first Test at Lord's, which India lost by 196 runs, and could not play the second Test because of a hamstring strain.

Then, Gautam Gambhir was forced to sit out of the Nottingham Test, which India lost by 319 runs, after fault to recover from the elbow hurt he sustained in the first Test. Virender Sehwag, who missed the first two Tests in a bid to recover from a shoulder injury, will join the squad on Wednesday, but questions marks appear over his availability for the upcoming Tests at Birmingham and Oval.

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Rahul Dravid was the only cause to cheer about as he is now on the brink of breaking into the top 10.First innings centurion Ian Bell climbed into the top five in the Reliance ICC Test Rankings after recording a career-high batting rating after his show at Trent Bridge. Stuart Broad moved to the third spot in the all-rounder rankings, while he has also jumped to seventh place in the bowling table following match figures of 8-76.

Rahul Dravid, who made his second successive Test match hundred of the series, has continual his surge up the rankings, rising four places to joint 11th. There are already three India batters in the top 10, with Sachin Tendulkar (3rd), VVS Laxman (9th) and Virender Sehwag (10th) just ahead of Dravid.Bell recorded his fourth century in the space of six Test Matches at Trent Bridge and is now just 16 rating points behind teammate Jonathan Trott, who has slipped two places in the rankings to fourth position.

Matt Prior (21st), Stuart Broad (44th) and Tim Bresnan (joint 75th) have also achieved new career-high ratings following England’s 319-run victory which gave it a 2-0 lead in the four-match series. However, it is not all good news for England’s batters, as Alastair Cook has slipped six places to 11th position following a disappointing series in which he has made just 20 runs in four innings.

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Virender Sehwag will be leaving for England on Wednesday morning to join the Indian team, which is 0-2 down in the four-match Test series. India got a 319-run defeat by England in the second Test at Trent Bridge after down the first Test at Lord’s by 196 runs.

“Virender Sehwag will fly to England early tomorrow morning to join the Indian cricket team,” said BCCI secretary N. Srinivasan in a statement on Tuesday.

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Sania Mirza won her third WTA doubles title of the season and 12th overall as she and Yaroslava Shvedova pipped Olga Govortsova of Belarus and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia in the final of the Citi Open. Defending their top billing, the Indo-Kazakh pair overcame their second seed challengers 6-3 6-3 after one hour and five minutes struggle.

Sania paired with Yaroslava for this competition since her regular Tour partner, Elena Vesnina, decided to skip the event. She had victory at Indian Wells and Charleston with Vesnina and fell in the final of the French Open. Sania and Yaroslova provided chances to their rivals but prevented damage by saving eight break chances in the second set. The winners shared USD 11,000 and earned 280 ranking points each.

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Down 2-0 in the four-Test series and their No.1 status in risk, MS Dhoni admitted that a cramped schedule and lack of rest after the West Indies series were the factors in charge for their dull show. He, however, hoped that with significant amount of rest before the next Test, India will be looking forward to a turnaround in the remaining two matches of the series.

"Somebody said time is of essence here. We came directly from the Caribbean and didn't have time to play more than one practice game. So we are playing seven and not four matches back-to-back," said Dhoni after India suffered a crushing 319-run defeat at the hands of England in the second Test at Trent Bridge.

With Virender Sehwag set to join the squad tomorrow, and Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan likely to be fit for the third Test at Edgbaston on August 10, Dhoni spoken hope of a comeback in the series. The series so far though has been hard on India, the world's best Test side, and Dhoni admitted that his famous batting line up needs to fire to give the visitors any hope of a turnaround.

England 221 (Broad 64, Praveen 3-45) and 544 (Bell 159, Pietersen 63, Morgan 70, Prior 73, Bresnan 90, Praveen 4-124) beat India 288 (Dravid 117, Laxman 54, Yuvraj 62, Broad 6-46) and 158 (Tendulkar 56, Bresnan 5-48) by 319 runs

Dravid’s 34th century, leaving him now fourth behind Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting At the moment, though, he is in even more company: Sunil Gavaskar and Brian Lara, equally of whom have also gather up 34 tons.

Dravid, however, has his feet definitely on the ground. "I don't compare myself with Gavaskar. He is such a legend of the game," he said, late in the evening, after he saw his amazing effort being overshadowed by Stuart Broad and an Indian collapse.

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