Siddle strikes but Cook fights for England

Tea England 4 for 172 (Cook 60*, Bell 26*) v Australia
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	Jonathan Trott misses his drive against Shane Watson © Associated Press Enlarge
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Peter Siddle gave England a mid-afternoon shock with two quick wickets after the visitors had fought back from the first-over loss of Andrew Strauss in Brisbane. Siddle bustled in on a slow surface to extract Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood in consecutive overs, leaving Alastair Cook to anchor the innings with a solid half-century which guided England to tea at 4 for 172 alongside a confident Ian Bell.

Cook and Pietersen added 76 to take England into the period where batsmen traditionally dominate in Australia once the ball has gone soft. However, Siddle, playing his first Test since January after suffering a stress fracture of his back, had been picked because of his ability to unsettle batsmen on good pitches and proved his worth. Pitching on a fuller length than his fellow quicks he made one move a fraction to find the edge of Pietersen's drive and produced a very similar delivery to have Paul Collingwood taken low at third slip.

Collingwood is known to be a dodgy starter but Pietersen had looked in fine fettle, as good as he has at Test level since before his Achillies injury. Pietersen's first boundary was a sweet straight drive and he wore the expression of a man on a mission as he picked off a further five fours. He also seemed intent on attack Xavier Doherty during an intriguing mini-battle and Australia were relieved to end it when they did.

Cook was one of England's batsmen to enter this series with an unflattering record against Australia and shouldn't have survived the first session when he was dropped at point on 26 by Doherty. That, though, was his only mistake as he refused to chase anything wide and waited for the bowlers to drift towards the pads.

 He pulled Mitchell Johnson through midwicket for his first boundary then started after lunch with a sweet clip and picked off Doherty with ease.

Bell, fresh from his superb 192 against Australia, began with two crunching cuts off Siddle and showed his intent by coming down at Doherty. Australia used up their second review when Simon Katich - fielding at short leg - was convinced Bell had edged behind off Johnson but there was no TV evidence to support him.

The beginning to such an eagerly anticipated series was always likely to be a nervous affair but England added another instalment to their list of horror starts. 

After events on this ground four years ago all eyes were on the first ball of the day and the opening delivery from Ben Hilfenhaus sailed harmlessly past off stump. However, it didn't take long for the series to burst into life as two balls later Strauss tried to cut one that was a little too close to his body and picked out Mike Hussey at gully.

The England captain stood there, head in hand for a moment, before turning for the dressing room as the Gabba erupted to the cheers of the home support. Strauss had made two hundreds during England's near-perfect warm-up period and Australia knew how vital the scalp was. It took the visitors until the third over to open their account and that was an edge to third man by Trott, who then had to survive a heart-stopping referral when Siddle's lbw shout was sent to the third umpire but pictures confirmed it was just clipping leg stump.

However, steadily he and Cook evened the scales. Trott provided some impetus with a neat flick through the leg side and two swivel-pulls to fine leg, but was also rather skittish at stages as he edged short of second slip and got a leading edge towards point trying to work through midwicket.

He had appeared to survive the examination when the ball was thrown to Shane Watson who started loosely, but Trott gave his innings away with a loose drive against an inswinger which took off stump. England believe they can target Watson as a weak link in the Australian attack so providing him an early wicket will have been a disappointment, but Watson's full length was a lesson to heed on this pitch.

England recover from Strauss blow

Lunch England 2 for 86 (Cook 29*, Pietersen 23*) v Australia
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	Jonathan Trott misses his drive against Shane Watson © Associated Press Enlarge
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England added another entry to their list of horror starts to Ashes series when they lost Andrew Strauss third ball at Brisbane, but they recovered their composure during an enthralling session to reach lunch on 2 for 86. Alastair Cook showed impressive composure alongside Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott was the other casualty when he gave away a promising innings against Shane Watson, but it's hard to split the teams after the early skirmishes.

The session could have been Australia's if Xavier Doherty hadn't spilled Cook's cut shot at point 10 minutes before the interval and the pace bowlers will consider that they didn't make the most of the new ball with inconsistent lines. Throw in the first use of UDRS for the series against Trott and an early taste of Pietersen's trial by left-arm spin against Doherty and the opening two hours of this much-hyped series couldn't have offered much more.

Strauss did his first job of the day right by winning the toss and, despite a green tinge to the pitch, taking the expected decision to bat first. After events on this ground four years ago all eyes were on the first ball of the day and the opening delivery from Ben Hilfenhaus sailed harmlessly past off stump. However, it didn't take long for the Ashes series to burst into life as two balls later Strauss tried to cut one that was a little too close to his body and picked out Mike Hussey at gully.

The England captain stood there, head in hand for a moment, before turning for the dressing room as the Gabba erupted to the cheers of the home support. Strauss had made two hundreds during England's near-perfect warm-up period and Australia knew how vital the scalp was. It took the visitors until the third over to open their account and that was an edge to third man by Trott, who then had to survive a heart-stopping referral when Peter Siddle's lbw shout was sent to the third umpire but pictures confirmed it was just clipping leg stump.

However, steadily he and Cook evened the scales. Trott provided the impetus with a neat flick through the leg side and two swivel-pulls to fine leg, but was also rather skittish at stages as he edged short of second slip and got a leading edge towards point trying to work through midwicket.

He had appeared to survive the examination when the ball was thrown to Watson who started loosely, but Trott gave his innings away with a loose drive against an inswinger which took off stump. England believe they can target Watson as a weak link in the Australian attack so providing him an early wicket will have been a major disappointment.

Cook, though, remained impressively solid as the quicks strayed a little wide as they tried to trouble him outside off and when they straighten up Cook worked through the leg side. His only boundary was a convincing effort as he latched onto a pull through midwicket off Mitchell Johnson, but he was given a huge left off on 26 when Xavier Doherty dropped a fairly simple chance at point off Watson.

Pietersen, meanwhile, settled himself in relatively calm fashion considering the often hyperactive way he starts an innings. He wasted no time in imposing himself against Doherty by advancing down the pitch but the early turn on offer won't have gone unnoticed by either camp.

Soderling keeps challenge alive

LONDON (AFP) Swedish fourth seed Robin Soderling defeated Spains David Ferrer 7-5, 7-5 on Tuesday to keep alive his bid to reach the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals.
Soderling and Ferrer had both lost their opening Group B matches in the prestigious end-of-year event at Londons O2 Arena, so the loser of this clash was almost certain to be eliminated.
It is the former French Open finalist who remains in with a chance of reaching the last four if he can beat Roger Federer in the last round of group matches on Thursday.
However, Soderlings win also meant Federer needs a victory from that game to be sure of qualifying himself, so the Swede wont be overly confident of making it through just yet.
Soderling said: It was an okay match. I served very well, especially in the first set. But it was a close match, two really tough sets. Im lucky that I won.
I still feel that I have a lot of things that I can improve. Hopefully I can do that. This was a really important win. Now at least I have the chance to make it to the semis.
Ferrer, the seventh seed and 2007 Tour Finals runner-up, will face Andy Murray knowing his fate is all but sealed already.
He added: I tried to do my best. I fought to win the second set. But Robin played better than me and he had more chances all match. He served really well.
After playing each other five times already this year, these two could have been forgiven for being sick of the sight of each other.
Soderling had the slight edge with three wins and he arrived in London full of confidence after his victory at the Paris Masters earlier this month lifted him to a career-high fourth in the world rankings.
The 26-year-old has often thrived in indoor events but he had been well below par during a comprehensive defeat against Murray on Sunday.
He was back to something like his best this time.
Following Federers sublime display against Murray earlier in the day, this was a rather more prosaic encounter.
The opening stages of the first set were comprised mostly of gruelling baseline rallies, so it was something of a surprise when Ferrer saved a break point in the sixth game by flicking a fine volleyed winner.
That was a rare moment of artistry in a hard-fought but uninspiring set which Soderling took when he converted the third of three set-points on Ferrers serve with a superb forehand winner down the line.
Soderling was starting to find his range with that booming forehand now and, after missing a break point at the start of the second set, he pressured Ferrer into more mistakes as he broke in the sixth game.
To his credit, Ferrer kept going and from 5-2 down he recovered to level the set after breaking Soderling as the Swede served for the match.
But, just as a comeback seemed on the cards, Ferrer sprayed a forehand wide to give Soderling a match-point which he gleefully accepted thanks to another error from the Spaniard.

Milan, Marseille through, Arsenal made to wait

PARIS (AFP) AC Milan and Marseille reached the Champions League last 16 on Tuesday, but Arsenals hopes of joining them are in the balance following a shock defeat at Sporting Braga. Seven-time champions Milan were made to work hard before emerging from their trip to Auxerre with a 2-0 victory that secured second place in Group G behind Real Madrid. The French side had procured all the clear-cut chances until Zlatan Ibrahimovic blasted Milan ahead in the 64th minute, with substitute Ronaldinho curling home in injury time to complete the victory. We were under heavy pressure at the start of the match and we felt a little bit trapped inside our penalty area, but everything finished well, said Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri. Real made sure of top spot in the group and continued their unbeaten record in this seasons competition by thrashing Ajax 4-0 in Amsterdam. Karim Benzema broke the deadlock by side-footing into the roof of the net in the 36th minute, with full-back Alvaro Arbeloa doubling the Spanish sides lead with a long-range rocket just before half-time. A second-half brace from Cristiano Ronaldo, the second a penalty, set the seal on a comfortable victory, but Real had Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos sent off for two bookable offences late on. Both players received their second cautions for time-wasting and will now miss Reals final group game at home to Ajax. French champions Marseille had earlier secured their place in the knockout round with an impressive 3-0 win at Spartak Moscow. Beaten 1-0 in the reverse fixture in September, Marseille had to win to make sure of second place in Group F and they assumed control of proceedings in the 18th minute through a smart turn and finish by Mathieu Valbuena. Valbuenas France international colleague Loic Remy made it 2-0 nine minutes into the second half, before Brandao fired into the bottom-right corner to rubber-stamp Marseilles progress. Spartak saw Brazilian striker Welliton dismissed between Marseilles second and third goals after an altercation with OM centre-back Souleymane Diawara. It is important for the club, said Marseille coach Didier Deschamps. I am a very, very satisfied coach this evening, both with how we played and the result. In the other group fixture, a youthful Chelsea side came from a goal down to win 2-1 at home to Slovakians MSK Zilina and preserve their 100 percent record in this seasons competition. Two late goals from Matheus saw Arsenal slump to a 2-0 defeat at Braga that means Arsene Wengers side must beat Partizan Belgrade in their final group match to be sure of reaching the next stage. Arsenal had a strong penalty appeal turned down after Carlos Vela went down in the penalty area under a challenge by Alberto Rodriguez and within minutes Mateus had scampered through to put the hosts ahead. The Brazilian striker crashed home his second in injury time, and Arsenals disappointment was compounded by the sight of captain Cesc Fabregas limping off with an apparent hamstring injury. What is the fifth official doing if he cant see that? said Wenger of the penalty incident. Its an absolutely useless system. Other than that, it was a difficult game against a team that used all the tricks to slow the game down. Shakhtar Donetsk won 3-0 at Partizan and are now virtually assured of a place in the next phase. Roma produced the performance of the night to come back from 2-0 down to beat last seasons beaten finalists Bayern Munich 3-2 at Stadio Olimpico. Two goals from in-form Mario Gomez had put Bayern on course for victory, but well-worked strikes by Marco Borriello and Daniele De Rossi drew Roma level before Francesco Totti netted the winner with an 84th-minute penalty. It wasnt easy, especially in the first half, but the players were magnificent, beamed Roma coach Claudio Ranieri. Roma now trail already-qualified Bayern by three points in Group E and will progress if they avoid defeat at CFR Cluj, who lost 1-0 at Basel, in their final group game. Ronaldo scores double as Real outclass Ajax A double from Cristiano Ronaldo formed the centrepiece of a masterclass by Real Madrid here on Tuesday as they eased to a 4-0 away win over Dutch side Ajax in their Champions League Group G clash. The Portuguese star scored twice in the second-half after first-half goals by Karim Benzema and a stunning effort by Alvaro Arbeloa had put them in cruise control mode - the only blot on their evening were two late sendings off of World Cup winning duo Xabi Alonso and Sergi Ramos. Ajax coach Martin Jol had gone for broke in his line-up with three strikers - including Uruguayan Luis Suarez despite his being punished by the club for a biting incident at the weekend - and two attacking midfielders. Jol probably hoped Jose Mourinho would use the match to try some of his second choice players but the Portuguese maestro resisted the urge and injured players apart it was a first choice team that kicked-off. Benzema - who showed his class with a goal against England in the friendly victory last week - shot home from just inside the area after Mesut Ozil had defly knocked back with his heel Alonsos perceptive long pass. Ajax had little bit in attack as Suarez was swamped whenever he got a sniff of the ball and it was no surprise when the visitors struck again shortly before half-time. Ronaldos freekick rebounded off the wall but Arbeloa had no hesitation in trying his luck from way outside the area and his swerving effort left hosts keeper Maarten Stekelenburg rooted to his line. Ronaldo should have made it 3-0 in the 47th minute as Benzema found him and he twisted free of his marker to be one on one with Stekelenburg but the Dutch keeper somehow managed to get down and deflect the shot over the bar leaving the Portuguese superstar shaking his head in disbelief. He was not to be denied in the 70th minute, though, as set up by Argentinean substitute Angel di Maria he made no mistake as he shot past Stekelenburg and 10 minutes later he converted a penalty.

Misbah helps Pakistan draw Proteas series

ABU DHABI (AFP) Misbah-ul-Haq played a captains knock of 58 not out to salvage Pakistan a draw in the second Test against South Africa and finish the two-match series without a result.

Misbah, who scored an unbeaten 76 in the drawn first Test in Dubai last week, countered South African bowlers on a weary fifth day pitch at Abu Dhabi Stadium, taking Pakistan to 153-3 after they were set a 354-run target in 82 overs.

Misbah added 87 for an unbroken fourth wicket stand with Azhar Ali, who made 28 not out, after South Africa threatened to run away with a victory taking three wickets in the space of eight balls soon after lunch.
But Misbah, leading Pakistan for the first time in Tests, in the company of Ali foiled the away side, finishing with 10 boundaries during his 140-ball match-saving knock.

Ali, who hit three half-centuries in the previous three innings of the series, struck two boundaries and ably supported his captain.

South Africa had declared their second innings at 203-5 after batting for half an hour on the final morning, but ran out of time to enforce a result on a pitch which gave very little response to the bowlers.

Pakistan, ranked sixth in ICC (International Cricket Council) Test ranking, can take heart from their crisis-hit build-up to the series as they stopped Tests second best team from winning any of the two Tests.

Pakistan, however, have still not won any Test series since beating the West Indies at home in 2006, losing their last six and drawing four.

Misbah said it had taken a team effort to keep South Africa at bay.

This drawn series will build our confidence for the next series, said Misbah whose team next tour New Zealand for three Twenty20, two Tests and six one-day starting from late next month.

We have lacked consistency in Tests, but in this series everyone chipped in with performances, which was good, said Misbah.

Stand-in South African captain Jacques Kallis termed the result-less series as frustrating.
They were a frustrating two matches, but we can look back at some positive performances and go back home to take India next month, said Kallis of the three-Test, five one-day and one Twenty20 series at home next month.

Pakistan had raced to 66 without loss at lunch, but off-spinner Johan Botha provided the much-needed breakthrough by trapping Taufiq Umer leg-before for 30, before Harris trapped Mohammad Hafeez (34) and Younis Khan (nought) in his next over.

South Africa could have got Ali out in one Morne Morkel over, but wicket-keeper Mark Boucher hesitated to go for an edge when the batsman was on eight.

South Africa - led by Kallis after captain Graeme Smith injured his finger on Tuesday and was unable to take to the field - used five bowlers but failed to make any further inroads.
Resuming at 173-4, South Africa, looking for quick runs, added 30 in as many minutes before they declared the innings, giving their pace-cum-spin attack 82 overs to force a result.

Paceman Umar Gul removed Mark Boucher (15) in the second over of the day to check South African progress. Ashwell Prince remained unbeaten on 47, while Johan Botha finished with seven not out when the innings was declared.

Left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman, who hit a career-best 60 to save Pakistan from follow-on on Tuesday, finished with 3-81. AB de Villiers, who hit South Africas highest Test score of 278 not out, was declared man-of-the-match.

South Africa won the preceding two-match Twenty20 series 2-0 and the five-match one-day series 3-2, a tour shifted to United Arab Emirates because of security fears in Pakistan.

SOUTH AFRICA, first innings: 584-9 dec
PAK, first innings: 434 SOUTH AFRICA, second innings (overnight 173-4)
Petersen c Younis b Rehman35
Hashim Amla b Rehman62
Villiers lbw b Rehman25
Kallis c Umer b Hafeez10
A. Prince not out47
M. Boucher b Gul15
J. Botha not out7

EXTRAS: (lb1, 1nb)2
TOTAL: (for five wkts dec, 55 overs)203
Fall of wickets: 1-81, 2-113 , 3-130, 4-148, 5-182

BOWLING
Gul7-0-32-1
Ahmed5-1-29-0
Rehman22-1-81-3
Sami5-0-28-0 (1nb)
Hafeez16-4-32-1

PAKISTAN, second innings

Hafeez lbw b Harris34
Taufiq lbw b Botha30
Azhar Ali not out28
Younis lbw b Harris0
Misbah-ul-Haq not out58

EXTRAS: (lb2, w1)3

TOTAL: (for three wkts, 67 overs)153
Wickets: 1-66, 2-66, 3-66

Bowling: Steyn 13-2-40-0, Morkel 11-3-29-0, Harris 23-14-28-2, Kallis 2-0-13-0 (1w), Botha 17-4-40-1, Petersen 1-0-1-0