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Cricket Australia’s chief executive, James Sutherland, has described as “baseless and outlandish” the claims heard in a London court that Australian players were the biggest match-fixers in the game. The court heard recordings made during last year’s sting in which Mazhar Majeed, the agent and alleged fixing conspirator, claimed to act for Nathan Bracken and knew Ricky Ponting’s manager.Bracken’s manager, Rob Horton, vehemently denied the claims and told the Daily Telegraph that his client was considering taking legal action in London to protect his name, while Ponting’s manager, James Henderson, also dismissed the allegations. Sutherland said he was confident that if the ICC had any inkling of fixing by Australian players, he would have been aware of it.”There is nothing that I have at hand to suggest that these are anything but baseless and outlandish allegations,” Sutherland said. “I’m very confident that through my dealings with the ICC that if there was issues of concern or players who were being monitored or looked at closely that I would understand more about that. The ICC have not told me of anything and on that basis I’m very confident that these are nothing but baseless and outlandish.”These sweeping statements unfairly malign Australian cricketers. If there is one skerrick of evidence we will investigate Australian players. But in my dealings with the ICC I’m very confident that I would know and I would understand if there were concerns about Australian players, or allegations about players, or investigations afoot in regard to Australian players. I have heard none of that.”Sutherland said he would speak to ICC officials on Tuesday about the claims. He said if any Australian player was found to have taken part in match-fixing, Cricket Australia would have no hesitation in issuing a life ban from the game.”There’s no doubt that the game needs to continue to be vigilant,” he said. “The publicity around this is a very clear reminder that there are people out there who want to corrupt the game. It’s very important that we take a position to protect players and officials and the sport itself from being anything but a proper contest.”If there is any issue or any concern, we will investigate them. If we charge players and we find them guilty, we will have no qualms about issuing a life sentence on players who are found guilty of match-fixing.”Paul Marsh, the chief executive of the Australian Cricketers’ Association, said it was “appalling” that the reputations of Australian players had been stained by “someone with a highly questionable reputation”.”Let’s not forget that all of our matches are scrutinised by the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit and there is no evidence whatsoever of Australian players being involved in any form of match fixing,” Marsh said. “In the event that any meaningful, credible information came to light on this issue, we would welcome an investigation, however unless this occurs we should view these allegations as baseless.”Australian cricketers are very well educated about the dangers and consequences of match and spot fixing, and have a strong history in reporting incidents where they have received suspicious approaches. The players and the ACA believe there is no place in the game for match fixing and support the strong penalties in place under the respective ICC and Cricket Australia codes.”

ScorecardSomerset’s Championship title hopes are hanging by a thread after an innings and 61-run defeat to Hampshire.Stand-in captain Alfonso Thomas fell six runs short of his first century in English cricket for the hosts, but that was not enough to prevent Somerset from only picking up two points. Hampshire, meanwhile, are now in with a realistic chance of survival. They have won three of their last four matches and took 23 points from this clash.Somerset resumed on 266 for seven, needing a further 157 to avoid an innings defeat. They held out for 21.2 overs before being bowled out for 362, Tahir claiming four for 125 and Dimitri Mascarenhas three for 70. Thomas was unbeaten on 79 overnight and added 15 before mistiming a drive off Imran Tahir to be caught at mid-on.Somerset at least put up a fight under grey skies, with the weather holding out just enough to avoid the rain break they were hoping for. Thomas, who went in the previous day with his side 132 for six, faced 141 balls and hit 12 fours and a six. Murali Kartik hit 26 in an eighth-wicket stand of 50, while Steve Kirby managed 14.There was even a late flourish from last man Charl Willoughby, who swung lustily to make an unbeaten 23, almost as many as he had managed in his previous 18 Championship innings this summer. Tahir took two of the three wickets to fall, finishing the match by having Kirby caught at point by Chris Wood.Mascarenhas pinned Kartik lbw playing no shot, the fourth Somerset player to be dismissed shouldering arms in the innings. The home side badly missed injured skipper Marcus Trescothick and must now win their last two Championship fixtures away to Yorkshire and at home to Lancashire to have any chance of winning the title.Hampshire face two of Somerset’s title rivals to finish, being away to Lancashire and at home to Warwickshire.

Ant Botha and Naqaash Tahir will both leave Warwickshire at the end of the season.Botha is retiring after a lengthy battle with an elbow injury, while Tahir has been released after 11-year stay at Edgbaston.Botha joined Warwickshire from Derbyshire in 2007 and has been a regular ever since. He finishes his career 4403 first-class runs at 23.92 and 307 wickets at 34.44. “We are desperately sorry to see Ant forced out of the first-class game under these circumstances, as he has played an important part in our success over the past four years,” said director of cricket Ashley Giles.Tahir has been on the fringes of regular first-team cricket for more than a decade but has been unable to nail a place down. At 27 he still has time on his side and his record of 139 first-class wickets at 29.94 may attract interest.”Naqaash has been with us for many seasons since joining the squad as a young player via the development system at Edgbaston,” said Giles. “It is sad to see him leave the club, but he has struggled to maintain a regular place in the side throughout this period.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJames Anderson did the early damage for England as he removed key batsmen in his first spell•Getty Images

It had been inevitable for much of the previous three days but England officially became the No. 1 Test team in the world shortly after 3pm, ending India’s stay at the top with one of their most crushing victories, by an innings and 242 runs. The fourth day didn’t even last until tea as the visitors were dispatched for 244 after James Anderson ripped the top off the batting before Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad chipped in.In theory India had the line-up to at least make England toil for victory, but in reality they have looked a beaten side throughout this match. When Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid fell within the first four overs of the day it was clear Sunday wouldn’t be required although at least India went down swinging as Praveen Kumar clubbed 40 off 18 balls – momentarily looking on course for the fastest Test half-century – and MS Dhoni continued his return to form with an unbeaten 74.Yet all it did was delay the inevitable and when Sreesanth fended at Tim Bresnan, Kevin Pietersen held the catch at gully and England went top of the pile. Although the tables weren’t introduced until 2003 back-dating shows it’s the first time they have been No. 1 since 1979 although that was when West Indies had been severely depleted due to the Packer-era.India, meanwhile, lose their title after a stint of 21 months and will have to dig very deep to try and salvage pride at The Oval. If they lose the series 4-0 they will be down to third. Sachin Tendulkar was the only one of the top six to really show the hunger for a fight and had moved to 40 when Dhoni drove towards Swann, who got his right hand to the ball, deflecting it into the stumps with Tendulkar’s bat on the line. While it’s always a tough way to fall, Tendulkar had backed up a long way which leaves the chance of such a dismissal. Regardless, though, Tendulkar wouldn’t have saved the match for India because of the damage inflicted in the first hour.Anderson didn’t wait long to make an impression; he found Gautam Gambhir’s outside edge with his first ball of the day and the catch was taken by Swann at second slip. Gambhir has shown the ability to occupy the crease in the past – he cited his 436-ball innings at Napier as how India could save this game – but with him removed early the pressure was squarely on Dravid and, of course, Tendulkar. Dravid, though, did not last long but his dismissal appeared to throw up a bizarre set of circumstances.When he played forward to Anderson’s outswinger, the noise suggested a clear outside edge and Simon Taufel gave the decision. However, subsequent replays showed that the sound didn’t quite match the pictures and it appeared Dravid’s shoelace may have flicked the bottom of his bat. Dravid could have reviewed but didn’t take the option and whether there would have been enough clear evidence to overturn the decision will never be known.India were 40 for 3 and sinking fast. Tendulkar gave momentary relief with a couple of sweet drives, but VVS Laxman was given a tough time by England’s fast bowlers. Anderson’s swing and Broad’s extra bounce kept him on nought for 16 balls before Anderson produced another fine delivery to take the outside edge.Broad, meanwhile, tried to take advantage of Tendulkar’s problems with the sightscreen behind the bowler’s arm. In a similar manner to Andrew Flintoff against Jacques Kallis in 2008, Tendulkar was having trouble picking up deliveries from a set of dark windows and Broad probed away with a series of very full balls which he tried to squeeze under Tendulkar’s bat.Tendulkar, though, responded with a fighting effort although a few of his drives came with a hint of frustration – even anger? – at India’s position. The wait for the 100th hundred carries on until at least The Oval and there is a growing sense that it isn’t meant to happen in this series.Before Swann’s literal hand in Tendulkar’s scalp, he’d been brought on to target Suresh Raina and it was an absorbing, if brief, battle. Raina should have gone for 1, but Andrew Strauss couldn’t hold a low chance at gully as Swann tried to add to his lean tally of two wickets in the series. Raina didn’t hold back, crunching a straight drive past Swann’s right hand, then driving over cover, but Swann had the final say when he gained an lbw decision from Steve Davis.Raina wasn’t happy, and even signalled for a review having forgotten they can’t be used for lbws, but replays confirmed Davis was spot on with the ball hitting middle and leg. The fact Raina even considered the DRS showed his frazzled mindset. Swann claimed his second shortly after lunch when Amit Mishra was well caught at mid-off but his figures then suffered at the hands of Praveen with one over costing 21.The fifty stand between Praveen and Dhoni was raised in 28 balls of free swinging to ensure no record defeat for India. The fun ended when Broad was recalled and immediately had Praveen, whose right thumb had been given a battering, caught at cover. Dhoni continued to show the fight that has been so lacking from India, but it had long since become a forlorn effort. His team has had their time at the top, for the time being at least, and now that’s England’s honour. The next challenge is to stay there.

ScorecardBig-hitting Kevin O’Brien underlined his value to Gloucestershire by terrorising the Middlesex attack for the second time in a fortnight.Having smashed the Panthers bowling all around Uxbridge to post a match-winning 119 last month, he meted out further rough treatment, plundering an unbeaten 58 from 29 balls to propel the Gladiators to a welcome 25-run Friends Life t20 victory at Bristol and consign Middlesex to bottom place in the South Group.Veteran campaigner Chris Taylor also contributed a half-century as the Gladiators made 165 for 4 after being put in to bat, the highest score in any T20 game at the County Ground this season.It proved too big an ask for the Panthers, whose lack of touch and confidence was evident as they subsided to 140 for 7. Jamie Dalrymple and Dawid Malan gave the visitors brief hope in a third-wicket alliance of 52 in six overs, but Middlesex lost momentum after the latter was bowled by academy spin-bowling product Jack Taylor for 32.Shot out for a meagre 81 by Glamorgan Dragons in their last Bristol outing on Sunday, the Gladiators owed it to their supporters to put on a better show in this, their final home game of what has been a disappointing campaign.After the swift departure of Kane Williamson, Chris Taylor provided the innings with crucial early momentum, crashing 19 runs off Ryan McLaren’s first over and dominating a stand of 38 in four overs with New Zealander Hamish Marshall.England paceman Steve Finn beat Williamson for pace and Steven Crook had Marshall caught at short mid-wicket, but Taylor continued to score fluently in the face of some wayward bowling, accruing 50 from 33 balls and smiting seven fours and a six.Ian Cockbain offered Taylor valuable support, contributing 28 from 32 balls and playing the anchor role in a third-wicket partnership that yielded 46 runs and provided vital mid-innings momentum.Taylor was eventually stumped by John Simpson for 51 in the act of giving spinner Tom Smith the charge and Cockbain holed out to deep square-leg off McLaren, after which O’Brien took up the cudgels in thrilling fashion.The big Irishman proved especially severe on the hapless Crook, crashing 20 runs from three balls at the start of the final over, twice smashing him to the long-on boundary, then clubbing him for six over cover before swatting a no-ball over square leg for another maximum to make a mess of the seamer’s figures.Middlesex never recovered from the loss in the second over of captain Chris Rogers, the Australian edging a catch behind to give the impressive Ian Saxelby an early breakthrough.It was left to the experienced Dalrymple to carry the fight to Gloucestershire and he top-scored with 36 from 34 balls. But Ed Young ended any hopes of a Middlesex win, dismissing Tom Scollay and Dalrymple with successive deliveries in the 15th over to leave the visitors with a mountain to climb.

At 6’6″, Stuart Broad cannot have been dismissed as a “midget” on too many occasions in his international career, but he could well be made to look like the runt of the litter if, as expected, England field the tallest pace trio in Test history at Lord’s this week. The lanky Steven Finn is standing by to replace the injured James Anderson, but towering above all of his colleagues will be the bona fide beefcake, Chris Tremlett, a man whose sheer physical presence at Cardiff on Monday translated into the most telling spell of his career to date.There’s only a matter of inches separating the heights of England’s three tallest seamers, but with legs like tree-trunks and shoulders that can appear to be the width of the pitch as he bears down on his opponents, Tremlett’s physique has more in common with brick privies than the beanpoles that his team-mates can occasionally resemble. At the age of 29, and four Tests into his second coming as an international cricketer, he has at last found the self-confidence to match his natural aptitude for fast bowling.”Naturally I’m a pretty wide-built guy and I’m a pretty intimidating character to face,” Tremlett told reporters at Lord’s, two days after his spell of 4 for 40 in ten overs had secured a stunning England victory by an innings and 14 runs in the first Test. “I guess I’ve always been a believer in letting the ball do the talking, but in the last couple of years, I’ve become more confident and more aggressive on the field. Being six foot whatever you always have a slight advantage bowling at any batsman.”It took a well-documented shift from the home comforts of Hampshire (where his father Tim is director of cricket) to Surrey for Tremlett to prove he was ready to resume his Test career. However, the impact he has made in his second coming has been staggering. From his five-wicket haul on the first day of the Perth Test to his Ashes-clinching dismissal of Michael Beer at Sydney, he has been in the thick of the action for England, and was at it again in Cardiff this week, when he scalped both Sri Lanka’s openers in the space of eight deliveries to make possible their sensational collapse to 82 all out.Such imposing performances had been anticipated when Tremlett made his Test debut against India four years ago. However, despite some encouraging performances – particularly at Trent Bridge where he claimed six wickets in the match including 3 for 12 to delay India’s victory charge on the fifth morning – there was a certain something lacking from his armoury. “I did try to be aggressive but I guess it was forced a bit, to be honest,” he recalled. “I tried to be someone I wasn’t … it was difficult to be nasty.”He’s finding it rather easier now. As many of the great West Indian fast bowlers would testify, verbal aggression is not a requisite to Test success – witness the silent menace of Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Curtly Ambrose, to name but three. However, in the opinion of his former captain at Hampshire, Shane Warne, Tremlett’s body language betrayed him as a soft touch, a charge the man himself did not dispute.”I won’t disagree with Warney,” he said. “I was a bit timid at times, but the older I’ve got, with more confidence and age, being more aggressive comes more naturally to me, and I guess my competitiveness has gone up, certainly since moving to Surrey. I perhaps held back a bit at Hampshire. These days, I don’t think about it too much – it just happens.”Nevertheless, it was Warne who came up with the one piece of advice that Tremlett has carried into the rest of his career. “If it wasn’t going well for me, for example, bowling no-balls, he said ‘just find a way’. That’s really stuck with me in my career. Don’t look for excuses, keep going and somehow find a way to get the job done.”He did that and more in Cardiff, in a bowling performance that scattered Sri Lanka’s batting in less than 25 overs all told, and left their coach, Stuart Law, ruefully contemplating the challenge of “getting forward to half-volleys that hit you in the chest.” “In the first innings I tried to get it up a little bit but my execution wasn’t quite as good,” said Tremlett. “In the second innings I did get it right, and my rhythm felt a lot better.”Had it not been for Anderson’s side strain, Tremlett might not have been unleashed with the new ball for that decisive spell, but having used the conditions to perfection, it might be a while before England strip him of the honour. “I maybe offer a bit more with the extra bounce you get with a new ball, so I do enjoy bowling with it,” he said. “But I still feel I can play whatever role, new ball or change. I’m pretty flexible on that.”The wicket at Cardiff was particularly slow, so it will be interesting to see what it’s like at Lord’s and whether we’ll go for our shorter bowlers. But myself, Finny and Broad always have that natural advantage over those guys that are 6ft. The short ball is a great weapon – and playing against this team, they are not used to it at times. It could be a plan we’ll go with, but we’ll assess that on the day. It’s something to think of.”The overall impression is of a cricketer who has found his niche. Jonathan Trott, England’s new-crowned player of the year, admitted it took him until his century in the Boxing Day Test to truly feel as though he belonged in the side, and while Tremlett was careful not to tempt fate given his history of injuries, he too admitted he feels at ease in the set-up, and confident of his worth.”The England management know what they’re going to get – whereas maybe a couple of years ago, when I was bit more inconsistent, they didn’t know which Chris Tremlett was going to turn up on the day,” he said. “I guess anything can happen with injuries as a bowler, so I’m not taking anything for granted, and I have had an injury history which will always stick with me in some regards, but it’s great to have had an injury-free year and hopefully that will continue.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Chris Gayle was devastating once again•AFP

In Jamaica the term is used to suggest everything is all right. Royal Challengers Bangalore may as well rename him Criss Gayle. For with Gayle, they criss. Gayle fell 11 short of his third century this IPL, but for 15 overs he played so much above the game that the 37 that came in the five after his exit didn’t look far off par on this surface. Mumbai struggled to replicate Gayle’s impact except with the new ball when they got off to a flying start. Gayle came on then to stifle the openers with a two-run over. The pressure resulted in wickets, everything was criss again, and Bangalore were in the final of the IPL.When batting, Gayle was assisted by Mayank Agarwal, his 20-year-old opening partner yet to make first-class debut, who scored 41 off 31 in a 113-run opening stand. Gayle will be the first one to concede, though, that he couldn’t have found a more accommodating opposition. To begin with, Mumbai Indians opted to bowl on a track where sides batting first have won six out of seven games this season. Then they refused to take the bull by its horn, throwing the new ball to Abu Nechim as opposed to Lasith Malinga. It can be argued that they succeeded in the previous game with Dhawal Kulkarni bowling the first over, but surely against a side as heavily reliant on Gayle as Bangalore they would have unleashed their best bowler right away.Nechim can still argue he hardly bowled a bad ball in that first over, but he still went for 27. The first of the boundaries came off an edge past slip, the second burst through Sachin Tendulkar at mid-off. Nechim, though, bowled length, and Gayle took six, two and four off the rest of the over. Agarwal played his part, foiling Mumbai’s other strategic move of bowling Harbhajan Singh to Gayle. Gayle faced only one delivery in Harbhajan’s two overs at the start, with Agarwal dominating the strike and hitting big, down the ground and with the turn, taking 20 runs.More friendliness followed from Mumbai as Malinga dropped Agarwal at square leg. At 57 for 0 after four, it became a Gayle show. Malinga bowled one good over full of slower ones for just one, but Gayle had his way with the rest of the bowlers. Only Rohit Sharma escaped his wrath, but Agarwal tucked into him with a four and a six. The beauty of the partnership was obvious: the right-hand batsman took care of the offspinners, Gayle everything else. The best of Gayle revealed itself in the 10th over, when Nechim was almost through a decent comeback over for four runs. The last ball, though, hardly left the ground, and yet crashed into the sight screen. Gayle was on 61 off 32 then, Bangalore 111.Rohit dropped Agarwal in the next over, but made amends two balls later. Gayle, however, was not through, and went on to suggest that maybe he didn’t need any shielding from Harbhajan, smacking him for back-to-back sixes over midwicket. Munaf, who held his own along with Malinga, eventually got rid of Gayle with a slightly slower one, and patted Gayle’s back as he walked back. All of a sudden, slower balls started working, the ball started gripping the surface, inside edges appeared, and the batting seemed like hard work. Just how well Gayle batted was further driven home.Despite the early wickets, Tendulkar, through cricketing shots and some improvisation, kept Mumbai’s fans interested with 40 off 24, but ICL returnee J Syed Mohammad produced one sharp offbreak across Tendulkar to get him stumped. Kieron Pollard, who often teases the fans in such chases with late but insufficient hitting, was spectacularly and coolly caught by Abhimanyu Mithun on the edge of the long-on boundary. With the Mumbai dugout right behind him, Mithun stood with his feet six inches inside as the Mumbai extras made way for him, stretched over the boundary and completed the catch one-handed to shut the door on Mumbai. The filmstar Mithun, known for his outlandish stunts, would have been proud.