The quarterfinal clash between Australia and India, on Thursday, is not only about who stays in the hunt for the title but also about two of game’s modern day greats Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting squaring off in a World Cup game for what appears to be one last time.

The two ageing warriors would like to stamp their superiority and propel their side to the last four stage on March 24 at Motera’s Sardar Patel Stadium.

Neither of the two is expected to be around in 2015 when the next edition is scheduled to be held Down Under.

In the previous meeting between the two sides in the World Cup, that took place in the summit clash of the 2003 edition in Johannesburg, Ponting came out trumps with his unbeaten century took the game away from India even before the Men In Blue came out to bat.

Ponting’s blistering 140 not out, in only 121 balls with a staggering eight sixes and 4 fours, had propelled Australia to an imposing 359 for two.

Chasing the huge Australian total, Tendulkar could score only 4 and despite Virender Sehwag’s run-a-ball 82, India fell well short of the target and Australia walked away with cricket’s most coveted prize for the second edition running.

On Thursday, in front of a vociferous 50,000-strong crowd, the Indian master has the chance to make ample amends for what happened eight years ago and also step into the record books as the first batsman to have scored 100 centuries combined in both forms of cricket – Tests and ODIs.

Tendulkar has had a very good tournament individually, with superbly crafted tons against England and South Africa at the league stage, though both efforts could not power India to victories, with the first match tied and the second ending in a narrow defeat.

Ponting, on the other hand, has had a horrendous run with the bat. In six matches, he has mustered a miserly 102 runs with 36 being his best effort at a poor average of 20.40, less than half his 358-match career average.

Ponting’s ODI average in India against the hosts is also an impressive 44.86 from 24 games, but the second and last of his two hundreds in this country was notched eight years ago in Bangalore.

The Tasmanian has looked a pale shadow of his domineering style and is under tremendous pressure to keep his captaincy though teammate Michael Hussey felt otherwise.

Hussey brushed aside reports in Australia that Ponting’s captaincy was at stake, at a media conference here today and said the entire team was backing the struggling skipper.

“No worries at all. He has been fantastic, best man for the job and has been for a long time. He’s certainly got the full support of all team members,” Hussey said.

Ponting has also been lambasted in the media for losing temper on the field of play and off it too, as well as for not walking after clearly edging behind the stumps while Tendulkar did the exact opposite a day later and was hailed for his sportsmanship.

“He’s been criticized over minor things. They have been blown out of proportions. He’s been playing well and just like a champion rises to the occasion at the right time, on Thursday we will see the best of Ricky Ponting,” Hussey said in his skipper’s defence.

In five duels against Australia in World Cups, Tendulkar’s best effort thus far has been a splendid innings of 90 in a league game at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium in 1996, and his average against them is a modest 28.20 spread over four World Cups.

Thursday’s match provides both these stalwarts, among the all-time great batsmen in the game, a last chance to impose their stature in head-to-head battles in the premier ODI tournament.

England crushed Australia by an innings and 71 runs after a spectacular collapse of wickets early on the final day in the second Ashes Test at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday.

The tourists ran through the Australians after snaring the important wicket of Mike Hussey and spinner Graeme Swann finished with five wickets for 91.

It was England’s first Test victory in Adelaide since 1995 and their 100th overall against Australia.

Australia now have the difficult task of having to win two of the remaining three Tests to overhaul England and win back the Ashes they lost last year.

England are now well on track to winning an Ashes series in Australia for the first time since 1986-1987.

England thoroughly deserved their comprehensive victory after skittling Australia for 245 on Friday’s first day and replying with a massive 620 for five declared, to hold a 375-run innings lead.

The tourists broke through with the big wicket of Hussey, and claimed three wickets in four balls with James Anderson removing Brad Haddin and Ryan Harris with successive balls and Marcus North following two balls later to Swann.

Hussey, who has been Australia’s best-performing batsman in the series with 195 in first Brisbane Test and 93 in the first innings in Adelaide, was out for 52 in the third over of the second new ball by Steven Finn.

Hussey attempted a pull shot but top-edged to mid-on where James Anderson pocketed the catch to the delight of the Barmy Army fans on the scoreboard hill behind him.

Wicketkeeper Haddin, who scored 136 in the first Brisbane Test, fell on first drinks caught behind off Anderson for 12 and the ball after the break Harris was out lbw for a first-ball duck.

North was out lbw to Swann after an England referral and it was only a matter of time before England mopped up the last wickets of Xavier Doherty and Peter Siddle to claim victory.

England’s win came with news that paceman Stuart Broad had been ruled out for the rest of the Ashes series with torn abdominal muscles.

Broad is expected to leave for home this week to begin his recovery process ahead of next February’s ICC World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Australia are also likely to be without opener Simon Katich for the rest of the series with an Achilles tendinopathy problem.

England amassed their fifth highest innings in Ashes Tests with their 620 for five and their second best in Australia, only surpassed by a 636 scored in Sydney in 1928.

Kevin Pietersen was in bullish mood after launching his Ashes tour with a confident 58 against Western Australia and feels “on fire” after his short stint in South Africa ahead of travelling to Australia.

Pietersen’s form was the biggest boost to come out of the second day at the WACA but the rest of England’s top order struggled as they visitors slipped to 8 for 159 before Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann clubbed a face-saving partnership.

Pietersen hasn’t scored an international hundred since March 2009, against West Indies in Trinidad, and even though England have been successful during his lean run many feel he has to perform for them to retain the Ashes.

Pietersen, given a life in the slips on 25, drove strongly through the off side and used his feet to loft Michael Beer, the left-arm spinner, down the ground before miscuing a drive to gully off Michael Hogan and he said his confidence is now coming flooding back.

“I have never really been a technical player, you’ve seen me play for six years,” he said. “I play like a clown, it is my mental approach that I needed to change. I needed to get a load of confidence back and I’m on fire at the moment, so I am very happy.”

“I really enjoyed today, it is always nice to get time out in the middle,” Pietersen added. “I have been working really hard over the last six weeks to get to a place where I am at at the moment. As I said, coming back from South Africa a couple of weeks I feel top draw again.”

This was his first innings for England since making a first-ball duck in the final Test against Pakistan, at Lord’s, in August. He was omitted for the Twenty20 and one-day series which and signed a loan deal with Surrey before organising his own trip to the Natal Dolphins in a quest to regain his form by linking up with one of his mentors, Graham Ford.

“It was amazing, I have worked with him since I was six or seven years old and he is a great family friend,” he said. “Fordy just knows me. He knows how to sort me out.”

Pietersen insisted that he hasn’t taken any notice of Australia’s problems in recent days as they slumped to a series defeat against Sri Lanka amid talk of disquiet in the team.

“I haven’t watched a single ball,” he said. “My computer is turned on to Skype, and I speak to my wife and my baby as much as I can. I haven’t even turned my television on in Australia; I haven’t read a headline, nothing. Somebody told me this morning that they lost, but that’s got nothing to do with us.”

The Aussie fans seem to have lost all faith in their national cricket team as a nationwide online survey has thrown up verdict that Australia would not win the Ashes this time around.

While a lot of fans still hoped that Australia would regain the Ashes, but 56 per cent believe the Poms will defeat the them on home soil for the first time since 1986-87.

In a poll conducted by the Sunday Herald Sun online, more than 6000 fans took part, with questions ranging from the make-up of the team for the first Test at the Gabba, starting on November 25, to whether there is too much cricket being played.

The people blamed the selectors for Aussie team sliding to No 5 position in the world Test rankings. The poll also showed that they believe that coach Tim Nielsen is a failure and should be replaced by Shane Warne. Besides, an overwhelming 74 per cent said that Michael Clarke should not become the next Test captain.

And while Michael Hussey remained a line-ball selection but Marcus North, who only last week was projected as a future captain, did not get fans’ support.

In fact, people’s verdict said that he did not even deserve to be in the team, with 69 per cent of them saying that he should be dropped.

Meanwhile, 85 per cent voted against Nathan Hauritz as the spin bowling answer for Australia and instead chose young gun Steve Smith as the preferred option.

In other shocking responses, the fans preferred Cameron White to take over Test captaincy from Ricky Ponting.

Also, they voted England’s under-fire batsman Kevin Pietersen as Australia’s biggest danger, just ahead of spinner Graeme Swann.

The other poll results showed that it was time for the selectors to show some faith in youngsters, with more than 82 per cent claiming Australia must promote youth in this summer’s Test series against England.

Most of the fans voted that the chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch must be dumped for former Australian captain Greg Chappell.

Meanwhile, Test cricket was still the preferred form of the game, with 68 per cent voting in its favour. Twenty20 came in third behind the 50-over game.

However, the biggest shock of the survey came as the cricket lovers have all but given up hope on Australia winning back the Ashes this summer.

“What a disastrous build-up to the Ashes this is turning out to be,” Terry of Shellharbour posted.

While Greg Johnston, of Sydney, said: “Where’s our mongrel? We were famous for it, now we couldn’t knock a maggot off a chop!”

Even the Test captain-in-waiting Clarke took a belting from the fans again.

“Clarke is clueless as captain,” Gazza of Newcastle wrote.

Australia’s losing streak has reached seven with the SCG defeat by Sri Lanka on yesterday night. But the fans preferred to hold selectors responsible for the debacle, rather than the players, with 90 per cent claiming the selectors are not doing a good job. While 68 per cent delivered the same scathing verdict on coach Nielsen.

Fans instead want former spin king Warne as the coaching replacement.

Interestingly, the the public was divided on whether players’ wives and girlfriends should be allowed on tour, with more than 53 per cent were in favour of them joining the team over summer.

Australian captain Michael Clarke again failed with the bat as his side lost their first Twenty20 game at home in their one-off international against Sri Lanka at the WACA Ground in Perth on Sunday.

After winning the toss and batting first, the home side, featuring only four players expected to play key roles in the upcoming Ashes series, struggled to 8/133, after slumping to 5/43 in the 11th over.

Sri Lanka cruised to 3/133 in reply, winning with 21 balls to spare, inflicting Australia’s first home defeat in 11 matches.

Clarke went into the game under pressure to retain his spot in the Australian side in the shortest form of the game, as he is averaging just over 20 in the format.

He promoted himself to the top of the order and the move very nearly backfired on the second ball he faced, with an inside edge just missing the stumps.

Clarke should then have been run out on two, when he was sent back by strike Dave Warner and was well out of his ground as the throw by Tillakaratne Dilshan from close range somehow missed.

The 29-year-old briefly looked as if he would capitalise on the good fortune, hitting Dilhara Fernando through mid-wicket for four, before lofting Muttiah Muralitharan, playing his last game in Perth, down the ground for six in the next over.

But on 16, his luck ran out when he lobbed a mistimed drive off Thisara Perera (2/22) down to long on, where a back-pedalling Dilhara Fernando – who had started the Australian rot when he had Warner caught at mid-off for two – misjudged the flight of the ball but stuck out his right hand to cleanly snare a remarkable catch.

Clarke had faced 19 balls, and his departure left the home side struggling at 2/22.

It got much worse though, with Perera then claiming Test opener Shane Watson for four and David Hussey (7) and Cameron White (8) both going cheaply as Australia collapsed to 5/43.

Brad Haddin (35) and Steven Smith (34) then came to the rescue, their 66-run partnership at least giving Australia a modestly competitive total to defend, before both fell in quick succession to Suraj Randiv, who impressed with 3/25 with his off-spinners.

The Sri Lankans had few problems overhauling the total, with captain Kumar Sangakkara unbeaten on 44 and Dilshan making 41.

Cricket India

The one-off T20 between Australia and Sri Lanka will be played at Perth on Sunday, October 31. This will be followed by a three ODI series, that should lead the Aussies into the Ashes 2010. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, are playing in their first international fixture since winning the tri-series in August but the couple of warm-up games in Australia should have helped.

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Sri Lanka had a good start to their tour of Australia when they won the two warm-up games against New South Wales and Queensland. While playing against the main Australian side in Australia will be a different kettle of fish, this could just be their best chance to win a game or two in Australia.

Cricket Australia on Friday approved overseas private investments in its revamped IPL-style Twenty20 tournament from next year, paving the way for Indian companies and individuals to become minority stake holders of the teams.

Announcing the launch of Big Bash Bash Twenty20 League from 2011-12 after the Cricket Australia Board meeting here, CA chief executive James Sutherland said minority private ownership of franchisees has been approved and the process of seeking expressions of interest will start after working out the details.

“The Board has approved investment of minority holdings in each of the respective teams and the details of that will be further contemplated in the coming weeks. It will, over the coming months, consider the terms under which that private investment may take place but the Board is certainly open to that,” Sutherland said at a press conference.

“I think it’s interesting to see the sort of values one might place on these teams based on the investor interest; certainly compared to other sporting franchises or teams around this country it puts these Big Bash teams at an all new level and as high a value as any sporting team in the country,” he said.

Sutherland said various models of private ownership will have to be looked into and details worked out in order to make sure it works for everyone.

“All of the teams may well have private investment, we’ll see how things unfold and what expressions of interest may come through in terms of investment, but as a matter of principle the board has approved minority holdings as being the level of investment they will permit.

“There are certainly opportunities (from private investors) on the table and they are opportunities that will be explored over the coming weeks once we’ve worked through the detail,” said Sutherland who had predicted that the BBL can revolutionise the game just like the Kerry Packer World Series did three decades ago.

Media reports had claimed that Indian companies are waiting to take the plunge by splashing big sums of money in the eight franchisees of BBL once private investment is approved by the CA.

The reports even said that Australia’s most powerful cricket states NSW and Victoria will have Indian part-owners as they have already sold shares to giant Indian corporations for around USD 60 million in return for profits from the IPL-type eight-team Twenty20 tournament.

‘Daily Telegraph’ said Brisbane-based Gautam Adani Group, which lost an IPL bid, is interested in buying stakes in an Australian side for the BBL.

The newspaper said NSW Cricket has set up a separate business entity, known as Blues Inc, to run the state’s Twenty20 franchises, and Indian investors want a 49 per cent share of the company and have all but signed off on a figure of USD 30 million.

Another daily, ‘The Australian’ claimed that NSW had discussions with Jay Mehta, the billionaire co-owner of IPL side Kolkata Knight Riders, about investing in the state’s cricket.

It said that both NSW and Victoria have different four-man consortia from India willing to pay millions of dollars to take a minority share-holding in the new Sydney and Melbourne teams.

Desperate to cash in on the Twenty20 gold rush with the advent of the IPL, CA has brought forward its BBL plans by a year but Sutherland said the new league should not be seen as a competitor to the hugely successful Indian Premier League.

“I don’t think we see ourselves as a competitor to the IPL (in terms of player earnings) and certainly the revenues that the Cricket Australia Big Bash League can generate. In a small market such as Australia it’s not going to be the same as the IPL. But at the same time this league is on the international stage and the teams that play-off in the finals will qualify for the Champions League Twenty20.

“I’d prefer not to go into the specific detail (of which areas are being looked at for the expansion teams) of where we are looking at. We will go through a process of seeking expressions of interest over the coming weeks and we’re very interested in talking to people around the country who think it might be appropriate that a team be placed in a certain region,” he said.

Giving details of the BBL, Sutherland said, “It will be an eight-team competition, six of which will be coming out of the cities that our current state teams play in. They will be city-based teams, not state-based teams and that will in turn be a real change in format. The two additional teams and the venues of which those two teams play will be decided in due course as we work through the process.”

“The competition will be owned, controlled and managed by CA and everyone in Australian cricket is excited about this new Big Bash League; we see it as a fantastic opportunity for the game to grow off the back of the incredible popularity of Twenty20 cricket and to bring new fans to the game of cricket,” he said.

Sutherland said the competition would initially be played over five-six weeks period and it could be expanded in future depending on its success.

“At the moment our plans are for the competition to be played through the prime competition summer period in December and January. There are various models that we have talked about that could see an expansion of that competition over a longer period but in the short-term it will be played over a five to six week period through December, January and perhaps creeping into February in some years.

“In the short term we’re probably talking about where each team plays seven or eight matches and we’ve considered, as the competition grows, not only more matches but more teams joining the competition. Perhaps, in three, four or five years’ time expanding from an eight-team competition to a 10-team competition,” the CA top official said.

Sutherland made it clear that new league will not undermine the importance of other formats of cricket and the famous Boxing Day Test is safe.

“The Boxing Day Test is safe. Our priority rests with international cricket but all of the research we have done very strongly indicates that the enjoyment that people get from the game of cricket can be spread over the three formats of the game or discretely held with one format of the game.

“There are a lot of fans out there that just enjoy Twenty20 cricket and I think that the game of cricket is in a fortunate place in having three successful and popular formats and Twenty20 cricket is certainly one of those formats on the rise,” he said.

“It (BBL) is complimentary to what we are doing with international cricket. We’ve always said that Twenty20 cricket should compliment and not compromise international cricket and that’s really the balance that the Board needs to strike in working through fixturing issues. There’s certainly no consideration at this stage for any exclusive windows for the Big Bash League,” he added.

CA also expects that the league will grow and it will attract foreign players.

“It’s another factor of the Big Bash League that it is already an international competition in the qualification for the Champions League, but having international players play in it – mindful of the fact that international players have international playing commitments for their country – there will hopeful be opportunities for international players to play in the league. We expect that will grow as the competition grows in value and passion around the country and around the world.”

India will be lot more confident when they take on an injury-hit Australia in the second One-day International here on Wednesday.

Apart from India’s valiant lower-order fightback, courtesy Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar, Australia did everything right and were the deserving winners in the first ODI in Vadodara.

While there is still a lot of cricket left in the seven-match series, the injuries to their frontline players have become a headache for the Australians.

Brett Lee and James Hopes will miss Wednesday’s game with elbow and hamstring problems, respectively, while Mitchell Johnson, who twisted his ankle in Vadodara, is also doubtful. As a result, New South Wales Blues’ all-rounder Moises Hendriques has been asked to fly to India as a cover for the pacers.

Australia coach Tim Nielsen is hoping that Johnson would be able to make it for the match. ‘Johnson has woken up a lot better today morning than we thought. We hope that he could be drafted in for the game,’ said Nielsen.

Left-arm medium pacer Doug Bollinger, who was impressive in the Champions League Twenty20 playing for New South Wales and right arm medium pacer Ben Hilfenhaus are expected to fill the vacant slots. In that case, Peter Siddle will have to share the workload of leading the Australian attack.

India’s top-order batsmen faltered while chasing 293 in the Vadodara One-dayer. Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar looked in good touch but could not continue for long. Gautam Gambhir was the only Indian batsmen to get a half-century.

Yuvraj Singh is expected to make his international comeback after being on the sidelines with a finger injury. His presence should bolster the batting line-up.

The bowling, too, was lacklustre in the first match. Praveen Kumar was not penetrative and pressure will be on him to retain his place with Munaf Patel around.

Harbhajan might have done his bit with the bat, but he lacked the sting in his bowling. This will be the first One-Day International in Nagpur since the new stadium was built on the city’s outskirts in Jamtha.

The city last hosted the deciding Test of the India-Australia series in 2008.

Their defeat against Sri Lanka in the tri-series followed by Australia’s win over England in the fourth One-dayer resulted to India dropping to third place in the ICC ODI rankings list.

India were displaced from the top spot within 24 hours of gaining it after their morale-shattering 139-run defeat against the hosts Sri Lanka.

After India’s defeat, Australia defeated England by seven wickets to take a 4-0 lead in the seven-match series, which pushed India to third.

Both India and Australia have 125 points each but the latter are ahead when points were calculated upto decimals, according to the ICC website.

South Africa occupy the top slot. India will take on Sri Lanka in the final of the tri-nation series on Monday in Colombo.

A devastating spell of fast bowling from Brett Lee at Lord’s on Saturday helped Australia to a seven wicket win and an unassailable 4-0 lead in the seven-match one-day series against England.

Lee claimed five for 49 from nine overs to restrict England to just 220 all out from 46.3 overs after they had won the toss in good batting conditions on a sunny morning. It was the ninth time Lee had taken five wickets in a one-day international.

Captain Andrew Strauss continued his good form over the English summer with a top score of 63 in 75 deliveries but he was the only England player to craft any substantial innings.

Australia reached 221-3 in reply with 6.2 overs remaining.

“Our batting hasn’t fired for four games,” Strauss told a news conference. “A few of the guys are low on confidence and one-day cricket is not a game where you can scratch around for too long. You have to play in a positive fashion.

“We have had some partnerships but no telling partnerships and no telling scores. The batting group has got to be better, it is as simple as that.”

Michael Clarke, who stood in as captain in the first three matches when Ricky Ponting took a break in Australia, finished the match with an unbeaten 62, while opener Tim Paine made 51 and Ponting stroked 48.

While Australia will be seeking a 7-0 whitewash after losing the Ashes series 2-1, England need to regain credibility and confidence before the ICC Champions Trophy begins in South Africa later this month.

Lee, who missed the entire Ashes series through injury, made the initial breakthrough when he had Joe Denly caught at first slip for 11. He later bowled Matt Prior (29), Luke Wright (12), Adil Rashid (4) and Stuart Broad (2) with dipping, swinging yorkers in excess of 145 kms an hour.

England lost their last five wickets for just 20 runs in 22 balls. Off-spinner Nathan Hauritz claimed two for 23 from 10 accurate overs that strangled the England run rate.

Strauss was out top-edging a slog-sweep off Hauritz, while Owais Shah was caught for 39 from a Shane Watson full toss that he felt should have been called a no-ball.

“That meant a lot, to take a five-for and to get it at the home of cricket at Lord’s is a very special moment,” Lee said.

“You always treasure the fact you get to play at Lord’s. It is something that is very special in my career.”

“Now being 4-0 up and after winning the series this next game is very important. The chance to win the next three is something that we will be eyeing up but we don’t want to look too far ahead and become complacent.

“It would be easy to think with the series won that we have done the hard work, but the hard work starts now.”