Report

England seized on the advantage gained at Edgbaston as Michael Vaughan returned to form in style, striking a magnificent 166 to lead England's charge on the first day. By the close they were 341 for 5 with Ian Bell, another who has been struggling with the bat, finding form to finish unbeaten on 59. It was an important toss for Vaughan to win on a solid Old Trafford track.

Australia were boosted by the inclusion of both Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath, but their team's fielding let them down, spilling a host of catches. Among other misses, Marcus Trescothick had a let-off on 13, and Vaughan was put down on 41: costly blunders by Adam Gilchrist which helped England shade the day.

Australia's tail wagged ferociously to bring them right back into the first Test on the opening day at a sunny Hove, with three of their lower order posting fifties. England's spinners had reduced Australia to an anaemic 115 for 7, but a strong rearguard fightback left the visitors on a robust 328 for 9 by the close. Holly Colvin, a 15-year-old left-arm spinner from Sussex, took three wickets on debut - and was in reach of a magical hat-trick - but things turned Australia's way from then on as England's heads went down.

Tall, blond, Australian fast bowlers have posed England attacks enough problems for one week - or so you would think. Today it was the turn of Cathryn Fitzpatrick to wreak havoc with the bat. Just as England were firmly on top and turning the screw, she planted her first international half-century. After a less than convincing start, she batted with style and panache to completely alter the course of the game. Nos 9 and 10, Julie Hayes and Shelley Nitschke, joined in the fun with half-centuries of their own to take Australia past the 300-mark and were well-set when stumps were drawn.

Sri Lanka reasserted their superiority at home, scoring 281, the highest total of tournament, and then strangled wickets at regular intervals to keep India down to 263 for 9, and won the Indian Oil Cup, taking the final by 18 runs. Sanath Jayasuriya, that old warrior at whose hands India have suffered so often, and Mahela Jayawardene, helped along by Russel Arnold, put Sri Lanka well on course to victory after Marvan Atapattu won an important toss and batted first.

The early loss of Atapattu, the first of Ashish Nehra's six victims on the day, and the subsequent failure of Dilhara Lokuhettige, sent in as a pinch-hitter, did nothing to dampen Jayasuriya's spirits. Jayasuriya brought up 10,000 ODI runs in style, pulling Irfan Pathan to the square-leg fence. With that milestone out of the way early, Jayasuriya set his sight on a big innings. And you don't usually drop Jayasuriya twice in a final and get away with it.

If yesterday at Edgbaston had been Test cricket at its very best, then today's hopelessly one-sided farce was it at its worst - that it was even labelled as Test cricket was bordering on the ridiculous. It has to be assumed that the Trade Descriptions Act doesn't apply in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe have had many wretched days on the international stage in the last year or so, but at Harare Sports Club today, they plumbed a depth that was spectacular even by their rapidly declining standards.

They were bowled out by New Zealand twice inside a day, only the second side to suffer such a fate. The other were India at Manchester in 1952, but they were caught cold on a miserable and damp Old Trafford track which suited England's bowlers. Zimbabwe had no such excuses. They were at home, and the conditions were not that one-sided.

England pulled off a dramatic victory at Edgbaston, winning by the second narrowest margin in Test history - two runs - to level the series in one of the greatest matches of all time. After a battling 42 from Shane Warne, Michael Kasprowicz and Brett Lee took Australia close in a brilliant rearguard, and when Simon Jones dropped Kasprowicz with 15 runs to go, an improbable win for the visitors suddenly seemed probable. But the other Jones, Geraint, clung on to catch Kasprowicz off Steve Harmison at the death and England had the match in the bag.

They had their hearts in their mouths for much of the morning, though, as Australia's fightback gathered momentum. Nobody had expected this contest would go down to the wire when play resumed with Australia facing a mountainous 107 with two wickets remaining - it would have been the record for a chase at Edgbaston. But they gave the home side much more of a run for their money than they had bargained for.

India entered the final of the IndianOil Cup after scoring a tense seven-run victory over West Indies in Colombo. A century by Yuvraj Singh and a well-paced knock by Mohammad Kaif helped India reach 262 for 4, the tournament¹s highest score, following which a fatal mixture of mounting run-rate and inexperience saw the West Indians stumble out of the competition.

Denesh Ramdin, let off luckily when he was caught plumb in front by Anil Kumble off his first ball, fought until the end, striking boundaries and inventing strokes to throw the bowlers off. Ashish Nehra went at seven an over, Zaheer Khan narrowly evaded being called off for bowling beamers. Ramdin ended unbeaten on 74, an admirable knock from a man who had kept flawlessly in the sweltering heat all afternoon. He followed Runako Morton, whose controlled 84 kept West Indies in the running until the final stretch, even while wickets fell all around him. In between there was Dwayne Smith, who crashed 26 off 12 before Kumble did him in.

Zimbabwe gave New Zealand a scare early on at Harare Sports Club, reducing the tourists to an embarrassing 113 for 5 before a superb partnership between Stephen Fleming (73) and Brendon McCullum (111) turned the tables.Then the slaughter began and Daniel Vettori cashed in with his second Test century to take New Zealand into a strong position by the close.

The day began with Tatenda Taibu putting New Zealand in to bat on what appeared to be a good pitch, though there was a little more grass on it than usual. It traditionally helps seamers early on and Heath Streak, despite a slight groin strain, bowled superbly. He received excellent support from Blessing Mahwire who dismissed the openers in the space of three balls, with Lou Vincent caught in the gully for 13 and James Marshall edging a catch to Taibu behind the stumps for 5. New Zealand at this stage were 24 for 2.

England Under 19 needed just 43.2 overs to bowl out Sri Lanka Under 19, to win by 225 runs at Shenley. Overnight, the home team were 199 for 5, and added a further 37 in five overs this morning, to set Sri Lanka an improbable target of 353. They were never in the chase, with only three batsmen reached double figures, and were dismissed for just 132.

Wicketless in the first innings, Stuart Broad picked up five in the second to destroy Sri Lanka's hopes of holding out for a draw. Broad, son of former England cricketer Chris who is now an ICC match referee, ran through the Sri Lankans to return brilliantly economical figures of 12.2 overs 5 for 17. Only Sachith Pathirana offered resistance, with a turgid knock of 39 from 91 balls.

The two sides face eachother in the second 'Test' in three days, on August 9, at Scarborough.

Steve Harmison struck with the final ball of the day to put England on the brink of a series-levelling victory at Edgbaston, after Andrew Flintoff had produced heroics with bat and ball. Flintoff shrugged off a shoulder injury to smash 73 in a final wicket stand of 50 with Simon Jones; took three wickets, including Ricky Ponting for a duck, and then held a catch to remove Adam Gilchrist.

England claimed the extra half-hour in an attempt to finish the match within three days day but Michael Clarke and Shane Warne resisted amid a flurry of shots. But Harmison bowled a brilliant final over to give a jubilant crowd yet another amazing moment to cheer at the end of another incredible day.

West Indies stormed back into contention in the IndianOil Cup with a convincing 33-run victory over Sri Lanka at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. After fifties from Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Sylvester Joseph had propelled West Indies to a competitive total of 226, their bowlers performed as a tight unit to demolish Sri Lanka's batting. The result means that Sunday's match between India and West Indies becomes a semi-final, but more importantly, it means that West Indies have managed to inject some much-needed pride into a tour that has gone horribly wrong from the start.

After two disastrous Test matches and a couple of below-par performances in the tri-series so far, few would have given them a semblance of a chance against tournament favourites Sri Lanka. West Indies needed to ring the changes and quickly, if they were to put up a fight. And change they did. The most important move of the day was to install Chanderpaul at the top of the order, a place that many would argue should have been his all along. And then, there was the other inspired move to bring in Omari Banks as an additional spin-bowling option. Not only did Banks pick up the key wickets of Mahela Jayawardene and Upul Chandana, the two heroes of Sri Lanka's miraculous victory against India on Wednesday, he also squeezed the flow of runs down to a trickle. With wickets coming from every West Indian bowler who was thrown the cricket ball, Sri Lanka first tripped, then stumbled, and finally collapsed as spectators watched in open-mouthed disbelief. A team of badly-written-off cricketers had just pulled off the unthinkable.