Kiwi Oram retires from Test arena

Oram has over 2,000 runs and 130-plus wickets to his name in ODIs

Injury-plagued New Zealand all-rounder Jacob Oram has confirmed his retirement from Test cricket.

The 31-year-old has quit the long form of the game in an effort to prolong his international career.

He will remain available for the shorter versions of the game - Twenty20 and one-day internationals.

"This decision has been a very tough one and has not been made without careful consideration and discussion with those closest to me," Oram said.

The last few years have shown that my body cannot handle the strains and stresses that come with being an all-rounder, playing all three formats for up to 10 months a year.

"For the sake of longevity I have had to make a decision that will decrease my workload, so I can concentrate all my efforts on the shorter forms of the game."

Oram said aside from injuries, the pending arrival of his first child next month and a chance to spend more time with his family were factors in his decision.

"I have attempted to delay any decision about my future career path for some time now," he added.

"However in light of my latest injury at the Champions Trophy it has became clear to me that now is the time to sacrifice something to try and stay in the game longer.

"I am hoping this decision extends my career. I do not want to put an exact time frame on that, as I have learnt that sometimes my body and my mind are on different wavelengths."

Oram, who plays for the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League, said he was hoping to feature at the ICC World Cup in 2011.

The 6ft 6in medium pace bowler and left-hand batsman has a history with injuries restricting his appearances for New Zealand since his debut in 2002.

He has suffered from various back ailments, fractures to his fingers as well as Achilles and calf muscle problems and last month failed to make it to the Champions Trophy in South Africa after straining his hamstring in training.

He said he would leave the Test arena with some regrets after only featuring in 33 Tests since his debut in 2002.

"I have really enjoyed my Test career and I leave that format with many fond memories. I would be lying if I said I had no regrets, however these feelings were not powerful enough to make me reconsider this decision."

Oram scored 1,780 Test runs at an average of 36.3, including five centuries, and picked up 60 wickets at an average of 33.

New Zealand Cricket CEO Justin Vaughan said he understood the decision for Oram to cut back on his workload. "Jacob has made a tremendous contribution to our Test team over the past seven seasons, and his experience will be missed," said Vaughan.

"But we fully understand the difficulties he has faced with injuries - and we hope this decision will help him prolong his playing career."

Oram will remain on a contract with NZ Cricket but will slide down the ranking list.

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Australia retain Champions Trophy

ICC Champions Trophy final, Centurion:
Australia 206-4 (45.2 overs) beat New Zealand 200-9 (50 overs) by six wickets

Shane Watson's magnificent knock featured 10 boundaries and four sixes

Shane Watson's second successive century ensured Australia held on to the Champions Trophy with a six-wicket win over New Zealand at Centurion Park.

Watson, aided by Cameron White (62), rebuilt Australia's innings from 6-2 to take them past their target of 201.

White fell to Kyle Mills (3-27) but Watson hit two sixes in a row to end the match and finish unbeaten on 105.

Earlier, spinner Nathan Hauritz (3-37) helped restrict New Zealand to 200-9, with Martin Guptill (40) top-scoring.

Although a fiery opening new-ball spell from Mills and Shane Bond had given the Black Caps fresh impetus with two quick wickets inside three overs, Watson and White batted with intelligence and composure to ensure the world champions leave South Africa as the world's best one-day side in the world.

Bond removed opener Tim Paine, caught at first slip by Ross Taylor in the second over, before Mills snared the key wicket of tournament top scorer Ricky Ponting, trapped lbw in the following over.

Bereft of scoring opportunities, Australia managed just 18 from the 10-over mandatory powerplay, the lowest total in the entire two-week tournament, surpassing New Zealand's modest 22 a few hours earlier.

However, fresh from an unbeaten 136 against England on Friday, Watson greeted the arrival of New Zealand's second-string seam attack with disdain, dispatching anything short and wide for four.

Kyle Mills was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers

Although White succumbed to Mills - the second of his three dismissals - for 62, Watson continued his sensational form, smashing two successive sixes off Jeetan Patel to bring up his fourth one-day hundred as well guide Australia to victory with 28 deliveries to spare.

New Zealand's task was made the more difficult when captain Daniel Vettori - one of the stand-out candidates for Player of the Tournament - was forced to withdraw before the match because of a hamstring problem.

With off-spinner Jeetan Patel the only change from the team which beat Pakistan in the semi-final, stand-in skipper Brendon McCullum elected to bat on an energetic - if unpredictable - Centurion wicket.

Rampant after their nine-wicket annihilation of England on Friday, Australia once again named an unchanged XI, with new-ball pair Brett Lee and Peter Siddle instantly extracting pace and sharp bounce from the wicket.

And it was Siddle who made the initial breakthrough, snaring a top edge from a wild McCullum slash outside outside off stump and into the gloves of Paine in the fourth over.

Neither Aaron Redmond or new batsman Guptill could penetrate the vice-like grip as New Zealand limped to 22-1 at the 10-over powerplay.

The run-famine relented with the introduction of second-change bowlers Mitchell Johnson and Watson, with Guptill in particular punishing anything full and outside off stump.

But with New Zealand slowly wresting the momentum in their favour, Redmond recklessly conceded his wicket charging a wide Hauritz delivery in the 19th over, with Paine whipping off the bails in an instant.

The off-spinner landed his second wicket when Guptill returned a simple catch in the 23rd over, ending his promising innings of 40, before Taylor was brilliantly caught by Mike Hussey at backward point off Johnson in the following over to leave New Zealand teetering at 81-4.

Consolidation arrived in the form of Neil Broom and James Franklin, with the pair compiling a patient 65-run stand in 14 overs.

But just after taking the batting powerplay in the 39th over, calamitous running saw Broom gift his wicket to Australia for 37 shortly after a series of confident boundaries.

Franklin departed for 33 in the 41st over as Lee speared a vicious yorker at the left-hander's toe from around the wicket, uprooting the off stump in the process.

Ian Butler became Hauritz's third wicket, trapped lbw, before Patel and Bond took the Black Caps beyond the 200-run mark with a boundary from the final ball of the innings.

Brendon McCullum dropped Cameron White on 14

But despite their electric start with the ball, Kiwi skipper McCullum was left to lament a dropped catch when White was on 14.

The Victoria captain top-edged an attempted pull of Ian Butler high in the air, but the wicketkeeper failed to cling on to a tough chance running backwards towards fine leg.

New Zealand's support seamers could not find the same disciplined lines as Mills and Bond, with Watson, in particular, capitalising as Butler and Franklin dropped short, while off-spinner Patel was lofted with a slog-swept six over mid-wicket.

The Queenslander brought up his 10th one-day 50 from 74 deliveries in the 26th over, although he was fortunate to survive a very confident appeal for leg before against Franklin soon after.

White brought up his half century with a punchy straight drive for four over Butler's head, but his innings came to an abrupt end when he played on to his stumps attempting to shoulder arms to a Mills delivery in the 35th over.

Hussey soon followed, cutting Kyle Mills to point, but Watson took Australia past their winning target in emphatic style to ignite a celebratory pyrotechnic display high in the Centurion night sky.

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Younus rues dropping catch after Pakistan's Trophy exit

Pakistan skipper Younus Khan blamed himself after dropping a crucial catch in the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final defeat against New Zealand, saying the elimination was the biggest disappointment of his career.

"Personally that moment when I dropped Grant Elliott in the semi-final still haunts me and will continue to haunt me," he told reporters on Monday after the team's return from South Africa.

New Zealand edged out favourites Pakistan by five wickets on Saturday after Younus grassed a simple catch off top-scorer Elliott, who was on 40 with 69 runs required from 64 balls to win.

Elliott, who played with a broken thumb, went on to score 75 not out and steer his team into the final against Australia, to be played later on Monday.

Younus, who also had a hairline fracture in his little finger, was disappointed Pakistan could not repeat their successful Twenty20 World Cup campaign.

"It was a trophy I was desperate to win for my country because the ICC Champions Trophy was shifted from Pakistan to South Africa," said Younus, who has been advised four weeks rest.

"I wanted to show the world that even while fighting a war against terror, Pakistani people are a resilient lot and cricket would never die in our country."

The tournament, which had been originally scheduled for last year, was postponed and moved out of Pakistan due to security concerns.

Pakistan next face New Zealand in a one-day series to be played in the Gulf venues of Abu Dhabi and Dubai from Nov. 3.

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