Hamilton (New Zealand), Mar. 20 : India were firmly placed in the driver’s seat on third day of the first Test against New Zealand being played at the Seddon Park in Hamilton, thanks to a master class 42nd Test ton by Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

Having started the day one run in arrears, India piled up a further 242 runs in two sessions before dismissing both New Zealand openers and Kyle Mills, the night-watchman, in 31 overs before stumps.

Hamilton (New Zealand), Mar. 20 : Former internationals are struggling to remember a better maiden test century than the one posted by Jesse Ryder against India in Hamilton this week.

Ryder''s 102 was his fourth successive 50-plus score in tests and came just 10 days after he posted his maiden one-day hundred in Christchurch.

Former Indian international Ravi Shastri marvelled at the way Ryder was able to adapt to his game to the match situation.

"I see him getting many more hundreds, but at the end of it all, he might just rate this as one of his best," Shastri said.

Cape Town (South Africa), Mar. 20 : Australian opener Simon Katich is confident that a 3-0 sweep against South Africa is par for the course, despite the visitors being bowled out for 209 on day one of the Cape Town Test.

South Africa will resume on Friday in control of the dead-rubber match at 0-57, with reluctant opener Ashwell Prince 37 not out and debutant Imraan Khan on 15.

Katich top-scored for the Australians with 55.

Hamilton (New Zealand), Mar. 20 : New Zealand fast bowler Chris Martin is of the view that except for Indian opener Virender Sehwag, most batters respect a decent ball when it is delivered to them.

"Bowling to the likes of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar was not as daunting. Most of the players will respect a decent ball apart from Sehwag," a smiling Martin said.

Martin, who has played 46 Tests for New Zealand, is featuring in his first series against India.

Sydney, Mar. 20 : White Ferns coach Gary Stead has demanded that his side impose themselves on England with the aggressive style that got them within sight of their second World Cup women''s cricket title.

New Zealand enter their fourth World Cup final on Sunday as underdogs against the form side of recent years, who racked up 17 consecutive wins in completed one-day internationals until yesterday''s defeat to Australia which had no bearing on the decider.

Guyana (West Indies), Mar. 20 : Former England cricket captain Kevin Pietersen is insisting that he does not want to lead the side in this summer's Twenty20 World Cup.

In an interview with his Nasser Hussain on Sky Sports to be aired today, Pietersen emphatically said `No' when asked whether he could be persuaded to lead England in the World Twenty20.