England beat Australia in 2nd Test - Flintoff leads England to a historic win

Andrew Flintoff took 5 wickets to triumph over Australia in the 2nd Test of the Ashes series at Lords. This being England first win against Australia at Lord has some historic importance to it as well. Flintoff in his final series bowled his heart out with all vigour. His bouncers were targeted perfectly at the batsmen putting them in awkward position to play their strokes.

Australia was completely outplayed in this test match first by Andrew Strauss and now by Andrew flintoff. Graeme Swann too helped in the bowling attack with his offering of spin bowling and claiming wickets at vital parts of the game.

Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin’s partnership which had given some hope for the Australians on day 4 ended early as Haddin was taken by Andrew Flintoff. Mitchell Johnson also put in a brave act by scoring 63 valuable runs.

Andrew Flintoff was declared the Man of the Match a close contender was Andrew Strauss, which determines the one sided win of England.

Read full story

Pakistan v Sri Lanka 3rd Test Live Cricket Scores, Live Commentary of SL v PAK Test

The third test match between Sri Lanka vs Pakistan begins at the SSC stadium in Colombo. A overcast condition prompted Kumara Sangakara to bowl first to display his desire of a clean sweep of 3 test win against Pakistan. Pakistan starts steady but looses two quick wickets in one over of Thilan Thushara. The two victims were Fawad Alam, top scorer in the last test match and Captain Younis Khan. Pakistan has steadied its innings with the other opener Khurram Manzoor and Mohammad Yousuf who came in at number 3 after the loss of Younis Khan.

Follow the match live here:

Read full story

Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin keep Australia alive – Day 4 2nd Test at Lords

Brief Synopsis:
Australia 215 and 313 for 5 (Clarke 125*, Haddin 80*) need another 209 runs to beat
England 425 and 311 for 6 dec (Prior 61, Collingwood 54)

Michael Clarke (125*) stunned the Lord’s crowd with an awesome century to keep Australia’s hopes alive of defending the test match here at Lords. Michael Clarke along with Brad Haddin (80*) had a few anxious moments early in the innings but both of them stuck on to the work and revived the drooping Australian side which had succumbed to a few harsh decision by the SA umpire Rudi Koertzen.

Andrew Flintoff and Swann were the thorns in the way of Australia’s inning with great bowling display which kept the Aussie batsmen under check.

Australia need another 209 run with an entire day to go and having 5 wickets in hand.

Can Clarke and Haddin carry on longer can the tail provide any one of these guys to take Australia to a historic win.

Wait and see the match live here:

Read full story

Pakistan v. Sri Lanka 3rd Test Preview - Pak vs SL 3rd Test

3rd test match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka will start from Monday, July 20th, 2009 at Colombo. Sri Lanka already won the 3 match test series by 2-0, their first home series win against Pakistan.

Sri Lanka recalled fast left-arm bowler Chaminda Vaas in the team but Muralitharan has not included in the team. Sri Lanka can experiment with new players and give rest to some key players before ODI series.

Watch the live score card between Sri Lanka and Pakistan here.

Read full story

ICC 2011 World Cup Cricket, Venues Confirmed - India to Host Additional Matches

ICC has released 2011 Cricket World Cup Logo in Mumbai

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced that India will host 29 matches of 2011 World Cup matches including the final match in Mumbai. After the exodus of Pakistan's chances to host some of the World Cup fixture because of security conditions, India got an additional 7 matches to host in the country. The other 20 matches will be played in Sri Lanka & Bangladesh. India and Srilanka both will share the two semi-final matches of 2011 World Cup.
The heart of Indian cricket and financial hub of India, Mumbai gets the opportunity to host the 2011 Cricket World Cup Final Match. ICC has also chosen 8 cities to host 2011 world cup matches in India. The World Cup Cricket

Venues in India for 2011 Cricket World Cup

Eden Gardens (Kolkata), Feroz Shah Kotla (Delhi), M. Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bangalore), M. A. Chidambaram Stadium (Chennai), Punjab C.A. Stadium (Mohali), Sardar Patel Stadium (Ahmedabad), Vidarbha C.A. Ground (Nagpur), Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai).

Read full story

Chaminda Vaas recalls for 3rd and final test against Pakistan - Murali out

Veteran pace bowler Chaminda Vaas recalled by Sri Lankan selectors for the 3rd and final test against Pakistan starting from Monday, July 20th, 2009 at Colombo, while star spinner Muthiah Muralitharan, who missed first 2 test due to injury not picked; no reasons given for his exclusion.

This may be the last test match for the 35 years old Vaas, who made his debut against Pakisatn in 1994 at Kandy, played 110 test so far and took 354 test wickets at an average of 29.40

Sri Lanka has already won the 3 match test series by 2-0 and this may be the reason they have rested Muralitharan, highest test wicket taker with 770 wickets at an average of 22.18.

Sri Lankan Squad for 3rd and Final Test:

Kumar Sangakkara (capt), Mahela Jayawardene, Tharanga Paranavitana, Malinda Warnapura, Thilan Samaraweera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Angelo Mathews, Rangana Herath, Nuwan Kulasekera, Thilan Thushara, Chaminda Vaas, Ajantha Mendis, Chamara Kapugedera, Kaushal Silva, Suranga Lakmal, Dhamikka Prasad.

Read full story

Anderson takes 4 Australian wickets, ENG v AUS 2nd Test – Day 2 Update, Highlights

Graham Onions ended Australia's second best partnership that of Hauritz & Siddle who hung around for 44 runs for a 9th wicket stand. He claimed both the tailenders wickets to keep Australia at bay from achieving the follow-on mark of 225. England started briskly to capitalise on the 210 run lead to put up a unachievable target for Australian batsmen.

Yesterday England's batting ended early in the day with Andrew Strauss getting out early after scoring a huge 161 runs. England managed to secure 425 runs with some entertaining cricket towards the end of the English innings.

Australia started badly losing two early wickets of P Hughes & Ricky Ponting (to an unfortunate umpiring decision). Australia never coped with the Seam & pace battery of J Anderson and A Flintoff. Stuart Broad chips in with two late wickets towards the end of the day which was reduced by rain.

Let’s wait and see if Australia can save the follow-on and if England would anyways take the follow-on.

Follow the Live match here:

Read full story

Ban v. WI 2nd Test - Day 1 Update - West Indies face the heat of Bangladeshi Spinners

Summary of day 1:

Bangladesh 35 for 1 (Tamim 14*, Enamul 5*) trail West Indies 237 (Dowlin 95, Richards 69, Mahmudullah 3-44) by 202 runs

West Indies faced the heat of Bangladesh’s spin attack, managing to score just 237 runs in the first innings on Day 1 of the second test at Grenada. Only Richards (69 runs) & Dowlin (95 missing out on a century) managed to get some decent scoring, rest all failed to the spin trio of Bangladesh.

Mahmudullah continuing with his spin magic in the second test, troubled the West Indies batsmen. Shakib Al Hasan leading the BAN side in the absence of Mashrafe Mortaza did a splendid job of using Mahmudullah in short burst and carrying on with long spells himself and Enamul Haque Jr. The spin trio of Mahmudullah, Shakib and Enamul took 9 of the West Indian batsmen to leave a huge dent in the Windies side.

Bangladesh faltered early with their batting losing out Imrul Kayes the opening batsman.

Follow the match live here:

Read full story

Bangladesh vs. West Indies 2nd Test Live Scores from St. George’s, BAN v WI 2nd Test Scores & Commentary

Bangladesh can create history based on how they play the next 5 days. It a golden opportunity to win their first Test series in international cricket. It might be that West Indies is playing a second-string team but for records it would be a series win for Bangladesh which will help boost their confidence.

Mashrafe Mortaza would be unhappy captain to miss out of being part of the playing 11 who would go ahead to achieve this feat. Shakib Al Hasan will take his role of leading the side as he did in the previous test match which he led the team by example to a thrilling victory with his superb bowling performance.

The team composition for both the sides:

Bangladesh: (probable) Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Ashraful, Raqibul Hasan, Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Shahadat Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Nazmul Hossain.

West Indies: (probable) Omar Phillips, Dale Richards, Floyd Reifer (capt), Travis Dowlin, David Bernand, Ryan Hinds, Chadwick Walton (wk), Darren Sammy, Kemar Roach, Ryan Austin, Tino Best.

The 2nd test match starts on July 17th Live from St George at 14:00 GMT & 19:30 IST

Bangladesh vs. West Indies 2nd Test Live Scores:

Read full story

Emerging Players Tournament 2009 Fixture, Schedule, Teams, Squad

India Emerging Players squad:

S Badrinath (C), Virat Kohli (VC), M Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Ishank Jaggi, Abhishek Nayar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Wriddhiman Saha, Naman Ojha, Pankaj Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pradeep Sangwan, Sudeep Tyagi

Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Emerging Players squad:

Tom Cooper (South Australia), Chris Duval (South Australia), James Faulkner (Tasmania), Peter Forrest (New South Wales), Peter George (South Australia), Moises Henriques (New South Wales), Jon Holland (Victoria), Josh Mangan (Western Australia), Mitchell Marsh (Western Australia), Alister McDermott (Queensland), Robert Quiney (Victoria), Kane Richardson (South Australia), Steve Smith (New South Wales), Tom Triffitt (Tasmania), Matthew Wade (Victoria), Rahul Shukla (MRF Pace Foundation), Nizar Niyas (MRF Pace Foundation)

New Zealand Emerging Players squad:

Peter Fulton (C)(Canterbury), Nick Beard (Otago), Hamish Bennett (Canterbury), Te Ahu Davis (Northern Districts), Colin de Grandhomme (Auckland), Anaru Kitchen (Auckland), Tarun Nethula (Auckland), Jeet Raval (Auckland), Lance Shaw (Auckland), Tim Southee (Northern Districts), Neil Wagner (Otago), BJ Watling (Northern Districts), Kane Williamson (Northern Districts), George Worker (Central Districts), Reece Young (Auckland)

South Africa Emerging Players squad:

Ahmed Amla (C), Yusuf Abdullah, Werner Coetzee, Henry Davids, CJ de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Imraan Khan, Rory Kleinveldt, Wayne Parnell, Daryn Smit (WK), Blake Snijman, Thandi Tshabalala, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Vaughan van Jaarsveld.

Emerging Players Tournament 2009 Fixture & Schedule

Mon Jul 20 |	Australian Institute of Sports v India Emerging Players
09:00 local | 23:00 GMT	Allan Border Field, Brisbane
Mon Jul 20 |	New Zealand Emerging Players v South Africa Emerging Players
13:00 local | 03:00 GMT	Peter Burge Oval, Brisbane
Tue Jul 21 |	Australian Institute of Sports v New Zealand Emerging Players
09:00 local | 23:00 GMT	Peter Burge Oval, Brisbane
Tue Jul 21 |	India Emerging Players v South Africa Emerging Players
09:00 local | 23:00 GMT	Peter Burge Oval, Brisbane
Thu Jul 23 |	Australian Institute of Sports v India Emerging Players
09:00 local | 23:00 GMT	Peter Burge Oval, Brisbane
Thu Jul 23 |	New Zealand Emerging Players v South Africa Emerging Players
09:00 local | 23:00 GMT	Peter Burge Oval, Brisbane
Fri Jul 24 |	Australian Institute of Sports v South Africa Emerging Players
09:00 local | 23:00 GMT	WEP Harris Oval, Brisbane
Fri Jul 24 |	India Emerging Players v New Zealand Emerging Players
09:00 local | 23:00 GMT	Albury Oval, Brisbane
Sun Jul 26 |	Australian Institute of Sports v New Zealand Emerging Players
09:00 local | 23:00 GMT	WEP Harris Oval, Brisbane
Sun Jul 26 |	India Emerging Players v South Africa Emerging Players
09:00 local | 23:00 GMT	Albury Oval, Brisbane
Mon Jul 27 |	India Emerging Players v New Zealand Emerging Players
09:00 local | 23:00 GMT	Albury Oval, Brisbane
Mon Jul 27 |	Australian Institute of Sports v South Africa Emerging Players
13:00 local | 03:00 GMT	Albury Oval, Brisbane
Wed Jul 29 |	Australian Institute of Sports v India Emerging Players
09:00 local | 23:00 GMT	Albury Oval, Brisbane
Wed Jul 29 |	New Zealand Emerging Players v South Africa Emerging Players
09:00 local | 23:00 GMT	WEP Harris Oval, Brisbane
Thu Jul 30 |	Australian Institute of Sports v South Africa Emerging Players
09:00 local | 23:00 GMT	WEP Harris Oval, Brisbane
Thu Jul 30 |	India Emerging Players v New Zealand Emerging Players
09:00 local | 23:00 GMT	Peter Burge Oval, Brisbane
Sat Aug 1 |	3rd Place Playoff - TBC v TBC
09:00 local | 23:00 GMT	WEP Harris Oval, Brisbane
Sat Aug 1 |	Final - TBC v TBC
09:00 local | 23:00 GMT	Allan Border Field, Brisbane

Read full story