London: Former England captain Andrew Strauss said on Friday it was important for the side's Ashes prospects that star batsman Kevin Pietersen regained full fitness.
Pietersen is currently sidelined with a knee problem and in his absence England struggled to 232 all out in the first innings of the first Test against New Zealand at Lord's.
Strauss retired from all cricket following a 2-0 series defeat by South Africa last year where Pietersen was dropped from the team for sending text messages critical of his captain to Proteas players.
But Strauss, who succeeded Pietersen as England captain, always insisted the texts had not hastened his retirement. And on Friday, in an interview with Sky Sports at Lord's, the former opening batsman said Pietersen was the "best player" he'd played with ....
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12:32 AM, May 18, 2013
Sydney: England will have 33 scheduled international playing days on their Ashes tour to Australia starting in November, Cricket Australia said on Thursday. The tour programme includes five Tests, a streamlined five one-day international series, three Twenty20 internationals and five other tour games. The Ashes Test series begins at Brisbane's Gabba ground on November 21 with further Tests in Adelaide (December 5-9), Perth (December 13-17), Melbourne (December 26-30) and the...
04:58 PM, May 16, 2013
Rohtak: The disputed Satlok Ashram was completely evacuated and the protesters cremated the body of a woman killed in Sunday's clashes in Rohtak as the stand-off between self-styled godman Rampal's followers and Arya Samaj activists ended on Wednesday. The issue was resolved peacefully after holding parleys with both the parties, Rohtak Deputy Commissioner Vikas Gupta said. Security of the Satlok Ashram had been handed over to the CRPF as protesting...
10:30 PM, May 15, 2013
Sydney: Australia's pace bowling unit will give the tourists every chance of success in the Ashes series in England but will not be able to win back the precious urn without some help from the batsmen, captain Michael Clarke said on Wednesday. Clarke said the Australians would relish going into the series in July and August as underdogs and that, if fit, pacemen Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris, James Pattinson, Mitchell...
10:05 AM, May 15, 2013
Sydney: Australian captain Michael Clarke said on Wednesday he was confident his troublesome back would not prevent him from leading Australia in the two Ashes series against England this year. Clarke has managed the back problem since he was first diagnosed with a degenerative condition aged 17, but it forced him out of the fourth Test against India in March when the tourists went down 4-0. The 32-year-old, who struggled...
09:22 AM, May 15, 2013
Violent clashes took place in Rohtak in Haryana on Sunday leaving three people dead and over 100 injured. Clashes took place between members of the Arya Samaj and followers of a godman, who owns the Satlok Ashram at Karontha village. The state government has ordered a magisterial probe in the case. ...
08:10 PM, May 13, 2013
Rohtak: Violent clashes took place in Rohtak in Haryana on Sunday leaving three people dead and over 100 injured. This includes 50 police personnel. Clashes took place between members of the Arya Samaj and followers of a godman, who owns the Satlok Ashram at Karontha village. Arya Samajis claim that the ownership of the dera is illegal and its presence is affecting peace in the region. The police had to...
08:20 AM, May 13, 2013
Rohtak: An angry mob clashed with the police and set two buses on fire during a violent protest against the opening of an ashram of a controversial godman near Rohtak on Sunday. One person has been killed in police firing that took place near Satlok Ashram at Karontha village. Some protestors were injured in the violence. The police had to resort to lathicharge and use tear gas shells to disperse...
03:40 PM, May 12, 2013
London: Chris Rogers gave Australia a timely Ashes boost with a fine double century in Middlesex's county championship draw against Surrey at Lord's on Sunday. Rogers hit 214 - his ninth first-class double century - to improve his chances of featuring against England after a five-year absence from the national team. The 35-year-old left-hander has played just one Test, making only 19 runs against India at Perth in 2008. But...
04:21 PM, May 07, 2013
Sydney: England will play a two-day match against a Chairman's XI in Alice Springs between the first and second Tests on their Ashes tour of Australia later this year, Cricket Australia announced on Tuesday. The match, originally scheduled for Canberra, will take place on November 29-30 with the England team travelling to and from the Northern Territories by specially arranged direct flights. It will be the first match in the...
09:18 AM, May 07, 2013
Amritsar: Ashes of Sarabjit Singh, who died after being brutally assaulted in a Pakistani jail, were on Sunday immersed in the Beas river at Goindwal Sahib in the neighbouring Tarn Taran district, as hundreds of people bade adieu to him with tearful eyes. Dalbir Kaur, the sister of Sarabjit, confirming the submersion of ashes, said that almost the entire residents of Bikhiwind village, besides Chief Parliament Secretary of Punjab Government...
02:15 AM, May 06, 2013
Sydney: Australia paceman Mitchell Starc is well on his way back to fitness and has warned England not to write off the tourists' chances of wrenching back the Ashes in July and August. The tall left-armer, who left Australia's calamitous tour of India early to have surgery on his ankle, is expected to play a key role in the first of two Ashes series this year on England's swing-friendly pitches....
10:57 AM, May 03, 2013
London: New Zealand have arrived in London with coach Mike Hesson insisting the Black Caps are determined to be more than just a warm-up act for the Ashes series later in the English season. Such is the interest in the Ashes, which pits England against arch-rivals Australia in the latest edition of cricket's oldest Test rivalry, that many fans in the sport's birthplace could be forgiven for not noticing New...
01:45 AM, May 02, 2013
Tezpur/Goalpara: A villager was killed and 11 others injured when police opened fire for the second day on Tuesday to control a mob which attacked and seriously injured over 20 policemen and set ablaze three police vehicles in Assam's Sonitpur district. The toll in Monday's violence in curfew-bound Goalpara district, meanwhile, rose to five with the recovery of two bodies. The clash between police and irate locals broke out at...
03:57 PM, Apr 30, 2013
Goalpara: Two persons were killed and more than 15 injured, including senior police officials, in police firing and mob violence, following which indefinite curfew was clamped in two areas of Assam's Goalpara district on Monday. Violence broke out in Mailapathar area near Rakshashini forest after the body of a 50-year old cowherd, who was missing since yesterday, was recovered this morning, official sources said. Local people came out in large...
06:11 PM, Apr 29, 2013
Allaying all fears that Ryan Harris is set for a long injury layoff, Cricket Australia on Friday said the 33-year-old will be fit for Australia's Ashes campaign, which gets underway on July 10. Harris suffered the Achilles heel injury during the ongoing IPL 6 and was ruled out of the remainder of the season. He returned home for rehabilitation. Harris, who was named in the 16-man squad earlier in the...
11:41 AM, Apr 26, 2013
Baghdad: Nearly 50 people were killed in clashes on Thursday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, sources said, on the third day of the most widespread violence in Iraq since US troops withdrew in December 2011. More than 100 people have been killed in fighting since Tuesday, when troops stormed a Sunni protest camp, triggering clashes that quickly spread to other Sunni areas in western and northern provinces. Thousands...
03:47 AM, Apr 26, 2013
Sydney: The recall of two 35-year-old veterans for the Ashes shows the lack of quality coming through the Australian ranks, with the squad the "best of a bad lot", country's media said on Thursday. Selectors picked Brad Haddin and Chris Rogers, with five openers among seven specialist batsmen alongside just one spinner, Nathan Lyon, for the five-match series starting in Nottingham on July 10. Given the sorry state of Australian...
11:14 AM, Apr 25, 2013
Sydney: Australian Test spinner Nathan Lyon has made an inter-state switch, leaving South Australia to join New South Wales, Cricket NSW said on Thursday. The New South Wales-born off-spinner, 25, has played 22 Tests and was named on Wednesday in Australia's touring squad to play in this year's Ashes series in England. Cricket NSW said the move will allow Lyon to work closely with former Test bowler Stuart MacGill, who...
08:59 AM, Apr 25, 2013
Sydney: Skipper Michael Clarke says Australia will prove their critics wrong and bring the urn home from England despite his team being panned as the "worst Ashes squad". Clarke has backed his 16-man party named on Wednesday to do the job in five Tests against England, starting at Nottingham's Trent Bridge ground on July 10. Sections of the British press have slammed Clarke's touring party with The Daily Mail declaring:"...
08:54 AM, Apr 25, 2013
