
London: Joe Root maintained his case for inclusion in the England team to play New Zealand in the first Test at Lord's next week by scoring 179 for the second-string England Lions in a draw against the tourists at Grace Road on Sunday. Root, the Lions captain, was named Saturday in a 12-man squad for the first of a two-Test series which culminates later this month at the Yorkshire batsman's...

09:11 AM, May 13, 2013

London: Graeme Swann and Tim Bresnan have both been recalled by England in a 12-man squad announced Saturday for next week's first Test against New Zealand at Lord's following their respective recoveries from elbow surgery. Off-spinner Swann and seamer Bresnan both last played Test cricket in the series-clinching win over India in Nagpur in December and missed the recent drawn three-Test series in New Zealand. However, Nottinghamshire's Swann and Yorkshire's...

03:27 PM, May 11, 2013

London: New Zealand found it impossible to dislodge Joe Root as the England Lions batsman maintained his prolific form in the second day of the tour match at Grace Road on Friday. Root finished the day on 105 not out as he recorded his third hundred in four innings, sharing a stand of 182 with Michael Carberry, who hit 77, as the Lions reached 219 for 2 at the close....

08:43 AM, May 11, 2013

London: New Zealand opener Hamish Rutherford thrived in the chilly conditions of Leicester, hitting a century for a confidence boost ahead of next week's first Test against England at Lord's. Rutherford ended the first day of the tour game against England Lions at Grace Road unbeaten on 116 as New Zealand reached 184 for three on a day curtailed by rain to just 44 overs. It was an innings which...

08:20 AM, May 10, 2013

London: County cricketers have been warned to stop spitting on the field of play or face disciplinary action from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Spitting, which is fairly common among cricketers around the world, is currently not among the offences that can attract penalty points under the strict ECB's disciplinary code. But the chairman of the ECB's Cricket Discipline Commission is concerned about the habit. "Two years ago,...

11:14 PM, May 08, 2013

London: Sachin Tendulkar is the only Indian to make it to the Test dream team drawn up by former England captain Alec Stewart from among players against whom he had played in his career. "The 'Little Master' is a no-brainer for his extraordinary run-scoring over such a long period of time and the way he has dealt with the pressure of being India's number one sporting icon," Stewart told BBC...

05:03 PM, May 08, 2013

New Delhi: Indian men paddlers entered the finals of the team championship event after beating England, while the women went down fighting against the same opponents in their semi-final encounter at the 19th Commonwealth Championship here Tuesday. Even as men prevailed 3-2, the women's team lost 2-3 to settle for a bronze medal. Indian men will now take on mighty Singapore, who defeated Malaysia 3-0, in the finals Wednesday. The...

06:15 PM, May 07, 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

London: Neil Wagner staked his claim for a place in New Zealand's Test side against England next week with a five-wicket return as the tourists beat Derbyshire by 107 runs on the third and final day of their opening warm-up match at Derby on Monday. The 27-year-old left-arm seamer, who troubled England's batsmen during the recent drawn series in New Zealand, took five for 45 in 18 overs. However, the...

09:04 AM, May 07, 2013

In their book Flight of the Buffalo, corporate gurus James Belasco and Ralph Stayer beautifully state the politics of change when they say, "change is ...

12:59 AM, May 07, 2013

New Delhi: Indian paddlers continued to impress as both men's and women's teams assured themselves of at least two bronze medals by progressing to the semi-finals of the 19th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, here on Monday. Both teams have common rival in England in their respective semi-finals, to be played on Tuesday. Men paddlers topped their group by winning all the three matches while women finished second behind Singapore. Women...

10:16 PM, May 06, 2013

Karachi: Pakistan's vice-captain Mohammad Hafeez feels the success rate the team enjoyed over the last few years after being forced to play away from home, makes it a strong contender for the forthcoming ICC Champions Trophy in England. Hafeez told reporters during the national training camp in Abbotabad that despite being forced to play the home matches at neutral venues, Pakistan still had a 60 to 65 percent success rate...

10:01 AM, May 06, 2013

London: Doug Bracewell claimed an impressive four-wicket haul on the second day of New Zealand's warm-up match with Derbyshire on Sunday to strengthen his claim for a place in the tourists' Test side. Having declared on 289 for 5 on day one, New Zealand bowled the English county side out for 154 as Bracewell finished with figures of 4 for 28. By the close of play, they were 199 for...

08:47 AM, May 06, 2013

Jaipur: Picked in the Indian squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar is confident of making the opportunity count and says the seamer-friendly conditions in England and Wales will "assist" his style of bowling. Bhuvneshwar on Saturday was included in the 15-member squad for the 50-over tournament, to be held from June 6 to 23. "I am feeling very happy for my selection. I am confident of doing well...

06:16 PM, May 05, 2013

Hyderabad: India media pacer Irfan Pathan has set his sights on the ICC Champions Trophy starting next month in England. Irfan, who was recalled to the 15-member Indian team on Saturday, said he wants to make the most of the opportunity that has come his way. "When I got to know that I was selected in the fifteen, I was happy from within and excited to be a part of...

09:32 AM, May 05, 2013

Derby: New Zealand made a promising start to their tour of England as Dean Brownlie and BJ Watling scored half-centuries in their opening match against Derbyshire on Saturday. The tourists are warming up for their Test series against England, which starts at Lord's on May 16, and they recovered from a sloppy start to get a useful knock against their county championship opponents. Both Hamish Rutherford and Peter Fulton went...

11:50 PM, May 04, 2013

The Indian selectors on Saturday excluded Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir from India's 15-man Champions Trophy squad. The All-India Senior Selection Committee met at the Cricket Centre in Mumbai, where it recalled Shikhar Dhawan to the squad in place of Gambhir who was part of the team for the home series against Pakistan. Yuvraj too featured in the series against Pakistan and did fairly well but was still left out....

03:06 PM, May 04, 2013