Latest Cricket News

NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) _ England is still wary of India's formidable batting lineup ahead of the second Test at Nottingham starting Friday, despite the visitors' disappointing performance in the rain-affected first Test draw. Captain Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and V.V.S. Laxman all failed to get past 50 in either innings at Lord's. But England paceman Chris Tremlett, part of an unchanged England lineup, is still treating India's batsmen with respect. ``It would be stupid to say ...

LONDON (AP) _ England faces its first serious Test challenge since its disastrous Ashes defence when it starts the first of three matches against India on Thursday. While England's one-day form has remained poor, the Test team rebounded from the completion of a 5-0 loss to Australia in January by winning its recent four-Test series against an inexperienced and demoralized West Indies team 3-0. But only middle-order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul seriously troubled England's bowlers then and things are ...

NEW DELHI (AP) _ Former captain Chandu Borde has been chosen manager of the Indian cricket team for its upcoming tour of Ireland and England, according to the CNN-IBN television news channel. Borde's unexpected appointment came during a meeting of the Indian cricket board's working committee to discuss the situation following South African Graham Ford's decision to decline its offer to coach the Indian team. A formal announcement was expected later Tuesday. ``I am happy,'' Borde told CNN-IBN. Asked ...

NEW DELHI (AP) _ South African Graham Ford he has declined an offer to coach the Indian cricket team. Ford, 46, was offered the Indian coach's position by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after it interviewed the shortlisted candidates Saturday. Ford said in a statement published Monday on the England county cricket club Kent's website that ``I have decided to continue my work here at Kent,'' he said. ``I have had a chance to ...

LEEDS, England (AP) _ England will field an unfamiliar bowling attack in the second Test against the West Indies starting Friday at Headingley, with all-rounder Andrew Flintoff and fast bowler Matthew Hoggard out injured. Flintoff, who also missed the opening Test at Lord's that ended in a draw on Monday, failed a fitness test on his ankle on Wednesday. Hoggard is sidelined with a groin strain, forcing England selectors to call up fast bowlers James Anderson and ...

NEW DELHI (AP) _ Former Indian Test cricketer Maninder Singh will face a New Delhi court Wednesday after he was arrested in his home for allegedly possessing 1.5 grams of cocaine. Local club cricketer Sayyam Siddique, who was with Singh when police raided his New Delhi apartment on Tuesday, was arrested for carrying 100 grams of contraband ``charas'' (hashish), police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said Wednesday. Both have been arrested under the 1985 Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, ...

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) _ Former India cricket coach John Wright is about to take up a senior coaching position in Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Tuesday. Wright, a former New Zealand opening batsman who stepped down as India coach two years ago, will become head coach at Cricket Australia's Brisbane-based Center of Excellence, the newspaper said. He will replace Tim Nielsen who has been appointed coach of the world champion Australian national team. Wright, 52, has been ...

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) _ Pacers R.P. Singh and V.R.V Singh each claimed three wickets to guide India to a healthy lead on Monday, the fourth day of their rain-plagued first Test. At stumps, India made 44 for two, expanding its overall lead to 193 with only a day left for the match. Earlier, India wrapped up Bangladesh's first innings for 238, gaining a 149-run first innings lead. India declared its first innings on 387-8. Tailender Mashrafee Bin Mortaza ...

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP) _ The world gets its last chance to see Brian Lara play international cricket on Saturday when the West Indies plays England in a World Cup Super 8s match that has been given unexpected significance. In World Cup terms the game is pointless. Neither team can reach the semifinals. But Lara's surprise announcement on Thursday that he is retiring from all cricket after the match may bring ...

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua (AP) _ England seems able to fit in a batting collapse almost anywhere in its innings at this World Cup. The middle order faltered against Sri Lanka last time out and, in Sunday's Super 8s match, the team slumped from 230-5 to 247 runs all out despite Kevin Pietersen scoring 104 for his team's first century in six tournament matches. The latest, and possibly most dispiriting, collapse ...

ST JOHN'S, Antigua (AP) _ Australian skipper Ricky Ponting feels the defending World Cup champion team will improve further by playing challenging games like Sunday's Super 8s contest against England. Seeking to become the first country to score a hat-trick of World Cup wins, Australia continued its impressive form to defeat England by seven wickets in what Ponting described as the stiffest test faced in the tournament by the reigning ...

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) _ Desperation has given way to crisis for Brian Lara and his West Indies World Cup squad. A 113-run loss to Sri Lanka on Sunday followed heavy defeats to defending champion Australia and New Zealand, and left the West Indies needing to win its last three matches _ and rely on other results. ``We are in a crisis situation, pertaining to cricket,'' Lara said. ``We're in a ...

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) _ Knocked out of the World Cup in the first round, India's cricket stars received another blow Thursday when they were fined for a slow over rate in their game against Sri Lanka. The 69-run loss to the Sri Lankans in Trinidad on Friday meant that Rahul Dravid's team failed to make it to the Super 8s. But the players were also one over short of a ...

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) _ Indian cricket is heading for a tumultuous period after its unexpected first-round exit at the World Cup. Finalist at the last World Cup in 2003, India was tipped to be among the front-runners for a semifinal berth. But skipper Rahul Dravid's team lost to Bangladesh in its opening match _ only its second limited-overs loss ever to its subcontinental neighbour _ and was knocked out by ...

GROS ISLET, St. Lucia (AP) _ After beating England, the last thing New Zealand wants is to let up against Kenya on Tuesday. ``It can be a fine line in these games,'' New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said. ``Pressure plays a major part, teams get tense and when you give an opportunity to the so-called minnow, they're in a better position to take it these days.'' Both New Zealand and ...

Andrew Symonds posted his maiden test hundred and shared a 279-run sixth-wicket stand with Matthew Hayden that prolonged both his test career and England's Ashes woes. Having already relinquished the Ashes with three straight losses, England had a rare spell of domination Wednesday when the pacemen had Australia reeling at 84 for five on the second morning of the fourth test. Enter Symonds. His place in doubt and with an ...

Monty Panesar's arrival on an Ashes stage and Steve Harmison's return in a familiar role lent England renewed credibility on the first day of the third cricket Test against Australia. Panesar took five for 92 on his Ashes debut Thursday and Harmison snared 4-48 as England dismissed Australia for 244 in 71 overs, after Australian captain Ricky Ponting had won the toss and confidently batted. The belief that the five-match ...

Alastair Cook made an unbeaten 106 and his test opening partner Andrew Strauss 88 as England took full advantage of an opportunity for batting practice on the second day of a two-day cricket match against Western Australia on Sunday. Cook and Strauss shared a 183-run partnership in England's total of 356 for four as the match, designed to give the tourists experience of Perth's WACA ground ahead of the third Ashes test which starts there on Thursday, ...

Imran Farhat hit a half century Sunday and led Pakistan to an easy seven-wicket victory over a reckless West Indies side in the third one-day international. Farhat hit two sixes and five fours in his knock of 58 off 72 balls as Pakistan made 192 for three wickets in 33.4 overs. Pakistan's target was recalculated to 191 off 35 overs under the Duckworth/Lewis formula after an hour's play was lost due to malfunctioning floodlights at Gaddafi Stadium, ...

Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by three wickets after struggling to reach a 194-run target, as Gary Brent offered some Zimbabwe resistance _ taking four wickets for 16 runs _ in the fifth and final limited-overs international cricket match Saturday. Chasing Zimbabwe's total of 193-8, Bangladesh started off well, with openers Shahriar Nafees and Mehrab Hossain notching 86 _ before man of the match Brent struck. Brent had Nafees (33) and Aftab Ahmed (4) trapped lbw in just three balls. He ...

India defeated the Rest of South Africa by 96 runs Saturday on the third day of their four-day warmup game played at Sedgars Park. Set 321 for victory, Rest of South Africa was bowled out for 224. Paceman Zaheer Khan took three wickets for 36 runs, while Vikram Singh took 2-41 and Harbhajan Singh returned to form with 3-39. Vaughan van Jaarsveld hit 66 and Justin Kemp 53 for the home side, but Van Jaarsveld was run ...

Australian men would go without sex to see their national team beat England in the current Ashes cricket series in Australia, a survey has found. The survey by men's magazine Zoo Weekly found 41 per cent of its 20,000 respondents would forego sex for a month if it meant Australia regained the Ashes. Four per cent were willing to go without sex for a year if it ensured an Australian win. Australia leads the five-Test Ashes series ...

England spinner Monty Panesar struggled to justify a growing clamor for his Test call up when he took just two wickets for 63 runs in a limited overs cricket match between England A and an Australian Chairman's XI on Friday. While Panesar performed unimpressively, Australia's newest Test recruit, Adam Voges, scored a classy 71 as the Australian selection beat its English rivals by seven wickets. Voges was called into the ...

Rookie left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman grabbed two wickets for 22 runs Thursday as Pakistan bowled out the West Indies for 151 in the second limited-overs international. Runako Morton top scored with a battling 43 off 66 balls, but the rest of the West Indies' top order failed to raise a strong total in the first-ever day-night game at the Iqbal Stadium. Morton hit four boundaries and featured in the best ...

England coach Duncan Fletcher has defended the decision to pick Ashley Giles over Monty Panesar in the first two Ashes Tests. Fletcher said selection issues weren't only up to him. British newspapers have widely panned the choice of Giles, who had spent an entire season out of the game, instead of Panesar as England's spinner. England lost the opener in Brisbane and then collapsed at the end of the second ...

Sri Lanka held a tenuous 73-run lead over New Zealand with only two second innings wickets remaining at stumps on the second day of the first cricket Test at Jade Stadium on Friday. Bowled out for only 154 in its first innings after winning the toss and batting, Sri Lanka fought back to dismiss New Zealand for 206, before collapsing again to be 124 for eight at stumps. Fast bowler ...

Aftab Ahmed smashed an unbeaten half century after paceman Mashrafee Bin Mortaza captured three wickets Friday to guide Bangladesh to an easy eight-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the fourth limited overs cricket international. Bangladesh successfully chased the victory target of 147 in just 32.2 overs after dismissing Zimbabwe for 146 in 47.2 overs. Ahmed struck three sixes and three boundaries for his 58 off 69 balls. He shared an unbeaten ...

The World Anti-Doping Agency chief criticized the lifting of doping bans on two Pakistani cricketers as ``aberrational'' and said individual federations had to play by international rules. ``It is certainly aberrational to have a national federation telling the international federation what rules it is going to apply in something like doping,'' Montreal-based WADA chairman Dick Pound said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press. ``This is typical of the ...

Australia's bid to regain the Ashes had a setback Friday by the retirement of senior batsman Damien Martyn, six days before the third cricket Test against England. Martyn, 35, informed Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland of his decision to quit from all international and first class cricket, shortly before the announcement of Australia's third Test squad. Uncapped West Australian batsman Adam Voges was named to replace Martyn in the ...

Brian Lara's West Indies team enters Thursday's limited-overs international against Pakistan refreshed from some much-needed rest after playing virtually nonstop international cricket for the past three months. ``It's good that the guys spent most of the time in their rooms, but we've been on the road for pretty good time and now we have to focus on the four remaining games,'' Lara said of his team's five-day break Wednesday on ...