Coach Andy Flower is confident of a boost in England's batting line-up with the return of Kevin Pietersen for the tour of South Africa in November, but has raised doubts over the comeback of Andrew Flintoff into the national team.
Owner of Bangalore Royal Challengers Vijay Mallya said he was always keen to get the services of Pietersen as he would add value to the team.
And despite a slowdown, media planners say advertisers are pouring in over Rs 600 crore (nearly half the ad budget for cricket in 2009). This represents a more than 10 per cent increase over last year's spends on television, co-branding of teams and marketing, among others.
The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) will discuss on Tuesday England batsman Kevin Pietersen's spectacular switch-hitting in a one-day international against New Zealand on Sunday. The right-handed Pietersen twice changed grips and switched to a left-hander's stance against Scott Styris, pulling both deliveries for six.
Top England stars, including Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, will be available for the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) both this year and the next season after the Indian Cricket Board and their English counterparts reached an agreement on Tuesday.
The bitter circumstances of Kevin Pietersen's step-down from captaincy notwithstanding, newly-appointed England skipper Andrew Strauss says he remains a "positive" person focussed on doing well with the bat.
The viability of star English players Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff in the February 6 auction might be jeopardised because of the fact that the players have been allowed only a limited period of time to take part in the Indian Premier League, according to reports in London.
Kevin Pietersen has described as 'character assissination', the way media protrayed him in the last one week, when his feud with the then coach Peter Moores hit newspapers headlines.
Australian spin legend Shane Warne said he is not interested in any full-time job and the offer he received from Kevin Pietersen to take over as the new England coach was actually a joke. The retired leg-spinner, who was Pietersen's captain at Hampshire, threw his weight behind the England batsman who resigned from the captain's post following a fallout with coach Peter Moores.
The newly-appointed England captain said he had to think carefully about his decision to take over when approached by England and Wales Cricket Board chiefs on Wednesday.
England's selectors will meet on Friday to discuss the squad and captain for their one-day and Twenty20 games against West Indies after confirming that Andrew Strauss would captain the Test team. Coach Peter Moores was sacked on Thursday and England have yet to decide on his replacement for the West Indies tour or the return home series against them and the subsequent Ashes clash with Australia.
Former England skipper Nasser Hussain has lashed out at Kevin Pietersen and Cricket Board authorities for the captain-coach row which pushed the country's cricket into a turmoil.
England cricket skipper Kevin Pietersen has resigned, Sky News reported on Wednesday. Pietersen, who was appointed last year, had been in dispute over the running of the team with England coach Peter Moores according to British media reports.
Kevin Pietersen smashed 79 from just 37 balls to inspire England to a 50-run victory in the Twenty20 World Cup match.
Former England captain Kevin Pietersen on Thursday joined the likes of Geoffrey Boycott in mourning the demise of Test cricket and said the longer version of the game could be dead within a decade.
England skipper Andrew Strauss said they were not sure of Kevin Pietersen's participation in the next week's third Ashes Test at Edgbaston.
Amused with the sobriquets he received from Kevin Pietersen, star Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh on Monday returned the compliment and said if he is a pie-chucker then the England captain is a useless batsman.
Restricting India to 453 is a job well done and Kevin Pietersen and his men are now very much back into the final Test, asserts England off-spinner Graeme Swann.
It took four injections to make Kevin Pietersen match fit for the second Ashes Test but the maverick England batsman fears the agonising Achilles injury might eventually ruin his summer.
England struggled to impose themselves on the Australian bowlers during the third day of the second Ashes Test at Lord's on Saturday after opting to bat again rather than enforce the follow-on. At tea England were 130 for two, an overall lead of 340, following a slow post-lunch period during which both Ravi Bopara (19 not out) and Kevin Pietersen (28 not out) were restricted by thoughtful pace bowling.
Tactically, Kevin Pietersen didn't do anything wrong and it was India's superior skill which tilted the Chennai Test in their favour, according to England coach Peter Moores.
England skipper Kevin Pietersen disclosed that he will go into the first Test against India at Chennai with a two-pronged spin attack comprising Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann.
Kevin Pietersen is not interested in excuses and the England captain expects his team-mates to ignore all distractions and deliver the goods in the two-Test series against India, starting in Chennai on Thursday. The outcome of the series becomes almost irrelevant and few would criticise England even if they lose the series. It's a virtually win-win situation for the side after Pietersen and his men who grew in stature by defying terror and agreeing to continue the tour.
England fought their way into the ascendancy on the opening day of the first Ashes Test on Wednesday before two late wickets put Australia firmly back in the match.
Former captain David Gower is impressed by the persuasion skills of England captain Kevin Pietersen, who convinced his scared teammates to land in Abu Dhabi for the preparation of the Test series against India.
Hard-pressed to squeeze in some practice ahead of the two-Test series against India, Kevin Pietersen and his men lost precious little time and headed for the nets at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday. The 38-strong English contingent, including 24 cricketers, which reached Abu Dhabi via Dubai, though is still waiting wait for a final go ahead from security adviser Reg Dickason before heading to India.
Kevin Pietersen and his teammates are set to return to India by Friday to play the two-Test series, the first of which would be shifted from Ahmedabad to Kolkata, according to media reports in London.
England captain Kevin Pietersen has made it clear that his side will not return to India for next month's cricket Test series unless their safety is guaranteed.
The ease with which Yuvraj Singh dismantled the English attack mesmerised not just Indian fans but also the British media, which declared that Friday's humiliating loss spelt the end of Kevin Pietersen's honeymoon period as skipper. "India batter England into submission," read a headline in the 'Daily Mail' after England lost the first ODI of the seven-match series by a massive 158 runs.
Former England captain Kevin Pietersen is impressed by the likes of Yuvraj Singh and feels players like him are taking Twenty20 cricket to the next level.
Amid fears that Test cricket may soon be left trampled under the stampede for Twenty20 cash, England captain Kevin Pietersen on Sunday urged world cricket leaders to do everything in their power to protect the longer version of the game.
England batsman Kevin Pietersen will miss the one-day series against West Indies because of an Achilles tendon injury in his right leg.
Uncapped off-spinner Graeme Swann, batsman Owais Shah were named in England's 15-man squad to play two Tests in India.
Former England captain Kevin Pietersen took to Twitter to describe Ian Bell's omission from England's squad for the tour of South Africa as 'ridiculous' and 'pathetic'.
England batsman Kevin Pietersen is flying home from the Twenty20 World Cup to be with his wife for the birth of their first child and is planning to jet back to the Caribbean in time for the semi-finals.
Former captain Michael Vaughan, who stood down during this year's series defeat by South Africa, is among 12 players given central contracts, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Tuesday.
Kevin Pietersen says the frustration he has exhibited during England's tour of West Indies has been building up since the humiliating Test and ODI defeats against India and was compounded by the team's continuing poor show in the Caribbean.
England batsman Kevin Pietersen has ruled out the possibility of returning as captain for this year's Twenty20 World Cup having resigned as test and one-day skipper in January in controversial circumstances. 'I just think it's too soon after what happened between me and the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) for me to take over the captaincy again if I was offered it for the Twenty20 World Cup,' he told Friday's Daily Mail in an interview.
Bangalore Royal Challengers' England all-rounder Kevin Pietersen says the good weather and hard pitches of South Africa will add to the attraction of the 37-day Indian Premier League.
New captain Kevin Pietersen, buoyed by a six-wicket victory over South Africa on Monday, said England are capable of regaining the Ashes next year. An excited Pietersen gushed superlatives when he described England's win and said his team could beat Australia if they replicated their performance in the fourth and final Test at The Oval.
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