Following is a factbox on the first Test match between Australia and England, which starts on Thursday:
Banned Australian cricketer Steve Smith is likely to be welcomed back with open arms when he returns to club cricket in Sydney at the weekend.
Shane Watson's unbeaten hundred could not prevent Australia falling to a seven-wicket defeat to India in the third and final Twenty20 match on Sunday as Suresh Raina hit a four on the last ball to complete a 3-0 clean sweep in the series.
'It was really good fun out there, I absolutely loved every single minute of it.'
Following their 11-match winning streak, Kolkata Knight Riders will be aiming to keep their juggernaut rolling as they meet Perth Scorchers in their third Group A league match of the Champions League T20 in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
'If he's looking to hit the ball and not leave the ball like he is I think he'd be fine'
Newly-appointed Australia coach Justin Langer on Thursday said his team can be considered great only if it wins a Test series in India, something that he likened to conquering Mount Everest, last done back in 2004.
"To go back there and be able to be reintegrated into grassroots, go back to grade cricket, put a smile on people's faces that way - it really helped me get to where I am today," said an emotional Warner won his third Allan Border Medal on Monday.
Batsmen Aaron Finch, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh were all dropped from the squad that lost a home Test series against India for the first time.
Duo to serve out bans in full, deems Cricket Australia
South African batsmen Hashim Amla says he has sympathy for the trio of banned Australian cricketers who will have to live with the consequences of their attempt to cheat in the third Test at Newlands.
Dean Elgar scored an unbeaten century but an excellent spell of bowling from Australia seamer Pat Cummins restricted South Africa to 266 for eight at the close of play on the opening day of the third Test at Newlands on Thursday.
With Australia not having their two key players Steve Smith and David Warner, batting great Sachin Tendulkar believes that it will be a 'huge opportunity' for India to do something special Down Under.
Australia will be forced to blood an entirely new opening partnership in Bangladesh next month after David Warner was ruled out of the two-Test series with a broken finger on Friday.
The Australian Cricketers' Association have always contested the bans were overly-harsh and have continued to push for all three to be able to return to representative cricket immediately.
Rohit says Team India ready to accept challenge posed by conditions Down Under
India's head coach Ravi Shastri says his side will take no prisoners in their upcoming Test series against Australia, who are still formidable opponents despite results going against them in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal.
Australia's David Warner showed little of his menacing hitting and brash in-your-face approach as he made his return to the international arena at the World Cup on Saturday. But he has evidently lost none of his match-winning form.
'He knows exactly what he's trying to do, exactly what the opposition are trying to do and he analyses every ball -- it's like a computer, he spits out the answer'
England's cricketers must take responsibility for their actions and improve their off-field behaviour or risk turning a younger generation of players away from the game, all-rounder Moeen Ali said.
England Lions cricketer Ben Duckett was suspended for pouring a drink on a senior England player reported to be paceman James Anderson after an argument in a Perth bar.
With the world watching, Steve Smith crafted a sublime 144 to help Australia recover from 122 for eight to 284 all out of Day 1 of the first Ashes Test.
'It's no secret that during the Ashes we relied too heavily on Steve so the rest of our top seven are really keen to score a lot of runs'
Banned Australian duo Steve Smith and David Warner will look to share their wealth of experience with budding cricketers when they make their highly anticipated return to club cricket in Sydney on Saturday.
Richardson also took aim at players claiming confusion over ball-tampering rules, saying the laws were clear and their complaints "disingenuous" in a speech at the MCC's Colin Cowdrey Lecture at Lord's.
'It hasn't been easy for the batters throughout the series'
Justin Langer was the foundation rock upon which Australia erected towering piles of runs during a golden era of success.
Under-pressure Australia batsman Usman Khawaja is "frustrated" after failing to convert a number of starts in the Ashes series but insists his batting is in a good place as he looks for form in the tour match against Derbyshire on Thursday.
In the cold light of defeat and without Smith's large shadow, Australia's batsmen have nowhere to hide and most head to Old Trafford in dire form.
A distraught David Warner issued an abject apology for his role in the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal on Saturday and said he has resigned to the prospect of never playing cricket for Australia again after his 12-month ban.
Though some sponsors of Australian cricketers have pulled individual sponsorship deals, the decision by Magellan suggests the financial impact of the episode will go to the core of a sport seen by many Australians as the embodiment of fairness.
It will be difficult for Australia's besmirched cricketers to reclaim their reputations when the dust settles on the ball-tampering scandal but the episode is nonetheless a chance for the team to reclaim some of its lost principles and values, feels former batsman Michael Hussey.
Steve Smith and David Warner may wake with some relief on Thursday as they greet the final day of their ball-tampering bans
The return of all-rounder Ben Stokes will be a welcome boost to the England squad as he provides much-needed balance and lifts morale, team mate Moeen Ali said ahead of the two-match test series in New Zealand.
Rediff.com gives you a quick flashback, in pictures of the month gone by...
The 28-year-old, who has been banned for a year by Cricket Australia and stripped of captaincy, broke down repeatedly in a five-minute press conference after his arrival from South Africa today.
Tim Paine laments Australian capitulation in third Test amid ball-tampering scandal
Captain Steve Smith frustrated England with a fighting half-century and pushed Australia to 165 for four at the close of a see-sawing day two, rescuing the hosts after a top order collapse in the series-opening Ashes Test in Brisbane on Friday.
Kagiso Rabada regained his top spot among bowlers crossing the coveted 900-point mark in ratings even as Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin climbed up a couple of notches to be placed fourth in the ICC Test Player Rankings, released on Tuesday.
Warner struck a tournament-high 166 to set up Australia's 48-run victory over Bangladesh on Thursday and now leads the runs list with 447.
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