For someone who has spent six agonising months on the sidelines battling doping allegations, Sri Lankan Kusal Perera cannot think of a better place for his return than the hallowed turf of Lord's in the third and final test against England on Thursday. The 25-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman was sent home from the tour of New Zealand in December after it was announced he had failed a drugs test last July. He was cleared last month when the International Cricket Council (ICC) dropped all charges against him after the Qatar-based laboratory that conducted the test withdrew its initial findings. Perera was not allowed to train with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) coaches and was called up in England only after a shoulder injury had ended paceman Dhammika Prasad's tour.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar believes that the youngest entrant in the illustrious 10,000 Test run club, Alastair Cook can challenge batting legend Sachin Tendulkar's all-time Test run record. Cook became the first England cricketer to cross the 10,000-run mark in Test cricket, and the youngest overall, beating Tendulkar's record by five months by reaching the milestone at the age of 31 years and five months. Tendulkar -- Test cricket's most prolific batsman with 15921 runs -- was 31 years, 10 months 20 days old when he scored his 10,000th run in 2005. "Well the big advantage that England always has is that they are always playing a minimum of 11-12 Test matches on an average in a year. In 11-12 Test matches even if you score 50 runs per Test match you are getting about 500 runs every year," Gavaskar said.
Captain Alastair Cook savoured a special moment in his glittering career after becoming the first England cricketer to reach 10,000 Test runs during the second Test against Sri Lanka in Durham.
Britain fell silent on Thursday as a minute's silence was held across the country to remember the 22 victims of Monday's concert bombing. The silence, which fell at 11 am, also marked the nation's solidarity with the 119 who were injured in the blast at the Manchester Arena following a concert, as well as others affected by the atrocity. Crowds gathered at well-known sites in the UK, including London's Parliament and Trafalgar Square. Here are some touching glimpses...
'As a player, the biggest question you ask yourself is whether you are good enough to be on the same ground as Gavaskar, Dev, Border and company.'
Pakistan's legendary former captain and batsman Hanif Mohammad, who held the record for the longest innings in Test cricket, passed away on Thursday after a prolonged battle with lung cancer. A spokesman for the Aga Khan Hospital, where he was being treated, confirmed that Hanif passed away at the age of 81.
English soccer player Adam Johnson, who was sacked by Premier League club Sunderland last month, was facing jail after being found guilty on Wednesday of sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl.
Chris Rogers became the second oldest Australian to hit a maiden Test century as he led his team to 222 for five on the second day of the fourth Ashes Test against England in County Durham on Saturday.
India captain Virat Kohli on Thursday officially inked his deal with top English county side Surrey in his bid to prepare for the tour of England, starting in July.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation along with the US Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation into the shooting of Deep Rai by a partially-masked gunman, who shouted "go back to your own country".
England captain Eoin Morgan indicated that they will replace out-of-form opener Jason Roy with Jonny Bairstow.
The game features two of the world's leading batsmen captaining their sides in Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson, as well as a pair of strike bowlers at the top of their game in Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult.
Australia all-rounder James Faulkner is in line to make his Test debut after replacing Usman Khawaja for the fifth and final Ashes Test, starting at The Oval on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka's bowlers ripped through a fragile England batting line-up to win the second one day international at Chester-le Street by 157 runs to tie the five match series 1-1.
England's batsmen failed to take full advantage on a first day of swinging fortunes in the second Test against Sri Lanka, finishing on 310 for six after outstanding catching kept the touring side in contention on Friday.
The more he has been dropped down the order - for this Test the former opener came in at number eight - the more he has accepted that his primary role is to take wickets.
ohn Stephenson, MCC Head of Cricket, said the announcement "is a very positive step for Test cricket".
Nathan Lyon's wish to see the end of some England careers after another Ashes whitewash could easily come true if the tourists' struggling senior players fail to lift quickly, former Australia paceman Mitchell Johnson said.
England have by far been the best team in the tournament.
England and New Zealand have both had to ride out the storm to make this year's ICC Men's Cricket World Cup final. It has been far from smooth sailing for either side, but in the end it is Kane Williamson and Eoin Morgan's side who have emerged on top, and deservedly so.
England would love to regain the Ashes in the next Test at Trent Bridge but the loss of leading bowler James Anderson to injury is a disappointment they must overcome, captain Alastair Cook said.
England's Jonny Bairstow compiled his first century at Lord's -- and his second of the series -- to ensure the hosts completed a satisfactory first day of the final Test against Sri Lanka on Thursday, finishing at 279 for six.
Having made a commendable comeback from the brink of a series defeat, India will look to increase their stranglehold on hosts England to draw parity when the two teams square off for the fourth Test, in Southampton, on Thursday.
Check out the head to head record between the World Cup finalists.
The hallowed ground, which staged the World Cup final in 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1999, has also been put forward to host the women's World Cup final in 2017.
England opener Alex Hales belted a blistering 94 in 61 deliveries to set up a 27-run victory over Australia in County Durham on Saturday and a 1-1 draw in the two-match series of Twenty20 internationals.
Pakistan's banned leg spinner Danish Kaneria has slammed the Pakistani and English cricket authorities after it was announced on Thursday that fast bowler Mervyn Westfield has been allowed to play lower-level cricket with one year of his spot-fixing ban remaining. "If anything, the permission by the England and Wales Cricket Board to allow special treatment to Westfield, confirms their bias and discrimination towards me throughout this case," Kaneria told PTI in Karachi. The ECB anti-corruption tribunal had banned Kaneria for life in 2012 and Westfield was jailed the same year and banned from professional cricket for five years and club cricket for three years on spot fixing charges. Both were banned after they played together for Essex in the English county championship. Westfield claimed in his testimony that he accepted a 6000 pounds to under-perform in a 40-over pro match between Essex and Durham in September 2009. The paceman claimed Kaneria had groomed him to indulge in spot fixing.
In the other match of the day, Dan Lawrence and Jack Burnham hit centuries as title contender England crushed Fiji by a massive margin of 299 runs.
Nathan Lyon grabbed four wickets and Jackson Bird claimed his first victim of the series as Australia restricted England to 238 for nine at stumps on Day 1 of the fourth Ashes Test on Friday.
Bairstow replaces jaded Buttler in England squad while Australia rope in Hastings, and call-up Handscomb after injury glut
Pakistan-born Fawad Ahmed is likely to make his full Australia debut over the next month after being named as the specialist spinner in the squad for six one-day and two Twenty20 internationals against England on Thursday.
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was instrumental in keeping England under check after Keaton Jennings hit a century on debut for the visitors on Day 1, on the fourth Test match, at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. Ashwin claimed the wicket of Jennings (112) and Moeen Ali (50) in a single after the duo had put on 94 runs for the third wicket as England threatened to build towards a big first innings score. The off-spinner also got the wicket of England's batting mainstay Joe Root, caught at slip for 21, before he dismissed Jonny Bairstow late in the day.
Out-of-favour India batsman Virender Sehwag and Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan will lead two MCC sides in a series of matches in the Middle East to help launch the new county season.
Dinesh Chandimal completed a fine century as Sri Lanka continued to hold up England's bid to clinch the series by moving on to 403 for six at lunch on the fourth day of the second test in Durham on Monday. The touring side, crushed in the opening test and bowled out for 101 in the first innings, are six runs ahead in the match after losing only one wicket in the morning session.
Just hours before England retained the Ashes at Old Trafford by drawing the third Test against Australia, a "drunk" Monty Panesar 'urinated' on bouncers after being thrown out of a nightclub in Brighton in the early hours of Monday and fined by the police.
Just like it happens with most of the seasoned domestic warhorses, 30-year-old Faiz Fazal had also stopped expecting to break through into the national squad but now that he has earned his maiden India call-up, "the world seemed like a much beautiful place" for the Vidarbha left-hander.
Jonny Bairstow may be riding the crest of a cricketing wave but England's in-form wicketkeeper-batsman says he is only too well aware of the perils of taking things for granted.
'If he carries on playing and if he stays fit, he will go past Tendulkar.'
All-rounder Ben Stokes has been recalled to the England squad for the first Test against India, starting at TrentBridge next Wednesday.
Chris Jordan claimed five wickets as England bowled Sri Lanka out for 67 runs, their third lowest total in one-day internationals, to help win the third ODI with a resounding 10-wicket victory on Wednesday.
