West Indies pace bowler Tino Best smashed 95 on Sunday to record the highest score by a number 11 batsmen in the history of Test cricket on the fourth day of the third and final Test against England at Edgbaston.
Rain washed out the second day of the third and final Test between England and the West Indies at Edgbaston on Friday. Play was called off at 1350 local time without a ball being bowled.
Persistent rain fell all day, after heavy rain overnight, and play was finally called off at 1535 local time. By that stage almost all of the spectators had left and they will be entitled to a full refund on their tickets.
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.
Amidst talks that he may be rested for the third Test against the West Indies, young England paceman Stuart Broad has said categorically that he does not want to be rested since he is in the 'best nick' of his life.
The 21-year-old Jharkhand speedster revealed there's lot more to his bowling than just pace!
While no one knows whether the Indian cricket team will be able to regain its number one Test nation status in the near future, the consensus is that advertisers will refuse to play ball for some time at least.
India coach Duncan Fletcher says the toss played an important role and losing Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar before lunch put India on the backfoot. Bikash Mohapatra reports from Edgbaston.
England captain Andrew Strauss says the third Test, beginning Wednesday, is an opportunity for cricket to provide a feel-good factor amid the escalating riots in London.
Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) on Friday has requested the International Cricket Council (ICC) to not place the two neighbouring countries in the same group during upcoming international events. "Keeping in mind that the [Indian] government has adopted a new strategy to isolate Pakistan and in view of the public sentiment in the country, we request ICC not to put India and Pakistan in the same pool of the multi-nation tournaments," the BCCI president Anurag Thakur said.
Chief Magistrate Emma Louise Arbuthnot granted him bail till December 4.
Factbox on the 12th edition of the Cricket World Cup
England captain Eoin Morgan insisted that although they produced an aggressive brand of cricket, the real test would be to find consistency.
The demand is the highest for the India-Pakistan match at Old Trafford in Manchester on June 16 and also for the final at Lords on July 14.
Images from Day 2 of the 2nd Ashes Test played at Lord's Cricket Ground, London, on Thursday.
Leicestershire and Somerset have qualified for the Champions League Twenty20 tournament after winning their respective England domestic T20 semi-finals via one-over eliminators at Edgbaston.
James Anderson, England's bowling spearhead and one of their key performers with 18 wickets (@ 24.27) from the three Tests played in the series, is likely to be fit for the final Test at The Oval, beginning Thursday.
Alastair Cook hit a career-best 294 as a ruthless England buried India under a massive 486-run lead to leave the visitors with a daunting task of saving the third Test.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain, criticised the lack of fight from India in the second Test at Lord's while urging the beleaguered visitors to dig deep.
As a bowler, Stuart Broad recorded his best performance in a Test series, capturing 19 wickets at 11.73 runs apiece. His previous best tally in a Test series was 18 (ave.30.22) in the 2009 Ashes series (five Tests) against Australia.
A rampant England team brimming with confidence go into the third Test against India on Wednesday primed to claim the victory that would secure the world number one ranking from their opponents.
The opportunity to play Test cricket for England again may not have come the way he would have expected, but for Ravi Bopara it is an opportunity nonetheless.
England Cricket Board's Managing Director Hugh Morris believes the team's brilliant performance against world number one India in the ongoing Test series is a result of coach Andy Flower and captain Andrew Strauss' "outstanding leadership".
India will, in all likelihood, go into the second Test against England at Trent Bridge, beginning Friday, with two of their crucial players missing from the line-up. While Zaheer Khan is certain to miss the Test (and maybe the third in Edgbaston as well), Gautam Gambhir also appears heading in the same direction, having suffered an elbow injury while fielding at short leg during the opening Test.
India launched their campaign in the Champions Trophy with a resounding 124-run victory over Pakistan, in Birmingham on Sunday, extending their dominance over the arch-rivals in major International Cricket Council tournaments.
'England were playing with nine and a half men'
Kohli said he had matured as a person and was not affected by criticism of his performance in the four years since India's 3-1 series defeat by England.
The top two teams with most points as of April 30, 2021 will then contest in the WTC final in June 2021 in the UK.
Ishant needs to figure out his role in the team, says McGrath
England have added two pace bowlers to their 14-man squad for the fourth Test against Australia starting at Trent Bridge on Thursday as possible replacements for the injured James Anderson.
Joe Root said that although England got a few things wrong, they never let go of the belief to win.
Jos Buttler and Joe Root thrashed brilliant centuries in England's highest One-Day International score on the way to a 210-run rout of New Zealand in the first game of the series at Edgbaston on Tuesday.
The leg-spinner was England's best bowler in their 2-1 triumph in the one-day series against India which concluded earlier this week, prompting talk of a possible Test return.
India goes into the fourth Test against England on a track that is batsman-friendly, swing-less, as compared to other English grounds, and will assist spinners as the game progresses, says Bikash Mohapatra.
Rediff's resident expert Rajneesh Gupta replies to questions from readers.
Relishing the new role of being India's strike bowler in absence of an injured Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, on Sunday, said he is completely fit and doesn't need a surgery to fix his left ankle.
Durham paceman Graham Onions has been called into the England squad as bowling cover ahead of the fourth and final test against India starting at The Oval on Thursday.
In no way it could have changed the course of the match. However, it could very much have prolonged it, taking it into a fifth day.
For a captain on a roll, it is nothing sort of an embarrassment. For someone who has never tasted defeat previously, it is a bitter pill to swallow.
Coming into the series, Andrew Strauss's men needed to beat India by a margin of two or more Tests to usurp the No.1 ICC Test ranking from India.
