Jonathan Trott followed Graeme Swann, Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior into the international wilderness on Monday to leave England desperately short of experience ahead of this year's Ashes series against Australia.
A fine innings of 143 from Ian Bell helped England to recover from a terrible start and finish the first day of the first Test against West Indies on 341 for five in Antigua on Monday.
Opener Sam Robson hit his maiden Test century before Sri Lanka fought back with four late wickets on the second day of the second Test at Headingley, on Saturday.
The South Africa-born 33-year-old has not played for the senior England team since the first Test in Brisbane 18 months ago, after which he returned home with stress-related problems.
Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq scored a majestic 91 not out to lead Pakistan to a thrilling four-wicket victory over England in their final World Cup warmup at Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday.
Premier League champions Chelsea eased past a disappointing Everton with goals from Spaniards Cesc Fabregas and Alvaro Morata sealing a 2-0 victory on Sunday.
England stormed into the final of the ICC World Twenty20 with a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over New Zealand, riding on opener Jason Roy's blazing 78.
England captain Eoin Morgan admitted that Kuldeep Yadav "completely deceived" his batsmen in the opening Twenty20 International in Manchester on Tuesday night, and said the hosts need to put up a better show against the Indian wrist spinners in the remaining matches if they want to give the visitors a tough fight in the series.
Danny Welbeck may frustrate at club level but put the Arsenal striker in an England shirt and he has proved himself to be a reliable figure on the international stage.
List of Australian Open women's singles champions since the event began in 1922 (Australian unless stated):
Serena Williams, who held all four of tennis's grand slam titles for the second time in her career and won 53 of 56 matches in 2015, was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine on Monday.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's Premier League action:
The teenager, Nikolas Cruz, accused of using a semi-automatic rifle to kill 17 people at a Florida high school did not appear to be a peaceful man on social media. He made quite clear his desire to perpetrate the exact type of violence of which he now stands accused. Charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, here's what we know about him so far.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Wednesday
A clash of contrasting styles, the ICC World T20 final in Kolkata on Sunday gives both England and the West Indies a chance to create history.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
India will have their task cut out against a vastly improved England
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer continued his dream start as Manchester United caretaker manager with a 3-1 Premier League win over Huddersfield on his Old Trafford debut in the dugout on Wednesday.
Roy Hodgson has given himself the option to give England a youthful, fresh edge at the World Cup after including Ross Barkley, Raheem Sterling, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Luke Shaw and Adam Lallana in his provisional squad on Monday. There were no real surprises as the irresistible late-season form of Everton's attacking midfielder Barkley and Liverpool wide man Sterling made their inclusion an easy choice for Hodgson despite having only five caps between them.
Sweden beat Italy 1-0 to gain the upperhand after their World Cup playoff first leg on a chilly night, while a young England side held Germany goalless and Belgium drew 3-3 with Mexico despite Romelu Lukaku's double but France eased to a 2-0 victory against Wales.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was left casting envious glances at his rivals' squads after a second defeat in four days bruised their title challenge and left him looking up the table rather than down.
Liverpool had to be satisfied with a 1-1 Premier League draw at Arsenal on Saturday as their usually prolific attacking trio were well shackled by their improving hosts.
Of the 220 players who started for Premier League clubs at the weekend, only 73, or 33.2 per cent, were eligible to play for England.
Bruised and battered by Chris Gayle's mauling on Wednesday, England are faced with a must-win situation as they look for ways to contain South Africa in their ICC World Twenty20 match in Mumbai on Friday.
As we write this we still await the crucial India-Australia knock-out in Mohali. But India's individual performances in the T20 World Cup so far haven't been truly impressive. A look at the most valuable player index (MVPI) table reveals that there's no Indian player in the top 20. MVPI merges a player's batting + bowling + fielding performance into a single 'run equivalent'. The formula to compute the MVP is devised to reward batsmen who score runs at a high strike rate, bowlers who take wickets at low economy rate and fielders who field the best (take a lot of catches and participate in run-outs). Since this is a relatively low scoring tournament we have assumed a team's par score to be 150, and each wicket to be worth 15 'runs'. It isn't a surprise that players from New Zealand dominate the rankings so far, although Joe Root tops the table after his 83 in 44 balls against South Africa.
England captain Alastair Cook scored his first Test century in almost two years but lost his wicket in the final over of the day as the tourists ended the first day of the third Test against the West Indies on 240 for seven.
England and the West Indies advanced to the quarter-finals of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2014 following comfortable victories in their decisive Group C and D matches on Tuesday. England overcame Sunday's heart-breaking loss to Sri Lanka by bouncing back to defeat New Zealand by 115 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, while 2004 runners-up West Indies beat Canada by 63 runs at Abu Dhabi Oval 1.
Australia will miss captain George Bailey in the One-dayer against England on Friday but their focus will be to seal a place in the ODI tri-series final.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Facing the prospect of a series defeat at home for the first time in 15 months, skipper Virat Kohli will have a relook at his team combination as hosts India take on a resurgent England in a do-or-die second T20 International, in Nagpur on Sunday.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
Images from the Champions League matches played on Tuesday
Rajneesh Gupta profiles the cricketers playing the World Cup 2019.
In what will be a dress rehearsal of their opening game in the World Cup, an unbeaten Australia take on England in the cricket tri-series final, in Perth on Sunday.
Former England Test captain Sir Ian Botham has backed Ashes heroes England to win 5-0 in the return series in Australia as he believes that England has the players to win again, especially a match-winning bowling attack.
Penpix of the England squad for the 2015 cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Moeen Ali and James Anderson made light of the injured Stuart Broad's absence with a devastating bowling display for England on Saturday as they skittled out India for 161 to win the fourth Test and take a 2-1 series lead.
India's young guns will get an opportunity to fire on the big stage and carry forward the team's exceptional dominance over England when they clash with the visitors in the three-match Twenty20 series, starting in Kanpur on Thursday.
Leaders Chelsea stretched their Premier League winning run to a club record-equalling 11 as Diego Costa's header shortly before halftime secured a 1-0 victory at London rivals Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Following Serena Williams's 19th Grand Slam title, here is the list of Australian Open women's singles champions since the event began in 1922 (Australian unless stated)
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