Scoring hundreds and doubles hundreds could force the England selectors into recalling controversial batsman Kevin Pietersen, Surrey director of cricket Alec Stewart told Reuters on Thursday.
The draw for the first Grand Slam of the season was made on Thursday and the top seeds could face some early tests of their credentials when play gets underway in Melbourne on Monday.
England have named uncapped Hampshire all-rounder Liam Dawson in their 15-man squad for the World Twenty20, to be staged in India next month, but there was no dramatic recall for Kevin Pietersen.
Holders Manchester City held their nerve to beat Leicester City 3-1 on penalties and reach the League Cup semi-finals after an entertaining last-eight tie ended 1-1 on Tuesday.
Liverpool ripped apart Manchester City with three goals inside the opening 31 minutes as they won their Champions League quarter-final, first leg tie 3-0 on Wednesday.
A ruthless India, sporting its new flaming orange and blue colours, will be eyeing pole position with a solid knock-out punch on an already disintegrated England in Sunday's high-profile World Cup encounter. With an unbeaten record in six encounters so far, Virat Kohli's men are all but through to the semi-finals with 11 points, but victory over England will tighten their grip at the top and, in the process, oust the world's No 1 ODI team from the global event.
Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool raised the spirits with a rip-roaring 2-2 draw in a pre-Christmas Premier League classic on Sunday after a weekend marred by COVID-19 related postponements.
Newcastle grabbed a point to leave City manager Pep Guardiola frustrated.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann appear among the 55 nominees for the FIFPro 2016 World 11 released on Friday but England forward Wayne Rooney failed to make the shortlist for the first time. Portugal captain Ronaldo, led his country to victory at Euro 2016, while France forward Griezmann was the top player at the tournament. It is the first time that 25-year-old Griezmann has made the cut, but England captain Rooney is absent for the first time in the competition's 12-year history, after England crashed out of Euro 2016 to lowly Iceland.
Kevin Pietersen has named India among the teams that could confirm the "horrendous and highly disturbing" culture of bullying within the English cricket outfit.
The 54-year-old has a whopping $1.7 billion in the bank, thanks to his long time endorsement relationships with Beverage company Gatorade, clothing brand Hanes, American Sportswear giant Nike and playing card manufacturer Upper Deck.
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'.
Manchester City's hopes of closing the gap on the Premier League pacesetters were frustrated as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to lowly West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday.
It is an perfect stage for India's mercurial skipper Virat Kohli, who loves to bring his A game to the fore when the chips are down.
A look at the newly-laid dark coloured Chepauk track is an indication that unlike the strip used during the first Test, this one will offer turn earlier than expected.
Manchester City now need, at most, 11 points from their remaining seven matches to secure their third Premier League title in four seasons.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Clarke hopeful of Australia finding right mix between youth and experience after the team was described as a "Dad's Army" by former fast bowler and present Yorkshire coach, Jason Gillespie.
What makes Juergen Klopp's side such an unstoppable force?
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.
A round-up of Saturday's matches in the English Premier League.
Max Verstappen won Red Bull's home Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday while Lewis Hamilton suffered his first race retirement since 2016 and lost the Formula One championship lead to Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.
After adding 271 people last year, the Academy sends out invitations to more than 300 people this year.
IMAGES from the US Open matches played on Day 1 at the Flushing Meadows in New York on Monday.
An investigation has been launched into reports that three top England players allegedly urinated on the pitch at The Oval, in London, hours after the fifth and final Ashes Test ended on Sunday.
He was among the key plotters of England's historic 2012 Test triumph in India and former coach Andy Flower sees no reason why an encore is not possible this year as he believes the visitors have enough 'formidable players' to challenge the upbeat hosts.
England will miss the skill and energy of leading wicket-taker James Anderson in the fourth Ashes Test against Australia at Trent Bridge, former batsman Kevin Pietersen said on Wednesday.
"Nothing has changed" for Kevin Pietersen's hopes of playing international cricket again, the England and Wales Cricket Board said on Sunday, despite incoming chairman Colin Graves appearing to leave the door open for the exiled batsman's return.
The franchise-based Champions Tennis League, which will begin its second season next month, will help end India's search for quality singles players, its promoter and former Davis Cupper Vijay Amritraj said.
Factbox on the Ashes series between England and Australia played this century.
International cricket will gingerly ease out of a 117-day shutdown in Southampton next week but the scars of the COVID-19 pandemic will be clearly evident at the Ageas Bowl. An encounter between the fourth and eighth ranked teams in Test cricket is hardly a pinnacle but England's series against West Indies could offer a glimpse into a future where the game plods on under the shadow of the new coronavirus.
Making her film debut with The Householder, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala wrote more screenplays than novels, winning two Oscars -- for A Room with a View and Howards End. She kept her distance from the film crowd, seeking refuge in the 'protective' company of her two life-long collaborators, Director James Ivory and Producer Ismail Merchant.
When Roy teamed up with Rory Burns against Ireland last week, they were England's eighth different opening partnership in the past three years and the 16th since Andrew Strauss retired in 2012.
Ireland attack ruthlessly exposed the cracks in England's batting as the hosts posted their lowest home total since scoring 77 against Australia in 1997.
England made a poor start to their Australia tour on Thursday with their fancied bowling attack forced to toil by a second-string Western Australia Chairman's XI at Perth.
Pakistan's Test stalwart Younis Khan, who led the national team to its only World T20 title in 2009, remained unsold while captain Misbah-ul Haq was snapped up by the Islamabad franchise on the first day of the Players' Draft for the Pakistan Super League, on Monday.
Kevin De Bruyne, Kelechi Iheanacho, Raheem Sterling and Ilkay Gundogan gave Man City a 4-0 win over Bournemouth before Nolito was sent off.
Real Madrid moved into the semi-finals of the Champions League after their makeshift defence held on for 0-0 second-leg draw with Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday to complete a 3-1 aggregate win.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
