England's new-found consistency will be pitted against Sri Lanka's characteristic flair when the two teams clash in the first semi-final of the Twenty20 World Cup in Gros Islet, St Lucia on Thursday.
England's talismanic all-rounder Andrew Flintoff and deposed captain Kevin Pietersen on Friday became the highest priced auctioned cricketers in the Indian Premier League when they were bought for an identical amount of $ 1.55 million by Chennai Super Kings and Bangalore Royal Challengers, respectively.
Jonny Bairstow is looking forward to a spot in the England Test team, and is aware that Kevin Pietersen is ahead of him in the pecking order.
England batsman Alastair Cook will serve as Andrew Strauss's vice-captain in the four-Test series against West Indies which starts next month. Strauss was appointed captain earlier this month after the turmoil surrounding the resignation of Kevin Pietersen and the sacking of England coach Peter Moores.
England stars Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff will give away 10 per cent of their Indian Premier League earnings to their respective counties Hampshire and Lancashire.
English cricket plunged into deep crisis with coach Peter Moores also resigning.
Barely a day after England's tour of India to play two Test matches got final clearance, the first batch of cricketers landed in Chennai on Monday evening amid tight security.
Australia paceman Mitchell Johnson again found the WACA a happy hunting ground to inspire the hosts to a 57-run victory and a 6-1 series hammering of England in the seventh and final One-Day International on Sunday.
Professional Cricketers Association chief executive Sean Morris will meet England captain Kevin Pietersen and the rest of the team when they come to Heathrow on Saturday evening with the message that 'cricket is no longer at the top of the agenda'. 'We will sit down with the players and discuss the situation. We can't make any decisions at this stage,' Morris said.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to field against England in the fifth One-Day International at the Barabati stadium in Cuttack on Wednesday. India brought in left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan in place of Munaf Patel and Rohit Sharma replaced the in-form Gautam Gambhir.
Former India wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer lashed out at match referee Roshan Mahanama, saying his lack of "common sense" resulted in the third One-Day International between India and England at Kanpur being decided by the Duckworth/Lewis system. 'Kanpur has good (floodlights) lights and they should have been used,' he said.
England are the current World Twenty20 champions, but their success in the mega-event last year was not reflected at the 2011 Indian Premier League Players's two-day auction, that concluded in Bangalore, on Sunday.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting was fined 40 per cent of his match fee after his frustration over a TV referral decision boiled over into an ugly row with umpire Aleem Dar on the second day of the fourth Ashes Test on Monday.
England wicket keeper Matt Prior has said that teams spirit has improved massively since skipper Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower assumed charge.
Alastair Cook continued to defy Australia's bowlers with a clinical unbeaten 136 to help drive England to a first-innings lead of 72 with eight wickets in hand after second day of the second Ashes Test in Adelaide on Saturday.
Delhi Daredevils' final IPL outing was as woeful as their opening one, with table-toppers Kings XI Punjab inflicting a seven-wicket defeat on the tournament's wooden spooners in Mohali on Sunday.
'Let's support our champions when they need it the most.'
Former captain Kevin Pietersen believes the form of three players will be key to England's hopes of beating Australia to regain the Ashes in their Test series starting in Cardiff on Wednesday.
England middle-order batsman Kevin Pietersen will be the primary target of the Australians during the Ashes series despite his recent form slump, said vice-captain Michael Clarke.
Former cricket legend Ian Botham has predicted that England would beat Australia in the battle for the Ashes with out-of-favour batsman Kevin Pietersen being one of the key trump cards.
England have named a provisional 30-man squad for the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.
He is seen as potential replacement of just retired all rounder Andrew Flintoff but England's emerging star Stuart Broad wants to emulate his 'role model' Glenn McGrath.
Australia reduced England to 169 for seven at tea in their second innings on the final day of the first Ashes Test in Cardiff on Sunday during an attritional afternoon session. Paul Collingwood fought a dour, rearguard act to reach 55 not out after more than four hours at the crease but at the interval England still trailed by 70 on the first innings with 34 overs remaining.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli said that it was Mahendra Singh Dhoni who made his nickname famous from behind the stumps while revealing the story behind how he got the name Chiku.
Captain Ricky Ponting has dismissed talks of Australia being underprepared for the World Twenty20 Championships by missing the Indian Premier League (IPL) and said his side is instead "in the best shape" following the break before the big event. Ponting along with Michael Clarke and Mike Hussey, deliberately skipped IPL preferring rest ahead of a busy summer for them.
Eoin Morgan struck a brilliant unbeaten century to lead England to a four-wicket victory over Australia in the first One-day International on Tuesday.
The second season of the Indian Premier League has been as much about ducks as it has been about runs.
Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Monday lavished praise on retired Australian Matthew Hayden and Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan for their efforts in the 92-run win over Bangalore Royal Challengers in Port Elizabeth.
Dashing batsman Kevin Pietersen said that he will never again captain England again as he is a father now.
Mahela Jayawardene managed to stay ahead of Kevin Pietersen and the Hussey brothers to become the most valuable player (MVP) in the ICC World Twenty20.
KL Rahul is the second highest run-getter so far this season, just behind Rajasthan Royals' Jos Buttler.
Darren Sammy continued his good run in the World T20. He was instrumental in the West Indies' eight wickets win over England on Monday. Sammy, who was key to the West Indies' win against Sri Lanka couple of days ago, was the pick of the hosts' bowlers, picking two for 22 in four overs.
West Indies cruised to a six wicket victory over England in a one-off Twenty20 international in Trinidad on Sunday. The hosts' excellent bowling and fielding restricted England to a modest 121 in 19.1 overs before Ramnaresh Sarwan's 59 put them in control and set up victory with two overs to spare.
Players around the world are getting jittery about playing in the Indian Premier League in the wake of the Lahore terror attack on the Sri Lankan team but Cricket South Africa on Monday said it has no objection in sending it's players for the Twenty20 tournament. The second edition of the cash-rich event is scheduled to kick off on April 10 in Mumbai.
Alastair Cook cracked an unbeaten century to lead England to a nine-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the second test on Wednesday as the tourists wrapped up a 2-0 series win.
And despite a slowdown, media planners say advertisers are pouring in over Rs 600 crore (nearly half the ad budget for cricket in 2009). This represents a more than 10 per cent increase over last year's spends on television, co-branding of teams and marketing, among others.
Top England stars, including Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, will be available for the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) both this year and the next season after the Indian Cricket Board and their English counterparts reached an agreement on Tuesday.
Alastair Cook marked his first Test as England captain with an unbeaten century to lift his team to a commanding 374 for three on the opening day of the series against Bangladesh on Friday.
England's selectors will meet on Friday to discuss the squad and captain for their one-day and Twenty20 games against West Indies after confirming that Andrew Strauss would captain the Test team. Coach Peter Moores was sacked on Thursday and England have yet to decide on his replacement for the West Indies tour or the return home series against them and the subsequent Ashes clash with Australia.
Restricting India to 453 is a job well done and Kevin Pietersen and his men are now very much back into the final Test, asserts England off-spinner Graeme Swann.
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