Australia's remarkable Ashes fightback left England staring at a first innings total of 527 for seven on Friday and the loss of two late wickets on day two of the third Test made the task look even more imposing.
Ian Bell joined an elite trio on Thursday with his third Ashes century in successive Tests after England had lost three cheap wickets on the opening day of the second Test against Australia at Lord's.
England roared back in the final session following a feeble batting display as wickets tumbled on a dramatic opening day of the first Ashes Test against Australia at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.
All that's transpired on and off the cricket pitch on Monday.
Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon said officials have done a good job.
A resurgent England attack tore through Australia's batting lineup with six wickets in the final session to leave the hosts reeling at 164 for nine at the close of the second day of the fourth Ashes Test on Friday.
Despite the weeks of debate about the make-up of the Australia team for next week's first Ashes Test, captain Michael Clarke is of the opinion that 11 of the 12 players are "no-brainer" selections.
Aggressive off-spin bowling from Graeme Swann and indifferent Australian batting allowed England to seize control of the second Ashes Test at Lord's on Friday.
England were scenting victory after claiming three late wickets to reduce Australia to 174 for six on a fluctuating fourth day of the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge on Saturday.
Australia moved within 201 runs of victory in the fourth Ashes Test with all 10 wickets in hand after routing England's second innings for 179 to wrest back the momentum on a roller-coaster fourth day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday.
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.
Virat Kohli became only the third Indian to score a hundred on his captaincy debut as the visitors responded resolutely to Australia's mammoth first innings total by reaching 369 for five on the third day to leave the first cricket Test evenly poised at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday.
As Cheteshwar Pujara plays a landmark Test against Sri Lanka, Rajneesh Gupta salutes the batsman's career thus far in numbers...
Day 4 in the first Test was dominated by Australian performances. First, spinner Nathan Lyon bagged his sixth five-wicket haul as India were dismissed for 444 in the first innings. Then, opener David Warner continued in his sublime form and struck his second century of the match as the home side put up 290 for five in their second innings, an overall lead of 363 runs. Here are images from Friday's play at the Adelaide Oval.
India's batsmen came good on a flat track to put up 369 for 5 on Day 3 of the first Test against Australia in Adelaide on Thursday. Wriddhimaan Saha (1) and Rohit Sharma (33) were at the crease at the draw of stumps. Images from the day's play.
Injured Australia captain Michael Clarke will arrive in the United Arab Emirates five days ahead of the rest of the Test squad as he races to be fit for the two-match series against Pakistan.
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Australia have named swashbuckling batsman Aaron Finch captain of the Twenty20 cricket team, replacing George Bailey, Cricket Australia (CA) said on Monday.
In the ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, Australia's Ryan Harris has moved up two places to second following his six wickets against India in the fourth Test at MCG.
Sri Lanka's victory in the first Test at Galle will rank among the greatest comebacks of all time.
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Several low-lying areas in the city and suburbs were water-logged after overnight heavy showers
Kanyakumari has the highest per capita income in Tamil Nadu and the second highest literacy rate. There are 23 candidates the fray.
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