Australia captain Michael Clarke is confident he will recover from a back injury in time to play in their first warm-up match for the Ashes series. The recurring problem forced Clarke to miss the Champions Trophy and led to speculation that Australia's most prolific run-scorer in recent times could miss some of the five-Test Ashes series in England, which starts at Trent Bridge on July 10.
One of international cricket's fiercest rivalries resumes after six weeks when Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 'Men in blue' battles it out with Michael Clarke's team at the Sydney Cricket Ground for a place in the final of the ICC's showpiece event against New Zealand, who beat South Africa by four wickets in a thriller in Auckland on Tuesday. A factfile on the teams.
Umesh Yadav wreaked havoc with a five-wicket haul after Dinesh Karthik hit a sublime unbeaten hundred as India demolished Australia by 243 runs in their final Champions Trophy warm-up match in Cardiff on Tuesday.
Pakistan might have heaved a sigh of relief to see that Shaheen Shah Afridi did not show any signs of a draining fever that had gripped the team upon its arrival in Bengaluru.
In yet another blow to Pakistan ahead of the two Twenty20s and five One-Day Internationals against England, four key players of the team suffered injuries during their warm-up match against Somerset in Taunton on Thursday.
Rohit Sharma's coach wants him to shed high-risk game
Opener Virender Sehwag was forced to miss the match after failing to recover from a shoulder injury, but pace bowler Zaheer Khan was declared fit and included in the team after missing the two warm-up matches.
Argentina will play at Jerusalem's Teddy Kollek Stadium on Saturday night in a World Cup warm-up match that has attracted huge interest among the Israeli fans, mainly because of Messi's planned participation. But the Palestinians are not happy that the match will be held in Jerusalem and Palestinian FA chief Jibril Rajoub wrote to Claudio Tapia, the head of the Argentinian FA, last week accusing Israel of using the match as a "political tool".
Big-hitting Australia opener Aaron Finch on Thursday aggravated his right calf injury during a practice session and is facing a race against time to be fit for the first ODI against India on September 17.
The viewership numbers of the DLF Indian Premier League have thrown up a new trend that challenges conventional advertising wisdom. No less than 36 per cent of the television viewership for the first two matches played on April 18 and April 19 was contributed by women, according to TAM Media Research. All told, 8.2 million women in six metros (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore) watched cricket on television those nights, giving serials the miss.
Heading into the World Twenty20, the Indian team said it wants to win the trophy for Yuvraj Singh. Now, just days into the tournament, it seems Yuvraj will have to win it single-handedly.
The Indian team will finetune their preparations for the forthcoming World Cup with a three-day training camp at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.
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.
Mexico proved too sharp for World Cup holders Italy by beating them 2-1 in a warm-up match on Thursday for this month's tournament in South Africa.
Zimbabwe beat the defending champions by 12 runs in their second practice match ahead of the T20 World Championship.
The battle for Champions League qualification continues with fourth-placed Aston Villa away to Luton Town on Saturday and Tottenham Hotspur, who are five points behind with a game in hand, hosting Crystal Palace.
The much-delayed sale of tickets for the ODI World Cup began on Friday but fans had a tough time booking them with the official website not working for a good 35 to 40 minutes.
Germany's World Cup-winning football team forward Thomas Mueller took to social media to show his support for the Indian cricket team in the ongoing ICC World Cup.
India overwhelmed Bangladesh in their final warm-up match.
South Africa wicketkeeper Mark Boucher will undergo surgery after suffering a cut to his left eyeball in a warm-up match against Somerset in Taunton.
India's fast bowlers led by Varun Aaron made full use of the seamer-friendly conditions, as they dismissed an inexperienced Cricket Australia XI for 219 on Day 1 of their opening two-day warm-up match in Adelaide, on Monday.
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed is confident that his team will be able to maintain their superior record in the Champions Trophy against arch-rivals India as they gear up for a showdown on June 4.
Off-spinner Graeme Swann is returning home from India to spend time with his sick daughter, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Wednesday.
India now need to beat Bangladesh and Myanmar in their remaining two games to qualify for the second round. Myanmar beat Bangladesh 4-2 in the other group game earlier.
The West Indies left-arm spinner will miss the triangular one-day series against Australia and Pakistan because of a groin strain.
Former captain Sunil Gavaskar on Saturday backed Yuvraj Singh to make his comeback to the Indian Test team after his good all-round show for India 'A' against England in the warm-up match last week.
Pakistan PM forms high-level committee to decide on national team's participation in ODI World Cup
Off-spinner Nathan Lyon doesn't believe Australia's preparations for the World Test Championship final will be affected by the talk around the Ashes.
India's loss to Pakistan, their second in their last three T20 outings, has cast serious doubts over their credentials as one of the favourites for the World Twenty20 crown, says Harish Kotian.
India 'A' bowlers were largely ineffective, allowing Steve Smith and senior batsman Shaun Marsh to strike comfortable hundreds as Australia started their Test tour in impressive fashion in the three-day warm-up game in Mumbai on Friday.
Smarting from an embarrassing defeat to Zimbabwe in a warm-up match, defending champions Pakistan will have to quickly get their act together as they have a tricky opener against Bangladesh in the Twenty20 World Cup in St Lucia on Saturday.
Shaw knocks at selectors' doors ahead of NZ Tests with a splendid 150 off 100 balls.
A freak injury has turned out to be a potential career-ending injury for South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher. The veteran suffered a cut to his left eye ball during a warm-up match against English county side Somerset and will need to undergo surgery.
'I'm just glad to overcome today's challenge in straight sets and move on.'
Gary Cahill was ruled out of Euro 2012 on Sunday after a scan showed he had broken his jaw in two places in the final warm-up match against Belgium.
Australia edged Namibia by four wickets in a low-scoring match at the Under-19 World Cup, in Kimberley, on Monday.
In anticipation of his team's upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup match against the Netherlands, New Zealand batsman Glenn Phillips expressed his belief that the Dutch side will prove to be a formidable opponent in the tournament.
Djokovic struggled with both his serve and backhand during a 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-1 win over Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero and later said his left shoulder had been bothering him for weeks with the pain getting worse during the match.
Five Indian players to watch in the Test series against Australia, which begins in Adelaide on December 17:
India beat New Zealand 3-2 in a practice match prior to Sultan Azlan Shah hockey.
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