Bangladesh vs West Indies, Players end strike, available for ODI

West Indies' leading players have ended their strike and made themselves available for international duty following the appointment of an arbitrator to settle their dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). Chris Gayle and other star players could now take part in the one-dayers against Bangladesh.
The original 13-man squad picked by the board for the Bangladesh Tests had boycotted the series due to a disagreement over contractual issues. The strike forced the selectors to pick a second-string side which lost both Tests, handing Bangladesh their first overseas series victory.
The WICB and the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA), which is negotiating on the cricketers' behalf, agreed to resolve the impasse by mediation on Tuesday, after meeting with Guyana president Bharat Jagdeo, who is also chairman of the 15-nation trading bloc Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM). Both sides agreed to the appointment of former Commonwealth secretary general Shridath Ramphal as arbitrator.
"It was agreed that in the light of the Mediation Agreement which the Parties expect to lead to the resolution of outstanding issues all the players will make themselves available for selection," they said in a joint statement.
"The mediation team, with assistance from the Caricom secretariat, would begin work immediately," they said. "Both parties have taken this step, mindful of the interest of their respective organisations but conscious also of their wider responsibility to the people of the West Indies and the international sport of cricket."
The agreement came hours after a weakened squad was announced by the board for the first two one-dayers against Bangladesh.

Sl vs Pak, Srilanka vs Pakistan, 3rd test, 3rd day

Misbah is trying his level best to save the innings, as Pakistan were struggling at 67 for 4 in the 3rd day of the 3rd test match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Pakistan had started the day on 16 for 1 in the second innings but Rangana Herath continued to torment the batsman with accurate bowling keeping the batsman tied down at one end. In the 27 overs that he has bowled he has 2 wickets in his kitty and will be gunning for more. Pakistan scored 299 and Sri Lanka 233 giving Pakistan a lead of 56 runs.

England vs Australia, 2nd Test match at Lords, ashes 2009, England beat australia by 115 runs

England beat Australia by 115 runs at Lord’s in the 2nd test match of the Ashes Series 2009. Andrew Flintoff who has been in the news because of injuries has been awarded the Man of the match. England scored 425/10 & 311/6 and Australia scored 215/10 & 406/10 helping England snatch victory by 115 runs. Andrew Flintoff took 5 wickets in the 2nd innings putting to rest all injury speculations. His retirement will be a tremendous loss for the England side who struggled in the first test match. Overall a superb performance in the 2nd test has brought back the lost confidence.
Andy Flower is confident that his team will continue to build on the success and momentum they took from their historic victory over Australia at Lord’s on Monday. This was the first test victory at Lord’s against Australia for 75 years. The fitness of Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen is still under the scanner and the ability of both these star players to take the field at Edgbaston in the 3rd test which start on July 30 is a growing concern. Inspite of these concerns Andrew Flower is still confident that England has the fire power to take on the Australians

Pakistan Cricket Board, Cricket breaking news, Boycott 2011 world cup,

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have made it very clear that they are not thinking of boycotting the 2011 world cup. The International Cricket Council stripped Pakistan of its status to host a world cup due to the recent spate of violence and instability in the country. The recent attack on the Sri Lankan Team was the main cause of this decision. Unnamed sources in the Pakistani government revealed that the PCB was asked to boycott the 2011 world cup blaming cash rich BCCI for influencing the decision of the ICC. However this has been denied by the governing body of the ICC. The PCB has denied that any directive has been received from the Pakistani government.

Andrew Flintoff to retire from test Cricket, post Ashes Series

Breaking News : Andrew Flintoff to retire from test cricket post the Ashes Series due to the number of injuries, this was confirmed by the England and Wales Cricket Board on Wednesday. Shocking news for his fans who would still love to see the all-rounder in action. However he will still be playing for England in the one dayers and Twenty20 matches.

England vs Australia, 2nd Test Match - Flintoff injury

Andrew Flintoff didn’t bowl in the nets on Tuesday but England’s coach Flower is optimistic that Andrew will play the second test at lord’s which will be starting on Thursday. A spate of injuries since the 2005 ashes has forced Flintoff to miss 25 out of 48 test matches played by England. His latest injury of soreness and swelling in the right knee post the awkward fall in the first test is not severe enough, and as suggested by the doctor that he should be able to play the second test. However confirmation is yet to be received.

WI vs Ban, 2nd Test - Mashrafe Mortaza injured, Shakib Al Hasan to lead in second test

Mashrafe Mortaza injured, Shakib Al Hasan to lead in second test. Shakib was asked to stand-in as captain for the last 2 days of the first test and will continue to captain the Bangladesh side in the second test match. As Mashrafe Mortaza will return to play only post results of an MRI scan conducted on the right knee. Mortaza injured his knee while bowling on the 3rd day of the first test in St Vincent.

Mortaza who took over as captain from Mohammad Ashraful last month, has been hit by a series of injuries following his test debut in 2001. The team management has announced a faast bowler Nazmul Hossain as back-up for the second test. A win is inevitable against a depleted WI side. Following this match the teams will play 3 ODI’s and a Twenty20 international

Sri Lanka beat Pakistan, 2nd Test at Colombo, Sri Lanka vs Pakistan

Sri Lanka 240 (Sangakkara 87, Gul 4-43, Ajmal 4-87) and 171 for 3 (Warnapura 54) beat Pakistan 90 (Kulasekhara 4-21) and 320 (Fawad 168, Younis 82, Herath 5-99, Kulasekar 4-37) by seven wickets.

Fawad’s 168 in the 2nd innings of the 2nd test against Sri Lanka in Colombo could not help Pakistan as Sri Lanka finally sealed a victory on the 3rd days play. Sri Lanka bowled Pakistan all out that left Sri Lanka with a target of just 171. The target was achieved in just 32 overs.

When play began in the morning Pakistan with Fawad Alam and Younis Khan seemed to be all set to build a lead of their own but part-time offspinner Tharanga Paranavitana struck by taking the wicket of Younis Khan. This was the downfall of Pakistan where they lost 9 wickets for just 35 runs. Rangara Herath picked 5 wickets for 99, his first five in test cricket.

The 171 runs chase was a cake walk as Pakistan’s bowlers had no tricks up their sleeves. The opening partnership added 60 in a mere ten overs, and even when that pair was separated, Pakistan were never in the contest with Sangakkara bringing down the target to just 11 runs. However the Captain wasn’t in the middle to celebrate the victory, that hardly mattered.

Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, 2nd Test at Colombo, 2nd day, Sri v Pak

Pakistan 90 and 178 for 1 (Fawad 102*) lead Sri Lanka 240 (Sangakkara 87, Gul 4-43) by 28 runs.
Pakistan dominated the second day of play by bowling out Sri Lanka for just 240 runs with Umar Gul’s four wicket haul. After a poor show in the first innings 90 all out, Pakistan started off well in the second innings posting a total of 178 for 1 with Fawad scoring an unbeaten 102 at close of play. All questions about Pakistan’s commitment have now been put to rest.
When the day began the Sri Lankan team was so far ahead that it seemed a possibility to rectify their record of never winning a home series against Pakistan. However Pakistan dominated and controlled all 3 sessions of play which has left Sri Lanka with an uncomfortable thought of chasing a stiff total on a wearing pitch.

West Indies vs Bangladesh, 1st Test at Kingstown, WI v Bang

Bangladesh Spinners seal historic win against the depleted West Indies side
Bangladesh: 238 (Mortaza 39, Roach 3-46) and 345 (Tamin 128, Sammy 5-70) beat West Indies 307 (Phillips 94, Bernard 53, Mahmudullah 3-59) and 181 (Bernard 52, Mahmudullah 5-51, Shakib 3-39) by 95 runs.

Bangladesh sealed a historic career second test victory when they beat WI by 95 runs in St Vincent. Bangladesh won their first test match four and half years ago. The spin twins Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah were the stars who contributed immensely to this victory. The Victory was sealed at 4:40 pm local time when stand –in Cap Shakib bowled a full toss nailing the last batsman Tino Best with 10 overs to spare. Earlier when the day commenced Bangladesh were not comfortable getting runs. A major 5 wicket haul by Darren Sammy of the WI proved to be a blessing in hindsight as it allowed the Bangladesh spinners t bowl them to Victory.

Flintoff injured, England vs Australia, 2nd Ashes Test at Lords, Ashes 2009 ( 16th -20th)

Flintoff Injured - England vs Australia, 2nd Ashes Test at Lords, Ashes 2009 ( 16th -20th)
Due to a knee injury Andrew Flintoff will be replaced by Steve Harmison into an expanded 14-man squad for the second Ashes Test to be held at Lords on the 16th to 20th. Andrew Flintoff complained of Knee injury and had to undergo scans on Monday. Seasoned Flintoff’s injury will come as a major blow to England who had hoped the all-rounder would have repeated his performance of Ashes 2005 where he was awarded the man of the series. His performance in the 1st test match was as follows 1-128 from 35 overs and scored 37 and 26.
The Cardiff test was Englands first major assignment after a meniscus tear suffered during the IPL stint with the Chennai Super Kings. He has not represented England since the Antigua test in February.
Well Andrew being unfit has seen Stephen Harmison getting an opportunity to unsettle the opposition batsmen with pace and bounce.
Sqaud: Andrew Straus(capt), Alastair Cook, Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Matt Prior(wk), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Monty Panesar, Graham Onions, Ian Bell & Steve Harmison

England vs Australia, 1st Test Match of the Ashes Series 2009, Match Drawn

England drew the 1st test match with Australia at Cardiff…
James Anderson and Monty Panesar the final pair were the stars of the test match who managed to paly off Australia for the final 11.3 overs helping England pull off a great escape at Cardiff. Earlier in the day Paul Collingwood managed to frustrate the Australian bowling attack by playing a monumental 245-ball 74 with England trailing at 6. Collingwood’s 50 came off 167 balls, the slowest by an England batsman since Nasser Hussain against West Indies in Port of Spain, but the pace of his innings did not matter at all as England did save this match.
Ponting admitted that the result was tough to digest as Australia were ahead of the game virtually throughout the final day. Now he is looking forward to the 2nd Test Match which is to be played at Lords

England vs Australia, 1st Test of Ashes Series 2009, Cardiff – Live Score Aus v Eng

England 435 and 20/2 (Strauss 6* and Pietersen 3*) trail Australia 674 for 6 (Ponting 150, North 125*, Katich 122 and Haddin 121) by 219 runs.

Four batsmen in the Australian side scored centuries….taking Australia to a mammoth total of 674/6 declared on the 4th day of the first test match in the Ashes series 2009. England’s fruitless bowling efforts helped Australia score the 6th highest test score overall and the fourth against England. Five England bowlers conceded centuries for just the second time following the 1973 test against the WI at Lords.

Poor fielding also did not help the England side with Paul Collingwood letting one through his legs at cover and Pietersen hurling four overthrows. Clearly the match looks tiled towards Australia at the moment and only rain can help England to save the First test match at Cardiff.

Pakistan vs Sri Lanka – 2nd Test Match at Colombo, Live Cricket Scores of PAK v SL

Pakistan’s poor form with the bat continues. The first session was a horrible one for them where they collapsed for a paltry 90 runs. Shoaib Malik was the only one who showed some resistance to the Sri Lankan attack. Kulasekara was Pakistan main enemy scalping 4 important wickets, and Ajantha Mendis took 3 wickets to dampen the Pakistan hope of getting a descent total.

Brief scorecard:
Pakistan 90 (Malik 39*, Kulasekara 4-21) v Sri Lanka


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