ANDREW STRAUSS NAMED THE CAPTAIN OF THE ENGLISH TEST TEAM

Amidst high drama following up the controversy of Pietersen-Moores rift, Pietersen was asked to resign and Moores was given the boot.Andrew Strauss was named the Captain of the test team that is to tour the West Indies next month.The newspapers and former English players have named Pietersen as the culprit of this whole saga that has made the current crop of players backing sides.
The papers claimed that the fiasco left England totally demoralized and divided.Former English player Graham Thorpe felt Pietersen can even be dropped for his behavior.He said that Pietersen's behavior went counter productive and that left England with a massive problem in hand. He also felt that such situations created by Kevin Pietersen will ask people which side they are.
Kevin Pietersen received a startling vote of no confidence from his players.A list was published as to who are supporting him and those who are against him.With KP are Stuart Broad,Ian Bell, Luke Wright, Paul Collingwood and Monty Panesar. James Anderson, Graeme Swann, Steve Harmison and most importantly Andrew Flintoff were against him while Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook and Matt Prior played it safe.
Andrew Strauss also claimed that he had the full backing of KP as even Michael Vaughn suggested that only Strauss could handle this situation effectively.

South Africa fall short of the target

In reply to the huge target of 182 set by the Australians, South Africa wilted under pressure and the absence of their skipper Graeme Smith showed in their poor run chase. Graeme Smith was out due to a fractured finger and tennis elbow and Jacques Kallis went up the order to open the innings along with the prolific Herschelle Gibbs. Gibbs was forced out of the test series due to an ankle injury and made a comeback in this T20 match.
The chase started as badly as it could with Gibbs being dismissed for a duck in the very 1st over, Nathan Bracken being the bowler who claimed him plumb in front of the wicket. The start became even worse as AB DeVilliers was also out for a duck in a strange manner and the score read 2 for 2. The ball from Shaun Tait hit DeVilliers in the lower abdomen and DeVilleirs could not help himself from hitting the stumps as he was jumping in pain. Kallis soon followed DeVilliers and Gibbs after scoring only 4 runs and South Africa were reeling at 12 for the loss of 3 wickets.
The innings was then steadied by Duminy and Van Jaarsveld with Duminy being the only saving grace for the South Africans.He scored 78 of 48 balls with 9 fours and a six. The South African's fell short by 52 runs in the end.

The Australians are back to winning ways

The Kangaroo's thump Proteas in the 1st T20 match of the two match series by a margin of 52 runs. The win was mainly due to the magnificent half century by debutant David Warner and a good combined effort by the bowlers.
The match took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the toss was won by the Australians. Their skipper Ricky Ponting without any hesitation decided to bat 1st in the fresh wicket. Shaun Marsh, the son of former player Geoff Marsh, opened the innings alongside debutant David Warner, who was recently signed by the Delhi Daredevils to play in the IPL championship. Shaun Marsh fell after scoring just 9 runs but the team's score was 38 in 3.2 overs, thanks to the aggressive start by Warner.
Warner was joined by the skipper and they put up a 59-run stand in the space of 37 balls. But Ponting was removed by Morne Morkel. The innings then fell apart with small contributions from David Hussey and James Hopes. Dale Steyn of South Africa was the most successful bowler taking 3 wickets. David Warner's innings was punctuated with seven boundaries and 6 towering sixes. The hard-hitting opener has announced his entry into top flight cricket and the Australians have indeed found an able replacement for Matthew Hayden.

The Border-Gavaskar trophy

The test series between India and Australia is named after the legends Allan Border of Australia and Sunil Gavaskar of India. The latest edition of this series took place in India with the Aussies defending the trophy. The Indian team was lead by Anil Kumble and Ricky Ponting was the Australian counterpart. Not to forget that this is the last series for Saurav Ganguly, the most successful Indian captain ever in both tests and ODIs, after he announced his retirement prior to the start of the series. He also mentioned that selection dilemma had forced him to take this decision and that he didn't wish to be at the mercy of the selectors.
The series kicked off at Bangalore and Aussies won the toss and elected to bat 1st. On a dry pitch, Aussies played very slow and scored 446 in their 1st innings. The Indians in their reply faultered at the start and the middle order could not hold fort either. As they were staring at follow-on Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh came to their rescue with a well compiled half centuries by both of them. This partnership steered India from following on and Australia played aggressively in their 2nd innings and posted a target of around 300 in the final day for the Indians. As the Indians lost the wicket of Sehwag cheaply, they played out for a draw.

The latest news from EPl

The transfer window has given the teams the opportunity to the teams to make the changes to suit them for the 2nd half of the season in the Premiere League. Here are some of the changes made by the teams on who they bought and who they sold.
Arsenal have sold Gay Simpson and Gavin Hoyte and have made no buyings. Aston Villa have sold Wayne Routledge and have bought none. Blackburn Rovers have sold Sergio Peter, Eddie Nolan and Frank Fielding. Bolton Wanderers have bought Sebastien Puygrenier and sold Heider helguson. Chelsea have sold Wayne Bridge, Scott Sinclair, Jack Cork and Ben Sahar. Everton have sold Lee Molyneux to Southampton. Fulham have sold Lee Cook, T J Moncur and Hameur Bouezza. Hull City have sold Dean Windass.League leaders have made no changes in their squad. Manchester city have bought Wayne Bridge and sold Sam Williamson. Manchester United bought Adam Ljajic, Zoran Tosic and Ritchie De Laet and have sold David Grey and Sam Hewson. Middlesbrough have sold Jonathan Grounds and Seb Hines.Newcastle Unite have made no changes and Portsmouth have bought Nadir Belhadj and have sold Diarra, Jermaine Defoe an Charlie Daniels. Stoke City have bought Matthew Etherington and have sold Ritchie De Laet. Tottenham Hotspurs have bought Jermain Defoe and sold Charlie Daniels.

LATEST NEWS UPDATES IN CRICKET

New Zealand cricket (NZC) has said that it will take a decision for the accommodation of a 3rd test for the series against India after the Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) requested NZC for the 3rd test. The Indian Board suffered heavy losses to the tune of Rs. 120 crores after the terrorist attack in Mumbai cut short England's 7 match one day series to 5 matches only and also the cancellation of the tour to Pakistan which was slated to begin from next month. It is expected that NZC announce their decision next week after discussing with their Indian counterparts.
In the latest ICC ODI rankings, Indian captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni retained the top spot while Yuvraj moved to the 5th position, thanks largely to the dismal performance by Chris Gayle in the ongoing ODI series against the Black Caps. Sachin Tendulkar is the only other Indian in the top 20 in the list for batsmen. In the bowler's rankings, New Zealand skipper and left arm spin bowler Daniel Vettori retained the top spot after his good show against the Windies taking 6 wickets in 3 matches at an economy of just 3.08 runs per over. Zaheer Khan is the only Indian bowler in the top ten.
The Sri Lankan cricket board recalled Tillakaratne Dilshan into the one-day squad for the three-match series against Pakistan later this month.

WATCHOUT FOR THE SUNDAY ACTION

Chelsea travel to Old Trafford, the home ground of the current Premier League champions and current European and world champions Manchester United, to take on Sir Alex Ferguson's side in the most awaited match of the month. Chelsea's coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has a job in hand as his team is 2nd in the rankings, 3 points adrift of the leaders Liverpool and 4 points ahead of Manchester United, who have 2 games in hand.
Off late Chelsea have been out of form as seen in their poor show against Everton and Fulham and their average outings at home have cost them more than a few points. But they received some help from the other leaders in the table with similar dismal performances which fortunately didn't cost them dear.
Both Manchester United and Chelsea have full strength squad at their disposal. Hence the game is expected to be a nail-biter. A win or a draw is what Chelsea would look for and Manchester United will go all out to win against Chelsea.
Elsewhere, in Italy, former England captain David Beckham is set to make his debut in the Italian Serie A for his team A.C Milan against a tough A.S Roma side. David Becham was bought on loan from the American team Los Angeles Galaxy by A.C Milan which also boasts of Kaka and Ronaldinho in their side.

SOUTH AFRICA AIM FOR A WHITEWASH

South Africa have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 3 test series against the Aussies and are in a party mode to celebrate their series victory, their first ever down under. The South Africans won the 1st test by virtue of chasing down 414 runs to win in the 4th innings, the 2nd highest total chased ever in the history of test cricket.
In the 2nd test match South Africa were down in the dumps when Australia scored 386 runs and S.A were reeling at 187 for the loss of 7 wickets. But Jean Paul Duminy, in his debut test series, made a sound statement of his worth by scoring 166 runs and in the process taking South Africa past the total of the Aussies and handing a lead of 56 runs for his team.
Duminy stitched crucial partnerships with the tail-enders with a 60 run partnership for the 8th wicket and a massive 180 run partnership for the 9th wicket along with Dale Steyn. Dale Steyn also took 5 wickets in the 1st innings. The Aussies were able to score only 326 runs with Dale Steyn returning with another 5 wicket haul. The target set by the Aussies was chased down pretty comfortably and with that S.A won the test and the series.