Cricket

Inside Cricket

Tendulkar makes history with 13,000th Test run

Monday, 18 January 2010

India 213-8 Bangladesh: The Left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan and the paceman Shahadat Hossain took four wickets each as Bangladesh left India struggling on 213 for 8.

England review use of referrals

Sunday, 17 January 2010

ECB chairman speaks out against 'blasted' system he opposed and says it may not be used at home next summer

Test series drawn after England collapse

Sunday, 17 January 2010

England 180 & 169-9 South Africa 423-7 dec

Forget reviews – all looks lost for England

Sunday, 17 January 2010

Tourists take protests to the top as third umpire Harper turns a deaf ear to renewed appeals

Nothing wrong with the volume, claims referee

Sunday, 17 January 2010

To the neutral observer, England might have seemed petulant and embittered last night. They were losing the Fourth Test by a long way but they had won a concession from the International Cricket Council that the policy of referrals in Tests would be immediately investigated.

On the Front Foot: Under-fire Harper's Facebook friends are music to his ears

Sunday, 17 January 2010

The dispute surrounding Daryl Harper's contentious use of the Decision Review System – colloquially known as referrals – took a delightful new turn yesterday. Harper appeared robustly to defend his actions as third umpire in the Fourth Test in a series of postings on the Facebook website. Meanwhile England continued to be enraged and refused to let the matter drop, as reported elsewhere. Harper had provoked their ire by declining to overturn the verdict of the on-field umpire Tony Hill, who gave Graeme Smith not out caught behind on 15 in South Africa's first innings. That Smith went on to make 105 in characteristically belligerent style merely exacerbated their feelings. Representations were made by the England coach, Andy Flower, to the match referee, Roshan Mahanama, about Harper, and yesterday England formally requested that their review be reinstated, claiming Harper did not have the volume on his stump microphone turned up sufficiently to hear Smith's alleged edge. Although Harper denied that the postings on his site actually came from him, he conceded they sounded like him and they were rather fun. Among other things the site said: "Thanks, Suhail... but the truth about Smith's decision may come out eventually. The host broadcaster didn't provide the appropriate sound to match the picture. The commentator, Matthew Hoggard, told the viewers that there was no sound so Smith would be given not out. Five minutes later they found a sound and blamed me!" Or: "Thanks for that, Mike. I always get stick from English commentators... it's the Aust.-Eng. thing. They can't help themselves. But I get to make my decision as a truly neutral. Thanks for the feedback." The ICC also supported Harper. Amid all this claim and counterclaim, it is being forgotten, not least by Flower, that Smith may have hit the ball but he may not have done. The technology, whatever its volume, was not conclusive. What larks, what larks.

England furious as Harper's blunder costs crucial wicket

Saturday, 16 January 2010

Official complaint will follow astonishing failure to turn on volume for referral of Smith catch

Early wickets put England in trouble

Saturday, 16 January 2010

England must pull off yet another second-innings rearguard effort if they are to remain unbeaten in South Africa and score a famous series victory.

Pakistan with mountain to climb thanks to 'lazy' Butt

Saturday, 16 January 2010

Australia 519-8d Pakistan 94-4

Strauss has much to learn from two great captains

Saturday, 16 January 2010

Graeme Smith took on a wave of English hostility yesterday as he refused to walk when he was still a long way from a brilliant, clubbing 20th Test century and then he sat with his big shoulders hunched watching lightning flashes light up the storm-laden highveld sky.

Angus Fraser: Case of Collingwood shows why South Africa are the better Test side

Saturday, 16 January 2010

Inside Cricket

Fearsome Smith has England on the run

Saturday, 16 January 2010

England 180 South Africa 215-2

Smith makes most of reprieve

Friday, 15 January 2010

England were tonight nursing an apparent sense of injustice after South Africa captain Graeme Smith's century put his team in charge of the final Test at The Wanderers.

The ten best England batting collapses

Friday, 15 January 2010

In celebration (or commiseration) of England's first innings batting in Johannesburg, we take a look at the great England batting collapses of yesteryear.

Desperate Pietersen incapable of halting his downward slide

Friday, 15 January 2010

James Lawton: The key was Steyn's ability to undermine English confidence almost every time he ran in.

Steyn rips England's battle plan to shreds

Friday, 15 January 2010

England 180 South Africa 29-0: From the first ball of the match yesterday, England's destiny was shaped.

Ponting ends poor run as Pakistan pay for early drop

Friday, 15 January 2010

Australia 302-3 v Pakistan: The Australia captain Ricky Ponting has promised to continue playing the hook shot, even though it almost proved his undoing on a day when he registered only his second Test century at his home ground and brought to an end his run of modest scores.

Flintoff aims to play in all forms of game for Lancashire this summer

Friday, 15 January 2010

Andrew Flintoff said last night that he intends to play all games for Lancashire next season after further routine knee surgery earlier this week.

Collingwood: 'We weren't good enough'

Friday, 15 January 2010

England made no excuses last night for their inept display on the first day of the fourth Test. But then there were none to make that would have been credible despite more exemplary fast bowling by South Africa.

South Africa pushing hard for victory

Thursday, 14 January 2010

England collapsed to 180 all out inside two sessions of the final Test as South Africa fast bowlers Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel shared nine wickets on a rain-shortened first day.

Collingwood remains postive

Thursday, 14 January 2010

Paul Collingwood insisted England are still confident of victory in the final Test against South Africa despite a horror show in their first innings at The Wanderers today.

James Lawton: Pietersen will need bravado of old to storm Wanderers

Thursday, 14 January 2010

If Cape Town was Ian Bell's point of salvation, this could be his Rubicon

Can Strauss mastermind a final act of resistance?

Thursday, 14 January 2010

Famous series victory awaits England if they can thwart fierce South African attack

Youngsters free to speak their minds in captain's new model army

Thursday, 14 January 2010

Over the next five days England will endeavour to win a gripping Test series which will define Andrew Strauss's brave new era. If the tourists can prevail against South Africa in the fourth Test at The Wanderers starting today it will lay the ghosts of teams and times past.