The Oval, London, England (GenevaLunch) – The Ashes reaches its climax this weekend with the series balanced at 1-1 going into the final Test at the Oval. The Australian selection is unchanged from the team that crushed England at Headingley. England replaced out of form batsman Ravi Bopara with Trott. Fast bowler Steve Harmison is fortunate to have been chosen ahead of Graham Onions.
Andrew Strauss won the toss and chose to bat on what looked like a good pitch but England soon lost opener Alistair Cook.
Headingley, Leeds, England (GenevaLunch) – Australia leveled the Ashes series 1-1 after completing the formality of taking the last five England wickets. The English batsmen managed to provide entertainment for the crowd, with Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann smashing their way to a 108 run partnership.
Headingley, Leeds, England (GenevaLunch) – England nearly achieved the unusual feat of losing a Test match in two days as they were comprehensively outplayed by Australia. The Aussies bowled out England for 102 and then scored 445 themselves, with Marcus North getting 110 runs. The England openers reached 58 before the loss of Andrew Strauss but then managed to fold to 78 for 5, with Ravi Bopara falling first ball, Ian Bell falling for three and Paul Collingwood for four.
Edgebaston, Birmingham, UK (GenevaLunch) – The third Test drifted to a draw as the Australian batsmen put on a solid display to end any English hopes of victory.
Edgebaston, Birmingham, UK (GenevaLunch) – England fought their way past the Australian total thanks to the attacking batting of Andrew Flintoff, Matt Prior and Stuart Broad. The Test has been curtailed by rain, which cost most of the first day and all of the third but England will be hoping that the ball swings today and helps the bowlers to dispose of the final Australian resistance.
London, England (GenevaLunch) – England won their first Ashes Test at Lords since 1934 when Andrew Flintoff claimed five wickets to end the Australian resistance. The match was over before lunch as England won by 115 runs. The First Test at Cardiff ended in a draw so England lead 1-0 in the five Test series. Details, Times, UK
London, England (GenevaLunch) – England dominated the Second Test at Lords but the Australians forgot to die. England set them a daunting 522 run target for the last innings, higher than any side has achieved to win a Test.
London, England (GenevaLunch) – England are in a dominant position after three days of the second test at Lords: the first test ended in a draw. They lead by 515 runs with two days to play. The Australian tail enders held up the English attack but fell just in time for England captain Andrew Strauss to have the chance to enforce the follow-on. However he prefered to bat again, possibly influenced by the easy batting conditions, the fitness of Andrew Flintoff or simple cowardice.
Lords/London, England (GenevaLunch) – It was a great second day for England at the Lords Test, despite an awful start to the day. Andrew Strauss left the second ball from Ben Hilfenhaus, only to see it hit his off stump. Swann and Broad fell in the next two overs but Anderson and Onions staged a 47 run stand for the last wicket to leave England on 425, and Australia frustrated.
Things got worse for the Aussies as they lost two wickets in the first six overs, including captain Ricky Ponting to a dodgy decision by umpire Rudi Koertzen.
London, England and Beijing, China (GenevaLunch) – England made a great start to the second test, winning the toss and putting on 196 runs before the first wicket fell. Australia then fought back and destroyed the English middle order, only captain Andrew Strauss maintaining resistance with an unbeaten 161 runs. England ended on 364-6, a respectable score but nowhere near what could have been achieved. Details, Guardian
Meanwhile Beijing witnessed a rather different game of cricket between expats and refugees, reports UNHCR in Geneva, the UN refugee organization.
Cardiff, Wales, UK (GenevaLunch) – England just survived to seize a draw in the First Test of the series, and the first to be played in Wales. Australia dominated most of the match with a massive 674-6 in response to England’s 435.
London, England (GenevaLunch) – Sri Lanka put in a great team effort to demolish the West Indies in the second of the semi-finals, payed at the Oval. The Windies won the toss and put Sri Lanka in to bat but the Sri Lankans started well, reaching 73 before the first wicket fell. Two more wickets went quickly but the runs kept coming for the innings to end at 158-5 with Dilshan on 96 not out: a competitive total.
The West Indian innings started disastrously, with three wickets falling in the first over, all out from playing the ball onto the wicket.
Texas billionnaire and Antigua cricket team backer Allen Stanford was arrested in Virginia, USA, on a charge related to investigations by the US Securities and Exchange Commission that he and his companies have been running a $9.2 billion Ponzi scheme. His companies are based in Antigua, where he revived cricket as a popular sport, but in early 2009, after the financial investigations came to light, the game’s governing body cut ties with him and canceled further matches. Stanford and his wife owe the US more than $225 million in back taxes, according to the IRS, reports CNN.
Other officials in the company, including chief investment officer Laura Pendergest-Holt, are likely to be indicted on related charges, possibly 19 June. Pendergest-Holt has already been charged with lying and obsruction of justice. The Houston Chronicle carries a series of articles and video.
London, England (GenevaLunch) – England sent the World Champion Indian team back early when they beat them by three runs at Lords. India won the toss and put England in to bat. Pietersen lead the England batting with 46 runs before falling lbw to Jadeja. England slipped from 121 for 3 to 153 f0r 7 in their twenty overs, a total that the Indian batsmen would normally expect to reach without much difficulty.
London, England (GenevaLunch) – The Netherlands beat England on the final ball of the opening match of the world Twenty20 match at Lords.
Bristol, UK (GenevaLunch) – England coasted to a comfortable six wicket victory over the West Indies in the second one day international in Bristol. The first was rained off.
(GenevaLunch) – The West Indies comfortably beat England in the Twenty20 international, winning by six wickets in the 18th over.
Five police escorts have died and six members of the Sri Lankan cricket team were injured, two reportedly with bullet wounds, after the bus taking them to the stadium in Lahore, Pakistan was attacked by what appears to have been a well-organized and well-armed group of a dozen men. AP, BBC, and background on “security beefed up” from CricketNext
Dallas, Texas, USA (GenevaLunch) - Texas financier Sir Allen Stanford, who provided the $20 million prize for the Twenty20 tournament between England and the West Indies, has been accused of operating a massive $8 billion fraud and has had his assets frozen by a court in Dallas. The West Indian winners of the Twenty20 reportedly have already been paid but the proposed matches in May look like being cancelled. Details: Guardian, UK
Antigua (GenevaLunch) - The Second Test ended in farce when the game was abandoned after only 10 balls as the ground was clearly unsafe for anything but beach-cricket, but an extra test was quickly arranged at the old Recreation Ground in Antigua.
Jamaica (GenevaLunch) – The England team were thrashed in the first test at Sabina Park despite having the two most expensive players in the world.
Melbourne, Australia (GenevaLunch) – David Warner scored a thrilling 89 from 43 balls in his debut international match to lead Australia to a 52-run victory over South Africa in the Twenty20 International. He was the first man to play for Australia without having played any first class matches.
Sydney, Australia (GenevaLunch) – Australia took control on the third day at Sydney. They ended with a lead of 151 runs with all their second innings wickets intact. South Africa have already won the series and might be more concerned about the loss of captain Graeme Smith, who might be out for a few months with a broken finger.
Meanwhile it looks like England coach Peter Moores is likely to lose his job after a power struggle with captain Kevin Pietersen. Details, Guardian, UK
Melbourne, Australia (GenevaLunch) – South Africa made a formality of the last day’s play as they won by nine wickets and sealed their first series win in Australia. If they take the third and final test it will also depose Australia from their long-held position as top-ranked cricket nation.
(GenevaLunch) - South Africa look like they are on the verge of an historic series victory in Australia.
Mohali, India (GenevaLunch) – Captain Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff led a spirited counterattack against the Indian total of 453, but were let down by a collapse of the tail end batsmen.
Chennai, India (GenevaLunch) – First test England-India: India won the first test by six wickets after chasing down the target of 387 runs.
Chennai, India (GenevaLunch) – The First Test is finely balanced after Virender Sehwag thrashed 83 runs from just 68 balls to put India back in with a chance to win.
(GenevaLunch) – India won the fourth one day international by 19 runs to take an unbeatable 4-0 lead in the 7 match series. India scored 166 for 4 off 22 overs after interruptions for rain. England started slowly but looked like they had a chance as Owais Shah and Andrew Flintoff struck 82 off only 48 balls but Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma took their wickets to end the resistance. Details, Yahoo
India beat Australia by a convincing 172 runs to take the fourth and final test. India won the series 2-0 with two draws. It was the first series loss for Australia since the 2005 series in England. Australian Captain Ricky Ponting admitted that his team had been “totally outplayed.” InSports (Yahoo)
