Live Cricket Scores - Mathews Ton Hands Sri Lanka Advantage

Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews hit a pugnacious hundred to pull Sri Lanka out of trouble on the fourth day of the first Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

Mathews notched up 116 not out under pressure for his second Test hundred and put on invaluable 138-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Dinesh Chandimal (89) and 99 for the unfinished sixth wicket with Prasanna Jayawardene (48 not out) to take Sri Lanka to 420/5 at close at Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

Sri Lanka resumed the day at 186/4, but Mathews' career-best score and resolute innings by Chandimal and Prasanna helped Sri Lanka add 234 runs for the loss of only one wicket.

They now lead by 241 runs and with five wickets intact can harbour hopes of an unlikely win on the fifth and final day or at least salvage a draw.

Mathews batted with resolve, blunting off-spinner Saeed Ajmal and had the better of Pakistan's three-pronged pace attack, reaching his hundred in the final session, taking two off Bhatti. His hundred came off 239 balls.

In all the Sri Lankan captain batted for 370 minutes, hitting 12 boundaries and six off Ajmal, who conceded 96 runs in 42 wicket-less overs.

Neither Mathews nor Chandimal were bothered at all and even the second new ball, taken at 249/4, failed to benefit Pakistan with a wicket as Sri Lanka reached 285/4 at lunch.

Pakistan had one chance to dismiss Chandimal in the second over after lunch when a edge off Bilawal Bhatti flew close to Ahmed Shehzad's outstretched hands in the second slip when the batsman was 71.

Finally, Junaid broke the stand at 324 when he had Chandmial caught at deep fine-leg off a miscued hook. Chandimal batted for 251 minutes and hit a dozen boundaries.

But even after Chandimal's exit, Mathews and Prasanna batted without any problems to leave Pakistani bowlers frustrated.

Mathews's previous best of 105 not out came against Australia at Colombo in 2011 and followed up his 91 in Sri Lanka's first innings total of 204. Pakistan had made 383 in their first knock.

Prasanna has so far hit five fours and six in his able assistance of Mathews.

Left-arm paceman Junaid was the best Pakistani bowler with 3-81 while fellow fast bowler Bilawal Bhatti took 2-131.

Pakistan started the day on a wrong note when wicket-keeper Adnan Akmal was ruled out of the three-Test series with a fractured finger and Younis Khan had to keep wickets.

Sarfraz Ahmed has been summoned as Akmal's replacement for the next two Tests, second in Dubai (January 8-12) and Sharjah (January 16-20).

Brief scores
Sri Lanka 204 (Mathews 91, Junaid Khan 5-58)) and 420 for 5 (Mathews 116*, Chandimal 89)
Pakistan 383 (Younis Khan 136, Misbah-ul Haq 135, Eranga 3-38, Herath 3-93)
Status Sri Lanka lead by 241 runs

Ton-ups Smith, De Villiers punish Pak

Graeme Smith smashed a double century and AB de Villiers hit a robust hundred to guide South Africa to an imperious position in the must-win second Test against Pakistan in Dubai on Thursday.
South African skipper made 227 not out for his fifth double ton while De Villiers -- dropped off the first delivery by wicket-keeper Adnan Akmal off paceman Mohammad Irfan -- was unbeaten on 157 for his 17th Test century.
The duo plundered a hapless Pakistan attack to take South Africa to 460-4 at close on the second day, giving them a big 361-run lead with three full days to play to force a series-levelling win.
Pakistan won the first Test by seven wickets in Abu Dhabi last week. Smith and De Villiers have set an all time South African record for the fifth wicket in Tests with 326, beating the previous best of 267 set by Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince against the West Indies at Antigua in 2005.
The experienced duo plundered Pakistan's spin-cum pace attack on Dubai stadium pitch which gave little help to the bowlers who only managed to dismiss nightwatchman Dale Steyn (seven) in the first hour.
Smith reached his fifth double hundred with a couple off spinner Zulfiqar Babar towards mid-wicket, also completing 9,000 runs in 112 Tests.
He is the 12th batsmen in all Test cricket to reach 9,000 and second behind team-mate Jacques Kallis who so far has 13,140 runs in 164 Tests.
The South African captain, seeking to keep his team's unbeaten run away from home since losing to Sri Lanka in 2006, raised his arms to the applause of his teammates.
In all Smith has hit 16 boundaries off 367 deliveries of complete domination. De Villiers was in more punishing mood, having hit 16 boundaries and a six off 262 balls.
Pakistan keeper faltered once more when he dropped Smith off spinner Zulfiqar Babar when the batsman was on 202, capping a miserable day for his team.
Smith hit spinner Saeed Ajmal for three consecutive boundaries to reach his 9th score of 150 plus.
Smith, overnight 67, anchored the innings and reached his century with a straight drive off Ajmal for his only sixth boundary. It took Smith 204 balls to reach the milestone.
Pakistan took the new ball straightaway after the 80th over but it only upped the scoring rate with de Villiers hitting Irfan for two successive boundaries and one off Babar to bring up his fifty.
He also completed 1,000 runs against Pakistan in 12 Tests. Resuming at 128-3, South Africa lost Steyn in the seventh over of the day, bowled for seven as he offered no stroke to a Irfan delivery.
Irfan, who bowled at good pace, could have had De Villiers off the very next ball but Akmal failed to hold on to a edge towards his right.


Pakistani spinners led by Saeed Ajmal (2-132) bowled tirelessly but failed to exploit any turn on a pitch that was expected to give slow bowlers help.

Irfan had figures of 84-1 in 27 overs, while Babar had figures of 1-112. 

Brief scores
Pakistan 99 (Tahir 5-32, Steyn 3-38)
South Africa 460 for 4 (Smith 227*, de Villiers 157*) 
Status South Africa lead by 361 runs

Moin Khan Appointed Chief Selector

Pakistan's cricket bosses on Monday appointed former captain Moin Khan as chief selector, a post he said he took on as a challenge.
The 41-year-old takes over from Iqbal Qasim, who stepped aside earlier this month in a move seen as a reaction to the team's miserable performance in the Champions Trophy in England.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said Khan held discussion with interim chairman Najam Sethi and accepted the role.
"Former captain and wicket-keeper Khan will take over as chief selector while the rest of the members of the committee will remain the same," a PCB release said.
Former left-arm paceman Salim Jaffer, Test batsman Azhar Khan, Farrukh Zaman and Asif Baloch are the other selectors.
Moin Khan said he accepted the role as a challenge.
"It is an honour and a privilege to be offered the position of chairman of national selection committee -- a position held by many greats in the past and most recently by legendary spinner Qasim," he was quoted as saying in the release.
Khan played 69 Tests and 219 one-day internationals for Pakistan in 1990s and was also a member of World Cup winning team in 1992.
Last week the Islamabad high court ordered Sethi to hold elections for the PCB chairman within 90 days.

Pakistan Bowl in Warm-up at The Oval

Pakistan have won the toss and have elected to bowl first in Champions Trophy warm-up against South Africa at The Kensignton Oval, London. 
Misbah said: "Looks a good surface, pretty dry, a little bit of grass. Looks a good pitch, a dry pitch." 
AB de Villiers said "I think we are going to give all the guys a bit of a go today. The sun is out and we are all looking forward to playing some ODI cricket."

Both teams are playing with all 15-players.

2014 Asia Cup Shifted to Bangladesh

The Asia Cup cricket tournament will be held in Bangladesh for the second time in a row after India, who had earlier agreed to host the 2014 edition, backed out citing a packed international schedule.
Bangladesh had hosted the last edition of the tournament in 2012.
The likely dates for the tournament will be February 24 to March 8.
The decision was taken at the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) board meeting on April 8 in Kuala Lumpur, according to a report.
It is said that India informed the other ACC members that they were trying to finalise the itinerary for the New Zealand tour, scheduled to be held in February-March next year.
But Bangladesh, in order to host the tournament, is learnt to have agreed to postpone a scheduled tri-series involving Sri Lanka and Pakistan around the same time.
There is a possibility that the dates could be changed again as the BCCI have been trying to convince New Zealand Cricket for two Tests, two ODIs and two T20Is, which will enable India to compete in the Asia Cup .
The ICC's Future Tours Programme (FTP) has India scheduled to play three Tests, five ODIs and a single Twenty20 international.

Younis Drop From Champions Trophy

Pakistan on Sunday omitted out-of-form Younis Khan from a 30-man initial squad for the eight-nation Champions Trophy after the middle order batsman flopped in recent one-day matches.
The 35-year-old Younis managed just 116 runs in the series against South Africa earlier this month which Pakistan lost 3-2 and has not managed to score a century since November 2008.
Pakistan is in group B of the event to be held in England from June 6-23. The other teams in their group are arch-rivals India, the West Indies and South Africa.
Defending champions Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and England form group A.
All teams had April 6 as the cut off date to announce their initial squad to be trimmed to 15 in May.

Pakistan probables squad: Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Ahmed Shehzad, Misbah-ul-Haq, Haris Sohail, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Umer Amin, Sohail Tanvir, Hammad Azam, Azhar Ali, Shahid Afridi, Asad Ali, Anwar Ali, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul, Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil, Imran Khan, Aizaz Cheema, Yasir Arafat, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Zulfiqar Babar, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan.

Champions Trophy Pakistan Probables squad

           Champions Trophy Pakistan Probables Squad

Player Name

Nasir Jamshed Mohammad Hafeez Imran Farhat Ahmed Shehzad Misbah-ul-Haq Haris Sohail Asad Shafiq Umar Akmal Shoaib Malik Umer Amin Sohail Tanvir Hammad Azam Azhar Ali Shahid Afridi Asad Ali Anwar Ali Junaid Khan Mohammad Irfan Wahab Riaz Umar Gul Rahat Ali Ehsan Adil Imran Khan Aizaz Cheema Yasir Arafat Saeed Ajmal Abdul Rehman Zulfiqar Babar Kamran Akmal Mohammad Rizwan

Irfan Leads Pakistan to Six-wicket Win

Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Irfan took four wickets in a devastating opening spell to set up a six-wicket win in the second one-day international against South Africa on Friday.
Tall left-armer Irfan took a career-best four for 33 in seven overs as South Africa were bowled out for 191 in a match reduced to 44 overs a side.
Pakistan achieved victory with 4.4 overs to spare, captain Misbah-ul-Haq anchoring his side's chase, making 57 not out.
The win levelled the five-match series at 1-1 after South Africa had cruised to a 125-run win in Bloemfontein last weekend with the third game to be played in Johannesburg on Sunday.
South Africa crashed to 62 for five under Irfan's onslaught but recovered to reach 177 for seven after 38.4 overs when a violent thunderstorm struck the ground and caused a stoppage of almost two-and-a-half hours.
South Africa failed to see out the revised quota of 44 overs, losing their last three wickets for 12 runs to be bowled out with four balls to spare.
Farhaan Behardien led the South African fightback, making a measured 58 off 82 balls for his maiden international half-century.
Robin Peterson made 44 and helped Behardien put on 67 for the seventh wicket before Behardien was caught on the midwicket boundary one ball before the stoppage.
After Irfan had made his inroads, slow bowlers Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Hafeez and Shahid Afridi kept the pressure on.
Ajmal took two for 23 and Hafeez two for 35, while Afridi conceded only 24 runs in eight overs.
Pakistan had a brief wobble when they slipped to 69 for three in the 15th over, with Hafeez and Kamran Akmal falling in successive overs.
But Misbah and Younis Khan, the side's most experienced players, steadied the innings with a fourth wicket partnership of 46 off 67 balls.
Shoaib Malik joined Misbah and they added an unbeaten 77 off 82 deliveries, with Malik contributing an aggressive 35 not out off 75 balls.
Misbah's 57 runs were made off 75 balls with three fours and three sixes.

Brief scores
South Africa 191 all out (Behardien 58, Peterson 44, Irfan 4-33)
Pakistan 192 for 4 (Misbah 57*, Malik 35*, Peterson 2-52)
Result Pakistan won by six wickets 
MOM Mohammad Irfan (Pakistan)

Pakistan Name for South Africa Test Squad

Pakistan on Friday included lanky paceman Mohammad Irfan in a 16-man squad for next month's three Tests against world number one side South Africa, but there was no place for the three Akmal brothers.

The 30-year-old Irfan, who is said to be seven foot one inch tall, impressed with his steepling bounce during Pakistan's recent tour to India where he featured in all three one-day matches and two Twenty20 internationals. But he has yet to play a Test.

The Test squad, led by Misbah-ul Haq, will open with a four-day side match at East London from January 25 before the first Test in Johannesburg from February 1.

The Pakistan Cricket Board said separate squads for two Twenty20 internationals and five one-day matches, which follow the Tests, will be announced later.

Surprisingly, none of the three Akmal brothers - Kamran, Umar and Adnan - are part of the Test squad and no selector was available to say why.

Nineteen-year-old paceman Ehsan Adil was also selected for the first time after impressing during the Junior World Cup in Australia last year. Adil has taken 56 wickets in ten first-class matches this season.

The pace squad will be led by the experienced Umar Gul, Junaid Khan and Irfan.

Uncapped left-hander Haris Sohail and Faisal Iqbal also retained their places in the squad after failing to play any match on the Sri Lanka tour while left-handed opener Nasir Jamshed, who has yet to play a Test, also made the cut.

Pakistan Test squad:

Misbah-ul-Haq  (capt)

Mohammad Hafeez

Nasir Jamshed

Azhar Ali

Asad Shafiq

Younis Khan

Taufeeq Umar

Sarfraz Ahmed (wk)

Junaid Khan

Mohammad Irfan

Ehsan Adil

Saeed Ajmal

Adbur Rehman

Haris Sohail

Faisal Iqbal

Umar Gul

Hashim Amla

Hashim Amla completed his 19th Test ton and along with Faf du Plessis took SA to 293/4 on Day 1 of the 2nd Test at St. George's Park on Friday.
Faf du Plessis and Graeme Smith also compiled half-centuries.
du Plessis (69 not out) and Amla combined for an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 102.
Amla reached the at stump unbeaten on 106 while Smith notched his 36th Test half-century shortly after lunch before being dismissed eight balls later for 54 with seven fours.
Paceman Doug Bracewell, with figures of two for 70, was the pick of New Zealand's attack.
The elegant Amla brought a slice of luck when, on 48, he was dropped in the gully by Kane Williamson off the bowling of left-arm quick Trent Boult.
Amla and Smith combined for a second-wicket stand of 92 off 20.4 overs before Smith was caught down the legside by keeper BJ Watling off the bowling of left-arm seamer Neil Wagner to leave South Africa on 121 for two.
The hosts lost their third wicket 16 runs later when Jacques Kallis (8) edged a Bracewell delivery through to Watling.
But any hopes New Zealand might have harboured of making further quick inroads into a powerful batting line-up were dashed when AB de Villiers (51) and Amla added 86 for fourth-wicket partnership.
South Africa had won the toss and elected to bat on a slowish pitch which offered up just a touch of movement for the seam bowlers.
Smith and Alviro Peterson (21) put on a 29-run opening stand but the right-handed Peterson departed when he top-edged an attempted hook shot off the bowling of Bracewell and was caught by Jeetan Patel at fine leg before the hosts took lunch on 99 for one.
New Zealand included debutant all-rounder Colin Munro in their line up.

Brief scores
South Africa 325 for 4 (Amla 106*, du Plessis 69*, Smith 54)

Pakistan Name Squad For South Africa Test

Pakistan on Friday included lanky paceman Mohammad Irfan in a 16-man squad for next month's three Tests against world number one side South Africa, but there was no place for the three Akmal brothers.
The 30-year-old Irfan, who is said to be seven foot one inch tall, impressed with his steepling bounce during Pakistan's recent tour to India where he featured in all three one-day matches and two Twenty20 internationals. But he has yet to play a Test.
The Test squad, led by Misbah-ul Haq, will open with a four-day side match at East London from January 25 before the first Test in Johannesburg from February 1.
The Pakistan Cricket Board said separate squads for two Twenty20 internationals and five one-day matches, which follow the Tests, will be announced later.
Surprisingly, none of the three Akmal brothers - Kamran, Umar and Adnan - are part of the Test squad and no selector was available to say why.
Nineteen-year-old paceman Ehsan Adil was also selected for the first time after impressing during the Junior World Cup in Australia last year. Adil has taken 56 wickets in ten first-class matches this season.
The pace squad will be led by the experienced Umar Gul, Junaid Khan and Irfan.
Uncapped left-hander Haris Sohail and Faisal Iqbal also retained their places in the squad after failing to play any match on the Sri Lanka tour while left-handed opener Nasir Jamshed, who has yet to play a Test, also made the cut.

Pakistan Test squad:

• Misbah-ul-Haq (capt)
• Mohammad Hafeez
• Nasir Jamshed
• Azhar Ali
• Asad Shafiq
• Younis Khan
• Taufeeq Umar
• Sarfraz Ahmed (wk)
• Junaid Khan
• Mohammad Irfan
• Ehsan Adil
• Saeed Ajmal
• Adbur Rehman
• Haris Sohail
• Faisal Iqbal
• Umar Gul

India vs Pakistan 2012-13 Schedule

Date and Time	Match Details and Series
Tue Dec 25  19:00 local | 13:30 GMT	1st T20 - India vs Pakistan  M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Thu Dec 27  19:00 local | 13:30 GMT	2nd T20 - India vs Pakistan  Sardar Patel Stadium Motera, Ahmedabad
Sun Dec 30  14:30 local | 09:00 GMT	1st ODI - India vs Pakistan  MA Chidambaram Stadium - Chepauk, Chennai
Thu Jan 3  14:30 local | 09:00 GMT	2nd ODI - India vs Pakistan  Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Sun Jan 6  14:30 local | 09:00 GMT	3rd ODI - India vs Pakistan  Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Pakistan Name Squad For India Tour

Pakistan on Monday announced separate squads for the two Twenty20 and three one-day internationals against India starting later this month.

The Pakistan team will fly to New Delhi on December 22 and play the first Twenty20 match in Bangalore three days later.

The second Twenty20 match will be played in Ahmedabad on December 27 followed by one-day matches in Chennai (December 30), Kolkata (January 3) and Delhi (January 6).

Pakistan Twenty20 squad: Mohammad Hafeez (captain), Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Umar Amin, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanveer, Umar Gul, Asad Ali, Zulfiqar Babar, Ahmed Shahzad

Pakistan ODI squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Nasir Jamshed, Haris Sohail, Kamran Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Umar Gul, Zulfiqar Babar, Imran Farhat, Umar Akmal, Anwar Ali.

Bangladesh Record Biggest ODI Win

Anamul Haque became the third youngest Bangladeshi to hit a hundred before the home team spun out the West Indies for their biggest one-day win of 160 runs in Khulna on Sunday.
Anamul scored a dominating 120 in Bangladesh's imposing 292-6 before spinners Abdur Razzak (3-19) and Sohag Gazi (3-21) dismissed the tourists for a low score of 132 in 31.1 overs in the second one-day for a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
Bangladesh won Friday's first match by seven wickets, also in Khulna.
But the hosts took a giant leap on Sunday as they achieved their biggest one-day win, improving on their 146-run win over Scotland in Dhaka six years ago.
The West Indies were never in the hunt for the big target chase, losing wickets at regular intervals as the Bangladeshi spinners once again made stroke-play difficult for the batsmen on a slow Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium pitch.
Only Darren Bravo (28) and Kieron Pollard (25) offered some resistance as the top-order West Indian batsmen Chris Gayle (15), Marlon Samuels (16) and Lendl Simmons (nine) failed once more.
Gayle hit two boundaries and a six before edging paceman Mashrafe Mortaza to wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim, while Simmons and Samuels were dismissed by Gazi who remained the best home bowler in Tests and one-days.
Bravo added 41 for the third wicket with Samuels before left-arm spinner Razzak struck thrice, dismissing Dwayne Smith (nought) in his second over and had Bravo and Devon Thomas (nought) in his fourth.
Earlier, it was the 19-year-old right-hander Anamul who in only his second one-day set up the win with a solid 174-run partnership with Rahim (79).
Anamul pulled a short ball from Ravi Rampaul in the 47th over to become the third youngest Bangladeshi and the eighth youngest in the world to score a century, behind countrymen Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan.
Anamul faced 145 balls and hit 13 fours and two sixes, lifting the innings during a sixth wicket stand of 64 with Mominul Haque (31) as the hosts scored 86 in the last 10 overs.
The Anamul-Rahim stand is a new record for Bangladesh-West Indies one-days, beating the 146 between Ramnaresh Sarwan and Marlon Samuels in Dhaka 10 years ago.
It also becomes the highest total by Bangladesh in all one-days against the West Indies, improving on 276-7 they scored in Dominica three years ago.
Bangladesh had lost Tamim Iqbal (five) and Naeem Islam (six) by the seventh over but Anamul and Rahim repaired the innings.
Paceman Rampaul was the best among the tourists, finishing with a career-best 5-49.

Brief scores
Bangladesh 292 for 6 (Anamul 120, Mushfiqur 79, Rampaul 5-49)
West Indies 132 (Gazi 3-21, Razzak 3-19)
Result Bangladesh won by 160 runs
MOM: Anamul Haque (Bangladesh)

Kiwis Thrash Sri Lanka to Level Series

New Zealand have beaten Sri Lanka by 167 runs on the last day at P Sara Oval to end a nine-Test winless run since January.
The drought included five straight Test defeats, including the first Test in Galle last week, a humiliating 10-wicket loss in three days.
New Zealand bowled out Sri Lanka for 195 in their second innings, five overs after tea.
Angelo Mathews was last out, for a dogged 84 off 228 balls in just under five hours. He was the only batsman to score more than 30.
Sri Lanka started the day at 47-4, 316 runs away from an unlikely victory, and toiled in seeking a draw to win the series 1-0.
But the equally desperate New Zealanders kept chipping away with wickets; one in the morning, two after lunch, and the last three in a sudden rush at the end to win a test in Sri Lanka for the first time since 1998.

Brief Scores
New Zealand 412 (Taylor 142, Williamson 135, Herath 6-103) and 194 for 9 dec (Taylor 74)
Sri Lanka 227 (Samaraweera 76, Mathews 47, Southee 5-62, Boult 4-42) and 195 (Mathews 84, Southee 3-58, Boult 3-33)
Status New Zealand won by 167 runs
MOM Ross Taylor (New Zealand)
Player of the series Rangana Herath (Sri Lanka)

2013 Ashes Schedule

England will play five Tests, five one-day internationals and three Twenty20 internationals in their 2013-14 Ashes campaign in Australia, Cricket Australia said on Thursday.
The Test series begins at Brisbane's Gabba ground on November 21-25 and finishes in Sydney from January 3-7 in 2014.
The other Test matches will take place in Adelaide (December 5-9), Perth (December 13-17) and Melbourne (December 26-30).
A schedule of five ODIs and three T20 internationals to complement the Tests will be confirmed in the New Year, officials said.
"We are delighted to be able to confirm the Ashes fixtures so far in advance of the series," Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said.
It means fans will be able to plan their trips around the country to follow all the action.
"I am sure there will be a lot of fans from the UK who will want to make the trip over and we look forward to hosting them here."
Cricket Australia also announced four other tour games against a Western Australia XI, Australia A, NSW XI and a Chairman's XI.
The first Test will take place in Brisbane from November 21 to 25, before the series moves on to Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.

Warm-up game schedule
October 31-November 2 Western Australia XI v England, WACA
November 6-9 Australia A v England, Bellerive Oval, Hobart
November 13-16 New South Wales XI v England, SCG
November 29-30 CA Chairman's XI v England, Manuka Oval, Canberra

Ashes Itinerary
November 21-25 Australia v England, 1st Test, Gabba
December 5-9 Australia v England, 2nd Test, Adelaide Oval
December 13-17 Australia v England, 3rd Test, WACA
December 26-30 Australia v England, 4th Test, MCG
January 3-7 Australia v England, 5th Test, SCG

India-Pakistan Champions Trophy

The first lot of tickets for the Champions Trophy India vs 

Pakistan clash at Edgbaston, England, June 15 next year 

was sold out in just three hours after windows opened.

The tickets went on sale Monday, and the 15-match 

tournament's first match was a complete sell-out eight 

months in advance, said an International Cricket Council 

(ICC) press release.

The 2013 edition of the Champions Trophy will be the last, 
the previous having been held in 2009 in South Africa.

Bangladesh Name Uncapped Gazi for Windies Test

Bangladesh have named uncapped off-spinner Shohag Gazi in their 14-member squad for the first Test against West Indies beginning in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Hasan, a 20-year-old fast bowler from Sylhet, has played four Twenty20 internationals for Bangladesh this year. In six first-class games, he's taken eight wickets at 43.37 apiece. Gazi, 21, has 87 wickets at an average of 24 from 18 first-class games for Barisal.
Gazi's selection was a reward for his impressive performance in the ongoing National Cricket League where the 21-year-old claimed 11 wickets in two matches, including a hat-trick, and hit a century.
Pace bowler Rubel Hossain returned to the side, led by stumper Mushfiqur Rahim, after a long injury lay-off.
There was no such joy for former captain Mohammad Ashraful, who was replaced by Naeem Islam in the side.
Khulna hosts the second and final Test from November 21.

Bangladesh Test squad:

• Mushfiqur Rahim (captain & wk)
• Mahmudullah (vice-capt)
• Tamim Iqbal
• Junaid Siddique
• Shahriar Nafees
• Shakib Al Hasan
• Naeem Islam
• Nazimuddin
• Nasir Hossain
• Elias Sunny
• Shahadat Hossain
• Rubel Hossain
• Abul Hasan
• Shohag Gazi

Mathews Named T20 Captain

Mathews Named T20 Captain, Malinga Named Vice-captain


All-rounder Angelo Mathews was named Sri Lanka Twenty20 captain on Wednesday for the next 12 months in an appointment which could lead to him taking over as leader of the Test side.
Mathews, 25, the Sri Lanka vice-captain in all three formats of the game, succeeds Mahela Jayawardene who resigned as T20 captain after his side lost this month's World Cup final to West Indies.
"We are giving Mathews a free hand to captain the T20 side for one year after which we will review his performance," said chief selector Ashantha de Mel.
Mathews' first assignment will be to lead Sri Lanka in a one-off T20 international against New Zealand at Pallekele on Oct. 30. Fast bowler Lasith Malinga has been named at the T20 vice-captain, also for a one-year term.