West Indies Announces Squad for Australian Test!

The West Indian Cricket Board today announced their 14-member squad for the first test against Australia, starting on Thursday May 22.

The skipper Chris Gayle is yet to recover from the groin injury he suffered during the one day series against Sri Lanka.

It's been a month since he suffered the injury and is still to recover. He will not be playing the first test as he is yet to recover. The team will be lead by Ramnaresh Sarwan. Dwayne Bravo will be his deputy.

This will be a good test for Sarwan as a captain and for the entire squad as they are playing against the world champions.

The Squad: Ramnaresh Sarwan (captain), Dwayne Bravo (vice-captain), Sulieman Benn, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Ryan Hinds, Amit Jaggernauth, Runako Morton, Darren Sammy, Devon Smith, Brenton Parchment, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Jerome Taylor.

Good luck West Indies!

Rain Irritates England and New Zealand!

In the first test match between New Zealand and England played at Lords, rain halted play again on the third day.

Rain spoiled the sport in all the three days so far and is expected to rain again during the remaining two days.

After put into bat by England skipper Vaughan, New Zealand ended the day 1 at 208 for 6 in 52.1 overs. Rain spoiled the remaining 37.5 overs.

The remaining wickets were taken and New Zealand lost all the wickets afer lunch. They were all out for 277 with McCullum scoring 97 and skipper Vettori scoring 48.

England ended day 2 at 68 for no loss in 21.3 overs. Rain impacted another 35 overs on Day 2.

The third day saw just about 9 overs and rain took away the rest of the overs. Not sure how many overs will be bowled on 4th day. Only weather god knows it.

Short Score:

Toss: England won the toss and decided to field
Captain: Vettori and Vaughan
Score:
New Zealand 1st Innings 277 all out in 86.2 overs (JAH Marshall 24, BB McCullum 97, JDP Oram 28, DL Vettori 48, RJ Sidebottom 4 for 55, JM Anderson 3 for 66, SCJ Broad 2 for 85)
England 1st Innings 89 for no loss in 30.2 overs (AK Strauss 31 batting, AN Cook 53 batting)

No need to prove to anybody: Akhtar

After ripping apart the Delhi Dardevils top-order with a tornado-like opening spell in his maiden Indian Premier League outing, Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar said he had put everything into his bowling and had 'no points to make to anybody'.

"I just wanted to win the game. I have no points to make to anybody," he said.

Facing quite a few controversies for the last few months, Shoaib said "I was stressed but put everything behind me".

The Rawalpindi Express thanked his teammates, coach John Buchanan, captain Sourav Ganguly and team owner Shah Rukh Khan.

"Sharing the dressing room with SRK and Sourav was fantastic. They backed me. And I am really happy to perform. They put faith in me. And I am happy to deliver".

On his performance, Akhtar said "For me, my team is the most important thing. Kolkata is my home team. Eden Gardens is my home ground".

Akhtar said "Whenever I play I give hundred per cent". On whether he had expected success on his first IPL match, he said "I gave my best, thankfully the wickets came".

"It has been four months since I played my last game".

"Things were going the right way. It was a team effort, even the fielding was great."

Ganguly said "He came to the country with lots (of things) happening behind him. But he showed lot of character".

Delhi captain Virender Sehwag, who became Akhtar's first victim, also paid tributes to the fast bowler.

"This is the best spell of Twenty20 bowling I have seen. He is a great bowler".

He, however, denied that the Delhi side was done in by Shoaib's pace. "We are used to pace. We are all international players. I, Gautam (Gambhir), and (Manoj) Tiwary".

Sehwag said "Actually we batted too positively against Shoaib".

Meanwhile, asked bout his youthful exuberance in the field during the day, Akhtar replied tongue-in-cheek "I hope the national selectors are watching".

Sachin Given Padma Vibushan! Most Special: Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar expressed his gratitude to the Indian government for conferring him with the Padma Vibhushan.

The msater batsman said that, "It`s truly a great honour to accept this award as this is recognised by the Government of India. I have played for so many years and when government recognises your effort, gives you the second highest civilian award in the country, it`s very, very special, " the Little Master was quoted as saying."

The Mumbaikar is among five sportspersons selected for this year`s Padma awards.

"I came to know about it yesterday through my wife. I was extremely excited by it but since I was in the middle of the match, it was important to keep my focus on the game," he said. He received the award from The Honourabl President of India Pratibha Patil.

Congratulations Sachin!

Dravid says, T20 may not help in longer versions

"Success in T20 may not automatically translate into success in the four-day Ranji or Tests," Dravid, whose team will take on Kings XI Punjab here tomorrow, told a pre-match press conference here.

He said batsmen scoring runs in T20 cannot be rated as better player because they will need to prove themselves in the longer version of the game.

"T20 is unique and lot of young Indian players are excelling in this format. Whether they can take this confidence to the next level is debatable. It's not going to be easy and the skills with which you achieve success in T20 may not help you give you success in Ranji and Tests," he said.

He also said, "It's hard to rate what is a good performance in this format."

"Whichever team you are a part of, you want to win and want to do well," he said.

Australia tour of England for Ashes!

Australia to tour England for the Ashes next year between June and September. They will play 5 test matches, 7 one day internationals, 2 four day matches, 1 three day match, 1 two day match, and 2 Twenty-Twenty.

This is going to be a big test for both Australia and England. Australia will be missing few key players from their side--McGrath, Warne, Gilchrist, Hogg, MacGill, etc. The wicket keeper will be new and they have to ensure that he aligns with the team.

Dhoni into Singing!

Dhoni will be singing for the first time in an album! He will be singing in Hindi for his IPL team, the Chennai Super Kings. He has been roped in to get more attractions into the team and also for selling the CDs and most importantly attracking the kids.

Already, Dhoni is the hero in the minds of many young Indians and kinds.

By entering into music, he will surely be a competition to others! Guys, get ready to listen to Dhoni!