On Sunday, former West Indies captain and multiple record-holder Brian Lara was tempted out of retirement to play for the MCC against a Pakistan XI at Lord’s. His captain for the day, Sourav Ganguly, too was firm on staying away from the game.

India will tour Sri Lanka for their three-Test series next month better prepared to deal with whatever comes their way, said team senior Rahul Dravid at the launch of the 2010 Limca Book of Records here on Monday.

Graeme Swann took four wickets as England pushed for a series win over Australia by dismissing the tourists for just 212 in the third one-day international on Sunday.
Off-spinner Swann took 4/37 in 10 overs in an innings where only Shane Watson (61) passed fifty and captain Ricky Ponting was out for his lowest score of the tour.

South Africa were 145/4 in reply to West Indies’s total of 231 at lunch on Day Two of the third and final Test in Barbados on Saturday.
Captain Graeme Smith was out after a well-made 70 while Jacques Kallis was batting on 43. Sulieman Benn took two wickets.

India get ready to head off on another sojourn in the Emerald Isles with the team still looking for an ideal new-ball partner for spearhead Zaheer Khan. The selectors have once again put their faith in Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma for the longer format.

Yuvraj Singh was recalled to the team that will tour Sri Lanka for three Test matches from the middle of July after he sat out the South Africa series with a ligament injury and the just-concluded Asia Cup campaign in Dambulla. Suresh Raina makes the grade as a member of the 16 for the first time, having earlier come to cover for injured colleagues.

Birthday boy Stuart Broad took four wickets as England beat Australia to go 2-0 up in their five match one-day series against the world champions on Thursday.
England, chasing 240, were in trouble at 109 for 3. But Eoin Morgan, who’d rescued England from the depths of 97 for four with an unbeaten century, in their series-opening win, made an accomplished 52.

It all turned out well for India in the end. Full credit to the side for regaining the Asia Cup after a long hiatus, yet areas of concern remain. In conditions where the toss dictates the flow of the game, India were fortunate. Bowling at the death and consistency from the middle order has to improve to realise the World Cup dream.

The first of Lalit Modi’s many deals around the Indian Premier League has come unstuck. On Friday, the BCCI said it would recover Rs 425 crore from the IPL’s media rights holders for the sub-continent, MSM Satellite, as part of an amended agreement which was approved by the T20 League’s Governing Council in Mumbai.

It all turned out well for India in the end. Full credit to the side for regaining the Asia Cup after a long hiatus, yet areas of concern remain. In conditions where the toss dictates the flow of the game, India were fortunate. Bowling at the death and consistency from the middle order has to improve to realise the World Cup dream.