MCC-News

BBC - Cricket

Pakistan trio keen to see row end
A lawyer for the three Pakistan players at the centre of allegations of corruption says they are keen for a "timely and satisfactory outcome" to the affair.

England boss happy with Mushtaq
England coach Andy Flower says he is satisfied with spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed's role within the team despite previous links with illegal bookmakers.

Flower expects Pietersen action
Kevin Pietersen will face disciplinary action over his Twitter tirade, says England coach Andy Flower.

Pakistan scandal takes new twist
BBC Sport understands that police investigating alleged corruption involving three Pakistani cricketers believe that video evidence crucial to the case is authentic, despite fresh claims to the contrary.

Razzaq injury spoils Pakistan win
Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq is a doubt for Sunday's Twenty20 game against England after injuring his back during their one-day win over Somerset.

Trio miss England women's series
Sarah Taylor, Katherine Brunt and Holly Colvin miss the England women's tour to Sri Lanka.

Ireland secure six-wicket victory
Ireland beat Canada by six wickets in their Intercontinental Cup tie in Toronto.

Snubbed Sarwan told to 'shape up'
West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan is told by national selectors to get in shape after failing to earn a central contract for the coming year.

Pundits pick their Ashes squad
Compare your Ashes squad thoughts with those of our four experts

Under scrutiny
Who are the four Pakistan players named over spot-fixing allegations?

A village in shock
The BBC's Aleem Maqbool visits the home village of Mohammed Amir

Croydon crisis
How the Pakistan cricket case is affecting a non-league football club

Chaos hits Pakistan cricket
David Bond assesses the continuing crisis in Pakistani cricket

Operation Save KP
Kevin Pietersen takes his first tentative steps back in county cricket

Cric Info

Adaptability will be key in CLT20 - Kumble
Anil Kumble has said the speed at which teams adapt to the pitches in South Africa will be crucial to their success in the Champions League Twenty20

Robust security measures assured for CLT20
The $6.5m Champions League Twenty20, begins in less than ten days with what organisers are assuring are "robust" anti-corruption and security measures

IOC squeak into semi-finals despite defeat
A round-up of matches from the third day of the BCCI Corporate Trophy

Josh Hazlewood starts to dream big
Josh Hazlewood is in a position to hope for an Ashes Test after being picked in Australia's squad to face India next month

Dhoni's leadership will face stern test - Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly, the former India captain, has said MS Dhoni's leadership will face a stern test in the next couple of years if the younger members of the team continue to underperform and the senior players retire

Wilkin Mota stars in one-run win for TSC
A round-up of matches from the second day of the BCCI Corporate Trophy

Legalise sports betting in India, says Delhi court
Betting in cricket and other sports should be legalised in India, a Delhi court has said

BCCI's Corporate Trophy struggles to stay relevant
The BCCI's Corporate Trophy, launched last year with much acclaim, is a more subdued affair this year

Champions League Twenty20 has challenges - Sundar Raman
The 2010 Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa will be a success but there are challenges to build its popularity, the tournament's CEO Sundar Raman has said

Modi hearings to be held in September
The BCCI and suspended IPL chairman Lalit Modi will each have the opportunity to present witnesses over the course of six future hearings scheduled by the board's disciplinary committee at its meeting in New Delhi on Sunday

India fined for slow over-rate
India have been fined for maintaining a slow over-rate during their defeat to Sri Lanka in the tri-series final in Dambulla on Saturday

Lack of partnerships costs India on best pitch
MS Dhoni, the India captain, said the batsmen needed to have had much larger stands if they were to overhaul Sri Lanka's 299 in the final

ICC to inspect pitches for World Cup
The ICC's pitch consultant Andy Atkinson will be visiting India in early September to inspect six out of the eight venues in the country for the 2011 World Cup

No UDRS for India-Australia Tests
The Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) will not be used for the India-Australia Tests in October, the BCCI has said

Charged-up Sri Lanka take title
These two have binged on each other since July 2008, but what promises to be the one for the road went Sri Lanka's way, ending a run of losses in big home matches for Sri Lanka

India consider playing extra batsman
MS Dhoni said at the pre-match press conference that they were toying with the idea of picking a specialist batsman in place of the struggling Ravindra Jadeja

BCCI plans move to counter auction allegations
The stand-off between suspended IPL chairman Lalit Modi and the BCCI has intensified with the board preparing to file charges against Modi in the run-up to its next annual general election

Batting gives Sri Lanka slight edge
Cricinfo previews the final of the tri-series between India and Sri Lanka

Mitchell Johnson aims to lift in India
Australia's fast bowlers are fine-tuning with the SG balls that will be used in India and Mitchell Johnson believes the tactic is the first step towards a series success

Sehwag backs Indian youngsters
Seniors in the Indian team continue to back the young batsmen in the side to deliver

Rediff - Cricket

Pakistani trio admit they took money
In a sensational turn to the spot-fixing scam, the three Pakistani cricketers - Salman Butt, Mohammed Aamir and Mohammed Asif - on Saturday admitted that they took money from bookie Mazhar Majeed but came out with a bizarre defence that it was for for some sponsorship contracts.

Afridi apologises to cricket lovers for fixing scandal
Pakistan one-day captain Shahid Afridi on Saturday apologised to the cricket lovers on behalf of the team for the recent spot-fixing scandal, which has rocked the international cricket.

Betting trail always leads to India: Imran
Pakistan's former captain, Imran Khan fears that the menace of spot-fixing in cricket could be a much more malignant problem then it is being perceived to be after the allegations and suspension of three Pakistani players in England.

Fixing scam, cricket's biggest chance to clean itself: Dravid
Former India captain Rahul Dravid has called for a "thorough and comprehensive" investigation into the spot-fixing scam and said the current scandal is "cricket biggest chance to clean itself".

I saw what happened to Hansie Cronje: Trott
England batsman Jonathan Trott says he was shocked and sickened by the news of alleged 'spot-fixing' by three Pakistani players during the fourth Test at Lord's last weekend.

New ODI format could hurt World Cup chances: Ponting
Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes the new domestic one-day format could damage the World Cup preparations of fringe players.

Cricket will survive 'spot-fixing' scandal: Flower
England coach Andy Flower is confident that cricket "will survive" the 'spot-fixing' scandal engulfing the visiting Pakistan team.

'My husband was not murdered'
Bob Woolmer's wife Gill on Friday rubbished the stories being spread across the Internet that her husband was murdered in the West Indies during the 2007 cricket World Cup.

ICC withdraws Asif and Amir from awards list
The International Cricket Council has withdrawn the names of suspended Pakistan fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir from next month's ICC awards in India.

Mushtaq under ICC's scanner but gets Flower's backing
The ICC has said it had warned the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) against recruiting former Pakistani leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed, implicated in a match-fixing scandal 10 years ago, as its spin bowling coach.

'Spot-fixing': Pakistan trio let go post Scotland Yard grilling
Officers of the Scotland Yard questioned Test captain Butt and pace bowlers Aamir and Asif, who were suspended by the International Cricket Council on Friday and charged with offences under its anti-corruption code for "alleged irregular behaviour" during last week's Lord's Test.

Police question suspended Pakistan trio
Pakistan captain Salman Butt and pace bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif were questioned by the London Metropolitan police on Friday following their indefinite suspension from all cricket.

Images: Tendulkar in Indian Air Force stripes
Images from the investiture ceremony of batting ace Sachin Tendulkar as Indian Air Force honorary Group Captain.

Pakistan call up Shafiq, Irfan
Pakistan have called up Asad Shafiq and Mohammad Irfan as replacements for the suspended Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif for the one-day series in England.

Tendulkar bats for India's young brigade
Sachin Tendulkar threw his weight behind the youngsters in the Indian team who failed terribly during the tri-series in Sri Lanka, but asked them to minimise mistakes and learn to respond to situations swiftly.

Tendulkar conferred rank of IAF Group Captain
Batting ace Sachin Tendulkar was on Friday conferred the Indian Air Force's honorary rank of Group Captain in honour of his cricketing achievements and contribution to the nation. He is the first sportsperson to be conferred a rank by the IAF and the first personality with no aviation background to receive the honour.

ICC vows to preserve game's integrity
International Cricket Council chief executive Haroon Lorgat told a news conference that the case is now the subject of a criminal investigation and spoke of his 'extreme disappointment'. 'We will do whatever we can to preserve the integrity of the game,' he added.

Pakistan flays ICC for suspending tainted trio
Pakistan lashed out at the International Cricket Council on Friday for suspending three of its players facing 'spot-fixing' charges and sought to insinuate that its president, Sharad Pawar, had a hand in the decision.

Spot-fixing cash found in Butt's belongings: report
Cash used in the 150,000-pound Lord's Test betting scandal has been reportedly found in the belongings of Pakistan skipper Salman Butt.

PCB, Pak envoy in UK preparing strong defence for 'tainted' players
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the Pakistan High Commission (PHC) in UK is reportedly working with a team of legal experts to prepare a strong defence for the 'tainted' players embroiled in the 'spot-fixing' scandal.

ICC should thoroughly probe spot-fixing scandal: Tendulkar
Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar on Friday said the International Cricket Council should thoroughly investigate the 'spot-fixing' scandal that has plunged the game into a crisis and take action against players who are found guilty.

'Strauss will be happy at exclusion of Pak trio from ODI series'
England Players' Union chief Angus Porter has revealed that captain Andrew Strauss, Twenty20 skipper Paul Collingwood and the rest of the squad were desperate to see that the three Pakistan players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Muhammad Amir did not to play for their side for the rest of the tour following the leveling of spot-fixing charges against them.

ECB chief offers to help Pakistan, but ICC yet to give backing
The chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, Giles Clarke, has offered to help restructure Pakistan cricket in the wake of the illegal betting scandal after England successfully pressed for the three players under police investigation to be withdrawn from the One-Day series.

Injury worries add to Pakistan's woes ahead of T20 tie
In yet another blow to Pakistan ahead of the two Twenty20s and five One-Day Internationals against England, four key players of the team suffered injuries during their warm-up match against Somerset in Taunton on Thursday.

Pak Ministry to sue UK tabloid if fixing allegations are proved false
Pakistan Sports Minister Aijaz Jakhrani has threatened to sue the British tabloid, which has exposed the spot-fixing scandal involving the nation's cricket team, if the tainted trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Muhammad Amir come out clean in the investigations.