Cricket-Umpire decision review system recommended for all tests
The International Cricket Council’s rule-making committee recommended unanimously on Wednesday the adoption of the Decision Review System (DRS) in all international matches.

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Cricket: South Africa to review Cup failure
South Africa’s sports ministry and cricket federation will hold a review into their team’s failure following another knockout stage defeat at the World Cup.Sports minister Fikile Mbalula said Sunday the country should “draw the…

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Cricket: ICC review corruption measures
The International Cricket Council (ICC) will carry out a review of existing anti-corruption measures, the governing body announced on Tuesday.

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IPL Governing Council to review number of matches
IPL News

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Well Balanced Test Squad for SL
Full marks to the selectors for picking the best available touring party, ignoring the new commodity, which I agree, is a safe bet!

As mentioned in my column early this morning, the selectors have not included any new faces to the Test squad, rather, they have kept faith in their players, though they have let the team down very recently – Yes, I am talking about the selectors faith in bringing back Yuvraj, Sreesanth and Ishanth Sharma.

When compared to my list, there were not much to ponder about, except the fact that Badrinath is found missing in this 15 member squad. This will surely demotivate this lad, as he could not cement in touring side for the last 5 years. The lack of confidence shown by the selectors, could mean end of the road for Badri. There are lot of young contenders waiting in the wings – the likes of Pujara, Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Raina – the last 3 mentioned in this list who are already a proven factor in ODIs, are all chirpy cricketers, and unlike Badri, are self motivators.
As mentioned, Yuvraj’s inclusion is no surprise to this touring team  – Captain MS Dhoni, is a big fan of Yuvraj’s talent, and could have insisted that he be recalled. The selectors perhaps thought that the necessary message had been delivered. This wake-up call to Yuvraj, will now do a lot of good to him and is sure to prove all his critics, once again, wrong.

Ishant and Sreesanth, part of India’s last Test squad, have gone through pretty ordinary times in limited-overs cricket since then, both in the IPL and while playing for India. They were duly dropped, but are still the best bets for the Test side. More so because none of the alternatives tried in their absence have impressed enough. And Ashish Nehra is not willing to play Tests, while Praveen Kumar is strictly a limited-overs bowler.
More importantly, this selection could point to a practical outlook from the selectors, that of having identified Ishant and Sreesanth as Test specialists, and having realised the need to protect them from the excessive one-day cricket, which could have played a part in their downfall.

Lack of alternatives could have prompted India to go for three spinners, giving Ojha another chance in a Test squad. The spin squad is safely in the hands of Bhajji, Ojha and Amit Mishra, leaving Dhoni nothing to complaint about.

Wridhman Saha probably, has been taken as an understudy to Dhoni and may be included in the 1st tour game.

The touring team selection clearly indicates that there will be 7 batsman (including Dhoni) and 4 bowlers (2 paceman and 2 spinners) during all 3 matches against SL. Thus when the tour starts with a three-day game at Nondescripts Cricket Club, it should provide a good competition between Ishant and Sreesanth, and Mishra and Ojha.

Squad: MS Dhoni (wk & capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag (vice-capt.), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, M Vijay, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Wriddhiman Saha (wk)
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Review: International Cricket 2010
If you turn off the abysmal commentary, IC2010 is a sometimes satisfying if buggy re-creation of the gentleman’s game.

Read more on cnet.com.au

Now visiting the fast bowler Ishant Sharma took four wickets for 56 runs from his nine overs and Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan and Pragyan Ojha chipped single wicket each. Only one player that sent the Indian team in vain was Thilina Kandamby, who bated brilliantly at 93 unbeaten. The final moments were tensed all because of the romp nightmare that Kandamby gave to the Indian bowlers. With this match India has successfully registered another consecutive win in the One day International Matches.

Bolstered by two consecutive victories, the confident Indian Team is all ready to warp up the five match series when they take on Sri Lanka in the third One Day International match on 3rd February. Now Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team members are not willing to take any chance under the present floodlight situation after they have just managed a close 15 run win with a nail-biting day-night match at the Premdassa Stadium on Saturday.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has led the team in the consecutive seven successive ODI wins and has now warned his teammates that if they drop out against any of their guards, they would lead the Indian Cricket Team in a big trouble.

This match witnessed a few chinks in the Indian armour when the bowlers looked confused in their power play overs and the captain wanted the bowlers to show a more disciplined act of their performance.

The batting of the Indian Team has also not fired but to be fair, some umpiring decisions were unsporting and they created a sense of unethicalness in the Indian Team. The top order batsmen have to get into the act quickly if they hope to clinch the series in the upcoming match on 3rd February itself.

The ongoing series could be decided on Tuesday night and the play of Indian players in the second ODI demonstrates that the team is in no mood to relent as they are in a compete mood to deliver a knockout for the Srilankan Team. Their intent was evident in the second ODI and they are very much in a position to script one more victory.

Opening super batsman Sachin Tendulkar has not fired yet and nor Zaheer Khan has been in his elements. Both these players are expected to give contributions to their team be small or big, to let their reach that eventually prove decisive. The only pitfall that Indian team displayed in this second ODI was fretfulness and every one is praying for the Indian team to become persuaded of their win, in order to accomplish it and that too self-confidently. Let’s all hope that India creates a cricket results history and make all Indians blissful.

Cricket Livescore ball by ball by ScoresPro.com

International Cricket 2010 Review [PlayStation 3]
If you turn off the abysmal commentary, IC2010 is a sometimes satisfying if buggy re-creation of the gentleman’s game.

Read more on GameSpot

International Cricket 2010 Review [PlayStation 3 Xbox 360]
If you turn off the abysmal commentary, IC2010 is a sometimes satisfying if buggy re-creation of the gentleman’s game.

Read more on GameSpot

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is currently underway in South Africa and we are running towards a thrilling climax.

Since week one there have been some notable ups and downs, just when you think a team is going all the way they drop points to teams they should have beaten easily. This could be due to the fact that all teams are playing away from home in South Africa mainly because the Indian Government were unable to guarantee security for the teams because of elections being held in India.

Where does this leave the cricket fan who wants to place a bet, it’s difficult that’s for sure however it doesn’t matter which sport you follow class will always win in the end so lets look at some of the stats.

In IPL there are orange caps for best batting averages and purple caps for best bowling averages:

Orange caps
Matthew Hayden batting for the Chennai Super kings is currently leading the pack with 289 runs in 7 matches, in second place is Sachin Tendulkar Mumbai Indians is on 209 runs for 6 matches and Rahul Dravid Bangalore Royal Challengers is on 144 runs for 5 matches.

Purple Caps

Yusuf Abdulla Kings XI Punjab leads the purple board with 14 wickets in 8 matches, RP Singh Hyderbad Deccan Chargers has 13 wickets from 7 matches, Lasith Malinga Mumbai Indians has taken 11 wickets in 6 matches while Anil Kumble Bangalore Royal Challengers has taken 10 wickets in 8 matches.

Delhi Daredevils are the current leaders of the IPL mainly thanks to some terrific bowling from leg spinner Amit Mishra aided and assisted by pacemen Ashish Nehra and Pradeep Sangwan. When Amit Mishra came into the attack Kolkata Knight Riders looked like they were going to punish some slack Delhi play. However you have to wonder wether it was brilliant play by Delhi or a self destructive streak within Kolkata knight riders who have slumped since Rajasthan Royals took them apart in Cape Town. Kolkata have now lost seven of nine games.

The games come thick and fast in IPL and sometimes picking a winner is like finding a needle in an haystack take today’s game Deccan Chargers vs Mumbai Indians, both teams are having a mixed bag of a tournament with Deccan Chargers having had three losses on the trot and desperately wanting to stop the rot. While Mumbai Indians have not been responding well to pressure. Sachin Tendulkar needs to puff his chest out and become a captain that leads the team. There is no doubt that the Indians depend on him but will that be enough. The good news for Mumbai is that Fidel Edwards has left the Deccan Chargers and this weakens their attack considerably, the bad news for Mumbai is that they have lost Zaheer Khan with an injury to his shoulder and Shikhar Dhawan has a broken finger and will take no further part in the tournament. The key to this game could be Adam Gilchrist’s captaincy of Deccan. Hard game to call.

Fairplay League

1. Bangalore Royal Challengers 71
2. Kings XI Punjab 69
3. Kolkata Knight Riders 64
4. Mumbai Indians 60
5. Delhi Dare Devils 58
6. Chennai Super Kings 58
7. Rajasthan Royals 52
8. Deccan Chargers 52