Cricket

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – England have named uncapped  Warwickshire paceman Chris Woakes to replace the injured  Stuart Broad in their Twenty20 and one-day squad for their   Australian tour in January.

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – Thrust under an unexpected  Ashes spotlight, rookie Australian spinner Michael Beer is  stumped by his shock selection for the third Ashes test against  England starting in Perth next Thursday.

CHENNAI, (Reuters) – India completed a 5-0 whitewash  over New Zealand in their one-day series yesterday when they won  the final match by eight wickets after bundling the Kiwis out  for 103.

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – England’s Ashes hopefuls Tim   Bresnan, Chris Tremlett and Ajmal Shahzad failed to press  their cases as the tourists dropped five catches on the   opening day of their three-day match against Victoria yesterday.

COLOMBO– West Indies’ head coach Ottis Gibson isn’t disturbed by Thursday’s eventual decision to defer the scheduled limited-overs series against Sri Lanka to late January.

KARACHI, (Reuters) – The Pakistan Cricket Board has refused permission for former captain Shoaib Malik and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal to play league cricket in Bangladesh.

President of the Leguan Cricket Committee Sheik Fazal this week accused some cricket officials of sabotage and running a smear campaign against him before the GCB elections next month.

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – Former Australia skipper Kim   Hughes has slammed selectors for being ‘too precious’ with   Australia’s bowlers and said resting dropped paceman Mitchell   Johnson before a likely recall for the third Ashes test would   be lunacy.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – India will be the overwhelming  favourites to win next year’s World Cup with home advantage and  an ideal build-up on tour in South Africa, Pakistan’s 1992 World  Cup-winning captain Imran Khan said.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – Pakistan cricket is facing its  biggest crisis and the team stand little chance of winning the  2011 World Cup without fast bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad  Asif, former captain Imran Khan said yesterday.

NEW DELHI, India, CMC – West Indies batting legend Sir Vivian Richards has picked Indian stroke-maker Virender Sehwag over West Indies opener Chris Gayle, as the most devastating batsman in world cricket.

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – A defiant half-century from West Indies batsman Andre Fletcher was not enough to revive Grenada as Dominica seized control on the second day of their second round Windward Islands Senior Championship match on Wednesday.

HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka, CMC – The One-Day International series between Sri Lanka and West Indies was abandoned yesterday, hours before the first game was scheduled to begin here at the Suriyawewa Stadium.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, CMC – Pugnacious opener Chris Gayle’s poor form since his monumental triple century has seen him plummet five places in the latest ICC Test batting rankings.

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – Middle order batsman Donwell Hector stroked a century to lead a strong Vincentian batting effort while left-arm spinner Denis George snatched a six-wicket haul for Grenada, on the opening day of the second series of matches in the Windward Islands Senior Championship on Tuesday.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The first One-Day International between West Indies and Sri Lanka will go ahead today after all, ending a day of confusion over whether the match would be played, a West Indies cricket spokesman confirmed late yesterday.

ADELAIDE, (Reuters) – Captain Andrew Strauss said   England would savour their win over Australia yesterday but   the reverse in the corresponding Ashes four years ago had   taught them not to take anything for granted in the rest of   the series.

BANGALORE, (Reuters) – Yusuf Pathan’s maiden one-day  international century lifted India to a five-wicket victory over  New Zealand as runs flowed in the fourth match of the series yesterday.

MANCHESTER, England,  (Reuters) – Manchester United are  running out of optimism that midfielder Owen Hargreaves will  ever fulfil the potential he showed before two years of injury  misery.

HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka, CMC – With their rain-ravaged Test series behind them, West Indies arrived here in this small southern city yesterday afternoon to begin preparations for their five-match One-Day Inter-national series which bowls off on Thursday.