Former Cricket Board President Raj Singh Dungarpur today described BCCI as "unprofessional" after it was embarrassed by South African Graham Ford's refusal to take up the Indian coaching job. "It was BCCI's mistake to prematurely announce Ford's name. It was very unprofessional.

Mahela Jayawardene and Mohammed Yousuf scored half centuries while Virender Sehwag showed glimpses of his vintage form as Asia XI posted a commanding 317 for nine against Africa XI in the first Afro Asia Cup One-Day International here today. Jayawardene, who made a match-winning hundred ag

Former Team India coach John Wright has turned down the offer to take up the head coach's job at Cricket Australia's (CA) Centre of Excellence. Wright said he was keen to take up the Australian offer but eventually withdrew because he wanted to spend time with his kids. "It didn

Riding on his two centuries against Bangladesh, Sachin Tendulkar jumped back in the top-20 of the latest LG-ICC Player Rankings for Test cricket batsmen. The 34-year-old veteran player scored a hundred in each match, at Chittagong and Mirpur, compiling a total of 254 runs at an average of

The International Cricket Council will soon appoint an acting president in place of Percy Sonn, who died of complications from a colon operation. Sir John Anderson of New Zealand and Malaysian Prince Tunku Imran are said to be in the running for the post vacated after the demise of the 57-ye

Former India cricket coach John Wright is all set to take over as the head coach of Australia's Centre of Excellence. According to a report in the 'Sydney Morning Herald', Wright is set to fill the post left vacant by Tim Nielson, who took over as Australia's coach after the World Cup. The

Sri Lanka marched into the finals of the 2007 Cricket World Cup with a 81-run victory over New Zealand in the first semifinal here at Sabina Park, Sahara Samay sources said. Sri Lanka has reached the finals for the second time whereas New Zealand's loss was its fifth in semifinals. The

South Africa will have to shed their burden of history and perform out of their skin to halt the unstoppable march of Australia as the two teams square off in an epic semifinal showdown of the cricket World Cup tomorrow. Emotions will run high as world's top two cricketing nation once again s

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bat first in their World Cup semi-final against New Zealand at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica today. Sri Lankans were 13 runs for one in the third over of their inning. Opener Jayasuriya was clean bowled by James Franklin on

After five grueling weeks of action in the Caribbean, the semi-final line up for the cricket World Cup has now been finalised with New Zealand taking on Sri Lanka and defending champions Australia clashing with South Africa. New Zealand and Sri Lanka will face-off in the first semifinal

Sri Lanka and New Zealand will count on their enviable variety in bowling attacks to overpower each other in the high-octane first semifinal clash of the cricket World Cup here tomorrow. Sri Lanka, however, would seek a psychological boost from their Super Eights dominating win over the K

The Australia can once again be termed mighty after their World Cup win over South Africa on Saturday which erased the bad memories of their consecutive defeats against New Zealand recently. Australia need to win this week's Super Eights World Cup matches against the West Indies and Bangl

Full marks to New Zealand for beginning their maiden World Cup hunt with roaring confidence notwithstanding some worrying moments during the onset of chasing a modest total of 207 set by the English team. Kiwis are a very strong contender for the World Cup this time around as they are riding h

New Zealand beat England comfortably enough in their opening match of the World Cup. The kiwis overcame some hiccups against the new ball to win by six wickets with nine overs to spare. Scott Styris sparked England's batting collapse and then rescued New Zealand from one of its own

England and New Zealand will be meeting in a crucial Group C match today which could shape the rest of the tournament. England Captain Michael Vaughan said that their players were working hard with the coach and individually for better performance. New Zealand is riding high after winni

New Zealand pacer James Franklin and Jacob Oram ripped through the English batting order as England were two down at 30 in the 9th overs. Earlier, New Zealand won the toss put England in to bat in the crucial Group C match at the Beausejour Stadium in St. Lucia on Friday. The match was b

Kenyan skipper Steve Tikolo won the toss and decided to filed first against the Canada at the Beausejour Stadium (St Lucia) here today. The two minnows have New Zealand and England as the other two teams in the Group C. Both teams are as following: Kenya: Steve Tikolo (C), Thomas Odoyo, Ra

Bangladesh skipper Habibul Bashar is quietly confident that his side would be more than a match for two of the formidable teams from the sub-continent, India and Sri Lanka, when group matches of the cricket World Cup unroll next week. "In one-day cricket, anything can happen. So we want

Virender Sehwag came a cropper again but India sent a strong warning to their rivals with a thumping nine-wicket win against hosts West Indies in the final warm-up match before the World Cup.While Sehwag's prolonged bad patch was a worry for the Indian think-tank, Irfan Pathan's three-wicket h

With the strength of Australia receding considerably, the forthcoming cricket World Cup is going to a closely-fought one, said Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq. While talking to newsmen Inzamam said, "Any of the top five or six teams can win this World Cup. I think it will be one of th

Australian pacer Brett Lee has expressed hope that missing the upcoming World Cup in the Caribbean would prove to a blessing in disguise as this setback could add two years to his career. According to the sources, an ankle injury sustained during practice for the Chappell Hadlee Trophy i

Vice-captain Adam Gilchrist will be available for Australia's entire World Cup campaign following the birth of his third child, Archie, on Saturday. He missed the recent Chappell Hadlee Trophy series defeat to New Zealand, to be with his wife, Melinda. But he is now expected to arrive befor

Bowlers of rival teams in the coming World Cup have to put in extra effort to bowl dot balls against ICC's number two batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who today said he would strive hard to take at least one run every ball he faced in the quadrennial showpiece. "I will try to play well a

Australian pace spearhead Brett Lee was Friday ruled out of next month`s World Cup in Caribbean with an ankle injury, Cricket Australia said. It is a shattering blow for the Australians, whose World Cup-strength bowling attack was flayed by New Zealand in last weekend`s 3-0 Chappell H

Australian speedster Brett Lee has been ruled out of the cricket World Cup giving a big jolt to Australia's hopes of claiming a third title in a row. According to the sources, the pace spearhead suffered an ankle injury during training in New Zealand 10 days ago. Cricket Australia has wri

Australia's injury problems appear to be easing with fast bowler Brett Lee the only player still in serious doubt for the World Cup. Five of the 15 players in Australia's World Cup squad are struggling with injuries but only Lee is considered to be in danger of missing the tournament.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting has come up with a simple solution to end his team's habit of failing to defend massive totals -- bat second. Australia have been on the wrong end of the four biggest run-chases in one-day cricket history, all in the past 14 months, raising concerns abou

West Indies great Garfield Sobers said on Wednesday he was confident Australia would bounce back from their recent string of losses and make a strong title defence at next month’s World Cup in the Caribbean. The world champions were whitewashed 3-0 in the one-day series against hosts

Veteran pace bowler Chaminda Vaas believes Sri Lanka have a great chance of repeating their 1996 World Cup triumph at the 2007 tournament in the Caribbean over the next two months. "The current side is in the same mould as the outfit that won under Arjuna Ranatunga and we are peaking

Defending the staging of Chappell Hadlee trophy series, Cricket Australia has lambasted Adam Gilchrist for suggesting that the tournament was a waste of time and harmful to Australia`s World Cup preparations. CA Chief James Sutherland said CA was committed to the series which started in 2