sorry to those who noticed… i was away and traveling so could not update blog… just wanted to be away from everything for a while to wind up the year… but cricket has the magnet to pull you towards itself wherever you go so i spend quite a time w…

Melbourne, Dec. 26 (ANI): Australia’’s star-studded domestic Twenty20 competition begins on Monday and big hitting West Indies captain Chris Gayle will lead the international charge.
Gayle has joined forces with Western Australia, while fellow international stars Shahid Afridi and Kieron Pollard (South Australia), Dwayne Bravo (Victoria), Daniel Vettori (Queensland), Sohail Tanvir (Victoria), Dwayne Smith (NSW) and [...]

New Delhi, Dec.26 (ANI): Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has expressed hope to wrap up the series with another win in the fifth one-day international match against Sri Lanka on Sunday, as the spinners will be in action at the national capital’s Ferozeshah Kotla ground.
While addressing a news conference here Dhoni said that the [...]

Durban (S. Africa), Dec. 26 (ANI): Cricket South Africa’’s decision to zero in on Graeme Smith as captain in March, 2003, when he had just turned 22, has proved to be the most inspired choice ever made.
At that time, the selection looked an odd fit. Smith was unworldly, but grew up quickly.
According to the Courier [...]

Melbourne, Dec. 26 (ANI): Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif has said he was unfairly treated for testing positive to steroids.
The controversial quick has vowed to “tell everything” about his drug dramas.
Banned for a year for testing positive to the steroid nandrolone during the inaugural Indian Premier League in 2008, Asif has only just returned to [...]

Melbourne, Dec. 26 (ANI): Australian openers Shane Watson and Simon Katich fell agonisingly short of centuries, but their side was in a commanding position against Pakistan on the first day of the first Test of the series at the MCG here.
Australia were 3-305 at stumps on the first day after Watson and Katich posted a [...]

Durban, Dec. 26 (ANI): England off-spinner Graham Swann has said that the past 12 months have been a dream.
“In my first year of Test cricket, I””ve taken 53 wickets and averaged 36 with the bat. And I have an Ashes winner”’’s medal. I wouldn””t swap it for the world,” he says in a column for [...]

Lahore, Dec. 26 (ANI): Former Pakistan Test opener Saeed Anwar would be organising a special training camp for the opening batsmen of the national squad soon after the team returns from Australia.
Anwar said he is keen to share his experience with the younger players through which he can contribute something the Pakistan cricket.
“I will hold [...]

Durban (S. Africa), Dec. 26 (ANI): Captain Andrew Strauss has warned England’’s players to focus on today’’s crucial Second Test against South Africa here, and not to over-indulge in the Christmas spirit.
England’’s party has grown to more than 60, with players, management, wives, girlfriends and children.
The team practised yesterday at the Kingsmead ground before a [...]

Melbourne, Dec. 26 (ANI): Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting urged Pakistan to bring on a bouncer war as he declared himself an almost certain starter for his 13th Boxing Day Test.
According to the Courier Mail, Ponting will wear an arm guard to protect his sore left elbow – but insists he has no fear about [...]

Australia vs Pakistan, 1st Test
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, December 26-30, 2009
Match starts at 23:30 GMT
Ground Reality and Pitch: Melbourne Cricket Ground or the MCG as it is more popularly known, is a premier cricket ground located in Yarra Park in inner Melbourne. The MCG, which is the largest stadium in Australia, is traditionally known to [...]

Melbourne, Dec. 25 (ANI): The Australian batting line up is expecting a flurry of short pitch deliveries from the Pakistani pacers in the wake of West Indian captain Chris Gayle’’s  disclosure that Aussie captain Ricky Ponting  is weak against short-pitched balls.
The Kangaroos are waiting for the final call on Ponting’s fitness, who was hit on [...]

Sydney, Dec. 25 (ANI): Noted cricket columnist Peter Roebuck has revealed his preferred Test XI for 2009, and it includes three Indians – Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar.
In an article for the Sydney Morning Herald, he says: “Choosing a Test team of the year can be hazardous. So far no lives have [...]

Dubai, Dec. 25 (ANI): Australia will need to beat Pakistan comprehensively in the three-Test series starting in Melbourne on Saturday if it is to retain its third position in the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship table.
Australia starts the series with a difference of 33 rating points relative to sixth-placed Pakistan and this gap means it [...]

Karachi, Dec. 25 (ANI): Pakistan skipper Mohammad Yosuf has said that his team is all prepared to tackle the verbal attack from the Aussies during the forthcoming three-match Test series.
“Australia always play tough cricket on the field and at times they try to pressurise their opponents with their banter and sledging habits. But we are [...]

London, Dec. 25 (ANI): Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi is wanted by at least three English County teams for next season’’s Friends Provident Twenty/20 competition.
A deal is expected to be finalised in the second week of January for the in demand Twenty/20 captain of Pakistan, who was one of Pakistan’’s key performers as they lifted the [...]

Durban, Dec 25(ANI): South African coach Mickey Arthur has said that a final decision on whether to include fast bowler Dale Steyn and all-rounder Jacques Kallis for the second Test against England, starting on Saturday will be taken today.
Arthur said that Steyn, who missed the first Test in Centurion after he suffered a hamstring injury, [...]

Melbourne, Dec. 25 (ANI): Pakistan cricket captain Mohammad Yousuf will remind his team that brilliance alone won”t be enough to beat Australia in the first Test at the MCG, starting on Saturday.
Yousuf said he was happy with the way his young side performed throughout the recent drawn series in New Zealand, and took consolation knowing [...]

Melbourne, Dec.25 (ANI): Pakistan opening batsman Salman Butt has said that his team has an advantage over the Aussies, as the hosts lacks quality spinners in their attack.
Butt said Australia would badly miss fast bowler Glenn McGrath and master leg spinner Shane Warne during the series, and underlined that South Africa’s series win in Australia [...]

England’s new No.3 batsman Jonathan Trott has responded to calls from Graeme Smith to speed up his preparation at the crease. The South Africa captain called Trott’s style ‘frustrating’ as his bowlers kept having to stop in their run up. The England batsman helped his team draw the Test match with a stubborn 69 from [...]