Flower concerned by 'underperforming' batsmen

'Lord's should provide us with a very good opportunity to put things right and it is the responsibility of all of us to make sure that happens


England's coach, Andy Flower, has told his underperforming batsmen there is no place to hide after two poor performances in the third Test at The Oval allowed Pakistan to pull the four-match series scoreline back to 2-1 with just the decider at Lord's to come this week. On a good batting track, England suffered collapses in each innings, including a remarkable subsidence of 7 for 28 second-time around, to muster scores of 231 and 222, as Pakistan held their nerve to win a tense contest by four wickets.

No decision on number of IPL matches yet

The rules and regulations for the 2011 tournament have been up in the air since the suspension of IPL chairman Lalit Modi


The IPL Governing Council has not taken a decision on the format of the 2011 tournament, instead devoting its meeting in Mumbai on Friday to examine the league's accounts for 2009-10. It was widely expected that the governing council would consider proposals to shorten next year's tournament from the current 94 games but that seems to have been left for a future meeting.

Nothing else other than IPL accounts was discussed at the meeting," IPL vice-chairman Niranjan Shah told PTI. "There will be another meeting in the first week of September." Shah added that no proposal concerning the number of matches was put forward at the meeting.

Greg Chappell returns to selection table

Greg Chappell has another high-level position in Australian cricket


Greg Chappell, Australia's first full-time selector, is in no hurry to discard any of Australia's senior players but is ready to make the tough decisions. Chappell will begin his second term with the panel over the next month after being appointed as the national talent manager on Monday.

Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey and Simon Katich are all 35 and the finish of the Ashes and World Cup will require some significant long-term planning. As India coach, Chappell stood firm to end Sourav Ganguly's captaincy and he knows there will be difficult and unpopular choices.

Botha to succeed Smith as SA Twenty20 captain

Johan Botha replaces Graeme Smith as captain of South Africa's Twenty20 squad


Offspinner Johan Botha has been named captain of South Africa's Twenty20 team, replacing Graeme Smith, who stood down earlier this week. Smith remains captain of the Test side and will continue to captain the one-day side until the end of the World Cup.

"Johan was the unanimous choice of the Board and we have every confidence that he will do an excellent job leading up to the next edition of the ICC World Twenty20 in 2012," Cricket South Africa CEO Gerald Majola said.

Pakistan seal victory in tense finish

Imran Farhat's positive innings set the right tone for Pakistan's chase, but nervous moments were to follow

From being down and out two weeks ago Pakistan kept the series alive but not without a few frayed nerves as they had to overcome a late wobble before securing a four-wicket victory at The Oval. During a tension-filled afternoon session outstanding bowling from James Anderson and Graeme Swann threatened to turn the match of its head, in an example of Test cricket at its compelling best, before Umar Akmal and Mohammad Amir carried their side over the line.

Pakistan 308 and 148 for 6 (Butt 48, Yousuf 33, Swann 3-50) beat England 233 and 222 (Cook 110, Amir 5-52, Ajmal 4-71) by four wickets

England vs Pakistan, 3rd npower Test, The Oval, 1st day

Wahab Riaz made a great start to his Test career with five wickets on the opening day at The Oval


This series isn't doing much good for batsmen's averages and on this occasion it was England's top order that crumbled as Wahab Riaz enjoyed a debut to remember at The Oval with 5 for 63 to help remove the hosts for 233. Even that represented riches after they'd crashed to 94 for 7 with Matt Prior, one of the few batsmen to show consistent form, and Stuart Broad adding 119 for the eighth wicket to give the total some respectability before James Anderson struck in the final over of the day.

Pakistan 48 for 1 (Hameed 36*, Riaz 0*) trail England 233 (Prior 84*, Broad 48, Riaz 5-63) by 185 runs

Kieron Pollard cleared of serious injury

Kieron Pollard had to go off after field after getting smacked in the face


Kieron Pollard, the West Indies allrounder, has been cleared of serious injury after he was hit on the eye by a short ball from Dominic Cork during the Friends Provident t20 final at the Rose Bowl. Pollard returned to Trinidad to continue his recovery ahead of the Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa, where he will play for IPL franchise Mumbai Indians.