IPL

Australia’s Test cricket squad won’t be training until Tuesday but there’ll be plenty of action before then.
The main interest in the build-up to Friday’s first Test against New Zealand in Wellington will be the arrival of vice-captain Michael Clarke, who quit the one-day series five days ago to sort out his private life in Sydney.
Clarke, [...]

Ricky Ponting made a controversial first-ball duck as Australia suffered a 51-run loss to New Zealand in Saturday’s dead-rubber fifth one-day international.
Australia had already retained the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy with three wins in the first four matches.
But the Black Caps were determined to play for pride at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium and bowled the world champions out [...]

Australia’s full Test squad of 14 with gather in Wellington over the next two days as Ricky Ponting’s side prepare for Friday’s first Test against New Zealand.
Ponting says vice-captain Michael Clarke is “definitely” playing in the first Test despite a high-profile bust-up with fiancee Lara Bingle in Sydney earlier this week.
Clarke quit the one-day series [...]

Spin bowler Nathan Hauritz says the hostile barracking of Kiwi cricket fans has given the Australian team further motivation to finish off their one-day series with another crushing win.
After losing the first game in Napier by two wickets in a fiery clash which resulted in Australia’s Mitchell Johnson and New Zealand’s Scott Styris being fined [...]

It has been said that nothing in cricket happens for the first time. In the case of night Test matches, this is almost true.
The hurried testing of a pink ball by Cricket Australia, with a view towards scheduling floodlit Tests in coming seasons, has been described as revolutionary.
Some 32 years ago the world’s finest cricketers [...]

When the Pakistan team arrived for their tour of Australia, there was some who thought that they would push Australia throughout the Tests this summer.
However, from day one of the 1st Test in Melbourne, things went downhill, and stayed that way throughout the tour.
Pakistan lost the Test series 3-0, the second with victory in sight [...]

Ricky Ponting praised the leadership qualities of Cameron White after the pair scored half-centuries to guide Australia to a series-clinching win in the fourth one-day international against New Zealand on Thursday.
The victory at Auckland’s Eden Park gives Australia a three-one lead in the five-match series and means the tourists retain the Chappell Hadlee Trophy ahead [...]

In 2008 it was Shane Warne who dominated the Indian Premier League (IPL) to help Rajasthan Royals to the inaugural title. In 2009, Adam Gilchrist carried Deccan Chargers to victory in South Africa. Will 2010 be the year of Damien Martyn?
The third edition of the IPL buzzes into life on Friday night with the meeting [...]

Ashes hero Sir Ian Botham has told the current England team that nothing compares with the thrill of beating Australia on home soil.
England will arrive down under in eight months’ time as the holders of cricket’s most revered trophy.
But they have been unable to win a Test series in Australia since 1987, back when Botham [...]

Cricket officials might have to seek Lara Bingle’s advice to determine who captains Australia’s Test team.
What other conclusion can be drawn from Cricket Australia’s bizarre new policy of selecting a troubled player – a vice-captain at that – then merely hoping he will be able to turn up?
That’s what has happened in the case of [...]