Cricket News

Shivkant Shukla (103) and Parvinder Singh (93) led Uttar Pradesh fightback, sharing an unbeaten 190-run stand for the fourth wicket, to take the score to 253 for three on the penultimate day of the four-day Ranji Trophy semi-final match against Tamil Nadu in Nagpur on Tuesday.

Pakistan awarded new central contracts to 26 players on Tuesday.

Mumbai appeared to be on course to their 38th Ranji Trophy title as Saurashtra failed to live up to their promise of making a match of their rivals and were trailing by 390 runs in their first innings on the third and penultimate day of their semi-final match in Chennai on Tuesday.

Ricky Ponting's bold declaration on Tuesday injected drama into the third and final Test in Sydney which seems headed for a nail-biting finish with South Africa needing 314 runs on a tricky fifth day track to complete a rare 3-0 whitewash. Set a daunting target of 376 runs, South Africa lost makeshift opener Morne Morkel for a second ball duck before reaching 62 for one at stumps on day four.

Sri Lanka crushed Bangladesh by 465 runs in the second Test on Tuesday, recording the fifth highest run margin to sweep the series 2-0.

The 2007 Twenty20 World Cup final loss to India hurt him so badly that Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi hit himself with his own bat to vent out the frustration.

Daniel Vettori has supported India's call for an extra Test when the team visits New Zealand in March this year. Five one-dayers follow before the first of the originally-planned two-Test series starts in Hamilton from March 26. The second Test will be held in Wellington from April 3.

Legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev, who led India to it's only World Cup title in 1983, turned 50 on Tuesday. Kapil, who made his India debut against Pakistan in 1978, was given a surprise party by his friends on Monday night but the former captain has no plans for celebrations on Tuesday and will spend the day at his home in New Delhi.

England paceman Steve Harmison has urged captain Kevin Pietersen and coach Peter Moores to settle their differences for the sake of the team. The pair's fractious relationship since Pietersen took over the captaincy in August has come to a head in recent days and a poor series of results since Moores became coach nearly two years ago have not helped the situation.

Tipped to be the next England cricket coach, Graham Ford will have no problem leaving his current employers county side Kent, which has promised not to come in the way if its director of cricket gets the high-profile job. The South African is the bookies' favourite to replace current England coach Peter Moores, who has fallen out with skipper Kevin Pietersen.