*    South Africa is invited to bat first and prosper despite stops for rain,Bangladesh removes centurions early day 2 and wrap up tail then batsmen just queue up to fall over save 8th wicket which adds 60:At Bloemfontein 1st Test South Africa 441-9dec,81 overs overs(G Smith 157,H Amla 112,Prince 59*,Shakib Al Hassan 5-130)  v Bangladesh 153,36.4 overs(Ntini 3-20) & 20-1,5 overs  Scorecard

*    Despite Lalit Modi's encouraging talk, in reality the IPL franchises are likely to bid for a select few of the England team surmises Mike Selvey GuardianUnlimited

*    Michael Atherton questions KP's understanding of the art of spin and its importance in all versions of the game Timesonline

*    Zimbabwe invited to bat reach 124-3 then sensationaly lose 7 wickets for 3 runs and tourists coast to victory:At Harare 1st LOI Zimbabwe 127,31 overs(Muralitharan 4-14,Mendis 3-26) lost to Sri Lanka 130-4,33.2 overs(Sangakkara 47*)  Scorecard

*    Southee takes out Oz top order, only Clarke prospers:At Brisbane Australia 214,77 overs(Clarke 98,Southee 4-63) v New Zealand  Scorecard

*    England post a modest 240 in difficult conditions then take two early wickets but Sehwag surges on,in the end bad light and Duckworth Lewis give India 3rd win:At Kanpur 2rd LOI England 240,48.4/49 overs(Bopara 60,Bell 46,Shah 40,H Singh 3-31) lose to India 198-5,40 overs(Sehwag 68,Y Singh 38,Flintoff 3-31) by 16 runs D/L Method Scorecard Pietersen remonstrates with umpires over bad light decision reports Richard Hobson Timesonline

*    ECB declares the fast lane open sending young pace men to Florida for 'beefing' up.Timesonline

*    India recover from the perils of 29-3 to post challenging total,Yurav hits ton.Bell runs himself out 1st over.England succumb to Yurav & Sehwag:At Indore 2nd LOI India 292-9,50 overs(Y Singh 118,Gambhir 70,Pathan 50*,Broad 4-55) beat England 238,47 overs(Shah 58,Flintoff 43,Y Singh 4-28,Sehwag 3-28) Scorecard

*    RBS Pentangular Trophy Bad light prevents thrilling finish as Punjab chase 76 to win but lose 5 for 17:At Lahore Punjab(Pakistan) 526-8dec,143 overs(M Ayub 117,A Raza 113,Azhar Ali 104,K Shahzad 93*) & 17-5,3.3 overs(Asad Ali 3-1) drew with Baluchistan 271,81.4 overs(B Khilji 70) & f/o 330,84.4 overs(SB Nasir 119) Scorecard Table NW Frontier Province well in lead

*    ECB and the IPL have failed to reach an understanding over the release of England players for the 2009 edition of the league during a two-day meeting in Mumbai Timesonline

*    ICL 20-20 Indian Championship 3rd Final Imran Nazir hits unbeaten ton so Hyderabad Heroes lose to Lahore Badshahs by 8 wkts Scorecard Lahore takes title 2-1

*    Pakistan win toss and bat but lose Butt for golden duck but Younis ton sees them to useful total.With Gayle out the tail has too much to do so Windies lose again:At Abu Dhabi 3rd LOI Pakistan 273-6,50 overs beat West Indies 242,46.3 overs(Gayle 122,Sarwan 62) by 32 runs Scorecard Pakistan win series 3-0

*    ICL 20-20 Indian Championship 1st Final Hyderabad Heroes lose to Lahore Badshahs by 4 wkts Scorecard 2nd final Hydreabad Heroes beat Lahore Badshahs by 8 runs Scorecard   Live on TV  Preview 3rd final

*    Windies restrict Pakistan to modest total but then lose both openers for ducks! Sarwan & Chanderpaul rescue innings but two run outs give hosts the edge who win by 24 runs:At Abu dhabi 2nd LOI Pakistan 232,49 overs v West Indies 208,48.5 overs(Chanderpaul 107*,Sarwan 45,Umar Gul 3-44) Scorecard

*    ACA bat first at Brisbane and the runs flow apart from Symonds the current Test batsmen failed:20/20 ACA 203-4,20 overs(Hodge 65*,Langer 52*) v Australia XI 139,18.1 overs(Symonds 45) Scorecard

*    Pietersen wins toss and invites India to bat who hit record score,Yuvraj a century,then Khan takes out three and England suffer heavy &  humiliating defeat:At Rajkot 1st LOI India 387,50 overs(Y Singh 138*,Sehwag 85) beat England 229,37.4 overs(Pietersen 63ro,Bopara 52*,Khan 3-26) by 158 runs Scorecard

*    Il Duce now says the English season should be changed to accomodate the IPL More

*    Press agency boycott of Australia v New Zealand after fresh accreditation dispute with Cricket Australia More

*    How alone prospers,NSW takes 1st innings lead and Portugal born Henriques hits fifty and takes a fifer as tourists suffer defeat: At SCG New Zealanders 266,85.3 overs(How 170,Lambert 5-74) & 256,86.1 overs(Vettori 73,Flynn 53,McCullum 54,Henriques 5-51) lost to NSW 361,115.1(Thornely 85,Henriques 55,Hughes 64,S Smith 68,Vettori 4-71) & 162-4,52.2 overs(Martin 3-16) by 6 wickets Scorecard Tour

*    Sheffield Shield Match 10 At Adelaide Western Australia 309,124 overs(Robinson 141) & 247-6,76 overs(Pomersbach 141,North 50) drew with South Australia 479-9dec.,168.2 overs(Klinger 255,Borgas 105)  Scorecard

*    State Championship Corey J Anderson heroics in vain:At Rangiore Auckland 398,115 overs(McIntosh 140,RA Young 100 & 175,56.5 overs(Hiini 4-47) beat Canterbury 169,43 overs(McKay 4-37)  & 331,84.2 overs(CJ Anderson 88*,Fulton 64,Myburgh 64,de Gandhomme 3-37) by 73 runs Scorecard

*    Gayle century sets up Windies challenging total but Pakistan chase with relish to win a thriller with one ball to spare hitting 17 off previous 5 balls:At Abu Dhabi 1st LOI West Indies 294-9,50 overs(Gayle 113,Sarwan 55,U Gul 3-66,S Tanvir 3-42) lost to Pakistan 295-6,49.5 overs(S Malik 66,K Manzor 69,Y Khan 56,Baker 3-47) by 4 wickets Scorecard

*    Wash out at East London for 3rd LOI so South Africa win series 2-0 over Bangladesh Series

*    Windies Women win by 13 runs despite bowling 19 wides and so level series 2-2 with one to play: At Colombo RPS 4th LOI West Indies Women 170,49.2 overs beat Sri Lanka Women 157,46.2 overs by 13 runs Scorecard  but then collapse in final game losing 6 wickets for 13 runs to gift series to hosts Scorecard Series

*    ICL 20-20 Indian Championship  2nd Semi-Final Hyderabad Heroes beat Bengal Royal Tigers by 3 wkts with 3 balls to go Scorecard

*    Indian signs offer England hope of exploiting Australia’s frailties writes CM-J Timesonline before observing the Mumbai match see below

*    England crashed to a humiliating defeat, bowled out for just 98 in their final warm-up match ahead of the seven-match one-day series in India:At CCI Mumbai Mumbai CA XI 222-7,50 overs beat England XI 98 by 229 runs Scorecard BBC Report  Tour 'This really doesn't matter' - Pietersen More

*    Hong Kong International Cricket Sixes England 121-1,5 overs beat Australia 121,5 overs on fewer wickets lost rule Scorecard

*    Flintoff hits ton at CCI in tour opener: England XI 297-4,50 overs(Flintoff 100*,Shah 83,Bell 58) beat Mumbai XI 175-8(Shetye 50,Anderson 3-15) Scorecard Richard Hobson reports Timesonline

*    Symonds back in national fold for Friday's All-Stars Twenty20 match in Brisbane. More

*    ICL 20-20 Indian Championship  1st Semi-Final:At Ahmedabad Chennai Superstars lost to Lahore Badshahs by 6 wkts     Scorecard 

*    South Africans post large total but brave blast from opener Tamin Iqbal in response from tourists but the middle order fails:At Benoni 2nd LOI South Africa 358-4,50 overs(H Amla 140,G Smith 65,de Villiers 54*,J Morkel 37*) beat Bangladesh 230,49.2 overs(T Iqbal 41 off 22 balls,J Siddique 47) by 128 runs  Scorecard SA win series 2-0

**  Previous Headlines  2008