TEST SERIES IN ENGLAND(1990)

India came into the first Test at Lord's in sparkling form with a string of wins, including a 2-0 sweep in the ODI series. But they came up against Gooch, and his 333 and 123 guided England to a 247-run win. That was enough to secure the series 1-0. A batting paradise at Manchester produced a great game, India finishing on 343 for 6 chasing 408, Sachin Tendulkar making 119 and Mohammad Azharuddin his second successive hundred. At The Oval, India made England follow on, but David Gower, playing for his place on that winter's Ashes tour, made a brilliant 157 to save the match. The series was entertaining from the off, and was played in sublime weather than necessitated a hosepipe ban. There was nothing to separate the teams, except the toss at Lord's. Tests: England 1 India 0 Drawn 2,ODIs: England 0 India 2.

Cricket facing its toughest Tests

IT is essential the game reacts with a united front in the wake of last week's horrific events in Mumbai
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And what effects the marauding gunmen, grenades in hotel lobbies and battlefield scenes have had. 

The England Performance squad missed the carnage by chance, their training camp moved at the last minute from Mumbai to Bangalore, and are joining the full England one day squad who are already home; the Champions League is postponed, with Middlesex luckily escaping being in the Taj Mahal hotel by 24 hours; luminaries such as Shane Warne are concerned about playing in India again and next month's two-Test series against England is hanging by the slimmest of threads. 

Kevin Pietersen has publicly stated that no player will be forced to tour and now they must wait for the various security reports. 

"The BBCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India] will provide one and the ECB (English Cricket Broad] security officer Reg Dickason will compile one, but I'm not sure there is time for an independent (report] because if we are going to play the series the players need to get out there pretty soon and start preparing," said Sean Morris, chief executive of the Professional Cricketer's Association. "It was thought that with the families in such distress it was best to get the players back home, allow everyone to cool down the emotions and then calmly examine the situation and make a well informed decision about the Test series, but the basis of that decision will come from the security reports."

Such is the mistrust of Lalit Modi, the BCCI vice-president and shotgun mouth, that the BCCI report will probably be taken with a pinch of salt by the players. Of more importance will be the thoughts of ECB security officer Dickason.

Players could decide fate of series - Pietersen

The fate of England's Test tour to India lies in the hands of the players themselves, according to their captain, Kevin Pietersen, as the team prepares to fly home from the country in the wake of the terrorist atrocities that have rocked Mumbai over the past two days.

Officials from both England and India are adamant that the Test series will go ahead, particularly after the BCCI agreed to shift the second Test from Mumbai to Chennai on a request from the ECB. But according to Pietersen, the situation is not so cut-and-dried. If his team-mates have reservations about taking part, he will not be forcing them to re-join the tour.

"We need to make sure the security's right - but if it's not safe then we won't be coming back," Pietersen told Sky Sports. "People are their own people, I'll never force anyone to do anything or tell them to do anything against their will. On the field I may ask people to do things in a certain way but people run their own lives. We'll have to see how the security is."

Despite the postponement of the final two ODI fixtures in Guwahati and Delhi, England are still scheduled to take part in a planned warm-up match in Baroda on December 5-7, which effectively means that the players will have no more than five days to reach a concensus and return to the country. However, a senior BCCI official admitted that the Indian board is aware that the fate of the series now lies in the hands of the England players.

"Both the boards are in complete agreement on going ahead with the Test series," the official told Cricinfo. "But it seems the stand adopted by the England players will be crucial. At this point, I doubt whether even the ECB can confirm what their [players] position will be. The next few days will be important, but that issue is for the ECB to resolve. As far as the BCCI is concerned, there are absolutely no doubts about the Test series."

Whats up for the Proteas??

If the Proteas and their coach Mickey Arthur had returned to South Africa in the middle of August, they would have come home to a heroes' welcome after securing a Test series victory in England for the first time since their return to international cricket.

Instead, the Proteas had a much quieter homecoming, after losing all their one-day internationals (ODIs) against England. Only persistent rain in Cardiff on Wednesday prevented a 5-0 whitewash which would have seen England moving to the second spot on the ICC one-day rankings. As it is, South Africa are still in second place, but the gap between the Proteas and Ricky Ponting's Australians has increased.

2nd test - India VS Srilanka

Virender Sehwag is the Man of the Match for his fantastic double ton in the first innings and a fine half century in the second. He wins the race ahead of Ajantha Mendis and Harbhajan Singh. They both picked up 10 wickets in the match.

Match Notes and Score card: here

It was a fine test match. After a superb start, India lost their way but Sehwag's double ton ensured that India get to a respectable total. The Indian bowlers, led by Harbhajan Singh, pulled things in their favour by enabling India to take a first innings lead. Virender Sehwag continued with his form and he was supported by Gambhir in the second innings. After a bit of wobble, India managed to edge past the 300 run mark. It was never going to be easy to chase more than 300 runs on this wicket and Sri Lanka got trouble not from a spinner but from Ishant Sharma who led the attack in the initial part of the Sri Lankan second innings. He was then joined by Harbhajan Singh, who finished with 4 wickets in the second innings and 10 wickets in the match. It was very much a good all round performance by the Indians but they still need to crack the Mendis Code to convert this win into a series win.

India wins 2nd test against Sri Lanka

GALLE, Sri Lanka: India beat Sri Lanka by 170 runs in the second cricket test and squared the three-match series 1-1. Sri Lanka won the first test.

Scores: India 329 (Virender Sehwag 201 not out, Gautam Gambhir 56, Ajantha Mendis 6-117) and 269 (Gambhir 74, Sehwag 50, Mendis 4-92, Muttiah Muralitharan 3-107) defeated Sri Lanka 292 (Mahela Jayawardene 86, Kumar Sangakkara 68, Malinda Warnapura 66, Harbhajan Singh 6-102, Anil Kumble 3-81) and 136 (Thilan Samaraweera 67, Harbhajan Singh 4-51, Ishant Sharma 3-20).

CABS team triumphs!!!!!!!!!

We couldn grab the HCG today!!!So we had to be content with the Department Cricket Ground(DCG)..Though the pitch and ground were below standards, cricket was never below standard today!!!We decided on playing Limited overs Innings match today..We have already played this format once...We decided to play 2 innings with 10 overs per innings...WTF team won the toss and decided to bat...NATTU DRAVID and PRAVEEN-ul-haq opened the innings for them...Since the pitch was typically uneven the ball was never easy to predict..The ball seemed to have possessed a nature of its own...Once the ball bounced over the batsman's head and once it kept too low making it diffucult to even make contact with the bat..so overall it was a low scoring match..DRAVID and ul-haq played well ..Once they were out they were followed by PRAS CLARKE(he preffered to be called this way!!!!!!!!) and HARI WARNE...The WTF team ended up scoring 34 runs in the stipulated 10 overs....ADMIN and SLOPPER opened the innings for the CABS team and both played well for not too long...The others followed soon..It was the indomitable VIRU SEELAN who carefully read the pitch and played steadily...But we fell short of the WTF score, yielding them a meagre lead of 6 runs...WTF could not play as aggressively in the 2nd innings as they did in the first innings, thanks to CABS bowlers especially VASANTH LEE and WIN RICHARDS...WTF were all out in the last over and were able to score only 20 in the 2nd innings with an overall lead of 26 runs...Chasing 27 to win, myself and ADMIN finished off the match easily...It was another victory for CABS team...!!!!!!
Everyone as usual played their part well...DRAVID, PRAVEEN, WARNE, CLARKE all batted well...VARUN spearheaded their team bowling along with SOURAV MALI...MALI has drastically improved his fielding!!!!RV PONTING was given the bat only in the second innings, but he failed to make a mark..and except for only one misfield he was really impressive in his fielding!!!!Good work PONTING!!! And DRAVID's catch at long off was remarkable..Great catch DRAVID!!!Excellent judgement!!!And VARUN SINGH's 2 wicket over needs special mention!!!For the CABS Team, ADMIN played well in both the innings...VIRU was brilliant with the bat in the first innings and was equally brilliant in the field!!Good work VIRU!!!JONTY was flawless in the field today..It was really good to see him field just as he is used to...Keep up the tempo JONTY!!!RICHARDS was equally at ease with both his fielding and bowling!!He is another player whose fielding curve is always on the rise.!!!!LEE was simply great with the ball as usual...!!Since the contribution was equally distributed, i could not pick players to name as PERFORMERS OF THE DAY!!!!So everyone were players of the day!!!!
Last but not the least, One of our key players, SLOPPER injured himself in his finger...Lets all pray for his speedy recovery!!!Meet all of u at the next edition of CABS Cricket..Till then keep anticipating and keep praying!!!!!bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!