Cricket

Pietersen seeks home comfort for inspiration

England hope family and familiar environment will help batsman find form

Inside Cricket

Anderson basks in the upswing of fickle form

Monday, 30 November 2009

South Africa 119 England 121-3: With the England one-day team it is impossible to be sure: millionaires one match, paupers the next.

Flower urges patience over Pietersen

Monday, 30 November 2009

Andy Flower warns England must stay patient with Kevin Pietersen - even if the man himself finds it hard to do the same in his search for a major innings.

BBC 'sorry' for Boycott outburst

Monday, 30 November 2009

The BBC has apologised to radio listeners after a foul-mouthed outburst from Geoffrey Boycott during its cricket coverage.

Gayle and Ponting at odds over review system

Monday, 30 November 2009

Australia's crushing victory over West Indies in the opening Test in Brisbane had the opposing captains in agreement on many issues, but the ICC's decision review system (DRS) saw Ricky Ponting and Chris Gayle take different sides of the fence.

Robin Scott-Elliot: When the toughest goal can be staying in the game

Monday, 30 November 2009

View From The Sofa: Inside Sport: Mind Games, BBC 1

England earn landslide victory against South Africa

Sunday, 29 November 2009

South Africa 119 England 121-3

Gooch gets call-up to help England tame tearaways

Sunday, 29 November 2009

As England's most formidable batsman of recent vintage flies to South Africa today there is a sense that he is embarking on his mission in the nick of time.

On the Front Foot: Silence is golden as Fletcher's spat with Boycott rumbles on

Sunday, 29 November 2009

To have a front-row seat at Newlands on Friday was the stuff of dreams. It was the confrontation all cricket-lovers had been waiting for at one of the greatest of all grounds. Geoff Boycott, legendary figure of the game, and Duncan Fletcher, a former England coach, were sharing a commentary box. But this was no normal exchange of press-box punditries. There was no exchange at all. Boycott and Fletcher do not speak to each other, as they cringingly demonstrated throughout the third one-day international in which both men were summarising for 'Test Match Special'. There were two occasions when they passed in the commentary box, as one took over from another at the microphone. On the first Boycott attempted a smile and a nod, Fletcher looked the other way. It seems Fletcher felt slighted by Boycott's comments about his time with England, culminating in a call for his departure, and is not about to forgive the slight. Fletcher, whose mean-spirited, self-serving memoir about his period as England's most successful coach was ultimately one of the saddest of autobiographies, spent much of the day avoiding those whom he adjudged former adversaries. He barely spoke to members of the press corps who gave him an easy ride until the last few catastrophic months when he became the first coach to guide England to a 5-0 Ashes defeat. He ignored many completely. Again it was a sad aspect to a man whose skills as a cricket technician are in no doubt. Boycott, still revered by millions, and Fletcher will renew joint 'TMS' duties during the Third Test at Cape Town, where Fletcher lives. Five days of two grown men not speaking should test the resolve of all their colleagues.