Alastair Cook must recapture the touch he had early in his captaincy

Kevin Pietersen will be welcomed back but captain is key for a side whose batting is wobbling worryingly

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Centurion Cook hails Gooch's influence

As one opening batsman from Essex took a significant step towards international rehabilitation yesterday, he paid handsome tribute to one of his most illustrious predecessors. Alastair Cook made his 10th Test hundred for England and he made it clear that he might not have done so without the guidance of Graham Gooch, a player who scored twice as many.

Pietersen seeks home comfort for inspiration

England hope family and familiar environment will help batsman find form

Business Diary: Aeroflot skates on thin ice to build brand

Aeroflot has spent the past few years trying to improve its image, and hopes its latest move will help to complete the process. It has signed up as sponsor of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. And before you scoff, you might like to reflect on the fact that the semi-privatised airline is now close to being the most profitable such company in the world.

Essex boys' country stroll runs West Indies ragged

England 302-2 v West Indies

Australians revel in England cricket debacle

The Australian press have reacted with glee to the latest turmoil in English cricket - just six months ahead of this summer's Ashes series.

Hick the run machine calls time on career

An era in English cricket ended yesterday when Graeme Hick, the most prolific run scorer of the past 25 years, announced that he will retire at the end of this season.

Cricket, Lovely Cricket?, by Lawrence Booth

Howzat! An enthusiast's guide to the highs and lows of being a cricket fan

Surrey 204 & 264-3 Yorks 414-9 dec <i>(Match drawn)</i>: Ramprakash takes place among the great centurions

Surrey batsman completes his 100th century to join pantheon of only 24 others in history of the game

Cricket: Gooch and Gatting out

IT MAY be 24 hours before England select their team for the final Test, but heads have already started to roll. After three and two years' service respectively, Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting are no longer required as selectors. Instead, the England and Wales Cricket Board has placed responsibility for selecting England teams with three men: the chairman of selectors, David Graveney; the England captain, Nasser Hussain; and the incoming coach, Duncan Fletcher.

Cricket: Strange source of Stewart steel

`I'm assuming I'll be opening, having opened in the last four Tests,' he says bluntly. He is a proud man, our Stewie

Cricket Diary: MacGregor a hero of the roaring twenties

CHRIS READ, the boyish-faced, velvet-gloved Devonian, is not, contrary to suggestions, the youngest wicketkeeper to have played for England. At 20 years and 325 days when he made his Test debut against the New Zealanders at Edgbaston on Thursday he was some 153 days the junior of the great Alan Knott, who first played 32 years ago and was generally held to have been the most youthful player to wear the gloves.
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National archives: Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them

Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them

Newly unearthed papers reveal a shocking extra dimension to the constitutional crisis over monarch’s abdication
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Sent down at the Old Bailey

A tour of the world's most famous court
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Hollywood's random acts of red-carpet kindness

The Hangover actor Zach Galifianakis’s date for his movie premieres isn’t arm candy  – it’s his 87-year-old friend who he saved from homelessness
British football scores an own goal

British football scores an own goal

Many managers barely survive a year in post. Martin Baker talks to experts who make a case for clubs using forensic business skills to find the best staff
James Lawton: Sergio Garcia cracks as major fault line opens up again

James Lawton

Sergio Garcia cracks as major fault line opens up again
Dylan Hartley: Northampton have spent the season proving all our critics wrong

Dylan Hartley talks tough

Northampton have spent the season proving all our critics wrong
Watch out Watford: Here comes the secretive Bilderberg Group

Watch out Watford: Here comes the secretive Bilderberg Group

A meeting of global power brokers in a Hertfordshire hotel is exciting conspiracy theorists, but what are they really about?
'The ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system': Microsoft finally unveils its Xbox ONE console

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Microsoft finally unveils its Xbox ONE console
Plenty of Fish dating site founder pulls 'Intimate Encounters' option to ward off sleazy men

Plenty of sleaze

Dating website pulls intimate 'hook-up' section to curb harassment
Inferno author Dan Brown 'honoured' to be invited to join the Freemasons

The Freemasons’ Code

Dan Brown reveals the message that told him door to the lodge is open
Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last

Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last

Nick Buckles survived the Olympics débâcle and a £5bn bid fiasco but a profit warning finally triggered his downfall
How to say ‘I’m a sellout’: Tumblr’s David Karp’s message of reassurance to his staff sounded very familiar

How to say ‘I’m a sellout’

Tumblr’s David Karp’s message of reassurance to his staff sounded very familiar
Why clubs are keen to take a stand

Why clubs are keen to take a stand

There's a real desire around the grounds for safe standing. But will the authorities listen?
In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City

In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City

Disillusion with a siege mentality and negative playing style made change inevitable
James Lawton: The James Hunt I knew is the subject of a new F1 movie

James Lawton: The James Hunt I knew is the subject of a new F1 movie

British driver was fascinating man whose epic duel with Niki Lauda in 1976 was typical of an era of glamour and glory – but also the ever-present threat of death