Dominant England bring Ashes triumph nearer

• Australia 98 is their second lowest total at the MCG. They went past their 83 against India in 1981, which was previously their lowest at the MCG. This was however the lowest score in England-Australia Tests at the ground.
• This is Australia's fourth score below 120 since 1990 in home Tests.
• All ten batsmen were dismissed caught in Australia's innings. This was the 48th occasion that all batsmen have been dismissed by this mode.
• Matt Prior took six catches in the innings, one behind the record of seven which is shared by four keepers.
• James Anderson's remarkable improvement in Australia continued with another four wicket haul. He now has 16 wickets in the series so far at an average of just over 26. In contrast, in the previous series in Australia, he picked up just five wickets at an average of 82.6.
• Andrew Strauss became the 52nd batsman to reach the 6000 run mark in Tests.
• Strauss and Alastair Cook put on their 10th century stand for the opening wicket in Tests, which puts them joint fourth in the list of opening pairs with most century stands.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2010-11/content/current/story/494052.html

Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal given World Cup deadline

Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal have until December 30 to provide the PCB with the necessary documents to clear their names for World Cup selection.

"The PCB has asked them to submit the documents about their assets and bank accounts by December 30 to be considered in the list of probables for the World Cup," Subhan Ahmad, the board's COO, told APP. 

The ICC had extended Pakistan's deadline for the submission of its preliminary 30-member squad for the tournament to January 5, after receiving a request from the board. Kamran and Malik have not played for Pakistan since their controversial tour of England in August and were left out of the tour to the United Arab Emirates. They have also been denied permission to play league cricket in Bangladesh. The PCB has remained fairly tight-lipped about the reasons for their exclusion. 

Kamran and Malik had both questioned the board's decision to not clear them for the New Zealand tour. Kamran had written to the ICC asking if he was under investigation and got a clean chit from them. The ICC had sent him and Salman Butt notices during Pakistan's tour of England in August, seeking information about events related to the 2010 World Twenty20 held in May. 

Legspinner Danish Kaneria, who has not figured in Pakistan's one-day plans in recent times, was also earlier given until the end of the year to submit his replies to the board's integrity committee's queries, in order to gain clearance to play for the country. 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/story/493964.html

ICC releases documentary on 'Road to the World Cup'

With less than two months to go until the start of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, the ICC has announced the release of a documentary, 'The Road to the World Cup'.
The programme charts the fascinating story of how teams from across the globe attempted to qualify for cricket's flagship event.

Capturing the success of the Pepsi ICC Development Programme in bringing the sport to all corners of the globe, the documentary narrates the story of how the four ICC Associate and Affiliate Member qualifying places in the 2011 event were decided. This includes colourful, and never before seen, footage of four qualifying tournaments across the world.

Covering tournaments in venues as diverse as Jersey, Dar-es-Salaam, Buenos Aires and Johannesburg, this fascinating tale presents a unique insight into the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League (WCL) qualifying structure that provided ICC Members with a pathway to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

With interviews and footage of the four ICC Associate Members - Canada, Ireland, Kenya and Netherlands - that successfully made the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, the documentary is a must watch for all international cricket fans in the lead up to next year's showpiece.

The footage also memorably charts the thrilling success of the Afghanistan cricket team through multiple divisions of the Pepsi ICC WCL, highlighting their title successes in Jersey, Tanzania and Argentina, before they come agonisingly close to sealing ICC Cricket World Cup qualification in South Africa.

Tendulkar is ICC Cricket World Cup Ambassador

The ICC has announced that Sachin Tendulkar will star in a special ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 marketing campaign.

The campaign, which will be launched next month, will see Tendulkar, who was announced in November as an ambassador for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, feature in a series of advertisements to raise the profile of cricket's flagship event.

In his role as tournament ambassador, he will be called upon to promote and support a variety of ICC initiatives for the tournament, which is the third biggest sporting event in the world and will take place in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka from 19 February to 2 April next year.

"When I got to know that the ICC wanted me to be the event ambassador for the 2011 World Cup, I was really excited and I didn't know how to react," said Tendulkar.

"I grew up watching various World Cup matches and when you actually get approached by the ICC and they want you to play a special role in this event it is absolutely flattering. I am truly honoured and I am looking forward to this event."

ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said that he was delighted to have Tendulkar involved in promoting the ICC Cricket World Cup.

"Sachin is perhaps the top player in the world today. He is revered not just in India but across the globe. The World Cup is the World Cup - it is the flagship event, the cup that counts, and if you match the player, Sachin Tendulkar, with the event, then you have a fantastic fit," said Lorgat.

World Cup Trophy

The Prudential Cups trophy were awarded to the winners of the World Cup from 1975-1983 when Prudential plc was the primary sponsors. The trophies' designs changed when the sponsors changed until the 1999 World Cup. So the first three world cups had a similar trophy while 1987, 1992 and 1996 had different trophies because of different sponsors until the International Cricket Council decided to award its own trophy.

The ICC Cricket World Cup trophy is the prize presented to the winners of the tournament.

The current trophy was created for the 1999 event and is the first permanent prize in the tournament's history. A team of craftsmen from Garrard & Co, the British Crown jewelers, designed and produced the trophy within two months in London.

 

The trophy itself is 60 centimetres high, made from silver and gold and features a golden globe held up by three silver columns. The columns, shaped as stumps and balls, represent the three fundamental aspects of cricket - batting, bowling and fielding - while the globe characterizes a cricket ball. It is designed in platonic dimensions, so that it can be instantly recognized from any angle. The trophy weighs approximately 11 kilograms and has the names of the previous winners inscribed on its base. There is still room for another ten teams to have their name inscribed.

 

The actual trophy is always kept by the ICC in its offices in Dubai but a replica, which is identical in all aspects apart from the inscription of the previous champions, is awarded to the winning team and remains in their possession.

Tendulkar, Sehwag in ICC shortlist for greatest ODI team

DUBAI: Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar, along with Virender Sehwag, on Wednesday found a place in the list of players nominated for an ICC online poll to pick the all-time greatest team as part of one-day cricket's 40th anniversary celebrations.

The retired Sourav Ganguly is also part of the list of openers, from which only two would make the final dream team.

The shortlist for Dream Team:

Opening batsmen (2) - Saeed Anwar, Sourav Ganguly, Gordon Greenidge, Matthew Hayden, Sanath Jayasuriya, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Glenn Turner.

Middle-order batsmen (3) - Michael Bevan, Martin Crowe, Aravinda de Silva, Inzamam-ul Haq, Brian Lara, Javed Miandad, Ricky Ponting, Viv Richards.

All-rounder (1) - Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Andrew Flintoff, Richard Hadlee, Jacques Kallis, Imran Khan, Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock.

Wicketkeeper (1) - Mark Boucher, MS Dhoni, Andy Flower Adam Gilchrist, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Moin Khan, Alec Stewart, Kumar Sangakkara.

Fast bowlers (3) - Wasim Akram, Allan Donald, Joel Garner, Michael Holding, Dennis Lillee, Glenn McGrath, Chaminda Vaas, Waqar Younis.

Spinners (1) - Shahid Afridi, Carl Hooper, Anil Kumble, Muttiah Muralitharan, Saqlain Mushtaq, Harbhajan Singh, Shane Warne, Daniel Vettori.

India’s 30-member squad for World Cup 2011 announced

The Indian selectors have announced the 30-member squad for the 2011 World Cup. What has been the most surprising exclusion is that of Irfan Pathan, while Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have been selected.

The probables:

Openers: Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan

Middle-order: Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Saurabh Tiwary, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Cheteshwar Pujara

All-rounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Yusuf Pathan

Wicketkeepers: MS Dhoni, Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Karthik, Wriddhiman Saha

Spinners: Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha

Medium-pacers: Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Vinay Kumar, Praveen Kumar.