Hyderabad, Oct 9 - All-rounder Chris Woakes, who played a key role in England's 56-run win in the warmup match against Hyderabad XI, feels it is an honour to open the bowling for his country.

Woakes made a useful contribution of unbeaten 46 and later chipped in with two wickets off successive deliveries to virtually end the home side's run chase late Saturday.

The 22-year-old from Warwickshire opened the bowling with Steve Finn.

Hyderabad, Oct 9 - A fine hat-trick by Steven Finn helped England defeat Hyderabad XI by 56 runs in their 50-over warm-up match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here Saturday.

Chasing a target of 220 runs in the day-night match, Hyderabad were all out for 163 in 36.5 overs.

Finn's hat-trick folded up Hyderabad innings and ensured that the English team score a comprehensive win despite not so impressive performance by their batsmen.

Bangalore, Oct 6 - In a nail-biting finish, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) late Wednesday snatched a thrilling victory by two wickets from a defiant South Australian Redbacks (SAR) to qualify for semi-finals of the ICC Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) at the Chinnaswamy stadium here.

Requiring six runs of the last ball in the 20th over for a sensational win, RCB's wicket-keeper Arun Karthik lofted a massive six of Redback's Daniel Christian to reach the stiff target of 215 for eight wickets.

Dhaka, Oct 1 - Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) selectors have recalled seamer Shahadat Hossain and called up uncapped all-rounder Elias Sunny but axed batsman Junaid Siddique for the limited overs series against the West Indies starting here next week.

Shahadat was named in an 18-man squad for the three One-Day Internationals while Elias is part of a 14-man unit for the one-off Twenty20 International.

Bangladesh will also host the West Indies in two Tests in the tour Oct 7-Nov 2.

London, Sep 30 : England ODI skipper Alastair Cook is confident his side can end the team's poor record in India in recent times.

Thirteen times the sides have tackled each other on the subcontinent in the past five years and England has triumphed just once in 2006.

The India series will be Cook's first major overseas assignment as full-time one-day captain as he will try his best to to beat the world champions on their own turf.

Chennai, Sep 29 : Top four players of the Indian cricket team including Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan were left out of the squad for the first two ODI series against England due to injury.

The selectors, which met here to select the team, also overlooked off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. Opener Gautam Gambhir has made a comeback into the side.

Sydney, Sep. 28 : Experienced Australian left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has been left out of the national T20 squad for the upcoming tour of South Africa, while Victorian batsman David Hussey loses his spot in the one-day lineup.

Young fast bowlers Patrick Cummins and James Pattinson have won selection in both squads, while rising all-rounder Mitchell Marsh claimed a berth in the T20 lineup, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Chennai, Sep 27 - After the huge letdown in their opening game when they lost to Mumbai Indians in the last over, Chennai Super Kings have their task cut out when they take on a buoyant Nashua Cape Cobras in the Champions League T20 tournament, here Wednesday.

Chennai, Sep 27 - In what would be a key game in Group A, 2009 champions New South Wales Blues would be looking to get their campaign back on track by getting past Trinidad and Tobago when the two teams meet in the Champions League T20 tournament here Wednesday.

The Blues went down to Cape Cobras in their opening fixture with a performance that did not reflect the talent within, and they would need to up their game a lot more if they hope to put it across the Caribbean outfit in a repeat of the
2009 final.

New Delhi, Sept 26 : The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has said Shoaib Akhtar's autobiography might have created tension in the Indian community, but it will not affect the renewal of Pakistan-India cricket ties.

The former fast-bowler had claimed in his book that Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar, who is also referred to as the God of Cricket, was afraid of his bowling. He had also alleged that Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan had cheated him regarding payments of his Indian Premier League stint.

London, Sept 23 : Pakistan probably has more cricketing talent than any other country in the world, former Pakistan cricket captain turned politician Imran Khan has said.

As a high quality pace bowler, Imran''s test career spanned over 20 years with 362 wickets in 88 test matches at an average of just over 22.81 - statistics that compare with any of the all time great fast bowlers.

Sydney, Sep 22: Australian skipper Michael Clarke is backing left-arm
fast bowler Mitchell Johnson's selection for the South Africa tour
saying that he remains an integral part of the Test side despite his
dreadful form in recent months.

Johnson collected just six
wickets at an average of 52 in Sri Lanka, and was outperformed by Ryan
Harris, Trent Copeland and Shane Watson.

Also in Johnson's favour is his excellent record against South Africa, whom he terrorized in 2009.

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Dubai, Sep 22: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the match schedule and unveiled the event logo of the 2012 World Twenty20, which will be staged in Sri Lanka from September 18 to October 7.

Reigning champion England will start its title defence at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on September 21, against one of the two qualifiers for the tournament.

Stuart Broad's side will complete its opening group commitments two days later against 2007 champion India at the same venue.

Mumbai, Sept 20: Pakistani pace bowler Mohammad Amir's admission of his involvement in last year's spot-fixing scandal before a court in England will not affect Salman Butt's case, the former captain's lawyer Yasin Patel has said.

Dubai, Sep 19: Indian batsman Rahul Dravid has signed off on an illustrious ODI career in 118th position in International Cricket Council (ICC)'s Player Rankings after playing his first series in two years.

Dravid had scored 128 runs in the recently-concluded five-match series against England, which earned him three places in the batting chart.

Dubai, Sep 19: India captain M. S. Dhoni has moved up the order in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after producing a player of the series performance in the recently-concluded five-match series against England.

Dhoni finished the series as the leading run-getter with 236 runs at an average of little under 79.

Karachi, Sept 18 : Retired Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi has expressed his desire to return to international cricket as Waqar Younis, with whom he had serious differences during his captaincy, is set to quit as head coach.

Afridi had announced his retirement from international cricket in May after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) removed him as one-day international (ODI) captain following a dispute with coach Waqar.

Islamabad, Sept 17: Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has said that he `feels' for the banned tainted trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, as they did not have the ''awareness''.

In February, Salman was banned for ten years with a five-year suspended ban, Asif for seven years with two-year suspended ban and Aamer for five years by the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption Tribunal on spot-fixing charges.

Lahore, Sept 17: Banned Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Amir has reportedly admitted to his involvement in last year's spot-fixing scandal before a court in England.

The corruption charges relate to Pakistan's Test match against England at Lord''s last year, when a British tabloid claimed that Aamir, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif had colluded in a spot-fixing scam organised by British-based agent Mazhar Majeed.

Melbourne, Sep 15: Dumped Australian opening batsman Simon Katich doubts that changes to the Cricket Australia (CA) selection panel following the recommendations made by the `Argus Review' will alter his situation.

Katich was dropped from the list of CA's contracted players earlier this year despite being one of the team's most consistent performers.

"Who is in charge is I don't think not going to make too much difference to my situation," Fox Sports quoted Katich, as saying.