Jamaica (West Indies), Feb. 5 : The loss of the England cricket team's captaincy appears not to have dented Kevin Pietersen's form with the bat. KP scored a punishing 97 before falling to Windies spinner Sulieman Benn in the first Test between the two sides.

Pietersen struck Benn for four, four and six in three successive deliveries when he lined up another big blow. This time, however, the ball skied straight up in the air and he was already walking off when it nestled in wicketkeeper Dinesh Ramdin's gloves.

Pietersen had scored more than half of the runs when he was out, so it is impossible to be too critical.

Jamaica (West Indies), Feb. 3 : England all rounder Andrew Flintoff has known for several years of Andrew Strauss' burning ambition to become England captain.

Freddie believes that it is now vital that the calm and calculated Strauss builds a strong rapport with the team and win the series against the Windies.

Jamaica (West Indies), Feb. 2 : England fast bowler Steve Harmison has said that he will try his level best to make the grade for the first England-West Indies Test to be played here from Wednesday.

The Sabina Park is where Harmison skittled the Windies for just 47 with an astonishing second-innings blitz of 7-12 five years ago.

That performance helped propel him to the position of world's No1 ranked bowler later in 2004 - but he has trod a rocky path since then.

He admitted: "I can't put my finger on why some days it clicks and others it doesn't. I'd be a rich man if I could tell you.

Jamaica (West Indies), Jan. 31 : West Indies skipper Chris Gayle is generally regarded as cricket's coolest dude, but is a seriously dangerous customer on the field.

Gayle, 29, puts his success down to having in-depth conversations with himself.

Washington/Kingston  - After heated debate, the Jamaican Parliament Tuesday voted to keep the death penalty for particularly violent crimes, according to the Jamaican Gleaner newspaper online.

Monte Carlo - Jamaican supersprinter Usain Bolt and Russian pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva are among the six finalists for the World Athlete of the Year award.

The governing body IAAF said in a statement on Monday that the Bolt, who won 100m, 200m and 4x100m gold at the Beijing Olympics in world record times, double long-distance gold medallist Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia and 110m hurdles Olympic champion Dayron Robles of Cuba were the final three men.

Isinbayeva won pole vault gold with a world record. She is joined by 5,000m and 10,000m Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia and Kenyan 800m sensation Pamela Jelimo, who also ran to gold in Beijing in August, in the women's list.