Barbados (West Indies), Mar. 24: England and Essex all-rounder Ravi Bopara is hell bent on becoming a big-hitting sensation in the Indian Premier League, no matter where it is played.

Both England and South Africa want to stage the event, and a decision is expected within 72 hours, The Sun reports.

The Essex all-rounder is to play for Kings XI Punjab for 309,000 pounds, three times his reserve price.

Napier, Mar. 24: India’s batting machine has dented the confidence of New Zealand’s fast bowlers so much, that a majority of them have owned up to not possessing the required counter-attacking skills.

One of them is New Zealand’s most experienced bowler, Kyle Mills.

In the wake of a master class 42nd Test hundred by India’s Sachin Tendulkar (160) at Hamilton, Mills made little effort to mask his inadequacies as he reflected on the least-memorable episode of his 19-test career.

Napier, Mar. 24 : New Zealand's cricket selectors have called in Jamie How as a replacement for injured batsman Daniel Flynn for the second Test against India to be played here later this week.

Flynn was a virtual spectator at New Zealand''s practice session today before leaving midway through for scans on the left hand damaged by Indian pace bowler Ishant Sharma while scoring a dogged 67 on Saturday, during the first test loss at Hamilton.

New Delhi, Mar 24 : The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to decide on the venue to host the Indian Premier League (IPL) season two matches by Tuesday night.

Shortly before leaving for Johannesburg on Monday, IPL Chairman Lalit Modi told a news channel in Mumbai, "We need to take a decision by tomorrow, one way or the other and we will have a decision by tomorrow night."

Brisbane, Mar. 24: Out of favour Australian cricket all rounder Andrew Symonds alcohol-related woes continue.

On Sunday, he was kicked out of a Brisbane bar. The Daily Telegraph can reveal that, five days earlier, Symonds had to be woken by his Queensland team-mates after a bender so he could make his flight home from the Sheffield Shield final in Melbourne.

Symonds, 33, appears to have learnt little from being stood down by Cricket Australia in January when told to seek counselling for his off-field behaviour.

Cape Town (South Africa), Mar. 23: Test cricket on Sunday said farewell and thanks to West Indian Steve Bucknor, the most experienced umpire to date in the longest form of the game.

The 62-year-old Jamaican umpired his final Test match at Newlands in Cape Town between South Africa and Australia, his 128th match in the middle.