England captain Andrew Strauss and his team did all they could do pull off a series-saving victory over West Indies on Tuesday but had to watch as the Wisden Trophy was handed to their rivals for the first time in 11 years. The 1-0 defeat in the series came down to a batting collapse for 51 that resulted in an innings and 23 run defeat in the first Test in Jamaica.

West Indies recovered from losing captain Chris Gayle retired hurt to reach 349 for four and avoid the follow-on at the close on the third day of the final Test against England in Trinidad on Sunday.

England seamer Stuart Broad has criticised the Caribbean wickets in the current series against West Indies, saying they have created an unfair battle between bat and ball.

Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior cracked centuries in a 218-run partnership to carry England to 546 for six declared on the second day of the fifth and final Test against West Indies in Port of Spain on Saturday. West Indies in reply raced to 90 for no loss inside 17 overs before Devon Smith was bowled by Monty Panesar for 28 with two overs remaining.

Captain Andrew Strauss struck his third century of the series to lift England to 258 for two on the first day of the fifth and final Test against West Indies on Friday.

Alastair Cook scored his first century in 16 Tests as England drew the fourth Test with West Indies, making 279 for two on the final day at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. The result means West Indies head into Friday's final Test in Port of Spain, Trinidad, 1-0 up and knowing they cannot be beaten in the series -- the first time they have avoided defeat in a Test series against England since 1998.

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff will be flying home from the West Indies for treatment on his hip injury and will miss the final Test match, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Friday. Flintoff, who is not involved in the fourth match being played in Barbados, will miss the final Test in Trinidad starting on March 6 but will leave "with a view to returning" for the subsequent one-day series, the ECB said.

England will make an announcement on Friday about whether injured all-rounder Andrew Flintoff will return home from the tour of the Caribbean. Flintoff is not playing in the fourth Test in Barbados after suffering a hip injury during the drawn third Test in Antigua last week.

An opening stand of 229 featuring a century from captain Andrew Strauss lifted England to a commanding 301 for three on the first day of the fourth Test against West Indies in Barbados on Thursday. Strauss made an excellent 142 after winning the toss and was well assisted by Alastair Cook, who struck 94, in a record England first-wicket partnership against West Indies.

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff will miss the fourth Test against West Indies in Barbados starting on Thursday because of a right hip injury, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Saturday. A scan on Friday revealed Flintoff, who was troubled by the injury in the drawn third Test in Antigua this week, has strained a muscle.

West Indies held on for a dramatic draw against England in the third Test on Thursday, finishing the final day on 370 for nine to maintain their 1-0 lead in the five Test series. Last wicket pair Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards frustrated England in deteriorating light conditions before the umpires offered them bad light with four scheduled overs remaining.

West Indies and England head into the second Test in Antigua in contrasting moods with the common aim of putting the astonishing first Test out of their minds. The tourists, shell-shocked after being bowled out for 51 to slump to an innings and 23 run defeat in Kingston, sorely need to focus purely on the next game. Excluding back-to-back wins over Bangladesh, the last time West Indies won two successive matches in the same Test series was at home to Australia in 1999.

West Indies have dropped batsman Xavier Marshall for Friday's second Test against England in Antigua and drafted in Lendl Simmons.

England slumped to a humiliating defeat, by an innings and 23 runs, after being skittled for 51 by West Indies on the fourth day of the first Test on Saturday. Jerome Taylor ripped the heart out of England, a superb spell of pace bowling earning figures of five for 11 at Sabina Park while spinner Sulieman Benn took four for 31.

West Indies spinner Sulieman Benn bowled a marathon, uninterrupted spell of 33 overs on the first day of the first test against England on Wednesday to dispel many of the question marks over his ability.

Left-hander Devon Smith was recalled to the West Indies squad on Friday for next month's first Test against England while Barbados opener Dale Richards earned his first call-up.

India continued their dominance on the third day of the Commonwealth Youth Games and consolidated their position atop the standings with 12 medals.

Reader Michael Monthero sent us these pictures.

World champion Tyson Gay ran the fastest 100 metres of all-time on Sunday, a wind-assisted 9.68 seconds to win the American trials.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul gained three more places in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen and now sits second, behind Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, in what is the highest ranking of his career to date.

West Indies, needing 475 to win, were 235 for 3 at the close of day four of the third Test against Australia.

Ricky Ponting recently came up with a simple idea to make the five-day game more exciting -- bring back fast bouncy wickets. The first day of the third Test at the Kensington Oval proved his point perfectly with a lively surface producing a lively game of cricket.

Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds has been fined after sleeping in and missing the team bus to a training session in Barbados. Symonds was 10 minutes late for the bus but did not miss any part of practice after finding his own way to Kensington Oval.

Chief Executive S Ramadorai said, "We have hedged for about $1.5 billion. I believe one has to run the business on fundamentals and not on currency fluctuations." He also said it was very difficult to predict the rupee movement as in the last one-and-a-half months, the currency has begun to depreciate against the dollar.

Opening batsmen Chris Gayle and Sewnarine Chattergoon return to the West Indies squad for the third and final Test against Australia at the Kensington Oval next week.

Wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi is to join the Australian side in the West Indies as cover for Brad Haddin, Cricket Australia (CA) said on Friday. Haddin broke a finger on his right hand during the first Test against West Indies in Jamaica and played with the injury during the drawn second Test in Antigua.

Australia have drafted Shane Watson into their squad for the one-day series against West Indies in place of the injured Matthew Hayden. Watson was rewarded for his brilliant all-round showing in India as he scored 472 runs and took 17 wickets to help Rajasthan Royals win the inaugural IPL tournament.

West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan scored a patient and determined 128 on Tuesday to take his side to a draw on the final day of the second Test against Australia. Australia, 1-0 up in the three-match series, retained the Frank Worrell Trophy.

Australian leg-spinner Stuart MacGill will retire from international cricket at the end of the second Test against West Indies, Cricket Australia said in a statement on Sunday.

John Terry scored the opening goal in England's 2-0 win over the United States in a friendly international at Wembley.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Tuesday announced the details of England's tour to West Indies next year when they will play four tests, five one-dayers and a Twenty20 match.

Ricky Pointing struck an outstanding 158 as Australia dominated West Indies to finish at 301 for four on the opening day of the first Test.

West Indies pace bowler Fidel Edwards removed both Australian openers cheaply in the opening session of the first test on Thursday but visiting skipper Ricky Ponting guided his team to 87 for two at lunch.

Grenada smashed US Virgin Islands 10-0 while Suriname trounced Montserrat 7-1 in the CONCACAF preliminary round football World Cup qualifiers. Elsewhere, Antigua beat Aruba 1-0 despite having three players sent off and missing a penalty while Belize held out for a 1-1 draw away to St Kitts & Nevis to earn a prestigious tie against Mexico.

After setting an opening partnership record and declaring their first innings on 583 for seven, South Africa also posted a wicketkeeping record on the second day of the second Test against Bangladesh on Saturday.

Kevin Keegan said on Thursday he was returning to Newcastle United as manager, 11 years after leaving, because he still had "unfinished business" at the club.

Mauritius singled out India for being the fit candidate to become a permanent member while calling for expansion of the 15-member Council which currently has five permanent members -- the US, Britain, Russia, France and China -- and ten non-permanent ones who are elected by the 192-member General Assembly for a two-year term.

Trinidad and Tobago reached the final of the regional one day competition for the West Indies, despite their semi-final with Barbados falling victim to the weather on Friday.

The Australian team was busy celebrating their triumph in Barbados before a local policeman asked them to vacate the ground. In his moment of elation, Ponting ended up swearing at the officer, who took offence to it and threatened to put him and his teammates behind bars.

Indian tourists are getting adventurous and travelling to lesser known destinations.