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Australia will prey on England's inability to bowl sides out a second time as it strives to defy history in order to preserve its 75-year unbeaten Test record at Lord's.

Australia A speedster Shaun Tait is back bowling fast again, playing the last two one-day matches for Australia A against Pakistan A and now has his sights on regaining his place in the Australian one-day squad.

Guyanan veteran Travis Dowlin fell five short of a maiden century but the West Indies once again couldn't cope with spin in the second Test against Bangladesh in St Vincent.

Bowler Chaminda Vaas could play his final Test after being recalled to the Sri Lankan side to face Pakistan starting on Monday. Vaas, 35, is expected to announce his retirement from Test cricket before the start of the third Test, which would be his 111th game in a 15-year career that has bagged 354 wickets.

A shell-shocked Australia was in damage control on Friday night after a string of batsmen went down swinging, leaving the tourists in deep trouble in the second Test at Lord's.

Australia were 22 for two wickets at lunch in their first innings in reply to England's 425 on the second day of the second Ashes Test at Lord's on Friday.

Reader Rakesh Jain sent us this photograph from London.

A second-string West Indies picked up the final three Bangladesh wickets after tea to skittle the tourists for 232 and establish a first-innings lead of five runs on day two of the second Test in St George's.

England struggled to impose themselves on the Australian bowlers during the third day of the second Ashes Test at Lord's on Saturday after opting to bat again rather than enforce the follow-on. At tea England were 130 for two, an overall lead of 340, following a slow post-lunch period during which both Ravi Bopara (19 not out) and Kevin Pietersen (28 not out) were restricted by thoughtful pace bowling.

James Anderson revealed a desire not to waste the first Test 'get-out-of-jail' card was behind England's dominant display in the second Ashes Test at Lord's.

India's bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad refused to blame the Indian Premier League for India's dismal show at the Twenty20 World Cup in England, where the team failed to defend the title and crashed out early. Prasad, who is also bowling coach of Chennai Super Kings, rather believes the IPL was a perfect platform to prepare for the second edition of the T20 World Cup.

England extended their overall lead over Australia to 267 with all second-innings wickets intact after declining to enforce the follow-on on the third morning of the second Ashes Test at Lord's on Saturday. At lunch, England were 57 for no wicket in their second innings with captain Andrew Strauss (24 not out) and Alastair Cook (32 not out) taking full toll of some short-pitched bowling from the Australian pace attack.

Australia's 75-year unbeaten record at Lord's is under enormous threat after England paceman James Anderson enjoyed one of the finest days of his career to turn the second Test on its head on Friday night.

England reached 311 for six in their second innings on the third day of the second Test on Saturday to put themselves in a splendid position to win their first Ashes test at Lord's for 75 years. When rain ended play, England held an overall lead of 521 after captain Andrew Strauss had decided against enforcing the follow-on. Australia were dismissed for 215 in the morning session in reply to the hosts' 425.

England has Australia on the rack but will turn to the heavens before deciding whether it will ask the shell-shocked tourists to follow-on in the second Test at Lord's.

Australia A have finished the series against Pakistan A on a winning note, cruising to a seven wicket win in the final Twenty20 encounter at Allan Border Field in Brisbane today.

Several of Ricky Ponting's men met the Queen earlier this game but it'll take divine intervention for Australia to escape the second Test with a draw after another hapless day at Lord's on Saturday night.

Sri Lanka recalled 35-year-old bowler Chaminda Vaas for the third and final Test against Pakistan, starting on Monday. The left-armer, who has taken 354 wickets in 110 test matches, was not selected for the first two Tests won by Sri Lanka.

Brief video footage of the programme Sach Ka Samna beamed on 'Times Now' channel showed a pensive Kambli admitting that Tendulkar had not helped him enough.

James Anderson excelled with bat and ball as Australia, replying to England's first innings total of 425, were reduced to 156 for 8 on Day 2 of the second Ashes Test.

Bangladesh were 35 for one in the first innings after dismissing the West Indies for 237 on Day 1 of the second Test.

England declined to enforce the follow-on after dismissing Australia for 215 on the third morning of the second Ashes Test at Lord's in London on Saturday. Australia, 156 for eight overnight in reply to England's first innings 425, batted brightly with Peter Siddle reaching his highest Test score of 35.

Promising leg-spinner Piyush Chawla says he is polishing his batting skills to make an India comeback after being ignored for the ICC Champions Trophy, underlining the importance of having a good bat lower down the order in modern cricket. The 21-year-old spinner, who is presently playing county cricket for Sussex, started with a bang by taking 19 wickets and scoring a century in the English County Championships.

Controversial Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar will not be considered for the One-Day International series in Sri Lanka on fitness grounds, interim chief selector Wasim Bari said on Saturday. Bari, who left for Sri Lanka to consult with the team management over the composition of the ODI squad, told a television channel that Akhtar would not be considered for the five-match ODI series and a Twenty20 International.

Barely five days after his remarks against Sachin Tendulkar created a controversy, former Indian player Vinod Kambli on Saturday came face-to-face with his celebrated childhood friend at a public function in Nagpur. Tendulkar and Kambli made their first joint appearance at a felicitation programme where their coach Ramakant Achrekar was also honoured.