world in hand

Former England captain Andrew Flintoff has predicted a successfulreintegration into the team for Kevin Pietersen, saying the batsman will draw strength from recent adversity when England tour India in November. Flintoff said Pietersen had a track record of responding to strife with goodperformances, and expected him to turn the misgivings from his exile from the team into runs for England. "When people get on Kevin's case he comes out swinging and scores runs," Flintoff told BBC Sport. "I think Alastair Cook might benefit from this. He might get KP at his best."

Mumbai Indians 156 for 6 (Pollard37*, Smith 37) v Yorkshire No result Persistent rain has now washed out successive evening games in the Champions League Twenty20.Both involved Indian sides. The first, in Durban on Wednesday, sent IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders out of the tournament. The second, in Cape Town today, did not end Mumbai Indians' chances of making the semi-finals but it did force a no-result with the IPL side having worked itself into a strong position despite all their batsmen,barring the unbeaten Kieron Pollard, gifting their wickets away

Sydney Sixers 141 for 5 (Watson 47, Haddin 32) beat Lions 137 for9 (Bodi 61, Symes 23, Starc 3-19, Hazlewood 2-18) by five wickets Lions scored 56 runs off their last57 deliveries, losing seven wickets, to completely undo a quick start provided by Gulam Bodi, who scored 61 off 44. Although Jean Symes provided quick 23 in the end, Lions ended with an underwhelming 137, which Sydney Sixers chased with ease despite a middle-overs stumble of three wickets for 14 runs. With their third win out of three and superior net run rate, Sixers are now all but through to the semi-finals*.

A team led by former Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya and managed by former West Indian batsman Alvin Kallicharan has arrived in Karachi on Thursday afternoon. The international XI team will play two exhibition Twenty20 matches against a Pakistan Stars XI at National Stadium in Karachi this weekend, ending a near four-year drought of international cricket in the country. Several other players including batsman Ricardo Powell, fast bowlers Jermaine Lawson and Adam Sanford from West Indies, and Andre Nel and Nantie Hayward from South Africa landed earlier in the morning. South Africa allrounder Justin Kemp has withdrawn due to his domestic cricket commitments while two Afghanistan players - Shapoor Zadran and Mohammad Shahzad - will reach Karachi tomorrow from Kabul.

Defending champions Rajshahi Division will hog half the attentionwhen they take on Dhaka Divisionin Mirpur in one of four opening-day matches in the National Cricket League on Saturday. The other half of the attention will be on several Bangladesh players who are expected to play the firsttwo rounds of matches after the Bangladesh Cricket Board made their NCL appearances obligatory ahead of the West Indies series. The most notable appearance would be that of Tamim Iqbal, captain of Chittagong Division that takes on Dhaka Metropolis at the Shaheed Chandu Stadium on the opening day. Tamim hasn't played in the domestic first-class competition for the past five years. In fact, Chittagong haven't availed his services since he madehis Test debut, the last time beingin November 2007. Tamim

Ricky Ponting laughs when asked whether or not he was a better captain of Australia than Michael Clarke. Eighteen months into the job, Clarke's leadership has helped push the national team to a point where they can glimpse the world No. 1 ranking, a summitthat will be achieved if they can defeat South Africa at home in November. When he gave up the captaincy, Ponting had said he hoped to give Clarke the best chance of putting his stamp on a new team,something the younger man has done. Irrespective of their relativemerits as tacticians, Ponting and Clarke both need each other still, especially if Ponting can bat with the authority he showed against India last summer. While a little envious of the support network Clarke has around him as a result of the Argus review, Ponting is generous

Beset by injuries and straddling the start of the Twenty20 era, Shane Bond's New Zealand careerwas all too brief. The lessons of it are not to be lost however, after Bond signed on to replace Damien Wright as the national team's bowling coach. Having retired from the game a little more than two years ago, Bond has spent the intervening time studying up as a coach, and will now bring his combination ofrecent experience, empathy and areputation as one of the most feared pace bowlers of the past decade to help add a greater edge to New Zealand's bowling stocks.

Richard Pybus has been given time till October 24 to decide if hewants to continue as the Bangladesh coach for the forthcoming West Indies series. The Bangladesh Cricket Board haswritten to him, the outgoing chiefMustafa Kamal said on his last dayat the board headquarters. "The BCB will write to him officially to come before our West Indies series. If he doesn't decide to come then we will take a decision based on his action," Kamal said, flanked by Nazmul Hassan, the man succeeding him as the BCB president, after a five-hour meeting on Friday. Kamal had to chair the meeting asissues such as the one concerning Pybus and the Bangladesh Premier League franchises' non-payment remain unresolved. Kamal, however, said that both issues will be tackled in the October 24 meeting, which he

How important is the ICC Champions Trophy for players? It's a very important tournament for the player when you consider that the 50-over game has been abit maligned over the last few years, with how big T20 cricket has become so quickly. The big tournaments you play in are the ICC World Cup and the Champions Trophy, so it's a very big and important event for the players. And the fans? I think the fans place it in the same regard as the players, especially the way the Champions Trophy is formatted now, with fewer teams than originally. I remember when I started playing Champions Trophy, almost all of the Associate nations were playing. In the UK in 2004, we played USA in the group stage - the game was over six overs, [us] chasing just 65. It was a pretty ordinary advertisement for the

How important is the ICC Champions Trophy for players? It's a very important tournament for the player when you consider that the 50-over game has been abit maligned over the last few years, with how big T20 cricket has become so quickly. The big tournaments you play in are the ICC World Cup and the Champions Trophy, so it's a very big and important event for the players. And the fans? I think the fans place it in the same regard as the players, especially the way the Champions Trophy is formatted now, with fewer teams than originally. I remember when I started playing Champions Trophy, almost all of the Associate nations were playing. In the UK in 2004, we played USA in the group stage - the game was over six overs, [us] chasing just 65. It was a pretty ordinary advertisement for the

The USA Cricket Association has suspended executive secretary Kenwyn Williams and is investigating his role in a protracted and angry exchange with journalists and stakeholders on the official USACA Facebook page, which was taken down shortly before 11 a.m. EST on Friday. USACA president GladstoneDainty confirmed the suspension to ESPNcricinfo pending a hearingat a board meeting on November 10 in Florida. "Based on what I've seen, what has been going on has not helped cricket in the United States. I don't think it has helped cricket at all," Dainty said. "That is so mindboggling. I don't think that US and world cricket deserved that, but I'm still waitingfor an attempt to justify it."

Brian Lara was made an offer to play for the International XI in thetwo unofficial Twenty20 matches in Karachi but he refused becausehe was concerned about the message his participation would send out, given that the PCB had disassociated itself from the games. "Yes, an offer was made to me," Lara told the Trinidad Guardian."Until such time as the governing body in Pakistan [PCB] is able to convince the rest of the world that the best safety mechanisms have been put in place, and the ICC agrees, I would have to say no."

Gerald Majola, the suspended Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief executive, has been dismissed from the board with immediate effect. He was found guilty on all nine charges laid against him at his disciplinary hearing, most notably misconduct but also including accepting bonuses, not declaring them to the board and wrongdoing around travel claims. Majola's hearing took place without him after he withdrew from proceedings last week. He was invited to appear before chairperson Karel Tip for the decision on October 17 but chosenot to. He had the option to makeanother appearance on Friday to present his version.

Match facts October 20, 2012 Start time 1330 (1130 GMT) Big Picture With two wins and a game to play, Lions are just one victory away from joining Sydney Sixers as the other team from Group B in the semi-finals. Lions play the opening game of the Wanderers double-header on Saturday and their match against Yorkshire will be closely followed by Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, who face each other later in the evening. A Lions win will reduce the IPL derby to a dead rubber. It's been that kind of a tournament for the IPL teams, having to rely on other results to progress. If Yorkshire can sneak in a win, though, it opens up the group

Abdul Razzaq, the Pakistan allrounder, has been fined one lakh rupees (approx $1050) for his criticism of the team's captain Mohammad Hafeez after the World Twenty20. The PCB had issued Razzaq a showcause notice last week asking him to explain his comments about Hafeez. Razzaq apologised for his remarks but was still fined by the PCB. Razzaq and Hafeez appeared before the PCB chairman to clarifyafter which Razzaq accepted his mistake He said he had no issues with the captain and what he said was in the heat of the moment. "I accept my mistake for breaching the code of conduct," Razzaq told reporters after the meeting. "I never had any problems with Hafeez and I accept that my outburst against him was unfair. Ihave already apologised for it," Razzaq added.

Auckland Aces v Delhi Daredevils Match abandoned without a ball bowledScorecard Rain seems to be following the IPL sides wherever they go. A third successive evening game in the Champions League Twenty20 was washed out today, in Durban.While some play had been possible in the previous no-results, even the toss could not take place at Kingsmead as a persistent, but not heavy, drizzle set in. It was Delhi Daredevils' turn to be satisfied with two points, after Kolkata Knight Ridersand Mumbai Indians on the previous two evenings.