Apart from his unfortunate penchant for run-outs, Andrew Strauss can do no wrong at Lord's. A century on Test debut, a century on ODI debut, and now a century on his captaincy debut as well

England aren't making any excuses, but today they might have been excused if they had. Try as they might, there was simply no way through against a batsman who has scored runs for fun in his nine Tests against England

They said it would take three men to fill the boots of Andrew Flintoff, and so it has come to pass

Andrew Miller's verdict on England's first day at Lord's

Wicketkeepers are a persecuted breed. Like umpires, they tend only to be noticed when they err, and increasingly both are judged on criteria that should be beyond their remit - that microscopically thin inside-edge, for instance, or in Chris Read's case,

And then there was one. England's four-pronged pace quartet, the same awesome foursome that briefly threatened to rule the world last summer, has dwindled away almost to vanishing point

As Zinedine Zidane so memorably demonstrated in Sunday's football World Cup final, tempers can fray rather easily in the world of competitive sport. With that in mind, Cricinfo presents eleven instances when emotions spilled over into something more drama

If England's Ashes triumph in 2005 was a masterpiece of forward planning allied to extreme good fortune, then the return series in Australia is developing into the complete mirror-image

The England captaincy is a hot potato at present, with the selectors frantically juggling their options until such time as Michael Vaughan's knee comes back to life. Away from the spotlight at Canterbury, however, Robert Key was demonstrating that leaders

Will the region be ready to host 100,000 cricket fans in seven months?

Injuries are all the vogue for England's cricketers at present. If it's not Michael Vaughan's knee, it's Ashley Giles's hip or even Ed Joyce's ankle. Here, Cricinfo charts a selection of players whose medical bulletins have been known to overtake the onfi

Top Performer

Essex fast-bowling coach Ian Pont tries to make Andrew Miller and Jenny Thompson bowl faster

Bangladesh have won their first international fixture since achieving Test status, after inching to an eight-run victory over Zimbabwe in a thrilling finish at Harare

Top Performer

Saturday's first one-day international between England and Sri Lanka passed in a blur of indifference, as most of the home audience was transfixed by the latest round of football World Cup matches. But it hasn't always been thus

Sri Lanka kept their cool under the lights to secure a thrilling two-run victory off the last ball of the Twenty20 international at The Rose Bowl

Afghanistan's cricketers made it two wins out of two on their historic maiden tour of England, as they eased to a seven-wicket victory over the Officer Cadets of the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst

Welcome to a vision of the not-too-distant future. In a little under nine months' time, the ninth cricket World Cup will be getting underway in the Caribbean, and on today's evidence it promises to be an event of unrelenting tedium

Andrew Miller gives the Sri Lanka team marks out of ten following the Test series against England