Jamie Alter

There are still plenty of people to fight back and say Test cricket is a much better game than any of the shorter formats, but that is just a matter of opinion, says Simon Barnes in the Australian

Andrew Strauss is either a weak leader or he has no idea about the spirit of cricket, writes Malcolm Conn in the Australian

Marcus North's resolute and unbeaten century on Ashes debut showed that he is made of the right stuff for a battle of that magnitude, and confidently shut out any notions that Andrew Symonds deserved to be there

When certain New Zealand players asked for some "clarity" about dates for the New Zealand home summer, it was obvious they were keen to make sure those didn't cut across their IPL commitments, writes Dylan Cleaver in the New Zealand Herald

"I've had a dicky ankle and a dicky knee, but that's behind me now, so I can concentrate on playing some cricket instead of being a professional rehabber." Thats Andrew Flintoff keeping it simple ahead of the Ashes

Ignored for the Test series against Pakistan, Chaminda Vaas has now found himself having to defend comments from Ashantha de Mel, Sri Lanka's chief selector, that he has decided to quit the five-day game

The Observer is running extracts from a new biography on 'Bodyline' bowler Harold Larwood and the animosity between him and the greatest ever batsman, Don Bradman

When did you last take a train ride for the sheer pleasure of the journey

The Scottish selectors have invested in youth by selecting a young squad with an average age of 25 against Canada in the ICC Intercontinental Cup and two ODIs in Aberdeen over the next ten days

Noted British journalist Simon Heffer says, in the Daily Telegraph , that he could attempt to get his children interested in the new form of cricket if he wished to be cruel to them

Harsha Bhogle, who has gone from radio to television commentary, fears commerce is driving us towards cricket becoming that little something we see between advertising

Has Phillip Hughes scored three successive Test hundreds like Ravi Bopara

Will a glorious sport rescue Pakistan from the Islamists

Mohammad Ashraful is not the most popular man in Bangladesh at the moment

Mickey Arthur, in an interview with Kolkata's Telegraph , says that fours years of coaching South Africa has been a treat and a major accomplishment

Despite all the troubles and setbacks that Pakistan have had, their fighting spirit has shone through, writes David Hopps in the Guardian

A team of young Aboriginal players is retracing their steps in England with a tour that will honour the trailblazers of 1868 - nine years before the first Ashes series established cricket's oldest rivalry - and play at many of the same venues