In Case You Missed It: Sri Lanka stun, England gun for a win

It's been a soap-opera week in cricket. Sri Lanka snatched a last-minute win from South Africa in Durban; England emphatically threw over West Indies in St Lucia despite losing the series; words were traded on the field, forgiveness was sought, punishment given and opinions voiced. Here's everything important that went down.

Kusal Perera bats with body, heart and soul in innings of a lifetime
Against one of Test cricket's most fearsome attacks on home soil, Sri Lanka's No. 5 stood up for his embattled team with an epic 153* and his last-wicket stand with Vishwa Fernando was the highest ever in a successful chase. Perera called it the best Test he's played for Sri Lanka, and both his captain, Dimuth Karunaratne, and South Africa's captain, Faf du Plessis, were effusive in their praise of his innings.

England beat West Indies by 232 runs to restore some pride
Plenty of food for thought for both teams after England easily won the third Test, in St Lucia, and West Indies clinched almost as convincingly. Mark Nicholas picks apart England's batting and says you don't always need to be attacking to be decisive and confident as a batsman. George Dobell grades the series and players on ten, while Ahmer Naqvi sees a new old West Indies in the side captained by Darren Sammy and Jason Holder.

Shannon Gabriel suspended for four ODIs over Joe Root sledging incident
The West Indies-England series didn't skimp on the drama either. The ICC charged fast bowler Gabriel after the stump mics picked up an exchange that ended with Root saying: "There's nothing wrong with being gay". Gabriel later came clean on the sledge and issued a public apology.

'Turn up the stump mics and expose sledgers' - Moeen Ali
The Gabriel-Root incident once again brought the role of stump mics into question since broadcasters frequently turn it up to catch on-field banter. Some, like Moeen Ali, believe this will discourage bad behaviour on the field but others, like FICA head Tony Irish, worry that selective use will incriminate cricketers wrongly.

Attention: India's bowling attack is the best, most versatile in the world
In fact their overseas average is better than their home average. Andrew Fidel Fernando has the numbers to prove it.

Breaches and bans - all you need to know about over-rate offences
In the light of WI captain Jason Holder being handed a one-match ban for falling two overs short during the second Test, Sidharth Monga and Shiva Jayaraman sift through the numbers to find the worst offenders and what it says about the rules.

Opening troubles, middle-order muddle leave India with plenty to ponder
India women's 3-0 whitewash at the hands of New Zealand women in the T20Is exposed the chronic infirmity of their batting line-up, says Annesha Ghosh.

'Dhoni will be the most important guy at the World Cup'
The India-Australia ODI series is the final chance for Indian selectors to firm up their World Cup probables, but it's currently a problem of plenty. Nagraj Gollapudi spoke to chief selector MSK Prasad about the line-up for the World Cup, and the Test side.

Chappell: Why players are ill equipped to play short bowling these days
As the list of players hit by bouncers grows larger by the day, Ian Chappell takes a scalpel to the problem.

When was the last time a Test team was made up of 11 right-hand batsmen?
And besides Angelo Perera, who is the only other player to score two double-centuries in a first-class match? The omniscient Steven Lynch knows.

The last days of Kerry Packer
Even towards the end of his life media mogul Kerry Packer was influencing selectors and chiding commentators, and would not give in to the T20 revolution. An excerpt from Daniel Brettig's new book Bradman & Packer - The Deal That Changed Cricket.