Jacques Kallis has announced his retirement from all international cricket.

South Africa allrounder Jacques Kallis has announced his retirement from all international cricket.

“I realised in Sri Lanka that my dream of playing in a World Cup was a bridge too far,” Kallis said in a statement. 

“Ï just knew on that tour that I was done. The squad that was in Sri Lanka is an amazing one and I believe they have a good chance of bringing the trophy home in March."

While Kallis will be a notable absentee from cricket's showpiece event, the legendary allrounder will still feature on Australian soil this summer when he joins the Sydney Thunder for the KFC T20 Big Bash League.

“I am not retiring from all cricket as I have a two-year contract with the Sydney Thunder and, if possible, to help the Kolkata Knight Riders defend the IPL title we won earlier this year,” he said.

Dhoni forced me to bowl bouncers - Ishant

Ishant Sharma who picked a career-best 7/74 gave full credit to MS Dhoni for coaxing him into bowling short balls.

"All these wickets are for the captain as he told me that I am tall enough and to bowl the bouncers," said Ishant after winning the Man of the Match award.

"Ishant was not willing to bowl short in the last over but I just told him to do it and turned back," said Dhoni on the inspired strategy.

Five of Ishant's 7 wickets were due to the short ball and it triggered an incredible England collapse that gave India their first win at Lord's since 1986.

"We did the basics right. Not many players had played here before. It was a crucial toss as there was something in it for the fast bowlers. Credit to the top-order as they left the ball well and did not throw their wickets away. Most of the batsmen are making sure that they get out to good deliveries rather than bad ones," explained Dhoni.

Dhoni was also full of praise for Ravindra Jadeja who scored a decisive 68 that gave India the advantage.

"It is important to stay in the game till the last day as it will help our spinners come into the game. In the two games we have played we have been able to do that. Jadeja has to play that sort of innings, the more and more he plays he will become better. He is someone who doubts his talent but has the technique to bat in these conditions."

Jayawardene to retire from Tests

Mahela Jayawardene will retire from Test cricket at the conclusion of the series against Pakistan in August, Sri Lanka Cricket has announced. He will continue to be available for ODI cricket only, having also retired from T20 internationals in April this year.

Jayawardene, 37, has been a cornerstone of the Sri Lanka batting order since his debut against India in 1997, and has amassed 11493 Test runs in his career, which is currently joint-highest for a Sri Lanka batsman alongside Kumar Sangakkara. He has played 145 Tests, and if fit and selected, will finish on 149, at the P Sara Oval match which begins on August 14. Jayawardene has hit 33 hundreds and 48 fifties in 244 innings.

"It was not an easy decision to make given that it has been a great privilege and honour representing my country during the past 18 years," Jayawardene said. "But I believe this is the right time."

Alistair Cook bowling & gets his first Test Wicket v India 1st Test 2014

England captain Alastair Cook became the first man in Test history to bag his first wicket after playing more than hundred matches. In the first Test match of the series against India, as the match was heading towards a sure stalemate, India didn’t declare their innings and forced England to stay on the pitch for the full day. As the next Test of the 5 match series starts in three days time, the home side’s captain, fearing fatigue, rested his frontline bowlers and bowled his part-timers at Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma. 

After a while, Cook himself decided to have a bowl and in his second over, he claimed Ishant Sharma caught behind in his 105th appearance.

Sachitra Senanayake has been banned from international cricket with immediate effect after he was found guilty of 'chucking.'

Sri Lanka offspinner Sachithra Senanayake has been banned from bowling in international cricket, after his action was found to be illegal following bio-mechanical assessment in Cardiff.

Senanayake was reported for a suspect action during Sri Lanka's fourth ODI against England at Lord's on May 31, and testing at the end of June found he exceeded the allowed 15-degree flex limit in all four types of his deliveries which were assessed. Among Senanayake's variations from the stock offbreak were the doosra, an arm ball and a seam-up slider.

If the bowler is unhappy with how the biomechanical tests were conducted, he now has the option of lodging a notice with the ICC within 14 days, in order to request a hearing with a Bowling Review Group (BRG). A BRG usually includes a human-movement specialist, a former player, a former umpire, a current match referee and two ICC officials.

If Senanayake doesn't appeal the decision, he will have to undergo remedial work on his action before he is allowed to bowl in international cricket again. He had been suspected of an illegal action once before when he had toured England with Sri Lanka A in 2011. But he had worked on his action on that occasion, and been cleared in subsequent tests undertaken at the University of Western Australia.

If he comes back to international cricket and is then reported and then found guilty of having an illegal action again, within two years of his first suspension, Senanayake will be banned from international cricket for a minimum of one year. Though Senanayake has been through the testing process before this occasion, this is his first suspension. Both he and Sri Lanka cricket will however be wary of rushing him back to top-level cricket until thorough remedial work has been undertaken.

Senanayake has been a key component of Sri Lanka's limited-overs success in 2014, often bowling inside the Powerplay overs and presenting significant menace through the middle overs. He had been the top wicket-taker in Sri Lanka's ODI series in England in May and June, and had contributed to World T20 and Asia Cup victories as well. He had an ODI average of 34.82 from 37 appearances, stretching back to early 2012.

The ICC's findings are also a significant blow to Sri Lanka's World Cup preparation, as Senanayake was expected to be Sri Lanka's lead spinner in that competition. He is also on a Category 4 SLC contract, ostensibly until the end of February next year.

Sri Lanka Cricket have a mechanism in place for redressing faulty actions, and a release on Friday evening said Senanayake's case would be referred to the board's cricket committee.

England frustrate India with record last-wicket stand.

England's Joe Root and James Anderson rewrote the record books with a Test record last-wicket stand but a docile Trent Bridge pitch threatened to have the last word in their series opener with India.

The pair put on 198 to take England to 496 on the fourth day in reply to India's first innings 457.

Following is a list of the 10 highest last-wicket stands in test cricket:

Partners	Wkt	Runs	In	Out	Inns		Opposition	Ground	Start Date
JM Anderson, JE Root (Eng)	10	198	9/298	10/496	2		v India	Nottingham	9 Jul 2014
AC Agar, PJ Hughes (Aus)	10	163	9/117	10/280	2		v England	Nottingham	10 Jul 2013
RO Collinge, BF Hastings (NZ)	10	151	9/251	10/402	2		v Pakistan	Auckland	16 Feb 1973
Azhar Mahmood, Mushtaq Ahmed(Pak)	10	151	9/305	10/456	1		v South Africa	Rawalpindi	6 Oct 1997
TL Best, D Ramdin (WI)	10	143	9/283	10/426	1		v England	Birmingham	7 Jun 2012
Wasim Bari, Wasim Raja (Pak)	10	133	9/158	10/291	3		v West Indies	Bridgetown	18 Feb 1977
Z Khan, SR Tendulkar (India)	10	133	9/393	10/526	2		v Bangladesh	Dhaka	10 Dec 2004
RE Foster, W Rhodes (Eng)	10	130	9/447	10/577	2		v Australia	Sydney	11 Dec 1903
K Higgs, JA Snow (Eng)	10	128	9/399	10/527	2		v West Indies	The Oval	18 Aug 1966
AA Mailey, JM Taylor (Aus)	10	127	9/325	10/452	3		v England	Sydney	19 Dec 1924

1st ever ODI series victory for South Africa in Sri Lanka.

SA win! 1st ever ODI series victory for them in Sri Lanka.

South Africa finally have the monkey off their back. Chasing 340, Sri Lanka got off to a brilliant start scoring 99 runs in the first 10 overs. Kusal Perera got off the blocks in fine fashion, Dilshan and Sangakkara followed suit. 

A misunderstanding caused Dilshan's exit, and that was followed by a slump. Mathews fought hard for his 58, but the match was over once he was dismissed.

South Africa's spinners impressed, particularly Imran Tahir. The pacers went for runs though McLaren impressed once again. A thoroughly deserving win for South Africa in the end, and there will be some celebrations tonight

Hashim Amla is the MoS for his 258 runs
Amla: Great to get some runs in the series. The wickets were good for batting. This is a great result for us. We will take confidence from the ODIs to the Tests. We will start preparations for the Tests and this performance will count. We came with the desire to make history, the boys were motivated. Winning tosses worked in our favour, they play a big role in such matches. AB played really well today.

AB de Villiers is the MoM for his superb 108

AB de Villiers: Very happy with my performance and with the victory. Extremely proud of my boys, our first win here. We will celebrate tonight. I thought we slipped a bit after taking the batting PP. They bowled really well, we tried to make up later on and it was just my day. The shots came off really well. It is great to win a series here. We will take a lot of confidence ahead of future matches. I think we learnt from the mistakes last year and came back with more experience. This is a huge confidence booster ahead of the 2015 World Cup.

Mathews: Very depressing performance today. We were flat, let go a couple of chances and the bowling was poor. We knew this series was going to be very tough. It is not the end of the world, we shouldn't panic too much. We need to bounce back. My batting doesn't matter if we do not win matches.