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Big Picture The triangular series roadshow rolls into Adelaide on Sunday, when Australia and India meet for the second time. Already Australia have jumped clear on top of the table thanks to victories in their first two games, while India are on the board having beaten Sri Lanka in Perth. Not that either team was that convincing against Sri Lanka at the WACA; Australia's batsmen struggled and India made hard work of a chase that should not have been too tricky. Adelaide Oval should provide the bats men with more comfort. Australia have taken the opportunity to rest Michael Hussey, which should mean Peter Forrest will makes his debut at a venue he has enjoyed, at least in the longer format - he has two first-class centuries and an average of 65.14 at Adelaide Oval. Mitchell Marsh could provide some excitement if he is included. The captain Michael Clarke said after Friday's victory that while it was hard to change a winning side, it was also important to give opportunities to

Nimbus Communications, whose contract holding television rights to cricket in India was terminated in December, has claimed damages of close to Rs 600 crores (approx. $121 million) from the BCCI in the arbitration process currently under way, ESPNcricinfo has learned. Nimbus' claim rests mainly on two contentions: that the Indian team rested top players, contrary to the contract, and that there was no India-Pakistan series as stipulated. Nimbus had secured the rights to Indian cricket for four years in January 2010, its second consecutive four-year deal with the Indian board. The agreement was valued at approximately Rs 2000 crore (then $436 million) for a minimum of 64 international matches and 312 days of domestic cricket until 2014. The deal was terminated after the BCCI claimed Nimbus had defaulted on payments and the matter then went into arbitration. Central to the claim about the playing XI are two of India's last three home ODI series - against New Zealand in 2010

AB de Villiers has been on 15 international tours but his next one, the upcoming series in New Zealand, may as well be his first. Not only does it take him to a country he has never toured before but it is his opening overseas assignment as captain of South Africa's limited-overs sides. Since taking over the leadership role last June, de Villiers has had just one opportunity to actually lead. January's five-match rubber against Sri Lanka was his first in charge. South Africa won the series 3-2 but it was manner of results rather than the results themselves that got de Villiers noticed. Under him, nothing stood still. Not the No. 4 position in the batting order, which was rotated between him, JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis, not the regular pattern of bowling changes, not the scoring rate. South Africa seemed to have more life, they played with a different intent and although they lost the last two matches in the series, they did not appear to stop having fun. De Villiers said

When Brendon McCullum hit that brutal 158* four years ago, he gave the Indian Premier League some cricketing cred, to match the marketing hype, on its opening day. With the Bangladesh Premier League positioned as a mini-IPL, Chris Gayle's 101* in its first game, naturally demanded comparison. But more than just some cricketing legitimacy, especially after the awful opening ceremony the day before, the poor turnout at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Friday and a general lack of big Twenty20 stars, it provided BPL a lift it so dearly needs despite the organisers' blanket marketing in the build-up. With the minimum ticket prices set at a high Tk 500 (approx $6), some fans were bond to be deterred (though it has been reduced to Tk 200 from the second day). The opening ceremony too -- three hours long and reflecting very little of local culture was criticised by the media and lampooned on social networks - was another major deterrent. That only a few stands filled up on

Geoff Marsh has spoken of his disappointment at being sacked as the coach of Sri Lanka four months in to his two-year contract. Marsh guided Sri Lanka to their first Test win in South Africa in late December and he believed the team was making solid progress, but within four weeks he was told he was no longer required and he was replaced by Graham Ford. Marsh joined Sri Lanka at a time of change: a new interim committee had been placed in charge of Sri Lanka Cricket in July, and he was made coach in September. But by November the interim committee had been dissolved, and his first encounter with the board that was elected in January was the meeting at which he was fired, a meeting in which he said he was given no reason as to the decision. "When I got there, there was no board left and they didn't have a board until I came back from South Africa. I only had one meeting with them and that was a goodbye one," Marsh told ESPNcricinfo. "That was the disappointing thi

Where there is a Twenty20 tournament to be played, there is Chris Gayle to smash a hundred. He scored his fifth Twenty20 century in the past year to take Barisal Burners to an easy win against Sylhet Royals in the opening game of the Bangladesh Premier League. Sylhet's total of 165 seemed like a competitive one, but Gayle made a mockery of it, smashing 10 sixes and seven fours in his 101 off 44 balls. Barisal were home in 13.1 overs. Keeping Gayle company was Pakistan's Ahmed Shehzad, who scored 56 off 35 balls with nine fours and a six. Sylhet's Australian import, Brad Hogg, could not keep Gayle quiet, and went for 27 in his three overs. Hogg didn't have it as bad as two other Sylhet overseas players - Peter Trego and Scott Styris went for 23 and 27 in their only overs. Scott Styris @ scottbstyris OUCH!!! i think thats what you call being Gayled!!!! 10 Feb 12 Reply Retweet Favorite Trego had earlier helped Sylhet recover from a sluggish start to reach a decent total

````````````````Pakistan's all-round might proved too much for Afghanistan's carefree spirit, as Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan and Imran Farhat set up an emphatic win with 77 balls to spare. But the scorecard couldn't do justice to the show that Afghanistan put up. Presented with the opportunity of playing a Full Member, Afghanistan could have either been consumed by the occasion and allowed Pakistan to brush them away, or have thrown foolhardy punches in all directions, in hope rather than conviction. That they found a middle ground and competed for a large portion of the game justified the awed tones with which people have been speaking about their rapid rise. Years from now, when no one will recall the result of this game, one image will endure. Saeed Ajmal, Man of the Series from the Test series against England, was forced into an early spell after Pakistan's new-ball bowlers were battered by Karim 'Kabul ka Sehwag' Sadiq and Mohammad Shahzad. To Ajmal's

Big Picture How does a boxer find motivation to keep throwing punches when his opponent is cowering, bleeding and just about begging for mercy? New Zealand may soon know the answer to that as they continue to hammer away at an already ground down Zimbabwe side. The series ends with two Twenty20 matches. In most years that would be only an afterthought, but with a World Twenty20 to be contested later in September, they do have some importance. As the best performing non-subcontinent team at the 2011 World Cup, New Zealand will want to repeat their strong showing in Sri Lanka in the 20-overs showcase event. They have a rather new look side and will use these matches to incorporate more uncapped players and complete their unit. Brendon McCullum spoke about the importance of keeping the intensity up. If the one-day series is anything to go by, New Zealand know how to do that. Not content with merely proving they are a better side than Zimbabwe, they have imposed their dominance brutall

Angelo Mathews narrowly failed to deliver victory to Sri Lanka at the WACA, where Australia held on by five runs in a thrilling finish. Sri Lanka needed 18 from the final over bowled by Mitchell Starc, and Mathews gave them every chance by pulling the first ball for four and driving the next delivery over long-off for six, before a pair of singles left the visitors needing six from two balls. But Mathews skied the next delivery to long-on, where Daniel Christian held his nerve to take the catch, ensuring Australia remained unbeaten in the Commonwealth Bank Series. And while Australia did, for the most part, bowl and field well, they could consider themselves fortunate to have escaped with victory after posting what appeared a sub-par total, of 231, with Michael Clarke (57) the only man to score a half-century. Sri Lanka were on track in the chase before a middle-order collapse left too much to Mathews and the tail. That Mathews nearly got them home was remarkable, as was his 46-run

After last week’s proof-of-concept shots of Android 4.0 running on Nokia’s N9, port-meister Alexey Roslyakov has returned with a video demo of Ice Cream Sandwich on the ordinarily MeeGo smartphone. Roklyakov’s hack turns the N9 into a dual-booting device; hitting the volume key during boot stops MeeGo from running and instead brings up Android 4.0.3. There are still several issues still to be overcome before Android on the N9 is a realistic prospect, however. Currently the battery indicator isn’t working – the N9 says it needs to be plugged in, though it’s clear from the video that that’s already the case – and network connectivity is also non-functional at present. When we last saw evidence of the hack, OpenGL support was also causing headaches. That’s implicit to the N9′s 2D/3D graphics, and without compatibility in the ICS port using Android on the Nokia smartphone would be less than comfortable. Still, an early alpha is promised as in the pipeline, and hopefully as more people weig