England’s hopes of making further inroads into Australia’s batting line-up were undermined by a stubborn fourth wicket stand in the second Ashes Test.

ANDREW STRAUSS is backing England’s inexperienced batting line-up to overcome their nerves and deliver in the forthcoming Ashes series.

ENGLAND have set their sights on finishing their summer with a flourish when they attempt to complete an emphatic victory over Pakistan in next week’s final Test.

England completed a remarkable final-Test victory at the Wankhede Stadium to share the series with India.

ENGLAND batsman Kevin Pietersen has become the third player to return home from the tour of Pakistan after suffering a recurrence of a rib injury.

ENGLAND captain Michael Vaughan will miss the one-day series in Pakistan to undergo exploratory knee surgery.

Andrew Flintoff took two wickets in two balls to revive England’s hopes just when it seemed they were running out of time to force the result they need in Faisalabad to have any chance of registering a seventh successive Test series victory.

England were unable to make a much-needed breakthrough as Pakistan consolidated a slim first-innings advantage by moving to 50 without loss in their second innings at lunch on day four of the second Test in Faisalabad.

England squandered a promising position on the way to a 22-run defeat on the final day of the first Test against Pakistan in Multan.

England suffered a damaging collapse to turn an anticipated last-day victory over Pakistan into more likely defeat as they stumbled in pursuit of the 198 runs required to take the first Test.

Kevin Pietersen’s maiden Test hundred powered England to Ashes glory as the fifth Test finished in a draw at The Oval.

AUSTRALIA’S gamble with the weather provided England with encouragement they could still complete an historic Ashes success despite struggling to remain competitive in the deciding Test at the Oval.

England’s hopes of mounting a fightback in the deciding Ashes Test were frustrated by Australia’s best opening partnership of the summer at The Oval.

ENGLAND survived a superb Shane Warne spell to win the fourth Test against Australia by three wickets and go 2-1 up in the Ashes after a dramatic finale at Trent Bridge yesterday.

ENGLAND narrowly failed to claim a major advantage in the Ashes series after Australia clung on to claim a draw in another tense and dramatic finish to the third Test at Old Trafford.

SIMON JONES and Ashley Giles bowled England into a strong position at stumps on the second day of the third Ashes Test against Australia at Old Trafford yesterday.

England reignited their hopes of regaining the Ashes for the first time in 16 years when they completed a dramatic two-run victory over Australia in the second npower Test at Edgbaston.

ENGLAND had a great second day in the Edgbaston Test against Australia to give themselves a clear advantage yesterday.

MICHAEL Vaughan has insisted he has no fears about facing Glenn McGrath after proving his fitness for the second Ashes Test match at Edgbaston, which starts this morning.

ENGLAND have named an unchanged squad for the second Ashes Test against Australia starting at Edgbaston on Thursday.

ENGLAND have become the second best Test side in the world by persevering with selections — so to ditch such a policy when beaten once by the best would be premature and could be ultimately damaging.

GLENN MCGRATH’S superb spell of four wickets for three runs in 23 balls saw Australia beat England by 239 runs to win the first Ashes Test with more than a day to spare at Lord’s.

GLENN McGRATH settled back into his usual Lord’s routine to secure his place in cricket’s hall of fame and ruin England’s fine start to the first Test yesterday.

England beat India by 70 runs in the second one-day international at The Oval yesterday. Victory gave England an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

England will be faced with a record run-chase today to win the third Test after an eventful fourth day against West Indies at Old Trafford.

Under-fire West Indies captain Brian Lara defiantly insisted last night he would not quit despite his team suffering another crushing defeat.

Ashley Giles sparked a collapse that saw England beat the West Indies by 210 runs to win the first Test of a four-match series at Lords yesterday.

ENGLAND crashed to their third-heaviest defeat in Test history as Sri Lanka completed a series-deciding victory inside four days at the SSC.

A TEARFUL Nasser Hussain walked away from the England Test cricket captaincy last night admitting that he “felt tired and stale”.

James Anderson claimed England’s best World Cup figures for 20 years as they made an impressive but belated entry into the tournament against Holland today.

GRAHAM THORPE has described his inclusion in England’s 16-man party for this winter’s Ashes tour as ‘‘the biggest challenge’’ of his career after taking time out from cricket to resolve his personal life.

SACHIN TENDULKAR’S 30th Test century took him above Don Bradman and into second in the all-time list as India’s astounding run rampage took them to a huge first-innings total against England on day two at Headingley.