Cricket Australia's National Selection Panel (NSP) today announced a 15-man squad for the upcoming Test component of Australia's VB Tour of India. Young Usman Khawaja, called up to the squad for the Pakistan series has made way for reserve opener Phillip Hughes who returns from injury. Brad Haddin misses out due to injury and young Tasman keeper Tim Paine takes his place in the team. Ryan Harris is the notable absentee from the 14-man team that Australia took to England and instead two rookie pacemen Josh Hazlewood and Peter George have been called up for the Tour.

Josh Hazlewood, a 19-year old right arm pacer from New South Wales, has also earned a spot. He emerged as a promising talent during the under-19 World Cup in New Zealand. He was part of the ODI squad that toured England for a five match series against the hosts. Hazlewood made his debut in the first ODI but he failed to impress and hence had to sit out for the rest of the series. Peter George, a 23-year old pacer from South Australia, was part of the squad that played Pakistan but he didn't get a debut during the series. The selectors have decided to retain him and that gives him another opportunity of earning a test cap.

England secured victory in the first session of the fourth day in the final test of the four test series against Pakistan at Lord's. They won by an innings and 225 runs with more than five sessions of play left and took the series by 3 games to 1. Barring the first 30 overs or so when Mohammad Aamer ripped through England's top order with a six-wicket haul, England were pretty much in command of the game. Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad got centuries and stitched together a 332 run stand for the eighth wicket that took England to a total of 446 having been 7 down for 102 at one stage. No batsman from Pakistan could stay at the wicket for a considerable length of time and hence the visitors were bowled out for a paltry 74 in their first innings. It was the third time in the series that they had been bowled out for a two digit total. They were asked to follow on and the script was similar the second time around too. They lost 8 wickets for 73, but Umar Akmal hung around with the tail and got an unbeaten 79 that took Pakistan to 147. Graeme Swann was the pick of the bowlers, getting eight wickets in the match, five of which came in the second innings. Pakistan's bowlers allowed England's batsmen to get away after being on top of them. The batsmen needed to build partnerships to get closer to England's total, but they failed to do that and at the end of the day, England were simply the better team.

Heavy downpour on the opening day meant that only 12.3 overs of play was possible. Salman Butt won the toss for Pakistan and elected to field. Mohammad Asif and Aamer gave the visitors an excellent start, getting the ball to move both ways to make life difficult for the Englishmen. Asif finally got the breakthrough when he dismissed Andrew Strauss, but Pakistan couldn't make further inroads and England ended the day on 39 for 1.

The ghost of match-fixing has returned to rock international cricket a decade after the first such scandal had sprung up. According to a report published in "The News of the World", a 35-year old London-based fixer, Mazher Majeed, accepted £150,000 to guarantee three no balls to be bowled by Pakistan's pacers, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif  in the fourth test between Pakistan and England at Lord's. The no-balls were bowled exactly when Mazher had told they would and  fears were confirmed.

Mazher had collected £150,000 a day before the incident from undercover News of the World reporters. He had also given a detailed explanation of how the no-balls would be bowled.

England dominated proceedings right from the first to the last ball on the third day of the fourth test against Pakistan at Lord's. The hosts, leading by 2 wins to 1, had recovered remarkably in their first innings after being 102 for 7 at one stage. Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad were the heroes for England and both of them struck centuries on the second day. They continued to mesmerise the bowlers on the third day and took England to a commanding score of 446. Trott was the last man to be dismissed for 184 whereas Broad fell for 169. In reply, Pakistan were ridiculously bowled out for just 74 in 33 overs. None of their batsmen could get going and England's bowlers never allowed any pair to settle down and put together a partnership. The visitors were asked to follow-on and the story was pretty much the same in the second innings as Pakistan slumped to 41 for 4 at stumps on day three. England still lead by 322 runs and with just 6 wickets to go, they will be very optimistic about their chances of securing an innings victory that would give them a resounding 3-1 series win.

England started the day at 346 for 7 with Trott and Broad unbeaten on 149 and 125 respectively. Their partnership was already worth 244 and the duo needed to keep going to take England past 400. Trott reached his another milestone, getting to 150 soon after the start of play. Saeed Ajmal could have had Broad, but Kamran Akmal put down the chance to give the England allrounder a lifeline. The hosts kept the scoreboard moving at a steady rate. The ball wasn't doing a lot off the pitch or in the air and the that didn't help Pakistan's cause. Broad reached 150 with an excellent cover drive off Mohammad Asif. The duo took England past 400 and the 300-run partnership was up too. Runs were flowing quite freely and Pakistan's frustration kept on increasing. The visitors finally got the breakthrough when Broad fell leg before for 169 after failing to connect with an attempted sweep off Ajmal. It was the second highest score ever for a number 9 batsman in the history of Test cricket. Jonathan Trott kept going and along with James Anderson, took the hosts to 445 for 8 at lunch.