West Indies Draw the 3rd Test against India

India 201 (Laxman 85, Raina 53, Rampaul 3-38, Bishoo 3-46, Edwards 3-56) and 269 for 6 decl. (Laxman 87, Dravid 55, Edwards 5-76) drew with West Indies 190 (Samuels 78*, Ishant 6-55) and 202 for 7 (Bravo 73, Baugh 46*, Ishant 4-53)
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Close to 128 overs of play lost to the elements, Barbados still managed to produce a dramatic draw. On the final day, India made a bold declaration to bring the Test to life, and Darren Bravo sucked the life right out of it with an innings of application and resolve. India set West Indies 281 to get in 83 overs, Ishant Sharma helped them take early wickets, but Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Carlton Baugh thwarted India for 322 deliveries between them.

There were two twists in the final session. An ordinary lbw call against Chanderpaul, followed by Marlon Samuels' wicket, would surely have sparked controversy had West Indies lost the match. With a maximum of 36 overs remaining, Bravo and Baugh put up further resistance. Baugh attacked too. At one point the target came down to 102 off 19.3 overs, and he kept India honest with the odd blow after that. Rain intervened, India came back with two quick wickets to turn the equation to three wickets required in 10.4 overs, but quite fittingly bad light brought the match to a premature end.

There was a rain break just before the start of the mandatory overs, prior to which Baugh had hit Abhimanyu Mithun for three back-to-back boundaries. The rain break was a bit instructive as to where the teams stood with regards to the result. Even as the Indian players hung about, hoping that it would just be a passing shower, Bravo and Baugh wasted little time in getting back to the dressing room.

It was huge credit to the quality of the pitch that we came this close to a result. Some of the credit has to go to MS Dhoni, too, for making the declaration 67 minutes into the day. It was a huge departure from the usual for Dhoni. His previous third-innings declarations have left sides chasing 516, 403 and 617 respectively.

Credit also has to go Ishant, who became only the seventh Indian pace bowler to claim a Test 10-wicket haul. He backed up Dhoni's declaration with aggressive bowling at the start, in the middle, and also in the end. The quality of the pitch and the opposition would have played a big role in the declaration, but West Indies showed character in saving the game. Especially pleasing would be that following Marlon Samuels in the first innings, another flamboyant batsman, Bravo, played with restraint for the larger cause.

Bravo came in to bat in the seventh over, after both Lendl Simmons and Ramnaresh Sarwan had fallen chasing wide deliveries. Adrian Barath hung around for 64 deliveries, but he was worked over by Ishant. An inswinger was followed by one that left him, after which Ishant produced one that got big on Barath and took the shoulder of the bat.

At that point 65 overs still remained. Ishant and Praveen Kumar worked hard for the next seven overs, but Chanderpaul and Bravo looked solid for the most part. If this situation was right up Chanderpaul's alley, it was a less familiar experience for Bravo. That showed in how he felt the need to score every now and then. To play the release shot every once in a while. Defending for long durations can get pretty tense, with close-in fielders ready to pounce on any edge. Bravo released that tension at the first sighting of Mithun, driving and glancing him for two boundaries in his first over.

Chanderpaul at the other end batted like he was born to do just this: save Test matches for West Indies, batting aggressors into submission. He kept leaving balls even marginally outside off. When he did play he did so with soft hands. He spent 16 balls on 5, and 23 on 9, but India couldn't draw a false stroke out of him. Bravo, who stayed impressive when defending, kept playing the odd shot in between, including a slog sweep off Harbhajan Singh through midwicket.

Soon after tea, though, Chanderpaul was given lbw off an offbreak hitting him outside off, and heading further away. Ishant followed that up with Samuels' wicket off an inswinger. While Bravo remained solid as ever, India sensed an opportunity with Baugh, who despite a superb series behind the wicket is considered under pressure for the want of runs.

Harbhajan Singh, who had got Baugh three times previously in the series, attacked him with men all around the bat. An edge appeared off the fifth ball, but Dhoni dropped it. Baugh had by then realised he might not have the defensive technique suitable for the task, and began to attack in order to get the fielders out of his face. It worked. After slog-sweeping Harbhajan for a six, Baugh went after Mithun, and with the target not impossible, India took a step back.

Towards the end, though, Bravo finally lost concentration, following a wide delivery from Mithun, ending what has to be best Test innings so far. Ishant swooped in again, making Sammy his 10th victim, with a yorker, but in fading light that's all we had time for.

ICC and BCCI both claim win over DRS

The decision to make a modified DRS mandatory across Tests and ODIs is being considered a victory by both sides. The BCCI was quick to emphasise that they had not changed their stance on the DRS and the ICC was confident it had won over the last and strongest opponent of the review system in its previous form.

At the end of a day that contained several meetings at the annual conference in Hong Kong, ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat had only one comment to make. "This is only the end of day two of what is a Test match," he told ESPNcricinfo as he left a cocktail party held for all the delegates.

The DRS decision had not been brought to a vote during the morning session of the chief executives' committee meeting. Later in the afternoon, the word "unanimous" was quickly and repeatedly used to explain how smoothly all the differences had been resolved.

The discussions over the DRS and the FTP were expected to begin on the first day of the ICC's conference, along with the cricket committee's other recommendations concerning playing conditions. ESPNcricinfo learned that they were deferred to the second day because there were said to be fairly frosty exchanges during the meeting. Members were given the impression by the BCCI's statements that there was a possibility that the FTP's final design could be linked to their opinions on how the DRS recommendation was handled at the meeting. Some officials strongly implied this was the case, though others like Gerald Majola, the Cricket South Africa chief executive, dismissed it outright.

The FTP agreement, which has been sent up to the ICC's executive board for approval, is vital for all Members as television rights are sold based on the itineraries drawn up in advance. The presence of India in the schedule brings the largest chunk of member boards' earnings. It is important to note that seven of the ten Full Member nations (excluding Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India) will draft new television deals in the next 12 months. Any freeze in relations with India reflecting in the FTP would have a direct bearing on the value of those broadcasting agreements.

When the meetings resumed on Monday the common opinion was that, while everyone agreed on the necessity of the DRS, it would be advisable to opt only for the technologies that everyone agreed with. This led to the ball-tracking technology being removed and the infra-red camera being included in the list of mandatory requirements for the DRS.

The BCCI's acceptance of the DRS is particularly ironic. The suggestion of a review system for umpiring decisions was first brought to the ICC's attention, an official said, "about six to eight years ago," by Duncan Fletcher - then coaching England but now working with the Indian team. In his first press conference as India coach, Fletcher's comment on the DRS was cut short by the BCCI secretary N Srinivasan with the statement, "Mr. Fletcher doesn't know BCCI's stance on DRS". It has now changed. Or perhaps it has been allowed to stay the same.

India wins the first test match against West Indies

India 246 (Raina 82, Harbhajan 70, Edwards 4-56) and 252 (Dravid 112, Sammy 4-52, Bishoo 4-65) beatWest Indies 173 (Barath 64, Ishant 3-29) and 262 (Praveen 3-42) by 63 runs

	Praveen Kumar's two strikes on the fourth morning put India on course for a win © Associated Press Enlarge

In another demonstration of their improving record overseas, a weakened India eased to only their fifth Test win in the Caribbean. The resistance from West Indies was disappointingly limp at Sabina Park as they lost six of the seven remaining wickets in the morning session. Praveen Kumar, sporting a buzz cut, snapped the home side's resolve by removing both overnight batsmen, Darren Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, in the first half hour. There were some big hits from Darren Sammy and Ravi Rampaul, but they merely delayed an Indian victory.

The resolve the West Indian batsmen showed on the third evening didn't make an appearance on Thursday. The Indian bowlers weren't particularly threatening early on, regularly providing harmless leg-side deliveries. One of those broke the stand that had frustrated India for nearly two hours, with Bravo losing his leg stump after walking across to try and guide the ball to fine leg. In Praveen's next over, he had Chanderpaul chipping a catch to cover as the ball, after causing a cloud of dust on pitching, came on slower than the batsman expected.

West Indies' chances evaporated with those two strikes, and Harbhajan Singh made it worse, removing birthday boy Carlton Baugh for a duck. Sammy wasn't going to give up, though. He was struck on the forearm by a kicker from Harbhajan, which prompted him to attack. Some blacksmith-swings sent the final three deliveries of the over for leg-side sixes, with the last two flying into the second tier at least. The entertainment ended with Amit Mishra's first delivery, a tossed-up, over-pitched ball that Sammy wanted to send out of the ground but sent only as far as extra cover.

Brendan Nash, the vice-captain who has been desperately short of runs over the home summer, restricted himself to defensive nudges. When he attempted one of his first enterprising strokes, a pull off a short ball from Mishra, he was horrified to see the ball scoot through impossibly low to be trapped plumb lbw.

Ravi Rampaul gave the few fans that turned up something to cheer about with a series of swept and driven boundaries, the highlight of which was an inside-out six over extra cover off Harbhajan. Like Nash, he too was done in by a ball of unpredictable bounce, from Ishant: it took off from a length and had him gloving it to MS Dhoni, who leapt acrobatically to take a one-handed catch over his head.

The last pair kept out the final seven deliveries before lunch, and then kept India waiting for half an hour after the break. With the specialists unable to finish things off, Dhoni turned to the part-time offspin of Suresh Raina, who needed only two deliveries to bowl Bishoo and secure a 1-0 series lead.

No Indian To participate in Sri Lankan Premier League (SLPL)

The 12 Indian cricketers who wanted to participate in the Sri Lanka Premier League have been told by the BCCI to not play in the tournament. The directive comes after the players had asked the BCCI for No-Objection Certificates to play in the two-week long Twenty20 competition, starting on July 19. The SLPL will be run by a Singapore-based private company, Somerset Entertainment Ventures, which will issue the player contracts, something the Indian board believes could lead to complications for the players should disputes arise.

The decision, the BCCI said, was taken to protect the players from finding themselves in a tricky situation. "In the IPL the players are contracted by the BCCI, but the SLPL is offering contracts with the event management company," a BCCI official, who attended the tours and fixtures committee meeting on Saturday at which the decision was taken, said. "So, if there is any goof-up, Sri Lanka Cricket cannot be held accountable. As a result, the board [BCCI] would not like to take any chances."

Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Manoj Tiwary, Saurabh Tiwary, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Manish Pandey and Paul Valthaty, reportedly, are the 12 Indians who had shown interest in playing the SLPL. The BCCI had earlier stated it had no problems with the proposed league and that Indian players are free to take part, as long as there is no conflict with India's international or domestic schedule.

The BCCI official also said the decision to prevent Indian participation in the league had nothing to do with the pressure applied by the SLC and the Sri Lankan Sports ministry in April and May to recall top Sri Lankan players participating in the IPL, ahead of Sri Lanka's England tour.

Reportedly, the SLC top brass were caught unawares by the Indian board's decision and called for an emergency committee meeting to discuss it. No SLC official was available for comment.

The SLPL will be played between July 19 and August 4 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Several foreign players including Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Shahid Afridi, Daniel Vettori, Kevin O'Brien and Herschelle Gibbs have already been signed for the tournament.

england vs Sri Lanka 2nd test match Draw

This time there was no post-tea demolition job as Sri Lanka kept themselves alive in the series by surviving the final afternoon at Lord's fairly comfortably by reaching 127 for 3. Andrew Strauss's declaration left a notional target of 343 in 58 overs after Alastair Cook hit his 18th Test hundred, but England could have been more aggressive and they never really looked like hustling through Sri Lanka again.

The visitors have shown twice in this series - the second innings in Cardiff and the first innings here - that the batting is prone to collapse. Adding to that on the final day Tillakaratne Dilshan was only prepared to bat in an emergency, having sustained a hairline fracture to his thumb, which meant they had four fit frontline batsman, but Strauss opted to bat Sri Lanka out of the contest and hope for another last-session demise.

However, to Sri Lanka's credit they kept their composure although wickets went down with enough frequency to keep a semblance of interest. Thilan Samaraweera, who was given lbw to Graeme Swann on 4 but successfully used the DRS, secured safety alongside Prasanna Jayawardene when Strauss called the game off with a handshake at the start of the final hour despite Sri Lanka's weak batting to follow.

When Kumar Sangakkara, opening in place of Dilshan, drove loosely to point in Chris Tremlett's third over England sensed a chance. They could have had a second major scalp before tea when when Mahela Jayawardene went for a single to cover and would have been out with a direct hit from Eoin Morgan. Instead, Jayawardene and Tharanga Paranavitana put together an 18-over stand which took the sting out of England.

Stuart Broad provided a lift when Jayawardene edged to fourth slip where Kevin Pietersen held a fine catch, but England didn't strike in clusters. Jonathan Trott proved a surprise with the ball when he hooped one back into Paranavitana which struck pad first and at 96 for 3 with 25 overs left there was time for a final push.

Cooks another TON sets the target against srilanks at lords

Alastair Cook reached his 18th Test hundred, but it was Ian Bell who gave England a pre-declaration boost on the final afternoon at Lord's before Sri Lanka were left a target of 343 in 58 overs. Bell moved easily to 57 off 43 balls while Cook reached three figures off 223 deliveries having missed out by four runs in the first innings. Strauss, as is his style, wanted a few extra runs but finally called his batsman in when Stuart Broad edged behind. It left Sri Lanka seven more overs than they originally had to face in Cardiff and they also have an injured captain.

Kevin Pietersen showed some welcome form on the final morning at Lord's as England built steadily, although not flamboyantly, on their lead and were 267 ahead by lunch. He and Alastair Cook took their third-wicket stand to 127 before Pietersen fell to Rangana Herath, but although it added to his dismissal tally against left-arm spin it was a cracking delivery.

Pietersen dominated the scoring during the morning and reached his fifty from 85 balls. Although he was still battling his technique at times far more shots were coming off the middle particularly when he drove two boundaries in an over off both Chanaka Welegedara and Suranga Lakmal. He took a blow on the wrist from Lakmal, but had just one narrow escape on 54 when a leg-side flick eluded a diving Prasanna Jayawardene.

Lunch England 486 and 260 for 3 (Cook 87*, Bell 13*) lead Sri Lanka 479 by 267 runs

We are missing Gayle-Sarwan

Ramnaresh Sarwan has admitted that West Indies are missing Chris Gayle but said the players knew they couldn't do anything about the situation. Gayle was not chosen in the squad for the opening one-day internationals against India due to an ongoing disagreement with the WICB, and in his absence West Indies struggled to 214 for 9 in the first ODI.

"You are putting me in the spot," Sarwan said with a smile after the loss in Trinidad. "Yes, we are missing him to be honest. It's very difficult to replace someone like Chris at the top. He is the most feared batsmen in world cricket when it comes to ODI or T20. The selectors have made a decision and we need to work with what we have."

Sarwan also said that he wasn't at his fluent best yet but that he remained confident of a turnaround. He made 56 off 94 balls after Darren Sammy won the toss and chose to bat, and West Indies' total wasn't enough to hold off India.