ICC Cricket, Cricket Live Scores, Latest Sports News, Rumors, Fantasy Games, and more

Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood restored England's fortunes after a fraught opening session on the first day of the first Ashes test against Australia on Wednesday.

England were 194 for three at tea after losing their top three batsmen before lunch.

Pietersen settled down after a skittish start, in which he twice threatened to run himself out, to reach 52 with three fours while Collingwood was on 50 with four boundaries.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting left inviting gaps in the field against off-spinner Nathan Hauritz but Pietersen resisted the temptation to go for the big shot and the pair gathered their runs with a steady stream of singles.

Nineteen overs of spin from Hauritz and Michael Clarke yielded 61 runs with no wicket and honours were even after two sessions.

England captain Andrew Strauss showed what he thought of the pitch by including both spinners Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar in the final XI and electing to bat.

After three quiet opening overs from Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle was introduced into the attack at the Cathedral End and began immediately to extract life and lift.

Alastair Cook (10) was acrobatically caught at gully by Michael Hussey off Ben Hilfenhaus and Johnson returned to dismiss Strauss (30) caught off his glove by a ball which rose viciously at his throat.

Siddle greeted Ravi Bopara with a ball that rattled his helmet grill and a follow-up delivery which the batsman fended dangerously close to short-leg.

Bopara unfurled some sumptuous drives among a number of mis-hits to reach 35 when Johnson bowled a clever slower ball which the batsman pushed tamely to Phillip Hughes in the covers.

The start of this year's Champions Trophy in South Africa has been brought forward by two days to Sept. 22.

The International Cricket Council had orignally scheduled the eight-nation tournament from Sept 24. to Oct. 5.

"But now on the recommendations of some countries who wanted longer gaps for their players between matches, the tournament will start two days earlier," a Pakistan Cricket Board source told Reuters on Wednesday.

The tournament, which involves 15 matches in 14 days, was originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan in 2008 but was moved to South Africa because of security concerns.a

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is scrambling to get a team together for the first test against Bangladesh starting on Thursday after the selected players decided to boycott the match due to contract disputes.

The WICB has said the match would go ahead but has not stated whether it is recruiting an alernative team after Tuesday's boycott announcement.

However Jamaican fast bowler Daren Powell, not included in the selected 13 for the game in St. Vincent, told Reuters on Wednesday he had been approached by the board to play.

Powell, dropped for May's tour of England but a regular over recent years with 37 test appearances to his name, said he had turned down the chance to play.

"I was contacted by the West Indies board but I told them I was not available this time," Powell said.

The WICB faces a huge challenge in finding a team and making arrangements to get them to St. Vincent in time for the game.

The Barbados Nation newspaper reported on Wednesday that 16-year-old Barbadian opening batsman Kraigg Brathwaite is among those who have been approached to play in the first test.

Brathwaite is in Jamaica for the regional Under-19 tournament and the Nation said that several other Barbadians were being considered including former test player Tino Best.

The West Indies Players Assocation (WIPA) announced on Tuesday that the test squad, captained by Chris Gayle, had withdrawn from the series with immediate effect.

The WIPA said they are owed payments for recent games and that the players have performed in the last four series without contracts.

The WICB said the boycott was "extremely ill advised and premature" and said it considered negotations with the WIPA were ongoing.