London, Apr. 10 : A party of 50 cricket-loving explorers departed Lord''s yesterday for an unusual tour. In 11 days'' time, after flying, driving and finally trekking to a plateau 5,000 metres (17,000 ft) up in the Himalayas, more than three miles above sea level, they will play a match of Twenty20 cricket and set a world record: the highest altitude recorded for a field sport.

Melbourne, Apr 10 : Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has asked his teammates to start "putting their hands up" after the top five batsmen let the side down again, giving a 2-1 lead to South Africa in the five match series.

Needing to win their five-game one-day series against South Africa to claim the world No. 1 ODI ranking, Australia lost the third ODI by 25 runs.

Sydney, Apr 9: Cricket Australia’s chief selector Andrew Hilditch has asked troubled all rounder Andrew Symonds to perform or perish during the limited-overs series against Pakistan to be played in United Arab Emirates from April 22.

Having convinced Cricket Australia he has overcome the behavioural issues, Symonds has been granted one more chance to restore the selectors’ confidence after Hilditch admitted the Queenslander had been chosen largely based on past heroics.

London, Apr 9: To prevent players suffering the sort of nervous breakdown experienced by English opener Marcus Trescothick, Wisden has asked the England and Wales Cricket Board to reduce the amount of cricket being played by the national team.

“The word suffer is used too often in cricket but in his autobiography Trescothick was entitled to use it in describing much of what he endured as an England player,” writes Scyld Berry in his editor’s notes for the new edition of the Wisden Almanack.

Melbourne, Apr 9 : Australia are considering making changes to their line-up for the crucial third one-day international against South Africa in Cape Town.

The tourists opened the five-match series with a 141-run win in Durban last Friday, but were beaten by seven wickets two days later at Centurion as the Proteas bowled Australia out for 131, FOX Sports reported.

Lahore, Apr. 9 : Pakistani ICL players may have been thinking of making a comeback to the national squad after they announced their readiness to terminate their contracts with the league, but it could take a year or six months of a `cooling period' before it could really happen.