The International Cricket Council on Wednesday decided to take pre-emptive steps to ensure that the four-Test series between India and Australia is free of controversies.

The ICC has appointed Chris Broad as match referee for the India-Australia Test series with Rudi Koertzen (South Africa),Asad Rauf (Pakistan), Billy Bowden (New Zealand) and Aleem Dar (Pakistan) being the umpires.

Former Pakistan skipper Rameez Raja wants the ICC to mend its rules to ensure that teams desist from picking and choosing which country they want to tour.

India's one-day skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was named the ODI Player of the Year while dashing middle order batsman Yuvraj Singh won the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year Awardat the annual ICC awards function held in Dubai on Wednesday night.

The International Cricket Council's (ICC) two-day Chief Executives Committee (CEC) and Board meeting from Wednesday will discuss a host of issues related to Champions Trophy postponement, umpiring review trials in Tests and Future Tours Programme.

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff is perched at the top of the ICC rankings for all-rounders in one-day cricket.

India’s one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has displaced South African skipper Graeme Smith at the top spot in the International Cricket Council's ODI rankings for batsmen.

India slipped to fifth position in the latest ICC ODI Championship table despite winning the one-day series against Sri Lanka by a 3-2 margin.

The International Cricket Council has decided to postpone next month's Champions Trophy in Pakistan until October 2009.

With the ICC unlikely to stick with Pakistan as a venue for next month’s Champions Trophy, Sri Lanka have announced they are ready to host the biennial event.