Of coaches, captains and other things

3 Subhash Chandra, the head of the Essel Group, which also owns Zee Television, announces his intention to set up an unofficial cricket series called the Indian Cricket League.

4 Greg Chappell ends his 22-month tenure as India coach by saying that he will not seek an extension to his contract. His decision comes in the wake of India's failure to progress to the Super Eights stage of the World Cup.

6 Rahul Dravid survives the World Cup debacle to be retained as India captain for a period of three months. Ravi Shastri, one of the former captains invited to the working committee meeting called by the Indian board, is appointed cricket manager for the Bangladesh tour.

7 Bangladesh cause another upset in the World Cup by beating South Africa by 67 runs in Guyana. Mohammad Ashraful scores a masterful 87.

13 Younis Khan refuses to become Pakistan's captain, citing continued mental stress due to the events following their exit from the World Cup. Younis was widely expected to take over the job after Inzamam-ul-Haq threw in the towel during Pakistan's disastrous World Cup campaign.

17Ireland earn a place in the ICC's ODI Championship after their win over Bangladesh in the World Cup, on the basis of the ICC rule that an Associate Member will qualify for the Championship after two victories over Full Members.

19 Brian Lara announces that he is retiring from international cricket. His last game comes three days later, when he scores 18 in West Indies' one-wicket loss to England in Bridgetown, his 299th ODI. Lara retires as Test cricket's leading run-scorer, with 11,953 runs from his 131 Tests.

Duncan Fletcher ends his seven-and-a-half year stint as England coach after his team are evicted from the World Cup following a seven-wicket loss to South Africa.

Shoaib Malik is appointed Pakistan captain, the 25th player to lead the country.

20 Peter Moores is appointed England coach, less than 24 hours after the resignation of Duncan Fletcher. Moores, 44, coached Sussex in 2003 to their first Championship title and was the director of the National Academy, where he succeeded Rod Marsh in 2005.

Dav Whatmore puts in his papers as Bangladesh coach, but decides to stay on in the job till the end of May to allow the BCB to find a successor, and also to see the team through the home series against India.

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Stephen Fleming resigns as New Zealand's captain after more than a decade at the helm. Fleming, 34, made his decision after New Zealand's defeat in the semi-final of the World Cup against Sri Lanka. Fleming led in 218 games, winning 98 and losing 106, while taking his side to two World Cup semi-finals.

Bennett King resigns as West Indies coach after two years in charge.

Ian Bradshaw, the left-arm seamer, follows Brian Lara into international retirement.

25 Russel Arnold, the Sri Lanka middle-order batsman, announces his intention to quit international cricket after the World Cup final against Australia.

28 Australia win the 2007 World Cup, defeating Sri Lanka by 53 runs (via the Duckworth-Lewis method) in a rain-curtailed final in Bridgetown. Adam Gilchrist scores 149 off only 104 balls, and Australia amass 281 in 38 overs. The revised target, 269, proves too steep for Sri Lanka, and half-centuries by Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara only delay the inevitable. It is Australia's third successive World Cup title and fourth overall.

England lose two former internationals when Arthur Milton and Les Jackson die aged 79 and 86 respectively.

29 Dick Motz, the first New Zealand fast bowler to take 100 wickets in Test cricket, dies in Christchurch aged 67. Motz played 32 Tests in the 1960s.

30 John Buchanan steps down after eight years in charge as Australia coach, during which, among other achievements, he oversaw two of Australia's three successive World Cup wins, and also the 5-0 Ashes win over England in 2006-07.

1 Ramnaresh Sarwan is named West Indies captain. His first assignment is the tour to England. Daren Ganga is named as his deputy.

4 Bob Woolmer's remains are cremated at a private ceremony in Cape Town. Meanwhile, the investigation into his death continues.

7 Andy Flower, the Essex batsman and former Zimbabwe captain, quits first-class cricket to become an assistant to Peter Moores, the new England coach. Flower scored 16,379 first-class runs at 54.05.

10 Australia commemorates the 1868 tour of England by an indigenous team, flying Aboriginal flags at cricket headquarters across the country.

17 The ICC announces that the World Cup was drug free after 68 randomly tested cricketers are cleared by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

18 Matt Prior becomes the first England wicketkeeper to score a century on Test debut, during the second day of the first Test against West Indies at Lord's. Prior is one of four England centurions in the innings.

24 The Schofield Report, which is released today, recommends changes in England's domestic programme and a rearranging of key roles within the ECB. The review committee headed by Ken Schofield had been charged with looking into the state of cricket in England, and 17 of its 19 points are immediately endorsed by the board.

25 Bill Johnston, the left-arm seamer who was part of Australia's Invincibles squad, dies in Sydney at the age of 85. Johnston, along with Ray Lindwall, was Australia's top wicket-taker on the 1948 tour to England. He played 40 Tests in all, taking 160 wickets at 23.91

27 Habibul Bashar resigns from the captaincy of the Bangladesh ODI team after their innings defeat to India in the second Test in Dhaka. Bashar reveals that his poor batting form made him take the decision, but indicates that he wishes to continue as Test captain.

Percy Sonn, the ICC president, dies in Cape Town at the age of 57 after suffering complications following a colon operation. Sonn, a former president of the South African board, had led the ICC since his appointment in June 2006.

28 Ron Archer, the allrounder who represented Australia in 19 Tests during the 1950s, dies of lung cancer at the age of 73. Archer scored 713 runs at 24.58 and took 48 wickets at 27.45.

29 Greg Blewett, the former Australia middle-order batsman, retires from first-class cricket, after being dropped from South Australia's List A team. He decides to stay on and become the side's batting coach, though.

Jack Kerr, who played seven Tests for New Zealand before going on to become president of the national board, dies in Christchurch at the age of 96. He is the third longest-lived Test cricketer of all time, behind Eric Tindill and Francis MacKinnon.

2 Mohammad Ashraful is named Bangladeshs captain in Tests and ODIs, replacing Habibul Bashar, who stepped down from the ODI captaincy after the series against India. Ashraful, 22, becomes the second-youngest current Test captain after Zimbabwe's Prosper Utseya.

7 Ray Mali, the president of Cricket South Africa, is appointed interim president of the ICC following the death of Percy Sonn in May. Mali, who had been the head of CSA since 2003, is to remain in charge until the ICC's annual conference in 2008.

11 Graham Ford turns down an offer to become India's new coach, just days after the BCCI announced that he had been appointed for a one-year term. Ford, who had been picked by the Indian board over former England offspinner John Emburey, decides to stay on as director of coaching at Kent.

Subhash Dixit, a former India Under-15 captain, dies after falling from the sixth floor of a building in Kanpur. Dixit, 22, is believed to have commited suicide, frustrated by his inability to get into Uttar Pradesh's Ranji team.

14 Chris Gayle is named West Indies' one-day captain for their matches in England and Ireland, following an injury to Ramnaresh Sarwan. Shivnarine Chanderpaul is named as Gayle's deputy, and Daren Ganga, who stood-in for Sarwan during the Test series against England, is omitted from the 14-man ODI side.

15 Hamish Marshall puts his New Zealand career on hold, having decided to play county cricket for Gloucestershire as a Kolpak. Marshall, who has an Irish passport, is classified as a local player in England, which means that he cannot play for New Zealand at the same time.

16 Ian Botham is to be knighted by the Queen, it is announced - recognition for his cricketing exploits, and more importantly, his efforts in aid of leukaemia research, for which he raised more than £10 million.

Trevor Bayliss is appointed Sri Lanka coach, replacing fellow Australian Tom Moody. Bayliss becomes the fourth Australian to take charge of Sri Lanka since 1995.

18 Michael Vaughan stands down as England's ODI captain saying he wants to focus on captaining the Test side. Vaughan led England to 32 wins from 60 games in charge, but was unable to establish himself as a one-day batsman, managing an average of 27.15.

22 The ICC punishes the five match officials - on-field umpires Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar, reserve umpires Rudi Koertzen and Billy Bowden, and match referee Jeff Crowe - whose errors caused the World Cup final to be completed in near darkness, by suspending them for the duration of the next event conducted by it, the World Twenty20 in South Africa.

25 David Morgan, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, is named the next president of the ICC, to take over from Ray Mali in 2008. Morgan, 69, had according to the BCCI, struck a deal with BCCI president Sharad Pawar, under which Pawar would take control of the ICC in 2010 after the completion of Morgan's two-year term.

The Hong Kong women's team defeat the China women by ten-wickets in a historic match played at the Shenzhen University: the first full international played between teams from China and Hong Kong.

Haroon Lorgat, the convernor of South Africa's selection committee, says that the board will not stop cricketers from choosing to sign Kolpak contracts to play county cricket in England rather than trying to make their way into the South African national team.

26 The West Indies Cricket Board condemns Chris Gayle for his criticism of tour arrangements. Gayle, in a diary on Cricinfo, had expressed disappointment when five players in local leagues were called up to the West Indies squad for the tour game against England Lions. Gayle also said: "The board is always talking about players needing to change but we, the players, need changes from the board as well"

28 Reports emanate from Zimbabwe that former captain Tatenda Taibu has been in talks with the board for a possible return to the national team. Taibu had earlier quit the team in 2005 after disagreements with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union over a range of issues.

30 Sachin Tendulkar becomes the first batsman to score 15,000 runs in ODIs during the course of his fifty in the second ODI against South Africa.