Welcome to Howzat!, the free magazine from www.cricket-for-parents.com.

This issue tells you about new ways to keep up with the latest cricket scores, how to improve your close catching skills with the "horse's tail game", and a word about the loss to test cricket of Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff.

Keeping up with live scores with the latest Cricket Widgets

It’s a busy year for international cricket, and some of the key cricket websites have published widgets to help you keep up with the latest scores. This live scores feed from Cricinfo automatically updates the latest scores from all of the test match nations who are currently playing or who have recently finished a match. You can see this widget in action at http://www.cricket-for-parents.com/live-cricket-scores.html

Or, check out the ECB live score widget at http://www.cricket-for-parents.com/cricket-score.html

Developing your close catching skills with the Horse's Tail Game

This is a really fun way to develop close catching skills. One end of the arc of fielders is named as the horse’s head, and the other the horse’s tail. The coach hits a variety of catches to random fielders, who return the ball to the wicket keeper.

Each catch taken promotes the successful fielder one place in the arc towards the horse’s head, and each brilliant catch promotes him/her two places. But, each dropped catch moves the guilty fielder down to the horse’s tail.

The object is to avoid being at the horse’s tail when the coach decides the game is over – this might be a set number of hits, or a specific time. It’s a recipe for competition, chaos and fun, as well as sharpening fielder’s reflexes.

You can find out more about cricket skills games at http://www.cricket-for-parents.com/cricket-skills.html

Farewell to Freddie

Today’s hot cricket news is that Andrew Flintoff will retire from test cricket after the current Ashes series. After a decade of frustrating injuries, four ankle operations and knee surgery, big Fred has decided that the rigours of test cricket are too much and that he will only be fit for one day cricket.

Not surprising perhaps with his history of injuries – two years of rehab out of the last four have to be so depressing. But what this does show is that a five day test match really is a physical test as well as a test of cricketing skill.

I’ve had the pleasure of watching Flintoff a couple of times, and must agree with the view that his fairly ordinary career statistics don’t bear out his brilliance in the field, his huge influence on team spirit or his ability to make things happen in his team’s hour of need.

As an England fan I hope that the timing of his announcement doesn’t affect his team for the remainder of the Ashes. But, Flintoff folklore says that he'll go out in a style that befits his quality, with a bang, with big performances, and with some stories to tell at the end. Winning the 2009 Ashes, as well as the 2005 series would cement his place in cricket legend.

For more cricket news and views, visit http://www.cricket-for-parents.com/cricket-news.html

Until next time!

Best wishes,