He had been due to arrive in New Zealand later on Friday with England's other specialist Test players to begin preparations for the three-match Test series from 5 March.

BBC: Skipper hails England resilience

Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) members will vote on industrial action ahead of preparations to test trains without drivers.

BBC: Strike ballot over tests for driverless Tube trains

Most recently, the importance of America's alliance with Japan has been underlined by North Korea's preparations to test a long-range missile.

ECONOMIST: George Bush's best Asian buddy is retiring

Their next warm-up game is a three-day contest against Otago starting on Thursday, to finish off preparations for the first Test, starting on 5 March.

BBC: Shah enhances England Test claims

When America and other countries started to receive intelligence reports that Pakistan was making final preparations for a nuclear test, attempts were made to persuade its government not to go ahead.

ECONOMIST: India and Pakistan

This week Glamorgan revealed that there was a four-week delay in laying new turf but insisted that would not affect preparations for the first Ashes Test.

BBC: Walker wants Glamorgan presidency

The Iraqis went to extraordinary lengths to conceal preparations for and evidence of this underground test.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Truth and Consequences for Saddam

Former Pakistan Test batsman Mudassar Nazar has flown to Nairobi to take charge of the team's preparations.

BBC: SPORT | Cricket | Kenya cricket row nears solution

The blackouts came despite preparations by utilities, after what many power companies said was the worst storm ever to test their operations.

WSJ: Power Outages May Last Over a Week