Cricinfo previews the Semi-Final match between England and Sri Lanka in St Lucia

Sahil Dutta12-May-2010

Match Facts

Thursday, May 13, St Lucia

Start time 1130 (1530 GMT)Angelo Matthews was Sri Lanka’s man of the match against India and his allround threat could unsettle England•AFP

The Big Picture

While England have not made the final of a ICC global tournament since 2004 Sri Lanka have been beaten finalists in both last year’s World Twenty20 and the 2007 World Cup.Yet ahead of the match it’s England who are the more bullish having topped their Super Eights group with three comfortable wins. They are on the verge of fulfilling their transformation that began after losing 5-1 to Australia last summer. Gone is the stuttering top order hoping to ‘keep wickets in hand’ and in its place is a fearless line-up led by two dashing hitters at the top and followed by the classiest middle-order pair of the tournament, Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan.Sri Lanka, on the other hand, looked unsteady to begin with but have found increasingly assurance as the tournament went on. Mahela Jayewardene’s graceful striking has completely carried Sri Lanka’s batting – his 292 runs are more than anyone else in the tournament and over double the next highest Sri Lankan tally of 123 from Kumar Sangakkara – but they showed they could perform without him when they beat India. Nevertheless how England’s nagging fast-medium attack fare against Jayewardene could well determine the outcome of the game.

Form guide (most recent first)

Sri Lanka WLWWL
England WWWNL

Watch out for…

Craig Kieswetter has fizzed without quite exploding yet in this tournament. But on the slow pitch his Michael Clarke-like twinkle-toed approach could see England off to a lightning start.Suraj Randiv has stepped into the place vacated by Murali’s injury and, with Ajantha Mendis’ mysteries all but revealed, he has become Sri Lanka’s leading spin weapon. They may be tempted to open the bowling with him after seeing Michael Lumb’s dismissal to Johan Botha when South Africa adopted the same tactic.

Team news

Kevin Pietersen returns just in time after seeing the birth of his first child and will replace Ravi Bopara. Throughout the tournament Ryan Sidebottom has looked set to miss out for England’s supposed attack-leader, James Anderson, but the selectors have refused to change.England (probable) 1 Michael Lumb, 2 Craig Kieswetter, 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Luke Wright, 7 Tim Bresnan, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Michael Yardy, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 Ryan Sidebottom.Sri Lanka have been far less settled through the tournament so far. Mendis missed out against India but could return for an England side less used to him.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Mahela Jayawardene, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt, wk), 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Sanath Jayasuriya, 7 Chamara Kapugedera, 8 Suraj Randiv, 9 Ajantha Mendis, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Chanaka Welegedera.

Pitch and conditions

England may have adapted well to the conditions against New Zealand in their last game, but the slow and low surface in St Lucia will suit Sri Lanka. Their batsmen proved a touch shy of the pace and bounce in Barbados but will be much more comfortable here.

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka won the only T20 encounter these two sides have played before. Way back in 2006 at Southampton, in a game where Tim Bresnan, England’s best bowler this tournament, made his T20 debut.
  

  Quotes

  “Life is not exactly a hardship at the minute, you know?”
  Tim Bresnan keeps things in perspective.”We would love him to play. He’s a top quality spinner, and England have probably played him once.”
  Kumar Sangakkara would love to play his mystery spinner, but won’t quite confirm he will.

It was a run-fest on the opening day at Headingley as the India A top order made a perfect start to their tour of England, amassing 473 runs and losing just three wickets

Cricinfo staff05-Jun-2010
ScorecardIt was a run-fest on the opening day at Headingley as the India A top order made a perfect start to their tour of England, amassing 473 runs and losing just three wickets. Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane went past three figures, Abhinav Mukund fell nine short of his century and Cheteshwar Pujara remained unbeaten on 55 after 95 overs of toil for the Yorkshire bowlers.The Indians were the fresher lot in the field compared to their opponents, who were away at Worcester the previous day and as a result, play started an hour later. Abhinav and Dhawan scored at a brisk rate in the opening session, adding 132. Dhawan hit 14 fours before reaching his century, off 133 balls, but Abhinav fell just short of his century. The Tamil Nadu opener was dismissed by Moin Ashraf for 91, hitting 12 fours and a six in his knock.It took 43 overs for Yorkshire to break the stand, but there was more toil for the bowlers as Rahane joined Dhawan in a stand of 141. Rahane dealt mainly in boundaries, smashing nine boundaries en route to his fifty, and he went on to reach his century off 132 balls. Dhawan looked set to record a double-century, but the Delhi opener fell to Lee Hodgson for 179.Pujara joined Rahane and added a further 107 in nearly 22 overs to take the score past 400. Tino Best, the West Indian fast bowler, had some success when he had Rahane caught for 118.

Australia A needed just three days to complete a comprehensive all-round performance and rout Sri Lanka A by an innings and 17 runs at Townsville

Cricinfo staff27-Jun-2010Australia A 402 for 4 dec (Bailey 154*, Cowan 126) beat Sri Lanka A 78 (George 4-13) and 307 (Silva 92, Kulasekara 56) by an innings and 17 runs

ScorecardKosala Kulasekara resisted with 56•Getty Images

Australia A needed just three days to complete a comprehensive all-round performance and rout Sri Lanka A by an innings and 17 runs at Townsville. The Sri Lankans came up with a much-improved performance from their first-innings debacle of 78 by managing 307, but their backs were always against the wall as they needed to bat out close to two days to save the game.Resistance came from Chamara Silva, who came within reach of a century, and Kosala Kulasekara, who scored 56. The top order failed to put on decent partnerships as the seamers, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter George and James Pattinson struck at regular intervals. At 142 for 6, Sri Lanka were in danger of being bowled out for another cheap score, before Silva took charge. He and Kulasekara added 111 for the seventh wicket before Pattinson struck. Silva was eight short of a century when he became Hilfenhaus’ third victim. His 100-ball knock featured ten fours and a six.Pattinson and Hilfenhaus took three wickets apiece while Steve O’Keefe took 2 for 93.
Australia A captain George Bailey praised his bowlers for getting on top of the conditions.”We batted really well, but once again today, on a wicket that offered very little to the bowlers, we just toiled and stuck at our task really well and managed to take the required ten wickets which was super,” Bailey said.”There’s no bigger incentive for the modern cricketer than to finish a game inside three days and to earn a day off and one of our goals was to play good aggressive cricket and to control the game.”Bailey smashed an unbeaten 154, and contributions by Usman Khawaja and Ed Cowan ensured Australia never lost their grip on the game.”It was nice to get some and it was a nice platform to come into laid by Eddie and Usman; it was just a ready-made situation I suppose,” Bailey said. “I feel pretty good with how everything is going at the moment so it was just nice for it to fall into place and for that scenario to play out where I could play quite an aggressive innings.”

There will be no clean-sweep for England. It was too late to save the series but Australia’s batsmen, led by Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting, finally delivered a total their bowlers could defend at The Oval

The Bulletin by Brydon Coverdale at The Oval30-Jun-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMichael Clarke top scored with 99 not out as Australia’s batsmen fired them to 290•Getty Images

There will be no clean-sweep for England. It was too late to save the series but Australia’s batsmen, led by Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting, finally delivered a total their bowlers could defend at The Oval. Ryan Harris did just that, with five wickets and a Man-of-the-Match award, that handed England a 78-run defeat and offset any disappointment for Clarke, who earlier had been stranded on 99 in setting up Australia’s 290 for 5.Australia’s win will restore a little pride for the visitors, but mostly they will be pleased that a 0-5 result is no longer possible. England’s eight-game winning streak, stretching back to their tour of South Africa in November, ended with a bowling display that was just slightly off the mark, and Australia’s underperforming batsmen seized their opportunity.James Anderson had mastered the yorker earlier in the series but here he fell short too often; in one case comically so as he pitched the ball about a metre in front of his feet. Tim Bresnan has struggled to contain over the past week and did so again, and the spinners Graeme Swann and Michael Yardy were driven into the deep with ease and patience by Ponting and Clarke.Fittingly it was the captain and vice-captain who combined for a 155-run stand and lifted the experienced batting group to their best total of the series. Against an attack energised by Shaun Tait and led by Harris, who collected his third five-wicket haul in a 16-game career, England found their task too great. They had several men who looked capable of guiding the chase, but each fell before he could create major headaches for Ponting.There was Strauss, who punched his way to 37 before Tait’s pace and late swing drew an edge behind. There was Kevin Pietersen, who in six balls looked the most destructive he has in the series, with two boundaries and another denied by the stumps at the non-striker’s end. He was upset to be lbw to Harris advancing down the pitch, but the umpire’s decision was sound.And there was Eoin Morgan, who treated half-volleys from James Hopes with disdain and lifted him over the boundary three times. When Morgan edged behind off Harris for 47, the life drained from the contest. A late 57 from Yardy sparked minor interest from the crowd, but with the required run-rate hovering above nine, it was all too much.England did have their misfortune – Paul Collingwood was wrongly given lbw to a Steven Smith legbreak that would have missed a fourth stump – but the result was set up when their bowlers couldn’t restrict Australia. Neither Ponting (92) nor Clarke were rewarded with a century, but they got their job done.Clarke’s milestone was tantalisingly close. A single off the first ball of the 50th over took him to 99 and he watched on as an in-form Smith faced the rest of the over, leaving Clarke as the ninth player in ODI history to remain unbeaten one short of a hundred, and the third Australian after Dean Jones and Brad Hodge.Although he again struggled to be the boundary man in the final stages, Clarke’s overall effort was his most positive and fluent in limited-overs cricket for some time, and he made Anderson pay for dropping him at cover on 5. A pair of boundaries off Anderson soon afterwards, one over cover and one through the leg side, gave Clarke confidence and he kept the scoreboard ticking over throughout his stand with Ponting.For his part, the captain was in excellent touch and was at his best driving off the back foot through the off side with terrific timing. The scratchiness he showed three days ago at Old Trafford was eradicated as he swept with self-assurance and refused to allow pressure to build through the middle overs.Ponting seemed to be headed for a century when he called the batting Powerplay at the start of the 43rd over but from its first ball, he was caught at cover trying to clear the infield off Anderson. Ponting was gone for 92 off 93 balls, but he had given Australia an excellent platform. His must-win attitude was obvious the moment Shane Watson holed out for 41, giving away another strong start.Watson pinpointed Morgan on the midwicket boundary with a slog-sweep off Swann and as he bowed his head in disappointment, he felt the eyes of his partner Ponting staring at him from the middle of the pitch. This was not what Watson had in mind when he spoke before the match of playing a big innings, and nor was it what the captain was expecting.In the end it didn’t matter. Australia did enough to prevent a whitewash, and will aim to pull the score back to a respectable 3-2 at Lord’s on Saturday.

Worcestershire exploited Northamptonshire’s recent uncertainty by recovering to
post 287 on the opening day of their County Championship Division Two clash
at New Road

29-Jul-2010

ScorecardWorcestershire exploited Northamptonshire’s recent uncertainty by recovering to
post 287 on the opening day of their County Championship Division Two clash
at New Road.When the visitors took six wickets for 104 in the afternoon, it seemed they
would restate their promotion credentials after a four-day mauling by Surrey and
a painful defeat by Somerset in the Friends Provident t20 quarter-final.However Worcestershire’s oldest and youngest players turned the day on its
head. Teenager Ben Cox made an inventive 59 from 86 balls and 36-year-old Matt
Mason thrashed his first half-century for six years.The last three wickets added 129 and Mason struck a further blow by dismissing
Stephen Peters as Northants replied with 3 for 1 in six overs.Worcestershire secured no immediate benefit from winning the toss despite a
gritty 50 from 150 balls by rookie opener David Wheeldon. Even when Wheeldon anchored the morning grind to 55 for 1 at lunch, Northamptonshire’s seamers frequently caused problems in favourable conditions.With the ball moving around under cloud cover, it was a battling effort by
Worcestershire to lose only one wicket when Daryl Mitchell, after surviving
until the 25th over for 23, skimmed a catch to James Middlebrook at gully.That proved was a first success for Elton Chigumbura and there were more to
come after lunch, although the initial breakthrough was the work of David
Lucas. The strapping left-armer had Vikram Solanki and Moeen Ali taken in the slips by
Peters and Alex Wakely in the space of five balls.A brief interlude of spin brought a wicket for Middlebrook when Alexei Kervezee
chopped on after breezing along to 28 with five fours, but it was Chigumbura who
finally found a way to break Wheeldon’s concentration. The left-hander collected 11 fours, several from nicks or steers behind the wicket, before he played on attempting to force the medium-pacer through the
offside.Wheeldon has certainly proved he has the determination to supplement a sound
technique. Recalled for last week’s game against Derbyshire, he has made 84 from
three innings stretching over seven hours and 20 minutes.Chigumbura’s next success put a dampener on the home debut of Shakib Al Hasan
in the presence of the Bangladeshi High Commissioner, Dr Sayeedur Rahman Khan. However, Shakib, the first player from his country to play professionally for an English county, made only nine in 18 balls before a flashing attempt to drive resulted in another catch for Peters.Wicketkeeper David Murphy went some way to his left to take James Cameron’s
edge off Lucas, but Cox and Mason led the revival after tea. Cox eventually fell to Hall, giving Peters his third catch, after hitting seven fours and a six, and Mason was unbeaten with 51 from 33 balls when Alan
Richardson was lbw to Lucas (4 for 68) after a last-wicket stand of 54.

Wayamba, the Sri Lankan domestic Twenty20 champions, could surprise some of their more famous competitors in the 2010 Champions League

Siddarth Ravindran25-Aug-2010Wayamba, the Sri Lankan domestic Twenty20 champions, are one of the low-profile teams heading for the Champions League, but could surprise some of their more famous competitors with a squad containing 11 players who have international caps. They exited in the first round of the Champions League last year but the biggest name in their line-up, Mahela Jayawardene, said that experience will help Wayamba put up a better show in South Africa next month.”Last year was a bit of an eye-opener for us, participating in that kind of an event,” Jayawardene said at a press conference where the team’s new shirt was unveiled. “We had quite a few players who hadn’t played against international teams. It was a great opportunity for them. We realise where we went wrong; most of our guys now have much more experience playing T20 cricket, playing domestically as well.”Wayamba played both their matches in 2009 on a difficult Feroz Shah Kotla pitch, losing to the Delhi Daredevils and beating one of the favourites, Victoria, before bowing out on net run-rate. Their captain, 29-year-old Jehan Mubarak, was also confident the lessons learnt in India last year, and Wayamba’s thorough preparation for this campaign, will yield results.”We are much more prepared than we were last year, we have had the experience of playing in a previous Champions League,” Mubarak said. “Our preparation has been quite extensive this year; we have been practising for at least three months. We have the talent and experience among us to deliver the goods.”In the domestic competition, Wayamba steamrolled their way to the title, winning every game, most of them by big margins. Asked about his team’s strengths, he mentioned the opening combination of Jayawardene and 36-year-old Jeevantha Kulatunga, who was Player of the Tournament. “We won most of our games quite easily, lot of that due to Mahela and Jeevantha who gave us brilliant opening stands right throughout the tournament,” Mubarak said. “But apart from that there’s the bowling and the fielding, the combined team effort and the unity with which we played.”Another of Wayamba’s strengths is their spin department, spearheaded by left-arm spinner Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis, who could fluster the many batsmen in the Champions League who have never faced him. “It is very tempting [to play both spinners], depends in addition to the conditions on the opposition as well, how well they play spin,” Mubarak said. “It is early summer in South Africa, pitches might be on the slow side, might take a bit of turn.”The team have a couple of warm-up matches, against Royal Challengers Bangalore and local side Titans, who did not qualify for the tournament, to get used to the South African conditions. Jayawardene said holding the Champions League in different countries will help increase the number of cricket fans around the world. “Taking the Champions League across makes sense, you create a new audience,” he said. “We saw the second IPL, when we played in South Africa, the fan base there surprised everyone, taking it across the cricket playing countries would create a different brand itself and a new fan following as well.”Wayamba’s first game is against South Africa’s Warriors on September 11. The other teams in their group are IPL champions Chennai Super Kings, Big Bash winners Victoria and New Zealand’s Central Districts.

Chris Gayle has been appointed Jamaica’s captain for the WICB President’s Cup instead of the regular captain Tamar Lambert, the Jamaican Cricket Association has confirmed

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Sep-2010Chris Gayle has been appointed Jamaica’s captain for the WICB President’s Cup instead of the regular captain Tamar Lambert, the Jamaican Cricket Association (JCA) has confirmed. The one-day tournament, which begins in October, marks the start of the West Indies domestic season and will be held in Jamaica.”I can confirm that the selectors made a recommendation and the board of the Jamaica Cricket Association ratified the decision,” Paul Campbell, the JCA president, told . “The selectors took a look at the report of the [Caribbean] Twenty20, and figured that while Tamar Lambert represents a good choice of captain and in the longer version in particular, it was felt that at this time that Chris Gayle was a better choice for the one-dayers.”In July, the JCA had backed the selectors’ decision to nominate Lambert as captain for the Caribbean T20 instead of Gayle, who leads West Indies. They had also denied suggestions that Gayle was discarded as captain and said that Lambert was a logical choice as he had played regularly for Jamaica over the last few seasons, as opposed to Gayle, who had been busy with international commitments. Jamaica finished fourth in the domestic Twenty20 tournament and lost out on a place in the lucrative Champions League Twenty20.

Harbhajan Singh has said that India have the potential to be No. 1 in Tests for an extended spell

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Oct-2010Harbhajan Singh has said that India have the potential to be No. 1 in Tests for an extended spell. India have been top of the table for 11 months, and have stretched their lead to 11 points over South Africa after the 2-0 series victory over Australia. Of their previous 10 Test series India have lost only one – in 2008, when Ajantha Mendis inspired Sri Lanka to a 2-1 win.”We have the talent to be at the top of the table for a long time,” Harbhajan told ESPNStar.com. “We have proven that in the last nine months and we were at the top because we have won lots of games both in India and abroad. If we can achieve that then why can’t we be there for a long time?”The Australia series was one in which Harbhajan managed to hit form after some lacklustre performances against Sri Lanka in July, where he wasn’t fully fit. “It has been a very satisfying series. We won 2-0. I took 11 wickets and am quite satisfied with my own performance, but it could have been better.”One of the disappointments in the series for Harbhajan was his batting in the tight Mohali Test, where he lasted only three deliveries in two innings. “I was really upset. I have been working hard on my batting,” he said. “In the second innings, I got out to the second ball. I was really angry with myself and that was the time we needed a partnership to win that game. I didn’t remove my pads and was sitting with my pads on until India got the victory.”Harbhajan, who struggled with swine flu in Sri Lanka, said he had trouble with his shin in the lead-up to the Australia series. “I developed pain in my shin [while preparing for the Australia series],” he said. “My physio told me, ‘if you keep on playing with it, you might develop stress fracture’. Shin is where you can’t even have injection, but still I had to play, so I went ahead with pain killers and am really happy that I survived the two games.”India’s next Test assignment is a home series against New Zealand after which lies a tough tour of South Africa, a country where they are yet to win a series. “South Africa in South Africa will be very challenging. The wickets and conditions are different there,” Harbhajan said. “The boys are pretty confident; we have got the batting line-up to perform there, and a bowling outfit to take wickets there. We just need to have faith in our ability. If we can go on to win the series in South Africa, that will be a big achievement.”

Gordon Drummond will lead Scotland in the Intercontinental Cup final against Afghanistan, but their squad will be missing the services of three batsmen

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Oct-2010Gordon Drummond will lead Scotland in the Intercontinental Cup final against Afghanistan, but their squad will be missing the services of three batsmen. Ryan Watson Moneeb Iqbal are unavailable due to work commitments while Ewan Chalmers will be writing his university examinations.Scotland’s previous Intercontinental Cup fixture was against Ireland in August, when they played out a draw, before earning a walkover against Zimbabwe XI. Scotland had refused to tour Zimbabwe for their fixture scheduled for September 26 following advise from the country’s government and ministers over issues pertaining to political reform and rule of law. Subsequently, Zimbabwe refused to play at a neutral venue and decided to forfeit the fixture, paving the way for Scotland, who were behind on the points table, to play Afghanistan in the final in Dubai. The teams play the final on December 2.The Scotland team leaves for Dubai on November 23. “After a long, hard season of cricket which started last January in Kenya, the final will be an excellent opportunity to finish on a real high,” coach Peter Steindl said. “This group of players has worked exceptionally hard to reach the final and we will prepare thoroughly for the hard challenge that we know Afghanistan will pose. They have been the dominant team in this competition to date, but we are confident we can compete well against them.”Scotland squad: Gordon Drummond (capt), Fraser Watts, Ryan Flannigan, Kyle Coetzer, Preston Mommsen, Richie Berrington, Neil McCallum, Gregor Maiden, Majid Haq, Matthew Parker, Ross Lyons, Simon Smith, Gordon Goudie, Dewald Nel.

Former New Zealand seamer Iain O’Brien, whose county career at Middlesex has hit a roadblock, is in discussions for a return to Wellington for the upcoming first-class season

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Nov-2010Former New Zealand fast bowler Iain O’Brien, whose county career with Middlesex has hit a roadblock, is in discussions with Wellington to play the 2010-11 first-class season in New Zealand. O’Brien’s three-year contract with Middlesex is likely to be void unless he can convince the ECB to classify him as a domestic player, which they have been reluctant to do despite him being married to an English woman.If he continues to be classed as an overseas player, O’Brien, 34, faces the tough task of forcing his way into another county as the solitary import. He has hired lawyers to push his case with the ECB, but is also keeping the Wellington option open. “It’s something I’m certainly looking forward to as I haven’t played for a while,” he said. “Hopefully, I can get back in the shop window and then prove to counties over here that I am fit and that I’ve still got it.”I love playing for Wellington and certainly love playing cricket at home. If I get a chance to turn out for Petone-Riverside while I’m at home, then even better. I’m not ruling anything out.”Wellington coach Anthony Stuart confirmed O’Brien’s approach for a spot in his side. “We definitely discussed it,” Stuart said. “If both parties were happy with the situation, then absolutely we’d welcome him back with open arms.”O’Brien was hampered by injury at Middlesex this season. He played only seven of the 16 first-class matches, taking 23 wickets at an average of 27.30 with a best of 8 for 105. Stuart, however, was not too concerned by O’Brien’s lack of bowling practice.”He didn’t play a lot of cricket this year so, from a bowling perspective, I’d say he might feel a little bit underdone. But he’s a competitor and he’s got a great attitude and if he made the commitment to play he’d be in 100%.”