The memories of two previous heartaches are now serving as fuel for inspiration at the World Twenty20 Qualifier for Papua New Guinea

Peter Della Penna in Bready11-Jul-20152:14

‘PNG a more mature side now’ – Vare

In their first two trips to the World T20 Qualifier, Papua New Guinea experienced more than their fair share of heartache.In 2012, it was the Americas representatives who tormented them. Canada held off a late charge from Geraint Jones and Mahuru Dai in defense of 167 to win by six runs. Five days later against Bermuda, captain Rarua Dikana had the ball in his hand tasked with protecting 15 runs off the final over with Bermuda five down but he gave up three straight sixes to Janeiro Tucker. It meant PNG finished in fourth place in Group A, one spot out of the playoff positions.In 2013, PNG made it to the playoffs and defeated Namibia in their first knockout game to come within one more win of a berth at the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh. In their way stood Hong Kong, a team they had defeated in the previous year’s qualifier by six wickets chasing down a total of 131 with a ball to spare. Hong Kong was pinned down in the rematch at 19 for 4 and only managed 139, but with a ticket to Bangladesh in their grasp, PNG stumbled to 108.The memories of those heartaches are now serving as fuel for inspiration at the qualifier for the pacific island nation. PNG captain Jack Vare says that this time around he’s hoping the team’s fortunes will change to get them over the hump and into next year’s World Twenty20 in India.”We have missed out in the last two tournaments in Dubai,” Vare told ESPNcricinfo ahead of PNG’s first match of the tournament on Sunday against Jersey. “Everyone is growing arms and legs. There’s a lot of experience in this time. Third time lucky I guess but everyone is confident that we will do well in this competition.”PNG’s build-up to this tournament included a magnificent four-day win over the Netherlands on their Intercontinental Cup debut, with Assad Vala and Dai spearheading the pursuit of a fourth innings target of 305. Though they lost the subsequent WCL Championship fixtures against the Dutch, PNG eased into T20 mode with four games against a pair of County second XIs. In one match, PNG racked up 268 for 3 versus Gloucestershire’s 2nds, a reminder of their potent top order featuring Lega Siaka and Tony Ura.”I think the biggest challenge we go through is from playing longer forms to shorter formats,” Vare said. “Most people know we play a lot of shorter formats but we are trying our best to develop all forms of the game. Playing in our first four-day game and to win that was a big experience for us and a special day.”PNG leaves no stone unturned in preparation as Coach Dipak Patel observes sliding practice during training at Bready CC•Peter Della Penna

PNG’s players have also accumulated experience playing in the Australian Country Cricket Championships as well as the South Australia Premier League. Getting access to better facilities and opponents within the Australasia region has helped lift up their skills and their confidence levels.”Playing in the competition in the South Australian Premier League gives us more experience and more exposed to the outside cricket world what’s happening,” Vare said. “Everyone has been doing well. We’ve been on the road for 18 months in preparation for this tournament. I’m more confident. I’ve got a good side, more mature side coming into this tournament.”PNG is the final team to play their first match of the tournament and on tap for them on Sunday at Bready is Jersey. Coach Dipak Patel and other members of the PNG squad were in attendance to see Jersey’s triumph by nine-wickets over Hong Kong on Saturday, a fresh reminder not to underestimate any opposition. Vare says the team is well-prepared and not about to be caught off guard whoever stands in front of them.”There’s no doubt teams will come and compete hard but we’ll focus on the job at hand,” Vare said. “We won’t look ahead too much. We’ll take every game as it comes and concentrate on our roles as individuals and as a group. That’s our major important thing to do playing top teams. We won’t take any team lightly.”

Samit Patel and James Taylor guided Nottinghamshire to a seven-wicket victory over Essex in the Royal London Cup contest at a sold-out Chelmsford following an unbroken 215-run stand

ECB/PA02-Aug-2015
ScorecardSamit Patel’s unbeaten hundred took Nottinghamshire to a comfortable win•Getty Images

Samit Patel and James Taylor guided Nottinghamshire to a seven-wicket victory over Essex in the Royal London Cup contest at a sold-out Chelmsford following an unbroken 215-run stand. The fourth-wicket partnership, Patel contributing 124 off 112 balls and Taylor 94 off the same amount of deliveries, enabled the visitors to chase down a 269 victory target with eight balls to spare.New Zealand allrounder Jesse Ryder had earlier compiled an unbeaten 81 in Essex’s 268 for 8, which looked like being enough when Notts slipped to 56 for 3 in the 14th over.Riki Wessels and Alex Hales put on 42 for the opening wicket but the former upper-cut David Masters to Graham Napier on the third man boundary for 21 in the 10th over. Dangerman Hales was bowled by Graham Napier after making 28, while Brendan Taylor was out for a golden duck after edging Masters behind to leave Essex well placed.However, Patel and Taylor were able to eschew any risks while keeping the scoreboard ticking over smoothly to thwart the hosts. This was due to their prowess of being able to push the ball confidently into the gaps and wait for the wayward delivery before opening their shoulders to find the boundary.Essex captain Ryan ten Doeschate continually juggled his bowlers in a bid to halt their progress – but it was to no avail. Patel was the first to his half-century off 54 balls while Taylor reached the landmark off 67 deliveries. Patel brought up his third List A hundred in the 44th over off 96 balls, with 10 fours, and it was fitting he confirmed victory with his first six in the scheduled penultimate over.Essex had been put into bat and the innings had been placed on a solid foundation by Mark Pettini and Tom Westley. They shared in an opening stand of 80 in 16 overs before Westley, having made 38, was trapped lbw by Patel.Pettini, who excelled with some fine square drives, went on to make 61 from 77 deliveries but was eventually undone by an Imran Tahir googly as he attempted to cut the legspinner – who then removed Ravi Bopara for 28 with a similar delivery.Ryder and Ryan ten Doeschate shared a fourth-wicket stand of 61, while Napier struck two sixes in a breezy 27 from 18 balls before he was caught in the deep off Jake Ball. Tahir, easily the pick of the Outlaws attack with his teasing flight and variation, finished with 2 for 45 from his 10 overs while Ball and Steven Mullaney picked up two wickets each.Speaking afterwards about the match-winning innings from Taylor and Patel, Nottinghamshire coaching consultant Peter Moores said: “They are batsmen who can adapt to all forms of cricket and they confirmed just what good players they are. They didn’t panic after we lost those three early wickets and displayed a range of strokes to go with their ability.”Ten Doeschate paid credit to Taylor and Patel, adding: “We did all we could to find a way to end their partnership but they batted superbly and showed their class. We’ve now lost two matches in succession and need to get back to winning ways soon if we are to reach the quarter-finals.”

Trouble-shooter Chris Read guided Nottinghamshire into a strong position at New Road, helping eke out a total of 330 by making 90

ECB/PA08-Aug-2015
ScorecardWho else but Chris Read to steer Notts from trouble?•Getty Images

Trouble-shooter Chris Read guided Nottinghamshire into a strong position at New Road, helping eke out a total of 330 by making 90 – his seventh score of 50 or more in 14 championship innings this season – before Worcestershire lost three wickets in clearing a deficit of 61.After a backs-to-the-wall final session, they were 54 in front on 115 for 4 and looking for much more from Joe Clarke, who closed 43 not out, and Ross Whiteley, on 22. It seemed they could not escape from those who piled on the pressure as Notts added 157 in the afternoon session. Brett Hutton, who made 40 out of 83 with Read, and Jake Ball, who reached a career-best 38 in a stand of 60 in seven overs, hit them hard with the new ball.Richard Oliver departed in Ball’s opening over – Read holding the catch – and Tom Fell’s off stump was knocked back when he played forward to Hutton with only nine runs on the board by the sixth over. With the score on 44 it was three down with Brett D’Oliveira lbw to Hutton for 19 and more trouble followed when Steven Mullaney took a well-deserved wicket by bowling Alex Gidman, middle stump, for 21.For Worcestershire it was yet another frustrating day in which they did so much right, taking 10 wickets in two sessions, but saw a promising position slip away despite claiming maximum bowling bonus points for the 39th time in 40 matches.Nottinghamshire were able to get away from them thanks to Alex Hales, who survived a mid-morning collapse to make 85, his first half-century since April, and Read, who has regularly dragged his side of trouble down the years. This season alone he has impacted on numerous matches, making 73 when Worcestershire lost at Trent Bridge and more recently scoring hundreds as Notts took 35 points in drawing with Middlesex and overwhelming Sussex.Although they secured the lead they wanted in this match, it was not done with total conviction. As soon as the opening stand was broken at 75 – with Brendan Taylor lbw to Joe Leach for 31 – they nosedived to 128 for 5.Charlie Morris became the third Worcestershire seamer to reach 40 Championship wickets this season when he took three in 10 balls. Mullaney edged to third slip, James Taylor was bowled off stump, and Riki Wessels went lbw for a duck. More upsets were not far away. A slip by Hales in turning for a second run caused the confusion which saw Samit Patel run out without scoring, and immediately after lunch, Hales shouldered arms when he was lbw to Jack Shantry after hitting 15 fours.From there it was the Read show. Dropped at first slip off Whiteley on 55, he picked off a dozen fours and a six until he was last out, falling leg-before to Shantry when wafting across the line.

ESPNcricinfo provides an overview of the top 18 sides in six parts. First up runners-up Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh

25-Sep-2015

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu will look to captain Abhinav Mukund to give them a solid start•K Sivaraman

Where they finished last season
Runners-upBig Picture
Tamil Nadu began the last season not having made it to the knockouts for the last two years, without two big players in S Badrinath and KB Arun Karthik, were bottom-placed in their group after five matches and had regular captain R Prasanna ruled out for a few games with an injury. Then, like a switch had been flicked, new captain Abhinav Mukund, who has played five Tests, led a comeback that ended only when champions Karnataka proved too strong for them.”We hadn’t found ideal replacements [for Badrinath and Arun Karthik],” Abhinav said. “A lot of players were in their first seasons, or they were just trying to get their feet in first-class cricket, like [B] Indrajith or Vijay Shankar. But now, there are three of us in India A squad, a couple actually pushing for places [in the senior side].”Indrajith has been given a bigger responsibility as vice-captain, so, I think, with a mixture of Dinesh [Karthik] and Prasanna, and obviously Malolan [Rangarajan, offspinner] doing well with the ball, it’s definitely looking a lot more settled.”As bowling-coach-cum-player, former India bowler L Balaji provides the young and reinforced seam attack experience. Malolan will lead the spin attack, and Tamil Nadu will look to captain Abhinav, brothers Indrajith and Aparajith, and youngster Vijay Shankar to team up with the experienced Kathik and Prasanna for the runs.Players to watch out for
B Indrajith, 21 years old, is only into his third season of first-class cricket, but has already been made the vice-captain of the side. He scored 713 runs at an average of 44.56, including five fifties and a century in last year’s Ranji Trophy to finish third on the list of Tamil Nadu’s run-scorers.Over the last two seasons, Aswin Crist has emerged as one of the most promising pacers from Tamil Nadu. Abhinav called him the “quickest bowler in the team.” Crist finished with 15 wickets at 25.93 in the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy, including four wickets in the semi-final against Maharashtra. At 21, he will be expected to lead the seam attack this time around.Coaching staff
Tamil Nadu have dispensed with WV Raman’s services, and have named M Sanjay, Raman’s assistant last year, coach. They have roped in RI Palani as cricket manager. Palani had played a similar, overarching role during the 2011-12 season, when they were finalists.The big news, however, is that of L Balaji being named bowling coach and player, if conditions suit his bowling.Preparation
Ahead of last season, Tamil Nadu had fitness and skill-training camps in Wayanad and Mumbai, but they have opted to train in Chennai this time. A major reason for that is the amount of cricket they have been playing in the build up to the Ranji Trophy. Apart from the highly competitive TNCA first-division league, most players have been playing in tournaments like the KSCA invitation, Buchi Babu and the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup. Aparajith, Shankar and Abhinav have turned out for India A matches.”I think we never had a problem with the lead-up,” Mukund said. “Chennai is known to have a very strong league structure. They are all playing a lot of games and there is no one short of match practice.”Team news
Left-arm seamer Prasanth Parameswaran has moved to Goa, while left-arm spinner Aushik Srinivas hasn’t found a place in the squad for the first three games.Squad
Abhinav Mukund (capt), B Indrajith (vice-capt), Umashankar Sushil, B Aparajith, L Balaji, Bharath Shankar, DT Chandrasekar, Kaushik Gandhi, J Kousik, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ramaswamy Prasanna, M Mohammed, Malolan Rangarajan, Rahil Shah, Vijay Shankar, Lakshminarayanan Vignesh.In their own words
“It [making the final last year] has changed the way a lot of people are looking at our team. Not only from the outside, but within ourselves we have got the inner belief that we can go on to do better things. The youngsters that have come in want to win, which is good.”

Madhya Pradesh

Aditya Shrivastava was a big positive for Madhya Pradesh last season•MPCA

Where they finished last season
Fourth in Group A with one win and six draws in eight matchesBig Picture
In their second match of the season last year, Madhya Pradesh took a 116-run, first-innings lead on a green top and put themselves in a comfortable place to notch up an early win. All they needed to do in the second innings was post a target to shut UP out of the game. Instead they crumbled for 63. Set a target of 180, UP’s lower order kept their nerve for the six-wicket win.For MP, it was the beginning of a pattern that repeated a few times through the season, against Tamil Nadu, Mumbai and most critically, in their final league match against Bengal, a draw which snuffed out their chances of a knock-out place.It’s a weakness that captain Devendra Bundela says the team will work hard towards this season. “At crucial times when we had to click we fell short by a bit,” Bundela said. “This season, however, we are confident of a good performance.”Like last season, much of the onus, particularly in the run-scoring department will rest on the shoulders of the 37-year-old Bundela, off-spinning allorunder Jalaj Saxena, Naman Ojha, who played India’s last Test, and Mohnish Mishra. The bowling department, led by Ishwar Pandey, has a few youngsters, and Bundela is keen for them to make an impression.The side for the first two matches – against Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu – includes young medium-pacers Puneet Datey and Yogesh Rawat, who were impressive last season, left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma (their second-highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy 2014-15) and 18-year-old medium-pacer Avesh Khan, who made his first-class debut last season after representing India Under-19s in the 2014 World Cup. Udit Birla, who did not play a first-class game for MP last season, has been picked for the first two games. The squad also features uncapped opening batsman Rajat Patidar and wicketkeeper-batsman Ankit Dane as the 16th man.Players to watch out for
In Jalaj Saxena, Bundela and N Ojha, MP can count some of the most established names in domestic cricket among their line-up. The focus this season, however, will be on their youngsters – some of whom made their debuts last season.Twenty-two-year-old Aditya Shrivastava notched up scores of 91, 108*, 0 and 151 in the four first-class innings of his maiden season, including knocks against Karnataka and Bengal. Datey, an allrounder playing his first full Ranji Trophy season after a debut in 2013, was the leading wicket-taker for the side with 31 scalps in 14 innings at an average of 21.83. Rawat, who played five matches, took 15 wickets including a five-for against Bengal that allowed MP to enforce a follow-on in a crucial game. Another impressive performer was Avesh, who also finished with 15 wickets in five matches. Shrivastava, along with Datey and Rawat, were the positives of last season for MP, according to Bundela. With some experience behind them, the bowlers will be crucial in helping MP shut out matches.Coaching staff
Harvinder Singh Sodhi (coach), Mayank Agarwal (trainer), Balasaheb Tate (physio)Preparation
The preparation for MP’s main squad and reserve pool has included matches in the Nimbalkar Trophy in Pune, a tournament organised by the Vidarbha Cricket Association and a pre-season camp of 20 players.Squad
Devendra Bundela (capt), Naman Ojha, Avesh Khan, Ankit Sharma, Udit Birla, Ankit Dane, Puneet Datey, Harpreet Singh, Mihir Hirwani, Mohnish Mishra, Ishwar Pandey, Rajat Patidar, Rameez Khan, Yogesh Rawat, Jalaj Saxena, Aditya Shrivastava.In their own words
“We have wicketkeeping back-ups for Naman Ojha in Ankit Dane and Zafar Ali. The season is also quite long now so we have developed a good bench strength of fast bowlers.”

Uttar Pradesh

Praveen Kumar takes charge of Uttar Pradesh•Getty Images

Where they finished last season
After starting the Ranji Trophy with a win over Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh went on to lose three of their remaining seven matches to finish seventh in Group A, just ahead of Bengal and Jammu & Kashmir.Big Picture
After making it to the quarter-finals in 2013-14, UP managed only two wins last season, just avoiding relegation. To add to that, none of their batsmen featured among the top 50 run-scorers and their leading wicket-taker, Praveen Kumar, was 45th overall.UP have had a stronger bowling unit in recent times than batting with Praveen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, RP Singh and Piyush Chawla. They will be without Bhuvneshwar for at least the duration of the South Africa ODIs and T20Is, leaving much of the responsibility on new captain Praveen and Chawla, since RP Singh has moved to Gujarat and Imtiaz Ahmed is not in the squad. So the challenge for the younger bowlers such as chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav and medium-pacers Amit Mishra and Ankit Rajpoot will only get steeper.In the batting line-up, UP will bank on opener Tanmay Srivastava and the pressure will not cease for the inexperienced middle order – they relied a lot on Eklavya Dwivedi last time. They will be desperate for the return of Suresh Raina, who didn’t play a single Ranji match last year. This time he might be back in November, unless he gets a surprise call for the South Africa Tests.Players to watch
Sarfaraz Khan made his name in IPL 2015, after making numerous school records in Mumbai. Known for picking the gaps in the shorter formats with unorthodox shots, Sarfaraz’s main challenge will be to adapt to the four-day format. He was a part of the India squad for the 2014 Under-19 World Cup. He was dropped by Mumbai last season, soon after his first-class debut, after scoring only 95 runs from three matches, but followed that with 111 runs at a strike rate of 156.33 in his maiden IPL season. How UP will use the teenager will be interesting to watch.Twenty-year-old chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav also made his first-class debut last season just after being named among the 2015 World Cup probables. With Chawla the lead spinner and Ali Murtaza not in the squad, Kuldeep could move up the ranks this time. He got only five matches last season and is known to bowl good lengths with control and variations under his belt, including the wrong ‘un. He impressed against Bangladesh A in the third one-dayer recently with figures of 6-0-29-2, taking the wickets of Mominul Haque and Liton Das.Coaching staff
UP have a new coach this season in Rizwan Shamshad, replacing Venkatesh Prasad. A former middle-order batsman, Shamshad played most of his 108 first-class matches for UP between 1990 and 2006, scoring over 7000 runs with 19 hundreds at an average of 46.Preparation
In the lead-up to the season, there has been much happening with the UP squad. Seventeen-year-old Sarfaraz Khan switched from Mumbai to UP and the experienced RP Singh left his native state to join Gujarat. And to weaken UP’s middle order further, Parvinder Singh made the switch to Tripura.Team news
UP have named three uncapped players this season – Almas Shaukat, Deependra Pandey and Israr Khan. Shaukat made his name as an opener at the Under-19 and Under-22 levels and Pandey is an offspinner. “We didn’t have an offspinner and other teams have left-hand batsmen so we thought that would pinch us earlier,” Praveen said of Pandey’s selection. Israr is a fast bowler Praveen is confident about. In addition, there are six players in the squad of 16 who have played under ten first-class matches each.Squad
Praveen Kumar (capt), Eklavya Dwivedi (vice-capt), Umang Sharma, Mohammad Saif, Tanmay Srivastava, Himanshu Asnora, Almas Shaukat, Sarfaraz Khan, Akshdeep Nath, Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, Israr Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Saurabh Kumar, Deependra Pandey, Ankit Rajpoot.In their own words
“The team is good, there are good fast bowlers and we have added some batsmen. There is a good mix of senior players and youth from Under-19 and Under-22 level, so it’s a good team. There was a good preparatory camp in Noida, we focussed on fitness.”

Barisal Division took pole position in Tier-2 of the National Cricket League after a crushing eight-wicket win over Rajshahi Division

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Oct-2015Barisal Division took pole position in Tier-2 of the National Cricket League after a crushing eight-wicket win over Rajshahi Division. The win took Barisal to 53 points, 16 clear of second-placed Rajshahi.Barisal’s decision to bowl first paid off as they reduced Rajshahi to 36 for 7 by the second hour on the first day. The home side were eventually bowled out for 119 runs, with medium-pacers Tawhidul Islam and Salman Hossain taking five wickets apiece.Shahriar Nafees (80) and Fazle Mahmud (51), the Barisal captain, lead Barisal’s reply with a 99-run second-wicket stand. The innings was then driven ahead by Al-Amin, who struck a breezy 71, as Barisal took a 192-run first-innings lead. Shafaq Al Zabir and Sunzamul Islam took four wickets each.Rajshahi began their second innings well with openers Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Junaid Siddique adding 59 runs, but lost their way thereafter. That they avoided an innings defeat was courtesy Farhad Reza’s 66, which set Barisal a target of 67. Nafees and Salman had little trouble in steering the side to victory halfway into the third day.

A strengthened Sri Lanka side will be aiming to complete a series win in the second ODI against a weakened West Indies outfit

The Preview by Andrew Fidel Fernando03-Nov-2015

Match facts

November 4, 2015
Start time 1430 local (0900 GMT)1:05

‘Have to be ready for what comes our way’ – Baptiste

Big Picture

Spectators who came to the opening ODI spent much of their time wondering if the rains would relent long enough to allow the game’s completion. In the end, they were rewarded for their patience with a shortened match that featured myriad peaks and troughs for either team, hairpin bends, collapses and dropped catches, all leading to a delicious climax featuring unlikely heroes. Sri Lanka should have sauntered to victory after the start Tillakaratne Dilshan had given them. Instead, they had their middle order exposed by spin – not for the first time this home season – and squeaked home thanks to a steady hand from Ajantha Mendis.What the exercise suggested, was that while there was a chasm between the quality of the Test teams, West Indies and Sri Lanka are well-matched in the shorter formats. Sri Lanka have a better top order, but West Indies have finishers who can put the ball into orbit. The hosts’ seam attack is more reliable, but in Sunil Narine, West Indies have a spinner who can send a whole section of the batting order tumbling, in an over. With daily rains around now, shortening of matches may suit the visitors’ explosive brand of cricket.Sri Lanka will be strengthened, and West Indies weakened for the second ODI, however. Dinesh Chandimal is available for Sri Lanka again, after having served his one-match ban for an altercation with Ishant Sharma in August. Jason Holder, meanwhile, is suspended for the match due to slow over rates in the previous match, and Andre Russell remains in doubt due to the abdominal strain he sustained during the previous match. Those changes are significant. Holder and Russell had been West Indies’ best batsmen in the first ODI, and Chandimal’s return helps steady a wobbly middle order.

Form guide

Sri Lanka: WWLLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)


West Indies: LLWLL

In the spotlight

Lahiru Thirimanne‘s Test form has been mediocre all year, but on past tours he has been a rejuvenated batsman in ODIs. The cover drives begin to find the boundary, instead of a pair of hands in the slips. The swivel pulls and slog sweeps return to his game. And the movement of his limbs no longer invite comparisons with planks of wood afflicted by rigor mortis, which they did just before he was dropped in Tests. He played his 100th ODI on Sunday, but now needs a substantial score to shore up his place in the ODI side.Marlon Samuels will have fond memories of his match-winning performance at the Premadasa Stadium in the World T20 final three years ago. His more recent outings on the island have been forgettable. Disqualified from bowling now, after allowing the 14-day grace period in which he can have his action tested to lapse, Samuels finds himself in charge of the team in Holders absence. Perhaps the extra responsibility can spark something in his batting.

Teams news

With Chandimal likely to return to the No. 4 position, Shehan Jayasuriya seems likeliest to make way from the top seven. Suranga Lakmal and a trimmer Lasith Malinga are likely to take the new ball, but Sri Lanka may consider playing tearaway quick Dushmantha Chameera ahead of one of their frontline spinners.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Kusal Perera, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Lahiru Thirimanne, 4 Dinesh Chandimal , 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Milinda Siriwardana, 7 Danushka Gunathilaka, 8 Sachithra Senanayake, 9, Ajantha Mendis 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Suranga LakmalRavi Rampaul is likely to play in Holder’s stead. The team has said it will wait till Wednesday morning to make a call on Russell’s fitness. If he can’t play, West Indies will be tempted to play batsman Jason Mohammed, who bowls a little offspin. Jonathan Carter may also be required to bowl a few overs.West Indies (probable): 1 Johnson Charles, 2 Andre Fletcher, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Jonathan Carter, 6 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 7 Andre Russell/Jason Mohammed, 8 Carlos Brathwaite, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Jerome Taylor, 11 Ravi Rampaul

Pitch and conditions

The pitch is unlikely to have changes substantially since Sunday. It had offered the seamers good bounce and a little bit of seam movement with the new ball, but the spinners got turn out of it as well.Given the weather in Colombo over the past week, expect rain delays and interruptions.

Stats and trivia

• Despite inconsistency in Tests, Thirimanne has made steady contributions in ODIs, averaging 41.05 last year, and 39.41 so far in 2015.
• Denesh Ramdin needs 80 runs to complete 2000 in ODIs. He averages 24.93 after 99 innings.
• Dinesh Chandimal and Thirimanne, who debuted in 2010, have both played 100 ODIs – 16 more than Ajantha Mendis, who debuted in 2008.

Sri Lanka Cricket will refuse no-objection certificates to at least 16 centrally-contracted players seeking to take part in this year’s Bangladesh Premier League, an SLC official has said

Andrew Fidel Fernando and Mohammad Isam10-Nov-2015Sri Lanka Cricket will refuse no-objection certificates to at least 16 centrally-contracted players seeking to take part in this year’s Bangladesh Premier League, an SLC official has said. The board will instead insist that its cricketers take part in the upcoming Premier Limited Overs (List A) tournament at home. Some of the players who have been bought by BPL franchises may also be required for Sri Lanka’s Test tour of New Zealand, which begins in early December. The BPL runs from November 22 to December 15.

List of Sri Lankan players affected by the NOCs

Shehan Jayasuriya
Isuru Udana
Dilruwan Perera
Dhammika Prasad
Milinda Siriwardana
Binura Fernando
Ajantha Mendis
Lahiru Thirimanne
Kithuruwan Vithanage
Niroshan Dickwella
Prasanna Jayawardene
Ashan Priyanjan
Sachith Pathirana
Sachithra Senanayake
Seekkuge Prasanna
Upul Tharanga
Jeevan Mendis*

“The centrally-contracted players will not be given permission, because there is a tour of New Zealand for which the players leave on November 27,” SLC cricket operations manager Carlton Bernadus said. “The board has also taken a decision that all the centrally-contracted players who won’t be on that tour should stay back and play in the domestic tournament, which begins on November 20th.”The move is aimed to protect the quality of the Premier Limited Overs tournament, and to help ensure Sri Lanka’s clubs have their best players available to them throughout the season.BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury however said that they are confident the SLC will give the NOCs. “We are confident that SLC will give the NOCs in the next few days,” he told ESPNcricinfo on Monday evening.The BPL has requested no-objection certificates for 25 Sri Lankan players, but out of those, 17 – including the likes of Lahiru Thirimanne and Sachithra Senanayake – have central contracts.”Where there are no contracts, players can get permission from their clubs,” Bernardus said.  “For example, Dilshan Munaweera is not a contracted player, and the Bloomfield CC president has given him permission – that is fine.”SLC has focused on raising the quality of its domestic cricket this year, and has increased match fees for domestic games in an attempt to make cricket a more stable source of income for players. With a zonal tournament also in the works for the upcoming season, domestic cricketers’ earning potential has been significantly improved.”The board has invested in the players,” Bernardus said. “They have enhanced the fees to 7000 rupees per match day. If our domestic cricket is not played properly, where are we going?”Jeevan Mendis has received special permission from Tamil Union Cricket Club to play in the BPL, but the national selectors, acting on behalf of the board, may still deny him the no-objection certificate, Bernardus said. Mendis is among the 17 centrally-contracted players.

The BCB’s cricket operations committee is in discussions to host one Test in addition to three T20s against Zimbabwe in January

Mohammad Isam23-Dec-2015Two days after BCB president Nazmul Hassan said the Test series between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in January would be shelved to concentrate on limited-overs cricket ahead of the World T20, the BCB’s cricket operations committee has announced it is in discussion with their Zimbabwean counterparts to hold one Test in January apart from three Twenty20s.The cricket operations committee chairman Naimur Rahman said that Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) had proposed the teams play five T20s in Bangladesh after their series against Afghanistan ends on January 10. But Rahman said neglecting Test cricket was rarely beneficial.”Every team is playing Test cricket during this time,” Rahman said. “They will also play in the World T20, so we have to play all the formats. We cannot avoid any of these formats. Test cricket is the real deal. We can improve in other formats if we do well in Tests. But if we just play T20s, we can’t improve properly.”We have always spoken about increasing Tests in the FTP. So there will be a negative effect on us if we don’t play Tests despite the opportunity.”The original schedule for this series featured three Tests, then it was cut to two in September and now there is a possibility of a full, if split series – one Test in Bangladesh, two Tests in Zimbabwe after the World T20. “If we play one Test here, we can play the other two there in July next year, in addition to an ODI series,” Rahman said.Rahman also added the proposed series in January will likely be played in Khulna and Sylhet since most of the other venues in the country will be busy preparing for the Under-19 World Cup that begins on January 27.Naimur also said Bangladesh will not be playing the World T20 warm-up match on March 4 since it clashes with the Asia Cup’s schedule. They will only play the warm-up game on March 6. The operations committee has also called off an initial plan to hold a training camp in Dharamsala in late January because of the different weather conditions compared to the time the World T20 will be played there.

Twitter reactions to West Indies mankading for the final wicket against Zimbabwe at Under-19 World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Feb-2016When West Indies’ Keemo Paul effected a mankad to claim the last Zimbabwe Under-19 wicket, it divided cricketing opinion. Many current and former players took to Twitter to condemn the act.

There were some voices of support for the mankading as well.

The ICC cricket committee has ruled out the possibility of reviews of erroneous no-ball calls, on the basis that a batsman should not be judged on how he played a ball that was ruled illegal before he did so

Daniel Brettig12-Feb-2016Reviews of erroneous no-ball calls like that one that reprieved Adam Voges in Wellington have been debated and overruled by the ICC cricket committee, on the basis that the batsman should not be judged on how he played a ball that was ruled illegal before he did so.The cricket committee debates emerged in the aftermath of Voges’ fortunate escape in the final over of the day, when he shouldered arms to Doug Bracewell only to be relieved to see the sight of Richard Illingworth’s outstretched arm signalling an illegal delivery. Replays showed that Bracewell had not actually overstepped, but there is no recourse for players to ask that the on-field umpire’s call be checked.Amid widespread dismay at the sequence of events, ESPNcricinfo has learned that the scenario was the subject of discussion at the cricket committee on more than one occasion. A consistent view was maintained that the batsman’s action in playing or not playing the ball has to be considered influenced by the call and thus “inadmissable” as a dismissal.”It’s an illegal delivery from the moment the umpire calls it, and the batsman plays it under that assumption,” an ICC official said. “[We have] debated this scenario at cricket committee a number of times and each time it concluded that it is not reasonable to retrospectively tell the batsman he was facing a legal delivery, when it was an illegal delivery at the time he played it.”This state of affairs has been complicated for some years by the advent of the front foot no-ball law, which reduced considerably the amount of time between the umpire’s no-ball call and the batsman having to play the delivery. Judging the batsman’s intent is thus very difficult, but the inability of the umpires to reverse a no-ball call is clear in the minds of the game’s custodians.The ICC cricket committee is composed of a wide group of players and officials, including the chairman Anil Kumble, ICC chairman Shashank Manohar, chief executive David Richardson, Andrew Strauss, Mark Taylor, Kumar Sangakkara, L Sivaramakrishnan, Darren Lehmann, David White, Steve Davis, Ranjan Madugalle, Kevin O’Brien, Ravi Shastri, Clare Connor and the MCC’s John Stephenson.