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Aaron Finch has declared he wants to lead Australia’s T20 World Cup title defence at home next summer and at the 2023 50-over World Cup despite revealing he had rushed his return from knee surgery to lead his nation to the recent T20 World Cup title in the UAE.Finch, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoinis gathered at the MCG on Thursday to celebrate with the trophy having flown home separately from those in Australia’s Ashes squad to avoid 14-days hotel quarantine due to different restrictions in Victoria compared to Queensland.The captain revealed he had struggled in the field with his surgically repaired knee throughout the tournament and could be in doubt for the start of the BBL with Melbourne Renegades’ first game set for December 7.But Finch is adamant he wants to continue leading Australia for the next two World Cup campaigns over the next two years.”If I can get there, absolutely,” Finch said. “I probably need a little bit of extra time to get my knee right now. I pushed the rehab really hard and probably paid the price for it a little bit throughout the tournament. So yeah, maybe a little bit more time off at the moment to just make sure I get that right.”I’ll wait and see over the next couple of weeks and not sure when our first game is for the Renegades [against] Adelaide but we’ll wait and see to see if I’m right.”Finch has stood down from captaining Melbourne Renegades with new recruit Nic Maddinson taking over for the upcoming BBL season with Finch to play a senior mentoring role.But there has been no formal plan of a similar type of handover with Australia’s limited-overs captaincy but Finch revealed he has had informal discussions with chairman of selectors George Bailey.”I’ve spoken a Bails about that over the last probably six months that,” Finch said. “There’s going to be a period over the next two or three years definitely but that was all. That wasn’t an in-depth conversation. [It was] was just more to put on the to-do list over the next couple of months.”Finch did note that his vice-captain Pat Cummins provided a key moment of leadership after the England loss during the World Cup that helped solidify Australia’s intent for the rest of the tournament.”I think Patty Cummins was the one who spoke about it after the England game,” Finch said. “Just about the intent to be to be really aggressive and make sure that you’re putting as much pressure on the opposition as you can.”I was really proud. That the commitment that we made to keep being really aggressive as a team was the most important thing. And especially after the England game, we felt as though we were a little bit timid and got outplayed. And once we were on the back foot we never transferred the pressure back to England at any point. So the fact that we committed to playing our way and being as aggressive as we could be, I think played a really big part in that.”Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell pose with the T20 World Cup trophy at the MCG•Getty Images

The players were frustrated that their World Cup celebrations were spoilt by the fact that the Test squad had to depart at 8am the next morning while the rest of the group travelled home separately. But the squad tried to make a pact of sorts to stick together and defend their title at home next year.”There was a call made to George Bailey, between the stadium and the hotel, and a real push from everyone to name the squad for the next World Cup now,” Finch said. “So that was quite funny.”Finch also praised coach Justin Langer for helping create a great atmosphere within the group after he had entered the tournament under some pressure following a turbulent lead-up after a disastrous tour of Bangladesh.”It was a great feel amongst the coaching group and the playing group for the whole World Cup,” Finch said. “I think JL took all the advice on board from the players and no doubt it was really tough. It was confronting and that goes both ways. You have some really honest conversations which aren’t always the easiest ones to have. But he took that all on board and probably handed the reins over a little bit more to the playing group and his assistant coaches in their various areas. Andrew McDonald with the with the assistant coaching in this sort of strategy side of it with and the fast bowling, Michael Di Venuto batting, Jeff Vaughan fielding and [Sridharan] Sriram as the spin coach to allow them to work a little bit closer probably one on one with players a little bit more. So it was a great tour.”

Bangladesh will try to have different types of batters together in the middle, and focus on having a better powerplay against Oman, according to coach Russell Domingo. This is the reaction after their six-run defeat against Scotland on Sunday, a result that puts their progress into the main draw in jeopardy, and has drawn the ire of the public and the Bangladesh Cricket Board.Domingo however put on a sunny disposition during the press conference, brushing aside emotionally loaded questions, and focusing mainly on the cricketing part of his job.”I am always a fan of having a left-hander and a right-hander in the wicket,” Domingo said. “We want to have different types of batters batting at the same time, not similar types of players. We have discussed it in depth. There might not be major changes, but there might be one or two tweaks in the line-up.”As you have seen in the series against Australia and New Zealand, we have been flexible. It will depend on the situation and the bowlers that are bowling at the time.”Domingo said that that they will make one change against Oman, which will most likely be Mohammad Naim returning in place of Soumya Sarkar. The initial swap, when Soumya replaced Naim, came as a big surprise as Naim had opened in Bangladesh’s last 17 T20Is. Soumya was picked because he offered a sixth bowling option, according to Domingo.But Bangladesh have struggled with their opening pair regardless of whether it is Naim, Soumya or Liton Das, for the majority of the last 12 games. Domingo said that they have to approach the powerplays with greater balance in their strokeplay.”If you get 35-45 in the first six, it allows you to launch at the backend. We have to address the powerplay a bit better now. We have made a few mistakes, played shots we shouldn’t have played, stopped playing those shots we should be playing. So we have to find the right balance between attack and defence in the first six overs,” he said.Domingo said that Bangladesh took Scotland seriously and will take on Oman with a similar mentality too. “We didn’t take Scotland lightly. They beat Bangladesh in their last T20I encounter. There was no complacency in yesterday’s game. We have to show Oman great respect.”They are confident. They are playing at home. They have come off a good win. But we can’t focus on them. We have to focus on our particular performance, skills and goals.”Domingo urged his players to embrace the pressure of playing in World Cup, even if it means there’s extra scrutiny on everything that they do on and off the field.”There’s always massive pressure in World Cups, particularly for a cricket-loving nation like Bangladesh. Every performance is scrutinised, every mistake gets magnified, so players are under pressure. But that’s why they play for their country. They have to embrace that pressure, and hopefully it brings the best out of the boys.”

Gerhard Erasmus top-scored with 77 in Namibia’s successful chase•Peter Della Penna

Two days after being bowled out for 89 by UAE, Namibia bounced back against the same opponents, chasing down 273 with seven balls to spare in Windhoek. After Namibia were reduced to 130 for 5, their captain Sarel Burger hit an unbeaten half-century, and added 96 for the sixth wicket with Gerhard Erasmus to put his team back on course. Eventually Burger shepherded his team to a four-wicket win with assistance from JJ Smit’s 13-ball cameo of 22 towards the back end of the innings.Having elected to bat first, UAE put up a strong performance to post 272, and may have scored more if it wasn’t for left-arm pacer Jan Frylinck. UAE were comfortably poised at 251 for 2 in 45 overs when Frylinck bowled half-centurion Shaiman Anwar, and he then conceded only one run and took two more wickets in the 50th over. UAE managed to add only 21 runs in their last five overs, for the loss of five wickets.That UAE had such a strong platform to build on, though, was courtesy opener Rohan Mustafa’s 113-ball 96 and wicketkeeper Ghulam Shabber’s 71-ball 71, but their total was eventually just not enough.The loss for UAE guarantees they will finish in the bottom half of the WCL Championship final standings, thus relegating them back to WCL Division Two along with Namibia. Canada and Oman currently sit in Division Two after being promoted from Division Three this past May in Uganda.These four teams will be joined in Division Two by the fifth and sixth placed finishers in the WCL Championship, currently Kenya and Nepal, to play Division Two in early 2018. The top two finishers at Division Two will advance to the 2018 World Cup Qualifier where they will join the top four sides in the WCL Championship – currently Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Scotland and Hong Kong – as well as West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan.

November 11: MoU negotiations between Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) formally begin in Melbourne, with a meeting between CA’s chairman David Peever and his opposite number Greg Dyer. The meeting was preluded by news that the ACA was chasing a more expansive definition of Australian Cricket Revenue – the agreed pool of money from which their payment has been drawn – to include digital revenue.December 7: Australia’s captain Steven Smith and deputy David Warner dine with CA board directors where the governing body’s desire to break up the revenue sharing model is discussed. It is an evening that begins a trend of CA trying to go around the ACA to deal directly with the players.December 12: CA sends its initial pay submission to the ACA and players, detailing plans to break up the revenue sharing model and offer fixed wages to domestic male and female players, while only offering surplus profits – capped at A$20 million – to international men (subsequently expanded to also include international women). A particular sticking point is the pregnancy policy for female players.December 19: CA suspends pay talks with the ACA after the pregnancy clause revelations, locking the players’ association’s negotiating team out of a scheduled meeting at the board’s Jolimont headquarters – this is the first major breakdown in pay talks between the two bodies in 20 years.December 22: Australia’s men’s and women’s captains Steven Smith and Meg Lanning write to the CA chief executive James Sutherland requesting that the board respects the ACA as the players’ collective bargaining agent and asking that they cease attempts to deal directly with individual players.December 27: Sutherland seeks to take some heat out of discussions by stating during the Boxing Day Test match against Pakistan that Australia’s players’ association and board have “more in common than not”.January 24: The ACA claims that it is not being offered substantial financial details on which to judge CA’s proposal and weigh it up against its own.March 5: Sutherland maintains CA’s desire to break up the revenue percentage model while visiting India for Australia’s Test tour.March 21: Players are presented with CA’s formal pay offer, which adds some detail and some adjustments to the December proposal but remains largely unchanged in its modelling and overall thrust, seeking to breakup the revenue sharing model and return wage control to the board. The offer also outlines what CA intends to do with the money raised by changing the model – expanding its media wing and investing in other new projects in addition to https://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/story/1087893.html” target=”_blank”>funding the grassroots.April 19: Tim May, the former ACA chief executive and an architect of the first revenue sharing MoU in 1998, challenges CA to provide a more substantial case for breaking up the model.April 27: CA’s head of cricket operations, Sean Cary, one of few board employees to work closely and consistently with the ACA, quits to take up a tennis job in the United States.May 11: Mitchell Starc insists that no Australian players will entertain contract negotiations until a new MoU is agreed upon, following revelations that CA’s team performance manager Pat Howard has offered multi-year deals to the top five players – Starc, Steven Smith, David Warner, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.May 12: Sutherland writes to his opposite number at the ACA Alistair Nicholson, criticising the ACA’s approach to negotiations and informs all players coming out of contract that they will be unemployed as of July 1. The ACA requests mediation to move pay talks forward after numerous rounds of fruitless meetings between the players’ association and the board.May 15: David Warner further inflames the dispute by saying CA might find itself without any players for the Ashes if the two parties cannot reach an agreement.May 17: CA’s chairman David Peever rejects the ACA’s request for mediation, stating that negotiations had not yet begun.May 18: The ACA unveils a contingency fund for players left out of pocket in the event of the pay dispute going beyond June 30.May 25: The ACA announces the foundation of The Cricketers Brand, a commercial wing of the association for the use of the players’ intellectual property, which passes out of the hands of CA beyond June 30 when the MoU expires.May 27-28: Peever rejects the ACA’s calls for mediation a second time as CA again attempts to deal directly with the players. Australia’s federal minister for sport, Greg Hunt, reveals the governmentwould be prepared to provide mediation for the two parties if the dispute were to threaten the Ashes.May 30: CA releases a video featuring lead negotiator Kevin Roberts explaining CA’s pay offer to players, with another released the following week. One of the graphics accompanying the video states that the Big Bash League lost A$33 million for CA over its first five years, a claim attacked by the ACA’s Simon Katich.June 8: Warner criticises CA for the release of the videos to players in the middle of their Champions Trophy campaign. Australia would be eliminated in the first round after a pair of washouts are followed by a loss to England.June 20: South Africa launches its new Twenty20 tournament and it is revealed that numerous Australian players, including internationals, have expressed interest in the event which will clash with the home season. At the same time it emerges that players have discussed playing exhibition matches should the dispute be lengthy.June 21: Following the announcement of the AFL’s pay deal with its players, the AFLPA chief executive and former ACA chief Paul Marsh criticises CA for endangering the international game. At the same time CA’s lead negotiator Roberts goes on a national roadshow to explain CA’s position to the players.June 23: CA offers a pair of concessions relative to its previous offer – increasing payments for domestic male players and also linking all players to the capped bonus system originally offered only to international players – at the same time as sending contract offers out to all players. The ACA, angered by the offers being sent out without an MoU, rejects the concessions.June 27: Players meet at an annual golf day in Sydney and implore CA’s chief executive James Sutherland to get directly involved in negotiations. Sutherland, who has kept at arm’s length from talks, arrives back in Melbourne from ICC meetings a day before the MoU expires.June 28: Players are sent a communique from the team performance manager Pat Howard outlining arrangements beyond the expiry of the MoU, including a warning that any players taking part in exhibition matches will be banned from the Ashes. Limited talks between the two parties go nowhere substantial.June 30: MoU deadline day arrives, and CA marks it by hardening its stance against the players, announcing that all money originally intended to be paid to out of contract players will instead be diverted to grassroots funding programmes until an MoU is agreed upon. This move enrages the playersfurther.

Allrounder Krunal Pandya and medium pacer Basil Thampi have earned maiden call-ups to the India A side, for the tour of South Africa starting next month. Both players have been included in the 16-man one-day squad.

India A squads

• For the tri-series: Manish Pandey (capt), Mandeep Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Deepak Hooda, Karun Nair, Krunal Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), Vijay Shankar, Axar Patel,Yuzvendra Chahal, Jayant Yadav, Basil Thampi, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Siddarth Kaul

• For the four-day games: Karun Nair (capt), Priyank Panchal, Abhinav Mukund, Shreyas Iyer, Ankit Bawne, Sudip Chatterjee, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hanuma Vihari, Jayant Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Aniket Choudhary, Ankit Rajpoot

Pandya and Thampi were in excellent form in the 2017 IPL in April-May. Thampi’s 11 wickets in his debut season were the second-highest for his team, Gujarat Lions, but it was more his ability to deliver yorkers that caught attention. Pandya established himself as an integral cog in the Mumbai Indians squad that lifted the IPL trophy for a third time, at one point being picked as the sole spinning option over Harbhajan Singh. He finished with 243 runs at 34.71 and struck them at 135.75 to go alongside 10 wickets and an economy rate of under seven.”The aim is not just to represent India for a couple of matches here and there but to play for as long as possible,” Krunal told . It would be a dream come true if I and Hardik [his brother who has already graduated to international cricket] can together play for India in the 2019 World Cup.”Hardik was ecstatic. He called me and said that ‘You are getting there’. Having already played for India, he has an insight about top-flight cricket and I always discuss with him to pick finer points. There can’t be a closer buddy than your own brother.”The squad will be captained by Manish Pandey, who has recovered from the side strain he suffered during the IPL, which kept him out of the Champions Trophy earlier this month.The 15-man squad for the four-day games has batsmen Hanuma Vihari and Sudip Chatterjee, and seamers Ankit Rajpoot and Mohammed Siraj, all of whom have never played first-class cricket for India A. Vihari had a fruitful 2016-17 Ranji Trophy season with Andhra, amassing 688 runs at 57.33, including a double-century. Siraj was Hyderabad’s highest wicket-taker in their run to the quarter-final with 41 scalps, while Rajpoot and Chatterjee also enjoyed good returns. Aniket Choudhary, the left-arm pacer from Rajasthan, who took four wickets in a tour game between India A and the visiting Bangladesh team last year, was also included. Karun Nair will lead the first-class team.The tour kicks off on July 26 with a triangular one-day series, also involving Australia A. India and South Africa will then play two four-day games in August, in Benoni and Potchefstroom.

ScorecardVernon Philander is gathering form ahead of the South Africa Test series, and Sussex are reaping the rewards•Getty Images

Vernon Philander in county cricket has been a paradox. The gifts which have earned him huge success in Test cricket – seam movement, nip and unrelenting accuracy – appear ideally suited to English conditions. He played a crucial role in South Africa’s Test series victory in England in 2012 and, they will hope, will do the same later this summer.And yet, for all these qualities, the impression that Philander has left in county cricket has often been underwhelming: of a cricketer bowling within himself to preserve himself for sterner challenges ahead. Sussex are his fifth county; none of the previous four were particularly enamoured with him.Philander’s stint at Hove did not begin auspiciously either. He went wicketless in his opening Championship game, the home defeat to Kent, during which he sustained a groin injury that ruled him out for a month.Here, though, the imposter who has masqueraded as Philander in county cricket was replaced by the man who has snared 161 Test wickets at 22.39 apiece, a preposterous return in this age of the bat. Sussex’s maximum-points victory was sealed when Philander uprooted Graham Onions’ middle stump with a ball that had moved in from down the slope; away movement and awkward bounce had accounted for Chris Rushworth the previous ball.Philander, then, had figures of 4 for 39 in the innings and 6 for 99 in the match, including four wickets in the opposition’s top three: the sort of return demanded of a cricketer with such international pedigree, even on a wicket flatter than those ideally suited to his skills.”It’s always nice to come out and enjoy conditions, and get a bit of experience with the Duke ball again. It’s just good to be out here and get some game time, and enjoy being with the boys – there were some special performances in this game,” Philander said. “I’ve been pretty steady in my county stints. The wickets are a little bit flatter at this time of year, especially with the new toss rule. I’ve had a good run out here and hopefully I can take a few more wickets.”Before joining up with South Africa’s Test squad, Philander has three more Championship matches for Sussex. His impact could be decisive if, as he expects, he continues to improve, especially as Cricket South Africa have imposed no limits on his workload. “It’s only my first game back so I’d like to see myself getting better. It’s not a pace issue, it’s about getting through my action on a regular basis and just to bowl more overs. The more you bowl, the better you get.”On the evidence of this game, it was impossible to dispute Philander’s verdict on Sussex’s bowling: “a wonderful attack – there’s good variety and everyone knows their job.” Bowling uphill with the new ball while Philander bowled downhill, Jofra Archer continued the fine impression he made in this game with three wickets on the final day.The dismissal of Paul Coughlin, unable to get out the way of a delivery he left on length, and clattered into his elbow and then onto his off stump, encapsulated Archer’s destructive potential; so startling has his progress been that match figures of 8 for 125 and 70 off 68 balls already seem almost routine for him. Almost as impressive was his parsimony, the product of bowling a line and length as unerring as Philander’s.Chris Jordan did not take any wickets on the final day but made a sprightly return after six weeks during which he delivered a solitary over in the IPL, while David Wiese, uncomplaining in bowling at the least opportune times, snared Paul Collingwood lbw in the day’s second over, even if the delivery looked to be sliding past the leg stump.Yet one of this quartet – probably Wiese – is likely to make way for the returning Steve Magoffin for Sussex’s next game, the trip to Tunbridge Wells on Friday which shapes as critical to their chances of returning to Division One. Magoffin’s return is a palliative to the confirmation that another Sussex great, Ed Joyce, has played his last game for the club.Even after the unfortunate dismissal of Collingwood, Durham showed resilience. Ryan Pringle batted 201 balls for his unbeaten 38, an innings infused with technical and mental fortitude. And James Weighell defied a nasty blow on the toe by Archer to make his maiden first-class fifty, taking 16 off a Jordan over with fluent driving.Such resistance, however admirable, could not obscure Durham’s underlying struggles – and the sense of a county under siege. Both Onions and Weighell will not travel to Swansea, where Durham play Glamorgan on Friday, and Michael Richardson will again be absent, though he is expected to return for Durham’s following game. Barry McCarthy, returning from Ireland duty, will come into the side, probably alongside Gavin Main.”It’s been a tricky start to 2017. It’s been difficult and we haven’t fronted up as well as we would have liked. As a team we need to be better,” said head coach Jon Lewis. “Our squad is not as deep as it has been in previous years, and the injury list is enough to stretch us.”On a day when Ben Stokes and Mark Wood played for England to reaffirm Durham’s success in developing their own talent, Lewis admitted that Durham could look to the loan market, especially if a player signed could then be recruited permanently.Given Durham’s pace-bowling injuries, Middlesex’s stockpile of pace bowlers is one potential source of new talent. It is understood that Durham are interested in recruiting Harry Podmore on loan, with a view to signing him for the longer term.

If you had glanced at the weather forecast for Kingston last Friday, you might have been forgiven for wondering if the city had any business hosting a Test match. There was rain expected across all five days, with dry spells in between. When Misbah-ul-Haq looked at it, he knew there was only one plausible path to victory, which his team achieved shortly after lunch on the fifth day.Misbah himself played no small part. Having contributed 99 not out to stretch the first-innings lead, which eventually proved decisive, he came out to biff two successive sixes to seal the game. Soon after, Misbah said the thought of this being his final series hadn’t prevented him from playing without having fun.

Holder disappointed with batting show

Jason Holder, the West Indies captain, felt losing four wickets in the first session on the opening day didn’t do them any favours for the rest of the Test.
“We didn’t get enough runs in the first innings. Never really got a partnership going. Credit must go to Shane Dowrich and Roston Chase, but unfortunately we couldn’t get in excess of 300 runs, which we needed to do.
“Yasir Shah did bowl well in the second innings but we could have batted a lot better. From the position we were in last evening, if was always going to be difficult to come out on the fifth day and try to survive Yasir.”

“If you’re not enjoying yourself, then there’s no point of playing. I’m not the kind of person who would linger on if I wasn’t having fun,” he said. “These wins are special, and this is one more Test match that the team has given to me as a gift.”While the batsmen’s role in giving a first-innings cushion can’t be overstated, it was the bowlers who ensured victory was possible despite losing almost all of the second day to rain. “With tricky weather, the idea was to win the toss and bowl first,” he said. “We just had one chance to get them out quickly and then play one good innings. Otherwise it wasn’t going to be possible.”We knew that it was going to be tough batting on the fifth day. I think the bowlers did very well. In the first innings (Mohammad) Amir, especially, his spell was crucial. In the second innings, again Amir and especially Yasir’s spell was incredible. Getting six wickets this morning in no time was the game changer.”The one worry Pakistan could have is that going in with just one spin bowler risks overworking the faster bowlers. This concern, however, did not manifest itself during the game, with West Indies lasting just 147.4 overs across both innings.With 19-year old Shadab Khan, who impressed during the limited-overs leg of the series, waiting in the wings, Misbah admitted that playing a second legspinner was a possibility, but said a call would only be taken after assessing the conditions.”Our combination will depend on the conditions we get, and especially how the pitch looks before the Test match,” he said. “This pitch had a lot of moisture and that is why we opted to bowl first and go with three seamers. With our combination, it’s difficult, it’s difficult to sneak in the fifth bowler, especially since we have six specialist batsmen, so having three fast bowlers and two spinners becomes tricky.”

Match facts

March 25, 2017
Start time 1430 local (0900 GMT)1:02

Shakib Al Hasan’s reign at the top in the ICC rankings is longer than not only all cricketers but also the best from a few other sporting disciplines

Big picture

Bangladesh have exulted, the Sri Lanka team have been verbally flagellated, and after Sunday’s result, a tour that had been flying under the radar on the island has suddenly sparked widespread interest.While Bangladesh’s second major Test victory in the space of a few months has been interpreted as a another sign of the team’s arrival at the top level, Sri Lanka’s loss has split opinion at home. Some have suggested Sri Lankan cricket has entered a death spiral; others have argued that while there is cause for significant concern, there is hope yet. Whatever the case, the limited-overs series have become doubly important for Sri Lanka now. If they lose here as well, there may not be many rushing to defend this team.What will worry Sri Lanka is that ODIs have recently been Bangladesh’s strongest format. They did lose to England at home last year, but have beaten India, Pakistan and South Africa in bilateral series in 2015.Sri Lanka meanwhile, can probably reflect that ODIs have been their weakest suit. Save for series against West Indies, Ireland and Zimbabwe – all of whom have failed to qualify for this year’s Champions Trophy – Sri Lanka have lost bilateral series against England, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan and New Zealand (twice) since the start of 2015.The hosts are still without their two best limited-overs players – Angelo Mathews remains injured, and Lasith Malinga is also unavailable, thanks to a slow recovery from a major ankle injury.Bangladesh, meanwhile, will not only be buoyed by their Test win, they are also boosted by the arrival of their charismatic limited-overs captain: Mashrafe Mortaza.

Form guide

Sri Lanka LLLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Bangladesh LLLLW

In the spotlight

Upul Tharanga’s captaincy has yielded mixed results – a 0-5 thrashing in ODIs in South Africa, to go with a 2-1 win in the T20 series in Australia – but his own form has been largely encouraging. In addition to having scored heavily in the Galle Test, Tharanga had also struck a 90-ball 119 in an ODI in Cape Town last month. At 32, Tharanga is intent on retaining his place in the team until he retires, but he still needs to score more consistently to convince the many doubters.Mustafizur Rahman‘s fourth day spell at the P Sara may have broken open the match for Bangladesh, but it didn’t feature many trademark cutters. Switching now to the format in which he made his name, Mustafizur has plenty of form behind him – having also taken two wickets in each of his ODI outings in New Zealand, in December. On Asian tracks better suited to his bowling, there is a chance the series is defined by how well Sri Lanka’s batsmen defuse his bowling.

Team news

With Kusal Perera out of the first two ODIs, left-arm spinning allrounder Milinda Siriwardana has been named in the squad for the Dambulla matches. Also returning to the fray are Danushka Gunathilaka – who had missed the South Africa series – and Thisara Perera, who had been dropped. Niroshan Dickwella is unavailable for this match, however, thanks to the suspension he picked up in Australia. Tharanga and Gunathilaka are likely to open together.*Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Danushka Gunathilaka, 2 Upul Tharanga (capt.), 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 5 Dhananjaya de Silva, 6 Asela Gunaratne, 7 Sachith Pathirana, 8. Thisara Perera, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Vikum Sanjaya, 11 Lakshan SandakanBangladesh could make at least two changes to the XI from their last ODI, in New Zealand. Mushfiqur Rahim will return to the line-up as wicketkeeper in place of Nurul Hasan while Tanbir Hayder isn’t in the current squad. Mehedi Hasan’s late call-up suggests he could be handed an ODI debut. Sunzamul Islam may also earn an ODI cap if they decide to play only two seamers.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Sabbir Rahman, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mosaddek Hossain, 8 Mehedi Hasan, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 10 Taskin Ahmed/Sunzamul Islam, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Pitch and conditions

The Dambulla track has generally been slow, with 300 having been breached only twice there. The weather is expected to be fine.

Stats and trivia

• Bangladesh have won only four ODIs and lost 33 against Sri Lanka. One of those wins and 14 losses have come in Sri Lanka.
• Mustafizur has failed to get two wickets only twice in his 11 ODIs so far. He has 30 wickets at an average of 13.83 in the format.
• Sri Lanka lost their last home series 1-4 to Australia.

Quotes

“We started well in New Zealand but couldn’t finish off those games. So every game becomes important, not just at the start or end of a series.”
“After the Test series, we had four training sessions, and in all those four sessions, we dedicated lot of time for fielding. I think we are doing quite okay in practices when it comes to fielding, but when we go into thee middle, we fail to concentrate.”
*This article originally had Dickwella among Sri Lanka’s possible XI. He is, however, suspended for this match.

Peter Richardson, the former Worcestershire and Kent batsman who played 34 Tests for England, has died aged 85.Richardson was brought into the England side at opener in 1956 after the retirement of Len Hutton and made scores of 81 and 73 on debut against Australia. His maiden hundred came in the fourth Test at Old Trafford as England retained the Ashes.He went on to score five hundreds in his first 16 Tests but lost his place after a poor tour of Australia in 1958-59 and only featured sporadically thereafter.In the 1957 Trent Bridge Test against West Indies, he played alongside his brother, Dick – they were the last brothers to represent England before the Hollioakes in 1997. Their other sibling, Bryan, also played occasionally for Warwickshire.An amateur with Worcestershire, where he was named one of ‘s Cricketers of the Year in 1957, he moved to Kent in 1959 and took up professional status. He made 1000 runs in a season on 11 occasions (four times passing 2000) during a 16-year career.Richardson was also known as a dressing-room prankster and was fond of sending pseudonymous letters to the .

ScorecardDinesh Chandimal ended a poor run of form with a century•AFP

Dinesh Chandimal has made a strong return to runs, while Bangladesh seam bowlers Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman made promising starts to their tour of Sri Lanka as well, in the two-day practice match in Moratuwa.Chandimal’s 190 not out off 253 balls followed a chastening tour of South Africa in which his highest score in 12 international innings was 36. He had been omitted from the ODI XI towards the end of that tour, and was later told by chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya that he should “go back to club cricket” in order to “work his game out”.Though there was little doubt he would feature in the Test XI – especially in a series with Bangladesh, whom he averages 128.33 against – this long occupation of the crease will have Sri Lanka feeling much happier about what remains an inexperienced top order. Chandimal struck seven sixes and 21 fours in the innings, after he had kept wicket the previous day. Despite Niroshan Dickwella’s presence in the Test squad, Chandimal is likely to bat at No. 6 and keep wickets in the first Test as well.Mustafizur was the most economical of the Bangladesh bowlers, conceding only 28 runs from his 12 overs, while claiming the scalps of opener Ron Chandraguptha and Leo Fransisco. Taskin was more penetrative: he took two new-ball wickets in his second over of the day, then returned later on to dismiss the highly-rated Roshen Silva. He finished with figures of 3 for 41 from 11 overs.Twenty-year-old Tamil Union allrounder Chamika Karunaratne also hit an unbeaten fifty late in match, after he had claimed three wickets on day one. The SLC President’s XI ended the day on 403 for 7 compared to Bangladesh’s 391 for 7 declared.Both teams scored their runs at more than four an over – an indication that this had been a particularly batting-friendly track. The surfaces awaiting Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at Galle and the P Sara Oval are almost certain to be more treacherous.