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New Queensland captain Maher felt 240 was a very achievable target on a small ground with a good wicket and fast outfield and felt the Bulls contributed to their downfall.”We made the mistakes ourselves. I don’t think they were forced errors, so that’s something we can look back on and use in preparation for upcoming games,” Maher said.”To their credit, NSW bowled and fielded well. Going out to bat I thought 240 was well below par, a score that I was very happy to be chasing, but we just didn’t do it with the bat.”Queensland had a perfect start when NSW opener Brad Haddin was run out off the first ball without facing as he charged down the pitch without looking at opening partner Corey Richards.Experienced Queensland fast bowler Michael Kasprowicz (2-30 off 10 overs) conceded just 12 runs in his initial seven over burst.Batting three places higher than he normally does for Australia, Bevan capitalised on the chance to play a long innings and played several dashing cuts and drives.He added 90 with Richards (36) and 85 with Michael Clarke (39) and struck nine fours in his 138th ball innings.Man of the match Nash, and Bracken, who whipped out Martin Love (0) and Lee Carseldine put NSW in control until the furious mid innings onslaught from Symonds who smashed ten fours and three sixes.

Indian coach John Wright said in Bangalore on Monday that two or threespinners and four seamers would be the ideal bowling attack in the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe. “I personally favour the inclusion of two or three spinners as well as four seamers for the team which would tour Zimbabwe,” he told reporters after the end of the second day of the conditioning camp for probables. “But the matter has to be discussed and gone through,” Wright added.On Sourav Ganguly’s lack of form during the recent Australian series,Wright said it was only a matter of time before the Indian captain would strike form again. “Sourav is a world class player. He has got tremendous average in both forms of the game……everyone goes through a lean spell,” he said. “He (Sourav) is very good at the nets. He is working hard and has good tactics”.Wright said Punjab batsman Yuvraj Singh, one of the probables, had passed the fitness target set for him.On India’s dismal away record in the past, Wright said, it was because the country did not play good cricket and to its potential. “We have proved to ourselves and the Indian public that if we play good cricket, we get some good results. Unless you play good cricket, you don’t get good results. If we play to our potential, I am very hopeful that we will get the results everybody wants,” he said, responding to a question about India’s prospects in Zimbabwe where India also play West Indies in a One-day tri-series competition. “Your prospects anywhere completely depend on the quality of players. From that point of view, we have to build on the effort from the last series (against Australia which India won 2-1),” he said.

Western Province ended a roller-coaster second day of this Super 6 match still trailing their visitors from KwaZulu Natal by 138 runs with just three wickets in hand.KZN added just 11 runs to their overnight score before Lance Klusener and wicket keeper Duncan Brown were dismissed off successive deliveries by left arm spinner Claude Henderson. At the other end, Dale Benkenstein was unable to produce the concentration of the first day and was taken behind the wicket on 145 after being dropped on 139, the first error in his seven-and-a-half hour effort. Nixon McLean entertained the small crowd, hitting two sixes before holing out to deep mid wicket to end the innings on a sizeable total of 374. Henderson, after going wicketless for his first 30 overs, took 4 for 18 in the space of 52 balls.The WP openers faced 3 torrid overs from McLean before lunch, but then batted through the middle session, adding 94 between lunch and tea. Rashaad Magiet went on the record his highest score at this level before a dramatic collapse. Three wickets fell with the score on 115, and all in all WP lost 6 for 49 in the space of 22 overs. Jonathan Trott made a disappointing effort to pull early in his innings, and Lloyd Ferreira was just settling in when he left a McLean delivery which came in enough to rattle his stumps.It could have been worse as captain HD Ackerman battled to read the unorthodox left arm spin of Goolam Bodi, and could have been dismissed on numerous occasions. He survived somehow, and with the belligerent all rounder Alan Dawson added a crusial 72 runs for the seventh wicket. The penultimate over of the day was full of action, as Ackerman took a boundary of the first ball to raise his 50 and avoid the follow in one fell swoop. He and Dawson each clubbed a boundary before Dawson cut the last ball of the over straight to the ever reliable Rhodes at point.By the close, WP had reached 2.72 bonus points for batting to remain in third place on the table, and their only realistic hope of reaching the Final remains with the unlikely prospect of an outright win in this match.

Former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe had been diagnosed with lymphoma, a type of cancer. The diagnosis, New Zealand newspapers reported on Monday, was “very new” and Crowe’s family was still coming to terms with it. No details have as yet been released of how serious or at what stage the cancer is.”Understandably the family have a number of issues to confront over the next couple of weeks, the diagnosis is very new, the family is still in shock and obviously dealing with the understanding that life as they know it for the unforeseeable future is different,” Louise Henderson, a close family friend and manager, was quoted as saying.One of New Zealand’s most celebrated batsmen, Crowe, 50, had played 77 Tests between 1982 and 1995, before he was forced to quit international cricket due to a bad knee. He had briefly attempted to return to competitive cricket last November, saying that he considered it a means of self-motivation and a tool to get fit, and also an opportunity to score the 392 runs he needs to tally 20,000 first-class runs. However, the attempt was aborted three balls into his first innings, as he pulled a thigh muscle while batting for Cornwall against Parnell in a club game.

There are many things that people will tell you are the highlights of a year. Birthdays, wedding anniversaries, Christmas and New Year would feature in a lot of these lists but they would all be wrong. There is only one real highlight worth mentioning, it is the first full day’s cricket at the Oval.There is an argument for saying the Oval is not the loveliest cricket ground in the world and certainly compared with Arundel or some festival grounds there may be some truth in that. However The Oval is the real home of English cricket as any Surrey supporter will tell you.The irrelevant intrusion of a bit part player having been disposed of via a run out at the start Essex soon set about clouding my mood to match the sky.Hussain and Law while not ever looking like racing away with the game were seldom troubled by the accurate pace bowling from Bicknell and Tudor on this almost perfect pitch and found the space to push singles in many parts of the arena. Giddins and in particular Gary Butcher, playing in place of yesterday’s Gold Award winner Ben Hollioake, were sufficiently wayward to make life appear easy and the score accelerated past 100, with the Australian discard and the England captain trading the lead in the race to well deserved fifties.Salisbury’s arrival seemed to cause unwarranted glee from Law and before mis-hitting the leg spinner to Ali Brown at midwicket he had attempted several times to smash the ball into the disappointingly under-populated seating square of the wicket, with noticably little contact, Salisbury on an Oval pitch in a county match is not the same as the Salisbury we saw in Pakistan.Hussain continued in fine style with subdued support from Irani before misjudging one of Adam Hollioake’s bag of tricks. After failing to find length or line against Hampshire the Surrey captain could not be faulted on either score today. None of the Essex middle order attempting to push the rate could judge his pace reliably and wickets fell in a rush, not helped by the comical runout of the captain, both batsmen having been almost safe at the batsman’s end, both decided to run for the bowler’s and fell short by at least 8 yards.Cowan played sensibly to guide his team to a score that, while certainly well short of what looked likely with Hussain and Law together, would at least give the bowlers something to defend. Despite a slow outfield the general consensus of both home and away supporters was that 270 would have been a morerealistic target.Ian Ward started the innings in the manner of a man who has spent the winter dismissing bowling attacks to all corners. Helped in this endeavour by some woeful misfields and a ludicrous three overthrows before touching a ball from Irani through to the keeper, as far as I can remember this is the first I have seen of Hyam keeping, looks tidy enough though he may have kerbed Ward’s aggression had he stood up to the two Essex opening bowlers as Stewart had to the similarly paced Surrey fourth and fifth seamers.Wards fall brought the even more in form Ramprakash to the wicket to join Stewart. These two made the earlier partnership between the Essex numbers two and three seem pedestrian, scoring more or less at will either side of the wicket before the introduction of some very unthreatening “spin” bowling seemed to leave Stewart becalmed as so often before. Ramprakash did not fall into the same trap as Suart Law and looked at each bowler before deciding which balls to hit. In Napier’s case the decision seemed to be “most of them”.With the gap between the Duckworth Lewis par score and the actual total approaching 40 Stewart tried to join the party and was well caught on theboundary forward of square leg. Mason can thank his captain’s field placing not just for the wicket, but for saving six runs. Sadly for Essex dismissing one Surrey test batsman usually just means another comes in.Thorpe maybe didn’t realise there were still plenty of overs to go, or perhaps his tea was getting cold, because he immediately injected urgency into the running and then decided his first proper hit should be into the crowd at point, another boundary catch from Mason’s bowling. Another wicket, another international batsman and another acceleration in run-rate.Brown clearly did not intend to leave Ramprakash to collect an easy hundred. At Hampshire’s new Rose Bowl he had struggled to come to terms with a very slow damp wicket, this was much more to his liking. As ever he turned singles to twos, twos to threes, and good balls into boundaries. With five runs needed from four overs he simply missed a rare straight ball from A C McGarry (had his parents been Camberwick Green fans they would have named him Paul or Patrick).Gary Butcher taking a single from the first ball he faced would Ramps be cute and try to manufacture the runs he needed? The answer was simple,No. The first chance he got he hit a four and jogged off to collect a well earned Benson and Hedges Gold Award.

South African captains’ reactions to shock defeats have changed recently. With Graeme Smith, it was always fire and ire. He would spit out words defending his team but his eyes would remain cold and empty. With AB de Villiers it’s giggle and grin.So far, de Villiers has decided not to take things as seriously as his predecessor. That may change if South Africa crumble when it really matters. For now, they have only been beaten in a group match and if they perform well enough in their next two, de Villiers’ response will look like a masterstroke.Instead of focusing on his own range of misjudgements – not bowling the spinners out and batting too far down the order himself – de Villiers chose to focus on the half-full side of losing. He used the word “proud,” to describe how he felt after South Africa’s performance. It was an unusual choice given the ultimate result but not too odd when considered in the context of the defeat.A South African side of old would likely not have come back into the game three times. They probably would not have been able to get to 133, because they may not have had the middle-order presence of JP Duminy. They probably would have been so spooked by not being able to pick Saeed Ajmal that they would have collapsed for less than 90. They would probably not have the spinners to make early breakthroughs or the gut and heart to take the match into the final few overs. For that, there is reason to be proud.From a position where South Africa could have lost by an enormous margin, they ended up losing by only two wickets. It may be simply because their opposition was as unpredictable as only Pakistan can be but it may be because they have made small progress, both in the skills department and from a mental perspective.Robin Peterson, who was one of the bowlers that shoved South Africa back into contention and has been part of the national squad for almost a decade, thinks so. South Africa fought from 28 for 3, to post 133 and that recovery gave them hope that they could win. “I think we had enough runs,” he said bullishly, despite South Africa’s below-par total. “We thought we had a good chance to defend it but it’s not every day that someone scores a special innings like that.”Robin Peterson: “I think we had enough runs”•Getty Images

Umar Gul’s blitz put the contest back in Pakistan’s hands and South Africa could do nothing but acknowledge that he changed the match. That is something they have been unable and perhaps even unwilling to do in the past.What remains is to place similar importance on their own failings. The batting recovery was admirable but de Villiers may have made a difference if he came in higher up. That could speak to the concept of the floating line-up as a whole, which South Africa have stuck with under Gary Kirsten. Although it has worked for them so far, it adds a degree of unsettledness to the team and digressing from it, to a more traditional looking batting order today could have yielded a different total.The same can be said for the use of bowlers. They came back exceptionally after Pakistan were off to a flier and pegged them back. To ask that they did it a second time, after Gul’s onslaught may have been too much. But to ask that slower bowlers are used on surface that suits them would not be but it was a road South Africa weren’t willing to go down.”Hindsight is always a perfect thing,” Peterson said. “AB made the calls and he brought on bowlers that he thought were going to make an impact. It’s difficult to say who could have made an impact when but we stuck to our gameplans. Maybe we need to revisit one or two things.”An admission, at least, that some rethinking would not be wasted on them. That may be the third way of responding to defeat: with thought. Instead of anger or frivolity, genuine analysis.Some will say South Africa choked even though they did not. De Villiers seems to be able to recognise that this defeat was not catastrophic and how he responds will be telling as South Africa aim to map a different course at this event.It seems as though his players know that, too “We are at a different tournament and we’ve got another opportunity to get it right,” Peterson said. “We are doing things slightly differently behind the scenes and so hopefully things will go better for us.”

Match facts

Sunday, July 28, 2013
Start time 1430 local (0900 GMT)Thisara Perera proved his value to the ODI team with a blistering attack that almost swung the third game in Sri Lanka’s favour•Associated Press

Big picture

After South Africa asserted some control over their fate in Sri Lanka, on what was perhaps the driest pitch of the tour to date, it has now fallen to the hosts to arrest the momentum their opponents have gleaned from a big victory. South Africa’s batsmen appeared to have finally cracked the answer to the slow surfaces that sunk them in the first two matches, as they sought to graft securely before embracing aggression very late in the innings.Lonwabo Tsotsobe then provided the experience that had been missing from South Africa’s attack, as he bowled in fearsome tandem with Morne Morkel, to scupper Sri Lanka in the early overs. The pitch being prepared for Sunday looks almost identical to the surface that Friday’s match was played on, and South Africa are unlikely to change their game plan or personnel, save for men drifting in and out of the team due to injury. The visitors are also finally fielding at a standard close to their lively best as well, despite the odd missed opportunity.Sri Lanka’s middle order, meanwhile, continues to face criticism at home, having failed once more to spur a meaningful surge on a day when the top order failed. Dinesh Chandimal had some luck during his 65-ball 29, before departing softly, gloving to Quinton de Kock, and he never really had the measure of the surface. Angelo Mathews appeared more at ease while batting, but surrendered his wicket with an irresponsible pull, soon after debutant Angelo Perera had perished in a similar fashion. Given the middle order’s track record in the last two months, even a South Africa attack missing Dale Steyn will feel confident that there are only three men among Sri Lanka’s batsmen who are capable of playing match-winning innings.Mathews must also now reassert himself at the helm, after Chandimal’s brush with success. In all three matches Chandimal has captained so far (including a Twenty20 against Bangladesh), he has been an eager but astute leader, though his place in the ODI XI is far less secure than Mathews’. There is no real threat to Mathews’ captaincy from within the side, but if he cannot complete his first series victory after being handed a 2-0 lead, pressure may begin to build.

Form guide

(most recent first, five completed matches)
Sri Lanka: LWWLL
South Africa: WLLLT

Players to watch

Thisara Perera had been dropped for the tri-series in the West Indies prior to this tour, but has returned emphatically and is now the leading wicket-taker in the series, as well as the third-highest run-getter. His six-ball blitz against Robin Peterson showcased his power and, on a pitch that may produce another low-scorer, he may again be called upon to blast Sri Lanka to a challenging total. The major weakness in his game appears to be death bowling, which he will need to improve if Sri Lanka continue to play only one specialist pace bowler in future.David Miller proved he was more than just a big hitter on Friday, when he constructed an innings with care, before finally launching the kind of assault his cricket has become famous for. He worked the spinners cleverly alongside de Villers, playing cautiously against Ajantha Mendis, whom he had only seen briefly at the IPL. His unbeaten 85 is South Africa’s only half-century in the series, and Sri Lanka will now look at his game more closely, as they seek to discover weaknesses.

Pitch and conditions

Kandy had its sunniest day in a week on the eve of the match, but the weather is likely to return to its pattern of intermittent showers on Sunday, according to the forecast. The pitch appears to be another slow turner.

Team news

Lahiru Thirimanne is fully fit and will probably play, pushing Angelo Perera out of the XI*. Other than that, though, Sri Lanka are likely to remain unchanged.Sri Lanka (probable): 1. Upul Tharanga, 2. Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3. Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4. Mahela Jayawardene, 5. Dinesh Chandimal, 6. Angelo Mathews (c), 7. Lahiru Thirimanne, 8. Thisara Perera, 9. Rangana Herath, 10. Lasith Malinga, 11. Ajantha MendisSouth Africa are optimistic Hashim Amla will play on Sunday, after he passed a mini fitness test and batted productively in the nets on the eve of the match. He will be thoroughly assessed before the start of play on Sunday, as will Ryan McLaren, who is nursing a strained hamstring he picked up while fielding in the third ODI.AB de Villiers also said that he enjoyed leading the side without the gloves on and Alviro Petersen may make way for Amla’s return, leaving keeper Quinton de Kock in the XI.South Africa (probable): 1. Hashim Amla/ Alviro Petersen, 2. Quinton de Kock (wk), 3. JP Duminy, 4. AB de Villiers (c), 5. Faf du Plessis, 6. David Miller, 7. Robin Peterson, 8. Farhaan Berhardien, 9. Ryan Mclaren/Chris Morris, 10. Morne Morkel, 11. Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Stats and trivia

• The team batting first has won all three matches so far in the series.
• The highest successful chase in 11 matches at Pallekele has been Sri Lanka’s 200 for 3 against New Zealand, who had set them 198 in a rain-reduced match.

Quotes

“He has turned out to be a brilliant allrounder for us – with bat and ball. It looked like he was batting on a different strip.”
“I’m not carrying an injury at all. Quinton’s used to keeping and is a good young keeper. We thought I’d have more to add as a fielder than him. Not that I rate myself more than him – but the guys tend to do. From a captaincy point of view, I have more time with my decision-making and time to communicate with the bowlers.”
*15.30GMT, July 27: The preview was updated after news of Lahiru Thirimanne being fit came in

Ramesh Powar will play for Rajasthan for the next two domestic seasons•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

KB Pawan moves to Tripura
Karnataka’s KB Pawan has moved to Tripura for the season. Pawan was a regular opener for Karnataka but lost his place to KL Rahul last season. The right-handed wicketkeeper-batsman has played 44 first-class matches for Karnataka, scoring 2642 runs at an average of 37.21.Punjab’s Bipul Sharma moves to Himachal Pradesh
Allrounder Bipul Sharma, who was with Punjab until last season, will turn up for Himachal Pradesh in 2013-14. He made his debut for Punjab in 2005, and has played 14 first-class and 52 List A matches. He has five fifties, and a highest score of 93 in first-class cricket to go with 19 wickets at 41.63. The 30-year-old has also played one game for India A against Scotland in 2010.Karnataka’s Abhishek Bhat moves to Saurashtra
Abhishek Bhat, 24, will be among Saurashtra’s ranks this season. He has played club cricket in Karnataka, appearing in the Safi Darasha Tournament, but is yet to make his debut in first-class or List A formats.Gujarat’s Avi Barot moves to Haryana
Wicketkeeper-batsman Avi Barot has transferred from Gujarat to Haryana for this season. The 21-year-old cricketer, who has also represented India Under-19, made his debut for Gujarat in 2011 and has played four first-class matches so far, scoring 118 runs at an average of 19.66. In 12 List A games, Barot has scored 296 runs at an average of 24.66 with three fifties.Rajasthan’s Rashmi Parida moves to Vidarbha
Batsman Rashmi Parida has transferred from Rajasthan to Vidarbha for the 2013-14 season. Parida, 36, played 29 Ranji games for Rajasthan, scoring 1536 runs with two centuries. He was part of the team’s title victories in 2011 and 2012. Parida started his career with his native Orissa in 1994-95 before shifting to Assam for the 2008-09 season. He spent the next four seasons with Rajasthan.Himachal’s Bhavin Thakkar, Gujarat’s Bhavik Thaker move to Jharkhand
Middle-order batsman Bhavin Thakkar will play for Jharkhand in the 2013-14 season. Thakkar, 31, last played a first-class game in 2010, for Himachal Pradesh. He has played 37 first-class games in all, scoring 1924 runs at 35.62, with five tons and 10 fifties. Before Himachal, Thakkar had played for Mumbai. He changed teams, Thakkar told the , because getting a chance to play was most important to him: “You know Mumbai cricket. There is always someone good to replace you. It’s part of the job. You’ve got to accept it. Sometimes, the selectors feel someone else is doing a better job than you. I have no regrets. I played with pride for Mumbai, but playing this game is more important to me than anything else.”Gujarat’s Bhavik Thaker also moved to Jharkhand. The batsman, who made his first-class debut in 2003, was a part of the Gujarat squad for the Ranji trophy in the 2012-13 season, but didn’t get a game. His last first-class game for Gujarat was in December 2011, while his last List A game for his home state was in February 2012. In 55 first-class games, Thaker has 3000 runs at an average of 40 with six hundreds and 19 fifties.Sanjeev Sharma replaces Dahiya as Delhi coach
Sanjeev Sharma, the former India seamer, has replaced former keeper Vijay Dahiya as Delhi’s coach. A Delhi District Cricket Association official told Dahiya was sacked because of his IPL commitments. “He wasn’t available for the whole season,” the official said. “He is associated with Kolkata Knight Riders and during the second phase when we prapare for Vijay Hazare Trophy, he will be busy with Knight Riders camps. Now we don’t want somebody who can’t devote full attention towards Delhi cricket.” Sanjeev Sharma, who played two Tests and 23 ODIs, and 89 first-class games and 61 List A games in a career spanning two decades – 1983 to 2003 – was Delhi’s assistant coach previous to this.Ashok Malhotra Bengal’s new coach
Ashok Malhotra will take over as coach of the Bengal senior team for the 2013-14 season, replacing former India batsman WV Raman, who had cut his term short in July citing family reasons. Malhotra, a middle-order batsman, had played seven Tests and 20 ODIs between 1982 and 1986. He was prolific on the domestic scene for Bengal though, at one time the record holder for the most runs in the Ranji Trophy: 7274 at 52.49 with 18 hundreds. After retiring, Malhotra had a run as a Test selector. He will have a job on his hands turning around Bengal’s fortunes, as they had a poor 2012-13 season, winning only one Ranji game in eight and losing four to finish seventh out of nine teams in Group A.Ganguly on Bengal’s coaching committee
Sourav Ganguly has been named chairman of Bengal’s cricket coaching committee. The committee’s primary job will be to organise coaching camps in Bengal to develop the cricketers in the state. Ganguly was previously head of Bengal’s cricket development committee.Powar joins Rajasthan
Ramesh Powar, one of Mumbai’s leading spinners, has moved from the domestic powerhouse to two-time champions Rajasthan for the next two seasons. Powar, who played two Tests for India, failed to find a spot in Mumbai’s playing XI on consistent basis last season. He finished the season with five first-class games and took six wickets at an average of 82.16. Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the former India allrounder who has been leading Rajasthan for three years, approached Powar and the offspinner agreed to take up the challenge of playing as a professional for Rajasthan.Sunderam appointed as Rajasthan coach
After succumbing to the pressure of entering the Ranji Trophy as defending champions for two successive seasons and finishing second from bottom in the group stage in 2012-13, the Rajasthan Cricket Association unveiled new plans to revive its team’s fortunes. One of the key decisions is Pradeep Sunderam’s appointment as head coach. Sunderam, a former Rajasthan pace bowler, has been instrumental in shaping young talent from Mumbai for well over a decade as the under-22 coach and bowling coach of the MCA academy. In the absence of a head coach, captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar and bowling coach Meyrick Pringle worked as the strategists’ team. Sunderam’s name was recommended by former India wicketkeeper Chandrakant Pandit, who had to resign from the post of RCA’s director of cricket last September following his appointment as the chairman of the national junior selection panel.WV Raman to coach Tamil NaduFormer India opener WV Raman will coach Tamil Nadu for the next two seasons, following a contract with the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. Raman, who was coach of the TN side between 2006 and 2010, recently stepped down from a three-year stint as coach of the Bengal team. “Quite obviously, when your home state wants you to come and help them out, you tend to lean towards it,” Raman told . “You are a part of the Association, you have played for the state for a long time and you now have the opportunity of ensuring that the team is put back on track. Most of the boys who should figure in the scheme of things going forward were under me in my first stint here. Things have since gone southwards. That is probably the biggest attraction for me – to try and get them up and going again, like in my previous stint.”<!– COMMENTED OUTHarmeet to play for Vidarbha
Harmeet Singh, the young left-arm spinner from Mumbai who was in the news after being questioned in the IPL spot-fixing probe, will play for Vidarbha in the forthcoming domestic season. After drawing praise from the likes of Ian Chappell during India’s triumphant Under-19 World Cup campaign last year, Harmeet played for Rest of India during the Irani Cup match in September 2012, and also played in the Challenger Trophy. However, he was not a part of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy squad during the season due to a finger injury and poor form. The Vidarbha Cricket Association approached Harmeet in July and the spinner grabbed the opportunity, aiming to play his first full season of domestic cricket.END OF COMMENT –>

Match facts

Tuesday, July 9
Start time 0930 (1330 GMT)Even a narrow victory is enough for India to qualify, while Sri Lanka are through unless they lose by a margin of around 210 runs•AFP

Big Picture

Even in a tournament as short as this tri-series, there’s time for plenty of twists and turns. Five days ago, West Indies were on top with two wins in two games, and seemed to be cruising to the finals. Instead, after two consecutive losses, they will spend Tuesday anxiously tracking the final league game, cheering Sri Lanka on against India. A defeat for India will send both Sri Lanka and West Indies through to the final.Sri Lanka, after their 39-run rain-influenced victory over the home side, are the best placed of the three teams. Even with a game in hand, they have a share of the top spot and their run-rate is robust thanks to their 161-run thrashing of India last week. Unless they have an absolute horror outing today and lose by something in the range of 210 runs, they will be in the final.India are currently the laggards, but a victory will almost certainly take them into the final at the expense of West Indies. For a target below 321, India can win off the last ball and still get their net run-rate above that of West Indies. For larger targets, India will need to win with a few deliveries to spare (or by a margin of a handful of runs).Rain is expected in Port-of-Spain on Tuesday, however, and though there is a reserve day, in the event the match is washed out, India will be eliminated.

Form guide

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

In the spotlight

Indian fans haven’t quite warmed up to a tournament which came so quickly on the heels of a triumphant Champions Trophy, but their interest will have been stoked by the prospect of watching the man widely tipped to be India’s next leader, Virat Kohli, taking charge. While he has matured rapidly in the past couple of years, his early reputation of being a hothead hasn’t been completed wiped out. An early challenge will be to deal with the fallout of an on-field tiff between Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina, images of which have dominated cricket news in India over the past few days.Dinesh Chandimal may have been promoted to the Sri Lankan vice-captaincy but his one-day record over the past year has been mediocre – just one half-century and seven single-digit scores in 15 innings. With Kumar Sangakkara keeping wicket, Chandimal is playing as a specialist batsman, and will need better numbers if he wants to keep other contenders at bay.

Team news

After their previous game stretched over two days, Sri Lanka will be playing on a third consecutive day. There might have been a temptation to give their spearhead Lasith Malinga a rest, but with Nuwan Kulasekara dislocating the ring finger of his left hand against West Indies, they are likely to play Malinga. With Kulasekara out for seven to ten days, Sri Lanka called up medium-pacer Suranga Lakmal as a replacement. Lakmal won’t arrive in time for the game against India, but should be in Trinidad for the final.Sri Lanka, surprisingly, left out Rangana Herath against West Indies and it remains to be seen whether they continue with Sachithra Senanayake as the lead spinner.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Mahela Jayawardene, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Lahiru Thirimanne, 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Dilhara Lokuhettige, 9 Lasith Malinga, 10 Sachithra Senanayake, 11 Shaminda ErangaIndia are likely to go in with the same combination that gave them a thumping 102-run win over West Indies on Friday.India (probable) 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 M Vijay, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Umesh Yadav

Stats and trivia

• India and Sri Lanka have played 40 ODIs between each other over the past five years – India have won 24 of those, while Sri Lanka have prevailed in 14
• Ravindra Jadeja needs two more wickets to equal Mitchell McClenaghan as the highest wicket-taker for the year.
• For stats on how Virat Kohli has mastered the art of ODI batting, click here.

So important is any game between Pakistan and India in its own right that there may be a temptation to allow the result of Saturday’s game at Edgbaston to obscure the evidence of all that has gone before.If, for example, Pakistan prevails, there may be those who conclude that the issues with their batting line-up that have dogged them throughout this tournament have been solved and no changes are required.Equally, if India win, there may be those who conclude that the Pakistan bowling line-up is inadequate and more changes are needed.Neither conclusion would be correct. When Pakistan bow out of the Champions Trophy on Saturday night, they must do so knowing their batting has been exposed as hopelessly lacking at this level. There must be no attempt to mask that and no attempt to snatch at miracle solutions. The road to improvement will be long and painful, but only by accepting their failings will Pakistan embark upon it.Misbah-ul-Haq knows all this. Pakistan’s captain knows that he has a bowling attack the rival of any team in this competition and a batting line-up that has been found wanting. And while his comments on the eve of the game were as calm and measured as ever, there was a theme to them that suggested that several Pakistan players, notably Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik and perhaps Kamran Akmal could all be playing their last games. Well, their last games for a while, anyway. Little is permanent in Pakistan cricket.”After this performance, clearly everybody can see where we need changes,” Misbah said. “The batting is an issue. We need to think about that and how we go further in the future.”Changes should be done very sensibly. You see what you need in the team and how you can improve your batting line-up, especially. You can’t just take decisions in a panic situation.”The biggest plus for us is our bowling line-up, especially the fast bowlers, and we’ve got two of the best spinners that are really performing well. And it’s good to see Nasir Jamshed scoring runs. There are a few things which really are going well in this tournament.”Even Misbah’s time may be ebbing away. It is not that Misbah’s personal performance has dipped – quite the opposite, really – but more the issue that, after this event, the next global limited-overs tournament is the 2015 World Cup. As Misbah will be well past his 40th birthday by then, it seems unlikely he will still be playing so there is an argument to suggest now is the time to make the change and allow his replacements time to grow into the role.For the time being, though, Misbah is urging his team not to worry themselves about the future and to enjoy the opportunity of playing such a high-profile match against India. While Pakistan, at their best, play brave, positive cricket, in this event they have looked timid and diffident. Misbah is hoping they can rediscover the confidence and joy that has typified the best of Pakistan cricket.”Players should not worry about that selection,” he said. “They should not worry about what’s going to happen. You should think every game is your last and just try to give your best shot. They should take this match as an opportunity, go out there and just prove how good they are.”There’s no pressure on us now. It’s one game. It’s a chance for us to prove ourselves; to go there and just get something back. We should just express ourselves and go and try to win.”It’s still a very important game. Everybody knows that India against Pakistan is a huge game in terms of viewers. It’s an important game for both teams and both teams want to win that game. Whenever we play each other it’s like a final for everybody.”But, even if we do win, the disappointment will remain somehow. Every team wants to win the ICC Champions Trophy. It’s the second biggest tournament in the world.”As things stand, Pakistan are scheduled to travel to the Caribbean before the end of the month, for a series of games against West Indies. While rumours abound that the tour could be cancelled or rescheduled, it seems fair to presume that, the next time Pakistan play, several of the old guard will have been replaced.While Misbah’s role as a player may be coming to an end, he has shown the foresight and vision to suggest he could have a role in the administration of Pakistan cricket in the future.Following Pakistan’s defeat against South Africa, Misbah argued once again for more Pakistan players to travel abroad in order to gain experience of playing in different conditions and against different opponents in order to broaden their games. It is an idea that makes a great deal of sense.”If you want to really improve your nursery of batsmen, you have to plan,” Misbah said. “One suggestion is that you send your players to Australia, South Africa and England to play first-class cricket because whenever the Pakistan team comes to England, South Africa or Australia, they struggle because of the different conditions.”And we can arrange more A team tours. These are areas we really have to look at otherwise it will just keep on happening.”Whatever happens at Edgbaston on Saturday, Pakistan would do well to heed Misbah’s words.