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An allround bowling performance coupled with an unbeaten century stand between captain Khurram Shehzad and Ali Waqas gave Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) control of their game against United Bank Limited (UBL) at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot. Asad Ali and Bilawal Bhatti took three wickets each as UBL capitulated for 127, with Saad Sukhail the only batsmen to pass 20. SNGP struggled early, stumbling to 63 for 4, before Shehzad and Waqas began to dominate proceedings. Shehzad counter-attacked in brutal fashion, racing to 84 from 75 balls and smashing 17 fours. Waqas was more restrained, needing 68 balls to get to 45, as the pair took their team to 189 for 4, already a lead of 62.Behram Khan and Mohammad Hasan made unbeaten hundreds to take Karachi Whites to a position of strength against Lahore Shalimar at the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex in Karachi. The pair were a study in contrasts, with Behram inching his way to 105 from 253 balls, having batted for six hours and 31 minutes. Hasan was much more fluid, stroking 16 fours in his 122, having faced 170 deliveries. Together they added 201, taking Karachi to 287 after they had stuttered to 86 for 4.Khan Research Laboratories (KBL) held the upper hand over Lahore Ravi at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground, after bowling Lahore out for 180. Yasir Ali was the destroyer-in-chief, taking 4 for 40, with the other wickets shared among four bowlers. Mohammad Irfan and Asif Ashfaq made 41 each, adding 59 for the sixth wicket after Lahore had slipped to 62 for 5. only two other batsmen went past 20, with six scores in single figures. The KRL openers negotiated the 12.2 overs they had to face while adding 38 to leave themselves in a good position going into the second day.Lal Kumar’s third first-class hundred helped lift Hyderbad to 251 for 3 against Multan at the Bahawal Stadium in Bahawalpur. Multan chose to field and the decison appeared to pay off when Bilal Irshad was caught behind for 1. After a steady partnership of 44 between Jamshed Baig and Taj Wasan, Multan struck twice in quick succession to bring Kumar and Rizwan Ahmed to the crease. The pair proceeded to add 194 for the fourth wicket, to give their side the better of the day’s play, and will reusme tomorrow with Ahmed on 77 and Kumar on 105.Israrullah starred with the bat but honour’s were shared between Peshawar and Quetta at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar. The opener was unlucky to miss out on his hundred, smashing 98 from 110 balls, with 14 fours. He received little support from the rest of the top order though, and it was left to No.7 Mohammad Rizwan, who made 45, to take them past 200. A late cameo by Sajjad Ahmed, who made 23 from 24 balls, lifted Peshawar to 239. 20-year-old legspinner, Shahzaib Ahmed, took 4 for 54 to lead the Quetta bowlers. However, Riaz Afridi struck twice to leave Quetta 26 for 2 at the close.

The lawyer of former Pakistan captain Salman Butt argued there is no reliable evidence for a jury to hand down a criminal conviction against his client, and accused the prosecution of “working backwards from an assumption of guilt”, a London court heard on Monday.On day 14 of the trial, Butt sat listening intently in the dock throughout the closing speech by his representative Ali Bajwa QC, as the jury heard why he should not be handed a guilty verdict. This followed a three and a half hour speech from prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee QC, who highlighted Butt’s “corrupt relationship” with agent Mazhar Majeed.Butt and fast bowler Mohammad Asif face charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following the Lord’s test in August last year when they allegedly conspired with Majeed, teenage paceman Mohammad Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-planned no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges.Bajwa played on the conscience of the jury and asked them to consider if they had really heard enough genuine evidence that links Butt to the no-balls in question. He referred to a great, British tradition of justice and also sought to undermine the credibility of Majeed, as he has done consistently throughout the trial.”Every phone call he makes, every text he receives, every pound he earns has been presented to you as suspicious,” Bajwa said to the jury, after apologising for sounding indignant following on from Jafferjee’s speech. “But what I suggest to you is going on is that Mr Jafferjee has been working backwards from an assumption of guilt.”Salman Butt’s life has been torn apart to the point of analysing his bank records, his every move and even anything his mother does or planned. If I worked backwards from any of your lives (the jury) I could find or twist things about what you have or might not have done.”What we are asking you here is to stand back from this case and uphold that strong tradition of justice and say we are not going to presume that there is no smoke without fire. That is no basis for justice.”When you came into this court room for the first time you all took an oath to say you will give a verdict according to the evidence and nothing but the evidence. In the case of Salman Butt there simply isn’t enough evidence to find Salman Butt guilty. There seems to be a fix between Mazhar Majeed and Mohammad Amir and you must decide if that fix involved Mohammad Asif. What reliable evidence does the prosecution have that Salman Butt was involved in the fix of the Lord’s no-balls?”When all is said and done and after I remove the sand that has been thrown in your eyes suggesting the claims that have been thrown at you (from the prosecution), it all comes down to August 26 and 27 and the News of the World journalist and the words of Mazhar Majeed at the Copthorne Tara Hotel on August 25.”There was £2,500 of marked News of the World money discovered in Butt’s room during a police raid, though Butt claims that money was handed to him by Majeed as a half payment towards a fee for opening an ice cream parlour in tooting, London. Bajwa reminded the jury how they had been told that Butt had confirmed earnings of £548,000 between mid-2007 to 2010 and how that was hardly “peanuts” by British or Pakistani standards but it “suited Majeed” to say as much.Bajwa, who told the jury that Majeed will not be cross-examined, added: “Is it right that we can condemn someone on the words of a man without his evidence being tested in court? You are being asked to give a criminal conviction on the strength of Majeed’s evidence. Majeed was £704,000 overdrawn and on the verge of bankruptcy.”This is a man who claimed be good friends with Brad Pitt, Roger Federer and former England players like Mike Gatting, Geoff Boycott and Phil Tufnell – who won ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’. Well I say Majeed is the celebrity and we need to get him out of here.”The case continues.

Match facts

Mumbai Indians v Somerset, October 8, Chennai
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Kieron Pollard helped Somerset reach the Champions League qualifiers, but will now try to prevent them from making the final•Getty Images

Big Picture

This is the less glamorous of the semi-finals by a country mile. Barring a few names, you are left with either journeymen or cricketers before or after their prime. The pitch will be slow and low. If the league games were any indication, there will be no atmosphere at the ground because the home team is not playing. Even the cheerleaders’ legs will be covered. That, though, is not the story here. The story is the odds these two sides have beaten to come so far.Mumbai Indians haven’t exactly endeared themselves to the watching public. When faced with a spate of injuries, they played an extra overseas player as opposed to picking an unknown name from among thousands of cricketers in Mumbai, the city they claim to represent, or the tens from the Mumbai Ranji team. Moreover, one of their “injured” players has been scoring runs in Under-22 matches in Mumbai.Loved by the public or not, it should not be forgotten that a team that struggled to put an XI on the field has made it to the semi-finals. It can also be argued MI have hardly gained form all this. Their extra overseas player, Andrew Symonds, was clearly not expecting a call-up, has not been in shape, and has yet to make any impact in the tournament. Even after the start of the tournament, they lost opener Davy Jacobs. Yet they have refused to go away. They have bowled a side out for 98, and they have chased two targets through lower-order work, mainly from Lasith Malinga, who has nearly doubled his T20 runs aggregate.If Somerset had an advantage over MI in that they had played as a team through a long home season, they had more obstacles. Jetlagged and nursing two heartbreaks from the two limited-overs finals back home in England, they had to go through the qualifying phase, not being, of course, from one of the three countries that co-own the Champions League. Two of their big T20 players were then picked for England to play against West Indies. Yet they kept winning, once through a third-choice keeper, once through the hefty hitter who never realised his potential at international level, once through a feisty South African, once through the journeyman South African captain. Along the way they have warmed people to the tournament, not by screaming for attention ala Trinidad & Tobago two years ago, but gently nudging people to watch them.Come Saturday, another chapter will be added to one of the stories.

Watch out for …

MI might have lost their last game in Chennai, but there was a moment in that game that should stand out: when Lasith Malinga took the dead pitch out of the equation, dismissing Simon Katich with a slower yorker. It will be an interesting contest because the batsmen in Chennai have realised that a majority of the scoring has to be done against the new ball, and the new ball will be with one Malinga.Murali Kartik is Somerset’s local man, and was expected to be their big performer, especially given the slow pitches at two of the three venues. Kartik has been steady, with his economy-rate 6.63, but he will be disappointed with the wicket count that is stuck at three. This is as good a time as any to correct that statistic.

Team news

The injured MI player who has been scoring runs in Under-22 matches has now been welcomed back, in turn ending MI’s permission to play five overseas players. Welcome back, Suryakumar Yadav. There was another injury scare when Pollard injured his hand during training on the eve of the match, but Harbhajan said he was fine and would play.Somerset brought in Adam Dibble for George Dockrell for their last game, in Bangalore, but on the slower pitch they might want to go back to left-arm spin over right-arm medium pace.

Stats and trivia

• Somerset captain Alfonso Thomas has bowled nine maidens in T20 cricket, which is one behind the all-time leader Praveen Kumar. Surprisingly Malinga has bowled only five.
• Pollard has hit 144 sixes in T20 cricket, but he is fourth on the six-hitters’ list. David Hussey sits at the top with 167, followed by Ross Taylor with 164. Chris Gayle is just ahead of Pollard with 147 sixes.

Quotes

“I think we’ve to just adjust on the day. I mean we don’t quite know how the pitch is going to play until we arrive and see how the first five or six deliveries behave. It’s going to be strange, because we’ve played two games and we’ll adapt pretty well, I think.”
“There is room for improvement, and we don’t want to peak too early. I think our fielding can sharpen up a bit more. We are certainly hitting the straps now. Nobody gave us a chance and we did well and that shows the character of this team.”

Former selectors such as Glenn Turner and Mark Greatbatch could still be involved in advising New Zealand’s new national selection manager, Kim Littlejohn, despite having been overlooked for the role themselves. New Zealand Cricket raised eyebrows on Friday with the appointment of Littlejohn, a former high-performance manager with Bowls Australia with only a small-time cricket background, to the newly-created role.However, NZC’s director of cricket, John Buchanan, wants to revolutionise the way teams are chosen in New Zealand, with Littlejohn set to centrally manage the selection process. Littlejohn and the coach John Wright will form a two-man selection panel, with Wright given the final decision on starting line-ups, while a network of coaches and experts will be put in place to help Littlejohn keep track of player form in domestic competitions.”If we talk about pulling together a New Zealand squad and then a team, basically it will require Kim to consult with all the provincial coaches, and also he will have an additional network of people which he’ll determine,” Buchanan told ESPNcricinfo. “That could be former selectors of the likes of Glenn Turner and Mark Greatbatch.”He may talk to other coaches or indeed umpires that he believes can provide him with current information on players, which will assist him and the current coach John Wright to select a squad for a tour. Once that squad is chosen by those two, it is then in the hands of the head coach to make the final team selections.”It is a bold move away from the traditional selection panel, which generally involved three former players watching domestic cricket and choosing squads themselves. The New Zealand board ratified Buchanan’s plan, and while he said there had been some initial reservations, he was pleased they had taken the chance to embrace change.”It’s only natural [to encounter doubts],” Buchanan said. “The board, like most people in cricket, are so used to how teams have been selected in the past, through selection panels. That’s understandable. But I think this person will demonstrate over time that through better systems and better processes we can provide a far more reliable and consistent selection process, selection feedback and assessment of playing performance.”I have to applaud my board for backing me on this one, because it is a leap of faith for them. It hasn’t been tried before. But I really am pretty confident in how it should work; that’s why I needed to find the right person to ensure that it will work, and I believe that Kim is the man that can do the job for us.”Buchanan said Littlejohn’s experience at lower levels of cricket – he played in Perth’s first-grade competition and professionally in England, as well as coaching with Melbourne University – was adequate for the managerial role. He compared Littlejohn’s appointment to his own surprise nomination as Australia’s head coach in 1999, despite having played only seven first-class games.”I was asked to coach an international cricket team without any international cricket experience. We’re now asking Kim to run a national selection system where he has great experience in high performance and systems and process management, but less experience in cricket. For me, one of the reasons I was chosen for the job was that I brought some objectivity; I brought some planning. That’s what I see in Kim, and that’s exactly what this role will require.”I think [his cricket background] is sufficient. He can have good conversations with coaches or former selectors or former players because of the amount of cricket background that he has. I think that is sufficient for the job. One of his key roles is his ability to harness the knowledge and experience of so many experts over here. I think he’s excellent at doing that.”Littlejohn had been a leading candidate for the role of New Zealand’s team manager, a job that instead went to Mike Sandle. He was also considered by Cricket Australia as a potential replacement for their team manager Steve Bernard, who stepped down earlier this year. Littlejohn is set to begin his new role on September 19.

Doug Bollinger, the Australian fast bowler, believes he is fit enough for Test cricket, contrary to the views of the national selectors.Having bowled well and demonstrated his fitness at the Australian team’s pre-tour training camps in Brisbane, Bollinger was as surprised as anyone when he was left out of the Test squad to tour Sri Lanka for reasons of fitness.Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said Bollinger still had more work to do if he was going to be able to sustain his best in back-to-back Tests, but the bowler felt he had learned the lessons of last summer and was ready for Sri Lanka if he had been chosen.”They just told me I had to keep working on my fitness and same-old, same-old,” Bollinger told . “But I know I’m bowling well at the moment and I know I’m pretty fit at the moment and doing well so that’s all I can do to keep going and hopefully I’ll get a call-up again soon.”Obviously your fitness as a fast bowler has to be pretty good, but I keep going. I’ve been training hard, and when we were up in Brisbane, I felt I was fit and I bowled the house down. I think I bowled pretty well. So I’ve just got to go over there and bowl well in the five one-dayers and take as many wickets [as I can] and hopefully that can help me get through the stepping stones I’ve got to go through.”There’s not much I can do, I’m not going to fight, I’m not going to argue about it … I’ve just got to do what they’ve said and just ensure my fitness is good and show that I can bowl long spells and I’ll be back hopefully as quick as I can.”Bollinger’s 2010-11 summer was ill-fated from the moment Chennai advanced to the final of the Twenty20 Champions League in South Africa, giving him only two days to acclimatise and be ready for the first Test against India in Mohali. Though Bollinger was the most effective member of the attack, he broke down with a side strain on the final morning, and was on the sidelines as the match was narrowly lost.Back in Australia for the Ashes series, Bollinger missed selection for the first Test, was flown to Perth for a Sheffield Shield match, then doubled back to Adelaide where he was pitched back into the series and was unable to sustain his pace. Dropped after the match, Bollinger has appeared on the Test match outer since, and only barely scraped onto the list of contracted 25 players despite having taken 50 wickets at 25.92 in 12 Tests.”It is kind of a bitter pill to swallow as you’d imagine; it’s probably the only bad Test match I’ve had and to get dropped was obviously disappointing,” Bollinger said. “I must say I didn’t bowl at my best but I went up to Brisbane, flew from Brisbane to Perth, played a four-day game in Perth, flew to Adelaide then spent three days in the field … I was always going to be pretty cooked. But there’s not much I can do, just one of those games … I’ve just got to go back and keep knocking on doors.”Hilditch has said that the door remains open for Bollinger, provided he does more fitness work.”It’s been a difficult 12 months for Doug,” Hilditch said when announcing the Sri Lanka Test tour party. “He’s a very talented bowler and we think he can still get back to playing Test cricket but we need to be satisfied that he can do so at full intensity. That’s just critical at the moment because we’re playing in an era where back-to-back Test matches are virtually inevitable.”Though he will only be in Sri Lanka for the limited-overs part of the tour, Bollinger spoke glowingly of new pace bowling coach Craig McDermott, and revealed that like Mitchell Johnson, a basic tip or two had allowed him to swing the ball again.”He’s given me a couple of tips and he’s actually got me swinging the new ball again, which is something I’ve been trying to do for the last couple of years,” Bollinger said. “So he’s been very beneficial and all the guys are happy with him.”He just got me to change some things with my hands and my wrist; I was holding the ball probably too far back in my hand and not letting it relax a bit, so just bits and pieces like that, that probably are the most effective, the one percenters, he’s got me doing that.”To be honest I just have to go back to smashing the wicket. That’s what Hads [Brad Haddin] taught me to do when I first played in Shield cricket, that’s all Glenn McGrath did and look at his career. So that’s all I do just hit the wicket and keep going until I stop.”

ScorecardNetherlands Women added to their success in the Women’s European Championship with a tense two-wicket victory over Ireland Women in the only ODI at the Kampong ground in Utrecht. A straightforward win seemed on the cards after Ireland folded for 116 but Netherlands had a collapse of their own to nearly end up losing.The day began poorly for Ireland, losing first the toss and then a wicket off the opening delivery of the match. Three overs later their captain Isobel Joyce was gone, caught behind. Opener Kim Garth and Laura Delany then put on 38, the most substantial partnership of the innings. Regular wickets followed as Ireland lurched from 43 for 2 to 92 for 8.Netherlands’ home advantage in this match was heightened by the fact that no less than five of their players play their club cricket at Kampong. Nevertheless, they also lost one opener early but the other, Helmien Rambaldo, forged two solid partnerships to guide her team to the comfort of 80 for 2. Ireland hit back, picking up five wickets for 12 runs but Netherlands held their nerve. Ireland didn’t help their cause with 35 extras (including 28 wides).

Sri Lanka Cricket has officially announced the postponement of the Sri Lanka Premier League to 2012, citing a lack of time to organise the tournament in the absence of Indian players as the main reason.”Attempts to obtain the release of the Indian players were unsuccessful, causing a delay in the naming of the final composition of the SLPL teams which then had an impact on making related arrangements in an effective and timely manner,” SLC said in a statement. “Therefore, SLC and the SLPL committee find that there is insufficient time to arrange a tournament of this magnitude this year, within the available window.”The Inter Provincial T20 tournament will be held in place of the SLPL, as ESPNcricinfo had first reported on July 7. The winner of that tournament will qualify for the Champions League T20 to be played in September.The SLPL would have featured seven teams and was scheduled to kick off on July 19, with the final to be played on August 6. The tournament hit its first hurdle when the BCCI decided to withhold its permission to allow Indian players to take part on the grounds that Somerset Entertainment Ventures, which owned the commercial rights, would be handling the contracts for international players and that it could lead to complications, should disputes arise over payments.In order to assuage the Indian board, SLC was willing to back the Indian players’ contracts so that their financial interests were protected, but that was not enough to satisfy the BCCI. There have been suggestions that former IPL chairman Lalit Modi had a hand in the event, but SLC and Somerset have repeatedly denied the allegation, as has Modi.The BCCI’s decision meant the tournament did not have a broadcaster for the lucrative Indian market, a situation that made it much more difficult for the SLPL to find a secure financial footing. Adding to the sense of confusion, the SLC interim committee that had created the tournament was dissolved earlier this month by the sports ministry and a new panel was appointed in its place.The Inter Provincial T20 tournament will begin on July 21, two days after the SLPL was scheduled to start, and end on July 31.

Match facts

Tuesday, June 28, The Oval
Start time 1300 (1200 GMT)

Big Picture

Alastair Cook has a tough challenge lying ahead of him•Getty Images

This time last week, Andrew Strauss was England’s man at the helm. On Saturday, for a perfunctory 37.2 overs, Stuart Broad took over as national captain, and at 12.30pm tomorrow afternoon, Alastair Cook will line up at the toss as England’s third skipper in eight days. The policy of separate leaders for all three formats always looked like a bit of a gamble, but right at this moment, following the most anticlimactic coronation imaginable for Broad at Bristol, there’s an additional layer of scrutiny pending.On the bright side for Cook, his first game as full-time ODI captain is unlikely to go quite as badly as Strauss’s last in the role, in Colombo three months ago. England’s ten-wicket drubbing in that fixture was inflicted by Upul Tharanga, who is currently serving a suspension for the use of a prohibited substance, and Tillakaratne Dilshan who, although passed fit, is still feeling the effects of his broken thumb. Nevertheless, there was a yawning gulf in class on display at Bristol. In the 50-over format, England have four years in which to get their act together ahead of the 2015 World Cup. Few people are expecting them to pull it off at the first time of asking.There will be other factors at play at The Oval. After a handy cameo with the ball, if not the bat, at Bristol, Sanath Jayasuriya is preparing to sign off from international cricket at the ground where, in 1998, his blazing double-century set the stage for Muttiah Muralitharan’s 16-wicket masterclass in the one-off Test against England. The circumstances of his recall have been controversial, even though with Dilshan missing for a week his experience has not been unwelcome. Meanwhile off the pitch, Stuart Law has confirmed he will be moving on to become coach of Bangladesh. Distractions abound for Sri Lanka, but they are pretty accustomed to such things.But the major focus will be on a left-handed opener with a somewhat different reputation in short-form cricket. The success of the three-captain policy requires each of the leaders to display personal form while producing the victories expected of them. So far this summer, Strauss has won a Test series without scoring runs, while Broad has been hammered in his solitary outing without showing much evidence of a return to his best. Cook, meanwhile, has been scoring runs for fun in Test cricket, but struggled to raise his game in an ODI scenario at Lord’s last month, where he was stumped for the first time in his first-class career. He will know, better than anyone, how much he has to prove.

Form guide (most recent first)

England LWLWL
Sri Lanka LWWWW

The spotlight

Where else to look but Alastair Cook? Stuart Broad may have had a tough time on his captaincy debut at Bristol on Saturday, but at least his value as a limited-overs performer has rarely been called into question. Cook, on the other hand, wasn’t deemed worthy of a place in England’s 30-man squad for the World Cup earlier this year, and yet has now been parachuted back straight back into the set-up as skipper. In his defence he performed admirably in a stand-in capacity in Bangladesh last year, but the doubts about his suitability have been voiced already, with the former England captain Mike Atherton denouncing him as a “plodder” on Sunday morning. “Takes one to know one,” was Cook’s wry reply.Lasith Malinga’s four overs at Bristol were as perfect as one could hope to witness in Twenty20 cricket. His first Powerplay over cost just three runs, his second accounted for the vital wicket of Eoin Morgan, his third leaked five singles as England tried and failed to up the tempo, and his last resulted in two wickets, three scrambled byes and not a single run off the bat. His absence from the Test series was understandable given the nature of his role and the workload required in five-day games, but this was a hint as to what exactly Sri Lanka had missed.

Team news

Andrew Strauss’s ODI retirement means there will be no change more notable than the one at the top of the order, where Cook will be reunited with his opening partner from last year’s tour of Bangladesh, Craig Kieswetter. Of the two rookies who opened the bowling in the Twenty20, Chris Woakes seems the likelier to make way for the returning James Anderson, which means Jade Dernbach should make his ODI debut on his home ground. Tim Bresnan’s late inclusion in the squad could squeeze Samit Patel out of the starting XI, despite his five-wicket haul on this ground against South Africa in 2008.England (probable) 1 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 2 Alastair Cook (capt), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Ian Bell, 7 Samit Patel/Tim Bresnan, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 James Anderson, 11 Jade Dernbach.Sri Lanka had good news late on Monday when Tillakaratne Dilshan was passed fit after his broken thumb and he’ll open with Sanath Jayasuriya, meaning Mahela Jayawardene reverts to his middle-order role. Angelo Mathews is still doubtful to bowl and Dilshan may not be risked with the ball, either.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt) 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilina Kandamby, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Nuwan Kulasekera, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Suraj Randiv, 11 Lasith Malinga,

Pitch and conditions

London’s dank June has given way to a mini-heatwave in the two days leading up to the start of the match, although that is all set to end with thunderstorms forecast for Monday evening. The wet weather should have cleared sufficiently to allow a prompt start at 1pm, but the clouds may still be lingering.

Stats and trivia

• England and Sri Lanka’s last meeting in 50-overs cricket was the World Cup quarter-final in Colombo back in March, which – thanks to their ten-wicket trouncing – also happens to have been England’s most recent ODI.
• Inauspiciously for England, their home record against Sri Lanka is scarcely any better in recent times. In 2006 they were thumped out of sight, five matches out of five, with Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga racking up an opening stand of 286 at Headingley. Only two England squad members remain from that game – the new captain Cook, and the returning Tim Bresnan.
• Alastair Cook averages 33.00 in 26 ODI appearances, with a solitary century against India in 2007, and a strike-rate of 71.38.
  

  Quotes

  “I just see myself as the one-day captain. I’m just concentrating on tomorrow’s game and doing the best job I can. We can worry about the other stuff later.”
  Alastair Cook presents a straight bat to questions about his Test captaincy ambitions.”Sanath won’t be staying on for the rest of the series. He has already decided to retire after the first one-day. That’s his call and we can’t help it.”
  Thilina Kandamby prepares to say farewell to Sanath Jayasuriya.

Shane Watson has fired an early salvo ahead of the Test series against Sri Lanka in August by questioning Tillakaratne Dilshan’s chances of forging a captaincy as successful as that of Kumar Sangakkara, his predecessor. The Australians will have a new captain themselves in the form of Michael Clarke, but his deputy Watson wondered aloud at Dilshan’s chances of emulating the results and the universal respect won by Sangakkara during his time as leader.”Kumar Sangakkara is as impressive a cricketer as there is in the world,” Watson told ESPNcricinfo. “He always handles himself so unbelievably well and he’s a brilliant cricketer also. So it’s going to be very hard for someone like Dilshan to live up to exactly what Kumar is as a person and also how he’s been in the captaincy, it’s going to be a big challenge for him.”Sangakkara gave up the job following the World Cup in order to prolong his playing career, leaving the captaincy in the hands of Dilshan, an undoubted talent but also a somewhat flighty performer at times during his Test career. He is also handicapped by being, at 34, a year older than the man he is replacing.Australia were fruitful in their efforts to unsettle Dilshan during the dual series away and at home in 2004, holding him to an average of 30.11, with one century, across five Tests. He was not selected in the Sri Lankan touring party that lost two matches in Australia in November 2007, instead leading the Sri Lanka A team to Zimbabwe. He has been appointed to lead the Sri Lankans on the tour of England that precedes the Australia series.The Sri Lanka series, Watson acknowledged, will be the first serious test of the new leadership axis after an undemanding first assignment in Bangladesh, where the modest hosts were swept aside 3-0 in as many limited-overs matches. “On our side of things we’ve got a big challenge as well with a new leadership group and us trying to rebuild and create a really exciting era of Australian cricket within our team.”Doubts will surround the composition of the squad as it is the first since the loss of the Ashes at home, and there are plenty of sound reasons for ushering the further regeneration of a squad that stagnated in Ricky Ponting’s final 18 months as captain. Watson, who had said the Ashes defeat would define the careers of several players “on the wrong side”, still felt there would be a selection reckoning for a series punctuated by three innings victories for England.”There’s no doubt the Ashes was there to be a defining moment for people’s careers in certain ways, and for some people it has been and others not so much,” Watson said. “Now there’s a new direction Australian cricket is heading in [and] it’s going to be interesting to see what happens over the next year or so. I really feel it’s going to be an interesting time to be able to start to generate a new era of Australian cricket, and I’m very thankful that I’m now part of the leadership group and want to be a part of creating something very special.”For so long a figure of sympathy and even occasional ridicule due to a seemingly endless string of injuries, Watson is now next in line for the captaincy behind Clarke, and is intent on sharing the hard lessons he learned while struggling over more than six years between his international debut and finally securing a Test spot of his own.”Looking back on things, I am very lucky to have been through the experiences I’ve had that turned me into the person and the cricketer I am now,” he said. “I suppose I’ve got a little bit to help younger guys coming through and improve them not only as people but also to help them make the most of playing the cricket they are as well.”

Match facts

Sunday, May 1, Jaipur
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)Robin Uthappa could do with a promotion in the batting order•AFP

Big picture

One of the enduring images of the first week of the IPL was Pune Warriors’ owner Subroto Roy, flanked by beauty queens in the VIP stands, smiling away gleefully at his franchise’s early successes on the field. Five straight defeats later, with his team’s campaign in need of a dramatic turnaround, the smile, presumably, would have been clouded by anxiety.A misfiring batting line-up had been their primary concern but the hammering meted out to Jerome Taylor and Kamran Khan by Royal Challengers Bangalore was another setback. They tweaked their batting order, but failed to push on in a big chase and when Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa, their bumper buys, did step up, it was too late. With the tournament already at its halfway stage, and Pune sitting at the bottom of the points table, they would be hoping to keep themselves alive with a win in Jaipur.Rajasthan, in contrast, are on a high after two comprehensive wins that centered around dominating performances with the ball. This included a humbling of early favourites Mumbai Indians, and they’d want to win at least four of their next six games to be certain of progress.

Form guide (most recent first)

Pune: LLLLL (tenth in the points table)
Rajasthan: WWLLL (fourth in the points table)

Team talk

Tim Paine struggled to get going for Pune against Bangalore, and Manish Pandey has had three straight failures. A cursory glance at the averages of Pune’s batsmen will reveal a lack of form, but Pune should consider giving Callum Ferguson a chance. Ashish Nehra hasn’t had a game due to his finger injury, but in his absence Pune could bring back Shrikant Wagh for Kamran Khan.Rajasthan stuck to the same XIs in their previous two games, and are likely to do so for this one as well unless Shane Warne’s swollen knee, an injury he sustained in Rajasthan’s previous game, keeps him out. In that case, Raul Dravid or Ross Taylor may have to take over.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team selector.

In the spotlight

Robin Uthappa batted at No. 5 in Pune’s failed chase in their previous game. He could do with a promotion in the order, as his team, at this stage, is more in need of a surge at the top of the order than an explosive finish.Ross Taylor, known for those explosive finishes, hasn’t been at his best this IPL, with a highest of 35 in seven games. He didn’t get to do much in Rajasthan’s previous two games, with opponents folding for low scores after batting first, and awaits his turn.

Prime numbers

• Yuvraj Singh has struck 13 sixes so far this IPL, the highest by a batsman this season.
• Siddharth Trivedi, despite improved performances in the last two games, still has the dubious distinction of conceding the most runs in an innings this IPL – 59 in four overs against Kings XI Punjab.

The chatter

“We have been lucky here. We know a few things about this ground like the angles to be blocked off and that gives us the extra confidence.”