Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka’s captain, expressed the fullest confidence that his team could overcome English conditions and England if they perform to their capabilities.”There are no fears out there. There’s nothing we can’t handle. It’s just how we prepare ourselves mentally and physically and what we want to do,” he said on the eve of Sri Lanka’s 80-day tour.”We have six or seven young guys going to England on a big tour and they will learn a lot. That will be an investment itself for the future.”Sizing up England, Jayawardene was well aware that it would be tough against a well balanced squad and clearly outlined his team’s immediate tasks in tackling the opposition.He said: “We shouldn’t worry about what they will do to us. What we should worry about is how we are going to handle them and control that. We know the players and should work on their strengths and weaknesses.”Jayawardene added the biggest limitation his team had was trying to worry about things ahead of time. “For instance, in England you will start talking about the ball moving and all that jazz. We shouldn’t worry about that. We haven’t even gone to England yet. In England you have some of the best batting wickets, which I have batted on, Lord’s for instance and Nottingham where the third test is scheduled to be played.”It’s all about how you go there and adjust and how you apply yourself. It is as simple as that. I think we did that very well in Australia and proved that we can handle pace, bounce and movement. It’s all in us, how you believe in your capabilities. It’s all up here.”Reflecting on his first tour to England in 1998, Jayawardene said, “My first tour of England taught me a lot. I had the opportunity to play in every game and learnt a lot in English conditions. Even though you are set when you are on 60 you can still get a good ball and get out. The first couple of matches were tough for me but luckily I had a lot of experienced guys to advice me. I learnt quickly and it helped me a lot especially to adjust myself for the next tour, which was in 2002.”Jayawardene said the English experience of Tom Moody, Sri Lanka’s Australian-born coach who played and coached Worcestershire for 15 years, and Trevor Penney, the Zimbabwean-born assistant coach who played 14 seasons for Warwickshire, would prove invaluable to his team. Both coaches went ahead of the team and are in England at the moment.He also revealed that Sri Lanka had not been practising ahead of the start of the tour. “There was no point, because the conditions are going to be totally different in England. So we used the time to give the players some rest. We have only undergone physical training to freshen ourselves after a hectic season.”Squad – Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Kumar Sangakkara (vice-capt), Upul Tharanga, Michael Vandort, Jehan Mubarak, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Kapugedera, Prasanna Jayawardene, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekera, Muttiah Muralitharan, Malinga Bandara.
MCC has announced that its next president will be Robin Marlar. He will take up the year-long position in October and will succeedTom Graveney.Marlar, 74, first played for Sussex in 1951, and captained them from 1955 to 1959. He played little after that, although he did appear occasionally until 1968. In 1955 he took 139 wickets with his offspin, including a career-best 9 for 46 against Lancashire. He took 970 first-class wickets at an average of 25, and grabbed ten wickets in a match on ten occasions. Later a trenchant cricket writer and a member of MCC’s influential cricket committee, Marlar is also a former chairman of Sussex.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has announced that it will invite Wasim Akram, Imran Khan and Aaqib Javed to coach Pakistan’s fast bowlers before India’s tour in March.Speaking to the Press Trust of India, a news agency, Rameez Raja, the PCB’s chief executive, said: “The PCB has decided to seek the expertise of former fast-bowling greats, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Aaqib Javed to hold special build-up sessions with the present pacers to prepare them for the series against India.”Raja played down the furore in Pakistan about Irfan Pathan’s coaching by Akram during India’s tour of Australia. “I don’t think it is such a big issue,” he said. “Wasim is a retired cricketer and highly respected as a quality fast bowler. It is natural that other bowlers like to take advice and tips from him. We just want him to be available for us when possible.” Raja added that the board would approach Akram on his return from Australia, asking him and Imran to assist Mohammad Sami, who struggled in New Zealand.”We want Imran and Wasim to work with him [Sami] and see where he is going wrong,” Raja said. Sami took six wickets at an average of 45 in the recent one-day series in New Zealand, but otherwise has 71 wickets in 45 internationals, at an average of 24.77.
The Warwickshire all-rounder, Graham Wagg, has been ruled out of theremainder of this winter’s ECB National Academy programme through injury.Wagg, 19, was named in the original ECB Academy squad back in September, butwas unable to take up his place due to a back injury.He has recently undergone a scan which has revealed signs of a stressresponse in his back but no fracture. Following discussions with the ECBChief Medical Officer, Dr Peter Gregory, it has been decided that Wagg willcontinue his rehabilitation in the UK and not fly to Australia with the restof the Academy Squad tonight (Friday).Wagg’s Warwickshire colleagues, Jim Troughton (shin splints) and Ian Bell(back injury) have both been passed fit and will join up with the NationalAcademy in Adelaide ahead of their forthcoming tour of Sri Lanka. Nodecision has yet been taken on a replacement for Wagg in the Academy Squad.
Andover 169 Bashley (Rydal) 170-3 Bashley (Rydal) won by 7 wicketsBournemouth 142 B.A.T.Sports 143-4 B.A.T.Sports won by 6 wicketsHavant 272-3 Calmore Sports 195-7 Match drawnBurridge 218-6 Hungerford 220-4 Hungerford won by 6 wicketsSouth Wilts 282-7 Liphook and Ripsley 240-5 Match drawn
Division Two – Overs games
Cove 238-4 Trojans 133 Cove won by 105 runsEaston & Martyr Worthy 176-8 Hambledon 159-7 (reduced target) Hambledon won by 3 wicketsO.T. and Romsey 224-9 Lymington 226-4 Lymington won by 6 wicketsU.S.Portsmouth 313 Old Basing 165 United Services won by 148 runsPortsmouth 302-5 Sparsholt 202-8 Portsmouth won by 100 runs
Division Three – Overs games
Lymington II 196-7 Alton 177-4 Lymington II won by 19 runsHursley Park 164 Bashley (Rydal) II 132-7 Hursley Park won by 32 runsGosport Borough 217-2 Havant II 218-3 Havant II won by 7 wicketsHook and Newnham Basics 219 Winchester K.S. 220-3 Winchester K.S. won by 7 wicketsNew Milton 248-8 Leckford 89 New Milton won by 159 runsPortsmouth II 239-7 Paultons 88 Portsmouth II won by 151 runsPurbrook 221-8 Flamingo 150-8 Purbrook won by 71 runsRowledge 253-6 United Services II 206-9 Rowledge won by 47 runsWaterlooville 197 St.Cross Symondians 199-6 St.Cross Symondians won by 4 wickets
Everton have had a shocking season, with numerous injury problems and poor performances contributing to their current relegation challenge. If they can remain in the Premier League next season, there seems little doubt that Frank Lampard will be making changes over the summer, but there is one player’s future which could be out of his hands already.
What’s the word?
Journalist Dean Jones has made a big claim on the future of Toffees deadline day signing Dele Alli, with his future at the club uncertain and potentially cut short.
The transfer insider told GiveMeSport: “If he’s not in the team by the end of the season, it’s pretty likely he’s gone.”
Lampard will be fuming
Lampard only joined the club on transfer deadline day in January but wasted no time bringing in Alli on the very same day to offer him the opportunity to revive his career away from Tottenham. However, due to the nature of Everton’s situation in the Premier League, the 43-year-old does not have the time at this point of the season to find the attacking midfielder’s best position in the team.
With only ten league games left for the Toffees, Lampard is obviously looking to his most experienced and reliable attacking players to secure safety for the club to remain in the Premier League this season. With Alli struggling for consistency in his game, as seen at Spurs over the last few seasons, the former Chelsea boss clearly doesn’t trust him yet.
Lampard will surely be fuming at the speculation surrounding the 25-year-old, and after giving Alli a chance to join him at Goodison Park, he would no doubt be disappointed if the player decided to leave due to a lack of game-time in a vulnerable period for the Toffees, as there could be an opportunity to take a much more consistent role in the team next season if they aren’t relegated this year.
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Even this season, there could still be moments when Lampard feels that he can lean on the ex-Spurs playmaker, but it could really pay off for Alli if he maintains patience and works with his manager to secure a role in the team in the future. Alas, this could ultimately depend on the league status of the club next season – if they were to drop into the Championship, they will likely have a tough time trying to keep many of their marquee players, including Alli.
In other news: Everton handed fresh lift as update emerges, Lampard will be buzzing
A decision on whether or not Mohammad Yousuf will be allowed to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) is expected to be made on March 29, following a final hearing of the Mumbai-based arbitration court looking into the dispute.Yousuf had initially signed up for the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League (ICL) last year, seemingly in protest after he was dropped from the Pakistan squad for the Twenty20 World Championships. The Pakistan board, however, eventually convinced him to change his mind and renege on his contract, luring him back with the promise of an IPL contract.The ICL, understandably, took the matter to an arbitration court, claiming that Yousuf had already signed up and his contract prevented him from playing in any rival league. The matter has been stuck in a legal limbo since then, a few hearings this year so far not resolving anything.Yousuf was the only player whose services remained unsold at the recent IPL auctions, franchises undoubtedly hesitant over his legal status. Yousuf himself is said to be annoyed that the Pakistan board hasn’t resolved the matter yet, but officials maintain that full support is being provided.”The PCB is fully defending Yousuf’s decision to play in the IPL,” Nasim Ashraf, chairman PCB, told Cricinfo. “We have lawyers in India handling the matter and a legal representative from the board has also been there at the hearings. The last hearing went on for considerably longer than expected but a final decision is now expected on March 29.”Ashraf also revealed that though Yousuf had not been ‘bought’ by any franchise, the IPL had guaranteed to match the package that the ICL had offered to him initially.
Changes are already being made to the West Indies cricket team prior to their tour of England in May, according to West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Ken Gordon.”You better believe that they have started already”, Gordon said when asked whether changes would be made to the team prior to the upcoming tour to England in the face of their dismal performance in the current World Cup tournament. He however declined to go into details.And, asked to respond to a call being made in the Express editorial for the resignation of the WICB, Gordon said: “Well, that is par for the course. I can only say that if newspapers feel that is the best judgment they can make, who am I to tell them not to make it. But it just goes to exemplify the kind of very poor judgment of which I am speaking.” He added, however, he would have “absolutely no hesitation in resigning, if I thought for one moment that it would assist the situation. He said that such a call “absolutely doesn’t demoralise me, and it doesn’t demoralise the board”.Gordon was fully in defence of the West Indies team and its captain Brian Lara, even while conceding that all was not well with the team and its performances in the current Cricket World Cup. In an interview at his hotel Suite in Grand Anse, it was a combative Gordon who hit back at critics of the team and its captain, including journalists and commentators in the regional media have been calling for Lara’s resignation.Nothing is wrong, Gordon said, with proper and full analysis of the team’s performances “but when you make that almost like an agenda item, this attack, attack attack, it is not in anybody’s best interest. Not at this time”. Saying there was going to be ample time for such full scale, hard hitting analysis at the end of the series, Gordon said the force of the sustained criticisms at this time had the effect of demoralising the players.He had not spoken with or seen the players in the previous two days, certainly not after their fourth straight defeat to South Africa at the National Stadium on Tuesday. But, he said it was “almost unnatural that it would not have some kind of effect,” referring to what he described as the potentially demoralising commentary being carried on in parts of the regional media.”It is palpably unfair to be criticising the team and its captain in the middle of a series like this, he said. There was going to be the time when “no holds should be barred in the analysis that is necessary. But for the moment, he said what was required was an exercise of “some care, judgment and timing.”Calls for Lara’s resignation, he said, were premature and unjustified. “Let’s face it. He was put there by the management, and I would be prepared to take whatever responsibility for it,when the time comes,” he said, disputing the basis on which those calls were being made at the moment. Nothing fundamental about what Lara brings to the game had changed since he was reappointed captain, he added.Granting that Lara had been committing “errors of judgment” during the series up this point, Gordon said, however he was going to make no criticism of those decisions at this time. “Do you want to see them get out for 50 runs in a game?” he asked rhetorically, in answer to a question that on the basis of the loss to South Africa the West Indies was not effectively out of the series. “They have to continue to play the best game they can,” he said, adding that for too long now West Indies cricket had been propelled on the basis of raw talent and not much else. There was widespread hope across the region for the West Indies to be doing better than it is in this series and that was understandable, Gordon said.
Two years ago, there was not even hope. The team was at the very bottom of the heap
But, he said, that was largely unrealistic, since “two years ago, there was not even that hope. The team was at the very bottom of the heap.” Some “sparks” were ignited in the interim to create that hope, But it ought to have been accepted that the team has not been enjoying its best days. “We all know that on its best day this team can beat anybody, but the reality is that the team is not enjoying its best days. We have come from very far. We had hoped to get back closer to the top but it has not happened,” he said.Reflecting on the time when the West Indies prevailed principally on the basis of that talent, he said the game had changed significantly. It changed, he said, “when the Australians went to the drawing board and decided to find away to beat these talented guys.” They came up with a formula, he said, and it was copied, “by the Indians, by England, by everybody except the West Indies.”We continue to send extraordinarily talented youngsters out there almost as sacrificial lambs,” he said, adding that “there is absolutely no substitute for the kinds of development that comes with the academies” and the other elements which ought to go into the production of a truly professional unit.
Sri Lanka are hoping to give their former skipper, Sanath Jayasuriya, a grand farewell by winning the second and final Test against Pakistan, which starts at Kandy on Monday. Jayasuriya, 36, Sri Lanka’s highest run-scorer in both Test cricket and one-day internationals, announced his retirement from Tests on Friday.Trevor Penney, Sri Lanka’s assistant coach, said: “We haven’t beaten Pakistan for 20 years at home. It is going to be the last Test for Sanath and he deserves a grand send-off for what he has been for cricket.”Penney, who took charge after Tom Moody, the senior coach, flew to England to attend the funeral of his father-in-law, said the team would miss Jayasuriya, who will continue to play one-dayers. “We won’t be doing anything drastically different but just stick to the basics and try to come up with a good show.”Jayasuriya, meanwhile, has confirmed that he will retire from all cricket following the World Cup. “Not playing test cricket will help me keep fit and allow me to play on until next year’s World Cup. I will definitely retire from all cricket after that tournament.”The opening Test ended in a draw in Colombo after Sri Lanka set an improbable 458-run target for Pakistan, who played out over four sessions to save the match. The home side will not be risking Chaminda Vaas, who is recovering from a side strain and have named an unchanged squad.Penney added: “He has sort of recovered but we don’t want to risk him in a match situation. The idea is to give him plenty of rest and recovery period and have him fit for the upcoming England tour.”Nuwan Kulasekara, the young seamer, is expected to come in for Dilhara Fernando, who failed to take a wicket in the first match. Sri Lanka were also likely to field the uncapped left-arm spinner, Sajeeva Weerakoon, in place of Malinga Bandara.For Pakistan Mohammad Yousuf, who missed the first Test with a hamstring injury, has recovered although Abdul Razzaq is battling to be fit after suffering a knee injury. Pakistan have a selection dilemma as they will have to leave out Faisal Iqbal, who put up a match-saving partnership with Shoaib Malik in the first Test.Inzamam-ul-Haq said: “I was impressed with the way the youngsters performed. I am always happy when there is a problem in selection because it means there is competition.”Sri Lanka (from) Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Michael Vandort, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Kapugedera, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Malinga Bandara, Sajeewa Weerakoon.Pakistan (from) Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (wk), Salman Butt, Danish Kaneria, Rao Iftikhar, Imran Farhat, Faisal Iqbal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Arshad Khan.
Inzamam-ul-Haq On whether this was his best innings No. My contribution was very small. The real contributions came from the top order – from Afridi, Razzaq, Butt and Malik. It was a total team effort to chase 316.On what he was thinking on the last ball I wasn’t thinking anything on the last ball. I was just praying to God to help me.On using Danish Kaneria so late You have to use a bowler according to the match situation. Afridi was bowling well at the time so I didn’t use him.On Pakistan’s biggest chase It was a difficult target, but our only chance was to keep wickets in hand for 25-30 overs. The top order did that and kept the required run-rate down which made it easier for us later on.On Ahmedabad The public really supported us and looked after us. The team is very happy with the way things are here.On whether he thought Pakistan’s chances had gone at any stage After Malik’s dismissal and then the two run-outs later, I thought our chances slipped a little. But the required run-rate, thanks to our top order, was always manageable.On the series from here Every game is a new game. We have to work hard, continue working hard and plan well for the next few games.On the run-outs In the one-day game it happens a lot. You have to take a chance, you have to push runs. It happens sometimes, Younis Khan is a good runner, and Akmal’s was a direct hit.On Sachin’s form Sachin is a great player and he will make it difficult in the next few games. But if my boys play like this then we will be fine.On Sachin bowling the last over He was the most experienced guy around. Sourav took a chance and it almost succeeded as well.Rahul Dravid
On the game-plan The game-plan was to try and defend 315, that was the basic idea. Give credit to Pakistan, they chased brilliantly during the middle overs. The Malik-Razzaq and Malik-Inzamam partnerships were crucial, they ran lots of singles. We let them collect a lot of singles. We didn’t bowl as well during the middle overs, and the fielding wasn’t that great either.On Sourav Ganguly opening The decision is for the team management and Sourav to take. But the decision has to be in the best interests of the team.On the commitment We never gave up trying. We just didn’t bowl enough in the right areas. Three hundred and sixteen is a big total to defend, and although the game slipped during the middle overs we did well to fight back. But it was a little too late.On what’s gone wrong In the last match we didn’t bat well. Here we didn’t defend well and the fielding wasn’t that great. We have to improve in all three areas, our allround game. We have to play well over 100 overs, we played well just in patches but we have to play well throughout.On missing Harbhajan There’s no point talking about people who aren’t on the field. We have to do with the 11 players we have on the field.On Tendulkar bowling the last over Experience. We thought he was a tough guy to face, especially out of the rough, in the last over. We had to take a gamble. Every decision is the captain’s. He is the final authority and he can take advice from anyone, including me. He has to take the praise or the criticism.On who had more at stake You can’t say one team had more at stake than the other. We both want to win the series.On whether he would have made Sachin bowl the last over Yes, I would have.On the crowd booing You get used to the crowd reaction, whether it is praise or criticism. They are fulsome in their praise and vocal in their criticism, but it is part of the game and we have to deal with it.