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Ross Taylor led Sussex to their highest T20 score as they began their NatWest T20 Blast season with victory over Gloucestershire by a single run on Duckworth Lewis

ECB Reporters Network20-May-2016
ScorecardRoss Taylor led Sussex to a rain-assisted win•Getty Images

Sussex Sharks kicked off their NatWest T20 Blast season with victory over Gloucestershire at the Brightside Ground, Bristol, by a single run on Duckworth Lewis.Ross Taylor’s unbeaten 93, off just 48 balls, helped Sussex to their highest ever T20 total, beating the 239 for 5 scored against Glamorgan in 2010.However, the Sharks needed a little help from the rain to achieve their opening night success in the west country.
Chasing 240 to win, Gloucestershire looked well on course to at least take the game to the wire when the rains came. It was an agonising end for the host county whose 83 for 1, off 7.3 overs, left them just one short of their required target on the D/L method.Having been asked to bat first, Sussex made a decent first of things with the bat. Chris Nash and Phil Salt put the host county under genuine pressure with 48 for the first wicket inside five overs.When Nash was eventually bowled by Craig Miles for 30, Salt and Ben Brown added 14 for the second wicket in quickfire time before the former was caught by Miles off former Sussex left arm spinner Tom Smith, for 24.Salt’s ill advised attempted reverse sweep, brought Taylor to the wicket and the Kiwi looked in decent touch from the first ball he faced. He and Brown added 88 for the third wicket inside eight overs with Taylor particularly harsh on anything full outside the off stump.When Brown was stumped by Cameron Bancroft, off the bowling of Benny Howell in the 14th over, for 43, Sussex were 150 for 3 with Taylor having already passed his half century off 28 balls.Gloucestershire found it difficult to defend the short boundary to one side of the Bristol wicket and with Taylor and Matt Machan increasing the run rate, Sussex piled on the agony in the closing overs.Machan perished, in the 18th over, but not before hitting 31 off just a dozen deliveries. Wicket keeper Craig Cachopa was caught by Hamish Marshall off the bowling of Miles, for 0, with the bowler rounding off a decent spell of 2 for 29 from four overs.Still, Taylor was not to be undone and with Payne going for 27 in one over, the New Zealander closed in on his century. Unfortunately, for him, he fell seven runs short. He struck just four fours in his stay at the crease, but helped himself to eight sixes.The innings included six penalty runs for slow over rate. By the time the rains came later on, those runs would prove valuable, for Sussex.Gloucestershire lost Hamish Marshall for 12 at 14 for 1 in the second over of their response before captain Michael Klinger and Ian Cockbain struck the ball with great accuracy, to all four corners. At one stage, they were ahead of the D/L rate and looked in a decent position to at least challenge for maximum spoils.Sadly, for the home supporters, umpires Nick Cook and Rob Bailey took the sides off midway through the eighth over with Sussex ahead on the D/L method, by one run. With no further play possible, the victory points went back to Hove, if only just.

ESPNcricinfo reporter Daniel Brettig was taken to hospital in Dominica on Saturday night after being mugged by men armed with knives in the capital city Roseau

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jun-2015ESPNcricinfo reporter Daniel Brettig was taken to hospital in Dominica on Saturday night after being mugged by men armed with knives in the capital city Roseau.Brettig was attacked by two men and thrown to the ground after withdrawing cash from an ATM a short walk away from the Australian team hotel, and had his wallet and phones stolen.He was treated at hospital for a cut to the head, a bloody nose and other grazes, but said the incident would not taint his view of the Caribbean.”After nearly 10 years of touring maybe I had got too comfortable, but Dominica was certainly not particularly high on my list of dangerous places,” Brettig said. “It goes to show that we must be extremely careful wherever we are in the world, and that we must also look after each other and operate in groups.”The mugging itself was pretty awful and violent, although it could of course been so much worse. Quite early in the confrontation you realise that your valuables are meaningless without your life, and they can all be replaced.”Brettig had visited Dominica previously in 2012 to cover Australia’s Test match there, and said he had fond memories of the country.”I’m grateful to the overwhelming majority of the local population for how much they have worked to try to help me, from the two young men who helped me out of the street where I’d been attacked, to hotel staff, police and others,” he said. “They deserve better than to have their country dragged through the mud by a few thugs and thieves.”I’m also grateful for the kind words and gestures of the Australian team on tour, nearly all of whom have wished me well over the past day. The vigilance of the team security manager, Frank Dimasi, should not be underestimated. Equally, I am thankful for the supportive words I’ve received from the cricketing family back home.”I don’t want to let this episode dissuade me from travelling to the Caribbean nor touring generally, but I will certainly be doing so in more cautious ways in future.”Another Australian tourist travelling with a group of cricket fans was also mugged in Dominica on the same night in a separate incident.The first Test finished in Dominica on Friday, and the teams will move on to Jamaica for this week’s second Test.

Henry David’s 166 helped Titans beat Knights by five runs, with just two balls to spare in the Momentum One Day Cup played at the De Beers Diamond Oval in Kimberly.

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Nov-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsHenry Davids’ 166, which included five sixes and 15 fours, helped Titans beat Knights by five runs with just two balls to spare in a thriller played at the De Beers Diamond Oval in Kimberly on Wednesday. Batting first, the Titans began aggressively with openers Davids and Heino Kuhn taking on the Knights bowlers. The pair, who eventually put on a 149-run stand, hurried to 50 off 8.5 overs and 100 in the 16th over.The partnership ended when Kuhn was run out in the 24th over. Martin Van Jaarsveld and Farhaan Behardien were the other batsmen who pushed the scoring along with Davids. But four wickets went down for six runs towards the end of the innings and that limited Titans to 322.Knights’ batsmen began well, with the top-six scoring freely. Openers, Michael Erlank and Rudi Second, put on a 66-run stand. Then Ryan Bailey and Werner Coetsee kept them in the hunt with a fifth-wicket stand of 95. With 73 runs required off the last 10 overs, Knights were ahead, but a double-wicket over by Roelof van der Merwe derailed the chase. Regular wickets continued to fall till the last over when Knights required 16 to win with just one wicket in hand.Consecutive boundaries by Dillon du Preez brought the equation down to 7 off 2 but the last man, Malusi Siboto was run out off the penultimate ball.Knights, who had just one wicket in hand in the last over, needed 15 to win, but Malusi Siboto was run out, costing his side the match.

Wasim Akram, the former Pakistan captain, has offered his services tp the PCB as a part-time bowling coach

Umar Farooq17-Oct-2011Wasim Akram, the former Pakistan captain, has offered his services to the PCB as a part-time bowling coach. Akram said he is ‘ready to work for Pakistan’, but would not be able to do it full-time because of family commitments.”Coaching is a very demanding job,” Akram told reporters at Lahore airport. “It requires a 24/7 [twenty four hours, seven days a week commitment] that I cannot afford while my personal life is a little unsettled. I have two kids to look after. But if they want my services, I am ready to work, but only in my free time.”In the past Akram has turned down the PCB’s offers to coach, citing his responsibilities as a commentator. While he did state that he still doesn’t have much free time, he said that whenever he is in Pakistan, he could juggle his routine to have time to coach fast bowlers.”I have emphasised before that while I am free in Pakistan, give me about 10 to 15 young fast bowlers to coach for a month and I am ready to work. We have outstanding facilities at the National Cricket Academy. Send them to Karachi or I can come to Lahore as well.”When asked about the upcoming series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the UAE, Akram said Sri Lanka are a good side but not good enough to beat Pakistan. He pointed out that the bowling attack has struggled without Muttiah Muralitharan, who was responsible for 40 per cent of the team’s wickets during his career.”Sri Lanka is a good team but without Murali [Muralitharan] and [Lasith] Malinga they can’t bowl out Pakistan twice in Test cricket,” Akram said. “I don’t see Pakistan losing unless they play very bad cricket.”Pakistan has experience as Younis [Khan], Misbah [ul Haq] are there in the line-up and another veteran (Shoaib) Malik is back in the side. So with all this, we can understand that the team isn’t lacking any talent. They just need support and need to play good cricket.”Pakistan will play three Tests, five ODIs and a Twenty20 International in the three Emirates of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, as Pakistan are currently unable to host international cricket amid security concerns since the attack on the Sri Lanka team in 2009. Given the situation, Akram said the PCB should create an alternative home country for the team.”The idea is to play as much cricket as they can,” Akram said. “If teams aren’t heading to Pakistan, come up with an alternative hub and a system for Pakistan’s home series and give its team more cricket – that will help them to flourish.”

Hampshire are in talks with the West Indies cricket board over the possibility of joining the Twenty20 Calypso Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Oct-2010Hampshire are in talks with the West Indies Cricket Board over the possibility of joining the Caribbean T20 and are waiting on assurances from the board.Hampshire missed out on the Twenty20 Champions League after winning the Friends Provident t20 because the tournament clashed with the end of the Championship season. Playing in West Indies’ domestic tournament would be their first chance of international competition.The club are yet to commit, however, because they are waiting on news from the WICB. “We have yet to commit as there are financial implications,” Hampshire chief executive Glenn Delve said. “Financially it needs to stack up and we have yet to receive assurances from the West Indies cricket board.”The inaugural Caribbean T20 was held in July this year with Guyana emerging triumphant and earning a spot in the Champions League Twenty20. The Calypso Cup, another Twenty20 tournament planned for January 2011, has been postponed indefinitely due to “ongoing financial challenges” faced by the board. The tournament was meant to include four domestic teams from the Caribbean, three English counties and one overseas team.Hampshire’s presence would help raise the profile of the tournament, which is scheduled for January.Hampshire were previously linked to the Royals franchise but sought to distance themselves when Rajasthan Royals were expelled from the IPL, with chairman Rod Bransgrove telling reporters when the news broke that “the club has not yet signed final documentation in relation to the proposed commercial partnership with the Rajasthan Royals.”

A round-up of the second day’s play of the third-round matches of the Ranji Trophy Plate League 2009-10

Cricinfo staff18-Nov-2009

Group B

Scorecard
The contest between Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala in Jammu has proved a closely-fought one. A four-wicket burst from Abid Nabi helped the hosts bowl out Kerala for 133, and gain a lead of 31. Raiphi Gomez (39) and Sachin Baby (32) provided some resistance but Kerala couldn’t capitalise after having bowled out the opposition for 164 on the first day. Though they fought back well in J&K’s second innings, the hosts still held the edge at stumps. An unbeaten 57 from Hiken Shah steered J&K to 157 for 6 at stumps – Sony Cheruvathur took three wickets an increased his match tally to nine – and took the lead to 188.
Scorecard
There was no play possible as rain played spoilsport on the second day of the game between Madhya Pradesh and Vidarbha in Vijaywada.

Group A

Scorecard
Assam reached a position of advantage against Jharkhand in Guwahati. First, their bowlers, led by Sairaj Bahutule’s 5 for 53, bowled out Jharkhand for 261; then their batsmen responded by notching up 149 at stumps with the loss of just one wicket. Jharkhand will rue the fact that their middle-order batsmen failed to consolidate on starts. Five reached double-figures, while three – Saurabh Tiwary, Rajeev Gupta and Shahbaz Nadeem – reached 30-plus scores but didn’t press on. Assam, in response, were boosted by opener Parvez Aziz’s 85 and an opening stand of 128. Dheeraj Jadhav is still there, unbeaten on 49, and will look to take his team to a substantial lead tomorrow.
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Goa, buoyed by Swapnil Asnodkar’s century, reached a dominant position against Rajasthan in Margao. They began the day on even terms, on 149 for 4, but a 128-run stand between the two overnight batsmen, Asnodkar and Rahul Keni, tilted the balance in Goa’s favour. Fast bowler Pankaj Singh bagged 4 for 92, but Goa had posted a competitive 338. In reply, two quick wickets from Saurabh Bandekar dented Rajasthan in their innings and left the visitors in a precarious situation at stumps.
Scorecard
The first day of the game in Nagpur was washed out, but the hosts were pegged back on the second as Tripura limited them to 217 for 9. The Vidarbha score could have been much worse had it not been for a 59-run sixth-wicket stand between Ravi Jangid (45) and Himanshu Joshi (38). The lower order stepped up with some important contributions but Wilkin Mota, who grabbed 3 for 39, ensured Tripura stayed ahead of the eight-ball. Tripura used nine bowlers in the innings, and Mota was supported well by the rest in keeping the opposition in check.

Rashid Khan and Nicholas Pooran set to move teams to align with other global franchise ties

Matt Roller19-Feb-2025The Hundred’s incoming investors are already wielding their influence on the tournament, with several teams using a revamped recruitment system to sign players who represent their new partners’ other overseas franchises.The new ‘direct signing’ model allows each team to sign two players – one men’s, one women’s – among their retentions before next month’s draft. New joint-venture agreements are still being thrashed out but ESPNcricinfo has learned that several teams are already leaning on their partners’ global networks to recruit talent for the Hundred’s ‘transitional’ 2025 season.Rashid Khan has agreed a deal with double-defending champions Oval Invincibles, having played for their new co-owners Reliance’s teams in the ILT20, SA20 and MLC. Manchester Originals have been discussing a short-term deal for Nicholas Pooran, who plays for their new joint-venture partners RPSG Group’s IPL franchise, Lucknow Super Giants.Southern Brave, where the GMR Group are taking over, are working on a deal to bring in Faf du Plessis, who they signed in November for the IPL franchise they co-own, Delhi Capitals. Elsewhere, Welsh Fire are in talks with Steven Smith – who plays for new partners Washington Freedom in MLC – and hope to finalise his signing before Sunday’s deadline.Steven Smith is in talks with Welsh Fire•Major League Cricket

Rashid and Pooran’s deals are particularly notable because they played for other Hundred teams last year: Trent Rockets and Northern Superchargers respectively. Rashid was the first pick at the Hundred’s inaugural draft back in 2019 and has been retained ever since, but is instead moving to The Oval.”The point of the direct signings was to attract high-end, better-quality overseas stars and I can only see it as a positive,” Daryl Mitchell, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) told ESPNcricinfo. “There will be regulations in place, but there are always going to be relationships in cricket – long-standing ones in some cases.”Mitchell said it was “par for the course” for players to extend their links with global franchises, though he encouraged the ECB to pay close attention. “The way that players move has been going on in cricket for a long time. There are always relationships that are already established between directors of cricket, list managers or coaches with certain agents and certain players.”Related

• Hundred squads face 2026 'reset' in bid for competitive balance

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• Gould: Hundred IPL links won't affect Pakistan player involvement

The ECB has raised top men’s salaries from £125,000 to £200,000 for 2025 to ensure that the Hundred can compete with MLC and the CPL (which overlaps) for talent. The PCA criticised incremental increases to lower salary as showing a “lack of respect” for domestic players in December and are pushing for further increases when new owners are fully ensconced in 2026.The moves represent the latest step in a gradual shift towards a global contracting network in the T20 franchise world, though others will play against teams affiliated to their own IPL franchise. Trent Boult, who has played for several Reliance teams, has signed for Birmingham Phoenix, while David Miller, Pooran’s LSG team-mate, is set to join Northern Superchargers.The same dynamic is not yet affecting English players, who cannot move directly from one team to another without relying on the uncertainty of the draft. But the ECB have previously told prospective investors that they may be able to lock in England players on multi-year contracts in future years, meaning some could move teams based on their associations with IPL franchises.Players have represented franchises across multiple leagues ever since Kolkata Knight Riders made the unprecedented move to buy the Trinidad and Tobago CPL team a decade ago. But the trend has accelerated in recent years, especially after the 2023 launches of both the ILT20 and SA20, where IPL owners are heavily represented.”If you take a very long-term worldview, maybe, at some point, it wouldn’t be crazy to see some kind of roll-up of these teams and a combination of these tournaments,” James Sheridan, who chairs Manchester Originals, said last week. “That would need tectonic plates to shift quite a lot. But it wouldn’t surprise me if, in 10 years’ time, we are looking at something like that.”Sheridan suggested that the Originals, the Super Giants and Lancashire will create “joint development activities” in the years to come, but cautioned: “Contracting isn’t as straightforward as people might think in franchise cricket. You’ve got auctions, you’ve got drafts… But there is an obvious opportunity for collaboration.”Insiders believe that the Hundred teams whose new owners do not have links to other franchises overseas will face challenges when recruiting in future as a result. This applies particularly to Rockets – who have signed Marcus Stoinis after losing Rashid – and Phoenix, with the pull of Lord’s playing in London Spirit’s favour under their new Silicon Valley co-owners.The Hundred’s eight franchises are valued at nearly £1 billion between them•Getty Images for ECB

Kane Williamson was announced as the Spirit’s new men’s captain this week, and his deal also covers a stint with Middlesex, who are MCC’s tenants at Lord’s. Some host counties are keen for closer alignment in personnel with their Hundred teams, both in domestic and overseas players, which Mitchell believes has already started to happen.”The reality is that over the last four or five years, there are probably elements of county players aligning with Hundred teams,” Mitchell said. Is that likely to continue? I’d have thought so. The host counties are potentially going to be in control of the budgets of both the county and the Hundred teams as well.”Mitchell said the PCA’s priority is to ensure that players retain confidence that Hundred squads will be picked on merit. “Over the next 12-18 months, it’s about making sure there are guard-rails in place to make sure players are picked on performance and that everyone’s got a fair shot of getting an opportunity.”The ECB will retain overall control of the Hundred but is forming a new committee with representation from each franchise, which will discuss issues like recruitment. There is a growing expectation that the draft could be tweaked or revamped after this season, with an open-market system and an auction both raised as potential alternatives.The influence of new owners in recruitment has largely been confirmed to the men’s Hundred so far, with the women’s franchise circuit still in a nascent phase. Amelia Kerr (Manchester Originals) and Laura Wolvaardt (Southern Brave) were both confirmed as direct signings last month, with the Originals also retaining Beth Mooney.

Hasan Mahmud, Hasan Murad and Shahadat Hossain Dipu have earned their first call-ups to the Bangladesh Test squad

Mohammad Isam18-Nov-2023Najmul Hossain Shanto has been named Bangladesh Test captain for the two-match series at home against New Zealand starting later this month. Shanto was elevated after Litton Das, who was captain for the one-off Test against Afghanistan in Dhaka in June, was granted paternity leave for a month. Shakib Al Hasan, who Litton had replaced at the helm, is out with a fractured finger.”Litton has been granted leave for one month, he is not available for the two Tests. He wants to spend time with his new-born baby,” Jalal Yunus, chairman of the BCB’s cricket operations committee, said. “We had requested him to play at least the second Test match but he insisted on [being away for] the whole series. That’s why we granted him leave. As a result, Najmul Hossain Shanto will captain the side in these two Tests.”Shanto has played 23 Tests so far, and averages 29.83 with four centuries, but hasn’t led Bangladesh in the format prior to this. He has, however, captained them in three ODIs, including twice at the 2023 ODI World Cup when Shakib was out injured for the games against India and Australia.Related

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Shakib’s immediate future in international cricket – including as the ODI captain for the series in New Zealand next month – remains unclear. There is the finger injury, of course, plus there was the TV interview before the World Cup, where he had outlined his retirement plans. Yunus said that the BCB hasn’t heard directly about his plans to leave the captaincy after the World Cup.As for Tamim Iqbal, who missed the World Cup after a dramatic sequence of events, Yunus said that the BCB will meet the player on November 22. Tamim has been out of action since the ODI series against New Zealand at home in September.

Three uncapped players in 15-man Test squad

Hasan Murad, the 22-year-old left-arm spinner, has earned a first call-up to the Test squad, just two years after making his first-class debut. It’s been an impressive first-class career for him so far, though, with 121 wickets from just 25 matches.The other new faces have both played in other formats internationally: Hasan Mahmud, one of the brightest young fast bowlers in Bangladesh, has played 20 ODIs, including at the World Cup, and 17 T20Is, and has 44 wickets from 15 first-class games so far; top-order batter Shahadat Hossain Dipu has three T20I appearances to his name, and has a first-class batting average of 35.02 from 21 games.Bangladesh Test squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Zakir Hasan, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Naeem Hasan, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Shahadat Hossain Dipu, Hasan Murad

Changes in Bangladesh coaching staff

Corey Collymore and David Hemp have been appointed on a temporary basis as the national team’s fast-bowling and batting coach, respectively.Collymore, who will fill in the void created by Allan Donald’s departure after Bangladesh’s World Cup campaign, and Hemp are part of the BCB’s high-performance coaching set-up. As for Jamie Siddons, the batting coach till the World Cup, he is out of contract at the moment. Siddons could return to the position if his department, BCB’s Bangladesh Tigers, decides to renegotiate with him next year.Spin-bowling coach Rangana Herath and fielding coach Shane McDermott will continue in their capacities till the end of their contracts on November 30 and December 31, respectively. Chandika Hathurusinghe, meanwhile, will continue as head coach, though S Sriram, the technical consultant till the end of the World Cup, has left.

The Sri Lanka batter is enjoying a revival in his career after working on his fitness

Shashank Kishore26-Aug-2022You have a supremely-talented batter who isn’t the modern-day definition of fit – so what do you do as coach? It’s possible that Chris Silverwood has pondered the Bhanuka Rajapaksa question a few times.But four months since becoming Sri Lanka’s coach, Silverwood doesn’t have to worry about the issue anymore, and for that Rajapaksa deserves some credit. A concerted effort to improve his fitness – with weight loss being one of the by-products – has led to a revival in his career.At 30, an age where cricketers at the crossroads begin to wonder if opportunities will bypass them, Rajapaksa is enjoying a new wind in his young career. This change didn’t seem possible when he retired in a huff, citing differences with then coach Micky Arthur over the prescribed fitness standards, but sanity prevailed and he un-retired with a commitment to work on his fitness.Related

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At the IPL this year, Rajapaksa showed his power-hitting skills for Punjab Kings, even if he couldn’t sustain his aggressive tempo over long periods. His abilities have now earned him a deal in the UAE’s International League T20 with Dubai Capitals, who also run Delhi Capitals in the IPL.As Rajapaksa returns to a familiar venue, one where he began last year’s T20 World Cup with a match-winning half-century against Bangladesh, he is looking forward to carrying the confidence from the IPL and his recent T20 success into the Asia Cup.”For me, the experience I bring after playing in the IPL will create good energy for the side,” Rajapaksa said. “One of the best chats I had with Liam [Livingstone] was when he said, ‘If it’s in the V, make sure the ball is in the trees’. He’d just be that aggressive. Proper slam-bang player.”Coming back to the Sri Lankan side, I have brought in a lot of positivity after speaking to a lot of the IPL players, like Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal and KG [Kagiso Rabada]. I don’t think I have the time to explain in detail the talks we had, but there were a lot of positive vibes. I’m hoping we can take that same brand of cricket to the world.”As Rajapaksa spoke of the “brand of cricket” Sri Lanka want to play, Silverwood, sitting beside him, chuckled. He knows all too well the kind of adjustments England made to become the white-ball powerhouse they are today. Sri Lanka have a long way to go, but having an attacking mindset is a good place to start.It isn’t something Silverwood can instantly make happen, though. He’s barely had any time to settle in as coach. Soon after his arrival in May, Sri Lanka played two Tests against Bangladesh at home, and then played Australia and Pakistan in two intense series.The Asia Cup is going to be tough too, with Sri Lanka in the tougher group along with Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Silverwood, though, is happy with how the team is shaping up during his short tenure.”My experience with Sri Lanka has been excellent,” he said. “I’ve found the guys are open-minded, willing to learn. They want to learn and want to move forward. From a coaching perspective, I couldn’t have asked for anything more from the team.”It would’ve been lovely to play [the Asia Cup] in Sri Lanka, but unfortunately it’s not happening there. We’ve embraced the fact that we have to play it here [in UAE]. Our mindset is very much focused on what we need to do to compete and be successful in the UAE. A lot of the guys have the experience of playing here anyway, so we will use that. We’re here to do our best to win the tournament.”While Sri Lanka begin the Asia Cup by playing Afghanistan in the tournament opener on Saturday, the spotlight is already on Sunday’s game – with India playing Pakistan. Silverwood said that flying under the radar could be exactly what Sri Lanka needs.”I think every game is must-win, but if people are talking about something else, you can go about your business [normally], so it is an advantage, absolutely, ” he said. “But at the same time you have to meet these teams [India, Pakistan] at some point. We’re busy working behind the scenes to ensure we’re well prepared, equally we’ll be watching every game with interest to see what to do.”

Sri Lanka’s captain also had words of praise for Ramesh Mendis, though he felt he could improve his lines and lengths

Andrew Fidel Fernando03-May-2021Praveen Jayawickrama was on Test debut, and had played only ten first-class matches before that. Ramesh Mendis was playing just his second Test. The pair combined to take 17 wickets in the match, against Bangladesh, bowling Sri Lanka to a commanding victory in Pallekele – the team’s first win against World Test Championship opposition since August 2019.Jayawickrama, 22, was especially impressive, claiming match figures of 11 for 178, which are not only a record for a Sri Lanka debutant, but the tenth-best by any Test debutant. It was his accuracy that his captain Dimuth Karunaratne was especially impressed with.”Praveen does the simple things well,” Karunaratne said after the match. “He pitches the ball in the right spot. That’s something we saw from Rangana Herath as well. He makes the batsman play, and gives the ball a chance to do something. When you play at this level, you have to have that consistency in line and length. He did his job 100%, and played like a bowler who had more than his ten first-class matches. It’s a great sign for the future of our Test cricket.”The seniors just gave both bowlers confidence. Some players can panic at times when they come into the Test arena, because they try a lot of things. What we tried to tell them was to play as if they would a regular first-class game, and to handle the pressure that way. Praveen absorbed pressure really well.”Dimuth Karunaratne made a double-century in the first Test, and followed it up with scores of 118 and 66 in the second•AFP/Getty Images

Mendis’ match haul was 6 for 189, and he was particularly effective in the second innings, claiming the wickets of Bangladesh’s most senior batters – Tamim Iqbal (caught behind), Mominul Haque (bowled off an inside edge), and Mushfiqur Rahim (caught at leg slip). While Mendis has been a batting allrounder at the lower levels, Sri Lanka coach Mickey Arthur even before this series had identified his bowling as a potential asset to the Test side.”At a time when we didn’t have anyone experienced, both bowlers came and bowled like experienced players,” Karunaratne said. “I think Ramesh also gave Praveen a lot of help from the other end, in terms of building pressure. That bowling partnership was good, and they had an understanding because they also play for the same club [Moors Sports Club].”Ramesh can improve a little bit more in terms of his lines and lengths, but it’s also his second Test, and when he gets to 15-20 Tests, he’ll be able to get the hang of all that.”Karunaratne also praised Sri Lanka’s batting line-up, which put up an imposing 493 for 7 in the first innings, with Karunaratne himself and Lahiru Thirimanne hitting hundreds, before Oshada Fernando made 81 and Niroshan Dickwella produced 77 not out. For Karunaratne, this was a continuation of the progress the batters had made in the West Indies, where Sri Lanka played out two draws.”In the West Indies we did a lot of good things. It’s not an easy place to bat, with the Dukes ball being used. But we fixed our mindset and worked on our temperament and patience. I think that’s why we were able to make big scores in this series – Dhananjaya de Silva’s 166 [in the first Test], and Thiri’s 140. We knew that we needed a big score on the board in the first innings to win a match, so that was playing on our minds. We took responsibility.”