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It’s four months since Sri Lanka last played a Test match and we arelooking forward to proving that this side can replicate its one-daysuccess in the longer version of the game. We may not have won a Testseries for over a year, but I firmly believe that this side is muchstronger than those statistics suggest.Since beating Pakistan in March last year, we have lost series againstPakistan, South Africa and England, but you need to bear in mind twothings: firstly, international cricket is very competitive nowadaysand that the margins between sides are smaller and, secondly, that wecame so close to winning two of those four series.Against South Africa and England we failed to win the series afternail biting matches in Kandy and in both games we lost despite havingestablished winning positions. Unfortunately, we slipped up at crucialtimes and let the opposition back into the match. We failed tomaintain our intensity and concentration throughout the game and paidthe ultimate penalty. You have to remember though that this is still ayoung side and their inexperience probably told on those twooccasions.Indeed, there is now the basis of a very strong Sri Lankan Test teamand I don’t even believe that the players themselves really understandhow good they can be.The team has a good balance now. There is a talented batting line-upwith a good mix of youth and experience, the strongest pace attackthat we have had for some time, and probably the best spinner in theworld today. With a little more self-belief I have no doubt whatsoeverthat the building blocks for sustained success are there.Hopefully, we will take the confidence gained from three successiveone-day tournament victories (England, ARY Gold Cup and Coca-Cola Cup)into the Test matches. It’s also useful to be playing against a sidethat we so defeated so convincingly in a one-day final. Sure, it’s adifferent game, but psychologically it should give us a boost.India are missing a few key players because of injury (SachinTendulkar, VVS. Laxman, Anil Kumble and Ashish Nehra) and on papertheir side contains young players still learning about the game. Thatdoesn’t mean we can take them lightly though. They too have talent andwhen the game begins we can expect a tough fight.We have therefore focused preparations on our own performance. Oneneeds to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals onthe opposition, but you must then turn your attention to the processesnecessary to achieving success. We work on the basis that if we all doour jobs correctly then it’s going to make life very difficult for anyopposition.This series is going to be a really tough one for all the players. Wewill be playing 15 days of Test cricket in just 20 days, which will bestretching the human mind and body to the limit. Physically it’s goingto be a real challenge and player fitness will be an important factor.The short recovery time between games also heightens the value of agood start. After losing that tension draining Test match againstEngland in Kandy we only had two days to recover before the third Testmatch and I believe that made it really hard for the Sri Lankanplayers to bounce back. The team that loses the first game in thisseries will also have just two days to recover and they will reallyhave their backs to the wall.The contest between Harbhajan Singh and Muttiah Muralitharan is goingto be fascinating. Both are world-class bowlers and they have manysimilarities, especially in their wholesome approach to the game. Bothpossess a strong desire to succeed and to bowl long spells. They arenaturally aggressive and expect a wicket with every delivery. Muralispins the ball more and has more variations, which is understandableconsidering his extra experience, whilst Harbhajan has excellentcontrol and is a canny operator.One key feature of the series is going to be the pace bowling. WithMurali and Harbhajan participating you naturally cannot discount thespinners, but I feel that the side with the better fast bowling attackhas a great chance of winning, especially if it is backed up with finefielding.This will give us confidence because we now have two world-class fastbowlers in Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando and have a lot of depthin our fast bowling reserves, with all three of the other fast bowlersin the 16-man squad being excellent bowlers.

The Punjab Under-14 team scored a overwhelming innings and 224-runvictory over Jammu and Kashmir on the third and final day of theirNorth Zone league match at the Dhruv Pandove Stadium in Patiala onMonday.J&K were shot out for just 43 runs. Punjab’s opening bowlersHardavindar Singh (4 for 15) and Rattan Brichar (4 for 18) ran throughthe J&K lineup. In reply, Punjab declared at 325 for nine. AshishVinayak (62) and Tavish Gupta (45) added 94 runs for the second wicketoff 25.1 overs. Then Ankur Jund (87) forged useful partnerships withthe lower order batsmen to boost the total.In arrears by 282 runs, J&K fared little better the second time aroundand were skittled out for 58. This time Tavesh Gupta was the pick ofthe bowlers, finishing with figures of 5 for 20 in his 7.5 overs. Onlythree batsmen, opener Ian Chauhan (20 not out), Quyam Hassan (14) andKaran Kochhar (12) managed to reach double figures.

Lights out in BangaloreThe Bangalore Royal Challengers’ home match against the Deccan Chargers yesterday was interrupted for close to six minutes when the lights on the western tower of the Chinnaswamy Stadium went off. But the situation was quickly resolved and the game resumed. According to a report in the , the Karnataka State Cricket Association has only about 500 replacement bulbs left, since the company that used to provide them, has closed.Yousuf’s wait continuesMohammad Yousuf will continue to be barred from the IPL after the arbiter hearing the case filed against him by the Indian Cricket League, filed an interim order to that effect. Hitesh Jain, the ICL’s lawyer, said that arbiter’s final order is expected in July. With his IPL hopes in limbo, Yousuf has signed with Lancashire as a short-term replacement for Brad Hodge, who has joined the Kolkata Knight Riders.

The West Indies selectors today named the replacements for the West Indies B team, as well as a new captain and vice captain for the remainder of the Carib Beer Series.Shawn Findlay, from Jamaica, Austin Richards, Jr, from the Leeward Islands, and Patrick Brown and Ryan Austin from Barbados, are the four replacements. They come in for Denesh Ramdin, Lendl Simmons, Assad Fudadin and Mervin Matthew for the match against the Leeward Islands in Nevis, on January 23, 2004.Meanwhile, Jason Haynes has been named to take over the captaincy from Ramdin, who will be playing in the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh. Haynes’s deputy will be Jason Bennett.The West Indies B team, fresh from their win over Kenya in the Carib Beer Cup, face Trinidad this weekend.

Kiran More, India’s chairman of selectors, categorically said that it was premature to say whether Sachin Tendulkar would be available or not for the four-Test series against West Indies.”It’s too early to say anything on Sachin’s fitness,” More told repoters in Mumbai. “It’s for team physio John Gloster and Sachin to judge. He’s already started light workouts. His cricketing ability is not in doubt and we will give him the opportunity to test his fitness. But I cannot say more.”Tendulkar is recuperating from a shoulder operation he underwent towards the end of May and was not available for the five-match ODI series in the Caribbean starting on May 18.More said, “I am constantly being updated about his progress by Gloster, every two days. I hope to get a report by the 20th or 21st of this month before we sit to choose the Test team, in all likelihood on the 22nd before the third ODI [at St Kitts on May 23].”Wasim Jaffer is also making good progress. Ashish Nehra has started bowling, I am told, while L Balaji is also on the way back to fitness. All in all it’s a good sign, with Zaheer Khan also playing in England.”More said ideally the selectors were looking towards a pool of eight to nine fast bowlers to cope with the cricket in store for the senior team. More was also happy that the Indian board has decided to have constant A team tours as well.”We need to have backups for each fast bowler. The ideal way is to get an A tour on when the India team is playing a series so that whenever a replacement is needed for some reason the available player is match-fit and ready to step in like it was the case with England.”More was referring to opener Alastair Cook and fast bowler James Anderson stepping in straight from an A team tour in the West Indies to fill in the gap left by the absence of key players when England visited India recently.”I was happy to see the way the A team performed in Abu Dhabi”, he added. “The youngsters are really coming up. They could have done well in the final. They could not finish off a fine tournament, but overall I am very happy with the way the youngsters performed.”More indicated that a second wicketkeeper is expected to be chosen for the Test series in addition to first choice Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He said that though the team had performed exceptionally well in one-day cricket, a lot of work remained to be done before the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies next year to make India a formidable outfit.

Inzamam-ul-Haq has hinted that Shahid Afridi may bat down the order in the second Test at Kingston as Pakistan attempt to bounce back from a heavy defeat in the first Test at Barbados. Inzamam, who missed the first Test as he was serving a suspension, added that there will be two changes to the side with him and Shoaib Malik returning to the fray.”Afridi will bat as per the requirement of the team but most probably down the order in the Kingston Test,” Inzamam was quoted as saying in , a Pakistan-based daily. “He scored a hundred batting at No. 5 [sic].” Afridi had been involved in a dressing-room altercation during the first Test, along Younis Khan, the captain for the game, when he showed his displeasure at being asked to open the batting in Pakistan’s first innings. Inzamam then joined in the argument and supposedly exchanged heated words with Younis before the other players intervened. Afridi batted at No. 6 in the second innings of the game and hammered a blistering hundred but his record is much better when he has opened the innings, when he averages 37.16 and has set the tempo for many a Pakistan charge.Inzamam added that the team failed to adjust themselves for the first Test, after whitewashing West Indies in the one-dayers, but felt that his players were capable of squaring the series. “Our batting flopped in the first innings of the Barbados Test,” he said, “and that made the difference in the end.”Inzamam added that the team would miss the experience of Yousuf Youhana, who decided to return home after his father was diagnosed with a kidney ailment, but added that it provided a chance for other players to show their worth. While criticising his batsmen for playing some loose shots in the first Test, when they collapsed for 144 in the first innings, Inzamam said spending more time at the crease would be crucial.The home team are facing a few injury problems as well. After the injury to Fidel Edwards, Bennett King, the West Indies coach, informed that Dwayne Bravo has failed to recover fully from his ankle injury and was unlikely to play the second Test.”Dwayne’s struggling at the moment,” King was quoted by The Trinidad Express. “Again, we’re gonna look in the morning. But at this stage, we’re not very hopeful. But he’s done everything that we’ve asked of him and worked really hard. He’s been getting two to three sessions daily. He’s done everything in his power to try and make things work.”King also insisted that West Indies would try to end their season on a high note. “We go out there to win every game … and we’re not going to change our strategy,” King continued. “You don’t believe that we’ve got the quality but I think we do. It’s a shame that you say things like that because what it indicates to me is that you don’t trust us.”But for me, certainly, I certainly go out there having put full faith in the players knowing that the side that we put out on the field is the best West Indies has got and also that it gives us the best chance of winning every match.”

Shane Warne completed a remarkable comeback to international cricket by claiming the four wickets he needed on the final day at Galle to become the first spinner to take 500 Test wickets. Warne, the catalyst for Australia’s fightback in this match with 5 for 116 in the first innings, bowled Australia to a famous win, ripping out three batsmen in the morning, and then returning in the afternoon to claim Hashan Tillakaratne’s scalp, and in doing so reaching the milestone.Warne, now 34, was rushed back into the Australian team immediately after finishing a 12-month ban for taking a banned diuretic, a drug that can be used as a masking agent for performance-enhancing steroids. Warne said that he took the diuretic innocently, to look good for a television interview – diuretics, which cause the body to lose fluids, are also used for rapid weight-loss.Despite his lack of competitive cricket – he played just two one-dayers and one first-class match before being called up into the Test squad for Sri Lanka – Warne soon settled back into his old groove. He struggled for rhythm at the start of Sri Lanka’s first innings, taking just two wickets on the second day, but then snapped up three more next morning to complete the 24th five-wicket haul of his 108-Test career.In the second innings, starting on 496 wickets, he bowled even better as Sri Lanka, chasing 352 for victory, lost four wickets for 15 runs in the space of 29 deliveries. Warne dismissed Marvan Atapattu (16), Tillakaratne Dilshan (6) and Mahela Jayawardene (21) in quick succession.Ricky Ponting made him wait after the break, bringing back JasonGillespie for his second spell. But Warne needed just two deliveries tostrike when he came back. Hashan Tillakaratne hit a boundary off his firstball, but then top-edged a sweep shot to give Andrew Symonds a simple catch at midwicket. Warne then got rid of Kumar Dharmasena to complete ten for the match, as Australia sealed a superb victory.Warne will now have to race Muttiah Muralitharan to Courtney Walsh’sworld record of 519 wickets. Muralitharan has also been in superb form, taking11 for 212 in the match to extend his career tally to 496 wickets, in just 86Tests.

Inzamam-ul-Haq (PAK) needs 52 runs to complete 9000 ODI runs
Shahid Afridi (PAK) needs 122 runs to complete 4000 ODI runs
Waqar Younis (PAK) needs 32 runs to complete 1000 ODI runs
Younis Khan (PAK) needs 125 runs to complete 2000 ODI runsWasim Akram (PAK) needs one wickets to join the 500 ODI-wicket clubWasim Akram (PAK) needs 85 runs to complete 500 World Cup runsSaqlain Mushtaq (PAK) needs 3 wickets to join the 25 World Cup wicket-club
Shoaib Akhtar (PAK) needs 2 wickets to join the 25 World Cup wicket-club
Waqar Younis (PAK) needs 6 wickets to join the 25 World Cup wicket-club

Honours were even at the end of the first day of the CricInfo Championship match at Headingley when Yorkshire were 61 for two in reply to Surrey’s 278 after winning the toss on a good batting pitch.Surrey had five players missing on England duty and Yorkshire three, but the large crowd was hugely entertained during an action-packed morning session when runs piled up and wickets fell.Openers Michael Carberry and Jon Batty rattled up 35 from the first nine overs before Gavin Hamilton had Carberry caught at the second attempt by Matthew Wood at second slip and soon afterwards Batty saw his edge off Steven Kirby ricochet from Anthony McGrath at third slip to David Byas at first.Skipper Adam Hollioake then joined Nadeem Shahid and the pair lashed 58 off six overs with Hollioake hitting some rasping boundary shots.He had raced to 33 off 23 balls with seven fours when Kirby found an inside edge on to his pad and the ball flew to Byas who completed another slip catch.There was no end to the drama and Kirby pinned Shahid lbw for 25 to give him three for 52 off 8.2 eventful overs.Gary Fellows took over from Hamilton to remove Brown’s off-stump in his second over and when Ryan Sidebottom returned in place of Kirby his third ball had Gary Butcher caught behind by Richard Blakey.Surrey were 141 for six at lunch but they staged a good recovery in the afternoon after Ben Hollioake had been beaten and bowled by Sidebottom at 152.Martin Bicknell, dropped by Byas on 12, went on to make 32 before becoming Kirby’s fourth victim, but Salisbury and Saqlain defied Yorkshire with the most determined batting of the innings and they had put on 72 in 25 overs when off-spinner Richard Dawson had Salisbury caught behind for a courageous 54 from 90 balls with eight boundaries.Saqlain was last out for an enterprising 38, slicing Hamilton to third man where Sidebottom took the catch cleanly.Yorkshire made an uneasy start to their reply as both Matthew Wood and debutant Chris Taylor fell to slip catches in a demanding opening spell by Bicknell, but Darren Lehmann came in to accompany Anthony McGrath to the close.

According to TEAMtalk, West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini is keen to bring exciting Boca Juniors forward Cristian Pavon to the London Stadium this summer, and Irons fans have been quick to have their say on the rumour.TEAMtalk report that the 22-year-old, who has been named in the Argentina squad for the Russia World Cup, is keen on a move to London, with the east London outfit, who should launch a bid for a £70,000-a-week Newcastle United star if the Magpies complete a deal for a 21-year-old, hopeful that they can get a deal for him over the line.Pavon, who can play on either flank, scored seven goals and provided a further 17 assists in 31 appearances in all competitions for Boca during the 2017/18 campaign, and would provide competition for the likes of Manuel Lanzini and Michail Antonio – and potentially new addition Felipe Anderson – for a starting spot under Pellegrini next term.[brid autoplay=”true” video=”252976″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch 21 things that will definitely happen at the World Cup”]West Ham supporters took to social media to give their thoughts on the rumour, and while one said “he reminds me of Dybala”, another labelled him as “Jonathan Calleri Mk 2”.Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…