Jaded rivalry banks on new faces

Match Facts

Sunday, May 30, 2010
Start time 0900 (0700 GMT)




India look to rebound against Sri Lanka after a disappointing loss to Zimbabwe © AFP


Related LinksMatches: India v Sri Lanka at Bulawayo
Series/Tournaments: Zimbabwe Triangular Series
Teams: India | Sri Lanka




The Big Picture

The greatest rivalry of our times resumes. Wait, when did it stop in the first place? Starting with the Asia Cup in July 2008, India and Sri Lanka have faced each other in a whopping 22 ODIs, six Tests, and four Twenty20s. The beauty of it is, what starts in Zimbabwe heralds a new beginning. By August 15, presuming these two teams make the finals of the three events they are playing, they will have played each other in seven more ODIs and three more Tests. And, whisper it lightly, there is a 20-day break for both the teams during the same period, which is a prime candidate for a hurriedly planned five-match bilateral.



Don't be surprised, though, if crowds in Zimbabwe and folks on TV give this rarest of rare contests a miss and find better things to do on a Sunday afternoon. That both the sides have rested their main players for the Zimbabwe tri-series is a small mercy, as some new contests might be seen.

The Indian selectors, though, have taken the whole rotation philosophy too seriously and forgotten to send a proper squad. At last glance, rotation in cricket meant resting important players in turns, one or two or three at a time. And even when players are rested en masse, the selectors usually ensure they send a balanced squad, unlike the one sent by India, which is made up of four specialist batsmen, two wicketkeeper-batsmen, three bits-and-pieces spinners, and six bowlers.

Sri Lanka, for example, have rested Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Sanath Jayasuriya, but they have Dinesh Chandimal, Chamara Kapugedera and Jeevan Mendis, among others, as like-for-like replacements. After India proved to be the equals of Zimbabwe, the minnows of the tournament, Sri Lanka clearly are the strongest side. It will take the young Indian side, three of whom made their debuts on Friday, and only four of whom have played a Test, some regrouping to compete with Sri Lanka.


Form guide (most recent first)

India LLWWL
Sri Lanka WLWWW


Watch out for...

Tillakaratne Dilshan's loss of form has been sudden and inexplicable. Perhaps he got used to India on low and flat tracks and found it too much of a culture shock when other sides on better tracks came prepared for him and cramped his style. That, like the other two captains in the tournament, he will be leading an ODI side for the first time will add more pressure.

After a smashing debut season, Ajantha Mendis, too, has slowly and surely become less and less effective. He will be bowling to inexperienced line-ups, and if he fails against them, it will be an ominous indicator of his future.

The heat is now on the Indian new-ball bowlers. It is no new thing for the medium-pacers to be the weakest link in India's limited-over sides, but these are new personnel, with no experience, and all by themselves in an unforgiving format.

Team news

Against Zimbabwe, India's medium-pacers went for 148 runs in the 23.2 overs between them. What's more, none of them troubled the batsmen. So India will be tempted to play both Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha. The only problem with that will be the presence of two part-time spinners in Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja, who are more or less imposed on the XI because of the skewed nature of the XV. Unless, of course, India choose to play two wicketkeepers in Dinesh Karthik and Naman Ojha.

India (possible) 1 M Vijay, 2 Dinesh Karthik/Naman Ojha (wk), 3 Suresh Raina (capt.), 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Vinay Kumar/Ashok Dinda, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Pragyan Ojha, 11 Umesh Yadav.

The last time Sri Lanka played an ODI they were badly hit by injuries. So while they lose Sangakkara and Jayawardene from that XI, they have reinforcements in Angelo Mathews and Kapugedera. There should be debate over whether they want to play two allrounders, in Mathews and Thissara Perera.

Sri Lanka (possible) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt.), 3 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 4 Thilan Samaraweera, 5 Thilina Kandamby, 6 Chamara Kapugedera, 7 Angelo Mathews, 8 Suraj Randiv, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Thilan Thushara, 11 Ajantha Mendis.


Stats and trivia

•Suresh Raina has played 29 of his 91 ODIs against Sri Lanka, Virat Kohli 13 out of 24, and Pragyan Ojha eight out of nine.


•Over the last two years, India lead the head-to-head 13-8, but in multi-nation tournaments, Sri Lanka lead 4-3.


Quotes

"We need to work on our bowling. A couple of players are playing for the first time, but hopefully they will learn from this mistake."
Suresh Raina assesses the first game.

"I like it here. It's a good country. I made both my Test and ODI debuts here in Bulawayo in 1999, and I'm glad to come back as captain."
Tillakaratne Dilshan likes the environs.

USA crush Argentina in opener

USA hammered Argentina by 119 runs in their Division One match of the ICC World Cricket League Americas Region in Bermuda. Twin centuries by Orlando Baker and Aditya Thyagarajan propelled USA to a mammoth 347 for 6 in 50 overs at the St George's Cricket Club. Coming in after a mini collapse left USA at 91 for 4, Thyagarajan's century was the more brutal of the two, his 159 runs coming from only 119 deliveries, with 21 boundaries and three sixes. Opener Baker was the last batsman to be dismissed after scoring 113 from 108 deliveries, sharing a 213-run partnership with Thyagarajan.


An asking-rate touching nearly seven an over was always going to prove tough for Argentina and they lost wickets regularly to finish on 228 for 9. In a chase where they needed batsmen to stay longer at the crease, Argentina's best stand was 75 runs for the fourth wicket between Gary Savage and Grant Dugmore. Adrian Gordon took 4 for 38 in eight overs for USA, a spell which included the wickets of the Argentina openers.


Bermuda brushed aside Bahamas by seven wickets with more than 20 overs to spare after Bahamas were dismissed for 128 batting first at the National Stadium in Hamilton. Player of the match Kevin Tucker took figures of 8-3-9-3 as five Bahamas batsmen failed to score.


But for No. 8 Narendra Ekanayake's unbeaten 52, Bahamas would not have crossed 100, after being 19 for 5 at one stage. Ekanayake was supported by Dwight Weakley, who was the only other batsman to reach double figures, making 28 and sharing a 42-run seventh wicket stand. The state of the Bahamas innings could be gauged from the way opener Hamilton Gilliard scratched around for 57 deliveries for only 6 runs.


The Bermuda batsmen didn't face any trouble in knocking off the small target, reaching it in just 28.1 overs, with only opener Fiqre Crockwell failing to make runs.


Canada completed a comfortable eight-wicket win against Cayman Islands, chasing the target of 133 with 20 overs to spare at St David's Cricket Club.


In a game that was shortened to 41 overs, Cayman Islands were guilty of poor running between the wickets. Four batsmen were run out in an uninspiring batting performance, in which only one batsman crossed 20, as Cayman Islands were restricted to 132 for 9. Canada fast bowler Khurram Chohan wrecked the top order with 3 for 18 from eight overs. Though Cayman Islands captain Saheed Mohamed made 51, he lacked support from his team-mates, and the innings never recovered after Chohan had reduced them to 27 for 4.


Canada captain Rizwan Cheema seemed to be in Twenty20 mode as he smashed an unbeaten 79 from only 57 deliveries, finishing the chase in only 20.1 overs. He did justice to his reputation for big hitting, clobbering a staggering seven sixes and as many boundaries.

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NZC sees USA as long-term investment

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) is viewing its joint venture with United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) as a long-term investment that could even see USA host the ICC Champions Trophy, possibly after 2015.


"[2013 is] a real long shot. We talked about that, but ICC regulations require two venues pretty close to each other and at the moment we've only got one [in Florida]," NZC chief Justin Vaughan told the New Zealand Herald. "It also needs a number of practice facilities and at the moment there are no other turf wickets in Florida, so it would be a stretch. From the ICC's perspective, and a commercial perspective, there would be a lot of enthusiasm for it, but it's probably a bridge too far. ICC events beyond 2015, certainly that is something very much on the horizon."


Despite the lukewarm response, and financial loss, generated by the two Twenty20 matches played between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Lauderhill, Florida, NZC has a lot of faith in the potential of the US market, particularly northern California, New York and Florida, areas with a high percentage of subcontinent ex-patriates.


"The projected losses were being underwritten by a third party," Vaughan said. "So we can go ahead and further develop a relationship with US cricket. It will take time. I think everyone understands you are not going to immediately transform the US into a cricket-mad nation, or excite the local sponsors and broadcasters."


NZC's interest in the US is part of its strategy to increase revenues, as it seeks to diversify its income sources, currently limited to the dividends it receives from the ICC and from cricket played within New Zealand.


That is why NZC views the recent Twenty20 matches as an important first step despite the games themselves being low-scoring affairs in front of modest crowds. "We got reasonable crowds. Obviously they were mainly ex-pats but we got some Americans there," Vaughan said. "The players really enjoyed themselves and through word of mouth that will have a positive effect on the cricket community there.


"While the wicket wasn't up to the standards we would like to see for international Twenty20 cricket, the facility is otherwise really good. The wicket has potential, but we had issues where the grass died."

Shoaib Malik's one-year ban lifted

Shoaib Malik's appeal against the punishment handed out to him by the PCB earlier this year has been "partially accepted" by an independent arbitration tribunal, which has overturned his one-year ban and halved his Rs 2 million fine.

"The board's legal advisor has reported to me that after monitoring Malik in the last three months they feel he has improved his behavior and attitude," Iqbal Qadir, the arbitrator, said. "I have decided to uphold his appeal and lift the ban as the purpose of disciplinary action against players was to make them rethink about their careers."


Malik was relieved after the decision and said the purpose behind his appeal was to "clear this stigma" against his name.

"His appeal has been partially accepted," the PCB's legal advocate Talib Rizvi told Cricinfo. "The ban has been lifted and his fine has been halved. The board has the right to review the decision but as of now he is eligible to play for Pakistan again."

The charge against Malik was never clearly explained by the inquiry committee that decided on the punishment but it was widely thought to be for what a number of management officials and players called his negative influence on the side. This was confirmed in a subsequently leaked video of the inquiry committee meetings, in which Malik's role within the squad was blasted by a number of players including Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Yousuf.


Qadir, a retired judge, will now send a report to the PCB chairman Ijaz Butt, who will put the decisions in front of the board of governors. "We're going according to our constitution which says an appeal can be filed in such cases," Butt told Cricinfo. "I will now receive the report from the arbitrator and then put it up in front of the board of governors for their approval."


Though Butt refused to say so, it is expected he will approve the findings and that the board of governors will ratify it as well, thus removing legal obstacles from the way of Malik's potential return. Malik was named in the list of 35 probables for Pakistan's next two assignments, in Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup and then a long summer tour to England, but it is unlikely he will make the cut for the first task. The 15-man squad for the Asia Cup is to be picked in the first week of June and the governing board's next meeting is likely to be after that.

The decision also paves the way for some of the other players' punishments to be reduced or removed. The board has eased its stance in recent days against the punished players. Butt first told a national assembly meeting that he would review the punishments again before lavishly praising Younis Khan - another player punished by his board. Younis' hearing, which was due to take place immediately after Malik's, was adjourned to June 5.

Malik's relief, Cricinfo understands, is part of an agreement the board has reached already with at least three other players. According to board sources, like Malik, Afridi and the Akmal brothers will also see their monetary fines cut by half. Of the other players punished, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan's next hearing is scheduled for June 19, while no dates have yet been set for Afridi and the Akmal brothers.

When and if players such as Malik and Younis return - and if Mohammad Yousuf comes back from retirement - questions are likely to be asked about how cordial Pakistan's dressing room will be, given the startling levels of mistrust and disunity in the side. The PCB says they have given the team's manager Yawar Saeed and other officials greater authority in clamping down against any future incidents.

"I have instructed the team manager and other officials including the captain that any act of indiscipline, any such problem, and they have my full backing in immediately sending a player back," Butt said. "They need not even refer the case to me, they can send the player back immediately as they will have full authority to do so."

'Aggressive bowling won it for SA' - Graeme Smith

Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, has singled out his team's aggressive bowling as the factor that clinched a 67-run win in Dominica, which gave the visitors an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. West Indies put in a spirited performance with the ball, bowling out South Africa for 224 in a must-win game, but capitulated during the chase in the wake of attacking bowling from Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn and Charl Langeveldt, who shared eight wickets between them.

"The bowlers today must take the credit. They bowled with real aggression and intensity and today it's their win," Smith said after the match. "I thought we let ourselves down [with the bat] with some poor cricket, especially in the last 20 overs - a bit of awareness levels and making some bad decisions under pressure. But we knew the wicket had a bit in for the bowlers.

"We spoke in the meeting yesterday about being more aggressive with the ball, particularly with a few of their players. Today the surface really allowed us to do that, especially once the ball got older. It got a bit two-paced once you hit the deck hard - one would go through, one would stop. It really allowed us to play aggressively. Credit to the guys, they took it on board and it worked for us."

The series win, in addition to victories in the Twenty20 games on this tour, marks a positive turn of events for South Africa after exiting the World Twenty20 during the Super Eights earlier this month. "Only five or six games ago, we were in a very disappointing place," Smith said. "We had to bounce back and we did that."

Smith's counterpart Chris Gayle had West Indies' batting to blame for the defeat. While admitting there was a huge reliance on him to get his team off to a good start, he also called on the others to shoulder the responsibility. "We started well, restricting them to 224 was a good effort but not getting there was a lot of disappointment," Gayle said. "The bowlers have been doing a wonderful job for us. The area we have to work on is our batting. In the outfield as well, our energy was very good. But we faltered in our batting.

"A lot of guys actually look up to me to try and give them a good start. But if that doesn't happen they should put their hands up and be counted."

AB de Villiers was Man of the Match for his 70, which helped his team post a total it managed to defend quite comfortably in the end. His innings included only two fours and a six, but came off just 80 balls. He has been in prolific form this series with scores of 102 and 41 in his previous two games. "I understand my role in the middle order at the moment, I'm really enjoying batting at No.4," he said. "You've got some class players up front and some class to finish the innings. I'm just there playing my role and batting as long as possible, and trying to get the strike rate to 100% as much as possible."

The first of the two dead rubbers will be held in Dominica on Sunday.

'More embarrassment in store from West Indies' - Hilaire

In a scathing criticism of West Indies cricket, Ernest Hilaire, the CEO of the region's cricket board, has said fans will have to endure more "embarrassment" in the years to come not merely due to the lack of quality cricketers coming through but also because of the overall attitude of players towards the game, with money and fame favoured over excellence. The decline of West Indies cricket, Hilaire added, was also a reflection of what, according to him, was the virtual irrelevance of the "notion of being West Indian" to the younger players.

"I listen to our players speak, and they speak of money, that's all that matters to them - instant gratification," Hilaire said during a panel discussion on the topic 'Nationalism and the Future of West Indies cricket' at the University of the West Indies in Barbados. "There's no sense of investing in the future coming from them. We are producing young people in the region that we expect, when they play cricket for the West Indies, to be paragons of virtue. That just won't happen.

"Sometimes when you speak to the players, you feel a sense of emptiness. The whole notion of being a West Indian, and for what they are playing has no meaning at all.

"They have not been brought up with a clear understanding of what it means, and its importance. But do we blame them?"

This change in attitude was a product of the wider societal ills in the Caribbean, Hilaire said. "Our cricketers are products of the failure of our Caribbean society, where money and instant gratification are paramount. We as a region have some real issues and problems that are producing young men in particular, that cannot dream of excellence. Excellence for them is about the bling, and the money they have."

There was no shortage of advice for improving the state of affairs in West Indies cricket, Hilaire said, but until there was the right infrastructure, the decline was bound to continue. "Until the High Performance Centre, as a structure of support that has been created now [in Barbados] to prepare the next generation, we will suffer a lot of embarrassments and a lot of awfulness, because our present cricketers are not prepared.

"I have listened to many past players, taxi drivers, immigration officers, and hotel barmen to name a few. All will give you advice on what to do with West Indies cricket. People ask me, 'What will you do about this team? They are an embarrassment'! I tell them you have about three more years of embarrassment still to witness."

Hilaire said there was little hope even in those who could take over the reins from the existing senior team. "I keep hearing from people, 'Fire those [current] guys, and bring in new ones!', but where is the new set coming from? Who are we going to bring in?

"Somebody said to me, 'Bring in the Under-19s. They came third at the Youth World Cup'. And I whispered that almost half of the Under-19 team could barely read or write. The simple fact is that we are producing cricketers who are not capable of being world-beaters in cricket. It's just a simple fact."

While acknowledging that there was talent coming through, Hilaire said there was a general failure in the transition to succeeding at the highest level. "We can win matches occasionally, but not consistently with what we have," he said. "It is not that we do not have the talent, but in today's cricketing world, having talent alone means absolutely nothing.

"For the last nine years, we have been chopping and changing. Between 2000 and 2009, the WICB has tried 59 new players in Test match cricket alone. We have put young men in the international arena only to be slaughtered, demoralised, dejected, and the development path they ought to take never really takes place."

Finn the stand out for lacklustre England

On an otherwise lacklustre day from England's bowlers, one man stood out from the crowd - and not merely because he's the lankiest player on show. Steven Finn's Test debut came in bewildering circumstances in Chittagong back in March, only days after arriving in Bangladesh as injury cover. But the promise he displayed then was on show once again today, as he returned steady figures of 1 for 39 in 12 overs, in the vastly more familiar surroundings of his home ground, Lord's.

Using his height well on a slow surface, Finn was the closest that England's attack came to finding a cutting edge on an attritional day, and after Tamim Iqbal was run out for 55, he claimed the only other Bangladeshi wicket to fall, that of Imrul Kayes for 43, who gloved a lifter to Andrew Strauss in the slips.


"It was a fantastic feeling to get my first [Test] wicket at Lord's in front of that crowd, and the atmosphere," said Finn. "Initially, I wasn't sure whether he had gloved it or it came off his forearm or what, but I was excited to see it go through like that. It was relatively hard work, because the wicket's a little bit slow, but there's a bit of bounce from the Pavilion End, and we hope we can exploit that tomorrow."

After grafting his way through the lifeless decks of Chittagong and Dhaka, Finn was happy to play on a surface offering even a fraction of assistance, and remained upbeat about England's hopes of forcing the pace against a dogged Bangladeshi line-up.

"It wasn't that bad as Chittagong," he said. "I'm still having nightmares about that. A little bit more sun on it, and potentially the roller tomorrow, I think it could change. There's been a bit of variable bounce and that could be a big thing for us and work to our advantage tomorrow.

"At the moment it looks like a battle of attrition, us again trying to limit their boundary options and being clever with field-setting and able to attack at the right time. But you can see one going up, one going down. We're still 300 odd runs ahead, so if we can get a couple of quick wickets that's going to be in the back of their minds that they could potentially be following on within a session."

The start to the Bangladeshi innings had a recurring theme, with Tamim Iqbal blazing a 62-ball 55 before being run out by a direct hit. It was his fourth half-century in five Test innings against England, but having seen his hurricane style blow out on previous occasions, he was confident that the bowlers would be able to regain control as the match develops.

"Obviously, Tamim Iqbal is going to come out and play his way. But if we can 'dot him up' second innings, when he's faced two or three on the trot, he'll play a silly shot - try to slash one that's too straight through point. We did go for a few runs today but we bowled to our plans and stuck to our guns.

"We saw them bat like that in Chittagong and Dhaka earlier in the year," he added. "They're a developing team who are getting better game-by-game. They have players who are dangerous, and it's important we don't take them lightly, treat them with respect and have to be able to build dots against them."

"We're not just going to be able to blast them away; we have to build pressure, which will in turn get us wickets. The important thing is to use the new ball, because we know the Bangladeshis will struggle against the moving ball."