A round-up of the One Day National Cup Division Two matches

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Mar-2012Group AHalf-centuries by Ali Khan and Yasir Arafat helped Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) beat Lahore Lions by six wickets at LCCA Ground. The Lions chose to bat first but could muster only 212 for 7, led by Fahad-ul-Haq’s 90. He hit eight fours in his knock, off 124 balls. KRL didn’t get off to the best of starts, losing their first three with 37 on board. After Bazid Khan’s departure, KRL were at 95 for 4, but didn’t lose any further wickets as Arafat and Khan added an unbeaten 118 to seal the game. Khan remained unbeaten on 87 while captain Arafat managed to reach his fifty as well.KRL will meet Lahore Eagles in the semi-finals.United Bank Limited (UBL) beat hosts Peshawar Panthers by four wickets in a low-scoring match at Arbab Niaz Stadium. A combined bowling effort by UBL kept the Panthers to a modest 159. Mohammad Rizwan was the top scorer with 36. Rumman Raees, the left-arm seamer, and the spinners Misbah Khan and Kashif Bhatti shared eight wickets between them to round off the innings in the 42nd over. UBL got off to a shaky start, losing two with just three on board, but Tahir Mughal’s 67 ensured they were out of danger.UBL will meet Quetta Bears in the semis.Group BNasir Awais, the Hyderabad Hawks offspinner, finished with astonishing figures of 5 for 10 off 4.2 overs to send Karachi Zebras crashing to 86 in Hyderabad. The Hawks knocked off the runs but lost five wickets in the process. Only four Zebras batsmen passed double figures as Awais ran through the lower order to round off the innings before the 30th over. The Zebras must have sensed their chances of a surprise win when they had the Hawks in trouble at 28 for 4, but Rizwan Ahmed remained unbeaten on 31 to steer the team home.Fifties by Usman Salahuddin and Adnan Raza helped Lahore Eagles to a five-wicket win over Quetta Bears at National Stadium. Taimur Khan hit 64 at No.6 to help the Bears recover from a poor start at 33 for 4. Taimur hit eight fours in his knock but the Bears could only manage a modest 207. Mohammad Saad hit 49 to give the Eagles a good foundation. Salahuddin made 66 while Raza made an unbeaten 62 to see the team through and seal their semi-final spot.

Ireland would play 12 to 15 one-day internationals a year if the ICC approves their ambitious proposals to be given further challenges

Ger Siggins15-Apr-2012Ireland would play 12 to 15 one-day internationals a year if the ICC approves their ambitious proposals to be given further challenges to take recognition of their rising standards.Warren Deutrom, the chief executive, told the Cricket Ireland annual meeting that the ICC has received its submission and it will be go before the ICC board meeting in June for final approval. Under the proposals, ICC will help to identify gaps in the existing Future Tours Programme where Ireland can be accommodated for ODIs.Cricket Ireland has made the case that it has rapidly outgrown its fellow associates and needs further challenges. The senior side, coached by Phil Simmons, has won 30 of its last 33 games against associate members of ICC. And in recent years Ireland has also beaten Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, West Indies and England.Deutrom told the meeting that he hoped ICC would adopt the bulk of the Woolf Report, which he described as “better than our wildest dreams” and potentially the key moment in the history of the game’s ambition to be a world sport.While Ireland gets funding from ICC, Deutrom pointed to the disparity between its $685,000 grant compared to the $7-9million received by full members, who are also guaranteed participation in ICC tournaments and the FTP.”Our battle is to convince ICC to fund cricket nations on the basis of merit and need, not of entitlement,” Deutrom said.The newly-announced plan also seeks ICC funding for an ambitious academy structure which will see the best young talent nurtured in both the north and south of the island.While at times over the past decade the senior side has relied on naturalised players, the Irish system has produced some startlingly good players, with three – Ed Joyce, Eoin Morgan and Boyd Rankin – playing for England at various levels and new stars such as George Dockrell and Paul Stirling attracting the covetous ECB.There are currently ten Irishmen contracted to English counties – which is more than Pakistan and West Indies put together when you discount the fly-in fly-out Twenty20 players.The third item on Deutrom’s shopping list is ICC’s assistance in progressing the non-existent domestic first-class structure. At present the game is based on club leagues in three unions, based around Dublin, Derry and Belfast. The ambitious plan is to form these districts into an inter-provincial structure similar to the successful Irish rugby provinces.This last point is seen as crucial for the development of the game and helping Ireland to continue to produce top players.The AGM in Dundalk also elected Jimmy Joyce of Merrion as president for 2012-13. Joyce is father of five Irish internationals, including Ed, currently at Sussex, and Ireland women’s captain Isobel. The respected veteran journalist Robin Walsh was named as president-elect.

Durham’s strong pack of seam bowlers took advantage of helpful conditions to remove Nottinghamshire for 161

David Hopps at Chester-le-Street12-Apr-2012
ScorecardGraham Onions finished with four wickets as Nottinghamshire struggled•Getty Images

As Nottinghamshire’s opening batsmen strapped on their pads, the scoreboard on the opposite side of the ground still showed 18 runs and 10 wickets, a reminder of how Durham had routed the hapless students of Durham on the same square a few days earlier. It was not immediately obvious whether the uncleared scoreboard was just county cricket’s relaxed attitude to pre-game planning or a clever psychological ploy, but it was not designed to fill Nottinghamshire with confidence.Durham’s fast-bowling resources must be the envy of every county in the land. There are at least eight of them baying for four spots. They might not keep them all happy, but they can try to keep them all mean and, if they do so, a third Championship in five years will not be far away.They left out two quicks of recent England vintage, Steve Harmison and Liam Plunkett, and still dismissed Nottinghamshire for 161. No matter how often Nottinghamshire’s coach, Mick Newell, reshapes his top six, the likelihood is that his captain, Chris Read, will be marching out around lunchtime to stem the blood flow. It was 38 for 4 when he scratched his guard, and beyond the tree-lined hillside Lumley Castle had a cold-stoned, wintry look. Alongside James Taylor, Read shaped a fifth-wicket stand of 66 that gave Nottinghamshire some sort of total to defend.County cricket in April is confident in its image. Overcoated spectators are treated to a rush of wickets, ECB pitch inspectors shrug that little else can be expected, and batsmen console themselves with thoughts of revenge when the Championship settles in their favour in the second half of the season.Some Durham fast bowlers will have to await their 1st XI call a little longer. Harmison, in racing parlance, is in need of a run; Plunkett has remodelled his action under the supervision of Durham’s bowling coach Alan Walker and the success of that could determine whether he will live up to his early promise. Plunkett’s ability to bowl an unplayable ball or two is undeniable, but his action has been as unstable as francium. Come to think about it, even francium manages a half-life of 22 minutes. On his bad days, Plunkett’s action has been known to decay much faster than that.It emphasised Durham’s strength in depth that Nottinghamshire’s first four wickets were shared out equally. It was a lively pitch, with a surprising amount of pace for Chester-le-Street in April, the benefits of the March heatwave apparent. Mitch Claydon (3 for 33) was the pick of Durham’s attack, having Samit Patel caught at the wicket and removing Read lbw. Graham Onions made the first incursion when Alex Hales pushed hard at one, but he lost discipline after lunch before bouncing back against the tail to finish with 4 for 42.Taylor, omitted from England’s development squad after skippering the Lions in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, battled gamely in more demanding circumstances than those he normally faced in his days with Leicestershire in Division Two. He left the ball better than most and his pull when Onions dropped short was about the most assertive shot of the day. He did not make many runs in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, but it is hard to understand how he can be asked to captain a shadow squad through a winter in the sub-continent and then immediately be jettisoned. It will do him no harm, though, to work quietly on his game on the county circuit.Patel had a different adjustment to make. It was 8C at the start of play, 34C cooler than it was a week or so ago when he shared in England’s Test victory in Colombo.

Kent scored 300 runs in the day to grind home their first-innings advantage over Leicestershire and reach 404 for 6, an overall lead of 263 runs at the mid-point of the game

24-May-2012
ScorecardKent scored 300 runs in the day to grind home their first-innings advantage over Leicestershire and reach 404 for 6, an overall lead of 263 runs at the mid-point of the game.Resuming on their superior overnight position of 104 for 2 – in response to Leicestershire’s modest 141 all out – Kent spent two sessions doggedly enforcing their lead. Centurion Michael Powell and James Tredwell cracked on in the final hour to add an unbroken 92 for the seventh wicket against a weary Leicestershire attack.The second day started with Kent skipper Rob Key and his overseas pro Brendan Nash at the helm, with both seemingly hell-bent on grinding the visiting attack into the dirt. Nash at least played some attacking strokes in his innings of 76 with eight fours, while Key appeared content to drop anchor and bat almost six hours for a dogged 85.Their third-wicket stand of 131 in 43 overs ended almost without a murmur at St Lawrence when Nash, driving at a low full toss from Wayne White, picked out Greg Smith in the gully to stun the Kent members.Winter recruit Powell marched in to join Key in adding 86 in tandem with Key until, just 15 short of his first hundred of the season, the Kent skipper chopped on against Josh Cobb to make it 253 for 4. Stroke-maker Darren Stevens upped the tempo with a chancy but quickfire innings of 23 from 33 balls that ended all too soon when the right-hander miscued an attempted sweep and picked out Cobb at mid-on, with Kent already 151 ahead.Geraint Jones perished soon after tea when, in attempting to drive, the toe of his bat hit the ground and inadvertently scooped the ball to Jacques du Toit at short extra cover. Though visiting skipper Matthew Hoggard continued to ring the bowling changes – he used eight bowlers in all – neither Powell nor Tredwell could be dislodged thereafter.Powell, who hit his maiden century for the county against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road in April, reached the three-figure milestone for the first time at Canterbury after four hours and from 246 balls.He duly punched the air with delight, but took guard again to the following ball and accelerated his scoring rate in the six remaining overs through to the close as Kent hammered home their dominance going into the third day of four.

The ICC’s annual conference in Kuala Lumpur in June is where India and Pakistan could take significant steps towards the resumption of cricketing ties, with even the possibility of the announcement of a series, according to PCB chief Zaka Ashraf

Sharda Ugra30-May-2012The ICC’s annual conference in Kuala Lumpur in June is where India and Pakistan could take significant steps towards the resumption of cricketing ties, with even the possibility of the announcement of a series, according to PCB chief Zaka Ashraf.Ashraf is in Delhi for a few days after attending the IPL final (to which he was invited by the BCCI) in Chennai, and he told ESPNcricinfo, “Probably the final decision will be [taken] in Kuala Lumpur, where the ICC board of directors meeting will be held. There Mr Srinivasan and I will hold discussions, and maybe we will be able to formulate and announce something about the resumption of ties.”He denied that the two parties had already discussed or suggested a tentative schedule for a bilateral series during a gap in England’s winter tour of India, when the England team will return home for a Christmas break. “The BCCI haven’t conveyed that to us. What we see on the calendar is that the English team will continue to play matches. But that is now up to the BCCI, the ball is in their court. They have to think which slab is available, where there is a vacuum during which both of us can play. What we can play, what format … they have to take steps and let us know.”During his stay in Delhi on what was his first visit to India, Ashraf said he had met with the Pakistani high commissioner to India, Salman Bashir, and political leaders of several parties, ruling and opposition, whose names he did not wish to reveal.India and Pakistan have not played each other in a bilateral series since December 2007. It is India’s turn to tour Pakistan, but the country has not hosted an international series between two Full Members at home following the Lahore terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus in March 2009. Bilateral ties between India and Pakistan have been frozen since the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Pakistan, however, travelled to India to play in the semi-final of the 2011 World Cup.On the day that an unofficial lunch meeting took place between Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari in April, IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla had told Pakistani channel that the participation of Pakistan players in the IPL would depend on bilateral ties between the two nations.Ashraf said his discussions with BCCI president N Srinivasan had not touched upon the participation of Pakistan players in the IPL much. “I didn’t discuss the IPL, because it was more of a commercial thing. I was talking to the BCCI more on the revival of cricketing relations – on bilateral ties, because that is more important. If they feel like inviting Pakistani players [to the IPL], it is up to them. If they want to, I think that will be a good move also.”The participation of the Sialkot Stallions in the Champions League T20 was however confirmed by Ashraf. News of the decision to invite the team from Pakistan to the most lucrative club competition in world cricket was released on Twitter by Sundar Raman, a member of the CLT20 technical committee, but it is yet to be formally announced. Similarly Raman announced on Twitter that the dates for the Champions League T20 would only be released by the end of June. Ashraf, who had talked about the resumption of ties with Srinivasan on the side of ICC meetings in Dubai, said he had been asked for his approval for the Sialkot Stallions not once but twice by Srinivasan.”He called me once from India about 15-20 days ago to discuss the Champions League T20, saying the issue [of Pakistani participation] has come to the board and ‘if we decide in favour of Pakistan do you have any objection’. And I said no, of course not, I am always in favour of ties. So after the meeting he called me and said ‘I’m going to the press to announce it. Finally I just want to ask, I hope you don’t any objections’. I said our board and our people are also for the revival of ties of cricketing relations, Test series, one-day and Twenty20 games.” Ashraf said the news of the invitation extended to the Sialkot Stallions had been welcomed “in the press, by the general public and the board. At least the ice is melting. And things are moving in the right direction.”The meeting between the Indian prime minister and the Pakistani president had been important, because it indicated that the Indian government had no objections to the resumption of cricketing between the two countries. “What I understand is that, again, the honourable president of Pakistan requested that the honourable prime minister of India do something, so that India-Pakistan cricket could be revived. He [the Indian prime minister] said, ‘Yes, I’m for it, the government has no objection and we are going to convey it to the [Indian] board. The board should decide the other questions … when and where they should play, because those are the nitty-gritty details.’ “Ashraf said that he had kept aside an extra day after the IPL final to have an extended meeting with Srinivasan. However, the extended meetings could not take place because Srinivasan had to be admitted to hospital during the IPL final for observation. “He never used to smile, but he was smiling then [when Ashraf visited him in hospital],” Ashraf joked. “He was very happy that I went. That showed that brotherly relations between the boards are developing.”He came across goodwill in general, he said, on his visit to India. “I found that everybody in India has got good feelings about Pakistan and they all want cricket to resume between these two great cricketing nations. There’s great cricket passion in India, like there is in Pakistan. I brought with me, to the people of India and Indian cricket fans, the warmth and feelings of Pakistani cricket fans. This visit is like a friendship message from both the nations to each other.”

Tom Maynard’s funeral in Cardiff has been attended by more than 1000 mourners including many figures from the sporting world

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jul-2012Tom Maynard’s funeral in Cardiff has been attended by more than 1000 mourners including many figures from the sporting world.Maynard, 23, who played for Surrey, was found dead on train tracks near Wimbledon Park tube station in West London on June 18 and the pathologists report said the cause of death was electrocution. An inquest has been opened and adjourned until September 24.Many current and former team-mates from Surrey and Glamorgan were present along with England Test captain Andrew Strauss. Rugby, another major sport in Maynard’s life, was represented by Wales legend Gareth Edwards and England player Danny Cipriani who went to school with Maynard.The Maynard family had decided to keep the funeral service as an open affair to allow as many people as possible to attend and around 100 watched from outside Llandaff Cathedral. Eulogies were given my Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket and a former Glamorgan captain who played alongside Tom’s father Matthew, Glamorgan captain Mark Wallace and the player’s uncle Charles MaynardMorris said: “The presence of so many members of the cricket community tells me Tom was not only a player blessed with extraordinary talent, but somebody whose sense of fun and enjoyment made him a hugely popular figure within our game. No-one will feel a greater sense of loss today than Matt, Sue, Ceri and family.”What saddens me so much is that we have not only lost a hugely popular and colourful character, but one of the most exciting and explosive young batsmen.”Strauss added: “I first saw Tom when he was a teenager when Matthew was batting coach of England. He had grown up so well since then and was forging a name for himself in the game of cricket. I suppose that’s part of what makes it so tragic he is no longer with us.”

The alleged incident of corruption in Sri Lanka, revolving round a taped conversation, occurred before the SLPL started and will not affect its integrity, the league’s organisers said on Tuesday

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Aug-2012The alleged incident of corruption in Sri Lanka, revolving around a taped conversation, occurred before the SLPL started and will not affect its integrity, the league’s organisers said on Tuesday. The comments came on a day when a Sri Lankan paper said it had received the tape but chose not to publish its contents following doubts over its authenticity.Sandiip Bhammer, CEO of Somerset Entertainment Ventures, the league’s promoters, said the corruption allegations had not cast aspersions on the tournament’s integrity. “The allegations were made and the anti-corruption people alerted prior to the tournament launching, so if anything, the anti-corruption will be even more vigilant during the tournament,” he said. “They are just allegations at this point. Nothing has been confirmed.”Meanwhile, the published a statement claiming they had been first to gain possession of the tape, but decided not to publish due to “difficulty in establishing the authenticity of the recording”. The conversation is said to be almost entirely in Hindi, and appears to be about fixing matches in the SLPL.The tape is said to have been given to the newspaper through an unknown source who claimed to be close to the SLPL on August 7. After enlisting a translator to interpret the conversation, staff decided to alert the SLC and SEV.The tape was then handed to the ICC’s Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) on August 9. SLC are currently investigating the allegations in coordination with the ACSU. SLC officials declined to comment any further on the issue.The SLPL has suffered poor crowds during its first three days, and the allegations come as yet another hurdle for a tournament that has experienced severe teething issues. The SLPL was first announced for 2011 but was abandoned weeks before the tournament was scheduled, due to the withdrawal of Indian players, around whom much of the tournament sponsorship had revolved. This year’s tournament, which began on Saturday, was preceded by a week in which several high-profile players, including Chris Gayle and Shakib Al Hasan, withdrew through injury.The anti-corruption measures for the SLPL are identical to those implemented for international matches. Two members of the ACSU are in Sri Lanka to oversee the tournament; they are the same officers who were present during the recently concluded India series and the Pakistan tour in June.

Imran Tahir was reflecting on a sudden no-balling problem as he joined the rest of the South Africa squad on a relaxing day at the London Olympics.

Firdose Moonda08-Aug-2012Most of the South African squad are enjoying some down time at the London Olympics but Imran Tahir, the legspinner, would be advised to use the opportunity to work on his no-ball problem with South African women’s’ javelin finalist Sunette Viljoen. Like bowlers, javelin throwers are not allowed to step outside their throwing area, something Tahir has been doing with unusual regularity.He bowled nine no-balls in the Headingley Test match, eight of them in the first innings and four on the fourth morning, when South Africa were going after England’s last five wickets. To add to the eight no-balls he bowled at the Oval, Tahir has sent down almost three extra overs in the series and developed an area of concern that did not affect him previously.”That is the main issue for me at the moment, because I don’t want to carry on like this,” Tahir said with a distressed expression. “I have never been a bowler who bowls so many no-balls in a game. I just don’t know what happened. I need to go and check my action.”Despite the overstepping, Tahir has been among the wickets and has recorded his best results after two Tests in a series. He is South Africa’s joint second-highest wicket-taker, with seven scalps, the same number as Morne Morkel and three behind Dale Steyn, and wrapped up the England tail at Leeds with three wickets in 13 balls.Combine that with the overall numbers: Tahir also has a slightly better average than Morkel and a lower economy rate than Steyn and you may see a sign that he is learning to blend defensive tactics with aggressive ones.”I am trying to be as patient as I can,” Tahir said. “I have always been an attacking bowler but I am trying my best to learn every day.”Failing to rein in over-eager instincts is something Tahir has been criticised for, particularly when he used his variations indiscriminately. He has since become shrewder in deciding when to bowl his googly and he has seen the results. Many of England’s batsmen were unable to pick the delivery as Tahir disguised it cleverly.But he erred by mixing up threatening balls with a assortment of freebies – full tosses and long hops – that he admitted were a poor reflection on his own ability. “I didn’t bowl well the first day. It was hard for me in the first innings,” Tahir said. “I think two or three balls turned in the whole five days. The cracks are very hard, not like at The Oval.”Unhelpful surfaces have been the norm for Tahir, since he made his Test debut for South Africa against Australia in November last year. Although he has seasons of experience in England, on tracks that offer turn, wet weather has prevented them from behaving similarly this time around. Tahir is hopeful that the third Test, at Lord’s, will present him with the opportunity to come into this own.”It has always been a flat wicket at Lord’s and I think it will turn more than at Headingley,” Tahir said.
London is forecast to remain dry for the rest of the weekend but rain is predicted for the first few days of next week, before it clears in time for the Test.

The Videocon Group, an Indian conglomerate, has expressed interest in buying Deccan Chargers from its owners Deccan Chronicle, the first potential buyer to openly declare its position

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Sep-2012The Videocon Group, an Indian conglomerate, has expressed interest in buying Deccan Chargers from its owners Deccan Chronicle, the first potential buyer to openly declare its position. The franchise had formally been put up for sale on Thursday with the owners in the middle of well-publicised financial issues.Videocon have wanted to own an IPL team for a few years now, having lost out to the Sahara group in bidding for the Pune franchise in 2010. “We are interested and will place our bids for buying out Deccan Chargers,” Venugopal Dhoot, the chairman of the electronics-to-energy Videocon Group, told the . “It’s a good fit for our brand and will be used to connect to our consumers.”Another report quoted Dhoot as saying he would bid around Rs 700 crore [approx $126mn]. Chargers was bought by Deccan Chronicle for $107mn in the first IPL team auction in 2008, which made it the third-most expensive franchise, after Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, at the time.Bidding for Chargers, under the aegis of the BCCI, closes on September 13, with the winning bid to be announced on the same day. The notice inviting bids states that the franchise will continue to be based in Hyderabad. Dhoot, however, was quoted in the as saying that if Videocon make the winning bid, they would like Chargers to be shifted to Ahmedabad, if the BCCI allows it.Deccan Chronicle are facing pressure from their lenders, having also mortgaged Chargers to banks as security against debts, and have had to put the franchise up for sale to raise funds. They had been trying to sell the franchise, in whole or part, for some time now, with T Venkattram Reddy, the Deccan Chronicle chairman, telling the recently that they were in advanced talks with potential buyers. But the deal reportedly faced complications, with some investors in the franchise asking the board to get involved.

ESPNcricinfo previews the only Twenty20 between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Pallekele

The Preview by Andrew Fernando29-Oct-2012

Match facts

October 30, 2012
Start time 1900 local (1330 GMT)Sri Lanka must shake off the disappointment of a fourth loss in major finals since 2007, and start afresh under a new captain•ICC/Getty

Big picture

The last time these two sides met, they produced perhaps the best match of the World Twenty20 and set the tournament alight after an uninspiring group stage. Just over a month later, New Zealand return with almost the same squad and with similar expectations of victory. For Sri Lanka, that month has seemed an eternity.They are missing their two best Twenty20 players, who are being rested after the Champions League, but the biggest hindrance to Sri Lanka’s success may be the memories of a traumatic World Twenty20 final. Time may have given them perspective – they did better than 10 other teams after all – but they will not have shaken the emptiness in their gut after that title was snatched from them. It is up to the new man at the helm, Angelo Mathews, to re-energise the team and push them past their disappointment, which is a process that took months after their last finals defeat.New Zealand, meanwhile, will sense their chance to begin the tour strongly, with a wounded and weakened Sri Lanka side to take the field. Pallekele is now almost as familiar to them as it is to the hosts, and a pitch that has seen alarmingly little sunshine over the past week will have plenty in it for their seam bowlers.And therein lies the biggest concern for this match and the tour in general: to what extent will the monsoon allow it to happen? Large parts of Sri Lanka were in drought when New Zealand were last here, but a few days after the World Twenty20 finished, the rains arrived and have barely ceased since. Neither team could train on the eve of the match, and if the forecasts are correct, no cricket will be played on Tuesday night.

Form guide

(Completed matches, most recent first)Sri Lanka : LWWWT
New Zealand: TLTLW

Player to watch

Shaminda Eranga was the only Sri Lanka bowler to spend the whole World Twenty20 on the sidelines, but he is almost certain to get a game in Lasith Malinga’s absence. He has so far made the best of every international opportunity handed to him, which have been few and far between due to injury. He is an agent of swing and is likely to enjoy an under-prepared Pallekele pitch.Ross Taylor averaged 49 with the bat during the World Twenty20 and scored at a strike-rate of 145.54. If Sri Lanka’s spinners don’t get a lot of turn, they could be on the receiving end of Taylor’s bludgeons over midwicket, at a venue he has taken a liking to across two world tournaments.

Teams news

Aside from Malinga and Mahela Jayawardene, Ajantha Mendis also misses the tour opener through injury. Off spinner Sachithra Senanayake will play in his stead. Among the batsmen, Lahiru Thirimanne played every match of the World Twenty, but did not make the best of his opportunities and Dinesh Chandimal may come into the middle order at his expense.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Dilshan Munaweera, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Angelo Mathews (capt), 5 Jeevan Mendis, 6 Lahiru Thirimanne/Dinesh Chandimal, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Shaminda Eranga, 10 Sachithra Senanayake, 11 Akila DananjayaNew Zealand are missing Daniel Vettori on this tour, as he sits out with a bruised heel – though as he had retired from limited-overs cricket and only returned for the World Twenty20, he may not have played this game anyway. Martin Guptill is rested for this match, and Tom Latham will likely replace him as opener.Nathan McCullum would have just arrived after his Champions League triumph with the Sydney Sixers, but with only two spinners named in the squad, he is likely to play.New Zealand (probable): 1 Rob Nicol, 2 Tom Latham, 3 Brendon McCullum, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 James Franklin, 6 Andrew Ellis, 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Ronnie Hira, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Kyle Mills/ Adam Milne.

Quotes

‘”We lost the World T20 final to West Indies due to a mental factor. If we are to be successful in the future we have to get over that mental block.”
“There’s a different look to this Sri Lankan Twenty20 side, but they will still be competitive on their home track. Experience-wise they can’t rely on Mahela and Malinga, but we still need to be on our game to beat them.”