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Sri Lanka head coach Marvan Atapattu has said the absence of Saeed Ajmal was a psychological boost for the home side ahead of the three-Test series against Pakistan that begins in Galle on Wednesday

Sa'adi Thawfeeq15-Jun-2015Sri Lanka head coach Marvan Atapattu has said the absence of Saeed Ajmal was a psychological boost for the home side ahead of the three-Test series against Pakistan that begins in Galle on Wednesday.”The major change that I see in this Pakistan side is that Saeed Ajmal is not there,” Atapattu said. “He has been their main weapon and it’s somewhat unfortunate that things have fallen that way. Teams have to face such situations.”It’s a psychological thing when you know that Ajmal at his peak made not only the Sri Lankans but a lot of batsmen think,” he said. “He gave a lot of them sleepless nights. Now that he is not there it’s a psychological advantage to us but still you’ve got to respect the good ball and put away the bad ones. That’s the mentality I expect our players to be in.”I believe they’ve got bowlers who could win games but at the same time they haven’t done it yet.”Atapattu was, however, upbeat about Sri Lanka’s bowling, especially with the “coming of age” of their fast-bowling unit.

A new era for Sri Lanka

Atapattu said the upcoming series was important because it was the start of a new era for Sri Lanka cricket.
“We are getting into a new era without the two big guns Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara at some point in time in the series. It’s a new challenge for the players in different slots and hopefully they will grab them and hang in there for a long time,” he said.
Jayawardene has retired from all formats of the game at the conclusion of the 2015 World Cup while Sangakkara is expected to do so during the series against India coming up in August. Sangakkara is currently playing for English county Surrey and will join the Test squad in Galle.

“Our fast bowlers are more disciplined than a decade ago if you exclude Chaminda Vaas who was in a different class,” he said. “We are trying to bring in more discipline to our fast bowling unit and hopefully we will see results.”We don’t have anybody who bowls at 150kph at the moment but you really don’t have to. You don’t need to be fast to trouble a batsman. We are more equipped in our unit to combat situations.”Drop in fielding standards has been an area of concern for Sri Lanka in the last few months, following which the team roped in the services of Jonty Rhodes. Atapattu said the players have worked hard in that area.”Jonty Rhodes coming to Sri Lanka doesn’t mean that we are going to hold onto every catch that comes our way,” he said. “What we expected from Jonty was to give us new tips and techniques so that we can improve our players and to work on them, which we are doing through our local coaches who are capable.”Our fielding can improve not only because of Jonty’s contribution but it could be because the conditions are different here and more suitable for our guys. We know our conditions better than anybody else.”The majority of the players in the Lankan squad will be coming out of a three-month break from cricket which according to Atapattu was a long-felt need.”We’ve been playing cricket since November 2014 and it ran upto the March 18, 2015 without a break other than the 10 days we got between the New Zealand tour and the World Cup,” pointed out Atapattu. “It’s been good but on the other hand some players have been playing there cricket elsewhere like in IPL, and in England. Very few had nothing and actually had a rest of three months.”

Former national selector Glenn Turner and Martin Crowe have been recruited by New Zealand Cricket as high-performance talent scouts

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Nov-2012Glenn Turner and Martin Crowe have been recruited by New Zealand Cricket (NZC) as “high-performance talent scouts”, to identify potential New Zealand cricketers by watching domestic cricket. The duo will suggest names to national selection manager Kim Littlejohn and coach Mike Hesson.Turner returns to the payroll of NZC after being removed from his position as the national selector, after six years in the role, by current director of cricket John Buchanan last year. Turner, days after being displaced by Littlejohn, had said he and New Zealand Cricket were “better off without each other”.But now he is happy to be back in the fold. “I’ve only been a year out of it and the six years prior to that meant that I got around the provincial scene and I’ve had an opportunity to see more domestic cricket than anybody else,” Turner told . “It’s an opportunity to keep up with that knowledge and increase it again and get right up to date. Obviously cricket is still important to me and there’s always the saying that you’re better inside the tent than outside it.”The other recruit, Crowe, was diagnosed with a “very treatable” cancer a month ago.Buchanan said an increase in the budget as the reason behind the new positions: “We’re trying to increase the breadth of coverage. It’s to do with budgeting, in that we were able to increase our budget in that area. [It’s] also for [Littlejohn] to get a good handle on NZC and the sort of people that would be appropriate to fill those scouting roles.”

Pakistani first-class cricketer Nauman Habib has died in Peshawar, reportedly a victim of murder

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Oct-2011Pakistani first-class cricketer Nauman Habib has died in Peshawar, reportedly a victim of murder. Habib, 32, had gone missing on October 9 after leaving his house in Hayatabad, Peshawar, for a nearby gym; his body was found near his house on October 11. Habib had been playing for Peshawar against Multan from October 6-8 in the first round of this season’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and had taken seven wickets in the match.Habib, a right-arm seamer, played 63 first-class matches and 30 List A games. He had taken 221 first-class wickets at an average of 26.22, with nine five-wicket hauls; he took ten wickets in a match three times.

Australia cannot expect Shane Warne’s advice to magically solve Nathan Hauritz’s recent bowling problems, according to the coach Tim Nielsen

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Oct-2010Australia cannot expect Shane Warne’s advice to magically solve Nathan Hauritz’s recent bowling problems, according to the coach Tim Nielsen. Hauritz is likely to remain Australia’s No. 1 spinner for the Ashes but after taking six wickets at 65 in the recent Tests against India, he has some work to do.That could include sessions with Warne, who has offered his services to Hauritz ahead of Australia’s first home Ashes series since Warne’s retirement. Nielsen said while such tutoring could be useful, it was more important that Hauritz take on the responsibility of working out what he should change in order to trouble England’s batsmen.”He’s had some discussions with Warney in the past,” Nielsen told the Sydney Morning Herald. “If Warney is available and Haury would like to speak to him I can’t see any reason they wouldn’t have a chat. In the end, that’s a great little resource to utilise, but it’s more important that Haury identifies the things he needs to improve and we identify as a team the things we need to improve, and go about fixing them.”We can’t expect someone to come in and fix the ills of the game for us. It’s about us saying ‘yes, I need to get better at this’, and working our backsides off at training and preparation to make sure we’ve nailed those skills. It’d be great to have people like Warne offering advice but in the end it comes back to us.”The main competition for Hauritz in the immediate future is set to come from the legspinning allrounder Steven Smith, who made a promising start to his Test career against Pakistan this year. The former spinners Ashley Mallett and Ray Bright would like to see Smith in the Test side, although alongside Hauritz rather than in his place.Smith’s batting makes him an attractive all-round option and although Ricky Ponting is not keen on the idea yet, one possible role could be for Smith to bat at No. 6 and become the second spinner. But Smith, who was in the Test squad in India and remains there for the ODI series, believes his Test hopes for the time being will rest on his bowling.”I’d like to become a genuine allrounder down the track so scoring runs whenever I can is going to be good for me to get my best foot forward,” Smith told reporters in India. “Something I want to do is bat in the top six at some point. But at the moment it’s probably going to be my spin that’ll give me a game.”

Victoria have dropped to fourth on the table with only one round remaining while Tasmania are in fifth place

AAP13-Feb-2025Mitchell Owen unleashed some more fireworks and Caleb Jewell cracked a sparkling century to lead Tasmania to a five-wicket One-Day Cup win over Victoria at Bellerive Oval.In reply to Victoria’s 266 for 9, Tasmania chased down the victory target with a whopping 57 balls to spare in Thursday’s match.Owen made headlines when he smashed 108 off 42 balls to lead Hobart Hurricanes to victory in the BBL final against Sydney Thunder in January. The 23-year-old was at it again on Thursday, thumping 48 off 19 balls to get Tasmania’s run chase off to a flyer.Fellow opener Jewell picked up where Owen left off, finishing unbeaten on 105 off 115 balls. Jewell brought up his ton with a six off Sam Elliott over midwicket, with his innings featuring eight fours and three sixes.Victoria would have surged into second spot with victory over Tasmania, but instead dropped to fourth with only one round remaining before the March 1 final. The Bushrangers (13 points) are three points behind second-placed NSW (16 points), while Tasmania (11 points) are fifth.NSW host Victoria in the final round in what shapes as effectively an elimination final.Sam Harper (50 off 57 balls) got Victoria off to a solid start, but his dismissal sparked a mini slump as the visitors staggered to 130 for 5 in the 30th over. Marcus Harris (2), Peter Handscomb (23) and Harry Dixon (24) were all back in the sheds by that stage.But a quickfire innings from Thomas Rogers (68 off 70 balls) and handy knocks from Will Sutherland (30 off 34 balls) and Elliott (46 not out off 43 balls) lifted Victoria to a respectable total.Beau Webster finished with 2 for 41 from nine overs, while Raf MacMillan (2 for 39) was the only other multiple wicket-taker.Owen began Tasmania’s run chase powerfully, with the home side none for 67 in the sixth over before he skied a catch to Harris.Charlie Wakim (44), Jordan Silk (29) and Tim Ward (22) posted handy runs, but Jewell inflicted the bulk of the damage. He unleashed a series of beautiful drives en route his half-century, and upped the tempo with some big heaves to lift his team to victory.

Nishita, Sanjida dropped for ODIs while Rani and Trisna have been left from the T20I squad

Mohammad Isam14-Nov-2023Allrounder Lata Mondal has returned to the 16-member Bangladesh side for the tour of South Africa. The tour begins with three T20Is followed by three ODIs which will be part of the 2022-25 Women’s Championship.Mondal, who had missed Bangladesh’s home series against Pakistan, last played in the ODIs against India in July. Bangladesh won both the ODI and T20I series against Pakistan 2-1.Meanwhile, 15-year-old offspinner Nishita Akter, who made her debut in the Pakistan series, left-arm spinner Sanjida Akter, opener Sharmin Akhter and left-arm pacer Fariha Trisna are all part of the reserves. Opener Shathi Rani who was part of the T20I squad against Pakistan, misses out.

Bangladesh tour of SA

1st T20I: Dec 3, Benoni
2nd T20I: Dec 6, Kimberley
3rd T20I: Dec 8, Kimberley
1st ODI: Dec 16, East London
2nd ODI: Dec 20, Potchefstroom
3rd ODI: Dec 23, Benoni

Bangladesh begin the tour with the first T20I in Benoni on December 3, followed by two T20Is in Kimberley on December 6 and 8 respectively. The ODIs will be played in East London, Potchefstroom and Benoni on December 16, 20 and 23.Bangladesh are seventh on the championship table with three wins from 12 matches whereas South Africa occupy the fifth spot having played nine games and winning seven of them.That apart, Bangladesh have beaten South Africa only two times in the 18 ODIs and only once in 11 T20Is.Bangladesh squad: Nigar Sultana (captain), Nahida Akter (vice-captain), Shamima Sultana, Murshida Khatun, Sobhana Mostary, Fargana Hoque, Lata Mondal, Shorna Akter, Ritu Moni, Shorifa Khatun, Sumaiya Akter, Rabeya Khan, Sultana Khatun, Fahima Khatun, Marufa Akter, Disha Biswas

Nawaz and Yasir picked up eight wickets between them, but the hosts now have the runs – and the history – to feel confident

Andrew Fidel Fernando18-Jul-2022Stumps Kusal Mendis and Oshada Fernando set a platform with their 91-run partnership, the middle order then thrust Sri Lanka onward in an urgent middle session, and Dinesh Chandimal gave Sri Lanka command of the first Galle Test, hitting 86 not out off 121 balls while putting up lively stands with the tail.Mohammad Nawaz wheeled his way to a maiden five-wicket haul, and Yasir Shah produced some spectacular legbreaks, but Pakistan’s situation in this match is looking increasingly dire. On a surface taking substantial turn, they are now 333 runs behind, with one opposition wicket still to get. The highest successful chase in Galle is 268; the highest fourth-innings score of any description is 300.Half-centuries from Fernando, Kusal, and Chandimal tied Sri Lanka’s innings together, and it was the morning’s third-wicket stand that set Sri Lanka up for a strong batting day. At this stage, Sri Lanka were more or less batting normally, Fernando coming down the track to create single options either side of the pitch, while Mendis played more on his back foot to take toll of the shorter deliveries, which came too often from the Pakistan spinners.There were occasional big shots before lunch, such as when Fernando ran down the track and launched Yasir into the sightscreen roughly midway through the session. But largely, the batters were happy to wait for the bowlers to err, which they did, rarely managing to build pressure, as they gave up runs to Kusal’s sweep, or Fernando’s cuts. Fernando got to his half-century towards the end of the first session, but was out soon after the break, edging Nawaz to slip.But then, thanks partly to Kusal, who reached his own fifty early in the second session, Sri Lanka raised the tempo. He began to sweep violently, and find easy singles into the outfield, until eventually, when on 76, he got the best ball of the match – a fast, but big-spinning legbreak, from Yasir that pitched well outside leg, but ripped to beat the outside edge, and clip the off stump.Already having built a decent score, Sri Lanka’s middle-order batters were undeterred by these losses. Through the afternoon session, they kept coming at Pakistan’s bowlers, never with more intent than when Dhananjaya de Silva joined Chandimal at the crease. Their partnership of 40 came off 36 balls, and featured three sixes and two fours. De Silva was out to another excellent Yasir delivery that rushed him, but then Niroshan Dickwella also produced a brisk-but-brief innings to keep Sri Lanka cantering.Mohammad Nawaz picked a five-wicket haul to keep Pakistan in the game•AFP/Getty Images

By tea, they were seven down, but 261 runs ahead, having scored at 4.4 runs an over through that session.It was in a slower-paced evening session, though, that Sri Lanka truly grabbed the match by the collar. Chandimal, in perhaps the form of his life, prodded Sri Lanka on in the company of tailenders, who gamely held on for him. With Maheesh Theekshana, he produced a ninth-wicket stand worth 41, before putting on 21 in the company of Prabath Jayasuriya. He was unhurried, but efficient, hitting only four fours and two sixes through the course of the day, but still striking at more than 70. He had also hit 76 in the first innings, and a 206 not out last week against Australia.Nawaz was the only Pakistan bowler who delivered consistently testing spells – Yasir was given to dragging his length down too often, despite having bowled some unplayable ones as well. Nawaz had taken nightwatcher Kasun Rajitha’s wicket with a slider in the second over of the day, had Angelo Mathews top-edging a cut shot by getting the ball to bite off the surface, bowled Dickwella, who under-edged his reverse sweep, and snuck a quick one on to Ramesh Mendis’ off stump.He ended the day with 5 for 88; Yasir 3 for 122, having gone at 4.20 an over. Pakistan barely used their quicks, not bowling a single over of seam in the afternoon session, and keeping Naseem Shah out of the attack until the 75th over.Of the fast bowlers, Hasan Ali was clearly the best, conceding just 15 runs from his ten overs. He was rewarded with the wicket of Theekshana late in the day.

Daddy long-legs larvae have damaged the outfield at Hove

Matt Roller17-Mar-2021Sussex are considering switching the venue for their first County Championship fixture of the season against Lancashire from Hove to Old Trafford due to a bug infestation.The teams are due to meet twice within the first four rounds of the season, with Sussex’s home game scheduled from April 8-11 at Hove and the return fixture at Old Trafford from April 29-May 2. But the clubs have been discussing the possibility of reversing the venues while the Hove groundstaff deal with a plague of larvae that has damaged the outfield.It is understood that the bugs in question are leatherjackets, the larvae of European crane flies (more commonly known as daddy long-legs). They lay their eggs in soil, which then hatch out and feed on the roots of plants – in this case, the grass on the outfield. The square, however, has not been damaged.Related

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The insecticide that was commonly used to treat the issue has been banned in the UK since 2016, but Sussex are hopeful that it will only be a short-term problem, and remain confident that their home fixture against Yorkshire on April 22 will be able to go ahead as planned. A firm decision on the venue for the season opener will be made at the end of next week.A Sussex spokesperson said: “We’re making good progress on getting the outfield ready for the start of the season and remain hopeful of hosting Lancashire at The 1st Central County Ground as planned. We will assess the conditions at the end of next week and the two clubs will then make a decision on where the fixture will be played.”Because both the LV= Insurance County Championship fixtures between Sussex and Lancashire will be played behind closed doors, if the home and away matches are switched, spectators would not be affected. Our thanks go to Lancashire for their understanding and cooperation in this matter.”Lancashire were contacted for comment.

Attentions are beginning to turn to the Test summer with the key quick saved the long return journey west

Daniel Brettig06-Nov-2019Australia’s spearhead Pat Cummins will be spared the long haul trip to Perth and back to rest his body ahead of the Test series against Pakistan, which has been confirmed as the starting point for Andrew McDonald as the national coach Justin Langer’s senior assistant.The decision to rest Cummins may well open the way for Sean Abbott to play his first international in more than five years, as Australia look for a victory at Perth Stadium on Friday evening to close out an unbeaten six matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, where so far only Sydney rain and arcane playing conditions have prevented a clean sweep.A shift of Australian thinking from T20 back to the looming Test match assignments against Pakistan (two Tests in Brisbane and Adelaide) and New Zealand (three Tests in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney) have been underlined by the news that McDonald is now clear to commence his role alongside Langer for the Gabba Test later this month, after concluding his duties with Victoria and the Melbourne Renegades.Lengthy negotiations among multiple parties have been required to allow McDonald the freedom to take up the national team role while also upholding pre-existing contracts to coach the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL and Birmingham in The Hundred, the first such instance of CA allowing a national team assistant coach to wear more than one hat. It was also confirmed on Wednesday that Victoria assistant coach Lachlan Stevens will move into an acting head coach role for the remainder of the Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup following McDonald’s departure.

Test spots remain undecided

Australia coach Justin Langer has said the next round of Sheffield Shield and the Australia A game against Pakistan will play a key role in shaping the final decisions over the Test squad.
Travis Head’s century in the recent round of matches has helped his cause as he aims for a recall and he will line-up alongside Usman Khawaja, Will Pucovski and Nic Maddinson.
“I’m hoping someone starts banging really hard on the door,” Langer said. “Travis played well. I thought the way Matthew Wade played was excellent in winning the game for Tasmania. Cameron Green, can we slide him in the top four. He’s got a very bright future. I watched him bat yesterday – I know how well he can bowl, he’s a good young kid.
“I keep maintaining there is so much talent in Australian cricket we’ve just got make sure we get the combinations right and make sure we get the people that are ready to go for this Test series.”

As Langer’s senior assistant, McDonald will fill the role left by David Saker at the start of the year when he resigned after the home Tests against India and Sri Lanka, also meaning he is likely to take primary responsibility for helming tactical discussions among Australia’s bowlers.Graeme Hick remains as the team’s batting coach and Sridharan Sriram as a spin bowling and batting assistant, while the head of national teams Ben Oliver is eager to ensure a good degree of fluidity for other specialist roles to be taken on a short-term basis, as seen with the use of Ricky Ponting and Adam Griffith (World Cup), Steve Waugh and Troy Cooley (Ashes) and Michael Hussey and Ryan Harris (T20I series) alongside Langer this year.A comfortable victory over Pakistan in Canberra on Tuesday evening, underpinned by Steven Smith’s deft innings to smooth over the loss of early wickets in the chase, has further demonstrated how Australia are developing role clarity for their T20 team. Smith took complete control of the pursuit, providing a reminder that in the brief phase in which he has previously played in the Australia T20I side as a specialist batsman rather than a speculative wrist spin bowler, he showed an aptitude for being the “clean up man” if early wickets fell.Across nine matches in 2015-16, Smith returned 263 runs at 32.87 and a strike rate of 135.56, before bowing out of T20I duty to provide brief periods of rest between his many Test match and ODI commitments. “If you look at my batting record in T20 internationals, it’s not crash hot,” Smith said. “I guess you have to bear in mind … early in my career I was batting No. 8 or 9, coming in and slogging, facing half a dozen balls tops. It’s never easy so it’s going to affect your record at some point.”I don’t doubt my ability. I know the tempos of the game … and I’ve played a lot of cricket now. I may not be as strong as some of the other guys but I use placement and timing. The white ball usually flies off the bat particularly when it’s brand new. If you’re timing the ball well you get value for your shots most places.”If you’re chasing you weigh up the situation and what you need and what you need to go at, which bowlers you want to target and just work out the maths in your head and that’s chasing. Batting first you have to sum up conditions and how the wicket is playing, what you think a good score is and who is in the opposition, all those sorts of things. I’ve played a lot of cricket now, I’m pretty experienced and my role in this team is to fix it if the top don’t come off.”

Young bowler is ready, but treat him carefully, says Warwickshire director of cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Sep-2018Ashley Giles, Warwickshire’s director of cricket, has warned the England management to treat Olly Stone like a Ferrari among fast bowlers rather than an everyday run-around, after the injury-prone quick was named in his first England squad for next month’s ODI series in Sri Lanka.Stone has been arguably the quickest bowler on the county circuit throughout the 2018 season, but had to battle back from a horrific knee injury, suffering while celebrating a wicket in June 2016, as well as a succession of lesser niggles that have disrupted his progress since he first came to prominence for the England Under-19s in 2013.But, speaking at Hove after Stone’s England call-up had been confirmed, Giles had no doubt that his young player was prepared for the step-up to international level.”He’s ready,” Giles said. “We’ve really tried to manage his route back into cricket and it’s been quite tough at times with him in and out of the side after he’s picked up little niggles.”But the bloke bowls at 90mph and he gets the ball back in at the stumps and he gets people bowled a lot. We can only keep him under wraps for so long but after the way we’ve managed it in consultation with England, who have listened to us, he’s now ready to go.”Stone’s most notable performances to date have come in red-ball cricket – including 8 for 80 in his maiden home Championship appearance at Edgbaston in April. But Giles is convinced that he can translate that prowess to the limited-overs game, where his ability to break partnerships remains paramount.”His strike rate in red ball is phenomenal. Because of his extreme pace he’s going to get wickets and I think he can play in all forms but I think that, in 50-over cricket, it’s crucial to have someone who can come on and get wickets.”He’s certainly capable of that and it’s going to be very different in Sri Lanka than over here but I think Olly should be very excited that in the run-up to a World Cup he has been included in a squad. He thought he might not play cricket at all a year ago and now he has a chance of playing in a World Cup. He gets it coming back in and I think that’s a difficult angle for batters.”However, with England’s selectors sorely tempted to include Stone for the Test leg of their Sri Lanka tour, especially given how their absence of express pace in last winter’s Ashes campaign proved so costly, Giles warned them not to overwork their new young asset.”They’ve timed it right but they still need to manage him really carefully,” he said. “You have to manage him with kid gloves. I think if you’re expecting Olly to play every day and be at it, he’ll break down. He’s a Ferrari.”With many bowlers – your BMWs or your Audis – you just get in and go but if you have someone who bowls at pace and has had his history of injury you have to treat them very carefully.”As for Stone’s overall aptitude for international cricket, Giles was confident that he would settle into his new environment quickly.”Who knows until it happens? It’s a really tough environment but he’s pretty relaxed. He’s a good bloke, he’s very calm and he doesn’t seem to over complicate things so I think he’ll be fine.”