Upul Tharanga, the Sri Lanka batsman, has said that the team had not included the weather in their calculations as they batted on past tea on the fourth day

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Galle10-Mar-2017Sri Lanka did not take the likelihood of rain into account when they chose the timing of their declaration, Upul Tharanga has said.Rain had washed out almost all of the third session on day three, and would wipe out 12 overs on day four as well, with more afternoon showers forecast on day five. Though Sri Lanka had batted aggressively to take their lead past 400, they let their innings continue after tea. This left Bangladesh with 27 scheduled overs to face in the day – though fading light permitted only 15.”Our planning is not based on weather predictions,” Tharanga said. “We can’t look too much into weather. It could rain tomorrow as well. Our plan was to give them 125 overs. If you take this wicket, this doesn’t have as much turn as other Galle wickets. We did lose about 12 overs to rain.”Tharanga was still confident, however, that the three spinners Sri Lanka had picked could take advantage of a day five Galle pitch. It hasn’t offered the same kind of help as it has been known to over the years, but things could already be changing.”We have 98 overs and the first hour is going to be crucial,” Tharanga said. “In that first hour if we can take two wickets, we can turn the game in our favour. There wasn’t that much for spinners, but we saw towards our latter part of the innings, that it did start to turn a little. Hopefully that will carry on tomorrow.”Sri Lanka set Bangladesh 457 to win – the highest successful chase in Galle is 99 for 3 – with Tharanga making a vital contribution. His 115 off 171 balls was his first century at home, the others coming in Bogra and Harare. The innings helped shore up his place in the team, and may also lead to his getting a longer run in the opening position, where Sri Lanka have recently had problems. Tharanga has also had success as Sri Lanka’s ODI opener in the last few months, after a brief stint in the lower middle order.”In the last two series I batted in the middle order, but here before the series, I was asked whether I liked to open and I didn’t have any issues in saying yes. Wherever I play I want to do a job for the team. It’s up to the management and selectors to decide where they want me. They have used me as an opener since the South Africa tour. If the management is happy, I’m happy as well.”

Former England Women’s captain Charlotte Edwards is giving the USA Women’s squad a leg-up in their preparation for the ICC Europe this summer by visiting Texas this week to run a women’s coaching camp.

Peter Della Penna14-Apr-20173:20

‘There’s a real hunger in USA for female coaching’ – Edwards

Former England Women’s captain Charlotte Edwards is giving the USA women’s squad a leg-up in their preparation for the ICC Europe T20 Qualifier this summer by visiting Texas to run a women’s coaching camp.”Part of what I’m over here for is to help prepare them, talk to them about T20 cricket,” Edwards told ESPNcricinfo. “I’ve had a little bit of a chat with the girls around the strategy behind it. I’m just trying to help them as much as I possibly can in preparation for that tournament, which is huge for them.”Edwards arrived in Texas last Saturday and worked the next day with six players of the women’s squad who were invited to join the USA men’s team at a high-performance camp last weekend at Moosa Stadium in the south Houston suburb of Pearland. She has remained in Pearland to conduct a four-day camp that began on Thursday and is specifically targeted for 30 women’s squad players to train during the Easter holiday weekend.This isn’t the first interaction Edwards has had with the USA women’s squad. She was part of the inaugural MCC women’s tour to North America in September and played a couple of matches against USA women in Philadelphia, including one at the historic Merion Cricket Club. At the time, Edwards had said she would be interested in making future visits to stay involved with the USA women’s programme and has followed up on her pledge by coming to Texas this week.”I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the MCC here in Canada and the United States,” Edwards said. “For me, I just saw a passion for learning and wanting to be better and I think there was just a hunger here for obviously some female coaching. I’m a person of my word and I said I’d come back.”Back in September, that opportunity wasn’t there then and it’s great. Once I heard that they’ve got that opportunity to play in a T20 Qualifier, it’s enormous.”Edwards says she has already noticed improvements in the women’s players since her first visit and is hoping to do what she can on this trip to enhance their tactical skills and match awareness, identifying those as key areas for improvement. She believes women’s players in the USA are disadvantaged in tactics simply by lack of match opportunities at club level – there are approximately 100 women’s players registered nationwide – to be able to test out methods and learn from experience.”There’s many things I kind of want to help with,” Edwards said. “I think growing their awareness of the game and obviously having played a lot myself, hopefully I can pass on a lot of advice and experiences that I’ve been through. Upskilling them, that’s always important. Working on their skill development, giving them options especially in terms of the batting. I think that’s where probably I’m hopefully going to be a real asset to them.”We’ll be doing a lot of scenario work. They obviously don’t get that much chance to play cricket so we’ve got to create that as much as we can over the four-day camp which I’m really excited about.”Charlotte Edwards arrived in Texas last Saturday and worked the next day with six players of the women’s squad•Peter Della Penna

USA women’s captain Nadia Gruny said she was eager to work with Edwards again after their initial meeting in Philadelphia last year. Gruny was one of the six women’s players invited to the men’s camp last weekend and said that Edwards had already begun to make a difference from day one of her interactions with the half-dozen members of the USA Women’s squad, offering unique insights on the women’s game that the players were unable to get from other coaches.”We worked with her last September and seeing her again in April, it’s quite a lot of months, but at the same time it feels like there is some continuation; it doesn’t feel like it was a long time ago,” Gruny said. “Having Charlotte with us, we’re able to relate to her a lot better because she’s a woman player and she understands many of the nuances of the women’s game that may be different to the men’s game.”For example, women that haven’t as much strength as most of the men, the pace of the spinners, what to expect from the bowlers in a typical women’s game. So just being able to relate to us with our game specifically has been a big help.”When asked about the possibility of joining USA’s coaching staff in a formal capacity for the T20 Qualifier, which is scheduled for August 12-20 in Scotland, Edwards said she would have to decline due to her commitments in England’s Kia Super League. But she is keen to pass along whatever she can before then, starting with this week’s camp in Texas. The eagerness of the players to soak up tips is a major reason why Edwards said she is offering her support to the USA Women’s team.”I think they’re just growing in confidence the whole time,” Edwards said. “I think the opportunities they’re now getting in terms of being [at the men’s national camp] for the week, they’ve loved it. They’re relishing all the opportunities they’re getting and they’re improving.”What stood out to me is we were doing a really good fielding session with Trevor Penney and just their resilience, their real hunger to want to be better and I think that’s something you can’t coach. Them willing to take stuff they’re learning in the nets into the match situations. I just think they’re growing in confidence all the time which, hopefully, they’ll just continue to do that.”

William Porterfield said his side need to “park the game and leave it in Bristol” after they were heavily beaten in the first ODI against England

Andrew McGlashan in Bristol05-May-20171:08

‘We can’t play like that at this level’ – Porterfield

William Porterfield, Ireland’s captain, is hoping the inspiration of playing an international against England at Lord’s for the first time will help his team quickly move on from their heavy defeat in Bristol.Ireland were beaten by seven wickets with barely half the 100 overs needed as Adil Rashid took 5 for 27 to run through their middle order – the innings collapsing from 81 for 2 to 126 all out. They now have little more than 24 hours to refocus on Sunday’s game at Lord’s where more than 20,000 spectators are expected, including plenty from across the Irish Sea to bolster those who had travelled to Bristol.”You don’t become bad players overnight. It was one bad game, one bad day at the office. Losing the way we did isn’t ideal but it’s a mental thing to turn it around,” Porterfield said. “We will have an open and honest review, park the game and leave it in Bristol. I think it should be pretty easy to park it once we get to Lord’s – you have to be able to get fired up for a game at the Home of Cricket.”He also refused to accept that Ireland were out of their depth against an England team who are among the favourites for the Champions Trophy. In the initial skirmishes Ireland’s batsmen, especially the openers Ed Joyce and Paul Stirling, went toe-to-toe with England’s quick bowlers before being unable to cope with Rashid’s variations.”I’d never use the phrase ‘out of depth’,” Porterfield said. “I think we started off pretty positively, the way the two lads went about it and we threatened to rebuild after we lost those two wickets in two overs. We wouldn’t necessarily have envisaged that spin would do the damage and, not taking anything away from Rashid, we should have played it a lot better. That’s something we need to mentally put right for Sunday.”Despite the problems they encountered facing Rashid – which followed their difficulties in combating Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, who took 16 wickets in the recent five-match ODI series against Ireland and nine in three T20s – Porterfield said that what England’s legspinner had delivered was no different to what they were expecting.”We know he’s going to bowl a lot of googlies, it’s what he does, especially to the left handers,” he said. “It’s his main wicket-taking ball. It’s nothing new, we just need to play it better. I’d guess he’s right up there in England’s wicket-taking list in ODIs the last few years.”It wasn’t only Rashid’s spin that posed problems. Joe Root chipped in with two wickets – including that of Porterfield with his second ball – after England had opted for just the one frontline spinner due to Bristol’s short, straight boundaries, which meant no place for Moeen Ali. Although the selection here was very much conditions-specific, there could yet be pressure on Moeen for his place at the Champions Trophy with Eoin Morgan saying Root could become a more regular option with the ball.”Yes, potentially he is. I think you find a lot of teams we come up against under-estimate Joe [as a bowler], and using him has worked for us,” Morgan said.However, England’s biggest gain was without doubt Rashid even though there will be far tougher days to come. He briefly lost his place in the one-day side in India after being plundered for 50 off five overs in Pune before returning for the three-match series in West Indies in March. With variation being an element England are always looking to have in their attack, an in-form and confident Rashid would be a significant tick.”It was Adil’s day today. I thought he put in a magnificent effort with the ball,” Morgan said. “He had a tough winter and has learned a huge amount to come back today with a huge amount of confidence to bowl his variations and show how threatening he can be.”

Last August Yorkshire took the immensely far-sighted step of opening a dedicated multi-faith room at Headingley. After Adam Lyth’s hundred put Yorkshire on top in the Roses match, it might have to be made available to devout believers in Lancashire

Paul Edwards at Headingley03-Jun-2017
ScorecardLast August Yorkshire took the immensely far-sighted step of opening a dedicated multi-faith room at Headingley. Let us hope on the second evening of this match that it will be made available to devout believers in Lancashire.If so, the visiting communicants will not be short of supplications and chief amongst them will be that their side can find someone to copy the self-denial of Adam Lyth and lead their side away from the despond of defeat on the third day of this game.The bookmakers’ odds – if we may shift our gaze from God to mammon for a moment – are weighed heavily against such an escape. After conceding a first-innings lead of 150 runs, Lancashire have already lost four wickets in reducing the deficit to nine.Two of the wickets were taken by Jack Brooks but the crucial scalp of Haseeb Hameed was claimed for the second time in little more than 24 hours by Ben Coad, when the opener played across a ball slanting in at the stumps. And Steven Croft departed to a Lyth slip catch when Ryan Sidebottom moved one across him.Visiting hopes probably rest on Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who will go into Sunday morning on 43 not out, and on Dane Vilas, who has already made good runs for the county in his first season. But the shrieks and yells from the Yorkshire fielders that followed each delivery in the evening session were not merely an attempt to kid the batsman that something was happening. A 150-run lead should prove decisive on this pitch and it may not matter that the weather forecast for Monday is very gloomyThat Yorkshire possessed such a handsome first-innings advantage can largely be explained by Lyth’s remarkable feat of concentration and self-discipline. The opener came into this match with 90 runs against his name in Championship cricket this season at a grimy average of 12.85.To a degree, Lyth’s struggles continued in this innings yet he fought his way through them with seven partners, reaching a half-century in 155 minutes off 125 balls and his 22nd first-class hundred in 314 minutes, having hit 13 boundaries.To judge the merit of the innings one has to realise that Lyth is frequently one of the finest attacking strokeplayers in the game. The ball sings off his blade and he can make even his England team-mates in the Yorkshire side appear pedestrian accumulators. Yet here he was, scuttling the nudged singles and tolerating the less than perfect drives for twos.Adam Lyth’s season came to life with a century that might win a Roses match•Getty Images

Lyth was in the 90s for 17 overs and faced 41 balls before pushing Tom Bailey to midwicket to reach three figures. The deep-throated roar from the ranks massed at the Kirkstall Lane End at once saluted its worth. Lyth is Yorkshire in thew and sinew; perhaps he recalled the winter drives from his Whitby home to the Headingley nets when he was moving through the county’s junior ranks. Maybe any sacrifice seems worth it when you may have set up a win in the Roses match.Mind you, Lancashire’s bowlers did all they could to hobble their opponents’ progress during the first two sessions of Saturday’s cricket. Indeed, they may regard the capture of eight wickets for 180 runs in conditions nothing like as testing as Friday’s to be something of a victory.Predictably, perhaps, Ryan McLaren made the first breakthrough when he came round the wicket and squared up Gary Ballance, Vilas at slip taking the first of his three catches from the resultant edge.That wicket took the sheen off what had been a good first half-hour for Yorkshire, the comical highlight of which had been the four byes resulting from a ball bowled by McLaren which swung past the far side of Vilas with the wicketkeeper Davies sprawling in front of him There are few things a Yorkshireman enjoys more than the sight of Lancashire’s cricketers doing a passable imitation of Fred Karno’s Army; so the glee in the Kirkstall Lane Stand when this tiny piece of chaos unfolded needs little imagining.Yet the morning and afternoon’s cricket revealed a team who were determined to keep Yorkshire’s lead in check. Never was this more clearly in evidence than in the close fielding. Eight catches were taken in the cordon during Yorkshire’s innings with the pick of them being McLaren’s right-handed effort to remove Jack Leaning ten minutes before lunch. That wicket was taken by Saqib Mahmood who also removed Tim Bresnan next ball and enjoyed his best day in a Lancashire shirt.Like Mahmood, Jordan Clark took three wickets and they included that of Lyth who played by far the poorest shot of his innings to the ball after he reached his century, a wild drive nicking the ball to Davies; the wicketkeeper also did the needful to get rid of Coad two balls later. Yorkshire’s innings ended when Brooks swung Bailey to Hameed at deep backward square leg and Lancashire’s second attempt began under bright skies.The day’s cricket concluded, though, with the lights on and with the slips’ falsetto cries forming a curious and slightly histrionic accompaniment to every play and miss and every unevenly bouncing ball.Yet the truth is that if Lancashire get out of this game with even five points for a draw it will seem like a win to them and it will feel like a defeat to Yorkshire. For that to happen, though, Chanderpaul, Vilas and probably a couple of others will need to take root. The effect on the visiting players’ morale would be very great and it may also steer supporters away from apostasy in these dark times.

Greg Hunt, Australia’s sport minister, has said that the government could provide officers for mediation between the CA and the ACA but is confident the parties will work out an agreement

Daniel Brettig28-May-20173:46

What exactly is the Cricket Australia-ACA pay dispute?

Australia’s sport minister, Greg Hunt, has revealed the Federal Government would be prepared to step in and provide “good officers” for mediation between Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association should the current pay dispute continue to spiral.Following the refusal of CA’s chairman David Peever to grant the ACA’s request for independent mediation, and further attempts by the team performance manager Pat Howard to deal directly with the players, Hunt said that the government was hesitant about being too interventionist about contract disputes in professional sport. However, he indicated there was scope to act as a mediator if the dispute looked likely to threaten the home Ashes summer.”If it got to a last-minute situation, I suspect that we would offer to provide good officers brokering between the parties, but there’s six months between now and the Ashes,” Hunt told ABC’s . “It would be unthinkable that in the end we wouldn’t have a full team.”I do not see either the players or the administration returning to the late ’70s where we had a second rate team. The players love playing for Australia, Cricket Australia knows this is not just fundamental to sport, it is part of our national identity. I’m very confident they will reach an agreement.”What I don’t want to do across all sports is try to step in and be a mediator in a contract dispute. If there were a fundamental threat at an appropriate time we would offer to work with them, but all the advice I have is that with six months to travel, the Ashes will be proceeding with a full Australian team and on Boxing Day you’ll have Steve Smith, David Warner and the rest of the team out there.””This is a pay dispute between a very well-resourced organisation and very highly paid players. They’ll work it out” – Greg Hunt, Australia’s minister for sport•AFP

Among other areas of expansion, CA has recently grown its government relations division drastically, from a single staffer based in Melbourne to one in each state, all reporting in to the head office at Jolimont. The ACA, too, have enlisted the help of political experience in the pay dispute, retaining the services of the former Labor government minister and longtime union leader Greg Combet.Asked whether he was comfortable with Combet’s involvement, Hunt spoke warmly of his former political opponent. “I’m completely relaxed about it,” Hunt said. “I actually know Greg Combet well, whilst we’ve disagreed on different things in the past, I think he’s fundamentally a person of good sense and integrity.”In assessing how he thought the dispute would play out, Hunt pointed out that CA was “very well-resourced” and the players “very highly paid”. The board has been citing the need to better fund grassroots facilities around the country as a reason for breaking up the players’ fixed revenue percentage model that has existed as the basis for pay agreements for the past 20 years.”This is a pay dispute between a very well-resourced organisation and very highly paid players,” Hunt said. “They’ll work it out.”The current MOU between the players and CA expires at the end of June, with an Australia A tour of South Africa, a Test tour of Bangladesh and an ODI tour of India all scheduled to take place between that date and the start of the Ashes series. CA has stressed that players will be unemployed should no agreement be reached by June 30.

Having served as the fielding coach since August 2016, Pothas will be in charge of the team for the home series against Zimbabwe and the India tour

Sa'adi Thawfeeq27-Jun-20172:55

Arnold: Ford’s laid-back style did not match Sri Lanka’s culture

Former South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman Nic Pothas has been appointed Sri Lanka’s interim coach days after Graham Ford quit the job, following the team’s group-stage exit at the Champions Trophy this month. Pothas, who has served as Sri Lanka’s fielding coach since August last year, will oversee the team until the end of the India tour, SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala said.Pothas’ role as interim coach will begin at home with the five-match ODI series against Zimbabwe, which starts on June 30, followed by one Test. Before taking over as Sri Lanka’s fielding coach, Pothas was the academy director at Leicestershire County and has also served as the director of cricket at Guernsey.Pothas played three ODIs for South Africa in 2000 but did not manage to find a regular spot in the team, with Mark Boucher holding the incumbent post. A long-time Hampshire player, Pothas scored over 11,000 runs and effected 659 dismissals in 218 first-class games.”We have a strategic plan to engage the next coach and Nic Pothas is also a good contender for it,” Sumathipala said. “There are professional coaches who are currently engaged and shown a lot of interest and we are confident we will have one at the end of the Indian tour. We will not have to look too far to find somebody who will be competent to take this team till the 2019 World Cup.”Sumathipala also said that there were also Sri Lanka Cricket coaches who have shown interest in the job but added, “we will have to first discuss with our cricket committee and our support team the plan and structure – what kind of coach that we are looking at. When we looked at Dav Whatmore he was a developing coach, he could develop an ordinary team to a world-class side. There are coaches very good at looking after professional advanced ongoing teams. We have to make an assessment on the situation and deploy the right person with the right spirit.”

South Africa could be braced for another blow as Morne Morkel weighs-up his future in international cricket

George Dobell12-Aug-2017South Africa could be dealt for another blow as Morne Morkel weighs up his future in international cricket. ESPNcricinfo understands that at least three counties are pursuing him as a Kolpak signing ahead of the 2018 season.One of those counties is Warwickshire, with a London club also believed to be interested. Morkel is understood to be considering his options.While the news will cause concern in South Africa, who are reeling from a spate of Kolpak-related losses, it might make sense from Morkel’s perspective. He will turn 33 in October and could view a long-term county deal as a secure and lucrative way to see out his career.He might also be nervous about the possibility of the Kolpak window closing. There is some suggestion that, as a result of the referendum vote to leave the EU, the relevant trade deal that allows such players to qualify might become obsolete to those wanting to work in the UK.Morkel has been in magnificent form, having only recently returned from a career-threatening back injury. Elected as South Africa’s Man of the Series after his performances in the Tests against England, he was not flattered by the 19 wickets he took. He was still South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in the series.ESPNcricinfo revealed in January that Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw were to abandon their international careers for the security of long-term contracts at Hampshire, while Simon Harmer and Hardus Viljoen are among the other players of international quality who decided to make their future in domestic cricket in England.

Jonny Bairstow admits he is still unsure of his role in England’s white-ball set-up, but hopes his Champions Trophy appearance will count in his favour

Andrew Miller13-Sep-2017Jonny Bairstow admits he is still unsure of his role in England’s white-ball set-up, but hopes that the fact he is the man in possession will count in his favour when the one-day squad reconvenes in Durham this week for the one-off T20 ahead of five ODIs against West Indies.Bairstow became something of a cause célèbre earlier in the summer when, despite a run of form in all formats that any player in the game would envy, he could not force his way into a powerful one-day batting line-up, not even as wicketkeeper, where Jos Buttler is preferred in the shorter formats.However, Bairstow eventually got his opportunity during England’s most recent one-day campaign, the Champions Trophy in June, when Jason Roy’s dramatic loss of form became too acute for the management to ignore.Thrust in to open the batting for the first time in his international career, Bairstow responded with a hard-worked 43 from 57 balls in a low-scoring semi-final against Pakistan at Cardiff, an innings that was put into context by the struggles that his team-mates endured. From a comfortable position of 80 for 1 in the 17th over, Bairstow’s dismissal triggered a collapse to 211 all out, and an eventual eight-wicket defeat.However, with Roy back in form and a fair bet to resume his established partnership with Alex Hales at the top of the order, Bairstow is hopeful but not unrealistic about his chances of being given an extended run in the team.”I don’t mind where I play and bat, as long as I’m in that XI,” he said. “I finished the Champions Trophy opening the batting, which I like to think I’ve done alright. So wherever it is there’s an opportunity, hopefully I’ll get the nod.”I’ve been in and out, one game here and there over a period of time, and at some time it’d be nice to get a decent run, not just one series but a couple of series that you can get your teeth stuck into – into a role, a side and a series.”One small but significant change to Bairstow’s standing in the one-day squad is his restoration to reserve keeper duties, following the omission of Sam Billings from the squad to face West Indies. And that, in turn, follows an impressive run of form behind the stumps from Bairstow in the Test side.Jonny Bairstow flicks through midwicket•Getty Images

“I’ve been delighted with my keeping this summer,” he said. “I’ve been really really happy with it, it’s something I’ve worked very hard on. There was a lot said about it a year ago, and for people not to be talking about it, that’s what you want.”I like to think I’ve kept nicely enough over the summer to say that I’m the second keeper in the ODI squad,” he added. “If I’m keeping in Tests, for 150 overs, instead of 50 or 20 overs, I’d like to think my keeping is up to scratch to keep in one-dayers as well.”Despite a record-breaking year in 2016, there was still a degree of fallability to Bairstow’s technique coming into the English season. However, his upturn in fortunes has stemmed from long hours of practice with Bruce French, the wicketkeeping coach. During the West Indies series, the ball was at times swinging appreciably – particularly for James Anderson and Ben Stokes – but a small technical change helped him adjust to the late movement and cling on to most things that came his way.”My fingers are cooked!” he joked. “It was swinging, it was wobbling, but that’s keeping in England. It was something that’s actually quite enjoyable. If it’s coming and it wobbles on you, you either take it in the chin or try and catch it.”That’s a big thing that’s changed, previously I was catching it closer to my body. Imagine a dinosaur trying to catch it with short arms, you can’t go anywhere, whereas if you catch it further out in front and it does wobble, you can give with it and go with it.”The coming one-day series promises to be closely fought, irrespective of West Indies’ lowly ranking – at No.9 in the world, they will need to seal an improbable 4-0 or 5-0 scoreline to ensure automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup.However, following an improvement in relations between CWI and its star players, most notably Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels, West Indies will field a team that has more in common with the line-up that won the World T20 in India 18 months ago. And Bairstow, who needs no reminding of West Indies’ competitive spirit following a hard-fought 2-1 Test series win, is relishing the challenge that awaits in the coming fortnight.”It’s exciting. It’s great to be playing a one-day series with them at pretty much full strength,” said Bairstow. “But it’s important that we concentrate on ourselves. The press completely wrote West Indies off at the start of the [Test] series, which was pretty unfair and uncalled for, and they showed to everyone the strength and character that they have. With any West Indies side, you are going to have a lot of skill, desire and will to prove people wrong. That’s the nature of sport and I thought the way they played, especially at Headingley, hats off to them.”Jonny Bairstow was speaking on behalf of Royal London, proud sponsors of One Day cricket. Visit royallondoncricket.com to find out more.