Sri Lanka 89 for 0 (Jayasuriya 46*, Kaluwitharana 36*) beat England 88 (Collingwood 31, Vaas 3-15) by 10 wickets
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What a difference six days and 1300 miles makes. Last week England were casually duffing up Bangladesh, the smallest boy in the playground. Today it was their turn to be on the receiving end of a sound thrashing by a more skilful and determined opponent. England were shot out for 88 – only just scraping past their lowest in ODIs, 86 against Australia at Old Trafford in 2001 – then Sri Lanka made a mockery of that by knocking off the runs in just 13.5 overs to go one-up in this three-match series.After their collapse England needed quick wickets when play resumed under the floodlights, the questionable quality of which had helped Michael Vaughan to decide to bat first after winning the toss. In the event, though, it was lights out for England.Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka’s former captain, spanked the first ball of the reply for four, and collected another boundary later in that same over from Jimmy Anderson. In all Jayasuriya sprinted to 46 from only 41 balls – there were four more fours too, and a scything six over cover off Rikki Clarke – while his old sparring partner Romesh Kaluwitharana was no slouch either, flailing 36 from 42 balls with seven punchy fours of his own. It was only England’s third 10-wicket defeat in ODIs – one of the others came in Sri Lanka, too (at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo in 2000-01, in the previous match between these two sides in Sri Lanka), while the other was an equally speedy despatch by Australia, Adam Gilchrist to the fore, at Sydney last winter.In Bangladesh England’s batsmen – with the exception of Vikram Solanki – scored runs with ease. But on a green and moist pitch at Dambulla they appeared to have forgotten how to get the ball off the square. That should not take anything away from Sri Lanka’s bowlers, who all exercised excellent control and accuracy – the intense pressure they applied in the first 15 overs undermined the whole England innings. Chaminda Vaas finished with the best figures, while Upul Chandana’s 2 for 23 were the most expensive … until England bowled, that is.Andrew Strauss’s delight at being given his first cap was short-lived, and it was one of Sri Lanka’s own debutants who spoiled the moment. Strauss looked to drive a half-volley back past Dinusha Fernando, but the ball seamed back into him and Fernando took a good low return catch. Strauss, brought in to replace Solanki, had made 3 (8 for 1).Nine balls earlier and it had been Fernando whose debut was starting poorly, as Marcus Trescothick smashed his first ball, a wide half-volley, to the cover boundary. But after that Trescothick was pegged back, and eventually frustration got the better of him. In the seventh over he came down the pitch to Chaminda Vaas and had a lucky escape as he edged to fine leg for four. But next ball he wasn’t so lucky, as he again gave Vaas the charge but only skyed the ball to Nuwan Kulasekara – another debutant – at mid-on. Trescothick made 9 (12 for 2).It got worse for England, and even better for Fernando. Michael Vaughan, who had looked far from confident in making 2 from 19 balls, pushed defensively at Fernando, and inside-edged onto his leg stump (17 for 3). And then Andrew Flintoff, England’s hero in Bangladesh, aimed a loose, limp drive at Vaas, and only looped the ball to Kumar Sangakkara in the covers. Flintoff had made 3, and England had managed 13 scoring strokes in 15 overs as they limped to 26 for 4.Clarke came and went, bowled for 2 by a delivery from Kulasekara which seamed back into him and kept marginally low (36 for 5). Ian Blackwell followed in Kulasekara’s next over, also for 2, his aggressive cut well held low down by TM Dilshan at point (44 for 6).Thereafter it was damage limitation, and those who last week had moaned about Bangladesh’s pedestrian scoring and goal of simply batting out the full allocation of overs were made to swallow their words. Only Paul Collingwood, with a patient 31 from 96 balls, looked remotely comfortable but the damage had already been done. He eventually scooped a return catch to Chandana (59 for 8).Ashley Giles was the only other man to reach double figures, managing 21 before a fine low catch by Mahela Jayawardene at first slip ended the struggle. Giles and Anderson scraped together 21 for the last wicket, but overall it was a forgettable display by England – and a commanding one by Sri Lanka.

As the West Indies squad assembled in Antigua to begin their five-day preparation before starting series in Zimbabwe and South Africa, Brian Lara spoke to the media about the need for his side to end their recent poor overseas record.”We have to go down there and make sure we take command of a very tough tour,” explained Lara. “They are good teams. We know that they are playing at home and we are playing away. We have got to muster up everything collective to ensure we do well in South Africa.”We have been at the bottom for some time. They [the side] tasted success against Australia and Sri Lanka; the feeling of been successful; of creating history that they seem to want to cling onto.”Lara said that while West Indies’ batting had been good, the side’s weakness had been the inability to bowl opponents out twice. “It is something we will have to address. It is all well and good to score 500-600 runs but if you can’t get the opposition out you are not going to win any Test match.”Although the selectors have chosen a battery of fast bowlers for the trip, Lara dismissed suggestions that they were trying to recapture the approach which served West Indies so well in the late 1970s and 1980s. “I’m not going to say that we are leaning towards four fast bowlers in a Test match but definitely we are going to give the guys who we think are possible stars that opportunity,” he said. “We have been known for four fast bowlers and we are going to exploit that. It would be great to have a good spinner … but unless that comes about you best stick with what you know.”Lara hinted that promising youngsters would be given every chance to prove themselves. “I think the opportunity is there for anyone who really wants to represent West Indies cricket and anyone who shows that they have the character to do so.”

The pace and bounce at Melbourne is expected to be to the Australians’ liking, but India can take encouragement from the fact that this is the only venue in Australia where they have won two Tests – in 1977-78, and then again three years later. India have lost five times there, though, while the 1985-86 Test ended in a draw. Australia, meanwhile, have a 52-28 win-loss record here.

Both the Indian wins were achieved through exceptional bowling performances: in 1977-78, BS Chandrasekhar ripped through an Australian line-up weakened by the Kerry Packer exodus, claiming 6 for 52 in both innings as India romped to a 222-run win. Then, in 1980-81, Kapil Dev turned it on, taking 5 for 28 as Australia, chasing 143 for victory, were bundled out for 83. India let go of another chance to win when, requiring 126 in the fourth innings in the 1985-86 series, they crawled to 59 for 2 in 25 overs.

Australia’s five victories against India here have all been emphatic ones – two of them by an innings, three by margins greater than 175 runs and one by eight wickets.

Winning the toss would normally count as a blessing, but at the MCG, the captain losing the toss has a better chance of going on to win the match – that is exactly what has happened in six of the last nine Tests here.

Fast bowlers have had far greater success than spinners at Melbourne. In all Tests since 1995, fast bowlers have taken 198 wickets at 27.92, with a strike rate of 58.66; for the spinners the 58 wickets have come more expensive – 37.76 – and at a much slower rate (79.14).

Sachin Tendulkar has had a lean run in Australia so far, but the last time he played a Test at Melbourne, he was in sublime touch, scoring 116 and 52. As with so many of his overseas centuries, it didn’t help alter the result of the match, as Australia swept to a 180-run win.

Another player who would have fond memories of the MCG, and of playing against India on that ground, is Brett Lee. The last time the Indians played a Test there, Lee bounded in and blasted out five batsmen for a smashing debut performance, ensuring that Tendulkar’s sterling effort with the bat would go unrewarded.

India have some firepower in the bowling ranks themselves, and Zaheer Khan and co. could do worse than ask for tips from Bruce Reid, their bowling coach for this series. In Reid’s only match against India at Melbourne in 1991-92, he bagged a six-for in each innings, finishing with figures of 12 for 126 and the Man-of-the-Match award.

Andrew Symonds is under consideration as Australia’s first genuine Test allrounder in a decade partly due to his bowling repertoire.Not since Steve Waugh finished his days as a regular change seamer in 1994 have the Aussies boasted a viable allrounder, but Symonds’s bowling versatility and the dusty, dry wickets of Sri Lanka have him on the brink of selection. Trevor Hohns, the chief selector, today admitted he was in the running for next month’s three-Test series in Sri Lanka.”While they’re both different games he’s in outstanding form at the moment,” Hohns, whose four-man panel will select a 15-man squad on February 20, said today. “He’s a very entertaining player and certainly will come into contention for the Test match part of the tour.”Although his powerful hitting highlighted his worth this summer, Symonds’s selection loomed due to his ability to bowl offspin and medium pace. His Test aspirations were strengthened not only by his remarkable limited-overs turnaround, boasting 1071 runs at 48.68 since his surprise selection for the 2003 World Cup, but also the likely return of Shane Warne.The biggest call of the Sri Lankan series will not be whether Warne tours, but whether he plays in the first Test with Stuart MacGill. If both legspinners play, and a batsman is not dropped to make way, Australia will take only two fast bowlers into the important series opener in Galle, on March 8. For that reason, Symonds is a strong candidate as a first-change bowling option and a spinner who turns the ball in the opposite direction to Warne and MacGill.Terry Oliver, Queensland’s coach, said that Symonds’s selection was important for Australia’s balance on wickets prone to spin. “If they were looking for versatility over there in Sri Lanka they’d be mad not to pick Andrew. He’s the best fielder in the country, with Ponting, is in sensational form with the bat, gives you good spin and seam bowling options and he has the ability to swing the ball Irish [reverse-swing] as well. I think it would be the right move. If he can get in there and establish himself in Sri Lanka, you’ve got the India tour at the end of the year – that’s the one frontier Australia hasn’t conquered “Symonds, who could bat at No. 6 or No. 7, allowing Adam Gilchrist a possible move up the order, would have the added advantage of being road-tested against Muttiah Muralitharan in the one-day series, starting next week.”He’ll be used to the surface and the bowlers and that will count in his favour,” Oliver said.Asked previously about Test aspirations, Symonds had said he hoped for an opportunity to show he could succeed at the top level.”I just want the one chance to prove it.”

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England ensured they finished top of Group Two with a five-run victory against Pakistan, to set up a semi-final against West Indies.Alastair Cook continued his good form with 87, and he added 124 with Steven Davies before the last nine wickets collapsed for just 65 runs. Riaz Afridi, who took the big wicket of Cook, finished with 5 for 42 as England’s middle and lower order failed to make an impact.However, their under-par total of 196 proved to be enough – just. Tim Bresnan, Liam Plunkett and Adam Harrison made early inroads to reduce Pakistan to 56 for 4. But Salman Hadir and Fawad Alam posted a recovery with a stand of 52 to put their side back in the game.Mark Lawson picked up both their wickets to peg Pakistan back again, but Zulqarnain Haider provided a final flourish with a quick 44 off 41 balls in a late victory bid. He added 67 with Mansoor Amjad, but England’s bowlers held their nerve to dismiss Pakistan for 191 from 47.4 overs, to scrape home by five runs.”I was very happy to get in the runs again today and it was a good day all round,” said Cook afterwards. “We didn’t get as many runs as a team as we would have liked, but we bowled well and fielded well and it is great to be in the semi-finals.”Pakistan will now play India in the first semi-final, to be played under lights at Dhaka’s Bangabandhu National Stadium on Sunday (Feb 29). England will face West Indies in another floodlit game at the Bangabandhu on Tuesday (March 2).

The left-arm fast bowler, Pedro Collins, has been drafted into West Indies’s squad for the second Test in Trinidad, after his half-brother, Fidel Edwards, was ruled out through injury.Edwards was West Indies’ fastest and most impressive bowler in the first Test, where he took three top-order wickets in England’s first innings. But he limped out of the match on the third morning with a strain to the left side of his lower back. It is a cruel blow to West Indies’ hopes of bouncing back from that crushing ten-wicket defeat at Sabina Park.Collins, 27, has not played for West Indies since the corresponding fixture in Trinidad against Australia last year. But he has taken 55 wickets in his 19 Tests, including a best of 6 for 76 against New Zealand at Bridgetown, and offers West Indies some useful variation.On a more positive note, Dwayne Smith has come back into contention for a place after dislocating a finger in the build-up to the first Test. But Brian Lara remains a concern after suffering a dislocation of his own, sustained while dropping a catch on the second evening of the match. With the Wisden Trophy at stake on his home ground, however, it will take more than a bit of discomfort to keep Lara out of the team.West Indies have much ground to make up in the public-relations sphere as well, after four members of the humiliated team – named and shamed by the Trinidad Express as Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Adam Sanford and Tino Best – were seen partying in the ground’s Mound Stand within hours of the conclusion of the match.”I am disgusted at the thoughtlessness and shamelessness displayed by these players following such a horrific performance,” said Ricky Skerritt, the team manager, as he issued a public apology to the West Indian public. Gus Logie, the coach, added: “We will continue to ask the players for a higher level of discipline and a higher level of commitment to themselves and West Indies cricket.”West Indies squad Brian Lara (captain), Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Dwayne Smith, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ricardo Powell, Ryan Hinds, Ridley Jacobs, Corey Collymore, Adam Sanford, Tino Best, Pedro Collins.

John Wright’s contract to coach the Indian team may be extended when his current tenure ends in September, according to Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the BCCI.Dalmiya hinted that the composition of the team and support staff would remain the same, and expressed satisfaction about the results achieved by the squad. “We have no idea of saying goodbye to anyone at the moment. Wright has done a good job, but it is a decision which will be taken by the working committee at a later stage,” Dalmiya said. “I had a meeting with all of them [Wright, Andrew Leipus and Greg King] after the Pakistan tour and my discussions with them gave me an idea of what we need to do. I told them that they had done a good job.”Dalmiya’s comments came after speculation on Wright’s future with the Indian team after a successful three-and-a-half year period in which India achieved a greater level of consistency and fitness – two qualities alien to previous Indian teams. Under Wright’s tenure so far, India have won 15 Tests, including seven overseas. To put the improvement in perspective, one-third of all of India’s overseas Test victories have come during Wright’s tenure.

According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, the Zimbabwean rebel cricketers have indicated that they would be available to play in one-day internationals against the Australians, whose touring party is currently in Harare wondering whether the tour will proceed as planned.But, according to Chloe Saltau’s report, the players don’t think they are ready for Test cricket yet: “The rebels met Zimbabwe’s provincial stakeholders on Wednesday and, having gained an undertaking that their issues would be addressed at a grass-roots level, declared they wanted to play again. But they said they were not physically or mentally ready for Test cricket and did not wish to be considered for the Australian Tests. Awaiting a response from the ZCU, they trained privately on Wednesday.”One suggestion mooted has been to cancel the two Tests against Australia and play a series of one-day matches instead. This would pose logistical problems for Australia, who would need to bring in their one-day specialists earlier than expected (a three-match ODI series was supposed to start on June 6).It still seems more likely that, should the ICC vote to strip Test status from the two matches at their emergency meeting on Friday, the Australians will return home.

Muttiah Muralitharan has joined the United Nations World Food Program as an ambassador to fight hunger among school children. According to an AFP report, Muralitharan will also take part in a walk in Colombo on Sunday to help raise money to feed children in the remote areas of Sri Lanka.”I already have a foundation of my own helping the needy,” Muralitharan said, “but I am also very happy to associate myself with the World Food Program.”Speaking to reporters at the function, Murali hit out at comments made by some Australians after he announced his decision not to tour there for the Test series next month. Shane Warne called Murali “thin-skinned”, while Dennis Lillee termed the decision a “real cop-out”.”It is easy for them to say that. Only I know what I have gone through,” Murali responded. “Cricketers can say anything. Whatever I have achieved today, it has been with great difficulty.”

Unseasonably atrocious weather disrupted the latest round of the Twenty20 Cup, with the matches between Middlesex and Sussex at Richmond, and the floodlit affair between Essex and Surrey both called off.Elsewhere, however, the show went on unscathed. A remarkable spell of bowling from Neil Killeen sent Leicestershire crashing to a 41-run defeat at Grace Road. After Durham set a fairly mediocre total of 138 for 4, Killeen ripped through Leicester’s top order to pick up 4 for 7 from four overs.At Trent Bridge, Matthew Wood narrowly missed out on a century, finishing unbeaten on 96 as Yorkshire set a very competitive 207 for 7. Nottinghamshire’s reply stumbled to 56 for 4, before the arrival of Mark Ealham at the crease. He went ballistic, smashing nine sixes on his way to a 31-ball 91, but when he fell with 21 needed off two overs, the game swung back into Yorkshire’s favour. However, with cool heads, Samit Patel (14*) and Richard Logan (11*) batted Notts to victory with one ball to spare.
Match abandoned due to rain

Scorecard
Scorecard
Match abandoned due to rain