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The successor to Paul Grayson will be asked to secure promotion to Division One of the Championship, says Derek Bowden, the chief executive

Alan Gardner at Chelmsford22-Sep-2015
ScorecardPlans for a new pavilion (left) have been put on hold at Chelmsford•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Essex will not be rushed into appointing a new head coach but the successor to Paul Grayson will be asked to secure promotion to Division One of the Championship – with a largely homegrown squad – while also continuing to mount a challenge for silverware in limited-overs competitions, according to chief executive, Derek Bowden.Grayson left Essex earlier this month after eight years in charge, seven of which were spent in the Championship’s second tier. This season, they lost in the quarter-final stage of both the NatWest T20 Blast and Royal London Cup and failed to mount a promotion challenge – although consecutive wins under interim coach, Chris Silverwood, have lifted them to third in Division Two.Bowden told ESPNcricinfo on the washed-out first day of Essex’s final home fixture of the season against Lancashire that a “number of people” had expressed an interest in the job, which will be formally advertised next week. Essex expect to make an appointment before the end of the year with a view to the new head coach taking charge from January.While Grayson successfully brought through a number of young players – even if several, the latest being Reece Topley, have chosen to move on – Essex developed a reputation for falling short during his time in charge. Bowden said it was “time for a change” and suggested that a new coach might help the squad to deliver on its potential.”I think it has been disappointing because we’ve got a squad that’s capable of doing more than it has this year,” Bowden said. “We will finish third, I suspect, and having reached two quarter-finals, so it’s not a bad season but it would have been good to have progressed through the quarter-finals in either one of the competitions and, for once, to have finished first or second in the division.”The overall ambition for the club is to get to Division One and stay there. The focus is entirely that, by developing a youth strategy. We have a lot of good young players who come through the system, some stay, some move on – we want to keep them and we know that if we’re in Division One we’ve got a greater likelihood of keeping them.”We would like the head coach to pick up that plan, to get us from Division Two to Division One and stay there, while at the same time excelling in one or other of the two one-day competitions – probably T20, because that’s where the money is. As a Division Two side, and a non-Test ground, the best way to get that is through success in T20.”I think it’s time for some new thoughts and new ideas and getting the real potential from the players we have here, because we have some incredibly talented younger players and some very experienced older players. If we can mould them together into a high-performing team, we’ll achieve our objective.”With the promotion of Lancashire, Essex’s opponents in the final round of the season, and Surrey, at least seven of the nine Test-match counties will be playing in Division One next year, emphasising the scale of the challenge for those with smaller budgets. The possibility of an eight-ten split between the divisions, in order to reduce the number of games and allow the teams in Division One to still play each other twice, would exacerbate the difficulty.Discussions about changes to the domestic structure are ongoing but Bowden conceded that a reduction to 14 Championship games a season was “almost inevitable”, even though the ECB has deferred any such change until after the 2016 season.”It is less than ideal, because it is asymmetrical, but it’s almost inevitable given the amount if cricket we play here and the weather we have,” Bowden said. “It is very crowded at the moment. We have to find a way of playing a bit less cricket. I think if we went from 16 games to 14, personally I could live with that.”With the schedule as it is, a slight reduction and an asymmetrical split may be pragmatically the way forward. It’s not ideal and I can understand members not being happy about it but something has to give somewhere.”Essex have also put on hold plans to build a new pavilion at Chelmsford. The redevelopment of the ground, which began two years ago, has so far seen one block of residential flats constructed on land behind the Graham Gooch Cricket Centre, with two more due for construction. The club hope to finance the pavilion entirely through the sale of flats, rather than via a bank loan, but that will likely delay the project until at least the end of the 2016 season.

Left-arm pacer Bilal Khan, playing his first T20I game, sliced through Hong Kong’s top order, setting up a crushing six-wicket win for Oman in Abu Dhabi

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Nov-2015
ScorecardOman’s Sultan Ahmed won the toss against Hong Kong’s Tanwir Afzal, and his bowlers did the rest•Hong Kong Cricket

Left-arm pacer Bilal Khan, playing his first T20I game, sliced through Hong Kong’s top order, setting up a crushing six-wicket win for Oman in the first T20 international in Abu Dhabi. Mehran Khan then snuffed out any hopes of a recovery, dismissing Mark Chapman and Tanwir Afzal. The collapse seeped into the lower order as well with Hong Kong barely managing to play out 20 overs. Bilal and Mehran claimed combined figures of 8-0-49-5, and debutant left-arm spinner Ajay Lalcheta picked up a wicket with his first delivery as Hong Kong stuttered to 106.Waqas Khan, coming in at No.8, top-scored with 19 off 28 balls with only three other batsmen getting double-digit scores.
Oman’s top order suffered a similar slide, as they were quickly reduced to 43 for 4, Tanwir Afzal striking twice. However, Zeeshan Siddiqui and captain Sultan Ahmed steadied the innings and took their side home with an unbroken 64-run partnership in 8.4 overs. Siddiqui and Ahmed stuck four fours each as Oman completed the chase with nine balls to spare.

Usman Khawaja is prepared to open the batting alongside David Warner on Boxing Day, but will first test his healing hamstring to the limit for the Sydney Thunder on Sunday evening

Daniel Brettig19-Dec-2015Usman Khawaja is prepared to open the batting alongside David Warner on Boxing Day, but will first test his healing hamstring to the limit for the Sydney Thunder on Sunday evening.Many have pondered whether it is Joe Burns who is more likely than Shaun Marsh to find himself on the outer when the national selectors try to work out who will miss out should Khawaja be fit to return to the Australian Test team. While Marsh has stated his comfort with batting at No. 5, Khawaja is far less fussed, given he often opened for New South Wales, and the fact that a No. 3 batsman can often find himself batting within an over or two of the start of an innings.Questions about the wisdom of breaking up the fruitful opening combination of Burns and Warner may be countered by the fact that Khawaja has known the vice-captain for many years, and would also be a complementary player given his tendency to be more deliberate. The pair certainly looked at ease in fashioning big partnerships in the first two Tests against New Zealand before Khawaja’s hamstring strain. They also share a manager.”It doesn’t bother me batting anywhere in the top six, I wouldn’t want to bat seven,” Khawaja said. “I’m easy, in first-class cricket I’ve batted every position from one to six. If they wanted me to bat one, three, five, I’ll still approach the game in the same sort of manner. That’s not a big deal to me.”There’s been plenty of times where I’ve been there the second ball batting, there’s not a big difference batting three or opening at times, at other times there is. Sometimes I can be in there in the 30th over batting at three, but it’s just a mindset sort of thing. I grew up all my life opening; I started playing for NSW at five and six, so I’ve had a bit of both.”Twenty20’s often frenetic pace makes it a demanding test of niggling injuries, as the decision to rest Australia’s captain Steven Smith, due to knee and hip ailments, has demonstrated. Khawaja has not been known as the most dynamic fielder or runner between the wickets, but said he would be pushing himself as hard as possible, even though he admitted he was often left with sore hamstrings after T20 matches.”For your hammies definitely [it’s a challenge],” he said. “If there’s one thing that gets real sore after a T20 game for me it’s my hamstrings, so it’s going to be a test. I’m not going to go out there and nurse it in any way because I want to test it – I don’t want to go into Boxing Day without having that sort of confidence under my belt. I’m going to go out pretty hard, do what I can and get some game time back in.”I had to do some hamstring tests, they went really well, a big improvement from where I was a week ago. I’ve done fitness tests all the way through the last four weeks, yesterday was probably the final one … it tests your hamstring strength. I had to make sure I was above a certain number and make sure my left and right were within a certain number so there wasn’t a big discrepancy. I got through that really well, so happy with it.”As much as Khawaja will want to return to the Test side, he will also be motivated by helping the Thunder maintain their fine start, having finally beaten the rival Sydney Sixers in the tournament opener. “I can’t be in line to play Boxing Day unless I get through tomorrow night,” he said. “So I won’t be thinking about getting past tomorrow night, I’ll be going 100% to hopefully win. We’ll get through that and see what happens next.”I’m just trying to get fit, play for the Thunder tomorrow, get a win, join the guys for the Christmas celebrations and then it’s up to the selectors and coach to do what’s next. All I can do is put my hand up, say I’m fit, hopefully I can do that, then the rest will take care of itself either way.”

In Canberra, India found a way to lose a game they should have won. They have to find a way to win in Sydney, where their spinners might get more assistance, if they want to avoid a whitewash

The Preview by Brydon Coverdale22-Jan-2016

Match facts

January 23, 2016
Start time 1420 local (0320 GMT)3:44

Agarkar: Difficult for India to motivate themselves

Big Picture

The first three matches in this one-day series were remarkably similar but in Canberra, Australia found a new way to win. Or India found a new way to lose. It wasn’t exactly clear which. Chasing for the first time in the series, India were well on track for their first victory at 1 for 277 in the 38th over, needing 349. A remarkable collapse was required to lose from there. And they got one. Nine wickets for 46 in less than 13 overs. Not since Malcolm Turnbull ousted Tony Abbott last year has the weight of numbers in Canberra changed sides so rapidly.Now the challenge for India is to lift themselves up after such a demoralising defeat. They are 4-0 down and in serious danger of being whitewashed, clean-swept, whatever you want to call it. Their first bilateral one-day series in Australia might end in unilateral disarmament of India’s attack. For that is what has cost them dearest throughout the series, the inability to restrict Australia on good batting surfaces. Five of Australia’s bowlers have economy rates under six in this series; only two of India’s have. Perhaps the SCG will offer more spin – at least that would be a different way to end the series.

Form guide

Australia: WWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
India: LLLLL

In the spotlight

Nathan Lyon might be Australia’s most successful Test offspinner of all time, but he still hasn’t reached double figures in terms of ODI matches played. Australia’s selectors have traditionally been reluctant to let Lyon work in the short forms, afraid that he might lose the flight and loop that has made him such a valuable Test bowler. But surely at 28 and with little left to prove in terms of his Test worth, Lyon can be trusted enough to jump formats. He even opened the bowling in Canberra, a strong hint that captain Steven Smith has been waiting for a frontline spinner in his ODI side.So long have India’s top-order men batted in this series that MS Dhoni has been reduced largely to cameos. A couple have been of the Quentin Tarantino variety – brief and brutal – but in Canberra it was more an Alfred Hitchcock blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance. His duck precipitated India’s collapse, and he later declared his own wicket the turning point. If in Sydney the runs flow a little less freely for Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, it might be time for more of a Clint Eastwood starring role from Dhoni.

Team news

There seems little reason for Australia to make changes to their winning side, with Shaun Marsh and Scott Boland likely to sit out once again – unless Glenn Maxwell does not recover sufficiently from the soreness in his knee resulting from a knock he suffered while batting in Canberra.*Australia (possible) 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 George Bailey, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 James Faulkner, 9, John Hastings, 10 Kane Richardson, 11 Nathan LyonAjinkya Rahane split the webbing of his right hand while fielding in Canberra and is likely to miss the Sydney game, which could mean a return for Manish Pandey. If the SCG is expected to spin, R Ashwin should come back to replace one of the seamers, perhaps Rishi Dhawan. Axar Patel may also be considered for the first time in the series.India (possible) 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Manish Pandey, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Gurkeerat Singh, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Ishant Sharma

Pitch and conditions

The Sydney pitch should offer a little more turn. The weather forecast is for a shower or two, and a possible storm on Saturday.

Stats and trivia

• India will drop from No. 2 to No. 3 on the ODI rankings if they lose this match
• Virat Kohli has scored at such a consistent tempo through this series that his strike-rate is exactly 100 – he is on top of the series run tally with 373 runs from 373 deliveries
• Aaron Finch and Steven Smith both reached 2000 ODI runs in the Canberra game, Finch the equal third-fastest Australian to the milestone and Smith the equal sixth-fastest
• Australia have now won 18 consecutive ODIs at home, last losing to South Africa in Perth in November 2014

Quotes

“We’ve played some very good one-day cricket so far this VB series. It’ll be a fitting finish to the summer if we can finish 5-0.”
07.30GMT, January 22: The Australia team news was updated after news of Glenn Maxwell’s knee niggle came in

Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann’s immediate future is under a cloud after he was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis during the final ODI against India

Daniel Brettig23-Jan-2016Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann’s immediate future is under a cloud after he was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis during the final ODI against India.Lehmann was hospitalised after the condition which he had previously suffered in 2007 was confirmed. Michael Di Venuto, the assistant coach, will take charge of the team during the T20I series against India while Lehmann undergoes treatment.John Orchard, Cricket Australia’s chief medical officer, said Lehmann had noticed calf swelling this morning and reported that to support staff. Later in the day, time was found for him to visit a radiology clinic on site at the SCG, which confirmed the re-emergence of the condition some nine years after he last faced it.”We had a little bit of a scare in the Australian camp in the bowling innings in that our coach Darren Lehmann has been diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis,” Orchard said. “He had some calf swelling this morning … then an hour or two later mentioned it to the physio and to me.”Short-term symptoms and weren’t particularly bothering him, but possibly because he’s had the issue before he’s aware you do report that sort of thing. He’s not in any major discomfort or pain, but something he knew to report. One of the factors associated with it is it’s unwise to fly until you’ve stabilised the condition, so he will be absent from the Australian team camp for a short period.”[How long] will depend on how long he takes to get stabilised and treated so they’re happy to release him. He’ll be unable to fly for a week and then we’ll assess him. He’s very sensible about it and wants to put his health first, so he’s happy to hand over the reins to make sure he’s going to be all ok from a health perspective.”Orchard said it was a possibility that Lehmann’s convalescence would cut into the schedule for the forthcoming tour of New Zealand. “The treatment for DVT is to thin the blood, sometimes you can do that really quickly and sometimes it takes a little bit of time because it requires a change of medication,” he said. “So it’s hard to give an exact time frame but he’ll work on that.”Symptomatically he’s fine, he could coach, but we’re not going to have him flying around as we move from city to city. It’s not definite either way, [New Zealand being affected] is a possibility but we’ve given a prognosis for this week that he’ll miss the T20 series and then it depends on how quickly he stabilises.”Di Venuto has worked with the national team since 2013 following a long and distinguished playing career. Should Lehmann be unavailable for a longer period, Cricket Australia has already flagged a high opinion of the Western Australia coach Justin Langer, who was set to substitute for the head coach during a limited overs tour of the West Indies in mid-year.Lehmann’s wife Andrea was informed soon after the diagnosis was made and Australia’s players were briefed on their coach’s health after the completion of the match.”Our first thoughts and concerns are obviously with Darren and his family – health is more important than any cricket match,” the CA team performance chief Pat Howard said. “Everyone at Cricket Australia wishes him a speedy recovery.”We plan for all eventualities and on that basis Michael Di Venuto, who has previously coached Australia A in 2014, will step up to fill Darren’s role as Head Coach for the Twenty20 International Series. “We will assess the situation on the basis of medical advice and with Darren’s best interests in mind over the coming days.”

The BCCI has decided to call for a special general meeting later this month to decide on its response to the Lodha Committee’s recommendations

Arun Venugopal07-Feb-2016The BCCI has called for a Special General Meeting later this month to prepare a response to the recommendations made by the Lodha Committee. While BCCI president Shashank Manohar refused to comment following a meeting of the legal committee in Mumbai, it is understood that the SGM is likely to be convened on February 19. The state associations will soon be sent out a notice in this regard.Despite the BCCI’s rules stipulating a 21-day notice period for calling an SGM, the board might not wait that long to huddle into a meeting. “It is an extraordinary situation, a crisis situation. So, if all the members unanimously ask for it to be convened in less time, it can be convened,” a source privy to the discussion at the legal committee meeting told ESPNcricinfo.Another source said that the legal committee was of the view that the Lodha report was a “good one but it had a lot of practical difficulties in its implementation.””We haven’t decided anything today. There is no point of doing that without taking the state associations on board,” the source said. “That’s the purposes of the SGM: to listen to their suggestions and grievances. Hopefully, we can find a solution by the end of it.”The two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice Ibrahim Kalifullah, had given the BCCI a March 3 deadline to inform if it could implement the recommendations made by the Lodha Committee. “If you have any difficulty in implementing it we will have the Lodha Committee implement it for you,” Justice Thakur had told the BCCI counsel on February 4.In an oral submission before the court on January 25, the Cricket Association of Bihar, the original petitioner, sought a full implementation of the Lodha report.The BCCI’s legal counsel said the board found certain anomalies in the report and needed more time to further review the recommendations. Justice Thakur dismissed the request for any extension, and said the court was going to accept the Lodha report completely and implement it.The Lodha committee, appointed by the Supreme Court in January 2015, recommended a complete overhaul of Indian cricket, from the very top down to the grassroots level. Its report covered every aspect of the game with special focus on the BCCI’s administrative and governance structures and the issue of transparency.

MS Dhoni, heartened by the new-found assuredness surrounding India’s death bowling, has said an efficient all-round attack has minimised his longstanding bowling worries

Arun Venugopal08-Mar-20163:37

Preparing myself for those 10-12 ball innings

MS Dhoni, heartened by the new-found assuredness surrounding India’s death bowling, has said an efficient all-round attack has minimised his longstanding bowling worries. Since the start of the Australia T20s early in the year, India’s bowling, especially at the death, has received a boost with the emergence of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya as well as Ashish Nehra’s second coming.While Bumrah has the most flattering figures among the three with 15 wickets from 11 games conceding only 6.15 runs per over, Nehra (13) and Pandya (10) have also done well to further Dhoni’s plans at different points of the innings. Dhoni has a fondness for bowlers who can deliver the yorker well – Mohammed Shami being a good example – and Bumrah’s ability to send them down at will has made him invaluable to the team.”It’s a relief to have specific death bowlers,” Dhoni said in Kolkata. “What I am definitely feel happy about is, if we are fielding, right from the first over I know who is bowling at the death for me. That’s a big relief. Looking at the team 99% of the time I know who is bowling [at the] death.”Maybe in the last few years, after seeing how everybody is bowling, close to 15th or 16th over mark I had to decide who I will use in the slog overs according to who is bowling well, what the conditions are. But [now] the whole bowling department is doing well, the job becomes much more easy. Definitely I don’t have to put a lot of effort in to thinking who is the best bowler for the death.”Dhoni was also pleased with his batsmen starting to embrace the idea of batting in different positions depending on the match situation. “I felt not everybody can fluctuate according to the needs, and that is something it is important that every player tries to do,” Dhoni said. “If you have that flexibility in batting… more often than not it is the mental flexibility that is really needed. Everybody knows what their roles and responsibilities are.”Let us say, for example, an opposition has two left-arm spinners [and] if you see the Indian team right now we have the right combination of left-hand and right-hand batsmen. Ideally a left-right combination is the best to have but if the opposition doesn’t have any offspinner and the wicket is turning then why not promote somebody who bats maybe at six but who can bat at four and you can have two left-handers at the same time. So this kind of adaptability really needed and I feel slowly each and every one is open to the idea and they have played enough to have that kind of an exposure.”When asked if Virat Kohli was his natural successor to play the finisher’s role, Dhoni said the team should not depend on a top-order batsman to do that job as well. “The finisher is usually me and the lower-order batsman. The entire set-up is for the lower-middle order to finish the game. If your top order is doing it it’s fantastic, but the finishing term is a very specific term and should be used with players batting at Nos. 5, 6 and 7.”If your openers are batting well and if they are continuously winning games for you you may call them finishers but usually I term the finishing job the role of people who bat lower, their job profile is different. As you come down the order you have to think twice before hitting because the number of batsmen there after you keeps going on the lesser side.”Dhoni acknowledged the fact that he might not face too many deliveries, and said he would have to condition himself to play short, impactful innings. “I think 90% of the time I will be playing the same kind of role I played in Asia Cup,” he said. “We will be in a very tough position if I get to play maybe 20 or 25 deliveries, unless I really promote myself. More often than not, I think I will have to prepare my mindset for 10 or 12 ball innings maximum, so that will be my role and responsibility more often than not if everything goes to plan.”On Mohammad Shami’s injury, Dhoni said he’d have to prove his fitness to make the XI. “You’ll be informed [about his injury status]. We will consult with the physios and take proper action.”With India having won 10 of their last 11 T20Is, could they up their momentum any further? Dhoni joked India were already running in “sixth gear” but typically dismissed any notions of complacency. “I think we are running in the sixth gear – I know technology has gone into eight gears,” he said. “Everything is set. I don’t think there are further gears to operate upon.”How we are playing cricket and the stuff we are doing on the field is adequate for any level of game, but we have to keep our intensity up and focus should be there from ball one.”

Chesney Hughes hit an unbeaten 137 as Derbyshire comfortably batted out for a draw on the final day of their match with Gloucestershire in Bristol

ECB Reporters Network20-Apr-2016
ScorecardChesney Hughes cashed in on the final day of a bat-dominated match•Getty Images

Chesney Hughes hit an unbeaten 137 as Derbyshire comfortably batted out for a draw on the final day of their match with Gloucestershire in Bristol.With Hamish Rutherford contributing 78 to a second-wicket stand of 174, the visitors wiped out Gloucestershire’s first innings lead of 119 with few alarms under largely cloudless skies.Derbyshire had reached 260 for 2 when the players shook hands at 4.50pm, by which time Hughes, who had fallen four short of a hundred in the first innings, had faced 240 balls and hit 20 fours and a six without giving a chance.It was an impressive display by the powerful left-hander. Gloucestershire took 12 points and Derbyshire eight from a game dominated by the bat on a slow, benign wicket.The final day began with the hosts leading by 119 on first innings. Derbyshire’s first task was to avoid losing early wickets, but Lady Luck soon took a hand.Ben Slater was unfortunate to be run out for 6 when seamer Liam Norwell, operating from the Pavilion End, tipped a straight drive from Hughes onto the stumps at the bowler’s end.Gloucestershire were unable to capitalise on a surface offering little in terms of spin or seam movement and soon the draw was looking inevitable.By lunch Derbyshire were virtually safe on 105 for 1, with Hughes having moved to fifty off 75 balls, with 10 fours, and the less secure Rutherford on 37.The home side had to wait until the 55th over for a second success when Rutherford, who had escaped some airy shots, was caught by the diving Chris Dent at cover off Jack Taylor, having faced 142 balls and hit 10 fours.Rutherford had made an important contribution, while never looking in great form, and by the time he fell his side were 61 ahead.
Hughes moved confidently to his eighth first-class century and second against Gloucestershire, bringing it up with his 16th four, forcing offspinner Taylor through the off side.He was unbeaten on 123 at tea, which was taken with Derbyshire 219 for 2, exactly 100 ahead.The shortened final session saw Hughes and Wayne Madsen (27 not out) bat effortlessly as Gloucestershire rested their main seamers.
But there was a scare for the hosts near the end as skipper and wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick had to leave the field with a hand injury, sustained standing up to the medium-pace of Kieran Noema-Barnett.It was a match made memorable by the third-day century of Gloucestershire nightwatchman Norwell, but otherwise home supporters will be hoping for more entertaining cricket when Worcestershire provide the opposition on Sunday.

While other Sri Lanka batsmen have spoken of embracing positivity at the crease against a strong England attack, Kusal Mendis has instead begun to focus on batting time

Andrew Fidel Fernando04-Jun-2016While other Sri Lanka batsmen have spoken of embracing positivity at the crease against a strong England attack, the youngest man in the top order has instead begun to focus on batting time. Impulsive, raw and attacking, 21-year-old Kusal Mendis may average less than 30 in 10 Test innings so far, but coaches and selectors have seen in him a spark that could be fanned into flame.Mendis hit Sri Lanka’s sole half-century in a woeful Headingley Test, and made two starts at Chester-le-Street. Sri Lanka appear happy to give him a longer run in the No. 3 spot, where he has said he feels comfortable and where he has contributed more substantial innings than many of his team-mates. Having hit 114 runs from 154 balls this series, the batsman himself has set sights on playing longer innings.”We have realised that the key is to let the England bowlers go for more spells,” Mendis said. “We will have a few plans and it’s only natural that a bowler, when he bowls fourth or fifth spell, he will leak runs. If we can bat for longer, we will be able to achieve our targets more easily. We have had about five very good days of training leading up to the Lord’s Test. We will talk about all these areas.”Sri Lanka had employed the “tiring” tactics with some success against Yasir Shah in 2015, when Angelo Mathews, in particular, had first dead-batted, then scored freely off the legspinner’s later spells in Pallekele. Mendis’ survival early in his innings here may depend on how well he can avoid the traps England set for his leg-side dominant play.”England tried out a few things in the second Test and I realised that,” Mendis said. “I know what’s coming at Lord’s. They will deny me any runs on the leg side. That’s the challenge. The coach and captain had a chat with me and we will come up with some counter moves where I will try and score on the off side.”Mendis was the captain of Sri Lanka’s Under-19 side in 2014 – a year in which he also earned a cricket scholarship to play in the Middlesex Leagues. He said he owed much of his success to his family – particularly his father, who is a three-wheeler driver by trade.”My father was the biggest strength for my cricket. Other than that, a lot of coaches and many other individuals have helped me. I get a lot of support from my captain, vice-captain, coach and the management. Even though I’m the youngest member of the team, they don’t treat me any differently. Whether I’m doing well or have a bad game I feel that support.”For now, Mendis has been weaned at the international level on Tests only. But his strike rate in the longest format suggests he could be an option for Sri Lanka in limited-overs crickets as well.”My biggest ambition was representing my country. I was thrilled when I made my Test debut against West Indies last year. Then I toured New Zealand and now I am here. I hope I will stay in the team for a long time.”

Kalabagan Krira Chakra beat Kalabagan Cricket Academy by 29 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Tuesday

Mohammad Isam07-Jun-2016Kalabagan Krira Chakra beat Kalabagan Cricket Academy by 29 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Tuesday.After rain had stopped play on Monday, with KCA 35 for 4, they were bowled out for 128 in 39.2 overs. Kalabagan were 91 for 4 in 23 overs in reply before heavy rain suspended play on the reserve day as well. Kalabagan were found to be 29 runs ahead of the D/L par score at the end of 23 overs.Kalabagan’s sixth win helped them move to seventh place, leaving them with an outside chance of making it to the six-team Super League, provided other results on Wednesday and Thursday go in their favour.Nuruzzaman, the right-hand batsman, top-scored for KCA with 42, and was among only three batsmen in their top-seven to register double-digit scores, Myshukur Rahaman (17) and Mehedi Hasan Miraz (22) being the others. Nuruzzaman struck five fours in his 66-ball knock.Veteran left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak took three wickets while Kalabagan captain Mashrafe Mortaza and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Chouhan took two each.Hasanuzzaman, fresh from his 95 against Mohammedan Sporting Club, led Kalabagan’s reply with a 57-ball 47. He struck three fours and as many sixes before being caught at sweeper cover off Abu Jayed in the 21st over. Jayed, the right-arm pacer, finished with 2 for 15.If Brothers Union beat Legends of Rupganj at the BKSP-3 ground tomorrow, the relegation play-off will be redundant, sending KCA and Cricket Coaching School into next season’s Dhaka First Division Cricket League.