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Electric was the right word to describe Sri Lanka’s fielding in their opening Twenty20 victory, and the articulate Angelo Mathews found it. His opposite number George Bailey noted ruefully but truthfully that he had never seen a team get outfielded in this format and go on to win the game. Mathews was by contrast delighted with the way his XI had attacked Australia, as bowlers and fielders, taking wickets early and then restricting their scoring.Australia’s tally of 3 for 137 had looked inadequate, even if it had been pulled together largely via an outstanding, controlled innings by David Warner. And the fact Sri Lanka had such a manageable chase could be put down to the hard work put in earlier by Mathews’ alert and agile team, who responded to their captain’s first full match in charge, after a washed-out encounter against New Zealand in October.”We started off brilliantly,” Mathews said. “We were electric in the field and the bowlers bowled very well, I thought Lasith [Malinga] and [Nuwan] Kulasekara were brilliant. They showed their class and they were the ones who pulled us back.”I thought the par score was 150 to 160. It feels great beating Australia. Playing in Australia the Aussies are always competitive, it is a great challenge and the boys did extremely well today.”Australia made only 31 runs from the final four overs of the innings, delivered with great skill and precision by Kulasekara and Malinga. It was here that Mathews and Bailey felt the game was won. “I knew Lasith had two overs and Kulasekara had two overs, I know they’re world-class bowlers and it was totally up to them to make their fields,” Mathews said. “They were absolutely brilliant today.”Bailey doffed his cap to Sri Lanka’s endeavour in the field, and was disconsolate that his side had not been as tight in the field as numerous wild returns and outfield fumbles were compounded by the odd dropped catch.”I thought we ended up a few runs short, but we had that platform set, and to be fair I thought Sri Lanka bowled unbelievably well their last four overs,” Bailey said. “Any side that can bowl to Davey [Warner], set, and deprive him of boundaries, and Vogesy [Adam Voges] too … they executed unbelievably well.”I thought our fielding was disappointing, and that probably cost us 10 runs in fielding, so that adds up in a T20 game, plus some dropped catches. I’ve never seen a T20 game where if you get outfielded you win the game – I think the best fielding side always wins.”Sri Lanka’s only concern is a cut over the eye of Tillakaratne Dilshan, inflicted by a Ben Laughlin bouncer. He will have the wound assessed ahead of game two in Melbourne on Monday.

Match facts

January 6-10, 2012
Start time 0930 (0400 GMT)Saurashtra host the quarter-final but not at their newly-constructed ground (pictured here)•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Big Picture

On Christmas evening in Hubli, after Haryana had taken three points against Karnataka in the penultimate league round, Stuart Binny spoke about the “slight outside chance” Karnataka had of reaching the quarter-finals but sounded like a man who thought his team’s season was over.Miraculously, though, the complicated set of events necessary for Karnataka to progress came to pass – they won their final match (with a mere eight balls to spare), Odisha lost, and Delhi took the first-innings lead against Vidarbha but couldn’t force an outright win.Saurashtra had it a tad easier, but they too just about squeezed in to the quarter-finals in a group where five teams were separated by only three points. They needed an outright win in their final league match and their star batsman Cheteshwar Pujara duly delivered with a second-innings double-century that set up victory.Now that both teams have had last-gasp extensions to their campaigns, they will set their targets high. This is the fifth year in a row that Karnataka have reached the quarter-finals but they haven’t won a title since the glory days of the late 90s, while Saurashtra are yet to reach the Ranji finals despite successive semi-final appearances in 2007-08 and 08-09, and producing three players who have represented India in Test cricket.The match won’t be played at the shiny new home of Saurashtra cricket, the Khandheri stadium, as the India-England one-dayer is scheduled there for next Friday. While Khandheri prepares for its international debut, the Ranji quarter-final will be played at the much less modern Saurashtra University ground, which will make its first-class debut. How the pitch will fare is anybody’s guess.Sample these quotes about it. Saurashtra captain Jaydev Shah: “We don’t know how the wicket will react. It’s the first time ever we’re playing here. We’ve not played any district-level or any (other match here). I’ve not played. Don’t think Cheteshwar has played here either.”Karnataka captain Stuart Binny: “We don’t know how the wicket will behave as we both are going to play first time on this ground and therefore Saurashtra will not have any advantage of playing at home.”Karnataka team manager J Abhiram: “Such an important game, I believe till yesterday there was no wicket at all. So I really don’t know if it’s an underprepared wicket, I really don’t know. They could have played this game in Bangalore, you know, in these kinds of conditions.”

Squads

Karnataka have two players who missed the previous game back in the squad: their vice-captain Manish Pandey returns after an elbow injury, and left-arm spinner KP Appanna has been picked again, in place of seamer Ronit More.Karnataka: Stuart Binny (capt), Robin Uthappa, KL Rahul, Kunal Kapoor, Ganesh Satish, Manish Pandey (vice-captain), CM Gautam (wicketkeeper), Amit Verma, K Gowtham, Abhimanyu Mithun, KP Appanna, HS Sharath, SL Akshay, SK Moinuddin, Karun Nair.Saurashtra: Jaydev Shah (capt), Shitanshu Kotak, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Cheteshwar Pujara, Rahul Dave, Aarpit Vasavada, Chirag Jani, Kamlesh Makvana, Vishal Joshi, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Jaydev Unadkat, Sagar Jogiyani, Sandip Maniar, Siddarth Trivedi, Saurya Sanandiya.

Stats and trivia

• Karnataka and Saurashtra have met each other six times in the Ranji Trophy – each side has won outright twice, and in the other two games Karnataka have taken first-innings points.
• Karnataka’s CM Gautam tops the run-charts with 938, the most ever by a wicketkeeper in a Ranji season

Quotes

“We’ve got the talent, and we’ve been peaking at the right time. That Maharashtra game really boosted the confidence.”

“Everyone know we have a good spinning side, than a fast bowling side. That’s a fact. We’ll definitely go with a little bit of spin.”

ICC match referee Chris Broad has said there was no evidence to suggest that the condition of the ball had been changed by Australia during the Hobart Test, after Sri Lanka had expressed concerns over alleged tampering. Broad said the umpires had reviewed the video footage and will not lay charges.”The umpires frequently inspect the ball during play, and did so again after they had reviewed the video footage in question on Sunday [third day]. They found no evidence to suggest that the condition of the ball had been changed,” Broad said after Australia won the first Test by 137 runs. “During the tea interval on that day, I spoke with Australia coach Mickey Arthur and told him that the umpires will continue to inspect the cricket ball regularly, and monitor the actions of all players.”I subsequently informed the Sri Lanka team management of my discussions with the Australia coach. In the opinion of the umpires, there was no evidence to suggest that the condition of the ball was changed, or that the video or photographic evidence would support a charge under the Code of Conduct, so they will not be laying any charges relating to these incidents.”Sri Lanka’s team management had expressed concerns over footage it believed showed Peter Siddle tampering with the ball in their first innings.They alleged that broadcast cameras might have captured Siddle using his fingernails to raise the seam of the ball in the 88th over of Sri Lanka’s innings, while bowling to Prasanna Jayawardene. According to the team manager Charith Senanayake, their suspicions had been raised in the dressing room as they received the video-feed in real time, in the second session on day three. However, the visitors did not make an official complaint to the match referee.”We have the footage with us,” Senanayake had said. “We recorded the game and it’s there for everybody to see. We saw something illegal and have reacted to that. I have spoken to the match referee informally. It’s up to them to act now, but we will have to pursue it further if nothing happens.”Senanayake had also drawn attention to another incident much earlier in the innings. He alleged the team had noticed tampering soon after Dimuth Karunaratne’s dismissal in the 10th over. “It didn’t just happen in the 88th over, it also happened at the beginning of the innings when our first opener got out … they were picking the seam,” Senanayake told News Ltd. “I went straight into [Broad’s] room when the match was over and asked him if he is watching the same game I am watching. [He] said, ‘Yes, we have seen it’ and I left it at that.”A Cricket Australia spokesman had declined to comment. “This is a matter for Sri Lanka and the ICC,” he said.0730 GMT The story was updated after the ICC issued a statement with match referee Chris Broad’s comments

ScorecardJoe Root reminded the England selectors of his talent•Getty Images

Joe Root provided a reminder to the England selectors with a century on the second day of the England Performance Programme (EPP) match against the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy side in Navi Mumbai.Root, who has been relegated to the role of substitute fielder by the elevation of Nick Compton to the Test side, made 166 as the EPP side ended the second day on 484 for 6. There were also half-centuries for Nottinghamshire’s James Taylor, who made 72, and Essex’s 19-year-old reserve wicketkeeper Ben Foakes, who finished the day unbeaten with 90 from 94 balls.Eoin Morgan fell to the leg-spin of Sagar Gorivale three short of a half-century, while Craig Kieswetter managed just 17 on the day he was dropped from England’s T20 squad.Going into the final day of the game, the EPP side lead by 280 runs.Steven Finn, the England fast bowler, will test his recovery from a thigh strain on the final day of the game on Thursday. Finn bowled 16 overs on the first day, but will be assessed for any reaction with several more spells on the third day. If he comes through unscathed, he is likely to win selection in the team for the third Test in Kolkata next week.

Richard Pybus has confirmed he will not continue as Bangladesh coach because he feels the terms of his contract and the interference from administration made his position untenable. Pybus had been in the job for about four months, and presided over only the lead up to the World Twenty20 and the tournament itself.In an interview to ESPNcricinfo, Pybus outlined the reasons for his decision, the root cause being the difference between the terms he agreed with the BCB and the terms that were in the actual contract. Pybus said the BCB wanted him to spend 320 days a year with the Bangladesh team, a commitment he was not ready to make because of family reasons.The BCB media committee chairman, Jalal Yunus, told ESPNcricinfo that he would only comment on Pybus’ claims after a scheduled board meeting, which began at noon in Mirpur.”The board approached me earlier this year on three occasions to become head coach. I turned them down twice, as I couldn’t commit to the amount of time they wanted me to be with the team and in Bangladesh, which was 320 days a year,” Pybus said. “I explained that I had family responsibilities that stop me from being away for this amount of time. The third time they approached me, I explained again, in detail, what the issues were.”I said I could prepare the team in camps, tour with them and be there for all series, but I needed to get home between tours for my family. If they were happy with that, then I could do the job for them. That was when they agreed that I would be able to go home between tours. Their agreement was never made explicit in the contract they presented to me in Dhaka so I refused to sign it. That is the heart of the matter.”Pybus was also upset by how details of his contract with the BCB were revealed to the Bangladesh media. “I got on with the coaching [without a contract] but when details of my contract where leaked to the media and discussed in the public domain, I felt the BCB had made their position clear,” he said. “They fundamentally undermined the principles of confidentiality and they went back on their word … They took a confidential contract discussion into the public domain and proceeded to give press statements on it, breaching the privacy and confidentiality expected in contract discussions.”Pybus returned to South Africa after the World Twenty20, in which Bangladesh were knocked out in the first round, and had been in talks to iron out issues with the BCB. Despite numerous emails sent between the two parties, they could not reach consensus.An additional reason for his decision to quit, Pybus said, was the lack of support he received from the board when he wanted to make certain changes and supplement his coaching with additional information. “I asked for the mandate of authority and responsibility to run the national side without interference from board directors and was given that assurance by board president [Mustafa] Kamal. In reality that was never the case,” Pybus said. “My position was undermined consistently by interference from the board, some of whom were not only obstructive, but seemed to be completely ignorant of cricket.”I couldn’t even get the board to sign off on providing healthy sandwiches for the players after training. Players were going down with food poisoning during camps, so I wanted to offer them something better than a fried egg sandwich. I was told I couldn’t, because that was all the budget could afford.”During Pybus’ tenure, Bangladesh played a series of unofficial matches in Zimbabwe and Trinidad, and won a three-match Twenty20 series against Ireland. They also lost to Scotland, won and lost against Netherlands, and crashed out of the World Twenty20 by losing to New Zealand and Pakistan in the first round.

Pakistan came within one wicket of compensating for a calamitous batting performance in the Under-19 World Cup quarter-final against India. They will now begin the contest for fifth place by playing West Indies on August 22.Having travelled north from Brisbane to Townsville, Pakistan were playing at the Tony Ireland Stadium for the first time. It had rained in the early hours of Monday and the skies were overcast. Yet, unlike most sides when playing strong bowling attacks at this venue, Pakistan chose to bat after winning the toss.The first hour has often yielded several wickets. England were 61 for 4 against Australia, and India were 50 for 4 against West Indies. Pakistan were 0 for 2 in the first over today.”We’ve been batting well [in the World Cup], so we’d thought we’d bat first, make 250,” Babar Azam, the Pakistan captain, said when asked why he did not choose to bowl. “But that did not happen, early on the boys played some bad shots and we got out for a low score – we made 136.”The first two wickets weren’t to bad balls or bad shots though. Sandeep Sharma’s swing from leg to off stump made the left-handers Sami Aslam and Iman-ul-Haq play and edge to second slip. The duty of stablising the innings was left to Azam.”When two wickets fell, I just decided to play carefully and try and take the team towards 250,” he said. “But I couldn’t do it, when I got to 50 I played a loose shot and got out.”Having seen off the more potent threats from India’s seamers, Azam had just brought up his half-century when he chipped an offbreak from Baba Aparajith straight to Unmukt Chand at midwicket, the softest of shots.”We thought if we made 150-160 we could beat India, we had that much confidence in our bowling,” Azam said. “Our score was too low, but we still managed to take it until the final overs.”Defending 137, Azam’s confidence in his bowlers was not misplaced. The first wicket to fall – Chand for a duck – was via a spectacular catch on the backward point boundary and every fielder and substitute ran towards Ehsan Adil to congratulate him. Two edges were caught in quick succession. After five overs Pakistan had India at 8 for 3.”In the first five overs we dismissed three batsmen. I thought we could make a comeback,” Azam said. “There was a partnership and at the time we thought the game was slipping. But again the boys came back and we tried really hard.”India recovered through a partnership between Aparajith and Vijay Zol, but just when an Indian win seemed an inevitability, Pakistan claimed 4 for 7 to reduce India to 127 for 9. The next seven overs were fraught with tension as India’s last pair successfully toiled towards the target. “When the boys came back, and nine batsmen were out, we thought we could win the match,” Azam said. “The bowlers gave 100% but it didn’t happen. Sandeep Sharma and Harmeet Singh played really well.”We’re very disappointed. We had confidence against India, having played them in the Asia Cup – one match was tied and the other we won. When seven runs were remaining, we thought we could get the last wicket and win. When two runs were remaining, everyone was a bit down. A lot of us were very tense out there.”

ScorecardSuresh Raina marshalled the chase, along with Irfan Pathan, with an unbeaten half-century•AFP

After 28 consecutive wins in home ODIs when they’ve scored at least 250 batting first, Sri Lanka’s amazing run was ended in a nailbiter at the Premadasa. Riding on a superbly paced hundred by Gautam Gambhir, India overcame mid-innings wobbles, including losing two wickets off successive balls, as Suresh Raina – helped along by Irfan Pathan – did the finishing job to perfection. India now lead the five-match series 2-1.In conditions that offered an even contest between bat and ball, and there were several memorable performances, with fortunes swaying either way several times, till the Raina-Irfan partnership decisively swung it India’s way. India held the early ascendancy in the match with three quick wickets, but a top-notch 121-run stand for the fourth wicket between Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene edged it in Sri Lanka’s favour. Angelo Mathews and Jeevan Mendis further hammered home the advantage with a104-run partnership, including 97 off the last ten, as India’s bowling frailties at the death were exposed again. Then, when India’s chase appeared on course, Lasith Malinga, who historically hasn’t had such a happy time against them, struck twice with the first two balls of the batting Powerplay, at a time when India were fairly comfortably placed, needing 107 off 90 with eight wickets in hand, with MS Dhoni and Gambhir well set. And when Gambhir was found short by a direct hit from Isuru Udana – his one redeeming act on another disappointing bowling day – India seemed to have well and truly lost their way.The final twist in the tale, though, was still to come. When Pathan joined Raina, the task was steep – 91 runs in 12 overs, with not much batting to come. At that stage, though, Malinga, who had three overs to spare, was pulled out of the attack with three of his overs still in hand; in retrospect, another over at that stage, with both batsmenrelatively new to the crease, might have been worth the risk.With Malinga not in the attack, both batsmen eked out the runs through intended and unintended methods – flicks, edges, outside edges, inside edges all followed, but crucially for India, they all added to the total and brought down the target. Raina then launched into his trademark meaty hoicks to leg, bringing up his half-century with one such stunning six over long-on off Malinga in the 46th. With both batsmen getting a couple of fours through third man in Malinga’s previous over, the asking rate had suddenly come down to seven. India were back in control, and this time they didn’t let go.

Smart stats

• The target of 287 is the highest successfully chased by a team against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. The top four run chases have been achieved by India.

• Since the start of 2011, teams have won eight and lost three matches while chasing at the Premadasa stadium. However, between 2000 and 2010, the record of chasing teams was 16 wins and 40 losses.

• Gautam Gambhir’s century is his 11th in ODIs and sixth against Sri Lanka. His top two scores have come against Sri Lanka.

• Gambhir, with six centuries against Sri Lanka, is joint-third on the list of batsmen with the most ODI centuries against Sri Lanka. Only Sachin Tendulkar (8) and Saeed Anwar (7) are above Gambhir.

• The match aggregate of 574 runs is the sixth-highest in an ODI at the Premadasa stadium. The top seven aggregates at the venue have all come in India-Sri Lanka ODIs.

• The 121-run stand between Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene is the highest fourth-wicket stand for Sri Lanka against India. It is the fourth-highest fourth-wicket partnership in ODIs at the Premadasa stadium.

• Angelo Mathews’ strike rate of 124.56 during his 71 is his highest for a fifty-plus score in ODIs. It is his second half-century against India and the 11th overall.

• Suresh Raina’s half-century is his 23rd in ODIs and seventh against Sri Lanka. His strike rate of 144.44 is his highest for a fifty-plus score against Sri Lanka.

• The 92-run stand between Raina and Irfan Pathan is the highest sixth-wicket stand against Sri Lanka in an ODI in Sri Lanka.

Till the 36th over of the chase, it seemed India’s win might be achieved with far lesser drama, with Gambhir and Virat Kohli – their trusted pair in a run-chase, putting together 105 in quick time after the early loss of Virender Sehwag. Gambhir’s was a masterclass, as he took charge of the chase from the start, upper-cutting Malinga in the first over, and then regularly finding the boundaries with square-drives and cuts. Against the spinners, he was always in his comfort zone, chipping into the outfield for twos to stay within touching distance of the asking rate.Sri Lanka’s innings was a story of two high-quality partnerships. Jayawardene’s decision to bat first at a venue where recent results have favoured the team chasing seemed to have backfired when ZaheerKhan and Irfan reduced them to 20 for 3. Both bowlers made excellent use of the bounce and seam movement on offer, regularly beating the bat. The wickets followed soon, as Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga and Dinesh Chandimal all succumbed early.That’s when the class of Sangakkara and Jayawardene shone through. In testing conditions, where strokeplay wasn’t easy against the new ball, both batsmen settled in quickly, though Jayawardene was more circumspect early. Sangakkara unfurled a couple of classy drives – straight and square – and also defended expertly, playing with soft hands, into the gaps, for ones and twos. His one testing moment came in the 15th over, when a short one from Ashok Dinda struck him on his right glove; Sangakkara continued batting, but the injury was later diagnosed as a fracture. Jayawardene, meanwhile, settled in and showed his range and silken touch, playing lofted drives on the off side and deft late-cuts off Rahul Sharma, whose extra pace suited him perfectly.The century partnership duly came up – it was their fifth India, and only one pair has more. They both looked good to post individual hundreds too, but neither did.When Sangakkara fell in the batting Powerplay, it seemed India had wrested the initiative again, but their slog-over bowling weakness, and some clever, enterprising batting from Mathews and Jeevan Mendis, meant Sri Lanka were the happier team at the break. Mathews had some luck when he was caught-behind off an Irfan no-ball when on 33, but there was also plenty of smart cricket from both. Mendis, brought into the team to replace Lahiru Thirimanne, justified that selection with an enterprising knock, reverse-sweeping Ashwin and then smashing Dinda’s friendly short ball over midwicket for the only six of the innings. Mathews was equally enterprising, moving to leg and making room to spank the medium-pacers through the offside.It seemed their heroics towards the end would be enough, but India’s three left-hand batsmen then came to the party.

ScorecardCaptain Alex Gidman led from the front as Gloucestershire moved into second place in Group A of the Clydesdale Bank with a four-wicket win over Worcestershire at Cheltenham.First Gidman claimed 3 for 20 from eight overs after winning the toss to help restrict the visitors to a modest 144 for 7, Phil Hughes top-scoring with an unbeaten 64.Then after Gloucestershire had plunged from 51 without loss to 81 for 5 in reply, Gidman steadied the ship with an unbeaten 33, sharing a key sixth-wicket stand of 47 with Ed Young (28) as his side won with 12.5 overs to spare.Spinners Moeen Ali (three for 33) and Brett D’Oliveira (two for 35) had threatened to bowl Worcestershire back into the game, Moeen grabbing three wickets in his first three overs from the Chapel End to remove Benny Howell, Dan Housego and Ed Cowan.But Cowan (29) and Hamish Marshall (26) had given the hosts a brisk start chasing down their modest target and Young’s confident 22-ball innings, which included the only six of the game off Moeen, helped Gidman see Gloucestershire home.

ScorecardSussex moved level with Warwickshire at the top of Group C in the CB40 despite their clash with Derbyshire at Horsham being rained off.Sussex had reached 111 for 5 after 24 overs when the drizzle became too strong and umpires Peter Hartley and Peter Willey abandoned the match.Tim Groenewald took 3 for 30 from 8 overs to reduce Sussex to 58 for 4 at one stage after Derbyshire elected to field. Joe Gatting and Mike Yardy repaired some of the damage with a stand of 44 for the fifth wicket before Gatting was out for a top score of 34 before the heavens opened.The result leaves Derbyshire second from bottom in the group and effectively ends their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages.Scott Styris, the veteran New Zealand all-rounder, looked rusty on his Sussex debut, having not seen any action in the recent Indian Premier League. He made five before his frustration got the better of him and he pulled a short ball from Groenewald to Alex Hughes at deep mid wicket.

India A will tour New Zealand in September, as part of the BCCI’s initiative to send the team on two international tours every year before the start of the domestic season.A report quoted a BCCI official as saying that the specifics of the tour are yet to be finalised upon. “We are in the process of deciding the number of matches and working on whether the team will play four-day games or three-day ones. The itinerary will be ready in a week or so,” the official said. “We will try to make two tours for sure every season. After all, the A team is the feeder line for the senior team.”India A are currently touring the Caribbean, and won their first unofficial Test in Bridgetown on Tuesday by two wickets. The team will play two more four-day games against West Indies A, followed by two Twenty20s and three one-dayers.