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Ajmal Shahzad is free to leave by Yorkshire because of his reluctance to accept team discipline, according to Colin Graves and Martyn Moxon

David Hopps03-May-2012Ajmal Shahzad is free to leave by Yorkshire because he is a strong-willed individual whose reluctance to accept team discipline has caused an irrevocable breakdown in relations, according to Yorkshire’s chairman, Colin Graves, and director of cricket, Martyn Moxon.”Cricket is a team game and Yorkshire is bigger than everybody,” Graves said as he acted to counter criticism of Yorkshire’s ability to lose an England fast bowler only one month into a new season. “I am not prepared to have somebody playing for Yorkshire who does not want to be part of the team. All the comments I have heard from Ajmal are about him, not about the team. And as far as I am concerned, cricket is a team game. There is no point having a player where he doesn’t want to be.”As first reported on ESPNcricinfo, Shahzad’s stormy relationship with Yorkshire had been a prolonged one, with the disagreement over his bowling tactics leaving the county and player increasingly at loggerheads.Shahzad saw himself as a free spirit, who should be allowed to bring his attacking inclinations to the fore with a rich diet of bouncers, yorkers and slower balls. Yorkshire, much in the manner of England, wanted a more disciplined fast bowler dedicated to building pressure. The new coach, Jason Gillespie, was unable to win Shahzad over.Whichever county signs Shahzad, or takes him on loan until the end of the season, should be aware that they have an attacking bowler on their hands who will not easily be regimented. Perhaps some suitors will accept that quite happily.Graves called a clear-the-air meeting with Shahzad, his agent Neil Fairbrother and Yorkshire’s coaching staff at Headingley on Tuesday after receiving reports of Shahzad’s discontent during a Championship match against Kent at Canterbury and that he had voiced his intention to leave at the end of the season.”I decided the best thing to do was to bring this to a head,” he said. “I listened to everybody – I sat quietly for 40 minutes which is unusual for me – and at the end of the day I turned round and said there was no way forward. We were back where we were last season, everybody else was wrong and Ajmal had his own ideas. This is a team game. I am not prepared to have someone playing for Yorkshire who does not want to be part of the team.”He was unhappy with the situation last year on the coaching side and we are three matches into this year, with a new set-up, and we still have a problem. We decided it was the best thing, if he didn’t want to be around next year, and he was unhappy this year, that he should leave. We don’t want ongoing management problems with one person.”Moxon is offended by implications that Yorkshire’s approach has been insensitive. Insensitive perhaps not: abrupt definitely. “I am absolutely gutted that we are losing somebody with Ajmal’s potential,” Moxon said. “I have told him how highly I rate him many times. We have tried to do everything we can do to accommodate him and make him happy playing his cricket at Yorkshire. However we feel that the issue has gone beyond repairable.”We would not be letting him go if we did not feel it was better for both parties to part. What we do want is an amicable separation. We do not want to be slagging each other off in the media.”This is all about Ajmal’s cricket and where he wants to pursue his career. The club and the staff have bent over backwards for several years now to try to satisfy Ajmal and how he wants to play his cricket but it has become clear that we will not get the best out of him at Yorkshire.”Obviously when there is a parting of the ways then something is not right. It is about how he sees himself as a bowler. How we see him as a cricketer is exactly the same as the England management see him. Sometimes Ajmal doesn’t agree with that. He has very strong views on how he sees himself. He wants to be doing lots of stuff. The last thing that a team needs is a player who is unhappy.”Jason Gillespie has very strong ideas about what he wants the bowlers to do. If one bowler strays away from that plan, that bowler is not a team player. That is what we can’t afford. There is no one person bigger than the team. We saw in 2010 when we were a tight unit we did well. When you have one or two people not singing from the same hymn sheet you have a problem. I was hoping that Jason would be able to come in and give Ajmal the backing, the encouragement, the advice and the nous that he wants, but he is a strong character and he has his own views.”The fact remains, however, that Yorkshire have false-started in their efforts to return to Division One at the first attempt. The Australia quick Mitchell Starc is due to arrive within the next few days and, if Shahzad finds a new county, more funds will be available. Will that money finance Headingley’s debts or go on another bowling reinforcement? “We haven’t even discussed it,” Graves said.Graves dismissed suggestions that Shahzad’s departure will play badly in Yorkshire’s Asian communities, where so much work has been done in the past decade to forge relationships. “As far as I am concerned I have worked with the Asian community for 40-odd years. I know the Asian community better than anybody. At the end of the day that community will be as disappointed as we are.”I feel sorry for Martyn and for Andrew Gale who have worked strenuously for the past 12 months to try to make him part of the time. I really hope it works out for him. But how many matches has he won for Yorkshire?”

England have rested Kevin Pietersen for the upcoming ODI series India and called-up Durham allrounder Ben Stokes

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Aug-2011England have rested Kevin Pietersen for the upcoming ODI series India and called up Durham allrounder Ben Stokes.Pietersen, who was the highest scorer in the Test series against India, has been left out as part of the selectors’ ongoing policy of ‘managing player workloads’. While Pietersen has recovered his Test form in fine style, his one-day returns have been less productive – just two half-centuries since November 2008.Geoff Miller, the England selector, emphasised, however, that Pietersen was being rested rather than dropped. “The decision to omit Kevin Pietersen from the one-day squad is in line with our policy of sensibly managing player workloads and will give the opportunity to another batsmen to test himself batting at number four.”Stokes is the only one of the three debutants from the one-off ODI against Ireland to have made the squad, with Ravi Bopara holding his place ahead of James Taylor and legspinner Scott Borthwick not selected either. Stokes was close to playing against Sri Lanka earlier in the summer but picked up a finger injury. He has had an excellent season for Durham in the CB40 with 357 runs at 51.00. Though he won’t be fit to bowl, he offers England hard-hitting ability down the order.While the remainder of the ODI squad is largely similar to the one that beat Sri Lanka 3-2 earlier in the summer, there are maiden Twenty20 call-ups for Somerset wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler and Nottinghamshire opener Alex Hales. Buttler has not actually had as productive a season as last year in Twenty20, but has showcased enough potential to step in for the injured Luke Wright.Hales, meanwhile, replaced Michael Lumb from the team that lost to Sri Lanka in the one-off T20. Ian Bell, who was a non-playing member of the squad from that game, has been dropped. Hales impressed in all forms of the game for Nottinghamshire this season and is the highest-scoring English player in the Friends Life t20 with 544 runs from 16 games. “The domestic Twenty20 competition went well for me and I’m pleased to have been recognised for scoring runs in a winning team,” said Hales.”England are the world’s best Test team and the Twenty20 world champions so breaking into the setup at any level is a big deal and I’m extremely proud to have done so. I need to back my ability to play positively and score runs if I’m going to stay in contention for a place and that’s my target going into Wednesday’s game.”Miller, meanwhile, backed the squads blend of youth and experience to succeed. “Across both squads we believe we’ve selected an exciting blend of experienced international performers along with some exciting young players with a great deal of talent,” he said in a statement. “We will need to play a high quality brand of limited overs cricket against the world champions India.”We’re very excited to have included some bright young players in the form of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Alex Hales, all of whom have proved themselves domestically and will now be looking to successfully take the step up to international level.”Twenty20 squad: Stuart Broad (capt), Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Jos Buttler, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Kevin Pietersen, Ben Stokes, Graeme SwannODI squad: Alastair Cook (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Ben Stokes, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott

A dry slow wicket and the early fall of Sachin Tendulkar, on whom Mumbai tend to depend far too much, combined to produce a thrilling game that concluded in the last over

The Bulletin by Sriram Veera30-Mar-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Lasith Malinga’s four-for helped Mumbai Indians to their sixth victory in this IPL, and inflicted a sixth defeat on Kings XI Punjab•Indian Premier League

A dry slow pitch and the early fall of Sachin Tendulkar, on whom Mumbai Indians tend to depend far too much, combined to produce a thrilling game that concluded in the last over at the Brabourne Stadium. Set a target of 164 after Lasith Malinga had restricted Kings XI Punjab with a four-for, Mumbai stumbled at various points of the chase but found enough vital contributions to clinch the game with three balls to spare. Shikhar Dhawan laid the platform with a half-century, Saurabh Tiwary lifted Mumbai with a breezy 31 just when it seemed they might lose their way, and R Sathish produced the final flourish to push them past the line and take them a step closer towards a semi-final berth .Mumbai needed 19 from the final two overs but Sathish produced two skillful hits to the ropes – an inside-out shot over covers and a whip-lash square drive – off Ravi Bopara, and Saurabh Tiwary thrashed a straight boundary to leave themselves six to get of the final over. Sathish held his nerves to collect couple of driven two’s and Brett Lee fired a wide down the leg side, as Punjab slipped to their sixth defeat in the tournament.It wasn’t quite a quality game, but it made for interesting viewing. Despite a composed fifty from Dhawan, Mumbai dawdled in the chase to reach a situation where they needed 57 from 33 balls. It was at this point that the game started to turn in their favour. Tiwary slog-swept Piyush Chawla for a six and Ambati Rayudu pulled the same bowler to the wide long-on boundary to reduce the equation to 46 from 30 balls. However, Bopara, who bowled medium pace not dissimilar to Chris Harris, slipped in a few tight overs in the company of the equally impressive Shalabh Srivastava.And when Bopara picked up the vital wicket of Dwayne Bravo with a slower one and Srivastava bowled a few dot balls, the equation read 27 from 15 balls. It was a make or a break moment, and Tiwary forced Mumbai ahead with a fierce flat-batted six over long-off off Srivastava; Sathish settled the issue in the next over with his strikes against Bopara.It was a chase that ebbed and flowed right from the start. Dhawan had started it with two boundaries in Lee’s first over but Srivastava bowled a tight over to keep Tendulkar quiet. It was the first sign that things might not be so easy for Mumbai. Chawla then struck a big blow, luring Tendulkar to hole out to long-on in the sixth over to push Mumbai to 42 for 1. Dhawan and Kieron Pollard pushed Mumbai forward but Pollard holed out to long-on, and Dhawan to long-off, to leave their team struggling at 91 for 3 from 11.4 overs. But they found enough firepower from the lower middle-order to clinch their sixth win.Just as they allowed things to drift a touch in the chase, they had earlier allowed Punjab to stretch the target. Malinga had sizzled with three wickets from four balls, which included a perfect yorker to knock out Shaun Marsh, the only batsman who offered some resistance, as Mumbai restricted Punjab to 163. But you couldn’t escape the feeling that had Mumbai produced their top game, Punjab would have struggled to get past 125.Barring Marsh, Punjab’s batsmen looked woefully out of touch. With the exception of Sachin Tendulkar, who was visibly agitated with his team-mates on a few occasions, Mumbai’s men seemed to lack intensity in the first half of the game. The fielding was largely shoddy, with the irregular keeper Ambati Rayudu setting the tone, but they lifted their game after the first time-out and had enough skill with their bowling to restrict Punjab to a gettable score.If Punjab got anywhere close to a decent score, they have only Marsh to thank for. This was his first IPL game this season but he looked in good touch right from the start. He collected four boundaries in his first ten balls, with a peachy on-the-up on drive against Ryan McLaren being the highlight. Regular fall of wickets, though, forced him to slow down and drop anchor. As witnessed in the first IPL, he kept things really simple: He stayed still on the leg-stump guard, preferring to stay completely beside the line of the ball, and played his drives. There was one big hit as well, when he went down on his knee to swing a slower one from Pollard from outside off over the long-on boundary; but for the majority of his innings, he drove along the ground.He didn’t find much support from his team-mates, though. Mahela Jayawardene struggled to get the ball off the turf initially and had problems running between the wickets. A run-out seemed inevitable and that’s how he went in the end. Bopara missed a full and straight ball from Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh shovelled a slower one from Bravo straight to short fine-leg. Even Irfan Pathan, who has batted really well in this tournament, failed to convert a start. To his credit though, it took a good catch from Harbhajan Singh, running to his right from midwicket, to end his stay. And when Marsh fell next ball, Punjab were tottering at 124 for 6 from 16 overs before Piyush Chawla pushed them past 160, which proved inadequate, but only just.

Brydon Coverdale presents the Plays of the Day from the fourth day of the WACA Test

Brydon Coverdale at the WACA19-Dec-2009Drop drop
When Theo Doropoulos plays Twenty20s for Western Australia the nickname on his back is “Drop”. Sadly for him, the name proved far too apt when he came on as a substitute fielder late in the day. He had barely taken the field when Sulieman Benn chipped Mitchell Johnson to mid-on, where Doropoulos put down a simple chance. Redemption came in Johnson’s next over when Doropoulos, who had been banished to deep midwicket, was given another chance by the free-swinging Benn and this time held on.Clint dirty
To paraphrase his namesake Eastwood, Clint McKay had to ask himself one question today: “Do I feel lucky?” Sadly for McKay, this didn’t look like being his most fortunate day. He celebrated what he thought was his first Test wicket, complete with hugs and back-slaps from his team-mates, when Ian Gould adjudged Denesh Ramdin lbw. However Ramdin asked for a review and the final verdict was that the ball was slipping down leg. To add insult to injury, Gould signaled four leg-byes. McKay did get his chance to celebrate soon afterwards when he jagged one back off the seam to rattle Ramdin’s stumps.Fancy footwork, part one
Chris Gayle has impressed fans this series with his soccer skills, including a display in which he kept the ball in the air for about ten kicks before it hit the turf. This time his efforts were far more serious, when in the first over of the innings, he fended away a short delivery from Doug Bollinger and the ball spun back towards his stumps. Gayle was late in realising the danger and only a last-ditch toe-poke saved him from being bowled.Fancy footwork, part two
Doug Bollinger wasn’t to be outdone – shortly afterwards Gayle nudged a delivery back down the pitch, giving the bowler a chance to show his own skills. He kept it in the air with both feet, and his knees, but only managed about five touches before it hit the ground. Still, it was more agreeable footwork than Bollinger had displayed in Adelaide, when his kick of the turf in anger at a negated lbw appeal earned him a reprimand from the match referee.Mitch hitch
The absence of Mitchell Johnson at various periods during the day didn’t help the Australians, after he was sick all through the night and into the fourth day with gastro issues. Johnson did take the field and bowled in short spells but he was clearly unwell, often hunching over in discomfort. He had to leave the field several times and his condition was not helped by the heat in Perth, where the temperature soared as high as 37 degrees.They could be contenders
Australia are facing the possibility that Ponting will miss his first Test in five years with his elbow tendon problem placing him in doubt for Boxing Day. If that were to happen, the selectors would face an interesting decision over his replacement. As the fourth day unfolded at the WACA, the contenders presented their cases around the country. Leading the charge was Phillip Hughes, who made a quick 122 in a Sheffield Shield game in Newcastle, although bringing in an extra opener would require some shuffling of the batting order. At Adelaide Oval, Michael Klinger scored a patient, unbeaten 64 after Shaun Marsh had made 82. Other candidates including George Bailey, David Hussey and Cameron White, will be batting for their states over the next couple of days.Free entry for day five
Despite being a Saturday, the crowd of 8556 on the fourth day was lower than any of the first three days of the game. The WACA will open the gates for free on the final day, with Australia requiring only one wicket and West Indies 51 runs for victory.

CSK are yet to win an away game this IPL and their next two matches are on the road

Srinidhi Ramanujam13-Apr-20242:57

Moody’s advice to CSK:’ Deny Bumrah wickets’

Match details

Mumbai Indians (P5 W2 L3 7th) vs Chennai Super Kings (P5 W3 L2 3rd)
Mumbai, 7.30pm IST (2pm GMT)

Big picture

It’s the IPL’s biggest rivalry. At the Wankhede Stadium. On a double-header Sunday. But has the rivalry mellowed down this time? Possibly because it’s the first time in over a decade the CSK-Mumbai game will not witness Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni as captains, as Hardik Pandya and Ruturaj Gaikwad have taken over at the helm. So, what’s in store in this new era?Two away games and two losses. It’s a small sample size, but CSK are yet to post a win away from home in this IPL. After winning three out of five games, they now go on the road – the first stop is Mumbai and then Lucknow – before going back to Chepauk after 15 days. Can they be at home, away from home, when they meet a strong host?Mumbai, though, registered two wins in a row after succumbing to three straight defeats. The turnaround was possible due to their strong batting performances. Their top six batters strike at more than 147 each and this firepower reflected in their scores of 234 for 5 and 199 for 3 in their last two games, which were played at the Wankhede Stadium. With Suryakumar Yadav finding his feet sooner than later with a 19-ball 52 in his second game after returning from injury, Mumbai’s line-up is looking solid again.However, the same cannot be said of the bowling group. Barring Jasprit Bumrah, Mumbai’s bowlers have been guilty of going for plenty of runs. They have been expensive at the death, especially, going at 12.31 runs an over – the third-most runs leaked by any team thus far in this IPL (before the Punjab Kings vs Rajasthan Royals game on Saturday).CSK would also want to tighten their bowling. In their two away losses in Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad, their bowlers struggled for early wickets. There’s still uncertainty surrounding their pace mainstay Matheesha Pathirana’s participation. Against a dangerous Mumbai side on a seam-friendly surface, CSK will be expecting the likes of Mustafizur Rahman and Deepak Chahar to do the bulk of damage.Related

• CSK-Mumbai rivalry enters new era

• 'I am six foot three, 100 kgs' – Mitchell is easing himself into Rayudu's role at CSK

Form guide

Mumbai WWLLL (most recent match first)
CSK WLLWW

Team news and Impact Player strategy

Mumbai Indians
Mumbai opted to bring in Shreyas Gopal as the like-for-like replacement for Piyush Chawla in their last game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. A fit and firing Suryakumar could be used as an Impact Player, swapping for fast bowler Akash Madhwal.Likely XII: 1 Ishan Kishan (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 , 4 Hardik Pandya (capt), 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Tim David, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Romario Shepherd, 9 Shreyas Gopal, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Gerald Coetzee, 12 Chennai Super Kings
Matheesha Pathirana did some bowling before CSK’s previous game against Kolkata Knight Riders at home but didn’t feature as a precautionary measure. Coach Stephen Fleming is hopeful of having his death-bowling specialist back for Sunday’s game or next Friday’s clash against Luckow Super Giants. While Mustafizur, who had to leave for home to work on getting a US visa, returned to the XI at Chepauk, Chahar had missed that match with a niggle. He might return to the team against Mumbai, if he’s fit.Likely XII: 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), 2 Rachin Ravindra, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 , 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Sameer Rizvi, 8 MS Dhoni (wk), 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Tushar Deshpande, 11 Matheesha Pathirana/Maheesh Theekshana, 12 1:48

Who will be CSK’s key batter in Mumbai?

In the spotlight – Bumrah and Chahar

Jasprit Bumrah is fresh off a five-wicket haul against RCB and has been phenomenal in containing the batters. He is the only Mumbai player to have an economy rate under six this IPL and he has claimed seven of his ten wickets in three innings at the Wankhede, at a stunning economy rate of 5.75. In an otherwise misfiring bowling unit, Mumbai will once again rely on Bumrah, the most experienced fast bowler in the attack, to keep CSK quiet, especially at the death.For CSK, how Deepak Chahar performs in the powerplay will be key to their success. At the Wankhede, he has fared well in the first six overs, picking up ten wickets in ten games at an economy rate of 7.59. Chahar is also the only player who hasn’t played for Mumbai Indians to have taken wickets in double digits in this phase at Wankhede. With four wickets in four matches this season, can Chahar step up against the likes of Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav?1:25

McClenaghan: The Wankhede conditions will suit Ravindra

Stats that matter

Roach five-for and Blackwood fifty went in vain in Test that finished in three days

Deivarayan Muthu02-Mar-2023West Indies threatened to turn the tables on South Africa by rolling them over for 116 on the third morning at SuperSport Park, but their own batters collapsed in similar spectacular fashion, chasing 247. Kagiso Rabada was chiefly responsible for that collapse, bagging 6 for 50 to dismiss them for 159 and seal South Africa’s victory inside three days on a track that offered variable bounce.Jermaine Blackwood’s thrilling counterattack – 79 off 93 balls – raised West Indies’ hopes, but Rabada found a little extra kick off the pitch to take him out and ensure the new era under captain Temba Bavuma and coach Shukri Conrad began with a victory in Centurion, where the South Africa women’s team that reached the T20 World Cup final five days ago was also in attendance.It was Roach who had set the scene for the day with his 11th five-for in Test cricket – and first away from home since 2017. He also surpassed Joel Garner’s tally of 259 to become West Indies’ fifth-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket. Just before lunch, Roach was warmly welcomed back by his team-mates, Jimmy Adams, West Indies’ director of cricket, and Brian Lara, the team mentor.However, the mood and tempo of the match changed quickly when Rabada struck either side of the lunch break. After having captain Kraigg Brathwaite caught down the leg side for a duck, he drew an outside edge from No. 3 Raymon Reifer.Tagenarine Chanderpaul kept playing and missing at full balls, but wasn’t particularly flustered against that length. It was the short ball that bothered him. He fell on his backside twice while trying to deal with them and then when he dared to hook a head-high bouncer from Marco Jansen, he could only top-edge it to midwicket for 10.Jermaine Blackwood played some outstanding shots•AFP/Getty Images

Roston Chase misjudged an inswinger from Jansen and was castled after offering no shot. Then, when debutant Gerald Coetzee produced extra bounce to get rid of Kyle Mayers, West Indies were 33 for 5 in the 15th over.Blackwood came in and hoicked the seventh ball he faced, off Rabada, over square leg for four. He continued to regularly pump the ball over the top, running away to a 51-ball half-century. At the other end, Joshua Da Silva was more circumspect and contributed 17 to a 58-run sixth-wicket partnership before he fell to Rabada.Blackwood, though, went after South Africa’s premier seamer and shanked him over his head for an imposing four. When Anrich Nortje shifted his angle to around the wicket, he ramped him over deep third for four. Jason Holder also operated at almost a run-a-ball in a 37-run seventh-wicket stand with Blackwood before Rabada had him nicking behind with a perfectly-pitched delivery. Though Rabada looked like wasn’t at his best earlier in the day, floating some balls in the lower 130-kph range, his seven-over spell post tea, in which he dismissed both Holder and Blackwood, was perhaps the most decisive passage of play.The day had started on a more promising note for West Indies. Roach struck with his first ball to cut Aiden Markram’s innings short at 47 off 58. He went wide of the crease, tricked Markram into playing for the inward angle from over the wicket but got it to straighten late off the seam and graze the outside edge. Marais Erasmus, the on-field umpire, didn’t rule Markram out initially, but he opted to walk back to the dressing room. In his next over, Roach went wide of the crease again, but this time he beat Jansen’s outside edge and hit the top of the off stump.Roach also helped snip the South African tail, but Coetzee’s spunky cameo (20 off 15 balls) pushed their lead closer to 250. Markram aside, Coetzee was the only South Africa batter to score more than 10 runs in their second innings. He then combined and Rabada, Jansen and Norje with the ball to compensate for their batting collapse and wrap the game up before drinks on the third afternoon.

“Even playing them in the nets, I can see an improvement. I think they’ll do the job”

Andrew Fidel Fernando28-Jun-2022They may not be as good as Rangana Herath, but they’re better than what they showed against Bangladesh. This was what Sri Lanka Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne had to say about his young spinners, on the eve of the first Test against Australia.In their most recent Test series, against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka’s spinners claimed a paltry three wickets between them. This was across the 196 overs they had delivered in two Tests.Related

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Despite this, Karunaratne suggested Sri Lanka are likely to field three frontline spinners in their XI, in addition to having the offspin of batter Dhananjaya de Silva on hand, for the first Test. Galle’s pitch is expected to turn more than the tracks in Chattogram and Dhaka. And the likes of left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya, and offspinner Ramesh Mendis did find success on the surface last year, in the series against England and West Indies respectively.”Our spinners didn’t bowl that well in Bangladesh, but we looked ahead and looked at which series were coming up and prepared for them,” Karunaratne said. “Piyal Wijetunge, our spin-bowling coach, has been working hard with the spinners. Even playing them in the nets, I can see an improvement. I think they’ll do the job we’ll need them to do in the match.Sri Lanka’s success on Australia’s previous trip to the island had been driven by the prowess of Herath, who took 28 wickets at an average of 12.75 in a 3-0 whitewash. Australia had at times been woeful against spin in that series, but Karunaratne expects them to be much improved this time. Australia’s most recent taste of subcontinent conditions had been a three-match tour of Pakistan, which they won 1-0, albeit on flatter tracks than those expected in Galle.Sri Lanka’s young spinners will need to find ways to replicate Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera’s success in their absence•AFP/Getty Images

“Australia have improved a lot. They showed that in the series against Pakistan. In 2016 we had Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera. We had experienced spinners. We’ve now got three pretty new spinners in the team. But we know what this pitch will do and how we need to bowl on it. If we do those basics well, we’ll be able to win. There are things we learned in the last series, and a lot of the same players are playing this one as well. I think some of those plans will work out here.”What Rangana did in that series is keep bowling in good areas and make trouble for the batters. If our spinners do that, we’ll be able to ask a lot of questions.”The series won’t be all about spin, however. Reverse-swing frequently plays a role in Galle Tests, and Mitchell Starc had weaponised it to outstanding effect in 2016, when he claimed 11 for 94. With Pat Cummins who is also an excellent reverse-swing operator, Sri Lanka’s batters have a substantial challenge ahead of them, particularly as the Test wears on and the square gets drier.”With the breeze here, reverse is definitely going to be a factor. Mitchell Starc in the previous series took a lot of wickets. We prepared well in the nets. We know we have to play spin well, but then there’s Starc and Pat Cummins as well.”Starc has done really well in these conditions and he knows how to use the crease as well. We have a few plans against him. Most of our players have played against him, so they have the confidence and the experience to play him.”

Mac Wright was left unbeaten on 78 when Tasmania’s tail fell swiftly in the final session

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2022New South Wales 276 (Kerr 88) and 9 for 226 dec (J Sangha 75, Gilkes 64) beat Tasmania 213 (Wright 57, Doran 54, Tremain 5-48) and 214 (Wright 78*, Copeland 4-46) by 75 runsTrent Copeland and Jack Edwards were the key wicket-takers for New South Wales as they made it back-to-back Sheffield Shield wins with a hard-fought 74-run victory over Tasmania.Mac Wright played excellently for an unbeaten 78, to follow a half-century in the first innings, and Tasmania were still in with a chance of chasing down 290 in the final session before the last four wickets fell for 14 to a combination of Copeland and Chris Tremain.Copeland had earlier claimed his 400th first-class wicket when he produced a beauty which nipped back to bowl Beau Webster.Tasmania’s top order had made the home side work hard to add to the wicket they claimed on the third evening. Legspinner Tanveer Sangha provided the first breakthrough when he produced a good delivery to defeat Tim Ward then shortly before lunch Harry Conway found Eamonn Vines’ outside edge from around the wicket to end a 112-ball stay.Edwards’ part-time medium pace made an important impact during the afternoon when he lured Jake Doran into a drive which found point and he added a second early in the final session with a superb delivery to clean up Nivethan Radhakrishnan.At six down with and 127 still needed Tasmania might have considered trying to hang on but Tom Andrews played aggressively to move along at a run-a-ball as he and Wright added 37 in seven overs to bring the requirement down to double figures.But Andrews picked out mid-on against Copeland and the lower order went quickly. Jackson Bird was bowled by a delivery that kept low, Sam Rainbird’s off stump was nicked by Copeland and captain Kurtis Patterson held a good catch at mid-off from Peter Siddle to wrap up the match