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There will be interesting individual battles within the main battle as both India and Sri Lanka do their homework and try to home in on perceived weaknesses. Here are a few head-to-head contests:Agarkar v JayasuriyaSanath Jayasuriya has tormented bowlers of all kinds for so long now thathe’s always a vital member of the Sri Lankan batting line-up when theteamsheet is finalised. Any team coming up against Sri Lanka will plan to neutralise Jayasuriya’s threat, and India could well turn to AjitAgarkar to do the job. Agarkar, who predominantly bowls outswing toright-handed batsmen, will get the ball to shape back in to theleft-handed Jayasuriya consistently and, if he can hit the right lengths,will be a genuine threat. In the recently concluded series against WestIndies Agarkar repeatedly picked up Chris Gayle, both lbw and bowled, with the ball that came in.Kumble v DilshanSri Lanka’s firepower may be stacked up at the top, but in TillakaratneDilshan they have a batsman capable of explosive innings coming down theorder. With several captains saying that the middle-overs of the inningscould be crucial to the fortunes of teams in the World Cup, Sri Lanka willbe watching carefully how, and how often, Dilshan can come off. The factthat he plays unorthodox strokes, hitting the ball from the stumps on bothsides of the wicket, means that the manner in which he handles Anil Kumblecould be critical. Given Kumble’s metronomic efficiency, if Dilshan misseshe will be out.Malinga v UthappaVirender Sehwag’s run of poor form may have affected him deeply but theIndian team has managed quite alright in his absence, thanks mainly to themarauding Robin Uthappa at the top of the order. While it isearly days in his international career, Uthappa has shown he has theeye and the fast hands, backed by raw power, to hit cleanly through theline in the early part of the innings when the field restrictions are on.Whether he can do the same when the ball is moving around a bit remains tobe seen but he will now be tested against raw pace. Lasith Malingahas blasted out batsmen from the top order with regularity and he will belooking to get Uthappa out of the way in a hurry, for this is one batsmanwho does not believe in simply occupying the crease.

Maharoof v SehwagFarveez Maharoof was one of the surprise packages for Sri Lanka in theChampions Trophy when he recorded a seven-for against West Indies inMumbai. He has the ability to dart the ball laterally off the surface -especially if the ball grips a bit – which allows him to trouble batsmeneven when the ball is not moving in the air. Virender Sehwag, who islikely to bat in the middle-order, will have to contend with Maharoof. Given Sehwag’s tendency to sometimes play without moving his feet much, the manner in which he counters balls that move off the pitch could well determine how successful he is.Sangakkara v DhoniOnly once in the history of international cricket have wicketkeepers fromeither side scored a century in the same match. That happened at Jaipur,where Mahendra Singh Dhoni played one of the most astonishing knocks ofrecent times, scoring 183. Sangakkara, by no means an inferior batsman but not quite in the same league when it comes to thrashing the ball, hadearlier done his bit, scoring an unbeaten 138 to set up the match. ForIndia, just like Sri Lanka, the runs the wicketkeeper makes is crucial tothe balance of the team. Which of them is the more consistent could have a big say in the outcome of the series.

Fast bowler Mitchell Johnson is going to skip the upcoming season of the Big Bash League to rest his body and spend time with his family. Johnson’s retirement from international cricket last month had raised his prospects of playing the BBL for the very first time for his home club and defending champions Perth Scorchers.”[It] is a real shame because I think everyone in Australia was hoping he’d play,” Scorchers coach Justin Langer told radio station on Thursday. “And I really respect where he’s at. He retired for a reason and he won’t be playing.”Since the BBL was going to run parallel to the Australian international home schedule, the Scorchers were hoping to get Johnson on board in the absence of Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh and Shaun Marsh and Nathan Coulter-Nile who are part of the Test squad to play West Indies. Johnson’s management, however, said he would explore the option of playing the BBL next summer.Head of the BBL Anthony Everard was confident that despite the absence of a few international names, the quality of the fifth season of the BBL would surpass that of the previous four seasons.”We would have been delighted to have a player of Mitch’s quality involved,” Everard told . “We’re disappointed that he won’t be involved this year, however the quality of players we have this season is the best we’ve ever had, both in terms of domestic players and overseas players. To have guys like Brad Haddin and Shane Watson playing for the first time in a meaningful way is fantastic. And then there’s the internationals, the likes of [Kevin] Pietersen, [Chris] Gayle, [Kumar] Sangakkara, [Jacques] Kallis – I could go on. The quality is the best we’ve had in four seasons so there’s still a lot of look forward to for fans.”The Scorchers have played all four finals of the BBL so far and won the last two tournaments. Their squad will be strengthened by England allrounder David Willey, who impressed in his first international season as a limited-overs player and will miss the ongoing England Lions tour of the UAE.”You can just start to feel it heating up,” Langer said. “We’ve got a good crew of players. Again, the expectations are very high, and that’s good. A lot will depend on who’s playing for Australia and if we can get our best guys on the park.”The Scorchers open their season on December 21 against the Adelaide Strikers at home.

Duncan Fletcher has told the BBC that he has no regrets about the revelations regarding Andrew Flintoff’s drinking in his autobiography which was published yesterday.Fletcher has come under considerable fire for his reveal-all book, especially in his criticism of Flintoff’s behaviour in Australia last winter. “I have concerns about the level of debate that’s been reached,” he told the BBC’s Inside Sport. “I wanted to be loyal to him [Flintoff] but loyalty should be two-way traffic.”The secret was not revealed by me, the secret was revealed by Flintoff following the [pedalo] incident in the West Indies. From my point of view, I was really upset at the time. At that time his actions could have led to me losing my job. That’s quite important; the pressures that I was under because of areas he was in control of.”I wanted to be loyal to him but loyalty should be two-way traffic. I felt let down by the pedalo affair, I just think that I linked it directly to what happened in Sydney. If the pedalo affair hadn’t taken place there’s a very good chance we would have carried on managing Andrew.”Fletcher insisted that he didn’t regret making Flintoff captain, and said he may well lead his country again. “I see no reason [why not],” he said. “If that foot lets him bowl as well as he can there’s no reason he shouldn’t captain down the line.”Fletcher was also asked about perceptions that he was too reluctant to include players such as Monty Panesar and Chris Read. “People have interpreted a personal thing,” he said. “All I am trying to do is be very specific. I’ve always felt a finger spinner should be able to bat and field and I would rather pick a batter-wicketkeeper than a keeper-batter and he must be the pulse of the side.”Fletcher said he remained hopeful of another international coaching job after seven years “of real enjoyment” while in charge of England.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

The second one-dayer in Napier turned out to be hopelessly one-sided as New Zealand’s batsmen made best use of a placid surface to help register a 102-run win to take the series 2-0.Jamie How, Peter Fulton and Jacob Oram scored half-centuries to power New Zealand to 335 for 5 and Bangladesh’s chase hit a dead end as soon as Kyle Mills struck with three quick wickets in the early stages. Bangladesh were already out of the match when rain stopped play after 43 overs.Captain Daniel Vettori took the opportunity to give his batsmen a shot at notching up some runs and confidence and they obliged. How took the aggressive route with a 77-ball 74 at the top while Fulton’s innings was more workmanlike, running the singles and keeping the fielders on their toes in the middle overs. Oram then clubbed four sixes in his 31-ball 55 and led his side’s late charge towards a total that proved way out of reach for the opposition.Fulton and the middle order thrived on another productive opening stand between How and Brendon McCullum, who added 82 at more than a run a ball with a mixture of flamboyant strokeplay and electrifying running. McCullum stood a foot outside the crease to pick the ball on the full. While he regularly charged down the track and shuffled across the stumps, How preferred to stay put at the crease and respect the coaching manual, still ensuring that the poor deliveries were rightfully dispatched.Bangladesh, however, were at the receiving end of a poor decision when a genuine outside edge off How’s blade convinced everybody except the umpire Peter Parker. To add further insult to injury, How bludgeoned the next ball through the covers and hung around to add another half-century stand, this time with Fulton. He brought up his fifty with an off drive off Farhad Reza, but his pursuit of the elusive three-figure mark ended when he was trapped in front of the stumps by Abdur Razzak.Fulton, who came in during the third Powerplay, made good use of the restrictions by fetching four boundaries. With the slower bowlers operating from both ends, Fulton and Scott Styris settled down by rotating the strike. Fulton was constantly on the lookout for singles and his efficient half-century was characterised by firm punches past cover, flicks to midwicket and cheeky paddle sweeps. The fact that there were no boundaries between the 26th and the 38th overs almost went unnoticed because the scoreboard kept ticking away.Styris fell seven short of his fifty after succumbing to a slower ball from Reza, scooping to short third-man. Ross Taylor too enjoyed a good hit in the middle, clubbing Razzak for consecutive boundaries over midwicket before getting down on his knees and slogging Mortaza high over long-on. Towards the end, not a single bowler was spared and the one to suffer the most was Razzak, who conceded 75 off his ten overs, a rare bad day for a bowler known for economical spells.Reza was at the mercy of Oram’s blade as he conceded two huge sixes in his ninth over, the first over midwicket and the second over long-on. Oram found time to deposit two more over the same region, as if teeing off like a golfer.Bangladesh’s only noteworthy passage of play with the bat came at the start as Tamim Iqbal and Junaid Siddique added 63 at just over five an over. A boundary past the covers got the chase off to an emphatic start and the pair showed good application in getting behind the line and driving on the up past the infield on the off side. Tamim was the more dominant partner, picking Mark Gillespie for a six over backward square-leg and following it up with a trademark flat-batted biff past the bowler after advancing down the track.

With very little in the pitch to assist the bowlers, only a momentary lapse in concentration could have yielded a wicket and Siddique succumbed, falling to a miscued pull. Mills, who came back well after the early pasting, plucked out Tamim in the same over, inducing an edge outside the off stump. Ashraful fell in controversial circumstances, standing his ground after Ross Taylor claimed a low catch at cover but the umpires upheld the appeal.Following his dismissal, Aftab Ahmed and Tushar Imran went on the defensive, struggling to find the boundaries as New Zealand tightened the noose. Aftab, obviously bogged down by the situation, waited for the third Powerplay in the 35th over to free his arms but it was a little too late. A flurry of boundaries, including a cheeky scoop over fine-leg for six, hastened his progress to a half-century.Mills returned to dismiss Shakib Al Hasan, caught hooking to fine leg, and finished with commendable figures of 4 for 40. Aftab continued to assert himself but didn’t last too long after his fifty, holing out to a diving Oram at deep square-leg. The rain only cut short the inevitable.

Since Shane Warne’s retirement, Australia’s potential international spinners have suffered more rigorous media analysis than many of the nation’s top politicians. The experts typically vote for Stuart MacGill and Bryce McGain as the leading candidates, with Dan Cullen the next preference, while Cullen Bailey and Nathan Hauritz attract minority support. Beau Casson has not even been on the ballot, but the time has come to inspect his credentials.It was easy to ignore Casson last season, when he collected seven Pura Cup wickets from seven games at an unflattering average of 72. It has not been as simple to discount the left-arm wrist-spinner this summer. Among slow bowlers only McGain has more Pura Cup victims in 2007-08 than Casson’s 25 at 35.72. He has been an under-rated part of the New South Wales machine and grabbed four wickets and made 99 in their most recent win that secured them a home final.Casson’s success has justified not only his switch from Western Australia after 2005-06, but also the faith of the New South Wales selectors. They stuck with him after he struggled through his first year in Sydney, sitting behind MacGill in the state’s slow-bowling ranks and carrying a shoulder injury that required a reconstruction when the season was over.”Coming to a new place probably took me a bit of time to settle in,” Casson said. “I had some injury problems and then I hurt my shoulder and that was about the end of my season, which was not an ideal start. I would have liked to have more of an impression last year but now hopefully I’ll be able to bowl these leggies for a while.”New South Wales certainly hope so. The SCG has taken plenty of turn lately and with MacGill likely to spend more time in the national set-up, the Blues need somebody to exploit the conditions. That was Casson’s theory when he left a Warriors group that also featured Brad Hogg and Aaron Heal, and despite last summer’s disappointing results he was always certain it was the right move.”I’ve never had a second thought about it,” Casson said. “It was always a long-term thing for me. It’s a fantastic place to play cricket and if you’re a spinner it’s the place you want to be. Coming from Perth I’ve found every wicket on the SCG pretty exciting.”There’s been probably a touch more grass because we’ve had a fair bit of rain this year in our summer. It’s been great, I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s certainly an art to be able to come over and bowl legspin when it’s a bit slow. It’s certainly a learning experience.”To get the most out of his SCG lessons, Casson, 25, has needed a high-quality teacher and the former New South Wales chinaman bowler David Freedman has stepped in as his mentor. Casson must also thank MacGill, who is not only a useful sounding board, but created greater opportunities by opting for wrist surgery that kept him out of the state side for three months.Fortunately for Casson, he is likely to keep his spot for the Pura Cup final against Victoria starting in Sydney on Saturday even though MacGill is back in action. The Australian fast bowlers Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Nathan Bracken have returned but the Blues should have room for two spinners, especially as Casson is also a useful batsman and has 379 runs at 63.16 this season.His all-round efforts might not be enough for the selectors to vote him into the national team, but he deserves to be part of the debate. For now, Casson is simply pleased to have finally found his niche as a first-class cricketer after six years in the system. “Everyone has aspirations of playing for their country and I’m no different,” Casson said. “But I just want to improve as a cricketer and every day if I can be better I’ll be happy.”

India Cements posted their second successive victory in the Moin-ud-Dowla Cup, beating Indian Airlines by 15 runs at the Gymkhana groundin Hyderabad today. A solid 67 by Tamil Nadu Ranji star S Sharathbolstered Cements to 214/8 in 50 overs. New ball bowler MR Shrinivasthen scalped 4/33 to send Airlines crumbling to 195 all out with fiveovers to spare, a gallant 87 (98 balls, 9 fours, 1 six) by HyderabadRanji player Youraj Singh going in vain.In the morning, Cements weathered a strong Airlines attack comprisingJavagal Srinath, Dodda Ganesh, Nikhil Chopra and Sarandeep Singh.Ganesh (3/43) took out the top three to leave Cements on the backfootat 45/3. Sharath was then associated in three useful stands withGeorge John, Sunil Oasis and J Gokulakrishnan. When he fell for 67(106 balls, 1 four, 1 six) in the 44th over, he had conferred a toneof respectability to the innings and the tail helped inch the score to214 before the overs ran out.Airlines had a horror start losing J Arun Kumar, skipper Vijay Dahiyaand star batsman VVS Laxman in the first nine balls of the inningswith just two runs on the board. Opening bowlers Shrinivas nadGokulakrishnan had done the damage and that Airlines finally reached195 was due entirely to the efforts of Youraj Singh.Although he lost Omkar Singh at 41, Saif Khan (39) gave him companyfor more than 17 overs as they added 94 for the fifth wicket in astirring fightback. After Khan departed at 135, next man Chopra alsodid his bit with 24. Srinath was run out at 170 and Sarandeep waseighth out at 187 in the 43rd over. One run later Youraj was dismissedby Jesu Babu and that spelt an end to Airlines’ resistance as theyfolded up for 195.

Pakistan, brimming with confidence after their five-wicket win, take on Sri Lanka in the second one-dayer at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Sunday aiming to seal the series and crown Shoaib Malik’s debut as captain in style. Sri Lanka, without three senior players, will approach the game aiming to square the series and give their outgoing coach Tom Moody something to smile about.The first match turned on Shahid Afridi’s blitzkrieg 73 off just 34 balls after seeming to head Sri Lanka’s way. Reflecting on the victory, Malik emphasised just how important it was in terms of their calamitous World Cup.”After the World Cup debacle this is the start we wanted,” Malik was quoted as saying in . “It is not easy to beat a tough opponent like Sri Lanka. Pakistan have never been short of talent but to channelise that energy is not an easy task.”Pakistan chose not to go in with fresh faces and instead placed their faith in recalled players like Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed. After a breezy opening stand, Sri Lanka were in with a sniff as the innings slumped for a period after three run-outs. Kamran Akmal, who helped himself to a run-a-ball 51, supported Afridi as the pair took Pakistan home with eight overs to spare.Malik, who made 11, defended his team’s strategy in the chase and wasn’t overly concerned in the middle stages.”We played according to the plans and kept the run rate in our minds,” he added. “My innings was not slow because on the one end Imran Nazir, Kamran Akmal and Shahid Afridi were playing aggressively and we were playing according to the plans. We want to play sensible, attacking cricket.”Sri Lanka meanwhile will pin their hopes on the top order to convert their starts and make amends for their collective failure on Friday. Their spinners too struggled to negate Afridi’s onslaught, with legspinner Malinga Bandara nearly conceding seven runs an over.

The BCCI Working Committee has not discussed Dilip Vengsarkar’s request for compensation after being barred from writing his column as per the seven-point diktat sent to all selectors recently.”The BCCI officials had laid down the guidelines. The board felt if there are any issues, the office-bearers should deal with it,” N Srinivasan, the BCCI treasurer, said. “No decision was taken about any compensation. At present the guidelines stand.”Vengsarkar, the chairman of the national selection committee, had claimed a loss of earning of approximately Rs 40 lakh annually, and demanded to be compensated.The Working Committee, which met in Mumbai on Sunday, also ratified the appointments of Gary Kirsten as national coach and Dav Whatmore as the director of operations at the National Cricket Academy. However, Whatmore will be a consultant for the moment and will only take over as director of the National Cricket Academy, based in Bangalore, in early 2008.One of Whatmore’s first assignments as consultant will be to coach the Indian under-19 team in the forthcoming junior World Cup. After that WV Raman, the former Indian Test opener, will take over as coach of the under-19 team for the series against the South Africa under-19s, starting on December 28.In another significant development, the Working Committee decided to increase the infrastructure subvention handed out annually to individual states from Rs 25 crore to Rs 50 crore. This decision was taken keeping in mind the fact that several state associations do not own the stadia in which they play cricket and will be encouraged to buy land and build their own infrastructure.Meanwhile, the Working Committee replaced Delhi’s Abhinav Bali with Bengal’s Manoj Tiwary as the recipient of the MA Chidambaram Trophy – given to the best under-22 cricketer in the 2006-07 season – along with a cash prize of Rs 50,000. The BCCI had initially named Bali in its list of awardees for its annual awards, though he had signed with the Indian Cricket League, an unofficial tournament not recognised by the board.

England may have drawn the final Test against Sri Lanka in Galle, but the 1-0 series loss meant they slipped from second to fifth in the LG ICC Test Championship table.Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have jumped up two places from fifth to third; had they won in Galle, they would have replaced England in second position.”Those stats don’t lie,” admitted Michael Vaughan, England’s captain. “We got to No. 2 in the world because we beat most teams in the world. “We’re No. 5 in the world because we lost to Australia and we’ve only got 20 wickets once in our last 14 Tests away from home.”England’s slip results in South Africa becoming the No. 2 team in the rankings for both Tests and ODIs, behind Australia. With upcoming series between South Africa and West Indies and Australia and India beginning on Boxing Day, the rankings could well change before the year ends.There is stiff competition among the teams placed second to fifth, with South Africa, Sri Lanka and fourth-placed India all on 109, only separated by fractions of a ratings point, while England are close on their heels at 107.However, top-ranked Australia remain the runaway leaders, and even a 4-0 loss to India at home won’t see them lose the No. 1 spot.In the players rankings, Kumar Sangakkara, who had displaced Ricky Ponting at the top of the list for Test batsmen after the first Test in Kandy, has fallen to third place. Ponting regains first place, but will have to battle with No. 2 Jacques Kallis to retain the position, with both players involved in series that begin on Boxing Day.Mahela Jayawardene, who won the series prize for his 474 runs against England, is now up to sixth place, ahead of Kevin Pietersen, who has slipped to seventh.Among the bowlers, Muttiah Muralitharan continues his reign at the top, while Matthew Hoggard drops three places to ninth.

LG ICC Test Championship

LG ICC Player Rankings

Glenn McGrath finished playing for Australia a year ago but he remains in the mind of Stuart Clark, who has looked at vision of his former team-mate to prepare for the West Indies series. Clark operates in a similar way to McGrath and he believes his predecessor “found the key” to success in the Caribbean.In ten Tests in the West Indies McGrath captured 50 wickets at 20.70 and he finished his career by winning the Player of the Tournament award at the World Cup. His 26 victims in 11 games were crucial to Australia claiming the trophy for the third consecutive time.”He obviously found the key over here,” Clark, who is preparing for his 16th Test, told AAP. “From the footage and the vision we have looked at, he was successful by keeping it pretty simple and being consistent and patient on these wickets.”Clark also plans to tie down the West Indian batsmen, who are led by Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and expects them to be a tough proposition at home. “They like to score runs quickly,” he said. “So I suppose I have to try and go against that and try to keep it nice and calm and force them to make the errors.”Australia’s only warm-up for next Thursday’s first Test starts on Friday against a Jamaica XI and Clark will be one of a number of players looking to adjust to the conditions. Balls leapt at the batsmen during a net session at Sabina Park on Wednesday, including one from Brett Lee to Ricky Ponting, who was struck on the glove.Ponting was unhurt, but the Australians will be happy to return to the safer conditions in the middle. Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, is with the tour party and will decide whether Simon Katich and Ashley Noffke get a chance to impress in the practice game as the team management considers its options in case Michael Clarke, who stayed at home due to a family death, doesn’t arrive in time for the first Test.