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The morale of neither England nor India could have been particularlyhigh on the eve of the 1996 three-match Test series. While India’shome record was awesome, their record abroad was nothing to boastabout. England too, with a series of setbacks both at home andabroadm, could not have been very confident. Predictably enough, then,the series was marked by much mediocre cricket with just a fewhighlights.

The most dramatic event of the tour took place off the field. In asensational development, veteran opening batsman Navjot Singh Sidhujust packed his bags and left for home, saying that he had been”ceaselessly humiliated.” This was after he had been dropped for thethird and final one-day international. Sidhu had also played in twofirst-class matches. It was reported that he had serious differenceswith skipper Mohammad Azharuddin.Opinion on this incident was sharply divided. Given Sidhu’s soft andstudious nature, it was believed that he would not have taken theextreme step unless he had a very valid reason. The other school ofthought was that whatever the provocation, Sidhu should have stayedbehind, for after all he was representing the country and should nothave allowed personal misunderstandings to cloud his decision.The sudden departure of Sidhuthe most senior member of the touringparty, having made his Test debut in 1983 – put a big question markover the vital opening slot. In his absence, various pairs – VikramRathour and Ajay Jadeja in the first Test, Rathour and Nayan Mongia inthe second, and Mongia and Sanjay Manjrekar for the third – were triedout, but none came good. Under the circumstances, the Indian battingwas always under pressure, and full credit must be given to SachinTendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid for rising to the occasionin the second and third Tests after the first at Birmingham had beenlost by eight wickets.Ganguly’s batting in fact was the major highlight of the series. Therewas an outburst of criticism over his selection, but taking this inhis stride, the stylish left-hander from Bengal let his bat do thetalking. He made his debut in the second Test at Lord’s in storybookfashion, becoming the first Indian to hit a century in his first Testat cricket’s historic headquarters. Overall, he was the 10th Indian toperform the feat.Going in at number three, Ganguly faced 301 balls for his 131, hitting20 fours. For good measure, he got 136 in the next Test at Nottingham,figuring in a record third-wicket partnership of 255 with Tendulkar(177). This time Ganguly showed his penchant for big hitting, cloutingtwo sixes and 17 fours. He also became only the third batsman to hitcenturies in his first two Test innings, after Lawrence Rowe and AlvinKallicharran. By the end of the series, the man whose selection hadprompted howls of protest headed both the Test and tour averages. Inthe Tests he finished with 315 runs at an average of 105.00, while inthe first-class matches, he amassed 762 runs at an average of 95.25.As if all this were not enough, he also headed the bowling averageswith six wickets at 20.83 apiece. The legend of the Prince of Calcuttawas born.Dravid was not far behind. By contrast, his selection had been widelywelcomed. He started off with 95 on his Test debut at Lord’s andfollowed it up with 84 at Nottingham, and it was obvious that Indiahad discovered two young batsmen who were, in racing parlance, stayersrather than sprinters. Events over the last six years have only servedto confirm this view. Dravid finished third in the Test averages with187 runs at 62.33, while in first-class games, he aggregated 553 runsat an average of 50.27.Tendulkar lived up to his reputation. He made a masterly 122 in alosing cause at Birmingham. This was one of the finest knocks of hiscareer, for he struck 19 fours and a six over 177 balls, while noother batsman even got to 20; Manjrekar’s 18 was the next-best score.Coming in at 17 for two after India faced a first-innings deficit of99, Tendulkar was ninth out at 208.The effort was in vain as England went on register the only victory ofthe series. He followed this up with his second century of the seriesat Nottingham. Tendulkar, who was named among Wisden’s cricketers ofthe year, scored 428 runs in the series at an average of 85.60 tofinish second to Ganguly in the averages. He was second to Ganguly inthe tour figures too (707 runs at 64.27).The batting of Ganguly, Dravid and Tendulkar helped cover up thewretched form of Azharuddin, who scored just 42 runs in five inningsat an average of 8.40. Little went right for him as far as batting andleadership were concerned, and at the end of the tour, Tendulkarreplaced him as captain. Manjrekar too failed, getting just 105 runsat 26.25, although he did fairly well in the first-class games scoring540 runs at an average of 41.53. Rathour was another batsman whoscored heavily on the tour (805 runs at 47.35), but he came a cropperin the Tests, being reduced to 46 runs at 11.50.Like the batting, the bowling too presented problems. Too muchdepended on opening bowlers Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad, andto their credit both shouldered the heavy responsibilities admirably.Srinath took 11 wickets at an average of 39.36, while Prasad, who madehis Test debut at Birmingham, was the bowler of the series, taking 15wickets at only 25 apiece. He also headed the tour figures with 25wickets at 29.36 each.India’s leading spin bowler Anil Kumble was a sore disappointment, hisfive wickets costing him 66.80 apiece – the first indication thatKumble overseas was not the master bowler he was at home. On the tourhe did little better, as his figures of 13 wickets at 56.84 willreadily testify. The support from Paras Mambhrey, Venkatapathy Raju,Narendra Hirwani and Sunil Joshi was painfully inadequate.England for their part were quite happy at emerging narrow victors inthe series. Batting was their forte, as exemplified by totals of 313,344 and 564 in successive Tests. Nasser Hussain got two hundreds,skipper Michael Atherton and wicket-keeper Jack Russell hit one each,while Graham Thorpe was a picture of consistency. Seam bowling wastheir trump card, and Chris Lewis (15 wickets at 23.73), Alan Mullally(12 at 24.83) and Dominic Cork (10 at 36.90) did their job inexemplary fashion. England also won the three-match one-day series2-0. Even in the tour results, the Indians did not have a record towrite home about. Out of 11 first-class games, the tourists lost twoand drew nine.

The West Indies have learnt by recent bitter experience not to counttheir chickens before they hatch.The way things have been these past few years, they have to be out oftheir shells and chirping loudly before any celebrations can begin.Yet, the fifth and final Test has incubated nicely over the first fourdays and their first victory since last June 13 matches ago is readyfor hatching.All that is needed now to finish it off is the discipline and patiencethat have got the situation to its promising stage.Throughout the West Indies have shown the resilience that has been somarkedly absent from their cricket for so many years and have beenunquestionably the better team.The upshot has been their strongest position since they blew a firstinnings lead of 143 over England at Lord’s with an all-out 54 in theirsecond innings ten months and 14 Tests ago.Mainly through their toughest character, Ridley Jacobs, they recoveredfrom the insecurity of 126 for five in their second innings on thefourth day to total 301.It left South Africa with a colossal task to keep their unbeatensequence of 12 Tests intact and extend their lead in the series to3-0.The challenge was 386 over the last five sessions of the match. NoSouth African team, before or since apartheid, has ever got near thatto win a Test and, even though eight of their 11 have Test hundreds totheir name, it is a distant goal.By the close of the day, extended by an hour because of three rainbreaks, the West Indies had got rid of three of them for 140,including Herschelle Gibbs and Daryll Cullinan, their two leadingscorers in the series with over 400 runs each.South Africa start the last day needing another 246 off the minimumrequirement of 90 overs and the West Indies need another sevenwickets.It is a victory that would not only be an appropriate parting gift forCourtney Walsh in his farewell Test but a stimulating result for WestIndies cricket that has suffered such pain for so long.They made the necessary inroads into the South African innings throughthe same commitment that has marked their game throughout.In a lively, accurate spell before tea, Merv Dillon removed the lefthanded Gary Kirsten, caught off the under edge as he belatedly pulledhis bat out of the path of a lifter over off-stump, delivered fromround the wicket.The West Indies were realistic enough to know not to expect anotherSouth African collapse as in their first innings 141. Gibbs, asadventurous as always, and Neil McKenzie, promoted to No. 3 for thethird time in the series, made them work for an hour and 40 minuteswhile adding 65.Finally, Gibbs’ patience was exhausted as Dinanath Ramnarine andHooper contained him after an after-tea flourish in which he punishedDillon’s looseness that brought 29 runs from four overs.Heaving an ugly sweep at Hooper, Gibbs was bowled, an embarrasing endto a fruitful series for the opener.Cullinan, South Africa’s most prolific batsman with hundreds atQueen’s Park and Kensington already in the series, replaced Gibbs.He played with few problems before Hooper recalled Walsh for a secondspell.The man of the moment had been off the field receiving attention and asoothing injection after a painful blow to the ankle while battingearlier in the day. The Sabina crowd greeted his return with theunderstandable reception and almost brought the house down when histhird ball beat Cullinan coming forward for umpire Steve Bucknor’s lbwdecision.Another three-quarters of an hour remained and McKenzie and JacquesKallis only survived it with a few alarms.Kallis edged Ramnarine a foot short of Chris Gayle at slip. McKenziejust managed to scramble back into his ground before Jacobs broke thestumps after one from Ramnarine that deflected from the pads. McKenzieagain got the benefit of Bucknor’s little doubt on an lbw claim fromWalsh.The West Indies’ position was already strong when the day started on ahumid morning with clouds hovering low over the Blue Mountains. Thelead was already 339 but captain Hooper called for another 30.He got more, even after Ramnarine was dubiously caught at first slipby Cullinan off Shaun Pollock’s third ball of the day.Tossing the ball in the air as he fell backwards and diving forward totry to gather it in again, Cullinan did not seem to have control ofthe ball but umpire Srinivas Ventararaghavan raised his finger all thesame.It made no significant difference. In between a break for one of theday’s three showers, Jacobs and Cameron Cuffy raised a further 32before Jacobs swung his hook off Lance Klusener to deep square-leg.His 85, occupying just over four hours all told, was made while 161were scored, an invaluable contribution from an invaluable player.As Walsh walked to the wicket for the last time in Test cricket, theSouth Africans formed a guard of honour as the Englishmen did at theOval last August and the Australians did at the SCG last January. Itwas another touching tribute to a greatly admired sportsman.Walsh at least avoided adding to his record 43 Test ducks before heskewed a catch to cover. Soon he was back, striving for the result heis desperate to achieve.

Another tense day saw Western Province end 57 runs behind with just eight wickets in hand.Honours were fairly even when tight bowling reduced Northerns to 166 for 7, just a single run ahead. However, the tail wagged merrily to release the stranglehold and give the visitors a lead of 109 runs.Northerns made a slow start, with both overnight batsmen dismissed without addition. Maurice Aronstam hung around longer than his partner. He spent 40 scoreless minutes before getting a faint edge against Mark de Stadler, who had earlier seen Allahudien Paleker caught in the slips. Some gritty batting followed, with the first signs of aggression coming from Friedel de Wet. He could easily have been out first ball, edging Paul Harris past gulley, but hung in, hitting merrily before ironically perishing offering no shot to Ryan ten Doeschate.Thereafter wicket-keeper Jorrie Jordaan took over, hitting ten boundaries in his innings of 56 off 89 balls. He found a particularly handy partner in Hampson, adding 73 for the eighth wicket off 112 balls after Hampson had looked decidely shaky early on. The last two wickets marshalled another 35 runs. Harris was the pick of the bowlers, taking 4 for 76 in 43 overs, conceding just nine boundaries. He bowled virtually unchanged from the Kelvin Grove end, enjoying a brief rest only when the second new ball was taken.Needing to survive 28 overs before close of play, Ryan Maron in particular found himself subjected to some hostile bowling by de Wet. It came as no surprise when he fended off another short delivery from the Northerns paceman and was caught at leg gulley. JP Duminy batted with more discretion than in his brief first innings, standing resolute for almost an hour before edging Hampson. Rashaad Magiet, scoring 31 in just less than two hours, and skipper Jonno McLean survived the last 9 overs despite several confident appeals.With two days left, the home batsmen will have to follow Magiet’s example and play with much more application than was the case in the first innings.

Match facts

October 13, 2012
Start time 1330 (1130 GMT)Paul Collingwood is one of the three experienced Scorchers batsmen•Getty Images

Big Picture

In typical self-deprecating New Zealand style, Gareth Hopkins recently referred to his Auckland Aces side as Dad’s Army. Hopkins and Aces have company now that they have qualified for Group A of the Champions League T20 proper. Two of the Group A sides, which will kick the tournament off, can lay equal claim to be old age-wise for Twenty20 cricket.Titans, who will be playing at their home ground, Centurion, are captained by the 38-year-old Martin van Jaarsveld. They have five other players on the wrong side of 30, including key imports Henry David and Alfonso Thomas. Fighting with the 23-year-old Eden Links for the final spinner’s slot is Paul Harris, who will be 34 in a month’s time.Perth Scorchers are not to be left behind either. The 33-year-old Marcus North will lead them, with Paul Collingwood, Herschelle Gibbs, Simon Katich and Brad Hogg, 35-plus all of them, providing the side enough experience. Their highest wicket-taker in last BBL, Ben Edmondson, and wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi are over 30 too.It’s an interesting start, then, to a format that is supposed to be of the young, by the young and for the young. Looking, however, at how well Aces did in the qualifying tournament, don’t consider number of years inversely proportional to the quality of cricket. Come Saturday, and these sides will certainly want to showcase the energy and enthusiasm of the group of Dad’s Armies.

Watch out for…

The Marsh brothers will be important components of Scorchers’ campaign. Mitchell Marsh was the second-highest run-getter in BBL, and scored 77 in the final although Scorchers didn’t win it. Before he left for the Tests, Shaun Marsh too made his presence felt with an unbeaten 99. Scorchers have other hitters around, but the Marshes will be the backbone of their batting order.Delhi Daredevils may have no use for him, but at his home ground the fiercely competitive Roelof van der Merwe can be a handful. He will hit, he will bowl left-arm slow with the aggression of a fast bowler, and he will be all over in the field for Titans. If he doesn’t bring energy to the kick-off, not many will.

Stats and trivia

• Among the two squads, Simon Katich, Alfonso Thomas and van der Merwe have played the most Champions League matches, 11. However, they will all be representing new teams here: Katich has moved from New South Wales to Scorchers, Thomas from Somerset to Titans, and van der Merwe has previously represented Royal Challengers Bangalore and Somerset.
• Marais Erasmus is standing in his 81st Twenty20, which makes him the third-most prolific umpire. He is also on his way to becoming the most prolific, with the two men ahead of him, Simon taufel and Billy Doctrove, not as active.
• Titans have never played Scorchers

Quotes

“I like to be very clear on what we have planned. There’s a lot of pressure on you when you are out there. Everything is happening so quickly so the more you know what your role is, the better.”
“The Big Bash is probably the best.”

Northerns made the most of winning the toss and amassed 308-3 on day one of this Supersport Series Super Eight encounter against Eastern Province at St George’s Park on Thursday.It was never spectacular, but Northerns applied themselves commendably to emerge well in control of the game.They could also have driven the final stake through the heart of any EP hopes of competing in the Supersport Series final. Already adrift in fifth place, the big win in this game already looks an impossibility.Northerns captain Martin van Jaarsveld had little hesitation in choosing to bat when he called correctly in the morning. His team may have been the visitors, but it is common knowledge in Port Elizabeth that when the wind blows out of the west, it dries the pitch out and tends to favour the batting side. And so it proved.Van Jaarsveld cashed in more than anyone, though he will be bitterly disappointed at falling in the nineties, playing down the wrong line to onethat kept a little low from Robin Peterson to bowl him.Either side of the captain’s knock, two other Northerns batsmen helped themselves to half-centuries. Opener Johan Myburgh (68) took a while to findhis feet, but played some attractive strokes as his confidence and timingarrived. Rudy Steyn will resume tomorrow unbeaten on 57 alongside Dirkie deVos (40 not out).Not even the return of Meyrick Pringle could stem the tide of Northerns runs. Pringle moved the ball around appreciably but seemed fated not to find the edge – in fact, the fielders were blameless as wicket-keeper Wayne Murray took the only chance offered all day.

Match facts

September 22, 2012
Start time 1530 local (1000 GMT)Morne Morkel and the South African attack will be hoping conditions remain favourable for bowling•AFP

Big Picture

Both sides have got their bullying out of the way, having beaten Zimbabwe by 82 runs and 10 wickets respectively, and Sri Lanka and South Africa are now ready to do business. That may sound odd considering that both having both already qualified for the Super Eights but neither have been challenged properly yet and will want to test themselves before a tough next round.Sri Lanka will be happy with the form of one of their most important bowlers, Ajantha Mendis. His 6 for 8 are figures unlikely to be repeated but Mendis showed he is back in a big way. He deceived the Zimbabwe batsmen with an assortment of carom balls and googlies and while the South African line-up may not be so easily hoodwinked, some of them are known to have a weakness against spin.South Africa’s middle order remains untested after only Richard Levi and Hashim Amla batted against Zimbabwe and they are yet to face any pressure, a catalyst for some of their worst major tournament showing. Sri Lanka will look to target that area of the opposition’s game because every other part of it seems solid.South Africa’s seamers were effective on the Hambantota pitch and even though their spinners were not called into action too much, they have enough options available to them to be able to afford one bowler having a bad day. The hosts have similar variation in their ranks, with enough allrounders to have all bases covered and with the advantage of their middle order having had a decent run.By all accounts the match-ups between the teams pre-empts a much closer contest than the group has seen so far. Even though it will not be decisive in terms of who the team play in the next round it will be important in determining who has more might for the big duels ahead.

Form guide

South Africa WLWWW (completed matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka WLLWL

Watch out for

After captaining Sri Lanka to series defeats in South Africa last summer, Tillakaratne Dilshan may be pleased to see them on his home turf. Relieved of the armband and with a new opening partner, Dilshan seems to be enjoying his freedom and looked ominous against Zimbabwe. He had the full range on display, including the “Dilscoop” and will want to show South Africa some of what he is capable of but did not manage to do earlier in the year.Dale Steyn started the tournament with a delivery that measured 140 kph on the speed gun and does not show any sign of slowing down. Although Steyn called the Hambantota conditions “slippery” he acknowledged that it made a welcome change to play on a subcontinental pitch that has something in it for the seamers and will want to exploit that while it lasts.

Team news

Sri Lanka have an injury worry with their strike spinner, Ajantha Mendis, picking up a side strain after the Zimbabwe game. His fitness will be assessed on the day of the game. If he sits out, the offspinner Akila Dananjaya could be in line for his international debut.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Dilshan Munaweera, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Lahiru Thirimanne, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Shaminda Eranga, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Ajantha Mendis/Akila DananjayaSouth Africa will also not have many reasons to change a winning XI, unless the stomach bug returns. After giving Zimbabwe a work over in their opening match, South Africa’s bowling attack would seem to need no tinkering. Their middle order remains untested and either Faf du Plessis or Justin Ontong could be brought in but they may want to give the current XI a run against tougher opposition.South Africa (probable): 1 Richard Levi, 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt & wk), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Farhaan Behardien, 7 Albie Morkel 8 Johan Botha 9 Robin Peterson 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Dale Steyn

Pitch and conditions

Both batsmen and bowlers have described the Hambantota surface as difficult to get in on but have admitted that there remains something in it for the quicks. Another hot, humid day awaits with temperatures around 28 degrees Celsius and a bit of rain about for the afternoon and evening so the bounce and carry seen so far will likely stay around on the same pitch used for the first match – one that took much more turn than the one used last evening.

Stats and trivia

• Ajantha Mendis’ six wickets against Zimbabwe on Tuesday saw him leapfrog Lasith Malinga as the highest wicket-taker for Sri Lanka in T20s. Mendis’ 46 wickets have come at an average of 9.84.
• South Africa have the best win-loss record of all teams in T20s. They have played 48 matches, won 31 and lost 16.
• Mahela Jayawardene needs six more for 1000 runs in T20 internationals.
  

  Quotes

  “South Africa are a good unit, but probably their lower middle order a little inexperienced. What we need to do is focus on our strengths. If we play to our strengths we’re going to give them a very good game rather than falling into their trap.””I don’t think there will be any drop in intensity for the Sri Lanka game. We’re in the beginning stages of a very, very big event, a tournament that we really want to win. You have to play well in every game and improve in every game.”

Match facts

Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Start time 0930 local (0730 GMT)Brendan Taylor has to rouse his side somehow•AFP

Big Picture

What must a young, upcoming cricketer in Zimbabwe feel right now? He would be told he has to follow in the footsteps of the Flowers and the Streaks. What he sees are the Ervines and the Ballances, who choose to play cricket in another country. He would be told he has to derive inspiration from the exploits of the Zimbabwe side of the 90s. What he sees is a national team struggling to come up with even a single performance that would inspire him. He wants to believe his life can be all about cricket, only cricket. All around him, there are signs that show such a belief is just not sustainable in practice, at least in Zimbabwe.He hears seniors talk about how difficult it is to provide for their families, he sees the national side threaten to stop playing till they are promised better wages. Two days after the board promises, he sees one of his heroes, fast bowler Kyle Jarvis, all of 24, quit international cricket so that he can play the game for counties and franchises and make some money while his body lasts. He spots a chilling sentence in Jarvis’ media statement that thoroughly shakes him up, beliefs and all. “I informed my team-mates yesterday that I would be leaving and they were supportive and fully understood why I was doing this.” Half-prepared to give up the game, he looks around for some hope, some sign that everything is not lost for Zimbabwe cricket, where those who choose to stay on support those who choose to leave.And then Brendan Taylor and his men go down without a fight to Pakistan in the format in which they were supposed to have the best chance of causing an upset. Zimbabwe lost both Twenty20 internationals by considerable margins, their batsmen falling to the Pakistan spinners, who took a combined 4 for 67 and 5 for 75 in the two matches. If they couldn’t compete with Pakistan for 40 overs, what chance do they stand over 100 overs?If they couldn’t stop Jarvis from leaving, what chance do they have of preventing others who give up on the country in the future? If this continues to happen, what chance more and more young, upcoming players won’t quit either Zimbabwe or cricket much earlier than Jarvis did?No money from the board, no fight from the players, no inspiration for the followers. Money won’t come around for a while, but that should not stop Taylor and his men from putting up a fight. Especially in these dark times, that is the bare minimum the followers of Zimbabwe cricket deserve. We can all do with some inspiration.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan WWTLW
Zimbabwe LLLLL

Players to watch

As if all the responsibility of being Zimbabwe’s leading batsman and captain wasn’t enough, Brendan Taylor also dearly needs to rouse his side at this juncture, with both words as a leader and deeds with the bat. That this hasn’t been a productive season for him won’t help, but form as a constraint fades before the enormity of the task in front of him.Nasir Jamshed was dropped from the Test side for this tour after just two games against a tough opponent like South Africa. He’s spoken about how disappointed he felt, and how he plans to make a come back with good limited-overs performances. He could not do much in the T20s, now comes the format in which he’s impressed the most.

Team news

Captain Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdur Rehman and Asad Shafiq are the additions to the Pakistan squad for the ODIs in place of Sohail Tanvir, Zulfiqar Babar and Sohaib Maqsood, although there was a case for keeping the inexperienced batsman Maqsood around the team for the ODI leg.Pakistan (possible) 1 Nasir Jamshed, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Asad Shafiq/Umar Amin, 6 Shahid Afridi, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Saeed Ajmal, 9 Asad Ali/Abdur Rehman, 10 Junaid Khan, 11 Mohammad IrfanIn another unfortunate reminder of how things are, Zimbabwe announced their 18-member ODI squad late on the eve of the first ODI, but it remains to be seen what XI features for the game.Zimbabwe (possible): 1 Vusi Sibanda, 2 Hamilton Masakadza, 3 Sikandar Raza, 4 Brendan Taylor (capt & wk), 5 Malcolm Waller, 6 Sean Williams, 7 Timcyen Maruma, 8 Shingi Masakadza, 9 Prosper Utseya, 10 Brian Vitori, 11 Tinashe Panyangara

Stats and trivia

• Pakistan have won 12 of the 15 ODIs they have played in Zimbabwe against the hosts. Zimbabwe were able to win one and tie another, but both those matches were back in 1995
• Shahid Afridi has played 354 ODIs for Pakistan, and needs three games to overtake Wasim Akram. Only Inzamam-ul-Haq is in front after that, with 375 matches for his country

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsTillakaratne Dilshan and Lahiru Thirimanne set up the win with a stand of 163•Associated Press

South Africa suffered a fifth successive sub-standard batting performance in Sri Lanka to concede the final match in the series – a dead rubber – to opposition who have shown their superiority. Throughout the 12-day contest, Sri Lanka batted with more authority and bowled with more intent and just to emphasise that, they did both even better today despite resting three senior players.Tillakaratne Dilshan followed up his century in the previous match with 99 and shared in a second-wicket stand of 163 with Lahiru Thirimanne who found confidence with a half-century, while Kumar Sangakkara racked up milestones. He overtook Misbah-ul-Haq as the leading run-scorer in ODIs this year and become the top-scorer for Sri Lanka in a bilateral series with 372 runs. With all those accolades, his best mate, Mahela Jayawardene was hardly missed.Neither was Sri Lanka’s marquee fast bowler, Lasith Malinga, or leading spinner Rangana Herath. Their replacements, Suranga Lakmal and Sachithra Senanayake, did the damage with five wickets between them to ensure even the flicker of a challenge South Africa posed was suffocated before it find any oxygen.Although South Africa have scored more runs in each innings as this series wore on, they were always unlikely to chase down a score of 300-plus. They have a lethargic bowling performance and indifferent showing in the field to thank for being asked to do that.Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe started well with probing lines outside offstump and had early success. They kept Sri Lanka’s scoring rate under four an over and Morkel had Kusal Perera out when the opener bottom-edged to Quinton de Kock.What South Africa should have used as an opening, Sri Lanka grabbed onto as an opportunity. They moved Thirimanne up the order and he responded by building steadily alongside Dilshan.They pair gave themselves time against South Africa’s ineffectual spin duo so that when Morkel was brought back, he posed little threat. Dilshan reached his half-century with a backfoot drive off him, while Thrimanne’s came with a single off Phangiso. By the halfway mark, they were consistently scoring more than four runs an over and had laid enough foundation to up the aggression.And they did. The very next over, Thirimanne charged Phangiso and drove Morkel with confidence. He could have been stumped for 62 but Quinton de Kock missed the chance. It only cost six runs before JP Duminy took a tumbling catch to see Thirimanne out but illustrated a wider South African problem.Their fielding was not up to scratch, they didn’t back up enough, their throws were wayward and de Villiers’ communication in changing his fields was almost non-existent. All this while Sangakkara arrived and smoked Duminy back over his head and hit Morkel of all of his lengths. The three fours that came in the over where off a good length ball, a full one and a short one.Sangakkara missed out on a century the last time he batted with Dilshan but this time it was Dilshan’s turn to suffer that fate. He marched into the 90s with an authoritative pull and lingered on 99 for three balls before he was bowled by a McLaren slower ball.In celebration of his wicket, South Africa seemed to forget all their plans. Tsotsobe reverted back to short balls and Morkel could not find any workable line or length. His figures were the most expensive of his career. Mathews let loose and Thisara Perera had licence to go wild but it was Sangakkara’s presence that made a score over 300 possible.He smacked 49 runs on the on-side and helped himself to extravagant shots like scoops over de Kock’s head. He was largely responsible for the addition of 52 runs in the last five overs and for South Africa’s mountain being too high.They started gallantly, with de Kock showing his promise with powerful cuts, and 32 runs scored off the first five overs. He remained loose outside the offstump and when he left a gap between bat and pad against Senanayake, he was bowled. The 35 he put on with Hashim Amla was South Africa’s highest opening stand of the series.Amla and Duminy put on 25 before Amla also failed to read Senanayake and was plumb lbw. Dumimy padded up to Dilshan and Faf du Plessis’ lean run grew longer when was caught. At 69 for 4, South Africa were only headed one way.De Villiers scored a-run-a-ball 51 but was caught at point on his first attempt to lash out. South Africa they were eventually put out of their misery in the 44th over to hand Sri Lanka a 4-1 win and leave themselves with more questions than answers about the rebuilding of their one-day unit.

Northamptonshire 188-3 (Coetzer 105*) beat Worcestershire 187-8 (Fell 55, Azharullah 4-38) by four wickets
ScorecardKyle Coetzer continued Northants’ fine season with an unbeaten century•Northamptonshire CCC

Kyle Coetzer struck a brilliant unbeaten century as Northamptonshire thrashed Worcestershire by seven wickets to win their fifth Yorkshire Bank 40 game in arow.The Royals’ innings never got going as they were restricted to 187 for 8 from their 40 overs with 19-year-old Tom Fell top-scoring with 55 off 71 balls as Mohammad Azharullah took 4 for 37.Unsurprisingly, the in-form Steelbacks chased down their target with 37 balls to spare with Coetzer hammering 105 not out from 110 deliveries to move the hosts up to second in Group A – three points behind Nottinghamshire.Fell completed the first half-century of his senior career off 63 ballsbut his innings came to an end when Azharullah’s yorker crashed into his offstump.Chasing 188, Northamptonshire lost Australia international Cameron White, who made 24 in the first game of his second spell with the county before he was caught and bowled.Kyle Coetzer then went on to reach 50 off 63 deliveries as his third-wicket partnership of 121 with captain Alex Wakely took the game away from the visitors.Coetzer completed his third century in domestic one-day cricket off 107 ballsbefore Wakely holed out at long on 43, leaving Matt Spriegel to nudge the winning run and complete a comfortable victory.

Marquee players and coaches

• Antigua: Marlon Samuels and Ricky Ponting, Head Coach: Vivian Richards, Assistant Coach: Phillip DeFreitas

• Barbados: Kieron Pollard and Shoaib Malik, Head Coach: Desmond Haynes, Assistant Coach: Robin Singh

• Guyana: Sunil Narine and Mohammad Hafeez, Head Coach: Roger Harper, Assistant Coach: Curtly Ambrose

• Jamaica: Chris Gayle and Muttiah Muralitharan, Head Coach: Paul Nixon, Assistant Coach: Junior Bennett

• St Lucia: Darren Sammy and Herschelle Gibbs, Head Coach: Andy Roberts, Assistant Coach: Matthew Maynard

• Trinidad & Tobago: Dwayne Bravo and Ross Taylor, Head Coach: Gordon Greenidge, Assistant Coach: David Williams

Former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist could have played his last competitive match after he pulled out from the Caribbean Premier League due to an ankle injury.Glichrist turned up for Kings XI Punjab in this year’s IPL after saying he was “finished” last year and signed off by claiming his first wicket in a two-decade career. Pakistan batsman Shoaib Malik has replaced Gilchrist in the franchise player line-up.The league also announced the line-up of marquee players and coaches for each of its six franchises. The full squads of each franchise will be determined through a player draft on June 5.Preparations for the tournament, which starts on July 30, have not been entirely smooth, with CPL operations manager Carlisle Powell expressing concern that the venues for the leagues have not been finalised yet.”We’re dealing with six different governments,” Powell said at a press conference on Tuesday. “As a former minister of government (in Nevis), I can tell you things do not always move fast in government.””Do I wish for anything to change? Yes. If I had the choice, all the venue agreements would have been signed a month ago, and all the sponsorship arrangements would have been completed,” he said. “If we don’t have signed venue agreements, we simply do not have homes for our franchises.”With the tournament scheduled to begin in two months’ time, Powell met with the Ministry of Tourism and the respective venue owners to enlist their help in fixing the venues as soon as possible.”What I have to do as operations manager now is follow (up) very closely with those governments, because we need venue agreements signed,” he said. “We are asking for the Ministries of Tourism to partner with us in each of the six franchise locations.”