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After a day in which both sides battled hard to seize the initiative, Sri Lanka’s captain Mahela Jayawardene was unhappy with his side’s total but praised the bowlers for ensuring that honours were even after the second day.Resuming on 217 with five wickets in hand, Sri Lanka could only muster 278 in their first innings. “It was not easy batting on that pitch (on the first day), but we fought well, and I think that sixth-wicket partnership (of 105 between Tillakaratne Dilshan and Chamara Silva) was crucial for us,” he said. “It showed a lot of character, but I am disappointed with the way a few of our guys were dismissed. We should probably have scored between 300 and 325.”West Indies started their innings confidently, with captain Chris Gayle showing the way with a typically aggressive 45, but slipped to 268 for 7 by stumps. “West Indies batted really well, and played a few shots, and it paid off for them,” he said. “But it’s an even game I reckon, we just need to make sure that we work harder next innings.”It’s going to be like a one-innings match now, and with them batting last on that pitch, we have to make sure that we put some runs on the board and put some pressure on them.”Jayawardene, though, felt that Sri Lanka had the edge. “I think the advantage is with us. If we bat well in the second innings and score anything in excess of 250-275, it will be a tough ask for them to bat last against Muralitharan and the rest of the guys.”

Shandre Fritz has been announced as South Africa’s captain at the age of just 21. Fritz will take the reins for the five-match ODI home series against Pakistan which starts on January 20 and takes place in Pretoria.She has vowed to play brave cricket and follow her male counterpart – and fellow young skipper – Graeme Smith by leading from the front. “I am not a big talker,” the allrounder Fritz admitted, “but will try to lead by example. I am young and leading an inexperienced side, but there are some very old heads in the team, too.”One of those is the 17-year-old Johmari Logtenburg, who has been announced as vice-captain for the series. Logtenburg, a hard-hitting batsman of natural talent, already has considerable international experience under her belt, having played two Tests and 19 one-dayers.There are four players lining up for their debut against Pakistan. Annelie Minnie, Marcia Letsaolo, Tricia Chetty and Sunette Loubser have all been included.But there is no place for the up-and-coming wicketkeeper Yolandi van der Westhuizen of Western Province: while she was invited to the national training camp, she could not attend. Yet the national coach Noor Rhode expects her to be pressing for national honours and to put pressure on Chetty and Shafieka Pillay.South Africa could also tour India in 2007. The BCCI have invited the South Africans over but the South African board has yet to approve the tour and offer funding.Squad Alicia Smith, Annelie Minnie, Ashlyn Kilowan, Claire Terblanche, Cri-Zelda Brits, Daleen Terblanche, Johmari Logtenberg, Marcia Letsoalo, Shafeeqa Pillay, Shandre Fritz (capt), Sunette Loubser, Susan Benade, Tricia Chetty (wk).Fixtures
1st ODI – 20 January (Laudium)
2nd ODI – 22 January (Harlequins)
3rd ODI – 23 January (Sinovich Park)
4th ODI – 26 January (Sinovich Park)
5th ODI – 27 January (Harlequins)

One of England women’s most promising allrounders, Arran Brindle, has decided to take a break from international and Super 4s cricket with immediate effect, in order to spend more time with her family.Brindle, 24, made her international debut in a one-day match against South Africa six years ago and played her first Test against Australia the following year in 2001. She is recognised as one of the best fielders in the world following her performances in the 2005 World Cup in South Africa.”I have decided to take an extended break from competing at the highest level for personal reasons,” she explained, “and to spend more time with my family while also looking to develop my career outside of cricket.”Brindle holds the English record for an opening Test stand with Caroline Atkins, putting on a 205-run partnership in India, and has a highest Test score of 101 not out, which she completed with the last ball of the game in last summer’s first Ashes Test. In the second game she steered England to a famous six-wicket victory with an undefeated second-innings 24.”Arran has been one of our most consistent performers over the past 18 months,” said her captain, Charlotte Edwards. “Her decision to retire will be a significant loss to the team. I feel very lucky at the moment that we have a crop of very exciting players who I’m sure will fill her role.”The head coach, Richard Bates, added: “It is disappointing that Arran has decided to retire from international cricket at this point. We are currently developing well and building a young exciting squad under the leadership of Edwards and newly appointed vice-captain, Laura Newton.”We are looking forward to the challenge of playing India this summer and losing Arran as a key middle-order batter and excellent fielder will force our hand in terms of a change in the batting line up. We do though have some very exciting young players currently pushing for a place and I’m sure they will be looking to impress in the forthcoming Super 4s matches.”

Dwayne Smith has justified his selection for the World Cup with a match-winning performance in the opening game against Pakistan on Tuesday. When West Indies’ squad was announced in February, there was strong opposition to Smith’s inclusion.However, Smith repaid the faith when he was adjudged Man of the Match for hitting 32 off 15 balls and taking 3 for 36, including the crucial wickets of Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq. “I’m always confident in myself and I don’t worry too much about what people say,” Smith told after the victory. “I just go out there and do my job, and do it to the best of my ability.”It was a great start for me personally, but I think it was a solid team performance and one that will give us plenty of confidence as we look towards the remainder of the tournament. Although I have been pushed lower and lower in the batting order, it has not really affected my confidence. It has just made me realise that I have to work harder and harder in the nets, and that is what I am prepared to do.”In 20 matches leading up to the World Cup, Smith had averaged 7.40 with the bat and 38.43 with the ball. Gordon Greenidge, the convenor of selectors, had said that he was not convinced about Smith’s selection.”Personally, I’m not convinced. I’m partly convinced. I feel that the guy has a lot going for him but he doesn’t show it as often as we would like him to,” Greenidge had told . “Unfortunately, in recent times, his bowling takes more precedence than his batting. I would like to see him develop more into a total player, an all-round player.”The coach Bennett King, however, backed Smith’s potential and said he was a matchwinner with the bat. Brian Lara also supported Smith and wanted him to go from strength to strength. “His performance was excellent, and he knows that, and from here what he wants to do is build on it, not just sit back and think I’ve started well and that’s it,” Lara said. “We’ve hopefully got ten more games in the tournament and he is looking for a performance like this every time.” West Indies face Zimbabwe in their second group match at Sabina Park on Monday.

Tendulkar returns
Sachin Tendulkar missed the first seven matches of the Mumbai Indians’ campaign due to a groin injury, but the side’s captain has confirmed he is fit and will lead the Mumbai Indians in their next game on Wednesday against the Chennai Super Kings. The news comes as a shot in the arm for Mumbai, who have won three straight games after losing their first four matches of the tournament.Time running out for Deccan?
Adam Gilchrist, the Deccan Chargers’ stand-in captain, has conceded that his team is out of contention for a semi-final spot after they slumped to a 23-run defeat to the Kolkata Knight Riders, their seventh loss in nine matches. “I guess we are pretty much out of semi-finals. It is disappointing but we can’t change anything,” Gilchrist told , as his team remained on the second-last place in the team standings.Purple cap
After announcing the orange cap for the leading run-scorer of the tournament, the IPL organisers have now introduced a purple one for the highest wicket-taker as well. Zaheer Khan is currently leading the list with 13 wickets from eight games.Kolkata fined for slow over-rate
Kolkata were fined US$1000 by match referee Talat Ali for bowling two overs behind schedule in their match against Deccan. According to the IPL’s regulations, a team will be fined $500 for each slow over. This is the second consecutive match where Kolkata were rapped for the offense, having previously been fined $500 in their home match against the Bangalore Royal Challengers.Mallya speaks out
Vijay Mallya, the owner of the Bangalore Royal Challengers, has regretted not being involved in the squad’s selection during the auction and that he went by the judgment of Charu Sharma, the franchise CEO, and Rahul Dravid, the captain. Mallya said he had other players in mind and was responsible for selecting Misbah-ul-Haq. He said, “Unfortunately in cricket, unlike in any other sport, the captain is the boss.”

It has taken five Tests for the ritual debate to reach full flight, but the home of the Ashes has again become an issue of national importance. Sir Richard Branson’s company Virgin Atlantic is under contract to fly the urn back to England when the series ends, but in a comical performance, in which he was flanked by Ian Botham and Allan Border, he requested it stay in Australia.Branson’s push to end almost a century of tradition – the original sits in a glass cabinet at Lord’s – was upstaged when his seriously flawed account of the symbol was corrected by Gideon Haigh, the writer and historian. “In 1882 the idea was the Ashes were to come to Australia,” Branson said. “They would come home to England, but an England captain grabbed hold of them and kept them ever since.”(Click here for a history of the Ashes)Branson went on to say Marylebone Cricket Club’s view of the urn as a gift was “mistaken”. “I think it was originally a trophy, the Ashes were burned when England lost the 1882 game and it was turned into a trophy that the Australians took back to Australia. I think, I may be wrong, but they are re-writing history.””You’re re-writing history, you’re completely wrong,” Haigh said and then filled in the gaps during a two-minute precise. Border admitted Haigh had a “fair point”, but Branson’s errors continued with his repeated referral to MCC as “MMC”.However, Branson’s idea, which was hatched over dinner with Botham this week, has received strong and predictable support. Ricky Ponting said after the series was sealed in Perth that Australians should prevent the urn from getting on the plane and today John Howard, the prime minister, joined in.”I know there is a lot of tradition surrounding where it has been in the past but I don’t think there is any valid reason why it shouldn’t follow the outcome,” Howard said. “I’m sure it would be treated with immense care and reverence, and protected and left unbroken, and I can assure you that Australians have great warmth towards that symbol of cricket supremacy.”Botham said MCC would “probably throw out my membership” but he and Border, who is also a member, said the issue should go to a club vote. “The space at Lord’s should be left empty until we get them back,” Botham said. “There’s no excuse not to move them around.”The Australian push for the Ashes to stay Down Under grew during their 16-year reign from 1989, but it is rare for such high-profile English figures to support the move. “You’re playing for the Ashes,” Botham said. “To me it seems ridiculous. If you’re playing for the European Cup or the Ryder Cup you get the cup.”Just think of the fun it would have been in 1986-87, to be totally written off, to fly back with the urn on the plane. It would have been fantastic.” It might also have been broken.Border, who lifted replicas in three series wins, said it was the “biggest trophy in the game” and it was time Australia got “the real McCoy”. The only problem – and it’s a big one – is the Ashes are owned by MCC, who say they were never intended to be a trophy, and they have been reluctant for them to travel. The urn arrived in Australia in October to start a cross-country tour in the main capital-city museums and it will depart for England later this month.Branson said he would feel uncomfortable carrying the item back to London considering the result of the series. “We’ll fly it back if we can’t persuade MCC over the next two or three days,” he said. Good luck.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to defend Mohammad Yousuf and said that the Indian Cricket Leage (ICL) cannot stop him from playing for his country after the league organisers sent out a legal notice to the batsman.”The ICL has no case against Yousuf and they cannot stop him from playing for Pakistan,” Nasim Ashraf, chairman PCB, told the . “Yousuf did sign a contract with them but later he changed his mind and cancelled it. As a player he had the right to opt for any offer which he thought was better for him.”Yousuf, who after cancelling his contract with the ICL, signed a national contract as well as signing up to play in the India Premier League (IPL), a recognised league that is run by four different national boards and is approved by the ICC. He was served a legal notice by the ICL after several attempts to contact him failed.”We can confirm that we have indeed sent out a notice to Yousuf,” Ashish Kaul, executive president of the ICL, told Cricinfo last week. “We have been trying to reach out to him and sent out three reminders to discuss some crucial issues after the PCB clarified recently that Yousuf will not play in the ICL and make himself available for Pakistan.”However, Ashraf rejected the impression that the ICL can use any legal ways to stop Yousuf from playing for Pakistan in India next month. “The ICL is claiming that they will not stop any of their recruits from playing for their country then how can they stop Yousuf from representing Pakistan.”The ICL did have a clause in their contract that said that a player cannot give priority to national duty over the ICL but now they say that the clause has been removed and they claim that their players can leave the league to play for their national teams whenever required. I believe in such circumstances they have no justification to stop Yousuf from playing in India.”Ashraf confirmed that if the matter was to go to court, Yousuf will have the full backing of the PCB. “We will fully defend Yousuf, if he is taken to court using all legal means.”Yousuf recently represented Pakistan in the second Test against South Africa and is currently involved in the five-match ODI series against the same opposition, where he scored a match-winning hundred in the second match in Lahore.

Australia captain Steven Smith and New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult have been included in both the ICC’s Test and ODI teams of the year.Alastair Cook, who led England to a 3-2 Ashes victory during the summer, was named the Test captain of the year. South Africa’s AB de Villiers was selected as the ODI captain, having scored the format’s fastest fifty and hundred during the qualification period from September 18, 2014 to September 13 2015. The teams were chosen by a specially appointed selection panel, chaired by the ICC’s cricket committee chairman Anil Kumble.Smith was one of three Australia players to make the Test team, along with opener David Warner and fast bowler Josh Hazlewood. Pakistan were the other team to have three representatives in the Test side, with Yasir Shah, the leading wicket-taker in the qualification period, Younis Khan and wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed all rewarded for their consistent performances. Stuart Broad, who was the most successful bowler in the Ashes with 21 wickets, was included in the Test XI for the fifth time since 2009. So was his countryman Joe Root.Kane Williamson found a place in the Test team, but was surprisingly left out of the ODI side, despite being the leading run-scorer in the concerned period. The other major surprises in the Test side were the omissions of Azhar Ali, who had four hundreds and five fifties from 10 matches, and R Ashwin, who could only find a place in the squad as the 12th man.Mustafizur Rahman became the first Bangladesh cricketer to be included in the ICC’s ODI team of the year, thanks to a barnstorming 11 wickets in his first two matches. He along with Boult, Mohammed Shami and Mitchell Starc, the Player of the Tournament during the 2015 World Cup, made up the ODI team’s pace attack, while Imran Tahir was selected as the sole spinner. Kumar Sangakkara, who recently retired from international cricket, was picked as the ODI team’s wicketkeeper, marking the fourth time he made the side.”I would like to congratulate all the players for their selection in the Test and ODI teams of the year,” Kumble said. “It is an achievement for each of them to be proud of and a recognition for their good performances in the qualifying period.”Testament to the quality of cricket played is the calibre of players to have missed out on selection. While selecting these squads, the selectors considered various combinations and took into account several factors in overall performances. Congratulations to all of the players on their selections.”Test team of the year: David Warner, Alastair Cook (captain), Kane Williamson, Younis Khan, Steven Smith, Joe Root, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Stuart Broad, Trent Boult, Yasir Shah, Josh Hazlewood, R Ashwin (12th man)ODI team of the year: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Hashim Amla, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), AB de Villiers (capt), Steven Smith, Ross Taylor, Trent Boult, Mohammed Shami, Mitchell Starc, Mustafizur Rahman, Imran Tahir, Joe Root (12th man)

England 225 (Bell 56, Edwards 5 for 45) beat West Indies 146 (Chanderpaul 53*, Broad 3-20) by 79 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

After producing arguably their most disciplined bowling performance of the entire tour, West Indies squandered a golden opportunity to go 1-0 up in the best-of-three one-day series by shedding four wickets in 12 balls inside the first seven overs of their run-chase. Once again, Shivnarine Chanderpaul resembled the boy on the burning deck as he ground his way to 53 not out from 100 balls, but the match had been lost long before he was left stranded with 10.1 overs of the innings remaining.Up until the start of West Indies’ innings, it seemed there could be only one winner. Chris Gayle won the toss and chose to bowl first under overcast skies, and his bowlers responded with a heady combination of aggression and accuracy. The fiery Fidel Edwards claimed the lion’s share of the spoils with 5 for 45, his best ODI figures since he took six on debut against Zimbabwe, but it was Ravi Rampaul and Daren Powell who established the stranglehold by conceding just 46 runs in the first 13 overs of England’s innings.England’s eventual total of 225 contained just 12 boundaries, the first of which didn’t arrive until as late as the eighth over. Matt Prior, by all accounts an opener in the pinch-hitting mould, grafted his way to 34 from 65 balls; and even the mighty Kevin Pietersen was made to look ordinary. He had scratched his way to 33 from 47 balls before he lost patience and slapped Dwayne Bravo to gully (148 for 3).The mainstay of England’s performance was Ian Bell, a player who copes better than most with being becalmed. Back in the side after a groin strain, he compiled 56 from 75 balls before being run out in a horrible mid-pitch mix-up with Owais Shah – an accident that had been threatening for some time because of Bell’s continued habit of ball-watching.At 181 for 4 after 42.4 overs, bad weather interrupted England’s innings for the best part of an hour – upon the resumption, they lost their last six wickets for 44, including four in four overs to a pumped-up Edwards. Only Shah remained to guide them to any sort of serviceable total. He made 42 from 38 balls as England’s tail crumbled around him, before being run out with one ball of the innings remaining.Such a meagre target should have been easily attainable, especially with the sun breaking through to ease the conditions for batting. Instead, West Indies’ problems began as early as the fourth over, when Gayle inexplicably tucked a loose ball off his hip and all the way to Stuart Broad on the backward-square leg boundary. At 9 for 1, with their captain and key strokeplayer back in the pavilion, the stage was set for a bout of jitters.James Anderson was in the mood to exploit West Indies’ uncertainties. Finding good pace and movement, and zipping the ball down the slope at will, he bowled Runako Morton for 0 with an inducker, then followed up one delivery later with the big scalp of Marlon Samuels, who misjudged the length of a short ball, and gloved an attempted leave to the keeper.

Three balls later, Anderson was in the action again, this time as a fielder at third man. His fast, flat throw – coupled with a smart take from the keeper Matt Prior – beat a suicidal piece of running from Devon Smith, and at 13 for 4, West Indies’ innings was in tatters. Chanderpaul dropped anchor, as he has done all summer, while Bravo did his best to keep the momentum going with 29 from 34 balls, in a sixth-wicket partnership of 61.The drinks break, however, wrecked Bravo’s concentration – upon the resumption, Broad nipped his second ball off the seam, and Prior accepted a routine snick with glee. Two balls later, Denesh Ramdin lost his off stump to one that kept low, and Broad added a third when Dwayne Smith wafted loosely outside off stump for Prior to snaffle a thin inside edge.West Indies had been reduced to 93 for 7 and their tormentor of the Test series, Monty Panesar, hadn’t even made an appearance. When he did, in the 22nd over, he needed just eight deliveries to make his mark. Daren Powell was utterly deceived in flight and pinned plumb in front of middle-and-leg, and that was emphatically that.Rampaul did delay the inevitable, and in quite some style, making a career-best 24 in a stand of 35 with Chanderpaul that reduced the deficit to double-figures. But Plunkett, who deserved his success after a torrid time in the Test series, induced a leading edge that Broad circled beneath at mid-off, and the match was sealed, appropriately enough, by England’s new captain, Paul Collingwood, who collected a throw from the deep and whipped off the bails with Edwards still floundering for the crease. His one-day captaincy career is up and running with a hard-earned victory.

ScorecardJames Taylor showed a cool head to guide his side home•Getty Images

Nottinghamshire breathed new life into their NatWest T20 Blast campaign as they won a last-ball thriller by three wickets over rivals Lancashire at Old Trafford. With six needed off the last two balls, captain James Taylor hit successive boundaries to seal victory.Nottinghamshire, who lost the toss, won for the sixth time after reducing the hosts to 13 for 3 to move level on points with fourth-placed Lancashire on 12 points from 12. Lancashire are only ahead on net run-rate with two North Group matches left after failing to defend 137 for 4 on a slow pitch, a total which included a pair of 51s for Karl Brown and Steven Croft.This was their fourth home defeat in six this season, having previously never lost more than twice at this venue in a Twenty20 campaign.Former Lancashire allrounder Steven Mullaney excelled in returning 1 for 14 from four overs of canny medium pace before Notts made hard work of the chase.They lost three wickets for 19 to slip from 63 for 1 in the 11th over and ended up needing 13 off the last against Kyle Jarvis. Taylor kept cool to finish 33 not out off 21.Early wickets for Samit Patel, Harry Gurney and a run out hurt the hosts as Ashwell Prince chipped to mid-off, Paul Horton chopped on and Alex Davies was run out without facing a ball going for two. But Brown ensured Nottinghamshire did not have things all their own way as he hit all of six boundaries accrued in a Powerplay score of 36 for 3.In fact, the in-form right-hander scored all of Lancashire’s first eight boundaries on the way to a 39-ball fifty, his third in a row, as he helped them reach 69 for 3 after 11.Unfortunately for the hosts, Brown holed out to long-on in the next off the medium pace of his childhood best-mate Mullaney as the score slipped to 70 for 4 and ended a 57-run partnership with Croft.They went without a four or six from the fifth ball of the 11th over to the third ball of the 17th, although Croft and James Faulkner shared 67 unbroken for the fifth wicket to carry their side to something to bowl at.Notts lost Michael Lumb to a Jarvis slower ball in the third over of their chase and only reached six overs at 28 for 1. At halfway, they were 61 for one, needing 77 more with Alex Hales (30) and Riki Wessels together. But they lost 3 for 19 inside three overs to put the game back in the balance at 82 for 4 in the 14th.Wessels cut Jordan Clark to point, ending a 47-run stand with Hales, who then miscued Stephen Parry’s left-arm spin to midwicket, before Patel also cut Clark to point.The target went to 45 off the last five overs and 21 off 11 balls when Faulkner yorked compatriot Dan Christian and had Mullaney brilliantly caught at deep midwicket by a running Arron Lilley – leaving Notts 117 for six in the 19th. Chris Read also fell in the last over but the visitors made it home.