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A round-up of the Ranji Trophy Group B matches on October 30, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2015
ScorecardFile photo – Jiwanjot Singh was the only batsman to pass 50 on either side•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Seventeen wickets fell on the opening day in Patiala even as Punjab secured the first-innings lead.Electing to bat, Andhra were shot out for 80 in 45 overs, with only opener DB Prasanth (33) passing 20. The visitors slumped to 22 for 3 and never recovered from the poor start, as Punjab’s spin trio of captain Gurkeerat Singh (11-5-14-4), legspinner Sarabjit Ladda, who took five wickets in the last game, and left-armer Rajwinder Singh picked up eight wickets between them. Seamer Siddarth Kaul claimed the other wickets to fall.Punjab started well in their reply with opener Jiwanjot Singh and Uday Kaul putting on 58 runs for the second wicket. But after Uday was trapped lbw by Prasanth, who took three wickets with his leg breaks, Punjab slid from 73 for 1 to 119 for 7. Jiwanjot resisted for more than two and a half hours before being bowled by Prasanth with less than four overs to go for stumps.Andhra vice-captain Prasanth said the surface was “underprepared”, but wasn’t particularly difficult to bat on. “It’s rank turner obviously, but if you have confidence on your defence you can easily negotiate,” Prasanth told ESPNcricinfo. What the pitch did today it will do the same thing tomorrow. There is not much cracks… it is not opening at all. We will fight hard tomorrow to get into the game.”
ScorecardB Indrajith’s second first-class hundred held Tamil Nadu’s innings together after they were inserted in Delhi.Tamil Nadu didn’t have the best of starts, as opener B Aparajith was bowled by seamer Anureet Singh in the seventh over with the team’s score on 6. But, captain Abhinav Mukund and Dinesh Karthik put on 61 runs before seamer Ranjit Mali dismised him
Abhinav fell one short of his 50 and then Vijay Shankar was dismissed by Anureet to reduce the visitors to 101 for 4.Indrajith, coming in at No.5, first put on 79 runs for the fifth wicket with R Prasanna before raising 78 runs in the company of J Kousik. Indrajith remained unbeaten at stumps while Anureet picked up three wickets.Tamil Nadu vice-captain Indrajith said the pitch was even-paced and good to bat on despite some movement off the surface throughout the day. “It tends to ease out once you settle down and is good for the batsmen. [A total of] 350 is ideal, but we would like to get more than 400,” he said. “Whenever they bowled short, the run-scoring opportunities opened up and it made things easy for me.”Indrajith said there were a couple of “soft dismissals”, but credited Anureet with bowling consistently well through the day.
ScorecardUttar Pradesh recovered from a wobbly beginning to post a decent total after electing to bat in Valsad.After the visitors were reduced to 87 with 4, with Umang Sharma and Mohammad Saif being dismissed in the space of two overs, Himanshu Asnora and captain Eklavya Dwivedi added 61 runs. After Dwivedi and Ali Murtaza were removed by Jasprit Bumrah, Asnora put on 58 runs. Asnora then went on to raise 43 runs for the ninth wicket in the company of Saurabh Kumar, and remained unbeaten.Rush Kalaria picked up three wickets for Gujarat.
ScorecardBaroda’s bowlers stifled Madhya Pradesh after the visitors opted to bat in Vadodara. Madhya Pradesh were reduced to 4 for 2 in the fourth over after both the openers, Aditya Shrivastava and Jalaj Saxena, were dismissed for ducks.Captain Devendra Bundela and Rajat Patidar, however, added 73 before Bhargav Bhatt had Bundela lbw. Patidar and Harpreet Singh added 50 runs for the fourth wicket. Swapnil Singh then struck twice to reduce Madhya Pradesh to 127 for 5 before the middle-order showed some resistance.

Mumbai Indians have not ruled out Sachin Tendulkar’s participation in the second Qualifier on May 24

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-2013Mumbai Indians have not ruled out Sachin Tendulkar’s participation in the second qualifier on May 24, despite the batsman suffering a wrist injury for which the normal recovery time is around three weeks.Medium-pacer Dhawal Kulkarni, however, will not play further part in Mumbai’s campaign because of a side strain, the franchise said.Tendulkar hurt his hand while batting during Mumbai’s home game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 13 and retired hurt. He then missed Mumbai’s last two league games as well as the first qualifier against Chennai Super Kings in Delhi. The second qualifier is their last shot at making the final of IPL 2013.”On investigation we have found that there is some swelling in the wrist and around one of the tendons of his left hand,” the franchise said in a statement. “We have addressed this with an injection in his hand by a hand-and-wrist specialist. He is currently under rehab and is progressing well.”The normal recovery time for this injury is around three weeks, however rehab results in the past nine days have shown reasonable improvement and we are hopeful to get him back in action as soon as possible.”Kulkarni was injured on May 18, during Mumbai’s final league game, and missed the qualifier against Super Kings. His recovery period was estimated to be six weeks.

Neither of the teams could take any points from the drawn match between Quetta and Multan in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jan-2013
ScorecardNeither of the teams could take any points from the drawn match between Quetta and Multan after the last day of the match was also lost to bad weather at the Multan Cricket Stadium.Since Multan were 77 for 3 at the end of the third day, trailing Quetta by 133 runs, one of the teams would have preferred to take first innings lead and take three points but the weather did not permit a single ball of play.Earlier, Multan had won the toss and put Quetta in to bat who scored 210 out of which the main contributions came from the tail.

Virat Kohli’s emergence as a permanent occupant of the batting slot left vacant by Sourav Ganguly was perhaps the only plus for India from the embarrassing Australia tour last season

Siddarth Ravindran in Bangalore02-Sep-2012Virat Kohli’s emergence as a permanent occupant of the batting slot left vacant by Sourav Ganguly was perhaps the only plus for India from the embarrassing Australia tour last season. Kohli has already grown to become India’s leading one-day batsmen, and with two hundreds and two half-centuries in his last five Test innings, he is slowly cracking the five-day game as well.Kohli has experienced several highs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, though most have come during IPL and Champions League Twenty20 campaigns.On Sunday, he completed his second Test century, which allowed India to virtually level the game against New Zealand at the end of the first innings, leaving Kohli more thrilled than after his Twenty20 hijinks.”It’s always satisfying to get a Test hundred,” he said. “People asked me this earlier as well, which hundred is most special to you and I said the hundred in Adelaide against Australia. I didn’t have that feeling ever in my life, before or after – and I felt it today again. I think that is the most satisfying, when you’re being tested and your patience is being tested, your technique is tested and you manage to score a hundred – it always pleases a batsman.”Soon after reaching triple-digits, though, Kohli shouldered arms to an indipper from Tim Southee, which cut off his innings at 103. “That was the only ball in my innings in which I didn’t look at the bowler’s hand. That ball he bowled crossed seam and I didn’t look. That was a lapse in concentration and you just need one to get out in international cricket. Again, it’s a lesson for me to be learnt and hopefully when I cross that 100 mark next time I can make it a big one.”One of the features of Kohli’s century was the patience he showed early in his innings, displaying a willingness to leave the ball – an aspect of his cricket that he said he was working on. “In the first Test I thought I played too many attacking shots because we hadn’t played any practice match and we were playing a Test after seven months,” he said.”Personally, I thought it was difficult to adapt suddenly. And then we batted first too. Unless you have played some practice games and are in that mindset – that makes a difference. In the first Test, my bat went instinctively for some shots, but it wasn’t my intention to play the ball. So I worked on that for this game. I thought that they would bowl in the areas that I have got out before and try to get me hitting in the gaps. So like I did in Australia where I let the bowler come to me, I thought I’ll leave the ball more and defend more.”India’s bowlers backed up his effort by wheedling out nine second-innings wickets, leaving India facing a target of around 250. It will be one of India’s highest successful chases if they pull it off, but Kohli was confident the home side had the edge entering the fourth day. “We’d like to think so (that the match is tilted towards India),” he said. “The morning session was really nice for them. But now that we look back after taking nine wickets, it played in our favour, because there are still two more days to go. And as a side setting a total, you always have that in mind – that if you lose wickets, the other side has two days to score the runs. Tomorrow if we take an early wicket, we have a lot of time to chase down that score.”One of the reasons for Kohli’s optimism was the benign pitch. “The wicket doesn’t have that much,” he said. “Their seam bowlers bowled well in the morning. I think the morning freshness of the wicket that stays for about an hour is the only factor, and they used that well. Apart from that, if we apply ourselves, I think we’ll be in a good position.”India no longer have the services of their fourth-innings specialist VVS Laxman, and the tricky target they face on Monday will be another examination for Kohli and the other youngsters in the rebuilt middle-order, testing their readiness for a long run in the Test side.

Ajmal Shahzad, the former England seamer who was released by Yorkshire in controversial circumstances last week, is to join Lancashire on loan until the end of the season.

George Dobell08-May-2012Ajmal Shahzad, the former England seamer who was released by Yorkshire in controversial circumstances last week, has joined Lancashire.Shahzad was made available to other counties after Yorkshire’s chairman Colin Graves accused him of not being a team player. He has moved to Lancashire on a loan deal until the end of the season with a view to agreeing a more permanent contract at a later date.The attraction for Lancashire is obvious. The defending champions have lost three of their first four games and currently find themselves just four points off the bottom of the division one championship table.Shgahzad tweeted: “Great feeling to be back into cricket today! Appreciate Lancashire for having me on a loan agreement till the end of the season.”Lancashire’s cricket director Mike Watkinson said: “With Tom Smith being ruled out for at least a month after tearing a hamstring and Pakistan set to announce this week their squad for a series in Sri Lanka this summer, which could mean us missing out on bringing Junaid back, the availability of a hugely talented and experienced bowler comes at a good time for us.”Although Shahzad’s first-class record is modest – he has a bowling average of 33.80 and an underwhelming economy rate in both limited-overs formats – he has long been seen as a cricketer of rich potential and Lancashire will hope that Peter Moores’ sympathetic man management will coax the best out of him. Shahzad has played one Test, 11 ODIs and three T20Is for England.”We are delighted to bring a bowler of Ajmal’s quality into our squad,” Moores said. “He will join a strong seam attack, giving us the depth needed to compete on all fronts. He is known for his competitive nature, which will fit perfectly into the set-up at Lancashire.”As if the failure to harness Shahzad’s potential was not painful enough, the fact that the player has joined their keenest rivals will sting some at Yorkshire, a deal also brokered by a former Lancashire player, Neil Fairbrother, who is Shahzad’s agent.Eight years ago he became the first Yorkshire-born cricketer of Pakistani background to represent Yorkshire and is the first Yorkshire player to move to Lancashire since David Byas did so in 2002.Shahzad had also interested Sussex, Somerset and Surrey, among others, and his quick tour of England last week to talk to potential suitors emphasised that many counties did not share Yorkshire’s reservations about his talent or commitment.Yorkshire’s relationship with Shahzad deteriorated over time because in his eyes they were insisting that he bowled out of character, insisting on a disciplined – he thought regimented – approach with little forgiveness for experimentation. Moores’ challenge is to integrate a dedicated but strong-willed cricketer with an appetite for innovation into a team pattern.Yorkshire sought to e nsure that Shahzad left on a happy note with the county’s official Twitter feed stating: “Wishing @AJShahzad all best with Lanky! Real shame it didn’t work out at #yccc. Both parties on different cricket pages but a genuine talent. Ajmal had different thoughts on how his cricket should go than club. He wasn’t happy. Threatened positive atmosphere in squad. No one at club is happy that Ajmal has gone and we do genuinely wish him well.”

The race for World Cup places in 2014-15 will resume in February when the qualifying tournament gets back underway with Ireland taking on Kenya

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2011The race for World Cup places in 2014-15 will resume in February when the qualifying tournament gets back underway with Ireland, who currently lead the table with four wins from four, taking on Kenya in Mombasa.Scotland, who are also on eight points alongside Ireland, resume their campaign against UAE in March after ICC confirmed the latest set of Intercontinental one-day and Cup matches.The one-day matches, which form the qualifying tournament for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, run alongside the four-day Intercontinental Cup fixtures. There are four places available alongside the ten Full Members at the next World Cup following the u-turn from ICC after the decision had initially been taken to shrink the event down to ten nations.Currently the third and fourth qualifying spots are held by UAE and Netherlands with Afghanistan also on four points. Afghanistan and Netherlands go head-to-head at the end of March in Sharjah while Namibia and Canada, who are both yet to secure a victory, will aim to kick-start their chances in early April.Ireland are also in top spot in the Intercontinental Cup table, 17 points ahead of UAE, although all the teams have only played two matches so far.The other crucial cricket for Associate and Affiliate members early next year is the World Twenty20 qualifiers where two places are up for grabs at the full tournament in Sri Lanka next September.Full four-day fixtures
Full one-day fixtures

ESPNcricinfo previews the fourth ODI between India and England in Mumbai

The Preview by Dustin Silgardo22-Oct-2011

Match Facts

India v England, October 23, Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Start time 1430 (0900 GMT)MS Dhoni insists this series is not about revenge•AFP

Big Picture

The phrase ‘to play for pride’ is grossly overused, usually to lend a dead rubber some importance. But such has been the nature of the battle between India and England over the past few months that the sentiment may actually have some credence going in to the fourth ODI in Mumbai. MS Dhoni may not like the word “revenge” but surely he wouldn’t mind “redemption” being used to describe India’s performance at the end of the series. The magnitude of their failure in England means a simple series-win may not be enough to grant it. The fans want an emphatic scoreline.There could hardly be a better place for India to underline their recovery from the disastrous summer tour. Though it seems like it has been an eternity since, it was only six-and-a-half months ago that Mumbai witnessed one of India’s biggest wins.But England have had a couple of special moments in ODIs at the Wankhede Stadium too: back in 1987 they beat India to go through to the World Cup final, and in 2002, Andrew Flintoff famously ripped his shirt off and did a victory-lap around the ground after bowling England to a series-levelling five-run win.Since then England have lost 13 of 14 completed one-day internationals in bilateral series in India, and the frustration is beginning to show in the body-language of their players. There have been a few verbal confrontations between the players during this series, and Tim Bresnan was fined for snatching his cap from the umpire in the third ODI. Andy Flower, the England team director, has defended his team’s attitude but will know a win is the only tonic for some hurt egos.In order to achieve that, though, England need to accept certain realities of playing India in India, the first of which is that scores of 300, while winning totals in other countries, are often just par for the course on Indian pitches. After the Mohali ODI, Alastair Cook, the England captain, said their score of 298 was defendable, a statement made mainly to justify Jonathan Trott’s innings of 98 not out from 116 balls, considered too slow by some. Cook would do well to listen to what Kumar Sangakkara, a man who knows all about playing against India in their home conditions, said after the World Cup final: “Anything less than 350 is not safe against India.”Aiming higher does not necessarily mean having to drop Trott, but it does mean that pretty much no-one else can afford to score at less than a run-a-ball. A series strike-rate of 84.31 from someone like Craig Kieswetter, in the side to provide rapid starts, simply won’t cut it.

Form guide

India: WWWLT (completed matches, most recent first)
England: LLLWT

In the spotlight

In the absence of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan is the leader of England’s seam attack, but he’s been their most-expensive bowler in the series so far, going at 6.94 in his 24.2 overs. He’s got the variations to be successful in the subcontinent and may want to look back to the tied game against India during the World Cup to figure out what to do right. In that match, Bresnan was the only bowler who shone on a batsman’s night, and took 5 for 48 in his 10 overs.When Vinay Kumar said, at the start of the series, that he would be guiding the younger bowlers during this series, it seemed ironic, given that Vinay had only played six ODIs himself. After taking five wickets in three games, including a four-wicket haul in Delhi, he has indeed proved to be India’s spearhead. In Mohali, he was found out in the end overs, when Samit Patel read his short balls and slower ones easily. Vinay will want to prove he can be effective at both ends of an innings.

Pitch and conditions

Mumbai sees an unusual heat wave arrive every October, and the England players are going to find it extremely uncomfortable. This is not a welcome, sunny, sunbathe in Hyde Park sort of heat. It’s muggy, stifling and you are likely to perspire a river by the time you’ve walked from the team bus to the ground. “Mumbai is a bit hot and humid, rehydration will be the key; batsman or bowler, everyone will be tested; no more runners in cricket,” MS Dhoni tweeted during India’s practice session on Saturday. The England players may not have the energy to type a sentence that long by the time Sunday is over.The pitch will be a slow turner, according to Sudhir Naik, the Wankhede curator and former India opening batsman. “It will be slower than what was prepared for the World Cup final,” he told the . “It will be a dry wicket.”

Team news

Umesh Yadav injured his hand while fielding in the Mohali ODI and has been replaced in the squad by Abhimanyu Mithun. That means young fast bowler Varun Aaron, who has been waiting for his chance since the England tour, could make an international debut. Dhoni said India may give other players in the squad a chance so long as it doesn’t affect the balance. The uncapped legspinner Rahul Sharma for R Ashwin would be a straight swap.India (probable): 1 Parthiv Patel, 2 Ajinkya Rahane, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin/Rahul Sharma, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Vinay Kumar, 11 Varun AaronAfter the Mohali ODI, the carried a headline that read ‘Bell makes some noise, but will the door open?’ Even more absurd than that title is the fact that the door has stayed shut on Ian Bell, perhaps England’s most naturally talented stroke-maker. Andy Flower said there would be changes in Mumbai, and surely Bell will find a place. Jonny Bairstow may be the man to make way after Samit Patel did well as a lower-order hitter in Mohali.Graham Onions has joined the England squad as a replacement for the injured Chris Woakes, and either he or the uncapped Stuart Meaker could replace Jade Dernbach, who has gone at 6.54 through the series and looked frustrated on the field. Scott Borthwick, the 21-year-old legspinner who took five wickets in a practice match against a Hyderabad XI, may be given a game.England (probable): 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Ravi Bopara, 7 Samit Patel, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Steven Finn, 11 Stuart Meaker

Stats and trivia

• In Mohali, India scored 300 for the 65th time in ODIs, going past Australia’s 64 to be the side with the most number of totals of 300 or more. This, after India were the last of the major teams to go past 300 in an ODI.
• Virat Kohli has gone past 1000 one-day runs for 2011 in this series. Last year, he managed 995 runs.
• India have won nine of the last 10 matches they have chased in.

Quotes

“I have been a ball boy twice – during an India-Australia match and a game against South Africa. Both times I was near the dressing room and I was always excited to see the Indian players. I always wanted to be in there one day, and now I will do that.”
“As far as talent is concerned, they are very good. But they need to stick together – that’s one thing that’s very important, especially when the team doesn’t get the desired result.”
“Yes, there is a difference between passion and poor conduct and, on almost all occasions, I think our guys are excellent at finding that balance.”

Stoneman top-scores with 63 in low-scoring final-day nerve-shredder in Cardiff

ECB Reporters Network20-May-2024Middlesex secured a two-wicket victory over Glamorgan in their Vitality County Championship match in Cardiff with Mark Stoneman top-scoring in a win that came right down to the last few overs on the fourth day.Glamorgan were miles behind in this match before 48 runs and five wickets from Mason Crane took them close to victory in a thrilling finish on the final evening.Middlesex looked to be cruising to victory before a collapse of four for 15 put them in real danger of defeat but they managed to sneak home to claim the win thanks to a 52-run stand for the penultimate wicket between Tom Helm and Jack Davies. This win gives Middlesex 21 points from this game with Glamorgan securing just two bowling bonus points.As was the case in the first innings, runs from Zain-ul-Hassan and Crane kept Glamorgan in the hunt in this match. The pair had been the top-scorers in Glamorgan’s under-par batting efforts on day one, and here they put on a stand of 61 to take the lead past 200.Zain was the first to go when he turned a ball into the leg side for an easy catch for Ryan Higgins off the bowling of Ethan Bamber for 34, the same score he managed in the first innings.Crane looked to take the fight to Middlesex as he batted with Andy Gorvin. The pair had put on another 17 runs when Gorvin gave a catch to point off the bowling of Luke Hollman. It was also Hollman who claimed the final wicket when he dismissed Crane for 48 with a thick edge that was well taken by wicket-keeper, Davies.Middlesex started their chase brightly with Sam Robson and Stoneman putting on a stand worth 65. Robson was the first wicket to fall when he was dismissed by Andy Gorvin for 31. He chopped the ball on to his stumps, the sixth time this had happened in this match as the two-paced nature of this Cardiff surface continued to make an impact.Crane got the ball to turn big once he was introduced to the attack and he made the next breakthrough when he spun one past an attempted sweep from Max Holman to bowl him for 28.Crane had a huge shout for lbw against Leus du Plooy which was turned down, but Harris got him in the very next over when he struck his pads in front and the umpire gave the decision in the bowler’s favour.Crane had Higgins caught behind for 1 and as the game headed into the final session the match it was nicely poised with Glamorgan needing six wickets on a pitch that was getting increasingly hard to bat on and Middlesex still 93 runs short of their victory target.Crane made another breakthrough when he had Nathan Fernandes caught at slip but the moment that created this thrilling finish was when Gorvin got Stoneman caught by Cooke for 63.Two wickets in two balls from Crane to dismiss both Toby Roland-Jones and Luke Hollman without scoring left this game on a knife edge before the ninth wicket stand between Davies and Helm took Middlesex to victory with just five overs left in the match.

Brothers Union and City Club remain winless after playing three matches each

Mohammad Isam22-Mar-2023Defending champions Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club are among the four clubs who have claimed full points with wins in all of their respective matches in the first week of this season’s Dhaka Premier League. The other teams who have gone unscathed are Abahani Limited, Prime Bank and Legends of Rupganj.Abahani climbed to second place after their six-wicket win over old rivals Mohammedan Sporting Club at the Shere Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday.Brothers Union and City Club remain winless after playing three matches each.

Best batters of the week – Mohammad Naim and Irfan Sukkur

Left-hand batters Mohammad Naim and Irfan Sukkur are currently on top of the batters’ charts. Naim’s unbeaten 110 was decisive in Abahani’s big win over Mohammedan. Brothers Union’s Tanzid Hasan made a run-a-ball 142 against Legends of Rupganj.Mominul Haque, playing for Rupganj Tigers, smacked a 41-ball 74 against Mohammedan.

Best bowlers – Elias Sunny and Alauddin Babu

Left-arm spinner Elias Sunny took a five-wicket haul against newcomers Dhaka Leopards, while Alauddin Babu took his five-for, which included a hat-trick, against Gazi Group Cricketers. Fast bowlers have had a good run so far – four other four-wicket hauls have all been by quick bowlers.

The close match – Legends of Rupganj vs Brothers Union

Legends of Rupganj beat Brothers Union by three wickets in a high-scoring match at the BKSP-3 ground. Rupganj chased down the target of 300 with eight balls to spare, with Chirag Jani top scoring with 94. Earlier, Tanzid scored 142 to take Brothers Union to 299 for 5.

Players to watch

Akbar Ali, the much-talked-about Under-19 World Cup-winning captain, started this DPL season with a fifty for Gazi Group Cricketers. He is the only big name from that 2020 batch to have not made it to the Bangladesh senior side yet, so Akbar will be looking at maximising his opportunities this season.

The grade-one strain has also left the Sri Lanka seamer doubtful for the South Africa Tests, that follow close on the heels of the Australia tour

Andrew Fidel Fernando20-Jan-2019Sri Lanka seamer Nuwan Pradeep has been ruled out of the series against Australia, after scans revealed he had sustained a grade-one strain in his left hamstring. He is also doubtful for the South Africa Test series that follows close on the heels of the Australia tour.Pradeep had picked up the injury on day one of Sri Lanka’s warm-up match against a Cricket Australia XI in Hobart, on Thursday. He immediately left the field, having bowled only two overs in the match, and underwent scans over the weekend that confirmed the severity of the injury. Pradeep’s career has been plagued by leg injuries – particularly hamstring complaints – and this is largely why he has not played a Test since October 2017.Although a fit Pradeep did not get a game during the two Tests in New Zealand, he may have been a good option for Sri Lanka at the seam-friendly Gabba Stadium, as he is often capable of generating appreciable movement off the deck.Despite his being one of the most experienced members of the pace-bowling battery, and although no replacement has been officially named yet, Sri Lanka are still left with a serviceable seam-bowling contingent in Australia. Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, Kasun Rajitha and Dushmantha Chameera all remain fit and available, with all four of those bowlers having played at least one Test over the past six weeks.Sri Lanka’s first Test begins in Brisbane on Thursday.