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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outMahela Jayawardene celebrates making his 26th Test century•AFP

A wonderfully composed 26th Test century from Mahela Jayawardene and a thrill-a-minute 92 from Tillakaratne Dilshan allowed Sri Lanka to dominatethe opening day’s play after two early wickets from Chris Martin had givenNew Zealand the perfect start in overcast conditions in Galle. Thilan Samaraweera weighed in with an unbeaten 82, adding 159 with Jayawardene, and by the time the players went off for bad light, New Zealand were downfor the count.The start had been delayed by 90 minutes and the New Zealanders had reasonto feel smug 40 minutes after winning the toss, but a rapid 118-run standquickly wiped the smiles off their faces. Dilshan drove and cut like adream, and at a pace that made you wonder whether he was practising forthe Delhi Daredevils’ Champions League campaign later this year. Thefastest century ever by a Sri Lankan was easily within reach when he cut adelivery from Iain O’Brien back on to the stumps. By then, he had 92 from72 balls, and the hapless O’Brien had gone at more than nine an over.Jayawardene’s approach was much less helter-skelter and far more measured.There were the characteristically lovely drives through the covers and thebeautiful late twirls of the wrist that sent the ball to third man, butthere were also periods of dogged defence against the accurate left-armspin of Daniel Vettori. There was a period after tea when he appearedbereft of inspiration, but once he stepped out to off-drive Vettori forfour, the fluency came surging back.Martin was clipped through midwicket for four and when O’Brien dropped oneshort, an emphatic pull for four took him to his 18th hundred on homesoil, at the very venue where he had scored his first 11 years ago.Samaraweera had been the perfect foil, taking time to play himself in andthen playing some magnificent shots himself. New Zealand had quietenedthings with a couple of maidens after tea, but Samaraweera releasedthe pressure with three boundaries off Jeetan Patel – a cover-drive, a cutand a glorious back-foot punch.New Zealand could scarcely have imagined such a leather-hunt after thestart they got. Martin’s two wickets had taken him to 162, past DannyMorrison and on to No. 4 in New Zealand’s all-time list. It took him justthree balls to make an impact. Malinda Warnapura had been dropped andDilshan asked to open, but the other opener, Tharanga Paranavitana, wassoon on his way, edging one behind. And after Kumar Sangakkara had clippedtwo lovely leg-side boundaries, there was an air of disbelief around theground as he struck one straight to Daniel Flynn at midwicket.Dilshan had watched all this from the other end, but it didn’t inhibit himin any way. He had started with a fluid drive for four off O’Brien, andthe part-time blogger was soon being subjected to harsh treatment. Therewere three ferocious off-side fours in one over, and when O’Brien droppedshort, he was pulled for six. An elegant cover-drive later, Dilshan hadhis half-century from just 30 balls.Jayawardene got off the mark with a languid drive for four off Martin, andhe kept picking the off-side gaps at regular intervals. Jacob Oram andVettori slowed down the run-rate, but with both batsmen driving Patelbeautifully through the covers, Sri Lanka were into three figures longbefore the luncheon bell rang. There was no respite after that either,with Dilshan slamming O’Brien over cover and then pulling contemptuouslyfor four more. A fierce cut took him into the 90s, but with historybeckoning, he lost the plot.There was a lull thereafter, but once Jayawardene eased to his 50 from 104balls, the scoring rate picked up again. Oram was guided fine twice andMartin then driven superbly through cover. When Samaraweera cut Patel forfour to bring up the 200, Vettori was looking around for wicket-takingoptions. There didn’t seem any. Martin bowled a decent spell with the oldball just before stumps, but the rest, Vettori apart, leaked runs, and twomajestic pulls from Samaraweera off the horribly expensive O’Brien werethe perfect bookend to a hugely satisfactory day for the Lankans.

Match facts

Friday, September 25, 2009
Start time 2:30 pm, 12:30 GMTAndrew Strauss’s team faces a tough initiation against Sri Lanka•AFP

Big picture

Andrew Strauss is usually as affable as international captains come, but despite his upbeat sentiments, there was no disguising the exhausted despondency with which he addressed the media in Johannesburg on Wednesday, as England prepared to face the music in a one-day competition that has humiliation stamped all over it. True, they arrive in the country boasting a winning streak of one match, after denying Australia a 7-0 whitewash in the final ODI of the English summer on Sunday, but even in that irrelevant face-saver, they still shipped six wickets chasing 177.And now, with respect to an Australian side that may be the reigning Champions Trophy champions but are still in an undeniable rebuilding phase, England prepare to face a team that really knows how to play one-day cricket. Sri Lanka simply hammered the much-fancied tournament hosts, South Africa, in the opening match on Tuesday. Tillakaratne Dilshan’s majestic hundred put the match out of reach, as the wiles of Ajantha Mendis proved too canny to allow a 300-plus target to be pursued with any confidence – even for a team stacked with the sort of power-players that England can only dream of.In the absence of Kevin Pietersen (who has scored two of England’s three ODI hundreds since January 2008 – a tally that even Scotland has surpassed) and latterly Andrew Flintoff and even Luke Wright, England lack batsmen who can break the shackles, and raise the tempo. Strauss has been batting like a dream all summer, but even at his most imperious, he is still a man for whom an 80.00 strike-rate is a pacey tempo – hence his unfortunate habit during the Australia ODIs of getting out when well set, usually while attempting a reverse-sweep or similar, shots that his colleagues ought to have been producing while he continued to anchor the innings.Strange results are possible in 50-over cricket – let’s not forget, when England were last humiliated by Australia in a one-day campaign, in Australia in 2006-07, they somehow emerged with the CB Series trophy in their luggage, after Paul Collingwood stitched together back-to-back victories in the finals. But they’ve never yet won an ICC global event, and they’ve rarely looked less ready to break that habit. The rarefied atmosphere of the Highveld is no place for weary cricketers.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)England – WLLLL
Sri Lanka – WLWWL

Team news

With so many key players injured, and too many of the current incumbents out of form, it’s hard to know how England can hope to improve on their home form. Ravi Bopara and Owais Shah have been woefully short of confidence and one of that pair could well make way to enable England to field an extra seamer – which could well be their one trump card, having seen how dramatically South Africa’s early-season wickets have zipped around so far. Whether Tim Bresnan ousts Graham Onions depends on how much England value his extra batting abilities.England (possible): 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Joe Denly, 3 Owais Shah, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Matt Prior (wk), 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Stuart Broad, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Tim Bresnan, 10 Ryan Sidebottom, 11 James Anderson.Sri Lanka have very little to improve upon. Sanath Jayasuriya remains a concern at the top of the order, but he’ll play on until he drops, while the tireless Muttiah Muralitharan never ceases to be a menace. Lasith Malinga’s round-arm hostility will be a familiar but awkward challenge for Joe Denly, who will have gained a valuable sighter of his unorthodox action in the Kent nets.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilina Kandamby, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Angelo Mathews, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Muttiah Muralitharan, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Ajantha Mendis.

Watch out for…

An ICC event in South Africa was where James Anderson made his name way back in 2003, when he was the rising star of England’s attack, not least during a monumental performance against Pakistan in Cape Town when, in the immortal words of Cricinfo’s erstwhile scribe, Rob Smyth, he proved “so good under the lights, he ought to have been a moth”. If he can replicate the hostility that he showed in patches during the Ashes, and exploit the moist conditions that tend to prevail when the evening dew kicks in, he can cause a flap once again. Assuming England’s batsmen give him a total to defend, that is.With 71 wickets in 34 ODIs since his debut in April 2008, Ajantha Mendis has been one of the bowling sensations of the past 18 months, but England as yet have been denied an opportunity to sample his unique bag of tricks. A three-wicket haul in the opening game against South Africa confirmed that his carrom ball is flicking out nicely, and it remains to be seen how England manage to counter his wiles. Traditionally they’ve not been too impressive when it comes to figuring out mystery spinners …

Pitch and conditions

It’s early in the season on the Highveld, so who knows what to expect? So far, there has been evidence of helpful bowling conditions, unsurprisingly, and there has been plenty of rain in the high-altitude air as well.

Stats and trivia

• Jayasuriya has scored 28 ODI hundreds in 439 matches spanning 18 years. The 11 players who took the field for England in the seventh ODI at Chester-le-Street have a grand total of nine hundreds between them. Paul Collingwood, the most-capped player by a distance, has notched up 166 appearances.
• Sri Lanka have won only one of the four ODIs they have played at the Wanderers, and that was to avoid a 6-0 whitewash in 2000-01. Their last visit, during the 2003 World Cup, culminated in a 183-run drubbing at the hands of the eventual runners-up, India
• England have played three matches at the venue, all against South Africa, and at the third attempt they recorded their first win, by 26 runs in a rain-affected contest in 2005, notable for Kevin Pietersen’s hostile homecoming.

Quotes

“It’s not a long tournament, a bit of a sprint and quite exciting to know if you play well in three games you’re in the semi-final. We can wipe the slate clean to be honest.”
.”As a side, I feel we are still firing at 75% maybe. So we have a lot of areas to improve, but the good thing is that we’re still winning.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outIndia Red beat India Blue by seven wickets to lift the Challenger Trophy•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Sudeep Tyagi and Munaf Patel blew away India Blue for a paltry 84 before the India Red batsmen knocked off the target without much fuss to lift the Challenger Trophy in Nagpur.Tyagi started the demolition job with a fine spell of seam bowling. He was off radar during the Irani Cup, often bowling very short, but he was on song from the first ball today. He varied from back of a length to full and punctuated his offcutters with the one that straightened outside off. Tyagi struck first ball with a peach of a delivery that pegged back from outside off to knock out the off stump of Naman Ojha, who had shouldered arms.He then got one to cut back in from a fuller length to nail SS Kumar in front before troubling Harbhajan Singh with his bouncing offcutters from short of a length. Suddenly, he hurled one fuller to catch Harbhajan on the crease and knocked out off stump. If Tyagi can consistently reprise his today’s efforts, he will be knocking on the selectors’ doors.Those three wickets had broken Blue’s back and Munaf, who bowled first change today, settled in his rhythm quickly to cause further havoc. There is an opening in the Indian team and Munaf, sensing that, has been bowling really well right from the Irani Cup. Today, again, he operated at his best. He again hit the full length and found enough movement, nothing visually alarming but just enough, to cause trouble.He probed Wasim Jaffer’s weakness on the front foot by repeatedly drawing the batsman forward before he sneaked one in to get an lbw verdict. Yusuf Pathan gifted his wicket to Munaf with a fatal drive to mid-off and Abhishek Nayar dragged one from outside off onto the stumps. Munaf went on to collect Sreesanth’s wicket with a bouncer though it appeared to have gone off the arm guard for a catch behind the wicket.The third seamer, Ishant Sharma, tried to hit a fuller length but offered enough width outside off time and again to relieve the pressure but R Ashwin, the offspinner, bowled well to prevent Blue from breaking free. He beat Dhoni in flight and induced an airy drive to mid-off before he harassed Nayar with his off breaks and straighter ones. Nayar never looked comfortable against Ashwin and threw his wicket away to Munaf. Ashwin grew in confidence and even slipped in a carrom ball which squared-up Jalaj Saxena though didn’t get him a wicket. Ishant returned to terminate the innings with a double strike.Shikhar Dhawan and M Vijay got Red off to a steady start, negotiating a good spell from Sreesanth. Vijay, who was dropped by Ojha off Sreesanth when he pushed at a length delivery that shaped away, fell to Harbhajan but Dhawan hung around long enough to ensure the target would be reached without much alarm.

Scorecard
Ateeq Javid stole the show with 63 off 85 balls, comprising six boundaries and a six•Bangladesh Cricket Board

England Under-19 continued to impress late on their tour of Bangladesh with a three-wicket win against the Under-19 home team at the Shere Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka. It was their second win on the trot, with Bangladesh already having sealed the seven-match series, by winning the first four encounters.Put in by England, Bangladesh looked to be in trouble at 66 for 4, before opener Anamul Haque led the fightback with a fluent 74 off 121 balls, comprising three fours. He starred in the fifth-wicket partnership of 92 with Sabbir Rahman, who scored a quick 53. Both batsmen were sent back by Calum Haggett (3 for 21) before Alauddin Babu and Abul Hasan added 59 for the seventh wicket, courtesy their breezy cameos.The opening stand of 52 between Joe Root and Michael Bates put England in control during the reply. While Bates played the aggressor with 35 off 39 balls, Root worked hard for his 96-ball 48. But it was Ateeq Javid who stole the show with 63 off 85 balls, comprising six boundaries and a six. It was his knock that effectively sealed the match for the visitors, even as Mahmudul Hasan struck three crucial blows. Paul Best and Haggett completed formalities with eight balls to spare to better England’s series scoreline at 2-4.

Chris Rogers will return to Derbyshire as captain next year following a productive campaign with the county this season.Under Rogers, 32, Derbyshire finished in sixth position in Division Two of the County Championship in 2009, having won only two of their 16 games, but the management was impressed with his leadership. Rogers’ own form was outstanding and with more than 1,461 County Championship runs at 73.05 he was one of this year’s most prolific scorers.Derbyshire’s head of cricket, John Morris, said the county had responded well to Rogers’ captaincy and that it sought continuity for another season. “Chris has performed exceptionally well throughout the last two campaigns and we are delighted to be welcoming him back for another season.”Possessing a wonderful appetite for runs – illustrated in him scoring over 2,000 runs in all competitions in 2009 – and with an excellent professionalism in his game, Chris sets a fine example to the rest of the team and really has led the way as captain this year.”

Manoj Tiwary, the Bengal captain, has lashed out at some of his players, whom he said were pursuing “individual goals” and not performing as a unit, following his team’s drawn game against Saurashtra in Kolkata. Saurashtra piled up 650 in their first innings and bowled out Bengal for 456 to enforce the follow-on.Reacting to the below-par performance, Tiwary said: “It’s time to bid goodbyeto our reputation and play as a unit now in the present context. Instead of playing for individual goals, our players need to focus on the team goal. There is a room for improvement in that area.”Saurashtra gained three points from the game as a result of their first-innings lead while Bengal had to settle with one. The teams are separated by just one point on the Group B table, with Bengal ahead.Tiwary asserted the need for introspection among the players in the side. “We need to sit together, discuss what is going wrong and rectify our mistakes,” he said. “We have tough two matches ahead (against Uttar Pradesh and Delhi).”Tiwary led a team that included former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who managed just 16 in Bengal’s first innings. When asked if Ganguly will participate in Bengal’s upcoming fixture against UP, Tiwary said: “I don’t know. He is in the best position to answer this.”

Widespread fears over the future of Test cricket have been partly assuaged by the news that the BCCI has asked South Africa to play two Tests in India during their tour early next year, dropping two one-day internationals from the schedule to make space for the five-day matches.India’s change of mind – the tour was just going to comprise seven ODIs before being cut to five – came about after they ascended to the ICC’s No. 1 ranking in Tests for the first time. Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola confirmed the request and said they were now trying to make space for the Tests, which would lengthen the tour by a week.”They [India] have requested we play two Tests and three ODIs and we are still considering it,” Majola said. “We still have to consult with the South African Cricketers’ Association, the team management, our playing regulations and fixtures committees, as well as the board. It would extend the tour by another week, but we would like to accommodate them and I don’t foresee a problem with it.”The dramatic about-turn came only four days after Majola was forced to issue a statement saying the Tests in India had merely been postponed, after a storm of criticism in South Africa that the No. 1 and 2 sides in the premier version of the game would not meet in that format.It is believed CSA is calling on the sponsors of their Twenty20 domestic competition – the Standard Bank Pro20 – to agree to a postponement of their semi-finals and final by a week in order to accommodate the Tests in India and ensure the country’s top players are back for the knockout stages of the Pro20.The first round of Standard Bank Pro20 semi-finals are due to start on February 24, with the second round beginning on March 3 and the final on March 12. Those dates would all need to be shifted back by at least a week now, meaning the last two rounds of the four-day Supersport Series would have to be moved into April.The two teams that advance to the Standard Bank Pro20 final land themselves a lucrative place in the Champions League Twenty20, so the franchises are understandably eager for their best players to be available.India’s newly-acquired position atop the Test rankings was under threat because they were only scheduled to play two Tests in the next 11 months, which explains its sudden interest in playing more Tests. Cricket South Africa has invariably tried to ensure they don’t land on the wrong side of the BCCI, so it is likely India will get its wish and Test cricket will have a stellar showdown to look forward to.

The renovation and modernisation work at the Wankhede Stadium has run into a legal wrangle, which could make the venue miss the deadline for the 2011 World Cup. The ground is scheduled to host the final of the event, along with two league matches but its south-eastern section of the venue that reportedly violates environmental and safety norms.A public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the Mumbai High Court, which comes up for hearing on Thursday, has brought the matter up. “The stadium falls in the Coastal Regulation Zone. There are several areas where permission has not been given, but construction is on and in full swing,” YP Singh, counsel of Amit Maru, who has filed the PIL, told the Kolkata-based .Among the many concerns are the lack of access to the fire brigade to all parts of the venue as required under the National Building Code of India, and a green belt around the stadium. Also, the Western Railways had issued a “no work” order as the portion adjoining the east and south stands did not leave the minimum 30-metre vacant space from the rail tracks, Singh said. “The stadium authorities have not taken the necessary no-objection certificate from the Railways. They have taken away the entire exit from the Railways.”Apart from the legal hurdles, the venue was also struggling with the completion of the construction work before the arrival of the south-west monsoon in May-June. The south stand, where work has been suspended pending the court verdict, is likely to miss the deadline.Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s chief administrative officer and tournament director for the 2011 World Cup, assured the construction work was on schedule and the stadium would be ready in time. “The PIL relates to the 30-metre gap between the stadium and the railway tracks, and it is only (regard to) the east stand. Even there, we are not demolishing it, only strengthening it,” Shetty said. “If anyone has talked of any issues with the south stand, I don’t know. The rest of the work is on schedule.”

The Cobras began the opening round of this season’s Pro20 competition as they ended last season’s campaign – at the top of the log. They beat the Highveld Lions by 42 runs in Cape Town. Herschelle Gibbs, the long time favourite son of Newlands, raised his half-century off just 26 balls before he was dismissed for 53. Richard Levi was the other major contributor for the home side with an undefeated 43 of 20 balls as the Cobras put on an imposing 179 in 20 overs.There were some encouraging signs in the bowling department for the Lions. Robert Frylink showed impressive form with 4 for 31 and Aaron Phangiso’s left-arm spin earned him 3 for 23. Phangiso also took an amazing catch at mid-on to dismiss Gibbs.The Lions’ batting also showed promise. Vaughn van Jaarsveld came to the party with 39 off 22 balls, as did Dane Vilas with 32 off 18 balls. There must have been bitterness though, as two former Lions players undid the Highveld team. Justin Ontong (3 for 27) and Charl Langeveldt (3 for 18) had the Lions looking like kittens once again. Their last six batsmen scored 17 runs collectively as the Lions collapsed for 137 after 19 overs.Down the road in East London, matters were more tense, with the Warriors beating the Eagles by a slender three runs. The Warriors may have felt that they were a few runs short after posting 149 for 7. Colin Ingram, who ended the MTN40 as the top scorer, scored 61 off 49 balls. Nicky Boje chipped in with 32 off 20 balls, batting at No. 6.Makhaya Ntini removed Morne van Wyk in the third over of the Eagles’ reply but that was the only success for the Mdingi Express as Ryan Bailey’s 73 off 47 balls seemed to set the Eagles up for victory. None of the other batsmen had any major contributions but the Eagles looked well placed with Bailey at the crease. The Free Staters needed seven runs off the last four balls but Juan Theron denied them with a succession of well-directed yorkers.The match between the Dolphins and the Titans in Durban was abandoned due to bad weather. That means the teams shared the points and lie in third and fourth place respectively. The Cobras are on top of the log with their comprehensive win, followed by the Warriors, while the Eagles lie in fifth and the Lions are, once again, languishing at the bottom.Round two sees the Dolphins aim to get their first match action against the Warriors and the Titans take on the Cobras on Sunday.

Pakistan’s parliamentary sports committee wants Shahid Afridi to be punished further for tampering with the ball during the fifth ODI against Australia in Perth last month. The committee told the PCB that Afridi, who is serving a ban of two Twenty20 internationals, had maligned the country’s reputation and such an offence warranted a harsher penalty.”If he [Afridi] bites the ball like an apple, there are lots of problems behind it,” Senator Haroon Akhtar told PCB chairman Ijaz Butt. “If you don’t take action this will happen again. The team lacks discipline and you got to rectify the problem.”Afridi was caught by TV cameras biting the ball on a couple of occasions. This was reported by the TV umpire to the on-field umpires who, after a chat with Afridi, changed the ball. Afridi pleaded guilty to the charge at a hearing with the match referee Ranjan Madugalle immediately after the game. He apologised and regretted his action and was banned for two Twenty20 internationals, the second of which is the first match against England on February 19 in Dubai.Butt, however, told the committee that the board could not punish Afridi further. “The ICC has told us clearly that you can’t punish a player twice for one offence,” Butt said. “Their lawyer has also suggested that if we handed more punishment to Afridi, and he challenges it in court, it will run the PCB into trouble.”Senator Tariq Azeem, though, countered by saying that selecting a player was at the PCB’s discretion. “The ICC can’t question you if you don’t pick him up in the national team,” he said. “You should not compromise the integrity of the nation. No player is indispensable. We should tell the world that we are not cheaters and we know how to deal with indisciplined players.”