Only 19 days after the World Cup ended, and already there’s anothertournament final to be played, as Pakistan take on Zimbabwe to decide thewinners of the Cherry Blossom Cup in Sharjah. It may be just another match injust another one-day competition, but there is something special about tomorrow’s final – it’s the 2000th one-day international.Yes, it was just over 32 years ago that Graham McKenzie bowled to GeoffreyBoycott at Melbourne to start the ODI circus rolling all round the world.And yet, while it’s taken only that long to reach the 2000th ODI, there havebeen only 1637 Test matches since the first – also at Melbourne – way backin March 1877.But while the Sharjah Cup final may not be the most important match to gracethis landmark, it is fitting that the game is being held at what might becalled the spiritual home of one-day cricket. The SCG has hosted 115 ODIs,the MCG 114, and Lord’s only 32, but Sharjah leads the way with a whopping197.But enough of the history lesson, what about the game itself? Pakistan startas favourites, having won three out of three here, including a comfortable68-run win over Zimbabwe in the first match of the tournament. With anew-look young team under the older heads of the captain Rashid Latif andthe coach Javed Miandad, they have made a good start to their life after theWorld Cup. Younis Khan has relished the responsibility as the senior batsmanof the team and new boy Mohammad Hafeez has also made a good impression atthe top of the order.Zimbabwe also had their problems in the World Cup, mainly off the field – soa chance to escape the poverty and politics which currently engulf theirhomeland has been a welcome weight off their shoulders. They have playedwell to reach the final, including a hard-fought and unexpected win over SriLanka, and Pakistan should be wary of the Zimbabweans, despite their earlierwin over them. Douglas Marillier has excelled at No. 2 in the batting order,scoring his maiden ODI hundred against Kenya, while Grant Flower has donehis best to fill in the huge hole left by his brother’s enforced retirement.A lot depends on the Sharjah pitch, too. The wickets have been on the slowside, which has meant low scores. However, Pakistan smashed 286 againstKenya – the highest total of the tournament – on one of the more livelypitches in the last round-robin match, and they will be hoping tomorrow’strack is of a similar nature. If it is – and they don’t have any pre-matchfootball games – then expect a Pakistan win.Teams (probable)Pakistan1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Taufeeq Umar, 3 Faisal Iqbal, 4 Yousuf Youhana, 5Younis Khan, 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Rashid Latif (capt, wk) 8 Abdul Razzaq, 9Naved-ul-Hasan, 10 Mohammad Sami, 11 Umar Gul.Zimbabwe1 Craig Wishart, 2 Douglas Marillier, 3 Gavin Rennie, 4 Grant Flower, 5Tatenda Taibu (wk), 6 Sean Ervine, 7 Dion Ebrahim, 8 Heath Streak (capt), 9Andy Blignaut, 10 Ray Price, 11 Douglas Hondo.

The most inconsistent team in the Carib Beer Cricket Series has returned to Barbados with a new lease on life.India "A", badly beaten here inside three days immediately after their late arrival in the Caribbean six weeks ago, would have been on their way home had they not won last weekend against dethroned Cup champions Jamaica.The win lifted them from seventh to sixth in the points table on 33 points and victory against cellar-placed West Indies "B" in their rescheduled first round match at Kensington Oval, starting today, will leapfrog them to third position and into the semifinals of the International Challenge."We know this is do or die for us," team coach Ashok Malhotra told WEEKENDSPORT during a practice session at Weymouth yesterday. "The Jamaica game has given us a new lease on life. We are hoping to get 12 points against West Indies "B"."If we get 12, we are in, otherwise we are going home. The boys know the job is cut out for them."For a team that includes at least six players with international experience, the Indians have not lived up to expectations.They could be excused for the match against Barbados when they would not have been fully acclimatised."It has been a roller-coaster ride. The match which really hurts me is the Windwards one, which we lost outright after beating Trinidad and Tobago outright," Malhotra said. "We all know Windwards is not a great side."Malhotra, who was part of Kapil Dev’s team that played five Tests in the West Indies in 1983, attributes the India "A" team’s inconsistency to his batsmen."The batters we have on this tour, once they pass 30s and 40s back home they score hundreds and big hundreds," he said. "In about 50 (individual) innings we have only one hundred to show for it. The batsmen are getting 20s and 30s and getting out."It has nothing to do with adjusting to conditions, he added."The pitches are more or less like back home. We haven’t seen any bouncy tracks in the Caribbean. When I came here 20 years back, the ball used to bounce much more."Some of their batsmen have done reasonably well, however. Left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir has four half-centuries and an aggregate of 508 runs (ave. 46.18), while fellow opener Akash Chopra has 455 runs (ave. 41.36) with a highest of 174.After the match against Jamaica which India "A" won by two wickets with the help of an unbroken ninth wicket half-century stand, they are quietly confident better things are ahead."It was a launching pad for us. We know that if we play one good game, we are playing Guyana, whom we had a good game against. We know what we can do to them," Malhotra said. "I feel if we beat West Indies "B", I think we might go through to the finals."Victory against the youngsters will put them in third place and it will give them a semifinal berth against the defending international champions. The other semi would therefore bring together new Cup champions Barbados and Jamaica at Kensington, starting a week from today.If India "A" fail to win, Barbados will host Trinidad and Tobago in the semis, which will also feature Guyana and Jamaica in Georgetown.India "A" are hoping captain VVS Laxman, who missed the match against Jamaica with a back injury, will be fit to take his place. He batted in the nets yesterday, but the decision will be left to him just prior to the start of the match.The tourists will definitely be without left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, who broke his thumb while fielding to his own bowling against Jamaica.

Sunday 25th May will be another day to remember for Austrian cricket. Having held a joint festival with Pakistan Falken CC last year, Pakistan CC will be holding a six team one day festival on Seebarn’s two grounds, with the participants already confirmed at Salzburg CC, Lords CC, Five Continents CC, Pakistan United CC, Zarapak CC and hosts Pakistan CC. After a group stage there will be semi-finals and a final, with the event being rounded off with a prizegiving in the evening.On 12th and 13th July, CC Velden 91 will also be holding an international sixes competition, with participants coming from all over Europe, to play at one of the most scenic grounds in Europe. Velden has added appeal for touring teams from England now that Ryanair has started flights to Klagenfurt, and hopefully there will soon be frequent visits from England for what must be a unique cricketing opportunity.For further information please see the club events page of this site.

Somerset Seconds went down by the narrowest of margins against their Worcestershire counterparts in the 2nd XI Trophy at North Perrott earlier this week.Batting first the hosts scored 300 for 5 from their fifty overs, thanks to a fine opening partnership of 146 between Matt Wood (85) and Carl Gazzard (75) and 54 from all rounder Wes Durston.In reply Worcestershire reached 303 for 9 in the final over with Steve Adshead making 141 and Kadeer Ali 60. For Somerset there were two wickets each for Gareth Andrew and Neil Edwards.The Seconds travel to Southampton to play against Hampshire on Monday and then return to the County Ground on Wednesday next week when they entertain Gloucestershire in the Trophy.

Frizzell County Championship Division OneKent 362 and 418 for 3 dec v Nottinghamshire 156 and 29 for 2 at Maidstone
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Kent took complete charge of their match at Mote Park, setting Notts an unlikely victory target of 625 and removing two batsmen by the close. As on the first day, Kent’s heroes were Ed Smith and Mohammad Sami. Smith hit 113, his third century in successive innings and his fourth in five knocks (the one in the middle was a duck, as were his three innings before the first hundred), and put on 233 with Rob Key, who put England rejection behind him to slap 140. Andrew Symonds rounded it off with an 81-ball century, with 15 fours and a six, before Kent declared. The Mohammad Sami, who had polished off Nottinghamshire’s first innings by taking the last fiive wickets to finish with 8 for 64, the best figures of the season so far, chimed in again by trapping Guy Welton lbw and bowling Darren Bicknell.

Middlesex 620 for 7 dec v Leicestershire 221 for 3 at Southgate
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An exciting innings from Virender Sehwag, who cracked 130 from 111 balls, with 20 fours and four sixes, brought Leicestershire back into the match after they had conceded a huge total at the Walker Ground. Sehwag piled on 197 for the first wicket with ex-Middlesex man John Maunders, who made 55, but then three quick wickets from Chad Keegan, including Sehwag caught by Sven Koenig, restored Middlesex’s advantage. Earlier Ed Joyce and David Nash had joined Andy Strauss in the ton-up club before Middlesex declared at an imposing 620 for 7.Essex 340 v Sussex 282 for 8 at Arundel
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On a slow pitch at picturesque Arundel Park Sussex crept towards parity with Essex, who were all out early in the morning for 340. Tony Cottey then scored 107 in four-and-a-half hours for Sussex, adding 178 bfor the fourth wicket with Tim Ambrose (88). But three late wickets for Paul Grayson, to make up for his first-over duck yesterday, gave Essex late hope.Surrey 355 and 282 for 3 v Warwickshire 245 at Edgbaston
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Surrey, with a nap hand of 11 Test players in their side, unsurprisingly hold the upper hand after two days in Birmingham, leading by 392 already. Today Azhar Mahmood led the way with four wickets as Warwickshire were shot out for 245, 110 behind, then the Marks Butcher and Ramprakash both scored centuries to put Surrey firmly in charge. Butcher’s 118 came from only 116 ball,s with 20 fours and two sixes, while Ramps was almost as attacking – he cracked 18 fours and a six as well. Surrey have so far scored at more than six an over throughout their second innings.Frizzell County Championship Division TwoDerbyshire 89 and 226 for 4 v Gloucestershire 277 at Derby
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Michael Di Venuto’s third century of the season hauled Derbyshire back into the game after Gloucestershire had claimed a lead of 188. But Di Venuto was twice pardoned by Stephen Pope, Gloucester’s wicketkeeper, who put him down at 35 and 39. He survived to put on 106 with Dominic Hewson (39) and an unbeaten 81 with Luke Sutton (38*) before bad light brought an early close. At the start of the day Dominic Cork took two quick wickets to finish with 4 for 75 as Gloucester’s tail addded 63 runs.Durham 327 v Northamptonshire 320 for 8 at Chester-le-Street
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It’s all square and all to play for at the Riverside, where Northants finished up seven runs behind Durham with just two wickets standing. Durham added only two runs in the morning, then Phil Jaques cracked another cetury for Northants. His 109 included 14 juicy fours, and he put on 92 for the second wicket with Mike Hussey (43). Solid contributions down the order took Northants to within sight of Durham’s total.Glamorgan 349 and 113 for 3 v Somerset 233 at Cardiff
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Glamorgan grabbed the upper hand at Sophia Gardens, bowling Somerset out for 233 to claim a lead of 116 – Mike Kasprowicz finished with 4 for 53 – then increasing that by 113. Jimmy Maher is still there with 42 not out, while Matthew Maynard spanked a brisk 32 not out towards the close. The main Somerset resistance came from their captain Mike Burns , who made 50, and England’s forgotten one-day man, Ian Blackwell, who smacked 82 from 96 balls, with ten fours and a six. They put on 61, but the next-highest score was Jamie Cox’s 24.

If ever there was a good time to be a first-class cricketer in India, it is now. Breaking with tradition, the Board of Control for Cricket inIndia (BCCI) has named a mammoth 36-man squad for a pre-season trainingcamp. Virtually anyone who has performed well – in domestic cricket or on A tours – has been rewarded with the chance to train under the vigilant eyes of John Wright and Greg King, the newly appointed physio.The Indian board doesn’t lavish much attention on domestic cricketers – unless, of course, they make it into the national side. Recently, though, It has taken many steps to nudge Indian cricket along in the right direction. The Challenger Trophy is being held at a time when India is not playing international cricket; the Irani trophy has been made virtually a must-play event for the big names in Indian cricket.In some ways, the naming of 36 probables to attend two camps – one forpre-season conditioning and another for practice – is the board’smanner of formally kicking off the domestic season. In recent years, the beginning and end of seasons has been increasingly blurred, with amind-numbing number of one-day tournaments being played.The camp starting on August 14 will miss one man. Few people seem toknow what’s going on with Javagal Srinath’s mind and body. These days he seems to be either announcing a retirement, an injury or a comeback,depending on the time of the month. Despite all this, he remains one ofthe most valuable medium-pacers in Sourav Ganguly’s armoury. He may notbe missed much in the home series against New Zealand, where thetyros, along with the spinners, can shoulder much of the load. But inAustralia, where the pitches are true and the batsmen fairly fearless,Srinath’s loopy slower ball and new-found probing line outside the offwill be invaluable.For the moment though, it’s not Srinath that Ganguly and co will be focussed on. There are a few slots in the Indian team that remainunclaimed, and a healthy number of contenders to step up and fill thebreach. Parthiv Patel’s glovework might be effortless and natural, buthis batting remains a worry, and with this in mind the selectors havegiven Thilak Naidu a chance to impress. In and out of favour with theKarnataka team in recent years, Naidu was once the hot thing in SouthZone cricket, scoring runs by the bucketful with his honest biffing,backing it up well with safe performances behind the stumps. Thisyear’s Challenger series represents Naidu’s best chance to finally makethat transition to the highest level.If wicketkeeping proves a spot of bother, the opening slots have beendownright troublesome. Sanjay Bangar and Virender Sehwag have done aneffective job at the top of the innings, but this is a band-aid fixrather than a cure. Realising that, there’s a spate of youngsters competing for the two spots.Gautam Gambhir is a frontrunner, adding A team runs to a highlysuccessful Ranji season. Wasim Jaffer may struggle to drive off thefront foot, but timing has never been his problem. After playing a vital role in Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy success, Jaffer capped a prolific A tour of England with 218 in the last game. Then there’s that youngster John Wright rates ever so highly: Shiv Sunder Das. After a promising India debut, and inevitable comparisons to Sunil Gavaskar, a run of bad form cruelly exposed technical flaws in his game. Over the last season, he’s worked hard to iron those faults out, and will almost certainly be a part of Wright’s plans.Siddharth Trivedi might have been overjoyed at seeing his name on thelist of probables, but he should be realistic. Despite his relaxed,almost Venkatesh Prasad-esque run-up and action, he’s far down thepecking order in the list of aspiring seamers. Aavishkar Salvi, havingalready played for India, looks very much the item. Lakshmipathy Balaji is better than his one-day debut against West Indies last year would indicate. Irfan Pathan Jr keeps the selectors on their toes, regularly serving up wickets by the plateful. And there’s Amit Bhandari, trying desperately to prove that he’s not the same bowler who got belted for 75 runs from 10 overs in an Asia Cup game against Pakistan two years ago.And what of Hemang Badani? Once thought of as the Michael Bevan ofIndian one-day cricket, Badani has failed to cement his place in theside. He simmers in the sidelines with noteworthy performances thatinclude a century in the Ranji final. Add to this list the allroundcapabilities of Reetinder Sodhi and Ramesh Powar, as well as the live-wire batting of Mithun Manhas and you’ve covered virtually every cricketer worth his salt in the country.

Thursday was a bad day for English cricket: 398 for 1 wasn’t great, but now we know the real price. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Yet for all Nasser Hussain’s protestations of weariness, you have to feel that there is more to his resignation than meets the eye.Only two months ago he was talking openly about his career goals, chief among them passing Peter May’s record of 20 Test wins as England captain. (Hussain has 17.) So, what’s changed? Hussain says he is tired. He looks tired – but then he has for most of his reign. It is one of his strengths that he always overcame it. To survive all the trials of last winter and to go now is more than a little strange.There are two ways of viewing Hussain’s abdication. The first is that he was his own man to the last, courageously biting the bullet rather than hanging on like the rabid old dictator he has been increasingly portrayed as. The other is that to leave the job at this time, in this way, is thoroughly out of character. Quitting three days before a big game is the sort of thing Kevin Keegan does, not Nasser Hussain. At least Hussain left England with Michael Vaughan and not Howard Wilkinson.Unlike Keegan, Hussain certainly didn’t lose the dressing-room – Darren Gough summed up the mood when he said he would go through a brick wall for Hussain – but maybe he didn’t understand it any more. All this talk of PlayStations and red streaks, of sexed-up photoshoots and lads’ mags – maybe he felt out of place. When even Ashley Giles gets highlights, you know there is revolution in the air.More likely, it will have nagged that, for the first time, he had lost the respect of some of the media. There has been the whiff of a burgeoning agenda, and there is no doubt that attitudes to Hussain have hardened in the past few months, particularly since England’s zesty showing under Vaughan.Hussain, as a result, was depicted by the press as antiquated, a dinosaur. How quickly they forget. In terms of sustained consistency of performance, England are playing as well as at any time for 20 years. Increasingly over the past six months Hussain has pointed out the achievements England have made in his reign – as well as his own form over the last few series. It was nagging at him that his work had not been properly acknowledged, that he and Duncan Fletcher were not getting the respect they deserved.His dismissal in the first innings, padding up to Shaun Pollock, was a case in point. Yes it was a poor leave. Yes it wasn’t the first time he’d gone that way in a big Edgbaston Test. But the fact remains that Hussain should not have been given out: the ball was going over the top and wide of the stumps, but almost universally, the press ignored that. Et tu, Brute?The fact remains that Hussain is still the best captain in England. When he announced his retirement from one-day internationals, he said he still thought England were a better side when he captained them. Has that really changed? England looked like they enjoyed the NatWest Series, sure, but was Vaughan’s captaincy really that good?Hussain also said the split captaincy caused him problems. This is a rare deviation from his adherence to all things Australian. There, it has worked perfectly. For Vaughan read Ricky Ponting, the easy-going star batsman with the swivel-pull to die for; for Hussain read Steve Waugh, the hard-nosed grinder, sweating every last drop from himself and his team. With Hussain, it has always been about the team. Finally he has made a decision with himself in mind – but his team will be a hell of a lot poorer for it.Review: The best England captain since Brearley
News: Hussain resigns

A high class innings of 85 from Matthew Maynard, plus an elegant 64* from David Hemp put Glamorganinto a promising position on the opening day of their County Championship match against Gloucestershireat Bristol, as the Welsh county made 314-6.Maynard was in vintage form, hitting 13 fours and a six to come within 11 runs of passing 1,000 runs forthe 13th time in his career. He was also just 15 runs short of recording his 10th hundred againstGloucestershire, and to equal the feats of Sir Jack Hobbs and Frank Woolley who jointly hold the recordfor the most number of centuries against the West Country side.Glamorgan had begun the match in third place of Division Two, 10 points ahead of theiropponents who badly need to win this game to maintain their own promotion hopes. Thehome team suffered an early blow when captain Mark Alleyne and Mike Smith, their experiencedbowler, both failed fitness tests, whilst Glamorgan were also without Dean Cosker,following a family bereavement.After winning the toss, Robert Croft had little hesistation in deciding to bat first, and Glamorgan`sopeners, Jimmy Maher and Ian Thomas, then made a sedate start against the accurate Gloucestershireseamers. With the score on 33, Glamorgan lost their first wicket when Jimmy Maher was brilliantlystumped down the legside by Jack Russell as the opener slightly overbalanced trying to glance Ian Harvey off his legs.Ian Thomas continued to play watchfully, and with Adrian Dale also batting with care, they took the score to75 when, ten minutes before lunch, Thomas drove a ball firmly back to Martyn Ball and was caught and bowled for 24.Powell began with some firm drives either side of the wicket, but in the tenth over after lunch, he lost hispartner as Dale was caught at mid-wicket for 32 with the score on 105.Dale`s departure saw Maynard arrive at the crease and he was soon on the attack,dispatching anything offline or short, and dealt almost exclusively in fours as he and Powellquickly shared a half century partnership, with Maynard taking his side past the 150 mark with ahandsome cover drive off Ball.Maynard, who scored centuries in both innings when Glamorgan played at Cheltenham last year, was indismissive mood, with one rasping straight drive off Ball nearly removing the off-spinner`s hand as hetried in vain to catch the ball. Despite losing Powell for 42, Maynard continued in attacking vein hittingBall back over his head for a straight six to reach his half-century from 69 balls, which also included 10 fours.David Hemp came in to play a fine supporting role with some sweetly timed off-drives, as Maynard continued hisassault after tea, but on 85 Maynard pulled a delivery from Martyn Ball into Jon Lewis` hands at mid-wicket.Shortly afterwards Lewis dismissed Mark Wallace as the Glamorgan wicket-keeper chipped to mid-on,but Croft gave Hemp useful support and the left-hander reached a well deserved half-century from 120 balls with 7 fours.The pair were still there at the close with Glamorgan looking to add at least a further hundred runs when thematch resumes tomorrow morning.

Martin Snedden believes politics have been removed from debate over suspect bowling actions but reaching decisions had been made harder as a result of high quality technology being brought into discussion. He was reviewing the recent meeting of the International Cricket Council’s cricket committee-management held in India.Snedden, the chief executive of New Zealand Cricket and a former international medium-fast bowler, said the issue was becoming bound up in technology. “Experts are analysing bowlers with a high degree of technology which shows that most fast bowlers have some form of extra extension in their delivery. Technology has made it harder rather than easier to resolve the issue.”The meeting had looked at various ways to get the system for helping suspect bowlers working efficiently but it was felt that where the system was at the moment was reasonable. The matter has been referred back to the ICC cricket committee-playing for more discussion at their next meeting.Snedden did find there was some interest in a paper he presented on the move being made in New Zealand this year whereby umpires will not give a reason for declining appeals from the fielding side. This was being done because of the way players had abused a privilege that had been extended to teams in good faith by the umpires.”There was interest in what we were doing and other members are keen to see how it works in practice and it may be possible that the ICC looks to bring this in across the world. I have to report back to the next committee meeting in Bangladesh in February on how it has worked out before it is taken any further,” he told Wisden Cricinfo today.Snedden said he felt there was a positive feel about the meeting and the relationships between countries had improved since the issues raised during the World Cup. “It’s taken time to recover from that but it is much more positive now. It was helpful being in India for the meeting and that enabled the new president Ehsan Mani to spend quite a lot of time with the Indian administration and Jagmohan Dalmiya.”The decision over the World Cup format for the tournament to be held in the West Indies in 2007 was a sensible one, Snedden believed. One of the criticisms of this year’s event was that it had gone too long with too many mismatches. While the new format would see the number of competing teams lifted to 16, it would produce a cleaner format. And, Snedden said, it had to be remembered that the West Indies was a confederation of 13 countries. By having four sections of four teams, teams would play their first three games in the same country before the successful countries moved into the Super Eights in two different countries and through the process to find the winner.”Logistically it makes good sense and the tournament will move much quicker to a conclusion,” he said. Similarly with the proposed Super Series whereby the No 1 ranked teams in the world in Test and one-day rankings, would play the best of the rest. This, if it went ahead, would be played in South Africa around September 2005 although much work had still to be done before it was confirmed.New Zealand’s Players’ Association had been supportive of the idea, although there were some questions of the viability of the concept. Snedden said it was his understanding that the players at the top of the individual rankings in both styles of the game would be the preferred players for the two events. It was a means of rewarding the best players in the game.As far as Players’ Associations were concerned, Snedden said everyone agreed there needed to be an effective method of consultation with elite players. But it was important that home boards establish a good line of communication with their own players before the ICC then looked to have a strong line of communication with the representatives of the elite players and their home countries, so that there were three parties, and not just two, in the loop.Cultural differences needed to be taken into account along with the realisation that some countries saw these issues differently to others. But he felt the issue was closer to a solution.As for the issue of the volume of cricket being played, Snedden said there was a review of the whole structure being undertaken but that the 10-year programme was not at issue, it was the extra games that countries arranged for themselves that were the problem. And it wasn’t the over-use of teams that was the issue, it was more the individual players and how they were managed, especially if they were part of both the specialist one-day and Test teams.

It has already been a winter of hard work for England’s cricketers, and that was just to get past the easy bit. But now, with Bangladesh successfully put to one side, and the West Indies tour still a dot on the horizon, it is time to get stuck into arguably the toughest six weeks of England’s three-pronged campaign.The heat and humidity of Dhaka and Chittagong might have seemed oppressive, but it is as nothing compared to the furnace that awaits England at Dambulla tomorrow, where their tour of Sri Lanka will begin in earnest. Up till now, England’s gravest threat has come from the elements (and their own fears of an upset). Tomorrow, however, they face a side that is brimful of talent, and more importantly, one that is gunning for vengeance after the last, fractious, tour early in 2001.On that occasion, England had already wrapped up an historic 2-1 Test series win by the time the one-day circus came to town, and they treated the three matches as something of an afterthought. Nasser Hussain had already flown home early to reap the plaudits of back-to-back series victories in the subcontinent, and in his absence, England were led to a 3-0 defeat by Graham Thorpe. But the current England squad takes its one-day cricket far more seriously than it did back then. A repeat performance would be a massive disappointment.England were the opponents in Dambulla’s inaugural fixture, on March 23, 2001, and for the second time in two tours they will be facing an unknown quantity at the venue. A belated decision was taken this month to install floodlights at the ground – they only received the OK on Thursday – and, after Sri Lanka had tested the conditions in a warm-up game on Saturday, their captain Marvan Atapattu gave them a guarded thumbs-up.”The floodlights were OK,” said Atapattu. “But personally, I did not feel they were as bright as the ones at the Premadasa [in Colombo]. There was also a bit of dew later on, which will be a factor. My feeling is that the ball will move around a bit more in the early evening.” The toss, in other words, will be crucial. The match starts at 0830 GMT.With the onus on seam bowling, Sri Lanka have already indicated that they will be giving a debut to their 21-year-old quickie, Nuwan Kulasekara, as back-up to the established new-ball pairing of Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa. England, on the other hand, are unlikely to jeopardise the balance of their batting by including James Kirtley at the expense of one of the spinners, but one change that is highly likely is a new opening partner for Marcus Trescothick.Vikram Solanki looked to have cracked international cricket when he laced a wonderful century at The Oval last summer, but he was all at sea against Bangladesh last week, scoring only 11 runs in his three innings. He followed that up with a fifth-ball duck in Saturday’s warm-up game, and it cannot be long before Andrew Strauss is given an opportunity to prove his mettle. By his own admission, Strauss will never be a big hitter in the mould of Trescothick or Andrew Flintoff, but his 83 from 88 balls on Saturday was not the effort of a sluggard.No series against Sri Lanka, however, can be contemplated without due deference to Muttiah Muralitharan. “He is the best spinner in the world today,” said Trescothick, one of a posse of left-handers who got the better of him last time around. “We have our game-plans for combatting him, and without giving too much away, it’s about countering his spin, not nullifying him completely.”That is just as well, because Flintoff, England’s man of the moment, doesn’t know the meaning of the word “nullify”. Flintoff and Murali are two good friends from their days at Lancashire, and when they come across each other in the middle, it promises to be a contest to savour. It might even be the defining contest. For years, Sri Lanka have been accused of being a one-man side. In Bangladesh last week, so were England. If one or other gets the upper hand in the coming days, it will serve as a potent marker for the rest of the tour.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), 3 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Kumar Sangakkara, 6 Russel Arnold, 7 Upul Chandana, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Nuwan Zoysa, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Nuwan Kulasekara.England (probable): 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Rikki Clarke, 7 Chris Read (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Gareth Batty, 10 Richard Johnson, 11 James Anderson.