Yorkshire gained their first victory of the season in the Friends Life t20 North Group but it was desperately close as they overcame Worcestershire by just two runs at Headingley

09-Jun-2011
ScorecardYorkshire gained their first victory of the season in the Friends Life t20 North Group but it was a desperately close run thing as they overcame Worcestershire by just two runs at Headingley. But it was just the tonic they needed ahead of Friday night’s Roses clash at Old Trafford.Defending a total of 152 for 7, Yorkshire were well served by Man of the Match Richard Pyrah who captured 4 for 21 and Adil Rashid who claimed 3 for 19 off his four overs. But the real star performance came from Worcestershire’s Gareth Andrew who followed up his 3 for 30 return by smashing an unbeaten 60 off 24 deliveries with five fours and four sixes.With Rashid and Pyrah each collecting two wickets in an over, Worcestershire slumped to 67 for 5 before Andrew set about the bowling, striking David Wainwright for two big sixes and a four in one over and hammering Steve Patterson for four and six to take his side into three figures.James Cameron helped him add 59 in five overs for the sixth wicket before falling in another double-wicket over from Pyrah but Andrew refused to give up the fight and Ryan Sidebottom had to bowl the final over with 12 wanted.Shaaiq Choudhry drove his first ball for three and when Andrew could only run a bye off the fifth his partner needed a boundary to win it for Worcestershire but he failed to make contact and the pair could only scamper another bye.Most of Yorkshire’s batsmen had earlier managed modest contributions but none was able to go on to make a good score with several of them getting out to indifferent strokes.As so often has been the case this season, Andrew Gale got the innings off to a cracking start in an opening stand of 40 in 28 balls with Jonny Bairstow, the Yorkshire captain smacking five boundaries in his 29 off 15 deliveries before miscuing Shakib al Hasan to Damien Wright running in from mid-on.A powerful off-drive by Adam Lyth at the expense of Jack Shantry raised the 50 inside six overs but when Choudhry came on the left-hander drove his second ball straight to Moeen Ali at deep mid-on.Bairstow was lbw swinging at Ali for 24 from 27 balls and Anthony McGrath just appeared to have got into his stride when he tamely played Andrew’s third ball to Shantry at midwicket, making it 99 for 4.The slide continued as Gary Ballance flicked a ball from Andrew into Ben Scott’s gloves and the seamer picked up his third wicket by getting Gerard Brophy to hole out to Daryl Mitchell.Shakib went full stretch to pluck a left-handed return catch from Pyrah out of the air and it was only some effective hitting by Sidebottom in the final over from Andrew that gave Yorkshire a total they were so narrowly able to defend.

A battling century by Neil McKenzie held up Worcestershire’s Alan Richardson-inspired victory charge at New Road but Hampshire are still in danger of being cut off at the foot of Division One in the County Championship

20-Jun-2011
Scorecard
A battling century by Neil McKenzie held up Worcestershire’s Alan Richardson-inspired victory charge at New Road but Hampshire are still in danger of being cut off at the foot of Division One in the County Championship. With the 36-year-old Richardson taking 9 for 114 in the match, the south coast visitors followed on 164 runs behind after folding for 239 and edged into a slender lead of 105 when reaching 269 for 9.Having opened the season with six consecutive defeats, fast-improving Worcestershire can now aim to wrap up a second successive win which would put them 36 points clear of Hampshire.
McKenzie’s resistance may only have delayed the inevitable. After a sketchy start, the South African-born batsman went on to make 106 from 221 balls and put on 143 with Nic Pothas, who completed his second half-century of the match before falling for 72.The ever-willing Richardson got Worcestershire back on track when Pothas edged the first delivery after tea to second slip, and after an interlude of spin, with two wickets for Shakib Al Hasan, the strike bowler was back with the new ball. In his second over he finally broke McKenzie’s resolve, an lbw decision ending the 39th hundred of his career, but the last pair, James Tomlinson and Imran Tahir, survived until the close.Hampshire’s batting generally lacked confidence or conviction and the theory that they would benefit from a winning run in Twenty20 cricket was blown apart. Straight away they were back to where they left the Championship in a heavy defeat by Lancashire in their last match.Worcestershire, in contrast, are perhaps exceeding expectations, and once Hampshire’s fragility had been exposed, largely through the efforts of Richardson, they were relentless in driving home their advantage. From James Vince’s departure in the first innings to his second dismissal on the third morning, Hampshire lost 10 wickets for 69, the scale of the collapse underlining why they are the only side without a Championship win this season.Resuming at 232 for 7, they lasted for only 25 minutes as Richardson and Bangladesh spinner Shakib mopped up the tail for the addition of seven runs. More worrying for Hampshire was the way the top order imploded in the second innings.Liam Dawson avoided a ‘pair’ with an edged four through the slips but Richardson saw off the openers in his first five overs – Jimmy Adams taken at second slip and Dawson by wicketkeeper Ben Scott. Jack Shantry may lack Richardson’s zip but the young left-armer bowled a good line and backed up the senior seamer by removing Michael Lumb and Vince with catches in the slips by Vikram Solanki and Daryl Mitchell.

Gamini Goonesena, a former Sri Lanka captain and allrounder who also played for Cambridge University and Nottinghamshire, has died at the age of 80 in Canberra

Sa'adi Thawfeeq02-Aug-2011Gamini Goonesena, the former Sri Lanka captain and allrounder who also played for Cambridge University and Nottinghamshire, has died at the age of 80 in Canberra.Goonesena played for Sri Lanka in the country’s pre-Test era and captained them against India in the unofficial Test played at the P Sara Oval in 1956. He captured 7 for 69 with his legspin and top-scored for his side with 48 in the drawn game.In a career spanning 194 first-class matches, Goonesena scored 5751 runs at an average of 21.53 and captured 674 wickets at 24.37. He also held 108 catches.Goonesena studied at the Royal College, Colombo, and played in the annual Royal-Thomian encounter. Following his retirement from competitive cricket, he was appointed Sri Lanka’s representative at the ICC and subsequently managed the Test side on a tour of India in 1982. He also worked as a Test commentator before retiring in 2004 and settling down in Australia.Goonesena is best remembered for his contribution as an an allrounder for Cambridge University, a team he represented between 1954 and 1957. He became the first Asian to captain the university in 1957 and scored 211 against arch-rivals Oxford at Lord’s – it remains the highest score by a Cambridge player in the annual university fixture. He also took four wickets for 40 in the second innings to beat Oxford by an innings and 86 runs.Goonesena played for Nottinghamshire from 1953 to 1964 and also in seven consecutive games for Gentlemen v Players between 1954 and 1958, a record for an overseas player.Goonesena first represented Ceylon (later Sri Lanka) against Pakistan in 1950 and went on to play for international sides led by Joe Lister and EW Swanton and toured the West Indies twice. He also played for New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield between 1961 and 1964, while employed with the Ceylon Tea Board in Australia.Bertie Wijesinghe, the oldest living Sri Lanka cricketer who played with Goonesena, said, “It’s a pity that Gamini was lost to Sri Lanka cricket and could not spend time at home to coach and inspire the younger generation with his vast knowledge of the game.”I’ve never known a cricketer apart from the late FC de Saram who was so clean about the game. He was an outstanding bowler and his record at Cambridge speaks for itself.”Chandra Sandrasagara, a close associate of Goonesena who played district cricket with him said, “Richie Benaud the former Australian captain and famed legspinner would always inquire about Gamini whenever I met him. Gamini was the back-up spin bowler to Benaud in the New South Wales side whenever Benaud was away on Test duty.”

Chief selector Kris Srikkanth has blamed India’s collective batting failure for their poor performances, and said it had nothing to do with fatigue or poor preparation in the lead-up to the series

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Aug-2011Kris Srikkanth, India’s chief selector, has blamed the collective batting failure for series defeat in England, and said the loss had nothing to do with fatigue or poor preparation.”If you see the FTP, all countries are playing cricket 365 days a year whether England or Australia,” Srikkanth said. “It is not the Indians only. The fact is that cricket is being played the whole year in whatever format – Test, ODI or Twenty20. So I don’t think that it is the fatigue factor for the performance in England.”However in the last 12 months India have played more Tests than any other team and more one-day games than anyone except Pakistan. In addition to 14 Tests and 29 ODIs over the past year, India’s players also took part in the gruelling IPL, which began within a week of the World Cup final.In the first three Tests this series, India have not managed to post a total in excess of 300, and Rahul Dravid is the only batsman to have averaged more than 40. Srikkanth said the batting had failed to perform as a unit. “The batting did not click for us. In the Indian side, if batting clicks everything clicks. We also did not do well in bowling and fielding. England bowling attack is ideally suited for the conditions.”It is a fact that our top five batsmen have not clicked in the series so far. But the same bunch of cricketers have been doing well during the last couple of years. The same combination had defeated South Africa in South Africa. It our bad luck that in this particular tour nothing has clicked for us.”India had England struggling at 124 for 8 in the first innings at Trent Bridge, but a ninth-wicket 74-run partnership between Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann played a crucial role in England getting to 221. Srikkanth said India’s failure to capitalise on the opportunity was one of the key turning points in the series. “It is a question of mental toughness and our cricketers are mentally very tough … [but] at 124 for 8, if you look at it psychologically … psychologically there we lost the battle,” he told .The BCCI has been criticised by former cricketers for its failure to prioritise Test cricket, but Srikkanth defended the Indian board. “Let us not indulge in the blame game – on the players or the administrators or the BCCI. Nobody is to be blamed and it’s not the time for that. It is just that we are going through a bad phase.”England have replaced India at the top of the Test rankings, but while Srikkanth was confident India would be able to bounce back, he said it was time to rebuild the team. “We have to learn from the series in England, look into what went wrong. We also have to identify and support new talent when the time comes,” he said.”We all have to put our heads together and plan for the future,” Srikkanth told the . “We have to start the process all over again without complaining. We have to try our various combinations to get the best team like we did before the World Cup. We even dropped Yuvraj Singh, who came back strongly into the ODI team and left a huge impact on the tournament. We want to do similar things now.”

Even during his consecutive half-centuries for Ruhuna in the Champions League Twenty20, he has shown that he prefers playing orthodox shots better suited to the longer format

Abhishek Purohit in Hyderabad21-Sep-2011Dinesh Chandimal carries himself with the smile of a schoolboy. His batting does not have the regal touch of Kumar Sangakkara or the raw power of MS Dhoni. What he has displayed so far in his short career is the pluck of Romesh Kaluwitharana allied with the patience to build an innings, a skill that has brought him consecutive half-centuries in the Champions League Twenty20 qualifier.In both matches, he came in early at No. 3 following the fall of Sanath Jayasuriya – the past of Sri Lankan cricket – and provided a glimpse into its future. He batted like he keeps wicket, busily and intelligently. It took him seven balls to get off the mark today but not once did he betray any signs of desperation. And the way he scored his first runs was telling. Offspinner Jigar Naik had kept him quiet with a succession of quick deliveries fired in full. Off the last ball of the over, Chandimal coolly made some room and lofted Naik over extra cover for six.As he had done against Trinidad and Tobago, he played spin with assured hands and quick feet, lofting cleanly whenever the opportunity was there. In the subcontinent, where he will play most of his cricket, that usually proves to be a productive combination.Chandimal chose the right pace to target when he picked on Abdul Razzaq, pulling and flicking him for three of his six fours. The quicker Wayne White, however, troubled him as had T&T’s Ravi Rampaul, who had dismissed him when he top-edged a pull. There will be time for the 21-year old Chandimal to work on that aspect of his game.He has expressed his desire to take over from Prasanna Jayawardene for Sri Lanka in Test cricket. And that is why it was a touch pleasing to see that he struggled to time the cross-batted swipes at the death. It is clearly not something that comes naturally to him. He is much more comfortable batting the correct and orthodox way, even in the shortest format.He is safe behind the stumps and bustles with energy on the field. He cringes at dropped chances and has regular words of advice for his captain. A first-class average of 58.52 points at huge potential and it is inevitable that Chandimal will increasingly put more and more pressure on the much older Jayawardene for the Test keeper’s slot.Chandimal has been judged good enough to be played as a specialist batsman in ODIs with Sangakkara still having not given up keeping in the format. With Sri Lanka opting to ignore Thilan Samaraweera for the upcoming Tests against Pakistan, Chandimal’s Test cap might not be far away, whether with the larger gloves or without them.

A round-up from the latest matches at the ICC World Cricket League Division Six tournament in Kuala Lumpur

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Sep-2011It remains a tight battle at the top of World Cricket Division Six between Guernsey and hosts Malaysia, but Jersey were left frustrated by the weather.Guernsey held on for a 12-run victory as Kuwait suffered a late collapse at Bayuemas Oval. Jamie Nussbaumer was the matchwinner with 5 for 35 which included a crucial spell in the closing overs. At 183 for 5 – following Irfan Bhatti’s solid 66 – Kuwait needed 30 off 29 balls but Nussbaumer struck with consecutive deliveries and also had a hand in a run out. The demise was so swift that Kuwait still had eight balls of their innings unused when they were bowled out. Guernsey’s innings had also collapsed at the end after they’d been 177 for 5 in the 42nd over. Jeremy Frith had provided the anchor with 82 off 95 balls, but in the final outcome it was the 23 extras conceded by Kuwait (including 12 wides and three no-balls) which proved the difference.”I bowled with intent because we knew the guys top of the order batted well and we had to restrict them when it came to scoring runs,” Nussbuamer said. “I think things worked particularly well for me today when it came down to the Powerplays and I made sure I bowled my yorkers and made it hard for them and it paid off.”In regards to chasing down our total, they batted sensibly taking their time and I think they had 115 up off 20 overs or so and with eight or nine wickets in hand they thought they had the game in easy reach. They were slow to start but credit has to be given to them that they were in control until we managed to start taking wickets regularly.”Hosts Malaysia cruised to an eight-wicket victory against Fiji at Kinrara Academy Oval to remain top of the table on net run-rate, ahead of Guernsey. Captain Suhan Alagaratnam (54 not out) and Shafiq Sharif (55 not out) guided the run chase home with more than 14 overs to spare after Fiji had been bowled out for 129. Eszrafiq Aziz had done most of the damage with 5 for 36 as Fiji lost wickets at regular intervals and only two batsmen passed 20.”I think today we played a really good all-round game,” Alagaratnam said. “We were on the mark with our bowling and fielding in the first innings and credit should really go to Eszrafiq again who performed really well for us. In the batting department the top order contributed and it feels good to have won by a big margin to improve our run-rate even further in the points table. It’s by no means a done deal for us, we need to keep winning every game to secure ourselves promotion.”Jersey were in a promising position against Nigeria when their match was washed out after 44 overs at the Selangor Turf Club. Jersey had reached 218 for 6 after a series of solid top-order contributions. Ben Stevens top-scored with 48 before he was run out while Dean Morrison had opened the innings with a positive 50-ball 46. Nigeria chipped away with Endurance Ofem taking 2 for 30 in his 10 overs, but when the rain arrived Samuel de la Haye had placed himself to push the total towards 250. The match may be replayed on September 22 depending on the completion of Wednesday’s round of fixtures.

A round-up of the action from the first day of the fifth round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Division One

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2011Fast bowler Junaid Nadir took five wickets in just 5.1 overs and Pakistan opener Imran Nazir made an unbeaten hundred to give Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) control of their game against Islamabad at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad. Junaid was instrumental in bowling Islamabad out for 123 on the first day, snapping up Zeeshan Mushtaq, the innings top scorer, for 38 before running through the tail to finish with 5 for 14. Nazir led ZTBL’s reply, making 105 and sharing an unbroken partnership of 115 with Faisal Athar (46*) for the fourth wicket, as ZTBL ended the day on 212 for 3, a lead of 89.Fourteen wickets fell on the first day at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Rawalpindi were routed for 153, with Naved-ul-Hasan and Sarfraz Ahmed taking four wickets each, before unbeaten Water and Power Development Authority stumbled to 68 for 4. Ahmed and Naved knocked over the hosts’ top four batsmen and Imran Khan picked up two wickets to leave Rawalpindi tottering at 97 for 6. It took No.8 Haseeb Azam, who made an unbeaten 35, to carry the side past 150. Left-arm seamer Mohammad Ayaz ensured it wasn’t all one-way traffic though, taking three early wickets to keep his side in the game.Ali Imran’s six-for helped Pakistan International Airlines scuttle last-placed Abbotabad for 175 before Kamran Sajid’s half-century took PIA to 106 for 3 at the end of the first day at the Abbotabad Cricket Stadium. Imran and Najaf Shah had Abbotabad in immediate trouble at 18 for 4. A mini-recovery ensued but at 90 for 7, Abbotabad looked hard pressed to post much over three figures, but wicketkeeper Mir Azam made an aggressive 63, and found support in Ikramullah Khan (23) to boost his side to 175. Imran finished with 6 for 48.Ahmed Shahzad and Shan Masood, the Habib Bank Limited openers, put their team in a dominating position against Karachi Blues at the National Stadium in Karachi. The pair added 195 for the first wicket, with Shahzad leading the way with a brisk 108 that included 18 fours, while Masood made a more sedate 90. Bilal Shafayat and Khaqan Arsal made sure the momentum would not be lost, putting on 96 together before Shafayat was dismissed for 54. Arsal remained unbeaten on 48, taking HBL to 329 for 4, and will look to pile further misery on the Karachi bowlers on the second day. Offspinner Atif Maqbool took all the four wickets to fall but conceded 142 runs.Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal and Qaiser Abbas posted centuries, sharing an unbroken stand of 217 runs, to boost National Bank of Pakistan to 345 for 5 against Sialkot on the first day at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot. The pair came together with their side in a bit of bother at 128 for 5 and proceeded to take charge. Kamran made 131, his second century this season, peppering it with 19 fours. Abbas matched Kamran almost stroke for stroke in making his 107 that included 16 fours.State Bank of Pakistan plodded to 224 for 3 in 83 overs against Faisalabad in Sargodha after Mohtashim Ali (63) and Waqar Orakzai put on 109 in a slow opening stand. Orakzai was bowled by Zeeshan Butt for 29 off 111 balls and SBP lost two more quickly to be in some bother at 128 for 3. A relatively positive Adnan Raees and Rameez Alam steadied things in an unbeaten 96-run partnership for the fourth wicket. SBP were also helped by 27 extras, including 12 no-balls.

Andrew Strauss has said it is time for cricket to “move on” from the spot-fixing scandal

Andrew McGlashan25-Nov-2011Andrew Strauss has said it is time for cricket to “move on” from the spot-fixing scandal but issued another warning that more needs to be done to stamp out corruption in the sport. England’s next series brings them head-to-head with Pakistan less than 18 months after cricket was rocked by the News of the World story during the 2010 Lord’s Test.Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir had appeals against their sentences rejected this week but Mohammad Asif is set to challenge his conviction. There have been considerable changes to the Pakistan team since the controversy erupted and Strauss hopes that the focus returns to the quality of cricket produced by both teams.”I think it’s a good time for cricket to move on,” he said. “We’ve been on the front pages rather than the back pages and for the good of the game it’s important we produce a good, entertaining series of Test cricket. It was all quite emotive when it went on but it was quite a long time ago. We are all aware that the game didn’t come out if it well and are aware we’ve got to do as much as we can to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”We’ve all seen what happened to the players involved and I think that sends out a very strong deterrent. In a certain degree that matter has been dealt with it’s in the best interest of both sets of players to leave that in the past and look to future.”However, Strauss remains fully aware that there is a long road ahead to ensure the sport is clean. “I think it’s hard to know exactly to what extent this goes on but there’s no doubt the individual boards, the ICC and the players themselves have to be vigilant and we’ve got to do more to ensure it is stamped out to as great a degree as possible.”Ensuring that there are no residual tensions that spill over on the pitch is all part of England maintaining their discipline. The team came in for criticism during the one-day tour of India for some of their behaviour and Strauss knows it’s about finding a balance.”We’ve played our best cricket when we’ve been competitive, but in a controlled environment and I thought we did that very well in Australia when there was a lot of emotion involved,” he said. “That’s a recipe for good cricket for us regardless of the opposition.”However, as recent events involving the England rugby union team have shown, the issue of discipline within a sports team is about much more than what happens on the pitch. Since Strauss and Andy Flower took over they have formed a strongly-knit unit which includes a players’ charter to lay out what is expected of cricketers representing their country.”We all have to work hard to ensure players understand their responsibilities on and off the pitch,” Strauss said. “In the cricket team we have a strong players’ charter which is a starting point, but we are aware things can get out of hand if you aren’t careful about it. My gut feeling is that the majority of the responsibility is on the players themselves and as a group rather than management.”And Strauss won’t need any unwanted distractions as England embark on the challenge of staying at No. 1 in the Test rankings. The 5-0 one-day whitewash against India showed that playing in subcontinental conditions remains a huge challenge and the five Tests England play in the first part of 2012 – three against Pakistan and two against Sri Lanka – will push all aspects of their game.”Clearly it’s a challenge for us and it’s a challenge we’ve always had in that part of the world,” he said. “The most important thing is we face it head-on. I think there were some good things to come out of that series despite the 5-0 defeat. Hopefully it’s given all of us a bit of impetus and shown us there are areas we need to improve. We can’t be arrogant and say everything is rosy, we must strive to improve.”

Nuwan Kulasekara, the Sri Lanka fast bowler, will join the national squad for the ODI series in South Africa after four months on the sidelines

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jan-2012Nuwan Kulasekara, the Sri Lanka fast bowler, will join the squad for the ODI series in South Africa after four months on the sidelines. Lasith Malinga, Upul Tharanga and Kosala Kulasekara will also be part of the one-day leg of the tour, while Chanaka Welegedara, Kaushal Silva, Thilan Samaraweera, Tharanga Paranavitana, Dimuth Karunaratne and Kanishka Alvitigala will not be involved after the Test series concludes.Sri Lanka picked a different spin attack to the one they played against Pakistan in the UAE, their previous one-day series. Suraj Randiv, Jeevan Mendis and Seekkuge Prasanna, who were in the squad against Pakistan, were left out, with the selectors sticking with Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis, who are already in South Africa.Nuwan Kulasekara, who has not played for Sri Lanka since picking up an injury in their home ODI series against Australia in August, was initially set to join the squad for the second and third Tests in South Africa. Sri Lanka’s sports ministry, however, vetoed his selection and the uncapped Kanishka Alvitigala was picked instead. Alvitigala did not get a game in the Test series and has now been replaced by Kulasekara.Malinga, who is retired from Test cricket, and Tharanga were the expected additions to the squad in South Africa, while allrounder Kosala Kulasekara, who played only one Test and one ODI on the tour of the UAE, retained his spot.Herath, who is considered more suited to Tests, was kept for the ODIs after he took nine wickets in Sri Lanka’s upset of South Africa in Durban. Ajantha Mendis, meanwhile, did not play a Test but was picked in the ODI squad after being dropped for the series against Pakistan. He was chosen ahead of Prasanna, who took just four wickets in five ODIs in the UAE.Squad: Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), Angelo Mathews (vc), Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Kosala Kulasekara, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath, Dhammika Prasad, Dilhara Fernando, Lahiru Thirimanne

Mahela Jayawardene will play no further part in the series after injuring his back but will watch carefully from the sidelines as Sri Lankan cricket enters yet another critical phase

Firdose Moonda19-Jan-2012The winds of change blew over Colombo on Thursday with the appointment of a new selection committee for Sri Lankan cricket, but in hot, dry, still Kimberley, nothing had moved. Sri Lanka remained under pressure after a fourth consecutive series defeat. They trained as hard as they have all tour and they continued to search for answers for success.”Since Paarl, we have made progress. We were in shambles in that game,” Mahela Jayawardene admitted. “We have improved in areas but we haven’t been consistent in all areas. The win in [the second Test] Durban is something we will cherish but now we’ve got two games to try and get things right. The guys are keen to show what we are capable of. We want to try and make sure we get things right.”Jayawardene will play no further part in the series after injuring his back but will watch carefully from the sidelines as Sri Lankan cricket enters yet another critical phase. Whatever the result of the next two matches, more movement is expected as a result of their poor showing in South Africa and the shift is said to be starting at the top.Tillakaratne Dilshan faces the possibility of not having his captaincy lease renewed and Jayawardene is being talked of as the team’s future leader, again. Jayawardene said he has not been spoken to about it yet but if offered the job will take time to consider it. Dilshan has been criticised from many fronts as his rash attitude with the bat appeared to translate into irresponsible leadership. Jayawardene, though, said he felt Dilshan had done an admirable job so far.”Dilly is a good player, a good leader. A captain is as good as his team. I don’t think we should be pointing fingers at anybody right now. He has tried everything,” Jayawardene said. “As an individual, he will be disappointed with his performances, so will I and so will the rest of the boys who didn’t do well.”To couple the captaincy movement, another change is also being touted: Geoff Marsh is also allegedly in the firing line. Since taking over as coach, after the home series against Australia, Marsh’s successes have been few but Jayawardene said it is too early to judge the coach’s influence.”Geoff has been with us for two tours. The first tour he had to assess how the system works. On his tour, he tried to bring new things into the team,” Jayawardene said. “As a coach, he has done what he could do. It’s up to the players to gather what he is trying to bring into the side. It’s tough to say how good a coach he is and how hard he has worked having only been three months with the team.”Graham Ford, who was initially interviewed for the Sri Lanka job six months ago, is being mentioned as a successor. Ford asked for immediate release from his franchise contract at the Dolphins – a domestic team in South Africa – on Tuesday to “follow my dreams of involvement at international level”. Nothing is confirmed yet, but uncertainty can have its own pitfalls and Sri Lanka will want to avoid falling into one of them.”We definitely need to pull something out,” Jayawardene said. “We are very disappointed with the way we have played. We are not playing to our potential and we haven’t performed. It’s tough times but we can come back.”Like Dishan, he stressed that there is no need to take drastic action and repaint the portrait of the starting XI. It is more a case of filling in a few lines here and there and adding some colour where necessary. Fielding, for example, is a discipline that Sri Lanka can control but have let slip. “We have been sloppy in the field,” Jayawardene said. “In the recent past it is an area where we were good and we pride ourselves on our fielding, but we have not been good in this series.”By stacking small progressions on top of each other, Jayawardene hopes Sri Lanka will end up with a more complete structure and something to take with them on the plane back home, even if it’s only pride. “It’s about the whole unit improving individually, only then, as a whole, we can improve.”