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Cricket Australia is keen to press on despite the situation unlikely to improve in the near future

Tristan Lavalette03-Jan-2022Adelaide Strikers
Strikers have had a disappointing season with just one win from eight games but have thus far not been impacted by Covid-19. They still suffered consecutive defeats to a weakened Sydney Thunder in recent days. Left-arm seamer George Garton will return to the UK as part of England’s T20I squad, but he was, in any case, left out for the loss to Thunder on Sunday after a run of poor form.Brisbane Heat
True to tradition, Heat have had an inconsistent season even though they appear to be rounding into form amid some stability, with no player testing positive to Covid-19. They did, however, lose English import Tom Abell to a knee injury sustained while fielding in his second BBL game of the season. To shore up their batting, Heat have signed Pakistan batter Fakhar Zaman as they eye qualification for the playoffs.Joe Clarke is one of the Stars players to have tested positive for Covid-19•Getty Images

Hobart Hurricanes
One of the fancied teams ahead of the season, Hurricanes have only shown glimpses of their potential in a patchy performance so far. They at least don’t have any Covid-19 drama to deal with and their side is stable in what could be an opportunity for them to finally strike consistency.Melbourne Renegades
Renegades have escaped the Covid-19 upheaval engulfing crosstown rival Stars, though they are waiting on a test result for James Pattinson ahead of tonight’s Melbourne derby at the MCG – which is traditionally the highest-attended BBL game annually.The bottom-placed Renegades have received a much-needed boost with Shaun Marsh set to make his season debut against Stars after recovering from a calf injury. Skipper Nic Maddinson will also return after having briefly been part of Australia’s Ashes squad as cover for Travis Head, who tested positive for Covid-19. But they will soon lose Reece Topley, who is part of England’s T20I squad, although he had claimed just two wickets in his last four games.Melbourne Stars
Stars have been clearly the most-affected team, with openers Joe Clarke and Tom Rogers the latest players to test positive for Covid-19. They now have 12 players, who have returned positive tests, while eight staff members remain in isolation. Victoria coach Chris Rogers has had to take the reins alongside Stars WBBL coach Jarrod Loughman and former wicketkeeper Adam Crosthwaite.In their loss to Scorchers on Sunday, Stars played without T20 World Cup heroes Adam Zampa and Marcus Stoinis, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Joe Burns and Beau Webster. They have also lost star import Andre Russell, whose five-game stint ended against Heat on December 27.It led to the unusual situation of a desperate Stars needing to rush in a host of reinforcements plucked from local cricket in a bid to field a team against Scorchers as their sidelined players undergo a seven-day stint in isolation as per government rules.They gladly welcomed the season debut of Haris Rauf, who claimed 2 for 40 having been a late signing. Former Victoria Sheffield Shield-winning skipper Travis Dean and Pakistan quick Ahmed Daniyal have been named in Stars’ squad of 13 for the derby.Tymal Mills, who has nine wickets from five games, will be returning home•Getty Images

Perth Scorchers
Having been forced to stay permanently on the road because of Western Australia’s strict border controls, Scorchers appeared the team set to be most compromised this season. The recent league-wide developments have changed that, although Scorchers have not been unaffected, with batter Nick Hobson testing positive and quick Matt Kelly omitted as a close contact.It threatens to unsettle the three-time champions, who stormed to the top of the ladder with seven wins from eight games despite just one fixture at their Optus Stadium fortress. And their depth will be further tested with star quick Tymal Mills, who has claimed nine wickets from five games, part of England’s T20I squad, while Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis have been called into Australia’s Ashes squad.Sydney Sixers
Sixers have not been hit like the other Sydney team, Thunder, with none of their players currently sidelined. But the two-time defending champions, currently second on the ladder, will bid farewell to James Vince, who is part of England’s tour of the Caribbean. However, he has had a lean season with just 144 runs from seven innings and a top score of 44 achieved in the season opener against Stars. Jackson Bird is available again after injury.Sydney Thunder
Thunder have been the second-most-affected team with key players Alex Hales, Alex Ross, Tanveer Sangha and Sam Whiteman testing positive. It forced them to bolster their squad with the additions of former Thunder player Arjun Nair and NSW Sheffield Shield batter Lachlan Hearne. Thunder have also been further shorthanded by Sam Billings and quick Saqib Mahmood heading home to the UK.They did receive a boost with Pakistan import Mohammad Hasnain starring in his BBL debut with a triple-wicket maiden in his opening over in the win over Strikers on Sunday. Despite the adversity, as they proved in consecutive wins over Strikers, Thunder loom as the team best placed to challenge league leaders Scorchers and Sixers.

The vice-captain has been a success opening the innings but would be content in the middle order

Andrew McGlashan06-May-2020Australia Women’s vice-captain Rachael Haynes is willing to take on any role asked of her at next year’s ODI World Cup even it means giving up the opening position where she made her maiden century at the start of the last season.In three matches against Sri Lanka, which were the only ODIs Australia played during their summer as they focused on the T20 World Cup, Haynes scored 56, 118 and 63 while opening alongside Alyssa Healy, having initially returned to the team in 2017 in a middle-order capacity after a four-year absence.But whether she retains that role for the World Cup in New Zealand next year – an event that now has some doubt around it due to the Covid-19 pandemic – remains to be seen after national selector Shawn Flegler said he was not wedded to a particular combination at this stage.ALSO READ: Covid-19 crisis could force Australian players to be more self-reliantHaynes has an impressive record in a variety of roles, averaging 37.92 opening the batting and 33.13 at No. 5 where she has batted 17 times in ODIs.”Since I’ve come back into the team, especially in the ODI set-up, I’ve played different roles – had a role at the top of the order alongside Alyssa Healy and also through the middle as well,” Haynes said. “I don’t have my heart set on one position in particular but I certainly feel as a batter that’s what I bring, flexibility in terms of what Matthew [Mott] and Meg [Lanning] would like the line-up to look like.Rachael Haynes celebrates her maiden ODI century•Getty Images

“We’ve got Ellyse Perry coming back from injury as well and by all accounts she’s tracking really well so that might come into the decision-making as well. From my point of view I’ll certainly fill whatever role Meg and Motty think is best for the team.”Beth Mooney opens alongside Healy in T20Is and added 115 for the first wicket in the T20 World Cup final against India. She averages 35.36 as an ODI opener but 47.89 in the middle-order roles at Nos. 5 and 6. It would appear that Meg Lanning and Perry are locked in for the three and four positions although Perry’s recovery from hamstring surgery may yet leave it tight for the ODI series against New Zealand in September should that go ahead as scheduled.”I don’t think it’s been 100% decided,” Flegler said of the batting order. “Beth Mooney has been unbelievable in domestic cricket and has a great record in T20 internationals for the past few years. Sophie Molineux is another option, we love the left-right combination. I think our No. 3 and No.4 with Meg and Ellyse, depending on when Ellyse comes back we might need to change it up a little.”Most of Australia’s focus last season was on the T20 World Cup, but if the pandemic allows next summer to go ahead as planned, a change of format does not necessarily mean a vast change in thinking.”We’ve had some great success in this format of the game. In terms of a game plan and how we take on that format, it doesn’t change too much,” Haynes said. “We want to make sure we’re nice and attacking and aggressive with bat or ball and take the game on.”That’s been our blueprint over the last couple of years and seen us have an enormous amount of success. So I’d definitely like our team to continue that and push what’s possible in terms of our game, the scores we can put out, and what we can defend as well.”

West Indie level series with England 1-1

The Report by Valkerie Baynes22-Feb-2019
Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentaryShimron Hetmyer’s century set the stage for West Indies, while Sheldon Cottrell drew the curtains on England with some stellar bowling to hand the home side a 26-run win in their second ODI and level the series.Hetmyer has been widely applauded as a star of the future, but he claimed top billing for the first act in Barbados on Friday with an unbeaten 104 off just 83 balls as Chris Gayle was forced into a cameo with his half-century in West Indies’ respectable total of 289 for 6.Given England’s history-making chase at the same ground to win the opening match on Wednesday, their latest target of 290 looked highly achievable.Enter Cottrell, whose career-best 5-46 in the second stanza wrecked England’s hopes, while Jason Holder played the best supporting role by claiming three wickets at crucial times to snuff out any prospect of the tourists stealing the show.Gayle scored at a faster clip than in his previous innings, picking off four sixes, including one lost ball over the stands, on his way to 50 off 63 deliveries.Adil Rashid, kept out of the attack until the 34th over in the first match, made a much earlier entrance this time, joining the action in the 19th and with good effect. He conceded just two runs to Gayle off six balls and made the crucial breakthrough in just his second over, with a sharp-turning legbreak that beat Gayle’s swipe and clattered into off stump.Rashid enhanced his contribution with a wonderful direct hit when Hetmyer set off for a single after turning a Tom Curran delivery towards short third man, where Rashid swooped and fired the ball in to catch Darren Bravo well shy of his ground.Hetmyer compiled a confident innings highlighted by deft stroke play and, when the situation called for it, sheer power. On 98 with two balls remaining in West Indies’ innings, Hetmyer brought up his ton with a boundary off Ben Stokes, his seventh for the match, and he celebrated by skipping down the pitch and punching the air before removing his helmet and raising it in the air, revealing a bright yellow hair-do as he did so.Until Hetmyer stepped up, West Indies’ decision to drop a batsman – Nicholas Pooran, who made his debut in the previous match, for another bowler in Cottrell – looked to have left them short, particularly after Holder, batting up the order at No.6, was run out cheaply by a superb direct hit from Jason Roy to put the home side at 237 for 6.But Hetmyer’s salvage job, combined with Cottrell’s opening spell, appeared to put paid to that argument.Cottrell’s first wicket, claimed with his second ball of the innings, was poetry, a full, fast delivery which slammed into the pad on middle stump, leaving Jonny Bairstow in no doubt about his fate.Cottrell began his second over with another important wicket as Roy, whose 123 helped drive England’s history-making chase in the first game of the five-match series, dragged on having scored just two runs. That prompted Cottrell to parade his saluting sergeant major send-off with even more gusto than in the previous over.Joe Root, who also scored a century in the series opener, looked ready to settle in, his six fours struck with typical elegance and poise. His dismissal on 36, however, was anything but as he fluffed his lines in trying to uppercut a short, wide ball from Oshane Thomas and sent a top-edge through to the keeper.By that time, England were 60 for 3 but, with their seemingly indomitable batting line-up, there was no sense of panic yet.Eoin Morgan was dropped twice, once by Hetmyer on 41 and then by Ashley Nurse on 51. He went on to score 70, but when Cottrell returned to the attack, it took him just eight deliveries to make an impact with Hetmyer playing a part to keep himself in the limelight. Morgan knew he was in trouble when he lofted Cottrell down the leg side, letting out a groan as Hetmyer raced in to claim the catch.Even then, with Jos Buttler appearing at the crease the target seemed within reach, although England’s run rate had been hovering below that required for quite some time.Stokes made a well-crafted 79 off 85 balls and he was bitterly disappointed to be out edging Holder to Shai Hope for caught behind, with the DRS confirming he had put bat on ball as well as hitting the ground, which prompted his appeal. Walking off, he struck his pad furiously and, once he had reached the dugout, he threw his helmet, bat and pads on the ground in disgust.With 10 overs remaining, England needed 62 runs off 60 balls but then Holder turned the match with two wickets in as many balls, the first a clever piece of bowling and the second sheer luck.Introducing some variation, Holder produced a timely offcutter, which Buttler chipped into the air, for Hetmyer to claim the catch. Holder then had Curran out lbw with a ball Hawk Eye showed was missing over the stumps by some margin but, with no DRS appeals left, England were helpless.Holder dropped a sitter off Rashid, spooning Devendra Bishoo to short cover, but then Cottrell removed Rashid and Moeen Ali, before Holder caught last man out, Liam Plunkett, off the bowling of Carlos Brathwaite and England were all out with 14 balls to spare.

Bangladesh have lost three finals at the venue. The captain wants his team focused on the many positives to come out of the league phase of this series though, to get past those painful memories

Mohammad Isam26-Jan-2018″I hadn’t thought about it. You shouldn’t have reminded me.”Mashrafe Mortaza had a wry smile on his face when he was asked about Bangladesh’s three previous finals at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. They famously went very close twice, but the home side has never won any tri-nation series or a tournament that involves more than two teams.In the 2009 tri-nation series final, Sri Lanka lost five wickets for just six runs, till today the lowest score at the fall of the fifth wicket in an ODI, as Mashrafe Mortaza and Nazmul Hossain blasted out most of the top order. Kumar Sangakkara got them out of the mess before Muttiah Muralitharan’s unbeaten 33 helped them over the line by two wickets.Three years later, Bangladesh went as close as two runs of Pakistan’s total in the Asia Cup final but was closed out by Aizaz Cheema’s fine last over. The crying faces of Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim became the poignant image of the final. Mashrafe, Shakib, Tamim, Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah were also around when India beat them in the rain-interrupted final of the 2016 Asia Cup T20s.In the current tri-nation series, Bangladesh crushed Sri Lanka by 163 runs, their biggest win in an ODI, while also trouncing Zimbabwe twice, before the implosion in the final round-robin game. So whether in jest or not, Mashrafe doesn’t want to be reminded of those painful memories of old. Instead, he said, it is better if his team stressed on keeping the mindset that has got them three big wins in this series already.”This is a new opportunity for all our players,” Mashrafe continued. “I think myself, Mushfiqur, Shakib and Tamim played all three finals. So this is another opportunity for us.”Tomorrow is a completely new game, so we don’t need to think about what happened previously,” he said. “We should play the way we did in the first three matches of this tournament. Maybe we didn’t deliver yesterday, so we should not be thinking about it anymore.”Mashrafe said that, in a way, their crushing loss in the last league game would put less pressure on their side going into the final. “We really want to win the final, since it will be a first for us at this level. It is better if we think less about all these things. There’s always pressure in a final.”In fact I think the pressure would have become less after that defeat. It will depend on how we start the game; we should use better judgement. The team that will handle the tough situations better, will obviously be ahead.”

Mumbai Indians will have a new coach for IPL 2017 as former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene will take over the role from Ricky Ponting

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Nov-20161:01

Quick Facts: Mahela Jayawardene in T20 cricket

Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has been appointed head coach of the Mumbai Indians franchise. Jayawardene will replace former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, whose two-year contract in the role will expire soon. Jayawardene’s contract is reportedly for more than one year, but the franchise did not reveal the details.”Mahela Jayawardene’s appointment has come in the wake of Ricky Ponting – coach for the previous two years – contract coming to a close,” the franchise announced in a media release issued on Friday.Jayawardene has played for three franchises in the IPL since the tournament’s inception in 2008. He began with Kings XI Punjab (2008-2010), before switching to Kochi Tuskers for one season (2011), followed by two seasons with Delhi Daredevils.After retiring from international cricket in 2015, Jayawardene has featured in T20 leagues around the world, with teams hiring him as a mentor-cum-player. This will be the former Sri Lanka captain’s first stint as a coach.”I am very excited by the appointment and glad that the Mumbai Indians management appreciated my presentation and ideas,” Jayawardene said. “In what is a new chapter in my career, I will be striving hard to bring them [Mumbai] more on-field success and joy.”The franchise did not explain why Ponting’s contract was not being renewed, and did not reveal whether this decision was taken by the management or Ponting. Having won their second IPL title in 2015, Mumbai failed to make the knockouts, finishing fifth in IPL 2016.Ponting, who retired from all forms of cricket in 2013, was bought by Mumbai for his base price of $400,000 in the IPL 2013 auction. He was appointed captain for that season but stepped down midway through the tournament due to bad form. Mumbai eventually went on to win their first IPL title that season under Ponting’s replacement, Rohit Sharma.Ponting was appointed in an advisory capacity for the 2014 season and signed a two-year contract as coach the following year.

Al-Amin Hossain is one of six players to be called back from the ‘A’ tour of Zimbabwe in order to prepare for the senior team’s limited-overs series next month

Mohammad Isam25-Oct-2015Bangladesh’s national selectors have asked Al-Amin Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Kamrul Islam Rabbi and Jubair Hossain to return from the A-team’s tour of Africa, in order to prepare for the senior team’s home series against Zimbabwe next month. Bangladesh A begin officially begin their tour of Zimbabwe on October 30.The five players who will replace the returning six from the Bangladesh A team are batsmen Tasamul Haque and Naeem Islam, wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan, and pace bowlers Dewan Sabbir and Mukhtar Ali.Should Al-Amin be picked in the ODI squad for the Zimbabwe series, it will mark a return for him to the national fold for the first time since the 2015 World Cup. Al-Amin was sent home from the World Cup due to disciplinary reasons, and was subsequently ignored for the three home series against Pakistan, India and South Africa.Al-Amin, Sabbir, Soumya, Liton, Rabbi and Jubair will all return to Bangladesh after the A-team’s second and last warm-up fixture in South Africa, on October 29. While Sabbir, Soumya, Liton and Jubair were in Bangladesh’s last ODI squad in July against South Africa, the selectors are considering Al-Amin and Rabbi to replace the injured Rubel Hossain, who is all but ruled out of the Zimbabwe series after suffering a calf muscle strain last month.It is, however, likely that Taskin Ahmed and limited-overs captain Mashrafe Mortaza will return for the Zimbabwe series after recovering from injuries. Taskin suffered a side strain in June during the India series, and had a relapse during the A-team’s tour of India in September.Mashrafe was also hospitalised earlier this month with dengue. While Mashrafe has taken time to recover from the illness, Bangladesh’s team physio Bayjedul Islam Khan said that both he and Taskin were likely to be fit in time for the Zimbabwe series, with Mashrafe expected to start training from Monday.Shakib Al Hasan too is likely to be part of the ODI squad though he is currently in USA on paternity leave. Shakib was given leave till mid-November on the condition that he return on the wake of fresh international commitments.There are unlikely to be any other changes in the Bangladesh team as the selectors are inclined to continue with more or less the same squad that beat South Africa 2-1 in July.Bangladesh A squad for the tour of Zimbabwe: Shuvagata Hom (captain), Shadman Islam, Rony Talukdar, Dewan Sabbir, Tasamul Haque, Nurul Hasan, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Mahmudul Hasan, Mohammad Mithun, Naeem Islam, Mohammed Shahid, Muktar Ali, Abu Jayed, Saqlain Sajib, Taijul Islam

Media giant Star enters rival Max’s territory with on-field advertising during the IPL

Amol Karhadkar03-Apr-2013Last week the BCCI and Star India, a Murdoch-owned, TV-centric media conglomerate, announced the latter’s association with IPL as an “official partner”. The announcement indicated that Star India was just another sponsor of the tournament but didn’t mention the significance – it had effectively entered the territory of one of their key competitors using the same platform and possibly changed the rules of the high-stakes advertising game.Multi Screen Media are the IPL’s official broadcasters through Max, their Hindi film channel, and their recently launched 24-hour sports channel. The broadcast rights deal, revised ahead of the 2009 IPL, is worth around Rs 900 crore ($165 milion) per year till 2017.Star India, on the other hand, have tied up with IPL to primarily promote their flagship channel, Star Plus. “We saw a great opportunity to use this platform to communicate our brand promise of [same relationship, new idea],” Uday Shankar, CEO of Star India, said in a statement following the deal.The significance of Star’s entry into a property owned by one of its competitors goes beyond the boundary signage that was shown frequently and prominently on the screen during Wednesday’s opening game. While not being seen as ambush marketing, it has created ripples in the media and entertainment industry. “We view it as an act of desperation by Star to be part of the biggest sporting entertainment event,” Manjit Singh, CEO of MSM, told , a business daily. “Star’s decision to be part of IPL simply validates our strategy of having bagged the telecast rights”.Some industry experts are looking at the deal as an innovative method of branding. “It could be a trend-setting deal in Indian advertising, where a company enters into a property owned by one of its competitors,” says Kiran Khalap, a brand consultant. “It is kind of a steal for Star to use a platform as big as IPL in such a manner.”The Star India deal is believed to be worth at least Rs 50 crore (approximately $10 million) per year. Even though both Star India and IPL have kept the form of the association under wraps, it is understood that the former plan to have characters from their 33-odd daily soaps attending most of the matches. After the first match against Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils on Wednesday night, one of the female actors from Star’s soaps handed out a Star Plus Award at Eden Gardens. In fact, the unique partnership has also left franchises wondering “whether the players will be asked to make a guest appearance in Star’s reality shows, just like film stars”.MSM’s tetchiness – as revealed by Singh’s unusually aggressive statement – is understandable, say industry experts. “It may turn out to be a profitable move, but Star India’s partnership with IPL is certainly not in a good taste,” a media buyer said on condition of anonymity. “It may start a vicious war between television media majors, similar to the ambush marketing campaigns run by the cola giants over sponsorship of cricket events in the late 90s and early 2000s.”Khalap, however, says this isn’t ambush marketing. “I can’t call it an ambush. It’s effective deployment of resources by a media conglomerate to use a property that’s as big and reach out to the target audience in one more way.”Ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar speaks from a financial perspective. “Cricket is the biggest money-spinning factor in India. The IPL is the second-most followed cricket event after the World Cup,” Kakkar says. “So it doesn’t matter whether it’s ambush or not. Any association with a property like IPL is going to surely help a brand in a much bigger way.”

The MCC and Glamorgan are set to swap international fixtures in 2013, with Lord’s likely to host a Test originally set to be in Cardiff

George Dobell14-Mar-2012The MCC and Glamorgan are set to swap international fixtures in 2013, with Lord’s likely to host a Test originally set to be in Cardiff and Glamorgan hosting Champions Trophy games. Lord’s was originally allocated five ICC Champions Trophy ODIs in 2013 while Glamorgan was allocated a Test against New Zealand in the same year.The move will revive questions about the viability of Cardiff as an international venue. The club, not helped by inclement weather, has struggled to attract spectators in sufficient numbers and has suffered significant losses on some of the international games they have hosted.Painfully few people attended the Test between England and Sri Lanka last May which led to Glamorgan losing around £1.2 million on the game and failing to meet deadlines for staging payments due to the ECB. As a consequence, they forfeited the right to host this year’s Test against West Indies which was transferred to Lord’s instead. Last month Glamorgan were obliged to secure another loan of around £1.3 million from a group of private investors to avoid the prospect of going into administration.Lord’s, by contrast, continues to enjoy excellent sales – both corporate and general – for all international matches. Just as importantly, the move would underline the MCC’s preference for Test cricket over the limited-overs formats. When the MCC applied to host the ICC event in 2013 they were under the impression that it would be a game in the inaugural Test Championship.Only when pre-existing ICC deals with broadcasters scuppered those plans was the decision made to revert to the Champions Trophy format of ODI games. As the ICC also retain the power to run – and provide tickets for – their own events the MCC would have been required to give up a large number of the seats usually reserved for their members had they hosted the Champions Trophy games. As a resolutely independent minded organised, that is not something the MCC relishes.”We have been informed that there may be an opportunity to swap our 2013 New Zealand Test match in return for hosting five ICC Champions Trophy matches, including a semi-final, in the same year,” a statement released by Glamorgan said. “Without doubt, the opportunity to stage a number of high profile Champions Trophy matches in Cardiff is an exciting one and would provide a fascinating range of matches and do much to continue to raise the international standing of Wales as destination for top class cricket.”Discussions are at an early stage and understandably, there are a number of complex matters that need to be considered and resolved prior to any final decision being made. Glamorgan will not agree to a swap unless it is clearly in the interests of the club to do so.”During the forthcoming season Glamorgan will host an ODI between England and South Africa on August 24 followed immediately by the Friends Life t20 Finals Day on August 25. The club said it has sold 70% of tickets for the ODI and 75% of the first release of tickets for Finals Day.Glamorgan are also currently scheduled to host an Ashes Test in 2015. While the club’s management insist that the vision to bring international cricket to Cardiff was always going to be a long term project, the jury remains out on whether it is an achievable aim. Several other venues, many of them vying with something approaching desperation for the raft of international fixtures Cardiff have been granted, could be forgiven for asking what Glamorgan has done to earn such a high profile and easily marketed fixture.

Kumar Sangakkara rued not being able to give Muttiah Muralitharan the perfect send-off in what was his final international appearance for Sri Lanka

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Apr-2011Kumar Sangakkara rued not being able to give Muttiah Muralitharan the perfect send-off in what was his final international appearance for Sri Lanka and admitted the team would “miss him terribly.” Sri Lanka were beaten by six wickets in the World Cup final by India in Mumbai and Murali, on one of his rare off days, went wicketless in eight overs and conceded 39 runs.”It’s one of those rare days when he hasn’t really done the job for us, but it happens maybe once in a 100 games,” Sangakkara said. “We’re going to miss him terribly. Unfortunately we couldn’t give him a great send-off but that’s the way it goes. We were outplayed and we have to accept that.”Sri Lanka had done well after winning the toss, posting 274 thanks to a superlative century from Mahela Jayawardene. They were in command when Lasith Malinga dismissed India’s openers, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, early in the chase. But the Indian middle order stepped up with Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni reviving the innings with match-winning half-centuries.Murali was dealt with easily by Gambhir and Dhoni, who hit him repeatedly to the extra-cover boundary. Murali had come into this game with a groin injury, and while it was considered a risk to play him, the game was just too big to leave him out. Sangakkara, however, said fitness didn’t affect Murali’s performance.”He’s our best bowler, even if half-fit,” Sangakkara said. “But he was fine, he was almost at full fitness when he played today. I don’t think it was an issue.”Murali had ended his Test career on a high, picking up a wicket with his final delivery to win Sri Lanka a game against India last year. And while that perfect ending eluded him this World Cup, Sangakkara summed up what he meant for Sri lanka. “Murali is the icon of Sri Lanka,” he said. “As a champion on the field and off the field. As a human being and a cricketer, I don’t think there is anyone to match him.”

The New Zealand allrounder has shrugged off calls for him to be excluded from the ODI series opener against Australia in Napier

Cricinfo staff02-Mar-2010Jacob Oram, the New Zealand allrounder, has shrugged off calls for him to be excluded from the ODI series opener against Australia in Napier. Oram has only one ODI half-century in his last 11 innings, a 40-ball 83 against Bangladesh recently, and was quick to acknowledge that he was bidding to recapture some much-needed batting form.The former New Zealand coach Warren Lees and former fast bowler Simon Doull are two personalities to have called for Oram to be benched for the first match, but the allrounder said he was not playing for his spot. “I’ve said many times in the last 12-18 months, I don’t feel like I am playing for my place in the team, but I have been more inconsistent than I would have liked,” he told .”I try not to let outside stuff affect me and that’s still the case. I will reiterate, though, that I’ve seen my performances haven’t been up to scratch and I need to make sure I do something about that.”Oram, 31, retired from Test cricket in October after injury worries, namely of the back and foot, limited him to 33 appearances over a seven-year career. In two Twenty20s against Australia this past week he scored 1 and 0 and conceded 67 off six overs but has found a voice of support in his captain, Daniel Vettori, who felt he was a better option at No’s 7 or 8.”Jake’s all right. Cricket’s such a relative thing, a few games ago against Bangladesh everyone was saying he was back, he got 80 off 40 balls,” he said. “It’s all about one performance and if Jake gets it in this game or the next game then he’ll be feeling fine.”He’s picked more in this team as a bowler and he’s done a very good job as a one-day bowler and we’re just wanting him to get back into form with the bat. We’re hoping with the pressure off a little bit down the order, that’ll enable him to do that.”Oram would prefer to bat higher, however. “I understand the reasons for others maybe going a touch higher, but it would be nice to get more of an opportunity,” he said. “But if I go down to about six, seven or eight, whatever it is, then again there’s a role for me to do there.”