Samit Patel continued to make the most of the richest vein of form of his career with another imperious innings on the first day against Leicestershire

ECB Reporters Network19-Jun-2017
ScorecardSamit Patel continued to make the most of the richest vein of form of his career with another imperious innings on the first day of Nottinghamshire’s Specsavers County Championship match against Leicestershire at Trent Bridge.Patel reached the close on 157 not out, scoring his runs from 222 balls with 17 fours and a six, as the home side closed on 345 for 4 after being asked to bat first.Since making 82 against Derbyshire on June, 4 in the second innings of Nottinghamshire’s last home match, Patel has rattled off an unbeaten 257 versus Gloucestershire and then one-day cup scores of 66 and 122 not out in last week’s wins over Somerset and Essex.The 32-year old was given not out on 37 after the umpires had conferred with Leicestershire claiming a slip catch by Paul Horton but a bump ball seemed to be their judgement.Otherwise it was a breeze, on a day that badly needed one, for the middle order stroke-maker, who picked up a couple of milestones during his five and a half hours at the crease.On 89 he reached 11,000 runs in first class cricket and the shot that took him to his 26th first-class hundred also took him to 10,000 for his county.Jake Libby fell for 7 inside the first hour of the day, nibbling Dieter Klein down the leg side and into the gloves of wicketkeeper Lewis Hill.On a stiflingly hot day, the visitors’ gamble of opting to bowl first and pick up early top order wickets wasn’t helped by the early loss of Ben Raine. The allrounder had sent down 3.2 overs before he left the action in some discomfort with a side strain.”It doesn’t look good for him, it looks worse than the previous side strain he had, so that’s not good news for us or for Ben, who is absolutely gutted,” Pierre de Bruyn, the Leicestershire head coach, said.Steven Mullaney appeared untroubled in making 40 from 59 balls but then had his defences exposed as Gavin Griffiths nipped one back to flatten his middle stump.Brendan Taylor, also off the back of two substantial white ball innings (156 and 62), made 61 in his first Championship knock of the summer.He had a scare on 48 when he nicked Clint McKay but wicketkeeper Lewis Hill couldn’t gather low down. A couple of deliveries later the former Zimbabwe captain was gifted two overthrows from an errant shy, to reach his 50 from 104 balls.Klein picked up his second wicket when he had Taylor caught behind to a regulation nick and he struck again when Michael Lumb dragged on for 36, soon after tea.Late in the day Leicestershire took the second new ball and Patel greeted its arrival by hoisting McKay several rows back over the midwicket fence as his unbeaten fifth wicket partnership with Riki Wessels neared three figures.Notts had a further reason to be thankful with the announcement that James Pattinson, their Australian quick bowler, has been cleared to remain in the country and will participate in the Royal London One-Day Cup final a week on Saturday.

Vernon Philander has been passed fit for South Africa’s opening Test against England at Lord’s

Firdose Moonda02-Jul-2017Vernon Philander has been passed fit for South Africa’s opening Test against England at Lord’s. Philander sat out the warm-up match in Worcester last week as he recovered from an ankle injury, sustained while on a county stint with Sussex, but has made a full recovery.That means South Africa will have a full-strength attack including Philander, Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel, while back-up allrounders Chris Morris and Andile Phehlukwayo will likely have to wait their turns.South Africa are still waiting to confirm Faf du Plessis’ availability for the match after he returned home of the birth of his first child. A difficult birth may keep the captain from joining the camp immediately. A decision is expected to be taken on Monday.Should du Plessis miss the match, Dean Elgar will stand in as captain with one of Theunis de Bruyn or Aiden Markram coming in in du Plessis’ place.

As Sussex brushed aside their promotion rivals in three days at Worcester, the sense was that the balance of power was shifting in Division Two

Vithushan Ehantharajah at New Road08-Aug-20171:06

County Championship round-up: Warwickshire secure first win

On a day when those around them were hampered by the weather, Sussex completed perhaps one of their most professional wins of the season, beating Worcestershire and the deluge that engulfed most of the Midlands by nine wickets and a day. Having started the match in fifth, Sussex leap to third, with a game in hand on Worcestershire, whose lead in second has been cut to 17 points.Worcestershire were poor. It is hard to remember a Championship game where they have folded so meekly. To lose 12 wickets in five hours play is simply not what you would expect from a young side with a determination at their core that has seen them punch above their weight consistently over the last five years. This is only their third loss of the season but it is the manner of defeat that will jar even the most partisan Pear.Sussex, though, have unfurled a run that now reads five wins in seven, a streak brought about by returns from injury, to form and the sort of swagger that has characterised their teams of the past. Chris Nash’s revival with a first-innings 118, on a tricky day one pitch, wickets shared (Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer and David Wiese took 14 in the match between them) and an array of difficult catches held speak of a team peaking at the right time.Even with rain washing out the morning session, Sussex were still able to make significant strikes in the first passage of play, which started at 1.10pm, removing the remaining two wickets in the Worcestershire first innings – 162 behind – and taking out their top order to leave them reeling on 66 for 5 at tea in their follow-on innings.Aside from the rains, Ed Barnard was the only other uncontrollable that Sussex came up against today. The pick of the Worcestershire bowlers, he held firm to finish the first innings unbeaten on 65 – his third half-century of the season and fourth of his first-class career.His knock threatened to take the hosts beyond their follow-on target, attacking well as he managed the strike effectively with No. 11 and debutant Pat Brown. He managed to take time out of the game when he struck David Wiese for a towering six that landed in the car park towards Worcester Cathedral. However, two balls later, Brown edged behind and Worcestershire had to start all over again.Wiese continued from the Diglis End with an opening eight-over burst that saw him remove Daryl Mitchell, (bowled) Tom Fell (caught at second slip by Harry Finch, his sixth of the match) and then Clarke (bowled off an inside edge) – all three deliveries brought about by movement into the right-hander off the surface.For the second time in the day, it was left to Barnard to fight for Worcestershire’s pride. He took a couple of blows from Stuart Whittingham, who bowled with good pace to remove George Rhodes and Brett D’Oliveira for his first two wickets of the match. Both times, Barnard inspected his helmet and smiled like a man who had found a tenner in his spare pair of jeans rather than knocked on the bonce. If he was punch-drunk, he was snapped out of it by a cluster of wickets at the other end, as Jofra Archer removed Ben Cox, Joe Leach and John Hastings in the space of five balls. Barnard’s smile was long gone.Even in his grind, he was still able to show a wide range of strokes – his charge and thwack back over Wiese’s head for six was Kevin Pietersen-esque in execution and attitude. He had no interest in keeling over like the rest of his side.When he reached 35, he was given a round of applause from Worcestershire fans who had sat through the morning rain – it was his 100th run of the match, without being dismissed. Naturally, it was Barnard who put the hosts into the lead and he fell trying to add to it, skying Stiaan van Zyl to long on, where Whittingham ran in to take a catch (the same fielder had shelled Barnard in the first innings on 43).Naturally, Barnard picked up a wicket in Sussex’s chase of nine: Luke Wells chipping to skipper Joe Leach at midwicket after Mitchell had dropped the same batsmen at second slip. A streaky four through gully from Angus Robson sealed the win for Sussex. It may seem premature, but this match felt like two teams passing each other, with one very clearly on the way up.

The minimum retainers for the women’s cricket team surpassed the deals recently unveiled for top tier equivalents in soccer and AFL

Daniel Brettig12-Sep-2017Australia’s cricketers are now comfortably the highest paid female athletes in the country, with minimum retainers for the national team and domestic sides outstripping deals recently unveiled for top-tier contracts in soccer and AFL.While 2017 has been a breakthrough year for female athletes across the country through the inaugural AFLW competition and this week’s announcement of a new pay deal for female footballers with the Football Federation of Australia, the terms granted to cricketers under the MoU completed last week have put them well ahead of the rest.Under figures obtained by ESPNcricinfo, the minimum contract for a Cricket Australia-contracted player (minus match payments, prize money and other performance bonuses) will be A$ 72,076 for 2017-18, as opposed to a “tier-one” representative of the Matildas national soccer team on A$ 41,000 a year. Listed players at AFLW clubs earn between A$ 5,000 and A$ 25,000 each.All domestic contracted players – taking part in the WNCL and the WBBL – are entitled to deals worth A$ 25,659 from playing for their states, and a minimum A$ 10,292 (average of A$ 19,926) for playing in the domestic Twenty20 competition. By contrast, W-League soccer players will be paid wages ranging from A$ 10,000 to A$ 20,000.Average wages for international female cricketers – factoring in match fees and performance bonuses plus WBBL retainers – will be around A$ 180,000 this season, rising to A$ 211,000 in 2021-22, the final year of the recently completed MoU. Average wages for domestic-only players will be around A$ 55,000 this season, rising to A$ 58,000 in 2021-22.These figures, reached after a lengthy and often ugly period of negotiation and then dispute between CA and the Australian Cricketers Association, were always likely to be reached as both sides of the argument believed fundamentally in improving the lot of female players, not only by raising their wages but also by including all players in a single MoU for the first time.However the women were caught in the middle of the dispute as all players were left out of contract after the previous MoU expired on June 30, a deadline that passed in the middle of the World Cup contested in England this year – squad members signed short-term deals to enable to stay employed throughout the tournament. Ironically, the few weeks spent without pay for the women echoed the experiences of many in earlier years of their careers, as the vice-captain Alex Blackwell has said.”Women would have to take massive chunks of leave without pay, if not sacrifice their job, to go on tour to play for Australia,” Blackwell said in the ACA’s Onside magazine. “Over my career I have known team-mates of mine who have lost their jobs from being selected for their country and having to say to their employer, ‘I’m away for five weeks’. What would happen if that player got injured two days into the tour, would be that they lose the financial benefit of the tour and be in a really poor and vulnerable position.”This the first time that a female player group has come under an MoU, and for it to be one MoU combined is a historic event. I didn’t always feel like we were respected as well as we could have been in terms of the part we play in growing the game. So, that’s the first thing that this MoU makes me feel; like there has been a switch, and we are now partners in growing the game into something that is bigger and better.”CA has made a concerted effort to be more inclusive in recent years, and one of the battlegrounds of the pay war was the board’s claims that the players association had shown as much willingness to strive for gender equity – a claim the ACA rejected. Its recent strategy document for the next five years made no secret of CA’s desire to attract more women to the game as both fans and players, with major pay increases for female elite players a key part of their approach. The board’s stated goals include to:”Achieve gender equity across Australian Cricket. Develop and accelerate the opportunities for women in all areas and levels of our game. Sustainably grow women and girls’ participation, and make sure they find cricket clubs welcoming and enjoyable places to be. Cricket becomes a viable professional career for talented female athletes, who will be supported by an expansive and structured female pathway. Grow women’s elite cricket and remain number one in all formats. The WBBL becomes the undisputed leader of women’s sporting leagues in the world.”While the WBBL is currently played concurrently with the BBL, CA has flagged plans to move the tournament to a standalone slot in the calendar in October. The men’s and women’s World T20 tournaments to be hosted by Australia in 2020 will be played in separate slots, the women in February-March and the men in October-November.

High-profile players moving to new teams include Robin Uthappa, Karn Sharma, Piyush Chawla and Ambati Rayudu

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Oct-2017Uthappa moves to Saurashtra
Robin Uthappa has joined Saurashtra as a professional for the 2017-18 season, ending his 15-year association with Karnataka. Uthappa had earlier been on the verge of striking a deal with Kerala, but it did not materialise. He led Karnataka to the final of the 2009-10 Ranji Trophy, when Mumbai snatched a six-run win. Uthappa was also part of the Karnataka side that did the double-treble, winning the Ranji Trophy, Irani Cup and the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2013-14 and 2014-15.Karn Sharma joins Vidarbha
After representing Railways for almost a decade, Karn Sharma will play as a professional for Vidarbha in the upcoming season. Karn took 119 wickets and scored 1639 runs in 51 first-class games for Railways. Karn’s recent form bodes well for Vidarbha: since the start of the Duleep Trophy last month, the legspinner has picked up 31 wickets in four first-class games at an average of 15.29. Vidarbha also have a new coach in Chandrakant Pandit, who coached Mumbai to a Ranji Trophy title in 2015-16, and followed that up with a final appearance last year.Rayudu to lead Hyderabad
Vidarbha, however, have lost the services of Ambati Rayudu, who will lead Hyderabad instead. He returns to the Hyderabad set-up after having started his first-class career with them in 2001-02 as a 16-year old. Rayudu’s experience will help fill the gap left behind by S Badrinath, who has opted to take a year off from first-class cricket to spend time with his family. Hyderabad will also have a new coach in J Arunkumar, who takes over from B Arun, who had been appointed as India’s bowling coach in July.Chawla signs with Gujarat
Piyush Chawla will join his former Uttar Pradesh team-mate RP Singh in Gujarat for the 2017-18 season. The legspinner was earlier in talks with Vidarbha, who eventually signed Karn. In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Chawla brushed aside murmurs of competition for places with Kuldeep Yadav being the reason for his move.Whatmore to coach Kerala
Dav Whatmore, who coached Sri Lanka to the 1996 World Cup title, has replaced former India seamer Tinu Yohannan as Kerala’s head coach. Yohannan had taken charge of the side halfway through the 2016-17 season after P Balachandran was sacked by the association, citing “non-performance”. Whatmore, who is also on a three-year deal as a consultant with the Chennai-based Sri Ramachandra University, has only signed a six-month deal with Kerala, but is likely to see out the entire 2017-18 domestic season.Other signings and transfers
PV Shashikanth to coach Karnataka
Amit Verma leaves Assam, returns to Karnataka
Ajay Ratra appointed Punjab coach
SS Das to coach Odisha
Sameer Dighe appointed Mumbai coach
Lalchand Rajput replaces Sunil Joshi as Assam coach
B Anirudh moves from Hyderabad to Tamil Nadu
Arun Karthik moves from Assam to Kerala
Jatin Saxena moves from Madhya Pradesh to Chhatisgarh
Rahul Chahar moves from Rajasthan to Services
Robin Bist leaves Himachal Pradesh, returns to Rajasthan
GK Chiranjeevi moves from Andhra to Railways
Vidhyadhar Kamath moves from Goa to Railways
Abhishek Yadav moves from Odisha to Railways
Deepak Punia moves from Saurashtra to Haryana
Atul Bedade replaces Jacob Martin as Baroda coach

Australia’s captain Steven Smith is flying home early from India, leaving David Warner to lead the side in the Twenty20 matches, after failing to shrug off a shoulder niggle

Daniel Brettig07-Oct-20170:42

Steven Smith misses T20Is against India with shoulder niggle

Australia’s captain Steven Smith is flying home early from India, leaving David Warner to lead the side in the Twenty20 internationals, after failing to shrug off a shoulder problem he picked up during the fifth ODI in Nagpur.Smith has been unable to bat or throw without discomfort since landing on his right shoulder during that match, forcing the selectors to call in Marcus Stoinis as his replacement for the three T20 fixtures.”Smith landed awkwardly on his right shoulder whilst diving in the field during the fifth ODI against India last Sunday,” team doctor Richard Saw said. “Following the match he complained of shoulder soreness, which has not settled and is restricting his ability to bat and throw.”Subsequently he has had an MRI scan which has excluded serious injury, but we believe the best course of action is for him to not continue to aggravate his shoulder and allow it to recover. He will have further investigation upon his return to Australia but we remain confident he will be available for the start of the Sheffield Shield season.”Since a dominant Test tour of India earlier this year, Smith’s return of runs has reduced significantly, and he has not made a century since that series. After the ODI series concluded, Smith noted that he had not always been as comfortable at the batting crease as he is used to, searching for his best grip on the bat, among other things.”To be honest, I wasn’t feeling great at the start of the series, I wasn’t holding the bat the way I liked to and I was having a few issues there that I was working on,” Smith said in Nagpur after India completed a 4-1 series win. “But I think I’ve slowly found a nice tempo which I’m after. I would have loved to score a lot more runs.”I’ve got myself in on a few occasions and not gone on to get the big runs that I previously have been. From that aspect, as the leader of the team, it’s been disappointing. But I guess sometimes that’s cricket. You have those periods where you’re not playing or getting the scores you really like.”

But for that to happen, their batting needs serious improvement considering at least one of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will be back after spending three months being “rested” or “rotated”

The Preview by Sidharth Monga15-Nov-20174:34

Chopra: Dhawan to open, Ishant over Bhuvneshwar

Match facts

November 16-20, 2017
Start time 0930 local (0400 GMT)

Big Picture

India v Sri Lanka again? Didn’t they play last week? Or was it last month? Might have been last season. Who could care?Such is the apathy towards the contest that it is almost forgotten that Sri Lanka were last invited to play Test cricket in India, during “prime time”, was a full eight years ago. For purposes of rhythm no doubt, they played the matches on exact same dates – November 16, November 24 and December 2, 2009 – while the country was busy celebrating Sachin Tendulkar’s 20 years in international cricket. Only immigration officers knew Sri Lanka had been in the country for a week when the pre-match press conferences began.If India were stuck in the past in 2009, it would appear they already have their minds in the future – in South Africa. Hardik Pandya, whose only Tests have come against Sri Lanka, has been rested because he is believed to be the one to make the difference overseas. If India seal this Sri Lanka series in the first two Tests, it is possible even captain Virat Kohli might give the rest of the tour a miss. Why, even the green pitch for the first Test at Eden Gardens might suggest South Africa has come in earnest.The last time Sri Lanka came to India, they caught the hosts by surprise and had them 32 for 4 on the first day of the series, the last bit of ascendency they enjoyed. They will now hope not only to catch India on the hop but for a longer period of time.The last time Sri Lanka came to India, the hosts would become the No. 1 side in the world. Now, they are already on top of the rankings, a more ruthless, bowler-oriented version of MS Dhoni’s team. And Sri Lanka? Well, they were the No. 2 side in 2009 but in the lead up to 2017, they lost Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Dilshan, Samaraweera, Muralitharan and their prominence in international cricket. Not only have Sri Lanka lost legends as players but, until as recently as last month, also as possible advisors to take them into the next era.A more pressing concern is the batting, which needs a lot of work to stand up to India’s bowling might, which will be further accentuated on home surfaces. Even though they won the series in Pakistan 2-0, Sri Lanka are keeping their ambitions realistic: they will be happy if they can win a Test, their first, in India.The Eden Gardens was wrapped under covers on the eve of the Test•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
India: WWWWD
Sri Lanka: WWLLL

In the spotlight

It is safe to assume it has been uneasy for R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to come to terms with life outside India’s national sides. Since they last played Sri Lanka in August, they were “rested” then “rotated” – who needs fake news when there are India selections? – but the fact remains two of India’s big match winners in Tests are not wanted in limited-overs cricket. They will be itching to come back to Tests with a vengeance.Angelo Mathews has spent two years without a Test century. Sri Lanka have beaten Pakistan twice without Mathews. Once the captain, once the man to lead Sri Lanka into the next era, once the chosen one, Mathews is now just another one. What better time to go back to being the special one?

Team news

The Eden Gardens pitch is green and expected to help the quicks. The last time India played a Test here – on a similar pitch last year – they went in with an extra batsman. With the seam-bowling allrounder missing, India might possibly go that way again. If they do so, they might come face to face with a choice they will anyway have to make in South Africa: who out of Ashwin and Jadeja makes way for a third specialist fast bowler? That fast bowler if selected is most certainly going to be Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who took a five-for in his last Kolkata Test.The other choice to be made for India is one that will cause them a dilemma in South Africa too. While it might be harsh to drop either Shikhar Dhawan or KL Rahul after the year they have had, M Vijay might be a valuable asset overseas.India (probable): 1 KL Rahul, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt.), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Rohit Sharma, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 R Ashwin/ Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Umesh Yadav.Even though Sri Lanka won both their Tests in the UAE, changes are expected. Kusal Mendis is out, Mathews is in, possibly to bat at No. 4; Kaushal Silva is out, Dhanandaya de Silva is back. The tricky permutations will have to be carried in the bowling department with Mathews still not expected to bowl. And Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by playing five bowlers in both Tests. An overcast Kolkata in November is rather different to the UAE, though, and a green pitch might also necessitate playing an extra batsman.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Sadeera Samarawickrama, 3 Dhananjaya de Silva, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (capt.), 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 7 Lahiru Thirimanne/ Dasun Shanaka ,8 Dilruwan Perera, 9 Suranga Lakmal, Rangana Herath, 11 Lahiru Gamage/ Vishwa Fernando

Pitch and conditions

The Eden Gardens pitch is green and expected to be two-paced; it seems this Test will be played in similar conditions as the last Kolkata Test when 26 of the 40 wickets fell to pace. Any chances of the pitch drying out might have been laid to rest by persistent rain on the day before the Test. There is more expected on the first three days of the match.

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka have never won a Test in 17 attempts in India, but this is not the longest wait for a Test team to register a maiden win in a particular country: New Zealand went 28 Tests before they finally won one in England.
• One of Rohit Sharma’s two Test centuries has come in two Tests in Kolkata. Even when he didn’t score a century, he scored a crucial second-innings 82 to help India beat New Zealand in conditions that were almost home-like for the visitors. In all international cricket at Eden Gardens, Rohit averages more than 90 per dismissal.
• Angelo Mathews and Rangana Herath are the only ones in the Sri Lanka squad to have played Test cricket in India.
• R Ashwin is eight short of 300 wickets. He has played 52 Tests; Dennis Lillee is the fastest to the mark, in 56 Tests.

Quotes

“I feel every match you play is important. Every series is huge. It’s not like we lose this series and you’re going to say nothing to us. Everything is important when you play for the country. We don’t like to differentiate, we simply want to do well as a team.”

Southee had missed the first Test due to the birth of his child and was replaced by George Worker in the squad

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Dec-2017The New Zealand pace attack that inflicted an innings defeat on West Indies in the first Test in Wellington will be boosted further by the return of Tim Southee for the second Test in Hamilton. Southee had missed the first Test due to the birth of his child and was replaced by George Worker, who did not find a place in the XI in Wellington. Southee is expected to join the squad on Wednesday in Hamilton for the Test starting Saturday.

Squad for secont Test

Kane Williamson (capt), Trent Boult, Tom Blundell, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Jeet Raval, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner

Worker and fast bowler Lockie Ferguson were released from the squad to play the Ford Trophy – New Zealand’s domestic one-day competition – for the matches scheduled on Wednesday.Ferguson, however, will join the Test squad back in time for the second Test. New Zealand will continue to miss the services of the injured wicketkeeper BJ Watling, but his replacement Tom Blundell scored an unbeaten century on debut to help the hosts build a massive first-innings lead.New Zealand played three quicks in the first Test – Trent Boult, Matt Henry and Neil Wagner – and all contributed with wickets in both innings. While Boult picked four wickets in the match and Henry collected three, Wagner finished with career-best 7 for 39 in the first innings before picking another two in the second innings. They also had the medium-pace services of Colin de Grandhomme and played Mitchell Santner as the specialist spinner.

Now Tigers – capital T – in home ODIs, Bangladesh have not just won their first three matches, they have preyed ruthlessly on their oppositions taking a bonus point from each game

The Preview by Andrew Fidel Fernando24-Jan-2018

Big Picture

Bangladesh have rocked this tournament. Now Tigers – capital T – in home ODIs, they have not just won their first three matches, they have flexed new muscles, deployed fresh skills, and preyed ruthlessly on their oppositions, taking a bonus point from each game. Occasionally, the batting is a little wobbly. So what? Mashrafe Mortaza and co. will scythe through your top order anyway. Occasionally, a Bangladesh bowler goes for runs. No big deal. Nothing compared to what Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan will do to the opposition attack.One or two players in the Sri Lanka side – Upul Tharanga and Dinesh Chandimal perhaps – will remember when they were the team that romped through games against lower-ranked opposition. As recently as 2014, Bangladesh could not win one match against Sri Lanka, in a home tour. This Sri Lanka team, however, is very much in danger of spiraling out of a tournament they would have fancied winning with a second-string team in decades past.The permutation is almost very simple. Sri Lanka are definitely through if they win. They can also qualify by losing narrowly, but cannot afford another huge deficit like the 163-run to Bangladesh earlier in the tournament.There is a personal subplot at play too. Before Sri Lanka left their island, new coach Chandika Hathurusingha brushed off suggestions that there would be added pressure upon him in this first assignment, in which he is coaching in (and against) the team he had so recently been with. Despite those remarks, there is surely a little pride at stake here. With his departure from Bangladesh having been spiky, Hathurusingha will be desperate for his team to make the final of this tournament, at the very least.

Form guide

Sri Lanka: WLLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Bangladesh: WWWLL

In the spotlight

Thisara Perera is enjoying a hot streak. From time to time – the last occasion was in 2014 – this is what he does. Once his bowling clicks, his batting rapidly falls into place, and he is suddenly incandescent. No longer is he the player who skies the first bouncer that comes his way. No longer does he spray the ball short and wide to collect an economy rate of well over six. In this series, he has been Sri Lanka’s ace, busting up batting orders, and bruising opposition attacks. The challenge as ever, however, is for Thisara to maintain this temperature.Thisara Perera carves one over the off side•Associated Press

More consistent than Thisara, and just as effective in this series, has been Shakib Al Hasan who tops the tournament wicket-takers’ list, and has the third-best aggregate of runs to boot. Not often has he batted at No. 3 for Bangladesh – coming in at first drop in only five of his 173 innings – but in this tournament, he has struck two half-centuries in that position. With the Mirpur square now showing signs of wear, his bowling may be even more potent in the last two matches.

Team news

With Kusal Perera almost certainly unavailable with a side strain, Danushka Gunathilaka is likely to come into the the XI. Asela Gunaratne’s spot also looks a little shaky, though perhaps he will stave away a challenge from the newly-arrived Dhananjaya de Silva for at least one more match. A slight niggle for Nuwan Pradeep means Dushmantha Chameera also stands a chance of playing.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Danushka Gunathilaka, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 5 Dinesh Chandimal (capt.) 6 Asela Gunaratne, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Akila Dananjaya, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Lakshan Sandakan, 11 Nuwan PradeepBangladesh are unlikely to make any changes to the XI that trounced Zimbabwe on Tuesday.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Anamul Haque, 3 Shakib Al Hasan, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Mahmudullah, 6 Sabbir Rahman, 7 Nasir Hossain, 8 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 9 Sunzamul Islam, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Rubel Hossain.

Pitch and conditions

The weather in Mirpur is expected to be fine on Thursday, with temperatures only reaching the low 20-degree Celsius range. With pitches having become slower, lower and trickier to bat on through the tournament, batting first may be the preferred option.

Stats and trivia

• Mustafizur Rahman needs one more dismissal to complete 50 wickets in ODIs. If he gets it in this match, he will be the sixth fastest bowler to the milestone (alongside Shane Warne and Matt Henry), and by a distance the fastest Bangladesh bowler.
• Sri Lanka have never previously lost two successive matches to Bangladesh.
• Thisara Perera has nine wickets at 15.11 in this tournament, but in the previous two years, he had taken only 18 wickets at 46.94 over 21 innings. His batting had not fared much better during that time, when he averaged merely 12.46. In this tournament he has struck 132 runs at a strike rate of 171, however.

Quotes

“In this kind of tournament if you lose the first two games its always tough, but sometimes it gives you more confidence and morale to come back strong. As a team, we’re looking at it that way. We will have something up our sleeves.”Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal