The Derbyshire captain made his second ton of the competition as part of an impressive all-round display

ECB Reporters Network01-Jun-2018
ScorecardBilly Godleman’s second hundred in this year’s Royal London Cup led Derbyshire to a 51-run win at Northamptonshire to keep them firmly in the hunt for a place in the knockout stage.It was an impressive all-round display from Derbyshire, led by Godleman, who made a career-best 137 in the opening game of the competition at Edgbaston and followed up with an unbeaten 125 from 142 balls to steer his side carefully to 265 for 2 on a slow wicket.The score was easily defended with all six bowlers taking wickets as Northants subsided for 214 to leave their chances of qualifying for the knockout stage hanging by a thread.Godleman steered Derbyshire, having won the toss, with typically nugetty effort with few memorable strokes but a most-determined innings. He got going with a flashing cover drive off Ben Sanderson, struck another boundary past mid-off and a fierce pull backward of square as Derbyshire finished the Powerplay on 37 without loss.Boundaries were at a premium but he swung Josh Cobb over midwicket before bursting the hands of short-fine leg for his ninth four to move to 98 and then raising his third List A century in 127 balls.His opening partnership of 182 with Ben Slater was the record first-wicket stand in this fixture.Slater, fresh from his century against Yorkshire on Wednesday, began his innings with two firm pulls but otherwise was content to run the bowling around and build the partnership. He swept Graeme White for four and pulled Cobb over midwicket.A leg-side flick off Nathan Buck raised his sixth List A fifty in 78 balls with five fours. He then switch-hit Rob Keogh to the backward-point fence but completely missed a full toss from the same bowler and was clean bowled for 94.Northants’ chase, as was the case in the previous match against Durham, was in early trouble. Rob Newton chipped Wayne Madsen to midwicket for just 2 and Josh Cobb clipped Ravi Rampaul to mid-on for 6 before Alex Wakely, after a stand of 51 for the third wicket, tried to reverse-sweep Matt Critchley and was plumb lbw for 19.Ben Duckett has endured a miserable season so far but here, got set by driving Wayne Madsen – who bowled a seven-over opening spell for just 21 runs – over extra-cover before reverse-sweeping Critchley’s legspin three times for boundaries in going to just a first half-century of the summer in 59 balls.Duckett and Adam Rossington shared a partnership of 53 for the fourth wicket before Duckett lifted Alex Hughes into the hands of long-on to fall for 57 and Rossington, having reached a fortuitous 40, swung at Duanne Olivier and lost his leg stump.Northants needed 107 from 11 overs but despite Rory Kleinvedlt striking two leg-side sixes they fell well short.

Australian legspinner Adam Zampa did not disguise the fact that Essex’s Twenty20 season needs to improve – and fast- after a home defeat against Glamorgan

ECB Reporters Network13-Jul-2018
ScorecardChris Cooke carried Glamorgan to a two-wicket victory off the last ball of a dramatic final over as Essex’s third defeat in four games left them desperately needing to shore up a faltering season.The South African wicketkeeper-batsman hit a four from Neil Wagner’s final delivery to give Glamorgan their second Vitality Blast win of the season.Cooke’s masterly display of hitting brought him 60 from 29 balls, including four sixes and three fours, in a turnaround which included a stand of 61 for the ninth wicket with Timm van der Gugten from just 28 balls.Adam Zampa had done his best to rein in Glamorgan and give Essex a second win with three for 17 from his four overs. The Australian leg-spinner had been the only Eagles bowler to come out with any credit from the heavy defeat by Surrey at the Oval the night before when he took two for 20.Essex had been undone after being asked to bat when they suffered another spectacular collapses, losing their last eight wickets for 50 runs in just 40 deliveries, falling from 117 for two to 167 all out.

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And that after an opening stand of 48 from 32 balls between Adam Wheater and Varun Chopra, and another between Tom Westley and Ryan ten Doeschate of 62 from 27 balls for the fourth wicket. The loss of Ravi Bopara to a suicidal run-out and ten Doeschate next ball for a 28-ball 43 that included three sixes, prefaced the rapid decline.Zampa did not attempt to gloss over Essex’s shortcomings He said of the third defeat in four games: “It’s hard to put into words how disappointing that was. Two defeats in two days isn’t great for momentum.”It was a bit of everything. The batting, we lost wickets in clumps at crucial times. 170 here isn’t enough. Then with the ball we’d done well taking wickets, but we were just losing the crucial moments, just some decision-making. There are things we need to get right very quickly otherwise the tournament is going to crawl away from us very quickly.”Zampa was not sure if Essex are a team short on confidence at the moment. He said: “I’ve only been here a short while so I don’t know what the guys’ characters are like. It’s one of those things, it can turn around pretty quickly as well. If we can get the little things right, it’s T20 cricket and you can get a bit of a roll on. But we’re going to have to sort it out pretty quickly.”We’ve got the skills, everyone playing at this level has got the skills, it’s decision-making and the mental side of things.Michael Hogan bowled four miserly overs for 22 runs and two wickets, and was backed by Graham Wagg’s two for 30 at the height of Essex’s misfortunes.Glamorgan had made steady progress in their reply until Wagner was introduced for his Essex Blast bowling debut. With his fourth ball he had Usman Khawaja swishing at one down leg-side to be caught behind.Colin Ingram, who habitually flays Essex with centuries, found himself tied up in knots by Zampa, and in frustration swept the Australian leg-spinner straight into Chopra’s hands at backward square leg for just two. Zampa then did for David Lloyd, who played all around one and was bowled, He might have had a third but Chopra dropped a simple chance at deep square leg when Donald was 27.When Bopara had Graham Wagg and Andrew Salter bowled in successive deliveries in an over that went for just two runs, Glamorgan were on the verge of suffering a collapse of their own. They were 107 for seven, still 61 runs from their target with 34 balls left. But then the fireworks began.Craig Meschede gave himself room and was bowled to give Zampa his third wicket, his final over conceding just three runs. Cooke then took over. Suddenly 11 were needed off the last over. Cooke took a single off the first ball from Wagner, and Timm van Gugten a single off a wide from the second. Two more for Cooke reduced the target to six from four balls, then five from three, four from two and two from the last ball. A wide from the sixth ball tied the scores before Cooke hit the winning boundary to cow corner.

Zaman shrugged off Sarfraz’s histrionics, suggesting that the team are comfortable under their captain and that, perhaps, a bit of sound and fury was what was needed to sharpen them up

Liam Brickhill in Harare04-Jul-2018Despite Pakistan overcoming Zimbabwe to secure their place in the tri-series final, their captain Sarfraz Ahmed was vocal in the criticism of his bowling attack. “The bowling was not up to the mark,” he said shortly after guiding his side to a seven-wicket win. “They have to work hard.”Sarfraz had been a loud and, at times, stroppy presence behind the stumps during Zimbabwe’s innings. The very first ball of the day seemed to set the tone, as Sarfraz let rip with a fearful ear-bashing at Fakhar Zaman when he was slow off the mark from midwicket, allowing Zimbabwe opener Cephas Zhuwao to get off the mark. There wasn’t much let up thereafter.But Zaman shrugged off Sarfraz’s histrionics, suggesting that the team are comfortable under their captain and that, perhaps, a bit of sound and fury was what was needed to sharpen them up on a particularly cold winter’s day in Harare. “Yeah, he’s the kind of person who does that sometimes,” said Zaman. “But he’s very good at getting us up on the field. We’re used to it and he’s our captain. And well, it works for us and it worked today.”Sarfraz also had some fiery words for his bowlers, ticking Shadab Khan off during an over when Solomon Mire hit him for two big sixes. Mire took the attack to Pakistan’s bowlers, and Zaman admitted that Zimbabwe had scored 20 to 30 more runs than they thought was par on this pitch.”We were expecting 130 to 140 on this pitch, but Mire played a very good innings,” Zaman said. “We knew that we have a very deep batting lineup – we have Shadab at no. 9 – so we were confident we could chase it.”As it turned out, Pakistan’s lower order wasn’t needed as Zaman and Hussain Talat cracked forties before Sarfraz finished things off with an ice-cold, unbeaten 38. While his tongue-lashing geed them up, Sarfraz’s batting was the picture of limited-overs sangfroid and provided a different sort of a lesson to his team. Zaman said that spending time under Sarfraz had helped him improve his own game, particularly in T20 cricket.”In the start in T20 I was hitting every ball in my striking zone, and after playing eight to 10 games I sat with some senior players like Shoaib Malik and Sarfraz Ahmed, and spoke about my gameplans with them,” Zaman said. “I realised that I could play proper cricket shots and be successful, and that’s what I’ve been doing recently.”Pakistan’s win means they are assured of a place in Sunday’s final, though they have a dead rubber against Australia tomorrow. Bucking their recent trend in short-format cricket, Australia have won two in two in this tournament and they were buoyed by an opening victory against Pakistan which included Billy Stanlake’s 4 for 8.”We’ll just keep it very simple [against Australia],” Zaman said. “[Stanlake] bowled really well in the last match but every day is a new day. We’ll play him well.”

Leicestershire have lost all four home matches at Grace Road after another sluggish batting display at Grace Road

ECB Reporters Network27-Jul-2018
ScorecardA half-century from Billy Godleman underpinned by some explosive hitting by Hardus Viljoen helped Derbyshire Falcons maintain their current mini-revival by overhauling a modest total by Leicestershire Foxes, who have so far lost all four of their home fixtures in the Vitality T20 Blast while winning their three away from Grace Road.Godleman recovered from running out the Falcons’ danger man Calum MacLeod off the second ball as the Falcons chased a target of 150, his unbeaten 57 steering his side to back-to-back wins in the competition after their first four matches ended in defeat.Viljoen smashed 32 off just 16 balls to snuff out any real hope of the Foxes keeping their East Midlands rivals below their total of 149 for 5 on a used pitch.When he was dismissed, skying one to mid-off off Neil Dexter, the target was down to 33 off 30 deliveries and his dismissal merely prefaced the arrival of skipper Gary Wilson, whose 21 off 11 balls helped Godleman finish the job at the end of a good week for the county, who completed only their second Championship win of the season at Chesterfield on Wednesday.The chase had begun disastrously for the Falcons with Macleod, whose 58-ball century against Northamptonshire last time out enabled his side to register a first win of the season, run out without facing a ball as Godleman called a quick single only for Colin Ackerman to beat his partner with a direct hit running in from mid-wicket.With a build-up of threatening cloud away to the east and reports of rain elsewhere, Leicestershire were anxious to complete the five overs minimum required in the Falcons innings to ensure a result, which produced another dividend for the home side in the event, Wayne Madsen hitting Ben Raine straight to mid-off.But then a rather loose over from Mohammad Abbas, conceding three boundaries, handed the initiative back to the visiting side, who were 45-2 at the end of the powerplay, compared with the Foxes’ 38-1 at the same stage.At the halfway stage, the Falcons needed 82 more with eight wickets in hand, although they suffered a setback in the 11th over as 22-year-old Anuj Dal, a tidy right-handed who had batted nicely in only his fourth senior match, was bowled when he attempted to haul a ball from Neil Dexter in the direction of square leg, but new batsman Viljoen punished Gavin Griffiths with a couple of boundaries in the next over to keep his side on track.The Falcons became adept at pushing singles and the Foxes were not able to come up with too many dot balls, and when Viljoen lofted Mohammad Nabi’s off-spin high over probably the longest boundary on the ground they looked to have the chase in their grasp, with 47 needed off the final six overs.Viljoen fell with 33 still needed but Wilson’s experience ensured there were no alarms as the target was reached with eight balls to spare.Mark Cosgrove’s 65 off 53 balls was the mainstay of a Foxes innings that began explosively with Dexter crashing Madsen’s opening over for six and four and then falling leg before attempting a paddle sweep.On a sluggish pitch that made fluent scoring difficult, the Falcons bowled tight disciplined lines and conceded only four boundaries during the powerplay overs.Cameron Delport, who never looked in good touch, thick edged Ravi Rampaul to short third man, and at the halfway stage the total was a modest 58 for 2.Raine went for just six after a painful innings that saw him twice on the deck, hit once in the lower abdomen and then on the ankle, and there was no significant acceleration in the scoring rate until Cosgrove got hold of Viljoen with a six and two fours in the 13th over.It prefaced a better finish for the home side, the last eight overs adding 82, with Ackermann, who hit the ball out of the ground at the Pavilion End off Rampaul, and Mohammad Nabi maintaining the momentum after Cosgrove missed a Rampaul slower ball.Nabi’s powerful and sometimes innovative hitting brought him 18 from 13 balls to swell the total to 149, which at least gave the Foxes more to defend than once looked likely.

The full tour includes three Tests, five ODIs and three T20s and runs from January to March

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Aug-2018England will play their first Test match in St Lucia as part of a two-month tour of the Caribbean early next year.The other two venues for the three-match Test series, which is the first part of the trip, are Barbados and Antigua.England’s previous Test series in the Caribbean finished 1-1 after West Indies levelled the series in Barbados following England’s win in Grenada.A five-match one-day series will follow with matches in Barbados, Grenada and St Lucia before the tour wraps up with three T20s which also includes a match at the Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium.England arrive in Barbados on January 11 and have one four-day tour match pencilled in ahead of the opening Test on January 23.A tour by England remains very important for the West Indies board because of the number of travelling supporters they are likely to bring. This is the first time all three formats have been played on the same tour since 2009.ItineraryWed Jan 23-Sun Jan 27 – 1st Test, Kensington Oval, Barbados
Thu Jan 31-Mon Feb 4 – 2nd Test, Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua
Sat Feb 9-Wed Feb 13 – 3rd Test, Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, St Lucia
Wed Feb 20 – 1st ODI, Kensington Oval, Barbados
Fri Feb 22 – 2nd ODI, Kensington Oval, Barbados
Mon Feb 25 – 3rd ODI, National Cricket Stadium, Grenada
Wed Feb 27 – 4th ODI, National Cricket Stadium, Grenada
Sat Mar 2 – 5th ODI, Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, St Lucia
Tue Mar 5 – 1st IT20, Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, St Lucia
Fri Mar 8 – 2nd IT20, Warner Park, St Kitts
Sun Mar 10 – 3rd IT20 Warner Park, St Kitts

The left-arm quick has picked up an official warning and one demerit point

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2018Khaleel Ahmed’s send-off of Marlon Samuels in the fourth ODI in Mumbai has earned the India left-arm quick an official warning and one demerit point.Having dismissed him in the 14th over of West Indies’ innings, Khaleel turned towards the departing Samuels and yelled out multiple times. Khaleel picked up figures of 3 for 13, helping India win by 224 runs.He was found guilty of a Level 1 breach of the ICC code of conduct, for violating article 2.5, which relates to “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter upon his/her dismissal during an international match”.Khaleel admitted to the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee Chris Broad, which meant there was no need for a formal hearing. The charge was levelled by on-field umpires Ian Gould and Anil Chaudhary, third umpire Paul Wilson, and fourth umpire C Shamsuddin.

South Africa batsman heads for Wantage Road on a three-month contract for the 2019 season.

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Nov-2018Temba Bavuma, the South Africa batsman, has been signed by Northamptonshire on a three-month contract for the 2019 season.Bavuma, 28, made headlines in January 2016 when he became the first black African cricketer to score a Test century for South Africa – hitting an unbeaten 102 against England at Newlands in Cape Town, his native city.In the course of 31 Test appearances for South Africa, Bavuma has scored 1,488 runs at 33.81, and has also represented his country in the ODI format. In all first-class cricket he’s made nearly 7,000 runs with a dozen hundreds. He was appointed captain of the Highveld Lions franchise for the current season.He will join Northamptonshire between May and July 2019, boosting the County’s batting line-up for eight Specsavers County Championship matches.”Signing a player of Temba’s international stature underlines our ambitions as a club,” said Northamptonshire’s chief executive Ray Payne.”We are keen to return to the Championship’s top division and hopefully his runs will help us achieve that. His Test experience will bring an added dimension to the team and we’re all looking forward to welcoming a cricketer who is admired and respected around the cricketing world.”

England close to finalising line-up but delay confirming their team with bad weather set to threaten a prompt start

George Dobell in Galle05-Nov-2018England look set to field two debutants in the Galle Test.The Surrey pair of Rory Burns and Ben Foakes both look likely to play, with Burns set to opening the batting and Foakes set to keep wicket and bat at No. 7. He will be England’s third wicketkeeper in three Tests.England did not reveal their team the day before the game as has become their custom. With the pitch covered due to the rain that could well prove a feature of this match, they were unable to take anything more than a quick glance at the surface. They have, therefore, decided to keep their options open until they know how it is going to look at the toss. With the forecast poor, it’s not out of the question that that may even be delayed until the second day.But it seems that, whatever happens, Joe Denly will miss out. While England had planned for him to start the series batting at No. 3, his form in the warm-up games – with bat and ball – has provoked a re-think. He could be forgiven for feeling unfortunate: having waited until he was 32 for his first Test tour, he’s had only two innings to impress and simply failed to take the chance. It’s not impossible he could feature later in the series, but it is unlikely.Meanwhile Foakes took part in wicketkeeping drills while the other option for the gloves, Jos Buttler, practised his out-fielding. With a first-class batting average of 40.64, Foakes is a more-than-decent batsman, but it is keeping that has long rendered him an outstanding prospect. He has been part of the England system throughout his career – he made his List A debut for the Lions rather than in county cricket – and is expected to prove more reliable standing up to the stumps against the spin than Buttler. Last year, his director of cricket at Surrey, Alec Stewart, rated him as the best keeper in the world.While Jonny Bairstow is expected to be fit for the second Test, there is no certainty he will reclaim the gloves. If Keaton Jennings, in particular, struggles in Galle, Bairstow could fit back into the middle-order with Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes both expected to bat in the top three.England are set to field a team containing several inexperienced players – Jack Leach has only played one Test, too – but the chances of Stuart Broad playing have increased a little. Broad is one of just two men – James Anderson is the other – in this England squad to have played Test cricket in Sri Lanka previously and it remains possible, though unlikely, he could be selected ahead of Sam Curran. Chris Woakes, who bowled a long spell in the nets on Monday, appears to have dropped out of consideration, while Broad, Anderson and Curran did not bowl.Root said he wanted to wait and see the pitch – which has had no chance to dry out under covers – before confirming his side, but he did accept that it would turn come what may.”I still think spin is going to play a huge part,” he said. “I think when it’s been tacky here in the past it’s still spun. We’ve just got to adapt very well very quickly and read the situation.”We’ve got a very balanced squad with plenty of different options. Whichever XI we go with we’re going to be blessed with that. From that point of view I feel we’ll be very well prepared for whatever surface is thrown at us.”Root also implored his seamers not to “waste a delivery”. With the new Kookaburra ball expected to swing for around 10 overs, it is imperative England’s seamers make the batsmen play in that period. For all the skill and success of Anderson and Broad over the years, that has not always been their strongest suit”You see in the subcontinent how important those first 10 balls are as a batter,” Root told Talksport. “You can’t waste a delivery with the ball, especially the seamers, so having that mindset and being really aware of that is going to be really important for us to have success here.”

The Australia captain says if his team had done better in the key moments in the series opener, the 2-1 scoreline might have been reversed

Andrew McGlashan at the SCG07-Jan-2019After a drizzly end to a Test series where the result had been known four days ago when India walked off with 622, Tim Paine looked back with regret at the series’ opening two days in Adelaide and said he believed if chances had been taken then the 2-1 scoreline could have been reversed.Even though this series has been crammed into a month, as India celebrated in front of a small gathering of fans, it felt a long time ago that India were 5 for 86 on the opening day of the campaign. Cheteshwar Pujara’s masterful hundred – his first of three for the series – lifted India to 250, but that still offered Australia the chance to take a lead. However, to set a trend for the series, they slipped with the bat and ended up conceding a small lead which India converted into a 31-run victory.Although Australia levelled in Perth, the slower pitches in Melbourne and Sydney stymied their ambitions and India were comfortably the better team. One more dry day in the final Test and it would probably have been 3-1.”We honestly feel that we let that [Adelaide] Test slip,” Paine said. “We thought we had a number of opportunities to go well ahead of the game and when those key moments came up India outplayed us to be honest. Looking back now, if we’d won that Test, we win Perth, outplayed in Melbourne then a washout it could have been 2-1 the other way. It’s funny, in a big series of four Tests you go back to a couple of key moments in the very first Test where we let ourselves down and you get to the end of the series and it’s really hard to take.”Paine lauded, and was no doubt envious of, India for having key players take charge of vital moments in the series: Pujara in Adelaide, Bumrah in Melbourne and Pujara again in Sydney.”We are really disappointed. We know we had some guys missing but we honestly felt coming into the series that, in Australia in particular, that we could beat India but, throughout the series, more often than not, when those big moments came up, Virat has scored runs, Pujara has scored runs, Bumrah has bowled a great spell and we couldn’t quite get through those moments.”That’s why India won this series, their best players stood up in the big moments – when they were falling behind in a game one of their good players dragged them back into the contest, or when they were in front of the game they put their foot on us and put us out of the game like they did in Sydney and Melbourne.”Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon emerged from the series in credit, but there were slim pickings elsewhere. It was a series that was always going to challenge the depth of Australia’s batting without David Warner and Steven Smith, but the numbers have been chastening with just eight half-centuries and a top score of 79 by Marcus Harris.It was Harris and Travis Head who Paine picked out as being the gains – while also praising Marnus Labuschagne’s return to the team – and suggested that their chance for exposure at Test level could benefit the team in the future. While it is certainly true that Harris has taken his chance, Head’s series faded after half-centuries in Adelaide and Perth.ALSO READ: How do Australia fix their batting before the Ashes?“From a batting point of view, you look at what Marcus Harris and Travis Head have been able to do they are two examples of guys who might not have played any Test cricket at this stage. They’ve got an opportunity through an unusual situation and I thought both those guys acquitted themselves really well. This India attack was seriously good, I don’t think in Australia we’ve given them enough credit for how relentless they were, it was hard work batting against their attack for seasoned Test players. For Marcus and Travis to show they have got the game to make runs against the best attack in the world is a real positive.””For some of the guys in their third-fourth Test maybe it’s hard to look and say ‘I haven’t scored any hundreds’ but Marcus and Travis showed, and Marnus in the first innings [in Sydney], that they can score runs in Test cricket. Sometimes it’s difficult when it seems so far away, but we have three players there who are one innings away from really breaking through.”Australia’s two most experienced batsmen, Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh, scored one half-century apiece. The squad for the first Test against Sri Lanka will be named on Wednesday and Khawaja’s place is not under threat, but the debate around Marsh will be intense. Paine, who is not a selector, endorsed the pair and also the under-fire bowling unit.”I think everyone in our top seven didn’t play as well as we would have liked. Both of those players we know are absolute class, we know they can score a lot of runs. We have faith in them going forward. The group of bowlers we have in this team have been fantastic for quite a while now. They didn’t have their absolute best series but it’s not easy at this level and that can happen.”

Sri Lanka fast-bowling coach Rumesh Ratnayake admitted it was rare to see so many instances of batsmen being hit on the helmet in one match

Melinda Farrell in Canberra03-Feb-2019Kusal Perera will likely bat in the fourth innings at Manuka Oval, despite being forced off the field after suffering a blow to the helmet, as Sri Lanka try to salvage a positive finish and some much needed confidence ahead of their next series in South Africa.*SLC confirmed in a press release late on Sunday night that Kusal had been “cleared of any injuries”, and that his participation would depend on an assessment done on the fourth morning of the Test.Earlier, Sri Lanka’s fast-bowling coach, Rumesh Ratnayake, was confident Kusal would be cleared to bat, after the batsman was hit on the side of the helmet as he attempted to duck under a Jhye Richardson bouncer. Kusal initially played on, but left the field in the following over. He was replaced by Dimuth Karunaratne, who had been struck on the back of the neck by a short ball from Mitchell Starc on the previous day, but was cleared to play by the Sri Lanka medical staff.There were two other instances in the match of batsmen being hit around the head. Kusal had already been struck by Richardson earlier in the day, while a Pat Cummins short ball hit Dhananjaya de Silva on the helmet. Ratnayake later admitted it was rare to see so many incidents in one match.The former fast bowler speaks from experience: he once forced West Indies batsman Larry Gomes to retire after striking him with a short ball in an ODI at the MCG and, most famously, broke the nose of New Zealand opening batsman, John Wright, with a ferocious bouncer during a Test in Wellington.”When it hits the head it’s certainly a huge concern for us but this match was a lot on the head, wasn’t it?” said Ratnayake. “More so than any other game. So we would like to say it’s just one of those games but you can’t take the bowling off.”I mean Starc, who was not even a surety of [playing] this match, bowled extremely well and he was really on fire. And so did the other two who supported him as well. It was quality bowling, you can’t just take that away. Quality bowling I felt [affected] two of our guys [getting] hit on the head.”You can’t put it as a pattern. I mean I’ve seen bowlers hit batsmen on fast tracks also and certainly if there isn’t much pace the ducking process becomes different and the inconsistencies of a pitch – I’m not saying this pitch is inconsistent at all – it’s just sometimes you tend to duck for a ball that you shouldn’t be ducking. And that we saw in Kusal’s thing, he ducked into a ball which was not as ferocious as the ball to Karunaratne.”Kusal was replaced at the crease by Karunaratne, who added only 13 runs to the 46 he had scored before retiring hurt, but Ratnayake praised the character shown by the batsman.”I thought that showed a lot of guts and character from Karunaratne,” said Ratnayake. “That showed a lot for the team and we really thought that could help the morale so to speak. Those are things which we would like to talk on and hopefully the second innings we’ll sort of capitalise on that. When I say morale, [I mean] confidence.”Since they embarked on a challenging Test tour that began in New Zealand, injuries have forced Sri Lanka to field a side with little experience and, with two Tests looming in South Africa, there is little respite in the near future. Ratnayake said Suranga Lakmal, who missed out due to a stiff back, will be fit for the first Test against South Africa later this month but Sri Lanka don’t expect to have Nuwan Pradeep, Lahiru Kumara and Dushmantha Chameera available. It places a heavy burden on the young bowlers who have been drafted in, but Ratnayake believes a strong finish to the match could provide a significant boost to their confidence.”It’s still a learning curve because the Test isn’t finished but I’m sure they’ve learnt a lot, especially Chamika Karunaratne , who’s in his first Test.”It was kind of a shock to him to know the standards of Test level and it just happened that he was just – I wouldn’t say he was forced into it – he was sort of taken into it in a rush but he has shown a lot of character, he’s shown a lot of confidence, he’s showed a lot of things which he did just prior to the game. It was really encouraging but I think watching the Starcs, the Cummins, all of them I think certainly helped him on and it’s a learning curve.”‘”It is very important to finish off strongly here. And a good strong close-out of the match would certainly be a big gain for the boys in confidence, which hasn’t been all that great in the recent past, if you take the tours we’ve had in the [past] two years even, and it would certainly be a strong thing for the boys.”GMT 1824 *The story was updated to include details from the SLC’s release.