Listen to Sanjay Manjrekar’s one-on-one with Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka’s vice-captain and wicketkeeper, expects the big names playing their last World Cup to leave their mark on the tournament in the West Indies. Sangakkara picked out Sanath Jayasuriya, Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara as three to watch out for during the tournament, starting on March 13.”I think people who are coming to the end of their careers are going to be the most dangerous players in this World Cup,” he said during a programme jointly produced by Cricinfo and Times Now, an Indian television channel. “They will be just that bit hungrier to leave that little legacy, that little mark, that personal touch – like that was my World Cup.Having observed his career for close to a decade, Sangakkara revealed Jayasuriya’s attention to detail, a fact that goes unnoticed during his whirlwind knocks. “The final result – it looks as if he is a natural cricketer but he is the guy who has worked immensely on his technique to have that little base which lets him exploit and he will be really focused to make sure that he goes out in a blaze of glory.”Sanath doesn’t want to be in the shadow of any other batsmen in the world. To do that he has got to come out, improve and do the hard work. He is wiling to do the hard work and at 37 he is one of the fittest in the team, he is bowling, fielding well and he is battingfor longer. Forty-five runs from Sanath make us win 75% of matches and that’s why we look forward to Sanath giving us a start. Now we know that if he gets that start he goes on to make that big score.”He also mentioned two other batsmen in the twilight of their careers, who’ve both been regarded as the best of their generation. “Sachin Tendulkar, I can see him playing more cricketer but I don’t know till when,” he said. “It’s upto the individual player to decide when you retire. But if you miss that window of opportunity to walk out when you are on top can be disappointing in the long run. Sachin has been a fantastic player over the years, a great batsman and an example to watch. He is going to be that much more focused to leave a mark.”Brian Lara is another one, at home probably his last World Cup. I think people who are coming to the end of their careers are going to be the most dangerous players in this World Cup. Because they will be just that bit hungrier to leave that little legacy, that little mark, that personal touch – like that was my World Cup.”

Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, has said that Shane Bond will play in the Super Eights match against Ireland in Guyana on Monday. Fleming believes that resting Bond while he is in excellent bowling form could have counter-productive effects.”He’ll [Bond] definitely play,” Fleming told NZPA. “It’s important we get two points against Ireland, we’ll pick our strongest side.” Bond was rested for the final group-stage match against Canada but played both the first two Super Eights matches against West Indies and Bangladesh. He has taken eight wickets in four matches in the World Cup at an economy-rate of 2.29.”I hope to play every game, I prepare myself to play every game,” said Bond. “I’ve sat out enough games through injury so I never like to be rested.”New Zealand’s strongest side against Ireland is unlikely to include Ross Taylor who was unable to run at full pace during a training session on Saturday. Taylor strained his hamstring during his half-century against Kenya in the group stages.Taylor had said that his chances of playing Ireland were 70-30 but Fleming was less optimistic.”Ross has been a little bit ginger in terms of his movement,” said Fleming. “If he’s not quite right we’ll probably be conservative but we’re pushing as hard as we can to get him right as quickly as possible. We want him back into cricket, back into the fold. He’s been out of cricket for a while if he misses this one.”New Zealand have three crunch games coming up against Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia and Fleming asserted that rotating the players and tinkering with the starting XI would be kept to a minimum.”It’s important there’s continuity of selection. I’ve been involved in World Cups where we’ve chopped and changed probably a little too much,” said Fleming. “I made a point at the start [of the tournament] with [coach] John [Bracewell] that my view was always going to be conservative. If you’ve got 11 or 12 guys doing well you keep that going as long as possible.”Fast bowler Michael Mason was ruled out of the Ireland match after sustaining a calf-strain against Bangladesh. Either Chris Martin or Mark Gillespie would take his spot in the starting XI on Monday.

Andy Pick, the Canada coach, said he was in awe of the commitment shown by his mainly amateur side after they bowed out of the World Cup with a 114-run defeat to New Zealand.Although they lost all three of their matches, Canada scored over 200 in all and improved their record World Cup total, saving their best for last with 249 against New Zealand, beating their previous highest of 228 for 7 against England on Sunday.For a team featuring a salesman, an investment banker, a telephone technician and a forklift truck-driver and just one current first-class player in opening batsman Geoff Barnett, these were notable achievements. Barnett plays for Central Districts in the New Zealand domestic circuit.Pick, the former Nottinghamshire pace bowler, who has been on a one-year sabbatical from his post as coach of the England Under-19 team, praised the huge sacrifices the Canada players had made just to be at the World Cup.”I’m absolutely amazed,” Pick said. “I’m in awe of the commitment of the Canadian players. This winter we’ve been to Pretoria for two-and-a-half-weeks, to Kenya for a month and we’ve been here for a month.”For players to take that sort of time off work, some without pay, some guys lose jobs or some guys give up their family holidays for the next two years or whatever it might be, for very little recompense if any.””They deserve days like today,” Pick added after Thursday’s match against New Zealand. “They deserve all the credit for that because some of these guys go to work at 5am in the morning, finish at 5pm, drive for an hour-and-half, do three hours practice, go home, have something to eat, go to bed and do the same next day. And that’s when it’s minus 30. For the guys based in Canada it is a phenomenal effort.”Looking ahead, Pick said Canada could hold its own with the best of the associate or junior nations – the team play Ireland in the final of the four-day ICC Intercontinental Cup tournament in May.”I see Canadian cricket competing with the other associates who have professional frameworks in place and structures that develop youth talent. At the moment, Canada hasn’t got that simply because of a lack of money. If and when we get some money into Canadian cricket, there’s potential for growth that there isn’t in other countries.”He added that the talk of ‘minnow’ nations devaluing the World Cup was wide of the mark. “If the ICC are looking to expand the top group of teams, as they’ve done in the past with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, it’s essential we play in these competitions. That’s what they want to do and all credit to them.”

Cricket Australia has been forced to change the recent tradition of staging the concluding Tests of its major series in Melbourne and Sydney following negotiations with the India board. The 2007-08 season will take on a different feel after India, who are due to play Pakistan in November, insisted the first match of the four-Test contest would take place in Melbourne on Boxing Day. It will be followed by the New Year fixture in Sydney and games in Adelaide and Perth to decide the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.The large-scale reordering means the annual one-day tri-series, which usually starts in January, will begin in February and finish in March. Sri Lanka will open the Australian summer with two Tests in Brisbane and Hobart in November and return for the one-day tournament with the hosts and India. New Zealand will visit for three Chappell-Hadlee Series fixtures and a Twenty20 in December.”Our competitors’ global commitments create challenges for scheduling,” Michael Brown, Cricket Australia’s operations manager, said. Australia face a hectic program over the next 18 months, starting with the Twenty20 world championship in South Africa in September, a possible one-day tour of Zimbabwe and a limited-overs series in India. They are also expected to play 20 Tests in 2008.Australia will stage two Twenty20 matches next season, with games against New Zealand in Perth and India at the MCG. Canberra will host its first ODI since 1992 when India and Sri Lanka play there during the CB Series as part of Cricket Australia’s expansion program.Hobart will get two international games – a Test and an ODI – while the Northern Territory is covered by the five Australia-New Zealand women’s matches for the Rose Bowl in July. Tickets for all of Australia’s international matches are expected to go on sale in July.2007-08 Australian itinerary
Australia v Sri Lanka
1st Test, Brisbane, November 8-12
2nd Test, Hobart, November 16-20
Chappell-Hadlee Series
1st ODI, Adelaide, December 14
2nd ODI, Sydney, December 16
3rd ODI, Hobart, December 20
Australia v India
1st Test, Melbourne, December 26-30
2nd Test, Sydney, January 2-6
3rd Test, Perth, January 16-20
4th Test, Adelaide, January 24-28
Twenty20
Australia v New Zealand, Perth, December 11
Australia v India, Melbourne, February 1
CB Series
Australia, Sri Lanka, India
February 3-March 7

Europe will come to Lord’s on 7 June, when MCC will entertain a European XI for the first time. Trent Johnston, Ireland’s captain, will lead Europe, taking over from Scotland’s Ryan Watson – and he will link up again with the former Ireland coach Adrien Birrell who stepped down after the World Cup.The match will be a return fixture after last year’s successful experiment in Rotterdam, a five-wicket win for MCC. Admission is free.Although most county-contracted players will again be unavailable, Europe’s side includes four of Ireland’s World Cup players. There are five Scotland players in the team, and one each from Denmark and The Netherlands.The batting again looks strong, with openers Jeremy Bray (Ireland), Bas Zuiderent (Netherlands) and Freddie Klokker (Denmark) backed up by Watson and Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien. Bray’s century against Zimbabwe in Ireland’s opening World Cup game got their tournament off to a great start, and he was again in fine form against Canada, with 146 from just 152 balls.With Wright, Colin Smith and Johnston in the middle order the side bats in depth. Johnston has a choice of keepers, too, in Smith and Klokker.Johnston himself will take the new ball, with John Blain, whose 3 for 24 was key in Scotland’s Friends Provident Trophy win against Lancashire last week. Seamers Wright and O’Brien provide support, with spin from Ireland’s off-spinner Kyle McCallan and Scotland’s slow left-armer Glenn Rogers.Twelfth man will be Guernsey’s Kris Moherndl, who has been given the opportunity as part of a new initiative this year to offer the experience to one of Europe’s rising talents that impressed the selectors during the recent ICC European Cricket Academy in La Manga, Spain.Squad Trent Johnston (Ireland, captain), John Blain (Scotland), Jeremy Bray (Ireland), Freddie Klokker (Denmark), Kyle McCallan, Kevin O’Brien (both Ireland), Glenn Rogers, Colin Smith, Ryan Watson, Craig Wright (all Scotland), Bas Zuiderent (Netherlands).
12th man – Kris Moherndl (Guernsey).

Quebec 225 (48.2 overs; Qaiser Ali 64) and 165 for 8 (50 overs) beat Ontario 126 (43.1 overs: N Patel 3-23) and 210 (46.1 overs; Shamshuddeem 56, N Patel 3-51) runsQuebec regained the Atholstan Cup in LaSalle (Montreal) on Sunday (June 10), beating Ontario by 44 runs.Ontario battled back on the second day with some solid bowling that restricted Quebec to just 165 from 50 overs. Aftab Shamshuddeem was particularly impressive. He conceded just 13 runs from 10 overs and took two wickets. Jitender Singh and Hezron Lawrence each scored 35 for Quebec. Lawrence was out to a fine leg-side catch by Ontario wicketkeeper Azib Ali. He took three other catches in this innings.Shamshuddeem was pivotal in Ontario’s performance, making 56 (2×4, 1×6) when opening the second innings batting. He led the way for the visitors in this match and the hosts celebrated his dismissal. He was fourth out with the total on 102 for 4. Ontario then slumped to 148 for 8 wickets before Naresh Roopnaraine (43, including 2×4, 2×6) and Harvir Baidwan (24 runs) lead a spirited effort for the last two wickets.Quebec skipper Naresh Patel again took three wickets, as he had in the first innings, but he conceded

Kris Britt, Emma Sampson and Clea Smith have been included in the Australian women’s team for their Twenty20 match against New Zealand at Darwin. All three will be making the Twenty20 debuts. This will be Australia’s first game at Darwin, and is a prelude to the five-match Rose Bowl ODI series at the same venue.Britt and Sampson represent South Australia in domestic cricket. Britt, 24, bowls legspin and has played in one Test and nine ODIs. The 21-year-old Sampson is an allrounder who has been described by the recently retired Cathryn Fitzpatrick as “exciting”. Sampson broke into the Australian national side at the age of 18 and has played three ODIs. Smith, the 28-year-old the right-arm medium-fast bowler, has played 39 ODIs and a solitary Test match.The will be Australia’s third Twenty20 match.Team
Karen Rolton (capt), Lisa Sthalekar, Sarah Andrews, Kate Blackwell, Kris Britt, Melissa Bulow, Sarah Edwards, Shelley Nitschke, Jodie Purves (wk), Emma Sampson, Clea Smith, Alex Blackwell (12th man)

The Pakistan Cricket Board’s selection committee has called up Inzamam-ul-Haq for fitness trials for the forthcoming Test series at home against South Africa. Inzamam’s fitness will be ascertained at a week-long fitness camp ahead of the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa in September.”We have decided to invite a few players including Inzamam-ul-Haq to check their fitness for the Test series against South Africa,” Salahuddin Ahmed, the chief selector, told The News.Considering the fresh rethinking on the part the board, the chances of Inzamam making a comeback to the national team for Test matches now look good. Inzamam was not given a central contract by the board and the official reason for his omission was his retirement from ODIs after the World Cup. The board was keen to award contracts to only those who could play both forms of the game.”It all depends on his fitness,” Salahuddin said. “If Inzamam proves his fitness, he could be selected for the series against South Africa.”We have decided to arrange a one-week training camp ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup as it would be too difficult to have an idea of players’ fitness at the eleventh hour of the start of the series.”Salahuddin said some of the players who have had fitness problems would be given the opportunity to prove their fitness in the camp.Meanwhile, the cricket selectors have called up the entire World Championship provisional squad — barring four playing cricket in England — for the third phase of the national camp which is to get under way at the National Stadium in Karachi from July 27.The four leading players, Yasir Arafat, Younis Khan, Danish Kaneria and Zulqarnain Haider have been exempted from the camp. All the 26 probables have been asked to report in Karachi on July 26 for the ten-day training camp. Salahuddin added that the probables would mostly be involved in trial matches.”They could play just four matches in Lahore. However, in Karachi these probables would be involved in trial matches. At least eight to ten Twenty20 matches will be played during the camp in Karachi.”The first phase of the training camp was held in Abbottabad followed by the second phase that concluded in Lahore on Monday.Probables for the third phase: Shoaib Malik (captain), Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Yousuf, Yasir Hameed, Fawad Alam, Salman Butt, Imran Nazir, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Imran Farhat, Khurram Manzoor, Khalid Latif, Mohammd Hafeez Misbah-ul-Haq, Naved Latif, Faisal Iqbal, Shahid Yousuf, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Irshad, Najaf Shah, Abdur Rehman.

India and England head into the third Test at The Oval with plenty at stake: India are a draw away from winning their first series here since 1986, while England face the prospect of their first series loss at home since the Ashes drubbing in 2001. If India avoid a defeat, they will also reverse their trend of squandering away the advantage in a series, as they did in Zimbabwe in 2001, in the West Indies in 2002, in Australia in 2003, in Pakistan in 2004, and in South Africa in 2006.The series has so far has witnessed an even contest between bat and ball, with the bowlers from both teams having plenty of success. The average runs per wickets for this series is 30.13, far lower than the 36.69 in Tests in England since 2002. At The Oval, though, the bowlers could have a tougher time: in Tests since 2000, the runs per wicket here is a healthy 38.86.

England have not lost a match at The Oval since 2002, having won three and drawn two, including the 2002 Test against India. India only need a draw to clinch the series, and if the past record between the two teams is anything to go by, that’s the most likely result this time – the last four Tests between the two teams here have all ended in stalemates.

The last time a Test at this venue between these two sides ended decisively was way back in 1971, when India – propelled by Bhagwat Chandrasekhar’s 6 for 38 – not only earned their first Test win on English soil but also their first series triumph in England.Among the England batsmen playing in this series, Michael Vaughan is the highest run-getter at The Oval. Vaughan has been enjoying a purple patch this season, having averaged more than 60 in the current series and the previous one against West Indies. This is Vaughan’s best run since the 2002-03 Ashes (Click here for Vaughan’s series-by-series record). Add his record at this venue, and against India – he tops the averages in England-India Tests for batsmen who have played at least ten innings – and it’ll be a huge surprise if he isn’t among the runs over the next five days. Kevin Pietersen has been prolific in this series, and he has enjoyed The Oval pitch too, scoring a century and a 96 in four innings.England’s problem, though, has been the form of some of the other batsmen. Andrew Strauss has only managed four fifties in 21 innings since the 2006 Ashes series began, while Ian Bell hasn’t done much better, averaging less than 33 in his last 11 Tests. Bell won’t have pleasant memories of The Oval either – in three Tests he has only scored 88 runs, and bagged a pair in the Ashes Test in 2005.

Although Rahul Dravid will be pleased with the victory at Trent Bridge, he’ll be concerned about his own batting form. His average in the ongoing series is 19.66, his worst since the Border-Gavaskar series in 1999-2000 (excluding one-off Tests). Dravid was among the runs during the practice game against Sri Lanka A, but more significantly, he scored 217 in his only innings at The Oval in 2002.The toss hasn’t played a significant role at The Oval, with the team winning it going on to win 30 Tests and lose 24. The side batting first is marginally better off, having won 31 times, which partially explains the fact that the captain winning the toss has chosen to bat 78 times in 89 games. Since 2000, the team batting first has only lost once in seven matches.The fast bowlers have fared better than spinners of late at The Oval, but that’s only a relative statement. In truth the batsmen have dominated most of the time, irrespective of the kind of attack they’ve been up against. The best match figures at the ground belong to Muttiah Muralitharan; his 16 for 221 came in Sri Lanka’s one-off Test against England in 1998. Also, the most successful opposition bowler is Shane Warne, who picked up 32 wickets in four Tests at The Oval, with 23 of those coming in the two matches held after 2000.

England’s best bowler at The Oval in recent years has been Steve Harmison, whose 18 wickets in four Tests have come at 24.38 runs apiece. The extra bounce on offer here has been ideal for Harmison; if Chris Tremlett, a bowler who Harmison says can exploit the conditions like he used to – or any of the other England bowlers – turns in a match-winning performance, this will be the third successive England-India series to end on a 1-1 scoreline.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was confident that both he and Yuvraj Singh wouldrecover from their niggles and be fit for their semi-final againstAustralia on Saturday. Yuvraj missed the match against South Africa due totendonitis in his left elbow, while Dhoni handed over the wicketkeepinggloves to Dinesh Karthik after hurting his back while batting, but bothinjuries, he said, were minor ones.”I’m still smiling so I’ll hopefully play the next match,” Dhoni saidafter the match. “It was just a strain in the lower back, on the righthand side. I had the luxury of having Dinesh Karthik in the side, who is aspecialist keeper. I didn’t want to aggravate the injury. I thinkhopefully it will be fine before the next match.”He was optimistic about Yuvraj as well. “Yuvi has a bit of a problem withhis forearm. Hopefully he should be ready for the next match as well.”Dhoni also said the decision to leave Yuvraj out of the side was takenjust a few minutes before the match. “It was decided at the last moment.We wanted to assess his condition and see what exactly the situation was.We wanted to save him [for the rest of the season] – there is no pointplaying someone who is not fit just for the sake of the team, becausethroughout the year we play cricket. After this we play against Australia,Pakistan and then tour Australia. So I think the decision to rest him wasa good one.”Dhoni admitted that despite the short duration of the game, the 20-over format was very tiring. “It’s a very demanding form of game. It [an innings] lasts only an hour and 20 min but the intensity is more than an ODI or even a Test. A bowler only bowls four overs in this but he has tobe alert in the field. You have to put in more than 100%. It’s a very exhausting and tiring, and takes a heavy toll on the body.”Impressed with the young Rohit Sharma who scored a fifty in only his second Twenty20 international, Dhoni said: “It was amazing the way he batted. Dhoni said. “It is really tough for a guy who has been sitting out for a long time.” Sharma was part of the one-day squad in England but did not play any of the seven matches. “Even though I did not get to play any matches in England, it was a great experience just being with the team,” Sharma said. “The pitch was not easy to bat on. It was seaming a bit, so I decided not to play my shots initially. I just tried to bat normally.”Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, admitted that Sharma’s last-ball six, with which he reached his fifty, proved more expensive than they had earlier thought.Dhoni also praised his team’s efforts in defending 153 and singled out RP Singh and Harbhajan Singh for lifting the team in the field. Singh rattled the top order and finished with excellent figures of 4 for 13 in four overs while Harbhajan picked up two wickets late in the chase and restricted South Africa to 116, ten short of the target which would have guaranteed a semi-final spot.”I don’t think we were 100% certain we would win when we went out to field, but those kind of efforts really charge you up,” Dhoni said. “We were defending 153 against the home side and not many expected us to defend that target successfully. But every player gave more than 100%.”RP has been wonderful throughout the England tour and here. Both he and Harbhajan have been outstanding. Today Harbhajan bowled well in the slog overs. I don’t have to say much about him. He is a proven performer. RP too has proved himself,”India and South Africa played back-to-back matches on Wednesday and Thursday, but the Indians have a break on Friday before the semi-finals.