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England left India on the end of the a 4-0 defeat in the Test series but having found potential solutions to “a couple of gaps in our batting order”, according to Paul Farbrace – although England’s assistant coach conceded the players still need to work on their catching.Alastair Cook’s future as captain remains uncertain but he could well have a settled partner at the top of the order for the first time since the retirement of Andrew Strauss when England return to Test cricket in the summer. Whether that is Haseeb Hameed or Keaton Jennings – both of whom made impressive debuts in India – remains to be seen but their emergence has provided some encouragement at the end of ten draining weeks in the subcontinent.Hameed became the youngest player to score a half-century for England since Denis Compton when he made 82 in the first Test in Rajkot, before he had to return to England for surgery on a broken finger. His replacement, Jennings, then made a hundred on debut in Mumbai. Both could bat in the top three against South Africa in the summer, either alongside Cook or at No. 3.That may allow England to return Joe Root to No. 4, which has been another problem position, occupied by Moeen Ali, Ben Duckett, Gary Ballance and James Vince in recent series.”The one thing we came here needing to find was top-quality batters to bat with Cooky and Rooty at the top of the order,” Farbrace said. “Haseeb has shown, one huge plus from this series … there’s a young man with an unbelievable technique, a fantastic attitude and more importantly looks like he’s got the right mental approach to play for a long time to come.”We came with a couple of gaps in our batting order, and we think we’ve probably got the right people now … so that’s a real bonus.”Stability in the top order could contribute to Cook’s decision-making on the captaincy. Having already said that the England management would like Cook to continue until the 2017-18 Ashes, Farbrace also suggested that handing Root the job would be a step into unknown.”I don’t think that anybody who takes over as captain of England, you can ever really know whether they’re ready to do the job or not,” he said. “It’s a huge job, a job that everybody in England thinks they can do better. Whether he will be the right bloke to lead England, until he starts doing it, you never quite know.”Rooty hasn’t had a great deal of captaincy experience. One game he did captain at Lord’s, Middlesex chased down 470 – so he took a fair bit of stick from the Yorkshire boys for that, I can assure you. Until he actually does the job, no one’s going to know. It’s a bit of crystal-ball gazing, isn’t it?”Having drawn the opening match of the series, England were competitive for stretches of the next four Tests but could not sustain a high enough level of performance to avoid defeat. Missed chances dogged them, no more so than in Mumbai when each of India’s three centurions received a life; Virat Kohli, who was dropped on 68, went on to score 235 as India racked up 631 to win by an innings.”Our catching, we’ve continually talked about for a long period. You can’t keep dropping catches,” Farbrace said.”In the Test match in Mumbai, there was a lot said about the fact we played four seamers and two spinners … we should have played three and three … [but] if we’d caught our catches, we wouldn’t have been talking about our combination; we’d have been talking about how we probably had a chance of winning a game of Test cricket. But consistently, we’ve missed chances – and you can’t do that against the best teams in their home conditions.”Meanwhile, fast bowler Mark Wood has been added to England’s Pace Programme, which will take place in Potchefstroom in January-February 2017. Wood, who is recovering from a third ankle operation in the last 12 months, will travel along with Reece Topley, Jamie Overton and James Fuller to join the original selections for the winter training camp.

Railways were within 23 runs of beating Baroda in Nagpur, as they ended the day 90 for 2 chasing 113.Having conceded a first-innings lead of 127, Baroda were bowled out for 239 in the second innings. They began day three on 27 for no loss and lost opener Aditya Waghmode in the second over. Railways then inflicted two instances of wickets in consecutive overs – first in the 16th and 17th, and then in the 34th and 35th, either side of a 64-run fourth wicket partnership between Irfan Pathan (32) and Deepak Hooda (98), to reduce Baroda to 119 for 5.Hooda then put on 60 for the sixth wicket with Pinal Shah (32), and batted with the tail to stretch the score 239, before he was the last man dismissed, two short of his fourth hundred of the season. The last three wickets also fell in consecutive overs. Avinash Yadav took 3 for 50 to add to his five-wicket haul in the first innings.Railways’ chase began with a 77-run opening stand before first-innings centurion Saurabh Wakaskar fell for 45. They lost their second wicket, of Ashish Singh, off the last ball of the day. Shivakant Shukla was unbeaten on 36.Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed in the nineties for the second time in the match as he helped Mumbai set Uttar Pradesh 295 to win in Mysore.Suryakumar hit ten fours and a six in his 90, after coming in at 60 for 3, with Mumbai leading by only 68. He put on crucial partnerships – 81 for the fifth wicket with Abhishek Nayar (39), 62 for the seventh with Siddhesh Lad (35), and 57 for the eighth with Shardul Thakur (48) – before he fell to left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar (3-48), with the score on 279. Mumbai were bowled out for 286.UP’s chase began with the loss of Tanmay Srivastava, who fell for a single-digit score once again. Shivam Chaudhury, returning to the opening spot, scored an unbeaten 28 and took UP to 43 for 1 at stumps with Samarth Singh batting on 7.An unbroken last-wicket stand of 38 helped Tamil Nadu sneak past Bengal‘s first-innings score of 337 and earn the lead in Rajkot.Beginning the day with the score 60 for 1, TN’s overnight pair of Abhinav Mukund (45) and Kaushik Gandhi (65) stretched their second-wicket partnership from 55 to 100 before Abhinav was run out. Pragyan Ojha then removed Gandhi after he had brought up his second first-class fifty. At 141 for 3, Dinesh Karthik came in and put on 58 with B Indrajith (34) before batting with the lower middle order to score 80 before being the seventh batsman dismissed, with the score on 281. Medium-pacer Sayan Ghosh then removed Aushik Srinivas and Aswin Crist (36) in consecutive overs to reduce TN to 310 for 9, and give Bengal a scent of the first-innings lead.But they couldn’t get past K Vignesh (30*) and T Natarajan (10*), who batted together for 9.3 overs and put on 38 to take Tamil Nadu to 348 for 9 at stumps.Samit Gohel and Parthiv Patel added an unbroken 143 for the third wicket to put Gujarat 278 ahead of Madhya Pradesh in Nagothane.Madhya Pradesh lost three wickets within the first six overs of the day, falling to 183 for 8 after starting the day 162 for 5. Rush Kalaria took two of those wickets, and eventually finished with 4 for 72. MP’s last two wickets put on 32 and 37 respectively to lift them to 252, cutting Gujarat’s eventual first-innings lead to 50.Gujarat scored 228 for 2 in the 70 second-innings overs they faced on day three, with Gohel unbeaten on 93 and Parthiv on 80. Medium-pacer Ishwar Pandey took both wickets.

Underperforming batsmen and an untimely calf flare-up to Steve O’Keefe have complicated matters further for Australia’s interim selection panel on the eve of an especially tense squad announcement for the Adelaide Test.The acting chairman of selectors, Trevor Hohns, is expected to name a 13-man squad for the day/night match on Sunday afternoon, underlining the uncertainty surrounding Australian cricket on the back of five consecutive defeats, and two in a row at home for the first time since the fateful Ashes summer of 2010-11.While the youthful trio of Peter Handscomb, Matt Renshaw and Travis Dean all put their names in lights with centuries, Joe Burns and Callum Ferguson completed double failures in the Sheffield Shield match between Queensland and South Australia at the Gabba to slip further towards the precipice.Of equal concern for the panel is the fact that O’Keefe is believed to have suffered a flaring of an ongoing calf problem on day three of the New South Wales v Victoria encounter at the SCG. He had been favoured to return to the Test XI in place of the incumbent Nathan Lyon, who has struck a horrid wicket drought at the worst possible time.O’Keefe’s injury prognosis may also have a knock-on effect for the wicketkeepers Peter Nevill and Matthew Wade. While the Australians are eager for the lower-order heft that Wade could provide, his inferior glovework, particularly to Lyon, may yet play in Nevill’s favour. A third spin option, Jon Holland, has bowled well for Victoria at the SCG.Another name, not seen in lights for some time, is that of Sam Whiteman, the Western Australia wicketkeeper. A half-century and century against Tasmania at the WACA Ground met yet cause his name, too, to be discussed in the stumpers’ stakes.The elegant New South Wales left-hander Kurtis Patterson did his chances no harm with a well-constructed 55 for his state on Saturday. Patterson and Handscomb would likely slot into the places vacated by Ferguson and the concussed Adam Voges.Renshaw and Dean, two players not considered particularly fashionable in terms of physique or method, both place a high premium on batting time, a quality badly missing in Australia’s recent defeats. Another possible choice, though less likely, is Victoria’s Marcus Harris, who moved from Western Australia at the start of the season to good effect – only Handscomb is ahead of him on the national aggregates.Among the pace bowlers to support Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, the South Australia pair of Chadd Sayers and Daniel Worrall are in the selectors’ thoughts, as is Jackson Bird. Like his fellow Redback Ferguson, Joe Mennie may yet find himself on the outer after only one Test – a further measure of how much things have changed in the course of a single fractious week.Possible squad Steven Smith (capt), Matt Renshaw, David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Kurtis Patterson, Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade (wk), Steve O’Keefe, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird, Daniel Worrall/Chadd Sayers.

From having his position as head coach under scrutiny seven months ago, Russell Domingo has now been given the safety of a contract extension until the end of South Africa’s England tour next August. Domingo, whose contract was due to expire at the end of April 2017, will be in charge for the next 13 Test matches and the Champions Trophy in June 2017. Team manager Mohammed Moosajee has been given the same extension.”As part of the domestic cricket review, we are currently evaluating the entire coaching framework in South Africa and the Board believed the best approach at present was to extend the tenure of Mr Domingo until the end of the England tour in 2017,” Haroon Lorgat, the CSA CEO said.”Naturally the performances of the Proteas was a key factor in the Board’s unanimous decision. The recent 1-0 Sunfoil Test Series win against New Zealand and the impressive 5-0 win in the Momentum ODI Series against world champions Australia, resulting in us being the first nation to achieve a clean sweep against them, were noted. In addition, the excellent Proteas discipline and the positive culture throughout the coaching team, the player leadership group and the rest of the players were viewed as exemplary.”The domestic review is separate from the abandoned but soon-to-be resurrected national team review, which was due to take place after South Africa’s World T20 exit. Former national rugby captain Francois Pienaar was the highest-profile person on the four-man panel that was due to begin work in May. When they failed to agree terms with CSA, the committee disbanded and the review was abandoned. However, another process is now underway, which will review the performances of all national teams, which is unconnected from the domestic review that was concluded earlier in the year.Among the domestic review’s recommendations was the formation of an eight-team T20 premier league to revamp the format in the country but, if that suggestion is implemented, it will only happen in the 2017-18 season. It was not known that Domingo’s position was also part of the domestic review panel’s scope; however, there was a pressing need for certainty over Domingo’s future because of the timing of the Champions Trophy.If Domingo’s contract was not going to be renewed at the end of April, South Africa’s new coach would not have enjoyed any game time with the team ahead of the ICC event in England. South Africa do not have any fixtures scheduled between the end of March, when they tour New Zealand, and the England tour in May. As a result, a decision on Domingo had to be made at the earliest opportunity and after South Africa failed to make the final of the Caribbean triangular tournament in June, it was being speculated his time was up.However, Domingo enjoyed the support of Test and ODI captain AB de Villiers and was given the chance to redeem himself in the home series against New Zealand and Australia. A team culture camp preceded those series in which South Africa plotted what they call a new path.Stand-in captain Faf du Plessis also revealed that the coaching staff had been a major part of the discussions over changing the direction and credited them with South Africa’s turnaround. Although they have only climbed to No. 5 on the Test rankings from slumping to No.7 at the end of last summer, they are up to No. 2 in ODIs and have managed that without de Villiers, who is out injured. Importantly, Domingo has embraced the transformation targets and South Africa have unearthed some depth, which has seen them get back on track and earned Domingo a contract extension.

Cape Cobras coach Paul Adams will keep his job after the Western Cape Cricket Board (WCC) offered their support despite a complaint lodged against him by 14 contracted players at the end of last season. The board held a meeting on Monday after a deadlock last Thursday to discuss Adams’ future.Adams’ recently-issued two-year contract extension remains in place. The players were not involved in the meeting.Instead, WCC studied a report compiled by former South Africa conditioning coach Paddy Upton, who was appointed a mediator in the matter after an independent panel was convened to assess the players’ grievances. WCC did not divulge the contents of the report or confirm whether they acted on it, but revealed that Upton had not followed through on his mandate to speak to all contracted players.WCC chairman Angelo Carolissen insisted his office “deeply respects the concerns raised by the players,” which are believed to be centered on Adams’ management style.”We have no doubt that he possesses the vision and leadership abilities to propel the Cobras to the summit of all three domestic logs and return them to their trophy-hugging ways,” Carolissen said.The 2015-16 season was the first in eight years that Cobras did not win a trophy, and Adams’ only barren season since taking over in 2012. At 35, he was franchise cricket’s youngest coach and he enjoyed immediate success. The Cobras won two competitions in Adams’ first summer in charge and went on to collect three more trophies in the next two seasons.Lack of success last season brought rumblings of discontent, which Adams was made aware of as soon as the complaint was laid. He underwent a leadership course over the winter and has had his support staff bolstered with the addition of two former internationals in Ashwell Prince as assistant coach and Alan Dawson as convener of selectors. With the additional resources, Adams is confident he can return the franchise to winning ways.”I respect the players and have taken the learnings from this past winter to heart. I feel we will have a better understanding of each other going forward,” Adams said. “Part of my strategy to turn around the fortunes of the team was to secure the services of Ashwell Prince and Alan Dawson. It excites me to be working together with the two former players who will bring vast experience and I am sure will add value to the Cobras. I have also committed to up-skilling myself to ensure effective leadership and to produce and maintain the quality and brand of cricket that the Cobras are synonymous for.”There has been no statement from the players, although there was an indication that if Adams was retained, several senior squad members may leave the franchise. With the new season two weeks away, that appears unlikely to occur just yet.The Cobras’ 2016-17 season begins on October 5 with a first-class match against Lions in Johannesburg.

Joel Garner, the former fast-bowling great who is now West Indies’ team manager, feels players from the region have promise but don’t work hard enough.”We’ve always had promising players, we’ve always had attractive players, the problems we have is that, most of the players are identified, I don’t think they work hard enough, and they fall away,” Garner said, in a media interaction on Tuesday. “I think that if the players are prepared to work as hard as they need to work, they can get to the top of world cricket as well.”When asked which areas the players might need to work harder on, he pointed to the lack of long innings and sizeable partnerships, which has been a problem for West Indies right through their ongoing Test series against India, apart from the final day of the drawn second Test in Jamaica.”I think that the longer they spend in the middle, the easier the batting becomes,” he said. “And I think that is one area that I’d like to see improve, where you’d like to see the fellows batting long, not only batting long but batting effectively.”If you look at it, partnerships are important in any cricket game. The reason we were able to save the game in Jamaica was we had batting partnerships virtually whole day. If you don’t get the partnerships, you won’t get the performances. It’s very important to take something away from the game in Jamaica, to look at how we prepare and how we can build on it.”Garner said the lure of T20 may be hampering West Indies’ younger players coming through the junior ranks.”I think that, when you look at our cricket, we are challenging maybe up to Under-19s,” he said. “If you look at every world competition, when you look at them, West Indies is there. Where we have the challenge is when we go away. I think everybody looks at the T20 cricket and they want to play the T20 format of the game as opposed to playing the longer version of the game, and, you know, it is a matter of choice. Why work for five days if you can work for three hours? I think that that’s the mentality and it’s something that we’ve got to try and change in terms of how our players look at the cricket and the type of cricket our players want to play.”While Garner clarified that he wasn’t dissuading players from playing T20, he wanted revenues earned from T20 to be invested in the grassroots, and for the players to be able to play more first-class cricket. He compared the current situation, where domestic players play ten matches a year, to the situation of the best West Indies players of his era, who were all overseas professionals in county cricket.”I don’t know about discouraging [players from taking part in T20],” he said. “As I said, T20 cricket is used to raise finances for everybody, and I think that if you look at it, that is where we should have been trying to say we can, you know, earn some income that we can reinvest in our junior cricketers and in our local cricket.”We are fortunate that we can play ten games now as opposed to five. Are ten games enough in a year? When I played, I played 20-somebody or 40-somebody games in a year playing county cricket, and that is where the strength of the cricket is – the more you play, the more you get accustomed to it, the harder the cricket is, and the more professional you become.”Asked about the proposal to split Test cricket into two tiers, Garner said such a move would keep Test cricket to “a chosen few”.”I wish them luck if they want cricket to remain with the big three or the big four,” he said. “You have the two-tier system, I mean, you’ve got to start someplace, and the only way you can get into the two-tier system is by playing against the teams that are above you in the table. If you can’t play the teams above you on the table, how will you get in?”So, to me, it begs the question, what purpose does it serve? Are you trying to preserve Test cricket or are you trying to keep it to a chosen few? I can’t answer it for you because you want to preserve Test cricket, the only way you can preserve Test cricket is to let people at the lower level play against teams above them to be able to compete and to be able to progress.”

Freed of ankle pain that halved the range of movement in his right foot, Mitchell Starc has forecast a concerted Australian attack on Sri Lanka’s captain Angelo Mathews in the three-Test series that begins in Pallekele on Tuesday.Following a dispiriting tour of England and amid a surfeit of injuries to Sri Lanka’s fast bowlers, Mathews is set to face a searching examination from the No. 1-ranked Australians, who have often worked diligently to undermine the authority of opposition captains by limiting their capacity to perform on the field.Starc contrasted Mathews with his opposite number Steven Smith, who has so far performed very strongly as both batsman and captain for Australia. “Look, he’s under pressure,” Starc said of Mathews in Pallekele. “He’d be under pressure after the English tour and as a captain he’ll have to go through that pressure and perform as well. And that’s something that Steve, for us, does really well.”He’s been fantastic as a captain and led from the front as well, so no doubt we’ll put a lot of pressure on Angelo to perform. He’s got to lead as captain, so he’ll be a big wicket for us along with [Dinesh] Chandimal. For their bowlers [Rangana] Herath is the most experienced one and one that we’ll try and counter.”Starc came unscathed through the ODI tri-series in West Indies in June, and found some useful new-ball rhythm during Australia’s tour match at the P Sara Oval in Colombo. He has now gotten used to the unusual experience of bowling without discomfort in his right foot, and will seek to swerve the ball through a Sri Lankan side that has lost Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan since he last bowled to them, in Australia three years ago.”It’s fantastic to not see the three big names line up against us,” Starc said. “There were a few tough moments with those experienced batsmen in the line-up. They’re obviously a bit light on [experience] in the Sri Lankan team. They are coming off a series defeat in England, but back in their home conditions, they know it best and they’ll be up for a fight.”We’ll have to be at our best, but at the same time if we can make some early inroads and expose that inexperience, we’ve definitely got a fantastic bowling line-up to go through them.”From the more pleasant vantage point of seven months after surgery, Starc outlined exactly how much his right foot had degenerated before he surrendered to the surgeon’s knife. A two-centimeter fragment of bone broke off his ankle during last year’s first Ashes Test in Cardiff, before painkilling injections were required to deaden all feeling in the foot.He carried on despite this obvious handicap until the third Test of the home series against New Zealand in November 2015, where he broke another bone in the same foot and hobbled his way to the winning runs under lights at Adelaide Oval when clearly restricted. That second injury provided the catalyst for surgery, including the removal of the aforementioned fragment, the shaving of three bone spurs from the ankle and the excision of plenty of scar tissue besides.From days when he could only flex his ankle around two centimeters, Starc now has a range of movement closer to 14 centimeters. “It feels great. Having that bone taken out has done wonders for it,” Starc said. “That movement has been fantastic, ever since I started bowling again from surgery. There has definitely been no pain there through the West Indies and through the start of this tour. It’s a fantastic result and I’m looking forward to hopefully playing a much longer period of cricket now.”No longer needing to worry about physical restrictions, Starc has concentrated on tactical and technical work with the interim bowling coach Allan Donald, with whom he also shares an IPL team.”We’ve been working with Craig [McDermott] for a number of years now. To bring in AD (Donald) with a different set of eyes and a different set of theories is nice. It’s always nice to freshen things up and see what he’s got to offer on that topic as well,” Starc said. “We all reverse the ball pretty well, it’s just about doing it more often and getting it in those right areas here in Sri Lanka where it’s going to be needed a lot more.”I will always bowl my own way and if it means bowling a few yorkers here and there which I probably normally do anyway. It’s about getting that consistency a lot of us have had through the last 12 to 18 months. Josh Hazlewood has been fantastic at that, hitting a spot and really wearing batsmen down and taking a lot of wickets. I’m trying to get back to that consistency I had before I broke down.”I was feeling really, really good through that Perth Test (against New Zealand) and even through the few overs I had in Adelaide was where I really wanted to be in Test cricket. I’m always going to attack and try to take those early wickets, and I’m happy to go for a couple of runs if I can take early wickets.”Given the likelihood of two spinners being chosen, Starc can look forward to short, sharp spells at the other end, where Smith will seek to keep his pace up at its most destructive pitch. If he can do that, the pain he once felt in his ankle will instead be felt by the batsmen.

Fast bowler Kemar Roach has been included in the West Indies Cricket Board President’s XI squad to face the Indians in a three-day warm-up match starting July 14 in Basseterre. Roach, who has played 37 Tests, was dropped from the Test squad for the India series, after a poor tour to Australia last December.In six other changes to the 13-member squad, John Campbell, Rahkeem Cornwall, Jahmar Hamilton, Montcin Hodge, Chemar Holder and Gudakesh Motie were included for Rajendra Chandrika, Roston Chase and Shane Dowrich, all of whom were selected in the Test squad to face India, along with Damion Jacobs, Marquino Mindley and Jomel Warrican, who was also dropped from the Test squad.Fast bowler Holder, 18, was part of the Under-19 squad that won the World Cup earlier this year in Bangladesh. He took five wickets in three games at an average of 16.40 in that tournament, but is yet to play a first-class game.Captain Leon Johnson and Jermaine Blackwood, who scored 2 and 0 respectively in the two-day warm-up match against the Indians, remained in the Board President’s XI to get some more practice before the Tests.West Indies Board President’s XI squad: Leon Johnson (capt), Jermaine Blackwood, John Campbell, Rahkeem Cornwall, Jason Dawes, Jahmar Hamilton, Montcin Hodge, Chemar Holder, Shai Hope, Keon Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Kemar Roach, Vishaul Singh

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEngland would have had two main ambitions on a bedraggled fourth day at Lord’s. The first would have been to make incursions into Sri Lanka’s second innings to prepare a route to victory and a 3-0 clean sweep in the series; the second, a maiden Test hundred for Alex Hales. Neither eventuated as Sri Lanka continued to resist gamely in the final Test.Left with 12 overs to see out at the end of the day, Sri Lanka’s openers clipped 32 from the 362 needed for victory. Alastair Cook’s declaration at 233 for 7 was well judged, a touch more generous perhaps than if the series had been level. The pitch is a little uneven, but nothing excessive and, judging by the sober way Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva went about their work, Sri Lanka look in the mood to scrap every inch of the way.Hales is getting closer to a treasured first Test hundred, but he will have to wait a while yet. He was on 94, only six runs short, when he fell lbw only 10 minutes before tea, trying to turn Angelo Mathews quietly on the leg side. He reviewed umpire Rod Tucker’s decision, but it was with a wan expression from a man fearing the worst. Ball-tracking technology held that the ball would have struck the top of leg stump.

Smart stats

• 3 – 80-plus scores for Alex Hales in five innings in this series; his highest in eight innings in South Africa was 60

• 7 – England batsmen who have been dismissed in the 90s more often than Hales in all international cricket

• 7054 – Balls between sixes for Alastair Cook in Tests; his last one before the second innings at Lord’s was versus India in Kolkata in 2012

• 2009 – The last time, before the second innings of this match, that James Anderson didn’t bowl the first over of an innings: he bowled first change versus West Indies at Lord’s in 2009

• 2 – Instances, in the last 30 years, of teams scoring more than 310 in the fourth innings of a Lord’s Test – by Australia (406 in 2009) and India (397 in 2002)

With two 80s to his name in the series, Hales could at least console himself that he had done much to implant himself at the top of the order, his composed, if occasionally fortunate, innings providing more evidence that he can successfully adjust to the demands of the five-day game. Without repeated self-destruction against Sri Lanka’s spinners earlier in the series, he could have been basking in something even better.Rain had prevented a start until 2.40pm, but England held an overnight lead of 237 and, despite several more pesky showers, the day yielded 45 overs, enough to keep the Test meaningful.Hales’ composure held England’s second innings together, even if he was not without fortune. On 58, he suffered a replica of Joe Root’s dismissal the previous day – his off stump hit by a shooter from Nuwan Pradeep – only for umpire Tucker to call no-ball. TV replays suggested that Pradeep’s heel was behind the line on first impact, the umpire perhaps being fooled by the bowler’s foot slipping forward on landing.Understandable complaints that international umpires were ignoring repeated no-balls so that they could concentrate on events at the business end of the pitch seem to have caused a recent reassessment of that approach, but Tucker’s no-ball call for such a borderline delivery – a wrong call as it turned out – will not allay concerns that the system has become outdated in a TV age..With no chance under current regulations to use TV evidence to reverse the decision, Sri Lanka were understandably aggrieved. Those regulations were already due to be examined at the ICC annual meeting in Edinburgh later this month.Undiplomatically, Sri Lanka responded by hanging the national flag from the Lord’s balcony, which could either be regarded as a plucky statement to their players that they would fight on regardless of their mounting ill luck or, conversely, as an infantile gesture carrying the implication of umpiring bias. The request soon came through for them to take it down: Lord’s does not allow flags of any description, certainly not from dressing room balconies.Thilanga Sumathipala, SLC’s president, called the decision “unacceptable” and said: “It will be reported to the ICC. The flag is a symbol. It is a mark to say we are not happy with the decision. To show solidarity and fight back.”Sri Lanka also thought they might have had Hales on 45 when Shaminda Eranga brought one back to strike him on the top of the pad but umpire S Ravi’s not-out decision was upheld by virtue of “umpire’s call” on review.The breaks in Hales’ favour were fast adding up. In reaching 41 by Saturday’s close, he might have fallen on 19, if Karunaratne had clung on to a low chance to his left at second slip and again on 39, shortly before the close, when he glanced Pradeep down the leg side only for Dinesh Chandimal to grass the chance. There were no reports of draped flags then.Nevertheless, Hales had some dominant moments, too, none better than when he conquered Rangana Herath’s over-the-wicket attack into the rough by hoisting the left-arm spinner straight for six, then sweeping his next delivery for four.England did lose the nightwatchman Steven Finn, lbw to Eranga, clearing the way for Cook. His place at No. 7 was purely happenstance, and not due to regulations limiting a player’s place in the batting order after injury, explained by the fact that his mishap while fielding at silly point was regarded as an external injury.Cook showed no ill effects although he, too, flirted with the vagaries of the review system. On 6, Herath spun one back to hit his thigh, playing back, but replays showed the ball had struck him outside the line. Then, in Herath’s very next over, he was struck in line of off stump by another sharp spinner, but this Sri Lanka erroneously chose not to appeal the original not-out decision. Hawk-Eye would have sent the England captain on his way for 11.Cook’s unbeaten 49, batting at No. 7, including a deep midwicket six into the Mound Stand off Eranga – he had hit 10 previously in Tests – and surely his first attempted ramp shot. The latter felt a bit like tipsy dad on the dancefloor. Probably judging that was enough tomfoolery for one day, he then declared, no doubt returning to a dressing room where he commands so much respect that players can happily giggle at his adventure.

Angelo Mathews and Rangana Herath are the only men on tour to have played more than 30 Tests, but it is two inexperienced players who have buoyed Sri Lanka ahead of the first Test.Both are young players who were picked on potential, despite modest first-class records. A former captain of Sri Lanka’s Under-19 team, and a Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year, 21-year-old Kusal Mendis has been spoken of as a potential No. 3 for the series. He has now strengthened his claim on that role with two half-centuries in three warm-up innings.

Mathews support for landslide victims

Angelo Mathews said his team extended “love and support” to the people affected by floods and landslides in Sri Lanka, following sustained torrential rains that have caused the Kelani river to burst its banks, leading to a feared death toll of 150.
“We’re so sad to hear about all the casualties and those who were affected by the landslides and floods. There are hundreds of thousands of people who were affected and we want to show our love and support. We will wear a black armband for all of them. Unfortunately we are here, but our thoughts and prayers will be with them. People have been really affected.”
The black armband will also be a show of support for bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake, whose brother has died of natural causes in the past few days. Ramanayake is expected to remain with the squad for the duration of the tour.

Lower down the order, 24-year-old Dasun Shanaka has made a push for the No. 7 batting position. Having made his name as a limited-overs hitter, Shanaka struck 112 from 132 balls against Leicestershire, to lift the visitors from 192 for 8 to 367 all out. His seam bowling may also be viewed as an asset – to be used when the frontliners have tired.”Dasun Shanaka was a standout for me, and so was Kusal Mendis,” Angelo Mathews said on the eve of the Headingley Test. “They are both still very young. Their first tour to England, and it’s never easy, but they’ve showed a lot of character in the first two practice games.”We’ve got lots of new players, but also 7 or 8 who were there in the 2014 tour. We’ve got a fearless set of players who are willing to take the English on.”Acclimatisation is one of the major pre-Test objectives for Sri Lanka sides touring England. Having had relatively good weather towards the south of England in the warm-up games, the forecast suggests they are in for a colder, wetter week at Headingley. Temperatures are not expected to climb further than the low teens, and rain is predicted to make an appearance during the weekend.”We all know that you can’t get comfortable in England straightaway,” Mathews said. “You’ve got to work your way through, so experience also counts. We’ve got so many guys who are touring England for the first time with the national team.”But no matter how long you spend in the cold you can never get used to it. We’ve had a few good days in Essex and also in Leicester, where the sun was out. Hopefully the nice weather will come back to us. Whether it’s the cold weather or the sunny weather, we do have to take on the challenge. The weather will be our main challenge.”Though no bowler in Sri Lanka’s seam attack has more than 80 wickets to his name, there is significant expectation on the likes of Suranga Lakmal, Shaminda Eranga and Nuwan Pradeep to cause trouble for England’s top order, in helpful bowling conditions. Dhammika Prasad has been ruled out of the match with a shoulder complaint, however.”Prasad’s injury is a setback for us,” Mathews said. “He’s our premier fast bowler. He’s performed well against England here at the same venue. He’ll be a big loss. Hopefully he can be ready and fit for the second Test.”Mathews will see some familiar faces across the battlements during this tour. England coach Trevor Bayliss had been Sri Lanka’s coach from 2007 to 2011. England’s current assistant coach Paul Farbrace had been Bayliss’ assistant in Sri Lanka as well, before he took the top job himself for two months at the beginning of 2014.”Those coaches have played a massive part in my career,” Mathews said. “Trevor was the first coach of my international career. He didn’t fiddle with my batting or bowling abilities too much. He just wanted me to go and express myself, play with a lot of freedom. Farby was the same. They are great human beings and great coaches, whom I really enjoy working with. We’ve seen the impact that they’ve had in the past 12 months with England.”