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On the first day’s play
We are really pleased in our camp about how it ended up – [Kumar] Sangakkara and [Thilan] Samaraweera really played well to get us out of a hole at 61 for 3. The way it was moving around this morning we could have been bowled out by tea time. I think if we had bowled first we’d have bowled them out by now. Obviously, we’d prefer to be four or five down rather then eight but I think its honours even at the moment.On the condition of the pitch
It got flatter as the ball got older and then once the new ball was taken it started to seam around again. I think it will stay seaming for the next couple of days and we were quite pleased to see some turn out there.On Mohammad Asif’s performance
Asif bowled well in the last Test and beautifully today, hitting a good length and moving the ball both ways to make it very difficult for our batsman.On whether Sri Lanka have the firepower to do something similar
[Farveez] Maharoof bowled beautiful in the last Test and he can do exactly the same job. We then have [Nuwan] Kulasekera and some pace from [Lasith] Malinga. While Asif bowled really well I didn’t think their other seamers backed him up well. I hope we can bowl better as a unit.On Sanath’s disappointing start to his farewell Test
It was perhaps not ideal to have a little ceremony just before going out to bat. I know I had a lump in my throat and goosebumps – it was a very special moment. But I thought Sanath did really well to bat for nearly an hour out there and then got a really good ball – hopefully he will fire in the second innings.On his first day in-charge
I enjoyed the experience. I have not been speaking to Tom [Moody] but he has been text-messaging the manager all the time. I think he is quite pleased too.

ScorecardRachel Priest scored her maiden ODI ton•Getty Images

Opener Rachel Priest’s maiden century set up New Zealand’s 96-run win over Sri Lanka in the first Women’s ODI in Lincoln. Besides going 1-0 up in the five-match series, New Zealand have moved up to fourth on the ICC women’s championship points table.Asked to bat, New Zealand ran up a big score thanks to their top-three batsmen. After captain Suzie Bates (38) and Priest added 84 runs for the first wicket, Priest raised 131 runs in the company of Amy Satterthwaite, who made 69 off 72 balls.While there weren’t any major contributions after Priest and Satterthwaite departed in the space of three overs, the hosts made enough to stifle their opponents. Left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera cleaned up the lower order and finished with four wickets.Sri Lanka’s reply had a good beginning, as Chamari Atapattu put on 54 runs with Prasadini Weerakkody, but once Weerakkody was run out, wickets began to fall at regular intervals. Only Atapattu resisted for the visitors, but with little support from the other batsmen, the chase was never on. Offspinner Leigh Kasperek accounted for four wickets, including those of Atapattu and captain Shashikala Siriwardene.

Paul Grayson, Essex’s beleaguered coach, has been confirmed in the role until the end of the season as the club’s general committee has overwhelmingly resisted a recommendation from the new cricket chairman Ronnie Irani to remove him immediately from the post.The debate about Grayson’s future could hardly have been more disruptively timed, coming only a few days before Essex’s NatWest quarter-final against Birmingham Bears at Edgbaston which was duly lost in one of their most disappointing displays of the season.The committee, clearly wary of a repeat, voted in Chelmsford on Monday to delay their decision on Grayson’s future, even as Essex travelled to their final Royal London Cup group match against Sussex at Hove, another season-defining match in which victory would ensure them of a home quarter-final.Grayson has supervised consistently excellent displays in limited-overs cricket since taking charge in 2008 with Essex second only to Hampshire in the number of victories in one-day cricket in that time. But while Hampshire have gone on to win trophies, Essex have repeatedly faltered in the final stages, encouraging Irani to press for change soon after being elected to the role last month.It is the timing of the recommendation that has brought most unease, although in some ways that was unavoidable. Grayson was anxious to determine his future before the end of the season after the decision of the former cricket committee chairman, Graham Saville, to step down after 27 years in the role naturally introduced a period of reassessment within the county.Grayson, it is interesting to note, is one year into an official three-year plan in which it was made clear that the priority was to secure a one-day trophy and reshape a young Championship side based on home grown players. That commitment has been followed to the letter with a whole host of debutants given an opportunity to prove their worth for a county that lacks the pace bowling depth to sustain a serious challenge.Irani sounded more ambitious, stating upon taking office: ” We need to try to get into division one of the County Championship. We’ve fallen short of that for quite a few years now. We have to change and we have to improve massively.”We have an immensely talented group of individuals and it is fair to say that at this moment in time we have underachieved in the last seven or eight years.”We are still talented and it is great to see young players coming through like Nick Browne, Tom Westley and Jamie Porter. We have to make sure we keep doing that, while getting Essex back to the level that we were in years gone by, knocking on doors and trying to win trophies.”At this moment in time Paul is the head coach and we have to respect that position until the cricket committee decide on anything different.”Quite how much Grayson can be blamed for a prolonged failure to reach Division One of the Championship is a question worth asking. As a coach, as opposed to a director of cricket, his powers have remained limited, much against the trend in the county game and Essex’s budget is considerably lower.Essex still have one of the most traditional structures in county cricket with the outgong cricket chairman Saville, a former England U19 coach, and captain, James Foster, having had most influence on the big cricketing decisions. That way of doing things is unlikely to change.

Five unnamed Australian cricketers did not meet the original Sunday deadline to register for the Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction, however they were given a one-day extension as they sought clarification on contract details. The reported the players were all likely to register after receiving approval from Cricket Australia.Neil Maxwell, the agent who has been liaising between the IPL and Australia’s players, said there was no reason to expect any surprise absences at Wednesday’s bidding war. “There is always a chance [of a player not signing] but at this point we have alleviated any issues they have had,” Maxwell told the paper.The Australians only received a revised version of the IPL’s long-form contract on Thursday, which Maxwell conceded gave them little time to digest the details. But apart from the five expected to register on Monday, the remaining players returned their signed contracts by the Sunday deadline.The agreements came after Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, said the issues regarding Cricket Australia’s sponsorship concerns had been resolved. Cricket Australia had been intent on receiving global protection for its major supporters – it did not want to risk its players promoting rival companies – but Modi said the Australian board had acquiesced.The rush of Australian signatures coincided with reports that another former Test player, Michael Kasprowicz, was poised to join the Indian Cricket League (ICL). The said the newly-retired Kasprowicz, who played his last game for Queensland on Saturday, was ready to agree to a three-year ICL deal.

Ashish Nehra, the left-arm fast bowler, will not attend the fitness camp in Bangalore between July 25 and August 1 as he is playing club cricket in England. Kiran More, the chairman of selectors, felt that he should continue playing in England to gain match practice in his recovery bid from a back injury.Dinesh Mongia, recalled to the Indian ODI squad for the tri-series in Sri Lanka next month, will attend the camp with the rest of the squad. Mongia, currently playing for Leicestershire as their overseas player, was initially only supposed to attend the cricket skills camp, also in Bangalore from August 6. “Initially we thought he could continue playing till the camp begins on August 6,” More told reporters. “But then we discussed the issue and decided that Dinesh should be here.”Besides the 15-member squad for Sri Lanka, More announced that several other players, including regulars from the Test squad, have been asked to report for the first leg of the camp which starts on Tuesday. They include VVS Laxman, VRV Singh, Wasim Jaffer, Murali Kartik, L Balaji and Robin Uthappa.

John Buchanan’s mysterious pre-season boot camp has started with the players donning khakis and being split into groups of six with army rations and survival exercises. The four-day adventure has been planned to challenge the nationally-contracted men and will involve bush tasks in the hinterland of Queensland’s Gold and Sunshine coasts.First stop on the hectic schedule of team building was the Beerwah State Forest, which is an hour’s drive north of Brisbane, but it was a temporary break as the unit moved its base in the evening Canungra. The focus of the event, which is staffed by former SAS soliders, is on team building and to ensure the squad is physically and mentally strong in preparation for an important summer that includes the Champions Trophy, the Ashes and the World Cup.The commando nature of the camp has prompted concerns from several players, including Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill, as well as the players’ union. “I wasn’t sure whether it’s going to work,” Warne said, “but I think all of us have come here with an open mind to try and get something out of it and try and grab what it’s all about as far as teamwork and bonding and all those sort of things.”

Although Cricket Australia has insured their 25 contracted players “to the hilt”, according to a spokesman, the four days out in the wild are designed to be challenging rather than dangerous. “We’ve got to be reasonable,” Reg Dickason, the team’s security expert insisted. “We’ve got to take them outside their comfort zone but can’t be stupid about it. We’re dealing with elite athletes and we’ve got to do the right thing by them.””There will definitely be methods in John’s madness,” Dave Gilbert, the New South Wales chief executive, told the BBC. “There’ll be specific themes to the trip which will be about helping your team-mate and looking at ways at getting yourself out of difficult spots. It’s probably what the team needs at this moment in time.”They are very well paid. They basically lead an almost rock star existence, stay in five-star hotels and are feted around the world,” he said. “To have it tough for a few days won’t do them much harm at all.” Damien Martyn’s entry to the camp was delayed by a day after his wife Annika suffered minor injuries during a horse ride on Tuesday.

The South African board (CSA) has said Herschelle Gibbs will appeal against the two-Test ban imposed on him by the ICC for alleged comments made by him during the first Test between South Africa and Pakistan. The decision has led to the CSA’s hearing of the issue being postponed till the ICC appeal process is completed.The CSA’s hearing, chaired by Judge Mervyn King, is to determine whether the alleged remarks were in breach of the Rules and Code of Conduct of Cricket South Africa. If found guilty, Gibbs would have breached the board’s clauses on abuse “on the basis of race, religion, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin” and on “unbecoming conduct which brings the board or the game into disrepute”.”As the ICC findings and suspension have a bearing on CSA’s disciplinary matter, I have postponed the hearing until after Herschelle Gibbs’s appeal proceedings have been completed by the ICC”, King said.Gibbs comments came shortly before lunch on the fourth day of the Test. According to the ICC Rules, all fines and punishments are suspended till a decision is taken on the appeal. Gibbs had 24 hours to appeal against the ban handed down by Chris Broad, the match referee.Gerald Majola, the chief executive of the South African board, said that the CSA’s charges against Gibbs were laid before those of the ICC. “As Judge King has pointed out, the ICC procedures have a bearing on our own hearing and so no further statements will be forthcoming from CSA on this matter until after the ICC and our own disciplinary procedures have been completed,” he said.

There will be a tendency to dismiss as inconsequential India’s2-0 Test series victory over Zimbabwe. After all, it was a winachieved against the ninth-ranked Test nation – out of 10, it maybe added. Also, as I stated in an earlier column, it does notmatter that India is rated number seven or eight in the currentTest rankings. In home conditions, the Indian team makes forrather formidable opposition, borne out by the fact that only oneteam has won a Test series here in the last 15 years. Even topranked Australia came a cropper in their bid to cross the “finalfrontier” a year ago.That said, it must not be forgotten that India won both thematches in the series, something they were unable to achieveagainst the same team in their last series played here some 15months ago. Andy Flower thwarted India from registering a secondvictory on that occasion, and the left-hander’s failure this timewas certainly one reason why India made a sweep of the seriesfairly comfortably, the rather unconvincing achievement of theNew Delhi win notwithstanding. With all the huffing and puffingat the Feroz Shah Kotla, one must remember that the victorymargin in the first Test was an innings and 101 runs.

In the ultimate analysis, the series victory, besides underliningthe fact that India continues to be awe-inspiring opposition athome, also served to confirm the strengths and weaknesses of thehosts. Touching upon the former, one must first mention theHarbhajan Singh – Anil Kumble duo. The two look well on coursefor taking their place in the honoured list of the great Indianspinning pairs of the past ­ Subhash Gupte and Vinoo Mankad, BSChandrasekhar and Bishan Singh Bedi, and Erapalli Prasanna andBedi. The two complement each other perfectly, and notunexpectedly, they have showered praise on one another.In his 32nd year, Kumble, with over 300 wickets in the bag, is atthe peak of his powers, while his partner, 10 years younger,obviously has his better days ahead of him. Indian cricket’sstrongest point, for some years now, has been its middle-orderbatting, but the time is not far off, I venture to guess, whenthis accolade passes on to the spin duo, who shared 28 wickets inthe two Tests.Speaking of the middle-order batting, the series against Zimbabwesaw this mighty aspect lose nothing of the aura surrounding itfor some time now. Sachin Tendulkar made his customary hundred,while Rahul Dravid used the opportunity to get into his groovefollowing treatment to a shoulder injury. If there is a suddenquestion mark over VVS Laxman, who only a year ago had scaled newpeaks and was hailed as a Messiah, it is heartening to know thatVirender Sehwag and Sanjay Bangar are around to fill that vitalnumber six slot in the middle order.But what was most encouraging was Sourav Ganguly finally strikingform. The Indian captain has always been a classy player, but hisextended bad run saw some critics baying for his blood. I, forone, did not join the growing list of detractors. To me,Ganguly’s case will always be paralleled with that of GundappaViswanath who too, more than once during his 91-Test career, wentthrough a bad patch that led to the “experts” calling for hisremoval. The selectors, however, displayed more wisdom than thedetractors, and the Karnataka stylist repaid this confidencehandsomely. Similarly, I can only see Ganguly getting better andbetter from here on.Shiv Sunder Das, I have always believed, is on course toovertaking Navjot Singh Sidhu as the finest Indian openingbatsman in the post-Gavaskar period. The just-concluded seriesconfirmed this view. It can also be taken as confirmed that DeepDasgupta has played his last Test match. The doors are now wideopen for Ajay Ratra, who can grab this opportunity to cement hisplace in the side as a specialist wicket-keeper whose batting isa bonus. Bangar, who opens the batting for Railways, could be asuitable contender to become Das’ partner at the top of theorder.

There was little wrong with the new ball attack, with JavagalSrinath and Zaheer Khan capable of making the earlybreakthroughs. The latter was particularly impressive, his speed,swing, line and length all having the Zimbabwe batsmen hopping.As far as home conditions go, I emphasise, there seems to be noproblem with the Indian attack, and it is to be hoped that Bangarwill work on his bowling skills to become the kind of all-rounderthat Indian cricket has needed for so long.A word about the visitors. In a nutshell, they proved to begallant losers. They were badly outplayed at Nagpur, but within afew days, they were able to raise the level of their game severalnotches to run India pretty close at the Kotla. Overall, however,their batsmen found Kumble and Harbhajan too hot to handle, whilethe bowlers were no match for the run-hungry Indian batsmen.But a bright future surely awaits Ray Price. The 25-year-oldleft-arm spinner displayed tenacity of purpose, a tantalisinglength and line, besides biting turn on a pitch that was onlyslightly helpful. Even the reputation of being the best playersof spin did not aid the Indian batsmen in overcoming the guilesof Price, and however long he plays the game, the fact that hedismissed Tendulkar three times running ­ twice for scores lessthan 50 ­ could remain his proudest achievement.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has launched a major development drive to upgrade media facilities at all international venues in time for England’s tour in October and the 2011 World Cup.The P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, which hosted Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test match against England in February 1982, has been the first stadium to be upgraded just days after the local and foreign media lambasted its facilities during the second Test against Bangladesh.The media centre was first contracted in 2001 with basic facilities on the understanding that it would be developed into a complete unit with time. However, the promised renovations did not materialise and end result was the stadium being starved of international cricket.However, the stinging public criticism of facilities during the second Test encouraged the ground’s owners, the Tamil Union, to take swift action. With two weeks the box was transformed from an empty corrugated-roofed space with electrical problems to a modern air-conditioned centre equipped with comfortable seating, power points and Wi-Fi.The total cost to Tamil Union for the upliftment of the media centre was Rs. 1.8 million. But Sri Lanka Cricket secretary K. Mathivanan stated that SLC would reimburse 50% of the cost. “Tamil Union has done a grand job on the media centre and they deserve all the credit as much as the flak they received prior to the refurbishment. We are in the process of upgrading all the media centres at major international venues,” Mathivanan said.”The media centres at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Galle and Dambulla will be upgraded by SLC to whom the venues have been leased out. The SSC will be informed shortly that their media centre also needs to be upgraded before the England series. We will follow the same procedures with them as we have for Tamil Union.”

The last round of the Quaid-e-Azam trophy matches, which were indefinitely put on hold following the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, will not be replayed. Instead, Habib Bank (HBL) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL), who topped their respective groups going in to the final round, will now contest the final of the tournament, to be held in Karachi from January 7-11.The decision represents a u-turn of sorts from the Pakistan board, who earlier had said that the affected matches – ten in all, of which eight were in progress – would be replayed.But Zakir Khan, PCB’s director cricket operations, told reporters after a board meeting that according to domestic rules under which the tournament operates, matches could not be replayed. However, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Sialkot played out a replay of an earlier game that wasn’t completed due to an unsuitable pitch, a move which drew protests from several teams in the tournament.The last round of matches would have made little difference in Group B, where SNGPL were already assured of their place in the final. And HBL were on the verge of securing their place in the final in any case; they were about to win against Karachi Whites, a result that would’ve sent them through ahead of NBP.Some repercussions might have been felt for the relegation spots in each group though it still isn’t clear how many teams will be eventually relegated. All matches will now be considered drawn though no points will be awarded to the teams.The meeting also decided to postpone the domestic Twenty20 championships indefinitely. The tournament, among the most popular domestically, was originally scheduled to be played from January 8-14. It was then rescheduled to February 9, but has now been put on hold altogether.However, the Pentangular trophy, played among the top five teams of the country, will go ahead from February 10. It will have a break between as the country goes to the polls from February 18, before resuming again from February 22 and running till March 15.The board will also hold a two-day High-performance camp from January 12, for players who impressed during the Quaid-e-Azam trophy. Twenty-four players are expected to attend the camp, to be held in Karachi.