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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIf Dasun Shanaka was an English seamer, he might well be on the endangered species list. His unassuming line and length, delivered with a high action and at a pace in the mid-to-high 70mphs, is precisely the sort of fare that the ECB – with this season’s new toss and pitches edict for domestic cricket – is looking to phase out of the county game. Such skills don’t cut the mustard at Test level these days, apparently.Ironic, then, that Shanaka’s sensational maiden spell in Test cricket was the stand-out performance on a truncated opening day of the first Test at Headingley – a ground synonymous with medium-pace marvels down the years, most famously, Neil Mallender’s debut against Pakistan in 1992. Three wickets for one run in the space of eight deliveries – including England captains present and future, Alastair Cook and Joe Root – ripped open a contest at a venue where Sri Lanka boast an improbable 100 percent record, following their series-winning victory in 2014.It required a diligent half-century from Alex Hales (another player whose output today belied the pre-conceptions) coupled with some home-ground know-how from Jonny Bairstow, for England to regroup with a 88-run stand for the sixth wicket, after their ambitions had been dramatically dented by the loss of five wickets for 34 runs either side of the lunch break.By tea, when Yorkshire’s dank weather swept in across the Pennines to wipe out the final session, Hales was unbeaten on 71, his second Test half-century in nine innings and his highest yet, beating the 60 he made against South Africa at Cape Town in January. It had been an innings of intense application, studded with 12 fours, as he battled initially to adapt his hard-handed technique to the overcast conditions before growing in confidence as his innings progressed.At the other end was Bairstow, who arrived at the crease with England’s innings in crisis at 83 for 5, but responded with the sort of sparky counter-punching that Matt Prior, in his own pomp, had so often provided from No. 7. With his confidence glowing following scores of 246 and 198 in his two most recent innings for Yorkshire at Headingley, Bairstow’s 54 not out from 67 balls took the attack back to Sri Lanka, who nevertheless remained firmly in the contest at 171 for 5, thanks to Shanaka’s stunning arrival.After being put into bat on a morning when bowling first was a no-brainer for both captains, England’s openers were obliged to rein in the extravagant strokeplay that has coloured so much of their cricket in recent months, and that situation might as well have been tailor-made for Alastair Cook. He began the match needing another 36 runs to reach 10,000 Test runs, and after getting off the mark with a sixth-ball clip for four through midwicket, appeared well set for the long grind until Shanaka tore up the script.Alex Hales stayed firm while others around him fell•Getty Images

Shanaka, who was the last of the five bowlers used by Angelo Mathews, launched his Test career with a maiden before striking with the first ball of his second over. Cook had been leaving the ball with his usual sangfroid for most of his 52 deliveries, but having creamed one cover drive off Nuwan Pradeep, he was drawn into another from the slower, wobblier Shanaka. The full length outside off left him a touch, and Cook scuffed an edge through to Dinesh Chandimal, the keeper. He was gone for 16, and still needs another 20 runs to notch up a landmark that has been on his conscience since the start of the South Africa tour in December.Three balls later, however, such thoughts had been whisked out of England’s minds. Nick Compton, out of form for Middlesex so far this season with 100 runs at 20.00 in four matches to date, had been advised by his captain to “just relax and play” as he attempts to extend his stuttering Test career. However, his anxieties cannot have been aided by his team-mates’ struggles to impose themselves, and when his turn eventually came, it proved to be short and cruel.Compton’s third delivery was on a perfect off-stump line and length, and demanded a shot in response. Attempting the deadest of dead-bat pokes, he squeezed a low edge through to Lahiru Thirimanne at first slip and was gone for a duck as Shanaka became only the third bowler in Test history, and the first since Richard Johnson in 2003, to claim two wickets before conceding his first career run.And, as if that was not enough of an impact on debut, Shanaka then added England’s main man to his tally, as Joe Root – in such golden touch in all formats – was also drawn into a drive that scudded to Kusal Mendis at third slip.It was a dream start for Shanaka, who had been awarded his Test cap by Mahela Jayawardene before the start of play, and a timely boost for a beleaguered Sri Lanka squad too, who began the match knowing that Dhammika Prasad, their matchwinning seamer on this ground two years ago, will miss the whole Test series after flying home to resolve a shoulder injury.But the clatter of wickets at the other end served, perversely, to boost Hales’ confidence, as if validating his watchful outlook. He had opened his account with a well-timed clip through midwicket off Pradeep, then followed that up with a rather streakier edge through the vacant third slip off Shaminda Eranga. An emphatic punch through the covers dented Mathews’ figures after a tight start to his spell, then, having notched his first single of the morning from his 48th delivery, Hales added two more fours in the space of three balls off Mathews, each drilled through the covers off the front and back foot respectively.After the break, however, England’s problems deepened before they could improve. James Vince, on debut, had dug in to lunch, blocking out his first 15 balls, and then a further three after the break, before square-driving Pradeep into the covers to get off the mark in Test cricket. But, despite punching two well-timed fours in three balls off Eranga, Vince was suckered by the bowler’s full length and controlled outswing to become Mendis’ second catch at third slip.Into the fray strode Ben Stokes, never a man to die wondering in a crisis. After a watchful first-ball block, Stokes spanked fours from each of his next three balls, including a loose clip off the pads that flew agonisingly close to the man at short midwicket. That, however, was as good as his innings would get. Seeking to get onto the front foot, both literally and metaphorically, he clipped a tame catch to Mathews at mid-on to deepen England’s gloom.By tea, however, Hales and Bairstow had provided their team with a steadying hand, with Bairstow in particular striking the perfect balance between attack and defence. He survived one moment of genuine alarm, on 40, when he was adjudged lbw to Mathews only for the delivery to be shown on review to be sliding down leg. His response, three balls later, was to gallop down the track to Rangana Herath and deposit him back down the ground for six, and when he opened the face to glide his sixth four through third man off Mathews, he brought up a 60-ball fifty that England will hope is the harbinger of much, much more.

Match facts

Friday, June 24
Start time 2pm local (1300 GMT)

Big picture

Eoin Morgan wasn’t buying the euphoria that drenched Trent Bridge on Tuesday night, after Liam Plunkett’s long levers had bludgeoned England to a share of a thrilling contest which, on balance, they deserved to have lost. “We are very lucky to get out of this game with a tie,” he said. “That was as bad as we have performed with the bat over the past year.”Morgan’s honesty was as refreshing as the attitude that had hauled his team back from the brink, both in Tuesday’s contest and, more generally, over the course of the past 18 months. There are genuine and attainable goals in the offing for England’s 50-overs squad in the not-so-distant future, but lapses such as they displayed in their first limited-overs outing since the World T20 final won’t be forgiven by better-drilled opponents.That said, it was no accident that England had the wherewithal to regroup after shedding their top six wickets in the space of 18 ill-disciplined overs. Their astonishing depth of batting is designed for occasions such as these – and you might even argue it is important that players such as Chris Woakes, England’s Man of the Match for his two wickets and 95 match-salvaging runs, are put under pressure to perform rather than allowed to gather dust as luxury tailenders, as has arguably been the case with Moeen Ali in recent months.But then again, it took a crisis to concentrate England’s minds, as if each of the top order had subconsciously been passing the buck to the next man without ever quite assuming responsibility until they really had to. Joe Root, the rock of their renaissance last summer, completed his fourth single-figure score in five innings this summer; Jonny Bairstow, their form man from the Test series, faced six balls all told and should have been out to two of them.Morgan himself fought hard against his troubling recent lack of form but was persistently challenged, and eventually undone, by Sri Lanka’s angle across his bows. But the major exception to England’s ennui was Jos Buttler, whose sojourn with Mumbai Indians perhaps reaped fewer grandstand moments than he had personally hoped for, but certainly sharpened his instinct for rising to an occasion. A brilliant catch on the long-on boundary denied him his fifth ODI hundred (and what would have been his slowest by a distance) but served notice that his team would not be quitting on their task.It was certainly a bitter denouement for Sri Lanka, who had entered the contest with intent following two galvanising triumphs in Ireland and produced, in Seekkuge Prasanna’s thrilling half-century, the most eye-catching performance of the day. The loss, however, of their captain, Angelo Mathews, was probably the difference between victory and the tie. His six overs of wicket-to-wicket wobblers had been just what the surface ordered, but the recurrence of his hamstring injury meant a spell of 2 for 22 was cut off in its prime.In Mathew’s absence, Sri Lanka’s attack closed ranks as best they do – Prasanna’s legspin matched that of the parsimonious Adil Rashid, while Farvez Maharoof, Suranga Lakmal and even the unfortunate Nuwan Pradeep all bowled better than their economy rates would suggest. But in the final analysis England did just enough to overcome their rustiness and salvage a share of the spoils. They will expect better things in Birmingham. The question is, will their opponents?Angelo Mathews underwent a fitness test on his hamstring•Getty Images

Form guide

England: TLLLW (last five matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka: TWWLW

In the spotlight

His captaincy has been a significant and acknowledged factor in England’s upsurge in recent fortunes, but Eoin Morgan‘s batting remains under a significant cloud. At the World T20, he mustered 66 runs in six matches – almost half of those in the opening fixture against West Indies – and so by that rationale, his return of 43 from 49 balls on Tuesday was a step in the right direction. It was, however, a painstaking knock – understandable to a degree, with England floundering at 30 for 4 when Buttler joined him to begin the rebuilding effort. But despite the odd flash of his most fluent self, most notably a handful of straight drives back down the ground, Morgan is still fighting to unleash the inventive instincts that made him such a stand-out performer in his pre-leadership days.There’s no ignoring the joie de vivre that Seekkuge Prasanna brings to his destructive slogging in the middle of Sri Lanka’s innings. Pinch-hitters are thought to be rather old hat these days – why risk swinging through the line when you can contort your stance and ramp a six into no-man’s land at fine leg? But the combination of a sharp eye and a fearless mind will never go entirely out of fashion, and the glee with which Prasanna brought up his fifty from 24 balls was understandable – at Malahide last week, he biffed 95 from 46 balls so he is enjoying a rare appetite for destruction. Whenever Sri Lanka choose to unleash him, brace for fireworks.

Team news

Plunkett’s retention ahead of Steven Finn for the first match came as something of a surprise but was, in hindsight, due reward for his role in the team that reached the World T20 final. His bowling may not have hit the mark consistently, but his six-hitting heroics amply justified his selection. Finn has been released to play for Middlesex in tonight’s T20 Blast contest against Somerset at Lord’s. Jason Roy, meanwhile, has received an injection for a wrist problem, but batted in the nets and is expected to be fit to retain his place in an unchanged XI.England (probable): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Jos Buttler (wk), 6 Jonny Bairstow, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 David Willey, 10 Liam Plunkett, 11 Adil Rashid.All eyes are on Angelo Mathews as he undergoes a fitness test on the hamstring strain that bugged him during Sri Lanka’s elimination, against England, at the World T20 in Delhi earlier this year, and flared back up during his bowling spell on Tuesday. Sri Lanka are considering dipping into their A-team squad for reinforcements, but the skipper is one man they simply cannot do without. He was rated at 70% on Thursday, pending another test before the match. He’ll surely play on one leg if needs be.Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Kusal Perera, 2 Danushka Gunathilaka, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Upul Tharanga, 7 Seekkuge Prasanna, 7 Dasun Shanaka, 9 Farveez Maharoof 10 Nuwan Pradeep, 11 Suranga Lakmal

Pitch and conditions

As in Nottingham, wet weather over recent weeks means the Edgbaston pitch has not seen much sunshine. But the ground has a reputation for good limited-overs surfaces, as demonstrated by the last ODI held there, when England broke 400 for the first time. Friday’s forecast is for a relatively clear afternoon and evening.

Stats and trivia

• Bittersweet memories for England at Edgbaston in their most recent ODI encounters at the venue. This time last year, they announced the start of their post-World Cup rebirth with their highest ODI score, 408 for 9 against New Zealand
• However, they had lost each of previous five completed ODIs at Edgbaston – three against India, including the final of the Champions Trophy in 2013 – and one against Sri Lanka, who sealed a 3-2 series triumph on their last tour of England in 2014 with a six-wicket win in the fifth and deciding match.
• Sri Lanka’s share of the spoils at Trent Bridge means that the inaugural Super Series remains alive … but only just. England now lead 11-3, meaning that Sri Lanka must win each of the last five internationals (four ODIs, one T20I) to sneak a 13-11 win.

Quotes

“We’re not at all concerned about the top order not scoring runs in Nottingham. If anything we should come out and play even more shots. That’s the way we want to play our cricket. We want to put teams under pressure and there’s no reason to change.”
“We were very good with batting and bowling, the only thing is we have to improve is our fielding. If we fielded well [at Trent Bridge] it would have been a different story but we are improving.”

Sri Lanka lack depth in their fast-bowling battery, coach Graham Ford said, after two frontline quicks left the tour of England with injury, and a third was reported for a suspect action.Shaminda Eranga is scheduled to undergo a biomechanics test at Loughborough on Monday after he was reported following the Test at Chester-le-Street. Though he is likely to be free to play the Lord’s Test – before the results of his test are known – Sri Lanka may opt to save him the extra scrutiny by fielding another bowler in his place.The selectors will consider handing a debut to 29-year-old left-armer Chaminda Bandara, who is said to swing the ball at a lively pace, but has scarce A team experience. The team’s fast bowling stocks have been repeatedly depleted by injury over the past three years. On this tour they have lost Dhammika Prasad and Dushmantha Chameera to injury.”Maybe it’s a little alarming that perhaps we don’t have the depth that we were hoping that we would have at this stage, in the fast bowling department,” Ford said. “That’s a project for the future, because there are those injuries around fast bowlers. I did see some exciting Under-19 bowling before we came out here to England. I’m sure there are talented boys and if they’re looked after properly, we should have a decent unit of fast bowlers.”If Eranga does not play at Lord’s, Sri Lanka would have effectively lost their best quick of 2015 (Prasad), their fastest bowler (Chameera), and the only quick with over 10 Tests’ experience and a bowling average south of 40 (Eranga). It has left a lot on the plate of fast-bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake.”It is a challenge, because Dhammika was the star of the show last time Sri Lanka toured England,” Ford said. “He was the one that bowls the right length and was able to swing the ball both ways. The rest of the guys tend to swing it out more than anything else. And then we lost that extra pace that Dushmantha brings.”From a firepower point of view we are perhaps not where we want to be. But we do have a bowling unit that can bowl with discipline, hit their areas, and find other ways of creating pressure. Champaka has been working very hard with them on that. We’ve had periods where we have created that pressure and stuck to it pretty well. But then we’ve had other periods when we haven’t been like that, which shows that we’re very much a work-in-progress.”Bandara and Kusal Perera have now joined the squad in London ahead of the third Test, but had their arrival delayed because of visa hurdles. Both men only joined the team in the last 48 hours. Perera had been added to the squad as early as May 22, and as such, had his arrival delayed by about 10 days by the visa process. Ford suggested the delay had been a disadvantage.”If you’re coming to different conditions, the sooner they get used to those conditions the better. The delay wasn’t ideal. But now they’re here they’re going pretty well. Hopefully they have done some good work at home before they got here.”Sri Lanka dropped several key catches across both Tests, with both Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow reprieved en route to scores of over 140. The team’s catching had been poor in the World T20 and in the previous Test series as well. Ford said systemic changes were required to raise fielding standards in the long term.”The players have worked like crazy, but at the board level we’ve talked about how if you want to have a good fielding side, you have to make sure there’s real solid coaching in the fielding department at the emerging player level. By the time they get to international cricket they should be good fielders.”We need somebody at the Under-17, Under-19, development and emerging players having regular fielding sessions. They would have done so many good drills that they’re not scared of the ball and not scared to dive. They would watch the ball while they’re diving.”You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. You can’t flick a switch. You can’t have them playing for Sri Lanka and in a couple of fielding sessions turn them into brilliant fielders. We want to be known as a nation that produces really good fielders. In the levels below we’ve got to get the work done.”

A trio of teenage pace bowlers have been handed England Lions places for the one-day tri-series against Pakistan A and Sri Lanka A. Lancashire’ Saqib Mahmood, Sussex’s George Garton and Sam Curran of Surrey are part of the 13-man squad which will be captained by Dawid Malan.The trio, part of the England’s Under-19 World Cup squad in Bangladesh earlier this year, are joined in the pace-bowling options by the slightly more senior pair of Tom Curran and Jamie Overton. Sam Curran will join the squad midway through the series so that he is available for Surrey’s Championship match against Hampshire.Worcestershire provide two batsmen in Joe Clarke, who has scored three Championship hundreds this season including a match-winning one against Leicestershire this week, and Brett D’Oliveira, who is also averaging over 50 in the Championship.Liam Livingstone, the hard-hitting Lancashire batsman, has been called-up alongside Northamptonshire’s Ben Duckett and Kent’s Daniel Bell-Drummond.Malan, who was in England’s T20 squad for the match against Sri Lanka but did not get capped, is joined by two players who have played for England in the Hampshire allrounder Liam Dawson, who took three wickets on debut against Sri Lanka, and Sam Billings.The Lions call-ups mean the players will be unavailable for their counties at a time when teams are pushing for knockout places in the Royal London Cup and T20 Blast, but the selectors have done their best to ease disruption and players will be released for T20 Blast matches July 22 which is a day when Pakistan A play Sri Lanka A.”There is a balance of players who have represented the Lions before, with a few new faces for the future who we feel will benefit from the experience of and exposure to Lions cricket,” James Whitaker, the national selector, said. “We also had to be respectful to the counties who have important domestic fixtures, while again balancing that with our own competitiveness, and making sure we can perform well.”Andy Flower, who will be head coach, said: “It is important for the Lions to play home matches in the summer as well as touring during the winter for a number of reasons, and we are grateful to the counties for recognising that if we are going to reap the benefits of playing abroad in the winter, we have to offer the equivalent opportunity to the developing cricketers of Sri Lanka and Pakistan.””We’ve had quite a large transition from last winter’s Lions squad to the national side, and that means we will have a much younger group. That is going to make this a challenging series against some experienced cricketers from Sri Lanka and Pakistan, but it will provide a great opportunity for our young players to test themselves.”The series starts with Pakistan A facing Sri Lanka A at Cheltenham on July 18 before England play their first match against Pakistan A the following day. Northamptonshire then host two matches on July 21 and 22 before the series concludes in Canterbury on July 24 and 25.

Bangladesh’s fielding coach Richard Halsall has said that he feels safe working in Bangladesh and is hopeful of England’s arrival on September 30 for a tour comprising three ODIs and two Tests. Halsall, the former England fielding coach, said that although the security situation in the country has improved, England will look into it themselves before taking a decision.Halsall returned to Dhaka on Friday evening, the first of the team’s foreign coaching staff to return after the terror attack in the Bangladesh capital on July 1. Mario Villavarayan, the strength and conditioning coach, came on Saturday, while head coach Chandika Hathurusingha is scheduled to arrive on Sunday evening.There have been questions about England’s visit to Bangladesh. Eoin Morgan, the captain, had admitted to big concerns over the side’s security. Morgan had suggested neutral venues may be “feasible if it came to that”, but Nizamuddin Chowdhury, BCB’s chief executive, rejected any talk of playing Bangladesh at a neutral venue.”I am hopeful that the tour will take place,” Halsall said. “England are, I think, committed to playing cricket all over the world. Their Under-19s were here for the World Cup, but, maybe, the security situation in Bangladesh is better now because awareness of the situation is heightened. I think people are bit more honest about the threat level and there’s no denial that there’s a threat. But that exists here and everywhere.”Being honest about there being a threat is the first step to dealing with it. You have got to get on with it. It is my job to coach, and for England to assess whether it is safe here for their players. I think it is safe to be here. But it is up to them to decide whether it is safe for the team to come. Obviously, it is a different situation for a team. But I really hope that they do come. We need to play some international cricket.”Halsall talked about his own experience, having been in London during the 2005 bombings and also with the England team days before the terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008. Halsall said that he would have returned to Dhaka to continue his work, but the BCB had made the situation easier for him.”What has happened is not an incident, it is an atrocity. But they happen all over the world, in Belgium, France, Germany,” Halsall said. “I happened to be in London when it was under attack. I was in India when the Taj [Mahal Hotel, Mumbai] was attacked. We had only just left the Taj a week earlier. The world we live in, nowadays, these things do happen. And it is tragic for people involved. So my thoughts are with those people who have been murdered.”Obviously, you have to take stock of the situation. It was always my intention to come back. I am a professional, and my job is to coach. The BCB has been very kind to me. The sensible thing to do after the attack was to let everything calm down. We didn’t have any international cricket at the time. Let the BCB take stock of exactly what they should be doing.”I think things probably calmed down, but it doesn’t mean things aren’t going to happen, but that’s the same in England, America, Australia, France, Germany. We just have to be sensible, work with the right people. Be honest about the threat level and work towards a more peaceful environment,” he said.When asked if Bangladesh would have trouble returning to cricket after a long break from international cricket, in case the series is held as scheduled, Halsall said that the team would have an advantage over England on account of being fresher.”We have two months to prepare for the series, so you can do everything you want to do,” he said. “You can set exact workloads for your bowlers, you can practice all the bowlers you’re going to face, you can be fresh and hungry. Or, if you want to pitch it in a negative way, we won’t be battle-hardened.”But the English are going to be shattered because they just played seven Tests in three months. Their ODIs are going to be over in September. So are they going to be able to bring their best players? They have five Tests against India after they play us. You can pitch it any way you want to, but our players are going to be ready for the first ODI. We have to see it as an advantage.”England are scheduled to play three ODIs, two Tests and three practice matches on their tour of Bangladesh. The ODIs are scheduled to start from October 7, while the two-Test series is slated to begin from October 20.

The Western Province Cricket Association (WPCA) has raised concerns with CSA over the hosting of the fifth ODI between South Africa and Australia on October 12, which falls on the same day as the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. While Newlands will stage the fixture as planned, officials have asked CSA not to schedule matches on important religious days in future.”As Western Province, we are very respectful of every religious community in South Africa. We are aware that Yom Kippur is the most important day on the Hebrew calendar and clashes with the fifth One Day International. We have written to CSA and have raised our concerns about hosting the match on the most important day on the Jewish calendar,” Nabeal Dien, CEO of WPCA, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, as an affiliate, the international itinerary is out of our control, but we have expressed our feelings to the national body. CSA will communicate our concerns about the date to the ICC, requesting that a possible oversight like that should not be repeated.”The fixture is the last one in the five-match series, which starts on Friday in Centurion, and will go ahead as planned with the start time scheduled for 1:30pm local time. Ticket sales for the match have not been revealed but the series is expected to generate significant interest. Sunday’s second ODI at the Wanderers is close to being sold out.

USA coach Pubudu Dassanayake has picked out Oman as the main threat to his team winning ICC WCL Division Four on home soil. Dassanayake is confident USA will finish in the top two and gain promotion after the last two-and-a-half weeks of training leading into the tournament that began with the Auty Cup series against Canada, which he says allowed the team to see its own flaws and work them out ahead of Saturday’s tournament-opener against Bermuda.”I think the build-up to this tournament, I’m very pleased,” Dassanayake told ESPNcricinfo. “Playing the Auty Cup, we were just exposed in all departments and we planned what to do to get better for this tournament, analysing all three games against Canada.”I’m very happy, the guys who stayed back, we were working very hard. They put in a lot of hours training and I think the build-up to the [warm-up] game we played [on Tuesday] against SCCA [Southern California Cricket Association], I’m very happy how the guys turned out in that game. Basically everybody has put in a lot of time, effort and hard work and I feel like everything is really ready to go on Saturday morning.”After USA’s first match against Bermuda, they face Italy, which lost to the SCCA XI by 38 runs on Wednesday after failing to chase a target of 212. That came a day after a USA XI took down the local league representative side by 112 runs after posting a score of 286 for 8. The other two European sides in the tournament, Jersey and Denmark, were both beaten by a club side from Houston, Texas, by eight wickets and three wickets respectively, showcasing the strength of league cricket in the USA. It’s one reason why Dassanayake isn’t afraid to talk up his own squad’s chances of promotion.”Looking at the other teams, for me personally as a coach, I don’t think that we’ll have any threat, especially from the European teams,” Dassanayake said. “We have so much talent. We just have to transfer that talent into performance. Oman is a good team because they were in the World [T20]. The last few months they’ve played quality cricket. That’s the team for us to beat but overall, having said all these things, we’re not going to relax any game. We need to just focus one game at a time and do our best every game.”One thing USA teams have lacked in the past, despite their immense talent, is good team chemistry built up in part through clearly defined roles for each player. Dassanayake says, though, that the lead-up to this tournament has seen that change, giving the team a solid platform for a successful event.”Our strength is currently is that everybody is playing together and they take care of each other,” Dassanayake said. “We started knowing the strengths of each other and are very clear in their roles. That’s actually what I was looking for coming into this tournament. That is what we didn’t have against Canada in the Auty Cup.”In the last eight days, there’s a huge change in the atmosphere within the team. So I think that’s a really big plus point for the USA team. But again, in saying these things, it’s very important the first day of the tournament getting that momentum, start winning and start enjoying the wins. When the team does well, they need to feel that and that’s how you build the winning atmosphere in the team.”

Sri Lanka Cricket is set to introduce annual contracts for close to 70 cricketers, across the youth, emerging and senior categories, in a bid to encourage them to press for places in the Sri Lanka team. The new contract system does not include the current national players already contracted with the board.SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala said that the new contract system will cover the period between November 1, 2016, and April 30, 2017, after which the cricketers could play in any part of the world. Under this system, the cricketers will be paid between SL Rs 25,000 to Rs 100,000 per month ($170 – $680).”There are so many categories of players who are playing cricket so we must look after them,” Sumathipala said. “We don’t want the players who have not played for Sri Lanka to be idling in club cricket but to start putting pressure on the national players and make every effort to play for the country as well as their clubs.”We have decided to look after these cricketers and put them on a national contract. We met about 70 players last Saturday and gave them a proposed agreement and we are informing our member clubs that if there are anybody whom they feel are worthy of contract to inform us.”We will sign the contracts on October 30. The contract lasts from November 1 to April 30. After that date the cricketers are free to play in any part of the world. We want to see that our domestic [structure] is stronger and protected and give the players something they can be happy about. Apart from the national players we are also looking after the other players as well.”The board also announced that it had suspended financial grants for nine member clubs and associations, including Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club and Badureliya Cricket Club, for a variety of administrative faults, including the failure to submit an audit report. Both Bloomfield and Badureliya CC are prominent domestic teams that participate in the Premier League tournaments. The other associations are: Southern Province Cricket Association, Negombo Cricket Club, Matara District Cricket Association, Puttalam District Cricket Association, Kollupitiya Sports Club, Nomads Sports Club and Peterson Lane Sports Club. Sumathipala clarified that the teams could continue participating in SLC-conducted tournaments.”From the month of January we have informed the clubs and associations to have their audit reports and to hold their AGM in time,” Sumathipala said. “They have not complied with our request so we have to suspend funding them.”We are not funding any money until they rectify their administration. But for the sake of cricket they will be allowed to play in SLC-conducted tournaments. Until they get their accounts up and running and they submit the audit reports the SLC has decided not to grant them any money.”

The ICC is keen on having an edge-detection tool – Realtime Snicko, UltraEdge or HotSpot – to go with the existing ball-tracking tool as minimum requirements for DRS. However, that depends on the ICC cricket committee headed by Anil Kumble, and a planned meeting with the member boards in February 2017 to “prepare a road map for the use of technology moving forward”. For the ICC, the ideal outcome of the meeting will be some sort of agreement to have DRS for every Test no matter where it takes place, with the decided minimum requirements in place.As it stands now, DRS is employed even in those Tests where no edge-detection technology is available whereas India have been playing without DRS even with the required technology available. That India have agreed to use it on a trial basis against England is a step forward, but ICC’s general manager of cricket operations Geoff Allardice knows there is some way to go.”I look at matches in different parts of the world, and I see the different levels of technology and you see umpires are left without conclusive evidence in one series where in another series they might have conclusive evidence with all tools available,” Allardice said. “There are some logistical challenges as well about having every type of technology in every match but I think overall we should be striving for a more consistent delivery of technology at all international matches.”Ball-tracking is standard in DRS at the moment, and we won’t see that changing. I think you certainly need an edge-detection tool as a standard. If you go back to times gone by with the umpires listening to the stump microphone audio and trying to judge whether that was the sound of bat on ball or bat on pad or whatever, it was very difficult to make a decision [for the umpire] and also for the people watching at home to know what the umpire was thinking. And sound-based edge detection systems like Realtime Snicko and UltraEdge have simplified those kinds of decisions.”HotSpot is another tool that helps in edge detection, and while Allardice said it “has a lot to add to a DRS system”, its inclusion posed “logistical challenges”. India’s home Tests against England, for example, could have had HotSpot but the BCCI was told it would take too long for the equipment to arrive in the country. The cameras used by HotSpot are high-end military cameras, whose shipping needs special permissions from governments.The BCCI’s opposition to DRS arose from a perception that it wasn’t 100% fool proof. Some other boards do not employ it because of the high cost of equipment. As such there has been pressure on the ICC to assume control of the system itself. Allardice was open to the possibility.”If we get the support of members for the ICC to take a greater role in providing consistent technology at every game, we think that’s the right way to go forward. If we can map that out to the countries, and they like that, then the plan will be to start putting it in place.” he said. “Generally in DRS series, we deliver 98 to 99% correct decisions, and what that does is provide a consistency of correct decisions, whether the conditions are difficult for umpiring, or whether the umpire is having a good day or a bad day.”There has also been protest against DRS because of the possibility of human error. When asked if the ICC might be interested in training people to operate the various technologies to assuage that concern, Allardice said it was the technology provider who was best placed to understand the nuances of the system and implement it correctly. He did, however, admit there was a need for the ICC to oversee operations.”At this stage, I wouldn’t see us wanting to be technology providers ourselves, because the expertise and product development work that’s taken place over a long period of time, has been conducted by the technology providers. But I think there is a greater role for the ICC in the coordination of technology that goes to each match, and the oversight of the performance at matches.”DRS’s impact on the umpires is also a point of debate. In the Chittagong Test between England and Bangladesh, eight out of 18 decisions made by Kumar Dharmasena were overturned. Allardice said the number of incorrect calls an umpire makes factors into his assessment by the ICC, but he is judged over a longer term than just one match.”It’s quite a test for an umpire in those conditions, because you can often be making good umpiring decisions that are later proven to be incorrect,” Allardice said. “Like getting a glove on a sweep shot that then leads to an lbw being overturned.”One of the skills of an umpire at all levels, whether there is DRS or not, is his resilience to mistakes. In the old days, you used to find out when you came off the field whether you had made a mistake or not, and now that feedback is a little bit more immediate. And being able to process feedback about your decisions, and then try to either use it to improve your decision‑making, or to not let it affect your decision making, is the thing that determines an elite umpire from the next level down.”

When Keaton Jennings was on 96, the electricity at the holiday resort his parents are staying at in Mauritius was cut. They sat in the dark for the next hour, not knowing whether their son had made the milestone.”It came back on when he was on 111 and then he scored one more run and he was out,” Ray Jennings, former “Mean Machine” wicketkeeper, decorated coach and proud father told ESPNcricinfo. “My family have sent me some videos of the shot that got him to the hundred.”So it will be the clip of the reverse-sweep, and not a family selfie on an idyllic beach, that occupies pride of place among the Jennings’ holiday photos, a holiday Keaton was supposed to be on. A week ago, Keaton’s December plan was entirely different. He was captaining the England Lions in the UAE and was due to meet his parents Mauritius on December 10. They were heading there a little earlier – last Wednesday actually, the same day Keaton got called up to the England Test squad. “I was in the air when he got picked so I missed that too,” Ray said.From South Africa, Mauritius is part of the way to India and Ray may have been tempted into taking another flight and being present to witness was he was certain would be a Test debut in Mumbai, but he didn’t. “It’s my son’s space,” he said. “It’s his tour and I didn’t want to get in the way. It’s his domain. I knew once Haseeb Hameed broke his finger that there was a 98% chance he would be playing but I also knew it was going to be tough.”Ray’s concern was that the odds were stacked against Keaton ahead of his first match. “To go from South Africa to England to Dubai to India and into a series where the side is two-nil down, where you don’t know really anyone besides Ben Stokes, and then to open the batting in India there is definitely going to be pressure. But I knew he would need to figure out how he is going to handle that.”Although Ray was his son’s first coach, he did not want to be the one offering advice and was happy to watch from the sidelines and see what Keaton could come up with. Now that he has seen it, he could not be more proud.”This is my best day of sporting life. My nerves are shot,” Ray said. “You train your kid from the age of five and you see the fire in him, you see his disappointments and his success. It’s just wonderful. This is his glory.”After a week of only communicating via the occasional text message, Ray plans to have a proper chat with Keaton, “after he has connected with his girlfriend and all the other messages he would have got”. Until then, he is content to enjoy life by the Indian Ocean at the end of a remarkable 2016 for Keaton. “You can’t buy what he has had in the last six months – from captaining Durham, to the Lions, to the call-up. Now all it needs is for England to win this game and the next one and walk away with a drawn series. That will be a dream 2016 for any cricketer.”