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Sri Lanka Cricket is considering Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas for spin and fast bowling coaching positions respectively, SLC chief executive Ajit Jayasekara said. Neither have undergone formal coaching training but are the nation’s highest wicket-takers in Tests and ODIs by a distance.Jayasekara said SLC were not working to a concrete time frame on the potential appointments but discussions between the parties had been encouraging. Their prospective roles were yet to be clearly defined but Jayasekara said both men would likely work closely with the national team, though they might be asked to share their expertise beyond the national set-up.”They are two of our best products, and have had huge success all over the world,” he said. “We are looking to tap that knowledge and make use of it for the betterment of cricket in Sri Lanka. The fact that they don’t have coaching qualifications isn’t a big issue when you consider how much they have to offer.”Vaas was recently employed by the visiting New Zealand side in a temporary coaching role, and had positive feedback from both the players and coaching staff he worked with on the tour. New Zealand’s fast bowlers had a highly successful tour of Sri Lanka, especially notable for the quality of swing and seam movement they produced, which had been a hallmark of Vaas’ own bowling.Vaas, who was playing county cricket as recently as July 2012, said he was enthusiastic about taking a coaching role in Sri Lanka. “I have finished my discussions with the board and they will come back to me with a decision,” he said.Muralitharan is the most successful bowler in the history of the game, leading both the Test and ODI wicket-takers lists, with 800 and 534 scalps respectively. He continues to play in domestic Twenty20 leagues, having just wrapped up a season with the Melbourne Renegades in January.If Murali and Vaas come on board with SLC, their appointments will be among a raft of changes around the national team within a few months. Their former teammate Sanath Jayasuriya was named chief selector of a new five-member panel on Monday, while Sri Lanka’s first Test captain Bandula Warnapura is also expected to become CEO of the board in April.

ScorecardAfter a strong showing on day three, the Vidarbha batting subsided on the final day to concede a lead of 172 to Karnataka in Mysore. Abhimanyu Mithun picked up four wickets and did not let the absence of the captain Vinay Kumar, nursing a sore ankle, impact Karnataka’s prospects of pocketing three points. Mithun dismissed the overnight batsmen Amol Ubarhande and Shalabh Shrivastava, with the third-wicket stand coming to an end on 228. Vidarbha lost wickets regularly after that; their captain Sairaj Bahutule soon ran out of partners and was stranded on 48. Karnataka did not enforce the follow-on and lost three wickets in their inconsequential second innings before the game was called off. The sides are separated by a point, with Karnataka placed fifth and Vidarbha seventh.
ScorecardFaced with a target of 239 in 41 overs and missing S Badrinath, having a back spasm, Tamil Nadu settled for three points against Baroda at the Moti Bagh ground. After losing M Vijay and Dinesh Karthik cheaply in the chase, Abhinav Mukund and Baba Aparajith progressively slowed down in their 76-run stand. Tamil Nadu would have eyed a smaller target but the Baroda captain Ambati Rayudu resisted solidly during his 66 off 146 deliveries and the last pair of Murtuja Vahora (38) and Bhargav Bhatt (22), after putting on 80 in the first innings, added another 35 in the second to extend the hosts’ innings. Baroda are second with 21 points while Tamil Nadu are sixth with 13.
ScorecardEklavya Dwivedi’s maiden first-class hundred, and his 146-run fifth-wicket stand with Parvinder Singh ensured Uttar Pradesh took a point from their drawn game against Haryana in Lucknow. The hosts had already conceded the first-innings lead on day two. The allrounder Joginder Sharma, in his comeback game after an accident last year, broke the partnership by having Parvinder caught behind. Dwivedi was run out and Harshal Patel ran through the tail to finish with four wickets. Nitin Saini helped himself to a fifty when Haryana came out to bat and the game ended after 43 overs of the visitors’ second innings. Uttar Pradesh lead the group while Haryana are two points above bottom-placed Maharashtra.

ScorecardSmit Patel, the India Under-19 wicketkeeper, made his maiden first-class century in only his fifth game to lead a strong Gujarat batting performance against Hyderabad in Valsad. Smit and Samit Gohel, who made 85, put on 163 upfront before the latter fell. Bhargav Merai joined Smit and the two added another 87. Smit, who had fifties in his first four first-class games, was finally dismissed for 114 off 240 deliveries, having struck 15 fours. Merai was unbeaten on 45 as Gujarat ended on a comfortable 254 for 2.
ScorecardWasim Jaffer returned from the Haj pilgrimage and immediately showed how important he still is to the Mumbai line-up, his 80 taking them to 262 for 7 against a spirited Bengal side at Brabourne Stadium. The visitors chose to bowl on a wicket which had some grass, and Laxmi Shukla exploited it to take 4 for 35. Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma lasted seven deliveries before he became Shukla’s second victim. Jaffer and Abhishek Nayar (62) steadied Mumbai from 46 for 3 but Shukla returned to remove Jaffer, and Nayar played on to Veer Pratap Singh. Mumbai lost two more wickets before Dhawal Kulkarni took them past 250.
ScorecardSIddarth Kaul picked up four wickets as Punjab continued their red-hot form to dismiss defending champions Rajasthan for 222 in Mohali. Only Puneet Yadav was able to make a fifty as the Punjab medium-pace trio of Kaul, Baltej Singh and Sandeep Sharma picked up a combined nine wickets. Dishant Yagnik, Ashok Menaria and Deepak Chahar all made thirties, but none of them could carry on. Rajasthan fast bowler Pankaj Singh struck in his third over as Punjab ended on 20 for 1. Punjab have won three of their four games this season and drawn the fourth.
ScorecardRavindra Jadeja already has a triple hundred and a six-for this season. He added another century to that against Railways in Rajkot as Saurashtra reached 227 for 4. Sanjay Bangar and Krishnakant Upadhyay took two wickets each to reduce Saurashtra to 90 for 4 but Jadeja found support in veteran Shitanshu Kotak. The duo put on an unbeaten 137 with Jadeja hitting 12 boundaries during his 111 off 224 balls. Kotak, as usual, was more sedate, making 53 off 133.

Match facts

November 1, 2012
Start time 0900 local (1430 GMT)Weather remains the big concern ahead of another game in Pallekele•Associated Press

Big picture

Cricket fans in Sri Lanka must be fed up with the weather. Over the last few months, it has become a habit to keep one eye on the sky. When Pakistan arrived late May, the first two T20s in Hambantota went smoothly without a cloud around. It was hardly a sign of things to come as the teams made their way away from the dry zone for the rest of the series. The groundstaff were on their toes through the ODIs and Tests against Pakistan, the SLPL and the World Twenty20. In fact, the SLPL final itself had a farcical end because of the elements.Questions were raised as to why administrators in their wisdom would think of organising series during the monsoon. But the current congested cricket calendar doesn’t offer much choice. With leagues like the SLPL being shoehorned whenever there is a gap, the weather patterns for those specific weeks seem irrelevant. All one can do is hope for the best.The pattern didn’t change when New Zealand arrived in Pallekele for the one-off Twenty20. Everyone saw it coming – soon after the World Twenty20, rains swept the country. The game got off to a delayed start and only 14 overs were possible in the first innings, as New Zealand limped to 74 for 7. Sri Lanka could only play two overs before the weather had the final say. The forecast isn’t encouraging for Thursday’s first ODI either, at the same venue.The tour, for all practical purposes, is yet to begin. New Zealand shouldn’t read too much into their showing on Tuesday, despite their familiarity with the venue during the World Twenty20. They were put into bat on a damp pitch which hadn’t been exposed to prolonged sunshine in the lead-up. Any batting side would have been challenged in conditions like that. The pitch was under the covers through the eve of the match and another seaming pitch is expected.Sri Lanka have had a mixed year as far as ODIs are concerned. Despite the highs of reaching the CB Series final in Australia, and beating a strong Pakistan 3-1 at home, the losses have outnumbered the wins (16 to 11). They fell well short of expectations when India visited for a short series and one of the main factors then was the way the Indians got on top of their best bowler, Lasith Malinga. The upcoming five matches are the only remaining ODIs the team will play this year before heading to Australia. It’s a chance to improve their record, if the weather permits.Another aspect to look forward to, from the point of view of ODIs in general, is the new rules introduced by the ICC recently. Bowlers will be allowed two bouncers an over and the Powerplay overs have been culled by five. Besides the mandatory ten Powerplay overs at the start of the innings, the remaining five should be taken by the batting side before the 40th over, with a maximum of three fielders allowed during the batting Powerplay.

Form guide

(Completed matches, most recent first)Sri Lanka : LLLWL
New Zealand: LLWLL

Player to watch

Jeevan Mendis has proven to be a useful allrounder in Sri Lanka’s limited-overs plans over the last few months. The home series against India in July was his most productive with the bat, with scores of 45* and 72 in the lower middle-order. He has played an effective supporting role to the specialists with his clean hitting in the death overs and legspinners.Nathan McCullum has just tasted victory in the Champions League and his confidence is high after playing a leading role in Sydney Sixers’ crushing win against Lions. McCullum is no stranger to opening with the new ball. His captain Brad Haddin sensed that spin was the way to go, and McCullum responded with 3 for 24 to wreck the top order. If he can be as effective against the likes of Tillakaratne Dilshan, it could give New Zealand early momentum.

Teams news

The fast bowler Adam Milne has been ruled out of the game because of a stomach bug.New Zealand (likely) 1 Rob Nicol, 2 Tom Latham, 3 Brendon McCullum, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Kane Williamson, 6 James Franklin, 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Ronnie HiraSri Lanka will be boosted by the return of the regular captain Mahela Jayawardene and Malinga, who were rested from the T20. Given the seaming conditions, Sri Lanka may play just one specialist spinner, among Rangana Herath and Akila Dananjaya.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Dinesh Chandimal/Lahiru Thirimanne, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Rangana Herath/Akila Dananjaya, 11 Lasith Malinga

Stats and trivia

Sri Lanka Cricket special advisor and former ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has said he is encouraged by the measures SLC have taken in the wake of a financial crisis, and believes the board has since “got a handle” on their financial situation. Lorgat is presently in the country conducting a wide-ranging review of the state of the game in Sri Lanka, and is expected to produce a report of his findings and recommendations later in the year.Lorgat said he had not yet pinned down areas of priority for his review, but suggested the SLC’s financial management would be given special attention. “I think it’s fair to say that the financial situation is something that needs to be looked at and is already being tackled by SLC,” he said. “I know for a fact because I was with the ICC at the time, that there were serious challenges with finances. But it’s good and it’s positive for me to say that at least there is a handle on it now and there’s progress being made. But there’s still a long way to go.”The SLC has been mired in debt approaching $70 million since the 2011 World Cup after constructing two new international cricket stadiums and ordering extensive renovations on a third. After struggling to make player payments over the last 18 months, the SLC has cut its number of contracted players from 100 to 60 as well as made layoffs elsewhere in order to trim spending.”Sri Lanka Cricket has taken up and understood what the issues are,” Lorgat said. “It’s working out its cashflows and its projections, its expenses, its revenue cycles and so on. It’s probably got a better management system for its finances now, from what I’ve seen.”The board ended eight months of delay in player payments after the state owned Bank of Ceylon released $5 million to the SLC in February. It has also had to lean on a $2.5 million disbursement from the ICC, to prepare for hosting the World Twenty20, which begins on September 18. Of that sum, $500,000 is string-free grant, $1 million an advance on ticket sales, and $1 million a loan which must be repaid in 2015.Lorgat commended the SLC for commissioning an examination of its finances, governance and structure, and said he would continue in the role until he can complete a thorough review.”In terms of length I will stay and do as much as is required to complete a piece of work. I wouldn’t want to be constrained by time. I have agreed to work until the end of October, but I will do whatever is necessary to complete the piece of work. “Research for Lorgat’s review began a week ago, and he said he is speaking to a variety of stakeholders in Sri Lanka in order to better understand the state of cricket in the country. “The section of people that I’m speaking to have come from the media, the national team, board members, ex-captains, staff, to get an idea of what happens within the office. There are people in club setups that I will speak to… everybody who will help me form a picture of Sri Lanka cricket.””I’ve been encouraged by the conversations I’ve already had. It’s quite positive, people have been forthcoming. That’s part of the value of being independent. People will share with you what they believe is good, what they believe is not good, what needs to be done and so on.”

ScorecardCraig Kieswetter made it two hundreds in two days•Getty Images

Craig Kieswetter continued his superb form with a hard-hitting 103 as Somerset moved off the bottom of Clydesdale Bank 40 Group B with an eight-wicket victory over Durham at Taunton.Fresh from his match-winning 152 in the LV= County Championship success over Warwickshire on Saturday, Kieswetter plundered nine fours and six sixes in his 61-ball innings as Somerset overcame Durham’s 147 with almost half their 40 overs to spare.Gareth Breese top-scored for Durham with 31 not out, while Peter Trego removed three of the top four to finish as Somerset’s most successful bowler with 3 for 26 in six overs.More good news for Somerset was the return to action of former England batsman Marcus Trescothick, three months after he ruptured ankle ligaments while fielding against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.Trescothick made 15 from 17 deliveries before being bowled by Chris Rushworth and, having proved his fitness, now looks set to lead Somerset in Tuesday’s Friends Life t20 quarter-final against Essex at Taunton.Durham, with three wins from their previous six CB40 games, were always struggling once Trego had ripped through the top order. He had Phil Mustard caught behind off the last ball of the first over and Johann Myburgh taken at cover by Jos Buttler in his next.Then, after Craig Meschede had Paul Collingwood caught at cover by Max Waller, Trego struck again when he held a return catch to dismiss Mark Stoneman, which made it 34 for 4. A fifth-wicket partnership of 33 between Ben Stokes and Gordon Muchall transpired to be Durham’s best of the innings, but it came to an end when Stokes was caught on the mid-wicket boundary by James Hildreth off leg-spinner Waller.Waller claimed his second wicket, when Muchall chipped to Trescothick at short mid-wicket, and then provided the direct hit which ran out Dale Benkenstein to make it 96 for seven. Alfonso Thomas had Scott Borthwick lbw for a duck and the veteran seamer went on to finish with a very economical return of 1 for 12 in seven overs.Mitchell Claydon made an aggressive 18 before being caught behind down the leg-side off Lewis Gregory. Breese played well for his unbeaten 31, but Durham’s innings ended when Rushworth was bowled by Gregory and a total of 147 never looked likely to trouble Somerset’s formidable batting line-up.Trescothick hit a couple of boundaries – a late cut off Myburgh and a back-foot force off Rushworth – before he was bowled by a slower delivery from the latter. It turned into the Kieswetter show after that as the England one-day international wicketkeeper peppered the boundary boards.Kieswetter hit two sixes off Claydon in the seventh over, the first deposited over extra cover and the second over mid-wicket. He brought up his half-century from 38 balls and required only 20 more to register his hundred.His four remaining sixes were all struck down the ground. The first came off Borthwick’s leg-spin, the next off Collingwood and then the last two were taken from successive Claydon deliveries.Kieswetter’s remarkable innings ended in the 18th over when he holed out to Borthwick on the long-on boundary off Rushworth, which left Nick Compton and Hildreth to complete a comfortable victory.

Mark Ramprakash, the Surrey batsman, is expected to announce his retirement from professional cricket on Thursday at the age of 42. It will bring the curtain down on a 25-year career during which he scaled domestic run-scoring heights that are unlikely to be matched.However, in 2011 he averaged 33.33 from 13 County Championship matches and this season the signs had been that time was finally catching up with Ramprakash. He was dropped from Championship cricket by Surrey for the first time after a lean start to the summer where he made 62 runs in eight innings – including just the third pair of his career against Worcestershire – and was left to play second XI and club cricket to try and regain form. He was recalled for the match against Sussex, at Horsham, but made just 8 and 37.Ramprakash will end his career with 114 first-class hundreds and 35,659 runs at 53.14, along with 13,273 runs in one-day cricket. He made his debut for Middlesex in 1987 before moving south of the river in 2001 where he continued to be prolific for Surrey. In two seasons, 2006 and 2007, he passed 2000 runs having also achieved it in 1995 for Middlesex.Ramprakash’s international career ended in 2002 following the tour of New Zealand although his name occasionally cropped up when England’s batting had problems, such as the end of the 2009 Ashes. In 52 Tests he averaged an underwhelming 27.32 with just two hundreds – against West Indies in Barbados in 1998 and against Australia at The Oval in 2001 – having made his debut against a strong West Indies attack in 1991.

Saqlain Mushtaq, the former Pakistan offspinner, has been offered the post of Bangladesh’s spin-bowling consultant for a period of three months. Saqlain’s appointment was approved by the BCB at a board meeting on Wednesday, but he is yet to sign a contract.The BCB is hopeful Saqlain will join Bangladesh on their tour to Europe, during which they will play Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands from July 16. “There are a few formalities that are not complete, but we hope he joins us on July 15 in Ireland,” BCB director Enayet Hossain Siraj said.During the meeting it was decided that the short stint could be a probation period for Saqlain, but there was no talk of a prolonged contract. Saqlain, 35, had worked with Australia spinner during the 2009 Ashes and then served as spin consultant for New Zealand for a year from August 2009.The BCB directors also approved the appointment of Australia’s Richard McInnes as the head coach of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for a period of two years. He is expected to arrive in Bangladesh later this month and take over a position that has been vacant since October last year, when his countryman Ross Turner resigned on health grounds.This is McInnes’ second stint in Bangladesh, after serving as Bangladesh Under-19s’ coach and helping set up the high performance unit in 2003-04. Several current national players passed through the unit’s programme, and it was the precursor of the NCA.Also, Sri Lanka’s Haputhanthrige Weerasinghe was appointed coach of the Bangladesh women’s team, taking over from former India player Mamatha Maben.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentaryMarlon Samuels struck his third Test century to rescue West Indies from a dire start at Trent Bridge•PA Photos

For two sessions, West Indies, debilitated by the IPL, were routinely preyed upon by England. Six wickets down for 138 shortly before tea, their plight was there for all to see. Things were so bad, it was hard to be optimistic about the future for West Indies Test cricket. Then Marlon Samuels and Darren Sammy organised a recovery that made a mockery of what had gone before.The Trent Bridge pitch went flat and England, so close to achieving what would surely have been an impregnable position, went flatter. By the close their stand was worth 167 runs in 41 overs. Samuels commands respect and received warm handshakes after reaching his third Test hundred. Sammy relished driving England’s bowlers to distraction especially James Anderson, whose frustrated commentary on his unorthodoxy led the umpire, Aleem Dar, to intervene.Samuels reached his century in the penultimate over of the day, with a clip to long leg off Anderson for only his third hundred in 39 Tests. At 31, he has finally understood his potential. His previous boundary had been blissful, an easeful extra-cover drive against Tim Bresnan, proof in a single shot that if he maintains the discipline he has shown in this series there can still be many more.Once again, DRS proved its worth. The umpire, Asad Rauf, gave out Samuels lbw to Bresnan when he had only made a single, only for replays to suggest on West Indies’ review that the ball was way too high.Sammy, 88 not out from 121 balls at the close, has also answered his critics – although in Anderson’s case they were prone to answering back. He has been characterised as a one-day cricketer in charge of a Test side, not quite good enough to prosper as a third seamer and reliant upon a rough-hewn batting style that prevents his promotion above No. 8.But his innings had an endearing simplicity. He is the most convivial of biffers, a batsman of prodigious strength. Even block drives fly off his bat with meaning and when he puts his body into it, he has the strength of a coal miner. He can punish off-colour attacks and England, who conceded 106 in 23 overs up to the new ball, should be wary of the message. Bresnan, preferred to Steven Finn, might have won all his 12 Tests for England but he is a lucky charm in need of a polish.When Sammy muscled Trott over mid-on after reaching his 50, one sensed that he did not believe he had a prayer against the second new ball. But he survived it, grinning at two midwicket whips against Anderson which flew to the third man boundary, smiling again (more sheepishly) at a perilous leave.Their stand was the highest seventh-wicket partnership for West Indies against England and in Tests at Trent Bridge, surpassing the achievement of Collie Smith and John Goddard in 1957 – another alliance between a captain and a Jamaican. There are no better statistics than those that connect the generations so neatly.It had all looked so different. West Indies opted for the offspin of Shane Shillingford in the expectation that he would come into his own on the last two days, especially with the hot forecast. The only challenge was exactly how they intended to reach them. By the morning drinks they were three wickets down for 42 and the doleful figure of Shivnarine Chanderpaul came out to the middle to sip a refreshment he did not need and observe a scoreboard he did not relish.Anderson had a hand in all four morning wickets, dismissing Kirk Edwards and Darren Bravo in an opening spell of 9-4-22-2 and holding two slip catches as Stuart Broad accounted for the openers, Adrian Barath, without scoring, and Kieran Powell for 33.Anderson has an outstanding Test record at Trent Bridge, 33 wickets at 17 runs each going into the Test. He was initially so content that he might have won an advertising contract for camomile tea, even though while he held slip catches for Broad, others were spurning them off his own bowling. Long before the close, though, he was a camomile cricketer no longer.Broad struck first: Barath edging a back-foot force in his second over and Anderson pulling off a nonchalant, fast, one-handed catch at third slip. For his own bowling, England’s fielding lacked the same grace. He might have dismissed Edwards for a single, but Bresnan erred in the same position.Edwards’ tour of England has been a difficult one. He scored a century on Test debut against India last year, but he has yet to reach double figures on tour. Anderson jagged one back through the gate as once more he seemed late on the shot. He switched around the wicket to persuade Bravo to prod a wide-ish delivery to Graeme Swann at second slip.And so, with indecent haste, it was time for Chanderpaul. He dug in for nearly ten-and-a-half hours at Lord’s, but Anderson’s bouncer almost dislodged him first ball as the ball flew off his arm guard and over the wicketkeeper, Matt Prior. An edge in Anderson’s next over flew at catchable height between Bresnan’s half dive and Swann’s crouch as neither locked on to the coordinates. Broad completed an excellent morning’s work by England as Powell edged a good-length delivery to Anderson at third slip.England, who reduced West Indies to 79 for 4 by lunch, squeezed them dry in the first hour of the afternoon. Chanderpaul and Samuels added 13 runs in as many overs before Chanderpaul’s unwieldy straight drive brought the first boundary of the afternoon. He had nine boundaries, including a few covert flicks and edges and even a couple of drives, before Swann intervened.For Swann, to be an England spinner on his home ground at Trent Bridge had been to feel like the unwanted child. Finally, after two Tests in which he was limited to 17 overs, he had a wicket against his name. His toy to play with was Chanderpaul: not so much Action Man as Inaction Man but invaluable for all that.Chanderpaul fell for 46, as Swann found first-day turn around off-stump and struck him on the back leg to have him lbw, but only after a successful review. “Nearly there,” thought England as Bresnan bowled Denesh Ramdin. But nearly was not quite enough.

Australia Women fast bowler Clea Smith, 33, has announced her retirement from all forms of the game. Smith, who played her first international match against England Women 12 years ago, decided that it was “time to move on”.”I have had wonderful experiences through cricket, achieved more than I thought I ever could and it feels like there are now other things in life I want to do,” Smith said.Smith played only one Test, but represented Australia in 48 ODIs and 12 T20Is. Her last match for Australia was the final of the Quadrangular ODI Series against England in July 2011. She cited being a part of Australia’s successful ICC World Twenty20 campaign in 2010 and her domestic titles with Victoria Women as her favourite memories of her career.”The ICC World Twenty20 in Barbados was a surreal experience – going from thinking I wasn’t being picked to winning the final off the last ball was incredible.”The Women’s National Cricket League titles just meant the world to me, to win with the people you have shared blood, sweat and tears with every day,” said Smith, one of only three bowlers, along with Australia Women head coach Cathryn Fitzpatrick and team-mate Kristen Beams, to have taken a hat-trick in the WNCL.Smith acknowledged Fitzpatrick’s contribution to her career. “She has had an incredible influence on my entire career; her preparation showed me what I had to do to make it as a bowler.”Although undecided about the future, Smith was keen to maintain her relationship with cricket. “I would love to give back to the game, in what role that would be we will see.”James Sutherland, Cricket Australia CEO, said that Smith’s passion for the game and her experience would be missed. “I thank her for her commitment to Australian cricket over the last decade,” Sutherland said.