..::CRICKET::..

[chandikagunawardhana]

Trott stays calm during pressure debut

He's not the new Kevin Pietersen, but Jonathan Trott had good reason to feel like his fellow South African-raised, England batsman. Pietersen, who was a guest in the dressing room, has long been responsible for carrying his adopted home and Trott was forced into a similar role in an exacting debut innings.

This Ashes decider is a contest where confident players are necessary and Trott is not short of self-belief. While most of his team-mates fell to feeble wafts, Trott had to be removed by the stunning reflex action of Simon Katich. Pietersen is known for his freaky dismissals and Trott fell to one in his maiden innings. Katich's brilliance deserved to be rewarded - he collected a firm clip at short leg and launched a direct hit before the batsmen's follow-through had ended - but it was a shame for Trott that it finished that way.

Before his innings Trott nibbled at his nails in the change room but appeared calm and ready when it was his turn to walk down the steps. While he waited for 12 deliveries before scoring his first Test runs, he wasn't scared. Of course there were nerves - and a run-out chance for Katich - but he was comfortable enough to stride out to his first ball and offer a calm defence. He needed to be.

Entering with England at 176 for 3, he was soon trying desperately to prevent any more leaking of unnecessary dismissals. After Ian Bell, Matt Prior and Andrew Flintoff went after tea the team had given up their advantage and were wobbling on a day supposed to be made for batting.

Trott, whose best shot came with a cover-driven four off Stuart Clark, didn't stay for long enough, but attributing any blame to him for the dismissal is unfair. Apart from hitting it half a metre wider, nothing could have stopped the brief magic from Katich. He left disappointed with 41 but given his team's situation it was a valuable display.

"Trotty looked like he was playing for Warwickshire," Bell said. "He's been in very good form, his feet were going well, he looked confident, and he didn't look out of place at all. He played very well and it's a good start for him. Hopefully he can take that confidence and kick on."

Soon after his dismissal Trott was back by a dressing-room window shadow batting in preparation for the second innings, when he should be hard to dislodge again. While Trott was starting out, Flintoff is winding down. Flintoff was relaxed in the way players who have appeared in 79 Tests should be, but he was unable to put on the performance craved by those camped in the stands and near the windows of the nearby apartments.

The trumpeter was blowing Livin' on a Prayer after Flintoff's not uncharacteristic dismissal, a hard drive outside off which ended in a loud nick to the wicketkeeper. It was a wasteful end to such an occasion, but those sorts of moments have made Flintoff as well as his fearsome exploits with bat and ball.

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Bell optimistic on dusty pitch

An unfamiliar and subcontinent-style pitch has revived England's hopes of capturing the Ashes despite the hosts falling away after a useful start to the deciding Ashes Test. In the lead-up to the game Surrey said they would not be influenced into producing a result wicket, but instead of a surface offering the usual carry - and the heavy prospect of a draw - the dusty strip is already turning and a handful of balls have broken through the surface.

The conditions at The Oval have convinced both teams that this encounter won't end in a stalemate and Ian Bell, England's top scorer with 72, was unusually upbeat after England reached 307 for 8. "After day one it's 50-50," he said. "The pitch is so dry, and that's a good thing for us. If we get a lead and bat well in the second dig, it won't be easy to bat last on." Australia will have that task to determine which side lifts the replica urn on Monday.

The surface and Australia's field settings reminded Bell of the subcontinent and the conditions suit the aims of England, who must win to break the deadlock and take the trophy. "This feels like a day three wicket, so I'd be interested to see how this game unfolds, whether it deteriorates, or whether it carries on being pretty good," Bell said. "We'd prefer a result wicket and this looks like it's going to be."

England began well and were 176 for 2 before Paul Collingwood's dismissal sparked a series of costly loose shots, but Bell said the conditions were tougher than they looked from the stands. Those expecting a free-flowing day instead sat through some tough sessions when the advantage swung.

"I guess with the starts we've had we could be in a slightly better position than we are, but it was quite a hard day," Bell said. "It didn't feel like your typical Oval pitch where you get your pace and bounce - it was slow and felt quite frustrating at times to actually time the ball."

Australia may regret not picking a specialist slow bowler after preferring Stuart Clark to Nathan Hauritz and then watching Marcus North gain useful turn through 14 overs. England stuck with one spinner in Graeme Swann, leaving out Monty Panesar, and Bell was surprised Australia went with four pace specialists.

However, Peter Siddle, who led Australia with 4 for 63, maintains spin will not play a major part and Australia made the correct selection decision. "I don't think it's deteriorating, it's still a good wicket," he said. "It's still a nice wicket to bowl on, it's going to stay pretty solid and will be a pretty good batting wicket over the next two or three days. I don't think spin will be a massive part of it. When all four quicks stuck together and bowled to the partnership we had success."

Siddle did agree with Bell that the match won't end in a draw. "There's definitely going to be a result, that's for sure," he said. "The way both teams have played this series, it's been attacking, it's been aggressive, and that's what we're looking for."

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Bell rediscovers his ugly side

Ian Bell and Churchillian rhetoric do not tend to belong in the same sentence - in fact, chinchillian would be an adjective more befitting of such a mousy character. But never mind the blithe assumptions that can be taken from this latest unfulfilled performance. Today's innings of 72 from 137 balls could yet prove to have been his finest hour.

In the course of Bell's 49-Test career, he has somehow managed to subvert that old adage: "It's not how, it's how many" and turn it to his advantage. His average, which today climbed back above the 40 mark, has so often been massaged by soft runs in irrelevant circumstances, providing a statistical whitewash for the numerous occasions when everything has been at stake, and he has been nowhere to be seen - most recently, but far from exclusively, his twin failures in that fourth-Test humiliation at Headingley.

Today, however, Bell fronted up for his country when the need has rarely been greater: in an Ashes decider at the scene of his single greatest Test failure, no less. And while he himself baulked at the suggestion that atoning for his two ducks in the series decider in 2005 had been a significant motivating factor ("It doesn't make sense to look back, it's a different attack, and I'm a different player"), it's a safe bet that everyone at The Oval, fans and opponents included, were fully aware of that little notch in his statistics.

While the "how many" of his performance reads like yet another broken promise, the "how" gave notice of a steely side that has all too often been absent from his career. He had to struggle and survive, and for two determined sessions he did just that, only to succumb - to knowing tuts up and down the country - to a tentative prod to his first ball after the tea break.

"It was frustrating not to go on and get a hundred, but I was pretty pleased with the way I played," said Bell. "It was tricky at first, we had to graft it out and it was some ugly cricket at times, but that's what was needed early on. We had to fight hard, it didn't feel like the usual Oval wicket where sometimes, when you get in, it's a lovely place to bat. It was frustrating and pretty slow really."

An indication of the importance of Bell's innings came from the speed with which the innings unravelled once he was gone. Five wickets in the final session hauled Australia back to parity and more, and yet, in a point he felt justified in labouring, England do at least have 300 runs in the bank already, on a wicket that is puffing more dust than the shifting sands of the Kalahari.

For all the justifiable accusations of frivolity that fly Bell's way, he is a player who likes to graft with the best of them. One of his earliest Test hundreds, which also happened to be one of his best, came in Faisalabad on the 2005-06 tour of Pakistan, when he managed to make his fellow centurion Kevin Pietersen look a headstrong rookie cop. Then as now Bell withstood a ferocious early barrage (for Mitchell Johnson read Shoaib Akhtar), and emerged from the onslaught with his confidence and determination ramped up in equal measures.

A similar scenario panned out today. There was nowhere for Bell to hide when he came to the crease at 12 for 1 in the sixth over, having been promoted to No. 3 in the order where he has thrived for Warwickshire but shirked for England, averaging 31.00 in 16 previous Tests.

"No. 3 is something I've done for Warwickshire for a long time, and I've had a lot of success," he said. "I want to keep improving for England, and at the back of my mind it's a position I want to crack and make my own. But today is not about me and what I want to achieve, this is about the team. It's all about England, going out as a team, and putting in a great performance this week."

Nor was there an opportunity for Bell to slipstream a senior colleague (as was the case during his last finest innings for England, his 199 against South Africa at Lord's in 2008). If anything, the reverse was true. While Bell ducked and weaved to the whims of his nemesis Johnson, Strauss at the other end slid serenely to his half-century.

"I knew [the short balls] were something that was going to be thrown my way, and that Johnson would be on pretty quickly after I got to the crease," said Bell, who was dispatched by Johnson in both innings of the fourth Test. "But I've done a lot of work in the last week, certainly after Headingley, to find a method that works.

"At The Oval you know you're going to get more pace and bounce than in other parts of England, so sometimes when you do get short-pitched bowling it's not the worst thing in the world," he said. "After a while you start to get the pace of the wicket a little bit easier, and I don't think the short ball got many wickets today, it was more the length balls that did the damage."

Hindsight will be the only fair means of assessing an innings from Bell in which, for once, his returns were less than the sum of the efforts he put in, and to his credit, he accepts he has a few doubters still to win over. "It's going to take more than one innings to change people's opinions," he said. "It's a matter of doing that over a long period of time.

"But I've been working really hard on making sure that it's not just the easy runs I get, it's the hard runs, and making sure that when it counts, like this morning, you get in and see through the early sessions and the new ball. I'm pretty pleased with how I played, but if you're going to be hyper-critical, I think I need to go on and score hundreds. As a team we've only got one and that's not a good enough stat in this series."

 

[ac2000]

ela thread eka...

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Perseverance in Siddle pays off

It is no coincidence that Australia's Ashes resurgence has coincided with that of Peter Siddle. Thirteen wickets at 17.15 at Edgbaston, Headingley and The Oval have taken the Victorian pace man from a precarious position within the Australian attack to the leading wicket-taker in the series (20).

After Lord's, Siddle's place in the Australian line-up was a major discussion point, with many calling for the dependable Stuart Clark to take his place. Ricky Ponting and Tim Nielsen, however, argued otherwise, and their faith has been rewarded with a series of aggressive, relentless performances for which Siddle is fast growing a reputation.

His four wickets on Thursday owed much to persistence, and a little to fortune. Alastair Cook again proved susceptible to the ball angled across his body, pushing meekly at a delivery he might well have left, while Paul Collingwood chased a wider ball he will surely regret. Siddle's dismissals of Ian Bell and Graeme Swann were more authoritative affairs, however, and set Australia on course for a late day revival.

"I'm just happy to be able to go out there with how I started series, I was a little disappointed personally," Siddle said. "To now be back on track... and getting a bit of success [is satisfying]. I don't think I had to change natural aggression. I'm feeling comfortable now and more at ease in an Ashes series."

Siddle sent a scare through the Australian camp in the first session when he fell heavily in the field. He spent several minutes flexing his left knee, but bowled relatively unhindered for the remainder of the day.

"I don't know about the box seat, but pretty we're in good position, having been asked to bowl first and go out there on a decent wicket," he said. "To get eight wickets and they're 300, it's a pretty even day.

"It started off well with the new ball, carried through and plenty of pace. It soon flattened out and as the ball got older, it became deader and you had to work a bit harder. I don't know about them capitulating. They worked hard and after lunch we tried to be patient and we won every hour after lunch."

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

ela thread eka...

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

McCullum commits to Otago for Champions League

Brendon McCullum has confirmed that he will be playing for Otago Volts in the inaugural Champions League. The wicketkeeper-batsman also said that he was not interested in playing for New South Wales, after the Australian domestic team showed keen interest in using his services for the tournament to be played in India from October 8 to 23.

McCullum, who featured for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, was one of several players eligible to play for two sides in the upcoming Champions League, which features 12 domestic teams from across the globe. He helped the Australian side win the Twenty20 Big Bash final and also played a key role in Otago's successful run in the State Twenty20 title.

The Champions League council released a statement yesterday saying teams could list players who were eligible for more than one squad, and that it would be up to the player to decide where he would play.

"Yes, Brendon McCullum has elected to play for Otago in the Champions League. He made this decision about two weeks ago," Ross Dykes, the Otago Cricket Association chief executive, told Cricinfo. A Cricket New South Wales spokesman also said that McCullum had told chief executive Dave Gilbert that he would play for the New Zealand domestic team.

Under the Champions League tournament rules, New South Wales would have had to pay $US200,000 ($NZ298,000) to Otago for McCullum's services.

Otago had originally picked McCullum for the 19-member provisional squad for the tournament and Dykes said he always had been confident that he would play for them. Dykes confirmed that the squad which will be cut to 15 next month. "We will trim our squad to 15 on about September 12-15," he said.

Otago have been placed in group C in the Champions League, alongside IPL runners-up Royal Challengers Bangalore and Standard Bank Pro20 champions from South Africa, the Cape Cobras.

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Ryder and McCullum out with stomach bugs

New Zealand wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum and reserve keeper Jesse Ryder have been hit by a stomach bug and have returned to their hotel room at the start of the fourth day of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle today. Reece Young will keep wickets in the second innings.

Since Young was not part of the first Test squad, New Zealand had to ask Sri Lanka for permission to field him. David Currie, the New Zealand manager, said Sri Lanka had agreed to Young being fielded and hoped McCullum and Ryder would recover in time to bat in New Zealand's second innings.

New Zealand coach Andy Moles said Tim McIntosh would have been the team's third-choice keeper but he had also been hit by the stomach bug.

Of the seven players hit by the bug, Ryder and McCullum are worst affected. The others to be affected by the bug were Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Daniel Flynn, McIntosh and Chris Martin.

Currie said the stomach bug was not caused by the food the team consumed at the hotel.

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Depleted New Zealand battle for survival

There was no case of second-time-unlucky for Tillakaratne Dilshan, and a blazing century pushed a tummy-bug-hit New Zealand to the brink as the Galle Test entered its climactic phase. Having taken a 153-run lead, with Muttiah Muralitharan taking his 100th wicket in Galle, Sri Lanka piled on the misery either side of lunch, with stroke-filled cameos from Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera buttressing Dilshan's stunning effort. By tea, when the declaration came, the lead was 412 and with several batsmen ill, New Zealand's chances of survival were very much dependent on the weather.

But though it rained for nearly an hour after tea, their task was made harder as soon as play resumed, with Daniel Flynn - promoted to open as Tim McIntosh was indisposed - brilliantly caught an inch off the ground by Mahela. Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor, batting at No.3 for the first time, defended stoutly to prevent further damage, before bad light took the players off for the final time.

Sri Lanka had amassed 183 in the second session, and the tone was set in the very first over after the interval, as Sangakkara took three fours off Jacob Oram. At the other end, Dilshan eased to 50 from just 35 balls and greeted Jeetan Patel with a paddle sweep for four. To worsen Patel's mood, Reece Young, the substitute wicketkeeper, couldn't hold on when Dilshan opened the face and tried to run one down to third man. He was on 62 at the time, and New Zealand had plenty of time to reflect on the lapse.

With Sangakkara timing the ball so beautifully, the century partnership took just 113 balls, and it required a massive stroke of luck for New Zealand to break through. Dilshan drove one hard and low, and it just brushed Daniel Vettori's fingers before crashing into the stumps with Sangakkara a few inches short of his ground.

It was merely temporary respite though. Mahela announced himself with a meaty mow over square leg, and as the batsmen continued to pick the gaps with effortless ease, Vettori was forced into adopting a defensive line for both himself and Patel - spearing the ball into the leg-stump rough. Mahela continued to sweep, but Dilshan's scoring did stall as he did little more than pad the ball away.

Once Dilshan dusted off the sweep and started to attack, New Zealand ran out of options. Patel did finally get a wicket, as Mahela popped up a return catch, but Samaraweera buried any thoughts of celebration with two mighty leg-side swipes for six. He fell trying to repeat the feat against Vettori, and the stage was then set for Dilshan to get the hundred which eluded him in the first innings.

A single to mid-off got him there, and a fusillade of strokes followed. Prasanna Jayawardene chipped in with cuts behind point, heaves over cover and the odd edge, but it was Dilshan who ran the show, peppering the boundaries as the 50 partnership came up in just 41 balls. By then, most of the New Zealanders were looking as sick as Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder, both of whom had been taken ill.

It hadn't taken Sri Lanka's bowlers long to wrap up New Zealand's first innings. Murali had Iain O'Brien caught behind before Thilan Thushara came back to take his fourth wicket of the innings, bowling Vettori off the inside edge. Vettori's had been a desperate shot, but with the hapless Chris Martin at the other end, he really had no option but to go for the single off the last ball of the over.

It was desperation of another kind when Dilshan, who had clattered 92 from 72 balls in the first innings, arrived at the crease. Once again, New Zealand had no answer to his aggression, and O'Brien appeared stunned when he was hooked for six and then flayed for four through cover at the start of the innings.

Tharanga Paranavitana went, edging to slip, but with Sangakkara caressing gorgeous strokes through the covers, Dilshan was once again given the license to flirt with the boundaries of Test-match batting. Both O'Brien and Martin suffered as the ball was cut, square-driven and pulled ruthlessly each time it was even fractionally off length. The deluge that came after tea was nothing compared to what had gone before.

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Klusener cuts ties with ICL

Former South Africa allrounder Lance Klusener has cut ties with the rebel Indian Cricket League to embark on a coaching career. Kwa-Zulu Natal, his home province, have nominated him for the next level three coaching course to be held at CSA's High Performance Centre in Pretoria early next month.

"It is great to have Lance Klusener back in the [Cricket South Africa] fold," Gerald Majola, the CSA chief executive, said. "He rightfully gained legendary status as a South African allrounder, and helped change the face of limited-overs cricket worldwide.

"We are particularly impressed and pleased with his decision to become a top-level coach because he still has so much to offer in bringing through the next generation."

CSA coaching manager Anton Ferreira added that other former internationals will also be attending the course. Leading coaches including Graham Ford and Gary Kirsten have graduated from the same program.

"Others include Roger Telemachus, Paul Adams and Neil Johnson and it is very encouraging that we have cricketers of this quality coming into our coaching structures," Ferreira said. "Paul has already done a lot of specialist spin bowling coaching and he is showing tremendous promise as a quality coach."

Klusener, 38, enjoyed reasonable success with the Royal Bengal Tigers in the ICL, scoring 688 runs in 24 Twenty20 games at a strike rate of 127.64 and picked up 21 wickets. He signed up with the league in 2007, effectively ending all hopes of a recall to the national team. He last played for South Africa in 2004. His crowning moment came during the 1999 World Cup, where his savage hitting won him the Player of the Tournament award.

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

I'll decide if I want to continue opening - Dilshan

Tillakaratne Dilshan has said that he will review his experimental role as an opener and decide which batting position is better suited to him. Though he is accustomed to opening in the one-dayers, Sri Lanka had decided to promote him to the top of the order for the first time in the ongoing Galle Test, where he responded with typically aggressive knocks of 92 an unbeaten 123.

His first-innings assault came off just 72 balls, with 12 fours and a six. In the second, his brisk century - which came off 131 balls - was invaluable for scoring quick runs to enforce the declaration. New Zealand were set an improbable 413 to win after tea on the fourth day.

"This is just my first Test in this new role and I want to play a couple of Tests and decide which position is most comfortable for me," Dilshan said. "I have been batting at No. 6 for about 6-7 years in my career. As opener it's not easy in a Test.

"The decision to send me up the order was taken by the coach, the captain and the selectors who asked me to open to balance the side. I sacrificed my No. 6 position to open but still I have been given the option to go back to my former position if I want to."

Sri Lanka had omitted Malinda Warnapura for Muttiah Muralitharan, who didn't play in the Test series against Pakistan, and promoted Dilshan. He looked set for a hundred in the first innings but fell to a poor shot, chopping Iain O'Brien onto his stumps.

"I am very happy to get a hundred in the second innings having missed out on one in the first," Dilshan said. "The wicket is a bit slow but once you get a start it is a little bit easier to bat on."

Sri Lanka need a further nine wickets on the final day and Dilshan was confident of wrapping up the Test despite the poor weather.

"The pitch is already starting to turn. When [Daniel] Vettori bowled it turned and bounced and it was the same for Jeetan Patel. But they attacked a little bit on the leg side. If you bowl in the right areas, Murali can do the damage tomorrow morning. It's not easy to survive 98 overs tomorrow.

"We have a whole day tomorrow. We can't control the rain but we have to go hard in the first session and take 3-4 wickets before we grab the tailenders."

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Application and discipline the key - Moles

New Zealand face an enormous task as they try to save the first Test in Galle but their coach Andy Moles believes the pitch is still favourable for batting and his side has the wherewithal to combat Sri Lanka's impressive bowling attack. The hosts batted aggressively, scoring at well over four-an-over and Tillakaratne Dilshan led their charge, racing to an unbeaten 123. New Zealand finished the fourth day at 30 for 1 in pursuit of an imposing 413. Chasing down the target, however, was not the immediate focus in New Zealand's gameplan.

"We are just looking to save the Test match at this stage," Moles said. "If get to tea tomorrow we will be in a position to think about trying to win the game; obviously we are not going to turn down the opportunity. But realistically we've got to look to play the four wonderful bowlers Sri Lanka have got."

New Zealand's batting line-up tackled the Sri Lankan bowlers well for a good part of their innings on the third day but lost wickets at crucial times. Each of their top six batsmen got starts and Daniel Vettori resisted brilliantly down the order to help avoid the follow-on and reduce the deficit to 153.

"We showed a lot of application and discipline yesterday, especially the younger guys who are across here for the first time," Moles said. We need more of that tomorrow. It's a fantastic opportunity for us to save the Test match and go into the second Test with a lot of confidence especially with everybody feeling a lot better."

Moles took encouragement from the manner in which the wicket has played out, and though he felt the Sri Lankan bowlers would not be easy to negotiate, the batsmen still had plenty of assistance from the track, which has managed to hold together. "I am very confident that they can do it with application, discipline and character.

History says that these guys [Sri Lanka] are going to bowl very well on this wicket but yet it hasn't turned into a minefield. The covers coming on and off and the moisture that's been around have probably kept the wicket together as a surface. I believe that if we play well and show a lot of character then there is no reason why we can't bat out the day."

New Zealand, however, face a serious problem. Seven of their players have been hit by a stomach bug; Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder are the worst hit. The two returned to the team hotel at the start of the fourth day and the Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara allowed Reece Young, a substitute fielder, to keep wickets despite him not being a part of the squad for the first Test. The situation was so bad at one point that the bowling coach and the assistant coach were ready to go out and take the field, Moles said. He hoped a good night's rest would help them recover to fight it out on the fifth day.

"Of the 15 players who came down here only two players haven't gone down with the bug," Moles said. "It has been difficult obviously and in the field we have shown a lot of character under difficult circumstances. Obviously it is not the kind of performances what we expect but with the amount of discomfort the guys have got at the moment it is understandable but it's not an excuse. We got to get on with the Test match tomorrow and hopefully the other guys should come out of it during the night and they'll be fit enough to bat."

The toughest test for New Zealand, under such circumstances, was to deal with the difficult playing conditions with their physical health not being intact. "It's a bug that causes a bit of a temperature and a bit of a virus and it's going through very quickly," Moles said. You feel sorry for the players because not only are they trying to perform under difficult circumstances and conditions, some of the guys are in some kind of discomfort and in a little bit of pain. That is the difficult part. We are not worried whether the guys are bowling badly or fielding badly, it's the actual scene that's going out there.

"I've been really pleased with the character they've shown and under difficult circumstances they've gone out there and they've done their best although one or two have been in quite a lot of discomfort."

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Thushara leaves NZ in a hole

Sri Lanka 452 & 259/4d
New Zealand 299 & 125/5 (46.0 overs)
New Zealand require another 288 runs with 5 wickets remaining

Lunch - Day 5

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Play about to start for the 2nd session

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Sri Lanka 452 & 259/4d
New Zealand 299 & 125/5 (47 overs)

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Sri Lanka 452 & 259/4d
New Zealand 299 & 128/5 (48 overs)

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Voges recalled to Australia ODI squad

Middle-order batsman Adam Voges has been recalled to the Australian one-day squad for the Champions Trophy while David Hussey and Marcus North missed out.

Western Australia's Voges, played his only ODI for Australia in 2007. Earlier this month he scored his first hundred for Nottinghamshire in the County Championship where he is playing as an overseas player. He also aggregated 311 runs from eight one-day matches in Australia's domestic season last year.

Apart from Tim Paine, all members of Australia's one-day squad to play seven matches in England, are part of the Champions Trophy squad. The squad includes six fast bowlers - Nathan Bracken, Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus, Brett Lee, Peter Siddle and Shane Watson - and two frontline spinners Nathan Hauritz and Cameron White.

Though Michael Hussey's form in Tests has been below par - he has averaged just over 22 in the Ashes so far - his one-day performances have been consistent this year and the selectors have kept their faith in him. But his brother David was left out after averaging 21.87 from 16 one-day innings this year.

North was part of the squad that played Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in May but could not make a strong case for himself in the two chances he got - he scored only six.

Australia squad: Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Nathan Bracken, Callum Ferguson, Brad Haddin (wk) Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Peter Siddle, Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Cameron White.

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Sri Lanka 452 & 259/4d
New Zealand 299 & 130/5 (49 overs)

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Sri Lanka 452 & 259/4d
New Zealand 299 & 131/5 (50 overs)

 

[chandikagunawardhana]

Jesse Ryder out for 24