Sybrand Engelbrecht retires from international cricket

The Netherlands batter signed off with a spectacular save against Sri Lanka

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jun-2024Sybrand Engelbrecht has announced his retirement from international cricket. The 35-year-old South-Africa-born batter made his Netherlands debut in 2023, and played 12 ODIs and 12 T20Is.Related

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Netherlands’ defeat to Sri Lanka on Sunday night, which knocked them out of the T20 World Cup 2024, was Engelbrecht’s last international appearance. He marked the occasion with a spectacular boundary save that went viral on social media, racking up over a million views on Instagram reels.That effort was characteristic of a player known for his brilliance on the field – he first came to prominence in 2008 when he took a flying, two-handed screamer at backward point while playing for South Africa against Papua New Guinea in the Under-19 World Cup.

Engelbrecht retired from all cricket in 2016 to focus on his career in financial and project management, and he began playing cricket recreationally in the Netherlands after moving there in 2021. By 2023, he was in the Netherlands national squad, having been picked for the 2023 ODI World Cup in India.He has retired now at 35, having played exactly half his international cricket – eight of his 12 ODIs and four of his 12 T20Is – in World Cups. He finishes with 385 ODI runs at an average of 35.00, with two half-centuries, and 280 T20I runs at 31.11 and a strike rate of 132.70. He was Netherlands’ highest run-getter at this T20 World Cup, with 98 runs at 24.50 including 40 and 33 in close defeats to Full Members South Africa and Bangladesh.

South Africa's Theunis de Bruyn retires from international cricket

The 30-year-old played 13 Tests and two T20Is for South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Feb-2023South Africa batter Theunis de Bruyn has announced his retirement from international cricket, saying it is time to focus on ‘the next chapter’. The 30-year old, who made his South Africa debut in a T20I against Sri Lanka in January 2017, represented the country in 13 Tests and two T20Is.”I’ve been fortunate to represent my country at the highest level of cricket and that’s been the proudest moment of my career,” de Bruyn wrote in a statement released by his domestic team the Titans. “I’ve lived a childhood dream, shared dressing rooms with my heroes and played cricket at some of the world’s most iconic venues; and I can’t say thank you enough for the opportunities I’ve got through this game.”Looking back at everything that I’ve achieved, it is time I say goodbye to international cricket and focus on the next chapter. I’m excited for what the future has to offer and looking forward to chasing more dreams and ambitions in life.”De Bruyn scored one Test century in 25 innings — against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2018.His last appearance for South Africa came in the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the MCG last year, when he had scores of 12 and 28 as they suffered an innings defeat. He then flew home ahead of the third Test of the series for the birth of his first child.De Bruyn was a part of the Pretoria Capitals team that reached the final of the inaugural SA20 competition. With 238 runs, he finished as the team’s joint-second highest run-scorer in the tournament, behind Will Jacks and level with Phil Salt.

England opt against keeping Lions squad members on in Australia

James Bracey among those flying home despite fourth-innings hundred against Australia A

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Dec-2021England’s management have opted not to keep any of the 14-man Lions squad on with the Ashes squad in Australia, with the majority of the touring party flying home on Tuesday.The England Lions squad travelled to Australia in early November along with the members of the Ashes touring party that were not involved in the T20 World Cup in the UAE. They were due to shadow the main squad and provide opposition in internal warm-up games, but inclement weather limited their preparation to seven full sessions.During the first Ashes Test at the Gabba, the Lions played Australia A in a four-day fixture at Ian Healy Oval. They were heavily beaten after being bowled out for 103 in their first innings. Despite 113 from James Bracey and half-centuries for Ben Foakes and Josh Bohannon in the second innings, and 5 for 58 from Liam Norwell in the first, none of the squad have been kept on to provide cover for the Ashes squad.Four members of the team that played against Australia A will remain in the country. Dom Bess, the back-up spinner to Jack Leach in the main squad, was picked for the four-day game ahead of Matt Parkinson and Mason Crane – two of four Lions players not involved, along with Sam Cook and Jamie Smith – while Tom Abell (Brisbane Heat), Harry Brook (Hobart Hurricanes) and Saqib Mahmood (Sydney Thunder) are all involved in the BBL.Related

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Bracey, whose 113 off 295 balls marked a successful return to an England shirt – albeit a Lions one – after he struggled in his first two Tests against New Zealand in June and was promptly dropped, said that being kept on for the main tour had not been “at the forefront of our minds”, with three back-up batters (Jonny Bairstow, Zak Crawley and Dan Lawrence) already part of the Ashes squad.”It’s a big squad, the Ashes squad, and there’s a few batters waiting in the wings,” he told reporters in Brisbane. “It’s not been a huge thing at the forefront of our mind. But if it’s now, or in later years, it’s great to put a case forward in a Lions Test, and to get a hundred was really pleasing.”I’m going home with one more first-class hundred than I had going out. In a year with a lots of ups and downs I’ve really backed myself technique-wise. Where my head’s at is probably the big thing. There has been a lot to process, lots of stuff thrown at me.”That was my aim coming out on this tour, [to] put a few things I’ve been working on into practice and this last couple of days caps it off. I’m really pleased with how it’s gone and really happy with where my head is at currently. After what has happened it’s good for me to relax.”If I continue to put labels and targets on things and put everything on trying to get back in the Test team it wouldn’t be good for me or for my game. Obviously I have that desire… to play Test cricket again and hopefully that happens sooner rather than later, but if it doesn’t I’ll keep working and see where my career takes me.”

'Listen to your heart' – Mashrafe Mortaza's captaincy tip to Tamim Iqbal

Former ODI captain asks his successor to take the young match-winners in his team along with him on the ride

Mohammad Isam05-May-2020Mashrafe Mortaza has asked Tamim Iqbal to trust his “gut feeling” when he leads Bangladesh out to the field as their new ODI captain, but also told his junior colleague to be patient when it comes to dealing with the noise around the team.”You will hear a lot of advice as a captain – ‘do this, do that’; but as long as you listen to your heart, you will be able to sleep at night even if you lose,” Mashrafe told Tamim during a conversation on Facebook. “You will be unhappy if you had to do what other people told you. I have always believed in this.”I won’t tell you how to do your captaincy, but you should do what your heart desires. Of course, you will have Shakib [Al Hasan], Mushfiq [Rahim] and [Mahmudullah] Riyad around you, but if you listen to your gut feeling, you will be more successful.”ALSO READ: Life in the time of Mashrafe, by Tamim and MahmudullahMashrafe, who resigned from the ODI captaincy in February, asked Tamim to back the younger players like Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das and Mustafizur Rahman to move forward.”Bangladesh’s reality is a little different. You have to be patient. If you can make the players understand that you will do everything you can for them, they will give the best for you,” Mashrafe said. “As long as I am confident in your ability, it doesn’t matter what others are saying. You have match-winners in Soumya, Liton and Mustafiz, so if something is being said about them, you have to handle it.”Everyone had a lot to say about Shakib batting at No. 3 in the [2019 50-over] World Cup. Shakib was confident that he could handle the pressure. My point of view was that if he failed in two matches, nobody would be more concerned than Shakib. He knows how to handle the pressure. I backed him fully because I felt he would have maximum impact at No. 3.”Shakib had a standout tournament, hitting 606 runs in eight innings, with two hundreds and five fifties, scoring at an average of 86.57 and a strike rate of 96.03. Bangladesh, however, couldn’t get into the final four.As such, while Tamim has been a senior player in the Bangladesh side for long, he has been a bit of a reluctant captain, taking charge only in one Test and three ODIs over the years. But Mashrafe suggested that Tamim’s leadership role off the field would be useful for him in his new position.”I never really supported your view of being reluctant about captaincy. Why wouldn’t you be the captain? You already have leadership qualities,” Mashrafe said. “The BCB will give you the captaincy for a long time, but that’s up to them. You have to accept it properly.”You didn’t accept it properly in Sri Lanka [when he led in ODIs last July] but seeing you now, I feel you are on the right track. Bangladesh cricket will take the next step very soon.”

Bowlers set England up for resounding T20I win over Sri Lanka women

Freya Davies takes wickets on debut as Anya Shrubsole, Tammy Beaumont pass milestones

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Mar-2019Another strong performance by England’s bowlers carried their side to a resounding victory in the first women’s T20I against Sri Lanka in Colombo.Just as they had in Katunayake to set themselves up for a 3-0 sweep of the ODI series on Thursday, England’s bowling attack, this time led by Linsey Smith’s 3 for 18, restricted Sri Lanka to a total of 94. Tammy Beaumont’s unbeaten half-century meant the visitors made light work of the chase, reaching 95 for 2 to win by eight wickets with 34 balls to spare.There were landmarks aplenty as debutant Freya Davies and Anya Shrubsole claimed two wickets apiece with only three of Sri Lanka’s batsmen reaching double figures and none of them passing 20. Shrubsole’s 2 for 20 allowed her to overtake good friend Danielle Hazell as England’s leading T20 wicket-taker with 86 wickets at an average of 13.96.It was Beaumont’s second fifty in as matches for England after her 63 in the last ODI against Sri Lanka. Her latest score took her past 1000 T20I runs, making her the fifth English woman to achieve the milestone.”It’s not something you really think about,” Beaumont said of passing the 1000-run mark. “My dad told me the other night how many I needed to get and I forgot when I was out there. For me it’s all about trying to perform for the team and it’s nice to get an accolade like that but more important to go one-nil up early on and put in a good team performance.”The win was England’s eighth in a row since losing their first to ODIs on the tour of India last month and a streak Beaumont was keen to see continue.”Winning is a habit and that’s what were trying to do here,” she said. “Two more games to go here and then a very busy summer of cricket and we’ll try to take that into the Ashes and then the West Indies.”Fast bowler Davies described standing at the top of her mark before bowling in her first match in an England shirt with her parents looking on as “a mixture of fear and excitement”.”It was really exciting to get out there with the girls today and get that win,” Davies said. “It’s a day you look forward to for so long, so reality was strange but really exciting.”It’s nice to have mum and dad here. They’d have been devastated if they’d missed it and it’s always good to get a couple of wickets and get some of the nerves under control a little bit, but just happy that we came out and got a win to go one-nil up in the series.”England lead the three-match series 1-0, with the remaining two matches to be played in Colombo on Tuesday and Thursday.

Rayudu handed two-match ban over Karnataka T20 reaction

The Hyderabad captain was involved in an argument with the umpires following his side’s match against Karnataka in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy earlier this month, after their target had been revised mid-innings

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jan-2018Hyderabad captain Ambati Rayudu has been suspended for the two games in the Vijay Hazare 50-overs tournament after he was found to be guilty of breaching the BCCI code of conduct during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.Rayudu was involved in an argument with the umpires during the Hyderabad-Karnataka match earlier this month after two runs were added to Karnataka’s total at the end of their innings due to a revised boundary call. With Hyderabad eventually falling two runs short in their chase, the team, under Rayudu, stayed back in the middle and urged the umpires to commence the Super Over. Their contention was that they were batting with the target of 204 in mind, before two more runs were added to revise it to 206. The ensuing agreement about the Super Over delayed the start of the next game between Kerala and Andhra. That match was eventually shortened to 13-overs-a side due to the delay.Since Rayudu admitted to the charge levelled by the on-field umpires Abhijit Deshmukh, Ulhas Vithalrao Gandhe and third umpire Anil Dandekar, and accepted the sanction, there was no need for a formal hearing. He had said at the time that his intention wasn’t to delay the start of the next game. “There was some confusion in the middle at the start of our innings,” Rayudu had told reporters after the match. “What I went and told the umpire was ‘sir you cannot change the score, we are batting for 204 as our target’. That is exactly what I told him and he told me ‘we’ll see it at the end, let the match start’. [Karnataka captain] Vinay Kumar had stopped for nine minutes before the second innings. They had no business to stop the match once the target was declared. Then what we said was we were playing for 204, and that was my exact words.”At the end, we went and asked to start the Super Over. That is exactly our point of contention. We never even thought of stopping the second match. That has got nothing to do with us. We were saying that our match was not complete, we still have to play the Super Over. That is exactly why we went to the middle, we were actually going to warm-up then.”The BCCI is also looking into the role of the Hyderabad team manager in the incident.Rayudu has faced code-of-conduct issues previously. In the 2012 edition of the IPL, he was fined 100% of his match fee for using abusive, obscene language towards Harshal Patel of Royal Challengers Bangalore. He was also involved in a tiff with Mumbai Indians team-mate Harbhajan Singh in 2016.

Khulna Titans survive late Prasanna blitz

Seekkuge Prasanna almost lifted Dhaka Dynamites to an improbable victory with a six-hitting spree in the last overs of their match against Khulna Titans

Mohammad Isam19-Nov-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDwayne Bravo picked up two wickets but fell at a crucial juncture of Dhaka Dynamites’ chase for 4•BCB

Khulna Titans survived Seekkuge Prasanna’s six-hitting spree to beat Dhaka Dynamites by nine runs in Chittagong. Khulna moved to eight points and joined Rangpur Riders and Dhaka at the top of the table.Dhaka would have rued the five dropped catches in the field that made the difference although Prasanna nearly took the side to an improbable victory from a score of 83 for 7 in the 14th over. At that stage, the side had lost in-form batsman Mosaddek Hossain.With Dhaka needing another 75 runs, Prasanna started by smacking Mosharraf Hossain high over long-on in the 14th over, before hitting three more off Kevon Cooper in the 16th over. He struck Shafiul for another six over long-off before Mosharraf was hammered for two successive sixes at the start of the 18th over.Though Sunzamul Islam fell in the same over, Dhaka were still in the game with 15 needed off the last two overs. Prasanna, who had reached 50 off 18 balls, was dropped by Andre Fletcher in the penultimate over before Suhrawardi Shuvo was the ninth batsman dismissed.With ten needed off the final over, Prasanna struck the first ball down Ariful Haque’s throat at long-off, ending the drama that he had helped created. He was dismissed for 53 off 22 balls, including seven sixes.Dhaka’s start to the chase had been poor after both in-form openers, Mehedi Maruf and Kumar Sangakkara, fell within 2.1 overs. Nasir Hossain was caught at short third-man through a late cut off Cooper, while Matt Coles failed to do justice to his promotion to No 3, falling for 11 in the sixth over.Shakib Al Hasan made just 8 while Dwayne Bravo holed out at deep extra cover attempting an inside-out hit off left-arm spinner Taibur Rahman, having made 4. Mosaddek, who made 35 off 28 balls, tried to keep Dhaka abreast with the required run rate, striking two sixes off Shuvagata Hom in the eighth over and two fours off Ariful Haque in the ninth over. In his quest for quick runs, however, Mosaddek was caught at long-on in the 14th over.When Khulna batted first after winning the toss, they took advantage of Dhaka’s poor catching to post a competitive 157 for 5. Fletcher was dropped twice during his 16-ball 20, both times at long-on by Mosaddek Hossain and Nasir Hossain on 2 and 9 respectively, although Nasir’s was a tougher chance.Then, Mosaddek, at point, and Sunzamul Islam, at deep midwicket, dropped simple chances offered by Mahmudullah on 34 and 36 respectively. Matt Coles also dropped a straight-forward chance at long-off in the final over, off Kevon Cooper’s drive. Mahmudullah went on to top score with 62 off 46 balls with the help of four sixes.

Magical Herath spins Sri Lanka to innings win

Rangana Herath picked up his fifth 10-wicket match haul in Tests as Sri Lanka wrapped up victory by an innings and six runs inside the second session of day four

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy17-Oct-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:44

Arnold: Blackwood showed temperament and positive attitude

Rangana Herath picked up his fifth 10-wicket match haul in Tests as Sri Lanka wrapped up victory by an innings and six runs inside the second session of day four. West Indies, who began the day two down for 67, lost eight wickets on the fourth day for the addition of 160 runs, and as in the first innings, a number of their batsmen failed to capitalise on starts. Their only consolation came from Jermaine Blackwood, who added a fleet-footed 92 to a string of eye-catching recent performances that have marked him out as a definite investment for the future.Three of Herath’s five ten-fors have now come in Galle. Perhaps no one has understood this surface as well as him. Even Muttiah Muralitharan, who ended his career with a staggering 22 ten-fors, achieved the feat four times here.The pitch for this match was slow even by Galle’s standards, and none of the other spinners from both sides found a way to remain a wicket-taking threat. By attacking the stumps relentlessly and giving the batsmen no breathing space, Herath made every ball count – every subtle variation of pace and trajectory. Batsmen were in trouble nearly every time they went forward instead of back or back instead of forward, or played for turn when there was none.West Indies began the fourth day two down, facing a deficit of 166. Perhaps they may have given themselves hope by imagining a scenario where their nightwatchman Devendra Bishoo hung around long enough to irritate the Sri Lankans while one or two of their specialist batsmen made hundreds. As early as the fifth over of the morning, Herath knocked those visions out of their heads.First, he sent back Bishoo, who nicked an attempted square-cut to slip. In came Marlon Samuels, and out he went first ball, but not before calling for one of the most needless reviews in the history of the DRS. Staying on the back foot to a ball from Herath he should have been on the front foot to, Samuels shouldered arms. The ball slid in with the angle and pinged his back pad. Maybe Samuels believed the ball had struck him slightly outside the line – even then, he was offering no shot. In the event, it had struck him in line with off stump, and was destined to hit middle stump, three-fourths of the way up.Nuwan Pradeep who had a mixed Test, was cranking up good pace and bowling a few good balls and a lot of poor ones. In the eighth over of the morning, he bowled his best ball of the match. Going around the wicket, he hit a good length in the corridor and got the ball to straighten a touch. Darren Bravo, pushing half-forward to defend, could only edge it to the keeper.Though Sri Lanka took four key wickets in the session, they showed evidence of a troubling over-reliance on Herath, with their back-up spinners leaking runs to Jermaine Blackwood and Denesh Ramdin when the left-arm spinner left the field briefly. But the West Indies batsmen did not show the greatest appreciation of which balls to go after, and failed to make that over-reliance hurt Sri Lanka in any way.Towards the end of day three, Kraigg Brathwaite and Darren Bravo had capitalised on Herath’s absence to take 39 runs from 11 overs bowled by Pradeep, Milinda Siriwardana and Tharindu Kaushal. Now, Siriwardana and Kaushal bowled a series of full-tosses and short balls to concede four fours in two overs to Ramdin and Blackwood.Blackwood, looking in smooth touch, continued batting with freedom over the next few overs, using his feet to get down the track to launch Kaushal over mid-on for six and drive Siriwardana inside-out for four.But just when the partnership was giving West Indies the merest glimmer of hope, Ramdin drove loosely at Siriwardana and nicked to second slip. Blackwood almost followed Ramdin to the dressing room in Siriwardana’s next over, edging him while trying to make room and drive despite not getting to the pitch of the ball. But Angelo Mathews, who was uncharacteristically generous at slip in this Test match, spilled the deflection off Kusal Perera’s glove.Blackwood survived through to lunch, and reached his half-century soon after. Jason Holder hung around long enough to add 36 with him for the seventh wicket before he was run out in slightly unfortunate circumstances. Stepping out to whip Herath into the leg side, he played across the ball which deflected off his pad to Mathews at slip. Spotting Holder out of his crease, he threw down the stumps direct.Herath then removed Kemar Roach in a replay of his first-innings dismissal. An enticingly loopy delivery, dropping just short of the batsman’s reach, a big heave and miss, and an alert Kusal Perera whipping the bails off with the batsman’s back toe on the line. When Dhammika Prasad trapped Jerome Taylor with a full, straight ball in the next over, West Indies were nine down, with 44 still to get to avoid innings defeat.Blackwood had only one option left – farm the strike and try to get West Indies as close as possible. Out came the dancing footwork, and he hit Herath for two fours and two sixes, all down the ground, in the space of nine balls. Rattled for once, Herath sent down a short ball, and Blackwood flat-batted it to the cover boundary.He could only do so much all by himself, though. Batting on 92 with all nine fielders on the boundary, he ran down the track to the third ball of Prasad’s over, and only managed to pick out deep extra cover. Perhaps he could have waited a couple of balls, for the field to come in and try to keep him on strike. It would have only delayed the inevitable.

Gurinder Sandhu surprise winner of Steve Waugh Medal

Gurinder Sandhu’s rapid emergence as a pace bowler of substance has been underlined by his surprise plucking of the Steve Waugh Medal as the best New South Wales cricketer for 2012-13

Daniel Brettig28-Mar-2013Gurinder Sandhu’s rapid emergence as a pace bowler of substance has been underlined by his surprise plucking of the Steve Waugh Medal as the best New South Wales cricketer for 2012-13. Despite playing only two Sheffield Shield matches and four domestic limited-overs fixtures, 19-year-old Sandhu’s 146 votes allowed him to edge Brad Haddin (143) and Trent Copeland (133) in the awards presentation at Doltone House in Sydney.A fringe member of the squad at the start of the summer after playing for Australia at the 2012 Under-19 World Cup, Sandhu’s bouncing fast medium was first glimpsed when he played for the Sydney Thunder during the Big Bash League. He subsequently earned one-day and Shield call-ups in the latter part of the summer, and swiftly made a striking impact.In those two Shield games Sandhu collected 14 wickets, helping NSW to two outright wins that left them only narrowly short of qualifying for the competition final. In his limited-overs appearances he fared well too, also claiming 14 wickets to win the domestic one-day award. The Shield award was claimed by Copeland.Sandhu’s summer was also marked by representative duty for the Prime Minister’s XI and the Australia A side that faced the England Lions, affording him a glimpse of higher honours that are sure to follow in time if he can maintain the cracking pace he set this season.While Sandhu’s success was a welcome reminder of the strong pace bowling stock presently available in NSW and Australia, it also reflected a season in which the Blues were barely sustained by a series of cameo performances across their squad.Haddin enjoyed a fruitful season that culminated in his Test recall in India, making 468 runs at 52 with two centuries across seven matches in the Shield while claiming 19 catches and a trio of stumpings. Copeland also contributed consistently, nipping out 30 wickets at 26.86 and compiling his first Shield century against Tasmania.Victoria and South Australia have also named their players of the season in end-of-year ceremonies. Chris Rogers took home his second Bill Lawry Medal as the Bushrangers’ most accomplished cricketer in 2012-13, his 742 runs at 49.46 and three centuries vindicating the state’s decision to re-sign the 35-year-old in the winter.Chadd Sayers was named South Australia’s cricketer of the year, winning both the Neil Dansie Medal as most valuable player and the Lord Hampden Trophy as best first-class performer for his prolific bowling feats in the Shield. Sayers, 25, reaped 48 wickets in nine matches and played a large part in making the Redbacks competitive again after some dismal recent summers at first-class level.

Good that we aren't depending on favours – Jayawardene

Mahela Jayawardene is confident Sri Lanka can take plenty of positives from the tri-series even if they fail to beat Australia at the MCG and qualify for the finals

Brydon Coverdale in Melbourne01-Mar-2012Mahela Jayawardene is confident Sri Lanka can take plenty of positives from the tri-series even if they fail to beat Australia at the MCG and qualify for the finals. However, the Sri Lankans have by no means given up on the tournament, despite a loss to India in Hobart that could have left them demoralised.In his first series back in the captaincy, Jayawardene has the chance to guide Sri Lanka in to the best-of-three finals against Australia. To get there, they need either to beat Australia or share the points through a tie or an abandoned match, and while there will be showers in Melbourne on Friday it is unlikely there will be enough to force a wash-out.Jayawardene said the loss on Tuesday, when India picked up a bonus point and stayed in contention by chasing 321 within 37 overs, was less a result of poor Sri Lankan bowling than wonderful Indian batting, which was a good sign for his side. And with two wins from their last two games against Australia, Sri Lanka have a strong chance to progress.”Going in to the last game it’s in our control, what we need to do,” Jayawardene said. “It’s a good position for us to be, rather than depending on someone else to do some favours for us.”From where we started on this tour, I think we’ve improved as a team and maintained a consistency. That’s very important for us going forward. Whatever happens tomorrow we will definitely get a lot of positives out of this. Our challenge will be to try and keep this consistency going, because if we play the way we’re playing now … we’ll win more matches than we lose. We’re quite happy with that.”One of the most impressive aspects of Sri Lanka’s series is that it has not just been the veterans who have stood up, although Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara were the centurions in the last match. Dinesh Chandimal has continued to develop as a dangerous middle-order batsman and Thisara Perera, 22, is second only to Lasith Malinga on Sri Lanka’s wicket tally, which pleased Jayawardene.”Going forward we’ve always wanted to have two or three allrounders in a team,” he said. “These guys are taking responsibility. Angelo [Mathews] in the long run will probably be more of a batting allrounder than a bowling allrounder. We’d like Thisara to be more of a bowling allrounder so it fits in well.”Plus [Farveez] Maharoof is a guy who can bat as well and he’s bowling pretty well, he just needs to have a bit more confidence in his batting. All these three guys will be good options for us going forward. We just need a couple of spinning allrounders to come through and we’ll have a really good balanced team.”Sri Lanka won’t have Maharoof for Friday’s game, however, after he suffered from lower back pain during the Hobart loss. His absence was a factor in Sri Lanka failing to defend their big total and Jayawardene said, while Virat Kohli had taken the match away from Sri Lanka, there were things his bowlers could learn from the experience.”The [fast-bowling] guys did go to their strength, which is yorkers and stuff like that, but I think they [Indian batsmen] handled that pretty well,” he said. “We didn’t try too many things, that was probably due to the way the Indians were batting as well … we probably just went with the momentum rather than trying to change it in the middle.”Those are areas in which we can improve as a team … bowlers taking a bit more time and maybe having a bit more of a plan about what they want to do. Even if it’s something out of the box, something totally different, there’s no harm in trying something like that – which we didn’t do. That’s something we’ve spoken about with the bowlers because you have to expect these kind of situations in the future, we have to be prepared. Every game is a learning curve for everyone.”

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