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Graeme Smith has credited India for bouncing back and levelling the series, retaining the No. 1 Test team crown in the process, but he also praised his team for keeping the hosts waiting till almost the last minute.”The game could have been easily over just after tea [on the first day] going by where we were sitting,” Smith said. “If anything, we created pressure on India. In this series, they had everything to lose and we had everything to gain. So we have come up with our heads above the water in terms of what we have achieved.”However, Smith could not deny the fact that Thursday’s result hurt South Africa, who once again came so close to winning a series in India for the second consecutive time as the home team escaped to series-levelling victory again in the final Test. Hashim Amla and Ashwell Prince started the final day confidently but once Prince fell to a rare rush of blood just before lunch, the onus was solely on Amla to carry on the visitors’ resistance. Wayne Parnell and Morne Morkel understood that all they needed to do was follow Amla’s orders and they took the fight till the end.”I think the grit and determination was there the whole day,” Smith said. “The fact is we needed to come out and bat on a fifth-day wicket to save the Test match. Hashim is the glue who held it all together and we managed to find some guys to bat around him. Especially guys like Wayne and Morne, who got stuck in facing 50 to 60 balls, which is a terrific effort from a tailender under these conditions.”Smith felt the team had shown their will after the collapse after tea on the first day. Seven South African wickets fell from a position of 228 for 2 at the end of the second session; after the 100-plus partnership between Amla and debutant Alviro Petersen, the batting succumbed to pressure and good bowling.”We just let ourselves down in the last session [on the first day] and gave India the advantage, which they took with both hands,” Smith said. “We know that in the subcontinent it is very difficult to play catch-up cricket. Once we gave them the upper hand, they really drove the bus through the door.”Comparing the two Tests, Smith felt South Africa lacked precision in Kolkata, as opposed to the clinical victory in Nagpur. “We were not precise enough in our first innings with bat and ball. We dropped a few chances and we never really bowled in the right areas like we did in Nagpur.”Four catches and a stumping were missed during the Indian innings, resulting in four centuries from Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni. It was also surprising to see the waywardness of Dale Steyn, Morkel, Parnell and Paul Harris after their accuracy in the first Test. “They [India] scored at a high rate, which we weren’t able to control with the ball, which probably was disappointing as well,” Smith said. “We started the Test in a really solid way. At tea [on the first day], we were sitting really pretty. Then we just go into a situation where we lost two in-batters [Petersen and Jacques Kallis].”Smith added the failure of rest of the middle order hurt the team’s chances. “The guys coming in were lacking in confidence and suddenly wickets fell in a chunk and the pressure was created as it was the case with India in Nagpur where we were able to create pressure on them with the reverse swinging ball,” he said.He also confessed that the presence of Mark Boucher, sitting out with to a back injury, could have helped them take control of the situation. “Maybe, that is where we lacked someone with experience, someone like Mark [Boucher], who has played a huge amount of Test cricket,” Smith said. “We just never had anyone who could stop the momentum that India gained in that last period. There were nine balls left but 20 minutes of play [as well]. The way India were getting through the overs we probably would have got another three or four overs after that.”Smith is returning home tonight, after being ruled out of the ODI series with a finger injury sustained on the eve of the second Test. Even if South Africa are likely to feel his absence, Smith had a positive message for his team. “The fact that we have been able to come and draw in India is a credit to in itself. If you look at recent stats and recent records of teams that have come here, not many teams have been able to push India like we have been able to push them in these conditions. So that is a positive for us and the credit to our character.”

Sudeep Tyagi, the Uttar Pradesh fast bowler, has been included in the squad for the two-Test series in Bangladesh. Tyagi, who made his Twenty20 and ODI debuts against Sri Lanka in December, is one of four fast bowlers in the 16-man squad, which had no major changes from the team that beat Sri Lanka 2-0 recently.Dinesh Karthik made the cut as a reserve wicketkeeper, while Tamil Nadu batsman M Vijay was drafted in as a reserve opener. The list also included three spinners in Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra.Sachin Tendulkar, who was rested from the ongoing tri-nation tournament in Bangladesh, will return to action for the two matches to be held in Chittagong (from January 17-21) and Mirpur (January 24-28). Tamil Nadu middle-order batsman S Badrinath, who featured in the Test squad against Sri Lanka, was omitted for the tour.Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag (vice-capt), Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sudeep Tyagi.

Scorecard
Mumbai were pushed to the brink by Haryana’s seamers but fought back admirably, thanks to Ajinkya Rahane and Ajit Agarkar who took them to 238 for 5 at stumps on the first day in Rohtak. Mumbai’s decision to bat first seemed to have backfired when Joginder Sharma and Sanjay Budhwar reduced them to 17 for 2. Wasim Jaffer briefly resisted before Sachin Rana broke Mumbai’s backbone, picking up wickets off successive deliveries. Life came a full circle for Rohit Sharma, who followed his majestic triple-hundred in the last league game with a first-ball duck. Mumbai seemed down and out, but Rahane and Agarkar counter-punched with a 174-run stand in 58.1 overs. Agarkar cracked nine fours and a six before Rana made him his third scalp of the day. Rahane however stood firm, carrying on after reaching a well-deserved century, including 14 fours. Ramesh Powar gave him resolute company, blocking out 29 deliveries without scoring.
Scorecard
Tamil Nadu’s batsmen gave them the early ascendancy against Delhi at the Palam A Ground. The hosts’ decision to field first was countered admirably by openers Abhinav Mukund and Murali Vijay who both made fifties and put on a century partnership. Vijay was the first to fall, dismissed by Mithun Manhas after striking nine fours during his 51. Arun Karthik, who came in at one-drop, took over the mantle from his captain and guided his side’s progress through the day. Mukund was sent back by Vikas Mishra after the visitors crossed 150. S Badrinath’s aggressive innings was nipped in the bud before Srikkanth Anirudha continued the good work with Karthik. The latter’s wicket in the closing stages gave the hosts some consolation but they still have a long way to go, given the good form of the Tamil Nadu lower order.Assam 17 for 1 (Gupta 1-1) v Uttar Pradesh 213 (Kaif 56, Konwar 5-79)
Scorecard
Offspinner Arlen Konwar continued his dream-run at this year’s Ranji trophy, picking up 5 for 79 as Assam held sway against Uttar Pradesh in Guwahati. The visitors’ decision to bat first was initially vindicated by their top-order with the first two wickets adding 96 runs. Shivakant Shukla provided the early impetus with a stroke-filled 47 before Mohammad Kaif anchored proceedings with a sedate half-century. Konwar however, changed the complexion of the game completely with his fine spell. He signaled his intentions early in his spell, getting rid of Tanmay Srivastava and Shukla to spoil the good work done by the top-order before coming back to dismiss Parvinder Gupta and trigger a massive middle-order collapse from which the visitors never recovered. Sairaj Bahutule got rid of Kaif and the tail, leaving Amir Khan stranded on 23. Dheeraj Jadhav injured himself on the field and did not come out to open Assam’s innings which faced an early setback when Amit Sinha fell with stumps in sight.

ScorecardDoug Bollinger finished with 3 for 33•Getty Images

Stuart Clark’s first day of first-class captaincy couldn’t have gone much better as New South Wales dominated Western Australia despite some fireworks from the debutant Mitchell Marsh. At stumps on the opening day the Blues had already claimed first-innings points and had extended their lead to 37 after some dismal batting from the Warriors.The 18-year-old Marsh was one of only three Western Australia batsmen to reach double figures and he finished unbeaten on 59 from 70 balls. Wes Robinson (22) and Luke Ronchi (17) were the only other Warriors batsmen to make it past ten as the Blues capitalised on Clark’s decision to bowl first.Clark picked up two victims but the best figures belonged to Doug Bollinger, who was rushed to Perth to help his state despite being officially the 12th man in the Gabba Test. He finished with 3 for 33 and his analysis would have been even better had he not overstepped six times in ten overs.In reply, Phillip Hughes started to find some touch with 58 from 65 deliveries and Western Australia’s 131 looked woefully inadequate as Hughes and Phil Jaques (28) built a 77-run opening stand. Usman Khawaja chipped in with 39 and at the close of play the Blues were 4 for 168 with Daniel Smith on 22 and Moises Henriques on 11.Brad Knowles had 2 for 63 for the Warriors but their task was made even harder by injuries to two key bowlers. Ashley Noffke (ankle) and Brett Dorey (Achilles tendon) were both ruled out of the side having failed to recover in time despite resting from Wednesday’s FR Cup match.

When America’s most talented players begin play in Fort Lauderdale on Friday for the USA Cricket Association (USACA) National Championship, each one will be full of hope about their team’s chances of walking away with the title. They’ll also be desperate to impress selectors at the grounds each day because the tournament is also acting as trials for the USA national squad to compete in February’s World Twenty20 Qualifier in Dubai and the World Cricket League (WCL) Division Five in Nepal.While attention will obviously focus on the players, the administration will be under equal scrutiny. This is a crucial moment in the Don Lockerbie era. It will be the first senior squad picked since he came on board this year as USACA’s chief executive. He may not have a direct hand in selecting the teams, but the players chosen will be responsible for helping to achieve Lockerbie’s vision of Project 15. This involves USA becoming a top 15 team by 2015 as well as qualifying for the 2015 World Cup.To achieve this goal it is necessary to blood homegrown players, who can get valuable experience and grow with the team for the next six years. However, the temptation to persist with expat heroes instead remains and continues to hamper the development of cricket in this country. Old habits die hard and old players who are entrenched in the team are even harder to cast aside.As was recently reported, Sudesh Dhaniram was chosen for the New York team that is playing in Florida. Dhaniram, a former Guyana player, is 42-years-old and played for USA in their last international outing a year ago in the ICC Americas Division One in Florida. The player he replaced, 21-year-old Andre Kirton, came up through the New York Under-19 program and represented the USA at the U-19 World Cup in 2006.Make no mistake, Dhaniram is a good player. He scored a blistering century in his local New Jersey 40-over league final last month and has a big reputation in the New York metro area. But Greg Matthews is still taking wickets in the Sydney grade competition too – it doesn’t mean he should be playing for New South Wales, let alone Australia.While it was exciting to see nine U-19 players in the list of 40 probables included in this weekend’s trials, it was alarming to 43 year-old Nasir Javed included at the expense of 19 year-old leg-spinner Saqib Saleem. Saleem was USA’s leading wicket-taker at the U-19 World Cup Qualifier in Toronto with 17 in 7 games including a five-for against tournament champion Ireland. He was left out despite eight of his other USA U-19 team-mates getting an invite.A glance at the 2006 U-19 World Cup rosters, the first time USA played in the event, reveals a slew of players who have gone on to represent full-member nations at the senior level. Wayne Parnell, Tim Southee, Martin Guptill, Kieron Pollard, Kemar Roach, Andre Fletcher, David Warner and Moises Henriques all featured in teams that USA played against in the tournament. By giving them an opportunity at the highest level each country demonstrated a continued commitment to development.Namibia, an associate level team which USA beat in the Plate competition that year, has had at least eight players from that squad go on to play at senior level. USA has had one, Akeem Dodson, who wasn’t even included in the list of 40 for this year’s trials.Even more disconcerting is the fact that the 22-year-old Dodson spent this summer playing league cricket in England, something that was supposed to enhance his resume. Discussions are often held in local circles that something should be organized to give young American players scholarships to send them overseas for a summer in England or a semester in Australia in order to get proper training and experience that is typically not available in the US. Dodson pursued this and his efforts have been ignored.On a broader scale, not engaging in development and failing to provide consistent opportunities to youth can cost USA financially. Lockerbie has been aggressively seeking a commercial sponsorship for USA since the summer. It is believed that one may be finalized and signed before the end of the year.In sports, sponsors most often seek out young, rising talent because it provides an opportunity to establish a relationship with an athlete that can last an entire career. If Lockerbie’s aim is to get a solid deal with a company to help fund US cricket, that company wants to see fresh faces. When players like Dodson, Kirton, Saleem, Ryan Corns and Ravi Timbawala get opportunities to play, it will demonstrate that USA is committed to developing cricket. In turn, companies will want to develop a relationship with cricket in the US because players like them offer the possibility of a very good return on their investment.Many companies would love to take an active and pioneering role in raising the profile of any sport in the country if they saw it had a future with young, vibrant athletes who have come up through a youth system. But it’s hard to see how any company can get excited about shelling out big bucks to represent a team full of guys that are pushing 40.Most importantly, USA’s team needs time to develop on the field. Lockerbie has often told the current U-19 team that they are the future of cricket in the country, that they will be 24 or 25 when by 2015, and that he hopes they will become the first crop of professional cricketers for the USA.If his projected future comes to fruition, USA will be competing in the World Cup that year. Many of the players from the U-19 team that will compete in New Zealand this January could form the nucleus of the senior squad in six years. But they need opportunities to play. It makes no sense to build a squad for 2015 on players who will be approaching their 40s and 50s by then.The onus will be on the selectors this weekend to choose a group of players that will give USA a strong chance of succeeding in February while also establishing a foundation and a development path for Lockerbie’s destination date of 2015 and beyond. By sticking with older players, project 15 could expire by 2010.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
The stand-out feature of David Warner’s innings was the penchant for hitting straight on a pitch with low bounce•Global Cricket Ventures-BCCI

There was no nerve-jangling, last-ball finish today, like there was when New South Wales pipped Victoria twice to win last season’s Big Bash. Instead, the Australian champions delivered a clinical performance on a difficult Feroz Shah Kotla pitch, one that ensured the first semi-final of the Champions League was one of the most one-sided matches of the tournament.On the same pitch where fewer than 200 runs were scored in the match between Delhi Daredevils and Cape Cobras a day ago, the NSW openers David Warner and Phillip Hughes provided a powerful start, which allowed them to post 169, far more than the 110 Victoria captain Cameron White had hoped to limit them to. A tough chase became virtually impossible when offspinner Nathan Hauritz, who was given the second over, struck twice in three deliveries, getting rid of Victoria’s openers.The build-up to the highly anticipated contest between the Australian sides centered around how difficult the track would be for power-hitting and, when Hughes was struck on the arm by a bouncer from Peter Siddle in the second over, it seemed the batsmen would have toil for their runs.Warner, though, doesn’t toil for his runs. His Australia call-up and an IPL contract were results of his ability to tear into bowling attacks and he did just that in front of a disappointingly thin Delhi crowd. The stand-out feature of his innings was his straight-hitting on a pitch with low bounce: both his sixes were clean hits over long-off and he started the onslaught with a searing flat-batted swipe past the bowler, Shane Harwood, in the third over.That boundary began a prosperous period for NSW. Warner was sublime, bludgeoning 25 runs off ten deliveries he faced from an off-colour Siddle. He rounded off the Powerplay with a lofted straight drive over Siddle’s head and launched him to the extra-cover boundary to take NSW to 56.Victoria got a lucky break in the next over, when Warner was run out attempting a suicidal run after Hughes pushed the ball to point. A livid Warner stormed back to the dug-out, falling two short of a well-deserved half-century.Hughes had coasted through the Powerplays but switched to top gear after that dismissal. Most of his shots started with him getting the front foot out of the way, whether he crashed the ball past point, caressed it through extra cover, or bludgeoned towards midwicket. He had scored 20 off his previous seven deliveries when he was foxed by Clint McKay’s back-of-the-hand slower ball, which batsmen have found extremely hard to pick in this tournament.Daniel Smith, promoted to No. 3, and captain Simon Katich kept the momentum up, picking off boundaries early in the over and working the singles. Victoria did manage to restrict the runs towards the end though; the only boundaries in the last five overs were a couple of innovative paddle-scoops to fine leg from Ben Rohrer.The only thing that prevented New South Wales from entering the semi-final unbeaten was a stunning 18-ball 54 from Trinidad & Tobago batsman Kieron Pollard. Victoria needed something similar but Hauritz’s blows, followed by Lee’s dismissal of Aiden Blizzard, made their task incredibly hard.After the Powerplay, Victoria had limped to only 17 for 3, and even their experienced and highly-rated duo of White and David Hussey couldn’t pull off a rescue act. It was a slow and painful slide to an embarrassing defeat for Victoria and they didn’t even manage three figures. White had predicted at the toss that it would be a “hell of a chase” whatever NSW managed; he couldn’t have imagined a more hellish chase.

Australia were the last team to enter the ICC Champions Trophy semi-finals but they got there after surviving a scare against Pakistan that had Ricky Ponting chewing his fingernails on the dressing-room balcony. Chasing Pakistan’s total of 205, Australia were cruising at 140 for 2. However, they lost six wickets for 47 runs and Brett Lee and Nathan Hauritz ended up scrambling a last-ball bye to scrape a two-wicket victory in Centurion.”I was chewing my fingers nails up there for the last little bit,” Ponting said after the game. “That ended up being closer than I thought was possible. We snuck across the line.”The result left Australia on top of Group A with five points, compared to Pakistan’s four, which means they’ll face England, the second-placed team in Group B, in the first semi-final in Centurion on Friday. Australia came to South Africa having won a bilateral one-day series 6-1 in England but despite that success Ponting was wary of a resurgent England team.”We’ve just come from a really good series against them over there, but it’s different conditions here to what we confronted over there and they’ve been playing some pretty good cricket of late,” Ponting said. “We need to get back to the drawing board a little bit and talk about what went wrong in the last part with our batting this afternoon and make sure we don’t do that again on Friday.”As the ball got older it reversed a bit at the end and spun a bit for the spinners too so we were pretty lucky we restricted them to that total. I thought the bowlers in the second half of the innings particularly, did a good job.”Pakistan will face Group B leaders New Zealand in the other semi-final in Johannesburg on Saturday. They will be gunning for their second ICC title this year after winning the World Twenty20 in England in June. “I’m always happy whether you play England, Australia or any team in semi-finals or final it doesn’t matter,” Younis Khan said. “If you play good cricket then you are the winner.”

Match facts

Tuesday September 8
Start time 14.30 (9.00 GMT)Nathan McCullum made the most of his chance in the second Twenty20•Associated Press

Big Picture

Sri Lanka, after consecutive Twenty20 defeats, and New Zealand, after a 50-over warm-up defeat to Sri Lanka A on Sunday, will attempt to kick-start the Compaq Cup on Tuesday, though the weather threatens to be a dampener. Scattered thunderstorms are predicted for each of the days this week and a short four-game tournament, already being criticised for its duration and practicality, needs to be competitive throughout to silence growing criticism of the 50-over game’s future.Sri Lanka, almost always formidable opponents on their own soil, do not start as favourites. New Zealand took plenty of confidence from two night wins at the Premadasa last week and they know their biggest shot at winning is getting into Sri Lanka’s top order. New Zealand have repeatedly highlighted the importance of dismissing Tillakaratne Dilshan early to put pressure on Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, leaving a shaky lower order sweating.Successive middle-order muddles during the Twenty20s left Kumar Sangakkara ruing the lack of application and calling on the players to introspect going into this series. Sri Lanka will hope that Sanath Jayasuriya finds form at a venue in which he has scored 2373 runs at 38.27, but contributions from the likes of Angelo Mathews and Chamara Kapugedera will be equally important. Another worry for the home side is that Muttiah Muralitharan is in some doubt after not recovering entirely from a groin strain sustained on day five of the SSC Test, and both teams will keenly await news on his fitness tomorrow.New Zealand did little wrong in the Twenty20s. Their response to Dilshan’s onslaught in game one was calm and their batting and bowling more than efficient during the series clincher. Their effective handling of Ajantha Mendis – who caused nightmares at Trent Bridge this summer – was another reason behind their victory over Sri Lanka.

Form guide

Sri Lanka LLWWW
New Zealand NrWWLW

Watch out for…

Nuwan Kulasekara had a fantastic 2008 in ODI cricket, and he translated that into a Man-of-the-Series performance in the home Tests against Pakistan. He was rested for the second Test against New Zealand keeping in mind Sri Lanka’s heavy limited-overs workload, and returns to the format which he has dominated. In 15 matches in 2009, he has taken 26 wickets at 22.80 and has become Sri Lanka’s premier one-day quick bowler.Brendon McCullum has earned a reputation as on of the most feared hitters in international cricket, and after easing back to form with 49 in the second Twenty20 international, spoke of a calmness at the crease that was missing during the Tests. Seven years after his debut, McCullum still has only one ODI century; after warning his tri-series opponents about how his confidence has returned, he’ll fancy his chances of improving that count in this series.

Team news

Murali’s fitness will be evaluated later this evening and tomorrow morning before the game and Sri Lanka are hopeful he will be ready. Sri Lanka may hand young left-handed batsman Gihan Rupasinghe a debut, meaning Angelo Mathews may drop down a spot. Thilan Thushara will come back into the side after missing the Twenty20s and forms a potent pace attack along with Kulasekara and Lasith Malinga.Sri Lanka: (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 Gihan Rupasinghe, 7 Angelo Mathews, 8 Thilan Thushara, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Lasith Malinga.Daniel Vettori, Ross Taylor and Shane Bond will be back after sitting out the warm-up loss on Sunday. Bond will replace Daryl Tuffey, who is not part of the ODI squad. If Brendon McCullum is given the wicketkeeping role then both Grant Elliott and Neil Broom, neither of whom did anything of note against Sri Lanka A, could feature. The second spinner’s spot will be a toss-up between Jeetan Patel and Nathan McCullum, who impressed in the second Twenty20 and the practice match and brings more depth in batting and fielding.New Zealand: (probable) 1 Brendon McCullum (wk), 2 Jesse Ryder, 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Jacob Oram, 6 Grant Elliot, 7 Neil Broom, 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Nathan McCullum, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Shane Bond.

Pitch and conditions

The pitch at the Premadasa is a dry one and favours batting. Going by the recent trend, the side winning the toss will almost certainly opt to bat. The weather cannot be discounted, however, with rain never too far from Colombo. Scattered showers are forecast. The Premadasa is tied with the SSC as the grounds to have hosted the maximum number of washed out games – six each – and if the prediction turns out to be accurate, this ground could sneak to the top of a rather unflattering category.

Stats and Trivia

• Sri Lanka have won 46 out of 75 ODIs at the Premadasa.
• New Zealand have won three out of nine matches here, but only one against Sri Lanka.
• In 30 matches since 2004, a 300-plus total has been achieved only four times at the Premadasa. On average, teams have managed 26.77 per wicket at a rate of 4.73.
• Fast bowlers have taken more wickets at the Premadasa since 2004 – 262 at an average of 27.04. Spinners have managed 160 wickets at 32.53 apiece.Since 2004, the team winning the toss has batted first on 24 out of 30 occasions. In the last 11 ODIs, teams chose to bat every time and the result went their way on each occasion.
• Murali has a bowling average of 26.37 and a best of 5 for 44 at this ground, with 69 wickets from 52 ODIs.

Quotes

“If you know a trend, you know the past, you try and go out there and change it.”
“It’s been good to have him back. He’s a smart bowler. He probably doesn’t have the genuine pace he had in the VB Series a couple of years ago [2007] but he’s certainly a better bowler with the ability to read the game and read a player.”
“You can’t really write him off, can you? He’s got so much experience; he’s been tearing attacks apart over the years, so we’re not writing him off.”

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 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.

Chaminda Vaas, the Sri Lanka fast bowler, has announced he will retire from Tests after the third match against Pakistan in Colombo starting Monday. He said he will continue to play one-dayers and Twenty20s till the 2011 World Cup.”I am officially retiring from Test cricket after the third Test against Pakistan, but will continue playing one-day and Twenty20 matches till the 2011 World Cup,” he told reporters in Colombo, but declined to take any questions.It will end a fine career by one of Sri Lanka’s most persevering and successful fast bowlers. In 110 Tests he has taken 354 wickets at 29.40 after making his debut against Pakistan in 1994 – the second-highest Sri Lankan wicket-taker – along with 400 one-day wickets. Vaas also has 3085 Test runs at 24.48, including a century.His captain Kumar Sangakkara led the tributes, saying that Vaas’ achievements were the benchmark quick bowlers in his country will strive for. “Vaas is a true champion and probably the only Sri Lankan fast bowler who can be called a true legend of the game,” he said. “No matter who replaces Vaasy in the bowling attack they will take years and years to reach the standards he has set – and maybe they never will.”Vaas last represented Sri Lanka in February in the abruptly terminated Test series in Pakistan. On July 4 this year Ashantha de Mel, Sri Lanka’s chief selector, had been quoted in the press saying that Vaas had retired from Test cricket. However, Vaas, speaking to Cricinfo, denied any such claims.Vaas, 35, was axed from the Sri Lanka Twenty20 side last October, missing the four-nation tournament in Canada. He kept his place in the Test side and featured in the Karachi match earlier this year but was subsequently dropped for the aborted Lahore Test after he went wicketless in 31 overs.