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Fast bowler Chanaka Welegedara has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy due to the foot injury he picked up during a practice match last week, and Sri Lanka Cricket has replaced him with seam-bowling allrounder Dilhara Lokuhettige

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-2013Sri Lankan fast bowler Chanaka Welegedara is unlikely to travel to England for the Champions Trophy, after failing to recover sufficiently from an ankle injury he sustained on May 18. Welegedara failed a fitness test on Wednesday morning, and Sri Lanka Cricket have since named seam bowler Dilhara Lokuhettige as a replacement. The selection was cleared by the sports minister, but has not yet been approved by the ICC.Lokuhettige, 32, played eight ODIs for Sri Lanka in 2005, and two Twenty20 internationals in 2008. He has six ODI wickets at 36.83. He has largely been picked on his form in the recently concluded List A tri-series in Pallekele, where he was the joint highest wicket-taker: nine scalps at an average of 17.66. If approved, he will be one of four pace specialists on tour, with Lasith Malinga, Shaminda Eranga and Nuwan Kulasekara also traveling. Allrounders Thisara Perera and Angelo Mathews are part of the squad as well.”SLC have written to the ICC Event Technical Committee regarding this replacement,” an SLC statement said. “The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad.”Welegedara had picked up the injury during the penultimate match of the tri-series, which he left, in pain, during his third over. His chances of traveling to England had looked promising on Tuesday after scans revealed no breaks or fractures, but inflammation persisted and he was unable to put sufficient weight on his landing foot.Welegedara, also 32, was the leader of Sri Lanka’s Test pace attack, but has been plagued by injury in the last 12 months, in which he only completed one Test match. He strained his groin playing England in March last year, before tearing a shoulder muscle before the Pakistan series in July. He recovered in time to travel to Australia at the end of the year, but tore a hamstring early in the second Test in Melbourne, and has not played any international cricket since. Largely regarded a Test specialist, Welegedara has not played limited-overs international cricket since June 2010.The Sri Lanka squad leaves for England in the early hours of Monday morning.

Chris Rogers, the Middlesex captain, welcomed his team’s ten-wicket win over Nottinghamshire as the “perfect start” to their Championship campaign

George Dobell at Trent Bridge13-Apr-2013Chris Rogers, the Middlesex captain, welcomed his team’s ten-wicket win over Nottinghamshire as the “perfect start” to their Championship campaign and gave particular credit to his opening partner, Sam Robson, who scored 131 runs in the match.While Robson, a player of considerable potential, has given equivocal answers to questions on his commitment to England or Australia, Rogers seemed more certain. There may be a few ahead of Robson in the queue for an England place at present but, when he becomes eligible on the grounds of residency in a year’s time, it could become relevant very quickly.”Australia are particularly unlucky to have lost Sam,” Rogers said. “I think he’s made up his mind. He did consider going back, but he is enjoying everything about being at Middlesex and he is being very well looked after. I think his future is in England.”That season he first game into the side, a couple of years ago, he batted through an entire day about five times. I’ve done that about five times in my career. I saw he was compared to Mike Atherton the other day and that makes a lot of sense to me. I rate him very highly.”Nottinghamshire were deeply unimpressive in the match. They batted with carelessness and bowled with a lack of discipline and control, not so much defeated as self-defeating. It was an oddly shoddy display and one that left Mick Newell, their director of cricket, underwhelmed.”I’m disappointed and surprised with the way we’ve played,” Newell, who held one-to-one chats with each of his players after the game, told ESPNcricinfo. “We were sloppy with the bat and our bowling was not up to any sort of standard. The players know that. They feel the same way.”Middlesex were the better team. But the thing that disappoints me is they beat us playing the sort of cricket we usually play. They did the basics well.”Our bowling on the second day, in particular, was not good enough. We bowled one good ball an over, but you can’t build any pressure if you do that. The bowlers have thrown selection open a bit. And with the bat… maybe we relaxed against Dexter. You wouldn’t expect him to take five wickets. There weren’t too many jaffas or great deliveries in there. The fact that none of our batsmen scored more than 61 tells its own story.”

The contracts crisis involving the Sri Lankan players and their board has officially ended with 23 players signing the annual contracts offered to them by the SLC

Andrew Fidel Fernando04-Mar-2013Sri Lanka’s top cricketers signed Sri Lanka Cricket’s contracts on Monday, bringing the crisis to an official end, after having been frozen out by SLC during the weekend. A resolution appeared unlikely as late as Sunday afternoon, but a meeting between chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya and the players, approved by SLC, broke the deadlock and a four-tiered contracts list has since been issued.The top pay category has been expanded from five players to seven, with new captain Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Kulasekara and Rangana Herath joining Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Lasith Malinga in the top bracket. Thilan Samaraweera, who was in last year’s top tier, has been put in a special category with Prasanna Jayawardene, as both players will only be considered for Test selection. Twenty20 captain and Test and ODI vice-captain Dinesh Chandimal has been given a category two contract.Lower down in the hierarchy Dimuth Karunaratne, Shaminda Eranga, Jeevan Mendis, Kushal Perera, Nuwan Pradeep and Sachithra Senanayake have all been offered central contracts for the first time. Dilhara Fernando, Tharanga Paranavitana and Chamara Kapugedara are the players to miss out, having held central contracts in 2012. Suraj Randiv has been reissued a contract despite not having been named in the squad for the first Test against Bangladesh.List of SLC contracted players

Category 1:
Angelo Mathews, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Lasith Malinga, Rangana Herath, Nuwan Kulasekara
Category 2:
Dinesh Chandimal, Ajantha Mendis
Category 3:
Lahiru Thirimanne, Thisara Perera
Category 4:
Shaminda Eranga, Chanaka Welegedara, Dimuth Karunaratne, Jeevan Mendis, Suraj Randiv, Kushal Perera, Sachithra Senanayake, Upul Tharanga, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep
Special category:
Prasanna Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera

SLC officials said they were pleased the players could begin focussing on cricket ahead, after the contracts issue had been resolved. SLC CEO Ajit Jayasekara said there would be no negative consequences for the players who had refused to sign their contracts by deadline. “As far as we are concerned, the matter is closed,” he said.Jayasuriya, who had personally set up the discussion that ended the deadlock, reiterated SLC’s commitment to move past the dispute, and said agreement was reached amicably. “I explained to the players as the chairman of selectors, what we are trying to do in Sri Lankan cricket. They accepted that and were happy, and said that they would try. In the end they wanted to play for Sri Lanka.”The major contention for players was SLC’s refusal to pay 25% of the board’s earnings from ICC events as they have done since 2003. This payment was to compensate players for the use of their image by the ICC and its sponsors for the duration of the tournament. Although the players agreed to sign away that payment for this year, they had only done so in the hope that dialogue about that money would continue with SLC, with the chance for that payment to be reintroduced in future contracts.An SLC release on Monday said that after the contracts were issued, the players had proposed investing part of their share from the ICC payment into cricket development, but this was rejected by the board, who felt “cricket development purview should be vested with the governing body, than with players in concern”.The release further said SLC expected to pay 67% of its 2013 revenue on the 23 players with national contracts. “If SLC agreed to grant the players’ request to include the guarantee fee component to the contract value, SLC will have to bear 81% of its annual revenue towards the 23 Cricketers, leaving no provision for a successful all round year. SLC’s stance towards this matter was maintained taking in to account all cricketing interests pertaining to Sri Lanka.”Mahela Jayawardene is the only player who has not yet signed a contract, but he is expected to do so when he returns to the country.

New Zealand fast bowler Adam Milne has been ruled out of the Twenty20 series against South Africa, after picking up an Achilles injury

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Dec-2012New Zealand fast bowler Adam Milne has been ruled out of the Twenty20 series against South Africa, after picking up an Achilles injury while warming-up for a first-class game on Monday. He will be replaced by Mark Gillespie, who is returning to international cricket after a nine-month injury lay-off.Milne, 20, injured his leg while exercising just prior to his game for Central Districts against Wellington in New Zealand’s domestic first-class competition, the Plunket Shield. The injury was not very serious, New Zealand Cricket’s medical team said, but they didn’t want risk any further damage and so decided to pull Milne out of the series.Gillespie, who will join the squad in South Africa on Friday, last played an international match against the same opposition – the Wellington Test on South Africa’s tour of New Zealand in March this year. That series also marked an international comeback for Gillespie, who had not played for New Zealand for over three years previously. He made his mark too, finishing New Zealand’s top wicket-taker despite playing only two out of the three Tests, but was then ruled out with an ankle injury.He returned to competitive cricket in October, and has 13 wickets in three first-class games for Wellington since then.National selection manager Kim Littlejohn said South Africa should suit Gillespie: “It is disappointing for Adam to suffer an injury however it does present a great opportunity for Mark. Mark has an impressive record in South Africa and the conditions will suit his aggressive style of pace bowling.”The first T20 of the three-match series will be played in Durban on December 21.

Robin Peterson hadn’t been able to stem the runs when Pakistan were batting, but on the third day it was Pakistan who couldn’t stop the runs when Peterson was batting

The Report by Siddarth Ravindran16-Feb-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Robin Peterson slammed 84 to cut into Pakistan’s first-innings lead•Getty ImagesA fascinating Test in Cape Town provided its third day of unexpected twists as the man who was the weak link for South Africa on the first day made amends with his first Test half-century in almost a decade to even up the contest. Robin Peterson hadn’t been able to stem the runs when Pakistan were batting on the second day, but on the third it was Pakistan who couldn’t stop the runs when Peterson was batting. With AB de Villiers also scoring a half-century, South Africa showed their resilience as what could have been a game-deciding lead for Pakistan was trimmed to just 12.In their second innings, Pakistan’s top order once again folded cheaply and South Africa were threatening to run away with the game. However, they were thwarted by a patient partnership between Azhar Ali and Misbah-ul-Haq in the final hour-and-a-half before stumps to leave the match evenly poised. The day ended with a bit of bad news for the hosts, as Morne Morkel sustained a leg injury. He is unlikely to bowl again in this Test.In the morning, de Villiers had survived another intense examination from the outstanding Saeed Ajmal to play an innings that married classical drives and cuts with chutzpah, as shown by an inventive dink over the slips for four when the ball was banged in short. He reached his half-century off a rare poor ball down the leg side from Ajmal, and if he was beginning to feel comfortable in the middle, Ajmal followed up with a ripping delivery similar to the one that accounted for Faf du Plessis. De Villiers got the edge again but the keeper couldn’t hold on to the catch.Ajmal had begun the day by adding Dean Elgar’s wicket to make it six out of six and briefly raised visions of him joining the elite club of Jim Laker and Anil Kumble as the only bowlers to take all ten wickets in an innings. Thoughts of that spectacular feat came to an end when the seven-footer Mohammad Irfan struck with the new ball to dismiss de Villiers for his first Test wicket. He then showed that even in the intense battle of Test cricket there is space for levity, as the towering fast bowler raised his arms in celebration after his team-mates huddled around him, forcing them to jump to high-five him.Pakistan could have taken total control of the match once de Villiers was dismissed but Peterson again showed how much his batting has improved. He swept Ajmal when the ball was on the pads, cut powerfully when width was provided, and generally began to look more and more settled in the middle. With the help of Vernon Philander, he brought the deficit below 100 before lunch.Peterson had just begun, though, and opened out after the break with a series of drives as 77 runs came off 13 overs. Besides the scorching drives, there was even a switch-hit off Ajmal. As the score went past 300, Peterson set his sights on a maiden hundred, going for his shots even as he lost his partners. The crowd loved it, and when last man Morne Morkel solidly defended a few deliveries, the fans welcomed it with rousing cheers. Peterson finally perished on 84 as he looked to clear long-on, though he had already done enough to hurt Pakistan by then.The turnaround continued when South Africa had the ball in hand as, yet again, they removed both openers cheaply. Pakistan’s opening stands this series now read 0, 10, 7 and 9. Steyn struck in his first over, with an indipper that had Mohammad Hafeez lbw. Philander joined in with a wicket in his first over, sending back Nasir Jamshed lbw for a duck. Though South Africa’s quicks kept asking questions around off stump, Younis Khan and Ali negotiated the new ball till tea. A pumped-up Steyn then delivered the quickest spell of the match, regularly threatening to hit the 150kph mark, and it culminated with him getting Younis to chop on to the stumps.While the second session was full of runs, the third was the opposite. Ali began with a boundary past square leg that took him to 23 off 23 balls, but he then went into a shell, especially against Peterson, playing out maiden after maiden. He couldn’t work the singles, at one stage had managed only five runs off 53 deliveries against Peterson, and just survived a confident lbw appeal.At the other end, Misbah wasn’t in any hurry either, and the pair went through 34 scoreless deliveries early on in their partnership. Misbah was patient as ever, except when he pulled off three of those out-of-the-blue straight sixes he loves to hit.Many times, the strategy to just block everything against a high-quality attack doesn’t work because the lack of runs means the pressure isn’t lifted, and when there is a breakthrough, the batting side hasn’t made much progress. It worked for Pakistan on the day, though, as it sucked the momentum from a rampant South Africa attack, and steadily increased the lead above 100, setting up an intriguing fourth day.

Steven showed he was ready to slot into England’s team if the call came but his team-mate Tim Murtagh was equally, if not more, impressive

David Lloyd at Lord's30-May-2012
ScorecardSteven Finn took three wickets in front of national selector Geoff Miller•Getty ImagesSteven Finn made enough of a mark on the first day of this contest to indicate he is ready, willing and able should England decide to rest a fast bowler or two and make changes ahead of next week’s final Test against West Indies. But if Middlesex go on to win this game then the new-ball burst of Tim Murtagh may prove to have been the crucial element.Sussex, with barely time to draw breath following Monday’s Championship loss to Nottinghamshire, were staggering horribly inside the first hour after winning what appeared to be a good toss on a bright, sunny morning. Murtagh, hitting the seam instantly while Finn searched for his radar following a week on international 12th man duty, soon had them 16 for 3.The visitors recovered pretty well, with 70s from both Ed Joyce and Ben Brown and a more than useful 38 by Naved Arif, to finish in touching distance of 250, but Middlesex look to have the edge.Murtagh is one of those too often unsung county stars – a bowler who rarely delivers a bad spell but does not often pick up a stack of wickets. And, when he does, a ‘bigger’ name usually puts him in the shade.Today, understandably, most eyes – including, presumably, those of watching national selector Geoff Miller – were on Finn. And the big lad could not be faulted for effort, pace or menace once he found his range. Finn finished the day with 3 for 65 from 23 overs but, quite properly, Murtagh outdid him with 4 for 41 from 20.The way this match began we might easily have been back in April when wickets were tumbling here, there and just about everywhere and, horror of horrors, Surrey boss Chris Adams was being highly critical of the Lord’s pitch used for his side’s nerve-tingling three-run defeat. We might have been back in April, but we were not.For a start, there was real warmth coming from this morning’s sun. And, regardless of what may or may not have happened at HQ a month or so ago, the five wickets which Sussex lost before lunch, can be put down to a mix of skilful new-ball bowling, poor shot selection and leaden-footed stroke-play.Certainly, Sussex were happy enough to bat first after winning the toss – especially their bowlers, most probably. Given that the domestic season starts in early April and runs through to mid-September, there seems no real excuse for any team to have to play on nine out of 10 days, starting with a day-night game.They looked to be in a bit of a trance, for sure, although the in-form Chris Nash could argue that he would do well to survive the beauty he received, second ball up, from Murtagh whenever or wherever he received it. Lifting and leaving the right-handed Nash late, it brushed the outside edge.That set the tone, really. While Finn had a bit of trouble with his direction early on, Murtagh regularly hit the seam and drilled a challenging line on or just outside off stump. Add some less than sparkling batting – Mike Yardy played a horrible shot away from his body before Luke Wright drove ambitiously without much foot movement – and Sussex were in all sorts of bother at 66 for 5 after 90 minutes or so.Thanks to opener Joyce, playing against his old county, and Brown, meltdown was averted with a stand of 81. But both eventually fell to Finn (Joyce caught down the leg-side and Brown edging a fast, full delivery to slip) and it needed Arif’s contribution to prevent Sussex from falling away again.As always, it will be a lot easier to judge how much of a foothold the visitors have given themselves once both teams have batted once, but – for now – they are just about hanging in there.

Ernest Hilaire, the chief executive of the WICB whose tenure has been marked by standoffs with a number of senior players, most notably Chris Gayle, has decided not to seek a renewal of his contract when it expires in October

Tariq Engineer05-Jul-2012Ernest Hilaire, the chief executive of the WICB whose tenure has been marked by standoffs with a number of senior players, most notably Chris Gayle, has decided not to seek a renewal of his contract when it expires in October, ESPNcricinfo has learned.Hilaire has already informed the WICB board of directors of his intention not to continue in the role and they have appointed a recruitment agency to find a replacement. He has been appointed St Lucia’s new ambassador in London by the newly elected St Lucia Labour party government.He took over as chief executive in November 2009, when he was given a three-year contract, and presided over a somewhat tumultuous time in West Indies cricket as the team struggled to win matches. However, the side has shown improved competitiveness under the captaincy of Darren Sammy recently, especially in the limited-overs formats, and espouses a commitment to playing as a team.Hilaire had also been involved in high profile disputes with Dinanath Ramnarine, the former head of the West Indies Players’ Association, and a number of senior players, including Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan. Gayle’s troubles with the board began when he chose to play in the 2011 IPL and miss the home series against Pakistan. It was only in June 2012 that Gayle’s exile ended after he signed a CARICOM-brokered agreement with the WICB. Sarwan has not played for West Indies since June 2011, having lost his central contract in 2010 on fitness grounds.In May 2012, Hilaire, said the selectors should focus on picking a strong collective unit rather than one just comprising 11 star players. “For a decade or so the selectors were guided by a process which had them arriving at the eleven best players to take the field,” Hilaire had said. “With the eleven best players on the park our results went from bad to worse and yet worse still.

New Zealand’s intense performance with the ball and in the field restricted South Africa to 147 for 6, setting up a moderate chase in Wellington

The Report by Firdose Moonda17-Feb-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMartin Guptill hit huge sixes during his match-winning 78•Getty ImagesNew Zealand’s intense performance with the ball and in the field restricted South Africa to 147 for 6, setting up a moderate chase in Wellington. Their most in-form batsman, Martin Guptill, continued his strong summer, scoring his sixth consecutive international half-century to begin the series with a comfortable victory. The target was achieved only in the final over, but South Africa did not threaten New Zealand at any stage of the game.South Africa came into this match having beaten Canterbury in the tour game, and New Zealand targeted the players who delivered that victory. Tim Southee attacked Richard Levi with the short ball, while Guptill went after Lonwabo Tsotsobe. Apart from the 15th over of the first innings, in which Kane Williamson conceded 26, Brendon McCullum used his spinners and shuffled his bowlers to keep South Africa under pressure throughout.A lot of that pressure was applied by tenacious and athletic fielding, and no one was better that Guptill. Hashim Amla had found his groove, and South Africa were beginning to accelerate, when he was run out by a dive reminiscent of Jonty Rhodes. Guptill had swooped on the ball from extra cover, sprinted towards the non-striker’s end, and dived full stretch to plough into the stumps.Richard Levi, who was expected to be the aggressor but was stymied by the offspinner Nathan McCullum, responded to Amla’s dismissal with a six and a four, but Colin Ingram gave him no support. Ingram stepped out to Nathan McCullum and watched an offbreak curve and spin past his bat, leaving Brendon McCullum with enough time to recover from a fumble and complete the stumping.Having lost two wickets in two overs, South Africa needed a cool head, but Levi was unable to keep one. Southee hit Levi on the helmet with his second delivery and dismissed him soon after. Under pressure, South Africa’s innings lost direction in the next five overs. AB de Villiers was out to a low catch from Guptill, which was referred to the third umpire, and Duminy and Ontong could only accumulate in ones and twos.Ontong broke the boundary drought in style, mowing Williamson for four consecutive sixes over the midwicket boundary, hitting each ball further back into the stands than the one before. Southee was brought back to control the damage and took a sharp return catch to dismiss Ontong and end the partnership on 50. Duminy did not let that setback slow him down, though, adding three more boundaries to finish as South Africa’s top scorer.After missing the last match against Zimbabwe because of a groin niggle, Guptill picked up where he had left off. He started by smacking Tsotsobe down the ground in his first over, and drove and hooked Albie Morkel. His best was saved for Tsotsobe – two massive sixes, measuring 102 and 127 metres, over the midwicket boundary.Rusty Theron took the wicket of Rob Nicol with his first ball to end the opening partnership on 49, but followed up with a wide and a no-ball. South Africa’s fast bowlers struggled to find rhythm on a pitch that was better suited to slower bowlers, of which the visitors had only one specialist in the XI.de Villiers turned to JP Duminy in the 13th over and he had immediate success. His second delivery spun just enough to bowl Brendon McCullum off the inside edge. Instead of giving the other slow bowler in the side, Justin Ontong, a go, de Villiers persisted with the quicks, who could not tie Guptill down. Guptill got hit on the helmet by Theron, and saw both Kane Williamson and Colin de Grandhomme dismissed, but hung around to see New Zealand through to victory.

Sachin Tendulkar’s return to the Mumbai Indians squad for today’s match against Deccan Chargers looks uncertain

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Apr-2012Sachin Tendulkar’s return to the Mumbai Indians squad for today’s match against Deccan Chargers looks uncertain, after he said on Twitter that the finger injury he sustained in the opening game against Chennai Super Kings did “not look good”.Tendulkar posted a photograph of the injured finger on his right hand and tweeted around noon on Monday.

Finger still not looking good. Had to aspirate blood from my finger twice in 4 days. yfrog.com/o0j2iduj

— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) April 9, 2012

Tendulkar had to retire hurt on 16 after being struck on the glove by Doug Bollinger in the ninth over of the IPL’s opening game between Mumbai Indians and Super Kings. He then missed Mumbai Indians’ first home game, against Pune Warriors, and if he does not play today his next game could be against Rajasthan Royals on April 11.Just before the start of IPL 2012, Tendulkar had handed over the leadership of the Mumbai Indians to Harbhajan Singh, because he wanted to take a “break from the responsibility of captaincy”. Harbhajan had led Mumbai Indians to the Champions League T20 title last year and was an automatic choice to take over the captaincy.

England coach Andy Flower has made clear his opinion that autobiographies by current players are a bad idea after the publishing of excerpts from Graeme Swann’s new book

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Oct-2011England coach Andy Flower has made clear his opinion that autobiographies by current players are a bad idea after the publishing of excerpts from Graeme Swann’s new book, , in the national press. The published sections included Swann’s claims that Kevin Pietersen was never the right man to captain England and does not command respect in the same way as the more reserved Andrew Strauss.Flower was comforted by Pietersen’s “mature handling” of the situation and insisted the players remain friends, but when asked whether he believes players should wait until professional retirement to air critiques of their team-mates, he said: “That’s my personal opinion, yes.”I personally don’t think that it’s a good idea for current players to be talking about their fellow players. The written word does come across very, very differently – when you can’t judge a person’s tone. It’s all been handled in-house, without many problems. Pietersen and Swann get on well, and I think Pietersen has handled it very maturely.”Pietersen was named England captain in August 2008, but his tenure lasted just five months after a much-publicised spat with then-coach Peter Moores. Strauss then took up the role and under his leadership England have been crowned the world’s No. 1 Test team.Pietersen’s tenure included a 0-5 one-day series loss in India in 2008, which included his last ODI hundred – an unbeaten 111 in a six-wicket loss in Cuttack. Pietersen was stripped of the captaincy not long afterwards, and since then has averaged just 22.74 in one-day cricket.He has rediscovered consistent form in Test and Twenty20 cricket, however, and Flower backed the batsman to make a telling contribution in the remaining four matches of England’s series against India. “He is actually in very good form,” Flower said. “His form in other formats during the last English summer was outstanding. He should be able to get runs out here, and I expect him to.”Flower conceded that England had been outplayed by India in the 126-run loss on Friday, but argued that his team had the skills and character to fight back and turn the series around.”This group of England cricketers has shown they are of strong character, and I expect us to bounce back. We were outplayed by the Indians on this occasion. They out-fielded us – something that doesn’t often happen to us – and we didn’t deserve to win the game. But one down in a five-match series, we’re going to look to do something about that in Delhi.”Our problem was that we weren’t able to manipulate the spinners as well as they did in the middle overs – a catalyst for a number of wickets in that period. There were various aspects of the game that were good – [Alastair] Cook played nicely, again went at a run-a-ball. But in the main, we under-performed.”