Outstanding England

Andrew Strauss says England's 4-0 series whitewash over India is the best his side have ever played as a group.
The England skipper describes his side's performance as "outstanding" after they beat India by an innings and eight runs at the Oval.

The rags to riches story of England's rise from the bottom to the top of the world rankings features plenty of big-name stars but the roles of several supporting actors should not be overlooked.

Captain Andrew Strauss, his team-mates and Coach Andy Flowerhave received most of the plaudits, while many have noted the importance of former coach Duncan Fletcher and ex-skipper Michael Vaughan in steering England towards the summit.
But over the past decade or so, several other figures have played fundamental roles in helping transform England into an ultra-professional winning machine.
Here are five of English cricket's many unsung heroes.

Duncan Fletcher is new coach of India team

Duncan Fletcher, the former England coach and former Zimbabwe captain, has been appointed India’s coach, ending weeks of speculation over who will succeed Gary Kirsten. The BCCI announced the decision to give Fletcher a two-year contract after a Working Committee meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday. Eric Simons’ tenure as the team’s bowling coach was also extended.

Fletcher, though, is unlikely to be with the team during the tour of West Indies in June. “The contract with Fletcher is for two years,” N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, told reporters after the meeting. “He may not join the team in West Indies as he has some prior commitments.”
“After a lot of thought and consultation, the BCCI president and BCCI secretary placed Fletcher’s name before the Working Committee, which the Committee ratified,” Rajiv Shukla, the BCCI vice-president, said, adding that the terms and conditions of Fletcher’s appointment would be the same as Kirsten’s.
Fletcher, 62, was in charge of the England team when they beat Australia in 2005 to win the Ashes for the first time since 1986-’87, and was credited with turning around England’s fortunes in Tests during his eight-year stint, first with Nasser Hussain and then with Michael Vaughan.

England Reset Pietersen for ODI Series

England batsman Kevin Pietersen will be rested from the squad for next month's one-day series against India, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Friday.

Pietersen's absence from the 14-man squad affords an opportunity to Durham's Ben Stokes who made his debut in the one-day international win against Ireland on Thursday.


"The decision to omit Kevin Pietersen from the one-day squad is in line with our policy of sensibly managing player workloads and will give the opportunity to another batsman to test himself batting at number four," national selector Geoff Miller said on the website.


The selectors also named a 13-man squad for the Twenty20 fixture against India at Old Trafford on Wednesday, which included the uncapped pair of Somerset's Jos Buttler and Nottinghamshire's Alex Hales.

Gambhir Miss the ODI Series in England

With little improvement in his agonizing condition in the last 10 days, India's opener Gautam Gambhir could be packing his bags to return home.

In what could be a big blow to the campaign of the defending world champions in the forthcoming one-day series, Gambhir is likely to suffer the fate of the likes of Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag who came or joined the Indian squad and left without lending significantly to the team's cause.

India have been whitewashed 4-0 in the Test series, lost their number one Test rankings and are in danger of suffering a similar debilitating fate in the one-day series, starting with the first game in Chester-le-Street on September 3.

Sri Lanka win 3rd ODI Match

Inspired by a century to opener Upul Tharanga and a five-wicket haul by Lasith Malinga, Sri Lanka bounced back in emphatic fashion on Tuesday in their one-day series against Australia.

Australia were bowled out for 208 chasing Sri Lanka's 9-286 in the third one-day match at Hambantota, the 78-run defeat cutting the tourist's lead in the five-game series to 2-1 going into the final two matches in Colombo.

Australian captain Michael Clarke won the toss and asked the Sri Lankans to bat on a pitch with a bit of life in it after overnight rain but after Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan survived a taxing opening period the tide turned.

Playing in just his third match back from a three-month drugs ban, Tharanga worked his way to his fourth one-day hundred of 2011 and 12th of his career before eventually falling for 111 off 139 deliveries.

He shared big partnerships with Dilshan (55) and Kumar Sangakkara (49) to set up the hosts' innings before Mahela Jayawardene's cameo 36 off 33 balls steered them home.

Doug Bollinger was again the pick of the Australian bowlers, claiming 4-42 in his 10 overs to complement his three-wicket haul in game two on Sunday night.

But in reply Australia barely had their chase begun when Shane Watson and Brad Haddin were back in the hut, both out for five.

Clarke (46) and Michael Hussey, who top-scored with 63, provided some resistance but Malinga's devastating pace and yorkers enabled him to snare 5-28 and show he's fully recovered from the back injury which forced him to miss the Twenty20s and first one-day match.

"We didn't perform well enough at the top of the order," Clarke told reporters.

"We have no excuses. We didn't perform as well as we would like and we know that.

"We have some work to do over the next few days because, as I said from the start, playing Sri Lanka, especially in their home conditions, you have to be at your best to beat them."

Dilshan reserved his praise for Malinga, and also young paceman Shaminda Eranga, who claimed the wickets of Haddin and Ricky Ponting (22) to take 2-38 on his ODI debut.

"The first 10 overs were crucial, and we did well to see them off," Dilshan said.

"All the batsmen that followed did well.

"We believed 260 was good to defend, and we proved it.

"Eranga bowled really well, and Malinga was good as usual."

The series now moves to the capital Colombo, where the fourth match takes place on Saturday.

Game five is on Monday.

Scoreboard

THE SCORE

AUS		208 ALL OUT
SL	9/286
Current Run Rate		4.69
Required Run Rate		0.00
Runs Required		0
Balls Remaining		34

Batting			R		M	B	S/R
		Bollinger, D	4		10	9	44.44
		Lee, B	14		21	8	175.00
Bowling			O	M	R	W	E/R
	Malinga, L		8.2	2	28	5	3.36
	Mendis, A		8	0	38	1	4.75

MATCH DETAILS

Venue: Mahinda Rajapaksa Internationa
Weather: Fine	Pitch: Normal	Outfield: Normal
Umpires: Rauf, A (PAK), de Silva, A (SL), Hill, A (NZ), Srinath, J (IND)
Toss Won By: Australia		Decision: Bowl

SCORE CARD

SL InningsAUS Innings 

Sri Lanka		R	M	B	4	6	S/R
Tharanga, U	c. Haddin, B b. Bollinger, D	111	180	139	12	0	79.86
Dilshan, T	c. Hussey, M b. Bollinger, D	55	105	59	4	0	93.22
Sangakkara, K	lbw b. Bollinger, D	49	60	37	3	2	132.43
Chandimal, LD	c. Clarke, M b. Bollinger, D	4	2	2	1	0	200.00
Jayawardene, M	c. Hussey, M b. Watson, S	36	58	33	3	1	109.09
Silva, C	c. Smith, S b. Lee, B	9	24	17	1	0	52.94
Mendis, J	lbw b. Johnson, M	1	5	3	0	0	33.33
Kulasekera, N	c. Hussey, M b. Johnson, M	4	12	6	0	0	66.67
Eranga, S	b. Watson, S	2	5	3	0	0	66.67
Malinga, L	not out	1	2	1	0	0	100.00
Mendis, A
Extras	(lb 4,w 10)	14
Total	(9 wickets; 50 overs)	286

F.O.W.

1/139 (Dilshan, T), 2/220 (Sangakkara, K), 3/224 (Chandimal, LD), 4/230 (Tharanga, U), 5/252 (Silva, C), 6/255 (Mendis, J), 7/276 (Kulasekera, N), 8/284 (Jayawardene, M), 9/286 (Eranga, S)

Australia - Bowling	O	M	R	W	E/R
Lee, B	10	0	47	1	4.70
Bollinger, D	10	0	42	4	4.20	(4w)
Johnson, M	9	0	45	2	5.00	(1w)
Watson, S	9	0	58	2	6.44	(2w)
Doherty, X	5	0	41	0	8.20
Hussey, D	5	0	34	0	6.80	(2w)
Smith, S	2	0	15	0	7.50