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If there had been a pre-tournament poll of matches to whet the appetite, it’s a safe bet that New Zealand against Sri Lanka – two nations overshadowed to the point of parody by brasher neighbours – would not have set many pulses racing. Suddenly, however, their clash in Grenada on Thursday is being viewed in a very different light. It’s not inconceivable that this match could be a dress rehearsal for the semi-finals or even beyond. Such is the skill and variety on display in both squads that either team would make a worthy, and popular, World Cup winner.Sri Lanka, for their part, are determined to approach this contest with the same joie de vivre that they have shown throughout the tournament. Four months ago, they travelled to the greentops of New Zealand and drew 1-1 and 2-2 in the Test and ODI series respectively, carrying the fight to the Kiwis in a manner that few subcontinental sides have managed in such alien conditions. Nothing fazed them then, and it’s not about to now.”We’re going to compete every step of the way and play our Sri Lankan brand of cricket,” said Kumar Sangakkara, who was unafraid to hark back to his country’s legendary 1996 World Cup-winning squad for inspiration. “We have an attitude where we’ve managed to balance our aggression with a professional approach. Even leaving the ball with positive intent is a show of aggression to the opposition.”Most of the times we’ve gone wrong, we’ve tried to change our game, but we’ve realised that’s a bit foolish. When we won the World Cup we played a unique brand of cricket and that’s how we play now against any side – but particularly a side like New Zealand who, if we can put pressure on their bowlers at the start, then a formidable total can be built up.”So far it is New Zealand who have enjoyed the smoother of the two campaigns. They have never been less than in control of their six matches to date, although having seen off both Ireland and Bangladesh, as well as the below-par England and West Indies, they are acutely aware that the challenge is about to get rather more intense.”Our toughest test is these three games coming up,” said Daniel Vettori, whose team still has two other semi-final candidates, South Africa and Australia, waiting in the pipeline. “We can control our own destiny if we win tomorrow. If we want to go on and win [the World Cup] we know that we’re going to have to beat one of these three teams, either in a final or a semi-final, so it’s a good wake-up call and a realisation that we’ve got to play well.”New Zealand’s task, however, has been made all the less arduous by the news that Lasith Malinga, Sri Lanka’s sling-shotting spearhead, will not be playing. He has sustained a grade two tear of his ankle ligament, and could well be forced to miss the remainder of the Super Eights campaign. “He is very keen to play, but we have told him ‘No’,” Michael Tissera, the team manager, said. “He suffered the injury the day before yesterday, and we sent him to Jamaica for a scan. We hope he will be fit for the games against Australia and Ireland [next week].”

Vettori’s grin spoke volumes when asked how much of a relief his absence would be to New Zealand, although Sangakkara was keen to impress the depth and variety of the bowling attack Sri Lanka still has at its disposal. “I think we are going in with a very balanced attack. In the past we’ve been very spin-heavy, but we have a squad of five fast bowlers, each ready to step up when opportunities present themselves,” he said. “Malinga is important but each has equal importance in our side. If he’s fit or not fit, whoever comes in must do the job and that’s how we approach it.”All the same, Malinga’s absence means that there is only one genuine paceman left in the contest. “He’s been far and away the best fast bowler in the past six or seven months,” Sangakkara said of Shane Bond, the bowler of the tournament to date. “He is one person that you have to respect. You can talk the whole day about Bondy and his outswingers, but the real important thing for us is to be mentally prepared to face that on the day, and overcome the challenge.”Form and fortune favours New Zealand, who are expected to welcome back Ross Taylor in the middle order. However – like their fellow pacemakers, Australia – they have yet to be challenged in their unbeaten run to date. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have already been involved in two of the tightest contests in World Cup history – their one-wicket loss against South Africa, and their two-run win over England.”We didn’t want England to get that close,” Sangakkara said of their thriller in Antigua last week, “but the positive thing from that was that we showed character as a team and individually to step up in that final over. Maybe we have a more rounded perspective for the coming games. But one-day cricket is all about being on the money every single minute. We just have to be as professional as we can.”New Zealand (probable) 1 Peter Fulton, 2 Stephen Fleming (capt), 3 Ross Taylor, 4 Craig McMillan, 5 Scott Styris, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 Shane Bond, 10 James Franklin, 11 Mark Gillespie.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 6 Chamara Silva, 7 Russel Arnold, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Farveez Maharoof, 10 Dilhara Fernando, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

It has emerged that Craig Overton, the Somerset allrounder who was banned for two games at the end of last season after accumulating nine penalty points, allegedly told Sussex’s Ashar Zaidi to “go back to your own f***ing country”.Overton denied the claims – made by umpire Alex Wharf and Zaidi’s team-mate Michael Yardy – but was charged with a Level One offence for “using language that is obscene, offensive or insulting and/or making an obscene gesture” during Somerset’s Championship fixture at Hove in September. He subsequently missed the final game of the season and still has one match left to serve.The decision by the ECB’s Cricket Discipline Commission to pursue the lowest level of offence, reported by the , contrasts with its handling of the case involving Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale in 2014. Gale was given a further two-match ban after using the term “Kolpak” when arguing with Lancashire’s Ashwell Prince; while batting in a Championship match at Old Trafford, Gale told Prince to “f*** off back to your country you Kolpak f***er”.A Level Two charge was initially brought against Gale by the umpires, resulting in a two-match ban, and he was then given a further punishment by the CDC for bringing the game into disrepute. Gale missed the match at Trent Bridge in which Yorkshire clinched the title and was also barred from lifting the trophy.Overton, who was named in the England Performance Programme the same month, escaped a similar fate. He was spoken to at the time by Wharf and the other standing umpire, Ian Gould, along with ECB cricket liaison officer Graham Cowdrey and Somerset’s head coach, Matthew Maynard. Overton subsequently played no further part in the game, with the club saying he had suffered a hand injury.On Thursday evening, Jason Gillespie, Yorkshire’s head coach, indicated the club had questions for the ECB. “There is a strong chance that @YorkshireCCC will be seeking clarification on this,” he wrote on Twitter. Gale, meanwhile, tweeted a link to the Guardian, saying: “Interesting article, take a read…”The ECB has rejected any suggestion of impropriety in the process concerning Overton, stressing that the CDC is “an independent body which operates at arm’s length”.The governing body said in a statement: “Following the incident, the on-field umpires sought advice from the ECB’s Cricket Department who referred the matter directly to the Chairman of the Cricket Discipline Commission, Mr Gerard Elias, QC.”After reviewing the umpires’ report, the Chairman of the CDC gave clear guidance that this should be reported as a Level One offence and no further action should be taken. The automatic penalty for a Level One offence was subsequently applied and this took Craig Overton to nine points, the threshold for an automatic suspension.”The Cricket Discipline Commission is an independent body which operates at arm’s length from ECB. Craig Overton’s selection for the EPP squad would have played no part whatsoever in the CDC’s ruling in this matter.”ECB refutes any suggestion of interference or bias in the proper disciplinary process.”Zaidi, who was born in Pakistan but played for Sussex using a British passport, is understood not to have heard the comment directed towards him. It was included in reports made by Wharf and Yardy, who was standing at the non-striker’s end, afterwards.After submissions were made by all parties, the CDC brought a Level One charge against Overton, which, as his third breach of the season, triggered an automatic ban.According to the ECB’s regulations, a Level Three charge covers “using language or gesture that offends, insults, humiliates, intimidates, threatens, disparages or vilifies another person on the basis of that person’s race, religion or belief, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, gender, sexual orientation or background”.Overton and his twin brother Jamie have been identified as England stars of the future. Both were called up to the ODI squad during the summer and Jamie is currently involved with the Lions’ T20 series with Pakistan A in the UAE.

The Canadian squad to play in the inaugural World Cricket League in Kenya in late January and early February has been named. It includes 12 of the 14 players who recently played in South Africa.Returning to lead the squad is allrounder John Davison. Two pace-bowlers supplement the squad – Austin Codrington returns while the experienced former West Indian international Anderson Cummins is set to make his debut for Canada. Questions may be raised about the wisdom of including Cummins, a 40-year-old who plays for Cavaliers in the Toronto and District Cricket Association but who has not played a high standard of cricket for more than a decade.Sanjay Thuraisingham and Steve Welsh (flown in as a replacement) are the two players who played in South Africa that are not going to Kenya.This is a key event for the six leading Associates. It not only provides warm-up opportunities on the road to the World Cup, but the top two sides will qualify for the ICC’s new Twenty20 Championship in South Africa in September 2007. These sides will also receive significant extra funding from the ICC to help with preparations for that tournament.Canada squad John Davison (capt), Kevin Sandher, Qaiser Ali, George Codrington, Desmond Chumney, Sundeep Jyoti, Don Maxwell, Abdool Samad, Henry Osinde, Austin Codrington, Ashish Bagai, Ashif Mulla, Sunil Dhaniram, Umar Bhatti, Anderson Cummins.

Australia captain Pat Cummins has conceded he is unlikely to feature in the Boxing Day Test and may not play again in the series after his team was able to secure a “pretty amazing” Ashes victory in Adelaide to retain the urn in just 11 days of playing time.For Cummins, who claimed six wickets in the match, it was his first game for five-and-a-half months as he recovered from a back injury and while he said he came through the game well back-to-back Tests was always unlikely for him.”I’m feeling really good, [but] as for the rest of the series we’ll wait and see,” he said. “We had a pretty aggressive build-up knowing that it’s the Ashes there to be won and we thought that was worth it. Now that the series has been won, there might be a sense of job’s done and let’s reassess the risk.Related

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“We’ll work it out over the next couple of days, I doubt I’ll be playing Melbourne, and then we’ll have a chat about Sydney. But certainly before the series it was, while the series was live, let’s take on the risk and have a crack at it, now it’s done, I think we’ll need to have a chat about it.”Jamie Smith and Will Jacks raised the slim prospect of a remarkable England chase on the final day in Adelaide but Australia always had runs in the bank, although had to contend with the loss of Nathan Lyon to what looked like a series-ending hamstring injury.However, Mitchell Starc claimed three wickets on the final day – the vital one of Jacks courtesy of a spectacular catch at first slip by Marnus Labuschagne – and Scott Boland closed out the match.”It feels pretty awesome. Yeah, amazing,” Cummins said at the presentation. “It’s a series we’ve been thinking about for a long time. It wasn’t easy today, but we got it done. It’s a pretty excited changing room in there.”The relentlessness of Australia’s attack stood out throughout the game, while the fielding was superb and Alex Carey produced another masterclass behind the stumps.”I think that’s when we’re at our best, this cricket team,” Cummins said about maintaining the pressure on England. “You can’t really rush things here in Australia. I think you kind of will it to happen, but it doesn’t really work that way. It’s good old-fashioned grind a lot of the time. I loved the toil from all the guys today. It got a little bit closer than I would have liked, but I’m pretty happy.”He also praised the way his team responded to various challenges that came their way, including the loss of Lyon. “I think that’s one of the things I’m most proud about in this group,” he said. “Nothing ever really happens perfectly, there’s always something that gets thrown up.”Over the last few years, this groups have shown [it can] just crack on. Even I missed the first couple of games, Steve stepped right in and it was smooth and seamless. There’s always things that crop up; Nathan Lyon doing his hammy with a couple of hours left today.”The boys just go, okay, that’s happened. Let’s crack on. What’s next? I think that’s one of the big reasons why we’ve had our success over the last couple of years.”On his own comeback, he added: “The last two months have been a bit of a grind. [I gave] myself every chance, but it’s all worth it when you get days like this, packed crowd and retaining the Ashes.”

Marcus Trescothick is one step closer to a return from the international wilderness after being named in England’s 30-man preliminary squad for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championships that take place in South Africa in September.Trescothick has not been considered for England since he withdrew from the Ashes tour last November with a recurrence of the stress-related illness that had forced him home from the India trip earlier in the year. But his momentum-seizing batting was sorely missed during England’s uninspiring World Cup campaign, and the temptation to include him in the final 15 on August 11 could be overwhelming.”As it stands nothing has been set in concrete, it’s just an opportunity for us to take our time,” Trescothick told BBC Sport. “I’m just enjoying my cricket here [at Somerset] and we’ll continue to see how it goes over the next couple of months. I can only judge between now and August 11 whether I’m fit to tour again and at this moment it’s given us an opportunity to say if I feel things have progessed we can maybe think about it.”England’s chairman of selectors, David Graveney, said: “Marcus Trescothick is a contracted player and was named in the England Performance squad earlier this summer. We have decided to name him in this provisional squad in order to give us more flexibility should it be decided that Marcus is ready to return to international cricket before the tournament takes place.”The Twenty20 World Championships could be the perfect way to ease Trescothick back into touring life – the trip lasts only a fortnight and while it is high-profile, the experimental nature of the format should take much of the pressure off the participants.”We are pleased that Marcus has made a successful return to county cricket this summer and he remains a world-class opening batsman but we will not be placing undue pressure on him to make a return to international cricket without first carefully considering all the issues involved,” said Graveney. “Ultimately, we will be guided by Marcus and the ECB medical staff as to his availability and I would anticipate that further discussions will take place with him before the squad is narrowed down.”Trescothick’s recall was advocated by many this week, including his friend and former Test team-mate, Ashley Giles. “If he is ready to return, which is the most important thing, then he has to be in our Twenty20 team,” said Giles. “I think it would be a good opportunity – if he felt he was getting close – to use it as a first step back into the England team. It will be a little more relaxed, it’s not a very long trip, so let’s get him in.”England’s selectors have cast their net wide at this stage of the deliberations, with several notable inclusions in the 30-man squad. The most remarkable is Chris Schofield, the Surrey legspinner who played two Tests for England in 2000 and was one of the first players to be awarded a central contract system. His career, however, went into freefall after that and three years ago he was released by Lancashire and faded into minor counties cricket.He fought and won an acrimonious legal battle against his former employers, but it wasn’t until Surrey offered him a one-year contract last summer that his career got back on track. This season he took 17 wickets in eight Twenty20 matches, although it was not enough to secure them Surrey a place in next month’s semi-finals.Darren Maddy is another man who hasn’t played internationals for seven years, although he has since made a name for himself as a Twenty20 specialist, while Paul Nixon is included as another wicketkeeping option alongside his successor in the one-day side, Matt Prior.There are two uncapped players in the 30-man squad – Sussex’s exciting allrounder, Luke Wright, who was this season’s top run-scorer in the Twenty20 Cup, and the Essex captain, Mark Pettini. There is no place, however, for Yorkshire’s captain, Darren Gough, nor Sajid Mahmood and Ed Joyce, who toured with England this winter but have since faded from view.Squad James Anderson (Lancashire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Leicestershire), Glen Chapple (Lancashire), Paul Collingwood (Durham) (captain), Alastair Cook (Essex), Andrew Flintoff (Lancashire), James Kirtley (Sussex), Jon Lewis (Gloucestershire), Mal Loye (Lancashire), Darren Maddy (Warwickshire), Dimitri Mascarenhas (Hampshire), Paul Nixon (Leicestershire), Monty Panesar (Northamptonshire), Mark Pettini (Essex), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Liam Plunkett (Durham), Matt Prior (Sussex), Chris Schofield (Surrey), Owais Shah (Middlesex), Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), Jeremy Snape (Leicestershire), Vikram Solanki (Worcestershire), Chris Tremlett (Hampshire), Marcus Trescothick (Somerset), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire), Luke Wright (Sussex), Michael Yardy (Sussex)

The Pakistan Cricket Board has sought legal advice on whether Mohammad Amir can get a visa to travel with the national side to New Zealand in January. Amir served three months in jail for his role in the 2010 spot-fixing case and New Zealand has rules against granting visas to individuals with criminal convictions.New Zealand’s immigration authority, on its website, states that “People with criminal convictions or who have provided false or misleading information will not be granted a visa unless a character waiver is granted.” It further specifies that, “In the case of character waivers, each application is considered on its individual merits and taking into account, for example, the seriousness of an offence, number of offences and how long ago the event/s occurred.”Amir’s visa for England was rejected last year and the PCB suspects that his case for the New Zealand series will be weak. ESPNcricinfo understands that PCB has engaged legal advice from England and has taken Amir’s lawyer on board in case there is a need to present evidence again.Amir was recently named in a 26-member squad for a conditioning camp and could be selected for the first time in five years for Pakistan’s upcoming limited-overs series in New Zealand. He completed his educational rehabilitation programme after serving a five-year ban for his role in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal.In November 2011, Amir – along with Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif – was sentenced in a London Court on charges conspiracy to accept corrupt payments and conspiracy to cheat at gambling after a plot was uncovered in a sting operation to bowl deliberate no-balls in a Test against England in 2010.Amir was given a six-month jail sentence and served half of it at the Portland Young Offenders Institution in Dorset. In January this year, Amir was allowed to return to cricket ahead of schedule by the ICC. His five-year suspension period formally ended on September 1.

Sachin Tendulkar has dismissed speculation that he is thinking of retiring from one-day cricket or cutting down on the amount of ODIs to ensure a longer Test career. In an interview with the , the 34-year-old Tendulkar discussed a number of issues, from the challenges ahead against Pakistan and Australia to a look at his own fitness and form.On the question of quitting the one-day game, Tendulkar was emphatic he had no such plans. “I have honestly not thought about the fact that I only need to play one version of the game to play the other longer. I am enjoying whatever I am doing at the moment. The moment I feel I am not enjoying myself, I will start thinking about it.”I think I still like to do a lot of things on the cricket field. When I am bowling, I would want to do something more, surprise the batsman, beat him with a little bit of extra seam or some spin or whatever I am doing. That excitement is something else. Even today when I do that I feel happy. When you hit a cover drive, a straight drive or a cut, the feeling touches your soul. The sound of bat hitting the ball, even hitting it exactly where you want to do it, those feelings are special. I enjoy that feeling, I live for it.”Plenty has been written about his inability to dominate attacks in the last few years, but Tendulkar saw it differently, saying he is now more adept at shaping his game according to the needs of the situation.”My batting has changed for the good, I would like to believe. I won’t be able to pinpoint but I know when I go out in the middle now I do things a little differently, things I was not able to do earlier. You continue to raise that bar, to get better. I definitely feel there have been a lot of changes; my shot-selection has improved, I have more options now. If somebody is bowling a particular ball, maybe earlier I had only one or two options; now I may have four or even five options. And I am able to pick the best option for that particular moment and I go for it.”He also spoke at length about his battles with James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom during the Tests against England earlier this year to illustrate the fact that he had improved in his ability to mould his batting to suit the needs of the team.”I thought on both the occasions I went in to bat at the most crucial moments in the Test matches,” he said. In the second match at Old Trafford, Tendulkar overcame a terrific spell by Sidebottom, getting beaten several times and hardly scoring a run off him. “If I had lost my wicket at that stage, we would have been on the back foot. Even the result might have been different. I am not saying the batsmen behind me would not have done the job, but we would have been under more pressure. At that particular stage it was important that we didn’t lose any wicket. Just play out that spell and gradually start building our innings again.” Tendulkar finally fell for 91, but by then India were in command at 342 for 4, and a platform had been set for a huge first-innings lead.

In the next game, at The Oval, Anderson tested him with several short deliveries on the first day but Tendulkar refused to be baited into playing the pull or hook and instead took several blows to his body. “That evening spell [by Anderson] was very crucial. I thought if I could just hang in there it would put us in a better position.”[The body blows] were all intentional. I though that was the best way of playing at that point. He was trying to intimidate me and I said fine, ‘try it as long as you want’. I had basically used a different technique, a different approach to overcome it. I don’t know how to express this but I was like ‘if you are going to do this I will handle it like this’.Tendulkar also explained why he didn’t try to hook. “They had fielders there for that specific shot and if I mistimed even one shot they would have been successful in their plan. And I wasn’t going to let that happen. Here it is not a battle between Anderson and me; it is about the team. I was looking at the big picture all the time. I knew he won’t be able to go on and on with that line and length. And that’s exactly how it worked out. Later on when the other batters came on, the pressure had eased out.”Probably ten years ago I would have played my strokes, tried to dominate. I didn’t mind not doing it that time.” Anderson did eventually dismiss Tendulkar, but not before he had made 82 and put India on the road for a sizeable first-innings total.