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West Indies’ new T20 captain Carlos Brathwaite said a vote of confidence from his predecessor Darren Sammy and encouragement from the senior players had made his transition into the role easier

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Aug-2016West Indies’ new T20 captain Carlos Brathwaite said a vote of confidence from his predecessor Darren Sammy and encouragement from the senior players made his transition into the role easier.The WICB named Brathwaite to lead the side against India in two T20 matches in Florida on August 27 and 28. Sammy, who led West Indies to two World T20 titles, had announced the news of his axing as captain through a Facebook post and was later dropped from the squad.”He just told me, ‘Congratulations’. He heard it before I spoke to him, and he just said, ‘Congratulations, it’s a big challenge’. He gave me his blessing and as a senior guy appreciated it, which allowed me to ease into the role,” Brathwaite said at a press conference after the fourth Test against India in Port of Spain. “I haven’t officially started yet, but it has allowed me to transition easier from just being told [about the captaincy] to the excitement of wanting to get on the field and lead. It was a good vote of confidence speaking to Sammy, then I saw him at a charity event, saw some of the senior guys as well, all have been telling me positive things.”

Matches in USA will be a spectacle – Brathwaite

Carlos Brathwaite also fielded a question from India offspinner R Ashwin at the end of his press conference. Ashwin, who was due to speak to the media after Brathwaite, asked the West Indies allrounder whether he thought India would get more support during the upcoming T20Is in the USA. Brathwaite said the series was “testing the waters”, after the USA leg of the CPL had been well-received.
“It’s funny because the US has a lot of Caribbean supporters and I think a few Caribbean people who used to like cricket but probably don’t follow it anymore would love to come out and enjoy some games in the US. Whether they will be supporting West Indies or India I don’t know, but I think it will be a very good spectacle. From all reports, CPL had a fantastic ovation and it was well-received. And I hope this is the start of big things. We are next-door neighbours and the US is a powerhouse so let’s see how it goes. We are testing the waters a bit, hopefully it goes well and hopefully this is the first of many in the USA.”

Brathwaite stressed that members in the West Indies side were “mature enough” to handle a change in leadership. He added the players enjoyed each other’s company and, from that point of view, leading the side would be easy.”I think a team like this will be pretty easy to lead, from the point of view that the dressing room is a fun place to be. I don’t think it’s a case where I have to negotiate too many egos,” he said. “The guys enjoy each other’s company. It’s just a matter for me to go there, do the things that I can do, firstly as a player and then a captain, continue to mould the team that Darren has started to mould, efficiently.”Again, the most important thing is getting victories for the West Indies. As a new leader, things might change bit by bit. It’s just about adjusting and then for me to find ways for the team to continue to win.”I don’t want to get too deep into the psychology of changing leaders and stuff like that. I think all the guys are mature enough. We have had cases where some of the guys were captains, and then played the next series under a different captain. We are professionals, we all know what we have to go out there and do.”It’s a matter of, first, to go out there and win games for the West Indies and I hope that my leadership can influence that in some part. Even if it doesn’t, if we win the games that will be the most important thing.”Brathwaite, 28, has only recently found himself settling into West Indies’ limited-overs sides. One of his best moments came during the World T20 final against England earlier this year. With his team needing 19 runs off the last over, he struck four successive sixes off Ben Stokes to take the side to their second T20 title.Prior to that tournament, however, Brathwaite had played only two T20Is – against South Africa in January 2015 and against Bangladesh in 2011. His place in the Test team, meanwhile, is not settled. He made his debut against Australia during the Boxing Day Test at the MCG last year, but has played only two matches since then. In the series against India, he was picked for the first Test where he scored a duck and an unbeaten 51, but was dropped for the remaining matches.Brathwaite said feedback from the selectors about his exclusion gave him a chance to become a better all-round player.”I want to be the best I can be. I want to myself available in all three formats for the West Indies and I obviously don’t want to make goals I haven’t been able to fulfill as yet,” he said. “Again a bit old, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to see us back at the top in Test cricket as yet. But just improvement and progression, I think we start to improve and I want to be a bigger part of that improvement and progression as well.”Being dropped, I got a clear message from the selectors why I was dropped as well. I was disappointed but it’s a chance for me now to go forward and get a bit stronger and get a bit better as well and when you get that chance again, whenever it may be, it is up to me to take that chance and become a better player all-round.”Brathwaite said that before accepting the captaincy, he had sought clarification from the selectors on their expectations of him.”Yes there was hesitation. I wanted to contact my family and my close advisors before I took the job. It is an honour, I would never say I didn’t want to take it. But obviously I had some questions that I asked of the selection panel before I took the job. Just basically to clarify why they wanted me, what they expected of me, and coming into the role knowing my job.”

Senior batsman George Bailey has admitted Australia’s batsmen have let their inexperienced bowling counterparts down so far in South Africa, a sentiment echoed by the former vice-captain Brad Haddin

Daniel Brettig04-Oct-2016Senior batsman George Bailey has admitted Australia’s batsmen have let their inexperienced bowling counterparts down so far in South Africa, a sentiment echoed by the former vice-captain Brad Haddin.Much focus has centred on the expensive figures returned by a youthful bowling attack in the two matches that have Australia 0-2 down to South Africa in the five-match ODI series, but Bailey and Haddin have both reframed the debate by pointing the finger squarely at the top order.”We’ve certainly got a young bowling attack but I think the thing that’s been the most disappointing is our batting the last two games,” Bailey said ahead of the third match in Durban. “We were under par in game one and 360 is a big total, but you saw it on that ground it was great value for money, the ball flew everywhere and our run rate was going pretty well.”All the batters are hitting the ball pretty well, it’s just that nobody’s getting a hundred and the South Africans have had a guy score a hundred in each of those games. As much as the focus could be on our young bowling attack, I think it’s the batters who have got to step up.”Haddin, speaking on , said that the batsmen had none of the handicaps the pacemen Daniel Worrall, Scott Boland, Joe Mennie and Chris Tremain were saddled with, trying to get comfortable in a new team environment while learning how to cope with the pressures of international cricket.”At the end of game I heard Davey (Warner) and Steven Smith talking about how our bowlers need to step up a little bit. But we had a couple of guys on debut, we had all our senior batters there,” Haddin said. “I think the batters were a little bit disappointing to be honest.”It sort of happened a little bit in the Sri Lanka series with Nathan Lyon as well. I think the batters need to have a bit of a look at themselves. We’ve got all our senior bats there, we’re not missing anyone from that end. Fifties aren’t going to cut it. We need guys like Davey to get a start and go on and get some big scores. Yeah it was a tough day for the bowlers but those guys are on debut, they’ll be better for the run.”Bailey mused over the circumstances of the batsmen’s dismissals in the first two matches, and reasoned it was more a matter of focus on the task than anything else. “I don’t think there’s been any really audacious dismissals, we’ve just been getting out,” he said. “I know the first couple of training sessions we spoke about the fact we could hit the ball again. It was a bit of a shock to get into the rhythm of getting that value and being able to play with some freedom, but I don’t think that’s been an issue.”It’s just a matter of guys, once they get that start, turning it into a really big score. And maybe credit needs to go to South Africa, they might be bowling more consistently and putting us under more pressure. I think we’ve got a really strong batting line-up, it’s time for us to stand up.”

West Indies’ batting coach Toby Radford said that the side couldn’t counter Pakistan’s game plan of spin on a ground with a slow track and big boundaries and were also hampered by poor Powerplays

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Sep-20161:49

Pakistan’s game plan of using spin paid off – Radford

West Indies’ batting coach Toby Radford rued another poor batting display from his side in their 16-run loss to Pakistan in the second T20I in Dubai. Having lost the series, Radford said that West Indies couldn’t counter Pakistan’s game plan of spin on a ground with a slow track and big boundaries. Poor starts in the Powerplay didn’t help their cause, he added.In the first T20I, West Indies were struggling at 25 for 5 after the first six overs and were eventually bowled out for a paltry 115. In the second, chasing 161, they lost three wickets in the Powerplay putting only 20 runs on the board. Radford pointed out that West Indies were unable to switch to a mode that focused on accumulating runs through singles and twos, like Pakistan have done in the matches so far.”The first Powerplay yesterday and today were every similar. Yesterday we were five down, three down in the first six today,” Radford said after the game. “And I think the big difference when you looked at Pakistan in the first six was they were 38 for 1 and 39 for 1 on both days.”Clearly the game plan from Pakistan has been to have slow wickets to bowl a lot of spin and have very big boundaries. West Indies are known to be a big, six-hitting and boundary-hitting side, normally play on quicker pitches and slightly smaller grounds. But it’s up to us to find a way around that.”Pakistan have bowled well, they have actually fielded well. When they batted, they showed on a slow wicket and a big outfield that it’s actually all about knocking the ball into gaps and doing a lot of running. They ran a lot of twos tonight which I think really stretched us, and I don’t think it was ever going to be a game for lots of boundaries because I don’t think it’s that type of surface and that type of outfield.”While Radford praised seamer Sohail Tanvir, who picked up 3 for 13 in his four overs, Pakistan’s T20 captain Sarfraz Ahmed also credited the innings played by Shoaib Malik at No. 4. Malik, who became only the third Pakistan player to score more than 1500 T20I runs, chipped in with a useful 28-ball 37, and added 69 with Sarfraz for the fourth wicket before falling in the last over. That partnership helped Pakistan garner 60 runs off the last six overs. Sarfraz finished unbeaten on 46 off 32 balls.Sarfraz also stated that the team management had decided to send in Umar Akmal at No. 6 to bolster the lower order, which had been missing a finisher.”It was our strategy to play Umar Akmal at No. 6, since we needed a finisher in the lower order. We scored about 50 runs in the last five overs and we felt that was enough as we had set a target of a 150+ score,” Sarfraz said. “A lot of credit goes to Shoaib Malik too, the way he played with me at the end. We needed a senior player to stay at the wicket and he did that for us.”Pakistan went in with an unchanged side for the second match, leaving out fast bowler Mohammad Amir. Sarfraz stressed that the management wanted to give players confidence through a longer stint in the side and Amir was a part of the side’s plans for the future.”We have tried to keep a winning combination so we didn’t try to change too much,” Sarfraz said. “That is also our target – to give players a longer run in the side to build their confidence. Mohammad Amir is our main bowler and he will definitely play an important role for us in the future.”

South Africa’s stand-in Test captain lauded the young fast bowler’s willingness to be in the fight

Firdose Moonda in Perth07-Nov-2016If Kagiso Rabada were a little older but not quite as wise, or the WACA pitch a little flatter but with not quite as much carry, South Africa’s 21-year old bowling superstar may not have had the success he did. But youth and circumstance allowed him to prove himself “a champion bowler”, in the words of his captain Faf du Plessis, and bowl a 10-man South Africa side to the unlikeliest of victories.”I am incredibly proud of KG. He just wanted the ball,” du Plessis said. “Every time I said, ‘Are you tired?’, he said, ‘No, you’re not taking the ball out of my hand’. That’s the sign of a champion bowler for me. He wants to be in the fight the whole time.”Rabada bowled 51 overs in the match, almost ten more than his seam-bowling partner Vernon Philander. In the second innings, his twin spells of eight overs at the beginning and end of the day broke the back of Australia’s attempt to save the match. If that wasn’t enough, he returned on the final morning for six more overs of high quality to complete a five-for. In all that, Rabada never thought it was getting too much.”It was challenging but I’ve done this before, at Kent. There are flat wickets there. At least here the ball is bouncing now,” Rabada said. “I’ve got that experience in my body but I am young. If I was older, I don’t know if I’d have done that much.”The pick of Rabada’s efforts came late in the afternoon on the penultimate day. Despite flagging energy, his speeds were above 140, the line was perfect outside off stump and the movement he generated made wickets inevitable. First Steven Smith fell and then Rabada produced a near-perfect over to Adam Voges.”I enjoyed that over, with a new batter coming in and the ball reversing nicely,” Rabada said. “I was feeling my best rhythm. Sometimes you get a wicket exactly how you want it and this was one of those times.”At four down overnight, there was some talk of an early finish but Rabada entered the day aware that it might get long. “Two things could have happened: either we would have cleaned them up before lunch and we’d have been done or this would have happened where we had to wait until tea time. If it does happen, great. If it doesn’t you have to keep on persisting and hitting your straps and that’s what we did.”South Africa’s determination stemmed from a desire to translate their success in the home ODIs against the same opposition into the longer format. “It was important coming here after what we’ve done in the one-dayers to back it up with Tests,” du Plessis said. “You like to start well and open up those wounds again.”Rabada is being spoken about as the new spearhead, especially with Dale Steyn out for at least the next six months, but it is not a label he wants. “I don’t see myself being the leader of the attack. Every player has a job to do,” Rabada said. “You have a responsibility to make sure you produce the goods for your country. You’ve got a job to do, it’s a passion and you do it for your team-mates and the people back home. No one wants to lose, right? So you have to try to do everything you can to win.”Sharing the burden is a theme South Africa want to build on, not just in the bowling department. With AB de Villiers out of the series, the rest have had to rally. In this Test, JP Duminy’s return to form, batting at No.4, was particularly pleasing for South Africa especially as there was pressure on him to keep his place.”The extra responsibility on JP is something he has really enjoyed. He looked really confident,” du Plessis said. “He was practising well. His body language was positive. It’s not a guarantee but it’s a sign and I felt JP’s cricket was about to turn in a positive way. He has played really well. That’s one of his best knocks he has ever played. He moved brilliantly. Even throwing the ball to him now, I know he is so confident. It’s great for his future in the game.”With so much going their way, South Africa will celebrate in Perth tonight but not like they would have celebrated before. In 2012, the series was done. Now, the series has just started and they know they have a long way to go. “It’s important to celebrate games like this. Every time you win a Test you must celebrate,” du Plessis said. “But we also know we’ve got one step in the right direction but we are very far from winning the series.”

A consistent team effort by England Lions gave them a 16-run win against UAE in Dubai and with it a 3-0 win in the series

ECB Reporters Network05-Dec-2016
ScorecardJoe Clarke top scored before he was bowled•Getty Images

England Lions completed a clean sweep of their one-day series against the United Arab Emirates in Dubai thanks to the depth of their batting and the quality of their bowling and fielding.The Lions top order failed to fire for the second game in succession after they were put in on a tricky pitch, with only Joe Clarke of the top five passing 30. But they still posted a decent total of 223 for 8, the highest of a low-scoring series, thanks to handy contributions lower down the order, led by 40 for the Surrey allrounder Sam Curran, who later impressed with the ball, alongside Craig Overton and Ollie Rayner, who both took three wickets.The UAE threatened to pull off an unlikely win led by Adnan Mufti, a 31-year-old left-hander from Rawalpindi, on his debut, but Mufti was run out by Liam Livingstone’s powerful throw from the long-on boundary with the UAE still 16 runs short.”I think it was quite good for us to be in a tight game at the end there,” said Rayner. “Their left-hander played really well and we had to work hard to get the win. Through the series we’ve had lots of different guys taking wickets with Stuart Meaker in the first game and Tom Curran in the second, and a few of us shared them out a bit today.”Overton is on his fourth Lions tour even though he is still only 22, and aiming to make up for lost time after suffering injuries in each of the last two winters. “It’s been frustrating with the injuries the last two years, but I had a good season with Somerset and so far things have been going well,” he said.Curran, returned to the team with his older brother Tom rested following his five wickets as the Lions clinched the series on Saturday, made the first breakthrough courtesy of a low one-handed catch by Clarke, who was keeping for the first time on the tour.Ben Foakes, who had worn the gloves in the previous two matches, then showed his ability in the outfield with a sharp catch at midwicket to give James Fuller his first success.Rohan Mustafa, the opener who has been UAE’s best batsman all series, was leading the charge again until he launched Rayner straight down the ground and Overton intercepted just inside the boundary. With the first ball of his next over, Rayner had Mohammed Usman, another left-hander, lbw sweeping, and when Overton claimed a deserved wicket in a probing opening burst of 4-2-2-1, UAE had slumped from 71 for 2 to 81 for 5.Rayner claimed a sharp return catch for his third wicket, and Tom Alsop snapped up Saqlain Haider at point to give Fuller his second. Then Overton returned to collect a couple more, although the Lions were relieved when Livingstone ended the last-wicket resistance.Livingstone had also made an impression with the bat, hitting two sixes in a fourth-wicket stand of 65 in 14 overs with Clarke. But they fell in quick succession to leave the Lions on 115 for 5, and they were indebted to Curran, the youngest member of the squad, for showing maturity as well as ability in partnerships of 45 with Foakes and 34 with Fuller.The Lions must now switch quickly to red-ball mode, with practice at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday before a four-day match against Afghanistan.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza has said he had hopes from some of the senior batsmen to take their innings close to the 252 target

Mohammad Isam29-Dec-2016Mashrafe Mortaza was left almost speechless after he saw Bangladesh’s fifth batting meltdown of the year. The latest one, losing seven wickets for 56 runs in 14 overs, resulted in their 67-run loss to concede the series to New Zealand.Chasing 252, Sabbir Rahman’s run-out in the 23rd over ended his 75-run second-wicket stand with Imrul Kayes, before Lockie Ferguson’s yorker left Mahmudullah with little time to bring his bat down in time. The next three of the four wickets fell to the part-time offspin of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson; Shakib sliced a catch to short third man, Mosaddek handed one straight to mid-off and Tanbir Hayder was stumped.Mashrafe said that set batsmen like Kayes and Sabbir should have carried the innings more towards the target, but there was still hope with Shakib starting to get settled before he fell for 7.”Teams from the subcontinent who tour New Zealand look for the sort of opportunities that we got today,” Mashrafe said. “In the first game we were in the game even though we had given away 40 runs too many. Today the batting collapse was unexpected because we were showing how flat the wicket was. We have let go of a big chance, and had we taken it, we could have played the next match comfortably.”Even after the run-out we had some of our successful players in the middle. But they couldn’t click today. I wouldn’t say we gifted them the wickets. I think we were hurrying to score runs but I think the batsmen can give you a better explanation. I think we could have been a lot more patient, especially after Imrul and Sabbir were getting into a flow. So there was a case of settling down again after spending a bit of time in the middle.”The same theme had unfolded recently in October when Bangladesh, placed comfortably at 271 for 4 chasing 310 against England in the first ODI, lost their last six wickets in 38 balls to fold for 288.Nine days earlier, Bangladesh had slipped from 138 for 4 to be bowled out for 208 in the second ODI against Afghanistan, who won the game by two wickets. In the first and third ODIs too, Bangladesh collapsed from positions of strength even though they ended up winning both games.These five collapses could be seen as a bug in the system that was first installed during the World T20 game against India in Bangalore, when needing two runs off the last three balls, they ended up losing by one run. The stink from that chase gone wrong still seems to be pervading the Bangladesh dressing room.

Kevin Pietersen will not play the 2017 season of the IPL, citing a busy winter as a reason for not entering the player auction scheduled for later this month

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-20170:50

Quick Facts – Kevin Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen will not play the 2017 season of the IPL, citing a busy winter as a reason for not entering the player auction scheduled for later this month.Pietersen, 36, was part of the Rising Pune Supergiants franchise in 2016 but played only four games before missing the rest of the tournament with a calf injury. He was released by the franchise in December last year and would have had to be bought at the player auction in February to play this year.

Pietersen’s previous bids

• 2009 – $1.55 million (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

• 2011 – $650,000 (Deccan Chargers)

• 2014 – $1.33 million approx. (Delhi Daredevils)

• 2015 – $300,000 approx. (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

• 2016 – $520,000 approx. (Rising Pune Supergiants)

“I won’t be going into the IPL auction,” Pietersen said on Twitter. “My winter has been too busy with all my travel & I don’t want to spend April/May away too!”Pietersen spent the winter playing the domestic T20 tournament in South Africa – 198 runs in five innings for Dolphins – and the Big Bash League in Australia, where he scored 268 runs in eight innings in Melbourne Stars’ run to the semi-final.He had played for Quetta Gladiators in the inaugural season of the PSL in 2016 and is set to be part of the team once again for the upcoming tournament from February 9 to March 5. The IPL is scheduled to begin in the first week of April and end in the third week of May.

Coach Chandika Hathurusingha has warned against overreacting to Bangladesh’s winless tour of New Zealand by making drastic changes to the side

Mohammad Isam in Christchurch24-Jan-2017Bangladesh’s coach Chandika Hathurusingha has warned against overreacting to the team’s winless tour of New Zealand by making drastic changes to the side. The visitors lost all eight international matches despite dominating parts of a number of the games.Hathurusingha said that the likes of Kamrul Islam Rabbi and Mehedi Hasan Miraz, on their first tour with Bangladesh, showed promising signs. Rabbi has been one of the few newcomers to impress on a tour in which five players made their international debuts across formats, and seven were on their first tour away from home.”I am happy with their performance,” Hathurusingha said. “It is not all doom and gloom. There are a lot of positives to build on. You can’t just discard some of them or go overboard for what happened. This experience will help Bangladesh cricket and will help these players to do much better in the future. The likes of Rabbi and Miraz had changed demeanour on the field from the England series to this tour. I can see them learning quickly.”Hathurusingha however said that Bangladesh are still some way off from being able to keep their intensity up over five days of a Test. After initially keeping pace with New Zealand in both Tests, they gave it away in the second innings. In Wellington, Bangladesh were bowled out for 160 after taking a 56-run lead in the first innings. In Christchurch, they crumbled even more rapidly in the second innings, before losing the game on the fourth evening.”It is disappointing the way they approached not just Christchurch but also in Wellington,” Hathurusingha said. “We are not still mentally strong enough or maybe it is a physical thing, which I don’t know yet, to play five days in high intensity cricket.”Not to take away New Zealand playing their best cricket in the last innings in Christchurch. But it is not an excuse. We were beaten by a good team at home.”Hathurusingha however took heart from how stand-in captain Tamim Iqbal took over responsibility on behalf of the team for their poor showing in Christchurch. “All you can ask is someone taking responsibility. It is a start. You can’t ask more than that from players. Second thing is to do something about it.”For me the starting point is accepting responsibility. As you all know, it is the first away tour after a long time. We are learning from this and we have to quickly rectify the areas we need to address. It is the way forward.”

Uncapped left-arm pacer Richard Ngarava and Carl Mumba have been added to Zimbabwe’s squad for the five-match ODI series against Afghanistan which begins on Thursday

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Feb-2017

Zimbabwe squad

Graeme Cremer (capt), PJ Moor (wk), Ryan Burl, Tarisai Musakanda, Sikandar Raza, Malcolm Waller, Elton Chigumbura, Wellington Masakadza, Donald Tiripano, Tendai Chatara, Christopher Mpofu, Nathan Waller, Craig Ervine, Solomon Mire, Carl Mumba, Richard Ngarava

Richard Ngarava, the uncapped left-arm pacer, and Carl Mumba have been added to Zimbabwe’s squad for the home ODI series against Afghanistan in Harare, beginning on Thursday.Ngarava first impressed in the Under-19 World Cup early last year when he took five wickets in as many matches, including 4 for 10 in nine overs against South Africa. Ngarava was also at the receiving end of the Mankad dismissal at the same event, when he was the last man out as West Indies pacer Keemo Paul whipped off the bails at the non-striker’s end to run him out and seal the win with a quarter-final spot at stake. More recently, Ngarava made his List A debut in the five-match series against Afghanistan A, and in his second match in the same series took 3 for 24.Mumba, the 21-year-old right-arm pacer, earned his maiden Test and ODI caps last year when Sri Lanka visited the country. He had a lacklustre start to his debut Test, taking 1 for 101 in 24 overs, but hit back with four scalps in the second innings. In his only ODI, he conceded 31 runs in four overs without picking up a wicket. Mumba was also part of the series against Afghanistan A and snared a five-wicket haul in the second ODI, albeit in a losing effort.The two pacers join the 14-man squad that was named last week; two spots had been left open until the end of the domestic List A competition, the Pro50 Championship, which concluded on Sunday. Zimbabwe face Afghanistan in five ODIs across 11 days. All the matches are scheduled to take place at the Harare Sports Club.

More than 700 runs were scored in Bangladesh’s tour match against Sri Lanka President’s XI in Colombo, where the hosts completed a final-over win

Andrew Fidel Fernando22-Mar-2017
ScorecardMahmudullah found some form after a string of poor performances saw his exclusion from the second Test against Sri Lanka•AFP

Mahmudullah hit an unbeaten 71 off 68 balls and strode into some form in Bangladesh’s practice match against the Sri Lanka Board President’s XI, but his half-century could not see the visitors through as they lost by two runs, chasing 355. Also making fifties in the high-scoring encounter were Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza, Kusal Perera, Sandun Weerakkody and Dhananjaya de Silva.In pursuit of the President’s XI’s 354 for 7, Bangladesh’s result was of little consequence: the visitors rifled through eight bowlers, and the match did not have List A status. However, a brisk half-century against bowlers who have all played for Sri Lanka may buoy Mahmudullah, who was chastened by his omission for the second Test in Colombo, hit four fours and a six. Bangladesh’s chances had seemed dim at 239 for 7 in the 39th over, until Mahmudullah put on a 101-run partnership with Mashrafe Mortaza, who hit a 35-ball 58. They couldn’t quite push the visitors to victory as Mahmudullah could manage just one run – needing four – off the final ball.Setting up the chase was Sabbir, who hit 11 fours and a six in his 72 from the No. 3 position, before Mosaddek contributed 53. Soumya Sarkar had also hit a 43-ball 47 to follow his good run in the Test series.Meanwhile, at the top of the President’s XI’s innings, Kusal had struck the latest in a series of uncharacteristically slow limited-over fifties. His 64 (retired out) came off 78 balls and featured only four fours. His two half-centuries for Sri Lanka A had also come at less than a run-a-ball. These three fifties came after a long slump for Kusal, during which he was dropped from the Sri Lanka side in all three formats.Nevertheless, his fifty and de Silva’s half century now creates a little competition at the top of the order, with captain Upul Tharanga, and wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella also having opened the batting for Sri Lanka over the last few months. Sandun Weerakkody, who had played in the South Africa series, but has not been chosen for the forthcoming one, also struck a fifty.There were no eminent bowling performances for the hosts, save for Akila Dananjaya’s 3 for 61.