Sri Lanka have suffered a triple blow ahead of their opening one-day international against Pakistan, on Friday, with Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas and Ruchira Perera being ruled out.Jayasuriya had originally been cleared to play in the match, but aggravated a thigh problem during practice and it was felt that he shouldn’t be risked. This is the latest injury to hit Jayasuriya, who missed a large chunk of the VB Series with a damaged shoulder.Vaas and Perera are carrying shoulder strains, which will put pressure on the inexperienced Sri Lanka seamers in their absence. Farveez Maharoof and Dammika Prasad, who were given opportunities on the recent tour of Bangladesh, could now be given a further chance to stake their claim for a regular place.However, Michael Tissera, the Sri Lankan team manager, said: “We have yet to decide as to whether any replacements are to be called. The chairman of selectors Lalith Kaluperuma should finalise it after consultation with the team coach Tom Moody.”

ScorecardIreland showed they aren’t to be taken lightly in the C&G Trophy as they pulled off the first upset of this year’s new-style tournament, downing Gloucestershire by 47 runs at Bristol. They were led to victory by an outstanding performance from two of their spinners – the well-known Shahid Afridi and not-so-famous Kyle McCallan.The pair bowled 12 overs between, with nine maidens, conceded just 11 runs and took six wickets. They induced a Gloucestershire collapse from 124 for 4, proving almost unplayable. Afridi, who earlier contributed an unusually sedate 36 to the Ireland innings, was playing his first match of the season after arriving late due to family illness. What a way to start.His figures were exemplary – of the type rarely seen in one-day cricket – but McCallan’s performance was equally impressive. He claimed two wickets in his first over, the vital strike of Chris Taylor then Mark Hardinges first ball, before nailing the final scalp of James Averis – fittingly caught by Afridi.Adrian Birrell, the Ireland coach, was understandably thrilled: “This is a great confidence boost for us….there is no doubt we were under a bit of pressure after the disappointment of last week [defeat against Hampshire]. We know there is room for improvement in all areas of our play but that is what this campaign is all about.”We lost our way in the batting after a good stand between Shahid and Eoin Morganbut then Dave Langford-Smith and Peter Gillespie batted with great heart to takeus to a respectable total and how invaluable those runs proved to be. Inaddition, Andre Botha came back from a double duck to take two top order wicketsand put us back in the game and Kyle McCallan bowled superbly along with Shahid.”The spirit of the team never dropped but these two guys, [Afridi and Saqlain Mushtaq],have electrified the atmosphere in the dressing room.”Ireland had struggled for serious momentum after being put into bat but Morgan confirmed his enormous potential with a gutsy 40, adding 72 with Afridi. However, at 118 for 7, the innings was on the verge of a premature end before Gillespie and Langford-Smith played very sensibly in an eighth-wicket stand of 61.A Pakistani Test player may have led the way, however it was also a day for your everyday bloke to be a hero. But Ireland can’t celebrate too hard – they play Glamorgan at Cardiff tomorrow, that’s the world of professional cricket.

England’s selectors will have to wait until the end of the week before finding out whether Steve Harmison will be fit for the second Test which starts at Edgbaston in eight days.Harmison will play for Durham against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge today, but Duncan Fletcher, England’s coach, has made it clear that he will not rush him back from his shin injury.”Hopefully he’ll be fit for the next Test but we just have to be careful about his fitness,” said Fletcher. “There is a lot of cricket ahead and if we rush him and there is a problem we’re only going to have to rest him again later on. He’s only played one one-day game so far after two months off, so we will have to see how fit he is. There’s a good chance he’ll be called up into the squad and we will analyse him, but he’s only got one four-day game to get himself right.”Unless England go with an all-seam attack, Harmison’s return will mean that either Sajid Mahmood or Liam Plunkett misses out. Fletcher was keen to praise both. “I thought Plunkett bowled really well after his first spell, when he was probably nervous,” he said. “Mahmood showed us he had raw pace, which is what we’re looking for. He reverse-swung it and gives the attack a bit of balance if players like Simon Jones aren’t there.”

Tim May, the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) chief executive, has warned that international players may be forced to resort to performance-enhancing drugs to cope with the demands of too many games. The ICC’s new schedule for international cricket has been labelled “a disaster” that would leave the world’s leading players exhausted and harm the integrity of the game.Speaking to , May cautioned against the punishing year-round commitment that players face: “The FTP is a disaster because it puts no upper limit on the amount of cricket that can be scheduled. There are five or six guys in the five leading sides in the world who play Tests and ODIs and they are being flogged. You only have to look at the doping record in baseball to see that recovery, not enhanced power, is the motivation for most drug misuse. The more we push players the more they might look at options.”May, a former Australia offspinner, referred to the FTP as a “play-travel-play-travel-play-fall over” schedule that didn’t consider the players. “They [cricketers] are the ones who make the difference between a 10,000 crowd and a sell-out; they are the ones who the broadcasters and commercial partners pay for,” he said. “They are exhausted and they are not going to take much more.”Jacques Kallis, the South African allrounder, has endorsed May’s harsh criticisms. “The amount of cricket we play is way too much,” he told the website SuperCricket.com. “They need to cut down the Future Tours Programme, otherwise teams are going to end up resting their top players if it stays the way it is. But the public want to see the best players, so it’s a big problem.”Kallis pointed out that allrounders were particularly over-worked. “For allrounders its definitely too hard a schedule. It’s killing them,” he said. “And young players won’t want to be an all-rounder if they see how quickly you get worn out. It would be better to go the route of being a specialist batsman or bowler. We need scientific research on how many matches would be ideal. There needs to be a balance and I’m sure we need less cricket. It’s overkill – the public are already saying that.”Click here to send us your views. Are the players being asked to do too much, or is the ICC handling the international calendar as it should?

Division One

3rd dayIt took Sussex less than 40 overs to crush Durham by an innings and 133 runs at Hove and leap to the top of the table. Yasir Arafat and Mushtaq Ahmed struck three early blows as Durham slumped to 79 for 5 and it was only a matter of time. However, the inevitable was delayed by a 95-ball century from Phil Mustard and he found support from Ben Harmison as the pair added 82 for the sixth wicket. Harmison eventually fell to Jason Lewry, who claimed three quick wickets, and Mustard needed the support of No. 11, Mick Lewis, to reach his ton. He was eventually the last-man out for 103 to give Arafat his fourth wicket of the innings.Warwickshire moved into a strong position against Hampshire on the third day Southampton, forcing them to follow on after dismissing them for 235. Hampshire managed to add just 109 runs to their overnight score before losing their last seven wickets under pressure from Paul Harris who took six wickets in the innings. Alex Loudon helped him sweep up, with 2 for 58, and there was a wicket too for Neil Carter. Warwickshire had made inroads into Hampshire’s second innings by the close, with Heath Streak taking his first wicket of the match, dismissing Mike Carberry for 6. Hampshire now trail by 139 runs with 9 wickets remaining.There was no action on the third day at Headingley between Yorkshire and Kent meaning that the match is heading for a stalemate unless the captains agree to having a game on the final day.2nd dayIt continued to be slow going at Old Trafford but Lancashire managed to take three wickets in the play possible against Middlesex while Owais Shah completed his second century of the season. Shah fell to Gary Keedy shortly after reaching three figures and the left-arm spinner also accounted for Scott Styris. In between, Eoin Morgan was bowled by Tom Smith but it will take more attacking cricket, and better weather, over the next two days to force a result.

Division Two

4th day
Somerset’s match against Glamorgan at Taunton ended in a soggy draw as rain prevented any play for the second day running.3rd dayEssex romped to a convincing victory over title contenders Surrey at Colchester, beating them by an innings and two runs inside three days. James Middlebrook’s century – two short of his career-best of 115 – lifted Essex to 530, a lead of 200 runs and then the home side crushed Surrey, dismissing them for 198. Ali Brown did his best to weld together Surrey’s innings, but his top-score of 63 was nowhere near enough to stave off Essex’s assault. Their attack was led by Middlebrook and Andy Bichel, who grabbed three wickets each.Only ten overs were possible between Leicestershire and Worcestershire on the third day at Leicester, and this rain-affected match has got draw written all over it. Leicestershire moved on to 56 for 1 in reply to Worcestershire’s 456.2nd dayGloucestershire were thankful for some late-order defiance to boost their total over 200 against Derbyshire at Derby. Steffan Jones and Graham Wagg did most of the damage as Gloucestershire slipped to 146 for 7. But the bowlers, especially James Averis, played sensibly to lift the innings. Jones and Wagg ended with seven wickets between them but Jon Lewis hit back before the close by removing Steve Stubbings.

<I India 238 for 7 (Goswami 69) lead England 223 (Atkins 73) by 15 runs
ScorecardThis was a day for the diehards. India’s batsmen continued where they left off yesterday, in painstakingly slow fashion, as they crawled to a 238 for 7, at barely two an over. By the close they had sneaked ahead of England’s total – itself an innings to test the patience – and they still had three wickets intact.Katherine Brunt got England’s day off to a flyer, trapping both openers Karu Jain and Monica Sumra lbw early on (34 for 2). Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj rallied to add 85 for the third wicket, and India built on their innings from there.But not, alas, in electrifying fashion. Tight bowling from England made their progress slow at best, with Jenny Gunn finishing the day with the ridiculously economical figures of 29 overs for 42 runs.Goswami went on to top score with 69 from 288 balls, an innings compiled over more than four hours. Then the England captain Charlotte Edwards made the breakthrough. Raj just missed out on her half-century; she made 47 before being trapped lbw by Gunn. Anjum Chopra became the tenth lbw victim of this match shortly afterwards, when she was also undone by Edwards, for 22.Needless to say this pitch is slow and low and, unless there is a clatter of wickets, this game has got bore-draw written all over it.

Mitchell Johnson, the Australian left-arm fast bowler who returned home after two matches in Kuala Lumpur, has now readjusted his aims to earning a spot in the Ashes squad.”It [the Ashes] is always in the back of your mind,” Johnson told . “I think now it’s probably a little bit more but I’ll see what happens. I’ve still got the ICC [Champions] Trophy to go to and see how I’ll go there and we’ll see what happens.”Johnson had a good short tour of Malaysia, getting six wickets for 72 runs in two matches, including 4 for 11 in the rained-off game against India on Saturday. “Sachin Tendulkar said ‘well bowled’,” Johnson told reporters in Brisbane. “Getting Tendulkar and Brian Lara in the same week has been awesome. I probably struggled a little bit at the start of my one-day career, but getting those wickets definitely has helped.”Johnson said flying back to Queensland after two matches was always part of the selectors’ plans and he will play club cricket for Norths in the Brisbane grade competition this weekend.

The good news was that England cruised through their first, and only,practice game against an unheralded side; the bad news is that AndrewFlintoff, who smashed a breezy 59 with the bat, revealed that he will notbe bowling in the opening game of the Champions Trophy, a crucial clashagainst India on Sunday.”I won’t be bowling this Sunday,” Flintoff told reporters at the end of atiring day in the field. “As for the series, I’m bowling in the nets,trying to build it [the ankle] up. As for an exact date as to when I’ll be bowling again,I’m not sure. I’ve bowled two or three times in the nets and it’s feelingstrong but that’s something that we’re assessing day by day.”Speculation has been rife about Flintoff opening the batting in thetournament and his entry at No.3 today lent more weight to that theory.Flintoff, though, played his cards close to his chest. “Today, we had theorder we had,” he dead-batted. “Going into Sunday, we’d need to discusswith the coach and decide. We have quite a few options we can take butit’s something we’ll finalise before Sunday.”Flintoff was visibly sapped at the end of a demanding day under the Jaipursun but he brushed aside suggestions that the weather might affect histeam’s chances. “I thought we coped quite well with the heat last time,”he reasoned, talking about England’s visit to India earlier in the year,when they encountered temperatures so oppressive that a few players neededsaline drips. “We have experience in playing in extreme heat. It’ssomething we’re aware of. We’re getting accustomed to it in the last fewdays.”Just as they’d done against Pakistan, England played both their spinners -Jamie Dalrymple and Michael Yardy – in the warm-up game as well. “Weplayed two spinners today and they’re obviously vital members of our sideas are the pace bowlers. We’re quite fortunate to have three allroundersin the side – Collingwood, Yardy and Dalrymple. They all bat well and bowltheir overs. We also have Rikki Clarke. It gives us a lot of depth.”

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, feels that the decision to ban Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif could hamper his team’s chances in the forthcoming home series against West Indies and more importantly in next year’s World Cup.Shoaib was banned for two years and Asif for one year after both were found guilty of using the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone, by a three-man drugs tribunal formed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Asif said that he would appeal against the ban, and Shoaib is likely to follow suit. Inzamam – serving a four-match ban for bringing The Oval Test into disrepute – hoped the players would be able to make a successful appeal against the ban.”I can understand how the two were feeling and I am hurt myself over the incidents,” Inzamam told AFP. “Their absence will make a difference in our performance. Asif’s career had just taken off and both he and Akhtar were our main wicket-takers. Even our series against the West Indies will become tough without them.”He said that their absence would give the younger players the opportunity to prove themselves and hoped that the doping episode would serve an important lesson for the next generation of players.Shabbir Ahmed, the fast bowler banned for a year for a suspect bowling action, has a chance to resurrect his career in the absence of Shoaib and Asif. The PCB informed that he would head to Australia on November 20 for biomechanic tests on his action. Shabbir was last reported during the Multan Test against England last year and his ban ends on December 18.

A recurring back injury prevented Ricky Ponting from fielding throughout the fourth day, but he is expected to return as Australia attempt to finish off England at the Gabba on Monday. Ponting experienced the problem while making an unbeaten 60 as he set the tourists an impossible target of 648, but he spent the afternoon receiving treatment in the dressing room from Alex Kountouris, the team physiotherapist.Ponting strained a muscle in his upper back when he turned for the crease after backing up. He stretched on the ground but remained on the field until Justin Langer reached his century, declaring with his team at 1 for 202.The injury is similar to one he experienced on the 2004 tour of Sri Lanka and Langer said he would “bet his house” on Ponting being fit for the second Test at Adelaide from Friday. Adam Gilchrist assumed the captaincy on a day when Glenn McGrath also suffered with pain in a “hotspot” in his left foot.”The pressure is from his shoe and he’s had it for a long time,” Kountouris said. “The fact he’s gone from one-day cricket to bowling a lot more overs meant the soreness was severe today.” McGrath had a pain-killing injection in the foot and it will be treated after the match, but it is unlikely to threaten his participation in the remainder of the series.Shane Watson is another who is due to be available for Adelaide as his recovery from a hamstring injury progresses well. Watson was ruled out of this match but Kountouris said he was on track for the second Test, which would force another reshuffle if he is included in the team.