Rudolph, Cooke build strong advantage

Leicestershire 109 and 6 for 1 trail Glamorgan 350 for 8 (Rudolph 88, Cooke 58) by 235 runs
Scorecard

Glamorgan pressed home their advantage on day two against Leicestershire. Resuming on 56 for 1 under blue skies at the SWALEC Stadium, having dismissed the visitors for a paltry 109 on a rain-affected opening day, the hosts reached 350 for 8 before declaring.

Opener Jacques Rudolph top-scored with 88 from 178 balls, and there were also decent contributions from Chris Cooke (58) and Jim Allenby (44). Trailing by 241 as they began their response, Leicestershire had limped to 6 for 1 by the close.

The visitors' one moment of joy on Sunday arrived after tea when Rob Taylor snared Glamorgan's debutant opener Tom Lancefield for 19, but if they had hopes of making early inroads on Monday then Rudolph and Will Bragg dictated otherwise.

The overnight pair extended their second-wicket partnership to 73 runs, Rudolph setting the tone by driving Taylor through the covers in the first full over of the day, before Bragg edged to Greg Smith at second slip off Charlie Shreck for 21.

That brought Ben Wright to the middle and he too built a respectable stand with South African Rudolph - the pair added 61 before the latter fell 12 runs short of his century, caught behind by wicketkeeper Niall O'Brien to become Shreck's second victim. Wright followed suit soon after when he nicked one from Nathan Buck into the hands of Smith in the slips.

Allenby and Cooke then joined forces and swiftly set about further stretching their team's advantage. Allenby struck six boundaries before being induced into a pull shot by Buck which saw him caught by Shreck at long leg six runs shy of his fifty.

Cooke continued apace, though, and - despite losing Mark Wallace, who nicked behind off Taylor for 18 after starting off with a couple of early boundaries - racked up his half-century to help the home side advance to 309 for 6 and a 200-run cushion. He departed with the score on 326, having smashed six fours in 101 balls, when he found Ramnaresh Sarwan off the bowling of Naik.

Dean Cosker went the same way in the very next over, also snapped up by Sarwan - Shreck this time the successful bowler. Michael Hogan and Will Owen helped Glamorgan to 350 after 105 overs, which guaranteed the hosts a fourth bonus batting point and prompted home captain Wallace to declare.

That left time for Glamorgan to have six overs on Monday evening, and they needed less than four to make the breakthrough. Tom Helm had Smith snapped up by Rudolph, with Leicestershire still needing 235 runs to avoid an innings defeat.

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Rankin considered future after Ashes experience

Boyd Rankin has admitted he thought about giving up cricket in the weeks following his chastening Test debut in Sydney.

Rankin, who took three wickets on his return to county duty with Warwickshire after five months on the sidelines, conceded that "I let myself and the rest of the team down" in that final Test of the Ashes series.

The 29-year-old Rankin, who retired from representing Ireland to pursue his dream of playing Test cricket, managed 20 overs in the match, but was twice forced off the pitch with an attack of cramp brought on by nerves and never achieved the rhythm that had seen the likes of Ricky Ponting and Marcus Trescothick hail him as the most challenging fast bowler they experienced in county cricket over previous seasons.

But Rankin has subsequently discovered that he went into the game carrying a serious shoulder injury and said he still hopes he can "show what I'm capable of doing" on the biggest stage.

"I wasn't anywhere near where I wanted to be in that Sydney game," Rankin said in his first interview since the tour. "I had torn half the cartilage off my shoulder in a fielding session we had a couple of days before the Test. So I was struggling with that and I had a back spasm during the Test as well.

"I felt I had to play. I had to take my chance, but I don't suppose I did that, really. I tried to fight hard through that. It was still a special occasion for me, but I did feel I let myself and the rest of the team down. It's been tough coming back from that.

"I don't feel I took my chance. I'm sure a lot of people weren't impressed. Hopefully I can still show people what I'm capable of doing. I didn't do that during the winter.

"It was a tough period for me when I got back. There were a few days when I was thinking 'should I still be playing cricket?' There were quite a few questions asked. But I learned a lot from the experience and I believe it has made me a stronger person. All I can do now is put in some strong performances and see what happens. I know, deep down, what I can do."

Rankin's shoulder injury was only diagnosed when he returned to county duty with Warwickshire. But the fact that he went into an Ashes match so palpably unprepared will raise more questions about the environment on the tour, with Rankin pointing out that the lack of match practice he had before the game left him struggling for confidence and rhythm. It might also raise questions about the wisdom of England forgoing a net session two days ahead of a Test to focus on fitness and fielding.

"It wasn't a great environment to be in," Rankin said. "It was a really tough tour to be on. A lot of the lads were struggling. It wasn't a great tour, but I hope I've learned a lot from the experience and if it comes again, I hope I can do a lot better.

"I only found out about my injury a month ago. I asked for a scan and then had a call which said: 'You might need an op. You could be out for four or five months.' It's still giving me some pain, but it's calmed down quite a lot now.

"We had a fitness and fielding session two days before the Test and I did something to it then. They didn't pick it up at the time.

"The hardest thing during in the tour was constantly bowling in the nets and not getting any game time. The only way you could work it better would be for the lads who are not playing to play some cricket in terms of matches. But it was difficult to be out of the side and then go straight into a Test. It would have been nice if there was some match practice away from that."

Despite the disappointment, Rankin said he has never regretted retiring from Ireland duty and that he would have no second thoughts should England select him for another tour.

"I would never turn down a tour," he said. "I still want to bowl fast and I still want to knock people over. If it is the only Test I play, then so be it. I would never change what I have done. I've always said I wanted to try and play at the highest level and that is Test cricket.

"I'm trying not to look too far ahead. I just want to get back to enjoying playing cricket. It's nice to be back playing with the Bears and I've felt in decent rhythm these past two days. It's just nice to be back."

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Overtons hint at future, Giles at past

Warwickshire 78 for 1 trail Somerset 411 (Hildreth 98, Compton 92, Overton 56) by 333 runs
Scorecard

With respect to the Gidmans, the Alis, the Shantrys and the Swanns, probably not since the Hollioakes has a pair of brothers emerged in the county game with the potential to achieve as much as the Overton twins.

On a sluggish pitch, in an anodyne match and with rain blighting progress once more, the pair - Jamie and Craig - produced the brightest cricket of the day to provide a hint of what should be a golden future for club and perhaps country.

The 20-year-olds thrashed 69 for Somerset's tenth-wicket in just 9.3 overs to take their side over 400 and inflict some psychological damage on a Warwickshire attack that had, until that point, gained the upper hand in claiming six wickets for 74 runs on the day.

Their stand was ended only two short of the record 10th-wicket stand by Somerset against Warwickshire. That the record was set back in 1971 in Glastonbury by cult heroes of the club - Kerry O'Keeffe and Hallam Moseley - should assuage any disappointment. It would have been a shame to see either of those fine players, or Glastonbury, eclipsed in the record books. Besides, one suspects that the Overtons will, before too long, find their own places in the record books.

Reputation has it that Jamie is the quicker, if more wayward, bowler and Craig the better batsman. But on the evidence of this performance, Jamie is also a highly promising batsman as he brought up a maiden half-century from only 37 balls with nine fours and a six. At one stage he plundered 18 in five balls from Jeetan Patel, who might well be the best offspinner in the county game at present.

While Jamie hit the ball hard, it would be wrong to dismiss his contribution as that of a slogger. This was an innings that contained hooks, drives, sweep and cuts and suggested that, in time, both twins may well develop into allrounders. Their partnership was the second highest of the Somerset innings.

But it is as bowlers that the pair will make their name. And, in his first over in the attack, Craig took the important wicket of Varun Chopra with a full delivery that swung just a little, took the inside edge and ballooned off the thigh pad to the slips. Gaining swing and seam movement at a lively pace, Craig was the pick of the bowlers.

Somerset were grateful for the pair's intervention. With both James Hildreth - pushing at one angled across him - and Nick Compton - bottom-edging an attempted pull - falling just short of well-deserved centuries after a fourth-wicket stand of 163, Somerset were in danger of losing their way.

With Boyd Rankin impressing on his first first-class appearance since the Sydney Test more than five months ago, Somerset's middle and lower order were unable to capitalise on the platform provided for them. Craig Kieswetter took more than 80 minutes over his 12, while Pete McKay, deputising for the injured Tim Ambrose, claimed four catches in a highly proficient display of keeping. The best of them was a leg-side diving effort to dismiss Peter Trego off an attempted hook.

Ambrose has sustained a minor calf strain and hopes to return in time for Warwickshire's next Championship game, against Lancashire, on June 8.

While this slow, low surface did little for Rankin, he occasionally generated sharp pace and generally maintained a pretty decent line and length for a man coming back from such a lay-off. In the grand scheme of things, it was satisfying to simply see him playing with a smile on his face after a period when he came so close to walking away from the game.

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Broad advised to give up T20

Durham 78 for 2 trail Nottinghamshire 377 by 299 runs
Scorecard

Stuart Broad may have to call time on his England Twenty20 career - and with it the "kudos" that goes with being captain - to give him a better chance of staying fit for Test and one-day international cricket.

The 27-year-old fast bowler is playing competitive cricket for the first time since the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh as Nottinghamshire take on Durham at Trent Bridge and bowled six overs in no obvious discomfort after suffering tendonitis in his right knee.

But Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire's director of cricket and now one of the England selectors, said that the likelihood the problem would flare up again placed a question mark over Broad's involvement in all three formats at international level.

Given his importance in England's Test and ODI attacks, managing his workload would probably mean sacrificing his place in the Twenty20 side.

"Stuart is a key man for Test cricket and one-day internationals, so in terms of managing his fitness I think we are going to have to look at Twenty20 for Stuart," Newell said.

"The last two or three years he has picked up a lot of little things and he would want to have played more cricket than he has.

"There is a lot of ODI cricket coming up and how you manage the workload for players like Stuart through the summer and as you prepare for the 50-over World Cup next February is something that will have to be looked at."

Broad needed painkillers to get through the World Twenty20 and was rested for England's current one-day series against Sri Lanka. Earlier this month, speaking at the launch of Royal London's sponsorship of English one-day cricket, Broad expressed a desire to continue in all formats but Newell believes he would accept the need to give one up to give himself a better chance of prolonging his Test career, even if it means relinquishing the captaincy.

"Of course there is kudos in being captain, but I think he will get his head around [losing] that," Newell said. "He is proud and ambitious, but captaincy in a longer form of the game, perhaps in one-day cricket, would remain a possibility."

In the shorter term, Newell expressed concern that the poor weather forecast for the remainder of the current round of matches would not help either Broad or Ben Stokes in their plans to prove themselves match-fit ahead of the Test series against Sri Lanka next month.

Broad has the current match against Durham and Nottinghamshire's next Championship fixture, against Sussex next week, to get some overs into his legs. Stokes, who is back in action in this match following his self-inflicted broken wrist, is scheduled to play also against Middlesex at Chester-le-Street. The first Test begins on 12 June.

"I was quite impressed with what Stuart did," Newell said. "He bowled a good length, the full length we talked about on this pitch and swung the ball early on to the left-handers.

"But the forecast for the next two days is poor and if he comes out of this game with only six overs it will be disappointing and there will be a need for him to bowl a lot of overs at Hove."

Newell said that the same would apply to allrounder Stokes, although in his case he simply needs to demonstrate overall fitness. Although he still has some residual pain from needing a screw inserted to help his damaged scaphoid bone knit together, his bowling mechanism is not affected.

"Ben has that bit of magic about him, he makes things happen," Newell said. "He is a real competitor, he has a bit of fight, as you could see in Australia when he took it to the Aussies and stood up for himself. Once he is fully fit, as a fourth seamer he gives England what Shane Watson gives to Australia.

"He is desperate to start playing again and the only danger is that he rushes back too soon. Durham play Middlesex next and we will be looking at how much cricket he can get in."

Matt Prior's chances of regaining his place as wicketkeeper will also depend on how much cricket he can play in this and the next round of games. There was no play at all in Sussex's match against Middlesex at the Merchant Taylors' School Ground in Northwood on day one and the question mark over Prior's Achilles tendon means that he will have to demonstrate not only that he can keep wicket without discomfort but to show no reaction afterwards.

"After what happened in the winter, the first Test against Sri Lanka is a massive game for England and you have to go into that match with people who are 100 per cent fit," Newell said. "You don't want to be worrying about injuries or managing fitness."

Newell, who was interviewed for the England coach's job, has put aside his disappointment at missing out to Peter Moores and his relishing his involvement as a selector, a role in which his willingness to share his thoughts with frankness and clarity can only be welcome.

"It is a challenging time," he said. "There are probably only four or five players who are inked in, which is interesting given the history in the last few years."

He identified the wicketkeeper's position and the debate over replacing Graeme Swann as the spinner in the side as the biggest of the immediate challenges.

"Swanny not being around is one of the biggest headaches," he said. "Are you going to pick an out-and-out spinner, in which case you go for the best spinner, or is there a balance of team to be had? If your spin bowler is a batsman of quality, such as Moeen Ali or Samit Patel, and you have an allrounder such as a Stokes or Chris Woakes or Ravi Bopara type, then the wicketkeeper could come in as low as eight.

"The 'keeper situation is massive. If you are going to have high-quality seam bowling you want to have a good man behind the pegs. There are two camps of keeper - there is the Kieswetter, Buttler, Bairstow group and there is the Foster, Read group, more the old-school wicketkeeper. I watched Foster last week and he was terrific. There will be an interesting debate there.

"What has come out of the winter is a complete rethink with five, six, seven spots up for grabs, which is a bit scary but exciting at the same time."

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Dilshan dimmed by time but grows in substance

The one-time master of a vast arsenal of strokes has smelted down his technique as age catches up with him. How he and his side have benefited

Eventually we all get old, and time erodes the faculties that quickened us in youth. For athletes, the slide is more acute. By 35, age has begun to diminish most batsmen; the reflexes slacken, the power fades, the feet grow heavy.

For so long, TIllakaratne Dilshan had defied this inevitability of life. He was the man who refused to grow up - an impetuous whirr of wrists and blade, coiled menacingly at the crease, slashing outside off and hooking on the front foot. He has been the oldest man in the Sri Lanka team for some years, but as he smirked on behind his designer beard, it had been an odd truth to comprehend. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara were elder statesmen. Dilshan was always a rogue.

But there is no escape. Age gives no quarter. Over the past 18 months, fans watched as Dilshan's feet became less sure. The whips through midwicket used to send the ball clattering into the advertising hoardings, but now the stumps were rattled instead. The bouncers he once bludgeoned to the fence, left bruises on his chest.

It can't have been an easy truth for Dilshan to accept. At 37, he is still said to make the most mischief in the dressing room. When he takes a fine catch, or claims a tough wicket, no one celebrates with more vigour. Yet, for all his on-field arrogance, he has come to terms with a kind of defeat. Finally dimmed by time, the one-time master of a vast arsenal of strokes, smelted down his technique. Now only a few sharp weapons of torment remain.

On Sunday, Dilshan hit 28 of his 88 runs in boundaries. Not one of the seven fours was from his rasping cover drive. There were no wristy flicks to the legside fence. He pulled twice for four, but of those, one was off Ravi Bopara's ambling pace, and he had waited on the back foot for the other, off Chris Jordan. Even the scoop he played off Bopara, was the garden-variety over-the-shoulder variant, not the overhead deflection he had ridden to acclaim several years ago. Once a peddler of ravishing early-innings impetus, Dilshan has become a prolific purveyor of the mundane.

	A street fighter through and through, Dilshan knows only to roll with the punches, even those as bruising as his own waning talents.

And how he and his team has gained from it. Since his breakthrough 2009, Dilshan's strike rate has dipped gradually every year, but his innings have grown in substance. In 2013, he had his richest 12 months yet, piling on 1160 runs at 61.05, though he had not scored so slowly since 2006. He had been the slow-burn that helped sink South Africa in a home series, while Sangakkara lay waste to that attack around him. He had ground New Zealand down late in the year, and defied Australia at home at its beginning.

Dilshan has only played four ODIs in 2014, thanks to a hand-injury, but the 88 off 101 balls at Chester-le-Street was formed of the new measure and forethought a younger Dilshan might have scoffed at. He came down the track five times to James Tredwell, who went slowly through the air and pitched mouth-wateringly full, but until the bowler dropped one short and wide, Dilshan had no greater ambition than to push him away for a single. Even Sangakkara would not be so patient, sinking to his knees as he tried to heave Tredwell over the infield, against the turn. That stroke brought Sangakkara's end.

The smart running between wickets that had once been a sidelight of his cricket has now become its bedrock. When he strikes the ball well, he tears out of the crease, almost in reflex, before reason kicks in and he looks up to see where the fielders are.

"That was an exceptional performance from Dilshan," captain Angelo Mathews said after the match. "The character he showed - he was in doubt before the game, he was carrying a niggle - but the physio worked on him and his character paid off."

For all his new prudence with the bat, Dilshan still does the work of young men in the field. In the Powerplays, he stalks at backward point, where the sharpest earn their keep. In the middle overs, he ranges the deep, square of the wicket, where only the quick survive. At the death, he guards the straight boundaries that batsmen seek to clear. There are no cushy positions at short fine leg or mid-on. Here is the last bastion of his defiance.

An 18th ODI hundred beckoned when Dilshan let an indipper from Jordan pass between bat and pad. It had been a fine delivery, but a batsman with tighter technique might have kept it out. Dilshan is no technician. A street fighter through and through, Dilshan knows only to roll with the punches, even those as bruising as his own waning talents.

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Why Mumbai got that extra ball

In the calculation of net run rate (NRR), the final score, and not the target, is the relevant number. For Mumbai Indians, the requirement to finish the chase in 87 deliveries was only subject to their final score being 190. The chasing team, if they take a few extra deliveries to get home, can still push their NRR up to the required fraction if they manage to achieve a final score that is sufficiently higher - by finishing things off with a boundary.

Mumbai Indians, despite failing to score that all-important extra run off 14.3, had already inched ahead of Rajasthan Royals' NRR when they had drawn level on 189. At that stage, Mumbai Indians' NRR read 0.078099, while Royals' was 0.076821. Had Mumbai Indians just run the single they needed for victory off the fourth ball, though, their NRR would have gone below that of Royals'.

Since they were using the extra ball, they would have needed to get their score up to at least 191 off that delivery. Running two was not an option, as they needed just the one run to win. So their only option was to hit a boundary.

However, had they played out a dot ball, they still would have not been out of it. They could have hit a four off 14.5 or 14.6 and still finished with a NRR better than that of Royals. If they played out three dots, they would have needed to hit a six off 15.1 to bump their NRR up above Royals'. If this had happened, Mumbai would have ended with a NRR of 0.080519 against Royals' 0.074163.

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We showed that nothing is impossible - Rohit

Mumbai Indians were the defending IPL champions, but their performance in the UAE leg of the tournament barely lent justice to that seeding. Five successive losses were how they began their campaign but since the shift to India, Mumbai knocked off seven wins, the last of which was achieved facing humongous odds and in an incredible blaze of glory.

The equation before them was 190 in 14.3 overs. By the end of the 10th over, Mumbai were tackling a required rate of 15.5. But Corey Anderson's frenetic 44-ball 95 kept Wankhede rumbling. It became 9 off 3 balls and Anderson was stranded in the non-strikers' end after failing to beat long-off.

Ambati Rayudu lurched between euphoria and agony when he struck the next ball - a leg stump full toss from James Faulkner - for six but then was run out looking for the winning runs. He sank to his knees thinking Mumbai had fallen short of the playoffs. The 14.3 overs were up and Mumbai could only tie with the target. However, the net-run rate equation allowed for one more ball, one more shot for the home side. If this was sent to the boundary, they would progress. In came Aditya Tare and smote another leg-stump full toss over square leg to cue manic celebrations.

"We showed today that nothing is impossible," said the Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma, "A performance like this doesn't come everyday. This is for the people of Mumbai and our supporters all across [the world]. Anderson was just unbelievable. The kind of shots he played was amazing, and Rayudu came in and played a little cameo there, and hats off to Tare because hitting a six in the last ball and it was simply superb."

Rohit said his team had been inspired by their recent Champions League T20 triumph. After an initial loss and one game rained out, Mumbai required a perfect sheet to get into the final and that is what they accomplished to complete the double of a CLT20 title to go along with the IPL.

	I think it gave hope to us in the middle and to the boys in the change room as well Corey Anderson on the Wankhede crowd

"We did it in the Champions League too. We were in the same situation to qualify [for the final], so we had that belief in ourselves that we can do it and we proved it today. At the start of the tournament I said that this team has got all the potential to come out and perform like that and we showed it tonight. The first half is done [having qualified for the playoffs]. The remaining half is still there so brighter things are yet to come."

Anderson, on whom Mumbai shelled $750,000, never found his feet in the tournament. Noted for his power-hitting, his strike rate languished at 118 until the night that mattered most for his side. He came out with the score on 19 for 1 and relied solely on his power to enact one of the most poignant victories in seven years for Mumbai. Anderson believed the energy of a roaring Wankhede spurred their side towards victory as that 14.3-over mark approached.

"Little bit before [the last 10 balls] some of them started realising we've got a chance here," Anderson said. "I think it gave hope to us in the middle and to the boys in the change room as well. It was just nice to be out there when it all finished as well.

"I'm glad I could do something to bring them [Mumbai supporters] to their feet. Some other boys played some massive knocks tonight. Rayudu came in and smashed it and that last ball from Tare as well. It sort of never stopped the whole way.

"It was just about staying still and backing yourself. I think when you complicate things is when it starts getting frustrating and you miss balls and I think I did that a couple of ones near the end. It's a pretty special feeling to do it in front of the home crowd."

Rajasthan Royals had entered this match requiring a victory, or a narrow-enough loss to pip their opponents on net run-rate. They were noticeably buoyed when Michael Hussey and the dangerous Kieron Pollard were sent back in the sixth over. But in the face of a steady onslaught, the bowlers unravelled and the dugout grew tenser as they watched ball after poor ball being clobbered to the boundary. Rahul Dravid, the team mentor, said they could not execute their lengths but conceded reining a man like Anderson after he had got on a roll was always going to be difficult.

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Very disappointed we didn't qualify - Dravid

In the chaotic denouement of one of the most dramatic IPL matches of the season, Rahul Dravid stood up from his seat in the Rajasthan Royals dugout, pulled off his cap and flicked it into the ground. The emotional display from the Royals mentor, one of cricket's most stoic figures, perfectly encapsulated the frustration of watching his side let a game and a playoff spot slip away in improbable circumstances.

"In terms of emotion, we thought we won the game at one stage," Dravid said after a gut-wrenching five-wicket loss to Mumbai Indians ended Royals' season. "Then we still had to bowl a ball and they hit the boundary so you can just imagine the emotions. There was sheer disappointment in their camp, joy in our camp and suddenly a ball later that's completely reversed. So for sheer emotion and drama, I think this was probably one of the best games of cricket I've been involved in. It's just disappointing that I happened to be on the wrong side of the result."

Mumbai needed to achieve a target of 190 in 14.3 overs to overtake Royals' net run rate and qualify for the playoffs. They had a brisk start but when Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma was dismissed two balls into the 10th over, with the score 108 for 4, it left the side needing 82 off 31 balls. Dravid said that a couple of decent overs would have ensured that Royals secured a playoff berth. Instead, Mumbai scored 49 off the next 2.4 overs and entered the start of the 13th over requiring a slightly less daunting 33 runs off 15 deliveries. Corey Anderson was motoring away on 75 off 33 balls and eventually finished 95 not out.

"At that stage if you bowl a couple of seven, eight-run overs or 10-run overs for that matter, the game quickly goes out of hand," Dravid said. "But they kept getting that 15, 16-run over. They just stayed in the game. It looked at the stage we got Rohit out, I think after that stage when Rayudu and Anderson batted, there was a period of about 12 to 15 balls where we suddenly gave 50 runs. That was the critical phase of the game where we thought we could've maybe bowled a couple of better overs there. The guys have tried their best and it's just not worked out for us in this tournament."

Dravid said Royals' death bowling had cost them in all three losses at the end of the season, including two to Mumbai. He deflected away criticism over team selection during that stretch, when a win in any of the last three games would have clinched a playoff spot. When prompted to elaborate, Dravid said the team was battling its share of injures and rejected any notion that they had rested players to get them refreshed for the playoff stage when a spot seemed practically assured for the Royals.

"We knew we needed about 16 points to qualify. It's not that we were trying to say, 'Oh we've already qualified.' We were not trying to be arrogant at that stage. Even today we made three changes in a must-win game. The last game we made three changes. We tried to play the situation. Ajinkya Rahane was injured in that [first loss to Mumbai]. If you noticed he didn't field in the game before that. He was carrying an injury. We would have loved to have played him but that is the nature of the situation."

Despite the immediate disappointment of failing to qualify for this year's playoffs, Dravid was optimistic for the future, saying the young nucleus of the side would only get better over the next two years.

"I think there's a lot of positives from our season as well. It's the first year and we've always been saying that this is the first year of three," Dravid said. "The performances of people like Sanju [Samson] again, Karun Nair has been exceptional, even people like Ankit Sharma and Rahul Tewatia who played only a couple of games and showed there is a potential for the future. I think Steven Smith playing for us this year showed that he is going to become a force to reckon with in the IPL and in this tournament. So there were a lot of positives from that point of view."

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Atapattu backs Sri Lanka's fighting spirit

Marvan Atapattu, Sri Lanka's interim coach, has backed his team to come out firing in the second one-day international against England as they attempt to level the series.

They lost by 81 runs in a truncated match at The Oval and the forecast suggests weather may have a say on Sunday as well, but regardless of the duration of the contest Atapattu believes the early setback could bring out the best in Sri Lanka.

"History will tell you that if these guys are pushed to the wall they come out with all big guns blazing." Atapattu said. "Even in that World T20 game against New Zealand where we had to win, the way that we played showed the character of the team. They play with a lot of pride each one comes with a big reputation that helps the team spirit. We derive the results that we want to have. Those kinds of things drive the team forward."

The loss at The Oval was Sri Lanka's first ODI defeat for the year after a run of nine consecutive wins. Angelo Mathews pulled no punches after the match, assessing it as a poor performance throughout, and Atapattu sounded a similar note.

"Our execution on the field was nowhere close to our best. We are a good team that finishes innings which is one of our strengths. It was one of those days when our bowling didn't come right we must make sure it does not happen again," he said. "We have been doing so well in the two shorter formats been brilliant on the field and batted well which have been our strong points, but on Thursday it was a different scenario."

The two areas where Sri Lanka lost significantly were during the Chris Jordan blitz when he blasted 38 runs off 13 balls and when they lost Tillakaratne Dilshan soon after the final break for rain which reduced the chase to 32 overs.

"They batted extremely well and for Jordan to get 38 off 13 balls was remarkable. He got the measure of the two bowlers [Malinga and Kulasekara]," Atapattu said. "We shouldn't forget that although it was a 50-over game it ended up as a 32-over affair. In shorter games this could happen. If somebody has a good day the game could shift very soon within a few minutes. The momentum shifted towards England.

"Losing Dilshan at a crucial juncture straight after the break for rain was the other setback. Dilshan and Mahela were going really well at the time when rain disrupted play. Then straight after the break Dilshan got out caught at third man. If he had gone a bit longer, another eight to ten overs, we would have had a good platform to launch. We missed that."

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Hales called up with Cook in doubt

Alex Hales, the Nottinghamshire batsman, has been added to the England squad for the second ODI against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street as cover for captain Alastair Cook.

Hales, who played in Tuesday's T20 at the Oval, was left out of the initial ODI squad but could now make an appearance if Cook is not deemed fit to play. He is suffering with tightness in his right groin.

There had been calls for Hales to be selected in the original ODI squad to provide a greater tempo at the top of the order but England chose to return to Cook and Ian Bell as their opening pair. Last week Hales, who went out on loan to Worcestershire earlier this season to try and get some first-team Championship cricket, spoke about the frustration of being pigeon-holed as a T20 player.

Hales has offered England with much-needed power in T20 cricket and he made a century in a memorable win over Sri Lanka in the recent World T20; he also top-scored for England in their T20 defeat to Sri Lanka last Tuesday. But so far, Hales has yet to be utilised in 50-over cricket.

Michael Carberry is also in the squad, presumably as a spare opener, but Hales' call-up suggests Carberry will not be first reserve should England need another partner for Bell.

Should Cook not be fit, Eoin Morgan - who took charge of the T20 side in the absence of Stuart Broad - will lead England at Chester-le-Street.

If Hales is not required on Sunday morning he may be released back to Nottinghamshire who have a Championship match starting against Durham.

England also announced that if Tim Bresnan, who did not play the T20 or first ODI, is not selected in the side he will be made available for Yorkshire's Roses match against Lancashire at Headingley.

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