Faulkner ruled out of South Africa Test tour

James Faulkner has been ruled out of Australia's Test tour of South Africa due to a knee injury and Shaun Marsh and Jackson Bird are still in doubt and will remain in Australia for further assessment while the rest of the squad departs on Wednesday.

Faulkner has been replaced in the squad by fellow allrounder Moises Henriques, who played his only three Tests on the tour of India early last year and will fly to South Africa after playing in Wednesday's first Twenty20 against England in Hobart. Faulkner will have arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Tuesday after picking up an injury during Sunday's final one-day international against England in Adelaide.

"James' exact rehab plan and return to training and playing will be determined after surgery but unfortunately for him, he will not be available for the upcoming Test tour of South Africa," the team physio Alex Kountouris said. "We are hopeful that he will recover in time to play the Twenty 20 games on that tour and take part in the ICC World Twenty20."

Faulkner's presence in the Test squad would have given the selectors another option for balancing the side in South Africa if they chose to move the wicketkeeper Brad Haddin up to No.6. Henriques appears much less likely to play in the Tests than Faulkner would have; Henriques played three Sheffield Shield matches in the first half of the season and scored 202 runs at 33.66 and took five wickets at 36.60.

The Australians also have concerns over the fitness of Marsh, who strained his calf during the ODI victory in Adelaide. Marsh had been scheduled to travel to South Africa on Tuesday night but instead will remain in Perth for further treatment over the coming days and Cricket Australia said in a statement that "a decision on whether he will travel to South Africa will be made in due course".

Similar doubts will keep Bird in Australia while the rest of the squad departs. Bird jarred his back while fielding for the Melbourne Stars in a BBL match last week and Cricket Australia confirmed he will remain in Hobart "to be assessed by CA's medical staff and return to bowling to determine if he has recovered sufficiently enough to take his place on the South Africa tour".

Bird was unlikely to be in the starting XI for the first Test in Centurion, given the success of the pace trio of Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle during the Ashes. However, when the squad was named last week there appeared a strong chance that Marsh would be part of the starting XI, given the absence of the incumbent No.6 George Bailey from the squad.

The majority of Australia's Test players will depart for South Africa over the next two days, although their first official tour match does not begin until next Wednesday in Potchefstroom. Faulkner had been the only player from the Test squad also named for the T20s against England over the coming week; his place in the T20 squad will now be taken by the fast bowler Kane Richardson.

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ZC close to clinching sponsorship deal

Zimbabwe Cricket are close to clinching a sponsorship deal which could lead to the resumption of domestic cricket in the next few weeks. ESPNcricinfo understands ZC have been in positive talks with Lay's, the potato chip company, who are interesting in backing them.

Although the deal will not cover the total cost of salaries ZC owes their players, it is expected to provide a portion of it. ZC are also hopeful of securing a loan from the ICC, which could ensure they have the funds needed for the game to restart.

Their request for a loan was subject to an audit of ZC's financials which was completed last week. ZC are now waiting to hear from the ICC about whether the money will be made available to them and on what terms. Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor hinted the decision could be finalised at the ICC board meeting, which starts tomorrow. He tweeted: "A massive week for us. We all hope some positives come out for ZC and all involved at the ICC meeting in Dubai on Wed. #fingerscrossed."

Initially, ZC asked US$3 million from the ICC, which would cover both the outstanding payment amount (believed to be in the region of US$700,000) and enable them to stage domestic games. The money will not see ZC move completely into the black. They remain steeped in debt to the tune of approximately US$15 million.

While cash-flow problems are not new to Zimbabwean cricket, they have recently become serious enough to disrupt the game. There has been no cricket in Zimbabwe since mid-December, when franchise players went on strike because of non-payment. As a result, there have only been two first-class matches and three fifty-over matches played since Zimbabwe's series against Pakistan last September.

Incoming tours from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan were cancelled while Zimbabwe also had to turn down an offer to play a one-off Test in South Africa because of the financial problems and subsequent refusal of players to take the field. That has left the players with little practice ahead of the World T20 in March, something they are keen to rectify as soon as possible.

An insider confirmed the national players are staying match fit by staging warm-up games against the under-19 team but hope to have other competitive cricket as they prepare for the World T20.

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Big Three offer redraft to ICC as lobbying intensifies

'Revamp has many legal implications'

Cricket's formally-united Big Three - the BCCI, Cricket Australia and the ECB - will present the seven other Full Member nations with a set of re-drafted "resolutions" around their radical "position paper" at an ICC executive meeting in Dubai on Tuesday.

The resolutions - five in number - were being talked through the first official meeting of the Finance & Commercial Affairs (F&CA) committee after its "working group" - made up of the heads of the BCCI, Cricket Australia and the ECB - came up with the proposal in a 21-page document that called for a complete overhaul of the ICC's administration and its revenue distribution.

The first of the proposals to be watered down is expected to be the one pertaining to a two-tier format for Test cricket and the relegation of the bottom two ranked into the ICC Intercontinental Cup. The other proposal which could be reworked pertains to a newly formed Executive Committee (ExCo) and it's possible expansion from four to five, with a second nominee coming in from the "small seven," as opposed to only one according to the draft position paper.

As the ICC's Board met for its scheduled quarterly meeting in Dubai, the Big Three were known to be in discussions with six of the Seven in order to ensure their support should the proposal go to vote on Tuesday.

One board chief said the BCCI, ECB and Cricket Australia had been "surrounding people, taking them in, we'll give you this, we'll give you that." Another said that BCCI led the majority of such discussions, their offers being enhanced with every meeting, "Individually they call every board and offer them something each time."

The only vocal objector to the proposal, Cricket South Africa, has been left out of these discussions and the benefits being offered to the rest of the boards. The main negotiations took place on governance issues with FTP agreements - particularly those pertaining to tours by India - being used as "bait". The resolutions, first expected to be presented in a list of 50-plus points, were later gathered together under five categories.

While in the past governance issues had dominated revenue matters, on Monday evening, one of the Big Three officials said there could be "further discussions rather than negotiations around revenue models" with an attempt to explain how they would work in real terms and the guarantees being offered.

The main boards involved in the talks are the three Asian boards - the PCB, SLC and BCB - who have been left mulling over their options due to various reasons. There has been public protest in Bangladesh, including a crowd gathering of close to 3000 in Dhaka on Saturday, over the possibility of their cricket board ceding Bangladesh's Test match status and calendar in the face of the proposals.

A senior Bangladeshi cricket official said, "It is a big thing, (to us) this status. In 13 years Bangladesh have managed to win four Test matches. India and New Zealand did not win their first Test till 30 years. So how come these people are now telling Bangladesh that you will need to fight out in the I-Cup to retain your Test status." Should the relegation issue be diluted from the resolutions, the Big Three may find the leverage they need with the BCB.

With the PCB, the main issue concerned their FTP arrangements particularly with the BCCI, in the light of a fluctuating political climate. SLC finds itself in a state of financial crisis, an application pending for an $8m loan from the ICC and the prospective carrot of a 2017 tour from the Indian team. Plus, officials are under pressure from former players and administrators who believe the rights they won at an ICC table, "the hard way" should not be surrendered for "short-term gain."

Former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga said accepting the proposal would take smaller countries back to the skewed international calendars of the 1980s. "From 1987 to 1990 in four years Sri Lanka played just seven Tests. After that, ICC's Future Tour Programme ensured that there were equal opportunities for all countries. The proposed system will take smaller nations like Sri Lanka to the situation in 1980s."

Zimbabwe Cricket, despite its financial debt to the tune of $18m and its player strike due to non-payment of dues, is expected to vote in favour of the proposals largely because of their good relations with the BCCI. In the last 10 years, India has played two Tests, nine ODIs and two T20s in Zimbabwe, compared to Australia's three, England's four and South Africa's three ODIs.

Among the other Full Member nations, New Zealand Cricket had come out in support of the proposal while the West Indies Cricket Board only stated that they had taken a position "in the best interests of West Indies cricket" following two board meetings in the past ten days.

With inputs from Andrew Fernando, Firdose Moonda, Nagraj Gollapudi and Mohammad Isam

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New-look India recover with rohit fifty

25 overs India 100 for 2 (Rohit 56*, Rayudu 36*) v New Zealand
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

India made an overdue axing and an unexpected one, but once play began the story of the first 25 overs was the exceptional discipline Tim Southee and Kyle Mills bowled with. The consequent pressure created the wickets of Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane, and should have had Rohit Sharma too but the surviving opener was put down by Ross Taylor at first slip.

If Rohit was dropped by the opposition, Shikhar Dhawan found himself at the other end of fortune, dropped by his captain along with Suresh Raina, who had scored one fifty - that against Zimbabwe - in his last 30 innings. These two changes, and the change in tactics - batting first after having invited the opposition 30 times in a row outside Asia - was a complete departure from the usual MS Dhoni way. You wonder, though, if he did too many things at once after having gone an age without doing nothing.

In Dhawan's absencve, the best batsman of the side moved from his usual No. 3 position to open the innings. And he and Rohit were tied down by Mills and Southee. The first over was a maiden, half-volleys and long hops were rare, nothing was bowled on the pads, and the first boundary came in the seventh over and involved a lot of risk. The slow loopy bounce on the Seddon Park pitch didn't help matters, making it difficult to time the ball.

New Zealand used the short ball wisely. The first of those came in the fourth over with the score at just five. Kohli thought he finally saw something he could go after, but managed only a top edge. By around the seventh over, Rohit - already 15 dots to his credit - began to take undue risks. Once he skied past mid-off, and once he managed to clear long-on. A loose shot in the next over followed, but Taylor dropped a fairly simple catch by New Zealand's standards to deny Southee. In the next over, though, another smart bouncer claimed Ajinkya Rahane.

At 22 for 2 in the ninth over, India needed Rohit to make his luck count, but he would also need support from the other end. Support came from Ambati Rayudu, although the first few acts of the partnership were edgy. They didn't quite look comfortable against the spongy bounce, Rohit pre-meditated twice and took boundaries off outside edges, Rayudu was nearly caught at third man, but the two stayed together to give India a recovery with a 78-run stand in 16.4 overs.

There were classy shots in between, including Rohit's dismissive pull off Bennett and an off-drive off James Neesham for sixes. By the end of the 25th over, Rohit had converted his 5 off 20 at one point to 56 off 76.

Hamish Bennett provided them a few loose balls, just straying too straight, and both Rohit and Rayudu cashed in. Bennett went for 20 in his three overs with four leg-side boundaries. Between them, Southee and Mills conceded 27 in their 12.

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Perera, Mubarak's record stand powers NCC win

Group B

Angelo Perera's 244 and Jehan Mubarak's 164 helped Nondescripts Cricket Club (NCC) beat Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club by an innings and 39 runs at the NCC ground. Mubarak and Perera were involved in a mammoth stand of 405, which was the highest partnership for the fourth wicket in a first-class match on Sri Lankan soil. They came together when NCC were 81 for 3 in response to Air Force's 196. Perera blasted 30 fours and six sixes in his knock that required only 204 balls and it was also his highest first-class score. Mubarak's knock came off 247 balls with 14 fours and two sixes. NCC eventually declared at 552 for 6 with a lead of 356.

Earlier, Air Force were bundled out within 54 overs after being put in to bat. Sohan Boralessa and Dushmantha Chameera shared seven wickets between them. Air Force put on a much improved show in the second innings, scoring 317, but it wasn't enough to prevent an innings defeat. Wicketkeeper Sajith Kalumpriya made an exact 100 while Dushan Vimukthi made 59 and the pair put on 100 for the second wicket. Lahiru Sri Lakmal and Achira Eranga resisted with a stand of 83 for the fifth wicket. Tharindu Kaushal, the offspinner from Galle, finished with a six-wicket haul - his eighth first-class five-wicket haul - to give NCC their first win of the season.

The encounter at the Colombo Cricket Club ground was far more competitive as Sri Lanka Army Sports Club edged past the hosts Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) by two wickets in a tense chase. Chasing 253, a pair of 70s by Asela Gunaratne and Seekkuge Prasanna put Army on track but CCC hit back with quick wickets. Army were losing their grip at 244 for 8 before Lakshitha Madushan and Ravindra Palleguruge steered them home.

CCC were bundled out for 173 after being asked to bat, with the veteran Indika de Saram top scoring with 40. Chatura Damith and Prasanna shared seven wickets between them. Army managed a lead of 55, with Gunaratne scoring 54. Lakshan Rangika, the left-arm chinaman bowler, finished with career best figures of 7 for 78. CCC fared better in the second innings with 307, with half-centuries by Amal Athulathmudali and Chamara Silva and a 48 by de Saram. Prasanna followed up his three-wicket haul in the first innings with 5 for 127 in the second. Palleguruge, the left-arm spinner, finished with 4 for 56. Chasing 253, Army were well placed at 220 for 4, but Prasanna's wicket triggered a collapse. They lost 4 for 24 but the ninth-wicket pair handed Army their first win on the season.

Group A

Sri Lanka Ports Authority Cricket Club moved to the top of the table with thumping 10-wicket win against Panadura Sports Club at the Panadura Esplanade. The win was powered by a double-hundred from Gayashan Weerasekera (217), his maiden first-class hundred, and a century from Sachithra Senasinghe (100) which took them to 423 for 9.

Four wickets from Isuru Udana kept Panadura to 180 as only four of their batsmen scored in double digits. Chaminda Bandara and Tyron Gamage also chipped in with two wickets each as SLPAC made Panadura follow-on. With a better performance in the second innings, Panadura overtook the deficit and scored 258 but that set SLPAC a target of only 16 which they chased with ease to grab 16.09 points against Panadura's 3.09.

An unbeaten hundred from Vishva Wijeratne gave Sinhalese Sports Club a handy first-innings lead to get them 11.22 points in a draw against Chilaw Marians Cricket Club at the Sinhalese Sports Club. Put in to bat, Chilaw Marians were restricted to 208 by four wickets from Dilhara Fernando and two each from Dhammika Prasad, Sachithra Senanayake and Danushka Gunathilaka as not one batsmen could cross the score of 40. SSC were precariously placed at 149 for 5 but Wijeratne's 116 with contributions from the lower order got them to 264 for 8 before they declared.

Chilaw Marians fared much better in the second innings with fifties from Sahan Wijeratne (77) and Saliya Saman (88*) but they opened the tournament at the bottom with 3.35 points.

Another draw ensued in Colombo, between Ragama Cricket Club and Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club. Ragama moved to second place in the table with a first-innings lead which got them 11.67 points after they scored 384 on the back of a hundred from Ian Daniel (142), once they were put in to bat. A six-wicket haul from legspinner Malinga Bandara meant TUCAC were restricted to 325 despite useful contributions from Jeevan Mendis (118) and Pabasara Waduge (99). Ragama were struggling at 150 for 7 in the second essay but their lead of 59 had done the work by then.

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Concerns over Marsh and Faulkner

Australia have further injury worries ahead of the tour of South Africa after both Shaun Marsh and James Faulkner picked up problems during the final one-day international against England in Adelaide.

Marsh, a surprise inclusion for the South Africa tour, left the field in the 36th over of England's chase and has had a scan on his calf while Faulkner underwent scans on his knee on Monday after not travelling to Hobart as part of the Twenty20 squad. Both players will be assessed again in the coming days.

Speaking after the final ODI, Michael Clarke remained positive over Marsh's prognosis. "Hopefully it's not too bad, hopefully it's just something small," he said. "He was celebrating okay, he was still moving all right out there when he went off the field. Knowing what we have got coming up and [physiotherapist] Alex Kountouris, I think they would have kept him off the field just for precaution more than anything else."

Faulkner, the Man of the Match in Adelaide, was the one member of the Test party who was not due to fly out to South Africa this week, instead staying in Australia to play the three T20s against England in Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney before linking with his Test team-mates.

Faulkner made his Test debut at The Oval in August and was part of the squad throughout the return Ashes but could not force his way into Australia's XI which remained unchanged during the five Tests. Marsh made a hundred on his debut against Sri Lanka in 2011 but has played just seven matches for an average of 27.36.

The concerns over Marsh and Faulkner follow the news that Jackson Bird jarred his back in the Big Bash League and was withdrawn from the Futures League match he was due to play as preparation for South Africa.

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Captains uncertain over Bopara stumping

Both Alastair Cook and Michael Clarke admitted to confusion about the pivotal stumping of Ravi Bopara during England's run chase. With England requiring nine runs from nine balls and two wickets still standing, Bopara was given out by the third umpire, after lengthy deliberation, as a delivery from Clint McKay rebounded off keeper Matthew Wade's gloves down on to the stumps, eventually dislodging the leg bail.

Replays were apparently inconclusive in proving whether the bail was fully out of the groove on middle stump before Bopara's foot, which had been raised, returned into contact with the ground. The Laws require the bail to be "completely removed from the top of the stumps" and Cook suggested the TV umpire, Kumar Dharmasena, might have erred when asked about the incident afterwards.

"I don't know if I'm being biased or not but I thought the rule was the bail had to leave both grooves and, looking at the TV screen, I thought there was enough doubt for it not to be given out," he said. "I'd love to be proved wrong in one sense, because it would make my mind rest a little bit easier, but I'm sure the third umpire can explain his decision.

"You don't want to look at that one isolated incident but with Ravi there, with eight needed off eight balls or whatever it was, you've got a very good chance. Ravi can clear the ropes when he wants to and he's obviously taken it deep and we feel in control, even though we're losing wickets at the other end. You don't blame one incident when there are 600 balls in the game but it was obviously a big call at a big time."

Clarke, Australia's captain, said it was his decision to have Wade standing up to the stumps during the penultimate over, adding that he hadn't been as confident as some of his team-mates about Bopara being given out. The dismissal left the last-wicket pair of Chris Jordan and James Tredwell too much to do as Australia wrapped up the series 4-1.

"I had an interesting conversation with Matthew Wade at the start of that over. He wanted to go back and I made it very clear I wanted him up to the stumps, so we went with that and fortunately [we were lucky]," Clarke said. "I couldn't really tell from the big screen [if it was out], there were probably mixed feelings out there, a lot of guys thought once the bail dislodged Ravi's foot was in the air, but I couldn't tell clearly enough, I probably felt 'has he just got his foot down' when the bail's dislodged, but I haven't had a chance to look at it closely on television, and I probably won't now either."

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Machan sets up Scotland win

Scotland kept themselves in touch near the top of the Super Six table with a 21-run victory over Namibia who remain at the bottom.

The match was halted after 12 overs of Namibia's chase on Sunday due to rain after Scotland had posted 279 for 9 They had made brisk progress through Matt Machan and captain Preston Mommsen as the pair took their third-wicket stand to 82 in 15 overs. Machan was on course for his second ODI hundred but fell for 78 off 61 balls and Mommsen departed five overs later as Scotland threatened to lose their way.

However, a stand of 55 between Freddie Coleman and Richie Berrington solidified their position and Berrington added further impetus to the innings with a sprightly 51 although a regular loss of wickets in the later overs meant only 50 runs came in the final nine.

Namibia, who were 59 for 2 when the rain came, were given a chance of chasing down the target by a fourth-wicket stand of 80 between Craig Williams (57) and Nicolaas Scholtz but both fell in consecutive overs to Safyaan Sharif who then made it three wickets in three overs when he removed Christi Viljoen. JJ Smit struck three sixes in a 20-ball 38 but Namibia had left themselves too much to do.

Machan earned the Man of the Match award. "Hopefully we can build on this win and come back tomorrow against PNG," he said. "It was slightly tough to play the game over two days, but we actually did it in the summer against Kenya in Scotland, so most of the guys have done it before and it wasn't too taxing."

Mommsen was thrilled that his side was able to back up its strong batting performance in the field. "Coming back today was a bit difficult, they had a really good partnership together, and we struggled to get a breakthrough. But I think Sharif had a brilliant spell towards the back end, and I think that's what won us the game."

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A Test series before a testing future

Two weeks ago, the biggest question in Bangladesh cricket was whether Shamsur Rahman could become only the second batsman from the country to score a first-class triple hundred. When he failed to do so, everyone wondered if his 267 would earn him a Test call-up. All of that is now a distant memory, after a leaked document has reopened age-old questions about Bangladesh cricket's future.

To consider all factors of this 'position paper' and to implement them will certainly take some time, but just the thought of being pushed off the precipice is a worry.

Bangladesh's captain, Mushfiqur Rahim, has already voiced his disappointment over the plan to send the team down to the Inter-Continental Cup as early as next year. Whether cricket in the country will remain at the same level is a general question, but what will happen to the players? Someone like Mushfiqur may have a Masters' degree to fall back on, but what about others?

What must have been most difficult for Mushfiqur was for all this talk, about such a complicated matter, to engulf his team less than two days before a Test match. As the captain of the lowest-ranked Test team, he already deals with more difficult questions than the average international captain. On one day it is about selection and on another about how secure his country is for visiting teams. Now it is about the most basic of things: his and his country's standing in cricket.

But the cricket itself must go on, and Bangladesh will take on Sri Lanka from Monday, despite the cloud hanging over the host country. The good news for Bangladesh is that they have a settled squad to choose from, containing exciting players apart from Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan. Shamsur has indeed earned a place in the squad and is likely to make his debut in Mirpur, and a refreshed Imrul Kayes is another batsman to keep an eye on.

Marshall Ayub and Mominul Haque are the youngest and least experienced Nos. 3 and 4 in world cricket, but are not far behind most in potential. Mominul has made the No. 4 position his own very quickly with two centuries against New Zealand in Bangladesh's last two Test matches while Marshall is a strong-willed batsman trusted to do an important job.

Bangladesh has little to worry about the rest of the batting order or bowling attack, as the selectors have picked the best possible players. Sohag Gazi and Robiul Islam will provide adequate support to Shakib Al Hasan, while Rubel Hossain has a point to prove and a bowling average to bring down. The back-ups are also raring to go, for differing reasons. Mahmudullah has lost the vice-captaincy. Al-Amin Hossain has recently taken five wickets in an over in a domestic Twenty20 match.

Bangladesh have a new fielding coach as well, following the surprise appointment of Mohammad Salahuddin. He has mentored Shakib, Tamim, Nasir Hossain and Mominul, and it looks like he could be a short-term but effective addition to Shane Jurgensen's increasingly efficient workforce.

Last year was a good one, relatively, for Bangladesh, who won one Test, drew three and lost two. Their progress has been slow over the last 13 years, but it is not the fault of the current lot to suffer the consequences of what happened in the past. And having said that, it is not much of a past.

Bangladesh haven't been given several decades to bed into Test cricket as some other countries were. It can be argued they were admitted to the highest level of cricket a few years too soon, but had the ICC been more proactive than political at the time, they could have told the BCB a lot earlier that they were being considered for Test cricket. First-class cricket might have started much earlier than 1999, a mere year before they played their first Test.

While there have been endless debates about Bangladesh's future, it has never before surfaced as such an institutional question. In the past it had been the odd former cricketer trying to be funny or trying to outrage the media, but generally, the powers that be let their reservations about Bangladesh cricket stay within the confines of their boardroom.

But now that it has come out in the open, it has been disappointing and embarrassing for Bangladeshi cricketers. They now have to deal with ideas and thoughts that should have been the BCB's headache. Instead, the board directors' hasty stance has brought in more criticism and worried cricketers further.

Ahead of their last Test series against Sri Lanka, a string of injuries had thrown Bangladesh's preparations off kilter. Mushfiqur Rahim and Mohammad Ashraful had then changed the course of the game, bringing up the team's first ever drawn Test against Sri Lanka.

It remains to be seen if Mushfiqur and the rest of the team can bounce back in a similar manner from all the mental commotion they must be facing now. Bangladesh cricket has often done well when faced with questions, controversy and injury. This one seems right up their alley.

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Shakib wants sporting Mirpur pitch

Shakib Al Hasan wants a sporting pitch at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in the first Test against Sri Lanka. He said Bangladesh are now capable of handling such conditions, and not just playing on featherbeds.

The home side has never won a Test match in Mirpur. They have lost eight times and drawn twice, both against New Zealand. The pitch has tended to be on the slower side over the last three years, with bowlers getting less assistance as the match progresses. This has been true for both seamers and spinners, with the playing surface not prone to deteriorating.

Shakib said that an even contest between bat and ball would help the home side.

"In my opinion, sporting wickets are good," Shakib said. "Sri Lanka are not the sort of team who play spin poorly or don't have spinners. Sporting wickets give good value to runs and wickets. We are an experienced side, and have played well as a team and individually. I think we can handle a sporting wicket.

"Our bowling attack is good, but a lot will depend on the wicket. It becomes difficult to bowl on a flat wicket. But I believe that if it is a sporting wicket, we have the ability as a bowling unit."

Shakib has asked the pace bowlers and the newcomers in the side to step up, saying they have a role to play if the team is to win. "Everyone has to contribute," he said. "Even if someone takes a five-wicket haul, the others have to take a wicket each, at least. The fast bowlers have a big role to play; they have to take up responsibility. The spinners will continue to bowl according to their ability.

"Our team is not selected but among the batsmen, Marshall [Ayub] has played a few Tests, Shamsur Rahman is new while Imrul Kayes has played Tests in the past. It is not as if they are new so they have any less of a responsibility. The best 14 players in Bangladesh are in this team. They have all performed, and deserve a place. We can win very few matches if we have only one or two performers."

Bangladesh will try to break up the day into small sessions, according to Shakib, who said they would chase a positive result at all times rather than look to draw. In 2013, they lost two Tests, won one and drew three.

"We always play to win," Shakib said. "The days of Bangladesh playing a match just to do well or to draw are long gone. We have to divide it into small sessions, if we do well in those, we can get a good result overall.

"Bangladesh played well against Sri Lanka on the last occasion. We will have some home advantage. We have played well at home in the last two years, so if we can continue on that, we can shorten the difference between the two sides."

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