Tag Futebol

The KPL, as it was known then, will now be called the Maharaja Trophy T20 and feature six teams

Shashank Kishore16-Jul-2022The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) is relaunching its T20 tournament this August, three years after the competition was hit by a series of corruption allegations and, subsequently, the Covid-19 pandemic.The Karnataka Premier League (KPL), as it was known then, will now be called the Maharaja Trophy T20. The rebranding aside, the KSCA has made some structural changes in the way the six-team tournament will be run going forward.What is new?
The KSCA has disbanded the franchise model and will take complete control of all cricketing aspects – right from player draft to payments to appointments of coaches and staff. They have, however, brought on board sponsors for each of the six teams for the ninth edition, set to run from August 7 to 26 across Bengaluru and Mysore.Was corruption the reason for the change in structure?
Primarily, the KSCA has made the shift keeping in mind the country’s tax laws. “The association is liable to pay a higher percentage of its revenue in the form of taxes should they stick to the franchise system, since it’s seen under the tax lens as income earned” secretary Santosh Menon said. “The current format – with KSCA bearing all expenses – won’t attract the same percentage of tax.” That said, the KSCA has reiterated its stance of complying with all anti-corruption protocols as mandated by the BCCI.Who are the six teams?
Each of KSCA’s six zones are represented – Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hubballi, Shivamogga, Raichur and Mangaluru.How will teams be formed?
The KSCA’s cricket committee, headed by president and former India allrounder Roger Binny, has formed a core group of six selectors picked from across the six zones of the state who will take part in the draft process to ensure all squads are balanced. The selectors are Anand Katti, AR Mahesh, MV Prashanth, Santosh Vadeyaraj and Raghotham Navli.All top cricketers within the age bracket of 35 years will be eligible to play. The KSCA committee will also nominate the captains and vice-captains. There will be no involvement of team sponsors in selecting the playing XI, or in any other cricketing decision.Mangalore United celebrate after winning the Karnataka Premier League in 2010•Mantri KPL

Who appoints the coaches?
The KSCA has distributed top coaching talent – one head coach and one assistant – to each of the six teams. The head coaches are Stuart Binny, Nazeeruddin, Mansur Ali Khan, Nikhil Haldipur, Deepak Chougale and PV Shashikant. One physio, trainer and video analyst will also be appointed for each of the six teams.How will the draft process take place?
Players are divided into four grades – A, B, C and D. Those who have played for India and in the IPL will form Grade A. State players who’ve only featured in one of the senior tournaments (Ranji Trophy/Vijay Hazare Trophy/Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy) will be part of Grade B. Those who’ve featured in various age-group tournaments (Under-19s, Under-23s) will form Grade C, while Grade D will comprise emerging talent.How much do the players stand to earn?
Unlike earlier, where players were picked at an auction – Pavan Deshpande was 2019’s most expensive player at INR 7.3 lakh – payments will be uniform as per the grades they belong to. Those in A will get a flat fee of INR 5 lakh. Players in B, C and D will earn INR 2 lakh, 1 lakh and 50,000 respectively.Who are some of the top players to look forward to?
All top players of the state – except those on national duty – will take part. These include Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Prasidh Krishna, Shreyas Gopal and K Gowtham among others.Will the matches be televised?
Yes. Star Sports are the broadcast partners.What is the format?
Each team will play the other five once, before the bottom two are filtered out. The top four will then go through the same process of qualification and elimination similar to the IPL playoffs system.

Tasmania bowled out for 237 after Stanlake picked up a career-best 4 for 24

Alex Malcolm22-Feb-2021A blistering Billy Stanlake spell and another Usman Khawaja masterclass guided Queensland to a four-wicket Marsh Cup win over Tasmania at Bellerive Oval in Hobart.Stanlake took a career-best 4 for 24 ripping through Tasmania’s top four with extreme pace and bounce while Khawaja controlled the chase superbly with a classy 93, following on from his fourth-innings century in the Sheffield Shield clash on Saturday.Stanlake set the game up after Queensland won the toss. He claimed all four wickets with short balls as Tim Paine, Caleb Jewell, and Mac Wright struggled to control hook and pull shots while Jake Doran gloved one through the keeper. When Marnus Labuschagne ran out Tom Andrews with a direct hit, the Tigers had slumped to 7 for 143 with 17.5 overs left in the innings.But Jordan Silk came to the rescue continuing the superb form he showed in the BBL. He made 77 from 88 balls to hold the innings together. He put on 53 with Nathan Ellis who contributed 21. Jackson Bird then clubbed 27 from 25 balls to lift the total up to 237. Matt Kuhnemann took 3 for 47 for the Bulls, including the key wicket of Silk.Khawaja then took charge in the chase. He put on a 53-run opening stand with Sam Heazlett and an 87-run stand with Joe Burns to break the back of the chase. Nathan Ellis returned for the Tigers to cause a few heart murmurs in the Queensland camp. He knocked over Burns and Khawaja in consecutive overs. But Jimmy Peirson steered the visitors home with 14 balls to spare.

Morgan hinted he may also seek to push on towards the 2021 competition in India

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Oct-2019Eoin Morgan has said he will not put any timeframe on his remaining stint as England’s captain, after declaring himself “delighted” with his decision to carry on leading the team in the wake of this summer’s World Cup triumph.Morgan, who turned 33 in September, took his time at the end of the summer to confirm his willingness to carry on leading England’s white-ball squads. However, he insisted he had not been tempted to bow out on a high at international level, after leading England to glory in the World Cup final against New Zealand at Lord’s in July.And now, having had time to consider his options in the off-season, he is ready to face those same opponents again, when the first of five T20Is gets underway in Christchurch on Friday.ALSO READ: Pressure on Guptill and Munro amid NZ top-order struggles“I’m very comfortable with the decision I made,” Morgan told Test Match Special. “I’m delighted that I have made it because I feel it is the right one for myself and my team.”With England embarking on a new era under Chris Silverwood, following the end of Trevor Bayliss’ stint as head coach, the continuity offered by Morgan’s vast experience and respected leadership was an important consideration, and one that Ashley Giles, England’s team director, had urged him to bear in mind in their discussions prior to his announcement.And now, with England building towards next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia, the T20 squad for the New Zealand series features six potential new caps – the Somerset duo of Tom Banton and Lewis Gregory, Lancashire’s Matt Parkinson and Saqib Mahmood, Worcestershire’s Pat Brown and Surrey’s Sam Curran – all of whom can expect to feature at some stage in the coming five matches.”We have a special group of players at the moment,” said Morgan. “I feel very lucky to lead that group and I think we can do something even more special down the line.”Pat Brown is expected to make his England debut•Getty Images

While Morgan knows that he cannot carry on indefinitely – not least given the long-term fitness concerns that culminated in a worrying back spasm during England’s World Cup match against West Indies – he has hinted he may also seek to push on towards the subsequent T20 World Cup, in India in 2021.”I still feel I have a lot to offer,” Morgan said. “I won’t say I’ll be finished after the next World Cup as I’d be afraid I’ll only creep over the line and maybe fall off.”I don’t want to let anyone down. I want to drive through the World Cup in Australia and then make a call after that.”There were questions over my fitness and how I would come back and play, but I think that was just lingering in my head because I was back playing county cricket two weeks after the World Cup final, and the decision was almost delayed because I didn’t have time to make it.”I think if the season had ended after the World Cup final I would have made a decision in a couple of weeks, because once I finished playing for Middlesex, the next year or two became clearer.”When you get to the back end of your career, very few people can make a decision themselves or be in a luxurious position to make that decision, because it’s more often than not made for you,” he added. “So I’m delighted to carry on and hopefully offer a lot more for English cricket.”

Yorkshire Diamonds secured a notable consolation win against Kia Super League table-toppers Loughborough Lightning at Headingley

ECB Reporters Network18-Aug-2018
ScorecardYorkshire Diamonds secured a notable consolation win against Kia Super League table-toppers Loughborough Lightning at Headingley.The Diamonds fought superbly with the ball and in the field to defend a target of 149 and secure their third win.The Lightning have still qualified directly for the final at Hove a week on Monday, where they will play the winner of the semi-final between Surrey Stars and champions Western Storm.The visitors looked in control at 83 for 1 after 10 overs and 122 for 3 after 16. But Alice Davidson-Richards and spinners Thea Brookes and Katie Thompson were key in turning the game.Left-arm spinner Thompson, in her first game of the campaign, was the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 18 from her four overs as the Lightning failed to get 14 off the last and finished on 145 for 6, losing by three runs.Australian opener Beth Mooney underpinned the Diamonds’ 148 for 6 with 76 off 50 balls, while left-arm spinners Linsey Smith and Kirstie Gordon claimed two wickets apiece.The much-changed Diamonds, who handed first KSL appearances of 2018 to Sophie Munro and Thompson, posted a competitive total, centred around Mooney’s second half-century.But only youngster Bess Heath was able to provide notable support with 24. They shared 65 inside 10 overs for the second wicket to advance from 19 for 1 in the third when Smith bowled home captain Lauren Winfield.Smith also uprooted the middle stump of Yorkshire’s second Australian, Delissa Kimmince, who later bowled the last over of the match against Georgia Adams and Lucy Higham.Gordon had Thea Brookes stumped for one and later Mooney caught low down at cover by Haynes.Yorkshire were well placed at 108 for 3 after 15 overs and would have wanted more than 40 off the last five. In the end, it was enough.Lightning skipper Sophie Devine swept Thompson’s left-arm spin for six at the end of the first over of the chase and hit Beth Langston twice over the ropes in the fourth as the score moved to 30 without loss.The second six, pulled out to deep backward square-leg was dropped over the rope by Alice Monaghan. However, two balls later, in the next over, Devine was caught at deep mid-wicket off Brookes’ offspin.Rachel Haynes took on the lead role with 47 before falling as the game tightened up at 95 for 3 in the 13th over. She hoisted the seam of Davidson-Richards to deep mid-wicket, where Monaghan atoned for her earlier error.Haynes had shared 52 for the second wicket with Amy Jones, who fell when she chipped Thompson to cover as the score fell to 83 for 2 at the start of the eleventh.The Diamonds were without talismanic England all-ounder Katherine Brunt having opted to rest her. But they were able to build pressure in the second half of the chase, taking the target to 38 off five with Loughborough three wickets down.Thompson had Elyse Villani stumped at the start of the 17th before Brookes had Georgia Elwiss caught at deep mid-wicket in the 18th as the target became 19 off two overs and 14 off the last.

In feedback to the BCCI, India captain Virat Kohli is understood to have expressed concern at coach Anil Kumble’s approach

Nagraj Gollapudi30-May-20174:11

Bal: Captain and players should not pick the coach

India’s campaign for Champions Trophy has begun under a cloud of discontent within the dressing room with the captain, and possibly a few other senior players, expressing a lack of confidence in their head coach.Speculation had been rife ever since the BCCI chose not to automatically extend the tenure of Anil Kumble as the head coach, choosing instead to advertise the position, and it has now emerged that the decision was made following feedback from Virat Kohli about Kumble’s coaching method, which he is said to have described as “intimidating”.Kumble’s year-long contract expires at the end of the Champions Trophy. The development comes at less than an ideal time for India, with their first match in the Champions Trophy, against arch rivals Pakistan, just days away.It is understood that Kohli relayed the sense of discontent to the BCCI’s top office bearers as well as the Committee of Administrators (CoA) before the team left for England. He is also understood to have spoken to Sourav Ganguly, who is part of the cricket advisory panel which has been tasked with deciding the coaching option.The players’ concerns are thought to centre mainly around Kumble’s man-management skills. In the words of one official familiar with the details, Kumble has been conducting himself like a “headmaster” at a school. Such an approach, the official said, “had not gone down well” with the players who are used to a more relaxed dressing room. Some players – not the bigger personalities like Kohli or MS Dhoni – have felt “a bit intimidated” by Kumble’s approach.Such has been the approach, the official said, that some of the injuries that have ruled players out during Kumble’s tenure were not strictly cricket related. “Kumble was pushing hard. The bulk of them [injuries] are non-cricketing injuries. One of the players was stressed out. So the team is not a happy lot.”What has surprised the BCCI is that Kumble has failed to read these concerns. The official said that the reason Kumble has been successful was because “the team has been successful” playing cricket mostly at home. “The way the cricket set-up works in India is the coach is not the king. So the coach has to understand that.”Based on the player feedback, the BCCI decided that the time to “change” had come and the “best” way to move forward was to put in place an advertisement inviting fresh applications. The official admitted that the timing was not ideal – the advertisement went out on the day Indian squad arrived in London to defend the Champions Trophy, and applications for the job close on the eve of the tournament opener – but he said the process had to followed.The most telling public comments came from Kohli, who said last week he did not find anything untoward with what the BCCI was doing. “The process has been followed every single time the similar way in Indian cricket for the past so many years is what I know,” Kohli said at his first media briefing upon landing in England. “Even the last time the post was up for a change the same procedure was applied. With the term being one year, the procedure is being followed in the same manner. I don’t see anything very different from what has happened in the past. That is something the board has recognised. They want to follow the same pattern.”Kohli was equivocal in his response to the success India have had under Kumble. “When you have results come your way, the contribution is from every part of the team,” he said. “It is not from a single source to say the least. Everyone works hard equally if not more than the other person.”Kumble has not yet spoken publicly about the situation. He is, however, bound to be disappointed considering India have only lost one series in any format under his charge: the two-match Twenty20 series in Florida against West Indies last August. Kumble has also been front and centre in talks with the BCCI over enhancing the contracts not just of the national team’s players but also domestic players and Indian coaching staff.The situation also puts three other Indian legends in an awkward position. It was only last June that Kumble was nominated by the three-man cricket advisory panel comprising his contemporaries, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman; Kumble wasn’t in the original shortlist of candidates the BCCI had finalised because he had no formal coaching experience. But it was at the panel’s insistence that he was put in. And now they have to go through the process again; it isn’t yet known if Kumble will go through the process again. Ganguly is currently in England, doing television commentary for the official broadcaster of the Champions Trophy.At the time of Kumble’s appointment, the BCCI made out the contract for only a year saying that would give Kumble time to prove his coaching credentials. The former BCCI president Anurag Thakur had said that a review would be carried out after one year. Incidentally, Ajay Shirke, who was the BCCI secretary last June, had said that when the review was done, Kumble should find himself in the “driver’s seat” considering India were playing a long home season comprising 13 Tests and a couple of ODI series. Kumble might not be holding the steering wheel anymore.

Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha has said that communication within the BCB selection panel will improve once he becomes a part of it

Mohammad Isam02-Jun-2016Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha has said that communication within the BCB selection panel will improve once he becomes a part of it. Although not yet official, Hathurusingha’s inclusion will be one of the major changes to the selection committee, which is likely to be approved at the next board meeting.”BCB are going to speak to me in the next couple of days about the plan they have,” Hathurusingha said. “I think it is a good concept. At the end I am responsible for the outcome. If I have a say in selection it will make things easier for everyone, the players as well as the selectors. The communication will be much better.”Hathurusingha will not be the first Bangladesh coach to be included in the selection panel. Dav Whatmore was also a selector when he was Bangladesh’s coach between 2003 and 2007. Jamie Siddons, Stuart Law, Richard Pybus and Shane Jurgensen were advisors to the panel, although not appointed as selectors during their stints as Bangladesh coach.Amid growing concerns within the BCB, chief selector Faruque Ahmed had offered to resign if the panel expanded to seven members without a chief selector. However, he welcomed Hathurusingha to the committee. Earlier this week, BCB president Nazmul Hassan had said Hathurusingha would be tasked with staying abreast with domestic cricket.”I want the coach to watch matches rather than sitting idle,” Hassan said. “He will have a role to play. Someone or the other must watch each domestic match so that we know about the emerging cricketers. I don’t want a situation where the coach doesn’t know anything about a new player. Our contract with him is based on ‘number of days’ but he is not taking advantage of it.”Hathurusingha, who returned on Wednesday from a holiday in Melbourne, said he was looking forward to seeing the Bangladesh players’ performance in the Super League phase of the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League.”I want to see the performance, especially the national players stepping up,” he said. “I have been following how they are doing on the internet. I hope the national players step up in the Super League and dominate with the bat and ball.”Hathurusingha, who is likely to have his contract renewed with the BCB for two years, said Bangladesh’s foreign tours will be a test of their improvement. Apart from Bangladesh’s scheduled tour to New Zealand later this year, there are talks of at least three tours in 2017, excluding the Champions Trophy in England in June.”I think the next two-three years will be Bangladesh’s golden era. Players of the caliber of Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah are all at their peak now,” Hathurusingha said. “This is the time they have to use their experience and consistently perform in international cricket.”That is going to be an exciting era as well as challenging for Bangladesh cricket, because in the next two years we play more cricket overseas. In my last two years, we played a lot cricket at home and in Bangladesh conditions. So it is going to be a challenge as well to see our development in Bangladesh cricket.”Hathurusingha said one of his main challenges was to develop a good bowling unit needed to perform consistently in Tests. Bangladesh last played a Test in July last year.”Playing matches is the best way to improve. If you look at our record, we have not played much of Twenty20 cricket,” he said. “Test matches also the same, we have not played Tests for a long time.”We also need to find good bowling unit, [that is] the main challenge for next two-three years. Whoever comes they have to find good bowlers who can take 20 wickets. We are on the right path. We have found few good bowlers as well as a few good young youngsters and the seniors are coming to their prime.”

A sixth Test hundred from Joe Root helped England to a position of increasing dominance in Grenada, as they wore down West Indies during an extended day in the field

The Report by Alan Gardner23-Apr-2015
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:20

Dobell: Root’s run of form continues

A sixth Test hundred from Joe Root helped England to a position of increasing dominance in Grenada, as they wore down West Indies during an extended day in the field. Almost 50 overs were lost from the match over the first two days but with cloud cover and swinging conditions replaced by unbroken sunshine and a flat, if slow, surface, England were approaching a position from where they could bat once and then push for victory.England’s old guard had set the tone at the start of the day, then left it to two of the youth corps to press home their advantage. Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott both recorded fifties during a century opening stand – England’s first since 2013 – and although Cook fell short of reaching three figures himself, another strong showing from Root and Gary Ballance in the middle order helped England to a 74-run lead at the close.Going back to last summer, Root has now made six consecutive 50-plus scores, equalling England’s Test record. Cook is one of four other batsmen to have achieved the same feat, along with Patsy Hendren, Ken Barrington and Ted Dexter – no one has more than seven in a row.Increasingly, Root is the bundle of energy, the dog chasing a piece of silver paper, who sets the tempo for England in the middle order. In partnership with his Yorkshire team-mate Ballance, he helped add 165 for the fourth wicket in little over 40 overs, taking the game away from West Indies with every impish stolen single, not to mention the odd blow for six. Since being dropped for the final Ashes Test in Sydney last year, he has scored more than 1000 runs at an average of 103.70.Devendra Bishoo wheeled away, bowling 22 overs in succession and doing a much better job of keeping things tight than Sulieman Benn in Antigua, but when he returned in the evening session, his first over was taken for 16 by Root and Ballance. Bishoo did claim his first Test wicket since in 2012, removing Trott with a hard-spun legbreak, and then picked up Ben Stokes, caught on the boundary in pursuit of quick runs late in the day, but figures of 2 for 124 spoke of West Indies’ toil.Ian Bell was the only member of the top five not to pass 50, although West Indies did hit back to take 3 for 35 in the final session. Moeen Ali made his first Test duck when running himself out after calling Root for a single that wasn’t there, while Stokes also fell for a single-figure score – and got a salute from Marlon Samuels to send him on his way.This match may be taking place on the Spice Island but there was something reassuringly bland about England’s approach in the first session. With play starting 15 minutes early, 34 overs were possible and 69 runs were scored. Cook and Trott, then Cook and Ballance were content to accumulate balls faced, in the knowledge that laying a strong foundation was the most important task.Joe Root past 50 for the sixth consecutive innings on the way to his hundred•Getty Images

England’s second fifty had taken Cook and Trott 145 balls, as they methodically re-scratched their groove from the previous evening; the fifth and sixth, with Root and Ballance in full flow, came off 61 and 65 respectively. At one point, Denesh Ramdin delayed taking the new ball and called upon Jermaine Blackwood’s part-time offspin – his single over disappeared for 14. England added 120 during the evening and will begin with Jos Buttler at the crease alongside Root on Friday.The sight of Cook and Trott batting together was something England once took for granted. The two have scored almost 2700 Test runs in partnership, their successes redolent of England’s march to No. 1 in the Test rankings between 2009 and 2011. This was the 10th time they had racked up a century stand together and the first since the Headingley Test against New Zealand in 2013.It was also England’s first century partnership at the top of the innings since Cook and Nick Compton put on 231 in Dunedin in March 2013. Trott’s half-century was a poignant milestone. His previous Test fifty came at The Oval during the 2013 Ashes; many thought the following Test, in Brisbane, would be his last after he left that tour, burned out and uncertain of his professional future.Cook has also had his struggles over the last two years but he was creeping to within sight of a 26th Test hundred when Shannon Gabriel struck for the first of two wickets in seven balls. On a slow pitch, cross-batted strokes can be perilous and, cramped for room, Cook only succeeded in cutting the ball on to his stumps. Bell fell in almost identical fashion in Gabriel’s next over, this time off stump removed from the ground. On St George’s Day, it was a warning: here be drag-ons.Trott’s had been the only wicket to fall during the morning session, though he had acquitted himself during a spell of short-pitched bowling from Gabriel that topped 94mph. West Indies were without their best bowler, Jerome Taylor, and conditions were benign but the 125-run association between Cook and Trott was a bit like seeing the old gang back together. Then came Root and Ballance and another prolific double-act with plenty of time to run.

Only two days of play were possible in the solitary Sunfoil Series fixture of the week

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-2012Only two days of play were possible in the solitary Sunfoil Series fixture of the week. The Dolphins and Cobras had to see out a wet draw in Pietermaritzburg, with both Saturday and Sunday washed out.Dolphins earned 0.82 more than Cobras, after batting for 90 overs more than them. It had looked as though the Durban-based side would spend far less time at the crease. After choosing to bat, Dolphins were 25 for 4 in the 11th over as two national fast bowlers ripped through them. New call-up Rory Kleinveldt took the first three wickets, one lbw, one caught behind and one bowled to start with figures of 3 for 8, and Vernon Philander claimed the fourth.Divan van Wyk survived the early assault and combined with Cody Chetty for a 102-run stand for the fifth wicket. Chetty was bowled by Johann Louw after making 59, but van Wyk went on to star in another big partnership, of 83 runs with his captain, Daryn Smit.Both looked set to score centuries but van Wyk was bowled by Philander on 95 and three overs later Smit was stumped on 94. Dolphins tailed wagged a touch and they were bowled out for a respectable 310. Kleinveldt was the pick of bowlers with his 5 for 54.In reply, Cobras were fairly untroubled by Dolphins. Alistair Gray and Andrew Puttick eased their way to 66 before bad light stopped play on day two and the teams were not able to take the field again in the match.Cobras remain at the top of the table. They have 43.78 points from their four matches so far and are 13.86 ahead of Warriors, whose match against Knights is also in danger of being rained out. Dolphins have also played four matches, three of which have been weather affected. They are third with 24 points. Neither team will play anymore first-class cricket until the schedule resumes in December.

Sri Lanka’s captain Tillakaratne Dilshan struck a compelling century then marshalled his team neatly in the field to secure a 35-run victory over Australia

The Report by Daniel Brettig06-Aug-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
There was both brute-force hitting and innovation in Tillakaratne Dilshan’s century•AFP

Sri Lanka’s captain Tillakaratne Dilshan struck a compelling century then marshalled his team neatly in the field to secure a 35-run victory over Australia in the first Twenty20 international in Kandy.Sent in to bat at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, the hosts were headed for a total of about 150 before Dilshan (104, 57 balls, 12 fours, five sixes) and the allrounder Jeevan Mendis (29, 19 balls) combined for a stand of 104 runs in a mere 45 balls to lift the hosts to 198 for 3. Dilshan hammered 67 from his final 23 deliveries, a sequence that effectively decided the match.The Australians’ chase was undone by the flat offspin of the debutant Dilruwan Perera (3-26), who provided a reminder there is plenty of slow bowling depth for the Sri Lankans to utilise across the limited overs and Test series to take place through August and September. Rangana Herath (1-11) also posed plenty of problems, much as he had done on his debut against the Australians on their 1999 visit to the island.Dilshan’s was exactly the kind of opening statement a captain desires to make, providing plenty of evidence the Australians will be up against a feisty opponent on this tour. They will also need to sharpen their fielding, as fumbles were a recurring theme of the team’s first international since a limited overs series in Bangladesh in April.Mitchell Johnson, John Hastings and Shane Watson were all taken for more than 11 runs per over, while curiously the spin of Steve O’Keefe and Steve Smith was not fully utilised despite offering a greater level of economy than any of the faster men.By contrast the Sri Lankans employed three spin bowlers in their defence of the target, and in truth no-one other than the belligerent David Warner (53) ever looked comfortable enough to impose serious pressure on the home attack.Needing 10 runs an over virtually from the start, Australia’s reply was inconvenienced by the early swing of Nuwan Kulasekara (2-39), who found a way through Watson in the third over. Warner was soon finding the boundary, and on one occasion cleared it with a line drive over the bowler’s head.Shaun Marsh was less settled, and misread the first over from the debutant Perera to be lbw for four. David Hussey appeared fortunate that no-one on the field was fully alert to an apparent thin edge behind off the bowling of Dhammika Prasad, but next over he was nowhere near a sharp off break from Perera that tilted middle stump.Cameron White managed only one boundary before he too was defeated by a Perera offbreak that straightened from around the wicket, and at 63 for 4 Australia’s chase was looking decidedly sick. It deteriorated further when Steven Smith was utterly confused by Herath and stumped, while Dilshan had the luxury of dropping Warner then being able to accept another chance. O’Keefe and Johnson provided nuisance value, but by then the equation would have been too steep even for Dilshan.Brett Lee had shared the new ball with the left-arm spinner O’Keefe in a nod to a surface that offered some bounce but also turn. Mahela Jayawardene managed a pair of crisp boundaries to long-on and backward point, but in the third over squirted a Lee yorker into his stumps.Dilshan immediately took the attack to Lee, following a top-edged hook for six with an artful glide through gully for four, meaning the over reaped 14 runs as well as a wicket. He then sought to unsettle Johnson with a series of impudent gestures. Dinesh Chandimal also made a bright start, but on 11 was hurried onto the back foot by Johnson’s pace and slid ungracefully into his wicket – only the fifth such dismissal in T20 internationals, its rarity underlined by the bowler’s miffed reaction.Tensions were evident between Dilshan and Watson, the Australian firing a return throw towards the batsman, who fended it away with a glove. A curious appeal by the Australians posed the question about obstruction, as the game’s laws have been changed to disallow any by a batsman out of his crease, but the umpires waved it away.Kumar Sangakkara cracked boundaries over mid-off and square leg to raise a 50 stand with Dilshan, but the next over he flicked ineffectually at a Watson slower ball and handed a simple catch to Cameron White. Mendis announced himself with a reverse-swept boundary from the bowling of Smith, then gave a passing impression of no less a left-hander than Sangakkara himself with a pull shot of some flourish when Watson dropped fractionally short.John Hastings’ slower balls were losing their novelty, and Dilshan took a heavy toll by swinging thrice to the legside for boundaries either side of an exceptionally cheeky reverse-dab past short third man – the over was worth 20.Mendis and Dilshan tormented the Australians in the closing overs, piling up 67 runs from overs 15-18 to turn a middling total into an intimidating one. Too often the touring bowlers missed the yorker length, and when they did strike it Dilshan’s wrists were supple enough to send the ball skidding through gully to the rope.On 84 when the final over began, Dilshan cracked a pair of sixes then mis-scooped a boundary to go to three figures, before adding another to take the Sri Lankans to the cusp of 200 – a total they would not have contemplated at 94-3. Australia’s bowlers, and batsmen, have the task ahead of them.