England v Sri Lanka: first Test, day three report

"You wonder what will happen after a couple of months off," Cook said. "I got bogged down a bit but I was pleased with the patience I showed to get through.

"It’s an opportunity for Trotty and I to get big ones. There are still 200 overs left in this game, which is a hell of a lot of cricket to be played."

Trott did not begin his England career until he was older than Cook is now (26), so he has little hope of that slice of immortality: this century was his sixth. But Trott further cemented his second place in the all-time Test batting averages behind Sir Donald Bradman, lifting his 61 to 66 by the close.

At the outset, however, their partnership was hum-drum because the pitch demanded patience: it was fancy-dress day but not one for fancy batting. While Chennai powered along at ten runs per over in the final of the Indian Premier League, Cook and Trott brought up England’s 50 at exactly two an over.

But too many England teams of the past would have gone out, played big shots, and landed themselves in trouble. Neither Cook nor Trott was too proud or complacent, even after their heroics in Australia, to go back to the basics of blocking or leaving the accurate balls and dispatching the inaccurate ones.

Ajantha Mendis imposed most of the early restrictions, until the batsmen worked him out. His one wicket - Sri Lanka’s only wicket in the 70 overs that followed morning rain - was that of James Anderson who, although he has been declared unfit to bowl for the rest of this game, was able to visit the crease: ‘bat’ might be too strong a term, but he had done his duty as nightwatchman yet again by surviving overnight, the 16th time out of 16.

Anderson was caught by the finest slip-fielder Asia has produced. Well might Graeme Swann envy Mendis for having Mahela Jayawardene at slip, for among the nuts and bolts that England need to tighten before the Lord’s Test is their slip-fielding to spin.

Anderson is still unproven as England’s slip for Swann, and Andrew Strauss even more so: he got a wrist, not a hand, on the edge that Prasanna Jayawardena sent his way off Swann’s quicker ball.

Strauss had tasted the job in the Mohali Test of five years ago, dropped one off Monty Panesar and abandoned it. Such a specialist position is slip to a spinner - and such is England’s dearth - that Jayawardene should be invited to give a master-class at the Loughborough academy after this tour.

England’s acceleration was impressively smooth. Cook was first to put his foot down, after Mendis’s first six overs had cost three runs. As in Australia, he never contemplated the outside lane, or even fourth gear, just content to move from second to third and tootle along the whole day.

Human weakness surfaced momentarily. Two successive balls however from the slow left-armer Rangana Herath served to illustrate Cook’s great strength as well. First he missed an ambitious sweep, then he missed out on a full toss, driving straight to a fielder.

But thereafter it was like winter returning to the Northwest Passage. There was no way through Cook’s defence; and the dispatching of inaccurate balls was resumed.

Trott was no less patient and no less unflustered. Ordinary mortals would have become upset at such a slow start: after 30 balls the Master of Melbourne, and Baronet of Brisbane, had reached five. In one over from Mendis he had missed out on three short balls to the extent of scoring only a single.

It is Graham Gooch, England’s batting coach, who preaches from the ancient text saying only the next ball matters, and he could not have asked for two more ardent devotees than England’s second-wicket pair.

Trott cover-drove his 31st ball for four, and was away, beaver-busy, as insatiable for runs as Cook - no mean appetite - and almost caught his partner up.

Sri Lanka rang the changes but had no extreme pace to call on, and no extreme spin in the absence of Muttiah Muralitharan, and no extreme foxiness in the absence of Chaminda Vaas. After tea Herath resorted to bowling over the wicket outside the righthander’s legs: unspoken condemnation of the pitch’s lifelessness.

As everything is measured nowadays, perhaps pitches should also be. If more than two edges fail to carry off pace bowling to the wicketkeeper - as here - let a ground be banned from staging international cricket for a year: that would activate administrators intent on five-day blandness.

Test cricket is bringing its own extinction closer by being staged on such pitches. Or stage it at night, without floodlights.

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Anderson satisfied with England start

James Anderson was pleased with the way England got back to business on day one of the first npower Test against Sri Lanka.

After the highs of the Ashes and the rigours of the World Cup, England’s homecoming was delayed by rain until 3.30pm.

Having lost the toss they were asked to bowl first against a talented touring batting order and stuck to their task diligently as Sri Lanka reached stumps on 133 for two from 48 overs.

Captain Tillakaratne Dilshan and Tharanga Paranavitana both impressed in reaching 50 and 58 not out respectively, but England’s bowlers beat the bat on several occasions to keep them interested.

Reflecting on the hosts’ efforts in circumstances that could not have been more different to their last Test match in Sydney, Anderson said: “We’ve got to move on from the winter. We had a great winter and we enjoyed it but it’s the start of a new summer, the start of a new series and we’ve got to try and put that to one side and concentrate on the challenge ahead.

“I thought we started pretty well considering we spent most of the day in the dressing room, it sometimes can be quite hard to get yourself up for that kind of start time.

“But I thought we did brilliantly in the first hour. We could have got a few wickets, we beat the bat a couple of times but they played pretty well too and left well.

“I thought we got some deserved wickets in the evening.”

England’s day would have been significantly worse had Anderson not removed Kumar Sangakkara for 11 in the evening session, a decision that initially needed a referral and even then appeared controversial until technology suggested a thin edge.

England were confident they had their man when they went upstairs but on a handful of other occasions opted not to use the UDRS

They have been criticised in the past for using their allocated referrals wastefully in the past and Anderson acknowledges it is something they have been attempting to improve.

“We’ve tried to shut Swanny up so he doesn’t waste them,” he joked. “But because it’s quite a new thing it was always going to take a bit of time getting used to them. I thought we used them pretty well today and hopefully we can continue to do that.

“The slips were convinced (about Sangakkara’s dismissal). With the strong breeze across, the guys in front of the wicket didn’t hear anything but the slips were convinced so we had no hesitation in asking.”

The Lancashire seamer was also pleased with the pitch at Cardiff, adding: “There’s more life than we thought here. We were delighted that there is some movement there and a little bit of bounce for the taller guys.

“If you bend your back you can get something out of the pitch so it’s a good cricket wicket. It’s going to be a hard contest tomorrow I think and further on in the game.”

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England v Sri Lanka: first Test, day one report

Ashes holders or not, English cricket can ill-afford to treat its patrons so shabbily. A large section of this ground has been closed off because the lack of ticket sales for this Test could not justify its opening, due to the extra stewarding costs that would incur.

You’d think therefore, that ensuring a fulsome experience for those that do turn up, would be a given, but while that was certainly the case here for the Ashes Test two years ago, it wasn’t yesterday.

Not that England gave the 7,000 spectators present much to be grateful for either after Sri Lanka ended the day 133-2, after winning the toss and electing to bat. With the covers in place until just before the start, they probably expected a seaming pitch and England’s Ashes winning bowlers to run rampant on it.

If the first transpired, to a degree, the devastating bowling did not, as evidenced by the 93-run opening partnership between Dilshan and Tharanga Paranavitana.

England’s pace bowlers failure to fire with the new ball was partly due to the blustery conditions, which make it devilishly difficult to find a rhythm, and partly because they have not bowled much in first-class cricket since the end of the Sydney Test last January.

This season James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who shared the new ball yesterday, have bowled 71 and 59 overs this season respectively, enough to get rid of any rust but not to find a good sheen.

As a result, they gave the impression that they were suffering from the tension from expectation that sometimes overcomes bowlers after their captain has won the toss and put a side in. Broad, especially, was off beam, and everyone who has seen him bowl for Nottinghamshire this season reckon he was undercooked for this Test.

How much his recent injuries contributed to that impression is not clear, but the vigour of youth is quickly replaced by something more circumspect once the knocks mount up.

Anderson did not leak as many runs in his opening salvo, he was equally guilty in allowing the left-handed Paranavitana leave more than he had to play.

Dilshan doesn’t leave many alone, however wide of off-stump they are. Judging from the unfettered way he reached fifty, his attacking philosophy has not been dulled by captaincy or the early season pitches in England.

Over the years the impression in some circles, false as it happens, has grown that he is little more than a dasher. But yesterday he passed 4,000 Test runs, becoming only the ninth Sri Lankan batsmen to reach the milestone.

Aggressive instincts can work against you though and no sooner had he acknowledged his fifty, than was bowled by Graeme Swann after bottom-edging a cut shot that would have been less risky had it limited its ambition to two runs rather than four.

The breakthrough achieved after Swann having give Andrew Strauss some belated control, England got the prized wicket of Kumar Sangakkara, though it needed some sharp eyes by the Rod Tucker, the TV umpire, after Aleem Dar had initially turned down Anderson’s appeal for an edge.

From every replay angle it looked as if Dar’s judgment had been right until Hotspot registered the merest dot of heat as the ball brushed against a few microns of bat.

Although Snicko, not yet used a as tool for such decisions, later confirmed it, Sangakkara has a big sponsor’s label on his bat that overlaps the edges. It wouldn’t be too far fetched, given the faintness of the contact, that he might have enjoyed a different outcome had it not been there.

His fall brought Mahela Jayawardene to join Paranavitana, now applying himself with resolve of an old hand on the sluggish pitch.

But Jayawardene, Sri Lanka’s finest batsman of all time, did not look as assured as the tall left-hander, who passed 1000 Test runs en route to a watchful fifty made off 145 balls.

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England must prove themselves in India and Sri Lanka before laying claim to No1 spot says Muttiah Muralitharan

England return to the five-day game for the first time since their glorious Ashes tour, determined to earn the right to be called the best Test-playing nation on the planet.

But Muralitharan, who took 800 Test wickets before his retirement last year - and removed an English batsman 112 times - believes Andrew Strauss' men need to prove themselves in countries such as Sri Lanka and India before they can claim to be the best.

''I think they are good in England, but on the sub-continent they are not that good,'' he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

''They had a brilliant win in the Ashes but other than that they haven't done many great things in the sub-continent.

''They have to improve on the sub-continent, beating sides from the sub-continent in the sub-continent. They have to beat Sri Lanka and India in their conditions.''

Muralitharan has acknowledged the brilliance of England spinner Graeme Swann, but feels they will be unable to conquer the Asian sides on their own patch unless they can find a spin twin to go alongside the Nottinghamshire man.

''At the moment they have a lovely spinner in Graeme Swann, but they need one more spinner to be fighting in the sub-continent because it's difficult with one,'' he said.

''In the sub-continent you need two good spinners. I think Graeme Swann is world class but they need another one.''

Sri Lanka's attack is somewhat different to the one that last toured England in 2006, with Muralitharan having retired completely, and the dangerous Lasith Malinga also calling time on his Test career.

Malinga cited a need to preserve his fitness as the reason why he will only play one-day cricket in future, and Muralitharan has backed his former team-mate's decision.

He said: ''I think he was struggling for the last two or three years with his knee. He only played one match last year.

''He thinks his career is over in Test cricket and he can play one-day cricket until the next World Cup and I feel it's a wise choice for him to do that.

''I think his body would not take it because he had a very bad knee.''

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Sri Lanka name Tillakaratne Dilshan as captain for England tour

Tillakaratne Dilshan will take over from Kumar Sangakkara as the captain of Sri Lanka for next month's tour of England. Sangakkara decided to step down after the team lost to India in the World Cup final.

"We are proud to announce the appointment of Dilshan as the national captain in all three formats of the game for the tour of England," Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement. "The national selectors have postponed the appointment of a vice-captain since the prospective candidates are nursing injuries and their availability for the forthcoming tour is still in question."

The 34-year-old Dilshan, who is an opening batsman, was the leading run-scorer in the World Cup with 500 at an average of 62.50. He has led Sri Lanka once before, on a tour of Zimbabwe in June last year, when his team won a one-day tri-series which also featured India, but this is the first time Dilshan has been picked to lead his country in a Test series.

The chairman of selectors, Duleep Mendis, said the tour squad would be selected after Dilshan returns from the Indian Premier League where he is representing Royal Challengers Bangalore. Sri Lanka have told all their IPL players to return home by 5 May to prepare for the tour.

The squad are due to leave for England on 10 May for a series of three Tests, five one-day internationals and one Twenty20 international. The first Test in Cardiff starts on 26 May.

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Amjad eyes England recall

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Amjad Khan hopes some eye-catching performances for Sussex could lead to an England recall

Sussex new boy Amjad Khan has no regrets about moving from Kent and hopes it will be the springboard he needs to return to the international set-up.

The pace bowler’s solitary Test came in 2009 during England’s tour of the West Indies at the Queen’s Park Oval, where he failed to shine with match figures of 1-122.

He played an international Twenty20 soon after but has not been called upon since. However, Amjad has not been deterred and believes that a change of scenery will improve his chances of regaining an England place.

The 30-year-old, who spent 10 years with Kent, is also confident that his move to Hove, where he will lead the attack, will help to fulfil another ambition of winning domestic titles.

He told ecb.co.uk: “I think it was the right time to leave. I’m desperate to win trophies and I’m equally as desperate to get back into the England set-up.

“If you look at Sussex’s history, they’ve won God knows how many trophies in the last 10 years and they’ve produced a lot of England players, so it was a no-brainer to come here.

“There’s some new challenges here that there definitely wouldn’t have been at Kent and, as a person, that develops you, so it really is exciting.”

Amjad is at a loss to explain the reasons for Sussex’s innings-and-55-run defeat to Lancashire in the first match of their LV= County Championship campaign, but he is determined to see improvements when they take on Durham this week.

“I think we’re looking to win and can challenge in all forms of the game,” he said. “We’ve had a perfect start to pre-season, couldn’t have done anything differently, so there’s no excuse. I think we have to re-evaluate, figure out where it went wrong and then look forward."

Amjad is also full of praise for Sussex cricket manager Mark Robinson, who wants the Denmark-born bowler to show his pedigree in the sorter formats of the game as well as act as a mentor to the up-and-coming youngsters.

Amjad added: “Mark Robinson has been brilliant this winter and sort of said, ‘We want you to play all forms and we want you to lead the attack. Some of the younger guys, you’ve got to take under your wing and share your experience'. I’ve tried to do that and I think I’ve done pretty well.

“It shows that he backs you really and we worked on a lot of specific stuff this winter. I worked very closely with Mark Robinson, especially with the white ball stuff, bowling up front, bowling at the death, gameplans - so hopefully that can translate to good performances in one-day performances especially.”

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Kevin Pietersen keen to captain England again

 

KEVIN PIETERSEN threw his cap into the ring for England’s one-day captaincy last night and announced: “I’m ready to lead again.”

Three-times Ashes winner and Twenty20 world cup holder Pietersen’s first reign as skipper lasted just 150 days before he was forced out along with coach Peter Moores in January 2009.

Even by Lord’s standards, it was a botch-job and Pietersen admits he was “deeply hurt”.

But at England’s debrief after a triumphant winter in Australia, Andrew Strauss is expected to quit as 50-over captain next month – which would leave the door ajar for Pietersen again. And as KP modelled England’s new one-day replica shirt on a retail park in Enfield, he confirmed he was ready for another crack at leadership.

Pietersen, 30, said: “If the one-day job becomes available, I would ­definitely be up for it.

“A lot of water has passed under the bridge since I last did it and it’s something I’ve thought about in the past few weeks since the rumours surfaced about Andy Strauss stepping down.

“Second time around I think I could do a real good job as I’d be older and wiser, and would handle a few things a lot differently.

“I didn’t think I was too bad first time around – we had our moments against South Africa, and it took a century of freakish brilliance from Sachin Tendulkar to deny us a famous Test win in Chennai.

“So if the opportunity came up and I was asked I would say, ‘Thank you very much, I would love to have another go’.

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“I wasn’t too despondent about why it ended, or even how it ended, but I was certainly hurt by some of the negative publicity which followed. Some of the nonsense about a divided camp, and players being for or against me, was deeply hurtful and it took me a while to get over it.

“But time’s a great healer and I’m ready to do it again if the opportunity arose. I respected Andy Flower as a player, and as a coach I respect him more than ever now.

“He’s done an amazing job since he took over and he deserves all the plaudits.

“He has moulded the team in a very respectful manner, in an atmosphere where everyone is entitled to voice an opinion – whether you have played 100 Test matches or just one.

“It’s a happy ship, Andy keeps it on a very even keel, and my ­relationship with him is absolutely fine – both on a technical level and as a person.”

Flower expressed disappointment when Pietersen’s World Cup campaign was ended by what turned out to be a double hernia. The injury, at the end of an absurd schedule, was untimely because his move up to open in 50-over cricket showed promise.

But he was followed home by dark whispers of playing the drama queen, and hamming up the injury – even though it proved to be as serious as his Chelsea football chum Frank Lampard’s double hernia, which kept the England midfielder out for four months.

Pietersen, who plans a comeback for his new county, Surrey, in mid-May, said: “I’m no wimp and I’m not sure the people who called me that name would have been able to deal with the discomfort.

“At the World Cup I was on the strongest painkillers you are allowed to take, but I just ground to a halt.”

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Alastair Cook confident he can cut it in leading role for England if asked to be one-day international captain

“The pressure was to win every game in Bangladesh and we did that. You can only be judged on your results and the players did like me as captain.

“There is never an ideal time to take over. I know that. But I like challenging myself and if the opportunity arises in the near future I would like to try it but if selection goes the other way and they choose another captain if Straussy retires then so be it.”

Cook is tiring of all the speculation. He is friends with Strauss and does not want to be seen to be undermining a captain he respects. But at the same time ambition burns brightly in a 26-year-old veteran of 65 Tests.

“Since the World Cup people have been asking me this question,” he said. “At the moment Andrew Strauss is England captain. I don’t crave seeing him giving it up. I would love the opportunity to be captain if it comes off but if it doesn’t come up then so be it.”

Cook is careful with his words to the press so when he said last week that he felt his form had been “wasted” by not being picked for the World Cup, it was almost like a stinging rebuke for the selectors.

He admits the break has “refreshed me” and the “lads looked knackered” at the World Cup, but his status, captaincy ambitions and development partly depend on forcing his way back into the one-day team. He is using Strauss, the man he may replace, as inspiration.

“I would love to get back in that one-day side,” he said. “Over the last few years my one-day game has changed a lot. By not being in England squads I have had a chance to play more one-day cricket for Essex and added things to my game.

“Look at Straussy. His strike rate is great. He has taken his one-day game to another level and that has happened since he got back in as captain. I think I could do it but I also think we can score runs together at the top of the order at a decent rate.”

The 766 runs Cook scored in Australia earned him the Compton-Miller medal as the man of the series but more importantly than accolades, the self-confidence which appeared to have deserted him during a terrible 2010 summer, is back.

“At the end of last winter I had just come back from captaining England in Bangladesh and had scored runs. I felt good but this time it is different,” he said. “To have been part of an Ashes-winning squad and to have contributed a lot of runs has definitely given me a satisfaction and self-belief.

“The biggest thing for me was being man of the series. I have never done that before and in fact only had one or two man-of-the-match awards before in my whole Test career. To be man of the series and get two man of the matches in such an important series, if that doesn’t give you confidence, nothing will.

“Of course it will not be like that all the time. I know that. But to have that on your CV and know you delivered under pressure in tough conditions can only help.”

Does it bring a sense of belonging at the highest level? “Without a shadow of doubt. You always start on nought and all that stuff but there is confidence from what you have achieved.”

We were chatting in the Lord’s Tavern before Essex trained for their championship match against Middlesex, which started yesterday. He was interrupted twice by fans asking for a photograph. That is not a surprise given the location but it is indicative of his new found fame.

Soon after arriving home he was picked out by the television cameras watching the Wales v England Six Nations rugby match at the Millennium Stadium. He would have been there anyway, he says, but without the Ashes the television directors would not have bothered homing in.

Cook was also invited to present a gong at the National Television Awards ceremony at the O2 Arena but it is clear the celebrity lifestyle does not appeal to him as much as it does to some of his colleagues.

“Things have cropped up that would not have done six months ago and you have to be careful what you do,” he said. “I have been recognised a bit more and that shows the big support we have.

"People who were in England during the Ashes say it took over during the Christmas holiday period. Since coming back I have been surprised by the amount of people who were watching it.”

Thanks to Wisden, they are going to see an awful lot more of Cook.

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Bopara seeks England bonus

Ravi Bopara is determined to return to the England Test side and has made a £100,000 statement of intent to the selectors.

That is the value of the two-month Indian Premier League contract from Rajasthan Royals that Bopara declined last month.

The franchise led by Shane Warne were seeking to replace Paul Collingwood, whose knee surgery after the World Cup ruled him out of the Twenty20 competition.

Bopara still hopes to replace Collingwood, but in England’s Test team after the Durham batsman announced his retirement from the longest form of the game in early January.

“It was a tough decision, but my ambition as a youngster has always been to play Test cricket and to play for my country,” said Bopara, whose most recent of 10 Tests was against Australia at Headingley Carnegie in 2009.

“Not everything’s about money. I’ve got to make sure I fulfil my ambitions and my talent as a cricketer. Although Twenty20 is a very important part of the game, Test cricket is always going to be the pinnacle.

“There’s a Test place available and someone’s got to take it and I realise this is the time to knuckle down and get some runs for Essex and take some wickets and take that Test spot.”

Bopara is immediately available to his county, who begin their quest to make amends for last season’s LV= County Championship relegation at home to Kent today, having declined the opportunity of further rest after two months away from home - initially with England Lions in the Caribbean and then with England at the World Cup.

Indeed, the 25-year-old appeared in Essex’s draw with Cambridge UCCE at Fenner’s, which started a week after he played in England’s quarter-final defeat to Sri Lanka in Colombo.

“I was given the option to have a week or so off, but I don’t think I need a week off,” added Bopara, who insisted he is untroubled by a side strain the England medical staff were monitoring.

“There was plenty of time in between games at the World Cup, almost a week, so you’ve got plenty of time to recover. No, I’m fine. My body’s good, my head’s good, so I’m fine.”

Bopara has a month and a half - the period of the IPL round-robin phase - to make a case for his inclusion in England’s next Test, against Sri Lanka starting on May 26.

After England's World Cup exit to Sri Lanka, Bopara said: “I was given the option to have a week or so off, but I don’t think I need a week off.”

During that time Essex are set to play six championship and four Clydesdale Bank 40 matches, 10 games Bopara hopes to make the most of.

“Sri Lanka are coming over in a month or so and it’s very, very important I go out and score runs for Essex and for myself really and get back in that side,” he said.

Even if he does make hay over the next six weeks, Bopara realises there are many contenders for Collingwood’s place in the Test middle order and denied a two-way contest with his good friend Eoin Morgan.

Morgan would appear to be next in line, having been England’s spare batsman during the Ashes, but Bopara is aware the likes of James Hildreth and James Taylor excelled on the Lions tour.

“I don’t see it as a straight fight between us two,” he responded to the notion of Bopara versus Morgan. “There are loads of players in the country who are pushing for that spot.”

If the selectors want a like-for-like replacement for Collingwood, whose seam bowling often complemented a four-man attack, Bopara knows he could be their man.

Although his medium pace has had relatively little exposure at international level, Bopara - who took two World Cup wickets versus West Indies - is confident it could tip the balance in his favour.

“It’s been going well. That helps. It’s obviously going to help my contribution to the team and obviously getting selected,” he said.

Bopara, who signed a new two-year contract with Essex in December and yesterday was appointed vice-captain to James Foster, is keen to make an early-season statement with the ball, just as with the bat.

“If I don’t get injured, my bowling will play a massive part for Essex so I’ve got to make sure I’m hitting my straps early doors,” he added at the county’s pre-season press day in Chelmsford.

“I’ve been disappointed in the past for my bowling not to be considered [for England], but hopefully I’ve done enough this winter for people to take notice and say ‘he can do a job with the ball’ because that’s going to play a massive part for England and myself really to be in the England side.

Bopara, who picked up two World Cup wickets, said: "Hopefully I’ve done enough this winter for people to take notice and say ‘he can do a job with the ball'."

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“Lets just see what happens over the next few months and hopefully I’ll stay injury-free, which is the most important thing for me, and play a massive part with the ball and bat.

Another area Bopara has sought to improve is his punctuality, which has been a problem in the past. He stressed, though, that this issue is separate to his game.

“It is something I’ve taken on board although I have been late over the last couple of months,” he admitted before pointing out: “Not today, I wasn’t late today.

“I think it’s just one of those things; I tend to be dopey sometimes and I miss things and I forget things. That’s just part of who I am, but I am looking to improve it.

“When it comes to cricket, I get my head screwed on. But when it’s things off the field like doing this and making it here and going there then I’m nowhere.”

Want to know which players have gone where? Click here for all the comings and goings since last summer

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Surge in England ticket sales at Cardiff

Ticket sales for England’s two games at Cardiff this summer have hit a new peak in the aftermath of the World Cup final, with the stadium’s ticket office reporting a high level of demand.

The Ashes winners face both World Cup finalists in Cardiff, with the year’s first npower Test against Sri Lanka starting on May 26, followed by a NatWest Series one-day international versus India on September 16.

To cope with the increased demand from spectators, Cardiff’s ticket office has now extended its opening hours until 6pm on weekdays, with further plans to open on weekends in order to cope with the increased volume.

Glamorgan chief executive Alan Hamer said: “Last weekend’s World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka has certainly caught the attention of the cricketing public.

“We have seen a steady increase in demand during the past few weeks, which has coincided with the knockout stages of the World Cup.

"In particular, following last Saturday’s final, our sales volumes now exceed the levels reported in the week after England retained the Ashes in January and we have extended our ticket office opening hours to meet this surge in demand.”

All price band D tickets for the third day of the Sri Lanka Test, on Saturday 28 May, have sold out, along with all band D tickets for the ODI against India.

Ticket prices start at £25, with all junior ones just £10. They can be purchased online at www.glamorgancricket.com or by calling the ticket office on 02920 419311.

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England captain Andrew Strauss to take extended break after Ashes and World Cup campaigns

Strauss spent just three days at home over a five-month period on England duty. In that time, he featured in all but two of the team's 28 matches in all formats, including five Ashes Tests.

Kevin Pietersen, meanwhile, is resting after hernia surgery, while Paul Collingwood will receive treatment for his knee in the coming weeks. Michael Yardy with depression will be available for all fixtures "subject to consolation between player, Sussex CCC and England medical staff".

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England player ratings

Andrew Strauss 4 A sad end to a partly glorious winter. He missed a pull at a quicker ball - then the odd trick in the field. But a statesmanlike leader to the last.

Ian Bell 5 If England were to post 250, Bell had to play a big innings, as the best England batsman at using his feet, not get himself out for a pretty 25.

Jonathan Trott 8 As normal, he made the most of himself, not sure enough against spin to hit boundaries but taking the offered singles and keeping England in the game.

Ravi Bopara 5 Ended the last World Cup at number 3, and this one at 4. He has gone up and down the order and, ultimately, slightly backwards.

Eoin Morgan 7 Passed 2000 runs in ODIs, and supplied some acceleration to help Trott, without being his most fluent here - or all winter.

Matt Prior 5 A sprightly flourish at the death was much more his cup of tea than opening and playing a long innings, but out-kept by Sangakkara.

Luke Wright 4 No impact with the bat — when he had little opportunity - or with the ball, when he had plenty. County cricket is a far cry from Asia.

Tim Bresnan 5 The senior seamer yesterday, even though he is relatively inexperienced in one-day internationals. Fielded better than most.

James Tredwell 5 Finer players of spin than the West Indian batsmen went after him, but England wouldn’t have reached the quarters without him.

Graeme Swann 5 No scoreboard pressure — and like almost every spinner that has bowled in Sri Lanka except one (Murali), he found the pitch impossibly slow.

Chris Tremlett 4 Got a game because James Anderson, according to Strauss, is 'pretty burnt out.’ Not much of a reason really.

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Cricket World Cup 2011: Andrew Strauss must relinquish England one-day captaincy after Sri Lanka calamity

England can at last return home with no complaints. They lost to Ireland and Bangladesh after all. They were extremely fortunate not to have been reacquainting themselves with their much-missed home comforts some time ago.
The drawing board will doubtless be revisited yet again. England have lost captains after the last three World Cups (Alec Stewart in 1999, Nasser Hussain in 2003 and Michael Vaughan in 2007) and it would make sense now if Andrew Strauss were to step down as one-day skipper. It is a natural staging post.
To call for Strauss’s resignation should in no way be seen as a slight upon the job he has done. Considering the mess he inherited after the Kevin Pietersen/Peter Moores imbroglio in early 2009, Strauss has performed admirably. He has worked hard in stretching his own batting to its outer limits of positivity in attempting to lead a braver approach that began at the Champions Trophy in South Africa later that year. As justification he played the innings of his one-day life (158) in the tie with India in this tournament.
So it was disappointing, as well as a little unfitting, that his innings of just five from 19 balls on Saturday was so slow and stuttering, stifled by the clever Sri Lankan ploy of using the off-spin of Tillakaratne Dilshan to open, Strauss’s mind filled by thoughts of falling in the deep in the first over of the match to South Africa’s left-arm spinner Robin Peterson earlier in the tournament. The skipper had been straitjacketed, and it was a restraint from which England’s innings never wriggled.
There were rumours a fortnight ago that Strauss was considering stepping down. Quite naturally they were strongly rebuffed, but it is my understanding that they were not without credence. It is time to move on.
Strauss must, and of course will, continue as Test captain. And he will find the extra rest periods invaluable, just as he did when missing a tour of Bangladesh last March. Alastair Cook deputised then, in both ODIs and Tests, and he should take over now as ODI opener and captain, starting with the match against Sri Lanka at the Oval on June 28. Although the T20 at Bristol three days before could be interesting. Surely Paul Collingwood cannot continue as T20 captain, and Cook would seem a little miscast there. Kevin Pietersen anyone? But England would then have three captains.
England might have been mercilessly thumped on Saturday, but their winter had unravelled long ago, around the time when they should have been basking in Ashes glory and instead were traipsing around Australia playing two T20 internationals and seven one-day internationals. Simply for money. Simply to fill the coffers of Cricket Australia, and then those of the England and Wales Cricket Board in return.
It was around this time that team director Andy Flower decided that his players were running on empty and so needed some respite from the intense, but always carefully planned, training routines that have been the bedrock of some astounding success under his watch. As one significant result England’s fielding fell apart. And never really recovered.
Subsequently Flower has admitted this was a mistake. But it was not his mistake. It was the mistake of the administrators. International cricket should never be like county cricket where the speed on the treadmill has to be constantly altered (never on full blast) to allow for the chaotic schedule. International cricket must be full on, with eyeballs out. Anything less is short-changing the public.
But English cricket has long considered one-day cricket a second-class citizen, the poor relation to Test cricket. Mostly ODI series are, like this winter, tagged onto the fag end of long tours.
There was much joy recently when it was announced that the County Championship is to remain at 16 matches. But tragically missing from that press release was any mention of 50-over cricket. How on earth can we expect to win a 50-over World Cup when we do not play that length of game domestically? When last asked about this, ECB chairman Giles Clarke replied that South Africa, then No 1 in the world, do not play 50 overs domestically. But neither do they win anything. It is time for change.
With six rounds of the CB40 to be played by the end of May this year on pitches that are likely to seam, it is little surprise that England still cannot find an aggressive one-day opener to partner either Strauss or Cook.
The domestic standard is not as high as some think. Last year Matt Prior looked very useful when opening for Sussex (especially in Twenty20). But this winter he has let the England management down.
They made a courageous call to include him ahead of Steven Davies as opener/wicketkeeper, especially as ludicrous International Cricket Council regulations stipulated World Cup squads be confirmed after one match of England’s seven-match ODI series in Australia, but by the end of that series it was already obvious that it was a blunder.
Injuries to Pietersen and Stuart Broad have not helped, nor Samit Patel’s sloth (he has lost weight but Adil Rashid was preferred as replacement for Michael Yardy last week because Rashid has been playing this winter and Patel has not), but England came to rely too much on Jonathan Trott’s batting and, in an increasingly insipid attack, Graeme Swann’s bowling.
Trott still had his critics on Saturday after making 86 from 115 balls, but he is not the problem. He is the tournament’s leading run scorer! His role is clear; to bat through the innings. Others around him have faltered, transfixed by spin and with little idea how to assess a pitch and set a target.
Yet another World Cup calamity. There will be more unless attitudes alter.
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England players fury at Geoff Boycott

Geoff Boycott's insensitive remarks about Mike Yardy have angered the England players.

On hearing of Yardy's battle with depression forcing him home, the 70-year-old Test legend claimed: "He must have been upset with the things I've been saying about him."

The suggestion that Yardy's illness had anything to do with Boycott (inset) or even his poor form was rubbished by Three Lions skipper Andrew Strauss. "We were disappointed with those comments," said Strauss.

"It just shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the issue. To link it in any way to how he has performed in the World Cup is a long way wide of the mark.

"It's a lack of information and a lack of being informed about the situation. I really don't think your cricketing ability or what you have achieved has anything to do with it, ever."

Strauss spoke on behalf of a squad privately seething at Boycott's comments.

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The England captain's sympathy for Yardy was obvious, but he is determined to keep his side focused on the World Cup.

He added: "It is a horrible thing to go through and we are 100 per cent behind him. We know there are ways of managing it, but for the time being it's desperately disappointing for him and for us as a squad.

"It is not difficult for us to focus on this game. It's a one-off event - if we lose, we are on the plane home, if we win, we are in a World Cup semi-final.

"As players, you get used to switching on and off.

"There is a limit to how much you can do as a colleague. I certainly don't think players should be blamed for it. It's just one of those things."

Follow Daily Mirror cricket correspondent Dean Wilson on Twitter at CricketMirror

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