Jayawardene to lead Sri Lanka in Australia

Hours after Tillakaratne Dilshan resigned as Sri Lanka captain from all three formats, the country's new selection panel appointed former captain Mahela Jayawardene in his place to lead the ODI squad to Australia for the tri-series in February involving the hosts and India. Angelo Mathews remains the vice-captain of the 15-member squad which also includes Dilshan.

Jayawardene was ODI captain from 2004 till 2009 (he took over as Test captain in 2006). He resigned in 2009, saying he wanted his successor to have sufficient time to build the team for the 2011 World Cup. Kumar Sangakkara took over from Jayawardene but stepped down after leading Sri Lanka to the final of the World Cup.

Dilshan led Sri Lanka for nine months after the World Cup, but resigned on Monday following series defeats in both Tests and ODIs in all his four assignments.

Jayawardene has led Sri Lanka in 97 ODIs, winning 57 and losing 35. Whether Jayawardene is handed the Test captaincy as well remains to be seen; Sri Lanka's next Test series begins only in the last week of March against England at home.

Farveez Maharoof, the bowling allrounder, and Chanaka Welegedara, the fast bowler, were recalled after having last played an ODI for Sri Lanka back in June 2010. The duo were the only changes from the squad for the recent ODI series in South Africa, in place of Kosala Kulasekara and Dilhara Fernando. Thilan Samaraweera, who was ignored for the South Africa ODIs, was put on stand-by.

Maharoof was the leading run-scorer in Tier A of the 50-over domestic Premier Limited Over Tournament 2011-12 with 219 runs from six games at an average of 43.80 for the Nondescripts Cricket Club. He also picked up 10 wickets in the tournament at 17.00 and an economy rate of four. Welegedara has been a regular member of the Test side of late, and has now been rewarded with a place in the limited-overs squad as well.

Rangana Herath and the offspinner Sachithra Senanayake, who debuted against South Africa recently, will form the spin attack. There was no place for Suraj Randiv, who last played an ODI against Australia in August 2011.

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Alastair Cook: History is on England's side

Alastair Cook knows history, of their own making, is on England's side as they bid to bounce back against Pakistan in the second Test, starting Wednesday.

England's batsmen did themselves no justice in Dubai last week, where consecutive collapses to under 200 to the bowling of Saeed Ajmal, and then Umar Gul, resulted in a 10-wicket defeat inside three days.

The opener concedes that shock setback has inevitably eroded a little of the confidence that comes with being the International Cricket Council's world number-one team.

But he points out too that the method of England's ascent to the top - more than once they had to battle back from jolting defeat to win series - is a reassuring factor.

"When you lose, and so heavily, naturally it does dent confidence," he said.
"But if you look at history, when we have produced a poor performance, we've managed to bounce back well.

"We hope we can this time too," he added.

Twice against Australia, heavy defeats - at Headingley in 2009 and then Perth in 2011 - proved no barrier to famous series victories.

England squared it with themselves too last summer, even amid the adulation of Edgbaston and The Oval, that some successes would still be harder-earned than others.

"We said when we turned number one and everyone said what a good team we are, there's going to be some rocky roads ahead at times," he added.

"No matter how good a side you are, you will always lose some games of cricket against the very good sides we're playing.

"This is a real test of our character. We've shown it in the past and hope we can show it again.

"You don't become bad players or a bad team overnight. Whatever you read, or people say about you, we know we've got some seriously world-class players in our team," he added.

England's bowlers demonstrated that last week, but their batsmen unquestionably did not - and therefore must do so at the Sheikh Zyed Stadium if Andrew Strauss' tourists are to stay in this three-Test series.

"It's about delivering over the next five days," said Cook.

"The bowlers hit their straps (in Dubai), and now it's up to the batters to back them up," he went on to add.

One of the first challenges will fall to Cook and Strauss, set to open the batting together for the 100th time in Tests but unaccustomed nonetheless to facing spin within the first five overs - as they had to in Dubai.

"It's not what we're used to in English conditions, with the swing and seam," said Cook.

"But we had talked about it, that we knew they would turn to spin early - they've certainly got the bowlers to do that.

"We knew that would happen, but we just didn't cope with it very well," Cook concluded.

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