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Usman Khawaja staked a late claim to one of Australia’s top-order batting slots despite an injury scare during their five-wicket victory in their World Cup warm-up match against Sri Lanka in Hampshire.Khawaja hobbled off the field after a ball struck him flush on the left kneecap. He was fielding at mid-off when he dived to his left to stop a ball that had been driven firmly by Jeevan Mendis off the bowling of Steven Smith. Khawaja limped off the field after receiving treatment from the medical staff but was cleared to bat in Australia’s innings.”It’s fine, embarrassing more than anything,” said Khawaja, after the match. “It just hit the side of my knee and I couldn’t put any weight on it. I’d try to get up, Gaz [Nathan Lyon] was telling me to just lie down, but I was saying I’m not going to lie down, I’m going to get up, but I’d try to get up and I couldn’t. My knee collapsed underneath me because of where it hit, I went off, iced it and after about 25 minutes I felt all right, it’s a bit sore now but nothing structurally wrong.”When I walked off I was laughing, I was in pain but I knew there was nothing serious about it. It was the same knee I had a reco on, so we were a bit careful about going back on the field just because it was collapsing a little bit but I was alright when I went back out there.”PLAY: Who will win the World Cup? Play Cricket Picks and win prizesOpening the batting with Aaron Finch, Khawaja went on to comfortably steer Australia towards Sri Lanka’s total of 239 for 8 in the 45th over with an innings of 89 off 105 balls.Coach Justin Langer has rotated Khawaja, David Warner and Shaun Marsh in their World Cup warm-up matches, as they attempt to settle on their best batting line-up. Warner was left out of the team against Sri Lanka, amid reports he had complained of tightness or soreness to his upper leg, giving Khawaja one last chance to impress selectors before the World Cup kicks off.Warner’s absence during the year-long ban for his involvement in the Newland’s ball-tampering scandal allowed Khawaja to cement his place at the top of the order, forming a formidable opening partnership with captain Finch.But after six warm-up matches played since Warner’s return, the final makeup of Australia’s batting order is still very much open to interpretation. Khawaja has opened four times and Warner on three occasions, although Warner may have had another opportunity at the top in Hampshire if he hadn’t been forced to sit out the match. Khawaja has batted at No.3 once and Warner twice while Marsh – who made 34 off 46 balls before holing out in the deep – has floated between batting at No.3, 4 and 5.”I do love opening, absolutely,” said Khawaja. “That’s where I’ve batted my whole life in one-day cricket. But at the end of the day it is about winning games and doing the best for your team.”I’d much rather get a duck and win then me get 100 and lose. It doesn’t matter what happens, where I play, if I play, if I don’t play, if I’m running the drinks, I’m going to try and contribute to the squad.”I know what the changeroom feels like when you’re winning and what it feels like when you’re losing and the winning one I’ll take any day of the week.”Australia have now won 13 of their their past 14 matches, a streak that began during their tour of India in March and continued through their series against Pakistan in the UAE, and then in their warm-up games against New Zealand in Brisbane and the West Indies, England and now Sri Lanka in England. While Pakistan were not at full strength and the following matches were not official ODIs, such a run will give them welcome confidence as they head to Bristol for their opening World Cup game against Afghanistan on Saturday.”I thought the Indian series in Australia was, from what I saw from the outside coming into that series – obviously we’d lost a lot of one-dayers before that, was a turning point for us because we probably should’ve won that series and we didn’t,” Khawaja said. “But they’re one of the best sides in the world and we gave them a real run for their money.”Then we went over to India and lost the first two games and won the series. We all had that confidence even though we lost the first two games that we could compete and actually beat these guys.”Once we started doing it we got that winning feeling back. Winning is a habit, we say that a lot amongst the team, hence why we try to win all the (warm-up) games we’re playing in, just to keep that habit going. We might’ve lost that habit before but hopefully we’ve found it again leading into the World Cup.”

AB de Villiers has revealed that he urged current South Africa captain Faf du Plessis not to take up a second stint in county cricket after du Plessis’ Kolpak contract with Lancashire expired in 2010.In an interview on Indian web show Breakfast with Champions, de Villiers explained how he told du Plessis that he was “pretty close” to national selection at the time he was considering taking up a second deal in England.”There was a moment when he was thinking of signing for one of the English counties,” de Villiers said. “He did call me up, and said what do I think about it? I said listen, not a long time from now there will be a few retirements, a few guys will step down, and you’re pretty close. And the coaches and the team are talking about you, so just hang in a little bit longer. And finally the breakthrough came. I’m not taking credit for that, but we did have that conversation. And I’m very happy I was straight up with him.”De Villiers and du Plessis had been childhood rivals, playing for different primary schools, but when they both attended Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool – also known as ‘Affies’ – in Pretoria as teenagers they became team-mates and friends. A prodigious talent, de Villiers made his Test debut against England in December 2004, before his 21st birthday. Du Plessis’ call-up would only come almost seven years later, against India in 2011, after he had topped the domestic one-day run-charts.ALSO READ: We just want to focus on enjoyment – du Plessis“He waited a bit longer,” de Villiers said of du Plessis. “It happened quite quickly for me. A couple of doors opened up, and I put my hand up at the right time. The path he walked was a different one, but it set him up perfectly for international cricket. I think he was mentally in a great space when he finally made his debut.”De Villiers also opened up on his 2018 retirement, which came as a shock to many South African fans – especially as the World Cup was only a year away. De Villiers said that he wanted to play in the World Cup, but he cited a desire to spend more time with his family and a general weariness with international competition as reasons for his decision. He also said that he “felt cornered” by expectation and criticism, and hinted at other, “deeper reasons” for his departure.”I was keen to play in the World Cup, but I left, I retired,” he said. “So it was a very sensitive situation. For the last three years of my career, I was labelled as a guy who is picking and choosing when I was playing and when not. So I got quite a lot of criticism from back home, which also played a role in me retiring. And it was difficult for me to then go ‘hey, but I’ll still play the World Cup’. It’s that picking and choosing thing again, and it’s quite arrogant to do something like that. But as they say, you can’t have your bread buttered on both sides.”I felt cornered. It’s always been about the team, it’s never been about myself. But I found myself in a position where I had to make a decision where it’s going to look like I’m just thinking about myself.”There’s a lot of reasons I had to move on. Family’s definitely a big part of it. And the longevity of my career, I played for 15 years and I was just tired of the whole international scene. It’s quite busy. Very stressful. And the mental game, the doubts you have as a person and as a player, it wears you down. And being captain of the Proteas for a long time also took its toll. And then there are a few deeper issues that might have to be discussed when I’m 50, one day.”There’s a part of me that will always miss it. Everything that goes with it. I wish I could have pushed on longer, but it was time. I had a great run. I had so much fun, I really did, and more dreams came true than I could ever imagine. And there was lots of heartbreaks as well along the way, and that’s the great ride that we all go through.”

Big Picture

Australia’s win on Friday not only provided a further indicator that the team of Aaron Finch and Justin Langer is now humming nicely as the World Cup draws closer, but also overturned a few preconceptions about the series. A comfortable chase of 281, the second-highest ever in Sharjah, despite the surfeit of ODI matches played there over the years, indicated that high scoring and aggressive batsmanship will be required on surfaces that offer little more than a hint of slow spin and little to nothing for the pacemen.Equally, the expectations of the Australians that Pakistan would seek to take down the spin of Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon was somewhat confounded by the fact that this increasingly confident duo were able to dictate economical terms throughout large chunks of the Pakistan innings. Creating and sustaining tempo will be critical to this series, both with the bat and in the field. Australia were energy personified in the field – if not completely spotless – while Zampa and Lyon were able to control the pace of Pakistan’s scoring in such a way that Finch never looked too perturbed by the the run rate. His confidence was evident in the chase, where once again Australia controlled the tempo of the innings expertly, scoring regular boundaries without ever looking like they were trying too hard to force things.For Pakistan, there will be concerns that despite a serviceable-enough batting performance, the bowlers lacked the incisiveness to defend it while the fielding display bordered at times on the listless. Mohammad Amir was particularly expensive, while Mohammad Abbas was unable to exert quite the same measure of control he enjoyed over Finch and the Australians during the October Test series in the UAE. More, too, will be expected of Yasir Shah, who played only a brief role in the 2015 World Cup, and with more days like game one, he might be in danger of a similar fringe post in 2019.

Form guide

Australia WWWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan LLWLLShoaib Malik carves a shot through the off side•Getty Images

In the spotlight

As the stand-in captain, Shoaib Malik will be hoping for a more substantial contribution than his seven-ball 11 with the bat and one expensive over with the ball in the series opener. More vitally, Shoaib must find a way to marshal and enliven his team, after they appeared to be lacking verve and direction for much of a chase where the Australians never looked under any serious pressure despite the fact that the chase got over only in the penultimate over. A promotion in the batting order may be one way for Shoaib to dictate terms a little more.With a determined – if not exactly fluent – 91 not-out, Shaun Marsh added further to the selection logjam faced by Australia with Steven Smith and David Warner soon to be eligible for national duty following their Newlands scandal bans. The key to Marsh being able to secure a spot in the World Cup squad after his recent travails will be consistency – making scores in more matches than this one. Seldom has this been a strength for Marsh, meaning he will battle the voices between his ears as much as the threats posed by the Pakistan attack.

Team news

Pakistan are taking the opportunity to experiment ahead of the World Cup. Abid Ali, Mohammad Hasnain and Saad Ali could all be in line for debuts at some point, but when that happens over the course of this series remains to be seen.Pakistan (possible): 1 Imam-ul-Haq, 2 Shan Masood, 3 Umar Akmal, 4 Haris Sohail, 5 Shoaib Malik (capt), 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Faheem Ashraf, 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Yasir Shah, 10 Mohammad Amir/Usman Shinwari, 11 Mohammad HasnainPat Cummins was rested for the opening match as his workload is managed ahead of the World Cup and the Ashes, but he could come back into consideration. Most of the players in the squad can expect some game time during the series as Australia firm up their World Cup squad, so room may also be found for Ashton Turner.Australia (possible): 1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Aaron Finch (capt), 3 Peter Handscomb, 4 Shaun Marsh, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Ashton Turner, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Jhye Richardson, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Adam Zampa

Pitch and conditions

As seen in game one, Sharjah’s surface is dry, slow and low, offering little in the way of assistance to bowlers but also posing some challenges to batsmen in terms of timing the ball. The weather forecast is fine.

Stats and trivia

• Australia haven’t won five ODIs in succession since they were victorious in nine in a row in 2015, including their World Cup winning run that year
• Pakistan haven’t beaten Australia in an ODI in Sharjah since the final of the Austral-Asia Cup in Sharjah in May 1990. Australia haven’t lost to any team in Sharjah since India defeated them at the ground in 1998.

Quotes

“It was just nice to do it two down and do it a bit more clinically than what we have over the last few months, when we’ve been in that situation. They’re sometimes the best innings you’ll play as a batsman, when things aren’t going your way. It wasn’t an innings where he [Marsh] hit the middle of the bat and it was free flowing from the start. For him to grind out the first 30 or 40 runs to find his rhythm was really important.”

Cameron Bancroft earned Australian Cricket Awards votes from the Newlands Test against South Africa after which he was handed a nine-month ban for sandpapering the ball.Before Australia were plunged into crisis, Bancroft top scored in Australia’s first innings with 77 out of 255. It was enough to earn him three votes (two from the players and one from the umpires/media) as part of the awards voting process.Bancroft was trapped lbw by Vernon Philander early in a collapse of 5 for 25 that would eventually lead to Australia conceding a deficit of 56.It was during South Africa’s second innings, as they built on the lead on the third afternoon, that the now infamous footage of Bancroft using a piece of yellow sandpaper on the ball was beamed around the world on live television, with pictures later showing him trying to hide it down his trousers.He initially indicated to the umpires that his sunglasses case was what he had been seen retrieving from his pocket before eventually admitting he had been tampering with the ball in the post-day press conference, although he did not admit to using sandpaper until it came out in the subsequent investigations.Bancroft was handed a nine-month suspension which ended late last year and he has returned with some success in the BBL with Perth Scorchers.Before his comeback, he wrote a letter to himself where he said he had come to terms with how people could perceive him after the events of Newlands. “Many people will judge you as a cheat, but that is OK,” Bancroft wrote. “Always love and respect everyone. You will love those people because you forgive them. Just like you’re going to forgive yourself… You know you cannot say sorry enough, but actually it is time you allow your cricket to be about what you have learnt and use this opportunity to make a great impact.”Bancroft will now be turning his attention to the last part of the Sheffield Shield season as he resumes his first-class career with Western Australia. He also has a county deal with Durham when the English season begins in April, which could give him a chance to make a case for a recall to the Australia Test squad for the Ashes.

Sri Lanka’s fast-bowling reserves on the Australia tour have been dealt another serious blow with Dushmantha Chameera being ruled out of the second Test due to an injury to his left ankle. Chameera, who suffered the injury during the first Test in Brisbane, will return home along with fast bowler Lahiru Kumara, who had recently been ruled out of the second Test and the South Africa tour due to a hamstring injury.Sri Lanka’s selectors have picked 22-year-old pace-bowler Chamika Karunaratne as Kumara’s replacement. SLC, in a press release, said Karunaratne would join the team in due course.Chameera is the third Sri Lanka quick to be injured on the tour, after Nuwan Pradeep and Kumara were both ruled out due to hamstring injuries. Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal had confirmed last week that Chameera was injured while bowling in the first Test at the Gabba – Chameera bowled 21 overs and took one wicket for 68 runs – but the nature and extent of the injury were not known at the time. Chameera, who made his debut in 2015, has struggled with injuries through the course of his career and had only recently made his Test comeback in New Zealand, after a gap of two years.Unlike with Kumara, however, it is hoped that Chameera can recover in time to take part in the South Africa series next month. Kumara is almost certainly out of the South Africa series, with captain Dinesh Chandimal having said his recovery would take “four to six weeks”.If Sri Lanka play with three frontline seamers again, in Canberra, they are likely to go in with Kasun Rajitha and left-armer Vishwa Fernando. Rajitha has been with the squad since the start of the tour of New Zealand, and had played the first Test at the Basin Reserve. Fernando had been drafted in after Kumara’s injury was confirmed last week.Karunaratne, who made his first-class debut in 2015, has played 29 matches in the format, and taken 59 wickets at an average of 34.16. His recent successes include a four-four in the semi-final of the ACC Emerging Teams Cup in December and an unbeaten 100 from No. 8 that helped Sri Lanka A avert an innings defeat against Ireland A earlier this month.The second Test will begin on Friday in Canberra.

Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has announced that this season will be his last in the Big Bash League as he starts to wind down his illustrious playing career.McCullum informed his Brisbane Heat team-mates in the dressing room at Adelaide Oval on Sunday night after scoring 51 from 39 balls against the Adelaide Strikers to help keep the Heat’s slim finals hopes alive.McCullum, 37, went unsold at the 2019 IPL auction in December. He will continue to play T20 cricket elsewhere in 2019 before heading into coaching. The Heat’s home game against the Melbourne Stars on Friday night will be his last at the Gabba.”I will continue to play T20 cricket in 2019 in various competitions around the world and will then look to transition into a coaching career,” McCullum said. “The prospect of being able to transfer the skills, experience and leadership I have been lucky enough to bank over my long T20 and also international career into coaching is very exciting.””I have absolutely loved playing for the Heat. The fans have been amazing with their support and I have enjoyed seeing the pleasure they get from coming to our matches and having fun.””I’ve had a great time playing with my teammates, and it was a privilege to captain them. Coming into Brisbane each year before the start of the competition was always a highlight.”McCullum was a foundation signing at the Heat in 2011 but only managed three games in the first BBL season due to international duty. Since retiring from international cricket in 2016 he has been a fixture at the Heat, captaining the team for two seasons. He has made four half-centuries this season and nine in total in 34 matches.”Being a part of the BBL has been a special part of my career,” McCullum said. “Having been there at the start, and then seeing it grow and evolve into one of the best T20 competitions in the world has been great to be part of.”I think the BBL will get stronger and better from here too as everyone becomes more comfortable with the format and the clubs continue to be bold in their planning and preparations.”The Heat need to beat the Stars on Friday and then hope for two other results to go their way to make the semi-finals. They need Hobart Hurricanes to beat Sydney Thunder on Saturday and then Sydney Sixers to beat the Stars on Sunday to qualify for the knockout phase.

He just bats and bats and bats. Cheteshwar Pujara came to the crease in the second over and refused to budge until the end of the day. He has faced 1135 balls in this series. As a consequence of that, he’s made 458 runs. One hundred and thirty of them came in Sydney where India have established a position of strength to perhaps take more than a share of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.Australia would believe they haven’t quite lost that much ground. They’ll be thrilled to have kept Virat Kohli to a mere 23 and Ajinkya Rahane for 18. And considering they went in with only four specialist bowlers, a score of 4 for 303 at stumps is a reflection of some decent work. The only problem is that India keep finding ways to be better.4:44

Manjrekar: Agarwal shouldn’t give up starts like this

Or more accurately, Pujara keeps finding a way to be better. At lunch, he was 16 off 59. He was sussing out the conditions, deciding what shots to play and which bowlers he needed to worry about. The conclusion – it seemed – was that he didn’t want to be driving on the up. Over the first 50 deliveries that the Australians bowled outside his off stump, he left 15, defended 17 and drove at only three. Only three. No letting those hands stray from the body. No giving the easy edge to slip.At tea, he was 61 off 138, showing mastery over Nathan Lyon and disdain for part-timer Marnus Labuschagne, who was hit for three fours in an over. Pujara averages 178 against spin bowling since January 2018. And he ruddy well showed it. Australia knew the value of his wicket, which was no more apparent than when they burned a review after Pat Cummins beat his inside edge in the 15th over. Several overs – and barely any further chances later – Pujara whipped Mitchell Starc to the fine-leg boundary to celebrate his third century of the series. He went to stumps unbeaten. #NuffSaid.Mayank Agarwal was the other major contributor for India. He made 77 off 112 deliveries but those bare facts do little to capture how he overcame a sustained effort by the Australian quicks to bounce him out. Soon after drinks, when it became clear that sideways movement was in short order, Starc came back for his second spell of the day and hit the opener on the glove and the helmet. An unplayable delivery at 146 kph clanging into the head is liable to scramble the brain a bit – and he took further blows on his body too – but he didn’t give up.Agarwal’s wicket – trying to hit Lyon over the top and being caught at long-on – looked terribly off. But had he succeeded, and planted doubt in Australia’s mind about their holding bowler, at a time when they had dropped the allrounder from the XI, their big three quicks might have had an even tougher outing.Cheteshwar Pujara celebrates his hundred•Getty Images

Starc, who is one wicket shy of 200, Cummins and Josh Hazlewood did their best to stay threatening through the day, bowling at 140 kph and above. But India were resolute. Pujara was resolute. And after a good day’s work – that started with winning the toss – they are in a position to reap the advantage of some bold selections. The SCG has not been as conducive to spinners over the last 10 years as it has been in the past, but the experts still suggest it will break down and turn big later in the game. Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav – included for this Test with R Ashwin injured – will hope that’s true.India’s top order then got to work procuring the scoreboard pressure that will further enhance the bowling attack. Well, all except KL Rahul. His struggles as opener continued, a good length ball from Hazlewood grabbing his edge and going to first slip.Mike Hussey, who was on commentary at the time, recalled a chat he had with Rahul in Melbourne where the India batsman said he felt like he was in an awkward phase of his career. Hussey said that Rahul, at the start of his career, was focused on batting time but now, having had T20 success, he wants to take the bowlers on whenever he ends up under pressure. His game is lacking balance, both at the crease and in the mind. He is in need of help. And maybe also a break.There were 33,678 people at the ground for the first day of the New Year’s Test. Steve Waugh’s son Austin was on the bench as one of Australia’s substitutes, soaking in the occasion. The locals cheered their team on. The fast bowlers kept charging in. There was expectation in the air. For wickets, for tension, for mayhem.Pujara disagreed. Big time.

Asif Ali produced a performance for the ages, shellacking a 33-ball 80, as Cape Town Blitz turned the tables on Durban Heat in a stunning chase at Kingsmead. This innings was a clinic, really, embodying all the attributes that define T20 batting: flair, skill, daring, power, and creativity of the highest order.Asif was the life jacket Blitz needed, after they had been reduced to 83 for 5 by Keshav Maharaj’s crafty left-arm spin; by the time he was finished, Asif had slashed the required rate from a hefty 12.40 to a run a ball. An excellent 19th over by Marchant de Lange left Heat clinging on to a tiny ray of hope, but it was dashed when Kyle Abbott overpitched the first ball of the 20th and Malusi Siboto crunched a cover drive to all but seal the game.That result looked highly unlikely when Blitz were 51 for 3 in the ninth over. The required rate was already touching 10 and this was a seaming surface. Conditions were overcast. The bounce could be disconcerting. And in addition to all that support for the faster bowlers, Maharaj had already shown that if a spinner could find the ideal pace, he could get the ball to stop on the batsman and force errors.Asif dealt with his first two balls, from Maharaj, with caution, getting a feel for the surface. And then, he got down to business. The manner of his progression left Heat tearing their hair apart. It didn’t matter what the bowlers did; Asif had an answer ready. Slide it into leg: sweep; take it away outside off: reverse sweep; fire it in straight: step out and smack.Even Maharaj, Heat’s best bowler, was not spared. He had 3 for 13 in three overs when he came back in the 15th and Asif slapped him for a four and six off his first two balls. Those hits marked the beginning of a dramatic turnaround as Blitz pillaged 52 runs in three overs. And all of those, barring a wide, came off Asif’s bat.The return of a mild drizzle worsened things for an under-fire Heat attack, as they began missing their mark. A sequence of six, four and six to start off the 16th over gave Asif his fifty off 21 balls and Heat were on the backfoot for the first time in the chase.The brutality of it all meant Heat had to hold on to any chance that came their way. That opportunity presented itself twice in the 17th over and they let both slip.Having already cracked a brace of fours, Asif swung a de Lange short ball across the line and miscued it to deep midwicket. Maharaj moved sharply towards the ball and lined himself behind it well, but in trying to catch it off over his head, he lost balance and fell over even as the ball trickled away to the boundary. Three deliveries later, Temba Bavuma shelled Asif, running back from mid-off. It really was a sign that on this day Asif couldn’t do any wrong.Like Blitz, Heat struggled through the early phases of their innings. Anrich Nortje, the left-arm fast bowler, made use of the helpful conditions to shock the batsmen with pace. He struck three times in the eighth over as Morne van Wyk, Bavuma and Sarel Erwee all lost their stumps. Hashim Amla fared no better, trapped lbw by one that straightened, and Heat were in the middle of a full-blown collapse.Brought together at 48 for 4, Khaya Zondo and Albie Morkel began the tedious recovery, consolidating through the middle overs and finding timely boundaries. Dale Steyn’s waning powers as a white-ball bowler came to prominence again as he was taken apart for three successive fours in the 13th over and finished with 0 for 45. Together, Zondo and Morkel put on 71 in 53 balls, and struck five fours and as many sixes between them. But, as Asif would demonstrate later, it just wasn’t savage enough.

Aaron Finch has replaced Tim Paine as Australia’s ODI captain ahead of the three-match series against South Africa in November.The series also marks the returns of Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins to international cricket, with Hazlewood announced as one of two vice-captains alongside wicketkeeper Alex Carey. Mitchell Marsh has been rested for the series.Finch has previously captained Australia in ODI cricket, standing in for two matches in New Zealand in early 2017. But in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal, Paine was announced as Test and ODI skipper and led Australia to a 5-0 series defeat in England earlier this year.Finch, the T20 captain, looks set to lead Australia all the way through to the 2019 World Cup.Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said Paine had been relieved of his duties “to focus purely on captaining the Test team, which includes preparing for next year’s Ashes.””As was the case when we announced the Test and T20 captains and vice-captains recently, the selection was based on their strong presentations which outlined their leadership credentials, the actions they have displayed on and off the field and the vision they have for Australian cricket,” Hohns said.

Australia ODI squad to face South Africa

Aaron Finch (capt), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, D’Arcy Short, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

“We expect Aaron, Josh and Alex to lead the side through a big Australian summer, where we’ll meet South Africa and India, they’ll also be driving our standards and values as we prepare our defence of the World Cup, which is only seven months away.”Hazlewood and Cummins have been preparing for the ODI series in the Futures League rather than the Sheffield Shield. They join a pace barrage which includes Mitchell Starc and Nathan Coulter-Nile. Andrew Tye has been squeezed out.Shaun Marsh and Travis Head have both been named as expected with no concerns that their preparation for the India Test series will be compromised. Chris Lynn also returns to the ODI team after an outstanding JLT Cup for Queensland.”Chris made it clear he wanted to be considered for the World Cup, and he backed it up with his performances for Queensland in the JLT Cup. He was the highest run scorer of the tournament and has been rewarded for his consistency,” Hohns said.Marcus Stoinis has been included after being omitted from the T20 squad to tour the UAE. Both Mitchell Marsh and Nathan Lyon have both been rested.”We have made the decision to manage Mitch Marsh and Nathan Lyon carefully to ensure they are in the best condition possible to put their hand up for selection either later in the summer or for the World Cup next year,” Hohns said.Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa provide the spin options as they have in the UAE. Glenn Maxwell and D’Arcy Short have also retained their places.

England XI 215 for 2 (Morgan 91*, Root 90*) beat Sri Lanka Cricket Board XI 288 (Chandimal 77, Moeen 3-42) by 43 runs (DLS method)
ScorecardJoe Root and Eoin Morgan struck confident, unbeaten nineties in England’s first match of the Sri Lanka tour, after Moeen Ali, Mark Wood and Ben Stokes had shared seven wickets between them against a strong Sri Lanka Board XI side.Their collective efforts enabled England to cruise to a 43-run Duckworth-Lewis victory, after rain then bad light prevented the game from reaching its natural conclusion. In pursuit of a target of 288, England finished up on 215 for 2 after 35.3,Sri Lanka’s new ODI captain Dinesh Chandimal also made use of the occasion, spending 85 deliveries in the middle and hitting 77 runs in the process. Twenty-year-old Kamindu Mendis was the other half-centurion for the Board XI making 61 off 72. He also dusted off his ambidextrous finger-spin later in the day, bowling offbreaks to the left-handed Morgan, and left-arm orthodox to the right-handed Root, as those two batsmen went about their unbroken 174-run stand.The Board XI had made a bright start to the day when Lahiru Thirimanne and Test opener Dimuth Karunaratne produced a fifty-run stand. But Moeen then claimed England’s first spoils, wriggling two deliveries between the defences of both batsmen in the space of three deliveries.Kusal Mendis – recently dropped from the ODI side – could manage only 22 before he became Moeen’s third victim, leaving Chandimal to rebuild the innings from 107 for 3. He forged a 56-run stand with Kamindu for the fifth wicket, before he was dismissed by Root. That the Board XI got anywhere near 300 was thanks also to the enterprise of No. 8 batsman Isuru Udana, who hit three sixes and three fours in his 26-ball 40.England lost Jonny Bairstow to the bowling of Udana in the fourth over, and Jason Roy to Kasun Rajitha in the ninth, but Root and Morgan quickly took control of the situation, and the visitors practically cruised from there on out. Morgan, predictably, was the more eager of the pair to venture big strokes, hitting three sixes and nine fours in his 91 not out off 84 balls. Root was 90 off 92 with eight fours to his name, when the covers came on for the final timeEngland play their second warm-up one-dayer in as many days on Saturday, also at the P Sara Oval.