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Boyd Rankin, the Warwickshire and Ireland fast bowler, has set his sights on joining former team-mate Eoin Morgan in the England side even though that will mean turning his back on his homeland.Rankin was drafted into the England Lions squad for the final one-day match against Sri Lanka A, at Wantage Road, and responded with 2 for 19 as the hosts wrapped up the series 2-1. Ironically, however, his next major chance to impress England will come when he is in opposition to them in the one-day international at Clontarf next week.”I want to play at the highest level and be the best I can be. I still feel I’m getting better and better and if the chance came I would probably take it,” Rankin told the . “The ultimate goal is to play Test cricket and I don’t know if the [England] one-day team is the route to the Test team. It won’t happen for a while anyway but it’s just a matter of trying to get my foot into the Lions and do well with them and get on the winter programme.”Rankin has taken 44 wickets for Warwickshire in the County Championship and a productive season has helped him move on from the frustration of injuries which hampered his preparation for the World Cup earlier this year. Now he’s aiming for a strong finish to the summer before seeing what is in store during the winter.”I’ve got over my injury worries, I feel, and I just want to kick on for the rest of the season with a number of games with Warwickshire,” he said. “We have all the top coaches and facilities over here and I want to make use of it and see what happens here.”And a few wickets against England wouldn’t go amiss. “They will come out hard because we beat them the last time we met and it’s good we are playing in Dublin in front of a home crowd,” he said. “I hope it’s a good day and we get another good result and I hope I get a few wickets.”

The BCCI has asked Cricket Australia for an additional warm-up game during India’s tour in December. India are currently scheduled to play only one four-day tour game, against the CA Chairman’s XI in Canberra, from December 18.”We are considering the request and it is work in progress,” a CA spokesperson said. “You’ve got to understand that scheduling is a three-dimensional exercise and it is always difficult to make any changes once things are finalised. But we have always had cordial relations with the BCCI and we should be able to find a way.”Scheduling is, however, likely to be an issue. India have a full series – three Tests and five ODIs – against the visiting West Indies pencilled in between October 29, when they end a home series against England, and that match in Canberra.The main problem for CA, which had announced its schedule for the 2011-12 home season three days ago, is likely to be the Big Bash League. Australia’s domestic Twenty20 competition starts on December 16 and, with players from all six Australian states participating in the eight-team competition, India may have to play a second-string side for the extra warm-up.India’s request comes on the back of a humiliating defeat in the ongoing Test series in England. They trail 0-3 in the series and are in danger of suffering their first 0-4 loss since then tour of Australia in 1991-92, There has been sharp criticism of the team’s preparation for the series, in which the No. 1 Test ranking was at stake, from within the BCCI and the media. MS Dhoni, the India captain, and Duncan Fletcher, the coach, have indirectly admitted that one reason India were struggling in English conditions was because they did not have enough to acclimatise.The late request to CA for an additional warm-up is another example of the lack of planning in the BCCI. Before the 2010-11 tour of South Africa, Gary Kirsten, who was coach at the time, had to press his case to ensure some of the Test players arrived a few weeks early to prepare for the series. Kirsten had sent his request about eight months ahead of the tour but the BCCI granted him permission only at the very last minute.

Warwickshire offspinner Maurice Holmes has been suspended from bowling after an independent analysis of his action. Holmes had been reported twice for a suspected illegal bowling action, first during the Clydesdale Bank 40 match between against Leicestershire on May 1 and again during the Second Xl Trophy match against Nottinghamshire on June 13.No previous evidence was available and so Holmes’ bowling action was subject to the independent analysis process set out in the ECB Regulations. The analysis took place on Friday June 24 and the subsequent report was received by the ECB on Wednesday July 6.The report identified that Holmes’ bowling action during the independent analysis was materially different to his action during the match in which he was reported in May and that the deliveries bowled during the independent analysis were not at a suitable pace.Consequently, and in accordance with the regulations, Holmes has been suspended from bowling for England and in competitive County Cricket until such time as he has submitted to a fresh independent analysis in which it is concluded that he has remedied his action. The suspension is with immediate effect.A Loughborough University student, he has been dubbed the ‘English Murali’ because of his ability to bowl a doosra and was recruited by Andy Moles when he was coach of New Zealand to help their batsmen prepare to face Muttiah Muralitharan on their 2009 tour. However, it is the doosra that is believed to be the cause of most concern.

Michael Yardy, the Sussex captain and England limited-overs allrounder, has been given another rest period by the county to aid his treatment for depression.Yardy was forced to return home early from England’s World Cup campaign in March and he missed the first month of the county season with the illness. He then returned to action in the CB40 match against Netherlands, at Hove, on May 2 and played his first Championship game against Nottinghamshire the following week.Though Yardy played in last Friday’s Friends Life t20 match against Middlesex at Hove he left the field after he had bowled his four overs. His absence was explained as a groin niggle at the time.He will now miss Sussex’s t20 match against Somerset at Hove on as he has been given a further period of time out of cricket. A statement issued by the club said that Yardy expects to return to action soon: “Michael has played a lot of cricket over the last six weeks and feels that a short break now will assist his continued recovery, and enable him to return to competitive action soon.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAlastair Cook and Jonathan Trott produced another huge stand to put England in control•Getty Images

The Ashes series finished more than four months ago, but for Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott it looked like only yesterday as the pair resumed their remarkable run-scoring combination with a century each in an unbroken stand of 240 in Cardiff. Cook reached his 17th Test hundred to continue his prolific form from Australia and Trott brought up number six to cement his mighty average as England moved to 287 for 2.Play was delayed until 2pm on a damp, chilly day and the atmosphere couldn’t have been more removed from the cauldrons of the Gabba and MCG, yet it made no difference to the hunger of either batsman. Cook’s hundred came from 224 balls when he collected his eighth boundary with a rasping cut off Suranga Lakmal and it was his fifth in ten innings since the 110 against Pakistan, at The Oval, when many were calling for his head. Trott’s followed not long after, from 196 deliveries, with a flowing cover drive in the first over of the second new ball, and the pair’s alliance became England’s best for any wicket against Sri Lanka.There is more rain forecast for the final two days, but England have the platform from which to put Sri Lanka under pressure although they will be down to a three-man bowling attack after James Anderson was diagnosed with a side strain. Despite the news that he won’t bowl again in this Test, and is a serious doubt for Lord’s, Anderson resumed as nightwatchman. However, he didn’t last long before jabbing Ajantha Mendis to slip with England having not added to their overnight total. Yet it didn’t harm England’s prospects as, unless a nightwatchman can score quickly, his presence tends to hold up the game and that wasn’t what this match needed after so many delays.Instead, it allowed the two major batting stars of the Ashes to join forces again. It was a slow start as they got used to facing Mendis and refused to chase the succession of wide deliveries from the seamers, but steadily the runs began to flow. The first boundary of the day came with a Trott square drive in the 12th over of the session and it was actually the removal of Mendis from the attack that helped England increase the rate.

Smart stats

• The undefeated 240-run stand between Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott is the highest for England against Sri Lanka, going past the previous of 202 by Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher at Edgbaston almost nine years ago.

• It’s also the fourth-highest third-wicket partnership for England in the last 20 years.

• In 16 partnerships, Cook and Trott have put together 1161 runs at an average of 82.92, with four century stands.

• The stand also continues outstanding sequences for both Cook and Trott. Cook has already scored 17 hundreds in only 66 Tests, and has been involved in 13 of the last 20 partnerships of 150 or above for England.

• In 19 matches, Trott averages 66.34 and has scored six hundreds. In his last 12 Tests he averages 95.30, with five hundreds.

Rangana Herath struggled to settle into a consistent line as he offered Cook an opportunity to put away an early cut then Trott drove him through the covers. At the other end Thisara Perera was dispatched for consecutive boundaries by Cook although the first of those flew between second slip and gully off the edge.Cook went to his fifty and Trott then began to catch him up with some trademark leg-side shots off the seamers who fell into the same trap as the Australians by bowling too straight. In the last over before tea the pair brought up their fourth hundred partnership in Tests and the one significant alarm in the entire stand came when Trott could have been run out by a direct hit from mid-on on 59, but Perera’s throw missed despite having three stumps to aim at.It was a rare opportunity for Sri Lanka and their attack was toothless on a slow pitch. Lakmal was wholehearted and Mendis economical, but from early on in the Cook-Trott stand there was the sense that Tillakaratne Dilshan wanted to protect what he had with 400 on the board rather than try and bowl England out. There was a period of an hour-and-a-half when they didn’t hit a boundary, but with sweepers in place ones and twos were on offer to keep the scoreboard ticking.As the final session progressed the scoring rate increased and either side of the two batsmen reaching hundreds runs came at more than five-an-over. The taking of the new ball helped England as the extra pace off the bat negated a slower outfield – Mendis conceded his first boundaries of the day when Trott twice put him through the covers – and Dilshan had to have a few more men in attacking positions. One thing the new ball didn’t do, though, was provide Sri Lanka a breakthrough and they face plenty more leather chasing in this innings.

England allrounder Paul Collingwood has undergone successful routine arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to remove ‘loose bodies’ and correct cartilage damage. Collingwood will begin his recovery and rehabilitation period with Durham and is expected to be available for them ahead of the Twenty20 and one-day international series against Sri Lanka in June.Collingwood, 34, had been struggling with a knee injury since England’s one-day series in Australia prior to the World Cup, and is missing the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League due to his injury.He retired from Test cricket after the Ashes in January and repeatedly said he wanted to prolong his one-day and Twenty20 career despite a prolonged slump in form.He was dropped for two of England’s six group matches at the World Cup and didn’t play in the crunch game against West Indies or the quarter-final defeat to Sri Lanka, but remains the Twenty20 captain.He had been due to take up a deal with Rajasthan Royals after the World Cup, but has since been replaced in their squad by New Zealand allrounder Jacob Oram.

India are in no hurry to find a replacement for Gary Kirsten as the national coach, and it seems increasingly likely that the team will travel to the West Indies in June with a caretaker – if anyone – in charge. Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, has said the process to find a coach is ongoing, and is unlikely to be discussed in any great detail at the board’s working committee meeting on April 27.”We are still in the process of doing so (finding a new coach). There’s no hurry as the team is leaving for the West Indies only on June 1,” BCCI president Shashank Manohar told .Potential suitors for the position, given the decidedly difficult task of following Kirsten, must think carefully about the demands of the job, while the ECB have moved to shore up their contractual arrangements with Andy Flower, should he be interested in a new challenge on the subcontinent.Duncan Fletcher has also been linked to the India role, having had the benefit of a few years’ rest since his stint with England ended.Another name thrown up as a possible candidate is Stephen Fleming, the Chennai Super Kings coach and former captain of New Zealand. Widely regarded as possessing a sharp tactical brain, Fleming is nonetheless inexperienced as a coach, using the IPL as his chance to place a toe in the water for a few months of the year.”I’m enjoying coaching Chennai Super Kings. I got my hands full at CSK. It is a good experience. I haven’t thought a lot about my coaching career. It is something that I’ll consider as time goes on,” Fleming said of expanding his career after Chennai’s eight-run loss to Mumbai Indians.”It’s a great challenge for two months of the year. I am still learning my coaching philosophies as a coach in these two months.”

Match facts

March 9, Delhi
Start time 2.30 pm (0900 GMT)

Big Picture

India are in no mood to take this game lightly. MS Dhoni made it clear that he wants an easy ride in Delhi compared to the uncertain drives in Bangalore. They remain the only team in their group yet to lose a match. Barring Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan – both of whom have played useful cameos – all their batsmen have got either a century or a half-century under their belts in the tournament. Even if their bowling machine has not operated smoothly, it is being fine-tuned and they could well make a change or two for Wednesday.The Netherlands is a nation of about 16 million people, mostly a quiet lot, who only bare their emotions when football is on. The cricketers are usually immune to noise, since they play most of their cricket indoors. So there is little doubt that Peter Borren’s men will feel intimidated when they walk out in front of a hostile crowd of 42,000, which might sound like a million. But Borren wants his troops to be brave.More than heart, Netherlands’ players need to keep their head, and remain focussed. Ryan ten Doeschate, with his fighting knock against England in their first match, is their only batsman to score a century in this World Cup, while Tom Cooper is the only other player to get past fifty. India might have come out of a tight contest against the spirited Irish, but the reason they have been among the best teams in the world in the last two years is because they do not repeat their mistakes. If Netherlands have to stand strong, they need their collective best.

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)
India: WTWLL
Netherlands: LLLLL

Watch out for …

Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir will be playing in front of their home crowd at the Feroz Shah Kotla, but both Delhiites have poor records at the ground: Sehwag has a highest score of 42 in four innings, while Gambhir has scored 31 runs in two innings. Both have spoken about how each one derives inspiration from the other partner while playing in Tests, and tomorrow they wouldn’t mind sharing a good home run.Pieter Seelaar is best known for his penguin dance after Netherland’s historic win against England at Lord’s during the 2009 World Twenty20. Since then, he has grown into a stable left-arm spinner. All the attention is likely to be on Ryan ten Doeschate’s all-round skills tomorrow, and that can only be good news for Seelaar, who has been the lone spinner Netherlands have played so far in the tournament. He has been impressive in the tournament so far, and the last time Netherlands played in Delhi, against West Indies, he managed figures of 3 for 45, when every other bowler in his side went for more than six runs an over.

Team news

Will R Ashwin play ahead of Piyush Chawla? Will Ashish Nehra finally play his first game of the tournament? No hints were given by MS Dhoni during his pre-match press conference. Considering that India play South Africa on Saturday in an important match, one that could determine the group seedings, India could think of giving Zaheer Khan a rest. But it won’t surprise anyone if they stick to the winning unit.India (probable): 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 MS Dhoni (wk/capt), 7 Yusuf Pathan, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Zaheer Khan/Ashish Nehra, 10 Piyush Chawla/R Ashwin, 11 Munaf PatelFor Netherlands, the missing link has been a second spinner. They have steadfastly stuck to the four-seamers-one-spinner combination. But based on the slowness of the pitch at the Kotla, they could include an extra slow bowler in Adeel Raja, who is one of only two players in the current squad who was in the side that played India in the 2003 World Cup. Raja took two wickets in that game, though India won by 68 runs.Netherlands (probable): 1 Alexei Kervezee, 2 Wesley Barresi (wk), 3 Tom Cooper, 4 Ryan ten Doeschate, 5 Bas Zuiderent, 6 Tom de Grooth, 7 Peter Borren (capt), 8 Mudassar Bukhari, 9 Pieter Seelaar, 10 Bernard Loots/Adeel Raja, 11 Berend Westdijk.

Pitch and conditions

Big runs are imminent on what should be a flatbed. But the low bounce and the slowness in the track, witnessed in the previous three matches played here, will keep the batsmen on their toes.

Stats and trivia

• India have won one and lost one game in Delhi in World Cups. There have been only three day-night matches in Delhi (all three in the 2011 World Cup) of which two have been won by the side chasing.
• Sachin Tendulkar needs just 18 runs to reach the 2000-run landmark in World Cups. He has scored 1982 runs at 58.29 with five centuries and 13 fifties.

Quotes

“So far we have had a good game, a tight game and a close game. We have shown signs of improvement. What we need now [on Wednesday] is an easy win.”
MS Dhoni expresses his calm before the clash with the Dutch.
“We are going to play brave cricket. Initially, our philosophy was to get out there and take the opposition on and hopefully put them on the back foot. We are going to go out there and try and cause a surprise.”
Peter Borren raises the war cry ahead of Netherland’s “toughest” contest.

Thilan Samaraweera’s re-emergence as a batsman in Sri Lanka’s ODI side has been one of the more understated, indeed surprising, developments of the last couple of years. His set-up as a batsman for long innings is no longer in question. But since his return to the ODI side in 2009, after a four-year break, he’s become a sturdy middle-order contrast to a top-order by turns explosive and elegant.Since his return in July 2009, Samaraweera averages nearly 35 in 27 games at a spot where that often means more than it implies quantitatively; he has also made his only two ODI hundreds in this period. And his strike-rate isn’t far from 80, still respectable in this age and by his own standards nearly remarkable.It’s not down to anything in particular, according to him, just a little confidence flowing over from his Test form and some from selectors. “Three or four years back I was not even in the Test team and I got back in late 2008 but since then I got runs,” he said. “Especially after scoring a hundred against India two years ago I got a place in the team which also gave me confidence. I’ve had good communication with selectors and they said that you still have opportunity. Last year I scored two hundreds, so it’s been good far.”A clarity over his role and responsibilities has helped, even if for the modern middle order one-day batsman an ability to map out a late Powerplay clouds issues more than before. “My role is to control the innings in the middle. Last year I did very well and also did well in the last warm-up match, though I didn’t get much opportunity in the West Indies series. All the players know their roles individually, but most importantly it will be on the situation you are facing also.”Because of the Powerplay one has to force the scoring rate to eight or nine an over and it’s easy to hit in the sub-continent so you can score 45 and at times teams also 60. But that all depends on the wicket and how the game is going.”On Sunday, Samaraweera and Sri Lanka will come across two unknowns: Canada and the Mahinda Rajapakse International Stadium in Hambantota, on which no international has so far been played. Both ensure that Sri Lanka’s much-awaited opener will be a “big game.””We had a good long session because we were practising for the first time here and so far, so good. At Premadasa it was a bit up and down, but the groundsman put in a lot of hard work and domestic cricket was played there. They did good job for the last match and it was good. Basically we have to play the Canada match like a big game and if you relax they can upset any team so we have to approach it as a big game. We have stopped talking about that [a new venue]. We have prepared well in the warm-up matches because you have to deal with these kinds of things.”Samaraweera acknowledged the openness of this tournament, more so perhaps in Sri Lanka where surfaces might not regularly concede 300-plus totals in big games. “Lots of people talk about 300 runs as a par score but that could happen in India where the wickets are flat and the grounds are small. Here it will depend on the nature of the wickets. The surfaces we played in domestic matches at Premadasa were difficult and this ground is too big with 90 yard boundaries. 260 might be par in Sri Lanka.”At the moment honestly, we’re planning for the Canada game, because in this type of group you have to plan one game at a time. After the Canada match we have to plan for Pakistan. All three big teams are good, Australia have won the tournament four times and they can still do lot of things. Pakistan is I think really the dark horse and can change the game any time and have firepower. Even New Zealand are good.”

South Africa’s World Cup squad feels “more excitement than pressure,” as they go in search of the country’s first piece of ICC silverware in 13 years. The team is widely regarded as the best never to have a won a World Cup, despite going into every tournament as one of the hot favourites.”In previous years, the squad had a lot of big name players and was even ranked number one in the ODI rankings so there was a lot of expectation,” Hashim Amla told ESPNcricinfo. “There is a little less hype around us this time.”Eleven of the 15 squad members that will travel to this month’s World Cup have never played in the global showpiece before and many of those players will form the core of South Africa’s team. Amla is one of them, and is already regarded as a stalwart in the side, though he has only played 42 ODIs. “I feel like a senior player,” he said. ‘”I haven’t played many matches compared to guys like Graeme [Smith] and Jacques [Kallis] so I still regard every match as a learning experience. I don’t claim as to know everything about one-day cricket but I do feel like senior player.”That feeling may stem from the fact that Amla has had a stunning last nine months in the game, in which he has scored six of his seven ODI centuries. Over that time, he has surged to the top of the ODI batting rankings and carved his own niche in the shorter form of the game, despite being initially painted as someone who could only play Test cricket.Amla said the improvements in his strike rate are not as a result of any major shift in mindset, but more a reflection of his growth as a cricketer. “It helped to play a few Test matches before making it into the one-day side because I got to know my own game. When I started off in the one-day side, it took me a while to find my rhythm.” When he found that groove, he found it perfectly and Amla now boasts an average of 59.88 and a strike rate of close to 94.The Amla that batted in last month’s ODI series against India was the Amla that had come full circle from those first stuttering days in coloured clothing. He scored, by his own admission, two “swashbuckling” fifties before stabilising to end the series with a century. That innings, at Centurion, was near perfect, timed exquisitely and played as though it was set to a script. Amla hopes he can continue in that vein in the World Cup. “I am going to try and strike a balance between being positive upfront by scoring as quickly as I can and making sure I stay at the crease for as long as possible.”Time at the wicket for the top order is vital because South Africa’s soft underbelly, the batting in the middle-to-lower order, was exposed against India. Kallis’ return to full fitness will solve some of the problem but there is still concern over the relative inexperience at number six and seven, and the lack of a big-hitting all-rounder in the mould of Lance Klusener. Amla, however, is certain that the likes of Faf du Plessis and Colin Ingram can do the job. “Someone in the top order should aim to bat through to at least the 40th over so that the lower can capitalise on that. Those guys might not be the same as Albie Morkel or Mark Boucher but they can hit the ball hard, they run well between the wickets and they are relatively unknown to the opposition.”South Africa are banking on the element of surprise with both bat and ball, having included uncapped legspinner Imran Tahir in the squad as well. Amla warned against loading too much pressure on the Pakistani-born player. “We shouldn’t put all our hopes on Imran. He is a quality player with a lot of first-class experience and he should be allowed to settle into the team at this level.”Tahir is one of five spinners that South Africa have at their disposal and although he is expected to make the biggest impact, Amla said that seasoned campaigner Johan Botha may the man who makes headlines. “He has done a great job for us over the years and is a very intelligent bowler. He may not be known as a wicket-taker but he controls the middle portion of an innings and if the runs need to be dried up, he is the go-to man.”Spin and the subcontinent go together like vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce and while South Africa are making sure they have enough players who can bowl spin, they are also preparing for many overs of facing spin. “We got a taste of what to expect against India when they rotated many bowlers against us during the one-day series. Spin will play a big role.”South Africa’s once-dodgy record of playing against spin has improved significantly in recent times and although they don’t look obvious favourites for the tournament this time, when Amla describes the players they have at their disposal, they have all the elements to be top contenders. That means that’s even though it’s understated, the pressure to be crowned World Champions does hang over them. It might be why Amla says he is “quite keen to get on the plane and get the tournament started.”