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No more fence sitting: Darren Lehmann has found his voice since becoming a commentator © Getty Images

Darren Lehmann believes England’s trumpeted Test bowling attack lacks the firepower to dismiss Australia twice. After watching the one-day series as a commentator, Lehmann told the that Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff would need “unbelievable” series to take back the Ashes.In a potentially worrying sign for England, Lehmann decided Harmison was already looking worn down after playing nine limited-overs matches. “If I were England, I would be slightly concerned,” he told the paper. “To me he looked tired at The Oval, almost as if he has bowled too much already.” Harmison leaked 81 from 9.5 overs as Australia sealed the NatWest Challenge on Tuesday.”Harmison and Flintoff have looked the part in the one-dayers, but on Test-match wickets I don’t see England having enough firepower to take the 20 wickets,” Lehmann said. “Matthew Hoggard has to come into the equation, but if England are going to stand a chance, Flintoff and Harmison not only have to have a good series with the ball, they have to have an unbelievable series.”Lehmann, who understands what it takes to win the Ashes after playing bit-parts in two contests, also thinks England’s batting is starting to look suspect. “Whereas we have seen the Australians slowly but surely come into form, the English seem to have gone in the opposite direction,” he said. “Australia were always tuned to peaking on that first morning of the first Test and they have been trying to hit their straps in the one-dayers. Now England are the ones who have to find some form and get back to where they were less than a month ago.”

Hashan Tillakaratne – dug in when it most mattered© Getty Images

Sri Lanka’s embattled captain, Hashan Tillakaratne, produced a crucial unbeaten 74 to carry his side into a position of strength on the third day against Australia in Colombo. But afterwards he admitted he had been driven on by the belief that he was playing his final match for his country.”When I read the newspapers there were so many things being said and done,” said Tillakaratne. “I just went in there thinking it was my last innings. I just played my normal game and wanted to be there to the end and make a big score.”Until I got to about 30-odd I was struggling a bit, but after that I was okay. We all know that I have had a lean period, but after this knock I should be able to get more runs. I spoke to [the manager] Ranjith Fernando in the morning and asked him what I should do, and he was very supportive and encouraging and told me to play my naturalgame. If I am not scoring I don’t want to be a liability to the team.”It’s not the first time that Tillakaratne has had to bat for his career, and once again he produced the goods when it most mattered. “It was very important for me,” he said. “I rate this 74 as highly as my 136 I scored against India in 2001, when I came back into the side after two-and-a-half years. I thought that would be my last innings as well, but I managed to get a hundred there.”Three late Australian wickets put the cap on Sri Lanka’s day, but Tillakaratne warned that the fourth day would be another tough battle. “We were looking at a lead of 50-60 runs which would have been a psychological advantage for us,” he admitted. “But there are two more days to go and we have to pick up early wickets tomorrow. The wicket is starting to turn and it will definitely help our spinners. I think 250 is gettable on this track.”

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the national governing body for cricket. The organisation currently generates turnover of £60 million and wishes to appoint a Commercial Director to develop revenue from existing sources, generate new income streams, attract new customers and improve customer satisfaction levels to achieve a turnover of a minimum of £100 million within 5 years.The Position

• Reports to the Chief Executive as a member of the senior executive team.
• Responsible for commercial affairs – both marketing and sales – of cricket in England and Wales. The role encompasses revenue generating activities and the wider marketing and servicing activities, i.e. brand development, customer awareness, pricing and promotion and commercial partner servicing.
• The Commercial Director will lead a team of 9 people in the Sales, Sponsorship Services and Marketing functions of the Department.

The Qualifications

• 10 years of successful management experience in a significant and complex business. Of graduate calibre, the successful candidate will have developed their career in the sales and marketing department of a large, consumer driven company or in a substantial agency.
• The successful candidate is likely to be currently in a senior marketing position and can demonstrate rapid progression through roles of increasing responsibility. A track record of negotiating and implementing joint venture agreements and/or significant third party contracts is desirable with a proven ability to negotiate at Chairman/CEO/Board level

Please apply quoting reference Finn – 3 with full career and salary details to: Ian Jones & Partners, 5 Aldford Street, London, W1K 2AF or email: [email protected]

New Zealand might have only a 33% success rate in tri-series One-Day International tournaments but CLEAR Black Caps wicket-keeper Adam Parore says last year’s ICC KnockOut win in Nairobi had been an important step for the side towards improving that percentage.Just before flying out from Christchurch today for Colombo with the side for the 23rd three or four-nation tournament New Zealand has played in, Parore said that for a couple of years this New Zealand team had known they were capable of doing something, without ever having achieved it.Going to Sri Lanka was another seeming Mission Impossible. India has just completed a tour of Zimbabwe, while Sri Lanka were at home in their favourable conditions. The New Zealanders were coming out of the coldest winter in this country for nearly 30 years.But adapting to foreign conditions is becoming second nature to Black Cap sides and Parore believes the lessons of Nairobi could be an influence in the Coca-Cola Cup.”To know you can do it, and then to go out and finally do it, fills you with a lot of confidence,” he said.”Watching the professional golfers and tennis players on television in big tournaments they know that to win they have to go through unbeaten.”There are two or three moments in matches when, if you want to win, you have to put up and do it.”And there is no substitute for doing it.”Until you do it and then realise what you have done, you don’t appreciate how much it takes,” he said.That lesson was the most valuable thing to come out of the Nairobi success, Parore said.”Thinking you can do something, and actually doing something, are two completely different things,” he said.Having been one of the heaviest worked players during the last season, Parore relished the chance for a break after the series equalling victory against Pakistan.But it had been long enough and he pronounced himself impatient to get underway in Colombo.”There is only so much running, batting and training you can do each day. I don’t think I’ve ever been so keen to get back into action as I am now,” he said.Parore said that in hindsight the last season did not seem that tough and he felt the side came out of a difficult summer pretty well.It had been disappointing to lose key players at vital times. But in spite of those worries, the side had achieved some good results.Younger players had been brought in and had been exposed to top level cricket and were now more experienced as a result.He said the inclusion of players who had been through the Academy process had made it a lot easier for those introduced to adapt to their situation.There was a higher level of professionalism among the younger players but they still found the standard of cricket a bit of a shock.But New Zealand had been lucky with the players who came in last summer as they had developed well.As far as New Zealand’s record in tournaments was concerned, he said that was probably due to the fact that they all required a degree of adaptation and that invariably as the side played more games, their record improved in tournaments.”But because we are often coming out of our winter, we are having to start so far back on the grid and when you go to the sub continent you are going into the hardest conditions in which to have a cricket tour.”Personally, I enjoy the sub continent. It is a good place to tour. You have grounds that are full of roaring spectators who know their cricket. They know who you are, what your average is and all about you,” he said.Parore recalled holidaying in Dubai after the summer and finding that drinks stewards around the hotel pool he was staying in were able to talk to him about quite technical matters of the game.”They know what they are talking about and were able to give some quite technical analysis of Sachin Tendulkar’s batting,” he said.Parore said he only needed a few weeks off before he was keen to get back into action. Three months had been two months too long and he said he couldn’t wait to get on the plane and on the way.He didn’t see the tournament as the start of another tough new season. It was an interlude with a six-week break before the next tour to Pakistan when the Black Caps get down to the real business of the summer.TRI NATIONS RECORDS

Played Won Lost Tied Abandoned1980/81 Australia, India, New Zealand 14 7 6 11982/83 Australia, England, New Zealand 12 6 61985/86 Australia, India, New Zealand 10 3 6 1Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand 2 1 1India, Pakistan, New Zealand 2 0 21987/88 Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand 10 4 6India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand 4 2 21989/90 Australia, India, New Zealand 5 1 4Pakistan, Australia, Bangladesh, NZ 3 1 21990/91 Australia, England, New Zealand 10 3 71993/94 Australia, South Africa, New Zealand 8 3 4 1Australia, Sri Lanka, India,UAE, Pakistan, New Zealand 3 1 21994/95 India, West Indies, New Zealand 4 0 3 1South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, NZ 6 0 6Australia, India, South Africa, NZ 4 2 21996/97 Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand 5 1 3 1Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand 3 1 21997/98 Australia, South Africa, New Zealand 8 2 6India, Australia, New Zealand 4 1 3Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand 6 0 2 42000/01 South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand 2 0 2Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand 3 1 2Total 128 40 79 1 8

It is ‘hugely important’ that Celtic centre-back Christopher Jullien enjoys more playing time after injury, says Ben Dinnery.

The Lowdown: Jullien’s injury woes

The 29-year-old has suffered a torrid time of things in the injury department over the past 18 months, seeing himself sidelined for almost that entire period.

Jullien returned from a year out with a knee injury back in January but he has continued to find first-team football hard to come by at Celtic, appearing for just 16 minutes in 2022 to date.

The Hoops are now in the final straight in their Scottish Premiership title battle with Rangers and with multiple domestic competitions still to play for it could be that Jullien is finally called upon at some point.

The Latest: Dinnery provides his thoughts

Speaking to Football Insider, Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site, stressed the importance of the defender getting minutes in his legs, as he looks to make a full recovery:

“These minutes are hugely important. You’ve got to manage your squad. You need to ensure that those players on the fringes are ready and engaged should they be needed.

“But also for Jullien, it’s an opportunity to go out there and build that confidence that he’s over that knee injury.  Hopefully, he can get a little bit of momentum going now.

“I’m sure he has one eye on getting a good pre-season behind him and pushing for first-team contention next season.”

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The Verdict: Could still play a key role

In truth, it is easier said than done when it comes to Ange Postecoglou throwing Jullien back into the team, given the significance of their remaining fixtures.

If the Frenchman is not up to speed, it could end up having a negative impact on Celtic’s title charge, at a time when Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt are performing well at centre-back.

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The best bet is to hopefully bring Jullien on in games that are already won late in the day, allowing him to slowly get match practice back in his legs. A rushed return could have an adverse effect, both on him and the Hoops, and he should be looking at next season as a more realistic aim.

In other news, a journalist has reacted to a ‘lift’ for Celtic. Read more here.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

	Before L Balaji wrecked Kings XI Punjab with his five-for, it was another local boy S Badrinath who helped Chennai Super Kings post a formidable 181 (file photo) © Cricinfo Ltd

A match that swung from one side to the other was decided by two exceptional overs from L Balaji, the India international: he first picked up two crucial wickets in the 13th over to seize the initiative for his side, then picked up the IPL’s first hat-trick in the final over to finish the match. Balaji’s performance, in front of an ecstatic home crowd, pushed Chennai Super Kings to second place in the points table and ended Kings XI Punjab’s streak of five successive wins.Chasing a stiff 182, Punjab lost two early wickets but Shaun Marsh stayed calm at the other end, working the Chennai bowlers into the gaps for runs while picking up the odd boundaries. As the asking-rate escalated to over ten, Marsh decided to step it up, punishing Palani Amarnath for two sixes over the straight boundary and bringing up his fifty with another clean straight hit, off Balaji.If Marsh appeared as if he’d just arrived after a stint at a driving range, Ramnaresh Sarwan, with whom he put on 66, was a touch slow with 20 off 22 balls and his inability to hit a boundary suggested why his Twenty20 strike-rate is less than a run-a-ball.Their partnership was looking threatening, though, before both fell in one match-turning over from Balaji. Ambling in from a shortened run and putting in the effort in his final stride, he varied his deliveries, mixing up slower balls with shorter ones, with some surprising the batsmen. He got Sarwan with the first ball, the batsman bowled while giving the charge. Four balls later Marsh followed, top-edging to Amarnath on the square-leg boundary.Amarnath tightened the screws in the next over, having Yuvraj Singh caught by Stephen Fleming at point, and the match was almost over as a contest. Not as a spectacle, though.The 15th over saw a mini-battle between Muttiah Muralitharan and his Sri Lanka team-mate Mahela Jayawardene, who got down on his knees and dispatched him over deep midwicket. Two balls later, though, a repeat effort resulted in a top edge to S Vidyut at short third man, and Jayawardene, normally accustomed to running to congratulate his leading bowler, had to head back to the dugout.And then there was the hat-trick, in the last over of the match. There were four balls to go and 19 runs to get when Balaji bowled to Irfan Pathan, who’d already hit him for a six off the first ball. This time, he holed out to a slower ball to deep square leg. Next, Piyush Chawla lofted one towards long-off for an easy catch, and the hat-trick was completed when VRV Singh managed to back away and top-edge one straight to Mahendra Singh Dhoni.Badrinath, a local boy like Balaji, and Dhoni had earlier threatened to take the game away as Michael Hussey had done in the previous encounter between Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab, but Punjab’s bowlers did well to restrict the flow of runs in the final five overs of the innings.Dhoni, Chennai’s adopted hero and captain, sent the crowd into raptures soon after his arrival by clobbering Chawla for three sixes; the first two sailed into the leg-side stands, while the third was hit flat over the bowler’s head. Yuvraj soon went in for damage control, bringing on Pathan, his side’s leading wicket-taker, for his second spell as early as the 13th over. Badrinath took two sixes off Pathan and brought up his fifty off 37 deliveries. The two had added 80 off 49 deliveries, and a final flourish was on the cards.Punjab came back well to rein in the rampaging batsmen. Sreesanth had bowled a good first spell in which he removed Chennai’s openers and his final one – the 16th of the innings – went for just five, James Hopes and VRV took the cue and targeted the blockhole, and the run-scoring abated. Chennai got 181, but would be disappointed at not having been able to go past the 200-run mark, which looked likely at one stage.

‘Of course we’re looking to rebuild but the fact that we still have a strong squad shows we’ve got a lot of depth’© ICC

Trent Johnston, Ireland’s captain, has challenged his young squad to produce the goods against the might of India who they face in a one-dayer on Saturday at Stormont, Belfast.Only seven members of the squad which beat Pakistan to reach the Super Eights of the World Cup remain, but Johnston insists that – in spite of being in a phase of regeneration, not to mention beset by injuries – they can still challenge India.”At the World Cup people questioned where the next generation of Irish cricketers would come from – well here they are,” Johnston, 33, said.”These matches could be the start of a new era. We’ve got a new coach [Phil Simmons] who is bringing new things to the table and a group of young players with new ideas.”Of course we’re looking to rebuild but the fact that we still have a strong squad shows we’ve got a lot of depth.”Roger Whelan, Gary Kidd, Alex Cusack and Thinus Fourie – who have five international caps between them – are all set to play against India and Johnston has backed them to produce the goods.”Playing these sides is great as the young lads get to test themselves against legends of the game like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid,” he said. “Just to say you have faced those players is incredible and every one of our lads is looking forward to it.”It’s important the younger guys make the step up but we are confident they are ready. When they are given a chance like this they need to grab it with both hands.”After India, Ireland face South Africa on Sunday before the two touring teams pair off in three further one-dayers next week.Click here to leave your thoughts.

Bruce Makovah, the Zimbabwe cricket national selectors convener, has dismissed critcism leveled at the squad picked for the A-team series against Bangladesh A which starts on Saturday.Several choices have been attacked by critics, and the presence of players with no top-flight experience has also come under the spotlight. Makovah and his co-selectors opted not to pick anyone from the breakaway leagues which contain a number of leading clubs who have ceded from those organised by Zimbabwe Cricket.”ZC is not running separately,” Makovah told Zimbabwe’s Independent. “People cannot just walk in and walk out as they wish. These players were encouraged to play the official league. So those who were prepared to rebel we did not look at them. Besides I did not see any statistics from their league. I only got to know that they were playing through hearsay.””If we look at the squad that was selected, the players came from various provinces. Also if you look at the statistics Mashonaland came last in the league. It automatically shows that the other provinces have a pool of players as well.”One critic pointed out to Cricinfo that Mashonaland had finished last because almost all their leading players had defected to the breakaway organisation.”Basically this is a first major step to give other people an opportunity and widen the player base in the country,” Makovah added. “Our cricket has been based on recycling players, and this affected us the last time when players decided to rebel. We found ourselves in a crisis because we had no broad player base.”But one former Test player said that the standard in the official leagues was dire. “Two years ago none of them were even in a first league side – they were playing third division cricket,” he said. “The cricketers averaging 60+ in the national league this year were not getting to double figures a year ago in the top league. Anyone that understands cricket is not going to believe that there has been improvement or that the game is growing.”

Darren Gough and Andrew Flintoff: English dissenters© Getty Images

If the England & Wales Cricket Board thought it had put the Zimbabwe issue on the backburner for the time being, it has another thing coming. Following the alleged strong-arm tactics that were used to ensure that a reasonably full-strength squad was selected for the trip, the backlash could yet come from the players themselves.Earlier this month, the ECB confirmed that no player would be penalised if he preferred not to embark on the controversial five-match tour, and it seems that some players intend to take that promise at face value.Andrew Flintoff, one of the few players to be exempted from the trip, has confirmed that he never had any intention of touring anyway, while Darren Gough is another to have voiced serious doubts about the morality of playing in Zimbabwe.”Nothing’s changed since those meetings and problems we had in Cape Town before the start of the World Cup,” Flintoff told The Sun newspaper in London. “I didn’t want to go then – so why should I want to go now?” His doubts were echoed by Gough, who admitted to The Daily Telegraph that much could change in the next few months.”If the plane had left this morning I’d have gone,” admitted Gough, “but there’s still a long way to go and a lot of things can happen. There are a lot more conversations people have to have and they will be going on over the next couple of months.”There are one or two players who seem certain to tour, however. Ashley Giles was given the option of a break, but decided against it, possibly out of fear that his replacement would prove hard to dislodge if he excelled. And Alex Wharf, a newcomer to the side, told The Western Mail that he had to put moral considerations to one side at this formative stage of his career.”I think I’d be foolish if I said I wasn’t going to go to Zimbabwe,” said Wharf. “I have only just begun my international career and I don’t think it would be a good idea to jeopardise that by making any sort of stand. Whatever the political situation, we are going out there to play cricket and, like the rest of the boys, I just want to concentrate on the cricket.”Vaughan himself is in an invidious position as captain, and admitted as much to The Sun. “Under normal circumstances, I would have welcomed an extended break after a long international season,” he said. “But the England team and the game as a whole are faced with an extraordinary situation in undertaking this tour to Zimbabwe.”

Since he cemented his place in the Australian middle-order, Darren Lehmann has scored five centuries in nine games. After today’s unbeaten effort, he spoke to the press.On the conditions
It was hard work out there, pretty much all day, because of the field settings. The pitch spun a fair bit and it’s quite slow which made it hard to get into any rhythm.On his prolific run of form
I’m not sure that there is a secret – it’s just that I am playing well at the moment and it’s good to get some runs to make up for lost time. The pleasing thing is that I am quite relaxed at the crease these days and I suppose that comes with experience and confidence in your game. That seems to be the trick at the moment. I am playing the game for what it is – a game.On countering the threat from Sri Lanka’s spinners
You have got to have a plan [in Sri Lanka] and my plan seems to be working at the moment. I am quite confident coming down the wicket, which you have to back yourself to do over here. In the past teams have come here and let the spinners dictate, but we have certainly gone about it in a different way and had some success doing so.On the Sri Lankan defensive tactics
The wicket had enough to bowl attacking lines, but they did not back their bowlers enough. I was a little bit bored for a while but it is Test cricket and you focus pretty quickly back onto the job. It is just one of the things they do over here, they like to bowl to those kind of fields and you have to learn to cope with it. You have to come up with a plan to counteract their tactics, whether it is batting slightly outside leg or running up the wicket to work singles.