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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsGraeme Swann removed Mushfiqur Rahim on his way to a 10-wicket haul•Getty Images

Graeme Swann bagged his first 10-wicket match haul as England finally broke through Bangladesh’s resistance to secure a 181-run victory at Chittagong, but not before Junaid Siddique and Mushfiqur Rahim had made them toil through another wicketless session. Siddique scored his first Test century as the sixth-wicket pair survived the morning, taking their stand to 167, before Swann ended the resistance.The victory margin was convincing from England – and Alastair Cook will be satisfied with his first Test in charge – but Bangladesh’s fight during the second half of the game made them dig deeper than they would have imagined. The efforts of Siddique and Rahim should give the home side great heart and England were getting increasingly flustered before Siddique’s marathon 292-ball effort was ended in the second over after lunch.It was an unforgiving pitch for the quick bowlers, and England’s trio looked dead to the world by the end, so Swann’s contribution can’t be understated as he sent down 78.3 overs in the game. When he had Naeem Islam caught at deep midwicket he became the first English offspinner to take 10 in the subcontinent and the first take such a haul anywhere since Jim Laker, with his famous 19-wicket bag, against Australia in 1956. That’s some wait and Swann fully deserves his place in the list.England had hoped for a swift conclusion on the final morning with the second new ball available after five overs, but it was negotiated with aplomb by Siddique and Rahim. However, some of Cook’s tactics were strange and he paid the price for not having a third slip when Siddique got a thick edge off Stuart Broad which would have flown at shin height. Admittedly plenty of edges didn’t carry, but the new ball was the time to attack.However, Siddique repelled everything the England attack threw at him and managed to retain his composure despite the pressure of a looming major milestone. He reached his hundred with two boundaries in an over off Steven Finn, the second a perfect straight drive from his 262nd delivery. The moment Siddique hit it he turned to the dressing room, removed his helmet and raised his arms. The pressure was telling on England’s bowlers and Finn had a few words with Siddique at the end of the over.Siddique was the fourth Bangladesh batsman to register a maiden ton in recent months, following Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah in New Zealand and Rahim against India in January. They are signs of improvement everyone wants. Not surprisingly his concentration wavered a touch as the significance of the moment sunk in and he was given a life on 106 when Matt Prior couldn’t gather a difficult bottom edge off Swann.Rahim’s innings was equally impressive as he continued his match-long resistance. He was troubled on occasion by the extra bounce of Finn – and survived a close lbw shout against Broad – but played Swann with ease and twice dispatched him through the leg side in rare moments of aggression.As the pair entered lunch having batted unbeaten through their second session England looked tired and frustrated. However, for the umpteenth time in his short Test career Swann was the man to lift the side when he found the edge of Siddique’s bat and the catch carried low to slip. England’s anxiety was clear as Swann gave the batsman a slightly undignified send off; Siddique deserved better after such resilience.Rahim was nearing his second Test century until he made one of the few misjudgements in his innings when he charged Swann and yorked himself. He looked skywards and admonished himself, but he has had an outstanding match with the bat .With the two main obstacles out of the way England relaxed a little as the lower order went down playing their shots. Broad and Tim Bresnan collected rewards for their toil, but Swann wouldn’t be denied his tenth wicket as Michael Carberry gave another example of his panther-like fielding with a swoop and dive at deep midwicket.It was a tired huddle that celebrated victory and Swann deserved every slap on the back he received. The match had gone to form, but England knew they have been in a game and the bowlers have just three days to recover. If Bangladesh can take this fight to Dhaka, England will need all their energy.

For years, Issac Petersen has driven members of the international media around in Port Elizabeth. During pleasant rides to hotels on the beautiful seafront, Issac talks about his son, Alviro, asking journalists to remember his name for the future. Now he can rest easy about marketing his son, who, at majestic Eden Gardens, became only the third batsman to score a century on Test debut for South Africa.With doubts persisting over Graeme Smith’s injured finger on the eve of the match, the team management had asked Petersen to mentally prepare himself for a debut. It was a smart move. “Yesterday, they told me [I was] in the team 99%,” Petersen said. “So I had the evening to really think it over, and visualise what I wanted to achieve out of it.”Sunday morning, when Graeme Smith called correctly at the toss for the second time in the series, Petersen’s wait was over. At 29, he had been running out of time to start his Test career only because he is a specialist opener. He had come into national reckoning in 2006 but the lack of an innings of impact kept him on the fringes of selection. Though he played a few ODIs, it wasn’t until England arrived in 2009 that Petersen got a real opportunity. Herschelle Gibbs’ downward spiral forced the selectors to think about alternatives and Petersen made a strong case for himself with three half-centuries in all three matches he played.Those innings were just an extension of his splendid form in domestic cricket. In the 2008-09 season Petersen, playing for Highveld Lions, stacked up 1376 runs in 15 matches, including six centuries, two of which came in the final-round game against the Titans. It was a South African record for most runs in a season, surpassing Hylton Ackerman (1373) and Barry Richards (1285). Ashwell Prince was behind Petersen with 1180 runs last year.Both Petersen and Prince grew up in the same neighbourhood in the northern suburbs of Port Elizabeth. They learned their cricket at the Gelvandale ground, which had frugal resources, and sharpened their reflexes by batting against tape ball on the streets.So it was fitting that Petersen replaced Prince as an opener, and the left-hander dropped down to his usual middle-order spot because Mark Boucher was unfit. Prince has been a reluctant opener, but the South African selectors, left with no option, kept him at the top.Petersen walked out to bat sporting the same smile he had when Graeme Smith presented him with the cap during the team huddle. He started with a boundary in his first over, flicking a loose delivery from Ishant Sharma. During the next four hours, there was a constant flow of innocuous deliveries from the Indians and Petersen, in the company of Hashim Amla, flayed them with ease.Perhaps India’s bowlers, in their attempt to intimidate the debutant, overdid it. Both Zaheer Khan and Ishant were wayward in the crucial first session when the ball swung. They fed him a diet of short deliveries or ones that were pitched on driveable lengths. The early fall of Smith did not deter Petersen either, and he hooked Ishant in the next over. When Zaheer committed the folly of bouncing his opponent, he too was dispatched to the midwicket boundary. “They were trying to get me out early and offered me a couple of boundary balls,” Petersen said.Playing with the full face of the bat, Petersen displayed elegant footwork to get close to the pitch of the ball before deciding on his shot. The presence of Amla at the other end helped him. Amla, the double centurion at Nagpur, played the role Kallis usually does, dominating the spinners, especially Harbhajan, who was hardly bowled in the second session.Amla’s assurance allowed Petersen to grow in confidence. Only in the nineties did he get nervous and offer a chance for the first time, failing to negotiate the reverse swing of Ishant convincingly. He did not succumb, though, and raised his bat after a deserved century, acknowledging the support of his team.Eden Gardens can be an intimidating venue because of its size, its raucous crowds and the historic battles fought there. AB de Villiers had said on Saturday that it is a special ground to play cricket on, a place every cricketer wants to excel. For Petersen the feeling was the same, especially on the day of his debut, but he did not allow anything to overawe him.

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Uganda held off a spirited bowling display from United Arab Emirates to ensure their match ended in a draw on the fourth day at Abu Dhabi. Arshad Ali’s hundred, with able support from Saqib Ali’s fluent 77, had allowed UAE to declare at 282 for 9 to set Uganda an unlikely target of 271 to chase in their second innings. Amjad Javed, Qasim Zubair and Shoaib Sarwar then combined to reduce Uganda to 36 for 5 less than 20 overs into the innings, but Ronald Ssemanda and Frank Nsubuga’s impregnable defences salvaged a draw.Earlier, Arshad and Saqib extended their partnership, which had reached 77 runs by stumps yesterday, to a massive 183 before Davis Arinaitwe and wicketkeeper Lawrence Sematimba combined to effect Saqib’s run-out. Naeemuddin Aslam, the first innings centurion, was then trapped lbw for single figures by Arinaitwe before Arshad was run out by the young offspinner two balls later to reduce UAE to 228 for 5 in an eventful over. Arinaitwe then removed Abdul Rehman to cap a productive day in the field, and Nsubuga’s tidy offspin brought three more wickets before the declaration came.Uganda’s openers played out the first 10 overs of their second innings without alarm before Amjad sparked a dramatic collapse. Three wickets fell with no addition to the score to leave Uganda floundering at 24 for 3. Captain Akbar Baig and Benjamin Musoke provided a brief spell of stability before both were trapped lbw by Shoaib Sarwar to leave the innings in tatters.With UAE’s bowlers running rampant, Arthur Ziraba and Ssemanda opted for watchful defence but their promising partnership was nipped in the bud when Qasim returned to rattle Ziraba’s timber. With survival at a premium, Ssemanda and Nsubuga gave up any pretence of run-scoring, adding 15 runs in 15 tense overs before the match was called off.The final result means that Uganda retain their position at the top of the points table. The two teams will now play each other in three one-day games before UAE head to the World Twenty20 Qualifiers and Uganda travel to Kenya for a Twenty20 tri-series with Scotland the third participant. UAE have a break of almost five months before their next Intercontinental Shield match against Bermuda, while Uganda’s next engagement in the competition comes against Namibia in September.

World cricket’s best women’s batsman Karen Rolton gave a demonstration of her ability to temper her play to suit her Australian side’s circumstances as they beat England by seven wickets at Bert Sutcliffe Oval in the World Series of Women’s Cricket today.Rolton, normally one of the freer scoring batsmen around, was 68 not out off 102 balls when Australia picked up the bonus point with a handful of balls to spare when reaching their target of 157.She had lost a formidable ally in Belinda Clark in the 15th over when Australia were still in the danger zone at 52 for two wickets.But she firstly helped Melanie Jones add 34 runs for the third wicket and then added an unbroken 71 runs for the fourth wicket with Michelle Goszko.As long as Rolton was at the crease there was an inevitability about the victory. She was unflustered even while unable to play her natural game. She spent six overs in the 50s but as the need for a bonus point emerged, she put the foot back down on the accelerator. Her half-century, the 16th of her career, came off 87 balls and 15 balls later she finished on 68.It was an indication of how often she turned over the strike to Goszko that when they achieved their 50 partnership, Goszko had scored 26 of them. It was a partnership in the true sense and not a Rolton-dominated affair.Clark had looked in menacing touch until not quite getting onto a ball from England slow bowler Laura Harper which was taken by Clare Taylor at mid-on when she had scored 23 off 46 balls and Australia’s 50 had come up off 87 balls.Earlier, England managed to bat through their 50 overs after deciding to bat first on the wicket that has been used for the first three matches of the tournament before today.But, despite a sound start, of 33 runs in the first 12 overs, England were unable to pick up any scoring momentum. Australia compounded this with their superbly-disciplined positioning between overs. There was no wastage of time and by the end of the innings they had 19 minutes up their sleeves.That allowed the batsmen little time to settle between overs, and if it was an intended tactic it worked very well. Claire Taylor looked one batsman capable of taking on the Australians and she struck some meaty blows, especially straight down the ground and through the covers in her 50-ball 35.Laura Newton and Clare Connor attempted to build the total with some effective running between the wickets and deft placements of the ball. But Newton was bowled by Cathryn Fitzpatrick, her 98th victim in One-Day Internationals, for 18 while Connor attempted to hit out against medium pacer Julie Hayes but holed out to Clark at mid-on for 29 off 49 balls.Any hope that England had of a lower-order lift disappeared on the back of three run outs achieved in the space of five balls, two of them due to players being too eager in backing up and being run out at the bowler’s end.A changed opening partnership of Charlotte Edwards and Arran Thompson provided some solidity although Thompson seemed to lose her way in the latter stages of her innings and when dismissed her 11 runs had come off 64 balls.Fitzpatrick again proved her class when her 10 overs produced one for 28 while Hayes took one for 21 from nine overs.Of England’s bowlers, Harper took two for 31 from 10, including the key wicket of Clark while Lucy Pearson took one for 32 off 10.Tomorrow’s England-New Zealand match, on Lincoln No 3, will complete the first round of the tournament.

Group A

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Wicketkeeper-captain Parthiv Patel led from the front with a scintillating century as Gujarat pocketed first-innings points against Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Right-arm fast bowler Siddharth Trivedi finished with a five-for as the home team could add 27 to their overnight score of 209 for 7. After Alfred Absolem had sent back the Gujarat openers during the reply, Parthiv and Niraj Patel took control with a 135-run stand for the third wicket. Parthiv struck eight fours and a six during his 142-ball stay, but fell shortly after Gujarat had taken the lead. Bhavik Thaker and Digant Popat were the two not out batsmen as Gujarat ended with a slender lead with six wickets in hand.
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Tamil Nadu were on course for a win against Punjab after a brilliant all-round performance in Amritsar. Captain Dinesh Karthik led from front with a brilliant hundred, which helped the visitors post a huge 293-run first innings lead as they declared on 521 for 9, after resuming at 340 for 6. Karthik batted beautifully with support from the lower order – his century comprising 13 boundaries. He found able allies in Chandrasekar Ganapathy (44) and Ravinchandran Aswhin (22) and took the hosts beyond 500. They then had Punjab struggling at 114 for 5 as Aushik Srinivas and Ravinchandran Ashwin dented the top order. Pankaj Dharmani and Gaurav Gambhir were at the crease, and the will aim to avoid an innings defeat first up.
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A much-improved batting performance in the second essay kept Mumbai’s hopes alive against Himachal Pradesh at the Bandra-Kurla Complex. Ajit Agarkar was their star with a confident unbeaten century, as Ajinkya Rahane and Wasim Jaffer weighed in with solid half-centuries. Agarkar, who scored seven fours and a six during his 194-ball innings had good support from Iqbal Abdullah, who scored a well-paced half-century, coming in at No. 9. The two put on an unbeaten stand of 91, to set Himachal a target of 252. HP negotiated the one over in the day, to take stumps at 4 for no loss. A tantalising day is on the cards tomorrow.
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Overnight rain ruled out play in Bhubaneswar as the umpires called off the day’s play after five pitch inspections.Group B

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If Piyush Chawla was Uttar Pradesh’s star the previous day with the ball, his well-compiled fifty ensured they took first-innings points against Baroda in a nervy first-innings reply. Irfan Pathan worked with Munaf Patel in tandem to wreck UP’s top order, condemning them to 89 for 5 from their overnight score of 36 for no loss. But Chawla’s vigilant effort, and a 44-run partnership for the ninth wicket with Praveen Gupta, proved crucial as they nosed ahead. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was on song during Baroda’s second innings, picking up all three wickets that fell, as Baroda’s lead increased to 54.
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KB Pawan and Amit Verma hit classy hundreds, and wicketkeeper Muralidharen Gautam followed up the act as Karnataka took an emphatic lead against Bengal in Mysore. Resuming on 186 for 2, Karnataka steadily closed in on Bengal’s first-innings score of 326 with the overnight batsmen, Pawan and Verma piling up 249. While Pawan finished with 14 fours and a six, Verma smashed 17 boundaries. Both batsmen were sent back by Ranadeb Bose, as Bengal looked for a way back through Saurasish Lahiri’s five-for. But Gautam, playing his fifth first-class match, rose to the occasion, hitting 14 fours en route to his hundred, as the hosts finished on 523 for 9.
ScorecardIt was slow going for bottom-placed Maharashtra as they looked to avoid a first-innings deficit against Saurashtra in Rajkot. But the persistency of the home team bowlers paid off, as they picked up seven Maharashtra wickets in the day after they had resumed on 53 for 1. Rohan Bhosale held firm at the top of the order with a fluent fifty but it was the left-arm spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Rakesh Dhruv who picked up two wickets apiece to tighten the noose on Maharashtra with over 250 still to get.

The England allrounder Dimitri Mascarenhas will replace Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga for Tasmania’s Twenty20 campaign this season. The Tigers announced in July that they had signed Malinga but Sri Lanka’s international commitments in January have forced the state to change their plans.”When Malinga was first signed we knew this was a possibility,” David Boon, Cricket Tasmania’s cricket operations general manager, said. “Although it is disappointing, we have a suitable back-up player in Dimitri Mascarenhas who will arrive in Hobart during December.”Mascarenhas, 32, was raised in Australia and has played club cricket in Melbourne and Perth, but this will be his first taste of state cricket in Australia. A regular member of England’s Twenty20 international side, Mascarenhas will offer Tasmania powerful striking and medium-pace bowling.Malinga is not the first Sri Lankan star to sign for the Big Bash only to later become unavailable – South Australia have already gained and then lost Ajantha Mendis, who was replaced by Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi. Victoria are yet to make an announcement on Muttiah Muralitharan, who had agreed to play for the Bushrangers.Each state is allowed to sign two international players for the Big Bash, which runs from late December to January. Chris Gayle has signed with Western Australia, Dwayne Bravo with Victoria, while Kieron Pollard and Afridi will play for South Australia.

Toby Bailey, the former Northamptonshire wicketkeeper, has been appointed Argentina’s national coach. Bailey, 33, takes over from Hamish Barton, who has taken up a position with New Zealand Cricket.Bailey will take charge of the men’s senior team, the women’s national team as well as the Under-19 squad. He will also work with different age groups at the national high performance program.”This is a fantastic opportunity, and it’s going to be an exciting challenge to take Argentina forward as a cricket nation in the months ahead,” Bailey said. “I have heard much about the talent on offer, and am looking forward to working with all the players and trying to get the best out of them, individually and as a team.”Argentine Cricket Association CEO Grant Dugmore said he was delighted to recruit an experienced county professional.”We had 58 applications for the post, many of an extremely high quality, but Toby’s application was one of those that stood out from the beginning,” Dugmore said. “We are delighted he has accepted the challenge of developing the best Argentine players to greater heights in the future, and we are confidently looking forward to a positive era ahead for our national teams.”Bailey played 52 first-class games and 78 limited-overs games for Northamptonshire between 1996 and 2004, and captained the MCC on its recent tour to Mozambique. He also has an ECB Level 3 coaching certificate.

Big Picture

Yusuf Pathan’s form has nosedived in recent months•Getty Images

India’s dismal performance in the Champions Trophy has loosened the grip of some of the regulars on their berths in the national team. The Challenger Trophy, which begins in Nagpur on Thursday in the shadow of the hype and hoopla surrounding the inaugural Champions League Twenty20, provides the perfect stage for fringe players to make their case. Despite the low profile of the Challengers, there’s plenty at stake as an eye-catching performance in it could catapult hopefuls into the national team for India’s next assignment, the seven-ODI series against Australia starting later this month.Besides shifting the spotlight off Nagpur, the Champions League also dilutes the strength of the player pool in the Challengers, as the likes of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag are missing. Also, some perhaps on the verge of being dropped (RP Singh and Dinesh Karthik) and those eyeing a comeback (Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Robin Uthappa, Pragyan Ojha) are away playing in the Twenty20 tournament. Some of the sheen is also off due to the absence of the big stars like Sachin Tendulkar (resting), Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan (both injured).This is the 15th edition of the Challenger Trophy, and is a four-day event, kicking off with a round-robin among the three teams, the top two of whom will face off in the final on Sunday.

India Blue

They have the strongest batting unit in the competition: captain MS Dhoni has domestic giant Wasim Jaffer, aggressive wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha, an in-form Abhinav Mukund and a pair of allrounders, Yusuf Pathan and Abhishek Nayar, to back him up. The fast bowling will be spearheaded by Sreesanth, with two players who made an impact in the IPL, Rajasthan’s Sidharth Trivedi and Bengal’s Ashok Dinda, to provide support.Players to watch After muscling his way into the one-day side on the back of some match-turning efforts in the IPL, Yusuf Pathan’s form has nosedived over the past few months. He needs to perform here or risks losing his place to India Blue team-mate Abhishek Nayar, who hasn’t had enough of a chance yet to show off his skills on the international stage. Also, Sreesanth, fresh from being fined 60% of his Irani Cup fee for a verbal tiff with Dhawal Kulkarni, will look to hit the headlines for the right reasons.

India Red

Captained by perennial hopeful S Badrinath, this is a side with plenty of bowling firepower. Ishant Sharma will attempt to recapture the pace and form of 2008, and he will have Munaf Patel and the promising Uttar Pradesh seamer Sudeep Tyagi sharing fast-bowling duties. The withdrawal of Yuvraj Singh, though, makes the batting suspect, putting a lot of responsibility on the Tamil Nadu duo of Badrinath and M Vijay.Players to watch The uncertainty over the availability of Zaheer Khan for the Australia series, combined with the inept displays from the fast bowlers in both the Compaq Cup and the Champions Trophy, means virtually none of the quicks can be sure of their place in the national side. After his five-wicket haul in the Irani Cup, Munaf Patel’s comeback bid will gather steam if he is among the wickets in Nagpur. Ravindra Jadeja will also enter the fight for the allrounder’s spot if he builds on the assured showing in the Irani Cup.

India Green

This young side will be led by Suresh Raina, and has two fast bowlers, L Balaji and Dhawal Kulkarni, who dropped off the selectors’ radar after the tour of New Zealand early this year. The batting is their stronger suit, though, with the line-up including Raina, the prolific Ajinkya Rahane, Parthiv Patel, and two members of the 2008 Under-19 World Cup-winning squad, Saurabh Tiwary (seven half-centuries in 12 List A innings) and Tanmay Srivastava.Players to watch A glut of runs in 2008-09 has pushed Ajinkya Rahane up the ladder towards a national spot. This is his third consecutive Challenger Trophy, and a strong showing here could help him make the final leap to the big stage.

Division One

3rd dayYorkshire’s openers, Jacques Rudolph and Joe Sayers, shared a partnership which helped wipe out Nottinghamshire’s lead and put the visitors in a comfortable position at Trent Bridge. Yorkshire had conceded a 96-run first-innings lead but their openers compensated by adding 244 runs. Rudolph made 149 off 237 balls with 22 fours while Sayers’ contribution was a patient 86 off 223 deliveries with only nine boundaries. The pair resisted the Nottinghamshire attack until the 75th over when Paul Franks had Rudolph caught by Mark Ealham. Franks then accounted for Sayers as well, bowling him in the 81st over with the total on 254, but Anthony McGrath and Andrew Gale steered Yorkshire to stumps without further damage. Yorkshire now lead by 173 runs and their strong second-innings performance has hindered Nottinghamshire’s pursuit of the Durham and the Division One title.4th dayClick here to read George Dobell’s report of Warwickshire’s match against Worcestershire at Edgbaston where Worcestershire were beaten by an innings and 18 runs.Sussex and Lancashire played out a draw on the final day. Click here to read John Ward’s report.

The match between Leicestershire and Glamorgan ended in a dull draw on the final day at Grace Road. Leicestershire began the day on 21 for 0, leading by 85 runs, and extended their total to 259 for 6 before the game was called off. There was some excitement when they lost three wickets for nine runs but the innings was stabilised by James Taylor’s unbeaten 96. Wayne White also scored 38 off 36 balls while Jamie Dalrymple’s 2 for 62 were the best figures for a Glamorgan bowler. Leicestershire overtook Middlesex in the division by claiming nine points from the game while Glamorgan earned eight.Gloucestershire took the seven remaining Surrey wickets, dismissing them for 339 in the second innings, in less than two sessions to secure victory by an innings and one run at Bristol. Surrey began the final day on 136 for 3, needing another 204 runs to make Gloucestershire bat again, with Arun Harinath and Tim Linley at the crease. Their hopes of salvaging a draw took a hit when Harinath was caught behind off Steve Kirby for no addition to his overnight score of 44, and when Linley was caught by William Porterfield off Hamish Marshall with the score on 170 for 5. The lower order offered resistance with Chris Schofield making 71 while Rangana Herath and Alex Tudor contributed 52 and 33 respectively but Marshall struck two more blows to take Gloucestershire closer to victory. Just when Surrey were on the verge of avoiding an innings defeat, Kirby broke through Jade Dernbach’s defences to complete the victory. It was Surrey’s first innings defeat against Gloucestershire since 1975.”We either perform really well or really badly in this competition and anything can still happen between now and the end of the season,” Gloucestershire captain Alex Gidman told .”If we play like we did when losing to Leicestershire and Middlesex the other week, then we can forget it. But if we continue to play as we have done against Surrey, we are eminently capable of winning three on the bounce. It will be difficult, but promotion is still there for us and we appear to be hitting form at just the right time.”Robert Key and Martin van Jaarsveld scored unbeaten centuries to ensure Kent secured a draw against Derbyshire. Mark Pennell watched the action at Derby.

Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka’s captain, has credited the team’s belief in itself as key to breaking a long run of home ODI series defeats. Sri Lanka had lost their last three bilateral ODI series played at home to India (twice) and England but in the five-match contest against Pakistan, turned it around to record a 3-2 win.Significantly, it was their first home series wins against Pakistan in both forms of the game. “We competed every step of the way and we managed to hang in there till we got a break. In the Test series there were a couple of instances where Pakistan should have beaten us but we hung in there and believed that we could win,” said Sangakkara. “You set yourself small targets like you win 10 overs on a day or in a session and you keep working like that. But at the end of the day you got to trust each other in the team because that’s why you are there as a team.”You’ve got to trust the guy next to you who can do the best job he can for the side. That has been one of the changes I’ve seen, everyone’s believed that we could win.”Sri Lanka won the first three ODIs in Dambulla to seal the series but lost the last two under lights at the Premadasa. Having assured themselves of the series the hosts opened their options by trying to give every member of the squad exposure. “The only thing we did is we gave a lot of opportunities to the guys in the squad to try and see where they are at,” said Sangakkara. “We’ve got to get away from the excuses and complaints, as a team we got to make sure that whatever conditions we get whether we win the toss or lose it we approach the game in the same way. We tried to do that but we got a long way to go to make sure we do that consistently.”The best thing about our team is the guys learn. We’ve got to put these things [defeats] behind us but the best way you can do that is to make sure it doesn’t happen often.”Sangakkara said that the absence of experienced matchwinners like Chaminda Vaas and Muthiah Muralitharan had the likes of Thilan Thushara and Nuwan Kulasekara the opportunity to become the big names of Sri Lankan cricket. “This was a great team effort to win the series and although there were a few individual brilliances we’ve got to thank the bowlers for our success. It doesn’t matter whether you come into a series with a pedigree or whether you are new as long as you are enthusiastic, working hard, bowling in the right areas, bowling aggressively you have a great chance of making an impact,” he said. “Thushara and Kulasekara especially went about their business very professionally bowled good lines, good lengths and let the ball to the rest right throughout the Test and ODI series. That is one of the reasons why we won. Our bowling always stepped up when we wanted it to. We’ve just got to make sure our batting keeps up.”Despite his team’s double success Sangakkara felt there were quite a lot of areas they needed to improve on, such as building partnerships in the middle order and getting solid starts consistently. “Guys like Lahiru Thirimanne and Gihan Rupasinghe are all pushing for places in the side. Suraj Randiv and Sachitra Senanayake are pushing for spinners’ places. We have 44 ODI games before the World Cup and within that time we’ve got to keep the core solid and give as much opportunity as we can to new people so that they can settle and become part of the side and see whether they can contribute and step up to this level.”Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam said the two wins in a lost series would give his team a lot of confidence for the future of their cricket. “It’s very important to get the right combination. Once you get the right combination it works. We had a few injuries in the side but we had good bench strength so fortunately for bowlers like Naved-ul-Hasan and Ifthikar [Anjum], they got an opportunity and they made use of it.”Naved was named Man of the Match after destroying the Sri Lankan batting with 4 for 44. Anjum was instrumental in Pakistan’s first win on Friday taking 5 for 30.