BCCI too powerful, players believe

	46% of players surveyed say the structure and composition of the ICC executive board should be reviewed

More than two-thirds of players polled in a recent survey believe the BCCI has an unfair influence on decision-making within the ICC. The Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) has renewed its calls for a review of the game's governance after releasing the results of its 2011 player survey, which also revealed strong support for the decision review system and 50-over cricket.

Despite overwhelming approval for how this year's World Cup was run, the findings were not all positive for the ICC. Of the 45 players polled, only 6% believed that decisions at ICC board level were made "in the best interests of cricket", while 49% felt decisions were made according to "party lines or best interests of the country that they are representing". The remaining players were "unsure".

When asked if ICC decision-making was influenced unfairly by the power of the BCCI, 69% said 'yes', while 31% answered "don't know". None of the respondents gave a definitive 'no'. Despite those concerns, 63% said they had confidence in the ICC's ability to govern international cricket, although the FICA chief executive Tim May said the findings raised important issues, with 46% saying the structure and composition of the ICC executive board should be reviewed.

"Players have highlighted that the governance of the game is a serious issue," May said. "FICA have continually advocated for a review of the game's governance. Its present structure is outdated, full of conflicts, cronyism and far from best practice. FICA does believe though that the ICC day-to-day management has improved considerably and are unfairly tarnished as a result of decisions of the ICC Chief Executive and Board Committees."

The call for a review of the game's governance is not new. FICA have been pushing for change for several years, and the former ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed this year said he would be in favour of an independent commission running the game, although he also said the idea that countries always voted in geographical blocs was, based on his time at the organisation, not accurate.

The FICA survey did reveal some good news for the ICC, with 94% of players rating the recent World Cup as "good" or above, compared to only 11% giving the 2007 tournament that level of support. However, the event is still too long, according to 74% of those surveyed, while 72% backed the decision to reduce the number of teams in the next World Cup to 10, and 91% felt the Associate nations should have a chance to qualify.

The majority (82%) of players said the DRS made for better decision-making from umpires at the World Cup, and 97% thought the DRS should be compulsory in all Test matches. Notably, FICA is not affiliated with players from India - the BCCI being the major opponent of the DRS - or from Pakistan or Zimbabwe.

The survey also showed:

• 32% of players would retire prematurely from international cricket to play exclusively in the IPL and similar Twenty20 tournaments
• 40% said that given the magnitude of salaries being offered by the IPL, they could envisage a day where they would rank their obligations to IPL and other T20 events ahead of obligations to their home boards
• 94% believed that superior salaries offered by the IPL would motivate younger players to hone their skills principally to T20
• 40% said their board schedules too much international cricket
• Only 24% of players favour a change in the format of ODIs
• 39% believe boards schedule too many ODIs, reducing the public's interest in the format

Captaincy dream still alive - Harbhajan Singh

	Harbhajan Singh: "The most important thing is to try and maintain our winning momentum from the World Cup"

Harbhajan Singh has said it is "important to understand your body and manage it accordingly" in order to survive the rigours of the bloated schedule India's cricketers are being subjected to.

"A lot of hard work has been put in outside the field, and I am glad that it is paying off when the country needs me the most," Harbhajan told theIndian Express ahead of the West Indies tour, where he will be vice-captain of the one-day side in the absence of all the other senior players who are either resting or recovering from injuries. "You need to build your stamina to remain fit and be raring to go, and that happens only with proper planning. During non-match days I make sure that I sleep well - it is the most important nourishment to your body. I don't try and push my body too much. The key is to just keep things simple."

For the one-day leg, Harbhajan will be the deputy to Suresh Raina who appeared on the scene much after Harbhajan established his place in the Indian side. Harbhajan said that he was not too bothered about not being named the captain of the depleted outfit. "Not everybody gets to be raja [king], some have to be mantri [minister]," he said. "It's a great honour to play for India. Of course, the dream to captain the side is alive, and I hope that it happens someday. But until then, I just want to do the best I can for the team. It is an honour to just be a part of this side.

"It [my role as vice-captain] is simple, I have to make sure the dressing room environment remains fresh and energetic. The main thing is to make the youngsters feel very comfortable in the dressing room. There should be positive vibes all around, and the most important thing is to try and maintain our winning momentum from the World Cup."

Harbhajan had a reasonably successful IPL, finishing with 14 dismissals in 15 games at an economy-rate of 6.98. He believed switching from the Twenty20 format to one-dayers at short notice would not be a problem for him. "They are diametrically opposite versions, but being a professional, I'm ready for it. In Twenty20s, every second guy can roll his arm over - you don't need skill or great variation. However, in the 50-over format, a spinner can really achieve something substantial. The switch is quite drastic.

"The IPL was alright, it still is quite an unpredictable format for everyone concerned, but especially the bowlers. As a spinner, all I can do is to pray that the four overs go well. If I get lucky, then I end up with a couple of wickets, otherwise the only constant is to get hit for runs all over the park. You can't really judge a player based on his Twenty20 performances."

Harbhajan will share the spin burden with R Ashwin and Amit Mishra in the West Indies one-dayers, both of whom courted more success than him in the IPL. Harbhajan said there were plenty of options in the team and did not want to comment on the combination. He hoped that the youngsters would make use of the chance to shine in the absence of the regulars.

"It is a relatively young side, and this tour should be looked at as an opportunity for them to grab," Harbhajan said. "They have earned their team call-ups the hard way, and after knocking on the door for so long, they have an entire series to really stake their claim. Nevertheless, it will be a challenge."

Tendulkar, Durani honoured at BCCI awards

	Sachin Tendulkar was named India's cricketer of the year at the BCCI awards

Sachin Tendulkar has been named India's cricketer of the year at the BCCI awards in Mumbai, while former allrounder Salim Durani, who helped shape India's maiden Test win in the West Indies in 1971, received the lifetime achievement award.

Tendulkar scored 1064 runs in ten Tests between October 2009 and September 2010 - the period for which the awards were presented - at an average of 82.00, besides scoring one-day cricket's first double-hundred.

Durani, a left-hand batsman and left-arm spinner who played 29 Tests between 1960 and 1973, was renowned for his six-hitting prowess. He bowled India to victory over England in 1961-62, picking up eight and ten wickets in wins in Calcutta and Madras. Almost a decade later he was instrumental in India's victory over West Indies in Port of Spain, claiming the big wickets of Clive Lloyd and Gary Sobers.

India's World Cup-winning team and support staff were also honoured at the awards. Talking about the achievement, India captain MS Dhoni said his team did well to capitalise on the home advantage during the World Cup. "When you play for the country, the one thing you want to win is the World Cup," he said. "It is a proud moment for all of us. We exploited the conditions really well."

Karnataka's Manish Pandey picked up the award for best batsman in domestic cricket, having scored 882 runs in nine Ranji Trophy matches. Fast bowler Abhimanyu Mithun, who claimed 47 wickets in the competition, was named best bowler.

List of award winners

CK Nayudu Award for lifetime achievement: Salim Durani

Best Cricket Association of the Year for overall performance: Maharashtra

Best domestic umpire: K Hariharan

Polly Umrigar Award for cricketer of the year: Sachin Tendulkar

Madhavrao Scindia Award for most runs in domestic cricket: Manish Pandey

Madhavrao Scindia Award for most wickets in domestic cricket: Abhimanyu Mithun

M A Chidambaram Trophy for best Under-16 cricketer: Tamil Nadu's B Aparajith

M A Chidambaram Trophy for best Under-19 cricketer:Gujarat's Bhargav Merai

M A Chidambaram Trophy for best Under-22 cricketer: Orissa's Natraj Behera

M A Chidambaram Trophy for best woman cricketer: MD Thirushkamini

M A Chidambaram Trophy for best junior woman cricketer: Reva Arora

Opportunity for fringe players - Raina

	The tour of the West Indies will be a test for India's stand-in captain Suresh Raina and new coach Duncan Fletcher

The absence of several senior players for the upcoming tour of the West Indies provides an ideal platform for fringe players to shine on the international stage, Suresh Raina, India's captain for the limited-overs leg of the Caribbean tour, has said.

"It's a great opportunity for the youngsters who have done well in domestic cricket," Raina told the media ahead of the team's departure for the West Indies. "I am happy with the side, as we have some very good batsmen in Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, S Badrinath and Shikhar Dhawan, all of whom have done well in first-class cricket."

Raina, has led a similarly second-string Indian side in the past, for a tri-series Zimbabwe in May-June 2010, though India performed poorly on that tour, losing both matches against the hosts and one against Sri Lanka.

This time, India are without the services of Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Zaheer Khan, who have all been rested, in addition to the ill Yuvraj Singh, and the injured duo of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir for the lone Twenty20 and the five ODIs that follow. MS Dhoni will take over the captaincy from Raina for the Tests, and Zaheer will return, but the other seniors will miss the Test leg as well.

Raina said he has learnt a lot about the art of captaincy from Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Dhoni, and was prepared for the challenge.

"West Indies have players like Gayle missing, but it will be a challenge for us," Raina said. "There's always pressure and we have done well under pressure. It's for us as players to execute the plans of the coach well. We have to play our natural game."

The tour will be the first assignment for India's newly-appointed coach Duncan Fletcher, who said he was a supporter of the rotation policy. "While I was in England [Fletcher coached England between 1999 and 2007], I started the rotation policy resting senior guys," Fletcher said. "I was heavily criticised by the English authorities. It's important to do that considering the heavy schedule. We need to look into the matter as we go into the future."

He said he looked forward to working with the youngsters, but cautioned against complacency. " Any team playing at home is difficult to beat. We should not be complacent. There is a lot of talent in India and my job is to prepare these youngsters.

"Yes, we would like to beat England in England and Australia in Australia. But the first job is the tour of the West Indies. It's very important not to look too far down the road. India have a plan to stay at the top. The young players have the potential and this tour will show the depth of talent we have."

He also said that the club versus country debate is something that just has to be dealt with. "That's the way it is in modern day sports. We have to ensure that all the players are fit enough."

India's tour of the West Indies kicks off with a T20 game on Friday in Port of Spain.

It's India v the rest of the world

	Dhoni is right when he says the DRS is imperfect, but by reducing glaring errors it has considerably improved the game

As edges go, it was the wafer-thin mintest. Audible to cordon if not umpire and viewer - or perhaps even striker (you never know) - yet detected by an almighty burp and a teeny speck on the side of the bat, courtesy those brothers in charms, Snicko and HotSpot. No alternative explanation (bat hitting ground, ball kissing shirt/thigh/pad/passing fly) proffered itself. Sure, when Aleem Dar crossed his forearms and reversed the original not-guilty verdict, Kumar Sangakkara could hardly be described as the jolliest bunny in the warren, yet according to his captain, Tillakaratne Dilshan, not only did the dressing room survive unscathed but the victim had "no complaints" after seeing the evidence for his own eyes.

Wales may have been witnessing it for the first time, but here was merely the latest episode in the soap opera otherwise known as the Decision Review System. If 90% of the Test nations had their way, the umpires' friendliest foe would be as imperative as the stumps. Beyond India, and perhaps Kevin Pietersen, precious few shareholders would argue that it should be terminated with extreme prejudice, yet the challenge, for a sport run by committees representing a towering Babel of diverse tongues, remains stiff.

Ah, committees. Fred Allen, the American comedian, once defined them as "a group of the unprepared, appointed by the unwilling to do the unnecessary" - and he wasn't far off. Nevertheless, cricket currently has two that warrant plaudits rather than pisstakes: the MCC World Cricket Committee and the ICC Cricket Committee. Both are establishing a robust reputation for refusing to put tradition before innovation, and for acknowledging that the game, if it is to continue to withstand all the myriad obstacles thrown up by 21st century life, must be receptive, above all, to the wants and needs of players and spectators. Both, needless to say, firmly support the DRS and have contributed to its evolution.

Let's consider the members of these august bodies. The 19-strong MCC committee boasts 15 ex-captains from nine Test nations, including Mikes Atherton and Brearley, Rahul Dravid, Majid Khan, Courtney Walsh and Steve Waugh, an umpire with more than 100 Tests on his CV in Steve Bucknor, and Dave Richardson, the ICC general manager, whose versatile backside also sits on the Laws sub-committee. Their remit, critically, includes ensuring "that governing body decisions never put cash or country interests before the good of the game". You don't get much worthier than that.

Not the least of the MCC's causes has been the World Test Championship, now just years from belated reality. Another hobby horse is the scarcity of former players in key administrative roles (in contrast with UEFA, say, whose head honcho is that most resplendent of Gallic muddied oafs, Michel Platini), hence the members' palpable delight at Anil Kumble's recent election as president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association. If we ever see a pink new ball taken at 10pm in a Test, these blokes will be smiling.

	"Given the power and influence of BCCI on ICC decision-making, it is more than likely that ICC outcomes will be once again a decision based on what is best for the BCCI rather than the greater interests of the sport"Tim May, the FICA chief executive, isn't optimistic about a favourable decision being taken on the DRS

While the ICC panel has more vested interests - witness a brace of ICC bigwigs in Sharad Pawar and Haroon Lorgat - it represents a vastly broader range of perspectives. Two of the most astute captains any sport has known (Clive Lloyd, Mark Taylor), one of the sharpest minds in the contemporary game (Sangakkara), the most successful coach India have ever had (Gary Kirsten), a top-class umpire (Steve Davis), a highly respected match referee (Ranjan Madugalle), a prominent chief executive (Justin Vaughan), the principal advocate for players' rights (Tim May), leading lights from women's (Clare Connor) and Irish (Trent Johnston) cricket, a couple of renowned players-turned-commentators (Ian Bishop, Ravi Shastri), and a top-notch number-cruncher (David Kendix). Anglophobes and connoisseurs of cricket's body politic alike will note that the only English voices - Connor and Kendix - are probably (and this is not meant to be in any way patronising or disrespectful) the least influential.

Assuredly no shirkers, Lloyd and Co unveiled a host of imaginative proposals last month (Powerplays for overs 16-40 in ODIs, suspending captains for a game if found guilty of two minor over-rate offences in the same format in a 12-month period), even radical ones (dispense with runners, allow bowlers to legitimately "Mankad" any batsman backing up too far without being obliged to warn the cheating bustard). Most newsworthily, they unanimously recommended that the DRS be mandatory in Tests and also used in ODIs and Twenty20 internationals (the proposal to halve the number of reviews per innings, which could curb the tactical abuses but make the process more of a lottery, was less deserving of celebration). However, that unanimity, illuminatingly, did not encompass the absent Pawar.

What, though, of another, rather larger committee? Tuesday saw the publication of the latest wide-ranging FICA members survey, showing, among other things, that players are not generally in favour of the DRS, nor largely in favour, but overwhelmingly so: 82% of the 45 respondents said it "assisted in better decision-making" at the World Cup; 85% support its adoption for all ODIs; 72% advocate deploying it in the World Twenty20 (an apt note of caution, given the time constraints); and a whopping 91% feel it should continue to be used in Tests. Of that 91%, furthermore, 97% think it should be compulsory. Which is where India begs, nay demands, to differ.

The most encouraging response to the ICC Cricket Committee's stance on the DRS came from Richardson, who finally broke with his previous insistence that the governing body would not sanction any financial contribution to the sometimes prohibitive costs currently borne by the broadcasters. "I think if we get to a stage where all Full Members are happy to adopt the system for all Test series," he conceded, "there would be the increased possibility that ICC could help fund the technology." Unfortunately, the chances of the BCCI performing a u-turn seem, at present, to be negligible at best. It is hard not to suspect that Pawar missed the meeting concerned in order to avoid embarrassment, or worse.

One wonders whether the BCCI fully appreciates the benefits of all this hardware. Shortly before he was promoted to the Elite Panel last month, Richard Kettleborough told the Cricketer that the DRS takes the pressure off umpires: "It takes the aggression out of situations. If they want to refer it, let them refer it. The umpire is proved to be right a high percentage of the time."

Hawk-Eye, meanwhile, has sparked a sorely needed correction in the imbalance between bat and ball. In the spring issue of the Cricket Statistician, produced by the endlessly inquisitive Association of Cricket Statisticians, Douglas Miller reveals that 22.1% of all dismissals in county cricket last summer were lbw - not just double the proportion in the 1950s and 60s (prior to the law change removing the need for the ball to pitch in line) but the highest in a century and a half of inter-shire competition. The pattern has continued apace: in the first six weeks of the current season the record for the most leg-befores in a Championship match (18) was equalled three times. In Providence, 20 Pakistanis and West Indians fell lbw, smithereen-ing the extant Test record of 17.

For Miller, tracking technology is the cause: "Umpires have acquired a better understanding of the likely path of a ball after striking a pad." Robert Croft, the former England offspinner, still twirling for Glamorgan at 41, is a more passionate if predictable supporter, reinforcing Graeme Swann's recent estimate that the DRS had doubled his prospects of gleaning leg-befores: "Umpires are prepared to give more lbws on the front foot, especially to spinners. I think Hawk-Eye has shown them how many balls are going to hit the stumps." The DRS has also exposed umpiring deficiencies and cost some their jobs - Daryl Harper and Asoka de Silva were both ditched from the Elite Panel after a poor World Cup. And that was without any input from HotSpot.

	The ICC Cricket Committee is composed of some of the game's most dynamic personalities and they aren't averse to rejecting tradition for innovation

The main objection, as raised for the umpteenth time by MS Dhoni after Ian Bell was controversially reprieved during the World Cup, is that the system is imperfect; as a rationale, this is some way short of perfection itself. With correct decisions demonstrably on the rise, the evidence of a marked improvement in justice, surely the aim of this particular game is incontrovertible. Besides, the aim is not to attain perfection but merely, by minimising "howlers", to reduce imperfection.

The ICC mandarins will convene in Hong Kong this month to decide, among other weighty issues, whether to enforce the DRS. Unsurprisingly, May, the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations, is by no means optimistic. "Given that the BCCI only holds one vote at the ICC table, and with the knowledge that all other countries want to use the DRS for Test matches, you would expect the outcome to be a no-brainer," he reasons, not unreasonably. "However, given the power and influence of BCCI on ICC decision-making, makes it more than likely that ICC outcomes will be once again a decision based on what is best for the BCCI rather than the greater interests of the sport." The refrain is horribly familiar.

The DRS is the first issue to polarise the ICC quite so starkly. For once, race and Old World v New are utterly irrelevant: this is India v The Rest. If it wants to win the war for hearts and minds as well as peckers and pockets, this is one battle the BCCI should be prepared to lose, and gracefully. Besides, what better way to leave a legacy than to facilitate cricketkind's most important advance since Kerry Packer started paying the players what they were worth?

Canada cricket takes two steps back

	Rizwan Cheema is most likely to replace Bagai as Canada's captain

The announcement that Ashish Bagai has resigned as captain of the Canadian cricket team has been greeted with barely a shrug by Canada's cricket community. That is as sure a sign as any that Canadian cricket is in the doldrums. There is no World Cup to work towards. The same people have just been re-elected to the board. The same critics snipe at them. Ontario remains the heartland of Canadian cricket, and yet, apart from the powerful president, key portfolios continue to reside with individuals who are in provinces time zones away from the action. No Test-playing countries will be visiting this year. Same old story.

The 2011 World Cup provided forward momentum for Canadian cricket, which has now stalled and will soon start sliding backwards. Canada's nascent fan base had only just learned that apart from John Davison and Rizwan Cheema there was another Canadian cricketer worth knowing about, and that was the captain, Ashish Bagai. Of course, for those in the know, Bagai was always a central figure, but his exploits were not flashy enough to grab attention the way Cheema or Davison could. To say that Bagai has entered mainstream public consciousness would be stretching things, but through an impressive World Cup campaign he has become known to cricket fans in Canada who only have a passing interest in the Canadian team. And now he's gone as captain.

Two years ago when Bagai put his banking career on hold to concentrate on playing cricket full time and preparing for the World Cup, there was an air of optimism in Canadian cricket. That optimism has faded considerably. Canada put in a just-about par performance at the World Cup, and though Bagai battled valiantly with the bat and kept wicket well, his captaincy was unimaginative. Some senior players grumbled about team selection and their roles, and things were unsettled enough that Canada had six different opening pairs in each of their six matches, with the batting order a patchwork mess.

While Bagai is not a perfect captain, he was and remains the best man for the job. Only one of a small handful of players who is an automatic selection in the side, Bagai has, with his professionalism and performance, earned the respect of everyone in Canadian cricket. More importantly, in a team with many different nationalities and socio-economic backgrounds, Bagai as an Indian-born Canadian-raised captain bridges what could be a tricky divide for anyone else. In his absence there is no automatic choice for the captaincy, which is odd for a team who, before Bagai took the helm, changed captains with a frequency that even Pakistan could ridicule.

Rizwan Cheema, the vice-captain of the team and a highly successful leader at club level, is most likely to take over. Although he had a poor run of form in the World Cup, Cheema is what is known in North American sport as "box office" - no mean feat in a land with no cricket stadium and hence no actual box office. He has rubbed some in Cricket Canada the wrong way, which seems unavoidable for Canada's best players. It shouldn't be a big deal, yet may prove to be a roadblock to his appointment.

Umar Bhatti, the allrounder, would have been a good choice as captain, but he has fallen out with the board and his return to the team is unlikely. Zubin Surkari is also a potential candidate for the captaincy. It would be hard to find a Canadian player more passionate about the team than Surkari. He is a team man, carries himself well, and has the battle scars to prove he is a fighter - whether it's the figurative scars of surviving a run-in with the board that cost him the captaincy in 2008, or the literal ones sustained when he took a full-toss from Shaun Tait in the groin. The major strike against Surkari is that he has yet to turn his dedication and passion into runs, which makes his place in the XI extremely vulnerable. Moreover, with a World Cup berth out of sight for Canada, the emphasis may well turn to Twenty20 cricket, a format that doesn't suit Surkari's game. If Cheema, Bhatti and Surkari are out, this opens up the risk that Cricket Canada will name as captain an unprepared player like Ruvindu Gunasekera or a completely ill-suited one like Jimmy Hansra.

If worrying about finding a new captain, coach and manager (for they have resigned too) were not enough - and in addition no longer having access to the get-out-of-jail card that was John Davison - Cricket Canada now also has to contend with a newly formed organisation that wishes for nothing less than yanking away the very governance of the sport from Cricket Canada.

	The group, which includes Mike Kendall, the president of the largest provincial body, the Ontario Cricket Association, announced the formation of the Canadian Cricket Federation. The new organisation makes no bones about the fact that it hopes to supplant Cricket Canada. The president of Cricket Canada laughs off the suggestion

Many a revolution has sprung from a modest locale, and in that tradition a smattering of actual and would-be cricket administrators from across Canada gathered at a budget hotel outside of downtown Toronto last week to lay the groundwork for an organisation they hope will set Canadian cricket on a new path. The group, which includes Mike Kendall, the president of the largest provincial body, the Ontario Cricket Association (OCA), announced the formation of the Canadian Cricket Federation (CCF). The new organisation makes no bones about the fact that it hopes to supplant Cricket Canada.

The president of Cricket Canada, Ranjit Saini, laughs off the suggestion, and his first reaction is to term the group "The Royal Canadian Air Farce", which is a popular Canadian comedy troupe. It's a good quip, and typical of Saini, who never seems particularly bothered by any challenges that come his way. But while Saini may not see any danger of Cricket Canada losing control of Canadian cricket to the upstarts, to not take what has happened seriously or understand why people felt compelled to take this step, would be a mistake.

Kendall claims that all the decisions coming out of Cricket Canada are based on political considerations, often to the detriment of cricket. He is particularly aggrieved at the expulsion of the OCA from Cricket Canada last year and the swift recognition of another group as the representatives of Ontario cricket. While the OCA has recently inked a sponsorship agreement with Canada's largest bank, RBC, Cricket Canada continues to struggle in attracting corporate Canadian sponsorship. To Kendall this is a sign that the governance of the sport needs to change hands.

Getting the CCF off the ground as a fully functioning organisation is easier said than done, but the group's mission statement lays down the gauntlet, taking aim at all of the things they think Cricket Canada does inadequately or doesn't do at all.

"Canadian Cricket Federation (CCF), a national organisation, committed to develop and excel the game of Cricket to its highest level, by facilitating to build cricket facilities in major cricket centres, by organising coaching and training centres and camps across Canada, by establishing a National Championship geared to identify the first-class cricketers in Canada as well as to become the leaders in hosting national and international events in Canada."

A constitution of the group is due soon, after which will follow the election of an executive. Cricket Canada remains the sole legitimate body for the governance of Canadian cricket, and the notion of any group replacing it and being recognised by the ICC seems far-fetched. Yet stranger things have happened. Before it all goes too far, this may be an opportunity for all sides to start talking again to see if they can play nicely together. Those who control the purse strings are always watching, and cannot be too impressed with the latest developments.

Forget day five

	Jayawardene gets to his hundred at Lord's in 2006; he has centuries in his last two Tests at the ground

Right at this moment I can't believe what's just happened, but I'll probably go into my sorrows soon. We played a good four days of cricket in Cardiff, but then threw the entire Test match away in one session. Sadly, that's what can happen in Test cricket if you don't focus and concentrate throughout. We were not up for it, and the English boys showed why they are one of the best Test teams going around these days. They always come back and keep fighting, and we were not up for the challenge

It was always going to be a tricky situation to bat on the last day, when we weren't sure what the weather was doing, but to blame the rain would be nothing more than an excuse. Almost every day of the match had been a 1.30-2pm start, so we knew that whenever it stopped we'd have to focus and get on with it, like we'd done for four days already. Today it just didn't happen. We lost early wickets to pile the pressure on ourselves, but we didn't buckle down and take the fight back to England.

In Test cricket you really have to tough it out in those situations, but we didn't. Our job was just to bat the situation, but there wasn't much incentive because we weren't really going to get anything out of the day other than a bit of time in the middle and maybe a few unbeaten fifties. That would have been the only positive to come out of the day for us, but once we'd been put under pressure by good bowling and poor shot selection, things went out of control. We were not up for the task.

I can't put my finger on the reasons for the defeat, but it wasn't the way we planned it. Any defeat hurts, whether you have a really bad game or whether you lose a tight match in the last over, but to lose a Test like this hurts even more, because we were totally in control and just had to bat 40 overs. The first Test of any series is so important. We have to pick ourselves up and concentrate for the next one.

A lot of people have been saying that England are the best Test team in the world, and they really do look solid at the moment. But, for me, you have to win all over the world if you want to be considered the best, and the subcontinent is the one place they really need to come and dominate if they want that accolade. They have been playing some really good cricket of late - the way they played Australia in Australia, the way they fought well in South Africa as well. But if they are to say they are the No. 1 team in the world, they have to challenge themselves in all conditions, and that includes the subcontinent.

When England toured Sri Lanka three years ago, they seemed to struggle quite a bit with the conditions. That last series was a totally different scenario. We completely dominated the Galle Test before the rain came to save them, and we won the series 1-0. Here in England, the conditions are favourable to the home side and they know exactly what to do with them. We need to stand up for ourselves, which is a great challenge, but we've lost a great opportunity to go to Lord's at 0-0.

	A lot of people have been saying that England are the best Test team in the world, and they really do look solid, but, for me, you have to win all over the world if you want to be considered the best

The final day was crazy, but really, this match was dominated by England's batsmen. Both Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott did really well to build a massive partnership, but in my opinion it was Trott who was the stand-out player. More than Alastair, he was in control of entire situation, and that's what you need when you are batting second with 400 already on the board. You need big partnerships to make sure you get into the game, and beyond, and that's what they did.

Lots of people have commented on the fact that this is Sri Lanka's first Test since Muttiah Muralitharan retired, and it's true our bowlers don't have the same variety now that he's not in the side - which is the main reason why we chose five of them for this match. But we have to move on from Murali, because we're not going to get him back. We have to find other options. Every team has to go through that transition period at some stage, and we need to make sure we get through it too.

I actually thought our bowlers bowled pretty well and were a bit unlucky at times. Cook and Trott did really well to stifle our ambitions. A big partnership is all about how you complement each other, rotate the strike, and attack different bowlers. Those two got through the tough situations, then dominated for a while, and were able to bat through sessions to make big runs.

The challenge now is to get our mindsets right, and our senior players, especially, need to score a lot of runs for Sri Lanka. I love batting at Lord's and I've made hundreds in each of my last two Tests there, although a third one is not really in my immediate planning. Records are great but we're 1-0 down and we have to win the Test match to get back into the series. I just need to start at ball one and get the job done for the team. That's the priority. That would be my personal objective and for the rest of the team as well.

Quite simply, we need to take the fifth day at Cardiff completely out of our minds, and think about what we did right on the first two, three, four days. Our batting was really good in the first innings. Prasanna Jayawardene carried a big responsibility at No. 6 and responded with a hundred, while Paranavitana and Samaraweera fought hard as well. The conditions helped England in the first innings, but we put runs on the board against a quality attack.

There are positives to take into the Lord's Test, but we need to keep working and fighting, and making and creating opportunities. The Cardiff Test is finished now and we need a fresh mindset for the next game, and we need 20 wickets to win a Test match.