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Isuru Udana, the left-arm fast bowler, has been picked in Sri Lanka’s 15-man squad for the five ODIs against India, which begins on July 21. Udana, 24, has played six Twenty20s for Sri Lanka, but is yet to debut in one-dayers.Batsman Chamara Kapugedera, who last played for Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup in March, has made a comeback. Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, who was rested for the final three ODIs against Pakistan, is also back in the squad.

Sri Lanka squad for India ODIs

Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Angelo Mathews (vice-capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Upul Tharanga, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Nuwan Kulasekara, Thisara Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Lasith Malinga, Chamara Kapugedera, Rangana Herath, Sachithra Senanayake, Jeevan Mendis, Isuru Udana
In: Isuru Udana, Chamara Kapugedera, Rangana Herath
Out: Dilhara Fernando, Nuwan Pradeep, Sajeewa Weerakoon

Fast bowlers Dilhara Fernando and Nuwan Pradeep, and spinner Sajeewa Weerakoon – who came in as a replacement for Herath – are the players to miss out from the squad that played against Pakistan.Udana had played five of his six Twenty20 internationals in 2009, before being recalled for the Twenty20s against Pakistan last month. In first-class cricket in the 2011-12 season, he had picked up 26 wickets at an average of 25.76 for Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club. He is currently playing a tri-series with Sri Lanka A in Harare, against Zimbabwe and South Africa.Kapugedera has been in and out of the Sri Lanka team. Last year, he played the home series against West Indies and was picked in the World Cup squad. He was then sidelined for almost a year, before making a comeback in the Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia earlier this year: he was called up to the squad for three finals of the CB series, after Sri Lanka suffered several injury blows. He also played the Asia Cup that followed – he was out for a duck against India, and scored 62 in a losing cause to Bangladesh – before being left out for the limited-overs games against Pakistan. Kapugedera, too, is currently playing the tri-series in Zimbabwe.

Richard Holdsworth, Cricket Ireland’s performance director, said Ireland had attempted to secure fast bowler Boyd Rankin’s services but could not match up against the “lure” of Test cricket. Reacting to Rankin’s retirement as an Ireland player, Holdsworth said only “an accelerated pathway” towards the benefits afforded to Test countries would help Ireland “halt the exodus” to England, for whom it would otherwise be a “breeding ground”.On Wednesday, Rankin announced his retirement from international cricket at the end of the year as he bids to step up to the Test level via English county cricket. Rankin would be the third leading Irish player to leave Ireland for England, following Ed Joyce and Eoin Morgan.”Cricket Ireland offered Boyd a significantly improved contract to remain an Irish international cricketer but unfortunately we were unable to compete with the lure of Test Cricket and the financial rewards of being a potential England cricketer,” Holdsworth said. “This further loss only strengthens our aim of becoming a Full Member of ICC and ultimately a Test-playing country.”This will be the third Irish player we have lost to the England cause in just six years, notwithstanding Ed Joyce’s return. It is our strong view that we must be given the opportunity very soon to finance a full-time international programme and centrally contract all our players in order to halt this exodus.”Ireland, whose performance has stood out among the non-Test playing countries, cannot just be a “breeding ground” for England, Holdsworth said. “We were very grateful for ICC’s recent boost to our funding to permit us to implement a domestic first class structure in 2013 and play more international fixtures against the Full Members.”However it is becoming increasingly obvious that only an accelerated pathway towards the financial benefits and opportunities afforded to the Full Members will allow us to keep hold of our home-grown developed players. The ICC has an excellent ambition to ensure that there are more competitive nations on the world stage; however, this will not be realised if its next best non-Test nation is merely a breeding ground for the England team.”Ireland coach Phil Simmons said Rankin’s decision to leave was a “damaging blow”, but he was confident of other Ireland players stepping successfully into Rankin’s role. He also credited Rankin for being a driving force behind the team’s recent successes.”Boyd has been a superb strike bowler for us, particularly in World Cups and qualifying tournaments. The new ball partnership he forged with Trent Johnston has been one of the main reasons for our success since 2007,” Simmons said. “His extra pace and the lift he generates with his height made him a very dangerous proposition.”It’s obviously a very damaging blow for Ireland, but we’ve lost players before and bounced back and I’m sure this time will be no exception. His absence will create opportunities for others and I’m certain they will grasp them.”Rankin has taken 110 wickets for Ireland since debuting as a teenager in 2003, with a total of 60 wickets in ODIs and Twenty20 internationals. At the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, he was Ireland’s leading wicket-taker, his scalps including those of Younis Khan, Michael Vaughan, Ed Joyce, Stephen Fleming, Herschelle Gibbs and AB de Villiers.Rankin will now pursue cricket with English county Warwickshire, with whom he has signed a new three-year deal.

In one of the most one-sided encounters of the World Cup, Nepal crashed to 79 on their way to an eight-wicket drubbing at the hands of Sri Lanka at Peter Burge Oval. It was a combined bowling effort by Sri Lanka, led by the offspinner Tharindu Kaushal, who took 3 for 13. Only two Nepal batsmen passed double figures, with extras (18) as the second-highest scorer. Subtract the 16 wides and Nepal would have folded up for much less. Sri Lanka raced towards the target thanks to an aggressive opening stand of 71 between Sebastian Perera and Shehan Fernando. Fernando was the Man of the Match for his 48.Ireland qualified for the ninth-place playoff semi-finals after getting past Namibia in another low-scorer in Brisbane. Namibia limped to a painful 128 for 9 in 50 overs and though Ireland chased it down in less than 25 overs, they lost six wickets in the process. Graeme McCarter, the right-arm seamer, took three early wickets to reduce Namibia to 35 for 4 by the 11th over. Namibia struggled to put on partnerships of note, the highest being 29 for the 10th wicket. Jason Davidson and Christopher Coombe were the only two batsmen to pass 20. McCarter finished with 4 for 32, while George Dockrell was the most parsimonious, with figures of 1 for 8 from 10 overs. Ireland’s Ryan Hunter led the chase with a quick 42 off 37 balls, taking his side to 83 for 2 in the 14th over before he was dismissed. Namibia managed to sneak in a few more breakthroughs, but their score of 128 was never going to seriously test Ireland.Namibia and Nepal will face each other tomorrow for the 13th-place playoff semi-final at Peter Burge Oval.

ScorecardAndhra thumped Jammu & Kashmir by an innings to get their first win of the season and jump to second place, with 14 points. J&K began the day on 13/0, trailing by 224 runs, and started losing wickets regularly – the highest partnership among the first five wickets was 22. The top-order failure left them realistically hoping only to avoid an innings defeat. Their captain Ian Dev Singh and Aditya Singh put on 63 for the sixth wicket – the biggest stand of the innings – and there were 40s from tailenders Ram Dayal and Shail Sharma, but it wasn’t enough to make Andhra bat again. The wickets were shared by Andhra spearhead P Vijaykumar, the left-arm quick Atchuta Rao and offspinner Shaik Basha, who took three each.
ScorecardServices upset table-toppers Assam by ten wickets at the Palam Sports Complex in Delhi, and moved up to 14 points, equal on points with Andhra in second place. Medium-pacer Shadab Nazar took a six-for for the second match in the row to bowl out Assam for a paltry 170 in the second innings. The main resistance came from middle-order batsman Tarjinder Singh, who made a half-century but couldn’t prevent Assam from being bowled out in 60 overs. Assam’s batting mainstay Dheeraj Jadhav was dismissed cheaply for the second time in the match, after which the top order crumbled. Services were left with the straightforward target of 27 to win, a total they reached without losing any wicket to secure the maximum seven points.
ScorecardAllrounder Rishi Dhawan hit his second century of the season to put Himachal in control of their match against Jharkand. Dhawan, who is one of the top wicket-takers this season with 22, top scored with 128 to ensure Himachal didn’t waste the strong start provided by their openers on Sunday. He was helped by half-centuries from Amit Kumar and Aatish Balaik, and they extended Himachal’s lead to over 200. That left Jharkhand needing to bat out about 100 overs to save the game, and the maximum likely reward for that will be just one point.
ScorecardGoa slowly but surely pressed their advantage against Kerala on the third day at Malappuram. In a slow-scoring day where Kerala moved along at little more than two runs an over, none of their batsmen could make the big hundred that needed to be the backbone of the reply if they were to overhaul Goa’s 512. With the game descending to a first-innings shootout, opener Abhishek Hegde extended his good run with an 80, but with no one else making a half-century Kerala regularly lost wickets to slip to 249 for 6. They are still not even halfway to Goa’s total, and unless their lower order miraculously bats out the final day, Kerala will have to be satisfied with one point.

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said the two dropped catches in the third session on day one were crucial and might have changed the complexion of the Melbourne Test, in which Sri Lanka were defeated inside three days.The innings and 201-run loss is the third heaviest in Sri Lanka’s Test history, as the visitors succumbed to 103 all out in 24.2 overs in the second innings. Kumar Sangakkara was retired hurt however, and Prasanna Jayawardene and Chanaka Welegedara did not bat due to injury.The visitor’s first innings total was only marginally better at 156 all out but they took three Australian wickets in the evening session on day one to have the hosts 117 for 3. But two catches went down soon after when Tillakaratne Dilshan failed to hold on to a chance from Michael Clarke, off Rangana Herath, and Sangakkara shelled an edge off Shane Watson’s bat.Watson and Clarke finished the day with Australia on 150 for 3 and batted Australia into a commanding lead on day two with a 194-run partnership. They were also reprieved twice on the second morning in the same Herath over when Sangakkara could not collect the ball to stump Clarke, and Jayawardene dropped a slip catch off Watson.”The first day was a tough one to come back from, but we fought really well in the latter part of the first evening,” Jayawardene said. “We dropped two catches I thought was crucial at that time and things would have been different but Michael went and got a hundred and Watto got a fifty.”Overall a very disappointing Test for us. Given the fact that we had played really well in Hobart and coming here, we had a lot of confidence and a good plan to execute but it was very unfortunate. That’s something that we as a team need to sit down and have a good chat among ourselves and see where we need to go from here.”The tour has been particularly disappointing for Jayawardene, who has four failures in as many innings in the series so far. In the first innings in Melbourne he edged Peter Siddle to the wicketkeeper for 3, before falling for zero in the second dig, edging a Jackson Bird indipper onto the stumps as he attempted to leave the ball.He has played several crucial innings at home in 2012, but his unflattering away record has been worsened in the last two years – he hasn’t scored a fifty outside the subcontinent since March 2008 – where he averages 16.81 in the last two years, against a career average away from home of 38.00, a mark somewhat lower than his career average of 49.41.”I have worked hard on my batting, but I haven’t spent enough time in this series to see how badly I am batting. At practices I am hitting the ball pretty well, but three to four overs is not enough to assess where I need to be in the series. It’s just not individuals but as a team we all need to take responsibility.”Jayawardene also said he hoped Dilshan would not make wholesale changes to his approach, despite an injudicious stroke having brought his demise in the first innings. Dilshan had been aggressive from the outset, missing his first ball having aimed a booming cover drive, and perishing after swiping across the line to a Mitchell Johnson inswinger that disturbed his stumps. Johnson also removed Dilshan in the second innings for a first-ball duck.”Dilly is in pretty good nick. He is a naturally gifted strokeplayer and what he showed in Hobart was that he could dominate a bowling unit and get runs. He found Mitch difficult in this Test match but he is an experienced player. He will go back and revisit what happened and come back strongly. We don’t want him to not play his game, because that’s where he is most lethal for us.”Jayawardene denied that his spat with Sri Lanka Cricket in the lead up to the Test affected the team’s preparation and mentality. SLC had issued a release stating its Executive Committee would review Jayawardene’s actions after the Sri Lanka captain had said he “lost all confidence in dealing with SLC” over a leaked letter.”I don’t think it’s that big an issue. It’s something that’s disappointing and that happened between the two Test matches, but I am focused on this tour. I told the SLC as well, and I am willing to move on.”

Javed Miandad, the former Pakistan batsman, has cancelled a planned visit to India following a controversy over his being granted a travel visa. Miandad’s son Junaid is married to the daughter of Dawood Ibrahim, India’s most highly-wanted fugitive accused of planning the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai in 1993. The Indian government’s decision to grant Miandad a visa had sparked outrage in some circles in India given his links to Dawood.Miandad was due to visit India to watch the third ODI between India and Pakistan in Delhi on Sunday. The government said Miandad’s visa application papers were valid and in order, and had decided to grant him a visa as he was not on a “negative list” of people who were to be denied entry into India.”It’s a decision that has been taken by the Home Ministry,” India’s External Affairs minister Salman Khurshid said. “And I am sure they would have taken inputs from all concerned agencies and from our mission in Pakistan… they would have followed all procedures.”However, the main opposition party BJP, and the Shiv Sena, its ally in the state of Maharashtra, criticised the government for granting him a visa.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsNathan McCullum was inspired in the field and took the crucial wicket of Colin Ingram•Associated Press

South Africa have so often been the makers of their own downfall and five run outs scuppered their chase in Kimberley as New Zealand secured their first series win in any format in South Africa. One of the lights that can lead them out of this tough period – Kane Williamson – produced a magnificent unbeaten century that deserved to win a series. New Zealand’s tenacity in the field ensured it did.Graeme Smith, Faf du Plessis, David Miller, Rory Kleinveldt and Farhaan Behardien were all run out as South Africa’s chase crumbled from a comfortable position of 167 for 1 in the 31st over. It equalled the record for the most run outs in an ODI innings and contributed to a calamitous collapse of 9 for 85.It was unimaginable that the current New Zealand team could be the group to win the country’s first series in South Africa, but after being humiliated in the Test series they have a remarkable achievement to take home.This second win was set up by the best batting performance of the tour: a career-best international score by Williamson. His unbeaten 145 not out was superbly paced. He negotiated a nervous opening having come to the crease in the third over at 0 for 1, then accelerated in a hundred partnership with Grant Elliott, rebuilt after New Zealand had endured a collapse of their own, before providing a final punch that produced a competitive target.But competitive is all the target appeared on a balmy evening with a flat, hard, grassless wicket. South Africa were on course as Graeme Smith and Colin Ingram added 129 in 22 overs.New Zealand craved a breakthrough, wishing for any of the several chances they spurned in the first ODI, and were suddenly gifted a path back into the match. It was James Franklin – who brought New Zealand home in Paarl – that began the feast of run-outs with a slide to save Ingram’s back cut at third man. His return was pint-point over the bails and a sluggish Smith was short diving in for a third run.Faf du Plessis – standing in as captain with AB de Villiers suspended – then defended Franklin into the off side and eagerly considered a single. He was rightly sent back by Ingram and was a little slow to turn, allowing enough time for Nathan McCullum to swoop in from cover and hit direct with a dive.It was part of a fine display in the field from McCullum. He held Robin Peterson with a diving catch at extra cover after he had squeezed the run rate with his off spin, forcing Ingram to try to hit over the top and find mid-off. It was a far cry from his first over which had been taken for 17.Further run outs came as Kleinveldt got his bat stuck in the ground a foot short of the popping crease as Martin Guptill threw down the stumps from midwicket. More lethargic running saw Behardien – on his ODI debut – beaten from the midwicket boundary. A little earlier, David Miller – a dangerous threat even as the required rate surged – was short of his ground backing up.New Zealand had seized their chance in the field and backed up an outstanding innings from Williamson. Quality of timing is paramount for him, a diminutive figure with a limited range of strokes, but he found his touch. He shuffled across his stumps to work length balls on off stump through the leg side, put away almost anything overpitched and played the spinners well – getting deep in his crease to pull boundaries against du Plessis and using his feet well too.Twice he skipped down to lift Peterson wide of long-on, the second occasion taking him to 99; a single backward of point brought up his third ODI hundred and the first against major opposition. He added 127 in 128 balls with Grant Elliott to earn New Zealand’s first century stand of the tour. It was born out of a careful opening as just 19 came off the first ten overs; a cautious attitude understandable given previous premature collapses.But having played watchfully, New Zealand progressed. Williamson was the chief instigator of the 62 runs that were scored in the first 10 overs outside the Powerplay. The innings had been running to plan with a platform in place and Brendon McCullum arriving at No. 5 with a short period to explode. But he only managed to do so three times, the best of which a straight six over Morne Morkel’s head having run down the wicket. But doing so again, McCullum swung and missed and lost his leg stump. It was a waste with 12 overs of the innings left.Colin Munro and Franklin then fell within eight balls and New Zealand looked out of power and likely to fail to take full advantage of their position. But Williamson continued to steer the innings and his efforts were ultimately rewarded.

West Zone

File photo: Yusuf Pathan scored 86 off 55 balls to give Baroda their second win in the competition•Fotocorp

Gujarat were able to chase Saurashtra’s 269 through a collective batting performance from their top-order. Saurashtra were put in to bat and their wicketkeeper opener Sheldon Jackson scored 109. Contributions from Rahul Dave (36), Chirag Jani (31) and Kuldeep Raval’s quick fire 30 off 18 balls, helped them put up a sizable score, as they finished 269 for 6.Gujarat started assuredly, with openers Priyank Panchal and wicketkeeper captain Parthiv Patel putting up 136 runs for the first wicket. From there a platform was set and Manprit Juneja chipped in with a vital 66. Abdulahad Malik and Juneja steered the team within a few runs of the target before Juneja fell to Saurya Sanandiya. Gujarat won the match with six wickets in hand, in the 47th over.A belligerent 86 not out by Yusuf Pathan, with a combined effort by the bowlers, helped Baroda to a four-wicket win against Maharashtra at the Poona Club Ground. Chasing 178, Baroda were in trouble at 34 for 3 in the 11th over, when Pathan came in to bat. Within the next 61 balls, Baroda added 70 runs via Pathan and Ambati Rayudu, who scored 40. Pathan stuck till the end, hitting six sixes in his 55-ball knock, to see his side home in the 29th over.Maharashtra’s innings was based on short but significant knocks by their middle-order batsmen. After being put in to bat, they lost wickets regularly to struggle to 113 for 7 in the 36th over, before Shrikant Mundhe and Akshay Darekar rescued them by adding 58 runs. But this contribution wasn’t enough as they were bundled out for 177.

South Zone

Half-centuries from Rohan Prem and Sanju Samson helped Kerala to a six-wicket victory against Goa in Porvorim. Kerala were comfortable in their chase of 223, through a strong top-order batting performance. After opener VA Jagadeesh fell in the seventh over, Karimuttathu Rakesh and Prem added 54 runs, before Samson and Prem put on a century stand that virtually sealed the contest.Goa steadily lost wickets after choosing to bat. Their captain and opener Sagun Kamat attempted to anchor the innings, but departed after scoring 71. Towards the latter stages of the innings, Robin d’Souza scored 50 off 42 deliveries to push them beyond 200.Karnataka squeezed home by one wicket against Andhra, with only two balls remaining in the match. After Andhra were put into bat, AG Pradeep (55), Amol Muzumdar (39) and B Sumanth (39) led them to 228 before they were dismissed in 48 overs. Vinay Kumar was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 38.Robin Uthappa continued his good form with another fifty, with fellow opener Lokesh Rahul contributing 75. Despite the rest of the Karnataka middle order getting starts, no one was able to push on, with Bodavarapu Sudhakar taking some vital wickets to temper the chase. Ultimately Raju Bhatkal and KP Appanna held their nerve, taking Karnataka to yet another win as they continued their unbeaten streak in the competition.A responsible knock from Dinesh Karthik helped Tamil Nadu beat Hyderabad by 26 runs. Karthik scored a run-a-ball 119, as he put on 108 runs for the third wicket with B Aparajith, who scored 51. Tamil Nadu looked set for a big total before Chama Milind struck twice to help stop the run flow towards the end of the innings. Tamil Nadu ended up with 262 for 9 after fifty overs.Hyderabad started their chase strongly before opener Kolla Sumanth was run out, to leave them at 82 for 1. This was the first of three run-outs in the innings, which hampered Hyderabad’s chase. Dwaraka Ravi Teja (43), Bavanaka Sandeep (42) and Sundeep Rajan (52) all got starts, but couldn’t continue on to take their team home. P Amarnath took three wickets at the end to help dismiss Hyderabad for 236.

Central Zone

An attacking century from opener Puneet Yadav propelled Rajasthan to a commanding victory over Railways, by seven wickets, in Indore. Yadav, with a 117-ball 123 – his highest List A score – put on 112 runs with fellow opener Siddharth Saraf, and 98 runs with captain Robin Bist, to help them reach their target of 232 in the 44th over.Railways’ top order was also productive, but at 215 for 6, they couldn’t accelerate towards the end of the innings, as their last six wickets fell for just 18 runs added. Mahesh Rawat, their captain, top-scored with 81. Seamer Raman Chahar and spinner Madhur Khatri took three wickets each.A five-wicket haul from Jatin Saxena gave Madhya Pradesh a 68-run victory against Vidarbha. After MP chose to bat, seamer Shrikant Wagh, who finished with six wickets, struck early to dismiss both their openers with just 37 on the board. Saxena (61) and Naman Ojha then put together a 136-run partnership for the third wicket to help stabilise the innings. Ojha would finish on 83, with Harpreet Singh contributing an aggressive 39. Wagh returned to pick off three more wickets near the end to leave MP on 263 for 8.In Vidarbha’s chase, legspinner Saxena was instrumental in keeping Vidarbha’s chase under control. Akshay Kolhar (45), Shalabh Shrivastava (33) and Akshay Wadkar (35) were unable to build on their respective starts as Vidarbha were ultimately dismissed for 195 in 47.1 overs.The win gave them top spot in the points table.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Rangana Herath became only the third Sri Lankan to take 200 Test wickets•Associated Press

Since Muttiah Muralitharan’s retirement in 2010, Sri Lanka had won only four Tests. Rangana Herath’s figures in those are: 9 for 128, 12 for 171, 5 for 121 and 11 for 108. They completed their fifth victory on Tuesday at the R Premadasa Stadium, and Herath was instrumental yet again – marking his 35th birthday with figures of 12 for 157 to strangle Bangladesh and set up a 1-0 series win.There was the added joy of completing 200 Test scalps for Herath. In the last two years alone, he has taken more Test wickets than any Sri Lankan has in their career, barring Murali and Chaminda Vaas.His heroics have smoothed Sri Lanka’s transitional phase. Regulars like Thilan Samaraweera and Prasanna Jayawardene have been discarded, and the Sri Lankan captaincy spot has been a bit of a merry-go-round in the past few years. Anything less than a victory in this series would have heaped the pressure on the new leader, Angelo Mathews, who hasn’t had the best of times in the two Tests.The experienced Herath began the trek towards victory with his bagful of wickets, after which two other senior statesmen, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara, quickened the march with brisk half-centuries that left Sri Lanka on the brink of another series win over Bangladesh.Herath had undone 80 overs of good work from Bangladesh yesterday with a double-strike late in the final session. In his first three overs today, Bangladesh’s chances nearly evaporated. The sixth ball of the day spun and Mominul Haque’s attempt at working it to the leg side resulted in a catch at short leg, and soon after he removed the usually reliable Nasir Hossain, who looked to launch the ball towards long-on only for it to turn past his bat and hit the middle of middle stump.

Smart stats

• Rangana Herath became the third Sri Lankan bowler to reach the 200-wicket mark. In 47 Tests, Herath has picked up 200 wickets at an average of 29.52 with 16 five-fors.

• Herath is now joint-ninth on the list of spinners with the most five-fors and level fourth among subcontinent spinners with the most five-wicket hauls.

• Herath’s 7 for 89 is his best-ever innings bowling performance in Tests surpassing his 7 for 157 against Australia at the SSC in 2011. It is also Herath’s finest match bowling performance and the seventh-best by a Sri Lankan bowler.

• Sri Lanka’s win is their 13th in 14 matches against Bangladesh. Since 2001, the highest number of matches Sri Lanka have won against any other team is six (West Indies).

• Kumar Sangakkara’s tally of 441 runs in the series is the fifth-highest by a Sri Lankan batsman in a series in which he has played a maximum of four innings.

With the lead only 65, it left Mushfiqur Rahim as the only recognised batsmen. To the credit of the Bangladesh lower order, they didn’t collapse completely against the rampant Herath. Even between those two early Herath strikes, Mushfiqur charged out and slammed a straight six, and the big strokes regularly flowed as the Bangladesh tail searched for quick runs.Sohag Gazi typified that approach. In the first over of the second new ball, he was put down in the cordon by Dimuth Karunaratne, which only prompted a series of boundaries – three off his next four deliveries before he was caught at long-on looking to clear the rope.Sri Lanka’s catching has been below-par in this match, but Angelo Mathews snapped up his second sharp take at slip to dismiss Mushfiqur for 40, with the lead at 122. There was no quick finish as Abul Hasan, who hit the headlines with a whirlwind debut century last November, again showed off his hitting ability, striking a couple of big sixes to push the lead past 150.With the tailenders hitting out against the spinners, Sri Lanka turned to the pace of Shaminda Eranga. It took him only five deliveries to finish off the innings, following up a bouncer with a yorker that cannoned towards the base of offstump, leaving Sri Lanka a target of 160.Sri Lanka began the chase brightly, but Dimuth Karunaratne failed again, which means he has only one half-century in his previous 10 Test innings. Karunaratne shouldered arms to an incoming delivery to be lbw for 16. Any nerves for the home side though were eased by a stream of boundaries from Dilshan, while Sangakkara continued to show the form that has fetched him three centuries in three innings in this series. The pair put on a 94-run stand to erase any doubts over a Sri Lankan victory.It was another defeat for Bangladesh, but it wasn’t all gloom for them, especially considering the hammering they have usually received on visits to Sri Lanka. Though it was a flat track in Galle, Bangladesh’s notoriously fragile batting showed plenty of backbone after Sri Lanka had piled up a big total. Even in this defeat, they regularly pushed Sri Lanka, making the home side work hard for victory. There was improvement, but not enough to force a favourable result.

ScorecardDan Housego made his first Championship century for Gloucestershire•Getty Images

Sajid Mahmood’s career remains on hold after he was left out of the first Essex squad of the new season. But his reputation may have been polished in his absence as Essex’s attack were rendered impotent by an unbroken, double-century partnership for Gloucestershire’s fourth wicket between Dan Housego and Hamish Marshall.Having played eight Tests and 26 ODIs only to fall away – his last England appearance was in 2009 – Mahmood spiralled further into the abyss after being released by Lancashire at the end of last season and failing to find a new deal at a Division One county.Essex offered him a chance to rebuild but James Foster, the captain, said Mahmood was out-bowled in pre-season and didn’t warrant inclusion against Gloucestershire. Instead, Mahmood was at Derby playing for Essex second XI. He took 1 for 40 and was overshadowed by Reece Topley – a young bowler of great promise – who returned 4 for 20.”Saj had a good pre-season but it was one of those things where he’s bowled well but the other guys have bowled better,” Foster told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s only the start of the season but Saj is a quality performer and he’ll be featuring heavily this season.”I’m really impressed with the bowling unit. I believe it’s the best attack I’ve seen since I’ve been at the club, with six big seamers.”It would appear some luxury for Essex to have resources to leave a big-name signing out of their side. Perhaps Mahmood has now been relegated from big-name status. But only his best would have improved Essex’s fortunes on the opening day of the season as Marshall and Housego compiled a chanceless 229-run stand at almost three-and-a-half an over – a fourth-wicket record against Essex.The partnership began after lunch and saw them through to the close. It was a rare day of batting dominance from Gloucestershire and looked unlikely from 34 for 2 with both openers dismissed by David Masters. But in Marshall, Gloucestershire have a player who could easily be playing Test cricket and Housego, a determined player with a solid technique. The pair gave Gloucestershire a dream opening to 2013.Housego arrived in Bristol on the back of a superb second-XI season for Middlesex in 2011 but he failed to transfer that to regular first-team cricket last season. He gets a long stride in when playing forward but his best stroke came from a slightly shorter stride to flick Graham Napier’s first ball after tea through midwicket. The timing was immense.Usurped by Marshall for the first ton of the year, he nervously played off the back foot into the covers on 99 and could have been run out. The throw missed and Housego had his first first-class century for Gloucestershire.It was steady work on a slightly slow wicket that was green-tinged. That and the history of Gloucestershire’s batting – most pertinently they were shot out for 180 and 146 here last season – was all the encouragement Foster needed to insert them having won the toss.But his bowlers didn’t probe away consistently enough, especially Maurice Chambers, who at one stage of the afternoon had conceded over four-an-over. Masters was Masters – nipped a couple out with the new ball and kept it tight – and Napier found a little seam movement from the Hayes Close End after lunch. Aside from that, including the second new ball, there was only the hard work of the visiting batsman for a healthy day one crowd to get excited about.Despite the close score, Foster was satisfied with his bowler’s efforts. “I guess it’s one of those where you hope it’s going to do more for a longer period of time than it did,” he said. “It would have been nice to have another wicket by lunch but after that, credit to the batsman. We did not bowl poorly.”