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Mark Robinson, the outgoing England Under-19 coach, is confident his young side can develop their game in first-class cricket this summer, following their inconsistent World Cup campaign.Robinson will return to his normal position as coach of Sussex and expects to come up against the players he worked with as the season progresses. England topped their group after beating defending champions India but were knocked out in the quarter-finals by West Indies. Things got worse when they were defeated by India in a fifth-place play-off semi final and New Zealand in the seventh-place play-off.Despite the results, Robinson identified batsman James Vince, who played nine first-class games and averaged 51.40 from six 50-over games for Hampshire in 2009, along with captain Azeem Rafiq, who has made a handful of appearances for Yorkshire, left-arm seamer David Payne and Durham all-rounder Ben Stokes as the players particularly ready for the rigours of the first-class game.”Obviously Vince is quite experienced,” Robinson told ecb.co.uk. “But he’s somebody who would look to get more opportunities on the back of what happened to him last summer and the experience of being abroad.”Rafiq is an outstanding captain and led the team really, really well and is a fierce competitor. He needs more exposure in an ideal world to first-team cricket now. Payne was the most consistent bowler throughout the tournament on the English team and again I’d expect him to get exposure in the first team. Stokes’ batting was exciting as an all-rounder.”Robinson insisted his side would hope to beat West Indies “nine times out of 10″, but felt hosts New Zealand were physically stronger than his side. It was an aspect Robinson noted about a few of the Southern Hemisphere sides.”The South African team to look at – we didn’t play against them – and the New Zealand team we did play against were physically stronger than us, physically more developed, and looked a more powerful team. It was the same with all the teams, they’ve got a group of 18-19-year-olds, you have players of different maturity both experience-wise and also physically.”We probably looked a little bit inferior physically to the Southern Hemisphere. I think that’s because the rugby side of the game, which they play as their winter sport.”

Peter Wright, the Nottinghamshire chairman, has been elected to the ECB board of directors by 28 votes to eight. He will succeed Jack Simmons, the former Lancashire chairman, who is standing down on March 31 having decided to retire.Wright gained nomination from the 18 first-class counties and MCC by a 10-9 margin against Tim O’Gorman, the former Derbyshire batsman, but Wright’s lack of first-class experience had raised concerns according to the .Wright is the managing director of cricket equipment manufacturer Gunn and Moore, but he only reached second XI standard with Nottinghamshire in his playing days.

Opening woes
England have never had to wait long in this series to get into South Africa’s middle order. The opening partnership between Graeme Smith and Ashwell Prince has failed to prosper at any stage. Four of the opening stands have yielded 1, 2, 3 and today’s effort of 1 when Prince edged a terrific delivery from Jimmy Anderson to the keeper. Their best effort together was 27 and that came when South Africa were skittled out for 133. Unless Prince can muster a decent score in the second innings the calls for change will grow louder.Missing Colly
With Prince already gone in the first over, England’s morning could have become even better with Graham Onions’ first delivery of the match. Smith couldn’t resist driving at a very wide ball and edged it straight towards Graeme Swann’s midriff at second slip. However, all Swann could do was palm it to the ground and the reaction of the fielder at fine leg summed it up. Paul Collingwood was down on the boundary protecting his recently dislocated finger and would normally have been station at second slip. Odds are he would have swallowed the chance and South Africa would have been 1 for 2.Action replay
After the spurned opportunity, England had to wait a while for their second breakthrough but when it came they could have been back in Durban. In an almost identical dismissal to the first innings last week, Hashim Amla was trapped straight in front by a full delivery from Onions just as Stuart Broad managed at Kingsmead. For a second Amla considered a review, but quickly realised there was no way back.New Year, same Swann
The year hadn’t started too well for Swann with the dropped catch to reprieve Smith, but he was soon back doing what had made 2009 so impressive. With Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers settling after lunch and comfortably milking the spin England were in need of a breakthrough. It was handed to them on a plate when de Villiers chipped a limp shot to midwicket and next ball the innings had been turned on its head when the struggling JP Duminy was caught behind first ball.Boucher hits back
South Africa were threatening to get themselves tied in knots again against Swann and had to find some way to break his stranglehold. Mark Boucher has been one of their form players during the series and is always likes to play his shots. With close fielders swarming around, Boucher stepped back to cut Swann and then followed that by driving a full toss through the off side before making it three in row with another punchy drive past mid-off. Suddenly, Swann had something to think about.Test match wedding
Newlands is a wonderful location for cricket, and apparently it’s quite a good one for weddings as well. About an hour before play there was a ceremony on the boundary edge below the media centre. Vows and rings were exchanged and they received warm applause from the crowd that was steadily building up. Fortunately for the people in all their wedding attire the ceremony had just been completed when rain arrived to delay the start of play by half an hour.

Match facts

Monday, December 21
Start time 14:30 (09:00 GMT)Nuwan Kulasekara and Lasith Malinga could get some action•Associated Press

Big Picture

The build-up to this game has been dominated by the two-match ban handed down to MS Dhoni for India’s appallingly slow over-rate in Nagpur. With Dhoni out of the fray, Sri Lanka’s own woes have been obscured. Angelo Mathews, who clinched victory in Nagpur, is the latest to join the incapacitated list, with Thissara Perera flying in to take his place, and it’s still uncertain whether Lasith Malinga will be risked after missing the first two games. The missing-in-action theme has affected India too, though Yuvraj Singh is expected to be fit to shore up a middle order that will sorely miss Dhoni’s remarkable consistency.The bigger concern for India is the fielding, or lack of it. The number of catches dropped has gone into double-figures, and the ground-fielding was equally dismal in the last game. Both seniors and juniors have been equally culpable, and Mike Young would have watched with some horror from the dressing room as even the basics were ignored.Sri Lanka haven’t been exceptional in the field either, but they do have two batsmen, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara, in prime form. There was also a fine debut for Suraj Randiv, and a moderately successful return to the limelight for Ajantha Mendis, whose dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar set India back in Nagpur. India’s bowling woes are more focussed on the opening overs, where not one man has been able to put the slightest pressure on Upul Tharanga or Dilshan. Old-ball mastery won them the game in Rajkot, but raggedness with the new one left them with too much to do in the second match.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
India – LWLLL
Sri Lanka – WLLLW

Watch out for…

Yuvraj Singh: Ever since he established himself as one of the bulwarks of India’s one-day batting, rarely has a series gone by without Yuvraj playing at least one defining innings. An injured finger and flu kept him out of the opening two games, but if his Twenty20 blitz in Mohali was any guide, he certainly isn’t lacking form. Against an attack missing Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan and Mathews, his nonchalant heaves over midwicket could well prove decisive.Spinners: The slow blowers have traditionally enjoyed Cuttack. When India beat West Indies in the run-up to the last World Cup, India’s contingent took six wickets in a low-scoring encounter, and last year it was Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj that were the difference in a free-scoring match with England.

Team news

Dinesh Karthik will take Dhoni’s place, while Virat Kohli, despite a sprightly 54 in the last game, will have to make way if Yuvraj recovers fully. There could also be a rejigging of the pace attack, with Zaheer and Ashish Nehra both far more comfortable with the old ball. Praveen Kumar lacks the pace to hustle batsmen early on, especially in conditions where there’s little or no movement, and that could see Ishant Sharma take his place.India: (probable) 1 Virender Sehwag (capt), 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Yuvraj Singh/Virat Kohli, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Ashish Nehra.Given their injury concerns, it’s hard to predict Sri Lanka’s line-up. But Mathews’ absence does pave the way for Sanath Jayasuriya’s return, especially in low and slow conditions where his left-arm spin could be a big factor. Suranga Lakmal didn’t impress much on debut, and there could be a recall for Nuwan Kulasekara. The big plus though would be Malinga’s return. In Fernando’s absence, Sri Lanka have lacked a bowler who can hurry the batsmen.Sri Lanka: (probable) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilina Kandamby, 6 Sanath Jayasuriya, 7 Suraj Randiv, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara/Suranga Lakmal, 9 Ajantha Mendis, 10 Chanaka Welegedara, 11 Lasith Malinga.

Pitch and conditions

A bright, sunny day is predicted, and it won’t be excessively cold at night either. Teams fielding first have won nine of 14 previous matches at the Barabati Stadium, and India chased down England’s 270 with 38 balls to spare last November. Unlike other Indian grounds, this one has seen only one score in excess of 300, and the conditions could make for a tight game with moderate scores rather than Rajkot-like ones.

Stats and Trivia

Teams average 33.65 runs per wicket at the Barabati Stadium, the sixth-highest for grounds in India that have hosted more than ten ODIs.However, the scoring rate in Cuttack is among the lowest in the country with 4.72 per over.

Quotes

“There is no extra pressure as a captain with everybody contributing for the team.”
“We made a lot of mistakes on the field and picked up more injuries but still gave the opposition a hard run.”

There will be two Mr Crickets at the Gabba this week and both left-handers will shuffle in the middle order. If Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s friends had been more alert it could have been him with the game’s most comprehensive nickname, but he became Shiv and Michael Hussey got the never-to-be lost label.It’s one Hussey has tried to under-play but the great sportspeople who aren’t natural geniuses require obsession to drive them past the above-average. Chanderpaul, a tiny labourer who has proved himself over 121 Tests and 15 years, has willed himself towards the top shelf of batting and from Thursday Hussey will attempt to re-establish himself as a must-have in Australia’s list.”He’s amazing really, he’s been phenomenal, particularly in the last few years,” Hussey said of Chanderpaul, who held out the Australians for 442 runs at 147.33 in the Test series last year. “He’s had his ups and downs over the years as well. I remember when he first came on to the scene he was unbelievable, then he had a bit of a down patch, but in the last couple of years he has been unbelievable really.”Hussey was the same, with a magical start followed by a trough that lasted until the final innings of the Ashes when he finished the lost series with 121. In an effort to avoid thinking about anything other than saving the game, Hussey turned his back on Ricky Ponting while he was waiting for the third umpire’s decision. Not even running out the captain would alter Hussey’s focus.It is this intensity that made him an outstanding batsman in those never-ending county and Sheffield Shield seasons and convinced the selectors that after 11 first-class years he was ready to be a Test player. In a couple of seasons he was the closest Australia had to Bradman; at the moment he is the nearest to the exit.Yet when it comes to cricket obsession, Chanderpaul makes Hussey’s attitude seem carefree. When the West Indies step off the bus at the team hotel Chanderpaul doesn’t say “see you later”, but “see you tomorrow”. He’s off for room service, to watch some cricket videos and analyse his game some more. Don’t expect to run into him at the hotel bar unless it’s the only place showing a cricket game. And he is surely the only person who lives in Florida and owns a bowling machine.An Australian who has throw-downs on the outfield is usually attempting to drive so hard that the fence pickets snap or the advertising signs dint. At Allan Border Field last week Chanderpaul felt like defending, so he just let the ball run into his dabbed bat. There was no follow-through or flair. It was more like the way a father first teaches his children to stop the ball than the drill of an international batsman. The activity was for a player who just wanted to hold a piece of wood and touch something red.At 35, Chanderpaul is a year older than Hussey, who is starting to tone down his training so he can remain a fixture in all forms of the game. During the one-day series in India, where he scored 313 runs in six games, he barely practised to stay fresh. Hussey was never a big video watcher in his room like Chanderpaul, but he was always a hard trainer. Now he is more worried about “feeling comfortable with my game and getting my mind right”.This is what Hussey has been thinking about to improve his batting. “I have analysed my dismissals over the past year in Test cricket and there have been a few that have been a bit of bad luck and things just not going right. But the ones that I feel I have been in control in, that I stuffed up really badly, are the ones where I have been a little bit too tentative. I’ve been trying through the last three one-day series to come out a bit more confident. And if you’re going to get out cheaply at least it’s on my terms, being more confident rather than being tentative or negative.”That’s not the sort of detailed analysis Michael Clarke or Brad Haddin or Mitchell Johnson or Peter Siddle would offer. The alterations worked in the one-day arena but Hussey has to transform that into his Test play so he can hold his spot. Four summers ago he was the new face in Australia’s side, a 30-year-old debutant facing West Indies at the Gabba. He was so nervous that he tried an unsuccessful hook shot on 1.”It was a great experience but a horrible emotion,” he said of his first innings. Three months later he had three centuries and was a fixture in the middle order.”It’s nice to have done the full circle,” he said. “But I certainly believe in myself that I am still good enough to be at this level, can perform consistently at the highest level, and have the burning desire to go further and further.” Chanderpaul knows that feeling too.

Shane Warne believes state captains need a greater understanding of spinners to lift the nation’s slow-bowling stocks. Australia have struggled to find a full-time replacement for Warne since he retired in 2007, with Nathan Hauritz the current No. 1, although he is not guaranteed to play in every Test.”From where I stand, and I’m obviously very passionate about spin bowling, I think one of the biggest things that we’re lacking in Australia at the moment is the captaincy of spinners at domestic level,” Warne said in the Sunday Herald Sun. One of Warne’s roles is a Cricket Australia ambassador for spin bowling and he is trying to fix the problem, which was shown last week by figures revealing slow men are delivering fewer overs in the Sheffield Shield.”I go around to all the states and work with the captains and spinners about how to captain and set fields, encourage the spinners technically as well,” he said. “We’ve got some really good spinners, but I think there’s too much concern at the moment about being economical. They want to bowl 20 overs and get 1 for 50 – not go for any runs. I’d much rather see 4 for 100. The emphasis seems to be restricting runs rather than being attacking.”Warne called for the thinking of both captains and coaches to change. “That’s the biggest problem we’ve got, that they don’t understand the game,” he said. “So the spinners have to take more responsibility to understand their own fields.”Chris Simpson, the Queensland captain, is an offspinner and Cameron White bowls legbreaks for Victoria, while Dan Marsh, a left-arm orthodox, has relinquished the role at Tasmania. Last summer Simpson and Hauritz were the leading spinners in the Sheffield Shield with 16 wickets each, with Simpson averaging 41.68 a wicket and Hauritz 35.25.While Warne believes the leaders of the state teams need to act, he doesn’t think the selectors are to blame after trialling five spinners since Stuart MacGill’s retirement. “To be fair to the selectors, no one’s grabbed the spot with two hands,” he said. “You can’t blame the selectors for trying out all the different people to find out what the best role is – a defensive spinner or an attacking spinner.”

Stuart Law has been appointed Sri Lanka’s assistant coach and will assist Trevor Bayliss, the head coach, during the team’s tour of India in November. Somachanda de Silva, the president of Sri Lanka Cricket’s interim committee, told Cricinfo that the decision to appoint Law, the former Australia batsman, in place of Paul Farbrace – who has joined Kent as head coach – was taken at a meeting today.de Silva revealed that Venkatesh Prasad, the former India bowling coach released from that post last week, was also a contender for the post and had submitted “a strong application” but the SLC decided in favour of Law as he suited their requirements better.”We felt that Law, who has a good knowledge of cricket and conditions around the world, was more suited for the job,” de Silva told Cricinfo. “But I must admit that Prasad was a strong contender too. Moving ahead, we would like Law to be there till the 2011 World Cup but we are yet to formalise a contract. First we will have him assist Bayliss on the India tour, take a call, and move forward from there.”Sri Lanka, under Kumar Sangakkara, are scheduled to visit India next month for a full-fledged series comprising three Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20s.Law played one Test, against Sri Lanka in Perth in 1995, and was a regular in the one-day side for much of the 1990s. He last represented Australia in 1999 and has since acquired British citizenship.Born in Brisbane, he played for Queensland from 1988 to 2004 and captained them to a series of successes. He remains the most successful captain in Australian domestic cricket, captaining Queensland to four Pura Cup titles and two one-day trophies – and is Queensland’s second leading run-scorer in first-class cricket.He joined Lancashire from Essex in 2002 as the club’s overseas player. In 2003, he was named Lancashire Player of the Year, and in 2008 took over the captaincy after Mark Chilton stood down to focus on his own game. During his time with Lancashire, he scored almost 12,000 runs in all competitions.He was Lancashire captain until he was released from the county for his ICL links last year.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Morne van Wyk’s 47 helped Eagles down Somerset•Getty Images

The Eagles aren’t going to make many friends in English county cricket. The South African side, who progressed this far after a thrilling win over Sussex, showed excellent control in sealing a five-wicket win in Hyderabad, one that pushed the other county team to the brink of elimination. Morne van Wyk and Ryan Bailey played crucial roles with the bat after CJ de Villiers starred with the ball in the afternoon and the team picked up two points from this win.The tone was set after Justin Langer opted to bat. de Villiers, who sealed the Eagles’ promotion in the one-over eliminator against Sussex, raced through two wickets in his first over. Somerset slumped to 52 for 5 in nine overs and relied on their club’s record sixth-wicket partnership of 77 charged by Wes Durston, but a target of 133 proved easy for Eagles.Marcus Trescothick’s sudden return to England forced Craig Kieswetter to open, but he didn’t go much further than two streaky boundaries. In a double-wicket opening over, de Villiers began by trapping Kieswetter right in front and a wide later Arul Suppiah, stuck on the crease, missed the ball and was done in by the angle.That over brought Zander de Bruyn to the middle with the need to add some solidity to the innings. It was not to be, as he swatted an ugly heave straight to mid-off to gift de Villiers a third, and Thandi Tshabalala spun one past Langer’s bat first ball to add to Somerset’s woes. When Peter Trego was stunningly held by Alan Kruger in his first over, diving to his left to pluck a return catch, Somerset were staring down a tunnel.Step up Durston. From the get-go he ticked along nicely, just dabbing and deflecting until he clobbered Ryan McLaren for three fours in a row in the 15th over and repeated the feat when de Villiers returned for the 17th, racing past fifty in just 26 balls. The arc between point and third man proved a profitable area for James Hildreth, who slashed and edged with perfection for 33 runs in that region. Apart from one edge, Durston’s shots were crisp and calculated; when the fast bowlers offered room he was keen to steer and run the ball fine. It was a controlled yet rapid innings, and the spark the innings desperately needed.After bowling the most expensive over of the innings, de Villiers hit back, bowling a maiden in the 19th over – a rarity in Twenty20 format – to finish with 4 for 17, the best figures of the tournament. The last two overs yielded just two leg byes and a single, as the Eagles limited the damage, and that ultimately proved crucial.Chasing 133 proved easy enough in the end, but Somerset made inroads early. Rilee Roussow, whose splendid half-century was pivotal against Sussex, looked intent on showing his aggressive side but miscued to mid-on off Charl Willoughby, and Adrian McLaren’s poor run was extended when he top-edged to short fine leg. Two ugly dismissals were followed by a soft offering from Boeta Dippenaar, sashaying down to the spin of Max Waller and picking out long-off.With his captain gone for 18, van Wyk – who at this stage had eased to 29 from 26 – steered the chase and gained useful help from Bailey’s 29. van Wyk, who struck four fours and a six, was particularly strong working the ball to the leg side, but also played some fine checked drives to trouble Somerset. He was shaping to take the Eagles to victory, but top-edged Alfonso Thomas and was well held by a running and diving Kieswetter for 47. Bailey went soon after but victory was achieved with eight balls remaining.

Ricky Ponting has endorsed Michael Clarke to succeed him as Australia’s Twenty20 captain. Despite the strong cases presented by Cameron White and Brad Haddin to assume the 20-over captaincy, Ponting insisted his current vice-captain deserved the promotion and the opportunity to turn around Australia’s fortunes in what is their weakest format.Ponting announced his retirement from Twenty20 international cricket in the aftermath of Australia’s Ashes defeat. An announcement on his successor will be made at the conclusion of Cricket Australia’s board meeting next month but Ponting’s public backing will be difficult to ignore.Australia’s selectors revealed their intended succession plan two years ago when they installed Clarke as Ponting’s deputy in all three forms of the game. Clarke has excelled with the bat in the Test arena ever since but his declining strike-rate in the limited-overs formats has prompted questions over whether he is the man to lead the Twenty20 side.White will presumably come under consideration, having led Victoria to all four finals of Australia’s domestic Big Bash tournament, while Haddin has twice captained the Australian 20-over side this year. Ponting, though, was adamant Clarke follow him into the leadership role and seek to restore confidence to the side ahead of the World Twenty20 tournament in the Caribbean next year.”Michael has done a terrific job in my absence, be it in Twenty20 or 50-over cricket,” Ponting said. “He’s continued to grow as a player and a leader. I know Cricket Australia said at my announcement they would wait until later in the year before they name the captain but Michael’s done everything right and deserves the first crack at it.”Ponting reiterated his belief that standing down from Twenty20 internationals would enhance his prospects of playing through to the 2011 World Cup and the 2013 Ashes. Should he achieve the latter goal, Ponting would join a select group of Australian players to have completed five Ashes tours.”Not playing the World Twenty20 was the hardest thing to do; retiring knowing that was just around the corner and is such a big event,” he said. “It wasn’t that I wanted to get out of that tournament.”[Retirement from Twenty20 internationals] is hopefully going to give me a better opportunity to be able to [play the 2013 Ashes series] and come back here. It was about me wanting to play at the level I feel I can play at in 50-over cricket and Test cricket. With 20-over international cricket there at the moment it was just making it harder to be physically fit and mentally sharp for every game that I was playing.”

Trevor Bayliss, the Sri Lanka coach, has said that his team capitalised on New Zealand’s negative bowling to finish on top on the first day at the SSC. On a slow-paced day, half-centuries by Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera took Sri Lanka to a strong 262 for 3. Daniel Vettori and Iain O’Brien were the only wicket-takers on a day when the tourists toiled hard on a flat pitch after losing the toss.”It would have been a bit difficult for us if we had to play a few more balls,” Bayliss said. “They looked like they didn’t want us to get away but on this track, which looked like it had a little bit of seam on it, maybe bowling around the off stump might have had us in a bit more trouble.”In a truncated first session, Sri Lanka scored 62 and lost a wicket; in the second they lost two and scored 83. In the final session, they scored 116 runs and lost no wickets, with Samaraweera and Jayawardene going strong.”The New Zealanders came out with a plan obviously not to let us get away probably the way we did in Galle,” Bayliss said. “We spoke about being patient and not chasing the wide balls. I thought we did that pretty well, especially Mahela [Jayawardene] and [Thilan] Samaraweera. They wore the opposition down to a certain degree and later on in the day, when they started to come and bowl a bit closer to the stumps, we were able to score a little bit quicker. It was a good day for us and we are in a good position.”Bayliss described the wicket as slow, with tennis-ball type bounce. “Earlier on we were thinking if we get to 300 we will be happy with it. The wicket became a little bit easier to bat on as the day wore on. We will be very happy with 350 if we can get to 400 we would be very pleased.”Bayliss was also full of praise for Jayawardene, who he says has played some exceptional knocks over the last two years in charge as coach. Jayawardene looked on course to another century in his favourite venue, batting on 79. He was watchful during his stint and focused on playing a long innings.”His powers of concentration and his mental strength are exceptional,” Bayliss said. “Some of the innings that he’s played, and under pressure, have been sensational. He showed it again today.”On Daniel Vettori’s achievement of reaching 300 Test wickets to add to his 3000 Test runs, Bayliss said: “It’s testament to not only his skill but his long period in the game, since he started at 18. He has a lot of good cricket ahead of him.”