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Three new representatives were elected to represent Associate Member interests on the ICC’s Chief Executives Committee (CEC) at the ICC annual conference this week, part of several changes to take place as a result, to some degree, of Ireland’s application for Full Membership being accepted. Several Irishmen had served as Associate representatives on ICC committees but with their newfound Full Member status, they will maintain spots on the various meeting groups while opening up vacancies for fresh Associate representation.The expiration of Warren Deutrom’s two-year term as one of the three Associate representatives on the CEC coincided with Ireland’s elevation to Test status, allowing him to stay on the committee. Fellow members Greg Campbell of Papua New Guinea and John Cribbin of Hong Kong have been replaced by Bermuda’s Neil Speight and Botswana’s Sumod Damodar, while the other spot in the Associate trio has been filled by Betty Timmer of the Netherlands.Deutrom and Cribbin had both been on the CEC since at least 2007, while Campbell lasted just one term after replacing the UAE’s David East in 2015. Timmer has already been a part of the ICC’s Women’s Committee as the Europe representative.With the change in Ireland’s membership status, Kevin O’Brien could lose his spot as Associate representative on the ICC’s Cricket Committee•Getty Images/Sportsfile

Bermuda’s Speight had been a long-serving Associate representative on the main ICC Board before he was replaced by Ireland’s Ross McCollum in a vote taken at the 2016 ICC annual conference in Edinburgh. McCollum had been selected to a two-year term along with Namibia’s Francois Erasmus and Singapore’s Imran Khwaja. Ireland’s Full Membership, however, means a by-election for McCollum’s Associate seat will take place at some point later this year, likely at the next ICC board meeting in October.Like Deutrom, McCollum will still hold a place on the board by virtue of being the chairman of a Full Member country. But the Associate seat vacated by McCollum takes on increased significance after the ICC approved governance reforms in a new constitution, which now give each of the three Associate representatives voting rights. Prior to Thursday, Associate representatives attended board meetings in an observational capacity.The one other spot that may also come up for review is on the ICC Cricket Committee. Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien currently holds a place on the panel as the Associate representative, but may now be squeezed out due to his country’s change in membership status. It is unknown when a replacement would be decided, but most likely by October as is the case with McCollum’s vacancy.

ScorecardJamie Porter and Matt Quinn shared five Hampshire wickets in 17 balls under overcast skies on the second day of Essex’s Specsavers County Championship match at Chelmsford.Hampshire went from 18 without loss to 18 for 5 as their batsmen found Essex’s opening pair almost unplayable, the ball swinging considerably. It didn’t get any better for Hampshire until the sun came out belatedly.By then Ravi Bopara had chipped in with two wickets in his first over as shell-shocked Hampshire slumped to 92 for 7 at the close, still 119 short of making Essex bat again.Hampshire’s head coach Craig White was perplexed after Hampshire’s capitulation. He said: “I thought we bowled well this morning to take eight for a hundred and odd. Then for that to happen I’m just lost for words really. I think there were some decent deliveries and some poor shots, but it is a hard one to analyse.”I’m still a little bit gobsmacked to be honest. There’s certainly a little bit in the pitch. It’s dried out a bit and done a little bit more than it did yesterday. There were a lot of play-and-misses yesterday, so it was doing a fair bit, and now it’s doing enough and it’s tricky.”Liam Dawson sparked the rot when he played an unconvincing forward prod to Porter and got an outside edge to the wicketkeeper. Four balls later, James Vince’s middle-stump was sent cartwheeling as he was beaten by Porter’s pace.Quinn then had Michael Carberry lbw offering no shot and next ball Rilee Rossouw was caught low down at mid-on by a diving Neil Wagner. George Bailey gave Porter his third wicket when he shouldered arms to one that nipped back and was bowled.Bopara replaced Quinn at the River End and had Sean Ervine wafting airily at his first ball. Four balls later Gareth Berg gloved a delivery that reared up nastily to give Adam Wheater his second catch of the over. At that point Hampshire were 34 for 7 and only 14 overs had been bowled. Lewis McManus and Kyle Abbott papered over the cracks with an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 58.All this after Essex had lost their last nine wickets for 117 runs with Abbott taking his third five-wicket haul of the Championship season in two brief, but hostile spells either side of lunch.Shouldn’t have left that one: George Bailey was one of a cluster of wickets to fall on 18•Getty Images

Hampshire had toiled on day one as Alastair Cook and Tom Westley amassed a record second-wicket partnership of 243. But Abbott finished with 5 for 58 from 30 overs as Essex could only reach 360 and he took his Championship tally this season to 25 wickets at 15.76 each.He claimed four wickets for 15 runs in 11.4 overs on the day, taking 2 for 10 in seven and a bit overs in the first hour followed by 2 for 5 in four overs immediately post-lunch.Abbott had to carry much of the burden for Hampshire’s attack after Fidel Edwards suffered a shoulder injury on the first day that will prevent his participation in the rest of the match. Abbott, though, was up to the task.He had ended the Cook-Westley partnership with the final ball the evening before, and used the new ball to great effect in the morning. With the third delivery of the 81st over he had Dan Lawrence shuffling across his stumps and to exit lbw.Cook gave his first chance of an innings that spanned 281 balls when he was dropped by Dawson at third slip. Abbott was unfortunate then, but in his next over he had Cook nibbling at the first two balls before trying to hammer the third square on the offside to give a catch behind.With Berg and Ervine nagging away at the batsmen, Bopara and Wheater managed just 12 runs in a fifth-wicket stand that spanned 10 overs before Berg pinned former Hampshire man Wheater lbw.Bopara, meanwhile, faced 58 balls before reaching double-figures, though he did straight drive Ervine for the four that took him to 11,000 first-class runs.But the arrival of Ryan ten Doeschate roused Essex from their slumbers. He lifted Mason Crane’s first ball over long-leg for six, and followed it with a four through the covers. He outscored Bopara by two-to-one in a sixth-wicket partnership of 51 that took Essex to a third batting point, a significant increase on the paltry two from their previous three matches.The stand was broken when Abbott returned to the attack straight after lunch. With his fourth ball he had Bopara injudiciously leaving alone a delivery that swung in and took off stump.Ten Doeschate followed soon after for a spirited 37 when he was beaten by a fast, swinging delivery from Abbott that uprooted his off-stump. Simon Harmer then went lbw to Berg.After two lengthy rain breaks either side of tea, which reduced the day’s allocation by 20 overs, the remaining two Essex wickets fell inside three overs. Wagner went for a big-hit against Crane and was caught on the midwicket boundary before Quinn’s fun was ended when Dawson had him plumb lbw. It was a prelude to what was to follow.

ScorecardCraig Miles got among the wickets when he removed Joe Weatherley•PA Photos

Liam Norwell led a determined Gloucestershire bowling display in Canterbury where Kent were dismissed for 298 on the opening day of the Specsavers County Championship season.The 25-year-old paceman bagged 3 for 46, while Chris Liddle, Craig Miles and Graeme van Buuren snaffled two apiece as Kent succumbed inside 89 overs on a green-tinted pitch that offered the visiting seamers some assistance throughout the day.Batting first after an uncontested toss, Kent had 25 on the board within half an hour before Daniel Bell-Drummond became their first casualty of the Division Two campaign. Prodding forward to a fine Norwell leg-cutter, the England Lions opener was caught low down at third slip by George Hankins to go for 11.At the other end, Joe Weatherley, who has joined Kent on a long-term loan from Hampshire, looked assured and confident on his club debut. Getting off the mark with a rasping square cut, the wiry right-hander then straight drove left-armer David Payne for another eye-catching boundary.Gloucestershire made a double bowling change before noon – introducing Liddle and Miles – but Kent trundled to 50 in the 18th over of the day and, by the 26th over, Weatherley and Joe Denly had posted their half-century stand.Weatherley’s stay ended soon after for 36 and to the second delivery of a new spell by Miles. In looking to shoulder arms to a good length leg-cutter, Weatherley inadvertently allowed the ball to brush the face of his bat to offer keeper Phil Mustard the simplest of chances.Gloucestershire’s bowlers strengthened their hand in mid-session, taking four more wickets for 129 runs as Kent’s batsmen failed to cash in on decent starts.Denly continued Kent’s profligate trend. Driving imperiously, he cantered to a 96-ball fifty with nine fours but, with 62 to his name he chased a wide one from Norwell to edge to slip and bring an end to a bright third-wicket stand with Sam Northeast that added 58 inside 13 overs.Without addition to the total, Northeast (22) pushed at one from Liddle that nibbled away off the seam and feathered the outside edge to present Chris Dent with a sharp chance at second slip that made it 134 for 4.Will Gidman raised Kent’s 150 with a square drive that rattled the boundary boards but, with his score on 10, the left-hander pushed firm-handed at another beauty to edge to slip and give Norwell a deserved third wicket.Darren Stevens lifted the run rate with a straight six off Jack Taylor that bisected the Cowdrey and Woolley stands as he posted a 51-ball fifty with seven fours to go with his maximum. But, in attempting to clip his next ball through midwicket, Stevens miscued to square leg to be caught by Cameron Bancroft off the bowling of Van Buuren and leave the hosts six wickets down.Soon after the resumption Adam Rouse (13) fenced at a lifting away-swinger from Miles to edge to Mustard, then, after a couple of lusty blows, Matt Coles (11) holed out to deep midwicket to gift Van Buuren a second scalp.James Tredwell and James Harris, the Middlesex seamer and Kent’s second debutant loanee of the day, took the home score beyond 250 until the second new ball accounted for Tredwell (26) who was caught behind off a full-length away-swinger from Payne.Harris and last man Mitch Claydon continued to go for their shots but Claydon spooned to mid-wicket to give Liddle a second wicket and leave Harris unbeaten on 33.In the five overs through to stumps, Gloucestershire’s Bancroft played inside a Stevens away-swinger to lose off stump as the visitors reached 9 for 1 to trail by 289 going into the second day.

Sunrisers Hyderabad batsman Kane Williamson has said it will be difficult for his team to reprise their title-winning feat from last year, and that they will need a different approach for IPL 2017. Williamson’s thoughts echo those of coach Tom Moody, who felt a particular brand of cricket doesn’t guarantee success all the time.”Yeah, it’s never easy [to replicate the performance of last year], but I think it’s important that you go into it with an open mind and look to take it on, perhaps, a little bit differently because things won’t always be the same as they were,” Williamson told ESPNcricinfo on the eve of the season-opener between Sunrisers and Royal Challengers Bangalore. “I look forward to the first game against Bangalore, should be a tough one.”Bonding well as a team, according to Williamson, remains critical to achieving the kind of results Sunrisers had last year, especially as they have a few fresh faces in their 25-member unit. The defending champions bought eight players, including four foreigners, at the auction in February after offloading six from last year’s squad.”Our team is a little bit different to what it was last year. Lot of similar faces, but there are some new players, so it is important we gel well with a slightly different unit,” Williamson said. “Always tough backing up [what Sunrisers did in 2016], but we have actually quite a new-look side this year as well with a slight change of personnel. But that’s very exciting.”Last year, I think as a team we gelled really well. There were a number of great contributions from the likes of David Warner and Mustafizur Rahman, who were brilliant throughout the campaign, but there were also a number of cameo performances that assisted all the way along, so there was a good team culture last year. It is great playing in the IPL, meeting a bunch of new guys and players that you played against a lot in the international calendar, and a lot of local talent as well. So, it is always nice coming here.”A senior member of the Sunrisers Hyderabad outfit, Williamson has played only eight matches for the franchise in two seasons•BCCI

Williamson, 26, himself hasn’t always been a first choice in the XI, and has only played eight games for Sunrisers over the last two years. Last year, he played his first game in the third week of the tournament after missing the initial few games with a hamstring injury. Williamson went on to have a middling campaign, and finished with 124 runs from six games, at a strike-rate of 101.63, significantly lower than his career strike-rate of 118.55 in the T20 format. What does he put it down to?”Pretty small sample size?” he suggested, with a laugh. “Look, it’s always different playing in different conditions, different situations, batting in a few different spots. I don’t really think about that stuff too much. It’s always about trying to do what the team requires at that point in time, whatever the strike-rate needs to be, it needs to be, but you aren’t just focusing on that.”Williamson, however, has had a terrific run recently across formats. Apart from scoring two Test hundreds against South Africa, he has racked up scores of 73*, 12, 60 and 13 in the four T20I innings since January. Williamson, though, is aware that those numbers may not necessarily guarantee a longer run in the team.”[Maybe] score a few runs, maybe bowl a few overs, [maybe] take a few catches and that sort of clichéd stuff [to hold down a place],” he said with a laugh. “But, look, it is important that as a team member you are just looking to give to the side whether you are playing a lot or whether you are not, and prepare well. If you are given the opportunity, you look forward to taking it.”But, you know it is a great thing to see the team do well. It was great watching them, having played a little bit last year, but a lot of it on the sidelines. It was still fantastic to be a part of that success and all we want to do this year is try and contribute to the success that we might have this year.”

Left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell and reserve wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen have been released from the South African squad in New Zealand. They will return home on Sunday, following fast bowlers Chris Morris and Duanne Olivier, who were sent back earlier in the series.Neither Parnell nor Klaasen featured in any of the three Tests although Klaasen may have fancied his chances of a debut when Quinton de Kock was injured ahead of the third Test. De Kock damaged a tendon on his right index finger, which has ruled him out of the IPL, but was able to play the Hamilton match with some strapping.Parnell could not displace any of the three quicks – Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada or Morne Morkel – and, like Olivier and Morris, was deemed surplus to requirements, especially with the series at its end. South Africa still have the dropped opening batsman Stephen Cook and offspinner Dane Piedt, who flew in for the third Test but did not find a place in the playing XI, on hand for substitute fielding duties.Hamilton is the last Test in a nine-month summer for South Africa, which began in August. Their next assignment is a four-Test tour of England, right after the Champions Trophy.

The absence of transparent tender processes, the large number of complimentary tickets distributed, the presence of ineligible office bearers, and problems with vendor contracts were among the issues highlighted by the BCCI observer Ratnakar Shetty against the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), which hosted the one-off India-Bangladesh Test in February.The HCA had conducted elections on January 17 after deciding to comply with the Supreme Court-approved Lodha Committee recommendations, but was asked by the court to withhold the results because it was hearing a petition filed by the incumbent HCA secretary John Manoj.On February 6, three days before the Test against Bangladesh, the court asked the BCCI to appoint an observer to “monitor the conduct” of the fixture by the HCA office bearers. Shetty arrived in Hyderabad the following day and told the state association that all financial expenses would need his approval as per the court order.The HCA, however, had already issued tenders for various services needed during the Test, and though Shetty said the state officials had co-operated to make the match “successful”, there were several issues he had to bring to the court’s attention.At various places in his three-page report, which was submitted to the Hyderabad High Court on February 24, Shetty said he had been left speechless by the lack of accountability from the HCA administration.”It was observed that the tendering process followed by HCA is far from being transparent. Most contracts had one vendor bidding and in some cases no bids were called,” Shetty said. “There is one vendor by the name M/s. Sanjay Maintenance contracts by HCA aggregating to a payment of approximately Rs. 10,00,000 (10 lakhs) per month and yet the same vendor has been given separate contracts for the similar scope of work for match days.”The Interim President himself [Narender Goud] handpicked an agency for ticketing without any tender. One of the Joint Secretaries was involved with the award of contract for buses and cares for the teams and match officials. There was only one tender and quotations were called for use of vehicles for 24 hours – something which is unheard of.”Despite the Lodha Committee’s recommendations limiting the number of complimentary tickets issued, Shetty found that the HCA had distributed “more than 25% of tickets” as complimentary.”The total number of complimentary tickets issued by HCA was around 11,500 in a total capacity of 39,000 seats,” Shetty said in his report. “It was observed that the HCA office bearers and the executive committee members are more keen to protect their own vote banks by giving free tickets with buffet lunch to the members. Almost 50% of the catering bills are towards the members and officials (each club gets five passes in the main pavilion, with lunch). They are not interested in ensuring that the HCA makes profit during an international match. The total expenses for food alone was approximately to the tune of Rs. 75,00,000 (75 lakhs).”Another concern for Shetty was the involvement of ineligible state office bearers in the organisation of the match. The Supreme Court of India had stated that no office bearer who had finished nine years in the job waseligible to continue in the role.”However, Mr. Syed Moizuddin, the former Vice President who demitted office was actively involved in the tendering process and aware of contracts for the Test match,” Shetty reported.He also said there had been “absolutely no check” on the expenditure for catering. “Take for example, the Inspector of Police certified food bills for 2000 policemen every day of the Test Match. Even the Police Commissioner was surprised when I showed him the note.”

Match facts

January 15, 2017
Start time 1420 local (0320 GMT)David Warner made 156 in his last ODI innings at the MCG•Cricket Australia

Big picture

Barely an hour into the first ODI at the Gabba on Friday, Pakistan looked well placed to secure their first win over Australia in Australia in any format since 2005. In the 17th over, the hosts had stumbled to 5 for 78 – David Warner and Steven Smith had gone in the fifth over of the game. But Australia’s batting order is about as long as Billy Stanlake, and a remarkable rebuild was led by Matthew Wade and Glenn Maxwell. Australia’s 9 for 268 proved not only competitive but enough to set up a 92-run victory.It was an opportunity missed for Pakistan, who now head to the MCG on Sunday down 0-1 in the five-ODI series. Adding to their woes, they will be without their captain Azhar Ali, who has been ruled out* after sustaining a hamstring injury during the Brisbane game. Without Azhar and vice-captain Sarfraz Ahmed, who flew home for personal reasons ahead of the first match, Pakistan have announced Mohammad Hafeez will take over as their stand-in captain.

Form guide

Australia: WWWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan: LWWWW

In the spotlight

At the Gabba on Friday, Travis Head sent down 10 overs of his offspin for a miserly 28 runs – never before in his one-day career had he delivered his full allocation. In fact, Head has been such a part-timer at the level below that in 16 ODIs he has bowled far more overs than in the remainder of his 33 List A games combined. If Australia can continue to get value from Head with the ball, it will make him an especially attractive prospect across formats. At the Gabba he also moved up to open the batting for the first time in ODIs, and made a run-a-ball 39.Imad Wasim impressed at the Gabba, where his left-arm spin troubled Australia’s batsmen and he picked up 2 for 35 from his 10 overs. A valuable lower-order batsman with a first-class double-century to his name, he also chipped in with 29 in Pakistan’s ultimately unsuccessful chase, making him the second top scorer behind Babar Azam.

Team news

Josh Hazlewood was rested for the first ODI but is likely to come in for the second game, possibly for Billy Stanlake, who appeared physically troubled at times during his debut in Brisbane. Adam Zampa may also come into consideration, though with Travis Head having bowled 10 tight overs of spin at the Gabba and Glenn Maxwell also in the XI, the legspinner could be surplus to requirements.Australia (possible) 1 David Warner, 2 Travis Head, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Chris Lynn, 5 Mitchell Marsh, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 James Faulkner, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Josh Hazlewood.Azhar Ali’s hamstring injury has ruled him out of contention. With Shoaib Malik also ruled out, having failed to recover from the throat infection that kept him out in Brisbane, Asad Shafiq should take Azhar’s place, though Hafeez will most likely open in his stead.Pakistan (possible) 1 Mohammad Hafeez (capt), 2 Sharjeel Khan, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Umar Akmal, 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Mohammad Nawaz 9 Mohammad Amir, 10 Wahab Riaz, 11 Hasan Ali.

Pitch and conditions

The drop-in pitches at the MCG can be a little two-paced, but big runs can still be on offer. In last month’s Chappell-Hadlee ODI at the venue, David Warner smashed 156, though no other batsman in the game passed 40. The forecast for Sunday is for a partly cloudy day and a top of 23C.

Stats and trivia

• Australia have won their past nine ODIs at the MCG, last losing there to Sri Lanka in March 2012
• At no ground has Mitchell Starc taken more ODI wickets than the MCG, where he has picked up 17 at 14.23
• In the first game at the Gabba, Matthew Wade became just the second Australian (James Faulkner was the other) to score an ODI hundred from outside the top six. The feat has been achieved only 14 times worldwide

*1045 GMT The preview was amended to reflect the news that Azhar Ali and Shoaib Malik had been ruled out

ScorecardFile photo – Angelo Mathews returned from injury to finish with figures of 2 for 25•Getty Images

Lahiru Kumara, Sri Lanka’s 19-year-old seamer, boosted his chances of playing the first Test in Port Elizabeth by claiming three wickets on day two of the practice match at Potchefstroom. Dushmantha Chameera, meanwhile, went wicketless and proved expensive, conceding 68 runs from his 10 overs. The Sri Lankans had the South African Invitation XI 285 for 8 by stumps. The visitors had made 373 in the first innings.Kumara may not have been in the likely XI for the Port Elizabeth match after taking only three wickets across two Tests in Zimbabwe. However, team management may consider him on the basis of form. Among his three wickets was the scalp of Leus du Plooy, who top scored for the Invitation XI with 142 off 159 deliveries. He also claimed the scalps of allrounders Jason Smith and Bjorn Fortuin, with the latter caught behind.Dinesh Chandimal wore the gloves for the Sri Lankans, having now sufficiently recovered from the broken hand he sustained in September. Chandimal took three catches and effected a stumping off Dilruwan Perera’s bowling.The seam attack appears Sri Lanka’s shakiest discipline heading into the Tests, and, among the other frontline quicks, only Nuwan Pradeep was able to take a wicket, removing the highly-rated Aiden Markram to end the day with figures of 1 for 37.Suranga Lakmal also went wicketless, but it is Chameera’s form Sri Lanka will be most concerned about, as he is the only bowler capable of consistently bowling at speeds in excess of 140 kph. Before Sri Lanka left the island, Chameera had made a modest return to competitive cricket, taking 2 for 76 in a first-class game, though that had been on a spin-friendly pitch.The visitors will be buoyed, however, by a successful return to bowling from Angelo Mathews. Having been laid low by multiple leg injuries in recent months, Mathews took 2 for 15 from his seven overs. Dilruwan Perera also took two scalps for 22, but is unlikely to play in Port Elizabeth over Rangana Herath.Earlier in the day, Dhananjaya de Silva had managed to add only five runs to his overnight score, as he and Upul Tharanga were dismissed by seamer Duanne Olivier.Sri Lanka remain 88 runs ahead in the innings, with Tuesday being the final day of play.

A USA Women’s development camp, which includes matches against a women’s Marylebone Cricket Club touring squad, will be held in Philadelphia between September 8 and 11, the ICC has announced. The matches will be the first for USA Women since they were humbled by a touring Pakistan side last November in Florida.The ICC also announced a new USA Women’s selection panel headed by chairman of selectors Ricardo Powell and fellow men’s national selector Barney Jones. Three new female selectors will join the panel for the first time: Patricia Whittaker, Julie Abbott and Joan Alexander-Serrano.Whittaker is a former West Indies Women’s Test cricketer who has spent more than 25 years in New York as a lawyer. In May, she was named to one of the four USA advisory panels formed by the ICC to implement its USA development strategy. Specifically, Whittaker was named to the 10-person Sustainable Foundation panel while Abbott, a former women’s county cricketer who now resides in Kansas City, Missouri, was named to the High Performance advisory panel.Alexander-Serrano was part of the 2011 USA Women’s World Cup Qualifier squad in Bangladesh at age 51 and recently participated in an ICC Combine trial in New York at age 55 alongside other women’s players, where she was one of the most impressive bowlers on display. However, her appointment to the selection panel indicates she has decided to shift focus to the administrative side of the game.The camp and matches against the MCC touring side will be held at some of the oldest cricket facilities in the USA, including Evansburg Cricket Field, Haverford College – which officially has the only varsity status college cricket team in America – and Merion Cricket Club. All three grounds use artificial pitches, but have well-maintained outfields.By far the best of the three is Merion CC, which has some of the best off-field facilities at any cricket ground in America. Founded in 1865, making it one of the oldest cricket clubs in America, Merion CC’s stately grounds and pavilion – also located in the Philadelphia suburb of Haverford – now host festival cricket events annually in the spring.A final squad for the USA Women’s development camp, including probables for the matches against the MCC, is likely to be announced later this week.

Sri Lanka Under-19 coach Roy Dias believes that experience will be vital heading into the 2018 Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, and this has played a hand in the selection of the current U-19 squad that is playing a home series against South Africa U-19. Four players in the squad for the South Africa Youth Test series – Avishka Fernando, Shammu Ashan, Vishad Randika and Damitha Silva – participated in the 2016 U-19 World Cup but will not qualify for 2018 edition. Dias, however, said their experience was needed to help the younger players develop.”There are about four experienced guys; other than that the rest are all playing for the first time at Under-19 international level,” Dias said. “They are quite good; you have to expose them and give them more matches and see how they perform.”My idea is to prepare them for the 2018 Under-19 World Cup, which is in New Zealand. Right now we are playing the Under-19 boys, but most of them are 17-plus and we need to give them the experience, which is going to be important. We are playing the experienced guys so that the juniors can learn from them as well.”The home series against South Africa, comprising three Youth Tests and as many Youth ODIs, is Dias’ first assignment following his appointment to the post in March. The Sri Lankan team has been impressive against a strong visiting side, and managed to draw all three Tests. The two teams will play a Youth ODI series between July 9 and 13, before the team departs for the England tour on July 17. In England, Sri Lanka are scheduled to play a tour match, two Youth Tests and three Youth ODIs.”Although it is an Under-19 series the cut-off date for players is March 31, 1996 so it is more or less an Under-20 side that England will be fielding,” Dias said. “Sri Lanka Cricket has given permission to play boys who will be 19-plus because we have to play good cricket. We can’t take a junior side and play an England team which is Under 20. It’s a good thing because some of the Under-19 boys who have finished with the Under-19 World Cup get another chance to play cricket.”Dias, who played 20 Tests and 58 ODIs between 1979 and 1987, took up a coaching role with the Sri Lanka senior team in 1998 before stints with Oman and Nepal. He also has experience coaching a junior side, having done so with Nepal.”I thought coaching the Under-19 boys was a good opportunity for me because I feel you have to start at the grassroot level,” he said “I have been doing that in other countries and when I showed interest Sri Lanka Cricket gave me the job, it’s a one-year contract, which is renewable.”Dias also felt the players were getting exposure through school cricket and stressed that the standards had not dropped.”These guys are playing quite a lot of cricket than we did,” he said. “We hardly played any cricket at all; we had about eight school matches for the season. These boys are getting more cricket and more exposure. I don’t think the standards have fallen. The side given to me is a good one and my job is to get them to the next level.”