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The voice nearly cracked as Michael Vaughan revealed how it was the moment he was bowled by his three-year-old son, Archie, that finally made him realise it was time to end his playing career. However, unlike the press conference when he stood down as England’s captain last year, he just about managed to hold back the tears as he reflected on giving up his ambition of facing Australia one final time.As Vaughan read his own statement the eyes welled up and he needed to clear his throat a few times. “It’s been a hard decision. I don’t want this to be déjà vu from nine months ago but you must understand it’s been difficult,” he said. “Two weeks ago in the garden with my little lad Archie he bowled a ball that hit a weed and knocked my off stump out. I think that was the time. If a three-year-old is bowling me out it’s time to move on.”It is often said that sport doesn’t produce many fairytale finishes and a conference room at Edgbaston is probably not how Vaughan had planned his exit. However, the dream of once again standing at The Oval with the Ashes urn has been a distant hope since he relinquished his place. “It was always going to be a long shot to get me back in,” he admitted. “I’ve given it my best shot.”Now there is a chance that, as England are battling Australia at Cardiff next week, he could be acting as a golf caddy in Scotland as he waits to see what the future holds. “I haven’t had any phonecalls, the phone is on,” he said when asked about a likely role as a Sky commentator for the remainder of the summer. “I have been offered one job and that came from Lee Westwood to carry his bag at the Barclays Open next Thursday, so if no other calls come in I’ll be up in Scotland at Loch Lomond.”His quest for a comeback never really gathered momentum. After taking time out to reflect on standing down from the captaincy after England’s defeat to South Africa, at Edgbaston last August, he went away with the Academy squad to India but that trip was cut short by the Mumbai attacks before Vaughan had the chance of a game. That put paid to any chances of a West Indies tour, leaving him short of chances to prove his readiness for this summer.A century in Abu Dhabi on Yorkshire’s pre-season tour hinted that, maybe, the script-writers were at work but it was a teasing prologue that didn’t deliver. And away from purely form issues, his body was creaking so severely that by the time the decision was made, he couldn’t field for an entire day. The writing had been on the wall through the early stages of the season where he had failed to reach even a half-century in the Championship. For every swivel-pull or cover drive that offered a tantalising reminder at a glorious past, there was an uprooted stump or edge to the slips that told of a more sobering present.”I had glimpses this summer of feeling on top of my game, I’d get a 30 or 40 then just get out. I don’t know what it is that makes that happen,” he said. “It was frustrating, I gave it everything I can but I just wasn’t playing well enough. I was spending too much time in the gym trying to get onto the pitch – Scott McAllister [the Yorkshire physio] will have to take a pay cut because he’s lost his best client – and I have to move on.””The Ashes 16 [for the training squad] have to be the best 16 players in the country and I’m not one of them,” he added. “Seven or eight months ago I was pondering whether to step down around December time, but wanted to give it one last hard effort to try and get into the Ashes squad and face Australia one more time.”I’ve given it that shot, I haven’t been playing well enough and my body hasn’t been reacting the way I’d like it to. You have to move forward and hopefully this is a chance for the guys to go and recreate history. We can all forget 2005 now, that’s irrelevant when it comes to this series.”And, perhaps most tellingly, Vaughan’s on-field struggles had begun to affect him in the dressing room and he didn’t want to hold back the promising youngsters in the Yorkshire squad. “Playing cricket has been my life for 16-17 years so to hand it over and not have the chance of playing again is a difficult one,” he said. “But I know it’s the right decision. I’ve always said your experienced players have to be the most enthusiastic and I was just starting to feel I wasn’t passing that on in the Yorkshire dressing room.”Once Vaughan was left out of the initial Ashes squad there was really no way back, but that wouldn’t have stopped the speculation had he managed to score runs for Yorkshire, especially if that had coincided with England struggling against Australia. Now, though, he can settle back and watch the Ashes contest unfold, which he admits would have been on his mind even if he was still playing for Yorkshire.”I didn’t want to be scoring runs and putting pressure on the team. I do think there are better players than me out there at this stage and they deserve to be given a chance. I also had this feeling of standing at mid-off at Scarborough or Headingley and my mind would be on watching the Ashes. You’ve got to be committed to whatever team you play for and I want to watch the Ashes.”Watching, and maybe noting a few things about the Aussies as well? Vaughan is in regular contact with senior England players and will only be too happy to offer his advice. “I’ll certainly be on hand,” he said. “I had an hour on the phone with Andrew [Strauss] this morning talking about a lot of things, but I haven’t looked at the new Australian players. But Straussy knows we are good friends and any time during the series he wants to have a yarn the phone will always be on.”If this series shapes up anything like the one four years ago, don’t be surprised if Strauss takes up that offer. Michael Vaughan may yet have an influence on another Ashes campaign.

Having had an easy first round, India will begin the Super Eights in confident mood against much tougher opposition. They will be up against West Indies on Friday at Lord’s, followed by England and South Africa, and captain MS Dhoni has said the only difference now will be how his players cope with the high-pressure moments, which he thinks will be the norm as the tournament progresses.”There is no easy game now. And in a crucial game, the only difference is how you cope with pressure,” Dhoni said after the team’s optional practice session that lasted about two hours and was attended by only five members. The rest of the squad decided to take it easy after the journey from Nottingham where India easily defeated Ireland in their last game on Wednesday.West Indies may have lost their last match against Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge but Dhoni said the opposition had a lot of big hitters in their ranks who could demoralise the bowlers. “[Chris] Gayle, [Dwayne] Bravo, [Shivnarine] Chanderpaul, [Ramnaresh] Sarwan can all hit big. But our bowlers are experienced too and will need to bowl tight,” Dhoni said.Gayle, who sat out of the Sri Lanka game recovering from a leg injury, is likely to be back in action at Lord’s tomorrow and would be the prime target of the Indian bowlers. “You don’t need to plan too much for him [Gayle] as you can’t have a field positioned outside the ropes,” Dhoni pointed out, whne asked what was the best way to keep Gayle quiet. “He will always fancy taking risks, so we should not give him the space.”West Indies had one win and a loss in the previous round with Gayle masterminding the thrashing of Australia in the opening game, with 4.1 overs to spare. But yesterday, their bowlers were punished heavily by the Sri Lankan opening pair of Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan as West Indies fell short by 15 runs despite a spirited display from Dwayne Bravo.Dhoni, though, is still wary of the dangerous West Indies. “They have bowlers who clock 140kph and at the same time use the slower ball effectively. Potentially they are a good side, so we can expect a good game,” he said.Dhoni agreed that India would miss the services of the injured Virender Sehwag, who was forced out of the event by a nagging shoulder injury which he picked in the IPL and aggravated in the last week. “But Rohit Sharma has picked up well and we are happy with his form,” he said.The Indian captain is likely to stick with two spinners, a move which he felt was proving effective in the Twenty20 format where the slow bowlers can restrict the run-flow as well as take wickets with their variety.West Indies opted out of a training session today as they arrived late in the afternoon from Nottingham, deciding instead to have a gym and pool session at the team hotel. The team’s media spokesperson said Gayle’s recovery is on track and he is expected to return to the field tomorrow.

Prosper Utseya’s seven-wicket haul in the second innings not only helped Easterns maintain their unbeaten record in the competition but took them to the top of the points table, following a crushing win against Centrals at the Old Hararians. Utseya ended with eleven wickets in the match while Bernard Mlambo shone with the bat, stroking a brilliant 158, to set up the innings-and-nine-run victory.Opting to bat after winning the toss, Centrals were lifted by eighties from captain Chamu Chibhabha and Malclom Waller to 275. Utseya was the most successful bowler for Easterns, accounting for four batsmen from the lower half of the order. It proved a below-par score as Easterns were given a rousing start by Mlambo. He strung together key partnerships with captain Hamilton Masakadza (51), Stuart Matsinkenyeri (85) and wicketkeeper Forster Mutizwa (51) as Easterns went from strength to strength. His 321-ball innings, comprising 17 fours and a six, was largely responsible for Easterns finishing on 453 – a lead of 178.Chibhabha continued from where he left off in Centrals’ first innings, hitting 82 off 135 balls, but could not inspire the other batsmen as Utseya ripped through the top and middle orders. He picked up 7 for 56 as only two fifty-and-above partnerships meant Centrals capitulated woefully to 169.Fifties from Prince Masvaure and Trevor Garwe proved to be the most significant and deciding factor in Northerns‘ narrow two-wicket win against Westerns at the Country Club. Their eighth-wicket partnership of 109 rescued Northerns from what looked like an inevitable defeat, and it was Dabengwa who stayed on to see them through to the crucial winPut in to bat, twin fifties from Keith Dabengwa and Charles Coventry pushed Westerns to 220. They were largely kept down by Graeme Cremer’s leg spin, who picked up another five-wicket haul. The reply from Northerns was equally sedate, and apart from captain Elton Chigumbura’s 45 and a late flourish from Dabngwa, the other batsmen failed to impress as they managed to finish with a slender 25-run lead.A much-more improved performance in their second essay saw Westerns compiling 332. Classy centuries from Coventry (106) and Sean Williams (102) were the stand-out performances as Chigumbura took the second five-wicket haul of the match.Set 308 to win, Chris Mpofu’s triple strike left the table-toppers struggling at 182 for 7, but Masvaure and Garwe held firm in what was a defining stand. Masvaure fell ten short of his hundred, stroking 10 fours and two sixes en route. But it was Garwe’s gritty 56 which ensured Northerns stayed level on points with Easterns though they surrendered the top spot.

Shane Watson didn’t see it coming. Stationed in Johannesburg with the Rajasthan Royals, the Australian allrounder was caught completely off-guard when Michael Brown, Cricket Australia’s operations manager, phoned on Wednesday to inform him of his recall to the national squad for the one-day tour of Pakistan.Watson had identified the IPL as the platform from which to continue his comeback from back stress fractures. From there, he hoped to steadily increase his bowling workload throughout April and May and, should all have gone to plan, to catch the attention of Australia’s selectors ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 in June.The selectors, however, have opted for a faster track. Chosen as a specialist batsman, Watson will almost certainly be restored to the top of the Australian one-day order – the position he held down throughout last year’s West Indies tour – alongside the recalled Shaun Marsh in the UAE. That has resulted in a major alteration to Watson’s comeback blueprint, and his immediate travel schedule.”I wasn’t counting on it at all,” Watson told Cricinfo. “I only arrived in South Africa on Monday night, and was looking ahead to the couple of practice games coming up for Rajasthan in the next few days. Now it looks like I’ll probably only be here for a week or so before I fly to Dubai.”Things have moved faster than I expected. I have spoken with the owner and the coach (of Rajasthan) and they are disappointed that I won’t be available for them for a while, but very excited for me. They know that to get back into the Australian side and play international cricket is my ultimate objective. I will still be available for two weeks after returning from Dubai. Hopefully Rajasthan can make it through to the finals, so I can extend my time with them for as long as I can.”In all, Watson has opened the batting for Australia 15 times in one-day internationals, and in each of his last seven innings. He made a significant breakthrough last year with his first international century – a powerful 126 against West Indies in Grenada – and along with Marsh forged a combination Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, had hoped would endure through to the next World Cup.Injuries to both batsmen scuppered those plans in recent series against New Zealand and South Africa, and the makeshift combination of Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin have struggled for consistency. That opened the door for both Watson and Marsh to earn national recalls, as Australia seek to setlle upon a batting line-up ahead of the World Twenty20.But Australia’s gain is the IPL’s loss. Watson, the Player of the Tournament, and Marsh, the highest run-scorer, were among the IPL’s brightest lights in 2008, and figured prominently in their respective franchises’ plans this year. Such is his star power after last season’s performance, Marsh was chosen to travel to America last month for an IPL promotion featuring Manny Ramirez, one of Major League Baseball’s biggest names. Now, he is likely to figure only in the final fortnight of the tournament.”The hamstring has been fine for a while now,” Marsh told . “I’ve been running and doing my rehab for two months. I thought I was fit (for Australia’s tour of South Africa) but obviously the selectors thought otherwise. It’s something I’ve had to live with. I was disappointed at the time but I kind of understood the reasons. I’ve had an extra three or four weeks now to get myself 110% right and I’m looking forward to the series.”Just what role, if any, Watson’s bowling will play in the UAE remains unclear. His initial plan was to commence competitive bowling in May, and then only in the four-over allotments of the IPL. Watson will meet with Alex Kountouris, the Australian team physiotherapist, in South Africa in the coming days to map out new strategy, but it seems unlikely he will be used in longer spells against Pakistan.”That structure and schedule I had in mind is obviously going to change a bit now in terms of my bowling,” he said. “I certainly won’t be pushing it in trying to get to ten overs. The plan was to slowly build up the bowling over May, but I’m not quite sure how that will work out now.”

Stuart Clark’s dash to South Africa has not resulted in an immediate return to international cricket but Ricky Ponting is confident that Clark will break into the side against Pakistan in the UAE. Ben Laughlin beat Clark for a place in the attack for the final ODI in Johannesburg but Clark has impressed his team-mates in the nets.He is making his comeback from an elbow injury that has kept him out of elite cricket since the end of the Test series against New Zealand in early December. However, Ponting faced Clark at training in Johannesburg this week and said all the signs had been positive.”I’m pretty sure he will get an opportunity to play some games over there,” Ponting told . “I faced a bit of him today in the nets and it just seemed like the same old Stuart Clark. It’s always a little bit difficult to judge things on net performances.”But his rhythm looked good, his action looked the same, and it’s nice to have him back around the group again. It’s nice to have a more experienced guy, someone who has a very good record at international level, back in our group. He seems to be coming along really well. All reports from the physical and training staff are that he’s going well and pulling up quite well.”Clark had intended to prove his fitness for the Ashes by taking up a county position with Kent. The surprise call-up into Australia’s limited-overs side after Brett Geeves was ruled out with a fractured foot has given him an earlier-than-expected path back into the national squad and Ponting said Clark was thrilled to once again be among his team-mates.”When you join the squad again you are usually full of beans,” Ponting said. “You usually are when you have three months off, sitting at home. This is an opportunity that he thought might not have come along.”Australia wrap up their one-day series in South Africa with a match in Johannesburg on Friday. From there they fly directly to the UAE for the limited-overs series against Pakistan, which begins in Dubai on Wednesday.

Wasim Jaffer, the Mumbai opener, has been made the captain of the West Zone squad for the Deodhar Trophy with Parthiv Patel as his deputy.Jaffer leads a strong West batting which includes six of the top nine run-getters of the Ranji season. Besides Jaffer and Parthiv, the side includes the prolific Mumbai batsman Ajinkya Rahane, Saurashtra’s stars of the season, Ravindra Jadeja and Cheteshwar Pujara, Maharashtra’s Kedar Jadhav, and Gujarat’s Bhavik Thaker.The bowling doesn’t look as imposing on paper though, and is filled with youngsters none of whom have international experience.West are in Group A along with North and Central. The league matches start on March 13 with the teams that top the two groups facing off in the final on March 18.Squad: Wasim Jaffer (capt), Parthiv Patel (vice-capt & wk), Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhavik Thaker, Kedar Jadhav, Siddharth Trivedi, Abhishek Nayar, Rakesh Solanki, Iqbal Abdulla, Harshad Khadiwale, Murtuja Vahora,Jitendra Patil, Kamlesh Makwana

For hundreds of years there was a single bridge over the River Trent,which gave the inhabitants of Nottingham access to the towns andvillages south of the county town. An inn was built at the southernend of the bridge, so that travellers who arrived in the vicinity ofNottingham late at night, when the walled town was closed, could waitat the inn until entering the town in the morning.The inn was therefore not located in Nottingham but in the smallagricultural village of West Bridgford. When cricket developed into apublic spectacle in Nottingham during the latter half of the 18thcentury, the chief cricket ground was the grassed, levelled areainside the town’s oval race-course, on a large acreage of land called’The Forest’ about one mile north of the town. The first bona fideinter-county Nottinghamshire game was staged, against Sussex, on TheForest in 1835. The cricketers were unable to charge admission towatch this, and other major games, because The Forest was owned bythe Town Council.In December 1837, the captain and self-appointed manager of theNottinghamshire team, William Clarke, married the landlady of the innsituated to the south of the bridge over the Trent, and generallyknown as the Trent Bridge Inn. The following spring he laid a cricketground in the meadow attached to the inn. The meadow was bordered onone side by the road to Radcliffe on Trent and Grantham and on theadjacent side by the lane to West Bridgford church. The other twosides were bounded by hedges separating the meadow from the landbelonging to West Bridgford Hall, which could be seen across the fields.Clarke erected a close-boarded fence round his ground and using theinn as accomodation for the cricketers, arranged that all majormatches involving Nottinghamshire should use his ground, rather thanThe Forest.He found however that the number of games which drew crowds to hisTrent Bridge Ground was very limited. He tried a variety ofnon-cricketing spectacles with luke-warm results and in 1845 left theInn, which he gave over to his step-son, John Chapman, and went toLondon. Here he formed the subsequently famous All England Eleven andat last made a substantial living from organising matches all overBritain for his All England Eleven.Step-son, John Chapman, carried on with the business of the Inn andcricket ground, but had little more success than Clarke. He movedaway and another inn-keeper took on the lease. It was not until 1859that very much happened at the cricket ground – the occasional countygame and rent from two or three local cricket clubs, plus sundrynon-cricketing events. In 1859 however a local solicitor, JohnJohnson, took it upon himself to inject some sense and order into thehaphazard Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. He induced thesubscribers to elect a proper committee, he arranged a fewinter-county games and he had built, at the back of the Inn, a singlestorey brick pavilion. In 1861 he introduced the idea of an EasterColts trial, in which 22 young players were invited to play a two-daygame against the Notts 1st XI and prizes were given for the bestbatting and bowling by a colt.It had been clear from William Clarke’s days in the 1830s that thecounty of Nottingham possessed some of the most talented cricketersin England. Johnson was keen to harness this ability. He wasfortunate that he had, in Clarke’s successor, George Parr, the bestbatsman in England, and in John Jackson the most feared of fastbowlers. Within a few years the county had wrested the title of’Champion’ county from Surrey and substantial profits were being madefrom the crowds who came to watch the Trent Bridge matches.In 1872 the county club were in a position to erect a much moreelaborate pavilion on the opposite side of the ground from the Inn.The successes continued, so much so that within ten years the newpavilion was found to be totally inadequate. The County Committeetook the lease of a further two acres at the rear of the pavilion andbuilt in 1886 the then largest pavilion in England – within tenyears, Lord’s, Old Trafford and The Oval had more than matched this however!The area of grass was large enough to allow the eastern side to beused by Notts County F.C. as their home ground and they built somestands on three sides of their football pitch in the 1890s. Thecricket club relied mainly on benches and tents, plus the newpavilion which had about 2,000 seats.All this changed when the Committee was granted the First Test matchof the 1899 season, against Australia. A covered semi-circle ofstands, with a new reporters’ box were built in 1898 and thefollowing winter. The wickets were pitched for this historic match insuch a way that the football stands could also be employed and thusthe whole ground was ringed with spectators’ accommodation. Acommodious ladies’ pavilion was also erected.In 1910 it was felt that the cricket and football seasons were toooverlapping to allow the football club to continue to rent a sectionof the ground and Notts County moved to Meadow Lane, the ground whichthey still occupy.Directly after the First World War, an opportunity arose for theCricket Club to purchase the freehold of the ground and the Inn – theMusters family of Colwick Hall owned the freehold of much of WestBridgford including the ground. The club bought the freehold, thenmanaged to sell the inn to a brewery for the same money as thefreehold of both inn and ground had cost the club. The brewery werehowever given the ground catering rights in perpetuity.Possessing the freehold, the County Club could now develop theground. It was a fortunate coincidence that the keenest supporter ofthe club and a committee member was the self-made millionaire, JulienCahn. Through his generosity the club built five large concretestands, two (West Wing and Radcliffe Road) being double storey. Healso financed a new indoor net at the rear of the pavilion.With the use of circles of benches on the grass round the boundaryand all the new stands, there was accommodation for about 30,000spectators. One estimate gave the record crowd as 35,000, but as clubmembers in those days were never counted when they entered the groundno precise figures are obtainable.During the Second World War, the Army occupied the pavilion using itas the central mail sorting office. Matches were still played on theground, the reporters’ accommodation being turned into a dressingroom. In the First World War the pavilion had been used as a militaryhospital. The only bomb damage inflicted on Trent Bridge in the1939-45 conflict was a direct hit on a single storey buildingadjoining the indoor nets, used by the local Boys Brigade.Apart from basic renovation and repair, the ground saw no post-warimprovements until 1956, when the Parr stand was built on the Westside. The stand was directly in front of an ancient elm, named Parr’sTree (George Parr was reputed to have regularly hit the ball intothis tree during his long career with Notts).The late 1960s saw Nottinghamshire, along with most other countyclubs struggling to make ends meet. The Committee decided thatdrastic measures were required and gained planning permission for amulti-storey office block in the north-east corner of the ground anda squash club in the south-east corner, adjacent to the main gates.Both these projects were completed in the early 1970s. The buildingof the office block meant the demolition of the Australian-stylescoreboard (erected in 1950) which occupied part of the office blocksite. A new semi-automatic board was built between the block and theplaying area.In 1979 the pavilion was renovated and a library formed out of partof the Long Room bar area; new reporters’ quarters were built, theold building being converted into executive boxes. The building ofthe office block with its necessary car parking had meant thedemolition of some of the concrete stands built in the inter-warperiod and, with the banning of the use of loose benches andspectators sitting on the grass, the maximum crowd accommodationdropped dramatically – the present figure being about 13,000.In the 1980s two new stands were erected – the William Clarke standat the back of the inn, which also housed larger press facilities,and the Larwood and Voce stand with a public house at the rear, nearthe indoor nets in the south-east corner.In the 1990s the old Ladies’ pavilion, which since the 1970s had beenconverted mainly into a restaurant, was demolished and a large threestorey stand built, the middle storey being a banqueting suite for200 diners.Currently planning permission has been granted for a three storeybuilding to replace the Radcliffe Road stand and its adjacentaccommodation. This scheme includes indoor nets, some overnighaccommodation for young players and an increase in seating capacityof about 2,000.The ground is considered by players and spectators to be one of themost pleasant in England, the architecture having been kept withinthe parameters set by the 1886 pavilion. The main problem forspectators, a problem which is a feature of several major grounds, iscar parking, but there are hopes of resolving this. The ground iswell served by public transport, the railway station being about 15minutes walk and buses from Nottingham city centre run at about fiveminute intervals. The ground can be approached by car from both theM1 and A1 without travelling through the Nottingham city centre.

ScorecardPowered by Robin Uthappa’s rapid century, South Zone shut North Zone out of contention for a place in the Duleep Trophy final. Having failed to inspire with the bat in South’s previous match in his home city of Bangalore and picking up 1 in the first innings in Rajkot, Uthappa blasted 160 from 159 balls against a lacklustre North attack.When the day began, South’s lead was 376. North were 172 for 3, but without the services of key batsmen Virat Kohli and Rajat Bhatia, who were unable to bat due to injuries. The overnight pair of Sunny Sohal and Uday Kaul were not able to add much more to their stand, and was once Kaul was out for 40 there was little resistance from the rest. Sohal continued on to 94, scored from 99 balls, and the last two wickets fell with the total on 300.S Badrinath, South’s capain, did not enforce a follow-on and decided to bat again and South were given a brisk start. Abhinav Mukund (31 from 36 balls) helped add 58 in good time with Uthappa, and then Dinesh Karthik chipped in with 39 from 52 balls. Uthappa blasted 19 fours and three sixes in his innings, adding 139 with offspinner R Ashwin, who was unbeaten on 66 at stumps. Uthappa’s strokeful innings came to an end when he tried to lift part-time bowler Sohal over cover but holed out to Shikhar Dhawan.

Gautam Gambhir, the Indian opener who scored 1134 Test runs at 70.87 this year, has credited the team coach Gary Kirsten for his current form and rated 2008 as his “best year” in the game so far.”I was too hard on myself,” Gambhir was quoted as saying to . “I wasn’t too relaxed and it used to tie me up in knots on occasion. Gary helped me be at ease with myself. I now take it as it comes. Gary has helped me understand my game a lot better.”Gambhir, who made his Test debut in 2004, returned to the squad during Kirsten’s second assignment with India – the tour of Sri Lanka. Three of his four Test hundreds were scored this year, as were six of his nine half-centuries. “Consistency will be my goal. It’s not as if I have any specific target in mind. However, I am aware I need to keep working on my batting.”Gambhir said it was important to be confident while alternating between aggressive strokeplay and defence. I have played several big knocks in Ranji Trophy where I alternated between aggression and defence. When you are confident, you can switch your game according to the situation.”

Bangladesh wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim is confident his batsmen can negate the threat of Muttiah Muralitharan in the upcoming two-Test series at home against Sri Lanka, starting on Friday in Dhaka.”The Sri Lankan bowling has a lot of variety especially in the longer-version game but without any doubt, Murali is the main threat,” Mushfiqur said. “It was not so easy to read his but what I feel is that now we can read it much better.”The 20-year-old has a reason to feel positive, as his highest score of 80 came against the same opposition in Colombo last July. His 191-run partnership with Mohammad Ashraful in that match though couldn’t prevent Bangladesh from losing by an innings.”I’m now more mature to handle this bowler while Ash [Mohammad Ashraful] had a good record against Sri Lanka as he’s got some runs against them. He proved that nothing is impossible,” he said.Mushfiqur has played 12 Tests and, in addition to the 13 catches and one stumping, has scored 409 runs at 18.59 – a statistic he will be keen to improve on.He also believed the batsmen needed to be courageous enough to survive against Muralitharan, the highest wicket-taker in Tests. “It would be unwise to be bogged down against him [Muralitharan], rather we have to be brave enough to handle him. We have to make sure that we rotate the strike to keep the scoreboard running,” he said.Mushfiqur remained optimistic despite Bangladesh’s two previous series losses against the only teams they have played this year: New Zealand and South Africa. While they lost 0-1 in the two-match series at home to New Zealand in October, they lost both Tests in South Africa last month. Bangladesh have played eight Tests in 2008, losing seven and drawing a rain-affected game.”We want to play good positive cricket in the series. I think we already proved that we have got the ability as a team to play good cricket but the problem is that all of the departments like batting, bowling could not click simultaneously. Anything can happen if our bowling and batting click together,” said Mushfiqur.Mushfiqur, who is a lower-order batsman, said he was ready to bat at the top if needed, though his main focus would be to serve the team first. “For me the team comes first. I am ready to bat at any position. The main thing is to contribute something for the team.”