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Kusal Mendis has been omitted from Sri Lanka’s T20I squad for the two-match series against Bangladesh, while spin-bowling allrounder Shehan Jayasuriya has been called up. Also in the squad is Thisara Perera – who had not been in Sri Lanka’s recent T20I squad to Australia – and opener Danushka Gunathilaka, who returns to the T20 XI after recovering from injury.Kusal Perera has also been named, but his participation is subject to recovery from a thigh strain that ruled him out of the ODIs. If he fails the fitness test, Sandun Weerakkody – the batsman who made his debut in South Africa – will take his place. Upul Tharanga leads the side in Angelo Mathews’ continued absence.T20s have been Mendis’ least successful format – he averages 9.25 with a strike rate of 123 in eight T20 international innings. Chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya said he may not be picked in T20s in the near future, so that he can concentrate on the longer formats, in which he has begun to excel. Mendis was the player of the series in the recently-concluded ODI series against Bangladesh. He was also the player of the tournament during the tri-series in Zimbabwe last year, and has played at least two match-winning Test innings over the past year.”Kusal Mendis has got a long career ahead of him and we do not want to burden him with too many things,” Jayasuriya said. “He had a very good Test and ODI series against Bangladesh and at this stage we don’t want him to alter too many things in his game.”Thisara’s reinclusion is thanks largely to his good performances with the bat in the recent ODIs, in which he struck two half-centuries in three matches. Jayasuriya meanwhile, has been playing for Sri Lanka’s Emerging Team in the ACC competition currently being played in Bangladesh.The first of two T20s – both to be played at R Premadasa Stadium – is scheduled for April 4.Sri Lanka squad: Upul Tharanga (capt.), Dilshan Munaweera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Perera (subject to fitness), Lasith Malinga, Isuru Udana, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dasun Shanaka, Vikum Sanjaya, Milinda Siriwardana, Asela Gunaratne, Seekkuge Prasanna, Chamara Kapugedara, Thisara Perera, Lakshan Sandakan, Shehan Jayasuriya.On standby: Sandun Weerakkody

ScorecardFile photo – George Bailey reached his first double-ton in first-class cricket moments before running out of partners in Tasmania’s 490•Getty Images

Captain George Bailey soared to a double-century in Tasmania’s first innings of 490 against New South Wales but the Blues top order responded in kind to lessen the chance of an outright result on the final day of the Sheffield Shield match in Wollongong.It was the allrounder Simon Milenko (87) who followed up his four wickets on day one with a staunch innings in support of Bailey, their seventh-wicket stand ultimately worth 185 and frustrating the NSW bowlers.Will Somerville was able to maintain his strong displays while Steve O’Keefe and Nathan Lyon are unavailable due to their India exploits, claiming another five-wicket haul on a surface not as supportive of his art as the SCG had been against Queensland.Bailey finished on 200 not out, leaving NSW with 43 overs to face, and when Nick Larkin edged Sam Rainbird through to Tim Paine the Tigers had opened up an end. However Daniel Hughes and Ed Cowan strode comfortably to the close, cutting the visitors’ lead to 96 runs.

USA coach Pubudu Dassanayake has been announced to fulfill the same role for the ICC Americas squad at the WICB Nagico Super50 later this month in Barbados. Dassanayake will be assisted by former Canada fast bowler and current Cricket Canada selector Henry Osinde.Dassanayake took over USA’s coaching duties in September and helped lead the side to a tournament title at the ICC WCL Division Four in Los Angeles this past November. The former Sri Lankan Test wicketkeeper was the most likely candidate to lead the combined ICC Americas side – comprising players from USA, Canada and Bermuda – as his USA coach’s salary is currently being paid for by funding from ICC Americas while the USA Cricket Association remains under suspension for issues regarding its governance.Another factor is that Dassanayake also has a solid familiarity with many of Canada’s players in the ICC Americas squad, having coached Canada from 2007 to 2011 and continues to live with his family in Barrie, Ontario, about an hour north of Toronto. Dassanayake and Osinde take over from Derek Perera and Mike Young, who formed the coaching staff for the ICC Americas squad at last year’s WICB Nagico Super50.ICC Americas staff also announced on Sunday night that USA wicketkeeper-batsman Akeem Dodson has been chosen as the replacement for Steven Taylor in the ICC Americas 15-man squad. Dodson received a call up after Taylor was drafted into Jamaica’s squad for the tournament. The 29-year-old Dodson was a member of last year’s ICC Americas squad at the Nagico Super50, making 16 runs in three innings, but had initially been left out of this year’s 15-man squad when it was first announced in December.”Whilst it will be disappointing to lose a senior player from the Americas squad, it also means another Americas player gets an opportunity at this level,” ICC Americas regional development manager Ben Kavanagh said in a media release announcing the squad change and coaching staff assignments. “Ultimately, the more players who can get an opportunity to play within first-class cricket structures, the stronger the Americas region will be.”The majority of the squad is due to arrive in Barbados on January 21 for four days of training ahead of their first match against Combined Campuses and Colleges on January 26. USA representatives Fahad Babar and Jessy Singh are currently playing first-class cricket in Sri Lanka in a development opportunity arranged by Dassanayake and won’t arrive in Barbados until January 23 in order to allow them to continue playing through the seventh round of the Sri Lanka first-class tournament that ends on January 22.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details2:30

Agarkar: Smart performance from the English bowlers

They waited, and waited, and waited, and finally England’s bowlers had the chance to spearhead a victory on this tour. True, none of them picked up more than two wickets, but that only established how good they were as a unit. India were kept to a measly 147 on a pitch that wasn’t in any way untoward and as icing on the cake Eoin Morgan shellacked a half-century to make sure his team took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Moeen’s best, Morgan’s 1500

• 2/21 Moeen Ali’s figures, his best in T20Is. He was the only bowler with an economy rate lower than six in the match. He also got his third Man of the Match award in 20 T20Is.

• 73.50Joe Root’s average when chasing in T20Is, the third-best among players with five or more innings. He averages only 29.33 when batting first.

• 12 Innings without a fifty for Eoin Morgan in T20Is, before scoring one in this match. His last was 74 against Australia in Cardiff in 2015. He also completed 1500 T20I runs, the first England player and 12th overall to do so.

• 2-9 India’s win-loss record when defending targets of 150 or less over 12 attempts. Their win-loss ratio of 0.22 is the worst among all Full Members.

• 22 Runs that came in boundaries for India in their last 10 overs, their second-lowest when batting first and playing out all 20 overs.

Tymal Mills, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett and Ben Stokes were given a brief to bowl length and just short of it, while ensuring the batsmen do not have room to use their pace to relieve the pressure. Moeen Ali was at his restrictive best, picking up 2 for 21 in four overs, targeting the stumps with flat darts and in the end the services of their specialist spinner Adil Rashid was not even needed.India, who had lost the toss and were put in, seemed rather obsessed with power-hitting. They had gone through the entire World T20 playing proper cricket, only to be brutally swept aside by West Indies in the semi-final. From the moment Virat Kohli carved the third ball of the match for four through point, it seemed like they were trying go for the boundary every single ball. It did not pay off though, as England dashed a little bit of the Republic Day celebrations at a jam-packed Green Park stadium in Kanpur.Admittedly, it doesn’t seem the worst strategy to leave your brain behind as a batsman when playing T20. There’s 10 wickets to negotiate 20 overs, and while batting first, it even seems logical to do so. But India don’t normally play in this fashion and will need time to catch up with the rest of the world. This evening, for example, they couldn’t deal with how they were bleeding wickets, at the worst possible times.Kohli and KL Rahul, who opened the batting, fell within three overs of each other on either side of the Powerplay. Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and Manish Pandey – Nos 3, 4 and 6 – dismissed within three overs as well, between the 11th and the 14th. India couldn’t lay a good enough foundation at the start and were running out of batsmen by the end. No one made it past a score of 36.The key for England was in how well they read the pitch. It was both grassy and cracked and lent itself to fast bowlers who were willing to hit the deck and also experiment with cross-seamers and slower balls. Jordan and Mills – who were playing their first matches on this tour – did exactly that. Then Moeen, who began his spell having Kohli caught at short midwicket for 29 off 26, excelled in the middle overs, bowling stump-to-stump. His length was lovely as well, not full enough to drive freely and not short enough that the batsman could use the pace. The end result, he conceded only one boundary.India had somehow mis-hit their way to 47 in the Powerplay, but once England had the comfort of having five men on the boundary, the edges no longer found gaps. They offered a mere 37 runs between the 13th and 19th overs. Moeen had created the pressure, the quicks came back, knowing they will be targeted, but by varying their pace and banging the ball into the pitch without the width to cut or pull, they gave India, who were by now only trying to hit the ball as hard as they could, very few options.Hardik Pandya found that out when he was cramped by a short ball rising up to his shoulder and found deep point; Mills meanwhile had his first T20I wicket. Rahul was caught unawares by a sharp bouncer from Jordan in the fourth over, which he could only fend to short fine leg.Yuvraj top-edged a pull to long leg off Plunkett and Raina was bowled by a searing yorker from Stokes. Morgan’s captaincy should be credited here, forcing the two left-handers to deal with the kind of bowling they generally dislike facing, and less so with an innings in jeopardy: fast and at their bodies. Moeen played his part too, spinning the ball away or making it skid on, rarely letting himself be lined up. MS Dhoni managed to stick it out till the end, hitting a couple of fours in the last over, but 147 was nowhere near par.It showed when Jason Roy and Sam Billings blitzed 36 in three overs at the start of the chase. India did put a stop to the mayhem in the next over with legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal, picked ahead of Amit Mishra, bowling both batsmen. But it didn’t matter in the larger scheme of things since England managed to gun down a third of their target within the first six overs. With that in the back of their minds, Joe Root, returning from a niggle, and Morgan put on 83 runs for the third wicket and that partnership was more than enough to seal a straightforward chase. A further sign of how disappointing India’s batting had been on the day was debutant Parvez Rasool picking up the England captain for 51 and barely celebrating. He knew it just didn’t matter.

Somerset have named Tom Abell as their Championship captain for 2017. Abell, who replaces Chris Rogers after the Australian’s retirement, will be 23 by the time the season starts, making him one of the youngest captains on the county circuit. Jim Allenby, meanwhile, will continue to lead the club in T20 and 50-over cricket.The veteran Rogers enjoyed a successful one-off campaign with Somerset in his final season as a professional, seeing them narrowly miss out on a maiden Championship title on the last day. His replacement could not be more of a contrast, in terms of experience: Abell, a former Schools Cricketer of the Year, made his first-class debut in 2014 and has only played 32 matches.In 2016, his returns dipped to 538 runs at 25.61 and he will now have to balance opening the batting with an even greater workload – although he will have experienced heads, such as fellow opener and former captain Marcus Trescothick, to help him learn the ropes.

Young county captains

• Kim Barnett: Barnett was 22 when he first led Derbyshire in the Championship in 1983 and supervised a period of unparallelled success for the county. Recently returned as director of cricket with Derbyshire once more in the mire.

• Rory Hamilton-Brown: Chris Adams, Surrey’s director of cricket, presented Hamilton-Brown as a natural captain when he first skippered Surrey in 2010 at 22. He led them to promotion, but he never recovered professionally from the tragic death of his team-mate and old school friend Tom Maynard.

• Alex Lees: Became Yorkshire’s youngest appointed captain since Lord Hawke when, at 23, he led them in limited-overs cricket in 2016, but replaced after one season.

“I feel hugely privileged and humbled to be made captain of Somerset County Cricket Club,” Abell said. “To have the opportunity to play for Somerset was a dream for me so to captain the club is something incredibly special.”To follow on from some of the previous captains of the club who are listed on the honours board in the pavilion is an incredible feeling and something that I don’t think will sink in for a while. After such an exciting and successful 2016 campaign, I hope we can build on what we created and bring further success next season.”Abell’s age need not be a barrier to success, with Somerset’s director of cricket, Matthew Maynard, citing the example of South Africa’s Graeme Smith, who took charge of his country at 22. In county cricket, 23-year-old Alex Lees captained Yorkshire in limited-overs cricket last year – though he has since stood down – while Rory Hamilton-Brown was 22 when he became Surrey’s youngest captain in a century in 2010.”People will no doubt point out Tom’s age but that doesn’t come in to it,” Maynard said. “If you’re good enough, you’re old enough and Tom is certainly good enough. Anyone who has spent any time in his company knows that his knowledge and understanding of the game are outstanding. He has an old head on those young shoulders and he is held in very high regard by his teammates.”He is the epitome of what this club is all about both on and off the field. His temperament and attitude are beyond reproach and there is no doubt in my mind that he will be an excellent captain for this club not just in 2017 but in the years to come.”Allenby has been an occasionally divisive figure since his arrival from Glamorgan in 2014 but last year he led Somerset to the semi-final of the Royal London Cup. They did, however, also finish bottom of the NatWest T20 Blast South Group.”To be captain of this club is a real honour and I am delighted to be doing the job,” he said. “I think that we’ve built something pretty special in the 50-over competition. We were so close to a Lord’s final and I see no reason why we can’t go one better next year. There is a really talented group of players here and I am excited to see just what we can achieve together.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShahid Afridi’s 4 for 12 was instrumental in Rangpur Riders’ decimation of Khulna Titans•Raton Gomes/BCB

Shahid Afridi and Arafat Sunny took 7 for 12 between them as Rangpur Riders demolished Khulna Titians for 44, before breezing to the target in eight overs, with nine wickets in hand. In their second dominating performance in as many days, Rangpur swept to the biggest win in BPL in terms of balls remaining.Khulna’s score of 44 surpassed Barisal Bulls’ 58 as the lowest team total in BPL history. They also became the ninth team in T20 history to be bowled out for below 50. Afridi took his fifth four-wicket haul while Sunny, bowling his left-arm spin with a revamped action, had dream bowling figures of 3 for 0 in 2.4 overs.Rangpur took just two balls to seize the initiative. Nicholas Pooran was bowled behind his legs for the second game in a row, this time to Sohag Gazi. Gazi then threw down the stumps at the non-striker’s end, where Abdul Mazid was lazily short of his ground, to make it 10 for 2..Mahmudullah fell leg before to Richard Gleeson in the next over before Afridi and Sunny waded into the Khulna innings.With his first ball, Afridi bowled Rikki Wessels with one that kept low before trapping Alok Kapali leg before with the second ball. Shuvagata Hom struck two fours at the other end but, in Afridi’s next over, made the mistake of going back to his full ball, to be bowled for 12, the only Khulna batsman with a double-figure score.There were two more fours in the Khulna innings before Arafat Sunny tore up the tail with three wickets in his 2.4 overs. Ariful Haque was trapped leg before before Junaid Khan was caught at midwicket in the same over. Afridi then took his fourth wicket – Nur Alam – and Sunny added his third, bowling out Khulna in just 10.4 overs.As if to show that the pitch had no demons, Mohammad Shahzad came out to slam three fours off Junaid Khan. However, he chipped one back at the same bowler in the third over to depart for 13. Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Mithun closed out the chase to complete a thrashing that took less than 19 overs, all told.

Group C

Sanju Samson started the Ranji Trophy season with a bang, scoring an unbeaten hundred to steer Kerala to 263 for 7 against Jammu & Kashmir in Kalyani. Walking in at 9 for 2, Samson steered Kerala out of trouble, putting on 97 for the third wicket with Jalaj Saxena, Kerala’s new signing from Madhya Pradesh, who scored 69 (88b, 11×4, 1×6). Wickets fell frequently thereafter, but Samson kept one end going to end the day batting on 129. He hit 19 fours and a six in his 251-ball innings. Medium-pacer Samiullah Beigh was J&K’s most successful bowler, ending the day with figures of 4 for 68.Centuries from Prashant Chopra and Sumeet Verma dragged Himachal Pradesh out of a tricky situation against Andhra and lifted them to 318 for 7 in Bhubaneswar. Verma joined the opener Chopra with Himachal 103 for 5, and the two put on 89 for the sixth wicket before Chopra fell for 117 off 152 balls, having scored 80 of his runs in boundaries.Verma then batted through to stumps to finish not out on 116 off 156, having struck 12 fours and three sixes. By then, he had put on 105 for the seventh wicket with debutant Mayank Dagar (42, 75b, 5×4, 1×6), who was dismissed 8.1 overs before stumps. For Andhra, medium-pacers D Siva Kumar and CV Stephen took two wickets each.Chhattisgarh made a strong start to life in the Ranji Trophy, bowling Tripura out for 118 in Ranchi before closing the day 41 runs behind with seven wickets in hand. Choosing to bat first, Tripura only lasted 54 overs as each member of Chhattisgarh’s five-man bowling attack, four of whom were first-class debutants (the team contained eight debutants in all), took at least one wicket. Left-arm orthodox spinner Ajay Mandal was the most successful Chhattisgarh bowler, with figures of 3 for 41.In reply, Chhattisgarh closed the day 77 for 3, with opener Rishabh Tiwary and Ashutosh Singh, both on debut, scoring 31 each, with the latter remaining not out at stumps with captain Mohammad Kaif for company.A four-wicket haul by Mohammed Siraj, a medium-pacer playing only his second first-class match, gave Hyderabad a strong start against Goa, who were bowled out for 164 after choosing to bat in Nagpur. Six of Goa’s batsmen got into double-figures, but only Snehal Kauthankar (38) and Saurabh Bandekar (59, 144b, 8×4, 1×6) got past 20, as Hyderabad’s seamers shared seven wickets between them. Siraj was the pick of them, finishing with figures of 15-9-14-4. Needing to bat out the last 10 overs of the day, Hyderabad ended the day at 28 for 1, with Tanmay Agarwal the batsman dismissed.Rajat Paliwal took two wickets against his old team Services as Haryana enjoyed the better of a truncated day at the Brabourne Stadium. Sent in to bat after a wet outfield ruled out any play in the first session, Services limped to 143 for 6 in 57.4 overs. Opener Anshul Gupta scored 69 off 150 balls (11×4), putting on 40 for the first wicket with Soumik Chatterjee and 117 for the second with Nakul Verma to move Services to 117 for 1, but they lost their way thereafter as offspinner Paliwal and medium-pacer Harshal Patel took two wickets each to run through the middle order.

R Sridhar is set to return as India’s fielding coach for the three-Test series against New Zealand. Sources confirmed Sridhar, who is currently in Australia with the India A team, will replace Abhay Sharma, and join the team in Kanpur for the first Test. The details of his contract, however, are understood to not have been finalised yet.It is learnt India coach Anil Kumble was keen on re-appointing Sridhar, whose contract came to an end in April after the World T20. “Kumble contacted Sridhar immediately after he took over as coach and advised him to wait till he came back from the West Indies and took a call [on Sridhar’s appointment],” a source familiar with the developments told ESPNcricinfo. “The BCCI sent an e-mail to the India A team manager late last evening asking Sridhar to report in Kanpur ahead of the first Test. Sridhar might have to leave midway through the second four-day Test between India A and Australia A from September 15 to 18.”While Abhay travelled with the team for the Zimbabwe and West Indies tours in a stop-gap capacity, BCCI president Anurag Thakur had said full-time appointments would be made before September 15. Sanjay Bangar, who went on both the tours, will continue as batting coach, while no bowling coach is expected to be appointed at least until the end of the New Zealand series.Sridhar and Bangar had begun their first stints as assistant coaches to Ravi Shastri, who was brought in as team director, during the limited-overs leg of the England tour in August 2014 after India had lost the Test series. Their contracts were first extended until the end of the World Cup in 2015, before they were renewed till the end of the World T20 the following year.

Nuwan Kulasekara, the Sri Lanka fast bowler, has been released on bail after he was involved in an accident that caused the death of a 28-year-old, according to an SLC release.”Preliminary inquiries have revealed that Mr Kulasekara was returning to Colombo from Kandy, when the unfortunate motorcycle rider who was travelling in the opposite direction had lost control of his bike whilst trying to overtake a bus and got flung into Mr Kulasekara’s path,” the release said.Kulasekara, 34, retired from Test cricket in June in order to focus on his limited-overs career.

ScorecardTom Abell anchored Somerset’s reply to Hampshire’s 388•Getty Images

Tom Abell gave a reminder of his immense promise as Somerset responded positively to Hampshire’s first innings score of 338 on the second day of the Specsavers County Championship match at Taunton.The 22-year-old opener, who has not enjoyed the best of seasons in four-day cricket, hit 79, off 132 balls with 11 fours, sharing an opening stand of 87 with Marcus Trescothick, who made 36, as the hosts closed on 257 for 5.Peter Trego contributed 42, James Hildreth 40 and Jim Allenby 37 not out, but none of the home batsmen were able to push on to the big score needed to establish control of the game.Earlier, Jack Leach had finished with 6 for 108 as Hampshire added 57 to their overnight score of 281 for 6, David Wainwright making a valuable 35 not out. The left-arm spinner now has 43 first class wickets to his name this season.The ball turned from ball one of the day, but more for the Somerset spinners, whose counterparts were unable to settle on the right pace to exploit the pitch to the full.From an overnight 281 for 6, the visitors slipped to 303 for 9 before a valuable last-wicket stand of 35 between Brad Wheal and David Wainwright, who contributed 35 not out with the ball deviating considerably for Leach and fellow left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe.Leach sent back Lewis McManus, Mason Crane and Wheal. But Hampshire could feel satisfied with their efforts as both sides collected three bonus points from the innings.Somerset were left with nine overs to bat before lunch and reached the interval on 40 without loss, Trescothick and Abell surviving comfortably against six overs of seam and three of spin.Trescothick looked in little bother until trying to hit Wainwright over the top and falling to a catch at long-on. His disappointment was matched by that of Chris Rogers, who had made only 11 when giving legspinner Mason Crane the charge and offering a leg-side stumping to McManus.