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The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has launched a programme aimed at educating its cricketers and officials to stay clear of corruption in the game and maintaining appropriate standards of conduct on and off the field.”We have held lectures for all the regional teams including coaches who are part of the domestic structure and also for the national under-19 and A team players and support staff,” former wicketkeeper Wasim Bari, who heads the programme, told The participants were given lectures on the ICC’s anti-corruption code and the PCB code of conduct. “We are also telling them how to behave in a dressing room, how to interact with strangers and outsiders and how to avoid getting lured into corrupt practices,” Bari said. “We are preparing them for international cricket.”Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, who are currently serving minimum five-year bans from the ICC’s anti-corruption tribunal for their role in a spot-fixing scandal during last year’s tour to England, were not allowed to take part in the programme. One of the steps for their rehabilitation in the verdicts was their involvement in such programmes.”Since they have appealed against their bans the matter is technically sub-judice,” said Bari. “So we can’t involve them at the moment.”Lectures were delivered in Urdu and a manual based on the ICC anti-corruption code and the PCB’s own code of conduct in Urdu was also distributed. The PCB also plans to hire foreign experts to give future lectures.On Wednesday the PCB also introduced stricter regulations for agents wishing to represent their players commercially, a consequence of the alleged misdeeds of player-agent Mazhar Majeed in the scandal that saw Asif, Amir and Butt punished.The developments are part of initiatives recommended to the board by the ICC’s task force on Pakistan. Last October, in the immediate aftermath of the spot-fixing scandal, a concerned ICC had recommended a series of remedial measures for the PCB to implement in an effort to clean up the game in Pakistan.The task force, headed by ECB chairman Giles Clarke, was deputed to work with the PCB in the implementation.

Matt Prior believes he is one good innings, and just needs “one or two things to click”, before he turns his form around at the top of England’s order. Prior had to take on the opener’s role after Kevin Pietersen, the original choice to partner Andrew Strauss, had to leave early for a hernia operation. His two digs at the top have been forgettable, a brain-freeze stumping against Bangladesh and a wasted start against West Indies when he was beaten for pace and movement by Andre Russell.Prior doesn’t know just yet if he will get another chance to set that record straight. “When I was told I would be opening when KP went down, it wasn’t a done decision for the whole tournament,” he said three days before the quarter-final against Sri Lanka. “There wasn’t a decision made that I would be opening for the rest of the competition.”Do I want to open? Of course I do,” he added. “I love opening the batting. It gives you the best opportunity to bat 50 overs and get a big score for your team. It hasn’t gone to play, and that’s a frustration for me, but I don’t feel far away. I know that if I do open, a big score is around the corner. I am hitting the ball well, one or two things going my way, and I will get a big score.”One of the reasons why Prior might not open again is that he himself is not sure if the opening slot is the best utilisation of his strengths as a batsman. “My stats would suggest not,” he said. “I haven’t scored the runs that I would have wanted, which is hugely frustrating for me. I know I can play that role really, really well. I seem to do the hard work, and then get out, which is hugely frustrating.”Over here, one of my key strengths is moving the ball around in the field, especially when the spinners are on, and that’s a part of my game that I back. Probably it has to be utilised as well. Whether that means I open or bat a little bit further down the order, I don’t really know. All I know is that wherever I am batting, there will be a reason for it.”Prior still believes he has the technique to do well when opening. “I have opened in county cricket,” he said. “Obviously it is a step up, we all know that. In Test cricket I have scored hundreds. When people mention technique and all that, it’s just not it at all. You don’t score hundreds in Test cricket if you have got a poor technique.”His opportunities at the top of England’s one-day order have been numerous, with 35 of his 67 appearances coming as an opener, dating back to the tour of Zimbabwe in 2004-05. However, he has managed just two half-centuries in those games, the most recent being a run-a-ball 67 against Australia at Adelaide back in January.”It’s just that something hasn’t clicked,” he said. “Early on in my one-day career, when I opened, I felt pressure to take that role on as a pinch-hitter. And that sort of gave me a poor start. I was getting to 20s and 30s, and then sort of carried on playing too many shots, and getting caught in the deep or whatever it might be. Going into this phase of my ODI career, I am trying to find a different tempo.”I have done that at times, but just not had a great run of luck,” he added. “Things like going back to the Australia series, the Sydney game, I do the hard work [18 from 23 balls] and then Mitchell Johnson bowls me an absolute beauty. Just little things like that, where you start thinking, ‘Hang on a minute, this is just not meant to be’.””But you are only one innings from turning it around. And it does turn around very very quickly,” he said. “The belief in my ability that I have and my team-mates have is still there. We know we are in the quarter-final, and that’s very exciting. If I do open, I have got an opportunity to put my hand up, play an innings that gets us into the semi-final of the world cup. What’s gone before is irrelevant. Certainly if you play that innings, people in this job have very short memories. I have got a huge amount of belief, and I just need one or two things to click. That big innings is around the corner.”Prior can expect to find out his batting position by Thursday’s practice session at the latest, but he said that would not pose a huge problem in the preparation side of things. “We have been on tour for a long time,” he said. “We have hit a lot of cricket balls, we have played a lot of cricket balls, bowled a lot of cricket balls over the last six months.”It’s not the netting, it’s more the mental side of the game. Who are you going to be facing? Who are you going to come out against? The situation of the game you might be confronted with. It’s obviously different from opening to batting in the middle order. You want to find that as soon as possible. The more time you have, the better. That’s a vital part of getting ready for the game, the mental side of it.”

Match Facts

March 5, Colombo
Start time 2.30 pm (0900 GMT)Shane Watson is Australia’s highest run-getter of the tournament so far•AFP

The Big Picture

The last time Australia were scheduled to take on Sri Lanka in a World Cup match in Colombo was in 1996, when Australia pulled out citing security concerns leading to plenty of rancour even before the tournament started. The last time the two teams did meet in the World Cup was in the final of 2007, when a farcical ruling over bad light provided an inept end to a much-maligned tournament.Saturday’s encounter, nestled somewhere midway through the competition, will lack the drama of either of those two events, and given the utter woefulness of the smaller teams in Group A, will have only a marginal impact on the tournament, though it is being billed as a ‘big game’. The four Test nations in the group are near certainties to make the quarters, so any time two of them clash in the league phase, the result is more a battle for how high in the top four they end up, which will decide how tough their quarter-final opponent will be.One reason to look forward to the match is that in a game increasingly dominated by the bat, where 300 is no longer a safe score, two of the best bowling line-ups in the tournament will face up. On the one hand Sri Lanka have their much-trumpeted, freakish trio of Malinga, Murali and Mendis, and on the other is Australia’s old-school fast-and-furious trio of Lee, Tait and Johnson.The match is also a stage for Sri Lanka to justify their billing as one of the favourites, particularly after defeat to Pakistan. And for Australia, the game is the first big challenge to check how healthy their chances of a fourth straight title are.

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)
Australia WWWWW
Sri Lanka WLWWW

Watch out for…

Tillakaratne Dilshan has the task of getting Sri Lanka bursting out of the blocks, a job he’s accomplished in all three matches this tournament by sprinting to at least 40 each time. Sri Lanka will hope his stand-and-thwack-it method works against the Australian pace battery and takes him to the big score that has eluded him so far.A few months ago, Brett Lee’s international career seemed to be over after being sidelined for a year due to an elbow problem. Not only is he back, but like that other oft-injured tearaway, Shoaib Akhtar, he’s showing he’s lost none of his pace even in his mid-thirties. He was in cracking form in Australia’s previous match, tormenting New Zealand’s top order, though he didn’t get the handful of wickets his spot-on bowling deserved.

Team news

Australia have had a week’s rest since thumping New Zealand, so they will be no need to “manage the workload” of any of their players. They are almost certainly going to stick to the same XI.Australia (probable) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Brad Haddin (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 David Hussey, 6 Cameron White, 7 Steve Smith, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Jason Krezja, 10 Brett Lee, 11 Shaun Tait.Sri Lanka have a couple of decisions to make regarding their bowling. Do they persist with Nuwan Kulasekara or bring back the pacy Thisara Perera, who also provides a big-hitting option lower down the order? Also, the second spinners slot ‘remains a toss-up between Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Chamara Silva, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Lasith Malinga, 10 Ajantha Mendis, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan

Pitch and conditions

It pelted down on Friday evening in Colombo, and there’s light rain forecast for Saturday as well. If the weather stays clear, the teams will likely have to deal with a sluggish pitch, the same surface that was used for the Kenya-Sri Lanka match. Malinga’s explanation of his array of toe-crushers against Kenya: “This is a slow pitch and bouncers will not work so I decided to go for yorkers.” Expect more of the same.

Stats and Trivia

• Australia have lost only one of the seven completed World Cup matches against Sri Lanka – the 1996 final
• Ricky Ponting has the most number of World Cup catches (27), more than twice as many as any other current player. The next highest tally of a player in the tournament is Paul Collingwood (13)
• Lasith Malinga has an astonishing World Cup record: 9 matches, 24 wickets at 13.41

Quotes

“It certainly hasn’t spun anywhere near as much [as last time we were in Sri Lanka] and the teams that have batted second have had a bit more of a chance in the game than before.”

Keith Andrew, who died on December 27 aged 81, kept wicket twice for England in a career which spanned 14 seasons between 1953 and 1966.Both his appearances were marked by England slumping to heavy defeats. His debut came at Brisbane in 1954-55 when Godfrey Evans, whose presence was the largely the reason Andrew played so little, was incapacitated. It was an ordeal by fire as Australia ran up over 600 and England wilted, losing the Test by an innings. His second appearance was nine years later, against West Indies, and again he kept during a 500+ innings, conceding three byes.With other wicketkeeper-batsmen, especially John Murray, to the fore, Andrew’s relative inability with the bat counted heavily against him in the minds of the selectors. Always tidy, if not spectacular, behind the stumps, he also captained Northamptonshire for five years with success, steering them to eighth, seventh, third, second and fifth places in the Championship. In 1965 he kept seven matches (900+ runs and 2132 runs) without conceding a bye.In 390 first-class matches Andrew scored 4230 runs at 13.38 as well as taking 723 catches and making 181 stumpings.He was made an honorary member of the MCC after retirement, and for a period was NCA director of coaching.

Michael Clarke, the stand-in captain, and the coach Tim Nielsen have disagreed over Australia’s Test batting tactics in the aftermath of the side’s horrible Ashes loss. The lack of runs was a key problem for the hosts throughout the 3-1 series defeat and it has become clear that there was a clash over the best method of survival.Nielsen, who has been in charge since 2007, said the batsmen had to learn how to adjust their mind-sets to avoid losing wickets at crucial times, which was a feature of the campaign. However, Clarke, who replaced the injured Ricky Ponting in Sydney, said he told his men not to alter their attitude in the second innings, when they were attempting to hold off the rampaging tourists.”[It was] 100% to play their natural game,” Clarke said of his instructions. “For me, if I try to occupy the crease and block, I know I’m going to have no chance for success. Every individual is different, but you have to stick to your game plan. You have to play your way.”Nielsen disagreed after watching his batsmen fall around breaks in play at vital stages of the past five Tests. “They are little things we need to improve, it’s not about saying you can’t play a cover drive or a cut shot or can’t catch the ball,” he said. “Players don’t get to this level without being able to do that, but it’s us improving as a group to identify those times and realising that sometimes you need to put your own game on the back burner.”It is not unusual for a coach and captain to have different views. Nielsen was angry this week with Stuart Clark, the former Test bowler, for suggesting Nielsen and Clarke had problems in the West Indies during the World Twenty20. Clark had written about the pair’s relationship for the Sydney Morning Herald at the start of the final Test.”It is my belief Clarke will want full control, and this might mean Nielsen has to take a back seat on several fronts,” Clark wrote. “It might be better if he provides support and guidance to Clarke rather than a dominant hand.”He should then ensure the rest of the side are having their requirements met – be they extra netting time, throwdowns, catching, fielding work, bowling work or just sitting down and talking to players about their fears and concerns. This might take away from the more glamorous work of deciding when to declare or who should be 12th man, but it’s still a very important part of building a successful team.”Nielsen insisted he did his best during the Ashes but could only point to three players – Michael Hussey, Shane Watson and Peter Siddle – who had improved over the past six months. Before the season he signed a contract to the end of the 2013 Ashes and James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, delivered a surprising vote of confidence.”He’s doing a great job with the development of players and at the same time we have some significant changes in the personnel within the Australian team and team management,” Sutherland said. “The decision that was made, the board’s very comfortable that Tim’s contract should be renewed through that period. Tim’s fine.”Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said after the match that his panel had done “a very good job” during the series. When Nielsen was asked if he rated his own performance the same way he said: “We’ve done our very best, no doubt about that. We did everything we thought we could do and we tried everything we could have.”While Nielsen ran out of answers for his team, his support staff also struggled to lift the players. Every time Australia bowled the wicket looked flatter and slower, with Troy Cooley suffering badly in comparison with David Saker, England’s Australian bowling coach. Justin Langer’s batting advice was either ignored or not useful, and the fielding was also disappointing.”The planning was there, it was just our inability as a group to do what we wanted to do with bat and ball,” Nielsen said. The players have been the only ones to accept blame for the side’s worst series of results in history.

Michael Hussey believes his interrupted rescue act with Brad Haddin needs to double if they are to earn a dominant position in the opening Ashes Test. Australia will start the third day 40 runs behind England’s first-innings 260 after Hussey and Haddin lifted the side with a partnership of 77.The hosts were 5 for 143 when the pair joined forces after Steven Finn and James Anderson had held up the hosts following an opening stand of 78. Hussey (81) and Haddin (22) provided some comfort for Australia but are now headed for the most important part of the match.”We had to battle pretty hard throughout that partnership,” Hussey said. “We managed to get a good partnership but it’s probably not even half what we require, we’ve got some really hard work to do tomorrow morning. The second new ball is going to be a really challenging time in the game.”England were about to take it when bad light stopped play 17 overs early, but they gained a slight boost when the groundsmen were slow to cover the pitch when a shower arrived. “The game is interestingly poised, it’s pretty tight, probably 50-50 at the moment,” Hussey said. “The first hour or two is going to be interesting to see what happens. It might be the pivotal point of the match.”Finn said England were happy with their results on a pitch that is still providing some help to the bowlers, and contributing to regular shifts in momentum. “That’s been the nature of the game so far,” he said. “It’s ebbed and flowed, and I’m sure it will tomorrow.”This is Finn’s first Ashes Test and the 21-year-old had an encouraging day. He collected the wickets of Michael Clarke, who edged behind pulling, and Simon Katich. Katich drove firmly back to Finn and he leaned forward for a stunning take just off the ground.”If you watch me in the mornings, I practise catching low like that all the time,” he said. “It’s something I try and work on and am conscious of. I need to be able to take catches like that to make myself a better cricketer.”Finn was also punished at times by Hussey, particularly when he was pulling, and finished with 2 for 61 off 15 overs. The Gabba was almost full, but Finn said he wasn’t intimidated.”It was great to get out there and bowl,” he said. “I heard the crowd all of yesterday shouting, 35,000 people. To be able to play in front of 35,000 today was great. I’m used to playing championship cricket in front of 20 people. To have so many people watching has been fantastic. I’m loving it at the moment.”

Daniel Vettori, at the receiving end of an unprecedented whitewash at the hands of Bangladesh, was critical of New Zealand’s batting which failed yet again as the hosts took the series 4-0. New Zealand had been reduced to 20 for 5 in their chase of 174 in the final ODI in Mirpur before Vettori stepped up to lead a recovery with Grant Elliott that proved inadequate.”The [batting] was symptomatic of our performances all the way through – we’ve been five down quite early on. We bowled so well and we let ourselves down with the bat again,” Vettori said after the match. “We have had a dreadful series and we are obviously extremely disappointed. The focus should be on how well Bangladesh played, particularly their captain Shakib Al Hasan who was outstanding throughout the series.”Shakib topped the runs and wickets charts, and had sealed the historic series win in the previous game with a century and three wickets. He top-scored for his team again today, with 36, and picked up two wickets in the three-run win. “We played really good cricket this series. We didn’t bat well the way we wanted, we need to improve on that. But our boys showed character and came hard at the New Zealand team,” Shakib said.The reversal has dealt New Zealand a major setback in their preparations for the 2011 World Cup, and a tougher series awaits in India next month. “India are arguably the best team in the world in their own conditions, they have just come off beating Australia,” Vettori said. “So, it’s going to be a mammoth test for us. If we can regroup and play well there, then hopefully some people can forgive us back home.”

Victoria 8 for 239 (Hodge 140*) beat Queensland 8 for 238 (Philipson 53*, Lynn 50, Nannes 4-44) by 2 wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Chris Lynn is bowled for 50 by Mark Cleary as Queensland fell short•Getty Images

Brad Hodge rushed to his second hundred in consecutive matches as he guided a difficult Victorian chase to beat Queensland on a cold night at the Gabba. Chasing the Bulls’ 8 for 238, Hodge opened and stayed until the end as he carried his men to victory with five balls and two wickets to spare.Hodge, who blasted 134 against Western Australia last week, launched two late sixes and 28 from his last eight balls, taking him to a career-best 140 off 121 deliveries. The Bushrangers were 18 behind at the 20-over break and Hodge, who resumed on 54, took a while to warm-up as he dealt with a series of setbacks.Hodge collected four boundaries from a Chris Swan over to lift the pace and stayed cool to cover for the exits of Andrew McDonald (26) and Matthew Wade (21), who was caught behind slashing to the debutant Cameron Gannon. Ryan Carters (0) gave Swan his third but Michael Hill and Mark Cleary made useful contributions to support Hodge.Craig Philipson provided an important late burst for Queensland with an unbeaten 53 off 54 after the Bulls had struggled for momentum during their second innings. Lee Carseldine and Chris Lynn were cruising along as the hosts were 2 for 114 after 20 overs, but they found it hard to regain their rhythm on their return.Carseldine fell for 38 and Lynn pushed on to 50 before being bowled by Cleary. Dirk Nannes did the most damage for the visitors with 4 for 44 off 12 overs in his first domestic game of the season.

Scorecard
Sri Lanka A’s bowlers ensured there would be no fightback from the Pakistan A tail in Hambantota and that the match would end with bat having been utterly dominated by ball. The hosts had 86 runs to defend on the third day of the second unofficial Test and five wickets to take, which they did while conceding only 46.Twenty two wickets had fallen on the first day, with both teams being dismissed for less than 100 in their first innings, but an improved batting effort from Sri Lanka A in their second had set Pakistan a target of 179. The visitors’ top order wobbled and they ended the second day on 93 for 5, with the promising Hammad Azam unbeaten on 23.Azam, however, was the first batsman to be dismissed today, falling lbw to Jeevan Mendis for 40 off 81 balls. With him went Pakistan A’s hopes and three wickets fell for one run to reduce the visitors from 123 for 6 to 124 for 9. Sachithra Senanayake, an offspinner, took two while Mendis bowled Zulfiqar Babar for a duck to complete his five-wicket haul. Suranga Lakmal picked up the final wicket, that of Junaid Khan, to consign Pakistan A to a 39-run defeat.

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, has promised “prompt and decisive” action if any players are found guilty of spot-fixing following the allegations that emerged during the fourth Test between England and Pakistan at Lord’s.Previous investigations into corruption, including the Qayyum report in 1998 which looked into a number of former Pakistan players, have been slammed for not being firm enough and ridding the game of match-fixing. ICC have said they will let the police investigation take its course but are determined to come down hard on offenders.”Make no mistake – once the process is complete, if any players are found to be guilty, the ICC will ensure that the appropriate punishment is handed out,” Lorgat said. “We will not tolerate corruption in this great game.”The integrity of the game is of paramount importance. Prompt and decisive action will be taken against those who seek to harm it. However, the facts must first be established through a thorough investigation and it is important to respect the right of due process when addressing serious allegations of this sort.”However, the ICC’s own code sets out a variety of punishments that can be enforced ranging from a five-year ban to life depending on a number of factors.Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir are alleged to be among those involved in spot-fixing scams exposed by the News of the World which involve bowling no-balls at specific moments during the Test. The trio, who travelled to Somerset with the rest of the Pakistan squad on Monday ahead of Thursday’s match against Somerset, have had their mobile phones confiscated by police while Mazhar Majeed, the man at the centre of the newspaper sting, has been released on bail pending further questioning.”Currently, senior ACSU investigators are in the United Kingdom conducting enquiries into the allegations directed at some Pakistan players during the recently concluded Test against England at Lord’s,” Lorgat said. “That investigation has the full support and co-operation of the ECB and PCB. In addition, ACSU officials are assisting London’s Metropolitan Police with their criminal investigation.”All allegations of betting irregularities or fixing of matches or incidents within matches are investigated thoroughly by the ICC’s internationally respected Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) and this case is no different.”Meetings have been going on throughout the day to determine the fate of the Twenty20 and one-day internationals due to start next week but at the moment officials insist the games will go ahead. Investigators from Pakistan have flown into the UK and Sharad Pawar, the ICC president, said he expected initial reports in the next few days.”Until and unless the British authorities complete the investigation, which we hope will be done in two-three days, and establish there is prima facie case, it is difficult for the PCB to take appropriate action,” Pawar said after a teleconference with ICC officials, PCB chairman Ijaz Butt and ECB chairman Giles Clarke. “ICC is waiting for the British police to complete investigation. ACSU is also looking into the details. It is also preparing a report in two to three days. The report by British Police and ACSU will give us a proper picture.”