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Andrew Flintoff’s lack of runs is a major concern for England © Getty Images

This tournament blows as hot and cold as a schizophrenic lover. One minute it’s the worst show on earth, devalued by too many mismatches and too many minnows; the next, one of those minnows has grown teeth and started nibbling the ankles of the big boys, and the excitement is back on. On Wednesday Bangladesh take on England – in a non-event that is suddenly a show-stopper.Or rather, it will be a show-stopper if Bangladesh do unto England what they have done unto India and South Africa so far in the World Cup, and send them spiralling to their fourth defeat of the Super Eights. After faffing ineffectually so far in the competition, England now need five wins in a row if they are to pull off another CB Series-style resurrection. Once upon a time, a victory in this match would have been taken as read. Not anymore.After their euphoric performance in this tournament to date, Bangladesh can no longer be viewed through the same jaundiced eye that they once were. They remain young and inexperienced and prone to thumping defeats if their bubble of exuberance can be pricked before they’ve had time to get stuck into a match. But given half a sniff of victory, they have versatility and level-headedness in their batting, and a spin-orientated bowling attack that loves nothing better than to close ponderous teams down in the middle overs of a chase.Few teams are as ponderous as England on a bad day. Their victories over the genuine minnows, Canada and Ireland, were desperately unconvincing, and even on their better days, against Sri Lanka and (for a time) Australia, they were unable to translate a winning position into outright victory.”We have to go out and beat Bangladesh, that’s the first step, and then we’ll look at it from there,” England’s coach, Duncan Fletcher, said as he sized up the permutations of his team’s qualification. “It’s probably going to go down to a [run-rate] calculation, but you don’t want to go into that in great depth.”There are several subjects that Fletcher might not want to go into in great depth at present, not least the form of his two most recent captains. Michael Vaughan has totalled 83 runs in six innings so far and Andrew Flintoff has starred with the ball as ever but has mustered just 49 runs in a campaign that is still most notable for his nautical activities.Vaughan’s slump, though problematic, is the lesser issue of the two, because even at his best, he is never going to be a destructive hitter to rival the on-song Flintoff. Without Freddie firing, however, England are designed to ebb away from every situation in which a couple of quick wickets come tumbling, as they demonstrated so expertly when collapsing from 164 for 2 against the Aussies.”I wouldn’t say Andrew feels at the top of his game,” Fletcher said, “which is why he’s working a little bit extra on it. He feels there are certain areas that he has to work on in these conditions. Against the spinners it’s pretty hard with these big outfields because you can’t just keep clearing the boundary and ones and twos become important and it’s an area he feels he has to work on.”

Bangladesh’s trio of left-armers – including Abdur Razzak – will be confident of restricting England’s batsmen © Getty Images

It’s an area that justifiably gives Bangladesh real cause for optimism in the run-up to this fixture. After watching Flintoff flounder against Brad Hogg, the trio of Abdur Razzak, Mohammad Rafique and Saqibul Hasan – left-armers one and all, but each so subtly different – will be confident they can restrict England to a chaseable total. As Kevin Pietersen showed with the tempo of his century against Australia, all it takes is uncertainty at one end of the pitch to quell England’s attacking instincts at the other.Bangladesh’s own batsmen hardly suffer from the same anxieties. Their youthful batsmen have been revelling in the carefree attitude that has been fostered around their squad. From the moment Tamim Iqbal led that frenzied assault on India’s seamers in the opening match, to Mohammad Ashraful’s outrageous paddle-sweeping against South Africa, the talent and ebullience has been on full display. If any of their hard-hitters can get stuck into men such as Sajid Mahmood or Jimmy Anderson, England could have a fight on their hands.”The English team has some good players but they are not playing well at the World Cup, so it will not be impossible to beat them,” Bangladesh’s captain, Habibul Bashar, said. “The South Africa win has increased the confidence and morale in the team. Now we need to win three more matches to come into contention for a semi-final. The boys know it’s hard work, but they are ready for it.”And, in an indication of Bangladesh’s bullishness, Bashar felt confident enough to strike back at those who decry the absence of India and Pakistan. “They lost two out of their three first-round matches,” he wrote in his newspaper column of the Bangladesh daily, Prothom Alo. “If this attitude persists, one should organise a ‘Top Ranking Cup’ instead of the World Cup, where the teams will play according to their rankings.”The World Cup is not the property of one or two teams. It belongs to everyone and the best team will win the cup. Instead of spoiling the show, Bangladesh have made the World Cup more interesting. There are now plenty of teams fighting for the semi-finals.” Some, like England, will have to fight harder than others.England (probable) 1 Ian Bell, 2 Michael Vaughan (capt), 3 Andrew Strauss, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Ravi Bopara, 8 Paul Nixon (wk), 9 Sajid Mahmood, 10 Monty Panesar, 11 James Anderson.Bangladesh (probable) 1 Javed Omar, 2 Tamim Iqbal, 3 Saqibul Hasan, 4 Habibul Bashar (capt), 5 Aftab Ahmed, 6 Mohammad Ashraful, 7 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 8 Mohammad Rafique, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza, 10 Abdul Razzak, 11 Syed Rasel.

Andrew Flintoff has plenty to think about over the next few days © Getty Images

No-one can be sure anymore with the way things are going, but for the moment it appears that Andrew Flintoff – Fred, the lad of lads – will in another 36 hours become the seventy-sixth Test captain of England, and, discounting Alec Stewart, the first allrounder to hold the position since you-know-who. “I’m looking forward to walking out in front of 10 lads on Wednesday, all of us fighting for the England side, doing everything I can to help them perform,” he declared in what was the verbal equivalent of fist thumping heart, his signature move in the glory of a summer that grows ever more distant.He also conceded that he might just get his choice of ends to bowl from, though “there isn’t a great deal of wind here anyway is there?” On the flip side he will no longer return home for the birth of his second child as he had planned to do – an indication perhaps that neither Michael Vaughan nor Marcus Trescothick will play any part in the series.There is rarely a perfect time for it, but Flintoff’s initiation to captaincy could barely have come in more challenging circumstances. Leave aside turn and heat and Dhoni and Sehwag, Flintoff’s biggest ask is to make an XI. It is doubtful if Sky, having been bled over the broadcasting rights, will feel benevolent enough to release Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton.”There have been injuries, there’s been illnesses and that’s not been ideal. But it’s an opportunity for the team to show what we can do. When the lads walk out there on Wednesday I’m sure we’ll be looking forward to the challenge of playing against India. I think a lot of things have happened so far, as soon as you walk over the white line, it’ll be forgotten. We’ll be going out there to play cricket. We will be a 100 per cent prepared to play a Test match against India.”Having never led the A team on tour or Lancashire for more than the occasional match, Flintoff’s natural feel for the game will be more critically tested than ever before. By his own recollection: “The first time I did it [captain] was for the Lancashire Under-11s. Then I did England Under-19s, and a few games for Lancashire, both first-class and one-dayers. I think I’ve only done it for England briefly the other day [at Baroda] in the second innings when they were chasing down 58, and I captained a tour match in Sri Lanka.””It’s something I’m looking forward to, to be honest. I’m always involved in the game, batting, bowling, fielding at slip, so this is just one more thing I’m looking forward to doing. You know the workload I have, it’s pretty tough anyway – but the one thing is that I’m probably in control of my destiny now. It’s not something I’m worried about.”Still, it may be relevant to visit Vaughan’s observations on the subject in his book, Calling the Shots. “He bats, bowls and fields – I’m not so sure giving him the extra responsibility and all the other jobs that come with captaincy would be good for him. The workload would be overwhelming. He’d have to practise his batting, bowling and then half an hour in the slips and then think about the captaincy. That would be very tough.””He likes his fun and games,” Vaughan had added, “and so do I – but at the right time. He couldn’t act as he’s acting now and be captain.”How will Flintoff seek to put his imprint on a side led vibrantly for close to three years by Vaughan? What kind of captain will he be?”A good one I hope! In the dressing room the lads know their job. Each individual knows what he’s doing. Everyone’s pointing in the right direction, the same direction. I’ve just got to be myself. I’m just going to change the field around a little more!””It is Michael’s team. Michael’s someone that not just myself but the rest of the lads like playing under. I’ve just got to try and carry that on for a brief time, the enthusiasm and the fun that he puts into it and the determination and the courage that the side have. All I know is that when I walk out Wednesday and have ten lads behind me, I know they will give me the same respect, the same effort, the same energy as what they do for Michael. As for putting a stamp, I’m not in the job long enough. I’m just going to try and continue the great job that Michael does.”For the archives, the first man to shake hands was Shaun Udal, within earshot when Flintoff was officially given the news. The moment came towards the end of the practice session in the stinging dry heat of Nagpur this afternoon. Just as well for the late appointment. Captaincy is a wearying business, not least the lead-ups. An early introduction to the nature of the beast, or the bird in this case, came when he was asked about the flu-free chicken prepared by the hotel kitchen for the team.”Chicken is chicken,” he mused. “But to be honest with you, I’ve got a few mo’ things on me plate than chicken.”

Sri Lanka A 225 (Jayantha 45, Arnold 42, Harrison 4-36) beat England A 166 (Shah 55) by 59 runs
Scorecard
Points table

Russel Arnold continued his good form, scoring 42 for Sri Lanka A© CricInfo

England A are on the verge of crashing out of the triangular series after slumping to a 59-run defeat to Sri Lanka A at the Colts ground in Colombo. They now need to win their last group match to progress, but this will be no easy task as they are up against Pakistan, who have already booked their place in the final courtesy of three straight wins.Saman Jayantha (45) and Russel Arnold (42) led the charge to lift Sri Lanka to 225 after Ian Bell sent them in. David Harrison took 4 for 36 from nine overs, including the first wicket of Michael Vandort (7 for 1). But Sri Lanka recovered to set an imposing total and give themselves a lifeline of staying in the tournament.England stumbled in their reply, losing both Matt Prior and Vikram Solanki with the score on 23. Wickets tumbled at regular intervals from thereon in, Malinga Bandara and Suraj Mohamed taking three wickets each to wrap up the England innings comfortably.Owais Shah mounted a lone stand of 55 before Dilhara Fernando trapped him lbw. Another six batsmen managed to get into double figures, but then stalled as the wheels came off England’s batting.

Warwickshire have confirmed the signing of the Australian spin bowler Brad Hogg as one of their overseas players for 2004. Hogg, 32, was a member of the side which won the World Cup in South Africa earlier this year, and is currently playing for Australia in the one-day TVS Cup tournament in India.Hogg, a left-hander, started out as a specialist batsman and remains a fine strokemaker who bats in the middle/lower order for Western Australia, but he is now better known as an unorthodox left-arm wrist spinner. He is also a magnificent fielder.Dennis Amiss, Warwickshire’s chief executive, said: “We are delighted to be able to agree terms with Brad to enable him to join us next season, and his world-class left-arm spin bowling will provide the control and penetration we have been searching for. He was, without doubt, one of the most impressive bowlers in the last World Cup, taking 13 wickets at 24.76 apiece, and he will make an enormous difference to our bowling line-up.”

The Zimbabwe Board XI, having done nothing to deserve it during the first seven sessions of the match, decided to move into top gear during the last two and romped home to an eight-wicket victory over Gauteng B, despite losing a third of their overs to rain.Basically the home side’s indifferent play lulled Gauteng into a false sense of security, as they set the Board XI over 300 at just four runs an over on a pitch that, although taking turn, was still holding together perfectly – and with only one spinner in their team. Any Man of the Match award would certainly have gone to opener Alistair Campbell, who completed two masterly centuries in the match.The Gauteng batsmen, resuming at 107 for four, were soon making hay at the expense of some innocuous and often ill-directed Zimbabwe Board bowling. Vaughan van Jaarsveld in particular enjoyed the pull whenever the bowlers pitched short, which was frequently in the first twenty minutes before the penny dropped and Guy Whittall came on to put a brake on the scoring with his accurate medium-paced swingers.Whittall finally broke through on the stroke of morning drinks, yorking van Jaarsveld for 40; 159 for five – 254 ahead – in the 60th over, so Gauteng were not making very good progress if they were planning an eventual declaration. As Andrew Locke settled in, Harris played the shot of the day, a superb flat-bat six over extra cover off Whittall, who appeared to be tiring a little. Later in the over a cut to the boundary brought Harris his fifty.Raymond Price took some stick before Locke (11) drove a catch straight at extra cover, and shortly afterwards Gauteng declared at 216 for six wickets, with Harris unbeaten on 69. This set the Zimbabwe Board XI 312 to win in 78 overs, a rate of exactly four an over. Considering the potential of the experienced home side, even if few of them had played up to it to date in this match, it was a generous target, and the Gauteng captain had perhaps been deceived by the lacklustre performances of the Zimbabwe players hitherto in the match.While Alistair Campbell played himself in carefully, Mark Vermeulen had no such inhibitions, and hit his fifth ball, from off-spinner Siraaj Conrad who took the new ball, for six into the bush wide of long-on. But on the stroke of lunch Vermeulen (9) snicked a fine ball from Gerard de Bruin that moved away to be caught at the wicket and the match was wide open.Campbell fed himself voraciously on some short bowling from de Bruin immediately after lunch, pulling effortlessly to the midwicket boundary. New batsman Richie Sims also played some good strokes and enjoyed a life on the midwicket boundary when 25. He caught Campbell on 39, but by now a new element threatened to encroach on the match – the weather. One of the young Zimbabwe players, victim of a joke by coach Trevor Penney, came into the scorers’ box and asked for a copy of the Duckworth-Lewis regulations in case it rained!With thunder in the distance, Sims became bogged down when approaching his fifty, and Campbell was first to the landmark with a classic boundary through extra cover off Walter Masimola. In the same over Sims finally flicked a two through midwicket to reach his first fifty at this level and then resume normal aggressive service. Campbell, who seemed to have assumed the anchor role, had a lucky escape when he played a ball from Conrad on to his stumps without disturbing a bail.The powerfully built Sims drove Conrad for six into the sightscreen, but heavy drops of rain started falling four minutes before tea and the players left the field. The Board XI were well placed for victory at 166 for one off just 32 overs, but all depended on whether the ground would catch the edge of the storm or the full force.The genuine rain was steady for about 15 minutes, but it was followed by an annoying light drizzle that lasted for another 30. 80 minutes’ play – 23 overs – was lost in all, leaving the home side the remaining 23 overs in which to score another 146 runs, with nine wickets left.Campbell and Sims continued the chase in good style until Sims, trying to hit a yorker from Conrad across the line, was adjudged lbw for 88, a superb innings at just the right time for the 22-year-old former Academy student. The pair had added 186 for the second wicket.Campbell duly reached his second century of the match, for the first time in his career – unfortunately it will not count in the first-class records – but the required rate was now seven an over. Still, he and Guy Whittall cruised along almost effortlessly at that rate, never seeming flurried, unlike the sweating (and swearing) Gauteng fielders. With four overs to go, Whittall hit successive balls for six and four to eliminate most of the remaining pressure.Five were needed off the final over, and Campbell (149 not out) drove a boundary through extra cover off the fourth to clinch victory. Whittall (52 not out) gave him fine support in a 118-run partnership off 99 balls.

Mumbai won the toss as visitors at the Eden Gardens in Calcutta anddid themselves no good over the first day against Bengal. A Mumbaibatting lineup that looks very strong on paper folded up against thewiles of experienced campaigner Utpal Chatterjee. The left arm spinnerpicked 4/48 and sent Mumbai reeling to 182 all out on the first day.Recently picked to play Test cricket for India, Wasim Jaffer openedthe batting for Mumbai with Amit Pagnis. The two have opened in eachothers’ company in various grades of cricket and are reputed to have agood understanding. However, whatever understanding they might ormight not have was of no consequence as Jaffer was dismissed by Shuklabefore he reached double digits.Pagnis made 43, which itself was hardly a score worthy of mention.However, the fact that it was the top score by a Mumbai cricketer onthe day speaks volumes. Three batsmen with big reputations – JatinParanjpe, Amol Muzumdar and Vinod Kambli all failed to impress,managing just 63 runs between them.At 98/4 there was not much Mumbai could hope for from the day. Matterswere made worse by the dismissals of both wicketkeeper Amol Rane andRamesh Powar for ducks.Utpal Chatterjee then brought many years of experience into play as hecleaned up the tail. Bowled out for 182, Mumbai would have to bowlexceptionally well to reduce the damage on their already batteredreputation.In response, Abey Kuruvilla struck early, picking up the wicket ofNikhil Haldipur in just the first over of the innings. Soon after,Nilesh Kulkarni snared the other opener – Dasgupta. Bengal were 21/2at stumps on day 1. If they bat well on the second day they could putMumbai in an embarrassing position.

Leeds United have had a difficult second season in the Premier League with the Whites now in a relegation battle with just 23 points on the board from 27 games played.

Injuries have certainly played their part in the Yorkshire club’s dismal campaign, with the likes of Liam Cooper, Kalvin Phillips and Patrick Bamford all missing substantial periods of the season.

Now it seems as though the season has ended for one other unlucky Leeds figure after Tyler Roberts was recently ruled out for three months after undergoing surgery to fix a hamstring injury he picked up in the club’s recent 1-0 defeat against Leicester City.

While this will be a blow for Jesse Marsch’s side and their hopes of avoiding relegation, this could pave the way for the newly appointed Leeds boss to give one other player the chance to play a bit more regularly and potentially save the club from the dreaded drop down to the Championship.

Opportunity knocks

Labelled as an “absolutely outrageous” player by Beren Cross, 19-year-old striker Joe Gelhardt has made 11 appearances in the Premier League this season but has only started two of them, chipping in with one goal and three assists along the way.

With Roberts now ruled out for the next few months and the fact that the Whites haven’t managed to score a goal in their three previous league games, it seems as though Marsch could do with making some changes to his team, particularly at the top of the pitch.

As well as the Welshman’s unfortunate injury, Rodrigo and Dan James have only found the back of the net once between them in the club’s past five league outings, which could also persuade the American to give the teenage striker a chance to lead the team from the start to see if he can be a more clinical presence than some of the other attacking options in the squad.

Also, with Leeds set to face Aston Villa on Thursday evening in their latest league fixture and the fact that Bamford was only fit enough to be an unused substitute over the weekend, Marsch could turn to the £2.7m-rated youngster if he doesn’t want to put the more experienced striker in from the start and risk him getting another injury.

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If this were to happen and the teenager did find some goalscoring form, he could well be seen as the club’s “saviour” for this campaign, as he has been described before by Cross.

In other news: £13.5m loss: Radz had Leeds howler over “non-existent” flop who’s cost £2.6m per goal – opinion

ScorecardSimon Katich’s fourth Pura Cup century of the season gave second-placed New South Wales a handy lead and then four cheap Western Australian wickets put them in a strong position heading into the final day. Katich moved to 189 before chopping on to leg stump in sight of what would have been his fourth double-century in the past year. The ball clipped the bail and he became one of four victims for Ben Edmondson.Beau Casson added a useful 72 not out and was part of a stand with Katich that took New South Wales one run behind, then Nathan Bracken pitched in with 30. But Brad Haddin, perhaps overawed by being tipped to be Australia’s new wicketkeeper-batsman following Adam Gilchrist’s retirement, was an early casualty, adding five to his overnight 8 before being caught by Chris Rogers off Marcus North.Then came a procession as Doug Bollinger delivered two sharp blows, and Casson’s slow left-armers also bagged a couple to send Western Australia’s top order back. Three of the dismissals were lbws and they were in severe trouble at 4 for 36. Luke Pomersbach and Aaron Heal will resume with a huge task to push third-placed Western Australia into any kind of lead and then hang on for the draw. New South Wales, however, will be confident of capturing the final six wickets to keep their final bid secure.

David Hussey: set for an elevation at Nottinghamshire © Getty Images

David Hussey will fill in for fellow overseas player Stephen Fleming as Nottinghamshire captain at the start of the 2007 domestic season. He will take charge of four Championship matches and five one-day ties.Fleming will miss the first five weeks while he leads New Zealand in the World Cup in the Caribbean. He is set to arrive in Nottingham in late May in time for the Championship match against Essex which starts on the 23rd.Nottinghamshire have decided not to draft in a replacement overseas player for that period. Their director of cricket, Mick Newell is confident he has a strong enough squad to cope without Fleming.Hussey’s temporary promotion comes after his successful stint as stand-in captain for Victoria in Australia’s domestic season. Hussey guided Victoria to the Ford Ranger one-day cup final as he filled in for the Australia representatives Cameron White and Brad Hodge.”David’s got good tactical awareness,” said Newell, “and has been getting some experience of captaincy with Victoria this winter. He also seems to have batted better during that period, so I’m hopeful we’ll see similar results at Trent Bridge.”

Adam Gilchrist: ‘Half-way through the series people said I shouldn’t be in the team, so to prove them wrong like this is very satisfying.’ © Getty Images

Australia’s VB Series success, which was sealed with a nine-wicket win in the third final at Gabba, was set up by the team’s response to proving the doubters wrong. Mid-way through the series Adam Gilchrist’s position at the top of the order was being heavily debated, the team was considered to be ignoring the current competition for next year’s World Cup, and Simon Katich was being hassled out of the side.Gilchrist and Katich both finished the tournament with centuries to secure their partnership on next week’s tour of South Africa, and Australia responded from a shock loss in the opening final in Adelaide to crush Sri Lanka in the final two matches. “Half-way through the series people said I shouldn’t be in the team, so to prove them wrong like this is very satisfying,” Gilchrist said after his 91 balls of devastation.Sri Lanka’s target of 267 looked miniscule once Gilchrist, the Man of the Match, started to shower the ground, which was also being hit by empty cups from Mexican waves, with four sixes and 13 fours in his 122. “Tonight that was brilliant, I just loved it,” he said.”It was also good for Simon with the scrutiny he’s been under. We’ve tried to stay positive and the team has dealt with a reasonable amount of criticism. People said we were focussing too much on the World Cup and not this series. Well, we’ve won it.”Ricky Ponting was also understandably cheery, and not just because he captured a brilliant one-handed leaping catch to remove Russel Arnold for 76. “We were made to look silly in Adelaide but since then our cricket has been unbelievably good,” he said. “The individual efforts -Andrew Symonds in Sydney and Adam and Simon tonight – were very special and to come from 1-0 down and play our best cricket was very satisfying.” The only thing discolouring the victory was a fine by Jeff Crowe, the ICC match referee, for finishing the first innings two overs behind schedule.Despite losing the final two matches by 167 runs and nine wickets, Marvan Atapattu, the Sri Lanka captain, was pleased with the way his side had responded from poor one-day tours to India and New Zealand. “It was only a matter of time before things clicked,” he said.While Katich eased Australia home with 107 from 142 balls, it was Gilchrist’s innings that stole the match from Sri Lanka. “We thought we were 15 to 20 runs short, not that it would have mattered to Gilchrist,” Atapattu said. “When Gilchrist and Sanath Jayasuriya start hitting like that they take the game away from you just like that.”