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Clint McKay knows he will almost certainly be Australia’s 12th man in the second Test but he can look to several of his fast-bowling colleagues for inspiration about a possible future debut

Brydon Coverdale01-Dec-2009Clint McKay knows he will almost certainly be Australia’s 12th man in the second Test but he can look to several of his fast-bowling colleagues for inspiration about a possible future debut. McKay flew to Adelaide on Tuesday to join the squad ahead of Friday’s Adelaide Test against West Indies after Ben Hilfenhaus was ruled out with knee soreness.Doug Bollinger is expected to move into the team after being 12th man at the Gabba, which will leave McKay to soak up the atmosphere of a Test from the players’ rooms for the first time. It is an experience that McKay will relish and he knows that Bollinger, Hilfenhaus and Mitchell Johnson all had lengthy stints as the next cab off the rank before breaking into the side.It is a strong vote of confidence in McKay, 26, that the selectors preferred him over the veteran Stuart Clark, who played two Ashes Tests this year. McKay said he was surprised at his elevation into the Test squad, given the competition from fast bowlers around the country.”I didn’t think there was any chance at all, to be honest,” McKay said in Melbourne before flying out to join the squad. “There’s a lot of players around at the moment playing very good cricket and not knowing that there were any injury concerns or anything like that, it came as a great shock.”It’s going to be a great experience, just being involved with these sort of guys like Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke and the rest of the Australian side. It’ll be a great thrill and a great learning opportunity for me to be a part of and hopefully I can learn and someday I actually do make my debut for Australia.”The coach Tim Nielsen confirmed that McKay was unlikely to play given Bollinger’s status as the next in line, but McKay should be prepared for any eventuality. This time last year, also for the Adelaide Test, Jason Krejza hurt his ankle at training two days before the Test and Nathan Hauritz rocketed into the side.A similarly sudden injury to Bollinger, Johnson or Peter Siddle would result in McKay debuting, but for now he is still finding his feet at international level. His first taste came during the recent tour of India, where he played his first two ODIs and remained cool on debut to dismiss Sachin Tendulkar for 175 with a slower ball in the dying stages to help Australia to victory.”It was a massive jump from playing domestic cricket here and all of a sudden walking out in India with 45,000 screaming fans, it was a completely different atmosphere,” McKay said. “To play against Sachin Tendulkar and Sehwag and Dhoni and these sort of guys, it was a great thrill and good to be a part of.”In Australian first-class cricket you’re playing against three or four seasoned campaigners and a couple of young kids with great ability coming through. But all of a sudden you’re playing international cricket and you’ve got six or seven top batters who have played international cricket for a few years, so that’s probably the biggest thing.”Even if McKay doesn’t play in Adelaide this week, he has a good chance of continuing his international career when Australia’s one-day internationals come around early next year. For now, holding next-cab-off-the-rank status is a fine place to be.

Essex lose fifth game in a row despite pyrotechnics from Luc Benkenstein

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay12-Jun-2025Will Smale’s career-best 65 handed Glamorgan their third Men’s Vitality Blast win of the summer, and kept Essex on zero points at the foot of the table.Batter Smale had watched sister Sophia score a season’s best 24 in a losing cause for Essex against Hampshire Hawks earlier in the day and, as the older of the two, decided to win the sibling rivalry. He put on 84 with Colin Ingram as Glamorgan piled on 220 against the low-in-confidence Eagles.Luc Benkenstein launched 62 off 32, but he couldn’t prevent Essex from five defeats from five, with Mason Crane grabbing 3 for 24.Glamorgan were stuck in, scored a boundary off the first ball, and stayed above 10 runs an over for the entire innings – to produce their sixth highest T20 score of all-time.Kiran Carlson, who had scored 93 in the reverse fixture, and Ben Kellaway fell in the powerplay but 60 runs gave them the platform to explode – something Smale and Ingram did in style.Smale had already fired two sixes into the Chelmsford neighbourhood in the first six overs, but kept spamming the airspace with two more maximums on his way to a 29-ball half-century.Not to be outdone, Ingram rocketed one off his legs and another straight down the ground, as the pair put on 84 runs in 43 balls. But just as scores of 250 started to be dreamt up, Essex fought back. In 13 balls, they turned 144 for 2 into 152 for 5.Matt Critchley bookended the stint by having Smale dragging to long-on and Asa Tribe skying down the ground, with Benkenstein forcing Ingram to mistime to long-off in between.Dan Douthwaite put the pep back into the visitor’s run-making with three huge sixes in a 12-ball 30 as Glamorgan locked in on an above-par total. Even though Chris Cooke pulled onto his own stumps, Douthwaite and Timm van der Gugten took 34 runs off the last two overs to take them to 220.Essex lost three wickets in the powerplay as Adam Rossington edged to first slip, Dean Elgar was caught and bowled and Michael Pepper feathered an edge behind.On his return from England Lions duty, Jordan Cox attempted to kick the chase into gear. Two big swings off Andy Gorvin and a trio of middled fours laid a base, but an excellent long-on catch saw him off.From there, the Eagles disappeared from the contest as Crane had Walter slicing to point, Critchley bowled, and Shane Snater holing out. Kellaway had dismissed Cox with his left arm, then used his right to see off Simon Harmer, via a flying Govin grab at cover.Benkenstein hammered an outrageous 24-ball fifty to give Essex some respect, but Glamorgan bowled Essex out for 180 to cruise to a 40-run demolition.

New Zealand have a big task with 219 runs adrift and Daryl Mitchell batting with the tail

Mohammad Isam01-Dec-2023Taijul Islam led the Bangladesh spinners to put them on the verge of beating New Zealand in the Sylhet Test with three more wickets to take and an entire day left for it. New Zealand finished the day on 113 for 7, needing another 219 runs to win in their pursuit of 332, with an unbeaten Daryl Mitchell batting with the tail. It was the accuracy of the spinners on and around the off stump that caused huge trouble for New Zealand’s batters. Taijul picked up four wickets while Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Nayeem Hasan took one each.Taijul played the enforcer in Shakib Al Hasan’s absence, removing Kane Williamson twice in the game, while also taking the wickets of Devon Conway, Tom Blundell and Kyle Jamieson in the second innings. Mehidy and Nayeem were the perfect foil, attacking the right-hand batters at the stumps and often using sharp turn to force close catches and lbw shouts. But it was the lone fast bowler Shoriful Islam who brought Bangladesh the early reward.Shoriful had Tom Latham edging his pitched-up delivery that moved away slightly and Nurul Hasan dived low to his left to remove the opener for a duck. Williamson, who had scored his 29th Test hundred in the first innings, was going to be key to New Zealand’s approach on the fourth day.He lasted 24 balls as Taijul beat his inside edge on the forward prod, trapping him lbw for 11. Williamson took the review at the last moment, but he started walking towards the dressing room as soon as he saw the first replay on the big screen. Mehidy got into the act three overs later in his second spell, as Henry Nicholls top-edged a sweep to Nayeem for 2.Taijul got New Zealand into further trouble when Devon Conway jabbed him to short leg off his pad and Shahadat Hossain completed a simple catch. Tom Blundell looked in trouble from the onset and didn’t last too long either, edging the ball behind when he played one towards the leg side and the ball took his outside edge. Nurul Hasan took the catch this time, a tricky one given that the batter had turned his body towards midwicket too.The collapse continued in the 35th over when Nayeem trapped Glenn Philips lbw for 12. The right-handed batter played back to a delivery that turned sharply back to his front leg, and Bangladesh got the wicket through a review. Kyle Jamieson became the third lbw victim when Taijul trapped him in front for 9.Mehidy had earlier helped Bangladesh to a total of 338 with his fifth Test fifty. Although Bangladesh’s day began with their captain Najmul Hossain Shanto getting caught down the leg side when his opposite number Tim Southee removed him in the second over of the day, with Shanto adding just one run to his overnight score of 104. Ish Sodhi trapped Shahadat lbw for 18, before Mehidy survived the first of several chances.Shortly after the first-hour mark, Nicholls dived in from mid-off but one of the replay angles showed that the ball had touched the ground before Nicholls grabbed it. Mitchell dropped Mushfiqur Rahim at slip shortly afterwards too, also off Ajaz Patel, but the bowler removed Mushfiqur next ball when the batter lunged forward, only to be hit on his front pad and fall for 67, a knock that had seven fours.Mitchell later dropped Nurul, again at slip, but the bowler Philips struck in his next over, getting the batter caught and bowled for 10 as Bangladesh inched towards a 300-run lead. They got it just before the lunch break, but Nayeem fell in the second over after the break. Sodhi’s googly did the trick to have him caught at short leg before Taijul gave Nicholls a simple catch at mid-on in the next over. Ajaz added a fourth to his name with Shoriful’s wicket as Bangladesh set up a stiff target.

About Sunil Narine, lead selector Desmond Haynes says, “it seemed that he was not interested”

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Sep-20222:05

Haynes: Pooran had a chat with Narine and it seemed he was not interested

The West Indies selection panel has “decided to move on” as far as Andre Russell’s inclusion in the T20 World Cup squad is concerned, chief selector Desmond Haynes has said. Russell and Sunil Narine, currently playing for Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL, were both left out of the 15-member squad that saw the return of Evin Lewis.Haynes said they decided to pick someone “in form” instead of Russell, who last played a T20I in the T20 World Cup last year.”We had a meeting with Andre Russell earlier in the year,” Haynes told Ian Bishop in an interview on the sidelines of Wednesday’s CPL game between Jamaica Tallawahs and St Kitts & Nevis Patriots. “We’re still not convinced yet, he’s not performing as well as we would like to see him in the competition. I think in the situation with Andre Russell, we’ve just decided to move on, and look for someone who’s in form, and doing well in the T20 format.”Related

• 'I know this was coming' – Russell responds to Simmons on non-availability for West Indies

• Evin Lewis returns to West Indies squad for T20 World Cup; Russell, Narine left out

• Russell, Narine join Abu Dhabi Knight Riders for ILT20

In a press conference later, Haynes said he wasn’t sure if Narine, who hasn’t featured in a T20I for West Indies in over three years, wanted to play after the conversations captain Nicholas Pooran was having with him.”I did not get any notice from Narine regarding his availability to play. There were conversations that the captain was having with Narine, and from all reports, it seemed that he was not interested.”Yes, again, the captain told me he’s reached out to Narine, but I’m not too sure he wants to play.”Narine has been a consistent performer in the CPL and won the Player-of-the-Match award on Wednesday night, hours after the squad was announced, for his all-round performance of 26 off 20 and 2 for 9 from two overs against Guyana Amazon Warriors. He has been batting in the Knight Riders middle order this CPL and has picked six wickets in 20 overs so far at a frugal economy rate of 4.25. Last season, he picked up 12 wickets at a staggering economy rate of 4.37.In the same game on Wednesday, Russell picked 3 for 16 and bowled eight dots in his 17 balls. He hasn’t been among the runs this season, but he had scored much better in the inaugural 6ixty which preceded the ongoing CPL. Russell was the second-highest run-scorer in the 6ixty with 137 runs from five innings, striking at 192.95 with 15 sixes.Russell and Narine have been playing in T20 leagues around the world for many years and were signed by Abu Dhabi Knight Riders for UAE’s ILT20 which will be played early next year. Before the CPL, they played the Hundred in England. While Narine was the top wicket-taker for Oval Invincibles with 11 wickets from six games, Russell scored 148 runs for runners-up Manchester Originals, striking at 168.18 with 12 sixes. He also picked four wickets but leaked at 10.64 runs an over.Even though Russell was among the platinum picks for the BBL overseas draft, he went unpicked eventually possibly because of availability issues as the BBL will clash with the ILT20 and SA20 in South Africa.

Previously, Kathryn Bryce and Majid Haq held the best ranking for a Scotland player

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jun-2021Allrounder Kathryn Bryce has become the first Scotland player – male or female – to enter into the top ten of the batting or the bowling charts in the ICC rankings. She climbed up nine places to be No. 10 in the T20I rankings among batters after topping the run-scorers’ list from her side with 96 runs from four matches in the recent T20I series against Ireland.Kathryn jumped 35 spots to be ranked No. 31 among the bowlers, while also rising ten spots to be the No. 3-ranked allrounder.Previously, wicketkeeper-batter and her sister Sarah Bryce, and offspinner Majid Haq held the record for the best ranking by a Scotland women’s and men’s player respectively. While Sarah was No. 14 among batters in 2019, Haq was No.13 in 2013.Related

• Roller: Meet Kathryn and Sarah Bryce of Scotland

Kathryn’s scores against Ireland included an unbeaten 45 in the third T20I although the hosts came back from 0-1 down to eventually win the series 3-1. Scotland bowlers Katherine Fraser, Abtaha Maqsood, Katie McGill and Priyanaz Chatterji also rose in the rankings.Among the Ireland players, batter Gaby Lewis – with 116 runs, the most, in the series – progressed seven places to be ranked No. 27. Her team-mate Shauna Kavanagh made a massive gain by leaping 60 spots to be No. 103 among batters, while Orla Prendergast and captain Laura Delany benefitted among the bowlers.The T20I batting charts for women continues to be led by India’s Shafali Verma, with Sophie Ecclestone leading the bowlers’ rankings.

Fire keen to call upon Smith’s experience as Australian takes another step in leadership return

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Feb-2020Steven Smith, the former Australia captain, will skipper Welsh Fire in The Hundred this year.Smith was stripped of the Australian captaincy following the Newlands ball-tampering scandal in 2018, banned from playing cricket for year and barred from leading any side under Cricket Australia’s jurisdiction for a further year after his playing ban expired. The leadership sanction will be lifted at the end of March, but it did not extend to the IPL, where he was appointed captain of Rajasthan Royals last April, replacing Ajinkya Rahane eight games into the 2019 edition of the tournament.At Cardiff-based Welsh Fire, Smith will lead the likes of compatriot Mitchell Starc and England’s Jonny Bairstow and Tom Banton.”It’s an honour to be asked to captain Welsh Fire in the first year of The Hundred,” Smith said. “Our squad looks super strong with a great group of players who’ve dominated the international and domestic scenes for the past few years.”Tom Banton is one of the most exciting young players in the world right now and Mitchell Starc brings the X-factor with the ball, so we’re looking to put on an amazing show for the fans in Cardiff.”Welsh Fire men’s head coach, Gary Kirsten, said: “Steve’s knowledge and experience of leading teams in pressurised situations will definitely help us in this first season of The Hundred. He’s got a track record of getting the best out of his players while performing to a very high standard himself, which will be key for us this summer.”After an initial stint as Australia captain in 2014-15, replacing the injured Michael Clarke, Smith took over the role upon Clarke’s retirement in late 2015 until March 2018 and the ball-tampering affair. In 93 matches at the helm, he recorded 47 wins across all formats with 37 losses, six drawn Tests and three ODIs ending in no result.Welsh Fire said in a statement that Smith would lead the team in the competition’s opening fixture against Oval Invincibles at The Oval on July 17, which is the day after Australia’s third and final ODI against England, a day-night match in Bristol.Smith made his international comeback at last year’s World Cup and then played a pivotal role in Australia retaining the Ashes, in which he was by far the leading run scorer. He is now touring South Africa for Australia’s limited-overs series and on Wednesday returns to Newlands, the scene of the events which led to him being banned along with David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.

The Sri Lanka spinner is required to undergo testing on his action within 14 days, but can bowl in international cricket until the results of the tests are out

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Nov-2018Sri Lanka offspinner Akila Dananjaya has been reported for a suspect bowling action following the first Test against England in Galle.He is required to undergo testing on his action within 14 days, but can bowl in international cricket until the results of the tests are out, the ICC said.The second Test against England begins on November 14 in Pallekele, so Dananjaya will be eligible to bowl in that match if selected to play. He took only two wickets in the first Test in Galle.Dananjaya, 25, has played four Tests, 30 ODIs and 16 T20Is for Sri Lanka since his international debut in September 2012.

The former England captain says that the team have to strike the right balance in their preparation for the first Test at Brisbane

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-20172:53

‘Hope Stokes, Hales incident doesn’t make England reclusive’

This time next week, England will be on their way to Australia to begin their three-week build-up to the first Ashes Test. Former captain Michael Vaughan says the squad has to find the right balance between tuning up for Brisbane, and risking being so intense that they exhaust themselves early in the series.England play three warm-up matches in Perth, Adelaide and Townsville before the opening Test at the Gabba on November 23. Adding a challenging dynamic to the build-up this time will be the continued fallout to the Ben Stokes incident in Bristol, which means the allrounder won’t be flying out with the squad and his participation in any part of the tour remains uncertain.Not only do England have to work out how they reshuffle the side in Stokes’ likely absence – at the moment it appears playing an extra bowler will be the preferred option – but there remain questions over the top-order batting following another season where positions two, three and five were far from nailed down. A key part of England’s success in the 2010-11 Ashes was their ruthlessness in the warm-up matches, but Vaughan believes it’s also important for players to know when to switch off.”That period of the three warm-up games, in a players’ mind, feel like Test matches because of the exposure. Every little moment gets built up, one spell of bowling or one score and you are pushed into contention for the team. Yes, the first Test is massive but it’s the preparation that can drain a player,” Vaughan told ESPNcricinfo as he was officially unveiled as part of BT Sport’s commentary team for the series.”I’ve always said that to be a successful player across an Ashes series, you have to have an egg-timer, this ability to keep turning it over. If you allow the sand to drop all the way through with your emotions, not taking your mind away from the series, by the first or second Test you’ll be drained.”You have to be able to switch on and off because it’s thrown in your face everywhere you go, but those players who can take a little step back – get into something different – will probably stand the test of time over a five-match series.”In the aftermath of the brawl in Bristol in late September which led to Stokes – and Alex Hales – being made unavailable for England selection until further notice, coach Trevor Bayliss and director of England cricket Andrew Strauss said the issue of curfews and how much freedom players are given would be looked at. However, Vaughan hopes that the players in Australia are not confined to their hotels.”If you arrive in Australia and it’s all about that first ball in Brisbane, then it becomes a long three-and-a-half weeks,” he said. “They have to play cricket, focus hard, but also enjoy being in Australia. I hope the incident with Ben Stokes and Alex Hales doesn’t put the team into a reclusive nature. Professionalism is key. There’s a time and a place to go out and have some fun, but also to know when to put your cricket hat on. But I think they should be out playing golf, going to restaurants, mixing with the public.”England’s Ashes squad could be divided into eight nailed-on names (although Stokes was one of those) plus another eight selections who split opinion. Mark Stoneman did enough against West Indies to earn a run alongside Alastair Cook, James Vince is set to be recalled to bat at No. 3, with Gary Ballance and Dawid Malan vying for the No. 5 position.There will be a huge amount of focus on Joe Root in his first Ashes as captain, but Vaughan said that ultimately he needs performances from individuals to be successful.”I’ve always been a big believer that leadership of teams is over-egged, I don’t really know anyone who can lead 20 people. The process of winning as a team begins with the individual.”I’m looking at the team – if Stokes does go – I look at eight players of high experience, high quality and another eight who have been selected, and it’s not being disrespectful to them, but there could have been another eight instead of them, then another eight. It was just a debate.”You look at the eight experienced players – Cook, Root, Ali, Bairstow, Stokes if he’s there, Woakes, Broad and Anderson – I wouldn’t say I’d put all my focus into those eight as a captain, because you have to make sure the others are in fine fettle, but for England to win those eight have to be on their game.”

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has called Dilruwan Perera a “silent hero” after the offspinner became the first Sri Lanka player to take ten wickets and score a half-century in a Test

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Galle06-Aug-2016Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has called Dilruwan Perera a “silent hero” after the offspinner became the first Sri Lanka player to take ten wickets and score a half-century in a Test. Perera was both the most economical and the most penetrative of Sri Lanka’s frontline bowlers in the match, taking 10 for 99. In the process he also became the fastest Sri Lankan to 50 Test wickets, achieving the milestone in 11 Tests, to beat Ajantha Mendis, who got there in 12.His second innings’ score of 64 was also higher than any the Australia batsmen have mustered, through the series so far.”We talk a lot about Rangana Herath, but not as much about Dilruwan,” Mathews said after the match. “But he’s just become the fastest Sri Lankan to 50 Test wickets. When Murali was there, we didn’t speak that much about Rangana, so I guess it’s the same thing with Dilruwan. He’s a silent hero. In the last match he didn’t bowl well, but he was very diligent and knows how to bowl in Galle. He worked very hard in training with the coaches. He’s someone we can get a lot of profit from in the years to come.”Perera said he had realised he’d bowled too quickly in Pallekele, and had watched videos of his own bowling, and worked with spin coach Piyal Wijetunge to redress the problem. He took the key wicket of Australia’s top-scorer, David Warner, in each innings, and threatened both edges of virtually every other batsman through the match.”After having a quiet first Test, he backed his potential and came back really hard,” Mathews said. “He was one bowler who the Australians found it really hard to score off, especially on this track.”While much of Australia’s pre-series batting plans appeared to revolve around patience and batting long periods, Mathews said an attacking mindset had helped his team reap victory in the series. Mathews was among the most aggressive batsmen in the match, hitting 54 from 65 balls in the first innings, before making 47 from 69 in the second. Sri Lanka’s highest scorer in the first innings – Kusal Mendis – had progressed at a strike rate of 63.”When you’re playing on extreme conditions you can’t just block the cricket ball,” he said. “You’re eventually going to get out to short leg or lbw. You’ve got to start scoring runs. You’ve got to sweep and reverse sweep. Sometimes you’re still going to make mistakes, but you’ll find a way to score runs and upset the lines and lengths of the bowlers. We had to be scrappy.”Despite having been instrumental to the victory in Pallekele, Lakshan Sandakan bowled only two balls in the first innings, and six overs in the second, though he did pick up two wickets. Mathews said he simply could not find an opportunity to bring the wristspinner on.”Each time I wanted to bring Sandakan, either Dilruwan or Rangana got a wicket, so I couldn’t change them. Dilruwan looked like taking a wicket every single ball, so I had to just keep bowling him. Herath on the other end just keeps the pressure on the batsman all the time. They were bowling brilliantly and Sandakan didn’t get much of a chance to bowl on that wicket.”Having endured a tough seven months until the end of July, and a winless tour of England, Mathews also thanked his team and fans for their support through a tough period.”Well, my team backed me all the way through, so special thanks to them. Also thanks to SLC for backing us right throughout and also the selectors. They said we’ll get a bit of stick when we lose a few games, but if we do our processes right, we will along the way win a few games. To beat the No. 1 team is very satisfying. We also thank the fans for being there with us. It’s never an easy task when you lose games to keep persevering. They kept believing in us and supporting us.”

Sri Lanka Cricket remains mired in stadium debt of over USD $20 million, but has strode towards stability in its operational budget since the interim committee took over in late March, board treasurer Lucille Wijewardene said

Andrew Fidel Fernando08-Jun-2015Sri Lanka Cricket remains mired in stadium debt of over USD $20 million, but has strode towards stability in its operational budget since the interim committee took over in late March, board treasurer Lucille Wijewardene said. The board also hopes to contest the ownership of much of those stadium debts, which were accrued in the approach to the 2011 World Cup.SLC officials said the board’s operational funds have been improved by at least Rs 475 million since the interim committee was appointed. The board had a bank overdraft of Rs 285 million when the interim committee took over, but is now in the black, thanks largely to spending cuts, and the receipt of part of the financial distribution the ICC had held in escrow.”We have a deposit of a 190 million rupee treasury bill (approx. USD $1.42 million) deposit,” Wijewardene said. “We also have a separate one million dollar deposit. In addition, the ICC has indicated they will release a further $2.3 million to us this month. I don’t see a problem for the next six months.”The ICC still holds much of the payment due to SLC in escrow, but the board has arrived at an arrangement through which it can periodically have some of those funds released to it. At present, roughly a third of the ICC sum owed to SLC has been paid, Wijewardene said. The ICC had in April decided to withhold the financial distribution to SLC because Sri Lanka’s government had appointed the new board, before discussions brought a compromise.But although the improvements to SLC’s operational finances will allow the board to begin development on indoor nets and a pool at Khettarama Stadium, as well as fund a pay increase for domestic cricketers, the board’s long-standing stadium debt remains immense. Wijewardene said the board still owed Rs 2.2 billion (approx USD $16.5 million) to Sri Lanka’s Ports Authority, for the building of the Hambantota Stadium, as well as 500 million rupees (approx. $3.8 million) to the State Engineering Corporation (SEC), for the work done on Pallekele stadium.The creditors – both government organisations – are not currently pressing SLC for repayment, Wijewardene said. But while he conceded the debt to SEC must be paid eventually, he said the board would contest its ownership of the Rs 2.2 billion debt to the Ports Authority. The erection of the stadium in Hambantota had been part of the previous government’s plan to spur development in that region, and as such, SLC feels it should not have to bear those construction costs.”The 500 million to the State Engineering Corporation will probably have to be paid, but we’re in discussion with them,” Wijewardene said. “They are even ready to begin the development work we have proposed at Khettarama, so there’s no problem.”The work on the indoor nets and pool at Khettarama is expected to begin in early July, interim committee chairman Sidath Wettimuny said. The board also expected to cut Rs 25 million in expenditure on the upcoming Pakistan tour, after re-ordering their budget for that series.”It may be too early to tell after just 2.5 months, but I think we’ll be under budget on our expenditure, because we have cut costs drastically,” Wettimuny said. “Next month we will look at our quarterly budget and get a better idea of where we are. This is something we’re watching very, very closely. We’re looking at only spending where it really matters.”