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Lancashire have moved another Championship fixture away from Old Trafford due to the wet summer and the impact on producing enough high-standard pitches on the new square.Their final match of the season, against Surrey from September 11-14, will now be played at Aigburth, Liverpool, after the same switch was made for the Durham clash at the end of August.The Surrey game starts the day after the Twenty20 international against South Africa at Old Trafford – while the ground also hosts England Women in as part of a double-header – and the club have felt it prudent to not risk the quality of Championship pitch for what is shaping as a likely relegation tussle.Mike Watkinson, the director of cricket, said: “The period of extremely wet weather, which forced us to move the Durham game to Liverpool, hasn’t sufficiently improved to re-establish the grass cover on the newer pitches on the square. We have also got the International T20 matches the day before.”Taking these factors into consideration, and the fact that we have made a significant investment in the facilities and pitches at Liverpool, we felt that this was the correct decision. I would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may cause but I am sure that our members and supporters will understand the need to prioritise cricket.”The club added that the pitch used for last week’s England Lions-Australia A match at Old Trafford – which was the same surface that will be used for next year’s Ashes Test – had received “excellent” feedback from players and officials.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsWest Indies nipped out the seven remaining wickets to set up a comprehensive win•DigicelCricket.com/Brooks LaTouche Photography

Victory didn’t seem so certain at the end of the fourth day, but West Indies delivered the knockout punch on the fifth, thanks to their seamers, to cruise to a nine-wicket win and take a 1-0 lead in the series. West Indies needed to pick up the seven remaining wickets as quickly as possible, and Kemar Roach hastened that with a five-wicket haul to give the hosts an easy target of 102, which Chris Gayle and Kieran Powell approached without fuss.It was a continuation of the good work put in by West Indies after they landed home from a tough tour of England. The inclusion of Gayle and Sunil Narine – giants in Twenty20 leagues – heightened the anticipation for cricket fans world over. Both made significant contributions in the victory – Gayle with 150 in the first innings and Narine with a match haul of eight wickets, including a five-for in the first innings. It was West Indies’ third win in the last two years and arguably with their strongest XI in recent months.For New Zealand, their tour only got tougher, having surrendered the T20s and ODIs to the hosts. However, they showed a lot of character on the fourth day to raise hopes of saving the game. The top order didn’t allow the scoreboard pressure to weigh them down, and ended the day 28 ahead with seven wickets in hand. They needed their batsmen to sustain that intensity and bat out at least two sessions on the final day, but when their specialist batsmen let them down early, the writing was on the wall for the visitors.

Smart stats

• West Indies’ nine-wicket win is only their third against a major Test team (excludes Bangladesh and Zimbabwe) since the start of 2009. Their last win against a major team came against Pakistan at Providence in 2011 when they won by 40 runs.

• The win is also West Indies’ first against New Zealand since their triumph in Barbados in 1996. Overall, West Indies have won 11 and lost nine matches against New Zealand.

• Sunil Narine’s eight-wicket match haul is the seventh by a West Indies bowler against New Zealand. The best match performance remains Courtney Walsh’s 13 for 55 in Wellington in 1995.

• Kemar Roach’s 5 for 60 is his fifth five-wicket haul in Tests. He now has 77 wickets in 20 matches at an average of 28.14. It is also the second-best bowling performance at North Sound after Brett Lee’s 5 for 59 in 2008.

• Chris Gayle is the fifth West Indian batsman to score a century and fifty in the same match in a Test against New Zealand. The last player to do so before Gayle was Richie Richardson in 1985.

A double-strike by Roach, immediately after a short rain interval, raised West Indies’ hopes of closing out the game. The wickets heaped pressure on New Zealand as the battle for survival got tougher against an incisive Roach and Narine, who looked like striking every over. Neil Wagner impressed with his defence and perseverance as a nightwatchman, but New Zealand expected more from their specialist batsmen in a tense morning session.With fielders hovering around the batsmen, run-scoring was a challenge. New Zealand managed just two boundaries in the morning. It was a battle of attrition as New Zealand scored just 26 runs off as many overs in the session. Not surprisingly, Narine shouldered the burden, bowling 12 of those overs. The ball spun and shot up off the rough, troubling Wagner in particular who hung on a cliff’s edge each time he took guard against the spinner.But it was Roach who provided the two breakthroughs. A short shower forced the players off the field for 20 minutes. Roach struck two balls after resumption, pitching it outside off and angling it into Ross Taylor, who was trapped on the pads just in front of the leg stump.Taylor went for the review, but the on-field umpire’s call was upheld. Roach struck again in his following over, uprooting Kane Williamson’s off stump with a beauty that held its line and beat the bat. West Indies had struck twice in 11 balls for no run.The pressure was on Dean Brownlie, who took 19 balls to get off the mark. In a ten-over period, New Zealand managed just five runs, showing just how much control West Indies had had over them.Roach, now armed with the new ball, struck in the first over after the lunch break when he removed the resolute Wagner caught behind, trying to drive. Wagner’s 103-ball vigil as nightwatchman should serve as a lesson to the specialist batsmen, who failed to hang around long enough to frustrate West Indies. Ravi Rampaul removed Brownlie the following over, inducing an edge to Chris Gayle at slip. Darren Sammy was tempted to take Rampaul off the attack and bring back Narine, but a fired-up Rampaul convinced his captain to change his mind, and he responded with Daniel Vettori’s wicket.Narine too had some success after lunch, though, when he trapped Doug Bracewell plumb in front of the stumps. Kruger van Wyk farmed the strike with Chris Martin and played some enterprising reverse sweeps to take the lead past 100, but Roach had the last laugh when he knocked back van Wyk’s off stump to take his fifth five-wicket haul.A target of 102 was never going to test the hosts, especially with the in-form Gayle around. He helped himself to an easy half-century to crown his return to the Test side after an exile of one and a half years. New Zealand only managed Powell’s wicket with the score on 77, but at that stage the game was all but over. Assad Fudadin knocked off the winning runs and West Indies went into the second Test with an unassailable lead in the series.

Kevin Pietersen has been omitted from England’s provisional 30-man squad for the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka later this year, despite his insistence that he was available for the event. The announcement suggests Pietersen is unlikely to end his premature retirement from limited-overs internationals in the near future.Pietersen, who was player of the tournament when England won the WorldT20 in the Caribbean in 2010 – the only global trophy they have ever won – has always maintained his desire to play in England’s defence. Last week he said he would also be open to an ODI return if his schedule could be lessened. “I would love to play for another three or four years in all forms of cricket,” he said.Under the terms of England central contracts, a player cannot be considered for one format of the limited-overs game unless they are available for both. While Pietersen’s comments suggest he is prepared to play all formats, the England management still consider him ‘retired’ as he remains reluctant to commit to the team’s full schedule.Andy Flower, the England team director, responded to the news that Pietersen’s representatives were in talks with the ECB by saying that the situation had not changed and that a return was unlikely. He appears to have got his way, with Alex Hales, who scored 99 on his return to the T20I side against West Indies in June, likely to continue as opener.The final squad will be cut to 15 by August 18, ahead of the start of the tournament in mid-September. England’s first game will be against Afghanistan on September 21, with India also in Group A. While there is scope for players outside the 30 to be named in the final 15, it can only happen in exceptional circumstances. That usually means injury.While there is no place for Pietersen, there are recalls for England’s ODI captain, Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, who has recently made a successful return to the ODI side, Michael Lumb, who opened for England in the Caribbean in 2010, and Gareth Batty, who enjoyed a good domestic T20 season with Surrey. Joe Root, the young Yorkshire batsman, is also included for the first time, as is Lancashire’s Steven Croft, alongside other young players such as Ben Stokes, James Taylor and Jos Buttler.Matt Prior, England’s Test wicketkeeper who has continued to impress in limited-overs cricket at domestic level, is also an intriguing selection and offers a potential alternative to Craig Kieswetter.Provisional squad Stuart Broad (capt), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Gareth Batty, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Scott Borthwick, Tim Bresnan, Danny Briggs, Jos Buttler, Alastair Cook, Steven Croft, Steven Davies, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Craig Kieswetter, Michael Lumb, Stuart Meaker, Eoin Morgan, Graham Onions, Samit Patel, Matt Prior, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Graeme Swann, James Taylor, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes, Luke Wright

Saeed Ajmal is known for his straight talk and has a tendency to make big, carefree declarations at press conferences. On Saturday though, which was the last day of Pakistan’s preparatory camp in Lahore, he was rather cautious while fielding the media’s questions. On the tour of Sri Lanka, he said, he will look to keep things ‘simple’.Does he have another new delivery to unveil, following the ‘teesra’ that he dished out against England in the UAE earlier this year? “There is no need to introduce any new delivery, let us keep things simple,” Ajmal said. “Mastering any new delivery takes time and a lot of work is involved in it. With more varieties, more complications are created [for the bowler]. So I would like to just take control of my conventional spin, which is giving me results.”For now, Ajmal said, he is focussing on just bowling at his best and displacing South Africa’s Dale Steyn as the world’s No. 1 Test bowler. “Presently my focus is to win the series [in Sri Lanka] for Pakistan. The goal is to archive the No. 1 spot [on the rankings], for that I am putting in a lot of hard work.”Ajmal did not have much of an impact the previous time Pakistan played in Sri Lanka, as the visitors went on to lose both the Tests and ODIs. This time, Ajmal is looking to compensate for that below-par showing. “Things are going in my way [recently], I will try to extend my recent form. I am ready to take on the Sri Lanka challenge once again.””My body is fully fit and ready to cope the heat [in Sri Lanka], and I know onus will be on the spinners. We[spinners] have to bowl more overs than the fast bowlers because of the heat. But I think we have fast bowlers who can provide a breakthrough even in shorter spells, and they will be equally important. [Abdur] Rehman I make a good pair, and we are ready to bowl longer spells.”While wary of the likes of Thilan Samaraweera and Kumar Sangakkara, Ajmal said Pakistan is quite confident. “We have been practicing assuming that we will be playing on batting [batsmen-friendly] pitches there. We have been doing well for quite a long time now, so I don’t think plans will be difficult for us to execute. They have got some good batsman like Sanga and Samaraweera, who had scored runs against us the last time in the UAE, but we still produced good results against them.”

A three-week hiatus of domestic cricket in Bangladesh will end on Friday with two league matches of the first-class competition, the National Cricket League. However, there will be no matches of the 50-over Dhaka Premier League, suspended since March 28, as the BCB and the clubs remain deadlocked.The NCL games, the first domestic cricket will be played at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium and Fatullah Cricket Stadium. Those two games will be the last of the tournament’s second phase before the five-day final that is scheduled to start on April 26.The BCB’s inability to resolve the crisis with Victoria Sporting Club, Mohammedan Sporting Club and Abahani has been increasingly frustrating for the fans and the players. None of the clubs are budging from their threat of not playing unless their demands are met. It is hoped that a solution will be found by the time the NCL is over.The BCB said on Thursday that officials from five clubs (except Victoria) met BCB president Mustafa Kamal to discuss possible ways to resolve the Super League (the second phase of the Premier League) drama. It is now likely that the Super League will be held after the NCL final.The Sylhet-Rajshahi game will be held in Mirpur while in Narayanganj, league leaders Khulna will take on Dhaka Metro. Sylhet are in second position with 95.52 points while defending champions Rajshahi are third on 93.98 points though they have more wins.Rajshahi are still waiting on the availability of Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim, who is yet to play a first-class game for them this season. Mushfiqur is appearing for his Masters examinations so he could miss the match. If he is absent, Rajshahi will rely on heavy scorers like Farhad Hossain, Mizanur Rahman and Junaid Siddique, and on left-arm spinner Saqlain Sajib who has taken 43 wickets so far in this edition.Jahurul Islam, one of the Rajshahi mainstays, wanted the four-dayers to be played in milder climes, and not the heat of April. “Playing four-day matches in such weather is not perfect,” Jahurul said. “It’d be great if the games would be played in January or February. First-class cricket is important in every country but when it is interrupted by break like this it diminishes the importance of the tournament.”Their opponents Sylhet will bank on their left-arm spinner Enamul Haque who is the leading wicket-taker in the competition with 53 from nine games. Their batting will revolve around Rajin Saleh, Golam Mabud and Ezaz Ahmed.Newcomers Dhaka Metropolis have Asif Ahmed, the tournament’s top-scorer with 744 runs, while Shamsur Rahman, Mohammad Ashraful and Mehrab Hossain Jr all have in excess of 450 runs so far. The bowling has been overly reliant on Arafat Sunny, who has 47 wickets while no one else in the team has bagged 20 dismissals.Khulna will have the services of Abdur Razzak and Imrul Kayes for their match against Dhaka Metro while still relying on their balanced bowling attack that saw Al-Amin Hossain (37 wickets), Murad Khan (34) and Dolar Mahmud (34) dominate whenever the need arose.Tushar Imran and Anamul Haque have scored in excess of 500 runs in the competition while the side will expect Razzak to dominate with the ball and Imrul to use the game to show the national selectors his talent.

Cape Cobras allrounder Rory Kleinveldt, who has played two Twenty20s for South Africa, has been withdrawn from the Cobras squad for the rest of the MiWay T20 challenge after testing positive for a banned substance. The South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) advised that Kleinveldt be omitted as a “precaution”.”Kleinveldt has returned a positive sample in a routine anti-doping test,” SACA said in a release. “The test reveals the presence of a specified substance in Kleinveldt’s test sample. SACA will be reviewing the medical evidence as soon as it is available and will only be in a position to make further comment thereafter.”The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) explains a specified substance as one that can is more “susceptible to a credible, non-doping explanation”. Kleinveldt may request a B sample test if he is unhappy with the result of the initial doping test.Richard Pybus, coach of the Cobras, said the franchise’s staff would provide Kleinveldt with “all the support he needs”, although he admitted to being “disappointed” at having to do without his services for the rest of the Twenty20 campaign. The Cobras lie fourth on the table and need to win all their remaining matches to stand a chance to automatically progress to the final. The team that finishes first will avoid a play-off and proceed straight to the final, while the second and third placed teams will contest a knockout match to decide who earns the right to a Champions League ticket.Kleinveldt, who was included in the South Africa squad for the ODI series against Sri Lanka in January, becomes the second player from the country in the last two years to fail an anti-doping test. Vaughn van Jaarsveld, the Dolphins batsman, completed a three-month ban in January after a substance in the diet pills he was prescribed to consume was found to be on WADA’s prohibited list.

Touring Sri Lanka no longer comes with the challenge of facing Muttiah Muralitharan, but while the opposition attack has changed the climate hasn’t. Kevin Pietersen rarely deals in half measures so it wasn’t surprising to hear him describe the heat England will face in the Test series as “unbelievable” and a bigger task than combating Sri Lanka’s bowling attack.England have sweated through two warm-up matches in Colombo and are now in Galle ahead of the first Test, which starts on Monday, but the change in location won’t bring much relief. During England’s second warm-up match against a Sri Lanka Development XI the mercury hit the mid-30s* in the middle and at drinks breaks batsmen, including Pietersen, used icepacks on their heads. Matt Prior even resorted to keeping without pads. On the whole, though, the England squad appear to be adjusting – another hallmark of their outstanding fitness levels – with most of the batsmen playing lengthy innings and the bowlers all getting overs in their legs.However, performing in tour matches is one thing. England’s batsmen need to make up for their woeful series against Pakistan in the UAE where Alastair Cook’s 94 in Abu Dhabi was the highest score; where they failed to chase 145 and then couldn’t build a match-winning lead after bowling out Pakistan for 99 in the final Test. Still, while respecting the opposition, it wasn’t the Sri Lanka bowlers preoccupying Pietersen’s mind.”They’ve got a left-arm spinner, Rangana Herath, who bowls wicket to wicket and you saw against Pakistan what a guy like Abdur Rehman did to us,” Pietersen said. “Left-arm spin is a huge part of the game now and it’s not going to be easy at all. But it’s not really the spinners out here, it’s the heat. I think that will be the biggest threat to us.”Overcoming tough conditions is why touring is such a huge challenge. For all that England’s players are finding it hard work now, Sri Lanka didn’t have much fun rugged up against the cold at Cardiff or Lord’s in May – although the demands of playing in higher temperatures are probably tougher, as there’s only so much you can do to cool down.”It’s unbelievable, make no bones about that, but it’s something we have to try and get over as quickly as possible,” Pietersen said. “I’m trying to just not do too much and to conserve a lot of energy, not run around like a crazy fool like you do in England or Australia or South Africa, where you can afford to do that.”It’s something we have to try and control. On days off we need to get out, swim in the sea, spend some time in the sun and let your body get used to it. If you only spend time in the dressing room or in the ground and you try and take conditions in like that it’s not going to work. You need to get out as much as you can.”Pietersen could find himself with more to keep him busy in the field than normal, if some overs of his under-used offspin are required. Ravi Bopara’s side strain means he’s unlikely to bowl during the series but remains the favourite to bat at No. 6 ahead of Samit Patel and Pietersen played down any problems in balancing the team.”I’m not sure it’s a big setback, because he’s [Bopara] hardly going to take you seven wickets in a Test match,” he said. “He might bowl you four overs. I can bowl those overs, Jonathan Trott can bowl those four overs.”England’s frontline bowlers will hope Pietersen can supply a few more than four overs.Edited by Alan Gardner*21.30 GMT: The temperature was changed from mid-40s to mid-30s

Mahela Jayawardene is confident Sri Lanka can take plenty of positives from the tri-series even if they fail to beat Australia at the MCG and qualify for the finals. However, the Sri Lankans have by no means given up on the tournament, despite a loss to India in Hobart that could have left them demoralised.In his first series back in the captaincy, Jayawardene has the chance to guide Sri Lanka in to the best-of-three finals against Australia. To get there, they need either to beat Australia or share the points through a tie or an abandoned match, and while there will be showers in Melbourne on Friday it is unlikely there will be enough to force a wash-out.Jayawardene said the loss on Tuesday, when India picked up a bonus point and stayed in contention by chasing 321 within 37 overs, was less a result of poor Sri Lankan bowling than wonderful Indian batting, which was a good sign for his side. And with two wins from their last two games against Australia, Sri Lanka have a strong chance to progress.”Going in to the last game it’s in our control, what we need to do,” Jayawardene said. “It’s a good position for us to be, rather than depending on someone else to do some favours for us.”From where we started on this tour, I think we’ve improved as a team and maintained a consistency. That’s very important for us going forward. Whatever happens tomorrow we will definitely get a lot of positives out of this. Our challenge will be to try and keep this consistency going, because if we play the way we’re playing now … we’ll win more matches than we lose. We’re quite happy with that.”One of the most impressive aspects of Sri Lanka’s series is that it has not just been the veterans who have stood up, although Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara were the centurions in the last match. Dinesh Chandimal has continued to develop as a dangerous middle-order batsman and Thisara Perera, 22, is second only to Lasith Malinga on Sri Lanka’s wicket tally, which pleased Jayawardene.”Going forward we’ve always wanted to have two or three allrounders in a team,” he said. “These guys are taking responsibility. Angelo [Mathews] in the long run will probably be more of a batting allrounder than a bowling allrounder. We’d like Thisara to be more of a bowling allrounder so it fits in well.”Plus [Farveez] Maharoof is a guy who can bat as well and he’s bowling pretty well, he just needs to have a bit more confidence in his batting. All these three guys will be good options for us going forward. We just need a couple of spinning allrounders to come through and we’ll have a really good balanced team.”Sri Lanka won’t have Maharoof for Friday’s game, however, after he suffered from lower back pain during the Hobart loss. His absence was a factor in Sri Lanka failing to defend their big total and Jayawardene said, while Virat Kohli had taken the match away from Sri Lanka, there were things his bowlers could learn from the experience.”The [fast-bowling] guys did go to their strength, which is yorkers and stuff like that, but I think they [Indian batsmen] handled that pretty well,” he said. “We didn’t try too many things, that was probably due to the way the Indians were batting as well … we probably just went with the momentum rather than trying to change it in the middle.”Those are areas in which we can improve as a team … bowlers taking a bit more time and maybe having a bit more of a plan about what they want to do. Even if it’s something out of the box, something totally different, there’s no harm in trying something like that – which we didn’t do. That’s something we’ve spoken about with the bowlers because you have to expect these kind of situations in the future, we have to be prepared. Every game is a learning curve for everyone.”

Dean Jones, the former Australia batsman and technical director of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) franchise, the Chittagong Kings, has said the tournament will help young Bangladesh players, as they will have the opportunity to play alongside international stars. The Kings have Tamim Iqbal as their icon player, and bought West Indies’ Dwayne Bravo and Jerome Taylor, and Muttiah Muralitharan in the auction.”The great thing about this tournament is that the players can rub shoulders with Murali, Tamim and Dwayne Bravo,” Jones said. “[For the young players], getting to see how good they are against experienced players is really important. I think it will really bring the best out of some players. Some players will fail but some players will do very well.”The BPL has been hampered by some of the high-profile buys pulling out due to international or domestic commitments. The Kings will be without Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan allrounder, and West Indies opener Lendl Simmons. “Everyone has got that problem,” Jones said. “We’re looking for replacements now as we speak; who they are I’m not going to disclose.”We’ve got players coming in on the morning of February 10 [date of the opening fixture] because they are playing first-class matches in Pakistan and the West Indies or something. We’ve just got to roll with the punches, get them ready and off we go.”The Kings will be coached by former Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud and have Michael Bevan, the former Australia batsman, as their batting consultant, with Jones advising the coaching staff. “Khaled Mahmud is my eyes and ears; he is helping me communicate with the Bangladeshi boys and understand their roles as well,” Jones said. “Of course we have Michael Bevan and we have bowling and fielding coaches. I am very happy with my coaching staff.”Jones said the BPL would help Bangladesh cricket because it will give the local players the experience of playing under the spotlight. “I think it will give them more exposure, more awareness, it will put them under more pressure, under lights, in front of big crowds. Sometimes you’ll get hurt and get beaten. And then you’ve got to work on your strengths and weakness to come back.”I think it couldn’t come at a better time really for the Bangladesh people and the players. They needed this, I think they wanted this. They need to get out of their comfort zone and now they are going to find out how good they are.”

Ian Bell was taken for a scan on an injured left wrist after he was struck while batting in the nets ahead of the first Test against Pakistan in Dubai. A relieved England management confirmed that no fracture was revealed.Bell was batting against the England batting coach, Graham Gooch, who was using the dog-thrower – or sidearm as Gooch prefers to call it – that has become a regular feature of England net sessions.This is the first injury suffered by an England batsman against the dog-thrower, which is regarded by England’s batsmen as highly beneficial and which has even begun to be adopted in England in club cricket.The equipment, developed to throw balls for dogs to chase and fetch, enables throwdowns to be almost as hostile as fast-bowling deliveries in match conditions. The delivery was certainly hostile enough for Bell, who immediately abandoned his net session and headed off for a precautionary scan. Bell had his wrist bandaged and the result of the scan showed he had not suffered a fracture.It is England’s second self-inflicted injury in 24 hours. Stuart Broad was injured batting in the nets on Sunday when James Anderson produced an inswinging yorker that struck him on the boot and sent the first shiver through England’s ranks ahead of the first Test against Pakistan in Dubai.Broad inside-edged the delivery on to his left foot. He subsequently sat out the remainder of England’s practice session with an ice pack on what a spokesman described as a “heavily bruised” foot. He was not sent for a scan and England are confident he will be able to bowl on Monday. Broad later posted on his Twitter account: “Bowling 2moro so no worries…”Any injury involving Broad is sure to send tremors through the England camp. He has suffered three such setbacks in the last 14 months which severely curtailed his involvement in the Ashes, the World Cup and two limited-overs series against India. For an England side already missing Tim Bresnan, Broad’s all-round skills are more precious than ever.But on this occasion it appears the incident was little more than a scare. Certainly Broad’s predicament gained him little sympathy from his fast bowling colleague Anderson. “It was a bad shot,” Anderson said with a smile. “It’s part and parcel of cricket. We play with a hard ball.”I think he’s fine though. It’s not ideal preparation for him not to bowl today but he’s done lots of bowling in the last couple of weeks and I don’t think he’ll be too worried. He’s a strong character.”Anderson knows he and Broad face a tough workload over the coming weeks. While much of England’s success in recent times has come on pitches that aid their faster bowlers, Anderson is not expecting conditions in Dubai to prove quite so helpful.”We know the cricket won’t be as exciting as it was in England,” Anderson said. “We’ve taken 20 wickets in the warm-up games though, so that’s been a confidence boost. But generally we know there aren’t going to be clusters of wickets and we know the cricket could be quite attritional. The pitches are generally flat.”The first hour is going to be crucial. We expect the new ball to do something and, if we can get any lateral movement later on when the ball reverses, that could be helpful. It’s a huge challenge, though. We’re going to have to use different skills to win here. Our role, as seamers, might be to tie up an end for Graeme Swann.”Such a view encourages the theory that England may yet field two spinners. Monty Panesar outbowled Swann in the warm-up matches and could take the place of either the third seamer or the sixth specialist batsman. Certainly Saqlain Mushtaq, speaking to , felt England should make room for both spinners.”I feel that on Asian tracks England need two spinners because of the heat, the humidity and the dry pitches that they will encounter,” said Saqlain. “At the moment England are the best team in the world and are playing really good cricket.”Not only do England have good spinners at their disposal but I think they can also play spin really well too, particularly with the help of Mushtaq Ahmed who has been providing valuable input to the England batsmen on how to combat the threat of spin bowling. They played Harbhajan Singh really well in England and they showed they can play against the spinners.”If Anderson knows England’s plans, he is not letting on. “I’m sure that’s something they’re considering,” he said. “But I’m not a selector. We’ve had success as a unit of three seamers and a spinner but there’s no reason we couldn’t have success doing things the other way.”Meanwhile Anderson dismissed any suggestion that the context of this series would make any difference to England’s approach. The teams contested an increasingly bitter series in 2010 that subsequently ended under the cloud of corruption. But Anderson insists that while both teams have moved on, there will be no quarter given over the next few weeks.”You can’t lose any of your aggression,” Anderson said. “Generally you try to let the ball do the talking but it’s business as usual as far as we’re concerned. This series is not more sensitive for us than any other. We’ve moved on from what happened in 2010. I think it’s more of an issue for the media.”