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Ryan Mason’s abysmal away record as West Bromwich Albion manager ultimately proved to be his undoing.

Staggeringly, the Baggies’ last-gasp loss on the road at Leicester City – which proved to be Mason’s final outing in the dug-out – was the West Midlands outfit’s tenth away defeat in a row in Championship action, with the 34-year-old stating that he felt “devastated” yet again for the travelling faithful at the full-time whistle.

That would prove to be some of his last words to the media, as he was finally put out of his West Brom misery, with only nine league wins heading his way in total, from 26 contests.

In the end, Mason was in over his head, taking on the challenge of the second-tier job so early into his fledgling managerial career, as West Brom now look to get their faltering season back on track with an inspired replacement.

Contenders to replace Mason

It will be interesting to see what route the Baggies go down in immediately replacing the underwhelming head coach, with experienced Championship managers being lined up to come in.

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Indeed, both Michael Carrick and Carlos Corberan are being rumoured to call the Hawthorns home very shortly, with the pair combined overseeing a mighty 138 wins in the Championship.

The Spaniard collected a large portion of those when previously in charge of the Baggies, and with his future at Valencia hanging in the balance, a spectacular reunion might soon be on the cards.

Yet, the other route West Brom could go down is going after another inexperienced head coach, despite the obvious failures of the Mason reign, with former Manchester United coach Eric Ramsay also in line to take on the reins after the 34-year-old, according to the Express and Star.

Now a fully fledged manager in his own right at Minnesota United, this would be a left-field move, and a daring one, considering the position West Brom find themselves in, near the foot of the Championship table, after a similar gamble didn’t pay off with Mason.

He was eyed up previously, though, so right now, it could be the time when Ramsay is actually handed the vacancy, as West Brom potentially gain their next Corberan in the making in the highly regarded boss.

Why Ramsay can be Corberan 2.0

It does feel like some time ago that Corberan was just a second-in-command figure to Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United, with the 42-year-old very much earning his stripes in English football behind the scenes, under the enigmatic South American.

Bielsa would even hail Corberan as a “very talented” coach during the time at Elland Road together, with the eccentric Argentine manager also stating that he sometimes valued the ex-West Brom boss’ opinion “more than his own.”

He would then go on to forge his own career as a main head coach in England, emerging from the shadow of Bielsa, with two Championship playoff finishes coming his way with both Huddersfield Town and West Brom, as his exit for Valencia in late 2024 devastated the Hawthorns masses.

Realistically, it could be challenging to tempt Corberan back to West Brom imminently, as he will still feel he has a job to do in La Liga, with Ramsay perhaps being the next best option in attempting to replicate the overwhelming success story of the Spaniard.

After all, in an eerily similar manner to Bielsa’s praise of the now under-pressure Valencia manager, Ramsay was also dubbed as “very talented” when taking up a coaching role at the Red Devils by Erik ten Hag, with similar praise also coming his way when he was Wales’ assistant manager by Rob Page, who wildly called the 33-year-old “one of the best young coaches” he had worked alongside.

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Much like Corberan, though, Ramsay would have known that he would need to spread his wings in the main manager game sooner rather than later, and he’s made quite the impact in America as head coach of MLS outfit Minnesota.

Ramsay’s record with Minnesota

Stat

Ramsay

Games

81

Wins

38

Draws

16

Losses

27

Goals scored

157

Goals conceded

133

Points accumulated

130

Sourced by Transfermarkt

Ramsay has guided Minnesota to a respectable 38 wins so far from his 81 games in charge, with sporting director Khaled El-Ahmad lauding the 33-year-old for being “super energetic” from the sidelines, as he immediately acclimatised himself to his new environment.

It would, of course, be a huge jump for Ramsay to go from the MLS to the pressures of the EFL’s elite league, but Corberan never looked back after he was shoved into the deep end at Huddersfield.

Having also found himself being tentatively linked to the RC Strasbourg opening, it’s clear that Ramsay is a manager on the rise, with West Brom potentially his next destination.

Related Better than Carrick: West Brom could re-hire "elite" Mason replacement

West Bromwich Albion fans would be overjoyed if this manager target came in to replace Ryan Mason.

Posts 4 ByKelan Sarson

Manchester United are now reportedly monitoring a South American gem who has a release clause worth a hefty £69m.

Amorim warns Man Utd "have to perform" vs Leeds

Attempting to welcome the new year in style, Man United square off against Leeds United in desperate need of bouncing back following a disappointing draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers last time out.

It was a stark reminder of where the Red Devils find themselves these days and a clear sign of just how far they have to go under Ruben Amorim.

Leeds are unlikely to be pushovers, either. Daniel Farke’s side haven’t suffered a defeat in six games and that run has included two draws against Liverpool as well as a victory over Chelsea. Everything suggests that the Whites will be welcoming Man United with three points in mind.

Amorim, with the chance to win his first derby day against Leeds, told reporters in the build-up: “It’s different. I never experienced this one. In Portugal it’s a big rivalry. Here’s it is the same. Different environment, different culture but the noise is going to be big. We just have to perform.

“But it’s hard to compare different cultures, different derbies, different history, so let’s just focus on the game. It is 11 guys against our 11 in the beginning and we will try to win.”

Of course, it’s not just on the pitch that Man United need results this month. Away from the action, INEOS must also get things right in the transfer market.

To that end, whilst potential midfield reinforcements such as Carlos Baleba will reportedly be taking priority, those at Old Trafford also have their sights set on a South American gem.

Man Utd monitoring £69m Rayan

According to AS journalist Eduardo Burgos, as relayed by Sport Witness, Man United are now monitoring Rayan alongside Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

The 19-year-old has burst onto the radar of a number of European stars, but won’t come cheap. Reports have suggested that clubs will have to trigger his €80m (£69m) release clause at Vasco da Gama.

As far as Ben Mattinson is concerned, however, that £69m release clause may be worth triggering. The Como scout spoke highly of the forward last January, dubbing him a “technical powerhouse”.

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Since then, Rayan has scored 20 goals in 57 appearances in the 2024/25 campaign in Brazil and very much looks destined to take the leap towards European football.

Related Ugarte upgrade: Man Utd hoping to sign "monster" for £35m after talks

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So many Premier League sides have welcomed young South American stars with great success in the past and United may well follow suit in the near future.

Brian Lara will play for the Mumbai Champs in the Indian Cricket League © AFP

Brian Lara and Inzamam-ul-Haq headlined the list of players as the Indian Cricket League (ICL) announced its teams for the inaugural tournament. Lara has been named in the Mumbai Champs side while Inzamam will play for Hyderabad Heroes.Inzamam and Lara, along with Stuart Law, Chris Cairns and Craig McMillan are likely to lead the teams.The other international players include Abdul Razzaq, Taufeeq Umar and Shabbir Ahmed of Pakistan, Australia’s Ian Harvey, South Africa’s Johan Van der Wath, Lance Klusener, Nicky Boje and Andrew Hall, New Zealand’s Nathan Astle, Chris Harris and Daryl Tuffey and England’s Vikram Solanki. The ICL is in talks with Sri Lanka’s Marvan Atapattu, while Russel Arnold and Upul Chandana have already signed.The overseas players have been spread among the six teams – Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh Lions, Chennai Superstars, Delhi Jets and Kolkata Tigers. The coaches for these teams are Sandeep Patil, Madan Lal, Balwinder Sandhu, Moin Khan, Daryll Cullinan and Michael Bevan.”We have ensured the teams are balanced in every way and receive the best facilities in terms of coaching, showcasing their talent and exposure to international cricket,” Kapil Dev, the chairman of the ICL’s executive board, said. “I wish all the players best of luck for the tournament.”The teams will be taking part in a practice camp in their respective cities.The tournament begins on November 30 in Panchkula, a town near Chandigarh.Teams:Chennai Superstars: Stuart Law, Ian Harvey, Hemang Badani, Chris Read (wk), Russell Arnold, Sridharan Sriram, Shabbir Ahmed, V Devendran, R Sathish, Dakshinamoorthy Kumaran, Hemanth Kumar, Jamaluddin Syed Mohammed, Thiru Kumaran, J Hareish, V Sarvanan, R Jesuraj, Sanjeev Martin, G Vignesh, P Vivek.
Coach: Michael BevanHyderabad Heroes: Inzamam-ul-Haq, Chris Harris, Nicky Boje, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Anirudh Singh, Ambati Rayudu, S Shahubuddin, Stuart Binny, IS Reddy, Vinay Kumar, Ibrahim Khaleel, Kaushik Reddy, Bheema Rao, Alfred Absolem, Shashank Nag, PS Niranjan, Baburao Yadav, Zakaria Zuffri.
Coach: Moin KhanKolkata Tigers: Craig McMillan, Lance Klusener, Darren Maddy, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Rohan Gavaskar, Upul Chandana, Deep Dasgupta, Abu Nechim, Parviz Aziz, Shiv Sagar Singh, Boyd Rankin, Mihir Diwakar, Rajiv Kumar, Sayed Akhlakh, Subhomoy Das, Sujay Tarafdar, Pritam Das, Anshu Jain, Ali H Zaidi.
Coach: Daryll CullinanDelhi Jets: Taufeeq Umar, Niall O’Brien, Paul Nixon, Dale Benkenstein, JP Yadav, Mohnish Mishra, Abbas Ali, Ali Murtaza, T Sudhindra, Abid Nabi, Sachin Dholpure, Abhishek Tamrakar, Dishant Yagnik, Dhruv Mahajan, Abhinav Bali, Raghav Sachdev.
Coach: Madan LalMumbai Champs: Brian Lara, Vikram Solanki, Robin Morris, Nathan Astle, Kiran Powar, Shreyas Khanolkar, Johan Van der Wath, Rakesh Patel, Avinash Yadav, Nantie Hayward, Subhojit Paul, Dheeraj Jadhav, A Sanklecha, Ranjeet Kirid, Pushkaraj Joshi, Suyash Burkul, Raviraj Patil, Nikhil Mandale, Sridher Iyer.
Coach: Sandeep PatilChandigarh Lions: Chris Cairns, Imran Farhat, Dinesh Mongia, Hamish Marshall, Andrew Hall, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Rajesh Sharma, TP Singh, Sarabjeet Singh, Ishan Malhotra, Daryl Tuffey, Sumit Kalia, Chetan Sharma, Manish Sharma, Luv Ablish, Bipul Sharma, Karanveer Singh, Amit Uniyal, Gaurav Gupta, Harpreet Singh.
Coach: Balwinder Sandhu

Karen Rolton – the first recipient of the ICC Female Player of the Year © Getty Images

In the men’s game, Sachin blinks and it’s front-page news. For the women, seismic shifts are underway, but they barely register on the Richter scale of media – and world – attention. Keen eyes, though, would have been scanning the developments following last year’s merger of the ICC with the IWCC. And those followers won’t have been disappointed.While some countries whose boards merged years ago will see only marginal benefits – Australia and England, for example – for the rest it’s like all their Christmases, Diwalis, Eids, and birthdays arrived at once, in a big bundle labelled “Cash”.India are already benefiting from huge improvements – getting to play in better stadiums, with better facilities and vastly increased match fees. As if to celebrate, they lifted the Asia Cup again, and even won a Test against England for the first time, just their third ever victory – and it was achieved on English soil, too, as they won the two-Test series 1-0. They did, however, fall to the Australians in the one-off Test earlier in the year.Women’s cricket in Africa is taking shape, too. For the first time there was a set of Africa pre-qualifiers for the qualifying tournament in Pakistan in 2007. Zimbabwe, in their first ever one-dayers, swept aside all opposition to storm into the next round, winning 3-0.Something for Zimbabwean cricket as a whole to cheer about, as their male counterparts (and in some cases brothers – Julia and Chamu Chibhabha, Ed and Yvonne Rainsford all play at the highest level) slid into further misery on the international stage. Zimbabwe women will now join South Africa, who are still kicking themselves after narrowly missing out on automatic qualification in the last tournament, which they hosted, in 2005.And it’s not just cash: the ICC put their mouth where their money is. There was a big stride forward on the awards stage when Karen Rolton became the first ICC Female Player of the Year after three years of ICC Awards. It was fitting that Australia’s captain should lift the award, after Anjum Chopra and Katherine Brunt were the others on the shortlist.So the women are finally mixing it with the big boys like fellow Aussie captain Ricky Ponting and on the pitch there will be more mixing – with the announcement of a women’s Twenty20 preceding a men’s for the first time, when South Australia and Queensland head to the Adelaide Oval on January 10 in Australia. The idea is to showcase the women’s matches, at no extra cost, to a ready-made audience. If it is deemed successful, the format could extend to international matches, an idea which has already been mooted informally in England.

Mithali Raj lifts the Asia Cup © Getty Images

Recognition came for one woman at Lord’s. England returned to the home of cricket for the first time in five years and Claire Taylor graced the occasion with a flowing 156 from 151 balls against India, the fastest one-dayer at Lord’s in history, eclipsing Viv Richards’s effort in the World Cup final in 1983. She was rewarded with an honours board at the ground and that achievement, along with the admirable conduct of both sides in front of a crowd of 6000, will have done wonders in helping to convince the decision makers to stage another women’s match at headquarters soon.Another psychological boost came when Somerset offered Taunton as the home of women’s cricket in England. For the first time the women will be considered alongside the men when it comes to having the pick of the fixtures. The more cynical may say this hints at Somerset bidding for Test status – if they can prove they can stage internationals and are seen to be promoting all forms of cricket, but they’re showing their commitment in other ways, with an enviable women’s set-up. They’re even funding a girl, Anya Shrubsole, on the Academy at a cost of around £15k per annum and other counties, such as Lancashire, are following suit.Attention, then, is being paid to the women’s game. Sky covered some more one-dayers once again, if only to cover their contractual obligations. And unfortunately, despite some compelling cricket, the cameras also captured great swathes of empty seats, as matches still failed to large crowds.India’s captain Mithali Raj, though, is confident that with the new cashflood, the women can up their game to play more exciting, attacking cricket. Tests in particular need an injection of excitement. Scrapping them altogether may be more feasible. Tests are thin on the ground as it is – there were only three Tests played all year – and the players don’t even practise playing this form of cricket leaving England, for example, to rely on their coach, the former first-class player Richard Bates, to talk them through session by session, as the games unfolded.New Zealand refuse to play this form of cricket – and, with low attendances and little incentive to play, perhaps other countries should follow suit. Although two-day cricket is being introduced to India that makes them the only country to play anything above one-day cricket at domestic level. And of course two-day cricket is still vastly different from four days, as played in Tests.Women’s cricket, then is heading in the right direction. But while there’s light, it’s still a very long tunnel.

Charl Langeveldt is under pressure to retain his spot © Getty Images

Haroon Lorgat, the South Africa selection convenor, plans to “look beyond colour” when picking the team for the crucial second Test against Australia at Melbourne on Monday. South Africa chose four black or coloured players for the opening match at Perth, but the places of Ashwell Prince and Charl Langeveldt appear in doubt with the expected returns of Jaques Kallis and Nicky Boje.The United Cricket Board’s constitution says South Africa must be a “team of colour”, with an unofficial component of at least two non-white representatives in each side. However, Lorgat said in Sydney’s the second Test squad would be “a pure cricket selection”.”We have to look beyond colour with this,” Lorgat said. “That won’t be an issue in our deliberations. Of course one of our duties and responsibilities is to provide opportunities for black players but cricket is doing enough at all levels.”Makhaya Ntini and Herschelle Gibbs would cover the “target” system’s requirements, but halving the team’s non-white representation could attract large amounts of political criticism from South Africa. Boje, the left-arm spinner, appears to be a certain selection while a top-order batsman will make way for Kallis if he recovers from an elbow injury. Prince has said the quota or target systems are wrong because they “mess with the minds of both white and black players”.

Duncan Fletcher: ‘If we can restrict them to around 350 or 400 that would be a good effort’© Getty Images

Duncan Fletcher was pleased with his team’s perseverance after they hadlost the toss and were asked to field first on the opening day of thethird Test at Newlands. Despite 74 from Graeme Smith and a serene 81 notout from Jacques Kallis, South Africa were restricted to 247 for 4 in the day’s 90 overs."We’re quite happy with our performance on that wicket," said Fletcher. "Ithink the guys have done a good job, because it’s quite a flat track and afast outfield and it’s not offering the bowlers anything. From our pointof view, we’d have looked to have scored over 300 if we were only fourdown on the first day, so it was pleasing to restrict them to around 250.I think if we can restrict them to around 350 or 400 that would be a goodeffort.”It was a tough ask for England’s bowlers to get back out into the field sosoon after their victory charge in the second Test was scuppered by badlight, but Fletcher conceded that the conditions here are much morepleasant than at Durban. “I don’t think the guys looked too tired at theend of the day, but it’s totally different to Durban and it’s a lot morepleasant playing cricket here temperature-wise.”It’s not easy and it would have been asking too much if we were playingin Durban today, but you have that cool breeze here which helps. It’sdifficult to maintain that intensity over two days, but we’ve playedback-to-back Tests in Sri Lanka and that is a hard ask – it’s not as hardplaying this one."England’s day began with a late selection drama, as Mark Butcher – who hadbeen under pressure for his place – was ruled out at the last minute witha troublesome wrist injury. "He felt a twinge while he was batting inDurban," explained Fletcher. "He saw a doctor yesterday, but when we goton the bus this morning, I thought he was playing." Butcher’s place hasbeen taken by Robert Key.

National League Division OneDivision One TableGlamorgan 273 for 2 beat Essex 267 for 6 by 8 wickets at Sophia Gardens
Scorecard
Jimmy Maher belted a magnificent 142 from 113 balls, inclusive of 18 fours and 4 sixes, as Glamorgan sauntered home with 6.5 overs to spare. Essex’s total had been inspired by Nasser Hussain’s superb 144 and Ronnie Irani’s 63. But Maher, and Robert Croft who made 64, made light of the stiff target on a day when bowlers on both sides took some fearful hammer.Leicestershire 295 for 7 beat Worcestershire 219 by 76 runs at Oakham School
Scorecard
A comfortable victory for Leicestershire. Trevor Ward, with 68, and Virender Sehwag – who slammed three sixes in a blistering 59-ball 76 – gave Leicestershire the perfect start, while Darren Maddy provided the late innings-momentum with 58. Stephen Peters anchored the reply with 82, but Worcestershire were never on the ball as Jeremy Snape and David Brignull both finished with three wickets.Warwickshire 244 for 4 beat Surrey 242 for 9 by six wickets at Edgbaston
Scorecard
Ian Bell (59*) and Mike Powell (26*) led Warwickshire to an ultimately facile victory after Nick Knight (74) had given the run chase the perfect start. Waqar Younis, who finished with 4 for 35, did the damage early on, before Collins Obuya – with 3 for 65 – mopped up the lower order. Mark Ramprakash held the innings together with 57, but it wasn’t enough against a Warwickshire team that was never behind the eight-ball.National League Division TwoDivision Two TableNorthamptonshire 215 for 7 beat Durham 166 by 49 runs at Chester-le-Street
Scorecard
Another match, another Australian having a party. Mike Hussey carried his bat for a superb 112, before Ben Phillips and Ricaldo Anderson ripped through the fragile Durham batting. As for Shoaib Akhtar, his 9 overs cost 48 runs, for one wicket. Not quite his day, and certainly not Durham’s.Middlesex 337 for 5 beat Somerset 305 for 9 by 32 runs at Southgate
Scorecard
Middlesex triumphed in a run-fest at Southgate. Owais Shah and Andrew Strauss both made 74 in quick time, but it was Abdul Razzaq, who slammed 5 sixes in a 49-ball 79, who provided the impetus as Middlesex cruised past 300. Keith Dutch (65) and Ian Blackwell (64) gave Somerset a chance, but Jamie Dalrymple and Chad Keegan did enough to ensure that Middlesex prevailed. Nottinghamshire 212 for 5 beat Hampshire 208 for 7 by five wickets at The Rose Bowl
Scorecard
Chris Cairns and Chris Read saw Nottinghamshire home in a thrilling finish with a 55-run partnership. Cairns made 57 from 58 balls, while Read chipped in with an unbeaten 33 after Jason Gallian had nurdled 60 at the top of the order. Hampshire’s modest total owed much to Simon Katich’s sedate 56, and an unbeaten 45 from South Africa’s Nick Pothas. Derbyshire 235 for 4 beat Sussex 232 for 6 by six wickets at Arundel Castle
Scorecard
A game of two centuries, with Christopher Bassano’s being the decisive contribution, as Derbyshire made it past the target with 20 balls remaining. Mohammad Kaif cobbled together 44, and Dominic Hewson – who had earlier snared 4 for 40 – made 34 in support of Bassano’s brilliant 126. Murray Goodwin was Sussex’s batting hero with a classy 129.

At Universals Sports Club. Old Hararians 197 (R E Butterworth 65, S M Ervine 64) beat Universals 69 (D T Mutendera 14, N B Mahwire 14; S M Ervine 3-6, N Chari 3-40) by 128 runs.At Eaglesvale High School. Harare Sports Club 313 (T R Gripper 119, G M Croxford 75, Taylor 68) beat Takashinga (formerly Winstonians) 169 (T Taibu 60, T R Gripper 4-20, G Johnstone-Robertson 3-16) by 144 runs.At Old Georgians Sports Club. Old Georgians 268/5 (C N Evans 100, A J C Neethling 97) beat Alexandra Sports Club 267/6 (D A Marillier 131*, R Liddell 84) by 5 wickets.Defending champions Old Georgians opened their defence of the MashonalandVigne Cup First League title with a five-wicket win over last season’s runners-up Alexandra Sports Club at Old Georgians. Elsewhere Old Hararians and Harare Sports Club posted crushing victories over Universals and Takashinga.Alex batted first at Old Georgians and enjoyed a solid opening partnership of Douglas Marillier and Ross Liddell before the latter was dismissed for 84, caught by Gus Mackay off the bowling of Ian Coulson. Marillier, who has had stints with the national team, was unbeaten on 131 as Alex made 267 for the loss of six wickets off their allotted 50 overs.There were no significant figures from the Old Georgians bowlers. Iain Coulson took two wickets for 38 off 10 overs while Mackay finished with 2/57 off nine overs.In reply Old Georgians reached their victory target for the loss of five wickets with an over remaining. Craig Evans led the scoring with 100 whileAndre Neethling weighed in with 97.National league champions Old Hararians beat Universals by 128 runs in the second match at Universals. Old Hararians, who finished at the bottom of last season’s Vigne Cup, batted first and were dismissed for 197 after 48.5 overs. Opener Ryan Butterworth top-scored for OH with 65 runs, while Sean Ervine was the second best scorer with 64.Shiraz Adam led the Universals attack with four wickets for 35 off nine overs. Ali Shah took three for 32 off 8.5 overs.Universals were dismissed for a mere 69 in just 22 overs. Sean Ervine took three wickets for six runs off four overs. Nyasha Chari also took three wickets but was more expensive conceding 40 runs, 20 of them wides, off eight overs. There were only two batsmen from Universals to score double figures, DavidMutendera and Blessing Mahwire, who both scored 14 batting at number two and three.The last match, between Harare Sports Club and Takashinga (formerly OldWinstonians), initially set for Harare Sports Club, was moved to EaglesvaleHigh School because of some upgrading work at the national ground. Young wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu left Bulawayo on Friday evening having gonethere with the national team but his presence could not save Takashinga froma crushing 144-run defeat.Harare Sports Club piled up 313 runs for the loss of just four wickets in 50 overs as the inexperienced Takashinga attack failed to trouble the HSC batting. Opener Trevor Gripper was the HSC top scorer with 119 while Guy Croxford added 75 runs.Facing a required run rate of over six an over, Takashinga were bundled out for 169 in 40.3 overs. Gripper came back to haunt Takashinga with the ball, taking four wickets for 20 off seven overs.Taibu was the only successful batsman for Takashinga, scoring 60 runs. Harare Sports Club also fielded Brighton Watambwa who withdrew from the Zimbabwe team for the first Test against South Africa a week ago because of a knee injury. He bowled 10 overs, conceding 35 runs (six no-balls) without taking a wicket.

While the old firm of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara made merry in their last few years, unloading big scores on oppositions like they were having a going-out-of-business sale, Sri Lanka had also invested in a few startups. Lahiru Thirimanne was among the promising ventures that impressed in domestic cricket, and made encouraging starts to their international careers.There has been some frustration in the years since, but the investment in Thirimanne has begun to come good in ODIs. His Test average, though, remains in the mid-20s. He hit two centuries in the 2014 Asia Cup, and became Sri Lanka’s youngest World Cup centurion in March, so the selectors feel there is quality there. They will hope that his 44 in Galle and a 62 at the P Sara hint at big Test runs to come, following a lean series against Pakistan.”If you look at the ODIs, I was always in the runs,” Thirimanne said. “In Tests, the shots I played weren’t executed all that well. There was an element of bad luck as well – sometimes the shots went directly to hand. Mentally I never had an issue. I was always ready for the matches I played. But then when you spend a little bit of time at the crease it gets easier. Once you score 20 or 30 runs, you start playing those shots well.”Despite his good returns in ODIs, Thirimanne has largely been a slow mover in Tests, in which his career strike rate is 40.26. He has added attacking strokes to his ODI game, but his approach in Tests could do with some fine-tuning, he said.”When I go to bat, usually there’s a bit of pressure on the team. There are two options – to hit out quickly and try to get some runs with the batsman on the other end, or to stay at the wicket for a while and work through it. I did take the second option quite often. But then sometimes you think that it would have been good to follow a middle path – to score runs without taking too many risks. My low strike rate has often had to do with the situation.”Thirimanne has been a victim of Sri Lanka’s frequent top-order reshuffles. In this series alone, he has batted at Nos. 3, 4, 6 and 7, and has had no more than 13 innings in any particular spot, out of 42 overall.He has been talked about as Kumar Sangakkara’s replacement at No. 3, and even his ODI success has come in the top three. But with Upul Tharanga set to return to the XI, Thirimanne may have to settle for a middle-order position.”You have to bat well wherever you get the opportunity, so there’s no real excuse,” Thirimanne said.  “That’s something I’ve learned since making my debut. You have to play anywhere at this level. That said, I do have good one-day form in the top three, and I hope I can replicate that in Tests.”Thirimanne has been among the left-handed batsmen who have struggled against R Ashwin’s offspin this series. He has fallen to Ashwin three times in four innings.”Even though Ashwin doesn’t have a doosra or too many other variations, he troubles batsmen with those changes of speed,” Thirimanne said. “He doesn’t give many loose balls at all. It’s a big challenge for a left-hander. A right-hander would have two or three options. We’ll talk as a team and work hard in training. We’ll try to counterattack him and win through. It’s important to go in with a clear mind and a clear plan.”

Ricky Ponting: “Everything you do through a 50-over game, you have to do it right at the start of a Twenty20 game” © Getty Images

Ricky Ponting says his players are keen to test themselves against the World Twenty20 champions in Mumbai on Saturday. “We are pretty excited actually and looking forward to the match against a team which won the World Cup a few weeks ago,” Ponting said. He also sought to underplay the hype surrounding the game, just as he hoped the tired debate over verbal volleys would die down.”There are a lot of things said in the build -up to this game,” he said. “Probably there was more talk about this game than the one-dayers. So I would expect good entertaining Twenty20 cricket and we are looking forward to it. It’s a nice way to wind up the tour – to tell you the truth – to be playing a game like this around which there has been so much build up and talk.”When asked whether it was more difficult to adjust to the shorter version from the longer version Ponting said: “I am not sure what is more difficult, going into a longer-format of the game from Twenty20 or the other way round. But we do prepare slightly differently for this form of the game.”We get time to go out there and settle down in a 50-over game. There is some time in Twenty20 also, but not much. So you might go there and start hitting everything from the first ball and make sure you are timing everything spot on right from the word go. It’s a lot more intense. Everything you do through a 50-over game, you have to do it right at the start of a Twenty20 game. That’s the way the preparation is.”Ponting also conceded that it was difficult to plan too much for a Twenty20 match. “This game is harder than any other game to plan. Because things just change so quickly, you’ve got to be changing your field placings almost every ball, mix and match your bowlers to suit the batsman. Everything is on-the-spur-of-the-moment stuff here.”There was also some doubt about Matthew Hayden playing the game, as he has a sore throat, but Ponting “pretty much guaranteed” his return. He also acknowledged Brad Hogg’s impact in the series, but said his selection in the side wasn’t guaranteed.”That’s the thing we have to decide. We had a look at the wicket, it looks good. There is no doubt the wickets turn a bit in this part of the world as we saw in the Champions Trophy. But even in that tournament we played five fast bowlers, four frontline and Shane Watson. I think we’ve got bowlers who can adapt and adjust to any conditions so we leave that decision until we finalise our side on Saturday.”