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Keith Bradshaw, the former MCC chief executive, has taken up the top job with South Australia following his decision to stand down from his role at Lord’s which he held for five years.Bradshaw announced his departure from MCC in August citing family reasons but said he was keen to stay involved with the game and starts his new job in January. He will fill the chief executive role vacated by John Harnden’s move to oversee the 2015 World Cup which will be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.”I’m delighted to be appointed to the role of chief executive with the South Australia Cricket Association,” Bradshaw said. “It’s an exciting time for cricket in South Australia and I’m looking forward to being involved with SACA as it moves forward.”I’ve had a wonderful five years at MCC and I’m sad to be leaving Lord’s. But I’m thrilled to be moving into a new job where I’m still involved with the administration and running of cricket, which is where my passion lies.”SACA President, Ian McLachlan, said he was delighted to attract someone of Bradshaw’s calibre to the state: “It is our great fortune that family matters are bringing Keith back to Australia. Keith oversaw a period of great innovation at Lord’s. He was renowned for being a breath of fresh air and making Lord’s a welcoming place to all who love the game.”McLachlan added that the work done by Harnden will continue to benefit South Australia cricket. “John’s professionalism, vast experience and unfailing personal commitment have been invaluable in creating a stronger future for cricket and a vibrant South Australia,” he said. “Generations of South Australians will benefit from John’s expertise and hard work. He leaves us all a great legacy.It has been a significant period of change at South Australia with Tim Nielsen, the former Australia coach, returning to his home state to head up the emerging players’ programme.

Australia’s enigmatic fast bowler Mitchell Johnson believes he can nab plenty of wickets in South Africa – simply by replicating the way he bowled in Sri Lanka.Though Johnson returned only six wickets at 52.18 in Australia’s 1-0 series win, he felt his rhythm and pace were good enough to do greater damage in more helpful conditions. These climes almost certainly await him in South Africa, where Johnson was at his most fearsome in the tourists’ unexpected 2-1 success in early 2009.”I actually felt I bowled pretty well, pretty consistent over in Sri Lanka,” Johnson said at Western Australia’s season launch in Perth. “Obviously I didn’t get the wickets. That’s what the selectors want to see – wickets and runs. But for me I felt like I bowled pretty well, pretty consistent. My pace was up.”So it’s just getting those wickets on board. If I bowled like I did in Sri Lanka in South Africa, I think I’m going to get wickets over there. As a bowling unit I think we bowled well as a group. That was the most exciting thing for me.”The bowling ensemble in Sri Lanka was one of Australia’s most united and committed for some time, as Ryan Harris, Trent Copeland, Peter Siddle, Shane Watson, Nathan Lyon and Johnson all bowled in strong partnerships to keep the hosts in check. The collective strength of the group has created pressure for places, as Siddle and the yet-to-be-capped James Pattinson also impressed.”There’s always been pressure to perform and there’s always guys there pushing the envelope to get the spot to be in the team,” Johnson said. “So there’s always that pressure there but you try not to think about it too much and just go out there and try to perform the best you can, and hopefully that’s good enough.”Mickey Arthur, Johnson’s coach at Western Australia and also a contender for the national position vacated by Tim Nielsen, said he was somewhat surprised to see the left-armer facing so much external scrutiny to retain his place.”Mitchell Johnson is a spearhead, he’s your match-winner, and your strike bowler is going to be a little bit erratic at times,” Arthur said. “That’s what you live with, but you balance your attack around that. Mitchell is a proven match winner and he’ll do it time and time again for Australia in the future.”He really likes bowling in South Africa and he’s got a very good record in South Africa. He’s been training really well with us. Technically he looks in a really good place at the moment, so I’m expecting a big series from him.”Johnson was left out of the Twenty20 portion of the South African tour, and having elected not to play in the Big Bash League has few avenues by which to get back. If he ever does return to the T20 international squad, Johnson said he would work on bowling a more venomous yorker.”You want to play as much cricket for your country as you can and I’m always wanting to play as much cricket as I can for my country and that’s my main goal. Obviously there’s a little bit of disappointment there,” Johnson said. “I feel like I’ve played Twenty20 well. My record shows that.”But obviously I probably didn’t perform as well as I could have in Sri Lanka in those Twenty20 games. I’m disappointed but it gives me something to work towards. I look at that last series and I didn’t really get the wickets. In the first game I got belted around a little bit, which can happen in Twenty20 cricket.”I think one big thing that lets me down a little bit is I haven’t got a really good yorker. So if I can just work on those little things, I think that can get me back in the game.”The reason why [I’m not playing in the BBL] is to focus on the summer ahead. We’ve got a big Test summer coming up against NZ first and then India, who have just lost their No.2 spot. They’ll be trying to get back up to the No.1 position. That’s what we’re trying to do, we’re trying to work our way up in the Test ranks.”

A dose of grim autumnal weather is doing its best to write off the one-day leg of India’s benighted tour of England, and to judge by the glut of injuries that have plagued the tourists in recent weeks, you’d be forgiven for thinking that they themselves have written the campaign off as a lost cause, with a view to regrouping in their own conditions on the subcontinent in little over a month’s time.However, according to Graeme Swann, the huge turnover of Indian players – with Manoj Tiwary joining the party ahead of Tuesday’s 23-over contest at the Rose Bowl, and Ravindra Jadeja now in contention at The Oval – has created a whole new set of challenges, as England seek to extend their current run of dominance to seven wins out of seven completed fixtures when the third ODI starts on Thursday.”It doesn’t feel like the same team we played against three or four weeks ago,” said Swann. “We’re still learning about this opposition, so we don’t go in there thinking: ‘We’re going to trounce this lot today’, we go in thinking, ‘we’ve got a game on our hands each time’. A few of the younger guys are playing with a carefree attitude that is working for them, and it means we are being provided with new challenges.”The players in question include the openers Parthiv Patel and Ajinkya Rahane, whose enterprising attitude at the top of India’s order has enabled them to post challenging totals in each of the three limited-overs contests to date. To all intents and purposes, the newcomers also include Suresh Raina, whose 42-ball pair in the fourth Test at The Oval was the culmination of a grim Test series, but whose returns in coloured clothing have been the work of a reborn cricketer. Since that date, he has amassed 111 runs from 67 balls, including a brisk 40 from 19 at the Rose Bowl.Graeme Swann believes England are benefiting from facing a new-look India side•Getty Images

“It could have been he just woke up one morning and thought, ‘sod this, I’m going to smack the ball around’, or it could have been the 42-ball pair here that made him walk off and think ‘never again’,” said Swann. “You never know, but he’s certainly been very exciting, and he looks a completely different player. Some of his hitting the other night was spectacular to watch even on the field, and it must have been great for the Indian fans off it, because I know there were a lot in the crowd.”Despite the best efforts of the weather, the interest in the series remains significant, with a sizeable majority of the Rose Bowl crowd sitting tight for five-and-a-half hours on Tuesday in the hope of witnessing what turned out to be an entertaining, albeit curtailed, contest. For England, who have experienced a slackening-off of ambition at this time of year in the past – not least during their 6-1 drubbing against Australia two years ago – the determination to offer no let-up is plain, as they seek to deny India even a consolation victory to take away from the tour.”We’ve played some unbelievable cricket this summer, especially in the Test matches, so we don’t want the one-day series to be a bit of a damp squib at the end,” said Swann. “It was that in 2009 [after the Ashes victory], and although it didn’t take the polish off for any of the players, I’m sure it did for a few people watching. It’s important we carry on the momentum, not least for the guys who’ve come in for the one-day squad, because we want all three forms of the game to be going in the right direction in the next few years.”Another reason to keep up the intensity is the fact that the return ODI series against India is already looming large. The first of five matches gets underway in Hyderabad on October 14, and seeing as England were panned 5-0 on their last trip in November 2008 (and would surely have lost 7-0 but for the abandonment of the last two matches) there’s plenty at stake for this squad.”It would be massive to win in India, but we’ve got to cross that bridge when we get to it,” said Swann. “We certainly don’t look at it as one series, because these are two contrasting conditions. I don’t think you can take late September in England, in these damp squib conditions, compared to what it’ll be like in India where it’s really hot, and the India players will feel much more at home.”

ScorecardSteve Davies gave Surrey early momentum with 78•PA Photos

Surrey maintained their unbeaten record in Clydesdale Bank 40 Group B with a dramatic 12-run victory over Northamptonshire under the lights at the Oval.In what proved to be a high-scoring contest full of twists and turns, Surrey captain Rory Hamilton-Brown came to the fore in the closing overs to halt the Steelbacks’ charge towards a victory target of 274 by claiming three crucial wickets in the space of eight balls.Hamilton-Brown (3 for 38) dismissed Rob White, Alex Wakely and Andrew Hall to reduce their opponents from a healthy-looking 232 for 3 to 244 for 6, and the visitors never recovered as they finished on 261 for 9.Northamptonshire were handed an excellent start in their run chase by opening duo Mal Loye and David Willey, who combined for 138 in 21 overs. Willey, who was pushed up the order to open after Stephen Peters pulled a calf muscle in the field, struck a career-best 74 off 79 deliveries, which included seven fours and a six straight down the ground off Tim Linley.At the other end, Loye, who has struggled for form in this season’s CB40, powered his way to 63 off 65 deliveries. Willey’s maiden one-day half-century, which came off 43 balls, arrived in the 15th over, shortly after Loye had brought up the hundred partnership with a maximum off Zafar Ansari.Gareth Batty then pegged the visitors back with two wickets in seven deliveries, first having Loye caught at deep midwicket and then dismissing Niall O’Brien caught and bowled for three. Willey departed four overs later when he slapped Yasir Arafat to midwicket.That left the visitors on 164 for 3 but Wakely, who struck three boundaries and two sixes in his 32-ball knock, and White helped turn the contest back in Northamptonshire’s favour with a blistering fourth-wicket stand of 68 in seven overs.However, with victory seemingly within their sights, Hamilton-Brown made his treble breakthrough to end Northamptonshire hopes and help leave Surrey at the top of Group B with seven wins from eight games.Earlier, Surrey, who were without Mark Ramprakash after he was banned by his club for showing ”serious dissent” at an umpiring decision during last weekend’s County Championship victory over Gloucestershire, started watchfully before their opening duo of Hamilton-Brown and Steve Davies plundered 54 runs from four overs.That left the home side on 60 without loss in the seventh over, but the introduction of Hall helped Northamptonshire battle back. He made the first breakthrough, bowling Hamilton-Brown for a 31-ball 43, and then two overs later accounted for Jason Roy with a similar delivery.However, Davies and Tom Maynard then settled in to a stand of 99 in 14 overs for the third wicket to take Surrey up to 171 for 2. Having survived a caught and bowled chance on 31, Davies moved to his half-century in 48 balls and brought up the fifty partnership with four through extra cover off James Middlebrook.Davies, who was dropped again when on 61, eventually perished in the 24th over when he was bowled backing away to Middlebrook’s off-spin. The 25-year-old left-hander had hit 78 off 68 balls, including 11 fours. Five overs later, Maynard picked out Lucas at deep backward square leg off the bowling of Paul Best, though not before posting a 45-ball half-century.In the first over of the batting powerplay, Matthew Spriegel (38) launched Hall over long-on for six, but Surrey lost wickets attempting to accelerate towards a bigger total, slipping from 247 for 4 to 273 for 9 in the space of five overs, Hall finishing with figures of 4 for 44.

Kenya Under-19s outlasted Canada Under-19s by 15 runs in a hard-fought encounter at The Hills Cricket Club ground in Dublin. Kenya’s decision to bat first seemed to have backfired when they were reduced to 47 for 4, but Duncan Allan and Joseph Ochieng turned the innings around. Allan made a century while Ochieng contributed 73. Their 136-run stand gave substance to the innings, as Kenya moved to 215 for 7. Canada’s chase got off to a much better start, with opener Akash Shah and No. 3 Nikhil Dutta making half-centuries. Their 98-run stand set up the platform for a win, but middle-order slumped against some tight bowling led by Emmanuel Ringera. Canada were eventually bowled out for 200 in the final over.Ireland Under-19s sneaked home by four runs against Afghanistan Under-19s to register their second win in as many games. Ireland got off to a false start, losing a wicket off their first ball, and they never really recovered as wickets fell at regular intervals. Andrew McBrine’s half-century rescued them from a precarious 86 for 6, but it was down to No. 9 Barry McCarthy’s adventurous 47 to haul them past 200. Chasing 213, Afghanistan also endured a stop-start innings, but eventually paid for the inability of set batsmen to kick on. Hashmatullah Shaidi, Rahmatullah Shahaq and Nasir Ahmadzai all perished in the 40s, leaving too much for the tail to accomplish. It all boiled down to a six to win off the last ball, but Najibul Zadran who had hustled to 28 off 20 balls, was yorked by Joshua Hall to give Ireland victory.Namibia Under-19s propelled themselves to the top of the table with a six-wicket victory against Vanuatu Under-19s at the YMCA Cricket Club, their second in two games. Vanuatu’s batsmen could not withstand the persistent pressure applied by the Namibian bowlers, led by Christopher Coombe and Wian van Vuuren, both of whom finished with miserly three-wicket hauls. Chasing a paltry 126, Namibia cantered home in the 26th over, scarcely slowed down by Jaxies Samuel who picked up three wickets.Scotland Under-19s eased to a 57-run win against Nepal Under-19s at the Merrion Cricket Club in Dublin. The win was set up by a hard-working 81 from No. 3 Freddie Coleman that lifted Scotland to a moderate score of 214. Run-making wasn’t easy, thanks to an incisive spell from Bhuvan Karki that earned him figures of 5 for 41. Nepal’s chase was in doldrums early as Patrick Sadler reduced them to 0 for 2 with his first three balls, and they never managed to recover. Captain Prithu Baskota fought hard for 62, before he became Sadler’s fourth wicket and the ninth of the innings. Nepal eventually folded for 157 in the 46th over, giving Scotland their first win.Papua New Guinea Under-19 overcame a stupendous 140 by Steven Taylor to defend their score of 262 by six runs against USA Under-19 at Observatory Lane. The top order boosted PNG to a challenging score, opener Lega Siaka top-scoring with 73 and adding 135 for the first wicket with Charles Amini. Captain Christoper Kent stepped up the scoring with 60 and the collective batting display undermined Mital Patel’s four-wicket haul.There was a lack of support for Taylor in the chase. He struck 19 fours and three sixes and was the eighth wicket to fall, but despite a couple of half-century stands, his partners were unable to push on. However, the tail, mainly Hammad Shahid and Mital patched up a spirited partnership for the final wicket, adding 47 when it seemed there was no hope. With six needed off five deliveries, the game was wide open, but Norman Vanua dismissed Shahid to clinch a tight win for PNG.

Basnahira’s bowlers held their nerve to deliver a one-run win against Combined Provinces at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Basnahira had been bowled out for 138 after electing to bat, but an incisive spell from offspinner Dilruwan Perera reduced Combined Provinces to 69 for 5 in their chase. Jeevan Mendis, who had taken 3 for 22 with his legspinners, produced with the bat too. He led his team’s recovery in a 54-run partnership with Sachith Pathirana, who scored 23, and at 123 for 5 in the 18th over Combined Provinces looked favourites. Perera came back into the attack and turned the game again with a tight over and the wicket of Pathirana. Rangana Herath bowled the 19th over and took another wicket, and a run-out off the fourth ball of the last over left Combined Provinces with six to win off the last two deliveries. Mendis managed to get only four of those, meaning Basnahira picked up their first win of the tournament.Combined Provinces would have been disappointed to lose after their bowlers had kept Basnahira in check in the first innings. Basnahira lost wickets regularly; their highest partnership was 27 runs for the fourth wicket. Chinthaka Jayasinghe scored 41 not out, but there were eight single-digit scored for Basnahira as Jeevan Mendis ripped through the middle order. Mendis’ efforts were in vain in the end though.

In a high-scoring game, Kumar Sangakkara’s 85 off 46 balls proved enough to give Kandurata an 11-run win over Wayamba. Kandurata controlled a large portion of the game and, having posted 186, looked comfortable when they reduced Wayamba to 52 for 5 in the eighth over of the chase. Wayamba’s middle order counterattacked though: Indika de Saram smashed 46 runs off just 24 balls and Kaushalya Weeraratne got 32 off 23. The pair put together 74 runs in 7.1 overs to give Wayamba hope. Kandurata had to turn to Muttiah Muralitharan to turn things around, and he ran out Saram and struck twice.Thisara Perera kept Wayamba’s chase alive with some big blows but he was left stranded on 30 not out as they fell 11 runs short of the total. Sangakkara had got Kandurata off to a flier in their innings, and was supported by Jehan Mubarak in a 91-run stand for the third wicket. Kandurata’s innings was given a further fillip by Angelo Perera’s belligerent knock of 36 off 15 balls – runs that proved crucial in the end result.

Ricky Ponting has said he was shocked by Cricket Australia’s decision to drop Simon Katich from the list of centrally contracted players. Ponting also said Katich was justified in calling the decision to cut him from the list “absolutely ridiculous”, during a forthright press conference at which he announced he would play on for New South Wales.”It’s fair to say he [Katich] didn’t hold back in his press conference and rightly so as well,” Ponting said on the Nine Network’s AFL . “To be omitted from the contract list was a great shock to him. It was a shock to me. His performance in the last two or three years has been as good as anybody’s in the world.”The decision will put Ponting and Michael Hussey – the only two players over 35 left with a contract – under extra pressure to perform. The scrutiny on Ponting will be especially strong, given that in the past two years he has averaged 38 in Test cricket compared to Katich’s mark of 48.”It puts us 36-year-olds on notice now, Mike Hussey and myself,” he said. “It’s going to make us work that little bit harder. I would have liked to have another old bloke around the group with me. [But] It means a young guy gets a go and hopefully that guy can stand up and do the job for us.”Ponting’s comments came as Shane Warne, commentating in England on , said the selectors had taken the easier decision by removing Katich instead of Ponting. He said if Ponting’s form didn’t improve in his post-captaincy career, it was important he not hang around and occupy a space that could be given to another player.”It’s a lot easier to drop Simon Katich than Ricky Ponting,” Warne said. “I think what they’re trying to do at the moment with Ricky is to say, let’s take the captaincy off him and let’s see how he goes. I think they’ll give him a bit of a trial but I think if he’s not performing then hopefully he’ll put his hand up and say ‘you know what, I’m going to retire’.”Trevor Bayliss, the former Sri Lanka coach, said he was as surprised as anyone to see Katich erased from Cricket Australia’s plans for next summer.”Obviously I was surprised that Simon missed out on a contract,” he said after being unveiled as the new coach of the Sydney Sixers Twenty20 team. “Certainly his performances over the last few years I thought might’ve warranted a contract and selection in the team could go one way or the other over the next year or two. But missing out on a contract pretty much makes the decision that he’s not going to play at all. So that was a bit of a surprise.”Bayliss said opponents the world over had respected Katich greatly, and knew they would need to concentrate especially hard if they were to dislodge him from the batting crease.”Certainly he’s one of the hard heads, and I know playing against Australia, the Sri Lankans for example, the opposition teams know they’re going to play some hard, tough cricket to get his wicket,” he said. “Whoever takes his place, there’s going to be a bit of pressure on him.”

Greg Chappell, the Australian selector, has forecast the selection of distinct “specialist” squads for tours of Sri Lanka and South Africa. The size of the task confronting Australia and its new captain Michael Clarke is placed into context by the fact that this is the first time since 1969-70 that the national side has been asked to make back-to-back overseas Test tours without a significant break or home summer in between.To alleviate the difficulties, Chappell expected a substantial variation in the squads picked for the two series, to help Clarke best adapt his resources to contrasting conditions. As in 1969-70, when the team led by Bill Lawry travelled through India and enjoyed a series victory before venturing to South Africa and being crushed 4-0 in as many Tests, the Australians must make the sharp adjustments from slow subcontinental pitches to fast African tracks. That tour sowed the seeds for Lawry’s eventual sacking as captain, a fate Clarke will be keen to avoid.”If you want to look at it in that light it is [daunting], yes, but if you want to look at it as an opportunity for us to get better, I think it’s a great opportunity,” Chappell told . “There’ll be different challenges on each tour; much like 1969-70 there will be very different conditions on the two parts of the tour so it will be a challenge.”The success of the last Australian tour to South Africa in 2009 may result in a recall for a role-player like the Victorian allrounder Andrew McDonald, who bowled thriftily in partnership with the pace attack during those matches, while in Sri Lanka the spin of Michael Beer, Steve Smith and perhaps Jason Krejza will be employed.”The good news for this generation is they won’t have to go back-to-back from one set of conditions to the other; the Champions League will intervene, so the opportunity will be there to pick specialist groups for the two tours,” said Chappell. “Sri Lanka’s likely to suit spin bowling, South Africa’s likely to suit fast bowling, so the balance of the two groups is likely to be different. It’s an opportunity for experienced players and for budding players to gain some great experience and some great learning about what international cricket is about.”Chappell admitted there were few great players immediately available to the Australian team, and suggested the national selectors would have to make the best of it until a new generation, spearheaded by the likes of the teenaged fast bowler Pat Cummins, was ready for national duty.”If you can find some outstanding matchwinning players, that’s great, but if you haven’t got them available you do the best you can with the combinations you can put together and that’s the challenge for us over the next few years,” said Chappell. “We can see we’ve got some potential champions on the horizon, but it’s going to take time for them to get to the point where they’re going to be ready to play for Australia, so in the meantime you’re looking for the best combinations you can get.”Casting his eye across to India and the coaching role he once held, Chappell said Gary Kirsten’s replacement, the former England coach Duncan Fletcher, was as prepared as anyone could be for the role.”I think it’s an interesting appointment; he’s a very experienced coach, I think he’ll bring a lot to the job,” said Chappell. “Coaching at that level is a challenge in any environment, we know how fanatical India is about the game of cricket with the population and the media population, that brings with it different challenges. Duncan’s been a proven coach and has experienced India from the other side, so if anyone can be ready for it he’ll be as ready as anyone.”

Stuart Clark, the former Australia fast bowler, is keen to play another season with New South Wales, despite being in contention to become chief executive of one of Sydney’s two Big Bash League sides. Clark, who will be 36 by the time the next Australian season begins, has been interviewed for the role with one of the new city-based teams.The former international coach John Dyson is also considered a frontrunner, and both men could end up with jobs, with Cricket New South Wales set to make the appointments later this month. Sydney’s two Twenty20 sides for next summer’s new competition are the Thunder and the Sixers, and Clark must decide whether he wants to take charge of one of those outfits or extend his on-field career.”I’m leaning towards playing cricket at the moment,” Clark told the . “There’s no personal goals left. I’m lucky enough to have done pretty much everything in cricket [that I wanted to].”As much as I love playing cricket, there’s also life after cricket and what I want to do with life. It’s a tremendous opportunity; I’ll never shirk away from that. One of these Big Bash teams – I suppose that’s the future of cricket and gives me an opportunity to be involved and involved at the highest level.”As a player, Clark’s experience is valuable to the young New South Wales side, which he captained last season when Simon Katich was away on Australian duties. However, with Australia looking to younger bowlers, Clark won’t add to the 94 wickets that he collected in 24 Tests, the last of which he played on the 2009 Ashes tour.

Confusion reigns over Tillakaratne Dilshan’s return from the IPL to join the Sri Lanka squad for the tour of England with the first warm-up match starting on May 14, a three-day fixture against Middlesex. Dilshan, who was appointed Sri Lanka captain in all three formats once Kumar Sangakkara stepped down after the World Cup, wanted to join the rest of the squad in advance, even as early as “May 10”, but it is understood that the decision is not solely his own. Incidentally, the BCCI and Sri Lanka Cricket board are in talks about Dilshan’s release date and a decision is expected in the next few days.Dilshan himself told ESPNcricinfo, “I am not aware (of the exact date). Both boards are still talking.” He was speaking hours before his team, the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s clash against Delhi Daredevils. Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Nishanta Ranatunga also confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Dilshan’s departure was still uncertain. “We are not yet clear and are in talks with the BCCI and should expect a date in a day possibly,” he said.Dilshan is keen to depart for England at the earliest because this will be his first big assignment as Test captain and he wanted to get a chance to mix with the rest of his players, a majority of whom are inexperienced. Also with Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene only joining the squad in time for Sri Lanka’s second practice match against the England Lions on May 19, Dilshan felt his early presence was necessary.”Dilshan had expressed the desire to travel with the nation team on May 10 considering some of the senior players are getting a bit late and this squad is a new squad and inexperienced. So he felt it was good to go with the team. But that is only possible if Sri Lanka Cricket is able to obtain a release from the BCCI,” Roshan Abeyasinghe, Dilshan’s manager informed ESPNcricinfo. Ranatunga added that all seven Sri Lankan players who were participating in the IPL would stick to the deadline of May 19 recently agreed on between the SLC and the BCCI.Even Dilshan’s franchise is unaware about the Lankan’s exit from the IPL. “You will have to contact the Sri Lankan Cricket board,” Siddhartha Mallya, Bangalore’s owner said. Dilshan, who was bought at the auction for $650,000, has been a subdued presence with just one half-century in five matches.Meanwhile it is understood that both Sangakkara and Jayawardene have found support from their respective franchises on their decision to leave for the England tour mid-May. Jayawardene, captain at Kochi Tuskers, would fly immediately after the match against Rajasthan Royals on May 15. Sangakkara, who is in charge of Deccan Chargers, would leave a day later, after the game against Pune Warriors.