Finally, a win for Sri Lanka Sri Lanka were playing for pride when they took on England at Old Trafford on Sunday. The consolation 23-run win, then, must have come as a huge relief for the men from the Emerald Ises, who earlier seemed to be sinking ever so deeper into the mire with every passing game. Signs of their possible revival was first seen in the preceding NatWest one-dayer at Birmingham on Saturday. Despite only managing a modest total of 187, a splendid fighback by the Sri Lankan bowlers meant that the Indians were made to huff and puff on their way to a tight four-wicket win. On Sunday, the batting line-up, bolstered by the return of Kumar Sangakkara (70 off 79 balls), posted a relatively healthy 229 runs after Sanath Jayasuriya won the toss and opted to bat. The Sri Lankan spinners, then, stifled the Englishmen in the middle- and late-overs to secure their side's win. Jayasuriya was the most successful bowler for the visitors, claiming 3-38 in his nine overs. For England, Jeremy Snape (29*) and opener Nick Knight (29) ended up as the top-scorers.

Ganguly: Things are looking good The Indians are in the midst of an impressive run in the NatWest series in England. Such has been the nature of their dominance that fans and experts alike have gone to the extent of labelling them as the dark horses for the 2003 World Cup. Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly, though, refuses to let himself get carried away by this sudden gush of praise. "People ask if this current side is close to the one we would like for the World Cup and it is too early to say that because six months is a long time in international cricket," Ganguly told newsmen after the four-wicket win over Sri Lanka at Edgbaston. "If in the next six months you find someone special then you would pick them. But it is fair to say that the boys are settling into their places well which is important. We've chased totals well in this competition. We know how things have gone in the past and that was one of the reasons for looking at batting Sachin Tendulkar at four and Rahul Dravid at five," he explained. "So far it has worked very well although it is too early to pass a judgement on whether we've laid the ghost of not being able to chase to rest. You've got to judge something over a period of time and not two or three games. "Things are looking good. I do not think it is right to compare this squad with other Indian one-day sides which have won in the past but for the first time we are winning consistently overseas which is important," he added.

Better late than never There are all kind of records set in cricket. More than any other game, the leather and willow affair is a statistician,s delight. Batsmen, bowlers and increasingly fielders send records of some sort tumbling at almost every match these days. But umpires? Steve Bucknor might have hogged the headlines recently when he crossed Dicky Bird as the man who has stood in maximum number of Tests, but even he, in a long career, has not laid a claim to the record that Dave Orchard found himself thrust with suddenly . The 54-year old South African official arrived late for the Sri Lanka-England one-dayer at Old Trafford on Sunday. Imagine the plight of the authorities when they found they had just Peter Willey to umpire the game when the scheduled start time came around. Well, as it turned out, Jeremy Lloyds, the reserve umpire, stood in for Orchard for five overs. Reuters reports that Orchard thought the match was a day/night affair when it was actually a day game!

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