NatWest series (India, Sri Lanka and England)

England captain Nasser Hussain said, Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh would be his team's major obstacle in the upcoming one-day and Test series.

England takes on Sri Lanka and India in a triangular one-day tournament starting Thursday before a four-match Test series with India.

Fresh from overcoming Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan in its recent 2-0 Test series win, England now faces another star spinner in the form of Harbhajan.

"He's a world-class threat," Hussain said. "All our thinking we did for Muralitharan, we'll have to do it for Harbhajan in the one-dayers and the Tests.

"At times we played Harbhajan well (in England's tour of India last year) and at time we didn't. So we'll rethink the policies we had in the winter."

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With the focus already on India's opening (back-to-back; Saturday-Sunday) games in the tri-series, John Wright didn't exactly have the time to get emotional about returning to Kent's home turf, Canterbury - this time as India's coach.

"Frankly, with so many things on mind, there wasn't a moment to reflect on coming back wearing basically the same hat, but with a national side...

"It was, of course, nice to catch up with the players and administrators," Wright told. However, Wright did acknowledge that beating Kent - a County he coached for four seasons from 1997 - would definitely have "pleased" him immensely.

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Indian coach John Wright said his team had learnt a lesson during the home series against England earlier this year when the tourists were able to successfully exert pressure on his team to come from behind and tie the six-match one-day series 3-3.

"We were disappointed to lose the last two games from winning positions," Wright said at the joint press conference of the three teams - India, England and Sri Lanka - ahead of the triangular one-day series starting on Thursday.

The coach was referring to the series in which India squandered a 3-1 lead and let go winning positions in the remaining two games.

On the other hand, England captain Nasser Hussain warned of following the same tactics, saying he would like to see India disintegrate with a similar pressure this summer.

"We saw it in India with the high expectation of the home crowds", Hussain said, adding "if we can put them under pressure, they might feel it.

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England captain Nasser Hussain has challenged his seam bowlers to raise their game to compensate for the absence of Darren Gough and Andy Caddick in the NatWest Series.

Caddick will not play against India and Sri Lanka because of a side strain and it looks increasingly unlikely that Gough will be able to take part either after suffering a recurrence of a knee problem.

It leaves Matthew Hoggard, James Kirtley and Alex Tudor as England's pace options, supported by all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, but Flintoff is not fully fit because of a groin strain.

Hussain said it looked like Gough, who is to see a specialist, would certainly miss the first half of the tournament, which starts on Thursday when England meet Sri Lanka.

"The problem with Darren is that he wants to play - he wants to be back on the big stage, taking wickets and winning games for England.

"It must be frustrating for him, but it's also frustrating for us. To lose your main bowlers in tandem is a blow bup hopefully someone, like they did in the Test match (at Old Trafford) can hold their hands up and say 'Right, I'll stand in for Gough and Caddick'," he commented.

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Sri Lanka have called up all-rounder Thilan Samaraweera to replace Muttiah Muralitharan in their squad for the NatWest Series.

Muralitharan damaged shoulder ligaments earlier this year and although he played in two Tests against England, tour management decided against risking him further.

He has now flown home and Sri Lanka he will be fully recovered for the home Test series against Bangladesh starting in late July.

Samaraweera has played eight one-day internationals, taking seven wickets with his off-spin. It is, however, as a batsman that he is better known, having scored more than 500 runs in nine Tests at an average of 87.16, including two centuries.

The 25-year-old was in the squad for the recent Test series against England, which Sri Lanka lost 2-0, but did not play in any of the matches.

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England pace bowler Darren Gough's comeback hopes during the one-day triangular series against Sri Lanka and India have suffered a blow after a recurrence of knee trouble, the ECB said.

England pace bowler Darren Gough's comeback hopes during the one-day triangular series against Sri Lanka and India have suffered a blow after a recurrence of knee trouble, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said.

Spokesman Andrew Walpole said: "He's a major doubt for the series. There has been a reaction to his right knee. "We will reassess his fitness over the next 48 hours."

Gough damaged his knee while warming up for a Yorkshire second eleven match. He is due to see an ECB specialist soon.

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Nasser Hussain has called on the ECB to place more importance on one-day cricket. The England captain claimed last night that the squad is undercooked ahead of the NatWest Series against India and Sri Lanka starting tomorrow and that limited-overs specialists should be treated as equal to their Test-playing compatriots.

Hussain said that he was talking to officials about extending the number of contracts to allow one-day players to be placed under central control. "You cannot just expect a squad to come together for 2½ days before a tournament, from Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy games and the Benson and Hedges Cup final," he said. "At the moment it is a case of after the Lord Mayor's Show.

"With the World Cup approaching, we should be grooming people, not appearing to treat them in a second-class way. Players like Paul Collingwood, Jeremy Snape and Nick Knight, who are only in the one-day squad, should be as important as those in the Test side."

Miscellaneous

Eric Simons this weekend rid Shaun Pollock of the albatross around his neck and took the disciplinary whip from his hands.

Simons, the national cricket coach returned from London where he spent some five hours in discussion with the South African captain, Pollock.

The new coach watched the Benson & Hedges final in which Pollock took the wicket of the English captain, Nasser Hussain and hit 34 runs as No 5 batsman. Simons also visited the South African quick Allan Donald in Birmingham after the match.

Simons wanted Pollock to join the SA bowling camp on 17 July, but the national captain would only be re-united with his team at the start of the first international tournament, a triangular series between South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, that will take place in Morocco in August. Pakistan recently beat Australia.

"I want Shaun to concentrate on the captaincy and his game. I would deal with the internal issues like discipline that distracted him in the past. He can leave the planning, the management and the driving of the SA team to me," Simons said.

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The first-class umpires in England, who want to bring their retirement forward from 65 to 60, are to have their own benefit funds.

The introduction of an ICC panel for Tests and one-day internationals has meant that the ECB has a surplus of around £90,000, which will be given to umpires and their families over the next three years through a trust. They are hoping for additional corporate and private support.

This summer the ICC rather than the ECB is funding the umpiring of seven Tests and ten one-day internationals. "Brian Havill and Alan Fordham, the finance director and cricket operations manager of the ECB, thought this spare money should be given to us," Allan Jones, the chairman of the First-Class Umpires Association, said. "It will particularly benefit anyone who becomes ill or infirm and we hope that there will be enough for a small sum upon retirement."

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Spin bowler Robert Croft wants Wales v England fixtures to become a regular part of the cricket calendar.

England coach Duncan Fletcher has often mentioned England's relative lack of experience in one-day internationals, compared to other countries like India and Pakistan, and Croft believes playing Wales will help.

"We'll have to have a look at it in the next three or four days after we've dusted ourselves down to see how much of a success it was.

"But I think England have been happy with the facilities at Glamorgan and I certainly think they deserve one-day international cricket on a regular basis," said Croft.

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