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Nuwan Pradeep approached the last five balls of the match with confidence, as he walked out to deny Stuart Broad and England, his captain Angelo Mathews revealed after the match.Pradeep swayed away from a bouncer first ball – avoiding a reprise of his hit wicket from the first innings – then played and missed at a back-of-a-length delivery, and fended the third one away towards point.Next ball – the penultimate delivery of the match – raised a raucous appeal from the hosts, and the batsman was given out by Paul Reiffel, only for the decision to be immediately reviewed. Replays showed Pradeep got a big inside edge, and lived on. The final delivery was edged to slip, but it only reached the fielder on the bounce.”All Pradeep said to me was, ‘Don’t worry, I’m going to hold on. If they bowl short at me I’m just going to leave it’.” Mathews said of his exchange with Sri Lanka’s No. 11 before he went out to bat. “That was very encouraging from the tail-ender. I actually thought he did that exact thing. When they went for the lbw, we were not confident, because we couldn’t see from behind. But he was pretty confident that he hit it, and thank God that he did.”Pradeep’s lbw decision was the second piece of drama in the over after Rangana Herath gloved a short ball to the wicketkeeper – but his hand had already come off the bat handle. Herath did not wait for the umpire’s decision to begin walking back to the pavilion.Nuwan Pradeep held on for the final five balls•Getty Images

“I guess Rangana wasn’t aware of the rules,” Mathews said. “It’s a lesson learned. We all now know that if it hits your hand and it’s off the bat you’re not out.”Pradeep showed presence of mind to call for the review, even as England celebrated around him. “It wasn’t the easiest time for Pradeep to go and bat, and to review the decision was also a brave effort. In that tense situation, your mind goes blank sometimes. It’s always good to review it and luckily we used it. We hung in there.”Mathews was less enamoured by Sri Lanka’s collapse either side of tea. The visitors had eight wickets in hand with 36 overs to play in the day, but lost three quickly to James Anderson’s reverse swing, and were under immense pressure in the final session.Mathews and Prasanna Jayawardene batted out 20 overs together, despite Jayawardene’s severely bruised finger, before Rangana Herath faced 13 balls, until being dismissed.”I thought we batted poorly after tea especially. The bowlers came and gave one last effort, and we fell for that. I thought Anderson bowled really well. Their seamers bowled hard and asked questions from our batters but we couldn’t really handle it after tea. It shouldn’t have got close.”It was a great effort from our lower middle-order. Rangana Herath did well, and so did Prasanna, with a broken finger. He had had painkiller injections to keep going. It was a good effort in the end, but after tea we were too relaxed.”Alastair Cook faced some criticism for delaying his declaration, and Angelo Mathews said Sri Lanka were always unlikely to attempt chasing 390 on the final day.”They could have declared earlier, maybe. Close to 400 runs to get on the last day is going to be a tough ask. The wicket was spinning a little bit, and it was playing up and down a little bit as well. We had to bat sensibly.”We were going in a 50-50 mode. We wanted to bat till lunch, then tea, then see how we were. We were in a pretty bad situation after tea, and we couldn’t do anything but go for the draw.”

ScorecardMarcus Trescothick rediscovered his form but it was in vain•Getty Images

It was all going so well for Somerset: a full-house crowd, lapping up the early evening sunshine and thoroughly enjoying the entertainment as Marcus Trescothick finally found a bit of T20 form and Nick Compton blazed his way to a half-century. And then the neighbours went and spoilt it.But while a few members of the Taunton faithful might like to point a finger at Gloucestershire’s capitulation in Cardiff, the vast majority of those who witnessed this impressive but ultimately academic victory know well enough that Somerset have only themselves to blame for failing to reach a sixth consecutive quarter-final.A record of six wins from 14 T20 Blast matches hardly screams out “we wuz robbed” – and by losing their last two matches they went into this game needing Gloucestershire, of all counties, to do them a favour with qualification out of their own hands.It was not to be. But at least Somerset finished with a real flourish in front of 7,000 or so spectators – an opening stand of 105 between Trescothick and Compton laying excellent foundations for a best-of-the-season total of 183 at Taunton before a double wicket burst from Dirk Nannes unhinged Middlesex’s reply in mid-innings.If only. No, not if only the result had gone the other way in Cardiff but if only Somerset had put together more performances like this one. And no doubt those two blokes at the top of the home order were thinking much the same.Compton’s six previous appearances had yielded just 110 runs while Trescothick was so out of sorts (43 runs in eight innings) that it seemed as though he was T20 history, at least for this season, until Craig Kieswetter’s serious facial injury sparked a rethink. Instead of watching from the sidelines, Trescothick stepped up as stand-in wicketkeeper earlier this month – and tonight he looked something more like his old self in front of the stumps and gave a more than decent impression of a somewhat portly jack-in-the-box behind them.Compton it was, though, who set the tempo. Having offered a difficult chance to Dawid Malan in the deep early on, the former England Test opener pulled anything remotely short with vicious power and drove seamer Harry Podmore and spinner Olly Rayner for a couple of handsome sixes on his way to a 36-ball 58.Trescothick never completely convinced with his timing sometimes awry but by the time both batsmen fell, in the space of four deliveries, the hosts were well on their way to a commanding total – a total achieved despite another encouragingly mature spell from the latest spinner on England’s radar, Ravi Patel. Compton rather gifted the left-armer his wicket, aiming a reverse sweep, but Patel saw Trescothick coming to engineer a stumping and then collected a third victim with Colin Ingram holing out.Middlesex, with only two victories all campaign, were never fancied to chase down this total. They gave it a go early on, with Malan hitting six of his first eight deliveries to the boundary, but Nannes ended any thoughts of an away win – with plenty of help from a jumping and diving Trescothick. The 38-year-old held three catches of the left-arm fast bowler, the best of them a leaping one-hander as Eoin Morgan tried to flip a boundary.

SLC 2014 awards recipients

Men’s internationals
Cricketer of the Year – Angelo Mathews
Test Batsman – Angelo Mathews & Kumar Sangakkara
Test Bowler – Rangana Herath
ODI Batsman – Angelo Mathews
ODI Bowler – Lasith Malinga
ODI Allrounder – Angelo Mathews
T20 Batsman – Kusal Perera
T20 Bowler – Lasith Malinga
Women’s internationals
Best Batsman – Chamari Atapattu
Best Bowler – Shashikala SIriwardene
Best Allrounder – Shashikala Siriwardene
Premier League Tournament
Best Batsman – Jehan Mubarak
Best Bowler – Lakshan Rangika
Best Allrounder – Jeevan Mendis
Premier Limited-Overs Tournament
Best Batsman – Niroshan Dickwella
Best Bowler – Nilanka Premaratne

Best Allrounder – Sachith Pathirana
Under-23
Best Batsman – Rumesh Buddhika
Best Bowler – Dilanka Auwardt
Best Allrounder – KP Gajasinghe

An outstanding year as a Test batsman, ODI allrounder and captain saw Angelo Mathews reap the Cricketer of the Year prize at the Sri Lanka Cricket awards. Mathews also won the Best ODI Batsman and ODI Allrounder awards, and got a joint nod for the Test Batsman prize alongside Kumar Sangakkara.Rangana Herath was the Best Test Bowler for the third year running, for his 60 wickets from 10 matches in the qualifying period. Lasith Malinga took home the ODI and T20 bowling prizes, having also captained Sri Lanka to a World T20 victory, while Kusal Perera won the T20 Batsman award.Wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella was SLC’s Emerging Player of the Year, thanks to a bright start in Tests. He has pouched 12 catches and made two stumpings in his three matches so far, as well as hitting an aggressive 72 against South Africa on debut. He also won the domestic limited-overs batting award.Mathews has been exceptional down the order in all formats for Sri Lanka, hitting defining innings in each of the series and tournaments that Sri Lanka have won in the past six months. He hit 1292 Test runs at an average of 92.28 in the past 12 months and 965 ODI runs at 53.61.His 160 in the second Test at Headingley transformed the outlook of that match, but he had also struck a 23-ball 40 to help see Sri Lanka to the World T20 final, as well as averaging 196 in their victorious Asia Cup campaign. He has also contributed steadily with the ball, largely in the limited-overs formats.Mathews could not shake Sangakkara’s five-year grip on the People’s Choice Award, which was voted on online and via text message. The joint win for Test batting was also the fourth straight year Sangakkara had won that award. In the past year he had hit 1502 runs at 75.10, which included a career-best 319.Former Sri Lanka captain Shashikala Siriwardene was the major winner in the women’s categories, claiming the bowling and allrounder awards, while Chamari Atapattu took the award for batting, in what has been a quieter year for the team.Jehan Mubarak won the Best Batsman Award in first-class cricket for an exceptional season in which he hit 1165 runs at 105.90, and had been the primary contributor to Nondescripts Cricket Club’s tournament win. Colts Cricket Club’s left-arm wrist-spinner Lakshan Rangika was the Best Bowler, having taken 54 wickets in the competition, while Jeevan Mendis was Best Allrounder. Ragama Cricket Club’s left-arm seamer Nilanka Premaratne and Tamil Union allrounder Sachith Pathirana also won prizes for List A cricket.

How they got to the CLT20

Seven matches into their 2014 IPL season, Kolkata Knight Riders were sinking without a trace. They had won just two matches, and had just lost in embarrassing fashion to Rajasthan Royals. Chasing 171, they had gone from 121 for no loss to 123 for 6 in seven balls of madness. From there, with qualification for the playoffs looking a distant prospect, Knight Riders clicked into gear spectacularly, with seven wins in a row.In their last league match, they chased down 161 in 14.2 overs, inspired by a 22-ball 72 from Yusuf Pathan, to pip Chennai Super Kings to second place by virtue of their net run rate, and earned themselves two cracks at a spot in the final. They got there in their first attempt, beating Kings XI Punjab – who topped the league table – by 28 runs in the Qualifier. Facing Kings XI again in the final, Knight Riders’ bowling for once let them down, and they were left having to chase 200. They got there courtesy a brilliant innings of 94 from Manish Pandey, and became IPL champions for the second time in three seasons.

Strengths

Sunil Narine is probably the most influential T20 player in the world. The four overs he sends down are almost guaranteed to set the batting side back both in terms of run-rate and wickets. If his IPL statistics are exceptional – an average of 16.13 and an economy rate of 5.77 – his output in the CLT20 for T&T and Knight Riders has been downright freakish – an average of 9.37 and an economy rate of 4.46. Simply having him in their attack has made Knight Riders the best bowling side in the IPL for the last three seasons. And he will have support even in the absence of Morne Morkel and Shakib Al Hasan, with Pat Cummins set to get his longest run in the team yet; Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar and Piyush Chawla providing decent back-up; and Jacques Kallis, Ryan ten Doeschate and Yusuf Pathan around to chip in and cover any holes left by the specialists.

Weaknesses

Knight Riders have not had the happiest build-up to the Champions League T20. Having already lost Chris Lynn – who had to undergo shoulder surgery – and Shakib Al Hasan – who was not given an NOC by his board – they suffered another blow when Morne Morkel was ruled out with a shoulder injury. All of this has left the team with only five overseas players to choose from, leaving them with barely any squad depth, particularly in the bowling department, to cover for anyone going through a bad patch.

Player to Watch

On paper, Knight Riders’ batting did not look as fearsome as some of the other line-ups in the 2014 IPL season, but no other team had an opener as consistent as Robin Uthappa. He topped the tournament run-charts with 660 in 16 innings, strung together ten successive 40-plus scores, and did it all at a strike rate of 137.78, a quite astonishing feat in a format where the pursuit of quick runs almost demands playing low-percentage shots. Such a run of form is hard to repeat, but Knight Riders will be fairly happy even if Uthappa plays half as well as he did in the IPL.

Newbie to Watch Out For

Knight Riders’ spin resources have taken a bit of a hit with Shakib Al Hasan not playing the tournament, but his absence could give the team an opportunity to try out Kuldeep Yadav, a 19-year-old left-arm chinaman bowler from Kanpur. Kuldeep was one of the standout performers at the Under-19 World Cup in the UAE, finishing the tournament as its second-highest wicket-taker with 14 wickets at 16.42 and an economy rate of 4.14.

Past Record

Knight Riders have qualified for the Champions League twice previously, in 2011 and 2012, but failed to reach the knockout stage both times.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsPhillip Hughes was keen to sweep and pull the spinners•Getty Images

Phillip Hughes scored a half-century but Michael Clarke and Chris Rogers missed out on their last chance for some decent time in the middle ahead of the first Test, as Pakistan A wrapped up a 153-run victory in the tour game in Sharjah. The result was not so much the issue for the Australians as giving players the chance for some match practice; on that front the last day was disappointing as well.Mitchell Marsh, who had made a third-ball duck in the first innings, stuck around for 35 from 54 deliveries as his audition for a Test debut gradually improved, but he was unable to post an attention-grabbing score. Most notably, Clarke and Rogers, who watched on in the ODI series, both fell cheaply for the second time in the game, meaning they will enter the Test without any real local form behind them.Clarke, on the comeback trail from a hamstring problem, promoted himself to No. 3 and punched a beautiful straight drive for four before he was bowled by a Rahat Ali delivery that stayed a touch low. Rogers must also have been particularly frustrated at his luck. Having made a golden duck in the first innings, he got off the king pair first ball with a confident punch through cover, but fell for 3 in an ugly mix-up.Rogers had pushed a single to mid-on and a wayward throw to the bowler’s end opened up the possibility of an overthrow. Rogers committed, Hughes set off and stopped, and Rogers had to turn back from halfway down the pitch. A dive was not enough, and as Rogers trudged off, Hughes sheepishly avoided looking at his dismissed partner.Glenn Maxwell, who did not bat in the first innings, came in at No. 4 and struck three boundaries during a breezy 18 from 20 balls before edging behind when he tried to cut Mohammad Talha. That brought Marsh to the crease to join Hughes and they put on 68 for the fourth wicket, although there were a few nervy moments for Hughes in particular.The unpredictable bounce led to a few balls kicking off the pitch and rapping Hughes on the gloves, and he picked up a lucky six when he top-edged a hook off Talha that landed just over the man at fine leg. Although he has never been the strongest player against spin, Hughes showed signs of improvement and was keen to sweep Raza Hasan and Karamat Ali, also pulling well if they dropped short.Marsh got going with a pair of pulled boundaries in a Talha over and also clubbed Hasan down the ground for six. The pair made it through until lunch but the wickets began to tumble soon after, starting with Marsh, who edged Hasan to slip for 35 and was followed next ball by James Faulkner in almost identical fashion.Given the match did not have first-class status, the Australians changed their batting order and let Alex Doolan and Steven Smith rest after good scores in the first innings, which meant Peter Siddle came out at No. 7. Hughes brought up his fifty with a clip through midwicket off Rahat Ali from his 92nd delivery but on 65, edged behind off the same bowler.After that it was a matter of how long the bowlers would survive, and although Siddle enjoyed some time in the middle with 41, the wickets kept falling. Mitchell Starc was bowled by Imran Khan, Steve O’Keefe was trapped lbw by Talha, Siddle edged behind off Hasan and the result was decided when Talha rattled the stumps of Ben Hilfenhaus to dismiss the Australians for 185.Talha bowled well in the second innings and finished with 3 for 32, while Hasan claimed 3 for 60. Rahat was again impressive with two wickets after bowling well in the first innings, and has done his Test chances no harm. The Australians were due to return to Dubai on Saturday night ahead of a day off on Sunday, before two days of training in the lead-up to the first Test.