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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been told one player ‘shouldn’t be starting’ after their 4-1 triumph over Aston Villa on Tuesday.

Arsenal cruise to statement 4-1 win over Aston Villa

Arsenal scored four times in a rampant second-half display to secure a statement win over their Premier League title rivals at the Emirates, on what was a night to remember for the north Londoners.

After a goalless first half, the home side were ahead inside three minutes of the second period when Emiliano Martinez flapped at Bukayo Saka’s corner and the ball rolled in off Gabriel’s thigh.

Arsenal doubled their advantage on 52 minutes after Martin Zubimendi converted Martin Odegaard’s exquisite defence-splitting pass, with Leandro Trossard scoring from long range after 69 minutes to put the game firmly out of Villa’s reach.

Gabriel Jesus then netted his first goal since New Year’s Day just moments after coming on as a substitute, with Ollie Watkins scoring a consolation for the visitors in injury time.

The impressive victory was the perfect tonic for Arteta’s players against a team that dealt them a stoppage-time 2-1 defeat at Villa Park just 24 days prior.

It also brought to an end Villa’s club-equalling 11-match winning streak, and quite possibly their ambitions of making it a three-way fight for the title.

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Arsenal, who were without the injured Declan Rice for the first time in the league this season, now move five points clear of Manchester City, with Villa now also six points off the pace.

After scraping past Wolves, Everton and Brighton in their previous three fixtures, Arsenal were far from their fluent best in a first half where the weight of expectation of ending a 22-year wait for a title appeared to be hanging over them.

But they came alive after the break with a performance which will serve as a warning to City ahead of their match against Sunderland on Thursday.

And their opener, as it so often does, arrived from a set-piece. Martinez was in a world of bother as he pondered whether to catch or punch Saka’s inswinger, and in the end he did neither. Under pressure from Gabriel, Martinez could not gather the ball, and it ended up in his net off the Arsenal defender’s left thigh.

A VAR check followed to see if Martinez had been fouled by Gabriel, but the goal stood, and just four minutes later, the home side were celebrating a second.

This one was all about Odegaard who won possession inside the Villa half and was afforded time to play a deft left-footed pass into Zubimendi’s path, with the Spaniard poking the ball past an on-rushing Martinez.

Jurrien Timber fired high from a corner before Odegaard, enjoying a fine game as Arsenal’s conductor after his excellent display against Brighton last time out, also blazed over. The captain came close to adding a third for his side but Martinez diverted his long-range shot for a corner.

However, the Argentine could do nothing with Trossard’s effort a handful of minutes later. Odegaard found Saka at the back post before Lucas Digne dithered which allowed Timber to pounce.

The ball fell to Trossard before he fired low and hard and into the bottom corner and Arsenal were in dreamland. Another VAR probe ensued to see if Saka was offside in the build-up. He was not and the goal stood.

The Arsenal fans might have thought their evening could not get any better only to see Jesus, who replaced the goal-shy Viktor Gyokeres, score with his first touches of the ball.

Odegaard was involved again, hooking the ball over the top to Zubimendi, who found Trossard, and then Jesus who took one touch to open his body before angling a curling shot past Martinez with 12 minutes to go.

Watkins continued his impressive personal run against Arsenal with his seventh strike across 13 games, but it was the only sour note of a stunning evening for Arteta’s title-chasing men.

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That being said, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher believes there was another ‘negative’ of last night.

Jamie Carragher urges Arteta to drop Viktor Gyokeres after Villa rout

Speaking to Sky Sports, via Football 365, the former Liverpool defender urged Arteta to drop Gyokeres after another barren display in front of goal.

The Swede, who hasn’t scored from open play since November, bagged a penalty against Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, but that is his only goal in Arsenal’s last seven league games.

Now, Carragher says Gyokeres ‘shouldn’t be starting’ for Arsenal, with both Jesus and Kai Havertz named as better options.

The 27-year-old has scored seven in 21 total appearances for Arsenal after two years free-scoring in Portugal, and it could be a case of Gyokeres simply finding his feet in a far more competitive division.

In any case, Arteta will be glad to have alternatives to call upon, but we shouldn’t give up on Gyokeres just yet, who still offers a plentiful work rate and great runs off the ball to hassle defenders.

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Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Mithun is the surprise inclusion in Bangladesh’s 15-man squad for the upcoming World Twenty20. Bangladesh have also recalled allrounder Nasir Hossain for the tournament that starts in India from March 8.Mithun’s selection means the Bangladesh squad has three wicketkeeper-batsmen, including Mushfiqur Rahim and Nurul Hasan, although the keeping duties will likely be taken up by Nurul. Mithun last played a T20 international in August 2014 though that game against West Indies was abandoned due to a thunderstorm. He played mostly for Bangladesh A thereafter, and hit a century for the team on their tour of Zimbabwe in November last year. Although he made only 130 runs in nine innings for Rangpur Riders in BPL 2015, his two half-centuries in practice matches after the Zimbabwe series last month played some part in his selection.Nasir’s recall is less surprising as Shuvagata Hom, who was tried in his place in the four-match T20 series against Zimbabwe in January, didn’t quite grab the spot with his performances while batting or bowling.Chief selector Faruque Ahmed explained that Mithun’s inclusion wasn’t straightforward but his performances for Bangladesh A and his ability to shuttle between the top and middle order were taken into consideration. Faruque said that Imrul Kayes, who played two of the four T20s against Zimbabwe, was also considered but eventually missed the cut.”Mithun impressed in South Africa and Zimbabwe for Bangladesh A last year,” Faruque said. “We thought of a particular place, and we discussed that with the coaching staff. This is why we picked Mithun as a batsman who can play in the top and middle order. He is quite experienced in this format. We always felt he is a T20 player and his A-team performance put him in consideration.”Mithun wasn’t fully fit during the Zimbabwe series but he was at the training camp in Khulna that was held after the international series. He performed well there in the practice matches. But at the top level, we haven’t seen his full potential. Mithun is a good player who can show his worth if given chance in the right time and place. We had to think long and hard about Imrul [Kayes] and Mithun. The team management – coach and captain – discussed this at length and I think we all took a good decision.”Among the 18 players who played the Zimbabwe T20Is in January, Mosaddek Hossain, Imrul, Shuvagata, Muktar Ali and Mohammad Shahid haven’t made the World T20 squad. Faruque said that the experimentation in the series was done because Bangladesh doesn’t have a settled T20 line-up.”Experimenting with players doesn’t guarantee their selection,” he said. “We experiment to see if we can find something particular from a player. Until the end of the World T20, we can’t say whether the experimentation was success or failure. We did a similar thing in 2014 when we picked Sabbir for the T20s against Sri Lanka ahead of that year’s World T20. This is a format where we still have room for improvement.”Faruque said that Nurul, ‘arguably one of the best wicketkeepers in the country’, is likely to take the keeping gloves during the tournament. The youngster had also impressed with his late-order batting against Zimbabwe.”We don’t have a T20 specialist as such,” Faruque said. “Sohan [Nurul] has been playing in the A team in the last two years and also recently for the national team. He is arguably one of the best wicketkeepers in the country. He has innovation in his batting and we feel he will be most effective in T20s.”Faruque said that Bangladesh’s Asia Cup T20 squad would be “very similar” to the World T20 squad: “Imrul, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Shuvagata and Muktar will also join this squad in their training camp in Chittagong [from February 7]. They are the four standbys and have been kept with the Asia Cup in mind.”Bangladesh are placed in Group A in the first round of the World T20, with Netherlands, Ireland and Oman. They will begin their campaign against Netherlands on March 9 in Dharamsala. The team that tops Group A will join India, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand in Group 2 of the Super 10s stage.Bangladesh World T20 squad: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Al-Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Arafat Sunny, Abu Hider, Nurul Hasan

The Mohammad Nissar trophy match, a four-day first-class contest between the domestic champions of Pakistan and India, will be played at the National Stadium in Karachi from September 8 to 11.The final will be contested this year by Karachi Urban, winners of the 2006-07 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and Mumbai, the current Ranji Trophy champions. In a sense, it is as fitting a cross-border match-up as there can be; both teams are, historically, the most successful in their respective competitions.The inaugural Nissar Trophy match was played in Dharmasala in September last year, Uttar Pradesh comfortably beating Sialkot by 316 runs.With Amol Muzumdar, Mumbai’s captain last year, making himself unavailable for selection, Wasim Jaffer, the Indian Test opener, has been picked to lead the side. Muzumdar, currently playing in the Durham league, has been replaced by left-arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni while Omkar Gurav, yet to play first-class cricket, will keep wicket in place of Vinayak SamantHasan Raza has been named to lead the Karachi Urban team in the match against Mumbai, the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) announced.The following cricketers, who played for Karachi Urban during the last season, have been asked to confirm their participation in the match.Hasan Raza (captain), Faisal Iqbal, Asim Kamal, Agha Sabir, Khurram Manzoor, Asif Zakir, Saeed Bin Nasir, Afsar Nawaz, Mohtashim Ali, Imran Javed, Amin-ur-Rehman (wk), Malik Aftab, Tanvir Ahmed, Tahir Khan, Azam Hussain and Nauman Alvi.Mumbai Wasim Jaffer (capt), Sahil Kukreja, Vinayak Mane, Prashant Naik, Ajinkya Rahane, Vinit Indulkar, Hiken Shah, Abhishek Nayar, Omkar Gurav (wk), Nilesh Kulkarni, Avishkar Salvi, Rajesh Verma, Iqbal Abdulla, Vikrant Yelligatti.

Scorecard, ball-by-ball details and updates
How they were out

Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove meet to discuss the ball and that was the start of an amazing afternoon at The Oval © Getty Images

The controversial history of cricket between these two countries was given another chapter, during an extraordinary fourth day at The Oval, as the spectre of ball tampering reared its ugly head. It started with the umpires calling for a replacement ball midway through the afternoon and ended with the abandonment of the final day. What went on in between will go down in the darker side of cricket history.The day began to unravel when the umpires called for a change of ball at the end of the 56th over, with England 230 for 3. It had started to reverse swing for Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul, but Darrell Hair spotted something he wasn’t happy with and was seen pointing at the ball in conversation with Billy Doctrove. The fourth umpire, Trevor Jesty, then ran onto the field with a new box of balls which, under the Laws, the England batsmen were allowed to pick from. Play resumed until tea, but that was only the start of the drama.Bad light had taken the players off before the scheduled interval however, Pakistan had been hurt by the accusations of cheating and wanted to make a protest about the umpires’ actions. They had planned to delay the restart by a few moments, but when the umpires reached the middle and weren’t followed by the Pakistan side they walked off.Inzamam had appeared on the players’ balcony, but on seeing Hair and Doctrove making an about turn headed back in the dressing room and the doors were shut behind him. Then the umpires went back onto the field, followed by Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell. Still, the Pakistan team stayed in their dressing room while Hair and Doctrove removed the bails and left the field.The immediate thoughts were that the match might have been abandoned, the umpires taking Pakistan’s stance as a refusal to take the field and therefore forfeiting the Test. However, with no information coming out of official channels it was all speculation. A series of hastily arranged meetings between board officials, including the ECB Chairman David Morgan and his PCB counterpart Shahrayar Khan, began and Pakistan officials emerged form the dressing room and gave thumbs up to a frustrated crowd.Then came the most farcical moment. Inzamam led his team onto the field, stood for a few moments, before realising the umpires weren’t going to appear. Seemingly they didn’t believe the match was still in play. England’s players and officials stood bemused on their balcony while everyone, including a sell-out crowd, waited for a morsel of information.Finally, Khan made a statement on behalf of the PCB clarifying that Pakistan were ready to play and it was a problem with the umpires. “We have indicated very clearly that we can go out and play, in fact the boys came out and that we want the Test match to continue.”Both teams were informed just after six o’clock that play was abandoned for the day. Nothing came from the ICC, who are actually the body in control of the game, until a very limp statement via the ECB saying that high level discussions were taking place in a hope of securing play on the final day. That didn’t happens, but the action on the field will long be forgotten when this match is recounted.

Kevin Pietersen cracked a rapid 96, but no one was talking about his innings come the end of play © Getty Images

That is a great shame because, up until the start of the controversy, it had been a fascinating days play with England fighting hard to save the game with Kevin Pietersen to the fore. Reverse swing had played a major part in the removal of Alastair Cook for a fighting 83, giving Pakistan a vital lift after England had reduced the deficit into double figures. Cook and Pietersen added 103 for the fourth wicket, although Cook survived three let-offs.Danish Kaneria suffered most of the frustration as Cook popped a catch to silly point in the first over of the day, but Doctrove turned down the appeal. Then Cook escaped again, on 40, when he was bowled off a no-ball by the legspinner. That wasn’t the end of his fortune when, on 47, he pulled Mohammad Asif to square leg but Faisal Iqbal couldn’t hang on. However, he survived to reach fifty off 93 balls.Andrew Strauss started the day in fine form, driving and pull crisply in a 69-ball fifty, before being trapped on the back foot by Kaneria, although replays suggested he was outside off stump. It ended a fine series for Strauss which brought 444 runs at 63.Pietersen entered on a king pair but he quickly imposed himself on the bowlers, although he too received a life, on 15, when Kamran Akmal couldn’t gather an outside edge off Kaneria. He dominated the third-wicket stand with a 57-ball fifty, striking meaty blows off the seamers and spinners alike.However, a desire to reach three figures brought his downfall when he bottom-edged a wide ball from Shahid Nazir and Akmal clung onto a sharp, low chance in front of first slip. Pakistan were still well on track for victory and, in normal circumstances, an absorbing contest between to closely matched teams would have filled the column inches. Now it will be consigned to a footnote in history.

How they were out

Click here to read Cricinfo’s description of each wicket

Ridley Jacobs and Jermaine Lawson will miss West Indies’ second Test against Australia, which starts on Saturday (April 19). Dr. Terry Ali, a member of the West Indies Cricket Board’s medical panel, has ruled that Jacobs needs more time to recover from his groin strain, while Lawson has been diagnosed with chicken pox.”Ridley will remain in Trinidad for a few days to start rehabilitative work before he returns to his native Antigua on Saturday,” said Ricky Skerritt, manager of the West Indies team. “Jermaine will return home on Wednesday and we hope that he will recover in time for the third Test in Barbados.”Jacobs’s unavailability ensures that Jamaica’s 20-year-old Carlton Baugh will make his Test debut. Tino Best, Barbados’s leading wicket-taker this season – his 39 scalps have come at just 18.25 – has been named as Lawson’s replacement.Among the other changes in the 14-man squad were the inclusion of Ramnaresh Sarwan and 20-year-old offspinner Omari Banks. If the recall of Sarwan, who has recovered from a fractured finger in his left hand, was not surprising, then the continued omission of Chris Gayle was. Gayle was left out of the squad for the Guyana Test after he opted to play in a double-wicket competition rather than the Carib Beer Series final. His continued exclusion indicates that despite comments to the contrary, he is still very much out of favour with the selectors.The inclusion of Banks is a reward for a solid first-class season in which he took 25 wickets at 36.40 and scored 270 runs at 33.75 for the Leeward Islands. He is the first cricketer from Anguilla to be picked for a senior West Indies side.West Indies squad: Wavell Hinds, Devon Smith, Daren Ganga, Brian Lara (capt), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Carlton Baugh (wk), David Bernard, Omari Banks, Vasbert Drakes, Mervyn Dillon, Pedro Collins, Tino Best.

10.05
Scorecard

Dwayne Smith appeals against Manjural Islam Rana as Bangladesh collapsed on the fourth morning© AFP

Bangladesh have a long battle ahead of them if they are going to avoid a heavy defeat in the second Test at Sabina Park. They start the day needing at least 210 to make West Indies bat again, and with only seven wickets in hand. They may well have found themselves in an even more precarious position, were it not for a fighting 28 not out from Habibul Bashar which steadied the ship after his side had been reduced to 34 for 3.A double-century from Ramnaresh Sarwan, ably supported by Shivnarine Chanderpaul, put West Indies firmly in control of the match yesterday. They added 262 for the fourth wicket after after losing Tino Best – the nightwatchman – early on in the day’s play. And just to rub it in, Pedro Collins took 2 for 17 in the late afternoon to send Bangladesh hurtling towards what looked like inevitable defeat.In the 20 overs at their disposal, the West Indians bowlers made short work of Bangladesh’s top order. Collins struck first, trapping Hannan Sarkar leg-before for 10, while both Rajin Saleh (0) and Javed Omar (5) were both caught by Dwayne Smith, off the bowling of Collins and Tino Best respectively.With the sky overcast before play began, Bangladesh’s hopes will be raised by today’s weather forecast, with showers and thunderstorms likely.

England skipper Nasser Hussain has admitted that he was “glued” to Phil Tufnell’s recent triumph on the reality TV show I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here.Tufnell, who won 42 caps for England, the last in 2001, retired from the game on the eve of the season to take part in the show Down Under.Asked in an exclusive interview with the official Channel 4/ECB Test Match Magazine whether a recall for Tufnell – nicknamed “The Cat” – to the England colours would be a boost for the game, Hussain says: “He’d get a big cheer. But then he always gets a big cheer. He’s always been a star. He’s always been the people’s champion – he’s like the Jimmy White of the cricket world. But there’s only so far you can get on popularity, you still have to get your runs and wickets… I was disappointed when he retired because he’s one of a dying breed of natural spin bowlers who can give the ball a bit of flight – and also a dying breed of characters in the game. We’re running out of characters. I always enjoyed playing with and against Phil Tufnell – every game I played.”Hussain goes on: “I hate reality TV. I’ve never ever been keen on anything like that. But I was glued to that because The Cat was in it. I’m very close to The Cat, I know him very well, I enjoy his company and I found him absolutely hilarious on the show: he was always going to be brilliant on it: he’s got a job for life on things like that – he’s made for it. Good on him. There’s not many cricketers that could pull that off – it’s not something that Nasser Hussain will be doing …”Elsewhere in the interview, Hussain says he intends to break Peter May’s Test record of 20 Test wins (Hussain has led England to 14 wins so far), and that he does not believe in blooding a weaker team against Zimbabwe. He also talks about how his own run-ins with authority have helped him become a better leader: “It’s very difficult being captain if you’ve just been a goody two-shoes. It’s hard to understand the Phil Tufnells of this world if you don’t have that sort of background yourself.”The first npower Test between England and Zimbabwe starts at Lord’s on Thursday, May 22.The Channel 4/ECB Official Test Match Guide, which also includes exclusive interviews with England’s fastest bowler Steve Harmison and Zimbabwe’s 20-year-old vice captain Tatenda Taibu, will be available at the ground and via the website www.pplsport.com

Premier 1 (50 overs)Bashley (Rydal) 287-2 (22pts) (Sexton 182, Thurgood 61, Loader 36)
Andover 202 (5pts) (R Miller 83, Keighley 28, King 4-41, Taylor 3-48)
Bashley (Rydal) won by 85 runsBournemouth 112 (2pts) (Waite 28, Goldstraw 3-19)
BAT Sports 113-4 (20pts) (Kenway 43, Banks 37)
BAT Sports won by 6 wicketsHavant 144-8 (5pts) (Hindley 30, Loat 23, Draper 3-29)
Calmore Sports 148-8 (18pts) (Surry 40, Hibberd 28, Pegler 26, Hindley 4-27)
Calmore Sports won by 2 wicketsHungerford 111 (2pts) (Dawkins 31, Jenkins 4-14)
Burridge 114-4 (20pts) (Cunningham 52, Dixon 27)
Burridge won by 6 wicketsSouth Wilts 224-7 (21pts) (Lamb 80, Steedon 50, Wade 37)
Liphook & Ripsley 150 (5pts) (Smyth 29, Barnes 27, Rowe 3-34)
South Wilts won by 74 runsPremier 2 (50 overs)Cove 72 (2pts) (Douglas 4-7, Donaldson 3-27)
Trojans 73-5 (19pts) (Le Bas 24, Ashton 3-21)
Trojans won by 5 wicketsEaston & Martyr Worthy 226-6 (22pts) (St Green 77, Butcher 41, A Birch 31)
Hambledon 168 (5pts) (Le Clerq 38, Magrath 26, St Green 6-30)
Easton & Martyr Worthy won by 58 runsOld Basing 61 (0pts) (Braithwaite 3-4)
United Services 62-1 (21pts) (Toogood 20, McKeever 20)
United Services won by 9 wicketsOld Tauntonians & Romsey 246-8 (22pts) (Smith 71, N Stotart 59, Forward 42, Treagus 3-37)
Lymington 81 (4pts) (G Stotart 4-22, Morjaria 4-31)
Old Tauntonians & Romsey won by 165 runsSparsholt 108 (0pts) (Gunyon 33, Prittipaul 3-19)
Portsmouth 111-0 (22pts) (Prittipaul 79)
Portsmouth won by 10 wicketsPremier 3 (50 overs)Bashley (Rydal) II 128 (5pts)
Leckford 129-9 (18pts)
Leckford won by 1 wicketGosport Borough 113-8 (2pts) (Burns 3-29)
Hursley Park 114-4 (19pts) (Halder 39, Regan 3-42)
Hursley Park won by 6 wicketsLymington II 107 (2pts) (Coles 22, Pike 4-15, Bellchamber 3-16)
Portsmouth II 108-4 (20pts) (Pike 33, Moon 28)
Portsmouth won by 6 wicketsNew Milton 178 (7pts) (Watts 42, Richman 4-57)
Paultons 179-9 (20pts) (James 39, Mitchell 26)
Paultons won by 1 wicketRowledge 217-5 (21pts) (Harland 39, R Yates 37, C Yates 29, Shephard 4-52)
Waterlooville 57 (2pts) (C Yates 4-8, Eichler 3-14)
Rowledge won by 160 runsPurbrook 150 (19pts) (McCoy 32, Openshaw 3-33)
Havant II 140 (6pts) (Jones 44, Wade 35, McCoy 4-19, Hunter 3-39)
Purbrook won by ten runsSt Cross Symondians 225-6 (22pts)
Hook & Newnham Basics 86 (3pts)
St Cross Symondians won by 139 runsUnited Services II 121 (1pt) (Kitching 37, McMurray 4-31, Hitchings 3-23)
Flamingo 125-2 (22pts) (Fengian 47, Latouf 28)
Flamingo won by 8 wicketsWinchester KS 175-8 (20pts) (Naik 50, Taylor 35, Jackson 4-27, Rotherham 3-51)
Alton 127 (5pts) (M Heffernan 29, Ballinger 26, Oxley 5-26, Taylor 3-20)
Winchester KS won by 48 runs

Unperturbed by a mammoth 457 for 5 declared from Haryana and a finebowling display by Amit Mishra (4 for 72), Himachal Pradesh proceededto score 231 for 4 on the third day of their North Zone Ranji Trophyclash at the Paddal Ground in Mandi on Sunday.Resuming at 34 for no loss, overnight batsmen, stumper Arun Verma (37)and Nischal Gaur (64) forged a century stand. With the partnershipworth 110, Arun was the first to return to the pavilion, trapped legbefore by Mishra. This brought skipper Rajeev Nayyar (4) to thecentre. The other opener Gaur did not last long and departed in the60th over, caught by Jasvir off Mishra after a 232 minute stay at thecrease.Amit Sharma (58 not out) joined his captain and took the score on to150 when the latter fell to a catch by Ishan Ganda off Mishra. Afterthe fall of Nayyar, Amit and Varindar Sharma (45) put on 70 runs forthe fourth wicket. Varindar Sharma was trapped in front of the stumpsby Mishra with the score at 220. Chetan Kumar (6 not out) along withAmit ensured that HP went into stumps with no further hiccups.

Upon seeing the Hamilton track’s shock of green on Wednesday, interim head coach Jerome Jayaratne said the surface might have been “understandably doctored”. On the eve of the Test, on which the surface appeared a lighter shade of green, Angelo Mathews suggested a spicy surface may work to his team’s advantage.His thinking is this: Sri Lanka are already a game down in the series, and a flat surface that produces a draw will not help them level it. Not only will Sri Lanka’s seamers have an opportunity to take 20 wickets in Hamilton, but a pitch as spicy as this one is expected to be may have the added benefit of narrowing the quality gap between the two seam attacks. Low-scoring games are often prone to upsets.”When you play on extreme wickets, both teams have equal opportunities,” Mathews said. “It’s just that you have to get a good start whether you bat or bowl. We’ll definitely play to win because it doesn’t matter if we lose the series 2-0 by trying to win this game.”Sri Lanka are now 0-3 in their Tests in New Zealand over the past year, but have in other nations achieved victory in seam-friendly conditions. Tests in Dubai and Headingley last year were won in part thanks to the seam attack’s penetration in helpful conditions.”If we are to have a chance of winning, we should play on a wicket like this, because our seamers will also get assistance,” Mathews said. “We have a very good chance. It’s just a matter of applying ourselves while batting and putting runs on the board. That will give our bowlers a chance.”Unsurprisingly, Mathews said he would bowl first if given the chance, but hoped his bowlers would make better use of a seaming pitch than they did in Dunedin. The frontline seam attack is likely to be comprised of Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep and Dushmantha Chameera, as it was in the first Test.”If we bowl first we will definitely look to rectify the mistakes that we did in Dunedin, because we were nowhere near our best there. We’ve talked about it a lot. The bowlers have a very good understanding of what they have to do. We actually had assistance on that pitch but we didn’t bowl well. Then we let them off the hook, and once they got to 400 it was really tough for us to get back into the game. This pitch will do a lot more than Dunedin. It has a lot more grass.”Sri Lanka may be tempted to play Kaushal Silva in their top order, given the lack of any major contributions from the inexperienced players in Dunedin. However, Mathews suggested the younger batsmen would be persisted with. This means Kusal Mendis, who has played two Tests, and Udara Jayasundera, who has played one, are likely to appear together in the top three again.”We’re not trying to make too many changes at the moment because we’re trying to settle in as a team,” Mathews said. “I know we’ve got so many younger players at the moment, but we can’t just throw them out after playing one game. We’ve got to show faith in them. We might lose the odd Test along the way, but it’s a matter of having patience and trusting them.”Having visited in successive New Zealand summers now, Mathews said his team had greater insight into the home team’s capabilities. “We’ve played a lot of cricket against New Zealand and we know exactly their strengths and weaknesses. They are a very settled unit, a very experienced unit, and we’ve seen a lot of videos of them as well.”It’s just that we’ve got to do what we can do best. While bowling you’ve got to hit those areas and get them out. It’s about being able to compete. We were nowhere near the New Zealanders in the first Test and we’ve got to go out there and enjoy our cricket.”