A decision whether the West Indies cricket team will tourPakistan or the series will be shifted to a neutral venue islikely to be confirmed in a couple of days.A Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman said onWednesday that thedecision could be taken at any moment in the next two orthree days.According to tentative programme, the West Indies team is toarrive here on Jan 25 to play Test and One-Day matches.The West Indies cricketing authorities were reluctant tosend their team to Pakistan due to security reasons in thewake of US led attacks on Afghanistan.Earlier, New Zealand had called off their tour to Pakistanin Sept due to the same reason. But recently, Sri Lankanunder-19 cricket team had toured Pakistan safely for a fiveone-day series which the host won 4-1.However, the ICC, in order to save its 10 year activityprogramme from further disturbance had decided that underspecial cirmustances a series could be shifted to anyneutral venue with the consent of both the countries.
Hyderabad had things their own way on the opening day of their RanjiTrophy semifinal against Karnataka at the Chinnaswamy stadium inBangalore on Tuesday. At close of play, the visitors were sittingpretty at 344/2 after VVS Laxman (163) and Mohd. Azharuddin (103)mercilessly punished Karnataka, with an unbroken 253 run partnership,for an apalling display in the field that saw three catches go downbesides several shocking misfields. Laxman’s seventh hundred in eightmatches this season and the 17th of his Ranji Trophy career also sawhim cross the thousand mark for the season.Combining power with finesse, Laxman played some exquisite squarecuts, leaning back and slicing the ball past point. He was also strongoff his legs and when the ball was pitched short, he pulled with regalauthority. Both batsmen made merry on a wicket which did not give thebowlers as much assistance as was expected.Both sides went in with three pronged seam attacks, with Hyderabadleaving out middle order bat D Vinay Kumar to accommodate Fiaz Ahmed,the third seamer. The left-right combination of Daniel Manohar andNandakishore opened the batting but the latter did not last long as hefell to Prasad for 11. There was a hint of outswing as the batsmanplayed defensively and the ball just about carried to Vijay Bharadwajat second slip who took a low catch to his left.Laxman started cautiosly, taking 23 balls to get off the mark with adisdainful pull to the square leg boundary off Mansur Ali Khan. Mansurwas unlucky when Laxman checked an intended drive and deposited theball in the no man’s land behind the bowler’s head. Hyderabad’s fiftycame up in the 18th over as both batsmen played the bowling withincreasing confidence.Laxman gave Ganesh a pasting with two charming pulls in one over tothe square leg and mid wicket boundaries. Sunil Joshi was brought onbut although keeping the batsmen on a leash, he did not pose anythreat to their well being. Suddenly however for no rhyme or reason,Laxman stepped down the track and tried to hoist Joshi over mid on. Hedidn’t get the intended elevation and the ball went at shoulder heightto Rowland Barrington, who dropped it to the universal disbelief ofthe fielders and the crowd. Laxman was then on 30 and the score at89/1.One run later, Prasad struck again as Daniel Manohar presented theblade in a defensive posture and got a tickle through to Thilak Naidufor 39 (95 balls). Prasad didn’t have a mid wicket to Azharuddin andhe was tempted soon enough to flick one into the gap only to get aleading edge that landed short of gully.The cup of the woe continued to fill for Karnataka as Akhil at secondslip grassed Azhar, then on 16, low down to his right. Akhil’s luckdid not change when he came on to bowl with Laxman taking threesucessive boundaries in his first over. Azhar had a lapse ofconcentration just before tea when he flailed at two balls outside offstump from Mansur Ali Khan. Vijay Bharadwaj got a hand to the firstbut could not hold on as it raced to the fence while the secondbisected Bharadwaj and Prasad at first slip just over their heads.Laxman got a couple of gift boundaries as Mansur Ali Khan let one slipthrough his legs at mid off and later Mithun Beerala fired in a throwat the bowler’s end which Joshi, daydreaming at mid on, failed tocollect. Laxman’s hundred came when he drove a ball into the groundwhich bounced over the bowler’s head and went down to the long offboundary. The umpires had to caution the Karnataka players shortlyafter when Mansur Ali Khan had expressed his displeasure over a legbefore appeal against Azhar that had been turned down.Dodda Ganesh was also upto his antics with some uproarious appealsfollowed by a trot down the wicket to stare at the batsman. But he wasput in his place as Azhar ferociously hooked him to the square legfence to go into his nineties. He finally got to his century off 167balls with a push past cover and Laxman’s 150 followed with a slicebetween gully and point that raced to the pickets. His career bestscore of 301 against Bihar should come under threat on themorrow. With the wicket expected to deteriorate later in the game,Karnataka have to pull out all the stops to prevent Hyderabad frombatting them out of the match tomorrow.
Leeds United correspondent Graham Smyth is expecting Jesse Marsch to bring in more staff members alongside Cameron Toshack, with the club revealing two more appointments this morning.
The Lowdown: Toshack and co join Marsch
It has been a busy week at Elland Road, with the Whites parting ways with Marcelo Bielsa and his four assistant managers after the 4-0 defeat to Tottenham on Saturday.
Marsch was swiftly appointed as the club’s new head coach, penning a deal through to 2025.
Reports had already suggested that Toshack has joined Marsch as his assistant, and there could be more to come, with the American set to address the media this afternoon ahead of his first game in charge against Leicester City.
The club have now officially confirmed two other additions, with former RB Salzburg man Franz Schiemer and current Under-23s Head Coach Mark Jackson joining Toshack.
The Latest: Smyth’s post
Smyth was asked on Twitter on Wednesday about who exactly will be doing the club’s analysis ahead of the trip to the King Power Stadium on Saturday, while also being quizzed on how many coaches are left at Thorp Arch.
This is what he had to say in reply, revealing he is ‘expecting a small number’ of additions alongside Toshack.
“Expecting a small number of incoming staff members with Marsch. Cameron Toshack one that’s confirmed. We’ll hear more from Marsch himself tomorrow I’m sure. Not everyone left with Bielsa.”
Whether the arrival of Schiemer and promotion of Jackson is the end of the changes in the dugout is not yet clear.
The Verdict: Interesting…
Bielsa had a big team around him in Yorkshire, however, it is interesting to know that there are some staff members left at Thorp Arch.
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Goalkeeper coach Marcos Abad and head of analysis Guillermo Alonso have reportedly remained at the club, a call possibly made by Victor Orta, with the pair working under the director of football at Middlesbrough.
It seems as if Marsch is keen to bring in more staff members as well as Toshack, though, with Schiemer and Jackson now added, so we may learn more this afternoon.
In other news: ‘Sadly for Leeds fans’ – Journalist reveals more bad news after what he’s heard from Elland Road.
Karnataka‘s Shreyas Gopal took five lower-order wickets to dismiss Hyderabad for 136 on the second day of their Group A clash in Shimoga. Hyderabad returned strongly once again, taking four top-order wickets, all bowled by left-arm spinner Mehdi Hasan, as Karnataka finished the day on 127 for 4, with a lead by 174, courtesy an unbeaten 70-run partnership between Karun Nair (37*) and Stuart Binny (26*).Hyderabad started the day on 51 for 3, trailing by 132, but after Bhavanaka Sandeep (19) and Ashish Reddy were dismissed in the morning, Gopal’s legspin ran through the rest of their batting, taking career-best first-class figures of 5 for 17 in the space of 25 runs. Hyderabad wicketkeeper K Sumanth was the only one to display any resistance with the bat, scoring a 150-ball 68.KL Rahul (23) failed for the second time in the match, the first Karnataka batsman out in their second innings.In Lucknow, Saurabh Kumar added three more wickets to finish with career-best figures of 7 for 110. That helped Uttar Pradesh bowl Maharashtra out for 312 from an overnight total of 274 for 4. Ankit Bawne, who started on 107, was out for 119 as Maharashtra lost their last six wickets for 38 runs.In reply, Uttar Pradesh crumbled from a position of strength to finish the day on 232 for 7, still trailing by 80 runs. Their captain Suresh Raina fell for a two-ball duck.UP started their innings well, with the second-wicket partnership between Almas Shaukat (63) and Shivam Chaudhary (50) producing 101 runs. But Maharashtra offspinner Chirag Khurana – who finished the day with four wickets – pulled the advantage back towards his team. UP stumbled from 131 for 2 to 152 for 6. Saurabh then scored 27 with the bat, assisting Eklavya Dwivedi (40*) to reduce the deficit before stumps.A 144-run opening stand between Saurabh Wakaskar (80) and Shivakant Shukla (86) gave Railways the upper hand against Assam in Guwahati. Railways ended the day on 224 for 2, only twenty runs behind Assam’s first-innings total of 244.Wakaskar and Shukla batted for almost 44 overs, smashing 21 fours and two sixes between them. Shukla was the second wicket to fall, with the team at 179, which was followed by an unbeaten 45-run partnership between Nitin Bhille (18*) and Arindam Ghosh (30*). Assam started from an overnight score of 216 for 8, but could add only 26 more runs to their total. Railways’ Deepak Bansal finished with figures of 4 for 61 after Assam’s innings.
Trevor Bayliss, Sri Lanka’s coach, has termed the first Test between Sri Lanka and England an evenly-poised affair at the end of the second day and said that either of the teams can win the contest if they play well from now till the end of the match.”We obviously didn’t have a great day yesterday. But I thought we fought hard and got ourselves back into the game today,” Bayliss said.”On a wicket that suits spin bowling, we knew if we could keep England down to areasonable total even if they passed us, we can hopefully match them in our secondinnings as chasing 180 to 200 in the final innings will turn out to be a tough job.”Bayliss expressed disappointment that Muttiah Muralitharan could notbreak Shane Warne’s world record of 708 Test wickets before play was called off for the day due to rain.”It was a bit disappointing for everyone watching and I am sure for him as well. Hewould have liked to have got it out of the way today. But all along our focus hasbeen on the team’s performance. Everyone knows it that Murali will take thosewickets somewhere in one Test or another.”Bayliss, however, did express his disappointment at Sri Lanka’s failure to post big first-innings totals.”They [the Sri Lankan batsmen] do a lot of hard work and it’s not from lack of trying, that’s for sure. We were here early this morning working on the batting and we are hopeful that in thenext two Test matches we can turn that around in the first innings.”We are going through a little bit of a transitional period with the team. There are a number of inexperienced and younger players in the team trying to learn the firstclass game of cricket in the international arena. In that case they are not going tobe as consistent as we might like it to be. Hopefully, with the experience of playingteams like Australia and England, some of these guys will step up to the mark prettyquickly.”Questioned on the impending retirement of Sanath Jayasuriya, Bayliss said: “Hehasn’t said anything to us at this stage. Obviously he is getting close, exactly howclose we are not very sure.”
Ravi Shah’s fighting century proved the difference as Kenya held their nerve to beat Scotland for the second time this competition. Shah rescued Kenya from the mire at 90 for 5, after they lost five wickets for 23, to lift them to 259. Steve Tikolo then needed all of his experience to produce a vital three wicket-burst which staved off a determined Scotland assault with the bat, as Kenya won by seven runs.After Kenya chose to bat, Shah had his work cut out when all about him were losing their heads, but he kept his and put on a crucial 117 with Thomas Odoyo for the sixth wicket. Inspired by Shah, the tail gave him full support and Kenya managed to bat all of their overs as Shah smashed his way to 113 from 121 balls. His knock included eight fours and three sixes, Odoyo added 36, and each of those runs was vital.Kenya’s innings started brightly enough, with Maurice Ouma and David Obuya sharing an opening stand of 67. But Ouma’s run out on 14 triggered a collapse as five wickets fell in quick succession.At this stage Scotland would have fancied their chances of killing off the innings early and hunting down a revenge win against Kenya, who beat them in the first round of this competition. But Shah wasn’t going to give up – and he turned the innings on its head.Scotland then had a mountain to climb and they were doing well in scaling the heights, their openers, Fraser Watts and Majid Haq, putting on 99. Both made 59. They continued to rack up the runs and were well set at 217 for 3 when Tikolo turned things around for Kenya. He grabbed the next three wickets for no runs, puncturing Scotland’s momentum so thoroughly that they were unable to recover.
ScorecardAn unbeaten third-wicket partnership of 193 between Subramaniam Badrinath and Hemang Badani took Tamil Nadu to an imposing 261 for 2 at stumps on the first day’s play against Delhi at Chennai. Badrinath, the TN captain, brought up his seventh first-class hundred late into the day, while Badani, who only recently relinquished the captaincy, followed up a big hundred in his last game with a composed 91 today. Coming together with TN’s score on 68 for 2 following the dismissal of Sridharan Sriram – bowled by Chaitanya Nanda for 43 – Badrinath and Badani defied the Delhi attack for the rest of the day to put TN in the driving seat. ScorecardSiddharth Trivedi and Hitesh Majmudar, the Gujarat fast bowlers, shared the spoils of a poor Karnataka innings at Ahmedabad before Gujarat’s openers took their side to six without loss at stumps. Both Trivedi and Majmudar were in good form on the opening day, striking key blows to reign in Karnataka’s in-form batting order. Only Bharat Chipli, with a commanding 76 off 93 deliveries, and Stuart Binny (45), son of Roger Binny the former Indian allrounder, stood out for Karnataka. Subtract Chipli’s counterattack, and this substandard total would have been a lot worse. ScorecardAlfred Absolem’s maiden four-wicket haul reduced the strong Baroda batting order to 229 on the opening day at Vadodara before Hyderabad negotiated the remaining overs of the day to remain on 28 for 1. With names like Satyajit Parab, Jacob Martin and Kiran Powar all coming a cropper, it was left to Connor Williams, Baroda’s veteran opener, and Yusuf Pathan, with only 13 matches under his belt, to provide the damage control. Williams was aided well by Pinal Shah (41), Baroda’s young wicketkeeper, in a 99-run stand following Parab’s dismissal for 5, but following the loss of four quick wickets, Baroda were left in tatters. It was then that Pathan, 23, stepped up and produced a fine innings that took his side past 200. Once he departed, bowled by the hard-working Kaushik Reddy (3 for 58), Baroda’s tail folded and Hyderabad could look back at a fine day at the office. ScorecardRajesh Verma achieved his first bowling performance of note for Mumbai as Maharashtra were bowled out for 213 on the opening day of the final-round Ranji Elite Group matches at the Wankhede Stadium. Maharashtra struck back, however, picking up Mumbai’s openers to leave them stuttering on 20 for 2, still 193 runs in arrears. Verma, 24, picked up three quick wickets in the morning session before snapping a 64-run eight-wicket stand by having Suyash Burkul leg before for 29. Sairaj Bahutule, forced to retire hurt when on 44, returned to the wicket towards the end of Maharashtra’s innings but could only add a further one run to his name as Nilesh Kulkarni, Mumbai’s veteran left-arm spinner, cleaned up the tail. ScorecardS Upadhaya fell eight runs short of a deserved maiden hundred, but his 173-run partnership with Sarabjit Singh was enough to overcome an early collapse and take Services to 226 for 5 at stumps against Haryana. Precariously placed at 43 for 4 following a fine opening spell from Joginder Sharma and Sachin Rana, Services were given a splendid recovery from Upadhaya and Sarabjit as the Haryana bowling lost much of its first-session bite. Upadhaya, whose previous best effort was 37, ground out 206 deliveries in compiling an invaluable 92, while Sarabjit was still at the crease having faced 219 balls. Rana, with 3 for 44 off 25 overs, was the most successful bowler for Haryana. ScorecardGyanendra Pandey and Suresh Raina contributed fighting innings to take Uttar Pradesh to 207 for 5 against Andhra at Anantapur. While Raina overcame two early jolts to add 78 with Mohammad Kaif, his captain, Pandey overcame the loss of both batsmen at the hands of D Kalyankrishna and I Raju in hitting an unbeaten half-century before stumps. With less than seven overs remaining in the day, Pandey departed from his calm manner to loft Raju over the ropes off successive deliveries and bring up his fifty in the process. He has so far added 89 runs with Amir Khan, UP’s wicketkeeper-batsman. ScorecardVineet Saxena’s dogged half-century took Railways to 191 for 5 at stumps on the first day of their Elite Group A match at Kolkata. Saxena faced 251 deliveries and hit seven boundaries in a 286-minute stay at the wicket before he became Ranadeb Bose’s only wicket of the day. Choosing to bat, Railways meandered along at just over 2 runs an over and will need to step it up as the game progresses. For Bengal, Shib Paul was the most successful bowler with 2 for 39 from 23 overs.
England Under-19 189 for 4 (Harmison 40*) trail India Under-19 472 for 4 dec (Pujara 211, Tewari 109) by 283 runs ScorecardAt the close of the second day’s play at Jamshedpur, England Under-19’s hopes of avoiding a 3-0 series whitewash against India were resting on the shoulders of Ben Harmison, the younger brother of the Test paceman, Steve. Harmison Jr was unbeaten at stumps on 40 not out, as England reached 189 for 4 in reply to India’s hefty first innings of 472 for 4 declared.It was another arduous day for England’s young cricketers, who watched and learned during the first session as Cheteshwar Pujara converted his overnight 162 into a brilliant double-century, and M Tewari recorded a century of his own in a 217-run stand for the third wicket. Both men eventually fell in quick succession to give England’s spirits a timely lift, and when the declaration eventually came, their own openers responded in kind.Michael O’Shea and Joe Denly added 81 for the first wicket, but the needless run out of the captain, Steven Davies, for 4 put England back under pressure at 99 for 2. Denly and Harmison then added 74 for the third wicket to carry England towards their initial goal of avoiding the follow-on, only for two late wickets to dent their prospects. But with Harmison unbeaten at the close, England still harbour hopes of a face-saving draw.
Frizzell County Championship Division One Table Lancashire 450 for 6 dec v Sussex 251 and 21 for 2 at Old Trafford Scorecard Sussex will have to endure a nervy final day at Old Trafford, after they were forced to follow-on by a tigerish Lancashire side whose hopes of snatching the title at the death have improved dramatically. Murray Goodwin gritted his teeth and survived a nasty blow from Peter Martin to make 118, but Gary Keedy and John Wood shared nine wickets between them as Sussex folded for 251. Only Mushtaq Ahmed, with a brisk 54, halted the slide. Sussex were then reduced to 21 for 2, and have managed a mere four bonus points in the match. That is enough to end Surrey’s hopes, but should Lancashire wrap up victory tomorrow, everything will hinge on the final round of matches – when Sussex are at home to Leicestershire and Lancashire face Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.Leicestershire 295 and 5 for 0 beat Kent 130 and 169 by ten wickets at Leicester Scorecard After a shambolic season, Leicestershire finally recorded their first championship victory in 15 attempts – and emphatically as well, as a disinterested Kent side crumbled to a ten-wicket defeat at Grace Road. Kent contrived to lose 19 wickets in the day, and it was a measure of their surrender that there were no outstanding performances from the Leicester bowlers. Charlie Dagnall grabbed three wickets in the first innings, and David Masters three in the second, and although the pitch was beginning to show unpredictable bounce, there were several carefree end-of-term shots on display. Leicestershire were denied an innings victory – just – but had no hassles in rattling off the five runs required in their second knock.Nottinghamshire 361 and 48 for 0 v Middlesex 326 at Lord’s Scorecard Owais Shah top-scored with 87 to all but ensure Middlesex top-flight cricket next season, as their match against Nottinghamshire dwindled towards a draw. Chris Cairns gave Notts the perfect start when he removed Andrew Strauss early in the day, and a below-par Stuart MacGill grabbed 4 for 98 in a curate’s egg of a performance. Ten of Middlesex’s batsmen reached double-figures, with David Nash slashing his way to an unbeaten 53. They were aided by an unfortunate injury to Charlie Shreck, who broke a finger in the outfield while diving in vain to cut off one of Shah’s classical off-drives.Essex 256 v Warwickshire 456 for 7 at Chelmsford (Day 2) Scorecard Mark Wagh led the way in a powerful Warwickshire performance, scoring a fine 118 to push Essex towards the brink of relegation. Essex had resumed on 249 for 9, and were soon cleaned up to leave John Stephenson unbeaten on 75, before Warwickshire demonstrated what should have been possible had Essex’s top-order applied themselves. Wagh and Nick Knight added 107 for the second wicket, and only James Middlebrook – with four top-order wickets in 42 disciplined overs – was able to make an impression. Dougie Brown, fresh from his century against Lancashire last week, compounded Essex’s problems with an unbeaten 67.Frizzell County Championship Division Two Table Somerset 409 and 214 v Derbyshire 400 at Taunton Scorecard Dominic Cork completed the superb match figures of 10 for 127, to give bottom-placed Derbyshire every chance of their third victory of the season, against Somerset at Taunton. Derbyshire had conceded a first innings deficit of nine runs after being bowled out for exactly 400, and Somerset built on that by pushing on to 124 for 1. But Mohammad Ali removed both of Somerset’s top scorers, Matthew Wood and Neil Burns, and with Nathan Dumelow wheeling through the middle-order, Cork swung out the tail – including the final two wickets from consecutive deliveries in the last over of the day. Derbyshire will need an eminently gettable 224 tomorrow.Northants 319 and 265 v Glamorgan 203 and 167 for 4 at Cardiff Scorecard Robert Croft denied Mike Hussey a record-equalling sixth consecutive century, but Northants nonetheless remained on course for victory thanks to a solid batting performance on a spinners’ wicket at Cardiff. Hussey made 50 before falling to Robert Croft, who finished with 5 for 54 and ten wickets in the match. But David Sales kept him at bay with a half-century, before Andre Nel topped up the total with a hard-hitting 42 from No. 10. Glamorgan were left needing 368 for victory, and Jason Brown and Graeme Swann continued the spin-domination with three wickets between them. Mark Wallace was run out for 38 as they closed on 167 for 4.Gloucestershire 374 and 288 for 7 dec v Durham 218 and 171 for 4 at Bristol Scorecard Jonty Rhodes produced the perfect send-off for his adoptive home crowd at Bristol, by scoring his second century of the match to put Gloucestershire in sight of a hugely important victory against Durham. Rhodes added 102 to his first-innings 103, to leave Durham needing an unlikely 445 for victory. He was aided and abetted by Ian Harvey, who clubbed five fours and two sixes in his 36-ball 41, and Jack Russell, who was left unbeaten on 34 at the declaration. Shoaib Akhtar was the pick of Durham’s bowling with 4 for 48. In reply, Durham reached 171 for 4, with much resting on Martin Love, who finished unbeaten on 49.Worcestershire 309 for 5 v Yorkshire at New Road (Day 1) Scorecard Ben Smith and Kadeer Ali dominated Yorkshire’s bowling with a third-wicket stand of 182, to put Worcestershire in control of the match – and the second division championship – at New Road. Kadeer, who was this week called into England’s academy squad, fell one short of a celebratory hundred, but Smith made no mistake with 110, his second century of the season. He eventually fell lbw to Steve Kirby, who picked up two wickets but was dispatched for 100 runs in his 23 overs.
West Indies were left fuming on Sunday night following the controversialdismissal of batting superstar Brian Lara which paved the way for Sri Lanka’s series winning victory in Kandy.Lara, who played expertly for his 45 and looked set to save the game forWest Indies, was wrongly adjudged to have been caught at short leg offleft-arm spinner Niroshan Bandaratillake two balls after tea.The ball had come off the full face of the bat into the hands of HashanTillakaratne, who completed a brilliant reflex catch. But televisionreplays clearly indicated that the ball had been hit straight into theground.Coach Roger Harper, speaking straight after his sides 131 defeat, said:”Naturally we are very, very disappointed. Not only in losing but also inthe manner in which we though the game was taken away from us.”He added: “The dismissal of Brian Lara was clearly the pivotal moment. Theoutcome could have been totally different.”I have no explanation for it,” he said. “All I can say is that all the SriLankans in the match contributed to it.”According present ICC regulations the match referee are unable to recallplayers when a clear mistake has been made.Likewise the on-field umpires are only allowed to call for the third umpireto verify whether the catch itself was taken cleanly, not whether it was abump ball.The dismissal opened up the tail Muttiah Muralitharan, who despite a valiant59 run stand for the seventh wicket between Marlon Samuels and MervynDillon, took four wickets in the final hour to win the game.Captain Carl Hooper, whose honeymoon period as captain is officially over,pointed the finger of blame at the batting but admitted that Muralitharanwas a tough adversary.”We didn’t bat properly,” he said. “It’s not new that we are prone tocollapses. It has been difficult here in Sri Lanka. Conditions have not beenexactly good for batting and we are up against a world-class bowler.”Muralitharan is the difference between the two sides and is undoubtedly thebest spinner in the world. He has been putting us under a lot of pressure.With have to come up with a solution in Colombo.”The defeat leaves West Indies two-nil down in the series, facing thehumiliation of a series whitewash.”We can’t be thinking about the whitewash,” warned Hooper. “The importantthing is that we play better in Colombo. There is no overnight fix. We haveto keep working hard and keep the faith. We can’t afford to give up or we’lljust keep going down further.”