Taylor century sets up series win

England Lions 282 for 9 (Taylor 111, Stokes 73) beat Sri Lanka A 147 (Kerrigan 3-21, Rankin 2-19) by 135 runs

James Taylor's century and Ben Stokes's fifty set up a series-clinching 135-run victory for England Lions over Sri Lanka A at Northampton.

It was Taylor's second hundred in three games and helped the Lions bounce back emphatically from their 10-wicket drubbing the game before. Taylor and Stokes helped the Lions recover from 38 for 3 to post 282 before the bowlers finished the job in style, skittling Sri Lanka A for 147 with over 20 overs to spare.

It was a captain's innings in the old sense from Taylor, anchoring the recovery at one end while Stokes was more positive from the other. Tharanga Lakshitha had done the early damage taking each of the first three wickets before the fightback started.

The pair added 98 with Stokes reaching his fifty first - from 45 balls - hitting seven fours and three sixes in his 65-ball 73. He fell just past the half-way stage to legspinner Seekkuge Prasanna. Though he had time to score plenty more his contribution would not have gone unnoticed by the England selectors who will be considering their squad for the upcoming India series.

Taylor was more restrained, taking 91 balls to make his half-century but steadily increased his pace as the innings wore on. At one stage - when the Lions slipped to 178 for 6 - it looked as though he may run out of partners but James Harris offered him sound support with 29. It took Taylor just 37 deliveries to go from fifty to his century and by the time he was last man out in the final over, he had struck eight fours and a six in his 111.

283 looked a challenging target and it proved much too difficult for the visitors. The promising four-pronged seam attack, which included Ireland's Boyd Rankin for the first time, shared seven wickets, while Lancashire left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan took the other three. The chase was as good as done by the third over when Sri Lanka A were reduced to 7 for 3.

Captain Dimuth Karunaratne resisted grimly for 30 from 43 balls in a stand with Sachithra Chaturanga, who made 35. Aside from them, though, wickets kept tumbling. It needed a 38-run ninth-wicket stand to push Sri Lanka A towards 150 but Kerrigan and Woakes finished off the match to give the Lions the series.

'We're the favourites' - Shakib

Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh captain, thinks his team is slightly ahead of Zimbabwe as they prepare for their first Test match in more than 14 months. The 15-member squad leaves Dhaka on July 27 to play a one-off Test and five one-dayers in what will be Zimbabwe's return to the game's premier format after six years. While the hosts have played a number of games against the second-string sides of South Africa and Australia, Bangladesh have only gone through a long fitness camp and some two-day games against the Academy side before the tour. Still, Shakib believes that they go into the series as favourites.

"I think we are, but I won't say that we are too far ahead of them since we're playing in their weather and conditions and playing after a good gap. But still, I think we're the favourites," Shakib said during the pre-tour press conference in Mirpur on Monday. "I am not thinking about it as a problem and as Stuart [Law] said, everyone should be excited and I'm sure they're interested to do well in the Test.

"They [Zimbabwe] are getting good practice against South Africa A and Australia A. They will be prepared so we'll have to play our best cricket."

Stuart Law, who was appointed head coach of Bangladesh earlier this month, said that he has set small targets, starting from batting out a good number of overs in the first innings. "It's not a skill problem as I've seen. The players are highly skilled. It's the mental approach that has to change in Test cricket. They have to find a tempo that suits Test cricket with their batting. If we can find the right tempo, we can post scores that the bowlers can bowl at.

"I've set a challenge for us to bat 120 overs in the first innings. If we can do that, 350-plus should be an achievable target."

Bangladesh will go into the Test with just one bowler, Shakib, who has more than 50 Test wickets, and the absence of Mashrafe Mortaza and Shahadat Hossain could be the biggest worry for the team. "I think [Shahadat Hossain] Rajib is a huge loss," Shakib said. "He's been our best Test bowler for quite a while. But those who are in the team, they're bowling well. I think they've the ability to take wickets,"

Of those in the squad, Shakib singled out left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak, saying his record over the last 12 months would have given him the confidence to play Test cricket. "[Abdur Razzak] Raj bhai has been bowling well in the last year or so. I have bowled the most as I was the only chosen spinner in the team but I still think Raj bhai can do well if he's chosen. But the burden falls on the entire bowling unit. Everyone has to work hard as the spinners won't get a lot of help from those wickets,"

Shakib was involved in a controversy over team selection on his return from Worcestershire, but wants to make amends in Zimbabwe with a fresh outlook. "Opportunities come all the time. It depends on you when you want to change your attitude and the way you go about your work. I think it's a great opportunity to prove myself."