Pakistan were beaten in a Test series for the first time on Sri Lankan soil when Younis Khan’s men lost the first two matches before drawing the final game in Colombo last week.

But Younis is confident a change in personnel and infusion of new blood for the five One-day matches will revive the tourists and provide entertaining cricket for fans.

“There are many players in the team who did not play the Test series, and they are keen to prove that Pakistan are one of the best One-day teams in the world,” he said.

“The Tests are behind us, we look forward to doing well in the One-dayers,” said Younis, who led Pakistan to victory over Sri Lanka in the World Twenty20 final at Lord’s, England in June.

All-rounder Shahid Afridi, who was man of the match in both the semi-final and final of the World Twenty20, returns to bolster the tourists after opting out of the Test series.

Pakistan will also welcome back seamer Rana Naved, 31, and opening batsman Imran Nazir, 27, who will represent the country once again after breaking links with the unauthorised Indian Cricket League.

All eyes, however, will be on talented 19-year-old batsman Umar Akmal, the younger brother of wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal, who forced his way onto the side with impressive scores in domestic cricket.

Umar hit an unbeaten 101 in a warm-up match in Kurunegala on Monday when Pakistan failed to chase down Sri Lanka ‘A’s 348-6 by just 15 runs.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, will be boosted by the return of world bowling record holder Muttiah Muralitharan and fiery fast bowler Lasith Malinga after they both missed the Test series with knee injuries.

Muralitharan, who has taken more Test (770) and One-day (505) wickets than any other bowler, will lend experience to the hosts’ bowling attack in the absence of veteran seamer Chaminda Vaas.

Vaas retired from Test cricket after the Pakistan series, but was ignored for the One-dayers despite insisting he would play limited-overs cricket till the 2011 World Cup.

Middle-order batsman Thilan Samaraweera returns to the One-day arena after four years, but dashing Tillakaratne Dilshan will miss the series after sustaining finger and eye injuries during the third Test.

Upul Tharanga is expected to open the innings with veteran Sanath Jayasuriya.

The rivals will also play a Twenty20 international in Colombo on August 12 after the One-dayers end.

Teams and schedule for the five-match ODI series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka starting on Thursday:

Pakistan (from): Younis Khan (capt), Imran Nazir, Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul Haq, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamer, Rana Naved, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam, Rao Iftikhar.

Sri Lanka (from): Kumar Sangakkara (capt), Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Kapugedera, Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Thilina Kandamby, Malinga Bandara, Thilan Thushara, Isuru Udana.

Schedule:

July 30: First ODI, Dambulla

Aug 1: Second ODI, Dambulla

Aug 3: Third ODI, Dambulla

Aug 7: Fourth ODI, Premadasa stadium, Colombo (Day-night)

Aug 9: Fifth ODI, Premadasa stadium, Colombo (Day-night)

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Over the years England has had the edge over the Aussies at Edgbaston, but the last four matches have been shared. The Ashes 2005 match here was one of the most exciting ever, with England winning by just 2 runs in the tightest finish ever in 128 years of Ashes history.

The match schedule, featuring 12 teams, will be announced on July 30, Champions League Twenty20 chairman Lalit Modi said on Friday.

“We are glad to see the CLT20 taking shape and momentum as the year’s most eagerly-awaited club championship,” Modi said.

“Having had considerable experience from the Indian Premier League’s success in South Africa, we believe that the club concept will slowly but surely be accepted by cricket fans across the world. The Champions League Twenty20 is thus the ideal tournament to crown the best-of-the-best in club cricket from across the cricketing world.

“This time around we are fully equipped to conduct an extremely successful tournament in India and given the cooperation of our fellow-cricket boards from Australia and South Africa and ESPN STAR Sports, I am confident that the CLT20 will truly be a global event,” Modi said.

The teams that have qualified and are eligible to play in the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 include IPL 2009 champions Deccan Chargers and losing finalists Royal Challengers Bangalore. They will be joined by the top league-finishing team of Season 2009, Delhi Daredevils.

Other 2009 domestic finalists and winners include Victorian Bushrangers and New South Wales Blues from Australia, Cape Cobras and Diamond Eagles from South Africa, Otago Volts from New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago from West Indies and Wayamba from Sri Lanka.

England’s Twenty20 Cup finalists will be decided on August 25, 2009.

The teams will be divided into four groups of three each and will initially play each other on a league basis. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the second stage and four teams from the second stage would make it to the semi-finals.

“Would some of these guys have retired if there was no Twenty20? It is obvious if I’m being paid USD 1.5 million and I don’t have to put in too much work then, yes, I’ll go the other way,” Lloyd said at the ICC History Conference at Oxford on Thursday.

“It is a bit unfortunate Flintoff decided to leave Test cricket and he knows his body and know how bad his ankle is but he is a tremendous cricketer. But the point is he is not going to play for Lancashire – he will play for England in the ODIs and Twenty20. The point is it is destroying the fabric of the game,” questioned the former West Indies captain.

Worried that more players may tread the path of Flintoff, Lloyd said he would be happy if international cricketers retired late in their career.

“When a player retires in his prime and when you have poured all that money on him to get him where he is now and then he leaves that is a bother for me.

“Like Dwayne Bravo, if he decides to leave halfway (into his career) that is not a situation I would like. I would like a situation where people leave later on and there is a natural progression of young players. But I can tell you there are a few more people coming up shortly to announce retirements if this goes on,” he warned.

Citing the example of the current West Indies side which is good in Twenty20 but has been struggling in Tests, Lloyd said the huge amount of money being paid in lucrative T20 tournaments is affecting the traditional format of the game.

“We are suffering from that at the moment and I think other countries, too, might. Our countries are probably the second-best players in the world. We are paying guys an obscene amount of money — USD 60,000 for one Twenty20 game when he might not bat or bowl. It is destroying the other two components of the game.

“If Test cricket is the type of cricket we want people to recognise the game by then we have to put a little bit more money into it so players are better paid. We can’t just think it will chug along.”

Younus had announced his retirement as the T20 captain after leading the country to the World Cup title in June, but PCB said they will talk to the player to make him understand his importance at the helm of the team.

“PCB chairman Ejaz Butt has tasked the interim chief selector Wasim Bari and manager Yawar Saeed to speak to Younus and make him understand that it is important to have one captain for all forms of the game,” a source in the board said.

The senior batsman retired from the shortest version of the game as he felt that age is not in his favour.

T20 captaincy issue has assumed importance in Pakistan as they defend their World Cup title in just nine months time and before that are playing number of matches against New Zealand and Australia.

Flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi who is a prime candidate for the post, has also put his weight behind Younis continuing as captain in all forms of the game.

Younis should continue as he was doing a good job but if offered the chance to lead his country he would not decline the offer, Afridi said in an interview.

“It is a great honour to lead Pakistan in any form of the sport. So if an offer comes I will not decline it,” he said.

“But Younus deserves a lot of credit for guiding the team to the World Cup last month. He created the environment where the senior players took the responsibility at the right time and it worked well for us.

“Younus never considers from which province or city a player is coming. Quality performance is the top criterion for him to decide whether a cricketer deserves a place in the team or not,” Afridi said.

“There are two England-Pakistan Twenty20 games up for grabs and we will be having a chunky attempt at gaining one of those games to supplement our England-Australia one-day international,” said Glamorgan chairman Paul Russell.

Russell said Glamorgan will not bid for one of the Tests due to security concerns. “We don’t think we would stand a chance against grounds like Edgbaston and Headingley,” said Russell. “Those grounds are basically guaranteed sell-outs because of the ethnic populations present in Birmingham and Leeds.”

Sophia Gardens held its first Test in July, the opening match of the Ashes series, despite it only having a capacity of 15,600. Russell confirmed that Glamorgan would bid for a 2013 Ashes repeat in October.

Concerns have been raised over the classical five-day game as it struggles to counter the rapid rise in popularity of the Twenty20 format, especially with the launch of the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) last year.

Chappell, now a television commentator, blamed the packed international calendar for the situation, dubbing it a “jigsaw puzzle with many missing pieces”.

“Ever since T20 burst onto the international scene, there have been rumblings about the death of test cricket,” he wrote in a column in the Hindustan Times on Monday.

“The main barriers to improving the image of test cricket have been erected by the ICC (International Cricket Council) itself,” he said.”It has done the most to devalue test cricket.”

He attacked the scheduling of back-to-back tests, due to a busy calendar. “Those competing in all forms not only face an increased risk of injury but also have to prioritise their exertion levels.

“The latter could be a clue to the lack of genuine fast bowlers in the game.”

Last year, the ICC raised concerns over poor crowd figures during Australia’s test tour of India, while president David Morgan has said the body was considering four-day tests as part of innovations to keep the form of the game exciting to fans.

“Diminishing crowds at tests in all countries barring England and Australia is a worry,” Chappell said.

“Adding to those concerns, West Indies are in disarray and Pakistan is a no-go area.”

Afridi was instrumental in Pakistan’s World T20 victory in England as he was adjudged Man-of-the-Match in both the semi-final and final of the showpiece tournament last month.

“The MCC recently contacted me and requested to send the shirt to them which I will do shortly. But it is a big honour for me and my country to have the shirt displayed at such an historic museum,” Afridi said.

The Lord’s Museum displays kits of some of the greatest names in world cricket including legendary Australian Donald Bradman, Victor Trumper, Shane Warne, Jack Hobbs.

The museum, established in 1883, also houses the famed ‘Ashes’ urn that set off one of the most famous cricket battles between England and Australia.

In the past only few Pakistan cricketers have had the honour of putting of their playing kits on display at the museum which is visited every year by thousands of cricket fans.

Jahangir Khan, father of former Pakistan captain Majid, had killed a sparrow while bowling at the ground in 1936. That ball is still displayed at the museum.

Dev, India’s only World Cup winning captain and one of the game’s great all-rounders’, heads the Indian Cricket League (ICL), which is struggling to keep afloat after being deserted by players and officials alike.

Last month, dozens of players and support staff quit the ICL to accept an amnesty offer from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

But Dev said he had no plans to quit the doomed league.

“Look, on paper at least, the ICL still exists,” Dev was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.

“I’m not hurt that so many have gone back to the BCCI’s fold. It’s a question of their future and if somebody wants to play for the country, then who are we to stop him?

“But, yes, they had been intimidated.”

ICL players were banned from official cricket around the world at the behest of the powerful BCCI, which organises the Indian Premier League, its own Twenty20 competition.

“I know the list of those who’ve returned to the BCCI includes some very dear friends, but I don’t hold any grudges,” Dev said.

“I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong. Having done no wrong, I don’t see why I (too) should bow before the BCCI. I don’t wish to beg for forgiveness.”

Dev’s continued links with the unofficial league prompted the BCCI to keep him away from the unveiling of the 2011 World Cup logo in Mumbai on Tuesday.

However, two members of India’s 1983 World Cup winning squad – Dilip Vengsarkar and Balwinder Singh Sandhu — were present. Sandhu was among those granted an amnesty by the BCCI.

The USA Cricket Association on Thursday invited formal proposals from groups interested in helping to launch a professional league.

Commercial adviser Nigel Rushman said in a statement: “We are confident that, with the right partners, the USA can host a world class Premier League which will fill grounds and attract massive television and online audiences.”

Proposals to develop professional cricket in the United States must be received by Aug. 7.

USACA wants to identify potential partners, sponsors and broadcasters.