What New Zealand can learn from Sri Lanka

After spending weeks in Sri Lanka, Andrew Alderson says New Zealand cricket can take inspiration from the way cricket has evolved in Sri Lanka if it has to improve its standing as an international team. The three key areas are robust leadership, a better schools system (to match Sri Lanka's) and scouting around the country for unorthodox cricketers. Read on in the New Zealand Herald.

Kandy's Old Trinitians' Sports Club is a picture of civility on any given afternoon. Dapper men sit in leather back chairs, reading the newspaper and sipping whisky as a breeze wafts in the open doors from the cricket field. From the vaulted ceiling, a coat of arms reads Respice Finem (the Latin translation: "Look towards the end") as it casts an eye over the scene. This is the motto of the members' alma mater, Trinity College. It also sums up a Sri Lankan cricketing mantra which treats schools as a treasured nursery; at least as much as clubs and provinces.