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Match facts

Pakistan may not have been beaten, but Mohammad Hafeez says they have been tested•AFP

September 14, Harare Sports Club
Start time 0930 (0730 GMT)

Big Picture

Zimbabwe will want to stop their series against Pakistan from spiralling into a failure and the final ODI is their last chance to do so before the Twenty20s start. So far, they have dramatically swung from a team that can compete fiercely, to one that can be comprehensively outplayed by the same opposition.Their problems are as much in the mind as they are to do with skill and, if Zimbabwe hope to punch above their weight, they will have to start by showing more self-confidence. It’s a problem that has plagued them in the past and although they gained belief from the Bangladesh series, that good work is now on the verge of being undone.On a good batting surface, they will have to apply themselves with less inhibition than they have done so far. Importantly, Zimbabwe will have to show more energy and purpose in the field to back up the performances of their bowlers. Harare does not offer much for either the seamers or the spinners but if they can maintain accuracy and discipline, they should be rewarded.For Pakistan, two of the three things they set out to achieve on this tour have been completed. They have created a chance to introduce a few more youngsters into the team and test different combinations, which was one of the major aims of their journey. Although they were pushed hard in the first match, they regrouped strongly to put on a sterling all-round performance in the second.Mohammad Hafeez has underlined his role as a premier allrounder but some of the other members of the squad will also want to use the opportunity to make an impression – particularly the youngsters and players making their comebacks. Sohail Tanvir has made a convincing comeback while Imran Farhat also put his hand up. It will be up to the other fringe members of the squad to capitalise on the chances they may get, especially against opponents struggling to stay above water.

Form guide (most recent first)

Zimbabwe LLLLW
Pakistan WWWWL

In the spotlight

The decision to move Brendan Taylor down the order has worked well but his replacement at the top, Chamu Chibhabha, has yet to put on a convincing performance. Chibhabha has not played for the national team since December last year and missed out on the World Cup squad. He has over 2500 runs in domestic cricket and has shown signs of real improvement recently. Like many of his fellow players, Chibhabha has shown immense commitment and spent large amounts of time during the Test match hitting balls in the nets with Grant Flower. Now, he has to apply his technique on the field.He is a livewire behind the stumps, but Adnan Akmal has not had the same feistiness with the bat. Kepler Wessels criticised his temperament in one-day cricket and his inability to accelerate the run-rate. Although he has only batted once in the series so far, Adnan will want to cement his place by putting on a convincing performance with the bat, as well as with the gloves. His List A statistics indicate that he is capable of scoring quickly, with a strike-rate of 82.70, but he will want to outdo his average at that level, which is just 21.31.

Team news

Zimbabwe’s idea of playing two frontline seamers and two spinners backfired on them on Sunday and they may choose to return to a three-pronged pace attack with Kyle Jarvis returning in place of Prosper Utseya. The No. 6 position is still a contentious one and Malcolm Waller had not been able to make it his own in two attempts. Craig Ervine, Forster Mutizwa and Regis Chakabva are all part of the squad and one of the three could be given the opportunity to make a case for themselves there.Zimbabwe: (probable) 1 Vusi Sibanda, 2 Chamu Chibhabha, 3 Hamilton Masakadza, 4 Brendan Taylor (capt), 5 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 6 Craig Ervine / Forster Mutizwa / Regis Chakabva, 7 Elton Chigumbura, 8 Ray Price, 9 Brian Vitori, 10 Kyle Jarvis, 11 Chris MpofuPakistan have given themselves an ideal opportunity to experiment, but will have to juggle cleverly to include their fringe players. Rameez Raja and Yasir Shah could be brought into the side although it will be harsh to drop Imran Farhat after his impressive showing in the second match. One of Junaid Khan, who injured his ankle during that match but returned to complete his spell, or Aizaz Cheema may have to make way for Sohail Khan, and Asad Shafiq could to slot in at No. 3 although Pakistan are unlikely to leave Younis Khan out.Pakistan: (probable) 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Imran Farhat / Rameez Raja, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Adnan Akmal (wk), 8 Sohail Tanvir, 9 Saeed Ajmal, 10 Junaid Khan / Sohail Khan, 11 Aizaz Cheema

Pitch and conditions

Despite Zimbabwe’s tentative approach to batting in the first innings on Sunday, the Harare pitch remains batsmen-friendly. Any advantage for the seamers will dissipate after the first hour of play and chances are the team that wins the toss will bowl first to exploit that. Another perfect summer’s day in Africa is expected to close off the ODI series.

Stats and trivia

• Mohammad Hafeez is enjoying his most successful year in ODI cricket. He has played 23 matches, and scored 865 runs at an average of 43.25. All three of his centuries were scored in 2011.
• Elton Chigumbura suffered his worst averages with the bat, 21.06, and the ball, 158.50, when he was captain last season. Since being relieved of the responsibility, he has scored 107 runs at an average of 21.40 and taken five wickets.

Quotes

“I do firmly believe that we have progressed and one of the reasons for that is a more consistent selection policy. We stick by our players and give them a chance to succeed.”

“It looked easy but we really worked hard for it. We did all the basics right.”

Scorecard
Darren Stevens took career-best match figures of 11 for 70 as a Kent side, inspired by a backs-to-the-wall, unbeaten century by their captain Rob Key, swept aside Surrey in three days to win their Division Two clash by 265 runs. Facing a mammoth target of 370 for victory, Surrey capitulated inside two hours for a paltry 104 – their worst championship total in a decade – to lose with almost four sessions of the game remaining.Surrey’s demise started as early as the third ball of their second innings when Stevens, Kent’s first-innings hero with career-best figures of 7 for 21 – trimmed the off stump of left-hander Steve Davies with a sublime away-swinger.In poor light Mark Ramprakash shuffled hesitantly forward to a full ball from Matt Coles that plucked out the off stump to spark a dramatic collapse that saw the visitors lose their last nine wickets for 78 runs.Zander de Bruyn became one of eight Surrey batsmen to record a duck in the match when he edged behind off Stevens, who then had Surrey top-scorer Rory Hamilton-Brown (40) caught at third slip at the third attempt by counterpart Rob Key. That gave Stevens his first ever 10-wicket match haul.Jason Roy miscued to mid-off against the same bowler leaving James Tredwell to run through the tail on a crumbling surface with a season’s best haul of 5 for 35.Earlier, Kent batted for the first 24 overs of day three in adding 63 to an already impressive 300-plus lead. Key carried his bat for the first time in four years to score a stoic, unbeaten 110 from 202 balls – his 20th century for Kent at the St Lawrence ground.Backed up by the tailenders and last man Simon Cook in particular, Key’s century included only five fours and came off 192 balls. The former England right-hander went 33 overs without posting a boundary yet his innings, coupled with the bowling of Stevens, ensured that Kent secured their fourth win of the campaign to bank 21 points to Surrey’s three.The only bright moment of a dire game for Surrey came when their doughty right-arm seam-bowler Tim Linley dismissed Kent tailender Adam Ball to secure his 50th championship scalp of the summer. Otherwise, these were three days Surrey will quickly want to forget.Key was the only player of the game to pass 50 as Kent took big strides in staving off the championship wooden spoon while also leaving Surrey’s promotion hopes in tatters.

Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has come out in support of the ICC’s decision to make the Decision Review System (DRS) mandatory in Tests and ODIs, saying the technology eases the pressure on umpires. Misbah said that he found the system to be helpful whenever Pakistan have used it, including during the World Cup.”From my personal experience, I have found the system very useful and basically it gives the batting and fielding side a second chance, if the umpires have a bad day or decision,” Misbah told . “If you look at it positively it reduces pressures on umpires in tight decisions.”The ICC chief executives’ committee unanimously agreed to make a modified version of the DRS mandatory in all Tests and one-day internationals at the ICC’s annual conference in Hong Kong last month. The mandatory terms and conditions for the DRS that have been recommended to the executive board for approval consist of infra-red cameras and audio-tracking devices. The ball-tracking technology has been removed from the ICC’s original compulsory list of DRS technologies.”I am all for any technology that makes the sport more error-free and gives more options to the competing teams and players,” Misbah said. “Obviously with every new technology there will be hiccups but once the technology gets better, it will be become more effective for teams.”The ICC made a number of other recommendations at their meeting and Misbah was in favour of the proposed changes to the one-day game, such as using two new balls, allowing two bouncers per over and limiting Powerplays between the 16th and 40th overs. “Cricket is a sport and also about entertainment for the people and viewers and anything that can make the game more exciting, I will always welcome it,” he said. “ODIs are a staple diet of cricket and there was a need to bring some innovative changes. As it is the ball had to be changed after 34 overs and it was time bowlers were given more space in limited-overs cricket.”He also said he didn’t think it would be long before Test matches are played under lights with coloured balls. “Day-and-night matches are crowd pullers and the future platform for Tests. To a professional cricketer, five-day Tests mean the real challenge in cricket so it is important that modifications are made for its betterment.”

“Digger” by nickname and by nature. Midway through the independent review that will determine his future, Australia’s chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch is hanging onto his job as stubbornly as he once did the batting crease.The Don Argus review is now deep into the process of interviewing some 60 persons of interest relating to Australian cricket, as Argus and panel members including Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Mark Taylor assess what must be rectified in order to avoid a repeat of last summer’s disastrous Ashes series.Hilditch has been interviewed, and said he was yet to worry about what conclusions might be drawn about his leadership of a selection panel that has stumbled and bumbled as much as the team itself over the past three years.”I’ll just keep doing it until someone wants me to stop,” Hilditch said of his future. “It’s one of the greatest periods in the sense that it’s just so demanding, but at the same time it’s exciting for the players because they have great challenges, and we have great challenges as a selection panel to get it right.”I’ve been very lucky; I didn’t have much of a contribution to Australian cricket as a player, but I’m really enjoying this role, doing the best I possibly can. If someone decides there’s a better way to go then I’ll be fully supportive of that as well.”Hilditch’s contract expired at the end of the World Cup, but he was granted a stay of execution by Argus’ desire to leave things as unchanged as possible while the review is in progress.”That’s a really exciting process; I’ve been part of it and I think it’ll come up with some strong recommendations for all parts of Australian cricket,” said Hilditch. “It may well lead to a review of the selection panel, but that’s not something I have to worry about; I’m just doing the best job I can.”James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive and an ex-officio, non-voting member of the review panel, said the integrity of the process was of great importance.”It is well and truly underway. I understand people will want to know how things are proceeding there and I’m certainly not going to give a ball-by-ball commentary,” he said. “But the integrity of the process in working through that review is very important to the panel chairman and the panel members, and one of the things as part of that process, is it’s very important for us to spend time with key stakeholders in an interview sense. It’s an in-depth process.”We’ll be interviewing in the vicinity of 60 people, but until we’ve gone through that interview process stage and distilled all the other submissions from other parties, we’re not going to be able to look at outcomes.”Such outcomes will include whether or not Hilditch can be permitted to continue chairing the selection panel in a part-time capacity. Having taken Australia through a period of transition that is almost a generation old but has shown little sign of blooming into sustained success, Hilditch said much depended on the next group of young players developing into “champions”.”We’re still playing pretty good one-day and Twenty20 cricket,” he said. “Test cricket is our big concern, and we’ve injected players into that, young batsmen, and two very exciting young quicks. We really need to find two or three champions in the next two years and in some of those young players we think we’ve got two or three champions.”

Leicestershire’s Friends Life t20 north group match against Warwickshire at Grace Road was abandoned without a ball being bowled. Umpires Nigel Llong and Steve Garratt made the inevitable decision at 3.15pm with heavy rain, that had started early in the morning, still falling.It was the second successive home game the Foxes have had abandoned. Their match against Nottinghamshire Outlaws on Friday had to be called off after the hosts had batted just 2.4 overs of their reply.Both sides took one point each.

ScorecardEoin Morgan returned to first-class action with a superb century but it might not be enough to earn him an England spot•Getty Images

Eoin Morgan is expected to pay the price for his IPL stint by missing out on a place in England’s squad for the first Test against Sri Lanka, but he took his chance against the tourists with a destructive 156 for the Lions at Derby. Morgan added 232 for the fifth wicket with Samit Patel, who made a fine return to England colours with a classy 101, as the Lions closed on an imposing 394 for 4.However, anything that happens in this match is unlikely to have a bearing on the England squad for Cardiff which will be named on Sunday. Geoff Miller, the national selector, and coach Andy Flower were both in attendance but this management group don’t make last-minute decisions.The momentum has grown behind Ravi Bopara in recent weeks as he has found form in the Championship so his scratchy 17, while a missed opportunity to impress, won’t have been a deciding factor in his immediate future.Yet, Morgan showed that he can transition from Twenty20 to first-class cricket with barely time to change his kit. He arrived back in England on Saturday, netted at Uxbridge on Sunday with Middlesex, then spent two days training with the Lions at Loughborough.He came in at 105 for 3 when James Hildreth, the captain, lost his off stump to the slingy Nuwan Pradeep, who has been compared to Lasith Malinga by the Sri Lanka coach Stuart Law. It had been hard work batting on a green pitch but Morgan cashed in as conditions eased against an older ball and tiring bowlers.There were the occasional alarms in what was Morgan’s first first-class innings of the year and second in nine months. He began with an edge through the slips first ball and top-edged a six over the wicketkeeper against Dilhara Fernando after nearly being foxed by a slower delivery.However, plenty of boundaries came out of the middle including a straight-driven six off Tharanga Paranavitna’s gentle offspin and he motored towards the 80s by attacking the expensive Suraj Randiv. There was no hanging around in the 90s, either, as a back cut off Thisara Perera was followed by a pull to reach a hundred from 128 balls. Whatever the opinions on the decisions he has made he has again shown that temperament is not a problem.Patel helped Morgan consolidate the innings, playing some handsome strokes to reach his ton from 131 balls. He has managed to hit the basic fitness targets laid down by the ECB and again showed them his raw talent. The bowling became increasingly ragged but Patel’s batting had a touch of class about it, particularly the off-side driving.He was offered two lives, both off Tillakaratne Dilshan, who spent part of the afternoon off the field after stepping on the ball, one of them by the normally safe Mahela Jayawardene who spilled two for the day. Jayawardene was one of five Sri Lankans recently arrived from the IPL. The chances, though, should take nothing away from Patel and time will tell whether he has turned a corner.Having watched the runs flow, Bopara will know he missed out. He had to bat when conditions were at their toughest after Sri Lanka won the toss and he never settled. Jayawardene dropped him at second slip on 4 then the visitors were convinced he’d edged behind on 8. They didn’t have to wait long, though, as Bopara flashed a cut at Fernando and edged to the wicketkeeper. Unlike Morgan, the major question marks over Bopara are regarding temperament.The man to do the hard work in setting up the innings was James Taylor, batting out of position at the top of the order because Jimmy Adams was the one specialist opener in the side. He was struck a painful blow on the inner thigh against the new ball but battled hard during the morning session and began to reap the rewards after the break as he collected two straight sixes off Randiv.Batting in Division Two of the Championship doesn’t always do a player many favours as there are some soft runs around, but this effort followed a gusty half-century at The Oval two weeks ago against a strong Surrey attack. He was reluctant to leave when given caught behind off Fernando but had set a strong foundation for his team-mates.Sri Lanka’s bowlers started well but couldn’t sustain pressure throughout the day. Pradeep was lively, Perara reasonably tight and Fernando occasionally threatening but they desperately need their spinner to offer control which Randiv couldn’t do. More long days in the field beckon when the Test series starts.

Scorecard
Derbyshire completed an emphatic first victory of the County Championship Division Two season before tea on the third day when they saw off Leicestershire by an innings and 32 runs.They bowled Leicestershire out for 177 to wrap up their first victory by an innings-plus since 2008, as Tim Groenewald took three more wickets at Derby’s County Ground to add to his five in the first innings and score of 60 not out.With a first-innings lead of 209, Derbyshire made just the start they wanted to leave their east Midlands rivals struggling at 19 for 3 in the first eight overs of the morning.An exceptional one-handed catch to his right in the gully from Garry Park set them on their way, as Greg Smith fell to Groenewald for one at five for one. That was from the seventh ball of the day and, in the following over, Jacques du Toit edged to Jon Clare at third slip off Tony Palladino to make it 12 for 2.Much then rested on the veteran Paul Nixon and outstanding young batsman James Taylor to steady the Leicestershire innings. However, just as they were beginning to settle, Nixon set off for a quick single and as he tried to recover his ground he was run out at the non-striker’s end for 10 by Derbyshire’s Greg Smith from short extra cover.Derbyshire were flying then and survival mode was not enough to save Leicestershire from losing two more wickets before lunch. A rising ball from Clare was edged through to wicketkeeper Luke Sutton by Tom New on nine, to make it 40 for 4.Then Jigar Naik, who survived a sharp chance to third slip on one, clipped a catch to Dan Redfern at square leg off Mark Turner to fall for 22 at 74 for 5.Will Jefferson, who opened the batting in the first innings, could not come in until number seven because he spent the previous day off the field with a thigh injury. However, batting with a runner, he managed to hold up the Derbyshire charge.He and Taylor, the little and large of the county game, took the score to 98 before Taylor was undone by a rising ball from Palladino and looped a catch to Wes Durston at first slip, having made 24. But Jefferson held out and put on 62 for the seventh wicket with Claude Henderson, the man who frustrated Derbyshire in the first innings in a last-wicket stand of 96.The towering Jefferson rode his luck at times, edging over and wide of the slips, in reaching 41 but when he was finally bowled by Clare with the score 160 for seven, the end came swiftly for Leicestershire.Henderson moved on to an unbeaten 40 but the final three wickets fell in successive overs, with Groenewald taking two of them, to leave him with figures of three for 38 for the innings and eight for 97 for the match.He had Nathan Buck caught behind for eight and, after Turner blasted through Nadeem Malik’s defences before he could get off the mark, Groenewald wrapped up the victory by bowling Matthew Hoggard for a duck.

KS Indrajitsinhji, the former India wicketkeeper who also played for Delhi and Saurashtra, has died at the age of 73. He was a nephew of Duleepsinhji’s and a grand-nephew of Ranji’s, and a cousin of the late Hanumant Singh, the former India batsman and ICC match referee. His death, in Mumbai on Saturday, followed a struggle with cancer.A competent wicketkeeper and a sound right-hand batsman, who could open or go in the middle order, Indrajitsinhji’s career coincided with those of Farokh Engineer and Budhi Kunderan, and his appearances for India were limited to when either of those was missing.His break came against Australia in 1964-65, when he played in all three Tests and helped Chandu Borde put on 32 runs for the unbroken ninth-wicket partnership to help India clinch a memorable two-wicket victory in Bombay. An injury to Engineer brought him back for one more Test – against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1969-70.He achieved greater success in the Ranji Trophy while playing for both Delhi and Saurashtra. He was one of the first wicketkeepers to complete 100 dismissals in the tournament and in 1960-61 claimed 23 victims, then the record. In a first-class career that stretched almost 20 years, Indrajitsinhji scored 3694 runs (26.76) with five centuries and had 210 dismissals, 133 of them caught.Paying tribute to him in , Yajurvindra Singh said “Inder” helped in the emergence of several Saurashtra players playing in Mumbai, including Karsan Ghavri. “Inder had an astute cricketing mind and knew the history of the game rather well,” he said.

Rob Nicol and Dean Brownlie were the architects of Canterbury‘s 41-run win against Auckland in Christchurch, that propelled them into the finals of the NZC domestic one-day competition.Auckland chose to field, but were held at bay by a 39-run opening stand between Michael Papps and Nicol that yielded 39. Papps’ exit was followed by the cheap dismissal of captain Peter Fulton, but Nicol and Brownlie steadied things with a fluent partnership. Nicol struck 12 fours and a six in his 87 that came off 119 balls. Brownlie scored fewer boundaries – five fours and a six – but finished with a better strike-rate as he made 72 off 88 balls. The pair raised 136 runs in 26.2 overs to set Canterbury up for a late blitz. Andrew Ellis obliged with 31 off 22 balls, while Carl Frauenstein hit three fours in his seven-ball innings to push the score to 268. Chris Martin and Andre Adams combined for 5 for 88 off 20 overs, but the remaining bowlers struggled to hold their own.Auckland lost Tim McIntosh early, but Lou Vincent and Jeet Raval charged after the target with frenetic half-centuries. Andrew Ellis’ dismissal of Vincent, for 62 off 55 balls, began Auckland’s slide. From 119 for 1 in 17.2 overs, they lost their way in the face of some incisive bowling. Mitchell Claydon finished with 4 for 44, while Ellis had figures of 3 for 38. Nicol chipped in with 2 for 44 off ten overs, as Auckland’s lower order crumbled. They were bowled out for 227 in the 44th over. Despite the defeat, Auckland will get a chance to make the final when they take on Otago on February 9.Otago booked their place for that fixture with a nine-run win in a rain-reduced game against Northern Districts in Queenstown. Northern batted first and through two rain breaks to reach 271 for 8 in their 50 overs. BJ Watling was the top-scorer, with a cautious 55 off 88 balls. The rest of the top order struggled and, when Watling exited at 125 for 5 in the 31st over, the innings was losing momentum. Joseph Yovich and Peter McGlashan combined to revive the innings with a 71-run partnership, before Anton Devcich lashed 42 off 21 to set Otago a tricky chase.Otago’s reply was stalled by early wickets, as Trent Boult and Graeme Aldridge removed the openers. The middle order did not fare much better and, at 80 for 5 in the 19th over, their challenge seemed set to fade. Darren Broom and Derek de Boorder, though, had other plans.Making light of the pressure of the situation, and the frequent rain interruptions, the pair whittled away at the target with assurance. Broom struck nine fours in 85 balls as he reached 85, while de Boorder struck eight boundaries in his 74. The pair had added 165 in 27.4 overs when rain intervened for the final time. No more play was possible, and Otago were adjudged winners since they were nine runs ahead of the par score when the game was called off.

ScorecardAdam Voges hit a measured 108 to propel Western Australia to a 147-run first innings lead against Queensland at the WACA. The hosts’ bowlers then knocked over three top-order batsmen to leave Queensland stuttering at 3 for 58 at stumps.Voges began the day on 38 not out, with overnight centurion Marcus Harris for company. Queensland caused a stir when fast bowler Alister McDermott got Harris to edge to the wicketkeeper on 157 – this is Harris’ maiden first class ton – and then dismissed Tom Beaton first ball to be on a hat-trick. But Voges found a reliable partner in wicketkeeper Michael Johnson, as the pair put on a century partnership for the sixth wicket.After Johnson was bowled by offspinner Jason Floros for 46, the tail imploded, Western Australia losing their last five wickets for 16 runs. James Hopes was the pick of the Queensland bowlers, picking up four wickets at a miserly 1.62 runs per over.Queensland’s innings did not begin well, Ryan Duffield bowling Wade Townsend for a duck. Ryan Broad and Andrew Robinson steadied the visitors briefly, but two wickets late in the day from Michael Beer and Nathan Coulter-Nile put Western Australia in firm control.