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Match facts

Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Start time 1230 local (1030 GMT)1:26

‘Baby’ Rabada may sit in Durban

Big Picture

Now for the excitement. A series absent of context and eclipsed by bigger contests around the cricketing world could finally come to the fore. The Ashes is over, the Test match in Colombo is over; Michael Clarke, Chris Rogers and Kumar Sangakkara’s farewells are over so there is no excuse not to be interested and the last match is a decider, with the teams locked at 1-1. South Africa will move to the third place in the ODI rankings if they win, overtaking New Zealand itself.So far, the cricket has been creative at times as was evident when both teams opened the bowling with spinners, which is rarely done in South African conditions and comical at other times, with dropped catches making as many highlights as runs and wickets but it has not been as competitive as some may have liked. South Africa’s 20-run victory in the first match was more about routine than ruthlessness and New Zealand’s eight-wicket canter in the second was won by the halfway stage. With a trophy on the line both teams should have more fire and fury in the belly.They would also have had the time to assess whether they have gleaned anything from their experimentation and probably found an equal number of solutions as problems. South Africa still have the No. 7 problem after David Wiese struggled but at least they know Morne van Wyk’s days are over. New Zealand have seen Tom Latham and George Worker come good but may be concerned about whether Colin Munro has a long-term future. Those are issues to mull over later – on Wednesday, it’s about claiming a series.

Form guide

(last five completed games most recent first)South Africa LWLLW
New Zealand WLWWL

In the spotlight

Rilee Rossouw has looked the most in-form batsman among his team-mates, although he does not have the numbers to show for it, and could use a big score to cement his position in the team in the near future. When Faf du Plessis and JP Duminy return, South Africa’s line-up will be crowded and Rossouw could be relegated to the reserves. A reminder of what he has to offer would be timely.With scores of 7, 29, 5, 6 and 1, it’s fair to say Luke Ronchi has not made a major contribution on this tour so far. He does not always get the opportunity to do so with New Zealand’s top order regularly leaving him with little time in the middle. However, like any good wicketkeeper, he is hardly noticed behind the stumps which means he is doing a fairly good job, but he will hope for the chance to bat a little longer or at least pull off a stunner behind the stumps.

Team news

Kyle Abbott is the only member of the ODI squad who has not played yet and South Africa may choose to give him a run on his home ground. With Vernon Philander bowling well, it may be a choice between Abbott and Kagiso Rabada with Aaron Phangiso likely to sit out in favour of Imran Tahir. Although Morne van Wyk has misfired, South Africa do not have another reserve batsman unless they choose to play Dean Elgar, who was included as cover after du Plessis was injured.South Africa (probable): 1 Morne van Wyk (wk), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Rilee Rossouw, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 David Miller, 6 Farhaan Behardien, 7 David Wiese, 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Kagiso Rabada/Kyle Abbott, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Imran TahirA trio of tweaks to their starting XI saw New Zealand win the second game and they may be tempted to keep their victorious team but conditions could dictate otherwise. Two specialist spinners could be a luxury in Durban so Ish Sodhi or Nathan McCullum may have to make room for either Mitchell McClenaghan to come back in or Matt Henry to get his first opportunity. George Worker is likely to keep his spot because James Neesham, who missed out the second ODI with back pain, is unlikely to recover in time for the decider.New Zealand (probable): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Tom Latham, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 George Worker, 5 Grant Elliott, 6 Colin Munro, 7 Luke Ronchi (wk), 8 Nathan McCullum/Ish Sodhi, 9 Doug Bracewell, 10 Ben Wheeler/Mitchell McClenaghan, 11 Adam Milne

Pitch and conditions

There won’t be any more complaints or need for paint on the outfield as the dead, dry grass of the Highveld is being left behind for the lush green ground of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Kingsmead’s pitch was also the one that received the most praise by the teams after it hosted the first T20. It won’t be as slow or sticky as the surfaces up country and should have some spice in it for the quicks, but decent scores for the batsmen too. Another warm day is forecast for Durban with day-time highs of 27 degrees.

Stats and trivia

• New Zealand have come back from a game down to win the next two matches in their last two series. In England, they then lost the last two to concede the series 3-2 but in Zimbabwe they won the three-match series 2-1.
• South Africa have not lost two bilateral ODI series in succession since 2009-10 when they suffered back-to-back defeats against England and India.

Quotes

“It’s a huge game. Decider. Winner take all — it’s a final, in essence.”
.”We’ve done it before, before a few big World Cup games in Australia. We’ve got a few niggles and I don’t think one practice session is going to make too much of a difference. We just feel it might be a good day to connect as a team and doing something other than cricket.”

Kapil Dev has filed a petition against the Indian board for stopping his pension after he joined the Indian Cricket League (ICL), an initiative not backed by the BCCI.Kapil levelled the charge that the board had “deliberately amended the rules” following his move to the ICL by altering the word ‘pension’ with ‘Benevolent Fund’.Kapil’s affidavit, which was filed in the Delhi High Court, read: “The only way of earning a livelihood for us retired cricketers is through the game and the board cannot, by illegally changing its rules and regulations, deprive us of the benefits.”He also contested BCCI’s decision to sack him as the chairman of the National Cricket Academy, a post he held till joining the ICL as the chairman of its executive board.The BCCI members met for a special general meeting last August where the decision to remove Kapil from the chairman’s post at the NCA was made along with decision to deny players the right to derive any benefit from the BCCI if they were associated with the ICL. This meant former players, Kiran More, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Sandeep Patil, EAS Prasanna, Madan Lal, Rajesh Chauhan, who joined the ICL in various roles, also had their pensions revoked by the board.

Australia have beaten England again, this time by getting Sir Steve Redgrave, the five-time Olympic rowing gold medallist, to speak to the team first. Redgrave, the Englishman, was staying in the same hotel as the Australians in Barbados and the team management, which is always keen for outside ideas, asked if he would talk to the side as it chases a third World Cup title in a row.”He spoke about the expectation of being a favourite, continually raising the bar, having the attitude of being a winner and preparing to win consistently,” an Australian team spokesman told AAP. “He said everyone would be looking at Australia because they had an aura about them.”Redgrave spent almost an hour with the group on a night when the Courier-Mail reported England had wanted him to speak to them. He is also expected to address Michael Vaughan’s squad, which beat Bangladesh on Wednesday to stay in the race for the semi-finals.”There are obviously a lot of parallels with the Australian team and Redgrave, who was basically never beaten in important competitions,” the spokesman said. “He also talked about dealing with adversity and national expectation.”Australia have won their opening six World Cup games and have not lost a match in the tournament since 1999, when Steve Waugh reversed a form slump to lead the team to victory at Lord’s. Ricky Ponting’s next match is against Ireland in Barbados on Friday.

Bangladesh’s one-day series at home to Kenya has been confirmed after weeks of delays caused primarily by Zimbabwe’s reluctance to confirm whether they would participate in a tri-series.Kenya will now play four ODIs on the 13-day tour which starts on March 13. They will meet Bangladesh at Bogra (March 17) and Khulna (March 20) before heading to Dhaka for two more games on March 23 and 25. The exact venue in Dhaka has yet to be confirmed.Kenya will leave on March 26, three days before they take on the Netherlands in the ICC Intercontinental Cup in Nairobi. The tour means that the ODI which had been discussed against the Netherlands to be played on March 26 will not now happen.The news is a great boost to Kenya, as these four games will mean that they have enough matches under their belt to qualify for a place in the ODI rankings. If they beat Zimbabwe, this might enable them to take the fourth and final qualifying spot for the ICC Champions Trophy.The Bangladesh Cricket Board is reportedly far from happy with the lack of communication from its Zimbabwe counterparts. Sources close to the board have been telling Cricinfo that Zimbabwe were not expected to travel for two or three weeks.Lovemore Banda, the ZC media and communications manager, told Cricinfo on February 17 that talks were still being held with the BCB, even though the ICC was informed three days earlier that Zimbabwe Cricket had pulled out of the series.

Dolphins 215 for 3 (Amla 67*, Mall 66) trail Eagles 334 (Bosman 74, Deacon 56, Klusener 3-101, Symcox 3-58) by 119 runs
ScorecardOn an attritional second day at Goodyear Park in Bloemfontein, the Dolphins made heavy weather of their reply to the Eagles’ first-innings 334, reaching 215 for 3 at the close. Having taken 45 balls to take the final two wickets of the Eagles innings, the Dolphins struggled to make inroads, but at least with wickets in hand are still well placed.Imraan Khan did not look comfortable in scoring 10 before he played on to give Cliff Deacon the opening wicket. Doug Watson (30) then became the tenth South African player to be adjudged handled the ball as he gloved the ball away from the wickets after it looped up off the pad.A patient 92-run partnership followed as Ashraf Mall and Hashim Amla cautiously occupied the crease for 37 overs before Dillon du Preez had Mall caught for 66. Amla’s return to form could not have come at a better time for the Dolphins as he nursed his way to a half-century, while Dale Benkenstein looked set for a long innings.At the close of play on the second day they had put on 55 for the fourth wicket with Amla on 67 and Benkenstein 27.

In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, the hero of the story never ages, but a portrait of him does. All his flaws and imperfections are highlighted in the picture, while in his person he remains fresh and youthful.A tour to Australia, in modern times, is a cricketing version of this portrait. However fine a team may appear playing other sides in other places, once it lands in Australia, all its illusions of wellbeing are shattered. Every weakness is brutally exposed, every defect mercilessly exploited, by the best team of our times in conditions that suit their cricket. Gazing into that mirror can chill the soul.The last time India went to Australia, in 1999-2000, they came back a broken side, demoralised and lacking self-belief. Sachin Tendulkar’s captaincy was dealt a hard blow – he lost it a series later – and several promising careers were derailed – remember Vijay Bharadwaj, Devang Gandhi, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and MSK Prasad? India’s current tour will be no less difficult. Inexperienced bowlers, an uncertain opening combination, a question-mark over the wicketkeepers … all the ingredients of disaster are present.The inability of India’s bowlers to take 20 wickets has often been cited as the reason for their failure to win matches overseas. Ravi Shastri and Javagal Srinath recently recommended that India play five specialist bowlers to compensate for this weakness – but what of the batting then? India’s batsmen averaged 207 per innings in that 1999-2000 series, with a full complement of six specialist batsmen. A similar performance will almost certainly lead to hefty defeats, and playing one batsman fewer would hardly help.Playing only five specialist batsmen will also necessitate makeshift openers. Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly are all certainties in the final XI – Ganguly because he is captain – and playing five specialists means either that one of them must open, or the wicketkeeper will bat at the top of the order. India cannot afford to start on the wrong foot like that.As always, a lot will ride on Tendulkar. But while he’s done well in both his tours of Australia, that is more in comparison with his team-mates than with the standards he has set for himself. Tendulkar averages 46 in Australia, ten runs below his career average. He will need to lift himself if India are to make a fist of it – and he will need support.Laxman is the batsman best equipped to give him that support. The conditions in Australia suit Laxman – he enjoys playing on the back foot, hits the horizontal-bat shots well, and plays besides the ball with impeccable hand-eye coordination. He was in fine form in the home series against New Zealand – he was Man of the Series – and playing Australia seems to bring out the best in him. He also has a penchant for the long innings, with two first-class triple-centuries and India’s highest Test score to his name. He could be the star of this tour.

But should he bat at No. 3? While Laxman is well suited to that role, the man who currently occupies it, Dravid, is India’s best ever in that position. Dravid averages 54.4 in Test cricket, and 57.3 overseas, which is a remarkable figure. (His average at No. 3 is 57.2, which is equally stunning.) The only hole in his CV is his performance in Australia. He’s toured here once, and failed miserably. If he can continue his inspired form of the last two years in Australia, he will take his place among the alltime greats. But is his game suited to doing that?Sanjay Manjrekar recently said that you cannot play the waiting game in Australia – you might play out some time, but they’ll get you sooner or later, and your vigil will be pointless if you don’t have many runs on the board. A score of 25 in two hours achieves nothing – especially given the pace at which Australia play their cricket. Manjrekar and Dravid, in their tours of Australia, both made this mistake. But Dravid himself indicated recently that he intended to play freely during this series. He certainly has the shots – he epitomises the classical strokeplayer – and if he has the self-belief, he could do wonders for India.It would be unwise to expect anything of India’s bowlers, though – the fast bowlers are inexperienced, and these spinners have rarely done well abroad. Bruce Reid, the new bowling coach, may help them sharpen their bowling techniques, but playing in Australia requires mental strength, a quality that can only come from within. India’s young fast bowlers could come of age during this tour – or they could be scarred irreparably.And what of Australia? We take the result so much for granted that there seems no need to mention them, but this series is a great opportunity for them to blood their second string. Simon Katich, Nathan Bracken and Brad Williams are pushing for permanent places in the side, and it is stunning that players like Michael Clarke and Martin Love can’t find a place in it. Playing an Indian team softened by early defeat at Brisbane – as seems inevitable – will be the perfect platform to greater things. Steve Waugh’s retirement at the end of this series might symbolise, to the sentimental, the end of an era – but by no means will that bring an end to Australia’s dominance in world cricket.Amit Varma is managing editor of Wisden Cricinfo in India.

The first game in Christchurch did not begin well for us when we assembled as we learnt that our pace ace Shane Bond had suffered what looked like a stress fracture of the foot.He was going for some x-rays in the afternoon and it would realise the break which is what Dayle Shackel our physio suspected earlier on.Practice on the Monday with the game on Wednesday started with an informal discussion between Flem [Stephen Fleming], myself, Brian McKechnie and Sir Richard Hadlee about a replacement for Bondy.The final decision is always with the selectors but they wanted our thoughts on a possible replacement.Even though Flem and I had never even laid eyes on Ian Butler, let alone seen him bowl, we both thought he was the person to take over from the fastest bowler we had.We both thought it was a case of replacing apples with apples and bringing in the country’s second fastest bowler for the fastest.Practice next morning was the first time most of the CLEAR Black Caps had met Ian, so it would have been pretty daunting for him also I suspect!He was to open up with Daryl Tuffey and taking the first over his debut couldn’t have started better with a key wicket of Marcus Trescothick.Although his figures didn’t flatter him, he bowled with good pace but it is too early to say anything about how he will go in the future although he seems to have a good attitude and loves his cricket.Half-way through the English innings we were looking at chasing 300! Macca [Craig McMillan] started the English collapse with a brilliant run out then some brilliant fielding along with some great bowling from Dan Vettori ment we were only chasing 190.An opening stand of substance which we were lacking in Aussie gave us the best possible start and other than a bit of a hiccup in the middle-order we cruised home courtesy of Nathan Astle and our other find so far this seaon Andre Adams.One-nil and on to Wellington where when we turned up on the morning of the match the pitch resembled something of a farmer’s backyard!Having played in England for a few years I know how the English cricketers mind works and when things sometimes don’t look right they can talk themselves into believing things are worse than what they really are.I got the impression that England were not keen to play because of the wicket and how badly it might play. This attitude affected them all day and in all facets of the match we outplayed them.Everybody in the Black Caps chipped in and buoyed on by the most supportive crowd I have played in front of in New Zealand a most comprehensive win has now seen us needing only one more victory to take the series.England may well bounce back but within our side there is a good feeling and it is great to see young and new guys coming in and performing.Last word goes to Andre Adams who has been in terrific touch and will only get better. His ability with both bat and ball has given the team a real boost and he is growing more confident each match, long may it continue as his exciting play is there for all to see.

Victorian batsmen Brad Hodge (103*) and Jason Arnberger (100) have crafted a superb 190-run partnership to lead their team into a strong position by the end of day one of the Pura Cup clash against Queensland here at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The pair’s twin centuries powered the Bushrangers to a total of 3/237 on a day when the Bulls were noticeably hampered by the absence of several of their leading bowlers.Continuing a phenomenal start to the season, it was Hodge who played the defining innings of the day. All-rounder Leigh Carseldine (0/37) beat him once in late afternoon as he pulled over the top of a short ball lazily, but it was one of the few deliveries that discomforted him. Many innings have passed since he burst on to the Australian first-class scene as an eighteen year old with 991 runs at an average in excess of fifty in 1993-94. But rarely, if ever, has he looked as commanding as he has in recent weeks. Again today, he was solid in defence and severe in his punishment whenever the bowlers erred in length. His driving was faultless.All the while, he swelled his first-class aggregate for the season to 597 runs. It is a measure of his current productivity that, in just his fifth match, he has already easily surpassed the tally of 423 runs he accumulated in the space of eleven matches last summer. He is also now within a whisker of emulating Darren Lehmann’s effort – recorded at an equivalent stage last summer – of reaching three figures five times in successive first-class matches.”This is probably the best I’ve ever put together,” said Hodge of his incredible run.”I guess the only equivalent would be my first year. Obviously that was a good year. But now I know my game a little bit more, know my limitations and know my strengths, and I’ve toned my game to suit that.””I thought my defence was lacking a little bit; for years, I’ve always had a number of good shots but I thought I lacked the ability to defend and stay out for there for long periods of time,” he explained of the contrast between the start to this year and seasons past.As impressive today as his sheer strokeplay alone – which was attractive enough in itself – was his ability to steady a dawdling Victorian ship through a slow early passage and then to effortlessly accelerate the pace of the innings. Although the sluggish pace of the outfield made the score appear more inadequate than it might otherwise have been, the Bushrangers had managed to accumulate a mere fifty-two runs during the pre-lunch session in a risk-averse performance that threatened to undermine skipper Paul Reiffel’s success at the toss. Utilising strokeplay which points to a new level of confidence and self-belief, Hodge encountered few difficulties in sparking the turnaround.It needs to be said that the meaty Arnberger lost little by comparison, though. After a patient start around the dismissals of Shawn Craig (8) and Matthew Mott (7), he followed Hodge’s lead to produce some sparkling strokeplay throughout the afternoon. Forceful driving through the arc between mid off and mid on punctuated his fourth first-class century, but there were very few parts of the ground to which he failed to play shots. His departure fifteen minutes before stumps – as he unleashed a loose cover drive at Adam Dale (2/30) – wasn’t quite the finish that his hand demanded.For the Queenslanders, it was a most unsatisfying day. Deprived of the services of Andy Bichel, Michael Kasprowicz, Scott Muller and Ashley Noffke to a mixture of international commitments and injury problems, they struggled to confer to their attack a penetrative edge. Typically, Dale bowled accurately and was a model of containment. On their first-class debuts, medium pacer Carseldine and off spinner Scott O’Leary (1/39) weren’t the worst either. But there was little to encourage them in the straw-coloured pitch nor many obvious ways past the bats of Arnberger and Hodge. And where the thunderstorm-laden activity of late yesterday and early this morning might normally have been expected to encourage significant swing and seam movement, there was only spasmodic evidence of it to be found today.

Scorecard