ESPNcricinfo previews the third Test between West Indies and Australia in Dominica

The Preview by Brydon Coverdale22-Apr-2012

Match facts

April 23-27, Windsor Park
Start time 1000 (1400 GMT)

Big Picture

Darren Sammy’s contributed this whole tour, but can he deliver a match-winning performance in Dominica?•AFP

Australia have retained the Frank Worrell Trophy but a drizzly draw is far from enough to satisfy Michael Clarke. He wants his first West Indies tour as captain to end in victory, and the Australians have that chance over the next five days in Dominica. The second-least populous nation that makes up the West Indies cricket team (after St Kitts and Nevis), Dominica is an unfamiliar venue for the Australia players, none of whom have played at Windsor Park before.Not that it’s that familiar to some of the West Indians either: the veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul has played only one first-class game there. West Indies do have a Dominican player in their side, the spinner Shane Shillingford, and he should play a key role having been preferred to Devendra Bishoo, who has been released from the squad.West Indies might have lost the chance to regain the trophy but they can take encouragement from the Test in Trinidad, where they looked like making a real go of their chase of 215 on the final day until the weather intervened. They also dominated the first three days of the series in Barbados, so while Australia will enter the match as favourites, a 1-1 series draw is far from out of the question.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
West Indies DLDLL
Australia DWWWW

In the spotlight

Darren Sammy has made contributions throughout the Test series – in fact, throughout Australia’s entire tour – but this would be the perfect time for him to play a match-winning role. In Barbados, he removed Australia’s openers and made a handy 41 himself in the first innings and in Trinidad he showed a willingness to promote himself up the order when the situation demanded it. If he can combine a fast-paced innings of substance with a few wickets, he will be one step closer to ending his first Frank Worrell Trophy series as captain on a high.Australia’s Test-only players have a six-month break after this match and as one of the few in that category, Ed Cowan would feel much better over the winter if he was coming off a big Test innings. Cowan has now walked out to bat ten times for Australia and has two half-centuries to show for it, but no hundreds. His contributions in this series – 14, 34, 28 and 20 – have not been failures but nor have they cemented his place in the side. The same could be said of his partner David Warner on this trip, but Warner already has two Test centuries to his name. At some stage, Cowan will need to take that next step as well.

Team news

Fidel Edwards finished the Trinidad Test with what the captain Sammy described as “a slight niggle” and he could be replaced by Ravi Rampaul. Bishoo has been released from the squad, so there is no chance of West Indies picking two spinners. The Guyana batsman Assad Fudadin has joined the squad but is unlikely to find a place in the starting line-up.West Indies (possible) : 1 Adrian Barath, 2 Kraigg Brathwaite, 3 Kieran Powell, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Narsingh Deonarine, 7 Carlton Baugh (wk), 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Shane Shillingford, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Ravi Rampaul.Injuries have forced Peter Siddle and James Pattinson to head home, which will mean a return for Ryan Harris after he was rested following his Man-of-the-Match performance in the first Test in Barbados. Michael Beer bowled well in Trinidad but is expected only to hold his position if the Windsor Park pitch looks especially spin-friendly. It appears more likely that the left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc will come in for his fourth Test.Australia (possible): 1 Ed Cowan, 2 David Warner, 3 Shane Watson, 4 Ricky Ponting, 5 Michael Clarke (capt), 6 Michael Hussey, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Ryan Harris, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Ben Hilfenhaus, 11 Nathan Lyon.

Pitch and conditions

Windsor Park is still in its international infancy. In its first Test, between West Indies and India last year, only a third of the wickets fell to spin. In the two four-day matches played at the venue during the domestic competition that has just finished, no team managed 300 in an innings. The forecast suggests there could be showers throughout the Test.

Stats and trivia

• Shivnarine Chanderpaul needs 82 runs to reach 10,000 in Tests
• Should West Indies win, it will be the first time since 1999 a Test series between the two sides has not been won by Australia
• Kemar Roach’s ten-wicket haul in Trinidad was the first time a West Indies bowler had achieved the feat in a Test since Corey Collymore claimed 11 against Pakistan in Jamaica in 2005

Quotes

“I’m pretty sure all the boys will want to make this Test a good one for themselves personally and for the team because we’ve had a really good summer, we want to finish on a high before we get stuck into one-day cricket and the Twenty20 World Cup.”

“When Australia came here everybody didn’t give us a chance, but we’ve played a brand of cricket that we want to get used to. That said we’ve still got to get the victories and that’s what we’re looking for. To level a series against Australia would be another stepping stone for us.”
.

Ajmal Shahzad is free to leave by Yorkshire because of his reluctance to accept team discipline, according to Colin Graves and Martyn Moxon

David Hopps03-May-2012Ajmal Shahzad is free to leave by Yorkshire because he is a strong-willed individual whose reluctance to accept team discipline has caused an irrevocable breakdown in relations, according to Yorkshire’s chairman, Colin Graves, and director of cricket, Martyn Moxon.”Cricket is a team game and Yorkshire is bigger than everybody,” Graves said as he acted to counter criticism of Yorkshire’s ability to lose an England fast bowler only one month into a new season. “I am not prepared to have somebody playing for Yorkshire who does not want to be part of the team. All the comments I have heard from Ajmal are about him, not about the team. And as far as I am concerned, cricket is a team game. There is no point having a player where he doesn’t want to be.”As first reported on ESPNcricinfo, Shahzad’s stormy relationship with Yorkshire had been a prolonged one, with the disagreement over his bowling tactics leaving the county and player increasingly at loggerheads.Shahzad saw himself as a free spirit, who should be allowed to bring his attacking inclinations to the fore with a rich diet of bouncers, yorkers and slower balls. Yorkshire, much in the manner of England, wanted a more disciplined fast bowler dedicated to building pressure. The new coach, Jason Gillespie, was unable to win Shahzad over.Whichever county signs Shahzad, or takes him on loan until the end of the season, should be aware that they have an attacking bowler on their hands who will not easily be regimented. Perhaps some suitors will accept that quite happily.Graves called a clear-the-air meeting with Shahzad, his agent Neil Fairbrother and Yorkshire’s coaching staff at Headingley on Tuesday after receiving reports of Shahzad’s discontent during a Championship match against Kent at Canterbury and that he had voiced his intention to leave at the end of the season.”I decided the best thing to do was to bring this to a head,” he said. “I listened to everybody – I sat quietly for 40 minutes which is unusual for me – and at the end of the day I turned round and said there was no way forward. We were back where we were last season, everybody else was wrong and Ajmal had his own ideas. This is a team game. I am not prepared to have someone playing for Yorkshire who does not want to be part of the team.”He was unhappy with the situation last year on the coaching side and we are three matches into this year, with a new set-up, and we still have a problem. We decided it was the best thing, if he didn’t want to be around next year, and he was unhappy this year, that he should leave. We don’t want ongoing management problems with one person.”Moxon is offended by implications that Yorkshire’s approach has been insensitive. Insensitive perhaps not: abrupt definitely. “I am absolutely gutted that we are losing somebody with Ajmal’s potential,” Moxon said. “I have told him how highly I rate him many times. We have tried to do everything we can do to accommodate him and make him happy playing his cricket at Yorkshire. However we feel that the issue has gone beyond repairable.”We would not be letting him go if we did not feel it was better for both parties to part. What we do want is an amicable separation. We do not want to be slagging each other off in the media.”This is all about Ajmal’s cricket and where he wants to pursue his career. The club and the staff have bent over backwards for several years now to try to satisfy Ajmal and how he wants to play his cricket but it has become clear that we will not get the best out of him at Yorkshire.”Obviously when there is a parting of the ways then something is not right. It is about how he sees himself as a bowler. How we see him as a cricketer is exactly the same as the England management see him. Sometimes Ajmal doesn’t agree with that. He has very strong views on how he sees himself. He wants to be doing lots of stuff. The last thing that a team needs is a player who is unhappy.”Jason Gillespie has very strong ideas about what he wants the bowlers to do. If one bowler strays away from that plan, that bowler is not a team player. That is what we can’t afford. There is no one person bigger than the team. We saw in 2010 when we were a tight unit we did well. When you have one or two people not singing from the same hymn sheet you have a problem. I was hoping that Jason would be able to come in and give Ajmal the backing, the encouragement, the advice and the nous that he wants, but he is a strong character and he has his own views.”The fact remains, however, that Yorkshire have false-started in their efforts to return to Division One at the first attempt. The Australia quick Mitchell Starc is due to arrive within the next few days and, if Shahzad finds a new county, more funds will be available. Will that money finance Headingley’s debts or go on another bowling reinforcement? “We haven’t even discussed it,” Graves said.Graves dismissed suggestions that Shahzad’s departure will play badly in Yorkshire’s Asian communities, where so much work has been done in the past decade to forge relationships. “As far as I am concerned I have worked with the Asian community for 40-odd years. I know the Asian community better than anybody. At the end of the day that community will be as disappointed as we are.”I feel sorry for Martyn and for Andrew Gale who have worked strenuously for the past 12 months to try to make him part of the time. I really hope it works out for him. But how many matches has he won for Yorkshire?”

Anthony McGrath appears to have ensured his continued involvement
in Yorkshire’s Championship line-up after scoring a defiant century to bring his side back into their contest with Hampshire.

Myles Hodgson at Headingley18-May-2012
ScorecardAnthony McGrath’s Yorkshire career seemed in decline but a century against Hampshire and some useful bowling spells this season have given him new life•Getty Images

Had circumstances been different at the start of this summer, Anthony
McGrath may not have even featured in Yorkshire’s Championship
line-up, but he appears to have ensured his continued involvement
after scoring a defiant century to bring his side back into their
contest with Hampshire.Now 36, McGrath’s struggles for runs last season – when he scored only
one century and one half-century in 23 Championship innings – put him
under threat for his place at the start of this summer, particularly
after Yorkshire strengthened their batting by recruiting Australian
Phil Jaques during the winter.Rather than shirk from the challenge, McGrath has demonstrated his
versatility by claiming wickets and scoring 90 in Yorkshire’s recent
win against Leicestershire, and has now scored his first century since
last August to prevent Hampshire establishing control of the match.Without McGrath’s controlled contribution, Yorkshire would have been
facing a major first-innings deficit and the prospect of battling to
save the game on the final day. Instead, he helped prise 162 priceless
runs out of the final three wickets to enable a declaration 28 runs
adrift on 399 for 9.”Going into the season, we had plenty of batting options,” he said.
“It was always going to be tough on selection, so whoever played was
always going to have to get some runs. I failed early on at No 3 and
got pushed down to 6 or 7. I’ve felt really good all season, to be
honest, but it’s about getting runs on the board.”Yorkshire’s first target, batting under cloudy conditions, was to save
the follow on after resuming 178 runs away from making Hampshire bat
again. Although they enjoyed their share of good fortune with both
Gary Ballance and Jacques Rudolph edging through the slips during a
149-run stand, they appeared to have reached a position where they
could take control of the game.That position was undermined by the loss of four wickets either side
of lunch that left Yorkshire in danger of following on with a major
deficit. The experience of McGrath, playing 17 years to the day after
making his Yorkshire debut against Glamorgan at Bradford, in batting
with the lower order proved the key point of the day.Teaming up with Ryan Sidebottom 191 runs adrift, McGrath carefully
guided Yorkshire closer, firstly to the follow on target and then gave
them the opportunity to declare with 10 overs remaining, only for bad
light to halt proceedings with 2.4 overs unused. They enjoyed their
luck, with Sidebottom being dropped on 20 by James Tomlinson in his
delivery stride.McGrath also received a reprieve, missed on 61 by Simon Katich at slip
off Kabir Ali, but they added 84 for the eighth wicket before
Sidebottom edged Kabir behind. McGrath continued aggressively and hit Liam
Dawson’s left-arm spin for four and a straight six off successive
balls to take Yorkshire nearer saving the follow on.Once Steve Patterson edged Dawson to slip, leaving McGrath 16 short of
three figures as last man Iain Wardlaw arrived at the crease, he was
forced to adopt a more tactical approach and for the first time in his
four-hour innings he refused singles to keep the strike.The landmark, which included 14 fours and a six, was reached with a
two to cover off Dawson and marked with considerably less fuss than
the England captain at Lord’s – McGrath bent down, straightened his
pads and took off his helmet, before politely acknowledging the crowd’s
applause.”It’s been tough for everyone around the country to get runs,” McGrath said. “There are a few guys who have got 600 to 700 runs, but for
everybody else it’s been pretty sparse. You’ve got to fight it out and
have a bit of luck, like I did today, but when you get in you’ve got
to try and cash in.”I just want to play in the first team so I’m happy to play in any
position. It was a tough year last year as we all know, so I’m really enjoying it at the moment. It’s a satisfaction to reach three
figures with the troubles I had last year. I think the situation of
the game took away my thoughts of reaching a hundred though.”Hoping to bowl 10 overs at Hampshire before the close, Yorkshire were
only given 7.2 overs before bad light closed in, but enough time for Dawson to slap an Adil Rashid long hop straight to point to suggest there may be life in the game yet.

Bangladesh will get more matches to fine-tune their World Twenty20 preparations after it was announced that they will play two Twenty20s in Netherlands next month

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jun-2012Bangladesh will get more matches to fine-tune their World Twenty20 preparations after it was announced that they will play two Twenty20s in Netherlands next month. One match will be against the home side, and the other against Scotland during a five-day stay in Netherlands following their tour of Ireland. The matches will be played at Voorburg Cricket Club near The Hague, on 24 and 25 July.There has been no international cricket in Netherlands since a couple of ODIs against Kenya last September, and no Test-playing nation has played there since Sri Lanka visited in 2006. “We are delighted to have secured the opportunity to host a Full Member country on home soil as it has been some time since this last happened,” Cricket Netherlands CEO Richard Cox said.Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim also welcomed the extra matches. “The Twenty20 game is a great leveller and our matches against Netherlands and Scotland should be very interesting,” he said. “Netherlands have beaten England in a World Twenty20 game and Scotland have some fine players.”

Durham and Lancashire tied their final Friends Life t20 North Group game at Chester-le-Street as both sides missed out on the quarter-finals

08-Jul-2012
ScorecardDurham and Lancashire tied their final Friends Life t20 North Group game at Chester-le-Street as both sides missed out on the quarter-finals.The teams went into the game knowing a win for either could take them into the last eight, as long as Essex lost against Hampshire in the South Group. A washout at the Rose Bowl, however, gave Essex a point that put them out of Lancashire’s reach and left Durham need to complete their run chase in 15.1 overs or less to overturn Essex’s advantage on run-rate, which proved beyond the hosts.After Lancashire, who were put in, struggled to 133 for 8, Glen Chapple bowled superbly, going straight through his four overs to take 1 for 10. He claimed the vital scalp of Herschelle Gibbs, who made 7 before he was trapped in front after stepping across, trying to flip a straight ball to fine leg.Ben Stokes hit Stephen Parry’s fourth ball for a big six before driving the next, a full toss, straight into the hands of long-on. Phil Mustard made 33 before driving a return catch to Gary Keedy then Gareth Cross claimed a catch and a stumping to send back Johann Myburgh and Gordon Muchall and set up the tense finish.Durham needed 27 off the last three and after a lean series it was one-day captain Dale Benkenstein who almost saw them home, making 28.He had the target down to six off the last over, then two off three balls. But he tried to hook a bouncer from Ajmal Shahzad and the ball flew off the back of the bat to short cover, where Paul Horton took the catch.A bye off the next ball tied the scores but when Gareth Breese tried to scamper a single off the last ball he failed to beat Horton’s direct hit from the same position in which he caught Benkenstein.Breese and Scott Borthwick conceded a total of 34 runs in eight overs between them as Lancashire imploded after a good start. At 69 for 1 after nine overs they lost their way as three wickets went down for six runs.Tom Smith tried to sweep Borthwick’s second ball, hitting against the spin of a googly, and was lbw for 29. Then Steven Croft was caught at long-on for 21 off Breese while Karl Brown set off for a suicidal single to silly point and was run out by Mustard.Wicketkeeper Cross took Lancashire to a competitive total by making 26 before falling to the last ball of the innings.

Defending champions Australia moved within one more victory of retaining the Under-19 World Cup by beating South Africa in the first semi-final

The Report by George Binoy in Townsville21-Aug-2012
Scorecard and ball by ball detailsMark Steketee was the pick of the Australian bowlers with 3 for 35•Getty Images

Defending champions Australia moved within one more victory of retaining the Under-19 World Cup by beating South Africa in the first semi-final at Tony Ireland Stadium. Their bowlers made best use of winning the toss, keeping South Africa on a leash by striking regularly on an overcast morning, and their batsmen overcame a difficult start to complete the chase in the 49th over.The decisive period in the game was the batting Powerplay in South Africa’s innings, taken in the 36th over soon after the drinks break. They had reached 124 for 3, after Chad Bowes and Murray Coetzee had repaired the damage caused by three early wickets. With the field up, Bowes went down on one knee and tried to paddle Mark Steketee past short fine leg. He was smashed on the grille of his helmet and needed it changed. The next ball, he edged to the wicketkeeper. In the last over of the Powerplay, Shaylin Pillay spooned a catch to mid-off, also off Steketee, and two balls later Coetzee dropped his bat while trying to ground it and was run out. South Africa had lost 3 for 10 in five overs and were able to make only 191.Australia also took their batting Powerplay in the 36th over and they too were 124 for 3, having repaired the damage of two early wickets. Cameron Bancroft and William Bosisto scored only 27 runs off those five overs but Australia lost no wickets and they didn’t need too many more runs. There was a stumble in the 44th over, when Bancroft was run out and Travis Head bowled off the inside edge, but the immoveable object Bosisto and Ashton Turner took Australia very close, like they had in the quarterfinal against Bangladesh. Bosisto was run out for 40, minutes before the winning runs were hit, the first time he’s been dismissed in five innings during this World Cup.The South Africans had several chances in the field but didn’t take them. Kurtis Patterson, who took the attack to South Africa and hit in the air a lot, was on 28 when he cut the ball high in the air towards deep cover point. Prenelan Subrayen covered good ground and dived but only got fingertips to it. Patterson was on 37 when he cut again, but a flatter, relatively easier chance was put down by Pillay at point. Both were tough chances, though, and Patterson eventually fell for 49. The chance Bancroft gave on 23 was much easier, an edge to slips that Theunis de Bruyn put down. Calvin Savage was the angry bowler all three times and he wore his disappointment on his sleeve.Amid those chances, Patterson and Bancroft batted in contrasting styles. Patterson was counterattacking, successfully wresting the advantage from South Africa after Jimmy Peirson and Meyrick Buchanan made ducks, by lofting the ball over the infield. Bancroft was steady and happy to turn over the strike. Their 95-run partnership pushed South Africa to the brink of elimination, and Bosisto nudged them over it.South Africa, however, were unlucky to lose the toss for the second time in two knockout matches and had to bat when the conditions were toughest. And for the second time, Quinton de Kock didn’t last long, hooking a short ball from Steketee straight to Joel Paris at fine leg. Gihahn Cloete went edging a full ball from Paris that seamed away to second slip, where Turner caught it on the second attempt. South Africa were 4 for 2 after 2.2 overs and never really recovered.

Ireland fought back to win by five runs after Shakib Al Hasan’s blistering half-century

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Sep-2012
Scorecard
Shakib Al Hasan’s 53 took up only 23 deliveries•Bangladesh Cricket Board

Ireland fought hard to beat Bangladesh by five runs in their final warm-up match at Moors Sports Club in Colombo. Paul Stirling and Kevin O’Brien were the heroes at two ends of the game though it was Trent Johnston’s tight final over that ensured two wins out of two in the preparation phase after having crushed Zimbabwe by 54 runs. Bangladesh’s best player, Shakib Al Hasan, was outstanding with bat and ball but couldn’t prevent defeat.After an hour’s delay due to wet conditions, Stirling dominated the opening stand of 46 with captain William Porterfield before adding 64 for the second wicket with Ed Joyce. It was broken when Stirling fell to Elias Sunny for a 41-ball 71, letting Bangladesh enough room to fight back. Shakib Al Hasan and Mashrafe helped restrict them to 164-6 after they had rushed to the 100-mark in the 11th-over assault on Mahmudullah that went for 24.Bangladesh began in similar fashion though they lost Mohammad Ashraful in the second over. Tamim Iqbal and Shakib added 63 in 6.1 overs before Tamim was caught and bowled by Alex Cusack. Shakib kept up the rate with a 23-ball fifty but his dismissal sparked off a collapse, for the second game in a row. O’Brien did the damage picking up three important wickets – captain Mushfiqur Rahim, Nasir Hossain and Mahmudullah – in the space of ten balls. All three batsmen have shown the ability to finish games in the past, but even though the asking-rate wasn’t too high, they were unable to complete the job.Ziaur Rahman and Mashrafe Mortaza steadied the chase but when Mortaza fell in the penultimate over, Sunny played four dot balls in a row and the game swung back in Ireland’s favour. The win was all but confirmed when Johnston removed the dangerous Ziaur off the third ball of the final over.When ten overs remained, all Bangladesh needed was 62, with eight wickets in hand, and victory seemed certain. Bangladesh managed to lose their way, though, much to Shakib’s disappointment. “I honestly think this should actually shake us up a little,” he said after the defeat. “I believe we lacked intensity in the last ten overs because with the batting we have there is no reason why we should lose that game from the position we were in. You always learn more from defeats.”Shakib also stressed that the team morale shouldn’t dip despite the reverse against an Associate nation. “Practice games are important but they are not that important that you should start feeling demoralised over a loss in such games. These matches allow you to assess where you are at individually and as a team and you work on the findings.”

ESPNcricinfo’s preview of the second Twenty20 between India and New Zealand in Chennai

The Preview by Kanishkaa Balachandran10-Sep-2012

Match facts

September 11, 2012

Start time 1900 local (1330 GMT)Will the rain play spoilsport to much-anticipated comebacks once again?•Associated Press

Big Picture

A phrase that has found its way into cricket jargon of late is “controlling the controllables”. One thing neither team, the fans or the organisers have been able to control is the rain. It has been an unwelcome visitor is all three matches on the tour so far, more so in Visakhapatnam, where thousands made their way to witness the city’s first Twenty20 international and Yuvraj Singh’s comeback from cancer. Southern India has been hit by showers over the last few weeks, and the venue for the final T20, Chennai, has had its share of rain too. The weather has reduced the Twenty20 series to a one-match shoot-out. Both teams will agree that even a completed T20, without interruptions, won’t count as sufficient match practice ahead of the World T20. Much then would depend on the two warm-up games in Sri Lanka before the big event.One player who will be itching to get out there is Yuvraj. Ideally, he would like to stage his comeback in India and, possibly, put an end to all murmurs regarding his match fitness. Spare a thought for the Twenty20 specialists who have flown in from New Zealand for what is effectively a one-match series. Daniel Vettori, for all his experience, needs match time to ease himself back in from a groin injury. New Zealand would want to play their best side, but that would mean their relatively inexperienced players, like Ronnie Hira and Adam Milne, may not be guaranteed a spot. India have tried out three different opening combinations in their last three T20 matches, with Ajinkya Rahane and Robin Uthappa partnering Gautam Gambhir in two of those games. They are expected to go with their regular pair of Gambhir and Virender Sehwag here, and both are struggling for consistency.

Form guide (Completed matches, most recent first)

New Zealand LLLLW
India WLWLL

Watch out for

He may have slipped slightly as a wicket-taker in Tests, but Daniel Vettori has plenty to offer in T20s as a containing bowler, as his economy rate of 5.36 in 28 T20s indicates. With Jacob Oram, who kept batsmen quiet in the SLPL with an economy rate of 3.82, Vettori will be called on to squeeze the runs.R Ashwin tormented New Zealand with 18 wickets in two Tests, and those who have faced him in the IPL will be aware of his skills in the shortest format. In 23 matches for Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Ashwin has 27 wickets, the second-highest wicket-taker for the franchise at the ground over three seasons.

Team news

L Balaji showed up for the pre-match press conference, but was non-committal over the team combination or whether he would play.India (probable): 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Rohit Sharma, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ashok DindaNew Zealand did not drop any hints regarding their playing XI either.New Zealand (probable): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Brendon McCullum (wk), 3 Ross Taylor (capt), 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Rob Nicol, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 Daniel Vettori, 8 James Franklin, 9 Doug Bracewell, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Kyle Mills

Pitch and conditions

There have been showers in Chennai late in the evenings. India managed to practice, but it reportedly rained after 4pm on the eve of the game. The forecast is for cloudy weather on match day.

Stats and trivia

• The MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai will be hosting its first Twenty20 international.
• Chennai had its share of high-scoring games during the 2012 IPL, with a season run-rate of 8.01. Super Kings’ 222 for 5 against Delhi Daredevils in Chennai was the highest team score for the tournament.
• In the 2012 IPL, spinners accounted for 33 wickets in Chennai, second only behind Eden Gardens (34).
  

  Quotes

  “We’re quite strong in the spin department, as well, in the current T20 setup. If you look at the experience we have got and the destructiveness we have with bat and ball, it [the shorter format of the game] does suit us.”

  “The long lay-off did not rust my skills in any way. It has been a competitive three years in the IPL and Ranji Trophy, as well as some other first-class matches.”

CSA has turned down the PCB’s request to alter the dates of Pakistan’s tour to South Africa starting February 2013 citing busy international schedule as the reason

Umar Farooq and Firdose Moonda23-Oct-2012Cricket South Africa (CSA) has turned down the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) request to alter the dates of Pakistan’s tour to South Africa starting February 2013 citing busy international schedule as the reason. The PCB had requested the change to expand the current 12-day window for its proposed Twenty20 league that follows the South Africa tour in March.”We wanted to expand our window (for the T20 league), but they (CSA) didn’t agree so we decided to continue as per the Future Tours Programme,” Zaka Ashraf, the PCB chairman, told ESPNcricinfo. “CSA told the PCB that they had already announced and sold tickets and it was not possible to make any change.”Pakistan are set to launch their T20 premier league in March and were hoping to have a bigger window while avoiding a clash with the 2013 season of IPL that starts from April 3. They are scheduled to play three Tests, five ODIs and two T20s between February 1 and March 24, 2013 and wanted the dates to be advanced. However, South Africa will be busy hosting New Zealand in December and January.”They (PCB) asked us to move the tour earlier but it was just not possible because of our schedule,” Jacques Faul, the acting CSA chief executive, told ESPNcricinfo. “We always try to accommodate other countries but we can’t always manage. The program is very busy these days. We also play our domestic competitions while tours are ongoing.”Meanwhile, the PCB is expediting the staging of the inaugural T20 premier league. One of the purposes of the league is to take steps towards the revival of international cricket in Pakistan by inviting overseas players to participate. The confidence has increased after the success of the matches played between International XI and Pakistan All Star XI in Karachi recently that saw international players for the first time in Pakistan since the attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in March 2009.