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England manager Roy Hodgson has expressed his concern that he only has a handful of players to select from that play regularly for their Premier League clubs, according to The Telegraph.

England begin their World Cup qualifying campaign with a trip to lowly Moldova on Friday, followed by a potentially tricky tie against Euro 2012 co-hosts and group opponents Ukraine at Wembley on Tuesday.

Although the prospect of facing a Moldova side who are currently ranked 137th in the FIFA World Rankings won’t cause Hodgson too many sleepless nights, the fact that the majority of his squad haven’t played too many minutes on the pitch will come as a concern to the manager.

England’s back line is not a problem. Goalkeeper Joe Hart is a certain starter for Roberto Mancini at Manchester City. Additionally, England’s defence should all be ready and fit for the Moldova and Ukraine encounters.

Likewise, Leighton Baines, Ryan Bertrand, Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka, Glen Johnson, Kyle Walker and Joleon Lescott have all featured for their respective clubs in the first three weekends of the Premier League season.

John Terry has also been declared fit for the Moldova game after suffering from a neck injury which had seen him absent for Chelsea’s victory over Newcastle in the Premier League and their defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup last Friday.

The only minor setback in defence for Hodgson is the withdrawal of Ashley Cole from the Moldova game after he suffered a knock to ankle during the Super Cup game aforementioned. The 31-year-old will be reassessed by the England medical team just before the Ukraine match.

It is in midfield and attack where the 64-year-old Hodgson will be feeling uneasy. Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard and Manchester United’s Michael Carrick are the only week-in-week-out starters for their respective clubs.

Other England inclusions such as James Milner, Tom Cleverley, Frank Lampard, Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain and Theo Walcott can only currently be described as squad players rather than key members of the first team judging by the Premier League team-sheets at present.

One would assume that Adam Johnson will become a first-team regular for Sunderland after joining the black cats for £10 million last week. However, it will take him time to regain his match sharpness after being left out of the cold at Manchester City last season.

Hodgson will have even more of a selection dilemma up front following the withdrawals from Wayne Rooney and Andy Carroll. Of the three strikers that the England manager has at his disposal, none of them are guaranteed picks for their clubs.

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Arguably, all three players have been hindered by new arrivals at their respective clubs. Danny Welbeck may be encounter limited first-team action by the arrival of Robin van Persie, Daniel Sturridge hasn’t started a game following the arrival of Eden Hazard at Stamford Bridge and Jermain Defoe may have to accept being second choice striker at Tottenham after capturing Emmanuel Adebayor from Manchester City.

England should have the strength in depth to overcome Moldova and Ukraine in their opening two fixtures and perhaps throughout the whole World Cup qualification campaign. However, lingering is the concern that once a major tournament arrives, will the new exciting youthful looking England side have played enough minutes on the pitch to cope with the world’s best?

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Former NZ batter had his life ban for corrupt activities revised in 2023

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Aug-2024Lou Vincent, the former New Zealand international, received a special cap earlier this month to commemorate his 100th ODI, nearly 17 years since the milestone in 2007. Sir Richard Hadlee presented Vincent the cap in Auckland at a small ceremony attended by Vincent’s family and some former team-mates.”It was a lovely way to be acknowledged for my cricketing career, and to be able to use the night as an avenue to say thank you very, very much to people who’ve been by my side through the great times and the tricky times,” Vincent told The Post. “It was a really memorable, special night with some lovely words spoken.”Vincent, who finished with 2413 runs in 102 ODIs, also played 23 Tests and nine T20Is between 2001 and 2007. He then played in the now-defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL) and was on the domestic circuit until 2014, when he was banned for life by the ECB for corrupt activities on the county circuit.In December 2023, the ECB revised the punishment, allowing Vincent to return to working in domestic cricket.Related

• Lou Vincent to address conference in Melbourne with 'powerful message to the next generation'

• Vincent banned for life by ECB

• Lou Vincent's life ban revised, allowing him to return to domestic cricket

“The past is the past,” Vincent said in Auckland. “It was powerful that I had such huge support for the application for the ban to be appealed and there was no opposition from the ECB, they fully respected the work I’d done behind the scenes over the last few years and using my experiences to help educate the next generation of players.”NZC chief executive Scott Weenink said the board had been sitting on Vincent’s commemorative cap “for probably 13 years.””The reality is, you can’t forget what he actually did and he would be the first to admit that, but he’s done his penance and no one has done more to fight match-fixing than he has by being so open and telling everything that he knew,” Weenink said. “When the opportunity came, it was really the least we could do to present him with his cap.”According to Vincent, Hadlee – the former chairman of selectors who had first picked him for New Zealand – was in tears while presenting the cap.”I was able to say to him ‘Richard, you are New Zealand Cricket, you are the best player we’ve ever had, you’ve achieved so much, and for you to take time out and fly to Auckland to want to present this cap to me is so, so humbling and a reflection of the great man you are,” Vincent said. “And he was in tears. Sir Richard Hadlee in tears!”Vincent’s 100th ODI appearance came in Cape Town in December 2007, where he scored 18 and also took his only ODI wicket by dismissing Jacques Kallis. Now 45, and slowly returning to cricket, Vincent recently turned out for Seddon Cricket Club and was involved in a five-day match to raise awareness on men’s mental health.”Life moves on, and my life has moved on now. I’ve been blessed with a little son, and I’ve got two daughters who are teenagers,” Vincent said. “To have the opportunity to start a family again and be settled in the far north and have the beach life – a simple life – this is all I’m focused on now.”

Head of interim management committee doesn’t wish to be ‘bone of contention’ for PCB

Umar Farooq19-Jun-2023Najam Sethi has effectively stepped down as head of the PCB, after pulling himself out of the race to become the next board chairman. Sethi was heading an interim management committee that had been running the board since last December but whose tenure was due to end on June 21.Until recently it had seemed that Sethi would carry on after the interim set-up ended and be appointed chairman of the board proper. But speculation had grown over the last couple of weeks on the return of Zaka Ashraf. Ashraf, a former board chairman himself, returning is not yet official but that Sethi will not carry on now is.”I don’t want to be a bone of contention between Asif Zardari and Shehbaz Sharif,” Sethi tweeted. “Such instability and uncertainty is not good for PCB. Under the circumstances I am not a candidate for Chairmanship of PCB. Good luck to all stakeholders.”Sethi’s tweet was referencing the political horsetrading over the chairman’s seat. Shehbaz Sharif is the current Prime Minister of Pakistan and the PCB patron. Asif Ali Zardari, a former Pakistan president with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), is a prominent coalition partner in the current government and Ashraf is thought to be his party’s man for the post.Traditionally in Pakistan cricket, it is the PM’s appointment to the PCB board of governors who usually becomes the board chairman. Ordinarily, the PCB chairman would be a pick of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) party. But over the last couple of weeks, the PPP has insisted that as they are the ones in charge of Pakistan sports, through the ministry for inter-provincial coordination (IPC) it maintained the right to nominate a candidate of their choosing.Although the prime minister is yet to nominate two names, ESPNcricinfo understands that Ashraf, along with the renowned Supreme Court lawyer Mustafa Ramday, are the two who will be nominated. Both will be added to PCB’s 10-member board of governors (BoG) with one of the PM’s direct nominees likely to be elected as PCB chairman for three years. Ashraf is the overwhelming favourite to be elected, with the election process usually a formality.Ashraf’s return after a period of nine years ends – for now at least – a repeat of the tussles that marked the tug of war between him and Sethi between 2013 and 2014. The pair were involved in a protracted legal battle for the position in those years, with chairmanship switching hands several times. That issue was seemingly settled when former prime minister Nawaz Sharif – Shehbaz’s elder brother – finally ousted Ashraf and brought in Sethi. But after days of intense mediation between both parties, Sethi was compelled to make way for Ashraf.Sethi has been running the PCB on an interim basis since Ramiz Raja was removed as chairman and the board’s 2019 constitution was scrapped in December last year. Sethi’s committee was initially given 120 days to bring back the 2014 constitution under which the PCB was run and reinstate the regional and department structure in domestic cricket. The committee was also given a mandate to form a board of governors and elect a chairman.That meant the dismissal of the six-team provincial model for domestic cricket which was formed with the backing of former premier Imran Khan. The domestic structure will now be based on 16 regions, marked by a return of departments. Among them, four regions and four departments are set to be given a board seat at the PCB for a term of three years.The 2014 constitution also requires the PCB to form a board of governors comprising ten members: four out of the 16 regional representatives, four representatives of services organisations, and two members directly nominated by the PCB patron.Over the last six months, Sethi’s management committee has also overseen the hiring of a predominantly overseas coaching staff for Pakistan, with former head coach Mickey Arthur appointed part-time director of cricket.One of the thornier issues that occupied Sethi during his short stint was Pakistan’s hosting of the Asia Cup and its link to Pakistan’s potential participation in the World Cup, scheduled to be held in India in October this year. Three days ago Sethi was talking about Pakistan’s participation at the event being subject to the approval of the Pakistan government. That will be one of the more pressing issues for Sethi’s successor to deal with.

New premier Shahbaz Sharif is thought to be weighing up options; Najam Sethi could be in the fray

Umar Farooq19-Apr-2022Over a week after the ouster of Imran Khan and his government, the fate of PCB chairmanship remains uncertain. Ramiz Raja, the current board chairman, was hand-picked by Imran when he was prime minister last year, having played nearly half of his 255 international matches under Imran’s captaincy.But with Imran gone, speculation has grown around Ramiz’s future; traditionally, any changes of government have led to a change of PCB chairman. And the new premier Shahbaz Sharif, who automatically assumes the position of patron of the PCB, is thought to be weighing up options to replace Ramiz.Imran was removed from power on April 10, in divisive circumstances, after a vote of no-confidence in parliament that he had initially tried to dismiss. Parliamentarians from his PTI party (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf) have since resigned en masse from parliament and party appointments in various state institutions are being gradually removed or replaced.The new government, a coalition of parties that came together to remove Imran, are jostling over the formulation of a new cabinet and though cricket is not the highest priority, it is thought they will eventually get to changes in the board.As is often the case, a number of different names as replacements are doing the rounds. Najam Sethi, the former board chairman and a Sharif family ally is among the more prominent ones (though Sethi is thought to be closer to the former PM and elder Sharif brother, Nawaz, rather than Shahbaz).The change at the top might not be the only one. With Imran’s exit, a group led by former board members has begun urging the government to go back to the previous domestic structure in which departmental teams such as SNGPL and PIA were part of the first-class circuit.This group is also talking about restructuring domestic cricket back along regional lines, as they were before the 2019-20 revamp. That season, domestic cricket was changed to a provincial model, with six teams made up of Pakistan’s provinces playing in all tournaments. That change was insisted upon by Imran himself, who has long wanted Pakistan’s domestic scene to replicate that of Australia’s.Najam Sethi is known to be close to current premier Shahbaz Sharif’s brother Nawaz Sharif•AFP

The change of chairmanship is thought to be all but inevitable, a matter of when not if. While the new government works its way through the most pressing priorities and formulates a new cabinet, Ramiz has continued in the position as normal. He was in Dubai for ICC meetings – where he saw his plans for a quadrangular tournament turned down – as Imran was being removed from government.He has since announced plans for a junior T20 league. And in an informal talk with journalists recently, Imran is believed to have confirmed that he had spoken to Ramiz and asked him to continue and fight till the very end.Constitutionally, the Prime Minister of the country, as the PCB’s Patron-in-chief, nominates two members to the PCB’s governing board. The two then come through an election to become chairman, but in practice, this is a mere formality: the PM essentially appoints the chairman.The position isn’t based on any set criteria though the PCB constitution requires the PM to name someone who is at least a graduate and isn’t convicted for any offences including fraud or corrupt practices.No provision in the constitution allows the patron to withdraw the sitting chairman. The only way a chairman can be removed is through a vote of no confidence in the governing board, requiring a 3/4th majority. But generally, if the Patron wants the chairman changed, it is unusual for the incumbent to stay on. When Imran was elected PM in 2018, Sethi himself resigned and allowed Imran to bring in Ehsan Mani.But in 2014, Zaka Ashraf refused to resign after a change in government, resulting in then-PM Nawaz Sharif revoking the board, forming a management committee that later elected Sethi as its chairman. That led to a period marred by a power struggle between Sethi and Ashraf; the pair fought legal battles in courts, swapped positions several times before Sethi finally consolidated his power with the backing of Sharif.In the last three terms, every new chairman has amended the constitution after taking power; the present constitution was implemented in 2019 and was the fifth since 1995 and the fourth in the last 15 years.

The flaws in Dhoni’s team were laid bare as they crumbled in chase of 170

Deivarayan Muthu10-Oct-20204:11

Manjrekar: ‘After Watson and du Plessis fell, chase seemed out of CSK’s reach’

Virat Kohli made a superbly paced 90 not out off 52 balls, and Washington Sundar continued to bowl unhittable lengths in the powerplay, as the Royal Challengers Bangalore brushed aside their old rivals the Chennai Super Kings in Dubai.After choosing to bat on a two-paced pitch, the Royals Challengers quietly saw off the early swing and moved to 103 for 4 in 14 overs. Having set the platform himself, Kohli launched from there, claiming 46 of the 66 runs they amassed in the last six overs, finishing with 169 for 4.Sundar then removed both the in-form Super Kings openers Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson, limiting them to 26 for 2 – their lowest powerplay score this season. By the time MS Dhoni came out to bat at No.5 in the 15th over, the asking rate was hovering around 15. A fit-again Chris Morris and Isuru Udana eventually closed out the game with their assortment of cutters, helping the Royal Challengers climb to fourth on the points table.Virat Kohli held the innings together•BCCI

Chahar, Thakur make inroads
After swinging three balls past the outside edge of Aaron Finch in his first over, Deepak Chahar knocked over the opener’s middle stump with an inswinger. Both Devdutt Padikkal, the other opener, and Kohli then simply played themselves in, pushing the Royal Challengers to 65 for 1 in ten overs. However, in the next over, Padikkal (33 off 34 balls) tried to manufacture a boundary off Shardul Thakur, but the cross-seamer messed with his timing, drawing a mis-hit to mid-off. Three balls later, Thakur bowled another cross-seamer, this time having AB de Villiers nicking off for a duck.The Royals Challengers promoted Sundar to No.5 to potentially counter legspinner Karn Sharma and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja. Sundar sized up a full legbreak from Sharma and slog-swept him over long-on for six, but when he tried to take on Sam Curran, he also nicked off.Kohli goes bang
Kohli brought up his half-century, off his 39th ball, when he fiercely pulled Thakur to the fine-leg fence. He then cracked three sixes and a four in the final three overs, taking apart Curran, Thakur, and Bravo. Curran was so rattled that he floated two off-side wides in the 18th over while Thakur bowled a beamer in the 19th. Then, in the final over against Bravo, Kohli shuffled across, picked an attempted Bravo yorker from the tramline and scooped it away through the vacant spaces at fine leg for four despite falling on the floor. Kohli then couldn’t put Bravo’s variations away, but still went 2,2,2,2,1 to give the Royal Challengers a strong finish.Another chase goes wrong for CSK
The Super Kings were chasing for the seventh time this season, and it was the same-old story. After miscuing Sundar twice over the infield, du Plessis (8 off 10) dragged the offspinner to Morris, who was manning the longer leg-side boundary. When Sundar strayed down the leg side Watson (14 off 18) slog-swept him off for four, but when the batsman tried to repeat the dose off the next ball, he was bowled by a quick slider.Ambati Rayudu could neither find the boundary or the gaps, struggling to 42 off 40 balls, with just four fours. Super Kings’ new No.4 N Jagadeesan also hit four fours and was the more fluent of the two in a 64-run partnership for the fourth wicket but it took 52 balls. The stand ended when Jagadeesan was run out by a direct hit from Morris for 33 off 28 balls. Dhoni cleared the boundary once before Yuzvendra Chahal dangled a slow legbreak away from his reach and had him slicing a catch to long-off. Game over for the Super Kings.

Opener smashes Yorkshire for ten fours and five sixes as defending champions stay second

ECB Reporters Network02-Aug-2019Worcestershire recovered from early strife with the ball before Riki Wessels mixed power with a touch of invention in a superb 91 as Yorkshire, defending 178, were ultimately brushed aside by five wickets with 15 balls to spare at Emerald Headingley.The Vikings lost their third game in six and will rue not making the most of being 104 without loss in the 12th over.Their 177 for 7 looked competitive, but they should have been closer to 200 after openers Adam Lyth and Tom Kohler-Cadmore laid the platform with a century partnership having elected to bat.In reply, Rapids opener Wessels made the chase towards a fourth win from six North Group games look a routine one with 10 fours and five sixes in 51 balls.Lyth top-scored and hit four sixes in 48 balls, sharing 104 for the first wicket with ex-Worcestershire player Kohler-Cadmore, who hit two sixes.They shared their second century opening stand of this season’s Blast and took the visitors’ seamers to task on an excellent Headingley surface.Lyth hit successive sixes off Wayne Parnell and Pat Brown in the second and fourth overs en route to a 32-ball fifty. He was particularly strong square on both sides of the wicket, while Kohler-Cadmore was more measured, hitting nicely on the up down the ground and over cover.But they were two of seven wickets to fall inside the last nine overs of an innings which fell away to devastating effect.Both fell caught at deep mid-wicket off the off-spin of George Rhodes. That Rhodes – who finished with 2 for 12 – only bowled two overs was a surprise, especially with none of Worcester’s five seamers going at less than eight an over. They were the only two overs of spin in the innings.That said, their seamers did hit back with effect. Dillon Pennington removed Harry Brook and David Willey in the 16th over, leaving the score at 140 for four, just when they were looking to launch. And Brown also struck twice at the death.Worcestershire made a bright start to their chase as Wessels took the lead role.When Martin Guptill top-edged a short ball from Duanne Olivier to short fine leg, they were 28 for 1 in the fourth over, and well on the way to a powerplay score of 47 for one after six overs. Wessels had 26 of them.But in the next over, bowled by returning Vikings captain Steve Patterson after a five-game rest, Wessels launched sixes over long-off and long-leg as 20 runs came off it.Wessels reached his second fifty of this season’s Blast off 32 balls, but not before he lost Callum Ferguson caught at backward point off Lyth’s off-spin as the score fell to 93 for two in the 10th.When he fell in the 15th over, caught at long-on off Dom Bess’ off-spin, the damage had been done with the score at 152 for 3and only 26 more needed.Olivier and David Willey claimed the consolatory wickets of Parnell (27) and Ross Whiteley late on, but it proved too little, too late, as Worcestershire stayed second in the North Group, still just a point behind Lancashire.

For CSK, a seventh final appearance represents a closing of the circle – not only are they back after a two-year suspension; they are back where they have always been

The Preview by Karthik Krishnaswamy26-May-20186:08

Swann: Rashid and Ngidi, the players to watch

Form guide (most recent match first)

Chennai Super Kings: beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by two wickets, beat Kings XI Punjab by five wickets, lost to Delhi Daredevils by 34 runs
Sunrisers Hyderabad: beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 14 runs, lost to Chennai Super Kings by two wickets, lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets

Big picture

The head offices of India Cements and Sun TV are located 300m from each other, either side of Greenways Road in South Chennai. Roughly four-and-a-half kilometers from Greenways Road is Boat Club Road, which houses some of the city’s most expensive real estate, including the residences of N Srinivasan, the India Cements managing director, and Kalanithi Maran, the chairman of Sun TV.On Sunday, their teams, Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad, will contest the IPL final in Mumbai. Regardless of who wins, the trophy will find its way to Chennai – a typically IPL end to a season of 60 matches of which only one was played in Chennai.It will also represent a closing of the circle for CSK and, by extension, the IPL itself. After two years out of the tournament – for serious breaches that, in the words of Justice RM Lodha, brought disrepute to cricket – the IPL’s most consistent team isn’t just back but back where it always was.This isn’t just CSK’s seventh final in nine seasons; it’s a final that will feature a whole host of familiar CSK faces. MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina have appeared in all six of their finals so far, Dwayne Bravo in four, and Ravindra Jadeja in three. They have, however, tasted plenty of defeat: CSK have only won two of their six finals so far.Ravindra Jadeja’s bowling form has improved leaps and bounds in the second half of IPL 2018•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Standing between them and a third title are formidable opponents hunting for a second title. Sunrisers may have lost all three of their meetings with CSK this season, but two were desperately close finishes that could easily have gone the other way. Their attack hasn’t quite been the remorseless machine it was earlier in the season, but they remain the best bowling side in the competition, with the best economy rate of all eight teams in the Powerplay (7.83), the middle overs (7.41) and at the death (8.88). They also have the tournament’s leading run-getter in Kane Williamson.CSK, meanwhile, have found batting heroes for every situation, with four of their batsmen – Ambati Rayudu (586), Dhoni (455), Shane Watson (438) and Raina (413) passing the 400-run mark for the season. Their bowling, which looked thin at the start of the season, has fallen into place over recent matches, with Lungi Ngidi and Deepak Chahar looking particularly potent with the new ball.Of all the match-winners on either side, however, one man could have a disproportionate influence on the game, an effect not seen since Sunil Narine’s peak years as a T20 bowler. Most sides are content with seeing off Rashid Khan and limiting the damage he can inflict across 24 balls, and CSK know fully well what he’s capable of, after he came close to derailing a chase of 140 when they last ran into him on Tuesday.He finished that match with ridiculous figures of 2 for 11 from four overs, and followed it up with an even more ridiculous performance, with ball, bat and in the field, to single-handedly drag Sunrisers into the final.CSK and Rashid will meet again on Sunday, at the same venue where they met last. Who will have the final say?1:05

CSK’s journey studded with individual brilliance

Previous meetings

The two teams have met three times this season, with CSK winning each time: by four runs in a last-ball finish in Hyderabad, by eight wickets courtesy an Ambati Rayudu ton in Pune and by two wickets in an enthralling finish engineered by Faf du Plessis in the first Qualifier in Mumbai.

Likely XIs

Chennai Super Kings: 1 Shane Watson, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Deepak Chahar, 9 Harbhajan Singh/Karn Sharma, 10 Shardul Thakur, 11 Lungi NgidiSunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Shakib Al Hasan, 5 Deepak Hooda, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Carlos Brathwaite, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Siddarth Kaul, 11 Sandeep Sharma/Khaleel Ahmed/Basil Thampi

Strategy punt

One of the reasons behind CSK beating Sunrisers three times this season is how two of their key batsmen have handled Rashid. Between them, Rayudu and Raina have scored 62 off 34 balls against the legspinner, without being dismissed. It is likely, therefore, that CSK will continue to bat Rayudu in the middle order – probably at No. 4 below Raina – rather than at the top, to counter Rashid through the middle overs.If that is the case, and if the situation allows for it, Sunrisers could hold back an over each of Rashid and Shakib Al Hasan to match up against Dhoni and Bravo. Dhoni has scored a combined 24 off 33 balls against them in T20 cricket while being dismissed once, while Bravo has made 28 off 34 while falling to Rashid and Shakib. It’s one possible way for Sunrisers to limit what has been a massive strength for CSK this season, their slog-overs hitting. Their last-five-overs run rate of 11.73 is the best of all teams this season.1:00

Sunrisers road to final

Stats that matter

• This is the sixth time in 11 IPL seasons that the teams finishing in the top two spots on the league table are meeting in the final. The team finishing second won the first four such meetings (2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015) and the team topping the table won the 2017 final.
• CSK have lost their last three finals – 2012, 2013 and 2015 – and haven’t won the IPL since picking up back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011.
• This is the sixth time two teams have faced off four times in a single IPL season. The mini-contest ended 3-1 on all five previous occasions.
• Sunrisers will look to emulate Mumbai Indians’ 2017 feat of losing three times to the same opponent (Rising Pune Supergiant) before beating them in the final.
• Harbhajan Singh, Rayudu (both CSK) and Yusuf Pathan (Sunrisers) are in line to win their fourth IPL title. Only Rohit Sharma (Deccan Chargers in 2009 and Mumbai Indians in 2013, 2015 and 2017) has won four titles so far.
• Only once before has the Orange Cap holder (Robin Uthappa in 2014) won the IPL title that season. Can Williamson emulate him?

Fantasy pick

• In the first Qualifier, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was a constant menace with the new ball, enjoying the bounce of the Wankhede Stadium pitch and the swing under lights while – unlike his seam-bowling colleagues – giving the batsmen nothing to drive. Given the conditions, his experience, and his exploits in previous IPL finals – he defended 11 runs in the last over in 2016 – Bhuvneshwar could be a key player on Sunday.
• Raina has an exceptional record in IPL finals: 209 runs in six innings at an average of 41.80 and a strike rate of 163.28. He is also close to a big landmark – he needs 47 to become the first player to 5000 IPL runs.
• Jadeja didn’t have a great start to IPL 2018, but he has rediscovered his T20 bowling mojo as the season has progressed. He picked up only three wickets in his first nine matches at 51.3 while conceding 8.6 runs per over. In his last six matches, he has picked up seven wickets at 17.9 while only giving away 6.0 runs per over.
• Staying with left-arm-spin-bowling allrounders, it isn’t a bad time to pick Shakib, who is having his most successful IPL season with the ball, having taken 14 wickets – two more than his 2012 tally with Kolkata Knight Riders. He has been superb in Sunrisers’ wins, averaging 19.6 and conceding only 6.9 runs per over, and his poor performances have coincided with their losses, in which he has only taken one wicket at 186.0 and given away 9.8 runs per over. If your instincts tell you Sunrisers will lift the trophy, pick Shakib in your team.

Quotes

“I think we can all recall the last game we played. We could have won that game by 20 runs or lost it as we did. It was a remarkable comeback from CSK. I guess we got 90% of that game right and you’ve got to give credit where it’s due. I’m not looking at areas that we need to tighten up.”
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ESPNcricinfo previews the fourth one-day international from Hamilton with South Africa aiming to close out the series

The Preview by Andrew McGlashan28-Feb-2017

Match Facts

March 1, 2017
Start time 2.00pm local (0100GMT)Jeetan Patel adds another spin option for New Zealand•Getty Images

The big picture

New Zealand need back-to-back wins to extend a run of eight home series victories in a row – a ninth would put them alone in second place, behind South Africa’s gargantuan 17-series streak which stretched from 2002-2009. Speaking of South Africa, while one win will give them this series, they also need to take both matches to hold onto their No. 1 otherwise Australia will yo-yo back to top spot.First things first. They’ll be keen to wrap up the series in Hamilton, not least because it would give them the chance to rest the odd player, specifically Kagiso Rabada, from the final match ahead of the Tests. Although their results have flip-flopped in the series, the scale of their victory in Wellington will test New Zealand’s resolve.A deciding match at Eden Park, which carries history for South Africa, would be a terrific end to the series. For that to occur, New Zealand will have to bat much better. Martin Guptill’s return will help but aside from him, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, question marks remain over the others.All eyes will be on the surface. The pitch used for the first match of series turned appreciably although a next door strip will be rolled out this time. New Zealand three specialist spinners, South Africa two? Five in a match in a country where seam normally rules. Surely not.

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand LWLWW

South Africa WLWWW

In the spotlight

Martin Guptill has batted in the middle twice in two months (making 112 for Auckland and 61 against Australia) but there is an expectation that he can give New Zealand’s top order a punch it has been missing. His record facing South Africa, however, is his weakest against anyone he has played regularly with an average of 22.07 from 14 innings. He does have a century, though, and it came in his last but one innings against them to help level the 2015 series in South Africa. A repeat would be gratefully received.David Miller hasn’t got going since his return from the finger injury he sustained against Sri Lanka. He has twice fallen to spin – edging Ish Sodhi’s googly and flicking Mitchell Santner to midwicket – which is likely to be a key element of this match. Coupled with JP Duminy’s own issues of converting starts, it has made South Africa’s middle order slightly less daunting than it could have been. But that can change quickly.

Team news

New Zealand need to work out how to fit in Luke Ronchi. That makes Neil Broom, who has had three failures in this series, vulnerable with both allrounders, Jimmy Neesham and Colin de Grandhomme, having had backing from Mike Hesson. Three frontline spinners would appear unlikely, especially as Tim Southee’s off-cutters proved effective last time in Hamilton, although Jeetan Patel could play ahead of Ish Sodhi to target the left handers.New Zealand (probable) 1 Martin Guptill, Dean Brownlie, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Jimmy Neesham, 6 Luke Ronchi (wk), 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Ish Sodhi/Jeetan Patel, 11 Trent BoultSouth Africa have tweaked their pace attack throughout the series. If they want to bring in left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi, the most vulnerable could be Wayne Parnell who, while not being poor, has been the least consistent seamerSouth Africa (probable) 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 JP Duminy, 6 David Miller, 7 Dwaine Pretorius, 8 Wayne Parnell/Tabraiz Shamsi, 9 Andile Phehlukwayo, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Imran Tahir

Pitch and conditions

This match was originally scheduled to be played in Napier, but they lost it following the abandonment against Australia and subsequent investigations which showed serious problems with the outfield. The previous pitch in Hamilton spun so much AB de Villiers said it was the toughest conditions he had faced. It may not turn quite so much this time, but should still aid the spinners. There is the chance of thunderstorms on Tuesday which could impact preparation, but match day looks fine and warm.

Stats and trivia

• The most overs of spin bowled by New Zealand in a home ODI came earlier this season against Bangladesh in Nelson when Mitchell Santner, Jeetan Patel and Kane Williamson sent down 28.
• If Quinton de Kock makes his sixth fifty-plus score in a row it will set a new South Africa record.
• A New Zealand wicketkeeper hasn’t scored an ODI fifty since January 23, 2015 when Luke Ronchi made 170 not out against Sri Lanka – that’s a span of 40 innings.

Quotes

“It’s exciting to be back, it’s been a while. We’ve got two games to win so it doesn’t get much bigger than that.”
Martin Guptill“We’re always confident going into a game, but never complacent. We know that the Black Caps can come and get a victory over us here, they’ve got all the necessary skill and all the talent to do it.”

Chris Cairns, the former New Zealand allrounder, has told the jury in his perjury trial in London that there is “no truth” to allegations that he attempted to persuade his team-mate, Lou Vincent, to take part in match-fixing

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Nov-2015Chris Cairns, the former New Zealand allrounder, has told the jury in his perjury trial in London that there is “no truth” to allegations that he attempted to persuade his team-mate, Lou Vincent, to take part in match-fixing.Cairns, who was taking the stand at Southwark Crown Court for the first time in the trial after listening to three weeks of testimony, repeatedly denied any involvement in match-fixing.He denies two counts of perjury and perverting the course of justice, relating to his successful 2012 libel action against Lalit Modi, while his co-defendant and former attourney, Andrew Fitch-Holland, is accused of perverting the course of justice.Asked by Orlando Pownall, his barrister, whether at any stage he was involved in match-fixing, Cairns replied: “No.””Did you contemplate match-fixing?” Pownall continued.Cairns again replied: “No.”When it was put to Cairns that he had attempted to coerce his former team-mates into match-fixing, including Vincent and the current New Zealand captain, Brendon McCullum, who testified last month, he repeated his denials.The court heard how, in 2008, Cairns had signed a three-year deal to captain Chandigarh Lions in the now-defunct Indian Cricket League. His contract was worth NZ$350,000 per year, a prospect that made him “very excited” in the latter years of his career, especially having had a “significant drop” since his final international appearances two years earlier.However, according to Vincent’s testimony, Cairns had ordered him to fix games by deliberately playing badly. When Vincent told Cairns how he had declined the offer of cash and a prostitute to get involved in fixing, Cairns had allegedly responded: “You did the right thing … that’s good cover. You’re working for me now.”Cairns denied all of these incidents, adding that, had Vincent told him of any approach, it would have been immediately reported to Howard Beer and Tony Greig, the administrators of the ICL.”Did you at any stage seek to persuade him, successfully or not, to underperform?” Pownell asked. Cairns replied: “No.”The trial continues.

Michael Clarke is almost certain to miss his first Test in Delhi due to the degenerative back injury he has sustained throughout his career

Brydon Coverdale21-Mar-2013Michael Clarke appears almost certain to miss the fourth and final Test against India in Delhi after failing to take part in Australia’s last training session before the match. Clarke’s likely absence will open the door for Australia to appoint their 44th Test captain, most likely Clarke’s deputy Shane Watson, which would be a rapid return to favour after he was one of the four players left out of the previous Test for disciplinary reasons, and voiced his opinion that the punishment was “very harsh”.Clarke has had ongoing back problems for more than a decade, and suffered pain while fielding on the fourth morning of the Mohali Test. Although he batted in the second innings of that match, he was clearly hampered, and did not take part in either of Australia’s practice sessions at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Wednesday or Thursday. Australia might not make a decision on Clarke until the morning of the match, but his lack of training would make it near impossible to choose him.Australia could make several changes, with the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade likely to return at the expense of Brad Haddin, after being ruled out due to an ankle injury in Mohali. Xavier Doherty’s chances of retaining his place appear slim, after he looked dejected during a long on-field chat with coach Mickey Arthur. Given the likelihood of a slow, spinning pitch, Glenn Maxwell could be in contention for Moises Henriques’ place as the allrounder.But the major issue for Australia is the likely loss of Clarke, not only for his generally shrewd captaincy, but more significantly, for his run-scoring and ability to handle spinning conditions. Clarke has scored 286 runs at 47.66 on this tour, comfortably the most by any Australian. He is also the only member of the touring party to have made a century in the Test series.By comparison, Watson has failed to convert his starts and has averaged 25.20 since taking on the vice-captaincy in 2011. He has also failed to score a century in that time, with his highest score being 88 against South Africa in Johannesburg. He hasn’t scored a Test century, either as player or vice-captain, since October 2010.”He’s plays his own way, he’s very aggressive and he’s a match-winner. I love seeing him play that way,” Clarke said of Watson before training on Thursday. “I think it’s just a matter of time before Watto (Watson) walks out there and gets a big hundred. He works as hard as anybody. He wants to have success, he wants to help his team win. I wouldn’t be surprised if he walks out in this Test and comes out with a bang, with a hundred to finish this tour.”Although Watson has not officially been declared the leader if Clarke is ruled out, both Clarke and the coach Mickey Arthur have said over the past few days he would be the logical candidate. Watson returned to the squad this week having flown home for the birth of his first child, which coincided with him being axed for failing to complete a homework task set by Arthur. After the innings loss in the second Test in Hyderabad, he was back at training in Delhi on Wednesday.”Shane has my full support if he’s appointed captain,” Clarke said. “Shane, like the rest of the players, missed the last Test match. If he was available for the Test he would have played. He was made unavailable, and that’s why he spoke to his wife and flew home for the birth of his first child.”It worked out nicely but he would have stayed and played the Test match [in Mohali] and missed the birth if he was available. I think Shane, like the other three players, have served their sentence in missing that game. He’s 100% available for this Test match, and at this stage, like I’ve said for a long time, he’s our vice-captain. In my opinion if the board and the other selectors appoint him as captain he has my 100% full support.”Although Clarke was speaking before the training session, and was at the time hopeful of playing, he conceded he had been in considerable pain due to his back injury over the past few days. Clarke, 31, has been managing his back problem since he was 17, and the ongoing issue is sometimes seen as evidence his career might not last as long as some other batsmen. Clarke does not believe the problem will affect his cricket longevity, but believed it was an issue that could flare up at any time.”My back gets irritated when I’m in flexion and I rotate,” Clarke said. “I hurt it the other day while fielding [in Mohali], sprinting for a ball, picking it up, and throwing it off balance, which is exactly the opposite to what my back likes, but I’ve done that a number of times throughout my career in regards to when I field. Sometimes with degeneration of the disc, it can flare up, but I will manage it as well as I can. I’m very grateful for the people around, especially [team physio] Alex Kountouris, and my physio when I’m back in Sydney, to keep me on the park consistently.”I was in a bit of pain [in Mohali], unfortunately the painkillers wore off. I don’t know if it’s as bad as it’s been. It’s not a nice feeling. It was very uncomfortable and it impacted my performance, in regards to not the number of runs I made, but the movement. I felt I couldn’t move down the wicket because I was so restricted, and I’d hate to see what the fielding side of it looked like. It’s slowly improving. If you ask Alex or the team doctor, they might have a different impression.”Clarke has never missed a Test due to injury, but if he is forced to sit out in Delhi it will create extra pressure on the rest of the batting order, given how heavily Australia have relied on him in recent times. Fortunately for the Australians, Steven Smith showed his class against spin during the Mohali Test. Phillip Hughes, who had looked awful when facing the slow bowlers during the first two Tests, fought through his problems and scored 69 in the second innings.”I think Hughesy (Hughes) is probably a great example of learning on this tour,” Clarke said. “I think every single one of us would walk away from this tour and have learnt something. I think Hughesy showed that last game. He changed a couple of things in his game to help him have success in these conditions especially against spin bowling, and it really worked for him.”