Ferling overcomes her nerves

A gangling, giggling fast bowler, all of 17, finds out she's playing an important World Cup match against the old rivals after the woman she idolizes is ruled out unfit. "Instant nerves" result, but in a low-scoring game, she pounds in, a bow holding her flying long hair together, and strikes with her first delivery. She strikes again in the first over of a comeback spell, removing the game's top-scorer. She ends with 10-0-35-3 in only her second international match. Not exactly a normal Friday for your average teenager.

But Australia's Holly Ferling is no normal teenager. And it is not the first time she's made an immediate impact after replacing an injured player. She took a hat-trick with her first three balls in men's grade cricket in her hometown of Kingaroy in Queensland. She was 14 then. She is the first female to be declared the Queensland Junior Cricketer of the Year and has reportedly impressed Jeff Thomson, the former Australia fast bowler. Today, she tested England with the bounce she generated at speeds in the late 110kphs, striking for someone so young.

Her obvious talent cannot mask her age, and when she walked into the media room at Brabourne Stadium, she looked every bit the awkward teenager feeling overwhelmed, with spotlights trained on her and people waiting to ask questions. Just like she was able to overcome her nerves on the field, though, she answered without inhibition, flashing the radiant smile of a young girl thrilled beyond measure to have done what she did.

With her inspiration Ellyse Perry ruled out with a stomach bug, Ferling found out she was going to play about an hour before the start. "I was like, 'oh my God, I am playing England'. It was an unreal feeling," Ferling said. "I was just excited to get another game."

Perry had a few words of advice for Ferling, whose international debut had come only a week ago against Pakistan. "She just wished me luck and told me to hit the deck. My goal was just to come in and bowl fast."

Brought back for her third spell in the 41st over of England's chase, Ferling felt tense again. "I was so nervous. I was trying to keep things simple which is something I have struggled with in the past, and tried to do too much. Hopefully they'd make the mistakes." Lydia Greenway, on 49, hit the final ball of that Ferling over to short extra cover.

Ferling felt she had come a long way in the past year, with support from Queensland Cricket and Cricket Australia. She then forgot the name of the place she trains at. "Centre of Excellence," the team's media manager helpfully reminded her.

Ferling's voice was laced with emotion when she revealed what Perry, who has represented Australia in World Cup football as well, meant to her. "I have always looked up to her. To do what she has done at such a young age is an incredible feat and I don't think it will ever be done again. To play alongside her against Pakistan and then to train alongside her and to be in the team environment with her is just an incredible feeling."

Didn't she feel she would be inevitably compared with her idol? The 17-year old laughed as she pointed out the differences. "I wear a bow and my hair is curly."


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McCullum has no issues with Taylor

Ross Taylor, who took temporary leave of absence from New Zealand cricket after losing the Test captaincy, is in the right frame of mind to return in style against England, according to the man who got his job.

Brendon McCullum took over the New Zealand side that lost two Tests heavily in Taylor's absence in South Africa, but which went on to pull off a surprise win in the subsequent ODI series.

Taylor's frosty relationship with the coach who replaced him, Mike Hesson, has been well chronicled, and led to prolonged soul-searching within New Zealand cricket, but McCullum insisted on the eve of a three-match Twenty20 series against England that his own rapport with Taylor was fine.

"There's not too much to discuss from our point of view - there was never really an issue between us," he said. "It was obviously an uncomfortable time for Ross and other people concerned. But as far as our relationship goes, we're fine. We're looking forward to getting out and playing some cricket together."

McCullum suggested that Taylor's reintegration into the New Zealand set-up had been a swift affair, that the player had returned "happy and smiling" and that Taylor and Hesson have patched up some sort of professional relationship ahead of the first T20 match in Hamilton.

"They seem to be working professionally together as well, and I'm sure over time everything will be healed," McCullum said. "Within the team, it's been dealt with really well. The inner sanctum of the group is working well together and it's a cohesive unit so far. We're comfortable where it sits. Everyone is fine. Ross has come back into the group, and fitted in seamlessly."

McCullum accepted that New Zealand do not have the resources to make light of disruption within their ranks. "We can't let any off-field issues have an impact," he said. ""We're not good enough as a team to allow these sorts of distractions."


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Unpaid Rajshahi players threatened boycott

The dispute over the lack of player payments in the BPL has intensified with Chamara Kapugedera confirming that he and other overseas players for Duronto Rajshahi had been set to boycott their match against Khulna Royal Bengals on Friday.

Though a pullout was averted, a source close to the situation told ESPNcricinfo that foreign players from all franchises would stop playing in the BPL if they were not paid by Monday.

Kapugedera and other overseas Rajshahi players were convinced to take the field just before the start of Friday's afternoon game by BCB officials and the match began on time, though the players remain unpaid. The situation was so dire that the Rajshahi management had to request the match referee and the opposition captain to let them field an all-local line-up even after a delayed toss.

"We were going to sit out this game," Kapugedera said in the post-match press conference. "Most of the foreign guys who have been playing these games were doing so without being paid. We played to keep BCB's respect and to give them a chance to pay. We needed to give them a point that we are not going to play without anything.

"The foreign players, seven of us, were waiting for some confirmation from BCB that our first 25% money that they are due to pay us, will go to our accounts, or some certificate that's already going. So we were just waiting for that. We didn't get the money yet but the transaction is being made. Hopefully by Monday we will get the money."

Friday's drama first became visible when Tamim Iqbal walked out for the toss, in place of Kapugedera who has been the captain in recent matches.

ESPNcricinfo understands that although the Rajshahi management had sent out a team list with five overseas players (Charles Coventry, Dilshan Munaweera, Kapugedera, Sean Ervine and Ben Edmondson) in the playing eleven, they had to ask the match referee and the opposing captain Lou Vincent if the line-up could be changed later as there was a clear threat of a pull-out. Vincent agreed and the match referee went along with Tamim for the toss but the BCB managed to avoid a boycott.

"By the time of the toss, we hadn't received the confirmation so we were waiting for it," Kapugedera said. "That's why Tamim went to the toss because we were not sure if we are going to play. But before 20 minutes, we got the confirmation."

This season the BCB have taken up the responsibility to make all payments to players, and had asked the franchises to send them the money in three installments. The Rajshahi overseas players were given assurances by the BCB chairman that the first 25% will be given to them, but according to Kapugedera, time ran out.

"We have held couple of meetings with the [Duronto Rajshahi] owners and chairman of BCB, and told them that we are not going to play if we don't get paid.

"We have played almost all the matches, we haven't been paid anything. That's what we told them, 'What is the guarantee that we will get the money by the end of this tournament?'"

As far as his decision to play this year's BPL was concerned, Kapugedera said that BCB's assurance ahead of the tournament that they would handle all payment convinced him to come to Bangladesh.

"Our agents guaranteed us. The owners were very generous, promised us that we will get money. We didn't have any doubts coming here. When we knew that everything will go through BCB, we have enough foundation to believe that nothing dramatic will be happening.

"You can't blame any one person, end of the day we had discussions. I think the problem is solved," he said.

Despite BCB's promise, Kapugedera warned that if the money doesn't arrive by Monday (February 11), the boycott would be enforced. "We haven't seen anything yet. The players will stand the same position as today, if we don't see anything in the bank accounts. But from what I have seen and heard today, there won't be any issues on Monday."

With additional inputs from Firdose Moonda


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Chittagong crush leaders Sylhet

Chittagong Kings 193 for 4 (Naeem 58, Nabi 3-27) beat Sylhet Royals 74 all out (Rubel 3-14, Enamul 3-14) by 119 runs
Scorecard

Chittagong Kings blazed to their fourth win in a row as they trounced Sylhet Royals by a whopping 119 runs. Their opening batsmen and new-ball bowlers set up the win, their fifth overall, in the most dominant fashion this season.

After trouncing Dhaka by 88 runs the previous day, they bettered the highest victory margin in the competition with this big win.

Naeem Islam and Brendan Taylor began the game with a fiery 118-run opening stand with the Bangladesh batsman taking over his Zimbabwean team-mate when it was time to attack. Naeem struck six boundaries and two sixes in his 43-ball 58 and Taylor matched his score.

After both were dismissed within ten balls of each other, Ryan ten Doeschate and Mahmudullah quickly added 56 for the fourth wicket. Ten Doeschate, the Netherlands allrounder, made 37 off 18 balls with three sixes while Mahmudullah was unbeaten on a 13-ball 24 with a couple of sixes.

Only Mohammad Nabi made any in-roads into Kings picking up three cheap wickets with his offspin, while the rest of the attack floundered badly.

But Royals were always facing an uphill task as they chased 194 runs to win. They were without captain Mushfiqur Rahim and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the duo whose fifties helped them chase a big total against Rangpur Riders the previous day.

Shaun Tait removed the openers and big-hitter Nazmul Hossain Milon with his pace, before Rubel Hossain worked out the middle-order. After both pace bowlers took three wickets each, Arafat Sunny removed Mohammad Nabi who was Royals' only substantial contributor with 35 runs. Enamul Haque jnr completed the rout with three more wickets.


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Wahab takes hat-trick in nine-wicket haul

Wahab Riaz, the Pakistan left-arm fast bowler, took a hat-trick in the Quaid-e-Azam as he finished with career-best figures of 9 for 59 against Lahore Ravi to boost his chances of a recall for the one-day series against South Africa.

Riaz, 27, last played for Pakistan 11 months ago in the Asia Cup but is having a productive first-class season with 48 wickets in 12 matches so far. He was selected for recent tour of India but was not included for any of the one-day internationals.

Lahore Ravi had made a solid start to their innings with an opening stand of 70 before Riaz started to make his mark. He first dismissed Abid Ali with penultimate ball of his ninth over and returned for this 10th over to claim a hat-trick. He dismissed Ahmed Shahzad (29) - who was caught by Usman Salahuddin at first slips - and then bowled of Adnan Akmal and Waqas Ahmed with his next two balls.

In the 41st over of the innings Imran Ali prevented Riaz fron taking another hat-trick after Mohammad Salman and Emmad Ali had fallen to successive ball. Ravi crumbled up at 153 all out in 48.1 overs with Shalimar 121 for 1 in reply at the close.

Riaz hoped his performance would make a difference when it comes being in contention for Pakistan. "I am working hard and never let my hopes down," he said. "I am heading in the right direction bowling hard and keeping myself in best shape."

Riaz took a five-wicket haul on his Test debut against England, at The Oval, in 2010 and collected his first ODI five-wicket bag in the World Cup semi-final against India.


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Asif presents appeal case in Switzerland

Mohammad Asif, the Pakistan fast bowler, has presented his case to have his ICC ban for spot-fixing overturned to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Asif appeared before CAS in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Thursday to try and have his seven-year ban, with two years suspended, quashed but will have to wait at least three weeks for an outcome and it could take as many as six.

"Today was quite busy," Asif told AFP after emerging from the CAS headquarters. "They will give us their decision in the next three weeks. Hopefully I am going to win this case. I'd like to play cricket again."

Salman Butt, the former Pakistan captain, will have his hearing on Friday in an attempt to overturn his 10-year ban following the News of the World sting in August 2010 which exposed plans to bowl on-demand no-balls.

On Wednesday Butt said in a statement that he wanted the chance to resume his career. "Cricket is my life and every single day that has passed has been so painful because I have not been able to play. All I want is an opportunity to get back into cricket whilst I am still young and I can still play well."

Mohammad Amir, the third player to be caught in the News of the World sting, decided not to appeal against the five-year ban against him. The ban does not permit the players to take part in any official match - international, domestic or club - until at least September 2015. All three players served time.

Butt served seven months of a 30-month prison sentence, Asif was released from Canterbury Prison in Kent on June 3 last year after he served half of a year-long sentence while Amir spent three months in a young offenders' institution after admitting his charge at a pre-trial hearing.


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Neesham called up for Twenty20

Jimmy Neesham, the Otago allrounder, has been called into New Zealand's squad for the first Twenty20 against England after injuries picked up by pace bowler Ian Butler and allrounder Grant Elliott ruled them out of the Auckland match.

Butler suffered an ankle injury playing for the New Zealand XI against England in the warm-up matches and Elliott has a quad strain although it is hoped both will recover in time for the second match of the series in Hamilton on Tuesday.

Neesham, 22, has played three Twenty20s, all against South Africa in the series late last year, and also featured in the ODIs on the same tour which New Zealand won 2-1.

Elliott made his international comeback in that one-day series after a gap of more than two years while Butler has not played since 2010.


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Australia call up Rohrer and Coulter-Nile

The fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile and the batsman Ben Rohrer are in line to make their international debuts after being named in Australia's Twenty20 squad to take on West Indies next week. Australia's selectors have named a 12-man squad for the one-off game on Wednesday at the Gabba and it is bereft of big names because Australia's Test players will all be in Chennai by then, preparing for the first Test against India.

That means the absence of David Warner (who is also recovering from a thumb injury), Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell and Xavier Doherty, all of whom were part of Australia's squad for the two Twenty20s against Sri Lanka last month. Along with Coulter-Nile and Rohrer, the selectors have added Brad Haddin, Clint McKay and Josh Hazlewood to the squad from outside the group that took on Sri Lanka.

Coulter-Nile, 25, collected 10 wickets at 27.60 for the Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League this summer and is viewed as a future Test and ODI prospect by John Inverarity's selection panel. Rohrer, 31, was a remarkably consistent performer for the Melbourne Renegades this season, scoring 295 runs at 49.16 and a strike rate of 152.06, and in the longer forms he remains an important senior player for New South Wales.

The other potential debutant is Hazlewood, 22, who has already represented Australia in ODI cricket but not in T20. He played only two games for the Sydney Sixers this season but is highly-rated by Inverarity's panel and will be competing for a place alongside several other fast bowlers including McKay, who has played only four T20 internationals despite being Australia's newly-crowned ODI Player of the Year.

The Brisbane game will also mark the return of Haddin to T20 internationals for the first time in 18 months. Haddin, 35, announced his retirement from international T20 cricket in September 2011, declaring at the time that his intention was to focus on Tests and ODIs. However, Haddin has been overtaken by Matthew Wade as Australia's preferred gloveman in all formats and the selectors are keen to keep him around the national setup wherever possible as he remains next in line behind Wade.

"Ben Rohrer had an outstanding season with the Melbourne Renegades in the middle order and Nathan Coulter-Nile has shown very good form in all three formats throughout the summer," Inverarity said. "Brad Haddin and Clint McKay are experienced campaigners and Josh Hazlewood is one of our very promising young pace bowlers who has recently regained full fitness. With the Test squad being in India this fixture will provide some more players with invaluable international experience."

Australia Twenty20 squad Aaron Finch, Shaun Marsh, George Bailey (capt), Adam Voges, Ben Rohrer, Brad Haddin (wk), Ben Cutting, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Faulkner, Clint McKay, Ben Laughlin, Josh Hazlewood.


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Young franchise coaches make their mark

In another coup for rookie coaches, the two teams battling it out for the first-class title in the final week of fixtures are both managed by men in their first season in charge.

Paul Adams' Cobras are top of the table and look likeliest to clinch the prize while Geoffrey Toyana's Lions must beat third-placed Warriors and hope Cobras do not win to claim the silverware. The two franchises shared the domestic one-day cup as well after the final was rained out twice to ensure Adams and Toyana made powerful statements in their opening summers.

While the two coaches celebrate their early success, South African cricket on the whole has reason to be pleased. Yet again, the first-class competition will be decided in the final round of fixtures and this season has been one of its most closely fought.

Of the 27 matches played, there have been only six draws and three washouts. Of the 18 positive results, 13 went into the final day, 10 were completed in three days and one lasted two. The decrease in draws reflects South Africa's more aggressive attitude to cricket which is evident at Test level, especially since Graeme Smith's men claimed the No.1 ranking last year.

What it points to is that the level below international cricket is strong as South Africa continue to produce players ready to play Test cricket. "The depth of quality on the domestic circuit is huge," Toyana said. "If you look at the guys who play franchise cricket who make it to the national team and immediately perform, it is really impressive. Just look at Faf du Plessis who was magical in Australia."

Du Plessis is one example, Dean Elgar, who scored his maiden Test century against New Zealand in Port Elizabeth and Rory Kleinveldt, who replaced Vernon Philander twice due to injury, are two others. Bubbling under are Dolphins' paceman Kyle Abbott, Lions' allrounder Chris Morris and Warriors' offspinner Simon Harmer.

Kleinveldt has been made available for the Cobras match by South African team management, and will be a big boost to the team. They have had to replace batting allrounder Alistair Gray with Richard Levi after the former broke his arm and although Kleinveldt cannot make up for Gray's absence, the presence of a national team member is always regarded as a bonus.

Cobras are a team used to success and want more of it. "We need tunnel vision for the match against the Knights. Our focus is on winning the match, not on the cup," Justin Ontong, their captain said, while Adams added that his team need to produce "top-class cricket," to win the tournament.

For Lions, the approach is more measured. They have not won a first-class competition since the turn of the millennium in 1999-2000 and are pleased to have come this far. "It's been a great experience for me and the boys. They've responded well to my coaching style and I'm quite happy with where we are. It's a photo finish in the Sunfoil Series," Toyana said.

However, amid the back-slapping, Boeta Dippenaar, the former South Africa batsman and current commentator, sees cause for concern. "Is this an indication of a more attack-minded playing mentality and 'win at all costs' attitude within the four day game? Or is it an indication that the players are playing too much one-day cricket, with the effect that the need for patience in building an innings is no longer of importance," he asked.

"I also wonder whether wickets are being prepared for a true battle between bat and ball, or are they being purely prepared for an outright result."

As a possible answer to Dippenaar's questions is that this season there have only been seven scores of over 400, compared with 18 last season and 20 the season before. That could be an indication of conditions becoming more seamer-friendly across the board, especially as South Africa claim to house the best pace attack in the world and want to ensure they have adequate replacements. Or it could be a reflection of a wetter summer which has left surfaces under-prepared.

While the administrators and pundits ponder the reasons why South African cricket has become more cut-throat, the teams involved are looking for one more big push. "It's always been good to see the sides play competitive and winning cricket. It's exciting to not have had so many draws and it's improved this season. Our depth is good and the youngsters coming through are all really impressive," Toyana said. The Test team can only benefit from that.


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Butt pleads to play again as appeal looms

Salman Butt, the former Pakistan captain, has asked for a chance to resume his playing career as he prepares to challenge his ICC ban handed down for spot-fixing during the Lord's Test against England in 2010.

Butt, who was banned for 10 years with the possibility of five suspended, and Mohammad Asif, currently serving a seven-year ban with two suspended, will appear at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, over the next two days in a last-ditch attempt to appeal against the bans.

In a statement released through his lawyer on Wednesday, Butt said: "It may be easy for some people to say that a five-year ban from cricket is all right but what they don't realise is that for a sportsman like me - this is like a lifetime ban," he said in a statement issued by his solicitors this afternoon.

"Cricket is my life and every single day that has passed has been so painful because I have not been able to play. All I want is an opportunity to get back into cricket whilst I am still young and I can still play well."

Asif's hearing is scheduled for Thursday and Butt's for Friday. Unlike criminal trials, CAS hearings are held in private and not open to either the public or media.

Lawyers from both parties - the ICC and the player - will present arguments in front of the three-strong arbitrators panel, including the current president of CAS. Butt will be represented by Yasin Patel, a London-based barrister, who was also part of the legal team that fought his case in the UK.

"We are appealing the sanctions that were imposed upon us and they should not have been so high," Patel said. It is understood that Asif's arguments will be similar.

CAS, which was formed in 1983 to rule on a variety of disputes within sport, is widely regarded as the final point in the appeal process. It cannot reverse the UK court rulings because the criminal proceedings were under UK laws, but it does have the power to reduce or overturn the ICC sanctions as they are part of the appeal system laid down in the ICC anti-corruption code. If the outcome was an alteration to the bans it is unlikely that there would be a counter-appeal process open to the ICC. No new witnesses or evidence can be produced by the players.

It is not yet clear whether the CAS will issue an instant verdict and that will depend on the arguments they have heard and if they are satisfied or if they require more time to study the case.

Mohammad Amir, the third player to be caught in the News of the World sting, has decided not to appeal against the five-year ban against him. The ban does not permit the players to take part in any official match - international, domestic or club - until at least September 2015. All three players served time.

Butt served seven months of a 30-month prison sentence, Asif was released from Canterbury Prison in Kent on June 3 last year after he served half of a year-long sentence while Amir spent three months in a young offenders' institution after admitting his charge at a pre-trial hearing.


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Bresnan to head to USA for surgery

Tim Bresnan, the England bowler, will travel to America shortly for a second operation on his troublesome elbow which ruled him out of the tour to New Zealand.

When he was left out of the squads for New Zealand, the national Geoff Miller said that further surgery might be required. Bresnan underwent his first operation late in 2011 and has struggled to regain top form since, finishing 2012 with two wicketless Tests in India following a lean series against South Africa, and has often appeared down on pace.

Andrew Gale, Bresnan's captain at Yorkshire, confirmed the latest development: "He's going out to America in the next week or so, and he'll be there for a week or two to have an operation and then some rehab on his elbow," he told the Telegraph and Argus.

Bresnan's most recent appearance for England was a success when he took 4 for 45 in the final ODI against England and Gale was hopeful he would be back to full fitness early in the season. There is an outside chance of him featuring on Yorkshire's pre-season tour of Barbados.

Bresnan will have his eyes set on being available for the New Zealand series which starts in late May, but a more realistic aim could be the Champions Trophy where England are keen for him to take the No 7 slot in the one-day side to enable them to play five frontline bowlers in home conditions.

In his absence, Chris Woakes has a chance to establish his credentials in New Zealand. Woakes is part of all three squads for the tour although will have to move ahead of Stuart Broad and Graham Onions to earn a Test place.


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Cricket not linked to drug report - Sutherland

Cricket Australia's chief executive James Sutherland has said there was no evidence linking cricket to an Australian Crime Commission report that has found widespread drug use in Australian professional sport as well as links to organised crime and possible match-fixing.

However, the disturbing findings of the report have prompted Cricket Australia to consider its integrity processes, and in a statement the organisation said it would "immediately implement a review of our own integrity systems, controls and processes to ensure that Australian cricket is fully equipped to deal with the heightened integrity risks that have come to light this week".

Sutherland and other chief executives of major sports were part of an hour-long press conference on Thursday in Canberra, where some of the findings of the Australian Crime Commission's year-long investigation were revealed. The ACC report suggested there was widespread use of banned substances including peptides, hormones and illicit drugs in Australian sport.

"The findings are shocking and they'll disgust Australian sports fans," Australia's justice minister Jason Clare said. "The findings indicate that drugs are being facilitated by sports scientists, coaches, support staff as well as doctors and pharmacists, and in some cases sports scientists and others orchestrating the doping of entire teams. In some cases players [are] being administered with drugs that have not yet been approved for human use.

"The investigation has also found that organised crime is used in the distribution of these drugs. This is particularly serious. Links between organised crime and players exposes players to the risk of being co-opted for match fixing and this investigation has identified one possible example of that, and that is currently under investigation ... It's cheating but it's worse than that. It's cheating with the help of criminals."

The Australian Crime Commission said the sporting bodies affected had been briefed on the investigation's findings. While the specific sports in which widespread drug use was found were not revealed to the public, Sutherland said there had been no suggestion cricket was directly affected.

"There's no specific evidence that has been passed through to us but all this report does for us is heighten our concerns about risk and gives us a mandate with all of the other sports to take our own action independently, but also collectively with other sports, the government and other agencies," Sutherland said.

When asked about match-fixing and the integrity of cricket, especially the Big Bash League, Sutherland said: "We're as confident as we can be in that regard. We have our own integrity unit that has surveillance activities over all of the Big Bash League matches. That's networked through to the ICC, who has its own anti-corruption unit and we work very closely with them, with information not just about the Australian betting market but the global betting market.

"We're as confident as we can be. Of course this report heightens our awareness of risk and we will only be taking a step up in terms of the support around our integrity unit to protect the Big Bash and all other cricket matches played in Australia."

The release of the report came in the same week that the AFL found itself embroiled in a drug scandal centred on the Essendon club and its use of supplements given to players. The fast bowler Peter Siddle, when asked about what supplements Australian cricketers were given, said only basic items like multi-vitamins were used and none were injected.

"It's just all the general multi-vitamins and general stuff for health and wellbeing," Siddle said. "Ours is pretty simple. Some blokes take them, some blokes don't. It's pretty standard stuff."


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No games in Jaipur for Rajasthan Royals

The Rajasthan Royals will play all their home games of the 2013 IPL in Gujarat instead of Jaipur, their original home city. The decision to move the matches from Jaipur to Rajkot and Ahmedabad was taken after an IPL governing council meeting on Monday in Chennai.

Following a dispute between the Rajasthan Cricket Association and the state sports council, the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur has been unavailable for the RCA for almost a year.

Since the dispute could not be resolved, the governing council, in its previous meeting on January 23 had placed Ahmedabad and Rajkot on standby for hosting the Royals' home games. The governing council meeting confirmed allocating four games each to the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium in Ahmedabad and the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium in Rajkot.

Royals have used Jaipur as their base in each of the five years since the IPL was launched in 2008.


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An off day for all - Mithali

India captain Mithali Raj could barely bring herself to speak at the post-match press conference. Surely it couldn't have ended so soon for the Women's World Cup hosts. It wasn't even a week since the tournament started, and they were already out, going down to defending champions England and shocked by unfancied Sri Lanka. India had been knocked out of the 2007 men's World Cup by Sri Lanka too, an exit their captain MS Dhoni calls a bigger setback than the recent home and away Test series losses.

There was a catch in Raj's voice as she spoke at the post-match presentation. Sitting in the chair in the media room later, she stared vacantly, head tilted upwards, as journalists walked in. She continued to stare in space for a few seconds after the first question was asked. Finally, she found her voice, saying she had never thought Sri Lanka would make as many as 282, after they chose to bat.

"I think honestly 280 is something I didn't expect Sri Lanka to score with the kind of bowling attack we had," Raj said. "When you chase a big total it is very important to have a very good start. We lost a quick wicket and then as we built a bit of partnership between me and Thrirush Kamini, we intended it to go big. After me, we lost Harmanpreet Kaur. I think the top three batsmen below 50 runs, that is where I thought the match is going to be tight."

Though India were chasing 283, getting to 251 would have sufficed to take them to the Super Six on a better net run-rate than West Indies. Raj said India wanted to go for the win initially. "Our first intention when we went in to bat was to chase 280 but as we lost wickets that definitely was playing in the minds of the batsmen who were going in. All of them were aware of the 251 target."

Against England as well as Sri Lanka, India's bowlers went for a lot of runs, conceding 272 and 282. Raj said she hadn't expected her entire attack to have an off day and felt they had given Sri Lanka too much width. "The Sri Lankans scored most of their runs square of the wicket. That itself shows as a bowler, where you are bowling. All the bowlers were off colour today. I guess we can expect one or two to be off colour but not all of them. I won't say it was complacency [against Sri Lanka] but I had a lot of faith in my bowlers. Against England also we gave extra runs in the last session and today we gave too many runs after the second Powerplay."

Even Jhulan Goswami , India's most successful and the second-most successful ODI bowler, conceded 63 runs. Raj defended her premier bowler, saying she could not be expected to deliver every time. "It's not that one player performs each and every day. She has done well against West Indies and England. But I didn't expect the other bowlers to have an off day too. There is one bowler you watch for and if that bowler may not get the right line and length on that day that doesn't mean she has let me down. She has won many games for India. I don't think she has let me down."

Raj said she was disappointed for having failed as captain to take India to the next stage of the tournament but not for having failed as a batsman with scores of 8 and 20 against England and Sri Lanka. "As a player there are fluctuations in sports. Sometimes you are very good, sometimes you don't take off. As a player I don't think too much into it."

While Raj felt India had fielded "very well" in the tournament, she also saw potential in India's young players. "I really cannot talk about the future but there are a lot of positives we can take from the young players like Thirush Kamini, Poonam Raut, Harmanpreet Kaur and Karu Jain. It is very disappointing to be out of the tournament as the host team. But I am sure in the future these girls will perform well for India.


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Gibson signs new three-year deal

Ottis Gibson has signed a new three-year deal to keep him as West Indies coach until 2016.

Gibson came close to becoming the new Warwickshire director of cricket last week, having attended a second interview on his way to Australia, but the WICB were keen to retain his services and he will now take West Indies beyond the 2015 World Cup.

He became West Indies coach in early 2010, replacing John Dyson, having been England's bowling coach since 2007. Under his charge West Indies have shown recent improvements, notably by winning the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, although he has had to contend with his share of off-field issues such as the stand-off with Chris Gayle and the impact of the IPL on the Caribbean season.

"I enjoy being involved in West Indies cricket and it is something I'm very excited about considering what we have achieved - especially in the last year - beating New Zealand at home in all three formats and winning the World Twenty20 tournament in Sri Lanka," Gibson said. "This confirms that we are making progress and I am happy to continue with the team for the next three years as we look to take West Indies cricket forward."

"There is a lot to do and things to look forward to. There is the Champions Trophy in England this year, we will be defending the World T20 title in Bangladesh next year and there is the World Cup in 2015. These are things we have talked about and these are things the selectors have been planning for.

"We will also look to climb the ICC rankings in all three formats. This is something we have to strive for, to make the move up. There is a lot more one-day cricket than Test cricket this year, but next year there are quite a few more Test matches, so these will be opportunities for the players to perform and for the team to progress. You set goals and the real enjoyment is when you achieve those goals and see progress being made."

Michael Muirhead, the WICB chief executive, said: "Ottis has added significant value to the development of the West Indies team during his tenure and we are delighted to have secured his services for another three years.

"Most notably is that he led the implementation of a system of professionalism within the team unit and curbed the negative results which we were experiencing with some frequency.

"While there have also been some challenges along the way, these are not to be unexpected in such a dynamic and high pressure environment and the WICB looks forward to the continued development of the West Indies team through this next critical phase under Ottis' stewardship at the elite team level."

West Indies are currently on tour in Australia for a one-day series then return to the Caribbean for a home season that includes a full tour by Zimbabwe, a triangular one-day tournament involving India and Sri Lanka plus a Test series against Pakistan.


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Tough for Taylor to return - Hadlee

Sir Richard Hadlee has questioned Ross Taylor's response to his sacking as New Zealand captain and believes he should have played on after the fall-out rather than take time away from the game.

Taylor, who was relieved of the captaincy after the Sri Lanka tour despite drawing the Test series 1-1, opted out of the following trip to South Africa saying he needed a break from the international game. He will return to the New Zealand side for the Twenty20 series against England which starts on Saturday and is also in the one-day squad. Barring any dramatic change in events, he will resume his Test career next month.

In Taylor's absence, New Zealand were crushed in the Tests against South Africa, including being bowled out for 45 in Cape Town, and also lost the Twenty20 series, although they fought back impressively to take the one-day contest.

Hadlee, while sympathising with the poor handling of the situation, would have preferred to see Taylor move on quickly from losing the leadership and return to the ranks immediately.

"I find it very interesting how Taylor reacted. In some ways I'm a little disappointed that Taylor decided to exile himself for a period of time," Hadlee told ESPNcricinfo. "If you fall off the horse you get back on it, and I can't imagine an All Black rugby player who was captain then was replaced not make himself available to play again as soon as possible.

"Clearly Taylor had been affected in some way and needed to get his mind right. It was his call, but I'm not sure it was good thing because when he gets back into the side it's going to be quite an uneasy period for him, and other team-mates, knowing that he walked away."

Hadlee, though, added his voice to those unimpressed by the handling of the whole situation, which saw Mike Hesson, the New Zealand coach, tell Taylor before the Test series in Sri Lanka he wanted a change of captain but, it later emerged, only in the limited-overs formats. Taylor has recently met with Hesson for the first time since losing his position and is ready to move on, though he admitted that the relationship will take time to develop.

"There were clearly mixed messages, which have been well documented," Hadlee said. "Taylor had clearly been hurt and offended, perhaps not so much by the decision but how it came about because it was done before the first Test. That decision should have been made in the review after the tour."

Hadlee would have been comfortable if New Zealand had gone down the split-captaincy route now used by England, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. But, despite the circumstances of the change, he sees Brendon McCullum as someone with the right qualities to lead New Zealand and does not think he should be judged too harshly on the Test performances.

"At the moment Brendon McCullum is doing all forms and clearly struggling in the Test team, but I think that is more to do with resources available rather than issues with him personally," he said. "He has shown his true colours, especially as a leader, in the one-day format so that is pretty encouraging."

Of greater concern for McCullum, according to Hadlee, is that he works out what sort of batsman he wants to be in the longer format. After being elevated to opener, partly due to the lack of other options as much as his suitability for the position, he has largely shelved his natural attacking game to try and set a more cautious tone for his team-mates but that may not be making best use of his ability.

"The big problem Brendon is facing at the moment is how he, himself, plays the game as a batsman. Does he open or drop down the order? Does he play aggressively, take high risks, which if he fails can set a bad example or take a more circumspect role that goes against his instincts? He's caught in between with how he should play but that is what the selectors have left the left him with."

Although McCullum will have Taylor back to boost his batting order against England, another of New Zealand's most destructive players remains unavailable. Jesse Ryder, who has not played for New Zealand since being dropped for disciplinary reasons during the one-day series against South Africa last year, will not resume his international career in the near future despite a prolific domestic season.

Ryder will continue with the plan drawn up in the wake of his latest problems with authority last year and play a full season for Wellington before taking up his IPL deal with Delhi Daredevils. Hadlee, who had a close association with Ryder when he was chairman of selectors, hopes to see him back in the set-up but says that no more controversies can be tolerated.

"When Jesse is ready to come back that will be great for our game, but the most important thing he needs to do is obey a set of rules and protocols," Hadlee said. "If you are going to break them it doesn't set a very good example, if Jesse can get away with things. We can't have any more controversy. If he's willing and able to do that he'll be a great asset to our game."

Sir Richard Hadlee was promoting Sky Sports' year of live cricket, which includes England v New Zealand, back to back Ashes, ICC Champions Trophy and live county matches


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Australia and NZ battle for points, Pakistan and SA for survival

The last round of matches in Group B of the Women's World Cup may not contain the intrigue of those in Group A, but there's plenty at stake in Cuttack. Australia and New Zealand have already qualified for the Super Six, having won two games each, but the winner of their contest will carry forward more points to the next stage of the competition. The match between Pakistan and South Africa, however, is a knockout. The winner goes through, the loser plays for seventh place.

As a result, Australia and New Zealand had an intense training session at the DRIEMS Ground, as did Pakistan and South Africa at the Barabati Stadium, despite all four teams playing two games in the last three days. The Pakistan batsmen put their heads down and tried to block as many balls as they could, while the South African camp focused on catching drills. With good reason.

Pakistan scored only 188 runs for the loss of 20 wickets in their first two games against Australia and New Zealand, getting dismissed in 33.2 and 41.2 overs. South Africa dropped far too many catches, especially against New Zealand in their tournament opener, which ended in a 151-run defeat.

Though the South Africans put on a much better display against Australia, their death-over batting prevented them from achieving the second upset of the World Cup, after Sri Lanka shocked England in Group A. The improvement, however, left South Africa upbeat ahead of their contest against Pakistan.

"There are a lot of positive from those [two] games," former India captain Anjum Chopra, who is South Africa batting consultant, said. "We made a few silly errors against New Zealand and that cost us dearly. We came back and rectified those errors in the game against Australia. We would have liked to have the result going in our favour, which could well have been on the cards had we gotten about 30 to 40 runs more. We were about 144 at the end of 36 overs and we finished at 189, which is not very satisfying.

"If we start getting tighter and tighter and taking our chances, we can go through. Every game we have had to go out there and take more than 10 wickets [due to dropped catches], and in international cricket you can't be doing that every day."

The contest at the DRIEMS ground will be intense too. Rivals Australia and New Zealand have faced each other frequently in the past - six times since the beginning of 2012. Australia have the edge in terms of head-to-head contests, but New Zealand are tough opponents on current form.

"We have had two challenging matches against Pakistan and South Africa. It's good preparation," Alex Blackwell, Australia's vice-captain, said. "We've got to do few things better, particularly with our batting. Against New Zealand, we have got to get it all together.

"I am really impressed with what the New Zealanders are putting out, both with the bat and ball. They look like a very good all-round side. Players in form, Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine coming back into form and adding some guts to their batting, and Nicola Browne as well, so we've got to work out ways to get them out. We normally play on fast and bouncy wickets either back home or in New Zealand. But coming up against a very familiar opposition but in some challenging conditions [will be testing for both teams]."


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India not taking SL lightly in wide open group

Sri Lanka have never beaten India in women's cricket. They hadn't beaten defending champions England either, until three days ago. No wonder India captain Mithali Raj was wary of Sri Lanka going into their final group game of the tournament, especially given the flat pitch at Brabourne Stadium, which has produced big totals in all but one of six innings so far.

"Next game is a do-or-die game for us and we are not going to take Sri Lanka lightly," Raj said. "On such a wicket, especially, it could be anybody's game and they have done well against England."

Raj said India's unbeaten record against Sri Lanka wouldn't make any difference to their approach. "This is a World Cup. We definitely don't look down upon any team as such. So we are going to take them as another opponent that we need to win against to qualify for the Super Six. That's our aim now."

All four teams in Group A have a victory each. While the two sides that win on Tuesday - England play West Indies in Mumbai as well - will proceed to the Super Six, the final spot will go to the losing team with the better net run-rate. Sri Lanka's NRR nose-dived after their heavy defeat to West Indies, but their captain Shashikala Siriwardene was hoping to beat India so that her side wouldn't have to depend on the other game's result. Siriwardene also felt India's batsmen wouldn't be as big a headache as Stefanie Taylor and Co proved to be, given they don't have the powerful hitters West Indies did.

In all four games played so far in Mumbai, teams have bowled after winning the toss but of those sides, only Sri Lanka ended up victorious, that too, off the last ball against England. India lost to England after asking them to bat, but Raj said she would still choose to field, if given a fresh pitch.

Tuesday's game between India and Sri Lanka will be played under lights, just like the tournament opener between India and West Indies. The India bowlers got consistent movement, in the air and off the pitch, and the West Indians found batting difficult in the evening.

England captain Charlotte Edwards pointed out that difference between morning and afternoon starts, but Raj was clear what she would do.

"I will [have to] see if we are getting a fresh wicket. If it is the same condition I will still opt to field because the way Jhulan [Goswami] bowled in the first spell [against England], she was brilliant. So I wouldn't want any other pacer to get that kind of an edge so I will still go for fielding if we win the toss."

India had stuck early against England, but following a steady century partnership between Edwards and Sarah Taylor, they conceded too many runs in the latter half of the innings. Raj was hopeful of avoiding a repeat of that against Sri Lanka. "The kind of start the bowlers have given us, getting us the first breakthrough, I only hope that we don't give away too many runs in the Powerplay or in the last session.

"That's where I guess we were a little lost [against England] so probably that wouldn't be happening in the next game. In the last session we seemed a little lost in terms of bowling and [giving away] few boundaries. I guess we will try and minimise the boundaries."

To achieve that, India could take a look at the way England have tackled the benign conditions. "I think we have adapted well," Edwards said. "It is important that we bowl wicket-to-wicket stuff. That is something we have tried to talk about. Any width on these wickets is just a free hit."


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Mahmood, Hodge power Barisal to victory

Barisal Burners 148 for 3 (Hodge 63, Mahmood 52*) beat Khulna Royal Bengals 145 for 7 (Nafees 66, Mahmood 3-23) by seven wickets
Scorecard

Barisal Burners came out on top in the battle to avoid the bottom spot in the league, thanks to Azhar Mahmood's all-round performance. They crushed Khulna Royal Bengals by seven wickets to remain in contention for a top-four finish, while the Royal Bengals are more or less out of the race.

The Burners captain Brad Hodge made it an easy passage for his team. His 63 off 47 balls led the chase of 145. Hodge hit six fours and two sixes over long-on, using the pace of the bowlers whenever it was offered on a slow wicket, but mostly worked the angles to collect singles.

He added 93 for the third wicket with Azhar Mahmood, who was unbeaten on a 33-ball 52 with seven boundaries and a six. The experienced pair sensibly played out the dangerous Shapoor Zadran before attacking the rest of the bowlers, who looked insipid at most times. Hodge and Mahmood batted at more than 10 an over, making sure the target was reached in 17.5 overs.

Mahmood had success with the ball too, taking 3 for 23 to keep the Royal Bengals to a sub-150 score. After bowling tightly with the new ball, he picked up three wickets in his last two overs, including the top-scorer Shahriar Nafees. The three-wicket burst stifled the Royal Bengals in the final few overs.

Nafees had made 66 off 50 balls with nine boundaries, but never got support after Nazimuddin fell in the ninth over. Before his dismissal, Nazimuddin had blasted two boundaries and two sixes in his 30-ball 33, but after the opening partnership was broken, their foreign batsmen in the middle-order failed. Once Travis Birt, Daniel Harris and Riki Wessels were removed, the lower order hardly made an impression.

Apart from Mahmood, Alok Kapali and newcomer Farveez Maharoof took two wickets each.


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Watson's Test recall not guaranteed

Michael Clarke has warned his vice-captain Shane Watson that he faces much stiffer competition for a place in Australia's Test team by choosing to play as a batsman rather than an allrounder.

Watson will return to international cricket in Wednesday's ODI against West Indies in Canberra, ahead of the four-Test tour of India, having spent a month out of the game due to a calf injury that he aggravated during the Boxing Day Test.

For the time being Watson has decided not to bowl, as it has typically been bowling that has caused his many injury problems over the years. He is desperate to enjoy a sustained run in the national team instead of constantly battling niggles. Although he hopes to be in a position to start bowling again ahead of this year's Ashes tour, Watson will for the time being need to justify his place as a batsman only.

"I don't think anybody walks into the Australian cricket team. It's about performance, and the strength of Shane is that he's performed over a period of time, in all three forms of the game," Clarke said. "He's vice-captain of the team and it will be great to have Watto back.

"As I've said to Watto, while he's not bowling he goes into a much bigger pool of players ... the pool of batsmen is much bigger than the pool of allrounders in Australian cricket at the moment. But Shane knows if he's at his best, he's as good as any player in the world, let alone in the Australian team. Our goal as a team is to help Watto get back to his best."

On Monday night in Melbourne, Watson was named the Twenty20 International Player of the Year at the Allan Border Medal ceremony, no surprise given his dominance with bat and ball at the World T20 in Sri Lanka last year. But it has also been an injury-plagued pair of summers for Watson, who missed all of the 2011-12 home Tests with calf and hamstring problems and managed only three of the six played this season.

His position in the batting order has also been variable: in November 2011 he was opening on the tour of South Africa, then he filled the No.3 spot for most of his appearances last year before slipping down into the No.4 space vacated by Ricky Ponting in December. Watson has spoken of his desire to return to the opening position in Test cricket at some point but he is aware that he needs to be happy with any spot available for him as a batsman only.

"At this point in time it is purely as a batsman and wherever I fit in," Watson said of his role in the Test side. "It's been something that I've been thinking about for a long period of time, especially over the last 12 months, when things haven't gone exactly to plan with my body. Hopefully I can just get some continuity with my batting over the next few months and then slowly build into getting some bowling under my belt.

"The perfect world for me would be making sure I'm able to bowl and contribute with the ball during the Ashes. I know that's looking a long way forward, but even just physically to be able to give myself a chance to get to that is a dream for me at the moment."

Over the course of Watson's career, he has played 38 Tests of a possible 89, the majority having been missed through injury, and his main goal now is to allow himself to pursue a period of stability. That begins with the remaining three ODIs against West Indies, his first matches back at the elite level after returning via grade cricket and a Ryobi Cup match for New South Wales last week.

"One of the hardest things about being injured is coming back and trying to find form as quick as you possibly can," Watson said. "Hopefully I can do that over the next couple of weeks leading into the Indian Test series. Then we'll see how things evolve from there. But I'm certainly not getting in front of myself because I know how quickly it can change.

"The times when I've had the most success playing for Australia has been when I've been able to play games back to back. That's been one of the most frustrating things about the past 12 months, it seems like a lot of the times when I've been playing I've been coming back from injury, which makes it difficult to be able to build some momentum and find some form and hold some form, which I've been able to do in the past."


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Pleased with team effort - Aguilleira

West Indies' captain Merissa Aguilleira was pleased with the all-round effort of her team, and especially the batting, after they routed Sri Lanka by 209 runs in their second match of the Women's World Cup at the MIG Ground in Mumbai. They were bowled out for 179 in their previous match at the Brabourne Stadium, and three days later, the team put up a total of 368 here.

"I must say this is a great example of a team effort," Aguilleira said. "The batsmen did extremely well leading us upfront. We had a lot of people getting into the act with the bat. After that we followed up with the ball also. I think it was an all-round performance."

The major contribution was Stafanie Taylor's knock of 171 and she almost carried her bat through the innings. Aguilleira said the team is always confident of putting up a big score when Taylor is in the middle.

"We cherish Stafanie because she is such a phenomenal player and whenever she bats we believe that we will be able to get runs. She is very dedicated and we look forward to seeing more such innings from her in the future."

Taylor, who crossed her previous best score of 147, said she wanted to score as many runs as possible and that the thought of scoring 200 had crossed her mind. "My aim was just to go out there and do my best and build an innings with the others. The coach wanted me to score 200 today but unfortunately I was tired. I was trying but I think fatigue got the best of me."

Shashikala Siriwardene, the Sri Lanka Women's captain, was particularly unhappy with the team's fielding, as they dropped catches, missed run-outs and gave away many runs in overthrows. "Our fielding let us down very badly. I am very disappointed with it," she said. "Eighty percent of the singles that they took shouldn't have been conceded."

Siriwardene had put West Indies in to bat in slightly hazy conditions. But the West Indies batsmen were hardly troubled by the bowlers, who did not get much assistance from the pitch. "At one point I felt that we should have batted first," she said. "We thought that there was something in the pitch for the bowlers, like the England match. But sometimes we make wrong decisions and we look to improvise."

West Indies struck a total of 34 fours and seven sixes, a majority of them hit by Taylor and Deandra Dottin. Apart from the toss and the fielding, Siriwardene said, one of the main differences in the two teams was the way the West Indies batsmen hit the ball hard. "We all know West Indies players use their power a lot. They can clear the fence at any time. Hopefully we won't have to face the same problem against India in our next match."

All four teams in Group A have now played two matches, and won one and lost one each, which means net run-rate will come into play. England will now take on West Indies and India will play Sri Lanka on February 5, which will decide which teams proceed to the Super Sixes.


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South Africa hit back after Stone's five

England U-19s 52 for 3 trail South Africa U-19s 228 (Orros 69, Stone 5-31) by 176 runs
Scorecard

South Africa's bowlers hit back with bat and ball against England on day one of the second Test, after a disastrous start in which they were reduced to 8 for 4 and then 54 for 6. Vassilli Orros' 69 sparked a recovery before a last-wicket stand of 79 took South Africa to a respectable 228 and the hosts then took early wickets to leave England on 52 for 3 at the close.

Kagiso Rabada, whose 46 batting at No. 11 was South Africa's second-top score, made the opening breakthrough before his last-wicket partner, Jan Frylinck, added another. From 7 for 2, England recovered through Dominic Sibley and Kishen Velani but the latter fell for 25 shortly before the close.

England losing their way managed to overshadow a fine performance with the ball by their captain, Oli Stone. The Northamptonshire quick took 5 for 31 from 21 overs as South Africa seemingly squandered the opportunity to bat first after winning the toss. Orros and Vincent Moore rescued the innings with a seventh-wicket partnership worth 91, which was eventually broken by England opener Jonathan Tattersall's legspin.

Tattersall ended up with 2 for 58 but he was hit out of the attack by Rabada, who collected five fours and a six before being bowled four short of a half-century by Ed Barnard.


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Hales keen to continue England rise

England received positive news on Stuart Broad and Luke Wright, despite another curtailed practice session ahead of their first warm-up match on Monday. Wright had hurt his hand while fielding on Saturday, while Broad has been recovering from a heel injury that saw him miss England's limited-overs commitments in India, but both are expected to be fit for selection against a New Zealand XI in Whangerei.

Rain again cut short England's opportunity to train but Wright was able to bat, and Broad bowled outdoors for the second time on tour. Broad, England's T20 captain, has not played competitively since the second Test between England and India at Mumbai in November and has had his boots specially modified to try and cure the injury to his problematic heel.

England will play New Zealand in three T20s, starting on Saturday. While several members of the squad have been on ODI duty during January, the likes of Wright, Michael Lumb and Alex Hales played T20 in Australia's Big Bash League after helping England to a 1-1 T20 draw against India before Christmas. Hales, who scored 56 and 42 in India, further signposted his talent with a stunning 89 from 52 balls for Melbourne Renegades after being flown in as a last-minute replacement for the injured Marlon Samuels.

"I'd have to say it would be up there, as one of my highlights," Hales said. "I was glad to get that Big Bash opportunity - it was a little bit unexpected. I'd literally jumped straight off the plane, and genuinely don't remember too much about it. But it's a very strong competition, with very good overseas players, and something I'd definitely like to do again."

Hales subsequently pulled out of a proposed stint in the Bangladesh Premier League, where Wright turned out for Dhaka Gladiators, and he had been barred from entering the IPL auction by his county, Nottinghamshire. But he is not confining his goals to T20 and further displays of destructive hitting could help further his claims for an ODI debut, despite England's plethora of options at the top of the order.

"Any chance you get on the Big Bash or international stage means you can stake a claim to play at the top level," he said. "I'm pleased I did that then. But I've still got a long way to go, and a lot of ambition in the rest of cricket. I'm happy with how I'm playing at the moment, still working hard with the management here and the people back at Nottinghamshire. I'm not going to rest on my laurels at all, and I'm hoping to put up a couple of good performances against these Kiwis."

"Any opportunity in an England shirt is a time to put pressure on the guys [ahead of you].I didn't expect to go [to India]. The top order in the ODI side is incredibly strong, and something I'm going to have to work really hard to try to break into."

Alongside England's preparations for the T20 series, a couple of names in the New Zealand XI squad will provide the fixture with added interest. Ross Taylor is likely to return to New Zealand colours for the first time since he was removed from the captaincy and opted out of touring South Africa, while the former Australia wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi, who has completed his qualification period, could take the next step on his journey towards resuming his international career with New Zealand.


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Watson to make ODI return

Shane Watson will try to regain his batting touch at international level after he was recalled to Australia's ODI team against the West Indies.

Recalled in place of Usman Khawaja, Watson is set to take part in the remainder of the series before departing for India as part of the last of three groups of Test players to journey to the subcontinent.

Since returning to the game as a non-bowling batsman following a calf injury, Watson has managed scores of 30 and a duck for Sutherland in Sydney grade cricket, while he also made a scratchy six for New South Wales against Western Australia in a domestic limited overs match at the SCG.

He will now be afforded the chance to bat in the third ODI on the exceedingly friendly Manuka Oval pitch, which gave up almost 650 runs when the West Indians played the Prime Minister's XI in their opening tour fixture last week.

In naming the squad for the ODIS, the national selectors also outlined how the India squad will depart, with Watson, the captain Michael Clarke, Xavier Doherty, Mitchell Starc, Phillip Hughes and Mitchell Johnson to miss the opening warm-up game in Chennai in order to take part in the remainder of the West Indies matches.

David Warner, Matthew Wade and Glenn Maxwell will fly out to India on February 9, in time to take part in the first tour match, joining the advance party of Jackson Bird, Ed Cowan, Moises Henriques, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle and Steve Smith, who are all slated to leave on February 7.

The 19-year-old West Australian spin bowler Ashton Agar was also included in a development capacity, after a trio of striking domestic displays since his debut for the Warriors against New South Wales at Blacktown Oval.

"[Agar] will be in India for the period 9-16 February and will play in the first warm-up fixture," the national selector John Inverarity said. "He will provide ideal practice for the batsmen in the lead-up to that first Test in Chennai.

"Last year we took Mitchell Starc to the West Indies to further his development and this is a similar opportunity for Ashton."


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Sana Mir regrets Pakistan Women's seclusion

For every tourist in Cuttack, a visit to the remains of the Barabati Fort and the Deer Park not very far from it, on the banks of the Mahanadi River, is a must. However, despite being based at walking distance from both, the Pakistan Women's team can't take a trip to either.

Not just because they are focused on making their presence felt at the ongoing Women's World Cup. It has more to do with security reasons, after tension on the Indo-Pak border in the lead-up to the tournament had put a question mark over their participation.

As a result, Pakistan has had to stay apart from the other three teams in their group, who are all put up in the same hotel in Cuttack's twin city of Bhubaneswar; Pakistan stay within the Barabati Stadium premises, at the adjoining Odisha Cricket Association Academy. On the upside, the academy's accommodation boasts facilities as good as any other hotel in town and the team doesn't have to take the one-hour bus ride to and from the stadium every day.

"Everything is good over here, but we wouldn't mind that [bus journey]," Pakistan captain Sana Mir told ESPNcricinfo after their training at the Barabati Stadium on Friday, the eve of their second group tie against New Zealand.

Mir, one of the senior most pros in the team, had a taste of Indian culture during the Asia Cup in 2006. Now, she feels for the "four to five girls who are visiting India for the first time". "It's a shame because the last time when I came to India, my image of India changed a lot," she said. "Despite the historic rivalry between the two countries, the people here were really amazing. And we took a lot of love back to Pakistan. And I just wanted this new generation of Pakistan girls to feel that love and warmth. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances, we can't have that."

Moreover, Mir and her team-mates are missing out on savouring the company of the other teams - the discussions about the game and the sampling of new cultures, which usually go with the territory of a big, global sporting event. "Our pool has wonderful teams like Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. New Zealanders, especially, have been really friendly always," Mir said. "When we stay at the same hotel, we walk up to senior players and learn a lot from them.

"That has been taken away [this time around]. Hopefully we can sit together with them before the group stage finishes and we head off to the next stage."

In the first half of their tournament opener against formidable Australia on Thursday, Pakistan produced one of their best performances with the ball but then let themselves down with the bat. Mir is doing everything she can to keep their morale up after that mediocre showing with the bat; after the team trained for well over 90 minutes, the Pakistan captain gave them a long pep-talk.

"I just reminded them that it has been a long journey for this Pakistan team to come and play in this World Cup. We have tried hard and showed against Australia that we are capable of stretching any team. We just need to apply ourselves better with the bat and that's what the emphasis would be on against New Zealand tomorrow."

Their subcontinent counterparts Sri Lanka surprising England in Mumbai was encouraging for her team, Mir said: "We have a lot to draw from what they have achieved, it was great to see Sri Lanka beating England yesterday. Their victory and our performance with the ball has shown that the gap between the top four and the bottom four is reducing. We just hope we can narrow it down further going ahead in the tournament."


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'Fit and confident' Powell keen on IPL challenge

"I am confident because of my past performance and my current fitness. It is also about state of mind: 85% of cricket is played in your head." So says Ricardo Powell, the former West Indies batsman, who could possibly be the biggest left-field pick at the 2013 IPL auction.

"I know in terms of competing at the highest level it is just a matter of getting back in the arena. I have played 109 ODIs. I have seen a lot of cricket and I have played against some of the best players in the world and performed against them," Powell said, announcing himself and his credentials, on the eve of the auction. "I am still very fit and right now I am on top of my game in terms of intellect. I see no worries nor am concerned."

Powell played his last international match in 2006. A powerful hitter, Powell is now 34. He has never played any Twenty20 internationals. His reserve price at the auction is a handsome $50,000. All that makes Powell's name, listed in the second set of batsmen on the IPL auction list, a curious one; a stand-out in the crowd of 108 names.

Powell, who resides in Florida, is an itinerant cricketer who splits his time between his native Trinidad and the USA. So what drives him to pit himself against active, fitter and younger players? "I am still young enough to play cricket," Powell said. "What I want to do is play Twenty20 cricket and the IPL is one of the tournaments I would like to play."

This is his second time Powell has entered the auction. In 2011, he had put his name down on the auction list but pulled out after his son Ross, who was then two-years-old, was diagnosed with autism.

Powell keeps himself fit by playing competitive cricket for Queens Park Cricket Club in Trinidad, local clubs in the USA and he recently even played for the International World XI against the Pakistan All Star XI in Karachi.

"Here in the USA, we have a lot of former international players and Asian players who have played at the highest level, and it is mostly T20 tournaments. So there is a lot of competitive cricket played here," he said. "And that is one of the main reasons for me to travel back and forth to the Caribbean, to hone my skills."

Powell, who is also a cricket commentator-cum-analyst for ESPN in the Americas region, decided he could utilise his experience to succeed in Twenty20 cricket. Being wiser, Powell believes, is the one factor that keeps him above his competition. "I am more experienced. I can play a game in the middle with my head. I feel that is what is needed in Twenty20 cricket.

"A lot of people feel T20 cricket is a fast-paced game and you have to do things differently. But to me T20 is a shorter version of 50-overs cricket. A lot of people get carried away and panic in T20, which is not the right thing to do. You have to play each ball and not necessarily the overs. You have 20 overs, 120 balls. And if you look at that way, you have 120 balls and you can easily score 160-170 runs. That is the way I look at it: yes, I have the power and the ability to score quickly but it is also about playing smart. About 10 years ago everything was about hitting the ball out of the park, but now it is different. Twenty20 cricket is about playing smart more than anything else."

As a 20-year-old, Powell emerged as a raging talent after his quickfire 124 against India in the final of the Singapore Challenge in 1999. He had walked in when West Indies, chasing 254, were 67 for 4. But Powell bludgeoned the Indian bowling, with 84 runs coming in boundaries including nine massive sixes.

However, Powell remained inconsistent and over the years his talent waned. In 2006, he played the inaugural Stanford Twenty20 but remained in the shadow of youngsters like Kieron Pollard. The difference between his game then and now, he said, is the enjoyment factor: "I am enjoying playing cricket. That is the important thing. When I walked away from cricket in 2006, I was not enjoying it. Now I am very relaxed and focused in terms of what I want to do. And I have options."


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Pakistan angry over Hot Spot decisions

Pakistan were left privately seething as four incidents involving Hot Spot technology went against them during a mauling by South Africa in the first Test at the Wanderers.

Although none of the match participants or team administrators would comment on the technology, the Pakistan manager and coach were seen in animated discussion with the third umpire after the day's play. Dav Whatmore later told the media: "Any comments will be done in the right channels."

Whatmore was visibly upset after Misbah-ul-Haq was given out on review in the morning session. Jacques Kallis appealed for a catch at the wicket which was turned down on-field but South Africa referred. The camera showed only a faint mark which disappeared quickly and the decision was then overturned by the TV umpire Steve Davis. Misbah also showed his annoyance as he walked off.

Pakistan's anger was heightened because a similar decision against the South Africa batsman, Faf du Plessis, was upheld as 'not out' yesterday. Pakistan reviewed an appeal for caught behind by Rahat Ali against du Plessis when he was on 21 and given 'not out' by Billy Bowden. Despite a faint mark on Hot Spot, the decision was upheld.

Later on, an appeal for caught behind against AB de Villiers resulted in the same decision. De Villiers indicated that he padded the ball away but even that did not show up on the Hot Spot camera.

The final incident took place when de Villiers survived again on review in the second innings. He was given out lbw to Saeed Ajmal and immediately gestured to his bat to indicated he had hit the ball. Although the Hot Spot camera did not show an edge, the decision was overturned and de Villiers continued batting.

At the post-day press conference Whatmore was reluctant to talk about Hot Spot. "I wouldn't like to comment on that because it is part and parcel of umpiring decisions but any comments will be done in the right channels," he said.

Neither did he use the issue to play down the total dominance of South Africa's pace attack, led by Dale Steyn, who finished with 6 for 8. "I've never seen two hours of relentless, incredible pace bowling such as I have witnessed today," he said.

SuperSport's producer Louwrens Rensburg told ESPNcricinfo that the Hot Spot cameras were in perfect working condition. He added that in the current "atmospheric conditions," which included heat and bright sunshine faint edges would only show up slightly.

A match official confirmed early in the day that the umpires and match referee, Jeff Crowe, were satisfied with the technology available to them.

Sky TV promoted more sensitive Hot Spot cameras for South Africa's series in England last summer that they claimed were more reliable.


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How the franchises could play it at the IPL auction

What: 2013 IPL auction
When: February 3, Sunday, 1100 IST
Where: Chennai

What to expect

The IPL auction rules could undergo an overhaul from the 2014 edition and the existing contracts for all players will end after the current season. Franchises would therefore view this auction only in terms of filling certain pressing gaps to meet their requirements for this season.

Quite a few teams have more than $5 million left of their $12.5 million purse coming into Sunday's auction, and can be expected to be involved in a tug of war for at least a couple of players. "Some teams are sitting with $6-7 million," a franchise official said. "So expect franchises to get into a crazy bidding for a player if they think it is fine, as it is just a one-year contract." This auction, however, may not see as many millions being thrown around as the previous ones.

Hot buys

Only two players, Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting, have the maximum reserve price this year, of $400,000. While Ponting retired from internationals last year, Clarke, who had a prolific 2012, is expected to be chased by franchises who need a big player and captain. If teams like SunRisers Hyderabad or Pune Warriors need a new captain and are not able to buy Clarke, they will have to go for Ponting who scored 236 runs in the Big Bash League at an average of 39.33 and strike rate of 121, including two half-centuries.

Among the seven Indian players is Abhishek Nayar, with a reserve price of $100,000, who scored 966 runs in the Ranji Trophy this season. He would be on the list of several buyers who do not want to spend much on a player for a single season. Nayar, an in-form domestic allrounder, would give RP Singh, who had a poor outing in IPL 2012, a run for his money.

T20 specialist

Dirk Nannes has 37 wickets in domestic T20 tournaments in the last 12 months, at an average of 24.43. Priced at $200,000, he could be the main pick for a franchise looking for an overseas fast bowler with enough money in the bag.

Dark horse

Rilee Rossouw, a 23-year-old uncapped South Africa batsman, priced at only $20,000. With the experience of 36 domestic T20s and 781 runs behind him, Rossouw could offer a franchise what nobody else can for that amount of money.

Veteran pick

The oldest player, aged 38 is Herschelle Gibbs. Released by Mumbai Indians recently, Gibbs isn't the batsman he used to be even though he has played in T20 leagues in South Africa, England, Bangladesh, India and Australia in the last one year.

Unlikely buys

Two names that catch the eye in the auction list are Ricardo Powell and Wasim Jaffer. Powell, 34, played two T20s for the International World XI against Pakistan All Star XI in October, scoring 3 and 5. Jaffer has been concentrating on first-class matches, being a part of Mumbai's victorious Ranji side recently.

How the franchises could play it

SunRisers Hyderabad have $7 million left to spend on the 2013 squad and can buy eight more Indian and five overseas players. They are expected to go all out for Michael Clarke to ease some pressure off their captain and lead batsman Kumar Sangakkara, who is currently injured. Also on their injured list is JP Duminy, increasing their need for a strong top-order batsman-cum-mentor. Hello Ricky Ponting. They may also need a spinner to assist Amit Mishra and have the options of Rangana Herath ($100,000), Johan Botha ($300,000) and Ajantha Mendis ($50,000) since they have the money.

Since Sachin Tendulkar is Mumbai Indians' new captain, they can now spend $2.3 million on specialist players instead of a new captain. They would look to beef up their top order, which failed to impress last season. Phillip Hughes, at $100,000, may suit their needs after scoring two ODI hundreds against Sri Lanka but Jesse Ryder has been scoring heavily in New Zealand's domestic season too. The new Anil Kumble-John Wright combination could throw up some new strategies.

Stephen Fleming, the coach, said on Friday they would not be targeting overseas players and instead focus on the "seam bowling department, especially local bowlers". They possess Ben Hilfenhaus, Albie Morkel, Nuwan Kulasekara and Dwayne Bravo - all overseas bowlers. Their local options lie in RP Singh (released by Mumbai Indians), Sudeep Tyagi, Manpreet Gony, Pankaj Singh and Jaydev Unadkat.

Delhi Daredevils have the shallowest pockets with only $1.4 million left of their purse. To add to that, their pacers Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Irfan Pathan are all injured. So expect some cheaply priced local bowlers, such as Jaydev Unadkat, going their way. Allrounder Abhishek Nayar could be on their radar as they will lose Kevin Pietersen in the second half of the tournament and will not be able to accommodate Mahela Jayawardene, David Warner and Ross Taylor together.

Kolkata Knight Riders, the defending champions, are expected to be less aggressive in their bidding compared to last two years, when they were the fastest off the blocks as soon as the auction bell rang. "We might end up being a spectator," a Knight Riders official said. They do not have much to improve on from last year, except maybe an allrounder in the form of Abhishek Nayar or Thisara Perera.

Rajasthan Royals have $7.7 million to spend and seven Indian and four overseas slots to fill. They have never splurged and having included Samuel Badree after releasing Johan Botha, won't be too unhappy with their current line-up. Unless Paddy Upton suggests otherwise.

Kings XI Punjab may opt for a handy seam bowler to suit the conditions in Mohali. $6.9 million may allow them to opt for Vernon Philander or an RP Singh. A reserve wicketkeeper in Quinton de Kock ($20,000) might be a good try for one season.

Pune Warriors will go in for a new captain after releasing Sourav Ganguly, as Yuvraj Singh is unlikely to lead the side. Ricky Ponting would be a similar batsman-cum-mentor, who could revive the fortunes of the franchise.

Royal Challengers Bangalore retained their core attack but left out as many as 12 players in November. Uncertainty over Zaheer Khan's fitness may make them buy a fast bowler to accompany Vinay Kumar.

For the full list of players who will be auctioned on Sunday, click here.


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