Smith's ODI career seemingly on the wane

Form and injury have combined to give Graeme Smith a forgettable time of late in the one-day game, and it looks like it will be a long road back for him in ODI cricket should he choose to keep at it

Cullinan: Smith certainly under pressure in ODIs

Graeme Smith's ODI career could be over.

The Test captain was left out of South Africa's starting XI for the first match against India in Johannesburg - the first time Smith has been overlooked for strategic reasons rather than injury since relinquishing the 50-overs captaincy after the 2011 World Cup - and the move could signal the end of Smith in coloured clothing.

Smith has not scored an ODI half-century in eight innings, all against Pakistan. His last contribution of significance came in January's home series against New Zealand, when he scored 116 in the only match South Africa won. Before that series, in which Smith also notched up a half-century, Smith had scored one hundred and two fifties in 10 innings in 2012, and there were constant questions over whether he merited a place in the one-day team.

De Villiers admitted that this time, against India, there "just wasn't a spot open" for Smith, in what is the clearest indication yet that the combination of patchy form and niggles may catching up with Smith, especially as he has been more out than in in South Africa's ODI team recently. Smith missed the Champions Trophy and South Africa's limited-overs tour to Sri Lanka this year with injury, which unsettled the XI which was also without Jacques Kallis.

South Africa went through a painful process of trying to find an opening combination that could match the Smith/Hashim Amla partnership - which in 48 innings averages 41.40 - but could not. Colin Ingram and Hashim Amla managed two half-century stands in four attempts at the Champions Trophy but when Amla was injured for the early stages of the Sri Lanka tour, Ingram unraveled.

He partnered Alviro Petersen without success for a game, then Quinton de Kock was used with Petersen, and then Amla joined de Kock. These two showed promise as a pair with a stand of 87 in the UAE but it was still considered a given that when both Smith and Amla were available again, they would be reunited to provide stability.

They did play the first two ODIs against Pakistan at home together, and scored 12 and 9. Smith was unavailable for the third because of the passing of his grandmother, so de Kock was promoted up the order - he had been batting at No. 3 when Smith and Amla formed the opening pair - to rejoin Amla. They posted 39.

So when it came to a green-top in Johannesburg for the opening game of a series against India, South Africa were faced with a tough choice. They wanted to play the extra seamer so they had to leave a batsman out and that batsman was Smith. "I wanted to play an extra bowler so there just wasn't a space open for him," de Villiers explained.

Statistical evidence in favour of the Amla/de Kock pairing is based on too small a sample for it to top the Amla/Smith pairing but the numbers are pointing in the right direction. In eight innings, Amla and de Kock have opened together they have posted 453 runs at 50.33, with one century and two fifty-stands, including South Africa's first opening partnership of more than 100 runs since 2010. More than the numbers, it's the way Amla and de Kock combine that has left the team management keen for them to bat together - as they also do so in T20s.

"There's experience of Hash and the elegance, and then the no-fear attitude of Quinny," de Villiers said. He did, however, leave the door open for Smith, but only in the opening role. "I can't see Graeme batting anywhere else," he said. "He knows I am a captain that is very fond of playing seven frontline batsmen, but tonight we felt an extra seam bowler could be handy."

Andrew Hudson, South Africa's convener selectors has also mentioned the seven-batsman formula for South Africa's one-day XI but it would result in Ryan McLaren being left out. After his performances this year - McLaren is the team's third highest wicket-taker in 2013 despite not playing in all of South Africa's games and has the ability to lengthen the lower middle-order - it would seem a harsh decision.

It would also mean de Kock would be the player to be shifted out of position. The 20 year-old will be asked to bat at No. 3 if Smith returns. "Quinny has got two kinds of games," de Villiers explained. "He has the ability to accelerate and then pull back like you saw [against India]. I feel he can adapt a bit better than others to No. 3."

Still, there was an indication that for that to happen, Smith will have to find one-day form again and that will be difficult for him to do. Smith plays very little domestic cricket. He has featured in only one List A since December 2011, for Surrey against Hampshire, and that statistic will remain until he heads back to the county circuit because South Africa's domestic one-day competition is over.

The Twenty20s event is still to be played and Smith, along with all the other national players, will be available for their franchises for most of that tournament. Even if Smith plays in it and excels, the question will remain over whether he wants to play limited-overs cricket.

At 32, retirement should be and is a distant thought for Smith but focusing on Tests only - and staying injury-free to honour his deal with Surrey - is not, even though Smith seems keen to hang on. He does not feature in the T20 squad - he last played in October 2011 - but it does not seem to be a decision he made himself.

When South Africa crashed out of the World T20 in Sri Lanka last year, again with the batting being their Achilles' Heel, many supporters asked Smith if he had retired from the shortest format. He replied confirming he had not and was "available to play all forms of the game". He still is, but whether he gets picked is a different question.

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England lose three in tough session

Lunch England 4 for 116 (Carberry 60, Bell 29*, Stokes 0*) trail Australia 9 for 570 dec by 454 runs
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Irresponsible, certainly. Inexcusable? Well, the charge was understandable. Kevin Pietersen's dismissal on the third morning of the Adelaide Test heaped more troubles on an England side bedevilled by problems in the Ashes series.

By lunch, with three more wickets surrendered in the opening session, England were still 255 runs from avoiding the follow-on figure of 371, their only source of comfort being Michael Carberry's first Test half-century and a blissful start to his innings by Ian Bell, which by a distance represented England's most confident batting of the series

Heavily beaten in the first Test in Brisbane, and needing to make a concerted response to Australia's mammoth 9 for 570 to at least stabilise their Ashes tour, England endured two bad dismissals. If Joe Root's departure, slog-sweeping Nathan Lyon to deep square, was bad enough for England, Pietersen's wicket must have left them screeching with frustration.

Australia set two short midwickets when Peter Siddle bowled to Pietersen and he could not resist the challenge. He did not just play the shot, he manufactured it, moving across his stumps to a length ball and whipping it to the squarer of the two fielders, George Bailey, who juggled with it four times, without ever looking out of control, before the ball finally rested in his hands.

It is a shot Pietersen feasts upon, and such is his expressed determination to keep playing it that even if Australia stationed four short midwickets it would probably not quell his desire. Siddle, too, has repeatedly unsettled him around off stump and that has increased his desire to find a get-out shot. But he has fallen in this manner twice in the series and Australia can celebrate a tactical victory.

Pietersen also had a scare in Siddle's previous over, before he had scored, when Australia unsuccessfully reviewed for a catch at the wicket. The review was encouraged by the wicketkeeper, Brad Haddin, who was convinced he had heard a noise, but neither Hot Spot near Snicko - officially in use in the series for the first time - supported the notion.

Root would not be proud either of his attempt so slog-sweep Lyon. He was at full stretch as he took the ball from just outside off stump and misjudged the bounce. Even though the boundary in front of the unfinished stand is a mere 53 metres, he fell comfortably short, surrendering his wicket to a catch by Chris Rogers. Root had laboured for 80 balls for 15 and his efforts were wasted.

England, three down and with the debutant Ben Stokes due in at No.6, could draw consolation from the certainty of Michael Carberry. He had been fortunate to survive a traumatic last two balls on the first day when he might have been run out by Root and then would have fallen lbw to Mitchell Johnson if Australia had thought to review the not-out decision.

Bell was bent upon playing with natural freedom. He lofted his seventh ball, from Lyon, over long-off for six and, in Lyon's next over, cleared the rope at long-on. It had taken England 35 overs to get their scoring rate above two an over but by lunch, Carberry and Bell were finally assembling some sort of response.

Carberry was at his most dependable on a warm and sunny Adelaide morning, repelling the pace bowlers with stout defence and continuing to meet Lyon with confidence. Briefly, Bell and Carberry broke free, but Australia checked them again when Ryan Harris and Shane Watson produced five successive maidens - the last ball of the fifth of them resulting in the dismissal of Carberry who obligingly pulled a short ball from Watson to David Warner, who pulled off an excellent left-handed catch in front of square.

With two overs remaining before lunch, it was an awkward time for Stokes to come out to play his first Test innings. He watched Johnson from the non-striker's end before playing out a maiden against Lyon as England reached lunch in disarray.

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Mumbai pay for going on the defensive

Mumbai have been guilty of being too cautious in the field previously, and on Friday against Jharkhand that tendency cost them

Jharkhand had collapsed from 144 for 4 to 180 for 8. Despite their four-man attack, excluding Abhishek Nayar, having a collective experience of 25 first-class games, Mumbai had justified their decision to bowl. You would expect the defending champions to fire out the last two wickets of a side promoted from the bottom group. That was what Mumbai sought to do. Only, they gave themselves just one or two deliveries per over to try and dismiss No. 10 Shankar Rao. For, a proper batsman, Saurabh Tiwary, was batting at the other end on a hundred, and there was no way Mumbai were going to set attacking fields for him; it seems modern captaincy prohibits a team from attempting to dismiss the specialist batsman if a tailender is also in the middle.

Tiwary was given a field of up to eight fielders manning the boundary, something that took away the catching positions completely. Even when that number dipped on the rare occasion, it never went below five. Javed Khan, Mumbai's most successful bowler on the day, said the plan was to give Tiwary the single and go for the tailenders' wickets. The plan worked superbly, for Tiwary and Jharkhand. Knowing that Mumbai had no interest in targetting him, he duly bashed out 175 from 264 deliveries. Rao rose to the occasion as well. Knowing that a ball or two was all he would have to face every over, he duly blocked everything that came his way. By stumps, Rao had two scoring shots in 64 deliveries, and the partnership had stretched the score to 262.

Apparently, the field had been spread not only because Mumbai wanted Rao on strike, but also because Tiwary was in an attacking mood. Again, the approach played right into Tiwary's hands. All those boundary riders could only watch as he deposited eight sixes into the stands over their heads. He also hit 17 fours, most of which came in the first two sessions when Mumbai were often getting wickets.

Numbers 7 and 8 threw their wickets away. Had they not, Jharkhand might well have been only six or seven down, for Mumbai had already decided wickets would likely come only from the end opposite to Tiwary's.

They did try to get him early, when he came in at 13 for 2, with a bouncer barrage. Long-on, deep midwicket, deep square leg, and fine leg. But Tiwary survived. Not only did he survive, he also punished the length when Mumbai overdid it. But Mumbai weren't going to learn. They had come up with Plan A, and Plan A they were going to persist with through the day.

About the closest the tactic came to success was when Tiwary top-edged a hook which stayed in the air for a while before rolling very fine into the boundary. Buoyed, Mumbai turned to the short ball again and again. And Tiwary kept hooking, pulling or ducking with increasing confidence.

He also farmed the strike superbly, regularly taking a single off the fourth ball of an over. Despite this becoming a pattern for as long as an entire session, captain Nayar did not bring the fielders in to force Tiwary to try harder for that single. The batsman had the entire outfield for the taking, to push or nudge wherever he needed. Mumbai's stubbornness was absolute when, in the first over with the second new ball, Nayar had six men in the deep for Tiwary.

Nayar is not the only Mumbai captain to turn so defensive in recent times. In the 2011-12 Ranji quarter-final against Madhya Pradesh, Wasim Jaffer had seven men on the boundary for a No. 8 batsman. MP were 171 for 9, but Mumbai were prepared to give No. 8 the single to get at No. 11.

As well as Tiwary and Rao played, the inexperience of Mumbai's attack also contributed to the home side's lack of penetration. When your allrounder brings himself on in the 11th over of the match despite having three specialist seamers to choose from, something has to be wrong. While Shardul Thakur went overboard with the short ball, often misdirected, it was the tall left-armer Akbar Khan, playing only his second game, who was the weak link. He bowled only nine, largely unthreatening overs with the first new ball, and none with the second. Nayar sent down as many as 16, and was quite unfortunate to not pick up a wicket or two. When you go so defensive as captain, though, you are setting yourself up for misfortune.

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NZ inch closer, but rain arrives

Tea New Zealand 609 for 9 dec and 79 for 4 (Anderson 20*, Taylor 16*, Shillingford 4-16) need 33 to win v West Indies 213 and 507 (Bravo 218, Sammy 80, Wagner 3-112)
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A devastating opening spell from Shane Shillingford raised hopes of a surprise West Indies win in Dunedin, but Ross Taylor and Corey Anderson calmed New Zealand's nerves with an unbeaten 35-run stand to bring the home team within 33 runs of a win before rains arrived. Tea was called ten minutes early, but the drizzle is not likely to last long.

Shillingford didn't have much of an impact in the first couple of days on a pitch that was hard and had even grass cover, bowling 46 overs for one wicket. But after four days of battering under the blazing sun, the grass had been smothered and Shillingford, Sammy must have known, was West Indies' only chance of turning the tables on New Zealand. He was pressed into action straightaway in the last innings and it took him only seven balls to make an impact.

In the last over before lunch, Fulton missed a flick but Ramdin appealed for a catch down the leg side. The umpire, Paul Reiffel, didn't show any interest, but the Hot-Spot highlighted a faint nick after West Indies asked for a review. Two overs later, Aaron Redmond fell into a trap, clipping a sharply turning delivery straight into the hands of Narsingh Deonarine at leg gully.

Another two overs later, the offspinner lured Hamish Rutherford into playing a lofted shot and the batsman obliged, hitting a boundary wide of the long-on fielder. The next ball was tossed up again and Rutherford couldn't resist himself. He went for a repeat of the first shot, but this time he lobbed it straight into the hands of the long-on fielder, falling in exactly the same way as in the first innings. 'What a shot,' said a close-in fielder as Rutherford whacked his bat on his pads in disappointment.

At 22 for 3, New Zealand were in serious trouble, but would have put their money on the experienced pair of Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor to see them through the tricky period. Both batsmen continued from where they left in the first innings, Taylor staying solid, while McCullum blasted the first ball he faced through covers. But McCullum's aggression consumed him as he top-edged an attempted sweep off the one that goes the other way for Denesh Ramdin to pouch an easy chance.

While Shillingford bowled unchanged for 15 overs, the other bowlers were not able to create chances. Anderson drilled three boundaries through cover off the seamers and rose in confidence, taking on Shillingford with a powerful sweep as well to score 20, while Taylor was on 16 with the help of two boundaries.

The match was, however, set up by a stubborn resistance in the first session from the West Indies lower order. Sammy, derided recently during the Test in India for his irresponsible batting didn't let New Zealand take control after the fall of Darren Bravo in the third over of the day. He ran his runs hard despite an injury to his hamstring and added 38 vital runs with Shillingford for the eighth wicket.

With the pitch offering uneven bounce, the New Zealand seamers targeted the stumps, with Trent Boult getting a few deliveries to hit high on the bat. On one instance, Boult drew the outside edge of Sammy's bat only to see it drop short of Ross Taylor at first slip. In the same over, Sammy had another nervous moment when the ball spun back towards the stumps after he had defended it off the back foot, but he showed incredible football skills to kick the ball towards deep square leg, stretching his hamstring in the process.

When Sammy got the ball in his hitting zone though, he didn't hold himself back. A couple of length deliveries were blasted through cover and over the infield and a long hop from Ish Sodhi was bludgeoned over deep midwicket.

Shillingford played his part as well, adding 15 useful runs in an hour-long stay at the crease, before he edged Neil Wagner to first slip. Tino Best hung around for 21 minutes, but his stay was ended in a similar fashion. With only the No. 11 for company, Sammy threw his bat at the first delivery with the third new ball and sliced it to deep cover, but he ensured 54 useful runs were added after Bravo's exit.

575 minutes. That is how long it took New Zealand to break past Bravo's stubborn resistance during the course of which he scored his maiden double-century and helped West Indies wipe out the 396-run deficit after they were forced to follow on. But more importantly for the home side, the dismissal came early on the final day, relieving the smidgen of tension the clouds gathering over may have caused. It was also the early boost the bowling attack needed after having bowled more than 200 overs on the trot.

Boult, in the third over of the day, tested Bravo with a yorker that reversed in, but it was dealt with the ease one would expect from a batsman in the zone - he had gone past 2000 Test runs in Boult's previous over. But it took the misdemeanor of the fifth-day pitch that shook Bravo out of his zone as the next delivery sneaked under his bat to strike the off stump.

The late riposte, however, gave West Indies a fighting chance in the Test that seemed out of reach 24 hours ago.

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Clarke continues Adelaide love affair

Australia 389 for 5 (Clarke 109*, Haddin 57*) v England
Scorecard

Michael Clarke continued his love affair with the Adelaide Oval with an unflustered, unbeaten century as England's Ashes challenge wilted in the face of Australian adventure on the second morning of the second Test.

Virtually everything that could go wrong for England did as Clarke and Brad Haddin batted through the morning session with commendable enterprise, adding 116 at almost four runs an over. Ben Stokes missed out on a first Test wicket because of a no ball and the list of half chances to elude England grew as they failed to press home their hard-won position of equality from the first day.

Clarke's sixth Adelaide hundred in nine Tests, and his 26th of all, was his second in succession, following his century in Brisbane when Australia's domination was assured. This one was a perfectly-constructed affair with the Test in the balance; made all the more noteworthy because of occasional suggestions that first his back and then his ankle were troubling him more than the England attack. When he reached his hundred, the big screen flashed up an average of 110 on this ground, higher even than The Don - Adelaide's most revered figure.

Clarke has skippered Australia through a fallow period in Test cricket, but his hundred has personally put Australia in a powerful position from which hopes will be stirring ever more noticeably that they can regain the Ashes.

England, who fielded two spinners on a gripping pitch, were hopeful of restricting Australia to 350 at start of play but instead they failed to exert any control as Clarke and Haddin took the game away from them. By lunch, their sixth-wicket stand was worth 132 in 34 overs.

England will reflect that it could have been so different. Clarke's determination to dominate the left-arm spin of Monty Panesar from the outset almost went awry as he skipped down the pitch to his first ball of the morning and spooned it over extra cover, marking his fifty with relief as the ball evaded Stokes. England's decision to begin with Panesar did not pay off as his four overs cost 22, broken by the deft footwork of Australia's captain.

England also had a glimmer of a chance to dismiss him when he was 91. Again Clarke's foot movement was ambitious, this time to the offspin of Graeme Swann, and his glance thudded through the hands and into the ankle of Ian Bell at backward short leg. A tough catch missed, Bell, and the wicketkeeper Matt Prior, then failed to gather cleanly to pull off a run out as Clarke dived back into his crease and rose with the sense that fortune was favouring the brave.

Haddin was an impressive accomplice, but he, too, had one or two moments which fell his way. James Anderson, with no swing to sustain him, looked listless, but when he produced a good bouncer to Haddin, on 30, the hook shot fell short of Panesar, who reacted cumbersomely at long leg as the ball sailed out of the unfinished stand. It was barely a catch, although in keeping with the ground works, Panesar also seemed to be wearing concrete boots.

Building works have left one of the square boundaries only 53 metres - it will be closer to 60 metres when the job is done - and Swann's exasperation was apparent as Haddin's top-edged sweep, little better than a mis-hit, sailed over the boundary for six.

But Swann's frustration was nothing in comparison to that of Stokes. He began poorly, but in his third over produced an excellent delivery to have Haddin, on 51, caught at the wicket. Stokes had already fielded congratulations from his team-mates for his first Test wicket when replays showed he had overstepped. The creeping tendency of umpires barely to monitor no-balls unless a wicket falls, in which case they rely on technology to make a delayed judgment, has been overshadowed by the larger debates surrounding DRS, but it deserves examination.

Haddin could not resist a jokey congratulation to Stokes at the end of the over about his first Test wicket that wasn't, and as Stokes's manner suggested an appetite for continuing the conversation, the umpire Marias Erasmus intervened to calm the situation.

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No point blaming schedule - Dhoni

India captain MS Dhoni has called for his new-ball bowlers to step up after his side was thrashed by 141 runs in the first ODI in Johannesburg. The visitors were typically underprepared, having spent only two-and-a-half days in South Africa before going into the match, but Dhoni said the schedule couldn't be helped.

"It is difficult [to play without warm-up games]," Dhoni said, "but at the same time, when you know the schedule, you have to mentally prepare yourself. If you ask some of the experienced players, they will say a lot of cricket is played mentally. We had two to two-and-a-half days, which gave us time to prepare ourselves mentally for the ODI."

Dhoni said he would have loved to have spent much longer in the country before playing the first international match, but said it was not possible in the present day. "What can be done?" he asked. "You'd love to come here, practise for a few days, play a few games, but nowadays the international schedule doesn't really permit that. We play throughout the year.

"If we need to get in those extra days, you don't know where they will come from. We played West Indies, had two or three days off, and came here. You have to adapt to conditions. Let us not complain about what is not there. Of course it would be lovely to get a few practice games, but at the end of the day what is important is what is in your hand."

When asked if the captain couldn't try and ensure his team had the right schedules, Dhoni's response was curt: "You keep talking about the schedule. What schedule is there, you have to follow."

What Dhoni did want his team to do, though, is not ask the batsmen to score 300 every time. "Overall it was a bad performance," he said. "It started with the bowlers initially. This was not really a 350-plus wicket. We were supposed to bowl it up, and the wicket would have done the rest. We didn't get the kind of start that was needed. At the same time we should have backed it up with some good batting, but we weren't able to do it."

The difference lay in knowing the conditions. Dale Steyn's opening spell, during which he seemed to beat the bat with every other delivery, was in stark contrast to India's bowling performance. "That's crucial. They know the conditions better than us," Dhoni said. "They know what lengths to bowl. That is one of the reasons why I want our bowlers to step up, so that you don't give away 300 runs. That puts pressure on the batsmen because they have to go after the bowling right from the first ball, which was not easy on this wicket against bowlers like Dale Steyn. If you see how he bowled to Rohit, he didn't move away from the good areas. We will have to step up overall."

Dhoni's beef was not with the death bowling - though India conceded 100 in the last six overs - but with the new ball, when the bowlers were either too full or too short. "Death bowling - over the world bowlers are going for runs," Dhoni said. "With the extra fielder inside and the fast bowlers are not able to get reverse-swing. It is the new ball that is important. Conditions will help. Bowl in the right areas, let the batsmen play good shots. Don't give them a gift."

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Cricket begins tributes to Mandela

Cricket began its tributes to Nelson Mandela, who died on Thursday night, with minute's silences at Adelaide and Dunedin while Cricket South Africa offered their first reaction over Twitter.

"RIP Tata Mandela. It is because of you that a represented Proteas team can express their talent across the globe," was posted on the official CSA feed.

In Adelaide, meanwhile, the England and Australia teams, along with the crowd, observed a minute's silence before play resumed on the second day while both teams were also wearing black armbands. Across the Tasman, in Dunedin, the ground paused for a minute before the afternoon session began.

During his time as South Africa President, Mandela met with many of the teams who toured South Africa. In 1995 in Soweto he was introduced to Devon Malcolm, the England fast bowler, and said "I know you. You are the destroyer," in relation to Malcolm's performance at The Oval the previous year.

India are currently in South Africa at the beginning of their month-long tour. It is not yet known what, if any, impact Mandela's death, and his state funeral, will have on the series.

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New Zealand break threatening stand

Tea West Indies 213 and 314 for 5 (Bravo 146*, Ramdin 4*) trail New Zealand 609 for 9 dec by 82 runs
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A stubborn fifth-wicket stand between Darren Bravo and Narsingh Deonarine tested New Zealand's patience for more than three hours and it took a peach of a delivery from Corey Anderson to revive the home team's flagging spirits in Dunedin. The partnership between the two batsmen ate away 122 runs from New Zealand's lead which now stands at 82. With Bravo continuing to stay solid, West Indies slowly inched towards making New Zealand bat again.

New Zealand had patiently waited for the new ball towards the second half of the first session, but it didn't bring the pot of luck they were after. Barring a few deliveries from Tim Southee, there wasn't much zip or movement on a pitch that had flattened out and, when the opportunities came, the home side was not able to convert them.

Deonarine was the beneficiary twice. First, he offered a difficult chance to Southee after driving uppishly back towards him. The bowler, falling over to the left in his follow-through, couldn't get down to his right in time. A straightforward chance came in Southee's next over, when Deonarine drove straight to short cover where Brendon McCullum dropped the catch. The batsman, on 40 at that stage, immediately responded with a fierce back-foot punch through cover for a boundary. He completed his fifth Test half-century in the 100th over of the innings off the 126th delivery he faced. Two overs later, though, an Anderson delivery kicked off from a length and caught the shoulder of the bat en route to the keeper, ending the batsman's 187-minute vigil.

Bravo was also dropped when on 82 by Neil Wagner off his own bowling and made most of the life to stroll to his fifth century - his first outside the subcontinent - 15 minutes before lunch with a boundary to fine leg off Ish Sodhi. After being aggressive in the first half of the innings - he reached his 50 in 64 balls - Bravo opted for patience scoring his second fifty in 136 balls. Once the new ball stopped swerving, he unfurled some trademark shots through cover. In one instance, he found the gap through a crowded off-side field twice in a row off Wagner with flowing cover drives, prompting the bowler to push a man to the deep. Unbeaten on 146, Bravo continued to thwart New Zealand after they had a good start to the day.

Southee and Trent Boult, fresh after a good night's sleep, started the day with only a hint of reverse swing to work with in otherwise easy batting conditions and Southee didn't take long to make the first breakthrough. In his second over of the morning, Southee took a sharp chest-high catch off his own bowling to dismiss Marlon Samuels for 23.

Samuels hasn't looked comfortable while batting in this Test with his feet rooted to the crease, and that tendency led to his downfall in the second innings too as he pushed the delivery back to Southee rather than leaning on it.

The second wicket arrived five overs later, in Neil Wagner's second over, as the bowler got one to tail into Shivnarine Chanderpaul and struck him right in front. Chanderpaul reviewed the decision in hope but the replays only confirmed that the ball was crashing on to the leg stump. It was Chanderpaul's second dismissal in the match to an incoming delivery from a left-arm seamer after he had left a similar delivery from Boult alone in the first innings.

The challenge for New Zealand in the last session would be to get past Bravo, who seems to have assumed Chanderpaul's role in this innings.

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Warner falls in rainy opening session

Lunch Australia 1 for 46 (Warner 29, Watson 10*, Rogers 7*) v England
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England, gambling on two spinners to haul themselves back into the Ashes series, lost what could be an influential toss at the start of the second Test in Adelaide as Australia reached lunch on the first day with the promise of much batting bounty ahead. There was relief for England, though, in the dismissal of David Warner, who had looked in the mood to strut his stuff before he self-destructed against Stuart Broad.

Warner took an immediate liking to Adelaide's first drop-in pitch, and had 29 from 32 balls when he toe-ended Broad to Michael Carberry at backward point. It was an intemperate moment, part of Warner's batting DNA and accepted by England with great relief. They must have been fearing a repeat of his better than a run-a-ball hundred made on this ground against South Africa a year ago.

The mood of the Adelaide Test could not have been more divorced from the Gabba, where England had endured a 381-run drubbing. In place of intimidating batting conditions was a sedate drop-in pitch. Heat and humidity gave way to an unseasonably chilly morning with squally showers which forced three stoppages before the lunch and restricted the session to 14.2 overs. The crowd even decided it would be unseemly to boo Broad.

Somehow, in a Test that looked bound to be a long haul, England had to find a way to take 20 wickets. A cheerless, blustery morning, with temperatures around 14C did not immediately revive memories of the manner in which Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar had bowled so successfully in tandem a year ago as England recovered from 1-0 down in India to win the series, but that was the undertaking they faced.

Panesar's inclusion meant that England gave Ben Stokes a Test debut, his cap awarded by the former England captain, Andrew Strauss, before start of play. It was a risk for England to field Stokes, the rumbustious Durham allrounder, as high as No.6, and rely on him to fulfil the third seamer role; promising as he is, his form for England in one-day cricket and tour matches has so far been unremarkable. He had also batted at No.8 in the one-day series against Australia in the English summer, which did not exactly suggest a connected thought process.

The new-look Adelaide - now a multi-sport stadium with AFL the dominant partner - has been largely commended. Even dyed-in-the-wool traditionalists conceded that, as stadiums go, it possesses more style than most. The protected Moreton Bay figs still stand behind the old scoreboard at one end of the ground and you can even still see the cathedral if you are seated in the right place.

England's attention, though, rested exclusively on 22 yards of South Australian soil. Initial conclusions were that it would heavily favour the batsmen, much like a normal Adelaide Test surface, and all that remained to be seen would be whether it would deteriorate quickly enough to justify England's selection. It was markedly dry, with a moisture reading of 28% compared to the 68% at the start of the Test in Brisbane.

The pitch was flat enough to convince Chris Rogers that this was an opportunity not to be missed, but not flat enough to draw him into many shots. He played cagily - the first ball he received, a half-volley from James Anderson, was patted cautiously back as he tried to build the big score he needs to cement his place in the side. Broad conjured up a bit of away seam once or twice, but Anderson took time to warm to his task.

Warner was more fulsome, as Warner tends to be. A resounding straight drive against Broad encouraged chat about the 5 for 482 made by Australia on the first day against South Africa last year, but one chancy drive over gully against the same bowler gave England hope. When their good luck came, and Carberry held the catch, they accepted it with relief.

England's decision meant there was no place for the Yorkshire duo of Gary Ballance, who had been strongly fancied to bat at No.6 and Tim Bresnan, who had proved his recovery from a stress fracture with the England Performance Programme squad in Brisbane. Joe Root was scheduled to bat at No.3.

Shane Warne suggested on Channel 9 before start of play that England had ordered extra chest pads and arm guards to combat the short-pitched menace of pace of Johnson. If that is so, on the evidence of the first session, many of them will remain unpacked until Perth.

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BCCI lowers base price for team sponsorship

The BCCI has slashed its base price for each game by 40% while inviting bids for a new official sponsor for India's senior, Under-19, women and A teams. The tender has been floated because the existing contract with the Sahara group ends on December 31.

The base price for all of India's international matches has been fixed at Rs 1.5 crore (Rs 15 million) per game. When Sahara had extended their decade-long association as the team sponsor for 42 months in July 2010 at Rs 3.34 crore (Rs 33.4 million) per match, the base price had been Rs 2.5 crore (Rs 25 million). Despite the winning bid fetching the BCCI approximately 34% more than the base price last time, the board has lowered the base price considerably for the next four years.

"This is to ensure that more bidders show interest in buying the logo rights," BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel told Times of India. "The board is not undervaluing any property. The base price valuation is done as per the market condition."

Besides lowering the base price, the BCCI also relaxed stringent conditions that had resulted in the list of bidders being restricted to corporate giants. The minimum net worth requirement for a bidder has been reduced to Rs 100 crore (Rs 1000 million) from Rs 1000 crore (Rs 10,000 million) in 2010, while the performance deposit to be given to the BCCI while submitting the bid has been cut from Rs 45 crore (Rs 450 million) to Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million).

Despite the BCCI's explanation, the move has raised eyebrows, especially after the negative publicity the board attracted in 2013. Though the Indian team fared well over the last six months, the IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal and the controversy surrounding N Srinivasan as board president, did not help the image of Indian cricket.

After the BCCI's relationship with Sahara turned sour - their Pune Warriors franchise was removed from the IPL - the sponsor made public its intention of not renewing their contract. As a result, the Indian players will in all likelihood sport a new logo on their jerseys during the tour of New Zealand in January 2014.

The repercussions of the market conditions were evident when the BCCI awarded series sponsorship rights to Star India, the loner bidder, at a base price of Rs 2 crore per match (Rs 20 million) in October. Considering the rights were only for 13 matches in less than two months, the BCCI had not increased the base price from the 2010 bid. However, Star India was the only bidder and bagged the rights at a much lower price than Airtel's previous winning bid of Rs 3.33 crore (Rs 33.3 million) per match.

The tender for the team sponsorship can be bought for Rs 200,000 until December 7 and the bids will be submitted and opened on December 9. At least three documents have been purchased so far.

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