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Younis appeal postponed to May 29

Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan’s appeal against the indefinite ban imposed on him by the PCB has been postponed to Saturday May 29. Younis’ lawyer, Mohammad Ahmed Qayyum, said that the one-man tribunal chaired by Irfan Qadir, did not order an immediate stay on the ban and added that Younis was “frustrated” with the latest development.”Younus is frustrated at the delay in hearing and has demanded the ban should be suspended with immediate effect,” Qayyum told AFP. Qayyum was awaiting more documents from the PCB. “As per the tribunal orders the PCB has yet to give us full documents and the documents given to us do not include audios and videos of Younis’ statement before the evaluation committee.”Similarly, we want to argue (against) all those people who have accused Younis of being ‘arrogant and causing problems’, an opportunity not given to us yet.””We requested the arbitrator to at least issue an interim stay against the suspension but he deferred our request until May 29,” Qayyum also told in Lahore. “It’s a stigma on my client as I feel he has done nothing wrong.”Another former captain, Shoaib Malik, also appeared before Qadir with his lawyer, and the new date for his hearing has been fixed for May 22.”The arbitrator listened to our arguments and now representatives of the Pakistan Cricket Board will present their arguments in the next hearing,” Malik told reporters.Seven Pakistan players were penalised, for various reasons, by the PCB in the aftermath of a winless tour of Australia. Younis and Mohammad Yousuf, who has retired from international cricket, were banned indefinitely. Malik and Naved-ul-Hasan were banned for a year while the Akmal brothers and Shahid Afridi were fined and placed on a six-month probation. Each of the players, with the exception of Yousuf, have appealed against the punishments.Younis and Yousuf were accused of “infighting” and having a “negative influence” on the team. Qayyum also criticised the leaking of the inquiry committee report, upon which the penalties were based, to the media. “We have also raised objection on the leakage of the report and it’s very clear that it’s done with a mala fide intentions against Younis.”

Netherlands secure important sponsor

Netherlands cricket has secured an important new sponsor after signing an agreement with United Dutch Breweries. Under the terms of the deal, the company will sponsor the national side’s participation in the English domestic Clydesdale Bank 40 League and the A team’s involvement in the European Championships for an initial two-year period. The logo of UDB brand 3 Horses Malt Beverage – a non-alcoholic beer – will feature on the playing and training kit of the sides in these competitions.”We are delighted to welcome 3 Horses Malt Beverage as our principal sponsor for the ECB and ICC Europe competitions,” said Koninklijke Nederlandse Cricket Bond chief executive Richard Cox. “We will now seek further complementary brand partners and sponsors to accompany 3 Horses for our other teams and development programmes, as we systematically raise the profile of cricket in the Netherlands and elsewhere.”It’s particularly pleasing that our new sponsor is a purely Dutch company, and we are looking forward to working closely with them over the next two years,” he added.”In many of the 95 countries worldwide in which we do business, we see how popular cricket is,” explained UDB managing director Stijn Deelen. “3 Horses Malt Beverage is already a well-known name in many Middle Eastern and Asian markets, and we hope to link the brand to the popularity of the sport. Our association with the Dutch cricket team underlines the association of our products with its Dutch heritage.”The national side’s first engagement in the Clydesdale Bank 40 is on May 15 against Yorkshire at Headingley. They will also have two home fixtures in the competition, against Essex and Middlesex on May 21 and 23 respectively, to be played at the VRA Ground in Amstelveen.

Middlesex sign Collins for 2010 season

Middlesex have signed Pedro Collins, the former West Indies left-arm seamer, for the 2010 season. Collins will link up with the Middlesex squad in mid April, and joins a pace attack which already contains Iain O’Brien, the former New Zealand paceman, as well as Steven Finn and Middlesex’s player of the year for the last three seasons, Tim Murtagh.”I am delighted to be returning to England to play county cricket this summer,” said Collins. “Playing at Lord’s with West Indies was always a special experience and the thought of playing there for Middlesex with the home support on my side is very exciting. The Club have made some good signings this summer to complement a strong squad so I look forward to helping the club challenge for silverware.”Collins, 33, played 32 Tests for West Indies, taking 106 wickets, and also took part in 30 one-day internationals. His last international appearance came in a Test against India at Kingston in 2006, after which he had a two-year stint at Surrey as a Kolpak player, courtesy of his native Barbados’s trade links with the United Kingdom.After picking up just 16 wickets in five County Championship games last year, he was released by Surrey at the end of the 2009 season, but went on to have a successful time with Barbados, his 26 wickets helping them clinch second place in the domestic four-day competition.”We are delighted to have secured the services of Pedro Collins,” said Angus Fraser, Middlesex’s managing director of cricket. “Pedro will bolster Middlesex’s seam attack, bringing experience and variety to it. He has experience of bowling in English conditions and has had a very good domestic season in the Caribbean, in which he took 26 wickets at an average of only 17.53 for Barbados.”

The momentum is with us now – Warne

Shane Warne, the Rajasthan Royals captain, has said the momentum is now with his team as it remains a strong contender in its attempt to reach the semi-finals of the third IPL after a thumping win over Kings XI Punjab in Jaipur. Punjab were steam-rolled by nine wickets and Rajasthan surged to third place in the points table with six wins in eleven games.”It was a very good performance by our bowlers and batsmen. We also fielded very well. In the last game (against Deccan Chargers) we pulled something out of the bag. We have the momentum with us now,” Warne said after the game. He credited the win to the performances of fast bowler Aditya Dole, who grabbed the wickets of Yuvraj Singh and Mahela Jayawardene in one over, and opener Michael Lumb, who blasted 83 to make short work of a target of 154.”(Aditya) Dole showed a lot of character after that dropped catch and his first spell in getting (Mahela) Jayawardene and Yuvraj (Singh) out in the same over (12th over). Then Michael Lumb played a fantastic innings with Naman Ojha supporting him,” Warne said.Rajasthan raced to their eighth win in as many games at their original home venue, the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, which hosted its first game of the IPL’s third edition. They play two of their three remaining games at the same venue. “We have had a tough week. Four games in eight days, lots of travel, lots of matches, very nice to get home here. We have held our home record here.”Now we have three games at home, two big games coming up. It would be tough matches. This (crowd support) could make the difference.”Kumar Sangakkara, the Punjab captain, said the loss of Yuvraj and Jayawardene in the same over, and Rajasthan’s attacking start to the chase, cost his team the match. Punjab had been 108 for 2 at one stage, but managed just 27 in their last five overs.”We got a great good start, 100 in 10 overs. They bowled really smartly to hold us back. The 12th over turned the match with the wickets of Yuvraj Singh and Mahela Jayawardene falling in that over. We also could not score much in the last six overs,” Sangakkara said. “It was a good track, although slow, but they bowled really well. Siddharth Trivedi especially.”We didn’t bowl or field well. Our bowlers did not bowl at the right areas in the first six overs of Rajasthan run chase. The first six overs cost us the match.”

John Howard nominated for ICC presidency

John Howard, the former Australian prime minister, has finally been nominated by the boards of Australia and New Zealand as their candidate for the post of ICC president from 2012. Howard, who led the country from 1996 to 2007, will have the position rubber stamped in June and will succeed India’s Sharad Pawar in two years.The decision ends a long-running dispute over the preferred Australasian candidate. Cricket Australia searched outside their board of directors for a nomination and wanted Howard, who admits to being a cricket tragic, while New Zealand Cricket recommended its former chairman Sir John Anderson. Howard is a 70-year-old with no background in cricket administration but was pursued by Cricket Australia for his diplomatic skills.Jack Clarke, Cricket Australia’s chairman, and his New Zealand counterpart Alan Isaac issued a joint release saying they were pleased Howard had agreed to take on the role, which begins as vice-president in June. Howard said in the statement he was honoured and humbled to receive the recommendation for the appointment, but believed it would be inappropriate to comment until the post became official in June.However, he was more expansive in a release from the ICC. “It is a great honour to be nominated by Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket for the vice-presidency of the International Cricket Council from June-July 2010,” he said. “Cricket has been one of my lifelong passions and, if the ICC accepts my nomination, it will be a privilege to serve this great game.”The countries’ boards set up a committee including an independent member in the businessman Sir Rod Eddington to decide who should be nominated. “It was an extremely difficult decision and ultimately relied on the input of Sir Rod Eddington, whom both cricket boards respect enormously,” Clarke and Isaac said. “The ICC faces significant and complex internal and external challenges in its quest for cricket to become a genuinely global sport. Australia and New Zealand considered a number of distinguished candidates of global stature before deciding to invite John Howard to consider the role.”The ICC presidency is given to countries by rotation and the incumbent David Morgan, the ECB’s representative, will hand the responsibility to Pawar in June. Howard will then act as vice-president and take over after Pawar’s two-year tenure ends. His nomination will be approved at the ICC’s executive board meeting in April and the position will be finalised at the annual conference in the middle of the year.

Afridi's actions unacceptable – Inzamam

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan captain, has come down strongly on Shahid Afridi’s actions in the fifth ODI against Australia, during which the latter was found guilty of biting the ball and incurred a two-match ban.”What Afridi did was unacceptable and more worrying is the fact that he was captain when he tried to tamper with the ball. He didn’t do any service to Pakistan cricket with his actions,” Inzamam told PTI. “The match referee Ranjan Madugalle has been kind to Afridi, giving him just a two-match ban or Afridi could have been in bigger trouble.”Inzamam blamed the PCB for the general lack of discipline in the national side. “I hold the board responsible for all that is happening. It shows there is a need to enforce stricter discipline in the team. But the board itself promotes such things by giving unnecessary statements [changing the captain] during a tour,” he said. “Obviously it had a negative effect on the performance of the team and captain.”Inzamam believed Mohammad Yousuf was the best option to lead Pakistan and that the PCB should continue to support him.”Yousuf accepted the captaincy at a very difficult time for Pakistan cricket and has done his best in New Zealand and Australia, where in the past also stronger teams have tasted defeat.”I think the board must show confidence in him and give him a fair chance to show his capability as captain. I am confident he is perfectly capable of leading the team well in future,” Inzamam said.Inzamam also questioned the decision to include Younis Khan in the ODI squad after leaving him out of the Test leg of the tour. Younis had stepped down from captaincy prior to the tour of New Zealand, and was ignored for the Australia Tests despite making himself available for selection.

Imran Tahir withdrawn from South Africa squad

Barely a day after they named him in the squad for the crucial final Test against England, South Africa’s selectors have withdrawn Imran Tahir, the uncapped legspinner, owing to issues over his eligibility for the country.Tahir, who was born in Lahore, qualified for South Africa on April 1, 2009 as he is married to a local woman and a Cricket South Africa spokesman said his withdrawal was due to issues with his residency paperwork. “His permanent residence papers have not come through yet, so we will just have to put him on hold until they do,” he said.It is unlikely that Tahir would have featured in the final Test, but Mickey Arthur is known to be keen to assess the legspinner ahead of the tours of India and the West Indies and this situation is likely to be cleared up in time for the India trip in February.Tahir’s original selection was a shot across the bows for Paul Harris, the current No. 1 spinner, after his disappointing display in the second innings at Newlands as South Africa finished one wicket short of victory for the second time in the series.Although Harris took three wickets in the final innings at Newlands, his length was erratic and he delivered several full tosses. He was out-bowled by JP Duminy, whose part-time offspin sparked England’s collapse with the wickets of Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior.Duminy’s offspin has been more than handy during this series, fetching him six wickets at 26.50, compared to Harris’s 11 at 40.36. Mike Procter, the convenor of selectors, admitted there was concern over the form of the frontline spinner.”To a certain extent, yes. Paul Harris has done well for South Africa over the years and it is a little disappointing when your frontline spinner wasn’t able to extract more on a wicket that turned,” Procter told Cricinfo. “We want to look at Tahir for the future as well. He hasn’t been around the squad before and he could be useful in the series to come. He’s only been playing amateur cricket really this season, he’s at the Titans but he’s moving at the end of the season.”However, Tahir’s inclusion comes at a time when he isn’t making first-team appearances for the Titans. He is set to move franchises at the end of the season, having played just two of the eight Supersport matches this campaign for a return of seven wickets at 51.With the domestic season currently in MTN40 mode, Tahir was not part of the Titans side and has been playing most of his cricket for Easterns in the amateur three-day tournament. His form has been impressive with 36 wickets at 15.61. Tahir was prolific for Hampshire in his recent stint in county cricket, claiming 52 wickets at 32.90. He played two matches for Pakistan A back in 2005, and has also featured for Middlesex and Yorkshire.South Africa’s squad is now down to 14 names and includes left-arm fast bowler Wayne Parnell, who was released from the squad for the first Test in Centurion, in favour of Friedel de Wet. De Wet, however, has been struggling with a back injury that required an injection on the final day at Newlands. He was noticeably down on pace throughout his last-day spell, and his place in the XI will depend on the outcome of a scan. Makhaya Ntini was another name in the frame for a last hurrah, but his latest omission has all but confirmed his international retirement.South Africa squad Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, Friedel de Wet, JP Duminy, Paul Harris, Jacques Kallis, Ryan McLaren, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Alviro Petersen, Ashwell Prince, Dale Steyn.

No more a blockbuster, but plenty of character

Match facts

Sunday, January 3
Start time 09:30

Big picture

Ishant Sharma, out of the Indian team, needs to impress the selectors•Associated Press

Mumbai against Delhi was a blockbuster. That was a fact in the 20th century. In the 21st century it has become just another contest.The thrill that this storied rivalry ignited in the past is now a distant dream. One main reason is the absence of any big name players. It would’ve been a completely different setting and feeling if Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir were pitted against each other. But they are not available for the semi-final that starts at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday.It could still turn out be a keen contest, though, especially since there is no established match-winner in either side. Delhi reached the semis in typical style – full of chaos. After three league matches they had already slumped to an innings defeat against Uttar Pradesh, but redeemed themselves with two outright wins in the following two matches. Three captains were appointed for the seven previous matches but the team did not disintegrate. Senior players like Aakash Chopra and Mithun Manhas missed four games each but youngsters like Gaurav Chabra and Puneet Bisht grabbed their opportunity with match-winning hundreds.Bisht, the only Delhi player in the top 20 run-scorers this season, has been his team’s most valuable batsman. His two hundreds came when Delhi were on the brink against Saurashtra and Bengal. Chabra’s only century was in the quarterfinals and his 92-run sixth-wicket partnership with Bisht gave Delhi the crucial first-innings lead against favourites Tamil Nadu. In the bowling department, youngsters like Sumit Narwal, Parvinder Awana and the left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra, who got a five-for in the quarterfinals, showed patience and made inroads into the opposition’s batting.Defending champions Mumbai, too, never seemed settled, a contrast to the last season when they ran roughshod over nearly every team. Apart from Wasim Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane, none of the top order batsmen has scored consistently. Though Sahil Kukreja notched a double-hundred he remains inconsistent. Mumbai tried six different openers in eight previous games and Jaffer has now decided to promote himself as a precautionary measure. It is a wise move in the absence of Rohit Sharma, who was picked for the tri-series in Bangladesh.Mumbai’s middle order has floundered but the lower order comprising Ajit Agarkar, Ramesh Powar and Iqbal Abdulla has helped avoid embarrassing situations. The team management is hoping Agarkar recovers from the fever that kept him out of the pre-match practice sessions. Already Dhawal Kulkarni, last year’s highest wicket-taker who has been struggling this season, has been virtually ruled out due a side strain sustained during the quarterfinal against Haryana.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)Mumbai – WWWWW
Delhi – WLWWL

Watch out for…

Wasim Jaffer v Ishant Sharma: On his day, Jaffer is a joy to watch. He is a wristy player whose strokes flow smoothly, and incessantly, into various gaps. Hence he is the ideal hurdle for Ishant, who was recently dropped for the tri-series in Bangladesh after his patchy form during the Sri Lanka series. Ishant has admitted he is struggling for form but his hunger can only push him further to prove his worth.Ajinkya Rahane: He is the highest run-getter this season with a double-hundred, three centuries and three fifties. Last year he was the second-best batsman in the competition, and one of only two batsmen to cross the 1000-run mark. Though he had a terrible start this year, failing in the first three matches, Rahane worked on his mindset, realising he had to curb his aggressive instincts early on and play the anchor instead. Along with Jaffer, he would be the most prized wicket for Delhi’s bowlers.

Team news

Mumbai: (probable) 1 Wasim Jaffer (capt), 2 Sahil Kukreja, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Onkar Khanvilkar, 5 Abhishek Nayar, 6 Vinayak Samant (wk), 7 Ajit Agarkar/Sushant Marathe, 8 Ramesh Powar, 9 Iqbal Abdulla, 10 Aavishkar Salvi, 11 Usman Malvi.Delhi: (probable) 1 Rajat Bhatia (capt), 2 Shikar Dhawan, 3 Mayank Tehlan, 4 Aditya Jain, 5 Mithun Manhas, 6 Gaurav Chabra, 7 Puneet Bisht (wk), 8 Ishant Sharma, 9 Chaitanya Nanda, 10 Vikas Mishra, 11 Pradeep Sangwan.

Pitch and conditions

The Brabourne pitch has always been a result-oriented one and will provide assistance to both batsmen and bowlers. Captains will not think twice about batting first if they call the toss right.

Quotes

“We have changed three captains this season and everything went smoothly. We know what our goal is and we just wanted to work towards that.”
“We haven’t been getting very good starts and with Rohit not there I need to take up the responsibility of opening the innings. If we get past the new ball we can hope to post a big total. “

Paul Collingwood 50-50 for Newlands – Andy Flower

Paul Collingwood is rated 50-50 to be fit for the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town, after testing out his injured left index finger for the first time since he dislocated it during practice prior to the fourth day’s play at Durban.If Collingwood doesn’t recover in time Michael Carberry, the Hampshire left-hander, is the likely replacement and would make his debut just four days after arriving from the UK. However, England coach Andy Flower remains optimistic that Collingwood will be available after he managed a more extensive work-out than had been planned during the nets session at Newlands.”He did more today than I thought he’d do,” Flower said. “I told him to take it easy, and we’d test it out properly tomorrow. He had a net, did some fielding and a bit of slip-catching and his finger felt better than he thought it might. That’s positive news, but we’ll do a final fitness test on him tomorrow. I’d say at the moment it’s probably 50-50.”Collingwood has been one of England’s in-form players throughout the tour and was named Man of the Series for the one-day internationals. In the Tests he made 91 at Durban to follow his match-saving 26 off 99 balls at Centurion, where he also contributed 50 in the first innings.After a poor finish to the Ashes series, Collingwood’s place was coming under scrutiny, but the management forced him to rest for a couple of ODIs against Australia and he returned revived. He was outstanding during the Champions Trophy, proving a revelation with his previously unseen powers of six-hitting in the middle order, and has since carried that form forward. He will be tough to replace.”What Collingwood has done recently is he’s used to good effect some of the vast amount of experience he’s got over the last six or seven years,” Flower said. “He’s repaying England for all that investment in him. If he goes out, we’ll lose some of that experience.”But you gain in another way if the debutant comes in and kicks off his international career. We’re not worried. If he can’t play, he can’t play. We’ll get on with it.Carberry was part of the England Performance Programme based in Pretoria until shortly before Christmas where he scored a hundred against a Gauteng team. There also remains the option of drafting in Luke Wright, but he has slipped down the pecking order after England’s successful policy of playing six frontline batsmen.”He’s [Carberry] been scoring runs out here in South Africa, so we’re quite comfortable with that situation,” Flower said. “The way he batted in the nets this morning, I’d feel very confident when he strode out to the middle. The allrounder option is always there, has been for the first two Tests and is again for this one.Flower’s opposite number, Mickey Arthur, has been doing some hasty research on Carberry in case he makes his debut on Sunday but added Collingwood will be tough to replace. “I’ve done my homework on Carberry last night,” he said. “If he plays we have had a look at him. He looks a very good player, very leg side and tries to score there a lot.”Collingwood has been instrumental, he has played unbelievably well through the whole tour. He’s almost the heartbeat in the middle order and it will be a loss. But England have played some very good cricket so I’m sure they are comfortable that they won’t weaken their team.”Although England’s starting XI remains uncertain, one message coming from Flower is crystal clear. The team won’t be getting carried away after Durban. It’s the message he – and Andrew Strauss – preached after the Ashes and despite the crushing nature of the victory two days ago nothing has changed.”It was a confidence-building performance in Durban,” Flower said in typically understated fashion. “Our bowlers did a good job again. It was nice to see some of the batsmen go on to substantial scores. That changed the momentum of the game.”All round, it was a great performance from our side. We’re one up – a great position to be in – but we’re only halfway through a Test series. That means there’s a lot of hard work to do in this Cape Town Test. But I know that our guys are looking forward to the challenge of taking South Africa on here.”I think the guys’ feet are firmly on the ground. We reflected well on the Durban victory, but now they’ve drawn a line under that.”

Kallis absence evens the scales

Match facts

Sunday, November 22, 2009
Start time 10.00 (08.00GMT)James Tredwell could leapfrog Adil Rashid for a place in the England side•Getty Images

Big picture

This is now a four-match series after the abandonment at the Wanderers left everyone kicking their heels. The significant development in the last couple of days has been the news of Jacques Kallis’ absence from the series due to a rib fracture, so his partnership with Graeme Smith will be a non-starter.England’s injury situation remains unchanged with Stuart Broad (shoulder) and Graeme Swann (side) already ruled out of the match, but the delayed start to the series will have helped Paul Collingwood and James Anderson recover from their niggles. With the forecast more promising for Sunday’s game, Collingwood should finally have the chance to become England’s most capped ODI player with his 171st appearance, overtaking Alec Stewart’s record.Really, though, it’s as you were in the build-up to the opening match although the rain has taken some of the sting out of the hype. Andrew Strauss won’t mind that, having refused to be drawn into any mind games with the South Africans but, when the action does finally start, the attention will still be on Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott.With one match already gone from the schedule, there is less room for error and therefore even more important to hit the ground running. At least on Saturday the teams were able to train outdoors, and whichever side clicks into gear the quickest after a frustrating few days will be in prime position to take control of the series.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
South Africa – WWLWL
England – LLWWW

Team news

With Kallis out of the series, Hashim Amla is set to be given another chance to open alongside Smith, a position he has filled with decent results. South Africa will also have to decide whether to go with a full hand of seamers or play one of their spinners. Without the services of Kallis’ fast bowling and the recent wet weather, the former could be the preferred route.South Africa (possible) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 JP Duminy, 5 Alviro Petersen, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Albie Morkel, 8 Ryan McLaren, 9 Charl Langeveldt, 10 Lonwabo Tsotsobe, 11 Dale SteynEngland may hand an international debut to James Tredwell, who has been called up as cover for Graeme Swann. Quite what Adil Rashid, the second spinner in the original squad, will make of that remains to be seen but Tredwell has the advantage of spinning the ball away from South Africa’s clutch of left handers. However, they too may decide on a full hand of quicks, especially with Collingwood’s troublesome back. The other question is how many batsman to play, and if one misses out it is likely to be Joe Denly.England (possible) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Jonathan Trott, 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Matt Prior (wk), 7 Luke Wright, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 James Tredwell, 10 Graham Onions, 11 James Anderson

Watch out for

Kevin Pietersen was called back into action a couple of days early when England were hit by injuries ahead of the second Twenty20, but looked in decent fettle for his 29. The 50-over warm-up against South Africa was more of a struggle as he scratched 4 from 17 balls, but he looks eager to make up for lost time. His three ODI tons in South Africa four years ago are still talked about and England would dearly like to see a return of that free-flowing, care-free Pietersen rather than the mentally strained and restrained figure that has been on show for much of 2009.JP Duminy‘s international numbers are already impressive and an ODI average of 37.57 indicates his talent. However, against England, he has struggled to make a mark with 88 runs in six matches with a best of 24. The South African management are giving him the chance to build an innings by promoting him to No 4, and with the absence of Kallis now is the time for Duminy to repay that faith.James Anderson…but not for his bowling. If he gets his turn to bat, Anderson will use the Mongoose bat which made much fanfare last season. It has a shorter blade and longer handle – meaning, in theory, better striking power – and Jimmy has got his hands on one. Without being too harsh, it might be a little wasted.

Stats and trivia

  • Collingwood, as well as being one away from an England cap record, also needs three wickets to reach 100 in ODIs

Quotes

“I was actually organising a trip to India for the start of December, so they had to tell me pretty sharpish so that I didn’t put my passport in for a visa.”

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