England win despite Pathirana's all-round show

Scorecard

Billy Godleman’s 57 set up England’s chase © International Cricket Council
 

Half-centuries from Billy Godleman and captain Tom Westley guided England to an eight-run D/L victory at Royal Selangor Club. England next take on the winner of Thursday’s Australia-Bangladesh clash in the fifth place play-off final.Sri Lanka, after being put in, got off to a disastrous start and were reduced to 10 for 2 in the fourth over. However, powered by an unbeaten 97 from Sachith Pathirana, who is currently the tournament’s leading run-scorer, they posted a competitive 241. Pathirana smashed five boundaries and two sixes in his 91-ball effort. There were also significant contributions from opener Lahiru Thirimanne (47) and captain Ashan Priyanjan (54).In reply, England’s openers put on a brisk 75 before Pathirana removed James Taylor for 30. Godleman (57) was the next to go, stumped off the bowling of offspinner Roshen Silva with the score on 106. Westley (58) and Sam Northeast were involved in a patient 90-run stand for the third wicket which left England needing 46 at a run-a-ball. However, with the score at 204 for 3 after 44.1 overs, the rains came down and England were adjudged winners by the D/L method.
Scorecard
West Indies shot out Papua New Guinea for 89 and cruised to victory with six wickets and nearly 35 overs to spare. They now face Nepal on March 1 in the ninth place play-off final.PNG had a torrid time after opting to bat with none of their batsmen making more than 14. Even their measly total was achieved because of some wayward West Indies bowling, which conceded 27 extras, including 22 wides. They would have collapsed for even less if not for a 26-run ninth-wicket partnership, the largest of their innings. West Indies spinners Veerasammy Permaul, Steven Jacob and Sharmarh Brooks turned in impressive performances, giving away a mere 35 runs in 24 overs while sharing four wickets.Though West Indies lost four wickets – including three for one run – in chasing down the target, breezy knocks from Kieran Powell (37) and Adrian Barath (26) ensured the result was never in doubt. The lone bright spot for PNG was medium-pacer Loa Nou, who picked up the wickets of Powell and Barath in his three overs.

Rajshahi confirm Tier 1 promotion; Enamul stars with 10-for

Tier 1Naeem Islam struck his maiden double-hundred across formats in Rangpur Division‘s draw against Dhaka Division in Khulna. He amassed 216 out of Rangpur’s first-innings total of 560 for 8 (declared) which also included centuries from Suhrawadi Shuvo and Ariful Haque.Naeem struck 23 fours and five sixes in his 349-ball innings that lasted eight-and-a-half hours. His 266-run fourth-wicket stand with Shuvo took Rangpur past 300, before he added another 183 runs for the sixth wicket with Ariful.Rangpur batted till 3pm on the second day, with Shuvagata Hom returning the best figures – 3 for 125 – among the opposition bowlers. In reply, Minhaz Khan, Raqibul Hasan and Shuvagata made fifties, but could not convert their knocks into bigger scores. Dhaka were bowled out for 321 as Abdur Rahman bagged a four-for with his left-arm spin.Asked to follow-on, Dhaka batted out 49 overs on the final day, crawling to 85 for the loss of Rony Talukdar. Opener Abdul Majid made a patient and unbeaten 52, having batted for more than three hours.Barisal fought hard to draw against defending champions Khulna despite being asked to follow-on in Rajshahi.Having elected to bat first, Khulna declared on 511 for 8 after Robiul Islam Robi and Ziaur Rahman made 114 and 152 respectively. Robi struck 17 fours while Ziaur blasted six sixes and 11 fours in his 222-ball knock. Barisal offspinner Sohag Gazi finished with figures of 4 for 148.Three-wicket hauls from Nahidul Islam and Abdur Razzak helped Khulna skittle Barisal out for 296 runs in 92 overs, despite half-centuries from Salman Hossain, Moin Khan and Gazi.Following-on, Barisal scored 296 again, but this time at the expense of only five wickets while playing out 110 overs. Captain Fazle Mahmud’s 107 anchored the innings, with fifties from Rafsan Al Mahmud and Gazi, whose unbeaten 68 saved Barisal from defeat as the ten Khulna bowlers used could only dismiss five batsmen.Tier 2Delwar Hossain’s all-round show – a match haul of 9 for 92 coupled with a half-century – and a second successive century from Mizanur Rahman powered Rajshahi to an innings and 13-run win over Chittagong in Bogra. With Sylhet defeating Dhaka Metropolis in the other Tier-2 game in this round, Rajshahi confirmed their promotion to next season’s Tier 1.Trailing by 143 after the first innings, Chittagong were shot out for 130 in 41.4 overs with Sadiqur Rahman’s 48 being the only substantial contribution. Delwar’s 6 for 23 – his career-best figures – helped him become the first quick bowler in this season’s National Cricket League to grab more than five wickets in an innings. Delwar’s charge with the ball was abetted by Farhad Reza, who coupled his first-innings four-for with two in the second.Put in to bat, Chittagong scored 260 in the first innings on the back of a 128-run fifth-wicket stand between Saeed Sarkar (70) and Sazzadul Haque (95). Rajshahi replied with 403 courtesy Mizanur’s 102, which included 13 fours and two sixes. Having hammered 143 in his side’s previous game against Sylhet, Mizanur added 153 for the third wicket with nightwatchman Delwar, who scored his second first-class half-century (62). Later, the wicketkeeper-batsman Hamidul Islam (73*) added important runs in the lower order and strung an 88-run ninth-wicket stand with Saqlain Sajib.A five-for in each innings from Sylhet‘s Enamul Haque Jnr handed Dhaka Metropolis a 190-run drubbing in Chittagong. In what was his seventh 10-for in his career, Enamul earned the distinction of becoming the first bowler to bag a 10-wicket match haul since the 2015-16 season.Sylhet put together 319 after electing to bat, with captain Imtiaz Hossain making 132 in nearly five hours, peppering 17 fours during his innings. Shykat Ali, Nihaduzzaman and Sharifullah took three wickets each for Dhaka Metroplis.Dhaka Metro were bowled out for 259 in 77.4 overs with captain Marshall Ayub scoring 98 off 149 balls as no other batsman crossed 40. Enamul took 5 for 96 from the 34 overs he bowled.Headlined by half-centuries from Shanaj Ahmed, Shahanur Rahman and Abu Jayed, Sylhet added 263 runs to their 60-run first-innings lead. Nihaduzzaman took four wickets and Elias Sunny picked up three wickets.After Sylhet declared on the final day to set a target of 324, Dhaka Metro lasted just 49.2 overs, as Enamul ran through the line-up with 5 for 63, skittling the opposition for only 133 runs.

Saqlain, Kaneria bamboozle Bangladesh

Bangladesh looked like continuing their discouraging streak of failures since their inception into Test cricket in the second Test against Pakistan at the MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong. The hosts found themselves blown away for 148 just before the tea break and, by stumps, Pakistan had steadily advanced to 99 for just the loss opener Shadab Kabir.Off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, who bowled little and unsuccessfully in the first Test at Dhaka, was the chief architect of the Bangladeshi collapse, luring five Bangladeshi batsmen to their doom and conceding only 35 runs in the process. At the other end, continuing his strategy of torment against Bangladesh, was Danish Kaneria, who claimed 4-62.Bangladesh were most comfortable in the day only between Khaled Masud winning the toss and the openers taking strike against Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar. First strike on a flat, dry batting surface that promised to aid spin later in the match was an advantage that Bangladesh badly needed. It was also an advantage that was to be squandered.Javed Belim, the right-handed opener playing in place of Mohammad Ashraful, opened with an injured Al-Sahariar. The pair added 21 runs for the first wicketbefore Waqar induced a nick from Al-Sahariar and sent him back for 13, caught behind by Rashid Latif.Mehrab Hossain and Belim then proceeded to give their supporters a rare moment of cheer. Batting patiently and steadily, they saw off the opening pace salvo and then looked comfortable when spin was introduced into the attack. Just before lunch, however, Belim, then on 17, misread the bounce from a Saqlain delivery, offering a catch to silly point Shadab Kabir.One of Bangladesh’s more dependable bats disappointed on the day. Habibul Bashar’s dismissal mirrored Belim’s, with Shadab Kabir taking yet another catch at silly point off the bowling of Saqlain. Their best batsman gone for just 2, the remaining members of the batting line-up crumbled in the face of fine spin bowling from Saqlain and Kaneria.Aminul Islam and skipper Khaled Masud did offer some resistance further down the order, adding 27 runs for the seventh wicket. Aminul ground out 27 runs, while Masud top-scored in the innings with 28.Pakistan skipper Waqar Younis was in particularly attacking vein on the day, setting suffocating close-in fields to entice the batsmen into playing big shots. The plan worked brilliantly, with almost all the batsmen fell into that very trap. The home side’s innings lasted only 56.4 overs.Mohammad Sharif brought slight cheer with his early success, removing Shadab Kabir caught behind in the sixth over. Shadab appeared suspect outside the off-stump from the very start, prodding at deliveries that were meant to be left alone. His mode of dismissal, thus, came as little surprise.That was to be Bangladesh’s last success of the day. Younis Khan and Taufeeq Umar consolidated their side’s position to run up 99 runs by the close of the play. Both were unbeaten on 47, taking eight boundaries each off a Bangladeshi attack that appeared unlikely to set things up for a series-squaring win by bowling Pakistan out twice.

Logie committed to a brighter future

Gus Logie, the Bermuda coach, says he knows “what the problems are, now we are interested in finding solutions” to his side’s constant bickering and sniping, and their consistently poor form on the field.In an extensive interview with the Logie bluntly accepted that a change of mindset would be vital if Bermuda are to ever seriously challenge the upper echelons of cricket’s established order. But he also offered an explanation to their continually poor results.”The island suffers from having a results oriented society,” he told the newspaper. “In the shorter version you can see an instant result. In the longer game you can have a draw, and sometimes that doesn’t sit very well with some people. But you have to be mindful of what cricket is about, you have to appreciate the fundamentals of the game.”The reality of the situation is that life goes on, and we [the Bermuda Cricket Board] are here to help. We know that cricket can make a difference in people’s lives. Yes we are criticised, and we have taken are fair share of criticism, but we know that some players need our support. “But they have to let us know,” he said. “We are in a position where we can afford to provide support, be it financial or social, and if we do, then we can get more out of the individual.”Some of the older players can adapt, and some of the younger players can’t. But if we can teach them to love the game, to understand it, then they will want to play in a longer game, not just get it over and done with.”The players can be taught to play the longer version, it’s just a case of repetition . . . constantly teaching them to concentrate, build an innings, and understand how to play for longer.”Lionel Cann, one of Bermuda’s most talented batsmen if not the most consistent, withdrew himself from the national squad earlier this month citing personal and family commitments. In addition, the country still doesn’t possess an international pitch; their National Sports Centre is due for yet another inspection in the next few months to ascertain whether the wicket meets ICC standards.

Azhar rues batting 'misjudgment'

Ever since the Galle turnaround, Pakistan’s batting has combusted time and again. Batting collapses aren’t new to Pakistan cricket, but after falling from 32 for 1 to 152 for 7 in 37 overs on the second day in Pallekele, even Azhar Ali, the team’s vice-captain, could not offer an explanation.Azhar, like several of his team-mates, was guilty of throwing his wicket away despite being one of the few batsmen settled at the crease. Before that, on a pitch that was not unplayable by any means, Ahmed Shehzad was done by his own remiss, and Asad Shafiq played across the line to be trapped lbw.Was it fair to call Pakistan’s batting careless?”I don’t think careless is the right word, but you can say misjudgment,” Azhar said. “We all were out there with a positive frame of mind and were very much focused but it didn’t work out. You sometime hit a ball for a boundary and the same ball gets you out as well, which is part of the game. You can’t just say that we were careless.”They (Sri Lanka bowlers) bowled in the right areas this time, again otherwise the wicket is still very good for Test cricket as it has everything for everyone. The main point we lacked today was not building big partnerships otherwise it could have been different scenario. We anchored small partnerships but converting them into bigger partnerships was the only thing missed. Small partnership in intervals looked easy for us for a while, but then again, we lost few wickets in the wrong time and we never got time to get settled.”The collapse undid most of the good work done by the Pakistan bowlers, who bundled Sri Lanka out for 278, as the visitors still trailed by 69 runs with just one wicket in hand going into day three. Before the Test, Misbah-ul-Haq had suggested that his team had their best chance of beating a weakened Sri Lanka side at their home, but Pakistan’s performance on Saturday did little to justify that belief. Azhar, though, felt the game was still open.”We still have a chance to beat Sri Lanka by trying to exploit the absence of big names in their team. But at the same time, whoever they have are very good players representing their country. We are applying ourselves with full strength to beat them but we have to be on top of our game.”This Test is still open and the closer we get to their score, it will increase our chances to pull this in our way. The third innings is always important and if we managed to get them out early, we are capable of turning things around like we did in Galle as well. So there is plenty of time in the match and we are positive about everything. From tomorrow, it will be a new day and we look forward to it.”Pakistan may sound optimistic, but at the moment, only Yasir Shah is on top of his game. The game may not be lost, but the momentum most certainly has.”It’s Test cricket because it test you in different sessions, and if we managed to pull ourselves together in the coming days and play our best cricket, then we can win this game and we are positive about this,” Azhar said.”The only problem we have had so far is that we couldn’t convert the smaller partnerships into big ones. It’s not like the pitch wasn’t good, it is equally good for batsmen, but each one of us have to apply ourselves and have to work hard to get the best out of this.”

Test players released for start of BBL

Several of Australia’s Test cricketers will be made available for Big Bash League matches between the first and second Tests against West Indies, Cricket Australia has confirmed.The BBL begins on December 17 and some of Australia’s Test cricketers will be available for at least the first four days of the Twenty20 tournament, given the lengthy gap between Tests. The first Test against West Indies will be played in Hobart from December 10 to 14, and there is then a 10-day break before the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.However, the Test fast bowlers will not take part in the BBL matches and opening batsman David Warner, who is yet to sign with a team for this season, will sit out to spend time with his pregnant wife Candice. Allrounder Mitchell Marsh’s availability is yet to be decided, with his workload in the coming Tests likely to determine if he will play in the BBL during that period.Steven Smith, Joe Burns, Peter Nevill, Nathan Lyon and, fitness pending, Usman Khawaja, will be available from December 17 to 20. There is also a possibility the Perth Scorchers players in the Test squad – Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Marsh – will be made available for their team’s first game on December 21.The Test players will gather in Melbourne on December 22 ahead of the Boxing Day Test.

Syed Kirmani nominated for CK Nayudu award

Former India wicketkeeper-batsman Syed Kirmani has been chosen for the CK Nayudu lifetime achievement award for 2015. The award, the highest honour given by the BCCI to a former player, comes with a trophy, citation, and a cheque for Rs 25 lakhs.One of India’s finest keepers, Kirmani effected 198 dismissals in 88 Tests, and was particularly immaculate behind the stumps to India’s spin quartet of Erapalli Prasanna, S Venkataraghavan, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Bishen Singh Bedi. Kirmani was also a capable batsman lower down the order, scoring close to 3000 Test runs, including two centuries, at an average of 27.04.Kirmani played 49 ODIs for India, making 373 runs, the highlight being the 126-run rearguard partnership he shared with Kapil Dev in the World Cup game against Zimbabwe in Turnbridge Wells. Also a Padma Shree award winner, Kirmani served as chairman of the national selection committee and vice-president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) after his playing career.

Bowlers made my job easier – Dhoni

‘The way Harbhajan and Viru [Virender Sehwag] bowled, we knew it was going to be just a matter of time. There were no easy singles on offer, so we put a lot of pressure on them’ © AFP
 

At the end of day two, Sourav Ganguly had said that South Africa’s collapse in the first innings, during which they lost nine wickets for 113 runs, boosted India’s confidence in the second. Perhaps he knew the bowlers had got the measure of the Green Park pitch, something Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captaining in his first Test, reiterated today after the dramatic win.”In the second innings, everybody knew what lengths to bowl, and from what spots they would get variable bounce,” Dhoni said, “The fast bowlers especially deserve a lot of credit in the second innings.”A major change from the first innings was that India opened with Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma, neither of whom gave anything away. They made sure there were no free runs on offer to let off the pressure that a 60-run deficit would have put on the South Africans. India applied what Dhoni termed as ‘mindgames’ with that lead in their bags, and delayed its erasing as much as possible, knowing the wickets would just be a matter of time if they could push South Africa into a shell. The approach was rewarded fully, as South Africa had lost four of their best batsmen by the time they were only 12 ahead. “Although this was the third day of the match, this was not a third-day pitch,” Dhoni said. “The way Harbhajan and Viru [Virender Sehwag] bowled, we knew it was going to be just a matter of time. There were no easy singles on offer, so we put a lot of pressure on them. We made sure they didn’t take a single and go off strike.”This is where the efforts of Ganguly and VVS Laxman provide a stark contrast to the South African batsmen, and also proved crucial in the final equation, as they controlled the innings, consciously looking to score more often than they usually would. “To play positively on this wicket is very important,” Dhoni said. “You can get out irrespective of whether you are playing your shots or not, the way it happened to Rahul Dravid. So you have to keep scoring on such tracks. It was very crucial the way Sourav batted on this track, and the 60-odd lead was very crucial, because it changes the whole mindset of the team that is batting next.”Almost all the bowling changes he made seemed to work. In the first innings, Piyush Chawla got wickets in his first over on two occasions. In the second, Sehwag got a wicket with his first ball and Ishant got two in the first over of his second spell. But Dhoni said it was easier to captain on this pitch, especially with the way the bowlers bowled.”Viru is much more than a part-timer on this kind of wicket. He continuously kept bowling the right areas, in the rough. It was a deliberate move, and we knew that with him and Yuvraj in the team we would not need an extra spinner.”He had a pretty difficult job of replacing Anil Kumble as captain, and also playing without Sachin Tendulkar and Kumble for the first time since the latter’s debut. “It’s pretty hard to replace a man like Kumble, and especially on such a wicket,” he said. “Had he been playing, I don’t think this would have lasted three days.”Well we did well, but it doesn’t mean we are better off without Sachin or Anil. Who is there to replace Sachin? Who is there to replace Kumble? It is better to have them in the side than not, but the credit goes to the boys who stood up in their absence.”It was also an extremely difficult match for Dhoni the keeper, and to his credit he did himself no shame during the last three days. “The wicket was turning square, and most of our spinners were bowling in the rough,” he said. “So you find yourself keeping to some balls that would spin and some that wouldn’t. I was quite happy with the way I kept, because some balls were kicking and some were keeping really low. The way our fast bowlers were bowling, it could hurt your fingers pretty badly. It was good fun though.”This series was part two of a potential rivalry that India had started in South Africa last year. India needed a tailor-made track to come back on level terms on a series that they were expected to win easily. Dhoni, though, agreed with the South African coach Mickey Arthur that there was nothing wrong in playing to your strengths. “If we go to Australia, we get bouncy tracks; when we go to England, we get swinging tracks. When you come to India, you expect turning and bouncing tracks, and that’s what this one was. It’s better to stick to the specialties of certain places.”India fighting South Africa on a greentop at Kingsmead should make for an equally gripping a battle, if India can fight as hard as South Africa did at Green Park.

Saqib's 195 fails to thwart Ireland

Scorecard

Man-of-the-Match Saqib Ali’s 195 failed to prevent an Irish win © Emirates
 

Saqib Ali, the United Arab Emirates captain, rattled up 195 to boost his team’s second-innings total to 306, but a target of 61 proved all too easy for Ireland on day four of their ICC Intercontinental Cup clash in Abu Dhabi.Ireland duly knocked off the required runs with nine wickets in hand to gain 20 points from this game, which put them at second place in the tournament’s points table.Saqib, resuming the final morning on 98, brought up his fourth first-class hundred without fuss. Along with Zahid Shah, batting at No. 9, he continued to delay the inevitable. The two added a further 100 to UAE’s overnight score of 186 for 7 before Greg Thompson, the legspinner, ended Zahid’s 166-ball vigil. Zahid’s 28 included four fours and a six, and he put on 159 runs for the eighth wicket with his captain.Saqib, meanwhile, stood head and shoulders above his team-mates. He scored nearly 64% of UAE’s total, moving past his previous first-class best of 142, but was cut agonisingly short of a maiden double-hundred. He fell to allrounder Alex Cusack, who took his fifth wicket of the match. Saqib’s 195, compiled off 358 deliveries and with 24 fours and four sixes, won him the Man-of-the-Match award.UAE batted out 62.2 overs on the fourth day, but Ireland’s first-innings lead of 246 meant they needed only 61 to complete the win. William Porterfield made an unbeaten 40 as the defending champions sealed victory in 14.2 overs for the loss of one wicket.Ireland now have 49 points and remain 17 behind Kenya, with one game in hand. Ireland’s next match is not until July 9, against Netherlands at a to-be-announced venue. UAE’s disappointing campaign will end with a match against Netherlands in Sharjah starting April 3.


Team Mat Won Lost Tied Draw Aban Pts Quotient For Against
Kenya 4 3 1 0 0 0 66 1.263 1822/63 1832/80
Ireland 3 2 0 0 1 0 49 2.408 1535/26 1226/50
Namibia 3 3 0 0 0 0 48 1.291 1607/51 1465/60
Netherlands 3 2 1 0 0 0 34 1.001 1410/50 1380/49
Scotland 3 1 0 0 2 0 26 1.142 766/20 1040/31
Canada 4 1 3 0 0 0 26 0.981 2085/69 1909/62
U.A.E. 6 1 4 0 1 0 23 0.766 2458/104 2499/81
Bermuda 4 0 4 0 0 0 6 0.521 1657/80 1989/50

New Zealand's chance to give McCullum victorious ODI exit

Match facts

February 8, 2016
Start time 1400 local (0100 GMT)Can Brendon McCullum and New Zealand fly once more, in his final ODI?•Getty Images

Brendon McCullum’s one-day international career ends on Monday in Hamilton, and it ends with a chance to lift the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy. The World Cup eluded McCullum and his men last summer but the Chappell-Hadlee would be some sort of consolation, a piece of silverware that means a lot to the New Zealanders given their neighbourly rivalry with the Australians. It was against Australia that McCullum’s ODI career began at the SCG back in January 2002. He shared his debut with Australia’s Ryan Campbell and it is fascinating to compare their careers. McCullum has played more than 400 internationals but will not be part of the upcoming World T20; Campbell has not played international cricket since 2002 but now at 44 is in Hong Kong’s squad for the World T20.Monday is the Waitangi Day public holiday in New Zealand, and combined with McCullum’s farewell and the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy being up for grabs, it is no surprise that tickets for this third ODI at Seddon Park have sold out. For Australia, the challenge is to crash New Zealand’s day of national celebration by carrying on the form that they showed during the second ODI in Wellington. Not that there isn’t room for improvement – single-figure scores to Steven Smith, George Bailey and Glenn Maxwell left them in a quandary after the 122-run opening stand between David Warner and Usman Khawaja. But Mitchell Marsh and John Hastings steered them to an important victory, not only keeping the series alive but giving Australia a much-needed morale boost ahead of the Test series, after five successive losses to India and New Zealand across the ODI and T20 formats.

Form guide

New Zealand: LWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia: WLLWW

In the spotlight

Look at the raw figures and it has been a pretty good series for Mitchell Santner. From two matches he has 80 runs without being dismissed and has taken 5 for 47 from 10.2 overs. Santner has been an important batsman in the lower order, steering New Zealand to competitive totals in both games, and his bowling brought New Zealand back into the contest in Wellington after the big opening partnership between Usman Khawaja and David Warner. Now the Hamilton-born Santner gets his first opportunity to play a one-day international on his home ground of Seddon Park. He will be most disappointed, therefore, if he does not recover enough from the pain he experienced in his right foot following the second ODI to play this one.*Million-dollar Mitchell Marsh might have grabbed the headlines on Saturday but the efforts of John Hastings to help Australia to victory in Wellington cannot be underestimated. Australia were 197 for 6 when he walked to the crease to join Marsh and while they had plenty of time to get the remaining 85 runs in their chase, they were running out of wickets. Hastings played the perfect support innings and finished unbeaten on 48, having earlier played a key restricting role with the ball when his ten overs cost only 42 runs. This summer has been something of a career renaissance for Hastings, who had faded from international cricket after 2011-12. He may lack genuine pace but is a clever bowler who keeps the runs down, and was also the leading wicket taker in the recent Australia-India ODI series. Hastings started the summer not in Australia’s ODI squad; he has now made himself impossible to drop. His form spike was also a case of perfect timing – it brought him approximately AU$270,000 in Saturday’s IPL auction.

Team news

New Zealand were unchanged in Wellington and there appears little reason to alter the side for the decider. Unless Santner is not declared fit to play. They have brought legspinner Ish Sodhi into the squad as cover.New Zealand (possible) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Brendon McCullum (capt), 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Henry Nicholls, 5 Grant Elliott, 6 Corey Anderson, 7 Luke Ronchi (wk), 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Adam Milne, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Trent BoultKane Richardson was a late withdrawal from the second match due to back soreness and he has now been sent home for further assessment. Joel Paris, the left-armer who made his ODI debut against India last month, has joined the squad as cover for the final ODI, having already been in New Zealand as part of the Western Australia side for the Sheffield Shield match in Lincoln. However, there is every chance Australia will be unchanged after their win.Australia (possible) 1 Usman Khawaja, 2 David Warner, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 George Bailey, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 John Hastings, 9 Adam Zampa, 10 Scott Boland, 11 Josh Hazlewood

Pitch and conditions

The Seddon Park pitch is usually good for batting in limited-overs matches, and the forecast for Hamilton is for a fine day and a top temperature of 27C.

Stats and trivia

  • McCullum will finish third on New Zealand’s all-time ODI appearance list behind Daniel Vettori and Stephen Fleming, and third on their runs tally behind Fleming and Nathan Astle
  • Last time a Chappell-Hadlee series came down to the last match was in 2008-09 when the teams were 2-2 heading to Brisbane – the final ODI was washed out and Australia retained the trophy
  • The second match in Wellington was Billy Bowden’s 200th ODI as an on-field umpire; Rudi Koertzen (209) is the only other man to have reached that milestone

Quotes

“It’s a big moment for Baz and all the guys that have played with him for so long but the focus is certainly on the game tomorrow.”
*05.15GMT, February 7: The preview was updated after news of Mitchell Santner’s niggle came in.

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