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Former South Africa spinner Johan Botha, who now plays for South Australia, has once again been cited for a doubtful bowling action and will undergo biomechanical analysis. Botha is still eligible to play and bowl and will only be suspended from bowling if the official report proves that he has an illegal action.Botha’s action was queried by the umpires following SA’s opening domestic limited overs match against Victoria at Bankstown Oval on October 4. “Under CA’s Doubtful Bowling Action Procedure, a bowler must undergo testing after a single mention for a suspected illegal bowling action in an interstate season,” Cricket Australia said in a statement. “CA’s policy requires cited bowlers to undergo testing within 14 days of being notified.”The South Australia Cricket Association (SACA) said they would back Botha through the process. “We acknowledge that there is a process to be undertaken and the SACA will support Johan and work with him though this process,” Jamie Cox, the SACA director of cricket, said. “Johan will continue to lead our team in this week’s Ryobi one-day cup fixtures and will complete the biomechanical analysis within the 14 day timeframe given by Cricket Australia.”Botha has had problems with his bowling action throughout his career. He was reported first soon after his debut Test in January 2006 and was subsequently banned from bowling by the ICC. Another examination in August that year found his action to be illegal once again and he was cleared to bowl only in November.In 2009, following an ODI against Australia in Port Elizabeth, Botha was reported once again and this time the ICC ruled that his action while bowling the doosra was illegal and he was banned from bowling it. His other deliveries, however, were found to be within permissible limits and since then Botha had no problems with his action, until now.Cameron White, the Victoria batsman, faced Botha during the match in which he was cited, and said he did not think any doosras had been delivered during the spells he faced. “That [the doosra] might have been one of his problem deliveries in the past,” White said. “But to be honest he didn’t bowl a doosra as such to me the other day when I was batting.”Botha’s requirement to undergo testing has resulted partly from a change to CA’s dubious bowling action protocols. Before this season a bowler had to be cited three times within the same season to be subjected to testing. However a single report is now sufficient to call in the biomechanists, following several voices raised in support of more vigilance around throwing, particularly the development of the doosra.”The question is being asked now about ‘do we develop the doosra bowlers or not’. That’s a question of integrity for Cricket Australia. I don’t think we do,” John Inverarity, the national selector, told an Australian Cricket Society lunch in Melbourne last year. “I just think it’s a serious issue, and I think we’ve got to keep our integrity and teach our bowlers to bowl properly.”

Mohammad Akram, the Pakistan bowling coach, has got a one-month extension that will allow him to carry out his job for the upcoming South Africa series in the UAE. His original one-year contract ended after the Zimbabwe series.Moin Khan, the former Pakistan wicketkeeper, has also been named as manager for the tour. The recently concluded tour of Zimbabwe was his first assignment.”We have extended his contract for another month,” a PCB spokesman told ESPNcricinfo. “It is a decision amid the ongoing caretaker setup, in which the board cannot appoint nor make a call to terminate anyone’s services in the light of the Islamabad High Court order. So, Akram will join Pakistan’s squad next month in the UAE for the South Africa series.”His services were acquired following the ouster of Aaqib Javed, who resigned to be UAE’s head coach after the series against England in 2012. He has been with the national side since the limited-overs series against Australia in the UAE, and has so far covered five Tests, 25 ODIs and 16 T20Is. During his stint as bowling coach, he oversaw the international debuts of Rahat Ali, Mohammad Irfan, Ehsan Adil and Asad Ali.His influence on bowlers like Irfan and Junaid was quite evident when the duo dominated in the limited-overs series in India and, later on, during the South Africa tour.Akram, who played nine Tests and 23 ODIs for Pakistan between 1995 and 2001, is settled in England and has represented Essex, Sussex, Surrey and Northamptonshire. He played 125 matches and picked up 415 wickets in his 15-year first-class career. However, he hasn’t been involved with any of the first-class teams in England and Pakistan in a coaching capacity.”Working in Pakistan is a big challenge,” Akram said earlier this year. “You have an extensive crop of fast bowlers around the country, but things aren’t as fertile as it used to be. We, though, have a history of big names like Sarfaraz Nawaz, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, but they are past now and we have a new era here with completely different bowlers. The tone of the cricket itself has changed immensely.”We have a nice decent bunch for international cricket and the future with them is entire[ly] secure. It’s bit unfair comparing them to the previous great like Wasim-Waqar because you can’t have th[at] sort of bowler back again. They were unique and expecting the current lot is not good. They [currently] are good bowlers, and with more international exposure, they can be great in the longer-run. I am working with all the new bunch on top. Even went down at the grass root level to [gain some] insight about the upcoming bowlers, and I am satisfied.”Akram also ran an extensive programme with the regional coaches of the country. “The idea was to let the region understand how important there role is to build a fast bowler at the grass-root[s]. We aren’t running out of any stock, that is for sure. We are actually lacking in the development of the player. What we need to understand [is] that we have to built a solid foundation at the basic level so that once the player graduated up to the national level, he must be a ready-made bowler [for] the country.”

Another tour, another opportunity and more hope for middle-order batsman Faisal Iqbal to find his identity within the Pakistan team. Since his debut in 2001, Faisal operated mostly as a “replacement player”, in the shadow of Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq, and was never able to cement his place in the team.He has played 26 Test matches over the past 12 years. He last played for Pakistan in 2010 but was part of the Test squad for last one year without being part of the playing XI. He was retained in the squad for the two-match Test series against Zimbabwe but uncertainty looms over his chances to play. Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq and Misbah-ul-Haq ahead of Iqbal in the pecking order to occupy the middle-order spots, while Mohammad Hafeez and Khurram Manzoor will mostly be preferred to open the innings. Should he get the chance, the Zimbabwe Tests, he knows, could be crucial for his career.”I always have been treated as a replacement in past. I was actually groomed to take over from Inzamam or Yousuf once they were done with their careers, but unfortunately I have been deprived,” Iqbal told ESPNcricinfo. “For most of my career, since my [international] debut, I have kept waiting for a proper slot so that I could play as a permanent player, and I am obviously disappointed. But I am always optimistic and ready to grab the chance.”It would be great to get games in succession to prove myself. I obviously won’t be looking at Zimbabwe as an easy opponent as, for a batsman, it’s all about one good ball. They are after all an international side and every run is important against them. I have plenty of experience and even scored an ODI hundred in Zimbabwe, so things won’t be alien for me.”Iqbal, who is a nephew of former captain Javed Miandad, had a prolific career at junior level, from his time with the Under-15s. But his time with the seniors has, for the most part, been overshadowed by allegations of nepotism, something Faisal describes as a “daunting factor” and one of the major blows for his career.”I might have been victimised in past and things have not been fair for me,” he said. “I am a professional player and have never taken my cricket for granted. I have scored runs on the ground with my own hands, haven’t I?”He has often impressed on comeback: after his first recall in 2002, he scored 83 against Australia; then came 139 against India – the highlight of his career – which helped Pakistan to a 341-run victory in Karachi in 2006. In that fateful series against Sri Lanka in early 2009, he scored a half-century in his first innings back. His problem, though, has been consistency. A lack thereof has resulted in him being repeatedly dropped.Faisal will be hoping to get his chance on September 3, when Pakistan face off against Zimbabwe in Harare for the first of two Tests. This time, he’ll hope to make that good start and go on to build on it.

ScorecardMark Wallace laid the foundations of the chase but it became very nervy for Glamorgan•Getty Images

Last man Simon Jones struck a four in the final over as Glamorgan sealed a dramatic victory over Yorkshire Bank 40 Group C leaders Somerset by one wicket at Cardiff.The former England bowler was the hero after Glamorgan made a meal of what looked like being a simple victory charge when they were well set on 195 for 4 in the 33rd over, chasing 223 to win.But the loss of captain Marcus North, after a partnership of 42 with Goodwin, sparked a collapse with the wickets of Ben Wright, Goodwin, Dean Cosker and Graham Wagg. Five wickets fell in the space of 25 balls as Glamorgan sank from 195 for 4 to 215 for 9. It left Glamorgan needing eight from the final three overs.With the scores level going into the final over Jones struck the winning runs with three balls remaining.Wicketkeeper Mark Wallace cracked 70 from 57 balls and Chris Cooke (44) which laid down the foundations of a win which moves Glamorgan up to second in Group C on run rate.Somerset had been indebted to England one-day star Jos Buttler (67 from 49 balls) and Nick Compton (50), who had shared in a 116 partnership for the fifth wicket in 18 overs after their side had slipped to 64 for four.Somerset lost captain Marcus Trescothick, who had his off stump pinned back by to the fourth ball of the match by Michael Hogan. Hogan struck again to remove the in-form Craig Kieswetter, who had scored an unbeaten 126 in his county’s YB40 win over Gloucestershire the day before.Kieswetter had looked to get in his stride with a drive for four but in trying to repeat the shot he was caught at cover leaving Somerset 19 for 2. The visitors, mainly thanks to Peter Trego, reached 50 in the 14th over before Jones bowled former Glamorgan captain Alviro Petersen.Somerset suffered a major setback when Trego – 42 from 50 balls – holed out to Hogan on the long-off boundary to leave the group leaders 64 for four in the 16th over. But England pair Buttler and Compton gradually got the visitors back into the contest with their partnership. Buttler was particularly effective planting Jim Allenby for six over long-on to bring up the Somerset 100 in the 26th over.Somerset took the batting Powerplay in the 32nd over and proceeded to take 54 off the four overs with Buttler – 50 from 39 balls – hitting a six and two fours off an over from Hogan.Compton, who went to his half-century from 74 balls, perished to the last ball of the Powerplay when he was bowled by a Hogan full toss, and Buttler’s impressive contribution ended when he went leg before wicket to Jones.

Salman Butt, the banned former Pakistan captain, has publicly admitted to his part in spot-fixing for the first time and issued an apology. He has also indicated his willingness to participate in PCB and ICC rehabilitation programmes and said he still retains ambitions of returning to international cricket.Butt was given a five-year ban, with another five suspended, from all cricket by the ICC for his part in a scam during the Lord’s Test in August 2010. He also served time in prison in England.In April, Butt and his former team-mate Mohammad Asif lost their appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for the suspensions to be reduced and Dave Richardson, the ICC’s chief executive, called on them to admit their wrongdoing and cooperate with the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit (ACSU).”I admit the decision of the ICC tribunal,” Butt said in a brief statement to the media in Lahore. “I said it before and am saying again, that to all those who have been disappointed by my actions I do apologise for them. Also, the [negative] effect it had on cricket’s integrity, I would like to apologise for that.”I want to insist, to all those playing and wanting to play cricket, they must stay away from such wrongdoings because it negatively effects them and the game of cricket.”There will be no immediate implication in the wake of the apology. Butt will have to serve the five-year ban, compulsory under the ACSU code. The remaining five years of his 10-year ban is suspended. After the apology he has to start rehabilitation. In addition to doing that, he has to tell the whole truth to the ACSU and PCB. If he can do all that then he could resume playing, provided he has satisfied ACSU and agrees to further monitoring.Butt also made another request for a softening of his ICC ban, so that he could play domestic cricket before a possible return for Pakistan. Zaka Asraf, the currently suspended PCB chairman, had previously indicated that there could be a route back for Butt and Asif, once their suspensions had been lifted.”I want to give my availability for any PCB rehab programme and from the ICC,” Butt said. “Since I have only two years left of my ban, I request the ICC to allows me to play in domestic cricket. So by the time my ban ends, I can be available for national selection.”Mohammad Amir, the third Pakistan player found guilty of conspiring to bowl deliberate no-balls at Lord’s, also served a custodial sentence in England and received a five-year ban from the ICC. The PCB’s interim chairman, Najam Sethi, said earlier in the week that he would request that the ICC consider reducing the suspension. Amir is still only 21, while Butt is 28 and Asif 30.

David Warner’s bar-room altercation with Joe Root could yet cost him his Test place after he was suspended for the rest of the Champions Trophy and Australia’s two Ashes warm-up games. Although Warner will be available for the first Test at Trent Bridge, his lack of match practice would make it difficult for the selectors to choose him, which raises the possibility of either Shane Watson or Chris Rogers returning to the opening role.Warner faced a Cricket Australia Code of Behaviour hearing by teleconference on Thursday evening Australian time and while he avoided being sent home from the tour, he was fined A$11,500 on top of the suspension. For the second time in less than a month – the first followed his Twitter spat with two journalists – Warner pleaded guilty to breaching rule six of the Code of Behaviour, which deals with “unbecoming behaviour”.Although Cricket Australia did not release further details of the hearing or Warner’s response to the charge, the chief executive James Sutherland is due to face the media on Friday morning. Warner was alleged to have thrown a punch at Root while members of the England and Australia teams were at the Walkabout pub in Birmingham following their game on Saturday, in what the ECB described in a statement as “an unprovoked attack”.There were reports that Warner believed Root was impersonating Hashim Amla when wearing a false beard, but the England camp has said Root was making fun of himself and referring to taunts from his team-mates that he was too young to grow facial hair. Warner was stood down from Australia’s Champions Trophy match against New Zealand on Wednesday and after the game, stand-in captain George Bailey said the altercation was “very minor” and had “been dealt with in-house”.The suspension caps off a disappointing six months for Warner, who in January was reprimanded under the ICC Code of Conduct for showing dissent at an umpire’s decision during an ODI against Sri Lanka, and then frustrated team management on the Test tour of India with his poor fitness and skin-fold results. Runs have not been flowing either – since the start of 2013 Warner has averaged 28 in Tests 20.75 in one-day internationals, and he started the England tour with 0, 0 and 9.The combination of factors makes it hard to see how Warner could retain his Test place for the start of the Ashes, unless the rest of the top order misfires in the warm-ups against Somerset and Worcestershire. Rogers, who is the leading run scorer in county cricket this season with 777 at 77.70, was already a strong contender to return to the opening spot he occupied in his only Test, against India in 2008, while Watson could also fill the role.Watson has failed to have any significant impact with the bat in Test cricket since moving down the order from the opening position and his record at the top is much more impressive. Rogers, Watson and the other incumbent opener Ed Cowan will all be keen to impress in the warm-up matches in Warner’s absence.There are no further tour matches until the Australians take on Sussex in the lead-up to the third Test, which could be Warner’s first chance to score runs in a match situation if he is overlooked for the first two Tests.

ScorecardDawid Malan led Middlesex’s chase with 96•Getty Images

Dawid Malan hit splendid 96 off 88 balls to revive his own dismal form and keep Middlesex’s hopes alive in the Yorkshire Bank 40 as Eoin Morgan made a golden duck on his return to county cricket in a six-wicket win over Yorkshire at Radlett.Yorkshire’s third defeat in four games, which probably ended their hopes of achieving the knockout stage, featured a pugnacious 81 from Phil Jaques but cheap top-order wickets left the total well short of daunting on a sound pitch and slick cambered outfield.Thanks to Malan and wicketkeeper Adam Rossington, with his first one-day half-century, Middlesex passed Yorkshire’s total of 236 with more than four overs to spare. Their fourth-wicket stand of 135 at more than seven runs an over destroyed the Yorkshire back-up bowling.Defeat for Middlesex would have ended any chance of success in this year’s competition after two defeats in their two earlier games. So it was an exciting way to mark a first competitive appearance at their new training base in Hertfordshire, on Watling Street a few miles north of London.Yorkshire owed much to Jaques’s 86-ball knock and a late flurry from Adil Rashid, who made 46 not out from 36 balls, but Malan’s fierce driving put the home side in charge after a shaky start.Malan had endured a barren season in the County Championship, averaging 14.25 in eight innings, and had made little impact on the one-day format until his exhuberant strokeplay at Radlett.Middlesex started shakily in their pursuit of victory as Iain Wardlaw unsettled Paul Stirling with a slow looping full toss with the first ball of the innings and then blasted out off and middle stumps with the second ball.Joe Denly followed after a breezy 38, bowled pushing forward to Richard Pyrah, and then came what might have been the defining moment – the dismissal of Eoin Morgan first ball.Morgan, Middlesex’s most potent threat, had returned fresh from the Indian Premier League and a recent glut of exotic locations and flamboyant shots must have affected his judgement because he tried an instant reverse sweep to leg-spinner Rashid and was given out lbw.Morgan claimed afterwards that he had made contact with the bat but an orthodox stroke should have sufficed with less risk.His blunder seemed to swing the pendulum towards Yorkshire, but fortunately Malan and Rossington seized the initiative with sensible aggression, keeping the percentages firmly in their favour.Malan snicked Tim Bresnan just short of a well-deserved century with the match all but won but Rossington, a heavy scorer on this ground in Middlesex second-team games, continued in style and finished undefeated with 79 off 72 balls.

Match facts

May 18, 2013
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Royal Challengers need their bowlers to step up after the horror against Kings XI•BCCI

Big Picture

Royal Challengers Bangalore would have been glued to their television sets on Friday evening, following the fortunes of Sunrisers Hyderabad. They wouldn’t have been feeling too good by the end of it, for Sunrisers’ victory has made Royal Challengers’ path to the playoffs harder. Royal Challengers are in a must-win situation against Chennai Super Kings at home on Saturday. If they achieve it, it will take them to 18 points and on par with Sunrisers. However, Sunrisers have one more game to play, on Sunday, and a win will take them to 20 and knock Royal Challengers out of the competition. Therefore, for Royal Challengers, they need to win, foremost, and then wait and watch.For a side that was running on full steam till the start of May, it’s bizarre that they find themselves in this situation. Two consecutive defeats, against Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab, has turned their quest for the playoffs into a last-minute scramble. If losing to the struggling Knight Riders was disappointing enough, the manner of their defeat to Kings XI at home – their first loss in Bangalore – would have been harder to digest. Should Royal Challengers and Sunrisers be tied on points, the former have the safety net of a superior net run rate.Super Kings are already through to the playoffs but currently sit behind table-leaders Mumbai Indians. Both teams will play their final league games on Saturday. Having finished in the top two, Super Kings and Mumbai will face each other in the first qualifier. Stephen Fleming, the Super Kings coach, hinted at fielding a few players who haven’t been given an opportunity yet, before the playoffs.

Form guide

Royal Challengers Bangalore LLWLW
Chennai Super Kings WLWLW

In the spotlight

A score of 174 against Kings XI should have been good enough to defend, but the Royal Challengers bowlers made a mess of it on Tuesday. That Kings XI chased it down with 11 balls to spare, with seven wickets in hand is an area of concern for the hosts. Bowling was identified as a weakness before this season and the franchise swiftly recruited fast bowlers at the auction. Muttiah Muralitharan went for a truckload of runs against Kings XI (44 off 4 overs) and there was little Vinay Kumar – their best bowler of the season – could do, as he went wicketless. If Royal Challengers are to set a target against Super Kings, anything less than 180 may not be safe enough, given the depth their opponents have.

Stats and trivia

• Royal Challengers have the better head-to-head record at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, winning two of three completed games
• Albie Morkel needs only 33 runs to become the second player to score 3000 runs and take 150 wickets in T20s, after Azhar Mahmood
• Virat Kolhi has scored more runs than any other batsman in matches between these two teams in IPLs. In 14 matches, he has scored 439 runs at 39.90 and a strike rate of 124, with three fifties
• No batsman has scored a century in matches between these two teams. The highest is M Vijay’s 95 in 2011
• Muttiah Muralitharan has played for both these teams, against the other. Between 2008 and 2010, he played seven matches for Super Kings against Royal Challengers, taking 11 wickets at an economy rate of 5.46. In 2012 he played for Royal Challengers against Super Kings, taking 3 for 21 in four overs

Quotes

It (high-scoring games) has always been the case in Bangalore, hopefully if we could get the top-order wickets early on then we could control the runs and the game.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAmit Mishra’s third IPL hat-trick gave Sunrisers a close win•BCCI

Hat-tricks in the IPL

2008
L Balaji for Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders
Amit Mishra for Delhi Daredevils v Deccan Chargers
Makhaya Ntini for Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders
2009
Yuvraj Singh for Kings XI Punjab v Royal Challengers Bangalore
Rohit Sharma for Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians
Yuvraj Singh for Kings XI Punjab v Deccan Chargers
2010
Praveen Kumar for Royal Challengers Bangalore v Rajasthan Royals
2011
Amit Mishra for Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab
2012
Ajit Chandila for Rajasthan Royals v Pune Warriors
2013
Sunil Narine for Kolkata Knight Riders v Kings XI Punjab
Amit Mishra for Sunrisers Hyderabad v Pune Warriors

Sunrisers Hyderabad had defended 126 in their IPL debut against Pune Warriors in Hyderabad. When the return game started this afternoon in Pune, the giant screen at the Sahara Stadium flashed “Revenge”. Warriors almost exacted it: they restricted Sunrisers to 119 and then needed 19 off 19 in their chase, with six wickets in hand. Sunrisers used up just 13 of those 19 deliveries to take six wickets, four of them falling to Amit Mishra, who took his third IPL hat-trick, as Warriors imploded in spectacularly inept fashion.Four of the last six batsmen, including captain Angelo Mathews, fell swinging wildly, something that could be put down to collective brain-fade instead of the benign asking-rate. Three of those batsmen were allrounders – Mitchell Marsh, Abhishek Nayar and Mathews himself. Marsh wanted to hit Dale Steyn out of the ground, Nayar tried it against Thisara Perera and Mathews against Mishra. All three holed out on a pitch Mathews himself had called ‘up-and-down’ and slow at the toss, suggesting those shots would be mighty difficult to pull off.A stunned Manish Pandey took a single off the third ball of the 19th over, right after Mishra had dismissed Mathews, and watched in increasing horror as Rahul Sharma was bowled after a missed slog while trying to follow the trail blazed by the allrounders. Bhuvneshwar Kumar played for turn to a googly to depart lbw and Mishra completed the hat-trick, and an unbelievable win, with one more googly, as Ashok Dinda too pushed for a legbreak. Mishra’s figures read 4-0-19-4 and came after his 30 off 24 had stretched Sunrisers to 119 for 8 from 44 for 6. Interestingly, Sunrisers had used up all their bowlers except their legspinners until the last two oversWarriors were in the game throughout except for those final moments of madness. Bhuvneshwar Kumar moved it in and out and ran through the Sunrisers top order to leave them gasping at 17 for 4, including the wicket of stand-in captain Cameron White for a golden duck.Biplab Samantray and Karan Sharma were unlikely candidates to fight back. Samantray batted sensibly to make a run-a-ball 37 before holing out to long off. Perera came in after Karan’s wicket and it was expected he would resist, too. But he edged behind for 2, trying to drive almost every ball he faced.It was left to Mishra to make vital runs once more. He came in after Perera was dismissed in the 11th over and hung around till the last, pushing Sunrisers well beyond 100 along with Ashish Reddy. Twenty-six came off the last two overs of the innings bowled by Mathews and Dinda.Robin Uthappa and Aaron Finch came hard at Sunrisers, their opening stand worth 38 in just over four overs. Steyn was taken for 22 in his first two overs, but the way the openers fell was a peek into the way the sand castle would crumble later. Uthappa flicked Perera straight to deep square leg and Finch punched him to backward point off successive deliveries.The size of the target and the pace of the start meant Warriors were always in front until the flood of wickets in the penultimate over. Mishra had been Player of the Match in Hyderabad, too, with 3 for 19.

Few Australian batsmen are more qualified to give advice on scoring runs in India than Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke, and the two men were locked in intense discussions out on the field after the end of the Hyderabad Test. Following the Chennai defeat, Clarke enlisted the help of Shane Warne to speak to the spin-bowling group and a similar scenario played out with Hayden in Hyderabad, as the Australians practised at a time when the second session should have been under way.A makeshift net was set up around the Test-match pitch and the batsmen rotated through a centre-wicket batting session against the spinners and the two left-arm fast bowlers, Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc. While the coach Mickey Arthur and his assistant Steve Rixon watched from behind the batsman, Hayden, the batting coach Michael di Venuto and a padded-up Clarke stood to the side. They spoke between themselves and to whichever batsmen weren’t in at the time, Hayden demonstrating stances and footwork during his hour-long stay.Hayden is the only Australian who has scored more Test runs in India than Clarke’s 954; his 1027 runs came at an average of 51.35 across three tours from 2001 to 2008. He entered the first tour desperately in need of some big scores to secure his place as a Test opener and he responded with 119, 28 not out, 97, 67, 203 and 35. Much of his success against spin came because he employed the sweep shot to great effect.England’s batsmen also swept well during their series victory in India late last year, but when David Warner and Phillip Hughes tried the shot against R Ashwin coming over the wicket on the third day in Hyderabad, both were bowled around their legs. Hayden, who is in India commentating on the series, said on Star Sports before the fourth day’s play that Warner had fallen into the trap of sweeping a ball that was too full, meaning his stumps were vulnerable.”The line was good to sweep. The length, though, was questionable,” Hayden said. “We saw with Davey Warner that was a very full length and even though I loved to sweep the very first instinct I had in my mind was actually about whether the ball was full or not. In fact I’m sure bat-pad thought I was crazy, because as soon as I saw any width I’d yell out the word ‘full’ and that would get my feet moving into that position.”The ball that we saw Hughes get out on was actually the perfect length to sweep. But what is the perfect length? Because if you’re short or tall, your perfect lengths vary. That’s a very personal thing. And for me the whole bat-pad routine, you’re not really worried about a bat-pad if you’re looking to play aggressively. They only come into play when you’re feeling a little tentative or your footwork is slow and the ball is turning. You need the aggressive options.”That’s exactly why you want to either get the ball on the full to cover the spin, and also sweep on line and when the offspinner is coming around the wicket, you can’t be out lbw. It’s always got to be outside the line of leg stump.”The Australians batted for more than an hour and a half on the Hyderabad pitch after their innings defeat, trying out different strategies and shots. Hughes advanced to a few deliveries, which he had been reluctant to against Ashwin during the two Tests, but there remained plenty of work for all of the batsmen ahead of the third Test, which starts in Mohali on Thursday next week.