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Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley attracted just as much over the top praise as he did needlessly negative criticism for two displays in quick succession for England over the course of the last couple of weeks, but just how good is he?

Firstly, it’s worth remembering that Cleverley isn’t actually all that young anymore, at least not by today’s standards at least, given that he turned 23 last month. Michael Owen was at his peak by that point and has been playing catch up ever since. You also have to factor that he has made just 13 first-team appearances for his club Manchester United over the past year or so, which has been heavily disturbed by injury. This followed off the back of two hugely successful loan spells, firstly with Watford in the Championship and then with Wigan in the top flight, while he also played at Leicester for a while back in 2008-9.

Far too much pressure has been put on him and during his spells at Wigan and Watford, the latter in particular, he played a lot of his football on the right of a four-man midfield. While this versatility has made him a better all-round player, it’s worth drawing attention to the fact that he’s not played all that much football through the middle during his fledgling career to date and is still in the process of learning his craft, at one of the world’s biggest clubs to boot.

To my knowledge at least, too much has was made of his central midfield partnership with Anderson at the beginning of last season; they may have excited the fans in an attacking sense, but they could be got at and they left gaping holes in the middle of the pitch at times for the opposition to exploit. There’s no denying that if it came to a big game in Europe or the Premier League now, that Sir Alex Ferguson would be likely to start with a pairing of Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick instead, simply because they’re more positionally aware, disciplined and keep the ball better.

It seems odd that Cleverley, despite his inexperience, has been deemed such a key player by England boss Roy Hodgson of late, starting the team’s last three games against Italy (friendly), Moldova and Ukraine. However, when you look around at the other options available to him, there’s really not that much else to choose from and you can hardly blame him for selecting what is undoubtedly an exciting talent as the national team continues to wait with baited breath about Jack Wilshere’s return and the effect that his year-long spell out with injury has had on him.

Hodgson didn’t help matters after Cleverley’s performance against Moldova by stating: “I suppose you could say Tom Cleverley is an attacking midfield player – but he’s an attacking midfield player in the same way Cesc Fabregas is. He plays in that position for Manchester United. He is quite capable of coming back into a central midfield role and winning the ball when necessary. Also, he took a bit more responsibility for getting closer to Jermain Defoe and allowing Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard to get on the ball in deeper positions where they are comfortable.”

Now, while the quotes themselves are fairly innocuous, every tabloid ran with a headline along the lines of ‘Hodgson declares Cleverley is England’s answer to Fabregas’ which is quite clearly preposterous off the back of a couple of good performances in a friendly match and against an international minnow. His display against Moldova wasn’t as special as everyone made it out to be, nor was he as bad against Ukraine as his detractors suggested. Inconsistency like this is to be expected early on in his career and while playing for an inherently inconsistent side like England always prove to be.

As far as I can tell, Cleverley is the sort of player who is tidy on the ball, keeps things ticking over and is always looking to play a forward pass and most importantly, he appears to play with his head up. There’s nothing particularly world-beating about him, he’s just a decent player who could one day become very good, but because he’s fairly young and plays for Manchester United, expectations have been raised to a ridiculous level.

What is interesting is that he appears to be trying to make that no.10 role behind the striker his own but Wayne Rooney returns, he’s likely to play ahead of him. His ability to spot a pass, play intricate one-touch football and up the tempo of a game will stand him in good stead in the future. Nevertheless, it’s difficult to see him occupying that role as often for his club, with Shinji Kagawa, Ashley Young and Rooney all just as capable of playing there.

Legendary youth coach Eric Harrison, who nurtured the now infamous crop which included David Beckham, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt had this to say on Cleverley last year, telling Goal.com: “Tom for me is without question so good that he is the best young player at United since Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham came on to the scene. He is so special because he is supremely fit, 100 per cent committed and he is supremely talented. He is not lightning fast over 100 yards or anything like that but over ten or 15 metres he is lightning. He has got quick feet and the team look fantastic when he is in the thick of it.”

Of course, he will know probably better than me how good Cleverley could potentially become, but it appears among all the faux hype that we’ve lost some perspective. Much like Jack Rodwell didn’t at Everton, Cleverley struggles to get into a fully fit Manchester United side week-in, week-out. Nicky Butt rather reasonably argued last week that the time to truly judge him is at the end of a season after he’s played between 30-35 games.

Hailing him as the best thing since sliced bread has done him no good and I don’t think that I’ve ever seen the media build a player up only to knock him down so quickly before. Patience is required because the honest answer is, we don’t really know how good he can become yet because he hasn’t played enough football at the top level.

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He’s not going to suddenly become the saviour of English football, nor is he a recognised match-winner, but with an increasing emphasis put on how quickly a team moves in transition from defence to attack, he could have a valuable role to play for both club and country in the future.

He’s not a very ‘English’ type of player, but neither were Glenn Hoddle, Paul Scholes or Matt Le Tissier and that can lead to a certain degree of under-appreciation of his talents at times. There will be periods when he is anonymous just as much as there will be when he’s instrumental, but it’s all part of the learning process for him. There’s no denying that a bright future awaits him, we just have to hope that the crushing expectations don’t weigh him down in the meantime, just as they have done with Theo Walcott and countless others in the past.

You can follow me on Twitter @JamesMcManus1

Tilak Varma is the fifth capped player retained by MI ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction

Nagraj Gollapudi31-Oct-202410:44

Should Rohit or Surya replace Hardik as MI captain?

Mumbai Indians are set to retain their four major Indian players – Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav – along with Tilak Varma ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction.With those five capped players retained, MI can use their one right-to-match option only on an uncapped player at the auction. While the individual amounts for each of their retained player is yet to be ascertained, MI will lose at least INR 75 crore from their purse of INR 120 crore, or more if they have paid a higher aggregate amount to the five.MI had a disappointing IPL 2024, finishing at the bottom of the league under the leadership of Hardik, who was traded in from Gujarat Titans and replaced Rohit as captain. Hardik was regularly booed at various venues last season as fans expressed their displeasure at the change of leadership, but he bounced back from poor personal form with significant contributions during India’s successful 2024 T20 World Cup campaign. However, Suryakumar was preferred as India’s T20I captain after that tournament once Rohit retired from the format, even though Hardik had captained India in T20Is for much of 2023.Related

• SRH to retain Travis Head and Nitish Reddy as well ahead of IPL mega auction

• LSG set to retain Pooran, Mayank and Bishnoi for IPL 2025

• IPL retention: How many players can a team keep? And at what cost?

• Gill, Rashid, Sudharsan to be retained by Gujarat Titans

• Samson, Jaiswal, Parag and Sandeep set to be retained by Rajasthan Royals

ESPNcricinfo has learned the MI management had a chat recently with their senior players on the plan going forward before agreeing on retentions.October 31 is the deadline by which the ten franchises have to submit their lists of retained players to the IPL. The teams have been allowed to retain up to six players ahead of the mega auction before the 2025 season, of which a maximum of five can be capped internationals and two can be uncapped players. While the IPL has set minimum deductions from the auction purse for each player retained – INR 18 crore for the first player, INR 14 crore for the second, INR 11 crore for the third, INR 18 crore for the fourth, INR 14 crore for the fifth, and INR 4 crore for an uncapped player – the franchises are free to pay more or less than those amounts to their retained players.

Leicestershire recover from slow start but still slip to first defeat of Metro Bank Cup

ECB Reporters Network08-Aug-2023Josh Hull, Leicestershire’s beanpole teenage left-arm quick, bagged the first four-wicket haul of his senior career but it was not enough to prevent a first defeat for the Foxes in this year’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup, with Nottinghamshire Outlaws prevailing by four wickets at Grace Road.Chasing a revised target of 206 after rain reduced the contest to 44 overs per side, the visitors crossed the line with 12 balls to spare after Lyndon James had top-scored with 82, backed up by Matt Montgomery’s 35 and wicketkeeper Dane Schadendorf’s punchy 29 not out. Hull finished with 4 for 43 from his nine overs.Earlier, Wiaan Mulder’s unbeaten 84, his third half-century in as many matches in the competition so far, led a Foxes recovery from 78 for 6 to 214 for 9 after former Yorkshire seamer Tom Loten, with a career-best 3 for 26, and Brett Hutton (3 for 42) had threatened to make it a shortened day.After winning their opening Group A matches so emphatically, Leicestershire found the going much tougher against their East Midlands neighbours, whose seam attack carried on where they had left off in dismissing Essex for 69 at Chelmsford last week.The Foxes slipped from 27 without loss after five overs to 41 for 3 in the ninth, Rishi Patel chipping to cover off Hutton, who also drew Sol Budinger into nicking a ball outside off stump. Loten then uprooted skipper Lewis Hill’s off stump with his first delivery.Hutton, who took 7 for 26 here in this fixture last season, picked up a third wicket with a ball that squeezed between bat and front pad to trap Colin Ackermann leg-before, leaving the Foxes 52 for 4.Although there was clearly some help for the bowlers under an overcast sky, Peter Handscomb settled himself with three early boundaries and with two half-centuries to his name already in the competition looked in the form to lead a rebuilding job. Yet just as rain began to fall, the Australian was run out at the non-striker’s end when Dane Paterson deflected a Mulder drive into the stumps.Two brief stoppages followed, in between which Louis Kimber, who had smashed 89 off 62 balls as the Foxes pulled off a record run-chase to beat Surrey at The Oval, perished for a six-ball duck, paying for lack of footwork as he was leg before to Loten.The fightback, instead, was led by Mulder, with assistance from a lower order in which Tom Scriven’s 25 helped the seventh wicket add 62 before Roman Walker, Chris Wright and Hull stuck around long enough for Mulder to inflict some punishing blows, clearing the rope off Calvin Harrison, Hutton and Liam Patterson-White, who also conceded six to Walker.File photo: Lyndon James anchored the chase•Getty Images

Loten’s third wicket came when Scriven drove him in the air to mid-off, Walker was caught at long-off trying to attack Harrison’s legspin and Paterson had Wright well caught at extra cover by Haseeb Hameed.Needing to score at slightly more than four-and-a-half an over, the Outlaws lost opener Ben Slater in the second over when he was bowled off an inside edge but were comfortably placed at 60 for one after 12 when the introduction of Hull dealt them a double setback.The 6ft 7ins left-armer, still only 18, angled one in to bowl the left-handed Ben Martindale between bat and pad, ending a second-wicket stand of 51 with James. Two overs later, he dismissed the right-handed Hameed with a full length delivery, the ball cannoning into middle stump as the Outlaws skipper played across its line.James, who had looked assured enough to that point, completed a seven-four half-century from 60 balls but was dropped on 51 – a chance to keeper Handscomb down the leg side as Mulder took over from Hull at the Bennett End, the bowler having been unlucky a couple of balls earlier when Montgomery edged just out of Handscomb’s reach on the off side.Unfazed, James found the boundary twice on the leg side in Mulder’s next over to leave Nottinghamshire needing 90 from 18 overs, which looked well within their compass with seven wickets in hand, only to be thrown back into the balance when James aimed a big swing at Wright and was caught behind, throwing his wicket away somewhat, more so when Montgomery was undone by some extra bounce from Hull and was comfortably taken by Handscomb.But then back-to-back sixes, one swatted away by new man Schadendorf off Mulder, the next an uppercut by Liam Patterson-White to a short ball by Hull, lifted the pressure off the Outlaws, who lost the latter when he was bowled making room to cut Hull. But Schadendorf hit two boundaries each off Scriven and then Hull in the next two overs to effectively finish the job.

Victoria wicketkeeper ends his professional career due to chronic finger injury

ESPNcricinfo staff12-May-2022Victoria wicketkeeper-batter Seb Gotch has been forced to retire due to a chronic finger injury while offspinner Todd Murphy has earned his first Victoria contract after being named in the Australia A squad to tour Sri Lanka.Gotch’s retirement has been a long-time coming. The 28-year-old has not played since the final Sheffield Shield game of the 2020-21 season and was unavailable for Victoria and Melbourne Stars all of last summer due to his finger issue. He finishes with 29 first-class matches for Victoria and played in two Sheffield Shield titles. He made 1187 runs at 33.91 with two centuries and completed 108 dismissals.Meanwhile, Murphy has been rewarded with a full contract for Victoria after making his Shield debut this season. He starred in his second game with match figures of 7 for 146 and 24 not out in a fourth-innings chase against Tasmania and will be heading to Sri Lanka with the Australia A squad in June.Todd Murphy has been upgraded to a senior contract•Getty Images

Victoria have also upgraded young quick Cameron McClure to their senior list after he made his List A and Sheffield Shield debuts in March.Australian Under-19 opener Campbell Kellaway and promising Casey South-Melbourne batter Ashley Chandrasinghe have both been handed rookie contracts.Opener James Seymour has lost his state contract despite making his maiden Sheffield Shield century against New South Wales at the MCG earlier in the summer. Xavier Crone and Tom Jackson have also been delisted.Victoria men’s contract list:Peter Handscomb, Scott Boland (CA), Travis Dean, Zak Evans, Aaron Finch (CA), Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Mackenzie Harvey, Jon Holland, Nic Maddinson, Cameron McClure, Glenn Maxwell (CA), Jono Merlo, Todd Murphy, Tom O’Connell, Wil Parker, James Pattinson, Mitchell Perry, Will Pucovski, Matt Short, Will Sutherland, Ashley Chandrasinghe (Rookie), Brody Couch (Rookie), Sam Elliott (Rookie), Campbell Kellaway (Rookie), Fergus O’Neill (Rookie) In: Ashley Chandrasinghe, Campbell Kellaway | Out: Xavier Crone, Seb Gotch (retired), James Seymour, Tom Jackson

Three matches had earlier been moved from Sydney to Canberra due to border restrictions

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jan-2021The challenges facing Cricket Australia to keep the BBL running became clear again amid the wider impact of three-day lockdown imposed on Brisbane following the emergence of a case of Covid-19 from strain that originated in the UK.The tournament remains on track for now with Sunday’s match on the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane, between Brisbane Heat and Sydney Sixers able to go ahead as it is outside the lockdown zone but players will be under stricter restrictions.”Both teams are safely located in their bio-secure hub on the Gold Coast and are preparing as normal,” Queensland Cricket CEO Terry Svenson said. “Strict provisions will be put in place to ensure the safety of those attending and working at the game. Ticket holders from Greater Brisbane will not be able to attend.”Sydney Thunder, who played at the Gabba on January 4, have been given approval to play their next match against Perth Scorchers in Perth on Saturday despite Western Australia imposing a hard border to the whole of Queensland and back-dating restrictions to January 2. The Thunder will not be allowed to leave their hotel other than for the match and training.CA’s biosecure plans have again shown their value after they also helped the BBL navigate the recent cases in Melbourne when some players had returned to the city in time off while other clubs had people join their squads.There has been some impact on players during the tournament, though, with Alex Carey and Harry Conway forced to sit out an Adelaide Strikers game and Imad Wasim was unable to travel to Perth with Melbourne Renegades due to having come from New Zealand.Some fixtures have also been forced to move due to the border restrictions imposed following the Covid-19 outbreak in Sydney last month with three games moved to Canberra.The fate of the remaining matches in Sydney has not yet been decided but it remains probable that they will need to be relocated as well.The three games currently moved are:January 13: Sydney Thunder v Sydney Sixers, originally scheduled to be played at Sydney Showground Stadium
January 16: Sydney Sixers v Perth Scorchers, originally scheduled to be played at Sydney Cricket Ground
January 18: Sydney Thunder v Hobart Hurricanes, originally scheduled to be played at Sydney Showground StadiumManuka Oval has already staged six matches in this season’s tournament with the Thunder, for who the ground is effectively a second home, having played in five of them. However, the subsequent impact of the Brisbane lockdown will mean that the Sixers will now need exemptions to travel to Canberra with the ACT having imposed restrictions.”The decision to move these three matches from Sydney to Canberra has been taken to ensure the continuation of the BBL season despite the ongoing public health situation and related state border closures,” Alistair Dobson, the head of the Big Bash, said. “As part of our ongoing monitoring of the situation in Sydney, we will consider whether or not we need to make any decisions on the remaining matches in Sydney in due course.”

Bowling coach B Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar are going to retain their positions for another two years

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Aug-20192:07

India support staff interviews done in fair manner – chief selector MSK Prasad

Former India batsman and selector Vikram Rathour is all set to replace Sanjay Bangar as the new batting coach of the senior men’s team, with only formalities left to be completed. However, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar will retain their positions for another two years. India’s selection panel, led by MSK Prasad, shortlisted three candidates each for all the support staff positions with Rathour, Arun and Sridhar leading their respective lists in “order of priority” as “unanimous” choices, and will be officially appointed after formalities, barring any conflict-of-interest possibilities.The two other candidates shortlisted in each category were Bangar and former England batsman Mark Ramprakash for batting coach, Paras Mhambrey and Venkatesh Prasad for bowling coach, and Abhay Sharma and T Dilip for fielding coach. These men, barring Ramprakash, will work with the ‘A’ team, and at times at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.The support staff will be appointed for a period of two years, starting with the home series against South Africa in September and lasting till the T20 World Cup in 2021.Prasad did not give a specific reason why only Bangar was being replaced in the support staff. “In the last five years, there is definitely some amount of improvement. Looking ahead, with the Test Championship coming up and two T20 World Cups, we thought that there should be freshness in the department,” Prasad explained. “That’s the reason why we went ahead with Vikram Rathour as first choice.”He was the director of HPCA [Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association], he was also the coach of Punjab Cricket Association, he was also an assistant coach with Kings XI Punjab, so he’s got enough experience behind him. Apart from that, he has been doing a lot of assignments with the National Cricket Academy, so we are convinced with his skill-sets and we thought that he’d be our first preference.”Associated Press

That Rathour is the brother-in-law of former India offspinner and current Under-19 selector Aashish Kapoor also came up as a possible conflict-of-interest possibility but BCCI chief executive Rahul Johri clarified that there were no such issues.”This was discussed at the CoA meeting also because the CoA was presented with the shortlist,” Johri said. “Now, his brother-in-law is the selector of the Under-19 junior committee, and this is the batting coach of the men’s senior team, so we do not think there’s any conflict of interest.”A total of 14 candidates were interviewed for batting coach, 12 for bowling coach, nine for fielding coach, 16 for physiotherapist, 12 for strength and conditioning coach, and 24 for administrative manager. All the interviews for the above positions took place in Mumbai from Monday to Thursday.When asked, Prasad said that the team management and two Cricket Advisory Committee members – Kapil Dev and Anshuman Gaekwad – were also asked for their views for the support staff positions but the selection committee took the final decisions on its own “in a fair manner”. Prasad, however, suggested that going ahead, officially involving the CAC chairman could be helpful in picking the support staff. “The CAC chairman will definitely add value because they’ve conducted the interview for the head coach so there will be continuity and consistency,” he said.Among the selectors, Prasad, Sarandeep Singh, Gagan Khoda and Jatin Paranjape were present in person, while Devang Gandhi attended via video conference from the West Indies while conducting the interviews.The candidates shortlisted for the post of physiotherapist were Nitin Patel, Andrew Leipus and Vaibhav Daga, and the three finalised for the post of administrative manager were Girish Dongre, Venkatesh Rajagopalan and Anand Yalvigi. The selection panel also decided to call the following candidates for a second round of interviews for the post of strength and conditioning coach: Luke Woodhouse, Grant Luden, Rajnikanth Sivagnanam, Nick Webb and Anand Date.The contracts of head coach Ravi Shastri and the entire support staff had expired after the World Cup before they got a temporary extension for the ongoing tour of the West Indies and the USA. Shastri was then reappointed for a two-year period earlier this month by the CAC and the selection panel was tasked with appointing the support staff.

Sam Billings takes Buttler’s spot for the one-off match against Scotland but England have named a full-strength squad to face Australia

Andrew McGlashan30-May-2018Jos Buttler has been rested for England’s ODI against Scotland next month while Liam Plunkett returns to the squad for that match and the series against Australia. A hamstring injury had ruled Plunkett out of the matches against New Zealand.Captain Eoin Morgan is expected to be fit for the start of England’s one-day season despite fracturing a finger playing for Middlesex, and coach Trevor Bayliss made the recommendation to rest Buttler for the Scotland match on June 10.Sam Billings, the Kent captain, takes Buttler’s place although it is yet to be confirmed whether he or Jonny Bairstow will keep wicket. However, when the pair previously played in the same side last year against Ireland in the absence of Buttler it was Billings who was given the gloves.

England one-day squads

Scotland ODI Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
Australia series Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

The two squads reinforce the stellar performances of the one-day side, which has risen to No. 1 in the world, in stark contrast to the dismal fortunes of the Test team of late. With a year to go until the World Cup, the majority of the 14 players named for the Australia are nailed on for the tournament – the final squad for the event will be 15 names.Plunkett, who has become a key part of England’s bowling plans in the middle overs, missed the one-day series in New Zealand after a recurrence of the hamstring injury he sustained in Australia. His absence was notable as, though England secured an impressive 3-2 series win against New Zealand, the quick bowlers struggled to make an impact in the middle chunk of the innings. They took three wickets at 117.33 and conceded 5.96 per over between overs 11 and 40.Tom Curran was the beneficiary of Plunkett’s injury and has been retained the squad for the Australia although will not be part of the Scotland fixture. Craig Overton, who earned a call-up as Plunkett’s replacement but did not feature in the series, does not make either squad.One of the selection conundrums in deciding the final XI will be the opening combination. Bairstow has cemented his spot at the top of the order having made 761 in 15 innings since taking the role against West Indies last year. That has included four centuries including back-to-back tons against New Zealand in March.For the majority of that time his opening partner has been Jason Roy but since making his England-record 180 against Australia in Melbourne Roy hasn’t passed fifty. Alex Hales returned to the opening role when Roy was injured for the deciding ODI against New Zealand in Christchurch and hit 61 in an opening stand of 155 in 20 overs. In the final outcome, Hales’ weaker fielding may count against him

South Africa can equal their best winning run in ODIs if they secure a 12th consecutive victory in the opening match against New Zealand in Hamilton

The Preview by Andrew McGlashan18-Feb-2017

Match Facts

February 19, 2017
Start time 2.00pm local (0100GMT)Ross Taylor, the focus of much attention in recent times, returns for the one-day series•Getty Images

Big Picture

New Zealand have seen off the No. 1 ODI side in the world this season. Now they get to try to do it all over again. Overturning Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee series knocked off their crown, with South Africa, who are one win away from equalling their best run in ODIs, taking top billing after their 5-0 whitewash against Sri Lanka. This is certainly a series between two in-form one-day sides.South Africa laid down a marker in the T20 on Friday night at Eden Park. While neither side will dwell too much on a one-off match, there was far less for New Zealand to take from it (just Trent Boult’s bowling) than for South Africa whose top order batted with intent, then the pace bowlers hustled New Zealand’s top order before Imran Tahir added the finishing sparkle.For both sides the countdown continues to the Champions Trophy. Their next one-day cricket will come on English and Irish shores in the weeks leading into the tournament, so this series offers the last realistic chance for any significant tinkering or discussion over positions. The two teams are fairly settled in ODI cricket, with perhaps a couple of pace-bowling slots up for grabs in each.It is a quick turnaround into the opening ODI; South Africa won’t mind that after a dominant performance in Auckland while New Zealand will probably feel it’s not a bad thing either to be able to get straight back on the horse.

Form guide

New Zealand WWWWW (completed matches, most recent first)

South Africa WWWWW

In the spotlight

Ross Taylor remains the topic of much discussion in New Zealand after his absence from the T20 side. Mike Hesson, the coach and a selector, said he did not think Taylor could have made much of a difference in the T20 because there hadn’t been a platform set in the chase, but there is a certainly a groundswell of opinion that it seems odd that one of the country’s finest batsman is on the outer. But he’s back for Hamilton and brings fine form with him after a series-clinching century against Australia. The eyesight is tip-top now, too, after surgery last year which has helped his catching.Kagiso Rabada was rested for the T20 and South Africa managed very well without him. It’s a slightly daunting prospect for New Zealand that he’ll add further strength to the pace attack. He consistently discomforted the Sri Lankans in the previous series and is one away from 50 ODI wickets. In the absence of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in one-day cricket he has quickly become South Africa’s senior white-ball paceman.

Team news

New Zealand have a very different-looking top-order for ODIs with far more experience. Dean Brownlie covers for Martin Guptill’s absence, as he did with success against Australia, while Taylor, Neil Broom and possibly James Neesham will stock the middle order. There will need to be a decision over whether Matt Henry or Lockie Ferguson is the third frontline quick.New Zealand (probable) 1 Dean Brownlie, 2 Tom Latham, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Neil Broom, 6 James Neesham, 7 Luke Ronchi (wk), 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Matt Henry, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Trent BoultDavid Miller’s finger injury, sustained against Sri Lanka, is not healing as well as had been hoped and he remains doubtful. Rabada can be expected to return to the pace line-up.South Africa (probable) 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Farhaan Behardein, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Wayne Parnell, 9 Andile Phehulkwayo, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Imran Tahir

Pitch and conditions

The pitch will be the same one used for the Australia ODI, which was off-centre and probably works against legspinner Ish Sodhi being part of the New Zealand side because of the shorter boundary. There is a forecast for showers, some heavy, during the early part of the afternoon. The same heavy rain which hit Auckland earlier this week went through Hamilton and how Seddon Park has coped with the deluge could be important.

Stats and trivia

• If South Africa win in Hamilton it will equal their best winning streak in ODIs which stands at 12 set in 2005. It is the second-best overall; Australia are well ahead at the top with 21
• Ross Taylor needs 51 runs to reach 6000 in ODIs. He would be the fourth New Zealand batsman to reach the milestone after Brendon McCullum, Nathan Astle and Stephen Fleming
• South Africa’s likely XI – presuming Miller is unfit – has 72 ODI hundreds. New Zealand’s has 28 with 16 of those from Taylor

Quotes

“It hasn’t told us a lot of what we don’t know. They’ve got really aggressive new-ball bowlers, they swing the ball from a length rather than floating it up there. From a batting point of view, from one to seven there are match-winners in there.”
“It’s definitely a build-up towards the Champions Trophy. The conditions are pretty similar – the ball moves around a bit when it’s new and you have to extend your partnerships when you get in, so it’s quite similar to the UK.”

James Pattinson is licking his lips at the prospect of returning to Australia’s Test team on a pitch that should offer him – and his sore shins – some assistance

Brydon Coverdale in Christchurch18-Feb-2016James Pattinson is licking his lips at the prospect of returning to Australia’s Test team on a pitch that should offer him – and his sore shins – some assistance. Pattinson appears almost certain to replace the injured Peter Siddle for the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch after he bowled in the nets on Thursday and came through the session seemingly unscathed.He had been ruled out of the first Test in Wellington as the selectors were not convinced his body would stand up to the rigours of a Test match after he had spent much of the previous month sidelined by shin soreness. Pattinson had returned for Victoria two weeks ago but bowled only 21.3 overs in a Sheffield Shield game before Cricket Australia withdrew him and flew him to New Zealand.But instead of playing him in the Test, Australia chose to keep Pattinson training in the Basin Reserve nets to prove that he could get through a full match with the view to having him available at Hagley Oval. As it happened, his workload in the nets was even higher than that of Jackson Bird, Mitchell Marsh and Siddle in the Test win.”I got through a fair bit, I think I bowled close to 35 overs last week in the nets, which is a substantial amount in the nets,” Pattinson said in Christchurch on Thursday. “So I’m full of confidence now, knowing I can get through this game and it was pleasing – because in the nets I probably bowled the best I have over the last six months. I’m starting to feel really good with my action and physically I felt really good too.”I’ve had sore shins for a while. With the grounds in Australia the wickets have been really hard. I’ve had sore shins for most of the year and it probably just got a little bit worse. So I think with shins it’s just about managing them. If you do keep playing with them, they can turn into fractures, which is something I didn’t want to happen. So it’s about managing them and now I’m feeling really good.”Pattinson looked fired up while bowling in the Basin Reserve nets before the Wellington Test, bouncing several of the Australian batsmen, but nothing could convince the selectors to take a punt on him and they opted instead for Siddle and Bird. Pattinson said he understood why the decision had been made, and the plan had always been for him to aim for full fitness by the second Test.”I was a little bit sore,” he said. “I probably thought I could have tried to get through but again being the first Test of the series – we sort of sat down before, when I first started back planning. I probably was trying to aim for the second Test and then if we got the first Test it’d be a bonus. So being the first Test in a big series, we just took the cautious approach.”It wasn’t ideal when Sidds went down and it wouldn’t have been good if I played and went down in the first Test as well, having two down. So it’s probably worked out really well for us … I’m ready to go. I had a good workout in the nets last week. Ready to go, feeling really good and excited if I get the call-up.”Pattinson was productive in the home Test summer after coming in for the series against West Indies and collecting 13 wickets at 22.46, not that there was significant assistance for Australia’s bowlers on the flat home pitches this season. They found some sideways movement on the green Basin Reserve pitch on the first morning and Pattinson has no problem with New Zealand coach Mike Hesson asking for an even greener surface at Hagley Oval.”As fast bowlers we’ve had to work hard for our wickets over the last six months in Australia, the wickets have been quite flat,” Pattinson said. “We come over here and we’ve got some green wickets. We’re licking our lips, which is great. I know all the bowlers are pretty pumped and I think the green wicket should play into our hands pretty well, hopefully.”

Kyle Coetzer and David Sales both struck centuries as Northamptonshire’s batsmen dominated the second day against Gloucestershire at Wantage Road.

03-Aug-2013
ScorecardDavid Sales made his 27th first-class ton•PA Photos

Kyle Coetzer and David Sales both struck centuries as Northamptonshire’s batsmen dominated the second day against Gloucestershire at Wantage Road.Scotland international Coetzer was the first to reach his milestone as he made 122 off 230 balls to help promotion-chasing Northants to eventually close on an imposing 369 for 3. Sales was to put some previous patchy form behind him as he then hammered an unbeaten 126 from only 137 deliveries, while captain Stephen Peters also contributed 87 off 153 balls.Northants began the day on 13 without loss, 345 runs behind their opponents, with Peters resuming on 12 and Coetzer on 1. Peters, who is playing in his first championship match since returning from a broken finger, was to go on to complete a half-century off 78 balls. That came as part of a mammoth opening partnership with Coetzer as Gloucestershire’s attack struggled to get much out of a placid wicket.The hosts resumed after lunch on 112 for 0, with Coetzer soon reaching 50 himself off 116 deliveries as his side picked up where they left off. In the end it came down to 18-year-old first-class debutant Tom Shrewsbury to finally break the stand on 170 when he forced Peters to edge to Gloucestershire wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick.But any hopes the visitors had of this breakthrough bringing a change of fortunes were dashed as Sales piled on 135 alongside Coetzer for Northants’ second wicket.Coetzer was to complete his eighth century in first-class cricket and his third in all competitions this season off 202 balls with a straight four off James Fuller with the final delivery before tea. Veteran Sales, who had previously been finding runs hard to come by this season, then raced to his first half-century of the campaign off 67 balls early in the evening session.Having batted so well, Coetzer finally departed tamely in the final over before the second new ball was due when he chipped Benny Howell to Chris Dent at midwicket. But there was no stopping Sales completing an explosive century – his 27th first-class ton – off just 107 deliveries with a crunching four through midwicket off Fuller.Alex Wakely (13) then became the first batsman to miss out on a big score as he nudged Fuller behind with five overs of the day left. Australia international Cameron White then survived until the close along with Sales and will resume tomorrow on 6 not out with the hosts looking for a huge total.