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Local cricket official feels play can begin within an hour of the rain stopping because of the upgraded covers and drainage facilities

Karthik Krishnaswamy24-May-2022The threat of rain interruptions hangs over Tuesday night’s Qualifier 1 between Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals at Eden Gardens.Kolkata experienced a brief afternoon shower on the day, and more rain is forecast for the evening, with a nearly 60% chance of precipitation between 6pm and 9pm. The match is scheduled to begin at 7.30pm. Rain could also affect Wednesday night’s Eliminator between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore, with a 50% chance of showers forecast.But Naresh Ojha, the vice-president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, was confident that the match on Tuesday would go ahead, reckoning that play could begin within an hour of the rain stopping. “Our drainage is excellent, and we have full covers for the outfield,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “Even if we can start by 10.10pm, we can have a full 20-overs game, or the worst-case scenario is five overs per side with a 11.56pm start.”

Australian legend praises England legspinner for backing his own skills, and believes he has Test role

Andrew Miller22-Jul-2021Shane Warne may be preparing for London Spirit’s opening match of the Hundred, against Birmingham Phoenix at Edgbaston, but true to reputation, he can’t help but cast his gaze to a rather more distant campaign opener – at Brisbane in December, where he believes Matt Parkinson, England’s up-and-coming legspinner, could yet play a significant role in the Ashes.As London Spirit’s head coach, Warne will be working closely this month with the last England legspinner to feature on an Ashes tour – Mason Crane, whose solitary Test appearance to date came in Sydney at the end of the 2017-18 tour. However, it is Parkinson who is in pole position for a call-up this winter, after what is already proving to be a breakthrough summer for him.Having toured Sri Lanka and India without getting a single game across formats last winter, Parkinson admitted last week he had been “gutted” to miss out on selection for the home white-ball series against Sri Lanka, and feared he was destined to be overlooked all season – until a Covid outbreak in England’s first-choice squad offered him a late call-up, and a chance to play in five of England’s six matches against Pakistan.He duly made his mark with a string of impressive performances – six wickets across formats, at an economy-rate of less than seven. In the T20I at Headingley, his selection alongside Adil Rashid meant that England fielded a twin-legspin attack for the first time since Eric Hollies’ final Test against West Indies in 1950.Related

• 'Sack it, I'm going to try and rip it' – Matt Parkinson on his ball-of-the-century contender

• Matt Critchley: 'Legspin is a niche market in itself but I bat in the top six, too'

• Matt Parkinson: 'I don't just want to be in England squads on potential'

• Matt Parkinson 'gutted' to be left out of England's white-ball squads at start of summer

However, with the Ashes on the horizon – as well as the five-Test home series against India – Warne believes that Parkinson’s displays for Lancashire in the County Championship are the biggest indicator of where his value as an England bowler could lie.To date this season, Parkinson has claimed 24 wickets at 19.75 in eight first-class outings. However, 19 of those came in his first four matches, when the pitches were conducive to legspin after an unseasonably dry spring, and included one of the moments of the season – a ripping, dipping legbreak to bowl Northamptonshire’s Adam Rossington at Old Trafford, a delivery that Warne himself admitted, via Twitter, was worthy of comparison with his own “Ball of the Century” at the same ground in the 1993 Ashes.”He is pretty exciting, isn’t he?” Warne said. “I love watching him. I’ve been watching him from afar and been very impressed so far. I really like the look of the way he bowls. He is a great addition to white-ball cricket, but also I see him playing a huge part in Test cricket, especially in Australia. I wouldn’t be surprised in that first Test match at the Gabba, if he is pencilled into the playing XI.”

The former India captain will undergo a stenting procedure on Thursday

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jan-2021Former India captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has been hospitalised for the second time this month after complaining of “chest discomfort”. It is understood that Ganguly complained of restlessness on Tuesday evening and was admitted to the Apollo Gleneagles hospital in Kolkata on Wednesday, and will undergo a stenting procedure on Thursday.A statement from the hospital on Wednesday evening provided the following details and updates:

• Past history: He had pain [in the] chest on Jan 2, 2021. He came to Woodlands hospital then. Diagnosis was done as Triple vessel disease. He had three blocks in RCA [right coronary artery], LAD [left anterior descending artery], OM2 [second obtuse marginal].
• Stenting was done on RCA on Jan 2, 2021. Medical Board was done with many experts including Dr Devi Shetty.
• The advice was the rest two blocks were to be revasculalised/stenting to be done after 2-3 weeks.
• Today is 25th day post PTCA [percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, a procedure to open blocked coronary arteries and improve blood flow to the heart muscles].
• He had chest discomfort today and he is taken to Apollo today. Dr Saptarshi Basu and Dr Saroj Mondal are attending. Dr Aftab Khan will do the stenting tomorrow in presence of Dr Devi Shetty.

This came after a statement from the hospital earlier in the day, which said, “There is no change in his parameters since his last hospitalization and his vital parameters are stable”.Earlier in the month, Ganguly had been discharged from Woodlands Hospital following treatment for a similar complaint, later described as a heart attack by doctors. He was said to have recovered after the angioplasty. After being discharged, Ganguly had been on oral medication and was to be “monitored by doctors and nurses on a daily basis at home”.The MD and CEO of Woodlands Hospital, Dr Rupali Basu, had said at the time that Ganguly had no known comorbidities, but a family history of heart diseases, and that he had tested negative for Covid-19. His brother, former Bengal cricketer and current Cricket Association of Bengal joint secretary Snehasish Ganguly, underwent a successful angioplasty last week, also at the Apollo Gleneagles Hospital.One of the expert consultants, renowned cardiologist Dr Devi Shetty, had said during the discharge that Ganguly had no heart damage.”Did he have a heart damage? No. He had a blockage and he was getting some discomfort, but at the right time he landed in the right hospital and he had the right treatment,” Shetty had said at the time. “His heart is today as strong as it was when Sourav was 20 years old. I want everyone to understand that he didn’t have a major cardiac event which has damaged his heart. He has a very, very strong heart.”

Both the top-two aspirants have lost their most recent fixtures

Karthik Krishnaswamy27-Oct-2020

Big picture

The Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers Bangalore have been in and around the top three for most of IPL 2020, but neither can yet count on finishing there. The tournament table has been known to shape-shift dramatically in past seasons as the league stage approaches its close, and there’s a possibility, this year, of five teams finishing tied at 16 points.Neither team – the Royal Challengers’ net run-rate is currently barely in the positive zone – will want to be in that situation. Both teams come to this meeting having lost their most recent games, and both have the same two oppositions lying in wait after this match, one of whom is a fellow top-two aspirant in the Delhi Capitals.Wednesday’s meeting in Abu Dhabi, therefore, could prove season-defining.

In the news

Navdeep Saini split the webbing on his right hand while fielding off his own bowling against the Chennai Super Kings on Sunday. He has had stitches put in, but since the injury is to his bowling hand, he is a doubtful starter on Wednesday.Rohit Sharma batted in the nets on Monday, but it seems unlikely that his hamstring injury – the ostensible reason for his exclusion from India’s squads for their upcoming tour of Australia – has healed to the extent that he can feature against the Royal Challengers.

Previous meeting

The match of the tournament? Quite possibly. AB de Villiers’ unbeaten 24-ball 55 powered the Royal Challengers to 201, and victory seemed almost certain when the Mumbai Indians needed 80 from 24 balls. Ishan Kishan and Kieron Pollard had other ideas, though, and forced the game into a Super Over, where Saini kept Pollard and Hardik Pandya to just seven runs. It came down to one ball, one run, and Jasprit Bumrah to Virat Kohli, and a whip to the square-leg boundary gave the Royal Challengers two valuable points.

Likely XIs

Mumbai Indians: 1 Ishan Kishan, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Saurabh Tiwary, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Kieron Pollard (capt), 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 James Pattinson, 9 Rahul Chahar, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Devdutt Padikkal, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers (wk), 5 Moeen Ali, 6 Gurkeerat Singh, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Navdeep Saini/Umesh Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Mohammed Siraj.Rohit Sharma and Navdeep Saini are both doubtful starters•BCCI

Strategy punt

• In the seven matches the Royal Challengers have won this season, de Villiers has scored 246 runs at an average of 123.00 and a strike rate of 203.31. In the four matches they have lost, de Villiers has scored 78 runs at 19.50 and 120.00. Of the matches they have won, four results – including the Super-Over win over the Mumbai Indians in the teams’ previous meeting – would quite likely have gone the other way but for de Villiers’ interventions.
• Further evidence of the Royal Challengers’ over-reliance on de Villiers and his death-overs striking comes from their overall middle-overs run rate of 6.80, the poorest of any team this season. It’s not hurt their campaign because of de Villiers, but the Royal Challengers can’t keep expecting him to win matches singlehandedly.
• One way they could ease the burden on de Villiers is to push Moeen Ali up to No. 4 if they lose their second wicket before the ten-over mark. Of all the Royal Challengers batsmen to have scored at least 50 runs in the phase since his debut season in 2018, Ali has the best middle-overs strike rate – 160.50. His left-handedness would also help combat the Mumbai Indians spinners, Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya, who both turn the ball away from the right-hander.
• The Mumbai Indians are likely to have four left-handers – Quinton de Kock, Kishan, Saurabh Tiwary and Krunal – in their top seven, and the Royal Challengers are likely to have two offspinners to bowl at them, in Ali and Washington Sundar. De Kock (114.88), Kishan (100.99) and Krunal (79.41) all have modest strike rates against this style of bowling in the IPL since the 2018 season, while Tiwary has faced just one ball of offspin in this period. With this in mind, they could make Suryakumar Yadav open the batting, or promote Hardik Pandya or Kieron Pollard to No. 4, to ensure they have a right-hander in the mix for most of their innings.)
• If Yadav opens, though, the Royal Challengers could use Yuzvendra Chahal with the new ball. Since 2018, Chahal has superb records against both Yadav (14 balls, 14 runs, two wickets) and de Kock (12 balls, 11 runs, two wickets).

Stats that matter

• Both teams have enjoyed playing in Abu Dhabi this season. The Mumbai Indians have won five of their seven games here so far, and the Royal Challengers have won two out of two.
• The Mumbai Indians (12.70) and the Royal Challengers (11.47) have the best death-overs (16-20) scoring rates of all batting teams this season.
• They have done pretty well with the ball in this phase too, with the Mumbai Indians (9.89) and the Royal Challengers (10.12) boasting the second- and third-best economy rates behind the Delhi Capitals (9.15 as on October 26).
• Bumrah is one wicket short of 100 in the IPL and 200 in all T20 cricket.
• De Villiers needs 19 runs to complete 9000 in T20 cricket, while Tiwary is 13 short of 3000.

ESPNcricinfo understands he was spoken to by host broadcasters and reminded of the behavioural standards all commentators must uphold

Daniel Brettig24-May-2019Michael Slater, the former Australia opening batsman and now commentator, will be heard on Channel Nine’s World Cup broadcast after the ICC confirmed he remains a part of the world broadcast feed for the event, due to begin on May 30.Following a highly publicised incident on Sunday when Slater was escorted from a Qantas domestic flight from Sydney to his hometown of Wagga Wagga, after becoming embroiled in a heated argument with two female fellow travellers, ESPNcricinfo understands he was spoken to by host broadcasters and reminded of the behavioural standards all commentators must uphold.However, Slater is set to return to Australian television screens with Nine, his former network, as well as Fox Sports, the pay television broadcaster that will air all the tournament’s matches. Nine has the free-to-air rights to screen Australia’s nine round-robin matches, plus the semi-finals and tournament final at Lord’s on July 14.Last year Slater moved from Nine to Seven, following the latter’s winning of broadcast rights for matches in Australia in a combined deal with Fox Sports worth A$1.18 billion to Cricket Australia. A central figure in Seven’s broadcast, particularly for the Big Bash League, Slater did not continue his role throughout the summer, missing from the back-end of the season and the BBL finals series in early February.It is believed this decision was made mutually between Slater and Seven for personal reasons, though he is still under contract with the network for another season and may yet return.Since then, Slater has commentated on the Indian Premier League, and will soon be heard again on Nine and Fox Sports for the World Cup. In a statement to , a contrite Slater confirmed the incident on the plane: “I did have an argument with two friends whilst boarding a flight to Wagga and I apologise for the inconvenience this caused other passengers on the flight.”Nine, which lost its rights as the host broadcaster for Australian cricket for the first time since Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket breakaway more than 40 years ago, will ironically broadcast the returns of the previously banned Steven Smith and David Warner in the wake of the Newlands scandal, after Seven and Fox Sports suffered by their absence over the 2018-19 summer.The network’s World Cup coverage will be hosted by Rebecca Maddern, alongside former national team captains Mark Taylor, Ian Healy and Lisa Sthalekar.Seven recently unveiled the former New Zealand captain and Brisbane Heat batsman Brendon McCullum as a new addition to its commentary team for next summer. McCullum will also be heard on the World Cup broadcast.

They collapsed in the middle, but much of the good work done by McCullum and Lynn didn’t go to waste in a truncated contest

The Report by Tristan Lavalette08-Jan-2019Getty Images

Brendon McCullum combined with Chris Lynn to power Brisbane Heat to an imposing total at Spotless Stadium before rain dented Sydney Thunder’s chase of 187. Then the game was decided by the DLS method, with Brisbane 15 ahead at the cut-off time.After being sent in to bat, Heat’s high-profile top-order finally clicked with McCullum shrugging off a slump and combining in belligerent half-century partnerships with opener Max Bryant and Lynn. Heat looked set to crack the first score of 200 in the tournament before falling in the end overs by losing 6 for 11 to give the home side a sniff.Thunder, however, struggled against a fired-up James Pattinson before the rain came down as Sydney’s frustrating weather continued to interrupt cricket in the city, following a fifth-day abandonment of the fourth Australia-India Test.Heat (2-3) were all smiles though after collecting a second straight victory to revive their BBL campaign, while a slumping Thunder (3-4) have lost four of five.Baz is back

McCullum’s woes had been a chief reason for Heat’s early struggles. With just 30 runs in the Heat’s opening four matches, the former skipper looked a shadow of his blistering best but he was determined to get out of the rut against Thunder.In trademark fashion, McCullum tried to smash his way back into form but was completely out of touch at the start and unable to connect a slew of attempted slogs. He made just six from his first 12 deliveries before smacking a generous full toss from Chris Green over the ropes to break the shackles.It proved the required tonic as a rejuvenated McCullum then repeated the dose on his next ball faced by charging Daniel Sams and clearing the boundary. In a complete reversal, a red hot McCullum smashed 30 off nine balls and was matched by Bryant, who has the second highest strike-rate in the tournament.The openers plundered 76 before Bryant (36 from 23) was bowled by a quicker Jonathan Cook delivery which ricocheted off the pads. McCullum, however, continued the pyrotechnics show and reached his half-century in style with a powerful club into the sightscreen off Fahwad Ahmed.There was no respite for Thunder with the much-hyped Bash Brothers finally living up to top billing with Lynn showcasing an array of power hitting. Having been somewhat shackled in the opening four games, Lynn rediscovered his sweet timing to pepper the boundaries.
McCullum’s entertaining 35-ball knock ended in the 14th over but he laid the perfect platform and revived his BBL campaign.Thunder spinners fight back

Thunder captain Shane Watson relies on his spinners on the somewhat sluggish Spotless Stadium pitch. With McCullum and Lynn in full flow, Watson’s best laid plans were in ruins with the Heat duo smashing 63 runs from overs seven to 12 against the spin of Ahmed, Cook and Green.The trio copped much humiliation until the wheel spectacularly turned when Lynn holed out off Cook, who was then on a hat-trick when he trapped in-form Ben Cutting in front. Ahmed and Green joined the party as Heat lost 5 for 2 in 12 balls seemingly out of nowhere.The batting was admittedly foolhardy but, nonetheless, Watson deserved plaudits for backing his spinners and enticing rash strokes through aggressive field placings.Buttler’s BBL ends with a whimper

Jos Buttler, the season’s leading run-scorer, has been the standout batsman and hoped to finish his BBL campaign on a high note before travelling to the Caribbean for England’s upcoming tour.After hitting a boundary off the first ball of the innings, Buttler’s tournament ended in the second over when he was trapped lbw by an aggressive Pattinson.Joe Root, also in his last BBL match, didn’t face a delivery before rain stopped play in the sixth over. There was one major highlight of Thunder’s brief reply, however, with Watson clubbing a short Mujeeb ur Rahman delivery onto the roof in one of the tournament’s biggest sixes.

Steven Mullaney’s hundred and a brisk innings from Ross Taylor set Hampshire a daunting target then the Notts bowlers chipped away

George Dobell at Trent Bridge06-May-2018
ScorecardStuart Broad may have inflicted a serious blow to James Vince’s chances of retaining his Test place by exploiting a familiar fault in the Championship match at Trent Bridge.Vince, who played throughout the Ashes series despite only twice passing 25, returned to the Test side for the final Test in New Zealand and responded with a typically elegant 76.But, despite some promising innings, Vince averages just 24.90 after 13 Tests. And, while concerns over his fragility around off stump remain, he cannot be assured of retaining his place when the squad for the Test series against Pakistan is named in a couple of weeks’ time.It was that weakness that Broad exploited here. An entertaining final half-four saw Broad, charging in from the Pavilion End, using all his skill and experience against a team-mate he had seen batting at close quarters for several months over the winter.Having been beaten by one that bounced and left him early in Broad’s spell, Vince was naturally reluctant to play at anything outside off stump. But with Broad persuading one to tail back in just a fraction, Vince’s decision to pad up left the umpire with a simple leg before decision to make. For selectors undecided over Vince’s future, it may prove a telling blow.To be fair to Vince, Broad will trouble many batsmen in this form. He generated decent pace despite a surface that is now funereal and, having tinkered with his action ahead of the New Zealand tour, is gaining just a little more movement and bounce than has been the case for a year or so.”He’s really charged in,” Nottinghamshire’s captain Steven Mullaney told ESPNcricinfo after stumps. “He’s shown his class and been magnificent.”You have to pinch yourself sometimes to realise you’re not watching it on TV; you have to actually catch it if it comes your way.”He changed his action a little to get the ball moving away from the right-hander more and I think it’s helped him get a bit more bounce, too. He’s looking magnificent to the right-handers and that makes his inswinger all the more dangerous. He’s bowling with really good pace and control.”That Nottinghamshire had an opening was largely due to the persistence of Harry Gurney and the inexperience of 21-year-oldJoe Weatherley who had batted with admirable composure in demanding circumstances. Despite a match situation that demanded he try and bat for the best part of four sessions – Hampshire had been set an improbable 469 to win in a minimum of 140 overs – the former England Under-19 captain had just recorded his maiden Championship half-century and, in batting for 34 overs, given his side an outside chance of saving the game.But a momentary lapse of concentration cost him. Lured into a drive by Samit Patel’s teasing spin, Weatherley lofted a simple catch to mid-on. For all Patel’s skill – and this was a slightly quicker ball delivered with a rounder arm – it was an unnecessary stroke. It may console Weatherley a little that a batsman as experienced as Hashim Amla made a similar mistake on the previous day. But the manner in which he walked off – head in his hands, aghast at his error – suggested it may take some time for any consolation to sink in. He shaped up very nicely before that, though, and is probably one to keep an eye upon.Gurney helped Nottinghamshire build on those foundations. Delivering an outstanding 13-over spell from the Pavilion End, he showed again the vast improvements he has made to his bowling over the last few years. Where once he was a raw and pretty unsophisticated left-arm quick bowler, he now operates off a short run, moves the ball both ways and retains the ability to deliver a sharp effort ball when required. Despite the emergence of Luke Wood and the return of Mark Footitt (who is currently on loan at Derbyshire and not guaranteed to come back), he remains the best left-arm seamer on the staff and retains a place in Nottinghamshire’s best XI.He was rewarded for his persistence with the wicket of Jimmy Adams. Having seen the batsman dropped at slip from the previous delivery, Gurney bowled another one in the same channel outside off stump and was delighted to see Mullaney, the culprit the previous ball, hold on.Earlier Mullaney had become Nottinghamshire’s first centurion of the campaign as he helped set an imposing total. With help from the wonderfully aggressive and selfless Ross Taylor (who made 83 from 69 balls), Mullaney took full advantage of easing batting conditions to stretch the lead well beyond 400. Liam Dawson, who only a year ago was being talked about as England’s No. 1 spinner, bore the brunt of the assault in conceding 123 from his 24 overs. Patel, who has barely conceded a run an over throughout this match, could be forgiven for wondering what more he has to do to warrant a recall.Vince had finished the Nottinghamshire innings as their stand-in wicket-keeper after Lewis McManus was obliged to leave the field having sustained a hand injury. Hampshire are awaiting the results of a scan, but confirmed that he will bat on the final day if required. Vince’s late departure rendered that requirement almost inevitable.

A fine display of swing bowling from Trent Boult may have struck the decisive blow for New Zealand in an encounter against England full of twists and turns

The Report by George Dobell23-Mar-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsApart from losing wickets, England struggled for fluency: Nick Compton’s 13 occupied just two minutes short of two hours•Getty Images

A fine display of swing bowling from Trent Boult may have struck the decisive blow for New Zealand in an encounter against England full of twists and turns.Boult, the left-arm fast-medium bowler, claimed 6 for 68 – his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket – as England were dismissed for 204 in their first innings. That gave New Zealand a first innings lead of 239 but, eschewing the chance to enforce the follow-on, they extended their lead to 274 before stumps.Those second innings runs came at quite a cost, though. New Zealand, perhaps suffering from acrophobia as they realised the dominance of their position, stumbled to 8 for 3 at one stage in their second innings as England revived their slim hopes of forcing a win. Peter Fulton and Dean Brownlie saw New Zealand to the close without further loss, but New Zealand’s lack of progress raised questions about the wisdom of not enforcing the follow-on.Still, Boult’s performance had earned his side an excellent chance of securing a rare Test series win over England. New Zealand remain the side in the stronger position, and with the pitch showing just a little sign of uneven bounce, it may not be easy to bat upon on the last day. No side has ever scored 350 in the fourth innings to win on this ground – though West Indies chased down 345 to win in 1969 – and, since they introduced drop-in pitches at Eden Park just over a decade ago, no side has ever chased more than the 166 Australia managed in 2005. Besides, without Kevin Pietersen, England appear a far more diffident side.For a team dismissed as no-hopers by some commentators coming into the series, this has been an impressive performance by New Zealand. They are currently rated No. 8 in the Test rankings, but they have looked the better side for significant portions of this encounter and now have an excellent opportunity to embarrass the No. 2 rated team. New Zealand have previously only beaten England at home in one Test series, in 1983-84, and away in two, in 1986 and in
1999.The pitch showed no signs of deterioration for most of the day. It is simply that New Zealand’s seamers bowled a little fuller, a little straighter and gained a little more swing than England had on the first couple of days. In short, New Zealand bowled better than England’s much-vaunted attack. Bruce Martin, who came into this series largely unknown outside New Zealand, generated turn and bounce that Monty Panesar, his left-arm counterpart, could not and, as a result, looked a far more threatening proposition.Even in New Zealand’s second innings, England could find minimal swing. New Zealand lost their wickets more to nerves than swing and Boult, bowling with decent pace, maintaining a tight line and managing to swing some back into the right-hand batsmen and angle some across them, was the most dangerous bowler on display. He was able to find movement that even James Anderson could not.It was during the first session of the day that New Zealand hammered a nail into England’s hopes. Generating swing, they claimed three lbw decisions in the session to leave England teetering on 72 for 5 at one stage.

Smart stats

• Trent Boult’s 6 for 68 is his best bowling performance in Tests, surpassing his previous best of 4 for 42 against Sri Lanka at the P Sara Oval. He has picked up 40 wickets at an average of 30.22.

• Boult’s 6 for 68 is eighth on the list of best bowling performances by New Zealand bowlers against England and the second-best in Auckland after Chris Cairns (6 for 52 in 1992) and Daryl Tuffey (6 for 54 in 2002).

• The lead of 239 is New Zealand’s fifth-largest against England and their second-highest when they have batted first. Click here for a list of matches when New Zealand have batted first and here for a list of matches when New Zealand have batted second.

• The 101-run stand between Matt Prior and Joe Root is the sixth-highest sixth-wicket stand for England in New Zealand. The highest is 281 between Andrew Flintoff and Graham Thorpe in Christchurch in 2002.

• Prior’s 73 is his second half-century of the series and the 32nd fifty-plus score of his career. Prior’s average of 46.84 is the highest among batsmen with 2000-plus runs at No. 7.

Tim Southee made the breakthrough in the third over of the morning. Having generally swung the ball away from the right-handed batsmen, natural variation resulted in one going straight on and striking Nick Compton on the pad. While the umpire, Paul Reiffel, declined the original appeal on the grounds that the ball may well have hit the bat before hitting the pad, New Zealand were quick to call for a review that showed that the ball had made first contact with the pad.Ian Bell went in similar fashion. Bell, who had come close to running himself out in the second over of the day, diving to regain his ground after committing to an unnecessarily risky second run, was also undone by one that went straight on from Southee. Perhaps intimidated by the aggressive field utilised by New Zealand captain, Brendon McCullum – there were times when New Zealand’s seamers had five slips – Bell looked unwilling to commit to playing at the ball and was caught in the crease when struck on the pad. He conferred with his batting partner, Joe Root, before deciding not to utilise the Decision Review System. It was a wise decision.Boult, who had claimed the two wickets to fall the previous evening, claimed the final wicket of the session, beating Jonny Bairstow’s tentative forward prod with one that pitched on middle stump and swung back just enough to beat the stroke. Again, the original appeal was declined but New Zealand utilised the DRS and were rewarded for their confidence. If Bairstow had looked somewhat out of form, it was hardly a surprise: this was his first innings in first-class cricket since the Mumbai Test in November and only his second since the Lord’s Test in August.Only two men offered meaningful resistance for England. Matt Prior and Joe Root added 101 runs for the sixth wicket, with Prior counterattacking fluently and Root defending with obduracy that would have had his Yorkshire predecessor Geoff Boycott smiling in satisfaction.Whereas his colleagues prodded timidly – Compton’s 13 runs occupied only two minutes fewer than two hours and England scored just 42 runs in 29 overs before lunch – Prior skipped down the pitch to drive Martin through the off side and when given any width from the seamers, freed his arms to drive through the covers.His strength was his undoing, however. Offered some width from Neil Wagner, Prior attempted to drive on the up but could only slice a thick edge to point.Dean Brownlie could be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief. Brownlie, at slip, had reprieved Prior on 24 when the batsman had pushed hard at one outside off stump from the deserving Southee and edged low to Brownlie’s right. Had the chance been taken, England would have been 111 for 6.Prior’s dismissal precipitated a swift decline. England lost their last five wickets for just 31 runs as Boult, armed with the new ball, returned to mop up the tail. Stuart Broad, now little more than a happy slogger, thrashed 14 in three balls but, in attempting to force the next delivery, sliced a catch to short extra cover before Steven Finn prodded at one angled across him. Anderon edged a beauty that left him, and Root, left with only Panesar for company, attempted to thrash a good length ball over midwicket and lost his off stump.

Jodie Fields will lead Australia Women in the Rose Bowl series against New Zealand, while Alyssa Healy, Ellyse Perry and Julie Hunter return to the squad

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jan-2012Jodie Fields will lead Australia Women in the Rose Bowl series against New Zealand, while Alyssa Healy, Ellyse Perry and Julie Hunter return to the squad. The Australia’s Women’s National Selection Panel (WNSP) announced a 14-player squad that will take on the visiting New Zealand side in three ODIs and five Twenty20s, starting January 20.Alex Blackwell will be Fields’ deputy for the series. Perry was out of the squad last season due to football commitments, while Hunter had an injured shoulder and Healy was out because of indifferent form.”Alyssa Healy, Ellyse Perry and Julie Hunter all return to the squad, while Shelley Nitschke, Sharon Millanta and Annie-Rose Maloney are the players out of the team,” WNSP head Julie Savage said. “Shelley has retired from cricket while Annie-Rose and Sharon make way for the experienced combination of Ellyse and Julie.”The WNSP that selected the squad was recently shuffled. Chaired by Julie Savage, it also includes women’s coach Richard McInnes, captain Fields and former Australia bowler Julie Hayes.Squad: Jodie Fields (capt), Alex Blackwell (vice-capt), Jess Cameron, Sarah Coyte, Rachael Haynes, Alyssa Healy, Julie Hunter, Jessica Jonassen, Meg Lanning, Erin Osborne, Ellyse Perry, Leah Poulton, Clea Smith, Lisa Sthalekar