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Match facts

Sunday, May 15, 2016
Start time 1600 local (10:30 GMT)2:39

Nannes: Morgan deserves a game ahead of Williamson

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After finishing in the bottom half of the table in 2014 and 2015, Sunrisers Hyderabad find themselves one win away from an IPL playoff spot in 2016. They have three matches in hand, but the failure of their middle order and seam attack against Delhi Daredevils on Thursday should caution them from being overconfident.The bowlers may have just had an off day but the middle-order has been underwhelming for a while. Sunrisers have scored at a run rate of 7.5 between the 8th and 15th overs in this IPL. Only Gujarat Lions and Mumbai Indians have fared poorer in this period. The number of dot balls faced by the Sunrisers batsmen in these overs – 202 – is second only to Mumbai’s 217. The acceleration needed to convert the starts from David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan has been absent, and that becomes a glaring flaw when the bowling fails.Kings XI Punjab should look to exploit that. Their frontline bowlers Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma and Axar Patel, along with Marcus Stoinis in the last couple of matches, have been outstanding even if the batting has let them down repeatedly. Apart from M Vijay, no batsman has scored more than two fifties this season. Glenn Maxwell has bagged three ducks and averages 19.88 after ten innings, while David Miller has not found form even after being relieved of captaincy.

Form guide

Kings XI Punjab: WLWLW (last five matches, most recent first)
Sunrisers Hyderabad: LWWWW

In the spotlight

Mustafizur Rahman has had an impressive debut season in the IPL, with 13 wickets in 11 matches at an economy of 6.53. He struggled to land the yorkers in the match against Daredevils and Sunrisers will hope the left-armer can recover his rhythm before they enter the knockouts.Marcus Stoinis has quietly made a mark with some handy knocks as both opener and middle-order batsman. He has also varied his pace well to bowl tight spells in the middle and end overs. His all-round performances this season might tempt Kings XI to retain him as one their mainstay foreign players in the forthcoming seasons.

Team news

Maxwell was dismissed for a golden duck on his return from injury against Mumbai and Kings XI may be looking at South Africa allrounder Farhaan Behardien to replace him.Kings XI Punjab (probable): 1 M Vijay (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 4 Glenn Maxwell/ Farhaan Behardien, 5 Gurkeerat Singh, 6 David Miller, 7 Marcus Stoinis 8 Axar Patel 9 Mohit Sharma 10 Sandeep Sharma 11 KC CariappaDespite the loss on Thursday, Sunrisers have a settled combination and are unlikely to tinker with it, unless they have injury concerns. Although, Kane Williamson is struggling for form – he has scored 67 in his last four innings at a strike rate of 89.33.Sunrisers Hyderabad (probable): 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Kane Williamson/ Eoin Morgan, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Moises Henriques, 6 Deepak Hooda, 7 Naman Ojha, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Barinder Sran, 10 Ashish Nehra, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Pitch and conditions

A 4pm start means the side fielding first will have to contend with hot weather – temperatures in Mohali are expected to cross 40 C. Most captains have preferred chasing at this venue, but the team batting first has won the last three matches.

Stats and trivia

• Vijay’s four 50-plus scores this season are the most by him in an IPL season
• Sunrisers have a 5-2 win-loss record against Kings XI, their win-loss ratio of 2.50 is their joint-best against a team in IPL (also 5-2 against Daredevils)

Quote

“This has been the best match for us this year. In the earlier matches we weren’t able to execute our plans to perfection. In this match all the three departments clicked 100%.”

Stuart Broad has already begun “plotting” a path back into England’s 50-over plans. Broad was left out of the ODI squad announced earlier this week and has only played twice since the 2015 World Cup but he refuses to give up on playing white-ball cricket for his country again, to the extent that he will contemplate taking part in overseas domestic competitions to try and nudge the selectors before next summer’s Champions Trophy.Trevor Bayliss, England’s head coach, has left the door open for Broad, who retains hope of playing in the 2017 Champions Trophy and 2019 World Cup, competitions that will both be held in England and Wales. However, Broad’s involvement with the Test side, and England’s busy schedule, has prevented him from gaining any significant practice in the shorter formats: in addition to two ODIs in South Africa, he has played one List A and one T20 match for Nottinghamshire in the last 12 months.Broad’s form with the red ball saw him rise to No. 1 in the ICC Test bowler rankings earlier this year, and he could still have another 11 Test matches to play in 2015, with a home series against Pakistan and tours of Bangladesh and India before Christmas. England will then have a six-month gap without a Test, during which time Broad is planning to prioritise his white-ball game above a well-earned rest.

England’s leading ODI bowlers

• James Anderson 269 wickets at 29.22

• Darren Gough 234 at 26.39

• Stuart Broad 178 at 30.13

• Andrew Flintoff 168 at 23.61

• Ian Botham 145 at 28.54

“It’s tricky because I haven’t played any white-ball cricket,” he said of his omission from the group to play Sri Lanka. “I think I saw a quote saying this squad had been picked on merit and I can’t argue with that at all because it’s not as if I’ve gone out there and taken a certain amount of white-ball wickets. I’m going to have to find a way to do that.”I’m going to look at scheduling, whether it’s home or abroad, to try to play some white-ball cricket and there might be a decent opportunity after Christmas this year because there’s not a lot of Test cricket then until I think July. The only way I’ll get back is by playing white-ball cricket and that’s the only way my skills will improve, too.”Broad’s focus on reclaiming his ODI spot means he would prefer to play 50-over cricket rather than appear in T20 leagues, such as Australia’s BBL – which will begin at around the same time England are expected to conclude their five-Test series in India – the IPL and the Pakistan Super League. One such option could be New Zealand’s 50-over competition, the Ford Trophy, which ran throughout January in the 2015-16 season.The changes to the county schedule for next year have also caught Broad’s eye, with the Royal London Cup set to be played in April and May, as a prelude to the Champions Trophy. He could even push for selection in the inaugural North v South series, to be played in the UAE next March.”I’m going to have to carefully plot how to do it and the schedule next year might massively work in my favour because I think the Royal London Cup is going to be played more in a chunk at the start of the season and I think the Twenty20 competition is played in a chunk too – whereas this year there’s no 50-over cricket for me to play to put my name in the hat. If I suddenly have a belting six weeks of 50-over cricket people might say, ‘Actually this bloke can bowl with the white ball. He has got a hundred-odd ODIs behind him and he could still be in the frame.'”England’s newly enlightened attitude to white-ball competition might be tested by Broad’s desire to keep pushing his case, rather than save himself for Tests. But, while England have moved on from a generation of ODI stalwarts such as Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and James Anderson, Broad is unwilling to view himself as a cricketing senior citizen, still keen to try and kick it with the kids in three years’ time.”I’m still only 29 but because I’ve played a lot of my cricket with Belly and Jimmy who are a bit older I sort of get put in that category,” he said. “A lot of people have played at World Cups at 32 and that’s certainly not an old age for a cricketer so I’ve got huge goals to be a part of that and have to pick some stuff to get involved in.”Stuart Broad tries his hand at making hoppers at a Taste of London event•Etihad

He did concede that the pace of change in the limited-overs formats had left him feeling “as if I hadn’t played in a long time” during his involvement in South Africa. The challenge seems to enthuse him, however, and the impression that Broad is chalking out new plans of attack, chewing on his pencil as contemplates the ideal level of torque on a slower ball, staying up late trying to concoct a new “slog-proof” delivery in the lab should indicate how serious he is about the endeavour.”I almost need a bit of a unique selling point in one-day cricket,” he said. “I can’t just be a regulation line-and-length bowler, I have to be something a bit different and whether that’s me going round the wicket and looking to improve my skills in that way, making the batsman think: ‘What’s he doing here?’ Not just to shut down one side but maybe changing the angle, maybe my legcutter from round the wicket would be hard to slog to the leg side. This is just me thinking aloud. There might be something I can find that batsmen will struggle with.”And while some would point to his rarefied form in Tests without limited-overs noodling to distract him, Broad prefers to look at his development – such as the “stark improvement” in his record to left-handers – and imagine how he can make similar strides with a white ball.”I don’t want to say not playing any white-ball cricket has helped my red-ball form because it weakens my argument but certainly it has given me time to improve on my red-ball performances and I did have improvements to make,” he said.”Now I need to develop my white-ball bowling as part of that improvement. For instance, I haven’t bowled round the wicket to left-handers with a white ball. I’ve had such success like that with the red ball that it might be something I have to look at.”I almost need to sit down with a pen and paper and say: ‘Right I want to play here, and this is the type of delivery I need to work at’ and hopefully we’ll be sat here next year and I’ll have some stats behind me. Then I can go to the selectors and say: ‘You told me you were picking the team on merit. Well there you go.'”Etihad Airways, a global partner of Taste Festivals, is the first ever official airline partner of the England cricket teams. Etihad Holidays will have a range of cricket tour packages for the upcoming England tours to Bangladesh and India: www.etihad.com

India will play two T20I matches against West Indies in Florida later this month, BCCI president Anurag Thakur announced on Tuesday, after the board’s working committee meeting in Mumbai. The matches will be played on August 27 and 28 at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium in Lauderhill.Officials from both boards had meetings in Florida last week to discuss the staging of the matches at the conclusion of India’s ongoing four-Test series in the Caribbean. The ability to obtain US visas was the primary logistical hurdle before the boards but this was cleared after the BCCI submitted documents for its intended T20 squad to the US embassy in Jamaica, where the second Test is currently being played.In a press release issued by the board, Thakur stated that the series would be developed into an annual event in the USA.”As part of our continuous efforts to reach out to new markets and audiences, I am very happy to announce that Team India will play two T20Is against the current world champions West Indies in the United States,” Thakur said. “This will be a great opportunity for the cricket fans in America to watch the two champion sides in action. This will be developed into an annual cricketing event in the United States.”The Central Broward Regional Park is the only ICC-certified ODI standard stadium facility in the USA and recently hosted six Caribbean Premier League matches between July 28 and 31. The ground has previously hosted four T20Is – in 2010, New Zealand played two matches against Sri Lanka, and returned in 2012 for two games against West Indies.WICB president Dave Cameron said the WICB would also be interested in playing T20s at the Florida venue every year, even if India were not available to do so, to help “develop” cricket in the Americas. “We would like to make it an annual affair from the WICB’s standpoint,” he said. “Is it going to be with India every year? Not necessarily. But from a strategic standpoint, we would like to be playing cricket in the USA on an annual basis.”I think we’ve set that as part of our strategic goal in helping to develop the USA and the Americas. Our view is that proceeds from these games can go towards development of cricket in the USA and Canada and the Americas in general.”

File photo – Pakistan A captain Babar Azam propelled his side’s successful run chase with a 77-ball 73•Getty Images

A 139-run third-wicket stand between opener Jaahid Ali and captain Babar Azam set up a four-wicket win for Pakistan A over Sri Lanka A in Northampton. The partnership, coming off 154 balls, helped Pakistan A ride a mini-collapse to win with 11 balls to spare.Sri Lanka A made brisk progress after opting to bat, largely thanks to Niroshan Dickwella’s 31-ball 44 and Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s 63-ball 56. But wickets fell at regular intervals – by the 34th over, Sri Lanka A had slipped to 173 for 6.Thisara Perera, coming in at No. 8, chipped in with 45 off 40, hitting five fours and a six to give the innings a late boost, but Sri Lanka A were bowled out for 254, failing to utilise three overs from their full quota.Pakistan A started shakily as Sharjeel Khan and Fakhar Zaman were dismissed within the first nine overs. It was at this point that Jaahid (77) and Azam (73) took charge with a century stand that put their side firmly in control.However, their dismissals within two overs of each other, both falling to Lahiru Gamage, left Pakistan A in a hint of trouble 186 for 4 in 36 overs. Sri Lanka had a whiff of an opportunity, but it was snuffed out by handy lower-order contributions from Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Nawaz. Though neither of them stayed to see the job through, they had done enough to ensure that Pakistan A won with time to spare.The win was Pakistan A’s second in three matches, while Sri Lanka A are languishing at the bottom with three losses in as many matches.

ScorecardJack Leach helped seal victory for Somerset•Getty Images

Somerset closed off a remarkable victory on the third morning of their Specsavers’ County Championship game with Durham at Taunton.Defending a target of 176 and with Durham 130 for 5 overnight, they took the visitors’ last five wickets for just six runs in 22 balls, to win by 39 runs.It was a truly intriguing 17 minutes of play during which Somerset used the spinning Taunton wicket to devastating effect. Jack Leach, who took five first innings wickets and Roelof van der Merwe were the instigators taking three and two wickets respectively.Nightwatchman Graham Onions fell to Leach for 0, off the fifth ball of the day and off the left arm spinners’ very next delivery, Paul Coughlin was caught by Jim Allenby at slip.Stuart Poynter, who struck the only boundary of the morning, was eighth man out, lbw to Leach for 12, before van der Merwe dismissed Mark Wood and Chris Rushworth in successive balls to finish the job. Leach finished with figures of 4 for 46 and van der Merwe 4 for 45.”I probably didn’t see that happening overnight,” Chris Rogers, the Somerset captain, said. “I thought we were in with an outside chance because the ball is turning and they had their tail end in. But it all went to plan.”We beat the bat a lot yesterday evening, but today it all went our way and when that happens, it’s quite fortunate.”To finish it that way is fantastic. All credit to the guys too, we were down and out on a couple of occasions in this game.”But they fought and what was really nice was that a couple of people who probably havent contributed as much as they would have liked to so far this season, were the ones who stood up and that is such a good sign for the club.”Durham coach Jon Lewis said: “It unfolded pretty quickly towards the end didn’t it? But then again, it was like that for much of the game. I mean we are finished 20 minutes into day three.”I don’t think this morning was the relevant part of the game. We got some good balls this morning and that can happen on a turning pitch.”I think there are areas of the game that we could have been better in, over the first two days. But the players will lick their wounds and get back to it.”

Australia stand-in captain David Warner has said his century in the fifth ODI against Sri Lanka came as a “sigh of relief” as it was his first score over 20 in the five-match series. Warner scored 106 from 126 balls, his seventh ODI hundred, and became the first Australia batsman to score an ODI ton in Sri Lanka.”When I was out there it was obviously about trying to get the runs and stay there till the end and that’s the way that I had to try and play tonight,” Warner said after the match. “It’s obviously great to get a hundred but for me it was a bit of sigh of relief. I never doubted myself and kept backing and executing my plans. You do need a bit of luck in this game and I’m pretty sure I hit that one to short leg (leg slip) but that’s part and parcel of the game, you get a bit of luck your way and fortunate tonight I got that luck.”When Warner was on 22, he attempted a sweep off left-arm spinner Sachith Pathirana in the 14th over and seemed to top-edge the ball to leg slip. Sri Lanka appealed but chose not to review Aleem Dar’s decision who had adjudged it not out. Warner later admitted that he had edged it.”It was a semi, half appeal,” Warner said. “The bowler came up to me and said ‘Lucky, you hit that one’ and I said ‘Yeah, I think I did’. “I wasn’t 100% [sure]. The keeper thought I didn’t hit it. I think there was a faint edge. That’s the luck. The responsibility is on the players as well, they’ve got to make that decision to either use a referral or not. They still had it up their sleeve.”It was not a typical Warner century because Australia lost two early wickets for 25 runs while chasing 196, and Sri Lanka employed their spinners to strangle the visiting batsmen. Warner, accompanied by George Bailey, had to “grind” on a slow pitch using a lot of sweeps and reverse sweeps.”It was almost going back to the Test matches and trying to grind but still try to rotate the strike,” Warner said. “Me and Bails out there we were actually saying to each other that we feel like we’re trying to play that big shot and we were telling each other to try and rotate the strike because you always want that sense of relief somewhere, because they weren’t giving us any bad balls to put away. So we just had to try and grind away and use the bit of pace they were giving on the ball, and try to sweep and reverse sweep as much as we can. That was the game plan we had to try and manufacture [shots]. It is quite handy sometimes when you don’t have that rhythm or hitting the ball out of the middle and to actually be able to play that kind of role it does help.”When asked to identify reasons why Australia were whitewashed in the Tests but came back so strongly in the ODIs, Warner pointed out that the batsmen did not “adapt fast enough” in the Test series. He also said that a different approach was needed when batting in Asian conditions and Australia adjusted much better in the ODIs with their shot selection.”From my own personal experience, it comes down to runs on the board and the pressure. We all talk about taking the game on and in these conditions you still have to look to score. When we’re at home, we always have that intent to score,” Warner said of the key differences between the Tests and ODIs. “That’s when our boys are playing our best. If you face six balls in these conditions, then one is going to have your name in it.”In these conditions you’re going to have to sweep, you need to use your feet, you’re going to have to watch the ball hard onto the bat where you can’t leave the ball because one is going to skid on. They’re the variables in this game and I think that’s where we lacked a little bit [in the Tests]. We didn’t adapt fast enough. In the one-day game you get some release because you can’t have those catchers around the bat. You can, but [against the] white ball you can play these kinds of shots, there’s no reason why you can’t play in the Test matches. That’s how you’re going to have to score in these conditions.”

ScorecardOpener Alex Carey hit 75 off 86 balls, but South Australia lost their last six wickets for 38•Getty Images

South Australia squandered a strong position in their chase against Western Australia as the Matador Cup match at the WACA ended in a thrilling tie.Pursuing 243 for victory after a disciplined bowling effort from a young attack missing Daniel Worrall, Joe Mennie, Adam Zampa and the state captain Travis Head, SA cruised to 4 for 204 in the 39th over, needing a mere 39 from 66 balls at the moment Alex Ross fell.SA had been pushed that far by the debutant Jake Weatherald’s fluent start and then a composed hand by the wicketkeeper Alex Carey. However, SA proceeded to toss away their carefully constructed position, losing their last six wickets for 38 to leave the match tied.WA’s fightback had been driven by Nathan Rimmington, who claimed four wickets including the key figure of Jake Lehmann when SA were within three runs of victory. The final wicket of Nick Benton fell to Jason Behrendorff the following over.WA’s innings had been characterised by a series of starts. The captain Adam Voges top-scored with 51, but he will be hoping for bigger scores from the top six in future assignments.

The WICB has granted West Indies allrounder Kieron Pollard a no-objection certificate to participate in South Africa’s domestic T20 tournament, two days after he had not been given one. WICB chief executive Michael Muirhead said the board had not intended to completely deny the NOC and had apologised for the delay.

WIPA against 20% levy

The West Indies Players Association has said the WICB’s decision to levy 20% of the contract fee on any Caribbean player playing in an overseas T20 tournament would “promote restraint of trade.”
“WIPA is totally against any new market restrictions or regulations that may limit our West Indian players. The present NOC levy of the WICB promotes the restraint of trade and is open to be challenged legally.”
The WICB said that West Indies was losing talented players to overseas leagues after having invested in and developed them for a long time.
“WIPA believes an imposition of a NOC levy by the WICB is not the answer to the lack of coherent global scheduling. A centrally regulated and coordinated international cricket programme for all three formats is necessary for the improvement of global cricket.”

The WICB, Muirhead said, had been waiting for response from other Full Member boards on the policy of levying a 20% contract fee for any West Indian player who wanted to play in an overseas league. Pollard had signed a two-year contract with Cape Cobras and was scheduled to leave for South Africa on Tuesday.”That is what we said in our letter to Mr Pollard,” Muirhead told ESPNcricinfo. “We apologise for the delay because we usually do it quite quickly, but we were awaiting some response from the cricket boards.”Although Muirhead did not mention this, Pollard said on his Twitter account that he was also granted permission to play in Australia’s Big Bash League. “NOC granted for both [SA domestic T20] and big bash!” Pollard tweeted late on Tuesday.In the first letter to Pollard, Muirhead said he could not be granted the NOC until the overseas boards responded. “This morning we got some responses and we have agreed to continue to discussions,” he said. “They are not in total agreement. But in principle they understand that everything is on the table and we now have their attention. We thought prudent hence to grant all NOCs that were pending.”Earlier on Tuesday, speaking to , a West Indies-based network, Muirhead said WICB never intended to deny Pollard an LOC. “It is a dynamic situation. It was very clear in the letter that Kieron got (on November 3). It was not denying him any NOC. It was explaining to him why it was taking a little longer. Normally we would respond and he would have got the NOC within seven days.”Muirhead also told the network that that a reason West Indies cricketers in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League were given NOCs was because the Bangladesh Cricket Board had responded “rather quickly” on the release fee concept. It is understood that BCB told WICB they would pay 10% of the player’s contracted fee in the BPL. It is not clear whether the BCB would make the payment or they would pass the burden on to the player’s franchise.

ScorecardPeter Handscomb scored his ninth first-class hundred•Getty Images

Peter Handscomb looms as a possible inclusion in Australia’s squad for the third Test in Adelaide after scoring a timely century for Victoria on the first day of their Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales at the SCG. Handscomb finished the day unbeaten on 110, while opener Travis Dean batted through the whole day and went to stumps on 134, as the Bushrangers ended on 2 for 292.Dean’s patient innings – he occupied the crease for 274 deliveries – will also have caught the attention of selectors looking to overhaul Australia’s batting order following their crushing losses to South Africa in Perth and Hobart. However, Handscomb appears a more probable candidate for immediate inclusion, with Adam Voges unlikely to retain his place for the Adelaide Test.Australia captain Steven Smith and vice-captain David Warner were both in the field as Handscomb compiled his unbeaten 193-ball innings, the ninth century of his first-class career. At 25, Handscomb now has 60 first-class matches to his name, and was Man of the Match in last year’s Sheffield Shield final.His past 11 first-class innings read: 112, 61*, 4, 14, 137, 87, 24, 78, 10, 60, 110*. In that time, which stretches back to March, Handscomb has averaged 77.44. One of the other contenders for a middle-order Test position is New South Wales batsman Kurtis Patterson, who will have his opportunity later in this game.Handscomb used his feet to the spin of Steve O’Keefe and Nathan Lyon, and struck 12 fours and one six during his unbeaten 225-run partnership with Dean. They had come together at 2 for 67 after Trent Copeland had opener Marcus Harris caught behind by Peter Nevill for 28 and Marcus Stoinis edged O’Keefe to slip for 11. Lyon, who is considered under some pressure to hold his Test place, took 0 for 88 from 27 overs.Dean’s hundred was his fourth in first-class cricket – two of those came on debut last summer, and the other was in Victoria’s Sheffield Shield final win in March. Although there are other candidates should the selectors decide to axe Joe Burns from the Test opening position – Cameron Bancroft and Matt Renshaw particularly – Dean’s effort at the SCG was a timely reminder of his talents.