Starting a series with a total of 49 leaves a low base for improvement, but Pakistan’s second innings showed them in a far better light as they ensured the Test would enter a fourth day

The Report by Andrew McGlashan03-Feb-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAzhar Ali was lbw to Jacques Kallis and used up one of Pakistan’s reviews•Getty Images

Starting a series with a total of 49 leaves a low base for improvement, but Pakistan’s second innings showed them in a far better light as they ensured the Test would enter a fourth day. At 82 for 4, chasing a huge 480, a swift conclusion was still on the cards before Misbah-ul-Haq and Asad Shafiq combined in an unbroken century stand including a wicketless final sessionThere will be no concern over the scoreline from Graeme Smith, but maybe just the odd glimpse towards weather forecasts. They are unpredictable, especially for Johannesburg, although do suggest a greater threat of rain over the last two days. Having not enforced the follow-on with Pakistan on the ropes yesterday he will not want any hiccups.South Africa could have been closer to victory, and perhaps savouring a celebratory drink already, if it had not been for two spurned chances in the final session. Firstly Shafiq, on 40, edged Vernon Philander to first slip only for replays to show a clear no-ball. In the next over Misbah cut Jacques Kallis to backward point but Robin Peterson dropped a relatively straightforward chance. Smith started chewing on his gum just that little bit harder.The chances should not remove the fact that Misbah and Shafiq provided an important lesson for the remainder of this series. Pakistan will, weather permitting, still lose here but it was vital that the aura around South Africa’s attack was at least pierced a fraction. The surface had lost some of its spite, and the ball grew softer, but the principles they showed of sound judgement and solid concentration will serve batsmen well in any conditions.It was a proper rearguard from the pair as they dug in either side of tea. The hard work brought rewards, particularly against the slightly erratic Morne Morkel, although both batsmen nearly lost concentration against Robin Peterson when their eyes lit up at something slower.Shafiq is an impressive young batsman, already with an average over forty, had enjoyed a solid 2012 with runs against England and Sri Lanka. He does not mind soaking up the dot balls, but also has a range of shots to take advantage of loose deliveries. His ninth boundary, a square cut, took him to his half-century from 117 balls.He was partnered by a player who adores the chance to drop anchor. Misbah was tested by Dale Steyn in a spell after tea but he left the ball well and drove strongly through the off side. He was less convincing on the pull and, ten minutes before the close, nearly top-edged to deep square-leg. It would have been a horrid waste of his diligence.There was another encouraging performance in the shape of Nasir Jamshed who dominated the early scoring after losing Mohammad Hafeez, caught down the leg side, in the fourth over. He was strong on the drive and through the leg side but had some uncomfortable moments against Morkel before, sensing another boundary for a maiden fifty, pulled Steyn to mid-on.Kallis’ productive match with the ball continued when he trapped Azhar Ali lbw, the batsman wasting a review which bordered on the selfish. The ball was full, nipped back, and struck him in front of middle.Younis Khan could only contribute 15 – and he already survived a mighty close review for lbw on 11 – when he tried to leave Morkel and provided a very thin edge to the keeper. Younis walked and Hot Spot showed a small white mark, but this time the focus was on Morkel’s front foot which was close to a no-ball.South Africa’s innings had lasted for a further nine overs during the morning as Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers added 68 more. De Villiers was at his expansive best, taking balls from outside off through the leg side and also reverse sweeping Saeed Ajmal. The concerns about his workload have certainly been helped by the ability of South Africa’s quicks to skittle a team at least once in a Test.His 11th boundary, slotted through the covers, took him to his hundred from 117 balls. The applause had just died down when Smith stood in the dressing room and waved his batsmen in to begin searching for a quick finish. It did not quite work out that way.

Sri Lanka want to wrap up Bangladesh early so they can avoid batting on an already deteriorating pitch in Colombo

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo18-Mar-2013Kumar Sangakkara has said Sri Lanka have tough work ahead of them on day four if they are to avoid an embarrassing score line on a Premadasa pitch that is becoming difficult to bat on. Bangladesh finished the third day 52 runs ahead with six wickets in hand, as the surface grew handier for the slow bowlers with each session.Sri Lanka had two opportunities to have the visitors at least five down at stumps, but shelled two catches late in the day to help keep Bangladesh in the match. Nuwan Kulasekara grassed a chance at mid-on when he parried an aerial stroke from Mominul Haque, before Angelo Mathews dropped a low catch off Mushfiqur Rahim at slip soon after. Both chances came off the bowling of Rangana Herath, who took three of the four wickets in the innings.”It would have been brilliant to have them five down,” Sangakkara said. “We had the opportunities, though a close decision also didn’t go our way towards the end. We’ve got ourselves to blame. One was quite an easy chance, and one not so easy. It’s important, because we want to go into a fourth or fifth day in the last innings with as little to chase as possible. Rangana Herath did a great job again, and the fast bowlers held their own – especially with the slightly older ball. I think they bowled quite good, but a lot of work [still needs] to be done, and chances to be held, if we want to really get on top tomorrow.”The pitch is not too bad for batting at the moment, but there’s a bit of inconsistent bounce and the wicket’s a bit two-paced, with the outfield quite sluggish. All of that makes run-scoring a bit difficult. Maybe the bowlers will fancy themselves a chance of tying a batsman down, and then building pressure to try and get him out.”Sangakkara said Sri Lanka’s spinners would be the key to knocking over the final six wickets cheaply, and singled out Herath as the man most likely to inflict damage. Bangladesh have one more recognised batsman in Nasir Hossain, who is yet to take guard, but Sohag Gazi at no. 8 and Abul Hasan at no. 9 are also capable of playing significant innings.”If there’s more turn tomorrow, I think both Dilshan and Rangana will be important for us,” he said. “You saw that even in the first innings when the wicket was supposed to be seaming around, it really wasn’t. It was Rangana that got us those five important wickets, so he’s always going to be an important bowler.”Sangakkara also gave credit to Sri Lanka’s fast bowlers, although they have taken only five wickets in the match among the three of them. On day three, the pace attack was largely disciplined, with only Shaminda Eranga threatening to take a wicket.”The fast bowlers I thought bowled well in partnerships, and as they keep playing – they’re quite an inexperienced attack – they’ll get a lot better. It’s about bowling in partnerships on this track. It’s not a wicket that you can come in and blast the opposition out. You have to bowl tight lines, set tight fields, and stop the batsman scoring.”Sangakkara was dismissed, somewhat controversially, in the morning, having made his third consecutive hundred in the series. The third-umpire referral took almost six minutes, as officials attempted to determine whether Sangakkara had edged a ball from Abul Hasan, before eventually giving him out. Sangakkara was philosophical about his demise, but said he was satisfied with his 139.”It was a strange five minutes, from the delivery to the referral, to [then] being given out. But that’s the way cricket goes. Some go your way, some don’t.”Every hundred I score is equally special. I really don’t judge if this was better or that was better. Whatever the situation the team is in, you [have to] go out there to score some runs. That’s the way to get the team out of a bad situation. My thinking pattern was just to go out there and bat. It was not a wicket or an outfield when you can go out there and play your strokes. All I thought was that I’m just going to wait and make sure the bowlers get tired, and that I’m still hanging around when they do.”

Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford has been surprised at how flat the Galle track has been, but still expects spin to play a major part in the last two days

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Galle10-Mar-2013Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford believes his side is still capable of securing victory in Galle, despite a day of toil for his bowlers on a placid track. Bangladesh made 303 runs on the third day, for the fall of two wickets, with Mohammad Ashraful and Mushfiqur Rahim remaining unbeaten at stumps with 189 and 152 respectively. The visitors trail by 132.”We’re certainly not in the position tonight, where we thought we had to be in,” Ford said. “When we came to the ground this morning, we were hoping for a better day. All credit to Bangladesh and those two batsmen (Ashraful and Mushfiqur). They batted superbly and played Bangladesh into [a] pretty strong position. It’s up to us to break this partnership early in the morning, and if we can get a couple of wickets, the game can change quite quickly.”The Galle pitch has traditionally taken considerable turn from the third day on, but apart from the occasional delivery from Rangana Herath that spat off the surface, the spinners have largely found it as unhelpful as the fast bowlers did.Though the spinners have not been as threatening as usual, Ford expected Herath to become more difficult to play on the final two days. Herath has prospered in Galle in recent years, picking up two ten wicket-hauls at the venue in three matches last year. He had taken 46 wickets at an average of 20.30 at the venue, before this Test.”Herath could factor into the game more, and history here at Galle has shown that with a harder newer ball, he is a lot more effective, and [has] taken a lot of wickets in the last three Tests. Looking at the way they played Herath, he turned the ball today, but the turn was slow and it didn’t help him.”One or two balls went past the outside edge from the spinners, but we didn’t really create a great deal of chances, partly because they batted well, and partly because the surface was very true.”Only eight wickets have fallen in the Test in 271 overs, with five batsmen making hundreds. Ford said this pitch was unlike any other he had seen at the venue. Galle Tests are generally not drawn – 16 of the 21 Tests played here ended in results.”In the Test matches that I have been involved with as coach of Sri Lanka, there’s always been something in it for the spinners. Even with the new ball, the seamers have got a little bit out of it. We expected some bounce in the wicket, which we didn’t really get. The extra dead grass has held the surface together and kept the bounce pretty true.”I came here once as the coach of the South Africa team, and it seemed very flat for the Sri Lankan batsmen, but not so flat for the South African batsmen. Muttiah Muralitharan played a big part in making it difficult for our batsmen on that occasion.”Ford also called for more application from his attack, which was wayward at times, especially towards the end of the day. “We have to take it one session at a time, and we can’t get ahead of ourselves and start dreaming about fancy positions which we can get ourselves into. We got to bowl with a lot of discipline, frustrate and create pressure. If we get those processes in place, things will work out for us.”

The KCCA has banned three players for one year each for showing indiscipline during the recently concluded Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Apr-2013The Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) has banned Fawad Alam, Sohail Khan and Khalid Latif for showing indiscipline during the recently concluded Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 competition that was completed on March 31. All three bans are for 12 months, with Sohail’s covering all domestic games for Karachi, while the two others will not be allowed to play T20s.During television coverage of the event, the players were shown criticising their coach Tauseef Ahmed, a former Pakistan player. The three players have represented Pakistan on the international stage, with Sohail Khan having played two Tests, five one-day internationals and three Twenty20 internationals. Fawad Alam has played three Tests, 27 ODIs, and 24 T20Is. Khalid Latif has played five one-dayers and seven T20Is.

Allrounder Irfan Pathan, who was picked in India’s squad on Saturday for the Champions Trophy, has said he is keen on taking on more “responsibility” in the team

ESPNcricinfo staff05-May-2013Allrounder Irfan Pathan, who was picked in India’s squad on Saturday for the Champions Trophy, has said he is keen on taking on more “responsibility” in the team. Irfan last played for India at the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, before picking up a hamstring injury in the Ranji Trophy that kept him out of the home season. Irfan pointed out that he was in good touch in the last ODI series he played before the injury break, and so was confident of being named in the squad.”A lot of people were talking about my ‘comeback’, but most people forget that my last ODI before I left due to an injury was a Man-of-the-Match performance. I had taken a five-for in India’s victory against Sri Lanka in 2012,” Irfan told the IPL site. “People have a very short memory about performances, but I was always confident that I would get into the ODI squad for India.”Now I want to take up more and more responsibility. I want to bowl in a lot of tough situations and I want to make sure that I am the go-to bowler for the captain.”India had won that one-day series in Sri Lanka in July-August 4-1, and Irfan had by far the best record among the bowlers, with eight wickets at 26.37. Apart from part-timer Manoj Tiwary, none of the other India bowler managed an average below 39.While he is looking forward to the helpful conditions in England, Irfan said he will not get carried away but focus on accuracy. “Any bowler would love to go and bowl in England were the wickets are friendly for the fast bowlers. But it is easier said than done. One has to make sure you ‘bowl’, rather than just releasing the ball from your hand.”Bowling in the right areas is very important. If you bowl consistently in the right areas, more often than not wickets will come your way. No matter how good the bowler is, how quick the bowler is or how lethal he is with swing, bowling in the right areas is of prime concern. That will be my focus in the games to come.”Irfan is one of five pace bowlers in the squad, alongside Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Vinay Kumar. That would mean a lot of competition among the seamers to make the XI, but he is not concerned about that at the moment Irfan said: “Frankly, I am not worried about it. I know it will depend on the team combinations at the end of the day. My mission is to do well in the tournament. I will start working towards it from the moment we land there in England. I want to make the most of whatever preparations we get there and be completely ready before ball one.”I have worked really hard on my fitness and my game. I have tremendous self-belief that I am only going to get better from here. I feel the next few years are going to be my years in cricket.”

South Africa’s one-day success has often been built on the back of allrounders and Ryan McLaren is the latest to show the strength of his spine

Firdose Moonda04-Jun-2013South Africa’s one-day success has often been built on the back of allrounders and Ryan McLaren is the latest to show the strength of his spine. He top scored with 55, his highest 50-over score for South Africa albeit unrecorded because the match was unofficial, in the warm-up fixture against Pakistan at The Oval on Monday and as the new first-choice allrounder has been careful to ward off comparisons with the country’s best two-in-one player.”As far as Jacques Kallis is concerned, I don’t think I should be associated in the same sentence with him right now,” McLaren said. “He is one of the best cricketers, if not the best cricketer South Africa has ever produced, and one of the best the world has produced. To replace a guy like that is difficult.”Specifically speaking, McLaren has not actually taken Kallis’ place in the starting XI. He bats lower down the order than Kallis, has a different role with the ball which includes death bowling and may well have been in the squad even if Kallis did not opt out for personal reasons. But his absence means McLaren will have to do a similar job by making an impact in more than one way and he is ready to take on that responsibility.”That’s the advantage you have as an allrounder: you can always contribute in two ways to the team,” he said. “If one discipline fails then you’ve got an opportunity to contribute in the next discipline. When you do have the odd day that both disciplines go well, then you take that.”Much like Robin Peterson, McLaren has shown progress since he was given a sustained run in the ODI team. He has been a regular member of the side since their series against England in August last year and featured in the eight home matches against New Zealand and Pakistan. Since January, he has notched up his highest score with the bat (33) and his best bowling figures (4/46).Those numbers are hardly Kallis-esque but they indicate potential and improvement. Combined with McLaren’s maturity – despite playing only 22 ODIs, he is 30-years-old, has played high-level cricket for a decade with experience on the county circuit, which could be a good sign for what McLaren can deliver at this tournament.McLaren was a Kolpak player for Kent for two years between 2007 and 2009, before he returned to South Africa and also played for Middelsex, so he knows his way around the English circuit. “Playing in England means I have an idea of what to expect in different conditions,” he said. “I will try and bank on a bit of experience I have got from playing county cricket here in the past and take that going forward.”That know-how could be most beneficial in pressure situations, which have been South Africa’s undoing in previous tournaments. At the most recent one, the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka last year, bowling towards the end of an innings was considered one of the major problems (the middle order, as ever, was the other).South Africa could not defend either of the totals they set in the second round against Pakistan and Australia and gave away 43 runs in the last five overs against India.Since Rusty Theron’s injury, they have lacked a container at the end and have now tasked McLaren with stepping into that role. He has been working with Allan Donald on perfecting the yorker and has worked on a strategy for limiting runs at the tail end of an innings.”With the new format of having four players out makes it tough as a death bowler,” McLaren said. “You want to try and adopt as much of an attacking mindset as possible. If you are just going to try and defend especially on the slower wickets here, you are going to be found out as a death bowler. There’s no point being predictable, we’ve seen in the IPL how guys hit the ball at the end of an innings.”That too, is McLaren’s job. South Africa’s lack of a lower-order finisher is another cause for concern in big events and if he can get that right, McLaren will set himself apart from some of the other allrounders that have come through.As for Kallis, the only thing McLaren wants to take from him is inspiration because he knows taking his place is not an option. “As far as Jacques is concerned, I would maybe focus on taking a lot of advice and asking a lot of questions about the game to find out what may work in these conditions and in the different disciplines of being an allrounder.”

Surrey remained top of the Friends Life t20 South Division with a 15-run win against London rivals Middlesex at The Oval

05-Jul-2013
ScorecardJason Roy top-scored with 52 as Surrey made it four wins from four•Getty Images

Surrey remained top of the Friends Life t20 South Division with a 15-run win against London rivals Middlesex at The Oval. Left-arm spinner Ravi Patel took 4 for 18, in just his second game in the competition, but it was not enough as his batsmen failed to chase down 147 for 9.Surrey, who have not tasted success in the Championship this season, have now won four Twenty20 games in a row since losing to Hampshire, the title-holders, in their opening match. They did not look like winning this one when Patel, holding his nerve admirably in front of a capacity crowd of 22,000, had twice taken two wickets in two balls to tear the heart out of Surrey’s batting.Patel stopped Surrey in their tracks after Jason Roy had shrugged off the early loss of Steve Davies, caught at mid-on off Ollie Rayner, to dominate a second-wicket stand of 61 in seven overs with Ricky Ponting. Ponting contributed only 10 of them off 12 balls before he holed out at deep extra cover off Patel but Roy had thrashed 52 off 33 balls when he fell leg before next ball.Roy had thrilled the crowd by hitting three sixes, one of them a savage square cut to the longest boundary off Toby Roland-Jones, and five fours but none of the other Surrey batsmen could match his strokeplay on the slow, turning pitch.Adam Voges had Vikram Solanki well caught on the cover boundary before Patel struck again in quick succession. He had Zafar Ansari superbly caught by Dawid Malan, running to his left on the long on boundary and then claimed Azhar Mahmood leg before. Voges picked up his second wicket when he had Glenn Maxwell caught at long-on to reduce Surrey to 104 for 7 but Zander de Bruyn kept the hosts in the game with an unbeaten 27 off 24 balls.It proved to be far too many for Middlesex once they had lost three wickets for nine runs in three overs to slump to 37 for 3. Malan was caught behind driving extravagantly at Jade Dernbach, Joe Denly fell leg before to Mahmood and Voges popped up a simple return catch to Batty.Adam Rossington made 24 and Neil Dexter 40 to give them some respectability but they were never in striking distance of their target.

The PCB has endorsed the life ban on Danish Kaneria after the former Pakistan legspinner lost his appeal on July 2 against the original punishment imposed by the ECB

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jul-2013The PCB has endorsed the life ban on Danish Kaneria after the former Pakistan legspinner lost his appeal on July 2 against the original punishment imposed by the ECB. Because of an agreement between boards affiliated to the ICC, the ECB ban on Kaneria was applicable throughout world cricket and after the endorsement from his home board, effectively means the end of his career.”PCB has been made aware of the decision of Appeal Panel of the Cricket Discipline Commission of England and Wales Cricket Board which upheld the life ban imposed on Mr Danish Kaneria,” the board said in a statement. “Mr Kaneria was duly represented in the proceedings through a legal counsel of his choice and no question with regard to jurisdiction, composition, procedure or fairness of the Appeal Panel was raised by Mr Kaneria’s counsel.”Under ICC Anti-Corruption Code and PCB’s Anti-Corruption Code (Article-9) PCB is bound to recognize, respect and enforce the ban in Pakistan, meaning this ban is also being enforced by PCB in Pakistan. Therefore, Mr Danish Kaneria is suspended for life from any involvement in the playing, organization or administration of cricket in any form or manner under the jurisdiction of PCB. PCB hopes Mr. Kaneria will reflect on his past conduct and will now initiate efforts towards redemption and rehabilitation.”Kaneria was banned by the ECB in June 2012 after being found guilty of corruption in the spot-fixing case involving Mervyn Westfield, where he had been “cajoling and pressurising” his Essex team-mate into accepting money to concede a set number of runs in an over during a Pro40 match in 2009. He had been hoping to get the sanction reduced, having earlier lost another appeal against the convictions in April this year.Kaneria, 32, was Pakistan’s most successful Test spinner and the fourth-highest wicket-taker for his country with 261 in 61 Tests at an average of 34.79, putting him behind only Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Imran Khan. He picked up 1024 wickets in 206 first-class games at 26.16, including 307 for Essex. His regular Pakistan domestic team Habib Bank Limited, for which he took 231 wickets, had already parted ways with him last year.

Leicestershire could still get out of this match with a draw, something that seemed inconceivable at approximately 12.45pm on Sunday

Graham Hardcastle at Grace Road04-Aug-2013
ScorecardTom Smith took three wickets in the Leicestershire first innings as the hosts followed on•PA Photos

Leicestershire could still get out of this match with a draw, something that seemed inconceivable at approximately 12.45pm on Sunday. Some kamikaze batting at the start of their second innings, having been asked to follow-on, had seen them slip to 41 for 3 with a deficit of 185, only seven wickets left and a little over five sessions remaining. Then the heavens opened on the cusp of lunch.Only 27 overs were possible after 5pm, in which time they lost a couple more wickets, and the popular opinion is that more rain will follow to ruin the fourth day, with Lancashire still needing five wickets and potentially a few runs as well in their second innings. Leicestershire currently trail by 98.A draw would not damage the Division Two leaders’ chances of promotion, but a fourth win from five will surely see them with one foot back in Division One even at this stage, with five matches still to play.Leicestershire were at least boosted by a late fifth-wicket partnership of 55 between unbeaten Niall O’Brien, who reached 35, and Matt Boyce. But should the weather not come to their aid, they will need much more of the same on day four.”We were obviously trying to knock them over, but we expected them to show some fight,” a philosophical Simon Katich said. “They hung in there well when they got back on, and we’ve still got five wickets to get tomorrow. Hopefully the weather, which doesn’t look good at this stage, doesn’t cause us problems. But who knows?”There’s nothing we can do about it. Sometimes it goes in your favour when you’re hanging on, and sometimes it doesn’t. I guess if it’s across the country, then we won’t get on. The only danger is if others get on and we don’t.”We got out of jail at Colwyn Bay earlier in the season, but we were robbed by the weather in terms of setting up the first two games against Worcester and Kent. That happens, and other teams will have had it as well.”Leicestershire lost six wickets in just over an hour and a half’s play this morning, with Michael Thornely and Ned Eckersley the most culpable of poor play in the second innings, which they started 226 behind.After Kyle Hogg had Greg Smith lbw with the first ball of the innings thanks to a memorable outswinging yorker, a ball that would have troubled batsmen of higher standing than Smith, Thornely and Eckersley threw their wickets away.Thornely drove Hogg chest high to Katich at mid-off before Eckersley was sent back by Shiv Thakor going for three to deep midwicket. Thakor also gave it away after the resumption when he clipped Glen Chapple to square leg before Boyce was caught behind off Andrea Agathangelou’s offspin just before close.Lancashire are the only unbeaten side in either division of the Championship this season. While their top order has rarely fired, the likes of middle-order duo Katich and Ashwell Prince and their bowlers have set the county out as a cut above their rivals in Division Two.So it was no surprise to see them wrap up Leicestershire’s first innings within the first half an hour of play. Tom Smith took two of the three wickets to fall from 127 for 7 to finish with impressive figures of 3 for 35 from 17 overs in only his second appearance of the season.

ESPNcricinfo previews the second ODI between England and Australia

The Preview by David Hopps07-Sep-2013

Match Facts

September 8, Old Trafford
Start time 10.15am (0915 GMT)Australia captain Michael Clarke is still looking for his first win over England on tour•Getty Images

The Big Picture

Now the traditional Headingley washout has been concluded, it is time to move on to the cricket. Four remaining matches in the NatWest series still give two fresh and experimental squads time to show their true flavour. The sense of anticipation remains, although too many of the showers forecast for Manchester on Sunday might put a bit of a damper on proceedings.England have expectations that Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara can make the sort of impact batting at Nos. 5 and 6 that will carry them through to the 2015 World Cup. Confidence abounds following their hundreds against Ireland in Malahide and a partnership of 226, which was an ODI record for the fifth wicket. S Rajesh, in Numbers Game, has reflected upon England’s commitment since another failed World Cup campaign in 2011 to lifting the strike rate at this stage of the innings.Australia’s tour of England has so far included a 3-0 Ashes series loss, a Champions Trophy campaign in which they failed to win a match and only two international victories: a Twenty20 game against England and an ODI win over minnows Scotland.Fifty miles east of Manchester, Yorkshire will be rueing their ill luck. A third washout in five one-day internationals was not the sort of news that Yorkshire need when they are still wrestling with debts not far short of £20m. Profits of half a million from a capacity crowd of 17,250 have been washed away, leaving Yorkshire with no chance to recover the losses made on an under-budget Test against New Zealand in May. One money-saving scheme has been abandoned as Yorkshire have concluded that the floodlights at the defunct Don Valley athletics stadium are unsuitable.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
England WLWWL
Australia WLLWW

Watch out for…

Fawad Ahmed has attracted attention in the pre-match build-up because of criticism of Cricket Australia’s willingness to allow him to follow his religious beliefs and not wear a brewers’ logo on his shirt. The discord that has sounded from the wings cannot have eased his integration and he will be eager to do what he does best and remind everybody of his legspin prowess. For England, Ravi Bopara has had a decent summer. He played with a new maturity in the Champions Trophy and that century in Ireland furthered hopes that, at 28, he can yet have a consistently rewarding England career.

Team news

Ben Stokes has the capacity to make the grade as a fully fledged allrounder. He batted as low as No. 8 in Ireland but England have resisted the temptation to award a first cap to Chris Jordan, whose bowling suit is a little stronger. Australia are expected to retain the side that gave Scotland a 200-run thumping.England (possible) 1 Michael Carberry, 2 Kevin Pietersen, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Joe Root, 5 Eoin Morgan (capt), 6 Ravi Bopara, 7 Jos Buttler (wk), 8 Ben Stokes, 9 James Tredwell, 10 Boyd Rankin, 11 Steven FinnAustralia (possible) 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Shaun Marsh, 3 Shane Watson, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 George Bailey, 6 Adam Voges, 7 Matthew Wade, 8 James Faulkner, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Clint McKay, 11 Fawad Ahmed

Pitch and conditions

After one of the warmest summers in northern England for many years, the weather has turned a little grouchy, which considering the 10.15am start could make bowling first a big temptation. The Old Trafford pitch was one of the better ones in the Ashes series, although the pace and bounce that was often apparent a few years ago is no longer as common.

Stats and trivia

• England’s last one-day defeat at Old Trafford came in 2006 against Sri Lanka. Since then they have won four in a row, including twice against Australia.
• Australia have won five and lost five of their ten ODIs at the ground.
• George Bailey needs 112 runs to reach 1000 in one-day internationals; Mitchell Johnson is five wickets short of 200.
• Ravi Bopara’s hundred against Ireland took him past Neil Fairbrother, Mike Gatting and Ian Botham on England’s run-scorers list.

Quotes

“My plan is to be annoying, just tick along at that door and hope one day someone comes along and opens it – and I get my chance.”
“He talked up his table tennis, and he’s let himself down a little bit there. That’s probably been a bigger issue for him.”