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Eden Gardens sees change of pitch but not dateThe Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), which is working in conjunction with the Kolkata Knight Riders, has announced that the next game at the Eden Gardens will be played on a new surface. A CAB spokesperson also confirmed that the game, against Mumbai Indians, would go ahead on schedule after concerns were raised about the previous pitch, on which a low-scoring thriller was played out. The original surface came in for a lot of criticism, with VVS Laxman, the Deccan Chargers’ captain, calling it “shocking.”Bar on cheerleaders for Mumbai’s home games?The Mumbai Indians’ next home game on April 27 may not feature the much talked about cheerleaders. Though there is no official word as yet, a minister in the Maharashtra government spoke out against them. “We live in India where womanhood is worshipped. How can anything obscene like this can be allowed?,” asked Siddharam Mhetre, the minister of state for home affairs.

Hamilton Masakadza has been appointed Zimbabwe’s captain in all three formats following Elton Chigumbura’s resignation. Legspinner Graeme Cremer has been named vice-captain.”It is very exciting, because it is a big honour to lead your country,” Masakadza told the . “It is an exciting challenge I am looking forward to. I was not exactly expecting this. I didn’t think I was going to be one of the front runners. I have been waiting for my turn for such a long time, I never thought it was going to come, I thought it had evaded me.”A long-term vice-captain, Masakadza has also filled in as captain in 12 internationals when injury or absence ruled out the regular skipper. He also has extensive captaincy experience at domestic level, having led Easterns under the old domestic system and Mountaineers when Zimbabwe adopted the franchise system.Cremer is new to vice-captaincy at national level, but was a senior member of the Mid West Rhinos for several years before his hiatus from the game, and has skippered the Zimbabwe Board XI and provincial sides on occasion. Both men are also in sparkling form in the game’s shortest format, with Masakadza currently ranked eighth in the T20 batting rankings, while Cremer is ranked fifth as a bowler.”Both Masakadza and Cremer are senior players who have shown their leadership abilities working with previous captains,” ZC managing director Wilfred Mukondiwa said. “We have no doubt they will be successful in their substantive posts, which come at a time when both are in the top 10 of the ICC T20I Player Rankings for batsmen and bowlers respectively.”Masakadza’s ascent to the captaincy is all the more remarkable because he was dropped from the national squad in October after a middling year with the bat. He was recalled for Zimbabwe’s trip to Sharjah, scoring his fourth ODI hundred during the tour. His returns from Zimbabwe’s four-match T20 series were even more impressive, with Masakadza scoring 222 runs to take the record for most T20 runs in a bilateral series and became the first Zimbabwean to reach 3,000 runs in T20 cricket.”I never for a moment thought my career was over, I still have a lot in me,” Masakadza said. “I still have a few years. At the moment I want to play through to the next 50 over World Cup.”Once thought too slow even for ODI cricket early in his career, Masakadza has evolved into a stroke-playing batsman across all formats. “Naturally I play a slow game, I start my innings slowly and when T20 cricket came I thought that was the end of my cricket. I have been working hard on my game and processes. I have always worked on my game and fitness. When I was dropped I did not feel out of touch. I didn’t think I was struggling with my game that time, but still I went and worked hard, something I have always done in my career.”The Zimbabwe administration is working on securing short format fixtures for the national side ahead of the World T20 in March, which will be Masakadza’s first major challenge as captain. Zimbabwe will play Hong Kong, Scotland and Afghanistan in a qualifying round ahead of the tournament proper, and Masakadza’s form is likely to be vital for his team.”Our chances are high,” Masakadza said. “On paper we are better than those teams. I hope to maintain my form and win games for the team.”

The Eagles have refused to allow Johan van der Wath, the allrounder, to play in the Standard Bank Pro20 semi-final against the Dolphins at Kingsmead due to his links to the Indian Cricket League (ICL).van der Wath played for the Mumbai Champs and the ICL World XI in the recently-concluded second season of the ICL. Though Cricket South Africa (CSA) has refused to recognise the ICL, Norman Arendse, the CSA president, had earlier said it was up to the franchises, rather than the board, to decide whether their ICL players could play for them. It is understood that the Eagles wanted to pay him on a match-by-match basis instead of handing a contract, to avoid legal problems.Boetta Dippenaar, the Eagles captain, said he was disappointed at the decision to leave out van der Wath. “We applied for permission at the beginning of this week and didn’t hear anything,” Dippenaar told . “We enquired again on Thursday and were told that permission had been denied. It’s very disappointing.”Cassim Docrat, the president of the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union, the home base of the Dolphins franchise, said they would have protested to the South African board if van der Wath had been allowed to play as two of their players, Dale Benkenstein and Lance Klusener, have been left out after having played in the ICL.”Our information is that no ICL players are allowed to play domestic cricket,” Docrat said. “We have two rebel players, Dale Benkenstein and Lance Klusener, who would have made a big difference to our team, so it would have been unfair if the Eagles had been allowed to play van der Wath.”The Dolphins have made one change to the line-up, dropping the opening batsman Doug Watson for Hashim Amla.

Rewind to December 2006 at the Adelaide Oval and you have a scenario eerily similar to this one: England rattle up 550-plus, Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke smash hundreds to help Australia match it, England end the fourth day on 59 for 1, and few are looking beyond a draw.While England were 97 ahead then, India lead by 8. A draw still remains the most likely possibility but Australia, it seems, are the only team capable of winning from here. With the series almost sealed, they’re unlikely to hold back punches. Michael Clarke has said his side will want to “win it for Gilly” and 3-1 has a more resounding ring to it than 2-1. The Sydney Test showed India’s second-innings vulnerability and a fifth-day pitch would be expected to throw up some surprises.”It will be a perfect farewell for Gilly to go out with a win,” said Clarke hoping for an escape-act as sensational as the six-wicket win against England last season. “Fingers crossed and hope it goes the same as last year. It’s going to be hard work but we’re hoping to win the game. Once the ball gets softer it will become difficult to score. Hopefully Hogg, Symmo and myself will come into play. I certainly know Australia wants to win. And if we bowl in the right areas we could achieve that. It’s a big day tomorrow.”An Indian win would require Harry Houdini-esque intervention. A team trailing the series would be expected to go all out for victory but India might have just fallen too far behind. Unlike Graeme Smith, who was tempted into a bold declaration in the Sydney Test of 2006, Anil Kumble doesn’t have the luxury of runs behind him. After 350 overs of the Test, the score is effectively 0 for 8 with 19 wickets standing. That sounds more like a score you would hear in the bowls arena adjacent to the Oval.There’s could be a temptation to go all out for the win – with some suggestion that 3-1 is as bad as 2-1 – but getting the better of a draw will be some consolation. They got a life-line too, when Clarke fluffed a straightforward chance off Virender Sehwag at second slip, but got through a tough period till stumps to settle nerves.They did themselves no favours by asking Irfan Pathan to open, especially after he bowled 36 overs in the innings and 12 in the day. Test match situations demand flexibility and the team would have been perfectly served if Rahul Dravid had been shifted up. Brett Lee was in a hostile mood and India could have been in a serious spot if the top-order was rattled. Pathan himself admitted it was difficult to open in the second innings and the team could have afforded to float him down the order.He retained his sangfroid, though, on a day he had picked up his 100th Test wicket. It was on this very ground where the journey began and he remained optimistic about levelling the series. “Anything can happen on the last day,” he said. “We need to bat well and if we put runs on the board, you never know. Australia have to bat last and nobody can say what’s going to happen. The pitch will spin more on the final day and so many such matches have changed at the end.”

Australia’s quest for overseas success in 2016 will start at home, with the inclusion of Steve O’Keefe as a second spinner made with an eye towards the tour of Sri Lanka later in the year.Sunday will thus be the first time the hosts have plumped for twin spin in Sydney since the days of Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill in tandem, and they will be doing so with clear goals in mind. Victories away from home will require team compositions more varied than the five batsmen, one allrounder, three pacemen and one spinner formula usually favoured by the coach Darren Lehmann, making O’Keefe a key part of plans for later in the year.

Boland ensures captain remembers him

There are few better ways to impress the national captain than to splay his stumps in training, and the Victorian Scott Boland ensured he would not soon be forgotten by Steven Smith when he did exactly that on Test match eve. Smith agreed he had been well beaten by the delivery, which exemplified the way Boland has developed as a seamer of good pace to now sit on the fringes of the Test team.
“That was a pretty good ball in the nets today. I think it hit a crack and did a little bit – it was a pretty good area,” Smith said with a smile. “He’s done that pretty consistently over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been pretty impressed.
“The last couple of yeas he’s gotten a lot stronger. He’s probably got a bit more confidence in his body and he’s running in all day. He’s really impressed all the selectors in Shield cricket this season, hence why he’s got into this squad and been close to playing.
“I’ve been really impressed with the way he’s bowled the last couple of weeks. He certainly is hitting the bat hard and hopefully he can continue to do that.”

England’s strong start in South Africa and a looming return series away to New Zealand also affords Australia the possibility of climbing to No. 1 in the Test rankings should results fall their way, so adaptability and versatility is paramount. All these factors made it convenient for Peter Siddle to carry a sore ankle to Sydney and rule himself out after an exploratory bowl on match eve – the captain Steven Smith admitted he was unlikely to play in any event.”His ankle still isn’t 100%,” Smith said. “He felt it wasn’t best for him to come into this Test match the way he is at the moment. He’s a great team man and felt he would be letting the team down [if he played]. But we were probably going to go the two spinners option anyway. We think it’s going to turn so we were going to go that way anyway.”He’s going to have a rest for a couple of weeks I think and hopefully get himself right for New Zealand. But we’re happy with the side and the two spinners, we think it’s going to turn and we’re ready to go. It’s going to spin and it gives us an opportunity now to see Steven and see how he goes.”Obviously we’ve got a tour of Sri Lanka coming up where two spinners is a pretty good possibility. Nathan Lyon has done a terrific job for Australia since [O’Keefe] has been playing. He’s an experienced player now and he’s our No.1 spinner. I think everyone around the country knows that, including Stephen. He’s got an opportunity now to become the second spinner.”Smith made no secret of his desire to get Australia back to the top of the ICC rankings – his is not the only side seeing an opportunity as South Africa appear increasingly shaky in their move towards a period of transition. “Huge motivation,” Smith said. “That’s what we want to do, to be No. 1 in all three formats, we’re working extremely hard to get there.”It’d be nice to win this week and wrap the series up 3-0. It’s been a good summer for us so far, so we’d like to finish on a high and then New Zealand is going to be another big challenge for us. Playing away from home is a challenge for all teams around the world at the moment.”That’s one of the biggest ways we’re going to be judged – how we play away from home. It’s a big challenge for us in New Zealand but I’m confident if we continue playing the way we are, hopefully we can have a lot of success over there.”To that end, Smith’s rediscovery of something like his best at the MCG was a tonic for the new year. It is a testament to the difficulty of batting that even as he finished 2015 as the most prolific run maker in Test cricket, Smith was experiencing another period of doubt about his technique and rhythm, having slogged through other miniature slumps at the start of the World Cup and then in the midst of the Ashes in England.”I felt pretty good last week. it was nice to just spend a bit of time in the middle again,” he said. “All of my movements and my swing and everything were back in sync. I went back and looked a bit of footage before the Melbourne Test and noticed my bat face was a little bit closed.”I was looking at footage from last summer actually, where I was scoring a lot of runs, and I think last week I got my bat face back to where I wanted it to be and everything felt really good. Hopefully I can score a few more this week.”

Stephen Fleming could end his Test career earlier than expected with the home series against England looming as a possible farewell for the former captain. Fleming had been tipped to continue until the return tour of England, which finishes in June, however a report in the said that now seemed unlikely.The paper said Fleming’s wife was expecting their second baby in June, which might contribute to an early call. That would leave the selectors with more headaches ahead of the England trip, with their Test line-up already losing Nathan Astle, Scott Styris, Shane Bond and the fringe players Craig McMillan and Hamish Marshall in the past 13 months.John Bracewell, the coach, said it he was not bothered if Fleming chose to say goodbye in the third Test against England in Napier in late March. “My understanding was that Stephen wanted to go on and play the England series in England,” Bracewell told Monday’s . “But it doesn’t surprise me and doesn’t particularly concern me.”It’s always disappointing to lose experience, but it’s also an exciting time for selectors to pick and see the development of youngsters. The young men we’ve selected in this particular round so far have shown some great attributes for the international game. There are kids out there who want a crack.”Fleming’s departure would mark the end of a significant era in New Zealand Test cricket, as he is the country’s most capped player, highest run scorer, longest serving captain and leading catcher. He held a similar swag of records in one-day internationals when he ended his career in that format last year.

Big Picture: Can England stop the wheels falling off?

While some might say the point has already been reached at 3-0 down, there is a sense this tour could descend into chaos for England with the Ashes gone. The build-up to the Boxing Day Test has become dominated by continued fallout from their mid-series trip to Noosa, firstly with director of cricket Rob Key saying claims of too much drinking would be investigated and then, a few hours later, video emerging of Ben Duckett late at night.Captain Ben Stokes looked emotional when speaking to the media on Christmas Eve, saying that he will do everything in his power to protect his players. He insisted there was still the belief that they could take something from this tour, but stopped short of echoing Zak Crawley’s comments that 3-2 wouldn’t be such a bad scoreline.Related

• Australia prepare for life without 'shattered' Nathan Lyon

• A brave keeper, an unhappy bowler, and the genesis of an ingenious plan

• Stokes promises 'complete support' to embattled Duckett

If England can play as they did for the latter half of the Adelaide Test they may stand a chance against an Australia side that won’t be at full strength, although that was also the case in the first two Tests and still, to a lesser extent, last week given Josh Hazlewood hasn’t featured at all. Having not really answered a question about where this Australia side compares to others he’s faced when asked after Adelaide, ahead of the fourth Test, Stokes said: “I hope it doesn’t get lost, but this Australian team is very, very good.”Pat Cummins declared it “job done” after Adelaide with the Ashes retained, but while the major prize is secured, their drive is now for a whitewash and important World Test Championship points. In 2021-22 they were denied the 5-0 when England survived nine down at the SCG while in 2017-18 it was Alastair Cook’s double ton on a featherbed MCG surface that forced the stalemate. This team is looking to emulate 2006-07 and 2013-14 in sending England home with absolutely nothing.However, for Cummins himself, it is mission accomplished: he won’t feature in the remainder of the series with the decision made that there is no value in risking long-term damage to his back, after a remarkable comeback to bowl brilliantly in Adelaide after five months with no cricket.As in Brisbane, Australia will be without three of the big four but this time Nathan Lyon has been sidelined by injury rather than selection. However, they have opted against a like-for-like replacement, leaving out Todd Murphy in what will be an all-pace attack for the second time in the series. It could include Jhye Richardson for the first time in four years and there is a sense of the next generation getting closer to their moment.In terms of the Australia’s side post-Ashes, the most intriguing decision was around Usman Khawaja who scored 82 and 40 in Adelaide after a last-minute recall to replace the ill Steven Smith. That has been enough for him to keep his spot in the middle and his career could now play out on his terms. Australia will make more changes than England, but their adaptability and pragmatism has been a hallmark of this series.

Form guide

Australia WWWWW
England LLLLDJacob Bethell will return to the England side for the Boxing Day Test•Getty Images

In the spotlight: Jake Weatherald and Jacob Bethell

Largely by accident, Australia have stumbled across a new opening pair. Jake Weatherald and Travis Head have had two significant impacts together in the second innings in Perth and first in Brisbane. Weatherald played superbly at the Gabba for his tone-setting 72, but away from that the returns have been a little lean although he would have saved himself with the DRS in the second innings in Adelaide. The selectors will be desperate to stop the revolving door but Weatherald probably needs one more substantial score in this series to avoid months of speculation before Australia play Tests again in August.Is Jacob Bethell, who has yet to score a first-class century, really the next big thing in English batting? After pre-series talk that he may challenge Ollie Pope for the No. 3 spot the change has come with the Ashes gone after Pope’s increasingly underwhelming series to continue a year of diminishing returns. Bethell averages 28.27 in 26 first-class with his high score of 96 coming in a Test against New Zealand. He scored half-centuries in all three second innings of that series in 2024. His left-arm spin will provide another option for Ben Stokes alongside Will Jacks.Todd Murphy bowls in the nets•Getty Images

Team news: Australia delve into their depth, Pope dropped

For the second time this summer, and third occasion in the last five Tests, Australia will go all-pace with no place for Todd Murphy, although Steven Smith said he was a very good chance for Sydney. The final decision will come down to two out of Michael Neser, Brendan Doggett and Jhye Richardson. If the latter gets the nod it will be his first Test since the 2021-22 Ashes. For Neser, it would be his first red-ball Test. Meanwhile, Cameron Green has been demoted to No. 7 in the order amid a lean time with the bat. Khawaja will bat No.5 and the in-form Alex Carey continuing at No. 6.Australia (possible): 1 Jake Weatherald, 2 Travis Head, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Usman Khawaja, 6 Alex Carey (wk), 7 Cameron Green, 8 Michael Neser, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Brendan Doggett/Jhye Richardson, 11 Scott BolandEngland have backed Ben Duckett amid the controversy of the last 24 hours but Ollie Pope has finally paid the price for his underwhelming returns with Jacob Bethell recalled to bat at No. 3. Jofra Archer has been ruled out of the tour with a side strain so Gus Atkinson returns to the pace attack. There remains no space for specialist spinner Shoaib Bashir.England 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Jacob Bethell, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Jamie Smith (wk), 8 Will Jacks, 9 Gus Atkinson, 10 Brydon Carse, 11 Josh Tongue2:46

Is this the end of Nathan Lyon’s Australia Test career?

Pitch and conditions: Hoping for the perfect balance

Matt Page, the MCG curator, said he was hoping to replicate the surface which produced the gripping Test against India last season that finished deep on day five. On that occasion he left 7mm of grass with the surface offering something for everyone following a few years of it being very bowler-dominated but Steven Smith said there was still 10mm on as of Christmas Day and he expected plenty of assistance for the quicks. There will be a range of temperatures during the game: Boxing Day is set to be cool with things warming up to the low 30s later in the match. There is a chance of a shower on the first and last days.

Stats and trivia

• Harry Brook needs seven runs for 3000 in Tests. If he did it in his next innings, he would equal Denis Compton (57 innings) as the second-fastest for England. Ben Duckett needs 31 to reach 3000 runs.
• Only Adam Gilchrist, on four occasions, has scored more runs in a year as an Australia Test wicketkeeper than Alex Carey.
• Travis Head’s strike-rate of 90.63 is the highest for an opener in an Ashes series (minimum 100 runs)

Quotes

“Pumped to be back at the ‘G. I think, for me, getting towards the back end of my career, anytime I can play at the ‘G, and play the home Test is pretty special. So I’m really looking forward to the next week.”
“We still have a hell of a lot to play for. I’m very determined to leave Australia with something positive to look back on.”

Somerset 282 for 6 (Hildreth 98*, Gazzard 58, Phillips 4-43) beat Essex 278 (Bopara 91) by four wickets
ScorecardRavi Bopara sent the England selectors a timely reminder of his talents with a fine innings of 91 but Essex still fell to a four-wicket defeat to Somerset in the Pro-ARCH Trophy in Abu Dhabi.Bopara hit ten fours and a six during his 104-ball stay at the crease that was ended by a terrific stumping down the leg side by Craig Kieswetter off the bowling of Peter Trego. Essex were 93 for 4 at one stage before James Foster (40), Tim Phillips (41) and James Middlebrook (30) hauled them up to the respectability of 278 on a benign pitch at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.It was Somerset’s debut in the competition, having arrived in the Middle East without Marcus Trescothick on Saturday. But they hit the ground running with the bat and didn’t hesitate during the chase, even after falling to 151 for 5 with the required rate loitering around six per over.Trego (22) and Carl Gazzard (58) opened the innings superbly with an first-wicket partnership of 48 but after Phillips (4 for 43) had smashed through the middle order, Somerset’s aspirations of becoming the first team in the tournament to win a match batting second were only rescued by James Hildreth, whose unbeaten 98 not only clinched the match but will no doubt interest the England selectors as a sign of his growing maturity.Hildreth switched comfortably between nudger and blaster to steer Somerset home, enjoying the strong support of Omari Banks (27) and Steffan Jones (30*) but he was denied the century he so richly deserved when Jones thumped successive boundaries through extra cover off the bowling of Ryan ten Doeschate to seal victory with eight balls to spare.Defeat for Essex was their second in three nights, having also fallen to Lancashire, and they return to Sharjah for their final match in the PRO-Arch Trophy on Thursday, against Sussex.

Matthew Sinclair had his first bat against England’s Steve Harmison in a tour match in Dunedin last week, and said he’s not sure what to make of him going into the first Test. Harmison, who took 5 for 100 against New Zealand Select XI, was, according to Sinclair, “a little bit erratic”.”If someone is spraying it everywhere you never really get a feel for where he’s trying to put the ball – I couldn’t get a feel for what he was trying to do,” he told the . “I felt it was quite hard to get some consistency from him from a batting point of view. I hadn’t faced Harmison before so I’ll be speaking a lot with Flem [Stephen Fleming] over the next two days in terms of what he tries to do.”Sinclair hasn’t played against England at the international level but was confident based on what he saw of their attack. He faced all of the main bowlers except the injured Ryan Sidebottom. “This week has been really good as it’s given me a really good idea of how they’re trying to bowl, and also from a batting point of view what I need to get out of it – it was a good little trial period really,” he said. “It was disappointing not to go on with it after scoring 47, but Monty [Panesar] beat me on the day so fair play to him. It would have been good to post another hour out there but it’s given me a really good idea about what the bowlers are doing.”Sinclair, 32, has yet to cement his place in the side despite scoring 214 on Test debut in 1999 and 204 the following summer. In nine years at the international level he has just 29 Test appearances.Sinclair failed to register when Bangladesh toured recently, scoring 76 runs in two innings, and knows how big the three-Test series against England is. “The yo-yo ride continues,” he said. “I’ve put a lot of hard work in over the winter and I was lucky enough to play against Bangladesh and I’ve been presented with an opportunity to hopefully try and do well against the English.”If you look at the batting side of things there wasn’t a heck of a lot of good things coming out of that Bangladesh series other than Matt Bell with his 100 and Flem with his 80, there were a lot of in-betweens really. I’ve moved on from there now and I’m looking forward to spending a lot of time in the middle.”

Pakistan’s most successful domestic tournament, the ABN-AMRO Twenty20, hasbeen postponed till August following scheduling problems.The tournament has yet to find a set date or location in the domesticcalendar, despite being the biggest crowd-puller in recent years: thefirst edition was held in April-May 2005, then in February 2006 andfinally in December 2006. The finals of the tournament have regularlyattracted crowds of over 30,000 in Lahore and Karachi, the two venueswhere the tournament has been held.”The tournament this year is likely to be played in August,” said ShafqatNaghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer. “We had a number ofinternational commitments and top players wouldn’t be available for itduring then. In July the weather won’t be right, so we have planned it forAugust.”It is understood that the sponsors, ABN-AMRO, also prefer that month as itwould mean all of Pakistan’s top players are available then for what isthe showpiece tournament of their sponsorship to cricket.This also means, as Naghmi acknowledged, that plans for a Pakistan PremierLeague (PPL) will be shelved until next year. “The PPL will not happentill next year but we are keen on inviting foreign players to that aswell.” But as a source close to the sponsors has pointed out, the currentformat for the Twenty20 is not much different to the proposed PPL.”We already have a city-based system for the tournament and our originalidea three years ago, as well as that of the PCB, was to find sponsors sothat they could make the teams franchises, much as the IPL has done,” theofficial told Cricinfo. “This format can be worked into the PPL.”It is not yet clear whether any teams from Pakistan will take part in theChampions League, details of which have been informally firmed up over thelast few weeks. However various boards, including Pakistan’s, wereinvolved in those discussions, suggesting that sides from Pakistan mightparticipate. In that case, as the PPL will not start until next year, itis likely that the top two teams from the domestic Twenty20 will beinvited.