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Luke Sutton, the Derbyshire captain, has retired from first-class cricket after seeking treatment for depression and anxiety.

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Dec-2011Luke Sutton, the Derbyshire captain, has retired from first-class cricket after revealing that he has been having treatment for depression and anxiety.Sutton captained Derbyshire for three of his six years with the club and guided them from the bottom of Division Two of the County Championship in 2010 to fifth place last season.”I have been aware for some time that I have problems with certain aspects of my mental health,” said Sutton. “I have always pushed myself to the limit but I reached a point that it was having an adverse effect on my relationships with my family and colleagues, and my health in general.”Although as a professional sportsman it is extremely embarrassing to admit to a weakness, I’m proud to have found the strength of character to seek treatment, enabling me now to feel extremely positive about my future.”Sutton, 35, also has business interests and got married in 2008. He now has a young family. “A number of other important reasons have led me to decide to retire,” he said. “In addition to concerns about my own health, my two-year-old daughter has recently been diagnosed with diabetes and the growing success and, therefore, pressure of my business has forced me to take a long look at my future.”I’ve recently undergone hand surgery which has also played its part in this decision. Upon reflection, and although a difficult decision, it is the right time to move on.”Having started his career at Somerset in 1997, Sutton played for Derbyshire from 1999 to 2005, unexpectedly becoming captain in 2004. He left for Lancashire in 2006 before returning to captain Derbyshire again last season.”I’ve had a brilliant time over my 14 years in the game,” said Sutton, who scored 7,353 first-class runs. “I have made some incredible friends. I thank each and every one of them for making it a genuinely amazing experience. In particular I’d like to thank the squad and members at Derbyshire for their great support and encouragement during my time at the club.”I have thought long and hard about this decision, and I know it is for the best of the club. I genuinely don’t feel I would be able to fulfil my position at the club to the level that I know is required. I have great affection for Derbyshire and I wish the club every success for the future.”Sutton is one a number of cricketers that have sought help for depression. Former England batsman Marcus Trescothick retired from international cricket in 2006 having experienced problems when touring abroad. Michael Yardy, the Sussex captain, took a break from cricket having flown home during the World Cup in March.Derbyshire chairman Chris Grant thanked Sutton for his efforts with the club. “Luke’s retirement was unexpected but we respect his decision. With the changes that were made at the club during the 2011 season, we appreciate it was a testing year for Luke and on a personal level I would like to thank him for his loyal support.”I speak for everybody connected with the club in saying that I wish Luke all the very best in his continued recovery and in his future endeavours,” he added. “We will be announcing Luke’s successor as club captain in the next few days and preparations for the 2012 season continue as planned.”

Vernon Philander, the South African fast bowler, has been awarded a national contract in recognition of his strong start to his Test career this summer

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jan-2012Vernon Philander, the South African fast bowler, has been awarded a national contract in recognition of his strong start to his Test career this summer. In four home Tests, Philander has taken 30 wickets, with four five-wicket hauls, including a match-best of 10 for 102 against Sri Lanka at Centurion.His 5 for 15 on debut was mainly responsible for Australia being bundled out for 47 at Newlands.”Vernon has been an outstanding asset for the Proteas’ squad this summer and his successes have been well documented,” said Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola.”The awarding of a contract is well deserved and also gives the team management the tools to manage his workload correctly as the Proteas embark on a very busy international year that includes away tours to New Zealand, England and Australia as well as the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.”At the end of a meeting of CSA’s board of directors, it was decided that South Africa will play five Twenty20 internationals in Zimbabwe in June before their tour of England. The team would have played 11 Twenty20 internationals in the build-up to the ICC World Twenty20, including three each in New Zealand and England.The board accepted a recommendation from Majola to have a workshop to review the structure of the domestic professional competitions.

Australia scraped home with one ball remaining after Jess Cameron’s half-century set up their successful chase in the first Twenty20 at North Sydney Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jan-2012
ScorecardKatie Perkins made 31 on debut but it wasn’t enough for New Zealand•Getty ImagesAustralia scraped home with one ball remaining after Jess Cameron’s half-century set up their successful chase in the first Twenty20 at North Sydney Oval. New Zealand made 7 for 145 having been sent in to bat in the first match of their tour and it was a tense finish as the Australians needed six off the final over.Amy Satterthwaite was handed the task of bowling the last over, with Sarah Coyte and the debutant Jess Jonassen at the crease. It came down to two from the final two balls and Coyte managed to drive a boundary through extra cover to ensure the hard work of Cameron, who was Player of the Match for her 59, was not wasted.Cameron and Alex Blackwell (35) guided Australia’s chase until they departed from consecutive balls, leaving New Zealand with a sniff. Ultimately, the visitors were a few runs short and needed someone to have posted a half-century to lead the way like Cameron did for Australia.Frances Mackay (31) and Suzie Bates (33) put on 63 for the opening wicket but they were the best scores, along with the 31 made by the debutant Katie Perkins. The series continues with the second T20 on Saturday.

MS Dhoni has defended the rotation policy between the three senior India openers in the triangular series, which may suggest that Gautam Gambhir might be rested for the next game despite consecutive scores in the 90s from him

Sidharth Monga15-Feb-2012MS Dhoni has defended the rotation policy between the three senior India openers in the triangular series, which may suggest that Gautam Gambhir might be rested for the next game despite consecutive scores in the 90s from him. After India tied their fourth match of the tournament, against Sri Lanka, Dhoni was asked if it made a lot of sense resting a batsman who had hit form. Dhoni’s argument remained that the youngsters should keep getting more chances.”What we want is, all the players should be fit by the time we come into the finals,” Dhoni said. “All of them should be scoring runs by that time. It’s a good exposure. Rohit [Sharma] is a very talented guy. Manoj Tiwary is on the bench. He scored in the last series that he played, so we are giving ample chances to them because these are players who, for sure, will come back to Australia once we play the next World Cup. There is no surety that some of us who are playing [will return], Sachin [Tendulkar] or Viru [Virender Sehwag] or even Gautam, all of us are 30-plus, and it’s big out-fields out here. So it’s about giving the youngsters a fair exposure as to how difficult it is or how easy it is, or how different it is to play here.”How difficult is it to rest a batsman who has scored 92 and 91 in his previous two outings? “As I said, what’s important is to get everybody going,” Dhoni said. “What may also happen is the guy who is playing all the games may get injured by the finals, and you will find someone coming in his place who has not played many games and not scored runs.”It’s a long tournament. It’s four games against each opposition before the finals. The first series that I played was three games against Bangladesh, so this is equivalent to three series and then the finals. It’s a very demanding tournament, in the sense that the out-fields are very big, the batsmen put pressure on you, you can get injured at any time. If you are looking to save that one run and you are in a bad position to throw, you may get injured. We want all the guys to be fit, and at the same time for the youngsters to get exposure by the start of the finals… if we reach the finals.”Moreover, Dhoni said, India could afford to experiment a bit now that they have had a decent start to the tournament, winning two and tying one of their first four matches. “The interest of the team comes first,” he said. “This is the time when we can really look to do that [experiment], because if were in a bad shape by the end of the fourth game, it would have been fair to say we wouldn’t really be in a position to give that chance to the other players. And we would have had to be careful.”Now we are in a position where we can do that. It’s good to see Gautam scoring runs. We want to see Viru get runs and Sachin also to get runs so that the best XI comes and plays the finals.”Dhoni was full of praise for Gambhir. “It [his coming into form] is really good because once he gets going he comes out with a big score, and he looks to play more than 35 to 40 overs, it allows the other batsmen to come in and play a bit freely. Of course the difficulty is, we have been chasing so you can’t always express yourself.”It’s good to have someone like Gautam in the side. Plays the spinners really well, and he runs well between the wickets well. It gives the team a chance to come back just in case a couple of batsmen make mistakes in the middle of the innings, because you have someone who is on one side going through with his innings.”After the previous game against Australia, though, which India won in the 50th over, Gambhir had said that India should have finished it off around the 48th over. It was Dhoni who had delayed the final assault, cutting it too tight before finishing it off in typical style. At the toss of the next game, against Sri Lanka, Dhoni said that if a batsman scores about 50 he should make sure he finishes the game off. Dhoni was asked if everything was fine between him and Gambhir.”There is nothing [uneasy between us],” Dhoni said. “It’s different when you are playing in the middle. If you see his innings today, he also found it difficult to rotate the strike consistently, and once you are in that situation it is very difficult to play a big shot. You can easily play big shots, but the difference is it always has to pay off. If it doesn’t, what do you say?”So I am never in a hurry to finish it in the 48th over or 47th over. Even if it goes to the 49th or 50th over, I am quite happy. [Since I bat down the order] I don’t have the luxury of batsmen behind me. If I go in to bat, I like to finish the job. It’s different with different people. Some people like to finish the game early, take a bit more risk in the middle and finish off the game, but I have a different perspective about it.”It’s a very individual thing. There’s nothing wrong. If you ask Viru [Sehwag], he would have said ‘why not 25 overs?'”

An aggressive half-century from Chandan Madan helped Punjab knockout Mumbai and enter the final against Baroda, to be played tomorrow

The Report by Nagraj Gollapudi in Mumbai26-Mar-2012
Scorecard
Notwithstanding a mini collapse late in their innings, an aggressive half-century from Chandan Madan helped Punjab knock out Mumbai and enter the final against Baroda, to be played tomorrow. Madan started aggressively, was dropped on 21, but stayed calm thereafter to stitch a match-winning 60-run partnership for the third wicket with Mandeep Singh.With five overs to go, Punjab needed just 18 runs. But what seemed a formality, almost turned into an ordeal for Punjab as Iqbal Abdulla, Mumbai’s leading spinner, provided a late twist to the second semi-final, at the Bandra-Kurla Complex ground. Off the fourth delivery in his third over, Abdulla lured Mandeep Singh with a flighted ball outside the offstump, which he pushed straight into the hands of Rohit Sharma at short extra-cover. Two balls later, Abdulla got the prized wicket of Madan when he drew the batsman out of his crease with a ball that dipped and then turned away. Aditya Tare, the Mumbai wicketkeeper, snapped the bails easily.Abdulla, who had taken two wickets in the quarter-final against Tamil Nadu, stuck another blow in his final over when the left-handed Bipul Sharma swept him in the air. Dhawal Kulkarni covered a good ten yards to complete a neat catch in the deep and pump some late adrenalin into the match.But Amitoze Singh slog-swept Mumbai’s second left-arm spinner Ankeet Chavan for a six in the 18th over to push Punjab nine runs closer to victory. He followed it up with a straight hit over the bowler’s head for four in the 19th over off Ajit Agarkar. With seven balls to go, Taruwar Kohli dispatched a low full-toss from Agarkar for a boundary past mid-off to win the game.Mumbai coach Sulakshan Kulkarni would be an unhappy man considering Mumbai finished second to Punjab in all areas of the game. Madan had started confidently against the new ball and found the medium pace from the pair of Kulkarni and Javed Khan easy to hit. A couple of pull-shots and some strong flicks pushed him into the 20s. On 21, though, he tried to hit Khan over Suryakumar Yadav at mid-off but mistimed his shot completely. Unfortunately, for Mumbai, Yadav spilled a dolly. He had let a ball through his legs in the previous over too, leaving Khan exasperated.But it was the failure of Mumbai’s batsmen that proved the difference between the two sides. Wasim Jaffer cut to a wide delivery from Manpreet Gony straight into the hands of the point fielder; Abhishek Nayar limped out of the ground after being run-out and Ajinkya Rahane was beaten in flight to a turning ball from left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma that pegged his off-stump back.At 42 for 3 after seven overs, Mumbai were reliant on the pair of Rohit Sharma and Yadav. Rohit Sharma started fluently with two boundaries off Amitoze ; a back-foot punch behind square and then a pull over midwicket. Yadav, too, got into the groove easily with his favourite stroke, the sweep, against Bipul, which raced to the square-leg boundary.Yadav was not in the mood to wait as he welcomed Harbhajan Singh with a reverse-swept four. But going for a suicidal single, Yadav was beaten by a fine throw from Mandeep. Ten runs later, Rohit Sharma went for a casual loft against Rahul Sharma, holing out to Amitoze Singh at long-off. Mumbai then lost five quick wickets for the addition of just 22 runs, thereby losing the plot.Edited by Devashish Fuloria

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore at Eden Gardens

The Preview by Kanishkaa Balachandran27-Apr-2012Match factsSaturday, April 28, 2012
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Knight Riders won the previous encounter against Royal Challengers•AFPBig PictureBoth Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders were unlucky with the weather in their most recent matches. Rain didn’t allow a ball to be bowled in both games, though the one point was handy for Royal Challengers as they moved from sixth place to fourth. Knight Riders moved from third to second after the Eden Gardens washout, and they are still in that position.Their previous match was Knight Riders’ first win in this edition. After a strong start provided by the top three, Knight Riders collapsed to what seemed like a below-par 165 against a strong Royal Challengers line-up. Knight Riders pulled things back courtesy L Balaji’s 4 for 18, which saw the hosts crashing to 123.Royal Challengers’ are on the upswing, having won three out of three before the washout. Virat Kohli walked out for the toss before the rain against Chennai Super Kings to cover for Daniel Vettori who had a niggle, but Vettori is likely to return.Form guide (most recent first)
Royal Challengers Bangalore: NR, WWWL
Kolkata Knight Riders: NR, WWLWPlayers to watchWith one fifty in seven games, Virat Kohli is yet to recreate his one-day form in this IPL. He was promoted to open against Rajasthan Royals but managed only 16. Fortunately for him, Royal Challengers’ overseas batsmen have been in good touch.Time and patience is running out for Yusuf Pathan, who has just 29 runs from six innings. He’s yet to pick up a wicket too. Knight Riders have shown faith in his abilities, though, so one big innings should set things right..Stats and trivia Royal Challengers lead the head-to-head, with five victories in nine games. At the Eden Gardens this season, spinners have claimed 20 wickets while the seamers have taken 12.Quotes”We’re still far below than playing our best cricket. When I look around the dressing-room I see some matchwinners. Our best is yet to come.”
“If we concentrate on Gayle solely, what will happen to the others? They have two or three others in terrific form. It’s going to be a tough game.”

The US national who filed a case of assault against Luke Pomersbach, the Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman has moved to withdraw the case following an out-of-court settlement

ESPNcricinfo staff24-May-2012The US national who filed a case of assault against Luke Pomersbach, the Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman has moved to withdraw the case following an out-of-court settlement. A petition to withdraw the case has been filed in the Delhi High Court and will be heard on Friday.The settlement was reached late on Wednesday night, ESPNcricinfo understands.Pomersbach was detained by the Delhi police on Friday and charged with assault after the US national alleged that Pomersbach assaulted her and her fiance in their room at the team hotel on the night of May 17 after the match against Delhi Daredevils. Pomersbach was produced in a Delhi court, where he was granted interim bail, and was also suspended by the IPL franchise for the rest of this tournament.Bail was granted as the hotel CCTV cameras could not establish trespass. The Delhi Police have submitted in court footage from the CCTV and a medical report regarding the nature of injury caused to the woman and her fiancé.

A potential side injury to Lancashire captain Glen Chapple added to another difficult day for the champions, as Warwickshire reached 289 for 4

Jon Culley at Edgbaston16-May-2012
ScorecardVarun Chopra made his second hundred of the season•PA PhotosAfter losing the three matches of their opening five least badly affected by the weather, the last thing Lancashire need is to lose their captain, talisman and lead bowler, all three of which descriptions apply to Glen Chapple.At the end of an opening day demanding the selfless commitment to the cause that has become his speciality, Chapple left the field early complaining of discomfort in his left side. “He’s had a bit of pain and he has had it iced but you never know with these things,” the Lancashire coach, Peter Moores, said. “He could wake up in the morning and it won’t be there or he’ll be stiff as a board. We’re hoping it’s nothing serious. Sides are a nightmare for bowlers. If it’s a bad one it could be six or seven weeks.”Lancashire are not short of seam bowlers. Although Tom Smith is currently sidelined, Kyle Hogg and Saj Mahmood offer experienced back-up and the arrival of Ajmal Shahzad from Yorkshire has provided Moores with an unexpected asset. The immediate problem, though, is Chapple’s fitness for the remainder of this match. Neither Hogg nor Mahmood is playing, Lancashire having chosen to play with two spinners. Shahzad could face an early test of his stamina as much as his discipline.Moores can rightly claim ‘so far, so good’ with regard to the latter. The England fast bowler’s move across the Pennines came amid accusations that he did not follow team orders playing for Yorkshire, suggesting that whoever decided they could benefit from his undoubted talent might face a challenge in making it work in their favour.”I take people as I find them and he has been great so far,” Moores said. “He is a high-energy bloke who wants to get stuck in and play some cricket. He has settled in really well, the lads have enjoyed having him around. You’ve seen him today, he has run in hard and chucked himself around in the field. He has always been that sort of cricketer and hopefully it is a good move for him and a good move for us.”You have all sorts of different players in a team but he has the energy and enthusiasm you want in a fast bowler. What has been impressive both here and at Hove last week on his debut is that he has run in hard, put a lot of balls in the right areas and asked a lot of questions. He deserved his wicket and on another day could have had more.”Shahzad was impressive enough, bowling the out-of-form Warwickshire captain, Jim Troughton, for the latest in a sequence of low scores, and having Varun Chopra dropped on 51, which was a costly mistake by Stephen Moore at second slip given that the opener more than doubled that score. And Moore was right to contend that, on a flat wicket, to have kept the home side to below three runs per over was a good effort.But there was no escaping the conclusion that two of the three sessions were won by Warwickshire and the last one was no worse than shared. Chopra and Ian Westwood both played exceptionally well against the new ball, judiciously leaving such threatening deliveries as they could safely avoid, and punishing the bad ones efficiently. Chopra, making his second century of the season, was especially good on the eye when he could cut or drive.Their partnership of 168 is the biggest opening partnership in Division One so far and Warwickshire’s biggest since they put on 202 together against Somerset at Edgbaston last July, when Westwood made a century. He looked set for another one this time and cursed himself when he missed out, pushing at a ball outside off stump from Luke Procter and edging to first slip.Chopra completed his, after a couple of handsome boundaries in the 90s, from 218 balls, but he too would have wished for a more glorious ending. On 113, having perhaps begun to feel that Lancashire’s two spinners were starting to tie him down, he went after Simon Kerrigan with an ungainly heave and was caught at midwicket.Kerrigan was Lancashire’s matchwinner at Edgbaston last season, taking 5 for 7 in the second innings, he and Gary Keedy sharing eight wickets for nine runs as Warwickshire were bowled out for 97, handing Lancashire a victory that ultimately decided the title. If Chapple’s injury is serious, they will have important work to do again.For the moment, though. Warwickshire will fancy themselves for revenge at the double, having beaten Lancashire at Liverpool impressively last month. Their early season form, comprising three wins from four matches, has established them as favourites to take Lancashire’s crown. The loss of Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott to England, moreover, is balanced by the return in this match of Chris Woakes, fit again after his ankle injury.Warwickshire slipped from 224 for 1 to 246 for 4 during Lancashire’s best phase of the day. Kerrigan had Will Porterfield caught at slip before Chopra holed out, and then, when the second new ball was taken, Shahzad bowled Troughton. But late runs for Darren Maddy and Tim Ambrose kept the momentum with Warwickshire.

Mark Ramprakash, the Surrey batsman, is expected to announce his retirement from professional cricket on Thursday at the age of 42

Andrew McGlashan04-Jul-2012Mark Ramprakash, the Surrey batsman, is expected to announce his retirement from professional cricket on Thursday at the age of 42. It will bring the curtain down on a 25-year career during which he scaled domestic run-scoring heights that are unlikely to be matched.However, in 2011 he averaged 33.33 from 13 County Championship matches and this season the signs had been that time was finally catching up with Ramprakash. He was dropped from Championship cricket by Surrey for the first time after a lean start to the summer where he made 62 runs in eight innings – including just the third pair of his career against Worcestershire – and was left to play second XI and club cricket to try and regain form. He was recalled for the match against Sussex, at Horsham, but made just 8 and 37.Ramprakash will end his career with 114 first-class hundreds and 35,659 runs at 53.14, along with 13,273 runs in one-day cricket. He made his debut for Middlesex in 1987 before moving south of the river in 2001 where he continued to be prolific for Surrey. In two seasons, 2006 and 2007, he passed 2000 runs having also achieved it in 1995 for Middlesex.Ramprakash’s international career ended in 2002 following the tour of New Zealand although his name occasionally cropped up when England’s batting had problems, such as the end of the 2009 Ashes. In 52 Tests he averaged an underwhelming 27.32 with just two hundreds – against West Indies in Barbados in 1998 and against Australia at The Oval in 2001 – having made his debut against a strong West Indies attack in 1991.

International cricket does not stand still. Four days after the Test mace changed hands the contest now turns to 50-over cricket and, again, the top prize is on offer

The Preview by Andrew McGlashan23-Aug-2012Match FactsAugust 24, Cardiff
Start time 10.15am (0915GMT)Ravi Bopara is back in the England set up after his personal problems•Getty ImagesThe Big PictureInternational cricket does not stand still. Four days after the Test mace changed hands the contest now turns to 50-over cricket and, again, the top prize is on offer. England are now ranked No. 1 in ODIs, but will lose that ranking after just one match if they are defeated in this opening game in Cardiff. Top in any format is like a hot potato at the moment.England have been on a fantastic run in one-dayers this year, beginning with a 4-0 whitewash against Pakistan before beating West Indies 2-0 and another 4-0 against Australia. Alastair Cook is moulding the side under his style, and further pushing his claim to be England’s Test captain sooner rather than later, and his leadership is gaining in confidence all the time.As a batsman, too, he is leading from the front which is where Andrew Strauss has struggled in Tests. Back-to-back hundreds against Pakistan were followed by another against West Indies and useful contributions elsewhere. Ian Bell, meanwhile, has proven a more-than-able replacement for Kevin Pietersen.It is often quite hard to know how the post-Test series one-dayers will develop, especially when one side, in this case South Africa, have achieved something so momentous. The Test players would have dearly liked more time to soak in their success and it would be understandable if minds were elsewhere. However, AB de Villiers, who captains the limited-overs team, will be keen that his squad sees this as a new challenge.Form guide (Most recent first, completed matches)
England WWWWW
South Africa WWWLLWatch out for…Matt Prior could not have done much more to stake his claim for a limited-overs recall with his recent performances for England and Sussex but, for now, Craig Kieswetter retains his place as the gloveman and middle-order batsman. Kieswetter has done nothing wrong since the one-dayers against Australia, so it would have been mighty tough to drop him, and he scored a hundred for England Lions against Australia A. But, despite a couple of handy innings, he is still to fully convince in his new role although his keeping is much more consistent.He spent quite a bit of the Test series prowling the covers but now we will get a chance to see all the sides of Faf du Plessis. He is a dynamic cricketer, whether with the bat or in the field, while his rolling legspin can be a useful addition if de Villiers needs to fill in some overs. He had a successful IPL opening the batting, but will probably be used in the middle order in the longer format. Those who have watched him in county cricket for Lancashire will know how destructive he can be.Team newsRavi Bopara is back in the England set-up after his personal problems and is likely to retain the No. 4 slot after his successful series against Australia despite his lack of recent time in the middle. His bowling brings added value. Earlier in the summer Cook was keen to play frontline bowlers wherever possible, but the absence of Stuart Broad may lead to a rethink and a role for Samit Patel.England (possible) 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Ian Bell, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Ravi Bopara, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 7 Samit Patel, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steven FinnJacques Kallis has been rested for this series ahead of the World Twenty20, while there is no Vernon Philander in 50-over cricket, and a number of one-day specialists have been drafted into the squad, after preparing with South Africa A in Ireland, although the core group of players remains the same. Albie Morkel suffered a recurrence of his ankle injury against Gloucestershire although did bat later in the game.South Africa (possible) 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Dean Elgar, 4 AB de Villiers (capt & wk), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Faf du Plessis, 7 Ryan McLaren, 8 Robin Petersen, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Lonwabo TsotsobePitch and conditionsPitches in Cardiff tend to be on the slow side and can help the spinners, but the short straight boundaries also encourage big hitting as Virat Kohli and Jonny Bairstow showed last year. The weather forecast is not great, with the chance of some rain during the day.Stats and trivia In 2008, after South Africa won the Test series 2-1, England took the one-day leg of the tour 4-0. The final match, at Cardiff, was washed out after three overs. If South Africa win this match they will become the first team to hold the No. 1 position in all three formats Graeme Swann needs four wickets to reach 100 in ODIs South Africa have not played an ODI since March 3 when they completed a 3-0 series win against New ZealandQuotes”For me personally it’s obviously a sad situation but as a side we need to put it to one side. We played some really good cricket at Lord’s even though we didn’t get the result; and to be fair he hasn’t been around the one-day squad for a while.”
“We want to play attacking, good cricket. I’d like to think of us as a team that has done fairly well under pressure so when we are put under pressure this series we will be looking to attack that’s for sure.”