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Match facts

Thursday, June 16, Jamaica
Start time 0900 (1400 GMT)Andre Russell has been the allrounder to watch in this series•AFP

Big Picture

West Indies go 0-3 down in the five-ODI contest. Their batsmen are inept against spin on slow pitches. Where on earth is the home advantage? Their outcricket is from an obsolete era. Too many dot balls faced. Chris Gayle is missing. Darren Sammy remains earnest and finds positives very few can see.Then they win a game, the first dead rubber. Suddenly they have an opportunity to secure a 2-3 result. That doesn’t look so bad, does it? And after enough time passes, only the 2-3 will endure, the desperation will linger only in the memories of those who were faithful enough to watch it all. And the faithful have been scarce this summer.That could have been a description of West Indies’ plight against Pakistan earlier in the season, but it isn’t. Their struggle against India has had an almost identical tale – the starkest difference perhaps being the start times of the matches: 09.30 for Pakistan, 09.00 for India. The hosts will hope for an identical ending too, for that would mean victory against India at Sabina Park on Thursday.The person Kingston and most of the Caribbean want to see, however, will not play at Sabina Park. Once again Gayle has been ignored for selection. He was supposed to have had his meeting with the WICB the day after West Indies won the fourth ODI. Not a peep, tweet or officious media release has been forthcoming from either party. The fifth ODI, frankly, matters little now, but the standoff continuing to weaken West Indies during the Test series will take this absurdity to an extreme.Let not the muck West Indies are stuck in take away from India’s effort. The players in Suresh Raina’s side had careers to revive and places to fight for. Most of them have strengthened their cases. S Badrinath and Yusuf Pathan haven’t, though, and the stakes will be that much higher for them in the final ODI.

Form guide (most recent first)

West Indies: WLLLW
India: LWWWW

The spotlight

Ishant Sharma had figures of 1 for 60 in the fourth ODI, his first game of the series, when West Indies scored at just under five an over on average. What those stats won’t tell you is that he got the ball to rise sharply from not that short a length, when Parthiv Patel was stooping to collect Praveen Kumar’s deliveries. Ishant bowled at brisk pace too – in the 135-140 kph range – and hustled most West Indies batsmen. Now if he could only sort out that persistent no-ball problem …Adrian Barath hasn’t played for West Indies since February. He suffered a hamstring injury before their World Cup campaign began and has been sidelined since. He’s finished his recovery, spent a week training at the High Performance Centre and is ready to slot in alongside Lendl Simmons at the top of the batting order. His inclusion gives West Indies a more productive option than Kirk Edwards or Danza Hyatt did.

Team news

West Indies will replace Hyatt, who opened in the previous game, with Barath, while the rest of the batting order picks itself. With three seam-bowling allrounders – Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell and Sammy – certain to play, though, there’s space for only two out of legspinners Anthony Martin and Devendra Bishoo, and fast bowlers Kemar Roach and Ravi Rampaul, who was recalled after being given a rest. Martin took 4 for 36 in Antigua and should retain his spot, so the toss up is between Roach and Rampaul.West Indies: 1 Lendl Simmons, 2 Adrian Barath, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Carlton Baugh (wk), 8 Andre Russell, 9 Darren Sammy (capt), 10 Ravi Rampaul/Kemar Roach, 11 Anthony Martin.Fast bowler Vinay Kumar and wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha are the only Indians who haven’t played on tour yet. They could get a look in at Sabina Park.India: 1 Parthiv Patel/Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 2 Manoj Tiwary, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 S Badrinath, 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 Suresh Raina (capt), 7 Yusuf Pathan, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Praveen Kumar/Vinay Kumar, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Amit Mishra.

Stats and trivia

• West Indies have won seven of the previous eight matches they played at Sabina Park. Four of those victories, however, were against Zimbabwe, Ireland and Canada.
• Ramnaresh Sarwan has scored the most ODI runs at this venue – 556 at an average of 61.77. Gayle and Chanderpaul are second and third, but they won’t be playing.
• Ravi Rampaul averages 15.14 for his seven wickets at Sabina Park, perhaps part of the reason West Indies recalled him for the final game. Dwayne Bravo has the most ODI wickets here – 13 in nine games.

ScorecardSimon Kerrigan ran through Warwickshire with five wickets•Getty Images

For many years Lancashire have been considered the ‘chokers’ of countycricket. Despite possessing some of the most talented squads ofplayers, they’ve not managed to win the County Championship outrightsince 1934.Despite that record, hardly a season has started since without someonepredicting that ‘this could be their year.’ And, bearing in mind thetalent at their disposal, Lancashire’s lack of success is remarkable.But not this year. A Lancashire team lacking a host of departed seniorplayers – the likes of Flintoff, Law, Cork, Loye, Sutcliffe – andunable to afford replacements or the big-name overseas players thathave become familiar at Old Trafford, was seen by most observers asprobable also-rans in this season’s championship. Some even predciteda struggle to avoid relegation.Yet, here they are, with a quarter of the championship season played,sitting on top of the table with three wins out of four. Perhaps thisreally could be the year, after all.If that is to be the case, they will have to rely on some young andrelatively inexperienced cricketer. But if the evidence of this gameis anything to go by, they have the strength in depth to sustain achallenge.Here, Simon Kerrigan rose to the challenge. Just 21 years old, thiswas Kerrigan’s first Championship appearance of the season. And heseized his chance superbly. Kerrigan claimed five wickets for justseven runs as Warwickshire, set an improbable 245 to win, subsided tojust 97 all out.Kerrigan, making excellent use of an unusually poor pitch, sparked aremarkable collapse that saw Warwickshire lose their final sevenwickets for the addition of just 11 runs. In all, Lancashire’s twoleft-arm spinners, Kerrigan and Gary Keedy, took eight wickets fornine runs between them.Afterwards, Lancashire’s coach, Peter Moores, was honest enough toadmit that Kerrigan would not have played had one of the five injuredseamers been available.”Simon would have missed out had one of the seamers been fit,” Moooressaid. “But we’ve always known he’s a good bowler. He’s been in everysquad and he took three five-wicket hauls last year.”There are opportunities at this club. Everyone knows we’ve lost lotsof senior players and that we don’t have the cash to sign an overseasbatter. But we’ve a squad of 19, 16 of which are Lancashire lads, andthey’re all excited about playing. There are some good young playerscoming through here and maybe the fact that no-one was expecting us tochallenge as much this season has done us a bit of a favour.”Ashley Giles, a man who knows a thing or two about left-arm spin, wasalso impressed by Kerrigan. As Warwickshire’s director of cricket putit: “he’s a very, very good bowler and he could become very good.”Well, you know what he means.It may be worth noting that, aside from England selector Giles, bothEngland coach, Andy Flower and Academy Director David Parsons were atEdgbaston to watch this performance. It should be no surprise ifKerrigan is named in the England Lions team which is picked next week.But having been said, he won’t play on many pitches, anywhere in theworld, that suit him as much as this. It was, by any accounts, ashocker. Despite Warwickshire subsiding to their lowest first-classscore this century (not since April 1999, when they were dismissed for86 by Essex at Chelmsford, have Warwickshire been dismissed for under100), Giles refused to blame his batsmen.And that’s what makes this defeat even more galling from aWarwickshire perspective: they had to come to terms with the fact thattheir own groundsman had prepared a pitch pretty much tailor made fortheir opposition. It was a point not lost on Giles.”The pitch suited their attack too much,” he said through grittedteeth afterwards. “We gave away home advantage. There was too muchreliance on the toss and it was too much like Russian Roulette. Ourspin department is a little thin at the moment [first choice spinner,Ant Botha has just undergone a knee operation] so we didn’t want toplay on a wicket that turned square.”I can’t fault the fight our batsmen showed. The odds were againstthem. They were up against two top-class left-arm spinners on a pitchthat was perfect for them.”Not all Warwickshire’s batsmen demonstrated much resistance, however.Mohammad Yousuf, supposedly the most experienced batsman on eitherside, charged down the wicket and, with his head in the air, attemptedto hit Kerrigan into Staffordshire. It was a wretched shot.Ian Bell wasn’t the victim of a great ball, either. Faced with oneslanted down the leg side, Bell attempted to flick it through the legside, but lobbed a leading edge to square-leg. Jonathan Trott, whosimply missed a sweep, battled hard, but never looked fluent.Most of their colleagues, however, were blameless. With the ballspitting and turning sharply, Moores admitted that batting became “alottery.” And, with Essex having won the toss and batted first, whenthe wicket was at its most docile and least indented, it was a lotteryfor which Warwickshire didn’t have a ticket.To make matters worse, Rikki Clarke faces the prospect of beingpenalised for dissent. Clarke, adjudged lbw to a Kerrigan arm-ball,left the pitch brandishing his bat to show that he had made contactwith the ball. He’ll be very fortunate if he escapes censure.It wasn’t just about Kerrigan, of course. Stephen Moore, Luke Procterand Gareth Cross set the platform in Lancashire’s first innings, whileSteven Croft batted well in their second.Lancashire were grateful to James Anderson and Keedy, too. Earlier onthe final day, they suffered a collapse of their own, losing fivewickets for seven runs at one stage, before the tenth-wicket pair putthe game well beyond the hosts with a stand of 35.In the end, however, the target was well beyond Warwickshire, who areleft to ponder two defeats in two and the annoying sense that, bypreparing such a pitch, they had all but committed suicide.

There will be a preliminary hearing in July in the Crown Prosecution Services’ case against the three Pakistan players banned for spot-fixing – Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt, and player-agent Mazhar Majeed. During a hearing on May 20, which none of the four attended, the Southwark Crown Court in London decided the trial would be held from October 4. But the judge in the case, James Sanders, has ruled that all four will have to appear for a preliminary hearing in July in person or via video conferencing.The players and the agent are facing charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following the Lord’s Test last August in which they allegedly conspired to bowl pre-determined no-balls. The four appeared at a hearing on March 17 – at the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court, which set the date and jurisdiction for the May 20 hearing – and were granted unconditional bail at the time; Majeed, who is a citizen of the UK, was told to surrender his passport.The three players have already been found guilty of spot-fixing by the ICC. Butt was banned for 10 years, Asif for seven and Amir for five. They are now facing criminal charges under Britain’s Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, which has a penalty of up to seven years imprisonment for accepting corrupt payments. They also face charges of cheating under the Gambling Act 2005, which has a penalty of up to two years imprisonment.The foursome was charged after being questioned by Scotland Yard detectives over the alleged scandal in the Test at Lord’s last August, following accusations by the tabloid newspaper.

Stumps
Scorecard
The last time Worcestershire won a Division One championship game at New Road, Graeme Hick made a double century and Tony Blair was still Prime Minister. 84 months have passed since that game against Gloucestershire, in May 2004, and every subsequent Worcestershire assault upon the top division has lasted just one season and ended in relegation.But their performance on the first day of their game against local rivals, Warwickshire, revived hopes that their fortunes could improve this season. For they go into the second day – just 46 behind and with eight wickets in hand – with an excellent chance of establishing a match-winning position.That they find themselves so well placed is largely due to the sterling efforts of Damien Wright. The 35-year-old vindicated his captain’s decision to insert Warwickshire by harnessing the conditions expertly and claiming the 14th five-wicket haul of his career.Very well he bowled, too. Pitching the ball on a good length and generating sharp movement, Wright delivered a performance that might have been described as that of an ‘old fashioned English seamer’ had he not hailed from Casino in New South Wales. Ian Westwood, perhaps surprisingly preferred to Darren Maddy in the Warwickshire team, was bowled by one that swung back sharply, before William Porterfield drove to short mid-off and Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan batsman making his Warwickshire debut, edged a good outswinger from Matt Mason to slip.Wright won good support from Worcestershire’s other seamers, with Gareth Andrew especially impressive. The 27-year-old allrounder, a much improved cricketer over the last season, showed decent pace and generated sharp lift as he troubled all the Warwickshire batsman. First he ended Varun Chopra’s promising innings with one that may have kept a little low, before Richard Johnson, playing instead of the injured Tim Ambrose, edged a brute of a ball that bounced and left him and Ant Botha was bowled through the gate by one swung back between bat and pad.Jim Troughton and Rikki Clarke added 53 for Warwickshire’s fifth wicket but, when Wright, at gully, held on to a superb, juggling effort it precipitated a collapse that saw Warwickshire lose five for 33. Clarke, who had scarsley played a false stroke, was undone by one that bounced and left him, before Miller was caught off the glove by one that reared.It could have been even better from a Worcestershire perspective. Had they accepted either of two chances offered by Chris Woakes, Warwickshire wouldn’t have got anywhere near 200. As it was, Woakes was reprieved on four, when an edge off Mason flew between second and third slip, and again on 23 when Matt Pardoe put down a straightforward chance on the square-leg boundary off Andrew. Had it been taken, Warwickshire would have been bowled out for 169.Instead, Woakes earned his side a batting bonus point and something of a foot hold in the game. With Boyd Rankin he added 42 for the tenth-wicket, timing the ball sweetly and farming the strike masterfully. The only drawback, from a Warwickshire perspective, was that Woakes strained his wrist while batting and was never quite at his best with the ball.If Warwickshire are to fight back, they’ll have to bowl far better than they managed on the first evening. Failing to heed Worcestershire’s example, Warwickshire bowled too short and seemed preoccupied with pace over line and length. The carry may have looked impressive as ‘keeper Richard Johnson took ball after ball above his head, but the batsmen left it with ease.James Cameron and Daryl Mitchell certainly enjoyed it. Worcestershire’s openers brought up the 100 in just 20 overs, with both posted men punishing anything short and feasting on the regular leg side deliveries.Warwickshire did have a chance to claw their way back into the game. But, after Cameron had bottom-edged a pull and Mitchell edged his push at one outside off stump, Warwickshire squandered the opportunity to make further inroads when Botha put down Solanki at slip off Rankin when the batsman had scored just seven.Perhaps Warwickshire can consider themselves a little unfortunate. Batting was desperately difficult in the morning session and conditions did appear to have eased just a little by the time Worcestershire batted.But, if they are honest with themselves, they’ll admit that the hosts utilised the conditions far better and realise they have to tighten up their line and length considerably on the second day of they are to claw their way back into this match.

ScorecardSind piled up a 182-run lead against Baluchistan at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, on the back of a fluent 144 from Khurram Manzoor and a 79-ball 85 by Fawad Alam.Resuming on 65 for 1, Sind slumped to 75 for 3, before their middle and lower order came good. Faisal Iqbal (77) put on a 185-run stand with Manzoor, before quick half-centuries from Alam and wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed (60 not out from 63 balls) put Sind in front. Opening bowler Abdur Rauf picked up four wickets, but was expensive, conceding 5.20 runs per over.Mohammad Sami, who is yet to get off the mark, accompanied Sarfraz at the crease at stumps.

The emergence of Ahmed Shehzad has settled down Pakistan’s openingpartnership for the near future, but it has complicated matters for therest of the batting order. Shehzad partnered Mohammad Hafeez at the top inthe ODI series win over New Zealand coming into the World Cup. Bothplayers had successful series, notching up a maiden century each butdidn’t put on a significant partnership in any of the five games theybatted together.Shehzad’s return has meant Kamran Akmal moving down one spot to No. 3 in the order. But Akmal and Hafeez formed a successful partnershipin the ODI series against England last September and would, in alllikelihood, have been the first-choice pair here had it not been forAkmal’s brief exile from the side in between. That absence allowed Shehzadto return to the side for the first time since 2009, an opportunity he hasfully utilised.Hafeez has also been a stabilising influence since his own return to theODI set-up last summer, averaging 35.73 in 16 ODIs since then, with ahundred and three fifties. He has also turned in useful spells ofoffspin, picking up 11 wickets. Hafeez and Shehzad will start as theopening pair but the pushing down of Akmal and the return of Misbah-ul-Haqin a middle order that also includes Younis Khan often resulted inPakistan not gathering enough momentum in the middle overs of an innings.Pakistan are keen on keeping both Younis and Misbah in the XI as insuranceagainst collapses. But batting them at four and five as happened in NewZealand has meant that Umar Akmal, potentially Pakistan’s best batsman inthe format, has come in with too few overs left to have an impact. It isan issue that will require flexibility, said Pakistan’s captain ShahidAfridi ahead of their tournament opener against Kenya.”If we lose the first wicket early, then Kamran, who has been an attackingbatsman and has opened, comes in so we will have advantage with him andfielders in the circle,” Afridi said. “After that it will depend on howmany overs we have so Umar can come after Younis. We don’t want Misbah andYounis batting together so that we can keep momentum and the scoreboardticking.”Pakistan also look set to include Shoaib Akhtar in the line-up forWednesday, despite concerns over his match fitness; only yesterday coachWaqar Younis said Shoaib was improving but not fully fit just yet. Thatmeans Saeed Ajmal is likely to miss out as Pakistan open up with threefast bowlers. Junaid Khan, the late call-up who impressed in a warm-upgame against England in Dhaka and has experience of Hambantota, will alsoprobably sit out. Irrespective of the opponent, Afridi said, Pakistan willbe at full strength.”I don’t think it’s an easier game for us,” he said. “The first game isalways very important for us. There are a number of examples where bigteams have lost so we want to be at full strength.”Pakistan chose not to train on Tuesday, having arrived in Hambantota onMonday and undergone a distinctly energetic and enthusiastic practicesession soon after arriving. Afridi acknowledged there was more attentionon off-field issues surrounding the side but maintained that a semi-finalplace was a realistic target. “I take that as challenge that no one isconsidering us for the semi-final. I want to see my team in thesemi-finals.”

Cricket has always been a sport that has conjured up images of fair play and basic decency. Despite episodes from the last 25 years or so that have seen players pushing, shoving and kicking each other, or trying other methods of unfairly dismissing the opposition, cricket has not often been blighted like soccer has by the curse of cheating. After the unseemly events of Port Elizabeth and the reaction to them, cricket is in danger of going the way of soccer. Why?Most of the critics of Mike Denness seem to me to miss a basic point. Match referees were brought in to the game precisely because umpires around the world were being put under intolerable pressure by events both on and off the field of play. The still-evolving job of the match referee was set up to buttress the authority of the umpires, and on a wider level to promote respect in general for the laws and spirit of the game. What a position to reach – having to appoint extra officials merely to uphold respect for the umpires!In soccer, many of the 22 players who start a match do so only with as much regard for the rules as the referee on the pitch can impose. When he is not watching, or is “on the blind side” of an incident, foul play often results. Some incidents are still graced with the term “professional foul”. This is why video evidence is now used to cover incidents that on-field referees may have missed. It is hardly surprising that the referee misses things in the “win at any cost” culture which prevails in the so-called beautiful game.This is what is now happening in cricket. It is irrelevant that the umpires on the field may or may not complain about ball-tampering. If players deliberately alter the condition of the ball they are hardly going to do it in front of the umpire. The TV or stills lens finds them out, just as it does in soccer.Umpires have found themselves on the proverbial back foot in many other areas. The authorities struggle to rein in excessive appealing and sledging. Players fail to help the umpire with disputed catches, or to determine whether the ball has crossed the boundary rope.Cricket authorities have decided to appoint “neutral” umpires, referees and disciplinary panels, to combat the deterioration of player behaviour and/or outright cheating. If members of the media take a swipe at the umpire or referee, they are behaving exactly like football managers who blame the referee for a poor team performance, as if the players bear no responsibility for their own actions. Denness should not be the target. It is the players who are primarily responsible for incidents connected with the play.Unless the players clean up their act, these unsavoury incidents will continue. The referees and umpires, just as in football, are easy targets for the media just as they are for governing bodies with a wider agenda. Some players behave not with decency but indecency. For them the spirit of cricket tastes sour indeed.

Northern Districts and Otago shared two points apiece after their game at the Cobham Oval (New) in Whangarei ended in a thrilling tie. Otago chose to bat and started solidly with openers Aaron Redmond and Michael Bracewell putting on 53 before Bracewell was dismissed in the 12th over.Neil Broom at No. 3 capitalised on the opening platform as he anchored Otago’s innings with a brisk hundred. He reached his 100 off 106 balls and upped the ante with some big shots to make 23 off the next 13 balls he faced before he was caught behind off Brent Arnel. There were handy contributions from Craig Cumming (31) and Darren Stevens (39) down the order as Otago reached 274 for 5.Northern Districts started their chase in positive fashion with an opening stand of 85 between BJ Watling and Brad Wilson. Watling was dismissed by Ian Butler in the 21st over and Nick Beard accounted for Wilson for 55 soon after. That brought Kane Williamson and James Marshall together, who put on 114 for the third wicket to set Northern Districts on course for what looked like an easy victory. However, Butler struck again to pick up the crucial wicket of Marshall for 64. He had Peter McGlashan caught by Broom in his next over and Northern Districts had stumbled from 211 for 2 to 221 for 4. Nick Beard struck with his left-arm spin to dismiss Anton Devcich and Joseph Yovich off successive deliveries as Northern Districts slumped to 233 for 6 at the end of 46 overs, still needing 41 runs of 24 balls. Williamson, who was unbeaten at the other end, made a last-ditch effort as he and No. 9 Bradley Scott blasted 37 off 21 balls to take Northern Districts to the cusp of a victory. Northern Districts needed three off the final ball but Scott managed only two and the game ended in a tie, with Williamson not out on 87.

It was a one-sided affair at the Basin Reserve, where Canterbury thrashed Wellington by 125 runs to jump from third place to the top of the points table. Canterbury’s total of 265 for 6 was powered by two half-centuries from opener Rob Nicol and No. 3 Peter Fulton. Nicol made 67, while Fulton made 93 off 122 balls after disappointing returns in his last two games.That score proved to be too much for Wellington who have just won one game so far in this competition. Canterbury had them on the mat early on with three wickets within the first five overs. Wellington never recovered from that start and though Stewart Rhodes (35), Harry Boam (29) and Marc Calkin (27) briefly resisted, that just delayed the inevitable as Wellington were bowled out for 140 in 35.1 overs. Mitchell Claydon and Martin Kain picked up three wickets each.

Auckland and Central Districts also shared two points apiece after their game at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth was rained out with only 9.1 overs of play possible. Auckland, who were sent in to bat, lost Tim McIntosh early. Lou Vincent (29) and Anaru Kitchen (7) had taken Auckland’s score to 45 for 1 before rain came down at the start of the ninth over after which no further play was possible.

Australia’s Ashes situation is so perilous that the hosts will look anywhere for a good omen. After another day of being dominated by England, Michael Hussey peered back four years to the WACA match when Australia wrapped up the urn on the way to a 5-0 cleansweep.On that occasion the local unit was jammed with world-beating talent and could win from any situation. The current outfit, which was dismissed for268 after being 4 for 36, has only three players – Hussey, Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke – from those all-conquering days and is experiencing the country’s worst slump in 25 years.Despite all the troubles, Hussey remained publicly confident of Australia’s chances in the game, which could determine whether England retains the urn. “I don’t think it’s as below par as some people would think,” Hussey said of the score. “I’ve played in quite a few Test matches here where the first-innings totals have been in the mid-200s.”Tomorrow will tell the tale if we’re below par or not. Even four years ago we were out for a similar total and were able to bowl England out for less than us. It will have to be the same again.”On that occasion Australia were dismissed for 244 and gained a 29-run lead on first innings before running away with the contest with hundreds to Hussey, Clarke and Adam Gilchrist. This time they will rely on a bowling attack with six serious operators but only one spinner after Ponting decided to conscript a pace army.The tactic might have been more successful if Ponting had won the toss, but instead Andrew Strauss chose to bowl and his men benefited from the bouncy, seaming conditions. The first wicket went to Chris Tremlett (3 for63) in the second over of the day and by the time Steven Smith was dismissed shortly after lunch the hosts were 5 for 69.Michael Beer, the left-arm spinner, was not handed a debut in a strange move and Ponting will have to rotate his quicks as Australia desperately chase their first wicket. “The selectors decided to go the fast-bowler option and we just need to back that 100%,” Hussey said. “There’s certainly enough there for the fast bowlers and it’s good we’ve got a good artillery of them.”England finished at 0 for 28 and had few troubles against Ben Hilfenhaus, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris. “It was a great last half an hour,” Tremlett said. “The guys fought hard to fight off the new ball, which is key, so we’ll look to bat time, get a healthy lead, and look to go out and bowl them out again.”Australia have managed only 16 breakthroughs in the series and Hussey is hoping for a quick turnaround. “I’m quietly confident, we’ve certainly got a pitch that will aid us,” he said. “If we can bowl well at both ends and get the ball in the right area there’s enough there for us. There’s enough grass on the wicket and enough movement off the seam.”Hussey posted a hard-working 61 when the conditions were at their toughest and it continued his impressive streak since he saved his career with a domestic hundred for Western Australia last month. He has 401 runs for the series but is not getting much top-order help. Mitchell Johnson (62) and Brad Haddin (53) were the other major contributors on another troubling day.

ScorecardRavi Bopara’s half-century was in vain as Dolphins lost to Knights by four wickets•Getty Images

Two vital partnerships took the Knights to a four-wicket victory over the Dolphins in the first leg of the second MTN40 semi-final in Bloemfontein. They successfully chased 227 in an intriguing low-scoring match on a deceivingly two-paced wicket.Dean Elgar and Reeza Hendricks steadied the Knights’ innings with a 109-run fourth-wicket stand in 117 balls after they had been reduced to 29 for 3. And in a tense finish with 54 needed in 5.3 overs, Obus Pienaar and Johan van der Wath finished off the job in 23 balls.The Dolphins had earlier got off to a snappy start after choosing to bat, with Imraan Khan and Ahmed Amla putting on 31. Khan skied a Ryan McLaren delivery to midwicket, giving the South Africa fringe bowler his first scalp. McLaren also removed Jon Kent four overs later, and the scoring rate cooled off a bit after the big hitter’s dismissal.Amla and Ravi Bopara then found some rhythm. Both played a range of wristy boundaries, but just when the combination had started to look dangerous, Amla lofted one to Obus Pienaar at long-on to depart for 35. Jandre Coetzee had snagged the big fish in his first over.He went on to bowl an economical spell, giving away 19 runs in his first four overs. Coetzee and Con de Lange managed to keep Bopara and Vaughn van Jaarsveld relatively quiet in the middle overs. After being frustrated by a lack of boundaries, the pair began to rotate the strike. Van Jaarsveld, however, grew restless and with no balance, played a nothing shot, a casual flick to Johan van der Wath at long leg.Bopara patiently soldiered on and reached his 28th limited-overs half century, off 60 balls with six boundaries. He had his anchor role cut short when Coetzee came back for a second spell. He offered Bopara a long hop down the leg side which should have been smacked over midwicket for six, but the batsman played too early, the ball came off the back of the bat and Morne van Wyk took the catch.David Miller and Daryn Smit’s seventh-wicket partnership added late impetus. They hit three sixes between them; Smit’s was a down-on-bended-knee improvisation over fine leg. They added 37 in five overs as the Dolphins ended on 226 for 7.The Dolphins had the Knights on the back foot early when the opening bowling pair of Kent and Kyle Abbott plucked three wickets in ten overs. van Wyk was dismissed off the first ball in bizarre fashion. He missed a Kent delivery, which went on to clip his off stump although the bail was not removed. Umpire Dennis Smith heard the noise and gave van Wyk out caught behind.Rilee Rossouw went in the next over, trapped lbw by Abbott, who had a superb five-over opening spell, also taking out Ryan Bailey. Abbott gave the batsmen no room and only conceded nine runs in that spell.The change bowlers didn’t have the same success though. Quinton Friend was expensive and Bopara had a chance put down. Elgar was on 17 and offered a simple catch to Glen Addicott on the deep cover boundary, who not only couldn’t dropped it, but also let the ball escape for four.The Dolphins were left to rue that mistake as Elgar and Hendricks quietly chipped away at the target. Hendricks finally went lbw to Friend for 64 and Elgar followed in the next over on 58, also leg before, to Imran Tahir.When McLaren too fell in the 35th over with 54 runs required, it looked as though the Dolphins had sealed the win, but Pienaar and van der Wath had other ideas. Their bludgeoning burst finished off the Dolphins, with van der Wath the chief aggressor. He bashed 29 off 14 balls to lead the Knights to victory with 10 balls to spare. The second leg of the tie takes place in Durban on Friday.