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Australia’s selectors are not yet prepared to give up on Ben Hilfenhaus following an inglorious Ashes summer and still regard him as a senior member of the Test attack, Greg Chappell has said.Hilfenhaus was chosen for the Australia A tour of Zimbabwe to take place in June, with the dual intentions of giving him some work ahead of Test tours to Sri Lanka and South Africa and also using him as a mentor for young quicks including Mitchell Starc, James Faulkner and Trent Copeland.The presence of swing and seam merchants like Copeland, Faulkner and Luke Butterworth can also be viewed as a reminder that others may yet be called on to do Hilfenhaus’ job with the new ball.”I think everyone, including Ben, was disappointed with his form in the summer, but we’re pretty confident he’s still got a lot to offer,” Chappell, a national selector, told . “And the fact that he’s a senior player [helps]. I was with the Australia A team up in Townsville and Ben was there, and the work he did with Mitchell Starc and some of the other young pace bowlers was excellent, so the opportunity is there to have him get some bowling and spend some time with two or three young bowlers.”He’s a pretty solid citizen to have around the group and it helps him continue his build-up towards the various tours and series we’ve got coming up in the next few months. As we know pace bowling is fraught with danger and you need a handful of them up and about. You can’t afford just to rely on two or three or four to get you through the domestic season, let alone a couple of the toughest tours we could envisage at the moment.”In 2009 Hilfenhaus was one of the selectors’ few genuine success stories of recent times, forming a key part of the pace ensemble in South Africa before emerging as the most incisive and reliable member of the attack during the Ashes tour of England. However a subsequent serious knee injury, after he was unwisely taken on a limited-overs tour of India despite complaining of soreness, robbed Hilfenhaus of a follow-up home summer, and he could not recapture his earlier form when fit again.He was guilty of rum luck during two Tests against India when he posed numerous problems for the home batsmen in unhelpful conditions, but against England could gain neither swing nor sustained rhythm. Andrew Strauss was a victim in the first over of the series, but Hilfenhaus could only claim six more in four matches. With each Test he became less of a threat as Alistair Cook and Strauss ground him into submission on hard pitches.Recalling the threat posed by Hilfenhaus during the 2009 Ashes, Chappell argued he could yet return to that level.”We believe he’s still got that capability and the more cricket we can give him at the moment the better it will be for him to get back to where we’d all like to see him,” Chappell said.

Former Australia coach John Buchanan, who will take charge as New Zealand’s director of cricket in May, “can’t wait to get my teeth” into the role.”I understand there have been some performances that haven’t necessarily endeared the Black Caps to its public, and there have been some other issues around the side as well,” Buchanan said.”But when you come into these roles there’s going to be a range of challenges, and that’s why you take on the job because you do believe you can make a real difference.”Buchanan, who will be in charge of the high-performance programme, said that he was keen to make New Zealand Cricket (NZC) “a template for high-performance sport”. Buchanan will also oversee the selection panel and implement a talent identification system, and said he didn’t foresee any problems working with New Zealand coach John Wright.”I’m very confident John and I can work well together but we’ve only had a very brief chat,” he said. “There’s still a lot of discussion between he and I how both roles fit together. In my mind I think it will work exceptionally well.”New Zealand reached the semi-finals of the World Cup, but suffered a string of poor performances in the lead-up to the tournament. They toured the subcontinent last year and were beaten 4-0 by Bangladesh in a five-match ODI series in October. This was followed by 0-1 loss to India in a two-Test series and a 0-5 loss in the ODI series. New Zealand then played Pakistan at home and though they won the three-match Twenty20 series, they lost both the Test and ODI series that followed. Buchanan however was confident of the team’s prospects.”We always found New Zealand to be extremely competitive,” he said. “New Zealand teams have always punched above their weight, but really what we want to do is have them punch for 15 rounds and be a heavyweight contender and not just a lightweight contender.”

The ICC needs to understand the working of the sports betting industry to recognise when match-fixing may occur, according to Ken Rutherford, the former New Zealand captain who now works in the South African sports betting business. Rutherford said he has “made the point” to the ICC that it needs to understand the sports betting industry and be pro-active in cleaning up the sport.”I would be shocked if a World Cup game was interfered with,” Rutherford said in an interview with this writer. “The spotlight is at its most extreme and the fixers could find better options for their skullduggery in matches where the focus is less strong.”However, he said the ICC had a lot of work to do going forward. Betting markets, he said, should be closely monitored by experts during games for any suspicious movement of money. “(This could be done) by employing traders from the sports betting industry whose job it would be to watch the markets on a daily basis. They could set up some kind of software that would be applied to the markets that would act as an alert should money be moving oddly – that is, against the natural progression of a match.”Citing the example of football, Rutherford said that the ICC should form information-sharing partnerships with the world’s biggest bookies. “When odd betting behaviour is suspected, the network is informed. Often markets will be closed as a result of this information. The network has a direct line through to UEFA (European football’s governing body), who are informed prior to a match beginning if any match fixing is suspected.”At my old job at Singapore Pools, we often heard things in advance from our own network of ”spies”. If something was suspected in football, the match officials would warn the players prior to the game that the match was suspected of being fixed, and that they better not try anything.”But such safeguards would not be able to solve something that continues to flourish on the sub-continent outside the purview of regulation, illegal betting. Rutherford admitted that the only way to try and tackle it was to somehow infiltrate the bookies’ underground network. “It’s not easy – but it’s crucial. Illegal bookmaking operations in India and in other parts of Asia are rife, so some kind of cricket’s own underground network could be set up to better understand the lie of the land. Some of the bet types are only available to clients of the illegal bookies.”The problem of illegal bookies was too large to be wiped out completely, Rutherford, said; the way forward should be to legalise it, so that the government could earn some revenue, and some of the above safeguards could be put in place. “Risk management systems can easily alert the operator to the possibility of foul play. By treating sports betting as a social outcast, it is allowing the whole illegal bookmaking network to flourish. In places like Hong Kong and Singapore where governments have approved sports betting, it has had some impact in combating illegal bookmaking.”

East Zone
Bengal snuck past Orissa by one run with two balls remaining in a thrilling finish at the Maharaja Bir Bikram College Stadium in Agartal. Orissa looked to have things under contorl at 196 for 5, needing just another 22 runs for victory with more than five overs to go. But RR Das’ dismisal set the cat among the pigeons, and they lost four wickets for 10 runs. The last-wicket pair then inched towards their target, but Laxmi Shukla bowled No.10 Alok Mangaraj with the fourth ball of the last over to give Bengal an unlikely win. Bengal’s total of 217 had been built around Manoj Tiwary’s patient 88, while opener Natraj Behera topscored for Orissa with 81.Amit Sinha’s unbeaten 97 trumped Yogesh Takawale’s century as Assam beat Tripura by three wickets at the Polytechnic Institute Ground in Agartala. Tripura had slumped to 48 for 4 after being put in to bat, but Takawale counterattacked to make 108, and together Kaushal Acharjee, who made 41, carried the side to 221. Assam got a good start from their top three, including Sinha, but the middle order collapsed, with five wickets tumbling for 54 runs. But Sinha found an able ally in Sujay Tarafdar, who made 16, to take Assam to their target with 10 balls to spare.West Zone
India allrounder Irfan Pathan made a golden duck on his return to competitive cricket after recovering from a back injury, as Mumbai posted a comfortable seven-wicket win over Baroda at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. Pathan came into bat with Baroda in a little trouble at 85 for 4, but his long awaited return was short lived, as he was bowled by left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla, who finished with 5 for 38. Pathan was more successful with the ball, striking in his first over, but Abhishek Nayar blasted 45 from 26 balls, with four fours and four sixes, and Mumbai romped home with 24.2 overs to spare.Gujarat failed to capitalise on a strong start by their openers, but their total of 244 was good enough to defeat Mahrashtra by 25 runs at the Alembic Ground in Vadodara. Parthiv Patel and Avi Barot both made half-centuries, adding 126 in 25.5 overs, but only two other Gujarat batsman made more than 20 as the spinners ran through the middle and lower orders. Mahrashtra lost both openers with 26 on the board, and though Nikhil Paradkar (58) and Ankit Bawane (41) added 70 for the fourth wicket, three run-outs doomed the side and were bowled out in 46.3 overs.South Zone
Kerala eased to a 69-run win over Andhra at the Fort Maidan in Palakkad, marking an impressive start to their Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign. Opting to bat, Kerala posted 243 for 9 in their 50 overs, with Rohan Prem top-scoring with 77. Opener Abhishek Hegde chipped in with 41 and Padmanabhan Prashanth, down the order, scored a quickfire 45 to help set up a competitive score. In their reply, Andhra were dealt some early blows and seamer Prasanth Parameswaran rattled them with four wickets. Bodapati Sumanth’s half-century and some useful contributions from the lower-order batsmen were in vain as Andhra were skittled out for 174.Karnataka inflicted a six-wicket defeat on Goa at the Perintalmanna Cricket Stadium in Mallapuram. Captain R Vinay Kumar starred with four wickets to help bowl out Goa for 180. Reagan Pinto, Rahul Keni and Shadab Jakati each got starts but were unable to go past 50, and had to eventually settle for a below-par score. It failed to measure up to Karnataka’s response as opener Ganesh Satish and Manish Pandey struck half-centuries to seal victory with more than 16 overs to spare.North Zone
Delhi‘s consistent batting and Ishant Sharma’s four-wicket haul handed them a 81-run win over Jammu and Kashmir at the Dhruve Pandove Stadium in Patiala. Delhi opted to bat and openers Shikhar Dhawan and Unmukt Chand delivered an attacking start. J&K tried to pull things back, reducing the opposition to 176 for 5 at one stage, but Rajat Bhatia’s 62 and Sumit Narwal’s quickfire 42 propelled Delhi to 296. Ishant put J&K under pressure, having them 55 for 4 at one stage, and despite Parvez Rassol’s 70 amid support from the middle order, Delhi were comfortable victors.Haryana upstaged neighbours Punjab by 52 runs at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. It was a collective batting effort from Haryana who, boosted by wicketkeeper Nitin Saini’s 85-ball 87, and steady contributions from the rest, posted 286. The openers, Mukul Dagar and Rahul Dewan, added 67 while Pardeep Sahu and Hemang Badani chipped in with valuable cameos. Ravi Inder Singh and Mayank Sidhana struck half-centuries in the chase but lacked the back-up Haryana’s batsmen had been able to provide Saini, resulting in defeat.Manvinder Bisla’s century set up a four-wicket win for Himachal Pradesh against Services at the Sector 16 Stadium in Chandigarh. Bisla struck six fours in a well-paced innings, receiving support from VA Indulkar and Mukesh Sharma, as Himachal chased down 235 with four overs to spare. Earlier, an economical bowling display had helped overcome an aggressive century from Services captain Yashpal Singh, who smashed 16 fours and a six in his 85-ball 105. But the other batsmen struggled to force the pace and had to eventually settle for a gettable total.Central Zone
Vidarbha crushed Madhya Pradesh by eight wickets at the Kamla Club Sports Ground in Kanpur. In a dramatic collapse, MP lost eight wickets for 26 to be bowled out for 157. Spinners Akshay Wakhare and Himanshu Joshi shared seven wickets as MP lost their way after looking good at 131 for 2. Vidarbha’s openers, Amit Paunikar and Akshay Kolhar, struck half-centuries and added 108 to shut out MP.Railways managed to overcome newly crowned Ranji Trophy champions Rajasthan by three wickets at the Green Park in Kanpur. Rajasthan chose to bat, and the top three all got starts, with Ashok Menaria topscoring with 63, but none of the other batsmen made more than 11, and the side folded for 171 in 44.5 overs. Railways were in early trouble, as Deepak Chahar and and Pankaj Singh reduced them to 26 for 3, and when legspinner Vivek Yadav picked up three quick wickets, they were tottering at 119 for 7. But Jai Yadav and Musavir Khote came together to add 56 and see their side to victory.

Being World Twenty20 champions and beating Australia 3-1 in the Ashes has not proved a path to IPL riches for England’s cricketers as their international schedule again hampered their chances of big-money deals. Paul Collingwood, who retired from Test cricket after Sydney, is the only major name available for the whole tournament and secured a US$250,000 deal with Rajasthan Royals but Kevin Pietersen took a significant pay cut in a deal with Deccan Chargers.IPL franchises are becoming increasingly savvy as to how they spend their money and want a strong return on their investments which means players being available for long chunks. Along with Pietersen and Collingwood, Eoin Morgan (Kolkata Knight Riders, US$350,000) and Stuart Broad (Kings XI Punjab, US$400,000) are the star-name England players to earn deals but won’t be available for the end of the tournament.”The players have to be back to prepare for the Test match at the end of May so that will have affected the bids,” Collingwood said. “Ideally it would be fantastic if all the players could be involved 100% on a level playing field. That’s not going happen probably in the next few years because of the schedules that are coming up. It’s great that there are more English players in the auction this time even if it hasn’t worked out hugely for them.”Ten of the victorious Twenty20 side which beat Australia in the Barbados final, along with James Anderson, were among the English players who went into this year’s auction. Pietersen, who two years ago shared the tag of the world’s most expensive cricketer alongside Andrew Flintoff after being bought for US$1.55million, was worth US$650,000 to Decann Chargers.There was a suggestion that some may have over-priced themselves, such as Michael Yardy whose base was US$400,000. However, Collingwood was confident that there wouldn’t be any impact within the team because of a few that did get lucky.”I don’t think so,” he said. “As we’ve seen a lot of the guys wanted to get involved. I don’t think anyone begrudges anyone anything. Sometimes it’s a bit of a lottery who gets picked. You never really know the reasons. Chris Gayle wasn’t picked, either. Nobody is having a go at one else.”Anderson missed out despite his superb Ashes series and England’s players have had an uneasy relationship with the IPL since being unable to take part in the inaugural event. Although there is a far larger gap than in previous years for them to compete, there remains a clash with the county season which starts in early April as well as the early summer internationals.It’s not only England’s players who have been snubbed – Chris Gayle is the biggest absentee from the event after he didn’t attract a bid due to West Indies hosting Pakistan in April – but it was clear from the number of England stars who put their names forward that there was major interest in taking part.And it still remains possible that those with IPL deals may not be released to appear after Andy Flower, the England team director, made it abundantly clear that he had the final call and would demand players rest if they needed it.Broad is probably the player with the biggest cloud over him because he is currently recovering from the stomach injury that ruled him out of the final three Ashes Tests and is battling to be fit for the World Cup. Flower may not be keen for him to race off to the IPL for six weeks ahead of another packed home season.”I do not blame any of the players for wanting to go and play,” Flower told reporters in Australia. “But it is tricky because the schedules are so heavy. Rest is sometimes as important as the hard schedules we put them through, especially for our front-line attack. They have made themselves available for the IPL but it is dangerous in terms of the risk of injury and shortening their lifespan.”However, one of the quirks of the IPL, whereby arch enemies on the field can become team-mates, was thrown up by the auction result with Collingwood now set to join forces with Shane Warne at Rajasthan. Warne hasn’t always been complementary about Collingwood, especially when he was awarded an MBE for his one-Test role in the 2005 Ashes, and Collingwood offered a wry smile. “At least now we can get to know each other rather than just having battles on the field.”

Sussex have secured seam-bowling Pakistan allrounder Rana Naved-ul-Hasan as their overseas player for the first half of the season.Naved played for Sussex between 2005 to 2007 and – after two years with Yorkshire – for the first month of last season. He will be available until the end of June.He is a crowd favourite at Hove after twice playing a pivotal role in Sussex’s Championship wins in 2006 and 2007. He prospered in his nine appearances last year, taking 27 wickets and scoring 258 runs, including 101 against Leicestershire.Naved, who is currently representing Tasmanian in Australia’s Big Bash Twenty20 competition, has played in nine Tests, 74 one-day and four T20 internationals but is not in Pakistan’s World Cup squad. He has not played for his country for almost a year, having been banned for 12 months for indiscipline on the 2009-10 tour of Australia, although that decision was overturned in October.Sussex coach Mark Robinson said: “We’re delighted that Rana is returning this summer as he was like a breath of fresh air when he was with us last year. The energy and match-winning threat he gives us will be an important ingredient for what hopefully will be a successful season.”

Michael Beer walked into the SCG for the first time today and while he liked what he saw, he thought “it looked different on TV”. Everything is new to Beer, the left-arm spinner, who only played his maiden first-class game for Western Australia at the start of the summer.On Monday he is expected to be handed a baggy green three weeks after he was the latest slow bowler to be parachuted into Australia’s Test squad. Beer, 26, was hoping for a debut at the WACA, his adopted home ground after an off-season move from Victoria, but was overlooked when Ricky Ponting decided on four fast men. The same thing happened at the MCG, but this week looks like his time.It has been a hard wait. When Ponting walked towards him shortly before the toss in Perth, Beer thought he was about to get a new cap. His family had flown in for the occasion and he was ready, but Ponting delivered bad news and he headed to Tasmania for a Sheffield Shield game instead. “At the time I was a little disappointed but I’ve really enjoyed being a part of the group,” he said.Beer has played only seven first-class games so not much is known about him. Michael Hussey has faced him in the nets and likes his approach and level-headedness. “He’s got very good control, very disciplined,” he said. “He gets good revs on the ball as well, and uses drift very well.”However, Hussey warned about expecting too much from Beer too soon. “It’s going to take time to feel comfortable around the team and comfortable around Test match level,” he said. “It’s important that he relaxes, goes out there and tries to enjoy the opportunity. I remember in my first Test I was pretty much an emotional wreck, so I hope we don’t put too much pressure on him.”If Beer plays, he will work alongside Steven Smith, who bowls legspin and bats No.6, but the surprise is that Nathan Hauritz hasn’t been included at his home ground. While Beer will have to ask the New South Wales players in the squad for advice on the conditions, Hauritz could have just turned up and bowled.Hauritz has worked hard since being dropped before the series, taking 19 Shield wickets at 26.78 for the season, and scoring two centuries. His absence is puzzling to Australian supporters and the England team.”I honestly don’t understand how the Australian selection works,” England’s offspinner Graeme Swann said. Swann said he felt a kinship with his fellow offspinner, and remembered that Hauritz had caused them some problems in three Tests in 2009.”I generally feel sorry for him,” he said. “I don’t think he deserved to miss out on this whole series. I don’t understand why he has not been given a shout, but that is good for us.” In this Test, England will be going for Beer instead.

Australia have named their squad for next week’s first Ashes Test, but their starting line-up is no clearer. Xavier Doherty and Callum Ferguson were the major surprises in a bloated 17-man group that also included Usman Khawaja, Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle, but there was no place for the backup opener Phillip Hughes, who was the only unexpected omission.The squad, which is bigger than England’s touring party for the entire series, will be trimmed to 12 or 13 after this week’s round of Sheffield Shield matches before the first Test begins at the Gabba next Thursday. The selectors are also keen to see how some of the contenders perform for Australia A in their match against England starting on Wednesday in Hobart.The four-day game between New South Wales and Tasmania shapes as a particularly fascinating contest, with the spinners Hauritz and Doherty to go head to head on an SCG pitch that should offer assistance. The inclusion of the left-armer Doherty, who made a promising ODI debut this month but was viewed as a limited-overs specialist, has placed extra pressure on the incumbent Hauritz, who has struggled over the past month.”Nathan Hauritz has performed exceptionally well over the past 12 months for Australia,” the chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, said. “One of the biggest decisions we will need to make is whether we go into the first Test in Brisbane with a right-arm offspinner or with the variation of a left-arm orthodox bowler.”Xavier Doherty has been very impressive in both limited-overs and first-class cricket, in particular last season and the start of this season, and it will be a great opportunity for us to observe both of the spinning options in the Sheffield Shield clash between New South Wales and Tasmania at the SCG this week.”Hilditch’s comments suggest the selectors are not considering an all-pace attack at the Gabba, where the seam-friendly conditions sometimes encourage sides to risk leaving out their frontline spinner. That means the most likely pace attack is Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger, who made a promising return in club cricket on the weekend.Bollinger has been out with an abdominal strain since the first Test in India last month, and he collected 1 for 30 in ten overs for Fairfield on Saturday. He will continue his return in the Sheffield Shield game and providing he comes through unscathed, will be a certain starter on a Brisbane surface that should offer him some assistance.His recovery also reduces the chance of Siddle being included for his first Test since January, while the in-form Harris would need to also shake off a knee problem if he was to make the side. Harris bowled himself into contention with a match haul of 9 for 140 for Queensland at Bellerive last week but after the match had a swollen knee – he had surgery on the joint during the off-season – and his availability won’t be known for several days.”Ryan Harris has a chronic knee injury that requires ongoing management,” the team physio Alex Kountouris said. “As such he will not play in the next round of Sheffield Shield games or for Australia A starting 17 November to allow his knee to fully recover. His availability for the first Ashes Test will determined later this week.”There are unlikely to be any surprises in Australia’s batting line-up, although they are waiting to confirm the fitness of Michael Clarke, who suffered a recurrence of the disc problem in his back while playing for New South Wales on the weekend. Clarke will sit out of this week’s Sheffield Shield match but he is hopeful he will take his place at the Gabba.”I’m not going to play against Tasmania on Wednesday,” Clarke said. “I’m going to give myself another few days off to get my back right. But I’m confident that if I do all the right things over the next week I’ll be 100% ready to go come Brisbane.”Unless Clarke succumbs to the problem, there shouldn’t be any changes to Australia’s established top six, meaning Khawaja and Ferguson will have to wait to receive their baggy greens. Their selection is a strong indication that they will be vying for a position in the middle order should the selectors lose faith with Michael Hussey or Marcus North during the summer.The exclusion of the opener Hughes is a sign that Simon Katich will be fit for the Test, having been out of action due to a broken thumb. Katich made his comeback in grade cricket on the weekend, making 94 for Randwick-Petersham, and will line up for New South Wales in their four-day match this week.Australia squad Simon Katich, Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Marcus North, Usman Khawaja, Callum Ferguson, Brad Haddin (wk), Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Xavier Doherty, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger.

Michael Clarke, the Australia captain for the three-ODI series in India, has said his century in the second game in Visakhapatnam came as welcome relief following a disappointing performance in the Tests, where he managed just 35 runs in four innings.”My performance in the Test series was not anywhere near what I would have liked,” Clarke said on the eve of the third and final ODI in Margao. “I am disappointed with my own personal performance. It was very satisfying to make a hundred the other night. Obviously I have been working pretty hard in the nets in batting but just could not find a way to make runs in the Tests.”Clarke made an unbeaten 111 in Australia’s five-wicket defeat in the second ODI, and added an unbeaten 129 with Cameron White, who helped smash 84 in the last five overs of his team’s innings. “I am happy to turn things around,” Clarke said. “(It’s) always wonderful to play cricket in India. To make another century here would be a great feeling. Hope I get one more century tomorrow if the game goes ahead.”The final ODI faces a rain threat and Clarke was hoping to get a game to level the series in what has, so far, been a winless tour. “It has been a tough tour. We have not got the results we would have liked, in the one one-day match as well as the Test series. We are looking forward to win the match tomorrow and draw the series. I think we have one more night in bed before our flight (home). Hope the sun comes out and we have a match tomorrow.”

Match Facts

Friday October 15, Bloemfontein
Start time 2:30pm (1230 GMT)Chamu Chibhabha showed his form with a pair of attacking half-centuries in the Twenty20s and will be an important part of the middle order in the ODIs•Associated Press

The Big Picture

The competitive nature of the Twenty20s in Bloemfontein and Kimberley mean that the one-day leg of Zimbabwe’s tour will stoke more interest than it otherwise might have. The series is crucial for both sides – it includes three of only 13 games remaining for the South Africans before the World Cup, and Zimbabwe’s only scheduled ODIs before that tournament. The home side insisted before the tour began that these games would not be treated as simple warm-ups, but while the T20s provided a useful examination of South Africa’s bench strength with several senior players missing one or both of the games, the buzz around the matches is arguably more about the integrity of Zimbabwe’s recent resurgence.A particularly eye-catching part of their turnaround – Grant Flower’s international comeback after a six-year hiatus – was stalled by problems with his travel documents ahead of the team’s departure, and he finally ended up making the trip just in time to carry the drinks in the second Twenty20. While his addition to the batting line-up would have brought a welcome dollop of grit and experience, it was Zimbabwe’s bowling that appeared out of its depth. A couple of bellicose innings from the top order helped mask the toothlessness of the Zimbabwean attack, but over the course of a full one-day international, it will be harder to paper over those cracks.The loss of two frontline bowlers meant South Africa’s attack was not quite to its usual standards, and without the ferocious pairing of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, the back-up struggled for incisiveness. The fielding was also disappointingly lacklustre in Bloemfontein, and Rusty Theron’s level-headed death bowling proved the difference in nipping out Zimbabwean hopes of a last-gasp victory in Kimberley. Theron could make his ODI debut on Friday and along with Wayne Parnell and Lonwabo Tsotsobe will need to stay at the top of his game to ensure no slip-ups against the increasingly competitive tourists.History suggests that South Africa will complete a clean-sweep ahead of what are expected to be far more challenging games against Pakistan in the heat of Abu Dhabi. But there is a mood of increasing self-belief in the Zimbabwe camp, and while South Africa surely remain firm favourites, a Zimbabwean win is not as unthinkable as it was the last time these sides met.

Form guide

South Africa WWWWW
Zimbabwe LWWLW

Watch out for…

Chamu Chibhabha’s twin fifties were an important part of Zimbabwe’s positive showing in the Twenty20s, and at Bloemfontein he broke the record for the quickest Twenty20 international fifty by a Zimbabwean, reaching the landmark off 29 balls. He clearly found conditions to his liking, and South Africa will look to get past him quickly to open up Zimbabwe’s middle order when they meet again at the same venue.Rusty Theron’s nerveless final over at Kimberley proved the vital difference between the two sides and he will have a similar role to play in the fifty-over format. Theron has an enviable domestic List A record, averaging just 20.06, and will look to cement his place in the South African attack in the absence of Steyn and Morkel.

Team news

Morne Morkel’s ankle injury means that Theron is a virtual certainty to make his debut. Hashim Amla also comes back into the squad while AB de Villiers returns to take up the wicketkeeping gloves, with Heino Kuhn released to play for his domestic franchise.South Africa (possible) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Colin Ingram, 4 JP Duminy, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 David Miller, 7 Johan Botha, 8 Ryan McLaren, 9 Wayne Parnell, 10 Rusty Theron 11 Lonwabo TsotsobeGrant Flower is likely to make his return to Zimbabwe colours in Bloemfontein, while Charles Coventry returns home and is replaced by Sean Williams.Zimbabwe (possible) 1 Brendan Taylor, 2 Hamilton Masakadza, 3 Chamu Chibhabha, 4 Sean Williams, 5 Grant Flower, 6 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 7 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 8 Graeme Cremer, 9 Prosper Utseya, 10 Shingirai Masakadza, 11 Ed Rainsford

Stats and trivia

• Brendan Taylor, who took 1 for 16 from four overs in the second Twenty20 game, was Zimbabwe’s wicketkeeper the last time these two sides met at Bloemfontein.
• South Africa have won 26 of their 29 ODIs against Zimbabwe
• During the Twenty20 series against South Africa Chamu Chibhabha made 111 runs from 73 balls
  

  Quotes

  
  “I think we were a little bit disappointing with the ball in the two T20 games against Zimbabwe.”
  “I thought I was coming back as a batting coach and hadn’t expected to be playing in the side.”