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The England women’s selectors have stuck with the tried, tested and successful to name an unchanged squad for Australia’s forthcoming tour.England, who lifted the ICC World Twenty20 trophy yesterday – adding to their World Cup victory in March – are riding high and now take on their old rivals Australia. The series gets underway with a Twenty20 at Derby on June 5, followed by five one-day internationals before the tour concludes with the four-day Women’s Ashes Test, at New Road, on July 10.”In winning the ICC Women’s World Cup and the ICC World Twenty20 in the space of three months, this England team have shown that they are a world-class side, so the squad to face Australia in June and July is unsurprisingly largely unchanged,” said Clare Connor, the ECB head of women’s cricket. “Anya Shrubsole continues to undergo rehab for her back injury so Danielle Hazell retains her place in the squad.”Confident though England undoubtedly are, Australia always present a tough challenge. Only a sensational innings from Claire Taylor, one of Wisden’s five Cricketers of the Year, helped England defeat Australia in a thrilling run-chase to reach the final of the ICC World Twenty20″The experience of winning a World Cup and the inaugural World Twenty20 has been sensational. What would top it off would be retaining the coveted Ashes,” said Mark Lane, the England coach. “Australia [have] always been a fierce rival and this was proved in the recent semi-final of the Twenty20 where the two teams fought tooth and nail in a high-scoring, entertaining game of cricket. We are expecting an intense summer of cricket.”England women’s squad
Charlotte Edwards (capt), Caroline Atkins, Katherine Brunt, Holly Colvin, Lydia Greenway, Isa Guha, Jenny Gunn, Danielle Hazell, Laura Marsh, Beth Morgan, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Nicola Shaw, Claire Taylor, Sarah Taylor

Match facts

Wednesday, June 10
Start time 1730 local (1630 GMT)Rohit Sharma will open the Indian innings again•Associated Press

Big Picture

India and Ireland have both qualified for the Super Eights and their groups are decided so in terms of progression in this tournament nothing rides on this match. But India won’t want to go to the next round with a shock defeat, nor will Ireland want to go without a fight after beating Bangladesh – which, by the way, they didn’t consider an upset. At any rate they are yet to lose a Twenty20 international from the five they have played.India go into the tougher Super Eights group and will look at this game as a chance to iron out any flaws they feel exist. As it is they will probably be the least tested team in the Super Eights, with Bangladesh the third team in the weak Group A. India have been hurt by Virender Sehwag’s return home with injury and will need to put that aside immediately.

Form guide

(last five matches, most recent first)
IndiaWLLWL
Their new opening combination of Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir has put on 42 and 140 in the warm-up games, and 59 against Bangladesh. With Sehwag ruled out of the tournament, their success at the top is a big positive.Ireland WNWWW
Three of those wins for Ireland have come against Associate nations, and the 138 they chased against Bangladesh is their highest score by a long way in Twenty20 internationals.

Watch out for…

Pragyan Ojha, who made an impact with the first ball he bowled in Twenty20 internationals. Bangladesh had been going on well in their chase when MS Dhoni introduced him in the ninth over. He took out Shakib Al Hasan and Junaid Siddique in his first over. But how long can India keep playing two spinners? And when they do go for just one, will Ojha have done enough to cause a Harbhajan Singh v Ojha debate? Problems of plenty? You bet.Keep an eye out for the O’Brien brothers. The symbolic image of Ireland’s chase against Bangladesh could be the ring-side interview of Niall O’Brien, who scored 40 off 25 balls to set Ireland on their way. A mini-collapse later, though, Ireland were facing a nervous final few overs when Niall O’Brien was asked if he thought his team could do it. He said something to the effect of: as long as my brother [Kevin] is there, we will do it. Sure enough Kevin O’Brien brought out the big hits, scoring 39 off 17 and taking Ireland home.

Team news

India have called up Dinesh Karthik, impressive in the IPL, to cover for Sehwag but it’s unlikely Karthik will play tomorrow. Staying with injuries, India could choose to rest Zaheer Khan, who was seen nursing his shoulder with an ice pack on Monday and didn’t come to Tuesday’s nets. If they do rest Zaheer, either Praveen Kumar or RP Singh could take his place.India: (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Praveen Kumar/RP Singh/Zaheer Khan, 11 Ishant SharmaNiall O’Brien’s injury is not as bad as it was originally feared, so he could play tomorrow.Ireland: (probable) 1 William Porterfield (capt), 2 Jeremy Bray, 3 Niall O’Brien (wk), 4 Gary Wilson, 5 John Mooney, 5 Kevin O’Brien, 7 Trent Johnston, 8 Kyle McCallan, 9 Regan West, 10 Alex Cusack, 11 Boyd Rankin.

Pitch and conditions

Trent Bridge has been a high-scoring venue, helping spinners in the initial stages of the tournament. The weather was cloudy on Tuesday, is expected to be same on match day, with rain unlikely.

Stats and Trivia

• Gambhir’s strike-rate since the end of the first World Twenty20 has been 116.15. Before that, though, he struck at 129.71 runs per 100 balls.
• Ireland are yet to lose a Twenty20 international.

Quotes

“They have won the last game so they will be confident. They will come across and play aggressive cricket. They have nothing to lose because they have also qualified for the next stage. They will be more free, there will be less pressure on them so you can expect some good cricket on the field.”

“They’re world champions, so there’s no better team to pit yourself against. It will obviously give us a gauge of where we are and where we need to be in this format. There’s no real pressure on us. All the pressure is on India.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
A brisk fifty followed a hat-trick, but Yuvraj Singh’s day ended in contrasting manner•AFP

Nerves? Perhaps. But nerves of steel. Having given up 14 runs in the 17th over, Praveen Kumar displayed admirable composure to bowl a four-run, double-wicket final over and seal an amazing eight-run win for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Two teams that met in Durban at contrasting positions in the IPL traded blows for 40 overs of a pulse-setting Twenty20 and, when it came to the crunch, Bangalore threw the biggest blow, derailing Kings XI Punjab from 70 for no loss to 137.To put this finish in perspective, you have to understand where Punjab were placed for more than two-thirds of this game. Having stunned Bangalore with a hat-trick spread over two overs, Yuvraj Singh promoted himself to open the innings in place of Ravi Bopara, departed for England duty. He struggled initially against a clever Praveen’s changes of pace but the arrival of Jesse Ryder and Roelof van der Merwe brought out the beast. Yuvraj found the middle of his bat and some sweet timing with a club off Ryder past mid-on, and van der Werwe’s first ball was dumped over long-on for six. From being 18 from 19 balls, Yuvraj whistled to fifty from 33 with three more sixes, one off Ryder and two off Anil Kumble. The couple off Kumble recalled innings at this same venue.Yuvraj fell two deliveries before the tactical break, attempting a fifth six but top-edging Kumble to midwicket. Then, as has happened so often, the seven-and-a-half-minute interval claimed another wicket. Karan Goel had been a silent accumulator while Yuvraj led Punjab’s best opening stand of the season but his attempt to fill his captain’s shoes didn’t work. The wobble was on when Simon Katich, in his first game of 2009, was run out when called for a risky single by Kumar Sangakkara.Punjab needed 62 from seven overs when Mahela Jayawardene joined Sangakkara. It seemed still achievable. Yet Punjab didn’t manage a boundary in the 15th and 16th overs, bowled by Ryder and Kumble, and, after carving consecutive fours in the 17th, bowled by Praveen, Jayawardene scooped to point. Punjab still needed 30 from 17 balls. Game on.van der Merwe followed up the wicket-taking delivery with four byes, a full toss swatted for four by Irfan Pathan and a wide to ratchet up the tension. At the end of that over the equation was 17 from 12.

Enter Kumble, who was Bangalore captain for the day. Sangakkara missed the next ball and was bowled after that by a googly. Kumble isn’t a champion for nothing and, by conceding only four runs in the penultimate over, left Punjab needing 13 from the last. Talk about tension.Praveen bowled a dot. Irfan took a breath, looked up, and slapped the next ball through point for four. Third ball was a lovely slow ball that sneaked under the bat. Irfan lofted the fourth down to long-on and, with the fifth, Praveen bowled Piyush Chawla. Bangalore had sealed a superb win after posting a disappointing total.Rewind to the first major highlight of this epic game. Yuvraj hadn’t been contributing with the bat this season, so he decided to make an impact with the ball. With the last two balls of the 11th over of Bangalore’s innings, Yuvraj dismissed Robin Uthappa and Jaques Kallis and achieved the fourth IPL hat-trick with the first ball of the 13th, trapping Mark Boucher with another quick arm ball.Bangalore were struggling after early losses – Ryder fell in the first over – and needed Kallis to last the full quota of overs. He and the recalled Uthappa had put on 42 when Yuvraj struck. Having strayed in line early in his second over Yuvraj tried a flatter, faster delivery and Uthappa miscued one to the deep. The batsmen crossed as the ball went up in the air, but Kallis’ tentative footwork against an arm ball resulted in the sound of timber. Mark Boucher came in but didn’t last as Yuvraj came back and fired in another slider. Punjab were cock-a-hoop.After Yuvraj struck, a pugnacious cameo from van der Merwe – which included an amazing six in which he looked to square leg but hit over extra cover – gave the innings some shape. Abdulla’s figures were really bruised by van der Merwe, who slammed six, four, six in three balls, but he had his number and became the highest wicket-taker this season. Abdulla yorked Kumble in the final over and should have had five but Chawla at third man spilled a running catch. Abdulla smiled proudly when he donned the purple cap for leading the wickets tally.But in a game that swung to and fro, Bangalore regrouped superbly when it really mattered, and their grins were more emphatic than anything seen all day.

Match facts

Jacques Kallis offers South Africa options with bat and ball•Getty Images

April 5, 2009
Start time 10am (08.00GMT)

Big Picture

Australia are back on top of the world in both Tests and ODIs during their trip to South Africa, but the teams are so tightly matched that the one-day honour will return to the hosts if they win the five-match series. The visitors, who lost the two Twenty20s, switched on in the opening contest for a 141-run victory in Durban and they will walk out at Centurion seeking more success.South Africa were out-played throughout game one and have some serious work to do on their batting to manage a swift turnaround. They lasted only 33.1 overs in making 145 as Nathan Hauritz, the occasionally-employed offspinner, did most of the damage. Australia were relieved at the strong showing from Michael Hussey, who was unbeaten on 83, and will chase a repeat performance from their bowlers.

Form guide (last five ODIs, most recent first)

South Africa LWWWL
Australia WNWWL

Watch out for

South Africa are desperate – and hopeful – Jacques Kallis will be back after a groin problem ruled him out of the opening encounter. The home side was caught short on Friday, with Mark Boucher at No. 6, and will benefit if Kallis’ all-round skills are on show. “He does help a lot with your balance,” Graeme Smith told AAP. “In Australia we played an extra batter and he allows you to do that. You can look for 20 overs between him and Albie Morkel and JP Duminy. To have him back obviously would be nice.”It’s not often Nathan Hauritz is on the warning list, but after his 4 for 29 on Friday he will come in for extra attention. The Durban ODI was his first match of the tour, but he hadn’t spent the time topping up his suntan or chasing big game sightings. “All the early-morning training sessions that he has done and all the work that he has done with the bowling coaches on his bowling has paid dividends,” Ricky Ponting said.

Team news

Expect some reshuffling if Kallis makes it back, with Boucher dropping a place and one of the bowlers missing out. Morne Morkel looks vulnerable unless Dale Steyn or Makhaya Ntini are due for a rest.South Africa squad Graeme Smith (capt), Herschelle Gibbs, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, JP Duminy, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Mark Boucher (wk), Roelof van der Merwe, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Johan Botha, Dale Steyn, Wayne Parnell, Makhaya Ntini.Australia will give thought to keeping an unchanged line-up after such a convincing display on Friday. However, they may consider bringing in Brett Geeves for Ben Laughlin, who gave up 28 runs in five overs on his ODI debut.Australia squad Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin (wk), Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Hussey, David Hussey, Callum Ferguson, Marcus North, James Hopes, Cameron White, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Brett Geeves, Nathan Bracken, Ben Laughlin.

Stats and Trivia

• Australia will keep the No. 1 ranking with a 3-2 victory while South Africa can take it back if they secure the series
• If Australia win 4-1 the hosts will slip to third on the table behind India

Quotes

“It was nice just to get a good start and hopefully on Sunday I can make it count more.”
after returning from a broken hand with a half-century”We’ve played well but we have to turn things around and make sure we do everything probably even better on Sunday, because you’d expect South Africa to bounce back. There’s some room for improvement in our set-up as well.”

Kane Williamson, Northern Districts’ 18-year old middle-order batsman who hit his maiden first-class century this week, has been marked out as New Zealand’s future Michael Clarke by his domestic coach Grant Bradburn.Williamson, who captained the New Zealand Under-19 side in the 2008 World Cup in Malaysia, is Northern Districts’ leading run-scorer in first-class games this season with 614 runs at 51.16 from seven matches. He also scored 320 runs at 45.71 in 11 State Shield games.But Bradburn and other domestic coaches believe Williamson needs some time in the domestic circuit before he can make a successful elevation up to international cricket. “He’s had a great season with us and I’d like to see him have at least one more of those before he’s playing at the top level,” Bradburn told the .Matt Horne, the former New Zealand opening batsman and current Auckland coach, called Williamson a “breath of fresh air” and said the best thing was to give him two years to become comfortable with his game. “We have to accept he is still a teenager and while he is very, very talented the tendency in cricket when you’re young is to miss more than you hit so he should be allowed to develop a skill base that will allow him to succeed straight away when he plays for New Zealand, which he undoubtedly will.”He likes to play the game at his tempo. He quickly establishes where his boundary options are and then has follow-up options where he can work singles and turn over strike.”Williamson is also a handy offspinner, a skill which could push him towards national contention earlier than Bradburn and Horne would like. Bradburn warned that Williamson’s bowling was still raw. “At the moment he loves bowling and is having success but he’s not really sure why he’s succeeding,” Bradburn said. “I’ve been so impressed with his skills with the ball. He turns it a lot, has wonderful control, has a simple action and, most importantly, loves bowling and wants to be thrown the ball.”

Scorecard
England came within one wicket of winning the two-match series against New Zealand A but faced formidable resistance from Iain Robertson, who scored an unbeaten century, and had to settle for a draw on the final day at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval. Chasing an improbable target of 457, New Zealand began the day with nine wickets in hand an ended it on 393 for 9.The irony was that Robertson wasn’t even supposed to bat. He was New Zealand A’s 12th man but, because Ewen Thompson – who was called up to the national squad for the Hamilton ODI against India – was unavailable, the teams agreed to let Robertson, a specialist batsman, take the place of a bowling allrounder. Robertson replaced Thompson on the third day and grabbed his chance, remaining unbeaten on 107 off 148 balls when the match ended.The England Lions’ attack put in a creditable performance to reduce New Zealand to such a position because the pitch was easing out and a heavy wind hindered the bowlers in their run-ups.New Zealand made a steady start to the day, moving from 72 for 1 to 107, before Liam Plunkett trapped Aaron Redmond lbw. Plunkett struck again four overs later, dismissing Daniel Flynn for 45. Peter Fulton and Kane Williamson added 87 runs for the fourth wicket but the host’s recovery was dented by Sajid Mahmood, who struck twice in quick succession. New Zealand also lost Peter Fulton before Robertson was joined by Reece Young for a 147-run stand.However, England finally broke that stand and Mahmood and Jonathan Trott removed Nos. 9 and 10 quickly, leaving Robertson and Chris Martin, who is notorious for his ineptness with the bat, to negotiate 20 deliveries. Martin faced eight of those to secure a draw for his team.

Jon Lewis and Chris Taylor have signed new three-year contracts which will keep them at Gloucestershire until the end of 2011. Both players’ existing contracts were due to expire at the end of 2009.”I am extremely happy to commit the next three years of my cricketing career to Gloucestershire,” Lewis said. “I love playing cricket and I cannot imagine playing anywhere else. I look forward to this season with the same eagerness as my first here in 1995. I want this club t return to the heights of the early part of this century and I am aiming to play a major part in that effort.””Having tasted some of the ‘glory years’ I am fully committed to playing my part in bringing success back to our club,” Taylor said. “With a benefit year and new contract I am extremely excited about the forthcoming season.””Jon and Chris have been key players for us over a number of years and we look forward to them continuing in the same way,” Tom Richardson, the county’s chief executive, added. “We are committed to keeping our best players at the club and building around them for future success. This is a major step towards that those aims.”

Shakib Al Hasan has confirmed his consistently impressive performances by heading the ICC’s ODI allrounder rankings, the first time any Bangladesh has topped any ICC rankings. His performances in the home tri-series involving Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, took him to 380 rating points, helping him surge past last week’s top two, New Zealand’s Jacob Oram (368 points) and England’s Andrew Flintoff (366).Shakib (21) was the highest run-scorer in the tri-series and the second-highest wicket-taker for Bangladesh, behind Mashrafe Mortaza. He scored 153 runs in the three matches at 76.50, with a strike-rate of 101.32, and picked up five wickets at 13.80.”It feels great to be ranked No. 1. My only goal is to keep performing and win matches for the Bangladesh team and I feel more inspired and motivated to give my all in the field. I also know that retaining the top spot will be even tougher and it will require lots of sacrifices, consistency, hard work and dedication,” Shakib said.He is the second Bangladeshi cricketer to break into any top 10 list, after left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak, who reached the eighth spot in the ODI bowling rankings in November 2007. Shakib, currently ranked number 12 in the ODI bowling charts, is tenth on the list of Test allrounders as well, making him the first from Bangladesh to enter the top 10 in any Test category.

Malaysia sealed their spot in the semi-finals, along with Group B leaders Nepal, after beating China by ten wickets at the Chiang Mai Gymkhana. However, it was not the most convincing win as the Malaysian openers took nearly ten overs to overhaul China’s 21. Alessandra Shunmugam was Malaysia’s most successful bowler with 4 for 6.Hong Kong needed just 16 balls to beat an out-of-depth Oman, who are yet to win a game in the tournament. Charlotte Chan, Hong Kong’s 15-year old left-arm spinner, took 4 for 3, as Oman were bowled out for 25 at the Chiang Mai Gymkhana. Five batsmen were dismissed for ducks and no one scored over two runs in an innings that included 16 extras. Hong Kong captain Keenu Gill hit three fours in her 14-ball 20 to wrap up a nine-wicket win. Hong Kong are now likely to proceed to the semi-finals along with Thailand from Group A as they have a higher net run-rate than Qatar, who they are tied with at four points from three games each. However, they could lose out on the semi-final berth if Qatar beat them comprehensively on Friday.Kuwait‘s bowlers squandered the advantage handed to them by Siobhan Gomez’s attacking half-century and allowed Singapore to win by five wickets by conceding 40 extras in a chase of 115 at the Prem Oval. After single-handedly batting Kuwait to a winning position with her unbeaten 68-ball 60, Gomez chipped in with three middle-order wickets. But Vigineswari Pasupathy rescued her side with an unbeaten 51, aided along the way mostly by bowlers Elavarasi Rajasekar (12 extras), Alina D’Silva (11 extras) and Anisha D’Silva (9 extras). The only consolation for Gomez, who bowled six wides in her five overs, was being named Player of the Match.

Scorecard

After the fog, which had blighted their preparation on the tour so far, relented, the Sri Lankans got themselves some useful batting practice on the final day against a Bangladesh Cricket Board XI in Savar.It was a satisfactory day for the Sri Lankans after they resumed on 36 for 2, with most of their remaining recognised batsmen spending at least an hour at the crease. They were in some trouble early on, slipping to 94 for 5, after Michael Vandort was trapped lbw by Shahadat Hossain in the morning’s second over and Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera fell in quick succession following a 48-run stand. But the visitors then rallied with half-centuries from Tillakaratne Dilshan, who carted three sixes in his 88, and Prasanna Jayawardene, who scored 70 . Both batsmen were “retired out” after a long partnership, following which the tailenders lifted the score to 316. Legspinner Raihanuddin Arafat was the most effective of the BCB bowlers, collecting three wickets for 37.The first of two Tests in the series starts on Boxing Day in Mirpur.