Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

New Zealand’s dominance on the first day at the Basin Reserve bore strong similarities to the opening day of the first Test in Dunedin. On that occasion, Bangladesh were bowled out for 137 and New Zealand finished the day on 156 for 4. Today Bangladesh collapsed for 143 and the home side were poised to take the lead, ending on 134 for 3. Chris Martin had taken 4 for 64 at the University Oval to lay the platform for a resounding nine-wicket win and, in Wellington, he took 5 for 65 to give New Zealand a firm grip of the second Test.The first-innings collapse was a severe blow to Bangladesh’s attempts to salvage something from a winless tour and it was triggered by poor shot selection against aggressive seam bowling. The Bangladesh batsmen had shown a lack of durability in Dunedin, lasting only 46.1 overs, and they repeated their failing with the last wicket falling in the 46th over. The New Zealand pace attack played their part; Chris Martin and Kyle Mills seamed the ball appreciably in windy conditions and Iain O’Brien, the first-change bowler, kept the pressure on. Martin, though, was the best of the three. He troubled the batsmen incessantly with pace, bounce and movement in both directions and picked up his eighth five-wicket haul in Tests.There was assistance for the fast bowlers throughout the day and New Zealand were given an early boost when Daniel Vettori won his ninth consecutive toss and put Bangladesh in. Before the start, Ashraful said he did not want to bat either, but found himself at the crease in the ninth over after Bangladesh lost early wickets.The Bangladesh openers needed to play with caution while the new ball was seaming and only needed to recall their century partnership in the second innings in Dunedin for inspiration. Instead Tamim Iqbal tried to unfurl shots even though he was constantly troubled by the away seam movement, especially when the length was short. His penchant for driving through the off side led to his dismissal, when he chased and edged a wide delivery from Mills to Mathew Sinclair at point.At 17 for 1, Bangladesh needed Habibul Bashar to negotiate the testing conditions but he too played an indiscreet drive away from his body and edged Martin to wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum. The captain didn’t apply himself either. Ashraful tried to hit Bangladesh out of trouble and a couple of edges off Iain O’Brien flew between gully and the heavily populated slip and cordon while Matthew Bell grassed a sharp chance at short cover.Martin and O’Brien were relentless with the line on and just outside off stump and the batsmen weren’t disciplined enough to resist. Bangladesh slipped further courtesy two edges; Junaid Siddique to a ball that was too close to leave and Shahriar Nafees to one that wasn’t. The biggest blow came before lunch when Ashraful, on 35, was adjudged to have nicked a ball which brushed the pad on its way through to McCullum. Bangladesh went into the break on 86 for 5.There was no respite for Bangladesh after lunch either as Martin struck in his first over with a ball that nipped back into Mushfiqur Rahim and rapped him on the pads. Refreshed and buoyed by the immediate success, he increased his pace and intensity and Aftab Ahmed wore one short ball on the midriff and two more on his helmet.Aftab began uncharacteristically slowly, scoring 2 off his first 38 balls but started throwing his bat around, when he began to run out of partners. Mashrafe Mortaza, coming in at No. 11, swung at everything as 21 quick runs were added for the last wicket. New Zealand’s fast bowlers were so effective that Vettori bowled only 2.3 overs and picked up the final wicket – Mortaza holing out to long-on – of a purposeless Bangladesh innings.To regain lost ground, Bangladesh had to produce a spectacular bowling performance. They began encouragingly, taking two wickets for 35 runs before Craig Cumming and Stephen Fleming consolidated with a 83-run stand for the third wicket. The lack of a genuinely fast bowler who could hit the deck hard and exploit the bounce on this surface hampered Bangladesh and the New Zealand batsmen were not severely troubled after Mortaza’s opening spell.

Inches of snow have fallen on the garden beyond, but tucked away here indoors the voice is that of golden-rayed summers long gone by. EW Swanton CBE – `Jim` to his global family of friends – will be 90 next month, but his thirst for fun is as undiluted as the gin and so-called tonic he proceeds to pour.He has been told he was a five-month-old baby in his pram on thepavilion balcony when W G Grace made 140 for London County atForest Hill in 1907, as a lad of nine he watched the glow in thesky over north London announcing the shooting down of a firstworld war German Zeppelin near Cuffley, Herts, and as a highlyexcited 12-year-old he visited the Oval in 1919 to see hisbeloved Surrey play Yorkshire and to fall hopelessly in love withcricket.Eight decades, 23 books, an estimated eight million words (mostof them as cricket correspondent of The Daily Telegraph) andcountless hours at the microphone later, his ardour for the gameglows with the same schoolboy intensity. When E W Swanton admits you into the office – part library, part museum, part den – of his idyllic 18th-century town house at Sandwich, nearthe Kent coast, you settle back in a leather chair, savour thatmelody of ice rattling on crystal glass and luxuriate in thesound of his master`s voice. And, oh, what a voice it is. As David Rayvern Allen describes it in E W`s latest book, Last Over: A Life In Cricket: “That beautifully produced brown, treacly voice with ecclesiastical overtones was – and is – compelling. A friend of mine, hearing the Swanton vowels for the first time, remarked that it reminded him `of a great uncle with a partiality for brown Windsor soup and gentleman`s relish`.”The imminent arrival of his 90th birthday – an improbable anniversary for so sharp a mind and so active a body – will be marked by all manner of tributes, most notably a three-part BBCradio series recalling the many highlights of his career and acelebration dinner in the Long Room at Lord`s blessed by the attendance of a veritable Who`s Who of cricket. He is, after all,”one of the great cricket writers of this century” in the opinionof John Major. “Not just his Telegraph articles . . . but hisbooks, as well, some of which I think are classics.”But for a summary of his life (so far), including tales ofBradman`s final innings, of heroes like Compton and Sobers, ofadventurous sea voyages and flying boats, of the grim years as aPOW, of how he came to miss the Bodyline Series, of his abomination of coloured clothing, of Basil d`Oliveira and his hatred ofapartheid, of his ill-concealed distaste for Kerry Packer and IanBotham, of the celebrated rows with Raymond Illingworth and EnochPowell, I have great pleasure in handing you over to E W Swanton.”I`m a sort of curiosity, that`s what I am. I can picture thescene in our garden when I picked up a cricket bat for the firsttime. I must have been four or five I suppose because I canremember the buses were still drawn by horses. My father sufferedfrom very bad eyesight – in fact he couldn`t get into the firstwar so he became a special constable – but he was treasurer ofForest Hill Cricket Club in south London. My mother helped lookafter the teas, as ladies did in those days – and still do, thankGod – so I grew up on the boundary ropes. At 14 my father mademe a junior member of Surrey and I saw the Test match betweenEngland and Australia at The Oval in 1921 from the pavilion,which was a marvellous thrill. As it happens, I`ve just completedmy 76th year as a member of Surrey.”A life vice-president of the MCC, founder of The Arabs touringteam and arguably the most famous and influential non-Test playing cricket personality in the world, E W Swanton was born of anera when journalists at Lord`s were equipped with an assistant todictate their copy (and another to fetch the ice for their cocktails) and when writers on overseas tours would take dinner inevening dress. “We had a few firebrands in the old days, butsports writing is completely different now. Very much sharper andless kind. Directly after the war, everyone was lookingfor heroes. That`s why Denis Compton was a hero like none other. He was what every mother wanted her son to be. The writingthen was more benevolent, but a great part of cricket`s mystique when I started was that the public liked to admire cricketers for what they were. Len Hutton, Jack Hobbs, FrankWoolley were all nature`s gents. That feeling has rather gone nowand I feel the press has become far too intrusive.”Not that E W Swanton hesitates to meet controversy head-on whenthe occasion demands. He was bitter in his condemnation of SouthAfrica over the d`Oliveira affair, launched a withering attack onEnoch Powell in the letters page of The Spectator after thepolitician`s notorious `Rivers of Blood` speech, engaged in aprolonged feud with the then England captain Ray Illingworth -who had accused the scribe of “being such a snob, he doesn`t eventravel in the same car as his chauffeur” – and dismissed KerryPacker as “the anti-Christ”.Officially, he retired in 1975 but remains nothing if notopinionated. In Last Over, Allen notes: ” . . . at various timeshe [Swanton] has been called `overbearing` and `pompous`. Duringone commentary, when white smoke was seen billowing from a distant chimney . . . John Arlott turned to his colleagues and said,`Ah, I see Jim has been elected Pope`.” Arlott was speaking withaffection, however, for E W Swanton truly is the voice of cricket. “Ours is a slow-moving game and as such holds up a clearermirror to character than most,” he wrote in From Grace To Botham:A Century Of Cricket Fame. “We want to admire the stars forwhat they are as well as for what they do – which is why theexhibi- tionist antics of a few in recent times, giving theworst of examples to the young watchers on television, are soparticularly abhorrent.”He has been present at every great moment in cricket history,such as Bradman`s last innings when he was bowled by Eric Holliesand thereby denied the four he needed for a Test average of 100 -“I thought that [Jack] Fingleton and [Bill] O`Reilly were goingto have strokes in the press box, they were horribly unkind tothe Don” – except the notorious Bodyline tour of 1932-33, whichhe missed after being cricket-writing career.”I`d been covering a match between Yorkshire and Essex at Leytonin which Yorkshire, in the persons of Holmes and Sutcliffe, puton 555 for the first wicket. A world record. The Evening News,the Standard, an agency and The Star had to share the one publictelephone and old Swanton was the last. I missed the edition andthe editor at the time said, `Well, if the young fool can`t getus a story from Leyton, what`s he going to do from Melbourne andSydney?` So he deselected me and selected a chap called BruceHarris – the lawn tennis correspondent. Utter ignominy. When themonumental row started because we cheated, Bruce Harris latchedon to Douglas Jardine and Jardine was sensible enough to see he`dgot a spokesman for his views. I think if I had gone, I can`t believe I wouldn`t have condemned it. None of us wanted to believethey were doing what they were doing and since Bruce Harris gotsyndicated absolutely everywhere, everyone in England got the impression the Australians were squealers. It was an appallingthing.”Yet this has been a life of precious few disappointments, rathera life spent describing great deeds in great words. Harkunto Swanton on Sobers, his “favourite modern player . . one ofa large family from a little wooden house such as they have inBarbados and I saw him aged 17 playing his first Test in Jamaica.He aver- aged 57, I think it was, in Tests but if he`d been arun-grabber, if he`d put himself in at No 4 all the time instead of down the order, he`d have averaged 70, I expect. But thebest thing about him was that he never put a foot wrong. Heplayed the game hard and tough – as it should be – but scrupulously fairly.”Here, among his memories of Sobers and his collection of Wisdensstretching back to 1879 (including the battered 1939 version hekept with him in a Japanese POW camp), we must take our reluctantleave of E W Swanton for there is much work to be done before hecan flee the winter to enjoy his annual holiday in Barbados. Aswe crunch down the snowy path, from the drawing-room can be heardthe piano of his wife Ann, 85, an accomplished pianist who hasperformed with Sir Noel Coward and Sir Donald Bradman, while fromthe office E W Swanton is dictating his latest thoughts; and,yes, sounding remarkably like “a great uncle with a partialityfor brown Windsor soup and gentleman`s relish”.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

In the four years since he last took five wickets in a Test innings,Jacques Kallis has cemented his position as one of the batting greats ofthe modern age, but it was an inspired eight-over spell on the thirdmorning at the National Stadium in Mirpur that went a long way towardsdestroying Bangladeshi hopes of an epochal victory.Kallis’ 5 for 30 triggered a collapse to 182 all out, and solid knocksfrom Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla got them to within 27 of the 205 neededbefore the victory push was halted by bad light. Shahadat Hossain, whostarred with 6 for 27 in the first innings, and Mohammad Rafique induced alate-afternoon wobble, but dour batting from Ashwell Prince and AB deVilliers shut the door in the final overs of the day.As ever, Kallis bowled a heavy ball and got just enough movement to worrybatsmen on a pitch that showed further signs of wear and tear. In thespace of four balls midway through the morning session, the complexion ofthe match turned utterly. Dale Steyn had probed away while Makhaya Ntinihad again been disappointing, and as the fifth-wicket partnership betweenJunaid Siddique and Aftab Ahmad swelled to 63, Smith was running out ofoptions.Instead of Mornè Morkel, he threw the ball to Kallis, and the breakthroughcame with the fifth ball he bowled. The line was perfect, and there wasjust enough deviation away to take the outside edge as Siddique sparreduncertainly. He had batted 184 balls to equal his previous highest of 74,and his exit was a serious blow to hopes of setting a big target.Three balls later, the innings was in disarray. Aftab had previouslysurvived a vociferous shout after padding up to Ntini, but when he did thesame to a Steyn delivery that darted back, the umpire wasn’t in charitablemood. Aftab had eschewed his attacking instincts during a sober innings,but like Mohammad Ashraful, his captain, he couldn’t quite carry on.Kallis struck in his second over as well, though Mushfiqur Rahim wasn’texactly thrilled when Steve Bucknor ruled him out after he appeared tomiss a glance down the leg side. Boucher took the catch and went up inappeal, and the raised finger gave him a record 417th dismissal, one ahead of therecently-retired Adam Gilchrist.Rafique came in and played the only way he knew. Two carves through theoff side off Kallis briefly enlivened the crowd, but a lazy waft then sawhis off stump knocked out. And on the stroke of lunch, Kallis wrappedthings up, having Mashrafe Mortaza graze one to slip and Shakib Al Hasanedge through to Boucher. The demolition job was complete, and it was leftto the batsmen to complete the task of getting the favourites out of jail.Neil McKenzie might have gone in Mortaza’s opening over, but an outsideedge didn’t carry to the slip cordon, and when he survived a massive shoutfor leg before soon after, you sensed it would be South Africa’s day. Heplayed a couple of gorgeous cover drives as the bowlers erred in line andlength, and Ashraful was soon calling for some left-arm spin from Rafique.

It was Hossain who provided the opening though. Despite having gone for 13in his previous over, Smith lacing two lovely fours in the V, Ashrafulkept the faith in his bowler and was rewarded when a McKenzie miscued a pull to Habibul Bashar at square leg. Smith, who had been struck a painful blowin the abdomen at the start of his innings, survived a strong shout for acatch behind soon after, but the sort of collapse that ruined the firstinnings never materialised.Hashim Amla got going with a tidy glance off Rafique and an on-driveoff Hossain and when Smith moved towards his half-century with a sweetshot down the ground off Mortaza, the crowd’s spirits sank further. Havingbeen in the ascendancy a day earlier, Bangladesh were once again staringat defeat inside three days.Amla played some fabulous strokes down the ground and through midwicket,while Smith was clinical in putting away anything overpitched or wide. Thepartnership was worth 73 when Smith tried to tuck Rafique through the legside only to miss it completely. The appeal was upheld and Kallis, thebowling hero, arrived at the crease.Amla’s elegant effort ended soon after, when an attempted cut off Rafiqueflew off the outside edge to Siddique at first slip. Though the speed atwhich it was travelling pushed him back, he managed to hold on. It wasconsolation too for Rafique, after Bucknor had ruled Kallis not out when athin edge ricocheted off Rahim to the man at slip.He didn’t stay long enough to capitalise on the good fortune though.Hossain tempted him with a short ball, and the pull arrowed into the handsof Mortaza at backward square leg. At 144 for 4, the dressing room wouldhave been jittery, but Prince and de Villiers opted for discretion ratherthan an early finish, sensing that the Bangladeshis had lifted their game.de Villiers was uncharacteristically subdued, and it was Prince thatwhittled away at the target, with a powerful cut off Mortaza and two meatypulls off Rafique. Barring a dramatic reversal of fortune on Monday, SouthAfrica will win this game, and leave Bangladesh to ponder just how theylet it get away.

Leicestershire have signed Dillon du Preez, the South African quick bowler, as their second Kolpak acquisition in a week.du Preez was the highest wicket-taker in the Supersport Series with 55 wickets at 16 and Leicestershire coach Tim Boon says he will be a valuable addition to the attack.”He swings it away from the right hand batter, almost in the shape of Darren Gough,” he told . “He has a strong set of values, and he’s really keen to learn and fit in.”Leicestershire recently brought in Jermaine Lawson, the West Indies fast bowler, as another part of their bowling unit for the 2008 season. They need to fill the hole left by Stuart Broad who moved to Nottinghamshire.

March 7, 1987 remains an iconic date in Indian cricket and Rahul Dravid remembered it clearly. It was the day when Sunil Gavaskar late-cut an innocuous ball to third man to become the first batsman to get to 10,000 runs in Tests. For young Indian batsmen growing up, the figure was some sort of a holy grail.At the time, all Rahul Dravid dreamt of was to play for India and he admitted that by joining the elite club he had, in some way, exceeded his own expectations. “I can see that picture in my mind, watching it on television – Gavaskar late-cutting in Ahmedabad and raising his bat for his 10,000. I never had an ambition to do it, because I never believed.”As a young kid, to be honest, I didn’t have the self-belief I could do it. When I look back, I probably I exceeded my expectations with what I have done over the last 10-12 years. I can look back and reflect that I maximised my potential over these years.”What would be particularly heartening is that it comes on the back of probably his toughest year in Test cricket. Excluding matches against Bangladesh, he had gone 15 Tests without a century, a trot few would have envisaged during his glorious run between 2002 and 2004. He’s relinquished his captaincy and lost his one-day spot.”I pretty much coasted for the last five-six years through my career,” he said. “I had to work pretty hard from 9000 to 10,000. In some ways, it was a sign for me to learn to enjoy these things, learn to reflect on these moments. The last 1000 has been a learning curve for me.”It has been a tough year in some ways. I have been playing well in patches. I have been fighting through it. I felt at phases it was coming back and probably just breaking my finger in the last game in Adelaide [gave me a break]. I was completely off for six weeks. I picked up the bat two or three days before the Deodhar Trophy game. I got a couple of good scores – a hundred and a fifty. I came into this Test feeling really good.”This hundred won’t be remembered for its fluency, neither was it made in demanding conditions. In fact he took just six balls less to reach his hundred than Virender Sehwag had done to get three times as much. He wasn’t in too much trouble but he did get into phases where he was bogged down.Where would he place this innings among the 25 he’s made? “I place the ones higher when I end up winning those games. Even the 90 at Perth is a lot more significant for me than some hundreds I have got. The South Africans bowled well today – tighter lines and they also got the ball to reverse-swing. I think I just felt happy I was solid and in control right through the innings.”Dravid joined Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara as the only two players with 10,000 runs in both Tests and one-dayers. It’s a particularly significant achievement for Dravid, because of the number of challenges he needed to overcome in ODIs. He maintained the one-day milestone was special but was clear about valuing his Test runs more.”Test cricket is much tougher in the end. You look back on that and you recognise they are the toughest ones to get. You will always cherish you Test performances a bit more than the one-day ones. You know the 10,000 you got in Test cricket has probably been a bit tougher.”

David Hussey was in disbelief when he discovered he had earned his first Cricket Australia contract but the Victoria batsman knows there is still a long way to go before his dream of playing Test cricket is fulfilled. Hussey was one of 25 players to receive national deals, completing an exciting nine days after he was also named in the ODI squad to tour the West Indies in June.”It’s a stepping stone,” Hussey said of his new contract. “It’s one thing getting picked in the top 25 and another thing is playing. I desperately want an opportunity. It’s remarkable just one phone call gives you a lot of self-belief and self-confidence.”Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said Hussey had been “knocking on the contract door for the past few interstate seasons”, but it took his first thousand-run Pura Cup campaign in 2007-08 before he was finally included. However, with an established top six in the Test team and the record-breaking Simon Katich seemingly next in line, Hussey knows he must grab whatever one-day opportunities come his way.”There’s a lot of good batters floating around at the moment – Cam [White], Brad Hodge, Simon Katich, Shaun Marsh has been added,” he said. “For me it’s just basically making runs at the right time.”His Victoria team-mate White also held onto his contract despite not having played for Australia since February 2007. White considers himself primarily a batsman these days but he will be working hard on his legspin with no specialist one-day spinners in the squad.Stuart MacGill and Beau Casson, the only two frontline slow bowlers on the list, are not regular limited-overs players for New South Wales. White took a backseat to Victoria’s legspinner Bryce McGain in 2007-08, however he still averaged nearly eight overs a match in state one-dayers.”My bowling is probably going to be the avenue into more games for Australia, so that’s something I’ve got to do probably a little bit better,” White said. “I’ll probably get a bit more of an idea [of my role] when I get to the West Indies.”If White does find himself bowling more in ODIs – he averages only ten deliveries per game from his 16 appearances – he will be helping to fill the gap left by the newly retired Brad Hogg. Dan Cullen was one of the men Hogg tipped to take his one-day spot but the signs are not good for Cullen, who did not have his contract renewed despite a solid FR Cup season.”Of course it is a bit disappointing not to make the list this time round but I have great support at the Redbacks and there is still plenty of time left for me to play for Australia,” Cullen said. His South Australia team-mate, the legspinner Cullen Bailey, was also dropped from the national list after a disappointing year during which he was picked for only two Pura Cup games, taking one wicket.Bailey said: “2007-08 was a challenging season but I have learnt much across a range of fronts. My focus is now completely dedicated to what happens next. I am working hard to develop my game.”

South Africa’s existing franchises will remain in place for at least one more season after Cricket South Africa (CSA) decided to postpone an evaluation of the system. CSA had asked a committee to assess the franchise system in time to implement any changes before the 2008-09 season.However, the committee said it could not submit its full report until August, meaning any alterations would not take place until 2009-10. The six current franchises replaced the previous provincial teams in 2004-05, with the aim of strengthening the top tier of cricket in South Africa.The committee was to investigate several facets of the system, including whether the standard of domestic cricket in the country had improved. The interim report from the committee to CSA’s general council said the substantial presentations from various stakeholders meant more time was required to make a full assessment.”The committee decided, after hearing the presentations and studying the written submissions, that it would need more time for further consideration of the written and oral representations,” the report said. “It was also decided by the committee that to do justice to the submissions, it would be necessary to inspect some of the facilities.”

Match facts

December 10-14, 2015
Start time 1030 local (2130 GMT)Kane Williamson will be looking to help New Zealand finish 2015 the way they started it, when he struck a career-best 242* in a 193-run win over Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve•Getty Images

Big Picture

What’s Sri Lankan cricket without a little upheaval? Until the team landed in New Zealand, it had almost been a boring year. The usual board v players contract dispute failed to materialise in March. There have been no heated public exchanges involving administrators. Even the annual resignation of the head coach went off remarkably smoothly. Angelo Mathews had seemingly imparted some level-headed sense into the system. But really, is there any use Angelo? Chaos is Sri Lankan cricket’s default setting. To chaos it will always return.Now, ahead of an important tour, Sri Lanka are without their player of the year in Dhammika Prasad, and have been deprived of Kusal Perera, who kept wicket and brought balance to the XI. The repercussions of each absence are far-reaching. Dinesh Chandimal – of whom much was already expected with the bat – will also take up the wicketkeeping responsibilities. And the seam attack lacks a charismatic leader. With Dushmantha Chameera or Vishwa Fernando almost certain to play, the bowling appears nearly as inexperienced as the batting.New Zealand, meanwhile, have returned from Australia defeated but not deflated. There is, of course, a sense that the series could have been drawn if not for umpiring errors, but beyond that, the attack appears to be gathering momentum ahead of the home summer. Trent Boult, Tim Southee and company scythed through Sri Lanka’s top order last year. This time, the visiting opposition is without their greatest ever Test batsman, and is tending young, fragile careers.Maybe Australia did puncture holes in Brendon McCullum’s aggressive manifesto, but are any Sri Lanka batsmen capable of attacking New Zealand in the way that David Warner did? The visitors appear to be focusing on a far more conservative approach, perhaps in light of tougher pitches across the Tasman.Expect a lot of New Zealand slips in this Test, and maybe a few single-figure Sri Lankan scores as well. The series is far from a foregone conclusion though. The thing about chaos is that, sometimes, it can work in manic and miraculous ways.

Form guide

New Zealand: LDLWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka: WWLLW

In the spotlight

Having led New Zealand to one of their best-ever Test years in 2014, Brendon McCullum has experienced a relative lull with the bat this year. In 11 Test innings so far, he has crossed fifty only twice. Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor have scored heavily to offset the absence of his runs, but at home now, and with a friendlier attack bowling to him, conditions seem good for a McCullum resurgence.Charged with managing a young side, there is also pressure on Angelo Mathews to ensure his own performances stay vibrant and strong. His team will look to him for stability in the middle order, but with Prasad out of the series, Mathews’ bowling will be required as well. He has hit three hundreds this year – but all have come in losing causes. If Sri Lanka are to spring a surprise in New Zealand, Mathews may have to do even more than he is already doing.In addition to his wicketkeeping responsibilities, Dinesh Chandimal will continue batting at No. 4, according to Angelo Mathews•AFP

Teams news

Kaushal Silva only flies into Dunedin on Wednesday, so he is unlikely to play, according to Mathews. Opener Udara Jayasundera will debut, after hitting a fifty in the warm-up match. Quick Dushmantha Chameera’s four wickets in that game will likely see him enter the XI as well. Dinesh Chandimal will take the gloves in Kusal Perera’s absence, but Mathews said Chandimal would continue batting at no. 4.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Udara Jayasundera, 3 Kithuruwan Vithanage, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 5 Angelo Mathews (capt.), 6 Kusal Mendis, 7 Milinda Siriwardana, 8 Rangana Herath, 9 Dushmantha Chameera, 10 Suranga Lakmal, 11 Nuwan PradeepNew Zealand’s batting is settled, but they have one decision to make with their attack. Brendon McCullum said one of either Mark Craig or Neil Wagner would miss out. That decision is unlikely to be made until further assessment of the track, on Thursday morning.New Zealand (probable): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Tom Latham, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Brendon McCullum (capt.), 6 Mitchell Santner, 7 BJ Watling (wk), 8 Doug Bracewell, 9 Mark Craig/ Neil Wagner, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Trent Boult

Pitch and conditions

The pitch has a thick green covering on the eve of the match, and as such, will probably be conducive to seam movement on the first two days. There is rain expected over the weekend, but that forecast is constantly changing. Sri Lanka are unlikely to enjoy the temperature, which is forecast to remain in the high teens and low twenties for the duration of the game.

Stats and trivia

• New Zealand have won five of their last six Tests at home, and are unbeaten in the country since March 2012.
• Four of the six Tests played at University Oval have been draws – most of those rain-affected.
• Rangana Herath requires seven wickets to become the second left-arm spinner to 300 Test scalps, after Daniel Vettori.
• 2015 has been Kane Williamson’s best year yet by a distance. He averages 90.40 after 12 innings so far. Sri Lanka are also his favourite opponent. He has struck 559 runs at 93.16 against them – thanks in large part to the career-high 242* at the Basin Reserve in January.

Quotes

“Looking back over the last couple of years, the emergence and development of this team is something that we – as leaders within the group – can be pretty proud of. We’re by no means the finished product and we’ll have a few challenges over the next little while. But overall we’re starting to shape into a very good cricket team. The profile of this cricket team has picked up recently too.”
“Our premier fast-bowler in Dhammika, has taken a lot of wickets in the recent past, and we’re going to miss him so bad. Kusal’s news was shocking as well, to be honest.”

Lauren Cheatle and Naomi Stalenberg, who have both impressed with the Sydney Thunder in the Women’s Big Bash League, are in line to debut for Australia after being named in the squad to take on India in six matches over the next month.Australia’s selectors have named a squad of 15 for the matches, beginning with three T20s in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, followed by three ODIs in Canberra and Hobart. The three T20s will be broadcast by the Nine Network and have been scheduled as double-headers to correspond with the T20s being played by the Australia and India men.Cheatle, 17, a left-arm fast bowler, and Stalenberg, 21, a middle-order batsman, have been named in the T20 squad only, after their strong WBBL performances. Cheatle is equal second on the WBBL wicket tally with 17 victims at 15.76 and an economy rate of 6.38, while Stalenberg has proven herself one of the tournament’s quickest scorers, with 160 runs at a strike-rate of 150.94.”The T20 squad has been selected with an eye to the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in March and includes two new faces,” Shawn Flegler, the Women’s National Selection Panel chairman, said. “We have chosen the Sydney Thunder’s Lauren Cheatle and Naomi Stalenberg, after some very impressive recent performances in the WBBL and WNCL.”Cheatle is a 17-year-old left-arm quick who can swing the ball into right-handers and has shown great composure in her second and third spells during the WNCL. Naomi Stalenberg has been a real standout with her aggressive middle-order batting, displaying great power and a healthy strike rate.”Stalenberg and Cheatle will be replaced for the ODI portion of the series by legspinner Kristen Beams and top-order batsman Nicole Bolton. Beams is recovering from a dislocated thumb and her fitness will be monitored closer to the start of the one-day internationals.Australia squad Meg Lanning (capt), Alex Blackwell (vice-capt), Kristen Beams (ODI only), Nicole Bolton (ODI only), Lauren Cheatle (T20 only), Sarah Coyte, Rene Farrell, Holly Ferling, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Naomi Stalenberg (T20 only).

Match facts

February 3, 2016
Start time 1400 local (0100 GMT)3:07

Australia quicks look forward to NZ pitches

Big Picture

There was much fanfare around the announcement of the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy back in May 2004. At simultaneous press conferences in Melbourne and Christchurch the boards of both countries set out their plans to compete for the trophy on an annual basis, strengthening the cricketing ties between the trans-Tasman neighbours. Walter Hadlee, then 88, was at the announcement in Christchurch, along with his son Dayle; Greg and Trevor Chappell attended in Melbourne. The New Zealand cricket chief executive of the time, Martin Snedden, declared: “I am confident that the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy will become as eagerly anticipated as other great annual sporting events such as the Bledisloe Cup series.”Well, that didn’t quite happen, but plenty of memorable matches were nonetheless played under the Chappell-Hadlee name and the boards stuck to their plans to contest the trophy annually for the next six years. And then it was quietly shelved. At the 2011 World Cup in India, it was announced that since no other time had been found in the summer’s schedule for a bilateral series, the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy would be on offer to the winner of the World Cup pool match between the two sides. After that it was forgotten, so much so that the boards neglected to even put the trophy up for grabs when they met at the 2013 Champions Trophy in England. They remembered again for their pool match at last year’s World Cup, but it has now been nearly six years since the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy was contested in a series of its own.At last, it is back. The two teams who competed in the World Cup final at the MCG last March get the chance for a bilateral one-day series, a three-match contest that precedes a series of two Tests. It all begins on Wednesday in Auckland, the venue of New Zealand’s one-wicket win over Australia in that Chappell-Hadlee match last year, one of the most memorable games of the World Cup. Despite the short boundaries at Eden Park, swing was king, Australia managed only 151 and it wasn’t far off being a winning score. Nearly a year on and with New Zealand’s personnel largely the same and Australia’s changed significantly, both sides are coming off series wins at home, Australia over India and New Zealand against Pakistan. The World Cup might not be up for grabs this time, but the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy gets a well-deserved return to centre stage.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)

New Zealand: WWWLW
Australia: LWWWW

In the spotlight

Brendon McCullum is now into the final month of his international career, and it is possible that he could finish by lifting both the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy and the Trans-Tasman Trophy as captain. His first task is to provide runs at the top of the order, and having missed the past month with a back injury his return in the final ODI against Pakistan did not exactly go to plan: he was caught hooking for a golden duck.Usman Khawaja is Australia’s most in-form batsman but the selectors have stuck to their existing pecking order and gone with Shaun Marsh for the first match. Marsh scored half-centuries in two of his three ODI innings against India last month, which has earned him the first chance in New Zealand, but Khawaja has produced such piles of runs in the past few months that one failure from Marsh might be enough for the selectors to make the change for the second game.The Chappell-Hadlee Trophy has been pushed to the fringes in recent years, contested as an after-thought in World Cup games; New Zealand won it last year in Auckland•ICC

Team news

Legspinner Ish Sodhi has been added to the squad for this first match in Auckland, after the New Zealanders saw how much turn Pakistan’s part-timer Azhar Ali extracted from the Eden Park surface on Sunday.New Zealand (possible) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Brendon McCullum (capt.), 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Henry Nicholls, 5 Grant Elliott, 6 Corey Anderson, 7 Luke Ronchi (wk), 8 Mitchell Santner/Ish Sodhi, 9 Adam Milne, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Trent Boult.Australia confirmed their XI on match eve, with Shaun Marsh named to open the batting with David Warner in the absence of the injured Aaron Finch. That meant there was no place for Khawaja, who was added to the squad to cover for Finch, while fast bowler Scott Boland and legspinner Adam Zampa were the bowlers who missed out.Australia 1 Shaun Marsh, 2 David Warner, 3 Steven Smith (capt.), 4 George Bailey, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 James Faulkner, 9 John Hastings, 10 Kane Richardson, 11 Josh Hazlewood.

Pitch and conditions

The drop-in pitch is usually good for batting at Eden Park, though there could be some swing in the air. The forecast is for a sunny day and a top temperature of 27C.

Stats and trivia

• New Zealand have won their past four bilateral ODI series at home against any opposition
• It has been so long since the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy has been contested outside of World Cups that only two Australians in the current squad – David Warner and Shaun Marsh – have experience in such series
• New Zealand currently hold the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy after winning the World Cup group match in Auckland last year; it was not up for grabs in the World Cup final
• New Zealand could field as many as eight men who played in the World Cup final (Ross Taylor and Tim Southee are injured, and Daniel Vettori has retired); Australia will have only five

Quotes

“There’s obviously going to be a few nerves tomorrow when you’re playing in a big series and hopefully if we can settle early then we can resort back to that even temper that we’ve played with throughout this summer and last summer as well.”
“New Zealand are a very good one-day side; they have played particularly well here at home. I guess for us we’ve got quite a different side to the one who faced them in the World Cup final, so it is a big challenge for us but we’re really looking forward to it.”