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Hashim Amla, the South Africa batsman, has left his domestic franchise Dolphins to join Cape Cobras. Amla, who’s played South African domestic cricket only for Durban-based Dolphins and his province KwaZulu-Natal till now, said it was a “difficult decision” to move to the Cape Town-based Cobras.”After a great deal of consideration and detailed discussion with my family and closest confidants, I have made the decision to move to Cape Cobras with immediate effect,” Amla said in a statement. “I must stress that this was a difficult decision for me.”I have always considered myself a Durban boy and know that I will dearly miss the support of the KZN fans during the domestic games. Although I may not have played a lot of domestic cricket in recent years due to my national team commitments, it is this tremendous support of the fans at KZN that I will remember and cherish the most.”Amla’s last game for Dolphins was a first-class fixture against Lions back in February 2012. He represented Dolphins 41 times and KwaZulu-Natal 19 times in first-class cricket.”I have decided to pursue my domestic career with Cape Cobras, and I am looking forward to joining a team that has as rich a tradition as Dolphins. I’m extremely excited about the future and look forward to making many new friends and colleagues in the Western Cape, whilst enjoying the game of cricket.”I would like to use this opportunity to personally wish the players of the Dolphins team everything of the best. Lastly, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Dolphins’ CEO Jesse Chellan for his support and assistance. It has been a great pleasure to work with him.”

ScorecardA century from wicketkeeper Raymond van Schoor and a fifty from captain Sarel Burger helped Namibia recover to 264 for 7 on the first day of their ICC Intercontinental Cup match against Netherlands in Windhoek.Put in to bat, Namibia were a precarious 53 for 4 after fast bowler Timm van der Gugten picked up three early wickets. Van Schoor and Burger then shared a 163-run partnership to revive the Namibia innings. The pair took their time settling down and consolidated the innings, their partnership coming off 336 balls.Fast bowler Mudassar Bukhari broke the stand, dismissing Burger for 71. Van Schoor brought up his hundred in 173 balls and was dismissed by van der Gugten for 110, with the score at 240 for 6. His innings included 11 fours.Van der Gugten, who also plays for New South Wales and Tasmania on the Australian domestic circuit, picked up his first five-wicket haul to finish with career-best figures of 5 for 61 off 26 overs.

Raza Hasan, Pakistan’s 20-year old left-arm spinner, is confident of being back in the reckoning for national selection with his swift recovery from a career-threatening spine injury. He returned to competitive cricket, after an almost four-month break, in the ongoing Faysal Bank Super Eight Twenty20 Cup.Hasan, who made his international debut last September against Australia, has played seven Twenty20 internationals since, taking six wickets at 25.66. But he was pegged back with major back trouble when he injured the disc in his spine in a domestic Twenty20 game on December 2. He underwent surgery, performed by a neurosurgeon Dr. Anjum Habib Vohra.”It was a major blow but with the timely treatment I am back in shape,” Hasan said. “Although I was given at least eight weeks’ rest by the doctor, I extended it to 12 weeks to give my body adequate rest. I am enjoying good health due to the gap. I am working hard to cover up for lost time.”I was a bit reckless earlier with my injury and I let it linger on, but now after the operation I am taking extra caution to take care of myself with proper gym sessions and back exercise.”In the wake of the injury, he missed the tours of India and South Africa, and hasn’t so far played Tests or ODIs for his country. During his layoff, two other left-arm spinners, Zulfiqar Babar and Abdur Rehman – who served a 12-week ban for testing positive for cannabis during his spell with Somerset – have been called in by the selectors. But the competition with other spinners for a place, with Saeed Ajmal leading the race, isn’t worrisome for Raza.”I am not really worried on being pushed back on return of Abdur Rehman or others as I don’t think I will be competing with anyone. The only completion I am facing is with my own self and I need to improve myself from here. I am young and have plenty of time ahead of me [to do the needful], rest is in the hands of the selectors.”

Kumar Sangakkara has been named in the squad for the Emerging XI that will play a three-day warm up match in Matara against Bangladesh, while offspinner Akila Dananjaya misses out due to injury.”I’ve started batting in the nets this week and have had a good week of practice, so the match against Bangladesh is a good opportunity to get some match practice,” Sangakkara said. “As long as I pull through ok, I will play in the Galle Test.”Sangakkara has not played competitive cricket since fracturing his index finger during the Boxing Day Test. He is the only player above 23 in the side captained by middle-order batsman Angelo Perera.Offspinner Dananjaya had been named in the preliminary squad for the match, but has been left out after straining his finger while taking a return catch in the latest round of first-class cricket. He will be rested for one to two weeks, but is likely to be available for the limited-overs leg of the Bangladesh tour. Allrounder Ramith Rambukwella takes his place in the Emerging XI squad.Batsmen Ashen Silva and Kithuruwan Vithanage, who are also in the Test squad, have also been included for the fixture, but 19-year-old offspinner Tharindu Kaushal misses out, and may instead be given a Test debut in the two-Test series. Kaushal is the leading wicket-taker in the ongoing first-class tournament, having bagged 31 wickets at 13.22, with four five-wicket hauls in four matches. He had also been named in the Test squad for the home series against New Zealand in November, before he’d played any first-class or List A cricket, but didn’t get a match in the series.The Emerging XI is coached by former Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana.16-man squad: Angelo Perera (capt), Kithuruwan Vithanage (vice capt), Kumar Sangakkara, Ashen Silva, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Udara Jayasundera, Shehan Jayasuriya, Ashan Priyanjana, Ishan Jayaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Kasun Madushanka, Chaturanga de Silva, Dulanjana Mendis, Ramith Rambukwella, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Gamage,

New Zealand fast bowler Tim Southee is set to return to competitive cricket on Thursday, for Northern Districts against Wellington in the Plunket Shield, following a thumb injury that kept him out for two months. While Southee admitted to his finger still being a “bit stiff”, he is hoping to be at his best and back in the national team before the end of New Zealand’s home series against England.”It’s all looking promising. I spoke to the surgeon last week and he’s pretty confident, [the thumb has] recovered more quickly than he expected,” Southee was quoted as saying by . “It’s not at full range yet, it’s still a bit stiff in some movements. It may still take another month or so for it to get back to being free like it was beforehand. But it feels reasonably strong, so unless I get a ball on the thumb I’m pretty sure it’s going to get through.”Southee last played for New Zealand in November, during the tour to Sri Lanka. He then missed the Twenty20s against South Africa in early December, having stayed in New Zealand for the birth of his first child. He was supposed to join the squad for the Test series, but picked up the injury while playing in the Plunket Shield.The injury, he said, was a serious one: “I’m excited to get back out there. It’s probably the longest layoff I’ve had.”There wasn’t a break but I ripped the ligaments clean off the bone. It was in a full cast for two and a bit weeks, then a splint for a while after that. Four or five weeks after surgery I was back into a bit of bowling, and I was also able to do some running and gym work.”New Zealand’s ODIs against England begin on February 17, while the Tests start on March 6. Southee said he would be in touch with the New Zealand management to plot his comeback: “I’ll play this game and keep in touch with the New Zealand medical staff and Brendon [McCullum, the captain] and Mike [Hesson, the coach] as well. I guess it’s up to them what they want to do, whether [I’ll] be involved in the one-day series or just get myself right for the Test series.”

ScorecardBahawalpur and Multan clinched a tight three-wicket victory, helped by an unbeaten half-century from Naved Yasin and a four-wicket haul from Zulfiqar Babar, against Afghanistan in Multan.Afghanistan, after being put in to bat, struggled to steady their innings, losing wickets frequently. Opener Mohammad Shahzad and Mohibullah Paak put up some resistance, scoring 37 and 49 not out respectively to mitigate the damage done, with seven batsmen scoring in single digits. Spinner Babar took 4 for 28 in his ten overs; Kashif Naved and Imranullah Aslam were the other wicket-takers.Bahawalpur and Multan were jolted early in their chase when Aslam was run out off the first ball of the innings. A 47-run stand between Usman Tariq and Sohaib Maqsood, and later a 30-run stand between Maqsood and Yasin, helped them recover. The chase got tougher with wickets falling, largely through spinner Hamid Hotak, who had bowled well in his previous match too, but Yasin stuck till the end to see his side through.

Shane Warne has been reported for breaching Cricket Australia’s Code of Behaviour during the semi-final of the Big Bash League between Melbourne Stars and Perth Scorchers. The charge was laid because James Faulkner was named the Stars’ official captain even though Warne was part of the team during their last-ball defeat at the WACA.Warne was alleged to have breached Rule 5: Laws of Cricket and Spirit of the Game, after a memo had been sent to all the teams on December 5. Under the heading “Over Rates”, the memo stated, “If a team’s official captain is selected but not named as captain, this will be considered against the Spirit of Cricket and may attract a Code of Behaviour charge.”In the semi-final, Faulkner was listed as the Stars’ captain on the team sheet and went out to toss. Warne, the Stars’ official captain, had previously been warned for a slow over-rate violation. A second offence in the semi-final would have led to Warne being suspended for the final.The time and date of the hearing is yet to be determined.

Sri Lanka’s XI for the first Test in Hobart features the two major components of a team at different ends of the experience spectrum. The top five has an opener playing his second match, but the other four men have 409 Tests to their name, and have hit 89 hundreds between them. None of the pace bowlers, meanwhile, has yet played 20 Tests or taken 50 wickets. On the eve of the first Test in Hobart, Mahela Jayawardene backed his bowlers in the face of staunch criticism, but maintained it was his batsmen who would need to deliver a maiden win on Australian soil.Former Australian fast bowler Rodney Hogg has been the most combative critic of Sri Lanka’s bowlers, declaring the visiting fast men comprise the “worst new-ball attack that has landed on our shores ever”. Others have been less caustic in their appraisal of Sri Lanka’s bowlers, but have also been skeptical of the visitors’ chances of taking 20 wickets in a Test, despite having one of 2012’s top wicket-takers in their ranks in Rangana Herath.”To be honest I don’t know in which capacity he has said that,” Jayawardene said. “Teams have to start somewhere. We have lost some fast bowlers in the past and some due to injuries.”This is an attack that is different. We probably don’t have the pace which you think which is required to win Test matches in Australia but we’ve got guys who will bowl good lines and lengths and create opportunities. If we keep to that I think we stand a good chance. We’ll see. We’ve got three Test matches to play. Once we finish that, I’ll have a chat to Rodney Hogg.”Jayawardene challenged his batsmen to rebound from a poor series against New Zealand, in which none of them made triple-figures, and only three men went past 50. Encouraging signs of form emerged from Sri Lanka’s tour match in Canberra, with Tillakaratne Dilshan making a ton and Kumar Sangakkara notching up a fifty, after having had his worst series ever against New Zealand.”We’ll bank on our experience with our batting to win a Test match. The important thing is to put runs on the board and give our bowlers a chance to get 20 wickets. If we achieve that, I think we have a pretty good chance. Looking at the wicket, both teams will have a challenge on their hands because we don’t know how the wicket is going to play. Depending on that, we need to adjust.”Angelo Mathews and Dimuth Karunaratne are two men who arrived in Australia in some form, and Jayawardene also put faith in them to play a role in the first Test. Mathews’ 210 runs was by far Sri Lanka’s highest returns from a single batsman in the series, eclipsing the efforts of Jayawardene, Sangakkara and Dilshan combined, while Karunaratne’s run-a-ball 60 in Galle saw him earn a place in the squad to Australia. Jayawardene confirmed Karunaratne’s place in the XI, with him having also made enough runs in the tour match to displace Tharanga Paranavitana.”Angelo has improved a lot over the years. Every time he’s been challenged he’s come out of those challenges very well. Definitely at No.6 6, he has given us that little bit extra of what we’ve been looking for: an aggressive player who can score quickly and change a game for us. With the ball he’s contributed as well. Yes he is going to play a big role in these Test matches.”Jayawardene also marked Phil Hughes out as a possible soft target for Sri Lanka’s bowlers, as Hughes attempts to embed himself in the Australian side after a year out of the team. Hughes’ last Test had also been at Bellerive Oval, where he completed a quartet of near-identical caught-behinds off Chris Martin.”We’ve spoken to a few people and we’ve seen a lot of footage of Hughes lately as well. We know where his strengths are now and what he’s trying to do. If we keep bowling where we want him to be playing at consistently, we probably can get him to make a few mistakes.”

Match facts

October 23, 2012
Start time 1330 local (1130 GMT)Nothing less than an outright win will help Auckland progress•Associated Press

Big Picture

The Champions League rolls on to its final day of league matches, and the semi-finalists are yet to be decided from Group A. The other group, in contrast, wasn’t quite as open or competitive, with Sydney Sixers and Lions already booking their slots in the semis, thereby making Monday’s games inconsequential.As for the opening game on Tuesday, only one of the two teams has something to play for. Auckland Aces are currently third with six points and to beat Perth Scorchers to keep their hopes alive. An outright win will take them to ten points. Their progression will then depend on the result of the second game of the evening, between Delhi Daredevils and Titans. Daredevils will move to 14 points if they win, but if they lose, they will be locked on 10 points with Auckland, and therefore only one of the two will progress, based on superior net run-rate. If Auckland can secure their four points tomorrow, they will hope for a Daredevils victory as it cuts out the net-run-rate scenario.There’s nothing at stake for Perth, though, who were eliminated after losing to Daredevils in a low-scorer at Newlands. Following two consecutive defeats, the Australian side would want to save face with a consolation win. A Perth win will make the second game a dead rubber. Auckland were properly tested for the first time last week when they lost comprehensively to the Titans at Kingsmead. After restricting teams to below-par totals from the qualifying stage, they were set to chase 173, but fell 59 short. Their next game, against Daredevils, was washed out without a ball bowled. Auckland will hope the weather cooperates at Centurion, so they can pick up four points. They have to win, and then watch.Auckland will be without their allrounder Andre Adams, who picked up a abdominal muscle tear while batting against Titans. Having returned home, he is likely to be out for up to three weeks.

Watch out for…

Lou Vincent has made starts, with scores of 20, 19, 30 and 6, but hasn’t lasted more than 16 balls in any innings. He’s in the side to provide strong starts, and a lengthier stint at the crease should make a difference. Vincent has reportedly been keeping the team’s spirits alive by giving “motivational speeches” with his Justin Bieber doll. Some runs with the bat will lift the team greater.Perth’s Mitchell Marsh has hit one of the biggest sixes in the tournament and is the only player from the squad to score 100 runs or more. Perth have only managed scores of 124 (chasing 164) and 121 in their two completed games and if Marsh can fire at the top, he could help his team to an above-par score and test Auckland.

Quotes

“We certainly haven’t played anywhere near what we did last summer, and hopefully that’s going to bug quite a few of the guys to put in a good performance to finish well.”

Kevin Pietersen’s fractured relationship with the England team will take years rather than weeks to repair if it can be mended at all, Australia’s coach Mickey Arthur has said.The breach of trust inherent in text messages Pietersen is alleged to have sent to his South African opponents during the recently completed Test series, among a myriad of other issues, forced the batsman’s removal from the England dressing room. Arthur, a former coach of South Africa, told ESPNcricinfo that in the circumstances England’s selectors had no other choice but to drop Pietersen.”It takes time to mend,” Arthur said of the rift between player and team. “They say trust and reputation takes a year to two years to really build, and you can lose it in two minutes. I think that’s where they’ve got to with KP now.”England have dealt with it in the best possible way. The way they’ve handled it has been clinical, its been ruthless, it’s been very good. It did obviously upset their team a bit, but little Jonny Bairstow came in and got 95 and 54 at Lord’s and played really well, another guy steps up to the plate and does the job.”There’s no one guy that’s bigger than the team and England must’ve thought that KP had got to that point. It was tough for them, it was pretty unsettling, but I think they’ve handled it very well.”Arthur was a bleary-eyed spectator for the Test matches in England, watching the matches on television in his Perth home. He was not surprised by the success of South Africa’s bowlers in tucking up Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook from around the wicket, but also lauded Vernon Philander for his adroit use of new-ball swing.”I know from our last meetings with Cook and Strauss in 2008, we certainly came around the wicket to them,” Arthur said. “Morne Morkel has been the one who has created a lot of problems from around the wicket, and that is certainly a line we’d explore to attack [against England]. What Philander did was he swung it, and anybody who swings the ball is going to be a handful.”You want to try to play with the batsmen’s feet, that’s why you need to use your bouncer well, use it intelligently, that type of stuff. South Africa definitely did it very well.”Arthur’s team are scheduled to be South Africa’s next Test opponents in three home matches at the outset of the Australian summer, a prospect now rich with meaning since the winner of the series will be able to lay claim to top spot on the ICC’s Test rankings.”It looks like being another Test championship series and it is a mouth-watering prospect, certainly one I’m really looking forward to,” Arthur said. “Our Test side’s a really settled unit, to beat South Africa now you’ve got to play really disciplined cricket for a long period of time and hopefully we can have the preparation and be ready for that when the time comes.”I know from our time together that the South African guys are a resilient bunch, they enjoy touring together, they’re a really good team, a good team ethos going, they’re well-led, and very well coached. I think they all believe in their ability now, they believe in their ability to win the big games, and I can’t wait for that Test series [in Australia].”In the meantime Australia have 50-over and Twenty20 assignments in the UAE and Sri Lanka, with Arthur leaving the ODI leg of the tour to his assistant Steve Rixon. Rather than marshal the team against Afghanistan and Pakistan, Arthur will be tuning his plans with George Bailey for the World T20, particularly the nuances of the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo where the Australians will be based for the group phase.”I’m just clearing my head and getting a good idea in terms of the roles we want to use for players,” Arthur said. “There will be a bit of opposition analysis in that, and just getting a real clear head around the way we want to tackle this, have a look at how successful teams have played at Premadasa, study that ground a little bit. I’m suspecting towards that back end of the tournament that the wickets will turn, so I’m just getting all the attention to detail right.”