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One of cricket’s most over-used adages is that shorter formats reduce the quality gap between teams, and though it may not always be true, Zimbabwe are hoping it will be apply to them when they take on South Africa in the four-day Test starting on Boxing Day. Though elite cricketers, including two of South Africa’s own, Faf du Plessis and Dean Elgar, have largely turned their noses up at the idea of shorter Test matches, Graeme Cremer believes it could give his team, ranked No. 10, a greater chance to compete with their opponents, ranked No. 2.”I think it’s a good thing, especially when the two teams aren’t ranked that close together,” Cremer said at Zimbabwe’s arrival press conference in Paarl on Tuesday. “The game will move that much quicker because it’s only four days. It will be good to watch and good for the crowd.”Cremer expects the “bigger” teams to aim to bat once and bat quickly. “What a lot of the so-called bigger teams will do is bat the other team right out of the game and they can bat as long as they want, knowing they’ve got the bowlers to bowl a team out twice,” he said. “The bigger teams will have to probably score a bit quicker and give the lesser team a lot more opportunity to get wickets and the game will move quite quickly.”But Zimbabwe’s coach Heath Streak thinks that approach could also create an opening for the “smaller” team to work its way back into the game. “It’s much harder to bat a team out because in doing so you may make it easier for them to save the Test,” Streak said.Zimbabwe have recent experience of saving a game. They drew the second Test against West Indies, in a series they lost 1-0, and showed their ability to compete. Before that, they came close to upsetting Sri Lanka in an epic Test match in Colombo.Now Streak wants his team to take that one step further and not settle for anything less than winning.”It’s about shaking off the underdog mentality and playing to win, not to compete and to not embarrass ourselves,” Streak said. “Our series in Sri Lanka was a watershed moment for us, more mentally than anything else. We are out to play winning cricket and we’d rather lose trying to play a winning brand than to just compete. We’ll have our challenges, especially in the longer format because we don’t play that much, but this team is going places.”An obvious challenge is the lack of game time for Zimbabwe, who play significantly fewer matches than the other Test teams. Streak admitted they would welcome any matches, in any format, just to get better. “It’s less about the type of cricket and more about playing at international level, whether we are playing ODIs or Tests. It’s the gaps in between the international fixtures that are the biggest challenge for us. Our domestic level of cricket isn’t high so for us to step up, that’s the challenge.”However, Zimbabwe could be set to play even less. Earlier this year, ZC’s new MD Faisal Hasnain admitted the country would seek to host fewer Tests in future, once the new Test league comes into place, because they are financially unviable. Instead, they would concentrate on shorter formats at home and hope to play Tests overseas, as they are doing now in South Africa. And that will mean taking fixtures in whatever format the hosts offer, as is the case now.The Boxing Day Test won’t just be the first four-day Test since 1973, but will also be a day-night game, which Zimbabwe are unused to. With no floodlights at either Harare Sports Club or Queens in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe only play day-night games abroad, and now they have to do it with a pink ball.Many teams, especially batsmen, have had problems with the pink ball at twilight and Cremer’s early assessment is that Zimbabwe will experience the same. “We’ve had two sessions under lights with the pink ball. It was good to see how it reacts,” he said. “At that twilight time, a little bit more seems to happen with the ball off the wicket. We’ll be careful of that. It will probably swing.”Zimbabwe are yet to decide on their team combination but will use the upcoming three-day warm-up match, which starts on Wednesday, to decide on the best combination. “We’re very inexperienced at this,” Cremer said. “The warm-up game will give us a good idea of how to go forward in the Test match.”They will also use it to see how they fare against a returning Dale Steyn, who is expected to make his Test comeback this summer. Steyn has not played for South Africa since last November, when he broke a bone in his shoulder in Perth, but has been named in the Test squad and his final availability will be confirmed on the basis of how he comes through the practice match. Rather than fear what is effectively an audition for Steyn, Cremer said Zimbabwe’s line-up was looking forward to it.”It is very exciting,” Cremer said. “Dale brings a lot to cricket in general. He is a good guy and he is one of the better bowlers going around. It will be good to have him back, not only just for this Test match but going forward in his career. He is great to watch and we are excited to see him in the three-day game and hopefully in the Test.”

Hunched of shoulder and a trifle bandy of gait, Daryl Mitchell works the ball square of the wicket in the manner beloved of a thousand county openers. Every April across the decades members have turned up at cricket grounds across England hoping to see batsmen like Mitchell play the innings that win or save games. Formats change and modernities obtrude but cricketers like Mitchell disguise the gentle lies of time. They also win championships.This simple truth was confirmed at 4.20pm on a gorgeous September afternoon at New Road when Graham Onions drove R Ashwin to Joe Clarke at short cover. That dismissal gave Ashwin his fifth victim of the innings; it also completed Worcestershire’s ninth victory of a season which ended with champagne, a trophy and all the endearing dance-about daftness that comes with them. For the fifth time in 12 seasons Worcestershire are to test themselves against the cracks of Division One and the finest bowlers in the land will try to best one of the canniest openers on the circuit.In May, when the world sang with the ambition of spring, Mitchell went to Derby having scored 31 runs in four first-class innings. He then made 120. And on the final day of this season, under beguiling June-blue skies, Mitchell cover-drove Liam Trevaskis for three runs to reach his seventh century in this year’s Championship. His unbeaten 123 set up Worcestershire’s declaration and thereby their push for victory on a last afternoon which had already been garlanded by the certainty of promotion. .And thus the joy of the triumphal moment was mixed with the bittersweet sadness that lies on all cricket grounds in September. “Der Sommer war sehr groß / Leg deinen Schatten auf die Sonnenuhren” wrote Rilke, who was actually something of a Kolpak poet. “The huge summer has gone by / Now overlap the sundials with your shadows.”This last day passed more or less as Worcestershire intended. Mitchell reached his hundred off 134 balls and delighted the crowd when he cut a boundary between the two backward points Paul Collingwood had carefully positioned. The declaration was applied when George Rhodes notched his second fifty of the season and it left Durham to score 369 in 76 overs, a proposition they were never permitted to entertain.As if to reassure spectators that they were ready to play at a higher level, the Worcestershire seamers put on a fine show. Joe Leach pinned Cameron Steel on the back foot with the sixth ball of the innings and then ended Jack Burnham’s season when Durham’s No. 3 played no shot at a ball which came back off the seam. “Joe Leach, Joe Leach, Joe Leach, Joe Leeeeaaaach” sang a group of Worcestershire supporters and Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” will never sound the same.It was an afternoon of last things and farewells, and when cricket has no time for such things, we might as well fold up the tents and head for the hills. Each of his team mates hugged Onions when Durham left the field as a team for the last time; Keaton Jennings’ final innings for the county to which he owes so much ended on 20 when he played carefully forward to Ashwin but edged to Mitchell at first slip; and when Steve Gale came down the steps after tea to stand in his last session as a first-class umpire, both teams formed a guard of honour. The Worcestershire crowd also applauded Collingwood at almost every opportunity and Mitchell merely when he went to field at third man.None of these fond moments weakened Durham’s resolve to save the game and it is this readiness to resist that will help sustain them over the next few years. Collingwood and Graham Clark put on 88 for the fourth wicket and both hit Ashwin for six. But both were also leg before on the back foot to Ed Barnard, whose cricket has been one of the young joys of Worcestershire’s summer.Clark had made his second fifty of the match and seems likely to be one of those players upon whom Durham must build a new side. But none of his colleagues could match his intransigence on an afternoon dominated by Leach’s bowlers and by the warmth of a large crowd bubbling with good humour and success. Ryan Pringle skied Ashwin to Rhodes at square leg just before tea and Leach yorked Michael Richardson just after the resumption. Ashwin took care of Trevaskis and Chris Rushworth with successive balls and the late high jinks of a last-wicket stand simply allowed the ECB’s presentation party to ready the banners and bells.And so ended a game which has seen all seasons but spring and a cricket season enriched by men like Mitchell and Leach. Before long the spectators who had applauded the cricketers were planning to meet over the winter and saying their farewells in the meantime. “As the thin glow of summer’s death / Will turn the leaves to red / May the wind blow like a lover’s breath / Still warm as gingerbread” sings the matchless Nancy Kerr, and if our farewells were not as eloquent they were no less heartfelt. But some of those spectators will not return to New Road until chestnut empires recolonise the sky above this ground.Now evening: from the pavilion can be heard celebrations which will reach deep into the night; the tower of the cathedral is etched against a silver-blue background; through the trees boys can be seen training for a rugby match; in the distance a last spectator is leaving. Now overlap the sundials with your shadows.

Australia 217 and 109 for 2 (Warner 75*, Smith 25*) need another 156 runs to beat Bangladesh 260 and 221 (Tamim 78, Lyon 6-82)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:20

Isam: Bangladesh off kilter after Smith reprieve

An Asian pitch offering variable bounce. A target in excess of 250. An opponent full of self-belief and ready for a historic victory. This was the scenario that faced Australia on the third afternoon in Mirpur. It called for leadership from Australia’s two senior batsmen and by stumps, David Warner and Steven Smith had shown enough of that to give their side plenty of hope. Work remained, but Australia went to bed with ample self-belief of their own.It was another day of fluctuating fortunes. Bangladesh began 88 runs in front with nine wickets in hand and before long Australia were down a bowler, Josh Hazlewood having left the field with a sore left side. He would not return for the rest of the innings. There was a half-century from Tamim Iqbal – his second of his 50th Test – and a fighting 41 from Mushfiqur Rahim. But there was also a lower-order collapse of the last five wickets for 35, which kept Australia in the game.Nathan Lyon was responsible for much of Australia’s fightback, his 6 for 82 the fourth-best analysis of his Test career. He found turn and sharp bounce from the pitch, which simultaneously dragged Australia back into the contest while also sending a worrying message to their batsmen. But chasing 265, Australia worked their way into a good position at stumps, on 109 for 2, with Warner on 75, Smith on 25, and a further 156 runs required.David Warner struck a counter-attacking fifty•Getty Images

The surface was far from poor, neither was their work easy. The threat from Bangladesh’s spinners was always there, and accounted for Matt Renshaw, who was lbw for 5 to Mehidy Hasan’s straight ball, and Usman Khawaja, whose miserable Asian run continued when on 1 he swept Shakib Al Hasan and top-edged a catch to deep square leg. At 28 for 2, Bangladesh were firmly on top; by stumps less so.Warner scored briskly, using his feet on occasions and punishing the bad balls that were offered up. He was given a chance on 14 when his thick edge off Shakib was missed by Soumya Sarkar at slip, and he made Bangladesh pay for the missed opportunity. By stumps, Warner had plundered 11 fours and one six, and the close of play came at a good time for Bangladesh, who must regroup overnight.

Quick stats

• 1 – Five-wicket haul for Nathan Lyon in the second innings of a Test in Asia . This is his first five-for in 15 innings. The closest he had come was when he took 4 for 53 against India in Pune earlier this year. Lyon has 5 five-wicket hauls and 70 wickets in Asia from 31 innings

• 246 – Highest score for Australia in the 4th innings of a Test in Asia since 2007. In nine previous opportunities they have lost on eight occasions and drawn the game once. Australia need 264 to win the match against Bangladesh

• 14.62 – Average of Usman Khawaja in Asia from nine innings. His highest score is 26. However Khawaja’s average in Australia is 63.73

• 6 – Instances of Tamim Iqbal scoring two half centuries in Tests. Tamim has made six fifties in his last seven innings across all formats . He has scored 507 runs at an average of 72.42

Bangladesh had started the day in a good position, though a couple of early wickets to Lyon gave Australia hope – nightwatchman Taijul Islam was lbw and Imrul Kayes edged to slip a delivery that bounced sharply and turned. But Tamim remained, and found a useful ally, compiling a 68-run partnership with Mushfiqur that prevented a collapse and ensured Australia’s target would be challenging.Tamim scored strongly behind square and brought up his half-century from his 109th delivery when he slashed behind point for four off Ashton Agar’s first ball of the day. But as in the first innings, Tamim fell in the seventies, this time for 78 when his gloves kissed a snorting short ball from Pat Cummins that flew through to Matthew Wade, who took the overhead chance.Mushfiqur had sent a message early in his innings by getting off the mark with a lofted four over mid-on off Lyon, and he followed in Lyon’s next over with a six in a similar region. Curiously, though, they were his only boundaries, as he settled into a more sedate rhythm, before being run-out for 41 in unfortunate fashion, backing up when Sabbir Rahman’s fierce straight drive clipped Lyon’s fingers on the way through to the non-striker’s stumps.Already Lyon had accounted for Bangladesh’s other most dangerous batsman, Shakib, who was well caught by Cummins at deep cover when he advanced to lift over the top.Agar chipped in with the wicket of Nasir Hossain, who under-edged and was sharply taken by Wade for a duck, and Sabbir followed in the next over when he was given out caught at short leg off Lyon for 22. Strangely, Sabbir chose not to ask for a review despite replays suggesting the ball had touched neither bat nor gloves, and had bounced up to Peter Handscomb off pad alone.Lyon finished with the wickets of Shafiul Islam, sharply caught by Handscomb low to the ground at short leg, and Mehidy, who had made a breezy 26 when he skied a chance to Khawaja at deep square leg. It was Lyon’s best second-innings performance in a Test match in Asia, and could yet prove to have been a match-winning one.

David Payne took three wickets•Getty Images

Gloucestershire gained derby bragging rights over their local rivals with an seven-wicket NatWest T20 Blast victory over Somerset in front of an 8,000 sell-out crowd at BristolSomerset could muster only 146 all out after arriving at the ground late due to traffic congestion. Johann Myburgh and Craig Overton were the main contributors, while David Payne and Benny Howell were the pick of the Gloucestershire attack.In reply, the home side never looked in trouble as Ian Cockbain, Michael Klinger, and man-of-the-match Kieran Noema-Barnett (33 off 12 balls) took them to their target with ten balls to spare.The match began 45 minutes late after Somerset’s team coach had only just arrived at the scheduled start time of 6.30pm.Somerset director of cricket Matthew Maynard said: “Some of our batsmen didn’t give themselves a chance to assess the pitch and there was some dull thinking at times. Johann Myburgh showed what was possible when taking a few balls to play yourself in.”We are not always going to play on perfect wickets and sometimes it is necessary to take stock of the situation. It was probably the poorest we have batted in the competition and we need to bounce back quickly against Surrey on Sunday.”As if their late arrival was not bad enough, Somerset lost the toss and their innings was something of a roller-coaster, openers Steve Davies and Lewis Gregory departing with only 13 balls bowled and 12 runs on the board. Payne was the successful bowler in both cases.Myburgh then looked to transform the match with a brilliant 18-ball cameo that featured 5 fours and 2 sixes. The South African took 24 off an over from left-arm spinner Tom SmithSkipper Jim Allenby offered solid support and at the end of the six-over power-play his team were well placed on 66 for two.From there some kamikaze cricket saw Somerset plunge to 90 for seven, James Hildreth perishing to a reverse sweep off only his second ball and Tom Abell running himself out attempting a suicidal single.Gloucestershire skipper Michael Klinger kept faith with Smith and was rewarded when the bowler conceded only 12 off his final three overs.Howell produced his customary changes of pace to flummox the batsman and did not concede a single boundary in his four overs.Overton gave Somerset some hope with some big hits at the end, but the total still looked well below par on a decent batting strip.So it proved as Klinger and Phil Mustard gave Gloucestershire a fast start, Klinger hitting Lewis Gregory over mid-wicket for six and Mustard clearing the ropes off Tim Groenewald.Klinger was struck a painful blow in the ribs by a quick delivery from Paul van Meekeren, in the sixth over, but continued after treatment. The opening stand was worth 48 when Mustard (29) drove a catch to long-on off Roelof van der Merwe.Ian Cockbain lofted Max Waller over long-on for six as Gloucestershire eased towards the required run rate and repeated the treatment off Overton. He and Klinger brought the 100 up in the 14th over and by then the outcome was all but settled. Klinger fell for 35, but with only 45 needed off six overs, the hosts were well in control.Noema-Barnett eased any suggestion of late nerves with successive straight sixes of the previously impressive van Meekeren and followed up with two more maximums off van der Merwe to the delight of home fans before holing out with the job virtually done.Jack Taylor finished the match with a six to complete a miserable night for Somerset, who were well beaten.

Australian cricket’s warring chiefs met for about four hours on Sunday in the latest effort to find a way to end the damaging pay war, but anger and mistrust between the parties remains a major obstacle to its resolution.James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive, is believed to have asked his Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) counterpart Alistair Nicholson why the players association felt it had been necessary to distribute details of their compromise proposal to all players amid reports that talks had broken down – even though the pair had always been scheduled to meet on the weekend.For his part, Nicholson has indicated that the decision was based on keeping all players informed of developments while at the same time querying CA on what appeared a less than enthusiastic response to the compromise proposal, which included plans to inject around AUD 30 million (USD 23.8 million approx) of the player payment pool into the game’s lower levels.In seeking a heads of agreement ahead of actually drafting the MoU, Nicholson said that the players association desired to get the process moving again in the knowledge that the full agreement was likely to take months to be completed. And a resolution of the basics of the dispute would allow the players and CA to resume preparations for looming obligations of both a commercial and cricketing nature, namely deals with sponsors and broadcasters plus tours of Bangladesh and India ahead of a home Ashes series.”The previous MoU took almost 18 months to draft following an in-principle position being reached by both parties,” Nicholson said. “Reaching in principle agreement is what the players have attempted to do this week as a way of breaking the deadlock and not jeopardising any more cricket. The players in the latest ACA offer have moved a long way. We are seeking the same kind of movement from CA.”Following the meeting, a CA spokesman said that discussions were productive. “Cricket Australia will not comment on details of the negotiation but productive discussions were held today and progress is being made on a range of issues,” he said. “We have been in constant communication with the ACA and we are expecting further meetings on the negotiation to continue over the coming days.”Given how little time remains before the dispute would cause major dislocation to the game, CA is eager to speak of progress being made in order to prevent the confidence of commercial partners – both actual and prospective – sinking any further. However the ACA would appear the party more likely to benefit from a sense of chaos, pushing CA into a corner from which it must back down from its previously stated intent to end the revenue sharing at the heart of each MoU since 1998.Nevertheless, both sides of the argument stand to lose out in the event of an extended dispute, because the total amount of money in the game is bound to shrink without the confidence of broadcasters, sponsors and also other national boards. Relationships will take a long time to mend, where they can be salvaged at all.

The hardest part, Sarfraz Ahmed might reasonably think, is over. Becoming Pakistan’s limited-overs captain always loomed as the greater challenge, given the depths to which they have fallen there. But he’s come through that with flying colours, the Champions Trophy win the icing on a captaincy record that currently reads 14 wins from 17 matches (ODIs and T20s).Taking over the Test captaincy, by comparison, should be easier, given it is a more successful, settled side. Except that it is here that expectations will be highest – Sarfraz, after all, has the shoes of Misbah-ul-Haq to fill, Pakistan’s most successful and longest-serving Test captain.”It will be very different to ODIs and T20s,” Sarfraz told ESPNcricinfo. “Misbah did so well for so long and he really built the side up, a side that had some great success and was very stable.”So it will be a real challenge to follow on from that. And Tests anyway are not easy. You need some serious patience. I will try and do as best as I can. I’ve had some success with the limited-overs captaincy and hope I can do likewise with the Tests.”The exits of Misbah himself, and his middle-order comrade Younis Khan, mean that Sarfraz will effectively be overseeing as big a transition as Pakistan have faced in Tests since 2010. Their retirement leaves the side considerably less stable and identifiable than it had hitherto been, a quandary Sarfraz recognises.”If you look at the Test side right now, there are only 4 or 5 players settled in the XI,” Sarfraz said. “Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, myself, Yasir Shah and now Amir. In the middle we used to have Misbah and Younis with whom we knew, whatever position we were in, they could get us out of it.”If you batted first, you knew with them that we could target 400. That gave a sense of comfort. Now we have players coming in, like Babar [Azam]. Asad will move up the order in Tests now. Azhar will be there. These guys are the type of guys I hope, I feel, can take Pakistan along like Misbah and Younis used to.”As the schedule currently stands, it will be some time before he really gets a chance to build the Test side. To the bounty of 2016-17 – they played 15 Tests between July 2016 and May 2017 – comes the drought this season. Pakistan have a Test series against Sri Lanka in October-November this year, and then nothing – for now – until a two-Test tour of England next summer.Continuity of selection, Sarfraz said, will be the theme even in those limited opportunities. “Whoever we get in to the Test side, we’ll try and take them along for the future and build a team around them. We want to give guys a full opportunity so that they if they tour once, we don’t just drop and forget them.”The other challenge will be an individual one. Wicketkeeper-batsmen leading their sides across all formats are not that uncommon anymore. But that doesn’t make the role any less burdensome. Sarfraz’s batting has more or less held firm since he established himself in the Test side in early 2014 but his glovework has oscillated: generally unblemished to pace but error-prone to spin.But, as Sarfraz pointed out, captaincy is something his batting and wicketkeeping have had to accommodate almost from the start of his professional career. “I’m probably one of the only players in Pakistan history who has captained from junior level all the way up,” he said. “I’ve captained at club level, U-19, in every format, at domestic also.”I’ve come step by step. When I became T20 captain, I was vice-captain first. When I became ODI captain, I was vice-captain. Now I’m Test captain, I was vice-captain. So of course this is a challenge but I’m prepared for it. My responsibilities have increased so I will have to work harder on my fitness but I’ve been working hard on the ‘keeping and batting as well.”

Match Facts

June 14, 2017
Start time 10.30am local (0930 GMT)

Big Picture

To say that the Champions Trophy has reached its knockout stage would do a gross disservice to the journey back from oblivion that one of Wednesday’s contenders has already had to make.If you’d surveyed the wreckage around Edgbaston after Pakistan’s lamentable defeat against India in their opening Group B game, you would have seen a side living down to their ranking of No. 8 in the world, and beating a hasty path towards the first available flight to Lahore. Wahab Riaz’s bowling figures, Imad Wasim’s duck. The sea of resigned faces in the stands. Nothing about Pakistan’s performance left any room for hope at all. But now, just look at them go!A rain-affected win against South Africa was a huge step on the road to recovery, but let’s be frank. Not even “Chacha Pakistan” would have bet his best “If you look at the game we started well but, after Fakhar Zaman got out, we lost the momentum and then most of our dismissals were soft, which definitely is an area of concern for us.”

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) has made it clear that any attempted move by the BCCI office bearers and state associations to bring former board president N Srinivasan back into the fold would need the approval of the Supreme Court.The office bearers want to nominate Srinivasan as the BCCI representative for the crucial ICC Board meetings later this month in Dubai. A final decision is likely to be taken at the board’s special general body meeting (SGM) on April 9 in Delhi.Although Srinivasan has not made his thoughts public, he met the three existing BCCI office bearers in Hyderabad on Wednesday. This was just before the three men – Amitabh Choudhary (acting secretary), Anirudh Chaudhry (treasurer) and CK Khanna (acting president) – were headed to meet the CoA, led by Vinod Rai and Vikram Limaye. It is understood that Rai, the CoA chairman, told the three office bearers that members attending the SGM or any ICC meeting would need to comply with the eligibility criteria approved by the Supreme Court.Srinivasan fails the eligibility test on three main fronts. He is past the age cap of 70 years. He has also completed nine years as an office bearer both at the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) and the BCCI, which disqualifies him automatically. Srinivasan is also yet to resign as the president of the TNCA, thereby flouting the court judgement of July 2016, which had approved the Lodha Committee’s recommendations.However, in their meetings with the CoA, the office bearers pointed out that there were no restrictions on the states or BCCI appointing a representative to attend the ICC meetings.The CoA, on Thursday, said it would seek the court’s approval, but asked the BCCI members to adhere to the court order. “Members may kindly note that the Committee of Administrators has decided to seek appropriate directions from the Hon’ble Supreme Court on matters relating to eligibility for participating in any Special General Meeting or Annual General Meeting of the BCCI (both with reference to Members and their nominees/representatives) as well as eligibility for being appointed to represent the BCCI at the ICC.”Members are requested to consider the above issues and ensure that attendance and decisions at any Special General Meeting or Annual General Meeting of the BCCI is in compliance with the orders passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court as well as all applicable norms, rules and regulations.”There have been murmurs in the past few weeks of Srinivasan making a return at the ICC Board, which was considered improbable after he was forced to step down as BCCI president by the Supreme Court in 2015.In its meetings on April 26 and 27, the ICC Board is expected to deliberate, and probably vote, on the various resolutions concerning the governance structure and the revenue distribution model. Last month, the CoA sent an expansive e-mail to the ICC elaborating on its differences on the various resolutions.Nonetheless, the BCCI office bearers and most state associations have been sceptical of the CoA’s accommodating attitude towards the ICC Board. The CoA has stressed that the BCCI ought to engage and not confront the other member boards. However, the office bearers are adamant that the BCCI could not afford to loosen its grip and certainly not come down on its share derived from the ICC’s broadcasting rights.These office bearers and the other members of the BCCI have strongly objected to the reformist drive put in place by ICC chairman Shashank Manohar, who was the board president until last April. To take on Manohar, the office bearers felt a strong opposing voice was necessary.Incidentally, in an order issued in February, the court had approved three names – Limaye, Choudhary and Chaudhry – who could attend the ICC meetings that took place couple of months ago. Choudhry attended the ICC chief executives committee meeting while Limaye sat in the Financial & Commercial Affairs as well as the ICC Board.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:10

Moonda: All eyes on Bavuma after Elgar

On 22 consecutive occasions, the captain winning the toss in New Zealand had opted to bowl. When South Africa were 22 for 3 on the opening day in Dunedin, Dean Elgar may have pondered if Faf du Plessis had picked the right time to end that run. But Elgar did more than most to make sure it worked out fine in the end as his seventh Test hundred carried South Africa to 229 for 4.The dominant stand of the day came between Elgar, who was dropped by BJ Watling on 36, and du Plessis as they added 126 for the fourth wicket before further consolidation alongside Temba Bavuma in a stand of 81 which survived the entire final session. However, New Zealand ensured the game did not run away from them, for the most part keeping a lid on the scoring, after making the surprise decision of selecting two frontline spinners.Elgar’s seventh Test century, and a third in his last seven outings, came from 197 balls including 20 boundaries which highlighted how focused he was on leaving and defending unless there was something on offer to attack. He has become one of the preeminent opening batsmen in the game, although his returns can fly under the radar. He was named Man of the Series against Sri Lanka in January and this innings took his average above 40 for the first time since his third Test (which was also against New Zealand) as he finished within two runs of a new career-best score.While Elgar’s recent returns mean this performance shouldn’t be unexpected, there was plenty at the start of the day which did confound expectation. Kane Williamson had put considerable faith in his luck with the coin changing after making the crunch decision to leave out vice-captain Tim Southee in favour of Jeetan Patel. But after losing all five tosses in the one-day series the run continued which meant bowling with an attack New Zealand would be more expected to field on the subcontinent than at home: it was the first time they had selected two specialist spinners at University Oval.Patel was bowling by the sixth over and conceded just eight runs in his first 10 overs to help New Zealand build and sustain pressure in the first session. There was certainly some grip for him and Mitchell Santner to suggest the selection call was not out of the realms of fantasy, but there were times when New Zealand felt a quick bowler light.There was nothing strange, however, in the manner of the early wickets. Stephen Cook’s defensive mindset led to him padding up against Trent Boult. Then Neil Wagner, on his home ground, produced a superb over at the start of his second spell. Firstly, he caught Hashim Amla flat-footed, after he had made 1 off 27 balls, with a full delivery which clattered into the stumps and then he switched to Wagner 101 mode with a brute of a short ball to bounce out JP Duminy.When you are a captain who was undecided what to do until moments before the toss, you are probably questioning your decision to bat when walking in at 22 for 3. But alongside Elgar, du Plessis took the sting out of the morning session. A penny for Southee’s thoughts as he saw the ball swinging but a spinner in operation.Neil Wagner’s double-strike in the 19th over sent back Hashim Amla and JP Duminy•AFP

The major moment of the day came off the first delivery of the second over after lunch when Elgar tickled Boult down the leg side but Watling could not gather the low catch. He did not offer another chance. As the fourth-wicket partnership bedded in, Williamson was left with the juggling act of not over-bowling Boult and Wagner. The way in which Elgar and du Plessis bided their time reinforced how they knew they could force Williamson’s hand and their reward was a period before tea which brought seven boundaries in 19 deliveries, although that was a rare period of brisk scoring.Du Plessis reached his fifty with a delightful drive off Santner before handing New Zealand a boost during an action-packed over against James Neesham who had been selected ahead of Colin de Grandhomme but not bowled until the 57th over. Clocking over 140kph, Neesham had du Plessis given lbw only for the decision to be overturned by the DRS due to a very thin edge (du Plessis initially reviewed for height, so thin was the nick). Three balls later there was no doubt, du Plessis pulling to Boult at deep midwicket ten minutes before tea in uncharacteristically careless fashion.It was an opening for New Zealand, especially with Bavuma coming off 21 runs in five innings against Sri Lanka, but while the bowling remained accurate it was difficult with the ageing ball. Elgar moved into the 90s with a neat skip down the pitch to loft Santner down the ground then reached three figures with a crunching pull through midwicket off Neesham.Bavuma took 20 balls to open his account but after a top-edged hook evaded long leg became more secure, surviving Wagner’s attempts to rough him up with the older ball. The new ball was taken and caused a few uneasy moments, but could not conjure the breakthrough New Zealand needed. There was much that went against history on the opening day of this series and though it’s too early to say how history will judge the match, South Africa will have ended highly satisfied with having hauled themselves out of the mire.

David Warner, who is likely to be among the batsmen impacted if the MCC’s proposal to limit bat sizes is passed into law, has said playing with a slimmer piece of willow would not to make too much of a difference to his game.”We’re just going to have to adapt to the changes,” Warner said on Saturday. “And, you know what, the ball’s still going to go the same distance, the ball will still go to the fence, and we’re still going to get our ones and twos, and the odd nick might not carry this time.”Warner’s T20 bat reportedly measures 85mm at its thickest part. Under the proposed rule, bats will be limited to a thickness of 67mm at the spine and 40mm at the edge.Warner reckoned that these limits would force a number of batsmen to trim down their bats. He said he had been to his bat-maker to have his bats checked by a gauge, and that even the bats from the start of his career did not go through it. He still reckoned he would cope with a slimmer bat, referencing the double-sided model he had used a few years ago in domestic T20 cricket.”I was down there previously, about six months ago, and I had a look, and we put a whole various range of bats, from when I started and a few other guys started, and I’m not sure if they were the correct measurements , but they weren’t going through the measurement thing they were doing,” he said. “But at the end of the day they’ve got to govern that as well.”For us, we’ve just got to use whatever the bat-maker brings us, but remember, I used a double-sized bat which wasn’t even 30 mils or 40 mils. I used that quite well as well.”