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Back in October, the New Zealand touring team was hosted for a tour match at Blacktown Oval to Sydney’s west – if “hosted” is the right word. The ground staff had been unable to grow grass after the football season, leaving a pitch of rolled mud that was at first a road before growing progressively more treacherous.Fearing injuries to their batsmen before the first Test, New Zealand pressed successfully for the match to be abandoned, and made a speedy exit to Brisbane. The absurdity of the episode was only enhanced by the fact that Cricket Australia had scheduled a Sheffield Shield match to be held at New Zealand Cricket’s high performance centre in Lincoln by way of preparation for the return trip, and that the centre’s curator was at Blacktown that week discussing facilities with Cricket NSW.Four months on, and there will be no “get square” on the outskirts of Christchurch. The pitch for the Shield fixture between NSW and Western Australia will not suffer for lack of grass coverage, and nor will it force an early abandonment. The flexibility of New Zealand to allow an event without precedent in cricket history – a domestic match played on the shores of an imminent Test match opponent – is rare in an age of administrators protecting hometown results, and may yet have other flow-on benefits for the nation across the Tasman.The concept was first discussed as New Zealand and Australia pieced together a new bilateral agreement in the afterglow of last year’s World Cup. Cricket Australia argued there was insufficient time amid a looming World Twenty20 for the originally scheduled three Tests and a warm-up match, and New Zealand countered that a revival of the dormant Chappell-Hadlee ODI series would be advantageous. The Sheffield Shield match was tossed up as a compromise for cricketers not part of the 50-over series.”The scheduling is a significant jigsaw puzzle at the best of times,” CA head of operations Sean Cary told ESPNcricinfo. “But with the lead-up to the World Twenty20 and Australia needing to play India at home, New Zealand in New Zealand, South Africa away before the T20 World Cup, we had to jockey between the three countries to alter the FTP slightly to fit everything in.”The New Zealand tour match came about because we’d changed the original schedule for a three-Test tour to two Tests with ODIs in a shorter space of time. That meant we didn’t really have enough time to play a fully-fledged tour match before the Test series, so in part of the negotiations around additional matches for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series we floated with NZC the idea of playing a Shield match in New Zealand in lieu of the tour match.”We chose a NSW home match v WA because a large proportion of the current Test squad comes from those two states.”As it has turned out, only Peter Nevill, Nathan Lyon and Adam Voges will be taking part among members of the Test side, while Joe Burns, Jackson Bird, James Pattinson, Peter Sidle and Chadd Sayers must be content with a Shield match for Queensland on the eastern seaboard. The likes of Steven Smith, David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh and Usman Khawaja are part of the ODI series.Even so, the fixture is providing a chance for further cross-pollination between the administrations of the two countries. “Essentially its a NSW home match, so they operationally take their structure from Sydney to Christchurch,” Cary said. “NZC have supported in that they are match managing the contest. There are some little bits and pieces to fine tune like online scoring and that side of it, we need to do a bit of work ourselves with NZC to make sure everything looks and feels as if it’s being played in Australia … but essentially it’s a NSW home game.The pitch in Blacktown, where New Zealand’s tour game was abandoned on their tour of Australia•Getty Images

“NZC are responsible for the wicket. In our pre-tour visit I met the curator, I went out to the ground, he showed me which wicket is being used, it’s right in the centre of the block. They’ve not played any cricket on it this summer until that Shield match so it’s going to be in pristine condition, and the curators these days have a lot of pride in their work. They’ll produce as best quality wicket they possibly can.”As for the Blacktown episode, Cary said there was a strong degree of understanding among the New Zealand ground staff for the problems faced at by those responsible for the ground at the time. He also conceded it had been CA’s error to have the tour game played in Sydney rather than in Brisbane, where Allan Border Field sat unused at the same time the Blacktown match was called off.”There’ll be no tit-for-tat there,” Cary said. “We’re first to acknowledge unfortunately we didn’t make the right decision in terms of venue selection for that Blacktown game. We apologised profusely and gave the best possible solution for New Zealand after that. Funnily enough the curator at Lincoln was actually at Blacktown at that time because they’d been invited over to see what NSW had done with their indoor centre and training set-up and providing their own information.”He saw the situation and was very much feeling sorry for the curator because he knew he didn’t have much to play with in terms of a four-day wicket. They were sharing knowledge about the indoor nets for all seasons that New Zealand cricket are starting to prepare, and they were sharing that knowledge with Cricket NSW.”What is clear about this fixture and its lead-up is that relationships are building between the two countries that may be useful in future. The concept of New Zealand-based Big Bash League teams has been touted in recent times, and such a possibility will be more realistic for all the information sharing that has gone on over the past year or so.”Because of the relationship the curators built up through the World Cup being hosted in both countries, we had the New Zealand curator group here and our curator group went to New Zealand over the two years leading into the World Cup,” Cary said. “They’ve built relationships, they share knowledge and everyone gets along well.”From a high performance perspective it gives guys opportunities to get a taste for international cricket, they travel to another country, they have to go through all the rigmarole of customs and getting acclimatised and all those things. So it helps our developing cricketers, and also shows we can share knowledge and experience in an operational sense and hopefully learn from each other and be better at putting on cricket in our respective countries.”Lincoln’s quiet surrounds will feel a long way from the hustle and bustle of the BBL, but it will also be very distant from those chaotic scenes at Blacktown. New Zealand’s generosity to Australia in this case should not be forgotten.

Karen Rolton is on target to be the second player in the history of the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) to score 4000 runs. Rolton, the Australian captain, needs just 18 runs to reach the milestone first achieved by former captain Belinda Clark.Rolton will lead the South Australia Scorpions on their away trip to Sydney next week, which will feature a practice match v ACT, prior to the WNCL matches against New South Wales.Two new players join the squad: fast bowler Leanne Davis, and Tegan McPharlin, the middle-order batsman. Both players have been chosen following strong grade/district performances.England’s Jenny Gunn, who plays grade cricket in Sydney, will also play for the Scorpions for the second successive year.

New South Wales will miss the experience of Nathan Bracken © Getty Images

New South Wales have recalled Doug Bollinger and Moises Henriques for their must-win Ford Ranger Cup match against Tasmania at Sydney’s Telstra Stadium on Wednesday. The Blues, who have lost their last three one-day games, are in fourth place on the table but with only two matches remaining they would need a remarkable stroke of luck to reach the final.Matthew Nicholson was left out of the side to take on Tasmania but the other change was a forced one with Nathan Bracken unavailable due to his commitments with the Australia team. Greg Mail, the opening batsman, has found his way back into the Pura Cup squad to take on the Tigers at the SCG starting on Saturday.Mail, who has taken Aaron O’Brien’s place in the 12-man line-up, began the first-class season poorly with 97 runs from six innings before thrusting his name back in front of the selectors with 374 runs in Sydney grade cricket within eight days. The Blues are also struggling in the four-day competition, sitting fifth on the table with only two wins from six games.Pura Cup squad Phil Jaques, Ed Cowan, Greg Mail, Simon Katich (capt), Dominic Thornely, Brad Haddin (wk), Grant Lambert, Beau Casson, Matthew Nicholson, Doug Bollinger, Stuart MacGill, Mark Cameron.FR Cup squad Phil Jaques, Ed Cowan, Simon Katich (capt), Brad Haddin (wk), Daniel Christian, Dominic Thornely, Aaron O’Brien, David Warner, Moises Henriques, Nathan Hauritz, Scott Coyte, Doug Bollinger.

ScorecardJust like the full England side, the under-19s are finding life on the subcontinent tough this winter. After being whitewashed in the five-match series against a BCB High Perfomance Side, their poor start to the triangular tournament got poorer with a second defeat, this time to Sri Lanka.Angelo Mathews was the star for Sri Lanka, smashing 70 not out from 74 balls to boost their total to 225 after Dimuth Karunaratne and Sameera de Zoysa put on 54 for the first wicket to set a solid platform.Rory Hamilton-Brown fared the best for England’s bowlers, taking 3 for 44 and playing a part in causing a mid-innings wobble and give Sri Lanka the jitters at 156 for 8. But Mathews stood firm to help lift the score with two fruitful stands with Muthumudalige Pushpakumara and Rajeeva Weerasinghe which yielded 69 runs.England lost early wickets which set them on the backfoot from the off. Varun Chopra stood firm to add a quick 34 from as many balls, but when he fell to Hans Fernando and Woodman went for 40, the momentum fell away from the innings (83 for 3). There was no way back for England and when they lost three quick wickets for six runs late on – Weerasinghe struck twice and there was a run out – the writing was on the wall (180 for 8).They folded not long after, with Ben Wright left stranded on 40 not out, as Sri Lanka recorded victory by 13 runs.

Adam Gilchrist: took advantage of New Zealand’s lack of penetration© Getty Images

The inability of New Zealand’s opening bowlers to make even the smallest of incisions has hampered their decision to play two spinners. The pitch is starting to turn, but it has happened three wickets and four sessions too late for the Kiwis.Instead of sweeping through the lower order, Daniel Vettori and Paul Wiseman have had to wear the line-up down. If Chris Martin or James Franklin had made any sort of impact, the spinners could have tried attacking with rocks instead of pebbles. Instead, no wickets fell before lunch on either day.Australia’s innings wobbled in the second session, but by then they already had 445 on the board. Langer, wearing his baggy green and looking like a tired train driver, pulled Vettori to midwicket, and within 20 runs Michael Clarke and Darren Lehmann had followed as well. The top six had fallen and the spinners had shared the spoils evenly, but since the opposition had passed 500, it was impossible to callthe make-up of the attack a success.Australia have found spin to be over-rated at Adelaide. They prefer a battery of fast bowlers to take advantage of the variable bounce. Shane Warne has just one five-for here and only during the last Ashes tour did his ground average drop below 30. This surface, however, offers more than usual and sharper turn is expected tomorrow as the pitch cracks under the extreme heat. The ball appeared to be deviating more and more with every passing over.The offspinner Wiseman was earmarked to play in this match when New Zealand picked their tour squad, and an already struggling batting order was weakened to accommodate him. The pair bowled in tandem for more than 40 minutes in the first session without incentive against Lehmann and Langer, who is a reluctant six-hitter but still managed twice to launch Wiseman over the fence.Stephen Fleming set Wiseman’s field at a Ganguly pace, but then nothing was happening quickly. Even the captain’s arm-waving drifted as he set inner rings with one or two men on the fence. Containment was the buzzword; Australia managed at least 100 runs in each of the first two sessions. When Langer fell, a flicker of enthusiasm returned, and it was sustained by the subsequent dismissals of Clarke and Lehmann. But then Adam Gilchrist walked out.It is unlikely that either spinner will have much impact – perhaps none at all – in the second innings. Even at the close of the first day’s play, Wiseman was using “if” when asked about bowling again. Probably the only opportunity the pair will have towards the end of thematch is if Australia decide to give their bowlers a rest between innings. An absence of medium-paced penetration has forced the spinners to toil, and in turn transferred all the pressure to New Zealand’s batsmen.Peter English is Australasian editor of Wisden Cricinfo.

Pardon me for interrupting, but in a game which revels in spurious statistics there is one that defies belief doing the rounds in New Zealand cricket at the moment.It seems that the national selection panel of last summer picked up a strange new disease, and we are talking pre-SARS here. But apparently, they were guilty of picking three wicketkeepers in a team! And it wasn’t because the bowlers were doing especially badly.This is seen in some quarters as an especially heinous crime and one that clearly showed the panel had lost their marbles during one or other of their various selection meetings. Remembering that only one person can wear the gloves at any one time, it has to be assumed that the person assigned to the job was the person the selectors felt was best suited, or gloved, as the case may be, to do it.But an interesting point to ponder in this day of wicketkeeping batting aces, is, if you had two or three wicketkeepers who were doing especially well with the bat, and some batsmen who weren’t, who would you put in your team if you were looking for runs? Is a wicketkeeper who is a good enough batsman not deemed worthy enough of being included as a batsman only?It has been obvious for some time in New Zealand now that Brendon McCullum, provided he keeps his game together, doesn’t succumb to injury and sorts out some concerns with his batting, is the long-term wicketkeeping performer on the international scene. At the moment the Test spot is held by Robbie Hart, and that is fair enough. But in the one-day game McCullum is the incumbent.That means Chris Nevin’s chances of wicketkeeping for New Zealand in ODIs are few and far between. So if he is to keep a place in the side it has to be as a batsman. At the moment he is one of the leading contenders for the opening batting role. He went to the Bank Alfalah Cup and played in five matches, as a batsman.There is a point to all this, I’m getting there.Also in the same side was Lou Vincent. Now it is known that Lou has pulled the gloves on for a few occasions and is quite capable in the job, but a wicketkeeper? He is far more use to New Zealand in the field, and will one day come up with the required consistency in the middle-order. So yes, New Zealand did have three wicketkeepers in the team, but they might also have had three Presbyterians, three Catholics, three athiests and two Seventh Day Adventists, which when you think about it might explain some of the batting problems on Saturdays.But the point is, if the players are the choice of the selectors as batsmen, who cares if there are six wicketkeepers in the side?That’s not to forget that Mathew Sinclair was also at the World Cup and he’s kept wickets. And then again in the one-day series against England in New Zealand in 2001-02, Nevin, McCullum and Vincent played in three matches together. Go back to the VB Series before that and McCullum and Vincent played in the same side as Adam Parore in four matches.So is choosing three wicketkeepers really such a worrying event?

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In a previous outburst I alluded to the use of A to describe second XI sides. This remains an irksome habit and one that seems to stem from political correctness more aimed at protecting the feelings of those who are named in a 2nd XI, than acknowledging the fact that while they are players of potential, they are still second-best.What good reason can there be for describing a side as the A side to mean the second best, when the A side is the top team?Is there something wrong with being called the B team? After all, everyone knows what it means.There are any number of reasons why this is a ridiculous practice. After all, A is the first letter in the alphabet, that’s reason enough alone. Algebra was never a strong point but it should be obvious that A = 1 and Z = 26. Then there’s Auckland. Overseas readers might not appreciate this but by way of explanation, in the New Zealand hierarchial structure there are Aucklanders, and there are others – the rest of the population.The Auckland genus is obvious because they call themselves the A team. Whether or not that is their position it doesn’t matter, it makes no difference to them – never has, never will. And they are not saying it because they think they are second best.And then there’s Australia. Now if ever there was anyone deserving to be called the A team, it is Steve Waugh’s Test men and Ricky Ponting’s ODI men. That’s what they are, No 1.So enough of this silliness. Let’s be having a little alphabetical correctitude here and start calling 2nd XIs what they are, B teams. And if the poor little darlings don’t like it, tough, because that’s what they should be, tough enough to take it.

Hampshire’s newly formed Academy side will take its Southern Electric ECB Premier League bow against Sparsholt at the Rose Bowl on Saturday May 4.The county is fielding a team made up of fledgling contracted players and academy students in Division 2 of the Premier League next summer.County Second XI coach Tony Middleton is expected to captain the Academy XI, which faces three potentially stiff matches in the opening month of the season.After hosting Sparsholt, the Hampshire side travels to play Winchester KS at River Park, entertains newly promoted Rowledge, and then visits Lymington.All of the matches are 50-over affairs, starting at 1 o’clock.Admission to all home matches on the Nursery ground will be free.Hampshire CCC Academy XI fixtures for 2002

May 4 Sparsholt West End, SouthamptonMay 11 Winchester KS River Park, WinchesterMay 18 Rowledge West End, SouthamptonMay 25 Lymington Lymington Sports GroundJune 1 Easton & Martyr Worthy West End, SouthamptonJune 8 Hungerford War Memorial Ground, HungerfordJune 15 Old Tauntonians & Romsey West End, SouthamptonJune 22 United Services US Sports Ground, PortsmouthJune 29 Trojans West End, SouthamptonJuly 6 Sparsholt Locks Lane, SparsholtJuly 13 Winchester KS West End, SouthamptonJuly 20 Rowledge Rowledge Sports GroundJuly 27 Lymington West End, SouthamptonAugust 3 Easton & Martyr Worthy Cockets Mead, RowledgeAugust 10 Hungerford West End, SouthamptonAugust 17 Old Tauntonians & Romsey Romsey Sports CentreAugust 24 United Services West End, SouthamptonAugust 31 Trojans Stoneham Lane, Eastleigh

Jacob Martin gave a timely reminder to the selectors that his appetitefor runs remains undiminished as Baroda secured a 139 run firstinnings lead over Punjab on the third day of their Super League tie atMohali today. By stumps Punjab had wiped off 84 runs from the deficitin 33 overs.Martin and captain Tushar Arothe took their overnight stand for the4th wicket to 139 before Arothe was sent back for 61. Atul Bedade didnot last long and Martin himself followed soon after for 118 (262balls, 14 fours). AP Bhoite and M Mewada put on 60 but when Mewada wasseventh out at 380 the innings entered terminal decline. The last fourwickets were snapped up in the space of 15 balls for the addition ofonly four runs as Baroda folded up for 384. Punjab’s new ball bowlerGagandeep Singh returned figures of 4-65 and Harbhajan Singh claimed3-101.Although Ravneet Ricky (2) was leg before to Zakir Khan in the thirdover, Vikram Rathour (46) and Reetinder Sodhi (30) prevented anyfurther anxiety for Punjab with an unbroken stand of 72.

ICC Test Championship table

1. South Africa 130
2. Australia 111
3. Pakistan 101
4. New Zealand 99
5. India 97
6. England 97
7. Sri Lanka 92
8. West Indies 81
9. Bangladesh 41
10. Zimbabwe 5

Pakistan have catapulted from sixth place to third in the ICC Test rankings after centuries from Younis Khan and Shan Masood in the Pallekele Test helped them wrap up the series against Sri Lanka 2-1 with a record chase.Pakistan, who had begun the series with 97 points, bagged four rating points from the win and steered clear of England, India and New Zealand. On the other side, Sri Lanka lost four points and retained their spot at No. 7 with 92 points. Pakistan now lead New Zealand by two points while trailing second-placed Australia by ten.Meanwhile, India and England are caught in the mid-table jam with 97 points each. England will break away and vault to second place if they win the Ashes by 3-0 or a better margin. South Africa top the table with 130 points.

Wolverhampton Wanderers have gone under the radar when it comes to astute signings in recent times.

It’s easy to overlook the fact that their last five arrivals, including loans, have all been signed for under £10m. It’s even more impressive that four of those are consistent first-team players, with Yerson Mosquera the only exception, although he has made one appearance for Bruno Lage’s first-team and would surely have more were it not for a long-term hamstring injury.

Nevertheless, their business over the past year has been nothing short of sensational, especially in today’s market, which is why it comes as even more of a shock that Wolves once failed to acquire the permanent signing of Emiliano Martinez, who is now a Premier League regular elsewhere in the Midlands at Aston Villa.

Back in the 2015/16 season, the Argentine played for the Old Gold amid a loop of loan moves and fringe appearances, although his initial opening months at Wolverhampton Wanderers sought to end that pattern.

In 2015, Martinez made 13 appearances for Wolves in the Championship and despite only keeping four clean sheets, he conjured up a rather impressive 71% save percentage. For context, in his breakout season for Aston Villa in 2020/21, his save percentage was 77%, so for that time in his career it was a very impressive metric.

Ultimately it was the thigh injury that kept him out of contention for several months which cost both Martinez and Wolves the chance to work together long-term.

On one hand, you can understand the caution that Wolves expressed, as the ‘keeper was unable to regain his starting place after the injury. However, with the underlying stats that he displayed throughout those 13 appearances for the Old Gold, it remains a mystery as to why Martinez was never given the chance to win back his place between the sticks.

Despite finding a gem in former Olympiacos ‘keeper José Sá, the reluctance to sign a goalkeeper dubbed by Dan Rolinson as “unreal” and who would go on to earn the highest of plaudits from Lionel Messi must serve as one of the biggest transfer regrets at Molineux.

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To rub salt in the wounds of the Wolves pack, the 29-year-old who has shone for club and country is now worth £28.8m in today’s market. Had the Old Gold pounced for a permanent deal six years ago, they may have got him for as little as £1.35m judging by his Transfermarkt valuation at the time, instead of leaving him return to his then-parent club Arsenal for nothing.

In other news – Lage could finally unearth Wolves’ new Diogo Jota in “unpredictable” £33m creator