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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDavid Wiese scored the fastest fifty of the tournament, off 25 balls•AFP

Fortunes ebbed and flowed in true Twenty20 style in Centurion, as Sydney Sixers scripted a final-ball jailbreak to set up a title clash with Lions on Sunday. It was a heartbreak for the home fans, who showed up to cheer for Titans, and for the rest of the country, who would have hoped for an all-South Africa final.In a tournament that hasn’t seen too many of the high scores normally associated with this format, a target of 164 was always going to be a challenge. Sixers were the form team, coming into the semis unbeaten, and seemed best equipped in all departments to overhaul any challenge thrown at them.It was still anybody’s game in the final over, with Sixers needing eight with three wickets in hand. Titans captain Martin van Jaarsveld gambled by tossing the ball to CJ de Villiers, who had had an ordinary night leaking 26 off his first two overs. Ben Rohrer was adventurous enough to paddle-scoop the first ball but could fetch only a couple. He scooped the second ball straight to mid-off but crucially in those few seconds, Pat Cummins – who blitzed a six the previous over – crossed and shielded the new batsman from facing. The following ball cost Titans as de Villiers sprayed it too wide of the off stump and was penalised. Cummins heaved the next to deep midwicket, survived a run-out appeal and picked up two more. He stole a leg bye, exposed Mitchell Starc who couldn’t put away a short ball but also managed to sneak a leg bye. There were memories of Johannesburg 2011, when Cummins snatched a Test win for Australia with the bat. He did it again this time when he swung and missed, but it didn’t hurt Sixers as the wicketkeeper Heino Kuhn was way off the mark with his throw and, despite a collision with the bowler amid the frenzy, Cummins managed to crawl to the other end to secure a thriller.A nailbiter seemed unlikely after the electric start provided by the openers Michael Lumb and Steve O’Keefe, who was in his makeshift role due to Shane Watson’s departure to Australia. The pair added 54 in just under five overs with clean hits, each boundary met by a hush from the crowd. The first eight overs contained at least one boundary. The ninth was the start of Titans’ comeback, via their spinners. Eden Links clean bowled O’Keefe for 32 and the following over by Roelof van der Merwe produced two wickets, including a run-out. It was the first of two communication breakdowns in Sixers’ innings – Steve Smith and Nic Maddinson found themselves stranded on two separate occasions and Sixers had slipped from 85 for 1 after eight overs to 115 for 5 after 13.Van der Merwe came back well after being caned in his opening over but a couple of meaty blows by Moises Henriques narrowed the equation. The match see-sawed again when Henriques and Nathan McCullum fell off consecutive balls, and it came down to Cummins to secure the highest-successful chase in this edition of the tournament.That the match even had a competitive ring to it though was thanks to contrasting half-centuries by two Titans batsmen with similar sounding names. Henry Davids batted through the innings with 59 off 44 balls while David Wiese made the most of his relatively short stint with an unbeaten 61 off 28 balls.Titans were at an underwhelming 91 for 5 after 16 overs, desperate for a push. Wiese began his onslaught by lofting Cummins high over midwicket and in the same over fetched back-to-back fours to take 15 off the over. It was a sign of things to come as Wiese bludgeoned consecutive sixes over the on side off Henriques in an over that leaked 23. They ransacked 72 off the last four overs and Wiese brought up the tournament’s fastest fifty – off 25 balls – to give Sixers something to think about. In the end it was fitting that Sixers, the most dominant side in the competition, made the final.

Jacques Kallis will play in the third Test in Perth if he is fit enough to bat and field, although he will definitely not bowl. South Africa called up allrounder Ryan McLaren as cover but are hopeful Kallis will be ready to bat at No.4, even after it was revealed that he would have exacerbated his hamstring injury by batting in both innings to help save the Adelaide Test.Kallis batted nearly two hours in the first innings for 58, and for two and a half hours in the second to make 47. He came in at No. 9 and No. 7 and had match-saving partnerships with Faf du Plessis on each occasion.Not one to show much emotion, Kallis was in discomfort throughout his time at the crease and battled to run between the wickets. Still, he told team-mates the injury did not cause him even a fraction of the pain he had suffered during a century with a side strain against India in January 2011. Kallis was on the physiotherapist Brandon Jackson’s bench for many hours of this Test and will spend more time there in the next three days.”I know he [Kallis] is working hard with Jacko and I know he wants to be a part of Perth,” Graeme Smith said after his team drew the second Test. “He is definitely not going to bowl but he could play as a batter.”If Kallis plays purely as a batsman, South Africa’s strategy would be different to the one Australia employed with their allrounder Shane Watson. A calf injury had ruled Watson out of the first Test and team management had indicated he would be recalled for the second only if he could bat and bowl.South Africa also have top-order batsman Dean Elgar in the squad as a possible replacement for Kallis, but Smith said they had not made a decision about who will step in if necessary. “If he [Kallis] is not fit, we will deal with it in the same way we have dealt with the other things that have dealt us a curve ball in the series,” Smith said.South Africa had suffered a major blow when they lost JP Duminy to a ruptured Achilles’ tendon after the first day of the Brisbane Test. They had to play with ten men for the rest of the match and were short a spinner in the attack. They were dealt a less severe blow when Kallis left the field after bowling 3.3 overs in Adelaide. Although he could not bowl, Kallis was cleared to bat in both innings.The Kallis injury occurred a few hours after Vernon Philander had been ruled out of the second Test with lower-back spasms that he sustained overnight. Philander was expected to recover in time for the Perth Test but given the bad luck South Africa have had in Australia, Smith was reserved about clearing him to play. “He is bowling and we expect him to fully fit for Perth. When we toss the coin, I will tell you if everything is fine.”

Match facts

January 11, 2013
Start time 1200 (0630 GMT)

Big Picture

There seems to be no bottom to the abyss India are hurtling into. It seems like only yesterday when they had to just turn up, and a home series, Test or ODI, was theirs. Now they have lost a series in each format in succession, to England and Pakistan. It also seems like only yesterday when India whitewashed England 5-0 in successive home bilateral ODI series. If you are gullible enough to bet on a similar result in this five-match ODI series, you might as well wager on a flood in water-scarce Saurashtra in January.It is supposedly a side in transition but, apart from Ajinkya Rahane, all the batsmen in India’s ODI squad have been around for years now. The same cannot be said of their bowling attack, but that has more to do with the continuing injury sagas of their fast bowlers than anything else. And it was the batting that let India down in all three ODIs against Pakistan.By no means can you call England’s pace attack for this series experienced, but they don’t lack in either skill or speed. For an India line-up that was exposed by Mohammad Irfan and Junaid Khan, with a collective 15 ODIs between them going into the series last month, England’s pace battery led by the impressive Steven Finn will pose an equal, if not a bigger, challenge.The visitors are looking forward to building towards the Champions Trophy at home later this year and ultimately the World Cup in 2015 but, before that, they have their woeful record in their previous three ODI series in India to correct. One win in 16 games does no self-respecting modern side justice, especially one of England’s calibre and meticulous planning. Their new limited-overs coach Ashley Giles had no insignificant role to play when England drew an ODI series here in 2002 and, despite defeats in their two warm-up games this time, he’ll sorely want to improve on that finish from a decade ago.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
India WLLWW
England LWWLW

In the spotlight

With Virender Sehwag dropped, Ajinkya Rahane should get to open the India innings along with Gautam Gambhir. The amount of time Rahane’s spent on the bench can be gauged from his solitary ODI appearance in all of 2012. Even that came as an afterthought in Sri Lanka after the series had been won. Still, England are a side Rahane must be pretty familiar with. They were the opposition in the first 10 of his 13 ODIs and he’s already played a few eye-catching knocks against them, including a 91 in late 2011 in Mohali.Steven Finn began and ended the Test leg of the ongoing tour with injuries but his lone outing in Kolkata was enough to serve another reminder of his talent, and the unique combination of pace and bounce his gangling frame brings. India have long suffered at the hands of those attributes and, if Finn manages to stay clear of another breakdown, will be put to the test again.

Team news

He may have made a double- and a triple-century in his previous two Ranji Trophy games, but it is unlikely that Cheteshwar Pujara will make his ODI debut in front of his hometown fans in Rajkot. Transition or not, the batting line-up looks far too settled at the moment. With the new ODI rules making it tough to manage with just four frontline bowlers, India could stick to the side that won the final one-dayer against Pakistan.India (possible) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Ajinkya Rahane, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Shami Ahmed.With James Tredwell and Finn likely to be the frontline spin and pace choices, England have a couple of fast-bowling places to fill. Jade Dernbach, with his variations, is an important option in India, while Stuart Meaker’s extra speed could push him in front of Chris Woakes.England (possible) 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Ian Bell, 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Eoin Morgan, 5 Samit Patel, 6 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 7 Tim Bresnan, 8 James Tredwell, 9 Stuart Meaker, 10 Jade Dernbach, 11 Steven Finn.

Pitch and conditions

The Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Khandheri, outside Rajkot, is making its international debut. The city has hosted 11 ODIs at the Madhavrao Scindia ground owned by the municipal corporation. The grounds may be different but if it is Rajkot, indications point to bucket-loads of runs. The Challenger Trophy, India’s premier domestic one-day competition, produced five totals of 300-plus in four games at the SCA stadium in late 2012. The most recent fixture here was the Ranji Trophy match between Saurashtra and Madhya Pradesh, a match the hosts needed to win to make the knockouts. Accordingly, a dry, slow, and low pitch was prepared, but don’t expect anything of the sort for an ODI.Winter in Rajkot isn’t as unforgiving as it is in north India. Evenings are cool and pleasant, while it gets warm during the day. Nights can turn slightly chilly, but with a noon start, we won’t get that far.

Stats and trivia

• The only time England have beaten India in an ODI series in India was back in 1984-85.
• The Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium on the outskirts of Rajkot will become India’s 41st ODI venue.

Quotes

“We’ll have to wait and watch. It’s not something that’s on my mind right now, before the start of an important series. We can’t be thinking about that now.”
“Clearly we are the underdogs in this series but, if you look through our side, we have a lot of firepower and world-class players.”

Islamabad recovered the vast ground they lost to Quetta and overcame a large first-innings deficit to secure a nine-wicket win on the fourth day at the Diamond Club Ground. They took six points from the game, while Quetta earned none.Such a result seemed improbable after Quetta had scored 263 in the first innings and then dismissed Islamabad for 134. Quetta’s first ten batsmen all got starts but Qaiser Abbas’ 73 and Jalat Khan’s 40 were the most significant contributions. Zohaib Ahmed took 4 for 74 for Islamabad.Islamabad’s first innings was wrecked by Gohar Faiz, who took a career-best 8 for 50. Opener Raheel Majeed’s 31 was the top score for Islamabad.The turnaround began on the third day, when Nasrullah Khan took 5 for 27 to help Islamabad dismiss Quetta for 122 in 34.2 overs. He ensured Islamabad hadn’t been batted out of the game, and were chasing a target of only 252. They ended that day on 45 for 0.On the final day, Islamabad’s openers converted their start into a 207-run stand. Majeed made an unbeaten 124 and Shan Masood scored 96 before he edged to the wicketkeeper. By the time they were separated, victory was all but assured. The target was achieved in the 65th over with no further loss for Islamabad.

Scorecard
Western Australia completed a stirring comeback victory over Tasmania on the final morning of the Sheffield Shield match at the WACA ground.The Warriors needed only a further six runs to win and they were polished off by the No. 10 Burt Cockley, playing his first Shield match for his adopted state after moving from New South Wales.Ashton Agar was at the other end, his unbeaten 71 pivotal to WA’s win after being bowled out for a mere 97 in the first innings.WA’s win keeps the within sight of the Shield leaders with two rounds remaining, but the Tigers’ bid to make a third consecutive final is now faltering.

ScorecardSunil Narine’s impressive bowling performance helped Trinidad & Tobago beat Guyana•WICB Media/Ashley Allen Photo

Sunil Narine’s ten-wicket haul helped Trinidad & Tobago beat Guyana by 45 runs in Port of Spain. Narine, left out of the squad for the Zimbabwe Tests, took 6 for 38 in the first innings and followed it up with 4 for 105 in the second as Guyana were dismissed for 330 in pursuit of 376 despite a century from Shivnarine Chanderpaul.Chanderpaul, playing for the first time in a first-class match with his son Tagenarine, brought Guyana close to victory with his 65th first-class hundred. Resuming on the final day from an overnight score of 54 for 1, Guyana floundered after Tagenarine Chanderpaul was dismissed for 29 and Devendra Bishoo retired hurt on 17. Ramnaresh Sarwan and No. 10 batsman Paul Wintz provided some support to Chanderpaul but the T&T bowlers had the measure of the chase.Earlier, Trinidad and Tobago put up a strong batting show scoring 319 in the first innings after being asked to bat. In reply, the Guyana innings crumbled against Narine’s offspin. Leon Johnson scored 87, one of only three batsmen to score in double figures as Guyana were bowled out for 195.T&T stretched their lead of 124 runs to 375, declaring their second innings at 251 for 2. Adrian Barath, Lendl Simmons and Kieron Pollard struck fifties as T&T set Guyana a daunting target with a little over a day’s play left in the match.
ScorecardOffspinner Ryan Austin and wicketkeeper Chadwick Walton starred in Combined Campuses and Colleges’ 152-run win over Leeward Islands in Bridgetown on Saturday. Walton scored an unbeaten hundred to help CCC amass 367 runs in the second innings, while Austin took six wickets in the Leewards second innings.CCC played poorly in the first innings after being put in to bat. Gavin Tonge and Larry Joseph led the Leewards bowling, taking three wickets each as CCC folded for 180. Leewards, however, failed to capitalise on the advantage, scoring 243 to gain a slender 50-run lead.CCC made a strong comeback with an improved batting display in the second innings. Walton led the way, scoring 101, and received strong support from Raymon Riefer (85) and Anthony Alleyne (71) as CCC declared their innings at 367 for 6.Ryan Austin then proceeded to spin out the Leewards batsmen, trapping Kieran Powell lbw and dismissing captain Sylvester Joseph and wicketkeeper Devon Thomas, before rolling the lower order cheaply. Austin finished with figures of 6 for 48 in 22 overs, as Leewards folded for 152.
ScorecardLeft-arm spinner Nikita Miller took seven wickets in the second innings to dismiss Windward Islands for 83 and send them crashing to a 91-run defeat against Jamaica in Grenada. The match was dominated by spinners with Miller taking nine and Windwards offspinner Shane Shillingford and Jamaica legspinner Odean Brown picking up eight each.Jamaica, who chose to bat, were 66 for 6 at one stage before fifties from David Bernard and Miller lifted them to 207. It was to be the highest total in the match. Windwards’ first innings took the opposite direction. Devon Smith and Johnson Charles put on 59 at the top of the order before the latter was bowled by Tamar Lambert. Only one of the remaining batsmen reached double figures as Windwards crumbled to be dismissed for 130, with Brown picking up 5 for 31.Jamaica had their first-innings lead of 77 to thank as they were shot out for 97 in their second innings. Chris Gayle made 15 and 0, falling to left-arm fast bowler Delorn Johnson both times. Shillingford picked up four more to add to his four from the first innings, while Darren Sammy had 4 for 20 from 10 overs. There was another rearguard from Jamaica, with No. 10 Brown making 27 to turn 68 for 8 into something much closer to 100.Windwards lasted 36 overs on the third morning in their chase of 175, falling apart against the spin combine of Miller and Brown. Miller had figures of 18-6-30-7, giving him his 12th five-wicket haul in his 49th first-class game.

Following Chennai Super Kings’ unexpected loss to Pune Warriors, batsman S Badrinath has admitted to the team having issues with their opening combination. Apart from the match against Kings XI Punjab, in which Super Kings cruised to a 10-wicket win, their openers have failed to lay the required platform, Badrinath said.”The openers are not able to get us to the required start. In that one game against KXIP, the openers just saw us through. Apart from that, this is an issue that needs to be addressed,” Badrinath told the IPL website. “Faf [du Plessis] was brilliant for us last season at the top of the order. Opening is such a key role in Twenty20 cricket. In the first six overs the fielders are inside and you need to capitalise on that. That start takes on the momentum to the middle order and further in the innings.”In their first three matches Super Kings opened with Michael Hussey and M Vijay, and apart from the game against Kings XI, the pair put on stands of 10 and 4 in two overs each. Against Pune Warriors, Hussey was left out to accommodate allrounder Albie Morkel, and Vijay opened with S Anirudha, who was out for a second-ball duck. South Africa’s du Plessis, who was successful when given the chance to open in 2012, is out with injury.The idea behind leaving Hussey out, Badrinath said, was to improve the team balance: “It was something to do with the combination. We wanted Anirudha to get quick runs at the top, and to get Albie in to add some firepower in the batting and another bowling option. It was very unfortunate that Anirudha got out off the second ball.”Badrinath, however, still backed his batsmen to come good. “Let’s be honest: we haven’t been able to get great starts and we’ve lost too many wickets at the top order. That’s something that needs to be addressed,” he said. “However, these batsmen have done it for us before and we need to have faith in them.”

The Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) has banned Fawad Alam, Sohail Khan and Khalid Latif for showing indiscipline during the recently concluded Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 competition that was completed on March 31. All three bans are for 12 months, with Sohail’s covering all domestic games for Karachi, while the two others will not be allowed to play T20s.During television coverage of the event, the players were shown criticising their coach Tauseef Ahmed, a former Pakistan player. The three players have represented Pakistan on the international stage, with Sohail Khan having played two Tests, five one-day internationals and three Twenty20 internationals. Fawad Alam has played three Tests, 27 ODIs, and 24 T20Is. Khalid Latif has played five one-dayers and seven T20Is.

ScorecardIan Bell made a fluent 35•Getty Images

Brendan Nash’s best one-day performance for Kent proved decisive as they squeezed past Warwickshire with a frantic one-run victory at Edgbaston.Nash, the former West Indies batsman, made an unbeaten 98 that lifted his side to 239 for 9. Warwickshire slumped to 185 for 8 in reply with 55 wanted from six overs but Jeetan Patel ensured a fluctuating contest went down to the wirePatel set about the bowlers with two sixes and six fours in a whirlwind 27-ball innings that threatened to pull off a dramatic rescue act for Warwickshire. It eventually came down to the last ball and two runs needed, but Patel’s heroics in making 50, his best one-day score, came to nothing when we was run out by Adam Ball.Kent were well in charge when the spin bowling of James Tredwell and his 21-year-old partner Adam Riley knocked Warwickshire off course. Riley crucially dismissed William Porterfield lbw for 47, and Tredwell captured the prized wicket when Varun Chopra was well caught at mid-off after making 67 in his build-up for England Lions duty later in the week.While Chopra played a measured innings, it was a mixed day for Warwickshire’s other England candidates, either those in the Test team or others pushing for selection. Ian Bell looked in imperious form in making 35, driving successive sixes off Mark Davies over long-on, but failed to clear midwicket off Matt Coles. Jonathan Trott made only 3 before nicking a catch off Davies.This came on top of a testing time for Chris Woakes and Chris Wright. The new-ball bowlers, who will be with Chopra in the Lions squad to meet New Zealand at Grace Road on Thursday, conceded 101 runs between them, although Woakes did pick up a couple of wickets.Kent may have promised more than they delivered after losing the toss. Rob Key made a brisk start with 44 until pulling offspinner Patel to midwicket, and as much as Nash kept the board ticking over, he struck only seven boundaries from 106 deliveries.Others attempted to be more destructive, notably Adam Ball with five fours in a rapid 28 and Coles with successive sixes off Woakes in reaching 20 from 11 balls.That Kent were unable kick on in the middle overs of their innings was mostly due to Darren Maddy on his first appearance of the season. Maddy, 39 later this month, took two wickets in five balls and held three catches, the first of these removing Key after a stand of 85 with Nash.

Former Kerala captain and junior national selector M Balan Pandit has died in Ernakulam, Kerala on June 5, aged 86.A wicketkeeper-batsman, Pandit began playing first-class cricket in 1946 and represented Kathiawar, Kerala and Travancore-Cochin. In a career spanning 46 first-class matches, Pandit scored 2,317 runs including five hundreds at an average of 29.70.He was a wicketkeeper for Kathiawar in the match against Maharashtra, in December 1948, when Bhausaheb Nimbalkar scored an unbeaten 443 runs, the highest first-class score by an Indian batsman.In a Ranji Trophy match in 1959 against Andhra, his 14th for Kerala, Pandit scored an unbeaten 262, which was the record individual score for Kerala before Sreekumar Nair hit a triple century against Services in 2007.As a wicketkeeper, he completed 35 catches and three stumpings during his first-class career.As an administrator, Pandit was a member of India’s junior selection committee and was also the chairman of Kerala’s selection committee. He also served as vice-president of Kerala Cricket Association.