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With their century stand in Pakistan’s win over West Indies in the World Cup quarter-final, Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal could well be Pakistan’s solution to their long-standing opening woes

Osman Samiuddin25-Mar-2011The one piece in the jigsaw Pakistan have been unable to fit during theWorld Cup has been, to no great surprise, the opening partnership. Forfive matches in the group stages, with commendable patience, they stuckwith Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez despite the pair putting on ahighest of 28.Eventually they chose to drop Shehzad for the game against Australia;Hafeez’s skills as an offspinner enough to retain him. The change meant areuniting of one of Pakistan’s more successful ODI opening pairs in recentyears, of Hafeez and Kamran Akmal. Almost immediately there was a return;the pair putting on an unbroken 113 against the West Indies in thequarter-final in Dhaka in the ten-wicket win.That was their second century stand in the ten ODIs in which they haveopened together, to go with four fifty starts and a healthy averageoverall of 62.55. Though they had opened twice before, in 2006-07, it waslast summer in the ODI series against England that they had an extendedand successful run, putting together stands of 62, 122, 8, 62 and 63 inthe series.But since then, in the continuing fall-out of the spot-fixing scandal, thepairing has been disrupted again, allowing Shahzaib Hasan, Imran Farhatand Shehzad to open with Hafeez. “There was a problem in opening; theperformance that was expected wasn’t happening, like we had in Englandwith Kamran,” Hafeez told ESPNcricinfo. “In Abu Dhabi I had different guyslike Shahzaib, Imran Farhat opening with me; in New Zealand Shehzad wasthere. So it was difficult to adjust to everyone.”But Hafeez has always felt most comfortable with Akmal, with whom thecontrast in intent works well. “I have opened before with Kamran andobviously, when you play together, you understand each other’s game,”Hafeez said.”When Kamran plays with me, I have great confidence because I know heattacks the bowlers. He plays beautiful shots and the opposition gets underpressure. I actually find batting easier because I know he is attackingthe bowlers at the other end. That gives me confidence in playing my ownshots.”The domestic and international careers of both have overlapped to a largeextent and they know each other well off the field as well, spending timetogether in Lahore. Kamran’s younger brothers Adnan and Umar also playwith Hafeez for Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) on the domesticcircuit in Pakistan.”Hafeez has been doing so well since the England series with ball andbat,” Akmal told ESPNcricinfo. “He brings so much confidence to the team.I love batting with him because we have a good understanding. Wecommunicate with each other all the time at the wicket, talking about thewicket, the bowler, what we need to keep doing. If one of us is strugglinga little, the other is always there to help him out. I had thatunderstanding with Salman Butt as well.”

On the first day at Uxbridge it was the England captain reacquainting himself with first-class cricket and on the second it was the turn of Sri Lanka’s

ESPNcricinfo staff15-May-2011
ScorecardTillakaratne Dilshan took a liking to Middlesex’s inexperienced bowling attack•AFPOn the first day at Uxbridge it was the England captain reacquainting himself with first-class cricket and on the second it was the turn of Sri Lanka’s. Barely three days after flying in from the IPL for this tour, Tillakaratne Dilshan helped himself to 123 on a productive day for the tourists’ top order against a weak Middlesex attack as Tharanga Paranavitana also made 103.The value of these runs will be tempered by the fact that none of the Middlesex bowlers are regular first-team players, but Dilshan and Paranavitana made the most of the friendly fare on offer and a flat surface. As the opening day confirmed the suspicion that Sri Lanka’s bowling will suffer, today’s action showed the batting should be able to hold itself together. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara will arrive next week and along with Dilshan and Thilan Samaraweera they form a potent line-up. England’s bowlers may toil as well.There is often much made about the switch from Twenty20 to first-class cricket, but Dilshan took one style into the other and set off at a pace more akin to the IPL he has just left. although he was dropped at second slip on 10. Middlesex’s young seamers, Tom Parsons and Gurjit Sandhu, had a tough introduction while left-arm spinner Tom Smith was taken for 14 in his first over.Dilshan’s fifty came from 48 balls and he only slowed a little to reach three figures from 108 deliveries before retiring midway through the afternoon session to give his team-mates a chance. England’s bowlers know plenty about Dilshan – he struck an unbeaten 108 in the World Cup quarter-final – and will have to ensure they can string some maiden overs together against him.Paranavitana, as he often has been during his 16-match Test career, was content to ride in Dilshan’s slipstream and play at his own pace. It has caused some surprise that Upul Tharanga, who helped Dilshan secure the 10-wicket victory over England in Colombo, doesn’t make the Test squad these days but Paranavitana has made a promising start with two hundreds and an average of 37.However, all his 16 Tests to date have been on the subcontinent so his challenge will be to adapt to the extra bounce that Strauss will hope the Test pitches offer. It helps Sri Lanka’s cause that the first Test is in Cardiff, one of slower surfaces in the country, and the England management will wish for more carry than the Ashes pitch two years ago.On this slow pitch at Uxbridge, Paranavitana had few problems adjusting during his 145-ball hundred before remaining in the pavilion after the tea interval. That allowed two of Sri Lanka’s rising talents, Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal, to add an unbroken 59. Chandimal dominated the stand and may take the No. 6 spot during the Tests after a prolific domestic season.Sri Lanka could have batted on for the remainder of the day, but Dilshan showed another of his positive sides when he gave Middlesex a short session. It paid off as Suranga Lakmal removed Sam Robson for a duck and more success on the final day will leave the tourists in decent heart.

The Surrey and Essex faithful came to Croydon to watch England starKevin Pietersen bat, but left for home marvelling over Graham Napier’sastonishing display of pyrotechnics

Mark Pennell at Whitgift School19-May-2011ScorecardThe Surrey and Essex faithful came to Croydon to watch England starKevin Pietersen bat, but left for home marvelling over Graham Napier’sastonishing display of pyrotechnics.Free from the spinal stress fracture injury that has dogged him forover a year Napier, in his first County Championship game for 11months, clubbed a world record-equalling 16 sixes in a career-best 196for his part in mammoth Essex first innings of 548 all out.Having resumed on his overnight score of 25, the 31-year-old right-hander took three overs or so to play himself in before launching asavage assault on Surrey’s listless attack.Balls were disappearing over the ropes, out of the ground anddisappearing down the adjacent A235 Brighton Road with more frequencythan London buses heading into town. He twice took three sixes in anover against Gareth Batty, and in between times achieved the samefeat against Stuart Meaker.Though Tim Phillips and David Masters fell at the other end, Napiercharged on untroubled adding over a hundred runs to his overnight tallybefore lunch, the first batsman to do so against Surrey since AllanLamb for Northamptonshire at Wantage Road in 1989.In all, the visitors scored 172 in the session, but their fun did notstop there as Chris Wright held up one end for 90 minutes incontributing 34 to a ninth-wicket stand that added 190 in 22.2 overs.There were no nervous 90s for Napier. On 88 he drove Tim Linley to theropes through cover then, playing right back in his crease, launchedback foot forces over extra cover and long-off to move to an imperiouscentury from 102 balls with 15 fours and five sixes. It was his fourthfirst-class century and his first since July 2007.He might have gone for 118 when miscuing high to long on against Batty,but Chris Tremlett’s effort appeared half-hearted and the Englandpaceman only succeeding in spilling the chance for four.As if to celebrate the milestone and the let off Napier shifted gearafter lunch and moved into overdrive. Despite losing Wright to a runout by Mark Ramprakash, Napier switched to Twenty20 mode and his chargeproved nigh on relentless.He hit another four sixes and four fours to post his third 50 in just15 deliveries. Tired of replacing lost balls, umpire RichardKettleborough took to taking two at a time from the box of spares onceNapier truly got his eye in.It was Batty who suffered most; his 15, wicketless overs cost 112runs at an economy rate of 7.40 as he conceded seven of Napier’s 16sixes. A tally that took Napier level with the first-class world record forsixes in an innings set by Andrew Symonds, when playing as an’Englishman’ for Gloucestershire against Glamorgan at Abergavenny in1995.Having scored his last 103 runs from only 29 balls, Napier foundhimself four shy of a maiden double hundred which he clearly wanted toreach in a manner befitting of the innings. Aiming for the player’spavilion against Meaker he top-edged and wicketkeeper StevenDavies ran around toward gully to catch a skier and end the Essexinnings.To his credit, home skipper Rory Hamilton-Brown ran over to shakeNapier’s hand as the all-rounder walked off to a standing ovation.Requiring 399 merely to avoid the follow-on, Surrey made good progressthrough Hamilton-Brown and Tom Maynard, who was making his maidenappearance as an opener for Surrey.The former Millfield School chums, who boast a combined age of 45,added a trouble free 136 either side of tea for Surrey’s first centuryopening stand since August 2009Hamilton-Brown coasted to his fifth championship hundred from 123 ballswith his 20th sumptuous four, but Maynard nicked a good one fromMasters to go for 43 and Mark Ramprakash went for a 12-ball duck,bringing in Pietersen with 25 overs remaining.He should have gone with 18 against his name to the same bowler whenMark Pettini downed a comfortable overhead opportunity at mid-on, butwhen on to a 48-ball 50 before playing across one from Matt Walker to fall lbw for 58 shortly before stumps.

S Badrinath, Man of the Match in the only Twenty20 international of the tour, has said he is focussed on contributing consistently while playing for India

Sriram Veera in Port of Spain04-Jun-2011It was a dull opening game. It was also strange. Who plays a Twenty20 game at 10am?The shortest format is about sauntering in with your family and friends to the park in the evening and having some fun. The players as well as the home board didn’t wish for such an early start. “We tried our best to tell the broadcaster to push it later but they didn’t agree,” an official from the West Indies cricket board told ESPNcricinfo. “To play a T20 game at 10am is not ideal but we couldn’t do much about it.” It yet again proves TV is the boss. No one can afford to mess with its commerce. And in this case it was all about playing at a time that would be suitable to the Indian television audience. “Bahut ajeeb lagta hai 10 baje T20 khelne mey,” (it feels strange to play a T20 at 10am) said an Indian cricketer.The match was played under the constant threat of rain, with a steady drizzle in the early stages. Ironically, there might have been no game if not for the TV broadcasters’ keenness for an early start: the rain came down heavily after the match ended, and as a result, the Trinidad & Tobago v Sagicor HPC XI match had to be called off.In any case, the first match meandered along without much quality. The pitch – damp and slow- too played a big part in dictating the style of play. West Indies shouldn’t have let India reach 159 after such a middling start but they did. There wasn’t much fun for the crowd. But one man would be least worried about such demands. S Badrinath stitched together another steady, effective innings to prop up India. “It’s a nice feeling to be able to contribute to India’s win,” he said later. “I have been playing a lot of cricket, especially the T20 format, in the last one month or so, and it helped me to keep my game in balance.”S Badrinath helped India recover and post a match-winning total•Associated PressThe pitch played a touch slow when Badrinath came in and there was scoreboard pressure. Badrinath did what he does best: he worked the angles, rotated the strike and freed his mind and arms near the end of his innings. His story has been well documented. Badrinath’s fans reckon he is one of the unluckiest Indian cricketers and that he should have had more chances to represent India. He has put behind him that anger-suffused disappointment and is now focussed on his future. Does he see himself as a senior cricketer in a team of youngsters? “I have played with lot of these guys in domestic cricket and on A tours. I am not seeing myself as a senior or junior. The fact is that I am new to international cricket but I use my experience and back myself. “Badrinath has a few goals but he didn’t want to share it and put more pressure on himself. “I don’t want to say what exactly what I want to do. The first thing is that I need to cement a spot in the Indian team. I am just focussed on contributing consistently.”He said he is aware of the need to constantly work on his game and has been seeking the help of coaches in honing his skills to suit all forms of cricket. “I have been working with the coaches. The IPL experience has helped me a great deal. It’s been lot of hard work but I enjoy improving my game and want to play for India for as long as possible.”

Paul Collingwood will be the second international star, alongside Herschelle Gibbs, on the Perth Scorchers’ Big Bash League roster

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jul-2011Paul Collingwood will be the second international star, alongside Herschelle Gibbs, on the Perth Scorchers’ Big Bash League roster. The signings continued apace on Tuesday, with the Melbourne Renegades naming a near-full squad including the fast bowlers Shaun Tait and Dirk Nannes, who will head a fearsome attack for the side based at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne’s Docklands.The Renegades will wait until later in the week to confirm their international players, but there has been no such delay for the Scorchers. The coach of the Scorchers, Mickey Arthur, said the team would benefit greatly from the presence of Collingwood, who captained England to the World Twenty20 title last year and has a less busy schedule than he used to, having retired from Tests.”I stated last week that overseas recruits need to bring outstanding qualities, and Paul Collingwood is another who offers so much to our set-up,” Arthur said. “Paul is a brilliant leader of men who helped mould his country’s T20 side into an exciting and ruthless combination, which culminated in their triumph over Australia in the final of last year’s World T20 in Barbados.”Being the first skipper to lead England to victory at an ICC men’s event was a massive feather in his cap. Paul is a gutsy and determined batsman who can lift the scoring rate with his attacking stroke play, he is a proven wicket-taker with the ball and is first class in the field. I am thrilled to welcome him as our second overseas signing.”Perth have also locked in the wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi, along with Western Australia’s new fast-bowling recruits Nathan Rimmington and Mark Cameron. Meanwhile, in Melbourne, Brad Hodge, Andrew McDonald and Aaron Finch are the big-name Victorians to have joined the Renegades, who have already confirmed 14 of their 18 players.The Renegades coach Simon Helmot, who is an assistant at Victoria under Greg Shipperd, will have plenty of experience in his coaching staff after Dean Jones and Merv Hughes signed up as batting and bowling mentors. In addition to the South Australian fast man Tait, the Renegades have also brought in the Queensland batsman Nathan Reardon and the left-arm spinner Aaron Heal, who was axed from Western Australia’s squad earlier this year.The surprise signing was that of Brenton McDonald, 27, a legspinner and the brother of former Test allrounder and Renegade Andrew McDonald. The team won’t be short on aggression in the attack, with Nannes and Tait to be joined by the fiery fast man Jayde Herrick and the veteran Shane Harwood, who lost his Victoria contract last month.The Renegades’ cross-town rivals, the MCG-based Stars, have not yet named any of their squad but it is expected to feature several other Victoria players including Cameron White and David Hussey. In other signings on Tuesday, the Hobart Hurricanes locked in the Tasmania quartet of Mark Cosgrove, Rhett Lockyear, Evan Gulbis and Matt Johnston, while the Sydney Sixers confirmed the wicketkeeper Peter Nevill would be part of their group.The squads so far
Adelaide Strikers Daniel Harris, Cameron Borgas
Brisbane Heat Nick Buchanan, Ben Cutting, Ryan Harris, Chris Lynn
Hobart Hurricanes Travis Birt, Mark Cosgrove, Xavier Doherty, Evan Gulbis, Michael Hogan, Matt Johnston, Rhett Lockyear, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Tim Paine
Melbourne Renegades Ryan Carters, Aaron Finch, Shane Harwood, Aaron Heal, Jayde Herrick, Michael Hill, Brad Hodge, Glenn Maxwell, Andrew McDonald, Brenton McDonald, Dirk Nannes, Nathan Reardon, Will Sheridan, Shaun Tait
Melbourne Stars No players yet
Perth Scorchers Tom Beaton, Mark Cameron, Paul Collingwood, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Herschelle Gibbs, Michael Hussey, Simon Katich, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Marcus North, Luke Pomersbach, Nathan Rimmington, Luke Ronchi
Sydney Sixers Moises Henriques, Peter Nevill, Ben Rohrer, Steven Smith
Sydney Thunder Chris Gayle, David Warner

Chaminda Vaas took 5 for 76 and Stephen Peters and Mal Loye shared an opening partnership of 158 as Northamptonshire gained the upper hand against Middlesex at Lord’s

12-Aug-2011
Scorecard
Chaminda Vaas took 5 for 76 and Stephen Peters and Mal Loye shared an opening partnership of 158 as Second Division leaders Northamptonshire gained the upper hand against Middlesex, their closest challengers, at Lord’s.Wicketkeeper John Simpson had lifted Middlesex to a competitive total of 317 with a determined 61 off 158 balls including seven fours but Peters and Loye rode their luck against the new-ball attack of Corey Collymore and Tim Murtagh to lead Northamptonshire to 188 for 2.Peters was the more secure of the two but he was dropped on 38 by Chris Rogers at midwicket off Steven Crook, who eventually did get his man. Peters had moved on to 75 off 146 balls with 12 fours when he got a leading edge trying to turn the ball on the leg side and Crook took a sprawling return catch.Crook struck again in his next over when Rob White tried to hook and only succeeded in gloving a catch to Dawid Malan at first slip but Loye and Alex Wakely denied Middlesex any further success. It took Loye 19 balls to get off the mark and he drove the Middlesex bowlers, Murtagh in particular, to distraction by playing and missing with great regularity but he played some magnificent shots in between to reach 80 off 152 balls with 12 fours.Middlesex had started the second day on 198 for 6 and added another 119, thanks mainly to the steadfast Simpson, who got his head down for almost three and a half hours and was given spirited support by Toby Roland-Jones and Murtagh.Roland-Jones had contributed 24 to a seventh-wicket stand of 51 when he was bowled by a James Middlebrook offbreak. Crook did not get very far before he was caught at silly point off Middlebrook but Murtagh helped Simpson raise another 46 for the ninth wicket.Murtagh had made 27 when he was leg before to Vaas, the former Sri Lanka left-arm swing bowler, who went on to claim Simpson the same way to complete exemplary figures of 5 for 76 in 26.2 overs. It was his second five-wicket haul at Lord’s, his first having come in 2007 when he was playing for Middlesex.

Tillakaratne Dilshan, the Sri Lanka captain, has said he will not consider changing the way he bats after a pair of impetuous innings contributed to his team’s heavy defeat by Australia in the first Test in Galle

Daniel Brettig03-Sep-2011Tillakaratne Dilshan, the Sri Lanka captain, has said he will not consider changing the way he bats after a pair of impetuous innings contributed to his team’s heavy defeat by Australia in the first Test in Galle.Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews added 142 before being parted on the fourth day, showing what might have been achieved by Sri Lanka with a little more application on the most difficult of Galle pitches. Dilshan admitted his side’s first innings surrender for 105 had been the key to their downfall, but has no intention of reining in his own game.”We can’t expect to get out for 105 in the first innings [and win],” Dilshan said. “That is why we lost this match. We can’t give a 150-run lead, especially on this kind of wicket. We planned to get 220-230 runs [in the fourth innings] but unfortunately we had to get 400 runs.”[But] I’m not going to change my batting, I’ve batted aggressively over the last three or four years and I want to play my shots. I play my natural game. Especially on a wicket that it is not easy to survive on, you have to play some shots and overcome that [challenge] with something special.”On the second morning Dilshan drove Trent Copeland’s first ball for four then attempted to repeat the shot from the second and was pouched at short cover by Ricky Ponting. In the second innings he played a succession of questionable strokes before being bowled by Ryan Harris, helping open up the innings and the match for Australia.Sri Lanka have now gone nine matches since last registering a Test victory, the sort of streak that puts Australia’s struggles around the Ashes series into some perspective. The hosts are yet to win a Test since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan, who seems to have left the same sort of hole Richard Hadlee did for New Zealand when he retired in 1990.”We have to find a way to win matches,” Dilshan said. “After Murali retired, it is very difficult to win matches, but we’ve got new spinners. I look forward to winning upcoming matches.The omission of Ajantha Mendis had been a talking point through the match, especially in the second innings when Suraj Randiv did not trouble Australia as much as a spin bowler might have expected to on a dastardly pitch. Dilshan defended the selectors’ call.”In the last few matches Randiv and [Rangana] Herath clearly did well for our team. Mendis played in the last Test series, but these two have been better overall. That is why we picked them. I feel they were a good choice for this wicket.”Sri Lanka’s primary consolation came from Jayawardene and Mathews, who showed tremendous courage and skill to hold up Australia’s attack. Dilshan said he had nurtured slims hopes for victory while Jayawardene was at the crease.”Their fightback was great. After being 68 for five, I felt they put us in a winning position at one stage,” he said. “Mahela batted really well, he showed his character and experience.”He’s batted in these kinds of situations a lot over the last six or seven years for Sri Lanka. When the team is struggling, he puts his hand up and puts runs on the board. Today he did the same thing. Unfortunately he got out to the new ball, but I’m really happy with the way these two batted.”

Owais Shah’s century kept Essex in the hunt for a place in the Clydesdale Bank40 semi-finals as they hammered Gloucestershire by 118 runs in their Group Cmatch at Colchester

21-Aug-2011
ScorecardOwais Shah’s century kept Essex in the hunt for a place in the Clydesdale Bank40 semi-finals as they hammered Gloucestershire by 118 runs in their Group Cmatch at Colchester. Shah struck an imperious 104 from 98 balls to point the way to a total of 299 for 7, to which the visitors responded with 181 all out.It also underlined Shah’s liking for Gloucestershire’s bowling as his lastcentury in the competition was for former county Middlesex at Cheltenham 12months ago. Arriving at the crease after Mark Pettini was removed by James Fuller with thefirst ball of the match, Shah put all the Gloucestershire bowlers to the swordwith some thrilling strokes.He hit four sixes amongst his 13 boundaries before Fuller had him caught on themid-wicket boundary. Shah shared in two substantial partnerships as Essex posted their season’s biggest total in the competition.The first came with Tom Westley with whom 113 were added in 16 overs. Westleycontributed 50 from 59 balls and when he became a victim of Ian Saxelby, JamesFoster arrived to inflict further punishment with Shah. Their fourth-wicket stand produced 96 in a dozen overs. Foster eventually followed Shah back to the pavilion, bowled by David Payne for 66 that arrived from 45 deliveries and contained seven fours and two sixes.Earlier, opener Adam Wheater made up for Pettini’s instant departure with aquickfire 40 from 22 balls. He had helped himself to 34 of those runs from boundaries before he drove Fuller to mid-off. Fuller finished with three for 62 from his eight overs afterhis first two had been maidens.The visitors hopes of mounting a serious challenge soon evaporated as DavidMasters and Graham Napier inflicted early damage grabbing the first threewickets inside the opening seven overs.Kevin O’Brien and Kane Williamson, the two batsmen most capable of taking onthe Essex attack, both fell to Masters whilst Napier removed skipper AlexGidman. Chris Taylor, a century-maker 24 hours earlier in the LV= County Championshipduel between the two teams, did his best to bring a semblance of respectabilityto his side’s cause.But, having scored a fluent 47 from 42 deliveries, he was undone by a brilliantpiece of fielding by Pettini. Taylor cut the ball hard to backward point where Pettini dived full length to stop the ball and throw it back a split second later for Foster to whip off thebails after the batsman attempted to return to the crease having set off for asingle.That left the West Country side 122 for 6 and, with Jack Taylor unable to batdue to a twisted ankle suffered in the field, slumping towards defeat. Masters then took two of the remaining three wickets to finish with four for 32 whilst Napier added another in returning two for 53 as Gloucestershire were bowled out with nine overs to spare.

Pakistan could tour Bangladesh in December this year as the boards of the two countries discuss the possibility of scheduling a full series when both teams are available

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Sep-2011Pakistan could tour Bangladesh in December this year as the boards of the two countries discuss the possibility of scheduling a full series when both teams are available. “The two boards have worked closely together to schedule a visit by Pakistan in December which is when both teams will be free from other commitments,” Rabeed Imam, the Bangladesh Cricket Board media manager, told the .”Bangladesh is set to host West Indies from October to November this year but have an extensive window to host Pakistan after that until March next year when we are supposed to host the Asia Cup.”With December being the only month when Pakistan could play us, a series may be finalised for that time but the schedule is yet to be finalised. The tour may comprise two Tests, three ODIs and a Twenty20 but that’s all to be confirmed.”Bangladesh last toured Pakistan in 2008 but since then the two sides have played against each other only twice across all three formats, once each in the World Twenty20 2010 and in the Asia Cup 2010.Pakistan were scheduled to visit Bangladesh last year but the series was postponed amid reports of differences between the two boards. “The proposed tour by Pakistan at the end of the year is part of the Future Tours Programme one originally scheduled for last August and later moved to 2011-12,” Imam said.”The BCB and the PCB have always been in a cordial and healthy relationship. You may recall that Bangladesh toured Pakistan in 2008 when other teams weren’t touring and we returned for the Asia Cup later that year as well.”

Kyle Mills will miss the lone Test against Zimbabwe due to a torn abductor muscle, New Zealand Cricket has announced

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Oct-2011Kyle Mills, the New Zealand seamer, will miss the one-off Test against Zimbabwe due to a torn abductor muscle. A replacement has not been named as the Test squad has enough cover in the fast-bowling department, team manager Mike Sandle said.Mills had initially developed discomfort in the muscle during the first ODI on October 20, and was rested for the next two games, before scans revealed the extent of his injury. “Kyle developed some discomfort during the first one-dayer in Harare,” Sandle said. “Initially it was thought to be a strain but a scan has shown a slight tear to his abductor muscle. Kyle will undergo further assessment by the New Zealand Cricket medical team once he returns home.”The decision has been made not to bring over a replacement player as there is sufficient cover in the current squad.”New Zealand are also without fast bowler Tim Southee, who is recovering from cartilage damage in his left knee, which he suffered while preparing for the Champions League T20. New Zealand’s national selection manager Kim Littlejohn had been hopeful that Southee would recover in time for the one-off Test that begins on November 1, but as he had not shown enough improvement, Graeme Aldridge was included in the Test squad. Apart from Aldridge, Chris Martin, Andy McKay and Doug Bracewell make up New Zealand’s pace department.Mills’ career had been dogged by injury. He had been out of international cricket prior to the Zimbabwe tour after picking up a quadricep strain half-way through the 2011 World Cup, which ruled him out of the knockout stages of the tournament. During the 2009-10 season, he underwent shoulder and knee surgery, and has not played a Test since March 2009.”Clearly it is disappointing for Kyle who was looking forward to making a return to the Test team,” Sandle said. “We are hopeful he will be available for selection for the upcoming Test series against Australia.” New Zealand play two Tests in Australia from December 1.