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Dawid Malan did not break into England’s Test side until shortly after his 30th birthday, but what odds that one day – even if just fleetingly – he might captain England?That thought might have crossed the mind of more than a few people when Middlesex announced that he had been appointed as their new club captain. Here is the chance he has long yearned for to make an impression.The need to find Joe Root occasional rest periods will exist as long as he remains a multi-format player, the vice captain Ben Stokes is facing charges of affray and the player who stepped into that role in Australia, James Anderson, is approaching the end of his career.Malan, one of the few figures to emerge in credit after England’s 4-0 Ashes thumping, struck a maiden Test hundred in Perth and showed resilience throughout, gaining a reputation as a tough cricketer with an appetite for the challenge. Even if he just steps in for a day, his odds have tightened considerably compared to only six months ago.Middlesex have been heavily reliant upon overseas players to lead the club in recent seasons as Angus Fraser, their managing director of cricket and also an England selector, testified.But Malan’s stock has risen and, with a certain irony, he has been entrusted with the job just as England can be expected to make more demands on his time.Malan takes over the captaincy of the club in all formats, with Sam Robson appointed as his four-day vice-captain. Middlesex will appoint a stand-in captain in T20 and 50-over cricket only if should that prove necessary.It has taken almost 350 appearances for Middlesex across all formats, with him amassing more than 14,000 runs in the process, including 23 centuries, before he was appointed – although he did lead Middlesex in the NatWest Blast in 2016 and also led the England Lions to a tri-series win against Pakistan-A and Sri Lanka-A in the same year, impressing Andy Flower along the way.Fraser said: “In recent years Middlesex Cricket have looked at overseas players and new signings to captain the club but I now feel the time is right for players from within to take on major leadership roles.Dawid Malan slugs one to the leg side•Getty Images

“Since my return to Middlesex there have been a number of players who have developed from promising youngsters into high quality and highly-respected figures in domestic cricket. No player has done this more than Dawid Malan and that is why I am delighted he has taken up the offer to be club captain.”Dawid has always held the desire to captain teams and we have for some time believed he has had the potential to captain the club, hence his appointment as T20 captain in 2016. Along with the belief I have that he will become an excellent leader, Dawid stands out because he is somebody who we believe will do the job for several years.Fraser conceded that England absences complicated the issue but said that such considerations should not prevent Malan from gaining his rightful rewards. It is a view recently taken by Yorkshire with Gary Ballance and, somewhat controversially, by Kent with Sam Billings, a decision that will see Sam Northeast leave the club.”England commitments – and I hope Dawid continues to thrive as an international cricketer – may mean we do not see him for periods of the season but, in my mind, that should not stop the right man from holding the position he deserves to hold,” Fraser said.”In light of this Middlesex Cricket have made Sam Robson vice-captain in County Championship cricket. Sam is another player that has been developed by Middlesex and is a cricketer that is ready to take on further responsibility and new challenges. The pair of them will bring fresh ideas and energy to the County Championship cricket we play.Fraser also had warm words for the outgoing captain James Franklin, the New Zealand allrounder, who he said had “selflessly stepped in to fill a leadership hole.”So Malan as an England captain, however briefly? It might be seen as a bizarre suggestion, but there was a time when people would have scoffed at the thought that Paul Collingwood, by then pushing 34, would be the man to lead England to their only success in a major ICC tournament.

Hours after Cricket Australia said it would investigate the actions of the Australian team’s leadership in relation to the ball-tampering confession in the Cape Town Test, the Australian government has asked the board to remove Steven Smith as captain.The country’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has also called the incident a “shocking disappointment”. “We all woke up this morning shocked and bitterly disappointed by the news from South Africa,” Turnbull said. “It seemed completely beyond belief that the Australian cricket team had been involved in cheating.”I’ve spoken with David Peever, the Chairman of Cricket Australia, a few moments ago and I’ve expressed to him very clearly and unequivocally my disappointment and my concern about the events in South Africa.”It’s their responsibility to deal with it, but I have to say that (to) the whole nation, who holds those who wear the Baggy Green up on a pedestal, about as high as you can get in Australia … this is a shocking disappointment. It’s wrong, and I look forward to Cricket Australia taking decisive action soon.”The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) Chair John Wylie, the ASC Board, and CEO Kate Palmer – essentially speaking for the Australian government – called for severe action against the team. “The ASC condemns cheating of any form in sport,” it said in a statement. “The ASC expects and requires that Australian teams and athletes demonstrate unimpeachable integrity in representing our country.”Given the admission by Australian captain Steve Smith, the ASC calls for him to be stood down immediately by Cricket Australia, along with any other members of the team leadership group or coaching staff who had prior awareness of, or involvement in, the plan to tamper with the ball. This can occur while Cricket Australia completes a full investigation.”The government’s point of view emerged shortly after CA chief executive James Sutherland had said the board would investigate the ball tampering affair and take further action against the national team beyond the ICC charge accepted by Cameron Bancroft.With the CA chairman David Peever in transit home from South Africa, Sutherland chose not to travel to see the team himself, instead delegating the matter to the head of integrity, Iain Roy, and the team performance manager Pat Howard. The initiation of this “process” left Sutherland unable to offer anything beyond the conditional endorsement of Steven Smith as “current” captain of the national team.Sutherland and Howard were central to the sacking of Mickey Arthur, predecessor to the current coach Darren Lehmann, ahead of the 2013 Ashes series.”This morning [Australian cricket fans] have every reason to wake up and not be proud of the Australian team. It’s a sad day for Australian cricket,” Sutherland said in Melbourne. “Activities on the field yesterday in Cape Town are neither within the Laws of the game or within the spirit of the game. For us at Cricket Australia that’s extremely disappointing but more importantly it’s extremely disappointing for Australian cricket fans.”That isn’t the end of it and can’t be the end of it. We have a responsibility to take this further and to understand more about the issue. We will over the next couple of days get a deep understanding of what happened and why and to that end I’ve asked our head of integrity Iain Roy to travel to South Africa today, Pat Howard will also go with him. Iain’s brief will be to gather the relevant information we need to understand the matter better.”I understand that isn’t the fullness of response that everyone is looking for right now but you will appreciate there is an element of process that needs to be undertaken. It is being dealt with as a matter of urgency and seriousness. It will be dealt with promptly.”Sutherland, who has been chief executive since 2001, revealed he was yet to speak to Smith about events at Newlands, where the Australians admitted to knowingly cheating by way of a ball tampering attempt in South Africa’s second innings.”I haven’t spoken to Steve Smith… but he will know. In recent times I’ve had the need to speak to Steve about the behaviour of the team,” Sutherland said in reference to the first Test of the current series in Durban. “I have very strong views on the responsibility of the Australian team and no one will be under any illusions to what I think about this.”We are extremely disappointed and shocked to what we woke up to this morning and we are dealing with this issue with the utmost urgency and seriousness. Steve Smith is currently the captain of the Australian team. We are working through a process and once we have a clearer picture of the facts then we’ll be able to make further comment.”Our responsibility right now is to understand the facts and respond accordingly. I want to reiterate that we are dealing with this matter with appropriate urgency. I said right from the outset that I am shocked and extremely disappointed. This is a very sad day. I’m not happy about this at all.”Despite the ICC match referee Andy Pycroft already informing the Australians of a ball tampering charge against Bancroft, Sutherland said Roy’s investigation would home in on the team issues at hand.”We need someone to go over there and talk to the relevant people and understand the detail and then we’ll make appropriate decisions on the next steps,” Sutherland said. “We are in the middle of a game and that game needs to conclude but in course of next couple of days we’ll get to the bottom of this.”I’m not going to speculate on who is involved. We have to understand from the action of the umpires and the press conference. But we need to have those discussions.”

Big Picture

On Friday, Delhi Daredevils did not look like the side that had just one win in six games. They did not look like they have had troubles with their batting line-up this season. They looked like they were a team that was strong not just on paper. It seemed like they were announcing their late but not-too-late arrival.Shreyas Iyer, Daredevils’ new captain was their pillar in the match against Kolkata Knight Riders. He took his bottom-placed side to the highest total of this season as he made the highest score by a captain on debut. He effortlessly took on the pacers and the wristspinners as his ex-captain Gautam Gambhir cheered him on from the dugout. Even his move to drop Gambhir and give Colin Munro and Prithvi Shaw a go as the new opening pair worked wonders.

Form guide

Chennai Super Kings: lost to Mumbai Indians by eight wickets, beat Royal Challengers by five wickets, beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by four runs
Daredevils: beatKnight Riders by 55 runs, lost to Kings XI by 4 runs, lost to Royal Challengers by six wickets

Daredevils will be flying to Pune to meet Chennai Super Kings, who were most recently handed an eight-wicket thrashing by a refreshed Mumbai Indians.While Dhoni offered the usual “we were 10-15 short” quote after the loss, their bigger issue was the bowling. They have conceded at an economy of 9.38 after the Powerplay, the worst this season after Royal Challengers Bangalore. They also have the second worst economy rate in the death overs.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

So far this season, their batting has bailed them out whenever their bowlers had let them down. Their loss against Mumbai might not have disturbed their place in the table, but they have a lot of contemplating to do on their bowling inefficiencies in just a day’s time.

In the news

Deepak Chahar is out of action for at least two weeks following a hamstring injury. Lungi Ngidi, who had flown back to South Africa following the death of his father, has rejoined the squad.

Strategy punt

In the previous game, Mumbai rightly introduced Krunal Pandya in the fifth over to take advantage of Shane Watson’s struggle against slow left-arm spinners. In the IPL since 2015, Watson has been dismissed 12 times by slow left-armers and averages just 9.3 against them.Super Kings could rope in David Willey in place of the out-of-form Sam Billings. Billings has scored just 24 runs in his last four innings and has also shown signs of struggle against spinners, giving away his wicket three times to them. Willey scores at a strike rate of 170.6 in the middle overs and 157.5 in the death overs in T20s since 2015. They could also use his left-arm inswingers to add a new dimension to their pace attack. He has taken 43 wickets at 24.3 in Powerplays while maintaining an economy of 7.4 in the same time period.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Stats that matter

• Ravindra Jadeja has had a poor run this season, continuing his trend of declining influence on results in recent IPLs. He has bowled just 10 overs in seven games this season and has picked just one wicket as compared to the 2015 season where he picked 11 wickets in 15 innings. However, it is interesting to note that in CSK’s two losses this season, Dhoni had not bowled Jadeja.
• Shreyas Iyer will be looking to score his fourth consecutive 50-plus score. Only Virat Kohli (4) and Virender Sehwag (5) have posted more than three consecutive half-centuries in the IPL.
• Glenn Maxwell is known to have gone big against CSK in the past. He has 204 runs in four innings and a strike rate of 202 against them.

Fantasy picks

Iyer for his red-hot form. Maxwell would be another pick for his record against CSK. Suresh Raina has been in the thick of the action for CSK this edition, so he would be an automatic pick too.

The emergence of another mystery spinner from Afghanistan – Mujeeb Ur Rahman – has eased the pressure off their leading bowler Rashid Khan.”Mujeeb was exceptional. The way he came in and performed [in the IPL],” Rashid told ESPNcricinfo at the CEAT cricket awards, where he was named the T20 bowler of the year. “He has joined the national team as well. He has played only like 10-15 ODIs and coming from that stage and playing in such a big league is a big achievement for him. He is capable of this and the turn he gets suits him and he has done really well.”Mujeeb has had a memorable 2018 already. In February, the 17-year old bowled Afghanistan to the Under-19 World Cup semi-final in New Zealand. In March, he helped Afghanistan win the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe and sealed their place in the 2019 World Cup. Then in his maiden IPL stint in April-May, he claimed 14 wickets in 11 games at an economy rate of 6.99 before missing Kings XI Punjab’s last three games with a hand injury.”Unfortunately, he got injured in the last few games,” Rashid said of Mujeeb. “He’s a very good bowler, clever bowler, and even I am happy to have him in the national side because he’s the kind of bowler who takes a little bit of pressure off me. Because earlier the national team was only dependent on me. Now, having him in the side is a plus point for me.”Mujeeb has recovered from his injury and will combine with Rashid, again, in Afghanistan’s maiden Test in Bengaluru, which starts on June 14. Rashid talked up the occasion and hoped the team would perform well.”It’s a big achievement for us to get Full Membership and now playing Test cricket against India in India,” Rashid said. “It will be a very big day for us and the whole country to play the first Test against India in Bangalore. I’m really excited about that. Hopefully, we will give our best performance in that.”Three Afghanistan players played in the IPL this season – Rashid (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Mujeeb (Kings XI Punjab), and Mohammad Nabi (Sunrisers Hyderabad). It could have been four had left-arm wristspinner Zahir Khan, who had been picked at the auction by Rajasthan Royals for INR 60 lakh, not suffered an injury that sidelined him from the entire season. Rashid said that more players from Afghanistan would play in the next IPL season if they continued to do well in domestic cricket.”If you see our domestic cricket, lots of spinners are there. Hopefully, in the upcoming year there will be like five or six more spinners [in IPL],” Rashid said. “I have seen them in domestic cricket. They’ve taken lots of wickets in the four-day first-class [competition]. If they do well in domestic cricket, hopefully they will get a chance in the IPL.”

Geoffrey Boycott is ambitious to return to Test commentary later this summer, at the age of 79, despite undergoing major heart surgery which left him in a Leeds hospital for 10 days.The family made Boycott’s health public in an announcement by his daughter, Emma Boycott, on Twitter.Emma Boycott said: “”My father, Geoffrey Boycott, had quadruple bypass open heart surgery on Wednesday June 27. He spent 10 days in hospital in Leeds, with most of that time in the Cardiac Critical Care unit.”The surgeon says the operation was a success and has now allowed him home to recover from the invasive surgery. This will take some time so he will not be commentating at the start of the England vs India Test series but hopes to be back at work for the third Test at Nottingham.”Boycott’s ambition to be working professionally again by mid-August is unsurprising for somebody of uncompromising and determined nature whose life revolves largely around the sport that has fulfilled him for a lifetime.Whether this will turn out to be his final season, though, must now be viewed as a possibility. His uncompromising commentary style has long had admirers and detractors both inside and outside the BBC.Last September, Henry Blofeld, two years younger than Boycott at 79, chose to bow out at Lord’s, to great acclaim, and there will be some in the higher echelons of the corporation who will wish him well and dare to contemplate the possibility of retirement.

The owner of the Durban Qalandars franchise is weighing up legal options against Cricket South Africa (CSA), accusing the board of abusing a franchise rights agreement.The Qalandars were in line to own a team in the inaugural Global T20 League last year, but CSA at first postponed and then scrapped the tournament altogether. Numerous logistical challenges and serious financial concerns, not least the lack of a broadcast deal and title sponsor, led to the board launching a replacement league that it co-owns with the broadcaster SuperSport.None of the eight team owners from the GLT20 will be involved in CSA’s new competition, which is essentially a South African product, but the Qalandars are pressing for a stake since, contractually, they still hold the rights to a T20 franchise based out of Durban.”We have had a successful experience with Lahore Qalandars in PSL and wanted to grow globally,” the Qalandars CEO Sameen Rana told ESPNcricinfo. “We couldn’t resist investing in South Africa, a country which has a big cricketing history and with the talent around I felt it was an excellent opportunity for us expand our venture. We were particularly keen to invest in cricket development in the Kwa-Zulu Natal province.”We also set up our office, invested a lot on recruitment to bring people to run the cricket operations in South Africa. It all came after we were awarded the rights for Durban franchise with Kingsmead Cricket Ground as our home venue. But unfortunately after [former CSA CEO] Haroon [Lorgat] departed things started to fall apart and CSA stopped interacting with us. Reportedly there were a lot of discussions within CSA board without even taking us into confidence, despite us being a stakeholder for the entire project.”CSA’s efforts are now concentrated on making sure the new T20 tournament goes off without a hitch, and the board has begun giving back the deposits paid by the GLT20 team owners – USD 250,000 along with an interest of 3.5%.And, in a letter from CSA to a GLT20 owner seen by ESPNcricinfo, the board offered to pay an additional USD 180,000 to each franchise to reimburse them for the expenses incurred in planning for the tournament, a figure some owners are reportedly unhappy with.The Qalandars aren’t satisfied with how everything has panned out.”To our surprise we now read that CSA and SuperSport have signed a deal for yet another T20 venture and we were asked to take the refundable USD 250,000 back without any explanation,” Rana said. “This is a serious breach of trust and contract with us. We do not want our refundable money back, but we require CSA to fulfill the agreement they have signed with us. They also offered us 3.5% interest on the refund along with the reimbursement of expenses incurred. But this is again something we did not demand. We simply need CSA to respect the agreements around the awarding of the franchise to us, which they themselves have given to us in perpetuity. I do not agree to this refund as condition to give up my rights so we will challenge CSA via legal [proceedings].”All of these reimbursements will cost CSA a further R 19.6 million (USD 1.44 million) adding to their already depleted stocks. That will bring losses incurred by the board, which were reported at USD 14.1 million last year, to USD 15.6 million (R 212 million).However, even though it appears CSA have cut ties with the people who had initially invested in the concept a T20 league in South Africa, an insider told ESPNcricinfo otherwise. “CSA’s view is that we were in a partnership and would ideally like to retain the relationship in case there’s an opportunity in selling equity in teams.”

ScorecardKent Spitfires and Surrey shared a point apiece after their Vitality Blast South Group clash in Canterbury was abandoned due to heavy rain during the innings break and after Surrey had posted a mammoth 250 for six – the joint-third highest total in English domestic T20 and eighth highest worldwide.Kent, with three wins from four starts, faced a pursuit at an asking rate of 12.6 an over but were spared the task once rain strengthened after the Surrey innings.Batting first after winning the toss, which was made with a commemorative Queen Anne solid silver shilling from 1709 – the year these two clubs first met – Surrey hit a boundary from the first delivery and never looked back as Aaron Finch once again inspired their innings at the top of the order.

Highest England domestic totals

Yorkshire 260-4 v Northants, 2017
Gloucestershire 254-3 v Middlesex, Uxbridge, 2011
Somerset 250-3 v Gloucestershire, Taunton, 2006
Surrey 250-6 v Kent, Canterbury, 2017

Rory Burns, Finch’s fellow opener, also set the tone, both hitting quickfire 50s, making hay to short boundaries and against a Kent attack hamstrung by a soapy ball and a wet outfield – the result of constant light drizzle .Finch bludgeoned off back-foot and front at every opportunity to post a 19-ball half-century with eight fours and a brace of sixes, while Burns, standing in for the injured Jason Roy, reached the milestone from 27-balls for his maiden 50 in the short-form game.The pair posted 87 in the six-over Powerplay and had 119 on the board when Burns chased a wide, full delivery from Calum Haggett to edge through to keeper Sam Billings.Surrey posted three figures after seven overs as Finch plundered on. The burly Aussie had 83 to his name after 38 balls faced when he heaved across the line to be bowled by left-arm spinner Imran Qayyum to make it 144 for 2.Qayyum picked up a second scalp when he pegged back Ben Foakes’ leg stump after the right-hander charged down the pitch to miss an attempted leg-side smear.Rikki Clarke marched in with licence to thrill and reaped havoc, the all-rounder joined forces with Nic Maddinson to club three sixes in an over from Qayyum but, in looking for a fourth, Clarke holed out to long on to go for 16Maddinson’s fun ended to the very next delivery when he too chased a wide one from Haggett to feather one through to the keeper.Surrey sailed past 217, their best ever score against Kent in the short-form game and, by the end of the 18th over had posted their best ever T20 total beating their 224 for five against Gloucestershire in Bristol in 2006.Ollie Pope and Sam Curran continued to blaze away in the final four overs making Surrey the fourth side to post 250 or more in domestic T20 history before Pope holed out off the final delivery of the innings as Surrey added 50 in their last four overs.Qayyum finished with three for 40 and Haggett two for 53, but Brathwaite, one of the world’s highest paid T20 bowlers, leaked 55 from his three overs of Surrey onslaught

In a year when Australian cricket’s cultural habits and instincts have been challenged so publicly, it seems fitting that the national team’s first Test assignment since the Newlands ball-tampering scandal involves a task requiring plenty of self-denial.Most of the best Australian teams have been known for forcing the pace, but the captain Tim Paine was clear on the team’s departure for the UAE that success in the forthcoming series would be about attrition, not aggression.Just as Paine, the new coach Justin Langer and the rest of the touring party have had to ponder the image of the team and the way they conduct themselves against opponents who have stored up plenty of ill-feeling about Australia for some time – just ask Moeen Ali – so must they now work towards methodical, patient and consistent cricket in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, built on the bedrock of spending many painstaking hours at the batting crease.”I think it is going to be hard work over there, no doubt. I think games traditionally in the UAE take a long time so we are going to have to be really patient,” Paine said in Brisbane. “We have spoken about partnerships and patience and pressure, which is going to be a real key over there. So, games that sort of drag along for three or four days and it can happen really quickly on day five. So, it is about having your team in a position to strike late in the game.”We know that traditionally they’re really long, low-scoring days and it takes time to score your runs and you’ve just got to grind it out. So we’re going over there with that at the front of our minds, we’re going to have to play really hard, tough cricket, particularly from a batting side and then in the heat over there for our bowlers the same thing, it’s going to be about patience, try to wear them down and be in a position late in the game where we can make a move and win.”These words could have been lifted almost verbatim from a Ricky Ponting column for ESPNcricinfo in 2014, after the team led by Michael Clarke was trounced 2-0 by Pakistan on their last UAE visit. Paine’s team, shorn of Steve Smith and David Warner by suspension and Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood by injury, will need to perform with a great deal of collective unity in order to prosper against a team that triumphed over Australia in the recent Twenty20 triangular series in Zimbabwe. Some cues for possible success can be taken from the narrow defeat of Smith’s team on the 2017 India tour.Paine pointed to the role of Mitchell Starc, himself recently recovered from a foot stress injury, as a critical exemplar of the way the Australians would need to be “clever” in dealing with Pakistan, hard, slow pitches and high temperatures. “We have to be really careful with all our quicks over there, it is going to be over 40 degrees and really high humidity,” he said.Getty Images

“So, we are going to have to be clever about how we use our bowlers – Starcy in particular who we know is a strike weapon. So, I expect him to be bowling short spells and as fast as he can. Really exciting to have him back, he’s clearly our spearhead so it’s going to be great to have his pace back, also his experience, and over in those conditions I think his batting can be really valuable as well with lower-order runs. We’re sure Starcy will have a really big series and if he does it’ll go a long way to winning it for us.”Obviously we’re missing a few important players, but we’ve spoken about it as a group before we went to England and it’s a great opportunity for new players to step up. Looking forward to getting the Test group back together and playing some good, hard cricket. Probably the silver lining of what’s happened is we’re going to see some really good young cricketers coming through and the guys we’ve picked we know have got some real talent and it’ll be great to see them on the international stage.”As for the team’s on-field conduct and image, Paine suggested a players’ charter, the crux of a team review helmed by the former opening batsman Rick McCosker, was close to completion. He also indicated that he would be eager to reprise a pre-match shared handshakes ritual between the two competing teams as a gesture of goodwill, something he first used in the final Test of the South Africa series at the Wanderers.”Yeah potentially, if they want to. I think it is a nice way to start a series, it is a good show of sportsmanship but by no means are we going to be taking it easy,” Paine said. “We are going there to win, and to play the way that Australian cricket teams are known for playing, which is really hard. It’s going to be about our actions as a team, not what we talk about.”I think the Australian way has always been to play hard but to play fair and that will be no different this series. There are always a lot of eyes on the Australian cricket team wherever we play so that is going to be no different. This team is really, really clear on what is expected and what the standards are of the Australian cricket team and we’ll uphold them.”

Australia have pencilled in Aaron Finch and Travis Head for Test debuts against Pakistan next month, with Michael Neser also making a strong case for inclusion, according to captain Tim Paine. All three were included in the Australian XI to play Pakistan A in a four-day warm-up game in Dubai, starting on Saturday.Paine is preparing to lead Australia in the Test team’s first assignment since Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were banned for their part in the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal – absences which leave a particular hole in the tourists’ batting. Finch, an experienced white-ball opener, is set to make a Test bow alongside Matt Renshaw at the top of the order, with Head, who also offers a spin-bowling option, likely to bat at No. 5 or 6.The team named to play Pakistan A is “pretty close to what we’ll go with” for the first Test in Dubai, said Paine, although he suggested players outside the XI could still make a case for inclusion. Neser and Mitchell Starc will provide the pace options, supported by Paine’s newly elected vice-captain, Mitchell Marsh, while slow left-armer Jon Holland has been selected to partner Australia’s premier spinner, Nathan Lyon.

Aus XI to play Pak A

Tim Paine (capt), Aaron Finch, Matthew Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Jon Holland

Ashton Agar has also now joined up with the squad, and could come into contention if conditions dictate, while the veteran Peter Siddle, who last played a Test in November, is the other option to take the new ball with Starc. Paine called Neser, who made his one-day debut on Australia’s tour of England in June, a “really, really skilful all-round cricketer” and an “exciting option”. “He’s someone in these conditions who could thrive,” Paine said.”The squad is really flexible,” he added. “When we get to the first Test and we assess the conditions, we can play two quicks, three spinners, whatever scenario’s presented by the Test wicket, we’ll have a team that we think will do well in those conditions.”The process to appoint Paine’s deputies, Marsh and recuperating quick Josh Hazlewood, has been indicative in the change of direction initiated by Justin Langer, who replaced Darren Lehmann as head coach after the tour of South Africa. Marsh and Hazlewood were among those put forward for leadership roles by their team-mates, and then selected as vice-captains after making presentations to a panel including Langer, selection chairman Trevor Hohns, and CA board director Mark Taylor.”Really happy with them,” Paine said. “Both are really trusted, respected guys in our team, both really deserve it. We went through a really rigorous process to get the role, so really happy for both of them.”I think it was really important to have the players’ buy-in. Everyone went through that process, myself included. I think it was good for the players to be able to voice their opinion and have a say in who leads them, and it was also great for the guys that have been nominated to go through the process and be interviewed. It’s something we don’t normally do and a good experience.”Justin Langer talks to his players at practice•Getty Images

While unlikely in practice, Paine suggested it was theoretically possible for him to have lost his position as captain if he were not among the six – which also included Finch, Head and Alex Carey – who received the most nominations from the group.”Obviously I came across the captaincy in not-ideal circumstances, so to go back into the pool and be voted back out by your peers is great,” Paine said. “It means a lot to all three of us that we’ve been voted in by our peers.”I’d imagine so [on the possibility of losing the captaincy], probably wouldn’t have been my call. We took it very seriously. The players had their say and then there was process after that as well. It wasn’t done to tick boxes it was to make sure we have the right people leading this team going forward.”As well as regenerating the culture within the team, Paine reiterated that Australia were intent on changing their tactics in an attempt to win away to Asian opposition for the first time in seven years. On Australia’s last visit to the UAE, in 2014, they lost 2-0 – crushed by 221 runs and 356 runs in the two Tests – and Langer has challenged this squad to “leave the egos at home” in order to practise a more attritional approach to batting than on previous tours.”Australia teams of the past haven’t had huge success here in Dubai, in Asia in general, so it’s an exciting opportunity,” Paine said. “We’ve got a bit of a different group, some younger guys have come in. Big challenge but a really exciting opportunity, we’ve been working really hard on the style of cricket we want to play over here in the last week. We’ve got a bit more training and a tour game to come to keep nailing it down. If we do everything we’ve talked about, we’ll be more than competitive.”We’ve spoke about little ways we change. Traditionally, Australian teams have been really aggressive and tried to take the games to opposition. I think over here in particular, you’ve got to be really patient and I guess try and stay in the game for as long as you game. We know that the first three days here can move really slowly, the pitches are generally really flat, then the last two days, it can start to spin and reverse and the games in the back end move really quickly.”It’s about being really patient, really disciplined. JL spoke a little bit about leaving our egos at home, particularly as a batting group, and being prepared to bat for a long, long time. If we can do that we can have some success.”

Big Picture

West Indies did deny Virat Kohli a hundred but a familiar Indian script unfolded at the CCI’s Brabourne Stadium: Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan provided the launchpad for a tall total. In a rather unfamiliar instance, though, an India No. 4 (Ambati Rayudu) cracked a century, as the side moves closer towards solving the middle-order jigsaw.After coming close to matching the hosts’ firepower with the bat in the ODI series opener, tying with them and later toppling them, West Indies stretched back to the stragglers, again, in Mumbai. They to win on Thursday in Thiruvananthapuram if they are to claim a share of the ODI series.For that their flimsy top order needs some stability. Kieran Powell and Chandrapaul Hemraj are no Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis, but they haven’t even gone past the mandatory Powerplay unscathed in this series. This has applied further pressure on an inexperienced middle order, which folded under relentless scoreboard pressure on Monday. And the clock keeps ticking on the 37-year-old Marlon Samuels.The 37-year old from India – MS Dhoni – seems to be fading away as well, with the bat. While his tactical nous and wicketkeeping skills are still indispensable, Hardik Pandya-less India want Dhoni to find a higher gear, which he briefly did in the IPL earlier this year.

Form guide

India WLTWW
West Indies LWTLL

In the spotlight

In the fourth ODI, Khaleel Ahmed showed why he had been fast-tracked into India’s World Cup plans. He consistently swung the white ball – with and against his left-arm angle – lending more spice to an already varied attack that has been bolstered by the returns of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The way he dismissed Samuels in Mumbai was particularly delightful. After breaching the defences of Shimron Hetmyer and Rovman Powell with inswingers, he moved one away to catch the outside edge of Samuels.Rovman Powell is a Jr Andre Russell. He has a Mr T hairstyle like Russell, he can tonk the ball high and far, and can pitch in with handy medium-pace. He has also swiftly established himself as a T20 globetrotter. However, he has struggled against spin here, falling twice to left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav and once to Ravindra Jadeja’s left-arm orthodox in four innings. All told, he has managed only 45 runs in four innings at an average of 11.25 and strike-rate of 68.18. Among West Indies batsmen, only Samuels had fared worse than him.1:44

For the first time we have a good fast bowling quartet – B Arun

Team news

India had left out one of their gun bowlers Yuzvendra Chahal for batting insurance in Jadeja in the absence of the injured Pandya in the previous game. They might stick with the same combination, considering Dhoni’s form – or the lack of it.India (Probable) 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt.), 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Kedar Jadhav, 6 MS Dhoni (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Khaleel Ahmed, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Jasprit BumrahThe visitors might consider bringing in Sunil Ambris – a dasher like Jermaine Blackwood – at the top of the order in place of either Powell or Hemraj. On the bowling front, they might swap left-arm spin-bowling allrounder Fabien Allen with the more experienced Devendra Bishoo.West Indies (Probable) 1 Chandrapaul Hemraj/Sunil Ambris, 2 Kieran Powell, 3 Shai Hope (wk), 4 Shimron Hetmeyer, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Rovman Powell, 7 Jason Holder (capt.), 8 Ashley Nurse, 9 Keemo Paul, 10 Devendra Bishoo/Fabien Allen 11 Kemar Roach

Pitch and conditions

The Greenfield Stadium is set to host its first ODI, having made its international debut last year by hosting New Zealand in a T20I. This could be the most humid venue in this series, and the pitch appeared flat and dry on the eve of the match.

Stats and trivia

• No side has beaten India twice in a home ODI series since October 2016.
• Dhoni needs one run to become the fifth player to score 10,000 ODI runs for India after Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli.
• Bhuvneshwar Kumar needs two wickets to 100 scalps in ODIs.

Quotes

“Khaleel looks a very exciting prospect. He is sharp and has the skills to do well at the international level.”
“I like heat, especially from the point of view that I could be in the UK, where it starts to get cold. The humidity’s is what you will expect. We’re not very far from Sri Lanka, so the weather is pretty similar. This is an amazing ground. Certainly we’re very excited to be playing here tomorrow. The wicket looks good, but it’s a phenomenal ground.”