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Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
How they were out

	Andrew Flintoff completes the consolation win with a towering straight six © Getty Images

As fresh starts go this wasn’t too shabby from England as they wrapped up a consolation six-wicket victory on the final day at The Oval. Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook broke the back of the run chase with a positive opening stand of 123, before Makhaya Ntini and Paul Harris claimed two wickets apiece to take away a little of the gloss. But a week after England were plunged into uncertainty, Andrew Flintoff signed off the victory with a six to give Kevin Pietersen a winning start.Given the week he has had, the stage appeared set for Pietersen to hit the winning runs until he edged a catch to short leg with 15 required. As captain of England, Pietersen will have to get used to his side giving him some stressful times, but the opening stand meant that, here at least, the late wobble didn’t do any more than make victory appear less empathic. Tough challenges lie ahead for him, not least the forthcoming one-day series and tour of India, but he couldn’t have done much more at the start of his reign.Claiming victories after a series has gone was a speciality of England during the 1990s. While this success won’t soften the blow of losing the series, it has boosted spirits after a trying couple of weeks when two captains resigned and the questions were being asked about the set-up. With a new leader to impress England were motivated – while South Africa couldn’t quite summon one last push – and they produced some periods of vibrant cricket.Whatever South Africa say, they weren’t really up for this contest. They expended such huge amounts of physical and emotional energy at Edgbaston that they couldn’t rouse themselves. Makhaya Ntini and, especially, Morne Morkel wasted the new ball and the openers had very little to play at. Strauss after a successful run against New Zealand was back under pressure and was given a life on 4, when he clipped Morkel firmly to Ashwell Prince at leg gully, only for the umpire to call a no-ball. It summed up Morkel’s session.The increase in momentum came from Cook who latched onto a couple of short balls from Ntini and also drove nicely down the ground, a sign that hours with Andy Flower in the nets are paying off. Cook made the most of attacking fields set by Graeme Smith with controlled edges down to third man, and both he and Strauss countered Paul Harris with intent. Despite some spin out of the footmarks they used their feet to disrupt his line and length, taking him through the leg side with confident whips.Cook reached his fourth half-century of the series with a crunching back-foot drive off Jacques Kallis. After the sleepy opening 45 minutes 98 runs were added in the next 18 overs of the morning and they continued a similar vein after the break before South Africa made a breakthrough, Cook driving at wide ball from Ntini and edging to first slip. It was another opportunity to go begging for Cook and although he ends with a series average of 47 there is a sense of unfulfilment. However, without ever looking in top form he has continued to score runs, which is a testament to his strength of character.Strauss slowly found more fluency, bring out a perfect on-drive, and went to his first half-century of the series from 95 balls. Ian Bell never settled during his short stay and he paid the price for moving across his stumps when Ntini bowled him behind his legs. An inconvenience became a wobble when, in the next over from Harris, Strauss got an inside edge to Smith at leg slip. Three wickets had gone for 24 and two new batsmen were at the crease.However, any momentary concerns were settled as Paul Collingwood found the boundary and Pietersen’s late departure for 12 was about the only thing that hasn’t fitted with his script in the last week. South Africa have deservedly taken the series honours, but Pietersen’s England have regained some pride.

	After successfully hosting the Asia Cup, the Pakistan board is confident over organising the Champions Trophy in September © AFP

Australia could decide within a fortnight whether to pull out of September’s Champions Trophy in Pakistan. The recent bombings in Karachi and Islamabad have cast a shadow over the event but Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) chief executive Paul Marshsaid a decision will not be made before it get reports from its security experts and the Federation of International Cricket Associations.”They’re compiling reports which we should have within the next two weeks,” Marsh told . “Until you have all the information you can’t make a final decision but the concern levels certainly rise whenever there are bombings.”Cricket Australia is expected to take a decision within two weeks,according to their spokesman Peter Young. Ricky Ponting, Australia’s captain, had earlier said that several team members were concerned about visiting Pakistan and could skip the tournament even if security reports were positive.However, the PCB is confident the ICC will back the country to host the tournament. “We know that the bombings have come at the wrong time,” Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer, told the Karachi-based . “But we also know that this violence is not directed at any sports teams. We are confident that the ICC will continue backing us over the Champions Trophy because of our assurance to provide fool-proof security cover.”Earlier this week, Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said there would be no compromise on security and the tournament would be held in Pakistan only if experts give the go-ahead. “The ICC will not compromise the safety and security of any individual at one of its tournaments and if it is not appropriate to play in any country then we will not do so.”Our security consultants have been working with the Pakistan authorities during the Asia Cup, assessing security, and will report back as soon as possible with their views,” he said. “At this stage we are working towards the ICC Champions Trophy being held in Pakistan in September.” During their meeting in Dubai last week, the ICC board and the chief executives’ committee received a presentation from security consultants hired to oversee the situation and agreed upon a process to deal with any incidents that may occur in Pakistan between now and the end of the tournament. Sri Lanka is the alternate host for the Champions Trophy in September if a final security report indicates Pakistan is unsafe.

England’s Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) backed the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations’ (FICA) concern over security measures in Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.Sean Morris, the PCA chief executive, agreed with FICA chief Tim May’s assessment that “absolutely nothing had changed in the three months since Australia postponed their Pakistan tour after safety concerns. “We will await the ECB response with interest and once we have it the PCA will advise the players on our position and then take the players’ views back to the ECB,” Morris told the .However the ICC declared itself happy with the Pakistan board’s security arrangements for the tournament scheduled in September. The ICC’s executive board will be meeting in Dubai later this month and Richardson said the Full Member countries will discuss the security situation in Pakistan.

The Victorian Selectors have named an unchanged line up from the team which defeated the Western Fury in Perth two weeks ago. The Victorian Spirit team to take on the NSWIS Blues at Hurstville, Sydney on Saturday December 7 & Sunday December 8 is as follows:

Belinda Clark (c)
Cathryn Fitzpatrick (vc)
Clea Smith (vc)
Kelly Applebee
Louise Broadfoot
Jodi Dean
Jane Franklin
Amelie Hunter
Melanie Jones
Brooke McFarlane
Ingrid Noack
Shannon Young
Coach – Ken Davis
Assistant Coach – Nicole Taylor
Manager – Pam Allen

Victorian Spirit currently heads the WNCL Points Table with 14 points from 2 matches, followed by the Southern Scorpions who have 13 points from 4 matches. The NSWIS Blues are sitting third with 6 points from 2 matches.

One month gone already! I can’t believe how fast the time is going. My weekly schedule is now fairly stable with training sessions every day; seven fitness sessions and two technical sessions. As each week goes by, the fitness work gets harder and more specific to the type of activity that I’ll be facing on the upcoming tour.There are exercises designed to strengthen the throwing arm, increase the power in shot play and sprint drills focused on turning and fielding in the ring. Add to this the Canterbury speed and fielding training – I’m certainly keeping busy!After the match against Riccarton, I got the opportunity to borrow Haidee’s car for the week. Early one morning I drove up into the plains north of Christchurch to take photos of the sunrise over the coast and at the mouth of the Huruni River. Once back in Christchurch there was some bad news… England had put the Aussies into bat in the first Test. That night was spent drinking raspberry and lemonade in our local watching Hayden hit our boys around the park.Towards the end of the week, I umpired some Milo cricket. This game is aimed at 10 to 11 year olds and is much like the softball pairs cricket that I played as a child. Each school is able to enter a mixed 10-person team into the competition and once local leagues have been decided there are area and province rounds to play in.Development in general in New Zealand matches that of England, though the sight of Hagley Oval on a Saturday morning where all the kids go to play ‘Have a go Cricket’ is amazing.The next club league match was against East Shirley, another home match and this time we elected to field first. East Shirley’s batting is their weak point and they once again bowed to some good bowling on quite a good track. After bowling them out for 104, we looked to attack their bowling and had a goal of reaching the total in 25 overs. The game was over in the 22nd over when Maria Fahey (one of the New Zealand Academy players) hit the winning runs. Still top of the league!Having agreed with the saying that playing golf ruins a good walk, I have lately been convinced to give the game a go. A session at a driving range was the start; this more entertaining for those watching than for me but I sure did get good value for money – on average 1.6 swings per ball hit! After a good showing on the crazy golf circuit it was decided that putting wasn’t the problem!My first real game of golf happened the next weekend down in Queenstown. Our league had no matches scheduled so off we went on a weekend away via the lakes. On Friday I played a round of nine twilight holes with Anna Wilkins (a Riccarton and Northern Districts player) and Owen Harrison (Events Manager for NZ Cricket); all the way round the course I was accompanied by a friendly leprechaun who threw my ball back onto the fairway when it landed in the rough (or even worse on the wrong fairway entirely!) A round of 59 on a par 34 course – perhaps next time will be better.On Monday I was named in the State Canterbury Magicians squad for the State Insurance League. Excellent news! The squad is training well and we’re off on a team-building trip next weekend. Tuesday was fitness test day; 11.2 on the beep test for me and some good sprint times means that the training must be going well.The third round of club cricket matches starts this weekend – here’s hoping that the weather holds out so that we can get some cricket in. After four days of rain pitches are wet and with the threat of more rain, play is doubtful.

Border B put their disappointing performance in the the Bowl match behind them to squeeze out the hosts in a thrilling finale in the one day match. Tight bowling at the death saw the visitors to a narrow 9 run victory.After winning the toss, the Border batsmen all chipped in towards a useful but not necessarily intimidating total. Several batsmen got going, but were thwarted by some good catching in the outfield, particularly by Andrew Puttick, normally at home in the slips, and Ryan Bailey.Needing to bat at 4.5 to the over, the WP openers Derrin Bassage and Rashaad Magiet got off to a slow start only to be undone by some well directed bowling from Andrew Pringle. Puttick was then happy to play second fiddle to the aggressive Jonno McLean in a partnership of 100 for the third wicket. But disaster waited with the score on the dreaded Nelson, as both were dismissed on that total. The run out of Puttick was comical, with both batsmen running towards the same end after a major misunderstanding.The middle order faltered thereafter, with 4 wickets falling for 17 runs. Wesley Euley then combined with William Hantam to add 55 for the 8th wicket in double quick time. Hantam was particularly enterprising, his clean hitting being rewarded with four sparkling boundaries. This partnership swung the balance in the home team’s favour, bringing back the asking rate to a run a ball. Border’s cause was not helped when Pringle returned for his closing spell and promptly conceded 10 runs in his first over.Pringle had the last laugh when he bowled Hantam, trying to play a straight delivery to the leg side. At the other end, Euley went through a dry patch as he failed to score off nine successive deliveries. This swung the pendulum back in Border’s favour. Although Euley then started to find the gaps again, he was undone by a fine catch on the boundary by Michael Matika.The final over began with WP needing 10 for victory. Rory Kleinveldt played and missed at the first delivery, but connected with a powerful cross batted hit straight down the pitch off the second. He was left open-mouthed as Pringle dropped to the ground to take a stunning return catch. Lelethu Ntontela, who had earlier bowled impressively with the new ball, gallantly went for the big hit but was caught in the deep to give Border their triumph.

Having just hosted a run-fest where 262 was chased down with eight balls to spare, Eden Gardens reverted to a former template familiar to fans of its home team, and Kolkata Knight Riders returned to winning ways and moved to second place on the IPL table with a confident, net-run-rate-boosting seven-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals.After a succession of flat pitches, Eden served up one with a little bit of grip, and KKR’s bowlers made full use of it after Capitals chose to bat first. Mitchell Starc and Vaibhav Arora took three wickets inside the powerplay, after which the spinners took over, with Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine combining for figures of 8-0-40-4. Reduced to 111 for 8 at one stage, Capitals set KKR a 150-plus target thanks to an unlikely, unbeaten 26-ball 35 from Kuldeep Yadav.Related

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With Kuldeep and Axar Patel in their attack, DC had the tools to create a bit of pressure on this pitch, but KKR were well on their way to victory before either spinner had bowled a ball. Phil Salt made his fourth fifty in five home games this season, dominating a powerplay in which KKR rushed to 79 for no loss.Axar Patel removed both KKR openers when he came on, but it was too little, too late for DC, as Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer put on an unbroken 57 off 43 balls to end the match with 21 balls remaining.KKR now have 12 points from nine games, and a NRR of 1.096, the best of any team in the competition.

Starc vs Fraser-McGurk, a glimpse of the future

Jake Fraser-McGurk faced just seven balls on Monday night, and five of the seven were attempted yorkers, two of which ended up as full-tosses. The other two were banged into a hard length. The bulk of these balls were from Mitchell Starc, but Vaibhav Arora also stuck to the same plan with his two balls. This wasn’t two fast bowlers searching for swing from a fullish good length with the new ball. This was death bowling inside the powerplay, and as T20 batting leans more and more towards all-out attack, it’s likely we’ll see a lot more of it in the future.On the day, Fraser-McGurk hit a four and a six and picked out deep square leg while looking to flick Starc for another six.By then, DC had already lost Prithvi Shaw, who had begun ominously with three fours off Starc off the first three balls of the match. He had fallen in innocuous manner, strangling Arora down the leg side.Arora took one more wicket, delivering a peach that straightened off the deck to hit the top of Shai Hope’s off stump. That ball suggested there would be grip for the spinners too, and so it proved.Phil Salt’s successful IPL continued with another fifty•AFP/Getty Images

Chakra-party

Before this match, Varun had endured a difficult season, going at 9.72 while picking up eight wickets in eight games. While Narine had defied flat conditions, particularly in Kolkata, and prevented batters from accessing the boundaries, his spin partner had gone for plenty like every other bowler in KKR’s games.Now, though, Varun had a bit of help from the pitch, and he could have struck first ball had Harshit Rana – who had just dismissed a dangerous-looking Abishek Porel in the previous over – not dropped a sitter off a Rishabh Pant miscue at short third. Pant, though, would go after Varun again in his next over – the 11th of the Capitals innings – and miscue again, with Shreyas pouching him safely in the covers on this occasion.Varun was getting the ball to bite on the surface, and he quickly picked up two more wickets, of Tristan Stubbs and Kumar Kushagra – who came on as Impact Sub in a failed attempt to lengthen DC’s batting and stem the collapse. With Narine dismissing Axar Patel at the other end, Capitals were eight down inside the 15th over.They managed to see out their 20, though, with Kuldeep getting them that far with a mixture of skill and luck. He hit two edged fours in his first four balls, and then hit a six off Starc that was very nearly a catch at deep backward square leg, and eventually finished with a control percentage of 41. They were important runs for DC, though, ensuring that they got to 150.Venkatesh Iyer and Shreyas Iyer took Kolkata Knight Riders home with 21 balls to spare•BCCI

Salt continues his Eden project

It was evident through the initial stages of KKR’s chase that the slower ball was gripping the surface and stopping on the batters, but it was also evident that DC’s quicks were offering frequent width to free the arms. With Salt and Narine in the form they were in, this was asking for trouble. And the trouble was compounded when Lizaad Williams, who went for 23 in the first over, dropped a straightforward chance off Khaleel Ahmed at the start of the second to reprieve Salt on 15.The openers raced to 79 for 0 in the powerplay, with Salt, who had the bulk of the strike, reaching a 26-ball half-century in the sixth over.Narine went after Axar’s first ball and perished, picking out deep midwicket in the seventh over while trying to hit with the turn, and Axar bowled Salt with a trademark, inward-angling skidder in the ninth. But KKR’s required rate was well below a run a ball, and it remained so even when Williams dismissed Rinku Singh with a good, hard-length ball in the 10th over.KKR had a long, in-form line of batters still to come, and in the end didn’t require Andre Russell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi or Ramandeep Singh to bat, as the two Iyers ticked off the remaining runs with little fuss beyond a mix-up in the 16th over when the match was already all but won.

Derbyshire condemned Sussex to the wooden spoon in the LV= Insurance County Championship by claiming their first win of the season at Hove.After enforcing the follow-on with a lead of 165, Derbyshire bowled Sussex out for 187 to win by nine wickets with more than a day to spare. Sussex finished last of the 18 counties for the first time in 21 years.After being dismissed for 300 in the first innings, Sussex’s hopes of turning the game around disappeared in a three over spell after lunch when they lost three key wickets for eight runs, including skipper Tom Haines and Ben Brown, who made a third-ball duck after scoring 157 in the first innings.Haines and Ali Orr had put on 42 without alarm but Orr nibbled fatally at the second ball after lunch from Ed Moulton, who then bowled Brown when he unluckily dragged a wide long hop onto his middle stump later in the over. Haines, who was awarded his county cap at tea, took his aggregate for the season to 1176 and will finish as the country’s leading run-scorer, but on 26 he was run out by Matt Critchley’s throw from mid-wicket after being sent back by Harrison Ward.Ward was beaten by leg-spinner Critchley’s quicker ball and when Dustin Melton returned for a second spell to win lbw verdicts against Ibrahim and Oli Carter, Sussex still needed 49 runs to make Derbyshire bat again. Delray Rawlins counter-attacked with 58 off 46 balls, including nine fours and two sixes, as he made his highest score of the season before he was last out as Wayne Madsen and Anuj Dal wrapped up the tail.It left Derbyshire needing 23 to win and Matt Critchley, who was promoted up the order, hit the winning runs to reach 1,000 for the season.Earlier, Derbyshire had enforced the follow on for the first time since 2016. Brown added seven to his overnight 150 before edging Ben Aitchison to second slip. His five-hour innings of 190 balls contained 19 fours.Brown added 87 with Jack Carson for the seventh wicket and Carson finished 64 not out with ten fours. Sussex’s last three batsmen all fell for nought, although Sean Hunt hung around long enough to put on 25 with Carson to earn Sussex a third batting bonus point.It was the highest score in a first-class match when the innings contained six ducks, the previous record was the 295 made by Canterbury in 1922-23 on MCC’s tour of New Zealand.

Justin Langer has been backed by Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley to take the team through the T20 World Cup and Ashes amid ongoing reports of dressing room unrest over his coaching style.Since returning from the tour of Bangladesh where they were beaten 4-1, Langer’s coaching methods have again been under the spotlight including his minor role in a disagreement with a Cricket Australia journalist, first reported in the , over the posting of a Bangladesh celebration video on the CA website.It follows the tensions that emerged after the Test series defeat against India earlier this year which were addressed in post-season reviews before the squad gathered on the Gold Coast ahead of leaving for West Indies.”Justin [Langer] has done an incredible job in raising the culture, values and behaviours of the Australian men’s team since he took on the role in 2018,” Hockley said in a statement issued on Wednesday evening. “His efforts have restored public faith in the national team which is a side all Australian’s can be incredibly proud of.Related

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“He is contracted as head coach through to the middle of next year with the focus now on a successful T20 World Cup campaign followed by the home Ashes defence in what is one of the most anticipated series and summers of cricket in Australia for many years.”Australia were without a number of first-choice players for the recent series against West Indies and Bangladesh having also not been able to field their strongest team against New Zealand earlier this year – a tour Langer missed with Andrew McDonald stepping in.Under Langer’s watch Australia have lost two Test series at home against India but swept the home summer against Pakistan and New Zealand in 2019-2020. The 2019 season in England has been the high point of Langer’s time as coach where they reached the semi-final of the ODI World Cup before retaining the Ashes away from home for the first time since 2001, although losing the last Test meant it was a 2-2 scoreline.Under Langer, Australia have won 11 and lost seven of 22 Tests, won 25 and lost 22 of 47 ODIs and won 18 and lost 21 of 41 T20Is. Last year they were ranked No. 1 in both Tests and T20Is.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“Like many in the community and around the world the team has had an extremely disruptive and challenging 18 months during the pandemic,” Hockley’s statement added. “Despite those challenges the side has had great success in One-Day, Test and T20 cricket, when all players were available.”Justin, his coaching staff and the leaders within the team have an equally important part to play in ensuring a successful summer ahead for the Australian cricket team.”Earlier on Wednesday during a round interviews, limited-overs captain Aaron Finch said it was “not a great look” that stories were emerging from the dressing room although he believed the recent poor run of results exacerbated the issue.”There’s always tension when results don’t go your way in all sports,” he told SEN radio. “Wins and losses are what count. I think anytime that doesn’t happen, that all gets amplified.”

ScorecardLasith Malinga struck in his first over on his return from injury•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Adam Voges, the captain of Prime Minister’s XI, struck an unbeaten 54 off 31 balls in his final match against an international team, but Sri Lankan XI crashed his farewell by chasing down 170 with five wickets and 17 balls to spare.After being inserted in Canberra, the hosts lost opener D’Arcy Short in the first over to Lasith Malinga, who was playing his first competitive match since the Asia Cup in February 2016 . Joe Burns and Hilton Cartwright did not last long too but fifties from Sam Heazlett, who made his international debut for Australia in New Zealand last month, and Adam Voges boosted the side with counterattacking half-centuries. Heazlett struck four fours and thee sixes, while Voges hit four fours and a six during his unbeaten knock. Cameos from wicketkeeper Alex Carey and offspinner Arjun Nair helped take the score to 169.Vikum Sanjaya, who is uncapped at the international level, staked his claim for a spot in Sri Lanka’s XI in the first T20I against Australia on Friday with 3 for 26.Niroshan Dickwella and Upul Tharanga then slashed 70 runs off the target by the end of the Powerplay. The stand ended when Nair had Dickwella caught behind for 47. Upul Tharanga, who was assisted by useful contributions from Dilshan Munaweera (32) and Milinda Siriwardana (25), stayed till the end to guide his team home.