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South Africa allrounder Chris Morris has been ruled out of the remaining Twenty20 internationals against New Zealand after aggravating a quad injury during the first match in Durban. Morris bowled 3.4 overs on debut and took 2 for 19 before he had to leave the field mid-way through his final over.”It was the same injury he was struggling with prior to the game,” South Africa’s team manager Mohammed Moosajee said. “He went through the full fitness protocol, he did his fitness tests and had recovered, but when he was bowling his fourth over, he went for one of those effort balls where he tried to bowl a short ball and that’s where he probably aggravated it. He’s going to need a recovery period of two to three weeks, so he’s out of the series.”South Africa are not going to name replacements either for Morris or for fast bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe, who was earlier sidelined for three weeks because of an ankle injury.Dale Steyn, who took 2 for 13 in South Africa’s eight-wicket victory in the first Twenty20, was released from the squad for the remainder of the series, while Morne Morkel was included for the next two games. The second Twenty20 is in East London on December 23.

ScorecardEngland ended day three on course for victory in the opening Test after Harry Finch took three of four South African wickets early in their chase of 271. England had faltered with the bat to set a target less challenging then they would have wished but left South Africa with a daunting task on the final day.After taking a 119 first-innings lead, England were looking to bat South Africa out of sight and make smooth progress in the morning session through Dominic Sibley, the right-handed opener from Surrey. But the opening stand of 35 between Sibley and Jonathan Tattersall proved the best of the innings as Sibley was the only batsman to make more than 17.They were sitting healthily at lunch on 79 for 2 but then crumbled to Shaylin Pillay’s right-arm medium pace. He removed Kishen Velani and Callum Jackson in the same over on the way to 3 for 23. Vincent Moore then dismissed Sibley as England lost 5 for 23. A brief 17 from first-innings centurion Ed Barnard extended England’s lead but momentum had swung.Andries Gous led South Africa’s chase well with 30 not out by the close but four wickets at the other end saw England regain the initiative. Finch, 17-years-old from Sussex, removed Pillay and Diego Rosier in consecutive overs, both lbw, to leave England in a good position to take the lead in the series.

Scorecard
Knights prevailed over Titans by eight runs in Centurion in a high-scoring game. The Knights were asked to bat and their openers gave them a fitting start, Rilee Rossouw and Loots Bosman adding 92 in 10.4 overs. Bosman almost batted through to the end of the innings, dismissed off the penultimate ball for 91, an innings that included five fours and five sixes. He was involved in another attacking partnership, with Pite van Biljon, who blasted 32 off 16 balls and helped push the score to 196.Titans lost captain Henry Davids in the first ball of the chase. The Knights seamers Johan van der Wath and Malusi Siboto made steady inroads, picking up two wickets each, and reducing the opposition to 61 for 5 in the eighth over. Roelof van der Merwe and Albie Morkel revived the innings, however. Van der Merwe made 66 in 45 and Albie smashed four sixes in his 48. The pair put on 96 runs in 51 balls, giving their team sniff at victory. But both fell off successive deliveries in the 17th over bowled by Dean Elgar, and even though the tail took the Titans to 188, the big push Albie and van der Merwe are capable of delivering at the death was absent.Knights now have three wins from five games.
Scorecard
Warriors beat Cape Cobras by seven wickets in Port Elizabeth. Their bowlers, seamers Wayne Parnell and Andrew Birch, especially, bowled economically, to restrict Cobras to 129 for 7. The pair picked up four wickets between them and conceded just 44 in eight overs. After being reduced to 13 for 3, Justin Ontong (41) and Dane Vilas (35) put together 75, before the lower middle order took the score to 129.Warriors began the chase steadily, with a 42-run opening stand, though quickly slipped to 52 for 3. But Sambit Patel (34) and Adrian McLaren (36*) stabilised the innings in a 630run partnership and set up the team’s victory. Victory was sealed with three balls to spare. Warriors are third on the points table now, behind Knights, who trail table-toppers Lions.

David Collier, the ECB chief executive, has urged the BCCI to reschedule future IPL seasons to dovetail more successfully with the England first-class season in response to pressure from England players who are clamouring to participate in the event.In an interview with the , Collier revealed that he has been holding regular talks with officials from the BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa with a view to finding a solution to the tensions created within international cricket by the growth of domestic T20 leagues. Discussions have been ongoing for several months.Collier has contended that, in future years, the IPL can be completed before the end of April to allow England players to participate without compromising their involvement in England’s international schedule which starts in mid-May. This year’s IPL ends on May 26.”We have had very fruitful talks with India,” Collier said. “In an ideal world, we would like the IPL to be concluded by April 30, which is the cooler season for India. We have put that to them, they are doing their best, but they realise there are some limitations.”It would make things a lot easier for us. We still have to get the workload balance right, but it would make it a lot easier for our players to be available for that period and certainly the BCCI are fully aware of that. There is a willingness on the part of both boards to see if we can make any progress.”The talks come in the context of the ECB re-negotiating the value of central contracts with England players. The players’ union, the Professional Cricketers’ Association, is requesting substantial pay increases to compensate its members for their non-appearance, or at best fleeting appearance, in the IPL, and have argued that Australian players earn far more from their Board and have more opportunity to appear in T20 leagues such as the IPL and Big Bash.As a consequence, the ECB, eager not to raise the value of the contracts above sustainable levels, are seeking other ways to allow its players to supplement their incomes. Collier’s India discussions have perhaps carried most importance in openly displaying a willingness to negotiate a better deal for England’s players as they make their impatience clear about their exclusion from such a high-profile tournament.That the IPL is bloated and has invaded England’s traditional season is beyond debate. But there appears to be little scope for the IPL finishing before the end of April for the next three years. The World Twenty20 in Bangladesh is scheduled to run from March 16 to April 6 in 2014, with the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand likely to run from February until the end of March 2015 and the World Twenty20 of 2016 scheduled to run in India until mid-April.While some have suggested the IPL could be shortened by scheduling three games per day, it seems unlikely that the BCCI would accept the subsequent reduction in advertising and sponsorship revenues.

One of the bookies arrested, and named as Amit Kumar, is actually Amit Singh, a former Rajasthan Royals player who was released by the franchise last year.ESPNcricinfo has learned that Singh, a fast bowler who played in several matches in the 2012 season, was picked up for questioning five days ago but was formally arrested on Thursday in connection with the spot-fixing case that also allegedly involves three current Royals players. Singh, 31, has been identified in the first information report (FIR) as “Amit Kumar r/o Ahmedabad, Gujarat”.Singh has now been suspended by the BCCI pending inquiry.Singh, who resides in the Bopal suburb of Ahmedabad, played 23 IPL games for the Royals between 2009-2012. He was also part of the Gujarat Ranji Trophy team in the 2012-13 season, last playing against Saurashtra. He’d been in the news for having been reported twice for a suspect action during the 2009 IPL.

Mushfiqur Rahim has announced that he will be resigning as Bangladesh captain after the end of the current series. His announcement, which came a few minutes after his team lost the third ODI to Zimbabwe and with it the series, took the BCB and most observers and journalists by surprise but the board has decided to back him as captain.The post-match press conference in Bulawayo was addressed by vice-captain Mahmudullah but, after his final answer, Mushfiqur lifted his hand to ask the journalists to stay a minute longer.”I just have one thing to add before we finish,” he said in an emotionally charged voice. “I will be stepping down as captain after the last two [Twenty20] matches. I believe that I couldn’t lead my team, and I didn’t score enough runs. That is why I think we lost the ODI series.”He was asked if there was a problem within the team but, instead of replying, walked out of the room.The BCB, responding to the news, was full of praise for Mushfiqur and suggested he would have been retained as captain until the home series against New Zealand in October.”It has come as a surprise to us,” the BCB media committee chairman Jalal Yunus said. “We have spoken to him moments after he made the announcement. We believe he is an efficient leader, and upon the team’s return on May 15, we will sit and discuss with him face-to-face.”We will have to take a look at the manager’s report, and also find out if he got full cooperation from the other members of the team. His tenure was till the Zimbabwe tour but we will discuss the matter with him. It was perhaps an emotional decision, and it shows how much he cares for the team.”In January, the BCB had extended Mushfiqur’s term as captain until the Zimbabwe tour, but he was widely expected to continue in the job until the end of the year.

Match facts

Monday, June 17, The Oval
Start time 1300 (1200 GMT)Can Phillip Hughes reprise the form he showed against Sri Lanka in his first ODI series earlier this year?•Getty Images

Big Picture

Amid the vexing appearances of rain in the last few days, three of the four teams will nervously wait for the result of the final Group B match. Sri Lanka, who more often than not make it to the knockouts in ICC tournaments, just need a win; if they win big – that is, by about 90 runs in a full 50-over game – they can better England’s net run rate and finish top of the group. Australia, who have looked a shadow of their usual selves, need to win by about 125 runs to lift their NRR above that of New Zealand and knock them out. If they bat second and Sri Lanka score 200, Australia will need to chase the target down in about 27 overs. New Zealand, who looked good to make it to the next round till a day ago, need Australia to win but not absolutely thump Sri Lanka. The London weather may interrupt the match but is expected to hold better than in Cardiff or Edgbaston.If Sri Lanka do beat Australia by a big enough margin to leap over England, they will fix a semi-final date with South Africa at The Oval. The second-placed team from the group will play India in Cardiff.Although, Sri Lanka and New Zealand have better chances than Australia, it is Sri Lanka who have the situation in their control. Their batting showed form during the chase against England and their bowling was exceptional in the narrow loss to New Zealand. However, they have shown over-dependence on their three stalwarts for steering their batting and their long-awaited young brigade is yet to show signs of maturity. Sangakkara was the lone ranger against New Zealand and led the chase against England with a brilliant century. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene played useful hands at The Oval too, but if Sri Lanka are to make further progress, their young batsmen will need to shoulder some of the burden of the seniors.Australia find themselves in a strange position. The team has cruised to the knockout stages in the past, but this time, they are in danger of being eliminated without a win. Michael Clarke admitted the team was affected by the off-field controversies, but on the field they have lacked punch in their batting. The failures of Shane Watson and the absence of David Warner and Clarke have meant the batting order has never looked menacing. Stand-in captain George Bailey has shown good form with his two half-centuries, but if Australia are to make a serious attempt at improving their net run rate apart from winning the game, they will need Watson to fire.

Form guide

(most recent first, last five completed games)
Australia: LWWWW
Sri Lanka: WLLWL

Watch out for…

It was against Sri Lanka earlier this year that Phillip Hughes burst into one-day international cricket with a century on debut and proved that he should not be considered a Test-only player. Three single-figure scores followed but he finished the five-match series in Australia with another hundred, an unbeaten 138 that set up an Australian victory to draw the series. Hughes’ free-wheeling style can be suited to the 50-over format but he is yet to show his best form on this trip and threw his wicket away against England when he became tied down. A big score could not only help Australia stay in the series but might give Hughes the morale boost he needs ahead of the Ashes.A confident Nuwan Kulasekara is not what the Australians were hoping to face in this match. Fortunately for them his form in the previous match was most impressive for his batting – a brilliant 58 not out from 38 balls as a pinch-hitting No.5 – rather than his bowling. But they know precisely how dangerous he can be in swinging conditions, as they found to their detriment at the Gabba earlier this year. Kulasekara was the architect of Sri Lanka’s outstanding bowling effort to dismiss Australia for 74 in a match in which the hosts were lucky not to fall for their lowest ever ODI total, as they were 9 for 40 when the final pair came together. Rest assured that this Australian batting line-up will be just as wary of Kulasekara at The Oval as they will of the always threatening Lasith Malinga.

Team news

Michael Clarke trained with the squad in the lead-up to the match but was still considered an unlikely starter, with Australia’s medical staff and team management taking a cautious approach with his back injury ahead of the Ashes. Xavier Doherty came in for Mitchell Starc last game and is expected to retain his position.Australia (possible) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Matthew Wade (wk), 3 Phillip Hughes, 4 George Bailey (capt), 5 Adam Voges, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Glenn Maxwell, 8 James Faulkner, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Clint McKay, 11 Xavier Doherty.Shaminda Eranga was expensive in the win over England at the same venue and could be challenged for a place in the side by either Thisara Perera or the spinner Sachithra Senanayake.Sri Lanka (possible) 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Kusal Perera, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Dinesh Chandimal, 6 Angelo Mathews (capt), 7 Lahiru Thirimanne, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Thisara Perera / Sachithra Senanayake, 10 Rangana Herath, 11 Lasith Malinga.

Pitch and conditions

There were plenty of runs available at The Oval when England and Sri Lanka played there on Thursday and the forecast for London on Monday is for a cloudy day with the risk of showers.

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka have won six of their past 10 one-day internationals against Australia
• Should Australia fail to progress past the group stage it will be the first time since 2000 that they have not reached the semi-finals of a Champions Trophy or ICC KnockOut
• Kulasekara needs 19 runs and one wicket to become the fourth Sri Lankan to the double of 1000 runs and 150 wickets in ODIs, after Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas and Upul Chandana
• Adam Voges has played Australia’s past four ODIs, his longest consecutive streak of matches in a spread-out career spanning nearly six and a half years

Quotes

“In the last two years or so we’ve been very consistent against Australia and we’ve played them very well. We managed to handle a lot of situations better than them, so hopefully we can continue that.”
“Once someone in the top four goes on to make a hundred, the other guys bat around him. I’d like to see that happen in this game.”

ScorecardWorcestershire wrapped up their third County Championship win of the season by eight wickets despite lower order resistance by Glamorgan in the Division Two clash at New Road.Glamorgan’s last three wickets eventually added 149 as Jim Allenby made his second half-century of the match before they were dismissed for 278.Worcestershire were kept in the field for an hour-and-quarter on the last morning and a new threat emerged when rain interrupted their charge after they had made 20 towards a modest target of 51.Fortunately for them the clouds broke up while lunch was taken early and on the resumption they took no chances with the weather by completing the task in the 10th over.Captain Daryl Mitchell hit four fours in his 22 before he was caught at second slip, chasing a ball from Mike Reed, and Matt Pardoe tamely drove Marcus North’s first delivery to mid-on. The winning boundary then took Moeen Ali to 908 runs for the season, the highest total in the country.Worcestershire are unbeaten in four matches at New Road and this result, reversing a 10-wicket defeat at Cardiff in April, brings them into the promotion picture as the main rivals to the top two, Northamptonshire and Lancashire.For Glamorgan the season has been more of a struggle and this performance is one they will want to forget. Allenby was already on 52 when they resumed on 200 for 8, needing a further 28 to avoid an innings defeat, and the all-rounder continued to make Worcestershire pay for a dropped chance when he had made only one.Having top scored with 82 before Glamorgan followed on 228 behind, he was unbeaten with 74 in the second innings, although he faced only 21 of 108 balls bowled while 78 were added to the overnight total.His partnership with Will Owen yielded 82 in all before Michael Hogan thrashed 46 out of 57 for the ninth wicket. The Australian’s uncomplicated method, planting the front foot and driving through the ball, brought nine boundaries, with five of these coming in a couple of overs from young paceman Chris Russell.Alan Richardson claimed the first wicket of the day by bowling Owen for his 41st success of the season, and Hogan’s gallop was halted when he swung at and missed a straight ball from medium-pacer Joe Leach.Last man Reed made only four but he hung around for 37 balls before playing forward to Russell and edging to wicketkeeper Ben Cox as Glamorgan could only set a modest target, which Worcestershire then easily surpassed.

Haroon Lorgat timeline

• 1978-1991 – An allrounder with Eastern Province and Transvaal. Scores 2,813 runs and takes 191 wickets in 76 first-class games

• 1999 – Named on the United Cricket Board of South Africa’s finance committee

• 2000 – Named on the ICC’s 2003 World Cup finance committee

• 2001 – Appointed selector by South Africa

• 2003 – Treasurer of Cricket South Africa

• 2004 – Chairman of South Africa’s selectors

• 2008 – Appointed the ICC’s chief executive

• 2012 – Named special advisor by Sri Lanka Cricket, and invited to advise the PCB on setting up a T20 league

• 2013 – Takes over as CSA’s CEO

Haroon Lorgat, the former ICC CEO, has been appointed Cricket South Africa’s new chief executive. The position has been vacant since October last year, when Gerald Majola was fired in the aftermath of the bonus-payments scandal.”Mr Lorgat’s appointment follows a thorough and rigorous process to fill this important position,” CSA president Chris Nenzani said. “The quality of the candidates was exceptional and I would like to express my appreciation to the sub-committee of the board as well as my colleagues on the board who have brought this matter to a highly satisfactory conclusion.”Although CSA refused to confirm the other candidates, Lorgat is believed to have seen off challenges from at least three other hopefuls. They included former football head, Bheki Shongwe, who was the managing director of Kaizer Chiefs, Murphy Morobe, who is in charge of Kagiso media and Denver Hendricks, a director at the University of Pretoria.Of the names on the shortlist, Lorgat was the only one with extensive experience in cricket administration. He was previously a treasurer of CSA and convenor of selectors, and he spent four years as CEO of the ICC.It was in the last of those roles that Lorgat is believed to have bumped heads with the most powerful body in cricket, the BCCI. They are thought to have clashed over the Future Tours Programme, the DRS and an ICC independent governance review. The BCCI expressed their unhappiness at Lorgat’s possible appointment as early as March, when CSA drew up their initial shortlist.At the time, lead independent director on CSA’s board Norman Arendse confirmed that the BCCI had raised concerns over Lorgat. “We said to them we had embarked on a process and that it would be a premature to discuss him or the outcome of that process because we are waiting for it to be concluded,” Arendse said.CSA had also heard that the BCCI were considering pulling out of the upcoming tour should Lorgat be appointed. CSA proceeded to lengthen the process of appointing a new CEO, widened the net and allowed for more applicants to put their names forward.Lorgat, who remained interested in the job, provided the board restructured as they were instructed to by a ministerial investigation into the bonus-payments affair, was also on the list the second time around. Before interviews could be conducted, the fixtures for an India tour comprising of two T20s, seven ODIs and three Tests were released by CSA. The BCCI stated their objection to the schedule but there has been no official news of a bid to boycott the tour. ESPNcricinfo understands the two boards are in discussions over whether to tweak the itinerary and CSA do not foresee any problems with India’s visit.Lorgat and his fellow applicants presented to CSA’s board today and Lorgat was appointed immediately. A date has not been released for Lorgat to officially take up office, but he is believed to be available immediately. That would mean acting CEO Naasei Appiah will vacate the post as soon as next week.

Simon Jones, the former England seamer, is going to pursue a career as a T20 freelance after announcing his retirement from first-class and List A cricket from the end of the season. He is expected to play for Glamorgan in the Yorkshire Bank 40 final on September 21 and will then focus on securing potentially lucrative contracts to play in T20 competitions around the world.Jones is coming to the end of a two-year deal with Glamorgan but will discuss a potential T20 contract with the county’s incoming chief executive, Hugh Morris, in the close season. Injuries have blighted Jones’ career since he became an Ashes winner in 2005 but the 34-year-old is not quite ready to follow his former England team-mate Matthew Hoggard into full retirement just yet.”If I get the gigs I want to get I won’t be resting much,” Jones said. “T20 is the option that we’re looking at and I’m excited at the prospect of playing in different tournaments if I can. Getting back on the park is something I’ve worked for a long time and for me to carry on playing it’s the obvious choice, to go down that route, as the likes of Shaun Tait have done.”There’s a lot of opportunities out there but you’ve got to get a gig. I’m looking forward to the challenge and hopefully I get the opportunities I feel I deserve, because I still feel I have a lot to offer the game.”Jones will certainly be the first Welshman to take the path of the T20 itinerant. Andrew Flintoff, another of Jones’s 2005 team-mates, planned to end his career that way, before injury had the final word, and while Tait, the former Australia bowler, is among several one-time internationals – such as New Zealand’s Scott Styris and Jacob Oram – to play just the shortest format, few England-qualified players have seriously entertained the idea.The choice may seem a little surprising, given that Jones only made his senior debut in the format in 2008 and managed one T20 appearance for Glamorgan in 2013. His T20 record comprises 43 wickets at 21.46, with an economy of 7.43.”It’s giving me the opportunity to play for another couple of years,” Jones said of his decision. “I still feel good in my body, I still feel good in my mind and I still feel I’ve got the skills and the pace to perform at the highest level. We’ll see what happens.”Despite plans to play Championship cricket this year, Jones has only featured in Glamorgan’s limited-overs teams, missing the early part of the season due to continued problems with his knee. But he hopes to end on a high with victory at Lord’s a week on Saturday and could still be turning out in Cardiff next summer.”If Glamorgan do want to keep me for the T20 I’d be delighted to stay but if they don’t I’m going to pursue other options,” he said. “I’ve had some niggles this year, which have happened in the gym. Glamorgan have a settled team in the four-day stuff and I wasn’t quite going to get in there. It has been a frustrating season but this will hopefully be another chapter in my cricketing career.”Glamorgan’s head of elite performance, Matthew Mott, who will be leaving the county at the end of the season, added: “Simon has shown great character and determination to keep pushing himself despite his time out of the game at Glamorgan. We wish him well in his endeavours to concentrate on T20 and thank him for his contribution both on and off the field.”It is a smart and well-thought out decision and I am sure that a number teams around the world will be keen on him given his increased availability for T20 competitions. He is still in great shape and has the passion to keep playing and bowling quick for a few more years to come. Hopefully he can sign off his one-day career with Glamorgan in a winning team at Lord’s.”Simon Jones was speaking ahead of the Yorkshire Bank 40 final at Lord’s on Saturday September 21. Tickets are available from tickets.lords.org