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Match facts

March 26, 2017
Start time 1230 local (1630 GMT)The upcoming tour of West Indies will be Sarfraz Ahmed’s first as captain of both limited-overs sides•Getty Images

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West Indies and Pakistan have only played four completed T20 internationals since last year’s World T20, a number they are set to double in this series. The sample might not seem like much to go on, but the scale of their contrasting fortunes – Pakistan haven’t lost any while West Indies have only one win – promises an intriguing narrative.Neither side has played a T20I since Pakistan beat West Indies 3-0 in the UAE last year. Both sides, however, are going through wretched runs of form, combining to win just two of their 17 games since then.What might differentiate the teams is the mood heading into this tour. While reasons for cheer in West Indies cricket are scarce at the moment, Pakistan are in buoyant spirits after a successful Pakistan Super League, the final of which was held at a packed Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, foreign players and all. There are no less than five players in Pakistan’s squad who directly owe their inclusion to impressive performances in the PSL this season, including Kamran Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad. The dampener is the absence of explosive opener Sharjeel Khan, provisionally suspended in the wake of the corruption scandal that engulfed the PSL.West Indies’ squad is an analyst’s nightmare, with teams varying wildly from one series to the next. The team that played their last T20I, for example, included just two players from the side that won them the World T20 less than six months prior to that. However, the management has brought back some T20 stars for this series, with Lendl Simmons and Samuel Badree notable returnees. With Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Carlos Brathwaite and Marlon Samuels all in, this appears to be as strong a squad as West Indies could have hoped to assemble.

Form guide

West Indies: LLLWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan: WWWWL

In the spotlight

Carlos Brathwaite has yet to fire since being named West Indies’ T20I captain in the aftermath of that manic World T20 final against England. The four times he’s batted since, he has made 14, 18, 0 and 8. It could be argued he’s too good a power hitter not to bat higher up the order, but the West Indies side is replete with explosive batsmen, and if he is to make his mark, it may end up being lower down. With the first T20I in his hometown of Barbados, Brathwaite might just get the extra motivation he needs.Carlos Brathwaite is yet to replicate his World T20 heroics•Getty Images

Babar Azam is something of a peculiarity among Pakistan batsmen, in that he has been remarkably consistent. He has scored four hundreds in his last eight ODI games. What he could improve on is converting good T20 starts into big scores, and with him likely to open the batting in the absence of Khalid Latif and Sharjeel Khan, this is an ideal opportunity.

Team news

West Indies could go into this match with a healthy blend of youth and experience. The WICB announced on the eve of the first match that Andre Fletcher, Jonathan Carter and Veerasammy Permaul had been released from the original 16-man squad for the first two matches. Fletcher’s absence means the in-form Chadwick Walton, who scored a century against the English tourists in a 50-over warm-up match last month, will most likely take over the gloves and open the batting with Evin Lewis.West Indies (probable): 1 Chadwick Walton (wk), 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Marlon Samuels, 4 Lendl Simmons, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Jason Mohammed, 7 Carlos Brathwaite (capt), 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Jason Holder, 10 Samuel Badree, 11 Jerome TaylorIt remains to be seen how many of the young players, who broke through during the PSL, end up being included. The older returnees – Kamran Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad – are expected to slot back in straightaway. With Hasan Ali, Rumman Raees, Wahab Riaz, Usman Khan and Sohail Tanvir all part of the squad, Pakistan’s fast bowling looks ominous.Pakistan (probable): 1 Ahmed Shehzad, 2 Babar Azam, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Kamran Akmal, 5 Sarfraz Ahmed (capt & wk), 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Sohail Tanvir, 9 Rumman Raees, 10 Hasan Ali, 11 Wahab Riaz

Pitch and conditions

The Kensington Oval surface has regularly produced high-scoring T20 internationals. All completed CPL games last season produced at least one total above 170. There is a slight chance of rain in the afternoon, although it is not expected to prevent a full contest.

Stats and trivia

• The Kensington Oval is yet to see a score above 200. In the 16 T20 internationals held here, the highest total was Sri Lanka’s 195 for 3 during the World T20 in 2010
• Kamran Akmal has not played a T20 international since the World T20 in 2014. His last game was also against West Indies. He was dismissed for 0 as Pakistan lost by 84 runs – their third-heaviest defeat in T20Is.

Pakistan Women qualified for the upcoming Women’s World Cup in England despite being demolished by India Women by seven wickets at Colombo’s P Sara Oval. Ekta Bisht’s career-best returns of 5 for 8 in 10 overs toppled Pakistan for 67. India required just 22.3 overs to chase down the target, with seven wickets in hand, and finished the Super Six stage as table toppers.Before Bisht, it was Shikha Pandey, the new-ball bowler, who set the tone for Pakistan’s slide after Mithali Raj decided to bowl under overcast conditions. Pandey removed the in-form Nahida Khan and Javeria Khan for single-digit scores. Pakistan were 30 for 2 after 10 overs when Bisht struck for the first time, off her very first ball, trapping Ayesha Zafar lbw for her 50th ODI scalp. Zafar had made 19.Apart from Zafar, only Bismah Maroof got into double figures before Pakistan folded in the 44th over. Bisht had ample support. Pandey took 2 for 9 from her seven overs, while spinners Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma and Devika Vaidya picked up a wicket apiece.India’s innings began in bright fashion, with a boundary off the very first ball, but they quickly stuttered with Sana Mir and Sadia Yousuf reducing them to 23 for 2. Opening batsman Deepti Sharma then steered the chase with a 42-run third-wicket stand with Kaur, who became Yousuf’s second victim when she was caught by Zafar with just three needed. Five balls later, Veda Krishnamurthy closed out the game with a four off left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu as India’s innings ended the same way it began.Sri Lanka Women also secured their spot in the World Cup after a 42-run win via the Duckworth-Lewis method in their last Super Six tie against Bangladesh Women in a rain-affected tie in Colombo. Chamari Atapattu hit 84 at the top to help Sri Lanka to 197 for 9 in their 50 overs. In reply, Bangladesh, chasing a revised target of 111, could only reach 68 for 5 in their allotted 21 overs.Atapattu walked out with Sri Lanka 39 for 1 in the 11th over and started off with a half-century stand with Hasini Perera. After Perera’s dismissal for 32, the onus fell on Atapattu to build Sri Lanka’s innings. Atapattu nearly hung around till the end of the innings, before Salma Khatun took her out in the first ball of the 49th over. Sri Lanka could only collect four runs from the 11 remaining balls as they fell short of the 200-mark.Bangaldesh used seven bowlers, six of whom were among the wickets. Khatun was the pick of the lot, striking thrice and giving away just 18 runs in nine overs.Bangladesh began poorly in the chase, with Udeshika Prabodhani and Inoka Ranaweera reducing them to 25 for 3 in the eighth over. Nigar Sultana (24) and Shaila Sharmin (21) made contributions, but a double strike from Inoshi Priyadharshani in the 15th over hurt Bangladesh and they finished well short of the target.Rain affected proceedings at the Colombo Cricket Ground too where South Africa Women came out on top by 36 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method against Ireland Women. South Africa’s win was set up by a strong bowling performance that helped them bowl out Ireland for 166 in 49.5 overs. South Africa were 82 for 1 in 21 overs in their reply when rain stopped play. South Africa needed to be 47 for 1 at that stage, and with play never resuming, they emerged comfortable winners and secured second spot in the Super Six table.All seven of the bowlers used by South Africa chipped in with wickets as Ireland’s innings never got going. Cecilia Joyce struck 29 at the top of the order. Isobel Joyce and Gaby Lewis got off to starts with knocks of 30 and 21 respectively, but most of the rest largely failed to impress. That Ireland got to 166 was down to wicketkeeper Mary Waldron’s unbeaten 33 at No. 8, and her last-wicket partnership of 43 with Ciara Metcalfe, who contributed just 10.Lizelle Lee, Sune Luus and Dane van Niekerk took two wickets each for South Africa.Kim Garth snuffed out Lee for 14 in the third over, after which Laura Wolvaardt and Mignon du Preez got together for an unbroken second-wicket stand of 59. When the rain came down, Wolvaardt was unbeaten on 32 and du Preez was not out on 29.The four qualifying teams – India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan – will be joined by England, Australia, New Zealand and West Indies in the World Cup which begins in June in England.

Australian fast bowler Joe Mennie has been admitted to hospital with a bleed on the brain after being struck on the head by a ball while he was bowling at Sydney Sixers training on Monday.”After being struck on the head by a ball at training on Monday, Joe was transported to a hospital in Brisbane where he underwent a series of check-ups before being discharged later that evening,” Cricket Australia chief medical officer Dr John Orchard said.”Joe was reviewed by a Cricket Australia doctor on Tuesday and had some scans performed that revealed a small fracture and associated minor brain bleed. Whilst this is a serious injury, Joe is feeling well. We believe that this is a stable injury and will not require surgery.”As a precautionary measure, Joe has been admitted to hospital for observation and will continue to be assessed by a neurosurgeon to determine best course of action.”Sixers wicketkeeper Brad Haddin had originally believed Mennie had escaped serious injury, telling on Tuesday that Mennie would be available for selection for Wednesday night’s semi-final against Brisbane Heat. Mennie has since been ruled out of the match.”It was a bit of a scary incident actually,” Haddin said at the time. “He was bowling in the nets and Michael Lumb got hold of one straight back and he’s followed through and got him in the head. It was a bit uncomfortable for a couple of minutes but lucky Joe’s all right.Mennie had played two matches for the Sixers during this BBL campaign. Earlier in the summer, he made his Test debut for Australia in Hobart against South Africa, having also made his ODI debut on the tour of South Africa in October.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:53

Moonda: Still concerns over Amla’s form, but Cook has established himself

Stephen Cook’s third Test hundred moved South Africa into a dominant position on a third day of rain delays and rapid scoring in Port Elizabeth. Sri Lanka caused a brief flutter with four wickets for 56 runs, but that only came after South Africa had moved to 221 for 1. At stumps, South Africa were 351 for 5, their lead 432 with two days remaining.For most of the day, the only force that seemed capable of halting South Africa’s march was the weather: Bad light and rain halted play twice, either side of an early lunch break, for roughly an hour cumulatively. Then, belatedly, Sri Lanka’s bowlers began to find some success.Nuwan Pradeep dismissed Amla with the last ball before tea, making him the 10,000th lbw victim in Test history. Dushmantha Chameera got Cook to nick behind in the sixth over after tea, before Dhananjaya de Silva, bowling his offbreaks from around the wicket to both right- and left-hand batsmen, began turning the ball appreciably. He got JP Duminy to edge to slip, and then had Temba Bavuma caught at short leg – Bavuma walked off without reviewing after being given out, despite replays suggesting there was no bat involved.Rangana Herath could have had Quinton de Kock three overs later, but Dinesh Chandimal, possibly unsighted by the batsman as the ball spun out of the rough and between bat and pad, missed the stumping. De Kock and Faf du Plessis went on to add an unbroken 74 for the sixth wicket, at 4.82 per over, reinforcing South Africa’s hold on the Test match.South Africa dominated right from the start of play, taking only 7.5 overs to wrap up Sri Lanka’s lower order, with Vernon Philander completing his 11th Test-match five-for, and gain an 81-run first-innings lead. Then Cook, courtesy century stands for the first and second wicket with Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla, ensured Sri Lanka remained on the mat.Amla fell two short of a half-century, Pradeep trapping him on the shuffle, spearing one full and straight the ball after that shuffle had brought the batsman a cheeky four, a leg glance off an off-stump delivery. By then, Amla had batted as fluently as he has done at any point this season, delighted his fans with some vintage strokeplay including scorching drives through the covers and down the ground, his balance and timing inch-perfect.After two days dominated by seamers, Sri Lanka may have hoped for continuing assistance from the pitch, but after some early help for the new ball – Cook and Elgar sent three edges streaking through gaps in the slip cordon in the first four overs – conditions seemed to ease out considerably. Given South Africa’s lead, Sri Lanka couldn’t attack for too long, and the innings eventually settled into a pattern of easily available runs against defensive fields.Elgar was the dominant opening partner before lunch – which was taken half an hour early thanks to bad light and later rain – scoring 26 to Cook’s 12 and hitting three fours including a muscular swat over midwicket when Suranga Lakmal dropped marginally short and a crisply timed back-foot drive down the ground off Angelo Mathews.Cook caught up when play resumed, with three fours in two overs – not all of them entirely controlled – when the seamers began bowling short. With singles now plentifully available against the deep-set fields, Cook’s strike rate climbed, and he reached fifty in style, punching Pradeep through the covers to bring up the landmark and slashing the next one backward of point for another four.Elgar soon joined him in the 50s before falling to a miscued pull off Suranga Lakmal. By then, Cook and Elgar had brought up their second century partnership of the match. It was only the tenth time in Test history that an opening pair had achieved this feat.South Africa began scoring even more freely with Amla at the crease: the second-wicket pair scored at 5.57 while the openers had gone at 3.60. Cook, who took 81 balls to score his first fifty, scored his second in 71 balls, as Sri Lanka’s bowlers went through the motions. Cook went from 95 to 99 with the shot of his innings, a straight punch off the front foot against Chameera, before getting to his hundred the next ball with a trademark nurdle into the leg side for two.South Africa’s day began in the best way possible. Philander struck with his very first ball, shaping it away from the fourth-stump channel to induce a poke and an edge from Dhananjaya de Silva, who, on 43 overnight, had held Sri Lanka’s hopes of narrowing South Africa’s lead to manageable proportions. Five balls later, Lakmal realised he wasn’t quite to the pitch of a fullish ball to drive, checked his shot, and popped a low catch to mid-on, giving Philander his fifth wicket.Philander and Kyle Abbott beat the edges of Chameera and Pradeep frequently, but Sri Lanka’s Nos. 9 and 11 managed to stretch their total by 20 runs along the way. There were a couple of audacious shots as well – Pradeep punched Abbott off the back foot to the point boundary, and Chameera hit Philander for a straight-bat scoop over mid-on. Eventually, having just got past the 50-ball mark, Chameera jabbed at an away-swinger from Abbott and nicked to first slip.

Australia’s team performance chief Pat Howard, the man held ultimately accountable for the fortunes of the national side, has reached out to former opening batsman Chris Rogers for advice on how to scotch the bleeding of the Test team’s currently hapless top six.Howard also admitted that he, the coach Darren Lehmann and the national selection panel were under pressure to keep their jobs unless results improved. Appointed as a result of the Argus review in August 2011, he said that there needed to be renewed focus on the defensive and tactical skills of batsmanship to get through difficult days like the one experienced in Hobart on Saturday.”It needs more focus. That’s simple,” Howard said. “Chris was fantastic, you go back to what he and David Warner did at the Oval [in 2015], I think it was 14 runs off 10 overs, they read the situation really well. That patience and adaptability to read the situation there. I’ve really been impressed by Chris’ insights and comments and I was before.”He’s got a good insight into the game … we’ve talked to him about coming and talking to people around that, both technically and mentally, and about a year ago he worked with our Under-19s. It’s a fair comment and something to drive some of our thinking.”The position of Australian batting coach has changed hands this year, following Howard’s decision not to grant an improved contract to Michael Di Venuto, who held the position with some success for the previous three years. Di Venuto, who has been in Hobart this week, then took the job as head coach of Surrey, and the role was handed over to the former England batsman Graeme Hick, an internal appointment via his role at the National Cricket Centre.Before this Test, Hick admitted he had his work cut out to build the relationships necessary to be an effective batting coach for the team. The rest of Lehmann’s support staff, including the assistant coach David Saker and the fielding coach Greg Blewett, are all relatively recent appointments. Rogers has said that the spate of batting collapses pointed to deeper issues within the team, and in the domestic structure beneath it.”I think good sides always find a way to fight when they’re in trouble, and the Australian side at the moment, when they lose a few wickets it’s just a collapse,” Rogers told ABC’s Offsiders on Sunday. “All 10 wickets have fallen, we’ve seen it now two Tests in a row I think for 86 in the first Test and now 85 in this Test, and you don’t see that [often]. So there’s something fundamentally wrong I think with the side, they’re obviously lacking confidence. There’s no doubt the talent’s there, but they just can’t find a way to fight, and that’s really disconcerting.”Speaking to particularly a few of the older guys, past players, there’s a bit of a thought that maybe we should push to return to how the Sheffield Shield used to be – just pick the best sides, the best players and see who wins. We have this system now where we’re trying to identify players and push them through. But we’ve been doing that for a fair while now and it doesn’t seem to be working, the performances haven’t really been there to justify it. I think it’s about now finding that winning culture. We’ve perhaps lost that, and whether we need to find that at the level below, maybe that’s the way to go.”Howard stated, among other things, that Australia’s traditional Gabba start – where they had not lost a Test match since 1988 – had to be moved for commercial reasons, namely an effort to build the audience for a Brisbane match via the avenue of a day-night Test. But he also said the team had to be adaptable enough to cope.Pat Howard on Chris Rogers’ role: “He’s got a good insight into the game … we’ve talked to him about coming and talking to people around that, both technically and mentally”•Getty Images

“The team does like starting in Brisbane obviously but we just talked about adaptability and being able to play in different conditions at different times,” Howard said. “Brisbane has been a Test match that has struggled in other areas of the game over the last couple of years and they look to do something different.”I’d like to have games in Brisbane to support the team at times, there were other aspects as well, but we also need to adapt and I don’t want to look for excuses. We want to look for excuses at times and look for easy answers, and I don’t want to go down that track. Whatever you get overseas, whatever you get at home, do your homework, do your preparation get ready to adapt to the situation and the conditions on offer.”Like the national selectors, Trevor Hohns and Mark Waugh, Howard’s contract expires at the end of June 2017. The selection chairman Rod Marsh has already indicated he will vacate his post at that time, but Howard said there had been no discussion about finding his replacement any earlier than that. He did indicate,d however, that the entire panel may be refreshed at that time.”It’s important to note that Rod and I had that discussion well before the Sri Lanka tour,” Howard said. “This has been well in train and [his replacement] hasn’t been contemplated, we announced it a couple of weeks ago, and it was just confirming what all of us had known for a long time.”We’ve always had different guys on different tours. Trevor Hohns and Mark Waugh will go on and their contracts are due up at the same time as well, so they may not be staying either. I appreciate the pressure comes on Rod, he knows that this comes with the role, but there are people in that situation all the time and every time you say someone is not going to stay and you exit them straight away it doesn’t respect the work that they are doing at the time.”Howard also defended the decision to extend Lehmann’s contract until 2019 in August. “This is a great challenge for his coaching, I think he’s in uncharted territory for him as well and we’ve talked about that,” Howard said. “This is a great chance for him to reinvent.”He’s been contracted through past 2019, which is a huge year in the calendar, Ashes away and a World Cup back-to-back. We’ve got a young captain with a coach that’s wanted to give the team and squad some stability. I make no apologies for that, I made the decision and I take accountability for that.”

Jason Roy, England’s limited-overs opening batsman, says that England’s Test team needs to tap into the mindset that helped propel the T20 side into the final of the World T20 earlier this year, as they prepare for the challenge of facing India on home soil.England have arrived in Rajkot for Wednesday’s series opener against India, still smarting from their historic defeat in the second Test against Bangladesh last month. With doubts about their spin attack, and several question-marks about a batting line-up that crumbled in the space of a single session at Dhaka, England could hardly be starting the series from a less promising position.However Roy, speaking at the Chance to Shine annual awards in London, believed that the England squad would have the spirit to take the fight back to India, and urged his team-mates – particularly the likes of Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, who starred in England’s World T20 campaign in March – to remember how they turned their fortunes around on their last trip to India.”I think it’s important to go with the same sort of mindset as we did at the T20 World Cup,” said Roy. “It’s a difficult place to go and play cricket, especially Test cricket, so we can’t have too many preconceived ideas on what we want to achieve. We’ve just got to go out there and do everything we can, everything we know we can do. We’ve got the talent, the skill, the players, I’m sure we’ll be alright.”England’s World T20 campaign started inauspiciously when they were crushed by the eventual champions, West Indies, in their opening fixture in Mumbai. But they warmed to their task by chasing a world-record 230 to beat South Africa at the same venue, and earned the respect of India’s crowds in the process.”Those crowds are the most incredible to play in front of,” said Roy. “To see the passion they’ve got for their country, it’s good for us to play in front of that. We can only enjoy it. We can’t go out there and hate it, because we know what’s to come.”Reflecting on his own involvement in England’s winter campaign, the one-day leg of the Bangladesh tour, Roy admitted that their 2-1 series win had been put into its correct context by England’s subsequent difficulties in the Test series.”We know now they are a top quality side,” he said. “We played some very good cricket, it’s not always easy to go there and win, as we’ve seen in the past, and the ODI series was a good benchmark for us, I think.”The build-up to the Bangladesh tour had been dominated by security issues, with Roy’s opening partner, Alex Hales, choosing not to travel, along with England’s regular one-day captain, Eoin Morgan. And in spite of the success enjoyed by Hales’ understudies, in particular Ben Duckett and Sam Billings, both of whom starred in the series decider, Roy was adamant that Hales would not be made to regret his choice.”Based on what we got told before the tour, there’s nothing wrong with him not going on the trip,” he said. “He’s been training hard and putting the hard work in, he’s obviously got the numbers that suggest he deserves that spot, so I don’t think there will be any hard feelings. There certainly aren’t within the squad.”But it’s a huge positive that we’ve got so much depth now in one-day cricket, so many players who can just go in there and play, and that’s a huge credit to the start-up systems and the England Lions. It’s all exciting stuff for the future now.”Security wasn’t a problem at all, we were looked after incredibly well. The hospitality at the hotels, by the Bangladeshi side and by everything around the cricket, was fantastic.Jason Roy was speaking at the Chance to Shine Annual Awards, supported by Lycamobile. ECB will double its investment in the charity, from 2017, to inspire millions of young people to play and learn through cricket. Visit chancetoshine.org

With the one-day series against Australia decided, South Africa are likely to rest Kagiso Rabada in an effort to manage the 21-year old fast bowler’s workload.Since the beginning of 2016, no frontline paceman has played as many matches as Rabada’s 27 although his actual number of overs is lower than some of his contemporaries, such as Chris Woakes, Trent Boult and Josh Hazlewood, who have played more Test cricket in the period.Following the current series, South Africa travel to Australia for three Tests before returning home for a full visit by Sri Lanka which is followed by a tour of New Zealand.Rabada, who also had a brief spell with Kent during the English county season, will be expected to play a key role throughout that period and Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach, is wary of not pushing him too hard. Dale Steyn, who conceded the most expensive figures by a South Africa bowler in ODIs during the high-scoring Durban encounter, may also be given a breather.”We need to consider the two fast bowlers, Dale and KG [Rabada], they have played all three games and Kagiso in particular has played a lot of cricket over the last year so it might be an opportunity to give him a break because there is a lot of cricket to come in the next couple of months,” Domingo said.South Africa will be without their hero from Durban, David Miller, for the final two matches of the series due to the groin injury he picked up during his unbeaten century. The fact the injury has curtailed his participation adds further kudos to his display at Kingsmead where he hauled South Africa to the second-highest successful ODI chase with an unbroken stand of 107 alongside Andile Phehlukwayo.The performances of Phehlukwayo, who also claimed 4 for 44 in the opening match of the series, has been one of the pleasing aspects of the series for Domingo as South Africa try to bolster their all-round options.”Allrounders are massively important to have and something we possibly haven’t had for the last two or three years,” he said. “There are four in the mix at the moment with Wayne Parnell, Chris Morris, Adile and Dwaine Pretorius all there or thereabouts so it’s very pleasing to have that depth in our batting line-up. They have earned their spots based on good domestic performances.”Another notable aspect of the series win has been it has come without the injured AB de Villiers while Hashim Amla has only played a bit-part role having been ill for the first match – where Quinton de Kock’s 178 led South Africa’s canter to a substantial target of 295 – and was controversially omitted in Johannesburg before he returned in Durban with an agenda-setting 45 off 30 balls to launch the chase.”Hash and AB’s records have been unbelievable so to win and chase down scores without those players is very pleasing and showing some of the younger guys are stepping into the breach,” Domingo said. “It’s always important to have the next tier of players performing well.”

ScorecardTom Westley passed 200 for the first time in his career•Getty Images

“It’s not very often I bat a whole day,” said Tom Westley, as he mopped the sweat away from his reddened face and scratched a beard that may not have been there when he began this innings. He is, at the time of writing, unbeaten on 238 from 361 balls. His maiden double hundred arrived from 319 balls and provided Essex with the brunt of a dominant performance that saw the hosts hammer Worcestershire for 401 runs in the day.Talk of Tom Westley’s feats this season bring with it the caveat of Division Two cricket. And that is right up to a point: James Vince’s Test form may have put the feats of second-tier stylists into context. But Westley’s is a case that deserves to be heard. He is a player in the form of his life, with an appreciation of his batting that has matured from flaky to reliable without any loss of indulgence.Yesterday’s portion of his innings saw him bring up four figures in the Championship for the first time in his career. If that surprises somewhat, then factor in that this is the first season in which Westley has struck more than two red-ball centuries. And he only previously managed multiple centuries in 2012, both in Championship cricket. When he reached 100 today, from 182 balls – his fifth of 2016 – he became the third Essex batsman to score three Championship hundreds, alongside Alastair Cook and Dan Lawrence.Even as early as the start of May, Westley knew he was onto something: runs came better and quicker than they ever have. Even abject failure from now until the season’s end will leave him with his best season average. Currently, only Jonny Bairstow has more first-class runs in 2016.He cannot quite put his finger on what has given him this extra push, but he does credit age – at 27, this is his 10th season of first-class cricket – and a winter spent working with Andy Flower, Graham Thorpe and Gary Kirsten on the England Lions tour in the UAE. There were not too many adjustments but enough to allow him to embrace his leg-side game, without leaving him susceptible outside off.Having started the season well, with a notable century against Sri Lanka, he dipped through the middle but was buoyed by a one-day hundred and “quite a few fifties” to reassure himself that the purple patch was still going. Once the previous personal best of 185 was out of the way, thoughts turned to the double hundred.Westley’s ability to find midwicket is unparalleled in the domestic game and often sees him spoilt for company when new to the crease. In the corresponding fixture at New Road earlier this year, he was greeted with four midwicket fielders in the second innings after reeling off 125 in the first. Aided by a bottom hand that wraps all the way around his bat handle, he is able to punch and drive through the region with ease. Today, even his forward defence seemed to send the ball in that direction. Fittingly, on 199, he beat the three fielders stationed there for the boundary that took him to 203.The number of balls he sent in that particular direction made Chelmsford seem like a slanted pool table, as the majority of his 37 boundaries were collected from the midwicket rope. Try as they might, Worcestershire could not find the appropriate book or folded bit of paper to level things up.What success they had was erased by what followed. Cook nicked off for 66 after bringing up his second fifty of the season, which made way for a 213-run partnership between Westley and Ravi Bopara. When Worcestershire then took two wickets for one run, Ryan ten Doeschate ran them – and Westley – ragged to score his fifth Championship half-century in a row. A real salt-in-the-wounds partnership brought up 100 in 101 balls.If there was one blot for Essex, it was a 99 for Bopara. After 18 Championship innings, he is still without a century this season, despite six fifties including a previous season-best of 94. He looked as good as he has done, playing with time and panache – the sort of innings you expect from Bopara. In among the 16 crisp boundaries was a six off George Rhodes that cleared the sight screen and cannoned off a house at the Hayes Close end and into its garden. However, the pursuit of three figures is proving a struggle for a man weighed down by his sheer volume of nineties in the past three seasons.”You know I’m not going to get a hundred, right?” he joked to Westley, as the landmark loomed. A short ball from Jack Shantry was smashed to square leg for four, to take him to 99. The very next delivery, Bopara plopped forward, perhaps looking for a single into the off side, and edge through to Ross Whiteley. “He was right,” remarked a sympathetic Westley. Should Bopara not complete the journey to three figures with his remaining innings, it will be the first time since 2004 that he has not scored at least one first class hundred in a season.

Match facts

August 31, 2016
Start time 1430 local (0900 GMT)Adam Zampa has troubled Sri Lanka through the series with his six wickets•AFP

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Sri Lanka had lost key players to injury right through the Test series, but continued to thrive on dwindling resources, as the opposition appeared in slight disarray. In the ODIs something of a reversal has occurred. Australia have lost Steven Smith, Nathan Coulter-Nile, and most recently, Shaun Marsh, yet lead the series 2-1. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have made alterations to the squad three times already, and have had a retiring batsman take a veiled dig at the present captain. For this match, spin-bowling allrounder Sachith Pathirana comes into the side, replacing Tillakaratne Dilshan.Like in the Tests though, it is at the top of Sri Lanka’s innings that the hosts have lost the most ground, and where Mitchell Starc has been at his most imperious. He has taken a wicket within his first two overs in each of the three matches, in which Sri Lanka have been 45 for 2, 12 for 2 and 23 for 2. And like Australia had espoused changing theories on how to counter spin in the Test series, Sri Lanka also appear to be reshaping their strategy against Starc. “We will try to play him out safely and score off the others,” captain Angelo Mathews had said ahead of the first and second ODIs. Most recently, he has advocated being “positive in Starc’s first four overs.”Australia’s limited-overs specialists have also steeled the middle order, and have looked more comfortable against spin than their Test counterparts. George Bailey swept and reverse-swept in his match-winning 70 on Sunday. Matthew Wade has made strong contributions through the series, and Travis Head has been involved in useful partnerships in the second and third matches. Sri Lanka have made early breakthroughs in each game too, but will want the likes of Seekkuge Prasanna and Dilruwan Perera to pose more menace through the middle overs, in support of Amila Aponso, who has easily been their bowler of the series so far.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)

Australia WLWWW
Sri Lanka LWLLL

In the spotlight

Dilshan now out of the ODI picture, Sri Lanka must set about the tricky business of finding an opening combination for the 2019 World Cup. The man on immediate trial is Danushka Gunathilaka. In 14 ODI innings so far, he has dazzled in patches, though has not strung together enough significant scores to embed himself in the XI. Having had his middle stump removed in Starc’s first over on Sunday, he will want a half-century in this match to make his place safe.Adam Zampa went wicketless in the first match, but has imposed himself on the series since then, taking three wickets in each of the next two matches. His straighter delivery has caused the most trouble (half of his dismissals have been lbws), but he has also beaten batsmen in the air. With 19 wickets at an average of 23.15 from 10 ODIs so far, he appears to have a bright ODI future.

Teams news

Pathirana – a bowling allrounder who delivers left-arm spin – has been drafted in, but appears unlikely to play, for now. Sri Lanka may push Dhananjaya de Silva up the order to open, as he does for his club team, and push Angelo Perera into the middle order.Sri Lanka (probable): 1. Danushka Gunathilaka, 2 Dhananjaya de Silva, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Angelo Mathews (capt.), 6 Angelo Perera, 7 Kusal Perera, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Seekkuge Prasanna, 10 Dilruwan Perera, 11 Amila AponsoWith Marsh now unavailable, Usman Khawaja is likely to enter the XI in his place. Nathan Lyon may also play in place of Josh Hazlewood, as the Dambulla track will have worn since Sunday.Australia (probable): 1 David Warner (capt.), 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 George Bailey, 5 Travis Head, 6 Matthew Wade (wk), 7 James Faulkner, 8 John Hastings, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Nathan Lyon

Pitch and conditions

With Sunday’s pitch being used again for this match, the spinners’ threat is likely to be further heightened. There is often a strong breeze from the south in the evenings, in Dambulla, but rains are not forecast.

Stats and trivia

• In 11 ODI innings in 2016, Dinesh Chandimal has crossed 50 eight times, including two hundreds, and averages 72.22. He needs a further 196 runs to make this his most productive ODI year.
• David Warner averages 22.10 from 10 ODI innings in Asia. He has scored 19 runs across the three innings in the series so far.
• Australia have batted second in each of their six international games of the tour so far, having lost five of those tosses.

Quotes

“We may try out another couple of options against Starc, but the only thing is that you have to be positive in his first four overs. Don’t lose wickets, but be positive and look for the loose one. We’ve been a bit tentative up front, and that’s where we’ve been giving him a lot of wickets. It’s put a lot of pressure on the No. 3 and No. 4.”
“That’s just what happens with cricket. Sometimes you’re in form, sometimes you’re not. I feel like I’m hitting the ball well. I’ve had some good dismissals, I’ve had a couple of poor shots here and there.”

Seamer Chris Mpofu is in line for an international recall as Zimbabwe look to bolster their ranks ahead of the second Test against New Zealand, which starts from August 6. With more than half the squad afflicted by the illness that kept Sean Williams off the field for the entire New Zealand innings, changes to the current 15-man group are expected and ESPNcricinfo has learned that Mpofu is being seriously considered.The seamer has not played a Test in five years, since New Zealand last toured Zimbabwe in 2011. He was part of the XI that took the one-off game to the wire and finished with five wickets in the match. Mpofu has since been plagued by a lower back injury but has played international cricket in shorter formats, with his last ODI and T20 both coming in 2015. Mpofu also played throughout last season, including three matches in the Logan Cup where he claimed 11 wickets at 23.81, and it is understood his wicket-taking ability is what Zimbabwe are after.”We don’t have a powerhouse of seamers which you can pick and choose from,” Makhaya Ntini, Zimbabwe’s interim head coach, said. “For this match, we thought if we have more power in the batting line-up, we’ll have time to be able to take wickets.”However, on a slow, low Bulawayo surface, Zimbabwe’s attack of two seamers, one specialist spinner and four part-timers was only able to take six New Zealand wickets and, of those, the frontline seamers only took two. A lack of experience in the pack is also a problem – the four quicks had only two Test caps between them before this match.Their inexperience showed when both Donald Tiripano and Michael Chinouya wasted the new ball and did not make New Zealand’s openers play enough. They also stayed away from the short ball, which had worked well for Neil Wagner in Zimbabwe’s innings. The pair improved with the second new ball, tightened their lines and asked some questions and Ntini has been working with them on applying pressure for longer periods.”They need to search more, they need to hit one side of the wicket, they need to be able to bowl to fields and they must not be greedy,” Ntini said. “But they are learning. From a fast bowler’s point of view, what we had to mention to them is to pay attention to which ball gets hit for four and then try to correct that. You want to cut off the boundaries. If the boundary ball becomes a single, you are able to understand where you need to improve so when you get hit, you have to think – which ball was that. Then you will understand what not to do.”Apart from Tiripano and Chinouya, Ntini has also been teaching this to the other members of his squad which include Njabulo Ncube, who also played in the 2011 Test, and Taurai Muzarabani, neither of whom were picked for the first Test. Zimbabwe also have the option of calling up Shingi Masakadaza, who topped the Logan Cup wicket-taker’s list and performed well against South Africa A.At the other end, changes are also expected in the batting line-up, especially the top order, although Ntini was careful not to be too harsh on his young top two. Chamu Chibhabha was on debut and Brian Chari had just two caps to his name before this Test. Chari then had to keep wicket as well. “We can’t judge a person by one single game,” Ntini said. “For example, with Chari, he kept for two days and he is not a wicketkeeper and then he got out. But yes, Tino (Mawoyo) has also showed signs of being one of the top-order players. Whatever changes we do, they have to be needed, we won’t just do them.”Mawoyo, who suffered bruising around his right thumb after being hit by Tim Southee in the three-day warm-up match, is hopeful to be fit for the second Test. Although scans did not reveal a fracture, Mawoyo was unable to hold a bat after suffering the blow and did not hit any balls during this Test. He will resume training on Tuesday.