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Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, is confident his squad has the depth to cover for Jacques Kallis should the allrounder fail to recover from his fractured rib. However, as Arthur told Cricinfo yesterday, Kallis is doing everything possible to get ready for the first Test at Centurion Park and will have another session in an oxygen chamber on Monday.Like England, who have question marks over the balance of their team, South Africa will be faced with a tough decision of how to replace Kallis should he miss out. Ryan McLaren is part of the 15-man unit currently at a training camp in Potchefstroom and so is Alvrio Petersen who could come in as a specialist batting option. Both would have to face the challenge of their Test debuts, but the option of playing six batsmen would leave the home side’s four-man attack with a heavy workload.”We have given ourselves options by having a guy like Ryan McLaren in the squad. The reason we’ve brought in another allrounder is that it gives us the option of going with five batters and [Mark] Boucher plus the allrounder to give us five bowlers,” Arthur said. “We have pretty much covered all bases and ultimately it will be up to us to make the right decision. First prize is a fit Jacques Kallis.”By Sunday we will have a very good indication of where he is. It has felt a lot better, but we won’t know until we put it through proper training, bowling for spells and batting, and only then will we be able to make a decision. He spent two days in the oxygen camber and has another session on Monday and we just hope that speeds up the recovery.”Kallis took part in the training session South Africa managed between the thunderstorms which involved laps around the ground, but Friday will be an important day as the players start their cricket skills. When pushed about his favoured option if Kallis was absent, Arthur said he would have to wait until arriving in Pretoria next week. “I can really comment until I see conditions at Centurion and they will determine that. I’m satisfied that we have enough options to cover all eventualities.

Arthur not worried about No.1 spot

Losing the No. 1 Test ranking to India isn’t causing Mickey Arthur to lose any sleep as he said his team could do little about it not having played the format since March. India secured top spot with their 2-0 series win against Sri Lanka, but Arthur knows his team can reclaim the crown by sticking to their own plans.
“The No. 1 ranking is nice to have but if we haven’t played since March and other teams have then the rankings are going to change,” he said. “All we can control is playing good cricket in each series. If we do that we will get the No. 1 ranking back. That’s how we got it in the first place, by putting emphasis on each Test match.”
South Africa now look as though they will be able to make their point by going head-to-head with India next year after the BCCI requested that their tour in February be restructured to included two Tests and three ODIs rather than five one-day matches.

“Jacques is a top five batter in the world, so if he is available to bat only he will most certainly do that,” he added. “It just depends whether batting will further hinder the recovery process of the rib and that’s something that we need to weight up. If he doesn’t play it will mean that batting and bowling are out of the question. If he can only bat with no comebacks we’ll certainly consider him at No. 4, there’s no doubt about that.”Kallis is one of five players in the South Africa squad – along with Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher, JP Duminy and AB de Villiers – who haven’t played any first-class cricket for nine months following the end of the Test series against Australia. Since then there has been a diet of Twenty20 and one-day action, but Arthur is confident the individuals can refocus onto the longer format despite a short preparation time.”The guys are professional enough and we have got a lot of things done today which have tested them physically and tomorrow they will be tested technically,” he said. “They will be put in situations that they are likely to face in Test cricket. Today is all about physical and mental exertion. We want to give them time on their legs. We have got to get the bodies conditioned to Test cricket.”Arthur, himself, can’t wait to get his mind back around the five-day game with all the ebb and flow it entails and the intricate tactics involved. “It’s about time, I’m really looking forward to getting back into Test match mode,” he said. “It’s where we are really challenged as a team. Fighting and attritional qualities comes through. Test cricket is still the ultimate in our dressing room.” The question is, will that dressing room be with or without Kallis’ immense skill and experience? The next three days will give us an idea.

Click here to listen to the full audio interview with Monty PanesarMonty Panesar has moved to Hove where a fresh start awaits him in 2010•Getty Images

Monty Panesar believes that his move to Sussex will help to reignite his international career, after it was confirmed last week that he had signed a three-year deal which will take him away from Northamptonshire, the county he joined as a 17-year-old back in 1999.Panesar, who is currently playing for the Highveld Lions in South Africa, endured a frustrating season in 2009. He lost his England place after one Test of the Ashes series, and ultimately his ECB central contract as well, while domestically, he managed only 18 wickets at nearly 60 runs apiece in first-class cricket.Though he has often been lampooned for his use of the phrase “bowling in good areas”, Panesar believes that his problems last season stemmed directly from his failure to heed that piece of advice. At international level, Graeme Swann’s offspin emerged as a more inventive and attacking option to Panesar’s slow left-armers, and in a bid to keep up and add new variety to his game, he lost sight of the basics.”I think I was trying to look for answers, and looking to better myself and move my game forward, and I think what I ended up doing was listening to a lot of people to try and improve my game,” Panesar told Cricinfo’s Switch Hit podcast. “In the meantime I forgot to focus on the simple things. It’s important to have a strong foundation, because after that you can start adding things to your game.”Northants have been so good to me, but a fresh start is probably what I need, and at Sussex I’m really excited to get involved in the culture there, and hopefully be successful,” he said. “I had good relationships at Northants, and worked hard, and while I was there I learnt a lot of things and made good friends. They helped me to play for England which is obviously the pinnacle thing for any cricketer.”There was interest from several counties when Panesar’s move from Northants was tabled, but the chance to play at a venue which became synonymous with Mushtaq Ahmed, England’s spin coach, was an understandable lure.”Mushtaq was a factor, and the coach, Mark Robinson, was very keen to have me there as well, and the captain Michael Yardy,” said Panesar. “I felt it would be a good move to go down south, especially with the support staff that they have, and the way they play their cricket. It was something I wanted to be part of.”Panesar’s recuperation will begin in earnest when he starts his new life at Hove next summer, but for the time being, he is settling into his role as the Highveld Lions’ overseas player. During his first match, he watched from the dressing-room as his new team-mate, Stephen Cook, scored 390 to break the South African domestic record, but against the Cape Cobras last week, he showed glimpses of his former self, taking 4 for 42 in 20.4 second-innings overs, to bowl his side to the brink of an unlikely victory.”There was a bit of rough to play with on the left-handers’ side which kept me in the game, and also I got quite a lot of overs in in the first innings which helped me establish good rhythm and good areas,” said Panesar. “It meant I’d done my homework in the first innings, and meant I could hit the rough second time around, and apply pressure when it was needed.”England’s cricketers are currently based just down the road in Johannesburg, and they are currently beset by injury with only 11 fit players for the warm-up match against South Africa A. But Panesar does not expect an SOS from Andy Flower just yet. “I’m just focusing on the Lions performances,” he said. “I’m not looking beyond that or expecting a call-up. I just want to develop my game further. That is still my focus, to take it step by step.”I’m really enjoying it out here,” he added. “I’ve settled in really well with the Highveld Lions team, and they’ve welcomed me really well. I’m enjoying being a part of the team. I wish England the best of luck for Friday. I want to see a win for us and the start of some good momentum coming into the South Africa tour. But I’ll have to put in some strong performances on a consistent basis to give myself a chance of getting back into the team, and that’s entirely up to me.”

Brett Lee has set his sights on playing in the first Test against West Indies despite being sent home from India with an elbow injury. Lee has had ankle and side problems before the latest setback, but he intends to fight for his spot.”I will be doing everything I possibly can to make sure I’m back on the cricket field ASAP,” Lee said after arriving back in Sydney. “I still enjoy my cricket and I still think the way that I’ve been bowling, I’ve been really happy with my personal form. I have to make sure I stay nice and fit.”Now 32, Lee must edge ahead of Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus and Stuart Clark to add to his 76 Tests. Tim Nielsen, the Australia coach, said Lee was sent home to give him the best chance of recovering.”It is not a case of writing him off at all,” Nielsen said in the Sunday Mail. “We are just being careful and prudent. It is only three weeks before the first Test so we want to get to the source of the problem the best way we can and get the best diagnosis.”Lee hurt himself in the opening ODI against India last Sunday after bowling six overs. He insisted the problem was not related to his appearances in the Champions League Twenty20, and he is not the only player with a recent heavy workload. Australia have been hit by a series of injuries since the Ashes tour and have less than a month before the Test series against West Indies begins in Brisbane on November 26.

Match facts

Saturday October 17
Start time 20.00 (14.30 GMT)
Ross Taylor will have to produce a big innings for Bangalore•AFP

Big Picture

Delhi Daredevils are at a slight advantage even before their first game of the league stage as their opponents, Royal Challengers Bangalore, must win to stay in the tournament. Bangalore’s capitulation to Victoria on Thursday means they must beat Delhi and hope Victoria and Delhi both beat Cape Cobras. Delhi aren’t all that better off, though; they have a negative run-rate, marginally better than Bangalore’s, and will need to win both their games to be well-placed for the semis.All of which means that, whatever the result of this game, it is possible no IPL team advances to the semi-finals of the Champions League Twenty20. That should not detract from the atmosphere at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where a large crowd is expected on Diwali night to watch the last tournament fixture in this city – and perhaps the first and last time in this tournament that two IPL teams play each other. Nothing may be going right for them but Bangalore can at least expect a partisan crowd supporting their efforts.Delhi play their first away game of the tournament and their explosive top order will relish getting away from the sluggish Feroz Shah Kotla pitch and on to a venue where the home side scored 188 for 2 earlier this week. That said, the Chinnaswamy isn’t entirely seamer-friendly so the two sides will hope their openers give them a frenetic start. Mark Boucher, the Bangalore wicket keeper, predicted that as the tournament went on the track would get slower and scores would be disappointingly smaller.

Watch out for

Glenn McGrath: After being benched for all the games in the IPL, McGrath finally donned the Delhi uniform against Wayamba and took two wickets in his second over, bowling just outside off and getting the ball to dart in – as if he had never been away.Ross Taylor and Manish Pandey: With Jacques Kallis doubtful because of injury, Bangalore’s batting will rely on their young opener Pandey – who scored 39 off 28 against Victoria – and middle-order batsman Taylor, who has a strike-rate of 153.28 in domestic Twenty20s.Rahul Dravid: This may be one of his final limited-overs matches on the big stage after he was dropped from India’s one-day squad.Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag: Fireworks are always expected from the Delhi duo and now, in the company of Tillakaratne Dilshan, they will be looking to explode and light up Diwali night for their side.

Quotes

“In Twenty20 cricket you want high-scoring games and the format is basically designed for batsmen to come and smash the ball… that is what crowd come to witness. Hopefully they can get the wickets right. I am not sure why they are not using the other wicket, which I think they would know better.”
After seeing yesterday’s match, it seems that it will favour the seamers if they drop the pace a little bit. It probably it suits our attack a little bit as well.

When Australia were dumped out of the World Twenty20 in the first stage, after consecutive heavy defeats by West Indies and Sri Lanka, they realised it was time to reassess their approach to the shortest format. They looked at domestic success which led them to a Dutchman in Dirk Nannes and also back to Cameron White, whose record makes you wonder why he isn’t a permanent fixture.He responded with 55 from 36 balls on a two-paced Old Trafford surface and was the only batsman to come to terms with conditions in the rain-ruined match. From 46 Twenty20 matches he averages 36.52 with a strike rate of 151, yet has only played eight of Australia’s 24 Twenty20s where he averages 41 with a strike rate of 150.His domestic record includes a brutal 60-ball 116 against Gloucestershire followed by a ferocious 70-ball 141 against Worcestershire in 2006 when he was an overseas player for Somerset. However, despite his strong numbers he has been in and out of Australia’s Twenty20 side and was omitted from the World Twenty20 squad before belatedly being called up as a replacement for Andrew Symonds.”I was a little surprised and disappointed,” he said about missing out. “Any time you miss out on selection especially for a World Cup it’s disappointing, but that was out of my hands and I’ve moved on now.”Often it is when players aren’t selected that they grow in value and White’s Twenty20 credentials have been talked up in recent times, something he doesn’t mind even though it brings associated pressure. “It’s better than being talked about that you aren’t very good,” he said. “In the past I’ve probably batted a bit lower so it’s nice to get the opportunity to go a little higher. It’s nice to do well and prove to myself and people I play with that I can do well.”That promotion to No. 5 could be the making of him because it gives him the chance to build an innings. When he came in at Old Trafford, Australia were wobbling on 54 for 3 after the quick dismissals David Warner and David Hussey. The run-rate needed a boost, but firstly White gave himself a chance. He took 24 balls to reach 25, setting a base for the final five-over dash. From his next 12 balls he hit 30, including three powerful sixes.”It’s just nice to get another opportunity and take it for once,” he said. “It was the situation, I had to get myself in as we needed a bit of a partnership but once we’d established that I could play with some freedom towards the end. It was a funny pitch. It looked like it went through at the start but when the ball got a little older it slowed up. I thought England bowled well in the first six and made it difficult and we did well to get six to seven an over.”With all the money on offer in Twenty20 the temptation is there for players to focus on that form of the game. However, White doesn’t want to go down that path. It is less than a year ago, in India, that he was selected as a Test match spinner and he still has big ambitions. “I’m not looking to specialise at all. I’m only 26 and that’s pretty young so I’d like to play in every format as long as I can.”His measured innings grew in value when England began their chase as Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson tore in with the new ball before rain dashed Australia’s hopes. “I was standing at slip, already on the edge of the ring and it felt too close,” White said of Lee’s pace, “so if that’s an indication it was pretty quick.”Victory would have been a timely boost for Australia, who are still trying to erase the memories of a week ago at The Oval, but White insists the spirit is good. “It’s not as if the room is down and kicking cans. We are still in a pretty good place.”

Don Bradman hit just six sixes in his Test career. Denis Compton had three. Colin Cowdrey cleared the ropes 13 times in 114 Tests. Thilan Samaraweera is in good company, and he knows it.It’s a sign of the position he has reached in the Sri Lankan team, after an outstanding last 18 months with the bat, when Samaraweera replies to a question about his newfound penchant for sixes (In his first 52 Tests he had one, but he has hit four in the last two Tests.) “Well I know there are greats in this game who haven’t hit a lot, so I’m just fine with my record.”Welcome to the all-new Samaraweera. Last year when he spoke to the media during the series against India it seemed he was yet unsure of himself. He searched for words, he appeared shy. The media was something to be wary of, it seemed from his tone. Just over a year on, with the confidence of a man in sublime form and his position cemented, Samaraweera smiles broadly and answers questions with confidence, throwing up stats few would have known. He’s even hitting sixes.Samaraweera will never forget 2009. Two double-centuries in Pakistan. A career-threatening injury and the scars of the horrific attack in March. A successful rehabilitation in three months. Two centuries in consecutive Tests against New Zealand, and over 1000 runs in the calendar year. There are Test players who don’t experience that in a career.It’s been a richly deserved run. A poor tour of England in 2006 resulted in Samaraweera being dropped after the Edgbaston Test. It was a difficult period being away from the national side but he altered his game, spending long days and weeks with Chandika Hathurusingha, the Sri Lanka A coach. “I had to stay out of the team for 20 months and I thought that was too much,” said Samaraweera. “Honestly I did really well before that. I had a bad series in India but I played well against Pakistan and Bangladesh before the England series. I should have come back in six or seven months but didn’t. That made me hungry for runs.”He changed his attitude too, focusing more on scoring opportunities. The recall came for the tour to Australia late in 2007, where Samaraweera played one of two Tests. He was persisted with and cemented his place with a century and a fifty during the tour to the West Indies in early 2008. He hasn’t looked back. “When I came back Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace [Sri Lanka’s coach and assistant coach] helped me score runs,” said Samaraweera, who has been in outstanding form over the past 18 months. “The main ambition was to stay at the crease but look to score runs. That changed everything for me.”The belief is evident. Having slowly inched toward Mahela Jayawardene and then outscored him today, Samaraweera spent 14 deliveries and roughly 20 minutes on 99. Jayawardene had been cut off on 92 and Chamara Kapugedera was playing his first Test since January. It was a testing period but the desire to play the senior role burned bright. “Being on 99 wasn’t important,” he said. “Kapugedera was back after a long time and was trying to settle down. I settled him and he settled me.”Settle he did, as New Zealand found out. Samaraweera repelled a good over from Chris Martin and raised his century, fittingly, with a cover drive. As most of his other productive shots, it was placed accurately in the gap. Immediately after getting his century, Samaraweera launched an attack, hooking the very next ball for six and then reaching and driving Jacob Oram through the covers for four. Daniel Vettori was driven with exceptional footwork inside-out past mid-off for four and a couple of overs later, on dancing feet, he lofted Jeetan Patel for consecutive boundaries. He repeated that shot soon after, and New Zealand’s attempts to make further inroads had been snuffed.”At the moment I am free because the team is doing well,” said Samaraweera. “Myself and [Tillakaratne] Dilshan want to take pressure off Mahela and [Kumar] Sangakkara because they’ve been under a lot of pressure over the last ten years.”Samaraweera’s form dipped in the three Tests against Pakistan last month, but a sublime 159 in Galle and a flawless 143 at the SSC marks an imposing series. “Full credit to the team management,” he said. “They have given me full authority to play positively. They encouraged me after the Pakistan series and said it was a matter of time. In the last Test against Pakistan I got back my rhythm. As for getting 1000 runs in eight Tests, it’s just good the team is doing well.”Thanks in no small part to Samaraweera’s unforgettable run of form.

ScorecardSteve Rhodes declared himself “very much encouraged” as Worcestershire continued to have the best of their championship game against Nottinghamshire. Although fewer than 13 overs were possible on the second day, Worcestershire again belied the chasm between the sides in the Division One table by producing a performance that offered some hope of better times ahead.Though Gareth Andrew was stranded tantalisingly short of a maiden century, Worcestershire can be more than content with their first innings score on such a bowler-friendly wicket, while they also struck early to dismiss Scott Newman when Nottinghamshire began their reply.It was just the sort of performance that the director of cricket, Rhodes, requested when he spoke to the team before play.Rhodes was still reeling from a confrontation with angry supporters at a packed members’ forum the previous night. Asked to resign by a small number of supporters, Rhodes described the evening as “his worst experience as a coach” but promised not only not to resign, but to lead the club towards better times.”It took me by surprise,” Rhodes admitted. “I felt like it was biblical times and I was about to be stoned at any moment. It wasn’t a nice feeling. I told the players that the captain and I got a real grilling last night. But I told them they’d still see us bouncing around and that I wanted them to be the same.”This is usually a very friendly club that punches above its weight. But the expectation of some members is very high. We’re not it a big club like Surrey or Warwickshire; we’ll still win trophies, but we can’t expect to see ourselves as one of the big four”There is a divide between the big clubs and the rest and its getting bigger. Cricket is going the way of football where some counties are becoming like nursery clubs. That’s frustrating. The last thing we want to do is lose players, but if you can’t afford to keep them, what can you do? The answer is, we have to scout and develop young talent.”Rhodes has certainly been busy ‘scouting’ over recent days. Since the news of Steve Davies’ departure, he has been contacted by the representatives of 16 prospective first team wicket-keepers, with Surrey’s Jon Batty and Gloucestershire’s Steve Adshead thought to be among them.It will not just be a good keeper that Worcestershire require, however. They’ll need one capable of batting in the top six, too, as they can ill afford to add to their already long tail.Though Richard Jones helped Andrew to within sight of his century, Jones’ departure hastened a swift end to the innings. After Jones left one that crashed into his off stump, the hapless Arif was punished for flicking across the line and Jack Shantry’s maiden knock in first-class cricket ended when he lunged pad first at another straight one.Newman soon fell in reply. In two minds whether to play at one that bounced more than he expected outside off stump, he succeeded only in guiding a catch to the slip cordon. On such a pitch, a result is still possible despite the loss of much of the day to poor weather.Meanwhile Gareth Batty, the latest player to choose to leave Worcestershire, explained why he felt he needed to leave the club. The 31-year-old off-spinner, who represented England in limited-overs cricket as recently as March, is expected to announce that he will be joining his former team-mate, Steve Davies, at Surrey imminently.”I truly believe that the best years of my career should be ahead of me,” Batty said. “If they’re not, if things aren’t better in two or three years, then I’ll walk away from the game. I need to be able to look in the mirror at the end of my career and know that I’ve done the best I could; that I’ve got the best out of myself.”There have been times of late when I’ve woken up, looked in the mirror and thought ‘you’re kidding yourself here, mate.’ I’ve not really been living every moment; I’ve been meandering through things. There have been times when I’ve felt a spare part at Worcester. I felt a need to challenge myself more and test myself in conditions where I might be a match-winner. I’ve been working on a ‘doosra’ for a while and, sooner or later, I want to use it more.”Leaving is nothing to do with money. I’ve not thought about a benefit season or anything like that. Worcestershire will always be dear to my heart, but there are some aspects of the club I’ve found difficult to come to terms with and I decided, over the last year or so, that I needed a new start.”

Despite being denied a win at the SSC, Pakistan captain Younis Khan believes there are positives his team can carry forward into the rest of the Sri Lanka tour. “It would have been nice for Pakistan, if we had won,” Younis said. “We can draw some positives from this match, especially in the second innings where we scored 400. There were special innings from Misbah [ul-Haq], Kamran [Akmal] and [Shoaib] Malik, and their hitting form is crucial for us. With the ODIs and the Twenty20 approaching, I’m relieved that they got runs.”Play was called off on the final day at the SSC with the 15 mandatory overs to be bowled, and Sri Lanka 101 short of the 492-run target. Younis Khan though, was surprised that Sri Lanka did not press for a win.”In the subcontinent you expect a wicket like this to get slower and slower. I’m surprised why Sri Lanka didn’t go after the target. You can’t blame them because they had already won the series. Everybody knew if we could have grabbed one or two wickets, we could have put them under pressure.”Even though Pakistan had a sniff of victory with the dismissal of Thilan Samaraweera on the last day, Younis believed the fifth-wicket partnership of 114 between Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews effectively put paid to hopes of a consolation win.”Although our main bowlers tried everything and we took our chances, we couldn’t make it because of Sangakkara and Samaraweera’s partnership,” Younis said. “It was a crucial period of saving the Test. All credit to Sangakkara, he was fantastic. He was there for his team and he scored a hundred. It was a special one from him for his side.”

Usually in the biggest contests it is the senior members who hold the most power over the result, but in this series the teams will expect much more from their inexperienced picks to help grab them the urn. Almost half of the players at Sophia Gardens will be on their Ashes debut, with Australia considering giving six men their first taste against England and the hosts picking up to five greenhorns against the baggy greens.The tourists have ten guys in their 16-man squad who have never faced the old enemy and the group is led by Mitchell Johnson, who was 12th man for all five Tests of the 2006-07 encounter. Phillip Hughes and Brad Haddin are other newbies to England and will have crucial roles in determining which side finishes on top at The Oval next month.Ricky Ponting, the godfather of the visit, is on his fourth tour and even his deputy Michael Clarke is leaning on him for knowledge of the Old Dart. “I’ve done a lot of sitting and listening,” Clarke, who was here in 2005, said. Before play the Australians have been outlining their favourite Ashes memories in an effort to inspire and remind each other of the importance of the century-old rivalry.Informal mentoring sessions have also been occurring to prepare the younger members of the squad for the hype and attention. “I’ve spoken to a few of the guys about my experience,” Clarke said. “The whole group has a different take on what the Ashes means to them.”The younger guys are enjoying talking to the more senior players about what it’s like to be part of an Ashes tour. It’s still special for Ricky, who has played about 140 Tests [131] and is an amazing player. He’s as excited as I’ve ever seen him in my career. I certainly look up to that and think he’s keen as mustard for this series – and he’s not on his own.”Ravi Bopara, England’s No. 3, holds an intimidating role and will play in the country’s most significant contest after only six Tests. Graham Onions (2 games) and Graeme Swann (7) are also relative newcomers while Stuart Broad and Matt Prior are established members of the team, which has its first chance to reply after the 5-0 loss in 2006-07.Over the past 20 years there have been some grand Ashes entrances, with Mark Taylor taking 839 runs from England in 1989 and Shane Warne starting with the Ball of the Century four years later on the way to 34 wickets. In 2005 Kevin Pietersen averaged 52.55 after the first five Tests of his career and the former captain will be an important sounding board for England’s wide-eyed boys.

Scorecard
A strong all-round performance from Lisa Sthalekar ensured a 32-run victory for Australia, who secured the three-game series 2-1 at Allan Border Field. Sthalekar, who was named Player of the Series, top scored in Australia’s 6 for 124 before grabbing two wickets in New Zealand’s chase.Sthalekar made 34 and Leah Poulton scored 30 as Australia set a target that would have required New Zealand’s highest total of the series. But Sarah Andrews starred in the field to give Australia the upper hand, collecting 3 for 16 and effecting a run-out early in the innings.Only three New Zealanders reached double figures as the Australians constricted the flow of runs. Fittingly, it was Sthalekar who ended the game by picking up the final wicket to finish with 2 for 25. The teams now fly to England for the ICC Women’s World Twenty20.