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Match Facts

November 20, Dubai
Start time 10:00 (6:00 GMT)Pakistan will be hoping for an improved showing from their spinners on what could be another slow, low pitch•AFP

The Big Picture

Since Pakistan cricket was plunged into scandal during the Lord’s Test three months ago, it seems not a week has gone by without some new twist to the controversy. Yet after their Younis Khan-inspired draw in the first Test at Dubai the Pakistan camp has been remarkably quiet. The clamour surrounding Zulqarnain Haider’s shock departure from the side has died down – for now at least – and, against the odds, Pakistan will go into the second Test under Misbah-ul-Haq’s leadership believing they have the potential to upset the South Africans and win their first Test series since 2006.At 36, Misbah’s tenure is surely not a long-term option but he showed the value of experience and a calm head in the course of his defiant 186-run stand with Younis and has at least done enough to justify his selection to the team. However, while Pakistan’s batting resilience was admirable their bowling – already dented by the loss of Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir – has been further hit by Wahab Riaz’s injury. Much will depend on the spinners, Abdur Rehman and Saeed Ajmal, who struggled for incisiveness in the first Test but were not helped by the batting-friendly conditions.South Africa’s spinners were also not as effective as hoped after both teams went into the match with two slow bowlers. With conditions likely to be similar in Abu Dhabi – another venue hosting a Test for the first time – it will take something special from either team to force a result in the game, and South Africa will look to their new-ball pair of Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn to give them that spark. Morkel’s five-wicket haul set up South Africa’s first-innings lead at Dubai, and while Steyn is not quite back to his best after his return from injury he could have given his team the crucial breakthrough had Mark Boucher held a chance off Younis’s bat early on the fifth morning.With wins in the one-day and Twenty20 series, Graeme Smith and his men have made no secret of their intention to wrap up a clean sweep with victory in the Tests too. As the No. 2 Test side in world cricket, there’s every reason to back South Africa to do just that but, as always, Pakistan are impossible to predict and simply refuse to be written off.

Form guide

(most recent first)
South Africa: DWDWL
Pakistan: DLWLL

Watch out for…

He may not be the most magnetic player in the side – he’s probably the least – but Azhar Ali has brought an ugly toughness to Pakistan’s batting. Since coming into the side earlier this year against Australia he has played an important role in two Pakistan victories – scoring a crucial second-innings half-century in the nervy runchase to beat Australia at Headingley and setting up Pakistan’s first-innings with an unbeaten 92 in the Oval win over England – and survived 322 deliveries in the first Test of this series to hold off South Africa. In a line-up partial to collapse his flinty presence has become crucial.
Pinging the ball down from the skies, Morne Morkel generated enough bounce to rough up Pakistan’s lower order and help them lose their last eight wickets for 72 in the first innings at Dubai. In combination with Dale Steyn he has become a potent force with the new ball in the last year, taking 42 wickets at 24.07 from 10 Tests. South Africa’s spinners are not good enough to lead the attack and with Steyn still feeling his way back after injury the responsibility rests with Morkel to try and force a South Africa win.

Team news

As they look to wrap up the series, there’s no reason for South Africa to tinker too much with their line-up.South Africa (possible): 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Hashim Amla, 5 AB de Villiers, 6 Ashwell Prince, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Johan Botha, 9 Paul Harris, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Morne Morkel
After his rash shot in the first innings at Dubai, Pakistan may well drop batsman Umar Akmal and give a Test debut to Asad Shafiq. Also expected to make his belated debut is paceman Tanvir Ahmed, in place of the injured Riaz. The other, perhaps less likely, option would be to go with a five-man bowling attack in an effort to secure 20 wickets on a flat pitch.Pakistan (possible): 1 Taufeeq Umar, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Azhar Ali, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Adnan Akmal (wk), 8 Abdur Rehman, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Tanvir Ahmed, 11 Saeed Ajmal

Pitch and conditions

By the end of the first Test in Dubai the lifeless pitch befitted the desert setting perfectly. Conditions will be no less hostile for fast bowlers in Abu Dhabi. This will be the first Test to be played at the ground but it hosted this year’s English domestic season opener, with Durham thrashing MCC by 311 runs. Scott Borthwick’s raw legspin picked up eight wickets in that game which suggests there will be plenty of work for the slow bowlers.

Stats and trivia

India may have sealed the series 3-0, but stand-in captain Gautam Gambhir is keen to win the last two inconsequential matches against New Zealand to maintain India’s unbeaten home season.”Our target is to win all five games,” Gambhir said ahead of Tuesday’s match in Bangalore. “The team that plays better cricket for 100 overs will win. We are looking forward to performing well and hopefully we will keep the momentum going. We need to maintain the same intensity with which we played the first three matches.”Gambhir, along with Virat Kohli, has led India’s charge with the bat in the series but he was full of praise for his bowlers, who have kept the pressure on New Zealand’s batsmen. “The bowlers have done well in all the matches, even in conditions that varied,” he said. “Whether the flat tracks in Jaipur or the seaming wicket in Vadodara, they have done well for us. Bowlers deserve the maximum credit for us winning the series.”The series may be in the bag but Gambhir said he was not too keen on tinkering with the line-up just to give the reserves a game. “It is an international game and we need to field the best team,” he said. “It is not like that we have won the series and we will be taking things lightly. In the due course, if youngsters get an opportunity, I think they need to grab it. Right now, we would like to field the best available team for the match.”India’s dominant performances with the bat have denied the middle-order the chance to make an impression. Gambhir appeared mindful of this and hinted at promoting players in the batting order.”They have done it in the past and I think they should get enough opportunity to express themselves in international cricket,” Gambhir said. “For example, Ravindra Jadeja or Yusuf Pathan have not got enough opportunities with the bat. Pathan has only batted in the last 10 overs…I may just ensure that Yusuf gets to bat with the top-order so that he can play enough deliveries and use his destructive batsmanship to good effect. If the situation arises, we might promote him to number five.”Gambhir reiterated that his run of success in his first assignment as India captain was down to the level of experience of the players he had at his disposal. “I have got such quality in the side that I don’t need to do much. Bowlers like Zaheer, Ashish and Munaf have played enough international matches and Yuvraj has been of great help to me in the middle. If I need to take any suggestions, I know that there is someone to whom I can turn.”It’s not the captain alone who wins you a game,but the team effort is the main reason. I have enjoyed captaincy. It is a responsibility and to live to the best of my ability and hopefully I can continue in the next two games.”

Jhulan Goswami will lead India in the five-match one-day series against West Indies that begins in India later this month. The all-India selection committee announced a squad of 15 for the ODI series.The first ODI will be played in Mumbai on January 10. The five one-dayers will be followed by three Twenty20 games that will be played in Ahmedabad from 22-24 January. West Indies will also play a warm-up game against a Board President’s XI in Mumbai on January 8.India women squad: Jhulan Goswami (capt), Mithali Raj, Poonam Raut, Harmanpreet Kaur, Rumeli Dhar, Amita Sharma, Anagha Deshpande (wk), Soniya Dabir, Diana David, Gouhar Sultana, Reema Malhotra, Priyanka Roy, Samantha Lobatto (wk), Neha Tanvar, Snehal PradhanBoard President’s XI: Diana David (capt), Harmanpreet, Poonam Raut, Neha Tanvar, Snehal Pradhan, Veda Krishnamurthy, Ekta Bisht, Samantha Lobatto (wk), Lalita Sharma, Shubhalaxmi Sharma, Shikha Pande

Group A
A strong batting effort led by Shoaib Khan’s 60 gave State Bank of Pakistan an easy win against Hyderabad Hawks at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad. As many as six SBP batsmen got more than 20, as they reached an impressive total of 314, and Hyderabad fell 37 runs short in their chase. Shoaib Khan and captain Kashif Siddiq put together 73 for the first wicket, with Siddiq getting his 46 at a strike-rate of 143.75. Adnan Raees and Rameez Alam both made contributions in the middle order as Hyderabad’s bowlers all went for runs. Legspinner Rizwan Ahmed was the only one to go for less than 5 an over, taking 3 for 46 in his 10 overs. Hyderabad’s chase got off to a shaky start, with three wicket falling early, but half-centuries from Aqeel Anjum, Rizwan and Lal Kumar in the middle order gave them a chance. Left-arm spinner Nayyer Abbas took three wickets towards the end of Hyderabad’s innings as they were bowled out for 277.A century by opener Abid Ali led Lahore Lions to an easy victory over Quetta Bears at the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex in Karachi. Quetta’s opener Rashid Yousuf scored a century too, but they batted too slowly and only managed 217 in their 50 overs despite losing just five wickets. Lahore Lions needed 43.2 overs to chase the total, with Abid striking at 84.39 during his unbeaten 119, compared to Rashid’s strike-rate of 66.44 during his 101. Captain Mohammad Yousuf scored 61 off 55 balls as Lahore Lions lost just three wickets on their way to victory.

Group B
Khan Research Laboratories chased down Pakistan Television’s 203 in 46.3 overs to pick up a five-wicket win at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Pakistan TV lost three early wickets after being put in to bat, but Awais Zia held the innings together with his 72. Zia and Fayyaz Ahmed put together 97 for the fourth wicket, but they lost wickets steadily after that and ended up being all out in 43 overs. KRL’s chase was led by opener Saeed Anwar jnr’s 70 and Mohammad Idrees’s 58.Abbottabad Falcons beat Lahore Eagles by just three runs on the Duckworth-Lewis system in a rain-affected match at the Gohati Cricket Stadium in Swabi. In a reduced first innings, Abbottabad were bowled out in 31 overs for 162. Opener Sajjad Ali scored 41 and Khalid Usman got a quick 30 towards the end of the innings. Lahore Eagles were set a revised target of 124 to win in 25 overs. They got off to a solid start, reaching 75 for 1, but then lost four quick wickets and fell short of the target by four runs.

A beaming Cricket Ireland president, Basil McNamee, was among the dozensof delighted Irish fans awaiting their heroes at the team hotel inBangalore on Wednesday night, savouring “the best victory in Ireland’scricket history”. The stunning upset of England, their fiercest sportingrival, not only threw Group B wide open and injected excitement into along-drawn league phase that was expected to be boringly predictable, butalso brought into focus the ICC’s decision to shut out Associate nationsfrom the 2015 World Cup.”This win is just a dream come true,” McNamee told ESPNcricinfo. “It alsosends out a message that Associates can’t be taken for granted byeverybody, that we can surprise.” Ireland’s back-from-the-dead victorygives them a real chance of making it to the quarter-finals, with two winsfrom their remaining four matches likely to ensure their qualification.Ireland’s position was bleak after defeat in the opening game toBangladesh, and sliding to 111 for 5 against England. The resilience theyshowed in constructing the largest ever World Cup chase particularlypleased McNamee. “We were used to being defeated. So when victory comes, avictory against England, it’s absolutely wonderful,” he said. “Not onlythat, our boys played so well. It looked several times that we were goingto be second-best again but our boys dug in.”The travelling Ireland supporters had plenty of anxious moments in thetense chase, relief and joy finally taking over when John Mooney clipped aboundary to midwicket off the first ball of the final over. It was nearlytwo hours later that the Ireland team arrived at the hotel to a rousingreception from the already partying fans.William Porterfield and the rest of the side soaked in the applause andcheers from the fans who turned the lobby into a sea of green and white.”It was great to see so many of our supporters out here,” a composedPorterfield told ESPNcricinfo. “It was even better to give them somethingto cheer about.”Ireland broke a slew of records and charted new ground in their win -fastest World Cup century for Kevin O’Brien, biggest World Cup chase, andtheir first victory over England being the prominent ones – andPorterfield said the team hadn’t yet realised the enormity of theachievement. “We got to let this sink in still,” he said. “We’ve all grownup dreaming of moments like this in a World Cup, and we’re going to enjoythis time with our family and friends and have a couple of drinks.”It was the end of a day that he said “definitely eclipsed any Irishcricket has had” but even then he was not distracted from the task aheadfor Ireland. “We’ve got another four games left in the group, andhopefully we can give our fans something more to cheer about,” he said.”We’ve got to back this up in our next few performances and hopefullyqualify for the next stage.”

Shaun Tait is enjoying his role as Australia’s enforcer at the World Cup, and if his performance against Sri Lanka on Saturday is any indication, he’s not about to take a backward step. The match in Colombo was abandoned after 32.5 overs, but already Tait had exerted his impact in a fiery opening spell that included a confrontation with the opener Tillakaratne Dilshan.Tait bowled an impressive first over that featured some good outswingers and Dilshan edged the first ball wide of second slip for a boundary. Words were exchanged and when Dilshan pulled out of the next delivery with Tait nearly in his delivery stride, the bowler was visibly angry. But he had his revenge when Dilshan edged another outswinger to slip later in the over.”Aggression helps,” Tait said. “You can’t get too carried away with things, obviously, but short, sharp bursts are perfect to try and bowl with decent pace and get a bit of swing and then cool my jets again.”It was a big game, a [highly] anticipated game. Things kicked off there for a bit. I thought I’d try and get under his skin. He’s a dangerous player so I thought I’d attack his mind and try and get under his skin a bit; and vice-versa, he got under mine. If you start off like that and there’s a few words exchanged it’s nice to get a wicket. It worked out well for me in the end.”Heavy rain meant Tait was restricted to five overs on Saturday but the fact that he found outswing in addition to his usual movement in to the right-handers was a good sign. Tait’s opening spells are often sprinkled with wides but he didn’t bowl a single one on Saturday, the first time he had bowled in an ODI without offering a wide since his second match, back in February 2007.The return of Tait to Australia’s one-day team last year after he had appeared to have become a Twenty20 specialist has added some bite to the attack. Already in this tournament he has six wickets at 15.33 and after his successful 2007 World Cup, he now has 29 victims in World Cup cricket, more than men like Kapil Dev and Curtly Ambrose.With matches against Kenya and Canada coming up, he could fly up the list in the next week and a half. Six more wickets would push Tait into seventh place on the all-time World Cup wicket tally, ahead of Ian Botham, Shane Warne, Shaun Pollock and Imran Khan.”I don’t really think about stats that much, I’m not really a cricket geek,” Tait said. “But it’s a nice thing I suppose. This is probably going to be my last World Cup so I’m just going to enjoy it while I can. I’d be surprised [if I play in 2015], but you never know.”Australia have a long break before their next game, against Kenya on March 13 in Bangalore.

Should batsmen walk when they know they’re out? This World Cup has thrown up several incidents that have reignited the debate around walking, an issue that gained prominence in the 2003 World Cup semi-final between Australia and Sri Lanka where Adam Gilchrist walked back to the pavilion after an appeal for a catch against him had met with no response from the umpire.Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, and Gilchrist’s former team-mate, was in a similar situation against Pakistan on Saturday, where a caught-behind appeal against him had been turned down. Unlike Gilchrist, he stayed his ground. The decision was reviewed by Pakistan and he was adjudged out, but all along he knew he had nicked the ball.”There were no doubts about the nick, I knew I hit it, but as always I wait for the umpire to give me out. That’s the way I’ve always played the game,” Ponting said.The New Zealand-Sri Lanka game in Mumbai involved a controversial decision when what appeared to be clean, and a brilliantly taken, one-handed catch by Nathan McCullum off Mahela Jayawardene was ruled not out by the third umpire Amish Saheba as replays were possibly inconclusive. Jayawardene, once the catch was claimed, stayed his ground and ultimately got the decision in his favour.”If I felt it was a clean catch, I would have walked,” Jayawardene said. “It was a 50-50 thing and it was fair it went to the TV umpire.”However, “it depends upon the person,” Ross Taylor, the New Zealand captain for that game, said. “You look at Jacques Kallis. He asks the fielders if they caught it cleanly and he trusts the words of the fielders. You put it up to the batsman to make the decision and at the end of the day you just hope the technology is right and if the technology is not right, well then don’t use it.”In India’s game against West Indies in Chennai, Sachin Tendulkar, a century away from completing 100 international tons, walked when he inside-edged Ravi Rampaul to the wicketkeeper as Steve Davis, the umpire, shook his head. Darren Sammy, the West Indies captain, was effusive in praising Tendulkar’s decision to walk. “It shows the measure of the man,” Sammy said. “He is a true gentleman. After 17,000 runs, he could walk. That was brilliant on the part of Sachin.””It’s nice to see people walking but that doesn’t happen now I guess,” Waqar Younis, the Pakistan coach, said. He added that despite the availability of technology, batsmen could still take a chance with the replays. “There is a system in place now so that you can’t get away with it. I mean people still take chances and why not? Jayawardene took a chance and it went the other way.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
After 4-0-50-1 came 4-0-16-3•AFP

Cosmetic surgery? Moisturiser? Who cares? Shane Warne is still ripping them legbreaks. He is still getting vicious dip and drift. He is still producing key wickets – tonight those of Brad Hodge and the top-scorers Parthiv Patel and Ravindra Jadeja – to keep Rajasthan Royals alive in the tournament. On a pitch where the bounce varied from shoulder to shin-high off similar lengths, Kochi Tuskers Kerala threatened to convert their ordinary start into a decent total, but Warne came back to remove both Parthiv and Jadeja off successive deliveries to end the 48-run fourth-wicket partnership. The resultant target was sub-par even on the slightly two-paced pitch, and Rahul Dravid and Shane Watson ensured there were no hiccups in the chase, with a 71-run opening stand.Rajasthan were right at home in conditions that their two spinners and predominantly slower-ball bowlers enjoy. They also had the injured Johan Botha back, who removed Mahela Jayawardene with the first ball he bowled. It all started inauspiciously for Kochi, with Brendon McCullum missing out because of a bad shoulder. His replacement, VVS Laxman, ran himself out. Botha came on and turned one across Jayawardene, and with some help from the protruding thigh pad, the ball found a way into the stumps. Warne did Brad Hodge in with one that kept low. As a consequence of those big wickets, once Kochi’s run-rate fell below six in the fifth over, it never crossed that mark.Rajasthan’s international bowlers – Warne, Botha and Watson – went for 58 in 12 overs between them. Warne even found time to settle a personal score. He welcomed Ravindra Jadeja, who had tried to move away from his franchise last year and was banned in the process, with a bouncer at 110kph. Jadeja and Parthiv, though, kept their heads and put Kochi on their way to what could have been a defendable target. They picked their battles wisely, taking risks against the domestic bowlers, running hard, not looking for ambitious shots.At 88 for 3 after 15 overs, though, they decided they needed to push for more runs, especially considering it was the expected dew that had made Rajasthan field first on this pitch. Jadeja came down to Warne, who bowled the straighter one and got a thick edge along the ground. Two balls later Jadeja tried the slog sweep, but this one bounced at him, taking the top edge. Back-pedalling, Warne completed the catch around mid-on. Parthiv lost his head next ball, trying the reverse-sweep, and was stumped off a slider.After that Kochi lost their way with new batsman struggling to time the ball on the slow track. In all, seven wickets fell for 21 runs. The momentum continued into the second innings as Watson smashed the first ball to the cover boundary. Dravid took over from there, playing proper cricketing shots to counter the tricky pitch. He also hit the first six of the match shortly before running himself out, going for an ambitious second run. At 71 for 1, only formalities remained, but Watson pushed the rate up, ensuring the target was achieved with 5.5 overs to spare, giving Rajasthan’s net run-rate a boost.

As unease continues to surround the delayed USA Cricket Association elections, it has emerged that local elections in the New York region are turning out to be even more controversial.At the heart of the row is the fact that applicants for the various posts up for grabs were given a deadline of April 16 to submit their nominations, with the election itself set for April 24. But at the last minute the deadline was changed to April 22 with the elections postponed until April 26.In a surprising breaking of ranks, John Aaron, the secretary of USACA, wrote that Paul Da Silva, the chairman of the NY elections committee, changed the dates with the agreement of Selwyn Caesar, the regional director, and then added his own name to the list of candidates for the vacancy of regional representative. Both Da Silva and Caesar are familiar names to those who have followed the travails of USACA in recent years.Other members of the elections committee claim to have been unaware of the changes, and , according to Aaron, Da Silva then went to ground and refused to answer any questions about the situation. To add to the confusion, when the committee eventually sat, Da Silva withdrew his name from the list of candidates.Even Caesar appears to have been caught off guard. “I did not anticipate Paul entering the race, nor did he discuss same with me,” he told Aaron before the committee met. “If so, I would have given him a different direction prior to the application, and not to run. The inclusion of Paul DaSilva into the race, is a personal concern of mine and it bothers me.”But Caesar went on to say he had no issues with the deadline extension because no league presidents had contacted him to complain. However, Aaron cited several of them who expressed their unease with the way events had turned.USACA has stayed detached from the process – it has enough issues of its own – but it has also emerged it has embargoed results from elections in the North Californian region, leading to internal divides between its president, Gladstone Dainty, and other USACA board members. The fallout from this is that USACA is unable to meet as Dainty cannot find enough people to form a quorum.

ScorecardMatthew Dunn wrote his name into Surrey history when he set up a seven-wicket victory over Derbyshire in the County Championship match at Derby. The 19-year-old became the first Surrey bowler for 56 years to take five wickets in an innings on his Championship debut to send Derbyshire crashing to 99 all out.Dunn took 5 for 56 and demolished the home side in tandem with Tim Linley, who claimed 4 for 26 to finish with match figures of 10 for 107. Surrey were left chasing 142 and after skipper Rory Hamilton-Brown and Jason Roy smashed 62 from six overs, they cruised home shortly before 3pm with more than 48 overs left in the day.The game had been in the balance at the start of day four with Derbyshire 77 runs ahead with six wickets intact but Dunn and Linley settled the contest in the first hour. Dunn, who only came into the game on the third day when Jade Dernbach was called up by England, bowled with hostility to end Derbyshire’s hopes of setting a challenging target.He had Wes Durston snared at short leg for 17 and Greg Smith top edged a hook at the teenager three balls after he had been dropped at first slip. The home side’s hopes now rested with skipper Luke Sutton and Dan Redfern but they lasted only three overs before Linley had Redfern taken low at second slip as he prodded forward.When Dunn had Jon Clare caught behind for a duck groping forward, he became the first bowler to bag five wickets on championship debut for Surrey since Harry Kelleher took 5 for 23 against Worcestershire at the Oval in 1955. Dunn took his sweater but there was no respite for Derbyshire as Chris Jordan had Sutton caught behind driving for 12.When Steffan Jones gave Steve Davies another catch three balls into the 31st over, Linley had become the first Surrey bowler to take 10 wickets in a match since James Ormond against Warwickshire at the Oval in 2002. Derbyshire had lost their last six wickets for 59 and any chance they had of defending a small total disappeared in a flurry of boundaries.Hamilton-Brown and Roy got in some practice ahead of this week’s Friends Life t20 by rattling along at 10 an over before Smith removed them both in quick succession before lunch.But at the interval, Surrey needed only 67 more runs and after Zander de Bruyn fell to Chesney Hughes’s left-arm spin, Tom Maynard completed victory in style by launching Wes Durston over long on for six.The nature of Surrey’s win, which earned them a 23-point haul, was made all the more impressive by the fact play on Bank Holiday Monday was lost to rain but Derbyshire played some poor cricket after a strong opening day.