RSBL Clarke fears for team if pay dispute drags

Australia's former captain Michael Clarke has implored Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers Association to agree to a 12-month rollover of the most recent MoU and negotiate the game's next collective agreement behind closed doors, before further damage is done to the game and a national team in transition.

The last MoU, signed when Clarke was captain in 2012, was completed 12 months later than originally planned due to a pair of intractable issues - potential privatisation of Big Bash League clubs and a proposed redevelopment of the WACA Ground - with a one-year interim agreement signed in the meantime. Clarke, who said he "hated" coming home to see coverage of the pay dispute take precedence over the concurrent Women's World Cup, said both parties had to consider the game's wider interests.

Specifically, he pointed to a developing Australian side that had lost to South Africa at home, India away and been knocked out of the recent ICC Champions Trophy as a key reason to stop the players from being placed in the middle of the dispute. With a home Ashes summer looming, Clarke feared for the prospects of the team captained by Steven Smith unless they were able to prepare adequately.

"I think what needs to happen is keep the current MoU for the next 12 months, allow the players to get back to what we do best, train, prepare, get some important cricket in," Clarke said at Channel Nine's Ashes launch in Sydney. "The women are playing a World Cup now, massive tournament. The Aussie [men] have got Bangladesh tour, India tour and then the Ashes. Allow the players to concentrate wholly and solely on that. The ACA and CA, please go behind closed doors and do this in private.

"The two MoUs I was around for got extended [2011 to 2012], weren't done by June 30, they got extended so I don't see any difference here. Keep the same MoU for 12 months to allow negotiations to continue. My main concern is players want to play for their country, so let's allow them to play while this stuff is getting sorted out in the background."

More than 230 players were left out of contract when the most recent MoU expired on July 1, with neither side countenancing a rollover of the deal amid a relationship that has grown increasingly toxic. The Australia A squad is presently at a training camp in Brisbane but all players have expressed their strong objection to undertaking any international commitments in the absence of working MoU, whether under contract to their states or not.

"I don't want the Australian players to be underprepared because they've been focused on something else," Clarke said. "So give them 12 months let the players concentrate on the cricket. I don't want to see any cricket missed, because I know how important preparation is as a player. We lost to South Africa in Australia, we got knocked out of the Champions Trophy, we lost to India in India. As a playing group we need to make sure we're 100% focused on our preparation, because the cricket we've got coming up is tough.

"I hate the fact I've arrived home from England and this is taking media coverage over [cricket]. The women are on fire in England in the World Cup and not even getting a look-in, because the MoU's taking up those pages. I think it's bad for the game. Everyone will say 'Michael you take the players' side' because I feel like I was playing yesterday and know those guys so well. I do want what's best for the game."

Given the bitterness of the dispute, Clarke said he was concerned about the prospect of political machinations being behind the two parties' drastically opposed positions. He was also worried about how much either side of the debate had considered how it would be possible for the two bodies to work together after a new MOU is signed, given how much trust has been lost.

"The international players, men and women, are the face of our game, they need to be looked after," he said. "Young girls and boys grow up, watching their idols on television and that's why they want to play for Australia, so the players definitely need to be looked after. But in the same breath I've always believed it's important that our game continue to go [up]. Every boy and girl in this country has the opportunity to play what I think is the best game in the world.

"If they're our two greatest priorities, then to me this will sort itself out - there will be a compromise. If there's other priorities in front of those two things, that makes me nervous. It's important both parties remember ... you are going to have to work together very closely. I think both parties need to keep that in the front of their minds."

A rollover of the current MoU has two major roadblocks. The first is that CA's strident opposition to revenue sharing would mean prolonging the previous arrangement would be seen as a backdown by the board in the face of player power. The second is that the 2012 MoU did not include women, who have been direct employees of CA but are now set to be part of the next MoU shared jointly with the male players.

The national talent manager and selector Greg Chappell and the Australia A coach Jason Gillespie also spoke about the dispute on Monday in Brisbane, and did their best to play down its significance. "I'm expecting we'll see a resolution, a positive resolution, in not too distant a future and we'll get back to focusing on the cricket," Chappell said. "These things go on from time to time. I'm sure you guys from the media love the conversation but I don't think it's quite as big a story from inside.

"I understand both sides of the argument. I expect a resolution and a positive resolution fairly soon. There are very good people on both sides of the table and they're working hard towards getting a satisfactory resolution. I expect a positive resolution and everyone to get on with cricket. So once that happens, I think most of this will fall by the wayside. This is a good, healthy debate which you need to have from time to time and positive things will come out of it."

Gillespie, an emerging coach but also a player who has benefited from the revenue sharing model that the ACA is so eager to keep in place, said he was intent on ensuring the Australia A squad trained this week as though the tour would be going ahead without a hitch.

"It's an interesting situation, isn't it? I'm not involved in any of these negotiations whatever," he said. "So as a coach, [I've looked to ensure] the players looked prepared as well as we can. We have to have the attitude as if we're going to be travelling. I've spoken with other coaches of Cricket Australia, our focus is: let's prepare as well as we can to be on tour let's see what happens.

"I'd like to think the two sides get together and come to a resolution and we can get on that plane and go to South Africa. I think it will be a wonderful opportunity for the players, you know, to do well. Players would love to play cricket. Everyone wants to represent their country. The two sides get talking... what we're hearing is they'll be talking this week, you know and the players have shown good faith in coming up to train and prepare as if we're going on the tour. So we just have to wait that out."

Women’s Cricket World Cup: England v Pakistan live Cricket RSBL

Pakistan have chosen to bowl. England suffered a loss to India in their opening game of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 while Pakistan failed to get over South Africa in a tense match. Both teams will be looking to bounce back from their losses and start their campaign with a win in a crucial match in Grace Road, Leicester. Get full cricket score of England vs Pakistan, ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 game here.

SQUADS

England: Heather Knight (capt), Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Georgia Elwiss, Jenny Gunn, Alex Hartley, Danielle Hazell, Beth Langston, Laura Marsh, Anya Shrubsole, Nat Sciver, Sarah Taylor, Fran Wilson, Lauren Winfield, Danni Wyatt.

Pakistan: Sana Mir (capt), Ayesha Zafar, Bibi Nahida, Marina Iqbal, Bismah Maroof, Javeria Khan, Syeda Nain Fatima Abidi, Sidra Nawaz (wk), Kainat Imtiaz, Asmavia Iqbal Khokhar, Diana Baig, Waheeda Akhtar, Nashra Sandhu, Ghulam Fatima, Sadia Yousuf

BCCI seeks clarity from RSBL over outstation players

The BCCI has sought clarity from the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) over the participation of outstation players, including Suresh Raina and Yusuf Pathan, in the upcoming season of the Tamil Nadu Premier League starting July 22.

The board's letter to the TNCA on Friday (June 16) came after 88 players, including international and IPL players like Sanju Samson, Manoj Tiwary, Yuzvendra Chahal, Pawan Negi, Piyush Chawla and Ashok Dinda registered for the TNPL draft to be held in Chennai on June 23.

The bone of contention is if the registered players conform with the rules and regulations of the board. A TNCA official said all the players registered for the draft, including those from other states, were registered with TNCA's league teams. "It was the outstation players playing in the TNCA league who requested us to include them in the TNPL," the official told ESPNcricinfo.

A TNPL official said the board referred to a decision made in a working committee meeting last year that said that "only players registered with the TNCA" should take part in the tournament. The TNCA is likely to respond to the BCCI's letter in the next "two or three days."

"While having these outstation players participate in the league, are they within the ambit of the TNCA for the period of time they are participating in the league - that's the question the BCCI is asking," he said.

The issue of involving outstation players in the TNPL had come up during the inaugural edition of the tournament last year too. While the BCCI didn't allow outstation players to be involved then, the TNPL is confident of having a stronger case this time around.

The TNCA was also not perturbed by the possibility of the draft being postponed. "Even if there is a delay [because of the communication with the BCCI], we can always have it at a later date," the TNCA official said.

Livingstone, Crane in England T20 squad RSBL

England have named five uncapped players in their 16-man squad for three T20s against South Africa at the end of June. Liam Livingstone and Mason Crane have won first call-ups, while Dawid Malan, Tom Curran and Craig Overton are also included ahead of potential debuts.

Joe Root is among several white-ball regulars rested for the T20 series, meaning he can play Championship cricket for Yorkshire ahead of his first Test as England captain in July. Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Jake Ball and Ben Stokes have also been released to their counties, while Tymal Mills is missing through injury.

Mark Wood will only be available for the first match of the South Africa series, with his workload likely to be managed by England after a starring role in their run to the Champions Trophy semi-finals. For the final two matches, his place will be taken by Somerset's Craig Overton - who was previously called into the ODI squad in 2015, alongside his twin Jamie, but did not play. Jonny Bairstow is included for the first two matches before returning to Yorkshire.

The inaugural round of day-night Championship matches on June 26-29 will see the involvement of Root, Moeen, Rashid, Ball, Stokes, Wood and Bairstow, as well as former England captain Alastair Cook and fast bowlers Stuart Broad and James Anderson, who is expected to have recovered from a groin injury.

Livingstone had been tipped for inclusion in England's one-day squad at the start of the summer and has been in impressive form for Lancashire and the Lions. "I found out yesterday and it's obviously a very nice moment for me and I'm really looking forward to next week," he said.

"I've really enjoyed my time with the Lions whenever I've been involved. You're given a lot of freedom and a free role to play. It's a great environment to be involved in and especially with the way I play my cricket, it's very exciting ... I've always tried to not change how I am or the way I play so I'll just go in and try to do what I've done for Lancashire.

"From the very first day of hitting a cricket ball, it's what you want to do and it's what you work hard to achieve. A lot of hard work has gone into it, so if I was to make my debut it would be a very special moment for me and my family."

Crane, the Hampshire legspinner, made headlines when selected as an overseas player for New South Wales during the winter and was among the leading wicket-takers in the group stage of the Royal London Cup with 14 at 27.42. Malan, 29, is a former captain of Middlesex's T20 side and was a non-playing member of the squad for the one-off T20 against Sri Lanka last year, while Surrey seamer Curran won his maiden England call-up to the ODI squad on the tour of the Caribbean in March.

"The T20 series against South Africa presents us with an opportunity to incorporate several players who have come through the talent pathway into the senior group," James Whitaker, England's national selector, said. "The squad has an exciting blend of youth and experience and we are looking forward to a competitive series against strong opposition.

"With five uncapped players selected, there is undoubted talent coming through the system and we are excited to see some of these players showcase their skills at the highest level.

"Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Tom Curran and Craig Overton have impressed for the England Lions over the past 12 months and have transferred their skills across all formats, in particular with their respective counties.

"Young legspinner Mason Crane is another player with great promise and he has made great strides with Hampshire this season and has added to his experience with stints in the North-South Series earlier in the season, where he took crucial wickets and even earned selection for New South Wales in Australia's premier domestic competition the Sheffield Shield."

England T20 squad: Eoin Morgan (capt), Jonny Bairstow (first two matches of series), Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Mason Crane, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton (last two matches of series), Liam Plunkett, Jason Roy, David Willey, Mark Wood (first match of series)

RSBL ED Players offer flexibility on revenue share

Australia's players are willing to compromise on a major financial sticking point that lies at the heart of their ongoing pay dispute with Cricket Australia (CA). As the board's nine directors met in Brisbane on Thursday, the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) opened up a potential path for more productive talks, by indicating they are open to a redefinition - and reduction - of the revenue they are entitled to share in.

That led to a reciprocal response from CA, who have expressed their own willingness to be "flexible". In a negotiation period that began last November and has been the most divisive and bitter in 20 years, this may be a significant step forward ahead of the June 30 deadline by which the parties must find agreement.

CA has repeatedly claimed that the ACA is seeking a share of all revenue in the game for professional players, including from such areas as sponsorships of grassroots competitions and junior registrations. The claim was made explicit in a briefing note distributed to media last week, which said:

"A proportion of revenue from the sponsorship of grassroots cricket programs has to be distributed to elite player payments. Under the ACA's new proposal, a guaranteed 22.5% of all CA and the states and associations revenue means the players would receive 22.5 cents of every dollar spent by parents on a junior registration fee."

However, the ACA have now confirmed that the players' flexibility over the next pay agreement extends to being "open to a discussion of what is in and what is out of shared revenue streams." The position was conveyed in a letter to the CA chairman David Peever last month.

A narrower definition of agreed revenue may be the first building block of a deal between the parties. It would remove the impending risk of a major industrial relations battle, in a year when Australia are scheduled to play a home Ashes series after tours of South Africa, Bangladesh and India.

"The players have always had and still do have flexibility," the ACA president Greg Dyer said, striking a far less confrontational tone. "There is room to move to modernise this partnership. The ACA can discuss new models of revenue sharing, and how we can collectively manage risk."

A CA spokesman said the board was also prepared to be flexible. "CA believes there is still time to conclude an MoU by 30 June and reiterates its preparedness to be flexible in negotiations," he said. "CA urges the ACA to spend more time at the negotiating table and less time writing press releases in order to begin making progress towards a resolution."

Less than a month remains before the expiry of the current MoU, with CA threatening that all players out of contract will be unemployed should the ACA not agree to discuss its current pay offer. A key plank of the offer is the replacement of revenue sharing with fixed wages for players, with only international players entitled to any of the game's "blue sky" above that, while state player contract levels are effectively frozen over the next five years.

CA's tactics have included efforts to put space between the ACA and the players, including the team performance manager Pat Howard's attempts to deal directly with all contracted players by email. Howard recently offered multi-year deals to the top five CA-contracted players - Steven Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins - under the board's new terms, an approach that was quickly rebuffed.

The allrounder Moises Henriques, who is also part of the ACA executive, said the association was working closely with the players, and that they were willing to be flexible in the interests of reaching an agreement with CA.

"We're a part of the decision-making process, in strategy and how we play it ... and the ACA are just a representative agent of the players," he said. "Really, the decisions get made by the players and the ACA acts on their behalf.

"It's not like we [the ACA] are going to do anything the players don't want to do. Coming to an agreement would be the best way forward. What we've got to worry about is that agreement being made as quickly as possible. Maybe CA may have to give a little bit, we may have to give a little bit, who knows. But the players know we need to get to an agreement. Guys want to play international cricket, guys want to play state cricket. The players want it sorted and I am sure CA do as well."

RSBL Simi Singh earns Ireland call-up as McBrine dropped

Ireland have included uncapped allrounder Simi Singh in their squad for the triangular series involving Bangladesh and New Zealand.

He replaces offspinner Andy McBrine as the only change from the squad that was involved in the two one-day internationals against England.

Singh, 30, has been rewarded for impressive domestic and Ireland A form at the start of the season. He scored two half-centuries, including a 97, and took seven wickets for Ireland A on their recent tour of England and followed that with an unbeaten 70 for Leinster Lightning in the Inter-Provincial Limited-Over Cup.

"I've been impressed by his quality with both bat and ball," Ireland coach John Bracewell said. "He is an intelligent cricketer who can adapt to all situations depending on the match situation. He strikes the ball very cleanly, has good technique, and scores all round the wicket.

"His bowling is strong with subtle variations, mixing up his pace and he extracts good turn and bounce from the pitch."

Singh gained Ireland citizenship last month and spoke of the "honour" of being given the chance to represent the country.

"I'm absolutely delighted with my call up and looking forward to the matches," he said. "I came to Ireland as a teenager with a hope of wearing the green jersey one day and feel fortunate to have that honour now. I appreciate the support of my family and friends and also my club YMCA. This wonderful opportunity wouldn't have been possible without them.

"There's no doubt that I've been helped by strong performances for Leinster Lightning this past few seasons, and this campaign has started well with runs and wickets for Ireland Wolves. I'm so proud and grateful to get this opportunity - it'll be a great honour if I make my debut during this series."
Bracewell assured McBrine, who has played 22 ODIs, that he remained part of Ireland's plans for the future but felt he would benefit from domestic and Ireland A action.


"Andy is still very much in the selectors' minds, but we felt that it would be beneficial for him to play for the Wolves this week in the warm-up games against the Bangladesh and New Zealand XIs. He's a strong character and hopefully he'll respond positively with good displays this week."

Non-wide in Mumbai's final over stirs Rohit's emotions RSBL

Mumbai Indians needed 17 runs off the last over against Rising Pune Supergiant to complete their seventh straight win in IPL 2017, but their pursuit received a jolt on the first ball as Hardik Pandya holed out to deep extra cover. Their captain Rohit Sharma, though, had piloted Mumbai's chase up to that point and was intent on seeing things through. With one almighty swing at Jaydev Unadkat's slower ball, he brought the equation down to 11 off four balls.

Unadkat's next delivery was going to be another slower one, but having seen Rohit shuffle across the stumps, he pushed it wide. Rohit, on the other hand, realised that the ball was veering away from the guideline for wide deliveries, and left it alone. However, when umpire S Ravi didn't call it a wide, Rohit shrugged in disbelief, and remonstrated with Ravi even as the square-leg umpire A Nand Kishore intervened. With 11 needed off three balls now, Rohit miscued a slog and was caught-and-bowled for a 39-ball 58, and eventually Mumbai went down by three runs.

In the post-match media interaction, Harbhajan Singh and Ajinkya Rahane, representing Mumbai and Rising Pune respectively, had contrasting views on the legality of the contentious delivery. Neither player, however, felt Rohit's animated conversation with the umpire was a serious transgression.

"I think it was the right call," Rahane said. "Because, as a batsman when you move [across the stumps], that area outside [the off stump] goes to the bowler. Rohit's behaviour at that point was natural. As a captain, as a player, when the game is so close, it comes automatically; nobody does it deliberately. I don't think there was anything wrong with his behaviour, but the umpire's call was right too, for us.

"It happens on the field and remains on the field. In this format, in close games, this will happen in the future as well. You should respect the umpire's decision as well as whatever Rohit did that was completely natural."

Harbhajan also said Rohit was only checking with the umpire what the rule was. "He didn't shout at the umpire or ask why it wasn't given a wide," he said. "He just wanted to know where he should stand for the wide to be called and he was told that the amount he moves is the amount of margin the bowler gets."

While Harbhajan felt the ball was fairly wide off the guideline, he said the umpire's decision had to be respected. "I don't really know if it was actually a wide ball or not," he said. "I feel if both the legs of the batsmen move across the stumps, then the bowler should get the [benefit of the] margin. But, if you see, only one leg of the batsman went across, so I feel it should have been a wide. But, in the end, whatever is the umpire's decision we have to move on with it."

Harbhajan, though, didn't agree with the suggestion that the argument over the wide had led to a loss of momentum for Mumbai.

"I don't think momentum was lost, because Rohit was hitting the ball nicely, but [it was] unfortunate that he ended up hitting the [next] ball straight up in the air," he said. "Cricket is a game where anything is possible. Just before that he hit a big six and a similar sort of ball went up and he got out. At that point all you need to do as a batsman was see the ball and hit the ball, and Rohit was batting on 50-odd."

While Harbhajan admitted that the penultimate over, where Ben Stokes conceded only seven runs, was crucial, Rahane revealed the thinking behind giving Unadkat the ball in the last over. He said Unadkat was preferred to Shardul Thakur because of his relatively slower pace.

"I think after the 19th over when [Steven] Smith, Mahi bhai [MS Dhoni] and I were discussing, we talked about bowling Shardul or Jaydev," Rahane said. "But we opted to bowl Jaydev because Shardul has quite a bit of pace, and we wanted to take the pace off and not give the batsmen any in the last over.

"JD's pace comparatively is slower than Shardul and his slower ball could be more effective as the wicket was slow. We didn't want to give them any pace because Rohit was already set. One side [of the ground] was very short, so that was the plan for the last over."

The dismissals of Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya were also a result of smart thinking and understanding of angles. Rising Pune had three fielders in the V for Pollard - a long-off almost right behind the bowler in addition to a conventional long-off and long-on - and as many fielders on the bigger off-side boundary for Pandya.

"We knew Pollard doesn't play the lap sweep, so we wanted to keep two fielders straight - one right on the sightscreen and one slightly wider," Rahane said. "That worked for us. For Hardik, he likes to play over covers and the boundaries were bigger too, so that's why we brought square leg in and had three fielders on the line on the offside."

Kieran Powell recalled to West Indies Test squad RSBL

Leeward Islands batsman Kieran Powell is in line to play his first Test in nearly three years after being recalled to the West Indies squad for the first match against Pakistan at Sabina Park beginning on Friday. The uncapped batting pair of Vishaul Singh and Shimron Hetmyer have also joined Powell in the 13-man squad, after all three batsmen made runs in the warm-up game against Pakistan.

Marlon Samuels, Darren Bravo and Leon Johnson were dropped from the squad that toured the UAE for three Tests against Pakistan in October.

West Indies chairman of selectors Courtney Browne said, "We have a young Test squad, which was admirably led by Jason Holder during the last series and, though there are some noticeable absentees, we believe that the players will give a good account of themselves especially in their own backyard."

Powell, 27, last played Test cricket in 2014 and briefly quit cricket altogether not long afterward in a failed attempt to break into baseball in America. He returned to the West Indies domestic scene last summer in the Caribbean Premier League with St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, and then finished as the leading scorer in the Regional Super50 competition in February, with 513 runs in eight innings at 64.12. He earned a recall to the West Indies ODI team for the three-match series against England in March and was subsequently picked for the ODI series against Pakistan earlier this month.

Powell's form in the domestic four-day competition is not as solid as his one-day record this season, with 342 runs at 28.50 and just two half-centuries. However, he produced scores of 58 and 84 not out for the West Indies President's XI in the drawn three-day tour match against Pakistan that concluded on Tuesday.

"We are happy to be able to give a recall to Kieran Powell for one of the opening slots, although he did not have the best regional first-class season," Browne said. "He showed for the President's XI that his experience can add value to our team.

"West Indies cricket has invested heavily in him over the years and with the void of openers within the Caribbean, the panel felt a need to fast track him through our A-Team programme last year with a view in helping him to bridge that gap."

Singh, a 28-year old right-hand batsman from Guyana, similarly had an underwhelming season in the domestic four-day competition, with 317 runs at 26.41 and a best of 71. However, he was the third-highest scorer in the 2015-16 season with 712 runs at 50.85 and three centuries. Like Powell, he also produced a strong performance for the West Indies President's XI, making an unbeaten 135 in the first innings.

"Vishal has been one of the more consistent batsmen in the Regional 4-Day Tournament over the last few seasons and had a very good A-Team series against Sri Lanka last year," Browne said. "His hundred over the weekend for the WICB President's XI against the Pakistanis helped to fortify in our minds that he has a place in our squad. He gives us the option of a solid middle-order batsman around whom our more free-scoring players can bat."

Hetmyer, 20, captained West Indies to the 2016 Under-19 World Cup title in Bangladesh last year and had a promising campaign for Guyana in the four-day competition, scoring 496 runs at 38.15 including four half-centuries in 15 innings. He has just one first-class hundred in his 17-match career, but it came against Jamaica in the last match of the 2015-16 season to clinch the four-day title for Guyana.

The ascension of Hetmyer coincides with the continuing impasse between Bravo and the WICB. Bravo was the second-highest scorer for West Indies in the Test series against Pakistan in October, but had his match contract cancelled for criticising WICB President Dave Cameron on Twitter in November. Browne said in January that Bravo would not be considered for selection again until the dispute was settled.

Also dropped from the previous Test squad against Pakistan were Carlos Brathwaite and Jomel Warrican. Though he was part of the Test squad in the UAE, Brathwaite didn't play any of the matches and his last appearance in the format was against India in Antigua last July. He is currently at the IPL and West Indies coach Stuart Law said he had been left out of the ODI squad ahead of the Test series to work on improving his fitness and bowling.

WI squad for first Test
Jason Holder (capt), Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Kraigg Brathwaite, Roston Chase, Miguel Cummins, Shane Dowrich (wk), Shannon Gabriel, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Kieran Powell, Vishaul Singh

In: Shimron Hetmyer, Kieran Powell, Vishaul Singh

Out: Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Leon Johnson, Marlon Samuels, Jomel Warrican

West Indies look to end 26-year RSBL

Big Picture

Pakistan ended a run of four consecutive ODI defeats with a thumping win in the second ODI against the West Indies. In doing so, they ensured that whatever the outcome of the deciding contest, they will remain in the eighth and final automatic qualification place for the 2019 World Cup at the end of the series. However, this alone is unlikely to satisfy their legion of fans, many of whom had been expecting the series against a significantly weakened West Indies side to be a cakewalk. Instead, it has become a bit of a dogfight, and anything less than a win for Pakistan to protect a proud 26-year unbeaten series record against their hosts would be seen as a failure.

West Indies will bemoan a failure to keep wickets in hand to give themselves a chance of chasing down Pakistan in the second ODI. Much of that was down to a tactically odd - poor, frankly - decision to take the attack to Pakistan's bowlers right from the start, and continue to do so in spite of losing wickets in clumps. As such, they were well out of the game before their innings reached the halfway mark, and meant that Ashley Nurse and Jason Holder's rearguards weren't going to do any more than restore respectability in defeat. The good news for them is they have one more chance to seal a series win, and because of that, the decider can safely be billed as the biggest limited-overs home game they will play this season.

Form guide

West Indies LWLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan WLLLL

In the spotlight

Evin Lewis has been riding the wave of his 51-ball 91 in the third T20I, but he has endured a frustrating lack of consistency around that knock. He scored 29 runs in three ODIs against England earlier this season, and, aside from that 91, has only managed one international score above 15 this year - 47 in the first ODI against Pakistan. The 25-year old's talent is obvious to anyone who remembers his demolition of the Indian bowling attack in Florida last year, where a 49-ball century set his side up for a one-run win. He could be due another explosive innings, and with the series on the line, the third ODI wouldn't be a bad time to get going.

Sarfraz Ahmed got a fair bit of attention during the second ODI, despite a fairly quiet game both with bat and behind the gloves. What caught people's eyes (or more accurately, ears) were his bellowed instructions to fielders almost every single ball, and his hands-on approach with the bowlers, particularly Shadab Khan. Despite Pakistan looking set for a comfortable win, the skipper looked unhappy for most of the West Indies' innings, and much of the body language appeared, at least to an outsider, to be damagingly negative. The third match is a pressure game, and there will be plenty of focus on the newly appointed ODI captain to get the best out of his side, and whether he changes his approach in order to do that. It hasn't helped that the 29-year old has had a quiet period with the bat that has carried on from the PSL, and though it has slipped under the radar so far, it is unlikely to remain that way for too much longer.

Team news

Left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul has been added to the squad as cover for fast bowler Shannon Gabriel, who was seen clutching his hamstring during the second ODI and left the field after finishing his ten overs. Gabriel is scheduled to undergo treatment and will have a fitness test on the morning of the match. The hosts, however, do have a like-for-like replacement in Miguel Cummins, who may make his first appearance this series.

West Indies (possible): 1 Evin Lewis, 2 Chadwick Walton, 3 Kieran Powell, 4 Shai Hope (wk), 5 Jason Mohammad, 6 Jonathan Carter, 7 Jason Holder (capt), 8 Ashley Nurse, 9 Devendra Bishoo, 10 Alzarri Joseph, 11 Miguel Cummins/Shannon Gabriel

Pakistan may decide to stick with the side that levelled the series, especially since there were no glaringly poor performances. Junaid Khan, who came in for Wahab, bowled better than his figures suggested, and is expected to keep his place.

Pakistan (possible): 1 Ahmed Shehzad, 2 Kamran Akmal, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Hafeez, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Sarfraz Ahmed (capt & wk), 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Shadab Khan, 9 Mohammad Amir, 10 Hasan Ali, 11 Junaid Khan

Pitch and conditions

All bets are off with the Providence Stadium's new pitch, which yielded two starkly different contests in just three days. However, there are showers expected for parts of the afternoon, and a curtailed contest is possible.

Stats and trivia

Pakistan's record in bilateral series deciders since 2003 has been quite poor. In 14 series-deciding final matches, they have lost 12 and won just 2 - both against Zimbabwe.
Babar Azam has the most runs (1306) after 25 ODIs by any batsman. The previous highest was by Jonathan Trott, who scored 1280 runs in the same period.

RSBL Watson to stand in as Royal Challengers captain

Australian allrounder Shane Watson has been named interim captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The franchise has had to dig deep into its contingency plans over the past week. When it was learnt that the shoulder injury that Virat Kohli sustained would rule him out of the initial stages of the tournament, coach Daniel Vettori had said AB de Villiers would captain the team.

But de Villiers was ruled out of the opening game of the season, against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 5. He had missed playing the final of the Momentum Cup, South Africa's premier one-day tournament, on Friday with a back injury, according to a tweet from CSA. And though he has joined the franchise in Bengaluru and was among the players who trained at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday, Vettori thought it was best to give de Villiers more time to recuperate.

"He still has some minor discomfort and we felt that couple of days off would be best before we have him back in action," Vettori said. "We hope to see him on the field in good form by 8th April match against Delhi Daredevils."

Meanwhile, 19-year old batsman Sarfaraz Khan sustained an injury to his leg at practice on Monday and had to be stretchered off the field. He is likely to miss IPL 2017.

Royal Challengers face defending champions Sunrisers in a rematch of last season's final on Wednesday. The team's chairman Amrit Thomas has said Kohli will be travelling with the team as a mentor.

'Pujara is priceless for the team' - Kohli RSBL

Following the drawn Test in Ranchi, Virat Kohli has hailed Cheteshwar Pujara and Wriddhiman Saha for overcoming a difficult situation and taking India to a position from where they could have won the match. When Saha joined Pujara in the post-tea session on day three, India were 328 for 6 in reply to Australia's 451. They went on to add 199, and India eventually declared with a 152-run first-innings lead.

Australia were four down and still trailing by 89 runs at one stage on the fifth day, with more than two sessions of play still left, but India couldn't quite push on and win, with Peter Handscomb and Shaun Marsh batting out 62 overs while adding 124 for the fifth wicket. Kohli said he wasn't surprised Australia, the world's second-ranked Test side, fought the way they did.

"Everyone has to take responsibility equally on the field and our players want to do that," Kohli said in his post-match press conference. "Conditions were such in the first innings that it wasn't easy for the bowlers, the pitch was very good. It played very well in the first two innings. In the second innings, [Australia] batted well so it ended in a draw.

"But where we were in the first innings, 450 [451] was the [Australian] score and we were 320-odd for 6. From there to make 600 was a very difficult task. We put ourselves in a position to win, so we feel it was a very good effort from us to get into a winning situation.

"But then again, if you are playing against the No. 2 side, you will expect that they will come out and fight, not just roll over. Everyone has his point of view. We will look at our positives and we are happy with where we brought the game to after just one innings. We didn't need to bat in the second innings. But they had to play for a draw. Like I said, they will look at their positives, we will look at our positives and move forward. There is still one match to go, both [teams] will give it their best."

Kohli said the bowlers had struggled to extract help from the pitch when the ball grew older and softer, but did not want to stress the point and take credit away from Handscomb and Marsh.

"They batted very well," Kohli said. "Four down by lunch, and after that they didn't lose a wicket in the entire session. So credit to them, when someone plays well, you have to give them credit, we understand that.

"But we are also very happy with our efforts. [Ravindra] Jadeja's bowling was outstanding in this match. All the bowlers bowled very well but Jadeja in my opinion was standout. If you look at his economy, on this pitch it was high-class bowling and showed why he is the joint No. 1 bowler [in the ICC rankings for Test bowlers] alongside Ashwin.

Pujara won the Player-of-the-Match award for his innings of 202 off 525 balls, which was the longest ever by an Indian batsman (in Tests with ball data available). That knock took Pujara's tally for 2016-17 to 1259 runs at an average of 66.26.

"You know, sometimes I really feel bad for him," Kohli said, when asked about Pujara's contributions through the season. "People don't understand his importance so much in this team and what a valuable player he is for us. He is the most composed player we have in the team, he is willing to grind for his runs, he doesn't mind batting under pressure, he likes to take a challenge of batting.

"So someone like that is priceless to have in the team. When the pressure situation comes up, he is someone who will put his hand up and play long for the team and hold up one end, which I think is a great quality in him. This season he has been outstanding. I don't know the number of runs he has scored but he has contributed throughout. He has not been spoken about much or has been in the focus too much but he deserves much more than that. People need to stand up and take notice of what he has done this season, he has been outstanding with the bat and hopefully he will continue that in the last Test."

Saha, Kohli said, was similarly underappreciated. "See, Saha's knock again was brilliant for us. He's always stood up when the team needs him and this game was no different. His partnership with Pujara was the reason we had a go at winning this Test. A lot of credit goes to him also.

"Again, [he has] not been mentioned too much but he deserves a lot of credit. He's one guy who is always willing to do anything for the team. Wherever we ask him to bat, he bats. He has no problems in batting after [R] Ashwin, before Ashwin, whenever we want him to do it. He plays any kind of role - positive, defensive, you know, whatever we ask him to do, he never says no.

"So you really really feel glad for a guy like that. He's willing to do anything for the team and put his best foot forward. As I said, I'm really happy he performed in a big pressure match, in a difficult situation and put us in a position to have a shot at winning the game."

Mohammed Shami, who has not played for India since suffering a leg injury during the Test series against England, is making a phased return to action. He bowled in the nets in the lead-up to both the Bengaluru and Ranchi Tests, but has not been named in India's Test squad yet. He has also played 50-over games for Bengal in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, and on Monday took four wickets in the tournament final against Tamil Nadu. Kohli said he hadn't spoken to the selectors yet about Shami's availability for the fourth Test in Dharamsala, but hinted that it could happen.

"Yeah, Shami also we sent him to play [the Vijay Hazare Trophy] because we saw him bowling 10-12 overs in a go, and we wanted to give him some match practice." Kohli said. "I don't know [about his selection], I haven't spoken to the selectors still. All kinds of possibilities approaching the next Test."

Mahmudullah dropped for second Test RSBL

Hours after Bangladesh team manager Khaled Mahmud confirmed that allrounder Mahmudullah would not be a part of the playing XI for the Colombo Test and would fly home on the eve of the match, BCB president Nazmul Hassan claimed the player's return would be a personal decision and not one taken by the team management.

The Test, which begins on March 15 in Colombo, will be Bangladesh's 100th and Mahmud had said that given the match would be an emotional, landmark occasion, it was decided not to keep a high-profile, senior player sitting on the bench.

Hassan said the decision to either stay in Colombo or return to Dhaka was up to Mahmudullah.

"It is totally up to him [Mahmudullah], whether he wants to stay [in Colombo] or return [to Dhaka]," Hassan said. "There's no question about sending him home by us or the team management, because the ODIs are coming up. I am sure he is supposed to stay back. At least I would have known if something like that had happened."

Mahmud later confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Mahmudullah could return to Dhaka, either on March 14 or 15, depending on the availability of an air ticket. Sources, however, indicate that Mahmudullah's likely return will be discussed after Hassan arrives in Colombo on Tuesday.

Mahmudullah made scores of 8 and 0 in Bangladesh's loss in Galle, and bowled just two overs of his offspin. He had made a half-century in the one-off Test in India before this, but before that had gone ten innings without getting to a fifty.

He was at the ground with the team at practice today and took part in the warm-ups, but did not train thereafter.

Hassan also backed Mahmudullah's selection for the three ODIs and two T20Is that follow. The ODI series starts from March 25, while the two T20Is will be played on April 4 and 6.

"The ODI team isn't submitted to me yet," Hassan said. "Whether he will play or not, but I don't think anyone will drop him from the squad without talking to me first.

"He is a senior player who has made a lot of contribution. I don't see any possibility of him being dropped from the squad."