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The team will be announced on Thursday but ESPNcricinfo understands that Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh are unlikely to be fit in time

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Sep-2011India will play its first ODI series at home after winning the World Cup in April when it takes on England next month in five ODIs starting in Hyderabad. Yet, rather than the series being a welcome return home for the current world champions, the squad is likely to look very different from the one that won the title as injury problems that stalked the team on its tour of England show no signs of abating. The team will be announced on Thursday but ESPNcricinfo understands that Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh are unlikely to be fit in time, while Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel are also set to miss out.Tendulkar continues to struggle with his toe injury and his absence raises the question of how much more ODI cricket he will play, especially considering that outside of the World Cup, he has played only two ODIs this year.Rohit’s broken finger that ruled him out of the Champions League Twenty20 should also keep him out against England, while the ligament damage to Yuvraj’s finger is not healing fast enough. Meanwhile Ishant’s ankle is still ginger and he’s unlikely to be risked for the series. Ishant has said the ankle needs surgery but he is holding off until after the tour of Australia. Keeping him out of the series could be a precautionary measure to have him ready later in the year. Munaf injured his ankle during the ODIs against England and missed the Champions League.On the plus side, Gautam Gambhir has recovered from his concussion and is playing for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Champions League. With so many players out, Ajinkya Rahane, who impressed in England, should keep his place. It could also open the door for Yusuf Pathan to make a return to the side after he was not selected for the tour of England.Given that Zaheer Khan is already missing, the big question is the composition of India’s pace attack. Do the selectors fall back on Ashish Nehra, who has declared himself fit (no one from the board has spoken to him though) and has been bowling at full tilt in the nets over the last six weeks? Or do they plump for a completely new line-up fashioned around Praveen Kumar, with the likes of Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Jaydev Unadkat, Abhimanyu Mithun and Vinay Kumar in the reckoning? The choices the selectors make will indicate how they plan to restock India’s bowling resources and whether they are thinking about the future.The identity of the spinners is also open to question, though to lesser degree. Harbhajan Singh is fit again and is the conventional, safe choice, but the pair of R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha could be worth a gamble. Ashwin played in the 0-3 series loss to England and the selectors might want to see how effective he is in helpful conditions.India won the World Cup in April in grand style but have struggled somewhat since. They won the first three ODIs on the West Indies tour but lost the two dead rubbers, before going down 0-3 to England, though they did manage a tie in the fourth game of that series.

Video footage of the now infamous no-balls was shown to the jury before lunch on the third day of the alleged spot-fixing trial involving Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif

Richard Sydenham at Southwark Crown Court06-Oct-2011The alleged spot-fixing trial, involving Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif at Southwark Crown Court, has entered another operative phase with the first witness, the ICC’s chief investigator Ravi Sawani, being called. Before this the jury was shown video footage of the now infamous no-balls during the Lord’s Test last year and also records of phone and text conversations.Aftab Jafferjee QC, for the prosecution, resumed his opening address from the previous afternoon and went on to detail an alleged corrupt relationship between then Test captain Butt and his agent Mazhar Majeed. He finished off details of meetings, phone conversations and text messages surrounding The Oval Test against England last year, before moving on to details of the Lord’s Test.The jury was shown a replay of Mohammad Amir’s no-ball from the first delivery of the third over before the proceedings were interrupted for lunch, and two more alleged pre-planned no-balls by Asif and Amir after the break. All sets of legal representatives had agreed previously that sound and commentary would not be played, presumably so as not to influence the jury’s conclusion of the footage.Butt and Asif are facing charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following that Lord’s Test in August last year when they allegedly conspired with Majeed, teenage fast bowler Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-determined no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges.They were exposed by the now defunct British tabloid the in an undercover sting operation. Majeed was filmed revealing when no-balls would be delivered by the bowlers. That footage from secret cameras was also played to the jury on Thursday morning.After lunch the undercover journalist Mazhar Mahmood, otherwise known as ‘the fake Sheikh’ from the time he snared former England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, was to give his evidence. But because Jafferjee did not complete his opening until 15.28, there was no time for Mahmood and Ravi Sawani, the ICC’s senior consultant in anti-corruption and security matters, was last to appear. Mahmood is now expected to appear on Monday as the case is adjourned until then.Butt and Asif again sat through the proceedings in the dock, with Asif accompanied by Mr Khan from the national database of interpreters, while Butt sat two seats down from his former team-mate, wearing a brown velvet jacket, jeans and Adidas trainers.An interesting aspect of the morning’s account centred around conversations between Mahmood, referred to in court as ‘the journalist’ to avoid confusion with Majeed, and Majeed himself. Jafferjee told how Mahmood was expecting no-balls to be delivered that had been promised him as proof that would appease his fictitious backers in the Far East.But Majeed said they could not be delivered on the third day as coach Waqar Younis had held a team meeting and ordered his bowlers to cut down on the extras after 32 had been allowed on the second day – six wides and five no-balls. Instead, the prosecution went on to explain, an alternative plan was hatched whereby Butt would bat out a maiden. That did not happen in the event.Of further interest was the heavy phone and text traffic between Butt, Majeed and Amir leading up to the Lord’s Test – Asif less so. In fact, Majeed called Amir at 1.27am at his hotel while he was sleeping, the morning before the match was due to begin, after having collected £140,000 from Mahmood for the promise of three pre-determined no-balls and future fixing, the jury heard.All stories of phone and text traffic were substantiated with official records from phone companies that proved the dialogue between the various parties. Jafferjee then told how Amir messaged Majeed at 6.24am on the morning of the Lord’s Test and said ‘this is my friend’s number in Pakistan, when you’re done send them a message’.Amir then made repeated calls to a number in Pakistan. Majeed later that morning made a call to a regular Indian number he had often phoned. The prosecution had already told of how Majeed boasted his betting contacts were in India.But while the jury had been swamped with so much information and evidence of alleged corrupt dealings between the defendants, Jafferjee was clear in what he wanted them to remember the most. And that was the phone traffic between all four alleged conspirators on the evening before the third no-ball was delivered.The sequence in Jafferjee’s address that best supports this sentiment was the evening after a weather-affected first day at Lord’s. The bet was for three pre-determined no-balls but bad light ended play for the day before the third no-ball could be bowled, the jury heard.A series of “frenetic activity” on the phone between all four then takes place within a couple of hours of the match being called off for the day.”It is an irresistible inference, say the prosecution, that between these four men, what is being sorted out is that third no-ball,” Jafferjee told the court. “How will that now take place? The credibility staked – as well as money exchanged – is high. An arrangement for the next day is still not finalised.”Why do we say that? Because when the journalist calls Majeed, it is plain that things are not finalised. More texts have to follow between them. Furthermore, that triangulation of calls has to be repeated, involving the three players and Majeed,” which phone records in the hands of the jury apparently exhibit.The prosecution also detailed the monies found in the players’ rooms and on Majeed – whose wife had £500 of marked £50 notes from the found in her purse and a further £2,500 was found in his Aston Martin car.Butt had the most cash in his room at the Regents Park Marriott Hotel when it was raided by police on the Saturday night of the Test – after Mahmood had alerted the police of his investigation. That cash included various currencies and totalled more than double the amount of cash that could be explained for through daily expenses – players received £114 a day in England, while Butt pocked a £250 weekly bonus for being captain.Much of the money was found in a locked suitcase that Butt said belonged to his wife and for which he did not have the key. When it was opened they found a “large” amount of currency – some of which was in envelopes and some not. In total the stash included £14,003 in one spot, and £15,999 in various denominations in envelopes. There was also US$12,617, 24,300 of UAE dirhams, AUS$710, 26,015 Pakistani rupees, $350 Canadian, 440 South African rand – as well as four mobile phones.Meanwhile, Sawani was in front of the jury for just over half an hour. His responses, while not very specific as to the case itself, will have left the the jury more familiar with the vast sums of money involved in the illegal cricket betting industry.”One single legal betting company could generate £40 million for a one-day international,” Sawani told the court, “For an India-Pakistan one-day international in Mumbai, you can have as much as $200 million bet in the illegal betting market in Mumbai and then (additionally) there are the cities around India, the UK, the South East (Asia) and Dubai.”Sawani told of the sinister underworld that exists in the illegal betting industry and said that accounts are settled the day after a bet is made and that there are no defaulters because “mafias are the enforcers”.The trial continues.

ESPNcricinfo previews the first Twenty20 international between Zimbabwe and New Zealand in Harare

The Preview by Liam Brickhill14-Oct-2011

Match Facts

October 15, Harare

Start time 1400 (1200 GMT)Zimbabwe will hope Charles Coventry puts his career T20I strike rate of 193.33 to good effect•Getty Images

The Big Picture

The last time a full New Zealand outfit toured Zimbabwe, the trial of Saddam Hussein had yet to begin, the Live 8 concerts had just taken place and Stuart Carlisle was still an international batsman. Carlisle is now long gone, but Iraq is still war-torn. Much has changed in Zimbabwe since New Zealand’s last visit, but plenty has stayed the same too, and though New Zealand will start their tour as favourites their opponents are now much better equipped to provide a challenge.Or are they? Twenty20 cricket remains, largely, a domestic game but the format’s unique skill set has filtered through to international level for many national teams. Zimbabwe isn’t one of them. Pakistan have played 48 Twenty20 Internationals, Australia 44. New Zealand are just behind them, with 43. Zimbabwe have only played 16, winning three of those, and, such is the pace at which the game is moving on these days, they’re in danger of being left behind.Zimbabwe’s domestic T20 tournament, with its international imports and glossy marketing, has, no doubt, helped, but they will not develop as a T20 team playing two weeks of the stuff a year. Indeed, in the previous 12 months they’ve only played four T20Is, and their results have reflected their lack of experience. They showed considerable pluck in pushing South Africa close in an eight-run loss in Kimberley this time last year, but were shown up horribly by Pakistan in the first game of their two-match T20I series before losing the second in hugely anti-climactic circumstances.Zimbabwe’s naivety in the format will not have escaped the attention of a team as street-smart and cunning as New Zealand. The pugnacious visitors have become hardened over the years by the blows dished out by the big boys – particularly their neighbours across the Tasman Sea. They have, in Ross Taylor, a captain raised in the era of T20 cricket, with a bruising batting technique to match and plenty to prove. Though New Zealand haven’t played any international cricket since the World Cup, several members of their squad have plied their trade around the world in the interim. New Zealand will want to show, as Pakistan did last month, that they are a cut above the Zimbabweans,The focus of this tour will, of course, be the one-off Test match but the opening pair of T20Is will provide a handy opportunity for each team to analyse the character of the other. New Zealand’s shambolic performance in Bangladesh this time last year will give the Zimbabweans hope, but the visitors will expect nothing less than two outright wins.

Form guide

(most recent first)
Zimbabwe LLLLL

New Zealand LWWLW

Watch out for…

Charles Coventry remains an enigma. In possession of a repertoire of shots that allows him to match any young shot-maker in the game, he remains strangely vulnerable and inconsistent. But boring, he most certainly isn’t, and Zimbabwe will be hoping he sticks around long enough to put his career T20I strike rate of 193.33 to good effect.With 1,638 runs and 43 wickets to his name in T20s, James Franklin adds a weight of experience to New Zealand’s line-up with his all-round skills. Franklin, who is approaching his 31st birthday, has gone through a couple of incarnations in his stop-start international career, and the latest version is very well suited to the demands of the game’s shortest format.

Pitch and conditions

Zimbabwe is usually baking hot and dry in October, but it’s been a strangely cool, damp couple of weeks and it remains to be seen what effect this might have had on the preparation of the pitch at Harare Sports Club. No domestic cricket has been played at the ground since the season began in late September, but the recent matches against Pakistan provided a balanced battle between bat and ball. There is still some rain about but Saturday should be sunny and dry.

Team news

Zimbabwe have suggested they’ll play an extra batsman in these matches, but they won’t want to weaken their bowling resources too much and Prosper Utseya could be the man to miss out on a pitch that should have more in it for the seamers than the spinners.Zimbabwe (probable) 1 Chamu Chibhabha, 2 Vusi Sibanda, 3 Hamilton Masakadza, 4 Brendan Taylor (capt), 5 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 6 Charles Coventry, 7 Malcolm Waller, 8 Keegan Meth, 9 Ray Price, 10 Kyle Jarvis, 11 Chris MpofuNew Zealand have several quality allrounders that will give them options with both bat and ball, while a top order that includes Jesse Ryder, Brendon McCullum and Taylor will be hard to keep quiet. Jacob Oram and Nathan McCullum will provide the batting firepower down the order, while Kyle Mills and Andy McKay will probably share the new ball.New Zealand (probable) 1 Jesse Ryder, 2 Brendon McCullum (wk), 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Ross Taylor (capt), 6 James Franklin, 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Luke Woodcock, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Andy McKay

Stats and trivia

• Brendon McCullum is New Zealand’s leading runscorer in T20Is, with 1,100 runs. His brother Nathan is their second-highest wicket taker, with 26 scalps.
• The teams have only met once before in a T20I, New Zealand winning a damp washout of a game at the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean last year by seven runs on Duckworth/Lewis.
• Hamilton Masakadza and Elton Chigumbura are the only two players to have taken part in all 16 of Zimbabwe’s T20Is, and Masakadza is their leading run-scorer with 426 runs to his name.
• Zimbabwe have not won a T20I since their match against West Indies at Port of Spain in February 2010.

Quotes

“The big difference between the two teams is experience; New Zealand are an experienced group that has been playing together for a long time, yet our team is only just starting to play together and emerging.”

New Zealand will follow the England blue-print for defeating Australia in the two Test matches to be played in December, the coach John Wright has said

Daniel Brettig16-Nov-2011New Zealand will follow the England blue-print for defeating Australia in the two Test matches to be played in December, the coach John Wright has said.As he named the 13-man squad to play Tests in Brisbane and Hobart, Wright also said the visitors expected to be challenged by pace, and forsaw the 18-year-old fast bowler Pat Cummins playing a significant role in the Australian attack.While New Zealand have not won a Test match in Australia since 1985, Wright felt the combination of England’s example last summer, and the traumatic events of the Cape Town Test when Michael Clarke’s team was splintered for 47 to surrender a commanding position, gave the tourists a chance.New Zealand’s last Test resulted in a narrow win over lowly Zimbabwe, but the team will be bolstered by the return of the swing bowler Tim Southee and the aggressive batsman Jesse Ryder from knee and calf injuries, respectively.”We’ve got a fair idea [of how to beat Australia], England provided a really good example of how to bowl at them particularly last year, and the batting of Alastair Cook was exemplary at the top of the order, he was very patient, played very straight,” Wright said. “So England did provide in some ways a template of how to play best against Australia.”You look at that and then you look at your own side. To be honest, game-plans at this level aren’t that complicated, we know we have to bat four sessions, and we’ve got to find a way of taking 20 wickets. We’d like to keep as settled a line-up as we can. I think we’ve got the basis there, we have to be patient, but there’s some very talented young players who look like they might have an opportunity to succeed at the next level.”You can only go there in good form and with belief, it is a big step up from Zimbabwe. Australia have got a good record in Brisbane, but that’s what we’re hoping to create, that belief that if we apply ourselves and work really hard, and win our sessions, that we’ll be very competitive.”Cummins may yet debut for Australia against South Africa in Johannesburg, and Wright reckoned he would play a part in Brisbane or Hobart. New Zealand’s batsmen have been ratcheting up their bowling machines to maximum velocity in preparation.”I’ve heard he’s pretty quick, and that will be interesting because we have a feeling they might look to expose us to a lot of pace, and we’re going to have to stand up and be brave,” Wright said. “But having said that, those types of bowlers can provide you with scoring opportunities.”That [speed] is one adjustment we’ll have to make, because we don’t have too many bowlers in this country running around bowling 145kph plus. The boys are aware of that and have been doing some work on bowling machines etc. to simulate those conditions.”The new face in the New Zealand squad is the left-armer Trent Boult, who has turned heads in domestic cricket and will provide another swing bowling option to support Southee and Chris Martin at the Gabba if conditions are suitable.”[Trent is] the player who’s really stood out in the last two games, so his efforts in the first two games have earned him the opportunity,” Wright said. “I think a left-armer’s always handy, but he does swing the ball, and possibly that’s an area we’d like to exploit. The conditions in Brisbane sometimes suit swing bowling, but it does give you a different balance.”

MS Dhoni said he will decide in 2013 if he will take part in the next World Cup two years later

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Dec-2011India captain MS Dhoni has said the chances of him being available to defend India’s World Cup title in 2015 aren’t guaranteed, and that he will take a call two years prior to the tournament in Australia-New Zealand. Dhoni, who has been around since 2005, has been captaining India in all three formats, in addition to his role as wicketkeeper-batsman.”If you see 2015, three and a half years to go, I don’t really know where I will stand. Everything needs to go off well and then close to 2013, I will have to take a call whether I can be 100% available for the 2015 World Cup,” Dhoni told the news channel .”Because at the end of the day you don’t want a wicketkeeper part of the side who has not played at least 100-odd games – at least close to 80-100 games going into the World Cup. So that’s a call that needs to be taken. But if everything goes off well, 2013 end will be the time where we will have to carefully study the body and see what can be done.” Dhoni was speaking to after receiving the news channel’s Indian of the Year – Sports award for 2011.India’s packed schedule in recent years, with the IPL thrown in, has compelled Dhoni to prioritise and take adequate rest before important tours. This year, he skipped the one-dayers in the West Indies after an exhausting World Cup and the IPL, as well as West Indies’ return series (ODIs) in India which concluded recently. Parthiv Patel took over the gloves in both.Dhoni’s trophy cabinet in limited-overs cricket includes the World Cup, the 2007 World Twenty20, plus two IPL titles and the 2010 Twenty20 Champions League. The 2011 World Cup remains his most significant achievement till date, smashing an unbeaten 91 in a tense final against Sri Lanka in Mumbai, sealing the victory with a six.The normally phlegmatic Dhoni didn’t hide his emotions, as television cameras managed to capture scenes of several of his team-mates openly crying with joy. Reliving the moment, Dhoni admitted that he too cried, though away from the camera.”Yes I did (cry) you don’t really have footage of that,” Dhoni said. “It’s very difficult to control an emotion like that. I was controlling it, quickly. I wanted to go up to the dressing room and I see two of my players crying and running onto me. Fortunately, all of a sudden, I started crying and I looked up and there was a huddle around me.”It was one of the biggest things for us as Indian cricketers. The last time we won the proper 50-over version was 28 years back. So most of the people part of the side wanted to win the World Cup and as soon as we got into a position where we saw the World Cup coming into our dressing room, that was the time when emotions started to flow. If you see before the post-match presentation, almost each and every player cried.”Dhoni’s unconventional batting style, full of improvised strokes, has won him plenty of attention over the years. One of his patented strokes is the ‘helicopter shot’, which he sometimes employs to dig out yorker length deliveries, in which he twirls the bat above his head in the follow-through.He said it originated from his tennis-ball cricket days in Jharkhand.”We played on a 16-18 yard wicket with a tennis ball and most of the times the bowler tried to push in a yorker,” Dhoni said. “That was the kind of shot that you needed to hit it for a six because in tennis ball cricket, you don’t have to middle it. Even if you are using the bottom-most part of the bat, if you hit it quite well, it always goes over the boundary.”I think I became better. I never practiced it, I used it in the games. And not to forget, I’ve quite often hit my left ankle doing that. Over the years you get better and better and I’ve seen a few other people trying to copy it.”

Brad Haddin is set to be stood down from the first bracket of the triangular ODI series against India and Sri Lanka

Daniel Brettig29-Jan-2012Brad Haddin, Australia’s senior wicketkeeper and acting vice-captain, is set to be stood down from the first bracket of the triangular ODI series against India and Sri Lanka, affording the Victoria gloveman Matthew Wade another chance to press his case.Wade will be behind the stumps in the two Twenty20 matches against India in Sydney and Melbourne this week, following Haddin’s international T20 retirement, but he is now expected to also take the role for the first three limited-overs matches by being named in the ODI squad to be announced on Monday.Haddin was due for a rest after playing across the home Test summer, though his questionable form was only just starting to trend back up in Adelaide following some difficult days against New Zealand and India.He is understood to be enthusiastic about playing for New South Wales in a pair of fixtures against Tasmania in Hobart, the first a domestic one-day match on Saturday, with a Sheffield Shield game to follow Monday to Thursday. Those matches would give Haddin the chance to build on the starts he made with the bat in the final India Test.Though there has been much speculation about his future this summer, Haddin remains a highly valued member of the Australian team, and a capable lieutenant for the captain Michael Clarke.Haddin and Clarke have formed a strong leadership duo in the absence of Shane Watson, with the wicketkeeper providing plenty of advice in the field as well as offering a strong voice in the dressing room. His contribution to the team is being measured as much by those attributes as by his performances on the field, which lurched into dire territory earlier in the season before improving. He may remain Clarke’s deputy for some matches to come given the doubts still swirling around Watson’s fitness.Pat Howard, the team performance manager, has said the selectors’ criteria for choosing players include leadership and other additions to the team. The successful Tasmania captain George Bailey’s selection as the national Twenty20 captain provided another example of their thinking.”You need sufficient skills to be within the frame, obviously. No one is picked if they don’t perform to be recognised for their core skills,” Howard said. “But then the selection panel [also] considers their contribution to the team, the effect those players are having on the team – are they coming from winning teams? All those things are important to assess what impact those players are having. And obviously John [Inverarity] being able to sit down with the players to hear about who the good leaders are in other teams and getting feedback can add so much to your selection decisions.”Ricky Ponting has spoken about the value people add outside their core skill. Be it their fielding, be it their character and the sort of leadership they produce, and how much they give to a side. To me, it is fantastic to see players supported [by each other]. You see David Warner score a hundred and the batsman at the other end [Ed Cowan] comes up and embraces him because he sees him as an important part of the team. Inverarity talks about adding to the pot more than you’re taking out, and he looks for those characters that add to that team environment.”

A round-up of Ford Trophy matches that took place on January 26

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jan-2012Auckland went to top spot in the tournament with a crushing win against Northern Districts at Colin Maiden Park. The Ford Trophy was resuming after more than a month’s break for the HRV Cup and Auckland re-started their campaign by winning by eight wickets and 199 balls to spare. The result was set up by fast bowler, Mitchell McClenaghan, who took a career best 5 for 30 to rout Northern Districts for 99. McClenaghan was also involved in the run out of the opposition’s top-scorer, Daryl Mitchell for 38. The innings ended in 30.4 overs. Anaru Kitchen then scored an unbeaten 55 off 45 balls to help Auckland knock off the target of 100 in 16.5 overs. Auckland now have four wins in six games, with one defeat and one no result. Northern Districts are bottom of the league.Canterbury beat Wellington by 19 runs at Basin Reserve to move past Otago to second place in the competition. Wellington were fifth. Tom Latham scored 130 off 119 balls to rescue Canterbury’s innings after they had slipped from 40 for 0 to 40 for 3. Wellington’s fast bowler Mark Gillespie had taken three wickets in four balls in the ninth over. Opener Rob Nicol, who scored 55, added 104 runs with Latham, who was eventually dismissed only in the final over, having led Canterbury to 306 for 8. Latham hit 14 fours and three sixes in his innings. Wellington lost two early wickets in the chase but Stephen Murdoch scored a brisk century to put the innings back on course. However, he did not have substantial support from his team-tames – James Franklin’s 36 was the next best score. Murdoch was eventually out for 122 of 128 balls in the 44th over. Wellington were 241 for 6 at the time and could only manage to reach 287. Ryan McCone finished with 4 for 63.The match at Invercargill was washed out after eight overs. Otago had put Central Districts in and reduced them to 34 for 3 before the rain came. Otago are third and Central Districts fourth in the league.

Nathan Coulter-Nile pressed his case for an Australia call-up with a compelling allround display, but New South Wales were still able to achieve a four-wicket victory over the Warriors

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Feb-2012
ScorecardNathan Coulter-Nile, the Western Australia fast bowler, pressed his case for an Australia call-up with a compelling allround display, but New South Wales were still able to achieve a four-wicket victory over the Warriors in the domestic limited overs match in Perth.After WA’s batting slipped to 7 for 96, Coulter-Nile shepherded the tail to a total of 151 with a poised innings of 53. He then claimed the wickets of Simon Katich, Steve Smith and Nic Maddinson with the ball to ensure the Blues made hard work of their modest chase, achieved with 7.2 overs to spare.The NSW chase was guided by Phillip Hughes, batting at No. 3 behind Usman Khawaja and Brad Haddin. Hughes made an unbeaten 58, after Haddin had found some semblance of batting form in an innings of 32.Mitchell Starc, dropped from Australia’s ODI squad in order to be available for the match, collected 4-39 to slice through The Warriors’ batting. His first wicket was that of WA’s stand-in captain Shaun Marsh, who cut a short ball straight to backward point.