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ScorecardBismah Maroof’s all-round performance helped Pakistan Women secure a 38-run victory over Ireland Women in the one-off T20I in Dublin. Maroof scored a 30-ball 38 and took three wickets for 21 runs with her legspin as Ireland were dismissed for 110 in their pursuit of 149.Ireland began their chase slowly, losing opener Isobel Joyce in the second over with just 8 runs on the board, but they recovered well, as Clare Shillington and Eimear Richardson added 54 runs for the second wicket before Shillington was bowled for 33 by offspinner Nida Dar.Shillington’s dismissal triggered a dramatic collapse, as Ireland lost the remaining eight wickets for just 48 runs, with none of the other batters reaching double digits.The spinners proved effective for Pakistan, as Maroof, Dar and left-arm spinner Sadia Yousuf took seven wickets between them and conceded 57 runs in their 11 overs.Earlier, Pakistan got off to a shaky start after choosing to bat first, as opener Asmavia Iqbal was run out off the second ball of the innings. Javeria Rauf and Nain Abidi fought back with a 41-run second-wicket stand before Rauf was bowled by medium-pacer Louise McCarthy. Abidi added another 40 runs for the third wicket with Maroof but fell for 36, offering a return catch to medium-pacer Melissa Scott-Hayward, with the score at 81 for 3.Maroof struck four fours during her knock, as she paired with Nahida Khan to add 27 off just 19 balls for the fifth wicket, taking Pakistan to a score of 148 for 7 in their 20 overs.Medium-pacer Laura Delany was the most successful bowler for the hosts, ending with figures of 2-0-15-3.The two teams will play each other in the first of two ODIs in Dublin on Wednesday.

Overview

Unlike the glory days of the late 1990s and early 2000s, there isn’t much global silverware currently held by the Australians. But the Champions Trophy is still in their possession, and has been since 2006. Whether it remains theirs depends on how Michael Clarke and his men handle the next few weeks. And they will need to come to grips with the conditions better than they did during their ODI series in England last year, when they were trounced 4-0. It was their heaviest ever defeat in a bilateral one-day series. Notably, though, their best batsman on that trip was George Bailey, who has been promoted to vice-captain for this Champions Trophy.The challenge for Australia is to keep their eyes on the immediate prize, rather than letting their minds wander to the upcoming Ashes series, in which seven members of the Champions Trophy squad will be taking part. Clarke has spoken of the importance of the one-day tournament in giving Australia confidence ahead of the Ashes, although the four-day warm-up games against Somerset and Worcestershire will be of greater relevance. Still, they will be especially happy if one or two players who have struggled in Test cricket of late – Shane Watson and Phillip Hughes, for example – take the chance to pile up some runs ahead of the Tests, regardless of format.The Australians have selected a very different squad from that which bowed out in the quarter-finals of the most recent major ODI tournament, the 2011 World Cup. Gone are Ricky Ponting, Brad Haddin, Michael and David Hussey, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and others. In their place are an exciting group of multi-skilled young men who should form part of the national limited-overs team for many years to come, such as James Faulkner, Mitchell Marsh, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Glenn Maxwell. Whether they can display the consistency to win a major tournament is the big question.Australia will hope James Faulkner takes an immediate liking to English surroundings•BCCI

Key player

At the last Champions Trophy, Shane Watson started slowly – he made ducks in his first two games, but finished with the biggest bang imaginable, with unbeaten centuries in the semi-final against England and the final against New Zealand. Australia’s Test side has suffered due to Watson’s lack of runs in the past two years, but he has remained reasonably productive in the limited-overs format. His IPL form – 543 runs at 38.78 – was encouraging as well. Ahead of the Ashes it will also be important for Watson to continue increasing his bowling workload after resuming in the IPL.

Surprise package

It is starting to look as if 2013 might be James Faulkner‘s breakout year. Faulkner, 23, made his ODI debut against West Indies in February and proved himself a capable and feisty bowling allrounder. That should have been no surprise, for Faulkner has won the Ricky Ponting Medal as Tasmania’s best player in each of the past three seasons, which has been a period of exceptional strength for the state side. A left-arm medium-fast bowler with a good change of pace, Faulkner continued his strong year by sitting second on the IPL wicket tally with 28 at 15.25 for Rajasthan Royals. After being named in the Ashes squad earlier this year, Faulkner said he had never been to England. The Australians are hoping he takes an immediate liking to the surroundings.

Weakness

As in Test cricket, the moving ball remains a problem for Australia’s batsmen, which was clear during the one-dayers in England last year. Never was it more obvious, though, than during their disastrous 74-all-out batting first against Sri Lanka at the Gabba in January, when Nuwan Kulasekara and Lasith Malinga ran through them in 26.4 overs. Five days earlier they had been skittled for 170. Watson, David Warner, Phillip Hughes, Clarke and Bailey are potentially a very strong top five, but they will face swinging conditions in this tournament. How they handle them will not only determine their success in the Champions Trophy, but will provide a pointer to the Ashes.

Champions Trophy history

In 2009, Ponting led Australia to the title in South Africa, successfully defending the prize they had won by beating West Indies in India in 2006. In fact, not since the days when the tournament was called the ICC Knock Out – back in 2000 – have Australia failed to reach the semi-finals. They enter the tournament on an eight-match Champions Trophy winning streak, having last been defeated by West Indies in their opening game of the 2006 edition.

Recent form

Australia sit third on the ICC one-day international rankings and the 2012 battle against England was the only series they have lost since the 2011 World Cup. However, they were pushed at home by Sri Lanka earlier this year and had to settle for a 2-2 series, before they swept a listless West Indies 5-0.

Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid expressed hope that investigators would “reveal the truth about spot-fixing” so that the IPL could regain the trust of cricket fans. He also emphatically stated that cancelling the tournament was not a solution to the current corruption crisis that the league faces.”The truth always sets you free, that’s what I believe,” Dravid said. “I really hope that we just find out the truth and get to the bottom of it, whatever it is and however painful it may be.”Speaking to the media after his team’s loss to Mumbai Indians in the qualifier, Dravid praised the IPL but said the tournament needed to address and “correct” the challenges before it.”I have always said the IPL in itself is a fantastic tournament. There are a lot of positives about it but there are challenges in the IPL as well, as we have seen in the last week, ten days. There are other challenges that come up from time to time and have to be dealt with. There is no point – if you completely throw away the tournament, it is like throwing away the baby with the bathwater.”An issue of betting is not only about the IPL. An issue of betting has been seen in the past also in international cricket. We don’t stop international cricket because of that. If that yardstick was used, then we should stop all cricket. But I think we need to sort the issues out rather than make big statements, like “cancel the IPL and throw it away and all that”, because there are some really good positives that do come out of it.”Dravid, who led Royals to their best finish in the IPL since their title win in 2008, said his team could take pride in their campaign this season. Against Mumbai at the Eden Gardens, Royals made a strong comeback into the match, taking four wickets in 16 matches to force a close finish, but couldn’t defend their total of 165.”It’s always disappointing when you lose a game but it was a close game. It was one of those that could have gone either way. Unfortunately, we ended up on the losing side,” Dravid said. “That’s disappointing, but all the boys in the team can be proud of the way we fought today as well as the whole campaign.”Dravid also said that the forthcoming Champions League T20, for which Royals have qualified with their third-place finish, would be his last tournament. “At 41, 12 months is a long way away,” he laughed. “We have luckily qualified for the Champions League, I think that will be it.”

ScorecardNottinghamshire maintained their 100% Yorkshire Bank 40 record as Alex Hales made 72 from 41 balls in a five-wicket victory over Worcestershire under the Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-shortened match at New Road.A whirlwind innings by allrounder Gareth Andrew, who hit eight fours and two sixes in an unbeaten 62 from 34 balls, gave the home side what seemed to be a workable total of 132 for 5 in 16 overs. Nottinghamshire were then set a reduced target of 127 and despite losing Michael Lumb to a stunning catch by Thilan Samaraweera at short midwicket, they chalked up their third win in the competitionThe scenario was ideal for Hales to dip into his repertoire as a Twenty20 international player and he delivered exactly what Nottinghamshire wanted with eight fours and two sixes before he was caught at point off Moeen Ali.Riki Wessels (28) drove Brett D’Oliveira’s first two deliveries, both full tosses, into the seating at long-on before Jack Shantry claimed his second wicket. There was just a hint of pressure when Daryl Mitchell bowled Samit Patel in a nagging spell of medium-pace but Nottinghamshire had four balls to spare when Steven Mullaney pulled Andrew for the winning boundary.When the game got under way at 4pm, the conditions could not have been more miserable, with a few hundred spectators huddled round the ground as Worcestershire batted first on a cool, murky afternoon.Moeen got them off to a blistering start with 28 in four overs. The left-hander pulled two sixes while taking 22 off five balls from Andy Carter but then made a tame exit when hoisting the seamer’s next delivery to Ed Cowan at wide mid-on. This proved to be a catalyst for collapse as Jake Ball, a nephew of former England wicketkeeper Bruce French, and Patel shared four wickets as Worcestershire added only 13 runs in the next five overs.Patel underlined his value in this form of cricket with 2 for 8 in a three-over spell before rain took a further 75-minute chunk out of the match.On the resumption Worcestershire made the most of the remaining 30 balls, plundering 80 runs in all as Andrew roughed up Patel’s figures with 19 in an over and then took 24 off the last over from Steven Mullaney. Australian newcomer Michael Johnson chipped in 17 towards an unbroken partnership of 80 in 7.1 overs.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Rohit Sharma scored 47 off the last 15 balls he faced•BCCI

Even as Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar take their time to bed in as an opening combination, Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik carried Mumbai Indians to their third win in four games and the top of the table.Tendulkar finally arrived, in particular with four consecutive boundaries off Ashok Dinda, but the openers fell in quick succession, and it needed a flourish of 65 runs in the last four overs for Mumbai to feel comfortable with the target. Dinda was the victim again as he equalled the most expensive IPL figures by going for 63 runs in his four overs. Mitchell Johnson, then, did the exact opposite by swinging his way through the Pune Warriors top order, which all but sealed the win.With a mix of swagger and desperation, Tendulkar finally got going with his 44 off 29, but Ponting continued to struggle and finished with yet another effort at under a run a ball, taking his tournament tally to 48 at an average of 12 and a strike rate of 73. Around him, though, Tendulkar caused mayhem, especially with Dinda, one of the five bowlers used in the first five overs.Left-arm spin, though, worked for Pune: Aaron Finch began the innings with a three-run over, and Yuvraj Singh got Ponting first ball when introduced in the eighth over. Finch accounted for Tendulkar, who holed out at long-on, in the next over, and Mumbai were 60 for 2 in the ninth. They now needed a bit of rebuilding, which Karthik and Rohit did, but without sacrificing the scoring rate.Karthik equalled the highest run-getter of the tournament with a pulled four off Yuvraj in the 12th over, and then claimed the orange cap with an inside-out four next ball. However, just when the two looked set for the final flourish with a 55-run stand, Karthik fell to the first ball after the second timeout. Mitchell Marsh, introduced just then, came up with the perfect offcutter first up.Rohit, just 15 off 16 then, was ready to strike, and Kieron Pollard was the perfect foil. It was Dinda who let them off the hook decisively with a gentle length ball in the 17th over. Rohit smacked it over long-off, and the flood gates opened. The next one was a slower no-ball, and it sailed over long-on. In the next over, Marsh got the treatment: a four and a six from Pollard, followed by a four and a six from Rohit.Angelo Mathews bowled a fine 19th over, for just nine runs, but handed the ball over to Dinda for the 20th, and Rohit feasted with yet another brace of sixes. The first of those brought up his fifty; in all he looted 47 off the last 15 balls he played. Still, on a flat pitch with short boundaries, this was not a safe total. Mumbai could do with a bit of Johnson.And Johnson it was then with a fast, full, spearing delivery to knock Finch’s middle stump back first ball. In his next over, he demolished Robin Uthappa’s off stump. In between the two events, Uthappa had run Ross Taylor out. At 13 for 3 in the third over, there was too much left for the rest to do.

Adam Wheater, the highly-rated wicketkeeper batsman, has bought himself out of the final year of his contract with Essex and will move to Hampshire with immediate effect on a two-year deal.Wheater, 23, has been looking for other opportunities for some time. ESPNcricinfo revealed in September that he was in talks with Hampshire, among other clubs, but Essex were refusing to let him leave before the end of the 2013 season.He was expected to start the season in Essex’s side as a batsman but had become the county’s third choice wicketkeeper behind long-standing James Foster and England Lions’ keeper Ben Foakes.Wheater feels he will have a much greater opportunity to take the gloves at Hampshire and is expected to displace Michael Bates.If that is the case, Bates, 22, may consider himself unfortunate. While the 22-year-old is a batsman of modest ability – first-class average of 19.66 – he is an exceptional wicketkeeper. He played a pivotal part in Hampshire’s CB40 success last season, taking the final ball stood up to the stumps against the pace of Kabir Ali. He has taken 102 catches in 33 first-class games.But Hampshire manager Giles White insisted Wheater would have to earn his place: “No assurances or promises have been made to Adam but we are delighted that he has chosen to pursue his career at Hampshire.”He will add competition with the gloves and comes with an impressive first-class batting average. We have experienced, first-hand, that he is a young player with great ability and we hope that he is able to fulfil his potential and build on what has been a bright start to his career.”Wheater, who attended Millfield School in Somerset, scored 462 first-class runs from the middle order at 35.35 in 2012.”Over the winter months, Adam made it very clear that he would like to progress his wicketkeeping,” Essex head coach, Paul Grayson, said. “It is always sad to lose a player you have nurtured from a young age but we understand that to progress his career in his preferred role in the team he will need to change club.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDavid Warner was one of the Australian batsmen who threw away a start•BCCI

Showing enough good sense and simplicity of method to put his more experienced team-mates to considerable shame, Moises Henriques granted Australia a stay of execution and a narrow lead after four days of the first Test in Chennai. India seemed certain to wrap up the match for most of the day, until Henriques and Nathan Lyon formed the most substantial stand of the tourists’ innings with the last wicket available.Until that point MS Dhoni and R Ashwin had been the day’s dominant figures, torturing Australia with the bat and then the ball. Michael Clarke’s men were left with a familiar set of questions about why their bowlers could not extract similar results from a dustbowl, and why the majority of their batsmen had no workable method against the spinning, spitting ball.Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja all posed different questions, their triumvirate proving complimentary as the former’s prancing bounce contrasted with the latter’s sharp spin. Harbhajan provided something in between, bowling better than at any previous point in the match. All took advantage of the lead handed to them by Dhoni’s brilliantly brutal 224, which helped take the hosts’ innings well past 550 in the morning.Before Henriques, Australia’s batting carried the mentally weary tone of cricketers driven to distraction by Dhoni’s innings. Only Phillip Hughes and the captain, Michael Clarke, could rightly say they had been beaten by the unplayable. The rest were suffocated by accurate slow bowling that was never challenged for any length of time by a batsman sure of his technique and tactics, until Henriques strode to within 25 runs of a defiant debut century.Ed Cowan, Shane Watson and David Warner all squandered starts, a major sin on a subcontinental surface given the fact that some were always likely to receive a ghastly delivery early, as happened to Hughes against Jadeja, and Clarke against Ashwin.How different things appeared when India’s innings resumed. Dhoni was ninth out for 224, not only the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper but the highest by an Indian captain, having taken his stand with Bhuvneshwar Kumar to 140 runs with a handful of further impudent blows against Australia’s strung out bowling attack.James Pattinson defeated Dhoni with a bouncer that India’s captain gloved behind while trying to hook, and deservedly claimed his fifth wicket. He was Australia’s only sustained threat with the ball across the innings. Nathan Lyon’s figures of 3 for 215 were among the most expensive recorded by an Australian bowler in a Test, and unlike Jason Krejza he did not have eight wickets to show for it.Watson opened due to Warner’s bout of gastro, and hoisted one six from Harbhajan as lunch drew near, but off the final ball of the morning popped a catch up to slip from glove or bat handle as he prodded forward, Ashwin rewarded for his line and bounce. Cowan fought his way through but appeared highly vulnerable to Jadeja’s left-arm spin, the ball fizzing out of the rough with three short-leg fielders sweating on any deflections from glove or inside edge.The afternoon began with Cowan and Warner in stolid occupation, eschewing most shots and essentially trying to survive on a surface offering treacherous turn and bounce to skilful-enough purveyors of spin. They appeared to be getting somewhere at 64 for 1, but Cowan’s closed-face push to midwicket was to cost him when a quicker, straighter delivery from Ashwin beat the bat and pinned him in front of middle. Cowan was angered, thinking perhaps that he had been given out caught at silly point, but the lbw looked adjacent enough.Hughes was immediately confronted by Jadeja’s sharp spin, and completed a most unhappy match when a ball spat devilishly out of a foothole and lobbed from glove to slip as the batsman tried in vain to take evasive action. Clarke walked to the middle with his side in a hole as mental as it was empirical, and at least tried to give the spinners something to ponder by using his feet.Ashwin was drop-kicked for six over wide long-on then pulled to the boundary next ball as he adjusted his length, a rare moment of Australian poise against the spinning ball. However at the other end Jadeja’s geometry twice appeared to pin Clarke in between wicket and wicket. The umpire Marais Erasmus remained inscrutable to the appeals.Warner became the third Australian to squander a start when he propped forward to Harbhajan and was given lbw after a tangle of pad and bat. Warner stood aghast when Kumar Dharmasena’s finger was raised, but replays again showed a ball pitching in line and straightening to strike the pad an instant before the bat. In the absence of the DRS, an advantage seemingly lies with the team able to forge ahead then place pressure on the umpires – no-one did this better than the Australians in their pomp.Wade accompanied Clarke briefly, but was another to appear unnerved by the breadth of spin and changeability of bounce available, and was bowled attempting a presumptuous sweep at Harbhajan. Clarke and Henriques reached the interval with only the merest hope of doing anything but reduce the margin of defeat.That hope shrunk moments after resumption, when Clarke was struck on the back pad just in front of off stump by a ball that barely bounced. Clarke’s rueful expression was matched among Australia’s coaching staff at the boundary’s edge, as the rest of the innings followed the familiar pattern.Obituaries were being written by the time Lyon reached the wicket, but he and Henriques in their quiet way managed to exploit tired bowlers much as Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar had done the previous evening. Unless a miracle is to be performed on day five, this will only cause Australia’s batsmen to wonder at how they might have done better.

What: 2013 IPL auction
When: February 3, Sunday, 1100 IST
Where: ChennaiMichael Clarke, who had a prolific 2012, is expected to be chased by franchises who need a big player and captain•AFP

What to expect

The IPL auction rules could undergo an overhaul from the 2014 edition and the existing contracts for all players will end after the current season. Franchises would therefore view this auction only in terms of filling certain pressing gaps to meet their requirements for this season.Quite a few teams have more than $5 million left of their $12.5 million purse coming into Sunday’s auction, and can be expected to be involved in a tug of war for at least a couple of players. “Some teams are sitting with $6-7 million,” a franchise official said. “So expect franchises to get into a crazy bidding for a player if they think it is fine, as it is just a one-year contract.” This auction, however, may not see as many millions being thrown around as the previous ones.

Hot buys

Only two players, Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting, have the maximum reserve price this year, of $400,000. While Ponting retired from internationals last year, Clarke, who had a prolific 2012, is expected to be chased by franchises who need a big player and captain. If teams like SunRisers Hyderabad or Pune Warriors need a new captain and are not able to buy Clarke, they will have to go for Ponting who scored 236 runs in the Big Bash League at an average of 39.33 and strike rate of 121, including two half-centuries.Among the seven Indian players is Abhishek Nayar, with a reserve price of $100,000, who scored 966 runs in the Ranji Trophy this season. He would be on the list of several buyers who do not want to spend much on a player for a single season. Nayar, an in-form domestic allrounder, would give RP Singh, who had a poor outing in IPL 2012, a run for his money.

T20 specialist

Dirk Nannes has 37 wickets in domestic T20 tournaments in the last 12 months, at an average of 24.43. Priced at $200,000, he could be the main pick for a franchise looking for an overseas fast bowler with enough money in the bag.

Dark horse

Rilee Rossouw, a 23-year-old uncapped South Africa batsman, priced at only $20,000. With the experience of 36 domestic T20s and 781 runs behind him, Rossouw could offer a franchise what nobody else can for that amount of money.

Veteran pick

The oldest player, aged 38 is Herschelle Gibbs. Released by Mumbai Indians recently, Gibbs isn’t the batsman he used to be even though he has played in T20 leagues in South Africa, England, Bangladesh, India and Australia in the last one year.

Unlikely buys

Two names that catch the eye in the auction list are Ricardo Powell and Wasim Jaffer. Powell, 34, played two T20s for the International World XI against Pakistan All Star XI in October, scoring 3 and 5. Jaffer has been concentrating on first-class matches, being a part of Mumbai’s victorious Ranji side recently.

How the franchises could play it

SunRisers Hyderabad have $7 million left to spend on the 2013 squad and can buy eight more Indian and five overseas players. They are expected to go all out for Michael Clarke to ease some pressure off their captain and lead batsman Kumar Sangakkara, who is currently injured. Also on their injured list is JP Duminy, increasing their need for a strong top-order batsman-cum-mentor. Hello Ricky Ponting. They may also need a spinner to assist Amit Mishra and have the options of Rangana Herath ($100,000), Johan Botha ($300,000) and Ajantha Mendis ($50,000) since they have the money.Abhishek Nayar, the in-form domestic allrounder, could be on many shopping lists•Fotocorp

Since Sachin Tendulkar is Mumbai Indians‘ new captain, they can now spend $2.3 million on specialist players instead of a new captain. They would look to beef up their top order, which failed to impress last season. Phillip Hughes, at $100,000, may suit their needs after scoring two ODI hundreds against Sri Lanka but Jesse Ryder has been scoring heavily in New Zealand’s domestic season too. The new Anil Kumble-John Wright combination could throw up some new strategies.Stephen Fleming, the Chennai Super Kings coach, said on Friday they would not be targeting overseas players and instead focus on the “seam bowling department, especially local bowlers”. They possess Ben Hilfenhaus, Albie Morkel, Nuwan Kulasekara and Dwayne Bravo – all overseas bowlers. Their local options lie in RP Singh (released by Mumbai Indians), Sudeep Tyagi, Manpreet Gony, Pankaj Singh and Jaydev Unadkat.Delhi Daredevils have the shallowest pockets with only $1.4 million left of their purse. To add to that, their pacers Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Irfan Pathan are all injured. So expect some cheaply priced local bowlers, such as Jaydev Unadkat, going their way. Allrounder Abhishek Nayar could be on their radar as they will lose Kevin Pietersen in the second half of the tournament and will not be able to accommodate Mahela Jayawardene, David Warner and Ross Taylor together.Kolkata Knight Riders, the defending champions, are expected to be less aggressive in their bidding compared to last two years, when they were the fastest off the blocks as soon as the auction bell rang. “We might end up being a spectator,” a Knight Riders official said. They do not have much to improve on from last year, except maybe an allrounder in the form of Abhishek Nayar or Thisara Perera.Rajasthan Royals have $7.7 million to spend and seven Indian and four overseas slots to fill. They have never splurged and having included Samuel Badree after releasing Johan Botha, won’t be too unhappy with their current line-up. Unless Paddy Upton suggests otherwise.Kings XI Punjab may opt for a handy seam bowler to suit the conditions in Mohali. $6.9 million may allow them to opt for Vernon Philander or an RP Singh. A reserve wicketkeeper in Quinton de Kock ($20,000) might be a good try for one season.Pune Warriors will go in for a new captain after releasing Sourav Ganguly, as Yuvraj Singh is unlikely to lead the side. Ricky Ponting would be a similar batsman-cum-mentor, who could revive the fortunes of the franchise.Royal Challengers Bangalore retained their core attack but left out as many as 12 players in November. Uncertainty over Zaheer Khan’s fitness may make them buy a fast bowler to accompany Vinay Kumar.

Yorkshire’s out-of-favour quick bowler Oliver Hannon-Dalby is midway through a two-week trial with the county champions, Warwickshire.Yorkshire have given Hannon-Dalby permission to look for another county, even though he is still under contract, after discussions about his future. Whether to offer him the chance to switch to Edgbaston will be the first decision facing Warwickshire’s new director of cricket, Dougie Brown, and bowling coach Graeme Welch.Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire’s director of professional cricket, said: “We spoke to him when we came back from South Africa about his future and his chances of regular first-team cricket. I can’t really say too much because we are not sure how things will go.”Hannon-Dalby, one of county cricket’s tallest bowlers at 6ft 8in, has failed to progress since he made an impact in first-class cricket in only his second match by taking five wickets against Warwickshire in the early part of the 2010 season.Brown said: “He is here with Yorkshire’s blessing, but there is a chance that they might decide to take him on their pre-season tour of Barbados. At the moment, all we are doing is having a look at him.”Yorkshire, who released the former England fast bowler, Ajmal Shahzad, early last season before his contract had ended, have strengthened their fast-bowling resources by signing Liam Plunkett from Durham and and Jack Brooks from Northamptonshire.

Mohammad Hafeez, the Pakistan Twenty20 captain, has said the 97-run partnership between Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni was turning point of the match, but also pointed to other significant moments where the visitors came out second best. “Although they went off to a promising start, we were hopeful of restricting them to 160-170… But Yuvraj was exceptional today. The way he batted was outstanding. He also struck a good partnership with Dhoni. We were not expecting the partnership to go that further,” Hafeez said.Yuvraj and Dhoni added 97 in just 44 balls to propel India to 192. Pakistan began promisingly in the chase but an 18-ball spell from India’s spinners between overs seven and 10, during which only 16 runs were scored, increased the required-rate significantly. “It was a very small period in the match where we got stuck… Ravichandran Ashwin and Suresh Raina didn’t give the batsmen any space to hit. It really did affect our run chase later in the match.”Ashok Dinda bowled an excellent second spell towards the death, picking up three wickets and containing Pakistan at a time when they had wickets in hand and were pushing for a win. “Their bowlers didn’t perform well in the last couple of matches. But they did the basics right and were on target today,” Hafeez said. “Dinda was good in the last two overs… He bowled perfect yorkers and it was difficult to hit him. In the penultimate over of our innings, he got the vital wickets of Kamran and mine. If either of us had scored a boundary, then it would have eased the pressure. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen.”Yuvraj smashed seven sixes in his 72 off 36 balls. “It is just that in T20, you get less time to get set and you have straightaway start hitting the balls,” Yuvraj said. “That is why batting averages aren’t high and you don’t get time to set in and hit those balls. But today, I got to bat in seventh over and got three to four overs to get set and that really made the difference.”