Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has sought the services of Aravinda de Silva, the former Sri Lanka batsman, to help Under-19 players prepare for next year’s World Cup in Malaysia.de Silva, 42, said he was prepared to help any cricketer who needed his help. “When Sri Lanka Cricket sought my services I was glad to oblige them.” He will meet the squad on January 2 and assist them till February 9, before they depart for Malaysia. He will not accompany them on the tour due to some private commitments.Roger Wijesuriya, the Sri Lanka U-19 coach, was delighted to have de Silva as his team’s batting coach. “Our main worry has been the batting,”Wijesuriya said. “With Aravinda’s knowledge and experience I am sure the boys will benefit immensely. It is not so much from the technical side that they need guidance but on how to tackle match situations and playing under pressure.”Aravinda is a hero and the boys will be excited by his presence at practices. It is good for our cricket to have a person like him helping out at any level,” he said.Wijesuriya said that de Silva will be present for the two practice matches his squad was due to play against Colombo Cricket Club on January 2 and against Tamil Union on January 3. After the two games, the squad will be pruned from 30 to 20 players.Wijesuriya said he was happy with the fitness levels of the team and added that the fielding had improved tremendously as had the bowling. Apart from de Silva, Wijesuriya also plans to ask Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara to speak to the players before they leave for Malaysia.Just before they head for Malaysia, the U-19 team will play a triangular one-day tournament from January 23 to February 8. U-19 sides from England and Pakistan will join Sri Lanka in the competition which will be played in Dambulla.Under-19 triangular tournament fixtures:
Jan. 23: Sri Lanka v Pakistan
Jan. 24: England v Pakistan
Jan. 25: Sri Lanka v England
Jan. 27: Sri Lanka v Pakistan
Jan. 28: Sri Lanka v England
Jan. 30: England v Pakistan
Feb. 1: Final

Going up against the likes of Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi and Hasan Raza in your maiden domestic final is no bowler’s dream. Younis has just come fresh off another successful international season, Raza is Habib Bank’s (HBL) top-scorer of the season, fresh from a double hundred, and statistics don’t really matter for Afridi.The 19-year-old Asad Ali was given the challenge of containing this star-studded HBL batting line. Although Samiullah Khan, his senior bowling partner, captured two early wickets, including that of Younis, the pressure was on Asad to deliver the goods from the other end. He duly responded with three quick and key wickets, a spell that may just prove decisive in dictating the outcome of this final.”I admit I did not bowl that well at the start of the innings,” Asad told Cricinfo. “The first two or three overs were completely useless. But as I settled down, I enjoyed my spell.”Before we took the field, the plan was to end the day with them [HBL] five or six down for under 100 runs on the board. Mohammad Hafeez [captain] advised us to stick to a good line and length and make them play. The onus was on the batsmen playing, whether they hit us for boundaries or we bowl a dot ball. We had to make them play.”All three of Asad’s wickets came from this; Rafatullah Mohmand was caught-behind, Afridi bowled off an inside edge and Aftab Ahmed, beaten for pace, saw his middle stump uprooted. Unsurprisingly, the prized scalp of Afridi was the most cherished.”A feeling that cannot be defined. He had just hit me for two boundaries and even though he was new to the crease, we all knew what he was capable of doing. We had a set plan for him. Hafeez provided me with a packed off-side field while Misbah-ul-Haq told me to make him play outside the off-stump. It worked wonderfully.”That really got me charged up. I felt great dismissing an international batsman, and that too of Afridi’s stature. Following that, I was all pumped up. I ran in faster, bowled faster and basically gave it my all from there till the end. It was only when Hafeez wanted me to take abreak that I was forced to come off.”HBL need another 46 runs to save the follow-on, and even though Hasan Razan and Kamran Hussain appear well-set, early morning conditions have aided swing bowlers over the span of the final.”The pitch still remains a sporting one. Even though the ball is slow coming on to the bat, it helps both batsmen and bowlers. The first hour will be crucial. Our plan is to get another two or three wickets by lunch. We will attack their batsmen right from the start.”Ideally, that gives us a good chance of dismissing HBL second-time round and lifting the trophy.”

Harbhajan Singh’s exoneration for his alleged “monkey” comment towards Andrew Symonds has been hailed as a victory for justice in India, but the decision has incensed Australia’s cricketers, who believe their board has caved in to overwhelming pressure from the game’s financial superpower.In a front-page article in Wednesday’s Sydney Morning Herald, an unnamed Australian cricketer has hit out at the decision, which was only reached after Cricket Australia persuaded their five players at the hearing to downgrade their charge against Harbhajan from racism to abusive language. Instead of being banned for three Tests as per the original verdict, he was fined 50% of his match fee.”The thing that pisses us off is that it shows how much power India has,” the anonymous contracted player told the paper. “The Aussie guys aren’t going to make it [the accusation] up. The players are frustrated because this shows how much influence India has, because of the wealth they generate. Money talks.”In what the paper described as a “brazen act of provocation”, the Indian board chartered a plane to whisk their one-day squad from Melbourne – the venue for Friday’s Twenty20 fixture – to Adelaide, so that they could fly home to India if the charges against Harbhajan were not dropped. The move was described by MV Sridhar, the team’s assistant manager, as a “show of solidarity”.Friday’s match alone – the curtain-raiser for the lucrative CB Series – is expected to attract a crowd in excess of 90,000, and Cricket Australia, fearing the loss of millions of dollars in TV rights, sponsorship and gate takings, opted not to call India’s bluff. It was also believed to be under pressure from broadcasters who could have sued had the series been abandoned. The reported the players had an often fiery meeting with Cricket Australia officials during the fourth Test and it was agreed the charge would be lowered if Harbhajan apologised.An Indian pull-out would have threatened Sri Lanka’s participation in the CB Series as well. Arjuna Ranatunga, the chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket, and other senior board officials told the earlier that the board was keeping an eye on the developments in the hearing before deciding whether to commit to the tour or not.The issue was resolved late on Tuesday night, when Cricket Australia and the BCCI issued a joint statement, saying Symonds and Harbhajan had “resolved” the issue and that both captains were also “satisfied with the outcome”.Australia’s unofficial opinion, however, is less placatory. The team maintain that Harbhajan abused Symonds both in Sydney and three months earlier during an ill-tempered one-day series in India. In audio evidence supplied by Channel 9 – and played before the appeals commissioner, Justice John Hansen – Matthew Hayden is heard remonstrating with Harbhajan. “You’ve got a witness now, champ,” says Hayden. “It’s racial vilification, mate. It’s a shit word and you know it.”Harbhajan can be heard protesting that Symonds started the verbals, but the actual word is inaudible on the tapes. “Ultimately, truth has prevailed,” said the BCCI vice-president, Rajiv Shukla. “India has always stood against racism. Cricket is the victor in all this.”Ranatunga, a former Sri Lankan captain, called for a ban on sledging and hoped the Australians would learn their lessons from this controversy.”Australia have had these issues with some touring sides,” Ranatunga told . “History shows whenever they get it back, they struggle. Sometimes they also need to learn a lesson. I’m a great believer they should stop all shouting in the grounds.”

The Indian team management has written a letter to Jeff Crowe, the match referee, about Australia’s ‘provoking’ behaviour, which they feel triggered the latest spat involving Ishant Sharma in Sunday’s one-dayer in Sydney. Ishant was summoned by Crowe for a disciplinary hearing on Monday morning and was docked 15% of his match fee for pointing Andrew Symonds back to the dressing room after bowling him.Crowe booked Ishant for a Level 1.6 offence under the ICC Code of Conduct regulation. That section relates to “pointing or gesturing towards the pavilion in an aggressive manner by a bowler or other member of the fielding side upon the dismissal of a batsman.””The umpires, based on what they had seen in the middle, reported to the match referee about the incident,” Bimal Soni, the Indian team manager who was present along with Ishant at the hearing, told . “Our plea was Symonds provocated [sic] Ishant and that’s why he did what he did. He [Crowe] promised he would be speaking with the Australian captain about the matter.”There has a been a lot of bad blood throughout the summer between India and Australia and it was in Sydney that the Harbhajan Singh-Symonds racism row began. Even on that occasion, the Indians felt it was Symonds’ provocative language that triggered the incident. The situation reached boiling point with the Indians threatening to abandon the series if the three-match ban handed out to Harbhajan was not lifted.This time around the Indian team management didn’t want to escalate matters. But they have requested the match referee to haul up the Australians. “We could’ve filed another complaint but we didn’t want to prolong another hearing. Instead we made the match referee aware that the Australian have provoking our players in the last two matches and cited specific instances, which is not good for our players,” Soni said, as the Indian team was ready to board the flight to Hobart for their final league clash against Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh will once again employ three spinners as they head to Mirpur for the second ODI against South Africa. Conditions in Mirpur, the venue for both the second and third ODIs, are expected to be similar to those of the first match in Chittagong, which South Africa won comfortably by nine wickets.For the hosts, Mashrafe Mortaza makes a return to the playing XI and will spearhead the attack in place of Shahadat Hossain. Mortaza, the vice-captain, was overlooked for the first ODI, in which Bangladesh opted for three left-arm spinners in Abdur Razzak, Shakib Al Hasan, and Mosharraf Hossain.The other change for Bangladesh has Junaid Siddique making way for Nazimuddin, who will become the sixth ODI debutant in the series. “We rested Mortaza in Chittagong and hopefully he will be fresh and energized for tomorrow’s match. We need him to be in his best form with the ball. His big-hitting in the closing overs will also an added bonus,” Mohammad Ashraful, the Bangladesh captain, said. “Junaid we feel is a little low on confidence after not getting the runs in ODIs. He has featured in partnerships but has not made the scores he is capable of. He has been given a break.”Bangladesh’s persistence with spin means the pitch is again likely to be low and slow, also acknowledged by Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach. “We will have our work cut out once again for the second and third matches as the conditions will be virtually the same,” Arthur told the . “There’s nothing in the pitch that indicates that the quick bowlers will have any juice in it for them. They will need to put their backs into it and stick rigidly with their disciplines.”South Africa restricted Bangladesh to 178 in Chittagong on Sunday, and all their frontline bowlers were among the wickets. Andre Nel was the most impressive of the lot – with 3 for 24 off his ten overs. The visitors played two spinners in Johan Botha and Paul Harris, and Arthur indicated the two would feature in Wednesday’s match.”It certainly looks that way,” Arthur said. “But a final decision will be made after a practice session later today. We don’t know what the curator is going to be up to this morning as he was still working on the track late yesterday [Monday]. These issues change by the hour in this part of the world and until their job is complete you cannot cast anything in stone.”Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs led the chase in Chittagong, but an inexperienced middle-order – with Jacques Kallis rested for the series – is a vulnerability Bangladesh could exploit if they can make early inroads.Wins in both matches will see South Africa jump to the top spot in the ICC rankings for ODI teams, and would be the ideal way to head to the tougher test that awaits them in India.Team:
Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Nazimuddin, 3 Shahriar Nafees, 4 Mohammad Ashraful (capt), 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Raqibul Hasan, 7 Dhiman Ghosh (wk), 8 Mashrafe Mortaza, 9 Mosharraf Hossain, 10 Abdur Razzak, 11 Syed RaselSouth Africa (probable): 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 JP Duminy, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 Alviro Peterson, 7 Albie Morkel, 8 Johan Botha, 9 Paul Harris, 10 Andre Nel, 11 Charl Langeveldt

Former foes, including Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly, have become Indian Premier League team-mates and publicly patched up their differences. Ponting and Ganguly played small parts in Kolkata’s 140-run thrashing of Bangalore and set out to work together on the field.”We’ve always got on really well right throughout our careers,” Ponting said in the Daily Telegraph. “Ganguly mentioned that he wanted to work pretty closely with me to make sure we get everything right on tactics on the field.”Ganguly said any tension between the players was in the past and he was excited about joining forces with Ponting. “Things happen when you compete in series,” he said, “and that’s over and done and we need to look forward.”Matthew Hayden, one of the key figures in the hearings after the SCG Test, now believes the events surrounding Harbhajan Singh’s race charge were “blown out of all proportion”. “Bhaji is a true fighter and we enjoy the on-field rivalry,” Hayden said. The pair is likely to face off again when Hayden’s Chennai take on Harbhajan’s Mumbai on Wednesday.”Whatever happened in Australia was blown out of proportion and has been talked to death,” Hayden said. “In fact, playing Bhaji helped me understand how to get into the mind of a spinner.”Shane Warne and Graeme Smith, who had a prickly on-field relationship before the legspinner’s international retirement, are in the same team at the Rajasthan Royals, but Warne doesn’t expect any problems. “We have had a fair go at each other as opponents but I believe we will jell quickly,” he said in the Herald Sun. “He is a competitor and is always up for a scrap, which I like, and I’m sure playing in the same side will be fun.” Smith’s entry has been delayed while he completes domestic duties in South Africa.

Tim May, the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations chief executive, has begun investigating how many players have not received their initial Indian Premier League fees and has warned if the problem is widespread they could walk away from their contracts. The Twenty20 tournament is due to begin on Friday and the Age reported two Australians had not been given a payment following the first IPL auction in February.May said the rush to set up the competition had led to teething problems, but he was concerned by the absence of crucial documents and financial transfers. “There is a worry that some players have not been paid nor received their signed copies of contracts,” May told the paper. “We need to get a good feel on how widespread it is. If it has just alienated a couple of players I’m sure the thing can be worked out reasonably sensibly.”He said organisations that started from scratch needed some leeway before warning the IPL of the potential consequences. “There may be a significant amount of players and their managers who, if obligations from the employer have not been honoured at this stage, the player, if he’s taken the proper procedures to recover these obligations, might want to walk away from the contract or not take part in the game,” he said. “That is a long shot at the moment. We need to get a feel for the size of the problem and then try to address it properly.”David Hussey, who sold for US$625,000 in February, is one of the Australians who has not received the 15% payment for their auction price, which was reportedly due on April 1. “It’s been an absolute nightmare in terms of the paperwork required to get the players there,” Hussey’s manager Rick Olarenshaw said. “I don’t think it’s anything sinister. We’re expecting to have all the paperwork done and Huss will be ready to play.”

Scorecard

A persistent afternoon spell from Tim Murtagh earned him career-best figures of 7 for 95 to help Middlesex to a scrawny eight-run lead over Glamorgan on the third day at Lord’s. At stumps, Andrew Strauss and Billy Godleman had extended Middlesex’s lead to 64, and any hopes Glamorgan have of breaking their 54-year duck at Lord’s diminished by the ball.Murtagh was again well supported by Steven Finn who bowled rather more than his captain would have liked, owing to Chris Silverwood hobbling off midway through his 10th over. He was later spotted on cautionary crutches behind the pavilion, cheerfully announcing “I’ll be back”, and for all Murtagh and Finn’s persistence, Middlesex missed his explosiveness.Mike Powell reached a 75-ball fifty early in the day, but Finn produced a beauty from the Nursery End, climbing and slanting down the slope away from Powell who poked at it tentatively, without the conviction which had earned him 45 of his 50 runs yesterday evening. Dalrymple, however, was far more secure outside his off stump – though he survived a confident appeal from Finn – twice cracking Gareth Berg for four square of the wicket to reach 50 from 105 balls.At the other end, Mark Wallace rode his luck but took advantage of Murtagh’s occasional waywardness, gliding him through extra cover with ease to take Glamorgan to 173 for 4 at lunch. After he interval, the pair reached their hundred stand and thoughts turned to the prospect of Dalrymple reaching three figures against his former club, on his former ground. Not since Matthew Maynard in 1985 has a British-born Glamorgan batsman made a hundred on debut, but the record remained intact when Dalrymple mis-hooked Finn to Murtagh who took an excellent, tumbling catch at fine-leg.The gates were open. Wallace departed to a re-energised Murtagh, feeling for one outside his off stump, before Robert Croft was beaten for pace by Gareth Berg, becoming his maiden first-class victim. Glamorgan weren’t quite finished, however, with Ryan Watkins and David Harrison adding a quickfire 48 for the last wicket. Harrison’s six fours weren’t all as agricultural as his position at No.11 should imply, carting Murtagh for successive fours and timing the ball sweetly.Murtagh had the last laugh, Strauss holding a simple catch head-high at slip to dismiss Harrison, and Strauss was immediately into his stride with the bat. Jason Gillespie conceded just six runs from a four-over burst from the pavilion end, but Strauss laid into Wharf in the dying light, unleashing a cover-drive before cutting him with immense power square of the wicket.He played beautifully, regardless of the Glamorgan bowlers’ persistence in dropping it short, and more easy runs beckon tomorrow morning with the first Test against New Zealand looming so soon.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAlex Ross crunched seven fours and three sixes•Getty Images

A record partnership between Brad Hodge and Alex Ross ensured Adelaide Strikers’ coach Jason Gillespie enjoyed a fairy-tale homecoming. The pair complemented each other perfectly during a record BBL fifth-wicket stand of 115 to punctuate Striker’s 19-run win over the fancied Melbourne Stars at the Adelaide Oval.Defending 187, Strikers overcame a nervous start in the field to restrict the power-packed Stars batting line-up to 7 for 168. Assisted by a pitch offering turn, English import Adil Rashid menaced with figures of 2 for 27, including the prized scalp of Glenn Maxwell who threatened to seal the deal for the Stars.Strikers fluffed as many as five chances early in the chase, most notably Craig Simmons’ dropped sitter at first slip when Marcus Stoinis was on 2, but they recovered to grasp the initiative. The bowling attack stepped up to curb Stars’ batting line-up with discipline highlighted by the visitor’s inability to hit a six until the 14th over.Stars seemed on track to overhaul the target when they reached 1 for 90 after 11 overs, but Ben Laughlin changed the complexion of the match, taking the key wickets of Stoinis and Kevin Pietersen in the next over. Apart from a brief whirlwind partnership between Maxwell and captain David Hussey, the total appeared beyond Stars.Amid sweltering conditions where temperatures hovered at 38 degrees when the match started, Hodge and Ross starred and rescued Strikers from early trouble, after being sent in by Hussey.When Travis Head (16) fell to a questionable caught-behind decision, despite replays showing the ball appearing to land in front of wicketkeeper Peter Handscomb, Strikers slumped to 4 for 64 in the 10th over, and were in serious peril of posting a competitive total on a flat pitch.Hodge, the Strikers’ new captain, showcased his experience and composure during a stabilising period of batting where he was content in rotating the strike with clever singles. Juxtaposing this was Ross’ audacious batting complete with a plethora of bold sweep shots, which accounted for two of his three sixes in the innings.Fittingly, Ross notched his maiden BBL half century, off just 25 balls, when he swept pacer Scott Boland for a massive six. Boland then got his revenge by trapping Ross lbw in the last over of the innings, but the damage had been done.Showcasing his class, Hodge timed his innings to perfection scoring 29 off as many balls before accelerating towards the end to finish unbeaten on 56 from 41 deliveries. The Strikers plundered 67 runs in the final four overs.The Hodge and Ross brilliance came after Strikers’ top order had failed to fire, despite a tease from openers Craig Simmons and Tim Ludeman, who hit two sixes each. However, they were unable to produce scores of substance. Mahela Jayawardene, a replacement into the Strikers’ squad for the injured Kieron Pollard, seemed likely to try to bat throughout the innings but looked out of touch. Jayawardene was dropped by Handscomb before he had scored, but soon perished attempting a rash slash off James Faulkner, who was the pick of the Stars’ bowlers finishing with 1 for 21.It eventually turned out to be a satisfying start for the Strikers’ new leadership combination of Gillespie and Hodge.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThe opening day of the series in Durban started and ended with Dale Steyn’s vein threatening to pop through his neck, but England did not allow the world’s No. 1 bowler or team to overwhelm them. Two of their inexperienced top order responded with impressive resilience as Nick Compton, on his return to the Test side, and James Taylor produced sturdy half-centuries in a fourth-wicket stand of 125 as England closed on 179 for 4.Steyn, who had not bowled competitively since November 5 when he was injured in India, won an early head-to-head when he removed Alastair Cook for a duck and, after a break in play for rain and a threat of lightning, debutant Alex Hales edged behind for 10. He then returned in the dying moments of the day to find Taylor’s edge and give South Africa the lift they desperately needed but Compton, in the city of his birth, remained unbeaten on 63 from 179 deliveries alongside Ben Stokes.

Cook’s 11th opening partner

• 11 Number of batsmen Alastair Cook has opened with in Tests, including Alex Hales. In the last ten years in Tests no opener has had more partners. Mohammad Hafeez is second on this list with 10 different opening partners.

• 48 Runs James Taylor had scored in his first three Test innings, which were all against South Africa, in 2012. His 70 in this innings was his second fifty in three innings since his comeback.

• 179 Deliveries faced by Nick Compton for his unbeaten 63 – equal the fourth highest by an England No. 3 in South Africa. Nasser Hussain’s 463-ball effort at the same venue in 1999-00 tops this list (since balls-faced information is available). Compton, who is playing his first Test for England in more than two years, has two hundreds and two fifties.

• 8 Ducks by Cook in Tests; he is playing his 123rd Test. Only Rahul Dravid (131) and Allan Border (129) had played more Tests than Cook when they got their 8th duck in Tests. This was the first time in 23 Tests and 40 innings that Cook was dismissed without scoring. He had last got a duck in the second innings at the WACA in 2012-13.

• 1 Number of fourth-wicket stands for England that have added more runs than the one between Compton and Taylor, with the first three wickets failing to add fifty runs in Tests against South Africa. Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott had added 145 in Centurion in 2009.

When Joe Root was lbw to Dane Piedt’s first delivery, England were 49 for 3 with their two most prolific batsmen removed and South Africa sensed an opening into a batting line-up that has struggled to put consistently big totals on the board but it took them another 45 overs to break through. However, the pitch did not offer the pace or movement that had been expected when Hashim Amla won the toss and unsurprisingly, given the overhead conditions, decided to bowl, while a wet ball was not ideal.Between them Hales, Compton and Taylor have just 15 Test caps so to see two of them combining for a restorative stand of considerable authority will have been a confidence-building sight for the England dressing room early in the series where both sides have question marks over the vulnerabilities of their top orders.Compton’s edge was found early by Steyn but it fell short of Stiaan van Zyl at first slip; AB de Villiers may consider it was one he could have dived for. There was then a scampered single to get off the mark, but in defence he was solid and he left well. He also showed a keenness to get forward whenever possible – a sign of the lack of pace in the surface – and his cover drive was in good order even though a few picked out the fielders. A very significant fifty came from 145 deliveries, soaking up the pressure but, tellingly, never allowing the scoreboard to seize up.Taylor, who returned to the side with a half-century against Pakistan in Sharjah, made his Test debut in the infamous Headingley Test of 2012 when Kevin Pietersen plundered a thrilling 149 against South Africa, amid his disintegrating relationship with Andrew Strauss and the England dressing room. On that day, Taylor became almost the forgotten half in the 147-run stand with Pietersen but the 2015 version was very much a proactive partner this time and his fifty required 87 ballsFive of his boundaries came off Piedt who he played superbly to ensure the offspinner could not quite maintain the holding role that Amla wanted while he also pulled Dean Elgar for six. He was rarely troubled by the quick bowlers to provide further evidence that he is now a player primed to take a second chance at Test cricket he has waited more than long enough for. The forecast is for clearer skies from the second day onwards, and Kingsmead is a ground where looking up as often as important as looking down, so Taylor’s late loss was a blow for England but there is a deep batting line-up to come.Dale Steyn was celebrating again when he removed James Taylor for 70 late in the day•Getty Images

Play was delayed for half an hour by morning drizzle which followed significant overnight rain in Durban. Cook, with four quicks at his disposal although not the injured James Anderson, would likely have bowled first as well but it was England’s new-look top order that was handed the initial challenge under moody skies.One of the pre-series talking points has been how ready Steyn would be for his Test return. He could not squeeze in any cricket before the series and has previously started series slowly after lay-offs. He probed outside Cook’s off stump with the England captain initially showing good judgement before being drawn into pushing at one angled across him that nipped away with the edge carrying comfortably to Elgar at second slip. Steyn had claimed the first honours in his battle with Cook, for whom this was his first Test duck since facing Australia, at Perth, in late 2013.The early wicket meant that England’s re-jigged top three had lost their figurehead, leaving Hales and the Compton to try and repel South Africa in challenging conditions. Hales had managed to settle his nerves when he was off the mark first delivery he faced in Test cricket as he clipped Kyle Abbott through square leg and was largely secure during the half an hour before play was suspendedRumbles of thunder followed by rain sent the players from the field and shortly after the resumption Hales was rumbled when he was drawn into playing a delivery he should have left. Root, as ever, began with a positive intent, played a classy back-foot drive against Morne Morkel then pulling Abbott into the stand at deep midwicket only to fall to Piedt’s first delivery, which turned significantly. Root called for a review but both the point of impact and the ball hitting the stumps were umpire’s call.Amla had said Piedt’s selection ahead of a fourth quick in Kagiso Rabada was very much with conditions later in the match under consideration and the early turn suggested spin could yet play a part. The wicket of a recent world No. 1 batsman was a wonderful way for him to start the series, but as Amla tried to juggle his resources with the appearance of a couple of part-time bowlers there was a feeling that things had not quite gone to plan.