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Younis Khan, the Pakistan captain, has said beating India will be one of his top priorities in the Champions Trophy, when the two sides clash on September 26 in Centurion. His remarks echoed those of team-mate Umar Gul from Sunday, and underline Pakistan’s poor record against India in ICC events.”The fact that we lost twice to India, in the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 and then also in that World Cup match in 2003 in South Africa still hurts,” Younis said. “India is a very good one-day side but it is my burning ambition to set the record straight against them and defeat them this time in the Champions Trophy in South Africa.”The only time Pakistan have trumped their arch rivals in ICC tournaments was in the 2004 Champions Trophy. “It would be a big moment when we play India in the Champions Trophy pool match in Centurion on September 26 as we have not played against each other for a while now,” Younis said. “It will not be easy but we have some extra incentive to beat India given our track record in South Africa.”Relations between the two countries have been strained after the terror attacks in Mumbai last November, and they haven’t played each other since meeting in the Asia Cup nearly a year ago. A huge crowd turned up at The Oval in June when India and Pakistan faced off in a warm-up game ahead of the World Twenty20.The other two teams grouped with India and Pakistan in the Champions Trophy are Australia and West Indies. The top two sides from the preliminary phase progress to the semi-finals.

Mumbai v Baroda Baroda 213 all out (Mongia 74, Salvi 5-42)
A disciplined spell of seam bowling by Aavishkar Salvi helped reigning champions Mumbai bundle out Baroda for 213 on the first day of the Ranji Trophy at the Wankhede Stadium. Salvi was ably supported by Ramesh Powar, who disturbed the batsmen with his bounce off the wicket. All the Baroda batsmen, barring Nayan Mongia, were visibly rusty and played some irresponsible shots to throw away their wickets. It was Mongia’s spirited 74 that prevented a batting debacle but Mumbai held all the aces at the end of the first day.
ScorecardUttar Pradesh v Delhi Delhi 267 for 2 (Gambhir 147, Oberoi 80)
Gautam Gambhir’s classy 147, and a 231 runs opening partnership with Salil Oberoi (80) sent Uttar Pradesh on a leather hunt, as Delhi finished the first day on a commanding 267 for 2. Ajay Jadeja, playing for Delhi, made a comeback into domestic cricket after three years after being cleared of his match-fixing charges. Gambhir hit 17 boundaries as Delhi laid the foundation for a massive total at the Green Park stadium at Kanpur.
ScorecardGujarat v Hyderabad Hyderabad 240 for 7 (Nandkishore 49, Timil Patel 3-43)
Vinay Kumar hit a battling 75 as Hyderabad struggled to 240 for 7 on the first day against Gujarat at Motera in Ahmedabad. A Nandkishore contributed with a useful 49 as the visitors reached a semblance of respectability. For Gujarat the two Patels shared the bowling honours with medium pacer Lalit and legspinner Timil taking three wickets each.
ScorecardKerala v Punjab Punjab 305 for 2 (Mongia 115*, Ricky 125)
Dinesh Mongia, Punjab’s captain, and Ravneet Ricky enjoyed a run feast as Punjab ended the first day on a commanding 305 for 2 against Kerala at Palakkad. Ricky’s 125 included 16 boundaries and a six while Mongia remained unbeaten on 115 off 165 balls as they bludgeoned a hapless attack into submission. Kerala’s vice-captain, Sreekumar Nair, picked up both the wickets that fell in the day, but that was a stray oasis in an otherwise barren desert.
ScorecardRajasthan v Bengal Rajasthan 205 for 6 (Khoda 86, Paul 4-52)
Bengal opening bowler Shiv Shankar Paul exploited helpful conditions as Rajasthan were restricted to 205 for 6 on the first day of the Ranji Trophy match at Jaipur. Gagan Khoda hit a patient 86 and put on a useful 82 runs with Nikhil Doru for the third wicket, but that was the only partnership worthy of mention. Paul justified his captains decision to bowl first on a seaming track and pitched the ball in the right areas to be duly rewarded.
ScorecardKarnataka v Tamil Nadu Karnataka 208 all out (Balaji 4-51, Ramkumar 4-42)
L.Balaji staked his claim for the tour of Australia with a fine four-wicket haul while left arm spinner Ramkumar claimed a hat trick as Karnataka were skittled out for 208 in the first day against Tamil Nadu. The story of the woeful batting is clearly told by the highest contributer to the total – extras, with 49. Sunil Joshi scored a quickfire 46 but that was the only ray of hope in an irresponsible batting display. Ramkumar polished off the last three batsmen for his hat trick and with Balaji giving a disciplined performance Tamil Nadu began their campaign in right earnest.
ScorecardRailways v Andhra Pradesh Andhra 235 for 7 (MSK Prasad 61)
Railways stuck manfully to their task and restricted Andhra Pradesh to 235 for 7 on the first day at Delhi. After opting to bat on a docile track the Andhra top order gifted their wickets with only MSK Prasad saving the blushes with a fighting 61, helped by some plucky lower order hitting. Harvinder Singh took two wickets and was ably supported by all the bowlers, who hardly gave anything away.
ScorecardSiddhartha Vaidyanathan is on the staff of Wisden Cricinfo.

Match facts

Thursday June 18
Start time 1730 local (1630 GMT)The batting needs the likes of Shoaib Malik to really get his show going•Getty Images

Big Picture

It’s first a clash of ethos, of philosophies and even of time, more than a semi-final. Here is truly man against machine, the art of cricket against the science of it, cricket’s future and cricket’s past. South Africa’s progress to this point has been smooth, well-planned, calculated and inevitable, as if their players were born to do this. Pakistan have got here in shambles – losing games, winning some, treating it all as a bit of fun – and the players not so much born to do this are struggling to discover why they are doing it at all.South Africa lack nowhere and nothing. If Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith are the efficient drones at the top, there is heart in the middle, with the ever-frail skills of Herschelle Gibbs and the creativity of AB de Villiers. Even Albie Morkel, in whom there are glimpses of Zulu, thankfully smiles more. They’ve always had pace, but now they even have spinners, who are not batsmen forced to bowl. Sure, they are a little one-dimensional (watching videos of Umar Gul’s yorkers?), but they are spinners – South African and successful; how often have we said that in the past?The whole machinery is intimidating, determined to iron out all kinks, the mission pre-programmed; with seven consecutive wins in this format, they have apparently also taken the inherent unpredictability of this format out of the equation. They are well-trained, well-oiled, and their psychologist talks about 120 contests and of processes over outcomes and how choking is not really an issue anymore. They win even warm-up matches and the dead games because every game counts. They are cricket’s future.Pakistan are the past. They are wholly dysfunctional, but just about getting along, though unsure where they are going. They don’t control their extras, they don’t run the singles hard and they field as if it were still the 60s. They are least bothered about erasing the flaws because any win will be in spite of them. They did hire a psychologist though, and you can only imagine what those sessions were like and how much they actually talked about sport and cricket. There are permanent mutterings of serious rifts. They may not bat, bowl or field well all the time, but sometimes, they do what can only be described as a ‘Pakistan’: that is, they bowl, bat or field spectacularly, briefly, to change the outcome of matches. You cannot plan or account for this as an opponent because Pakistan themselves don’t plan or account for it.It can come from any person, any discipline, but on evidence, it is likelier to come from the bowling. The batting needs Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq to really get their show going. A piece of fielding brilliance cannot be discounted, but generally both Pakistan and West Indies have happily disproved the dictum that in T20 cricket you have to be Jonty Rhodes to get anywhere. Heroes will likely be found among the Umar Guls, the spinners and maybe even Mohammad Aamer, who is a throwback to the late 80s and early 90s, when Pakistani fast bowlers were born ready to play international cricket.The pressure on South Africa however, will be greater. They are expected to win this and anyway they will always have the whole ‘chokers’ tag to deal with until the day they actually lift a big trophy. It doesn’t help that they look as good as they did during the 1999 World Cup, though they are easier on the eye. Pakistan, as Younis Khan said before leaving for England, won’t much mind a semi-final spot; Kamran Abbasi rightly noted that they may have had an easier ride to the semis than most but no country has had a rougher two years. Clearly they’d love to win it, but they have already achieved more than many thought and a loss wouldn’t be the end of the world. But importantly, as the only side to make it to the last four in 2007 and 2009, they have underscored their significance in this brave new, T20 world, a world in which they absolutely cannot be ignored.

Form guide

(last five matches, most recent first)
Pakistan WWLWL
South Africa WWWWW

Watch out for…

The whole South African machinery is intimidating – determined to iron out all kinks, the mission pre-programmed•Associated Press

Albie Morkel has been a quiet, steady ever-present through South Africa’s tournament. But he is capable of bigger, more explosive things especially with the bat and this match – and potentially the next – are the best platforms for it.Shahid Afridi‘s moment turned the tournament for Pakistan, an outstanding catch hastening New Zealand’s collapse, and possibly himself – at least with the bat. Since then he has batted with rare sense, as everyone has wished him to, and at little expense to his strike rate. He will be a factor with the ball anyway, but if he gets going with the bat, then South Africa will panic.

Team news

Pakistan have finally settled upon what they feel is their best line-up, more by chance than design. Barring injury, there are unlikely to be any changes.Pakistan: (probable) 1 Shahzaib Hassan, 2 Kamran Akmal (wk), 3 Shoaib Malik, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq, 5 Younis Khan (capt), 6 Abdul Razzaq, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Fawad Alam, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Mohammad Aamer, 11 Saeed AjmalJacques Kallis will come back in for Morne Morkel after being rested for the dead game against India.South Africa: (probable) 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Jacques Kallis, 3 Herschelle Gibbs, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 JP Duminy, 6 A Morkel, 7 M Boucher, 8 Johan Botha, 9 Roelof van der Merwe, 10 Wayne Parnell, 11 Dale Steyn

Pitch and conditions

The surface for this match is two along from the one that turned square for the South Africa-India match and is expected to be harder and offer less help for the spinners. However, the slow bowlers have had an impact throughout so are still likely to be key. Steady rain arrived in Nottingham on the practice day, but is due to clear overnight and the forecast for Thursday is fine.

Stats and Trivia

• Pakistan and South Africa have six bowlers in the top 10 wicket-takers of the tournament, though Pakistanis occupy the top two spots.
• Three of the top 10 run-scorers of the tournament are from South Africa and Pakistan, with AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis at numbers two and three.
  

  Quotes

  “Our bowling has been great and all of them are now bowling in rhythm. The batsmen have to support the bowlers if we are to win this cup.”

  “”I think we’ve come past that. This team has come a long way and I think we’ve proven that. Hopefully we can show that on Thursday, that’s what is exciting about it. “
  “It’s great to be in a position where you can rock up to a ground, look at the wicket and know you have all the bases covered. We aren’t really worried what the wicket will be.”

MS Dhoni, the captain of the Indian team which is defending the World Twenty20 title, has admitted that his players were tired after the IPL, but also said the hectic schedule was something his team was used to.”When you play so many matches you do get tired, after all it’s a human body. There was no time to rest for the players. But fatigue is a part of Indian cricket. Till now Indian players have done well with it.”Sachin Tendulkar, Gary Kirsten and Dilip Vengsarkar, the former chairman of selectors, have all spoken out against the packed schedule, saying the players could suffer injuries and be mentally fatigued. The 37-day IPL ended on May 24, and there’s only a 11-day gap before the start of the World Twenty20, raising concerns about players not getting sufficient time to rest.However, Dhoni also said the IPL had helped prepare for the tournament in England. “It [IPL] helped us a lot in terms of exposure and skills. So it was more beneficial for us.”Looking ahead to the tournament, Dhoni said the presence of so many part-time bowlers in the Indian squad was a huge advantage. “We have Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh who have taken hat-tricks in the IPL. We also have Suresh Raina. Yusuf Pathan is there too,” Dhoni said on the eve of the team’s departure to England.”We have someone like Ravindra Jadeja with limited international experience but with high talent. He has played against some top fast bowlers and spinners in the IPL and has learned to handle pressure.”Dhoni also said the poor form of his openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag did not worry him. Gambhir scored 286 runs from 15 games and Sehwag 198 from 11 in the IPL. “Both the openers are very talented. As regards opening bowling combination we have not yet decided who will do it. You have seen spinners too opening the bowling in the IPL. Teams have to take gambles.”India will play two warm-up games – against New Zealand on June 1 and Pakistan on June 3 – before their opening game of the World Twenty20 against Bangladesh on June 6. The proceeds from their practice game against Pakistan will go towards the aid of those who were injured or lost their lives when the Sri Lankan team bus was attacked by militants in Lahore in March.

Ashley Noffke has reason to be thankful for the hip injury that dashed his hopes of pushing for a place in Australia’s Ashes squad as it revealed the Queensland allrounder was suffering from skin cancer.As Noffke was laid up during the domestic season in Australia a mole was found behind his knee that was diagnosed as a malignant melanoma. He immediately had it removed and made a full recovery in time to take up his deal with Worcestershire, but needs to remain alert for any reoccurrence.”It was pretty scary at the time,” Noffke told Cricinfo. “I was spending some time off the park when we found it so there is always a double-edged side to any misfortune, and it’s definitely a positive that we found that. I had it cut away straight away and now I’ve got to keep an eye on things to make sure nothing comes back.”If I had come here without having it treated the recovery process would have been a lot longer and I could have had long-running problems, but hopefully because we caught it early the worst is behind me now.”Noffke was restricted to five Sheffield Shield matches due to his injury problems but was still able to collect 18 wickets at 23.00 and feels that he could have pushed for an Ashes berth with a full season behind him.”Before my hip injury I was bowling as well as anyone in the country and I would have definitely given myself a chance,” he said. “It’s whether I’d have produced enough wickets and runs at the time for the selectors to back me in that. But it didn’t happen. I got injured so I guess that’s the way it is.”Now at Worcestershire, Noffke has positioned himself ideally should the Australia squad suffer injuries during the ICC World Twenty20 and the Ashes. Noffke, though, insisted his immediate goal was to string some matches together.”Obviously being in England during an Ashes tour is ideal because those things [injuries] have happened before but it wasn’t big in my decision making,” he said. “I’ve missed a lot of cricket at home and I needed to get over here and play for Worcestershire to get back into the swing of things and I’m still in the process of that.”After being overlooked for Australia’s tour of India last year, Noffke hit out at the selection panel after feeling he hadn’t been given a fair chance to prove his worth following two stand-out seasons for Queensland. His mood now appears to have mellowed and he admits the rough side of selection is something a player has to accept.”Selection is just part and parcel of professional sport and you can’t hang your hat on everything that happens,” he said. “It’s just a case of moving forward and waiting for any decisions that are made. I think as a player you always have to believe you are good enough to play at the level. I was lucky enough to have two really good seasons back-to-back for Queensland and I did get the chance to play for Australia at certain times.”

Brett Lee would consider a brief county stint to complement his IPL involvement in a bid to increase his bowling workload ahead of the Ashes. Lee will today leave the Kings XI Punjab camp and join the Australian limited-overs squad in the UAE, where he hopes to take his first competitive strides in his comeback from ankle surgery.Provided he is cleared by Cricket Australia’s medical staff, Lee is aiming to play in the final Twenty20 match against Pakistan in Dubai on May 7 and the final stages of the IPL thereafter. Should the Kings XI fail to make the final, Lee would have a 15-day window before the start of the ICC World Twenty20 and the recovering fast bowler is considering all his competitive options.”My aim is to try and play as much cricket as I can before the Ashes and the Twenty20 World Cup,” Lee told Cricinfo. “There is no point me going back to Sydney and resting for two weeks; I may as well be playing competitive cricket.”We have to work out a gameplan from here. I will speak to [Australian coach] Tim [Nielsen] and [physiotherapist] Alex [Kountouris] to see what the best course of action is. My whole goal right now is to play in the Ashes, and also the World Twenty20. The IPL will give me an opportunity to continue to improve my skills and is a stepping stone to my major goal, which is the Ashes.”There could be an opportunity to play some kind of county cricket … but I’m not sure how that would work out. For me, it’s about trying to get as much cricket as I can under my belt once I’m fully fit, and the IPL is a perfect way for me to start stepping up my workload.”Lee has not played a competitive match since hobbling off the MCG with foot stress fractures during the Boxing Day Test against South Africa. He has completed a rigorous training regime since undergoing surgery, which has seen him add 10 kilograms in lean muscle mass, and is confident a return to the field is close at hand.”I bowled off my long run-up in Cape Town before the [Kings XI] game on Sunday for a full 45 minutes, and I felt really good afterwards,” Lee said. “That gave me confidence that I am close to being ready to play. If I didn’t think I was a chance of playing that Twenty20 [in Dubai] I wouldn’t go [to the UAE]. But I have done a lot of work in the last few weeks with the physio, I have worked to a plan, and things are pretty close to my timeline.”It will be great to be back in the green and gold colours. But that will be determined by [Australian team doctor] Trefor [James]. I’ll be seeing him in the UAE and he will make the assessment. If he gives me the all clear, then it’s game on as far as I’m concerned.”I’m pumped. I am heading over to the UAE this afternoon. It will be awesome to see the fellas again. It’s supposed to be very hot, so those will be great conditions to train and play in. I am aiming to play in the final Twenty20 match, and if I am able to play earlier then that, then I’ll be over the moon.”James said Lee would join the Australian s before the fourth one-day international in Abu Dhabi, and be free to to train with the squad. “Brett Lee has progressed well in his recovery from ankle surgery while in South Africa over the past fortnight,” James said. “Should his progress be far enough advanced, he may be considered for selection in the remaining matches of the one-day series and the Twenty20 match in Dubai.”

AB de Villiers v AB McDonald
In the battle of the ABs it was de Villiers who came out on top whenhe smashed the first four balls from a McDonald over for sixes. Thetension was rising around Newlands as McDonald ran in for the fifthball as the fans wondered if they were about to witness the firsttimes six sixes had been hit in a Test over. de Villiers charged downthe pitch but it wasn’t to be; he dug out a yorker and took a single,and the over ended up costing 25. It was the everbowled by an Australian in Test cricket and the greatest number ofruns South Africa had ever picked up from a Test over. Remarkably, itfinished with a wicket when McDonald knocked over Albie Morkel fromthe sixth ball.One extra record
Australia conceded 62 extras and it was the most they had ever given away in a Test innings. Brad Haddin had a tough time and let through 19 byes and there were also 24 leg-byes, 10 no-balls and 9 wides. Theprevious Australian record was 52 extras, which they conceded lastyear against India in Bangalore, as well as at the Gabba in the 1982-83 Ashes. But they were well short of the all-time record of 76, which India gave away against Pakistan in Bangalore just over a year ago.Kat chases tail
As South Africa pushed past 400 and then 500 and then 600, onlookerswere wondering how long it would be before Simon Katich was given abowl. Katich had wrapped up the tail in Durban but with the specialistlegspinner Bryce McGain in the side – even though he was struggling -Ponting decided against handing the ball to his left-arm part-timer.Until the 150th over. And when he did, Katich picked up an lbwdecision in his first over. It was overturned on review but inKatich’s second over he collected two wickets and Australia closed outthe South African innings soon after.Rook takes bishop
The fanatical fans competition was back at Newlands and after adisappointing response from the Durban supporters last Test the Cape Town outfits were a cut above. The three finalists included two separate teams dressed up as castles – clearly sucking up to the lager company who sponsored the competition – and a pair of men dressed aspriests and holding a JP Duminy sign (Duminy’s surname translatesroughly as priest). In the end it was the castles who took the prize.

England are hopeful that Andrew Strauss will recover from a slight hamstring strain he picked up during the Twenty20 international against West Indies in time to lead the side in the opening ODI, in Guyana, on Friday.Strauss underwent a scan on Tuesday which showed no major damage, but couldn’t take a full part in the team’s fitness session. However, he still has two more days to ensure he is able to take his place in the team for what would be his first ODI since the 2007 World Cup. Where he will bat is still unclear after he went in at No. 6 during the Twenty20 defeat on Sunday.Strauss has been rapidly shoe-horned back into the one-day plans following his quick appointment as captain in January. Given all the upheaval after Kevin Pietersen’s resignation the ECB felt they needed some stability in the captaincy of all the sides, although Strauss’s long-term future at one-day level is still uncertain.If he fails to recover in time for the opening ODI it will be interesting to see who steps into his captaincy shoes. Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff and Paul Collingwood have all captained England in ODIs and Collingwood would be the likeliest option should a stand-in be required.Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, has also been hit by a hamstring injury which he collected during the final Test in Trinidad. He missed the Twenty20, when the captaincy passed to Denesh Ramdin, but has returned to the squad for the one-day internationals.

Zimbabwe will help out Namibia with much-needed preparation for April’s ICC World Cup Qualifiers by sending their A side there next month.Zimbabwe A will play the full Namibia side in three one-day matches in mid March in Windhoek. A single Twenty20 could also be slotted on the whistle-stop tour.The ICC World Cup Qualifiers get underway on April 1 in South Africa. Apart from giving Namibia a helping hand the Zimbabweans are also looking at exposing their second-string cricketers to increased competitive games in a bid to widen their selection pool.

Australia 7 for 150 (Hussey 41) beat New Zealand 5 for 149 (McCullum 61) by 1 run
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Nathan Bracken inspired Australia – and weary Twenty20 bowlers the world over – with a sequence of 10 consecutive dot balls from which New Zealand never fully recovered. A late Brendon McCullum onslaught positioned the visitors for a charge at Australia’s modest 7 for 150, but Bracken bookended the innings with a canny final over that left the tourists stranded a run short.Bracken became just the second Australian bowler to register a maiden in Twenty20 internationals with his first over to Peter Fulton, then proceeded to tie down the lively McCullum for a further four deliveries before conceding a run. He was later summoned by his captain Brad Haddin to close out the New Zealand innings, and he did not disappoint.The tourists might have lost by a run, but only did so when Nathan McCullum blasted a four and a six from Bracken’s final two deliveries when the match was all but gone. Prior to those two balls, Bracken had conceded no worse than a single. He finished with figures of 0 for 16; enough to earn the Man-of-the-Match honours.New Zealand’s run-chase began disastrously, when Martin Guptill – just two days removed from a breathtaking half-century at the Gabba – fell to Peter Siddle (2 for 24) in the first over of the innings. Siddle struck again with the wicket of Fulton in his next over and, combined with precise spells from Bracken and David Hussey, served to restrict the tourists to a steady run-rate through the early-to-middle overs.The match appeared headed for an insipid finale until the the New Zealanders roared back into the contest by taking 20 from James Hopes’ final over – McCullum proving the chief destroyer. But a suffocating closing spell from Bracken and a bizarre catch to Adam Voges ensured the result fell the way of the hosts.Voges’ effort to remove the dangerous McCullum (61 from 47) will grace highlight reels for years to come when, in the penultimate over of the match, he claimed the ball at long-on, stumbled towards the boundary, hurled it skywards, tripped over the rope and regathered centimetres from the turf. McCullum remained at the crease to view the replay before eventually accepting his fate.Twenty20 matches are generally vibrant, high-octane affairs, but the opening stanza was decidedly subdued. The tourists countered the bright start provided by David Warner (23 from 15 balls) with a suffocating six-over period delivered by Daniel Vettori and Ian Butler – the master and the apprentice – that yielded 35 runs, and took full advantage of the holding Sydney pitch.Vettori, as has so often been the case, proved particularly troublesome for the hosts, bowling a tidy, flat line that yielded the superb figures of 1 for 23, and included the wicket of Australia’s top scorer Hussey (41 off 39). Vettori was ably supported by the debutant Butler, who finished with 1 for 30, and Iain O’Brien, who conceded 22 runs from his opening two overs but fought back for figures of 2 for 34.The Australians threatened to post a large total when Warner and Haddin (15 off 10) skipped away to a brisk start, but Tim Southee’s dismissal of the captain dampened the pace of the innings. The hosts did not clear the boundary rope until the 15th over – a criminal offence in the 20-over game – and managed only one more before the innings was out.The largest cheers were saved for the arrival of the debutant Moises Henriques to the crease, but those were soon silenced. Henriques, the New South Wales allrounder, was run-out for 1 after facing just two balls, stifling Australia’s momentum in the dash for late-innings runs.