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Australia’s Centre of Excellence in Brisbane will be expanded with a A$26m state-of-the-art athlete centre. The facility, which will be built at Allan Border Field, will offer virtual reality tools for decision making and biomechanical equipment for technique analysis, research and skill development.The refurbished home of the Centre of Excellence programme, formerly known as the Academy, will also have sports medicine, injury rehabilitation and physical preparation units. James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, said the facility would boost the country’s teams in their pursuit of the world’s No. 1 rankings.”We believe that this will help us achieve this vision in the long-term future,” he said. The federal government has provided a $17.5m grant for the revamp while the Queensland government has given $5m, with Cricket Australia contributing the rest.The Centre of Excellence men’s programme began at the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide in 1988 and has produced 65 national representatives. More than 400 players, coaches and support staff, including those from the women’s elite squad, attended events at the venue last year.

Chris Jordan, Surrey’s highly-rated 21-year-old allrounder, could miss the first 10 weeks of the season due to a back problem.He is two weeks into a six-week rehabilitation programme, after which he will be carefully guided back to match fitness. Surrey have said it could be up to a further six weeks before Jordan is fit enough for selection, but he may be available within a fortnight of the rehab programme ending.Barbados-born Jordan was troubled by the back problem last season after suffering a stress fracture earlier in his career. Chris Adams, the Surrey coach, said they will be patient with his recovery. “We’re working towards his career and improving his career from this point in time. He carries the tag of great potential. It’s been a really frustrating time for him, frustrating for us as well. We certainly want that talent out on the field.”But let’s hope that we’ve finally got to the bottom of something. His bulging disc through this period will have time to rest but I’m quietly confident that we are doing everything we possibly can now.”

Scorecard
S Badrinath and Abhinav Mukund put the Bengal attack to sword with a 127-run stand•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

As in the previous year, Tamil Nadu brushed aside the challenge of Mumbai in the quarter-finals and set up a semi-final clash with Madhya Pradesh. As the margin of defeat suggests, it was a thoroughly dominant performance from Tamil Nadu, with the newcomer Murthy Prabhu making as significant a contribution as the established names such as S Badrinath, Abhinav Mukund and L Balaji.After Mumbai chose to field, Tamil Nadu’s openers M Vijay and Srikkanth Anirudha provided a solid platform and handed over the reins to the middle order at 87 for 2 in the 18th over. Then the pair of Badrinath and Mukund combined for a 127-run stand that put Tamil Nadu on course for a big total. Badrinath capitalised on a life given on 44 by Murtuza Hussain, and slammed four sixes on the way to his fourth List A century, while Mukund made a more patient 80. By the time Mukund perished in the 41st over, the innings had developed enough momentum to steam past the 300-run mark, with K Vasudevadas providing the impetus along with the rampant Badrinath.A target of 303 has proven gettable in this day and age, but Tamil Nadu’s attack had no plans of letting the Mumbai batsmen heap such ignominy on them today. Balaji tormented Mumbai throughout the innings, and struck crucial body-blows to remove Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma and Ajit Agarkar. At the other end, Prabhu wove a web around the middle-order with a spell that left Mumbai humbled. Sushant Marathe’s 64 ensured that they at least reached three-figures, but once he fell to Prabhu’s wiles, it was only a matter of time before an early finish.
Scorecard
A handful of Kolkata Knight Riders team-members announced their form ahead of the IPL, but it was Shreevats Goswami who took the headlines as Bengal came to the party in a big way, to shut Saurashtra out of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Vadodara.Before the batsmen took over, Bengal’s fast bowlers set up the dominance with a laudable performance. Ranadeb Bose was at the forefront, striking early to remove Chirag Pathak and delivering economical figures of 1 for 37. Laxmi Ratan Shukla then took over the baton, keeping the runs down and striking thrice. In the meantime, Cheteshwar Pujara struck a sublime ton to take his side to a respectable score. Sagar Jogiyani provided the ideal foil as Pujara took centre-stage, striking ten fours to all corners of the ground, in addition to a six.The target of 256 should have made a meek batting line-up sweat but, on the day, Bengal made it look like a walk in the park. Arindam Das got out after a strong start, before Shreevats Goswami and Sourav Ganguly unleashed mayhem to put the innings into overdrive. All the bowlers suffered as Goswami smashed eleven fours and seven sixes around the Moti Bagh Stadium in a dominant display. It took the class of Ganguly to match the brilliance of Goswami’s innings shot for shot, as he finished with five fours and an equal number of sixes. The size of the target was the only constraint as the game ended in the 41st over with Goswami, a run away from 150 and Ganguly 13 short of a ton.The semi-finals on Saturday will have Bengal taking on Karnataka in Vadodara, while Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh will face off in Rajkot.

Trinidad and Tobago required less than an hour to clean up the Leeward Islands lower order and register their first outright victory in the tournament at the Foursquare Oval. Starting the day on 115 for 5, needing another 87 runs to win, Leewards collapsed to 156 all out in 15.3 overs with the tournament’s leading wicket-taker Imran Khan taking 4 for 35. Omari Banks and Wilden Cornwall batted comfortably to take Leewards to 132 for 5 before Banks was caught by Jason Mohammed at mid-wicket off legspinner Imran. That dismissal marked the beginning of Leewards’ eventual demise, in a game in which they won first innings points and led for most of three previous days.Fast bowler Tino Best produced a memorable spell to help Barbados beat Windwards Islands at the Kensington Oval. Best picked up 5 for 41, as Windwards, chasing 273 runs for victory, were bowled out for 174. Beginning the day on 250 for 4, Barbados declared their second innings on 292 for 7, about 55 minutes after the scheduled start. However, Barbados were under siege, when Andre Fletcher joined captain Devon Smith, and added 122 for the second wicket either side of carrying Windwards to lunch on 54 for 1. However, after they departed for half-centuries, Best pulled the choke. Kevin Stoute picked up his third wicket, of Kenroy Peters, to formalise the result soon after tea.Barbados captain Ryan Hinds was delighted with the win and praised Best’s efforts. “We have a number of match-winners in our team, and Tino is one of them,” Hinds told . “I thought it was a great cricket game. We fought all the way and I thought the guys rallied well under the pressure, and play good team cricket.”It was a pretty good pitch. It played well on all four days. I thought we batted really well, particularly in the second innings, and we came back [on Monday] and everything fell into place.”

Match facts

Thursday, February 11
Start time 14.00 (0100 GMT)Mushfiqur Rahim has rescued Bangladesh in several matches•Getty Images

Big Picture

As aficionados of crime fiction know, for a narrative to be gripping, you need a good twist, something this series has sorely lacked. Despite missing several important players, New Zealand have swept past Bangladesh with ease in each of the matches so far. Coach Mark Greatbatch could not have asked for a simpler initiation to his stint in the top job – his charges have already won the series with minimum fuss, and New Zealand have also managed to blood newcomers ahead of tougher contests against Australia. Completing a clean sweep in Christchurch on Thursday will be the cherry on top for the new regime.The tracks in New Zealand have neutralised Bangladesh’s primary weapon – spin – forcing the visitors to use a three-pronged pace attack, which has proved less effective, especially with Mashrafe Mortaza absent. The wretched form of key middle-order batsmen, Mohammad Ashraful and Shakib Al Hasan, who have scraped 14 runs between them in two ODIs, is another huge setback to Bangladesh’s chances of winning their first game in New Zealand. Bangladesh fans looking for crumbs will take heart from 20-year-old Shafiul Islam’s performances, topping the wickets chart after two matches.For New Zealand, one area where their captain Daniel Vettori wants improvement is the death bowling – Bangladesh clubbed 92 runs in their final 10 overs on Monday, despite already having lost six wickets. Tim Southee will have to shoulder some of that responsibility on Thursday, but he won’t have pleasant memories of Christchurch after being slammed for 105 runs by India in his previous ODI there.

Form guide (most recent first)

New Zealand WWWWL
Bangladesh LLLLL

Watch out for

Andy McKay got his first international game last week at the ripe old cricketing age of 29, and has impressed the team management with his pace, clocking 147kph in the first one-dayer. In the second ODI in Dunedin, he showed off his control, sending down a first spell that choked the Bangladesh top order: 7-3-4-2.A team whose batting regularly resembles a house of cards, has had to thank Mushfiqur Rahim for saving them from utter embarrassment with his lower-order efforts. His fire-fighting skills were on display in Dunedin as well, where he made a gutsy 86 after the team was floundering at 46 for 6.

Team news

Daryl Tuffey has been left out due to a hamstring strain, and Nathan McCullum has been drafted into the squad. He is unlikely to get a look-in, though, with Southee expected to take Tuffey’s place.New Zealand: (probable) 1 Brendon McCullum (wk), 2 Peter Ingram, 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 James Franklin, 6 Neil Broom, 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Ian Butler, 11 Andy McKay.
Bangladesh have yet to announce their side for the final ODI. Opener Junaid Siddique flew in from home on Sunday, so he could take Imrul Kayes’ spot.Bangladesh: (probable) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Junaid Siddique/Imrul Kayes, 3 Mohammad Ashraful, 4 Aftab Ahmed, 5 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 8 Naeem Islam, 9 Shahadat Hossain, 10 Shafiul Islam, 11 Rubel Hossain.
“You need to have multiple guys who can bowl at the death. You almost want all your seamers to [be able to] bowl then, and it’s a real focus area to improve on.”

“We are bowling well with the new ball but we need a lot of improvement in our batting, and our fielding.”

The Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara has replaced Yuvraj Singh as the captain of Kings XI Punjab for this year’s IPL. Speculation was rife over the past few weeks in India that Sangakkara was the man to take over the captaincy and Anil Srivatsa, the franchise’s chief executive officer, confirmed the news today.”Kumar Sangakkara is the new captain of Kings XI Punjab. We are hoping for good things to come out of it,” he told reporters in New Delhi.Under Yuvraj’s captaincy in the inaugural IPL in 2008, Punjab had qualified for semi-finals. But in the second edition, held in South Africa last year, they failed to make it to the last four. Yuvraj was Punjab’s highest run scorer in 2009 with 340 at 28.33, with two half-centuries, but that was not enough to lift their fortunes.Srivatsa said the move would not take away from Yuvraj’s importance as a star player, and that on the contrary the management hoped it would bring forth more runs from the allrounder. “Being taken off the leadership role does not diminish Yuvraj’s standing in the team. Yuvraj’s inputs are vital for us,” he said. “He has done well for the team in the past two seasons and he has one more year with us. He did his job well enough. This has got nothing to do with all this.”Sangakkara said he had spoken to Yuvraj immediately after being told about the change of leadership. “I have enjoyed playing under Yuvraj, he is a very able captain. When everything was not concrete, I spoke to him and after that I decided that it was the right time to take up [the] captaincy.”I don’t think it would cause any problem. He is a very good friend. I had a long chat with him on this, everything was done very transparently. Moreover, Yuvraj is the most important player in our side. Any IPL team will be lucky to have him. He can change a match just like that. He is a matchwinner.”Sangakkara was second to Yuvraj in South Africa with 332 runs at 30.18, with two half-centuries.

The second ODI of Sri Lanka’s India tour, on December 18, has been shifted to Nagpur from the original venue, Visakhapatnam, following concerns over security arrangements. Visakhapatnam has been in the eye of a storm due to protests by students and activists at the federal government’s decision to create a new state in the northern region of the state of Andhra Pradesh.”The prevailing situation is such that all the city police are deployed in the maintenance of regular law and order, and to conduct the match in ordinary circumstances we need to deploy 80% of the city force,” said Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner Sambhasiva Rao. “We have mentioned it to organising locals here that it not possible for us to commit any amount of force for the conduct of the match at this stage.”The match in Nagpur will be a day-night affair, said the Indian board.

Australia will be pushing for another innings victory in Adelaide after Shane Watson and Simon Katich took them to 174 without loss on the second day. They remain 277 runs behind West Indies, but the coach Tim Nielsen hopes his men will keep the visitors in the field for as long as possible.”We need to make sure we set a platform and I suppose the best way to do that for us is to aim to win by an innings,” Nielsen said. “[We need to] make a big enough score that we put them under huge pressure in the second innings that they’ve got to survive to get past us rather than having a chance to put us under pressure on the fifth day.”The wicket’s still playing well, but we saw a couple bounce and spin from big Sulieman Benn. As the game goes on, as is traditional here in Adelaide, the wicket will start to go a little bit up and down and we expect it to spin. The big thing is that we don’t get too impatient early in the game. The game moves quickly in the last half because the wicket starts to change a bit.”Brendan Nash, who compiled a patient 92, remained hopeful that West Indies could provide a surprise victory and send the series to a decider in Perth. However, he said it would be a challenge for his bowling colleagues to take 20 wickets within the next three days on a surface that was playing so well.”It’s looking pretty good,” Nash said. “The Australian openers came out and batted quite well. I didn’t think we bowled that poorly to be honest. The last little bit maybe not so great but it’s going to be one of those wickets where we have to get their batsmen hitting to our fielders more so than to the gaps and try and restrict the boundaries. That’s going to be our game-plan looking forward.”

Match facts

Tuesday, October 27
Start time 14.30 local (07.30 GMT)
Shakib Al Hasan will continue to lead Bangladesh in the absence of Mashrafe Mortaza•Getty Images

Big Picture

The third bilateral series between the two teams this year in 2009 illustrates just how the game is suffering from overkill, with ODIs being the preferred format. That won’t matter much to Bangladesh – with three series wins on the trot, they are ready for five more ODIs at home to Zimbabwe – whom they have beaten in six of their nine ODIs this year.Though that makes poor reading for the visitors, the recent return of former players to key coaching and administrative roles, a restructured domestic format and the prospect of increased international commitments – they have an ODI series against South Africa next month – bodes well. Heath Streak has joined the support staff and Alistair Campbell has come out of the cold and has been appointed chairman of selectors. Their ultimate goal is to get Zimbabwe playing Tests again, and continued success in ODIs is certainly a step in the right direction.The signs were evident in their 4-1 walloping of Kenya, but it will need a bigger step-up when they take on opposition against whom they have won just four of their previous 20 matches. Captain Prosper Utseya will look to avoid a repeat of the last tour when they got off to a winning start but ended up on the losing side. He hopes for an improved showing this time around, not just from the batsmen who will bank on their experience of playing the Bangladesh spinners but also the bowlers who would have benefitted from Streak’s presence.Watch out for:Picked in the ICC Test Team of the Year as well as being named international player of the year by Wisden Cricketer Magazine, Shakib Al Hasan, has been one of the consistent performers for Bangladesh in ODIs as well. He was handed the captaincy in the West Indies after Mashrafe Mortaza’s injury and, in the latter’s prolonged absence, has retained it for this series. It has not appeared to be a burden for him – his bowling has remained impressive and he seems to have improved his batting.The Bangladesh spinners proved to be the difference in the series in August and they would be even more of a threat in home conditions. Zimbabwe’s batsmen will need all the experience they have picked up in recent encounters to tackle the slow bowlers led by Abdur Razzaq, who returns after a hamstring injury.Brendan Taylor, who missed out during Zimbabwe’s last trip to Bangladesh, has been in top form for Zimbabwe. Having finished the third-highest scorer in the series in Zimbabwe with 193 from five matches at 38.60, he announced himself in Bangladesh with a superb 139 in the last tour game against the Bangladesh Cricket Board XI.All eyes will be on former captain Tatenda Taibu, who will look to put behind him all the off-the-field troubles that kept him away from international cricket albeit for a brief period. Taibu and Zimbabwe have another opportunity, and what better way to turn the corner than being up against a familiar foe.

Team News”

Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Junaid Siddique, 3 Mohammad Ashraful, 4 Raqibul Hasan, 5 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 6 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 7 Mahmudullah, 8 Naeem Islam, 9 Rubel Hossain, 10 Abdur Razzak 11 Nazmul Hossain/Mahbubul Alam.Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Chamu Chibhabha, 3 Forster Mutizwa, 4 Brendan Taylor, 5 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 6 Stuart Matsikenyeri, 7 Charles Coventry, 8 Graeme Cremer, 9 Prosper Utseya (capt), 10 Ray Price, 11 Kyle Jarvis

Stats

• The highest-ever individual ODI score was equalled when these two teams met in August. Charles Coventry carted the Bangladesh bowlers to all parts of the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on his way to an unbeaten 194. Surprisingly, he still ended on the losing side as another statistic played its part: his knock was the sixth-highest in the terms of percentage of the team total in a completed innings.
• Tamim Iqbal has been Bangladesh’s highest run-getter since January 2008 with 974 at 27.83, but has struggled in nine innings this year.
• Shakib Al Hasan is 96 adrift of reaching the 2000-run mark in ODIs.
• With an average of 31.50 against Bangladesh, Brendan Taylor goes into this series statistically as Zimbabwe’s best batsman.

Quotes

“Our strengths are almost equal. A mistake could prove very costly.”
Shakib Al Hasan believes Bangladesh cannot afford to let their guard slip“Playing any home team is tough and we will probably start as the underdogs.”

Essex batsman John Maunders will stay with the county until the end of the 2010 domestic season after signing a one-year extension to his current contract.”We are delighted John has decided to extend his stay with Essex, he is a popular member of the team and he put in strong performances this season and gave some very good contributions in the Pro40 and the County Championship,” Essex coach Paul Grayson told the county’s website. “We hope he has a good winter, and comes back next year ready for the challenge ahead.”Maunders moved to Essex in 2007 after being released by Leicestershire and has scored 560 runs at an average of 32.94 in the Championship for them.