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Brothers in arms: Stuart MacGill says he can help a fatigued Shane Warne © Getty Images

Stuart MacGill, the Australian legspinner, has urged the national selectors to persist with him in a bid to prolong Shane Warne’s career. He also admitted that the realisation that his days as an Australia cricketer were numbered had added a sense of urgency to his performance in the first Test against Bangladesh last week.”I think that if you ever — and there’s not many of them — pick up little troughs and plateaus in Shane’s career they’re predominantly based around workload … They’re all following hard seasons or are either immediately before or after operations,” MacGill told . “And in all of those situations there would have been definitely plenty of scope to play a second wrist spinner and I think that you can maybe avoid those situations completely if you do share the pain a bit. It’d work out great for me because I’d play more and probably will stretch Shane’s career a little bit, too. I don’t necessarily see there being a huge difference between the end of Shane’s career and the end of my career.”MacGill gave the example of the Dhaka Test, when Warne was forced to leave the field on the first day with a shoulder strain. “In the Ashes everybody was looking at Shane’s 40 wickets, which is an amazing achievement but if you look further than that maybe the last week was a physical manifestation of that workload,” he said. “(It was) the end of a very, very long season and maybe if I had played a couple of more times in between it would have been avoided.Despite an impressive 191 wickets at 27.35 from 39 Tests, MacGill has found it hard to cement a place in the side. With Warne coming back extremely well since his one-year ban – he picked up a record 96 wickets in 2005 – the 35-year old New South Wales bowler has found himself spending entire series on the bench or carrying drinks. “It’s not as if you’re going to be saving me up for later,” he said. “We’re similar ages and we’ve both got other things to do, so it would be great to be used at the moment.”MacGill also admitted that he knew this tour of Bangladesh could be his last. “I certainly can’t see another Australian tour for me, unless I miraculously hit one-day cricket,” he said.”The next scheduled tour is Zimbabwe in the middle of next year, which I won’t be part of (because of a political boycott). From there, there is a Pakistan tour the year after, so this would be my last Australian tour, I would say. The Ashes summer is there but I don’t know when I am going to be used, so you don’t know what’s going to happen. I have got to make sure I cash in in these games because I might not get another Test.”The second Test against Bangladesh starts at Chittagong today.

Too much one-day cricket is pulling down Adam Gilchrist © Getty Images

Adam Gilchrist cannot wait for the Ashes to start. “I would have been pretty keen to get into first-class cricket now,” he said, just as the NatWest Series ended, and a day before the NatWest Challenge one-dayers against England get underway. “With all due respect to the schedules and commitments every country has to the ICC’s five-year program, there’s been a lot of one-day cricket already,” Gilchrist is quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press.”With the heightened awareness and eagerness everyone has for the Ashes, it would have been ripe for the picking to start on first-class cricket now,” said Gilchrist. “Everyone now is so keen for the Ashes – players and spectators. “The excitement level and anticipation for this series is just reaching an all-time high and that’s been increased again as a result of that (NatWest Series final) tie.”However, Gilchrist realised the need to play one-day internationals. “We play a lot of one-day cricket in Australia and that brings in a lot of revenue and we’re reliant on that,” he said. “So I can understand England wanting to cash in on the world champs being here. We’ll just have to make sure we get up for these games and get into the stuff that everyone’s waiting for.”Gilchrist guarded against reading too much into the result of the NatWest Challenge – whichever way it went. The final outcome of this series might not mean that one team is dominant or superior over the other,” Gilchrist said. “It might have just been that you happened to get your interpretation of the tactics or rule changes more right than the other, and we’ll all be learning.”When you think about what we’re doing, we’re totally changing the rules of cricket by bringing a 12th player into the game,” said Gilchrist, stressing that the innovations could make a significant difference. “There’s some pretty significant rule changes, and it could just be luck of the draw how you come out of it at the other end.”

Live scorecard

Jacques Kallis drives on his way to 92© AFP

Jacques Kallis fell a couple of muscular drives short of becoming the first man since Donald Bradman to score centuries in five consecutive Test matches as South Africa dominated the opening day of the series against New Zealand at Westpac Park in Hamilton. Kallis’s 92 was buttressed by a classy 72 from the other Jacques, Rudolph, with Gary Kirsten – who played some superb cuts and drives off Daniel Vettori – providing a stabilising hand in the final session. When stumps were drawn, South Africa were 279 for 4, with Paul Adams, the nightwatchman, keeping Kirsten company.The highlight of the day’s play was the 132-run partnership for the third wicket, after both Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs had gifted Vettori their wickets with injudicious shots. While Jacques and Jacques were at the crease, the shot selection was tremendous, the concentration levels unwavering, and New Zealand’s dejection palpable.Kallis slowed down after Rudolph departed, and was dismissed a quarter of an hour before stumps, hooking Jacob Oram to Daryl Tuffey at deep fine leg. Neither Kallis, nor Kirsten at the non-striker’s end, observed Oram gesturing for two men to be placed on the fence for the shot, and Kallis insouciantly dropped the ball into Tuffey’s hands (271 for 4).Torrential rain had ruined the strip originally chosen for the game, and when play started on a pitch right at the edge of the square, it appeared as though it had been airlifted from the subcontinent – deep brown and with not a hint of live grass. New Zealand gave Test debuts to Michael Papps and Brendon McCullum, and included two spinners in their endeavour to win a first ever series against South Africa.After a hesitant start that included streaky shots through the slip cordon, Gibbs and Smith took charge. Gibbs stroked two superb cover-drives off Tuffey and after 12 overs marked by little penetration, Fleming tossed the ball to Vettori. He settled into a probing line and length straight away, varying his flight to keep the batsmen guessing.Smith decided to take the initiative after drinks, coming down the track to smash a delivery over midwicket and then rocking back to place another through backward point.Gibbs brought up the 50 with a guide past gully, and a top-edged pull over the keeper for four, but just when it all appeared rosy, Vettori struck. Smith was enticed forward by a flighted delivery, and his neither-here-nor-there chip found Oram at midwicket (51 for 1). He made 25.The batsmen then went into hibernation for almost half an hour as Vettori and Chris Cairns dried up the runs, supported by Fleming’s restrictive fields. Gibbs finally jolted South Africa out of their stupor with a magnificent straight six off Vettori, before falling to one of the worst deliveries sent down all morning. A hit-me ball wide outside off stump, and Gibbs (40) hit it alright, straight to Scott Styris at cover (79 for 2).Rudolph and Kallis regained some lost ground with some pleasing strokes just before lunch, with Kallis clearing the rope twice as Paul Wiseman wasn’t allowed to settle. After the interval, both men played some glorious strokes while dismantling a mediocre bowling attack.Fleming opted for pace to try and force a breakthrough, perhaps hoping that Cairns and Tuffey might get the ball to reverse swing. But there was little movement, in the air or off the pitch, and a flick off the pads from Kallis when Cairns overpitched set the tone for the session.

Daniel Vettori struck early, but could not take complete advantage of the turning track© AFP

Rudolph uncorked a superb cover-drive off Tuffey, and followed it up with a contemptuous pull in front of square. And when Kallis slammed three fours in one Tuffey over – on and off-drives, followed by a cracking square cut – to bring up the 50 partnership, Fleming knew that the gamble had failed.Vettori came on, and Rudolph said hello with a sumptuous square-drive for four. In keeping with the spirit of change, Oram had come on at the other end, but Kallis met him with a fortuitous edge for four – the slips had long since scattered – and a savage pull that cleared the fence at square leg.Rudolph had his own moment of good fortune, edging Vettori past slip for four, but Dame Luck had nothing to do with the stunning straight six with which he reached his 50. A cute late cut demoralised New Zealand further, even as Kallis continued to cover-drive like a dream at the other end.Rudolph’s dismissal, brilliantly caught low to his left by McCullum off Styris’s bowling, resulted in most of the momentum being lost, with both Kallis and Kirsten appearing content to play the waiting game in the final hour. New Zealand may have reined it back as the shadows lengthened, but South Africa had enough batting in reserve to motor out of sight on day two.

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Trent Bridge’s Weekend of Legends ended with a thrilling contest between the England Masters and their Australian counterparts. Set 249 for victory Australia were dismissed in the final over for 215, giving England the win by 33 runs.After the mid-session break England struck an early blow by dismissing Geoff Marsh for just one, Chris Lewis clean bowling him in the fourth over.The ex-Durham pairing of Dean Jones and David Boon then combined to nurse the Australians up to 58 by the end of the 15th over. Boon, in particular, looked to punish anything loose and it was with great relief that skipper Graham Gooch could relax the fielding restrictions.Gooch dropped Boon on 39 at midwicket and shortly afterwards the unfortunate bowler Peter Hartley (ex Yorks and Hants) was slogged for six by Jones.Jones reached a deserved 50 (61 mins 51 balls 8×4) with a clip to leg which also brought up the 100. His partner, on 44, tried to reach the same landmark in one go but skied Hartley to deep extra cover where Alan Wells scooped to take a low catch on the run.Dermot Reeve’s introduction to the attack met with immediate reward when he nipped one back to bowl Jones for a splendid 65.Aussies skipper Allan Border got off the mark with a trademark clip through the leg side but fell on eight when he pulled a Reeve full toss straight to Wells.Reeve, looking like Spiderman in his red and blue kit, turned Superhero when he then picked up the wickets of Tom Moody, smartly stumped by Bruce French, and clean bowled both Simon O’Donnell and Kim Hughes. Reeve’s seven overs had brought him 5-26.With 84 needed from eight overs Mike Gatting and then Derek Randall were given a bowl and Tony Dodemaide (ex Victoria and Sussex) helped himself with sixes off each of them.Captain Gooch then brought himself on and his day turned for the better when he cleaned up Ian Healy for nine and after Dodemaide hit another six he hoisted to long on where Neil Foster took the catch.In a frenzied finale Randall and then Bruce French bowled some gentle lobs but were rewarded with the wickets of Geoff Lawson and Jeff Thomson to give England victory in the last over.Earlier England overcame the loss of Graham Gooch for a duck in the first over to post 248-8, with Derek Randall top scoring with 54 and other notable contributions coming from Chris Lewis with 41, Tim Robinson (38) and Dermot Reeve (35). For the Aussies Dean Jones had most success with the ball, picking up 3-41, although both Jeff Thomson and Geoff Lawson bowled impressive spells.

Taking to Twitter, journalist Gianluigi Longari has made a midweek transfer claim as Liverpool eye Leeds United star Raphinha.

The Lowdown: Raphinha future in doubt?

The Brazilian has been heavily linked with a move away from Elland Road recently with much deliberation over the player’s various release clauses.

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Leeds have apparently inserted two release clauses in Raphinha’s contract, one worth €75 million (£63m) if they stay up this season, and one worth €25 million (£21m) if they’re relegated.

Jesse March’s side look set for a battle to keep their star attacker this season but, as explained by Longari, the great relationship between Raphinha’s camp and Leeds could potentially ease his summer exit saga.

The Latest: Liverpool in mix…

Taking to Twitter, the Italian journalist explains that Jurgen Klopp’s side are in the mix to sign Raphinha alongside Barcelona and Manchester United.

He explained:

“Excellent relationship between Raphinha camp and Leeds. The two parties will agree on an exit figure without any tension excluding the figures stipulated on clauses. Barcelona leading the race. Manchester United And Liverpool also interested.”

The Verdict: A must-win battle?

The South American, called ‘incredible’ by pundit and former Elland Road forward Noel Whelan, has apparently blown away Anfield officials who have kept close tabs on Raphinha this season (Football Insider).

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

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Much could depend on Leeds’ chances of survival, though, with it being arguably unlikely that Fenway Sports Group invest £63m into his release clause so soon after signing Luis Diaz from FC Porto for an initial £37m.

In other news: Liverpool already hold talks over £34m man as FSG eye ‘exciting’ signing, find out more here.

	Another start; another fifty and Fleming’s last © Getty Images

Had Stephen Fleming’s final Test innings been scripted for a film about his life, it would have been deemed too boringly realistic to make the final cut. He entered with the stage set for heroism and sparkled briefly as New Zealand began their long and unlikely trek towards salvation. By tea he had achieved his first aim, the 54 runs required to nudge his career average past 40, but within minutes of the resumption, he was gone – not to a sublime piece of skill from the bowler, Monty Panesar, but to yet another wafty, half-conceived flash outside off stump.That’s been the story of his career for 14 eventful, eye-pleasing, but ultimately under-fulfilling years. “It was short and wide, and I was trying to run it down to point,” said Fleming, as he reflected on the delivery that ended his 189-innings, 111-Test career. “But it was the quicker one, and it seemed to skid through, out of the rough, and hit the bottom edge of the bat. Once again, it wasn’t flamboyant, it was just another mistake that I’d have liked to get away with. But not this time.”And so he trooped off the field, applauded all the way to the boundary’s edge by the England team who had broken off their celebrations to join his ovation. At Michael Vaughan’s instigation, the players had also got together a guard of honour to welcome him to the crease, a tribute that Fleming described as “humbling”, even if – as a fellow tactician – he recognised the underlying ploy in Vaughan’s actions.”I took three or four, maybe half-a-dozen, balls to get into my innings, which was probably very smart from Michael,” said Fleming. “I regard him as a very good captain and a nice guy, and the same goes for the English side, so it was humbling. I tried to think about everything that would go on, but it’s hard to keep a lid on the emotions when you walk through a thing like that.”Ever the professional, Fleming kept his feelings in check for 103 deliveries, right up until the moment a puff of the cheeks and a guilty glance at the umpire betrayed the error that sent him on his way. “I walked off frustrated, which has happened about 50 or 60 times in my career,” he said. “I did have a wry smile at myself, thinking that was a fitting way to go. If I’d scored a hundred it would have been an anomaly. Instead it was another fifty, and there we go.”Fleming’s pregnant wife, Kelly, was among those who stood to applaud him, as Fleming at first appeared lost in his own thoughts, then belatedly lifted his head, removed his helmet and saluted all corners of the ground. “I had a lot of things to cram into 55 metres, and it seemed to happen pretty fast,” he said. “Those first 30 paces, I was just annoyed to be walking off with another start to my name. Then it was about savouring who was here, and what it was about, and enjoying the ovation. It was all just mixed emotions, which is what I’ll have for the next two or three weeks, maybe longer.”Fleming’s international retirement has been a long drawn-out process, which began when he stepped down from one-day cricket in Jamaica last April, following New Zealand’s defeat in the World Cup semi-final. It continued through to Auckland earlier on this tour, when he announced that the current Test series against England would be his last, and finally culminated in today’s anticlimactic departure.It’s a fairly open secret that this is not how he would have envisaged his final days in the game – he had designs on a final tour of England before handing the Test captaincy over to Daniel Vettori, but events overtook him and now, at the age of 35, he’s walking away for good. “The selectors seem to have their ideas of what they want,” he said darkly, when asked who he believed could fill his shoes as a No. 3 batsman. “My ideas are a lot different to the selectors.

	If I’d scored a hundred it would have been an anomaly. Instead it was another fifty, and there we go

“I loved the captaincy and everything that went along with it,” he said. “The pressure, the emotions, the ability to control a game and a group of men. That’s something I do miss and have missed, so if the opportunity with other sides, I’ll look forward to it.” His next stop is the Indian Premier League, while Nottinghamshire and Wellington also beckon. His tactical nous, not his runs, are what he will be remembered for, and in that regard, he might not be quite finished yet.Regardless of the unspoken grievances, Fleming was asked if he would leave the game satisfied with his contribution. “Only just,” was his disarmingly honest answer. “I am satisfied with 40 on the chest. It sets you apart, in terms of New Zealand batters anyway, but as a batsman I’ll always feel I underachieved because I couldn’t convert my starts, and I’ll never know why. Sometimes I was the master of my own failings, other times it just wasn’t meant to be.”Even if I’d converted a quarter or a half [of my fifties] I’m up into the 20-25 centuries category which, as we know, is pretty good going,” he said. “I’ll always rue that fact and wonder why, but I guess there are bigger things out there so it won’t last too long. When I take time to reflect, I’ll be satisfied to have 4 in front of my average, but it would have been nice to chalk up ten hundreds, and have a crack at saving this game.”At 222 for 5 overnight, New Zealand are not completely beaten yet, but Fleming’s role in the match is finished, and he’s seen too much in his 14-year career to start believing in miracles at this late stage. “We’ve got some batting to come but we’ve got our backs against the wall,” he said. “But that’s the way it goes. In the first innings we were going pretty comfortably … and look at my career, things go comfortably until the mistake, and then we’re in trouble.”Unfortunately four wickets in a session is trouble,” he said. “If we’d lost one or two, we’d be going into a tight final day, but as it is, it’s going to take some pretty strong resistance in the morning, and then we’ll see how we go in the afternoon. The belief would be stronger if we hadn’t lost those wickets but unfortunately the tendency of this side is to lose five or six wickets, not one or two. We’ll make England work damn hard, but we only did that in patches today.” The same, to his eternal chagrin, will also be said of his batsmanship.

Shaun Tait hopes to fire out a few South Africa batsmen early © Getty Images

Shaun Tait has shrugged off suggestions he is the weak link in Australia’s attack and remains keen to take the new ball against South Africa on Saturday. Tait said he had no interest in Daryll Cullinan’s comments that South Africa would target him for early runs.”I couldn’t care less what Daryll Cullinan or others have to say for me,” Tait told . “To be honest it doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t know him.”I suppose being the young bloke in the side coming up there’s no reason why they shouldn’t target me but I am looking forward to the match.” Tait had limited impact in Australia’s opening two World Cup matches, taking 2 for 45 against Scotland and 1 for 29 against Netherlands.He said he was disappointed by his pace so far in the Caribbean but was looking forward to challenging South Africa with the new ball. “Hopefully there will be some really quick spells coming up,” he said.”I’ve been a little bit disappointed but I suppose the different conditions, pretty hot and dry and a flat wicket, it’s probably not the ideal place to be bowling high 150s. I think it is more important [for me to bowl] when the new batsman comes in, in general, and if we get a couple of early quick wickets, [Glenn] McGrath comes on.”Tait said he wanted to remove Graeme Smith cheaply in the same way Brett Lee has in several ODIs. “[Batsmen are at their] weakest early on, especially if it’s reversing a bit it’s quite hard to pick up on these tracks so it’s quite a good time to bring me on,” he said. “I hope to do the same job Lee used to do.”Australia and South Africa each have two wins from two games. The winner of Saturday’s clash will take two points through to the Super Eights.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Sreesanth celebrates one of his six wickets © Getty Images

Normal service resumed after the blip at Jamshedpur as India completed a 5-1 series victory with an authoritative seven-wicket win in the final one-day international at Indore. Chasing 289 without Virender Sehwag and Mahendra Singh Dhoni might have seemed a daunting task but after the ease with which debutant Robin Uthappa and Rahul Dravid set up the chase, it seemed natural that India’s finishers, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina, completed the job in what is fast becoming stereotypical fashion.India’s perfectly planned chase overshadowed England’s batsmen who saved their best batting performance for last. Kevin Pietersen began the assault with an ambush that blinded India in minutes. Paul Collingwood and Geraint Jones sustained the momentum before going into overdrive in the slog as England finished on 288 with Sreesanth picking up career-best figures of 6 for 55.If England thought that Dravid and Yuvraj were the key to India’s chase, they overlooked Uthappa who went on to make 86, the highest score by an Indian on debut. Dravid and Uthappa took advantage of an inexperienced attack on a placid pitch to give India their first century opening stand of the series.Uthappa nerves, if any, would have dissipated after hitting two fours off James Anderson in the first over of the innings. Against Dravid, the inexperience of the bowlers was plain to see as they bowled full and on his pads. His first commanding stroke was a rocketing pull off Mahmood to fine leg but a perfectly balanced and wristy flick off Anderson was a sight to behold. Uthappa lost the race to fifty but caught up and overtook Dravid by clobbering Anderson’s fifth over for 15 runs.Uthappa and Dravid fell within the space of five balls after a 166-run opening stand – Uthappa caught unawares by a throw he didn’t expect to come to his end, and Dravid trapped in front by a straight delivery from Mahmood. It was England’s only window of opportunity to claw back but Yuvraj and Raina slammed it shut.During their 115-run partnership for the third wicket, they picked up singles at will with punchy drives in front of the wicket and powerful cuts and pulls on either side. The risk was non-existant and boundaries were not even needed to keep up to an asking-rate that had climbed to over six after the openers fell. The ten overs after India lost Dravid produced fifty runs and with eight wickets in hand, it was a matter of when rather than if India would win.

The impressive Robin Uthappa clips a four on his way to 86 © AFP

However, India didn’t have it this easy throughout the match. England had lost Andrew Strauss and Matt Prior in successive overs from Sreesanth when Pietersen strode to the crease at 47 for 2. After a circumspect start, he manhandled VRV Singh for 26 runs in his second over. Not satisfied with devastating one Singh, Pietersen clubbed three consecutive fours in the very next over, off RP Singh. The third Powerplay produced 54 runs and Dravid brought on his spinners to rein in the run-rate.Ramesh Powar and Yuvraj dried up the boundaries and, Pietersen struggled to maintain his skyscraper strike-rate and eventually holed out to deep midwicket. In this series, Pietersen’s scores read 46, 71, 77, 33 and his 64 today adds to the list of century opportunities gone abegging.With the innings gaining momentum, Collingwood and Jones added 40 between the 30th and 40th overs with minimum fuss. In contrast to Collingwood, who hammered RP Singh for a four and a six early in his innings, Jones faced 27 balls before finding the fence. He cut loose during the slog, bludgeoning Powar into the stands at long-on and Collingwood duplicated the stroke a ball later to bring up his fifty. Jones capitalised on VRV Singh’s lack of confidence, taking 16 runs off his seventh over, and reached his half-century with consecutive boundaries off Pathan.A flurry of wickets hampered England’s progress at the death and several batsmen offered catches to long-off and long-on to give Sreesanth six wickets, but most of the other bowlers suffered, with VRV Singh going for 73 in seven overs. The score seemed a challenging one, but for team on a run-chase roll, it turned out to be quite inadequate.

EnglandAndrew Strauss c Karthik b Sreesanth 25 (42 for 1)
Matt Prior c Pathan b Sreesanth 2 (47 for 2)
Ian Bell run out Yuvraj Singh 32 (110 for 3)
Kevin Pietersen c Uthappa b Yuvraj 64 (165 for 4)
Geraint Jones c Karthik b Sreesanth 53 (257 for 5)
Paul Collingwood c RP Singh b Pathan 64 (267 for 6)
Ian Blackwell c Raina b Sreesanth 11 (274 for 7)
Kabir ali c Rao b Pathan 1 (277 for 8)
Liam Plunkett c VRV Singh b Sreesanth 6 (288 for 9)
Sajid Mahmood c VRV Singh b Sreesanth 9 (288 all out)
India
Robin Uthappa run out Jones 86 (165 for 1)
Rahul Dravid lbw Mahmood 69 (166 for 2)
Suresh Raina b Ali 53 (281 for 3)

Confusion surrounds the proposed West Indies A tour of Sri Lanka – although Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have announced full details of the itinerary, a spokesman for the West Indies board (WICB) said that the series had yet to be confirmed.Earlier this week, SLC named a 14-man squad for the two four-day unofficial Tests and five one-day matches due to start on June 23. But in an interview with the Barbados-based Nation, Zorol Barthley, the WICB’s operations officer, said negotiations were not finished.”The tour has not been finalised,” he explained. “The dates have changed and have constantly been changing. There have been ongoing discussions. Like anything else, you just need to make sure from both ends you have covered the objectives.”The A-team tour is scheduled to precede the visit of the senior side to play two Tests and a tri-nations one-day tournament, also involving India.”There has been talk of this tour for quite a while,” Barthley continued. “We know where all the players are. There has been contact. Once things are finalised, the relevant people will be informed.”And Barthley added that it was hoped that the tour, if it goes ahead, would be the start of more regular A-team series. “We are in the process of talking to all the international bodies. We’re exchanging and trying to come up with an a calendar among ourselves as how it will be of mutual benefit.”