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Paul Collingwood is expected to fly to India next month to link up with the Delhi Daredevils for the Champions League, despite recent reports that he had been seeking a release from his contract following a gruelling season in which he has been an integral member of England’s team in all three formats of the international game.Collingwood was last week given permission by the ECB to sit out three games of the current seven-match ODI series against Australia – the first England matches he has missed since the tour of the Caribbean in February. But his IPL employees have not been as lenient. Despite claims from one of his representatives that he looked “knackered” and in need of a lengthy break, the small-print of Collingwood’s Delhi contract required him to take part in the Champions League in the event of the team’s qualification.”We have been in touch with Collingwood and the response we have got from him is that he is very keen to play in the Champions League,” Amrit Mathur, the chief operating officer of the team, told Cricinfo. “Collingwood has confirmed that he will play and he is part of our 15-member squad for the tournament.”Mathur said he was aware of media reports that have suggested that Collingwood was not keen to play but added that as far as the team was concerned, there was no substance to such claims. The ECB reiterated that Collingwood has a contract with Delhi and therefore the issue was out of the board’s hands.Nevertheless, a report in The Sun last week quoted a representative as saying: “Paul is very tired, he has had a long, hard year. Frankly, he looks knackered and we’re still hoping Delhi will relent. It would be counter-productive for them to have a player who is so obviously in need of a rest.”The source added that the prize money that Collingwood stands to win is of less importance than a chance to rest up, which is ironic, seeing as Collingwood did not even take an active part in Delhi’s IPL campaign this season, having linked up with the squad for a two-week window in April ahead of England’s home Test series against West Indies.Andrew Strauss, England’s captain, also added that fatigue was an issue as the end of a hectic season drew near. “He’s got a number of niggles that could become concerns if he kept playing,” he told reporters after Australia wrapped up the series at Lord’s on Saturday. “It’s not an ideal situation, but I agree he was looking a bit exhausted which is why he has been pulled out.”England finish their ODI series against Australia at Chester-le-Street (Collingwood’s home ground) on September 20, then fly to South Africa the following day for the Champions Trophy. That ends on October 5, with the Champions League commencing three days later, and continuing right up until England set off for their winter tour of South Africa on October 30.

ScorecardAfter Ben Hilfenhaus and company, Tim Murtagh proved too much for Ravi Bopara•Getty Images

Ravi Bopara’s hopes of clinging to his Test place for the final Ashes encounter at The Oval faded further as he fell for 1 against Middlesex at Lord’s. Faced with a tricky 10 minute session before lunch on the second day, following a failure for England team-mate Alastair Cook, he couldn’t survive the session when he fenced outside off and offered a catch to second slip from his seventh ball.After spending the opening day in the field as Middlesex batted in sunshine, Bopara would have hoped for something similar when his turn came. Instead, the second morning was overcast and the ball swung, then to make matters worse he had that mini-session which top-order batsmen hate before a break.He nearly fell to his first delivery when he risked a single into the covers and Nick Compton couldn’t collect the ball cleanly. But the reprieve was short-lived when Tim Murtagh, who found movement with the new ball to take the four wickets to fall, got one to bounce a little and Bopara met it with an indeterminate poke. It was a dismissal straight out of the Ben Hilfenhaus notebook.James Whitaker, the England selector, was in attendance to witness Bopara’s latest failure to go alongside the 1 and 0 the No. 3 made at Headingley, which took his Ashes tally to 105 runs in four Tests. A score in this game appeared to be his last chance of salvation with the calls for change ringing in the selectors’ ears.Although Geoff Miller told Cricinfo that changes won’t be made just for the sake of it, Bopara has endured such a tortured period that it seems inconceivable he will bat at first drop next week. Runs here may only have clouded the issue and Alec Stewart, who averaged 43.56 in 20 Tests at No.3, said the break might be what Bopara needs.”Very few people come into a Test side and don’t get left out at some stage,” Stewart said. “In a way it can do you a little bit of good. You go back, you reassess, you learn what international cricket is about and then you come back a better and stronger player for it. If he is to be left out, it wouldn’t surprise me.”Even when he was getting his Test hundreds against the West Indies I said that he should have started off his career at No. 5 or 6. I see him as a middle order player at the moment with the ability to go up to No. 3,” he added. “Ravi will be a wonderful international cricketer. It’s tough playing against any international side. You’re playing against the very best and this is the first little hiccup of his career. If – and I underline the word if – he is left out, then he will go back to Essex and score his runs.”It was a miserable day for both Essex’s England batsmen. Cook was trapped half forward by one that swung back from Murtagh and departed for 4. Although his situation is not as dire as Bopara’s, Cook hasn’t set the world alight either in the Ashes barring his 95 at Lord’s. He top-scored with 30 in the first-innings demise at Headingley and made another 30 in the second dig, but being one of the senior batsmen in a struggling line-up he needs to pull his weight more.The Australia quicks have probed away outside off stump and exposed Cook’s technical flaws. He was twice dismissed pushing at swinging deliveries at Leeds having been pinned leg before three times earlier in the series.The double failure of the England players meant Essex went to lunch in trouble on 15 for 2 in reply to Middlesex’s 356. Gareth Berg’s 66, his third half century in three innings, had boosted the lower order before the final-wicket pair of Steven Finn and Alan Richardson secured a fourth batting point.The visitors’ position didn’t improve as Murtagh posed plenty of problems from the Nursery End. He made the ball shape away at John Maunders to take the outside edge to first slip and pinned Mark Pettini lbw when the Essex captain was caught on the crease. It was the basics of swing bowling, pitching the ball up on a good length – something else that England lacked at Headingley. For a while it looked like Bopara would get a second hit in the day.A break for rain meant Murtagh had time to recharge his batteries and kept going for 13-over spell up to tea. However, the Essex line-up found some resistance in the form of Matt Walker and James Foster to begin the rebuilding job after the failure of their Test pair.Foster was the aggressor post tea as he punched strongly off the back foot through the off side, while Walker watchfully negotiated the movement which noticeably diminished after the rain. Their stand had reached 75 when bad light, then heavy rain, forced an early close.

ScorecardYorkshire will probably have to look for either the rain or their newest batting recruit Jonny Bairstow to save them from defeat against Nottinghamshire on the final day of this match, as on current evidence none of the other top-order batsmen seem capable of doing so.Bairstow, in only his fifth championship match, stood like a giant among pygmies as fine Notts bowling scythed through his team-mates, and he emerged unbeaten from the ruins with a superb unbeaten 84 off 137 balls as his team was forced to follow on, on another day of remarkably inconsistent weather.Yorkshire began the day on a depressing 25 for 2, and the morning’s play continued this trend. The only chink of light for the home side was the innings of David Wainwright, a spin-bowling all-rounder who as yet has been unable to secure a regular place in the team. Promoted from No.9 to do the job of nightwatchman, he did his best to show his batting ability. He plays straight, and quickly made a classic drive through extra cover for four in the first over of the day, bowled by Andre Adams. He soon overtook Joe Sayers, and as the pair took the total to 61 Yorkshire’s prospects looked hopeful.Then, however, Sayers pushed at a ball from Adams, who had changed ends, outside the off stump and was caught at the wicket for 17. This began a sorry middle-order slide. Wainwright, after an innings of application, was caught at second slip off the same bowler for 29, and one run later Andrew Gale fell the same way, playing a ‘nothing’ shot. Adams’ nippy medium-pace brought him three wickets for only six runs off seven overs from the Trafalgar Square end. Gerard Brophy joined the collapse by slashing a ball from Ryan Sidebottom straight to point, and at lunch Yorkshire were facing disaster at 81 for 6.After lunch for a while, Jonny Bairstow and Tim Bresnan brought a new determined impression to the Yorkshire batting, intent on bringing about a recovery. But it took one superb ball from Sidebottom to nip their partnership in the bud, as Bresnan had no answer to a scorcher that took the edge of his bat and flew to first slip. Just after two o’clock, though, with the score 102 for 7, a heavy downpour struck the ground.In the old days, that would have been the end of play for the day. But even though most of the Scarborough ground is recognisable from photographs of the 1930s, they have recently installed new drainage, and remarkably less than two hours later the players were back on the field. Yorkshire no doubt regretted that development on this occasion. In the very first over after the break Adil Rashid had edged another fine ball from the ex-Yorkshire seamer Sidebottom, also to first slip, and Yorkshire were now down and almost out at 105 for 8.Only now did Yorkshire begin to fight back. Bairstow showed again that he has inherited the fighting spirit of his father, and in addition more patience than the famous David possessed. He waited for the right ball and hit it well, as he showed with successive cut and pulled boundaries off Adams. Matthew Hoggard also proved stubborn, and the pair added 44 before Hoggard swatted a catch into the covers.The last man Dion Kruis did even better, unfurling some unexpectedly fine strokes, especially through the covers off Franks. Helped rather than hindered by the now traditional field set to keep Bairstow away from the strike, he scored so fluently that he was to finish with 37 off 39 balls. In the meantime Bairstow reached his 50 with a superb off-driven six off Luke Fletcher, and indulged in some skilful and productive reverse sweeps, several of which ran for four.When Sidebottom returned with the second new ball, Kruis cut his first ball effortlessly for four, but later in the over edged a catch into the gully. The pair had added 82 runs to take the total to 231, and Bairstow was left stranded on 84, his career best. His career average is now 79, after five matches, and most of his runs have been scored in adversity. He is definitely a player to watch. Sidebottom, with five wickets, and Adams, with four, took the bowling honours.Yorkshire were forced to follow on, and there was time in seven overs for them to lose the wicket of Jacques Rudolph, caught at second slip in the final over aiming an irresponsible slash at a ball from Sidebottom.. Certainly Yorkshire need to demand more from this greatly talented but currently disappointing player. They will need much more discipline from their other batsmen tomorrow to save the match, if play goes the distance.

Ricky Ponting’s men will step on to Lord’s on Thursday morning feeling like the home of cricket is a little piece of Australia. It is one of the strangest quirks in Ashes history that for more than a century a small oval in St John’s Wood has been the safest place for a player wearing baggy green.In their past 27 Tests Australia have 13 wins and 13 draws, while they also celebrated from the balcony after winning the 1999 World Cup. The only blemish since 1896 came in 1934 when Bill Brown’s 105 could not stop Bradman’s XI from an innings defeat as they suffered against Hedley Verity, the left-arm spinner, who took 14 wickets in a day following rain.”There is a great feel around the place,” Ponting said. “The history that comes with this ground and the very proud record that Australia have had here for so long makes you feel good when you arrive. Already the guys in the team meeting were talking about our record here and how much everyone has been looking forward to playing here.”Nathan Hauritz and Peter Siddle saw the place for the first time on Tuesday and Siddle needed instructions to navigate from the dressing room to the field. “He didn’t know where he was going, walking around down the bottom there getting lost,” Ponting said. “I said ‘out through that door, mate’, ‘through that Long Room there’. He found his way to the nets.”Ponting is the only one of the current Australians to have any sort of scar from his experiences in the NW8 8QN postcode. His right cheek was split when a Steve Harmison bouncer bent his helmet grille in the opening stages of the 2005 encounter. Seventeen wickets fell that day and Ponting needed eight stitches, but Australia ended up winning by 239 runs, their only success of the campaign.Occasionally when he shaves Ponting notices the mark and it was only because of the sun peering through a window that it could be seen when he spoke ahead of the match. “I guess they are the battle scars you end up with after playing a sport like this for as long as I have,” he said. “I’ve got a few others as well. My fingers are not that straight. It’s part of what we do.”The greater irritation for Ponting is his name not being on the dressing-room honour board that recognises the Test hundreds of visiting batsmen. In his previous innings here he has registered 14, 4, 9 and 42 but he enters this match in superb touch after 150 in Cardiff.”It would be nice,” he said of having his name embossed on the board. “I have played two Tests here and not done very well at all. I’ve made a one-day hundred here which was a great feeling on the last tour. I’ve just got to carry on from last week.”The problem for England’s players is they all know about their opponent’s great record at headquarters, yet they aren’t supposed to bring it up. Andrew Strauss said there was no logical reason for the previous failures against Australia and he won’t mention the record to his team before the match.”The old favourites of Australian cricket really getting together and enjoying playing at the home of cricket, and being motivated and being inspired, it really holds some weight,” Strauss said. “As England players [Lord’s] inspires us but maybe because we play here often we become more used to it than the Aussies, that is one particular reason.”He joked that the personnel of both teams had changed considerably over the past hundred years but switched moods when he spoke of his desire to end the streak. “It is a new set of circumstances and a new set of people,” he said, “and hopefully that record will be set right this week.”Brown, who died last year aged 95, was the final survivor from the 1934 loss and he told the in 2005 about his Lord’s experience of 71 summers earlier. “It was the first time I’d played there and I was only 21,” he said. “I found the atmosphere very exciting as I walked down the steps and much of that was self-induced. But there was something else that struck me about the place and it came from Lord’s itself, the very heart of cricket. It was redolent of history and I felt part of it. WG Grace had walked these same steps. I’d arrived.”Unlike some of the modern “traditions” the team has developed, the Lord’s sensation has not been manufactured. The Australian XI of 2009 will be stirred by the same things that drove their predecessors to more than a century of formidable performances at their home away from home.

The Johannesburg-based Highveld Lions franchise has signed up three new players for the 2009-10 season – Zander De Bruyn, Thami Tsolekile and Ugasen Govender.de Bruyn, the allrounder who has played three Tests for South Africa, makes a return to the franchise (formerly Gauteng) after playing the last three seasons for the Warriors. He’s currently playing county cricket for Somerset.Tsolekile, the wicketkeeper who has also played three Tests for South Africa, has transferred from the Cape Cobras. Govender, a fast bowler, has moved from the Durban-based Dolphins franchise and is expected to join his new team-mates in September after his league cricket stint in the UK ends.”I am very excited about these three new signings as I know that culturally all three will fit really well into the culture we are striving for in the team,” Dave Nosworthy, the Lions head coach, said. “In the three we gain real experience and youth, whilst both Zander and Thami are also real allrounders which is an asset to any team.”I look forward to meaningful contributions and performances in the coming season, and welcome Zander, Thami, and Ugasen into our fold.”The Lions finished third last season in the SuperSport Series with two wins and six draws from ten games.

West Indies women may not have had a great World Cup in Australia, winning two of their seven games and finishing fifth, but their captain Merissa Aguilleira is confident of a much-improved performance in the upcoming women’s World Twenty20 in England.”Before we went to Australia I think we didn’t have enough games and enough practice matches,” she told Trinidad and Tobago television station CCN TV6 on Tuesday. “I think we got that here, so we’re confident that we’ll go through.”Aguilleira also lauded the West Indies coach, former Test and ODI batsman Sherwin Campbell, for the manner in which he has groomed the team. “[Sherwin] Campbell is a really good coach,” she said. “He is really persistent in what he wants us to do out there, we work hard. I think we’re gonna give him a shocker this time.”West Indies are in the same group as South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, and the tournament kicks off on June 11 at Taunton where they take on South Africa. “We’re looking at (defeating) South Africa and Australia, because we have to beat two teams to advance to the second round, so I’m really focussing on South Africa and Australia,” Aguilleira said. “We’re just making sure we get past the first stage first.”West Indies also have the backing of former captain Stephanie Power, who led the team in 2005 World Cup. “I think they will do better than they did in the World Cup,” Power told the . “Because I’m sure when they went back to their individual countries, they were working on their shortcomings. So (coach) Sherwin (Campbell) will just have to fine tune.”They did exceptionally well in the bowling. Only the batting let them down,” Power said. “In Twenty20, it is all about runs. Wickets are a bonus.”The batting, Power believes, will be boosted by the inclusion of Juliana Nero, who has played 43 ODIs, averaging 17.66 with two half-centuries. “She (Juliana) was ranked fourth in batting in the (2005) World Cup. I expect her and Pamela Lavine, Deandra Dottin, Stacy Ann King, Anisa Mohammed, if it comes down to her (to make the runs). In the last World Cup she (Anisa) was batting 10, 11.”

Group B

James Tredwell tore through Middlesex with six wickets as Kent notched their first win of their summer campaign, winning by six wickets at Southgate. Middlesex lost Billy Godleman early, and Neil Dexter, the former Kent batsman, soon followed. Thereafter Tredwell took centre stage, picking up 4 for 2 in 12 mesmerising balls, including Phillip Hughes for 23. Hughes may not have dominated, but that his 23 was the second-highest rather told Middlesex’s sorry tale, as they were rolled for just 133. Ben Scott smacked a quick-fire 29, and Steve Finn did his best at No.11, but there was little else of substance. Kent lost four wickets in reply but were never in serious difficulty, as Darren Stevens carved five fours in his unbeaten 37.Scotland became the second Associate nation to be reminded of the class in county cricket when Warwickshire hammered them by seven wickets at Edgbaston. The tourists were rolled for a paltry 182. Only their new captain, Gavin Hamilton (51), and the Australian Cameron Borgas (59 from 83) threatened to make life difficult for Warwickshire. Boyd Rankin picked up 2 for 20 from eight highly economical overs, and there were two wickets apiece for Rikki Clarke and Keith Barker. Warwickshire set off in pursuit of 183 in a hurry – Neil Carter hammering 65 from 38 unforgiving balls – before Ian Bell calmly guided them home with 51 from 54, the home side winning in the 31st over.

Group C

Jacques Rudolph’s second hundred in a week wasn’t enough for Yorkshire whose middle and lower-order couldn’t see them across the line in their chase of 270 to beat Gloucestershire at Headingley. Craig Spearman was Gloucestershire’s anchor with a fine 92 from just 71 balls, after Kadeer Ali got the innings off to a solid start with 63. Rich Pyrah’s 4 for 54 stemmed the flow in the latter half of the innings, restricting Gloucestershire to 269. Yorkshire, however, only had Rudolph to rely on: the next highest score was Andrew Gale’s 33 at the top of the order, as Jon Lewis’s nagging seamers earned him 3 for 46 to leave the home side’s lower-order with too much to do.Mark Ramprakash’s masterful 109 went in vain as Surrey squandered a winning position to lose to Durham by one run at Chester-le-Street. Surrey needed five to win off the final over, bowled by Ian Blackwell, and just two from the last two balls. But at the other end, Grant Elliott drove straight into the waiting hands of Liam Plunkett at mid-off before Jon Batty pulled Blackwell to deep midwicket as Durham clinched a thriller. Ramprakash had appeared to put Surrey into an unassailable position when he brought up his hundred from 96 balls but, instead, he was left stranded. Durham’s 266 for 7 was set up by 61 from Phil Mustard and an unbeaten 77 from Dale Benkenstein.

Group D

Glamorgan pulled off a superb eight-wicket win at Chelmsford over the trophy-holders, Essex, chasing down 298 with overs to spare thanks to Gareth Rees’s unbeaten 123. Glamorgan’s chase was set up by Rees and Mark Cosgrove who put on 80 for the opening wicket: Cosgrove’s particularly savage 72 lasted a mere 36 balls, with 10 fours and three sixes. Mike Powell made 33 before Rees, whose hundred came from 122 balls, was joined by Tom Maynard, the son of Matthew and a batsman of great promise. Maynard propelled Glamorgan to their total with 59 from 45 balls, winning with almost four overs to spare. Essex’s 297 for 6 was set up by Varun Chopra’s 99 and 54 from Grant Flower, but they underestimated Glamorgan’s fire.Lancashire strolled past Derbyshire with embarrassing ease at Old Trafford thanks to Paul Horton (111*) and Mark Chilton (101*) who helped their side chase down 241. Horton cracked six fours in his ton but it was Chilton who really took the aggressive route, lifting two sixes along with six fours as the pair put on an unbroken and match-winning third-wicket stand of 202. Lancashire eased home with 21 balls to spare. Steve Stubbings made 50 and Wavell Hinds an entertaining 95 in Derbyshire’s 240 for 6, but Stuart Law, who left Lancashire last season, only managed 18.

Hamilton Masakadza scored a valiant fourth-innings century to lead Easterns to a tense two-wicket victory against Northerns at the Country Club in Harare. Chasing a target of 329, Masakadza struck 142 and was the eight wicket to fall with the score on 319. The No. 9 Timycen Maruma remained unbeaten on 38 and secured the victory for Easterns. Northerns, however, were on top for the better part of the contest. They were dismissed for only 207 in their first innings with Natsai Mushangw taking 4 for 40 but they took a 61-run lead by restricting Easterns to only 146 in their first innings. Admire Manyumwa took 5 for 19 and Easterns were 76 for 7 at one stage before Forster Mutizwa’s 52 lifted them over 100. Several Northerns’ batsmen got starts in the second innings but only Cephas Zhuwawo got past fifty. However, despite Shingirai Masakadza’s 5 for 102, Northerns managed 267 and left Easterns needing the highest total of the match for victory. In the end, the task was not beyond Hamilton.A commanding bowling performance from Centrals’ bowlers helped set up a comfortable nine-wicket victory against Westerns at the Harare Sports Club. Freedom Takarusenga was the only batsman to pass 20 in Westerns’ first-innings. He scored 65 as Taurai Muzarabani took 4 for 46 to help dismiss Westerns for 145 in the 48th over. Centrals strengthened their advantage through half-centuries from Malcolm Waller and Ed Rainsford and useful lower-order contributions led them to 325, securing a lead of 180. Rainsford wrecked Westerns’ second innings with the new ball, taking 6 for 34, and kept them to only 201. His superb performance left Centrals’ batsmen with a meagre 22 to chase in the final innings.

Dwayne Bravo’s surgically-repaired ankle has been deemed too fragile for West Indies’ Test series in England, but strong enough to withstand the rigours of Twenty20 cricket. Bravo, speaking prior to boarding a Durban-bound flight on Tuesday, confirmed he will represent the Mumbai Indians in the IPL while his West Indian team-mates play two Tests against England.”This is a situation forced on me,” Bravo told Cricinfo. “It is not a decision I made. It was made by the [West Indies] team medical staff and the selectors. The situation is that I have been advised by doctors to get my ankle stronger before I can play five-day cricket. The plan is to join the [West Indian] team in England when the one-day series begins.”Bravo, who played all five one-day internationals against England in the recently-completed series in the Caribbean, insists his appearance in the IPL is not related to the simmering feud between the West Indies board and its players. “I think everyone knows that Test cricket is the most important,” he said. “Everyone wants to play it.”That, though, contrasts with the views expressed by the all-rounder in an interview published last week, during which he spoke of the conflict experienced by West Indian players in deciding whether to tour England or play in the IPL. Speaking a day after his captain, Chris Gayle, hinted at a possible player boycott of the fifth one-day international in St Lucia, Bravo expressed dissatisfaction with the WICB for organising the tour of England, which overlaps with the IPL, without consulting players. The tour was arranged at short notice after the withdrawal of Sri Lanka – whose hand was forced when 13 players demanded they be allowed to play in the IPL – and falls outside the Future Tours Programme.”[The] England tour came up, where the WICB went on and signed that tour without letting WIPA know anything about the tour,” Bravo told Caribbeancricket.com. “We signed our contract to go and represent our IPL team, now we are in a position where we have to choose whether to go and play IPL for the first six weeks or go to England.”It is a tricky situation. If we choose to go and play IPL, they will say why the players, they want their money. We will be going to play in England so I don’t know where it came about from, but it is something we need to look at in the near future and see how the board do things. They have to understand that the Sri Lanka players pull out [of the England tour] because their board are aware that the key players have IPL contracts and therefore they allow the players to get income another way.”In the same interview, Bravo revealed he had not been paid by the WICB during his enforced eight-month lay-off after undergoing surgery to his damaged left ankle. “It is just upsetting,” he said. “The little bit that I’ve made representing the West Indies for the last four years, I have to live off it.”Bravo was in a more conciliatory mood this week when discussing the circumstances under which he will be allowed to play for the Mumbai Indians while his West Indian teammates are engaged in a Test series in England.”The tour is going on and the West Indies will take part in that series [in England],” he said. “I am excluded because of my situation with the injury. I have played five one-day games for the West Indies but I am yet to play in any longer forms of the game. I still am experiencing side effects [with the ankle]. I am trying to monitor it as best I can and work with the physio and the team doctor to get myself 100 percent fit. I will look to play in the Test series against Bangladesh later in the year and the one-day series in England before that.”Bravo, rated one of international cricket’s premier all-rounders, was reported last year to have signed a contract worth between $200,000 and $250,000 with the Mukesh Ambani-owned Mumbai franchise, and rewarded them with 11 wickets at 21.09 and 178 runs at 29.66. So desperate were they for him to play a ninth and final game in 2008 – against Deccan Chargers on May 18 – the Indians agreed to fly Bravo to Jamaica via private jet to allow him to play the first Test against Australia beginning at Sabina Park four days later.Mumbai might opt for a similar course of action in 2009, should Bravo prove similarly valuable in South Africa. The first match of the one-day series between the West Indies and England will be played at Headingley on May 21; the same day the Indians are due to play Delhi in their final home-and-away match of the IPL season.Meanwhile, Kolkata coach John Buchanan has been informed Gayle, the West Indies captain, will be available for the first seven games of this year’s IPL. Should that eventuate, Gayle will remain in South Africa until May 1, and join the West Indies ahead of the first Test at Lord’s, which begins on May 6.”As far as we know we’ve got him for about the first seven games here,” Buchanan said. “We expect him at this stage to be leaving us in the first couple of days of May, so that under the current schedule means he should play about seven games for us this time.”

Daniel Vettori will miss the Christchurch ODI, as he has left for Auckland to be with his wife Mary. The Vettoris are expecting the birth of their first child later today. Brendon McCullum will lead the side in Vettori’s absence, and offspinner Jeetan Patel will replace Vettori.It has been anticipated for some time now that Vettori could miss one or two games. But he travelled to Christchurch with the team before getting the news that the birth was expected today.New Zealand go into the Christchurch ODI needing to win, to make sure they go to Hamilton with a chance to still win the series. They lost the first game, and the second was rained out.