Several New Zealand players have allegedly hit out at a lack of communication from both John Bracewell and the selectors © Getty Images

New Zealand’s players should focus on their own performances instead of criticising the selectors and the coach John Bracewell over their handling of player axings, according to Dion Nash. The former New Zealand allrounder is now one of the selectors and although he conceded that communication had not always been at its best, he hoped the parties could foster a more amicable environment.”We’ve all been on the wrong end of something as a result of bad communication,” he told the . “At times it could have been better and dropping someone is never an easy situation. Sometimes you get communicated to but you don’t actually hear it as well.”Ultimately, as a New Zealand cricketer your future is in your own hands. If you are scoring runs and taking wickets you won’t get yourself in a position to be dropped. That’s my message back to the players that have criticised us for a lack of communication.”Nash hoped the way forward would be a more positive experience and said the selectors would express themselves better, especially when dealing with players likely to be dropped. “There’s always something to complain about in terms of communication. I’m not excusing it because we need to communicate well and clearly because it is a sensitive area.”Some guys do have marginal calls go against them and other guys get good calls. We need to be conscious of that but at the same time it’s still about what guys do with the bat and ball in their hands.”With the squad for the tour to England to be announced on Thursday Nash indicated there would be fresh faces penciled in. “The main challenge is to pick a side that can become a cohesive unit quickly,” he said. “There are going to be some new names there and our hand is forced on that.I couldn’t say whether any players will be dropped for sure but there are a number of positions we need to discuss.”No one has booked a flight to England, the IPL guys aside, and I think it’s good no one is assured of their place in the side. We’ve asked guys in the last few seasons to be in form, available and to be keen to play for New Zealand. We are going to pick guys who are in form and guys who want to compete.”

	Andrew Flintoff: ‘I’ve put in a lot of hard work to get to this point after ankle surgery last year and I know I can overcome what isn’t a significant injury’ © Getty Images

England’s dilemma over whether to pick Andrew Flintoff for next week’s first Test has been decided for them, with the England allrounder unavailable for the first two Tests against New Zealand after picking up a side strain.Flintoff, who has enjoyed an encouraging start to the season for Lancashire following ankle surgery in the winter, experienced some discomfort in his left side while bowling for Lancashire yesterday at Old Trafford. He was assessed and received treatment by the Lancashire medical team and subsequent scans on Friday evening confirmed the diagnosis of a side strain.The ECB insisted, however, that Flintoff “has not experienced any discomfort in his left ankle and continues to make excellent progress in his rehabilitation from surgery last October”.”Obviously I’m bitterly disappointed to be unavailable for Test selection due to this injury as I’m really enjoying my cricket with Lancashire and feel my bowling has been improving with each match,” Flintoff said. “I’ve put in a lot of hard work to get to this point after ankle surgery last year and I know I can overcome what isn’t a significant injury. It’s very frustrating to have picked up an injury at this time but I want nothing more than to return to the England side and will continue to do everything required to make myself available for selection.”All the talk over the past few weeks has revolved around Flintoff’s impressive form with the ball, while he has barely scratched a run with the bat. Justin Langer and Stuart Law have both urged England to recall him for the first Test, but there were notes of caution sounded from Mike Atherton, Geoffrey Boycott and Ian Botham, who believed he was not quite ready. The decision has been made for England’s selectors, however, and the 12-man squad to face New Zealand for the first Test at Lord’s will be announced on Sunday morning.With Flintoff now out of the equation, the selectors are spared making a major decision at least until the third Test at Trent Bridge. The key issue now is the fitness of Paul Collingwood who needed an injection in his right shoulder yesterday. If batting cover is needed, Owais Shah’s name will once again be in the equation, but he doesn’t provide any back-up bowling. Instead the opportunity could arise to recall Ravi Bopara or hand a first call-up to Luke Wright, who made a timely 120 for England Lions against the New Zealanders at The Rose Bowl. Both Bopara and Wright could offer Collingwood’s quota of medium pace.England have recent experience of coming unstuck against New Zealand, but an attack of Ryan Sidebottom, Stuart Broad and probably James Anderson should be sufficient to dispatch the visitors and would give the team that won the final two Tests of the previous series another chance. Anderson is the member of that trio under threat after a profligate display in Napier. His form for Lancashire so far this season has been mixed, but nine wickets against Durham came at the right time and he has a good Test record a Lord’s. Last year he claimed seven wickets against India and also bagged five on his debut in 2003.Matthew Hoggard, who was dropped in the winter, will come back into the frame after a solid start for Yorkshire although he has lacked zip for England Lions. The consensus is that he was unlucky to be dropped after a poor performance in Hamilton and, although there is no automatic route back for him despite 248 Test wickets, he would be a solid presence in the squad in case a bowler pulls up injured.If Collingwood is fit the batting line-up will pick itself. They haven’t, however, set the county scene alight this season. Michael Vaughan has a top score of 42 which represents profligacy compared with Collingwood who has managed just 32 in five innings. Tim Ambrose has the highest score of the likely top seven, 156 against Leicestershire, but is also a slight concern after suffering a stiff neck. One major decision has been put on hold for the selectors, but there is potential for a couple more headaches.Possible England 12
Michael Vaughan (capt), Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Tim Ambrose (wk), Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom, Monty Panesar, James Anderson, Matthew Hoggard.

Eddie Leie had the best returns by a South African on T20 debut. Kagiso Rabada finished with the best figures by anyone on ODI debut. It’s no wonder, then, that Hashim Amla could joke about the possibility of another fresh face to field on Sunday.”With two debutants doing so well, I think we should fly someone in tomorrow to play on Sunday, so they can also do well,” Amla said, quickly clarifying that he was only having a laugh.South Africa do not have any other uncapped players in the limited-overs’ squad and no obviously promising ones bubbling under, but the youngsters they do have are coming through and doing so well. Apart from Leie and Rabada, Rilee Rossouw is making good after his dodgy start of four ducks in six innings in ODIs and South Africa will have some new players in the Test squad. Simon Harmer and Stiaan van Zyl both impressed on debut and Temba Bavuma and Reeza Hendricks will want to carve a niche for themselves.To all of them, Amla has a simple message. “From the team’s perspective, we don’t have great expectations. We want guys to do well and perform at their best,” he said. And if the results are great, as they have been so far, that’s an added bonus.That’s something Rabada already knows. In little over a year, he has gone from being an Under-19 World Cup winner to an international headliner, but he is not overwhelmed. “Everything has been coming my way but I have just kept it simple, made sure I am ready to play, make sure I live the life an athlete is supposed to live – to a certain extent,” he said. “I didn’t dream of a start like this.”Now that it’s happened, Amla expects Rabada to understand that it won’t happen every time. “It’s not rocket science. When you have expectation like that – you can’t take six wickets every game,” Amla said. “One thing that works in his favour, he works extremely hard and comes from a grounded background and understands you can go from hero to zero in one game. Sunday is another game. The way we look at it is that he has had a great game today. We know the person that he is, it’s not like he is going to rest and say I will live off my six wickets for the rest of my life.”And Rabada has already showed his captain that he knows that. “Every time you represent your country, you have the responsibility to make sure you fulfill your role. Every game, I am going to make sure I am ready and if I play, I am going to try to do well.”But for tonight, Rabada can enjoy his success and he will. The wicket he took the most pleasure in was the first – Tamim Iqbal – because “I thought that was a pretty good ball.” And the hat-trick. “That was a fluke. I went for a yorker and missed it by miles.” Not a bad miss at all.

Cameron White and Aaron Finch will boost the Cricket Australia XI against New Zealand in the three-day tour match starting on Thursday in Sydney.White and Finch failed to make Victoria’s side for the opening round of Sheffield Shield matches and Cricket Australia decided they would add valuable experience to an otherwise young squad. Queensland’s Sam Heazlett and Western Australia’s Jake Carder will make way for White and Finch.”The CA XI squad was named before most states had finalised their playing XI for the first round of Sheffield Shield,” Cricket Australia’s executive general manager, team performance, Pat Howard said. “Once it became known Aaron and Cameron wouldn’t be playing for Victoria in this Shield round, the opportunity presented to call two experienced players into the CA XI squad.”Unfortunately this means two players will miss out, but Sam and Jake know they are on the National Selection Panel’s radar. There will be another CA XI tour match later this year which will be an opportunity for these players to be considered again.”The match at Blacktown will be New Zealand’s final warm-up match ahead of the first Test, which starts at the Gabba next week.

The ICC has admitted that third umpire Nigel Llong made “an incorrect judgement” while using technology to decide on New Zealand’s review of the appeal for catch against Nathan Lyon, which had been given not out on the field on the second day of the day-night Test in Adelaide.”ICC has reviewed the decision and acknowledged that it was incorrect,” it said on Twitter, adding that it had replied to New Zealand Cricket’s questioning of the decision. “ICC confirms the umpire followed the correct protocol, but made an incorrect judgement.”The decision was hotly debated and criticised by television commentators and the media at the time, and drew unhappy but guarded reactions from New Zealand players Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum, and the coach Mike Hesson because it had a significant impact on the Test.Australia were 8 for 118 in reply to New Zealand’s 202 on the second day when Lyon top-edged an attempted sweep off left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner into his shoulder and up to slip. New Zealand’s appeal was denied on field by umpire S Ravi, and McCullum asked for a review.After five minutes of replays, Llong upheld Ravi’s decision though there was a clear Hot Spot on the top edge of Lyon’s bat, and the batsman had walked halfway to the dressing room. There also seemed to be a deviation in the ball’s course, but nothing showed up on Snicko, which also failed to read the impact of the ball on Lyon’s shoulder.Lyon had not scored at the time of his reprieve, and he eventually went on to make 34. Australia’s last two wickets added 108 runs in all, and earned a first-innings lead of 22. New Zealand were dismissed for 208 in their second innings, and Australia chased down the target of 187 with only three wickets in hand.

Zimbabwe batsman Hamilton Masakadza has said that his bowlers needed a cushion of around 180 runs, instead of the 163 for 7 they ended up getting after batting first.The combined efforts of an inexperienced bowling attack, led by the legspinner Graeme Cremer, almost snuck one past Bangladesh, who needed cameos from Shakib Al Hasan and Nurul Hasan to get over the line. Zimbabwe got Bangladesh down to six wickets, with 27 runs still left in the chase. However, two gigantic wides down the leg-side, bowled by Brian Vitori and Luke Jongwe, went for fours, tilting the game heavily in the hosts’ favour.Masakadza felt that the batsmen could have scored a few more runs to make it easier for the bowlers. He said that the injured Tinashe Panyangara was missed, but that Zimbabwe wanted to move on with the young attack for the next three games.”I think in the end you can look at little things like [the wides],” Masakadza said. “But I thought if we were defending 180 it would have made a big difference. So I thought it was more of the batting side than the bowling side.”Obviously he [Tinashe Panyangara] is a big loss to us. He is one of the more experienced seamers that we have. There is a bit more responsibility on Graeme’s shoulders but we have to move on with what we have and look at the younger guys to come through for us.”Masakadza and Vusi Sibanda added 101 runs, only Zimbabwe’s second century opening stand in T20s, and their highest so far. It was still going well till the end of the 16th over before the visitors imploded to give away five wickets for just 21 runs. While the lower order failed to fire, Masakadza, on his part, read the wicket early, going for his shots, encouraging Sibanda to do the same.”I thought we missed out on 15-20 runs in the end. From the position we were looking at, at least 180. I thought it was quite a good wicket, the bounce was true and the ball was coming on nicely.”I think the main thing is to keep making sure that I will do my part and whenever you get someone supporting we will get over the line. As long as we keep sticking together I am sure the result will come.”

New Zealand are set to lose their second bowling coach in as many years, after Dimitri Mascarenhas announced he will quit at the end of the home series against Australia in February. Mascarenhas had begun the role after Shane Bond quit as bowling coach following the 2015 World Cup, but cited family reasons for his decision to step down.”It has been really tough being on the road for a long time,” he said. “We thought we could get by, but it is a little bit tough and I thought I would make the right decision by my family. Any support staff struggle with the current international schedule. It is 12 months of the year now – there is no season or time off. That does take its toll.”I have a great relationship with all of the squad, the players and the support staff so the decision is purely based on family. It is time for me to go home and spend some more time with them.”The announcement followed ten moderately successful months for the New Zealand bowling unit. Tim Southee and Trent Boult continued to excel as a new-ball pair under Mascarenhas – though Boult also struggled with injury. Matt Henry and Adam Milne also continued to emerge as penetrative ODI bowlers.”We have got a number of fast bowlers around the country who are producing really good performances and long may that continue,” Mascarenhas said.Mitchell McClenaghan is the oldest in New Zealand’s current pace battery, at 30 years of age. “The rest of them are all under 30 and have a long way to go,” Mascarenhas said. “If they keep improving the way they are at the moment the sky is the limit for a number of them.”New Zealand Cricket said they had already begun the process of finding a new bowling coach, though it is unclear if that appointment will be made ahead of the World T20 in March.Mascarenhas said he would like to take up coaching again in the future. He had been attached to the Otago provincial side before his stint with the national team. “I hope I can re-visit this sort of role,” he said. “The children are young now and that’s where I need to be. But it’s definitely the type of job I’d like to return to.”An allrounder in his playing days, Mascarenhas had represented England in 34 limited-overs matches, and had also played 195 first-class games, many of them for Hampshire.

Karun Nair’s 52-ball 111 helped Karnataka flatten Tamil Nadu by 78 runs in Vizianagaram to hand them their first loss in the South Zone group. Nair’s maiden T20 hundred came a day after his 42-ball 77 powered Karnataka to a controversial two-run win over Hyderabad.After Tamil Nadu elected to bowl, Karnataka lost opener Mayank Agarwal and No. 3 K Gowtham with only 14 runs on the board. But, Nair raised 83 runs in 47 balls in the company of R Samarth (19) and revved up the innings. Nair was the one-man hit machine for Karnataka, with only two of his team-mates reaching double figures. Seamer Athisayaraj Davidson ran through the lower order to finish with 5 for 30 even as Karnataka finished with 179 for 9.Tamil Nadu’s innings never took off as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Only Washington Sundar, opening the batting, made a handy contribution with a 26-ball 34 that included three fours and a six. Legspinner Praveen Dubey finished with an economical 4 for 19 from 3.3 overs.An all-round bowling effort helped Delhi restrict Jammu & Kashmir to 100 for 9 and complete an eight-wicket win with 8.3 overs to spare at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Opting to bowl, Delhi’s seamers removed openers Ahmed Bandy and Jatin Wadhwan with the score on 0. While captain Parvez Rasool struck a 26-ball 37 and tried to stem the rot, his dismissal in the 15th over led to slide for J&K. Delhi captain Pradeep Sangwan (2 for 16) and Navdeep Saini (2 for 14) chipped away at the top order, before left-arm spinner Pawan Negi picked up three wickets in the middle order.There was hardly any hiccup in Delhi’s chase as openers Rishabh Pant and Sarthak Ranjan raised a 77-run stand in only 8.3 overs. While Pant smashed a 33-ball 51 with seven fours and two sixes, Ranjan, a controversial selection, struck 31 off 20 balls.

Vidyuth Sivaramakrishnan bowled India Under-19 to a 167-run victory in thefirst ‘Test’ at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Friday. He returned remarkable figures of eight for 38 in the second innings as the touristsfolded with five minutes to spare.In his last spell, the left-arm spinner bowled 18.3 overs, 15 of which were maidens, giving away six runs and picking up seven wickets from the Tata end.England Under-19 were bowled out for 183 in 98.3 overs after playing3.3 overs beyond the mandatory limit. Gary Pratt top-scored with 66.Skipper Ian Bell continued his good run with the bat scoring 48.The day very much belonged to the Indian spinners. During the firstsession, there were signs of a draw as Pratt, Nikki Peng and Bell batted withgrit and determination. The morning produced 106 runs for the loss of onewicket in 40 overs.Aftre lunch, however, the tourists lost three wickets inscoring 62 runs off 31 overs. It was the last session that spelt doom forthe tourists as they lost six wickets for just 12 runs in 26.3 overs.The tourists began the day needing 348 for victory with ten wickets inhand. Openers Pratt and Peng gave them a good start, putting on60 runs off 19.2 overs. Peng was dismissed for 28 when he edged toIshan Ganda in the slips.Pratt and Bell continued their good form, adding 100 for the second wicket off 38.2 overs. Bell was dismissed shortly after the drinks interval in the second session. A lapse in concentration cost the skipper his wicket and a well deserved half-century when he was adjudged leg before for 48. Bell departed with the score at 160. Six runs later, Pratt joined him in the dressing room, top-edging a sweep shot to leg slip.After their departure, none of the batsmen looked comfortable against the spin trio of Dharmichand, Khadkikar and Vidyuth.The tourists at one stage were cruising along at 160 for one but theyslumped sharply. They lost nine wickets for the addition of 23 runs in 40.4overs.Kadeer Ali failed to reach double figures as he was caught sweeping offVidyuth by the keeper. He struggled to counter the tweakers ofDharmichand and Sivaramakrishnan while facing 27 balls.Dharmichand foxed Ian Pattison with a flighted delivery. He fell forthe loop that Vidyuth imparted on the ball and played the ball into thehands of Vinayak Mane at silly point after scoring three.One run later, Robert Ferley edged Vidyuth to wicket-keeper AjayRatra for one. The runs began to dry up as Dharmichand and Vidyuth had the batsmen struggling with a judicious mixture of turn and flight.Wicket-keeper Mark Wallace and Kyle Hogg battled hard as they tried tosave the game. Both left-handers used their pads to paddle away mostdeliveries but the middle order simply cracked under pressure. Wallace was left stranded at one end as Vidyuth ran through the tail. Wallace remained unbeaten on five from 91 balls, figures that symbolised his struggle.The tourists never showed any signs of recovering after the two mainbatsmen departed. The spinning track at Wankhede was hard too hard tohandle for the tourists.The teams now meet in the second ‘Test’ in the three-match series in Chennai, which begins on January 20.

Netherlands star Arjen Robben has emerged as a major World Cup doubt after limping out of a warm-up game with a suspected hamstring problem.

The injury-plagued winger fell to the ground clutching the back of his leg during the second half of Saturday's 6-1 thrashing of Hungary in Amsterdam.

The Bayern Munich wideman was a half-time substitute in the friendly but failed to see out the game.

He was helped to his feet before gingerly walking off the Amsterdam Arena pitch with help from the team's medical staff.

Coach Bert van Marwijk has confirmed that Robben will undergo scans in Amsterdam on Sunday rather than travel out to South Africa with his international team-mates.

"I would rather lose this match and have Arjen stay fit," said van Marwijk at full-time.

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