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Dale Steyn has been ruled out of the third Test against England at the Wanderers due to the shoulder injury he sustained during the opening match of the series in Durban.There had been encouraging updates about Steyn’s fitness during the Newlands Test but doubts over his recovery came when he was ruled “50-50″ at the conclusion of that match and required a second opinion from another specialist on the injury. He was not with the South Africa squad in Johannesburg on Monday, instead remaining in Cape Town where he underwent a further scan.”They are doing more scans to try and find something there,” Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach said. “They are trying to find what the problem is and once they’ve given us that diagnosis we will be able to give you more information.”It continues a significant run of problems for Steyn, who has 406 wickets in 82 Tests, as he misses his fifth Test out of seven. Steyn sat out three of the four Tests in India with a groin injury and will now miss a second successive game against England but Domingo did not believe it pointed to a bleaker long-term future.”I don’t think it’s the end of Dale Steyn’s career at all,” he said. “All players are going to experience some sort of niggles at some stage. He has just had a few of them of late. He is a great athlete, he is as fit as they come and these things happen. He is just going through that phase of his career at the moment and I’m sure he will get through it.”Similarly, South Africa will also have to find a way to cope and Domingo was optimistic about their depth despite his disappointment at losing Steyn. “We know he is a great bowler. He is the best bowler in the world and we haven’t had him since the first Test in India. Not having him has been disappointing but there’s not too much we can do. The game goes on. We’ve got to make do with it. It’s the way it is. There’s nothing we can do about it. It’s an opportunity for somebody else to hopefully make a mark and strive to be as good as Dale Steyn was and is.”That somebody else will have to come out of the other five pacemen South Africa have in their squad. Morne Morkel, a fit-again Kyle Abbott, who has recovered from a hamstring niggle, Kagiso Rabada, Chris Morris and uncapped Hardus Viljoen are competing for places in the pace pack and South Africa will spend the next two days concocting a combination to try and level the series.The first question they will face is whether to include a spinner on what is expected to be a pitch with some life for the quick bowlers. Domingo admitted he would be hesitant to go all-pace even if conditions suggested he should. “I am one of those coaches that likes to have a spinner but the Wanderers is notorious for not having a spinner,” he said. “We need to look at conditions. Once we’ve done that, we will have a discussion with the selectors. It’s not unheard of to go into a Wanderers Test without a spinner. It’s often been done.”If they listen to the groundsman, Bethuel Buthelezi, it should not be done this time. Buthelezi, who is preparing his first Test pitch, has promised bounce, pace, and turn and said if it was up to him, he would play a spinner. That does not automatically mean Dane Piedt, who took three wickets at Newlands, will keep his place. South Africa could also go back to JP Duminy after he responded to being dropped from the Test XI with a career-best unbeaten 260 for Cape Cobras in a domestic first-class game last week although how he would fit into the balance of the side would be a conundrum.”It’s an outstanding performance to go back and get your career best a couple of days after you’ve been left out of a Test match. It speaks volumes about his character and the type of cricketer he is,” Domingo said. “He is in the squad, but the selectors have not decided if he will play. We know he can also offer something with the ball.”Assuming Morkel plays, even though Domingo has mentioned he is in the “red zone” when it comes to workload, that would mean deciding between two out of Rabada, Morris, Abbott and Viljoen and it may come down to who offers more with the bat. Morris stands out after scoring 69 on debut at Newlands.”Chris Morris is definitely somebody we are looking at to fill a role like Shaun Pollock or Lance Klusener used to do for us – a guy who can bowl really well and offer us something with the bat,” Domingo said. “I was pleased with his batting performance and his bowling as well. He is a good package – he also gives something in the field.”For the sake of experience, the remaining place will probably go to one of Abbott or Rabada but Viljoen could edge ahead because of local knowledge. The Lions quick took twenty wickets in two first-class matches at the Wanderers this season which may force him into the XI. “He has got a good chance,” Domingo said. “He has a great record at the Wanderers. He has been on form and there is no substitute for pace. Nobody enjoys facing pace here.”

Queensland have looked back in their bid to move off the foot of the Pura Cup table by picking the batsman Martin Love after his lengthy comeback from knee surgery. Rather than blooding a new player in the final three games, the Bulls, who have not won in seven attempts this season, have recalled Love, 33, in place of another veteran in Clint Perren for the match against Western Australia from Monday.Love, the state’s leading run-scorer, made 0 and 10 against the Warriors in November and re-proved his fitness with 187 for the Queensland Academy of Sport. He will be joined in the squad by Shane Watson, who has recovered from another hamstring injury. Watson will not bowl in the match to help his fragile body.Aaron Nye has been dropped and Scott Brant, the Gold Coast swing bowler, has come into the squad. The game will be Michael Kasprowicz’s final first-class appearance for the Bulls after his decision to retire.Adam Voges, who was in the national squad last week, will miss the contest for Western Australia with a slight hamstring injury. However, Marcus North, the captain, has regained fitness from a degenerative knee problem and will lead the Warriors, who are in third spot, 12 points behind the leaders New South Wales and Victoria.Queensland squad Ryan Broad, Jimmy Maher (capt), Greg Moller, Martin Love, Shane Watson, Chris Simpson, Chris Hartley (wk), Ashley Noffke, Michael Kasprowicz, Daniel Doran, Scott Brant, Grant Sullivan.Western Australia squad Justin Langer, Chris Rogers, Marcus North (capt), Shaun Marsh, Luke Pomersbach, Luke Ronchi (wk), Liam Davis, Aaron Heal, Brett Dorey, Ben Edmondson, Mathew Inness, Steve Magoffin.

India Under-19 coach Rahul Dravid has said that best message he can give his players heading for the World Cup in Bangladesh is to treat it as a stepping stone on their journey towards the national dressing room. This would be Dravid’s first major assignment in the job, but he is “not trying to win the World Cup” as a coach. Instead, he is focussed on helping the youngsters grow into capable players who can graduate towards playing for the national team in the future.”My message to them is to focus on actually improving, getting better, seeing this as an opportunity to learn and grow as a cricketer, to see this World Cup as another exposure they are getting at a very young age,” Dravid said at the pre-departure media briefing in Mumbai. “They are lucky to get this at a young age. That’s all I tell them about: it is just one step in their journey hopefully as cricketers. Nobody wants to end up being just an Under-19 India cricketer. That is not the aspiration of anybody in that dressing room we are sitting.”According to Dravid, just being consumed by the thought of winning the World Cup would not serve the young players well considering they ought to focus on the long-term goal of working towards earning the Indian cap. “I always keep reminding them there are enough examples of people who go on to play India Under-19, but don’t go on to represent India. Conversely there are very good examples of people who have played at this level and then actually gone on to represent India. The important thing is you have to go on from here, score runs in first-class cricket, score runs in List A games and then get the recognition from the selectors.”As a player himself, Dravid participated in three World Cups with the national team (1999, 2003, 2007), with the last one as captain where India bowed out in the group stages. Dravid emphasised that he was not looking at the Under-19 tournament to cover up for the absence of a World Cup trophy in his career. He pointed out that his impact as a coach would always be limited. Hence it was important the players understood it was for them to work hard and execute the plans drawn by him and his coaching staff comprising Paras Mhambrey (fast bowling coach) and Abhay Sharma (spin bowling coach).”I am not really going into this [tournament thinking] if we win it or if we lose it,” Dravid said. “I know the role of a coach. And I know how much a coach can influence and impact a result. I am realistic about that. I knew how much I could impact the result as a player and I am realistic about how much I can impact the result as a coach. So it is in their hands. It is their opportunity, their team, their World Cup. And it is their opportunity to win the World Cup. Not necessarily mine as a coach really.”I am not trying to win the World Cup as a coach. I am trying to hopefully grow and develop these guys. Winning the Under-19 World Cups is honestly not the be all and end all of anything. In the end I will be happier if some of these guys go on and play for India. That should be their aim and real aspiration.”In the previous edition of the tournament, played in the UAE in 2014, India had finished fifth after failing to make the semi-finals, but had topped Group A with three wins from as many matches. This time Dravid is more confident about what he calls a balanced Indian squad. The other teams in India’s group are New Zealand, Nepal and Ireland, but Dravid pointed out that he would not read too much into the oppositions at this stage.”One of the things about Under-19 [is that] you don’t really know, you don’t have enough knowledge about a lot of Under-19 teams. So I am not really focussed on who we are going to play against. It is really about can we do what we do well. Now I believe there is a lot of talent in the group. We are covered in all departments. We have got good fast bowlers, we have got very good spinners, we have got allrounders, we bat deep upto No. 8. So we have got it all covered. It is about executing our skills and the boys performing under pressure. If they play well and if they perform upto the potential that I have seen over the last two months then I don’t think we need to worry too much what the other teams are like.”India’s 15-member squad will be led by Jharkhand batsman Ishan Kishan. Their first match of the World Cup will be against Ireland on January 28 in Mirpur.

The Indian one-day team returned from the CB Series in Australia to a rousing reception at the Delhi airport, where they were greeted by hundreds of fans and received by officials of the Indian board and the Delhi and District Cricket Association.After a hard-fought series, where they won the finals 2-0, the team reached Mumbai in the morning and took a chartered flight to Delhi for a function at Feroz Shah Kotla. They were joined there by two members of the World Cup-winning under-19 side – Virat Kohli, the captain and Pradeep Sangwan – who play for Delhi.Speaking at the function, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the team captain, praised his side, which became the first Indian team to win a triangular one-day series in Australia. The series was played out amid some controversy and Dhoni made special mention of the team’s behaviour: “The conduct of my team on and off the field is responsible for our victory.”Sachin Tendulkar, who played match-winning knocks in both the finals, told news channel CNN-IBN that the team hadn’t been distracted by the controversies – which originated in the Sydney Test – during the tour. “Plenty of things happened on the field, but we were focussed on the cricket.”Rohit Sharma, who made a vital 66 in the first final, echoed Tendulkar’s sentiments. “We tried to enjoy our cricket as much as possible,” he said. “All the controversies motivated us.” The BCCI had initially planned an open-top bus parade from the airport, similar to the welcome the team had received after winning the World Twenty20, but decided against it later. “The players have been in Australia for more than two-and-a-half months and will also be tired after the two flights,” BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla told PTI. “That’s why we have not made any elaborate arrangements as the players will be eager to go home.”A reward of Rs 10 crore (US$2.5 million) had already been announced for the team.

Scorecard

In a must-win clash for both teams in Hyderabad, the ICL Pakistan XI were thoroughly outplayed by the ICL World XI, who booked their place in Tuesday’s final with a comfortable six-wicket win.A disciplined opening spell from Johan van der Wath and Daryl Tuffey put the Pakistanis on the back foot, and Abdul Razzaq and Inzamam-ul-Haq were dismissed with only 19 runs scored in 4.5 overs.Imran Farhat scored a quickfire 13-ball 20, but that was the only innings of note among the specialist batsmen as the World XI bowlers ran through the Pakistan XI line-up. A collapse reduced Pakistan XI from 52 for 2 to 62 for 6.Humayun Farhat and Naved-ul-Hasan managed to reach double figures, but left-armer Matthew Elliott accounted for the duo. Andrew Hall then took two tail-end wickets as Pakistan XI were bowled out for a disappointing 113. Elliott and Hall took three wickets apiece, while legspinner Upul Chandana scalped two.Elliott then raced away in the chase along with opening partner and fellow Australian Ian Harvey; he contributed a run-a-ball 26 as World XI scored at nearly ten an over. Riaz Afridi then struck twice to get rid of Elliott and Lou Vincent, but Harvey found company in Damien Martyn.A 47-run stand took their side further towards the target before Afridi once again struck twice in the same over. Harvey, though, compiled an unbeaten 52 to steer his side into the final, with victory achieved with 22 balls to spare.The World XI will meet a red-hot India XI, who have won three consecutive games, in the final.

Haryana right arm medium pacer Nitin Aggarwal (5 for 16) and legspinner Amit Mishra (5 for 10) reaped a rich harvest of wickets asHimachal Pradesh collapsed to 52 allout in their first innings on theopening day of their North Zone Cooch Behar Trophy cricket match atMaharaja Aggarsain Stadium here on Sunday.Put into bat, Himachal Pradesh made a disastrous start. None of theHimachal batsmen looked in touch as both Aggarwal and Mishra ranthrough the side. Their domination was so complete that five of thebatsmen failed to score. Only Shashi Kumar (13) could reach the doublefigure mark. Himachal innings’s folded in just 25.5 overs.In reply, Haryana made a solid reply in the remaining 240 minutes toscore 230 runs for the loss of one wicket including an unbeatencentury by opener Manvinder Bisla. Bisla (143 not out, 205 balls 214s, two 6s) in the company of Bhuvanesh Sharma (62) put Haryana incommand with a 158-run opening stand in 49 overs. After a 163 minutestay Bhuvanesh departed, falling leg before to Shashi. Then IshanGandha (16 not out) joined Bisla to and the two remained unbeaten tillstumps.