They slipped to 118 ranking points, equal with South Africa, who beat Sri Lanka in Johannesburg on Saturday to go 3-0 up.

South Africa will overtake Australia if they win the remaining two matches in that series. When Kane Williamson won the toss he had no hesitation in batting first on the Hamilton wicket, correctly forecasting it would slow up as the day wore on and Boult would come into his own.

But in the prime early batting conditions, New Zealand appeared to have under-performed with their 281 for nine, despite Taylor’s 107 off 101 balls and his century partnership with Dean Brownlie who made 63.

With rankings and the series at stake after New Zealand won the first ODI by six wickets and the second was washed out, Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh made a flying start to Australia’s reply, averaging more than six an over.

They were particularly harsh on Tim Southee, whose opening four-over spell cost 30 runs, while new-ball partner and man-of-the-match Boult then had one for 10.

The left-hand-batsman who has appeared in 193 ODIs for his country replaces injured captain Angelo Mathews who has returned home on personal grounds.

Mathews had informed the management of Sri Lanka Cricket that he may need to take time off to be with his family.

A hamstring injury in the 2nd T20 on Sunday ruled Mathews out of the tour forcing the skipper to make an early exit from South Africa.

Both Nuwan Pradeep and Dhanushka Gunathilaka also returned to Sri Lanka on Tuesday owing to injuries.

The national selectors picked the following players to join the squad in South Africa as replacement for the three injured players – Sandun Weerakkody, Lahiru Madushanka and Chathuranga de Silva.

The ODI match schedule: January 28 – Port Elizabeth, February 1 – Durban, February 4 – Johannesburg, February 7 – Cape Town, February 10 – Centurion.

Head coach Darren Lehmann paid tribute to Hick’s abilities. “Graeme worked with us during the recent ODI tour in the West Indies and we were really impressed with what he brought to the group.

“He is a very experienced player in all conditions and will bring a wealth of knowledge with him.

“With an ICC Champions Trophy, an Ashes Series and an ICC World Cup all to be played in England in the near future, his knowledge of those conditions will also be invaluable.”

Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1987, Hick acted as assistant coach on the recent West Indies tour while Lehmann took a break.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my current role with Cricket Australia and have worked with some great young up-and-coming players during my time,” he said. “To take the next step up with the men’s team and getting the opportunity to work with some of the best players in the world is something I am really looking forward to.”

The prolific Hick, who retired from first-class cricket in 2008 with 136 centuries and 41,112 first-class runs, was appointed batting coach through to 2020.

Cricket Australia said Greg Blewett would return to his job as fielding coach after filling in as batting coach following the departure of Michael di Venuto who moved to England to coach Surrey in March.

Australia will play five ODIs against South Africa starting from September 30.

A golden chance to move to the sixth place of ICC ODI rankings beckons Bangladesh as they need to win both of the upcoming home series against Afghanistan and England.

Currently ranked seven, Bangladesh now have 98 rating points, just three points behind the sixth ranked Sri Lanka. Mashrafe and company need to whitewash Afghanistan in three-match series while any margin of victory against England would help them leapfrog Sri Lanka, an ICC press release said.
Despite a series loss against Australia, Sri Lanka has retained its sixth position but has dropped a point to finish on 101 points.
ICC press release stated: “Sri Lanka’s one-point drop will interest seventh-placed Bangladesh, which is now just three points behind its Asian rival and has two upcoming three-match ODI series each against Afghanistan and England coming up. If Bangladesh wins all the three matches against Afghanistan, plus manages a series win against England, then it will achieve its highest-ever ranking of sixth.”
The form of Bangladesh at the home soil provides the players a hope to materialise the dream to move up in the rankings even though they haven’t been playing any ODI matches this year.
Bangladesh so far have been unbeaten in any bilateral ODI series at home yard since December 2014. The dream-run started with the series win against Zimbabwe and then they beat giants like Pakistan, India and South Africa before crushing Zimbabwe again in the last part of 2015.
It is quite possible that Bangladesh could whitewash Afghanistan, the ranked 10th team with 49 points but given the form, England would be tough to beat.
England lately showed how well-composed team they are in the ODI format as they outclassed Pakistan by 4-1 in the just concluded ODI series. They also created a history of making an ODI record 444 runs in a match, indicating they are in the top of their game.
Nonetheless, Bangladesh can hope for the best given their form at their own backyard.

The Proteas can nudge up one place to sixth in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings if they win, while the Black Caps will remain fifth irrespective of the result.

But the reputation of Test cricket is at much at stake as rankings points after a farcical first Test in Durban where less than 100 overs of cricket were played before a wet, soft outfield prevented any play on the last three days. There was even less cricket in a Test match between the West Indies and India in Port of Spain, also because of outfield conditions.

It is the first time Test cricket has been played in South Africa in August, almost two months before the usual start of the season.

Preparing grounds for winter conditions has been a challenge – which Durban failed to meet after re-seeding the outfield only two months before the match. Following reports from the match referees, the outfields in Durban and Port of Spain were condemned as “poor” by the ICC.

Centurion groundsman Rudolph du Preez had the advantage of planting winter grass much earlier than Durban, with work starting in April, almost immediately after the 2015-16 season.

He said it was necessary to plant winter grass because fielders struggled on dry, dormant summer grass when the same two countries met in a one-day international in August last year.

With virtually no rain falling on the South African Highveld during winter – and no rain predicted during the Test – Du Preez is confident that conditions will be suitable for Test cricket. He said more time had been necessary to prepare the pitch because cool conditions meant it took longer to dry out after watering.

Du Preez said he did not expect uneven bounce to be as much of a factor as it has been in the later stages of matches in recent seasons.

“It might not deteriorate as we are used to. It might be a little bit slower, it might be holding back a bit more,” he said. Centurion has been a fortress for South Africa in Test cricket, with the home side having won 16 of the 21 Tests at the ground. Their only two losses were against England in a contrived result in 1999-2000, engineered by the late Hansie Cronje before he was banned from cricket because of his association with bookmakers, and against Australia in 2013-14.

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (capt), Dean Elgar, Stephen Cook, Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Dane Piedt

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt), Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, BJ Watling (wkt), Mitchell Santner, Doug Bracewell, Neil Wagner, Tim Southee, Trent Boult

Steyn will join his new team-mates at the Cardiff-based club after playing in the Indian Premier League with the Gujarat Lions. He will be available for Glamorgan’s first seven Twenty20 Blast fixtures, with Australia fast bowler Shaun Tait replacing him for the second half of the competition. Steyn’s captain at Glamorgan will be his former South Africa colleague Jacques Rudolph. “The timing of this opportunity is ideal and there is no better way to prepare than playing in the IPL,” said Steyn in a Glamorgan statement. “I know that Jacques and the rest of the team have set an initial target of qualifying for the quarter-finals and I will do all that I can to give the team the best possible start.

“It’s also a valuable opportunity to get some overs under the belt in the lead up to the South Africa Test series in a controlled T20 environment.” AFP

Man of the Series Ben Stokes

The hosts needed little more than an hour on the final day to reduce England, who won the series 2-1, from 52 for three to 101 all out with Rabada returning match figures of 13-144 to confirm his rich potential. The 20-year-old’s figures are second only to Makhaya Ntini’s 13-132 against West Indies in 2005 and Rabada became the youngest South African to take 10 wickets in a test match.

Although the series had already been decided, the victory was a welcome one for South Africa after a run of nine games without success stretching back more than a year had caused them to be knocked off the top of the world rankings by India. “The boys were fired up for this test and we’ll enjoy the celebrations,” captain AB de Villiers said at the presentation ceremony.

“We showed a lot of character and hopefully we can build on this now. There is a bright future for us.”

Chasing an unlikely victory target of 382 on a wearing wicket, England’s hopes of batting out the day were undone by a combination of rash stroke-making and excellent swing bowling.

James Taylor (24) got a snorter from Morne Morkel (3-36) that brushed his glove and was caught by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock to kickstart a procession of England batsmen.

Joe Root (20), who had already been dropped by De Kock off Dane Piedt, drove wildly at the spinner and was caught at slip by Dean Elgar.

Rabada then got in on the act as he was made to celebrate his record-breaking 10-wicket haul twice — first having Jonny Bairstow (14) caught at slip off a no-ball and then inducing another edge from the very next delivery to De Kock.

Man-of-the-series Ben Stokes (10) was caught at deep midwicket off Morkel as he fell into a short-ball trap, before Rabada cleaned up the tail efficiently for innings figures of 6-32. “It’s been a disappointing five days with the way we have played,” England skipper Alastair Cook said. “We haven’t quite been on it and had to try hang in there. Credit to South Africa, they played well.” The teams will now play a five-match one-day international series starting on Feb. 3, followed by two Twenty20 games. – Agencies

Smith follows in the footsteps of Ricky Ponting (2006 and 2007), Mitchell Johnson (2009 and 2014) and Michael Clarke (2013) to lift the coveted trophy since the inception of the awards in 2004.

During the voting period, which ran from 18 September 2014 to 13 September 2015, the 26-year-old from New South Wales finished as the leading run-scorer in Tests with 1,734 runs in 25 innings of 13 matches at an average of 82.57. This included seven centuries and six half-centuries.

In 26 One-Day Internationals, Smith scored 1,249 runs at an average of just under 60 with four centuries and eight half-centuries. He was a member of the Australia side which won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year.

South Africa’s ODI captain AB de Villiers has been named as the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year for the second successive year. He had also won this award in 2010. In the voting period, de Villiers scored 1,265 runs in 20 innings at an average of just over 79 and a strike-rate of 128.4.

He hit two centuries and nine half-centuries. Earlier this month, de Villiers was named as the captain of the ICC ODI Team of the Year.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has won the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award for inspiring his side to play the game in its true spirit.

This was clearly evident throughout the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, and in particular in the semi-final where McCullum showed humility and exemplary sportsmanship by inviting de Villiers and his side to the New Zealand’s dressing room after a closely-fought match.

Richard Kettleborough of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires has won his third successive David Shepherd Trophy for the ICC Umpire of the Year. He is the third umpire to a complete a hat-trick of titles after Simon Taufel (2004 to 2008) and Aleem Dar (2009-2011).

The full list of ICC Award 2015 winners is:

ICC Cricketer of the Year
(Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy)
– Steve Smith (Australia)

ICC Test Cricketer of the Year
– Steve Smith (Australia)

ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year
– AB de Villiers (South Africa)

ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year
– Meg Lanning (Australia)

ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year
– Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)

ICC T20I Performance of the Year

– Faf du Plessis (South Africa) (119, 56 balls, 11×4, 5×6 – 2nd T20I vs West Indies, 11 January 2015, Johannesburg)

ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year
– Josh Hazlewood (Australia)

ICC Associate/Affiliate Cricketer of the Year
– Khurram Khan (UAE)

ICC Spirit of Cricket Award
– Brendon McCullum (New Zealand)

ICC Umpire of the Year
(David Shepherd Trophy)
– Richard Kettleborough

The Brave Blossoms have already caused the biggest sensation in World Cup history by beating South Africa 34-32 in their opening Pool B game.

But the simple victory over the American gave a fitting sendoff to coach Eddie Jones, who now leaves the post having said Japan would be the “team of the tournament” if they got three wins. The winning points came from Kotaro Matsushima, Yoshikazu Fujita and Amanaki Mafi tries, and the reliable kicking of full back Ayumu Goromaru, who took his Test points haul beyond 700.

The 2019 World Cup is the first time the tournament will be hosted by an emerging rugby nation, meaning the Brave Blossoms were under pressure to show they merit the award. “The guys have all played above themselves, they have worked hard, they played with a real spirit, they played how rugby should be played,” said Jones.

The Australian said he would definitely be heading for the Stormers in South Africa.

“I have done my job with Japan. When I took over Japan I wanted to bring pride back in the national team and I think we have done that so it is someone else’s turn to take it over.”

AFP