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Players’ associations have insisted on pre-emptive measures to ensure cricketers playing in the Sri Lanka Premier League are paid on time, Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) chief executive Tim May has revealed.The Sri Lankan Cricketers’ Association and FICA were successful in pushing for the inclusion of new clauses in player contracts, drawn up specifically for the tournament. Under these clauses, players must be paid 25% of their tournament salary upon arrival in the SLPL, another 25% upon completion of their team’s first match, and the remaining 50% after the team’s last match.A bank guarantee for the players’ full salaries has also been included in the contracts as a safety net, and outstanding pay will be automatically drawn down seven days after any defaulted pay day. 

”If anything goes terribly amiss and the bank guarantee is not available, then the player’s got every right to say, ‘Sorry, you haven’t kept your end of the deal; I’m not keeping mine’,” May said.According to May, the measures had been taken in light of a worsening trend of players going unpaid, or receiving only part of their pay from domestic T20 competitions, and the SLPL being a new tournament with no positive payment history to show. “We’ve learnt now from start-up tournaments that we need to change the contracts to protect the players better, so we’ve then gone down the next line of introducing greater protection for the players.”This won’t be confined to the SLPL. For other start-ups like competitions in the USA next year, and the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) where we’re experiencing problems as we speak, we’ll be insisting on these bank guarantees to cover the full amount of player payment.”FICA has been involved in the discussion on the outstanding player salaries from the inaugural BPL which concluded in February. In July, May said that $600,000 was still owed to overseas players alone, but the BPL has said this figure is $70,000. FICA had advised players taking part in the BPL to request at least 25% of their pay before the tournament started, though this had not been part of the contract agreements.Several members of the Royal Challengers Bangalore 2012 side, including captain Daniel Vettori, are also yet to receive the first installment of their IPL pay. Players who took part in a separate All Star Twenty20 event in Toronto also complained about going unpaid following the match.The SLPL will run from August 10 to August 31, with all the matches being played in two venues in Colombo and Kandy. Overseas players set to play include Chris Gayle, Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal.

ScorecardStephen Peters added a half-century to his productive match•Getty Images

After leading from the front and then falling away dramatically in their bid for promotion last season, perhaps Northamptonshire are simply running a canny race this time. Pegging back Derbyshire looks beyond them but a win here will put them right on the shoulders of the group chasing second place in Division Two, poised to strike in the closing laps.With a lead of 311 going into the final day, they have a decent chance, too, provided they time their declaration prudently and the weather does not wreck their calculations. Should everything go according to plan, 22 points will move them up only one place but put them on 118 points, two behind second-placed Hampshire and Yorkshire, one adrift of Kent.A fixture list that presents them with only one remaining home match – against Derbyshire – might be said to be disadvantageous. But they take on Hampshire at West End starting on Wednesday, where a win would clearly have added value, and complete their programme against Glamorgan and Gloucestershire, both currently in the bottom three.First, of course, they have to complete the job in hand, which may require an outstanding performance from their bowlers if Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shiv Thakor can reproduce the capacity to resist that they showed, for the most part, in the first Leicestershire innings. Until the disastrous run-out at the close of the second day, Sarwan looked in commanding form and Thakor’s recovery from that mishap was arguably the most impressive feature of the third day.At the start of the week in which he will learn his A-level results Thakor, the 18-year-old all-rounder, who has been studying latterly at Uppingham School – an institution with a rich cricket tradition – gave no hint of any distractions in a mature, measured performance that effectively denied Northamptonshire the chance to enforce the follow-on. Unfazed by the loss of a seventh Leicestershire wicket in the fifth over of the morning, he set himself to give nothing away, completed his second half-century in four Championship innings and made scarcely a mistake until a ball from James Middlebrook, the offspinner, drew him into a drive that was always too much of a stretch and resulted in a simple catch for extra cover.By then, into the afternoon session, he and Claude Henderson, who scored an enterprising unbeaten 56, had put on 80 in 23 overs and the follow-on mark had been passed. Northamptonshire’s bowling was less threatening than it had been on Saturday but it was a solid, respectable response nonetheless, although Leicestershire still conceded a lead of 100 exactly. Middlebrook took 3 for 36 from 29 overs, more than half of which were maidens.It was a lead Northamptonshire built on rather too easily for those with an interest in seeing Leicestershire not finish the season in last place. Stephen Peters and Niall O’Brien gave them another terrific start with their second century opening stand of the match, Peters allowing himself the liberty of a couple of sixes in his 56 off 110 balls, O’Brien collecting 10 boundaries in his 96-ball 79. Leicestershire’s bowling too often offered too much width.The exception among them was Will Jones, an Australian-born Cardiff University student who bowls legspin. This is his second Championship match and the first in which he has bowled but his introduction by skipper Josh Cobb in the 34th over brought wickets with his fifth and seventh balls as Peters knocked back a straightforward return catch and O’Brien holed out to deep midwicket, where Robbie Joseph needed a bit of juggling to bring the ball under control but did finally hold on.Jones then held a catch of his own as David Sales sent up a steepler off Henderson. The ball is now in Northamptonshire’s court.

New Zealand fast bowler Tim Southee, who took 3 for 53 on Saturday, has said the loss of wickets “at the wrong time” cost his side the match in St Kitts, and that they needed to learn how to win the key moments in games. New Zealand fell 24 runs short of West Indies’ 264, despite a century by their captain Ross Taylor, and conceded the one-day series 3-1 with a match in hand.New Zealand’s chase, shaken by the loss of four wickets for 75 runs, was held together by Taylor’s 110. Taylor added 71 runs for the fifth wicket with middle-order batsman Tom Latham before Latham was dismissed by offspinner Marlon Samuels in the 34th over. New Zealand faltered in the final stages, the last four wickets falling for 21 runs as Taylor ran out of support.”We lost a couple of wickets early and then had to rebuild, and Tom Latham and Ross did a great job,” Southee said. “It was a shame to lose Tom [but] we did and it would have been nice to have that extra wicket going into those latter overs. Wickets at the wrong time hurt us, [so] we have to think of ways [of not losing] those key moments in games. [We lost] wickets in the middle there and towards the end. [The] back-end of five-six overs didn’t come out so well in the end.”Southee said Taylor’s performance was impressive because of the manner in which he structured his innings. He was slow at the start to settle in, and took 80 deliveries to get to his fifty, but later accelerated his scoring, getting his next fifty runs off 28 deliveries.”Ross paced his innings and ended run-a-ball; he’s one of those batsmen that can do that. No matter how slow a start, he has the ability to catch up, and he played extremely well. It’s just a shame that there wasn’t someone else who could stick with him and make it a lot easier in the end.”New Zealand could have been chasing less than 264 had their bowlers capitalised on their incisive start, having reduced West Indies to 105 for 5 in the 27th over. They faced resistance from Kieron Pollard, who made a half-century, and Devon Thomas. They scored 53 runs in five overs during the batting Powerplay between overs 36 and 40, and the following batsmen picked up from there.”We did well at the start to get them four-five down early but the Powerplay hurt us and [at] the death we bowled hit-and-miss,” Southee said.Southee had contributed to West Indies’ top order collapse by dismissing Gayle and Dwayne Smith. Gayle had led West Indies to one-sided wins in the two Twenty20s and the first two ODIs, with scores of 85 not out, 53, 63 not out and 125, but he hasn’t fired in his last two innings, making only 27 runs in total.”The first few games we didn’t bowl very well to him [Gayle] at the start and he got in and played some great innings,” Southee said. “So it’s important how we bowl to him in the first few overs.”The final ODI on July 16, also in St Kitts, will be a dead rubber because West Indies secured the series with this win. Southee, however, said winning that fixture would lift New Zealand ahead of the three-Test series, which begins on August 2.”It’s still a big game for us, obviously. It’s better losing 3-2 than 4-1 and hopefully we can gain some momentum going into the Tests for the Test side. [The loss] hurts but we’ll dust ourselves off and come again on Monday.”

Hampshire have extended Bilal Shafayat’s deal until the end of the season. He was initially signed on a short-term contract.Shafayat, 27, joined Hampshire as batting cover at the start of May when Jimmy Adams, who was injured, and Michael Carberry, playing for England Lions, were both unavailable. Shafayat scored 93 against Derbyshire on debut – his first appearance in the County Championship since 2010 – and will now provide strength in depth until at least the end of the season.He left Nottinghamshire for the second time at the end of the 2010 season, having joined Northamptonshire for a two-year spell in 2004, and spent 2011 playing for several second XIs to try and boost his prospects of earning a new contract.He played twice for Hampshire second XI, scoring a double-hundred against Glamorgan and a century against Middlesex, two games for Sussex second XI and once for Northamptonshire seconds. Another Hampshire second XI appearance at the start of 2012 earned him his short-term deal.”I’ve been in the training sessions, been involved with the seconds and travelled with the squad on a couple of occasions and I had a good feeling about Hampshire,” Shafayat said. “The people in charge have shown some backing in me and support for me once again which, at this stage in my career, is very important.”

ScorecardFormer Unicorns right-hander Wes Durston struck an unbeaten century to help Derbyshire to a comfortable 129-run win over his old side. New Zealand opener Martin Guptill joined Durston in reaching three figures as the pair combined in a decisive double-century stand that formed the basis of Derbyshire’s 287 for 3.The Unicorns never came close in pursuit as they managed 158 for 9, with part-time spinner Chesney Hughes bagging a career-best five for 29 on his return to the side.Durston secured a return to county ranks with Derbyshire following an impressive inaugural season with the Unicorns three years ago, but he was short on thanks for them at the picturesque Sir Paul Getty’s Ground in Wormsley. The 31-year-old blasted an unbeaten 120 from 111 balls, which included 11 fours and a six.Guptill was even more punishing as he reached 125 from 102 balls before Glen Querl had him caught by debutant Michael Roberts. That ended the 222-run second-wicket stand that took 31 overs after Hughes was trapped lbw by Warren Lee.The duo dominated the Unicorns attack, most notably former Lancashire paceman Steve Cheetham who, after delivering an early maiden, went for 53 from his next five overs.The Unicorns’ chase got off to a bad start with Tim Groenewald removing openers Michael Thornley and Roberts early. Former Leicestershire wicketkeeper-batsman Tom New and former Warwickshire batsman James Ord then set about repairing the damage in a 46-run stand, but the Unicorns middle-order fell apart as they lost four wickets for 10 runs.It was Hughes’ part-time spin that did the damage as he removed both New and Ord before also snaring skipper Keith Parsons. Hughes went on to complete his five-wicket haul when he claimed Querl and Lee in the same over to cap a resounding win to start Derbyshire’s Group C campaign.

ScorecardNottinghamshire expect to have Samit Patel back in their side for their second match of their LV= County Championship season against Durham at Chester-le-Street on Thursday, on a mission to prove he is worthy of keeping his place in the England side as a batsman when the home Test series against West Indies begins on May 17.Patel made his Test debut in the drawn series in Sri Lanka as a spin-bowling all-rounder but Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, believes he will have to put himself ahead of rivals Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara and Jonny Bairstow as a specialist batsman if he is to remain involved.”The challenge for Samit is to prove to England he can play as a specialist batsman at number six,” Newell said, after watching his county open their campaign with a 92-run victory over relegation favourites Worcestershire at a drizzly Trent Bridge.”He will not play for England in England as a spin bowler; he’s got to play as a batsman.”We have been told that Samit is free to play for us in all cricket as soon as he reports back and I think he has to play in the next five Championship games and score some runs if he is to nail that number six spot. I think the selectors will be watching his progress quite closely.”Nottinghamshire needed only an hour or so to take the last four Worcestershire wickets on the fourth morning, having made significant inroads with the new ball on Saturday evening after a 174-run partnership for the third wicket between Daryl Mitchell (102) and Moeen Ali (94) had given their opponents a chance of successfully chasing down a target of 392 to win.Worcestershire had resumed still needing 134 with only four wickets in hand and lost another to the sixth ball of the opening over when seamer Luke Fletcher, who finished with four wickets in the innings and seven in the match, had Shaaiq Choudhry leg before to one that cut back sharply.They might have capitulated sooner had Nottinghamshire held on to their catches in the slips. James Cameron, who finished unbeaten on 27, was put down on 11 and 26, and Lucas on six, to chances of varying difficulty, although a greasy ball in drizzly rain did not help the fielders.It mattered little. Andre Adams (4 for 90) bowled David Lucas off an inside edge and held a low return catch popped back by Richard Jones and when, with rain falling steadily, Fletcher appealed more in hope than expectation for an lbw against Alan Richardson, umpire Robinson dismissed any notion that the ball might have clipped bat before pad and raised the finger.Given that Nottinghamshire had been bowled out for 118 on the opening day, a victory of any kind would have been taken as a bonus, let alone one by a margin, in the end, that was quite substantial.”Our first innings batting was woeful and we had to bowl very well but from the end of the first innings onwards we put in a pretty good performance,” Newell said.”The first innings was an early warning for everyone. Four of our top six gave their wickets away with sloppy shots, which was unacceptable.”You know what to expect here at this stage of the season but some of the younger lads were perhaps a bit excited after playing on flat wickets in Barbados pre-season. We were much more disciplined in our second innings and we bowled pretty well throughout.”Worcestershire captain Mitchell felt his side had played well in parts of the match but that performance with the new ball was critical.”It is the first week of April and the ball swung and seamed around a lot, particularly on the first day, although it was never a 118 all out pitch or a 130 all out pitch,” he said.”Once a bit of the moisture had come out and you got past 40 overs it was a bit easier. But the new ball was crucial, as we found last night. We bowled well with it first innings, when we swung it big, but I think Richard Jones and Dave Lucas will holds their hands up and say they did not bowl so well in the second.”There were some positive signs, though. Me and Moeen obviously batted well in the second innings and I don’t think it was lost then. If we had scored 180 in the first innings we might have won the game.”But you live and learn. We missed a few opportunities last year and came back strong.”*Nottinghamshire have confirmed they expect to have England off-spinner Graeme Swann available for matches against Lancashire and Middlesex in the Championship next month and fast bowler Stuart Broad against Middlesex, subject to his fitness after a calf injury and his IPL commitments.

If ever a score was misleading in the way it was obtained, it was AB de Villiers’ 83. De Villiers’ started off at almost a run-a-ball, approached the New Zealand bowlers with the most positive of mindsets and kept attacking them, but later revealed that he actually felt tentative and anxious throughout his innings.”I felt under pressure the whole time. I felt I could get out at any time,” de Villiers said at the end of day two. “There’s something there [for the bowlers] and if you get a bit loose out there you’re going to lose your wicket. That’s what I felt the whole time. I never really felt in. I think that sums it up really nicely. You’re just never in. You can’t let go of your concentration for one minute.”De Villiers occupied the crease from mid-morning to late in the South Africa innings. He was a spectator to the collapse, which resulted in them teetering on 88 for 6, and was the architect of the recovery, ushering the tail past New Zealand’s total. None of that sounds particularly easy and de Villiers confirmed that it wasn’t. “They bowled extremely well, especially Mark Gillespie, they just never let go,” he said. “The ball was moving around nicely. Obviously, they looked after the ball well, it was swinging both ways.”Although day two was talked up as a batting day, with clear skies and fairly warm sunshine, de Villiers said there was enough in the surface and the air to assist the bowlers. “There’s a bit more swing with the sun out, when it gets a bit warmer,” he said. “It’s weird because you say you want overcast conditions [for swing]. But it probably moves around a bit more off the seam when it’s overcast and it swings a bit more when it’s warmer.”He lauded the New Zealand pitches for being “really good Test wickets” and ensuring that they are “no boring sessions”, but was visibly upset with the part South Africa’s line-up played in maintaining the excitement. While a middle-order collapse has become an all too familiar thing this summer, de Villiers said it had a lot to do with incisive bowling. “You can never ever take it away from the bowling,” he said. “I won’t say that the top six have failed because it’s just poor batting … that will be very unfair towards the bowlers.”When the same thing happened in Dunedin and South Africa were bowled out for under 250, Graeme Smith revealed that a stern talking to from Gary Kirsten had put the pieces back together for their second innings. While de Villiers did not say whether the same thing had happened here, he said the same mistakes that had been made at University Oval were committed by the line-up at Seddon Park. “We were very disappointed with the way we played,” he said. “I’m not going to sit here and say I am very proud of that knock. I thought we did well [in the end] but all in all, we’re very disappointed with the way we played out there.”Neither team has shone with the bat so far, which makes identifying a target that will be relatively simple to chase close to impossible for de Villiers. “I can’t tell you what’s going to be a good total to chase down here, I don’t think any of us are sure at the moment,” he said. But, with New Zealand not even in the lead yet and four of their best batsmen back in the change-room, South Africa will feel in control. “We’d like to get a couple of early wickets tomorrow, to make things a bit easier for us,” de Villiers said.

The BCCI will issue a fresh tender for the broadcast, internet and mobile rights to cricket in India on March 10 and appears to have marginally raised its base price per game for its broadcast rights, despite having to cancel its previous contract with Nimbus Communications over payment problems.According to , the board’s marketing committee, which met in Mumbai today, has set the price for category A games at Rs 31.25 crores per match (approx $6.4 million) plus Rs 1 crore (approx $198,000) while category B games were set at Rs 3.40 crores (approx $6.75 million) plus Rs 1 crore. Committee chairman Farooq Abdullah did not specify which of the game’s three formats fall under each category, nor why a separate rate of Rs 1 crore was mentioned, though one possibility is that the Rs 1 crore is the base price for the board’s digital rights. The contract with Nimbus had a base price of Rs 31.25 crores (approx $6.20 million) per game for each of the three formats purely for the broadcast rights.The BCCI tried to sell its digital rights as a separate property last year, but found no takers at the original base price of Rs 3 crores(approx $595,000) per game. They then reduced the base price to Rs 2 crores (approx $397,000) but still did not receive a single bid for the rights to stream India’s home games live on the internet.The rights in the new tender cover television, internet and mobile for global territories for the period July 2012 – March 2018, the board said in a statement. The tender will be made available until March 26 and the marketing committee will meet in Chennai to open the bids on April 2.The board was forced to issue a new tender after it terminated its contract with Nimbus in December 2011, claiming the latter had defaulted on its payments. The matter has subsequently been referred for arbitration, with the Bombay High Court ruling that Nimbus must deposit Rs 305 crores (approx. US$61 million) with the court as security for the amount the BCCI claims it is owed by the company.The base price set by the board was much anticipated as the previous price of Rs 31.25 crores per match, agreed to by Nimbus, was widely thought to be unsustainable, especially in the light of India’s recent poor performances in both England and Australia. The team has lost eight away Tests on the trot, did not win any of the five one-dayers in England and failed to make the final of the triangular-series in Australia. However, these rights are for matches in India, where the team has performed much better, winning the World Cup in April, beating England in the ODIs and West Indies in Tests and ODIs in 2011.”Everything was discussed,” Abdullah told reporters after the meeting. “How the shape of the next tender should be. The contract with Nimbus has ended. The difficulties and deficiencies in the previous tender were looked into and rectified, and care has been taken those are not repeated in the new tender. It will be a global tender for six years.”The new tender will give a chance for new people to come in. They can bid either for the whole thing (broadcast, internet and mobile rights) or in parts. It will enable people to come in larger numbers. We expect to generate more interest.”

Match Facts

January 26-30, Napier
Start time 1030 (2130 GMT on January 25)Brendan Taylor will have a big role to play as most of his team have little experience of conditions in New Zealand•AFP

Big Picture

Two higher profile series leave this one-off Test to play out in the shadows but it promises to be a test of character for both sides. New Zealand and Zimbabwe played one of the Tests of the year in 2011, in Bulawayo, which ended in a thrilling 34-run win for the visitors. Zimbabwe have not played any Test cricket since then and will still be buoyed by how close they came. New Zealand, however, have a bigger cloud to float on – victory over Australia in Hobart.The Zimbabwe series is a curtain raiser to South Africa’s arrival in New Zealand later in the summer and the hosts will want to use what is effectively a warm-up tour to fine-tune their plans. They have question marks over who the best wicketkeeper in the country is, how many allrounders to play and which of their four quick bowlers will edge ahead if they have to pick between them. One Test may not be enough to clarify all of these issues but it will go some way to guiding New Zealand in the immediate future.Zimbabwe have a far more daunting mission to accomplish. For the first time since making their Test comeback in August last year, they will play away from the comfort of Harare or Bulawayo. While still finding their feet in the longest form of the game, they will also have to quickly assess and understand the ground beneath it as they adapt to foreign conditions. Their captain, Brendan Taylor, has already spent time in New Zealand playing in the HRV Cup and his insights will be valuable.Under Alan Butcher, Zimbabwe have formed a close-knit and increasingly confident unit but this match will test those bonds and other aspects of their game. The result matters less for them than the manner in which it is achieved and how they perform in this match will provide a good yardstick for measuring Zimbabwe’s progress.

Form Guide

New Zealand WLWDL (most recent first)
Zimbabwe LLW (Zimbabwe’s results only reflect matches they have played since making their Test comeback in August 2010)

Players to watch …

After just three Test matches in which he has scored three fifties, Dean Brownlie has already earned a promotion up the order. He will bat at No. 5 and will act as the fifth seamer in an attack that will contain four quicks and the spotlight will fall on whether he can convert a start. Like most of their squad, Zimbabwe’s new-ball pair of Kyle Jarvis and Brian Vitori will experience Test cricket on foreign spoil for the first time. On a pitch in Harare that offered only early assistance for the quicks, the pair took 10 wickets between them and will be able to push themselves on a surface offering more assistance.

Team news

On a seamer-friendly pitch, New Zealand are set to play four quicks with Daniel Vettori coming in at No. 6. That means Brownlie will be promoted a place and Kane Williamson gets an opportunity at No. 3 in Jesse Ryder’s absence. The most debated topic in New Zealand over the past week is the wicketkeeper’s spot which will be taken by BJ Watling, over Kruger van Wyk. Sam Wells, the allrounder who was included in the New Zealand squad at the eleventh hour, is reportedly unlikely to play.New Zealand: (probable) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Brendon McCullum, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Ross Taylor (capt), 5 Dean Brownlie, 6 Daniel Vettori, 7 BJ Watling (wk), 8 Doug Bracewell, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Chris MartinZimbabwe are without two of their most experienced players. Vusi Sibanda was left out of the touring party after being declared ineligible for the national team following a grade cricket stint and Chris Mpofu suffered a lower back injury. Hamilton Masakadza partnered Tino Mawoyo at the top in the tour match, and will do so again in Test. Forster Mutizwa will bat at No. 3 and Regis Chakabva will bat at No. 6. Zimbabwe will play three allrounders, Malcolm Waller, Graeme Cremer and Shingi Masakadza. Keegan Meth was struck during training and is on crutches. Cremer gets the nod ahead of veteran Ray Price who was ruled out with a groin injury.Zimbabwe: 1 Tino Mawoyo, 2 Hamilton Masakadza, 3 Forster Mutizwa, 4 Brendan Taylor (capt), 5 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 6 Regis Chakabva, 7 Malcolm Waller, 8 Graeme Cremer, 9 Shingi Masakadza, 10 Kyle Jarvis, 11 Brian Vitori

Pitch and Conditions

Talk in New Zealand is that the hosts have ordered a green top as they look to pick from where they left off in Hobart. Although Napier has traditionally been a batsmen’s pitch, with the last match between New Zealand and Pakistan playing out to a high-scoring draw in 2009. A wetter summer than normal should provide for bowler-friendly conditions. Napier is expected to be mild and sunny with the only possibility of rain forecast for the second afternoon.

Stats and Trivia

• New Zealand have never won a Test match in Napier. Of the nine matches played there, seven have been draws with only England and Sri Lanka registering Test wins at McLean Park.
• New Zealand and Zimbabwe have played against each other 14 times, with New Zealand winning eight and six draws. Three of the victories were by more than an innings.
• Zimbabwe have only won two Tests away from home – in Peshawar against Pakistan in 1998 and in Chittagong against Bangladesh in 2001.

Quotes

“People say it’s easy to change up from Twenty20 to Test cricket. But I disagree. It is a lot harder than you think. It’s more a mindset change than technique.”

“We showed that New Zealand can be beaten. I hope we can take the confidence we gained from that match forward.”

Nathan Lyon’s recall in place of a fast bowler will be the only change to Australia’s XI for the fourth Test against India at Adelaide Oval, the national selector John Inverarity has confirmed.Inverarity has named an unchanged squad for the final match of the series, indicating that Lyon’s return to the team was guaranteed after missing out on a speedy pitch in Perth. Lyon has taken only two tail-end wickets in the series, but will be leaned on heavily on an Adelaide surface that will invariably take turn as the match progresses.”A spin bowler has always been a priority in Test matches at Adelaide Oval and it is very likely that Nathan Lyon will replace one of the other bowlers in the final XI for the fourth Test,” Inverarity said.”The fact the Australians were able to dismiss India in only 60 and 63 overs in Perth and the extra two rest days because the Test finished early has meant that there is reduced concern about excessive workloads for the fast bowlers. Michael Clarke’s team will be striving to maintain the momentum with a win in Adelaide.”The choice of which fast bowler to drop for Adelaide will be a vexing one, given that all delivered piercing spells at the WACA ground. Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle are the two quicks arguably in need of some rest, having played every match of the India series so far.Siddle, the most durable member of the pace attack this summer, has played in eight consecutive Tests since forcing his way back into the team for the final match in Sri Lanka. However his bowling method may be better suited to Adelaide than Hilfenhaus, who has not enjoyed much success at the ground for Tasmania and was left out of the XI for the corresponding Ashes Test last summer.Ryan Harris’ fitness is constantly monitored, but he has a strong record of performance at Adelaide Oval from his time with South Australia. Mitchell Starc’s case is also strong, given his wickets in both innings at the WACA and also the selectors’ desire to build his experience and poise for future international assignments.The unchanged squad also affords further chances for the top order batsman Shaun Marsh and the wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, both of whom have endured difficult series against India despite Australia’s 3-0 domination. Shane Watson was again not considered due to ongoing calf trouble.