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Mark Wood has been passed fit for the third Test against South Africa with scans clearing him of injury after he had reported soreness in his left heel.However, he could still be under pressure to retain his place after managing just 1 for 197 during the first two Tests at Lord’s and Trent Bridge.Wood has undergone three ankle operations between October 2015 and his return to England colours at the start of the season, but the soreness felt at Trent Bridge was never thought to be related.Wood has not bowled badly in the two Tests but has not consistently provided the extra edge to the attack that he had been earmarked for alongside James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Form aside, there may also be concerns about asking Wood to play three Tests in quick succession due to his injury history.Toby Roland-Jones, the uncapped Middlesex seamer, has been part of the squad for the first two Tests and could come into contention. Chris Woakes, who suffered a side strain during the opening match of the Champions Trophy against Bangladesh, is not expected to be available until the West Indies series in mid-August.Despite the positive news over Wood’s fitness there will be at least one change to the England side for The Oval after Gary Ballance suffered a broken finger while batting in the second innings at Trent Bridge. Liam Dawson’s position will under come under scrutiny, but coach Trevor Bayliss suggested that Keaton Jennings, who has made three single-figure scores in the series, will be given further opportunity although that may come at No. 3 depending on who replaces Ballance.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsTammy Beaumont and Sarah Taylor added 275 off 209 balls for the second wicket•Getty Images/ICC

Three days after shooting out West Indies for the sixth-lowest total in tournament history, South Africa’s much-vaunted bowling attack crumbled in the face of a brutal onslaught from Sarah Taylor and Tammy Beaumont on a batting beauty in Bristol.Never had a team, in 14 completed innings prior, notched up a score in excess of 300; on Wednesday, England went 73 clear of that mark, thanks to a second-wicket stand of 275 – the highest in Women’s World Cup history and the second-highest in all women’s ODIs – to knock the stuffing out of South Africa.Needing to pull off the highest successful chase ever, South Africa became the first team to score in excess of 300 batting second in a women’s ODI, thanks to half-centuries from Laura Wolvaardt, Lizelle Lee and Chloe Tryon. But the magnitude of the task proved just too much, and South Africa fell well short, by 68 runs.Taylor had spent a year out of the England team to deal with anxiety issues. She began the tournament opening the innings against India and Pakistan in the absence of Lauren Winfield. All it took was a move down to her favoured No. 3 position to find form again as she hit back with an unbeaten 74 against Sri Lanka. Against South Africa, she put up her finest display of batting since returning to the side.Perhaps the 40th over of the innings provided the perfect encapsulation of the class and poise of Taylor’s innings. It was the ideal mix of deft touch, supple wrists, brute force, sublime timing and laser-guided placement. And it was Shabnim Ismail, South Africa’s fastest bowler, who bore the brunt of Taylor’s pristine hitting.Ismail’s first ball strayed onto the pads, and Taylor nonchalantly flicked through midwicket. When Ismail tried to take the ball away from her, Taylor walked across early to clobber her straight down the ground. A half-volley was shoveled past mid-off using the bottom hand and a full toss was helped on its way to fine leg. Having tried just about everything, when Ismail tried dragging her length back, Taylor laid into a pull to dispatch her to the midwicket boundary.The class of batting apart, the over also highlighted the mediocrity of South Africa’s bowling. On a flat pitch where the ball came on nicely, it needed intelligent changes in pace to subdue batsmen. Instead, South Africa offered Taylor and Beaumont a generous mix of overpitched and short balls. It didn’t help that they offered width outside the off stump and strayed on the pads all too often.Taylor and Beaumont ruthlessly punished these errors. They were especially clever in their use of the scoop and reverse-sweep. The lack of pace on the surface allowed the batsmen to get into position early, and with both batsmen timing the ball impeccably, they routinely scored through the V behind the wicket, much to the frustration of South Africa. In all, both batsmen plundered 68 runs in that region, including 13 fours.While Taylor took little time to cut loose, Beaumont was a lot more sedate to start off. With the sun out, Heather Knight, the England captain, had little hesitation in batting first on a Bristol pitch that offered little for the bowlers despite possessing a tinge of green. After laying a solid platform upfront through a 59-run opening stand with Winfield, Beaumont steadily consolidated in the company of Taylor.She raised her century with a scoop through fine leg off Ayabonga Khaka’s medium pace. The landmark had taken her 118 balls to reach, but once she got there, she too launched into overdrive and pillaged 47 runs off her last 25 balls. By the time she fell, for 148, England had lost a little ground with four wickets falling for 13 runs. But Knight’s late 10-ball cameo, which included four fours, gave them a late surge and a total well beyond South Africa’s reach.South Africa’s openers, Wolvaardt and Lee, added a solid 128, but it took 25.1 overs, which, in the context of the match, made for no more than a sedate start. They showed little urgency up front – with Wolvaardt in particular struggling to find the gaps – and it meant Brunt conceded only nine runs in her first spell of five overs. A dipping yorker from Natalie Sciver cleaned up Lee as South Africa broke through.Wolvaardt stuck around and raised half-century of her own, but ate up 84 balls doing so. A slog over midwicket and a flat-batted thump over mid-off in the 30th over signaled a change in intent, but Anya Shrubsole ensured it was short-lived, getting her to hole out to deep midwicket three overs later.Mignon du Preez and Tryon briefly kept England anxious, slamming 75 runs off 40 balls. But once both batsmen fell in the space of four deliveries – Tryon for a 26-ball 54 with the help of five fours and four sixes – South Africa slid rapidly.England’s performance wasn’t without its share of downs. They dropped four catches that could have hurt them on another day. But the security provided by Taylor and Beaumont made sure no such thing would happen on this day.

South Africa women’s captain Dane van Niekerk has been declared fit for the World Cup in June, when she is expected to have fully recovered from a foot injury. Van Niekerk was prescribed six weeks’ rest after sustaining the injury earlier this month. She sat out of the recent quadrangular series, South Africa’s last preparatory event before the World Cup, but should be ready for their opening match on June 25.

South Africa women’s squad

Dane van Niekerk (capt), Lizelle Lee, Trisha Chetty, Marizanne Kapp, Chloe Tryon, Mignon du Preez, Shabnim Ismail, Andrie Steyn, Masabata Klaas, Laura Wolvaardt, Raisibe Ntozakhe, Moseline Daniels, Nadine de Klerk, Sune Luus, Ayabonga Khaka

Van Niekerk will be the only member short of match practice. The rest of the squad consists entirely of players who took part in the four-team tournament, including Nadine de Klerk and Raisibe Ntozakhe, who both debuted in the series. South Africa won five out of six matches in the round-robin stage and reached the final, where they lost to India.Their most notable performance was an eight-run victory over India in the ninth match. They also had a selection of individual moments to savour. Eighteen-year-old Laura Wolvaardt scored one of South Africa’s two centuries in the competition – Andrie Steyn hit the other – as South Africa racked up 337 for 5, their highest ODI total, against Ireland . On the bowling front, Shabnim Ismail topped the tournament charts.South Africa go into the event on the back of a two-and-a-half year period that coach Hilton Moreeng believes stands them in good stead. “I believe that we finally have the winning formula. The balance in the side is just right,” he said.Since October 2014, South Africa have won series in Sri Lanka, India, the UAE against Pakistan, Ireland and Bangladesh. But they have not been able to overcome New Zealand, Australia, England or West Indies – although they won isolated matches against all teams except Australia.Being able to overhaul some of the better teams in the women’s game will be foremost on the agenda in England, but so will adapting to unfamiliar conditions. The last time a South Africa women’s side toured England for ODIs was in 2008, although they played a three-match T20 series in the country in 2014. Some players, including van Niekerk, Marizanne Kapp, Lizelle Lee and Ismail, were part of the Women’s Super League last year, which they believe will help with the adjustments. “With a few of us having a bit of experience of English conditions, we are confident going into the tournament that we are going to give it our very best and leave it all on the field by the time it ends,” van Niekerk said.South Africa’s best finish at a Women’s World Cup was in 2000, when they lost to Australia in the semi-final. They have not finished in the top four since, but their structures have become professional, national contracts have been awarded and they have high-profile sponsorship.CSA CEO Haroon Lorgat praised the team for achieving the goal they set three years ago – of qualifying for the World Cup – but Danie van den Bergh, head of their title backer Momentum, backed them to go all the way. “It has been exciting to see the team grow in world rankings and again earn their spot and in the World Cup,” he said. “This shows what can be achieved when we invest in the sport and developing the player. We wish the team the very best and hope their representation inspires and encourages young women and girls, or any young South Africans, to get involved and to dream those big dreams. Bring it home ladies.”

Match facts

Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders
Mumbai, April 9, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)
3:01

Hogg: With Lynn opening, KKR very balanced

Head to head

Last season: Mumbai Indians won both matches, by the same margin – six wickets – and with the same Man of the Match – Rohit Sharma
Overall: Mumbai have won 13 of the 18 matches

In the news

Mumbai will be buoyed by the arrival of T20 specialist Lasith Malinga, who warmed up for the IPL with a hat-trick against Bangladesh, although in a losing cause. His addition will strengthen an attack that took only three wickets and could not defend 184 against Rising Pune Supergiants in their opening game.However, they will be without batsman Ambati Rayudu, who was stretchered off the field during the first game with a groin injury. Rayudu will be out for at least 10 days, according to Mumbai coach Mahela Jayawardene. Saurabh Tiwary could replace Rayudu.Sri Lanka’s Asela Gunaratne also joined the Mumbai squad, although he will find it tougher to squeeze into the middle order that comprises notable names from both domestic and international cricket. Mumbai, however, might reassess their decision to leave out Harbhajan Singh, their most capped player, from the first game. He might help curb Chris Lynn’s aggression as the batsman strikes more easily against fast bowlers.Kolkata Knight Riders received an international boost too – Shakib Al Hasan joined them after receiving the Man-of-the-Match award by top-scoring and taking three wickets against Sri Lanka. Knight Riders have already changed their prolific opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa from last season, by making Lynn open. But, moving from Rajkot to a smaller ground in Mumbai, will they want to play three spinners again? Umesh Yadav’s unavailability will make them look towards Ankit Rajpoot as a domestic pace option.

The likely XIs

Mumbai Indians: 1 Jos Buttler, 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 Rohit Sharma (capt), 4 Saurabh Tiwary, 5 Nitish Rana, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Krunal Pandya/Hardik Pandya, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Mitchell McClenaghan/Tim Southee, 11 Lasith MalingaKolkata Knight Riders: 1 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 2 Chris Lynn, 3 Robin Uthappa (wk), 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Piyush Chawla/Ankit Rajpoot, 11 Trent BoultAmbati Rayudu had to be carried off the field during the match against Rising Pune Supergiant•BCCI

Stats that matter

• Among teams that have faced each other at least ten times in the IPL, Mumbai’s 13-5 record against Knight Riders is the best (by win-loss ratio)
• In the 2016 IPL, spinners struck 16 times at Wankhede Stadium at an average of 20.12 and economy rate of seven, compared to the pacers’ average of 34.30 while taking 26 wickets with an economy rate of 8.52
• Rohit Sharma has scored 25.50% of Mumbai’s runs in the eight wins he has featured in against Knight Riders
• Mumbai have the lowest average (18) for opening stands, using six pairs, since the beginning of 2016. Knight Riders have the best (50), after utilising only two pairs
• Lendl Simmons, who did not play Mumbai’s first match, has the highest average in the IPL (47.10). As opener, he is only behind Virat Kohli’s average of 58.11.
• Harbhajan has dismissed a few attacking batsmen as many as four times each in the IPL – Gambhir, Chris Gayle, Manish Pandey, Kevin Pietersen, Suresh Raina and Dwayne Smith

Essex are being sued by a former youth team coach for wrongful dismissal after he warned of inappropriate standards of care at a festival at which a convicted paedophile was one of the organisers.ESPNcricinfo understands that Doug Frame, a former manager of the Essex Under-13 and Suffolk Under-17 teams, alerted the club to his concerns after the Essex Under-15 side played in a tournament run by the London Schools Cricket Association at which Wasim Aslam was an organiser.Aslam was sentenced to four years imprisonment in 2004 after indecently assaulting two teenagers.Frame has also alleged that the adults escorting the Essex Under-15 side, one of which is understood to be a well-known former player, left the team unattended until late in the evening as they went out for dinner.When Frame, who is also an employment lawyer, reported his concerns to the club he was told his services were no longer required. He argues that the reason he was given – that his son was in the set-up – is inconsistent with the county’s invitation for him to work with them at a time when his son was already involved.He is claiming wrongful dismissal under Section 43 of the Employment Rights Act. It is a section that is designed to protect whistleblowers who warn of criminality or health and safety issues.An Essex official, while declining to comment on the record, insisted Frame’s departure was mutual, that young players were cared for at all times and that the club’s actions and protocols have been approved by both Essex Police and the NSPCC. They have admitted, however, that they will not be taking part in further events organised by the London Schools Cricket Association.The case is due to be heard between 11 and 13 July.

Match Facts

February 22, 2017
Start time 11.00am local (2200GMT)New Zealand’s Trent Boult was one of the biggest buys at the IPL auction•AFP

The Big Picture

Kagiso Rabada and Trent Boult are now significantly richer men after big deals at the IPL. On the flip side, players from both sides – notably Imran Tahir, Ish Sodhi and Ross Taylor – can probably count themselves unfortunate not to have gained any interest, especially Tahir as the No. 1 white-ball bowler. Most players insist they don’t take much notice of the auction as it’s out of their hands, but it will surely have been a topic of conversation in Christchurch today.However, of more immediate importance is the second one-day international. Especially for New Zealand who can’t afford to go 2-0 down against a South Africa side with 12 wins on the bounce. New Zealand fought hard to almost steal victory in Hamilton, but their top order – save Kane Williamson – was worryingly exposed by Chris Morris. For their own piece of mind, they need a century from someone in the top five.South Africa were not perfect in the opening match – the death overs were a touch wayward and there were a few loose shots to make the chase tight – but, as confident sides tend to do, they found a way to win. And being put in a few tight corners during this series is probably no bad thing in preparation for the Champions Trophy.

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand LWWWW
South Africa WWWWW

In the spotlight

Tom Latham has hit a tricky period with his last three ODI innings reading 7, 0 and 0. He was pinned on nought for ten balls in Hamilton before being trapped lbw by an inswinger from Morris. But he will have good memories of this ground: he made 137 against Bangladesh in December. He also has his second string as wicketkeeper, a role he and Luke Ronchi could alternate depending on the balance of the side.It was a rare wicketless ODI for Imran Tahir two days ago – his first since South Africa’s previous overseas one-dayer, against West Indies in Barbados, back in June – which was followed by not being bid for at the IPL. Neither will worry him much, but it was instructive to see how Williamson quickly tried to stamp some authority over him in Hamilton with a slog-sweep for six. What has the world’s No. 1 white-ball bowler got in response? You suspect plenty.AB de Villiers is 50 runs away from being the fastest to 9000 runs in ODIs•Getty Images

Team news

New Zealand have previously played Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi together at Hagley Oval – against Sri Lanka in 2015-16 – although they were barely needed. The odds favour an extra seamer being brought in although the larger playing-area works in Sodhi’s favour. If they retain Latham as keeper, it creates room for another bowler.New Zealand (probable) 1 Dean Brownlie, 2 Tom Latham (wk), 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Neil Broom, 6 James Neesham, 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Ish Sodhi/Lockie Ferguson, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Trent BoultSouth Africa will also have to decide whether to retain Tabraiz Shamsi or return to another of their allrounders, either Wayne Parnell or Dwaine Pretorius who is now available having arrived following the birth of his child. David Miller’s finger was assessed and he passed a fitness test, but he remains an uncertain starter.*South Africa (probable) 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Farhaan Behardien, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Wayne Parnell, 9 Andile Phehlukwayo, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Imran Tahir

Pitch and conditions

This is the only day-game of the series, on a ground that has provided some high scores. Five of the nine first-innings totals at Hagley Oval have been over 300 – in the previous ODI, when New Zealand faced Bangladesh, they piled up 341 for 7. The threat of showers has subsided and there is a high forecast of 29 degrees with some sunshine for most of the day.

Stats and trivia

• AB de Villiers needs 50 runs to become the fastest to 9000 in ODIs, although there is no innings pressure on the feat with Sourav Ganguly’s current mark being 228 innings. De Villiers has batted 203 times.
• This will be South Africa’s first international match at Hagley Oval. The last time they played in Christchurch was 2004.
• In his short international career, Colin de Grandhomme has scored 319 runs off 285 balls across the three formats.

Quotes

“It’s just bizarre. A huge honour, but my focus is still heavily on concentrating on the game tomorrow.”
“New Zealand don’t give you much, they’re a seriously good fielding unit and all New Zealand sides seem a close knit bunch of guys and really fight.”
*13.20GMT, February 21: The preview was updated after David Miller’s fitness test.

Rishabh Pant has been named Delhi’s captain for the Vijay Hazare domestic 50-overs tournament that begins on February 25. Pant, 19, takes over from Gautam Gambhir, who led Delhi to the final last season. Delhi coach KP Bhaskar said it was a “consensus decision” to blood Pant for the future.”The selectors are looking at the future and they think Rishabh is the right choice,” Bhaskar told ESPNcricinfo. “They were thinking that there are four-five seniors in the team who can groom him. All the seniors – Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan, Ashish Nehra and Ishant Sharma – are there, and this is the right opportunity, so looking forward to the future.”Bhaskar also said the decision was made with a view to reduce Gambhir’s workload. “We think Gambhir still has a lot of cricket left in him, so let him concentrate on his batting and get runs for us. Let him have a free mind.”Pant has had a breakout season in 2016-17 that saw him finish as the fourth-highest run-getter (972 from eight matches at an average of 81.00 and a strike-rate of 107.28) in the Ranji Trophy. Pant also earned his maiden international call-up for the T20I series against England and made his debut in the final game in Bangalore.Delhi, who have named 42 probables, take on Tamil Nadu in Cuttack in their opening fixture.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBen Hilfenhaus’ unbeaten 32 off 24 balls helped Melbourne Stars stave off an accurate bowling performance from Adelaide Strikers•Cricket Australia

Six nights ago, Eoin Morgan drove Ben Hilfenhaus down the ground for six to secure an unlikely win for Sydney Thunder over Melbourne Stars.Thus it felt poetic that Hilfenhaus’ fraught, violent innings of 32 saw his team over the line by two wickets and with three balls to spare against Adelaide Strikers at the MCG, moving the Stars to third on the BBL table.On New Year’s Eve, 152 had been enough for Strikers to pull off an unlikely heist against Sydney Sixers. Against the Stars, despite the best efforts of their new signing Ish Sodhi, that same figure – which looked underpar at the innings break – was not quite enough. With four defeats to their name, their hopes of making the knockouts are all but over.Strikers’ fast start … and slow deathDavid Hussey stuck the Strikers in and 41 balls later, he’d have been wondering if he made the right call. Ben Dunk, the tournament’s second-highest run-scorer, had lost his opening partner Jake Weatherald, but raced to 35, and looked in fine touch. He had run twos hard, and picked the gaps; Strikers were 60-1, and cruising.But Hussey’s trump card, 19-year-old Liam Bowe, tossed the last ball of his first over up and Dunk bit – a touch of dip saw him fail to get to the pitch and he picked out mid-off, where the captain took a fine catch. From there, everything slowed up for the Strikers. With Dunk gone, they failed to score a boundary for seven overs. Brad Hodge and Tim Ludeman struggled for fluency and slogged their wickets away in the same Scott Boland over.With all Stars bowlers impressing (all six who bowled finished with an economy rate of 7 or 7.50), a low total was always on the cards. It took until the 18th over for Jono Dean to hit the Strikers’ first six, but he became Boland’s fourth wicket two balls later. In the following over, Ben Hilfenhaus found himself on a hat-trick.A spinner called elbowEven Kevin Pietersen admitted it was the first time he had seen Bowe, the bespectacled lad from Bendigo, bowl. But, with his funky chinaman bowling and subtle variations, he proved a triumph – and, as if to prove a point, immediately became Twitter’s top trend in Australia. His performance would have eased the Stars’ worries about the absence of Adam Zampa for the rest of the tournament.The bespectacled Liam Bowe finished with 1 for 21 on debut•Cricket Australia

Ish’s instant impactThe big difference between this year and the last – when they topped the table – for the Strikers has been the absence of their spin twins, Jon Holland (injured) and Adil Rashid (with England). So when Chris Jordan went down with a hamstring injury to compound their depleted bowling stocks, Jason Gillespie turned to Ish Sodhi.His debut could barely have gone better. He belted the final ball of Strikers’ innings for six that took the score over 150. Then, in his first over had Peter Handscomb bowled with a topspinner, and shed just two singles. His second went for five. David Hussey hit the first ball of his third down the ground for six, but the second was caught brilliantly at midwicket. In his final over, Evan Gulbis smote a six, then nudged into the leg side, with an eye on two. Sodhi sprinted across to midwicket. Pietersen hesitated turning for the second, Sodhi turned and threw to the bowlers end, where Hodge had crept in to remove the bails. It was a spectacular piece of fielding to complete a spectacular debut. It was not quite enough.The vital 18th How often does the 18th over of the chase turn a T20? Wes Agar, debutant and brother of Ashton, had been savaged by Quiney in the first over of the chase, but returned in the 16th, and bowled five dots to Hilfenhaus. Hodge trusted the youngster with another over.He nailed four down the ground, scampered two to long-on, then slogged four more through square leg. He swung and missed, then two more were slashed through the covers. A slower ball ended the over, and Hilfenhaus flat-batted it down the ground for six.There was still time for a twist. Ben Laughlin bowled Gulbis and Boland in the 19th, meaning three were required from the last. Hilfenhaus and Beer traded singles, and the game was done.

Newland’s favourite son, Jacques Kallis, didn’t say goodbye to the ground when he retired abruptly at the end of 2013 but almost three years later, he was there to say hello as the South Africans conducted their first training session of 2017. South Africa’s coach Russell Domingo asked Kallis to come in to consult at what became an extended optional net session. He spent time with every batsman, was in the team meeting then even helped to pack up at the end and Domingo’s hopes that the greatness will rub off.”He’s probably the greatest cricketer who has ever played and he’s in Cape Town. For us not to get him down to practice is stupid. He’s keen to come and watch and see what’s happening and share his experiences with some of the younger players who have never met him before,” Domingo said. “A lot of guys think of him and go, ‘Jeez – can’t he play tomorrow? Is he available?’ He’s a great player and it’s great to have him around the team.”While Kallis is most definitely not considering a cricketing comeback, he has had dalliances with coaching through T20 leagues. Kallis has coached at Kolkata Knight Riders and Trinidad in the CPL and although he does not think he wants a full-time role just yet, he admitted it is something he has started to enjoy. “It’s very rewarding. Towards the end of my career, I found I liked passing on knowledge to the guys. That’s the nice part – seeing the guys’ game develop,” he said.One player whose game Kallis has an intricate knowledge of is Hashim Amla, who he saw debut and played alongside for almost a decade. With Amla in the midst of a slump of sorts – he has not scored a century in 11 innings and a fifty in eight – Kallis spent a significant amount of time in his net and gave him “little pointers” on how to ensure he pushes on from a start. Kallis was convinced a big score is looming for the holder of South Africa’s highest individual Test score.”He is hitting it pretty well, he just needs to push on but generally he is hitting it as well as when I was playing,” Kallis said. “He has got a few 40s in that and he just hasn’t kicked on. That happens. But he is hungry, I can tell you that. I wouldn’t be surprised if he went on and got a big hundred in the next Test match or two. It’s pretty much assured.”Similarly, Kallis was certain that South Africa are not in danger of slipping into complacency after a convincing win over Sri Lanka in the first Test. It was only a year ago that South Africa were on a downward spiral after losing 3-0 in India and then being beaten by England at home. Kallis believed it was a case of lesson learnt.”It’s nice to see us bouncing back from that,” he said. “One thing you can learn from that is that when you do go through good periods like we are going through now, don’t give it away. Throw your mind back to India where we were struggling. The guys certainly don’t seem complacent, they seem very hungry to keep going. They’ve learnt from that experience in terms of taking their form forward and not giving it away. They are in a very good space.”South Africa have admitted they feel better about themselves than they have for a long time and that is largely because they have unearthed some depth. From going through the 2015-16 season with many frontline bowlers injured, they now have Vernon Philander back and several others in reserve with Morne Morkel also turning up at the New Year’s training. What they have not really found is an allrounder in the Kallis mould and for that alone, even Domingo wishes Kallis was still around.”As good a batsman as he was we can always scrape together his runs but to scrape together the 15 or 16 overs he bowled is not that easy,” Domingo said. “Look at England, they’ve got Ben Stokes who plays as a fourth seamer. Angelo Mathews bowls 15 overs. Australia have Mitchell Marsh. It is one area where he has been missed.”But there have been signs in recent times that South Africa are finding another way to ensure their main quick bowlers have someone to play a supporting role. “It has presented an opportunity for a spinner to step up,” Domingo said. “Instead of the spinner bowling 10 overs the spinner’s now bowling 25 overs a day. Kallis’ greatness probably limited the opportunities for a spinner. Having him not there now means the spinners have to front up. That’s why it’s so good to see a guy like Keshav Maharaj come in. We’ve got the confidence to bowl him 25 overs a day and rotate the three seamers.”

English cricket’s ceaseless search for a solution to stress fractures suffered by fast bowlers has a new ally because of the ECB’s partnership with a global leader in athlete analytics.England teams – both men’s and women’s – have the opportunity to wear micro-sensors underneath their shirts in a three-year partnership with Catapult, a leading analytics provider.Raph Brandon, the ECB’s head of science, medicine and innovation, and Andy Flower, the former England coach, introduced the system to England Lions at the national performance centre in Loughborough this week and Brandon says the tie-up, which goes through to the 2019 World Cup in England, has already had “major benefits”.”Lower-back stress fractures will always be a challenge for us,” Brandon said. “It is particularly important for the U-19s that we monitor them very closely and do our best to protect them from injury.”Get the insight and then you can change your decisions. It is a series of learning. Thanks to the Catapult data, we have a comprehensive picture now of combined workload and training and we are establishing that joined-up picture for the best England bowlers, whether they are on contract or on the international pathway.”The challenge facing young fast bowlers as their growing bodies comes under enormous strain is the subject of a two-year research programme at Loughborough into how a young player’s spine adapts to the rigours of fast bowling.Evidence already gathered before the Catapult tie-up is that the spine of a successful England fast bowler such as James Anderson or Stuart Broad becomes as thick as any comparable spine in international sport in order to withstand the constant demands it has to bear.Brandon said: “What we know is if you get to become a Broad or an Anderson your spine on the opposite side of your bowling arm is the thickest spine in world sport. It is thicker than that of a rugby forward or any sports spine that we know. That is based on years of MRI scans with our international group.”As a young fast bowler, you will have your growth spurts where your spine grows but where it is not fully thick. You have to have a super-adapted spine to become an international fast bowler. The challenge is how to get from this thin piece of bamboo spine when you are 18 and very talented to the super-thick spine of Jimmy Anderson.”The bone adapts to loading cycles and gets stronger. You need to load it and then you need to rest and recover. The quality of data we can now capture and analyse means we now have far more facts to support the ‘feel’ we get from the expertise of our coaches in their support of the players.Catapult work with Miami University in 2015•Getty Images

“We can measure run-up speeds, the amount of acceleration going through the body, the amount of rotation going through their trunk, and so much more – in practice as well as matches. We will always have something to learn about the science behind the elite cricketer.”The decision about when to bring a player back from injury is now also likely to be built on many factors other than the old question: “Do you think you can get through okay?” being asked by a coach.”Selection is not dependent upon such data,” Brandon said, “but selectors are aware that we do have this information now. We are adding facts to the feel and the knowledge and the insights that the expert coaches and the players themselves have.”We understand the demands on individual players intimately. So when we are bringing players back from injury we know what demands they will face. If they are coming back to a Test match we have to build them up so they can cope with a certain amount of running, a certain amount of time on their feet, the total distance they are likely to travel and the likely amount of high intensity work. This very detailed work allows us to individualise our training for the players and that gives them confidence.”Although the collaboration with Catapult was motivated by the desire for fast-bowling analysis, it has also provided other insights.”Scoring a century in a one-day international will generally involve between seven and 12 miles total distance on your feet, including many sprints,” Brandon said.Such evidence has informed England’s coaches, and indeed the players, of the fitness demands involved. They will continue to give England ammunition when they chose to pull contracted England players out of county cricket – a regular bone of contention – and they are likely they played a part in Mark Robinson’s demands for better fitness levels when he took over as coach of England women earlier this year.