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Hampshire’s inability to remove tail end batsmen surfaced for a second time in the space of a fortnight as Yorkshire batted for two sessions on the fourth day to prevent any other result but a tame draw.Steadfastly defying any attempts to make a positive result possible, Yorkshire, the reigning County Champions who have lost all three of their previous Frizzell Division One games this season, settled for a morale-boosting draw.The only day of the four to start on time saw Richard Dawson and Chris Silverwood lose their wickets to Shaun Udal to send the hosts to 275-8 and some way adrift of Hampshire’s first innings total of 354.But, with veteran wicket-keeper/batsman Richard Blakey still in and playing a controlled innings, he was joined by Steve Kirby in a tenth wicket stand of 91 to frustrate the visitors and gain an unlikely first innings lead for their side.Blakey (83), who smashed Udal straight over his head for six, fell when he edged Chris Tremlett to Neil Johnson in the sole slip.Hampshire were left to rue Nic Pothas’ drop off Neil Johnson when Kirby was on only 3 as the England Academy quickie surpassed his miserly previous highest score of 15* to record a maiden first-class half century.He found an allay in Matthew Hoggard with whom he added a further 57 for the tenth wicket, with the fiery redhead smiting two huge sixes over the members pavilion before he became Dimi Mascarenhas’ fifth scalp for a fine 57, leaving Hoggard on 21.Mascarenhas closed with 5-87 from one ball short of 30 overs, his best figures of the season so far in Yorkshire’ 423 all out, their surprisingly highest score against Hampshire at Headingley in the 148-match history.It left Hampshire 18 overs to bat out with the draw declared at 5.30pm. Will Kendall was trapped leg before in the only blemish of the Hampshire second innings, as Derek Kenway (30) and John Crawley (19) ensured no further loss at 62-1.Crawley now departs for Edgbaston to join the England party while the rest of the squad take the long journey on Tuesday to deepest Kent for the first round of the C&G Trophy against Kent Cricket Board at Folkestone.

One may not admire his batting against true fast bowling, but one can never complain that he is reluctant to take tips from former cricketers. Whether he will be able to execute those tips on the field is another question altogether.Twenty-four hours before the second Test Sourav Ganguly, the Indian captain, was seen in Geoffrey Boycott’s room with Sumit, the Indian touring team’s video-analyst. They were carrying the video-cassette of the third day’s play at the Bourda Oval, Guyana. No prizes for guessing that Ganguly was seeking advice from one of the finest of openers.And for his Prince of Kolkata, of course, Boycott had plenty of time. As the screen began to show how Ganguly got out, the Yorkshireman remarked, “See, you are moving your feet twice before playing the ball. First it is the back foot, then the front. That is why, while facing the ball, your body weight is being divided into two and keeping you in a locked position from where you can’t execute even the simplest of strokes.”So saying, he showed how to shadow and keep the body weight in one of his legs. “You have to do it whenever you get time. The world now knows that you are not comfortable against the lifting delivery. If you want to be one of the best batsmen, you have to practice more,” said Boycott. “What I showed you, try to do that in the nets. Concentrate hard on the wicket. Say to yourself that you are not going to gift your wicket. Prepare yourself mentally to play big innings. It can’t happen overnight. Maybe you will need one or two more Tests, but keep on trying.Boycott did not tone down his usual bluntness in advising the beleaguered Indian skipper. “Frankly speaking, the way your feet were moving in Guyana, I was not sure whether you had practiced hard before coming to this tour. I simply can’t think that someone can come to tour the Caribbean without solid homework.”When the Indian captain was about to leave the room, his biggest supporter said, “It would be better if you don’t go in at number three now. Go in at five. First prepare yourself for that spot and then go back to the one drop. This is your side. If the skipper looks shattered, it does not go well with the body language of the team. So to win this series, you’ve to bat confidently.”When Ganguly had left the room, this correspondent asked whether he would continue to bat at number three. Ganguly said, “He said so and he had his logic. I could not bat well in the first Test, while Dravid saved the match for us. But I am still thinking. One thing I can assure you is that whether I go in at three or five, I’ll score runs in this tour. Definitely”.Ganguly sounded confident, but it remains to be seen whether that confidence will be enough to garner him runs on this tour.

Rishabh Pant radiated a sense of gratitude after Delhi Capitals’ last league game of IPL 2024. Having played for the first time since his life-threatening accident in December 2022, Pant eased into the rigours of top-flight cricket without major physical discomfort and finished the league phase as DC’s highest run-scorer with 446 runs in 13 games at a strike rate of 155.40. Along the way he earned a place in India’s squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup.”I think personally it was fantastic to come back on the field. The kind of support I got from whole India I would say was heartening to see,” Pant told the broadcasters after DC’s 19-run win over Lucknow Super Giants. “Wherever I went to play, I got support from each and every person. That was really good to see.Related

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“Everyone knew that I am playing after one-and-a-half years so it was a long time to wait outside the ground. Loved every bit of it, just coming onto the ground, I just don’t want to stay away from the ground, want to stay on the field all the time.”Pant also touched upon the problems DC faced through their season, many of them out of the team’s control. Harry Brook and Lungi Ngidi were unavailable through the season, Ishant Sharma, Mitchell Marsh and Kuldeep Yadav missed a number of games with injuries, and Pant himself copped an over-rate suspension, missing DC’s penultimate game. That they stayed in contention for the playoffs until their last game was satisfying, Pant said.Rishabh Pant finished the league phase with 446 runs at a strike rate of 155.40•Associated Press

“I think, I would say we started the season with a lot of hope,” he said. “But we had a few injuries here and there, few ups and downs, illnesses, but as a franchise you can’t complain all the time. You’ve got to make the best use of whatever you have in your hand.”I think we were very close, as you can see till the last game we are in close contention for the playoffs. You know there are some things you can control, and some things you can’t. You know last match what happened, I couldn’t play. I’m not saying that if I had played we would have definitely [won] but we would have had a better chance of qualifying I guess.”

Rahul: LSG’s powerplay batting biggest disappointment

After a third straight defeat that all but confirmed LSG’s elimination from playoffs contention, their captain KL Rahul said they should have chased down their target of 209 in batting-friendly conditions in Delhi. He felt the loss of early wickets, an issue that has plagued LSG all season, hurt them once again.”This has been the problem for us through the season, that we keep losing a lot of wickets in the powerplay,” Rahul said. “We’ve never been able to get off to a really solid start to bring in players like [Marcus] Stoinis and [Nicholas] Pooran into the game, and get them to walk in at the 7th or 8th over mark with a solid start. That’s probably one of the big reasons we find ourselves in this position.”I feel the wicket remained pretty similar through the 40 overs. When we got Jake [Fraser-McGurk] out in the first over, I thought we started off really well and we should have capitalised from there. But that’s how the season has been, where the players keep coming [at the bowling] even if wickets keep going. They showed a lot of intent, Shai Hope and Abishek Porel. They took the momentum away from us. We did well in the back end, and 200 [208] was a par score. We should have chased it down.”Seventh-placed LSG’s final game of the season is against Mumbai Indians on Friday. Their net run-rate of -0.787 means their chances of qualifying are mostly just mathematical.

Virat Kohli’s quest for a maiden IPL title before stepping down as captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore at the end of the season is still very much alive after his side became the third team to clinch a playoff berth in IPL 2021, holding on for a six-run win over Punjab Kings in Sharjah. Choosing to bat first, Kohli helped lay a solid foundation in tandem with Devdutt Padikkal by adding 68 for the first wicket before Glenn Maxwell powered on further with a half-century to take RCB to the highest total made by any side in Sharjah since the tournament resumed in September.

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For the first half of the chase Kings looked like they would track it down, reaching 81 for 0 at the 10-over mark. But despite 57 from Mayank Agarwal as part of a 91-run opening partnership alongside orange-cap wearer KL Rahul, the wheels fell off soon after thanks to an inspired spell of legspin from Yuzvendra Chahal who claimed three wickets including Agarwal. By the time the final over came around, 19 runs were needed and purple-cap holder Harshal Patel had little trouble containing Kings lower order to secure victory.Kings luckless in the field, with or without the umpiresDespite a wicketless powerplay, Kohli and Padikkal’s partnership was at times a meandering one, and also had its share of luck. Kohli was dropped twice, on 9 and 10, while Padikkal was allowed to continue batting on 35 in controversial circumstances after Rahul’s use of a DRS was unsuccessful despite UltraEdge showing a clear spike on a failed reverse sweep where the ball appeared to graze Padikkal’s gloves on the way through to the keeper.Moises Henriques finally broke the partnership and then some, taking three wickets in the space of seven balls in the 10th and 12th overs. Kohli was bowled for 25 by one that kept low. Dan Christian bagged a golden duck, mistiming a drive to backward point. And Padikkal was finally sent back for 40. This time there was no need for the third umpire to intervene as an attempted cut produced a thin edge that was well held by Rahul standing up to the stumps. Royal Challengers were under pressure at 73 for 3.Glenn Maxwell got to a fifty off 29 balls•BCCI

Maxwell tortures his former franchiseThe Australian power hitter gave a handy reminder to his old team-mates about why he’s such a valued resource in T20 cricket, hitting 57 off 33 balls. With AB de Villiers struggling to get going at one end, Maxwell dominated their 73-run partnership with a flurry of sixes, mostly off the slog sweep against the spin duo of Harpreet Brar and Ravi Bishnoi.But it wouldn’t have been Maxwell ball without a reverse at some stage and he executed one to perfection against Bishnoi in the 18th over to secure another boundary. He brought up his half-century off 29 balls and was dismissed only in the final over, by which time Royal Challengers had put up a strong total on the board, the best by any team in Sharjah this season.Another excellent Kings platform goes to wasteRahul might well become a chief lobbyist on behalf of the T10 brigade following his team’s contrasting fortunes this season in their first 10 overs compared to their last 10. The Kings captain continued his run as the leading scorer in the IPL with another sharp burst at the top of the order in tandem with Agarwal. But once he fell for 39 off 35, the chase began to flounder.Chahal built off the Rahul breakthrough by inducing a top edged sweep from Nicholas Pooran, dismissing him for 3 in the 13th over. Agarwal was another victim of the extra bounce in Chahal’s legbreaks as a catch swirled over to short third man in the 16th over. Three balls later, Chahal capped his haul by defeating a flummoxed Sarfaraz for a golden duck. At 121 for 4 in 16, the Kings required rate of 11 per over through the last four proved to be a herculean task.Now in addition to needing a victory in their final match, the Kings will need a series of other results to go their way to have any chance of securing the fourth and final playoff berth.

Joe Leach has chosen to return to the ranks at Worcestershire, after five years as the captain.Leach will lead his side for the final time this week, when Worcestershire take on Leicestershire in their final LV=Insurance County Championship match of the season, starting at New Road on Tuesday.Although he is likely to finish as his county’s leading Championship wicket-taker for 2021, with a current tally of 32 at 33.68, it has been a tough campaign for the club, who are lying fourth in the third division, having missed out on the knock-outs in both the 50- and 20-over competitions.The news follows the confirmation that Ross Whiteley will be moving to Hampshire for the 2022 season, after turning down a contract extension at New Road.”I have decided to stand down as club captain,” Leach said. “It’s obviously been a very tough one, one that has been on my mind for some time, if I’m honest.”I made the decision just before the home game with Sussex three weeks ago that this was going to be my final season as captain.”It was a difficult decision to make, but one that I feel is right, not only for myself but also for the group as well.”I’ve done it for five years, and I’m immensely proud of what I’ve managed to achieve in some difficult times for the club over that five years.”I’ve had a lot of things to deal with on and off the field, and now I guess the time is right to focus on my cricket and getting back to really enjoying it and doing the best I can with the bat and the ball.”Leach took over as captain from Daryl Mitchell at the end of the 2016 season and led the side to promotion in the County Championship 12 months later, thanks in no small part to his own haul of 69 wickets, as well as the semi-finals of the Royal London Cup.”That last day against Durham when we went up as champions [in 2017] was definitely the highlight from a personal point of view and holding the Division Two trophy aloft at New Road.”I’ve given everything to this club as a player pre-captaincy and, as captain, I’ve done exactly the same. I’ve led the club with immense pride and done my best every single day. That is how I will continue to operate as a cricketer.”Worcestershire’s head coach, Alex Gidman, paid tribute to Leach, who has taken 326 first-class wickets and scored 3,284 runs to date in his career.Related

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“Joe has decided to stand down as captain of the club,” Gidman said. “His efforts as a captain have been of the highest order, and he has led the team through some very challenging times and has done an exceptional job.”He should be very proud of his efforts, and I’m sure he will look forward to some more successful years as a bowling all-rounder for us.”I know he will put a lot of effort into, firstly, his cricket, which is really important and, secondly, he will get right behind whoever the next captain is and still do a very job as a senior player.”There is no doubt he has still got a huge amount to offer us. He is still a very big part of the plans and a great man for us to have around still.”Worcestershire Cricket Steering Group Chairman, Paul Pridgeon, said: “Joe has been a fantastic servant of the club and has done a terrific job as captain over the last five years.”He has grown into the job, is an excellent ambassador for the club and the players under his control.”

Dan Christian has seen most things that T20 cricket can throw up, so when he says conditions in Dhaka have been unlike anything else he has played in it stands up to scrutiny.With one match remaining, the Bangladesh-Australia series has a run rate of 5.86 – the slowest in a series of three matches or more. In the fourth match, 104 was nearly defendable and looked like it would be when Australia were 65 for 6 despite Christian having monstered 39 off 15 balls, including five sixes in an over against Shakib Al Hasan, in one of the shrewder moves Australia have made on tour when promoting him to No. 3.”They don’t compare to anything I’ve faced in my career,” Christian said. “These are as difficult conditions as I’ve seen for T20 cricket – 120 is like 190, it’s an extremely difficult place to try and bat. We’ve seen all the spinners and even the seamers, as soon as they start bowling slower balls it’s really, really hard work. It’s holding in the surface, gripping and turning and it’s a big ground as well. It’s certainly been different cricket but in terms of getting into rhythm or any kind of flow it’s been pretty hard.”There’s certainly been things we can take out of these games from a batting perspective. You have to be so precise in your plans in these conditions. It probably doesn’t get more difficult than that at any level around the world than facing that kind of bowling here.”Related

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He did not believe that conditions at the T20 World Cup in the UAE will come close to this despite the volume of cricket that will be played across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah with the IPL taking place in the month before the tournament.”I don’t think they’ll be anything like it, ” he said. “Say, somewhere like Sharjah where you get a bit of dew at night time and it’s a small ground, so 220 can be a winning score. Maybe at Dubai or Abu Dhabi they’ll be a bit slower but they are still 170-180 wickets normally…there’s an IPL before the World Cup, so there might be some worn tracks but think they are pretty used to getting them back up.”Australia bowled 12 overs of spin during the fourth match with Ashton Turner completing his full allotment alongside Ashton Agar and the recalled Mitchell Swepson. There is an argument to say it could be even more, although Josh Hazlewood and Andrew Tye were also effective with a lot of cutters and changes of pace.While admitting he has a vested interest, Swepson, who took 3 for 12 in his first outing of the tour, certainly sees scope for Australia having three frontline spinners at their disposal.”I definitely think it’s something that should be considered, especially somewhere like here,” he said. “We’ve seen them play three spinners. I might be a little bit biased here, but certainly something that I think could work for us as well. Fingers crossed that might eventual but we’ll have to wait and see.”Both Christian and Swepson are pushing to make the final World Cup squad, so their performances last night were timely. Christian, recalled for this tour after a gap of four years due to the various opt-outs from the squad, has played six of the nine T20Is so far across the West Indies and Bangladesh. Though he was unable to get Australia home in chases in the first match against West Indies and the third game against Bangladesh, on two occasions he has played his part in victory: an unbeaten 22 in St Lucia and then the firecracker 39 on Saturday.”It has been a little stop-start for me but that’s the nature of the format and role that I play, generally coming in towards the end and bowling some overs in the middle,” he said. “I’ve loved being back in the team, representing my country again, it’s been awesome, and from a cricket perspective I’ve just got to keep training well and preparing as well as I can. When that opportunity arrives hopefully I can grab it.”Swepson has had even less opportunity to shine and, after an expensive outing in West Indies, he took advantage of tailor-made conditions to cause Bangladesh’s middle order plenty of problems.”It can be difficult to gauge sometimes where you are at when you are just bowling in the nets, so last night was a good confirmation of where my bowling is at,” he said. “I got that one game in St Lucia and it didn’t quite pan out how I wanted it to so last night was that reassurance that the ball is still coming out well.”

Inaugural season results
Karachi finished the 2016 campaign with the worst win-loss record of all teams. They did the double over the equally abject Lahore Qalandars, but lost all their matches against every other team. The excessively forgiving format meant they went through to the last four despite only two wins in eight, edging Lahore out on net run rate. There, they were walloped by eventual winners Islamabad by nine wickets, bringing a gloomy tournament to an aptly ignominious end.Team assessment
Karachi Kings were busy in the transfer market, most notably bringing in Chris Gayle and Kumar Sangakarra from Lahore Qalandars and Quetta Gladiators respectively; the latter has been appointed captain this season. This is the franchise’s third captain in a year. Shoaib Malik stepped down last season after the group stages, and Man of the Series Ravi Bopara was appointed for the eliminator.That brings us to the Kings’ only bright spot last year. Ravi Bopara, never one for attention-seeking, what with his workmanlike batting and military-medium bowling, finished as the second-highest run-scorer and joint fifth-highest wicket-taker. His 11 wickets included an astonishing 6 for 16 against the Lahore Qalandars, so far the best figures in the PSL’s short history. He has been retained, and might hope for a bit more support from his teammates this time around.Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard are the biggest T20 names, although their recent form has been mixed. Gayle was the third-highest scorer in the 2016 Caribbean Premier League, but his Bangladesh Premier League performance – of greater relevance, given where the PSL is being played – was ordinary, with 109 runs in five games. Pollard scored 145 runs in eight matches for the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash, but Karachi Kings will need more than that from their volatile West Indians.Unburdened by the captaincy, Shoaib Malik may begin to play more freely. While his performance in last year’s edition was unremarkable, his outings in the CPL and the BPL have been solid – he has averaged 32.87 and 41.71 respectively. The evergreen Sangakarra, too, had a prolific BPL, ending up as the fourth highest run-scorer. However, his form in franchise T20 cricket over the past year or so has dipped, and might be a concern.The heart of the bowling attack has a Pakistani flavour, with Mohammad Amir, Sohail Khan and Imad Wasim comprising the three likely frontline bowlers. Amir was decent without being earth-shattering for the Kings last year, while Imad Wasim’s stock has risen since 12 months ago, owing much to his stellar international showings.Key foreign player
Karachi have a host of big-name foreign players, but none of them really convinces, either because of form or age. In such circumstances, it might be best to revert to what is already known and highlight Ravi Bopara once more. How a player who has never shown signs of the T20 nous he exhibited last season took the league by storm was nothing short of stunning. He will ply his trade on similar tracks to the ones he hit such a purple patch on last season, but with significantly more confidence. Similar performances this time around may even see him pushing for an international recall after a two-year absence.Under-the-radar local lad
It has been more than six years since Shahzaib Hasan last played for Pakistan, but a monster hundred in a List A game two weeks ago might give us a glimpse of the form he’s in. As a World T20 winner with Pakistan in 2009, he is unlikely to be fazed by anything the PSL can throw at him. He played only two games for Karachi last year, but if the side’s batting superstars fail to live up to their billing, Shahzaib could be given an extended run in the side, and remind Pakistani fans why a World Cup winners medal hangs around his neck.Kumar Sangakkara’s inclusion should bolster Karachi Kings’ batting•Daily Star

Availability
There was no transfer activity during the replacement draft for the Karachi Kings. Everyone in the squad is available for the duration of the tournament, and there are no injury concerns.Coaches and Staff
Mickey Arthur (head coach), Azhar Mahmood (assistant coach), Rashid Latif (director), Abdul Majeed (fielding coach), Asad Ali (physio)Karachi Kings squad
Kumar Sangakkara (c), Chris Gayle, Shoaib Malik, Kieron Pollard, Mohammad Amir, Ravi Bopara, Imad Wasim, Babar Azam, Ryan McLaren, Sohail Khan, Shahzaib Hasan, Saifullah Bangash, Khurram Manzoor, Kashif Bhatti, Abrar Ahmed, Abdul Hameed
Supplementary players: Mahela Jayawardene, Usama Mir, Rahat Ali, Amad Alam

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsA succession of soft dismissals left Sri Lanka in danger of a big defeat in the first Test despite their batsmen, almost without exception, looking comfortable at the crease in their pursuit of 488. No team has successfully chased more than 418 to win a Test match, but Sri Lanka suggested they were capable of giving South Africa a serious scare only to gift away four of the five wickets they lost on day four. Angelo Mathews, who witnessed two of these gifted wickets from the non-striker’s end, was batting on 58 at stumps, and with him was Dhananjaya de Silva on 9.A mix-up between Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva ended an 87-run stand for the first wicket, while a moment of overconfidence cost Kusal Mendis his wicket after he had added 75 for the fourth wicket with Mathews. Kusal Perera and Dinesh Chandimal frittered away their wickets as well, and at stumps, 248 adrift of their target, Sri Lanka were left counting what-ifs, with an entire day remaining on a pitch that seemed to have flattened out entirely after starting out as a green seamer.South Africa declared 10.5 overs into the morning session, after Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock had completed half-centuries and stretched their overnight partnership to 129. The declaration arrived when Rangana Herath had de Kock lbw for 69, missing a sweep against a ball that was probably too full and too close to off stump to play the shot against safely.

Sri Lanka’s opening stand and Quinton de Kock’s 2016

• 87 Runs added for the opening wicket by Kaushal Silva and Dimuth Karunaratne. This is the best opening stand for Sri Lanka in Tests in South Africa beating the 70 added by Tillakaratne Dilshan and Lahiru Thirimanne in Cape Town. It is also the second-highest opening stand for Sri Lanka against South Africa, after the 193 between Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya in Galle in 2000.

• 196 Number of balls faced by Silva and Karunaratne in their partnership of 87. This is the fourth longest that any opening pair has played in the fourth innings of a Test in South Africa. Herschelle Gibbs and Gary Kirsten played 261 balls against Australia at Durban in 2002.

• 7 Number of fifty-plus scores for Quinton de Kock in 2016.This is the most by a South Africa batsman in 2016. Hashim Amla and Stephen Cook have five such scores each. De Kock has had a great year scoring 695 runs at 63.18

Both Sri Lankan openers missed out on half-centuries, but showed they had worked on the weaknesses that had caused their first-innings dismissals. Silva was eventually lbw for the second time in the match when Rabada nipped one into him after tea, but had till then shown improved balance and alignment while dealing with South Africa’s concerted effort to attack his stumps, and had looked particularly good while driving straight. Rabada’s extra pace and bounce had discomfited him a couple of times before that. Before lunch, he had gloved a rising ball, managing to drop his bottom hand and keep the ball down in front of Quinton de Kock diving to his right behind the stumps. Then, in the second session, he had taken a blow to the shoulder while ducking into a bouncer delivered from wide of the crease.Karunaratne, apart from a couple of moments when he lost concentration, was alive to the danger of playing away from his body. The seamers looked to get him nibbling with the angle across him, and then tried to go around the wicket as well, but he handled both lines well, making sure his hands didn’t follow the ball when he was beaten. He was just getting into stride when he was dismissed, having moved from 20 off 90 balls to 43 off 113. He had hit three fours in that period of acceleration, including a sweetly-timed flick off Philander and a reverse-sweep off Maharaj immediately after the left-arm spinner had got one to spit at him out of the rough.The opening stand ended when Silva pushed Maharaj into the covers and set off immediately. Karunaratne responded after a moment’s hesitation, and that little stutter was enough to find him short of his crease when he dived to beat JP Duminy’s throw to the keeper.Then Perera, his place at No. 3 in question after his dismissal to a wild slash in the first innings, fell to another injudicious stroke, top-edging a cut against the turn off Maharaj when he was getting consistent turn and bounce out of the rough.When Mathews walked in, Sri Lanka had lost three wickets for 31 runs either side of tea, but he immediately showed the positive intent of a man with a fourth-innings average of 69.37, rotating the strike comfortably at the start before stepping out to his 17th ball and drilling Keshav Maharaj back past him for four. Rabada fed him a wide long-hop and a full-toss in the next over, and he put both away to the boundary, before a back-foot whip off Maharaj took him to 25 off 27 balls.Then, with Vernon Philander returning to the attack, Mathews made a strategic retreat, scoring only six runs off the next 29 balls he faced. He was perhaps mindful that he needed to be at the crease when the second new ball became available on a pitch where the old ball was doing almost nothing. By then, though, Silva had fallen to the daftest of shots, taking on the returning Rabada’s around-the-wicket attack by making himself room and looking to ramp over the slips. All he managed was an edge to the keeper.Mendis’ innings had always promised that sort of end. His 58 had displayed a vast range of shots – notable among them an off-drive off Philander and a number of sweeps off Maharaj – but also a tinge of impetuosity. In the over before his dismissal, he had run down the track to Maharaj and looked to hit him over mid-on, mistimed his shot horribly, and fortuitously managed to hit the fielder on the bounce.Chandimal didn’t learn from Mendis’ close shave against Maharaj. Having already been dropped once while going after the left-arm spinner – Dean Elgar putting him down at short extra-cover – he tried it again, with the new ball 2.4 overs away, and spooned the ball straight to mid-on.South Africa took the new ball as soon as it was due, and came very close very early. Abbott, starting the 82nd over of Sri Lanka’s innings, caught Dhananjaya de Silva shuffling too far across his stumps, and Bruce Oxenford upheld his lbw appeal immediately. De Silva reviewed – perhaps more in desperation than any real hope of getting the decision overturned – and ball-tracking saved him, suggesting the ball would have carried on to miss leg stump.

Players will be chasing a slice of Cricket Australia’s digital revenue, arguing the content could not exist without them, when negotiations for a new payment memorandum of understanding (MOU) formally begin in Melbourne on Friday.Ahead of talks that are set to be among the most willing since the threat of a player strike, in 1997, led to the creation of the Australian Cricketers’ Association, ESPNcricinfo has learned that the players union will be seeking a more expansive definition of Australian Cricket Revenue (ACR), the pool of money from which the players’ fixed revenue percentage of around 25% is drawn.The last MOU, negotiated in 2012, predated CA’s current broadcast rights deals, which included a substantial digital component for the first time. Lavish funds have been spent on the project, including the CA website, a subscription-based mobile app and extensive live streaming services. Yet the players, whose cricket the project covers, only have access to the money brought in by television deals, not their digital equivalents.While the players have been happy to help the project get off the ground over the past three summers, there is an eagerness now to “future-proof” the next MOU so new sources of revenue are not excluded from ACR. Though the cricketers’ pay model is the envy of the Australian sporting world, the ACA argues that the players actually get less than a fifth of all money in the game, termed Total Cricket Revenue.There has already been some furious spin on both sides of the argument, which will be led on the players’ side by the ACA chief executive Alistair Nicholson and on CA’s by the senior executive and former board director Kevin Roberts. While CA has said little about the looming talks, even to the point of refusing to guarantee the retention of the fixed revenue percentage model, Nicholson moved onto the front foot on Thursday.”It’s important that the facts are known because they paint a very different picture to that suggested,” Nicholson said. “Most think that the players are getting a bigger and bigger slice of the cricket pie. This is wrong. The opposite is actually true. And this is despite the fact that it is the players who have helped grow the game to make it what it is.”For the last 20 years, Cricket Australia and the players have worked together as genuine partners in the growth of the game, and the game in Australia has never been stronger. To suggest that players try harder or perform better due to the size of their contracts is not only wrong, but doesn’t respect the work that the players put in.”In reality, the players know more than anyone that they need to continue to fight to be the best in world cricket, and every time they pull on the Australian cap, they do so with immense pride and respect. The players have outlined their priorities including ongoing investment in grassroots cricket and a greater say on scheduling. This, along with including all cricketers, male and female in the one MOU, provides cricket with a fantastic opportunity to grow in the right way.”

There’s a generation of South Africans whose memories of watching their Test team play in Australia are the complete opposite of Faf du Plessis and his team’s. Generation now. Anyone 10 or younger has never known a South African side that has lost a Test series in Australia and to have added a layer to that legacy is this team’s greatest joy.”We know how hard it is. We watched on TV for so many years how hard it was to was for South Africa to come here and do well,” du Plessis said. “I suppose the younger guys looking from back home can see that it’s possible to come here and to an extent and dominate an Australian team. It is extremely special for us. It’s something we will remember as a team. That’s exactly what we came here to do, we want to create memories together.”Not since the West Indies between 1984 and 1992 has a team won three successive series in Australia but that is not the only thing that stands out about this South African victory. It is that they did it without the two players who have been stalwarts for a decade – AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn who are both injured – and Morne Morkel about whom there are concerns about match fitness. Also Hashim Amla, the leader of the batting line-up, contributed only 48 runs across three innings.Kyle Abbott was central to South Africa’s third consecutive series win in Australia•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

It has taken a total team effort, something du Plessis has lauded. “This team has been very close to exceptional,” he said. “There haven’t been many things we’ve done wrong. We have been consistent in the way we perform. We are not relying on one or two players. All XI are putting our hands up at different times and that’s what you want from your team.”Australia were warned of South Africa’s ability to spread the load last month in the ODI series. Albeit in a different format, in different conditions, South Africa’s 5-0 victory did provide the springboard for this series. “We came across here with a lot of confidence,” du Plessis said.Self-belief helped South Africa bounce back from a poor first day in Perth to take 10 for 86 and set themselves up for victory there. It also propelled them to pluck Australia for 85 in the first innings in Hobart. The twin collapses showed South Africa that Australia had weaknesses they could exploit, especially if they targetted their senior players.”When you are a team that’s under the pump and under pressure and not playing as well as you like, confidence will fade away,” du Plessis said. “It’s hard to fake it. We didn’t give them the opportunity to do it [assert themselves over a long period of time]. It was important to keep the important guys in the team quiet – David Warner and Steve Smith. If you can put a lot of pressure on them, the younger guys won’t have that same punch. We made sure those guys have been relatively quiet in the series. Even guys like [Mitchell] Starc, he bowled well in that one spell but if you are on top, that’s when you get a five-for and you clean the tail up. We were just really good in making sure we stopped that.”Faf du Plessis: “This team has been very close to exceptional. There haven’t been many things we’ve done wrong.”•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

On the other hand, once South Africa got an opening, they were unstoppable. It took just 95 minutes for them to finish Australia off on the fourth morning. Du Plessis did not expect the series win to come so quickly, although he suspected victory was inevitable after the pressure his bowlers piled on late on the third day. “I didn’t expect it to happen that quickly,” du Plessis said. “Yesterday, our bowling was exceptional. The last hour and a half, we were so good in our areas and relentless. We didn’t get the results we wanted but we knew today if we came back, it would change for us. This is one of those sessions we will always remember as a team, that won us the series and it was unbelievable.”It was unbelievable because it was more dominant than a South African side has ever been in Australia. Four years ago, South Africa battled through the first two drawn Tests and then won the third. Eight years ago, they won the first two Tests and lost the third. This time, du Plessis wants to take everything South Africa can from this trip, which means a win in their first day-night Test in Adelaide.”That is the mission for us now,” he said. “We want to do that very badly. We won’t rest on our laurels and be happy with 2-1 or even 2-0. We’ve got Australia in a position where they are under pressure and we don’t want to let that go. It’s hard enough to get them in this position so we will do everything we can to make it 3-0.”What memories that will make.