Tag Futebol

Shoaib Akhtar, the former Pakistan fast bowler, has said that he is “ready” to take up the bowling coach role, even on a part-time basis, if approached by the Pakistan Cricket Board. The PCB has been searching for a bowling coach since the appointment of Dav Whatmore as the head coach and Julien Fountain as the fielding coach.”I am ready to be the bowling coach. I will offer my services If the PCB contacts me,” Akhtar told reporters at the NCA in Lahore. “It’s an honour to serve the country and it can be done by helping the upcoming bowlers. It will give me a chance to pay back what the country has given me.”Akhtar, who retired after the World Cup in 2011, had 178 Test and 247 ODI wickets in a 14-year-long career marred by controversies and injuries.”The current lot of bowlers are good, but not as good as what we are known for in our strong history of fast bowling,” he said. “I always hear that we have talent, but what is more important is to hunt down that talent. Unfortunately, we have been struggling in fast bowling for the last one and half years.”Akhtar suggested that the PCB use the services of past greats, like Imran Khan, to unearth talent. “He [Imran] has that eye to spot the talent and it would be ideal if he could take out some time.”Pakistan, Akhtar said, had the in-house talent for the job, but he also suggested Daryl Foster as a possibility to return to the job he held in 2003, if Pakistan had to look outside. Recently, the PCB had also made a formal offer to Wasim Akram for a short-term coaching role for young fast bowlers but an agreement couldn’t be reached owing to Akram’s busy schedule.Commenting on the upcoming series against Australia in UAE, Akhtar said that the onus would be on spinners in the absence of experienced fast-bowlers. Pakistan have dropped Umar Gul and Mohammad Sami for the tour. “Pakistan is already lacking true strike bowlers and [Umar] Gul obviously will be missed this time. If pitches in UAE are flat, then I am afraid things won’t be good for the young fast-bowlers and the spinners, as usual, will have to take the extra load.”

Alan Richardson took his second five-wicket haul of the season to put Worcestershire on top against Surrey

David Lloyd at The Oval20-Apr-2012
ScorecardAlan Richardson’s form shows no sign of abating after another five-wicket haul•Getty Images

In these days of central contracts and IPL deals it was a delight to hear Alan Richardson speaking earlier this month about the pride he felt in being named as one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year.The award may have no commercial value but it is confirmation from on high of a job performed with great distinction – and a job which, on the evidence of today’s limited action, the 36-year-old has every intention of doing at least as well this season.Richardson’s 73 Championship wickets last summer went a long way towards helping Worcestershire defy the odds by retaining their Division One status. Surprisingly, given the size of the haul, he took five or more wickets in an innings on only three occasions but there are already two entries in that much cherished column this campaign.Against Notts, in a match which Worcestershire eventually lost by 92 runs, it was 5 for 95. This time it is 5 for 42, from 16 overs, and with power to add.Winning the toss yesterday was a good start for the visitors. Thanks to the weather, though, they had to wait 24 hours in order to get cracking with the ball – and then show still more patience while Jason Roy and Steven Davies were putting together a stand of 48.Surrey are only three matches into this season but already on to their third opening pair. Davies missed the first game, through being with England in Sri Lanka, and now Jacques Rudolph is absent after returning home to South Africa for family reasonsRoy and Davies looked anything but a makeshift combination, however, as they survived for nearly an hour – and, in the case of Roy, prospered to the tune of 38 runs from 36 balls – despite seaming conditions which surely had Richardson licking his lips in anticipation.The breakthrough came when Richardson nipped one back to pin Roy lbw, and Worcestershire were soon on a roll. In all, Surrey lost five wickets for 21 runs in 10 overs, either side of a break for rain, but, to the home side’s credit, Worcestershire had to earn all but one of those successes. Davies nicked another good ball from Richardson, Mark Ramprakash and Rory Hamiliton-Brown both had to play at their deliveries from Richard Jones and only Zander De Bruyn could feel really cross with himself – poking tentatively outside off stump.Batting was never remotely easy. But when the floodlights came on and the sky was nearly as black as night, Tom Maynard and Chris Jordan did extremely well to add the thick end of 50 runs through some ferocious counter-attacking.At that stage, with Surrey 117 for 5, it was pretty much even-steven, given the conditions. But after a second lengthy hold up, the weather improved just long enough to allow another three and half overs, during which Richardson dismissed both Maynard and Jordan to complete his five-for and leave the hosts on 123 for 7.With only two days remaining, the odds are heavily on a draw. Then again, Worcestershire in general and Richardson in particular are rather good at making a nonsense of predictions.

Australia’s wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has said he feels like he has been dropped from the ODI side rather than rested. And Haddin believes that he could find it hard to force his way back into the one-day squad if his replacement Matthew Wade performs strongly in the first few games of the tri-series with India and Sri Lanka.Australia’s national selector John Inverarity said on Monday that Haddin deserved to put his feet up after a gruelling schedule of Tests over the past few months. However, he also said the selection panel had an open mind about who would keep wicket for the remainder of the one-day series, the squad having only been named for the first three matches.”I think anytime you’re out of the Australian Cricket team you’re dropped,” Haddin said on the Sydney radio station . “You give another guy an opportunity to take your spot. If they do well you could find it hard to get back in the team but that’s the way it is and I’ve just got to deal with that.”We need to see how young Matty Wade goes at this level. It’s seen as a good opportunity to play him and from my point of view, if he does well there’s no guarantee you’ll get your spot. Once you’ve given it up you give someone an opportunity and you might not play again … If you give your spot up, you’ve got no right to walk straight back in.”Haddin, 34, last year retired from Twenty20 internationals but remained part of Australia’s Test and one-day setup. However, a summer in which he failed to have a major impact with the bat and initially made some errors behind the stumps has left Haddin under pressure to hold his place, although he is expected to be one of the two keepers who will take part in the Test tour of the West Indies in April.He will captain the Prime Minister’s XI in a one-day game against Sri Lanka in Canberra on Friday. Wade, 24, will make his ODI debut against India at the MCG on Sunday.

David Warner, James Pattinson and Trent Copeland loom as the chief beneficiaries of the injury drama enveloping the Australian team and its new selection panel as preparations are made for the announcement of the summer’s first Test squad.John Inverarity, the national selector, will name his 12 for the Brisbane match against New Zealand on Saturday, and is likely to name Warner to open the batting in place of Shane Watson, the young Victorian quick Pattinson for Pat Cummins, and Trent Copeland as the bowler of long spells to cover for the absence of both Watson and Mitchell Johnson.Ben Hilfenhaus, much improved this summer after a poor Ashes series in 2010-11, is also expected to find his way into the squad, with the captain Michael Clarke and his fellow selectors to determine the right balance for the Gabba once the team assembles in Brisbane.Copeland and Pattinson both bowled handily in their respective matches on Friday, Pattinson claiming 4-96 for Australia A against the New Zealand tourists, while Copeland delivered 11 tidy overs for New South Wales against Western Australia on a rain curtailed day one of a Sheffield Shield match. He may be taken out of the match early in order to arrive in Brisbane with the rest of the squad on Sunday evening.Warner cracked a fluent 65 against the visitors in Brisbane, and is the most obvious inclusion having been Australia’s reserve batsman on each of its last two tours to Sri Lanka and South Africa. Having played only 11 first-class matches, Warner has been pushed towards a baggy green due to an outstanding talent that first emerged via Twenty20 cricket.”[Warner] would be the obvious one. He’s been the spare batter on the last couple of trips,” the batsman Ricky Ponting said of Warner. “He went to Sri Lanka when I returned home for the birth of my daughter and was the standby batsman again last week. He’s been in pretty rare form of late as well.”His last few Shield games, he’s scored a lot of runs. And whenever he’s played in Twenty20 or one-dayers he’s done a pretty good job. He’s been able to turn his career around pretty quickly, looks like he’s the sort of guy who’s going to be able to step up to the next level. We’re all excited to see him play.”Ponting said the 21-year-old Pattinson had benefited greatly from time spent with the Australian team on tour. He was omitted from the Test squad for South Africa due to Cummins’ rapid rise, but has been considered a highly talented pace prospect for some time, first travelling with the national squad to India in 2010.”He’s one that has been around our group for a while,” Ponting said. “Probably a little bit unlucky not to be in the Test squad on the last trip to SA but he made room for Patty and we know what Patty’s done the last couple of weeks.”James is a terrific young bloke and a very good bowler and his record for Victoria is getting better and better. The time that he’s spent around older, wiser heads coaching-wise and playing-wise has probably held him in good stead.”Pattinson would likely be cast in the role of speedy aggressor, with the steadier Copeland, Siddle and perhaps Hilfenhaus to support him. All Australia’s likely inclusions will be aided by the buoyant mood the team carried home from Johannesburg, following a dramatic victory to square the Test series.”That’s stuff that you can’t re-create, stuff you can only have around your team by getting through that tough situation,” Ponting said. “If you look back through Australian cricket’s history through the last 10 or 12 years, one of the traits of that great team was it didn’t matter how far down it was, it always had the belief that it could pick itself  up and then quite often turn very negative parts of games into very positive ones and then go on and win Test matches.”That’s what we’ve probably felt we did in that second Test in Johannesburg. Confidence comes from winning games and a different level of confidence comes from winning games that you’re almost down and out in. That was a great result for us as a group and, certainly, for a lot of the younger guys who probably haven’t been there and experienced it before even in Shield cricket they mightn’t have done that. That’s stuff that you can’t replace and stuff that will always be good around a cricket team.”Probable Test squad: Michael Clarke (capt), David Warner, Phillip Hughes, Usman Khawaja, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin (wk), Trent Copeland, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson.

Mohammad Kaif has stepped down as captain of Uttar Pradesh [UP], after six years in the role

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Sep-2011

Mohammad Kaif has stepped down as captain of Uttar Pradesh [UP] after six years in the role. He would like to remain a part of the side, he said, as a batsman.”I am happy with my stint as captain of the UP side. In the last six years, we reached four finals and once won the [Ranji] title,” Kaif told in Bangalore, where he is with Royal Challengers Bangalore for the Champions League T20. “But now I want to play just as a batsman. I informed him [UP Cricket Association secretary Rajiv Shukla] about this after the Challenger Trophy. There is no dearth of talent in the state. Whoever is chosen [as the next captain], I will support him.”India batsman Suresh Raina has been named captain, while RP Singh will be his deputy.Kaif was named captain for the 2005-06 domestic season, leading UP to their maiden Ranji title that year, as well as the final of the domestic one-day tournament, which they lost to Railways. UP has made two Ranji finals under Kaif since, losing to Delhi in 2007-08 and Mumbai in 2008-09.UP play their first Ranji fixture of the 2011-12 season against Punjab from November 3.

Trevor Bayliss, the former Sri Lanka coach, has nominated Ryan Harris as the Australian bowler most likely to trouble a formidable home batting line-up during next month’s Test series in the island nation.Harris is one of numerous Australian players waiting nervously to discover whether they will be chosen in the first Test squad to be led by the new captain Michael Clarke, after the Australia A tour of Zimbabwe clouded the selectors’ options almost as much as it shed light on them. The squad will be announced on Tuesday morning.Told earlier this year that he was being considered as more of a Test match bowler, Harris, 31, was omitted from the limited-overs squad for the Sri Lanka tour despite showing he had returned to full fitness during the Indian Premier League. Bayliss said Harris’ combination of speed, skid and movement both ways would make him the sort of bowler capable of troubling the likes of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.”From a pace point of view someone like Ryan Harris could be dangerous,” Bayliss told ESPNcricinfo. “He is someone who bustles in, a bit quicker than what you think, but bowls a fairly consistent line and length, but nips the ball about and can nip it about off the seam and through the air a bit.”Someone like that on their wickets over there … early on with those wickets you get a little bit of swing and a little bit of seam, and someone who maybe skids onto the bat a bit quicker than what you think, and maybe nipping it back in, I think he could do well. [He is] someone who can bowl reverse swing as well when the ball is older.”Beyond Harris, the questions surrounding the Australian attack are many and varied. Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle, the opening bowlers for much of the Ashes last summer, were conspicuously toothless with the new ball in Zimbabwe. Across the two-day and first-class portions of the tour, not once was either able to claim a wicket in their first spells to the top order.The left-armer Mitchell Starc fared better, while Trent Copeland, another possible selection, bowled long spells but tended to struggle for wickets. Of the touring spin bowlers Michael Beer and Jason Krejza both had their moments of success counter-balanced by the odd expensive spell. Nathan Hauritz will not be considered for reasons of fitness, while Steve Smith’s value as a Test match slow bowler is yet to be proven.”From a spin point of view it depends a little on who they pick, most of them unless it is Nathan Hauritz, the rest of the guys haven’t had a lot of experience in the subcontinent,” said Bayliss. “So how they handle the pressure of having to bowl against batters who have been brought up on spin-friendly wickets, how they go about their craft under the pressure the Sri Lankan batters will undoubtedly put on Australia’s spinners.”It’s not going to be easy, there are going to be some difficult times trying to get through the Sri Lankan batting order. You’ve got seven guys in the likely batting order to whom they’re going to have to bowl very well and there’s going to be some hard work to get through those seven.”Sangakkara and Jayawardene are the main stumbling blocks, and if you can get those two out of the way, it puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the batting order. You can’t take the rest of the guys lightly, but it does put a little bit of extra pressure on the rest of the guys when the two best players don’t score any.”Australia’s batting appears a little more settled, as Phillip Hughes secured his place alongside Shane Watson by maintaining a rich vein of form that began in the closing weeks of the Australian domestic season. Usman Khawaja’s lack of runs in Zimbabwe should not preclude his inclusion, and Shaun Marsh seems likely to stay on in reserve beyond the limited-overs matches.Australia’s batsmen have shown fallibility against quality bowling in recent times, and Bayliss said they would need to be aggressive in order to avoid becoming tangled in the web of the local spinners Rangana Herath, Suraj Randiv and Ajantha Mendis.”In the Ashes last summer it was more about pace bowlers, but in Sri Lanka it will be more about spin, and Australia’s batting against spin,” Bayliss said. “Against spin you’ve got to be a bit more proactive, and try to put the pressure back onto the bowler, so it’ll be interesting to see how Australia’s batsmen go about facing the Sri Lankan spinners.”Possible squad Michael Clarke (capt), Shane Watson (vice-capt), Phillip Hughes, Usman Khawaja, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Shaun Marsh, Brad Haddin (wk), Steve Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, Michael Beer or Jason Krejza, Mitchell Starc.

Marlon Samuels made a promising return to Test cricket with a half-century in his first innings for three years, but he was not satisfied after West Indies struggled against Pakistan’s attack

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-2011Marlon Samuels made a promising return to Test cricket with a half-century in his first innings for three years, but he was not satisfied after West Indies struggled against Pakistan’s attack. After Pakistan’s tail wagged to reach 272, West Indies battled to 184 for 8 at the close of the second day, with Samuels having fallen for 57 late in the afternoon.Still, there were some good signs for Samuels, who has completed a two-year ban for his alleged involvement with illegal bookmakers. He struck seven fours and two sixes and top scored in an innings where no other player had so far reached 25.”This was my first innings on my return to Test cricket and I conditioned my mind to play a long innings for the team,” Samuels said. “It was a good feeling to go out there and play the way I did for the team but I’m not totally satisfied. I have been getting big runs since I came back into first-class cricket for Jamaica and I was looking to carry on and go all the way today.”I was hitting the ball very well. I came into this match with a lot of runs behind me and my confidence is high. Right now in my life, my form is a state of mind. I don’t think my form will leave me at this moment and I am just stroking the ball the way I like and getting into the groove.”I reached 50 and my goal was to go on and get a hundred. I was thinking once I got to three figures the team would be a good position and we would get the lead. I wanted to be there to get the target for the team.”Samuels departed while trying to get some quick late runs, caught at long-off trying to clear the boundary off the spin of Saeed Ajmal. That left the tailenders Kemar Roach and Ravi Rampaul with plenty of work to do, with only the No. 11 Devendra Bishoo still to come, and Samuels said he had faith the lower-order men could do the job.”I was talking to Roach when we were together, and I told him to believe,” he said. “He is a guy who can bat and he is showing that. I believe in the guys to do the job for the team and take us close to the runs we need to get for the lead. We’re still in the game. There is a lot of cricket left to be played.”West Indies need a similar tail-end effort to that provided by Pakistan after Tanvir Ahmed and Saeed Ajmal put on 78 for the last wicket. Tanvir made his maiden Test half-century and was the last man out for 57, and he said the pair knew it was an important partnership.”I think Saeed and I did very well to bat the way we did, and give our side such a big partnership because the pitch is not playing easy,” Tanvir said. “We needed those runs for the team, and it helped us to post a respectable total. I told Saeed Ajmal to try and play as straight as possible because they were bowling well, and he followed my advice, and I did the same, and it worked.”

MatériaMais Notícias

O Corinthians finalizou na tarde desta terça-feira a preparação para encarar o Independiente (ARG) pela Copa Libertadores. A equipe fez um treino em Buenos Aires, local da partida desta quarta-feira, e após a atividade o técnico Fábio Carille confirmou os retornos do volante Maycon e do meia Jadson ao time titular. Eles ocuparão os lugares de Renê Júnior e Mateus Vital, respectivamente.

A escalação, porém, ainda não está definida por conta da dúvida quanto ao aproveitamento do zagueiro Henrique. Ele caiu de mau jeito e machucou o pescoço no jogo do último domingo contra o Fluminense na Arena Corinthians. Será reavaliado nesta quarta e, caso ele não jogue, entra Pedro Henrique. Mas Carille está confiante de contar com o defensor titular.

Assim, a escalação do Corinthians em Buenos Aires será: Cássio, Fagner, Balbuena, Henrique (Pedro Henrique) e Sidcley; Ralf e Maycon; Romero, Rodriguinho, Jadson e Clayson.

O Corinthians treinou em um campo anexo ao estádio Cilindro, casa do Racing, rival do Independiente. Foi uma atividade técnica, mais descontraída, que contou com a presença de alguns torcedores corintianos. Em seguida, o grupo foi ao estádio Libertadores de América, palco da partida desta quarta.,para fazer o reconhecimento do gramado. Os dois estádios ficam na cidade de Avellaneda, na grande Buenos Aires.

No campo do Independiente, os jogadores só poderiam treinar de tênis, por conta disso o técnico Carille preferiu fazer a atividade em outro local. Assim, os jogadores foram apenas conhecer o gramado e tirar fotografias. Cássio fez até vídeo.

Carille concedeu entrevista coletiva após o treino e explicou as mudanças na equipe. Também disse que um empate na Argentina será um bom resultado. Acompanhe:

Henrique
Henrique é a única dúvida, ele já se movimentou melhor hoje do que estávamos esperando, mas ainda vamos aguardar como ele vai acordar amanhã, ainda está meio travado. Por ele e pelos médicos, tem tudo para acordar bem. Caso não tenha condições, joga o Pedro Henrique.

Volta de Jadson
O Jadson hoje nessa formação é nosso titular. Levei ele pra o jogo do Palmeiras pela grandeza do jogo. Aí levei pra 60 minutos e preferimos tirar ele desse jogo, para fazer trabalho em dois períodos, e agora até a parada para a Copa teremos 17 jogos e não teremos tempo para respirar. Então queríamos que ele descansasse

Volta de Maycon
Sobre o Maycon, tenho de testar outros jogadores porque tem a possibilidade de saída, preciso até ver meu grupo. O Renê necessita também de ritmo de jogo, mas não é numa Libertadores que vou dar ritmo a um jogador e por isso a volta do Maycon.

Estratégia para a equipe se comportar bem
Esse negócio de jogar em casa ou fora, é complicado saber o que é melhor, se a gente fica atrás, tem de partir para cima, e eles sabem jogar sobre pressão. Prefiro pensar jogo a jogo, que a gente consiga levar ponto ou pontos para casa.

Análise do rival
Equipe que tem perde pressiona muito bom, uma linha que se organiza às vezes até com seis, eles encaixam e vão até o fim. gente tem de ter paciência de pegar a bola, já logar do lado oposto, e com um atacante que movimenta.

Empate é bom?
Sem dúvida é bom resultado, Libertadores, nos mantém a frente, principalmente do Independiente, adversário direto na chave. É importante

Como fazer para não entrar na pilha dos argentinos?
As mesmas coisas, não acredito que a pressão aqui vai ser maior do que contra o Palmeiras. Falei muito durante a semana para jogar futebol, jogar bola, nada de entrar em confusão, mesma coisa contra o Palmeiras.

continua após a publicidadeRelacionadasCorinthiansFim da novela? Andrés garante renovação de Balbuena com o TimãoCorinthians17/04/2018Futebol NacionalAndrés diz que Fla queria Carille e Rodriguinho; técnico desconheceFutebol Nacional17/04/2018CorinthiansRoger inicia treinos no Corinthians, mas ainda espera para ser anunciadoCorinthians17/04/2018

Tudo sobre

CorinthiansLibertadores

نجح فريق الكرة الأول بنادي الزمالك في تسجيل الهدف الثالث بشباك نظيره طلائع الجيش.

ويستضيف استاد الكلية الحربية مباراة الزمالك وطلائع الجيش، في خضم منافسات الجولة السادسة من عمر الدوري المصري الممتاز.

مباشر بالفيديو | مباراة الزمالك وطلائع الجيش في الدوري

وأحرز الهدف الثالث اللاعب أحمد فتوح في الدقيقة 83 من عمر اللقاء بتسديدة ساقطة من أعلى الحارس عماد السيد بعد الانفراد به.

وكان الزمالك قد تقدم بهدفين عن طريق أحمد سيد زيزو وإمام عاشور في الدقيقتين 44 و57.

ويدخل الزمالك المباراة وهو في المركز السادس برصيد 8 نقاط، بينما يحل طلائع الجيش في المرتبة الثالثة عشر برصيد 4 نقاط. هدف الزمالك الثالث أمام طلائع الجيش

Match Facts

November 8, Dubai
Start time 15:00 (11:00 GMT)Pakistan squeezed home to a one-wicket victory in the fourth match and and have fought back to 2-2 for the second time in their last two series•AFP

The Big Picture

An intriguing contest looms as Pakistan and South Africa head neck-and-neck into the final match of their limited-overs series. Pakistan were in this exact position in their last one-day last series, against England in September, having fought back from 2-0 down to set up what should have been a thrilling finale to their controversial English sojourn. As it happened, they capitulated pitifully on an autumnal evening at The Rose Bowl to hand England a 121-run win and the series.Pakistan’s mercurial style of play lends itself to such scenarios, and less than two months later a fittingly enthralling end to what has been a classic series is once again on the cards. It would be foolhardy to suggest a particular approach that Pakistan might take into Monday’s encounter at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium; they could flourish or implode in equally spectacular fashion. But despite the seemingly obligatory disciplinary issues in the Pakistan camp ahead of the game, morale is undoubtedly high and with a noisy crowd behind them they could well surge to a series-stealing win.Of course, South Africa have their own oft-repeated problems with ‘choking’ in crunch matches and will be hoping for a calmly professional performance to quieten those criticisms. The South Africans certainly started this series as the more fancied team, taking their dominance in the opening Twenty20 exchanges into the first ODI where they eased to a crushing eight-wicket win in the at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.But the three games since then have all been nail-bitingly close, and game No. 5 has the feel of a tournament final between two equally-matched teams. Can Pakistan overcome their indiscipline and inconsistency? Can South Africa finish the job and, with the World Cup just over 100 days away, show that the ‘chokers’ tag no longer fits them? There is plenty for both teams to gain from the final ODI.

Form guide

(most recent first)
South Africa: LWLWW
Pakistan: WLWLL

Watch out for…

Younis Khan’s return to Pakistan’s middle order has brought a much-needed level of calmness and experience, and has already added two half-centuries in this series to take his career tally to 39 – along with six ODI hundreds. If they are to avoid a repeat of their shocker at Southampton in September, a solid contribution from him will be vitally important.Graeme Smith is the kind of captain that looks to lead from the front, and won’t shy away from his responsibilities at the top of the order as South Africa push for a series win. He is also reasonably consistent against Pakistan’s attack, having managed 745 runs at 41.38 in 21 ODIs against them. Those runs include eight half-centuries, the last of which was Friday’s well-paced 92.

Team news

Lonwabo Tsotsobe’s back spasms continue to be a worry for South Africa, and once again they didn’t have the firepower to restrict Pakistan in the closing overs on Friday. Wayne Parnell leaked 53 runs in less than nine overs in that game, and could make way for Rusty Theron, who is a canny operator at the death.South Africa (possible): 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 AB de Villiers (wk), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Colin Ingram, 7 David Miller 8 Johan Botha, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Rusty Theron
Pakistan seem to have struck a winning combination and, barring injury, are unlikely to mess with the line-up that fought so hard for Friday’s series-levelling win.Pakistan (possible): 1 Imran Farhat, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Fawad Alam, 6 Shahid Afridi (capt), 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Abdur Rehman, 9 Zulqarnain Haider (wk), 10 Wahab Riaz, 11 Shoaib Akhtar

Pitch and conditions

The same strip is being used for the third match in a row, and the low, slow bounce and grip for the spinners that has been exhibited by this pitch so far is sure to get more exaggerated. Of course, that didn’t stop 549 runs being scored in the fourth match, and if the bowlers get it wrong they will still be punished. All of which makes a winning total rather hard to predict. What be predictable, though, is the weather: there might be the odd cloud around on Monday but it should be hot and dry once again.

Stats and trivia

• Shoaib Akhtar has bowled reasonably well in this series without setting the world alight, and is Pakistan’s leading wicket-taker with six scalps at 32.16. But his career average in ODIs against South Africa is very impressive indeed, with his tally currently at 26 wickets at an average of 21.53.
• Hashim Amla needs just four runs to reach 1,000 in ODIs in 2010. AB de Villiers is not far behind him at No. 3 on the 2010 runscorers list, and will also reach 1,000 for the year if he gets close to a hundred. Shahid Afridi, at No. 22, is the leading Pakistani runscorer, with 577 ODI runs to his name.
• Pakistan are yet to beat South Africa in a limited-overs series, and have not won a one-day series since they beat West Indies 3-0 the last time they were in Abu Dhabi in November 2008.

Quotes

“This series is a very close affair, so we need to take all our chances and if we do then we will win the series, which will be a very good achievement considering our recent record.”

“We obviously want to win the series, but you also want to see which players are available before the World Cup because this is our last chance to play on sub-continent type of pitches here.”