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Stone:
Staffordshire 367-7 and 185-5
Northumberland 182 and 141 (G Bulpitt 5-42)
Staffordshire won by 229 runs
Staffordshire 23 pts, Northumberland 4 ptsLong Marsden:
Herts 405-7d & 200-7d
Cumberland 125 & 372 (Clayson 107, M Lewis 77, S Knox 66, M Smith 6-102)
Hertforshire won by 108 runs
Herts 24 pts, Cumberland 3 ptsBedford:
Lincolnshire 257 & 169
Bedfordshire 277-5 dec & 150-5
Bedfordshire won by 5 wickets
Bedfordshire 23 pts, Lincolnshire 4 ptsFinchampstead:
Herefordshire 430-7
Berkshire 231 & 148
Herefordshire won by an innings and 53 runs
Herefordshire 24 pts, Berkshire 5 ptsMarlow:
Buckinghamshire 260 & 214-7 dec (B Atkins 74*)
Cambridgeshire 221 & 205-8 (A Akthar 64, I Flannagan 92)
Match drawn
Buckinghamshire 10 pts, Cambridgeshire 9 ptsManor Park:
Suffolk 364-7
Norfolk 196 & 242-4 (BJ Rodgers 57, SC Goldsmith 57, CR Borrett 55*)
Match drawn
Suffolk 11 pts, Norfolk 8 ptsThame:Wiltshire 312 & 206 (C Budd 53)
Oxfordshire 261 & 123-8 (C Knightley 80*)
Match drawn
Wiltshire 11pts, Oxfordshire 10 ptsSwansea:
Shropshire 420-6 & 190-2d (MJ Marvell 103*, TJ Mason 72*)
Wales 293, 184-5
Match drawn
Shropshire 12 pts, Wales 9 ptsDay 2 of 3Alderley Edge:
Cheshire 404-7
Cornwall 221-2 (NA Stoddard 61*, AM Pearce 67, JM Hand 51*)

Somerset Sabres include Paul Jarvis, in place Graham Rose who is being rested, in their line this afternoon for their NUL Division One clash against Yorkshire Phoenix at Scarborough.Thirty seven year old Jarvis retired from the first class game at the end of the 2000 season to allow him to concentrate on his career outside of cricket, but he has remained living in Bath, and plays cricket professionally for a club side in South Wales.Kevin Shine told me: “When we knew that we had a bowling problem for Sunday we made contact with `Jarv’, who was delighted to come out of retirement to help us out. He has kept himself pretty fit playing one day cricket in South Wales, and is still a quality cricketer.”The coach continued: “The weather is expected to be good here so they are anticipating a large crowd this afternoon. Scarborough can be a pretty daunting place to play in front of a big crowd but `Jarv’ is a fantastic competitor, and a great performer, so he will just get on and do the job for us.”In his twenty seasons in first class cricket Paul Jarvis had an impressive record in one day cricket. He played in 16 one day internationals and took 24 wickets at a cost of 28 runs each.In the one day league he played in 163 matches, and took 231 wickets at an average of 23.15. In the two seasons that he played for Somerset Paul Jarvis played in 22 matches, and took 30 wickets at an average of 31.66.His last match for the Sabres was against Leicestershire at Grace Road in September 2000. Earlier that year he played against Yorkshire at Scarborough, where he helped the Sabres to a two wicket victory over his former county by taking 3 for 23.All Somerset fans will be hoping that ` Jarv’ can help the Sabres to another victory this afternoon.

Adam Gilchrist expects Alex Carey to warm to Test cricket, knowing all too well the upside of serving a long-term apprenticeship in the coloured clothes before donning the baggy green.Carey, having captained Australia’s ODI side earlier this year and represented his country in 83 white-ball matches, will replace Tim Paine behind the stumps in next week’s Ashes opener at the Gabba.The catalyst for Carey’s elevation, confirmed on Thursday, is notably different to that which resulted in Gilchrist succeeding Ian Healy as Test wicketkeeper at the same ground in 1999.Related

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Carey is not as dynamic a batter as Gilchrist; nor has he enjoyed the same stability while batting in every spot from No. 1 to No. 8 for Australia. But Gilchrist, who last month gave Carey a technical tune-up over the phone, says recent years will help the South Australian handle a pressure-laden Test debut against England.”I see a lot of similarities between Alex’s journey and mine,” Gilchrist told AAP at Fox Cricket’s season launch. “When I walked out to bat, Mark Waugh was at the non-striker’s end and I’d opened with him 70-odd times.”Starting my Test career, it wasn’t completely new. There was a really nice settling air of familiarity. That doesn’t guarantee success but it certainly gives you a nice launching pad.”Alex deserves the opportunity, he’s worked really hard in that white-ball set-up. His keeping has been really consistent, I think he’ll warm to Test cricket really nicely.”Carey, who edged Josh Inglis in a selection showdown to replace former captain Paine in a 15-player squad for the first two Tests, will be the first gloveman to be presented with a baggy green on home soil since Gilchrist.Carey, whose head is still spinning after breaking the news to a tearful mum, dad and wife, hoped previous experience keeping to Australia’s Test attack would help settle any nerves in “the biggest game I’ve played”.Carey passed 50 in just one of eight Sheffield Shield innings this season but posted a timely one-day century on Sunday. In the previous three seasons, he has celebrated four Shield hundreds from nine games while routinely missing red-ball cricket to play ODIs and T20s.”The focus has never really been on his keeping. As is always the way in this day and age, it’s all about the runs if you’re a keeper,” Gilchrist said. “He reached out a couple of weeks ago just to have a chat about a few things.”He will often touch base – whether it’s around little technical things, bat and gloves, approach or just what I’ve seen. There aren’t many of us keepers, so you have to try to stick together.”

Marnus Labuschagne posted his 19th first-class century and Usman Khawaja continued his push for an Ashes call-up to put Queensland in the box seat in their Sheffield Shield clash with Tasmania in Townsville.Labuschagne, Joe Burns, and Khawaja all cashed in on Wednesday to guide Queensland to a dominant 3 for 311 at stumps on day one.No. 3 Labuschagne logged scores of 32, eight and 45 in the Bulls’ first two games of their Shield title defence, while he was out for 6 in a one-dayer against South Australia.Those scores represented a rare down patch for a man who averages 60.80 in the Test arena, but Labuschagne put those recent struggles behind him against Tasmania in a knock that featured 15 fours and one six.Khawaja scored 174 against South Australia earlier this month and he’ll be aiming to post another huge score to boost his credentials for a dream Ashes call-up. He hasn’t played a Test since 2019, but a series of big scores over the coming weeks could catapult him back into the national set-up.Burns’ half-century ensures he will also remain on the radar of national selectors as the race for spots in the Test team heats up.Tasmania pace bowlerLawrence Neil-Smith snared a breakthrough with just his fourth ball of the match when he found a thick edge to dismiss Bryce Street, leaving Queensland at 1 for 20. But from that point on it was one-way traffic as Labuschagne, Burns and then Khawaja piled on the runs.Burns suffered a few nervous moments on the way to his half-century. He was lucky to survive a tight lbw shout from spinner Tom Andrews when he was struck on his back pad when on 47. A short time later he edged paceman Gabe Bell in between the wicketkeeper and first slip, who was wider than normal.He eventually fell when his attempted sweep against spinner Jarrod Freeman hit his pad and gloves before bouncing onto the stumps. Labuschagne’s knock finally ended when he was caught behind off Bell’s bowling.

The match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians is often dubbed as the El Clásico of the IPL and once again it lived up to its billing.Batting first in Dubai, Chennai were 24 for 4 at the end of the powerplay, with Ambati Rayudu additionally having retired hurt. But Ruturaj Gaikwad struck an unbeaten 88 off 58 balls, laced with nine fours and four sixes, to lift Super Kings to 156 for 6.

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With Ravindra Jadeja (26 off 33), Gaikwad added 81 off 64 balls for the fifth wicket. That set the platform for some late-overs hitting, which Gaikwad and Bravo (23 off 8) did with aplomb, Super Kings taking 58 off the last four overs.Mumbai were without Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya, but it was still not a daunting target. Super Kings’ seamers, led by Deepak Chahar, kept striking at regular intervals though and had Mumbai 58 for 4 in the tenth over.Saurabh Tiwary and stand-in captain Kieron Pollard showed fight but once Josh Hazlewood trapped Pollard lbw, with Mumbai still needing 70 from 41, the contest was all but over. In the end, Mumbai could muster only 136 for 8 despite Tiwary (50* off 40) staying till the end.Boult, Milne jolt Super Kings
In IPL 2020, which was also played on these shores, Trent Boult was the most successful powerplay bowler. Once again, he found swing straightaway, pinging Gaikwad’s pads with the second ball of the match. Luckily for Gaikwad, the ball was doing too much and would have missed the leg stump.Faf du Plessis wasn’t as lucky. Three balls later, he chased a wide one and ended up slicing it to short third man and Boult had yet another powerplay wicket.From the other end, Adam Milne continued his form from the Hundred. In his first over here, he had Moeen Ali playing on the up only to mistime and be caught in the covers. The last ball of that over Milne banged in short; Ambati Rayudu tried to duck under it but it didn’t bounce as much as he had anticipated. Instead, it jagged in to hit Rayudu flush on the left elbow, forcing him to retire hurt.It’s no secret that Suresh Raina struggles against the short stuff. Two short balls from Boult and Raina looked at sea even against the fuller deliveries. He swung wildly at a length ball and the top edge flew to the third-man boundary. He tried again but this time managed only the toe end of the bat, with a piece of wood also coming off. The ball lobbed towards point where Rahul Chahar pouched it.At that stage, Super Kings were 7 for 3, effectively 7 for 4, but it was about to get worse. On the last ball of the powerplay, MS Dhoni nailed a pull against Milne. Only that he had hit it straight to Boult at deep-backward square leg.Adam Milne is all smiles after dismissing MS Dhoni•BCCI

Gaikwad fifty leads the fightback
Gaikwad and Jadeja started the rebuilding process with singles and twos, and took the side to 44 for 4 at the halfway stage. In between, Quinton de Kock dropped Gaikwad off Rahul when he was on 19 off 23.Gaikwad didn’t look back after that. In the 12th over, he stepped out against Krunal Pandya to time him over long-off for the first six of the innings. Off the last ball of the over, he reverse-swept Pandya over backward point for four.He reached his half-century, off 41 balls, with a pulled four off Pollard. Two balls later, he flat-batted the bowler for another four.Late fireworks lift Super Kings
Gaikwad went on an all-out attack after reaching his half-century, launching Jasprit Bumrah’s slower ball over wide long-off for his second six. Bumrah did remove Jadeja, with a slower one, and that brought Bravo to the crease.From there on, it was mayhem. Bravo triggered it with the last ball of the 18th over, launching Milne inside-out over wide long-off for a six. Boult returned for the 19th over but he is not the same bowler at the death as he is at the top of the innings. Bravo (two sixes) and Gaikwad (one six, one four) ransacked 24 from the over, the most Boult has ever conceded in a T20 over.Bumrah dismissed Bravo with the second ball of the final over but Gaikwad had saved his best for the last. On third ball of the over, he got down on one knee and drove Bumrah over cover for four. Off the last ball, he once went down on his knee but this time whipped the low full toss over deep square leg for a six.Deepak Chahar trapped Quinton de Kock in the powerplay•BCCI

Mumbai stumble in the chase
de Kock started the chase positively, hitting Hazlewood for two fours in an over in which he was also put down by Gaikwad. In the next over, he drove Deepak to the long-on boundary but missed the next ball was given out lbw on review.Anmolpreet Singh, on his IPL debut, struck two fours and a six in Hazlewood’s second over but Deepak castled him with a knuckle ball soon after. In the last over of the powerplay, Shardul Thakur removed Suryakumar Yadav to make it 37 for 3, and by now Super Kings were directing proceedings.Ishan Kishan didn’t last long either. In the tenth over, he hit a fuller ball from Bravo straight to Raina at short extra cover.Hazlewood lands the decisive blow
With 95 required from the last ten overs, it was up to Pollard to pull off a heist, just like he had done in the last meeting between the two sides. He hit a six off Jadeja to threaten the same but Dhoni brought back his seamers immediately after that. On the first ball of the 14th over, Hazlewood landed the decisive blow by trapping Pollard lbw with a skidder. Pollard was stuck in his crease and was hit on the back leg, right in front of the stumps. He opted for the review, more in hope than with conviction, but it was clear he was done for the night.In the next over, Krunal was run out. Tiwary kept finding the odd boundary but Mumbai couldn’t keep up with the asking rate. In the end, scoring 49 from the last three overs proved too uphill a task for Tiwary and the lower order.

ScorecardCraig Miles got among the wickets when he removed Joe Weatherley•PA Photos

Liam Norwell led a determined Gloucestershire bowling display in Canterbury where Kent were dismissed for 298 on the opening day of the Specsavers County Championship season.The 25-year-old paceman bagged 3 for 46, while Chris Liddle, Craig Miles and Graeme van Buuren snaffled two apiece as Kent succumbed inside 89 overs on a green-tinted pitch that offered the visiting seamers some assistance throughout the day.Batting first after an uncontested toss, Kent had 25 on the board within half an hour before Daniel Bell-Drummond became their first casualty of the Division Two campaign. Prodding forward to a fine Norwell leg-cutter, the England Lions opener was caught low down at third slip by George Hankins to go for 11.At the other end, Joe Weatherley, who has joined Kent on a long-term loan from Hampshire, looked assured and confident on his club debut. Getting off the mark with a rasping square cut, the wiry right-hander then straight drove left-armer David Payne for another eye-catching boundary.Gloucestershire made a double bowling change before noon – introducing Liddle and Miles – but Kent trundled to 50 in the 18th over of the day and, by the 26th over, Weatherley and Joe Denly had posted their half-century stand.Weatherley’s stay ended soon after for 36 and to the second delivery of a new spell by Miles. In looking to shoulder arms to a good length leg-cutter, Weatherley inadvertently allowed the ball to brush the face of his bat to offer keeper Phil Mustard the simplest of chances.Gloucestershire’s bowlers strengthened their hand in mid-session, taking four more wickets for 129 runs as Kent’s batsmen failed to cash in on decent starts.Denly continued Kent’s profligate trend. Driving imperiously, he cantered to a 96-ball fifty with nine fours but, with 62 to his name he chased a wide one from Norwell to edge to slip and bring an end to a bright third-wicket stand with Sam Northeast that added 58 inside 13 overs.Without addition to the total, Northeast (22) pushed at one from Liddle that nibbled away off the seam and feathered the outside edge to present Chris Dent with a sharp chance at second slip that made it 134 for 4.Will Gidman raised Kent’s 150 with a square drive that rattled the boundary boards but, with his score on 10, the left-hander pushed firm-handed at another beauty to edge to slip and give Norwell a deserved third wicket.Darren Stevens lifted the run rate with a straight six off Jack Taylor that bisected the Cowdrey and Woolley stands as he posted a 51-ball fifty with seven fours to go with his maximum. But, in attempting to clip his next ball through midwicket, Stevens miscued to square leg to be caught by Cameron Bancroft off the bowling of Van Buuren and leave the hosts six wickets down.Soon after the resumption Adam Rouse (13) fenced at a lifting away-swinger from Miles to edge to Mustard, then, after a couple of lusty blows, Matt Coles (11) holed out to deep midwicket to gift Van Buuren a second scalp.James Tredwell and James Harris, the Middlesex seamer and Kent’s second debutant loanee of the day, took the home score beyond 250 until the second new ball accounted for Tredwell (26) who was caught behind off a full-length away-swinger from Payne.Harris and last man Mitch Claydon continued to go for their shots but Claydon spooned to mid-wicket to give Liddle a second wicket and leave Harris unbeaten on 33.In the five overs through to stumps, Gloucestershire’s Bancroft played inside a Stevens away-swinger to lose off stump as the visitors reached 9 for 1 to trail by 289 going into the second day.

Sunrisers Hyderabad batsman Kane Williamson has said it will be difficult for his team to reprise their title-winning feat from last year, and that they will need a different approach for IPL 2017. Williamson’s thoughts echo those of coach Tom Moody, who felt a particular brand of cricket doesn’t guarantee success all the time.”Yeah, it’s never easy [to replicate the performance of last year], but I think it’s important that you go into it with an open mind and look to take it on, perhaps, a little bit differently because things won’t always be the same as they were,” Williamson told ESPNcricinfo on the eve of the season-opener between Sunrisers and Royal Challengers Bangalore. “I look forward to the first game against Bangalore, should be a tough one.”Bonding well as a team, according to Williamson, remains critical to achieving the kind of results Sunrisers had last year, especially as they have a few fresh faces in their 25-member unit. The defending champions bought eight players, including four foreigners, at the auction in February after offloading six from last year’s squad.”Our team is a little bit different to what it was last year. Lot of similar faces, but there are some new players, so it is important we gel well with a slightly different unit,” Williamson said. “Always tough backing up [what Sunrisers did in 2016], but we have actually quite a new-look side this year as well with a slight change of personnel. But that’s very exciting.”Last year, I think as a team we gelled really well. There were a number of great contributions from the likes of David Warner and Mustafizur Rahman, who were brilliant throughout the campaign, but there were also a number of cameo performances that assisted all the way along, so there was a good team culture last year. It is great playing in the IPL, meeting a bunch of new guys and players that you played against a lot in the international calendar, and a lot of local talent as well. So, it is always nice coming here.”A senior member of the Sunrisers Hyderabad outfit, Williamson has played only eight matches for the franchise in two seasons•BCCI

Williamson, 26, himself hasn’t always been a first choice in the XI, and has only played eight games for Sunrisers over the last two years. Last year, he played his first game in the third week of the tournament after missing the initial few games with a hamstring injury. Williamson went on to have a middling campaign, and finished with 124 runs from six games, at a strike-rate of 101.63, significantly lower than his career strike-rate of 118.55 in the T20 format. What does he put it down to?”Pretty small sample size?” he suggested, with a laugh. “Look, it’s always different playing in different conditions, different situations, batting in a few different spots. I don’t really think about that stuff too much. It’s always about trying to do what the team requires at that point in time, whatever the strike-rate needs to be, it needs to be, but you aren’t just focusing on that.”Williamson, however, has had a terrific run recently across formats. Apart from scoring two Test hundreds against South Africa, he has racked up scores of 73*, 12, 60 and 13 in the four T20I innings since January. Williamson, though, is aware that those numbers may not necessarily guarantee a longer run in the team.”[Maybe] score a few runs, maybe bowl a few overs, [maybe] take a few catches and that sort of clichéd stuff [to hold down a place],” he said with a laugh. “But, look, it is important that as a team member you are just looking to give to the side whether you are playing a lot or whether you are not, and prepare well. If you are given the opportunity, you look forward to taking it.”But, you know it is a great thing to see the team do well. It was great watching them, having played a little bit last year, but a lot of it on the sidelines. It was still fantastic to be a part of that success and all we want to do this year is try and contribute to the success that we might have this year.”

Left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell and reserve wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen have been released from the South African squad in New Zealand. They will return home on Sunday, following fast bowlers Chris Morris and Duanne Olivier, who were sent back earlier in the series.Neither Parnell nor Klaasen featured in any of the three Tests although Klaasen may have fancied his chances of a debut when Quinton de Kock was injured ahead of the third Test. De Kock damaged a tendon on his right index finger, which has ruled him out of the IPL, but was able to play the Hamilton match with some strapping.Parnell could not displace any of the three quicks – Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada or Morne Morkel – and, like Olivier and Morris, was deemed surplus to requirements, especially with the series at its end. South Africa still have the dropped opening batsman Stephen Cook and offspinner Dane Piedt, who flew in for the third Test but did not find a place in the playing XI, on hand for substitute fielding duties.Hamilton is the last Test in a nine-month summer for South Africa, which began in August. Their next assignment is a four-Test tour of England, right after the Champions Trophy.

The absence of transparent tender processes, the large number of complimentary tickets distributed, the presence of ineligible office bearers, and problems with vendor contracts were among the issues highlighted by the BCCI observer Ratnakar Shetty against the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), which hosted the one-off India-Bangladesh Test in February.The HCA had conducted elections on January 17 after deciding to comply with the Supreme Court-approved Lodha Committee recommendations, but was asked by the court to withhold the results because it was hearing a petition filed by the incumbent HCA secretary John Manoj.On February 6, three days before the Test against Bangladesh, the court asked the BCCI to appoint an observer to “monitor the conduct” of the fixture by the HCA office bearers. Shetty arrived in Hyderabad the following day and told the state association that all financial expenses would need his approval as per the court order.The HCA, however, had already issued tenders for various services needed during the Test, and though Shetty said the state officials had co-operated to make the match “successful”, there were several issues he had to bring to the court’s attention.At various places in his three-page report, which was submitted to the Hyderabad High Court on February 24, Shetty said he had been left speechless by the lack of accountability from the HCA administration.”It was observed that the tendering process followed by HCA is far from being transparent. Most contracts had one vendor bidding and in some cases no bids were called,” Shetty said. “There is one vendor by the name M/s. Sanjay Maintenance contracts by HCA aggregating to a payment of approximately Rs. 10,00,000 (10 lakhs) per month and yet the same vendor has been given separate contracts for the similar scope of work for match days.”The Interim President himself [Narender Goud] handpicked an agency for ticketing without any tender. One of the Joint Secretaries was involved with the award of contract for buses and cares for the teams and match officials. There was only one tender and quotations were called for use of vehicles for 24 hours – something which is unheard of.”Despite the Lodha Committee’s recommendations limiting the number of complimentary tickets issued, Shetty found that the HCA had distributed “more than 25% of tickets” as complimentary.”The total number of complimentary tickets issued by HCA was around 11,500 in a total capacity of 39,000 seats,” Shetty said in his report. “It was observed that the HCA office bearers and the executive committee members are more keen to protect their own vote banks by giving free tickets with buffet lunch to the members. Almost 50% of the catering bills are towards the members and officials (each club gets five passes in the main pavilion, with lunch). They are not interested in ensuring that the HCA makes profit during an international match. The total expenses for food alone was approximately to the tune of Rs. 75,00,000 (75 lakhs).”Another concern for Shetty was the involvement of ineligible state office bearers in the organisation of the match. The Supreme Court of India had stated that no office bearer who had finished nine years in the job waseligible to continue in the role.”However, Mr. Syed Moizuddin, the former Vice President who demitted office was actively involved in the tendering process and aware of contracts for the Test match,” Shetty reported.He also said there had been “absolutely no check” on the expenditure for catering. “Take for example, the Inspector of Police certified food bills for 2000 policemen every day of the Test Match. Even the Police Commissioner was surprised when I showed him the note.”

Match facts

January 15, 2017
Start time 1420 local (0320 GMT)David Warner made 156 in his last ODI innings at the MCG•Cricket Australia

Big picture

Barely an hour into the first ODI at the Gabba on Friday, Pakistan looked well placed to secure their first win over Australia in Australia in any format since 2005. In the 17th over, the hosts had stumbled to 5 for 78 – David Warner and Steven Smith had gone in the fifth over of the game. But Australia’s batting order is about as long as Billy Stanlake, and a remarkable rebuild was led by Matthew Wade and Glenn Maxwell. Australia’s 9 for 268 proved not only competitive but enough to set up a 92-run victory.It was an opportunity missed for Pakistan, who now head to the MCG on Sunday down 0-1 in the five-ODI series. Adding to their woes, they will be without their captain Azhar Ali, who has been ruled out* after sustaining a hamstring injury during the Brisbane game. Without Azhar and vice-captain Sarfraz Ahmed, who flew home for personal reasons ahead of the first match, Pakistan have announced Mohammad Hafeez will take over as their stand-in captain.

Form guide

Australia: WWWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan: LWWWW

In the spotlight

At the Gabba on Friday, Travis Head sent down 10 overs of his offspin for a miserly 28 runs – never before in his one-day career had he delivered his full allocation. In fact, Head has been such a part-timer at the level below that in 16 ODIs he has bowled far more overs than in the remainder of his 33 List A games combined. If Australia can continue to get value from Head with the ball, it will make him an especially attractive prospect across formats. At the Gabba he also moved up to open the batting for the first time in ODIs, and made a run-a-ball 39.Imad Wasim impressed at the Gabba, where his left-arm spin troubled Australia’s batsmen and he picked up 2 for 35 from his 10 overs. A valuable lower-order batsman with a first-class double-century to his name, he also chipped in with 29 in Pakistan’s ultimately unsuccessful chase, making him the second top scorer behind Babar Azam.

Team news

Josh Hazlewood was rested for the first ODI but is likely to come in for the second game, possibly for Billy Stanlake, who appeared physically troubled at times during his debut in Brisbane. Adam Zampa may also come into consideration, though with Travis Head having bowled 10 tight overs of spin at the Gabba and Glenn Maxwell also in the XI, the legspinner could be surplus to requirements.Australia (possible) 1 David Warner, 2 Travis Head, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Chris Lynn, 5 Mitchell Marsh, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 James Faulkner, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Josh Hazlewood.Azhar Ali’s hamstring injury has ruled him out of contention. With Shoaib Malik also ruled out, having failed to recover from the throat infection that kept him out in Brisbane, Asad Shafiq should take Azhar’s place, though Hafeez will most likely open in his stead.Pakistan (possible) 1 Mohammad Hafeez (capt), 2 Sharjeel Khan, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Umar Akmal, 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Mohammad Nawaz 9 Mohammad Amir, 10 Wahab Riaz, 11 Hasan Ali.

Pitch and conditions

The drop-in pitches at the MCG can be a little two-paced, but big runs can still be on offer. In last month’s Chappell-Hadlee ODI at the venue, David Warner smashed 156, though no other batsman in the game passed 40. The forecast for Sunday is for a partly cloudy day and a top of 23C.

Stats and trivia

• Australia have won their past nine ODIs at the MCG, last losing there to Sri Lanka in March 2012
• At no ground has Mitchell Starc taken more ODI wickets than the MCG, where he has picked up 17 at 14.23
• In the first game at the Gabba, Matthew Wade became just the second Australian (James Faulkner was the other) to score an ODI hundred from outside the top six. The feat has been achieved only 14 times worldwide

*1045 GMT The preview was amended to reflect the news that Azhar Ali and Shoaib Malik had been ruled out