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South Africa’s Dane Paterson will spend April and May playing for Middlesex in the County Championship, a move which will give him the chance to play at Lord’s and pitch his case for selection ahead of the World Test Championship final on June 11.Paterson, 35, took five-wicket hauls in both of the Tests he played in South Africa’s home summer, against Sri Lanka in Gqerbha, and against Pakistan at Centurion. He has signed a contract which covers Middlesex’s first seven Championship fixtures – including four games at Lord’s, where South Africa will face Australia in the WTC final.Across four seasons with Nottinghamshire, Paterson took 180 Championship wickets at 23.25, including seven five-wicket hauls, but the club have opted not to renew his contract. He will instead join Middlesex, and will hope to spearhead their attack after Ethan Bamber’s departure to Warwickshire over the winter.Related

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“It’s an honour to be joining Middlesex,” Paterson said. “I will do my best to give Middlesex the best chance of getting promoted back to Division One again, where the club belongs. I can’t wait to be playing at Lord’s – such a prestigious ground – and I’m just really excited about the challenge that lies ahead.”Whilst obviously I’m sad not to be returning to Trent Bridge after what has been an amazing four years, I’ll always treasure the time I’ve spent there. It quickly became a home away from home for me and I made friendships in the dressing room which I’m sure will last a lifetime.”Paterson joins Kyle Verreynne (Notts) in signing for a county ahead of the WTC final, with David Bedingham also due to back at Durham. Rassie van der Dussen revealed on Thursday that he has turned down a move.Australia’s Cameron Green (Gloucestershire) and Beau Webster (Warwickshire) will also use the Championship to prepare for the final, with many other likely participants involved in either the IPL or PSL during the April-May window.Kane Williamson is also due to play for Middlesex this year, though will not overlap with Paterson•Associated Press

Middlesex did not sign an overseas player last year due to financial constraints but Paterson is the third they have announced this month, after Kane Williamson and Josh Little. They have also brought in Zafar Gohar, the Pakistan-born spinner, as a local player thanks to his British passport, and signed Ben Geddes from Surrey as a replacement for Mark Stoneman.Alan Coleman, Middlesex’s director of cricket, said: “We are really pleased to get this signing secured as Dane is a player that will bring an enormous amount of quality to our pace attack and is someone that can make a real impact for us in the first half of the season.”He has proven throughout the four-years he spent with Nottinghamshire that he has all the attributes needed to succeed in English conditions, and he brings with him a wealth of experience, built up over many years on both the domestic and international stages.”Elsewhere, Durham have announced the signing of Brendan Doggett, the South Australia seamer who recently played for Australia A against England Lions. Doggett is only eligible for a short-term visa but is due to arrive in time to face Warwickshire on April 11 and will be at Durham for the early weeks of the 2025 season.

Mitchell Marsh, who was dropped for the final Test against India, is in line to play his first BBL match for nearly three years after being added to Perth Scorchers’ squad to face Melbourne Renegades at Optus Stadium on Tuesday.Quick bowler Jhye Richardson has also been made available for a BBL return having been part of the Test squad for the final two matches of the Border-Gavaskar series.Related

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Availability of other Test players will be confirmed in the coming days, but Travis Head has effectively confirmed he won’t be featuring for Adelaide Strikers.”I’m wrecked,” Head told Fox Cricket at the SCG on Sunday. “I don’t know what I’m going to do in the next few days but we’ve got 10 or 12 days off now before we go to Sri Lanka and I’m going to use every little bit of that.”Marsh returned to Perth on Monday following Australia’s series-clinching victory at the SCG where he had ceded his place in the side to Beau Webster who went on to produce a memorable debut.Marsh could be available for a longer run with Scorchers through to the end of the BBL if he doesn’t make the squad for the Sri Lanka tour which is due to be named later this week.His last BBL outing was in January 2022, after which he missed the following season having opted to have ankle surgery in a bid to earn a Test recall which came to fruition in the 2023 Ashes, where he scored a century at Headingley. He remained a fixture in the side until a few days ago when he paid the price for a lean series with the bat.Webster could be available for Melbourne Stars’ next game against Sydney Sixers on Thursday and also the return derby against Renegades on January 12.Steven Smith (Sydney Sixers), Sam Konstas (Sydney Thunder), Marnus Labuschagne (Brisbane Heat), Usman Khawaja (Brisbane Heat), Alex Carey (Adelaide Strikers), Nathan Lyon (Melbourne Renegades) and Sean Abbott (Sydney Sixers) are the other players from the Test squad who could turn out for their BBL teams. Scott Boland, who plays for Melbourne Stars, may be rested after his workload in the final two Tests.Most of those names are then likely to be part of the Sri Lanka tour which begins with a training camp in Dubai. Teams that reach the BBL finals will be without any of the players who are on that trip.

Alice Capsey will join England Women’s T20I squad for their tour of South Africa after earning a belated call-up to cover for injury.Capsey, who was initially left out of the touring party amid an extended form slump with the bat, has left WBBL side Melbourne Renegades to join her England team-mates in South Africa today.England said her recall was due to “a couple of minor injury concerns within the squad” but would not elaborate, adding only that all squad members were taking part in a light training session on Monday amid “a couple of niggles, nothing major”.Capsey made a top score of 19 in three innings at last month’s T20 World Cup, where England failed to reach the knockouts. Since then, she has scored 72 runs in eight innings at the WBBL, where she is currently the third-highest wicket-taker with 13 at an average of 13.23 and economy rate of 7.21, including a best of 5 for 25 in a losing cause against Perth Scorchers.Capsey and the injured Dani Gibson were the only members of the T20 World Cup squad not included in the original group bound for South Africa, with middle-order batter Paige Scholfield and fast bowler Lauren Filer called up after missing out on the World Cup. Scholfield made her England debut on the tour of Ireland in September.South Africa host England in three T20Is from November 24 in East London, followed by three ODIs and ending with a Test in Bloemfontein.

Richard Whittam KC has been appointed chair of the Cricket Discipline Panel (CDP), a new independent tribunal which will take over from the Cricket Discipline Commission as the body to hear and adjudicate on regulatory breaches in English professional cricket and subsequent sanctions handed out.Whittam’s appointment, made by the ECB board for a four-year term, comes after an open recruitment process. The 64-year-old is a specialist regulatory and criminal barrister with a background in sport.After serving as a deputy high court judge between 2016 and 2022, Whittam was appointed as the Rugby Football Union’s Head of Independent Judiciary last year. He has chaired discipline, safeguarding and appeal panels in rugby union since 2014. Whittam is also a member of the Word Rugby and European Professional Club Rugby Judicial Panels.Whittam will be responsible for presiding over specific disciplinary cases, and appointing the other members of the CDP who possess an appropriate range of skills and diversity. Once they are in place, the panel will begin considering cases, taking over this role from the current CDC, which is chaired by Tim O’Gorman.The CDP’s function will be to consider cases brought before it by the Cricket Regulator, the body responsible for monitoring compliance with and enforcement of adherence to the game’s regulations on behalf of the ECB. Formed in 2023, the Cricket Regulator was a key recommendation from a damning report published by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) in June of that year, detailing structural inequalities across race, gender and class in cricket in England and Wales.The majority of cases brought to the panel will relate to breaches of the ECB’s Professional Conduct Regulations, but will also include other regulations such as the Anti-Corruption code, Player and Match Officials’ Minimum Standards, Cricket Playing Conditions, Bowling Review Regulations, Pitch Regulations and Head Protector Regulations.Speaking on his appointment, Whittam said: “I am delighted to be appointed to this important role. It is vital to the integrity of cricket that the sport’s rules and regulations are upheld. As the first Chair of the CDP I look forward to getting the Panel up and running and ensuring that cases are dealt with promptly, in a fair, thorough and transparent manner.”ECB chair Richard Thompson said: “The independent Cricket Discipline Panel will play an important role in enforcing cricket’s regulations and dealing with any misconduct and regulatory breaches. Richard Whittam KC has an impressive background in law and sports discipline which makes him the ideal person to chair the Panel.”I’d like to pass on my sincere thanks to Tim O’Gorman and all the panel members from the Cricket Discipline Commission for the service they have given the game over many years. They have performed an important duty in enforcing cricket’s regulations, and I’m grateful for their continued service while the new Cricket Discipline Panel members are recruited.”

Durham’s Ben Raine took four wickets for 23 runs from 18 overs to deepen Lancashire’s relegation fears on the first day of the Vitality County Championship match at the Riverside.Raine made the most of bowler-friendly conditions to help reduce Keaton Jennings’ side to 177 for 6 after 78 overs on a day that was shortened by morning rain.Home supporters might view that as a decent return in a match played with a Kookaburra ball but Lancashire’s plight could have been vastly worse had not Matty Hurst made a fine 74 not out and Josh Bohannon added 49 during two long sessions when run-scoring was often difficult.Raine was well supported by Matthew Potts, who took 2 for 36, while West Indian bowler, Chemar Holder, endured a testing first day as a Durham bowler, finishing with nought for 53 from his eight overs.Persistent drizzle delayed the start of play until 12.50 and it was no surprise that Durham skipper Scott Borthwick chose to bowl first on winning the toss.Nor was it particularly startling, given their current form, that Lancashire’s first innings began badly. Raine had Luke Wells caught behind by Ollie Robinson off the first ball of the game and then produced a magnificent delivery which nipped away and bowled Jennings for 9 in the ninth over.Josh Bohannon tucked into three wayward overs from Holder before losing his third-wicket partner, Venkatesh Iyer, with the total on 49 when the Indian allrounder was caught behind off Potts for 7.Matty Hurst survived for 36 minutes and 26 balls before scoring his first run but Lancashire’s closest shaves came at the other end where Bohannon edged Potts between the wicketkeeper and first slip and survived a confident appeal for caught behind off Raine, before finally falling for 49 when a thin-edged catch to Robinson gave the Durham seamer his third wicket.Lancashire got to tea on 96 for 4 but soon lost George Bell for 7 when Lancashire’s No.6 pulled Potts straight to Holder at midwicket.Although Hurst reached his fourth Championship fifty off 88 balls with seven fours and a six, the visitors soon lost their sixth wicket when George Balderson edged a drive off Raine to Colin Ackermann at second slip and departed for 10.Hurst and Tom Hartley then batted with great good sense for over an hour, adding an unbroken 39 in 25 overs to ensure that Lancashire didn’t suffer any further damage before the close, although by that time their side still needed 73 runs to secure their first batting point since July 1.

South Africa opener Reeza Hendricks fetched the highest bid of Rand 4.3 million at the SA20 auction ahead of the 2025 season. MI Cape Town won a fierce bidding war against Pretoria Capitals to scoop up the batter.Hendricks had a wretched T20 World Cup earlier this year and was released by Joburg Super Kings ahead of the auction, but his recent form – he had scored back-to-back half-centuries against Ireland in the UAE – meant he was still in demand for SA20 2025. Hendricks will reunite with his Lions team-mates Rassie van der Dussen and Ryan Rickelton at Cape Town.”Reeza Hendricks adds a lot to the group in terms of his skill,” MICT coach Robin Peterson said. “He is an international, quality cricketer with lots of experience at the top of the order.”A day after the auction, Super Kings unveiled Sri Lanka slinger Matheesha Pathirana as their wildcard player. Pathirana has had success with Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, but this will be his first time at the SA20.Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi went unsold at the auction with six franchises having only 13 spots to fill on Tuesday.Related

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Durban’s Super Giants filled up their only slot by snapping up West Indies fast bowler Shamar Joseph (R 425,000), who had originally gone unsold. Joseph has already played for Lucknow Super Giants, Durban’s parent franchise, in the IPL. He is currently in action for defending champions Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL. If Joseph makes himself available to West Indies for their two-Test tour of Pakistan in January, he will miss a chunk of the SA20. The Test tour will run from January 16-28, clashing with the SA20, which will get underway on January 9.The SA20 will be Joseph’s second T20 stint in an overseas league after IPL 2024. Joseph will work with Allan Donald, the new bowling coach of Super Giants.MICT also added batter Colin Ingram to their roster, picking him for his base price of R 175,000. Offspinner Dane Piedt will shore up Cape Town’s spin attack, having been picked up for R 175,000. This will be the 34-year-old’s first stint in the SA20 and will he work with coach Peterson, who had been his team-mate at Cobras.Dane Piedt, who returned to Test cricket earlier this year, will play his maiden SA20 for MI Cape Town•Getty Images

Piedt had ended his South Africa career in 2020 and moved to the USA but a SOS from South Africa red-ball coach Shukri Conrad brought him out of retirement from South Africa cricket earlier this year.Back-to-back champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape, who are usually big on fast bowlers, continued in the same vein, forking out R 2.3 million for England’s Richard Gleeson, who had represented Super Giants in SA20 2024. Super Giants were keen to buy him back, but Sunrisers eventually won the bidding war. They also spent R 175,000 on Dolphins’ fast bowler Okuhle Cele.Gleeson will turn 37 this December but was among the very few fast bowlers at the auction who could clock 140kph. Gleeson also has the yorker and bouncer in his repertoire and could potentially slot in for Dan Worrall, who has signed up for ILT20 2025, and complement Craig Overton. Gleeson’s recent form is also encouraging: he was the joint-highest wicket-taker in the Zim Afro T10 with 12 strikes in eight matches.As for Cele, he was Dolphins’ leading wicket-taker in the 2023-24 T20 challenge with 17 wickets in 14 games at an economy rate of 8.14.Super Kings spent R 175,000 each on allrounders Wihan Lubbe and Evan Jones in set three. Both Lubbe and Jones had been part of Paarl Royals in the past. Super Kings also recruited New Zealand allrounder Doug Bracewell for his base price of R 175,000 in the express set. Bracewell will return to Super Kings, having been part of their side as a replacement player for Romario Shepherd in SA20 2024. The 34-year-old had recently given up his domestic contract with Central Districts to become a T20 freelancer and hence will not feature in New Zealand’s Super Smash, which will also overlap with the SA20.Shamar Joseph played for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2024•Getty Images

Royals, who had just one spot open, filled it by picking wicketkeeper Rubin Hermann for R 175,000.Capitals, who missed out on Hendricks, spent R 800,000 on Dolphins’ Marques Ackerman, who was previously with Sunrisers in the SA20, and R 1.50 million on West Indies opening batter Evin Lewis. Royals completed their business with the signing of former Super King Kyle Simmonds for R 175,000 in the express round.”I think all six teams look very strong,” Graeme Smith, the former South Africa captain and current SA20 commissioner, said. “From a league perspective we want to see all six squads competitive. It’s a nice mix of some quality South Africans and superb international names that have joined us for season three.”As a cricket competition, we want to see the South African players get stronger every year. We have seen the success of the IPL and the number of players that can be picked for India. I think we saw that progression last year with the likes of Ottneil Baartman. He had a great World Cup, and we are starting to see those types of players come through.”Super Kings selected Warriors’ allrounder JP King as their rookie player, having invited him to their training sessions last season. JP King’s brother CJ King, meanwhile, went to Super Giants as their rookie player.With Super Kings signing Pathirana all six teams have locked in their wildcard players. Notably, Royals had picked former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik as their wildcard player. Having retired from Indian and international cricket in June earlier this year, Karthik will become the first Indian to feature in the SA20.

Full squads

Durban’s Super Giants: Brandon King, Quinton de Kock, Naveen-ul-Haq, Kane Williamson, Chris Woakes, Prenelan Subrayen, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj, Noor Ahmad, Heinrich Klaasen, Jon-Jon Smuts, Wiaan Mulder, Junior Dala, Bryce Parsons, Matthew Breetzke, Jason Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Shamar Joseph, CJ King (rookie)Joburg Super Kings: Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Maheesh Theekshana, Devon Conway, Gerald Coetzee, David Wiese, Leus Du Plooy, Lizaad Williams, Nandre Burger, Donovan Ferreira, Imran Tahir, Sibonelo Makhanya, Tabraiz Shamsi, Wihan Lubbe, Evan Jones, Doug Bracewell, Matheesha Pathirana, JP King (rookie)MI Cape Town: Rashid Khan, Ben Stokes, Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult, Azmatullah Omarzai, Dewald Brevis, Ryan Rickelton, George Linde, Nuwan Thushara, Connor Esterhuizen, Delano Potgieter, Rassie van der Dussen, Thomas Kaber, Chris Benjamin, Corbin Bosch, Colin Ingram, Reeza Hendricks, Dane Piedt, Tristan Luus (rookie)Pretoria Capitals: Anrich Nortje, Jimmy Neesham, Will Jacks, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Liam Livingstone, Will Smeed, Migael Pretorius, Rilee Rossouw, Eathan Bosch, Wayne Parnell, Senuran Muthusamy, Kyle Verreynne, Daryn Dupavillon, Steve Stolk, Tiaan van Vuuren, Marques Ackerman, Evin Lewis, Kyle Simmonds, Keagan Lion-Cachet (rookie)Paarl Royals: David Miller, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Sam Hain, Joe Root, Dinesh Karthik, Kwena Maphaka, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Bjorn Fortuin, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Van Buuren, Keith Dudgeon, Nqaba Peter, Andile Phehlukwayo, Codi Yusuf, John Turner, Dayyaan Galiem, Jacob Bethell, Rubin Hermann, Dewan Marais (rookie)Sunrisers Eastern Cape: Aiden Markram, Zak Crawley, Roelof van der Merwe, Liam Dawson, Ottneil Baartman, Marco Jansen, Beyers Swanepoel, Caleb Seleka, Tristan Stubbs, Jordan Hermann, Patrick Kruger, Craig Overton, Tom Abell, Simon Harmer, Andile Simelane, David Bedingham, Okuhle Cele, Richard Gleeson, Daniel Smith (rookie)

Lewis Goldsworthy led the way with 95 as Somerset boosted their chances of reaching the knock-out stage of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup with a convincing five-wicket win over Worcestershire at Taunton.The Rapids were bowled out for 263 in 47.3 overs after losing the toss, Tom Taylor lifting a limp batting display with 73, off 65 balls, including seven fours and three sixes. Ben Green claimed 3 for 58In reply, Somerset reached 267 for 5 with 5.3 overs to spare, Goldsworthy hitting his runs off 108 deliveries, with nine fours and a six, while James Rew contributed 70 and Andy Umeed 44. Left-arm spinner Fateh Singh returned career-best List A figures of 4 for 52.Worcestershire openers Ed Pollock and Gareth Roderick set about Somerset’s opening attack with gusto, taking the score to 55 in the eighth over before Pollock lofted a catch to deep square off Ned Leonard and departed for 30.Roderick looked in good touch, moving to 35 off 41 balls but then carelessly helped a ball from Ogborne around the corner to be caught at fine leg. At 68 for 2 in the 13th over, Worcestershire needed to rebuild.Hopes that Jake Libby and Rob Jones could do the job ended with poor shots by both off Green, Jones, on 14, mistiming a catch to mid-wicket and Libby, having progressed comfortably to 24, guiding a short ball straight to Goldsworthy at point.Another soft dismissal saw Rehaan Edavalath offer a simple return catch to Jack Leach and at 117 for 5 the Rapids were in a hole. Ethan Brookes followed the pattern, having struck four fours, when he advanced down the pitch to Goldsworthy and lofted to Leach at mid-off.The same over saw Singh, on four, dropped by Umeed at short extra cover. Singh profited to hit a six off Goldsworthy before being bowled for 14 making room to cut off-spinner Archie Vaughan’s third ball of the game.Taylor cleared the ropes off Kasey Aldridge and Goldsworthy and Tom Hinley followed suit off successive short balls from Aldridge as the pair launched a spirited counter attack. Hinley’s 32 came off just 18 balls before he skyed Green to Ogborne a long-on.Tommy Sturgess was run out in a mix-up over a second run with Taylor, who went to an impressive half-century off 53 balls before being last man out.Somerset’s reply got off to the worst possible start when George Thomas shouldered arms to the first delivery from Taylor, an inswinger that clipped the stumps. But Goldsworthy and Umeed soon settled in to put the outcome beyond much doubt.They had added 96 for the second wicket in 18.4 overs when Umeed was caught at deep square for 44 attempting to slog-sweep Singh in his first over. Goldsworthy went to a 63-ball fifty soon afterwards, having struck six fours.Rew hit two glorious drives through extra cover and then straight and Goldsworthy cleared the ropes at mid-wicket off Hinley to bring up a half-century partnership in ten overs.Rew then smacked fours of three successive Hinley deliveries in the 31st over in reaching fifty off 43 balls. It was young wicketkeeper’s fourth half-century in seven Group A matches and contributed to the stand with Goldsworthy that reached three figures off 88 balls.Rew fell to a catch at cover off Singh trying a reverse sweep and the bowler followed up by dismissing Goldsworthy, bowled by a full ball, and Sean Dickson, caught at slip, with successive deliveries in the 39th over.But by then Somerset only needed 45 and 18-year-old Vaughan’s rapid unbeaten 31 off 24 balls sealed a comfortable success.

David Bedingham, Dane Paterson and Dane Piedt are the only players from South Africa’s makeshift squad that toured New Zealand in February to be named for their next red-ball assignment, against West Indies in August. While Bedingham is seen as central to the future of South Africa’s long-format batting, Paterson, 35, has been included to add experience in the absence of Anrich Nortje and Marco Jansen, and Piedt, 34, to have a second spinner in addition to Keshav Maharaj.The rest of the players were all part of South Africa’s home series against India earlier this year with the exception of batter Matthew Breetzke, who has earned his first Test call-up. Breetzke is currently playing for Northants and was part of a South African A side that toured Sri Lanka last year. With Dean Elgar’s recent international retirement, he will provide batting back-up to a top five that will likely include Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Temba Bavuma and David Bedingham.Red-ball coach Shukri Conrad confirmed that Stubbs would take over the No. 3 spot, with de Zorzi moving up into Elgar’s opening slot. “Technically Stubbs is one of the best around,” Conrad said at a press conference. “He’s the type of cricketer that I want at the top of the order. And I think he has got all the makings of a top-class No. 3 batter. He will get a really good run and he is definitely one for the future. Some might say it’s a big call, but I certainly won’t be throwing someone in at the deep end and give him a task that I didn’t think he was capable of handling.”Wicketkeeper-batter Ryan Rickelton has been recalled after last playing Tests in the home series against West Indies in March 2023 and will compete with incumbent gloveman Kyle Verreynne for a spot at No. 6. The only seam-bowling allrounder in the squad is Wiaan Mulder, who also last played Tests at home against West Indies, after Jansen was rested from the tour.”Given the hectic schedules and not necessarily for South Africa – you take someone like Marco, who would have had two months at an IPL straight to a World Cup, straight into an MLC – the plan was always for different guys to be getting breaks at different times,” Conrad said. “So this is Marco’s time where we felt we can do some really good work with him from a rehab and conditioning point of view, and if there’s some technical work that needs to happen.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Jansen will also miss the October Tests in Bangladesh and “be ready for Sri Lanka and Pakistan”, Conrad said. “And then another quick will have the Bangladesh series off and be ready for Sri Lanka and Pakistan. So it’s conversations that Rob [Walter, the white-ball coach] and I have been having for the longest time now. We want to make sure that we manage these players properly. They never get time to actually do some work on their bodies and any technical stuff. It’s not a holiday.”The pace attack will be led by Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi with Nortje not considered after he opted out of a central contract this year with the aim of focusing primarily on T20 cricket. Paterson and left-armer Nandre Burger are the other two pace options.South Africa’s first-choice Test players have not been in action since the New Year’s Test, which they lost to India after being to miss the New Zealand series and honour SA20 commitments. South Africa lost that series 2-0 and sit in seventh place on the WTC points table, but have only played four matches. They have eight more Tests scheduled in this cycle – two in the West Indies, two in Bangladesh in October and home series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan – and have hopes they could put themselves in a position to compete for a spot in the WTC final.”We’ve got eight test matches left in the cycle and whilst one doesn’t want to look too far ahead, in order to give ourselves a good crack at it, we probably need to win at least seven,” Conrad said. “That’s part of the end goal. We know that every Test series is going to be a challenging one. But when we play to our full potential, I think we can obviously get the right results. We’re still very much in the mix.”Those members of the squad who are not involved in the MLC or on the county circuit – Bavuma, Breetzke, de Zorzi, Mulder, Paterson, Stubbs and Verreynne – will take part in a four-day training camp in Durban before departing for the West Indies. The first Test takes place in Trinidad from August 7 and the second in Guyana a week later.

South Africa Test squad

Temba Bavuma, David Bedingham, Matthew Breetzke, Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Dane Paterson, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickelton, Kyle Verreynne

Shubman Gill was just three balls into his innings in the first Test against South Africa in Kolkata when he hurt his neck and had to go off the field. He did not come out to bat as India finished their first innings on 189, taking a lead of 30 runs.”Shubman Gill has a neck spasm and is being monitored by the BCCI medical team,” the BCCI said after the first session.India were 75 for 2 when Gill, facing his third delivery, slog-swept Simon Harmer for four over square leg. As he completed the shot and got up, he looked in discomfort, took off his helmet and rubbed the back of his neck. The physio came out and Gill had to retire hurt.Related

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At the end of the day, Gill, wearing a neck brace, was stretchered out of the dressing room and into the players’ ambulance for scans to Woodlands hospital with the team doctor. Since it’s not an external injury, he may not be allowed to bat at his usual No. 4 if he does not spend the required time in the field during South Africa’s innings.”Gill is a very fit guy, he looks after himself very well, so it’s just unfortunate this morning that he woke up with a stiff neck and that carried him into the day, which was crucial for us,” India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel said after the day’s play. “Another sort of partnership with him batting around was going to be needed for us at the time and… just bad timing.”Rishabh Pant replaced Gill at the crease, and India went into lunch at 138 for 4. But the wickets fell in a flurry after the break, with Harmer picking up 4 for 30 and Marco Jansen 3 for 35.Last October, too, Gill had to sit out the Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru because of a stiff neck.

Wazir Mohammad, the eldest of Pakistan’s famous Mohammad brothers, has died. He was 95 years old.Wazir played 20 Tests for Pakistan in the earliest years of their international cricket history, the least of Hanif, Mushtaq and Sadiq. Raees, now the eldest of the brothers, didn’t play a Test for Pakistan. Hanif passed away in 2016.As a lower-middle order batter, Wazir’s average of 27.62 does little justice to his impact in some of Pakistan’s most celebrated performances in the 1950s, when they arrived as a Test-playing nation in such style. His career first-class average of 40 was much more reflective of his value, though Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Wazir’s Test captain, was long an admirer.The most seminal contribution came in the Oval Test win of 1954, when Pakistan became the first side to win a Test on their first tour of England (and drew the series 1-1). Though Fazal Mahmood was the hero with 12 wickets, he would not have had a total to defend had it not been for Wazir’s resistance in the second innings.Pakistan were only 85 runs ahead, with two wickets in hand, when Wazir (in at No. 8) put on 58 with Zulfiqar Ahmed and then another 24 for the last wicket with Mahmood Hussain. Wazir ended unbeaten on a four-hour 42, having doubled Pakistan’s score with the last two wickets. Pakistan won ultimately by 24 runs.