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Match Facts

The teenager Patrick Cummins has unexpectedly become a Twenty20 star•Getty Images

Saturday, February 5, Adelaide Oval
Start time 7pm (0830 GMT)

The Big Picture

The Big Bash final determines who holds the silverware but in reality, both South Australia and New South Wales are already big winners. By qualifying for the decider, they have earned a place at the Champions League Twenty20 later this year and, as the Blues are well aware having won that worldwide tournament in 2009, there are serious riches on offer at the multi-million dollar event. But for now, the prize is the Big Bash trophy, and it will be the last chance for the states to win the competition in its current format, because by next season the new Big Bash League will feature eight city-based teams instead of the existing state sides.It’s also an opportunity for the Redbacks to end a trophy drought that has stretched out to 15 years. They haven’t won any silverware since the Sheffield Shield in 1995-96, and the state’s cricket fans are anxious for something to celebrate. New South Wales haven’t much room in their prize cabinet after a successful decade, and they are the only team apart from Victoria to have won the Big Bash, having triumphed in 2008-09.

Form guide (most recent first)

South Australia WWWWW
New South Wales WLWWL

Watch out for…

Patrick Cummins is only 17, but already he’s created a stir. A fast bowler who has hit remarkable speeds for a teenager – up to 146kph – Cummins is the leading wicket taker in the competition with 11 victims at 11.54. He has been such a standout that there have been calls to rush him into the Sheffield Shield side, but his captain Stuart Clark is mindful of giving him too much work.”There is perhaps a case of too much cricket at a young age for players, who then all of a sudden are not doing a lot, then bowling a heap,” Clark said. “It seems that’s where injuries happen with the young guys and that we need to be mindful of that at the moment. We need to be careful we don’t burn Pat out, as the risk would be high. The workload of going from four overs to bowling 40 overs a week in Shield cricket is very different.”At the other end of the pace spectrum, the equally inexperienced Nathan Lyon has been a revelation for South Australia in the Big Bash this summer. A 23-year-old offspinner who moved from the ACT five months ago, Lyon was picked for his adopted state in their Big Bash opener in January, and now he’s collected nine wickets at 17.55. The Redbacks have used him to open the bowling on several occasions, and he could be especially useful in taking the pace off the ball against the New South Wales opener David Warner, who enjoys hitting the fast men.”Darren Berry and Michael Klinger have been really good, telling me to be brave and back my skills against all these top-class bats, the likes of Chris Gayle,” Lyon said. “Our gameplan has been to take the pace off the ball. It’s been working pretty well for us.”

Team news

The Redbacks are missing three important players, with Kieron Pollard having returned to West Indies duties, and Callum Ferguson and Shaun Tait in the Australian one-day squad. The batsmen Tom Cooper and James Smith will vie for Ferguson’s place, while the attack will once again be based around spin – Lyon, Aaron O’Brien and the English import Adil Rashid, whose legbreaks have been particularly difficult for opposition batsmen to get away.South Australia squad Michael Klinger (capt), Daniel Harris, Aiden Blizzard, James Smith, Cameron Borgas, Tom Cooper, Daniel Christian, Graham Manou (wk), Aaron O’Brien, Adil Rashid, Kane Richardson, Jake Haberfield, Nathan Lyon.The Blues also have a few players with the Australian side, as usual, but there is still plenty of class in their line-up – so much so that they couldn’t squeeze Phillip Hughes into the side. Warner is the key at the top, while Ben Rohrer has guided the middle order and Cummins has been the star with the ball. Unlike South Australia, New South Wales rely more heavily on their fast men, and the spin duties could fall to the uncapped left-armer Luke Doran, along with the part-timer Dominic Thornely. Steve O’Keefe was unavailable due to a calf injury.New South Wales squad David Warner, Daniel Smith (wk), Phil Jaques, Ben Rohrer, Peter Forrest, Dominic Thornely, Moises Henriques, Tim Armstrong, Sean Abbott, Scott Coyte, Luke Doran, Stuart Clark (capt), Patrick Cummins.

Pitch and conditions

The Adelaide Oval surface usually helps the spinners more than the fast men, and that’s been even more apparent this summer. “The wicket has been a bit slower than what it has been traditionally for this competition,” the South Australia batsman Aiden Blizzard said, “and the spinners have done a great job in our team.” The forecast for Saturday is for a light shower or two clearing by the evening, and a top temperature of 23C.

Stats and trivia

• The teams have met in five Twenty20 matches, of which South Australia have only won one – in Newcastle four years ago
• Aiden Blizzard will be playing in his fifth Big Bash final – more than any other individual – having turned out in four for Victoria
• The two leading run scorers in the tournament this year are both playing in this game – Warner has 277 runs at 55.40, while the South Australian opener Daniel Harris has made 256 at 51.20
• Last time South Australia won any silverware – the 1995-96 Sheffield Shield – their fast bowler Kane Richardson was five years old
  

  Quotes

  “A lot has happened since that game. We’ve had five really good wins since then. Their team was a little bit different, they had Brett Lee and Bollinger; now they’ve got a very young team.”
  “I was just happy to get the opportunity to play one game, but to play in five and get to a final, it is unreal.”
  

Hemant Buch, the former regional director of the recently dissolved Western Region of the USA Cricket Association, will run for first vice president of the USA Cricket Association (USACA). The position is currently vacant after the resignation of Nabeel Ahmed, who is running for president of USACA at the organisation’s next general election in 2011.”My main goal will be to help build [a] united, more effective board, establish basic policies and procedures for cricket operation, discipline and dispute resolution,” Buch said in an email in which he confirmed that he will run for the position.The North West Region men’s team, which fell under Buch’s Western Region umbrella, won the Senior National Championship last month in Florida. The North West also won the 2009 Under-19 National Championship and had four players from that team go on to represent USA at the 2010 ICC Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand. The regional team will be attempting to defend the U-19 national title at the 2010 Junior Nationals, scheduled for December 28-30 in Los Angeles.Buch was the recipient of an ICC Development Programme Award in 2006 when he was named Best Volunteer for the Americas Region. He has played a major role in the development of youth cricket on the west coast with the formation of the California Cricket Academy (CCA) in Cupertino in 2003. In addition to the success of the men’s and U-19 teams, the North West Region has won the national championship at the U-15 level in each of the last three years with most of the players on those teams coming through the CCA.Buch has also utilised strong political ties with the BCCI to arrange tours to India for CCA players to get more experience.

In what could be a setback to Lalit Modi in his battle against the BCCI, the Indian board has decided to retain the three-member disciplinary panel appointed to probe the charges against him. Modi’s lawyers had objected to the presence of IPL chairman Chirayu Amin in the panel, claiming Amin may have a grudge against him.According to Modi, Amin was part of a consortium led by Pune-based construction company City Corporation that took part in the auction for the two new teams in March 2010. “It was Modi who had disclosed publicly that Amin was an investor who formed a part of the Pune consortium that made an unsuccessful bid for the two franchises this year,” PTI quoted the notice sent by Modi’s lawyers as saying in July.However, the board approved Amin’s presence on the panel at its special general meeting, ratifying the three-man committee’s tenure till the case against Modi is heard completely. The BCCI’s constitution requires the disciplinary panel to be constituted at every annual general meeting which the board had initially failed to do, but formally did so today.Modi had earlier also disputed the presence of Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, in the panel. Manohar duly recused himself, and was replaced by Jyotiraditya Scindia. However, according to Ratnakar Shetty, the board’s chief administrative officer, the BCCI’s constitution makes it mandatory for its President to be on the disciplinary committee. Accordingly, Manohar will now be part of the panel except for the Modi case.Besides Amin, the other members of the panel are Arun Jaitley and Scindia, who are both politicians heading their respective state cricket associations.

The leftover adrenaline from a career-best score and a record partnership with Brad Haddin will keep Michael Hussey buzzing through the night. All the replays will be worthwhile as he works through the epic 195 that saved his career and ensured his side is in the best position to win the opening Test.Hussey walked off disappointed to miss a double-century and Haddin remained cool with 136 as their sixth-wicket stand of 307 put Australia in command. The pair sweated for 398 minutes, taking the side from the danger of 5 for 143 to the safety of a first-innings total of 481.”It was quite satisfying to do what we did today,” Haddin said, “but we had to get over it pretty quick and get back on the field and get back to reality. I’ll probably have a good sleep tonight.”Hussey’s evening will be spent trying to calm down. “I’ve still got plenty of adrenaline running through my body,” Hussey said. “I might struggle to get off to sleep.”Haddin operates mostly as the carefree shot-maker while Hussey is a workman, and their complementary styles gelled perfectly. Australia started the third day 40 runs behind but three sessions later their advantage was a hefty 202. The biggest threats came in the extended session before lunch when they had to overcome a committed England push from James Anderson and Stuart Broad.”The first hour-and-a-half was probably the hardest Test bowling I’ve ever had to face,” Haddin said. “It was a pretty conscious effort for us to get through that unscathed.”After the initial threats eased, the men were able to enjoy the view, checking off various milestones on the way. When they had combined for 277 they passed the highest Test stand at the Gabba, beating the effort of Don Bradman and Lindsay Hassett against England in 1946-47. At the finish their tally was the 12th best in Australia-England Tests.”It was good fun,” Hussey said. “We had a laugh along the way and we talked about our struggles and any negative thoughts going through our minds and kept focused. I thoroughly enjoyed the partnership.”While Haddin picked up his third century, Hussey moved to his 12th. He passed his previous best of 182 against Bangladesh, and narrowly missed a maiden double.”I was very disappointed,” Hussey said. “I was very, very determined to get to 200, but it wasn’t to be. As I was walking off, I thought to myself – as much as I was very disappointed – ‘I’ve got to soak this in and really enjoy it’.”Australia’s next job is to grab 10 wickets and the breakthroughs won’t come easily on a pitch that has flattened out. “I think it’s going to be tough tomorrow, definitely,” Hussey said. “There are some cracks opening up in some good areas for us, so we hope that can put some doubts in the batsmen’s minds.”But we’re under no illusions. It’s going to be a good, hard day of Test cricket tomorrow. We’re going to have to be very patient, very disciplined for long periods of time. I believe if we are, and hold our catches, we’ll have a great chance.”

Mohammad Yousuf has been ruled out of the Test series against South Africa after picking up a recurrence of an old groin injury moments before the toss of the first match in Dubai. He requires at least two weeks to recover and will fly home but no replacement has been named.Yousuf, 36, returned to the Test side during the tour of England when he played at The Oval and Lord’s following his retirement after the disastrous trip to Australia which he captained. The initial groin injury meant he wasn’t able to take his place in the one-day squad against South Africa until being drafted in for the deciding match last week.”Its an old injury Yousuf sustained before the one-day series last month and since it will take two weeks to heal we are sending him back and there will be no replacement,” the team manager, Intikhab Alam, said. “It is indeed disappointing because Yousuf has been Pakistan’s most reliable batsman and we needed him for this series.”It is hoped that the return of Yousuf, and Younis Khan who resumed Test cricket in Dubai after patching up defences with the Pakistan board, will make Pakistan more competitive after an inexperienced line-up was regularly exposed in England with a string of sorry displays. But the wait goes on for the two experienced players to appear together again.

Brad Haddin is confident he will have plenty of cricket behind him before November’s first Ashes Test, as he prepares for his comeback from an elbow injury next week. Haddin has been out of action since May and is set to make his return for the New South Wales Second XI on Monday.The main goal for Haddin is to ensure he is ready to go for the Ashes, which begins at the Gabba on November 25. Depending on whether he is chosen for Australia’s ODIs against Sri Lanka in early November, he will have up to four Sheffield Shield matches in which to prove his fitness before the urn is up for grabs.”There’s quite a lot of games leading up to the Ashes, so from a workload point-of-view, I’m not too concerned about the amount of cricket I’m going to get,” Haddin told AAP. “There’s definitely enough cricket heading into the Ashes.”It’s a relief [to come back], it’s obviously been a long time out of the game, so I’m actually looking forward to having a bit of a hit on Saturday and seeing how things go and hopefully progressing to the second XI game. At this stage everything is going in the right direction. I’ve been batting pretty consistently for the last ten days with no discomfort.”While Haddin has been sidelined, the Tasmania wicketkeeper Tim Paine has proved an able replacement behind the stumps for Australia. Paine will take the gloves for the two Tests in India and Haddin said it was touch and go as to whether he could have made the trip himself.”It will be such a busy schedule over the next 12 months,” Haddin said. “It just probably wasn’t quite close enough to be right for India.”

Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, the three Pakistan cricketers at the centre of the spot-fixing scandal, have returned to London from Taunton and will meet with PCB officials on Thursday for an internal inquiry. Cricinfo understands that the three men have already had an informal briefing with the chairman of the board, Ijaz Butt, ahead of a more intense round of talks in the wake of last week’s allegations in the News of the World.However, in an interview with the BBC, Ijaz Butt reiterated his stance, first outlined to Cricinfo on Monday, that he would resist all pressure to remove the players from the reckoning for the one-day series that gets underway at Cardiff on Sunday. “They will be free to play immediately,” he said. Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, met with the PCB chairman on Thursday, while the ECB remain firm in their stance that the trio should not be allowed to play.The players’ presence in London effectively rules them out of Pakistan’s warm-up game against Somerset on Thursday, and though they are still expected to rejoin the squad on Friday, it now seems likely that they will have to remain in London for a planned meeting with the Pakistan high commissioner to the United Kingdom, as well as further interviews with the Metropolitan Police.Meanwhile the rest of the squad had another training session at the County Ground and Shahid Afridi, who has resumed the captaincy from Salman Butt, said the players wanted to move on. “All the players are focussed,” he told Sky Sports News. “What has happened has gone.”As the three players left for London a senior English journalist asked Butt “will you be back?”. Butt turned his head, looked the man in the eye and said: “Yes, why not?.” That response only attracted unwanted attention. A tabloid reporter pounced on the opportunity and said “are you guilty?”. Butt started to look towards the journalist but wisely did not react and walked into the cab.Butt’s insistence he will return shed further doubt on whether the three players allegedy involved will be suspended, something the England players are very keen takes place before the Twenty20 internationals.”The feeling among the players is that they are professional cricketers and the matches will go ahead,” Angus Porter, the Professional Cricketers’ Association chief executive, told Cricinfo, “but they don’t want them to become sideshows so there is a preference that it would be beneficial if the three players didn’t appear.”Amir was his usual jovial self at the team hotel on Wednesday morning, with a smile on his face, and was bantering with team-mates. He was later joined by Butt, who looked a little circumspect. Both are understood to have received support from Waqar Younis and Ijaz Ahmed, the head and deputy coach respectively. Asif has largely confined himself to his room since the spot-fixing story broke on Saturday night.The hotel has been the centre of attention since the Pakistan squad checked in on Monday afternoon, a day ahead of schedule. The lobby, a business lounge in normal times, was overnight transformed into a high-security zone with hotel staff keeping a close watch on movement in the area.A couple of unarmed policemen arrived minutes before the three players left for London in a luxury cab, with the team’s security officer Khawaja Najam in their wake. Fears of crowd trouble, of which there has been some in the past few days, proved unfounded.Meanwhile the rest of the squad carried on with their schedules, though the mood was palpably subdued. “It doesn’t feel like practice day, does it,” remarked Alex, the bus-driver who has been driving the team around on this tour. Afridi broke with habit to read the morning papers at the breakfast table. The team had a closed-door nets session at the Somerset County Cricket Club ground on Tuesday afternoon; they held another on Wednesday that was open to the media.

Pakistan’s kit suppliers, BoomBoom, have suspended their relationship with Mohammad Amir and could also choose to sever ties with the team entirely in the wake of the matchfixing allegations that surfaced in the News of the World last week.BoomBoom are less than halfway through a two-year deal as the official kit supplier to Pakistan cricket, while Amir is one of the highest-profile members of the squad to hold an individual deal. However, a statement from the managing director of the company put the relationship in jeopardy.”Like everyone else in the cricket world, we are truly saddened and shocked by these allegations,” said the managing director, Ali Ehsan. “I sincerely hope they are not true. However, we are huge cricket lovers: pure and simple. We believe in, and encourage players to have, the freedom to play, fairly.”The company were keen to stress that their decision was not intended as a prejudicial judgment on the guilt, or otherwise, of Amir, whose image has yet to be removed from the company website, where he appears alongside one-day captain Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam and Abdul Razzaq.”We cannot allow our brand to be associated with any whiff of corruption or suspicion of foul play. While the suspension of our commercial involvement with Mohammad Amir is not a step we take lightly, we nevertheless feel that it is the right thing to do while a judicial process unfolds and innocence or guilt is established.”BoomBoom is also reviewing its position as official kit supplier to the Pakistan Cricket Board.”

Sri Lanka won’t be able to displace India from the No. 1 position in the Test rankings in this series. It was earlier believed that a 2-0 series win would be enough to take Sri Lanka to the top spot.However, the system had been misunderstood. From August 1, 2010, the rankings will cease to consider all Tests played between August 2006 and July 2007. During that period, Sri Lanka won five Tests and lost just one. Losing out on that good year takes Sri Lanka’s rating points down from 115 to 111, and their current ranking from No. 4 to No. 5.Over the same period, India won two Tests and lost two. Since their recent results have been better, they jumped from 124 rating points to 130. The best Sri Lanka can now achieve from this series is a jump to No. 2 if they win the P. Sara Test, starting Tuesday.The ICC Test rankings run over a period ranging from three to four years. The Test table released today includes all the Test series that have been completed since August 2007, making it a three year period (for the purpose of the rankings, a year runs from August 1 to July 31).Over the next year, all series played until July 31, 2011 will be added to this table, meaning the ratings will be based on four years of results, with series completed within the last two years carrying greater weight. However, on July 31, 2011, the oldest of the four years of results i.e. the matches played between August 2007 and July 2008, will be dropped, basing the rankings into a three-year period again.Last week Kumar Sangakkara questioned the rankings system. “If rankings can’t be understood by the public, the players, or the administrators, what’s the use of having rankings?” he said. His main objection with the rankings is a lopsided FTP, which doesn’t give all sides equal opportunities.However, the prospect of becoming No. 1 excited him. He told the : “It’s a great opportunity for us. The No. 1 ranking is something that we haven’t got in the past and lot of pride is involved in the whole process of trying to achieve it.”

A costly slip-up
In a chase of 180, an early wicket could have been decisive and Shane Watson had that opportunity in his grasp. And then out of it. Imran Farhat was on 4 when he edged a good delivery from Doug Bollinger just to the right of Watson at first slip. It should have been a straightforward take but it struck Watson on the wrist and bounced away, and he was despondent as he hung his head, rueing what he knew could be one of the most crucial moments of the match.Smith shows some muscle
Steven Smith was six the last time Australia lost a Test to Pakistan. He certainly did his best to extend the winning run with a brutal batting display that included two sixes onto the Football Stand roof. “I was batting with the tail for quite a bit of time so I thought I had to get a few boundaries away and sort of stay on strike for most of the overs,” Smith said of his aggressive approach. “So that was sort of the way forward, a few premeditated shots and that sort of thing.”Lunch breaks concentration again
For the third straight day, there was a wicket shortly after lunch. On the first two days, two breakthroughs had been made in the first over following the interval but on this occasion it was almost prosaic by comparison. Danish Kaneria sent down the first over and didn’t strike, but with the first ball of the session’s second over, Mohammad Asif caught the edge of Michael Clarke’s bat with an excellent outswinger.Missing a trick
Most captains would attack first thing in the morning. Salman Butt missed a trick when he had two slips in the first three overs of the morning for his opening pair of Mohammad Asif and Aamer. Inadvertently an outside edge from Ricky Ponting flew past the spot where ideally a third would stand. Asif was understandably annoyed. Luckily Ponting got out soon after, chasing a wide delivery to give Kamran Akmal a simple chance off Aamer a couple of overs later. But the positioning of the slips and the number of slip fielders continued to be debatable over the length of the Australian innings.Power play
As if the day wasn’t dramatic enough, a power cut during the morning session stopped the supply of electricity into the ground for nearly an hour. The main electronic scoreboard was blacked out completely, while the smaller board was stuck with Michael Clarke on 56. The Test Match Special radio commentators had to resort to battery power and there was uncertainty over whether the third umpire would have access to TV replays. It turned out an underground cable fault was the cause, affecting the Headingley area, and by the time play resumed after lunch, all was well again.Koertzen courtesy
When the Pakistan players took the field for the second session, they gave the umpire Rudi Koertzen a clap and pat on the back as he walked to the centre. It is Koertzen’s final Test match and it’s understandable that the Pakistanis wanted to pay their respects, but they must have had plenty of confidence in their bowlers. Australia were only five down, so finishing Australia off in the session was no certainty. As it turned out, it was Pakistan’s final session in the field with Koertzen, though only just.