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There will be no Morkels at this year’s World T20. The brothers, Albie and Morne, do not feature in South Africa’s World T20 squad, making it the first time in nine years and seven tournaments since the 2007 fifty-over World Cup that the family will not be represented at an ICC event.They can consider themselves “unlucky”, in the words of both captain Faf du Plessis and coach Russell Domingo, who explained the reasons for their squad being Morkel-less when it heads to India in March. Albie, who made his return to international cricket last October against India, was sacrificed for David Wiese while the selectors could not find a place for Morne among an attack that is banking on Dale Steyn’s return to fitness and includes Kyle Abbott and Kagiso Rabada.”If you look at it, Albie has done really well but David Wiese has played 90% of the games for us and Albie only played that one game. David has been bowling exceptionally well, he bowls a lot more than he bats and he is a lot more versatile as a bowler. He can bowl at the death, he can bowl in the middle, he has done really well for his IPL team and he hits the ball just as far but Albie can count himself very unlucky,” du Plessis said. “The No.7 role is more a bowling allrounder’s role.”Domingo put it more bluntly: “They are similar players but they are different players. Wiese is more a bowling allrounder. Albie is more a batting allrounder. We decided to go with more of a bowling allrounder.”All that is only half the story. Albie did only play one game on his comeback, when he replaced Wiese, who had fractured his hand and had to sit out the three matches against India, but in that one game, Albie’s performance was with ball in hand, taking a career-best three for 12. While it’s true that at international level, Albie has not had the same eye-catching returns as Wiese, his experience in an otherwise young attack may have counted for something, especially as South Africa are also without Morne.”Morne Morkel has been an integral part of our one-day and T20s for the last couple of years and he has missed out,” Domingo said. “His experience will be missed. He has been an incredible white-ball bowler for us but we can only take fifteen.”Morne fell out of South Africa’s T20 plans when they started resting him for selected series. Since 2013, he has only played eight T20Is, including two at the 2014 World T20 and it seems South Africa have moved on from him, especially in terms of the type of bowlers they want in this format.”For the first time, we’ve got a lot of death options which is something we didn’t have in the past,” du Plessis said. “If you’ve got Abbot, KG [Rabada], Wiese, [Chris] Morris, it gives you so many options. I think that’s why we are such a strong bowling unit.”That may not mean Morne is completely forgotten. Should Steyn not come through the three T20s he is due to play against Australia in March, Morne might be the man who gets called up. “There is a bowler who has been spoken to if Dale is not fit, he will go,” Domingo said. “So there is a contingency plan in place but we are pretty confident Dale will be fine. It’s not for me to disclose who the bowler is.”But that still means Morne’s chances are slim. Both Domingo and du Plessis seem confident Steyn will travel to the tournament, more lethal than ever. ” Dale hasn’t played a lot of cricket lately and I think he is going to be very hungry,” du Plessis said. “He is at that stage of his career where he wants to show to the world why he is such a good bowler. I think we are going to see a great Dale during this World Cup.”According to Domingo, Steyn started bowling this week and will look to a play a club game towards the end of February but his rehabilitation is still progressing on a “day-to-day,” basis.At the other end of South Africa’s XI, they have the opposite problem. Instead of absentees they have an overload with Quinton de Kock returning to bid for one of the opening berths currently occupied by Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers. When de Kock lost form mid-2015, de Villiers was promoted to the spot in an experiment and it worked. Now that de Kock has regained form, South Africa need to decide what to do with de Villiers.Both Domingo and du Plessis want de Villiers to bat high up, preferably open. “AB will bat in the top three. He has been used as an opener, he will probably be used as an opener when we get to the event,” Domingo said, which may mean Amla is the man to miss out.”We know we have two great openers in Hashim and Quinny but also, it’s really important to try and give AB a go at the top. He is one of those players that can on the day score a hundred and really take the game away from the opposition,” du Plessis said. “My personal thinking is to let AB do that. He is one of the few players in the world that can do it.”For me its really important that those first six overs in India to try and be as positive as possible. The decision becomes who is going to open with AB between Quinny and Hashim.”

Taslim Arif, the former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman, died in Karachi at the age of 53 after succumbing to a lung infection.Arif made his Test debut initially as a batsman, scoring 90 and 46 on debut against India in 1980. He went on to play five more Tests as a wicketkeeper though the most significant achievement of his career was his marathon 210 not out against Australia in Faisalabad, which at that point of time was the highest score by a wicketkeeper in Tests. His performance came on a flat pitch and prompted Dennis Lillee to make the famous remark about Faisabalad being a graveyard for bowlers.It was his misfortune, however, to be a Pakistan keeper during the time of Wasim Bari and by the end of 1980, he had played his last Test. Still, his career figures make for impressive reading: 501 runs from six Tests at 62.62. He also played two ODIs against West Indies before he signed for Kerry Packer’s World Series in Australia, where he played in one season.He continued playing successfully for National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) retiring eventually in 1988. After his playing days, Arif remained involved in the game, working as a batting consultant for NBP and a selector for Karachi, his home city, where he was a regular face on the cricket circuit. He also ran an academy with former Test spinner Tauseef Ahmed and was a regular commentary voice for domestic and international matches for local radio and TV.Pakistan fans would have heard him last a few weeks back, commentating on a Pentangular trophy match between Sindh and NWFP for a local sports channel.

Cricket Australia (CA) has been given assurances that the Pakistan players in the BBL will play the entire competition despite a scheduled T20I tour of Sri Lanka in January, while CA has sent a party to Pakistan to finalise plans for Australia’s T20I tour there prior to the T20 World Cup. CA chief executive Todd Greenberg also confirmed that Mackay and Darwin will host Tests against Bangladesh in Australia’s winter with the dates to be announced in January.There had been a concern that the group of Pakistan players playing in the BBL, including Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf and Hasan Ali, might be withdrawn to play in a brief T20I series in Sri Lanka in early January that the PCB recently announced.But Greenberg, who held a wide-ranging chat with a group of reporters on the morning of the third Ashes Test at Adelaide Oval, said he was confident the players would remain in the BBL. “We’ve been told that if they’ve been signed by the BBL, they’ll play [the whole BBL],” Greenberg said.Dates for Australia’s T20I tour of Pakistan ahead of the T20 World Cup have yet to be announced but Greenberg said that it was going ahead, with CA and the Australian Cricketers’ Association sending delegates to the country for a pre-tour security check.Related

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“We’ve just sent a couple of people to Pakistan to do a pre-tour for the T20I games in February,” he said. “We’re going to have some conversations with the players after the [Ashes] series and explain to them how that will work with security. But I went there with them in 2022 and it was an amazing experience.”The three-match ODI portion of that tour, which is part of the FTP, will be moved to June after the PSL and the IPL have been completed. That will tie in with three ODIs and three T20Is in Bangladesh in the same month.Bangladesh’s visit to Australia later in the year during August will see a return of Test cricket to the Top End for the first time since 2004 with Mackay hosting its first Test match.Meanwhile, CA remains committed to playing at least one pink-ball Test per year until 2031. Greenberg said the success of it as a broadcast product and as an in-stadium experience for fans means it will remain in place despite some recent questions around the need for it.”I’ve just reviewed the numbers from the Gabba, the pink-ball Test was unbelievable,” Greenberg said. “The night session, particularly, has double the number of viewers that we would get from the last session here today. There’s no doubt that it’s a successful opportunity for cricket. It gets more people watching and more people engaged in it.”It’s in our broadcast contracts until 2031 that we will play a pink-ball Test. So it’s not going anywhere. There’s not going to be more of it, I’m not going to be playing five of them over summer. But it has real benefits. I understand that there’ll be people who’ll be critical of it, and I’m not asking for everyone to love it. But this is the evolution of Test cricket.”

Man of the dayFew cricketers have deserved a day in the sun quite like Ryan Sidebottom. Dismissed for so long as a one-cap wonder after his solitary appearance at Lord’s in 2001, he never got a sniff of a recall in the Duncan Fletcher days, despite taking 50 wickets a season on a regular basis for Nottinghamshire. He was nothing more than a trundler, so the reasoning went, but he’s trundled into the record-books in this game. With his father, Arnie, watching from the stands, he picked up England’s 11th hat-trick in Test history, and the first since his new-ball partner, Matthew Hoggard, in Barbados four years ago.Dismissal of the dayThe hat-trick was special, but there was another wicket that fell in the intervening over that arguably made even more of a difference. Brendon McCullum had emerged to a rousing reception, two places higher than his customary No. 7 position. The intention was clear – New Zealand wanted quick runs to set up a challenging declaration – but that wasn’t quite how it mapped out. McCullum blocked his first ball from Monty Panesar, then mowed his second, high and hard over deep midwicket. But he didn’t connect as sweetly as intended, and Andrew Strauss made good ground to complete another excellent catch. The wobble was now fully on.Catch of the day No. 1It doesn’t take much for the vultures to start circling around Hoggard’s career. One off-colour game and the talons have quickly been extended, but at the age of 31, he demonstrated his enduring athleticism with an outstanding pluck at deep midwicket. Jamie How connected sweetly, as he has done all summer, but Hoggard judged the flight and his run to perfection. He galloped 20 metres, leapt at the last possible moment, and got both hands to the offering with both feet off the ground. It was an outstanding moment, reminiscent of Darren Gough’s outfield extravagances, and it gave England just a sniff of salvation.Catch of the day No. 2What is the matter with Alastair Cook? It seems only last week that England had to hide him in the field. Every catch that came his way was juggled at least three times, and even strokes along the ground were an invitation for error. But now he’s leaping like a spawning carp every time the ball comes close, and Ryan Sidebottom would not be celebrating his maiden Test hat-trick without his incredible efforts at gully. If his first was good then his second was spectacular, a full lift-off to his left to pouch a fizzing edge from Mathew Sinclair. It was his fifth of the match, and every one has been a collector’s item.Shot of the dayUntil their innings started to go pear-shaped, New Zealand’s destiny was in the hands of their former captain, Stephen Fleming, who struck the ball as sweetly as ever during his 88-ball 66. Some of his driving was as languid and elegant as David Gower’s, with whom he shares a birthday, but it was his pick-up for six off Steve Harmison that really took the breath away. It was short and misdirected, but helped on its way over fine leg with dismissive insouciance. He’s got four more innings before he calls time on his career, but on this evidence, he could endure for several seasons yet.Unexpected acceleration of the dayThe pace of New Zealand’s innings and the drama of their collapse made the grind and shuffle of England’s effort seem like a long-distant memory. But their 11-hour, 867-dot-ball stodgefest really did happen. And Paul Collingwood really did score from just 29 of the 182 balls he faced in a four-hour 66. And so it took everyone by surprise when, in the 157th over of the innings, he galloped down the track to Daniel Vettori and deposited him coolly over long-off for six. Like Kevin Pietersen on the third day, it was a lone statement of aggression.

In their first two trips to the World T20 Qualifier, Papua New Guinea experienced more than their fair share of heartache.In 2012, it was the Americas representatives who tormented them. Canada held off a late charge from Geraint Jones and Mahuru Dai in defense of 167 to win by six runs. Five days later against Bermuda, captain Rarua Dikana had the ball in his hand tasked with protecting 15 runs off the final over with Bermuda five down but he gave up three straight sixes to Janeiro Tucker. It meant PNG finished in fourth place in Group A, one spot out of the playoff positions.In 2013, PNG made it to the playoffs and defeated Namibia in their first knockout game to come within one more win of a berth at the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh. In their way stood Hong Kong, a team they had defeated in the previous year’s qualifier by six wickets chasing down a total of 131 with a ball to spare. Hong Kong was pinned down in the rematch at 19 for 4 and only managed 139, but with a ticket to Bangladesh in their grasp, PNG stumbled to 108.The memories of those heartaches are now serving as fuel for inspiration at the qualifier for the pacific island nation. PNG captain Jack Vare says that this time around he’s hoping the team’s fortunes will change to get them over the hump and into next year’s World Twenty20 in India.”We have missed out in the last two tournaments in Dubai,” Vare told ESPNcricinfo ahead of PNG’s first match of the tournament on Sunday against Jersey. “Everyone is growing arms and legs. There’s a lot of experience in this time. Third time lucky I guess but everyone is confident that we will do well in this competition.”PNG’s build-up to this tournament included a magnificent four-day win over the Netherlands on their Intercontinental Cup debut, with Assad Vala and Dai spearheading the pursuit of a fourth innings target of 305. Though they lost the subsequent WCL Championship fixtures against the Dutch, PNG eased into T20 mode with four games against a pair of County second XIs. In one match, PNG racked up 268 for 3 versus Gloucestershire’s 2nds, a reminder of their potent top order featuring Lega Siaka and Tony Ura.”I think the biggest challenge we go through is from playing longer forms to shorter formats,” Vare said. “Most people know we play a lot of shorter formats but we are trying our best to develop all forms of the game. Playing in our first four-day game and to win that was a big experience for us and a special day.”PNG leaves no stone unturned in preparation as Coach Dipak Patel observes sliding practice during training at Bready CC•Peter Della Penna

PNG’s players have also accumulated experience playing in the Australian Country Cricket Championships as well as the South Australia Premier League. Getting access to better facilities and opponents within the Australasia region has helped lift up their skills and their confidence levels.”Playing in the competition in the South Australian Premier League gives us more experience and more exposed to the outside cricket world what’s happening,” Vare said. “Everyone has been doing well. We’ve been on the road for 18 months in preparation for this tournament. I’m more confident. I’ve got a good side, more mature side coming into this tournament.”PNG is the final team to play their first match of the tournament and on tap for them on Sunday at Bready is Jersey. Coach Dipak Patel and other members of the PNG squad were in attendance to see Jersey’s triumph by nine-wickets over Hong Kong on Saturday, a fresh reminder not to underestimate any opposition. Vare says the team is well-prepared and not about to be caught off guard whoever stands in front of them.”There’s no doubt teams will come and compete hard but we’ll focus on the job at hand,” Vare said. “We won’t look ahead too much. We’ll take every game as it comes and concentrate on our roles as individuals and as a group. That’s our major important thing to do playing top teams. We won’t take any team lightly.”

Nottinghamshire’s best day of the season has left them in striking distance of a first Championship win at Trent Bridge since May 1999. After taking their own first innings score to 371 and picking up one Glamorgan wicket during the morning session, they took nine more wickets in the period between lunch and tea to bowl out their visitors for just 187.Following on, 184 behind, Glamorgan fared little better at the second time of asking. Without a run on the board Robert Croft should have gone. A casual flick off his legs flew straight to Paul Johnson at square leg. Inexplicably the `dolly’ went down – to rub salt in the wounds with Johnson holding his head in his hands and the ball at his feed the batsmen ran a cheeky single.The unlucky bowler Paul Franks soon had cause for double celebration dismissing Croft and Powell in the same over. The off spinner tried to cut a rising delivery and for the second time in three hours was taken by Hewison in the gully.Michael Powell clipped his first ball for four and then lost his off stump to the next. Franks jubilation was understandable if not, perhaps, a little excessive.Things got even better for the England one-day international when he picked up the prize scalp of Matthew Maynard in his next over – again it was the off stump that took the pounding and again it preceded wild scenes of delight.At 20-3 the departure of Glamorgan’s captain would surely have dented the spirit of the dressing room but their day of suffering ended shorly afterwards when bad light halted the day’s play, with still 28 overs remaining.Franks had taken all three wickets, at a personal cost of just eight runs. In Glamorgan’s first innings the pick of the Notts bowlers was AJ Harris, who bagged 5-69 to take his haul for the season to 40.With still two full days remaining Notts could yet revive their fading hopes of promotion from division two.