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There was a time in the press conference when Steven Smith candidly gave away what Australia made of the conditions. Smith was talking about the importance of having individual plans in place before going out to bat against spin in Asia. And he said you need to prepare beforehand for R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and “the other spinner they are going to choose tomorrow”. Australia have seen a dry pitch, and are expecting it to be a bit like Delhi was the last time around. Whether it is just panic or not will be known only on Thursday.Smith told reporters that the pitch was “incredibly dry”. “I think it will take spin from ball one,” Smith said. “There are a couple of divots out of the wicket as well. I haven’t really seen a wicket like that before a Test match, so I think it is going to take a lot of spin and potentially some up and down movement for the fast bowlers as well.”While Smith was certain India were going in with three spinners, Australia themselves are thinking of three, which could mean Josh Hazlewood or Mitch Marsh might sit out. Smith explained the logic of playing three spinners if Australia do.”When someone started to look a little bit comfortable against one of the spinners, they’d just change it and bowl someone else,” Smith said. “And then when they start looking comfortable against them they go back. And you can chop and change and not let the batter get in a bit of a rhythm against a spinner. I guess that’s part of the thinking behind potentially playing three spinners. But we’ll wait and see.”India’s captain Virat Kohli agreed the pitch was dry, but didn’t seem as alarmed as Australia might have been. “Even in the one-day games that we have played here, the surface was dry underneath,” Kohli said. “It had a decent covering of grass, which you need to keep for the surface to hold itself together. This time of the year when the summer comes in, the wicket tends to get slower and lower. So that’s what we expect from this wicket as well. We expect it to turn from day two, day three, whatever it is. In general, it’s going to be a very basic Pune wicket, what we always expect during summer time because it gets very hot and dry. Very difficult to keep the wicket together. We understand exactly how the wicket’s going to play.”Virat Kohli: ‘Coming to India, playing in summers, wickets are meant to be dry and they are meant to turn’•Associated Press

Kohli didn’t want to make too much of the plans Australia might have. “We are not worried about the opposition’s combinations or what they want to come up with,” Kohli said. “We are pretty comfortable with what we want to do. We are pretty sure about how we want to go about this game and the series. That’s our strength, not focusing on opposition too much. We are aware of their skills, but that doesn’t mean we will wait for the opposition to come out with their XI and then decide how we are going to play.”Certain preparations we have done and we have a good headspace going into the series. Everyone feeling confident, that’s the most important thing. If you are not feeling good mentally, you could have any combination you are up against or you could play with any combination, that won’t work. We are in good space as a team and are not bothered about the opposition combination.”However, Kohli did suggest the pitches were going to be more spinner-friendly now than they were against England because of the weather. It has been quite hot for February in Pune, and the mercury has only one direction to travel in the next month: up.When Kohli was asked about Australia veering away from their strengths of relying quick bowlers and bringing five spinners on tour, he said: “I am not surprised. Coming to India, playing in summers, wickets are meant to be dry and they are meant to turn. You will have a stronger spin bowling attack then getting six-seven fast bowlers. That is a pretty natural selection.”Smith and Kohli made their captaincy debut in the same series, on India’s last trip to Australia. They both have made strides towards taking their team to the next level, but Smith seems to have hit a block with the series defeat in Sri Lanka and at home against South Africa. This series – with lesser spinners at his disposal compared to India’s – is his big test as captain.”I learnt quite a lot out of playing in Sri Lanka,” Smith said. “Things didn’t go to plan there, but as a captain I’ve learnt a bit about how to go about things in the subcontinent. Playing in these conditions, there’s a different tempo that always goes on, times when you need to attack and times when you need to defend. So for me as captain, it’s about identifying these periods quickly and not letting the game get away too much before you start to defend, or attacking quick enough. For me, it’s about identifying those moments and coming up with the right plan at the right time.”

South Africa legspinner Imran Tahir has claimed the top spot in the ODI rankings for bowlers, to go with his No. 1 rank in T20 internationals. South Africa have also overtaken Australia to become the No. 1 ranked ODI team after their 5-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka at home.Tahir passed New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult and West Indies spinner Sunil Narine in the ODI charts, after claiming ten wickets at 20 apiece against Sri Lanka. Kagiso Rabada, at No. 7, is the only other South African bowler in the top ten.South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis also achieved a career-high rank in ODIs – climbing seven places to No. 4 – after making 410 runs in five innings against Sri Lanka, at an average of 102 and strike rate of 105. His team-mates Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla are at No. 5 and 7, while AB de Villiers is at No. 2.After taking a 3-0 lead in the series against Sri Lanka, South Africa were in with a chance of taking the No. 1 spot from Australia because Aaron finch’s side lost the Chappell-Hadlee Series 0-2 in New Zealand.. AB de Villiers’s team duly went on to complete the 5-0 result.

Fans will be allowed free entry into the Brabourne Stadium to watch the first warm-up game between India A and England after the BCCI agreed to pay the actual cost for the security cover provided by the police. A Cricket Club of India official told ESPNcricinfo that entry for what could be MS Dhoni’s last game as captain of an Indian side would be restricted to the north and east stands, which can accommodate around 10,000 fans, as the west stand was undergoing renovation. If the stands were filled by 3 pm, an hour and a half after the start of the game, the gates will be closed.The decision to allow fans into the stadium came a day after confusion prevailed around the security arrangements for the game. According to and , fans were in danger of being locked out after the police demanded Rs 60 lakh to provide security, and the CCI redirected the request to the BCCI. The BCCI, according to the reports, had subsequently instructed the club to not allow spectators and restrict the attendance to members of the Cricket Club of India, in the premises of which the stadium is located, should the police not lower their fee.According to the CCI official, the police, having initially asked for Rs 2 lakh to provide security, had hiked up the fee after anticipating a greater crowd in the stadium. The request was then forwarded to the BCCI, who, after closed-door meetings with the police department, eventually accepted to cover the actual cost incurred for security late in the evening. The BCCI, it is understood, has communicated the decision in writing to the CCI and the police department.”There were only 40 policepersons who were set to be deployed initially,” the official said. “There are normally hardly 200-300 people for warm-up matches, but with Dhoni [possibly] playing his last match as a captain, the game has become high profile. There will be a bigger crowd now. So, more police personnel will have to be deployed; there will be around 300 policepersons now.”The CCI gets only a grant of Rs 1 lakh per game from the BCCI and our expenses are generally reimbursed by the board. Even in this issue, the police dealt directly with the BCCI.”

England international Jade Dernbach and Australia’s Evan Gulbis were released from their contracts by Wellington following a late night out on the eve of the match against Central Districts in Nelson on December 18. The pair were not considered for selection for Thursday’s match against Auckland.”Everyone’s disappointed. We expect all of our cricketers to prepare in a professional way for a match and at all other times, training and recovery and any other requirements,” Cricket Wellington chief executive Peter Clinton said. “So we’re all disappointed and none more so I’d imagine than the players involved.”They were both not considered for selection for yesterday’s game because we were unhappy about how they prepared for the Nelson match. He [Dernbach] wasn’t selected in the travelling 12 for Auckland so, as I understand it, he went away yesterday evening, considered his options and came back this morning and said in the circumstances ‘I’m looking for a release to return to England.’ We gave that some thought and decided that was a fair request and probably a good outcome for everybody.”Gulbis was on a short-term contract with Wellington and the match against Auckland would have been his last. Dernbach, however, was signed for the duration of the tournament, his second stint with the team.In Nelson, Dernbach returned figures of 1-37 in his four overs while Gulbis went wicketless for 37 runs in three overs as Wellington lost by nine runs. In the current Super Smash season, Gulbis scored 28 runs and took one wicket in three matches, while Dernbach finished with four wickets in four appearances.

The Cobras earned their first victory of the season after defending 163 against the Warriors. The franchise have lost three out of five first-class matches and their first two T20 matches as they continue to battle player concerns over the capability of coach Paul Adams. But Adam could smile for a change after Wayne Parnell, Kieron Pollard and George Linde took the team to victory.Parnell was coming back from a rib injury sustained during South Africa’s ODI series against Australia. He opened the batting with Richard Levi, who departed early, and scored 61 off 51 balls. He lacked support until joined by Pollard, whose 50 off 27 balls earned him the batsman of the match award. The pair scored 78 off 50 balls at a rate of almost 10 an over to ensure the Cobras compiled a competitive total.In reply, the Warriors were in early trouble at 58 for 5. Left-arm spinners Linde and Rory Kleinveldt did the damage but Colin Ackermann resisted. His 60 off 41 balls was one of only four scores in double figures in the innings and the only one of more than 22. The Warriors sit mid-table with one loss and one win so far.David Miller’s career-best T20 score was not enough for the Knights to beat the Titans in a last-ball thriller that was decided by a no-ball. The Titans’ victory keep them at the top of the table, eight points clear of their nearest challenger.At 10 for 2, the Knights ceded the early control as veteran allrounder Albie Morkel struck. Miller and Pite van Biljon shared 91 for the third wicket, with van Biljon only a minor contributor. His 28 off 31 balls offered only companionship for Miller, who stood man alone in building the total. Miller’s century came off 56 balls and his eventual strike rate was a shave under 200. He was particularly harsh on Junior Dala, whose four overs cost 57 runs.The Titans stayed on course in the chase, with all their batsmen chipping in. Heinrich Klaasen’s 50 off 27 balls started them off well before Farhaan Behardien and David Wiese kept them in the hunt.They were dismissed off successive balls – Wiese off the last of the penultimate over and Behardien the first of the final over – to leave the Knights needing five runs off the last five balls. Shadley van Schalkwyk was bowling and he gave away only two runs off the next three balls before a bye was conceded, leaving the Titans with two to get off the final ball. That’s when van Schalkwyk overstepped and the Titans took a single to win the game.

Australia have won the ICC Women’s Championship with their last set of matches still to go.Australia, currently on 30 points, emerged the winners after England beat West Indies by five wickets in Kingston. It was West Indies’ last match of the Championship, and they are in third place with 22 points, behind England who moved to second with 23 points after the win.The Championship, which started in June 2014, is scheduled to end on November 23 with Australia facing South Africa in the tournament’s last fixture. As things stand, England can finish with a maximum of 29 points, which won’t be enough even if Australia were to be whitewashed by South Africa in that series.Australia have won all six series on their way to the top. Among them are whitewashes of West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as well as a 2-1 victory over England during the Women’s Ashes in July 2015.Meg Lanning, their captain, has led the Australian batting effort in the Championship with 1000 runs, including four centuries with a highest score of 135 not out. Allrounder Ellyse Perry is the second-highest scorer with 797 runs.On the bowling front, Australia’s spinning duo of Jess Jonassen – leading with 29 wickets – and Kristen Beams have shared 50 wickets between them, while Perry has picked up 20 wickets with her medium pace.With their victory, Australia also become the first team to achieve automatic qualification for the 2017 World Cup in England and Wales.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:59

By the Numbers: South Africa’s second-highest successful chase

David Miller’s third ODI hundred helped South Africa pull off the second-highest chase of all time and seal the series against Australia with two matches to spare. Miller has chosen not to play his domestic cricket at the Durban-based Dolphins this summer but thrilled his former home crowd during the highest successful chase at Kingsmead with a heroic knock that will become the stuff of legend.In the 31st over, with Miller on 26 and South Africa needing to score at more than eight runs an over, he tweaked a groin muscle running between the wickets. At the start of the next over, South Africa lost their fifth wicket and their last specialist batsmen when JP Duminy holed out. They were 217 for 5 and victory was 155 runs away. But Miller dug deep and along with another local lad, Andile Phehlukwayo, with whom he put on 107 off 70 balls for the seventh-wicket, took South Africa home.Miller’s innings completely overshadowed Australia’s efforts. David Warner and Steven Smith notched up a century each to build on an opening stand of 110 in 13 overs. Australia plundered 71 runs off the last five overs to post what they would have thought was a match-winning score. The truth is that they should have put on more. Australia went quiet in the middle period and managed just 67 runs between the 14th and 28th over, at a rate of under five.Imran Tahir controlled the squeeze but was assisted by Dwaine Pretorius, Phehlukwayo and Duminy, who all understood that pace off the ball would be the most effective. Australia’s inexperienced attack, which has been their Achilles heel throughout the tour, could not copy that. Mitchell Marsh was their most economical bowler while the spinners, Adam Zampa and Travis Head, conceded 83 runs in 10 overs between them. That was less than Dale Steyn, who leaked 96 runs to hold the unenviable record of the most expensive effort by a South African bowler in ODIs. But Steyn won’t mind after the batsmen bludgeoned the bowlers’ blues away.South Africa’s chase was set up by Hashim Amla, who underlined his return to the side with a quickfire 45 that included nine fours in a rare display of power-hitting from the master of finesse, and Quinton de Kock, who topped up on his Centurion hundred with 70 off 49 balls. But they lost 3 for 39 when Faf du Plessis, de Kock and Rilee Rossouw were dismissed in the space of 39 balls and although they had kept up with the required run rate, it seemed Australia had taken control.Duminy and Miller saw off three boundary-less overs and the match seemed to be drifting to the inevitable but then Miller changed his tone. He took 15 runs off Zampa, including a six and two fours – a flat sweep over midwicket for six and fours on either side down the ground – to hint that South Africa were still in the hunt.Three more boundary-less overs followed and then Duminy was dismissed and responsibility fell on Miller. He survived a review in the 34th over, on 40, when Matthew Wade was convinced Miller had edged John Hastings behind but Snicko did not agree. That gave Miller the rare opportunity to spend a lengthy period of time in the middle and made full use of it, despite his injury.Miller pulled with power and timed the ball well. Even when he lost Pretorius to a leading edge, after a stand of 48 in 6.3 overs, he found the perfect partner in Phehlukwayo, who should have been dismissed from his first ball. Chris Tremain appealed for a caught behind but umpire Adrian Holdstock did not hear the edge. Australia had used their review so could not refer it upstairs but if they had been able to, replays showed Phehlukwayo would have been out. If he felt guilty, it did not show. His response was to flick Mitchell Marsh off his pads to allow South Africa to enter the last 10 overs needing 88 runs to win.On 71 off 54 balls, Miller was the man in charge and ushered Phehlukwayo through strike rotation while scoring boundaries seemingly at will. When Australia decided to pitch it up, Miller got underneath full deliveries and swung hard. He reached his hundred off 69 balls when he whacked a short-of-a-length delivery behind square on the leg side but the best was yet to come. As the 47th over came to an end, Miller sent Daniel Worrall on to the grandstand roof and out of the ground with the biggest of his six sixes.South Africa needed 24 runs of the last three overs, 17 off the last two and thanks to Phehlulwayo’s ten in the penultimate over, just three off the final over. Phehlukwayo hit the winning runs, with four balls remaining, to leave Australia stunned.After Warner’s eighth hundred – and fourth in 2016 alone, which makes this year his most successful in the format – and Smith’s shifting gears to go from 16 off 31 balls to a hundred off 104 balls, they would have thought they had done enough. But, on batsmen-friendly surfaces throughout the country, South Africa have showed that enough is a relative concept. In so doing, they won their first bilateral series against Australia since 2009 and their first ODI in five meetings against Australia at Kingsmead, dating back 2000.

Balls have been raising puffs of dust, edges have sometimes failed to carry to the keeper, and only once in eight innings has 250 been surpassed, but although these are alien conditions, Australia have clinched the ODI series the “Australian way”, according to the acting captain David Warner.The victory in the fourth ODI was the visitor’s most comprehensive on tour, as they ran down Sri Lanka’s 212 with six wickets in hand and 19 overs remaining. Aaron Finch had set the chase off apace with a 18-ball fifty, which featured three sixes and eight fours. His share of a 5.3 over opening stand which yielded 74 runs, was 55. Warner was 18 off 14 balls at the other end, eventually making 19 from 16.”It’s always awesome to have one of your players go off like that and for me it is more of a watching tour to be honest,” Warner said. “I’ve been up the other end or in the dug out watching the guys go about it. But it’s fantastic – I love that Finch comes out and plays his game. That’s how we play. That’s the Australian way. We have always played that way, and as I said to the guys today, you almost know what your role is. The first 10 overs was the new ball and we had to make the most of it.

Chandimal laments Mathews injury

The injury to Angelo Mathews contributed significantly to Sri Lanka’s loss at Dambulla, acting captain Dinesh Chandimal said. Mathews had injured his right calf while batting in the 27th over of the innings, and retired hurt shortly after. Though he later returned to the crease, his running was significantly hampered, and he did not take the field. Mathews was one of two seam bowlers in Sri Lanka’s XI.
“Angelo is one of our major threats with the ball,” Chandimal said. “Without him it’s a major setback. He always gets us a wicket or two. He will have a CT scan tomorrow, but at the moment he looks unlikely to play in the rest of the tour.”
Chandimal also defended the selection of 18-year-old opening batsman Avishka Fernando, who had not played any senior cricket before this match, and was out second ball. “Avishka has scored a lot of runs in the under-19 team, and was batting really well at training. Danushka Gunathilaka, whom he replaced, wasn’t batting that well.”

“It’s about getting a good start in these conditions and make use of that new ball when we’re batting, because otherwise you see what happens when the ball gets old – it starts turning square.”George Bailey top-scored for Australia for the second match in a row, converting Finch’s start into a win with a 85-ball 90 not out. He had again been impressive against Sri Lanka’s spinners, using his feet often, and using the sweep and reverse-sweep better than any Australia batsman has done on the tour.”We had to learn to adapt,” Warner said. “Look at the way George Bailey came in and reversed and swept and backed his game plan. The way he has played in the subcontinent in the last couple of years, his form has been outstanding, and the way he finished it off today was superb.”It was Australia’s attack that perhaps played the more definitive role in the match, however, dismissing Sri Lanka for a total captain Dinesh Chandimal suggested was at least 40 runs below par. John Hastings was the visitors’ major weapon, taking a career-best 6 for 45 to follow his 2 for 41 on Sunday. Hastings was especially successful through the middle overs.”He’s been a very good bowler for a long time now and he’s a very cagey one – you have to respect him,” Warner said of Hastings. “I know when I’ve played against him in the past, he’s just so hard to get away. In these conditions he is very challenging to go after, and it showed tonight. His skills were fantastic and there’s probably a reason he got a personal best.”The other string to his bow is that he can hit a long ball. We look around our team and our squad that we have had the last two years – we’ve got some very good allrounders in Australia. I think we’re in a very good paddock and that’s the fantastic thing about Australian cricket.”Although his team has won the series, Warner was critical of the surfaces that have been prepared this series. He said he would rather see pitches like the one at Trent Bridge, on which England made a record 444 on Tuesday. Sri Lanka’s ODI venues have been consistently low-scoring over the past decade. A score of over 300 has never been successfully chased down on the island.”It’s hard to gain momentum when the wickets prepared are like this,” Warner said. “I speak from an Australian cricketer’s point of view – we’re about growing the game. When it comes to one-day cricket and Twenty20 cricket you like to see more of a contest where you’re scoring over 300 runs and you’re chasing down totals. Sitting back last night and watching England score 400, then coming out here, busting our backsides for both teams scramble to 200 – it’s probably not ideal for people coming out here to watch that kind of cricket.”It’s a little bit disappointing from our point of view because it’s not the way we like to play. We like to play an aggressive brand of cricket. We like to entertain the crowd. So far, it’s been very difficult to try and do that. From the Sri Lankan spectators’ point of view – for them I’d like to see fours and sixes and big hits. At the moment it’s probably not that way.”When you see games like the England match last night – that’s what I love about cricket. I love that kind of atmosphere, and that’s why as a youngster I went to watch the game. But if you come here and you play five games like that, on wickets like they have here at the moment, it is going to be very, very tough to draw a big crowd all the time.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSandeep Sharma profited from seam movement and took 4 for 62•AFP

India Red and India Green approached the country’s maiden first-class game with the pink ball with as much excitement as fear of the unknown – the fall of 17 wickets in the day might point to the latter – before coming out with the feeling that it wasn’t an entirely alien beast. It was by no means a jolt-free afternoon and night, though. India Red, having elected to bat, combusted to 161, before India Green hobbled their way to 116 for 7 when they weren’t busy fighting malfunctioning floodlights.The build-up to the game resembled a carnival rolling into town. Despite its usual thrills of stilted clowns and puppet shows, it is often the Ferris wheel that becomes the showstopper. When a sizeable crowd of flag-waving, chirpy fans made their way to the grass banks of the Shahid Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex, India’s latest domestic season had found its Ferris wheel, this one sheathed in pink.

Bowlers surprised by pink ball durability

Pragyan Ojha and Kuldeep Yadav, who claimed three wickets apiece on the opening day, said they were surprised to see the pink ball retain its sheen even after a substantial period of play. A liberal coverage of grass on the pitch and a reasonably lush outfield may have contributed to that end.
“I think for the first time we never had a problem of maintaining the ball – you just have to rub, you don’t need anything to shine the ball,” Ojha said. “It was something we were experiencing for the first time. If we play with the red ball or the white ball there will be some changes to the ball, it deteriorates. I don’t think [it will be a problem for the spinners].”
Kuldeep, the left-arm wristspinner, admitted to finding it difficult to grip the ball initially. “I had to keep it rough. I think there is a lot of difference when compared to the red ball,” he told . “You get a lot more grip on the red ball, and a lot more turn. If you get used to the pink ball, you can get it to drift and turn. If the shine is maintained, it helps in getting drift and dip.”
He also said it was difficult to spot the shiny side of the ball while batting in the afternoon. “It becomes difficult for the batsmen to pick the ball when both sides of the ball retain their shine. There is no problem sighting the ball in the night,” he said.

The first session was instructive in tempering a few popular notions about the pink ball, like its exaggerated early swing, for instance. Exhibit A was provided by India Green’s Ashok Dinda and Sandeep Sharma, who got the new ball to seam a lot more than swing. Despite a grass coverage of 4mm on the pitch, there wasn’t any excessive lateral movement. That India Red slumped to 67 for 6 at the end of the first session was more a consequence of some poor shot-making, and good field-placements from India Green captain Suresh Raina, than any demons that lay hidden inside the pink ball.Dinda said during the tea break the ball stopped swinging and seaming once it had become relatively older, and thereby the bowlers were looking to target the stumps. He said there was no turn on offer, but there was enough evidence to the contrary with spinners accounting for six wickets. There was adequate assistance for both fingerspin and wristspin, with Pragyan Ojha and Jalaj Saxena of India Red, and Kuldeep and Akshay Wakhare of India Green getting fairly appreciable turn.On a day when wickets fell in a heap, Abhinav Mukund was the most successful batsman on either side. Mukund’s 77 was instrumental firstly in India Red reaching triple figures, and then his 50-run partnership for the eighth wicket with Anureet Singh, who swished his way to 32 off 21, helped the team cross 150.Mukund admitted to having trouble with sighting the ball at practice on Monday, but said there were no such issues during the match. “I was timing the ball well personally. I couldn’t sight it quite well in the nets yesterday, but today was better and it was a good experience,” he said after the first day’s play.”To be honest, I didn’t have much of a problem [sighting] today. I thought I was timing the ball and getting into good positions. The ball was holding on to the wicket sometimes, sometimes [it was] skidding on. It’s a new experience. We don’t play with the Kookaburra in domestic cricket; it’s a new experience for a lot of cricketers.”India Green had begun in similarly shaky fashion, with Nathu Singh accounting for all the three wickets that fell inside the first eight overs. Nathu, like Sandeep earlier in the evening, profited when he held the seam upright. Robin Uthappa was dismissed by a jaffa that cut back sharply to shave the top of off stump in the seventh ball of the innings, while Jalaj Saxena slashed one that didn’t bounce as much to be caught behind. Nathu’s swerving in-ducker in his next over caught Rajat Paliwal on the shuffle to leave India Green at 31 for 3. Raina and Parthiv Patel then restored calm with a 41-run stand. But after Kuldeep ran through the middle order, Saurabh Tiwary, the last recognised batsman, remained the key to India Green securing the first-innings advantage.

New Zealand opener Tom Latham stressed on “patience” several times two days before the start of their two-Test series against Zimbabwe, in Bulawayo. Latham identified that adjusting to the sluggish surfaces in Zimbabwe and grinding the attack would be crucial to New Zealand’s success in the series.”The conditions are low and slow compared to what we have back home and we need to adjust to it…It is about [being] patient and playing the long game,” Latham said. “It is more about the patience side of things, you are not going to go and blast quick runs over here. So, it’s about the patience game, and wear the bowlers down, and bat for a day or four sessions, and that is probably the biggest thing for the whole batting group.”The first Test will be New Zealand’s first since February 2016, but Latham said that the side drew confidence from the warm-up match against Zimbabwe A in Harare, where the visitors surged to a 259-run victory.Prior to that, the team spent time at a training camp organised by former New Zealand player Kruger van Wyk at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre, the home to CSA’s National Academy.”It was a good three days for the whole group,” Latham said. “Everyone spent a little bit time at the crease and got enough overs under their belt to put them in good stead for the Test match coming up.”That’s the beauty of coming over nice and early. We have not played a Test for a while and it is about getting used to the long form and being patient with all facets of the game. Certainly a beneficial couple of weeks for us, and I know the boys are looking forward to the first Test.”Latham was wary of Zimbabwe’s ability to perform better in home conditions, which New Zealand encountered when Zimbabwe ran down 304 in the first ODI in Harare last year.”Zimbabwe are certainly very good in their home conditions and they showed it last year in the one-day series we had over here last year,” he said.Latham also said he was looking forward to Kane Williamson’s first Test series as full-fledged captain.”He [Kane Williamson] is a very switched-on guy and certainly leads from the front with his batting. He has had enough experience throughout his career and I’m sure he is going to do a fantastic job.”