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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.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJonny Bairstow screams with delight after scoring a Test hundred at Lord’s•Getty Images

Jonny Bairstow, looking more imposing and battle-hardened by the month, completed his third Test hundred in eight innings to rouse England from a problematic opening day in the Lord’s Test. For Bairstow, it could not be a more perfect treble: Cape Town, a maiden hundred where his father ‘Bluey’ spent his winters; Headingley, his home ground, an outpouring of Yorkshire pride; and now Lord’s, where a Test century is regarded as the greatest gift of all.Bairstow’s hundred came 11 balls from the close when he tucked Rangana Herath through square leg and emitted what has now become a recognisable primeval roar, his rugged beard caked with sweat, not the sort of sight you would want to encounter on a foggy night on Baildon Moor. Not the sort of sight, if you are a Test attack looking for just rewards, that you particularly want to meet at Lord’s either.Bairstow, the ginger energiser, rode his luck at times. He should have fallen on 11 when Shaminda Eranga spilled an inviting chance at midwicket off Nuwan Pradeep, a chance which, if taken, would have left England 102 for 5. He also survived Sri Lanka’s lbw review, on 56, by the width of a single thread of seam after the umpire, Sundaram Ravi, had initially turned down the appeal. The bowler was Eranga, desperately unfortunate to be denied the chance to put right his blemish in the field.But it was Bairstow’s desire and the equilibrium of his captain, Alastair Cook, that allowed England to escape to 279 for 6 on a day when Sri Lanka’s seam attack, led by Pradeep, drew more encouragement than might initially have been expected on what had appeared to be a bountiful batting surface and the tubby left-arm impresario Herath again revealed a charming ability to kill with kindness.England have the series won, but questions about a sketchy batting order remain as pressing as ever after Sri Lanka, finally able to feel the sun on their backs, looked a more methodical bowling outfit than they had done in two nithering northern Tests as they sought to extend a good Lord’s record with a victory, in a series already conceded after heavy defeats at Headingley and Chester-le-Street.Cook, the youngest man to reach 10,000 Test match runs, five months ahead of Sachin Tendulkar, had been presented with an encased silver bat to mark the occasion before the start of the final Test at Lord’s.The bat so received, it was time to encase his mind and make inroads into the next 10,000. Not for the first time, England were fortunate for his resilience. His failure to log a 29th Test hundred when Pradeep had him lbw for 85 came as a surprise to many in the capacity crowd, but his was the steady heartbeat in an ailing England batting line-up with uncomfortable questions remaining unanswered ahead of the Test series against Pakistan.”The first session will be crucial,” Cook had said, not that he personally needed any reminding of the fact in his 129th Test. The pitch looked flat and the weather was settled. Pads were buckled, helmet donned and once again he settled into the rhythms of an English Test summer, dispatching anything on his pads with familiar authority.But others were less successful. To a batsman possessing Cook’s rational approach, to lose four for 88 must have seemed entirely illogical. And of those four wickets to fall only Joe Root can claim that his place is impregnable.Alex Hales must wish he could settle into the sort of natural Test rhythm that Cook finds so effortless. A quicker tempo perhaps but one in which he can make his own music. He settled reasonably enough against the new ball, but Angelo Mathews’ medium pace seemed to make him jittery. When Herath had his first perambulation of the innings, Hales self-destructed against the second ball he faced, attempting a mow over long-on but the ball instead looping gently to first slip where Mathews held the catch.It was the fourth time that Hales has fallen to spin in this series and the fact that England’s opening stand of 56 was their highest of the series was an indicator of the lurking issues.Nick Compton left five overs later, only a single to his name, and was treated to the slightly embarrassed Lord’s silence upon his dismissal that communicates an expectation of impending doom. In its uncomfortable disapproval, it feels more like a blackballing than the open criticism preferred elsewhere.Compton drove charily at an overpitched delivery from Suranga Lakmal wandering down the slope and edged to Dinesh Chandimal, who had been passed fit to keep wicket. Compton is unlikely to figure in the Test series against Pakistan, the selectors’ patience – and they have been patient – surely exhausted.Compton’s mind is also encased, but in his case it so encased in the grip of self-doubt that he appears inhibited at the crease. In his 16 Tests for England he has rarely played with freedom, but his unproductive form now extends to county cricket, so much so that he has not struck a half-century for 17 first-class innings. If he loses his England place, it is hard to imagine him spending golden years on the county circuit.Fifteen minutes before lunch, Sri Lanka picked up Joe Root as well, the most valued wicket of all. Root got too far across to an angled delivery from Lakmal and Sri Lanka overturned umpire Rod Tucker’s “not out” on review. England had lost 3 for 15 in 40 balls and suddenly it was Sri Lanka’s morning.England were 84 for 4 on a surface that had promised batting riches when James Vince was bowled by Pradeep, pushing emphatically down the wrong line whereupon his off bail was clipped from the stumps with the certainty of a kitchen chef slicing the vegetables. It was a fine post-lunch period by Sri Lanka as Eranga and Lakmal also passed the outside edge in a focused display.By the time Cook departed five minutes before tea, lbw to a delivery angled in from around the wicket by Pradeep, there was a sense of a recovery. Moeen Ali hung around in that, too often, fascinating, fleeting Mayfly way of his until he was beautifully unpicked by Herath, who followed up one which bounced and turned surprisingly with a little floater to have him caught at slip.But Eranga’s failure to hold Bairstow’s clip off his pads gradually ate away at Sri Lanka’s day. Two boundaries for Bairstow in the next four balls suggested that the fizz might have been let out of the bottle, and although that fizz spilled fortunately through the slips at times – Mathews shuffling his slips and gullies with the impatience of a roulette loser in a Colombo casino – his gusto carried England to the end of a difficult day which presented more questions than answers.

Joe Root says it is “frightening” what England’s batting order could be capable of and believes any of the top six have the potential to score a double-hundred in one-day internationals.England surged to a target of 308 in 40.1 overs at The Oval, their third 300-plus chase in the last 12 months, having only previously done it twice in history. Jason Roy hit 162 off 118 balls to lead the latest of a line of stirring batting displays – last summer against New Zealand they hunted down 350 at Trent Bridge, three matches after crossing 400 for the first time. They also scored 399 against South Africa in Bloemfontein.Post the 2015 World Cup – a tournament that has become a watermark in England’s one-day history after they exited miserably in the group stages – they have scored quicker than any other international team, cantering along at 6.33 runs per over with New Zealand in second position on 6.05. Root acknowledged a new challenge will come on the subcontinent when they face Bangladesh and India this winter, but there is a confidence surging through the team’s veins.Roy fell six runs short of setting a new high score for England in one-day cricket, but while Robin Smith’s 167 not out against Australia at Edgbaston in 1993 retains its spot for now, it surely will not for much longer.”It’s remarkable to see the lads do it consistently,” Root said. “It’s what you want to see, guys getting in and breaking records and with what we had to come in afterwards as well, it is quite frightening what we could be capable of.”But it’s about being consistent and doing it more and more. I suppose that’s our challenge. We’ve got all this excitement and flair, ability and potential, but it’s about winning big trophies, big series, if we’re going to be serious about contending for Champions Trophies and World Cups.”Farveez Maharoof, the Sri Lanka allrounder, has been on the receiving end of the carnage, although his economy rate of 6.56 is far from the worst of the attack. He hadn’t played against England for nine years – having been part of the side that whitewashed them in 2006 – and acknowledged their new-found belief.”In my career, I’ve played a lot of games against England, this side has really good depth in batting especially,” he said. “That’s been the biggest difference, they are much more attacking than a few years back. They are on a good run. It’s a good team.”Root was at the other end for a considerable portion of Roy’s innings at The Oval – his second hundred in three matches after he and Alex Hales had added an unbeaten 256 at Edgbaston – during a second-wicket stand of 149 in 18 overs.”With 160 under his belt, not really looking like he was trying to hit every ball for four and six and still scoring as quickly as he was. That’s quite scary to see, isn’t it? It’s a great ‘scary’ as well. When you’re sat at the other end, there is no pressure on you.”You know the scoreboard is always going to be turning over, and the opposition is always under pressure. You can almost feel that atmosphere out in the middle, when you’re batting with him.”Sachin Tendulkar was the first man to break the 200 barrier in ODIs, against South Africa in Gwalior in 2010, and since then there have been another five doubles. As a guide to what is achievable, Roy was out for 162 in the 38th over of England’s innings; when Rohit Sharma made his world record score of 264 against Sri Lanka he reached three figures in the 32nd over of the innings and had 162 by the end of the 41st over.The six doubles have all been made by opening batsmen – hardly a surprising statistic – but Root believes England’s first double could come from a number of sources, even if he was a little more reserved about his own chances of reaching the milestone.”Definitely, there are a number of players in our team that would be capable of getting scores over that. I think anyone in the top six, really. I’m not sure I’d be able to score that quickly, but you never know. If one guy is getting near 200, we’re looking at a score of over 400 – which is what it’s about, really.”An England one-day side talking with expectation of double hundreds and scoring 400. For so long a nation lagging behind the rest of the world, they are now blazing their own trail.

Big picture – India can’t be complacent despite recent dominance in ODIs

We can sometimes forget the unfortunate part injuries play in a team’s fortunes. India are now going into a third straight international match with a third different captain after Shubman Gill’s neck injury in the Kolkata Test forced him out of action following non-stop cricket for India’s newest three-format obsession. Their ODI vice-captain, Shreyas Iyer, is also out with a rib injury he sustained while taking a catch back in Australia.This format, though, is still the ideal sweet spot for India. Or at least this generation of players, up until the injured full-time captain and vice-captain. India have been dominant in ODIs, winning the last Asia Cup and the last Champions Trophy, and losing only the final in the last World Cup.Related

• 'Look forward to enjoying responsibility' – Rahul steps into the hot seat

• South Africa prove they can win the hard way, anywhere

• Watch out for Jaiswal's return, Bavuma and de Kock up top

• Morkel: Gill is recovering well, Iyer has started rehab

However, they are careful not to be complacent because the next World Cup takes them to South Africa. So they are always going to be wondering if Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will still be good to go in late 2027, how to find a seam-bowling allrounder, how to manage workloads. And this is the format teams play the least of.India’s opponents are nowhere near as dominant in ODIs in recent times but they will be riding the high of having beaten India 2-0 in the Tests. This is a rare full tour as nowadays home teams prefer to split Tests and shorter formats to allegedly maximise the earnings. However, all-format tours have their own charm of one side trying to dominate the other team completely and the other looking for some redemption in the other formats.Also, South Africa are closer to full strength now with the exception of Kagiso Rabada’s injury-enforced absence. The return of Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma should add heft to their batting, and Keshav Maharaj should provide them the spin control they missed in Pakistan.These are just three ODIs and they will be forgotten quickly, what with more focus on T20Is right now, but they promise to be cracking contests while they last.

Form guide

India WLLWW
South Africa LWLLWMatthew Breetzke comes to India with a huge reputation to live up to•AFP/Getty Images

In the spotlight: RoKo and Matthew Breetzke

KL Rahul will take over India’s leadership as the selectors have resisted the temptation to go back to Rohit Sharma, who returned to the ODIs, his only active international format, with a century in the third match against Australia. It is a clear sign that Rohit and Virat Kohli will forever remain under extra scrutiny just by the virtue of how old they will be by the World Cup in 2027.Matthew Breetzke comes to India with a big reputation to live up to. He is the only player to have scored 50 or more in each of his first five ODIs, and he averages 67.75 while playing the difficult role of batting in the middle order.

Team news: Shubman Gill and Kagiso Rabada are out

Yashasvi Jaiswal should be the natural replacement for Gill at the top of the order with Ruturaj Gaikwad primed to take Iyer’s slot in the middle order. If Gaikwad gets the nod, Rishabh Pant, who is back in the squad, will struggle to make the starting XI because India will need two allrounders. It remains to be seen if one of those allrounders will be a seam bowler in Nitish Kumar Reddy. In Australia, they played all three while the series was live because they wanted batting depth. If they repeat the formation, all three will get in.India (probable): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Ruturaj Gaikwad/Rishabh Pant, 5 KL Rahul (capt, wk), 6 Washington Sundar, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 9 Harshit Rana, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Prasidh Krishna1:09

Karim: An opportunity for Jaiswal ‘to cement his place’

Markram should slot back into the opening role, something South Africa have tried since the last World Cup where he batted at No. 4. Bavuma should take his No. 3 position.South Africa (probable): 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Temba Bavuma (capt), 4 Matthew Breetzke, 5 Dewald Brevis, 6 Rubin Hermann, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Corbin Bosch, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Nandre Burger, 11 Lungi Ngidi

Pitch and conditions

This is only the sixth ODI Ranchi is hosting. There has been only one score of over 300, which was defended successfully, but chases of 270-280 haven’t quite been cakewalks either. The pitch generally is on the slower side; in the last ODI there, Washington Sundar opened the bowling for India. The weather will be perfect to play cricket in, but a lot will depend on dew. Without dew, batting first is not a bad shout in Ranchi.

Stats and trivia

• Since 2006, India and South Africa have played ten bilateral ODI series against each other. The scoreline is 5-5.
• Bavuma needs 59 runs to become only the 22nd South Africa player to score 2000 ODI runs.

Quotes

“Rutu, obviously, is a top-class player. We have all seen it. With whatever opportunities, limited opportunities he has got [with India], he has really utilised it and shown what he can do. Unfortunately, in ODI cricket, the top six or top five is quite settled. And they are performing really well.”
“When you add those two names to the line-up, we expect to see a full house tomorrow and that’s exciting. I think obviously two vastly experienced and dangerous players and they can cause a lot of damage to us, but we tend to try to focus on what sort of damage we can cause the opposition.”