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Mohammad Irfan, the Pakistan fast bowler, suffered an upset stomach during the third ODI in Johannesburg and could be in doubt for the fourth ODI in Durban on March 21. Irfan was visibly uncomfortable in the field after bowling seven overs on a hot day in Johannesburg, requiring medical attention before walking off to the dressing room. In the previous ODI, in Centurion, Irfan picked up four wickets and was adjudged Man of the Match in Pakistan’s victory, but there too, he bowled seven overs before walking off the field, holding his hamstring.Sohail Tanvir, the left-arm seamer who also plays for the Lions franchise in South Africa, was in the Pakistan dressing room watching the game. Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, said Pakistan will be considering him as a back-up option. “We are considering him [Tanvir] as a back-up,” he told reporters at the end of the third ODI, won by South Africa who took a 2-1 lead.In Johannesburg, Pakistan were initially not allowed a substitute for Irfan since the umpires felt he was carrying an injury into this game. But once it was discovered he had an upset stomach today, and not a hamstring problem, a substitute was eventually allowed.”He got an upset stomach and loose motions, there is nothing wrong with the hamstring,” Misbah said. “There was some confusion with the umpires when he left the field so that’s why we had to field with 10 men for a bit. Once they got the call from the doctor that it was something different, it was not the hamstring, we were allowed the substitute.”There is no issue with Irfan’s hamstring, he got cramps and he felt drained so that’s why he left the field. His hamstring is fine. We will have to see whether he is available for the next match if his stomach gets better.”Umar Gul played in Centurion but missed out in Johannesburg due to injury, and his condition too needs to be monitored ahead of Pakistan’s next match. “After the last game he had a small knee problem and he had some pain,” Misbah said. “He was still in pain today and sideways movement was difficult for him so that would be a problem, especially when fielding.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
The name’s Jadeja, Ravindra Jadeja: another day, another win•BCCI

The last time Royal Challengers Bangalore went to Chennai, Virat Kohli lost a won match when he bowled one over. The captain this time, Kohli lost a won game by handing over the ball to RP Singh, who conceded 16 in the last over, including a huge no-ball, which was caught at third man and would have won them the match had RP not overstepped – it was meant to be the final ball of the game. Laughing all the way to the win was Ravindra Jadeja, who mixed educated edges and meaty blows superbly to take Chennai Super Kings home with 38 off 20.After Ravi Rampaul and R Vinay Kumar removed the openers to reduce Super Kings to 10 for 2 in four overs, it was all uphill for the home side. Suresh Raina and S Badrinath rebuilt but when they fell Super Kings still needed 88 off 46. Vinay brought it to 65 off 30, conceding only six in the 15th over. Dhoni and Jadeja kept on hitting the odd boundary, one of them right out of the stadium, but the asking rate kept going up.With 29 required off the last two overs, Rampaul seemed to have sealed the deal with the wickets of Dhoni – for 33 off 23 – and Bravo – for 8 off 3 – in the 19th over. However, Kohli had a situation on his hands. Vinay had bowled out, and he had to choose between Daniel Christian and RP because the left-arm spinners would have turned or angled the ball into Jadeja’s natural swing. Christian had gone for just 13 in two overs, but has had a forgettable record bowling the final over in IPL games.So RP it was, and RP it was who bowled two length balls at the top of the over. Jadeja edged the first over short third man, but absolutely smoked the next one over long-on. The pressure was squarely on Royal Challengers now. Wearing the orange cap, reclaimed through an anchoring fifty earlier in the innings, Kohli misfielded the fourth ball at long-on, allowing the second. He had done so earlier too.Chris Morris, who had taken three wickets including the big one of Chris Gayle and two during the slog overs to keep Royal Challengers down to 165, accepted that couple and followed it with a single to make it two required off the last ball. Surreal scenes followed. RP bowled a bouncer, Jadeja ramped it straight to third man, Kohli thought he could yet end up on the right side of it until he saw the outstretched arm of the umpire and the celebrating Jadeja, who seems to be unable to do any wrong this season even if he tries.Replays showed this wasn’t just any ordinary no-ball, RP had overstepped by a foot. Kohli backed RP in the public, but there might be words spoken behind closed doors. Royal Challengers will also look at the last over when they batted, when Arun Karthik kept heaving and wasting deliveries as opposed to bringing to strike AB de Villiers, who scored a manic 64 off 32, full of sweeps against fast bowlers.

ScorecardMichael Klinger, pictured batting for South Australia, is in his first season as Gloucestershire captain•Getty Images

Both Essex and Gloucestershire will hope that their share of the Australian invasion of county cricket has a profound effect on their seasons.Neither Rob Quiney nor Michael Klinger can be considered star signings but both are experienced professionals with solid records and both have been given responsibility at the top of the order.In Klinger’s case he’s also been given the Gloucestershire captaincy, after Alex Gidman stepped down at the end of last season. His task is an unenviable one. He flew in a week before the start of the new season to take charge of a young, inexperienced side that finished bottom of the County Championship last year.Realistically, they are part of an unofficial Division Three with Glamorgan, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. Bettering those three sides this season would be a start but Klinger will have seen enough talent on show in the opening game to suggest Gloucestershire can secure a mid-table finish.”For a first match, I was impressed,” Klinger told ESPNcricinfo. “I’m still getting to know the guys but to score over 400 having been sent in was a great effort. Obviously the weather played a big part but there’s a lot of positives.”Talent-wise there’s no reason why we can’t go up the ladder. From what I’ve seen so far, the young guys can perform, it’s just a matter of performing day in day out. I like to lead from the front and hopefully I can build my runs throughout the season and back the younger guys.”Nine points from the opening match was a solid return on a ground where Gloucestershire got off to the worst possible start last season with an innings defeat. They cashed in on a wicket that was straightforward enough to score on and put Essex under pressure with the new ball, although failed to follow it up and struggled to sit in with a plan for long periods.That they managed a second bowling point owed much to Essex’s charge for a fourth batting point. Tom Westley – who was dropped by Alex Gidman at first slip in the second over of the day – was caught at the wicket having pressed on past 150 and James Foster, enterprising in striking six fours in a half century, was brilliantly held at deep backward square leg by James Fuller to give Gloucestershire their sixth wicket.The weather may have taken a result completely out of the equation but the dead, slightly slow pitch was unlikely to yield 20 wickets for either side in four full days. It is the surfaces at Chelmsford that could hinder Essex’s chances of challenging for promotion, with head coach Paul Grayson confident that they have a squad to be competitive.”There’s a nice group of bowlers and competition for places,” Grayson told ESPNcricinfo. “We had to make two big calls, Saj Mahmood and Reece Topley didn’t play this game but they’ll get plenty of cricket this year. It’s a long season.”There’s nice balance to the batting too. Jaik Mickelburgh is our spare batsman; he’s got a good hundred this week for the seconds. Ryan ten Doeschate and Owais Shah are to come back as well. Cooky will play a couple of games too. So the squad’s looking good.”If you achieve things it’s not down to 11, 12 players, it’s down to 15, 16. We might have to use a rotation system at some time, if guys are a bit tired we might be able to rest one or two at certain periods, especially with one-day cricket. But I’m pleased with the way the squad is shaping up.”

ScorecardEngland offspinner James Tredwell claimed four wickets to help restrict Netherlands•PA Photos

Kent enjoyed a successful trip abroad but were made to work harder than they might have thought to take a Yorkshire Bank 40 win over Netherlands.After bowling their hosts out for 101 victory was always going to be assured for James Tredwell’s men but, despite making their target with more than 16 of the rain-reduced 39 overs to spare, their run chase was hardly a swashbuckling one.Netherlands had them at 9 for 1, 39 for 2 and 53 for 3 to give them a series of minor scares, but ultimately they had enough to get over the line for a seven-wicket win. A careful and unbeaten 45 from Brendan Nash got them there, with Ben Harmison alongside him at the end.Sam Billings had been the first man down for Kent, holing out to Paul van Meekeren, with the same bowler removing Rob Key for 16. Van Meekeren, 23, was the only man making inroads for the Netherlands and when he got rid of Darren Stevens for 11, his side had an outside chance. Support was not forthcoming, though, with Nash and Harmison seeing the job through,Kent’s chase was so short owing to a clinical display with the ball. They had their hosts reeling on 6 for 3 at one stage and rarely relented, with only four Netherlands batsmen making double figures.Eric Szwarczynsk went after seven balls, hit on the pads by Matt Coles, with Wesley Barresi short of his ground and sent back to the pavilion six balls later. Tom Cooper then nicked Coles to Geraint Jones before a revival of sorts got them to 40 when Daan van Bunge was cleaned up by England international Tredwell.Forty for 4 soon became 55 for 7 as Tredwell snared Dom Michael and Peter Borren, while Mudassar Bukhari was seen off by Stevens. Tom de Grooth got to 18 but became Tredwell’s fourth victim for the loss of just 22 runs, leaving Stevens (3 for 19) to finish things off with the scalps of Van Meekeren and Pieter Seelar, top-scorer with 26.

Ireland coach Phil Simmons believes his side has made enough progress in recent years to start beating Test nations on a regular basis and sees this week’s ODI series against Pakistan as the perfect opportunity to claim another scalp.Ireland will have fond memories of their triumph over Pakistan during the 2007 World Cup but Bangladesh apart, they are still awaiting victory over one of the top-ranked countries on home soil despite narrow defeats to England and Australia in the last three years. Simmons is confident his side can prepare for July’s crucial World Cup qualifiers against Netherlands by upsetting the odds against the side currently ranked sixth in the world.”It’s difficult when you play games at home as we only have a few squad-days together in which to gain momentum, but we need to show the improvements that we’ve made in recent years,” Simmons said.”Our improvement is a constant work in progress, and while Pakistan have some unbelievable talent in their ranks, we want to prove that we don’t just beat the major teams in big tournaments. We are a side in constant progress and these games are important to show how much we’ve come on since the last international team was here.”With Test status their long-term ambition, Simmons believes the ICC is keeping a close eye on his sides’ performances, which he feels brings its own pressures.”We need to play these games all the time, the more these games are played the more we can measure our progress,” Simmons said. “The ICC know what we’re capable of and it’s important we forget about sending them a message and just start winning games.”I think our performances are a little more magnified than the other Associate members, so that’s why we have to make sure we perform up to a high standard but we also need to get our priorities right.”Simmons has a full-strength squad to choose from and with several of his key players enjoying a good start to the county season, the hosts will be confident ahead of the two-game series which starts on Thursday.”It’s difficult to get the momentum when the guys are only home for a couple of days at a time but the good thing about it is all the guys are playing regularly in England so everybody should be sharp enough,” Simmons said. “It’s important that we get together ahead of the Holland games and play some good cricket in preparation and beating Pakistan would be huge going into the qualifiers.”

Nottinghamshire have extended David Hussey’s stay until the end of the season. The former Australia batsman will lead Notts in the Friends Life t20, which begins next week, and had originally been signed until the end of August.Hussey, who will begin his eighth spell at Nottinghamshire in Friday’s Yorkshire Bank 40 game against Sussex, replaces Ed Cowan as the team’s overseas player. Cowan is due to join up with Australia’s Ashes squad, who take on Somerset in a tour match beginning on Wednesday.”I’m very lucky to enjoy a great reception from Nottinghamshire fans and there are a even couple of regulars in the front row of the pavilion who write to me throughout the winter to let me know what’s happening at the club,” Hussey said.”I’m very biased but for me, Trent Bridge is the best ground in England. The atmosphere here is second to none and my memories of playing international matches here are great ones even though I was on the losing side both times.”It’s a great honour to represent this club as captain but it gives Chris Read a bit of a break as well because he does the hard stuff in the Championship.”Hussey, 35, played the last of his 69 ODIs in January and has also been capped 39 times in T20. He was dropped for Australia’s home series against West Indies and was not part of their Champions Trophy squad but his availability has benefited Notts, for whom he has scored 5834 first-class runs at 64.82, as well as more than 3000 runs in limited-overs cricket.He was most recently in action for Kings XI Punjab at the IPL, where he deputised as captain for Adam Gilchrist.

Match facts

August 14, Pretoria
Start time 0930 (0730 GMT)India A’s batsmen have come up short against Australia A twice this series•Getty Images

Big Picture

It looked an excellent plan on paper. Send your fringe players, and a few first-choice batsmen, to South Africa on an A tour three months before the senior side travels to the country. Ideally, far better preparation than any camp in home conditions would have been. The main course – the two unofficial Tests – are yet to arrive, but going by what has happened in the one-day tri-series, India A haven’t missed home much.The pitch at the LC de Villiers Oval in Pretoria has been so flat the South Africa A captain Justin Ontong has been left hoping for some grass on the wickets for the unofficial Tests. Given that one of them will be played on the same ground, Ontong might as well put in a prayer along with hoping.India A have not experienced what the senior team management might have wanted them to, but they have done what they usually do on such pitches back home. The batsmen have prospered, the bowlers have suffered. In their defence, the other sides have fared similarly.Barring the opening match, the side batting first has scored big and won, although the biggest margin has been only 39 runs. India A have made 291 and 285 and still lost, both times to Australia A. They have also shown off their batting firepower as they often do in one-dayers in benign conditions, plundering 309 in 38 overs against South Africa A. Shikhar Dhawan’s astonishing 248 helped them to 433 against the same opposition.However, it is Australia A, and not the hosts, who await India A in the final. They are the only side to chase successfully in this series. They then went ahead and defended successfully from a seemingly lost cause as India A choked.Just like their opponents in the final, Australia A have several international players, who will be eyeing selection for the limited-overs leg of the senior side’s dismal England tour. “Hopefully some of the performances coming off the back of this tour have got some guys in there,” Aaron Finch, the Australia A captain, said. “Some of the guys definitely have their fingers crossed.” Unlike India A, they can claim their workout in South Africa has been ideal, and timely.

In the spotlight

Suresh Raina has been India A’s most economical bowler. While all the batsmen are internationals, India A have come with an inexperienced bowling attack. The spinners are yet to play for the senior side, as are two of the fast bowlers. Mohammed Shami and Jaydev Unadkat are raw in international cricket. All of them have been expensive, but Ishwar Pandey came in for praise from the coach Lalchand Rajput in his only match of the series. Rajput said Pandey came back strongly after an expensive opening spell against South Africa A to bowl several yorkers at the death and pick up four wickets. India A will need plenty more of them.Glenn Maxwell has taken a liking to the Indians this series. He savaged them for an unbeaten 145 off 79 at No. 7 to launch Australia A from 152 for 8 to 298 for 8. That earned him a promotion to No. 4, from where he hit 93 off 56. What does he have in store for India A in the final?

Quotes

“There has been a run fest for the batters on this pitch and a hard time for the medium-pacers. We have a team of pretty aggressive players and we’re all very experienced in one-day cricket, we’re very confident of our abilities and it’s been good that we haven’t quite played our best cricket and yet we’ve won three matches so far.”

Such is MS Dhoni’s value as a player, it takes two men to replace him. But while one of the talking points of this tour has been how well Virat Kohli might fill Dhoni’s shoes as captain, rather fewer people have been discussing Dinesh Karthik’s merits as a wicketkeeper-batsman.If Karthik had it his own way, however, his keeping wouldn’t be a factor. Of all people, Karthik knows that the keeper’s gloves belong to Dhoni for the foreseeable future and so he has set his sights on proving his worth as a batsman for India in all three formats.”It’s not something I’ve ever felt bad about because I feel it’s a great opportunity playing with [Dhoni],” Karthik said. “I’ve always looked at myself [as someone who] can play as a batsman in this side and that’s what I’m looking to do – play as a batsman in all three formats of the game.”It was his batting as a teenager that first attracted the selectors’ attention, and once again the runs he scored during a fruitful IPL season with Mumbai Indians led to his recall in a simplified batting role for the Champions Trophy in June – his first games for India in three years. Karthik has also benefitted from some minor tweaks to his batting technique which have aided his balance at the crease.”I feel I have the technique,” Karthik said. “It’s important that every time I get an opportunity I pile up the runs and make sure I do well as a batsman. We won the Champions Trophy and that was great. West Indies was a quiet time, but Zimbabwe again in the two innings I’ve played I’ve done well.”Yet, Karthik’s figures do not quite convince. Since his return in England, Karthik has scored two fifties in 11 innings. Although the runs haven’t begun to flow just yet, on a few occasions since his recall Karthik had shown he has the ability to absorb pressure in the middle order after the loss of early wickets. Most recently, he entered the fray during the second ODI at Harare with India wobbling at 65 for 4. He didn’t need as much luck as his partner Shikhar Dhawan, who was dropped twice and caught off a no ball, and compiled a tidy 69 that helped set a match-winning total. His reaction to pressure situations like that will be key to Karthik’s future.”I’m looking forward to these things,” he said. “It’s important that you keep putting in performances every time you go into bat and be as consistent as you can, and that’s something I’m really looking forward to doing.”

India’s Supreme Court will hear on September 27 a plea filed by the Cricket Association of Bihar seeking to restrain BCCI president N Srinivasan from contesting the BCCI elections on September 29. The plea, filed by CAB secretary Aditya Verma on Monday, seeks an interim injunction against Srinivasan that would also prevent him from being a member of any board committee, pending the verdict on an earlier special leave petition (SLP) filed by Verma against the BCCI in July.This is the CAB’s second petition before the Supreme Court. The earlier petition had challenged the Bombay High Court’s order on the BCCI’s inquiry committee investigating corruption in the IPL on the grounds that it had failed to appoint a fresh probe panel. The Supreme Court was due to hear final arguments in the case on September 12 but ran out of time on that day.In fact the Bombay High Court order came on a petition filed by the CAB questioning the constitution of the two-man inquiry committee set up by the BCCI to probe corruption charges in the IPL. Verma had accused Srinivasan of utilising his position as the BCCI president in the setting up of the probe panel and called that unconstitutional. The High Court concluded that there was “a degree of probability” of Srinivasan playing a role in setting up the inquiry panel, and subsequently termed the probe “illegal”.The BCCI then filed its own SLP challenging that order. As a counter, the CAB filed another SLP. The verdict on the petition against the order of the Bombay High Court is still pending in the Supreme Court.The BCCI lawyers had indicated that the CAB SLP would have no immediate repercussions on the board or for Srinivasan. The main intention of the BCCI’s SLP was to clear Srinivasan’s name from allegations, including the Bombay High Court remark which did not rule out his involvement in the appointment of the inquiry panel.

Somerset have secured the return of South Africa opening batsman Alviro Petersen as their overseas player for 2014.His spell at Taunton last season was largely successful but was interrupted twice by international call-ups as Petersen was unexpectedly recalled to the South Africa ODI team.However, next year South Africa are largely disengaged during the English season – only scheduled for a brief tour of Zimbabwe in August – and Petersen is expected to be available to Somerset for a majority of the summer.Petersen provided some bright spots in a campaign of struggle for Somerset last season as they narrowly staved off relegation in the County Championship.He made centuries in his first two appearances, helping secure a draw at The Oval before almost setting up victory over Warwickshire, and scored 562 runs at 46.83.”I am delighted to have signed for the 2014 season, and look forward to contributing to the club once more,” Petersen said. “I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the club last year.”The support I received from supporters, players, administrators and coaches was indeed special. I’m proud and very happy to be associated with such special people and supporters.”Dave Nosworthy, Somerset director of cricket, hailed the signing as “very good news” for the club. “We are all delighted that he has committed. Alviro is a quality player and a quality person, and we look forward to his contributions both on and off the field.”Last season Alviro’s tenure was somewhat disrupted by his unexpected recall back into the South African ODI squad – but this coming season we envisage having Alviro around with us for the entire season, apart from a possible short Test Series against Zimbabwe as per the ICC’s Future Tours programme.”Having taken over from club legend Brian Rose before the start of last season, Nosworthy will enter 2014 under pressure after a difficult start to his tenure and rumours of tensions between him and captain Marcus Trescothick.”This coming season is an important season for us,” Nosworthy said. “As usual we canvassed and researched player options and balances thoroughly and always in the best interests of the team. Ultimately Alviro remained our stand-out option and it’s great news that we’ll have a familiar face once again gracing our beloved surrounds.”