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Dale Steyn has joined convener of selectors Linda Zondi in endorsing AB de Villiers as South Africa’s permanent Test captain, and wants to see him back in the role once fit.”I think so, he is the captain. He is definitely the captain,” Steyn said at an exhibition match between the South African cricket and rugby teams at Newlands. “I know Faf has done really well for us right now, but AB is the captain. He has earned that spot. He has played for a long time, and he said he wants to do it and he got the opportunity to. Unfortunately, he got injured, but he is the man at the end of the day.”De Villiers was named Test captain in February after having taken the role temporarily when Hashim Amla stood down midway during the home series against England, but has yet to properly assume his new job. An elbow injury that required surgery kept de Villiers out of the home Tests against New Zealand in August and the series in Australia. He is expected to be fit for the Sri Lanka series, which starts on Boxing Day. But he has only had one net session so far and has yet to get any game time, which is why Graeme Smith felt de Villiers’ focus should be on getting match fit before he thinks about the captaincy conundrum.”The most important thing for AB now is just to focus on getting back and fit and playing cricket. I don’t think he should even engage in thinking about that (the captaincy) because he can’t captain from the sidelines,” Smith said. “Having had an elbow injury, it’s not an easy thing to recover from. It takes time, getting those tendons strong and all those muscles. That’s your primary arm that you use when you bat. He should focus on that. The sooner we can get him playing cricket for South Africa, the better.”Smith said he enjoyed seeing South Africa “streamline” the leadership, but explained they may be wary of appointing one captain across formats as T20s could create the space required for managing the Test and ODI captain’s workload. “It’s very difficult to captain all three formats, and the T20 format is a difficult one because you don’t play a huge amount of cricket. So is that the right time to rest your captain, with the workloads he is going to have in one-day and Test cricket?” Smith asked.”There should never be any question about who the real captain is,” Steyn said in support of AB de Villiers continuing in that role•Getty Images

Smith isn’t the only one to voice that concern. After de Villiers spent a significant period of the previous summer hinting that heavy workloads could send him into early retirement, the most obvious solution seemed to be him playing fewer, or even no international T20s. Du Plessis is the captain in that format, and with no ICC event scheduled until 2020, de Villiers may not get a chance to win a major trophy in T20Is, choosing instead to focus on Tests and ODIs. In that case, “keeping your captain fresh is an important part of maintaining success,” Smith said.The only problem with that is that South Africa’s recent successes, after the troubles in the previous summer, have come under du Plessis. He was brought back to lead the side, after being dropped for the final Test against England earlier this year. South Africa won both series’ they played under him to begin their climb from No. 7.Du Plessis’ leadership was widely praised, and the squad showed him an extraordinary level of support, particularly when he was charged with ball tampering. Du Plessis himself said he saw that as a sign they “respected him” as a leader. However, he was quick to dismiss suggestions that he was after de Villiers’ job, saying he was “100% behind” de Villiers when he returns as captain.Steyn, who will be sidelined for at least the rest of this season as he recovers from a broken shoulder, agreed. “When AB steps back into the side, there should be almost no question about it. I know there have been eyebrows raised because Faf has done well, but there should never be any question about who the real captain is or who the captain is, and he should just step back into it and continue what Faf has already started.”

Hilton Cartwright, the Western Australia allrounder, is in line for his ODI debut after being named in Australia’s 14-man squad for next month’s Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series. Cartwright is the only uncapped member of the group, which also includes fast bowler Pat Cummins, who has not played for Australia since September last year, and recalled allrounder Glenn Maxwell.The three-match series against New Zealand slots in between Australia’s two Test campaigns this summer and will take place in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne on December 4, 6 and 9. Interim chairman of selectors, Trevor Hohns, said the panel had been interested in the progress of Cartwright, a 24-year-old who was born in Zimbabwe, for some time.”Hilton bowls useful aggressive medium-pace and is a very good striker of the ball,” Hohns said. “He is an exciting young prospect for Australian cricket and we have been watching him at the pathway level for some time now.”Cummins missed the 2015-16 season due to a stress fracture of the back, but performed strongly during the Matador Cup in October, when he collected 15 wickets at 18.60. He was the equal leading wicket taker in the tournament.”It is fantastic to see Pat back in Australian colours again,” Hohns said. “It has been a frustrating period for him but we are certainly excited to have him fit and firing ahead of this series.”Maxwell has been named in the squad having been dropped from the ODI side during Australia’s tour of the West Indies earlier this year, and then left out entirely from the ODI squad that toured Sri Lanka.Australia ODI squad David Warner, Aaron Finch, Steven Smith (capt), George Bailey, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Hilton Cartwright, Matthew Wade (wk), James Faulkner, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa.

South Africa are not going to follow Graeme Smith’s lead and dismiss Australia as being low on confidence. In fact, they are bracing for a backlash from the wounded hosts.”If he has said that I’m sure that’s just his personal dig,” South Africa’s opening batsman Dean Elgar said. “I don’t think there is a culture issue within the Australian side. We know they’re still a dangerous team and they can bounce back in the second Test.”Asked whether he thinks Australia have lost some of their bite, Elgar would not be drawn into a slanging match. “Yes and no. We know that the Australian side is still a very dangerous side. Them being beaten in the first Test is working in their favour because they can bounce back, and we’re aware of their bouncebackability. It’s just human nature to withdraw into yourself because of what you’re going through. But they can bounce back hard.”To that end, South Africa are spending the build-up being drilled hard both in the nets and in the analysis room. “Complacency is a big thing for us,” Elgar said. “That’s something we’ve addressed as a team. It’s a new Test, a new challenge and a new venue for us.”South Africa have never played a Test in Hobart before, and the last of their five ODIs at this venue was in 2009. Of the current squad, only Hashim Amla and JP Duminy played in that match, while batting and bowling consultant Neil McKenzie and Charl Langeveldt were part of previous ODI teams at Bellerive Oval. They won’t be able to draw too much from that but have be trawling through the scorecards of previous matches to try and gauge what awaits.0:24

Dean Elgar expects Australia to bounce back in Hobart

The last two Tests have seen Australia post big scores in the first innings against West Indies and Sri Lanka but the one before that was a low-scoring thriller against New Zealand. The pace and bounce of the WACA is a thing of the past but there may still be plenty for the bowlers. Two days before the Test, the pitch was a violent shade of green but much of that grass will be shaved off. What won’t change is the overhanging cloud, at least not for the rest of this week. There will be swing on offer and for South Africa, that may also mean reverse-swing.Josh Hazlewood commented on how effectively South Africa managed to get the ball to reverse in Perth, much to Australia’s envy, and Elgar was sure they would try to do it again. “It is an asset for us if the ball can reverse but also, for a bowler to be able to bowl with the reversing ball is a massive skill,” Elgar said. “We’re fortunate if that most if not all of our bowlers can bowl with the reversing ball, which works in our favour quite nicely. In Perth the ball reversed in both innings for us when we were bowling and it proved to be a massive asset for us.”Elgar maintained that South Africa’s working of the ball does not venture into troublesome territory, even though Hazlewood had noticed their habit of throwing the ball onto the pitch to scuff it up. “We’re trying to throw it into the turf and scuff one side up,” Hazlewood said “They’re pretty well drilled on it and get that side nice and rough and the other one shiny.”But it is “not a deliberate tactic”, according to Elgar. “When you’re on the boundary, there are rules that you are allowed to bounce a ball in from the boundary,” he said. “All teams around the world use that tactic these days. If you are allowed to use it to your advantage all teams are welcome to do it. But obviously within the rules and regulations of the game.”Those are things Smith, who retired more than two years ago, does not have to think about anymore and it’s allowed him to say some of the things he may have been thinking in his playing days. Smith spoke about Australia being a country where you had to earn respect as a player and you could only do that through performance. That’s what South Africa did in Perth and hope to continue in Hobart, but Elgar would prefer they didn’t make too much of a big noise about it.”Having a lot guys put up their hands and make a big play for the team is very important to us,” Elgar said. “It’s very important for us to have those different kinds of players in the team. We don’t talk about it at all. It just comes out naturally.”

Scorecard and ball- by-ball details6:43

O’Brien: Learning how to play spin during a Test is very hard

India declined to enforce the follow-on after R Ashwin’s 20th five-wicket haul in Test cricket helped bowl New Zealand out for 299 on the third day of the Indore Test. Ashwin’s 6 for 81 secured a 258-run lead, and left India enough time to bat again and give their bowlers a well-earned rest.With six overs left to bat out at the end of the day, India stretched their lead to 276 without losing a wicket. But they didn’t survive entirely unscathed. In the third over, Gautam Gambhir retired hurt after aggravating a shoulder injury he had sustained while fielding. Diving to complete a tight second run, he landed awkwardly and walked off clutching his shoulder. M Vijay, meanwhile, earned himself a caution as well as an official warning for running on the danger area of the pitch. A similar offence in the first innings had cost Ravindra Jadeja half his match fee while also conceding five penalty runs to New Zealand.Ashwin took his first four wickets either side of lunch, dismantling New Zealand’s top order after Martin Guptill and Tom Latham added 118 for the first wicket. The wicket of Latham began a collapse during which New Zealand lost five wickets for 30 runs. James Neesham led a recovery of sorts, adding 53 with BJ Watling for the sixth wicket and 52 with Mitchell Santner for the seventh, but Jadeja ended both those partnerships before they could assume worrying proportions. Turn and bounce caused Watling to glove to slip, while turn out of the rough found Santner’s inside edge as he looked to drive out of the rough.Neesham, playing his first innings of the series, swept the spinners impressively to get to 71 before the shot cost him his wicket against Ashwin. The ball pitched shorter than he expected, on an off-stump line, and hit him on the back leg. Umpire Kumar Dharmasena raised his finger in response to Ashwin’s appeal, but replays suggested the ball may have turned past off stump. It only took India four overs to get the last two wickets, Ashwin dropping a return catch but deflecting the ball onto the stumps to run Jeetan Patel out at the non-striker’s end – the second time he had effected such a dismissal in the innings – and Trent Boult holing out while looking to clear the on-side boundary.On the least helpful pitch of the series, Ashwin’s wickets came largely through his deception in the air, which constantly disrupted the batsmen’s reading of line and length. For the third time in three innings, he dismissed Kane Williamson, New Zealand’s best batsman. In the fourth over after lunch, Williamson went on the back foot to a good-length ball, tempted into cutting by the line wide of off stump. The ball didn’t turn as much as the one that bowled him in the first innings in Kanpur, but it turned enough, with extra bounce, to cramp him and force him to chop on.Ross Taylor was next to go, undone yet again by his technique of playing across the line while defending. The ball dipped and pitched shorter than Taylor had expected, which may not have caused him too much of a problem had his bat-swing had come straight down the line of the ball. Instead, as is often the case, it came down from gully towards wide mid-on, causing him to edge to slip.Then came a bit of bad luck for Guptill, who, playing his first innings of any significance in the series, was caught out of his crease at the non-striker’s end when Ashwin deflected a straight drive from Luke Ronchi onto the stumps. Having played an unwitting hand in his dismissal, Ronchi followed Guptill into the dressing room in Ashwin’s next over, when drift caused him to play down the wrong line of an offbreak. Another catch for Ajinkya Rahane at slip, except he had to dive to his right to grab this one.R Ashwin dismissed Kane Williamson for the third time in three innings•BCCI

New Zealand’s slump began 15 minutes before lunch, when Ashwin found a way past Latham’s defiance. Latham had come into this Test match having scored 74 in his last innings, in Kolkata. There, and in this innings, his success was partly down to the method he had worked out to reduce the likelihood of lbw against the spinners, by taking a shorter front-foot stride, and playing with his bat in front of his pad.Even in Kolkata, Ashwin had tried to exploit one pitfall of this technique – the increased chance of the left-hand batsman opening up while looking to play balls around leg stump – with two silly points in place, waiting for the leading edge. That tactic didn’t produce a wicket in Kolkata but it did now, as he looped one slower, just outside leg stump, and got it to grip and turn. Latham, closing his bat-face early, offered a simple return catch off the leading edge.Latham had enjoyed a big slice of luck in just the previous over. Looking to sweep Jadeja, he had inside-edged the ball onto his boot, and it had then popped up to slip. Umpire Bruce Oxenford, though, turned down India’s appeal, and did not consult either his on-field colleague Kumar Dharmasena or the third umpire, suggesting he hadn’t spotted the inside edge.The moment only added to India’s frustrations on a morning where things hadn’t gone their way, thanks to a combination of smart batting from both openers, missed chances and half-chances, and a pitch that continued to behave in a manner contrary to its cracked and roughed-up appearance.In the fourth over of the morning, Guptill drove loosely at Mohammed Shami and nicked to gully, where Rahane dropped a chance that went quickly but more or less straight to him. Then, three overs deeper into his spell, Shami watched in frustration as Latham flicked in the air only for the ball to fall short of Jadeja, diving to his left from short midwicket. Both he and Umesh Yadav had bowled with one, and frequently two catchers in front of the wicket on the leg side, as Virat Kohli went with pace from both ends for the first ten overs of the morning. New Zealand scored 23 runs in that period.Spin came on from both ends after that, and the run-flow quickened, with both batsmen showing a desire not to let the spinners get on top. Early in his spell, Guptill punished two minor infringements of length from Jadeja, off successive balls: first he jumped back to a marginally short ball and smacked him to the midwicket boundary; then he saw one tossed up into his driving arc and lofted it effortlessly over the long-off boundary.Both spinners dropped short with uncharacteristic frequency. Guptill slapped Jadeja to the cover boundary to bring up his fifty, and in the next over Latham whipped Ashwin through midwicket before driving him to the straight boundary when he over-compensated with his length.When Latham swept Jadeja for another four to bring up his half-century, New Zealand had scored 57 off their previous 47 balls. India needed ideas to break this partnership. Ashwin happened to have a nifty one up his sleeve.

Match facts

September 9, 2016
Start time 1900 local (1330 GMT)

Big Picture

To watch Australia rewrite the T20 record books on Tuesday, you’d think they were the world’s dominant team in the format. And indeed, they do boast two of the three highest T20 international totals of all time (263 for 3 this week and 248 for 6 against England in 2013) and all of the three highest individual scores (Aaron Finch 156, Glenn Maxwell 145*, and Shane Watson 124*). Yet, for all of those monster scores, Australia were booted out in the group stage of this year’s World T20 and have only once made the final of that event, when they lost to England in 2010. It is a format in which Australia are inconsistent, but, as this week has shown, at their best their firepower is awesome.Sri Lanka, on the other hand, had won a World T20 title, back in 2014. Some links from that triumphant final remain – Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera, Sachithra Senanayake. Some have gone – Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Rangana Herath, for example. And another is about to leave: Tillakaratne Dilshan, who played every match of that successful campaign, is set to play his final match for Sri Lanka. A batsman who has brought great joy to Sri Lanka – not least in the T20 format – Dilshan will hardly want to leave the game on a low, and Tuesday’s match was about as low as it gets in T20Is.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)

Australia: WLWWL
Sri Lanka: LLLLL

In the spotlight

And so this is it. Five weeks before his 40th birthday, Tillakaratne Dilshan bows out of international cricket. A career that began in Bulawayo in November 1999 under the captaincy of Sanath Jayasuriya will end in Colombo in September 2016 under the selection regime run by the same man – Jayasuriya. Dilshan’s 497th international match will be his last, a T20I against Australia at the Premadasa Stadium. Dilshan’s long farewell has included some entertaining comments off the field, but now Sri Lankan fans hope that he says goodbye with something special on it.Who needs a little thing like form? Not Glenn Maxwell, who missed out on selection for the recent ODIs in Sri Lanka due to a lack of runs. Instead, he was sent to Queensland to play for Australia A and made scores of 0, 38, 13, 0, 10 and 46. Hardly encouraging ahead of a return to Australia’s side for the T20Is in Sri Lanka. But such is Maxwell’s talent that once he got going in Pallekele he was impossible to stop, his unbeaten 145 from 65 deliveries the second-highest individual score in T20 international history. It was also Maxwell’s first hundred in any format – including domestic cricket – for more than a year. If he’s given the chance to open once again, Sri Lanka will need some new plans to stop him.

Team news

Sri Lanka’s selectors will be tempted to make changes to the attack after their annihilation in the first game. Kasun Rajitha might lose his place to Dasun Shanaka, while there is also the chance that Milinda Siriwardana may be brought in, perhaps for Sachithra Senanayake.Sri Lanka (possible): 1. Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Kusal Perera (wk), 3 Dhananjaya de Silva, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (capt), 5 Kusal Mendis, 6 Thisara Perera, 7 Chamara Kapugedera, 8 Sachith Pathirana, 9 Sachithra Senanayake/Milinda Siriwardana, 10 Suranga Lakmal, 11 Dasun Shanaka.Aaron Finch remains unavailable due to his broken finger and George Bailey has flown home, so Matthew Wade will play as a specialist batsman. The only question is whether the attack remains the same. The in-form John Hastings was left out of the first game and surely would be a valuable inclusion, but after the success of the first match the selectors may choose the same bowlers.Australia(possible): 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Glenn Maxwell, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Travis Head, 5 Matthew Wade, 6 Moises Henriques, 7 James Faulkner, 8 Peter Nevill (wk), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Scott Boland.

Pitch and conditions

Sri Lanka batted first in every ODI of the recent series and only once set Australia a target that was out of reach – at this ground, when they posted 288. There should be plenty of runs in this pitch once again.

Stats and trivia

• It has been a very poor year for Sri Lanka in T20Is. In 2016 they have played 15 for only three wins – two of which came against Afghanistan and the UAE
• The three highest individual scores in T20 internationals now all belong to Australians and two of those – Glenn Maxwell’s 145* and Shane Watson’s 124*, have come in 2016
• Dilshan will finish his career second on the list of most T20 appearances (behind Shahid Afridi) and second on the list of most runs (behind Brendon McCullum)

South Africa coach Russell Domingo has not yet been given a mandate about the targets his bosses expect him to implement for the New Zealand Tests. The two-match series is the first South Africa play since last month’s announcement that CSA will impose selection criteria relating to the number of players of colour in all national teams in accordance with a memorandum of understanding signed with the country’s sports ministry.”There has been nothing officially documented to me at the moment. We will continue to do what we have always done and that is pick our best XI players,” Domingo said.South Africa have – officially between the late 1990s and 2002, and unofficially since then – adhered to a policy of an average of four players of colour in a starting XI. The most recent example of this application came during the 2015 World Cup semi-final when Vernon Philander, who had battled injury through the tournament, was picked ahead of the in-form Kyle Abbott after South Africa’s captain, coach and convener of selectors had met with the CEO, who reminded them of the need to pick the best XI “bearing in mind transformation guidelines.”In the immediate aftermath of the tournament, domestic targets in South Africa were increased. Each franchise was required to field at least six players of colour, of which at least two had to be black African, up from five players of colour the season before, but CSA maintained there was no pressure to do the same at the national level.However, in April this year, CSA became one of four national federations to be banned from bidding for or hosting major tournaments by the sports ministry as punishment for the slow rate of transformation. The ministry deemed teams that comprised 60% players of colour to be representative. Cricket fell short by 5%.In order to meet the 60% criteria, South Africa would need to field at least seven players of colour in the national team. The squad for the upcoming New Zealand series includes seven players of colour, of which two are black African, and Domingo insists all of them will play on merit. “We are fortunate in that it hasn’t been an issue for this particular side. If someone says to me Kagiso Rabada is playing because he is black, they can go and jump in the Indian Ocean because he is a world-class player,” Domingo said. “And if someone says Hashim Amla or JP Duminy or Dane Piedt is playing because of the colour of their skin, they are smoking something. They have proven themselves at domestic cricket and in international cricket. We are just going on business as usual.”However, several local media institutions have reported that CSA and the ministry have agreed on six players of colour as long as two are black African, which will present an additional challenge to team balance. Already, Domingo has indicated South Africa will field a specialist spinner, and with Piedt the only option in that department, he will fulfill that requirement while also filling up one of the players of colour slots.”We always want to lean towards playing a spinner. The wicket in Durban over the last five or six years has helped the spinners. Also, for the development of our team, it’s important that we give the spinner the opportunity to try and settle into that position,” Domingo said.With the top five settled – Stephen Cook, Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis and JP Duminy – and filling up another two of the player of colour slots, the competition will come in the lower order and bowling department. South Africa have two options for the allrounder’s spot in Wayne Parnell and Chris Morris, although they may opt to use Vernon Philander in that position at the outset. They also have four bowlers to choose from, including Dale Steyn, Philander, Abbott and Rabada, with Abbott the most likely to miss out.Although both Steyn and Philander sat out a significant part of the previous season with injuries, Domingo indicated they were in line for recalls on reputation alone. “Welcoming Dale and Vernon back after a long time with their experience, to go with the excitement of Rabada, is good for us,” he said. “We are very glad to have Dale back. He gives the side a lot of confidence and a lot of belief. Also, it puts the opposition under a bit of pressure, knowing that Dale Steyn is in the line-up.”Perhaps the only thing that will push Abbott ahead is that Kingsmead was his home ground – he has since moved to Warriors at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth – although like everyone else, he may not know what to expect from the conditions in August. Never before has a Test been played in Durban at this time of the year, and Domingo is expecting some unknowns.”For five or six days out, the pitch looks pretty good,” he said. “They’ve got to take more time because there’s not as much heat as there is in summer, but it looks really good. I am a little bit concerned with the outfield, it doesn’t look too good. We also don’t know how much the ball is going to swing in the morning, or if the field will be dry when we start in the morning. Those are the things we need to consider.”

Australia batsman Usman Khawaja has said transitioning to red-ball cricket after a long break from Tests will be his side’s biggest challenge in their upcoming series against Sri Lanka. Australia last played a Test in February this year, against New Zealand.”We haven’t played red-ball cricket for a while,” Khawaja said. “Weird seeing the red ball coming down the first time when it did [in an intra-squad practice game]. We were out in the field all day yesterday and you forget how tough being out on the field is. Going to have to do five days of it. Test matches is the hardest form, I reckon, mentally and physically. Going five days, especially in heat like this… If it goes that far, it’s going to be pretty tough. It gets easier the more you do it.”In a way it’s nice we have got three formats of the game. It can be a lot sometimes but I really enjoyed playing white-ball cricket. Now enjoying coming back for some Test stuff, doing something different.”Since the Tests against New Zealand, Australia have played T20s in South Africa, the World T20 and the ODI tri-series in the West Indies. Khawaja, who announced yesterday that he had got engaged following the tri-series, suggested Sri Lanka’s heat could also be an obstacle once the Tests start.”The weather is a big challenge. Very hot and humid. The conditions are different, similar to what you get in West Indies and India. Not too foreign, but one of those places where if you start scoring some runs, you’ll get comfortable. If the wicket deteriorates, though, it could get tough to score too.”Australia’s squad of 15 is playing intra-squad warm-up games in Colombo, leading up to the first Test in Pallekele from July 26. That will be followed by Tests in Galle and Colombo, before the limited-overs leg featuring five ODIs and two T20s.

Mustafizur Rahman, the Bangladesh left-arm seamer, will fly to London on Wednesday morning after finally receiving his UK visa on Tuesday afternoon in Dhaka. This means he will be available for Sussex’s NatWest T20 Blast game against Essex in Chelmsford, on July 21. Mustafizur can now play at least seven games for the county side in the T20 and one-day competition.Mustafizur’s departure had been delayed by seven days because of visa issues, after he could not leave on July 13 as planned. During that period, he worked on his fitness in Dhaka, after returning from a triumphant IPL campaign with multiple leg injuries.The recovery took nearly a month, after which the BCB medical staff passed him fit. Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha said that a season in England would benefit Mustafizur immensely, although he was initially reluctant about the county stint.Sussex had signed him as their second overseas player, after New Zealand’s Ross Taylor, for 2016, in March.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsA washout in Bridgetown on Sunday meant Australia face a do-or-die clash against West Indies in their final league game•Getty Images

AB de Villiers’ 200th ODI for South Africa went much the same way his 100th Test did, as Sunday’s tri-series fixture was the first to be washed out, with only an over possible.Just as November’s Bangalore Test involved long periods of watching and waiting, the first game of the series in Barbados dragged on for over five hours because of intermittent rain, which denied South Africa an opportunity to qualify for the final. Instead they shared points with Australia, who now face a must-win clash against hosts West Indies in their final league fixture at the same venue on Tuesday.The damp squib ended the possibility of what could have been the first battle of the quicks in this tournament. Both sides bolstered their seam stocks in anticipation of a surface with more pace and bounce. South Africa handed Morne Morkel his first opportunity on tour, at the expense of left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi, while Australia included Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc in their XI. Australia also dispensed with a specialist spinner in Adam Zampa to bring back Glenn Maxwell.Steven Smith decided to let his attack loose on a fresh surface, perhaps mindful of the impact rain could have on the chase. Starc bowled the first and only over of the match: an affair that included three wides, a half-volley that Quinton de Kock drove for four and two well-directed inswingers. Heavy rain swept through the ground seconds after he finished the over.The downpour lasted three hours and 20 minutes before abating. There was a possibility of play resuming when covers were peeled off at 4.30pm local time. But an inspection, and an hour and 15 minutes later, the match officials felt the outfield and the pitch were too wet for the game to resume. The final call was made at 6.25pm.

As far as Sri Lanka are concerned, they are defending champions at this year’s Asia Cup. The case they are making is that the ODI version of the Asia Cup – which India last won in 2023 – is a different tournament entirely.The tournament alternates between the two white-ball formats based on which World Cup is around the corner. In 2023, it was the 50-over World Cup. In 2025, it is the T20 World Cup. And as far as the T20I version of the Asia Cup goes, Sri Lanka are the most-recent victors, having taken the title in 2022.”Mentally, the fact that we are defending champions is a really good thing,” Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka said ahead of his team’s first Asia Cup game, against Bangladesh on Saturday. “It was a lot of these players that played in that last tournament here [in UAE] as well. We know that because we are champions we can go far. The players are using that as motivation.”Related

• Familiar foes Bangladesh and Sri Lanka meet in high-stakes contest

• Hridoy hits back at critics as Bangladesh opt for safety over speed

• Why are Sri Lanka and Bangladesh so poor at T20I batting?

• Hasaranga fit for Sri Lanka's Asia Cup campaign

At home, both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh tend to play on slower tracks not especially suited to batting. But Asalanka expected the Abu Dhabi surface to be different.”When you’re rating these conditions with other venues in the UAE, I think Abu Dhabi is the best pitch for batters. Once the ball gets softer it’s much easier to bat here, and the outfield is very nice. Every batsman wants to play in Abu Dhabi.”Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are very familiar with each other, having played three T20Is, three ODIs and two Tests since the start of the year. Sri Lanka won the ODI and the Test series but Bangladesh took the T20I series.