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Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Jaffer missed out on the opening day of thefitness-specific camp for the batsmen which kicked off in Bangalore at the NationalCricket Academy (NCA) today. Tendulkar, who has been allowed to miss the start of the camp ”for personal reasons”, is scheduled to join on June 10 while Jaffer, who is already in Bangalore, has been diagnosed with flu and is unlikely to attend the camp.The nine batsmen who were present and Sreesanth, the lone bowler, underwent an indoor training programme on the first day, one that began with a yoga session in the team hotel. The players then moved into the indoor training facility at the NCA where they underwent drills to enhance core stability, associated with the torso and spine regions, and shoulder stability. There were multi-stage fitness tests too (also called bleep tests) and skinfold measurements, an indicator of the fat composition in the body.Physical trainer Gregory King is overseeing the camp, one of the three to be conducted ahead of India’s tour of Ireland and England. Sreesanth was expected to attend the first two days of the camp – since his selection for the Afro-Asia Cup Twenty20 match meant he missed out on the bowlers’ camp in Mysore. His fast-bowling partner VRV Singh, who had a viral attack last evening, was admitted to a local hospital but is expected to be discharged tomorrow.Four Indian batsmen – Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh – who’re currently involved in in the ongoing Afro-Asian Cup, are expected to join the camp after the three-match series concludes tomorrow. The batsmen present at the camp on the first day were Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman,Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Mongia, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, Mohammad Kaif and S Badrinath.This camp follows one that was held specifically for the bowlers, in Mysore from June 4 to 8. It will be followed by a conditioning camp from June 13 to 16 at the NCA, and will be attended by players selected to represent India in the tours of Ireland and England. These teams will be selected, in Delhi on June 12.

After 649 runs were scored at a rate of 7.77 to the over in the first ODI between South Africa and England in Bloemfontein, few would argue with Faf du Plessis’ assertion that “this series will be a series of the batting line-ups”. But there is more to the towering totals than aggressive approaches on flat pitches. The new faces in both attacks have also played their part in the run-fest.”Both bowling line-ups are not as experienced as they would like to be but the batting line-ups are explosive and you’ve got a lot of match-winners in both teams,” du Plessis said, referring specifically to the depth of England’s line-up. “It’s definitely not nice when you do your pre-match planning because every guy that you look at seems to be a good batter. It’s obviously why they are a stronger team now: they have got a better batting line-up.”

One eye on the IPL auction

Hashim Amla, Dean Elgar, Rilee Rossouw, Chris Morris, Kyle Abbott, Farhaan Behardien, Jos Buttler, Chris Jordan and Sam Billings may go into the second ODI somewhat distracted. They are all in the IPL auction and by the time the game gets underway, will know their fate.
“I’d be lying if I say everything is on the game. You think about it. Fortunately for me I am already picked up so I will not be anxious to see about that,” Faf du Plessis, who is contracted to the Rising Pune Super Giants, said. “It’s great because this year there are England players as well. As a leadership group you try not to speak about it too much but let’s not lie, the auction is life-changing for some players. For me it will be interesting to see what the England players go for because we are used to playing an IPL without them.”
South Africa have 18 players in the auction including the still-injured Vernon Philander, and nine other players retained by franchises, while England have seven players in the auction. The numbers that matter, however, will be the selling price and du Plessis thinks those could even be the inspiration for some on-field banter. “Hopefully our guys get picked up for a lot of money and the English guys don’t so we gain a bit of confidence from that.”

All of England’s top six scored runs on Wednesday and all, except Joe Root, maintained strike rates of over 100, helped by wayward bowling from South Africa’s new-look pace pack. The opening bowlers, Chris Morris and Marchant de Lange, had only played 11 ODIs between them before the Bloemfontein game and their inexperience showed. They bowled both sides of the wicket in their first spells and could not find the right length, but got tighter as the innings wore on.AB de Villiers did not want to be too hard on them but du Plessis was willing to point out where they want wrong. “It was a good batting wicket but I felt we did make a lot of mistakes. We gave a lot of boundaries away. We were not as disciplined as we would want to be,” he said.As a result, South Africa’s other wicket-taking option, Imran Tahir, was forced into a role that did not make best use of his attacking skills. “For Immi to do really well, he doesn’t have to feel he has to have all the pressure on his shoulders to be a game-changer. In T20 cricket when he can just express himself, come on and do his tricks, that’s when he is best. I suppose any leggie is like that,” du Plessis said. “If he is just bowling defensively, like he had to do in Bloemfontein, it takes away all that armoury that he has got.”To ensure Tahir can concentrate on controlling the middle overs, du Plessis explained that South Africa’s seamers need to start better, especially in Port Elizabeth where the slower surface almost guarantees Tahir will be a factor. “Our bowlers need to be smarter. It’s important to try and do that from the beginning and not wake up 10 or 15 overs into the game. The smarter team on the day will win the game,” du Plessis said.South Africa will be bolstered by the likely return of Kyle Abbott, whose hamstring niggle healed sooner than expected and he should be able to provide some control. “Something we have missed this whole series is experience, Although Kyle is not a guy who has played 100 ODIs, he is someone who has played a little bit more. Kyle brings a bit of consistency. With someone like that you just know when pressure situations present himself, he will be a bit more equipped than someone playing their first few games,” du Plessis said.Abbott’s career is only 20 ODIs old but, as he showed at the 2015 World Cup where he had the lowest economy rate among South Africa’s bowlers, accuracy is his strength.That does not mean South Africa’s batsmen are off the hook. Du Plessis stressed the importance of showing the same care with the bat as with the ball on a surface that will test both line-ups more than Bloemfontein did. “The pitch will be slower. We can’t play the same style of cricket. We have to think faster on our feet,” he said, and that applies to himself as well.Du Plessis found some form in the 50-over game after struggling in Tests and feels a big score is, as clichéd as it sounds, just around the corner. “Things started changing slowly towards the end of the Test series for me. I was unhappy to not have played that last Test match and to have scored runs in the first ODI was very nice. I feel a lot better in the nets. I feel like I am hitting the ball as well as I can,” he said. “I would still like to turn those fifties into bigger scores. I’ve been getting a lot of fifties in the last year or two but not as many hundreds as I would like. For me it’s about turning that good performance into a performance that can make the team win.”

Karachi Whites gained a full nine points as they defeated Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) by seven wickets on the third day of their third-round Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match at the National Stadium.Karachi Whites finished on 297, a first-innings lead of 76, and dismissed debutants SSGC for 155. Needing just 80 to win and take their points tally to 12 from three matches, the Whites lost three wickets on the way to victory.Earlier, Karachi took their overnight score of 280 from 8 to 297, with left-arm pace bowler Waqar Ahmed (2 for 40) picking up the last two wickets. The in-form Afsar Nawaz remained unbeaten with 65 off 108 balls in just over two hours with ten fours and a six.The SSGC batting was undone by the Whites pace-bowling trio. After Mohammad Sami, the captain, removed opener Mohtashim Ali, Tanvir Ahmed (5 for 80) and Fahad Khan (4 for 37), ran through the rest of the batting. Tanvir finished with 8 for 137 in the match, following his first-innings 3 for 57. Fahad, who will turn 24 later this month, also completed 50 wickets in 19 first-class matches.Karachi Whites will now meet Sialkot in a fourth-round match, starting at the same venue from November 7. The same day, SSGC will play Hyderabad at the Niaz Stadium.Habib Bank Limited (HBL) completed an innings-and-75-run win over Sialkot with a full day to spare at the Lahore Country Club in Muridke. Sialkot, Quaid-e-Azam champions in 2005-06 and runners-up last season, were forced to follow on the day before and capitulated to a poor 129.Only opener Naeemuddin (31) and legspinner Adeel Malik (39) got decent starts while left-arm spinner Aslam Qureshi picked up 5 for 31 in 18 overs. He finished with a match haul of 8 for 63. Danish Kaneria, the Pakistan legspinner, took 4 for 82 and 2 for 39 to help HBL considerably in a rather comfortable win.From their three matches so far, Habib Bank have collected 27 points with three straight wins. They have a rest coming up during the fourth-round action. Sialkot proceed to Karachi, where they will play against the Whites at the National Stadium from November 7.At the Multan Cricket Stadium, Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) took a 242-run lead over Multan. Bilal Khilji’s 147 from 219 balls helped WAPDA to 480. Multan were in trouble at the close of play, having lost six wickets with only 71 on the board. They still need another 171 to make WAPDA bat again.Bottom-of-the-table Pakistan Customs recovered slightly after surrendering a first-innings lead of 238, reaching 178 for 1 at the Iqbal Stadium. Hosts Faisalabad earlier compiled 420 in response to Customs’ poor 182.National Bank, spurred by a magnificent 176 from Naved Latif, totalled 418 in reply to Lahore Ravi’s 283 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Faced with a 135-run deficit, Lahore slumped to 108 for 5.

Group B

Karachi Blues inflicted an innings-and-188-run defeat on Peshawar with a full day to spare at the National Bank of Pakistan Stadium. A visibly weak Peshawar batting line-up crashed twice against the Karachi Blues bowlers, managing poor scores of 118 and 98 in two innings, after the hosts ran up a first-innings 404 for 9 before applying closure.Nawaz Ahmed, 20, played the lone fighting hand with an unbeaten 60 in the first innings, battling a little over two and a half hours. The top-score in Peshawar’s second innings, after having been forced to follow on, was opener Usman Zaib’s 36 off 46 deliveries with six fours. Tariq Haroon, the medium-fast bowler, and slow left-arm spinner Azam Hussain were virtually unplayable, as they picked up four wickets each at a personal cost of 32 and 24 runs, respectively. In Peshawar’s first innings, left-arm medium-fast bowler Malik Aftab took 5 for 58 and in the second, he snared the important wicket of Nawaz. Azam Hussain had match figures of 7 for 54.Karachi Whites, who have moved up the Group B table with 12 points, now have a well-deserved rest coming up. Peshawar will have to contend with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), in a fourth-round match starting at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar from November .Lahore Shalimar also wrapped up a three-day win over Quetta by five wickets at the Bugti Stadium. As many as 17 wickets fell on the opening day, but Lahore recovered and gained a 131-run first-innings lead. Quetta scored 247 in their second innings but the visitors required only 117 to win.Lahore Shalimar have now opened their account and have nine points from three matches as they move to a fourth-round match against Khan Research Laboratories (KRL). Quetta will host Abbottabad in their next match at the same venue, also on November 7.At the Diamond Cricket Club Ground, hosts Islamabad, with a score of 306, took a 60-run first-innings lead over Rawalpindi. In their second innings, Rawalpindi were 8 or 190, only 130 ahead with two wickets standing.Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) ran up 407 at the Sheikhupura Stadium, which gave them a 132-run first-innings lead over Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), who then slipped to 24 for 2 by stumps. ZTBL captain Abdul Razzaq, returning after having announced his retirement earlier this year, bowled 25 overs – of which 11 were maidens – and took 1 for 5.At the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) Stadium in Rawalpindi, Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) were 9 for 175 in their second inings, atter taking a 64-run first-innings lead over KRL. Their overall lead was 239 but with only one wicket in hand, the match could be slipping out of their hands.

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