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Dinesh Chandimal, Sri Lanka’s vice-captain, needs a break from the game to rediscover his form, according to stand-in skipper Upul Tharanga. Chandimal was left out of the team to play the fourth ODI after a string of low scores on the South African tour and could even miss the final match on Friday as he seeks to put a poor tour behind him.”It was a hard decision [to leave him out],” Tharanga said. “We chatted to him and he was okay to rest. He needs a few days away from cricket. We all know he is a very good cricketer. He will come back in the next tour. For a few days he needs to get away from cricket and get some rest.”In 12 international innings across all formats on this visit, Chandimal has scored 180 runs all told at an average of 16.36. His highest return has been 36 in the second ODI in Durban and he has endured six single-figure scores. But a break would not be the obvious choice for the vice-captain.He sat out Sri Lanka’s last tour, to Zimbabwe, as he recovered from a hand injury and, earlier in the series, coach Graham Ford had said he thought Chandimal came into this tour “slightly underdone”. Ford believed Chandimal is not far off his best but that he needed game time to get there.Now it seems he may have to wait until the T20s in Australia, with his replacement Sandun Weerakkody impressing with a half-century in his second ODI. Weerakkody took Sri Lanka to the brink of victory at Newlands and earned special praise from Tharanga for making the most of the chance he got against a strong South African attack.”This series was a very good opportunity for youngsters to learn the game and the way we played today, everyone learnt really good lessons,” Tharanga said. “Sandun playing his second game – the way he batted is good for him and the team.”The same could be said for Tharanga himself. Although a veteran of the international game, who has played for more than a decade, he has gone almost four years without an ODI hundred and has only recently returned to opening the batting. Tharanga batted in the middle order in 2015 and 2016 but now, back at the top, he has fulfilled a life-long dream to score a century in South Africa.”Opening has given me the chance to get some big scores,” he said. “It’s very different conditions. The South African attack always has very good fast bowlers. To get a hundred in South Africa, as a batsmen, gives me a lot of confidence.”

Angelo Mathews has labeled the 0-3 whitewash in South Africa his worst series defeat as captain, after Sri Lanka lost by an innings and 118 runs at the Wanderers.Mathews also has two 0-2 whitewashes in New Zealand on his captaincy record, but Sri Lanka had been somewhat competitive in those series, even claiming a first-innings lead in two of those four Tests. In South Africa, however, only three Sri Lanka batsmen hit half-centuries, and first-innings deficits of 81, 282 and 295 were surrendered.”I have been part of many defeats but as captain this is certainly the worst,” Mathews said. “We kind of expected to do better than what we did. But there was no improvement.”The batters were extremely disappointing – all the batters, including myself. All of us had got starts but didn’t convert them into big ones. That is disappointing. To give the bowlers a chance we need to put the runs on the board.”The defeat, Mathews said, came in spite of extensive preparation for the conditions Sri Lanka expected to face in South Africa. Sri Lanka had had roughly 10 days in at home following the Zimbabwe tri-series to prepare for the South Africa tour, and had also played a practice match in Potchefstroom.”When it comes to preparation we did our best,” Mathews said. “We practiced on wickets with grass back in Sri Lanka too. We kind of expected we will get wickets with lot of grass. It’s not easy to prepare wickets like this in Sri Lanka, given the high humidity. Life goes on and we need to find a solution to compete well overseas. Maybe it’s an opportunity for Sri Lanka Cricket to leave bit of grass when we play domestic cricket at home.”Mathews top-scored for Sri Lanka in the series, with 178 runs, while Kusal Mendis hit 138 runs to sit at second on the team list. It was Mendis’ first trip to South Africa for any level of cricket – the same going for Dhananjaya de Silva, who was asked to move to No. 4 in the second and third Tests, after having earlier prospered lower down the order.”If you look at our squad, only three guys had played in South Africa before. Guys like Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya are full of talent, but they need to be given a chance in these conditions. Playing four seamers in these conditions wasn’t easy. They will learn I am sure. It is a tough time and we need to hang in there as a team.”Of his practice of bowling first change, or with the brand new ball, through the series, Mathews also launched a spirited defence, and suggested this was a plan hatched by the bowling coach. Mathews has had success opening the bowling in limited-overs internationals, but has 33 Test wickets at 52.66. He has averaged 64.5 for his two wickets in this series, while Lahiru Kumara and Nuwan Pradeep – bowlers he came in ahead of – have taken 11 and seven wickets respectively, at 26.45 and 43.”My kind of bowling is swing and seam. When the ball is new it’s good to come early. The coach and bowling coach told me to bowl early as I land it on the spot. I didn’t bowl for that long. Even if you bowl 60-odd overs, in these conditions, the shine is still there. Given the fact that the wicket was seaming and swinging – if you look at my economy rate and the way I beat the bat, you would understand why I bowl early.”Across the last two years, in New Zealand, England and now South Africa, Mathews has taken four wickets at an average of 72.

“I suppose I should watch it,” said Brendon McCullum, of the BBL final, which his Brisbane Heat side will not contest, having lost to the Sydney Sixers at the Gabba.The sense is, though, that it does not matter that the Heat did not make the final, because this season’s effect on the club, and on BBL in the city, has been profound enough to leave a mark.McCullum’s is a team in his image, that went down in his style. He even hit the final ball of their season down the ground for six. It was too late, of course, but their swashbuckling style and total togetherness were on display in defeat. Twice in the game they should have been dead and buried, twice they fought back. Eventually, only a Super Over shook them. With their top six gone for 109, the lower order hustled 57 from the final five overs to set up a target, then with Sixers cruising to victory, they took 5 for 29 before Ben Cutting’s last over cost just five to force a Super Over.”It was pretty tense all right,” McCullum said. “We did well to get back into the game. Lesser teams would have lost that by five or six overs but the belief within the group meant we kept fighting hard. In the end it’s disappointing to run second but proud of the boys, not just tonight but for the whole campaign.”We have lost some close games, and a close semi-final. We can walk away saying we made some significant strides forward as a team, and the crowds that have turned up are testimony to that. It was an attractive brand of cricket which they have quite enjoyed. Some of those games you win and some you lose but I’m very proud of it – in a finals situation, behind the eight-ball, it’s a good sign that we are maturing quickly.”As McCullum said, Brisbanites have voted for his team with their feet. The Gabba had never seen a single BBL sellout before this season, and there was some whispers to suggest CA saw them as a club falling behind. But this year, all five of their games sold out, with 140,727 people through the gates in total. This crowd, 35,116, was their biggest ever – beating their last, against Renegades on Friday, by four people. It has been a remarkable turnaround, especially given they have won just one of those five home games.”We are a young team,” McCullum said, discussing why people have come to watch. “One that doesn’t mind having a go, and isn’t scarred by too much experience, as can be the case. We want to go out there and play attacking cricket and, as we’ve seen every game barring the [loss to] Scorchers here, we have tried to attack with the bat, try to take wickets, and try to be desperate in the field. That’s the basis of a good cricket team; as long as you’re consistent about doing it, and you turn up, and everyone else who who turns up knows exactly how you are going to play – win, lose or draw. In an inconsistent game that’s not a bad way to find a bit of consistency.”There has been a conscious effort, just as there was when McCullum captained New Zealand, to forge an identity to the team. “That’s what we are employed to do, to try to gain an identity about how you want to play,” he said. “Dan [Vettori, the coach], Bondy [Shane Bond], myself, then senior players within the group and the management behind the scenes – we’re all trying to sing off the same song sheet.”Asked to explain the team’s philosophy, McCullum cited Joe Burns, who has been a revelation batting down the order, and Ben Cutting as key players in pulling the team in the same direction. Burns has even started bowling (typically adventurous McCullum captaincy), and took a wicket – Nic Maddinson – in the first over of the chase, while Cutting batted and bowled in the Super Over.”I actually locked him [Burns] in for two wickets at the start of the day, so he is still one down in my book,” McCullum joked. “That was about match-ups and he’s flying at the moment, Burnsy. He’s a leader in the group, so I’ll just keep throwing him the ball, try and get him in the game. Same with Cutts – throw him the ball for the Super Over, and then with the bat get him out there. Give your big players, your leaders ample opportunity, and then the young guys will come along for the ride.All of this, of course, is straight from the McCullum copybook.”We are just trying to have a crack. It’s good fun playing T20 and we get big crowds turning up to support us, so you just try to do your best for those guys. Hopefully what we have done this year is just the start of something a lot bigger and better.”

Aaron Finch, the Australia opener, will return to Surrey for the whole of the 2017 NatWest T20 Blast. He will also provide cover in the Championship when Kumar Sangakkara is away playing in the Caribbean Premier League.Finch featured as an overseas player for Surrey last season, scoring 259 runs at a strike rate of 144.69 in six Blast games, as well as averaging 48.66 in the Championship. At Guildford in July, he hit his first ball faced as a Surrey player for six. He has previously had two spells in county cricket at Yorkshire.Currently rated the No. 2 T20 batsman in the world according to the ICC rankings, Finch also holds the record for the highest T20 international score.”We are very pleased to welcome Finchy back to the Kia Oval after his positive impact on and off the field last season,” Surrey’s director of cricket, Alec Stewart, said. “He remains one of the most destructive batsman in world cricket and I’m sure our members and supporters will enjoy watching him again.”From the next season, the NatWest T20 Blast reverts to a single block in middle of the English summer, running through July and August – a move in part designed to try and make overseas players available for more of the competition.

Seven months ago, South Africa were “not keen” to play a day-night Test match, primarily because they had never done it before. Five months ago, they agreed to the fixture, after being assured of adequate preparation time. Now, on the eve of a match which has been dominated by discussion over their stand-in captain Faf du Plessis’ ball tampering offence, they are – in coach Russell Domingo’s words – “very excited” about featuring in only the third fixture of its kind. What changed?”When they said they changed the seam, made it black and it would have better visibility, things started changing,” du Plessis said. “We just wanted to be part of something and not miss out and see what’s its all about.”Cricket South Africa made it clear that keenness and not cash changed the players minds, and confirmed that Cricket Australia did not offer any financial incentive for their participation in this match. Instead, the hosts promised South Africa two warm-up matches, one pre-series, one mid-series under lights, and agreed to use the pink ball for a winter series between South Africa A and Australia A. Six of the current Test squad members were part of that series.South Africa A lost both unofficial Tests but gained reassuring experience. At the time, Vernon Philander still had some doubt about the ball’s softness but his report was better than last year’s, when even Australian players believed the ball needed improvement.It was those concerns that initially dissuaded South Africa. In chats before the World T20, when Australia visited South Africa for three T20s, and at the IPL, South African players “spoke to the Australian players and read the comments around the pink ball”. “There were a lot of question marks around it and at the time, it didn’t sound like it was ready for it to be perfect,” du Plessis said.Since then, the ball has undergone changes and players are more comfortable with it. Steven Smith confirmed it doesn’t swing as much because of the extra layer of lacquer, but it still is most effective under lights: “If you look at pink-ball statistics, most wickets have been lost in the third session of play. That is the pattern that has happened.”Quinton de Kock made batting against the pink ball look very easy during South Africa’s first day-night warm-up match•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

For Faf du Plessis that is not a major issue because “two-thirds of the game happens during the day”. With the sun setting at around 8pm, only some part of the final session takes place in complete darkness. “When you say day-night, you think everything is happening at night but most of it is happening in the day. It’s only an hour of night game. It’s actually a short time,” du Plessis said.But a significant part of the second session will be played in the twilight period when it is said to be most difficult to bat. South Africa have tried to downplay the twilight period and are taking inspiration from Quinton de Kock, who scored 122 in the first warm-up and felt so comfortable that he didn’t play the second.”The beauty of Quinton de Kock and the way he plays is the simplicity he gave with that answer about the pink ball. Its just another ball. Someone asked him about batting at dusk, he said it was the easiest time to bat. So that’s the sort of attitude we are going into it with,” Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach, said. “It’s just another cricket ball. It might be a different colour. It’s just another cricket pitch. They have all played under lights before. We’re not too concerned whether its pink, white or red at the moment. We just want to play the Test match.”The ball aside, South Africa are also looking forward to the match because it presents them with the opportunity to make history. After achieving a third successive Test series win in Australia, they have the opportunity to become the only team to whitewash Australia 3-0 at home. Several South African players have called a 3-nil scoreline, their “mission”.Despite the attention on the ball-tampering claims, South Africa still consider themselves to have the advantage because of the state of the Australian team. Their XI has five changes from the Hobart Test, including three debutants, and du Plessis did not hide the satisfaction he is getting from seeing Australia in strife.”When you see all the changes they are making now, that brings pleasure to me as a captain to see that what we are doing is creating something in the Australian team that they feel they need to change. If I was sitting in that team, a lot of changes means you are trying to change everything in your team. I’d rather be sitting on my side,” du Plessis said.His coach was more cautious and warned that Australia won’t go down without a fight, especially in a match this important. “I don’t think there has ever been an Australian team that has just given up or been easy to beat,” Domingo said. “We know they will be desperate to do well and get their cricket going again.”

Stuart Binny’s ninth first-class century – a 158-ball 156 – gave Karnataka an opportunity to push for full points after they took a 245-run lead over Assam at the Bandra Kurla Complex ground in Mumbai. Assam went to stumps on 48 for 1, with Gokul Sharma, the captain, and Rahul Hazarika at the crease.Assam made early inroads to pick up three quick wickets, including those of overnight centurions Robin Uthappa (128) and Karun Nair (145), whose third-wicket stand was worth 265. Assam were left frustrated, however, as Binny forged two century stands – 131 for the seventh wicket with Shreyas Gopal and 105 for the sixth wicket with CM Gautam (73) – to help post 570. Arup Das, the medium-pacer, was Assam’s best bowler, taking 4 for 86.After suffering an innings loss against Karnataka last week, Delhi put themselves in a position to inflict a heavy defeat on Odisha in Mohali. Delhi’s seventh and eighth-wicket pairs added a total of 212 before Gautam Gambhir, who top-scored with 147, declared the innings on 495 for 8 to open up a 258-run advantage. Odisha were tottering at 109 for 4 in the second innings, and needed 149 more to make Delhi bat again. Ishant Sharma, playing his second competitive match after recovering from chikungunya, picked up two wickets.Delhi, who resumed on 351 for 7 in response to Odisha’s 237, were driven by a 156-run eighth-wicket stand between Milind Kumar and Manan Sharma. Milind, who registered a pair in the previous game, brought up his second first-class century and was unbeaten on 106, while Manan recorded his highest first-class score of 81. He was dismissed by left-arm spinner Dhiraj Singh, who took 4 for 84. In reply, Govinda Podder, Odisha’s captain, was unbeaten on 52 and stood between Delhi and a second outright win this season.Rajasthan were left to rue a batting collapse that had them 299 for 8 at stumps, in response to Maharashtra’s 461 in Hyderabad. Each of the top six batsmen got starts, with opener Manendar Singh’s 63 the top score. Resuming on the third day from 76 for 2, they lost Ashok Menaria, the captain, for 42 to expose the middle order. Mahipal Lomror (32) and Siddarth Dobal (59) held the fort briefly before Maharashtra’s spinners, Akshay Darekar and Chirag Khurana, opened up the game by picking four wickets between them. Chetan Bist, the wicketkeeper who retired hurt on 13 after being hit on the helmet by a Mohsin Sayyed bouncer, returned and was 43 not out at stumps.An improved batting performance in the second innings brightened Vidarbha’s hopes of salvaging one point against Jharkhand in Wayanad. Opener Sanjay Ramaswamy made 102, while three others – Faiz Fazal, Aditya Shanware and Ravi Jangid – made half-centuries as Vidarbha, ended the day on 315 for 3. They had been bowled out for 105 in the first innings and had conceded a 257-run lead. The unbroken fourth-wicket stand between Shanware and Jangid was worth 85.