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Tim Paine began his first day as fully-fledged Australian captain with one small but significant departure from custom by initiating a pre-game handshake between all players and ended it by flagging a revolutionary departure from custom, at least for his team, by announcing a firm redefinition of the captain’s role.As the teams began their warm-ups on an overcast Johannesburg morning, he approached his opposite number Faf du Plessis to ask whether the two teams might shake hands at the end of the national anthems, a gesture common to football but only seen in international cricket after a match. Given the events of Cape Town and the fate befalling Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, Paine unsurprisingly has been thinking a lot about the image of the game. The handshakes were a telling way to show it.”I’ve been watching this week and they’ve had the soccer on and I notice they do that every game,” Paine said. “I thought cricket is the gentlemans’s game and I spoke to our players about how it was something I wanted to bring in. I waited for Faf to come out today and spoke to him and he was happy to do that. I think he thought it was a good idea and who knows, maybe other sides and South Africa may start to use it as well.”It’s not something we are going to do every Test match, but it is not a bad way to start a Test series. I think it’s something that we will use going forward; I just think it’s a good show of sportsmanship and respect. In this series, there’s been a lot of water under the bridge and a bit of tension between the two sides, we want to be super competitive but we also want to be respectful of our opposition, so it was important we showed that. It’s something we want to take forward and, if other teams want to do, we’ll do it to start every series.”It was still competitive, there wasn’t too much verbal going on back and forth between the two sides, we’ve spoken a bit about that as a group, about that going forward that is not the way we are going to play our cricket. It still felt like a Test match, it was still really competitive, we were playing a different style but as well a lot of the guys were thinking about some other things or were a little bit flat.”

‘Time for Lehmann to heal’ – Paine

One more contrast came from the pair of South Australians in the tour squad – the coach Darren Lehmann now overseeing his last Test match and the seam and swing bowler Chadd Sayers playing in his first. Paine said the decision to quit had appeared to lift plenty of weight from Lehmann’s shoulders, while the opportunity to play for Australia after five years on the fringes had been very welcome for Sayers, who does not conform to the Australian idea of a fast bowler but now has two wickets and the respect of South Africa.
“[Lehmann’s] been a little bit more laid-back today to be honest,” Paine said. “I think what we sensed yesterday and he even touched upon it himself was just a little bit of relief. It’s obviously been really difficult, and he’s been copping a fair amount of flak and so have his family, so I think for him to take that away from them and for him to be able to move on and try to heal a bit from what’s happened, I can sense a bit of relief and a load off his shoulders.
“I thought [Chadd] did really well. Obviously he was really nervous, but Chaddy’s the sort of bowler where he’s always at you. He did it again today, he bowled 25, 26 overs, which is a really big effort here in the altitude. A lot of the boys were really blowing, but Chaddy keeps on trucking on so we’re really rapt for him to get a game and take a few wickets late get some some rewards for his earlier hard work.”

A little over six hours after the handshakes, Paine sat before the media and contemplated leadership beyond this day. Should he remain captain, he said he wanted to redefine the post as a collaborative part of a wider whole, rather than the traditional branding of it as the major leadership rose above all others. Paine is clearly not a subscriber to the oft-quoted line that the position of Australian captain is second only to that of the Prime Minister.”I think at the moment that it’s something that I probably will be doing,” Paine said when asked whether he would want the captaincy long-term. “I have not put a hell of a lot of thought into anything past this week. Now we’ve also got a new coach that’s got to be appointed, who’s going to want a say on the way we go about it, the way I go about it.”My captaincy style will be – I’ve never been a big believer in the cricket team being the captain’s team, I think that’s a bit old school. When you didn’t have all the resources that we do now, I see the captain’s role as being that link between the players and the staff and just a really small, privileged role within Cricket Australia. But it’s just one part of the wheel and I’ll be trying to be very involving of all my staff, all my players and that’s the way I operate best.Australia captain Tim Paine leads the team out•Getty Images

“A lot of our focus as a team has been around this week, we are not looking too far ahead at this moment. I know it’s a cliche in sport that you get that ‘one week at a time’, but at the moment we’re taking it one day at a time and slowly trying to build back the respect of the cricket world, our fans and the public. We know we’ve got a long journey ahead of us to get where we want to get to, but the last couple of days have been the start of that long journey.”Paine has gained most of his leadership experience as a lieutenant of George Bailey in Tasmania. He said that he wanted to foster an environment where players did not feel they had to conform to a narrow idea of what an Australian Test cricketer should be. Instead, they needed to be themselves, with the team broadening its horizons to make allowances for that sort of diversity.”We still want to keep a really competitive brand of cricket but I think there’s times we’ve got to be more respectful of our opposition, we’ve got to be more respectful of the game of cricket,” Paine said. “At times we’ve tended to push the boundaries as far as we possibly could. I think that we’ve seen that people probably don’t like that, so it’s time for us to change.”We’re happy to do that, I think it actually suits this group of players, we’re a different group of players than Australia have had for a long time, we haven’t got too many guys that like to verbalise and have that sort of really hard-nosed Australian approach. We’re about creating an environment where guys can come in and play cricket and just be themselves. I think if we can achieve that then we’ll have guys having better results as well.”Paine’s desire to establish a culture that was inclusive even led him to picture the returns of the players who had been banned for ball-tampering. The anguish shown by Smith and Bancroft upon their arrival home had clearly left a mark. “I think a few guys watched it and I think it really cut them up, as it did anyone that watched that,” Paine said.”We saw how difficult it was and how much not playing for Australia is hurting those guys. I think it’s really important for us to realise how lucky and privileged we are. We want to make this environment in the Australian cricket team one that people can come in, be themselves and play their cricket to their best of their ability. And we want to have that sorted by the time that those guys are ready to come back into this team.”Reflecting on the events of the past week, Paine quipped that his visiting wife had not seen much of him due to all of the many meetings and coffees needed to try to rebuild a team that had lost so much in the space of only a few days. “It’s been strange and very difficult,” he said. “I don’t think my wife’s too happy, I’ve hardly seen her for the last couple of days and she’s come over for it.”It’s just been really challenging for everyone involved. It’s a really stressful time and our thoughts are certainly with our team-mates who aren’t here at the moment. We’ve had conversations and a lot of coffees with each other talking about what we’re going to do to change and how we’re going to do that going forward. From all this dark cloud at some stage there’s going to be a silver lining and I think all the guys are really keen to be involved in how that looks.”We’ll look to get through this week and we go home. We’ve got a fair bit of time off and potentially a new coach will come in and share some ideas with us. Got a fair bit of time before our next Test where we can all get together and I’m going to be very involving of our whole staff and playing group. We’ll all sit down and map out how that looks, how we’re going to play.”

Nottinghamshire have made the leap back up to Division One in the County Championship but the road to consolidating their place, let alone contesting the title, is not lacking in hurdles.Talented all-rounder Paul Coughlin is out with a shoulder injury for at least four months, making it unlikely he will play white-ball cricket for his new club this season. After his highly anticipated signing from Durham in September, Coughlin dislocated his shoulder in the outfield while playing for England Lions in the West Indies and required surgery. The loss of his seam bowling is a blow but it is, perhaps, in the batting stakes where Nottinghamshire may feel the squeeze.The Trent Bridge departure lounge was busy in 2018; those moving on included captain Chris Read, Brett Hutton, Michael Lumb and Brendan Taylor. More recently, Alex Hales signed a white-ball only contract.Nottinghamshire were unsuccessful in securing several batsmen, including Sam Northeast, in the off-season and they remain in the market should someone suitable becomes available. Head coach Peter Moores will look to the experience of new signing Chris Nash and emerging players to push for success in 2018, but he knows any injuries will leave the cupboard bare.”Our staff is actually smaller than we’d like, if I’m honest,” Moores said. “And so, it probably lacks a little bit of depth but it’s a great chance for some of the youngsters and that’s just the way it’s gone.”In some ways, we are waiting for the right sort of player to come along. We’ve been in the market for two or three players in the winter, didn’t get them. But that’s what happens. We’re fine, we’re happy where we are, but if that right player comes along we’d be interested in signing somebody.”Samit Patel struck twice in the first over•PCB/PSL

Moores is philosophical and supportive of Hales’ decision to eschew first-class cricket, coming in the same week Adil Rashid signed an exclusive white-ball deal with Yorkshire.”I understand it. I really do,” Moores said. “Alex had thought long and hard about it. It came across to some people that he made a snap decision.”But he’d made that decision, told us about it, thought long and hard about it before Adil Rashid announced it. He’s pretty clear in his goals. He wants to get better at white-ball cricket, he thinks that’s his real strength. He wants to become one of the best players in the world. He’s got areas he needs to work at and he’s got to use the little gaps in between to work on that.”Samit Patel is one Notts player keen to take on more responsibility. After playing a key role in the side’s promotion, the Royal London One-Day title and the Natwest T20 Blast trophy, the allrounder has returned to England with a few new tricks after some “eye-opening” training sessions with Saeed Ajmal and PSL franchise Islamabad United.Patel has never worked with a specialist spin-bowling coach and, while he was naturally coy about the specifics of Ajmal’s advice, he revealed he has made some tweaks and is focusing more on what is happening at the other end of the pitch.”The way he coaches and comes across as a person is really good and just tactically he is really smart,” Patel said. “There’s not too much [difference] as a finger spinner that you’re going to get but subtle variations in actions and things. Not big things but things that I wasn’t aware about on what makes things happen at the other end instead of short term at the crease.”It’s what happens down at the other end that makes [a wicket] happen if that kind of makes sense. Where it lands and how it comes off the pitch. So there’s a little bit of a difference in what happens this year compared to previous years.”The 33-year-old has made no secret of his desire to play for England but he has added a new goal to his list: he wants to play until he reaches 40.”It’s just a figure in my head that I thought it’d be a good age to play until and if the body allows to be honest,” Patel said. “But at the minute I think it’s pretty realistic.”

ScorecardIt might be stretching it a bit to suggest the Championship offers a rudder to steer us in these times of change, but in some cases familiarity does breed content. That was certainly the case for those Essex supporters watching the two standout performers of last season’s title-winning team go about their business under an unseasonable April sun. Jamie Porter and Simon Harmer were back in harness, following 147 wickets between them in 2017, and keeping the champions in contention.For a while, it was all threatening to go Pete Tong, as they say in these parts. Essex required some biffing from their No. 10, Australia international Peter Siddle, to reach 150 – hardly the most intimidating of opening batting efforts for the season (having been denied any on-pitch action in the first round at Headingley) but reminiscent of the 159 they managed on the first day against the same opponents last year. And we all know how that turned out.They then went to work with the ball, Porter finding the thudding stride that took him to within a back injury of a Test call-up over the winter. Lancashire’s top three – Keaton Jennings, Haseeb Hameed and Alex Davies, all England prospects – fell in an opening burst of 3 for 11, and he returned to remove Shiv Chanderpaul later in the evening session, as Lancashire stuttered to 109 for 7 before Jordan Clark kept them in with a sniff of a first-innings lead.Andy Flower, coach of the England Lions, was in town to give feedback on the likes of Jennings, Hameed and Essex’s Dan Lawrence, after their involvement in the winter tour of the Caribbean. That Lions series against West Indies A showed up the batsmen’s shortcomings against spin but, if Flower had hoped to watch one of his charges bat through a session in more familiar conditions, he was to be disappointed.Seam had done the trick for Lancashire, but Essex did not wait too long to introduce Harmer: Liam Livingstone, the unused batsman in England’s most recent Test squad, was taken at short leg for an attractive 33 in the 18th over, Harmer’s first – though Livingstone seemed unhappy with the decision. Dane Vilas fell in identical fashion, to similar disgruntlement, as Harmer and Porter – Essex’s HP sauce – threatened to mop up.The topic up and down the country may have been 100-ball cricket, the ECB’s latest grow-the-game wheeze, but the patrons at Chelmsford were concerned only with the old verities. There was humbug to be found, but only in small amounts, as fans returned to what we are bound to refer to as the home of the champions for a while yet, eager to drink in the sunshine and see Essex in Championship action for the first time in 2018.There were queues at the gates ahead of their 10am opening, the Tom Pearce Stand was brimming and – an important ritual, this – the first shirtless patrons of the summer were visible by early afternoon. Not too much had changed over the winter around one of the circuit’s cosiest grounds, but the Division One winners’ pennant hung (somewhat limply) by the pavilion and you can now find such delicacies as bratwurst on the lunch menu.On the field, the white-clad players went about their business, moving back and forth in the timeless manner described in Joseph O’Neill’s , “a repetition of pulmonary rhythm, as if the field breathed through its luminous visitors”.The cricket was somewhat less poetic. Until Siddle brought some fast-bowler’s grunt, whacking sixes down the ground in each direction, Essex’s innings had taken on a bronchial quality, puffing along as wickets fell. Having introduced himself, Essex’s overseas debutant was then engaged by a member of the crowd down at fine leg in a jovial discussion about whether the pugnacious Siddle had ever considered being a boxer.The fighting was one-sided to start with, although Essex might have felt they had denied Lancashire the initiative by reaching 38 for 1 after the first hour. But Nick Browne, having pilfered 23 from 54 balls, received an excellent bail-trimming delivery from Joe Mennie, Lancashire’s Australian pace bowler, coming round the wicket, and batsmen came and went thereafter.The Lancashire attack, now led by Graham Onions – still an insistent, angular menace at 35 – found their range on a pitch that was perhaps a bit soft, with Lawrence the recipient of a particularly good ball from Clark that turned him around like a nightclub doorman. Tom Westley brought coos with one straight drive but fenced to slip, while Ravi Bopara and James Foster were both lured into prods outside off, and Ryan ten Doeschate was adjudged lbw as Mennie brought the ball back in. Essex’s batsmen dragged themselves off but, not for the first time, Porter and Harmer dragged them back into it.

Dale Steyn has been included in South Africa’s Test squad to tour Sri Lanka next month. Steyn, who returned to competitive cricket for Hampshire six months after a heel injury saw him break down in the New Year’s Test against India, is three wickets away from breaking Shaun Pollock’s record as South Africa’s leading Test wicket-taker and will have the chance to do so in the two-Test series.Kagiso Rabada, who was forced out of the IPL with a stress fracture, will be fit to return to action alongside Vernon Philander, as Lungi Ngidi replaced the retired Morne Morkel. South Africa included three spinners in their squad: regular specialist Keshav Maharaj was joined by left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi, who has one Test cap to his name, and legspinner Shaun von Berg, who received his maiden Test call up.In the batting department, AB de Villiers’ retirement created room for Heinrich Klaasen to remain in the Test squad. Klaasen, who will also act as back-up wicketkeeper, will compete with Theunis de Bruyn for a place in the line-up. Klaasen toured with South Africa to New Zealand in March 2017 and was part of the squad to play Australia in March, but is yet to play a Test.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Klaasen has played four ODIs and three T20Is for South Africa and earned an IPL deal with Rajasthan Royals for the 2018 season. He was not among the top 25 run-scorers in last season’s first-class competition but played seven matches, scored 426 runs and averaged 38.72 with two centuries and a half-century, and was preferred over the domestic tournament’s top three run-scorers Rassie van der Dussen, Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Pieter Malan.The rest of the batting line-up takes on a familiar look, with Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram to open the batting and Hashim Amla holding the fort at No. 3. Temba Bavuma may move into de Villiers’ spot at No.4, unless captain Faf du Plessis opts to promote himself with the vacancy for de Bruyn or Klaasen at No. 6, if South Africa choose to play seven specialist batsmen. If they opt for six, Quinton de Kock will bat in the No. 6 position, with the bowlers to follow.Notably, South Africa opted not to pick an allrounder in the squad, leaving no room for young Wiaan Mulder who was around the Test group last summer, and also limited their selection of quicks to four. That means there is scant cover if Steyn, who has been hampered by injuries for much of the last three years, or any of the other quicks breaks down.Steyn has only just returned to first-class cricket and could feature in as many as three matches for Hampshire before the Sri Lanka tour. Originally, Steyn was only due to play in the ongoing fixture against Surrey, in which he has already bowled 26 overs and taken 2 for 91, but he will stay on after national team-mate Hashim Amla had to leave the squad with injury. Steyn is now also due to play in matches against Yorkshire and Lancashire, and in an interview with ESPNcricinfo at the weekend, he indicated his interest in playing Test cricket “for as long as I can”.”It is very welcome news to have Dale back in our pack of world-class seamers particularly in view of the retirement of Morne Morkel,” Linda Zondi, South Africa’s convener of selectors said. “A key factor in our selection process was to cover all our bases and all possible conditions that we may encounter in Sri Lanka. The two additional spinners to back up Keshav Maharaj have both had excellent records in recent times in our domestic cricket. Von Berg also gives us additional batting strength in the lower order.”While Shamsi only played four first-class matches last summer and took 17 wickets at 37 per piece, von Berg finished third on the wicket-takers’ list, with 29 wickets at 41.75. He was well behind the leading wicket-taker Simon Harmer, who took 47 wickets at 21.85, who chose to sign a Kolpak deal two years ago, and has since extended it until 2019, and could not be considered for selection.South Africa will play a two-day practice match at the P Sara Stadium in Colombo on July 7 and 8 before the first Test in Galle from July 12 and the second in Colombo from July 20. They are yet to name their squads for the five ODIs and the lone T20I that will spill into August.

Andrew Tye is having a good year. He was the leading wicket-taker at this year’s IPL with 24, and he’s taken more T20I wickets than anyone else this year. He’s also the leading striker in the tri-series in Zimbabwe, with nine scalps from three matches. But after Australia’s 45-run defeat to Pakistan in the dress rehearsal for Sunday’s final, Tye admitted that his team were “well off the mark in all aspects” and that he needs to choke runs as well as take wickets if he is to keep improving as a bowler.”We were just well off the mark today in all aspects,” Tye said. “With the bat, the ball and in the field we were a bit sloppy. We definitely expect more from ourselves. I’m pretty happy with the way I’ve been bowling, but not completely. Today my last over went for 18, so there’s definite room for improvement there. I need to cut that down to maybe 5 or 6, and then we’re chasing 13 less runs and that can change the story of the game. The fact that I’m getting wickets is good, but I’d like to cut the runs down a bit more.”Australia’s bowling attack had first use of a pitch that traditionally aids swing and seam this morning, but a bang-it-in approach meant they couldn’t take advantage of the conditions. Pakistan took 51 from the Powerplay, and when Fakhar Zaman started to get going Pakistan quickly took the match out of Australia’s reach.”We didn’t execute our plans very well. We probably set our fields a bit wrong at times too. They knew what we were going to come out and do and they attacked us pretty hard at the start. Once they got away, we found it hard to bring it back.”Tye shrugged off suggestions that the chilly midwinter conditions in which today’s game was played took the fire out of the Australians’ bellies. There was a little overnight rain in Harare, and temperatures dipped as low as 13°C (plus wind chill from a gusting breeze that blew all day).”A lot of the guys have county cricket experience, so they have played in these conditions before. It is what it is. You rock up one day and it can be 40 degrees and you don’t complain when it’s too hot. And you don’t complain when it’s too cold.”Today’s performance aside, Australia have found some winning combinations in their T20I side, and have come out on top in seven of their last nine games, and are within touching distance of the no. 1 ranking currently held by Pakistan.”We’ve done very well in this format over our last 10 or 11 games,” he said. “The mood is still very upbeat and will continue to be. We’ll learn from today. We’ve found a pretty stable team. Some really good performers in the Big Bash have come into the team, and they’ve done well. We’re settled and we’re enjoying playing the cricket that we’re playing. We’ve got a lot of freedom to do what we do, and the coaches and the captain always back us to do that. Some days it’s not going to come off, like today, but some days it will, and then we can beat any team in the world.”

Nottinghamshire have bolstered their batting for the County Championship run-in by signing West Indian Kraigg Brathwaite after Quinton de Kock was withdrawn from his deal by Cricket South Africa.Brathwaite goes straight into Nottinghamshire’s squad for their match against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl. They are currently second in Division One, nine points behind Somerset, with Surrey holding a considerable lead at the top.Brathwaite is a proven Test match opener, averaging 37.94 over 49 Tests, which included scores of 134 and 95 against England at Headingley last year when West Indies produced a memorable chase on the final day.He does not feature in T20 cricket – so there is no clash with the ongoing CPL – and is a rarity among the current generation having never played in the format in his career.”I’m excited about getting going at this great Club and hopefully I can help the side push for the Championship title in the run-in,” said Brathwaite.”Being able to call Trent Bridge home for a few weeks will be a great feeling and I’ll be looking to give my best for the team across the final five games. Testing myself in English conditions will develop my game and I’m hoping to continue my good form with the bat, starting on Sunday.”Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, said: “Kraigg will bring great experience to the side having played nearly 50 Test matches and we hope he can continue his form on these shores. Put simply, he adds quality and depth we’re hopeful that he can make contributions in the final weeks of the season.”

ScorecardAlex Hughes was the chief beneficiary of a rain-shortened day at Wantage Road as he made his way to 74 not out, moving Derbyshire to 118 for 4 replying to Northamptonshire’s 255.With only 29 overs possible in the morning session, Hughes moved from his overnight 38 to a fourth fifty in consecutive County Championship matches.Under very gloomy skies with rain threatening, Hughes enjoyed a fair slice of luck with several plays and misses and an inside edge via the pad that just missed his leg stump.But he seized on any chance to score and cut Ben Sanderson in front and behind point among his 10 boundaries and a six.Northants did strike twice in the session, with Tom Lace, for 38, and Gary Wilson, for just 3, edging and driving to Ben Curran at point.

Alastair Cook’s long-time mentor, Graham Gooch, is worried the England opener “is flat-lining” as the debate grows about whether he is fighting to save his career.Cook fell for 17 in England’s disappointing first innings at the Ageas Bowl to continue a lean summer where he has only passed fifty once. It is part of a longer theme in Cook’s recent career where the occasional peak – double centuries against West Indies and Australia – have come amid extended runs of low scores.”My concern would be watching him that I don’t see any improvements in his game,” Gooch told the Today show on . “I think he’s flat-lining a little bit. When you’re a batsman, you need to improve yourself, you need to look for new things to do to drive you forward.”In the last five years of his Test career, Gooch averaged 51.55 compared to his overall figure of 42.58 making 12 of his 20 hundreds in that period including the career-best 333 against India at Lord’s.Such has been the longevity of Cook’s career, which has included multiple occasions where he has hauled himself out of lean runs, it has often been suggested that he could emulate the Gooch’s late-career surge. He overtook Gooch as England’s leading Test run-scorer in 2015.”I don’t know how he’s practicing and I don’t know what he’s doing away from the game, but I am concerned when I see him play,” Gooch said. “I think he makes similar mistakes but even at 33 or 34, you can improve yourself.”Cook is currently averaging 19.06 in 2018 having had a poor series in New Zealand and then finding problems against India’s impressive attack. His lean form has compounded England’s opening problems which, since Andrew Strauss’ retirement in 2012, have focused on trying to find a reliable partner for Cook without success, a cycle which looks set to continue unless Keaton Jennings hauls himself out of his current struggles.Before the fourth Test against India, Cook received fulsome support from the current captain Joe Root when it came to the remainder of this season. England’s overseas assignments in 2018-19 include Test series against Sri Lanka and West Indies

AFP

Matt Renshaw suffered a blow to the helmet while fielding at short leg and was subsequently substituted out of Australia’s four-day warm-up fixture against Pakistan A in Dubai. Pakistan A agreed to the visitors replacing Renshaw with Marnus Labuschagne for the rest of the match.”He’s okay. Obviously a pretty heavy knock to the head there but he’s been with the medical staff all afternoon,” Aaron Finch said of Renshaw’s condition. “He seems to be in really good spirits and is confident that his headaches are subsiding pretty quickly.”That was perhaps the only blip for the Australians on day two. After dismissing Pakistan A for 278 from an overnight 247 for 6, they trimmed their deficit to 71 at stumps, for the loss of only two wickets, thanks to half-centuries from opener Finch and the Marsh brothers. Finch, who has been pencilled in for a Test debut in Dubai, dominated an 82-run partnership for the first wicket with 54 off 91 balls, including seven fours. The stand ended when left-arm seamer Waqas Maqsood had Finch caught behind in the 31st over. Eleven overs later, Usman Khawaja, the other opener, fell to Iftikhar Ahmed for 36 off 131 balls. Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Marsh then got together and raised fifties in an unbroken 103-run stand to boost their side to 207 for 2 at stumps.Wahab Riaz, who is part of Pakistan’s Test squad, went wicketless in 12 overs.Earlier, Nathan Lyon, who had claimed five wickets on day one, added three more to his tally to end with 8 for 103. Abid Ali, meanwhile, added only two to his overnight 83 before Lyon had him caught by wicketkeeper Paine in the 96th over.Mitchell Starc picked up his first wicket in competitive cricket since March 2018, when he dismissed Wahab for 12 off 4 balls. In all, the Australians needed only 7.1 overs on day two to bowl out the hosts.

Rohit Sharma, who was initially picked in India A’s squad for the first four-dayer against New Zealand A, which starts on November 16 at Mount Maunganui, has been rested, keeping in view his heavy workload.

Squads

India A squad for the first four-dayer: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), M Vijay, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Parthiv Patel, K Gowtham, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Rajneesh Gurbani, Vijay Shankar, KS Bharat
New Zealand A squad: George Worker, Will Young, Tim Seifert , Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Dane Cleaver (game one only), Cam Fletcher (games two and three only), Doug Bracewell, Kyle Jamieson, Lockie Ferguson (games two and three only), Seth Rance, Blair Tickner, Scott Kuggeleijn (game one only), Logan van Beek, Theo van Woerkom

Rohit had captained India to a 3-0 sweep of West Indies in the T20I series, which ended on November 11. He was the second-highest scorer in the series, with 121 runs in three innings, including a record fourth T20I hundred. He was then initially slated to play in the first four-dayer against New Zealand A at Bay Oval from November 16 to 19. Had he been part of that match, he would’ve had just a day’s break, before heading across the Tasman for a full series, which begins with the first T20I at the Gabba on November 21. A limited-overs regular for India, Rohit was also selected for the four-Test series in Australia. Prior to the limited-overs series against West Indies, Rohit had also played two matches for Mumbai in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy last month.Ajinkya Rahane will captain India A in the first four-dayer before joining the senior team for the Test series in Australia, which begins with the first Test from December 6 at the Adelaide Oval. Karnataka batsman Karun Nair will lead India A in the second and third four-dayers in New Zealand.Meanwhile, fast bowler Doug Bracewell, who had last played Test cricket in August 2016, was picked in the New Zealand A squad. He’s the second-highest wicket-taker for Central Districts in the four-day Plunket Shield this season, behind Seth Rance, who was also part of the squad to face India A.”We all know his game and it’s good to see him back at 100 percent fitness. We know what his capabilities are and want to see more of that at a slightly higher level,” New Zealand chief selector Gavin Larsen said.Eighteen-year-old left-arm spin-bowling allrounder Rachin Ravindra, who had helped New Zealand finish at the top of Group A in the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year and later impressed with the A team in the UAE, retained his place.Ravindra was the top scorer for New Zealand A in the UAE, with 173 runs in four innings, including two fifties, to add to three wickets with the ball.’He’s a player with a big future, no doubt about that,” Larsen said. “He’s obviously a skilful cricketer and very measured. We see this tour as another chance for Rachin to move his game forward against quality opposition.”Wicketkeeper-batsman Dane Cleaver, Kane Williamson’s cousin, and fast bowler Scott Kuggeleijn, were picked only for the first four-dayer against India A. Canterbury’s Cam Fletcher and Auckland tearaway Lockie Ferguson will replace them in the next two matches.