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Bangladesh opening batsman Imrul Kayes has been ruled out of contention for the one-off Test against India, which starts on Thursday in Hyderabad. Imrul injured his left thigh while fielding on day two of the Bangladeshis’ tour match against India A at the Gymkhana ground.According to BCB media manager Rabeed Imam, it is a recurrence of the same injury that ruled Imrul out of the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch last month.In Imrul’s absence, Soumya Sarkar – who replaced him in Christchurch, opened for the first time in Tests, and scored 86 and 36 – is likely to open alongside Tamim Iqbal in Hyderabad. Bangladesh have not called up an opener as Imrul’s replacement, instead flying in the middle-order batsman Mosaddek Hossain, who played the ODIs and T20s in New Zealand but was overlooked for the Tests.Imrul’s injury comes as a significant blow to Bangladesh ahead of their first-ever Test on Indian soil. While Imrul’s Test record is modest – 1432 runs at 28.64 – he and Tamim have forged what is by far Bangladesh’s most successful opening partnership. Together, they have scored 2205 runs, and average an impressive 47.93as a pair with four century stands.Bangladesh squad: Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), Tamim Iqbal, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Taijul Islam, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed, Subashis Roy, Liton Das (wk), Mominul Haque, Shafiul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain.

The spotlight on pitches has returned to Indian cricket following their defeat inside three days on a rank turner in Pune by an unfancied Australian team. Preparations at the venue for the second Test, Bangalore, though suggest the playing surface might not be as extreme.R Sudhakar Rao, secretary at the Karnataka State Cricket Association, said that the groundstaff at M Chinnaswamy stadium were working towards providing a strip that helps a Test match last its entire duration. He also said the Indian team has not arrived on site yet and have not left any instructions to be followed either.”So far we have not been told anything,” he told , “Once they arrive, we have to see if they make any suggestions.”Our intention is to prepare a sporting, Test-match pitch. We want a five-day match. We definitely don’t want to see the match end in two and a half days.”The last Test match at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, between India and South Africa in 2015, was washed out with only one day’s play possible. That prompted a large-scale renovation and though the pitches on the square were untouched, the outfield itself was dug out to install a state-of-the-art drainage system. Bangalore has already hosted an international match since then – the T20I between India and England – but this will be its first Test since its makeover. PR Vishwanathan, the South Zone head of the BCCI’s ground and pitches committee, is expected to oversee preparations before it begins on March 4.For now, the Chinnaswamy deck, under the supervision of the in-house curator K Sriram, continues to get water. “We like to keep some moisture underneath. So we haven’t stopped watering it,” Rao said. “We’ll water it until two or three days before the match. Then we will see what the pitch looks like, two days out, and take a call.”On the first two days, the pitch should be good for batting and help medium-pacers. On days two and three there should be slow turn. Then on the last two days there should be more turn. I have told Sriram to prepare that kind of wicket,” Rao said “At least, that is our intention.”

Two Tests into Australia’s summer, Nathan Lyon’s position appeared to be in jeopardy. The interim chairman of selectors, Trevor Hohns, hinted ahead of the Adelaide Test against South Africa that had Steve O’Keefe not suffered a calf injury shortly before the squad was selected, he may well have taken the place of the struggling Lyon. Fast forward four Tests and Lyon is earning nothing but praise from within the Australian camp.If he was not exactly a match-winner at the SCG, he was at least a very valuable contributor, picking up five wickets in the victory. And with a four-Test tour of India beginning next month, Australia’s selectors are pleased to see Lyon returning to something close to his best. At the SCG, he often bowled in tandem with left-armer O’Keefe in what could be a preview of Australia’s spin attack for the India tour.”I thought Nathan was very good in Melbourne and brilliant in this Test match,” coach and selector Darren Lehmann said. “That’s the best he’s bowled for a long period of time. I think he’ll admit that. He used his variation really well, bowled well to right and left-handers, bowled over and around, and chopped and changed, which was really pleasing.”Sometimes he gets into the one way, he just wants to bowl over the wicket all the time. He was exceptional in this game and bowled really well. I’m looking forward to that sort of combination going to India.”Ashton Agar, who was part of Australia’s squad for the Sydney Test but was not included in the XI, also has a strong chance of being picked in the touring party. However, Lehmann also said that Victoria’s spin-bowling allrounder Glenn Maxwell would be another contender for a place in what is likely to be an expanded squad to cover for all eventualities.”He’ll certainly come under consideration with India coming up,” Lehmann said on ABC Radio on Saturday morning. “We know he plays spin bowling well and offers that extra dimension, and is a gun fielder. We want to see him make runs, and he’s had a reasonable start to the BBL. That’s the challenge for him, to keep going, and then hopefully [earn a place] in the one-day squad.”Glenn Maxwell, whose last Test was in 2014, could make a return to Australia’s scheme of things for the tour of India•Getty Images

Whichever spinners make the cut for Australia, they will need quickly to work out that bowling in India requires a very different approach compared to Australian pitches that offer plenty of bounce. Although Lyon was Australia’s leading wicket-taker on the 2013 tour of India, with 15 at 37.33, he had been dropped after leaking runs in the first Test in Chennai.”Nathan Lyon, at the moment, I think he is bowling very well,” Pakistan’s captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, said. “But if you compare Australian conditions with the Indian conditions, or any Asian conditions, there is difference of bounce, which normally spinners get in Australia. That’s why I think when our spinners come here, it is difficult for them because they have to get used to these conditions and utilize that bounce in their favour.”When the bowlers from here go to Asia, they find it difficult to utilize these sort of turning tracks, because there, under-cutter bowlers who bowl quicker are effective. Bowlers who bowl overspin and bowl slower normally get thrashed. It will be difficult for them. I think they can [do well], it’s about adjusting yourself to the conditions. The biggest challenge will be India’s strong batting line-up. They’re batting beautifully in their own conditions.”Australia’s batsmen will also face a significant challenge in India. The squad will spend two weeks in Dubai ahead of the tour, training on turning pitches at the ICC’s Academy and playing an unofficial three-day game there in an effort to acclimatise to Asian conditions. They then head to Mumbai for a tour match ahead of the first Test in Pune, which begins from February 23.”It’ll be a pretty tough camp,” Lehmann said of the Dubai leg of the journey. “Batting long periods of time is going to be the key. I think Alastair Cook summed it up really well on their tour, where they didn’t bat long enough. They got decent scores but still didn’t bat long enough. That’s going to be a challenge for the group.”We batted 135 overs in this first innings – we need to bat 150-plus in India, to post a big, big total. It’s a great challenge for the group going forward. They’re fit and strong, so they should be able to bat long periods of time.”

Match facts

December 9, 2016
Start time 1420 local (0320 GMT)

Big picture

Little more than 18 months after Australia belted New Zealand in the World Cup final at a heaving MCG, the two sides return to the scene of that decider with much less on the line. Strong Australian victories in Sydney and Canberra have sealed the Chappell-Hadlee series and also given the hosts a spring in their step after the humiliation of a Test series loss to South Africa. Where more than 90,000 people turned up to the aforementioned final, the expected crowd for Friday is closer to 25,000. For players on both sides, and the administrators who run their respective cricket boards, this will be a stark reminder of how much difference context can make to what is ostensibly the same match: same teams, same venue, similar time of year.Having started the series with the sideshow of Glenn Maxwell’s punishment for speaking out of turn, Steven Smith’s Australians have produced a pair of well-rounded displays. In addition to hundreds by the team’s leaders Smith and David Warner, the likes of Travis Head, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh and Pat Cummins have all contributed neatly. Such a broad spread of fruitful performances is the sort of thing Kane Williamson was hoping for when his side crossed the Tasman, but they arrive in Melbourne without having yet done so. In particular the New Zealand bowlers have failed to make a sustained impression, something they will undoubtedly be eager to address in Melbourne.Australia are chasing a clean sweep at the venue where they claimed the World Cup last year•Getty Images

Form guide

Australia: WWLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand: LLLWL

In the spotlight

Having showcased his outlandish batting stance at the SCG, George Bailey was shuffled down the batting order in Canberra and unable to make an impact on the match. He was absent, too, from the back end of Australia’s World Cup campaign due to the return of Michael Clarke, and will be eager to make his presence felt this time around. The method he has adopted at the batting crease is bound to cause consternation for being so unorthodox, and the only way to silence the doubters will be to make runs on a big stage while utilising it. At the same time Bailey can shore up his place with numerous other hungry performers – not least Glenn Maxwell and Usman Khawaja – currently missing out on a spot.While his pace has been up from last summer, Trent Boult has again been unable to dictate the course of an encounter between Australia and New Zealand in the way he so memorably did during their World Cup group match at Eden Park in 2015. To some degree this has been because the hosts have played him well, but there has also been an issue of the ball swinging only fleetingly for one of the game’s most gifted exponents of conventional swerve. Had the edge he procured from David Warner’s bat in Canberra gone his way, things may have been different, but for now Boult will hope to atone with wickets and influence in Melbourne.

Team news

Mitchell Starc may be given a rest ahead of the Test series against Pakistan, while Glenn Maxwell will also be eager for an opportunity to play in front of his home crowd.Australia (possible) 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch, 3, Steven Smith (capt), 4 George Bailey, 5 Travis Head, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 James Faulkner, 9 Adam Zampa, 10 Pat Cummins, 11 Josh HazlewoodLockie Ferguson is a decent chance to return for his second game, possibly at the expense of Matt Henry. James Neesham is still icing the arm struck by Starc in Canberra and should he pull up sore Henry Nicholls would get a call-up.New Zealand (possible) 1 Tom Latham, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Jimmy Neesham, 5 Colin Munro, 6 BJ Watling (wk), 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Colin de Grandhomme, 9 Lockie Ferguson, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Trent Boult.

Pitch and conditions

Melbourne’s weather is typically changeable this week, but the MCG pitch looks brimful of runs ahead of its first international of the summer.

Stats and trivia

• Aaron Finch averages 51.50 at the MCG, where he has scored 412 runs in eight innings. Warner averages only 21.75 here, with 174 runs in eight innings.
• Mitchell Starc has 14 wickets in six ODIs at the MCG, at 14.85 apiece.

Quotes

“I think they’ve got world-class players, when you get 370 it’s always going to be hard to chase down, we batted really well and they probably didn’t bowl as well as they’d like, which was the same for us two weeks ago when we didn’t bowl or bat as well as we’d have liked.”
“We just want to get better. We want to improve from those last two performances. We weren’t at our best and if we can do a few things better and put them under some pressure we’ll be better off for it.”

Scorecard and ball-by ball- detailsMasabata Klaas’ run-out on the last ball led to the tie•Getty Images

A fourth straight ODI fifty for Ellyse Perry, second consecutive for Nicole Bolton, a four-for from Suné Luus, and a match-changing all-round performance from Dane van Niekerk combined to a dramatic tie in the fourth ODI in Coffs Harbour. South Africa women needed eight off the last over and later five off two, when Masabata Klaas slapped a four but was run-out on the last ball as both teams were all out for 242 in only the fifth tie in women’s ODIs. South Africa have still not beaten Australia in any format.South Africa were reeling in their chase at the score of 40 for 4, rattled by the Australian quicks and left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen. After Jonassen broke the opening stand, Perry bowled Lara Goodall, Rene Farrell bowled Luus and debutant Amanda-Jade Wellington had Mignon du Preez stumped with her very first ball. Kapp and van Niekerk joined forces that only steadied them but also brought the chase on track with a massive partnership that lasted 30.3 overs. Wellington would have had her second wicket, of van Niekerk, in the 16th over but Meg Lanning could not hold on to a low chance at slip after the ball flicked the keeper’s glove on the way.Kapp and van Niekerk scored 144 runs together, the third-highest stand for the fifth wicket overall, and took South Africa towards 200. While Kapp was more circumspect in her sixth ODI half-century, van Niekerk scored at more than run a ball against Jonassen, Perry and Farrell.It took a run-out to break the stand when Kapp backed up too much at the non-striker’s end and walked back for a 104-ball 66, starting Australia’s fight back. South Africa needed 57 off eight overs and Van Niekerk’s fours during her third ODI fifty brought the asking rate under six before Jonassen bowled her for 81. Another run-out and nine runs later, the visitors needed eight from six but Elyse Villani, bowling for the first time in her international career, conceded seven. When they needed one to win, Klaas struck a full delivery to midwicket but could not reach the non-striker’s end on time.Australia had opted to bat and Bolton and Perry, who missed the last match with a groin injury, steered them for over 16 overs after Beth Mooney, who was promoted to open, and Lanning fell cheaply. Bolton and Perry’s partnership yielded 80 runs before Luus dismissed Bolton, for 63, and Jonassen in her consecutive overs.Alex Blackwell then allied with Perry with a quick 35 off 30 but van Niekerk disturbed their lower order. Perry helped them cross 200 and took them to the last five overs before Luus sent her back too and van Niekerk struck on consecutive balls with the wickets of Alyssa and Villani. The stutter meant Australia struck only 26 runs in their last five overs as debutants Wellington and Tahlia McGrath were dismissed off consecutive balls in the last over.Luus finished with 4 for 37 from her 7.5 overs and Van Niekerk returned figures of 3 for 52 from nine overs.

ScorecardJoe Burns gave the selectors a reminder of his presence with a timely century at the Gabba•Getty Images

A Joe Burns hundred and 79 from Usman Khawaja gave Australia’s selectors significant food for thought on the second day of Queensland’s Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales at the Gabba. The squad for the first Test against South Africa is due to be named on Friday and it is entirely possible there will be room for only one of Burns and Khawaja, both of whom were axed during the recent tour of Sri Lanka.Burns’ opening position was taken in Colombo by Shaun Marsh, who scored a century in that Test and has effectively proven his fitness – he recently suffered a hamstring injury – by making 73 in Western Australia’s Shield game on Tuesday. The other inclusion in Colombo was allrounder Moises Henriques, who had little impact and will not retain his place in the home summer, which opens up one batting position.Burns and Khawaja, who batted together for a 166-run partnership against New South Wales, might therefore have effectively have been competing with each other for a Test call-up. Having survived a tense evening period on the first day, they resumed on 1 for 39 and both moved to half-centuries against a high-quality attack whose every member owns a baggy green, including current Test players Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon.Eventually, it was Trent Copeland who broke the stand by inducing a top-edge from Khawaja on 79. But Burns found another capable ally and put on 109 for the third wicket with Marnus Labuschagne, who is fresh from being named Player of the Tournament in the Matador Cup, and in this innings looked set for a third first-class hundred before Khawaja declared with him on 85 and the total on 6 for 330.By that stage Burns had departed for 129, his 12th first-class hundred, and he was one of four wickets for Hazlewood, who also had Peter Forrest and Chris Hartley caught behind cheaply. Hazlewood finished with 4 for 70 and Starc, who is coming back from a nasty training injury that led to 30 stitches in his left shin, picked up 1 for 62 from his 19 overs. Lyon took 0 for 75 from 18.Queensland’s declaration came immediately after they had taken a first-innings lead, and it left New South Wales having to bat 12 potentially awkward overs under lights before stumps. However, David Warner made the most of the brief period at the crease and raced to 41 from 35 deliveries, while Ed Cowan managed 10 not out. By stumps, the Blues were 0 for 51, with a 48-run advantage in the match.