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Former Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider is reportedly reconsidering his decision to return to Pakistan after receiving threatening phone calls.Haider told on Thursday that an anonymous caller from Pakistan threatened him, saying: “you are coming back despite being told not to come, you are responsible for the consequences.” Haider reportedly informed Scotland Yard about the calls. However, later in the day, it appeared – not for the first time – that the situation had changed as he left an update on his Facebook page confirming that he would be returning as planned. “Coming with same plan on 24 on Sunday. Going Pakistan on 24th on Sunday,” his page read.Haider had gone missing from the Pakistan team’s hotel in Dubai on the morning of the fifth and final ODI against South Africa on November 8, saying he had received death threats from unidentified people seeking to draw him into match-fixing. He fled to the UK to seek protection and placed an application for asylum that hinged on the nature of the information he was able to divulge, as the extraordinary nature of his case appeared to fall outside the usual conditions required of a person seeking refugee status.The application was still being processed when Haider announced, earlier this week, that he would be returning to Pakistan after he had been reassured of his safety as well as that of his family’s after a meeting with Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik in London.

Match Facts

March 13, Bangalore
Start time 2.30pm (0900 GMT)Australia have not yet decided whether to throw Michael Hussey straight into the action after he joined the team as a replacement for Doug Bollinger•Getty Images

The Big Picture

When you have just lost a match to the lightweights Canada, you don’t want the next opponent to be someone who has been undefeated in 32 World Cup matches. A combination of Kenya’s wobbling top order and Australia’s pace battery means the Chinnaswamy Stadium could stage the biggest mismatch of the tournament on Sunday – the odds on one Australian betting site are so long that a 100$ bet on a Kenyan defeat will only win you 50 cents.It will be a relief for Australia to get back to cricket, having played their last full game as long ago as February 25. Things are set to become a lot more hectic for them, with their remaining three league matches coming up over the next week. They haven’t had a tough workout in the tournament yet, and it is unlikely they will in their next two matches as well, against the Associates in the group, Kenya and Canada. Those encounters will be vital for Michael Hussey, who joined the squad after the rained-out match against Sri Lanka. If deemed fit, they will provide him the chance to adjust to subcontinent conditions.Kenya know they have a tough task on their hands, and though chances of a win look remote, they have a couple of targets. First, if their batting, which has gradually improved over the World Cup – their totals read 69, 112, 142 and 198 – betters those scores, it will be an achievement. Secondly, Ricky Ponting has been a vocal supporter of the need for a streamlined World Cup, with lesser number of teams. What better chance to prove him wrong than by turning in a strong performance against the world champions?

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)

Australia WWWWW
Kenya LLLLW

Watch out for…

Cameron White has grown into a senior player in the Australian setup over the past two years. Leader of the national team in Twenty20s, he has also cemented his place as a big-hitting finisher. It’s been a while since he played a big knock, though, with no half-century in 11 matches. The amiable Kenyan bowling could help him change that.Tanmay Mishra is one of the talented youngsters to emerge from Kenya, and is only one of two batsman from the country to have an average above 30. He showed his maturity in the game against Canada, with a sedate half-century that revived Kenya after a familiar top-order collapse.

Team news

Australia will resist the temptation to rest either of their frequently injured fast bowlers, Brett Lee and Shaun Tait, and will field their best XI. Ponting, though, still needs to decide what that best XI is, and whether to include the recovering Michael Hussey in the match. If they do, Ponting said either David Hussey or Steven Smith will make way.Australia (probable) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Brad Haddin (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Cameron White, 6 Michael Hussey/David Hussey, 7 Steven Smith, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Jason Krejza, 11 Shaun TaitSteve Tikolo has been struggling with a stomach bug, and though he is recovering it remains to be seen whether he will be fit for Sunday’s match.Kenya (probable) 1 Maurice Ouma (wk), 2 Seren Waters, 3 Collins Obuya, 4 Steve Tikolo, 5 David Obuya, 6 Tanmay Mishra, 7 Thomas Odoyo, 8 Jimmy Kamande (capt), 9 Nehemiah Odhiambo, 10 James Ngoche, 11 Elijah Otieno.

The match will be played on the same track that was used for the England-Ireland match, which produced more than 650 runs, so Ponting expects an easy surface for the batsmen on Sunday. The weather is also expected to be pleasant; sunny but not too humid.

• Thomas Odoyo has been Kenya’s best allrounder: he’s their leading wicket-taker in one-dayers, and the second highest run-getter as well
• Shaun Tait has a strike-rate of 26.3 in one-dayers, the best among all bowlers who have sent down at least 1000 deliveries
• Kenya have lost all four of their encounters with Australia, and only once have they really tested Australia, in September 2002 when Shane Watson’s unbeaten 77 sealed a last-over win

Quotes

“As we’ve seen in the tournament so far, there is a possibility of upsets happening … we won’t take any game lightly.”
“The guys are really looking forward to playing the top teams, so far I think we have let the fans down, hopefully tomorrow we come up and help them enjoy the day.”

Ravindra Jadeja’s valiant unbeaten 170 was not enough to get West Zone past North Zone’s first-innings score at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara, and it is North that are favourites to go through to the final after the third day. West ended up 68 runs short, and North added another 191 to that before stumps, ending the day 259 runs ahead with seven wickets in hand.West began the day at 176 for 5, and Jadeja, initially, couldn’t find a partner who was willing to stick around long enough at the other end. West were soon 261 for 8, still way off North’s 460. Jadeja finally found able company in No. 10 Murtuja Vahora, and the two put together 131 for the ninth wicket. Sumit Narwal, who had scored a half-century and taken three wickets on the third day, was the man to dismiss Vahora for 43, with West still 68 behind. No. 11 Samad Fallah was out for a first-ball duck, giving Narwal his fifth wicket and leaving Jadeja stranded. Jadeja’s 170 came off 242 balls, and included 21 fours and five sixes.Any chance West had of pushing for an outright win was blunted by North’s openers – Sarul Kanwar and Shikhar Dhawan – who both reached 53. Mithun Manhas was unbeaten on 48 at the end of the day, and with North under no pressure to push for a win, they could use the last day for some batting practice.

A merciless South Zone piled on the misery against Central Zone on a dull third day at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Central ended the day 697 runs behind with eight wickets remaining. South had already secured the first-innings lead and showed little initiative to go for an outright win, batting on well beyond the point where Central had given up all hope and were just going through the motions, making for a boring day of cricket.The day’s play was possibly best defined by a moment where Devendra Bundela was heard through the stump mike begging his captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar to take him out of the attack. It wasn’t surprising considering he was bowling 80 kph lollipops against batsmen who were under no pressure and with a spread-out field. Bundela ended up bowling 18 overs in the day, as Central made no effort to bowl South out and just waited for them to declare. Abhinav Mukund and Amit Verma capitalised, helping themselves to centuries. Mukund’s 164 was his second century of the match – he scored 105 in the first innings. South reached 504 for 7 in their second innings before finally declaring, 769 runs ahead.Central’s seamers – Umesh Yadav, Pankaj Singh and RP Singh – bowled only 38 of the 100 overs bowled in South Zone’s second innings; a clear indication that the team had lost interest in the match. South captain Subramaniam Badrinath and first-innings double-centurion Manish Pandey didn’t even bother going out to bat, sending in the middle-order players and tail instead.South gave themselves a chance to win by taking two wickets at the end of the day, leaving Central 73 for 2.

During the two-day long IPL auction in Bangalore, the BCCI announced the draw for the tournament’s 2011 season that begins on April 8. Every team will play the same number of league games (14, seven home and seven away) as in previous seasons with the following break-up: each team will play five other teams both home and away (10 matches), two teams only at home, and the remaining two teams only away. A random draw was used to decide who plays whom once and twice.

ScorecardUsman Khawaja was in Brisbane earlier this week hoping to make his Test debut, but today could manage only 17 for New South Wales•Getty Images

New South Wales’ trio of Test hopefuls – Phil Hughes, Usman Khawaja and Steven Smith – struggled to make an impression on the first day of the Sheffield Shield match against Western Australia at the WACA and it was left to 18-year-old Nic Maddinson to hold the innings together as the visitors were bowled out for 291. Maddinson, who struck a century on first-class debut against South Australia last month, made 72 of those to counter a strong performance from the Warriors’ seamers, and the home side’s opening batsmen then negotiated a four-over burst to go to 0 for 3 at stumps.Hughes looked in superb touch as he and Phil Jaques went past an untroubled half-century opening stand, and was particularly punishing through the covers as he rattled along at close to a run a ball. He collected three boundaries in one Ryan Duffield over and looked set to advance his claims for a Test spot before both he and Jaques fell in quick succession to seamer Drew Porter as New South Wales slipped from 0 for 83 to 2 for 90.Porter, whose last first-class appearance was in 2008-09, was only included in WA’s side for this match after Michael Hogan withdrew with a back problem. He struck in consecutive overs, trapping Jaques lbw and tempting Hughes into an edged drive to second slip. Not long afterwards Smith, batting at No. 4, chipped to mid-on where Michael Beer held a juggled catch and New South Wales were 3 for 104.When Khawaja and Moises Henriques were dispatched in the afternoon session, the visitors were 5 for 164 and wobbling. Maddinson and wicketkeeper Peter Nevill eased them past 200 with a 62-run partnership for the sixth wicket, Maddinson striking 12 fours in his half-century before he was removed by Beer. A typically bellicose 19-ball 33 from captain Stuart Clark took New South Wales close to 300, but his new-ball bowlers were unable to break through in a short burst before the close as Liam Davis and Wes Robinson dug in with extra-cautious tenacity.

Suresh Raina has replaced Yuvraj Singh in the Grade A level – the highest – of the BCCI’s list of central contracts for 2010-11. Virat Kohli, M Vijay and Pragyan Ojha have moved up to Grade B, while Rohit Sharma has been demoted to C. RP Singh and Munaf Patel, who were previously in Grade B, have not been offered contracts.The board has made several changes to the structure, reducing the total number of contracted players from 41 to 24, and doing away with Grade D. The annual retainers have been increased from Rs. 60 lakh to Rs. 1 crore ($135,594 to $225,990) for Grade A and from Rs 40 lakh to Rs. 50 lakh ($90,396 to $112,995) for Grade B. The fees for category C remain at Rs. 25 lakhs ($56,498).Yuvraj has had a forgettable 2010, with indifferent form and fitness dogging him through one of the toughest phases of the career. He was disappointing at the World Twenty20 in the West Indies and was subsequently dropped for the Asia Cup but returned for the Tests in Sri Lanka. In the first Test, he scored 52 and 5 in Galle, before missing the second with fever. He was declared fit to play in the third but was passed over from the final XI in favour of Raina, who had replaced him for the second Test and scored a century on debut.Gautam Gambhir has, on the other hand, been more fortunate and has retained his Grade A classification despite an indifferent year – he has missed three of India’s last six Tests with injuries, and has bagged ducks in the second innings in each of other three. Rahul Dravid, who has been out of India’s limited-overs plans since the 2009 Champions Trophy, also features in the A category, despite his recent dip in Test form.Karnataka seamers Abhimanyu Mithun and Vinay Kumar, who forced their way into the national side through impressive shows in the 2009-10 first-class season, have been added to Grade C, along with Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored a fluent half-century against Australia on Test debut.Dinesh Karthik, who has been in and out of the one-day side as a back-up wicketkeeper and a make-shift opener, has been axed from the contracts list, along with Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary and Dhawal Kulkarni. Shikhar Dhawan, Abhishek Nayar and Sudeep Tyagi also find themselves out of contracts.Grade A: Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer KhanGrade B: Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Virat Kohli, M Vijay, Pragyan OjhaGrade C: Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, R Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Abhimanyu Mithun, Vinay Kumar

Australia have rested the senior trio of Ricky Ponting, Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson for the one-dayers against India later this month. In Ponting’s absence, Michael Clarke will lead a side that includes South Australia batsman Callum Ferguson, who has made a comeback after a year on the sidelines due to a knee injury.Injuries to Shaun Tait and Ryan Harris mean Doug Bollinger will spearhead an inexperienced fast bowling unit that includes Clint McKay (12 matches), and the uncapped pair of Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson.Queensland’s James Hopes and New South Wales’ Steve Smith will vie for the allrounder’s spot, and big-hitting opening batsman David Warner makes a return to the one-day squad. There was no place for either wicketkeeper Brad Haddin or fast bowler Peter Siddle, both of whom are recovering from injuries and the selectors felt it was too premature to risk them in international cricket.”Ricky faces a very demanding domestic summer on his return to Australia,” Andrew Hilditch, Australia’s chief selector, said, “and will have no other opportunity for a break from the start of the domestic season until after the much-awaited World Cup.”Hilditch gave similar explanations for leaving out Watson and Johnson. “It is essential to the balance of our side that Shane can open the batting and play the all-round role. we have decided the best way of ensuring he can play this role is for him to miss the one-day component of this series,” he said. “Mitchell is now the leader of our bowling attack, and with numerous injuries to our fast bowling stocks at present, it is essential we manage his workload so he can get through the domestic summer and the ICC Cricket World Cup.”The three-ODI series is from October 17-24.Squad: Michael Clarke (capt), Cameron White, Doug Bollinger, Callum Ferguson, Nathan Hauritz, James Hopes, Mike Hussey, Shaun Marsh, Clint McKay, Tim Paine (wk), James Pattinson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner

Lancashire have been given the green light from the government to proceed with their plans for a £32m redevelopment the Old Trafford stadium.The plan, which is in conjunction with a Tesco development near the ground, had threatened to be derailed earlier this month when Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said he wanted to review the proposal after another supermarket threatened legal action.But now with the government satisfied Lancashire can begin work to improve the facilities and rotate the wicket by 90 degrees to overcome the troublesome history of bright afternoon light reflecting off the media centre into the batsmen’s eyes to stop play.”This is a historic moment for Old Trafford, as it will ultimately secure the future of international cricket in Greater Manchester and the northwest,” said Lancashire chief executive Jim Cumbes.”We can now immediately commit to the turning of the wicket, a vital stage in our programme for the re-developed stadium to be ready in time to host The Ashes in 2013. Two new grandstands and a re-furbished Pavilion will ensure a capacity of 15,000 capable of rising to 25,000 with temporary seating. There will also be floodlights and a screen showing action replays.”

Scorecard
No play was possible on the second day of the County Championship Division Two match between Northamptonshire and Worcestershire at Wantage Road.Rain fell throughout the night in Northampton and with the forecast suggesting no respite, umpires Mark Benson and Nick Cook decided to abandon the day in the afternoon.It was another blow to Northaptomshire’s flagging promotion hopes as they looked to stabilise their innings and will resume on the third day on 96 for 3, with Stephen Peters unbeaten on 38 and Rob Newton yet to score.Worcestershire, who have Division One aspirations of their own, will look to keep up the pressure tomorrow, with Alan Richardson looking to build on his figures of 2 for 21.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsStuart Broad took four wickets as Pakistan found themselves in another huge hole at Edgbaston•PA Photos

Pakistan were poor in the first Test, but were even worse at Edgbaston as they crashed for 72 on the opening day – a new low against England five days after setting the previous record – with their threadbare batting skittled by the hosts’ three quicks. Stuart Broad and James Anderson took four wickets apiece while Steven Finn collected two against some feeble resistance before England moved to 112 for 2 by the close, already a lead of 40, with Pakistan’s woes compounded by another shoddy fielding display.It was a desperate effort from the visitors and made Salman Butt’s decision to bat first in ideal bowling conditions look foolish. Butt insisted he was making a positive move – and signs of uneven bounce suggested he wasn’t entirely wrong – but he wasn’t backed up by the mindset of the batsmen who, after twice collapsing at Trent Bridge, were purely focused on survival and showed virtually no intent. Nine runs came in the first hour – and four of those off one shot from Butt – and when wickets fell the scoreboard hadn’t gone anywhere.Better batting line-ups than Pakistan would have struggled, but Imran Farhat and Azhar Ali combined to face 56 balls between them without making a run and England were never forced to move away from Plan A. The highest partnership was 27 for the seventh wicket between Umar Amin and Mohammad Amir before Anderson made it 15 wickets in his last three Test innings to deny Broad a five-wicket haul after he’d made the top-order inroads.England’s progress in reply wasn’t without problems as conditions remained helpful. Alastair Cook, who was reprieved by the UDRS after being given lbw to Mohammad Asif, continued his poor form when he managed to deflect a loopy bouncer to second slip off the back of the bat when he was far too early on a pull. Andrew Strauss then departed as the review system benefited Pakistan after umpire Steve Davis failed to spot an inside edge.

Pakistan’s zero-sum game

• Pakistan’s first-innings total of 72 is their joint fourth-lowest in Tests, and their worst against England. It’s Pakistan’s 12th sub-100 total in Tests, of which six have come since 2002.

• Pakistan’s innings contained five ducks, which is only the third instance of five or more zeroes in a Pakistan innings.

• Only three Pakistan batsmen have faced more deliveries in an innings of zero than Azhar Ali’s 32. Imran Farhat, who made a 24-ball duck, is in joint sixth place.

• Collectively, Pakistan’s five batsmen who failed to score faced 70 deliveries, which is second-highest for a single innings, next only to Geoff Allott’s famous 77-ball effort for New Zealand against South Africa in 1999.

• It’s also the first time in Test history that two of the top three batsmen have scored ducks in an innings, and consumed more than 50 deliveries in doing so.

• The last time Pakistan played more than 30 overs in an innings and scored at a slower rate was more than 20 years ago, in January 1990, when Australia bowled them out for 107 in 65.5 overs (1.62 runs per over).

However, Pakistan had another dreadful time with dropped catches. Jonathan Trott was shelled at first slip by Farhat when he had 8 – a regulation chance – and Kevin Pietersen, on 9, was put down at mid-on by Umar Gul as he charged Saeed Ajmal. Gul had to stretch, but it wasn’t much of an effort. Pietersen was then dropped a second time on 20 by Zulqarnain Haider, the debutant keeper who earlier collected a first-ball duck, when he couldn’t hold an inside edge.Pietersen also flashed an edge between keeper and slip off the luckless Ajmal but by the time bad light ended play he was beginning to look far more settled at the crease with a sign of a strut returning. Trott, as has been his style this season, moved along in unobtrusive but effective style, which was no mean feat in testing conditions.It was immediately clear that England’s bowlers would find plenty of help and the demise started in the eighth over when Farhat feathered an edge off Broad, who was back on the ground where he took 8 for 52 for Nottinghamshire a couple of weeks ago. Anderson, in his 50th Test, again made the ball do what he wanted with swing both ways as he left Butt playing at fresh air.However, it was Finn who removed the Pakistan captain when an uncertain push outside off resulted in a regulation edge to Graeme Swann at second slip. The best grab of the morning, though, came from Matt Prior when he flung himself across in front of first slip to snaffle Shoaib Malik’s outside edge and hand Anderson a deserved wicket. The nick would have carried to Strauss so Prior took a gamble, but committed himself fully to the dive and, like the slip cordon, is very safe these days.Compared to what had come before, Umar Akmal launched his innings with a blaze of strokeplay with six runs off his first two balls before he whipped Broad over the deep square-leg boundary. It was a different story for Azhar, who couldn’t even score off half volleys before being trapped lbw by one that nipped back from Broad. Azhar considered using a review but after some advice from Umar trudged off and replays confirmed the appeal would have been upheld – if only just – with the impact marginally inside the line of off stump.Umar, who at least was playing a few shots, could have saved himself with a review but opted not to ask after Finn trapped him lbw with one that scooted through. Umar had moved so far across his stumps that he was struck outside the line and the third umpire would have been able to overturn the on-field decision.Zulqarnain couldn’t have made his debut in tougher conditions and received a lovely first delivery from Broad that grazed the outside edge. After lunch, Amin and Amir at least tried to show some aggression and Amin was given a life when Swann spilled a rare chance at second slip.Amir, meanwhile, was reprieved by the UDRS when HotSpot showed an inside edge after he was given lbw to Anderson, although there was a suggestion the mark was made by bat hitting pad. However, it was only going to be a matter of time before England completed the job and Broad’s fourth ended Amin’s fighting effort and Broad was eyeing his fourth five-wicket haul until Anderson cut through the long tail.It really was a sorry state of affairs for Pakistan as Mohammad Yousuf, who ruled himself out yesterday after his long-haul flight, watched their latest embarrassing demise from the dressing room.