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Kolkata not sweating over Hodge
The Kolkata Knight Riders are not looking for any replacement yet for Brad Hodge, who is leaving to join the Australian squad for the West Indies tour. Hodge was asked by Cricket Australia to join the squad as a shadow replacement for Michael Clarke, who left the team camp in Brisbane to attend to an ailing family member.Joy Bhattacharya, Kolkata’s team director, said they were monitoring the development and hope Hodge can still re-join the squad if Clarke returns soon. “We already have other international players like Salman Butt so we are not yet looking at any replacement for Hodge,” Bhattacharya said. Hodge, one of the prolific run-getters in Twenty20 cricket, played three games for Kolkata.Prasad calls for ‘patience and trust’
With two wins from eight matches, the Bangalore Royals Challengers are struggling at the bottom of the points table. Recently, Charu Sharma, the team’s chief executive, was sacked, and Venkatesh Prasad, the coach, has called upon the team owners to have patience and trust in the side. Prasad termed Sharma’s dismissal as “unfortunate” and feared it could send the wrong signal.Nanavati ends probe into Harbhajan-Sreesanth row
Sudhir Nanavati, the BCCI-appointed commissioner, has said he is satisfied by Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth’s statements regarding their on-field altercation and is scheduled to submit his report to the board on Monday.”The investigation is over and now I don’t need to talk to any player or official in this case,” Nanavati said after meeting both the players on Friday. “I’m satisfied with the answers of both Sreesanth and Harbhajan. I’ve all the evidence that I need to prepare the report.Slow going
The IPL has fined the Bangalore Royal Challengers and the Kolkata Knight Riders US$1000 and $500 respectively for a slow over rate in their match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The action was taken by the match referee, Farokh Engineer, under accordance of the ICC Playing Conditions and Rules.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Shakib Al Hasan tried his best to lift Bangladesh, but his single-handed efforts – 108 and 1 for 34 – couldn’t inspire an otherwise woeful team as Pakistan equalled their most successful streak in ODIs, winning their tenth in a row to take a 4-0 lead in the five-match series. Shakib’s innings lifted Bangladesh from a dire 109 for 8 to a respectable 210, but Pakistan’s top order barely broke a bead of sweat in knocking off the runs, achieving the target with seven wickets and 5.3 overs to spare.Shakib gave Bangladesh a fighting chance, but the game was settled when Butt and Akmal blitzed 97 for the first wicket in less than 17 overs. Both had scored hundreds in the previous game, and the good form showed as both oozed confidence, caressing fours through the off side and flicking wristily to the midwicket and square-leg boundaries whenever the bowlers erred even marginally.Bangladesh had one opportunity to break the stand before it had reached dangerous proportions, but Mahmudullah made a mess of a chance at extra cover when Butt drove airily at Shahadat Hossain. Butt had made 16 in a total of 25, and he made Bangladesh – and Hossain – pay dearly in his next over, creaming three glorious drives through the off side, two of which found the boundary. Akmal then joined the party, flicking the last ball of that over – which leaked 15 – for four, and then belting Mashrafe Mortaza for two more fours. Fifteen more came off that over, and after nine, Pakistan had sped to 65.Mohammad Ashraful was forced to turn to spin in the tenth over, and while the slow bowlers reduced the boundaries, both openers milked singles and twos, with the occasional boundary ensuring that the run-rate stayed above a run a ball. Akmal lofted Shakib over long-on for the first six of the match in the 13th over, but fell while trying to repeat the stroke four overs later.The arrival of Bazid Khan significantly slowed the scoring-rate, as he struggled to get the ball off the square against the slow bowlers, giving Bangladesh a chance to regroup. His first 23 deliveries fetched just two runs, and also led to Butt losing his patience and his wicket, dashing down the pitch for a non-existent single.The excitement for the crowd dried up as Mohammad Yousuf joined Bazid – there was a 67-ball boundary-drought at one stage – but Bazid finally broke the shackles in emphatic fashion, blasting Mahmudullah over midwicket for six, and gradually grew in confidence thereafter. Yousuf, meanwhile, played a typically fluent innings, guiding the ball into the gaps, cutting and flicking with characteristic elegance, and scoring at a fair clip despite the lack of fours and sixes. The asking-rate was always within control, and the result was a foregone conclusion long before Yousuf swept Abdur Razzak to seal the deal.That Pakistan required 44.3 overs with the bat was itself a surprise, for at one stage it appeared the game would be over before the artificial lights came into play. After winning the toss on a hot and sunny afternoon, and on what looked like a flat pitch, Bangladesh made a complete hash of ideal batting conditions. Umar Gul struck twice in his first over, inducing edges from Junaid Siddique and Aftab Ahmed, while Mohammad Asif – playing his first international match in nearly six months – had Tamim Iqbal cutting straight to point. Ten for 3 became an even more depressing 16 for 4 soon after Shakib walked in, as Mohammad Ashraful became another victim of Gul’s nagging line around off.Shakib, coming off a fine 75 in the third ODI in Lahore, continued from where he had left off, gauging the pace of the pitch in a trice. Gul was cut and pulled for two fours in three balls while Asif was creamed through the covers.Through the early part of his innings, though, it seemed his resistance would just be a minor irritant for a marauding Pakistan, as they knifed through the rest of the batting. Sohail Khan helped himself to a couple of wickets, while Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik took a wicket apiece as well.Mortaza, though, turned out to be an excellent foil for Shakib. Where other top-order batsmen had thrown it away, Mortaza showed fine temperament, turning the strike over and allowing Shakib the luxury of a solid partner. The first signs of a significant partnership came when Gul returned for a second spell. Shakib pulled him crisply and then struck him through extra cover in the same over – the 33rd – scoring 12 off it, the most expensive of the innings. Fawad Alam’s harmless left-arm spin was milked away for ones and twos, while Malik’s offspin met a similar fate as well. Never hurried in attack or defence, Shakib finally got to a richly deserved hundred in the 47th over, and the 97 he added with Mortaza was the highest ninth-wicket stand for Bangladesh in ODIs. That incredible rearguard effort gave Bangladesh some hope; sadly for them, though, Pakistan’s top order showed just how badly Bangladesh had bungled earlier in the afternoon.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has issued summons to Jagmohan Dalmiya, its former president, following his failure to reply to a show cause notice. He will face a Disciplinary Committee headed by Sharad Pawar, the current BCCI president, and includes Shashank Manohar and Chirayu Amin.”Dalmiya has been asked to appear before the Disciplinary Committee on July 26 at one o’clock (afternoon) in New Delhi,” Niranjan Shah, the BCCI Secretary said.The Board had issued a show cause notice to Dalmiya, asking him to furnish details of a transfer of Rs 40 crore (approx. US$85561498) from an Indian Overseas Bank account in Bhawanipur to the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), of which he is the president, between 1996 to 2005. After Dalmiya failed to reply to the notice, the Board debited the amount to CAB and also decided to withhold all subsidies to it.Earlier, the Board had alleged misappropriation of the 1996 World Cup funds by Dalmiya and filed an FIR at a Mumbai police station a few months ago. The case was subsequently transferred to the Economic Offence Wing of the Mumbai Police who interrogated Dalmiya and two other colleagues when he was at the helm of Board’s affairs.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Sri Lanka’s slick professionalism in the field, and Dilhara Fernando’s composure in the final over, earned them a nail biting win over England in Antigua. Though Sri Lanka only compiled a relatively modest 236, England’s middle-order fell away meekly before a thrilling fightback from Paul Nixon and Ravi Bopara dragged down the required total to just 12 from the final over. It was two too many.Fernando was thrown the ball for the final over, but his second ball was paddled – quite brilliantly – over short fine-leg by Bopara for four. Seven needed from four balls, but Bopara’s crunching drive couldn’t pierce the covers, picking up just two – enough, though, to register his first one-day fifty. A single off the fourth ball; another off the fifth but, with three needed from the final ball, Fernando cleaned up Bopara to end a memorable match. That England even got into a winning position owed much to Nixon, whose crafty 42 at a run-a-ball took them out of the woods and into the clearing.Just an hour or so earlier, the match was England’s for the taking, however. Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen were cruising along in their commanding third-wicket stand of 90, regaining the momentum after losing Michael Vaughan and Ed Joyce cheaply. Pietersen, inevitably, took the game by the scruff, asserting his authority on Lasith Malinga with a front-footed pull and a fierce slap through the covers. Once he had lofted Chaminda Vaas for an effortless six, Pietersen was in complete control of proceedings.Bell was less certain – although, next to Pietersen, most batsmen are. But he too found his fluency, clipping two fours off one Vaas over, one behind square and the other threaded through covers, before Sanath Jayasuriya affected a cruel run out. Pietersen pushed it back to the bowler who deflected it via his fingertips onto the non-striker’s stumps. Bell appeared to ground his bat but replays showed it had lifted by a few millimetres. It was a stroke of fortune Sri Lanka needed, and they capitalised brilliantly.Pietersen brought up an uncharacteristically sedate 74-ball 50 – before the magician, Muttiah Muralitharan, was brought on. His spell began quietly before he tossed down a doosra to Pietersen who, trying to work it to leg, got a leading edge ballooning it back to Murali. It was his 28th caught-and-bowled and with Pietersen departing at 126 for 4, England’s hopes sunk. Andrew Flintoff scratched around for a couple of overs, skying Fernando’s slower ball to Malinga at mid-on. And Collingwood ended what little hope of victory England had when he was trapped in front two balls later.Enter Nixon, reverse-sweeping with furious intent, if not great success initially, nurdling singles with relative ease. An old head needed young legs though – and Nixon was joined by Bopara, whose maturity and proficiency has been a distinct, rare highlight for England so far this tournament. 67 balls later, the young-old combination had a 50-run partnership to their name. And without ever attacking the target with real intent, they chipped away to bring the required runs down to 32 from three overs.

Nixon then unfurled the shot of the day, a remarkable reverse-swept six off Muralitharan to raise hopes of unlikely victory. In the end, Sri Lanka’s discipline in the middle overs proved the decisive factor.England were no less impressive in the field earlier in the day, capping a one-day match in which, for once, the bowlers shone. The big fear was whether the nightmares of last summer – when Sri Lanka drubbed them 5-0, saving particular scorn for Sajid Mahmood – would haunt them. It didn’t. James Anderson and Mahmood, the two opening bowlers in an unchanged lineup, were tight, controlled and impressively accurate in their opening spells.With Jayasuriya falling cheaply, Sri Lanka’s middle-order was opened up but Mahela Jayawardene’s solid fifty from 61 balls provided much-needed fluency to an innings lacking momentum. How crucial it was in the end, too. His class with the bat and growing maturity as a leader – not to mention calmness under pressure – is a very reassuring sign for Sri Lanka’s future and particularly for this tournament.Sri Lanka take the two points, and were deserved victors, but England can take pride and encouragement from a far improved performance. They still lost, though, and their next game against Australia now takes on an even greater significance.

Sarwar Imran, the Sylhet Super Stars coach, confirmed that Mushfiqur Rahim resigned as captain on his own terms ahead of the team’s clash against Barisal Bulls on Sunday. Shahid Afridi’s appearance at the toss merely confirmed rumours that had been going around for close to 48 hours of a change in Sylhet’s captaincy.Imran also revealed plenty of discussion involving the team owner and Afridi, who tried to persuade Mushfiqur to change his decision on the eve of the match. “As far as I know, Mushfiqur said that he wanted to see a change in the captaincy,” Imran said after Sylhet’s nine-wicket win. “There’s a lot of pressure on him. He has to bat, keep wickets and on top of that we have lost two matches by one run and one by six runs. He wanted some relief. I heard about it from the team owner. Shahid Afridi had asked Mushfiqur to remain as captain but Mushfiqur handed it over to him.I spoke to him during the team meeting. He doesn’t want to be captain for the remaining matches in the BPL. We held a few small meetings afterwards. We decided last night that Mushfiqur and Ravi Bopara will help Shahid Afridi in the field, and that’s how it was in the middle today. Three of them will captain in the field, and officially the captain will be Shahid Afridi.”Imran said he wasn’t open to a change at the top, given the team just won one of their first six matches, but said even Mushfiqur was on the same page as far as the change was concerned.Mahmudullah, Barisal’s captain and Mushfiqur’s brother-in-law, said that the resignation surprised him. “It was unexpected. I didn’t know that Mushfiqur won’t be the captain. But of course it is their decision.”This isn’t the first time that Mushfiqur has resigned from the captaincy. In 2013, he quit the Bangladesh captaincy after they lost the ODI series against Zimbabwe but was later convinced by the BCB to continue in the role.

Steve Harmison feels England will have a “slight advantage” in Saturday’s crucial encounter against Australia at Jaipur as they’re accustomed to the pitch that will be used. Asserting that he didn’t look at the contest as a prelude to the Ashes, Harmison added that Australia’s defeat last night wouldn’t alter England’s plans too much.The game, which neither team can afford to lose, will be played on the same surface on which England crumbled for 125 against India. The curator at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium felt that the track wouldn’t be as dry as it was the previous Saturday, adding that the Sri Lanka-Pakistan clash – when Pakistan chased 254 and won – could be used as a template.Harmison, though, felt England would just have the edge. “I think it would be a slight advantage if we play on the same wicket,” he said. “I don’t know what the schedule is and what wicket we’re playing on, but if we play on that wicket, we’ll have a slight, slight advantage. Australia haven’t played on it but at the end of the day they’re good players and they can adapt to any surface. As I said, it’s just a advantage.”While revealing he’d struggled to locate the channel that was showing the Australia-West Indies game, Harmison didn’t want to read too much into the game. “We all know what their weaknesses are,” he said, “we’ve played against them often enough, we’ve seen them on TV often enough. We’ve had two days’ preparation, a day off yesterday, something you need to calm yourself after five days in a row.”Would England’s tactics change after watching Australia? “Not really,” he said, “I think a few field placements. I can’t imagine we’ll bowl any differently to Ponting, Gilchrist, Martyn than we planned before. Just because West Indies beat them yesterday, it won’t change the way England performed. I think West Indies played well yesterday. Anybody can beat anybody on any given day. Bangladesh beat Australia last summer and West Indies have looked a good, compact unit for a while now. And they played great last night. I think they won’t be anymore fired up or we any less fired up when they come up against us on Saturday.”Harmison didn’t want to be drawn into discussions about Ashes preludes – he preferred to stick to a simple “No” – but said his training was definitely geared towards the events in Brisbane on November 23. “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t [thinking of the Ashes]. I’m not going to sit here and talk bullshit about we haven’t got one eye on the Ashes. Because we have. Everybody’s got one eye on the Ashes, you have as well.”Everybody’s looking ahead to the big occasion. But we’re here to do a job, here to win a competition and if there’s any more spice into it then, whoever loses on Saturday goes out. I’d be lying to say we haven’t got one eye on Australia on the 23rd November but we need to win this game to go forward in this competition. Hopefully we’ll do it on Saturday.”But wasn’t it the Twenty20 clash at the Rose Bowl that kicked off the whole Ashes campaign last time around? “As I’ve said before, the Twenty20 was the start of 10-12 weeks of hard cricket in England,” he said. “It was the same environment, same pitches, same conditions. At the end of the day, you’re playing in India, it’s a one-offgame and I imagine 15-20% of the players who’ll play on Saturday will not be involved in Brisbane on the 23rd of November. They aren’t in the Ashes Test squad.”At the end of the day we’ve got 11 match-winners and that’s what we realise. Any one of them on any given day can win a match for England. If any one of them puts up their hand and makes a match-winning contribution, we can end up beating Australia.”

Multan defeated Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) in a thriller by a three wickets margin, on the final day of their fifth-round match, at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Friday.Multan required a mere 116 to win but they made heavy weather of the task at hand. They lost seven wickets before they got home. The first four wickets fell with just 23 on the board, then the total was taken to 94 but three more wickets were lost. Naved Yasin, with an unbeaten 27, was joined by skipper Rauf, who made 20 not out and the two took their team to an exciting win.SSGC medium-fast bowler Shakeel-ur-Rehman from Peshawar had meanwhile bowled his heart out in bringing his team near a difficult triumph. Shakeel took five for 64 yesterday, that gave him a match haul of 10 for 162. In the end, though, his was a futile effort.Multan with 18 points from five matches have now jumped up to sixth place in the 11-team ranking, from their previous eighth spot. SSGC are down to number seven from the fifth positon, with 18 points from four appearances.Wasim Khan took five wickets and offspinner Irfanuddin chipped in with three to power National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) to a eight-wicket win against Karachi Whites at the NBP Sports Complex Stadium on Friday.Resuming at their overnight 97 for 3, still 29 runs behind their opponents, Karachi Whites managed only a modest 202 in their second innings. That left National Bank a small target of 78 runs, which they achieved with ease.The only Karachi batsman to show some defiance yesterday was Daniyal Ahsan. He batted just over four hours and faced 156 balls in scoring 63 runs that included five fours. For National Bank, first innings centurion Nasir Jamshed was again in good form in the second, making an unbeaten 40 off 57 balls with six fours and two sixes.In five matches, National Bank have now taken their points tally to 36, but remain at second place behind Habib Bank in the 11-team Group A ranking. Habib Bank too have 36 points to their credit, but in only four appearances, and they also have a superior net run-rate. After five matches, of which they have won two and lost two, Karachi Whites remain stuck at 21 points.Islamabad returned to the top of the Group B ranking after registering an emphatic nine-wicket win over Karachi Blues at the Diamond Cricket Club Ground on Friday.Having resumed at 87 for one, requiring only a further 59 runs, the second-wicket pair took the score to 149 for one as Islamabad emerged victorious comfortably. The unbroken partnership was worth 140 runs: Umair Khan hit 68 not out off 93 with 13 fours while Farrukh Hayat achieved the first half-century of his first-class career, making an unbeaten 51 off 107 deliveries.Islamabad, who had slipped to number three in the 11-team Group B table following a defeat at the hands of Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) in the fourth round, are now back on the top. They have won all their other matches for a tally of 36 points.
At the Bugti Stadium Quetta, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) went from eighth place to sixth when they beat Quetta by five wickets. They had needed only 144 runs to win and they did so for the loss of five wickets. KRL, however, collected only six points as they had earlier surrendered a nine-run first innings lead to Quetta..

The State Insurance Central Stags certainly roared at Queen’s Park, Invercargill today when they comprehensively defeated the State Otago Volts by seven wickets in their Shell Cup contest.Winning the toss and putting Otago into bat on a wicket which although covered had seen three days of wild and wet weather, Central Districts never looked back from ball one and the Otago batsmen began a procession back to the pavilion that looked like a parade of lemmings.At the end of 31.3 overs the Volts had been dismissed for a paltry 67 and truly realised what the value of winning the toss was. But, it is fair to state the the pitch while not at all satisfactory was never venomous and the Otago batsmen never really got into the mode of pushing the ball around and waiting for the bad ones to hit to the boundary.Only Warren McSkimming batting at number eight looked in any way assured, and even then only to a limited effect. Three Otago batsmen in Martyn Croy, Matthew Horne and Lee Germon were dismissed as a result of vagaries in the pitch but that could not be blamed for a total of 67 – the fourth lowest one-day total in New Zealand cricket history.The task of knocking off the 68 runs required was not a difficult chore for the Stags who found the pitch had lost most of its sting and they gleefully the victory target in 15.4 overs.It was not a game that will go down in the annals of one-day cricket memorables but it has given Central Districts a place in the semi-finals of the Shell Cup and Otago yet another exit to near the bottom of the class.

Scorecard

Nepal put up a strong allround performance to beat Thailand by 55 runs on the second day of the ACC women’s tournament at Johor Bahru, Malaysia. They dismissed Thailand for 40 after scoring 95 for 8 in their stipulated 30 overs.Nepal’s innings was held together by Madhu Thapa (a footballer of some repute in Nepal) who came in at No. 3 and made 36 off 75 deliveries. She was strong on the drive and the pull, and solid in defence.Wanwipa Changsamboo, with her flighted offbreaks, was the pick of the bowlers with 2-18. She found some turn on a sluggish pitch and had the ability to dip the ball down from quite a height, which had many of the Nepali batsmen confused. Sarsati B.K .was the only one who dared venture down the wicket, but she was smartly stumped by Yupa Paoklang at the moment first attempt.Thailand were quite competitive in the field but what did cost them was the number of wides they bowled – 30 in total, and that was with relatively lenient umpiring. Yet they ended by taking four wickets in the last two overs, and went in to lunch having restricted Nepal to 95.Thailand didn’t quite have the rub of the green when they batted but Nepal’s bowling was far better than their batting. Thailand’s batsmen were given no room to swing their arms and the bowlers were backed up by some high-standard fielding.Nary Thapa (an international bronze-medalist in badminton), the captain, led the way with some excellent left-arm seam bowling. Coming on at first change, Thapa took three wickets in the 11th over to reduce Thailand to 20 for 6 and the game was pretty much over. Changsamboo hobbled by cramp, played a gutsy innings to keep her side in the game, but it was never going to be enough.Two wickets by Neera Rajoupadhyan off her first and last deliveries sealed the win for Nepal.Seven of Nepal’s players were from Nepalganj, the district that was awarded the ICC’s Global Development Award for their women’s cricket program last year. Thailand’s cricketers were an athletic group of former softball and basketball players, six of whom were intentionally coached to be left-handed batters (as if they were ‘switch-hitters’ in softball).

Lyon to seek out Ashwin advice

Nathan Lyon is eager to seek out his India opposite number R Ashwin at the conclusion of the limited-overs matches in Australia as he seeks to finally nail down an ODI and Twenty20 place in the national team’s plans.
Ashwin has been a leading light for finger spinners over the past 12 months, and Lyon said he would take up any chance to talk shop with him when hostilities end.
“If the opportunity comes up at the end of the T20 series that I can sit down and have a chat with Ashwin, I’m definitely up for it,” Lyon said. “I watch his bowling quite closely, especially when he’s bowling back home, so trying to forever learn off every spinner going around, and if I can keep improving, keep getting better, that’s my goal.
“Ashwin and [Ravindra] Jadeja are world-class spinners. Coming out to Australia it’s a hard place to bowl spin, but I definitely think the Indian spin bowling stocks are up there.”
Aware he is more or less on trial ahead of the World T20, Lyon said he wanted to make the most of his chance. “I’ve got an opportunity now and I’ve got to perform,” he said. “I’m very grateful to the selectors who’ve given me that opportunity.”

Shaun Tait’s first international call-up for five years has exposed the national selectors’ anxiety about a lack of high velocity pace bowling options ahead of the World Twenty20, while Nathan Lyon is also in strong contention having been named in the squad for three T20s against India.The uncapped batsman Travis Head and fast bowlers Andrew Tye and Scott Boland have also been included in a 17-man group for the three T20s, which also includes veteran allrounder Shane Watson.While Lyon may well have been on the selectors’ radar as a World T20 candidate for some time, the re-emergence of Tait has been more unexpected. Tait, now 32, has not played international cricket since the 2011 World Cup but has impressed the selectors during this summer’s BBL, in which he has picked up 10 wickets at 24.70. Marsh said it remained to be seen whether Tait’s express pace would be of value in Indian conditions, but admitted pace was needed in the absence of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins and following the retirement of Mitchell Johnson.”We don’t know and I don’t know whether we’ll find out – it’s up to Shaun now,” the selection chairman Rod Marsh said. “To be honest I didn’t even know if he was going to play that many [BBL] games. I knew he was on the list. He’s probably the fastest bowler in the country at the moment. You do need a bit of pace in T20 cricket.”Watson, recalled to the national side after a strong burst of performances for the Sydney Thunder in the latter stages of the Big Bash League, said Tait was a viable option for the World T20 in the rhythm he has shown during the tournament. “I did face him. I faced two balls, one was a very fast bouncer and the other one I nicked off, so he was very good!” Watson said.”Shaun Tait’s an X-Factor, always has been, and it’s great to see him back around the Aussie team. I still believe he has a lot to offer, with his body right and bowling fast, the way he releases the ball is different to anything you face, so it’s awesome he’s got another opportunity.”Australia played only one T20 international in 2015 and the three games against India in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney will be the only chance for players to audition ahead of the naming of the World T20 squad. There was no room in the group for former T20 captain George Bailey, although Marsh said he was confident Bailey’s experience would allow him to step straight back in if needed at the World T20.Lyon’s inclusion for what will be his T20 international debut comes as the selectors look for spin options given the turning conditions that will confront them at the World T20, with legspinner Cameron Boyce also included. Lyon has also been chosen for the final two ODIs against India, replacing the fast bowler Joel Paris, and Marsh said it was the right time to give him a chance with the white ball, having played only eight ODIs.”We’re probably looking to see how he goes and it is an audition for him re India, I guess,” Marsh said of Lyon’s selection in the T20 squad. “He’s got such a wonderful record in Test cricket, we didn’t want to jeopardise that in any way, shape or form. He’s been a terrific bowler for us in Test match cricket and we certainly didn’t want to play him in a few odd one-day games or an odd T20 here or there, and for him to start bowling flat and losing that terrific rhythm that he’s now got.”Marsh said the selectors were taking a “wait-and-see” approach with Watson, whose ODI career appears to be over as well as his time as a Test cricketer. Watson’s experience in India and at World T20 tournaments could yet see him gain a place in the final 15, which must be named by February 11, after he returned to form with 62 and 66 in his two most recent games for Sydney Thunder.Also in the mix for top-order positions are Head and Chris Lynn, both of whom are in the top three run scorers in this year’s BBL. Lynn played two T20s for Australia in January 2014 while Head is yet to make his debut for Australia in any form. New faces in the bowling group include Boland, who has played three ODIs already this summer, and Tye, who has 29 T20 wickets at 18.65 and an economy rate of less than seven.”Not many countries have seen much of him,” Marsh said of Tye, a Perth Scorchers fast bowler. “His form in the last two Big Bash Leagues has been outstanding. He is a good death bowler as well, and really it is death from over one in T20.”Like Bailey, allrounder Mitchell Marsh was also not named in the T20 squad, but remains strongly in the mix for the World T20. Rod Marsh said the fact that these were Australia’s only matches before choosing the squad to visit India meant that it was wise to use the games to look at some players who were on the fringes of selection. He said the three T20s in Australia were in part World T20 auditions.”Yeah it is but I think what we also have to remember is we’re playing three matches under Australian conditions here and the World Cup’s not in Australia,” he said. “So we’ll have to use a little bit of knowledge from the IPL, et cetera, to get that final 15 which is not going to be an easy task.”I would imagine we would like to give all of the 17 a go somewhere, otherwise we wouldn’t have picked that massive squad. The reason we picked [such a big] squad is some guys will be going off to New Zealand early [ahead of the ODI and Test series].”Notably, Aaron Finch was retained as T20 captain despite the presence in the squad of Steven Smith, who is captain of both the Test and ODI sides. Marsh said consideration had been given to Smith taking on the T20 captaincy but “at the moment Aaron is doing the job and doing it nicely”.The selectors also confirmed their squad for the remaining two ODIs against India, with Paris and Usman Khawaja making way for Lyon and David Warner, who is returning from paternity leave. The final two games are in Canberra and Sydney, and are dead rubbers after Australia secured the series with their win in Melbourne on Sunday.T20 squad Aaron Finch (capt), David Warner, Steven Smith, Shane Watson, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade, James Faulkner, John Hastings, Shaun Marsh, Cameron Boyce, Nathan Lyon, Chris Lynn, Travis Head, Kane Richardson, Andrew Tye, Scott Boland, Shaun TaitODI squad Steven Smith (capt), Aaron Finch, David Warner, George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade, James Faulkner, John Hastings, Scott Boland, Kane Richardson, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh