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Jacob Oram’s chances of making New Zealand’s one-day squad for the forthcoming series against West Indies are getting slimmer.Oram, 27, has been forced to pull out of the final stage of New Zealand’s State Shield owing to a heel injury, a sign that does not bode well for the allrounder. “The selectors meet Wednesday and they’ll decide then what part, if any, he’s likely to have in the one-day series against the Windies,” Lindsay Crocker, the New Zealand general manager, told stuff.co.nz. “It’s now become a point of concern, given it has taken a little longer than we would’ve hoped. The question is whether we try to accelerate his recovery to play a part in the one-day series or let him continue his rehab to play a full part in the Test series.”Oram, the Central Districts captain, suffered a stone bruise injury that has already seen him spend 25 days on the sidelines. He returned to the Central side purely as a batsman, but felt pain in his heel while batting against Otago recently. “It’s taken a lot longer than we all thought and then he’s had the setback,” Crocker said. “It was hurting after the Otago game so we are trying no cricket activity to see if it will settle.”With Oram fighting to gain a spot for the one-day series against West Indies, and Chris Cairns having announced his retirement, New Zealand have problems on their hands. The first one-day match against the West Indies is at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington on February 18.Meanwhile, New Zealand Cricket is considering adding a three-day match to the start of the West Indies tour, probably against a New Zealand XI in Hamilton starting on Saturday. “The Windies are a long time on the ground before the first game (Twenty20 in Auckland on February 15) so I suspect they will want something other than practice,” Crocker said. A squad of 14 players – including players from Auckland, Wellington and Northern Districts – has been announced to begin training at a camp in Hamilton today.

ScorecardCenturies from James Taylor and Ben Stokes helped England recover from a shaky start to post an imposing 470 for 5 on the first day of their opening warm-up match in South Africa. Despite the failure of their newest opening partnership, England’s day could not have gone much better, with Nick Compton also contributing a half-century from No,3.The star of the show, however, with 158 from 131 balls, was Stokes, who has been recovering from an injury to his collarbone joint sustained in the field during the Sharjah Test against Pakistan. In addition to his forceful batting, he has provided encouragement over his availability as an allrounder for the first Test at Durban by bowling in the nets in Potchefstroom.A domineering display with the bat suggested he has lost none of his edge in the meantime, even if the latter part of his onslaught came against a selection of part-time bowlers. He struck 23 fours and cleared the boundary ropes five times at Senwes Park, doing his best to hit the “Hit Me” target painted on the roof of one of the outbuildings, and helped England past 400 at a scoring rate of almost 5.5 runs per over before retiring.Taylor also retired his innings after making a more sedate century, allowing England’s lower-middle order valuable time in the middle. Moeen Ali reached the close unbeaten on a breezy 33 from 30 balls with Chris Woakes alongside him on 10, while Jonny Bairstow, who has been confirmed by the head coach, Trevor Bayliss, as England’s wicketkeeper for Durban, reached a fluent 35 from 46 balls, including five fours. He was eventually bowled by the pick of the South African bowlers, Thandolwethu Mnyaka, who returned the respectable figures of 3 for 66 in 18 overs.The first of Mnyaka’s wickets had come from the first ball of the day’s third over, when he jagged one back from round the wicket to trap Alastair Cook lbw for 2, and 6 for 1 quickly became 10 for 2 when Alex Hales, another man whose starting place for Durban has already been confirmed, left one from Junior Dala that came back a fraction to hit the top of off stump.James Taylor drives through the off side during his century•Getty Images

England’s recovery came first through Compton, who shared stands of 46 with Joe Root and 99 with Taylor. Installed as the likely successor to Ian Bell at No. 3, Compton left judiciously on his way to a 107-ball half-century – though he was given a life when dropped in the slips on 49 – and picked up nine fours before being pinned lbw for 58 to give Mnyaka his second wicket of the day.Root made a typically punchy start, scoring all of his runs in boundaries during an innings of 28 off 26, but was caught behind off former South Africa Under-19 quick Andile Phehlukwayo while trying to force another back-foot drive. While Compton accumulated steadily, Taylor continued with the busy approach and, after England had gone to lunch on 90 for 3, both moved past fifty in the afternoon session.Mnyaka’s strike left England 155 for 4 but that merely brought Stokes to the crease to begin his destructive intervention. Taylor recorded England’s first century on tour, from 137 balls with 13 fours, a six and an all-run five (thanks to an overthrow), and Stokes followed him to three figures a few overs later, despite Taylor having a 52-run head start.England, who will mix and match their players in the course of the three-day fixture, were set to give opportunities to Woakes and Mark Footitt with the ball, as they look to settle on a third seamer for the Boxing Day Test in Durban. Gary Ballance and James Anderson were also named as part of a 13-man side and will play some part in the later stages of the match.

Though admitting to knee pain whenever he pushes his hardest, Australia’s captain Steven Smith has declared his intent to play every match of the home summer as he comes towards the end of an overdue rest period between the West Indies Tests.The niggling knee complaint was the primary cause of Smith’s enforced rest after his side’s victory in Hobart last week, keeping him out of the Sydney Sixers’ first two BBL 2015-16 fixtures. He has been carrying the knee soreness since the ODI series that followed the Ashes in England earlier this year, with flare-ups resulting from any diving in the field.It remains to be seen whether Smith will be fit to take part in all of Australia’s limited-overs fixtures in the new year – David Warner may find himself as stand-in ODI captain against India while Aaron Finch is the incumbent T20 skipper – but the man himself is adamant he will be doing all he can to play throughout, with a tour of New Zealand and South Africa followed by the World T20 in India.”I’d love to play every game,” Smith said at the SCG on Sunday. “This little break’s going to be good for me to make sure I can sustain it and I’m just looking forward to everything else coming up, and hopefully be out in the field every game.”I’d have loved to be out here today [for the Sixers] but the rest will do me the world of good. There’s plenty on for the rest of the summer and going forward, so a little break’s not a bad thing for me and good to go for Boxing Day. It’s been good, nice to spend a little bit of time at home and just unwind and do all that.”I’d love to be a part of the World Cup and the T20s here at home as well, so we’ll wait and see how the rest of the summer goes, hopefully I’ll be fine to play those.”T20s will be the main test of Smith’s maneuverability, and he has admitted that he is presently affected by knee pain whenever striving to move at his fastest. Australia’s players reconvene in Melbourne on Tuesday, where Smith will find out how much his week’s rest has helped alleviate the issue.”It popped up in the one-dayers after the Ashes and it’s sort of stuck around. It feels ok and then if I dive and land on it just irritates it a bit, so I’ve been doing that a little bit,” Smith said. “I guess it’s fine going at 90%, it’s just if I have to go at 100% it’s a little bit sore. That’s why I’m not playing the T20s because I’m a pretty competitive guy and it’s a pretty fast-paced game and you’ve got to go 100% to do well in this format.”Smith said he was also keeping one eye on the fortunes of Usman Khawaja, testing his healing hamstring for the Sydney Thunder at the MCG in the second of Sunday’s two BBL fixtures. “It will be a good test,” Smith said. “Hopefully he gets through it okay and there are no dramas.”

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Mark Cameron claimed five wickets as Western Australia capitulated for 99 before Phil Jaques extended New South Wales’ lead to 313 on a disastrous day for the Warriors. Jaques was on 71 at stumps and built on the good work of Matthew Nicholson, who in the first session scored his third first-class century to push the Blues up to 267.The major debacle for the home side came when they crashed to 6 for 38 at lunch. In his fourth Pura Cup match Cameron was the destroyer with a career-best 5 for 33, and all of those wickets came in the morning session. His list of victims was impressive: Justin Langer was caught at slip, Chris Rogers top-edged a pull, Adam Voges and Luke Pomersbach were bowled and Luke Ronchi was caught.Doug Bollinger chipped in with 3 for 33 and Nicholson snared two as Western Australia’s lower order – led by Steve Magoffin with 27 not out – nudged the score near triple-figures. Simon Katich declined to enforce the follow on and it proved a good decision with Jaques, Ed Cowan (56) and Peter Forrest (17 not out) guiding the Blues to 1 for 145.The visitors’ top order was far sturdier than in the first innings when they wobbled to 6 for 53. Nicholson led the recovery and started the day needing 15 for his century. Despite a scare when he was dropped on 99, he passed the milestone and finished unbeaten on 106.

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Kate Hoey, the former UK sports minister who is chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on Zimbabwe, welcomed the news that John Howard had barred the Australian side from touring Zimbabwe in September.”It’s very good to hear the Australian government has given a clear moral lead and shown solidarity with those brave Zimbabweans who daily risk life and limb to free their country from the brutal dictatorship of Robert Mugabe,” Hoey said. “I was approached this week by cricket fans in Zimbabwe who asked me to help get the tour called off. They told me that they love their cricket and they love their country and were determined not to allow Mugabe to use the Australia tour to camouflage his oppression.”Mugabe has installed political commissars Peter Chingoka and Ozias Bvute to run the game; sport in Zimbabwe has been taken over by his regime for propaganda purposes to give a gloss of normality and divert attention from his murderous political oppression.

“Cricket fans in Zimbabwe despair at the supine complicity of ICC officials who allow themselves to be used as stooges for Mugabe’s grandstanding to the world. The rising generation who are Africa’s future feel utterly betrayed and disgusted by the short-sighted self-serving stupidity of these sports bureaucrats.”Hoey, who has been a vocal critic of the ICC’s treatment of the Zimbabwe situation, accused it of giving a message that “it couldn’t care less about dying Zimbabweans.” She continued: “It just wants to make sure it gets a few million dollars out of the tour to divvy up with Mugabe’s murderers – it is bloodstained money.”I share the view of Mary Robinson, the president of Oxfam and former UN high commissioner for human rights, that there should be a sporting boycott of Zimbabwe to bring an end to Mugabe’s reign of terror. I want the ICC to suspend Zimbabwe Cricket and to cancel all planned matches involving Zimbabwe.”Hoey has secretly visited Zimbabwe three times in the last four years and has seen first hand the problems facing the country.

Lalchand Rajput is not surprised that he has been appointed cricket manager of the Indian team for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship to be held in South Africa in September. “My name has been doing the rounds each time a coaching role in any capacity has been discussed in the recent past, but it is an honour to get this opportunity”, Rajput said from Kandy, where he is the coach of the India Under-19s, playing their second Test of the series.Though he was yet to officially receive the news from the BCCI, Rajput said he was looking forward to the challenge. “I’ve been doing very well as a coach,” said Rajput, whose name was doing the rounds when the board was thinking of appointing an understudy to the coach of the national team.With the board’s head-coach hunt yet to take full flight, and Chandu Borde, the current cricket manager in England, considered unsuitable for the fast-paced environment of Twenty20, there was not much competition for Rajput. The highly regarded Chandrakant Pandit is coach of the India A side currently touring Kenya but what might have turned the balance in Rajput’s favour would be his coaching pedigree, especially his success as the coach of the Under-19 team, with whom he is yet to lose a series. In the past year, since his appointment, the team have won in England (Test series 1-0, ODI series 3-0, Pakistan (Tests 2-0, ODIs 4-0), New Zealand (Tests 1-1, ODIs 2-1) and now Sri Lanka (the triangular one-day series featuring Sri Lanka and Bangladesh U-19s; they are leading 1-0 in the Tests).Rajput, a former India and Mumbai opener, has had coaching stints with Mumbai and Assam and is currently also the director of coaching at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. “I have had a good rapport with youngsters in my various coaching roles so that would help me blend in easily with the Indian team.”India are yet to pick up the nuts and bolts of Twenty20 cricket. That’s something Rajput acknowledges. “We have not played enough of Twenty20 but at the same time Indians are quick learners so that gives me the confidence.” Unlike during the World Cup in the Caribbean, where the Indians were among the favourites, Rajput and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was appointed India’s Twenty 20 captain, have to work their way up in South Africa.Though it’s a daunting task, Rajput has a clear vision. “It’s a different ball game; it is really for young legs and you have to be involved always as every ball is important, so the focus and intensity should be good all the time. That will be the most important aspect we need to work on.”Even if India lack Twenty20 specialists, unlike the other teams, Rajput feels it’s a balanced side. “It looks a good all-round team with the right blend of some seniors and juniors. We have good strikers and the right set of youngsters to face the demand of the game.”Rajput has faith in his captain, who, he feels, has the ability to bolster spirits with his own hard work. “Dhoni is honest [and] has a very good work ethic, which will be a factor from the team’s point of view. He is a strong-willed person who doesn’t give up easily and you can see that in his batting, which will help him lead by example.”With little over a month left before the start of the tournament, Rajput has already set his agenda: “Running between the wickets and fielding are two key areas that will form the focus of the training.”

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Jason Borgas and Cullen Bailey led an improved batting performance from South Australia, who fought hard to reach 7 for 262 at stumps. Victoria’s fast bowlers took wickets regularly throughout the day after sending South Australia in but could not spark they collapse they craved from a team that only last week were bowled out for 114 and 120.Borgas, the brother of the injured Cameron Borgas, was playing just his second first-class game and stubbornly refused to give in to the Victoria bowling until after four hours he was finally was caught for 66. He was one of four victims for Mick Lewis, who also removed Shane Deitz late in the day for 49. But Bailey, who scored his maiden half-century and finished unbeaten on 52, ensured the visitors would post a competitive total.However, apart from Borgas, the South Australia top order remained a concern. Darren Pattinson, Victoria’s debutant fast bowler, claimed the first breakthrough when he had Tom Plant for 13 and returned later to entice an edge to slip from Ben Cameron (22).Matthew Elliott’s struggle for runs continued as he was caught at second slip for 9 and both Daniel Harris and Mark Cosgrove made starts before falling to Lewis. Both teams were ruthless on their underperforming regulars, with Dan Cullen named 12th man for South Australia and Jon Moss for Victoria.

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An inspired spell of left-arm seam bowling from Allan Wise, who snapped up career-best figures of 6 for 89, led Victoria’s fightback against New South Wales on the third day of the Pura Cup clash at Junction Oval. Wise was on a hat-trick as NSW’s last four wickets went for three runs in 26 balls and they were dismissed on lunch for 314.Victoria then produced their best first-innings performance of the season – their previous top score was 271 – when Jason Arnberger, the opener, cracked 67 and Lloyd Mash carried on his fine form with 62. Nick Jewell and David Hussey then consolidated Victoria’s position with an unbeaten stand of 106 from 120 balls as Stuart MacGill and his team-mates could not make much of an impact.The Blues were unable to build on a Phil Jaques-engineered platform after he top-scored with 137 and added 166 for the third wicket with Dominic Thornely, who made 68. Victoria need only 25 runs to seal first-innings points against the competition leader.

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Jamie How and James Marshall helped themselves to some important time in the middle as New Zealand reached 92 for 1 shortly after tea on a rain-interrupted second day against Kent at Canterbury. The prospects of any play at all had seemed bleak at the start of the day, when torrential rain wiped out the first three hours of play, but eventually the clouds lifted as Kent, sitting pretty after Rob Key’s 178 not out, declared on their overnight 324 for 1.New Zealand’s star players are starting to dribble into the country after their stints with the Indian Premier League. Kyle Mills and Jacob Oram arrived this afternoon, ready for this week’s second warm-up against Essex at Chelmsford, while Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori and Ross Taylor will all have landed by Thursday. Until then it’s all about the second-stringers, in particular the battle for batting places ahead of the first Test at Lord’s on May 15.How, the stand-in captain, opened up with Aaron Redmond, the son of the former Kiwi opener, Rodney, who scored a Test century in his solitary appearance against Pakistan at Auckland in 1972-73. Redmond Jr impressed during New Zealand’s one-day curtain-raiser at Arundel on Sunday, scoring 72 in a rain-curtailed encounter with MCC, but he was less effective in this outing.Redmond should have been dismissed on 11, with the score on 23, when he edged an off-stump lifter from Martin Saggers low to Matthew Walker’s right at second slip. But he had added only three runs to his total when he waved his bat limply at Ryan McLaren, and feathered the simplest of chances through to Geraint Jones.How was the most effective of New Zealand’s brittle openers during the recent Test series, and he picked up where he had left off with a comfortable half-century that he completed with a flourish of boundaries in a brief resumption after tea. Kent’s bowlers toiled with limited impact on a pitch that their New Zealand counterparts had also found to be unresponsive, as Marshall eased along to 20 not out.

The Women’s Cricket Association of India (WCAI) will cease to exist in its current form in the near future.Shubhangi Kulkarni, honorary secretary of the association, confirmed that the BCCI had asked herself and Ranee Narah, the president of the association, to resign from their posts in the WCAI and join the BCCI’s Women’s Committee. Kulkarni said that an emergency meeting of the WCAI would be held at the earliest to inform members of the WCAI about the latest developments.In a long-anticipated move the BCCI announced earlier that it had decided to organise the activities and matches of women’s cricket in India. In order to do so they have formed committees at the national and state level comprising former women cricketers and BCCI officials.Kulkarni, who has several times met Jagmohan Dalmiya, the former president of the BCCI, in an attempt to effect some sort of a merger between the BCCI and the WCAI, was delighted that this had finally come through.”Women’s cricket and women cricketers in particular will benefit immensely by it,” she said. “We are happy that BCCI has decided to look after women’s cricket. I am sure, in the larger interest of women’s cricket WCAI members will look at this positively. This decision of BCCI will be the turning point for Women’s Cricket in India.”While the Indian men’s team may not be in the best of form in recent times, the women have shown good results. India reached the final of the World Cup for the first time last year, and most recently won their first ever Test series in England.