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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKevin Pietersen was denied his England comeback by the rain•Getty Images

Kevin Pietersen’s England comeback was put on hold as rain caused the second T20 against New Zealand at The Oval to be abandoned after just two balls. As Pietersen prepared to return, it was announced that the man he replaced in the side, Eoin Morgan, will have surgery on a finger injury that will keep him out for several weeks.Light drizzle kept the covers on for two hours before a break in the weather raised hopes of a six-overs-a-side match. But with the ground ready and the players filing out of the pavilion, heavier clouds moved in and a stiff shower before the 9.11pm cut-off scuppered any hopes of play.With England being asked to bat, Pietersen should have been straight back to work in his first international appearance since the Wellington Test, after which he limped out of England’s tour of New Zealand with a knee injury. It would have been his first T20 for England since February 2012.Pietersen is now left with potentially two innings before the first Investec Ashes Test on July 10. England’s Ashes warm-up match against Essex starts on Sunday.England had been sent in after James Tredwell lost the toss. Tredwell was standing in for Morgan, who had been ruled out of the match with a right finger injury earlier in the day and is due to undergo surgery on Friday.Morgan broke his finger in the Champions Trophy semi-final victory over South Africa at The Oval on June 19 but played through the pain in the final against India three days later.He was deemed fit enough to captain England in the first T20 against New Zealand, also at The Oval, on Tuesday but aggravated the injury during the five-run defeat. Surgery was decided as the best-possible remedy.”It’s looking like an operation to try and get it pinned and ready as soon as possible,” Morgan said. “It can be as short as two to three [weeks out] and then ongoing from there. Obviously it will be closely monitored by our backroom staff, who have been exceptional, and hopefully I’ll get back to full fitness as soon as possible.”Morgan’s next engagement for England is unlikely to come before the one-day series against Australia, which begins on August 29. But he could potentially miss the entire Friends Life t20 campaign for Middlesex.Craig Kieswetter, who was dropped as England’s one-day wicketkeeper before the tour of India at the start of the year, suffered a similar injury playing for Somerset against Warwickshire at the end of April and did not return for 11 weeks.

ScorecardGlen Chapple took 5 for 9 as Essex were blown away for just 20•PA Photos

Essex were bowled out for 20, registering the lowest score in their history in falling to a heavy, three-day defeat on an astonishing afternoon at Chelmsford. Kyle Hogg and Glen Chapple ripped through them in the space of 14 overs and 68 minutes on a flat pitch, as the procession of batsmen entering and leaving the field became almost bewildering.It was as if a collective panic possessed Essex, and the sense of shock in the crowd was palpable, reawakening tensions that had threatened to erupt earlier in the season after an innings defeat to Northamptonshire that the coach, Paul Grayson, afterwards described as “shambolic” in issuing a public apology. He may now have to quell further unrest.”I don’t know what to say to be honest because I’m still in a state of shock,” Grayson said. “Nothing has been said in the dressing room because now is not the right time but we are all coming in tomorrow for a chat and we’ll reflect and analyse then what happened.”Emotions are running very high at the moment as you can imagine, there’s not a lot of singing and dancing going on. As I say, I’m lost for words. It was a good wicket probably one of the best all year that we could have batted on at Chelmsford but 20 all out, it’s amazing.”Although there have been 29 first-class innings that have ended on a lower note, the majority occurred in the days of uncovered pitches. The most recent example in the Championship came exactly 30 years ago, when Essex were the tormentors, bowling out Surrey for 14. Last year, Durham dismissed Durham MCCU for 18, leading to questions about the first-class status of university matches.Only one batsman, Jaik Mickleburgh, achieved double figures and although three of the wickets were due to errors by batsmen, the rest were the result of dead straight bowling. The whole business was particularly puzzling as Hogg and Chapple had themselves scored 58 and 50 respectively earlier in the day.”We’ve been involved in a piece of history,” said Hogg, who described the action as “unreal”. Chapple, who has been playing for more than 20 years, said: “It’s definitely one of the best days of cricket I’ve had in my career because things just don’t happen like that. In terms of it being memorable, it’s right up there.”In retrospect it’s surprising that it took Lancashire eleven balls to take their first wicket. The first two to fall, both taken by Hogg, were preventable – top-order batsmen playing loose shots. Tom Westley drove to extra cover, where Simon Katich dived forward to hold an excellent catch. Hamish Rutherford played a similar shot and Chapple didn’t have to move at mid-off.The next dismissal was the first three of six lbws in the innings. Owais Shah played across the line to Hogg, then Ryan ten Doeschate was so plum that he walked before the umpire had time to raise his finger, and Chapple had the first of his four. Next Hogg trapped Ben Foakes, and at that stage had figures of 4 for 3.What Essex needed least in the midst of such carnage was a run out, but that’s what they managed to contrive. Mickleburgh called James Foster for a quick single and Chapple, fielding off his own bowling, threw down Foster’s stumps. It was turning into pandemonium.Chapple mopped up the remaining four wickets. He had Graham Napier – Essex’s beacon of light in a season fast becoming shrouded in darkness – leg-before first ball, then castled Sajid Mahmood.Mickleburgh had observed all the mayhem from the non-striker’s end, and there was speculation about the lowest score for a batsman carrying his bat until he was ninth out for 10, comfortably the highest score of the innings. The end came one ball later when Chapple rapped Reece Topley on the pads. Six batsmen had failed to score.In the morning session the Lancashire tail had shown what could be done on this pitch. They resumed seven runs behind with three wickets in hand and looking to Katich to extend his overnight century. He did so, but only by two, and a narrow lead appeared likely.But there can be few better No. 9s in the County Championship than Hogg, and Chapple can hold a bat as well. Together they put on 69 for the ninth wicket before David Masters knocked back Hogg’s middle stump. Even then the scoring wasn’t over as Simon Kerrigan joined his captain and helped him add 52 more.There was no indication of the stunning stuff to come. Lunch was taken late as Lancashire were nine wickets down at 1pm, so the Essex innings began at around 2.20pm. By 3.30pm it was all over.Essex scored 30 against Yorkshire at Leyton in 1901, their previous lowest score. What’s more, this was the lowest-ever total by any team against Lancashire, dipping under the 22 scored by Glamorgan at Liverpool in 1924.

Allrounder Irfan Pathan, who was picked in India’s squad on Saturday for the Champions Trophy, has said he is keen on taking on more “responsibility” in the team. Irfan last played for India at the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, before picking up a hamstring injury in the Ranji Trophy that kept him out of the home season. Irfan pointed out that he was in good touch in the last ODI series he played before the injury break, and so was confident of being named in the squad.”A lot of people were talking about my ‘comeback’, but most people forget that my last ODI before I left due to an injury was a Man-of-the-Match performance. I had taken a five-for in India’s victory against Sri Lanka in 2012,” Irfan told the IPL site. “People have a very short memory about performances, but I was always confident that I would get into the ODI squad for India.”Now I want to take up more and more responsibility. I want to bowl in a lot of tough situations and I want to make sure that I am the go-to bowler for the captain.”India had won that one-day series in Sri Lanka in July-August 4-1, and Irfan had by far the best record among the bowlers, with eight wickets at 26.37. Apart from part-timer Manoj Tiwary, none of the other India bowler managed an average below 39.While he is looking forward to the helpful conditions in England, Irfan said he will not get carried away but focus on accuracy. “Any bowler would love to go and bowl in England were the wickets are friendly for the fast bowlers. But it is easier said than done. One has to make sure you ‘bowl’, rather than just releasing the ball from your hand.”Bowling in the right areas is very important. If you bowl consistently in the right areas, more often than not wickets will come your way. No matter how good the bowler is, how quick the bowler is or how lethal he is with swing, bowling in the right areas is of prime concern. That will be my focus in the games to come.”Irfan is one of five pace bowlers in the squad, alongside Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Vinay Kumar. That would mean a lot of competition among the seamers to make the XI, but he is not concerned about that at the moment Irfan said: “Frankly, I am not worried about it. I know it will depend on the team combinations at the end of the day. My mission is to do well in the tournament. I will start working towards it from the moment we land there in England. I want to make the most of whatever preparations we get there and be completely ready before ball one.”I have worked really hard on my fitness and my game. I have tremendous self-belief that I am only going to get better from here. I feel the next few years are going to be my years in cricket.”

Nottinghamshire’s coach, Mick Newell, has come to the defence of his struggling England batsman James Taylor after he was the surprise omission in the 30-strong England Performance Squad announced by the ECB.Taylor’s England ambitions have faltered since he was given a Test debut against South Africa at Headingley last summer – a debut which became overshadowed by Kevin Pietersen’s public admission of problems within the dressing room.While Pietersen’s England stand-off clouded the summer, Taylor’s issues passed almost unnoticed. He was dropped after only two Tests, failed to make the cut for England’s winter tour squads in India and New Zealand and led England Lions on a disastrous one-day tour of Australia, although he did top the Lions averages with 331 runs at 55.16.Newell, who raided Leicestershire for Taylor at the end of the 2011 season, remains confident that he can rebuild his reputation by playing a central role in Nottinghamshire’s Championship challenge.”I don’t think he was quite ready to play Test cricket,” Newell said. “If Ravi Bopara had not pulled out for personal reasons he would not have played. He just needs a bit longer to develop his game. But I’m very confident he is going to be a high run-scorer for the next two or three years.”Newell’s signing of Taylor was based on the belief that he would have several seasons developing his game at Trent Bridge before any England honours came along. Even the move to Notts was a challenge for Taylor. His upbringing at Leicestershire came on flatter pitches against Division Two attacks. At Trent Bridge, he had to adjust to Division One bowlers in arguably the most bowler-friendly conditions in the country.In time, it can prove to be an appropriate move which will benefit his career. But Trent Bridge is a tough learning ground for batsmen. His progress could be more thorough, but slower. This is no quickie degree.His batting statistics declined markedly as a result – a career first-class batting average of more than 50 falling to 47.03 as he made only 608 Championship runs at an average of 32.00.His Notts career was up and down from the start. He was dismissed first ball on his first-class debut – against Loughborough MCCU at Trent Bridge – but struck a hundred second time around, so becoming the tenth Notts batsman to make a century on debut.”In terms of number it was a poorer return than I would have liked, but I would expect him to average less in Division One than Two,” Newell said. “If not, then what is the point of two divisions?”Taylor shared a century-stand with Pietersen at Headingley and, if he was very much the junior partner, he was not the first to be overshadowed by Pietersen’s batting genius. But it was a highly unfavourable time to join an England dressing room as the personality clashes became evident. He then failed twice at Lord’s, where he was unlucky to be run out in the second innings.Taylor is part of a strong top six at Nottinghamshire that will feature three England one-day batsmen – all part of the EPS – in Alex Hales, Michael Lumb and Samit Patel, and which will be further strengthened by two Australian batsmen, Ed Cowan at the start of the season and David Hussey once the Ashes series begins.As for the England Lions who fared so badly in Australia, they are conspicuous by their absence. Stuart Meaker, James Harris and Danny Briggs make it, but there is no Varun Chopra as a potential Test opener, no Rikki Clarke, which presumably scuppers his Champions Trophy chances, and no Simon Kerrigan as understudy to Monty Panesar. Ben Stokes, strikingly, and Matt Coles, both of whom were banished early from the tour for disciplinary reasons are overlooked.But there was encouragement for Chris Tremlett, Surrey’s strapping seam bowler, who has not played a Test match since January 2012 due to a long-standing back problem and last featured in a first-class match for Surrey in July last year. An Ashes return could yet be the biggest turn-up of the summer.The EPS was introduced in 2006 as a list of 30 players who could potentially come under England’s direct control as part of an attempt to ease their integration into the senior teams. It is an indicator of those held in highest regard by the management and includes players on a mix of England central contracts, incremental contracts and county contracts.England Performance Squad 2013: Alastair Cook (Test and ODI capt), Stuart Broad (T20 capt), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Danny Briggs, Jos Buttler, Nick Compton, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, James Harris, Craig Kieswetter, Michael Lumb, Stuart Meaker, Eoin Morgan, Graham Onions, Monty Panesar, Samit Patel, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Joe Root, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Chris Tremlett, Jonathan Trott, Chris Woakes, Luke Wright

Match facts

Thursday, April 11, 2013
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)Wake-up alarm: Kolkata Knight Riders’ batsmen are yet to fire in the tournament•BCCI

Big Picture

It’s the start of the second week of the tournament and defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders’ engine is yet to fire properly. They are now in Bangalore, facing the Royal Challengers, who despite their Super Over loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad have already started to rev up their machinery with last night’s win in the rematch.Knight Riders have a strong and vibrant bowling attack. Brett Lee has been generating pace, Rajat Bhatia has been difficult to go after and Sunil Narine is back at being mysterious after a comparatively not-so-productive time in international cricket. But it is their batting which has appeared off colour, with only Eoin Morgan managing a half-century. Manvinder Bisla, the hero of the final last year, has been consumed twice by his own aggression, while Jacques Kallis, Manoj Tiwary and Yusuf Pathan are yet to show any intent. Gautam Gambhir has had starts, but as he often reiterates, the team needs to fire collectively.However, they have received a boost ahead of this game. Brendon McCullum, who kicked off the IPL in 2008 with a blazing 158 (still the highest score in IPL cricket), is available for selection.* The New Zealand captain had to postpone his trip, having to wait to recover completely from the hamstring injury he picked during the home series against England last month. He joined the Knight Riders camp on Wednesday.Royal Challengers Bangalore’s batting has an intimidating aura around it. It has also been bolstered with the addition of AB de Villiers and their bowling attack, despite the seesawing fortunes of Vinay Kumar, has shown incisiveness. However, their bottom half of the batting order appears thin, at least on paper, and will be tested if their top falters against Narine and Co.

Players to watch

AB de Villiers is one of those rare batsmen currently around in international cricket who is as dangerous in Tests as he is in Twenty20s. He can play the most soothing of shots and then follow it up with the most outrageous one. Give him the gloves and he transforms to a more than capable wicketkeeper. Add to that his value as an athletic fielder. He joined the team on Tuesday morning and played a match later that evening. On Thursday, he will be fresh.Eoin Morgan is a player made for the shorter format. He is quick on his feet against the spinners and can hit the ball long. He showed his value on a pacy Jaipur pitch with a well-paced half-century – only his second in 14 matches for the franchise – that kept Knight Riders in the match, and in Bangalore, he is his team’s only man in form.

Stats and trivia

• Knight Riders lead the head-to-head 6-5 in 11 matches between these two teams
• Yusuf Pathan’s strike rate in 44 matches for Knight Riders is 124.68. In 43 matches for Rajasthan Royals, his strike rate was 161. He is yet to score a half-century for Knight Riders.
• Knights Riders have the highest team score of 222 in Bangalore, from the opening match of IPL 2008. Royal Challengers’ highest score on this ground came in 2011, when they scored 205 against Kings XI Punjab.

Quotes

“We should have chased down the score. As champions, you cannot afford to do that. We were not smart at all.”
“We can’t say we are not able to win matches if Gayle fails.”
*03.30GMT, April 11: The preview has been updated with the Brendon McCullum news

Match Facts

February 15, 2012
Start time 7pm (0600GMT)Mitchell McClenaghan, the aggressive left-armer, has bowled impressively in both matches•Getty Images

The Big Picture

Victories of a convincing nature for either side mean it is difficult to really assess how England and New Zealand compare in this format. However, the home side have a spring in their step after bouncing back from the hammering in Auckland.The fact the two matches have been shared is not much of a surprise, but the margins of victory have been large by Twenty20 standards. Both teams have struggled to chase considerable targets but, if the Wellington groundsman’s advice is to be heeded, then batting second should be the approach in this final match, where history suggests the dew is a hindrance to the bowlers.In Hamilton, New Zealand’s seamers made excellent use of the extra zip on offer under the lights to dismantle England’s top order which, three days previously, had gone on a boundary rampage. At 47 for 5 the game was done and dusted. However, what Brendon McCullum and, even in defeat, Jos Buttler showed is how much damage can be done in the last few overs of an innings.

Form guide

(Most recent first, completed matches)
New Zealand WLLWL
England LWWLL

In the spotlight

Alex Hales arrived for the series with a growing reputation in Twenty20 after a consistent 2012 for England plus his fly-in fly-out success at the Big Bash League. He has not quite been able to continue that form in New Zealand, missing out twice in the warm-ups and in Hamilton. As with the rest of England’s T20 top three, he is not part of the one-day squad so this is likely to be his last chance to impress on the international stage until the return T20 series against New Zealand in England later in the year.Mitchell McClenaghan is fitting nicely into the mould of ‘feisty fast bowler’. There was a little confrontation with Jade Dernbach at the end of the opening game, then a lively over in Hamilton knocked the top off the England run chase. He is eager for a similarly spicy battle in this deciding match. “I absolutely loved it,” he said. “I love getting in those kinds of tussles and showing some fight when things are lost and a bit of Kiwi spirit that we’re not going to get knocked down and stay down.”

Team news

New Zealand may consider recalling Ronnie Hira, the left-arm spinner, and if that is the case Trent Boult, who has been expensive in both matches, would be the likely bowler to make way.New Zealand (probable) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Hamish Rutherford, 3 Brendon McCullum (capt & wk), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Colin Munro, 6 Grant Elliott, 7 James Franklin, 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Ian Butler, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Mitchell McClenaghanEngland appear reasonably settled on the balance of their Twenty20 side so it is likely that Chris Woakes will remain on the sidelines alongside James Harris, Stuart Meaker and Joe Root.England 1 Michael Lumb, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Luke Wright, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Samit Patel, 8 Stuart Broad (capt), 9 James Tredwell, 10 Steven Finn, 11 Jade Dernbach

Pitch and conditions

There is the chance of a few showers on match day but nothing that should prove too disruptive. The groundsman says dew will be an issue so both captains will need to factor that in at the toss. The Westpac Stadium is known as the “Cake Tin” and the boundaries are again not the largest – although they are more equal all around the pitch.

Stats and trivia

• All four T20s at the Westpac Stadium have been won by the side chasing, with the highest innings total being New Zealand’s 162 for 8 against Sri Lanka in the first game on the ground in 2006.
• In last year’s T20 against South Africa on this ground, Martin Guptill hit 78 off 55 balls to lead New Zealand’s successful chase.

Quotes

“I’m only a couple of boundaries away and then the confidence goes up. You try not to think about it too much and get into it. I didn’t drop a catch in the last game so that was a positive.”
“If they want to be more aggressive, that’s not something that fazes us … we concentrate on what we want to do.”

Wahab Riaz, the Pakistan left-arm fast bowler, took a hat-trick in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and finished with career-best figures of 9 for 59 against Lahore Ravi to boost his chances of a recall for the one-day series against South Africa.Riaz, 27, last played for Pakistan 11 months ago in the Asia Cup but is having a productive first-class season with 48 wickets in 12 matches so far. He was selected for recent tour of India but was not included for any of the one-day internationals.Lahore Ravi had made a solid start to their innings with an opening stand of 70 before Riaz started to make his mark. He first dismissed Abid Ali with penultimate ball of his ninth over and returned for this 10th over to claim a hat-trick. He dismissed Ahmed Shahzad (29) – who was caught by Usman Salahuddin at first slips – and then bowled of Adnan Akmal and Waqas Ahmed with his next two balls.In the 41st over of the innings Imran Ali prevented Riaz fron taking another hat-trick after Mohammad Salman and Emmad Ali had fallen to successive ball. Ravi crumbled up at 153 all out in 48.1 overs with Shalimar 121 for 1 in reply at the close.Riaz hoped his performance would make a difference when it comes being in contention for Pakistan. “I am working hard and never let my hopes down,” he said. “I am heading in the right direction bowling hard and keeping myself in best shape.”Riaz took a five-wicket haul on his Test debut against England, at The Oval, in 2010 and collected his first ODI five-wicket bag in the World Cup semi-final against India.

Shakib Al Hasan has said he hasn’t received his initial signing amount from his BPL franchise Dhaka Gladiators, with four days to go before the tournament begins. Every player in the BPL is entitled to receive 25% of his total fee before the start of the second season.Players are supposed to get 25% of the money before the tournament starts, 25% during the tournament, and the remaining 50% within 150 days after the competition ends.”I haven’t received it yet,” Shakib said after Dhaka Gladiators’ first training session. “I think rules about payment should be written down so that payments can be made properly. The players will appreciate if payments are made for this season because we know what happened last season.”Although on-field performances won’t be affected because of the delay, Shakib said, irregularity in the payments was a disincentive. “It [non-payment] won’t affect the on-field performance but players will feel bad, those who haven’t been paid yet. We are all sufferers to be honest. It would be great if we get paid soon, because we give our 100% when we take the field and deliver results.”Shakib said he would take some time to recover from the stress fracture he suffered on his shinbone during the West Indies series, but he is likely to be available for the BPL apart from perhaps the first two games. “I am not fully fit, and it will take some more time. I think I will regain full fitness after the first two matches.”

The PCB will conduct dope tests for its players during the Faysal Bank T-20, which begins in Lahore on December 1, in accordance with World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) regulations.”The PCB is introducing in-competition dope testing during the Twenty20 tournament in order to strive for drug-free sports and to protect the basic framework for the athletes,” the board said in a statement. “Cricketers from all the regional teams participating in the Twenty20 championship will randomly be picked for dope testing.”These tests will be conducted by WADA-accredited independent doping control officers throughout the competition.”The PCB also said it had educated approximately 500 first-class cricketers on the subject of doping. Players attended lectures and were provided with a guide in urdu, an updated list of banned drugs and an CD to enhance their education.