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Allrounder Yusuf Pathan has been recalled to the ODI squad for the first two matches against South Africa, along with fast bowler Praveen Kumar. R Ashwin, the Tamil Nadu offspinner, has also been called up, as has Mumbai allrounder Abhishek Nayar, to the 15-man squad.Opening batsman Gautam Gambhir is out of the series with a groin injury, while middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh had not recovered from the hand injury he sustained in Bangladesh to take part in the three-ODI contest. Offspinner Harbhajan Singh was not included because he asked for time off to attend his sister’s wedding.Yusuf had made a strong case for himself with his eye-catching performances on the domestic circuit. His two centuries for West Zone – 210 off 190 balls in the second innings – helped them achieve the highest chase in first-class cricket in the Duleep Trophy final against South Zone.”It’s a great feeling to be called up,” Yusuf told Cricinfo. “In the back of my mind it was there after I scored those two hundreds in the Duleep [Trophy] final. If I get a chance to play, I think I’m in really good form. I’m happy to be in such good form.”He strengthened his chances by smashing a century off 40 balls – the third fastest century in List A matches – for Baroda in their Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Maharashtra in Ahmedabad. That performance came on the day the selectors met in Kolkata, where the second Test is currently underway, to pick the 15-man squad.Ashwin, who earlier blogged for Cricinfo, said he was eagerly awaiting a chance to debut for India. “I just need to do what I have been doing well so far, which has got me this call-up,” he told Cricinfo. “I have been playing lots of one-day competitions recently and so am in the one-day mode. I realise it’s a different ball game playing international cricket but I just need to do what i have been doing.”Ashwin has played with several of the members of India’s squad in the IPL and he felt that was a boon. “It will be really handy to have played with people like [Suresh] Raina and [MS] Dhoni, and at the end of the day the dressing room atmosphere matters and you take that confident frame of mind on to the field.””My strength is probably to be able to apply pressure. I look to dry up the runs and create pressure from one end, and that’s what I intend to do if I get a chance.”The series begins in Jaipur on February 21.Squad: MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Sudeep Tyagi, Praveen Kumar, Abhishek Nayar, Yusuf Pathan, Amit Mishra.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outShakib Al Hasan’s maiden Test century went in vain•Getty Images

A captivating maiden century from Shakib Al Hasan was not enough to deny New Zealand victory on the fifth day at Seddon Park, as Bangladesh fell 121 runs of victory in the afternoon after a breathtaking morning’s play. Shakib played beautifully for his 100, taking the attack to the New Zealand bowlers who were firmly on top as the final day of the Test match began. Shakib battled valiantly in resistance, finding momentary support from his overnight partner, Mushfiqur Rahim, and the in-form Mahmudullah, but was ultimately left with just the company of the tail as he attempted to pull off an unlikely victory. It was not to be for Bangladesh.Earlier, Shakib and Mushfiqur started patiently, negotiating the good deliveries safely but being sure to put away the bad balls; when they slashed they slashed hard at the wide ones to send them flying over the packed slip cordon. New Zealand tussled hard to keep the pressure on, sprightly, as usual, in the field with the bowers hitting their lengths consistently early on.About 10 overs into the morning however, Shakib exploded. Having ended the previous day’s play unbeaten on 0 from 25 balls, and then deadbatting his way through most of the opening spell, Shakib creamed his second half-century of the match in just 58 deliveries. Chris Martin was first dispatched for three fours in one over before Daniel Vettori brought himself on. His first over of the session cost 18, Shakib punctuating three strapping sweep shots with a skillful paddle to the fine-leg fence. He then hit 10 off the first three balls of Vettori’s next over to bring up his 50 and to complete a staggering 13 ball burst in which he plundered 40 runs from the New Zealand attack.Daryl Tuffey bowled two consecutive maidens at the other end, escaping Shakib’s onslaught to nick Mushfiqur out with a pearler outside the off stump. But the captain’s counterattack proved effective, Vettori forced to defend the leg side boundary, especially with Shakib on strike.Mahmudullah played well with Shakib, the pair adding an entertaining 68 together, but they were ultimately unable to repeat their heroics of the first innings as Mahmudullah was caught by a diving Tuffey at mid-on for a well made 42. Shahadat Hossain did well to survive until Shakib reached his hundred in the first over after lunch, only for Tim Southee to clean up the centurion two balls later. With that, the tourists’ hope of an upset slipped away.The Bangladesh tail came out playing their shots, taking to Jeetan Patel’s bowling in particular, but it was only a matter of time before the New Zealanders finished it off, Southee taking two more in successive deliveries to have the visitors all out for 282.

Marcus North is not in danger of losing his place for this week’s Hobart Test but Simon Katich’s position in the team won’t be clear until after training on Monday afternoon. Katich is battling an elbow injury that he sustained during the Boxing Day Test and the coach Tim Nielsen said Australia remained unsure of Katich’s prospects.He missed the Sydney victory and is hoping to be fit for the final Test of the summer, against Pakistan at Bellerive Oval starting on Thursday. Phillip Hughes remains on standby for Katich, who will bat properly for the first time in the nets in Hobart on Monday.”While he’s probably had a few throwdowns and picked up a bat, he was still tender at the end of the Test match in Sydney,” Nielsen said in the . “We’ve tried to give him as long as we could to prove his fitness. Our first run-around [on Monday] will give him a pretty clear indication of whether he is right to go or not.”Regardless of whether Katich is cleared to play, there is no doubt over the No. 6 North, despite his shaky results this season. In his five Tests at home this summer, North has scored 186 runs at 23.25 and he hasn’t passed 10 in his past four innings.”In this Test match, he’s safe,” Nielsen said of North. “We’ll have Phil there as a standby player for Simon as in Sydney. We must keep in perspective it was only a couple of months ago that Marcus had three centuries in five Tests. He’s having a bit of a dip in form at the moment.”It happens in our game, different players go through rough trots. He’s a good player and I’m sure he will perform this week. Probably the major thing is he hasn’t been able to get through that difficult period from nought to 20. It’s been one of those summers for him, perhaps a little bit like what Michael Hussey went through, and he’s come out the other end playing so well.”Australia can complete a 3-0 clean-sweep against Pakistan if they win in Hobart, and such a result would give them five wins from six Tests at home this season. But Nielsen said there were plenty of areas in which the team needed to improve, and certain individuals would be keen to do just that in their last chance for the summer.”The biggest thing for us is that while we had a tremendous result in Sydney, we certainly didn’t play at our best for the four days,” Nielsen said. “It’s good to go into the last Test match on such a high, but I think there’s probably a few guys who feel they could do a little better personally as well. It’d be nice to finish off our Test match summer now with a really complete performance.”

Younis Khan could make his international comeback during the ODI leg of Pakistan’s tour of Australia in January. Younis stepped down as captain and opted out of the tour of New Zealand claiming he had “lost command” of the side, and was not picked for the Test series in Australia as he had not played first-class cricket since the start of his temporary break.But Younis is set to return to the domestic circuit, starting with the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final on December 21, where he is expected to lead Habib Bank Limited against Karachi Blues at the National Stadium. He also expressed interest in participating in the Pentangular Cup, starting on January 1.”I had a discussion with him [Younis] recently and believe that he is in a positive frame of mind,” Iqbal Qasim, the chief selector at the National Cricket Academy, told the . “Younis has made up his mind to play in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final as well as the Pentangular Cup and that is a good sign.”Mohammad Yousuf was appointed captain for the tour of New Zealand, where Pakistan drew the Test series 1-1, and was retained for the Test series in Australia. Misbah-ul-Haq took Younis’ place in the XI, but has so far struggled to make an impression. Though Qasim said it could be too late for Younis to be picked for Test series against Australia, the ODI series, he felt, was a realistic possibility.”I can’t say anything about the Test series but it might already be too late,” he said. “I mean we already have 16 players in Australia and will be sending another man [Mohammad Sami] there soon.”But once Younis plays in the domestic matches then he would certainly be considered for the one-day series [against Australia].”The Pakistan team contacted the selectors regarding Younis’ availability upon their arrival in Hobart.

ScorecardAndrew McDonald has hit form for Victoria, taking four wickets to help finish off the Bulls•Getty Images

Andrew McDonald and John Hastings shared eight wickets as they pushed Victoria to a six-point buffer at the top of the Sheffield Shield table following an innings-and-50-run triumph over Queensland. Rain tried to take the match into a fourth day but McDonald, who bowled unchanged for 20.3 overs, and Hastings broke through to finish things off shortly after tea.The Bulls, who were missing the opener Ryan Broad with a broken thumb, were dismissed for 133 to follow their 195 in the first innings. Only four batsmen made double figures and Lee Carseldine’s 27 was the best effort as the visitors were thoroughly outplayed.Hastings charged through the lower order and was on a hat-trick after having Chris Simpson (23) caught behind and bowling Ben Cutting. When play resumed after tea he removed Chris Hartley (26) and Scott Walter before McDonald ended the match by knocking over Daniel Doran. McDonald finished with 4 for 37 while Hastings captured 4 for 30 in a neat collection.The Bushrangers, who won the competition last year, are now on 14 points, six ahead of Queensland and South Australia. They also have a game in hand after starting the season late due to their Champions League Twenty20 commitments.

Two days into South Africa’s switch to 40-over domestic cricket – the 45-over MTN domestic championship has been abandoned – and a record was broken.Morne van Wyk hit the highest individual score in South African limited-overs history as the Eagles beat the Lions by 104 runs in Bloemfontein. van Wyk, who has played six one-day internationals and two Twenty20s for South Africa, batted the entire 40 overs for an unbeaten 168 off 125 balls, with 25 fours and a six, to boost the Eagles to 286 for 5. The previous best score was Martin Venter’s 166 for North West against KwaZulu-Natal in 1997.The new format follows the England board’s decision to do away with their 50-over competition. While the teams can pick 12 players, only 11 can bat and field. The first Powerplay extends up to 10 overs and the second for five and both must be taken before the 35th over. For one, four fielders will be allowed outside the ring, and for the other three. Also for rain delays overs will be deducted immediately, and matches will be played over a set period regardless of the weather.Such was van Wyk’s dominance of the Lions’ bowling that the second best score was the captain Boeta Dippenaar’s 36 off 39 balls. van Wyk added 80 for the first wicket with Reeza Hendricks (22), 46 with Rilee Roussow (26), 96 with Dippenaar and 43 with Johan van der Wath (21). The visitors never neared their target. Neil McKenzie’s 53 off 70 balls was the best score they could put up and they were shot out for 182. After the departure of Vaughan van Jaarsveld, the middle order capitulated. van der Wath, who cut ties with the unofficial ICL, took 3 for 36 opening the attack and Ryan McLaren struck twice at the top.van Wyk’s record was in keeping with a busy round of action in the new format. On the opening day, Andrew Puttick and JP Duminy helping the Cobras coast to a seven-wicket victory over the Lions in Johannesburg. Chasing what appeared a challenging target of 287, the pair hit fluent centuries in a seven-wicket win achieved with six deliveries in hand.The new competition began with Graeme Smith opting to field. Despite losing Jean Symes and Alviro Petersen in the first six overs, the Lions ticked along thanks to a run-a-ball stand of 116 between the captain Neil McKenzie and Vaughn van Jaarsveld. Duminy snapped that alliance by trapping van Jaarsveld leg before for 67. McKenzie made 80 off 86 deliveries and Zander de Bruyn 54 off 34 as the Lions finished on 286 for 6.Smith departed in the first over, caught by Friedel de Wet at fine leg off Andre Nel in the first over, but Robin Peterson tonked Nel for 23 in his next over. Puttick and Peterson added 50 in 39 balls after which a match-winning stand was formed. Puttick and Duminy hit the bowlers all across the stadium and Duminy brought up his maiden limited-overs century off 88 balls. He was bowled for 104, ending a 224-run partnership in 187 balls, with victory in sight but Puttick’s unbeaten 122 sealed the win.The Warriors pipped the Dolphins by 13 runs in a tight finish in Durban despite a scare from David Miller down the order. The Warriors’ 213 for 7 owed plenty to the No. 8 Craig Thyssen’s 56 off 39 balls with five fours and a pair of sixes. It was the highest score of the innings after Mark Boucher’s 47. The Warriors’ top order had failed to do much and Boucher’s and Thyssen’s innings proved crucial in the end.Chasing a small target, the Dolphins were ripped apart at the top by Lonwabo Tsotsobe, who soon had them down at 24 for 3. Imraan Khan (54) propped up the innings but his dismissal was followed by Tsotsobe taking his fourth wicket, that of Andrew Hall (51). Miller threatened to down the Warriors with 33 off 14 balls, with three fours and two sixes, from No. 8 but Johan Botha dismissed him with the last ball of his spell, which ended with the 39th over. The Dolphins needed 19 from the last over but Juan Theron allowed them just five while dismissing Johann Louw with the penultimate delivery.In Centurion, the match between the Titans and the Cobras was washed out after the Titans posted 249 for 8. Jacques Rudolph’s 93 off 87 balls, with 11 fours and a six, was the main contributor.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsHashim Amla produced a steady 80 at the top of South Africa’s order•Getty Images

South Africa began their season with a 45-run victory over neighbours, Zimbabwe, at Benoni yet were left with plenty to ponder after a battling century from Tatenda Taibu in a record sixth-wicket stand of 188. The game was done as a contest when Zimbabwe fell to 48 for 5, but Taibu and Stuart Matsikenyeri refused to roll over and plundered the home attack with Taibu reaching his second ODI hundred in the final over.In their first outing since making an early exit from the Champions Trophy, South Africa’s reshaped batting unit produced a solid effort as they piled up 295 for 5 after Hashim Amla top-scored with 80 alongside a fluent run-a-ball 51 from AB de Villiers and a powerful 39-ball fifty by Albie Morkel. With Ryan McLaren striking twice on debut and Dale Steyn claiming two in four balls the game was heading for swift end, but South Africa lost their intensity.Taibu and Matsikenyeri exposed the bowling attack with Zimbabwe’s highest sixth-wicket stand and their second largest partnership in ODIs. South Africa’s bowling was a concern for them during the Champions Trophy and this performance will have done little to alleviate those worries ahead of the England series.Wayne Parnell’s return can’t come soon enough with Dale Steyn still appearing short of a gallop. Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Charl Langeveldt are vying for spots against England, but neither made an outstanding case in this outing while, despite a lively innings, Morkel continued to look unthreatening with the ball at this level.After struggling with the bat in Bangladesh – and slumping for an embarrassing 44 all out on one occasion – Zimbabwe will take great heart from their fighting effort and it could well encourage a shuffle of the order for the next game with Taibu and Matsikenyeri both making strong cases for promotion.Unlike the bowlers, South Africa’s batsmen appeared in reasonable fettle. There was a hint of early-season rustiness about some of the top-order dismissals as deep fielders were picked out, but it meant that others benefited from time in the middle. The finish to the innings will have pleased Mickey Arthur and Graeme Smith as Morkel exploited the batting Powerplay alongside the recalled Alvrio Petersen to the tune of 58 runs.After Smith had picked out deep midwicket, Amla and de Villiers both moved along comfortably against the slow bowlers in significant innings for the second-wicket pair. Amla is currently Kallis’ understudy alongside Smith and is expected to make way against England so runs here makes the selectors’ job a little harder.de Villiers, meanwhile, has been moved up the order to No. 3, with Arthur wanting to give him more time to build an innings and improve on a slightly disappointing return of three centuries in 89 ODIs. He certainly had time today to register hundred No. 4, moving effortlessly to a 48-ball half-century, before picking out long-off where Mark Vermeulen held a well-judged catch. Amla was set to bat through the innings when, much to his disgust, he deposited a long hop from Graeme Cremer down deep midwicket, and three overs later Mark Boucher’s laboured effort ended with a miscued drive to long-off.Morkel gave himself a few overs to settle then the Powerplay was taken. The first two over went for just five each, but then the boundaries started to flow with the next three costing 48. Morkel collected three sixes, including a tracer-bullet blow flat over long-on during his second ODI half-century to go alongside the 97 he made in the previous meeting between these two sides. Petersen, playing his first ODI since March 2008, supported well with a sprightly effort in a stand worth 86 from 10 overs.Having struggled on the slow, low pitches of Bangladesh, it was little surprise that Zimbabwe slumped and the top order was soon in tatters. Vermeulen picked out mid off and McLaren made an almost immediate impact with the ball as he trapped Chibhabha leg before with his third delivery. McLaren soon had his second courtesy of a fine, low catch by Boucher to his right and Steyn collected two in four balls as his pace prove too much for Hamilton Masakadza and Elton Chigumbura.Then came the unexpected reply from Zimbabwe’s middle order as South Africa were made to toil. Taibu, who swung a six off Tsotsobe, reached fifty off 71 balls and Matsikenyeri took 68 balls as he climbed into Johan Botha with a over costing 16. McLaren also came in for some punishment as his ninth over cost 17 and although it was all academic in terms of the result South Africa left the fielding knowing there is plenty of room for improvement.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the Uttar Pradesh seamer, has been named New Zealand opening batsman Jesse Ryder’s replacement in the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad for the Champions League Twenty20.Ryder revived New Zealand’s campaign in the ICC Champions Trophy with a blistering 74 against Sri Lanka which put them on course for a 300-plus total but picked up a groin injury during that Group B match. He was ruled out of the remainder of the Champions Trophy as well as the Champions League.Ryder wasn’t at his best for Bangalore during this year’s IPL, scraping together just 56 runs in five innings though he was slightly better with the ball, capturing three wickets and maintaining an acceptable economy rate of 6.76.His replacement, Bhuvneshwar, is an 18-year-old medium-pacer who hasn’t played any Twenty20 matches. He was impressive in the previous Ranji season, though, grabbing 31 wickets at 24.12, and often getting the new ball ahead of at least one of his more illustrious team-mates RP Singh and Praveen Kumar.

A controversy has arisen over the control of the Rajasthan Cricket Association, with a group backed by Lalit Modi claiming on Sunday to have removed the incumbent, Sanjay Dixit, through a no-confidence motion. Dixit – who defeated Modi in the election – called the move unconstitutional and said he was still in charge.Dixit had suspended two members of the RCA, Jaipur District Cricket Association (JDCA) president Bimal Soni and Cricket Players’ Association of Rajasthan secretary Shamsher Singh, on Saturday and, prompted by the constant tussle between the two factions, called off the annual general meeting scheduled for Sunday.The rival faction, however, went on with the AGM, and during it moved a no-confidence motion against Dixit that was passed by a 20-member house.Modi had in March lost the election to the post of RCA president – which he had held since 2005 – to Dixit, a bureaucrat. He has been at the centre of controversy ever since the Rajasthan government changed hands in a recent election. Modi had close ties with the previous administration and was facing charges of forgery and fraud.

The middle-order batsman Adam Voges has been recalled to the Australia one-day squad for the Champions Trophy while David Hussey and Marcus North have missed out. There were few other surprises in the 15-man group, which features all the members of Australia’s ODI squad to play seven matches in England besides the backup wicketkeeper Tim Paine.Western Australia’s Voges played his only ODI for Australia during the 2006-07 Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, although he has been an off-and-on member of Australia’s Twenty20 side since then. Earlier this month he scored his first hundred for Nottinghamshire in the County Championship, where he is playing as an overseas player. He also scored 311 runs from eight one-day matches in Australia’s domestic season last year.Although Michael Hussey’s form in Tests has been below par – he has averaged just over 22 in the Ashes so far – his one-day performances have been consistent this year and the selectors have kept their faith in him. But his brother David was left out after averaging 21.87 from 16 one-day innings this year. There was also no place for North or Doug Bollinger, both of whom played in the recent series against Pakistan in the UAE.Australia squad: Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Nathan Bracken, Callum Ferguson, Brad Haddin (wk) Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Peter Siddle, Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Cameron White.