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Harmanpreet Kaur is hopeful a women’s IPL can be established sooner rather than later, after she created history becoming the first Indian to be named WBBL player of the tournament following a stunning season for Melbourne Renegades.The India T20I captain made 399 runs for the tournament at an average of 66.50 and strike-rate of 135.25, including three match-winning half-centuries. In addition to being Renegades’ leading run-scorer, she was also their leading wicket-taker bagging 15 wickets at an economy rate of 7.46, bowling a lot of vital powerplay and death overs.She was Player of the Match three times and polled 31 votes, under a 3-2-1 voting system that is voted on by the standing umpires after each match. She finished three votes clear of Perth Scorchers duo Beth Mooney and Sophie Devine.Harmanpreet becomes the third overseas player to be named the WBBL’s player of the tournament after New Zealand duo Devine (twice) and Amy Satterthwaite. She hoped it was another stepping stone towards the establishment of the women’s IPL in the short-term future.”I think we have been looking at this for a long time and I hope, you know, sooner this women’s IPL will also start and we will also invite overseas players over there so that they can also share their experience with our domestic players,” Harmanpreet said. “I think this is something we are really waiting for and I hope, you know, this will start.”Performance is something which is in our hands and that’s what we have been doing and the rest of the things are totally dependent on BCCI and the cricket board.”We can’t do something extra on that but we can only request and that’s what we have done, you know, for many years.”They know better than us. They know when to do it and how to start and they are also thinking about that and I’m sure, you know, they will definitely come up with something for women’s cricket.”Harmanpreet Kaur was involved in a team hat-trick in the 20th over of Melbourne Stars’ innings•Mark Brake/Getty Images

Harmanpreet has been breaking ground for Indian women’s cricket ever since becoming the first Indian to play in both the WBBL and the Super League in England. She is hoping to inspire the next generation of players with her deeds in the WBBL.”Playing any tournament will give you lots of confidence and WBBL is something, you know, it’s a very, very big platform back home,” Harmanpreet said. “Every Indian wants to play in this league and I was the first one who got this opportunity to play and today, you know, winning this player of the tournament definitely gives lots of confidence to Indian girls also. They can also come here and perform and, you know, be part of this and then there are all the chances to achieve a lot in their cricket career.”Harmanpreet paid tribute to Renegades teammate Jemimah Rodrigues and coach Simon Helmet for their support throughout the tournament.”I think that is the reason I was more calm,” Harmanpreet said. “I was enjoying [playing] more because you know I had a teammate from back home and I really, really enjoyed her company.”Simon is a very, very nice human and is a great, great coach. I was lucky, you know, I played under him and I learned a lot from him and I think when I go back, I will definitely share his working skills with our coaches and definitely share this experience with my teammates.”Harmanpreet knows the job is not done as the Renegades wait to face the winner of Tuesday’s Eliminator between Brisbane Heat and Adelaide Strikers in tomorrow night’s Challenger. If they win the Challenger they will fly to Perth to face Scorchers in the final on Saturday. Harmanpreet didn’t bat in the last match against Heat but is fit for the Challenger.”I was not feeling well that day,” Harmanpreet said. “But luckily I’ve got four or five days off now and feeling much better now and I’m ready to go.”I have never [won] any title like this so far. And if we win, that will be a very great achievement for me.”Meanwhile, Phoebe Litchfield was named WBBL ‘Young Gun’ as the best player under the age of 21. The award is selected by Australia’s national selection panel.The 18-year-old Sydney Thunder batter made 263 runs at 21.91, striking at 109.12.”It means a lot to be recognised with this award,” Litchfield said. “It’s a surprise, to be honest. I could think of a number of other young players who would be deserving of this award, which is really exciting for the future.”Batting at No. 3 was a challenge but also a great opportunity. I was very privileged that Trevor Griffin trusted me with that spot and I hope I made the most of it.”

Andre Nel has parted ways with Essex after three seasons as the club’s assistant head coach and bowling coach.Nel, 44, arrived at Chelmsford in March 2019, having previously worked with Easterns, the South African National Cricket Academy and Phantoms.In his first season with the club, Essex won both the County Championship and Vitality Blast double, then backed up that achievement in 2020 with victory in the inaugural Bob Willis Trophy, beating Somerset in the final at Lord’s after the season had been rearranged due to the Covid-19 outbreak.Essex missed out on a chance to defend their titles in 2021, when they failed to qualify for Division One of the Championship’s three-tier conference system, but they still picked up the Division Two title instead, beating Northants inside two days in their final match of the summer.I’ve absolutely loved my three years back at Chelmsford and I’m grateful for the support myself and the team have received during this time,” Nel said.”I’m leaving with some fantastic memories that will stay with me forever. The success we experienced in 2019 will always be special to me, whilst I’m also really proud of our accomplishments with the Bob Willis Trophy and Division Two title in 2020 and 2021, respectively.”I’d like to thank the club for the opportunity to come back, the other coaches and players for their relentless hard work and the members and fans for their unrivalled loyal support.”Essex Head Coach, Anthony McGrath, added: “Andre has been a great asset to the club over the last three years and has helped us achieve some great things.”His knowledge and skillset have been extremely beneficial to our bowlers, whilst I have no doubt he will go on to experience more success as a coach elsewhere.”He will be missed but his departure allows the club and me to re-examine our coaching structure and move forward with a strong appointment for next season.”

Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan became the highest wicket-taker in men’s T20Is when he dismissed Scotland’s Michael Leask in his side’s opening match of the T20 World Cup 2021. He overtook Lasith Malinga’s tally of 107 wickets when he slowed up the pace a tad and Leask was through his shot early, lofting a drive to long-off.The left-arm spin-bowling allrounder now has 108 wickets in 89 T20Is. When he claimed his 100th wicket against Australia earlier this year, he became the first cricketer in T20Is to score 1000 runs and take 100 wickets.Related

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Shakib also recently reached the No. 1 position in the ICC’s T20I allrounders’ rankings, while also holding the top position in the ICC ODI allrounders’ charts.In July, Shakib became Bangladesh’s highest wicket-taker in ODIs, going past Mashrafe Mortaza who has 269 wickets for the country (and one for Asia XI). He is already Bangladesh’s highest wicket-taker in Tests as well. He is also among only four allrounders to score more than 6000 runs and take 250-plus wickets in ODIs.In T20 cricket, he is currently sixth on the overall wickets charts, with 388 wickets in 346 games. He is one of only four players in T20 cricket – Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell are the others – to have 5000 runs, 300 wickets and 50 catches.

Big picture

The perennial bridesmaids meet 2017’s losing finalists. The Guyana Amazon Warriors have been the nearly team throughout the history of the CPL, advancing to the final five times but never claiming the title. The St Kitts & Nevis Patriots finished runner-up four years ago, coincidentally during Chris Gayle’s first rodeo with this year’s host franchise, and he is now back trying to turn a silver medal into gold.The first half of this campaign saw these teams in far different situations to the ones they enter the playoffs in. The Patriots shot like a cannon out of the gates, winning their first five matches behind the sizzling form of Sherfane Rutherford, who scored three fifties in that stretch. But as Rutherford’s bat has cooled down, so have the Patriots as a whole, winning just one of their last five league games.The Amazon Warriors, meanwhile, only won two of their first five – needing a Super Over to get over the line in one of them – but have since won four out of five with different heroes stepping up on each occasion. Whether it has been Gudakesh Motie, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, or the captain Nicholas Pooran, the Warriors have been resilient thanks to a variety of match-winning performances. The Warriors come into this match with all the momentum but if the Patriots can rekindle their early-season form, it could be the formula for an exciting semi-final.

Form guide

Guyana Amazon Warriors WWWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots LWLLL

In the spotlight

Romario Shepherd had 36 runs in the tournament entering the final match of round-robin play. There, he scored twice as many in incredible style, digging his side out of a hole at 75 for 7 while scoring at a strike rate better than 200, then took three wickets in the chase. He’s been the tournament’s joint-leading wicket-taker with 18, and has been especially valuable at the death.Evin Lewis helped the Patriots clinch a spot in the playoffs with an unbeaten 101 off 52 balls on the penultimate day of group play, but was missing in action a day later. He’s the tournament’s second-highest run-getter and is coming into good form heading into the T20 World Cup.

Team news

Fitness permitting, Lewis should be back in the Patriots XI for the semi-final clash. Joshua Da Silva’s half-century at the top of the order gives the selectors an interesting dilemma as to who should take the gloves, though. Another coin toss may happen between picking Sheldon Cottrell and leaving him out for an extra spinner in Jon-Russ Jaggesar.St Kitts & Nevis Patriots (possible): 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Devon Thomas, 4 Sherfane Rutherford, 5 Dwayne Bravo (capt), 6 Fabian Allen, 7 Joshua Da Silva (wk), 8 Dominic Drakes, 9, Jon-Russ Jaggesar, 10 Paul van Meekeren, 11 Fawad Ahmed.The Warriors’ winning combination over the final weekend looks difficult to break up as they try to make it to their sixth final. Though with Shoaib Malik out of form, a tough call may need to be made to keep faith in the long-time middle-order stalwart or look elsewhere for runs and middle-overs spin, potentially from Kevin Sinclair.Guyana Amazon Warriors (possible): 1 Brandon King, 2 Chandrapaul Hemraj, 3 Shimron Hetmyer, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Nicholas Pooran (capt), 6 Anthony Bramble (wk), 7 Romario Shepherd, 8 Odean Smith, 9 Gudakesh Motie, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Imran Tahir.Gudakesh Motie has been a key performer with the ball for the Amazon Warriors•Getty Images

Pitch conditions

As the tournament has gone on, the wickets have continued to wear down and assist spin. But there have still been plenty of runs on offer thanks to the short boundaries. There were a few rain interruptions during the final weekend of play, but those came in the mid to late afternoon and were brief so a full match shouldn’t be difficult to get through.

Stats and trivia

• Captain Dwayne Bravo continues to extend his illustrious career record at the CPL. His eight wickets this season have extended his CPL mark to 114, 18 more than the next closest bowler Rayad Emrit.
• The Amazon Warriors have advanced to the tournament final on both previous occasions when the knockouts were staged in St Kitts. Both their preliminary final wins came against the Jamaica Tallawahs, before they lost to the Barbados Tridents (2014) and Tallawahs (2016) in the finals.

Quotes

“We need to go to the end and try and win the finals. We’ve been in the final five times and haven’t won it yet. We want to try to get the first.”
“To me TKR is the best team in the tournament so to get the result I’m very proud of the squad. Evin is the best in the world at the moment.”

ScorecardThe spectators who had waited four hours before play started were rewarded for their patience as they saw Derbyshire dismissed for 160 in 44.2 overs, and leave Glamorgan 212 to win. They faced six overs and with the final ball of the day – and without a run on the board – Jeevan Mendis trapped Jacques Rudolph leg before.Derbyshire meanwhile will be quietly confident of winning only their first championship game since beating Leicestershire in September 2015, as the ball is turning, with Mendis and the 16-year-old off spinner, Hamidullah Qadri, capable of troubling the Glamorgan batsmen.Resuming at 2 for 0, Derbyshire lost both nightwatchmen in Marchant De Lange’s first two overs. Tom Taylor was bowled by the fourth ball of the day, before Tony Palladino was caught at cover point from a leading edge. Billy Godleman, who had batted 43 overs for his 34 in the first innings, counter attacked effectively to score 27 from 22 balls, before he became De Lange’s third victim when he parried a lifting ball to gully.Andrew Salter was introduced when De Lange was rested, and despite being swept for four by Wayne Madsen from successive balls, Salter got his revenge when Madsen prodded to short leg.Luis Reece held the innings together with a fluent half century which included eight boundaries, but Derbyshire then lost 4 wickets for 16 runs. Graham Wagg removed Gary Wilson and Alex Hughes, while Salter, obtaining enough turn to trouble the batsmen, also took two wickets, including Reece for 55. After a breezy knock from Mendis, the innings ended with Timm Van Der Gugten taking the final two wickets in successive overs.Luis Reece battled to give Derbyshire a rare chance of victory•Getty Images

Khalid Latif and Shahzaib Hasan could be facing more charges for breaches of the PCB’s anti-corruption code.ESPNcricinfo understands the PCB might have found fresh leads in the ongoing investigation into the allegations of corruption surrounding the second season of the PSL. The board issued fresh notices against the players, who are already provisionally suspended, on Monday, asking them to appear for interviews before its Security and Vigilance Department. Latif was asked to appear on April 26, and Hasan on April 27.”In furtherance of its fight against corruption in the game of cricket the Pakistan Cricket Board’s Security and Vigilance Department has today issued fresh Notices of Demand to Cricketers Khalid Latif and Shahzaib Hassan,” PCB said in a statement. “These Notices of Demand have been issued under Article 4.3 of the PCB Anti-Corruption Code and require both Cricketers to appear before the PCB Security and Vigilance Department for interviews relating to investigations into possible further breaches of the PCB Anti-Corruption Code.”Article 4.3, as well as requiring the players to be interviewed, allows the PCB to seek any information it believes to be relevant to the case, including access to personal records such as bank statements and phone records.Latif has already been charged with six breaches of the PCB’s anti-corruption code during the PSL in February. He was provisionally suspended for alleged misdemeanours and was sent home from the tournament. He has already challenged those charges and is set to be heard before a three-man tribunal on May 5. He will now, however, appear in this separate investigation on April 26.Latif challenged the status of the tribunal in the Lahore High Court during his hearing last week but the writ petition was shot down by the court. His lawyer subsequently decided to appear before the tribunal under protest.Shahzaib was charged for allegedly failing to report a suspect approach in time and in full detail, and also for allegedly inducing players in corruption. He was charged with breaching three major clauses of the PCB’s anti-corruption code and is scheduled to appear before the tribunal on April 21. He will now have to appear again on April 27.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details2:34

Chappell: First thought Kuldeep’s selection was gutsy

Kuldeep Yadav’s left-arm wristspin gave this series yet another unexpected twist, trumping the far more consistent theme of the Australian captain Steven Smith’s batting excellence, as India enjoyed the better of the first day of the decisive fourth Test in Dharamsala.Having reached lunch at a domineering 131 for 1, Australia gave up their last nine wickets for a mere 169, all on a surface that showed itself to be by a distance the most evenly paced of the series. That they did so was down largely to Kuldeep, who was given a key role immediately upon the afternoon’s resumption by the stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane and responded with a delectable spell that turned the direction of the day.Though Smith motored to his third century of the series – one of only six visiting batsmen to score that many in India – he was left without significant top-order support, and of the rest only Matthew Wade was able to endure for any protracted period. A good indicator of the different nature of play in Dharamsala was that the innings went by without a single recourse to the DRS, in sharp contrast to earlier matches. The new ball in Australian hands looms large as a key to the match.An irony of Kuldeep’s display was that he had come into the side in place of Virat Kohli, who was reduced to drinks duties after concluding that his strained right shoulder was not going to be 100% fit for this match, the last of the Test season. Turning the ball sharply both ways while maintaining an immaculate length and line, Kuldeep recalled the problems created for Australia by another left-arm wristspinner in Sri Lanka last year – Lakshan Sandakan.The Dharamsala pitch offered pace and bounce for both fast men and spinners to exploit, and it was the fresher fingers of Kuldeep that were best able to take full advantage rather than either Ravindra Jadeja or R Ashwin. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who replaced Ishant Sharma, and Umesh Yadav had both found new-ball movement before Smith took control of proceedings with some help from David Warner.After Rahane lost the toss, Bhuvneshwar’s first ball of the match swerved away from Warner at drivable length. Warner chased it and edged, but the chance was grassed when Karun Nair could get only one hand to it. That incident was a necessary stroke of luck Warner needed after a largely barren series, and after Matt Renshaw was beaten and bowled by a Umesh delivery that straightened down the line, he and Smith were quickly into stride by using the extra pace and bounce offered up by Dharamsala’s hard pitch and thinner atmosphere.1:19

Steven Smith: highest average for a captain v India

Smith wasted little time to get moving, capitalising on any errors in line or length and at one point miscuing a hook at Umesh, so eager was he to get after the bowling. On another day the ball might have plopped into the gloves of Wriddhiman Saha, but here it fell safely.Warner was a little more sluggish after that early chance, covering up in defence to ensure he did not miss any of Bhuvneshwar’s inswingers, and on one occasion cuffing a boundary over the slips when trying to avoid a short ball. The arrival of spin helped Warner build momentum, as the Dharamsala surface offered the odd bit of spin but otherwise played in a friendly fashion in the morning session.Kuldeep was called upon for a pair of overs before the lunch interval, but he too was struck for boundaries as Smith and Warner set a highly promising platform for the tourists.Rahane and his bowlers reset their plans during the interval, focusing on greater economy while encouraging Kuldeep to maintain a full length and test Australia’s batsmen on the drive. Warner seemed preoccupied with trying to cut or force off the back foot, and in trying to do so from a delivery well pitched up, he succeeded only in edging to slip.Shaun Marsh, so stubborn in the second innings in Ranchi, flicked limply at an Umesh delivery and was taken down the leg side cheaply, before Peter Handscomb was out to a lovely piece of bowling from Kuldeep. The ball was tossed up and slower, drifting enough to drag Handscomb’s bat away from his pad and then breaking back through the gap to splay the stumps.Glenn Maxwell thought himself capable of muscling Kuldeep out of the attack and managed one lofted boundary, but he too was unable to be sure of which way the ball was turning. Two balls after reaching the rope, he went back to what he thought was a stock ball and instead found himself beaten and bowled by a googly.Smith’s earlier rapid scoring had slowed, and it was a subdued celebration on reaching three figures. He seemed likely to shepherd Matthew Wade to the tea break, but with five minutes to go edged an Ashwin drifter to slip, the ball after Wade had sneaked a bye from a ball that turned expansively.Pat Cummins, Steve O’Keefe and Nathan Lyon all offered momentary support to Wade, who played sensibly to ensure the visitors at least reached the 300 mark. But Kuldeep’s return to the attack accounted for Cummins, before O’Keefe was run-out by the substitute fielder Shreyas Iyer, who many had expected to be playing in place of Kohli. Needing to win the match to claim the series, India’s selectors had instead gambled on the extra bowler – Kuldeep’s wiles offered the richest of rewards.

ScorecardDuckett scored a double-hundred in Lions colours last summer, but found his trial by spin to be a tougher proposition•Getty Images

If Ben Duckett was looking for an immediate pick-me-up on the England Lions tour of Sri Lanka after his disheartening time in India, he discovered that life can sometimes be less accommodating than that. The teething problems against high-quality spin that abruptly stilled his Test career were again in evidence as Sri Lanka A strolled the first of five one-day matches.Sri Lanka’s 47-run win on a DLS calculation came in mildly farcical circumstances when play was suspended for bad light with England nine-down and still 60 short with five overs remaining. Vikum Sanjaya bowled a bouncer at the Lions’ last man, Josh Poysden, the light meters came out and that was that. It was a predictably unsatisfying end after no overs had been removed when the match had started half-an-hour late after overnight rain.Whether Duckett breaks into the Champions Trophy squad this summer will not entirely depend on his fate over the next 10 days or so – England in June does not bear too much relation to the challenges on subcontinent pitches and he has too much natural talent to be subdued for long – but England will want to see evidence on this tour that he has suffered no lasting effects from his exposure against Ashwin and co.Instead, first up was an uncomfortable reminder of his India issues. This time the off-break bowler was Danushka Gunathilaka, who might not have Ashwin’s reputation – indeed, he has five international wickets in 21 appearances – but who unpicked the Northants’ left-hander efficiently enough. Duckett was 17 when he advanced down the line of leg stump to strike Gunathilaka over the off side only to be stumped by a distance.England have given him every chance to get into one-day mode, omitting him from the four-day leg of the tour as if to stress that they want his rehabilitation to come with a strong one-day bias. They want the Lions players to feel the scrutiny, despite the tiny crowds, and even after one game he will know what they mean.It was Duckett’s prodigious form for the Lions last summer, backed by heavy run-making for Northants, which catapulted him into England reckoning. Four innings brought 448 runs at an average of 224, including an unbeaten 220 against Sri Lanka A in Canterbury. Not that Sri Lanka were likely to suffer any ill effects from those memories with only Thisara Perera, a veteran in A-team terms at 27, surviving from that XI.The presence not just of Thisara Perera, but Kusal Perera too, amplified the difference in experience between the two sides. Sri Lanka had 10 players with international experience, the Perera twosome accounting for more than half of their 400-plus caps. The Lions could point only to a handful of caps for Duckett and the captain, Keaton Jennings, all of them won in recent months.Jennings habitually got out when set in the two four-day matches, so his adept 64 from 70 balls to underpin England’s pursuit of 290 in 48 overs represented an improvement. A top-edged sweep against the round-arm offspin of Shehan Jayasuriya caused his downfall, the first of four Lions wickets to fall for 15 runs in 28 balls and, at 133 for 7, effectively sealed their fate.Sri Lanka’s winning margin was trimmed thanks to a defiant eighth-wicket stand of 73 in 11 overs between Liam Livingstone, who was on the back of two hundreds in a match in Pallekele, and Craig Overton, who had done little else than sit and watch them. Overton’s first match of the tour was an impressive one: an unbeaten 60 from 45 balls – his first List A half-century – plus two top-order wickets in Sri Lanka A’s 278 for 7, an innings ended 11 balls early because of rain. As a youngster, he was a batsman who bowled and to be carded at No 9 here is something that should cause him to aspire to better things.With Sri Lanka A fielding seven left-handers in the top eight, the Lions were grateful not just for Overton’s lead with the ball but also for Livingstone’s sound stint of offspin, only 28 conceded in a spell that allowed little width and, after he dismissed Sandun Weerakkody in his final over, caught at the wicket, rounded off with two legspinners to the incoming right-hander.But the Lions’ seam attack lacked variety, James Fuller had an off-day and Poysden dropped his legspinners repeatedly short and suffered as a consequence. Half-centuries from the openers Kusal Perera and Gunathilaka in an opening stand of 123, plus a hard-hitting unbeaten 56 off 35 balls from Thisara Perera, gave Sri Lanka A dominance they never relinqushed.Outplayed in England last summer, they are a different proposition here. Duckett is not alone in recognising that.

“Decent stick I’ve got, I’ll put that one on ice until next time,” Martin Guptill said about the bat that helped him pile up his series-levelling unbeaten 180 against South Africa.It was a performance he rated as probably his best ODI innings, which would put it ahead of his 237 in the World Cup quarter-final against West Indies, because it came off the back of a month on the sidelines with a hamstring injury. That was a sentiment supported by his captain Kane Williamson who termed it a “world-class” innings.Guptill had only begun netting a week ago, and the session the day before the fourth ODI was the highest intensity he had trained at since injuring his hamstring before the one-off T20I against South Africa, which followed a previous hamstring strain during the home Chappell-Hadlee series. In all, Guptill has only batted three times in 2017, twice for New Zealand and once for Auckland: his scores 112, 61 and 180 not out.He had spoken before this match of hoping that he could regain the rhythm he had earlier in the season. The outcome was a magnificent display of clean hitting which included 11 sixes and left him with New Zealand’s three highest scores in 50-over cricket.”It’s pretty up there, possibly No.1. I’m reasonably happy with how today went without a lot of preparation,” he said. “It was difficult to bat all round, two-paced, turning, slower balls gripping, it wasn’t easy, and I wanted to create a good partnership. I did that reasonably well and fortunately I was able to get a few out of the middle.”He had immediately jumped in an ice bath after the match and said his hamstrings were “a bit tight” but nothing that wasn’t to be expected.The two camps differed somewhat on how the conditions panned out with AB de Villiers believing the surface eased, starting at the back end of South Africa’s innings when they scored 100 off the last eight overs, but Williamson supported Guptill’s view that it remained a tricky pitch throughout.”I said to Martin when he came off, that’s probably his best, and he’s done it a few times to be fair so there are a few tight comparisons,” Williamson said. “In a chasing effort on what wasn’t an easy surface and to hit the ball the way he did and play with the freedom we know he can and do something special against the best team in the world was a special, world-class effort.”In a chase of 280, Guptill inside-edged his first ball from Kagiso Rabada past the stumps, played out a maiden from Wayne Parnell in the second over and was 2 off 10 balls when he connected with a stinging pull shot off the left-arm quick for the first of his sixes. The splits for his fifties were 38 balls, 44 and 41 with his last 30 runs taking 15 deliveries.”I wanted to give myself a chance really, have a look at what it was doing,” he said. “I got a few away and developed a strike rate early at the top and carried it through.”Guptill’s innings continued an upturn in his fortunes against South Africa. In the previous one-day series between the teams, Guptill scored his first hundred against them in the second match in Potchefstroom having had a previous best of 58 from 12 innings at an average of 14.50. In the space of three innings, the average against South Africa has lifted to 35.92.”I’ve always rated him as a player, he’s had to work through a few things,” de Villiers said. “I was always hoping this day would never come, where he’s figured out his game, playing it nice and late and he’s moving well. I could sit here for quite some time and talk about that knock. It was a very special innings.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:50

Coverdale: Warner must feel in better space than a month ago

Rain cleared in Sydney for the second time in as many days to allow further progression of the SCG Test but Pakistan will require a world record cloudburst of strokes to prevent Australia advancing to a third victory from as many matches in the series on Saturday.A firecracker of an innings by David Warner and handsome hands from Steven Smith and Usman Khawaja helped the hosts set Pakistan a distant 465 to win after Younis Khan’s excellent rearguard dissuaded the hosts from enforcing the follow-on. The wicket of an aggressive Sharjeel Khan gave Smith an opening before the close.The entirety of the first session was lost for the second time in as many days, but Smith’s team made up for lost time by rattling off 241 in a mere 32 overs. Warner was certainly not in the mood to linger, hammering 55 from 27 balls to put Pakistan immediately on the back foot. He took particular toll on Yasir Shah, taking one over for 22.Smith and Khawaja followed up with plenty of telling blows of their own to stretch the lead, with the captain ultimately closing the innings with 16 overs left in the day and another 98 on day five. Sharjeel’s attacking instincts were given brief vent but his time in the middle on debut was ended when he flicked without due care and attention to Warner, lurking at midwicket.Earlier, Yasir had lasted more than an hour in the company of Younis to ensure Smith needed to call upon Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood more than he would have preferred if he were to send Pakistan back in. Hazlewood finished an exemplary display with four wickets, the last of which a sharp reverse swinger to bowl Imran Khan for a duck.Australia had one glimmer of hope to end Pakistan’s innings quickly when play got under way, as Starc coaxed an outside edge from Younis’ bat. However, Matthew Wade, back on the field having missed most of day three due to illness, was unable to hold onto the edge as he dived to his right.By the time Hazlewood found Yasir’s edge, 44 runs had been wiped off the deficit and Younis had gone well past 150. Australia will be without Matt Renshaw, ruled out of the match due to the symptoms of concussion after being struck twice in the helmet in the first three days.Khawaja duly walked out with Warner, and was in a great spot for a spectator as Australia’s vice-captain fired shots to all parts and briefly threatened the world record for fastest Test hundred as a follow-up to his century before lunch on day one of this match.In the end Warner got a fraction ahead of himself, bowled when aiming an ugly smear at Wahab Riaz, but he earned a second standing ovation of the Test and allowed Khawaja and Smith to carry on comfortably in his wake – the captain ended the session with a thumping six into the SCG Members.The runs continued to flow after tea, Smith moving along at a scarcely slower pace than Warner had set, and he was surprised to be given out when the third umpire Ian Gould detected the merest touch on the glove down the leg side when he tried to sweep Yasir. There was time for some flourish from Peter Handscomb before the declaration arrived, leaving Australia with plenty of time to chase a clean sweep of the series.