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Shane Jurgensen has said that his experience as Bangladesh’s head coach will give him a slender edge in working with the Rangpur Riders in the BPL. He is also relishing the prospect of his first assignment in guiding a T20 franchise team which is tipped to be the strongest on paper in this season’s tournament.”I think it will be a slight advantage [with my previous experience in Bangladesh] but every team will be well-prepared,” Jurgensen said. “We will have to make sure that we don’t take our foot off the pedal. We have to make all the 240 balls count.”It is a good opportunity for me to get into T20 cricket. I am pretty excited. I have never really done something like this in a franchise set-up. It is a new thing for me. It is a good test for my coaching ability to get along with the players, to have a good time in a team environment. I like what I am seeing. Everything is well organised off the field, so everything has gone well so far.”Jurgensen said that his role in Fiji, where he worked after leaving Bangladesh in April 2014, was that of an allrounder in terms of coaching all the representative sides on the island. He said that the hands-on role has added to his repertoire as a coach.”I have taken up a role where I do a lot of stuff off the field, apart from coaching. It has been good for me personally, to tap into other areas like budget, planning and lot more of other stuff.”In Fiji, it is me and me only. So I am coaching in a lot of different areas of the game. I am coaching a lot more fielding, batting and bowling. It has helped my coaching. I have to be more hands-on,” he said.It is a totally different story now for Jurgensen, who is in charge of a team that boasts the topmost catch among the local players – Shakib Al Hasan – as well as having Darren Sammy, Misbah-Ul-Haq, Thisara Perera, Lendl Simmons, Sachitra Senanayake, Mohammad Nabi and Wahab Riaz as their seven foreign players.He said that it would be an interesting task to pick the four foreign players allowed in the playing XI but what is more challenging to him is to pick the seven locals from the rest of his squad who are training in Mirpur for the last few days ahead of the BPL.Soumya Sarkar was Rangpur’s first pick in the BPL draft held last month while they also have Arafat Sunny, Mohammad Mithun and Jahurul Islam among Bangladesh internationals. Muktar Ali, Saqlain Sajib and Abu Jayed Chowdhury have just finished their assignment for Bangladesh A in Zimbabwe, so the likes of left-arm spinner Murad Khan, allrounders Rasel Al Mamun and Alok Kapali, Al Amin jnr and seamer Nazmul Hossain have been in training and Jurgensen is confident they will be ready.”It is going to be the same for all the team. But all these [Rangpur] boys have been playing some form of cricket recently. Some of them have been in South Africa while some have been in Zimbabwe,” he said. “The Sri Lankan and West Indian players have been playing too. They are all cricket-fit and they are experienced players now.”It is an opportunity for the [local] guys who are training in Dhaka to put their best foot forward. We have four overseas players and seven local players so everyone will be pushing for spots. It is important at the moment that these guys have the best preparation possible while the other guys are playing.”He said that while Shakib’s experience as a T20 player would be important for his team, he likes the balance of his team too.”Shakib is obviously an integral part of the team. He is Bangladesh’s most experienced T20 player and MVP in the last BPL. It is great to have him in the team and we have a good overall team too. The balance is pretty good.”Our goal is to reach the final. I have come here to win. I think we have a well balanced team. We have to make sure to put all the potential we have on paper and execute accordingly.”Rangpur play the BPL opener against the Chittagong Vikings on November 22.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShaun Tait produced a fiery spell of 3 for 16•Getty Images

Sydney Thunder, after a perfect three-from-three start to the Big Bash League season, had once more done plenty right. In front of a record Bellerive Oval crowd of 17,151 (1808 more than watched the entire Australia v West Indies Test match at the same venue last month), Hobart Hurricanes’ powerful batting line-up had been limited to 163, and Michael Hussey – who came to the crease after two first-over wickets – was rolling back the years to anchor the chase. But the 18th over, bowled by Jake Reed, turned things around as Hobart Hurricanes held their nerve to win by 11 run.The onus was on Hussey – who had lost Andre Russell the over before, to steer Thunder home from a position where they required 27 off 18 balls. But that wasn’t to be as Hussey slogged the opening ball across the line, and was brilliantly caught low by a sprinting Clive Rose at deep square leg. Next, Chris Hartley – coming back for a second – was run out by an outstanding direct hit from Dan Christian at long-on. Finally, Chris Green’s thick outside edge was snaffled by Tim Paine, diving full stretch to his right. Three deliveries, three outstanding pieces of fielding, three wickets, one game turned – and won.The Hurricanes, fresh from a pair of victories over Brisbane Heat, had failed to get going against Thunder’s stop-start, varied attack, as Hussey used seven different bowlers in the first eight overs. Ben Dunk edged and middled cuts for four off Green’s opening over, but skied a catch, attempting to heave Clint McKay’s first ball to leg.Five overs later, Kumar Sangakkara was caught down the legside to the first ball of McKay’s second over, and before the over was out, Paine was gone too, edging one that grew on him. Soon after, another moment of fielding inspiration, the best of the lot, saw Russell shove Hurricanes right on the ropes, diving to his left to take an extraordinary two-handed catch to dismiss danger man Dan Christian when the ball looked to have passed him.It was – as it so often is – George Bailey who wrestled Hobart back into the game. Bailey was away with a cut off McKay and two overs later sent Russell to the point and midwicket fence. Then Fawad Ahmed was lofted brilliantly down the ground for six. He shared 58 with Jonathan Wells, then a quickfire 33 with Darren Sammy – who hit one enormous leg side six off McKay’s last over before falling three balls later, in dragging Hurricanes to respectability. Bailey reached 50 – his second of the competition (this was his second not out, too) with a huge hoicked six off Andre Russell in the innings’ penultimate over 163 for 6.When Shaun Tait had Jacques Kallis caught at backward point and Shane Watson edging behind in the first over, Hurricanes’ total looked far better than just respectable. But first with Aiden Blizzard, then Ben Rohrer, Hussey quietly chipped away at the total. All the old classics were there – that swivelling pull, the on-the-move cover drive and the slog sweep to the spinners – in a masterful display. Perhaps his only false shot, an edge off Tait, past Paine for four, took him to 50.But the introduction of the brilliant Cameron Boyce – who looks set to make Australia’s World T20 squad in India – saw the Hurricanes put the squeeze on. In three consecutive games, the legspinner has bowled match-spinning spells in Hurricanes victories. His first two overs cost just nine, with a solitary Hussey slog-sweep finding the fence, and the third snared Rohrer, caught at long-on by Christian trying to accelerate the scoring.First ball of the next over, the 16th of the innings and Boyce’s last, was sent sailing into the top deck of the Ricky Ponting stand by Russell. Boyce responded with a looping, drifting, spinning delivery that beat the bat, then Russell hoicked the next to Wells who took a fine catch running in from deep cover.The rot had set in, and Reed’s triple wicket over – including that crucial dismissal of Hussey, saw the game’s turn go full circle. Tait bowled the 18th and castled Sandhu as Thunder’s tail were left with too much to do.Not so long ago, Thunder were a basket case and an embarrassment: 19 consecutive defeats and three straight seasons propping the Big Bash League up. Now, though, they have a new home, and are a fine side, who should make the finals. Don’t be surprised to see the men from Hobart – a resourceful and resilient mob – in the last four with them.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary

Herschelle Gibbs’ bristling 102 and a classy 74 from Jacques Kallis took South Africa to their fifth win of the series, whitewashing West Indies who were soundly beaten by eight wickets in Johannesburg. With 26 runs needed from 34 balls, out marched Shaun Pollock to carry his side home for the last time and, with a flay past point for two, the fairytale was complete.Initially set 296 before two rain interruptions, South Africa found the going tough in their first five overs. In dank conditions, the ball nibbled around for Daren Powell and his opening partner, Ravi Rampaul, and Graeme Smith, for the umpteenth time, edged one onto his stumps as he played across the line. Gibbs continued to look out of sorts, as he has done all series, scratching around unconvincingly to the disciplined lines of West Indies’ opening attack.And then the rains came. After an hour’s break, the players resumed for six balls before a more sustained torrent forced them off for longer, while also reducing South Africa’s target to 211 from 31 overs. Out came the sun, and in the next five overs Gibbs took the attack to West Indies in a breathtaking display of power-hitting.Up until that moment he had made 10 runs from 23 balls, but two consecutive fours off Powell got his feet moving before he laid into Dwayne Bravo, lofting him over long-off for a huge six and flaying another past point. In five overs, South Africa mowed 66 runs and West Indies were falling apart. Their bowling was ill-disciplined and nervy; their fielding, at times, a shambles, especially Runako Morton, who twice let the ball through his legs for fours. These are the factors which have ultimately cost them the series.Quite by contrast, West Indies’ batting has steadily improved with each match and today’s effort was particularly impressive, tinged with end-of-term frolicking. Devon Smith fell nine short of his maiden one-day hundred and batted fearlessly throughout, cracking 10 fours and lofting three huge sixes. When he and Shivnarine Chanderpaul were together, West Indies had every hope of setting South Africa a total well in excess of 300.West Indies’ 100 was brought up in the 16th over, as Chanderpaul busied himself rather anonymously in contrast to Smith, with a selection of nudges and well judged singles. And as the pair’s hundred partnership was brought up from just 87 balls, West Indies were in control.With distinct inevitability, it didn’t last. Eyeing his maiden one-day hundred, Smith edged Charl Langeveldt to Boucher for a bristling 91. And two overs later, Langeveldt trapped Chanderpaul leg-before with a fine, inswinging delivery to leave West Indies’ frail middle-order with work to do. South Africa – a bowler short when Andre Nel limped off with a hamstring injury after three overs – worked their way through the middle-order before Rawl Lewis carved 28 from 18 balls, including three massive sixes off the sub-par Dale Steyn, to set the hosts a testing total.It wasn’t enough, though, and in spite of the earlier rain, a near-to-capacity Bullring cheered on Pollock for one last time. After creaming Rampaul for four through the covers, he flayed him for two down to third man to seal the win, complete a 5-0 whitewash for his team and conclude an outstanding career.”It’s been a fantastic journey for me but retiring is all good,” Pollock said after the match. “I have real peace about it. It’s been a great profession to have for the last 12 years and I would do it all again. My philosophy was very much ‘keep it simple, stupid’.”

Match facts

Friday, May 2, 2008
Start time 20.00 (local), 14.30 (GMT)

The Big Picture

The Chennai Super Kings are the only unbeaten team in the Indian Premier League but, with the departure of Mathew Hayden, Michael Hussey – their top two runscorers – and Jacob Oram, the real work has just begun if they are to stay at the top. Their first match after the exodus is against third-placed Delhi Daredevils, who haven’t been hit as hard: they’ve lost only Daniel Vettori, who played two of the four matches. Chennai now have a huge hole in their top-order and they will be tested by the IPL’s best new-ball attack – Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Asif. A win at home against a strong opponent could provide Chennai with the confidence needed to maintain a strong campaign throughout the tournament. Delhi, whose batting has been almost as smooth as their bowling, will have other plans, though, and the fight for the semi-final spots could become more open than it currently is.

Watch out for …

… Stephen Fleming, who is almost certain to make his IPL debut following the departure of Hayden and Hussey. He’s played 36 Twenty20 matches and will need to use all his experience to counter Delhi’s attack. The battle between Muttiah Muralitharan and Delhi’s openers, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, could prove crucial if they get going against Chennai’s new-ball attack. Sehwag hasn’t had much success against Murali, falling to him four times in 38 balls since 2002 but Gambhir, on the other hand, has played Murali effectively, scoring 42 runs off 39 balls against him during the recent CB Series in Australia. Watch out too, for AB de Villiers, who may finally get a game: Dinesh Karthik has scored only 26 in two innings and de Villiers could slot in as a wicketkeeper-batsman.

Team news

Most teams in the competition have a problem of plenty when choosing their overseas stars for the playing XI. Chennai have no such problems because they are left with only four foreign players: Murali, Albie Morkel, Fleming and Makhaya Ntini, the latter two yet to play in the competition. There is also a doubt over their leading fast bowler Manpreet Gony, who has a fever.Chennai: 1 Parthiv Patel, 2 Stephen Fleming, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), 5 S Badrinath, 6 Albie Morkel, 7, S Vidyut, 8 Joginder Sharma, 9 Muttiah Muralitharan, 10 Manpreet Gony, 11 Makhaya Ntini.Delhi are unlikely to make too many changes, though Vettori’s absence makes Maharoof a strong contender for a comeback, having taken four wickets in three games with an economy of seven an over. However, Delhi have been relying on their top order to do most of the scoring so the inclusion of de Villiers could strengthen the middle.Delhi: 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Manoj Tiwary, 7 Rajat Bhatia, 8 Farveez Maharoof, 9 Mohammad Asif, 10 Yo Mahesh, 11 Glenn McGrath.

Chennai Super Kings: WWWW
Delhi Daredevils: WWLW