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Denesh Ramdin has been retained as captain of a full-strength West Indies Test squad for their upcoming tour of South Africa, but the players have been given a deadline of November 18 to sign tour contracts. The squad is the first to be named since West Indies walked out of their tour of India last month due to a pay dispute between the players, the WICB and the West Indies Players’ Association.”Of course at all times the selection panel aims to select the best and strongest team available,” chairman of selectors Clive Lloyd said. “We look forward to this squad giving a good account of themselves for the three Tests in South Africa.”There is a significant amount of international cricket to be played over the next six months, including Test matches against some of the higher ranked teams in world cricket and as such it would be critical for the squad to get off on a positive note in South Africa.”Specifically we have selected young fast bowler Sheldon Cottrell who is a good prospect. The selection panel is looking to introduce players such as Cottrell who can contribute in moving West Indies cricket forward.”The three Tests are scheduled for Centurion, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town from December 17 through to January 6. The West Indies squad is due to depart the Caribbean on November 30, but the WICB said in a statement that tour contracts still had to be signed.”All players selected have been notified of their selection and that their selection is contingent upon their signing of the Match Tour Contract which was sent to each player selected on Tuesday November 11,” the statement said. “The deadline for the return of signed Match Tour Contracts to the WICB is 5pm (ECT), Tuesday, November 18.”Test squad Denesh Ramdin (capt), Sulieman Benn, Jermaine Blackwood, Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sheldon Cottrell, Shannon Gabriel, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Leon Johnson, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Chadwick Walton.

Match facts

Friday, November 28, 2014
Start time 12:30 local (06:30 GMT)
Anamul Haque has missed out on hundreds in the previous two matches•AFP

Big picture

With the ODI series secured with two matches to go, Bangladesh can have a tilt at beating Zimbabwe 5-0 or look to preserve their top players ahead of bigger assignments. The World Cup is obviously on every selection chairman’s mind, but in a year when Bangladesh lost their first 12 completed ODIs, a five-match winning streak would be too good to pass up.Still, Arafat Sunny has been rested to make room for Taijul Islam while Abul Hasan has replaced Shafiul Islam. Sunny had taken two successive four-wicket hauls, the third Bangladeshi to do so after the late Manzarul Islam and Abdur Razzak. But the selectors also want to see what Taijul has to offer after the left-arm spinner took the country’s best Test bowling figures last month.Abul is returning to the side after March last year, and has done well in the Dhaka Premier League, picking up a five-wicket haul against Abahani.The rest of the line-up is unchanged. Mushfiqur Rahim and Anamul Haque are neck-and-neck for the top-scorer’s spot in ODIs for Bangladesh this year. It will be another opportunity for Mashrafe Mortaza to give Bangladesh a good start with the ball, as he has been doing in the series so far.Zimbabwe, however, have it a lot harder. They are 3-0 down again after having been swept 3-0 in the Test series. Their top order has only hit a few boundaries before giving it away. They replaced Sikandar Raza with Timycen Maruma but it didn’t work.Brendan Taylor has looked decent to start, but playing from the crease regularly has landed him in trouble. Elton Chigumbura has shown some consistency but only Tinashe Panyangara has bowled well and been the standout performer for the visitors.He has taken seven wickets in the three matches so far, and he has shown the ability to keep things quiet in trying circumstances. But a one-man show isn’t enough to pull Zimbabwe out of the rut, and they will need much more than Panyangara’s tight spells to give them a first win on this tour.Both teams will observe a minute’s silence prior to the start of the game and will wear black armbands as a mark of respect for Australia batsman Phillip Hughes, who died on Thursday.

Form guide

(last five completed games, most recent first)Bangladesh WWWLL
Zimbabwe LLLLW

In the spotlight

Anamul Haque has vowed to take the next opportunity to get his fourth ODI hundred, after getting out for 95 in the third game. He has provided two solid starts with Tamim, and a third consecutive one doesn’t look too improbable.Zimbabwe must feel lucky to have Tinashe Panyangara in their midst, especially when the rest of the attack has been so feeble. He has provided a steady start with the new ball and has often finished well, jamming in those yorkers mixed with change of pace.

Team news

Taijul Islam and Abul Hasan are expected to play. Jubair Hossain and Imrul Kayes may have to wait a bit more for their turn.Bangladesh (probable) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Anamul Haque, 3 Mominul Haque, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Sabbir Rahman, 8 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 9 Rubel Hossain, 10 Taijul Islam, 11 Abul HasanSikandar Raza may be brought back as Timycen Maruma did not contribute much in the previous game. It will also be interesting to see if they continue with Peter Moor, who made his debut in the fourth ODI, as a wicketkeeper.Zimbabwe (probable) 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Vusi Sibanda, 3 Timycen Maruma/Sikandar Raza, 4 Brendan Taylor, 5 Regis Chakabva, 6 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 7 Peter Moor (wk), 8 Solomon Mire, 9 Tinashe Panyangara, 10 Neville Madziva, 11 Tafadzwa Kamungozi

Pitch and conditions

Chigumbura has called the Mirpur pitch a fair one. It has offered more bounce than Chittagong but it has been slow early on. Runs will continue to pour if the team batting first gets off to a good start.

Stats and trivia

• Shakib Al Hasan needs 24 more to reach 4000 ODI runs while Tamim Iqbal is 55 short of the same milestone. It remains to be seen who becomes the first Bangladeshi to reach the landmark
• Elton Chigumbura has scored all three of his fifties as captain this year

Quotes

“We are doing well as a team, which was not happening at another time. We are winning by big margins and performing well, so it is possible to make it 5-0.”

ScorecardFile photo: Abhimanyu Mithun took eight wickets for the match•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Abhimanyu Mithun’s seventh first-class five-wicket haul, which took his tally to eight in the match, wrecked Railways’ second innings and sealed Karnataka’s third outright victory in as many matches this season.Robin Uthappa’s 97 off 125 balls had enforced a target of 251 runs on the final day, but Railways’ batting crumbled to 68 for 8 in the face of nagging seam bowling from Mithun, who took out four of the top five batsmen, Vinay Kumar and S Aravind. There were only three batsmen who managed double-figures and Anustup Majumdar was left unbeaten on 26 off 78 balls when the last wicket fell in the 43rd over.
ScorecardUttar Pradesh were swept aside for 161 in their second innings as Shardul Thakur took his wickets tally to nine for the match, in addition to a fiery 87 batting at No. 9 in the first-innings to cap Mumbai’s first victory of the season.Seamer Wilkin Mota dismissed Uttar Pradesh opener Mukul Dagar in the third over of the day and the top-order collapsed around Umang Sharma’s 60 off 114. It took a freewheeling Praveen Kumar to lift the side past the hundred-mark, but his 47 off 42 balls could only delay proceedings. Mota claimed four victims for 30 runs in 14 overs and was a strong reason why only one of the top-eight batsmen crossed 11 runs. His new-ball partner Thakur claimed 3 for 70 in 17.Suryakumar Yadav, the Mumbai captain, hunted down the target of 98 with great urgency. He came in at No. 3, struck 47 off 33 balls with seven fours and a six to seal victory.
ScorecardHaving been asked to follow-on, Tamil Nadu were led to safety by a rapid Dinesh Karthik century on the final day in Chennai. Madhya Pradesh were set a target of 181 in 47 overs and a top-order wobble left them 30 for 4 in the 16th before Naman Ojha steadied ship and helped his side to a draw.A steady top-order performance was underpinned by Karthik’s 129 off 115 balls, with 12 fours and three sixes. His 185-run fourth-wicket partnership with B Indrajith, who scored 68 off 108 balls, with a four and a six was took Tamil Nadu to relative safety. Saransh Jain, the 21-year old debutant, broke the partnership with the score on 321. His offspin accounted for four more victims to limit Tamil Nadu to 369.Rahil Shah, the left-arm spinner, opened the bowling and helped nip out three of Madhya Pradesh’s top four batsmen. Aushik Srinivas took the only other wicket to fall before Ojha, with 59 off 103 balls, and Devendra Bundela, with 16 off 90, played out the remaining overs.
ScorecardA 71-run first-innings lead and a stubborn Jammu & Kashmir last-wicket pair helped secure a draw with Baroda in Vadodara.Seamer Sagar Mangalorkar had ripped through the Jammu & Kashmir top order and another of his bursts halted a meagre resistance and took care of the middle order to leave the visitors 107 for 7. Their lead though was 178 and it was bolstered when the tail, led by Ram Dayal who added 39 to his 129 in the first innings, fought back and refused Baroda the chance to bat again.Mangalorkar finished with 6 for 46 from 19 overs, while wicketkeeper Pinal Shah too five catches to go with a steady 54 off 131 balls that had extended Baroda’s overnight score from 370 for 7 to 426 earlier in the day.

The BCCI has issued an ultimatum to the WICB, asking the board to furnish the requisite $ 41.97 million as damages borne out of West Indies’ “sudden, arbitrary withdrawal” from the India tour last October. In a letter addressed to WICB president Dave Cameron and the inter-governmental Caribbean community (CARICOM) secretary-general Irwin LaRocque, BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said that failing to respond within a week from receipt of his letter would force the Indian board to file legal proceedings in Indian courts.In a two-page letter, a copy of which is in possession of ESPNcricinfo, Patel said that the BCCI had “acquiesced” to the CARICOM request last November which stated the WICB be given a grace period of 40 days to respond to the BCCI’s original claim. Patel had sent that letter on October 31, wherein he had broken the damages into various components. Calling the withdrawal, carried out by Dwayne Bravo and his team after the fourth ODI in Dharamsala, as a “monumental disaster”, Patel asked the WICB to respond within a period of 15 days from the receipt of that letter. The BCCI had earlier already said that it had cancelled all future bilateral engagements with West Indies pending resolution to the matter.”When CARICOM intervened in the dispute and requested BCCI to hold off on its claims for a period of 40 days from the deadline stipulated in its claim letter, the BCCI acquiesced to the same in the hope that an acceptable resolution would be achieved through CARICOM’s able mediation,” Patel wrote in his second letter, dated January 20. “However, it is with regret that the BCCI finds itself in a position where its expectations have remained wholly unfulfilled, with there being no progress in finding a solution that is acceptable to the BCCI, despite the 40-day time period having long since elapsed.”LaRocque had sent a letter to Patel on November 14, a day before the original deadline would expire, expressing WICB’s inability to compensate the BCCI and requested more time. But Patel stressed in the letter that even CARICOM would understand the BCCI’s annoyance considering Cameron had failed to present any workable solution. “The BCCI cannot any longer hold off from pursuing its claims against WICB in the appropriate forum being the courts in India. We trust that CARICOM will understand our position,” he wrote.”If the WICB fails to comply with the requisitions contained in our letter dated 31st October 2014 within a period of 7 days from receipt of this letter, the BCCI shall initiate legal proceedings in the appropriate forum against WICB without further intimation.”

In the end, Zimbabwe’s tournament – and this match – came down to a matter of millimetres. When Sean Williams walked off, caught on the boundary for 96, the tension in the camp was plain to see. The coach Dav Whatmore sat in the changing room shaking his head in frustration. John Mooney’s catch at deep midwicket had been ruled fair. Or had it?This was one of those moments where confusion is the only certainty. Mooney positioned his feet with precision to take the catch, and then celebrated when he completed it. The umpires seemed to tell Williams to wait as they checked whether Mooney’s foot had stayed in play. But before the replay process was complete, Williams had walked. Nobody seemed to know what was going on.The odd scenario that played out was that replays kept being shown even as the new batsman Tinashe Panyangara took guard. It looked as if Mooney’s foot had touched the boundary, but with Williams already off the field, play went on. Had the umpires called it a six, Williams would have had a hundred, and Zimbabwe would have been favourites to win.Instead of 26 off 19 balls with Williams still there, Zimbabwe now needed 32 off 19 with only three wickets in hand. Had Zimbabwe triumphed, they would still have needed to beat India in their final group match to have any chance of progressing to the quarter-finals. Instead, Ireland won by five runs. That, in the end, was the only certainty.It was a devastating way for Zimbabwe’s World Cup hopes to end, after Williams and the stand-in captain Brendan Taylor compiled a brilliantly measured 149-run stand that rescued them from a wobbly start chasing 332. After the game, Taylor said Mooney’s catch had looked clean initially, but he was not aware what communications had taken place between the umpires and Williams.”I couldn’t tell if the umpire tried to hold him back or anything,” Taylor said. “But the way the fielder reacted, it looked pretty clear. I guess that’s up for discussion. You generally take the fielder’s opinion and you go with it. I don’t know, maybe the umpires could have made a stronger call and had a few more looks at it on the big screen on the replays, but that’s all history.”The Ireland captain, William Porterfield, was similarly uncertain of the chain of events, although he was under the impression the umpires had given Williams out.”I thought it was a fantastic catch,” Porterfield said. “It’s a great skill, he’s under pressure, he’s close to the line. They showed a couple of replays on the big screen, which is obviously pretty inconclusive. Whether he has or hasn’t, I don’t know.”Whatever the ending, the fact was that Zimbabwe let themselves down badly in the field earlier in the day. Throughout the tournament they have been outstanding in patches, but that by definition makes them patchy. The captain’s innings of Taylor, who made 121 from 91 deliveries, and the 96 from Williams, made this a thrilling contest.Even after Taylor and Williams were gone, hope remained. Ireland’s lack of bowling depth was exposed as Kevin O’Brien sent down the penultimate over with 26 runs needed; Zimbabwe’s No. 10 Tawanda Mupariwa plundered him for a six and two fours, and only seven were needed from the final over. But cool heads did not prevail for Zimbabwe, as Regis Chakabva tried to slog Alex Cusack and was bowled first ball.”Basically six singles, if you’re running hard you’re going to get the odd two. Our calculations weren’t good,” Taylor said. “We weren’t making smart decisions as batters. We’re going to be asking ourselves these questions for a long time and wondering why we didn’t get over the line. We were sloppy in many ways, in our bowling, our fielding and shot selection.”Perhaps Zimbabwe’s most costly errors came in the field. Ed Joyce was dropped on 34 and on 105, and Kevin O’Brien was also put down. Never did the Zimbabweans seem confident in the field, and too often their hands or feet were out of position. Then there was the indiscipline with the bowling: three no-balls and eight wides, compared to Ireland’s one and two.”We were below poor there,” Taylor said. “We were shambolic, to be honest, in the field. You can’t give a batsman three chances. Of course he’s going to get a big hundred and lay the foundation for his team. Again, we’ve dropped chances at crucial times. That was the difference between Ireland and us. They were more hungry, they were a bit more energetic. They probably wanted it a little bit more.”How much Ireland wanted it was clear from their celebrations when the last wicket fell. Mupariwa connected with Cusack’s third ball of the 50th over, but it flew high to long-on and was taken by Porterfield. The Ireland players mobbed Cusack and Porterfield, their tournament well and truly still alive. This time, it was not a matter of millimetres.

ScorecardDuvvarapu Siva Kumar exploited the typically spicy Lahli pitch and bagged figures of 16.5-5-41-6 to rout Maharashtra for 91. In reply, the Andhra batsmen showed better application, losing only three wickets in trimming down the deficit to four runs to cap off a productive opening day.Paidikalva Vijaykumar struck with the second ball of the game, dismissing Swapnil Gugale for a duck. Harshad Khadiwale soon followed, becoming Siva Kumar’s first victim. Coming in at No.3, Rohit Motwani made 23 – the only Maharashtra batsman to cross 20. Kedar Jadhav and Ankit Bawne also failed as Maharashtra folded feebly, after having opted to bat. Siva Kumar dismissed Shrikant Mundhe and Samad Fallah off successive balls to perform the final rites on the Maharashtra innings. Vijaykumar and Cheepurapalli Stephen chipped in with two wickets apiece.Fallah then came back with the ball and removed Srikar Bharat for 11. Opener DB Prasanth and Murumulla Sriram pieced together 44 for the second wicket to drive Andhra, before Anupam Sanklecha struck twice in the 32nd over to get rid of Sriram (31) and Mohammad Kaif (0). Prasanth (26*) and AG Pradeep (13*) remained unbeaten as Andhra finished on 87 for 3.

Kevin O’Brien, the big hitting Ireland batsman, will join his brother Niall at Leicestershire for the NatWest T20 Blast this season. Leicestershire have strong pedigree in the competition and the experienced O’Brien will attempt to bring success back to the beleaguered county.O’Brien, best known for his pink-haired raid against England at the 2011 World Cup, has somewhat failed to live up to that billing in county cricket. He blazed 119 from just 52 balls for Gloucestershire in 2011 but in stints with Nottinghamshire, Somerset and Surrey has only managed one half-century in 24 matches.His bowling is more of an asset with 68 wickets at an average of 22.94 and an economy of 7.45 runs per over.O’Brien, who will be available for nine of the 14 group stage matches, becomes the latest in a number of new signings for Leicestershire under a new regime of head coach Andrew McDonald and chief executive Wasim Khan. Mark Cosgrove, a British passport holder, is the club’s new captain and Grant Elliot, who starred in the World Cup for New Zealand, has agreed a deal for 10 T20s. Clint McKay has also signed a season-long deal.”Kevin adds further international experience to a line-up that includes his brother Niall, Grant Elliott, Mark Cosgrove, Clint McKay,” Leicestershire chief executive Wasim Khan said. “We look forward to seeing him in action at Grace Road.”Leicestershire get their T20 Blast campaign underway away to Lancashire on May 15.

Dale Steyn has suggested he may not be available for the full duration of South Africa’s next international assignment, against Bangladesh in July, as he tries to manage his workload with one eye on appearing at another World Cup.”At this stage of my career, I’d rather be saving myself to go and participate in the major tournaments, rather than wasting the few balls I have left in my career in a Bangladesh match,” Steyn said in an interview with “I’d rather go to Bangladesh to help and support future South African bowlers, and use what is left of the 10,000 or 20,000 deliveries that I have in my body for the big tournament. That’s where I’m at personally. But at the beginning of my career, I would have done everything. I would have gone every tournament and to every place. But I’ve done it all now.”Steyn, who has been playing international cricket for a decade, has competed against all nine Test teams he could have faced. He maintains that Test cricket is the format he wants to “play a lot more,” in, especially because, at 31, he considers his days “numbered.”In the same time period, Steyn has been less prolific in limited-overs cricket. He has featured in two fifty-over World Cups and four World T20s but been rested from several other series as South Africa sought to keep him fresh. As his career reaches its twilight years, Steyn said that trend will continue because he placed greater value on major tournaments than bilateral series.”It might sound very cocky or naïve of me, or self-centered, but I want to win a World Cup for my country. And they only come around once every four years. If you’re playing in the Twenty20 World Cup, luckily they come around every second year,” he said. “So with all due respect to places like Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, going and playing three ODIs in Bangladesh does nothing for my confidence as opposed to knowing that I’m going to a World Cup”That could leave South Africa without several senior players for their two T20Is, three ODIs and two Tests against Bangladesh. Apart from Steyn, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy and Morne Morkel could all miss some part of the series as all three are expecting the birth of their first children around the time of the tour, which could present an opportunity for the team to blood some new players.Marchant de Lange and Kagiso Rabada are among the fast bowlers coming through who may get a chance in Bangladesh, where they will work under a new coach. Allan Donald decided not to seek a renewal of his contract after the World Cup which has left a vacancy among the management team. His replacement, expected to be Charl Langeveldt, will be announced in early June. Steyn has also offered to travel as a mentor.South Africa will also have a new Test opener following the retirement of Alviro Petersen in January. Stiaan van Zyl, Cobras’ left-hander who scored a century on Test debut, is in line to fill that role. The new-look South African outfit could also see two spinners in a Test XI, with Dane Piedt and Simon Harmer both expected to make the trip, while Aaron Phangiso should get some game time in shorter formats after spending the World Cup on the sidelines.

Kyle Coetzer, the Scotland batsman and former captain, has been added to the squad for the 2016 World T20 qualifier starting next month, following batsman Freddie Coleman’s withdrawal due to personal circumstances. Coetzer was not a part of the 15-member squad announced on Monday and, on Wednesday, Cricket Scotland sought to clarify his earlier omission, stating the board initially believed the decision was in the player’s “best interest”, to allow him to concentrate on securing his future in county cricket.According to Cricket Scotland, the board had spoken with Coetzer before the squad was submitted to the ICC last Friday. The board said that Coetzer believed he would be a part of the squad if he was unable to secure a county deal through July. Coetzer has scored 31 runs in three first-class matches for Northamptonshire this season in Division 2 of the County Championship.”The organisation initially believed it was acting in Kyle Coetzer’s best interest by not selecting him for the WT20Q and allowing him to concentrate on securing his future in county cricket,” Cricket Scotland said in a release. “This was based on a number of conversations that were had with the player before the squad was submitted to Dubai last Friday, as to meet the ICC deadline requirements.”Having since discussed this with the Kyle, he clearly believed that if he was unable to secure a county loan deal through July, he would be included in the squad for the competition. Cricket Scotland has met with Kyle in the last 24 hours and clarified the situation. Both parties will now move forward and wish to state that there is no rift between the player and the organisation.”Coetzer, 31, was part of the World Cup earlier this year and finished as Scotland’s leading run-scorer with 253 runs at 42.16 including 156 against Bangladesh in Nelson. In 20 T20Is he has scored 442 runs at 23.26 with a strike-rate of 101.14.The World T20 qualifier begins on July 9, with co-hosts Scotland scheduled to play their opening game against UAE in Edinburgh. The top six sides from the 14-team tournament will join the 10 Full Members for the 2016 World Twenty20, to be held in India from March 11 to April 3.