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Vernon Philander, the South Africa seamer, has recovered from the hamstring injury that had ruled him out of the second Test against New Zealand, and is part of the squad for the first Test against Pakistan in Johannesburg starting on February 1. The only player from the squad for the Tests against New Zealand who doesn’t find a mention for the first Test against Pakistan is seamer Ryan McLaren.”We have given a full vote of confidence to the squad of 13 that did duty in the recent Sunfoil Series against New Zealand,” Andrew Hudson, Cricket South Africa’s selection convenor, said. “Rory Kleinveldt and Jacques Rudolph will again provide the bowling and batting cover if necessary. At the moment there are no injury concerns.”We are very happy with the job that Rory did against New Zealand when Vernon dropped out, while Jacques provides us with a lot of experience as the cover batsman. We have quite a few inexperienced batsmen in our top order and we feel that a bit of extra experience will be useful should the need arise.”South Africa beat New Zealand comprehensively, winning both Tests, and play Pakistan in three Test matches, in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Centurion.South Africa squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Jacques Kallis, Rory Kleinveldt, Morne Morkel, Alviro Petersen, Robin Peterson, Vernon Philander, Jacques Rudolph, Dale Steyn.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRaza-ur-Rehman’s 51 off 52 balls helped Canada post a competitive total•ICC/Zainab Malubhai

Irfan Karim’s first ODI hundred in only his fourth match took Kenya to a six-wicket win against Canada in the World Cricket League Championship in Dubai. Chasing 254, Kenya reached the target with two overs to spare as Karim scored 112 and almost carried his bat through.Karim and Alex Obanda gave Kenya a strong start with an opening stand of 48 off 40 deliveries. After Obanda was caught behind, Karim and Morris Ouma put together 76 for the second wicket before Ouma was dismissed for 34. Collins Obuya (57) and Karim almost took them home, but both were dismissed by seamer Rayyan Pathan in consecutive overs. The required run-rate wasn’t challenging enough to devoid them of a win.Earlier, after Canada chose to bat, most of their top and middle-order batsmen got starts but could not convert them into big scores. Hiral Patel scored 36 off 37 and stitched a 95-run stand with Rizwan Cheema (55) for the first wicket. Once Patel fell, Ruvindu Gunasekera scored 24 off 42 and No. 4 Jimmy Hansra scored 12 off 24. Both were dismissed, however, before Raza-ur-Rehman and Damodar Daesrath lifted the run-rate, scoring 76 in 12 overs.However, Canada lost their last five wickets for 23 runs from there to settle for 253 for 9 which eventually proved insufficient.

Players who take part in the unofficial Cricket Wars tournament, which is scheduled to take place in Nairobi over three days starting on Friday (February 15), face a lengthy ban from the game after Cricket Kenya confirmed its decision not to give its approval to the event.Reports in the local media suggested that the Ministry of Youth and Sports had brokered a deal after calling a meeting between organisers and CK but this was denied by a board spokesman who said there remained questions as to the finances behind the venture and CK unanimously voted not to give its approval. This stance has been backed by all the country’s provincial boards.As a consequence of this, no overseas players, past or present, will be permitted to participate. If they do then the ICC has made clear that they will be in contravention of its own regulations and are likely to face hefty sanctions including bans of at least one year. The same applies to all local players and officials.High-profile names such as Andrew Symonds, Damien Martyn, Ian Harvey and Chris Cairns are believed to have obtained NOCs, which allow them to play overseas, from their own boards but it is not clear if those boards or individuals were aware the tournament had not been sanction by CK. ESPNcricinfo understands the ICC is writing to all boards to advise them that Cricket Wars is an unapproved event, something that seems likely to lead to the withdrawal of the NOCs.Although the organisers have said that Muttiah Muralitharan is one of the players taking part, ESPNcricinfo has learned that he received an invitation earlier in the month which he declined.The Cricket Wars organisers, who include former KCA boss Sharad Ghai, claim that former players do not need any approval to play in such events but the ICC has confirmed this is not the case.Local cricketers will make up the numbers, and even those who are paid are unlikely to earn more than $50, but will also face sanctions if they take part. While for club cricketers these punishments are unlikely to be serious, centrally-contracted national players face fines and/or suspensions. The Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association has made clear that the priority for local players is to participate in this weekend’s knock-out tournament.It is also possible the Nairobi Gymkhana club, which is hosting the competition, will face punishment if it goes ahead. CK is understood to have written to club officials last month to raise concerns that they should not stage a non-approved event but that was met with a response that as a private club what games they ran was of no concern to the national board. However, the board has it within its power to withhold grants and not stage official matches there.Concerns have also been expressed at the details of the money likely to be paid over from the event to a local charity. ESPNcricinfo has learned that while it is being flagged proceeds would go to the Children’s Village in Naivasha, in fact only an undisclosed percentage of the gate money will be paid over.

Daniel Christian, the sometime Australia allrounder, is expected to sign with Victoria for next summer after falling out of favour with South Australia.Currently playing in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Christian is under contract to the Redbacks for 2013-14 but will be released, allowing him to move across to the Bushrangers.The move is likely to allow South Australia to recruit the Victoria allrounder Andrew McDonald, who requested a release from his own state contract after deciding that at 31 it was time for a change of scene.The Bushrangers had been hesitant to allow McDonald’s departure unless they could find another utility player to aid their team balance, and have also knocked back Aaron Finch’s release request as he entertained an offer from New South Wales.Similarly, Christian is looking for a fresh start and an improved performance after a season that did not enhance his reputation – on the field or off it. He started last summer with a berth in the Australian Twenty20 squad plus sporadic opportunities in the ODI side. However an indifferent start to 2012-13 for South Australia pushed Christian further down the queue.His stock sank considerably in November when he was suspended by the Redbacks for repeatedly losing his temper and damaging the dressing rooms upon being dismissed, a sequence that came to light after he was overheard outside the WACA changerooms during the Sheffield Shield match against Western Australia that month.Once the suspension was concluded, Christian struggled to regain his place, and following another disciplinary run-in, this time a reprimand for obscene language during a domestic limited-overs match against New South Wales in Adelaide, he was not selected again.McDonald, meanwhile, has fallen into an unfortunate pattern of suffering injuries whenever an Australian call-up has seemed likely. He made a storming start to 2012-13, cracking a swift century against the Warriors in Perth that caught the eye of the national selector John Inverarity, who named him captain of the Australia A side against the touring South Africans and hinted strongly that McDonald was close to the Test team.However a serious hamstring injury sidelined McDonald soon after, and he spent the rest of the summer recuperating, only returning to the game in the IPL for RCB this week. In 2010-11, Australia’s poor Ashes summer, McDonald also started well but suffered calf and hand injuries that kept him out for the rest of the season.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsApart from losing wickets, England struggled for fluency: Nick Compton’s 13 occupied just two minutes short of two hours•Getty Images

A fine display of swing bowling from Trent Boult may have struck the decisive blow for New Zealand in an encounter against England full of twists and turns.Boult, the left-arm fast-medium bowler, claimed 6 for 68 – his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket – as England were dismissed for 204 in their first innings. That gave New Zealand a first innings lead of 239 but, eschewing the chance to enforce the follow-on, they extended their lead to 274 before stumps.Those second innings runs came at quite a cost, though. New Zealand, perhaps suffering from acrophobia as they realised the dominance of their position, stumbled to 8 for 3 at one stage in their second innings as England revived their slim hopes of forcing a win. Peter Fulton and Dean Brownlie saw New Zealand to the close without further loss, but New Zealand’s lack of progress raised questions about the wisdom of not enforcing the follow-on.Still, Boult’s performance had earned his side an excellent chance of securing a rare Test series win over England. New Zealand remain the side in the stronger position, and with the pitch showing just a little sign of uneven bounce, it may not be easy to bat upon on the last day. No side has ever scored 350 in the fourth innings to win on this ground – though West Indies chased down 345 to win in 1969 – and, since they introduced drop-in pitches at Eden Park just over a decade ago, no side has ever chased more than the 166 Australia managed in 2005. Besides, without Kevin Pietersen, England appear a far more diffident side.For a team dismissed as no-hopers by some commentators coming into the series, this has been an impressive performance by New Zealand. They are currently rated No. 8 in the Test rankings, but they have looked the better side for significant portions of this encounter and now have an excellent opportunity to embarrass the No. 2 rated team. New Zealand have previously only beaten England at home in one Test series, in 1983-84, and away in two, in 1986 and in1999.The pitch showed no signs of deterioration for most of the day. It is simply that New Zealand’s seamers bowled a little fuller, a little straighter and gained a little more swing than England had on the first couple of days. In short, New Zealand bowled better than England’s much-vaunted attack. Bruce Martin, who came into this series largely unknown outside New Zealand, generated turn and bounce that Monty Panesar, his left-arm counterpart, could not and, as a result, looked a far more threatening proposition.Even in New Zealand’s second innings, England could find minimal swing. New Zealand lost their wickets more to nerves than swing and Boult, bowling with decent pace, maintaining a tight line and managing to swing some back into the right-hand batsmen and angle some across them, was the most dangerous bowler on display. He was able to find movement that even James Anderson could not.It was during the first session of the day that New Zealand hammered a nail into England’s hopes. Generating swing, they claimed three lbw decisions in the session to leave England teetering on 72 for 5 at one stage.

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• Trent Boult’s 6 for 68 is his best bowling performance in Tests, surpassing his previous best of 4 for 42 against Sri Lanka at the P Sara Oval. He has picked up 40 wickets at an average of 30.22.

• Boult’s 6 for 68 is eighth on the list of best bowling performances by New Zealand bowlers against England and the second-best in Auckland after Chris Cairns (6 for 52 in 1992) and Daryl Tuffey (6 for 54 in 2002).

• The lead of 239 is New Zealand’s fifth-largest against England and their second-highest when they have batted first. Click here for a list of matches when New Zealand have batted first and here for a list of matches when New Zealand have batted second.

• The 101-run stand between Matt Prior and Joe Root is the sixth-highest sixth-wicket stand for England in New Zealand. The highest is 281 between Andrew Flintoff and Graham Thorpe in Christchurch in 2002.

• Prior’s 73 is his second half-century of the series and the 32nd fifty-plus score of his career. Prior’s average of 46.84 is the highest among batsmen with 2000-plus runs at No. 7.

Tim Southee made the breakthrough in the third over of the morning. Having generally swung the ball away from the right-handed batsmen, natural variation resulted in one going straight on and striking Nick Compton on the pad. While the umpire, Paul Reiffel, declined the original appeal on the grounds that the ball may well have hit the bat before hitting the pad, New Zealand were quick to call for a review that showed that the ball had made first contact with the pad.Ian Bell went in similar fashion. Bell, who had come close to running himself out in the second over of the day, diving to regain his ground after committing to an unnecessarily risky second run, was also undone by one that went straight on from Southee. Perhaps intimidated by the aggressive field utilised by New Zealand captain, Brendon McCullum – there were times when New Zealand’s seamers had five slips – Bell looked unwilling to commit to playing at the ball and was caught in the crease when struck on the pad. He conferred with his batting partner, Joe Root, before deciding not to utilise the Decision Review System. It was a wise decision.Boult, who had claimed the two wickets to fall the previous evening, claimed the final wicket of the session, beating Jonny Bairstow’s tentative forward prod with one that pitched on middle stump and swung back just enough to beat the stroke. Again, the original appeal was declined but New Zealand utilised the DRS and were rewarded for their confidence. If Bairstow had looked somewhat out of form, it was hardly a surprise: this was his first innings in first-class cricket since the Mumbai Test in November and only his second since the Lord’s Test in August.Only two men offered meaningful resistance for England. Matt Prior and Joe Root added 101 runs for the sixth wicket, with Prior counterattacking fluently and Root defending with obduracy that would have had his Yorkshire predecessor Geoff Boycott smiling in satisfaction.Whereas his colleagues prodded timidly – Compton’s 13 runs occupied only two minutes fewer than two hours and England scored just 42 runs in 29 overs before lunch – Prior skipped down the pitch to drive Martin through the off side and when given any width from the seamers, freed his arms to drive through the covers.His strength was his undoing, however. Offered some width from Neil Wagner, Prior attempted to drive on the up but could only slice a thick edge to point.Dean Brownlie could be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief. Brownlie, at slip, had reprieved Prior on 24 when the batsman had pushed hard at one outside off stump from the deserving Southee and edged low to Brownlie’s right. Had the chance been taken, England would have been 111 for 6.Prior’s dismissal precipitated a swift decline. England lost their last five wickets for just 31 runs as Boult, armed with the new ball, returned to mop up the tail. Stuart Broad, now little more than a happy slogger, thrashed 14 in three balls but, in attempting to force the next delivery, sliced a catch to short extra cover before Steven Finn prodded at one angled across him. Anderon edged a beauty that left him, and Root, left with only Panesar for company, attempted to thrash a good length ball over midwicket and lost his off stump.

ScorecardJonathan Trott and Ian Bell warmed up for the first Test against New Zealand with 60s apiece•Getty Images

For Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell, there were runs aplenty before having to contend with New Zealand – half-centuries, indeed, off Steven Finn among others. In a match that has been affected by the weather, they and Sam Robson’s double-century are likely to prove the most memorable achievements, assuming Warwickshire gain the 12 runs they require to avoid the follow on.Perhaps something can still be fashioned by the captains. Middlesex declared at their overnight score of 428 for 5, as really they had to do after only 39 overs were bowled on the second day, and much of the subsequent cricket centred around the batting of Laurie Evans and Trott. Steadfast stuff, as might be imagined.Evans, whose opener partner, Will Porterfield, was caught at second slip off Corey Collymore, had made 59 with seven fours – all technically correct solid defence and the occasional shot of attacking intent – when he had to retire after being struck on the left hand by Finn. The England fast bowler had resorted to the short ball against him, able as he was to extract some life out of this even-paced pitch.An X-ray revealed his hand to have been broken. Finn, by any standards, was quick, and altogether a different proposition from facing the disciplined Tim Murtagh and the mixed medium pace of Collymore, Gareth Berg and Neil Dexter. Trott played him admirably, characteristically driving him off his hip to the midwicket boundary to reach a half century off 97 balls. It was his ninth four.Trott had played that same consummate shot off Berg and, indeed, nothing appeared more probable than that he would reach three figures in this, the match that marks the tenth anniversary since his debut for Warwickshire. He had reached 65 when Murtagh, who always seems to maintain an straight line, moved one away sufficiently to have him taken at first slip.Bell, given some classy support from Tim Ambrose after Jim Troughton had turned Murtagh straight to leg slip – good field placing, this, by Chris Rogers – timed his drives about as well as a batsman can in early May. There were six fours in his half century and eight in all in his innings of 62.About the highest praise that could be bestowed on Ambrose was that his batting did not suffer by comparison. Indeed, he reached a half-century of his own a ball quicker than Bell had done and survived for longer. Bell was leg-before to Collymore, falling over slightly as the ball appeared to keep a little low.For much of a murky day the floodlights were on. Play would largely have been impossible without them; hence the worth of such investment. Arching in towards the middle, they do not look out of place. Items to show off amid some concern about the comment last week of Derek Brewer, the secretary of MCC, who regards the Ageas Bowl at Southampton as posing a greater threat to Lord’s retaining two Tests a summer than Edgbaston. There is a need to provide a compelling argument for more Test cricket here given nothing is scheduled for this year.

Lancashire have signed New Zealand fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan for their Friends Life t20 campaign which gets underway later this month. McClenaghan will be Lancashire’s second overseas player for the tournament, after Australia’s Simon Katich.McClenaghan said he was excited to sign for Lancashire and is looking forward to county cricket.”I am delighted to be joining Lancashire for the Friends Life t20,” he said. “I have enjoyed being part of the New Zealand tour of the UK and Champions Trophy squad so far and the opportunity to broaden my cricket experience by playing county cricket was too good to turn down. Lancashire are a club with a great history and tradition and I hope to be able to help the club to T20 success this season.”McClenaghan has been in fine form off late in the ODIs in the UK, with figures of 4 for 65 in the washed out match against Australia and 4 for 43 against Sri Lanka which New Zealand won by one wicket. He was the highest wicket-taker in the three-match ODI series against England with eight wickets at an average of 17.25. He currently has 26 wickets in ODIs, the most for an ODI bowler after nine matches, including four four-wicket hauls.Lancashire coach Peter Moores said, “To have an international quality left-arm seamer joining us for the Friends Life t20 competition is very exciting and a real boost to the squad. The fact that Mitchell is coming straight out of international cricket in England means he will hit the ground running, and his competitive nature looks a perfect fit for how we go about our cricket.”Lancashire will play their opening Friends Life t20 match against Durham on June 28.

Last summer, a few months before he died, Tony Greig was invited by the MCC to give its prestigious Cowdrey lecture at Lord’s. Now, in death, he has been honoured by the other cricketing body who once outlawed him in England. To the gratitude of his widow, the ECB hosted his memorial service in Trafalgar Square, an occasion at which his controversial promotion of Kerry Packer’s rebellious World Series Cricket – the breakaway movement which changed cricket forever – was widely praised.Here was a service and reception at which the leading Packer-ites of the 1970s, Richie Benaud, John Snow and Derek Underwood among them, mingled happily with the odd foe. Doug Insole, a leading administrator in that era, was present. Michael Holding, whom Greig reckoned would once grovel before his England team, gave a reading. Jeff Thomson was there, the only member of the congregation not to wear a tie.Dennis Amiss spoke movingly in St Martin in the Fields church, Trafalgar Square, of Greig’s qualities of friendship and loyalty, but inevitably it was Benaud, with his lifelong gift of unearthing the telling phrase, who captivated his distinguished audience. “Players in those days were fine men who had families, wives, children and mortgages,” he said. Then – after one of those characteristic pauses – “never forget the mortgage.”Pre-Packer, Benaud said, “players were paid peanuts and were treated with minimal respect if they asked for more. Tony felt strongly that there should be a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. If I had to choose one word to sum him up, it would be ‘strong’. If two, it would be ‘very strong’. ” He concluded on the occasion by saying, “there is sadness but his advice would have been, ‘just get on with it’, so that is what we shall do.”Amiss said he had never heard Greig say a bad word to anyone – “except the Aussies, of course”. He recalled his outstanding century in Brisbane against Thomson and Dennis Lillee on England’s 1974-75 tour of Australia and how he would goad fast bowlers, be they Australians or West Indians, notably at The Oval in 1976. After describing how he had upped his pace and uprooted one of Greig’s stumps in that final Test, Holding, the most gentle of cricketers off the field, was reading from Corinthians.Greig’s daughter, Beau, sang “Amazing Grace”. There followed a stout defence of his stance over World Series Cricket by Vivian, his widow, who was critical of both administrators and the media of that era. She spoke of his enticing to WSC six England players who were at the end, or coming to the end of their Test careers, which was not strictly true: Underwood and Alan Knott, Greig’s greatest supporter, were at the peak of their careers and Bob Woolmer had still to attain that, but her sentiments were understood and accepted.Not least by Giles Clarke, the chairman of the ECB, the body that has succeeded the Test and County Cricket Board of Greig’s time. Clarke, who was present, told her that “we have not properly recognised him”.The old players in the congregation – Geoff Boycott wearing a hat bearing his own signature, Mike Brearley, Keith Fletcher, John Lever, Tony Lewis, Pat Pocock and Mike Selvey among them – would doubtless have endorsed Underwood’s view that Greig remains under-rated as a cricketer. “That was partly because Ian Botham came along, but Tony’s ability to score a century against Lillee and Thomson in Australia and then make a nine-hour century in India showed that he could play in all conditions. And he was one of the best captains I played under.”Greig died last December, aged only 66. To a younger generation who had not seen him play cricket, he would have been best known as an exuberant, over-the-top commentator. He had told his second wife, whom he had known for 33 years, that by delivering MCC’s ‘Spirit of Cricket’ lecture at Lord’s last year, he had hoped to achieve “acceptance and understanding”.To his public, according to Vivian, “he could make anyone feel special”. And to his children, he was a father “who would tell them such exciting bedtime stories that they couldn’t go to sleep.”

Defending champions Hampshire face a home tie against Lancashire in the quarter-finals of the Friends Life T20.The South Group winners, who lost just once in the pool stage, will start as favourites at the Ageas Bowl against a Lancashire side who finished runners-up in the North standings.Durham, who were one of the best two third-placed teams, will make the trip to Northamptonshire on Tuesday in another quarter-final, while Surrey meet Somerset on the same day.Somerset, twice finalists, beat Warwickshire on Tuesday night, to make it through to the knockout stage for the fifth consecutive year.The other quarter-final pits North Group winners Nottinghamshire against Essex, who lost their last game against Surrey in embarrassing fashion, but who scraped through to the last eight as a result of Middlesex’s defeat against Hampshire.Draw:Tuesday, August 6: Surrey v Somerset, Northants v Durham
Wednesday, August 7: Hants v Lancs
Thursday, August 8: Nottinghamshire v EssexBet365 odds:Nottinghamshire 4, Hampshire 4.33, Surrey 7.5, Somerset 7.5, Northants 8, Essex 10, Durham 10, Lancashire 11

Cricket Australia’s Youth Selection Panel named a 14-player squad for the Under-19 quadrangular series, which begins in India on September 23, making six changes to the squad that played in the tri-series in Darwin last month.Right-hand batsman Jaron Morgan, left-hand batsman Kelvin Smith, legspinner Tom Andrews and pacer Ben Ashkenazi have been recalled to the side, while medium-pacer Guy Walker and fast bowler Billy Stanlake’s inclusion is subject to their fitness. Joel Logan, Josh Dunning and Jeremy Maher have been placed on standby for the series. Gabe Bell, Alex Gregory, Tom Leaver and Matthew Short, who played in the tri-series against India and New Zealand, have not been included in the squad.Pacer Cameron Valente, the leading wicket-taker at the 2013 U-19 National Championships, has been retained in the side along with Jake Doran and wicketkeeper Ben McDermott, the top run-getters for Australia in the tri-series.”This Quad Series in India is part of our preparation for next year’s ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup and to ensure that our emerging talent is exposed to international competition and conditions that challenge and build our players technically and mentally,” Greg Chappell, CA National Talent Manager, said. “A number of these players have already had a taste of international cricket against top-quality opposition. This year, our U-19s played New Zealand in New Zealand, as well as India in Darwin. Matthew Fotia also worked with Glenn McGrath at his MRF Pace Foundation academy in India.””We’ve selected a strong bowling contingent, with Cameron Valente’s clever medium pace variations and quality pace bowlers in Matthew Fotia, Ben Ashkenazi, Guy Walker and Billy Stanlake,” Chappell added. “India’s dry wickets will offer turn for our spinners Tom Andrews, and Riley Ayre, while top-order batsman Kelvin Smith can also provide support with his part-time offspin.”Australia are scheduled to tour Sri Lanka after the quadrangular seriesAustralia U-19 squad: Sean Willis, Jaron Morgan, Kelvin Smith, Damien Mortimer, Ben McDermott, Jake Doran, Matthew Kelly, Tom Andrews, Cameron Valente, Matthew Fotia, Ben Ashkenazi, Guy Walker, Billy Stanlake, Riley Ayre