Welcome to live commentary of the third ODI between the Black Caps and Australia. Click on the player below to follow a blow-by-blow account of the match.

Toss Australia chose to field v New Zealand
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Ricky Ponting has gone against his usual desire to get runs on the board early and has sent New Zealand in for the third one-day international in Hamilton. His attack will be up against a stronger New Zealand batting order than in the previous game with Ross Taylor ruled fit after missing in Auckland due to a leg injury.

Taylor’s inclusion for the injured James Franklin (hamstring) means that there was no debut for the batsman Shanan Stewart. New Zealand made one other change from the team that lost at Eden Park with Daryl Tuffey left out and Michael Mason named to play his first international since July 2008.

Australia were forced to make one alteration after Michael Clarke flew home due to personal reasons. That meant Adam Voges was included for his first match of the tour with Clint McKay, the only other player in the group, named 12th man.

New Zealand 1 Brendon McCullum (wk), 2 Peter Ingram, 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Neil Broom, 6 Scott Styris, 7 Gareth Hopkins (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Tim Southee, 10 Shane Bond, 11 Michael Mason.

Australia 1 Shane Watson, 2 Brad Haddin (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Adam Voges, 5 Cameron White, 6 Michael Hussey, 7 James Hopes, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Nathan Hauritz, 10 Ryan Harris, 11 Doug Bollinger.

Stuart Broad remains hopeful of being available for the first Test against Bangladesh at Chittagong as he recovers from his back problem, but he hasn’t been helped by an uncomfortable hotel bed.

Broad pulled up with his injury – a spasm caused by a problem with the facet joint – during the second ODI in Dhaka and it was exacerbated by the flight to Chittagong. He has since undergone extensive physio, but revealed some less conventional methods were needed to overcome a rock-hard mattress.

“The beds in our hotel are incredibly hard like someone has laid down a boundary board and that hasn’t exactly been the most enjoyable experience with my back until we got some foam put down,” he said. “The foam in the bed idea was actually Matt Prior’s. I’m in the connecting next door and all I can hear is him moaning about the bed and it creaking with each turn.

“The next day some maintenance guy from the hotel walked in with a massive bit of foam and we cut it up so that we each had enough for our beds, now a few of the other lads have followed suit.”

Broad is one of a glut of injury problems that have hampered England since arriving in Bangladesh. Already Ryan Sidebottom has flown home and fellow paceman Graham Onions is also receiving treatment on a back injury that has left him doubtful for the opening clash and England needing reinforcements.

Broad went through his first gentle bowl on Monday, but knows he’ll have to give his back a proper workout in the days leading into the Test to find out whether he can withstand a five-day game.

“I don’t think I’m far off being ready for a Test match, but I need to test myself to the max over the next couple of days,” he said. “Today was only a light bowl and tomorrow I’m going to push myself harder as is Graham and then if it all goes to plan then we will be bowling as hard as we can by Wednesday.

“The key for me is to then come back and be able to bowl as hard as I can on Thursday, but if I can’t then I won’t be able to honestly say that I’ll be fit for a Test match.

With James Anderson in England resting his chronic knee problem, Broad is the most experienced bowler on tour and is central to the team’s planning both with the ball and also his lower-order batting which helps balance the side. But with England looking likely to play two spinners they can’t afford for one of their quicks to pull up during the match and Broad won’t be taking any chances.

“I’ve bowled a bit earlier than first hoped because that gives us time to get a proper gauge on how it is because I certainly won’t declare myself fit for a Test match if I’m not a hundred percent sure I can bowl for five days,” he said. “That would be unfair on the team, so I will only be up for selection if we know I’m fully fit. The biggest thing for me is to have got enough volume of overs before the game.”

Australian captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and chose to bowl first as Ross Taylor was a late inclusion for New Zealand in the third Chappell-Hadlee Trophy one-day cricket international at Seddon Park in Hamilton today.

In a big boost for the home side, key batsman Taylor passed a late fitness test on the hamstring strain which ruled him out of their 12-run defeat to Australia in Auckland on Saturday.

But there was some bad news on the New Zealand injury front too, with allrounder James Franklin (hamstring strain) and paceman Daryl Tuffey (calf strain) both ruled out today.

Both players had restricted movement and while their injuries weren’t considered serious, it was enough to see them omitted, with the five-match series poised at 1-1.

It meant a return to New Zealand colours for Central Districts paceman Michael Mason, 35, who played the last of his 25 ODIs against Scotland in Aberdeen in July 2008.

Australia also suffered some pre-match drama, with vice-captain Michael Clarke quitting the tour for personal reasons last night, meaning a recall for batsman Adam Voges in the only change from Auckland.

The weather was fine and warm with a start due on time at 2pm (NZT) at Seddon Park, where the full house signs had already gone up.

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (captain), Brendon McCullum, Peter Ingram, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Neil Broom, Scott Styris, Gareth Hopkins, Shane Bond, Tim Southee, Michael Mason.

Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Cameron White, Michael Hussey, Adam Voges, James Hopes, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Ryan Harris, Doug Bollinger.

Umpires: Asad Rauf (Pakistan), Billy Bowden (New Zealand).

- NZPA

Stuart Broad has renewed hope of being fit for England’s first Test with Bangladesh on Friday and revealed it was largely due to a roll of foam and a hotel maintenance man.

The seamer has been struggling to shake off a persistent back problem after initially injuring himself in the one-day series with the Tigers.

Broad had been experiencing back spasms and his rehabilitation was not aided by a cramped flight from Dhaka to Chittagong and an uncomfortable hotel bed.

However, the 23-year-old has seen his condition improve in recent days and revealed he had some quick thinking from Matt Prior to thank.

“The beds in our hotel are incredibly hard – like someone has laid down a boundary board – and that hasn’t exactly been the most enjoyable experience with my back until we got some foam put down,” he explained.

“The foam in the bed idea was actually Matt’s. I’m in the connecting room and all I can hear was him moaning about the bed and it creaking with each turn.

“The next day some maintenance guy from the hotel walked in with a massive bit of foam and we cut it up so that we each had enough for our beds, now a few of the other lads have followed suit.

“The problem was the spasm and now that has gone so there is only a little bit of soreness left in the back.

“It has loosened up a fair bit now.”

No chances

However, while he has resumed running and light bowling, Broad insists he will not jeopardise the team’s prospects if he is not fully fit in time for the series opener.

“I’ve bowled a bit earlier than first hoped,” he continued. “That gives us time to get a proper gauge on how it is because I certainly won’t declare myself fit for a Test match if I’m not 100% sure I can bowl for five days.

“That would be unfair on the team, so I will only be up for selection if we know I’m fully fit.

“The key for me is to be able to bowl as hard as I can on Thursday, but if I can’t then I won’t be able to honestly say that I’ll be fit for a Test match.”

Meanwhile, Graham Onions has also started training again having experienced a back complaint of his own.

Bangladesh v England – Test Series. Click here to bet.

South African Cricketers Association chief executive Tony Irish has flatly denied suggestions that his organisation have an agenda against the Indian Premier League.

The six-week competition is gearing up for its third edition with the tournament due to get underway in Mumbai on Friday.

However, the build-up to the start of lucrative league has been marred by a reported terrorist threat hanging over the country.

As a result, a number of high-profile players, especially from Australia, have hinted that they were giving consideration to pulling out of the tournament because of concerns over their safety.

IPL boss Lalit Modi reacted angrily to claims of a potential no-show from some players and claimed player unions were using the security threat as leverage to gain bargaining status with the IPL and the Indian cricket board.

But SACA boss Irish has rubbished that suggestion, insisting his body’s overriding concern is the safety of their players.

“The IPL has tended to make our concerns regarding security into an IPL versus FICA issue, but it’s not that at all,” he told www.supersport.co.za.

“This is not about either side winning or losing, it’s about safety and security of players and teams.

“And we’ve simply followed the same thorough process as we normally do. We want the same thing as the IPL does, namely a successful and safe event. We hope this will be the case.

“Our objectives were to obtain details of the security plan and as much information as possible and then get an independent specialist to review these plans.

“Our job is to provide the players with the relevant information to assist them to make as informed a decision as possible.”

More than half of South Africa’s 22 centrally-contracted players have IPL deals, including captain Graeme Smith, who plays for the Rajasthan Royals, and vice-captain Jacques Kallis of the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Indian Premier League. Click here to bet.

The inquiry committee looking into Pakistan’s disastrous tour to Australia has recommended a string of harsh punishments against a number of Pakistan’s senior-most players, ranging from heavy fines to bans.

The recommendations have still to be approved by the board chairman – and they could yet be turned down – but Cricinfo has learnt that the committee has called for the Akmal brothers and Shahid Afridi to be fined for various misdemeanours and for Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan to be banned for up to a year from international cricket.

If implemented the measures are likely to represent some of the harshest punishments taken against Pakistan players and will further throw the composition of Pakistan’s squad for the World Twenty20 into considerable disarray. None of the players, it is believed, are certain to make the 15-man squad for the tournament at this moment.

The six-man committee completed its report last week and sent it to Ijaz Butt. The chairman held a meeting with the selection committee on Monday in which he debriefed them on the contents of the inquiry committee’s report. He warned the selectors – now headed by Mohsin Khan – that he had “shocking news” for them and proceeded to inform them of the details of the report.

Pakistan’s winless tour to Australia began promisingly, but swiftly deteriorated after the second Test in Sydney, where the tourists suffered a shocking defeat. Thereafter the touring squad unraveled; first the Akmal brothers seemed to openly challenge the touring management, Kamran insisting he would play in the final Test at Hobart despite the board having released a statement saying he would be dropped.

Younger brother Umar was at the centre of a brief storm, in which it was alleged that he had feigned an injury and refused to play in Hobart if his brother was dropped. The report recommends fining the brothers between Rs 2-3 million and that they be put on a probationary period for their behaviour after the Sydney Test.

The tour ended with Afridi being banned by the ICC for two games after he was caught biting the ball in a bid to tamper it in the last ODI in Perth. The report calls for a similar fine and that he also be put on a probationary period during which he not be considered for the captaincy. Afridi was Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain but that status now is in doubt.

The situation for Rana and Malik is altogether more serious; both have been accused of significant breaches of discipline. Though the specifics are unclear, it is thought that the pair had problems with Mohammad Yousuf, who was captain for the Tests and ODIs. Yousuf and Malik have long been at odds with each other and the pair engaged in another slanging match soon after returning to Pakistan. Malik has consistently been at the centre of accusations of intrigue and factionalism within the team since he was removed as leader last year.

Sources told Cricinfo that Butt is incensed with the players and is willing to go through with all the recommendations. At the meeting with the selectors he told them to prepare a squad for the World Twenty20 but to keep question marks over this group of players and to keep their options open. The squad was due to be announced on Monday but will be delayed, at the very least, to next week; the selection committee has filtered down the probables to 21 for now.

Butt has urged the selectors to look for fresher faces, telling them that he intends “to give a lesson to these players and convey to them the message that nobody is indispensable.”

The trickiest decision may well be over the captain of the squad. Malik and Afridi seem to be out of the picture now; Younis Khan and Yousuf do not play the format and are not in the probables. Amazingly that could leave Misbah-ul-Haq, should he be picked, as a candidate and though some TV reports said his name had been put forward by the selectors, attendees at the meeting said no names had yet been discussed.

Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, has said there are no plans to extend the tournament’s season beyond the current six-to-seven week duration, as that would affect other forms of the game and the regular cricket season in India. Speaking on Cricinfo’s fortnightly discussion show Time Out – which goes live on March 9 – Modi also defended the $225 million base price for the new franchises, rejecting the notion that it would create a football-style debt trap for the investors.

“We are going to have the current limitation (in the IPL’s duration), and we are happy to live with that,” Modi said. “Then (if we make it a longer tournament) you are going to starting to hurt the other forms of the game. We chose the window specifically to be off-season in India, April-May are typically off season in India I don’t think we are going to be able to change that.”

Even with 94 games scheduled in the 2011 season, Modi said the season will only be 51 days long. “It’s (next season) only over seven weeks instead of six, it’s over 51 days instead of 46, we have done the scheduling, we just have to announce it.”

While the IPL had packed houses in its inaugural year, several Test matches in India, including the one in which Sachin Tendulkar overtook Brian Lara’s run-aggregate, have attracted disappointingly small crowds over the past few years, leading to fears of a dip in popularity in the game’s oldest format. However, Modi strongly disagreed with that notion, stating that viewership ratings were continuing to rise and even suggested that Test cricket was the highest revenue-earner for the Indian board.

“Test cricket is our bread and butter which people don’t understand, we are never going to compromise on Test cricket,” he said. “When I talked about, you know, (how) we have to do something about Test cricket, it’s in the other countries that Test cricket is going down. In India, our ratings are going up, we have been tracking that year by year, in fact, we get paid highest for Test cricket.”

He rejected the charge that the glamour and the money associated with the IPL will make today’s children grow up thinking of Twenty20 as the only format that matters. “The younger generation was mostly moving away from the game of cricket, we have brought them back into the game,” he said. “They were diverting their attention towards football and other sports, we have not only been able to retain them, we have been able to add more people to it, I think the size of the pie is only going to increase.”

The IPL has been an enormous success in its first two seasons, giving the tournament’s organisers the confidence to quadruple the base price for two new franchises from the US$50m it was for the original eight franchises in 2007. Modi said he had no fears that the high valuation would lead to a repeat of the scenario in the English Premier League, where many of the leading clubs are perennially in debt.

“We wouldn’t want that (clubs getting into a debt trap). When we did the 50m numbers, we projected certain revenue going forward, 80% of the revenue (we earn) goes back to the franchises,” he said. “When we did our numbers, it was on a business plan. Our business plan is already four times of what we had planned then.”

The value of the Rajasthan Royals, who won the inaugural season of the IPL, shot up to more than twice the US$67m it was brought for in just a year, but Modi said he had no regrets over the base price of US$50m for the original franchises. “No, no, the idea is that everybody should survive and make money on it, then only can somebody grow, because of the confidence, whatever we have done, we have no regrets.”

Last month, there was talk that Modi was planning to take the IPL to the US, but he said the idea was to play some exhibition matches or a short tournament there, and not to move the main competition. “The US is a big market, a growing market, we definitely want to tap that market,” he said. “I don’t think we will go with the IPL, but what you’ll do is take the IPL teams, play a shorter tournament or exhibition games to start with, you’ll play within the gaps in the calendar in the year and try and build a fanbase”

When asked whether he was concerned over the perception that the IPL starts and ends with Lalit Modi and over what would happen if he was not associated with the IPL he said, “I do, I think about it all the time, that’s why we are trying to put in a professional organization. We are only two years old, we have some very, very good people in there, and whether I’m there or not, they have learnt very well and I’m sure they will be able to take it on.”

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KARACHI: The PCB inquiry committee,
probing into Pakistan’s poor performance in Australia, has recommended
disciplinary action against five players including former captain Shoaib Malik
and Shahid Afridi.

According to reliable sources, PCB Chairman Ejaz
Butt has discussed the report with the national selection
committee.

“The inquiry committee has recommended that the board
should suspend former captain Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved and fine Shahid
Afridi, Kamran and Umar Akmal for various violations of the code of conduct,”
one source said.

The source said the captain, coach and the manager
on the Australian tour had reported Malik and Rana for misbehavior and not
cooperating with the management.

“The committee has recommended fines
on Afridi for his ball tampering act and on Kamran and Umar Akmal for giving
press statements against the will of the management,” the source
disclosed.

He said the inquiry committee had also advised the Board
to make no compromise on discipline and not select any player who was found
guilty of violating the code of conduct.

The Chairman of the Board,
the source said now had the final authority to accept the recommendations of the
committee or dismiss them.

“But by the looks of it, the report of the
committee will have far reaching effect on the selection process and appointment
of captain for the T20 World Cup,” the source stated.

Indications are
that with Afridi, Kamran Akmal and Malik all recommended for disciplinary
action, the Board is likely to pick either Misbah-ul-Haq or Abdul Razzaq as the
captain for the coming T20 World Cup.

The board has said it would
announce the captain and team after releasing the report of the inquiry
committee later this week.