ADELAIDE: Aggressive Pakistani
strokemaker Shahid Afridi has signed for South Australia in the domestic
Twenty20 Big Bash tournament starting late December.

The South
Australian Cricket Association announced on Tuesday that Afridi, who was player
of the tournament at the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in 2007, would replace Sri
Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis as the Redbacks’ international
recruit.

Afridi had earlier been reported as a possible target for
New South Wales, which won the inaugural Twenty20 Champions League in India
earlier this week. New South Wales beat Australia’s other contender, Victoria,
in the semifinals of the tournament which brings together the leading provincial
teams from around the world.

Afridi has featured in 24 T20
internationals and has a strike rate of 147 and best bowling figures of 4-11.
South Australia has five matches in the domestic T20 league, from which the top
two teams qualify for the next edition of the international Champions
League.

Afridi, who will lead the T20 world champion Pakistani lineup
against New Zealand in the short format later this month, joins a list of
high-profile foreign recruits in the Australian tournament.

West
Indies pair Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo signed for Western Australia and
Victoria and Sri Lankan paceman Lasith Malinga joined Tasmania for the
competition.

SACA high performance manager Jamie Cox said Afridi’s
signing was an important building block for the Redbacks.

“We
narrowly missed out on finals last season and these signings are definitely a
boost to our quest to qualify for the Champions League this year,” Cox said in a
statement. “I have made no secret of the fact that I view the Big Bash
competition as the most commercial on the domestic calendar and the Champions’
League also provides fantastic opportunities for young players to showcase their
skills on the world stage.”

Afridi has played 285 limited-overs
internationals and, on top of a batting strike rate of 110 per 100 balls faced,
he has taken 264 wickets with his leg spin and a best haul of
6-38.

At age 16 and in his maiden ODI innings, Afridi scored what
still remains the fastest ever limited-overs international hundred from just 37
balls against Sri Lanka at Nairobi in 1996. He also scored 102 off 45 balls
against India at Kanpur in 2005.

South Australia opens the T20 Big
Bash at Western Australia on Dec. 29, with home matches on January 3, 7 and 12
and closing with an away match against New South Wales at the former Sydney
Olympic stadium at Homebush on January 17.

State teams competing in
the Australian T20 league are allowed two imported players.

VADODARA: Praveen Kumar and Harbhajan
Singh’s batting heroics took India agonisingly close to a sensational win before
the hosts slumped to a four-run defeat against Australia in the first match of
the seven-ODI series on Sunday.

Scorecard

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Match
in pics

At 201 for seven in their pursuit of a 293-run victory
target, India seemed heading for a comprehensive defeat before Praveen (40 not
out) and Harbhajan (49) came up with a defiant 84-run stand off 57 balls for the
eighth wicket that nearly took them home.

Much to the disappointment
of the crowd, India eventually managed 288 for eight, put together by cameos
from Gautam Gambhir (68), Virat Kohli (30), MS Dhoni (34), Praveen Kumar and
Harbhajan.

Earlier, Ricky Ponting (74) led from the front and was
amply supported by Mike Hussey (73), Tim Paine (50) and Cameron White (51) as
the visitors rattled up 292 for eight after opting to bat first on a featherbed
track.

Faced with the daunting task of scoring at 5.86 per over, the
star-studded Indian line-up came a cropper against some disciplined bowling and
tight fielding to be left struggling at 201 for seven with the last 10 overs
remaining.

Harbhajan and Praveen brought down the target to 30 from
the last 15 balls and then nine from the last six.

But once Harbhajan
departed off the second ball of the final over from Peter Siddle, India lost the
momentum and Australia stopped the hosts four runs short of their total.

Earlier in the innings, Gambhir played the sheet-anchor’s role after
the cheap dismissal of openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar to top-score
with 68 off 85 balls with six fours and a six in it.

Dhoni and
Kohli, surprisingly promoted to number four in the batting order, made starts
before getting out when in their 30s.

After being 167 for three in
the 35th over, the Indians lost three quick wickets – Gambhir, Suresh Raina (9)
and Dhoni – while adding only 19 runs and it became 201 for seven at the fall of
Ravindra Jadeja in the 40th over.

Harbhajan and Praveen kept the
hosts in the hunt with some lusty hits to raise visions of a come-from-behind
victory, but in the end it proved of no avail.

With this win,
Australia surged to their second successive victory at this venue over the home
team, having beaten the hosts by nine wickets in 2007 at this ground.

The thrilling victory put the visitors 1-0 up in the series ahead of
the second day/night encounter at Nagpur on October 28.

Though India
came close, their top-order batting, bowling as well as fielding were thoroughly
exposed by the Australian team which is riding on a high after whipping England
6-1 and then retaining the Champions Trophy in South Africa.

In the
morning, the Australia top-order took a heavy toll of the listless Indian
bowling attack and raised a big total.

Australia suffered an early
blow, when Watson fell off the eighth ball, before recovering superbly through a
near-century stand between Ponting and Paine.

The sound beginning
was built upon by half-centuries from White and Hussey as the Indian bowling,
which has struggled of late, was put to the sword in merciless fashion.

India began their chase in style with Virender Sehwag hitting Lee’s
first two deliveries for successive boundaries. Lee eventually settled score by
getting rid off Sehwag by having the batsman caught for 13 in 11 balls.

India lost another big wicket when Sachin Tendulkar drove a wide
ball from Watson up into a packed off-side field and Ponting took a blinder at
short cover-point.

Virat Kohli, playing in company of Delhi teammate
Gambhir, steadied the rocking ship with a stand of 58 in 75 balls and the pair
raised the 100 in the 19th over when Kohli fell to Adam Voges.

Gambhir and Dhoni then strung a partnership of 64 runs with
diligence for the fourth wicket before Mitchell Johnson first removed the
left-hander and then caught and bowled Suresh Raina to leave India at 183 for
five in the 37th over.

It was left to Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja to
guide India home but the Indian skipper got out soon, trying to loft Watson and
giving a tame catch to Lee at mid on.

For Australia, Johnson led the
bowling with two for 59, while Watson secured 2 for 70.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s captain and
de facto coach Daniel Vettori believes former skipper Stephen Fleming would make
a wonderful Black Caps coach.

Vettori will lead the team to the
United Arab Emirates for a One-day and Twenty20 series against Pakistan as both
captain and coach following Andy Moles’ decision on Saturday to step down as
coach after a review process revealed he was ill-equipped to continue in the
role.

With Moles not stepping up to the mark, Vettori has been
effectively coaching the team for the past six months,

The Sunday
Star-Times quoted Vettori as saying that he was happy to continue as
player-coach for the next few months, including the home test series against
Pakistan next month, but after that he would prefer to see someone come into the
role.

“Stephen and I keep in regular contact and he’s been quite a
big help in going through all this stuff and some other things that have gone
on. He has concerns about my workload and he wants to be a sounding board and do
anything he can to help,” Vettori said.

“He’s definitely got coach
written all over him and he could be an extremely successful one; it’s just
whether he wants to get back into that life of touring the world and in that
regard it probably is too soon for him. But he would make a wonderful coach,” he
added.

New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan, when
asked if Fleming was a coach candidate, said: “I don’t think this is the right
time.”

In the short-term manager Dave Currie will have his
leadership responsibilities upgraded to help Vettori, while current assistant
coach Mark O’Donnell will remain with the team, stuff.co.nz reports.