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Two of the Southern Electric ECB Premier League’s most exciting local young cricketing prospects – Bournemouth’s Chris Park and David Wheeler, the New Milton all-rounder – could be headed towards a career on the county circuit.The teenage duo have signed Academy scholarship contracts with First Class counties – Park, Bournemouth’s talented batsman/wicketkeeper, with Northants, and Wheeler at Hampshire.The pair will link up with their respective counties next month to begin a demanding winter programme, which involves all aspects of cricket development, including fitness and sports psychology.Spending the 2002 summer season with Northants is a dream come true for 18-year old Park, from Dales Drive, Wimborne.The former Queen Elizabeth School sixth-former scored over 400 runs and snapped up 30 victims behind the stumps in a sparkling debut season for Bournemouth in the demanding surrounds of the Southern Electric Premier League.Park went on to make three Minor Counties Championship appearances for Dorset, scoring a maiden half-century in Cornwall.”Being signed up by Northants is the perfect end to what’s been a terrific first season for me in senior cricket,” smiled Park, who has played regularly for Dorset youth teams in recent seasons.”It hardly seems five minutes ago I was playing village cricket for Kingston Lacey and now I’ve been given the opportunity to progress into the professional arena.”But Park, spotted by Northants when he represented Dorset in last year’s Jersey Youth Festival, knows the hard work is yet to begin.”It’s entirely up to me now. There’s a demanding winter schedule ahead and then the task of proving myself where it matters – in the middle next season.”This is an opportunity few youngsters get and I don’t intend to waste it,” he said.Park, who will probably play Northants 2nd XI and Colts cricket next summer, could hardly have chosen a better time to display his rich batting prowess than in Jersey last summer.”I scored an unbeaten 147 against them off 86 balls and then followed it up with a century against Yorkshire. It’s really gone on from there,” Park explained.Former England all-rounder David Capel, now the Northants Academy coach, said : “We were very impressed with what we saw in Jersey.”Chris looks a very, inspirational positive player, who shows total commitment. He always seems to have a happy smile on his face.”Wheeler, New Milton’s hard-hitting 6’3″ all-rounder, made an equally devastating impact in his debut season in Premier Division 3.He struck two centuries and passed the 50-mark on six other occasions in scoring 582 runs and took 22 wickets – no mean feat for a 16-year old !Educated at Highcliffe School, Wheeler has been playing at New Milton since he was eight years of age and been a regular representative player for both Hampshire Schools and the New Forest CA since he was 11.Wheeler, currently studying Sports Science at Brockenhurst College, hit the high spots last year, scoring 1,500-plus runs and taking 60 wickets in all cricket.”When David’s batting, he times the ball so sweetly. And his bowling action has such a high trajectory that he can get substantial lift and away movement,” explained Steve Watts, the New Milton captain.Wheeler had been earmarked to captain Hampshire’s Under-16 team this summer but was fast-tracked into the Under-17 side which reached the semi-finals of the ECB County Youth Championships.He was subsequently selected to play for an England Under-17 XI against the MCC at Uxbridge.Wheeler, who lives in Barton-on-Sea, is the only Hampshire-based youngster at the Rose Bowl Academy this winter.”David has got a great deal of potential and I’m looking forward to seeing him continue to develop in the Academy this winter,” said Hampshire 2nd XI coach Tony Middleton.Both Park and Wheeler have been nominted for the Southern Premier League’s Young Cricketer of the Year award, which will be announced at the presentation dinner on November 9.

Wolves could potentially lose Ruben Neves to Barcelona following interest from the La Liga giants, according to transfer insider Dean Jones.

The Lowdown: Neves a star man at Wolves

The 24-year-old wasn’t always at his best last season but he is enjoying an excellent 2021/22 campaign, running the midfield for Wolves alongside Joao Moutinho.

Neves, who was once the club’s most expensive signing of all-time, has scored three goals and registered one assist in 25 Premier League appearances this term.

He has been linked with a move to Barcelona in recent days, though, with a summer exit possibly on the cards.

The Latest: Journalist talks up Neves exit from Wolves

Speaking to GiveMeSport, Jones claimed that Neves could find the lure of playing for Barcelona too much to turn down at the end of the season.

The journalist stated: “There is definite interest from Barcelona in Ruben Neves and that’s a bit of a worry for Wolves because they know at some point the player is going to test himself at one of the elite clubs.

“They were confident he wouldn’t jump ship for Arsenal or Manchester United right now, but Barcelona? That’s different.”

[freshpress-quiz id=“388797″]

The Verdict: Hard to turn down Barcelona

Neves has been a loyal figure for Wolves since coming to the Black Country in 2017, but while it would be fantastic news to hear that he wants to stay for many more years, the prospect of him moving on from Molineux does not seem implausible.

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At 24, the midfielder looks to be heading towards his prime footballing years, and he may believe that he is capable of starring for a Champions League club, rather than one on the fringes of Europa League qualification.

Playing for a club like Barcelona would be a dream for many players, and after five years of loyal service at Molineux, it would be hard to begrudge him a move there, even if the La Liga giants aren’t the force of old. Portuguese legends such as Luis Figo and Deco have worn the famous blue and red jersey and Neves could be eager to follow in their footsteps.

In other news, one Wolves player has been backed to sign a new deal this summer. Find out who it is here.

Ian Bell was just another England batsman whose flashiness proved his downfall © Getty Images

For the scores of cricket fans packed onto the London Underground this morning, there was a special message as the train arrived at their destination. “Our next stop is Oval,” announced the driver over the tannoy, “where I regret to inform you the forecast is for sun.” It was a droll reminder of how futile England’s predicament had become. On Friday their series prospects were marmalised by an Indian batting performance of stunning totality, and now all that remained was a three-day face-saving exercise.Even so, for professional batsmen – a selfish bunch by nature – the idea of batting for three days in perfect sun-blessed conditions should not really have been the chore that England’s top order made it out to be today. Their coach, Peter Moores, had even dangled the carrot in his comments on the previous evening. “Help yourselves,” was the gist of his message as he exhorted them to bat, bat and then bat some more. If they put their own interests first, he reasoned, those of the team would follow soon enough. If Brian Lara was an Englishman in this situation, he would have had designs on a third world record.Instead England’s response was nervy, motley and self-destructive. Massive totals can have that effect on opposing sides – every run that is scored sinks into the requirement like a footstep up a sand-dune – but it could not mitigate the culpability of so many of England’s dismissals. Andrew Strauss’s hook to deep square leg on Friday evening might have been excusable after two days of hard toil, but it was not intended to be a template for what followed.England were limp, as limp as they had been in Lahore two winters ago in a similarly hopeless situation. Alastair Cook, dropped twice while clipping off his pads to leg slip, made it third time unlucky by spooning a return catch to Anil Kumble off the back of his over-eager blade. Kevin Pietersen allowed his more watchful persona to dominate the first 106 balls of his innings, before his hubristic Mr Hyde let rip at Sachin Tendulkar’s very first delivery, and even Ian Bell, a man whose appetite for easy runs is unsurpassed in this side, could not resist a wild slash at a wide one from Zaheer Khan.The flashiness of their downfall made Tendulkar’s sheet-anchor single-mindedness on the first two days all the more admirable. He took no risks whatsoever at a stage of the game when many onlookers were questioning the value of such stodginess. England’s batsmen, by contrast, had been granted a rare opportunity to be lauded for a lack of aesthetic appeal, much as happened to Michael Atherton at Johannesburg in 1995-96. None of them showed much desire to do things the ugly way.Only Michael Vaughan, who was genuinely deceived by an excellent googly from Kumble, and Paul Collingwood – the latest victim of Ian Howell’s ignoble series – could be excused for the manner of their dismissals. But even Collingwood admitted a measure of culpability in the shot that got him out. Talking of England’s approach to such a towering total, he said: “You have to stick to the gameplan of picking on your strengths, which for me was the straight ball on the pads, hitting it to the leg side.” The fact that he missed out on his money shot was all the excuse that Howell needed.

The flashiness of their downfall made Tendulkar’s sheet-anchor single-mindedness on the first two days all the more admirable. He took no risks whatsoever at a stage of the game when many onlookers were questioning the value of such stodginess. England’s batsmen, by contrast, had been granted a rare opportunity to be lauded for a lack of aesthetic appeal…

India’s bowlers were good but far from excellent – they did not need to be. It was not until they took the new ball with England already ruptured at 288 for 5 that they finally found the same consistency and aggression that had carried them to victory in the last Test at Trent Bridge. Up until that point their swing – though prodigious – had been misdirected, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni lining himself up a foot to the right of the return crease. The uncertainty they created, however, was enough to break England’s resolve.”Generally you know exactly what the ball is going to do as it comes down, but it’s very hard to line bowlers up when they are swinging it both ways,” said Collingwood, who made it sound rather as if he had spent his summer facing Wasim Akram. “The control that they’ve shown has been excellent, but being brought up on Indian wickets, you have to have that variety. “Though the series is lost, Collingwood insisted that the match is not yet all over for England. “I think everyone in the dressing room thinks it can be saved,” he said. “Whether we can win it or not is a different matter, but there’s plenty of fight in there, and we’ve got two days to show that fight.” History suggests that it is not entirely out of the question. In 1990, England were baked by India’s batsmen to the tune of 606 runs, folded for 340 in their first innings, then batted to the close with David Gower leading the way. Gower, however, was playing for his career. England’s current incumbents cannot even play for themselves at the moment.

Peter Chingoka is set to be re-elected as chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket at the end of the month, despite serious allegations made against him over the last year by some of the country’s most senior stakeholders.Under a controversial new constitution, sport minister Aeneas Chigwedere will hand-pick seven of the 12 board members, with the remaining five being nominated by the 10 newly-created provincial associations.Chigwedere has not hinted on his choices yet, but the Zimbabwe-based Independent said Chingoka was “very much in the picture”.Chingoka, who has headed ZC since 1992, has been at the helm throughout the chaos of the last three years which has seen the game in the country brought to its knees. Despite this, he retains considerable support among the ICC’s executive board, where he has established powerful allies and he is also believed to be close to Percy Sonn, the new ICC president. Those connections have been crucial in enabling him and his board to weather a series of internal crises.It is, however, rumoured that Chingoka’s role as head of the Africa Cricket Association could be in jeopardy, with senior figures in the body of the view that his presence is not necessarily helpful to it. Other African administrators are understood to have been approached with a view to replacing him.Lovemore Banda, ZC’s media manager, told the newspaper that Chingoka would be “honoured to accept the call” if he was reappointed. “We are reluctant to pre-judge how the minister will use his prerogative but suffice it to say that should he see it fit to appoint him onto the new ZC board, Mr Chingoka, indeed like any other Zimbabwean called up for national duty, will be honoured to accept the call, and put to the continued benefit of the sport all the experience and contacts he has garnered over the years.”Chingoka, if reappointed, will have far less internal opposition than of late. All those who challenged his position last year have been removed from office, and the new constitution makes it impossible for any stakeholders to oppose the board. Like much of Zimbabwe, it is democracy in name only.

The Gabba square is causing concern for its co-tenants © Getty Images

Queensland Cricket has quickly objected to using drop-in pitches at the Gabba despite accusations from the Brisbane Lions, the ground’s co-tenants, that the surface has contributed to player injuries. Leigh Matthews, the AFL coach, would like temporary wickets brought in to keep the ground firm for his charges, but Graham Dixon, the Queensland Cricket chief executive, said performance was the main reason for dismissing the idea.”The technology surrounding drop-in wickets is adequate but it does not compare to the conditions produced by a permanent block,” he said. “The two instances where drop-in wickets are used regularly – at the MCG and in New Zealand – are due to the weather conditions that make it hard to prepare. The conditions in Brisbane are vastly different and we prepare wickets in the normal manner.”Dixon said if temporary pitches were able to replicate the performance of a permanent block he would be open to discussions, and he also dismissed comments the square was being prepared before the Lions’ match against Port Adelaide at the weekend. “It has always been the case that the curator Kevin Mitchell Jnr does not do any work on the block until after the Lions’ final training session of their season,” he said.In a busy off-season day for grounds, the WACA has announced a new head curator following the departure in June of Richard Winter, who moved to the MCG. Cameron Sutherland, who has worked for nine seasons on the South Perth pitch at Richardson Park, will start work in September.Tony Dodemaide, the WACA’s chief executive, said applications were received from around the world and Sutherland was selected for his skills and knowledge of local conditions. “Perth is renowned for it’s unique pace and bounce,” Dodemaide said, “and we’re confident that Cameron will lead his quality team in producing pitches that reflect the ground’s heritage and high standards.”

Maurice Odumbe: faces a life ban if found guilty© AFP

The hearings into the allegations of match-fixing against former Kenya captain Maurice Odumbe got off to a lively start when several dozen protestors outside Nairobi’s Stanley Hotel jeered the ICC’s legal team as they arrived.The hearing, headed by Zimbabwe’s Justice Ahmed Ebrahim, heard from two witnesses before journalists were ushered out as a third, who had been granted anonymity, gave evidence. The ICC had originally wanted the hearing held in private, but was persuaded by Ebrahim that it should be public.Caitlan Patterson, who had a two-year affair with Odumbe, told the hearing that Jagdish Sodha, an Indian with alleged bookmaking contacts, had visited Odumbe at his house in Kenya in 1999.Odumbe, who denies all the allegations of receiving payments from an Indian bookmaker, faces a possible life ban if found guilty. The hearing is expected to last five days.

New Zealand cricketers in England and Dutch club cricket are having a lean time of it at the moment.Aucklander Rob Nicol has no batting form at all for Rishton which is in 14th and last place in the first XI competition of the Lancashire League.In his side’s 146-run loss to East Lancs he took three wickets for 95 and a week later in the 104-run loss to Nelson he took three for 114.Matthew Bell is playing for fourth-placed Esher in the Surrey Championship league. He scored 53 in a drawn game with Cheam and 52 in a winning draw against Weybridge.Luke Woodcock, like Bell from Wellington, is playing for eighth-placed Purley in the second division of the Surrey League but has not yet made an impression among the top performers.Canterbury’s Brendon Donkers is playing for ninth-placed Leigh in the Liverpool and District competition’s premier league.He retired hurt in a recent game against New Brighton, having scored nine, but then came back two days later in a 70-run win over Newton le Willows scoring 20 not out and taking one for 18. He followed that with 49 not out and two for 39 in a 27-run loss to Bootle.Otago’s Warren McSkimming is playing for sixth-placed Lytham in the same league. He scored 62 and took two for 46 in a draw against Huyton, took two for 62 in a five-wicket loss to New Brighton and then scored 66 in a 106-run win against Newton le Willows.In the first division of the Liverpool competition, former Aucklander Aaron Barnes is playing for fourth-placed Colwyn Bay and James Marshall of Northern Districts, is playing for twelth-placed Formby.Marshall hit 112 in a no result game against St Helens Recs and a week later his 76 in a five-wicket loss to Highfield.Barnes hit 74 and took one for 16 in a seven-wicket win against Liverpool and then hit 49 and took four for 52 in an eight-wicket win against Caldy.But his best effort to date was 117 not out and two for 83, despite his team losing by four wickets to Formby. In that match he claimed Marshall’s wicket for a duck. Marshall took two catches and had the satisfaction of seeing his side win by four wickets.In his most recent appearance last weekend, Barnes hit 45 in a seven-wicket win against Orrell Red Triangle.Michael Parlane is playing for Swardeston in the East Anglia League, the side is fifth of 10 teams. He scored 52 not out in a nine-wicket win over Bury St Edmunds and 28 in a five-wicket loss to Norwich.The New Zealanders in the Netherlands cricket competition have also been battling.Former internationals Shane Thomson and David Sewell are playing in the first-placed side VRA. Sewell took two for 24 in a 23-run win over Quick Haag, and four for 48 in a 24-run win over VCC while Thomson’s most significant hand in recent weeks has been 64 against VOC in a match lost by 13 runs.Andre Adams and Alex O’Dowd are playing for second-placed HCC. O’Dowd scored 109 against Excelsior and Adams scored 11 and took three for 29 in a six-wicket win.In his most recent appearance against Quick Haag when HCC successfully defended a total of 132, Adams scored 26 off 27 balls, with three sixes before taking three for 25 from his 10 overs.Greg Todd is playing with the third-placed Hermes DVS side. Against Rood en Wit he took two for 35 in a 36-run loss. He scored 34 not out in a 66-run win over VOC, scored 22 and took two for 23 in a 20-run win over VCC and scored 22 and took one for 25 in a 25-run win over Excelsior.David Kelly is playing with the fifth-placed Rood en Wit side and in his best performance so far he scored 36 against Hermes DVS before being caught by former Central Districts player Gavin McRae off Todd’s bowling. But his side did emerge with a victory.Aucklander Tama Canning’s side of VOC is in ninth place but Canning has been producing some good all-round performances.He scored 39 against HCC as his side lost by 76 runs. But the following week he scored 26 and took three for 35 in a 13-run win over VRA.Then he scored 30 and took two for 21 in a 45-run loss to Rood en Wit before his best performance last weekend of 56 and five for 25 off 9.2 overs to help his side to a 36-run win over VCC.Former Canterbury all rounder Darron Reekers is the only other player in the competition from New Zealand. He is playing for last-placed Quick Haag. In his last three appearances his best score has been 14 and his best bowling two for 15 from 10 overs in a five-wicket win over Rood en Wit.In the women’s competition, Canterbury’s Sarah Burke is playing for second-placed Rood en Wit in the six-team women’s premier league and in her side’s seven-wicket win last weekend she took two for 13 from her nine overs.

One of the promoters of the controversial Sportville sports complex at Addington in Christchurch, Chris Herbert lost his bid to be re-elected to the board of Canterbury Cricket at tonight’s annual meeting.Herbert was beaten by Steve Riddell of the Old Collegians Club while sitting board members David Shackleton (chairman) and Cran Bull were returned after a ballot.It was clear that the investigation into developing the existing Queen Elizabeth II Park ground or the Sportville complex, which would be shared with trotting, rugby league and netball, was a source of concern to several delegates at the meeting.The debate had already claimed the former chief executive officer of the CCA, Tony Murdoch, who was a supporter of the QEII development.Shackleton, when presenting his annual report, told the meeting the board was still determining what was required of a venue and the criteria, when decided, would then be measured against the prospective venues.He assured the meeting any development at Addington would not proceed without suitable funding.He was able to tell the meeting the indoor training facility long sought by the association would be located at Iverson Terrace and would have four full-length lanes and should be completed early next year. The CCA offices will be based at the new complex for not much more expense than the original cost of the existing offices. But it would have better offices and be more efficient.Shackleton also announced that the two clubs in Christchurch to take part in the pilot programme of New Zealand Cricket’s grassroots development scheme would be Sydenham and Lancaster Park while Buller’s Cricket Association would be the pilot district association.Shackleton said New Zealand Cricket had been very pro-active in looking at the grassroots of the sport and he felt the development scheme was a significant move in the right direction.It was important for the pilot scheme to work effectively as the success of the scheme depended on the quality of application for support Canterbury would be able to pursue for the widening of the scheme to apply to all clubs and districts in the longer term.Canterbury will be advertising the position of chief executive at the weekend and was looking for an early completion of interviews to have the position filled as soon as possible.The meeting passed a motion from the floor that the annual meeting record its appreciation of the services tendered by outgoing CEO Murdoch for Canterbury Cricket and to acknowledge his work for the game. It was carried without dissent.Queries from the floor about the lack of detail in the annual accounts were explained as being part of the requirements of New Zealand Cricket but it was felt that in spite of this requirement more use should be made of the notes to the accounts to explain specific issues so the annual accounts could be better understood.The meeting also awarded life membership of the Association to long-serving administrator, and more recently manager of the Canterbury men’s team, John Thompson. In moving the award, CCA president Brian Hastings outlined Thompson’s involvement with the University West club since his move to Christchurch, from Wellington, in 1959.While it had been a playing relationship to start with, when University West amalgamed with Burnside he had moved into administration serving for 20 years on the club committee, including two years as president.He then progressed to the CCA where he served for 17 years. He served on various committees and was the under-20 selection convener for five years and manager for four. He has been manager of the Canterbury 1st XI for the last six years and had a real input into that side.The award was passed without dissent and Thomson thanked the Association for its gesture and said he felt very privileged to be joining such a distinguished group as the life members.”I enjoy my role in Canterbury cricket very much,” he said.

Celtic journalist Kieran Devlin has expressed his surprise at the notion that January signing Daizen Maeda has started his Parkhead career ‘poorly’.

The lowdown

The Hoops signed the Japanese forward from Yokohama F Marinos on an initial loan last month, and in the summer, the move will be made permanent for a fee of £1.38m.

The 24-year-old has made nine appearances so far for the club, starting four Premiership games and both legs of the Europa Conference League play-off tie against Bodo/Glimt.

Maeda has netted four goals for the Hoops up to this point, including one on his debut against Hibernian.

The latest

On The Athletic’s matchday forum, a supporter said that their problem with Maeda was his ‘woeful’ first touch, arguing that the 24-year-old produced a ‘particularly poor’ performance against Dundee last Sunday.

Devlin mounted a strong defence of Maeda in response, suggesting that his ‘outstanding’ work off the ball was underappreciated.

The journalist replied: “Game of opinions and all that, but I think we must be watching a different sport! Thought he was decent on Sunday with a directness that had been badly missing from Celtic’s wingers in the games previously, especially how well he does in creating the second goal.

“His control isn’t great but neither is Giakoumakis or Abada’s, really, but they like Maeda have other good qualities. His linkup play has been good enough while off the ball he’s outstanding, both in his pressing and his movement to create chances for himself and teammates.

“I can’t wrap my head around the theory I’ve seen online that he’s started his Celtic career poorly – but as I say, what makes these discussions interesting is how we all think differently about football and Celtic!”

The verdict

Maeda’s goal return for Celtic so far is solid, but what do the rest of his performance numbers say?

He has missed three big chances, namely situations where he should reasonably have been expected to score (via SofaScore). He hasn’t offered much from a creative standpoint either, supplying only 0.2 key passes per 90 minutes, and he’s only winning 39% of his duels.

As for his control, he is averaging two unsuccessful first touches per 90 minutes (via WhoScored).

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There is some room for improvement, but perhaps he’s almost suffering from the form of fellow J1 League arrivals Kyogo Furuhashi and Reo Hatate, both of whom have impressed so much in the early knockings at Celtic that they’re already being touted as future Premier League players.

More patience may be required with Maeda.

In other news, read this injury expert’s latest claim on Christopher Jullien

If the sky is a reflection of mood, then the spirit in the South African camp should have lifted significantly this weekend. The drab damp they experienced in Bangalore was replaced by brilliant and bright blue in Nagpur. They could train without dodging drizzle, think sans the sound of soft splatter and see clearly. Even if they only thing they were looking at was themselves.”The guys have admitted to the fact that we made a few errors, especially in that first Test. We’d like to rectify it going forward,” JP Duminy said.South Africa’s mistakes have stemmed from their method. In Mohali, they allowed the pre-match talk to overwhelm them and played conservatively in conditions they had imagined to be much worse than they were. To compensate for that in Bangalore, they did the opposite. They attacked to try and establish some authority. Both times, they failed.Given that South Africa know the change in overhead conditions is unlikely to change things on the surface – as Duminy put it, “the expectancy is that it will turn,” – and given that their premeditation has proved faulty, the only thing left for South Africa to do is play as normally as possible. They have approached Nagpur with that cliché of it being “just another game,” knowing it is not just another game but a must-win if they are to pull off the ultimate coup and beat India on home soil.To do that, South Africa have to practice what they have been preaching for the last few years: that, as a batting group, they have improved against spin. There is already evidence that the likes of AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis and JP Duminy can negotiate R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, but only de Villiers has done so in this series.Last year, Dean Elgar’s century in Galle showed that he could deal with sluggish, spinner-friendly surfaces and he has managed the same here, but calmness abandons him at crucial moments while Stiaan van Zyl and Dane Vilas remain raw and this is a new challenge for them. If South Africa are to prevail, collectively the batting will have to come together.”We understand that their strength lies in their spin and there’s no point in trying to deny that. It’s about having a game plan against it,” Duminy said. Part of that game plan has to involve allowing themselves to improvise on the day and play in the moment. “Not to play the person but to play the ball,” is how Duminy described it, talking specifically about Ashwin although that should apply to Jadeja too. India’s spin twins have had equal amounts of success with 12 wickets a piece.There’s no question they are South Africa’s biggest challenge and Duminy has promised South Africa are ready to meet it head on. “We always knew there would come a time when we would be challenged quite a bit. It’s how you come back from those challenges that is going to make us as a team. We pride ourselves on that – that we’re a resilient team, that we never back down from a challenge. We know it’s a tough challenge for us but we also know we have the capability of facing those challenges. We’ve done it before. We’ve come here and played well in all formats.”South Africa have never come from 1-0 down to win a series away from home before, but they have fought back to draw level, most recently in the UAE where they won in Dubai after being defeated in Abu Dhabi. They have also won several series in the subcontinent, including a Test and ODI series in Sri Lanka, to support Duminy’s theory. On this visit to India, they have already claimed two trophies. On their last visit, they won in Nagpur. So if memory is a reflection of mood, South Africa are more upbeat than the scoreline suggests they should be.