New Zealand bat, West Indies play five bowlers

BRIDGETOWN: West Indies rejigged their bowling again, this time opting for three quicks and two spinners. They will get first use of the pitch at Kensington Oval after New Zealand elected to bat.

Fast bowler Jason Holder was handed a Test debut, with the impressive Jermaine Blackwood making way. Blackwood had made 63 on debut at Port-of-Spain. Offspinner Shane Shillingford returned to the XI in place of fast bowler Shannon Gabriel. New Zealand had already broadcasted their one change on the eve of the match - Neil Wagner coming in for Ish Sodhi.

Barbados churned out a dry pitch for its 50th Test and with the series level at 1-1, both teams had a lot to play for. New Zealand's away record is a source of much scrutiny and their captain Brendon McCullum believed his side had the chance to do something special. Their last series win away from home against a top-eight nation came in the Caribbean in 2002.

A spirited rally in Port-of-Spain placed West Indies in a good position to secure their first series win against a top-eight opponent since their 2-0 drubbing of New Zealand in 2012.

Teams:
West Indies: Chris Gayle, Kraigg Brathwaite, Kirk Edwards, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Denesh Ramdin (captain & wk), Jason Holder, Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor, Shane Shillingford, Sulieman Benn

New Zealand: Hamish Rutherford, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum (captain), Jimmy Neesham, BJ Watling (wk), Tim Southee, Mark Craig, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult

KKR win toss, put KXIP into bat in IPL final

BANGALORE: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Gautam Gambhir won the toss and elected to field against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the final of the Indian Premier League here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday.

The KKR would go in to the IPL final with a slight edge over Kings XI Punjab. They won the title two years ago, they are on a eight-match winning streak and they have beaten Kings XI twice in three matches this season.

The KXIP made one change, bringing in Balaji for Sandeep while KKR go unchanged.

Teams:
KKR: RV Uthappa (wk), G Gambhir (captain), MK Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, YK Pathan, RN ten Doeschae, SA Yadav, PP Chawla, SP Narine, M Morkel, UT Yadav.

KXIP: V Sehwag, M Vohra, WP Saha (wk), GJ Maxwell, DA Miller, GJ Bailey (captain), AR Patel, MG Johnson, L Balaji, Karanveer Singh, P Awana.

KKR win toss, put KXIP into bat in IPL final

BANGALORE: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Gautam Gambhir won the toss and elected to field against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the final of the Indian Premier League here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday.

The KKR would go in to the IPL final with a slight edge over Kings XI Punjab. They won the title two years ago, they are on a eight-match winning streak and they have beaten Kings XI twice in three matches this season.

The KXIP made one change, bringing in Balaji for Sandeep while KKR go unchanged.

Teams:
KKR: RV Uthappa (wk), G Gambhir (captain), MK Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, YK Pathan, RN ten Doeschae, SA Yadav, PP Chawla, SP Narine, M Morkel, UT Yadav.

KXIP: V Sehwag, M Vohra, WP Saha (wk), GJ Maxwell, DA Miller, GJ Bailey (captain), AR Patel, MG Johnson, L Balaji, Karanveer Singh, P Awana

Pakistan to bat against Bangladesh

DHAKA: Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez won the toss and elected to bat against hosts Bangladesh in the World Twenty20 Super-10 group two match in Dhaka on Sunday.Pakistan, who have two points from as many matches, must beat both Bangladesh and the West Indies in their remaining games to join India in the semi-finals from the group.

Bangladesh have lost both their matches so far and may not qualify for the knock-out round even if they defeat Pakistan.

Both teams made one change each from their previous matches. Bangladesh replaced Sohag Gazi with Abdur Razzak and Pakistan opted for Sohail Tanvir in place of Bilawal Bhatti.

Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (capt), Al-Amin Hossain, Anamul Haque, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Mashrafe Mortaza, Nasir Hossain, Abdur Razzak, Ziaur Rahman, Shamsur Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal.

Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez (capt), Ahmed Shehzad, Kamran Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Sohaib Maqsood, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Zulfiqar Babar

.Umpires: Ian Gould (ENG) and Richard Kettleborough (ENG)TV umpire: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI)Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)kl/ak
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‘Pistorius smashed toilet door with bat to reach wounded Reeva’

Oscar Pistorius was on his stumps when he smashed down a locked toilet door to reach his shot girlfriend, a South African police forensic expert said on Wednesday, countering the Paralympic star’s assertion he was wearing his prosthetic legs at the time.
Wielding the cricket bat in his hands, police colonel Johannes Vermuelen knelt down before swinging it at the wooden door in a court reconstruction to show the angle of the marks and to suggest they could only have been made by someone much shorter than him.
The 27-year-old double amputee is charged with the murder of model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp, whom he shot through the locked toilet door on Valentine’s Day last year.
Prosecutors want to prove that it was premeditated killing, but Pistorius says he was defending himself from what he thought was an intruder who had broken into his gated-community home in the capital of the crime-ridden country.
At his bail hearing last year, Pistorius justified shooting because of the extreme vulnerability he felt because of his disability. However, in his affidavit he stated that he had put on his prostheses before smashing down the door.
Vermuelen disagreed. “The marks on the door are actually consistent with him not having his legs on and I suspect they must be similar to the height that he was when he fired the shots,” he told the court.