South Africa will not dare to take Afghanistan lightly as they bid to bounce back from their chastening opening-round defeat to England at the Wankhede Stadium, according to Hashim Amla.
Despite a riotous start to South Africa's innings, Amla's 58 from 31 balls and a 91-run stand for the first wicket with Quinton de Kock proved insufficient to set up a victory. England, inspired by Joe Root's 83 from 44 balls, chased down a massive 230 to win by two wickets with two balls to spare and put the pressure on South Africa ahead of their second Group 1 game against the Associate qualifiers.
"I still think 230 is a very good total, no matter which venue," Amla said. "Can you ever be satisfied with any score? I guess I could have hit that ball for six and that ball for four, but that's not how it goes. We would definitely have taken 230 at the start of the game, we have to be grateful to get that on the board."
Looking ahead to the challenge of Afghanistan, who South Africa have only met once before, Amla said: "You can't take any team for granted. We saw how they played against Sri Lanka and the shorter the format the more the minnow teams are in the running. We have to play our best players to beat them."
He admitted, however, that he wasn't fully acquainted with the players he will be facing. "What we know is basically what we've seen in their game against Sri Lanka and the preliminary tournament. We leave that to our brains trust, but they are a good team and you don't take them lightly."
South Africa know that defeat in their first game means the pressure is on them but Amla said captain Faf du Plessis had told his players not to panic after conceding the second-highest successful chase in T20 internationals.
One area they can definitely make improvements in is the amount of extras conceded; South Africa gave up 20 runs in wides, compared to England's two, which may have been the difference between winning and losing in a close finish that came down to the last few deliveries.
"Faf has spoken about trying to be as simple as we can with our plans,'' Amla said. "The difference in the game last night was us conceding too many extras and we will have to leave it at that.
"We have a quality bowling attack, I believe they will be hurt, along with the team, for not executing as well as they would have liked. I'm sure in the games to follow we can bounce back."
Afghanistan's captain, Asghar Stanikzai, has said that his team will be in it to win it when they face South Africa at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, and backed his spin trio of Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan and Hamza Hotak to cause plenty problems in a contest that their opponents cannot afford to lose.
Coming off the back of a spirited display against Sri Lanka in Kolkata, in which the experience of Tillakaratne Dilshan held firm in a tense five-wicket win, Stanikzai believes that the hard surface and short boundaries of Mumbai could play into the hands of his team.
"The Wankhede is famous for big scores and big targets so definitely, if one team sets a big total, the other team will be trying to complete it because the boundaries are not big," he said. "It will be a good game, but we hope we bowl well because our spin is our strength.
"We have a good spin attack, the leggie Rashid, Nabi a good offbreak [bowler], and Hamza the leftie, throughout the tournament they have bowled very well."
In their eight overs in Kolkata, Nabi and Rashid claimed combined figures of 2 for 52, plus the run-out of Chamara Kapugedera, to keep their side firmly in the hunt until the closing overs. Having witnessed the relative success of Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali amid the seam-bowling carnage in Mumbai on Friday night, and having hit his own stride with the bat in a whirlwind 62 from 47 balls against Sri Lanka, Stanikzai believes his side has the confidence and the balance to prosper.
"Every batsman, when he plays well, gets more confident for the next game," Stanikzai said. "Definitely I got more confident, most of our guys are currently in form and confident. We will play South Africa like we play every country, with our own [brand of] cricket. We give a tough time to every team, we not only play with them, but want to beat one or two of them as well."
Afghanistan are battle-hardened in this tournament, after fighting through a tough qualifying round in which only one nation from each of the two groups was invited to progress. And with Inzamam-ul-Haq and Manoj Prabhakar firmly embedded in their ranks as coach and bowling coach respectively, there is a seam of top-level experience in the back-room staff.
"The first round was very tough, but we qualify for the second round and we are currently playing very good," Stanikzai said. "We have definitely improved our cricket at international and elite level. As long as we play more cricket with Full Members we will get more experience, and be able to identify the weak areas we need to work on to compete at the elite level."
Afghanistan are now into their fifth ICC global event, having first appeared at the World T20 in the Caribbean in 2010. And that determination for self-improvement is helping the sport to embed itself back home.
"There is a big craze for cricket in Afghanistan nowadays," Stanikzai said. "We have very good support everywhere, people know each and every one of our players by name, they are heroes and role models. And the main positive is that whether we are winning or losing, they are supporting us. They are telling us, we can do better, which is the most important thing."
Pakistan Women nearly saw victory slip away as they made a mess of a straightforward chase of 97 against India Women, but good deeds upfront with the bat and a torrential downpour in Delhi helped them escape with a two-run win on the Duckworth-Lewis method. The players went off the field with Pakistan precariously placed at 77 for 6 in 16 overs, and gusty winds that brought with it a storm subsided India's hopes of a heist as their Women's World T20 campaign received a body blow.
Pakistan were cruising high and happy at 44 for 1 in eight overs courtesy Sidra Ameen's fiery start, before Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Harmanpreet Kaur picked up two wickets to revive the hosts. A shaky middle order then survived a lively Jhulan Goswami burst, but only just. However, they kept receiving generous offerings from time to time courtesy India's spinners as Pakistan ate into the target.
The match truly sprung to life when Iram Javed's ferocious flat-batted slap was superbly taken by a diving Mithali Raj at cover as Pakistan slipped to 71 for 4, still needing 27 off 34 balls. While Pakistan's inability to work the singles forced them to bring out the big hits, India's eagerness to close out the contest resulted in a few mishaps.
Sushma Verma, the wicketkeeper, missed a run-out and a stumping in the space of three deliveries, before sending back Sana Mir, the Pakistan captain, for a duck with a direct hit to give India sniff; Pakistan were in shaky waters at 77 for 6. There was a major sign of turbulence and a crash landing seemed inevitable as India's hopes soared. But it was all too brief as rains put paid their hopes of clinching a come-from-behind win.
The unlikely win looked a distant possibility when India dug themselves into a pit they could not quite get out of. Some excellent captaincy by Mir, backed by some accurate spin bowling on a slow Kotla deck by Anam Amin, the left-arm spinner, allowed Pakistan to strangulate India. They bowled as many as 30 dots in the first six overs as India appeared to have been stuck in quick sand as they limped to 7 for 2.
Mithali Raj struggled for timing, but hung around. Strangely enough, her lack of purpose allowed Pakistan to weave a web even as her deputy Kaur struggled to get bat to ball. Mir and Sadia Yousuf built on Anam's good work to ensure India's most accomplished pair had to force the pace and use their brute force to clear the ropes. One such effort resulted in Raj holing out off a full toss to deep midwicket, while Kaur found the long-off fielder.
That India inched close to 100 was thanks to a late turbocharge by Veda Krishnamurthy, who hit three fours, in her 19-ball 24, while Jhulan Goswami and Shikha Pandey muscled 24 between them to give India hope. However, that Pakistan hit nine boundaries in their first 12 overs, much before the rain arrived, in comparison to India's six in 20 overs, eventually proved to be the clincher.
There was rain, but the Eden Gardens was not submerged. There was a pitch that made spinners seem like grenade launchers. There were 61337 people including certifiable legends of the game from Sachin Tendulkar to Imran Khan. All of it added to the spectacle of India-Pakistan cricket, but Virat Kohli rose one step above with an innings of gumption and class.
India needed to win tonight to stay in control of their fate at the World T20. A few tactical errors left them with a competitive 119 to chase. When the ball grips into the deck, slows down and simultaneously turns, a batsman's judgment becomes of great importance. Hitting on the up carries risk. Playing too far away carries risk. Finding a run a ball can be troublesome. Kohli found 55 of them in only 37 balls to beat Pakistan for an 11th time in a World Cup match.
Kohli's thirst to compete was apparent when he said a cricketer needs tough pitches. He had the 18 overs that Pakistan had to bat to assess the one in Kolkata. There were a few shots that he needed to avoid, and a few things he needed to exploit - like his speed between the wickets. He fed his innings with 19 singles and a two, playing his shots as late as he could, and every time he played one, it was with the intent to get some runs. Kohli allowed only nine dots in his innings. Perhaps Pakistan made the task slightly easier by not bowling out Mohammad Amir.
The loss to New Zealand had "hurt" Kohli. "We don't perform like that at home," he said in the post-match presentation. The shots that he hit tonight as he neared his half-century - two scorching cover drives when the bat barely strayed away from his body - typified exactly how one should play on such pitches. The longer he was at the crease, the weaker Pakistan became and the night eventually ended with the man who Kohli bowed to upon reaching his fifty - Tendulkar - waving the India flag aloft.
It wasn't a flawless day for the hosts though. They had a chance to be chasing far less. India did not bowl R Ashwin out on a surface made for him and their fast bowlers bowled length balls and full tosses in the death when the offcutter seemed the logical choice. Pakistan's lower order, marshaled by Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal, swung into the leg side with glee and ransacked 51 runs off the last five overs.
Even after such a rich return in the death, Pakistan's total remained in the competitive range. And that was because of the control India had in the early going.
Bats these days have a lot of wood in their middle. The ball and the Kolkata pitch colluded never to find it. The leading edge was allowed a peek. The outside edge tried to pipe up, but it was always beaten. On-and-off rain since 5 pm had shortened the game to 18-overs a side, but the pitch was dry enough that all anyone had to do was roll their fingers over the ball to be menacing. Ashwin turned it square in the second over. Ravindra Jadeja could not bowl his wicket-to-wicket line because he could not believe how much the ball was deviating.
Considering that, it seemed Pakistan had stabbed themselves by dropping a spinner, and a handy batsman, in Imad Wasim to add Mohammad Sami to their XI. However, Pakistan being Pakistan and Sami being Sami turned a liability into a strength. Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina - two men who seem to struggle badly in a touch situation - chopped onto their stumps and Sami was on the cusp of a hat-trick in every form of cricket. Yuvraj Singh soaked in that pressure and contributed 24 runs to a match-winning 61-run partnership with Kohli.
Pakistan's batsmen, who were heavily maligned leading into the tournament, acquitted themselves quite well when the ball was darting around. Ahmed Shehzad laid a solid foundation with his 25 off 28 balls. They eased past the first 10 overs with only two wickets lost. Ashwin had only one left in his quota and Jadeja had two. Dhoni did not think about Yuvraj at any point in the game, and kept at it with his seamers. Pandya gave away 15 runs in 14th over and Bumrah 13 in the very next.
At that point, it seemed Pakistan had the edge. Then Kohli came out and took it away from them.
Bangladesh left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny and pacer Taskin Ahmed have been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect after an independent assessment found their bowling actions to be illegal. Both bowlers underwent assessments in Chennai last week, after being reported for suspect actions during the World T20 round-one match against Netherlands.
The pair returned to the side to play in Bangladesh's first match of the Super 10 stage, against Pakistan at the Eden Gardens, where Sunny took 2 for 34 and Taskin claimed 2 for 32. They can apply for a re-assessment at any stage after modifying their bowling actions. They may be allowed to play in the domestic league, pending the BCB's permission.
ESPNcricinfo has learned left-arm spinner Saqlain Sajib will replace Sunny in Bangladesh's World T20 squad, while Taskin will be replaced by offspin-bowling allrounder Shuvagata Hom.
These two are not the first Bangladesh bowlers to be suspended for an illegal action. Offspinner Sohag Gazi was suspended from bowling in October 2014, and he was cleared after a second test in February 2015. Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak was the first Bangladesh bowler to be suspended, in November 2008, before the ban was lifted in March 2009. Al-Amin Hossain was also reported for a suspect action in 2014, but was cleared after an assessment in Chennai.
England completed the second-highest successful chase in T20 internationals and the highest in World T20 history to keep their campaign alive. They held their nerve chasing 230, thanks to a blistering start from Jason Roy and a clinical innings from Joe Root that ripped South Africa's attack apart and undid their batsmen's efforts.
Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla and JP Duminy all scored half-centuries in a line-up that included AB de Villiers at No. 3 and South Africa would have thought they had enough. Instead, they were left to rue the three overs between 10 and 13, bowled by Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, when South Africa could not find the boundary and scored just 14 runs. Before that, they were 125 for 2; after it, 139 for 3 and it was the difference between a score under 250 and one greater than. In the end, South Africa needed the latter.
On a night when no one wanted to be a bowler, the England seamers' scattergun approach was nullified by South Africa's overcompensation in bowling too straight, as well as some ill discipline. While England only gave away two wides, South Africa donated 20. An England line-up whose approach is built on aggression punished them for that.
Given the magnitude of their task, England showed intent from the first ball. Jason Roy swung hard at Kagiso Rabada and took 21 runs of the opening over - the most Rabada has conceded in an over in this format.
Alex Hales treated Dale Steyn with equal disdain. He sent the first three balls for four, all flicks on the leg side, although he should have been dismissed off the first. Kyle Abbott was at short fine leg and could not hold on. Roy had even less respect for Steyn. He finished the over with 10 runs off two balls to take England to 44 after two overs, the most runs off 12 balls in a T20. It was also Steyn's most expensive T20I over
England were running away with it but Abbott made up for his earlier blunder when he had Hales rapped on the pads in front of middle and leg to strike the first blow.
Ben Stokes was promoted to No. 3, Roy kept going and South Africa had to turn to death bowling strategies in the Powerplay. Abbott searched for the yorker and found it but when he missed Roy ramped him for six over de Kock's head. Roy tried to do it again but skied it and de Kock took the catch, ending his contribution at 43 from 16 balls.
When Stokes hit a Rabada full toss to the deep square leg boundary, it was advantage South Africa. Although England had more runs than South Africa had after six overs - 89 to 83 - they had already lost three wickets.
Imran Tahir was introduced in the seventh over and immediately quietened things down. His opening over cost seven runs without a boundary and, having seen England's spinners have a similar impact, Faf du Plessis gambled with bringing on Duminy. It paid off as Duminy worked in tandem with Tahir and snaffled Eoin Morgan, who chopped on, to keep the advantage with South Africa at the halfway point. After 10 overs South Africa were 125 for 2; England 118 for 4.
But the brakes were slammed on South Africa's innings then when Rashid and Moeen kept du Plessis and Duminy quiet. In the same period, South Africa used Chris Morris, Duminy and Steyn and the effect was entirely the opposite. England scored 42 runs in those three overs, Morris bowled short balls to his detriment, Root and Jos Buttler finally decided to take on Duminy and Steyn could not scare England into a mistake. The advantage swung. After 13 overs, England were 160 for 4 and the required rate had been dragged down from over 11 to 10.
South Africa still had Tahir and he went on to become the only bowler not to concede a boundary on the night, and to remove Buttler, but he lacked support. Morris was South Africa's weak link and gave Root the full toss that saw him bring up fifty off 30 balls. His was the slowest half-century of the night, after de Kock's came up off 21 balls, Amla's off 25 and Duminy's 26, but it was the one that mattered most.
Root took England to within 11 runs of victory before he swatted Rabada to deep midwicket and left it for Moeen to finish off. England lost two more wickets before they got there, but they won't dwell on those late nerves.
They will, however, want to address their own bowling lapses and a messy fielding performance that saw them on the received end of a total in excess of 220 for the fourth time. Reece Topley offered too much width even as Morgan refused to put a fielder at point to allow de Kock to hit him through there three times. De Kock was even more severe on Willey and forced Morgan to introduce a spinner in the Powerplay.
Amla had only faced three balls by the time Moeen came on but already had his eye in. Amla found two boundaries before he should have been caught at mid-off but Topley, perhaps still recovering from his own mauling, spilled the chance. Jordan and Stokes could not find control and England conceded 81 runs in the five overs after Willey's first had gone for two.
Rashid was introduced as soon as the fielding restrictions were lifted but did not immediately appear a threat. De Kock used his first ball to bisect the men in the deep and bring up his first T20I fifty but did not add many more to his total. He picked out the fielder at deep midwicket to allow South Africa to unleash de Villiers on the perfect platform.
The innings seemed to be playing to script when de Villiers smacked successive sixes but his show was short lived. Instead it was Amla and then Duminy who kept South Africa going. They scored 90 runs off the last seven overs but on a small field, a good pitch and against a bloody-minded England, it was not enough.
Sussex appointed their former batsman Murray Goodwin as their new batting coach.
Goodwin, 43, spent 12 seasons with the club as a player and was an integral part of the side that won three Championship titles and five limited-over trophies between 2003 and 2009.
Goodwin, who was confirmed as a vice-president of Sussex in early 2015, said: "I believe I can bring to a very talented squad some belief and options on playing certain situations in all forms of the game. I'm hoping to try and add a winning culture to this talented squad.
"I am grateful for the opportunity to come back to my second home. When I applied for the role I was always hopeful but to actually have been considered above the many applicants who applied is very humbling."
Sussex's head coach Mark Davis said, "I am thrilled to have Murray Goodwin joining us. His vast batting experience, gained from many years of first-class and International cricket all over the world, will be invaluable. I am confident Murray's relentless approach to batting and his technical expertise will be of great value throughout the Sussex Cricket pathway.
"He has a brilliant work ethic and a passion for teaching the game, which is a vital ingredient in any elite coach. I am sure he will be welcomed back by everyone at Sussex Cricket and I look forward to him becoming an integral part of our coaching team."
Sussex have reshuffled since the departure of head coach Mark Robinson to take up the coach's role with England Women. David was confirmed as head coach, Keith Greenfield has been appointed director of cricket and Carl Hopkinson has assumed Greenfield's role of academy director.
Goodwin scored over 24,000 runs for Sussex in all formats, including nearly 14,500 first class runs with 48 centuries and an average approaching 50. He left Sussex reluctantly at the end of the 2012 season before extending his playing career for another two seasons with Glamorgan.
New Zealand's Midas touch at this World Twenty20 continued in Dharamsala, where they took their tournament record to two wins from two matches with an eight-run victory over Australia. Having spun India out in Nagpur, New Zealand made one change to their side, bringing in the fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan to replace the spinner Nathan McCullum. McClenaghan duly took 3 for 17 and played a significant role in derailing Australia's innings.
Australia, by comparison, seemed confused at the selection table. They picked two specialist spinners to complement allrounder Glenn Maxwell but those two men - Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa - bowled only one over each. The No.1 batsman on the ICC's T20 international rankings, Aaron Finch, was also left out, as was Josh Hazlewood. Australia's performance was far from disastrous, as the margin suggests, but neither did they seem entirely cohesive.
Another strange call was the decision to send Agar in ahead of Australia's most renowned finisher, James Faulkner, with 43 needed off 30 balls and five wickets in hand. Agar scored 9 off eight balls, and Faulkner did not get to face a ball until there were 21 needed off 10 balls. That was in the penultimate over of the chase of 143, an over in which McClenaghan took two big wickets, those of Agar and Mitchell Marsh for 24. From 22 needed off 12, Australia soon needed 19 off the last over.
Corey Anderson was given the responsibility by Kane Williamson and had Faulkner caught in the deep first ball; Australia's finisher was finished, and so were their hopes. Earlier, Williamson had won the toss and chose to bat on a dry surface that both captains expected would become slower, and New Zealand's 142 for 8 proved adequate.
Usman Khawaja, selected to open alongside Shane Watson, gave Australia an encouraging start and was picking gaps at will, but his run-out on 38 from 27 balls was a turning point. Adam Milne's throw from the deep to the bowler Grant Elliott caught the diving Khawaja just short, and Australia were 62 for 3 in the ninth over, their momentum rapidly deserting them. The rest of the batsmen struggled to get in on the slow pitch.
Mitchell Santner's first two overs had been outstanding, continuing his form from the win over India. Just as he had Rohit Sharma, Santner deceived Smith with a beautiful delivery that dropped and turned past the edge as Smith danced down the crease. Luke Ronchi completed the stumping, Smith was gone for 6, and Santner soon added the wicket of David Warner to his collection as well.
McClenaghan had picked up the first wicket, with Watson caught off a slower ball for 13, and he returned later to remove Mitchell Marsh and Agar. Marsh had struck a couple of sixes to give Australia hope but once he and Glenn Maxwell, who played so many reverse shots he seemed at times to be a proper if out-of-touch left-hander, departed, New Zealand were firmly in control.
They had seemed to be in complete control early in their own innings, at 58 for 0 from six overs. New Zealand's left-arm spinner was Santner but his Australian counterpart was the one delivering gifts. Agar, with all of one match and two overs behind him in his T20 international career, bowled the third over and was understandably nervous. So much so that his first two balls were full tosses that Martin Guptill duly smashed for six.
Another six to end Agar's over left him with figures of 0 for 18 from six balls, and he was not asked to bowl another one for the rest of the innings. In fact, Smith's use of his spinners was rather curious all round. Australia chose all the spinners in their squad, from A to Z, but the rest of the alphabet did all the work. After Agar, Zampa bowled one over of legspin and cost just three runs, but like Agar was not called upon again.
Smith got three overs out of Maxwell but mostly relied on his fast and medium options. They were effective enough, helping to restrict New Zealand to 142 for 8 after Guptill got them away to a flying start. Guptill raced to 39 from 27 deliveries but was the first man to fall, holing out to deep midwicket off Faulkner's bowling. Faulkner picked up two wickets, as did Maxwell, but Watson and Marsh also kept things tight.
New Zealand's batsmen kept making starts only to get caught going for the big shot. Williamson skied one for 24. Anderson slogged down the ground for 3. Colin Munro, tied down by Marsh, pulled to deep midwicket for 23 to end an entertaining innings that featured effective reverse hitting. Ross Taylor was taken at deep midwicket for 11, as was Ronchi for 6. Had Australia been on a fishing trawler they could hardly have hoped for more catches in the deep.
But New Zealand had enough runs in the end and with two wins from two matches, and games against Pakistan and Bangladesh to come, they ended the night terrifically placed to reach the semi-finals. Australia, like India, have some thinking to do.
Victoria 251 (Stoinis 107, Abbott 3-60) and 7 for 234 (White 97*, Copeland 3-59) drew withNew South Wales 341 (Patterson 82, Lyon 75, Tremain 4-47) and 178 (Copeland 47, Christian 5-40)
South Australia will host their first Sheffield Shield final in 20 years after a Cameron Whiterearguard secured the most unlikely of draws to foil New South Wales in the last match of the regular season at Traeger Park in Alice Springs.
Victoria faded in the second half of the season to surrender a vast lead at the top of the Shield table to a fast finishing SA, but White's performance - with help from Scott Boland - denied NSW their own home final, after the Blues seemed certain winners early on the final day.
White, who has spent time out of the Victoria side over the past two seasons as his domestic career seemed to be winding down, played the most stubborn of innings. This meant Victoria were lifted out of a deep hole, which had worsened from the unpromising overnight score of 3 for 20.
When Victoria captain Matthew Wade was pinned lbw by Nathan Lyon at 5 for 56, White and the lower order were left with the faint hope of surviving no fewer than 74.2 overs to secure a draw and a place in the final.
However White was not disheartened, and a stand of 62 in 24 overs with Dan Christian took the Bushrangers somewhat closer before the allrounder fell to Lyon's wiles.
The tall paceman Chris Tremain then offered staunch support for a further 20 overs, and took Victoria to tea with four precious wickets in hand.
A second new ball loomed on resumption, and Trent Copeland used it effectively, coaxing Tremain to drag the first delivery he faced after the interval onto the stumps.
From that position the Blues looked to be favourites, but Boland steadied after a nervy start to provide vital support as White proved more or less impassable at the other end.
NSW tried no fewer than seven bowlers including the captain Nic Maddinson and Ed Cowan, but could not find a way to disturb White's concentration, nor his sturdily straight bat.
Boland's sense of security grew, and in the closing overs White even allowed himself the extravagance of a late flurry to reach a most deserved hundred. Having led the Shield table for most of the season, the Bushrangers ultimately stumbled over the line.
Their reward will be a final match up against a young SA team, that has confounded expectations plenty of times already this season, and now have the advantage of needing only a draw to secure the Shield, as they did in 1996 by a mere one wicket against Western Australia.
9
New Zealand offspinner Mark Craig has fractured his right hand during Otago's Plunket Shield match against Auckland in Dunedin. He picked up the injury when he was hit by a beamer from seamer Lachie Ferguson while batting in Otago's chase. The injury forced Craig off the field, and is likely to put him completely out of action for at least six weeks.
"It hit his top hand on the full," Otago coach Nathan King said after the game. "He contemplated carrying on, but he then realised his hand was pretty sore and stiffening up. By the time he came off the field he couldn't even hold onto his bat anymore."
Craig, one of New Zealand's preferred long-format spinners, had played in their previous Test series against Australia at home in February. His hand will be in a cast for six weeks, stuff.co.nzreported, before he begins rehabilitation work on the hand in a bid to be back to full fitness in time for New Zealand's tour to South Africa in August.
Batting at No. 7, Craig was on zero when the incident occurred, with Otago on 92 for 5. They went on to lose the game by 10 runs, chasing 218.
England are uncomfortably well acquainted with early exits from world events, so there's no disguising the peril that they once again find themselves in. The World T20's main event has barely got underway and yet, if England fail to turn an ebbing tide in which they have lost six limited-overs fixtures in a row - including their last five against Friday night's rivals, South Africa - they will be teetering on the brink before any other Group 1 side has played their second game.
Chris Gayle's ballistics could be inflicted on any team at any time, so there's no disgrace in the defeat that England suffered at the Wankhede. "We aren't the first and we certainly won't be the last," said a chastened Jos Buttler on the morning after the night before, no doubt hoping that Gayle goes on to scorch South Africa, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka with equal ferocity to keep England's qualification hopes as buoyant as can be.
Still, modern professional teams are obliged to find the positives in defeat, and therefore England will recognise the immense value of their reconnaissance. Most pertinently, they will know now not to dither if they are required to set a target - at the rate that he was going, with five fours and 11 sixes in his unbeaten 100, Gayle would have been on course to overhaul their apparently impressive target of 182 in fewer than 50 scoring strokes.
And now, hot on his heels, comes another man who knows how to ping a long ball, albeit in more subtle directions than Gayle's arc from extra cover to deep midwicket. Indeed, AB de Villiersserved up a dose of Gayle's own medicine when West Indies visited Johannesburg in January 2015, clobbering an unbelievable 144 from 49 balls, including an ODI record century from 31.
With pick-up after pick-up over deep fine leg, de Villiers rode the pace and bounce at that stadium with ominous ease, especially given how - with its grassy deck and uncomfortably short boundaries - the Wankhede has much in common with South Africa's favourite home ground.
"I suppose you can compare it to the Wanderers in South Africa," Faf du Plessis, their captain, said. "You don't know what's enough runs on a wicket like this. Even if you set a great total it is sometimes not enough."
South Africa's first tournament outing places them in a familiar situation - they are among the favoured sides and the weight of expectation has only been enhanced by India's shocking loss to New Zealand. It hardly needs pointing out that they are not the world's most accomplished front-runners - and of the five different victors of the World T20 so far, they and Australia are the most notable absentees.
Those two sides completed their preparations with a three-match series in South Africa that spilled over into the qualifying week of the World T20 - and though Australia emerged as 2-1 series winners, South Africa's form remains formidable all the same.
In de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock, they possess three gun openers competing for two slots - an embarrassment of riches as the latter seems unlikely to get a game - while the rise and rise of Chris Morris is one of the more remarkable of recent times. Seemingly energised by his star status at the IPL auction, he has been playing, quite appropriately, like a million dollars.
Form guide
England: LLLWW (last five completed matches) South Africa: LLWWW
Watch out for
Admit all the talk of Buttler's scorching power, the true heart and soul of England's one-day renaissance is the irrepressible Joe Root, a batsman whose eye for a gap is second to none in the world game, and whose power is underestimated simply because finesse is front and centre of his methods. His career strike-rate in T20s, a healthy 133.67, barely pales compared to Buttler's 136.14, but his average (35.72) is more than 12 points higher. He is the reliable engine room of England's efforts and he'll know better than anyone, having compiled a serene 48 from 36 balls on Wednesday, that more haste and more speed is the requirement on this deck.
Adil Rashid's development as a matchwinning legspinner is still on track in spite of Gayle's best efforts to batter him back to the margins. But Imran Tahir is arguably flushed with even more confidence after a stellar finale to his home season in South Africa. A major factor in their turnaround in the one-day leg of England's tour, not least with the bat, where he helped Morris seal a thrilling one-wicket win at Johannesburg, Tahir has scalped 10 cheap wickets in his last five T20Is.
Team news
There's a strong case for injecting some extra bite to England's bowling, given that Liam Plunkett is gathering dust on the sidelines and Delhi - the venue for England's next two contests - is unlikely to offer anything like as much assistance for his methods. The likeliest fall guy in that eventuality would be Reece Topley, especially given how much of a threat the recalled David Willey proved to be with his new-ball swing. But England are just as likely to tell their beaten troops to get out there and do it better this time.
England (probable) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Jos Buttler (wk), 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Adil Rashid, 9 David Willey, 10 Chris Jordan, 11 Reece Topley
Despite his decent home form, Kyle Abbott looks likely to be squeezed out of the reckoning, withDale Steyn back fit and firing. South Africa's unspoken quota requirements could influence the balance of the batting, with Rilee Rossouw's inclusion rather depending on whether Hashim Amla is retained ahead of de Kock at the top of the order. His serene 97 not out in their last outing against Australia, albeit in defeat, looks likely to secure his berth.
South Africa (probable) 1 Hashim Amla, 2 AB de Villiers (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis (capt), 4 JP Duminy, 5 David Miller, 6 Rilee Rossouw/Farhaan Behardien, 7 David Wiese, 8 Chris Morris, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Imran Tahir
Pitch and conditions
Quick by Asian standards, quick by most standards really, given the modern ubiquity of slow surfaces. The heavy dew that descended during the second innings on Wednesday may well be an influence at the toss. England tried not to allow that to be an excuse for their Gayle beasting but they clearly didn't relish the extra challenge.
Stats and trivia
South Africa's recent record of five limited-overs wins in a row against England included back-to-back T20I victories in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
The latter proved to be one of England's more ignominous performances of the past 12 months - they lost seven wickets in their last four overs to collapse from 157 for 3 to 171 all out, then succumbed to a nine-wicket defeat in the space of 14.4 overs
These two met during the Super 10s stage of the last World T20, South Africa winning by three runs in Chittagong to send England out.
Quotes
"You can have as many plans as you like but if you can't execute a skill to that plan then you're stuffed anyway." England's Jos Buttler speaks some plain truths about their prospects
"You can never ever disrespect any other team, no matter how small they might look. I certainly learned that the hard way in the 2011 World Cup. New Zealand looked like they were the minnows, they didn't play their best cricket and they smashed us in the quarter-final. I have learnt that never again you can look at a team like that." After watching India trip up in their tournament opener, South Africa's captain Faf du Plessis knows not to get ahead of himself
