Taylor tells Kiwi strategy to flummox Indian bowlers

Los Angeles, Feb 14: Tributes to the late Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers legend who died last month in a helicopter crash, will play a major role in Sunday's 69th NBA All-Star Game.

This year's annual showcase of league talent will be played in Chicago and feature numerous nods to Bryant, a five-time NBA champion who also matched a league record with four NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player awards.

Bryant, an 18-time NBA All-Star, died at age 41 on January 26 in a crash near Los Angeles that also took the life of his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others.

All-Star teams guided by LeBron James of the Lakers and Greek star Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks will compete to win each of the first three quarters, which will all start 0-0 and last 12 minutes.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the clock will be turned off and a final target score will be established by taking the leading club's cumulative score through the first three quarters and adding 24 points -- the number representing the jersey number worn by Bryant for the final 10 seasons of his NBA career.

The first team to reach the cumulative target score will win the NBA All-Star Game.

All-Star Game jerseys will also honor Bryant and his daughter.

Team Giannis players will wear jersey number 24 in tribute to Kobe while Team LeBron players will wear jersey number two, the number his daughter wore when playing youth basketball.

Both teams will wear jersey patches displaying nine stars, representing the nine people who were killed in the crash.

Academy Award-winning actress and Grammy Award-winning singer Jennifer Hudson, a Chicago native, will perform a special tribute to Bryant, his daughter and the others who were killed in the crash. Her performance will begin the night ahead of the player introductions.

James and Antetokounmpo each chose their squads from available starters and reserves voted and selected to the All-Star contest.

Team LeBron starters will include James, his Lakers teammate Anthony Davis, NBA scoring leader James Harden of Houston, Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers and Slovenian guard Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks.

Team Giannis starters include the Greek big man, Cameroon stars Joel Embiid of Philadelphia and Pascal Siakam of Toronto and guards Kemba Walker of Boston and Trae Young of Atlanta.

A record eight All-Star Game players from outside the United States also include Frenchman Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz on Team Giannis and Team LeBron reserves Ben Simmons of Australia and the Philadelphia 76ers, Lithuanian Domantas Sabonis of Indiana and Serbian Nikola Jokic of Denver.

New Delhi, Jan 22: The pitches in New Zealand have become a lot more batting-friendly over the years, says iconic former batsman Sachin Tendulkar, insisting that India have the “ammunition” to trouble the sprightly hosts during the upcoming series.

Tendulkar, who has been on a record five New Zealand tours since 1990, feels that from seaming tracks during his early trips years, the tracks became high-scoring hard ones during his last tour back in 2009.

“Of late, the Tests in New Zealand have been high scoring and surfaces have changed,” Tendulkar told PTI during an exclusive interview.

India will play five T20 Internationals, three ODIs and two Tests during the tour starting with the shortest format on January 24.

From 2002, when India played ODIs and Tests on green tops, to 2009, when India won only their second Test series in 32 years, Tendulkar has seen it all in New Zealand.

“I remember when we played in 2009, the Hamilton pitch was different compared to other pitches. Other pitches got harder (Wellington and Napier) but not Hamilton. It remained soft.

“But Napier became hard with passage of time (where Gautam Gambhir scored an epic match-saving 12-hour hundred in 2009). So, from my first tour (in 1990 till 2009), I realised pitches got harder with passage of time,” Tendulkar said.

Tendulkar is confident that the Indian bowling attack, spearheaded by Jasprit Bumrah, has the ammunition to put New Zealand in trouble.

“We have a good bowling attack with quality fast bowlers as well as spinners. I believe we have the ammunition to compete in New Zealand.”

However, in Wellington, Tendulkar wants the team to be well-prepared to counter the breeze factor.

“Wellington, I have played and it makes a huge difference if you are bowling with the wind or against the wind. The batsman needs to be judicious in the choice of which end he wants to attack, it is very important,” he said.

Tendulkar said he would prefer spinners to bowl against the breeze.

“...the seamers bowling against the strong breeze need to be smart. So I would prefer that if there is strong breeze, let the spinner bowl from that end and from the opposite end, the fast bowler bowls with the breeze behind him,” he said.

The maestro is confident that Rohit Sharma's white ball experience will hold him in good stead in the Tests as well, an assignment that has been kept for the last leg of the trip, which begins with five T20 Internationals from January 24.

“The challenge would be to go out and open in different conditions. I think Rohit had opened in New Zealand in ODIs and has been there quite a few times, he knows the conditions well. Eventually, Test cricket is Test cricket,” he said.

“But all depends on surfaces that they provide. If they provide green tops, then it's a challenge.”

There is no Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Deepak Chahar in limited-overs series but Tendulkar is not ready to press the panic button.

“Injuries are part and parcel of the game when you play and push your body to the limits.

“When you play for your country you need to give your best and while you give your best, you can get injured. That's okay,” he concluded.

Jan 23: Quinton de Kock has been named as the new captain of the South Africa One-Day International side, taking over from Faf du Plessis, who is dropped altogether from the three-match series against England next month.

Du Plessis led South Africa in their disastrous 2019 World Cup campaign and has hinted at international retirement from all formats following the Twenty20 global finals in Australia later this year.

"We all know the quality of the player that Quinton de Kock has grown to become," CSA director of cricket Graeme Smith said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Over the years we have watched him grow in confidence and become one of the top ODI wicket-keeper batsmen in the world. He has a unique outlook and manner in which he goes about his business and is tactically very street smart."

De Kock leads a 15-man squad with five uncapped players in seamers Lutho Sipamla and Sisanda Magala, left-arm orthodox spinner all-rounder Bjorn Fortuin, opening batsman Janneman Malan and wicketkeeper-batsman Kyle Verreynne.

Magala, leg-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, seamer Lungi Ngidi and hard-hitting opening batsman Jon Jon Smuts must pass fitness tests before they can join the squad.

Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada will be rested for the series, while allrounders Chris Morris and Dwaine Pretorius have also not been able to force their way in.

"The road towards the 2023 Cricket World Cup starts now and we want players doing well in our domestic structures to see the rewards of the hard work that they have put in," CSA Independent Selector Linda Zondi added.

The first ODI will be staged in Cape Town on Feb.4th, with the second in Durban three days later and the final match of the series to be held in Johannesburg on Feb.9th.

Squad: Quinton de Kock (captain), Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Jon Jon Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lutho Sipamla, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Sisanda Magala, Bjorn Fortuin, Beuran Hendricks, Janneman Malan, Kyle Verreynne.