Auckland 176 for 3 (Phillips 62*, Nicol 51) beat Otago 175 for 7 (Finnie 45*, Rutherford 42, Grobbelaar 2-32, de Grandhomme 2-32) by seven wicketsScorecard File photo – Rob Nicol dominated an opening stand of 71 to set up Auckland’s successful chase of 176 © Getty Images Half-centuries from opening batsmen Rob Nicol and Glenn Phillips steered Auckland to a seven-wicket win, as they chased down 176 in their Super…

Central Districts 190 for 8 (Taylor 80, Worker 49, Nuttall 3-25) beat Canterbury 163 (McConchie 36, Rance 4-27) by 27 runsScorecard File photo – Ross Taylor cracked five fours and six sixes in his 80 off 50 © Getty Images After a month away from the game to have a benign growth removed from his left eye, Ross Taylor had returned with a bang. He followed up his unbeaten 82…

Hilton Cartwright’s bowling remains a work in progress and he properly honed his run-up only within the last year © Getty Images Sixth batsman in a Test order, third seamer in a Test attack? Such a dual role is a tall order for any man, and proved too tall for Mitchell Marsh, who spent two years trying to fit the job description before being let go early this summer. It…

Kusal Perera likes to play his shots, which makes him an edge-of-the-seat choice for first drop © AFP Kusal Perera  Test record: 565 runs at average of 31.38Record at No. 3: 244 runs at 30.50 The incumbent. The short-arm jabbing, strong forearm-heaving, barnstorming, non-doping, mass aneurism giver. In Perera’s defence, in 2016 he has gone through an ordeal few sportsmen will ever have to experience and is doing a fine…

Kusal Mendis could not convert his second-innings fifty into something more substantial © AFP Even team-mates may not have known much about Kusal Mendis when he debuted for Sri Lanka in October 2015, so limited had his exposure been to senior cricket. Mendis had played in 10 first-class matches before playing a Test. He was 20 at the time. If West Indies (his first opponent) wanted footage of his batting…

Adelaide Strikers 9 for 152 (Dunk 37, Hodge 36, Abbott 5-16) beat Sydney Sixers 104 (Billings 40, Stanlake 3-17) by 48 runsScorecard and ball-by-ball updates Sean Abbott finished 2016 with a five-for but failed to finished the year with a win © Getty Images Despite the best efforts of Sean Abbott – who avenged his mauling by Travis Head here last New Year – the Adelaide Strikers saw in 2017…

Sri Lanka in South Africa 2016-17 December 31, 2016 Batsman Temba Bavuma has been busy practising his seamers this season. And that might come in handy given the quick turnaround between South Africa’s Boxing Day and New Year Tests Temba Bavuma could have had a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket but for a no-ball © Cricket Australia/Getty Images Temba Bavuma made history at the last New Year’s…

Jonathan Agnew played for Leicestershire before embarking on his media career © Getty Images Jonathan Agnew, the BBC’s cricket correspondent and Test Match Special commentator, has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List for services to broadcasting. Agnew, who played three Tests and three ODIs for England, had a 12-year career with Leicestershire from 1978 to 1990 before making a one-off comeback during the 1992 season for…

Tanbir Hayder, who made his ODI debut against New Zealand, has been dropped for the first T20 © BCB Bangladesh have included Shuvagata Hom and Taijul Islam in the 15-man squad for the first T20 against New Zealand in Napier on January 3. From the ODI squad, Tanbir Hayder and Mehedi Hasan were dropped even though Mehedi had not played a single game. Rubel Hossain also didn’t get a game…

Tanbir Hayder, who made his ODI debut against New Zealand, has been dropped from the T20 squad © BCB Bangladesh have included Shuvagata Hom and Taijul Islam in the 15-man squad for the first T20 against New Zealand in Napier on January 3. From the ODI squad, Tanbir Hayder and Mehedi Hasan have been dropped though the latter didn’t play a single game. Rubel Hossain also didn’t get a game…