Roebuck committed suicide, say police

Peter Roebuck was questioned in his room by police
about an alleged sexual assault - reports

Peter Roebuck fell to his death from his Cape Town hotel room while being questioned by police about an alleged sexual assault, it has been reported. A police statement said the circumstances surrounding Roebuck's suicide were being investigated.

Western Cape provincial police spokesperson Frederick van Wyk was quoted by Reuters as saying that "a cricket commentator committed suicide by jumping from the sixth floor of his hotel." He died on impact.

A report in the Sydney Morning Herald, Roebuck's employers, said he was questioned in his room at the Southern Sun Hotel by a Cape Town detective and a uniformed police officer from the sexual crimes unit from around 9 pm.

Roebuck, who the report said was agitated, asked a fellow cricket journalist for help. ''Can you come down to my room quickly? I've got a problem,'' he said. He asked for help to find a lawyer and for contact to be made with the students he helped to house in Pietermaritzburg, near Durban.

Minutes later, the Herald reported, Roebuck fell to his death from a window. It is believed only the uniformed officer was in the room. Paramedics rushed to the hotel but Roebuck was pronounced dead.

Police established a crime scene and took personal items from the room, including a laptop.

Colonel Vishnu Naidoo of the South African Police Services, told ESPNcricinfo that they suspect no foul play and that it was a suicide. He said there would be an inquest, after which the SAPS would make a statement; he said he expected that to be "next month".

In 2001 Roebuck received a suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to common assault for caning three young South African cricketers he had been coaching. ''Obviously I misjudged the mood and that was my mistake and my responsibility, and I accept that,'' he'd said at the time.

Rudolph recalled to Test side after five years

Jacques Rudolph's recall was widely expected
following his impressive run of recent form

Opening batsman Jacques Rudolph, who played the last of his 35 Tests in August 2006, has been recalled to the South Africa Test squad for the two-match series against Australia. Legspinner Imran Tahir and allrounder Vernon Philander also got their first call-ups to the Test squad.

Rudolph came in for opener Alviro Petersen. Also missing were seaming allrounders Wayne Parnell and Ryan McLaren who were both in the squad for South Africa's last Test, in January against India. Graeme Smith will lead the 14-member squad, and AB de Villiers, who missed the limited-overs leg of the series with a hand fracture sustained during the Champions League, will be his deputy if he clears a fitness examination ahead of the first Test from November 9.

Rudolph went into a self-imposed exile in 2007 when he signed a Kolpak contract with Yorkshire with the aim of developing himself into a more complete cricketer. His recall was widely expected following an impressive return to South African domestic cricket. He scored four centuries and made more than 900 first-class runs last season, before leading a successful South Africa A tour to Zimbabwe. This year, he came into the South African season after scoring centuries for Yorkshire in the Clydesdale Bank 40 and the County Championship. He has since been prolific in the SuperSport Series, where he leads the run-charts with 568 runs from six innings, including a match tally of 297 against Lions in his most recent outing.

"Jacques [Rudolph] will open the batting with Graeme Smith," selection convener Andrew Hudson said. "His experience and current form make him an asset to South Africa and at the age of 30 he has plenty of good years of cricket ahead of him. Jacques has underlined once again the importance of good domestic form and the fact that it is the gateway to national selection."

Petersen might consider his axing harsh, as the Lions captain also started the season well. In four matches so far, he has scored 369 runs, including a knock of 186 against the Dolphins in the first match of the SuperSport Series campaign. He spent the winter at Glamorgam, where he passed the 2000 runs mark and felt he had done enough to keep his place in the Test side. He will get a chance to stake his claim for a recall when he leads the South Africa A side in a four-day tour game against the Australians from November 1. JP Duminy and Philander feature in both squads, while Parnell and McLaren were also included in the A team.

"The A side must be seen as a mix of players challenging for places in the South Africa squad as well as others we have identified as having the potential for the future and whom we now need to test at a higher level than franchise cricket," Hudson said. "We have to explore our options for the future."

Philander previously played for South Africa in seven ODIs and the same number of T20s between 2007 and 2008. He has performed consistently in the first-class competition for the last two seasons. In the 2010-11 season, he was the fourth highest wicket-taker with 35 wickets at an average of 16.11. He is unlikely to play, with Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe in the squad, but has been earmarked as a possibility for the future. While he is not an express paceman, he has become noted for his variations, much like Tsotsobe.

Someone who is expected to play is Tahir. The Pakistani-born legspinner became eligible for South Africa in January and was immediately selected for their ODI squad to play India. He made his debut at the World Cup but was initially selected for South Africa's Test squad to play England in the 2009-10 season, when he had not yet qualified. He has been talked up as the missing piece in South Africa's attack, which has not had an attacking spinner since Paul Adams.

Tahir's anticipated inclusion was thought to be the final nail in Harris' coffin, after the left-arm spinner was labelled nothing more than a holding bowler. However, Harris has fought back with impressive showings in his first two SuperSport Series games. His 13 wickets have come at an average of 15.38. On a spin-friendly Newlands pitch, South Africa could field two frontline spinners in a Test match - a rarity for the country that traditionally relies on pace.

South Africa squad: Graeme Smith (capt), AB de Villiers (vice-capt), Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher (wk), JP Duminy, Paul Harris, Imran Tahir, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander, Ashwell Prince, Jacques Rudolph, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe

South Africa A squad: Alviro Petersen (capt), Farhaan Behardien, Marchant de Lange, JP Duminy, Dean Elgar, Heino Kuhn, Pumelela Matshikwe, Ryan McLaren, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Vernon Philander, Stiaan van Zyl

Marsh to replace Lee

Allrounder Mitchell Marsh will remain in South
Africa for the one-day leg of the tour

Cricket Australia has named allrounder Mitchell Marsh as a replacement for Brett Lee in Australia's ODI squad for the series against South Africa. Marsh is a part of Australia's Twenty20 squad in South Africa and will remain with the team for the one-day leg of the tour, as Lee underwent a surgery for appendicitis on Monday that ruled him out of the tour's limited-overs games.

The one-day squad, even without Lee, has four fast bowlers, so chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said it was not necessary to pick another quick. "The one-day squad already has four specialist fast bowlers in Doug Bollinger, Mitchell Johnson, James Pattinson and Patrick Cummins, so the national selection panel did not consider it necessary to replace Brett with a specialist fast bowler.

"Mitchell was very close to selection in the one-day squad when it was initially picked. He played extremely well during the recent Australia A tour of Zimbabwe and is a pace bowler who has the ability to bat in the top six, providing great balance and flexibility to the squad."

Marsh picked up 12 wickets in six matches on the Australia A tour, and contributed with the bat as well in the one-dayers. In 19 List A matches, he has claimed 13 wickets at 25.00 apiece and has four half-centuries with a highest score of 92.

de Villiers to miss Australia series

AB de Villiers will miss South Africa's
T20 and ODI series against Australia

AB de Villiers has been ruled out of cricket for between four and six weeks with a hand injury. He will miss South Africa's T20 and ODI series against Australia, of which the former was due to be his first as captain. De Villiers broke the third finger on his left hand during fielding practice with the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Champions League T20 on Wednesday.

"He saw a hand surgeon this morning and will undergo an operation tomorrow [Friday] where they will insert a pin or a plate to stabilise the finger," Mohammad Moosajee, team manager told ESPNCricinfo.

De Villiers' injury sets South Africa's plans of starting a new era, with Gary Kirsten as head coach and de Villiers as captain in limited-overs formats, back. Instead, they will have put contingency plans in place as their international season starts in unexpected fashion.

The national selectors met at the Wanderers Stadium, where one of season-opening first-class fixtures was taking place, to finalise the T20 and ODI squads. Top of the agenda was the issue of who will lead the team against Australia. "We debated that at length and we will release the information around the captaincy at the same time as we release the squads, which will be early next week," said convenor of selectors Andrew Hudson.

Hashim Amla was named the vice-captain in June and, according to Moosajee, "all things equal" should captain the side. But, all things are not equal, because Amla has never captained the national team, although he did lead his franchise, the Dolphins in the 2004-5 season. His inexperience with the armband means that South Africa could return to an old hand. Graeme Smith, who stepped down as T20 captain last August and ODI captain after the World Cup or Johan Botha, who was stripped of the T20 captaincy in June, could return to the role as a stop gap.

The captaincy is not the only issue the selectors had to discuss. "AB's injury does not only affect the captaincy, its also the wicketkeeper and a top order batsman," Hudson said.

The wicketkeeper position has been a hotly debated one in South African cricket circles, with no clear successor having been identified for Mark Boucher, with some of the opinion that there is no need to look for a replacement yet. Although Boucher is 34 years old, he has made clear his desire to make a comeback to the ODI side after missing out on selection for the World Cup.

Boucher would be the safe option, but de Villiers' injury could pave the way for South Africa to start experimenting with who they would like to don the keeping gloves. Heino Kuhn, who has played three T20s for South Africa - the last was against Zimbabwe in Kimberley almost a year ago - is the favourite.

Morne van Wyk, who was part of South Africa's World Cup squad, and could bat in the top four is another option. Thami Tsolekile may come into the fray, although he has never played a limited-overs match for South Africa. Davy Jacobs may have finally got his chance, but sustained a hip injury during training with the Mumbai Indians at the Champions League and will likely be unavailable.

"The Champions League hasn't been kind to us," Hudson said. "Last year we lost Dale Steyn, Jacques Kallis and Albie Morkel and we can only hope we don't suffer more." Steyn fell on his head after backpedalling to take a catch while Kallis sustained a back injury and Morkel strained his side, which caused the trio to miss out on matches against Zimbabwe.

With a more important series, against Australia, coming this year, Hudson hoped that the casualties will not mount, with 10 days remaining in the Champions League, but feared they may have to brace for more. "What we are realising is that T20 is hard on players, it's intense," Hudson said. "We're going to have accept that we will get injuries."

Mitchell Marsh in line for T20 debut

Matthew Wade has been named in
Australia's Twenty20 squad

Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade and Patrick Cummins are all in line to make their international debuts after being named in Australia's squad to tour South Africa next month. Australia's selectors have chosen separate 14-man groups for the Twenty20s and ODIs in South Africa, with Mitchell Johnson axed from the Twenty20 outfit and David Hussey cut from the one-day side.

Cricket Australia are still in the process of choosing their new selectors, so the squads were picked by an interim panel led by the outgoing chairman Andrew Hilditch, along with Greg Chappell, Jamie Cox and the stand-in coach Troy Cooley. The captains were also part of the panel - Michael Clarke for the ODI squad and Cameron White for the T20 group.

A serious shoulder injury that ruled the allrounder John Hastings out of the trip opened the door for Marsh, 19, who is set to follow his older brother Shaun and father Geoff in representing Australia after being picked in the Twenty20 squad. A promising allrounder who played for Australia A on the recent tour of Zimbabwe, Marsh had been earmarked for higher honours since captaining Australia to the Under-19 World Cup title in 2010.

Rigorous pre-season training has helped Patrick
Cummins develop the musculature that can support
his brand of bowling

He's not the only teenager in the touring party, with Cummins, 18, having made both the T20 and ODI groups. A fast bowler who was the bolter in Cricket Australia's contract list this year, Cummins would be Australia's youngest ODI debutant if he plays in the series, beating his New South Wales team-mate Josh Hazlewood, who played at 19 last year.
It has been a remarkably quick rise for Cummins, who has played only two one-day matches for his state and has not yet taken a wicket in the format. His inclusion in the ODI squad means he will miss the first two rounds of the Sheffield Shield season.

The retirement of Brad Haddin from Twenty20 internationals, combined with Tim Paine's finger injury, meant Wade was the logical wicketkeeping choice for the shortest format. Wade, 23, has been third in line behind Haddin and Paine since playing for Australia A last year, and he confirmed his credentials with a standout summer in the Ryobi Cup.

But the news wasn't so good for two of the older members of the side. David Hussey, 34, lost his ODI place despite being part of the World Cup squad earlier this year and winning a CA contract, while the selectors preferred Doug Bollinger to Johnson in the Twenty20 side.

"Mitchell [Johnson] has struggled in this format of the game to date," Hilditch said. "Most Twenty20 internationals have been at the start of tours and Mitchell has not always been at his best in these matches. Obviously Mitchell has a great skill set for Twenty20 cricket and we are sure he will put a lot of pressure on us to pick him in the future in the Twenty20 team.

"We consider we have picked an extremely strong Twenty20 squad, which has a good balance of experience and exciting young talent. There is flexibility in the squad to deal with conditions in South Africa as we continue to prepare for the ICC World Twenty20, which is only a year away."

A key man in the T20 squad is David Warner, who has also been given a chance to resume his career in the 50-over format, having not played an ODI in more than two years. Hilditch described Warner's recent form as "irresistible", including three centuries in first-class and one-day cricket on the recent Australia A trip to Zimbabwe.

The inclusion of Warner comes after Haddin, who opened with Shane Watson during the World Cup, moved down the order during the recent ODIs in Sri Lanka. That could mean a battle between Warner and Shaun Marsh to become the next long-term opening partner for Watson in the one-day international side.

Australia play two Twenty20 internationals, in Cape Town on October 13 and in Johannesburg on October 16, before the series of three ODIs in Centurion, Port Elizabeth and Durban. The squad for the two Tests, in Cape Town and Johannesburg in early November, will be announced in the coming weeks.

ODI squad: Shane Watson, David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke (capt), Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin (wk), Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Xavier Doherty, James Pattinson, Patrick Cummins, Doug Bollinger.

Twenty20 squad: Shane Watson, David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Aaron Finch, David Hussey, Cameron White (capt), Matthew Wade (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Steve O'Keefe, Brett Lee, James Pattinson, Patrick Cummins, Doug Bollinger.

Tim Paine set for surgery on finger

Matthew Wade is the most likely beneficiary of Tim Paine's injury

Tim Paine has been ruled out of Australia's tour of South Africa next month due to a finger injury, which is likely to open the door for Matthew Wade to make his international debut. Paine will have surgery later this week following a slower than expected recovery after he hurt his right index finger while batting at a Tasmania training session a month ago.

The decision for Paine to have an operation means that Australia will need to find a new wicketkeeper for the two Twenty20s against South Africa on October 13 and 16 in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Brad Haddin last week announced his retirement from Twenty20 internationals, which is likely to make Wade the favourite for a national call-up.

Wade, 23, has played for Australia A over the past 18 months and was productive for Victoria last summer, when he finished second behind Brad Hodge on the Ryobi Cup run tally and also score 553 Sheffield Shield runs. It would be a major surprise if Wade was not chosen, with Chris Hartley having hardly been used in T20 by Queensland over the past two seasons, and Western Australia's Luke Ronchi having slipped down the pecking order.

And while the T20s in South Africa are the immediate opportunity, there could be further chances to provide backup for Haddin in one-day or Test cricket, depending on how long Paine is sidelined. Australia's physiotherapist, Alex Kountouris, said Paine was still experiencing significant discomfort a month after sustaining the injury.

"Tim Paine injured his right index finger batting at training with his Tasmanian state team four weeks ago," Kountouris said. "He sustained a fracture in a similar part of the same finger late last year and required surgery. Tim has been resting the injury in recent weeks but is still experiencing considerable pain.

"His surgeon has advised that the fracture is healing slower than expected and may not heal without surgical intervention. As such, Tim will be undergoing surgery later this week. He is likely to need an extended recovery period following surgery and will not be available for selection for the T20 and ODI tour of South Africa."

Paine is not the only one of Australia's contracted players set for surgery, with the allrounder John Hastings likely to have an operation on his right shoulder. Hastings suffered the injury while training with Victoria and he too will be out of action for the T20 and one-day series in South Africa.

"John Hastings injured his right shoulder during a training session with Cricket Victoria after returning from Australian duties in Sri Lanka," Kountouris said. "He has had ongoing shoulder pain since this incident and has been unable to return to training. He has consulted a surgeon who has recommended surgery.

"It is possible that he will have surgery sometime in the next week after further assessment from the surgeon. His return to cricket will be dependent on the management approach pursued but he will not be available for selection for the T20 and ODI tour of South Africa."