It's coming up to three years since Damien Hoyland last pulled on a Scotland jersey.

The Edinburgh wing featured against Fiji in June 2017, having broken on to the international scene as part of the extended World Cup squad two years previously.

Hoyland describes his younger self as a "big goal-setter". If you had told him then - aged 21, ambitious and enthusiastic - that after his full Scotland debut, he would only earn three more caps in the following four and a half years, he would have probably been devastated.

"Every few months I'd write up goals and stick them on the walls," he recalls. "If I achieved them, it was great. If I didn't, it was the worst thing in the world."

That is no longer the 26-year-old's mentality. He is now taking things "day by day". It is easier for him - his previous system was unsustainable. He's learned that some things, like the timing of serious injuries, are out of his control.

Though in the back of his mind, the dream of once again walking out at Murrayfield in a different dark blue jersey remains.

The main reason for Hoyland's absence from the Scotland reckoning since that Fiji game has been injury. First it was his groin. Then it was his knee. Then it was his foot - and then it was his knee again. In total, two seasons out with rotten luck.

"When you're injured, it's rubbish - all those goals you want to achieve are out the door," he says.

"I struggled nearer the start of my injuries. I'd been in a rugby bubble nearly my whole life.

"As a young rugby player, all you care about is your professional sport - there's nothing else to do outside of it. As soon as I got injured, I realised there's a lot that's not great about it.

"It was a frustrating couple of years off the back of a couple of good seasons here. I was in the Scotland mix."

Besides rehab, Hoyland did not have much to do. His life seemed to revolve around rugby and nothing else. All of a sudden, he had been thrown into an alien lifestyle devoid of purpose.

"I tried to find other hobbies," he says. "I fell in love with coffee during that time. I put a lot of time into learning a lot about coffee, which I found really interesting."

He's turned that passion into something real - something he can focus on if the misfortune of injury once again comes his way. An off-the-pitch venture with Scotland's 2019 World Cup captain Stuart McInally.

"Myself and Rambo have a coffee business," he says. "It's awesome and a bit of fun. To have something to do outside of rugby really helps."

But that is not the full extent of Hoyland's business goals. "I took up a university course, which I'm still doing - business and enterprise in sport at Edinburgh Napier University," he says.

"It's good - a few of the boys are doing it. It's about how elite athletes can move into the business world."

Although Hoyland is far better equipped to deal with a spell on the sidelines nowadays, his eyes are firmly on his rugby future and he says he will never take the game for granted again.

"Everyone has been through a point where, whether it's training or a game, you go into it and you're not feeling quite up for it," he says. "Since I've been injured, I've not had that issue.

"It's the worst weather we've had at the moment, but I would much rather be out there training with my pals than be injured.

"Whenever there's any doubts in my head, I just think back to how I was when I was injured and how desperate I was to play. It put it all into perspective."

While Hoyland will not get ahead of himself and knows that things can turn at any time, he is back enjoying his rugby and feels ready to kick on.

He has just signed a new deal with the club where he has 71 appearances and 21 tries since moving from Melrose in 2014. And he knows that, if he can cement a place in Richard Cockerill's starting line-up, he will be well placed for the any future hopes.

"I want to get back in the Scotland set-up," he adds. "You do that by training well every day and playing well when the opportunity comes."

BARBERVILLE, Fla. — For the second night in a row, Larry Wight was showered in confetti on the frontstretch of Volusia Speedway Park at the DIRTcar Nationals presented by Bozard Ford.

Wight started outside the front row and beat Stewart Friesen and Erick Rudolph to the checkered flag.

Wight has won three of the last five Super DIRTcar Series races at the half-mile oval.

“This car has just been on a rail,” said Wight. “We were fortunate enough to be able to put the same set up as we did last night. The track didn’t lay rubber or anything and we were still glued to it. We’ve got something rolling so I hope we can keep it going for the rest of the week. Hopefully, it will transfer to something up north.”

The 30-lap feature began with Wight hard on the gas on the outside of pole-sitter Rick Laubach. Wight passed him on the opening lap with the same move he made the night before on Brett Hearn. Right now, Wight and his team have the car right where he wants it.

“The car is good enough that I don’t even have to run the cushion. It’s a wall over in three and four,” noted Wight. To try and run that lap after lap without losing the nose or hurt the car is almost impossible. We were able to run about halfway below it, right on the crown where it kind of flattens off. It seemed to like it.”

Friesen started fifth and quickly made his way to Wight’s tail. The race ran green until lap 13 when Tuesday’s winner and former Gator Championship point leader Mat Williamson broke a left rear shock. The Buzz Chew Racing team quickly changed the broken part and sent the No. 88 back into the fray where he made his way back up to 15th.

Friesen then lined up beside Wight on the lap 13 restart.

“Any time you have Stewie right behind you, you don’t want to see a restart,” Wight said. “He’s phenomenal on restarts and he can usually make stuff happen. The farther I could keep him behind me the better.”

Friesen has probably had his fill of staring down Wight’s exhaust pipe, but his Halmar Racing team is adept at giving Friesen what he needs to win.

“These guys have been working really hard,” Friesen said. “We’ve just got nothing for ’em there. We’re going to take the day off and go run Daytona tomorrow and think about what we are going to do to this thing for Saturday because we are lacking a couple of tenths there and it showed. We’ll put it back together and come up with something.”

Rudolph is ready to take a couple of steps up the podium.

“We had similar speed to Friesen,” Rudolph said. “We’ve had a decent car. I’m proud of our consistency this week. We’ve got two more races here and I’m looking forward to those. The team is really driving here.”

The finish:

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 99L-Larry Wight [2][$3,000]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen [5][$1,500]; 3. 25R-Erick Rudolph [4][$1,000]; 4. 7MM-Michael Maresca [3][$800]; 5. 20-Brett Hearn [7][$700]; 6. 91-Billy Decker [12][$650]; 7. 9S-Matt Sheppard [8][$600]; 8. 44P-Anthony Perrego [10][$550]; 9. 49-Billy Dunn [18][$500]; 10. 111-Demetrios Drellos [6][$450]; 11. 98H-Jimmy Phelps [11][$400]; 12. 21A-Peter Britten [19][$375]; 13. 42P-Pat Ward [14][$350]; 14. 7-Rick Laubach [1][$325]; 15. 88-Mat Williamson [15][$300]; 16. 19M-Jessey Mueller [9][$275]; 17. 30-Ronnie Johnson [22][$250]; 18. 19-Tim Fuller [21][$250]; 19. 23-Kyle Coffey [17][$250]; 20. 46-Jeremy Smith [13][$250]; 21. 83-Brian Swartzlander [20][$250]; 22. 3-Justin Haers [16][$250]; 23. 32-Jim Rasey [24][$250]; 24. 4-Andy Bachetti [25][$250]; 25. 48T-Dave Rauscher [26][$250]; 26. 1-Billy Pauch [23][$250]

GIBSONTON, Fla. — Mark Smith may be the hottest racer in the country this February. Smith won for the third time in three 360 sprint car starts on the opening night of King of the 360s competition at East Bay Raceway Park.

Smith, who won a pair of USCS races last weekend, started from the pole with Canadian Dylan Westbrook alongside.

The initial start was called back, due in part to a flat left-rear tire for Witherspoon with Danny Dietrich exiting the track during the caution. Witherspoon returned at the tail and the field gathered for the new start.

Smith quickly jumped into the lead and immediately began putting distance between himself and second place Westbrook. A lap-eight caution flagfor a three-car tangle in the backstretch brought the field back together and it was a short green-flag period as the race was under caution on lap 11 for two cars stopped in turn two.

From there, the caution flag stayed holstered but there were some anxious moments. Starks and Danny Smith made contact in a position battle and Smith’s car was momentarily airborne, but the veteran regained control without a need for a yellow.

Terry McCarl was charging on the top side to move to second in the late stages. By then, Smith had literally run away and hid from the rest of the field. Despite dealing with lapped traffic through the remaining 10 laps, Smith cruised to a convincing victory.

McCarl, Westbrook, Brock Zearfoss and Aaron Reutzel rounded out the top five.

Jim Young prevailed in the 25-lap Mini Sprint feature.

The 20-lap Micro Sprint race saw Bill Gise make a last lap pass on Paul Seburn to get to the checkers first.

The finish:

Mark Smith, Terry McCarl, Dylan Westbrook, Brock Zearfoss, Aaron Reutzel, Carson McCarl, Cory Eliason, Derek Hagar, Trey Starks, Dustin Gates, Danny Smith, Eric Riggins Jr., Brett Wright, Dale Howard, Terry Gray, Glenn Styres, Parker Price-Miller, Hayden Campbell, Terry Witherspoon, Ben Brown, Todd Gracey, Jim Huppunen, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Danny Dietrich.

BARBERVILLE, Fla. — Jimmy Owens won Thursday night’s World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series feature at Volusia Speedway Park.

The 40-lap DIRTcar Nationals triumph was his first at the half-mile oval.

“It’s awesome,” Owens said. “We’ve been coming down here for quite a few years now, and just couldn’t quite seem to get our ducks in a row. We’ve been steadily chunking away at it this week and it worked out for us.”

Owens was smoother than silk, leading all 40 laps without missing a beat and cleanly fending off all challengers for his 16th World of Outlaws feature win. Dale McDowell crossed in second with his best run of the week while Josh Richards came from 12th to cap off the podium.

The Newport Nightmare grabbed the lead from polesitter Brandon Sheppard on lap one and immediately began putting some distance on the field. Sheppard challenged him to the inside in the opening circuits but was unable to make anything happen.

Through 40 laps, that was about the only time Owens was seriously challenged for the lead. Even lapped traffic couldn’t slow down The O-Show, as he maneuvered by every bit of it with ease and never let it slow him down once.

Using his preferred line around the bottom for much of the race, Owens seemed to have a terrific drive off of the corner that propelled him away from the rest of the field.

“I knew the bottom lane was going to clean-up there a little bit later and be the fastest way around,” Owens said. “When we got to lapped cars, we were still able to maneuver around them on the outside. The car was just flawless.”

His acceleration was certainly tested, however, with back-to-back-to-back restarts inside of the final 12 circuits. A hungry McDowell and Richards sat on his rear bumper for the final restart on lap 31, but Owens pulled away and brought the field back to the checkers.

Both the car and the track surface worked to Owens’ advantage throughout the race, but he knows Friday night’s race could be different conditions.

“As the track dries out, we’ve been missing just a little bit of something, maybe we found it tonight. The track throws something different at you every night, so tomorrow will be a different book,” Owens said.

Richards had a very strong car that he put on display early, advancing nine spots to break into the podium by the halfway point. Using that low line, Richards made a great move to McDowell’s inside for second on lap 21, which McDowell took back just nine laps later.

“Josh rolled by me and drove off there a little bit, and it took me a little bit to figure out what line to run, to reposition my car, McDowell said. “Then we had a caution come out, and I think that helped me and my right-front tire.”

On that final restart, Richards knew the clock was ticking on the time to make another move on McDowell and had to make a tough choice before taking the green.

“I really didn’t know whether to pick the top or the bottom on the restart,” Richards said. “Both [McDowell] and [Owens} are excellent in that type of condition when it’s patchy rubber and drive real straight.”

The finish:

Feature (40 Laps) – 1. 20-Jimmy Owens [2][$10,000]; 2. 17M-Dale McDowell [4][$5,000]; 3. 14-Josh Richards [12][$3,000]; 4. 49-Jonathan Davenport [14][$2,500]; 5. 157-Mike Marlar [3][$2,000]; 6. 1-Brandon Sheppard [1][$1,700]; 7. 40B-Kyle Bronson [5][$1,400]; 8. 0M-Chris Madden [13][$1,300]; 9. 29v-Darrell Lanigan [8][$1,200]; 10. 15-Donny Schatz [9][$1,100]; 11. 7-Ricky Weiss [23][$1,050]; 12. 25-Shane Clanton [10][$1,000]; 13. 0e-Rick Eckert [21][$950]; 14. 28-Dennis Erb [24][$900]; 15. 1st-Johnny Scott [22][$850]; 16. 18-Chase Junghans [20][$800]; 17. 6T-Tyler Erb [15][$770]; 18. 12-Ashton Winger [26][$750]; 19. 0-Scott Bloomquist [17][$730]; 20. 3s-Brian Shirley [6][$700]; 21. B1-Brent Larson [29][$110]; 22. 99B-Boom Briggs [27][$110]; 23. 39-Tim McCreadie [11][$700]; 24. 97-Cade Dillard [25][$700]; 25. 4G-Kody Evans [7][$700]; 26. 66c-Matt Cosner [28][$110]; 27. 25w-Allen Weisser [16][$700]; 28. 22-Gregg Satterlee [18][$700]; 29. 6-Blake Spencer [30][$110]; 30. 5-Mark Whitener [19][$700]; 

Former Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde has said he would prefer a move to the Australian A-League rather than the Premier League.

Valverde, who won two La Liga titles and a Copa del Rey during his two full seasons at Camp Nou, was sacked in January.

And, despite his impressive trophy-haul in recent seasons, he said he is open to looking outside the top leagues when it comes to making his next managerial move.

"People ask me sometimes: 'How about the Premier League?' and I say: 'Well actually I'd like to go to Australia,'" Valverde said at the Bilbao International Football Summit on Thursday.

"A career in football does not last forever and sometimes you think you have to take the opportunity to live in strange places."

Valverde's career took him to some of Spain's top clubs such as Valencia and Athletic Bilbao as well as two stints in Greece at Olympiakos.

Making his first media appearance since being replaced by Quique Setien at Barca, Valverde expressed his admiration for former player Andres Iniesta's decision to move to Japanese side Vissel Kobe when he left Barca in 2018.

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"I applauded Andres when he told me he was going to Japan. I thought: 'Wow, he gets to understand a different culture and different people,' and I am also very interested in Japan," Valverde, who outside of football is a keen photographer, added.

"You can take great photos in Japan. There are many places I would like to go. We will see what I end up doing. I haven't been out of work for very long so I don't have to decide anything yet, I haven't got a very clear idea at the moment.

"It's possible I would go somewhere abroad. The truth is I like to do strange things so I wouldn't rule it out."

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba would be open to return to Juventus next season, according to his agent Mino Raiola.

Pogba, 26, has not played a game since Boxing Day due to an ankle injury and has been linked with a move away from Old Trafford.

Raiola, who in December said the France international would not leave the club, has now hinted that Pogba could make a move back to Italy.

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"Italy is like home for Paul," he told reporters. "He would not mind going back to Juve but we will see what will happen after the Euros.

"Paul wants to play at the best level but he can't escape by Manchester United if they are in a difficult situation."

United have lacked goals from midfield in Pogba's absence and although Bruno Fernandes joined the club last month, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said his signing does not mean Pogba will leave in the summer.

Pogba spent four years in Turin after leaving Old Trafford in 2012 where he won four consecutive Serie A titles.

United return to Premier League action after their winter break to face top four rivals Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Monday.

As the rest of the Premier League returns from the winter break to complete this elongated round of matches, here's everything you need to know about this weekend's action.

Jump to: How much do Arsenal need a win? | Man to watch | The game you should watch | Team that needs luck | One thing that will happen | Stats of the weekend | Predictions

THE WEEKEND'S BIG QUESTIONS

Do Arsenal need a win to show they're progressing?

You can see what Mikel Arteta is trying to do. There are patterns, ways Arsenal are moving the ball, methods of creating space through intelligent runs and positioning, little bursts of verve and spark that weren't there before.

The trouble is, Arteta has been in charge for seven league games now and has only won one of them. Last time out they were particularly fortunate to get away with a 0-0 draw at Burnley, with the Clarets missing a series of clear chances and at times Arsenal were clinging on. At points they looked dominant themselves too, but that's their problem: they're producing moments of excellence but aren't managing to string them together enough to get a victory.

At this stage Arsenal are basically all theory and no practice. Conceptually, things are progressing, but actually -- in terms of cold, hard results -- they're not doing much better than when Unai Emery was in charge. Arsenal, in 10th place and still with an outside chance of qualifying for Europe through the league, have won the same number of games as the hapless West Ham.

"At the moment we are far from it but there are a lot of games to play," Arteta said this week, about the prospects of sneaking into the top four. "It is very tight. Everybody is giving points away. It will depend on us. If we are able to put three or four wins in a row, we will be much closer."

Their game against Newcastle on Sunday might be the time to try something slightly different, and leave Mesut Ozil out of the team. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is indispensable on the left, Gabriel Martinelli could be threatening from the right but Ozil simply isn't doing enough to justify his position in the centre: Nicolas Pepe would add more dynamism and goal threat from that position, behind Alexandre Lacazette.

A win would not just boost their slim chances of qualifying for the Champions League. It would be a tangible expression of faith in Arteta's methods, which would in turn raise the levels of confidence in him among the squad. Footballers are usually driven by results rather than process: if you win games, they'll generally do what a manager tells them. Arteta needs a bit of that.

MAN TO WATCH

Willy Caballero/Kepa Arrizabalaga

You wonder whether Frank Lampard's decision to drop Kepa Arrizabalaga for Chelsea last game and replace him with Willy Caballero for the 2-2 draw with Leicester was just about the goalkeeper's form, or whether it was more a psychological trick.

Arrizabalaga, the most expensive goalkeeper in the world, has been declining in form all season and Lampard could be justified in his decision if it was just down to that, but you suspect it could also have been an attempt to essentially make Arrizabalaga think about what he's done. The timing -- one game before the winter break -- could suggest that Lampard wanted Arrizabalaga to stew on his errors. Either way, it's going to be fascinating to see how this plays out.

THE GAME YOU'RE NOT PLANNING TO WATCH ... BUT SHOULD

Southampton vs. Burnley

This is a game that will be worth a watch if only to witness what happens when a couple of teams show some faith and patience with their managers, because it's quite conceivable that both would've been sacked by other clubs at various points this season.

Obviously, Southampton might have dispensed with Ralph Hasenhuttl after their 9-0 humiliation against Leicester and the rotten form that surrounded it, but they stuck with him and now the Saints are seven points from the relegation zone. Burnley might equally have decided that Sean Dyche's race had run, and that for all the good he's done them a change was required after a sequence of seven defeats in nine put them close to the bottom three. But both men stayed and both teams are thriving: drastic action is not always the answer.

A TEAM THAT NEEDS A BIT OF LUCK

Leicester City

Leicester have stalled. Their brilliant run has stuttered, they've won one of the last four in the league and were knocked out of the League Cup when they should have put their semifinal against Aston Villa to bed in the first leg, which ended 1-1. There could be myriad reasons for this, from the cooling in Jamie Vardy's form and his injuries, to a few key men playing badly at the same time, to simply returning to the level of results they could reasonably be expected to achieve.

But they still have some fine players. Brilliant players, in fact. They will at the very least be challenging for a Champions League spot, but with a little fortune against Wolves on Friday night, they could take a big step towards cementing a place there.

ONE THING THAT WILL DEFINITELY HAPPEN

Goals, goals, goals in Norwich vs. Liverpool

Norwich and Liverpool have played each other 17 times in the Premier League era, games that have produced 68 goals, working out at a rather neat average of four per match. For fixtures that have been played 10 times or more, that's a record, and even if the majority of those goals have been scored by Liverpool (50, in fact), for whatever reason this game is more or less a guarantee of goals. Will we get a repeat of the madcap 5-4 the last time these two faced each other at Carrow Road in 2016? You wouldn't rule it out.

STATS OF THE WEEKEND

Information provided by ESPN Stats & Information Group

With 13 PL games remaining, Liverpool need 18 points to clinch the club's first Premier League title and their first top-flight title since 1990; The earliest any side has ever won the Premier League was 2000-01, when Manchester United clinched the title on April 14.

The 73 points Liverpool have amassed after 25 games (24-0-1 W-L-D) is the most any team has ever registered after 25 games in the history of Europe's big five leagues (assuming three points for win), beating record of 71 points set by Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich in 2013-14.

Sadio Mane could return after missing the last four games due to a hamstring injury. The Senegal forward has scored 99 goals in all competitions in English football.

Danny Ings has scored 17 goals in all competitions for Southampton this season. The last Saints player to score more in a top-flight campaign was James Beattie, with 24 in 2002-03

PREDICTIONS

Wolves 2-1 Leicester
Southampton 1-0 Burnley
Norwich 1-4 Liverpool
Aston Villa 1-2 Tottenham
Arsenal 3-1 Newcastle
Chelsea 3-2 Manchester United

With Rohit Sharma out of the New Zealand tour with a calf injury, a place has opened up at the top of India's Test-match batting line-up. The warm-up game in Hamilton was supposed to help them resolve the question of who would open alongside Mayank Agarwal in the first Test in Wellington, but their first innings only complicated the issue. Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill were both out for ducks, to balls that bounced disconcertingly from short of a length, and Agarwal extended a run of lean form by edging behind for 1.

It's still unlikely, but a different, left-field option may have presented itself to India's team management. Hanuma Vihari has opened before, at the MCG, and while he only made 8 and 13, he spent 80 minutes at the crease in the first innings, and nearly an hour in the second, helping see off the new ball and earning the praise of his captain Virat Kohli.

Batting at No. 6, Vihari made 101 at Seddon Park on Friday, and while he didn't face the new ball, there was still seam and extra bounce for the fast bowlers when he came in, and his unhurried, close-to-the-body technique was just what the Indians needed at 38 for 4.

It would be harsh to judge the three regular openers for their failures in one innings, in difficult conditions, but with Agarwal struggling for form and with Shaw (two Tests) and the uncapped Gill low on experience, Vihari could be an option for India to consider. This, of course, leaves the question of who bats at No. 6.

ALSO READ: Shubman Gill wary of Neil Wagner's short-ball threat

All this is speculation, of course, and India might not even pause to consider the idea of Vihari opening. He certainly hasn't heard any such talk just yet.

"As a player, I am prepared to bat anywhere," Vihari said at the end of the day's play. "As of now, I've not been informed [of] anything. As I've said before as well, if the team requires me to bat wherever, I am ready to bat."

Whenever he bats, there's a sense of calmness about Vihari, a sense that he has a plan and won't be swayed from it too easily. Here, he found the extra bounce surprising, but along with Cheteshwar Pujara - with whom he would eventually put on 195 - formulated a plan to deal with it.

"The talk was to bat time and to see off the new ball," he said. "Obviously they were bowling in great areas and the wicket had good bounce, extra bounce, more than what I've experienced in New Zealand before. So I took some time to adjust and once I knew what shots I had to avoid early on this wicket, maybe horizontal [-bat] shots, I tried to avoid that."

Vihari said he was pleased to have worked out a way to adjust to testing conditions.

"At the international level, you have to be thinking on your feet," he said. "And I was quick enough to adjust my game according to the conditions, so whenever I bat next, New Zealand or Australia, wherever it is, it is up to me what I want to do with my game and how quickly I adjust and I'm happy that I could do it."

Once Pujara and Vihari settled in, the New Zealand XI briefly attempted to bounce both batsmen out, with Scott Kuggeleijn, who took the first three wickets, going around the wicket and peppering them with short balls. Neither batsman was unduly troubled with this tactic, but Vihari knows he might have to face more of it in the upcoming Test series, particularly from Neil Wagner.

"We experienced that [in India A's unofficial Test series] against New Zealand A as well," Vihari said. "When the wicket flattens out, they try to experiment with the short balls and I'm sure even Neil Wagner will come up with the same ploy.

"We've seen it before in the Australian series and the home series for them. We are prepared for it. We've got that good experience in India A as well. They did come up with short balls when we played against New Zealand A. Today as well they bowled quite a number of short balls. It's good exposure for us."

The bounce at Seddon Park may have been a surprise, but the grass cover was fairly typical of New Zealand pitches in red-ball cricket. Vihari expects more of the same in the Test series.

"Maybe we'll get pitches like these," he said. "Because their [New Zealand's] strength is fast bowling, so maybe they'll give this much grass or a little less. They have a very experienced bowling attack but it's good that we got some time in the middle and we experienced these conditions. They were tough and it's good to experience tough conditions before the series and we're happy with the way the day went."

South Africa have withdrawn their interest in touring Pakistan for three T20Is in March, citing players workload following the India tour next month as the reason. The planned tour will be rescheduled after the two boards find a new window.

South Africa's tour to Pakistan did face logistical challenges, and CSA was planning to send a security delegation to Pakistan next month during the PSL to assess the situation.

South Africa will play three ODIs, the last of which is on March 18, and the PCB had intended to make them stay in Dubai - with the PSL ending on March 22 - and then fly them directly to Pakistan for the three T20Is in Rawalpindi.

South Africa are currently hosting England for a T20I series, which was preceded by four Tests and three ODIs. Within five days of the last game against England, they will host Australia for three T20Is and as many ODIs, stretching the last game to March 7. They have to then fly to India.

With the IPL expected to begin on March 28, fitting in three more white-ball games in Pakistan in a span of two weeks would have made it hectic for the players.

As such, South Africa have not been the busiest team since the 50-over World Cup last year. They have played 13 matches across formats since then, tenth on the list among teams that play the three formats.

The PCB struck a sympathetic tone in their reaction, with PCB CEO Wasim Khan accepting that "managing player workload is a top priority" and said the PCB respected CSA's decision. He was keen to emphasise CSA's decision to skip the tour in March did not mean these internationals would not take place, and expressed the PCB's willingness to organise a window for them as soon as possible.

"We are pleased that the CSA remains committed to rescheduling this short series as soon as practically possible, Wasim Khan said. "As there is a strong willingness and commitment, both the boards are now exploring their FTPs to find gaps so that we can agree on the dates."

More to follow...

The Wellington Test against India, which begins on February 21, is set to be Ross Taylor's 100th. Only three other New Zealanders - Daniel Vettori, Stephen Fleming and Brendon McCullum - have reached that landmark. And when he does reach that hundred, Taylor will become the first cricketer from anywhere to have got to the milestone in all three international formats. A week before the landmark Test, Taylor spoke to the media at Seddon Park (with Virat Kohli batting in the nets a few meters away) and looked back at his long and fulfilling career.

100 Tests, 100 internationals in all formats. Did you expect to get there?
No. I think after my first Test series against South Africa, I didn't know if I would play Test cricket again. Probably lucky with the timing of things, Twenty20 cricket came along in 2005, and I made my debut in 2006. So it's probably a timing issue to be able to get there but it's nice, hopefully to be the first player to do it, and hopefully with time, there's going to be a lot more players around the world… I'm sure the guy behind me [Kohli batting in the nets] is going to be there and he could play 200 of all of them. We will just have to wait and see.

When did you start believing you can have a long Test career?
It was probably here [in Hamilton]. So I played that first series against South Africa, got dropped for Bangladesh, two Tests at home, and then I played my first Test at home against England and I got a hundred in that first Test. That's probably the first time I think I believed that I could play at this level. Probably fortunate throughout my whole career - that was my third Test, to get a hundred. And then in my one-day career, I was able to get a hundred in my third game as well. To get those milestones early on definitely helped to believe that I belong and that I'm good enough to play at this level.

What does it tell you about yourself, playing 100 Tests?
Probably getting older! But no, I think I've been happy with what I have achieved to date. Test cricket and cricket in general as a batter, you go through a lot of ups and downs and that's definitely what I've been through, and as a team as well. But Wellington holds a special place in my heart and I'm sure, having a lot of family and friends there, it will be something that I'll be proud of and look back on at the end of my career with fond memories.

Might emotions play a distracting role?
I guess at the end of the day, it's another game of cricket and you want to try and contribute in any way that's possible. But at the same time, you've got to enjoy it for what it is, and I'm sure once you get into the game, you can enjoy it and just play cricket like you want to. Wellington can do a little bit early on, so I'm sure, batting or bowling, it's going to be an interesting contest.

We saw your family sitting on the grass banks in one of the T20Is or one-dayers. Playing so long, how influential has the support of your family been?
Having three beautiful kids and a wife to look after them, you spend a lot of time on the road, so having their support - it's not easy on my wife Victoria to raise three kids for as long as she has. We play a lot but that's probably why when you do play at home, it's nice to be a dad and it's nice for them - Jonty and Mackenzie - to be old enough to sort of understand what dad does. Jonty was falling asleep; he is the master of dragging out the bedtime and wanting extra stories. So obviously that game was a bit later than what he's used to but no, they've definitely been a help and just balancing out cricket can be tough at times, as I said before, but to know that you have your family there, regardless of whether you score runs or not, they give dad a hug whether he's scored a hundred or a duck as well. They put everything into perspective and hopefully when they're bit older than they are now, they will be proud of what I've achieved as a cricketer for them.

Any particular moment when you've come back home after a bad day, and told yourself, I'm glad I've got this, and cricket's always there?
I think there's been a lot of moments where, with all of them, Mackenzie and Jonty I can remember both, they were born and I left four or five days later to go on a tour or go on a Test, that was quite tough. But in saying that, if you ask all the players who are parents and the wives, it is tough and we all deal with it in different ways. But I think anytime, when you go and pick them up from school in between games or something and they run across to you and give you a big hug, that's pretty special in itself and brings you back to what really cricket is. It's just a game and sometimes we probably make more out of it that it is.

You had a pretty serious eye condition, and you went through a rough patch of form, but since having surgery and coming back you've almost had a second wind. Have you been enjoying your cricket a lot more?
I've always enjoyed cricket. It was probably two or three years, such a gradual process that it deteriorated and I didn't know what it really was. Once I had the operation, you could see the ball clearer than what you used to, you start wondering whether you should have got the eye operation a lot earlier and whatnot. Definitely I think the runs that I've scored since then have shown that I probably should have got it a lot earlier. But things happen for a reason and I've been happy with my form and things ever since.

Anyone who has had such a long career must have made a lot of sacrifices. Do you look at it like that?
I think I'm doing something that I've always wanted to do. I wanted to play for New Zealand and be as great a player as I could be. If anything, I think the family has probably sacrificed a little bit more than I have. To not have dad home as often as maybe someone else. But at the same time, I've thoroughly enjoyed playing for my country and representing them to the best of my ability. Whenever I do retire, then hopefully I can make up for all the lost time over there. But at the same time, my kids have been able to travel to some amazing places, my daughter raves on about going to India four or five times in her life. You learn a lot in the classroom but you also learn a lot about life, by being able to travel and experience different cultures. I'm sure my son and daughters will be better people for the experiences we've been able to give them over the years.

Of all the innings you've played in Tests, can you name your top three?
Can I say four? I think one of my best hundreds was at Manchester, I think 158 [154 not out]? We ended up losing that Test, but I think [it was one of my better innings]. 140 and 70 [142 and 74] when we won the game in Colombo, after the captaincy issue, that would have to be right up there. 290 at Perth, once again it was a draw, but it's not often you get to 200 and your job's not done, to try and save a match or get us into a winning position. Probably one of my favourite but underrated innings was a hundred at Dubai, I think we were about to - we probably would have lost the Test - but I came out and we got ourselves in a position to win the Test. We didn't win it, but that would definitely be up there with one of my best hundreds.