All posts by csb10.top

Former West Indies batsman Ricardo Powell will lead a new five-man selection panel in charge of picking USA senior men’s and Under-17 squads for tournaments later this year, including the ICC World Cricket League Division Four in Los Angeles. Powell, 37, was also named last month by the ICC to a seven-member advisory group focusing on high performance. This is one of the four national advisory groups created by the ICC to implement its strategy in the USA.The other four selectors serving under Powell are former Pakistan player Asif Mujtaba, former South African first-class player Michael Voss, former USA player Amer Afzaluddin and Barney Jones. Mujtaba served as an assistant coach for USA at the 2012 World T20 Qualifier and currently resides in Texas. Voss is based in southern California while Afzaluddin is out of the Chicago area. Jones – a former USA Cricket Association selection panel chairman – lives in Florida.”For me I take it as an honor to be a chairman of this selection panel, to be able to select the best team possible to represent the USA,” Powell told ESPNcricinfo from his home in Memphis, Tennessee. “I think that’s a very big task and I think it’s a lot of work and something I take very seriously. With the panel that we have, we have guys who are very knowledgeable but we are asking the US public as a whole, and the cricket community, to be patient because this is not going to happen overnight. It’s something we have to all work hard at.”Their first task is to select a 30-man squad to come to Florida at the end of July for a week-long camp to help narrow down the list to a final 14 ahead of Division Four. A 30-member Under-17 squad will also be chosen before a team of 14 is finalised for a tri-series against Bermuda and Canada in Houston from July 14 to 19.Powell, Mujtaba and Voss are new selectors. Mujtaba has also coached Central West Region men’s team since 2014 and has been a steadfast advocate of the country’s talent. Voss, meanwhile, played for Western Province and opened the batting alongside Gary Kirsten. He was appointed to the 10-person participation group, one of ICC’s four advisory panels.The ICC had taken a decision in the spring to dissolve the previous USACA five-man selection panel in the wake of USACA’s suspension last June and revamp the selection process beginning with a series of eight regional Combines. Jones, who chaired the USACA selection panel which had been dissolved by the ICC, applied to be part of the new panel as did his fellow former USACA selector Afzaluddin.”Having someone like Barney on the panel, who is also familiar with most of the players who have represented USA, makes a big deal for me in terms of having that knowledge,” Powell said. “But also for me going about selection, it will be done over a period of time. I want to be able to see these players myself and to basically analyse and see the best team that we can put out there for USA.”Powell, who played 109 ODIs and two Tests for West Indies between 1999 and 2005, served as a guest coach and talent evaluator at the Florida Combine held in Fort Lauderdale in April. He was frank with his opinion of the level of talent he saw there, compared to what he has observed in the past, and said he didn’t feel the best players were on display. He stated that he is open to evaluating players outside of the 30-man camp in July before deciding on the final squad for Division Four.”This initial camp that is going to be had in Florida, with the 30-man squad that we’re going to select, it’s pretty much just a start for me to look into the talent that is here in the US,” Powell said. “So that is not necessarily the final squad that’s going to be selected for USA, this is just a start based on the Combines that we just had. Going forward, I plan to continue to look for talent in the USA and not to be satisfied with what we have. I went to the Florida Combine and I was not 100% happy with the amount of talent compared to what we have in Florida. We did not have the turnout we expected. Maybe guys just did not get a chance to register or were just hesitant based on what was happening.”So hopefully we will be able to see more talented players as we go along throughout the year to come. What we have on paper right now is a lot of good talent, no doubt about that, but I don’t think it’s the end of the road in terms of guys out there who will not be selected in the 30. I think there are a lot of opportunities to come and there is a lot of cricket to be played in America. We are just a panel of five right now and it’s going to take a lot from us to see all the talent in America. We’ll be leaning on the general public in terms of the different cricket regions who helps with that.”Powell stressed his plans for developing better fitness standards for national-level players, something that has been a point of emphasis throughout the eight regional Combines. USA’s fitness has flagged behind other Associate teams, and while players have to juggle cricket around work due to the amateur status, many other Associates face the same issues but are able to maintain fitness.”These guys are playing back-to-back games when they go on tour so you have to be fit,” Powell said. “Overall there are a lot of elements that make up a good XI or a good 14 and we’ll be looking at all those different elements when it comes to cricket, from the skills, to the fitness to the discipline, to the ability to be able to execute, match-winners, guys who can think the game properly and, more so, team players.”There are a lot of components that we’ll be looking at to really come up with this final squad of 14 and I’m really looking forward to seeing these players on this stage, and really select the best for USA. As I said, nothing is written in stone. Guys have been representing USA for a while, they’ve been around but I think with this new panel, a few things will change. Players will have more responsibility, they will be accountable more for their on-field and off-field performance. So those are the things that this selection panel will be looking at.”

Australia Test allrounder Beau Webster took a wicket and got through 12 overs on return from an ankle injury but Tasmania team-mate and Test hopeful Jake Weatherald fell for a duck late on another day dominated by the bowlers at the Junction Oval in Melbourne.Eleven wickets fell on the opening day. Riley Meredith and Gabe Bell took three wickets apiece for Tasmania as Victoria were bowled out for 256 before Weatherald was caught behind off the bowling of Mitchell Perry in the last over of the day. Tasmania finished 4 for 1 at stumps following a nasty two-over batting stint in the late evening sun.Weatherald’s untimely duck adds to Australia’s Ashes first Test squad intrigue when other opening contenders Marnus Labuschagne, Matt Renshaw and Sam Konstas did not get a chance to bat at the Gabba as day one of the clash between Queensland and New South Wales was washed out.Webster’s return, however, was a positive for Australia’s selectors. He has not played a Sheffield Shield match so far this season due to an ankle injury he sustained while training ahead of Tasmania’s first match against Queensland. It had led to some concerns about his readiness for the first Test against England as Australia’s selectors ponder the make up of the top six and the need for two allrounders in the same side.But after chair of selectors George Bailey confirmed Webster was a lock for the squad in Perth, Webster made a solid return with the ball after opening the bowling for Tasmania when the coin fell Jordan Silk’s way.Webster initially bowled a five-over spell with the new ball before picking up the wicket of Marcus Harris in his second spell with a cracking delivery that pitched outside leg and nipped across the left-hander to scratch his outside edge.Beau Webster took a wicket on return•Getty Images

He bowled four spells across the day and finished with figures of 12-4-26-1. He also took a catch at slip but dropped another off Oliver Peake. He was fortunate that didn’t cost more after Peake and Peter Handscomb combined for a 100-run stand to rescue Victoria after Meredith, Bell and Webster had reduced them to 55 for 3.The pair batted exceptionally well in tough conditions. Handscomb continued his outstanding form grinding 48 from 157 while Peake played a gem in the conditions, striking seven boundaries in his 46. Both players opted to play off the back foot predominantly and Peake showcased some excellent cuts and pulls. But shortly after he offered a life to Webster at slip, which was a pretty straight forward chance that Webster would normally hold, Peake fell for a trap holing out to deep square of Keiran Elliott.Meredith then pinned Handscomb with an excellent inducker although the Victoria veteran might have got the 50-50 call go in his favour on height on another day. Meredith bagged two in three balls when Sam Harper meekly popped a catch to short leg.Victoria’s tail wagged with Perry, Will Sutherland and Fergus O’Neill all providing excellent contributions. O’Neill was unorthodox in his unbeaten 35 but he continued to show how valuable a competitor he is for his state.The innings dragged on long enough to frustrate Tasmania but was short enough to leave Weatherald and Caleb Jewell 12 balls to negotiate before stumps. Jewell got through the first six from O’Neill unscathed but Weatherald only survived two from Perry. The third pitched outside his leg stump, back of a length, and darted across him as he tried to work leg side. The thin edge was taken by Sam Harper.

Glamorgan 265 and 41 for 2 trail Lancashire 374 (Wells 78, Jones 62, Balderson 51) by 68 runsLancashire have left Glamorgan with much to do to force a positive result after gaining a three-figure lead at Sophia Gardens.Luke Wells’ dogged 78 to pass 1,000 runs for the season along with a much-needed 62 for Scottish international Michael Jones and George Balderson took Lancashire to 374. Several other starts, including Keaton Jennings’ 1,000-run landmark, also boosted the visitors to a 109-run lead.Allrounder Timm van der Gugten’s involvement in his 100th first-class match wasn’t finished with a half-century on day one as he took the reigns to take 5 for 85, Glamorgan fighting back with the final four wickets inside nine overs with the second new ball.Resuming overnight on 55, openers Wells and Jennings resumed momentum with the expectation to bat all day. Jennings’ half-century looked inevitable before being removed on 49 as Van der Gugten’s first victim despite Jennings’ tall stature batting outside his ground on a rising delivery.George Bell was next to fall short of a half-century with a stylish 45 while Wells remained quiet since pulling a boundary to bring up his thousand-run season.Partnerships of substance without kicking on continued to be the theme. When Wells eventually was undone by Mason Crane finding some turn, a chance to rip through the middle order looked possible, Jones struggling to line up Crane initially in a good battle. Even after two sixes in quick succession from the Scot, Sam Northeast persevered with bowling the former England leg-spinner who created numerous chances in a long spell which deserved more than his 2 for 109 suggests.Ned Leonard hobbling off two balls into a spell left more pressure on Glamorgan. Jones’ second half-century of the season came after just 42 balls and Hurst was the next to fall short of the milestone.Tom Hartley pleasantly drove the first ball of the 89th over (Glamorgan’s first with the new ball) for four, giving warning signs of more to come at 337 for 6 – but Van der Gugten’s experience to gain his 300th first-class Glamorgan wicket, and one for Harris, was enough to wrap up before more potential damage on a variable pitch.Similar to the previous day, the opening pair would need to negate 17 overs as the sun lowered at Sophia Gardens. Zain Ul Hassan avoided his pair and stuck out the day after an important spell of bowling claiming both Jones and Hurst, who put together 88 in the afternoon.Asa Tribe and nightwatcher Harris couldn’t grind out Lancs’ seamers despite a positive start from the former; a low ball making him the latest to succumb to that method on the deteriorating Cardiff pitch.

Warwickshire 485 (Barnard 108*, Bamber 107, Mousley 75, Davies 52, Critchley 5-171) drew with Essex 602 for 6 dec (Westley 134, Allison 133, Pepper 107*, Walter 86) and 96 for 1 Tom Westley passed fifty for the fifth time in eight Rothesay County Championship innings before rain arrived at Chelmsford to confirm the inevitable draw between Essex and Warwickshire.The rejuvenated Essex captain was 51 not out, with seven fours in his 103-ball innings, to follow his 148 first time round. He had put on 86 in 28 overs with Paul Walter for the second wicket before umbrellas went up and the players scampered for shelter. Walter had contributed 35 to a stand that took Essex’s lead to a nominal 213.The match was effectively over as a contest late on the third evening when Ed Barnard struck the boundary that took Warwickshire past their follow-on target of 453, despite having just one wicket in hand. What had become a damp squib was officially called off at 3.25pm.The 14 points Essex gained kept them just ahead of the relegation places in Division One, while Warwickshire’s dozen points mean they are safely in mid-table.Barnard, meanwhile, gained reward for his overnight effort the morning after when he was left unbeaten on 108 in Warwickshire’s first-innings 485, 117 behind Essex’s 602-6 declared. The remarkably consistent all-rounder’s 123-ball knock took his season’s tally to 815 runs with three centuries. Matt Critchley’s marathon spell of 40 overs for Essex returned figures of 5 for 171.With Dean Elgar absent from the field since day one with a calf injury, Essex promoted Noah Thain to open their second innings. But Essex’s faith in the up-and-coming all-rounder was not fulfilled as Ethan Bamber got one to lift off the pitch and take the outside edge with only two against his name.Westley drove his first ball for four, but was fortunate when he reached 19 that a diving Kai Smith could not cling on to a catch in Beau Webster’s first over.Westley reached his fifty from 103 balls, clipping Hannon-Dalby past an unusual legside field comprising six fielders in a semi-circle between short mid-on and square leg. It turned out to be the last meaningful action before rain set in a 2.24pm.Walter had been comparatively subdued at the other end, though he did strike two boundaries in the last over before lunch that brought up the fifty partnership from a leisurely 18 overs.Barnard, 90 not out overnight, had become the game’s fifth century-maker when he swept Critchley for four from the 114th ball he faced. He had already launched the leg-spinner over midwicket for six during the 23 minutes that Warwickshire’s first innings extended into the fourth morning.Oliver Hannon-Dalby had kept Barnard company the previous evening when the ninth-wicket pair ensured Warwickshire moved safely beyond the follow-on mark. He remained unfazed for 27 balls in total, 15 in the morning, before Westley introduced his occasional off-breaks and had the No11 lbw with his fourth delivery.

It’s simply too late to fix this mess. Perhaps we should all just give up.It’s not the most inspiring message to send to future generations, but that is the gist of the naysaying that surrounds the World Test Championship. As with climate change, or the fate of the rhinos, so it has been with the ICC’s sticking-plaster approach to the sport’s oldest, most endangered format.The flaws are manifest, and were recently excoriated from the pulpit of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, which decried this week’s final as a “shambles masquerading as a showpiece”.”The ICC cannot allow the championship to continue as if designed on the back of a fag packet,” Lawrence Booth, ‘s editor, wrote, as he railed against a format in which South Africa have been the inadvertent beneficiaries of a less-is-more approach.Related

• England must engage with the WTC's oddities, not fight them

• Conrad on SA's C-word tag: 'Unfair to burden this group with anything that's gone before'

• Markram: Playing two-Test series throughout WTC cycle could help us in the final

• Boucher: 'Winning WTC final could be the turnaround for Test cricket in South Africa'

• The WTC final is the biggest match of Temba Bavuma's career, but he's dealt with this kind of pressure before

The fewer games a relatively strong team plays, the less chance there is of that precious points-per-Test ratio getting diluted. Hence a side that began this cycle by sending a C-Team to New Zealand, where they were duly routed in two Tests while the best players in the country stayed at home to take part in the SA20, have now marched all the way to the final off the back of seven wins in a row.And yet, buried within that very gripe is the proof of concept that this tournament so desperately needs.The two-Test series may well be the bane of the international schedule – too cumbersome to fit snugly into any given gap, yet too insubstantial to provide any real satisfaction to the combatants or their fans. But, as soon as it became clear in November last year – thanks to India’s shock 3-0 defeat on home soil to New Zealand – that a path was opening up for South Africa to storm into the reckoning, their subsequent home series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan took on a life of their own.This is context, is it not? A means to make the meaningless meaningful, and to drag a few otherwise uninvested bystanders along for the ride – as was unquestionably the case at Centurion in December, when South Africa flopped over the line by two wickets in what Shukri Conrad memorably declared to be a “Camel classic”.And now the game has gathered at Lord’s, where the ICC’s blanket branding guidelines have conferred the grand old ground with that global-event feeling, and where on Wednesday, the third staging of the World Test Championship final will take place. Rare is the major tournament that does not have a few aggrieved teams wondering what might have been as they consider their early exit. But equally rare is a final that fails to crown a worthy champion.6:55

Philander: ‘SA will put up massive fight against favourites Australia’

“I’m tired of speaking about it, to be honest,” Conrad said, ahead of South Africa’s training session on Monday. “We’re here and that’s all that matters. We get a chance to walk away as the World Test champions, playing Australia. It doesn’t get any bigger than that. So, yeah, what’s gone before counts for absolutely nothing at the minute.”The bells and whistles that surround the final – including a glitzy Hall of Fame induction dinner at the Beatles’ former fiefdom, Abbey Road Studios – serve as a reminder that the ICC is, first and foremost, an events organiser rather than cricket’s legal guardian. Notwithstanding the increasingly blurred lines in cricket’s upper echelons, it can only cut its cloth according to the share of the fabric that the game is willing to allocate.And so, not unlike the second edition of MCC’s World Cricket Connects, the high-brow symposium which took place in Lord’s Long Room over the preceding weekend, any attempt to gather the game’s great and good is infinitely preferable to no attempt at all – even if, in both cases, the short-term output has been frustratingly impenetrable.As Sourav Ganguly, the former BCCI president and chair of ICC Cricket Committee, put it in an official MCC release at the WCC’s conclusion: “It was a lovely event, with a lot of quality people.” If the same can be said of the WTC final by next Monday, it will have been a week well spent.The difficulty for Test cricket, and its eternal quest for context, is that it remains eternally judged by its past – and that phenomenon will surely go into overdrive in 18 months’ time at the game’s next Big Gathering, the 150th anniversary Test that is scheduled for the MCG in March 2027.This was also the case for England’s one-off Test against Zimbabwe last week – the first such staging since James Anderson’s debut series 22 years ago, and one which couldn’t help but be defined by the distance (economic, as much as temporal) that has grown between the two nations in the interim.It’s a point that Conrad leant into as well, as he assessed the compromises that South Africa have been forced to reach, with both their players and the wider format, in an era of the game that is so driven by the bottom line.”Whenever I go into the stores here, I start calculating what it costs. So it’s no surprise we can’t compete [economically],” he said. “So it’s about prioritising certain tours, and whenever we’re not playing and there’s an opportunity for them to earn some US dollars, then we’ll obviously encourage that.Shukri Conrad has overseen South Africa’s journey to the WTC final•ICC via Getty Images

“As long as we can plan things properly in advance, then absolutely, I’ve got buy-in from all of our players. They’re as committed to Test cricket as they ever have been, or more committed if that’s possible.”Could there have been an alternative path for the game? Hindsight suggests that the moment may have come and gone approximately a quarter of a century ago – before T20 cricket had been conceived, and when India and Pakistan were still on broad speaking terms.Back at the turn of the Millennium, West Indies were still the sport’s most recent powerhouse; Sri Lanka were still a rising force; South Africa were still in the throes of post-Apartheid release. England were beginning to get their act together after a decade of Australian Ashes dominance, but were still eminently capable of losing to all-comers.And, for the top table’s two newest teams, Zimbabwe embodied that sense that a small, well-drilled outfit with a common sense of purpose could still take the fight to one of cricket’s flabbier, more distracted big beasts. As for Bangladesh, their weight of population was an extraordinary asset that was crying out for a bit of meaningful investment.History relates that the sport chose self-interest over community development, and so we are left with this: an unsatisfactory shebang on the one hand, but – at least to judge by the first two stagings of the WTC final – a passable attempt to keep those five-day fires burning.At the inaugural final in 2021, New Zealand’s success was widely hailed as just desserts for a golden generation that had fallen inches short in a succession of white-ball campaigns. Two years later, Australia’s victory (again over India) completed the set for a mighty all-formats generation, and – in Steve Smith’s opinion – whet their appetite for this week’s defence.”It was great to be able to win a Test Championship final, and to be back here again and have the opportunity to defend our crown,” Smith said on Monday afternoon. “Every game is important with the Test Championship on the line. That’s the reason it came in, to make every Test more relevant.”The combatants themselves aren’t giving up on the concept. Nor, therefore, should we.

West Indies 157 for 2 (Lewis 94) beat England 209 (Livingstone 48, Motie 4-41) by eight wickets (DLS) The only way is up as England seek to reboot their once-glorious white-ball fortunes, but on the evidence of a deeply one-sided first ODI against West Indies, the journey to the 2027 World Cup will be long, arduous and – perhaps most significantly – unfamiliar to a new generation of cricketers whose lack of experience in 50-over cricket was all too plain to see in Antigua.The format’s rhythms weren’t quite such a mystery to the man who gunned them down, however. Evin Lewis had been absent from West Indies’ ODI plans for more than three years until last weekend, when he announced his second coming with a 61-ball century in Sri Lanka. Now he added a startlingly violent 94 from 69 balls, making light of a two-paced pitch and a stodgy outfield to blaze eight sixes – one for each of the wickets by which his team eventually won. It might even have been nine for nine had he connected properly with the shot that got him out, an inside-out slap to wide long-off, with victory already in the bag.The result had scarcely been in doubt after Gudakesh Motie’s four-wicket haul had wrecked England’s hopes of a competitive total, but the only real challenge to West Indies’ dominance was the rain, which arrived at the end of the 15th over of their chase to briefly raise the prospect of a very unjust washout. West Indies were 81 for 0 by that point – with Lewis himself on 51 – but after an hour-long delay and the loss of 15 overs and 53 runs from the target, the skies cleared sufficiently for justice to be served on a red-raw England line-up featuring no fewer than four debutants.The power and poise of the run-chase was at total odds with the tentative fare that had preceded it. Whereas England had had to wait until the 32nd over of their innings before their stand-in captain Liam Livingstone struck the first of their two sixes on the night, Lewis himself outdid that tally four-fold, having waited just 11 deliveries before hoisting the lively pace of John Turner over the ropes at deep backward square.Gudakesh Motie claimed four wickets including Liam Livingstone•Getty Images

Even when Adil Rashid did him in flight in his second over, Lewis’ commitment to the aggressive option allowed him to find enough hang-time to leave deep midwicket sprawling for his fifth six in the space of 13 overs. He then followed that up by whipping Sam Curran through backward square for his first four of the night, and after bringing up his fifty from 46 balls, he jogged through for one more single before the rain break to reach his 2000th ODI run.Lewis’ sidekick Brandon King offered a more earthbound assessment of the tricky batting conditions, grinding along to 30 from 56 balls as Jofra Archer and Turner, making his long-awaited international bow, repeatedly harassed his outside edge in a lively but unrewarded powerplay gambit. King’s torturous stay might have ended in the first over after the rain delay, but Livingstone’s half-tracker lbw was found to have pitched outside leg. Instead, he fell to perhaps his most emphatic shot of the night – a full-blooded full through a Jacob Bethell long-hop that picked out deep square leg to end a 118-run opening stand.The damage, however, had long since been done, however, leaving Keacy Carty and Shai Hope to wrap up victory with 24.1 overs of their original allocation left unused. Even allowing for the absence of so many key personnel through injury and Test commitments, England’s shortcomings had been glaring in the extreme.After losing the toss and being asked to bat first, their innings was characterised by timid accumulation, reminiscent of their off-colour displays at the 2023 World Cup, interspersed with moments of frustration, with the majority of their wickets falling to misjudged attempts to clear the inner ring. By the 21st over, England were flatlining at 93 for 4, with each of the top four falling for scores between 17 and 27 – none of them at a strike-rate quicker than 82 – as if overawed by the responsibility of batting for more than twice as long as a standard T20 innings.West Indies did bowl with nous from the outset, not least Jayden Seales, who shrugged off a wicketless tour of Sri Lanka earlier this month by claiming both of England’s openers inside his first five overs.The first to fall was Phil Salt, whose third-ball blaze through the covers belied a notably sluggish outfield that would add to the sense of an innings with no momentum, and would ultimately vindicate Lewis’ decision to take the aerial route as much as possible. On 18 from 29 balls, Salt tried just that, but his toe-ended drive was well caught by Alzarri Joseph, running back in the covers, as his innings came to an end inside the powerplay for the 18th time in 23 ODIs.Will Jacks, promoted to opener in the absence of Ben Duckett and the injured Jos Buttler, then produced a near identical knock of 19 from 27, eventually skying an attempted launch off Seales to Motie at mid-on, to leave England neither here nor there at 46 for 2 in the 11th over.Matthew Forde’s lack of extreme pace was scarcely any less effective on a receptive surface that offered grip and bounce to his cutters. Jordan Cox projected confidence at No.3 in the first act of his extended international audition, with the prospect of a Test debut in New Zealand looming next month, but then ruined the impression with a horrid hack to deep third, while Bethell – another Test debutant-in-waiting – looked sparky as he kept the strike rotating, but also fell to an ungainly slog into the covers to hand Forde his second.Only the team’s relative old stagers – Livingstone and his de facto deputy Curran – found the gumption to thrive briefly in a fifth-wicket stand of 72. But their endeavours were derailed by a familiar recent nemesis. Motie’s wily offerings had been instrumental in West Indies’ twin series wins this time last year, and sure enough, he accounted for the senior men – most crucially Livingstone, who had just begun to step up his tempo with a calculated assault on the offspin of Roston Chase.But, after being given a life on 44 as the returning Shimron Hetmyer spilled a simple chance at short midwicket off Chase’s final delivery, Livingstone then popped a return catch back to Motie four runs later. When Curran holed out to long-on for 37, the tail came as meekly as the rest.John Turner, Jordan Cox, Dan Mousley and Jamie Overton show off their maiden ODI caps•Getty Images

Jamie Overton, making his ODI debut, had been singled out for his long-levered ability to hit sixes down the ground, but fell lbw to Motie as he missed a first-ball sweep, while Dan Mousley’s international debut was scarcely any more memorable, though he did at least connect well on the flat pull off Motie that picked out Lewis on the midwicket boundary for 6.Joseph had been expensive in his initial spell – not helped by some lax work in the outfield – but bounced back well with the late wickets of Archer and Rashid, England’s leading ODI run-scorer in this deeply inexperienced squad, who extended that lead by a further 15 runs to drag England’s total past 200. Not even the onset of the Antiguan rain could delay the inevitable for long.

Nottinghamshire took a hefty stride towards safety in Division One of the Vitality County Championship by reaching 393 for 6 at stumps after a dominant first day against Kent at Canterbury.Openers Ben Slater and Haseeb Hameed demoralised the division’s basement side with a stand of 196 for the first wicket: Slater made 160 from 217 balls, with 22 fours, while Hameed made a more pedestrian 56 from 142.Jack Haynes then inflicted further punishment with 62 and Nottinghamshire, who began the day in eighth, were aided by a total of 37 extras, 30 of which came from no-balls.Games at the Spitfire Ground have followed a pattern for Kent fans this season: a slow erosion of hope during the first innings before despair sets in during the second; there’s admirable but futile resistance in the third and then defeat in the fourth, if it goes that far.Last week’s trend-bucking draw with Hampshire at least allowed members a micro-measure of optimism going into this “48-pointer”, but even that had gone within the first half hour. In a pivotal game for both sides’ chances of staying in the division, Kent chose to bowl, only for Notts to race to 50 in just 53 balls.Kent handed a home debut to Akeem Jordan, but his first three overs went for 36 and he was replaced at the Pavilion End by Nathan Gilchrist.Slater was on 41 when he slashed at George Garrett, only for Jack Leaning to drop him at second slip and his 50 came after a misfield from Jordan. It was 134 for 0 at lunch, and the afternoon was only slightly less lopsided. Slater cracked Gilchrist through point for four to reach three figures and Hameed steered Jordan through third man to bring up his 50, before their stand was finally ended when Joey Evison bowled the latter.Freddie McCann then walked after he edged Gilchrist to Leaning for 8, although replays suggested it may not have carried, and Joe Clarke went for 18 when he pulled George Garrett to Gilchrist at deep fine leg, leaving Notts on 271 for 3 at tea.Leaning had Slater caught at first slip by Tawanda Muyeye but Haynes and Lyndon James responded with a partnership of 60 before Haynes was caught off a bottom edge by Muyeye off Gilchrist.James then fell to Jordan for 34 in the penultimate over, given out caught by Muyeye after a lengthy consultation by the umpires, leaving Luke Fletcher and Dane Schadendorf to bat through to stumps on 10 and 8 respectively.

Worcestershire all-rounder Tom Taylor produced a deadly spell with the ball on his way to career-best figures as Warwickshire were forced to follow on in the Vitality County Championship derby at Visit Worcestershire New Road.Taylor picked up five wickets in six overs this morning as Warwickshire were bowled out for 128 in 42.2 overs in their first innings. The 29-year-old finished with 6 for 28 as he surpassed his best figures of 6 for 47 for Leicestershire against Sussex at Hove in April 2019. His morning analysis was 5 for 6 from five overs and Warwickshire lost six wickets for 16 in 9.2 overs after resuming on 112 for 4.Taylor added one more in Warwickshire’s second innings when they followed on 179 runs in arrears to take his tally to 23 wickets in five Championship games for Worcestershire.The visitors provided sterner opposition the second time around, with captain Alex Davies and Will Rhodes both hitting half-centuries. But Matthew Waite, Ethan Brookes and that man Taylor picked up a wicket apiece to leave Warwickshire still eight runs in arrears.Warwickshire resumed 195 in arrears but were quickly plunged into trouble by Taylor’s dynamic wickets burst. The pace bowler had deserved a greater reward than one wicket for his efforts on the second day but quickly made an impact on the third morning.His second delivery accounted for Hamza Shaikh who pushed forward and was taken by keeper Gareth Roderick away to his right. Michael Burgess fenced at a Taylor delivery and Brookes held onto the chance at second slip.Taylor then struck with the first two deliveries of his third over of the morning to complete his five-for. Danny Briggs was LBW after attempting to work to leg and then Michael Rae was beaten all ends up and bowled. Taylor then had figures for 5 for 27 and had taken four wickets in the space of 13 balls.Oliver Hannon-Dalby was yorked by Taylor to complete his career-best performance, and then Logan van Beek wrapped up the innings as Ed Barnard holed out to club captain Brett D’Oliveira at deep midwicket.D’Oliveira enforced the follow on with van Beek and Matthew Waite sharing the new ball. Waite picked up the wicket in his first over of Rob Yates who was beaten by an in-swinging delivery and plumb LBW.There was still enough in the pitch to encourage the seam bowlers but Alex Davies, who yesterday became the first player to score 1,000 Division One runs this summer, and Will Rhodes provided determined resistance.Young pace bowler Jack Home was on the receiving end of some fine stroke-play from Davies, conceding three successive fours to the Warwickshire captain during a spell costing 41 runs. Davies completed a 73-ball half century with nine fours and a six and also brought up the 100 in the 27th over.The century partnership spanned 162 deliveries and was worth 115 in total when Ethan Brookes accounted for Davies in similar fashion to the first innings. Davies tried to steer the ball square on the offside but it nipped back sharply and he only succeeded in playing onto his stumps for the second time in the gameBrookes delivered an excellent post-lunch spell of 1 for 5 from seven overs, including four maidens, before Rhodes brought up his half-century from 117 balls with seven boundaries.But Taylor came back into the attack after tea and his fourth delivery accounted for Sam Hain, who aimed a blow to the on side and was leg before to a full length ball shortly before the heavens opened.

In-form Dom Sibley’s second hundred in three matches spurred Surrey to end a run of five straight defeats with their first Metro Bank One-Day Cup victory of the season, dealing a blow to Leicestershire’s hopes of qualifying for the knock-out stages.Sibley followed his 149 against Warwickshire and 72 versus Nottinghamshire with 105, sharing stands of 138 for the first wicket with Ryan Patel (72) and 111 for the second with Ben Geddes (61) as Surrey totalled 296 for 6. It proved enough despite losing five wickets in the last eight overs.The Foxes were given a chance as opener Sol Budinger maintained his place as the competition’s leading run scorer by hitting 70 from 68 balls and Tom Scriven’s career-best 55 raised hopes of a gripping finish for a crowd of almost 1,400 but ultimately proved in vain, leg-spinner Cameron Steel taking 3 for 48 for the victors.All-rounders Ian Holland, with 2 for 50, and Scriven, with 2 for 51, were the pick of the Foxes bowlers, with 19-year-old seamer Sam Wood taking 1 for 34 on his List A debut.If the Foxes finished well with the ball, the start provided by Sibley and Patel with the bat was comfortably Surrey’s best of the season.Asked to bat first on an overcast morning, Surrey were 51 without loss from 10 overs and were 125 for nothing by halfway, Sibley having gone to fifty from 59 balls with Patel reaching his from 72.Patel suffered an unlucky dismissal. Shaping to hook the tall Wood, he seemed to be hit on the shoulder before the ball deflected off his helmet on to the stumps.Geddes maintained Surrey’s positive start. Dropped by Chris Wright at fine leg on 35 off Liam Trevaskis, he cashed in to the tune of 26 more runs before falling to a catch at deep midwicket off Roman Walker.Sibley had gone to his hundred from 115 balls in the 42nd over with his 11th four but soon miscued to long-off, giving Scriven wickets in consecutive overs after Rory Burns was bowled sweeping.Holland then had Josh Blake caught at backward point and 19-year-old Surrey debutant Ollie Sykes at long-on, a fifth wicket to fall in seven overs with Surrey slipping from 249 for 1 to 286 to 6.The Foxes’ chase suffered a double stumble to leave them 49 for 2 from 10 after Holland picked out deep backward square off James Taylor and Lewis Hill was caught behind off Conor McKerr.Ajinkya Rahane had an escape when he was spilled at cover on four off McKerr, which was beginning to look like an expensive drop by Steel as he and Budinger began to accelerate, the latter passing fifty for the fourth time in five innings, the run including 120 against Essex at Chelmsford. But Rahane could make only 27 before he was caught at midwicket off Patel, the ball perhaps sticking in the pitch a little.Budinger and Peter Handscomb shared a match-winning 113-run partnership against Essex on this ground last year but could add only 48 this time before Budinger holed out to deep midwicket.It felt like a significant moment at 142 for 4 in the 26th, one that was amplified two overs later as Handscomb hit straight to cover, both batters falling to Steel.Trevaskis was bowled by left-arm spinner Yousef Majid and Cox fell leg-before to McKerr. Scriven’s 45-run eighth-wicket stand with Wood, stumped off Steel for 22, kept the contest alive, Scriven hitting two sixes, but 20 off Taylor in the last over was always unlikely and the match ended with Scriven falling to a stunning catch by Patel at backward point as Leicestershire were all out for 279.With three wins from five, qualification for the knock-out stages is still possible, although Group B leaders Warwickshire and Glamorgan both have five wins from five.Both sides wore black armbands and a minute’s silence was observed at the start of the match as the cricket world mourns the loss of great England and Surrey servant Graham Thorpe.

India captain Rohit Sharma lauded his team’s calmness under pressure as they beat England in the T20 World 2024 semi-final comprehensively to secure a third straight ICC final across formats. On Saturday, India will play South Africa to try and break their 11-year trophy drought at a world event.”We’ve been very calm as a team,” Rohit said after India’s 68-run win in Georgetown on Thursday afternoon. “We do understand the occasion [of a final], but for us, it’s important to keep calm and composed.”That helps us make good decisions. We need to make good decisions through the 40 overs. In this game too, we were steady and calm, and didn’t panic too much. That has been the key for us. Yes, we do understand the occasion is important, but we need to play good cricket as well.”Related

• Axar's powerplay plan: Make it difficult for England 'without doing anything extraordinary'

• Stagnant England endure a pasting that had been in the post since Adelaide

• 'Outplayed' Buttler wishes he had bowled Moeen on turning Providence pitch

• Rohit, Axar and Kuldeep lead India's dismantling of England in semi-final

• Eng vs Ind Highlights – Rohit, Axar and Kuldeep put India in the final

Rohit termed the win over England as “very satisfying”, especially given this contest was a repeat of the T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final. Then, in Adelaide, India crashed to a ten-wicket defeat as Jos Buttler and Alex Hales made light work of England’s 169-run target.Two years on, it was India’s spinners who turned the tables on England on what was a slow, low turner where Rohit laid down the marker to help India post 171 for 7, which he felt was well above par.”Yeah, it’s very satisfying to win this game,” Rohit said. “We’ve worked really hard to come to this stage, and to win the game like that was a great effort from everyone. I thought we played to the conditions really well; that’s been the success story for us so far. If bowlers and batters understand and play according to the conditions, things fall in place. It’s very pleasing how we came through.”Rohit top scored in the game with 57 off 39 balls, but the conditions were tough. A spell of rain eight overs into the game added to his challenge of kicking India’s innings into gear with Suryakumar Yadav. The pair added 73 in just 8.2 overs to give India a chance to aim for a competitive score.”At one stage, we were feeling 140-150 was a good score as the game went on,” Rohit said. “Then we got some runs in the middle, me and Surya got that partnership, and then we said, ‘Okay another 25 more’. I can set a target in my mind but I don’t want to let anyone know about it. They’re all instinctive players, so I want them to go out and play freely without thinking about the par score. We know when we understand the conditions well, we will get to a good score; [and] that’s what happened, and the bowlers were fantastic.”Kuldeep Yadav picked three wickets as India outplayed England•ICC/Getty Images

Rohit was effusive in his praise for the Indian spinners who applied the brakes on England. Axar Patel started England’s slide by dismissing Buttler off his very first delivery in the fourth over, and then had Jonny Bairstow with an arm-ball in his second. He finished with 3 for 23 off his four overs to walk away with the Player-of-the-Match award.Axar was complemented by Kuldeep Yadav, who also was magnificent. His dismissal of Harry Brook after being reverse swept was particularly noteworthy because of the subtle change in his line of attack. Kuldeep, like Axar, also picked up three wickets.”They are gun spinners,” Rohit said. “When conditions are like that in front of them, it’s very difficult to play some shots. Yes, the pressure is on them to execute those balls, but they were very calm and knew what to bowl. We had a chat after the first innings: the plan was to hit the stumps as much as possible and keep the stumps in play, [and] that’s what they did.”Amid the cheer, Rohit also backed Virat Kohli to come out of his string of low scores in this T20 World Cup. Kohli was dismissed for 9 on Thursday as he was clean bowled by Reece Topley looking to slog one over the leg-side boundary. Kohli has so far aggregated 75 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 100 this World Cup.”Look, he’s a quality player, and you can go through that,” Rohit said. “We understand his class and importance in big games. Form is never a player when you’ve played for 15 years. He’s looking good, the intent is there, [and] probably he’s saving himself for the final.”Speaking to Star Sports, coach Rahul Dravid also backed Kohli while saying he was loving the “intent” and “attitude” the opening batter was showing.”You know with Virat, the thing is, when you play a slightly high-risk brand of cricket there can be times when it doesn’t come off. Even today, I thought he hit a really good six to set the tempo but he was just unlucky that the ball seamed a little bit more. But I love the intent, I love the way he went about doing it. It sets a good example for the group as well if he’s willing to do it. And you know, for some reason, I don’t want to jinx it but I think there’s a big one coming up. I’m just loving his attitude and that he’s committing himself on the field – I think he deserves it.”