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Australia A 215 for 5 (Voll 137*, Villiers 3-28) beat England A 214 for 9 (Scrivens 43, Armitage 43, Ginger 5-35) by five wicketsGeorgia Voll continued her rapid rise with an unbeaten century for Australia A against their England counterparts, as her side secured a comfortable five-wicket win in the opening encounter of their three-match 50-over series at Cricket Central in Sydney.Voll, 21, missed the recent T20I leg of the tour – which England A won 1-0, after victory in the opening match followed by two wash-outs – as she was playing for Australia’s senior team in New Zealand, where she returned scores of 50, 36 and 75 in their three T20I victories.And having made her Test debut in Australia’s whitewash-sealing innings win against Heather Knight’s team in Melbourne in February, Voll continued her winning ways with a commanding innings of 137 not out from 122 balls, as England’s sub-par total of 214 for 9 was hunted down with 53 balls remaining.England A won the toss and chose to bat first, making a very solid start, particularly through Grace Scrivens and Hollie Armitage, who have shared the captaincy on the tour to date and who both made 43 from 59 balls. Earlier, Seren Smale had helped add 61 for the first wicket with Scrivens, and at 98 for 1 in the 21st over, England were on course for a competitive total.However, Queensland allrounder Sianna Ginger stepped up with a five-wicket haul to instigate a familiar subsidence from England’s lower-order. with the key wickets of Armitage and Bess Heath in the same over. Ella Hayward also claimed two wickets in two balls, as Mady Villiers was bowled immediately after Alice Capsey had fallen for 24.England’s bowlers put up a fight initially, with Australia wobbling early on 22 for 2. However, Voll found a solid ally in Charli Knott, who made 33 in a third-wicket stand of 91, before proving a cut above with 13 fours and a six in her unbeaten innings.Villiers atoned for her golden duck with figures of 3 for 28 in six overs, as England briefly threatened to rally at 125 for 5. But Tess Flintoff provided a powerful finish to the chase with 29 not out from 32 balls.The second match of the 50-over series will take place at the same venue on Friday.

Allrounder Michael Bracewell will captain a different looking New Zealand T20I squad for the five-game series against Pakistan at home that starts on March 16. Seven members of New Zealand’s silver-medal winning Champions Trophy squad have been selected for the series while those with IPL commitments were not considered.The series will mark Bracewell’s second series as New Zealand captain, having led the side during the tour of Pakistan in April 2024.”Mitch Santner’s done a great job since taking over as white-ball captain and I’ll really just be trying to build on his good work and create an enjoyable environment for the guys to perform in,” Bracewell said in an NZC statement. “Pakistan are always a dangerous short-form side with lots of power and pace and we know they’ll be hurting after an early exit in the Champions Trophy.”Among the players selected for the series are Ben Sears, the fast bowler who has recovered from his hamstring injury, and Ish Sodhi, who missed the recent home series against Sri Lanka. Kyle Jamieson and Will O’Rourke have been included for the first three games only, with the selectors managing the workloads of the pacers from the Champions Trophy.In a glance: New Zealand’s T20I squad for home series against Pakistan•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Matt Henry, who injured his shoulder in the Champions Trophy semi-final, has been selected for the last two T20Is – subject to fitness – while Finn Allen, James Neesham and Tim Seifert have also been included after confirming their availability, if selected, for the build-up series to the 2026 T20 World Cup.Daryl Mitchell and Mark Chapman will have a bigger responsibility with the bat as Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra and Glenn Phillips are all unavailable due to the IPL. Lockie Ferguson and Santner will also miss the series with the IPL starting March 22. Kane Williamson opted out of selection; he has PSL commitments, starting from April 11, with Karachi Kings.From the recent series against Sri Lanka, top-order batter Tim Robinson, fast bowler Zakary Foulkes (only last two games) and wicketkeeper Mitchell Hay are in the squad.”We’re certainly starting to narrow our sights on the ICC T20 World Cup in India next February and March,” selector Sam Wells said. “Half of this squad is only returning from the Champions Trophy on Wednesday and so we’re going to need to manage those players really carefully.”The Pakistan series will provide an opportunity for all players to put their best foot forward and push their case for selection in the 15-player squad for next year’s major global tournament.”Each game of the five-match series will be played as a double-header with New Zealand Women facing Sri Lanka and Australia on the same day at the same venue.

New Zealand squad T20Is against Pakistan

Michael Bracewell (capt), Finn Allen, Mark Chapman, Jacob Duffy, Zakary Foulkes (games 4 & 5), Mitchell Hay, Matt Henry (games 4 & 5), Kyle Jamieson (games 1, 2 & 3), Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Will O’Rourke (games 1, 2 & 3), Tim Robinson, Ben Sears, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi

There was scrutiny around India’s move to bring on Harshit Rana as a concussion substitute for Shivam Dube during the fourth T20I against England, with England captain Jos Buttler saying after the match that this did not fit the definition of a like-for-like replacement. The television commentators who were on air at the time of the substitution – Kevin Pietersen and Nick Knight – had also questioned the swap. Dube did not take the field in the chase, after taking a blow on the helmet on his way to 53 off 34 balls.”It is not a like-for-like replacement. We don’t agree with that,” Buttler said after India completed a 15-run win. “Either Shivam Dube has put on about 25mph with the ball or Harshit has really improved his batting. It’s part of the game and we really should have gone on to win the match, but we disagree with the decision.”There was no consultation [with us]. That’s something I was thinking as I came out to bat – who is Harshit on for? They said he is a concussion replacement, which I obviously disagreed with. It is not a like-for-like replacement. They said that the match referee had made the decision. We had no say in it or any part of it. But we’ll ask Javagal [Srinath] some questions just to get some clarity around it.Related

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“Like I said, it was not the whole reason why we did not win the match. We had our chances to win the game which we could have still taken. But I’d like to have a bit more clarity on that.”As per the ICC’s playing conditions for men’s T20Is, “The ICC Match Referee should ordinarily approve a Concussion Replacement Request if the replacement is a like-for-like player whose inclusion will not excessively advantage his/her team for the remainder of the match. In assessing whether the nominated Concussion Replacement should be considered a like-for-like player, the ICC Match Referee should consider the likely role the concussed player would have played during the remainder of the match, and the normal role that would be performed by the nominated Concussion Replacement.”Dube scored a half-century after walking in at 57 for 4 and stitched an 87-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Hardik Pandya. It allowed India to post 181 for 9. On the penultimate ball of the innings, Dube was hit on the helmet by Jamie Overton’s 141.5kph bumper.India had batting allrounder Ramandeep Singh on the bench, who might have better fit the definition of a like-for-like replacement for Dube. For a short while, Ramandeep came on as a substitute for Varun Chakravarthy.3:48

How allrounders test the limits of concussion sub rules

“He [Rana] is not the like-to-like replacement for Shivam Dube,” Pietersen had said on air. “You ask anyone in the world, and they will say the same thing. Dube is not a genuine pacer, but Rana is.” Knight also echoed these thoughts.India’s assistant coach Morne Morkel said: “Shivam came off the field in the innings break with mild headache symptoms. We took a name forward to the match referee in terms of a suitable substitution, and from there it is up to the match referee to make the decision. When the decision was made, Harshit was having dinner. So we had to get him ready as quickly as possible to go on the field and bowl.”It goes to the powers above me – match referee makes the decision. We can only take the name forward and from there it is out of our hands.”Rana, who was playing his first T20I, was brought into the attack in the 12th over and he struck with his second ball. He got a short-of-good-length ball to bounce extra to take the outside edge of Liam Livingstone, who had looked to guide it through third. Rana bowled his full quota of overs and picked up three wickets. He also was at short third to catch out England captain Jos Buttler, who walked back fuming and had a few words with head coach Brendon McCullum, perhaps regarding the approval of Rana as the concussion substitute.”Two overs into the chase, I was told [about being the concussion substitute],” Rana said after the match. “I have been preparing for a while, not just for this series. I have been waiting for this moment [his debut] to prove myself. When I got the chance, I did not think of the circumstances and just thought about delivering. I have experience of bowling at the death [for KKR in the IPL] and relied on that.”

The winds came howling into Wellington off the Cook Strait but they were only blowing one way. England rolled through New Zealand inside three days at Basin Reserve to secure their first Test series win in the country since 2007-08. They were buffeted by a blistering hundred from Tom Blundell but could not be knocked off course.New Zealand had two notional targets: score 583 to win or survive almost nine sessions for a draw. Neither was a hot ticket, especially after they had shipped four wickets inside the first 14 overs of their innings. The card was given some respectability by Blundell’s counterattack, although it didn’t make much of a dent in the margin of victory. New Zealand’s next-highest score was the 42 contributed by Nathan Smith at No. 8.Sitting on an already formidable lead, England made a brief show of batting on, thereby enabling Joe Root to notch his 36th Test hundred, before getting down to the business of bowling out New Zealand for a second time. Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse made the initial incisions, before Ben Stokes himself finished things off with a trio of short-ball dismissals against the tail.The main resistance came from Blundell, who crashed 13 fours and five sixes in an innings that might have borne comparison with Nathan Astle’s famous 2002 Christchurch assault had he sustained it for another hour. Shoaib Bashir came in for severe punishment but was the bowler to eventually see Blundell off, albeit plenty of credit should go to Ben Duckett, who anticipated Blundell’s attempt to scoop and ran around from slip to intercept it down the leg side at the second attempt, after palming the ball up.New Zealand had been 59 for 4 when rain took the players off for an early lunch, and Blundell might have been dismissed third ball after the resumption. Jacob Bethell, at third slip, was unable to cling on to a thick outside edge off Carse, and Blundell was rock solid from that point on, initially in a steadfast partnership with Daryl Mitchell and then with increased abandon as he and Smith slammed 96 from 82 balls.Blundell’s fifth Test hundred, raised from 96 balls shortly after the tea interval, may not have altered the result but it was still a significant personal milestone, coming after a 22-month period in which he had averaged 13.52 from 14 Tests, with one half-century.Ben Stokes picked up three wickets to hasten the end•Getty Images

His dismissal, Bashir’s second wicket after that of Glenn Phillips during the afternoon session, was the cue for New Zealand to run up the white flag. Matt Henry launched Stokes’ fourth ball into the hands of the diving Bethell at deep midwicket, before Smith gloved a pull behind and Tim Southee, in his last Test appearance at Basin Reserve, fell swinging to leg.By that stage, England were content to wait for victory to fall their way – but they had begun the day in a hurry, Root gamboling to his hundred before Stokes’ declaration gave them time to knock over New Zealand’s top four before lunch.No team had successfully chased down more than 418 in the fourth innings of a Test – in fact, only in the timeless Durban Test of 1939 have more runs been scored, regardless of the result. That there was still the better part of three full days left in this game underlined the scale of the challenge for New Zealand.That only increased as Woakes, bowling into the wind, struck with his seventh delivery. Devon Conway perhaps made it look better than it was, leaving a big gap between bat and pad, but there was much to admire about Woakes’ wobble-seam nip-backer that kissed the top of off. Woakes then claimed the prize scalp of Kane Williamson with one that kicked up and left the New Zealand No. 3 for a thin edge through to Ollie Pope.Tom Latham fell to Carse, plunging acrobatically to his right in his follow through to hold a return catch off a leading edge. Mitchell responded with a salvo of boundaries before Carse had Rachin Ravindra edging behind trying to force a cut, the batter looking to the skies as the rain began to fall.England had resumed in an unprecedented position of comfort, sitting on a record second-innings advantage of 533 after two days of play. There was time to play for milestones, although only 6.1 overs were needed for Root to get to his hundred; Stokes then walked off with an unbeaten 49 to his name.Root’s innings had been a serene affair, but he went to three figures in somewhat ungainly fashion, tumbling over on to his backside while attempting his infamous reverse-ramp. Fortunately there was enough contact with his gloved hand for the ball to clear Blundell and bounce away for four, allowing Root to celebrate with an impudent smile. He was caught behind two balls later, at which point he and Stokes charged off and the main event could begin.

Pune is preparing to roll out a bald, low-bounce black-soil pitch to negate New Zealand’s seamers, who had set up their first Test win in India in 36 years in Bengaluru, but the visitors aren’t too fussed about it, according to Daryl Mitchell. After New Zealand finished their first practice session by noon on Tuesday, the groundstaff cut some amount of grass off the pitch and it might be shaved bare on the eve of the second Test.”One thing we can’t do is we can’t change the surface,” Mitchell said two days out of the Pune Test. “So for us, it’s reacting to what’s coming at us and adapting on the fly. We as Kiwis, that’s what we pride ourselves on, we get stuck into the moment, we stay where our feet are and we be as present as possible. We can’t change the wicket. What will be, will be. But I’m sure we’ll come up with a plan and find a way to take 20 wickets and hopefully score a few runs as well.”While Mitchell is often proactive against spin – he is adept at stepping out and also sweeping and reverse-sweeping – he has been searching for some form. Since scoring a century against Sri Lanka at his home ground in Christchurch in March last year, Mitchell has managed only 406 runs in 16 innings at an average of 27.06, which is almost 20 points below his overall average of 46.08 in Test cricket. Mitchell, however, isn’t reading too much into it.Related

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“Look, that’s the nature of the game that we play, especially Test cricket,” he said. “You know, you have little patches where you score a lot of runs and you have patches where I guess you get starts and you want to keep trying to convert. So, look, for me, I just love playing for New Zealand. It means a hell of a lot to pull on that baggy and play Test cricket. And I know that if I keep doing my job for the team, then personal milestones and things like that will take care of themselves.”With Kane Williamson unavailable for the second Test too, as he continues to recover from a groin strain, Will Young is set to keep his place at No.3. He forged an unbroken 75-run partnership with Rachin Ravindra in the fourth innings to settle New Zealand’s small chase of 107 after Jasprit Bumrah had taken out both Tom Latham and Devon Conway in another sensational burst. Mitchell’s Canterbury team-mate Will O’Rourke, who was playing his first Test in India, also made a serious impression by coming away with a match haul of seven wickets, including the first-innings scalp of Virat Kohli. Mitchell hailed their smooth transition from domestic to international cricket.Daryl Mitchell has managed only 406 runs in his last nine Tests•AFP/Getty Images

“Youngie and Rachin have been around our group for a long time even though they haven’t played a lot of cricket,” Mitchell said. “They’ve been able to see how the culture works and how we want to go about playing as Black Caps. And they’ve fitted seamlessly into their roles.”Will O’Rourke, he’s a young talent. He’s from my domestic team back home, so I’ve had to face him plenty of times in the nets and it’s not much fun. So look, he’s a great talent and I’m sure he’ll continue to do amazing thing for New Zealand in the future.”While O’Rourke’s 6’4″ frame – and high release point – has provided New Zealand’s attack a new cutting edge, he is also capable of locating a fuller length and moving the ball both ways at speeds north of 140kph. Mitchell, who has followed O’Rourke’s progress from close quarters, gave his take on why O’Rourke is an awkward bowler to face.”He’s a big unit first of all,” Mitchell said. “He’s tall, he bowls from a height but he also can get the balls to go both ways which is always a challenge especially in Christchurch at Hagley [Oval]. There’s a bit of bounce in those wickets, so as you can imagine it can be quite tough at times. “But yeah look, he’s first of all a great man as well. He doesn’t say a lot but when he does it’s pretty funny and yeah, he’s good to have around.”

Brendon McCullum, England’s coach, said that Ben Stokes is “hurting” after struggling to make an impact in their 2-1 series defeat in Pakistan, but has backed his “tough bugger” captain to return to his best in New Zealand next month.Stokes returned from two months on the sidelines with a torn hamstring ahead of England’s second Test in Multan last week but failed to contribute as Pakistan staged their comeback. He apologised to his players for losing his temper following a string of fielding lapses in the second Test, bowled 10 wicketless overs in the series, and made 53 runs in four innings, with two slapstick dismissals.After England’s nine-wicket defeat in Rawalpindi, Stokes said that the last three weeks had “felt like a very long tour” due to his intense rehabilitation, which McCullum suggested had inhibited his performance both as a batter and as a captain.Related

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“That injury was quite a significant injury,” McCullum said. “He had to work incredibly hard to get back. As the driven athlete he is, he’s all in when he does something. He had to put in a lot of graft there, and subconsciously, it can… not cloud things, but maybe you’re not quite as screwed down as you can be in terms of decision-making.”That’s natural, as long as you learn from that and make sure next time you’re presented with that situation you’re able to block out the noise and stay crystal clear in the moment. He’s disappointed, but he’s our skipper and we know he’s a tough bugger. He’ll make sure he’ll come back and it’s our job to make sure we wrap our arms around him and help him along the way.”The series defeat was only England’s second since Stokes took over from Joe Root as captain two-and-a-half years ago, but both have come in the subcontinent this year. The first, a 4-1 loss in India, prompted McCullum to call for “refinement” ahead of England’s home summer, but this time there is only a short turnaround before their three-match series in New Zealand.Ben Stokes could not exert his usual influence, despite winning the toss in Rawalpindi•Getty Images

McCullum said it would be his own responsibility to ensure that England’s management are consistent in their messaging. “We all know how competitive and driven the skipper is,” he said. “He’ll be hurting right now, with how the series has unfolded. It’s my job to make sure I’m there to support him, and make sure we still remain on-task with what we are trying to do as a collective, and our messaging to the group about how we want to keep playing cricket moving forward.”Sometimes as leaders, if you do suffer a little bit of disappointment yourself, it can be very easy to allow that to permeate through in your messaging to the group. But since Stokesy came on board as captain, he’s been very clear and precise about how he wants his team to play.”What’s really important is to never flinch with that and stay true to it, even if you’re struggling yourself. You’ve still got to keep using the same messaging. He’ll be better for the run, no doubt: a couple of weeks off, freshen up and back to conditions which are a bit more similar to back in England. It’s another opportunity for us.”England have lost six of their eight Tests in Asia this year, and are not due to return to the subcontinent until a two-match series in Bangladesh in February 2027. McCullum said the team would look back with “disappointment” and this tour and that their method in spin-friendly conditions needed to be “a little bit better” than it has been”If we’re being honest with ourselves, we’ve had opportunities to put up a better record than that, so it’s disappointing,” McCullum said. “You don’t get too many opportunities to nail down big series in the subcontinent. We’ve had those chances, and we weren’t quite good enough.”I know we don’t come back to the subcontinent for a couple of years, but there’s still times even in other countries when we’re presented with spinning wickets, and we’ve got to make sure our approach is a little bit more screwed down, a little bit better than it is. That will be some of the conversations we have.”It’s a matter of trying to get that environment to a place where it’s confident, it’s clear and the messaging is very simple. With failure, sometimes it brings about a little bit of deeper thought and that’s something we’ll have to do over the next little while.”We’ve also got a very quick turnaround for the New Zealand series, but we have to make sure we’ve learned some lessons from this and be better when we get the chance. That’s the nice thing: we do get an opportunity, and it would be nice to bounce back in New Zealand.”

Keep up to date with all the movements around the counties as preparations are made for the 2024 seasonDerbyshireIN: Martin Andersson (Middlesex)
OUT: Sam Conners (Durham)
OVERSEAS: Caleb Jewell, Blair Tickner, AM Ghazanfar (T20)DurhamIN: Emilio Gay (Northants), Will Rhodes (Warwickshire), Sam Conners (Derbyshire)
OUT: Michael Jones (Lancashire), Jonathan Bushnell, Brandon Glover, Oliver Gibson (all released)
OVERSEAS: David Bedingham, Brendan Doggett (April-May), Zak Foulkes (T20)EssexIN:
OUT: Ben Allison (Worcestershire), Feroze Khushi (released), Aaron Beard (retired)
OVERSEAS: Simon HarmerRelated

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GlamorganIN: Ned Leonard (Somerset)
OUT: Harry Podmore, Prem Sisodiya (both retired)
OVERSEAS: Colin Ingram, Asitha Fernando (April-May)GloucestershireIN:
OUT: Zafar Gohar
OVERSEAS: Cameron Bancroft, Cameron Green (April-May)HampshireIN: Sonny Baker (Somerset), Mark Stoneman (Middlesex)
OUT: Ian Holland (Leicestershire)
OVERSEAS: Kyle Abbott, Jack Edwards (April-May), Lhuan-dre Pretorius (T20), Dewald Brevis (May-July)KentIN: Chris Benjamin (Warwickshire)
OUT: Hamidullah Qadri, Arafat Bhuiyan (both released)
OVERSEAS: Wes Agar (May-July), Tom Rogers (T20), Kashif Ali, Keith Dudgeon (both April-May)LancashireIN: Michael Jones (Durham)
OUT: Steven Croft (retired), George Lavelle (released)
OVERSEAS: Marcus Harris, Anderson Phillip (April-July), Chris Green (T20), Ashton Turner (May-July)LeicestershireIN: Ian Holland (Hampshire)
OUT: Sam Evans (released)
OVERSEAS: Peter Handscomb, Logan van Beek, Shan Masood (May-Sept)MiddlesexIN: Ben Geddes (Surrey), Zafar Gohar (Gloucestershire, UK passport)
OUT: Martin Andersson (Derbyshire), Ethan Bamber (Warwickshire), Mark Stoneman (Hampshire), Thilan Walallawita (released), Robbie White (retired)
OVERSEAS: Kane Williamson (May-Sept), Dane Paterson (April-May), Josh Little (May-Sept)NorthamptonshireIN: Dom Leech (Yorkshire), Liam Guthrie (Queensland, UK passport)
OUT: Emilio Gay (Durham), Jack White (Yorkshire), Alex Russell, George Gowler, George Weldon (all released)
OVERSEAS: Matthew Breetzke (April-July), Harry Conway (May), Ashton Agar (T20), Yuzvendra Chahal (June-Sept)NottinghamshireIN: Conor McKerr (Surrey)
OUT: Fateh Singh (Worcestershire), Luke Fletcher (released), Tom Loten, Toby Pettman (both retired), Alex Hales (retired from domestic white-ball)
OVERSEAS: Kyle Verreynne, Fergus O’Neil (April), Mohammad Abbas (May & September), Daniel Sams (T20), Moises Henriques (T20)SomersetIN:
OUT: Sonny Baker (Hampshire), Ned Leonard (Glamorgan), George Thomas (Sussex), Roelof van der Merwe (released)
OVERSEAS: Riley Meredith (T20), Matt Henry (April-June), Migael PretoriusSurreyIN: Matthew Fisher (Yorkshire)
OUT: Conor McKerr (Nottinghamshire), Ben Geddes (Middlesex), Amar Virdi (released)
OVERSEAS: Kemar Roach (April), Nathan Smith (May-Sept), Mitchell Santner (T20)SussexIN: George Thomas (Somerset)
OUT:
OVERSEAS: Daniel Hughes, Jayden Seales (April-May), Nathan McAndrew (June-July), Gurinder Sandhu (June-July), Jaydev Unadkat (Sept)WarwickshireIN: Ethan Bamber (Middlesex)
OUT: Will Rhodes (Durham), Chris Benjamin (Kent), Liam Norwell, Michael Burgess (both retired)
OVERSEAS: Tom Latham, Beau Webster (May-July), Hasan Ali (May-September), Vishwa Fernando (April)WorcestershireIN: Ben Allison (Essex), Fateh Singh (Nottinghamshire)
OUT: Joe Leach, Josh Cobb (both retired)
OVERSEAS: Jacob Duffy (April-June), Ben Dwarshuis (T20)YorkshireIN: Jack White (Northamptonshire)
OUT: Matthew Fisher (Surrey), Dom Leech (Northamptonshire), Mickey Edwards (retired)
OVERSEAS: Will Sutherland (May-July), Will O’Rourke (T20), Ben Sears

Glamorgan 247 for 9 (Douthwaite 55, Ingram 47, Root 46, Barnard 4-34) beat Warwickshire 208 (Burgess 85, McIlroy 3-42) by 39 runsDan Douthwaite turned into a matchwinner with both bat and ball as he guided Glamorgan into the Metro Bank One-Day Cup final at Trent Bridge next month with a 39-run victory over Warwickshire at Sophia Gardens.It was his lusty batting that first caught the eye as he hauled the home side through to a 50-over total of 247 for 9 after they had earlier been floundering at 44 for 4 in the 15th over. He hit four sixes – one out of the ground and into the River Taff – in his sparkling 55, hitting 16 off the final over from Oliver Hannon-Dalby.Prior to that Colin Ingram (47) and Billy Root (46) had steadied the innings. Then Douthwaite got into his bowling rhythm and removed Chris Benjamin and Kai Smith to catches at the wicket by Will Samile as he reduced the visitors to 62 for 6 in reply in the 21st over. They were eventually all out for 208.Timm van der Gugten, who had earlier scored 26 with the bat, picked up the wickets of Rob Yates (4) and Will Rhodes (4), while fellow paceman Jamie McIlroy got rid of the dangerous Ed Barnard (14) and Hamza Shaikh (8).Tight bowling and energetic fielding by the home side turned the screw on Warwickshire as the run-rate climbed to more than seven per over in the 26th over. The 100 came up in the 32nd over as the rate rose to more than eight per over.Michael Burgess was the only batter to provide some solid resistance in the middle order and he reached his half-century with a six off the spin of Ingram. He obviously enjoyed the experience as he hit the next two over the boundary for maximums.His seventh wicket stand with Jake Lintott reaped 87 runs and his 85 contained four sixes and six fours. His departure, caught at mid off by Douthwaite off the bowling of the returning McIlroy, left Warwickshire at 149 for 7 – still 99 short of their target with 11 overs to go.When Lintott was caught off a reverse sweep of the bowling of Ben Kellaway for 26 the game was up. There were a few big hits in defiance at the death – Michael Booth hit three sixes – but Warwickshire ended 40 runs short of the victory target.Warwickshire captain Barnard had no hesitation in asking Glamorgan to bat when he won the toss. Playing on the same Sophia Gardens wicket as used for the home side’s win last week over Yorkshire that earned them a straight semi-final tie, Barnard had obviously taken note of the help the pitch had given the seam bowlers in that match.It proved to be a good choice for the seam attack that he led. Opening the bowling and running straight through his allotted 10 overs, the visiting skipper ripped through Glamorgan’s top order and ended with 4 for 34 in his top-class spell.Three of his victims were caught in the slips by Rob Yates – Asa Tribe (13), Kiran Carlson (2) and Will Smale (13) – and he trapped Sam Northeast (8) lbw. That reduced the home side to 4 for 44 in the 15th over and he could have had a fifth wicket had Yates not put down an easy chance Colin Ingram in the 17th over.At that stage the Ingram had only scored 18 and he went on to notch 47 before he was fifth out, trapped lbw by Michael Rae. Ingram steadied what looked like being a sinking ship in tandem with Billy Root as they put on 46 for the fifth wicket.Building on his midweek half-century in the win over Yorkshire Vikings, Root five fours in his 46, sharing in invaluable stands of 55 with Ben Kellaway and then 22 with Douthwaite before his departure in the 40th over made it 167 for 7.At that stage Warwickshire must have been hoping to mop up the tail quite quickly, but Douthwaite, van der Gugten and Andy Gorvin had other ideas. Between them they conjured up 92 runs as they plundered 79 off the last 10 overs to set the visitors a target of 248.Douthwaite ended on 55 and thumped four enormous sixes and four fours as he took 15 and then 17 off the final two overs. That meant the Welsh side at least had some sort of total to defend – which they managed to do with a few overs to spare.

Joe Root says he is sad to see James Anderson retire but understands England’s decision to move on from the legendary fast bowler to plan for the next tour of Australia.Anderson bade farewell to international cricket at Lord’s on Friday, finishing on 704 dismissals as England made light work of West Indies, winning the first Test by an innings and 114 runs. Although retirement was forced upon Anderson, the 41-year-old seemed at peace after his 188th and final cap. He will now take on a bowling mentor role with the team for the next two Tests, and the upcoming series against Sri Lanka.Root has been along for most of the ride, playing 110 Tests with Anderson. He captained Anderson 46 times, the second-most behind Alastair Cook (49). Having debuted in December 2012 at Nagpur with Anderson in the team, Root admitted he will miss his good friend “terribly” on the field.Related

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• England add Mark Wood to Test squad for Trent Bridge

• James Anderson in numbers: How England's greatest got even better

“For me, all I’ve ever known for England is playing alongside Jimmy and that’s been for 12 years,” Root said.”It’s a bit of a weird one, seeing Stuart [Broad] go last year and [now] Jimmy. I’ll terribly miss playing alongside him, but the fact that he’ll be around for the summer will be great for the young bowlers coming through and for us to keep using that experience and everything else he has to offer the dressing room. I’m really pleased that he’s been able to have the send-off that he deserves but also, it’s in some ways, a little bit sad to see him go.”Anderson’s new role will begin next week at Trent Bridge, the first of 17 Tests between now and the 2024-25 Ashes series. That England are looking that far ahead has been a huge point of contention given they currently reside at the foot of the World Test Championship.But the desire to regain the urn since losing it in 2017-18 is great, particularly after last summer’s 2-2 stalemate. The emergence at Lord’s of Gus Atkinson, with 7 for 45 and 5 for 61, and Jamie Smith’s 70 along with four catches as the new wicketkeeper, are the first steps of that future-planning.Root knows better than most about the importance of building towards an Ashes tour. He has lost three in his career, two of them as captain, and remains without a Test win (or century) in Australia. As such, he can see the logic adopted, particularly after a chastening 4-0 defeat in 2021-22 during the Covid-19 pandemic – a series he feels should not have happened in the first place.”Arguably we shouldn’t have gone last time, should we, in retrospect? Thinking of Covid, it was about keeping the lights on last time we went.”It’s a new opportunity for us. We did what we thought was the right thing at the time. We’ll be in a completely different place going into next time. I think the key is, you can plan and you can have all the best intentions of getting a result, it still has to fall into place.Joe Root has spent his entire England career playing alongside James Anderson•PA Photos/Getty Images

“I think, as a player, they’re the series that you’re always looking forward to, they’re the ones you’re always building towards. More than anything, you look at what we’ve had in previous tours in Australia and what we feel like is going to be successful out there in those conditions.”When teams have gone out there what they need for those conditions is someone like Gus that can bowl at the late 80s and early 90s [mph] and still move the ball around and make things happen at high pace. It was great to see him come in and do that on such a slow wicket here.”On the subject of touring Australia, West Indies’ emergence from their trip earlier this year with a 1-1 draw has Root wary of a fightback. A famous win in Brisbane, inspired by Shamar Joseph, speaks to the quality of this touring side, even if they underwhelmed with scores of 121 and 136 on slow Lord’s pitch, in overcast conditions.”We’ve not seen what they’re capable of with the bat yet, and we won’t be taking that for granted and taking that lightly,” he said.”And then when it came to the ball, they’ve got some very skillful bowlers. You only have to look back to January and what they’re capable of doing out in Australia at Brisbane, which is such a hard place to win a Test match.”As for Root, the addition of 34-year-old Mark Wood for the remainder of the series following Anderson’s retirement means he remains the fourth-oldest in the squad. And despite watching Broad and Anderson bow out to great fanfare in successive home Tests, retirement is far from his mind.”Oh here we go,” he answered dismissively when asked if he had thought about his own curtain call. “Not at the minute. I’d like to think I’ll be playing for a good while yet. And when that day comes, I’m sure I’ll figure something out.”You’ve got to earn the right to have that sort of fairytale ending, like the likes of Jimmy, Stuart, Cookie [at the Oval in 2018] have had. My focus purely is on scoring as many runs for this team as I can and helping us win as many games as we can.”Until that focus changes and until that drive changes, then I’ll continue to solely focus on that and we’ll worry about that hopefully a long way down the road.”

Match abandoned without a ball bowled Sri Lanka vs NepalSri Lanka and Nepal came to Lauderhill searching for their first wins, hoping to put their T20 World Cup 2024 on track. However, incessant rain, heavy enough to trigger flash-flood alerts for local residents, left both teams splitting one point apiece. That means Sri Lanka are almost certainly out of Super Eight contention while Nepal’s chances of qualification also take a hit. South Africa, currently Group D toppers, were confirmed a place in the Super Eight.For Sri Lanka to now qualify, they first need the Bangladesh vs Netherlands fixture on June 13 in Kingstown to be a washout, then they need to defeat Netherlands in their last group game on June 16. They also need South Africa to beat Nepal by a big margin on June 14, and then for Nepal to beat Bangladesh by a small margin on June 16.