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Jasprit Bumrah’s 6 for 61 paved the way for India’s seven-wicket win on the second day of the second Test in Cape Town, helping them level the two-match series 1-1.After South Africa were bowled out for 176 in their second innings, India chased down the required 79 runs an hour after lunch. Lasting just 107 overs, this was the shortest Test ever to produce a result. It was also India’s first Test win at Newlands in seven attempts. Mohammed Siraj, who picked up 6 for 15 to skittle out South Africa for 55 in the first innings, was named the Player of the Match.But before all that, Aiden Markram scored a stunning hundred – 106 off 103 balls. It was the first time in Test history that a batter scored a hundred where none of his team-mates reached 20 in either innings; Kyle Verreynne’s 15 in the first innings was the next best for South Africa. Unfortunately for Markram and stand-in captain Dean Elgar, who retires after this Test, it ended in a losing cause.Related

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South Africa didn’t have a great start to the day. Resuming on 62 for 3, they lost a wicket in the first over itself. David Bedingham was looking to be positive and went for an on-the-up drive against Bumrah only to edge it to the wicketkeeper.Verreynne didn’t last long either. Trying to pull Bumrah, he skied one towards mid-on where Mohammed Siraj took the catch. Bumrah completed his five-for when he had Keshav Maharaj caught at gully, leaving South Africa 111 for 7.Markram, though, seemed to be in a different zone altogether and played some stunning shots on this treacherous pitch. Of his 106 runs, 47 came in the arc between backward point and extra cover. Whenever the India seamers pitched the ball slightly full, he brought out the cover drive. When it was on the shorter side, he got on the top of the bounce and punched it through cover-point, forcing India to put a sweeper cover in place.Markram reached his fifty off 68 balls, and took just 31 more to reach his seventh Test hundred. En route, he smashed Prasidh Krishna for two sixes and two fours in a 20-run over. He and Kagiso Rabada added 51 for the eighth wicket; Rabada’s contribution was 2.He also enjoyed a slice of luck when KL Rahul dropped him off Bumrah on 73. Eventually, it was Siraj who sent Markram back when, going for yet another big hit, the batter holed out to long-off.Rabada fell in the next over, and 14 runs later, the innings came to an end.Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal knew they needed to attack straightaway to deny South Africa a sniff. Not many shots came from the middle of the bat, but they had added 44 in 5.4 overs when Nandre Burger removed Jaiswal. Trying to pull a short ball, Jaiswal slipped and his pad brushed the stumps. While the bails didn’t come off, he was caught at deep-backward square leg.Shubman Gill became a victim of low bounce, and Virat Kohli was caught down the leg side, before Shreyas Iyer hit the winning four.

Riyan Parag’s promotion to No. 4 is paying dividends for Rajasthan Royals. It’s a position familiar to 22-year-old Parag, who topped the run-scoring charts – with 510 runs at an average of 85 and strike rate of 182.79 – in the latest edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He has carried that form into IPL 2024.Coming into the game against Mumbai Indians on Monday on the back of a 29-ball 43 and an unbeaten 45-ball 84, Parag, with Royals in just a bit of trouble at 42 for 2 chasing 126, kept his calm and took them over the line with an unbeaten 39-ball 54. With 181 runs in three innings, he also became the joint-highest run-getter in IPL 2024 along with Virat Kohli, but ahead on the list because of a superior strike rate.Related

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“When I play domestically, this is the exact type of situation I go in to bat,” Parag told the host broadcaster after the game. “When Jos [Buttler] got out and Ash [R Ashwin] got out a little after, I was like ‘this is what I do, this is what I’ve been doing for the last six months playing domestic cricket’. So it was pretty simple to calculate everything.”Royals had restricted Mumbai Indians to 125 for 9 but were rocked early by Kwena Maphaka and Akash Madhwal. But Parag carried on unfazed and stitched a 40-run stand with Ashwin to calm down the camp.Parag had been used primarily as a finisher by Royals in the past, and his returns had been patchy.”I have had three to four years of not performing at all,” Parag said. “And you really go back to your hotel room and you think… that when you know you can do something and the performances are not coming, you get back to the drawing [board]. I tried finding what was wrong, and I figured out that I was not practicing at this level enough.”So I went back after the [last] season and practised very hard, and I think that’s showing now. I’ve practiced [against] these types of quick balls and these kinds of scenarios a lot, hence the performances.”

Liam Dawson has conceded that his ambitions as a Test cricketer are at an end after missing England’s tour of India this winter, saying that he was happy with his decision to prioritise commitments in overseas T20 leagues rather than potentially wind up running the drinks again as an unused squad member.Dawson, who won the last of his three Test caps in 2017, was the leading English spinner in last year’s County Championship, taking 49 wickets at 20.00 – in addition to scoring 840 runs – but was not included in the group to take on India. He had previously indicated that he would have to weigh up whether to accept an England call, having agreed a lucrative contract to play for Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SA20, a tournament that clashed directly with the start of the Test tour, and in which he ended up lifting the trophy.England instead selected the uncapped pair of Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir alongside Rehan Ahmed, with one Test appearance to his name, and the experienced Jack Leach. Hartley went on to be England’s leading wicket-taker on tour, with 22 at 36.13, while Bashir claimed the first two five-wicket hauls of his first-class career to finish with 17 at 33.35. Even with Leach ruled out due to injury after the first Test, there was no move to call up a replacement, with England eventually slumping to a 4-1 series defeat.Speaking at Hampshire’s media day ahead of the start of the County Championship season, Dawson said that there had been “a few conversations” with the selectors over the winter but that, at the age of 34, he felt his international career was likely behind him.Asked if he was still keen to play Test cricket, he told ESPNcricinfo: “Probably not now, no. Being honest, there’s a few things that have happened over the last year. For me, probably Test cricket now is completely off the radar. But it is what it is, I’m 34 and I want to enjoy my cricket and try to win trophies towards the end of my career.Dawson played a key role in Sunrisers’ success in the SA20•Sportzpics

“Knowing that going to South Africa, knowing I was going to play there – obviously with the [Sunrisers] coach, Adi Birrell, here at Hampshire, I knew I was going to play, which was nice. It’s not something I want to be doing, running drinks at my age anymore. I was really happy with what I chose this winter and it went well.”Dawson has won 20 England caps across three formats going back to 2016, as well as an ODI World Cup winners’ medal in 2019. He was a travelling reserve for both the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups, but said he did not expect to be in the mix for this year’s tournament in the Caribbean and USA.”I think with my age, 34, realistically that’s probably gone to be honest. There’s been a few things happened over the last few months. Speaking to [England selector] Luke Wright, I know where I stand. I don’t expect to play. I’m looking forward to playing for Hampshire this season, and the Hundred with London Spirit.”That Dawson, a spin-bowling allrounder, had re-entered the frame for Test selection more than seven years on from making his debut in India was in part reflective of the challenge for young English spinners to come through the system – one summed up at Hampshire by the fact the club have allowed Mason Crane (one Test cap in 2018) to join Glamorgan on loan in search of game time.With the rain teeming down at the Utilita Bowl a week before the start of the county season, Dawson said there were no easy answers.Related

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“Without doubt, it’s very, very difficult. I’m lucky enough that I bat as well, so that’s made a huge difference over my career. I’ve always batted in the top seven so that balances teams out. If you’re just an out-and-out spinner it’s not easy to play in these conditions, the time of the year we play. There’s no ideal scenario, what gives, what doesn’t? When do you play Championship cricket? It’s a tough thing to do. If you’re an out-an-out spinner it can be difficult to get game time with the weather, but I’m not sure how you can change that.”I didn’t watch a huge amount [of the Tests in India]. I was in South Africa, so I watched bits and pieces. They [Hartley and Bashir] did very well. They’re good bowlers. I faced Bashir last year here, I thought he was a really good bowler, and the same with Tom Hartley when we played them in Southport, very consistent. Hopefully they can continue to do well.”Having spent several winters fulfilling 12th man duties on tour with England, Dawson on this occasion leapt at the chance to enhance his T20 CV, playing for Melbourne Stars in Australia’s Big Bash League, followed by a full season at the SA20 – where he helped Sunrisers to retain their title – and then two appearances in the knockout stages of the ILT20 with Gulf Giants, although on that occasion he was unable to add to what is an impressive, and growing, collection of silverware.”It was a really nice winter, nice to perform,” he said. “Nice to get the opportunity as well, to play for a few different teams. But it’s always nice to come back to your home county and get ready for a season.”I’m really excited, I love coming back here. It’s the same for everyone at this time of year. We’ve got a huge goal as a team, to try and win trophies here. It’s something we’ve done over the years, we’ve competed in all formats. It’s not different, hopefully we can compete in all formats and maybe win a trophy.””

Shakib Al Hasan has been signed by Los Angeles Knight Riders (LAKR) for the upcoming (second) season of Major League Cricket (MLC), the American franchise-run T20 league.”Shakib, of course, has a long-standing relationship with the Knight Riders family, having represented KKR in various phases – including our two championship [winning] seasons in 2012 and 2014,” a statement from the Knight Riders group said. “We can’t wait to see him turn up in Purple and Gold for LA Knight Riders this July.”LAKR, owned by the group that owns Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL and Trinbago Knight Riders men and women in the CPL as well as Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in the ILT20 in the UAE, finished last in the inaugural season of the MLC in 2023.Related

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From that squad, they have retained Sunil Narine, the star of KKR’s table-topping run in the league stage of the ongoing IPL 2024, Andre Russell, Jason Roy, Spencer Johnson, Unmukt Chand, Ali Khan, Saif Badar, Nitish Kumar and Shadley van Schalkwyk, and drafted in local players Derone Davis, Matthew Tromp, Cirne Dry and Adithya Ganesh for the upcoming season.The MLC player draft was held on March 21 this year, and an additional draft will be held on June 16 for the six teams to complete their squads.The second edition of the tournament will start on July 5 with a fixture between MI New York and Seattle Orcas, the winners and runners-up of the inaugural edition. The final will be played on July 29.

India batter Smriti Mandhana was the most expensive buy at the inaugural Women’s Premier League auction in Mumbai, going to Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 3.4 crore (USD 415,000 approx). She was also the first player to come up for bidding at the auction on Monday.RCB spent nearly 50% of their INR 12 crore purse on three players in the first marquee set, also buying allrounders Sophie Devine at her base price of INR 50 lakh (USD 61,000 approx) and Ellyse Perry for INR 1.7 crore (USD 207,000 approx).They then added big-hitting 19-year-old wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh, who featured in India’s victorious Under-19 World Cup campaign last month, for INR 1.9 crore (USD 232,000 approx).Related

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“Everyone knows Mandhana and Perry, we were pretty committed to the couple of people we wanted to get,” RCB director of cricket Mike Hesson said. “We’re very happy to get such quality players. It’s a dream result for us to get Mandhana, Perry and Devine. Smriti has got plenty of captaincy experience and is familiar with the Indian conditions, so highly likely [she’ll be captain].”Mumbai Indians, who failed to buy Mandhana, beat off competition from RCB and Delhi Capitals for Harmanpreet Kaur and bought the India captain for INR 1.8 crore (USD 220,000 approx). Among Mumbai’s other big-ticket Indian signings were allrounder Pooja Vastrakar for INR 1.9 crore (USD 232,000 approx) and Yastika Bhatia for INR 1.5 crore (USD 183,000 approx).Allrounder Deepti Sharma was the second-most expensive Indian at INR 2.6 crore (USD 317,000 approx). She will line-up for UP Warriorz, who will be based in her home state of Uttar Pradesh. Warriorz also spent big on Tahlia McGrath and India allrounder Devika Vaidya at INR 1.4 crore (USD 171,000 approx) each, and Shabnim Ismail at INR 1 crore (USD 122,000 approx).

Gardner, Nat Sciver-Brunt most expensive overseas buys

Ashleigh Gardner, the No.1. allrounder in women’s T20Is, attracted the joint second-highest bid of INR 3.2 crore (USD 390,000 approx) from Gujarat Giants, alongside England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt, who was bought by Mumbai for the same price.

Top ten most expensive buys

• Smriti Mandhana (RCB) – USD 415,000

• Ashleigh Gardner (Gujarat) – USD 390,000

• Natalie Sciver-Brunt (MI) – USD 390,000

• Deepti Sharma (UP) – USD 317,000

• Jemimah Rodrigues (Delhi) – USD 268,000

• Beth Mooney (Gujarat) – USD 244,000

• Shafali Verma (Delhi) – USD 244,000

• Pooja Vastrakar (MI) – USD 232,000

• Richa Ghosh (RCB) – USD 232,000

• Sophie Ecclestone (UP) – USD 220,000

Gardner’s strike rate of 133.62 is the highest among all batters with over 1000 T20I runs. On Friday, she picked up a five-for in Australia’s resounding win over New Zealand in their opening game of the Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa.Sciver-Brunt, a hard-hitting middle-order batter and seamer, was the third highest run-getter in the 2022 Women’s Hundred. Her 228 runs in six innings for Trent Rockets came at a strike rate of 122.58.Her England team-mate and left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone went to Warriorz for INR 1.8 crore (USD 220,000 approx), while Beth Mooney, who was the highest run-scorer during Australia’s tour of India in December, was bought by Giants for INR 2 crore (USD 244,000 approx).

Players bought and money spent

• Delhi Capitals – 18 players for INR 11.65 crore

• RCB – 18 players for INR 11.90 crore

• Mumbai Indians – 17 players for INR 12 crore

• UP Warriorz – 16 players for INR 12 crore

• Gujarat Giants – 18 players for INR 11.95 crore

Australia wicketkeeper-batter Alyssa Healy, who wasn’t part of the two marquee sets and came up only in set five, was snapped up by Warriorz for a steal at INR 70 lakh (USD 85,000 approx), while Meg Lanning, Australia’s previous ODI and T20 World Cup-winning captain, was signed by Capitals for INR 1.1 crore (USD 134,000 approx). Capitals continued their overseas buying spree when they bought South Africa allrounder Marizanne Kapp, who attracted the highest bid among allrounders outside the marquee set at INR 1.5 crore (USD 183,000 approx).West Indies batter Hayley Matthews was the only player unsold from the first marquee set, but she was eventually bought by Mumbai during the accelerated phase at the end of the auction for INR 40 lakh (USD 49,000 approx). Among other surprise overseas omissions before the start of the accelerated phase of the auction were former New Zealand captain Suzie Bates, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu, South Africa captain Sune Luus, and the Australian pair of Megan Schutt and Jess Jonassen. Jonassen was also bought during the accelerated phase by Capitals for INR 50 lakh (USD 61,000 approx), while RCB eventually picked up Schutt for INR 40 lakh (USD 49,000 approx).Alyssa Healy was bought by UP Warriorz for INR 70 lakh•Hanna Lassen/Getty Images

Capitals sign India’s Gen Z

Capitals bought India batters Jemimah Rodrigues (INR 2.2 crore – USD 268,000 approx) and Shafali Verma (INR 2 crore – USD 244,000 approx), alongside Australia captain Lanning, giving them plenty of leadership options.”No, it’s too early for that, but of course there are captaincy options in those names,” Parth Jindal, the co-owner of Capitals, said. “One is an India Under-19 captain [Shafali], another is a legend of the game in Meg Lanning. Jemimah too is a wonderful reader of the game. But it all depends on the coach at the end of it, also depends on who else we pick up.”Rodrigues got India off to a winning start over Pakistan at the T20 World Cup with a half-century on Sunday, while Shafali, who was part of that XI, captained India to their inaugural women’s Under-19 T20 World Cup last month.

Under-19 World Cup winners who got picked

Shafali and Ghosh, by virtue of being internationals, were grouped in the capped sets of players and predictably went for big money. With all five teams having established a core group of players by the time the uncapped players came up for bidding, it was only a select few from the victorious India Under-19 squad that got picked. Among those to get bought were Bengal’s Titas Sadhu (Capitals), Delhi’s Shweta Sehrawat (Warriorz), UP’s Sonam Yadav (Mumbai Indians) and Parshavi Chopra (Warriorz), Andhra’s Shabnam MD (Giants) and Mumbai’s Hurley Gala (Giants). S Yashasri, who was a standby at the World Cup, was picked by Warriorz.

Low demand for Associate Players

Associate players were in low demand, with only four of them – USA’s Tara Norris, UAE’s Mahika Gaur, and Scotland’s Bryce sisters, Sarah and Kathryn – being shortlisted for the accelerated rounds.Norris, the 24-year-old left-arm seamer from Philadelphia, was snapped up by Capitals for INR 10 lakh (USD 12,200 approx). She plays much of her cricket in England and was the second-highest wicket-taker for Southern Vipers in their charge to the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy in 2020. She was also part of the Loughborough Lightning in the Kia Super League.At 16, Gaur could have been the youngest overseas signing and even attracted a bid from the Giants, only for them to be told they had exhausted their quota of six overseas players. The Bryce sisters didn’t find a bid.The inaugural season of the WPL will be contested by the five franchises from March 4 to 26, with all 22 matches being held at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai and the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

Peter Handscomb will press his case for inclusion in Australia’s squads for the World Test Championship final and the Ashes after signing a deal with Leicestershire to play the first two months of the County Championship season.Handscomb, who missed out on Ashes selection in 2019, was recalled to the Test side after a four-year absence for Australia’s recent tour of India. He made 145 runs at 29.00 across the series, including one half-century.He has pulled out of Australia A’s upcoming tour to New Zealand and will travel to the UK after playing for Victoria in this week’s Sheffield Shield final. He has previously played county cricket for Durham, Gloucestershire, Middlesex (as captain) and Yorkshire.Handscomb will fill in for Ajinkya Rahane, and is likely to be available for the first six rounds of the Championship season. Rahane is not available until early June due to his involvement in the IPL, where he has a INR 50 lakh (£50,000 approx.) contract with Chennai Super Kings, and will play both four-day and 50-over cricket in the second half of the county season.Leicestershire had previously agreed a deal with Abdullah Shafique, the Pakistan opener, to cover the period while Rahane is unavailable. But his likely selection for their upcoming white-ball series against New Zealand meant he became unavailable, hours before his contract was due to be announced by the club.Cricket Australia confirmed that Caleb Jewell, the left-handed Tasmania batter, would replace Handscomb in the Australia A squad on Tuesday. “Players with upcoming County Cricket deals were not considered for Australia A selection as they will already be subject to English conditions prior to the Ashes,” a CA spokesperson confirmed.Cameron Bancroft and Todd Murphy have also lined up county deals which are yet to be announced, which are understood to be with Yorkshire and Durham respectively.A number of Australia players will use the early months of the county season as a chance to acclimatise to English conditions ahead of their six Tests in the country this summer.Chief among them are Marnus Labuschagne (Glamorgan) and Steven Smith (Sussex), whose deals have prompted some pundits to question why counties are willing to provide red-ball preparation to England’s summer opponents.The ECB is unconcerned by the situation, but has expressed a desire for more English players to win reciprocal opportunities in the off-season. “I’d love to get more of our players in first-class cricket overseas,” Mo Bobat, the ECB’s performance director, said earlier this year.

Ahead of the T20I series opener between Afghanistan and Ireland, all the hype had been about Rashid Khan. He was to return to action after four months out due to a back injury and then surgery. Now, straightaway, Rashid was back in high spirits, almost as if no pain could take his impact away. Except that on the night his efforts of 3 for 19 from four overs were overshadowed by those of Harry Tector, with whom rested a bigger force – luck.Dropped on 19 when Ireland were 90 for 5 in the 15th over, Tector went on to smash an unbeaten 56 off 34 balls to propel Ireland to 149. The ball followed him around on the field too, as he took four catches – the most by an Ireland fielder in a T20I.Ireland’s bowling effort was led by legspinner Ben White, who took 4 for 20, as Afghanistan folded for 111. That gave them a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, even as the stadium in Sharjah seemed to empty only when Rashid fell as the ninth Afghanistan wicket.

Tector drives Ireland’s innings

Tector arrived at No. 4, and pulled his second ball for four to welcome Mohammad Nabi into the attack in the ninth over. But what was 54 for 1 in the eighth over soon became 72 for 5 in the 12th while he was stuck at one end. Rashid and his spin partner, debutant Nangeyalia Kharote, ran through the middle order after both of Ireland’s openers gave away starts.But Tector remained calm and patient. He gave a hint of the fun that was to come by crashing Kharote for his first six to start the 14th over. When Tector decided to go after Rashid, Fazalhaq Farooqi dropped a manageable catch moving to his left from short fine leg. That rang a warning bell, and Tector saw off Rashid before opening up the floodgates in the last three overs.Naveen-ul-Haq suffered the most. Tector drove a yorker and slashed another near-yorker for four, before chipping a slower ball over Naveen’s head to round off the 18th over with 14 runs. Naveen also bowled the last over, which went for 19, Tector clubbing the last four balls for 6, 4, 4, 4: over deep square, to deep extra cover, to deep point and to deep third. Tector’s last 11 balls fetched 30 runs.

Rashid turns it on

Rashid turned the ball both ways on what was a slow and used pitch, applying the brakes after Ireland hit 48 in the powerplay. He bowled one over for five, and brought himself back for the 11th. A full and flat ball had Paul Stirling mistime a slog to long-on, while a googly turning in to hit middle and leg from outside off cleaned Curtis Campher up next ball. The Afghanistan fans, scattered throughout the stands, jumped at their hero’s skill.Rashid Khan celebrations were a feature on return•ACB

Rashid missed the hat-trick – the ball turned into left-hander Neil Rock, beating him, the wicketkeeper and first slip – but later dismissed Gareth Delany, who scored a useful 16 from No. 7, while adding 35 with Tector.

White’s four-for punctures Afghanistan

Three bowlers stood a chance to take a hat-trick on Friday evening. After Rashid, it was Josh Little, who had Sediqullah Atal chipping to mid-off and had Azmatullah Omarzai bowled in the second over of Afghanistan’s chase. The third of those was White, a bit later on.Little’s early blows – and one from Mark Adair – had reduced Afghanistan to 4 for 3, after which Mohammad Ishaq and Ibrahim Zadran staged a recovery. Ishaq had by far been the aggressor, but holed out to fine leg when he swept a full delivery dipping to a middle-stump line in the seventh over. That wicket punctured Afghanistan’s car.Then some controversy followed. White dismissed Nabi off a no-ball on what was to be the fourth ball of the 13th over. However, replays indicated that White’s heel had landed just behind the line, seeing which Stirling had a word with the umpire. But the decision stood, and Nabi got a life.With two balls left in the over, though, White had debutant Ijaz Ahmad Ahmadzai pulling a short ball to deep square leg and then Kharote, who he knocked over first ball, by tossing one up and getting it to dip, while drifting away to hit off stump. White finished with four, and took all attention away from the man whom the crowd had turned up to see.

Matthew Mott, England’s head coach, says he hopes that Josh Hazlewood was joking about the prospect of Australia manipulating an early exit for the T20 World Cup defending champions, but admits his team can do little else but focus on victory against Oman on Thursday and hope the ongoing debate about run-rate calculations ends up falling in their favour.England were a distant second-best to Australia in their meeting in Barbados last week, and having endured a washed-out opening fixture against Scotland – who have since won two from two – they are no longer in control of their destiny in Group B, a situation which echoes their tame and early exit from the 50-over World Cup in India before Christmas.Even England’s own back-to-back victories over Oman and Namibia may not be sufficient to overturn their sizeable NRR deficit to the Scots – a point which Hazlewood highlighted when he suggested that Australia could be tempted to “knock it around and drag it out” when they themselves face Scotland in Group B’s final match in Antigua on Sunday.Such a tactic would echo Steve Waugh’s infamous go-slow against West Indies at the 1999 World Cup – when the target for elimination on that occasion had been New Zealand – but it would come with the risk of a two-match ban for their current captain, Mitchell Marsh, if Australia were deemed by the umpires to have contravened Article 2.11 of the ICC’s code of conduct, which pertains to the “inappropriate strategic or tactical” manipulation of matches.But Mott, who coached Hazlewood during his time at New South Wales, played down the comments as an example of his “tongue-in-cheek” sense of humour.”I think I know Josh pretty well and I know his integrity,” Mott said. “He has got a very good sense of humour and I am hoping it was very much tongue-in-cheek. I actually don’t think it is ever going to play out. Having grown up in Australia, and the will to win every game, I am sure they will come to the fore. I am very much hoping it was an offhand remark by a really good bloke who is having fun.”Either way, the potential for a run-rate rumpus is the sort of distraction that England could do without, given their lack of fluency in the tournament to date. Even before the Scotland match was abandoned, they had been notably off the pace with the ball in conceding 90 wicketless runs in ten overs, and the pressure to perform to the standard expected of defending champions is ramping up again, especially in light of their grim display in their 50-over defence last year.Related

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• England aim to revive rocky title defence against Oman

“Regardless of any outside noise about qualification, run-rates, all that sort of stuff, essentially, we’ve got to win this game and we’ve spoken a lot about that,” Mott said. “We’ve played good T20 cricket for a while now. It didn’t quite come off against Australia last game but I think we’ve got our structure in place, we’re really confident. Those who saw us train yesterday, you can see a buoyant group, up and about, that’s ready for the challenge ahead.”To offset any run-rate shenanigans, England need to beat Oman and Namibia by a combined margin of 117 runs (or the equivalent when chasing), thereby hauling their net run-rate above Scotland’s, so that only a surprise defeat of Australia can prevent them from progressing. But first things first, England must defeat a team that Scotland themselves saw off with 41 balls to spare in a pointedly fast finish in Antigua on Sunday.”We’re treating this game with Oman in isolation,” Mott said. “They’ve got our full attention. If we get into a position where we’re in a dominant position and can push hard, we will. If we have to scrap and fight and get the two points, we will as well. So, we’ll just keep an open mind, as we always will.”But essentially, we want to play that brand of cricket. I think we had glimpses of it the other day. I thought we started well with the bat, but to get a full performance in is really important. Get that on-field confidence. I think we’re really close, but obviously it’s been a bit of a disjointed tournament so far.”

Sunrisers Eastern Cape, the defending SA20 champions, have signed South Africa batter David Bedingham, England opener Zak Crawley, fast bowler Craig Overton, and Netherlands allrounder Roelof van der Merwe for the upcoming season.Bedingham is one of the newer faces in the South African team having made his debut in December 2023. He struck a half-century in his first innings for his country and has since become a first-choice pick in Test cricket. Bedingham chose chose the longer format over the SA20 earlier this year, and went on a tour of New Zealand with a second-string side. He has played 63 T20s, scoring 1375 runs at an average of 22.17 and a strike rate of 135.06.For Crawley, it will be his first stint in the SA20, though he has previous experience in T20 leagues, having played for Hobart Hurricanes and Perth Scorchers in the BBL, Kent in the T20 Blast and London Spirit in the Hundred. He is yet to make his debut for England in the shortest format – and has only eight ODIs under his belt – but is very much a mainstay of their Test team where he opens the batting and is known for his expansive strokeplay and high strike rate. Crawley has 1771 runs across 76 T20s at a strike rate of 134.77.”I’ve always wanted to be a good white-ball player,” Crawley said. “I’m trying to add a few other shots to my game, but I feel like it’s quite suited [to me] and I’ve gone well in T20 cricket in the past when I’ve had a run at it. I’m trying to add a bit more power to my game, I’m working hard in the nets trying a few different things to hopefully hit more and bigger sixes.”As ESPNcricinfo reported last week, Crawley and England are in the midst of a cramped cricket calendar, with the men’s team scheduled to play 16 series over the next two years, including the 2025 Champions Trophy. England, however, have a competitive advantage over most of their rivals in that the majority of franchise T20 leagues take place during their off-season, allowing players the opportunity both to develop and to earn without restriction.Sunrisers have also brought back van der Merwe, who was previously with the franchise during the first season of the SA20 in 2022-23. The left-arm spinning allrounder was the joint leading wicket-taker with 20 that year, while boasting an economy of just 5.62. He was particularly influential in the final at the Wanderers, where he claimed 4 for 31 against the Pretoria Capitals, to win the Player-of-the-Match award. He also boasts the best ever figures in SA20 history – 6 for 20 against Durban’s Super Giants in Gqeberha.The SA20 will represent Overton’s first foray into an overseas T20 league. The 30-year old fast bowler has 102 matches’ worth of experience but all of them have been at home in England. Overton has picked up 106 wickets in T20s at an average of 26.21 and an economy rate of 8.56.Sunrisers also retained captain Aiden Markram, Ottniel Baartman, Marco Jansen and Tristan Stubbs among a list of 12. Temba Bavuma, former T20 captain who missed out on the 2024 World Cup squad, and Sisanda Magala, the death-bowling specialist who has struggled with injury since withdrawing from the 2023 World Cup squad, have not been retained.*Sunrisers Eastern Cape squad
Retained: Aiden Markram (captain), Ottniel Baartman, Marco Jansen, Tristan Stubbs, Tom Abell (overseas, England), Jordan Hermann, Patrick Kruger, Beyers Swanepoel, Simon Harmer, Liam Dawson (overseas, England), Caleb Seleka, Andile Simelane. Pre-signed: Roelof van der Merwe (Netherlands), Craig Overton (England), Zak Crawley (England).*

Eoin Morgan criticised England and Ollie Pope for a lack of killer instinct with “everything in their favour”, as their refusal to continue bowling spin from both ends brought the third day of their second Test against Sri Lanka to a premature close at Lord’s.Pope brought on Shoaib Bashir and Joe Root to bowl in tandem for three overs with Sri Lanka 24 for 1, after umpires Paul Reiffel and Joel Wilson determined that the light was too poor for seamers to bowl. It briefly improved enough for Matthew Potts and Olly Stone to return – with Stone dismissing Pathum Nissanka – before Bashir and Root returned for five further overs.With 22 overs left in the day, the players then left the field – with Pope seemingly keen to avoid further wear on the new ball – and did not return for the rest of the day. It was a notable contrast to his decision to stay on the field in similar bad light in the first Test at Emirates Old Trafford, where Root and Bashir bowled 12 consecutive overs of spin as Sri Lanka’s No.9 Milan Rathnayake made 72 in his debut innings.”I think it’s a questionable decision,” Morgan, who spent seven years as England’s white-ball captain, said on Sky Sports’ coverage. “The reason behind that is just the whole context of the last hour or so: it is dark. There’s a reason the seamers can’t bowl: it is dangerous for everybody concerned.”If you’re sitting in Sri Lanka’s changing room, you’re thinking, ‘Jeez the last place I want to be is out there with the bat in hand – facing anybody.’ It’s a lose-lose situation. I totally understand the concern for the condition of the ball, but you’re talking about England’s premium fingerspinner in Shoaib Bashir, who needs to bowl. The ball is turning and bouncing.”Sri Lanka had promoted Prabath Jayasuriya, who batted at No. 9 in the first innings, to No. 4 in a bid to reach the close of play unscathed. “They’re bowling at a No. 9 at one end. Everything is in England’s favour,” Morgan said. “I question the decision… you have runs to play with, you have two or three new balls, everything in your favour. And yet you’re sitting in the changing room.”Related

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England’s decision to come off meant a near-capacity crowd at Lord’s headed home early – in the face of the team’s stated desire to entertain. “We pride ourselves on wanting people to come into the ground and feel like they’ve had a really enjoyable day of cricket, and can walk away wanting to come back for more Test cricket,” Joe Root said, after the early close.Pope, who is deputising for Ben Stokes against Sri Lanka, has already come in for heavy criticism as captain, with Michael Vaughan suggesting that he is “not the kind of personality” for the role. After he was caught in the deep for 17 on Saturday when attempting to upper-cut Asitha Fernando over point, he has now scored 30 runs in four innings across the first two Tests.Jayasuriya successfully saw out 23 balls as Sri Lanka’s ‘lightwatchman’, with Dimuth Karunaratne 23 not out overnight. Sri Lanka still require a further 430 runs across the final two days for an improbable series-squaring win, but their batting coach Ian Bell suggested they still have some hope of saving the game.”The more we can spend time in the middle and that ball gets a bit softer…” Bell said. “This wicket has been quite a new-ball wicket, if you can get through that. There’s still plenty of batting, and that’s probably been the strength so far this tour: that middle-lower order have got some good runs. Tomorrow, the first hour is important and we’ll go from there.”Bell said he was pleased with the “character” that Sri Lanka showed on the third day: “What we asked the guys last night was to come in with the attitude that we saw in Manchester… A bit unfortunate to lose a second wicket in that little period of an over or two in between the bad light, but more of the same tomorrow.”It’s more the character we want to see, that we’ve seen so far in this tour. Obviously, you want to win games, but also want to see the guys fight for everything they’ve got in these conditions, which are a bit more tricky than what they play in in Sri Lanka.”