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Shubman Gill departed for 8 on the fourth morning as Brydon Carse took his second wicket

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jun-2025

KL Rahul reached his fifty on the fourth morning•AFP/Getty Images

Lunch A slow session for India but a successful one. Though they only managed to add 63 runs during day four’s morning session at Headingley, they survived 24.1 overs for the loss of just a single wicket. Even though it was their captain Shubman Gill who fell, a score of 153 for 3 and a lead of 159 has them in good shakes in the midst of a second-innings shootout in this first Test against England.KL Rahul’s dogged 72 not out, his 26th fifty-plus score in Tests, came amid a wave of outstanding bowling from England’s quicks, and a few pings on the top hand administered by Ben Stokes, as this pitch shows further signs of irregular bounce.Brydon Carse set the tone and the standard early with a six-over morning spell (1 for 12) from the Kirkstall Lane End that accounted for Gill. India’s No. 4 skewed on to the base of his off stump after deviation from a length delivery found an inside edge as he attempted to play through gully.That, however, was England’s only success in a session littered with beaten outside edges. It should not have been, of course. Harry Brook, the beneficary of three lives in his innings of 99, repaid the favour with a drop at gully when Rahul, on 55, attempted a second consecutive guide to the deep-third boundary off Josh Tongue.The strike was out of character from Rahul, who had shown great restraint with overcast, cooler conditions stacking the odds against the batters. By contrast, Rishabh Pant was his usual ball of chaos, charging Chris Woakes and skewing over the cordon from his second ball. He had done exactly the same in his first innings – charging Stokes second ball – but had made far better contact then.It was truly a comical start from Pant, who had to be calmed down by Rahul after moving to 15 with a mow across the line for a fortuitous boundary off Carse, with Shoaib Bashir at fine leg, and Joe Root running back from the cordon, desperate to meet it before it hit the ground. Three deliveries later, Pant was subject to a voracious lbw appeal as he fell away to the off side attempting his patented fall-away ramp.Umpire Paul Reiffel gave it not out and England’s review proved him right, with an inside edge. But it was enough of a warning for Pant to control himself a little more. His next 16 runs came from 36 deliveries, as he and Rahul managed to get to the break with their stand intact on 61.

South Australia captain Hunt’s century in vain as WA reach the target with nine balls to spare in Perth

Tristan Lavalette16-Nov-2022Josh Inglis issued a reminder to national selectors with a match-winning 85 as Western Australia continued their unbeaten start in the Marsh Cup with a tense two-wicket victory over South Australia at the WACA.Chasing 267, after Redbacks captain Henry Hunt notched his first List A century, Inglis appeared to be guiding WA to a comfortable win until he was part of a late collapse of 5 for 34.Still needing 13 runs, stalwart Andrew Tye eased the nerves with lusty hitting, including the match-winning six off spinner Ben Manenti, as WA reached the target with nine balls to spare.Inglis, playing his third match since missing out on the T20 World Cup after a freak injury playing golf, was back to his belligerent best with nine boundaries and a six in his 70-ball knock.It was WA’s fifth straight victory to skip clear of second-placed South Australia, who have three wins and two losses.”It was a bit dicey towards the end…but it was nice to get over line and AJ (Tye) to hit the winning runs,” Inglis said.After receiving a dressing down from coach Jason Gillespie following their capitulation in the Sheffield Shield earlier in the week, South Australia were far more competitive on a friendlier pitch for batting amid warm conditions nudging 30 degrees.Hunt, who has been tipped as a future Test opener, played the short ball well to continue his good form in Perth after looking a class above his team-mates in the Shield match.”It’s nice to get the first one (century) off but disappointing we couldn’t get the win coming so close at the end,” he said.He found a willing ally in Nathan McSweeney in a second-wicket century stand, but South Australia’s slow start ultimately backfired.
Tye became WA’s most prolific wicket-taker in 50-over cricket when he claimed Nathan McAndrew on the last ball of South Australia’s innings.It was his 104th career wicket to overtake Kade Harvey, who is the current WA cricket general manager.

IPL founder dismisses projected value of competition and eight teams in post on X/Twitter

Andrew Miller26-Sep-2024Lalit Modi, the founder and architect of the Indian Premier League, has accused the ECB of being “disconnected from reality” in their ambitions for the Hundred, after leaking the board’s confidential financial projections for the tournament, and its valuations of each of the eight teams.In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, Modi published details from the prospectus that the ECB’s financial advisors, Raine Group and Deloitte, has sent out (under NDA) to its potential investors, alongside a lengthy post in which he dismissed their calculations as “dangerously overambitious and unsustainable”.Modi’s intervention is an awkward setback in the ECB’s bid to secure private investment for their tournament, and comes after Vikram Banerjee, the board’s director of business operations, admitted earlier this week that they could be forced to delay the Hundred’s equity sale beyond 2025 if the right investors cannot be secured in time for next summer’s competition.As recently as February, Modi himself was reportedly an interested party, telling The Telegraph that he had valued the Hundred at US$1 billion over a ten-year period, and that he had private investors ready to get behind an expanded ten-team tournament. However, his informal offer is believed to have been turned down by the ECB who did not want to sell the competition outright.Now, however, Modi has poured scorn on the tournament’s viability. Though he accepts it is “plausible” that the ECB’s domestic TV rights will rise in value as projected, from £54 million to £85 million annually, he issued a withering assessment of the Hundred’s place in the international market, where it faces particular competition from rival Northern Hemisphere tournaments such as the Caribbean Premier League and Major League Cricket in the USA.Related

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“The ECB’s financial projections for The Hundred, particularly beyond 2026, appear overly optimistic and disconnected from reality,” he wrote. “The International TV rights figures make little sense, given the global competition from other cricket leagues like the IPL. It’s unlikely The Hundred will attract the necessary international audience to justify these inflated numbers.”The ECB is understood to have anticipated some pushback against its figures, with potential investors inevitably seeking a favourable deal, and point to Modi’s prior interest in the tournament as proof of concept.Nevertheless, his criticism is significant, because it was Modi’s establishment of the IPL in 2008 that unleashed the full potential of T20 cricket in the first place, a format that the ECB themselves devised in 2002, but failed to adequately market – an oversight that played a role in the board settling on 100-ball cricket as its new point of difference.Fifteen years later, the IPL’s media rights for 2023 to 2027 were secured for a record US$6.2 billion, cementing it as the world’s second-most valuable sports league on a per-game basis, behind only NFL. And, as Modi wrote in his post on X, each of the teams involved “are valued at US$1 billion based on 16 years of performance”.”By contrast, as per my analysis, The Hundred’s teams are projected to be worth a mere £5 million to £25 million in the best-case scenario in my MOST CONSIDERED #VIEW, with Manchester maxing out at £8.5 million,” he added.”Worse still, The Hundred struggles to match even the Caribbean Premier League’s profitability, a sobering indication of its financial frailty. The Hundred appears to be on shaky financial ground, with projections that fail to inspire confidence in its long-term viability as these look dangerously overambitious and unsustainable.”

Visitors were 126 for 2 after 18 overs in pursuit of 357, but eventually folded for 214

Vithushan Ehantharajah12-Feb-2025If India’s four-wicket wins against England in the first and second ODI didn’t reflect the gulf between the two sides, the 142-run victory in the third at the Narendra Modi Stadium made up for it. As does the final series score of 3-0.The margin owed much to Shubman Gill’s 112 on his 50th appearance in the format, a seventh century helping India to 356. But for Adil Rashid’s 4 for 64, his career-best figures in India, it could have been a whole lot more.The gulf on the night would have been wider had Gus Atkinson not thrashed 38 at the end, having faced just 19 deliveries. But that only served to highlight England’s grim batting effort as the seamer finished as team’s joint-top scorer with Tom Banton, who arrived into the country on Monday as an injury replacement for Jacob Bethell. England finish this limited overs tour having lost seven matches out of eight, with this defeat making it 16 losses in 23 ODIs since the 2023 World Cup.The tourists were actually going steady in pursuit of their 357-run target, reaching 126 for 2 at the end of the 18th over. On cue, the middle order caved in on itself once more, collapsing to 175 for 8 midway through the 31st over. This time, with Varun Chakravarthy (suffering from a sore calf), Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami rested, the trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar and Arshdeep Singh had their share of the feast.Both teams arrived in Ahmedabad looking to use this last ODI before the Champions Trophy to finetune; or in England’s case, tune outright. India’s trio of changes were as much about experimentation as Jos Buttler’s decision to bowl first after England had batted in the first innings in Nagpur and Cuttack.Gill relished the opportunity to go first this time. After 87 and 60 in the first two matches, he was pristine throughout his jaunt to three figures, and broke a “slump” of 14 innings without a century.Virat Kohli brought up his fifty off 50 balls•BCCI

He had handy allies during his stay, with Virat Kohli’s 52 and Shreyas Iyer’s breezy 78 off 64 balls contributing to stands of 116 and 104, respectively. A 29-ball 40 from KL Rahul, accompanied by cameos lower down the order, lifted India to their highest score at this venue, and joint third-highest against England.There’s an argument to say the best it ever got for England on Wednesday was when Mark Wood pocketed Rohit Sharma with his first delivery of the match. Fresh from a devastating 32nd ODI century, Rohit lasted just two balls as Wood angled one into off stump that nipped off the surface, taking the edge through to a tumbling Phil Salt.Gill and Kohli emerged from the powerplay with intent, which was only curbed when Rashid was introduced in the 15th over. The legspinner’s removal of Kohli, after the 36-year-old ticked off a 123rd fifty-plus ODI score in 50 deliveries, spoke of what was to come. Dip brought the right-hander forward, and grip and rip provided another nick for Salt.Shreyas arrived and immediately settled into a quick groove, a century stand with Gill brought up in 85 deliveries, split evenly between the two. By then, Gill had crisply struck Wood through midwicket to bring up his century from 95 balls.Gill freed himself up a little more after the milestone, lifting Rashid down the ground for six, but was bowled by the same bowler attempting an ungainly hack to a straight delivery. And Rashid was in the act again when Shreyas, looking to launch after reaching a half-century from 43 deliveries, lazily tickled down the leg side for another fine take from Salt.Hardik Pandya was bowled with a pristine leggie, though only after striking Rashid for consecutive sixes down the ground. Having extended his arms into the stroke, the allrounder played it safe to see out the 41st over, but was undone by a slower delivery that again spun sharply from a middle-and-leg line, this time beyond the bat, and into the middle-and-off bail. India were eventually bowled out, losing three wickets for three runs off the last seven deliveries of the innings.Harshit Rana picked up Jos Buttler and Harry Brook, both playing on•BCCI

For what it’s worth, England were up with the required rate of 7.14 for a good chunk of the chase. The problem was the regular ticking of the wicket column as the last eight fell for just 88 runs.Ben Duckett, having left the field in the first innings nursing a thigh injury, raced out of the blocks with four fours against both Harshit Rana and Arshdeep. Those off the former came in successive deliveries, but the left-armer had the last word, flummoxing Duckett for 34 with a knuckle ball that was skewed high to Rohit at mid-off.A start of 60 in 6.2 overs had given England the framework of platform, though Salt’s cuffing of an Arshdeep slower ball to backward point meant both openers did not emerge from the first ten overs. Joe Root and Tom Banton were able to thatch together a partnership, the latter making his first international appearance in just over a year as he replaced Jamie Overton in the XI.Fresh from leading the ILT20 run charts for MI Emirates, Banton showcased his impressive strokeplay with reverse-swept sixes off both Washington and Axar Patel. He enjoyed two bits of good fortune, avoiding a stumping after charging and edging Washington on 7, then surviving a run-out on 24 as Axar, fielding at point, missed his overarm throw from five yards when an underarm would have sufficed.Kuldeep was the one to prise Banton out, caught behind off a wrong ‘un – the first of England’s last five recognised batters to fall for just 48 runs. Root was yorked by Axar, then Rana returned for a second spell to pick up Buttler and Harry Brook, both playing on.A torturous 23-ball stay for Liam Livingstone came to an end as he ran past a delivery from Washington, before Pandya flattened Rashid’s off stump via the batter’s misjudged pull. Lusty blows from Wood and Atkinson were barely streaks of silver in the mushroom cloud of this match the and white-ball tour as a whole, as England eventually folded with all of 94 balls left in their innings.It leaves head coach Brendon McCullum with a job on his hands to lift his squad as they head to Pakistan for their Champions Trophy opener against Australia on February 22. India begin their campaign two days earlier against Bangladesh in Dubai in far better shape, having shown why they are the outright favourites for a second ICC trophy in the space of a year.

London Spirit outgunned despite posting competitive 151 target in Ageas Bowl eliminator

ECB Reporters Network02-Sep-2022Manchester Originals 151 for 5 (Evans 72) beat London Spirit 150 for 7 (McDermott 59, Walter 3-29) by five wicketsLaurie Evans blasted a phenomenal 72 off 34 balls to send Manchester Originals to the Hundred final on Saturday evening, after they beat London Spirit by five wickets.Opening batter Evans, who replaced the injured Jos Buttler as captain of the Originals, got his side off to a flier in response to Spirit’s 150, with a 101-run stand with Phil Salt.But a wobble led by Mason Crane and Nathan Ellis – two for 35 and two for 31 respectively – gave Eoin Morgan’s men hope but Ashton Turner and Tom Lammonby got Originals over the line with 11 balls to spare.Originals will now hot-foot it up the M3 to face Trent Rockets at Lord’s at 6:30pm on Saturday.After Adam Rossington fell to the second ball of the match, Ben McDermott and Zak Crawley got the innings rolling with a 69-run stand after Spirit at chosen to bat first.McDermott, who played for Hampshire in the Blast, was imperious from ball two, which he thrashed over the square boundary before bashing through cover next ball.Crawley was bowled by Walter for 36 from 23 balls, to be replaced by Dan Lawrence, but McDermott kicked into the next gear as he guided a boundary through deep third to bring up a 33-ball fifty – his 59 one shy of his best for his county on this ground.Just as an enormous total was brewing, the innings spluttered between balls 74 and 85, as Originals twice claimed two wickets in two balls.First, Walter picked up McDermott with a slower ball that he launched to deep midwicket and then Eoin Morgan was caught at mid-off first ball. Ravi Bopara resolutely blocked the hat-trick ball, as Walter ended up with figures of three for 29.Then in the following end, Matt Parkinson had Lawrence holing out before Jordan Thompson’s leading edge gave him two-in-two, but there was to be no hat-trick ball as the leg-spinner was bowled out.Bopara starred in the final 15 balls, with a pair of sixes – the first swung square, the second a skier over long-on – to smash 34 off 16 balls. Despite Liam Dawson slapping to extra cover, Spirit reached 150 for seven.All eyes were on how Spirit’s Hampshire-flavoured attack would defend on their county ground. Between Chris Wood, Crane, Dawson and Ellis, they have played 165 T20/Hundred games at the Ageas Bowl – taking 163 wickets in the process.Evans, who has his own T20 history on the ground with two half-centuries, didn’t care for ‘home’ advantage. He’d already struck four of his first eight balls to the boundary before slog-sweeping sweetly into the stands.Another six over long-on, followed by a scampered two, took him to a 19-ball fifty – his first of the tournament.Salt had largely done his best to stay out of Evans’ way, but took centre stage when he took Crane downtown, only for Evans to hit back with a six of his own off Dawson.The 101-run opening stand ended with ball 50 when Dawson had Salt caught-and-bowled, and two balls later, Evans swept Crane to deep square leg. In the following set, Walter drove firmly to cover off Ellis.Ellis then yorked Wayne Madsen, after a period of squeeze, and Crane induced Tristan Stubbs into a squirt to point, to take the equation to 18 off 20 balls.But Turner and Lammonby made sure they booked their place in the showpiece without any more worries.

He will work in tandem with head coach Trevor Bayliss and will be part of the IPL auction on December 19

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Dec-2023Former India allrounder Sanjay Bangar has joined Punjab Kings as the head of cricket development. This will be his second stint with the franchise, having worked earlier as head coach between 2014 and 2016.”It’s my privilege to be with the Punjab Kings again,” Bangar said in a media release. “We have a good core of players as evidenced by the fact that we have the lowest number of player releases this year. The challenge is to give the squad the best support possible during and after the season to make the team stronger and deliver success.”Bangar will work in tandem with head coach Trevor Bayliss. Among his first challenges on joining will be to pick reinforcements at the IPL auction, to be held in Dubai on December 19.Related

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Before joining Kings, Bangar was with Royal Challengers Bangalore. Having joined as their batting consultant in 2021, he took over as head coach for the next two seasons and worked alongside director of cricket Mike Hesson. Royal Challengers made the playoffs in two out of the three seasons Bangar was with them.Bangar has over a decade of experience in coaching, including two stints with the Indian team as their batting coach. Bangar’s first stint with Kings in 2014 was the team’s best-ever season, when they finished runners-up to Kolkata Knight Riders. However, they finished at the bottom in the next two years.Last month, Kings released five players, Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Shahrukh Khan being the only big names. Ahead of the auction, they have eight slots available, and a purse of INR 29.1 crore to fill them.

Australia captain thrilled by strong crowds in England and looks forward to next T20I at Lord’s

Valkerie Baynes06-Jul-2023Australia may be looking to arrest a run of two flawed performances, but for their captain Alyssa Healy, it’s far from panic stations after conceding defeat to England in their second T20I before a huge crowd at The Oval.While Australia managed to scrape a four-wicket victory with one ball to spare in the opening match at Edgbaston on Saturday, a sub-par fielding performance by their lofty standards, and a batting collapse from 59 without loss to 96 for 5 on Wednesday, allowed England to keep the Women’s Ashes series alive.”It felt like we were slightly off in every facet of the game again – and we mentioned that after the last game – but we were probably a little bit worse again tonight,” Healy said. “I guess it’s some sort of comfort to know that we didn’t play our best and still only lost by four runs. We’ll just pinpoint it over the next day and a half, and hopefully put it all together for Lord’s [for the third T20I].Related

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“We’re allowed to lose games of cricket. England also came out at the start of the series and said this is their strongest format. So you’ve got to potentially think they’re going to challenge you at some point, and they did tonight. It’s the game of cricket. You win some, you lose some. Fortunately for us, we haven’t lost a lot. But in saying that, hopefully we learn a lot more out of the loss tonight.”Australia still lead the Ashes by six points to two, with one more T20I and three ODIs – each worth two points – remaining. And they nearly recovered to chase down a target of 187 at The Oval, thanks to Ellyse Perry’s unbeaten 51 off only 27 balls, after Danni Wyatt’s 76 had led England to 186.It was the second-highest total conceded by Australia in the format, behind the 187 in December against India, who won that match in a Super Over, Australia’s only other T20I defeat in their past 25 completed matches as England prevailed by three runs on this occasion.”We spoke about what [are] some areas that we needed to improve on for the last game, and I think we improved in some of them,” Healy said. “But we’re still sort of letting ourselves down in some little one percenters in the game – whether it be the fielding or execution with bat and ball – so there’s not much you can do about it.”You can train all you like but ultimately if you turn up with a ruthless attitude and a want to win, you can get yourselves over the line. I’m not saying that’s what the issue, is but we just [have to] reset, refocus.”Just as they have set the standard as reigning T20I and ODI world champions, Healy believed this series was doing the same for the Women’s Ashes, with bumper crowds attending ahead of the next fixture at Lord’s on Saturday, only the second time England Women have played there since their World Cup victory in 2017.Some 20,328 fans had packed into The Oval to roar England to victory, their first against Australia in any format since February 2020, when they had won in a Super Over in Canberra during the tri-series also involving India. The crowd figure surpassed the 19,527 at Edgbaston for the first T20I after 23,207 attended the Test over the course of five days at Trent Bridge.”It was a great game of cricket at one of the most iconic grounds in England, which was a great showcase for women’s sport. And you see what you can do when you play on a good ground with a good wicket – people want to turn up and watch,” Healy said of The Oval. “We [have] set our sights on what is going to be an amazing occasion at Lord’s on Saturday night. This Ashes series has been such an amazing one so far.”We’re playing at some of the biggest grounds in the country, and people are wanting to turn up and watch because they know what they’re going to get. So to tick Lord’s off, it’ll be a really a special occasion for the girls who get that opportunity. But I’m sure that the girls that aren’t playing, there’s going to be plenty more opportunities in future Ashes series because they’ve set the benchmark now, which is really exciting.””Some of us are emotional because it’s been a long time coming,” Sarah Glenn on England’s win in the second T20I•Getty Images

For England’s part, Sarah Glenn, who took two wickets and shared an important 31-run stand for the eighth wicket with fellow spinner Sophie Ecclestone, said the victory in the second T20I was an emotional one, having pushed Australia during stages of the Test and in the previous T20I.”Oh God, so many emotions. Really happy,” Glenn said. “Some of us are a bit emotional just because it’s been a long time coming. We’ve had lots of really close calls, and we’ve always known we can beat them. It’s just actually [about] getting over the line against a top line-up, who have had momentum for a long time.”We really improved from the last game, but I think there’s still a lot to come from us as well. We will celebrate the win definitely, but with a top-class side, they’ll just come back just as hard or even harder. So I think we’re just going to prepare for the next couple of days, how we can try and get over the line again, and just keep that momentum with us.”

Moeen set to deputise, but captain expected to travel to World Cup as planned on Friday

Matt Roller27-May-2024Jos Buttler is set to miss England’s third T20I against Pakistan on paternity leave.Buttler travelled home to London after captaining England to a 23-run victory at Edgbaston on Saturday, giving them a 1-0 lead in the four-match series after the opening match at Leeds was washed out. He and his wife Louise are expecting their third child imminently.He missed Monday afternoon’s training session in Cardiff and is considered unlikely to feature in Tuesday evening’s match. It is not yet clear whether he will return in time to play in the final match of the series, at The Oval on Thursday night, but at this stage it appears that he will travel to the Caribbean for the T20 World Cup with the rest of the squad on Friday.While the news is disruptive to England in the short term, Buttler’s absence should ensure that he is with the team throughout their World Cup campaign, which begins next Tuesday (June 4) in Barbados against Scotland. He had previously confirmed he would be at the birth regardless, raising the prospect that he could miss a group-stage match.Related

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Moeen Ali is England’s vice-captain, and last week played down the significance of a leadership change. “Obviously if it happens, then it’s a great honour – as it always is,” Moeen said. “I’ll be fine. Nothing will change too much: it’s just taking over from what he’s doing and then when he comes back, he takes over.”Hopefully, the baby comes at the right time where he doesn’t miss too many games. For me, it’s just whatever will happen, will happen. [Deputising] is not really difficult, to be honest with you, because we speak often, me and Jos. We talk about other things, the team, and all that. We’re on the same page anyway.”Buttler underpinned England’s innings at Edgbaston on Saturday, hitting 84 off 51 balls while opening the batting. In his absence, the most likely change to their side would see Will Jacks and Jonny Bairstow moving up a spot each and Ben Duckett batting at No. 4, though they could instead add another bowling allrounder to their side in Sam Curran.There is also a case for Duckett to replace Buttler at the top of the order, which would give England’s first-choice batting line-up the chance to bat in their likely roles for the World Cup. Jacks looked in fine touch on Saturday, hitting 37 off 23 balls from No. 3, but admitted on Monday that he is still “learning on the job” having opened for most of his T20 career.”It’s no lie that I’m new to batting at No. 3,” he said. “The biggest thing I’ve found is just the uncertainty of not knowing when I’m going in: obviously if I’m opening, it’s 0 for 0 every time, bowling first or second. I know exactly what’s going to happen: I’m facing the swinging ball or, if it’s a spinner opening, I know what the field is going to be.”[Batting at No. 3] is just a different scenario each time, which is more of a mental thing. I know I’ve got the game and the technique. It’s just adjusting to coming in outside the Powerplay, coming in the fifth over: when do I put my foot on the pedal? It’s about figuring out what I need to do at the right time… it’s all about the team, not about yourself.”Mark Wood had a long bowl before Saturday’s match with his knee heavily strapped, and could come into contention in Cardiff if England opt to take a cautious approach to Jofra Archer’s fitness following his international comeback. Despite England being keen to give Tom Hartley his T20I debut before the World Cup, ESPNcricinfo understands he won’t be involved in this contest.In any case, Tuesday night’s match is under threat from the weather, though Jacks suggested that playing a shortened match could serve as useful preparation for the World Cup. “Preparation is not always ideal, but we have to be adaptable and T20 is all about thinking fast on your feet, and assessing the situation as quickly as possible,” he said. “We’ll be ready for anything.”

Fifties for James Bracey, Ben Charlesworth and Miles Hammond give visitors something to smile about

Alan Gardner19-Apr-2024Gloucestershire, recipients of the wooden spoon last season, have not won a County Championship fixture since September 2022. Their last red-ball win over Sussex, meanwhile, came almost 20 years ago, when the current head coach, Mark Alleyne, was in the twilight of his playing career. Phil Weston top-scored at Arundel with 81 while Jon Lewis – a Gloucestershire legend who ended up in Hove – took 8 for 100 in a nine-wicket win.They could be forgiven, then, for not relishing this trip to the seaside. But Alleyne, who returned for his second spell in charge over the winter and is trying to rebuild confidence, will have been quietly encouraged by his side’s performance here. After losing the toss and being inserted on a chilly, changeable spring morning, Gloucestershire battled through the interruptions to give themselves a first-innings foothold in the face of the jinkin’, jivin’ Dukes: Ben Charlesworth, Miles Hammond and James Bracey – one of the heroes of last week’s rescue act against Yorkshire – all produced fifties of notable pugnacity.Sussex had the best of their two draws in the opening rounds of the season to sit top of the early standings, and there seems to be increasing optimism at Hove that Paul Farbrace can put together a side capable of securing promotion. They were able to call on Ollie Robinson, a bowler looking to make a statement about his England credentials, after he sat out last week’s trip to Leicester. But while Robinson went wicketless, his frustrations compounded by seeing Bracey dropped, it is perhaps a mark of Sussex’s development that they found contributions from other quarters.While the Dukes, in this case, did not fly back and forth like the waltzer on Brighton pier, Sussex chipped away, chiefly through the efforts of Danny Lamb, Jayden Seales and Jack Carson, who shared seven wickets. A century stand between Charlesworth and Hammond provided the main plank for Gloucestershire before Bracey steered them to a brace of batting points before the close.Rob Key, England men’s managing director of cricket, had described the experiment with the Kookaburra in the first two rounds of the Championship as “fantastic” and expanded on his views while talking to Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain on the Sky Sports Cricket podcast. Essentially, he said, the less-biddable Australian ball encouraged faster bowlers and spinners at the expense of those classical English seamers who bring the keeper up and nip it around at 75mph and below. There was mention of Darren Stevens – the former Kent allrounder whose reign of medium-paced terror began under Key’s captaincy – but not a favourable one.We can easily imagine Key’s reaction then, as the return of the Dukes coincided with scoreboard wickets columns rattling into life up and down the country, with the likes of Ben Sanderson, Shane Snater and Ryan Higgins threatening to run amok. In Hove, after fruitless opening spells from Sussex’s two Test match seam bowlers, Robinson and Seales, it was Lamb who made the breakthroughs with his nibbly mediums. Little more than an hour into the day, John Simpson was stood up behind the stumps as Lamb applied the shackles to Gloucestershire’s top order. Fynn Hudson-Prentice was next into the attack, followed by Tom Clark. At which point, presumably, Key would have closed the livestream window.This, of course, is not to denigrate Lamb, whose opening analysis of 8-1-19-2 reflected the threat he brought to proceedings after Charlesworth, opening in place of the injured Chris Dent, and Cam Bancroft had ticked along comfortably enough during a stand worth 49. The former Lancashire allrounder scored a century up at Leicestershire and already looks a shrewd signing. He had Bancroft lbw as he shuffled across to one angling in and then saw Ollie Price taken at second slip on the drive after coaxing some movement away from right-hander.Later, after squally showers led to an extended lunch break, Gloucestershire opted to take a more assertive approach to Lamb and his brethren. Hammond lofted him over mid-off and followed up with a slap that flew all the way over extra cover; Charlesworth then went to his half-century with a dismissive leg-side flick off Hudson-Prentice that sailed out towards the scoreboard for another six.Hammond had just followed suit in striking Hudson-Prentice over midwicket when the partnership came to an end as Jack Carson found some turn in his third over to trap the Gloucestershire No. 4 in front. Seales then struck with the first ball of his fourth spell, finally inducing an error outside off stump from Charlesworth. The West Indies bowler celebrated by charging off towards backward point, and generally bowled better than figures of 2 for 72 would suggest, having also seen Hammond badly dropped by Clark at second slip when he had made just 17.Sussex’s other blemish in the field was even more costly. Three balls after being swatted dismissively for four, Robinson found Bracey’s outside edge only for a low catch to be grassed by James Coles at third slip. Bracey was on 23 at the time, and had progressed to 69 by the time Seales finally won an lbw decision as the shadows lengthened.

“One of my goals and dreams the last year was to break into England’s top four”

Valkerie Baynes14-Jul-2022No sooner had Sophia Dunkley established herself in England’s middle order, she set her sights on making a place in the top-four her own. No sooner had England switched focus to the next Women’s World Cup cycle, she is doing just that.In her first international outing at No. 3, Dunkley scored 22 from 24 balls as England convincingly beat South Africa in their first of three ODIs at Northampton. The knock was in keeping with her proactive batting style, which Dunkley said she was reluctant to give up heading into the second match at Bristol on Friday. It was also a key part of England’s bid to shake up their batting line-up, with the successful addition of new opener Emma Lamb and Danni Wyatt shuffling back down into the middle order.”One of my goals and dreams the last year was to break into England’s top four,” Dunkley said. “So the fact that I have an opportunity now to bat at three, it’s an amazing feeling. It’s something I’ve done in regional cricket for the last two years, so not completely new, but obviously a different level in internationals.”Naturally the bowling’s a little bit tighter, you don’t get as many bad balls, and you get a lot of pressure built on you in the powerplay, so it’s about learning how to deal with that and how I want to go about it. It’s probably not going to come overnight, and the next two games might not go as well as I’d like, but it’s about building for the future, how I see myself doing that role in the long term.”Dunkley’s first knock as England’s No. 3 included three powerful fours, driven through cover and twice hammered past long-on before she fell lbw to Nadine de Klerk.”I don’t want to take away too much of my natural aggression and intent because I think that’s still really important to push us on as a team,” she added. “So it’s finding the balance really and just doing the low-risk things for longer. I’ve had some good practice in the nets so I’m feeling good.”Related

• Sophia Dunkley sets sights on top-four batting spot for England

• Danni Wyatt set for return to middle-order despite World Cup semi-final century

• Lamb's maiden ton, all-round Sciver, fiery Brunt help England go 1-0 up

• Emma Lamb seizes England's opening vacancy on 'amazing' day in Northampton

• Nadine de Klerk: Ismail available, South Africa must up intensity

When opener Tammy Beaumont fell in just the third over of the match, Dunkley had the best view in the house as Lamb carved out a maiden century in just her fourth international appearance.Lamb had opened alongside Beaumont in the drawn Test which kicked of the multi-format series between the sides in Taunton last month and took a massive step towards establishing herself at the very top of the order in the ODI format with her knock.”Emma batted outstanding in the last game,” Dunkley said. “I’m so pleased for her. I’ve played a lot of cricket with her growing up, and grown up with her in the academy, so when we were batting together we were joking about how it was like the old times and it was nice that we could do that in an England shirt together.”It was amazing to watch her do her thing and show the world that she deserves to be an England opener, so I’m sure it’s the first of many for Emma.”It will be one day shy of 13 months since Dunkley made her Test debut against India – also in Bristol – where she notched up an unbeaten 74 in a keenly contested draw.She went on to play an important part in the white-ball part of India’s tour before finishing the English summer playing in all five ODIs against New Zealand. A trip to Australia as part of England’s ill-fated Ashes tour was followed by the World Cup, where she made a couple of half-centuries, including in England’s semi-final defeat of South Africa.”Personally it’s been a pretty crazy year and there’s been a lot of different cricket, playing in an Ashes and a World Cup was a surreal experience,” she said. “Now coming in batting at three is something different so yeah, it’s been lots of experiences, ups and downs, but a great year of cricket all round.”And she was expecting South Africa to come back fighting after a muted display in the first ODI, when their batting failed to fire. Katherine Brunt returned to international action with an imposing first spell and figures of 3 for 18 from nine overs before Chloe Tryon’s 88 gave the tourists some hope. Then their bowlers struggled against Lamb’s accomplished display and a brutal 55 off just 36 balls from Nat Sciver, who had also taken four wickets.South Africa’s bowling could be boosted by the return of Shabnim Ismail, who is available for selection in what would be her first appearance of the tour after recovering from a calf strain, with England leading four points to two.”We bowled really well in the first innings last game and it made it really hard for them to get a big score on the board,” Dunkley said. “Credit to our bowlers and Katherine up front bowling in that amazing spell, five overs for five runs.”We’re just really clear as a batting unit that we want to go out and be positive, so it was a great to be able to put that into practice and we definitely put pressure on their bowlers so I’m sure they’re going to come back hard at us in the next game.”