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Nat Sciver-Brunt is expected to play a full part in England’s three-match ODI series against India later this month, after being named as captain in a 15-player squad despite missing the end of the T20I series with a groin injury.Sciver-Brunt suffered the injury while batting during the second T20I and was subsequently ruled out of the remaining three games. Tammy Beaumont took charge for Friday’s third match at the Kia Oval, where England kept their series hopes alive with a tense five-run win that reduced their deficit to 2-1.However, England’s selectors are optimistic that she will be fit again by the time of the first ODI at the Utilita Bowl on July 16, with subsequent fixtures at Lord’s on July 19, and Chester-le-Street on July 22.Also included in the squad is Sophie Ecclestone, who missed the West Indies ODIs early this season while recovering from injury, but returns in place of the legspinner Sarah Glenn. Hampshire’s Maia Bouchier – who was last week called into the T20I squad as Sciver-Brunt’s replacement – is also back in contention.Lauren Filer, who averaged 76mph in bowling the fastest recorded over in women’s cricket during the Oval victory on Friday, has again been included in the ODI set-up as she continues her comeback from a knee injury.England have been challenged hard by India in the course of the T20I series, having lost the first two matches by heavy margins, particularly the series opener at Trent Bridge where Smitri Mandhana’s century set her team up for an emphatic 97-run win.However, the fight that England showed to get across the line in a tense finale at The Oval pleased their new head coach, Charlotte Edwards, who sees the ODI series as another vital test of her team’s credentials as they rebuild after their disappointments at the T20 World Cup and the Ashes last winter.England Women ODI squad to face India•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“India have really pushed us during the Vitality IT20 series,” Edwards said. “We knew they would and we’ve learned a lot about the team in the three games so far. There have been some good moments but we’re a team in transition and we need to keep working hard to do what we’re trying to do more consistently, and for longer. That’ll be asked of us again in the ODIs.”Friday night was high drama and we were delighted to keep ourselves in the series, I’m very proud of the character and the fight the players showed. Hopefully we can keep that going at Emirates Old Trafford and Edgbaston and into the Metro Bank ODI series.”The squad has largely stayed the same since the ODI series against West Indies, but Soph [Ecclestone] comes back into the side meaning Sarah Glenn misses out this time around. We’ve also added in Maia Bouchier to bolster our batting line-up and continue to offer competition for places. This series is the perfect preparation for the ICC Women’s World Cup in India this autumn, but it’s also a series we’re determined to win.”

England Women ODI squad to face India

Nat Sciver-Brunt (capt), Em Arlott, Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Alice Davidson-Richards, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Amy Jones, Emma Lamb, Linsey Smith

Headingley has become the home of the run chase, and England hauled in a target of 371 to prove it. Set up by Ben Duckett’s dazzling 149, and sealed with a six by Jamie Smith, they romped home in just 82 overs to seal a sixth consecutive win in Leeds – all while bowling first – and to take a 1-0 lead in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.It left Ben Stokes to breathe a sigh of relief after his decision to field on Friday morning, and India to dwell on the countless opportunities they missed to take control of this Test. They hit five centuries to England’s two, but lower-order collapses of 7 for 41 and 6 for 31 proved costly – as did their six dropped catches.This was a chastening way to start a new era for India, with Shubman Gill’s sparkling first-innings century long forgotten as he reflected on a heavy defeat in his first Test as captain. After series losses against New Zealand and Australia, India have now lost seven of their last nine Tests, and may only have Jasprit Bumrah available for two of the next four on the England tour.Bumrah was borderline unplayable in Australia, taking 32 wickets in the series, but was unusually ineffective after his first-innings five-for at Headingley. He went wicketless in England’s run chase, and was seen off by Duckett and Zak Crawley, whose partnership of 188 in 42.2 overs laid the foundations for a victory cruise despite the lingering threat of rain.3:26

Harmison: Not sure India believed they could get Duckett out

Duckett was sublime, starting his innings slowly before accelerating against India’s weaker links. He was particularly severe on Ravindra Jadeja, whom he reverse swept into submission, and Prasidh Krishna, whose five wickets in the match could not disguise an eye-watering economy rate of 6.28, the most expensive in India’s Test history.England wobbled in the afternoon against Prasidh and Shardul Thakur, but Smith and Joe Root saw them across the line with 14 overs remaining in the final hour. Root was characteristically cool in his unbeaten 53, while Smith took Jadeja for 18 runs in an over, including sixes over square leg and mid-on, to see his team across the line.Duckett and Crawley had reached the lunch break unscathed, battling through probing early spells from Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj before tucking into India’s change bowlers. Duckett cut and pulled with total control until his hundred was a shot away: on 97, he offered a chance when he pulled Siraj to deep square leg, but Yashasvi Jaiswal dropped his third catch of the match.Siraj was furious, and made no effort to hide it. He had drawn Duckett into a verbal battle after drawing an outside edge which skewed away through a gap in the slip cordon soon after lunch, and could only watch in frustration as Duckett reverse swept Jadeja for four to reach three figures, his ~ Test century and his first in the second innings of a match.Duckett punched the air to celebrate and then got back to work, milking Jadeja for off-side runs as he packed his leg-side field. But Prasidh prised the game open from the other end, first drawing an edge from Crawley which flew to first slip, and then nipping one back off the seam to induce a chop-on from Ollie Pope, England’s first-innings centurion.Shardul Thakur got Ben Duckett and Harry Brook back-to-back•Getty Images

Duckett continued to race along, his strike rate edging closer to 100 as he reverse slapped Jadeja over cover-point for the first six of the final day. It took the reintroduction of Thakur to remove him on 149, driving straight to short cover, and when Harry Brook strangled his first ball down the leg side, India were back in the game.Stokes survived Thakur’s hat-trick ball, and saw England through to an early tea with Root for company. After a brief hold-up for a rain shower, Stokes and Root both survived lbw appeals as Gill burned through India’s last two reviews. But with the partnership on 49, Stokes top-edged a reverse sweep straight to his opposite number at short third.Smith strode out at No. 7 as though determined to prove his mettle after an ill-timed first-innings dismissal, and set to work alongside Root. The same pair took England close to the line in a nervy chase against Sri Lanka in Manchester last year; this time, they took them over it with an unbroken stand of 71.Some of Gill’s decisions will come under scrutiny: Siraj went unused between the 41st and 81st overs, while Bumrah did not get the chance to bowl in the final 17 overs of the match. He is only due to play in three of the five matches in this series, and India’s performance suggested their attack will struggle badly without him.The result was vindication of Stokes’ decision at the toss, and means that five of the last seven Headingley Tests have been won by a team chasing at least 250 in the fourth innings. And if this chase was not the white-knuckle ride of the 2019 Ashes, it was a clinical performance which hinted at a more complete, more rounded England approach.

Australia’s trio of specialist bowlers toiled manfully during a see-saw day one against a fighting Sri Lanka on a dry Galle surface that did not live up to the hype, but occasionally spun sharply and is expected to deteriorate significantly.By the end of 90 overs, the second Test was intriguingly poised after several shifts of momentum. Sri Lanka’s top-order built a strong platform to reach 93 for 1 before they lost 4 for 34 in a horror period after lunch. But Kusal Mendis and Ramesh Mendis combined for a seventh-wicket partnership of 65 to lift Sri Lanka to what might just be a competitive first innings total.Related

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Kusal and Dinesh Chandimal made well-compiled half-centuries as Sri Lanka batted through the day’s play to reach stumps at 229 for 9.After Sri Lanka suffered their worst defeat in Test cricket on a slow surface, there had been much speculation that this new surface would produce significant bite and turn. There was sharp turn at times, especially in the second session, but it was the consistency and variations of Australia’s bowlers that led to several cheap dismissals.Offspinner Nathan Lyon was outstanding in his spell after lunch, mixing up his speeds and lengths to bamboozle Sri Lanka as he moved to 549 Test wickets. Left-arm quick Mitchell Starc continued to add to his formidable record in Sri Lanka, conjuring reverse swing during a sensational spell late in the second session before striking twice with the second new ball.Australia were effectively playing with just three specialist bowlers, with Lyon and left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann providing the heavy lifting as they bowled 30 overs each.Stand-in captain Steven Smith worked his resources to good effect with Travis Head bowling eight overs and proving that he might just have a golden arm after taking the wicket of Kamindu Mendis.Nathan Lyon produced a superb spell after lunch•Getty Images

Allrounder Beau Webster bowled three overs of seam having not been required to bowl in the first Test, while left-arm spinning allrounder Cooper Connolly also bowled three overs on his debut after replacing offspinner Todd Murphy in Australia’s only change.Sri Lanka made three changes with Pathum Nissanka replacing Oshada Fernando at the top of the order, while offspinnser Ramesh Mendis and quick Lahiru Kumara were included at the expense of Jeffrey Vandersay and Asitha Fernando.After receiving a long guard of honour on his way to the crease, including from the Australians, retiring Dimuth Karunaratne was tasked with trying to help restore Sri Lanka’s battered confidence in his 100th and last Test match. He also had to confront tormentor Starc having fallen to him nine times previously, including in the first innings of the series-opener. But having overcome a groin injury to take his place, Nissanka mostly faced Starc and had mixed results against speeds touching 145kph.Fresh from his nine-wicket haul in his Test return, Kuhnemann was also handed the new ball and had a loud shout for lbw on Nissanka turned down with the decision upheld on umpire’s call after Australia reviewed.Steven Smith catches record•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Sri Lanka’s openers steadily built despite some nervous moments as Smith reverted to Lyon in the eighth over. Aiming at the footworks from Starc, Lyon produced significant turn and bounce on his second delivery that flew down the legside for four byes.But Lyon wasn’t made to wait long for a wicket after hitting the top of leg stump when Nissanka moved too far across his stumps looking to paddle sweep. Australia were buoyed, but inroads proved difficult against the type of disciplined batting from Sri Lanka that was lacking in the first Test.Connolly was brought in just before lunch having never taken a wicket from the 96 balls he had bowled in his four previous first-class matches. Connolly did develop a knack of taking key wickets in the recent BBL season, but he could not strike as Sri Lanka made it to lunch well placed.Chandimal resumed after the interval with a boundary off Lyon before the game turned on its head.Lyon varied his speeds and slid a faster delivery from around the wicket past Karunaratne’s defence to rattle the stumps. He was in lovely rhythm and went about working over Angelo Mathews knowing he had his number after dismissing him twice in the first Test.Mitchell Starc inroads with the second new ball•Getty Images

Mathews crawled to 1 off 25 before succumbing to a slower, wider Lyon delivery and feathering an edge into the gloves of Alex Carey, who has performed well behind the stumps in this series.Lyon seemingly had his 550th wicket when Kamindu was adjudged caught behind on 3 only for the decision to be successfully reviewed with no nick detected. Kamindu could not capitalise and fell relatively tamely to Head’s handy offspin after a thick edge off an attempted cut shot flew to Smith at slip.Head unfurled his now customary celebration, suggesting that his spinning fingers are on fire, as Kamindu’s struggles continued after entering the series with an average over 70.Deploying Head was another move from Smith that worked a treat and his gut instincts were again rewarded when he threw the ball to Starc, who dismissed de Silva for a golden duck after he steered a wide delivery straight to gully.Chandimal’s defiant knock ended on 74 after he was deceived in the air by Kuhnemann and lost his footing before being stumped by sharp glove work from Carey.Australia eyed running through Sri Lanka’s lower-order just like in the first Test, but Kusal provided a counterattack after a collision with Kuhnemann at the non-striker’s left him momentarily shaken.He slog swept to good effect on consecutive deliveries, with the latter sailing over the rope. Kusal received good support from namesake Ramesh, who has been in solid batting form in first-class cricket.They rotated the strike well and picked off the occasional boundary to frustrate a flagging Australia attack. Ramesh has a first-class average of almost 40, with a high score of 300 not out, but his Test mark sits at a disappointing 18 with no half-centuries from 22 previous innings.He played doggedly, striding forward repeatedly to present a firm defence. Australia needed a spark and Starc delivered after taking the second new ball, dismissing Ramesh and Prabath Jayasuriya with consecutive deliveries as Smith claimed his 197th catch to move past Ricky Ponting’s record for Australia.

Fast bowler Jacob Duffy has been added to New Zealand’s squad for the ODI tri-series against Pakistan and South Africa beginning in Lahore on February 8. His inclusion is primarily as cover for Lockie Ferguson, who is currently playing in the ILT20 in the UAE.Duffy, 30, has played ten ODIs, and taken 18 wickets at an average of 25.94 and economy of 6.25. He recently took four wickets in two ODIs, and eight in three T20Is against Sri Lanka in a home series that ended earlier in January.The New Zealand squad departs for Pakistan on February 3 to play the tri-series followed by the Champions Trophy. Their two round-robin fixtures in the tri-series are in Lahore, against Pakistan on February 8 and South Africa on February 10. The final is in Karachi on February 14.New Zealand then play a Champions Trophy warm-up game against Afghanistan on February 16, followed by the tournament opener against Pakistan on February 19, with both those fixtures also being in Karachi.They then travel to Rawalpindi to play their second Group A fixture against Bangladesh on February 24, followed by a trip to Dubai for the game on March 2 against India, who are not playing any of their Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan because they did not get government clearance to travel.

New Zealand squad for tri-series and Champions Trophy

Mitchell Santner (capt), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Ben Sears, Nathan Smith, Kane Williamson, Will Young, Jacob Duffy (tri-series only)

Sri Lanka arrived in South Africa dreaming of a World Test Championship final spot, but having now been crushed 2-0, that dream has almost certainly faded. There is special regret that Sri Lanka got to play on the two venues that would have best suited them – Durban and Gqeberha – and still could not seriously push the hosts, as they had done in 2019.Head coach Sanath Jayasuriya broke down the defeat, putting it largely down to the failure of batters to push on from starts to bigger scores. This was especially evident in the first innings at Gqeberha, when each of the top five got to at least 20, but only one passed 50. And Pathum Nissanka, who did make a half-century, did not push on to triple figures, though he had the chance to do so.”Batsmen have to convert their scores into hundreds – 30s and 40s aren’t enough,” Jayasuriya said. “It’s tough on these wickets, but at least two batters have to score hundreds on a tour like this. We didn’t get that. All we got were two 80s. I think the batters by now know the value of hundreds on the road, having played in a place like England recently as well. We missed that this time.Related

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“Although there was a lot of effort from the senior batters, I think if they assess themselves individually, they will realise it wasn’t enough.”This was also the first series in his Test career that Kamindu Mendis failed to make a score of substance. He made scores of 13, 10, 48, and 35 – his average plummeting from a Bradmanesque 91.27 before the series, to 74 by its end.”Kamindu Mendis is a key player,” Jayasuriya said. “In every Test match almost he was in the runs, aside from this series. If you saw the way he batted in this series, it was still with a lot of confidence. In his last innings especially, you saw that. You can’t expect a batter to hit 50 or 100 every innings – that’s why you have six or seven batters. As a player, he’s a quality player. If he’s got shortcomings, he works with the batting coach to figure those out.”I know that oppositions are quite concerned, and South Africa were as well. Now, he will have to work hard to counter that. But I love watching a player like him in the team – he scores at a run-a-ball, and plays positively. What I’ve told everyone is to play their natural game and play positive cricket.”Centurion Kyle Verreynne walks back after his century•Gallo Images/Getty Images

On the Gqeberha loss itself, he felt the match had been lost in key periods. The first of these was the second morning, on which South Africa had put on 89 runs via their last two partnerships.”In that first innings, after we got eight or nine wickets, we let them have roughly 40 runs too many.Another period was the third morning, on which Sri Lanka lost five wickets, having ended the previous day 116 runs behind, and with seven wickets in hand.”We couldn’t afford those wickets. We could have got a big first-innings lead, and we let the match slip a bit on that morning.”And then on the fourth day, there were a couple of instances in which Sri Lanka did not quite turn their momentum into a definitive advantage. They’d had South Africa 282 for 8 at lunch but allowed the No. 9, 10, and 11 batters to crash 35 further runs. Later that day, they’d also been 117 for 3 before losing two quick wickets.”That 25-30 extra runs from their tail also hurt us in the second innings. In the second innings, when we gave two extra wickets in the evening session. If we’d had the chance to come in today only three down, that would have made a big difference to our batting unit. It’s in those little places that it got away from us.”

Pace and bounce. Those are the words that come to mind when one thinks of cricket in South Africa. However, things have been completely different in the first two T20Is of the current series. There was so much help for spinners that India looked more at home than the hosts.South Africa’s batters had no clue against Varun Chakravarthy, now an overspin bowler with more tricks in his bag than a magician. His eight wickets – and an economy rate of 5.25 – are the most in the series so far. Legspinner Ravi Bishnoi is the joint second on that list with four wickets and an economy rate of 6.12.In all, spinners from both sides have a combined 16 scalps and gone at 6.51 per over. Fast bowlers, despite bowling almost seven overs more, have 12 while going at 8.58.Related

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Arshdeep Singh, a fast bowler himself, does not mind that. Even though he went for 41 in four overs in the second T20I in Gqeberha. “I’m enjoying what the spinners are doing. I will be really happy if they take all ten wickets and I don’t have to do my job,” he said on the eve of the third T20I in Centurion.The conditions in the third T20I, though, are expected to be different from the first two. The first two were played in coastal cities, Durban and Gqeberha, and the teams could breach the 150 mark only once in four innings.The next two games will be played in Centurion and Johannesburg, high-altitude venues where the ball flies off the bat. In the most recent T20I in Centurion, in March 2023, West Indies posted 258 for 5, only for South Africa to pull off a record chase with more than an over to spare.So what is India’s plan for Wednesday? “The South Africa batters are struggling against spin,” Arshdeep said. “So the idea is to contain early on and give a good platform to our spinners to attack and take wickets.”Varun Chakravarthy bamboozled South Africa’s batters in the first two T20Is•AFP/Getty Images

But it will not be easy for Varun and Bishnoi to replicate their performance, and South Africa know this. “Playing spin here is a lot different than playing it in PE [Port Elizabeth, Gqeberha’s earlier name] or Durban,” their allrounder Marco Jansen said. “There is a lot more bounce here and they will probably try a fuller length. How we go about that is different for each individual.”I think we didn’t play spin as well as we wanted to in PE. There were a few soft dismissals where we felt we could definitely make better decisions and execute better.”It’s important we look to score straight against spinners. It’s the same for them; they don’t want to go too full because then it’s easier to play. They want to be shorter. It’s not turning a lot; the ball just skids on. So they know if they go fuller, it is easier to score. If it’s full, we can step out. If it’s short, we can stay back.”With the ball, South Africa’s plan looks different from India’s. Their lead fast bowlers – Jansen and Gerald Coetzee, both returning from injuries – have been quicker and more accurate than their Indian counterparts and will aim to strike early.”In the Highveld, the ball travels a lot more than at the coast,” Jansen said. “So it’s important to take wickets at regular intervals, because it’s very difficult to restrict the scoring rate.”Arshdeep is aware he may have to play a key role for India. “I am looking forward to what the wicket offers here,” he said. “It all depends on the conditions, the pitch, the situation whether to go for wickets or look to contain.”When you are bowling two overs at the start and two at the end, a lot depends on you – you can win a game or lose it. So there’s a lot of responsibility. When you bowl at the death, some days are good, some days are bad. You try to stay level-headed and not overthink. The endeavour is to keep things simple, not complicate them, and fulfil what the team demands from me.”

South Africa earned a consolation win to end their three-match series against Afghanistan 2-1 as they completed their ninth successful chase in 22 matches since 2021. After being outplayed in the first two games, South Africa finally arrived in the contest via their bowlers and fielders who dismissed Afghanistan in 34 overs and left their batters a small total to chase.Aiden Markram scored his first ODI fifty in 10 innings and shared a 90-run fourth-wicket stand with Tristan Stubbs. Stubbs’ ODI career is only four matches old and importantly for him, he was able to bat time and finish the match.In the absence of Rashid Khan, who tweaked his hamstring in the second match, and Fazalhaq Faooqi, who was rested, Afghanistan’s attack lacked some intensity but they did not have as much to work with as they would have liked after the batting blunders. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the only member of Afghanistan’s top eight who scored more than 10, once again holding their innings together. He fell 11 short of a second successive ODI century and extended his lead at the top of the series run-scorers charts. AM Ghazanfar, batting at No.9, contributed 31 off 15 balls to give South Africa a target of 170. They got there in 33 overs.South Africa’s energy came from a good new-ball combination of Lungi Ngidi and Bjorn Fortuin, and in the field. Run-outs accounted for three of the first five Afghanistan wickets and gave South Africa an edge they lacked in the previous two matches.Ngidi was excellent upfront, with his range of cutters and slower balls and got an early breakthrough when debutant opener Abdul Malik played all around a straight delivery and was pinned on the pad. Arguably, Ngidi made a more important breakthrough in his next over, when Gurbaz drove him aerially, he stuck out his right hand and the ball clipped his finger and ricocheted off Rahmat Shah and onto the stumps. Rahmat, at the non-striker’s end, was short of his ground.While Rahmat was sloppy in getting back in time, Hashmatullah Shahidi’s lack of urgency was worse. He hit Markam behind square and called for two but ran the second too slowly and veered off a straight line to give Stubbs enough time at sweeper cover to throw to Kyle Verreynne and run the Afghanistan captain out. Things got worse in the next over when legspinner Nqaba Peter bowled Azmatullah Omarzai.Rahmanullah Gurbaz waged a lone battle at the top•ACB

By then, Gurbaz had already brought up a 47-ball 50, laced with his characteristic clean hitting down the ground and on the leg side. He dealt with the wickets by batting as normally as possible, even as he grew frustrated with his partner’s mistakes. Ikram Alikhil was next to misjudge when Gurbaz bottom-edged a pull off Markram to midwicket, leaving no time for a single. Alikhil was halfway down the wicket when Gurbaz sent him back but Temba Bavuma was onto the ball and ran Alikhil out.Mohammad Nabi was Afghanistan’s last recognised batter and South Africa kept him quiet and should have him out for 5 when he missed a Bjorn Fortuin arm ball. South Africa didn’t review but replayed showed he would have been out lbw. In Fortuin’s next over, he got his own back when Nabi edged him to Verreynne and Bavuma reviewed successfully.Gurbaz’s push for a century ended when he tried to hit Andile Phehlukwayo over extra cover and was well caught by Reeza Hendricks diving forward to leave Afghanistan 133 for 7. Phehlukwayo took a second wicket in three balls before Ngidi and Peter got rid of the tail. Afghanistan left 16 overs out there and will be disappointed with their capitulation after two dominant performances earlier in the week.South Africa’s batting has been their downfall throughout the series and although improved, did not always look convincing. Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi were tentative against left-armer Naveed Zadran at first and Bavuma almost chopped on in the third over. But when they got hold of the 19-year-old, they capitalised. De Zorzi smashed him past mid-off for the innings’ first boundary and Bavuma pulled him through mid-wicket later in the same over. He also took on Ghazanfar to suggest South Africa had done some work on their approach to spin, but de Zorzi underlined the old problems. He hit a sweep off Nabi straight to Hashmatullah at square leg and the captain put it down and then sent the next ball to cover, where Omarzai could not hold on.In the next over, Bavuma played Ghazanfar down the wrong line and was bowled and the over after that, de Zorzi gave Ghazanfar a return chance but the ball bounced just in front of him. Just when it seemed de Zorzi’s charmed life knew no end, he stayed back in his crease against Nabi and was trapped lbw.Reeza Hendricks’ lean run continued when he top-edged Fareed Ahmad to depart for a third score under 20 this series. In his last 15 white-ball internationals, Hendricks has only gone past 20 three times.Markram took it on himself to anchor the rest of the chase and also provided experienced counsel for Stubbs. The pair built slowly at first and minimised risk but also picked their moments to attack. Markam scored the first boundary in 10 overs when he slog-swept Nangeyalia Kharote and then drove him through the covers. Then it was back to singles until Stubbs pulled Fareed behind square. Markram’s aggression against spin came out when he hit Nabi for two sixes in an over. He brought up 50 off 54 balls and ended unbeaten on 69 off 67 balls. Stubbs reviewed successfully when he was given out lbw to Fareed on 18 and saw South Africa through to the end.

As he prepares to depart the ICC, Alex Marshall, the head of global cricket’s anti-corruption unit (ACU), has warned that “badly run” domestic T20 leagues “at lower level” remain a “threat” to the game with corruptors looking to use them as an entry point. Marshall, 63, has decided to retire from the ICC job this November, ending a seven-year term, which started in 2017 as general manager of the ICC’s integrity unit, which includes the security and anti-doping units apart from the ACU.Marshall, a former senior policeman in the UK, recently communicated his decision to the ICC, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family, including parents and grandchildren in England. Marshall, who replaced YP Singh, was the fourth ACU head and was shortlisted by Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the independent chairman of the anti-corruption watchdog.Marshall said that while the malaise of corruption will continue to shadow cricket, he was “proud” that during his stint the ACU had been successful in helping players be more forthcoming about approaches from corrupters. “I am proud of the significant increase in trust from players who now report approaches to us frequently whereas there was a time when they lacked confidence in confidentiality and the action that will be taken,” Marshall told ESPNcricinfo on Friday. “They have now seen corruptors being disrupted, named, banned when they get involved in cricket. And the education we now do with players shows them who the corruptors are, what their methods are, so everyone is much better equipped and protected to keep corruption away from the game.”Immediately upon taking charge in September 2017, Marshall and his team investigated several people in Sri Lanka, a country where the ACU was busy at that point, conducting a number of probes concerning “various types of corrupt activities.” That operation lasted several years during which the ACU met the top-most authorities of the Sri Lankan government, including the President and Prime Minister, to paint them a picture of corruption that had seeped into the country’s cricketing system. Eventually, the ACU intervention paved way for Sri Lanka becoming the first South Asian country to criminalise several offences related to match-fixing.Related

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• 'We are investigating several people in SL' – ACU head Alex Marshall

Marshall said he was happy with the progress in Sri Lanka, where he says there are now stronger guardrails to ward off corrupt elements. “Sri Lanka turned out to be a good news story because there were serious issues which were addressed locally and with ICC,” he said. “Now with the legislation and stronger measures Sri Lanka is in a much better place to keep the corruptors away.”Another significant outcome of the ACU probe involved charging several Sri Lankan players under its own code, including sanctioning a two-year ban on former Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya in 2019 for refusing to co-operate with investigations related to corruption in cricket.Two other former international captains, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan and Zimbabwe’s Heath Streak, who passed away last September, were charged by Marshall’s ACU for wrongdoing. Both players accepted their offence. In 2019, the ACU sanctioned Shakib across the three international formats for failing to report “not one but three” approaches made by alleged corruptor Deepak Aggarwal to engage in corrupt conduct in two tournaments in 2018: an ODI tri-series in Zimbabwe and an IPL match the same year when the Bangladesh player featured for Sunrisers Hyderabad.In 2021, Streak was handed an eight-year ban by the ACU after admitting to five breaches of the ICC’s anti-corruption code, including accepting a payment in bitcoin from a potential corruptor.As he prepares to leave his ICC job, Marshall has a word of caution for those administering, playing and governing cricket: that corrupt elements continue to wander around, waiting for any opportunity to enter the system. And one of those routes, Marshall stressed, was “badly” managed T20 franchise leagues, which are outside the ambit of the ICC ACU and are instead monitored by the member country boards.”I am confident that the cricket you watch is safe and clean,” Marshall said. “But I am also absolutely sure that corruptors are constantly looking for a route into the game, particularly in badly-run lower-level franchise leagues. The threat to the game is corruptors won’t go away while there is always money to be made and they will look for weakness in the system to get in.”

Nottinghamshire Outlaws’ hopes of reaching the knock-out phases of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup were ended when an Essex side who were already eliminated still pulled off a crushing victory by seven wickets at Trent Bridge. Robin Das, opening and still unbeaten, posted a maiden white-ball century off the last ball of the match.The 20-year old Jamal Richards, one of five in the Essex side raised like Das in north-east London, earlier claimed 5 for 31 with wholeheated, bustling pace. His best figures in all cricket halted an Outlaws surge to 96 for 1 and later helped induce a plummet from 163 for 4 to 218 all out despite Ben Slater’s 47 and 52 from South African Matt Montgomery.Other youngsters then saw Essex maturely home as Das and Noah Thain, neither of them yet past his 23rd birthday, put on 185 for the third wicket. Das finished with 100 from 119 balls whilst the teenage Thain fell with victory five runs away for 83, his best in Essex cricket so far.If they could not quite match Essex’s partnership record for the third wicket (268 by Graham Gooch and Keith Fletcher, both veterans at the time) the elder statesman would dearly have relished their stand.Chasing 219, Luc Benkenstein soon went to a spectacular catch on the midwicket boundary as Jack Haynes, running back, caught the ball, threw it up, went over the rope but skipped back to grab it a second time. And Rob Lord made it two wickets in his opening 13 balls when Tom Westley lost off stump to one that kept low.But as Das and Thain went forward with a calm judgement that belied their inexperience, the asking rate, initially 4.38, remained between 4.19 and 4.55 throughout the reply’s first 35 overs. At this point they raced forward as the match was claimed with 39 balls to spare.The Outlaws, put in, had earlier built a 40-run platform from the day’s first eight overs before Haynes, reprieved on five and 14, edged a slash to fall finally for 17.In his 64th first-team match in all formats, Feroze Khushi at last saw his off-spin called up for a maiden outing but it was Richards, the sixth bowler of seven employed, who ended a 56-run stand when Slater was held by Khushi at backward point off his third ball and Haseeb Hameed was bowled for nought by his fifth, a beauty.When Richards, one of seven men aged 25 or under in the line-up, ended an impressive 33 from teenager Freddie McCann, Nottinghamshire, losing three in six overs, were 123 for 4 in the 26th.Tom Moores revived things with 33 from only 28 balls but fell in the deep attempting a second successive six over midwicket before Lyndon James, Liam Patterson-White and Calvin Harrison all came and went cheaply in a disastrous half hour.The last of the trio was wonderfully caught by the leaping Khushi to bring Richards his fourth success at the start of his second spell and he ended things when Montgomery, flailing, miscued to deep cover with 16 balls unused.

A hurricane warning has left the T20 World Cup-winning India team stranded in Barbados.Hurricane Beryl (Category 4) is expected to pass by Barbados on Sunday night local time with the centre of the storm approximately 80 miles off the south coast. India are currently staying at the Hilton Hotel. They were initially planning a charter straight home but the airport has been closed since Sunday evening. South Africa had left earlier on Sunday.BCCI secretary Jay Shah said that board is planning a felicitation for the victorious team after they reach India.”Like you we are also stuck here. After the travel plans are clear, we will think about the felicitation,” Shah told reporters in Barbados.Related

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Shah: New India coach to take charge from SL series

Shah has said that the Indian team will have a new head coach from the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka starting later this month, but did not reveal who has been finalised to succeed the outgoing Rahul Dravid.Former India opener Gautam Gambhir is the frontrunner to take up the position of the head coach. The Cricket Advisory Committee [CAC] has conducted the interviews for the post and shortlisted Gambhir and former India women’s coach WV Raman.”Both coach and selector appointments will be made shortly,” Shah who is in the Caribbean with the Indian team that won the T20 World Cup 2024, said. “CAC has interviewed and shortlisted two names and after reaching Mumbai whatever they have decided we will go by that. VVS Laxman is going to Zimbabwe but a new coach will join from the Sri Lanka series.”The Indian team is due to tour Sri Lanka for three T20Is and three ODIs starting July 27.2:46

What is Virat Kohli’s legacy in T20Is?

‘Seniors will be there for CT and WTC’

Shah has also said that “seniors will be there” in next year’s Champions Trophy and the World Test Championship final, if India qualify for it, while a decision on whether Hardik Pandya succeeds Rohit Sharma as the next T20I captain will be taken solely by the selectors.”The transition has already happened with three greats retiring,” Shah said when asked about the team’s next phase following the T20I retirements of Virat Kohli, Rohit and [Ravindra] Jadeja.”The way this team is progressing, our target is to win the World Test Championship final and Champions Trophy. There will be a similar squad playing there. The seniors will be there.”This means that the senior players, fitness permitting, are likely to be available for the nine ODI matches that India will play before the Champions Trophy scheduled for February-March 2025 in Pakistan.India’s ODI assignments before that include three games each against Sri Lanka (away), New Zealand (home) and England (home).8:43

Rohit Sharma: ‘This has to be my greatest achievement’

‘From Rohit to Virat, all excelled’

Shah also praised the efforts of Rohit and Kohli, who played a match-winning knock in the final against South Africa which India won by seven runs in Barbados. Both Kohli and Rohit announced their retirement from T20Is after the triumph and were joined by allrounder Jadeja in saying goodbye to the format a day later.”It was the same captain last year and same here in Barbados. We won all games except the final in 2023 [ODI World Cup] as Australia played better. This time we worked even harder and played better to win the title,” Shah said. “If you look at other teams, experience counts. From Rohit to Virat, all excelled. Experience makes a lot of difference. In World Cups, you can’t experiment much also. A good player knows when to say goodbye to the game, we saw that yesterday. You look at Rohit’s strike rate, it is better than a lot of young players.”India, who had lost big finals in the past decade, finally ended their title drought after losing two ICC finals – World Test Championship and ODI World Cup final – over the last 12 months and Shah hoped the winning run would continue.”I would want India to win all the titles. We have the biggest bench strength, only three players from this team are going to Zimbabwe. We can field three teams if the need arises,” he said. “The way this team is progressing, our target is to win World Test Championship final and Champions Trophy. There will be a similar squad playing there. The seniors will be there.”On Hardik’s all-round performance in the T20 World Cup and chances of him taking over the captaincy from Rohit, Shah said: “Captaincy will be decided by the selectors and we will announce it after discussing with them. You asked about Hardik, there were lot of questions over his form but the selectors showed faith in him and he proved himself.”India will next travel to Zimbabwe for a five-match T20I series which begins on July 6 in Harare. Shubman Gill will lead the Indian side there with plenty of seniors being rested. Shah also confirmed that an India A team will be travelling to Australia later in the year ahead of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.