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After a 15-year wait for these two teams to face each other again in Test cricket, Smriti Mandhana’s square drives and pulls were the highlight as India took the early honours on pink-ball Test debut. The less pleasing aspect was the Gold Coast rain which arrived shortly after dinner in torrential style and never really left, wiping 56 overs from the day to leave everyone frustrated.After Meg Lanning put India in, Australia had a first hour to forget as Mandhana latched onto some loose bowling with a 51-ball half-century brought up before the drinks break. The home side offered a considerable helping hand by giving Shafali Verma three lives as the opening stand reached 93 before the spinners, Sophie Molineux and Ashleigh Gardner, offered Lanning some control – probably not Plan A at the start of the day. They had already used seven bowling options in 44 overs.The heaviest rain arrived with India 114 for 1, causing close to a two-hour delay, and there was only a brief resumption possible during which Mandhana added to her boundary count with two crunching pulls off Tahlia McGrath, the first of them whipped off her hip for six backward of square. She made 66 of her 80 runs in boundaries. Showers then returned and there were no gaps big enough to get further play. There are 100 overs a day in women’s Tests, which are played over four days, and time can also be made up, but Friday’s forecast isn’t promising either.After six new caps were handed out between the teams India had raced away, reaching 70 without loss at drinks, but Australia were then able to dry up the scoring rate. That brought the reward of Shafali’s wicket when she was taken at mid-off against Molineux, trying to go over the infield. It ended an opening stand of 93 which followed the 167 the pair had added against England in the first innings in Bristol earlier this year.Shafali’s three lives came on 3, 19 and 25. The first was a tough, low outside edge to Lanning at first slip off Ellyse Perry who produced a far steadier performance in her seven-over opening spell than she managed in the ODIs. She was then dropped by Lanning again, this time off left-arm spinner Molineux, before the easiest of the three chances was put down by debutant Annabel Sutherland at mid-on.Mandhana’s innings was full of superbly timed shots off the front and the back foot although the Australia bowlers fed her with too much width and, overall, were too short with the new ball. She had been out of the blocks quickly by pulling Darcie Brown’s first ball in Test cricket through midwicket and in Brown’s fourth over took her for four boundaries.Brown’s opening spell ended with 4-0-28-0 while fellow debutant Stella Campbell went for 14 in her first three-over burst where the slowness of the surface negated her attempts to bang the ball in. Lanning was forced into more defensive fields to try and slow the rate and she was given some control by Molineux and McGrath, and then by Gardner with 18 overs up to lunch bringing 31 runs.The pressure showed on Shafali, who had found life tougher than Mandhana throughout her innings, when she tried to break the shackles with Australia, in the form of McGrath, taking a catch at the fourth attempt. It was a good piece of bowling from Molineux, but with India in such a strong position it was an unnecessary risk from Shafali especially with a similar stroke bringing her third reprieve.Punam Raut played herself in cautiously and was 1 off 22 balls at dinner but during the brief period of play possible afterwards was building a useful stand with Mandhana just as the ball was starting to nip around with the floodlights taking hold.The home side handed out four debuts – Brown, Campbell, Sutherland and Georgia Wareham – with Mitchell Starc helping with the cap presentations while India fielded two new players in Yastika Bhatia and Meghna Singh who had both impressed in the ODIs. Spin-bowling allrounder Sneh Rana, who made a rearguard 80* against England in the Bristol Test, was left out.

Dasun Shanaka’s outstanding batting form saw SLC Greys triumph in the board’s Invitational T20 Tournament – a two-week affair that served both as an audition for the national side in a T20 World Cup year, as well as training for the global tournament that starts in October.Having gone unbeaten through the round robin stages (each of the four teams played oppositions twice), Greys won the final against SLC Reds – led by Dinesh Chandimal – by 42 runs. Shanaka would have top-scored in the tournament even if he had not contributed in Tuesday’s final, but his 48 not out off 17 was instrumental to Greys’ total of 201 for 4. Reds lost three wickets in the powerplay before recovering somewhat through a 65-run partnership between Oshada Fernando and Asela Gunaratne, but were eventually squeezed out by Greys’ excellent attack. They were all out for 159.

Top performers of SLC Invitational T20 League

Top seven run-scorers:

Dasun Shanaka – 258 runs (six innings), SR 184
Kamindu Mendis – 193 runs (three innings), SR 168
Dinesh Chandimal – 183 runs (six innings), SR 120
Pathum Nissanka – 167 runs (five innings), SR 138
Sadeera Samarawickrama – 155 runs (six innings), SR 120
Avishka Fernando – 154 runs (six innings), SR120
Dhananjaya Lakshan – 136 runs (six innings), SR 119

Top seven wicket-takers:

Himesh Ramanayake (seam) – 7 wickets, Econ 8.18
Nuwan Pradeep (seam) – 7 wickets, Econ 7.16
Pulina Tharanga (legspin) – 7 wickets, Econ 7.44
Seekkuge Prasanna (legspin) – 7 wickets, Econ 6.40
Ashian Daniel (offspin) – 5 wickets, Econ 7.15
Chamika Karunaratne (seam) – 5 wickets, Econ 8.85
Akila Dananjaya (spin) – 5 wickets, Econ 7.36

Sri Lanka’s team management will be heartened by new limited-overs captain Shanaka’s tournament performance. Batting in the No. 5 position he has recently occupied for the national side, Shanaka hit 84, 48, 8, 55*, 15, and 48* through the course of the event, maintaining a strike rate of 184, as he routinely provided the closing fireworks to Greys’ innings. His knock in the final was his most explosive, and propelled Greys to the first total of over 200 in the tournament. Greys were favourites from the outset and never looked like losing this final. Wicketkeeper-batter Minod Bhanuka, who seems likely to feature in Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup squad, top-scored for Greys, with a 74 off 51 that set the scene for Shanaka.There were also three particular players on the fringes of the national T20 side who impressed in the tournament. Kamindu Mendis – who bowls fingerspin with both arms, but is mostly a batter – was the tournament’s second-highest scorer, hitting 74, 53*, and 66 in the three innings he played (several matches were rained out), maintaining a tournament strike rate of 168. Chandimal did not score as quickly – his strike rate down at 120 – but was nevertheless the third-highest scorer, with a tally of 183 in the tournament. On the bowling front, experienced seam bowler Nuwan Pradeep was the tournament’s joint-highest wicket-taker with seven dismissals, and an economy rate of 7.16.Sri Lanka’s two best players from the limited-overs series against India – legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga and fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera – did not play in the tournament. Neither did Kusal Perera, who tested positive for Covid-19. The entire tournament was played in Pallekele, within a biosecure bubble.

Kyle Mayers, the West Indies batting all-rounder, will play for Birmingham Bears in the last three games of the Vitality Blast group stage.Mayers, who scored an unbeaten double-century on Test debut in February, played his first T20I in New Zealand last year after impressing for Barbados Tridents in the 2020 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with 222 runs. He has played six Tests and two T20Is and earned his maiden ODI cap in the first of three ODIs against Bangladesh at the beginning of this year, going on to play the remainder of that series.Mayers was lined up as a replacement overseas player by Rajasthan Royals in the 2021 IPL and had arrived in India shortly before the tournament’s postponement.Kyle Mayers said: “I hope that I can contribute with the bat and ball during these final three important games of the Blast… I’m very proud to join this list of players. Hopefully I can make some important contributions, which secure our path through to the knock-out stages.”Paul Farbrace, Bears Director of Cricket, said: “Being able to add Kyle, as a hard-hitting batsman and skilful seam bowler, to our squad as we bid for a quarter-final place is great boost. We also recognise how motivated Kyle is by this opportunity to feature in another leading T20 tournament with an ICC T20 World Cup just around the corner.”Mayers will be available for Friday’s derby at Worcestershire Rapids, followed by the return match at Edgbaston a week later and the final group game at home to Northants Steelbacks on July 18. The Bears sit fifth on the nine-team North Group table, level on 11 points with fourth-placed Durham and six points behind leaders Nottinghamshire.

Fred Klaassen and Logan van Beek picked up three wickets each before Stephan Myburgh anchored the chase of 164 with a 111-ball 74 to give Netherlands a 2-1 series win over Ireland in the third ODI in Utrecht.After opting to bat, Ireland were jolted by left-arm seamer Klaassen, who castled Kevin O’Brien for a duck on the fourth ball of the day. In his next over, Klaassen had Paul Stirling caught behind to make it 6 for 2. Andy Balbirnie didn’t last long either and fell to Vivian Kingma in the tenth over.At 28 for 3, Harry Tector and George Dockrell got together and tried to revive the innings. The two added 89 off 138 balls for the fourth wicket before van Beek provided Netherlands with the breakthrough by bowling Dockrell for 40. Soon after, he had Tector too as the batter tried to push at a length ball only to nick it behind for a 100-ball 58.From the remaining batters, only Simi Singh (21* off 35) reached double digits as Ireland lost their last seven wickets for 46 runs and were bowled out for 163 in 49.2 overs.Myburgh started the chase by dispatching the first ball of the innings, bowled by Barry McCarthy, for a six over deep square leg. Alongside Max O’Dowd, he broke the back of the chase by adding 66 in 14.4 overs for the first wicket.O’Dowd scored 36, with five fours, before Singh breached his defence. Scott Edwards fell soon afterwards and when Josh Little dismissed Musa Ahmad, Netherlands still needed 68. But with more than 25 overs left, Myburgh and Bas de Leede had the luxury to play out a few overs.The two brought down the equation to 30 required from 63 balls before Myburgh hit offspinner Andy McBrine for 4, 4 and 6 off successive deliveries.With six required for victory, Myburgh tried to slog-sweep Singh only to be bowled. Netherlands lost de Leede and Pieter Seelaar too in the next two overs but the result was a mere formality by then. In the 46th over, van Beek finally sealed the win with a four off Singh.

England are facing an anxious wait to see if Joe Root will be able to take any further part in the second Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka.Root was forced off the pitch during the evening session of day two after complaining of an upset stomach. He was subsequently isolated from the rest of the squad to limit any chance of contagion, driven back to the hotel on his own and confined to his room.While the team management are hopeful that a night’s sleep will help Root make a swift recovery, they will be anxious to see how he is on Sunday morning. Such is England’s reliance upon him, their chances of chasing down their fourth-innings target on a demanding Dhaka pitch will be substantially diminished if he is rendered unavailable.He is rated the No. 3 Test batsman in the world, top-scored in England’s first innings and is the only member of their top four to reach 20 this series.Given that nobody else in the squad has reported similar symptoms and everyone has eaten the same food – due to security fears, the team are obliged to eat in the hotel restaurants every day and in the players’ dining room during the match – there is a theory that he may have contracted the illness in his role as the team’s ball polisher.Root is one of very few England players allowed to handle the ball when the team are in the field and it is noticeable that, after almost every delivery, it is returned to him to shine before it is returned to the bowler. As part of that process, Root often licks his fingers before transferring his saliva on to the ball. It is, therefore, possible that he could have picked up something from the ground or even the ball.England may have missed Root in that role already. While they have unlocked Bangladesh’s batting in previous innings by utilising reverse swing, it was noticeable on the second evening that their seamers were unable to gain any movement.

Pitch imperfect?
The message from the BCCI may have been on uniformity in pitch preparation, but doubts over the neutral-venues concept continued to be raised after the opening round of the Ranji Trophy. The Mumbai-Tamil Nadu opener in Lahli, a marquee clash in Group A, finished in a little over two days, with 34 out of the 38 wickets to fall taken by the fast bowlers.”It was basically a very green pitch,” Abhishek Nayar, who made an unbeaten 45 to help Mumbai scrape home by two wickets, told ESPNcricinfo after the game. “Initially, there was a very thick covering of grass that made it very tough for stroke-play. What made things more difficult was the outfield was super slow, so getting boundaries was not easy.”It wasn’t too different in Ranchi, where Chhattisgarh beat Tripura by nine wickets. While Yashpal Singh, Tripura’s most experienced batsmen, termed it a “rubbish pitch”, Sulakshan Kulkarni, Chhattisgarh’s head coach, also wasn’t pleased with the surface despite his side recording a historic win. “The wicket was up and down right from the start,” he said. “You are supposed to have consistent bounce to begin with, but here it was scooting low and shooting up right from the start. There wasn’t a blade of grass. Surely better wickets can be prepared. What’s the use of playing on these kind of surfaces even after adopting neutral venues?”Maharashtra’s loss to Jharkhand at the Karnail Singh Stadium, which was banned from hosting first-class cricket for a year in 2012, also threw the spotlight on the 22 yards. Kedar Jadhav, who scored two half-centuries in a losing cause for Maharashtra, was fuming after the game. “If a match gets over in close to three days, it is not a good sign for cricket. It has to be a good quality pitch, where you get four days of competitive cricket,” he told the . “The result does not matter. The match has to last for four days. That is how the quality of cricket in general will rise.”Uthappa, Gautam swap no more
One of the reasons cited for possible discord within the Karnataka set-up during the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy was that of Robin Uthappa and CM Gautam, two of their most experienced players, being in the middle of an unwanted restructuring. Karnataka began to alternate wicketkeeping duties between Uthappa and Gautam at the behest of KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel in order to facilitate Uthappa’s return to international cricket as a wicketkeeper-batsman. The decision, which gave Karnataka’s batting coach J Arun Kumar “sleepless nights”, resulted in a bit of friction as Gautam confessed that switching between fielding and wicketkeeping was a “little irritating”.In a bid to return to winning ways, the team management has made it clear to both players about their roles this time around. “Last season was a learning for me; I understood a little more about team chemistry,” Uthappa told the . “The chemistry works with CM keeping, and I respect that. For me, it was learning, and I’ve accepted that learning and grown with that.”Shreyas, Shardul boost for Mumbai
Mumbai will be boosted by the returns of Shardul Thakur and Shreyas Iyer for their second match against Baroda in Delhi. Shardul was called up to the Indian team as a late replacement for Bhuvneshwar Kumar on the eve of Mumbai’s opening game against Tamil Nadu, while Shreyas, last season’s highest run-scorer, missed the match because of a quadriceps injury.Vijay and Harbhajan at NCA
M Vijay has been asked to report to the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore for a rehabilitation programme, and therefore will not be available to play for Tamil Nadu in the third round of the Ranji Trophy, starting October 20. The TNCA had earlier requested the BCCI to release Vijay, whose next international commitments, fitness permitting, will be the Test series against England, which starts on November 9 in Rajkot.Meanwhile, Harbhajan Singh, who was initially not named for just the first fixture, will not lead Punjab in the second round too. Harbhajan is currently at the NCA for a fitness assessment.

India have retained 15 of the 17 players who formed the Test squad for the tour of West Indies, for the upcoming three-Test series at home against New Zealand. The players to miss out were allrounder Stuart Binny and seamer Shardul Thakur.Binny and Thakur played only one game in the Caribbean – the tour match against the WICB President’s XI. Binny was later included in the T20I squad for the matches against West Indies in the USA, while Thakur joined the India A team on their tour of Australia.Rohit Sharma is part of the Mumbai squad for a tour match against the New Zealanders in Delhi from September 16. When asked if Rohit would play, a Mumbai team official said they were waiting for confirmation from the BCCI about his availability.”Rohit is a fabulous player, immense talent he has got, but he hasn’t got a longer run in Test cricket,” chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil said after the selection meeting in Mumbai. “What we have seen with Rohit Sharma is, he has been picked for one Test and then rested an entire season and again picked. So the selection committee, along with coach and captain, have decided that whoever is be picked will be given a fair amount of chances.”Perhaps the biggest question ahead of the selection of India’s XI for the first Test is about who will open. M Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan opened in the first Test on the tour of West Indies, but Vijay was injured for the second Test and KL Rahul took his chance and made 158 in Jamaica. Vijay was then left out of the third Test while Rahul and Dhawan opened, but returned for the final match in Trinidad, where he was slotted to open with Rahul before rain ruined the game.Cheteshwar Pujara, who was replaced by Rohit in the third Test against West Indies because India were playing five bowlers, and then did not bat in the fourth Test, returned to form by scoring 166 and 256 at No. 3 in the ongoing Duleep Trophy in Greater Noida.The squad contains three spinners – R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra – and four seamers – Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar – giving India the option of several combinations should they choose to play five bowlers.The series against New Zealand is the beginning of a home season in which India will play 13 Tests until March next year. The first match against New Zealand will be played in Kanpur from September 22, while the second and third Tests will be held in Kolkata and Indore.India are currently ranked No. 2 on the ICC Test rankings, only a point behind Pakistan, while New Zealand are placed seventh. India had briefly occupied the No. 1 ranking during the Test series against West Indies, following Australia’s 3-0 defeat to Sri Lanka. They had a chance to consolidate their top spot with a win in the fourth Test in Port of Spain but the match was drawn because of rain and a wet outfield, and Pakistan climbed to No. 1 having drawn their series against England 2-2.Squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, M Vijay, Umesh Yadav

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAlastair Cook continued his fine form with another half-century•Getty Images

The worm turns again. There is some wonderful Test cricket being played at the moment and the Edgbaston Test could bubble up into a humdinger after Alastair Cook and Alex Hales wiped out Pakistan’s lead with an unbroken stand of 117 on a day that England showed commendable resilience.Cook closed on 61, during which he become England’s leading run-scorer across all formats – overtaking Kevin Pietersen – although of more immediate relevance was the assurance with which he played, reaching fifty off 67 balls. Hales was less fluent, but showed the determination he had against Sri Lanka earlier in the season and brought up his fifty from 116 balls off the final delivery of the day. The century stand was this pair’s first in Test cricket, in their 18th innings together, and England’s first since Cook and Moeen Ali in Abu Dhabi last October.Pakistan’s eventual advantage of 103 was good, but perhaps short of what they would have hoped for late on Thursday before Azhar Ali edged the final delivery of the day. In total, their last eight wickets fell for 143, with the last five managing just 42 as the flimsy lower order was exposed once Misbah-ul-Haq’s diligent half-century was ended.England’s seamers bowled well (Moeen was only entrusted with two overs in the day) although James Anderson was ordered out of the attack after encroaching on the danger area for a third time – the second time in the year he had been removed having also transgressed in Johannesburg. But by then Pakistan were eight down and England were able to soak up his absence. Chris Woakes continued to impress to finish with three wickets while England earned another scalp through their fielding when Yasir Shah was run out.Unlike the opening day, England’s openers were able to start in sunshine and the surface remained placid. The Pakistan seamers fed Cook with too much width early on and the fifty stand came up in the 15th over, with Cook contributing 36 of them. The pace did not slow, aided by Hales also finding his groove after some hard work, notably when he flicked Yasir over the leg side. There was little help for Yasir, although he did spin one to bring an lbw appeal against Hales which went to review but had pitched outside leg.It was Hales who took England into the lead with a textbook back-foot punch off Sohail Khan who struggled to replicate his first-innings performance. Mohammad Amir was the pick of the quicks, but Misbah will need a telling contribution from Yasir on the fourth day. When the players walked off, with nine overs unbowled due to various delays, there was a very different feel to the match than a few hours earlier.A key element to this match could yet be the control England managed to exert with the ball, meaning that even when wickets were not falling the innings did not run away from them. The third morning, which began with Pakistan 40 adrift, started in a similar manner to the previous day with them willing to soak up the pressure: Anderson’s opening five-over spell cost just four runs and while Pakistan had plenty of wickets in hand they were content, but their approach did mean the lengthy tail remained a get-out for England if they could break through.Younis Khan was slightly less jumpy than in the first two Tests but could not escape his rut, providing England their first wicket of the day when he glanced Woakes down the leg side – a similar dismissal to the first innings at Old Trafford off Ben Stokes.Misbah continued to leave and defend against some tight bowling, only occasionally breaking free when he drove Stuart Broad for consecutive boundaries, in a manner very similar to how he has played throughout this cluster of England Tests in the last eight months. By lunch, the runs had started to come more freely.Asad Shafiq started brightly at Lord’s but has been slightly less productive since and could not break the shackles in an 18-ball stay before losing his off stump when Broad made a delivery nip back which he was late on. At that point, Pakistan were yet to take the lead and England sniffed a chance to keep the Test even.Not for the first time, Sarfraz Ahmed’s appearance brought energy to the innings, both in his punchy strokeplay and eagerness to keep the strike rotating. Misbah’s early caution was also rewarded as he moved from 7 off 39 balls to a half-century off 93, although one of his boundaries came when an edge flashed past Joe Root who was stood at a very close third slip.His dismissal had a dose of bad fortune about it, although Anderson was unlikely to see it that way, when he defended at a ball which then came off pad and boot into the stumps. It gave England an opening at the lower order and brought a period where the umpires were in the thick of the action.A superb piece of fielding from Woakes at deep square beat Yasir attempt to come back for a second, Jonny Bairstow doing well to gather the throw and break the stumps with his elbow – a dismissal which led to a thumbing of the Laws: it was perfectly legal, a run out can be completed by hand to arm providing the ball is under control.Amir’s wicket also needed the intervention of the TV umpire when Woakes rightly thought the lbw shout had struck pad first, while Sohail was lbw walking across his stumps at Broad. By then Anderson had been removed from the attack by Joel Wilson, following further feedback from the third umpire, and his over was completed by Steven Finn who was destined to end wicketless again when Cook added to England’s list of dropped catches by shelling Rahat Ali at slip. It was the last moment that did not go right for them.

ScorecardMustafizur Rahman was absent for Sussex after playing one game [file picture]•BCCI

Tom Smith played a key role with bat and ball as Gloucestershire kept their hopes of defending the Royal London One-Day Cup alive with a 51-run South Group win over Sussex at Cheltenham.In a match billed as must-win for both lowly placed teams, the hosts posted 242 for eight after losing the toss, Michael Klinger contributing 46 and Smith 43 not out. Chris Jordan claimed three for 55 and leg-spinner Will Beer two for 38.In reply the Sharks could manage only 191 all out, despite an excellent unbeaten 87 from 21-year-old Harry Finch, left-arm spinner Smith taking 4 for 26 from his ten overs.Sussex were not helped by the absence of their overseas pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman who is now in England but who picked up an injury after his first game for the county – one in which he was termed “a very special bowler” by his captain Luke Wright after demolishing Essex in the NatWest Blast.The result took Gloucestershire to four points from five games, while Sussex remain on just two.Gloucestershire lost wickets too regularly to gain much momentum to their innings. Chris Dent had already been dropped when falling early on for ten and it was 49 for 2 when Ian Cockbain was caught behind for eight in the ninth over.Hamish Marshall’s disappointing last Cheltenham Festival ended when he was bowled off inside edge by Jordan for 11 before Beer struck a major blow in the 22nd over.Klinger had looked in prime form moving to 46 off 66 balls, with 6 fours, when adjudged lbw pushing forward. It may have been a case of the ball striking pad before bat, but the Gloucestershire captain was clearly unhappy with the decision.Beer also removed Benny Howell for 19 and when Graeme van Buuren was bowled by Jordan for 38 off another inside edge Gloucestershire were becalmed on 155 for 6 in the 35th over.Kieran Noema-Barnett (29) hit the only six of the innings over mid-wicket off Danny Briggs, but it was Smith who did most to bolster the modest total, facing 46 balls and hitting 3 fours.Young wicketkeeper Patrick Grieshaber contributed a bright 20 at the death, but Gloucestershire looked to be short of a par score.Soon, however, the home bowlers were striking back. Ed Joyce mistimed a back-foot shot to be caught at mid-wicket off Matt Taylor and when Craig Miles had Philip Salt caught behind it was 19 for 2.Dangerman Luke Wright played a poor shot off Taylor on 18, chipping a catch to mid-on and Gloucestershire were right in the game at 43 for 3 in the ninth over.Chris Nash was bowled off a bottom edge by Smith for six, but Finch and Ben Brown than gave Sussex hope with a stand of 70 in 19.4 overs before Brown, on 39, square drove Howell to Cockbain at backward point.When Smith had Chris Jordan caught behind for 14, Sussex were left needing 84 off the last ten overs with only four wickets in hand.Smith then took a fine caught and bowled at full tilt after Jofra Archer had skied the ball back over his head and had Ajmal Shahzad well held at deep mid-wicket by Dent.Beer was run out and when last man Briggs was bowled by Howell, it left Finch, who faced 115 balls and hit 8 fours and a six, high and dry after a fine personal effort.

England will host Ireland for two ODIs in 2017, in a move described as “an historic stepping stone for Irish cricket”. The fixtures, one of which will be at Lord’s, represent the first bilateral series between the sides, as well as the first time they have faced each other in England.Under the previous agreement between the ECB and Cricket Ireland, England played a biennial ODI in Ireland. Next year they will instead host Ireland at Bristol, on May 5, and Lord’s, on May 7, as part of their build-up to the Champions Trophy. The development is a further boost for Ireland as they seek greater engagement with Full Members and a calendar that can help them challenge for World Cup qualification via the ODI rankings.Ireland’s captain William Porterfield, who has led calls for more opportunities for his side, described the series as “absolutely massive”, while Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland’s chief executive, thanked the ECB for helping to bring it about. Ireland are also due to host New Zealand and Bangladesh for a six-match triangular series in May 2017.”We would like to extend our sincere thanks to ECB for their support in bringing this series to fruition and, in particular, giving us the opportunity to play a two-match series in England for the first time,” Deutrom said. “Rounding the series off at Lord’s will, of course, make this truly memorable for everyone involved.”We have set out our stall to make cricket a mainstream sport in Ireland and perhaps one measure of that is for the Blarney Army, whether living in Ireland or England, to arrive in their thousands to paint the Home of Cricket green in front of a worldwide TV audience.”England were Ireland’s opponents in their first ODI, in Belfast in 2006, and they have met twice in World Cups but this move signals a greater degree of commitment from the ECB to helping their Associate neighbours. It is understood that part of the decision for England to host the games was in order to save Cricket Ireland the set-up costs.”This series will represent a historic stepping stone in the development of Irish cricket and give further impetus to the growth of the game in Ireland as a whole,” the ECB’s chief executive Tom Harrison said. “There’s always been a friendly local rivalry between Ireland and England on the sporting field and this is a great opportunity for cricket matches between the two countries to enjoy even greater status and profile.”Ireland recently played a two-match series against Sri Lanka and will host Afghanistan and Pakistan this summer, before playing ODIs against South Africa and Australia later in the year. They were added to the ICC ODI rankings last year, giving them a chance to secure automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup by reaching the top eight, but had struggled to arrange a competitive fixture list.England had previously only played one-off fixtures against Ireland, in Belfast once again in 2009, then at Clontarf, in Dublin, two years later, followed by matches in 2013 and 2015 at Ireland’s new home, Malahide. Ireland’s only win over England came at the 2011 World Cup, when they pulled off the highest successful chase in the competition’s history in Bangalore.”It’s absolutely massive for us to have the opportunity to play against England in a series,” Porterfield said. “What makes it extra special is the fact that one of the games is at Lord’s – where every cricketer dreams of playing.”I’m certain we’ll have a lot of support there from both the Irish living in London and travelling over from Ireland. There’ll be a great atmosphere and it will be one which the team will relish playing in front of.”Teams travelling to play England are also coming over here now to play series too so hopefully that trend will continue. We are getting more and more international fixtures with games against Pakistan, Afghanistan, Australia and South Africa still to come this year, and England, Bangladesh and New Zealand confirmed already for next year.”