Nottingham Outlaws sign Dan Christian as skipper for T20 Blast title defence

Sam Billings sprains collar bone joint, England hopeful of his return with bat

Middle-order batsman Sam Billings who hurt his shoulder while fielding the first ODI against India has suffered a sprain on his collar bone joint. However, the injury is not a reoccurrence of any previous injury and hence he might well be able to bat later in the second innings. Meanwhile, England captain Eoin Morgan too walked off the filed after stopping a shot from the bat of Hardik Pandya in the 41st over of India’s batting. England had won the toss and decided to bowl first. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan provided the hosts with a steady start before Rohit got out chasing a wide delivery from Stokes.

NZ vs BAN | 2nd ODI: Ton-up Tom Latham plays captain's knock to help Blackcaps clinch series

A captain’s knock of 110 runs from Tom Latham and important contributions from Devon Conway and James Neesham in the middle order helped New Zealand clinch the ODI series against Bangladesh in Christchurch. Chasing a target of 272 runs set by Bangladesh on the back of a much-improved batting performance after a debacle in the first game, the hosts were in trouble early on. The openers Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls started off on dominating note just like in the first game when they were chasing a low score. However, the target of 272 needed one of them to go big with the bat, and they failed to take New Zealand off to a brilliant start. An off-cutter that has been Mustafizur’s signature delivery over the years found Guptill playing a back of a length delivery early and the pacer had enough time in his hands to run back and carry out a caught and bowled. Off-spinner Mahedi Hasan has had an unpleasant start to his ODI career in the last game, but he was eager to make amends this time around. After enticing a false big shot from Nicholls that saw the left-hander losing his leg stump, he got the better of Will Young. The highly-promising batsman was trying to paddle the ball round the corner of an off-spinning delivery that turned ever so slightly and his stumps along with the Blackcaps’ chasing efforts were rattled. Young failed to cash in on the opening created by injury to Ross Taylor and the onus of resurrecting the Blackcaps fell on the shoulders of an ever so impressive youngster Devon Conway and stand-in captain Tom Latham. In between the wickets of Nicholls and Young, Conway made his intentions clear with two dismissive pull shots that went rapidly towards the ropes. As soon as there were two left handers in Conway and Tom Latham together at the crease, skipper Tamim Iqbal switched to the off-spinning twin of Mahedi Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz. The move paid dividends in the short run as the next four over yielded only 13 runs and the batsmen had to do something to keep the scoreboard going. Latham found a length to find a release shot towards the midwicket boundary in the fifth over of the partnership. But, the sluggishness continued for some more time before the skipper found another boundary with sublime timing once again against the turn. Iqbal brought back the pace of Taskin Ahmed and New Zealand kept on batting without panicking in search of boundaries. The duo added 113 runs in the middle overs and kept the runs coming for the Blackcaps at a decent run rate. The duo joined each other in just the 11th over of the chase when the Blackcaps were in need of more than 200 runs, and by the time Conway departed in the 34th over, the hosts were just around 100 runs away from the target and a series win that were to huge in the absence of Kane Williamson and Ros Taylor. More to follow

Shafali Verma regains top spot in T20I rankings

India women’s team batter Shafali Verma has regained the top spot in the ICC women's T20 rankings after some impressive performance in the on-going three-match series at home. Verma who had achieved the similar feat last year for the time in her career surpassed Australia’s Beth Mooney. The right-handed aggressive batter has so far scored 23 and 47 in two matches against South Africa in the series. South Africa opener Lizelle Lee gained three slots to go up to 11th spot in the rankings in the T20Is but lost her top spot in the ODI rankings to England’s Tammy Beaumont. Apart from this, Deepti Sharma is at 40th spot while has moved to 59 from 85 among the batters. Harleen Deol played a brilliant innings and notched up a half-century in the first T20I against South Africa in a losing cause. She has moved to the 99th spot among the batters while 146th among bowlers. Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad has moved to 25th spot from 34. South Africa’s 4-1 win in the ODI series against India has helped them overtake England to second position in the ODI rankings while India are still at fourth. Australia continue to be at the helm in both ODIs and T20Is. England are at two while India are at three in the T20Is. India and South Africa will play the final T20I on Tuesday in Lucknow.

WI vs SL | 1st Test Day 2: Rakheem Cornwall overpowers Lakmal's fifer to put Windies at top

A dominating lower order partnership between Rakheem Cornwall and wicket-keeper batsman Joshua Da Silva put West Indies in an advantageous position on the second day of the first Test being played at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. By the end of the second day’s play, Windies have secured a vital lead of 99 runs with two wickets including the danger man Rakheem Cornwall still in their hands. Da Silva was dismissed off a short ball of Chameera but not before the duo added 90 important runs when the situation seemed that the hosts will squander ll the advantage by bowling Sri Lanka for a middling score. Cornwall struck two sixes and 9 fours in his unbeaten 60 runs from 79 balls and his counter attack literally took the heart out of the Sri Lanka bowling attack. He was severe against both spinners and pacers and used all the power he had in his wrists to put Windies on the driving seat in the game. Starting the second day after knocking the tourists out for a less than 200 score, Windies batsmen had to bat well to put the team in a driving position. The start was horrible though as the new skipper Kraig Brathwaite was cooler in his batting style than it was visible in his career before, and there was an unusual waft outside off as well. He gifted his wicket away fairly early in the day to Suranga Lakmal. The middle-order pair of Nkrumah Bonner and Kyle Mayers were rewarded with slots at the number three and four positions for their excellent performances in Bangladesh. Bonner was lacing in discipline though and presented the Sri Lankan bowlers with an early opportunity with poor shots outside the off stump. At the other end, Campbell was highly watchful and batting with surety around off stump. He looked set with his eyes on a big prize and eager to not throw his wickets away for which he has always taken flakes from critics. Bonner settled down after early hiccups to take the full toll of scoring opportunities presented by Chameera. However, his fluency at the crease did not last long and the greed to take on a back fo alength delivery from Lasith Embuldeniya saw him plumb in front while attempting to pull. After Bonner’s fall, the hero of the triumph in Bangladesh—Kayle Mayers came to the crease and he started his innings where he left off in the subcontinent. He was dismissive against spinners hit them down the ground while attempts to bounce him out by Chameera was smashed over square leg boundary. The partnership between him and Campbell could not last long enough for West Indies to have total control of the proceedings and Chameera got the better of the opener to keep the game in the balance. Another quick wicket of Jermaine Blackwood pegged Windies back and Sri Lanka were sniffing a big chance to get the hosts bundled out before they could take the lead. Mayers carried on his merry way and took Vishwa Fernando for a couple of boundaries to keep the scoreboard going for the hosts while Jason Holder found it tough to get going. But, for Windies’ plight, Lakmal retired to account for Mayers to send Windies on the brink of a collapse that would have ruined their chances of getting an upper hand. Lamkmal bowled scattered spells throughout the day as Sri Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunaratne kept on searching for breakthroughs while defending a very middling score. The pacer did not disappoint him one bit and found another good delivery to send Holder back to the pavilion. He did not miss the chance to bag another fifer and with the wicket of Akzarri Joseph, reached the milestone in his 21st over of the first innings. With 171/7, Windies were ahead of Sri Lanka’s first innings total, but not by much that would have put real pressure on the tourists. Lanka smelled a sniff and attacked the pair of Da Silva and Cornwall with pace and spin. However, for Windies, Cornwall emerged as the new hero with the bat and put every bowler to the sword and by the end of the day’s play Windies were ahead by a significant margin in the first innings of the first Test.