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Melbourne Renegades 4 for 169 (Lee 79, Webb 46*) beat Sydney Sixers 4 for 166 (Healy 63) by six wicketsLizelle Lee turned on the power to leave the Sixers with only a slim chance of making the semi-finals and needing considerable help from other teams to do so. Despite a century opening stand between Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry, the Sixers couldn’t make the most of it in the second half of the innings. In reply, Lee was stunning – after being dropped at backward point in the opening over – her innings including four sixes one of which was clocked at 87 meters is it went out of the ground.ALSO READ: CA investigates Sixers’ playing XI ‘administrative error’Lee added 73 in just over five overs with Courtney Webb to turn the game in its head, after the Renegades had been 3 for 70 in the 11th over, and though she fell to a catch in the deep Webb was able to comfortably see the game home amid a ragged fielding display which included Perry and Dane van Niekerk colliding as they both went for a catch. The Sixers were also without Hayley Silver-Holmes who was withdrawn from the XI midway through the game due to an administrative error which meant she was not eligible to play.Webb had earlier produced one of the highlights of the first innings with a stunning, full-length diving catch running back over her shoulder at cover to remove Perry which came just two balls after Healy’s barnstorming 63 had ended.That stalled the Sixers’ momentum and though Marizanne Kapp played nicely they never quite regained it. Healy, though, had shown the full 360-degree game she has previously spoken about developing, the most eye-catching shot of her innings not the four sixes but a reverse paddle scoop through third man.Georgia Redmayne continued her fine form•Getty Images

Laura Kimmince did it again for the Heat, launching 19 off 5 balls, as the defending champions overcame a wobble to put initially put one foot into the semi-finals before the Sixers’ defeat later in the day confirmed their spot. At 2 for 109 in the 13th over they were well in control of the chase, needing 43 off 43 deliveries, but Katherine Brunt pulled off a brilliant run out from her follow through to remove the in-form Georgia Redmayne and things got tight.Georgia Voll had given another glimpse of her talent with a brisk 34, including a straight six over long-on, but both her and Maddy Green fell to catches in the ring in the space five deliveries. Kimmince appeared to have sealed it with a massive leg-side six, but Tess Flintoff bowled an excellent penultimate over which claimed two wickets and cost just two runs leaving eight needed off the last. However, it only took Kimmince two balls as she smoked consecutive boundaries off Annabel Sutherland.The Stars’ total was built around another half-century from Mignon du Preez – her fourth in five innings – and after Grace Harris struck twice in the 17th over to leave them 5 for 117, Brunt and Alana King provided a strong finish as 27 came off the last two overs.Rachael Haynes picks one up over the leg side•Getty Images

The Thunder held their nerve in a tense chase against the Strikers to keep themselves well placed for a place in the semi-finals. It got closer than they would have liked, particularly when captain Rachael Haynes departed in the penultimate over to leave them needing eight off seven deliveries, but some scampering by Phoebe Litchfield and Tahlia Wilson then a boundary by the former sealed the match.The chase had started well as Tammy Beaumont and Rachel Trenaman added 44, but there was a wobble in the middle order and the Thunder were grateful for the experience of Haynes who made 30 off 23 balls.The result left the Strikers on the brink of elimination with a host of results having to go their way. They struggled for momentum with the bat, particularly through the first half of the innings: at 10 overs they were 2 for 51. Katie Mack and Stafanie Taylor lifted things – Mack bringing up her half-century off 45 balls – but the Thunder closed out strongly with the ball with just 11 runs coming off the last two overs.Sophie Devine brought up a typically belligerent half-century•Getty Images

The Scorchers’ opening pair, the fit-again Sophie Devine and prolific Beth Mooney, flexed their muscles to power their team to a crushing victory to leave their semi-final destiny in their own hands.Devine, who did not bowl following the back injury that had kept her out for two games, clobbered 87 off 53 with five sixes, one of which was a monstrous blow over long-on that narrowly avoided taking out two policemen and the last was a massive blow off Chloe Tryon to finish the game. With Mooney ticking along comfortably the century stand was raised in the 12th over against a Hurricanes attack that had few answers after Belinda Vakarewa limped off unable to complete her first over. The margin of victory, with more than five overs to spare, was also a boost for the Scorchers’ net run rate which may yet be a factor.They were excellent with the ball and in the field – Devine calling it their best display of the season – with Taneale Peschel once again impressive with 1 for 13 off her four overs, including a maiden, while Sam Betts removed the key wickets of Nicola Carey and Tryon in the space of three balls. The sharp fielding display was typified by Sarah Glenn’s direct hit run out to remove Naomi Stalenberg.

Tim Southee has become only the third from New Zealand, after Richard Hadlee and Daniel Vettori, to get to the 300-wicket milestone, which he achieved with Haris Sohail’s scalp in Mount Maunganui on Tuesday. “It’s a pretty cool feeling,” Southee said afterwards, and promised to try and keep adding to the number as long as he is able to keep up with the demands.”It’s special, and obviously not many people have been able to do it and the two that have, they are two of our greatest-ever cricketers – so it’s nice to be in that bracket with those guys,” Southee said. “When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was play cricket for New Zealand and I guess to sit here after a reasonable time of doing that and achieving a couple of things along the way… it’s a pretty cool feeling.”Related

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“It’s there in the background,” he added when asked if the record was on his mind. “But when you’re out there, you’re all for the side. But you obviously know, you’re reasonably close. So, yeah, the guys keep reminding us. Wags [Neil Wagner] was actually one ahead of everyone else, he thought it was the first one and came in and gave me a big hug, and I was thinking ‘what’s going on here mate?'”Milestones for bowlers don’t always come with magic deliveries, an outswinger catching the outside edge as it nips away, for example. For Southee, Sohail was dismissed driving to short cover, a wicket-ball only because the batsman’s front foot didn’t go where it was meant to.”I’d love one to pitch on off and nip away and get caught behind,” Southee said. “But the surface obviously dictates what you’re trying to achieve. And the wicket is obviously a bit slower, so those catches in front of the wicket become very important.”Southee is just past his 32nd birthday. To go on, he has James Anderson to look at for motivation. “I’d love to play for as long as I possibly can,” he said. “I love doing what I’ve done and fortunate enough to do it for a period of time now. Obviously there’s high standards that come with representing New Zealand. And as long as you can, I guess, withhold those standards, then I guess age is any number.”I just turned 32 the other day. So I think people think I’m probably a little bit older than I am. But it’s something I love doing. You look at the likes of James Anderson, still able to achieve what he’s achieving at the age of 38, Ross [Taylor] as well, the way he seems to be getting better and better with age as well. So it’s it’s just a number. So long as you can maintain those standards that are required at this level, then, you know, I’d like to continue to play.”One thing that’s never changed is, I guess, the drive and the determination to keep getting better and keep learning. Just because you’ve played a number of Test matches doesn’t mean you can’t continue to learn. That’s something that’s been there from day one, to learn from others in the side and others that you play against.”

England look set to rotate their seam attack as they seek to win a fifth successive away Test and a sixth in a row in Sri Lanka.While England’s seamers performed admirably in the first Test, the team management are keen to ensure none of them are overworked ahead of the Test series in India as well as providing experience and opportunity to those who might not have played for several months. If England win the second Test, it will be the first time they have won five away Tests in succession since just before World War One.To that end, England are considering replacing Stuart Broad with James Anderson, Mark Wood with Olly Stone and Sam Curran with Chris Woakes. Both frontline spinners, Dom Bess and Jack Leach, are set to keep their places with Moeen Ali forced to wait a little longer for a recall.For Stone, in particular, it means a great opportunity. He hasn’t made it through an entire first-class game without suffering an injury since his only Test to date, a three-day win against Ireland in July 2019. Indeed, he has only played four first-class games since the end of the 2018 season having first suffered a stress fracture of the lower back in the Caribbean at the start of 2019 and a recurrence shortly after the Ireland Test.Related

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He also only played one first-class match in 2017 after sustaining a serious injury to his cruciate ligament that ended his 2016 season the previous June.There is not much doubting his quality when he is fit, though. He generates sharp pace, gains natural shape away from the bat and has a bouncer to hurry the best. Certainly Chris Silverwood, the England head coach, appears excited by him.”Looking at we’ve got in front of us, we’ve got a lot of Tests in India as well and it’s highly likely there will be rotation and rests with the seamers,” Silverwood said.”What we’ve seen from Olly is that he hits the deck hard and bowls at pace. He is getting better and better in the areas he is bowling and the understanding of what he’s trying to do and the plans he is putting in place.”At some point we probably do need to get him into the attack if we can. He’s got to earn his way there, which he is doing. He’s working hard and doing everything we ask of him. It would be great to get some Test experience in him at some point.”I am excited about him. If you look, we’ve Wood, Stone and Jofra Archer who can also hit 90-plus mph. I think it’s great to have that in your armoury.”I’m not overly worried that he’s picked up a few injuries. Having been a fast bowler I know you do get injured. That’s why we need so many of them. I think as he gets older his body will harden to what he’s doing the more he does it. People mature into what they are doing.”Silverwood has ruled out an imminent return to action for Moeen, though. Moeen tested positive for Covid-19 upon arrival in Sri Lanka and subsequently reported feeling mild symptoms of the virus. While he now appears to be fine, the protocols put in place for such cases demand a cautious approach.”It’s unlikely that he will be available for this Test purely because of the protocols we have to follow for somebody recovering from Covid,” Silverwood said. “It’s unfortunate but it’s highly unlikely he’ll be available for this Test.”But Chris Woakes should be available for selection for this Test, all being well. He’ll be throwing his hat in the ring, I’m sure.”England posted their sixth 400-plus score in 12 Tests•SLC

While it’s clear sterner tests await for England, Silverwood did suggest it was no coincidence that his side had now won four overseas Tests in succession. In particular, it vindicates the gameplan he introduced when he was appointed coach ahead of the New Zealand tour at the end of 2019. At the heart of that is ensuring they score big totals in their first innings.England have now posted first-innings scores of at least 400 in six of the 12 Tests they have played since Hamilton. To that can be added a second-innings of 391 for 8 declared in Cape Town and 369 against West Indies in the first innings at Old Trafford. Ahead of that Hamilton Test, England had not managed to score 400 in their 13 previous Tests.”It’s not rocket science,” Silverwood said. “It’s exactly what I stated when I first came into the job really: big first-innings runs, put the opposition under pressure and skilful bowling.”One of the things that we have done with the bat is we’ve scored 400 on many occasions: I think we’ve gone beyond 400 six times in 12 innings. I think that was the stat. With the ball, we’ve been relentless.”It’s really not rocket science. It’s just becoming really, really good at doing the basics well and implementing the plans that we put in place that we said we were going to do at the start of the New Zealand tour in 2019, when the journey began.”And does India’s success in Australia – and the increasing pressure on Tim Paine as captain – encourage him that England can regain the Ashes within the next 12 months?”It’s nothing to do with me, Tim Paine’s captaincy,” Silverwood said. “But it’s always nice to see people in opposition teams under pressure, really. It shows that, if you do the basics well and get stuck in, we can beat them.”Meanwhile, several of those players rested for the Sri Lanka tour fly to India from London on Friday. Among them are Archer, Ben Stokes and Rory Burns. They will be accompanied by Jonathan Trott, who is a batting consultant on the Test section of the tour, and Bruce French, who returns on a short-term wicketkeeping consultancy a few weeks after his departure from the ECB was announced.

England are considering making a formal complaint to the ICC following their two-day defeat in this week’s third Test in Ahmedabad – an experience that Chris Silverwood, England’s head coach, says he hopes will galvanise his young batsmen to fully cash in when the going is good in the future.England were routed by ten wickets in the day-night Test at the newly opened Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera, after collapsing to scores of 112 and 81 in their two innings – making for an aggregate of 193 that is their lowest in India, and their second-lowest anywhere in the world since 1904.India’s own batting scarcely fared any better in their first innings, as Joe Root returned the extraordinary figures of 5 for 8 with his part-time offbreaks. And while the skiddiness of the pink ball was cited as one factor, with 20 of the 30 wickets falling either lbw or bowled in the course of the contest, the lavish turn that all the spinners extracted in between whiles made survival extremely tricky for even the best on show.”We will be talking about certain things behind the scenes,” Silverwood said. “At the same time, we are disappointed that we are sat here when there should be three days of cricket left. I am sure a few spectators are as well. We’ve spoken to [match referee] Javagal Srinath but not about the pitch. Joe and I have to have a sit-down, have a conversation and see where we go with it.”Opinion has been sharply divided about the merits of the Motera pitch. Virat Kohli, India’s captain, blamed “below-par batting on both sides”, while his counterpart Root said the stadium’s 40,000 fans had been “robbed” of the chance to witness a proper battle between bat and ball. “People had to watch me get wickets on there which shouldn’t be the case,” he said.Axar Patel celebrates after dismissing Jonny Bairstow•BCCI

However, Silverwood also acknowledged that England had been complicit in their downfall, particularly after winning an important toss and reaching 74 for 2 in their first innings. Had they gone on to post even a score of 200, they might have been in a position to control the contest. Instead they lost their last eight wickets for 38, and allowed India to reach 99 for 3 by stumps on the first day.”We do have to get better on these pitches and we do have to accept there’s places where we could have improved,” Silverwood said. “Look at the first innings. We had an opportunity there to score more runs and next time we’ll pounce on that. And whatever the pitch did or didn’t do, India ultimately played better than us on that surface. But it probably pushed us to the extremes of what most of our players, if any, have experienced.”With that in mind, Silverwood is adamant that his team will be stronger for the experience – particularly the contingent of young batsmen in England’s ranks, many of whom have been experiencing Test cricket in spinning conditions for the first time.It hasn’t been a tour of unmitigated failure for England’s rookies. Dom Sibley made back-to-back fifties in England’s victories in Galle and Chennai; Zak Crawley’s first-innings 53 was one of only two scores above 27 for either team in Ahmedabad, while Dan Lawrence, who did not feature in the third Test, showed his potential with a hard-fought 73 in his maiden Test innings against Sri Lanka.However, England have not passed 178 in five attempts since posting 578 in their maiden innings of the series, and all the players’ techniques have all been exposed in the prevailing conditions – not least that of Ollie Pope, who was beaten in flight rather than off the pitch by R Ashwin, and bowled in both innings in Ahmedabad.Pope at least fared better than Jonny Bairstow, who bagged a pair from No.3 on his return to the team following his mid-tour break, and it is a telling statistic of the winter so far that, while Root has made scores of 228, 186 and 218 in three individual innings, Sibley’s tally of 191 in five Tests is the next best return by any batsman.And yet, having been credited with reappraising England’s approach to Test-match batting since his appointment as head coach in 2019, Silverwood is sure that the struggles of recent weeks will harden his team’s resolve to make their starts count – not just in India, but on into next winter’s Ashes tour too.Related

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“You look at the guys we’ve got in there, your Popes, Crawleys, Sibleys, all these guys coming through this experience,” Silverwood said. “As tough as it is at the moment, it will hopefully galvanise them. When they do get in on flat surfaces, better surfaces, it will make them even more hungry and desperate to make sure they get the runs on those surfaces.”When we travel to other countries such as Australia, hopefully if they’ll get themselves in, they’ll get greedy and go big. And that’s where it comes back into our gameplan of making big individual scores, big first-innings scores, which until recently we’ve been very good at, and creating big partnerships.”Hopefully this experience will just harden them towards that and make them potentially just appreciate the flatter wickets a little bit more, and make them more greedy for it.”But equally, hopefully they do take a lot from it, and next time they come onto a surface or experience a situation like this, it won’t be as much of a shock to them and hopefully they will have had a think about how they use their skills to combat what’s in front of them.”As tough as it is and as painful as it is at this moment, hopefully we can take some good lessons.”

Pat Cummins and Alex Carey will return to Sheffield Shield cricket for the first time in more than a year after being named in the New South Wales and South Australia squads.Cummins, who captained New South Wales in the Marsh Cup last week, is a swap for Josh Hazlewood who has been rested after the match against Victoria at the SCG where the home side suffered a four-wicket defeat.”We mapped out a plan for Josh and with quick games back to back we have given him this game off but he will play our third game in this stretch of matches,” New South Wales coach Phil Jaques said.Pat Cummins will be back in four-day action this week•Getty Images

“It’s a busy season and we have to manage all of our players, especially the quick bowlers so we have them all firing towards the back end of the season.”The return game against Victoria which had been due to be played at the MCG was switched to Bankstown Oval in Sydney because of border restrictions out of Melbourne.Cummins’ previous Shield outing came in November 2019 when he faced Western Australia and Carey last turned out for South Australia in the December of the same year. Both players were at the IPL when the first part of the first-class season took place earlier this summer. For Cummins it will be just his sixth first-class match for New South Wales since the start of 2017 season.Related

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South Australia, who are bottom of the table, have left out five players who were part of their previous squad in November along with Callum Ferguson who has retired from first-class cricket. However, Ferguson has been included in the Marsh Cup squad to face Western Australia.Legspinner Lloyd Pope, who took a five-wicket haul in his first innings of the season before finishing with an average of 86.25 from four matches, has been dropped from the Shield squad and left out for the one-dayer.The uncapped legspinner Peter Hatzoglou, a breakout star in the BBL for the Melbourne Renegades, has been included in the Redbacks’ one-day squad.Jake Weatherald, who left the Shield hub earlier in the season to manage his mental health, has not been included in the four-day side and will instead captain a 2nd XI match in Adelaide but will travel to Perth for the Marsh Cup game.New South Wales Shield squad Peter Nevill (capt), Sean Abbott, Harry Conway, Trent Copeland, Pat Cummins, Moises Henriques, Daniel Hughes, Nick Larkin, Nathan Lyon, Kurtis Patterson, Steven Smith, Daniel Solway, Mitchell StarcSouth Australia Shield squad Travis Head (capt), Alex Carey, Wes Agar, Will Bosisto, David Grant, Henry Hunt, Corey Kelly, Jake Lehmann, Harry Nielsen, Chadd Sayers, Liam Scott, Daniel Worrall

Irfan Pathan has become the fourth player to test positive for Covid-19 from among those who played in the recently concluded Road Safety World Series, a T20 tournament that pitted former players from India, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, South Africa and Sri Lanka against each other.Related

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On Saturday, Sachin Tendulkar announced that he had tested positive for the virus, and his announcement was followed by similar ones from Irfan’s half-brother Yusuf Pathan, and S Badrinath.Irfan said he was showing no symptoms and had isolated himself at home, making the announcement of his positive test on Twitter, like Tendulkar, Yusuf, and Badrinath had.”I have tested positive for COVID-19 with no symptoms and have isolated myself and quarantined at home. I would request those who came in contact with me in recent past to please get themselves tested,” Irfan wrote. “Urging all to wear masks and maintain social distancing. Wishing you all good health.” The tournament took place in the Indian city of Raipur from March 7 to 21.Irfan was part of the Indian team alongside Tendulkar, Yusuf, and Badrinath, with India ending up triumphant the tournament.Irfan had announced his retirement from cricket in January 2020, bringing to an end a career that featured 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20Is, and included a winner’s medal in the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, alongside several memorable Test and ODI triumphs too. He last played for India in the T20 World Cup in 2012, but continued to be a regular presence in the domestic circuit after that, and was a prominent feature in the IPL till 2016. Over the last three years, Irfan rose to become a sought-after commentator and Hindi cricket analyst in India. He also runs a cricket academy in Vadodara, which he co-founded with Yusuf.According to Johns Hopkins University, which has tracked the spread of the pandemic since it first hit in 2019, India is third on the list of countries with the most Covid-19 infections and fourth on the list of most deaths.

Lewis McManus, the Hampshire wicketkeeper, has been handed a three-point penalty for “misconduct… equivalent to a Level 2 offence” under the ECB’s disciplinary code but will face no further action after his controversial stumping of Hassan Azad against Leicestershire in the opening round of the County Championship season.Leicestershire issued a club statement to “express their disappointment with the behaviour of the Hampshire wicketkeeper” after McManus completed the stumping with his left hand despite the fact the ball was in his right, while Paul Nixon, their head coach, said the incident was “something I’ve never seen before in all my years of cricket”.Stuart Cummings, the match referee, determined that McManus’ offence – which is not directly accounted for in the ECB’s directives – fell into the Level 2 category, under the “any other misconduct” clause. Specific Level 2 offences include showing “serious dissent” at an umpiring decision, making “inappropriate and deliberate physical contact” with another player, or throwing the ball at a player or umpire “in an inappropriate and dangerous manner”.

Boiled cannabis or Viagra?These were the bizarre alternatives that came to mind as one watched Durham strengthen their grip on this match to a point close to invulnerability. It should be pointed out at once that one is not referring to the lunch menu offered to the media at the Riverside; understandably enough in these straitened times, that consists of nothing at all. Rather, one is alluding to two of the apparent stimuli to failure and success in this rich, wonderful and endlessly diverse part of England. For in his quite brilliant book Matthew Engel notes that a man appeared in Hartlepool magistrates court a few years ago accused of ill-treating his greyhounds by feeding them steaming ganja if he wanted them to lose and blue pills if he wanted them to win. The first had the desired effect and the second made them “run like mad”.It need hardly be stated in the strongest terms possible that the cricketers in this match were fuelled in entirely conventional fashion. Nevertheless, sport’s polarities of outcome were illustrated with extreme clarity when Alex Lees and Will Young were sharing an opening partnership of 208, thus setting a new first-wicket record for Durham against Warwickshire and thereby overtaking by six runs the mark set by Graeme Fowler and Wayne Larkins at Darlington in 1993, one of the summers in which the then-peripatetic county played on half-a-dozen grounds.The home side’s advantage was therefore over 100 before Warwickshire enjoyed their first success and it could be argued the portents were even worse for Will Rhodes’ team. The care with which the openers built their stand was quite fitting on a pitch that does not accommodate fast scoring and at least two of the wickets that fell suggested the surface’s eccentricities were becoming more marked. Given that the visitors may have to bat something like five sessions to save this game, signs of low bounce were hardly what they wished to see and one can understand why their celebrations at each success were hardly riotous.All of which makes Young and Lees’ patience in defying Warwickshire’s bowlers particularly praiseworthy. Young played the more attractive strokes and was slightly the more aggressive but the fact that he took exactly five hours to reach three figures perfectly reflects the New Zealander’s diligence in what may well be his final innings for Durham. Lees complemented his opening partner perfectly and batted through a greatly rain-shortened day for his unbeaten 126 with the care of a man who understands the self-denial required of a sheet-anchor. Gritting it out cannot have been easy against an attack which was led in determined fashion by Liam Norwell, who took two wickets, and Oliver Hannon-Dalby, who deserved better than a blank day. The one consolation for all the bowlers was that at least they were able to keep warm when called into the attack. The fielders had no such luck on a cold afternoon.The umpires, Michael Gough and Russell Warren, even wore black gloves, which made their fingers even more deathly when they had to raise them. As it was, Gough’s decision to send Young on his way for 124 was the first of three leg-before verdicts that went in the visitors’ favour during the afternoon. Scott Borthwick was lbw for 21 to a ball that kept low from Craig Miles and David Bedingham was bowled for 2 by an absolute shooter, thus giving Norwell his second success. However, since this reduced Bedingham’s average for the season to a shade over 113 and his team were hardly in dire need of his runs, one doubts he will argue the world is treating him cruelly.Next over Jack Burnham played inside Danny Briggs’ arm ball and the home side had thus lost three wickets for 13 runs in six overs. However, any further action was prevented by a prolonged heavy shower that delayed play for over two hours. The players returned for 9.3 overs late in the evening session and the calmness with which Lees and Ned Eckersley played the Warwickshire seamers boded well for Durham’s hopes of batting once in this gameBut readers may be wondering what happened to the miscreant mentioned at the start of this piece. He was banned for life from keeping greyhounds but a similar stricture was not applied to his ownership of 20 ferrets. One wonders what mood the poor animals were in as dinner-time approached? And what manner of man, unaware of their precise diet, would then follow the Northern custom of ferret-legging and risk putting one of them down his trousers?