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Ireland and Pakistan were playing each other in a T20I for the first time in 15 years, and Andy Balbirnie’s 77 helped the hosts beat the visitors. It was Ireland’s first win over Pakistan in the format, with the only time the teams having met earlier coming at the World T20 in 2009.Harry Tector, who added 77 with Balbirnie for the third wicket, set the platform in the 183-run chase, before cameos from George Dockrell and Curtis Campher took Ireland over the line.The chase came down to a tense finish, with Ireland needing 40 in the last four overs even as Pakistan had an over each from Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi, along with two from Abbas Afridi, in the bank. Abbas started the 17th over with the wicket of Dockrell and conceded just three off the first four balls. But then began the recurring theme of a bowler starting the over well before conceding a late boundary and bringing down the asking rate.Next over, with Ireland requiring another 28 from 17 balls, Shadab Khan couldn’t hold on to a tough chance, and handed Balbirnie a life. Naseem nailed a couple of yorkers to bring the game back in the balance. But Delany made room and crunched a low full toss through cover to make it 11 off the over.Shaheen was closer to his best in the penultimate over, which started with Ireland requiring another 19. He delivered around-the-wicket yorkers, and knocked over Balbirnie with a swerving, low full toss. But an audacious reverse ramp first ball from Campher over the keeper left Abbas with 11 to defend off the final over.Campher was taken aback by the first ball by Abbas rising off a shortish length, but managed to guide it off the under-edge between the wicketkeeper and short third for four. He capitalised on a missed yorker to level the scores before sneaking a leg bye to seal victory.Babar Azam scored 57•Sportsfile/Getty Images

Balbirnie, Tector set up the chase

Ireland’s aggressive start to the chase saw Naseem dismiss Paul Stirling cheaply. Shaheen was off boil in his two opening overs but Abbas, his replacement, struck first ball after being given to bowl in the powerplay.But coming in at 27 for 2 did not stop Tector from looking for early boundaries. It allowed Balbirnie to consolidate at the other end, as the pair lifted Ireland from 43 for 2 in the powerplay to 84 for 2 after ten overs. They targeted Shadab Khan after Imad Wasim tightened his length to stay afloat.Tector fell to Imad but Dockrell joined Balbirnie to take Shadab down for 23 in the match-turning 14th over. The last ball was skied towards Iftikhar Ahmed at long-on, but he stepped on the boundary cushion to give Dockrell a life, along with six runs. Balbirnie and Dockrell kept the run rate around nine an over to set up the successful finish.

Babar fifty, Iftikhar cameo lift Pakistan

Earlier in the day, Ireland had put Pakistan in to bat. Babar Azam joined Saim Ayub in the second over after Tector, placed at mid-off, ran Mohammed Rizwan out, as the latter was called for a single by Ayub, before being sent back.Babar and Ayub found mixed success while trying to muscle the ball in the powerplay, as they hit six fours and a six, but were also often beaten by Mark Adair and Barry McCarthy’s tight lengths.After the powerplay, the two batters took on Ben White and Curtis Campher, as they accelerated and added 53 off the next five overs. They punished at anything too full or too short, but Ayub holed out to a wide drag down from Delany, who ended the 85-run stand off 57 balls.Babar brought up a 39-ball fifty in the 13th over, but the scoring kept fluctuating as he continued to hit and miss, even as Fakhar Zaman was unable to get off the blocks.Young’s return in the 13th over pegged Pakistan back as Babar miscued a shortish ball to long-on to finish with a 43-ball 57, while Azam Khan, trying to go over deep square leg, fell for a two-ball duck.Pakistan went on to lose 3 for 7 in six legal balls midway from the 15th over onwards. Fakhar then fell in the 18th over for 20 off 18 balls, but Iftikhar was unfazed. He took a liking to Adair, smacking him for three sixes and two fours across eight legal balls.Iftikhar, who finished on 38* from 15 balls, was aided by Shaheen’s two sixes off McCarthy in the 19th over, as Pakistan smashed 44 off the last three to reach 182, which Ireland chased down with a ball to spare.

As a spinner, dew can be your biggest nightmare. And when the opponents are cruising at 107 for 2, needing 62 off 48, the challenges are that much greater.R Sai Kishore had bowled three wicketless overs for 19 up until this point. Rohit Sharma was set on 43, and another few overs of him would have all but closed the door on the Gujarat Titans. It’s at this point that Sai Kishore made his mark.”I was actually expecting dew to play a major role,” he said later. “The ball was wet, but for some strange reason, the ball was still holding on the wicket. Usually it slides on, but I was surprised by the amount of purchase I was getting. So I tried to go into the wicket and mix my pace, and go slower through the air.”Related

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Sai Kishore hadn’t featured for Titans all of last season due to team-combination considerations. Even his five appearances prior to that, in 2022, had been staggered. He needed to conjure something special to keep Titans alive, and he did, by simply pulling his length back a touch, and getting the ball to dip.Rohit fell over attempting a sweep and was trapped plumb in front. Sai Kishore had brought the game back on an even keel. His figures of 1 for 24 played a key part in Mumbai’s slowdown, particularly in the second half of their chase, where Titans varied their lengths and bowled into the pitch to deny the batters.”Because the wicket was two-paced, we tried to go into the wicket a lot more, trust our length a lot more than directly going for yorkers,” Sai Kishore said. “That resulted in getting a lot of wickets. It was attacking bowling even if the situation was otherwise.”At Titans, Sai Kishore has had to adapt to being the second spinner to Rashid Khan. In the TNPL or for Tamil Nadu, he’s used as a trump card in the Powerplay. This change of role can be tough, but for someone longing for opportunities, it was the opening he needed.”In the other teams where play I usually do the lead role. To do the second role makes it even more exciting,” Sai Kishore said. “Most people are going to play off Rashid and come after me. That makes the challenge more exciting.”That sync [with Rashid] is there, we discuss the game very well. One of the strengths of this team is everyone sticks together. Jayant [Yadav, the offspinner] also used to come in [as a reserve player] and say ‘do this, do that, it’s going good.’ The communication is always there, which is superb.”Sai Kishore picked up the all-important wicket of Rohit Sharma•BCCI

Sai Kishore felt Titans were at least 10 short of where they’d hoped to be with the bat. The plan all along was to remain in the game for as long as they could and then seize key moments, like they did in the death overs with Mohit Sharma and Rashid building on Sai Kishore’s work.”We felt we were 10 short, but the thing about this whole team and how it has been run over the last two years is we give a lot of emphasis to competing. Whether we win or lose, we’re proud of the way we play. We competed really well. That was the talk given by [head coach] Ashish Nehra as well.”All credit to the culture he has set up over the last two years. People are not thinking about the result [alone], they’re focusing about competing and staying in the game.”Sai Kishore is coming off a sensational Ranji Trophy season, which he finished as the highest wicket-taker. He left his imprint as a captain too, backing young players who thrived because of role clarity.At Titans, Sai Kishore is relishing any opportunity he gets to play, prepared to do the tough job without fearing the consequences. “When you bowl four overs on the trot, it’s like a one-day game, you can be in rhythm a lot easier.”With the Impact Player rule, we’re playing six bowlers. I’m getting the role where I’m bowling four overs on the trot in the middle. I’m open to bowling one-over spells. In [the Syed] Mushtaq Ali [Trophy] or TNPL, that’s how I use my overs but with the quality of bowlers we have, am getting to bowl four overs which I’m enjoying.”

Tamim Iqbal has opted out of the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s central contracts list for 2024. Among the 21 cricketers who were handed national contracts, Shoriful Islam and new captain Najmul Hossain Shanto got the all-format deals.Taskin Ahmed, who had the triple contract last year, now has the ODI and T20I deal with the BCB. He had reportedly sent a letter to the BCB recently, asking to not be considered for Tests. Taskin is managing a shoulder injury that he suffered during the World Cup in India last year. He missed the home Tests against New Zealand thereafter, as well as the white-ball tour to New Zealand in December. He is currently playing in the BPL for Durdanto Dhaka.Tamim had retired from international cricket in July last year but it lasted less than 24 hours, with the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina talking him out of the decision. He resigned from captaincy and made himself available for the World Cup, but not before falling out with the BCB.Related

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Tamim’s relationship with the board, though, has been mostly amicable in the past few months. He has said he will make an announcement about his status as an international cricketer during the BPL.Meanwhile, Ebadot Hossain, Afif Hossain and Mosaddek Hossain have been left out of the central contracts list. Among the new entrants for 2024 are Towhid Hridoy, Tanzim Hasan, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Naeem Hasan and Nurul Hasan.Also, the BCB has approved the first-class cricketers’ salary contract for 2024, with 85 players receiving contracts.

2024 Bangladesh central contracts

All formats: Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Shoriful IslamTests and ODIs: Mushfiqur RahimODIs and T20Is: Taskin Ahmed, Towhid Hridoy, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan MahmudOnly Tests: Mominul Hoque, Taijul Islam, Zakir Hasan, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Khaled Ahmed, Naeem HasanOnly ODIs: Mahmudullah, Tanzim HasanOnly T20Is: Nasum Ahmed, Mahedi Hasan, Nurul Hasan

Afghanistan will be topping up their Test-match experience in double quick time by facing Sri Lanka and Ireland in February 2024.With most of the focus on the two limited-overs formats, Afghanistan ended up playing just one Test match over a better part of the last three years. Now, however, they’ve found space in the calendar and have announced two separate all-format series taking place between February 2 and March 18.The busy period begins with their first-ever Test match against Sri Lanka in Colombo, which will then be followed by three ODIs and three T20Is. Seven days after the end of their tour of Sri Lanka, Afghanistan will be in the UAE hosting Ireland for a one-off Test match between February 28 and March 3. This series also includes a limited-overs leg as Afghanistan build towards the next T20 World Cup due to take place in the West Indies and the USA in June.Afghanistan’s tour of Sri Lanka was always going to feature a Test match and three T20Is. “The addition of these three ODIs,” ACB chief Mirwais Ashraf said, “is a significant move to ensure a complete and comprehensive tour which not only provides good exposure to Afghanistan Cricket but will also foster stronger relations between the two nations. Playing Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka is always tricky but is a challenge that Afghan Atalan can easily embrace.”Prior to all this, Afghanistan will play their first-ever bilateral series against India this month and their chief executive Naseeb Khan was hopeful that all these games would set the team up for the challenges ahead. “The upcoming tours of India, Sri Lanka, and then the home series against Ireland will help us to prepare the team for the much-important T20 World Cup. Eagerly looking for the multiple series upfront.”Along with announcing schedules for these tours, the ACB also modified the sanctions that they placed on Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqi for wanting to forego their national contracts. All three players were initially barred from playing in any T20 leagues for the next two years but now the board has had a change of heart.

Afghanistan tour of Sri Lanka

February 2-6, 2024 One-Off Test, Colombo
February 9, 2024, 1st ODI, Colombo
February 11, 2024, 2nd ODI, Colombo
February 14, 2024, 3rd ODI, Colombo
February 17, 2024, 1st T20I, Dambulla
February 19, 2024, 2nd T20I, Dambulla
February 21, 2024, 3rd T20I, Dambulla

Afghanistan vs Ireland in the UAE

February 28-March 3, 2024 One-Off Test, Abu Dhabi
March 7, 2024, 1st ODI, Sharjah
March 9, 2024, 2nd ODI, Sharjah
March 12, 2024, 3rd ODI, Sharjah
March 15, 2024, 1st T20I, Sharjah
March 17, 2024 2nd T20I, Sharjah
March 18, 2024, 3rd T20I Sharjah

Embracing T20 leagues as a feeder system for international cricket, instead of viewing franchise tournaments and bilateral matches as being in conflict with each other, will benefit both forms of the game, according to South Africa wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi.Speaking after South Africa beat India by five wickets in Gqeberha, with both teams fielding experimental XIs, Shamsi emphasised that leagues can help to create more players who are ready for international cricket and allow for skill sharing.Related

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“When the leagues first started, they were seen in a bad light in the sense that it was all about players wanting to earn money. But when you play in different leagues, you pick up little bits of golden nuggets,” Shamsi said. “We are so used to doing things a certain way in South Africa, as are other countries, so you pick up bits and pieces of what other other people do slightly differently and you try that for yourself. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t and you improve as a player. Guys go and get more experience, and it gives other players and it widens the pool.”The best example of that is Shamsi himself. He was playing in the second tier of South Africa’s domestic system in the early 2010s when he was recruited by the Kitts & Nevis Patriots for the 2015 CPL. He finished as their highest wicket-taker and a year later made his debut for South Africa in an ODI series in West Indies, and said the experience of the CPL helped him make the transition to the national team.”As a youngster playing in the CPL before I made my debut for the Proteas in West Indies helped me feel so relaxed because I had been in those stadiums and I had done well on those pitches. So when I eventually did play for South Africa, I felt at home,” he said.He believes other players have benefitted from similar experiences in leagues around the world, particularly Indian players in the IPL.”Over the years, we’ve seen what the IPL has done for Indian players and Indian youngsters in particular. When they come to the international scene they have already played in front of huge crowds, they have had their disappointments and bad games in front of huge crowds, so they have learned how to deal with that, and they’ve had success in front of good crowds so they know how to deal with that too,” he said. “When they come to international cricket, it’s just business as usual.”From India’s current squad, Yashavi Jaiswal is a case in point. He moved through the ranks in Indian domestic cricket and the Under-19 side before being picked up by Rajasthan Royals. He plays alongside Jos Buttler there and holds the record for the fastest IPL fifty, off 13 balls, before he made his international debut and he was more than ready for the big time. In 14 T20Is, he already has one hundred and two fifties to his name.”After the IPL, when the Indian players come to international cricket, it’s just business as usual”•AFP/Getty Images

Shamsi doesn’t think it will be too long before South Africa will have a success story similar to this, of their own.”The SA20 is brilliant for our country – in giving exposure to players. We’ve just had one season so we may not see it now, or in the near future but in the years to come we will see how much more prepared our new generation and guys that are in the system will be when they do play for the Proteas,” he said. “It won’t be a thing that they are playing international cricket. They will just let their natural talent shine.”All players in South Africa’s current T20I squad have SA20 deals, and South Africa will rely heavily on performances in that tournament to select their T20 World Cup squad. That’s because they only have one more pre-World Cup series – in West Indies, just before the tournament – and they will travel there with their final 15.That gives fringe players such as opening batter Matthew Breetzke, allrounder Donovan Ferreira and left-arm seamer Nandre Burger an opening to force their way into the T20 World Cup squad, and they’ll know many eyes will be on them.”The SA20 is huge in terms of preparation for the (T20) World Cup. It will be in different conditions but it’s T20 cricket and it’s good to play as much cricket as you can play,” Shamsi said. “And not only to have good games. I am a big believer that when you have bad games you learn a lot and you improve your game a lot. You’ve just got to be playing. It gives you another 10 fixtures to play high quality cricket.”The SA20 takes place from January 10 to February 10 and will clash with South Africa’s two-Test tour of New Zealand which starts on February 4. CSA has confirmed that all Test players with SA20 contracts will be unavailable for their Tests as they are obliged to play for the franchises and so a makeshift Test side will be sent to New Zealand instead.

Jos Buttler said that England’s performance at the World Cup has been “a huge disappointment” and “a shock to everyone” within their set-up, after an eight-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka in Bengaluru left them on the brink of elimination with four group games remaining.Buttler captained England to the T20 World Cup in Australia last year and arrived in India quietly confident that his side could win a second consecutive 50-over World Cup to back up their 2019 triumph on home soil. But four defeats in their first five games – all four by substantial margins – have left them needing “a few miracles” to qualify for the semi-finals, in Buttler’s words.”It’s not a lack of talent,” Buttler said. “[We have] a lot of experienced guys who are fantastic cricketers. So absolutely, it’s a huge frustration. This tournament’s gone nowhere near the way we wanted to; it’s been a huge disappointment. If there was one golden egg that we were missing, then you’d hope to see that. But there is no secret, I don’t think.Related

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“We’re a really good team [who have] done a lot of really good things in the recent past in white-ball cricket, 50-over cricket. We got on the plane with high hopes and a lot of confidence and belief that we can challenge for the title. To be sat here now with the three weeks that have been is a shock – it’s a shock to everyone.”I’ll walk back in the dressing room after this [press conference] and look at the players sat there, and think: ‘How have we found ourselves in this position with the talent and the skill that’s in the room?’ But it is the position we’re in; it’s the reality of what’s happened over the last three weeks and that’s a huge low point.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Buttler has managed 95 runs in five innings in this tournament with only one score above 20. “There’s no-one else who can score your own runs or take your own wickets, and that comes from the start – from the captain at the front,” he said. “I’ve been a long way short of my best. As a leader, you want to lead through your own performance and I’ve not been able to do that.”On his performance as captain, Buttler said: “You’re always questioning, as captain, how you can get the best out of players; how you can get the team moving in the right direction. I certainly have a lot of confidence and belief in myself as a leader and as a captain, and first and foremost, as a player.” Asked if he considered himself the right man to lead England in the future, he said: “Yes.”England’s preparation for this World Cup has been markedly different to four years ago: they played 88 ODIs between the 2015 and 2019 World Cups compared to just 42 in the 2019-23 cycle, and have rarely been at full strength in bilateral series. But Buttler insisted: “I don’t think there’s any blame elsewhere apart from ourselves.”He said: “The schedules are the schedules, and we’ve got a lot of things in our favour: we’ve got fantastic support from the coaches within the environment; we get fantastic support from our fans as a country, and we’ve let them all down. It’s been a really tough few weeks, incredibly disappointing – a shock to perform the way we have with the team that we do have.”And Buttler pushed back again the idea that England had been complacent heading into the World Cup, referring back to a comment he made on the eve of the tournament which has proved prescient – though not in the way he intended. “In any sport, you can’t protect anything or rely on the past; you have to go and create something new every time,” he said.”We know that as players, we touch on experience and things – having banked stuff before – but something we spoke about a lot as a team [was] that you have to go and create it again. You can’t rest of your laurels or try and protect something; try and protect an image, or protect something as a team.”That’s why at the very beginning of the tournament, I said we weren’t here to try and defend our title; we’re here to start something new and try and win something. Obviously, we’re falling a long way short of that at the minute, but as players we certainly didn’t take anything for granted or just think it would be alright on the night. You don’t get to this level by thinking like that.”

Eoin Morgan has suggested that England’s underperformance at the World Cup in India is unparalleled across sport and that their players are “definitely unsettled” after heavy defeats in four out of their five group games.England have not been mathematically eliminated from the tournament – even defeat in Lucknow on Sunday will not officially knock them out – but they are unlikely to qualify for the semi-finals even if they put together an improbable run of form and win all four of their remaining fixtures.Morgan, who captained them to the 2019 title, said it had been “unsettling” to watch England’s plight over the last three weeks and that their confidence had taken a beating. He also hinted at wider issues than simply form, saying: “I think there’s something else going on – there has to be.”Related

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And Morgan went as far as to suggest that England’s campaign has been among the worst in sporting history, in the context of the widespread expectation that they would reach the semi-finals. “I’ve never come across a sports team that has underperformed like this England team, given the level of expectation that is on their shoulders,” he said on Sky Sports.”There’s something within the team that is definitely unsettled. The method which they’re trying to use and given the substantial nature in which they’ve lost the game[s], it is definitely called into question, the morale within the changing room and the confidence. It must be at its lowest that it’s been for a considerable period of time now.”Morgan said that it was “an unacceptable excuse” to simply say that players were all out of form at the same time. “I think there’s something else going on – there has to be,” he said. “When you look at the strength in depth, particularly with the bat, England are as good on paper as any other side in this tournament, but they haven’t yet fired.”They’ve made mistakes with selection: they’ve really struggled to find a balanced side and one that’s effective enough to compete, never mind win this tournament. It’s been unbelievably challenging for Jos and his team… they have to regain the confidence in the method that they’ve used for so long that has made them double world champions.”Marcus Trescothick, England’s assistant coach, said that the squad are “feeling the heat” and “gutted” about their results to date, and admitted that he has been unable to get his head around their collective failures with the bat. England have lost 47 out of a possible 49 wickets (Reece Topley was absent hurt against South Africa) and no batter has made an individual 50 in their last two matches.”The thing that’s baffled me the most is that it’s been consistent across the board,” Trescothick said. “Bar the game at Dharamsala, where we played Bangladesh, where one got a big score [Dawid Malan’s 140] and we got a few other big scores around it, there’s just never been the consistency of people getting the runs.”I think they’re trying to understand it… it [their form] has not gone, it’s just hiding in a funny place at the moment. It’s not suddenly disappeared and they’re never going to score runs again. They’ll rebound from this and rebound back into form at some point. But it might be, unfortunately, disappointing that it’s going to be too late for this competition.”Dawid Malan is bowled for 140•Getty Images

Sunday’s match in Lucknow will be played on a used pitch, the same one that was used for South Africa’s win over Australia two weeks ago.”The timing actually couldn’t be any worse,” Morgan said. “Given India are still out and out favourites to win this tournament on home soil, that challenge just becomes far bigger now than it probably would be if you were playing on a fresh pitch.”England just have to play what’s in front of them,” he added. “For a lot of this tournament, I believe that they’ve been carrying other things or looking outside of the camp, as opposed to their own performance. They need to stay in the present for as long as they can tomorrow and turn India over.”

A star turn from 17-year-old Jaydn Denly helped Kent Spitfires to a 60-run victory over Essex in the Metro Bank Cup at Canterbury.Jack Leaning hit a brilliant 137 from 127 balls and Ben Compton made 65 as Kent recovered from a middle-order collapse to post 287 for eight, but it was Denly, playing in the same team as his uncle Joe for the first time, who stole the show by claiming a wicket, a run-out and an outrageous catch, as well as finishing as Kent’s third-highest run scorer with 37.Will Buttleman made an unbeaten 50 and Feroze Khushi hit exactly 50 for Essex but the visitors lost wickets too frequently to mount a credible run chase and they were all out for 227, with 5.1 overs remaining.Grant Stewart, Hamid Qadri and Matt Parkinson all took two wickets for the Spitfires.History was made at the Spitfire Ground on Sunday, where Joe and Jaydn became the first uncle and nephew to play since the modern club was formed in 1870, and the first since Fuller Pilch and his nephew William appeared together for the “Grand Old Kent XI” 41 times between 1838 and 1854.In front of a crowd of 2400 Kent chose to bat, but for a third consecutive game they threw away a promising start, having been 130 for one at halfway.With Daniel Bell-Drummond back on Hundred duty, Uncle Joe opened, but he was the first wicket to fall when he edged Aaron Beard behind for 17.Compton and Leaning put on 98 for the second wicket, but after what by his standards was a fairly rapid half-century the former was caught behind off Beau Webster in the 25th.Webster then bowled Alex Blake for one and Beard strangled Harry Finch down the leg side for seven.Jaydn Denly joined Leaning to steer Kent past 200 but he was bowled for 37 attempting to sweep Webster and Kent’s hopes of passing 300 vanished in the 43rd over, when Aron Nijjar struck twice.Grant Stewart was out first ball when he played on and Hamid Qadri had made just one when he chipped the bowler to Webster.When Matt Quinn then drove Richards straight to Nijjar at mid-on four wickets had fallen for five runs in 10 balls, 250 looked a long way off and Leaning was in danger of running out of partners until Jas Singh came in and played the Jack Leach role. Smart running between the wickets saw Leaning to the brink of three figures, which he reached when he punched Beard for a single through mid-on and he then launched an assault in the last two overs.The 29th, bowled by Ben Allison, went for 13 and a pivotal 27 then came of the 50th, with Leaning hitting Beard for three leg-side sixes and Singh ending on two not out after a match-turning unbeaten stand of 69 from 44 legitimate balls.Essex were 33 without loss in reply when Luc Benkenstein was run out by Jaydn Denly chasing a second.Quinn then nearly had Tom Westley caught behind for a duck and although the ball came lose as the diving Finch hit he ground, he was caught behind off Stewart for two in the next over, the seventh.Webster came in and put some pressure back on the bowlers, but he was out for 26 from 25 balls when Jaydn Denly had him caught at long on by Blake.The younger Denly then produced what was arguably the game’s champagne moment when he took a sensational diving catch to remove Khushi, who’d just reached 50 and was trying to hit Matt Parkinson through cow corner.Hamid Qadri struck with only his fourth ball, when he had Noah Thain caught by Stewart at mid-off for 141, before claiming the key wicket of Charlie Allison, lbw for 44.Parkinson trapped Ben Allison lbw for seven in the 38th and in the next over Beard went in the same fashion to Leaning for two.Leaning then caught and bowled Jamal Richards with his next delivery and although Buttleman hit the hat-trick ball for six Kent sealed the win when Stewart had Nijjar caught by the sub fielder Nathan Gilchrist.Kent remain in the hunt for a place for the knock-out stages, but will probably need to win at Hampshire on Tuesday and hope results elsewhere in Group A go their way.

Having turned 35 last month, Ajinkya Rahane says he still has a “lot of cricket left” in him, but is firmly focused on living in the moment instead of looking too far into the future as India begin their new WTC cycle with the two-match Test series against West Indies beginning July 12 in Roseau.Call it a quirk of fate, and Rahane has been named vice-captain of the Test team, even though he was making a comeback to the side only last month after more than a year away. In that game against Australia – the WTC final no less – he was India’s best batter, with scores of 89 and 46.”I’m still young and there’s a lot of cricket left in me. In the last one year or so, I’ve worked a lot on my fitness,” Rahane said after rain cut short India’s training session for a second day in a row at Windsor Park. “There were a few points in my batting that I’ve worked on. I’m enjoying my cricket a lot, enjoying my batting. I’m not thinking too much into the future. Every game is important, personally and also from the team point of view. I’m focusing on just that.”Related

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• Succession: What next for India in Tests?

• Rahane sends team-mate Jaiswal off the field for disciplinary reasons

Since being left out of the Test side in February 2022, Rahane has focused on deriving joy out of the game without setting any expectations. He captained Mumbai across formats in the 2022-23 domestic season, leading them to the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 title, while also throwing in some compelling performances with the bat.In all first-class cricket since September 2022 until February this year, he scored 884 runs in 16 innings with three hundreds and a half-century at 58.93. The numbers, excellent though not world beating, were a sign that he had kept himself in the hunt should a spot open up.As it turned out, India needed experience for the WTC final in Shreyas Iyer’s absence. And when Rahane got the call, he was batting in the manner few expected him to in the IPL, going from an anchor to a full-blown boundary-hitter.The turnaround was remarkable because Rahane wasn’t in Chennai Super Kings’ original plans. His IPL career seemed to have hit a dead end; he hadn’t hit a fifty in the tournament since the 2020 edition. And like at the Indian team, a spot opened up for Super Kings because Ben Stokes was injured and Moeen Ali unwell. He vindicated the backing in his second game, scoring a match-winning 61 off just 27 balls against Mumbai Indians.”Playing under Rohit Sharma is great. We share a great equation” – Ajinkya Rahane•BCCI

“Nothing has changed,” Rahane insisted when asked of this latest turn in his career. “CSK gave me a role, and you try to fulfil that role. Prior to that, my role was of an anchor, [and] I played according to that. CSK told me, ‘You have freedom, go out and play according to that’. I’m actually a stroke-maker, I always look for runs. The role has changed, nothing else has changed. I’ve always said I’ll fulfil the role the team gives me. That’s what I’m focusing on.”The WTC final last month was Rahane’s first match under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy for India, even though they both go back a long way, having grown up playing together for Mumbai through the age-group circuit and then the first-class format.”The role Rohit gives me, I’ll fulfil that. Playing under Rohit is great,” Rahane said. “He gives freedom to the players, and then backs them. They’re signs of a great captain. I’m feeling good. We share a great equation. I’m used to this role [as vice-captain]. I did the job for almost five years, but I’m really happy to be back in the team. Really happy to be back as vice-captain.”Rahane was particularly chuffed for another Mumbai boy – 21-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal, who Rahane captained in domestic cricket all through 2022-23, where Jaiswal made heads turn with his temperament and stroke-play. In all, Jaiswal has a first-class average of 80.21 in 26 innings, and scores of 213 and 144 in his most recent first-class game, in the Irani Cup in March.Having been a part of the reserves for the WTC final, Jaiswal has now been given an elevation into the main squad. It’s likely he will be handed a cap to slot in either at the top or at one drop in place of Cheteshwar Pujara.”I’m really happy for him. He’s an exciting talent,” Rahane said. “He’s done really well for Mumbai, [and] did well in the IPL. Most important [is] the way he’s batting in red-ball cricket. His record is good, he did well in the Duleep Trophy last year and for Mumbai as well. My message will be to just go out there and express himself the way he’s batting, and not think too much about [the stage of] international cricket. It’s about going in the middle and playing with freedom.”Rahane also didn’t think India fielding a pace attack with just 88 Test wickets between them was a concern. While Mohammed Siraj will be India’s spearhead in the West Indies with 52 wickets so far in Tests, Jaydev Unadkat, who made a return to the format after 12 years against Bangladesh last December, has been India’s most consistent red-ball bowler in domestic cricket for the last four seasons.In two of them, Unadkat led the team to a title and in one season – 2019-20 – picked up a record-breaking 67 wickets, the most by a fast bowler in a single Ranji season. In 2022-23, he featured in just four Ranji games owing to national call-ups. Unadkat led the side in all those fixtures, and took 26 wickets at an average of 13.88. His best performance came against Delhi, in which he took a hat-trick in the first over of the match on his way to career-best figures of 8 for 39.”Siraj is there as a senior bowler, [and] Jaydev has a lot of experience. The other two guys [Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini] are pretty much experienced, so it’s an opportunity,” Rahane said. “[Mohammed] Shami is our senior bowler who has really done well for us, but with a long season ahead, need to give him a rest as well.”At the same time, we are not underestimating West Indies. We don’t know what people are saying on the outside, but we are definitely not taking them lightly. Their performance at home in Tests has been good in the last one to two years. We’ve had good preparation in Barbados before coming in, so we’re well covered. It’s all about starting well now.”

The report ends with 44 recommendations to “transform the game’s culture and, in some cases, to redesign the systems that govern and operate cricket.” ESPNcricinfo picks through 10 of the more significant ones below.

A public apology

The very first recommendation the ICEC makes is for the ECB to issue an “unqualified public apology for its own failings and those of the game it governs.” The apology, it says, must “acknowledge that racism, sexism, elitism and class-based discrimination have existed, and still exist, in the game, and recognise the impact on victims of discrimination.”In particular, the report says, there needs to be a direct apology for the “ECB’s and the wider game’s historic failures in relation to women’s and girls’ cricket and its failure to adequately support Black cricket in England and Wales.”In response, the ECB issued an immediate and “unreserved” apology for anyone who has faced discrimination in the game.

Equal pay for the women’s game

Gross disparities in opportunity and reward between genders represents an important focus of the report. It recommends a “fundamental overhaul” of the pay structure for professional women cricketers, calling for equal pay (on average) at domestic level by 2029 and international level by 2030.It calls for international match fees between the England men’s and women’s teams to be made equal with immediate effect, commercial earnings for promotional appearances to be equal on average to the men’s team by 2028, as well as for the ECB to top up prize money wins at ICC events so they are in line with men’s winnings (until, the report says, the ICC makes these equal).At domestic level, the report wants women’s regional teams to be fully professionalised by the start of the 2025 season (as well as have rookie contracts in place a season earlier). The reports wants average pay and prize money to be equal to the men’s domestically by 2029, but across a gradated scale (50% by 2025, 75% by 2027 and 100% by 2029). They want women’s salaries in The Hundred to be equal to the men’s by 2025.

Overhauling school cricket and talent pathways

The report devotes considerable attention to a relatively narrow pathway that has, historically, struggled to tap into as broad a base of talent as possible outside of private, fee-paying schools. The report recommends overhauling the entire talent pathway to “make it more meritocratic, inclusive, accountable, transparent and consistent”.It specifically suggests that the ECB should, within the next year, put in place an action plan for state schools, calling for a re-allocation of ECB money at U14 level “with the aim of ‘levelling the playing field’… to ensure that there exists an equal pathway into professional cricket for the very large majority of the England and Wales population that attend only a state school”.The subsequent recommendation calls for counties to forego any direct costs they charge for participation in talent pathways for 2024-25, in a bid to reduce barriers to access for children from lower socio- economic and state school backgrounds. It also calls for financial assistance for other costs, such as that of travel and cost of equipment to this demographic.

A national T20 competition for state school teams

By the start of the 2025 season, the report wants the ECB to organise county and national-level T20 competitions for boys’ and girls’ (U14 and U15) teams from state schools. Wins at county level (U14s) would see schools progress to a national competition the following year (for U15s). This, the report says, should replace…

Ditch Eton-Harrow at Lord’s

… the annual Eton-Harrow games at Lord’s. The school game, between two of the country’s most elite private schools, has come to somewhat symbolise the exclusivity of the Home of Cricket in recent years. Last year, MCC had decided to remove the Eton-Harrow and Oxford-Cambridge university games from their annual schedule, only to U-turn after a group of members protested. For now, the fixtures remain on the annual calendar till at least 2027.”These two events should be replaced by national finals’ days for state school U15 competitions for boys and girls,” the report says, “and a national finals’ day for competitions for men’s and women’s university teams.”

A new, independent regulatory body

One of the report’s most radical recommendations is the creation of a separate regulatory body for cricket, completely independent of the ECB, within the next year. “The new regulatory body, not the ECB, should be responsible for investigating alleged regulatory breaches and for making decisions about whether to bring charges,” the report says, adding in a subsequent recommendation that such breaches should include anti-discrimination and safeguarding rules.Despite some progress, the report found there to be a lack of clarity and independence in the ECB’s “formal regulatory system”. In its dual roles as promoter and regulator of the game, it concluded the ECB’s potential for conflicts of interest was “irreconcilable” between its commercial considerations and reputation-preservation, against the need at times to take effective regulatory action. It was this conflict that stood out through the Azeem Rafiq racism case.

Cricket’s class barriers

“One of our big reflections over the last 18 months or so is that our understanding of lower socio-economic groups is not good enough,” the ECB acknowledges within the report. One of the bigger – but unsurprising – findings in the report is how little attention has been paid by the ECB to this inequity and inaccessibility, based on class, schooling and/or socioeconomic backgrounds. None of the various initiatives the ECB has undertaken over the years, the report concludes, have specifically targeted barriers to participation and progress on pathways based on class.As such, they recommend that “within the next 12 months, the ECB undertakes an in-depth examination of the class barriers that exist in cricket and develops a game-wide strategy to remove them”.

ECB should appoint a chief EDI officer

The report’s assessment is that greater EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) competence and expertise is needed with the ECB board and executive. It is essential, the report says, that there is an ongoing and mandatory programme of training and development of these competencies for the board and executive.”We recommend that, within the next six months, the ECB establishes an Executive-level Chief Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer role with a singular focus on EDI and puts in place sufficient resources to support EDI delivery.”We recommend that the Chief EDI Officer sits on the ECB Board for the short to medium-term and/or until there is improved performance across EDI outcomes.”

Put EDI front and centre of allocation decisions

In November 2021, the ECB suspended Yorkshire from hosting international cricket, as it came to terms with the full impact of Azeem Rafiq’s experiences of racism at the county. Three months later, following a change in leadership and swift internal reform, the suspension was revoked and the county staged two internationals last summer.That is used by the report as an example in which putting EDI at the forefront of an allocation decision “is a powerful tool to encourage and enforce compliance with EDI”. It thus recommends that the “ECB revises and clarifies its processes and criteria for allocating, suspending, cancelling and reinstating high profile matches to place greater emphasis on EDI. There is clear evidence that being allocated such matches, or having the right to host them withdrawn, is a powerful tool to encourage compliance with EDI”.

An open and transparent complaints policy

The report is unequivocal in its conclusion that the systems and processes cricket has in place for handling allegations of discrimination are unfit for purpose. The report found a difference in perception between those in power who generally believed the systems they operate were effective and complainants, who found those systems to be inadequate.The ECB, the commission found, did not appreciate the role of complaints within the broader context of the fight against discrimination and that the system is not “sufficiently victim-centred”.”We recommend that the ECB reports clearly, publicly and annually on complaints in the professional and recreational game, including numbers, overall outcomes and actions taken to address existing and emerging patterns of concern.”