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Daryl Mitchell has spoken out about “the devastating news” of his sacking as Worcestershire captain after more than six years in charge.Mitchell, 32, has led Worcestershire to two promotions in the Championship as they have constantly alternated between Division One and Two, but promotion eluded them this season and he had paid the price. Allrounder Joe Leach has been named as his successor.Mitchell was privately informed of his removal by Worcestershire’s director of cricket, Steve Rhodes, on Monday and rejected the opportunity to resign – preferring to speak openly about the shock that he believes was felt not only by himself but also many of his team-mates.”Being sacked from my role as captain on Monday morning came as devastating news to me” he wrote in a message posted on Twitter. “This is certainly the most difficult thing I’ve had to deal with in my professional career.”As you can probably imagine it came as quite a shock, I am bitterly disappointed and left deeply hurt by the decision. I informed the players and staff last night and their messages of support have been overwhelming. Knowing that my team-mates share the shock is of great comfort to me.”Mitchell, normally the mainstay of Worcestershire’s batting, averaged only 34 in the Championship and failed to reach 1000 first-class runs and admitted that off-field issues had undermined him in the first half of the season.”2016 has been a difficult year for me with a lot on my plate off the field, poor form with the bat in the early part of the season and if I’m honest I haven’t been at my best as captain in certain parts of the year,” he said.”However, I did feel things had turned the corner, I finished the season well, and after a freshen up over the winter I was looking forward to leading the team in competing for trophies in 2017. Unfortunately this was not to be.”I was given the opportunity to resign but I felt it important that everybody knew the truth and the one thing I most certainly am not is a quitter.”Although I disagree with the decision, I do fully respect it and know it been made with the very best intentions for Worcestershire CCC moving forward. I’ve been in professional sport long enough to know, sometimes you just have to take things on the chin and move on.”I would like to thanks Steve Rhodes for giving me the opportunity to fulfil a childhood dream of becoming captain of Worcestershire CCC. I guess like all dreams you have to wake up at some point.”Leach, the county’s vice captain, had a season to remember. He finished as leading wicket-taker in Division Two of the Championship with 65 victims and scoring neary 600 runs.

The charges and the sanctions

• Thami Tsolekile: 12-year ban for “contriving to fix” in the 2015 Ram Slam, and failing to disclose the full details of an approach.

• Jean Symes: Seven-year ban for failing to disclose a payment “which he knew or ought to have known” was given to him to breach the anti-corruption code.

• Ethy Mbhalati and Pumelela Matshikwe: Each received a ten-year ban for receiving a payment/incentive to fix in the 2015 Ram Slam, making an illegal payment, and failing to disclose a payment and approach to the anti-corruption unit.

Four South African cricketers, including former Test wicketkeeper Thami Tsolekile, have been handed bans by Cricket South Africa for breaching the board’s Anti-Corruption Code. While Tsolekile has been banned for 12 years, Jean Symes has been given a seven-year ban, and Ethy Mbhalati and Pumelela Matshikwe have each been given ten-year bans in relation to the 2015 Ram Slam T20 fixing case.All four players have accepted the bans given by CSA. The bans imposed on the players, effective from August 1, 2016, prevent them from participating or being involved in cricket in any capacity.Symes, Matshikwe and Tsolekile were all previously contracted with Lions, while Mbhalati was contracted to Titans.Tsolekile, who captained Lions previously and has played three Tests for South Africa, was sanctioned for “contriving to fix a match or matches in the 2015 Ram Slam; failing to disclose to the CSA Anti-Corruption Officer the full details of an approach to engage in corrupt conduct”. He was also banned for “failing to disclose full details of matters evidencing a breach of the Code by another participant; and obstructing or delaying the investigation by destroying evidence that was relevant to the investigation”.Symes, an allrounder, was banned for failing to disclose to the anti-corruption unit a payment “which he knew or ought to have known was given to him to procure a breach of the Code”, according to a CSA release. He has also been charged with “failing to disclose details of an approach to engage in corrupt conduct under the Code; failing to disclose full details of matters evidencing a breach of the Code by another participant; and failing to co-operate with the investigators by knowingly providing false information to them”.Mbhalati and Matshikwe have been banned for: “Receiving a payment or incentive to fix or contrive to influence improperly a match or matches in the 2015 RAM SLAM; making a payment which in the circumstances would bring the sport of cricket into disrepute; failing to disclose to the CSA Anti-Corruption officer a payment which they knew or ought to have known was given to them to procure a breach of the Code; failing to disclose details of an approach to engage in corrupt conduct and failing to disclose full details of matters evidencing a breach of the Code by another participant.”The CSA release stated that Matshikwe had three years of his ban suspended.CSA made its investigation into the allegations of fixing in the Ram Slam competition public last December. In January former cricketer Gulam Bodi was banned for 20 years after he admitted to contriving or attempting to fix matches during the 2015 Ram Slam T20 series.The board’s investigation was headed by independent attorney and former ICC Head of legal, David Becker, and former police Colonel and current head of CSA’s Anti-Corruption Unit, Louis Cole.CSA’s chief executive Haroon Lorgat said that while there was no evidence to suggest that an “actual fix in a match had been carried out”, the players had participated in “material discussions about match-fixing”.”Corruption is a very serious matter and for this reason we have devoted extensive time and resources to fully investigate every shred of evidence,” Lorgat said in the statement. “We are still finalising certain aspects of the investigation.”Whilst there has been no evidence to suggest that an actual fix in any match was carried out, these players all participated in material discussions about match-fixing. In fact, they all went further and accepted, or agreed to accept in the future, sums of money which they knew or ought to have known was given to them to procure a breach of the Code, or bring the game into disrepute.”ICC chief executive David Richardson said it was a plus if the actual fixing was thwarted, and the ICC supports the strong sanctions. “What is particularly satisfying to note is that it appears that any intended wrongdoing was disrupted before it happened, meaning the domestic games in question went ahead without any act of corruption being committed.”The sanctions are rightly strong and, I hope, will act as a deterrent to anyone thinking about getting involved in criminal activity of this nature whether at international or domestic level.”Symes, Matshikwe and Mbhalati expressed their regret over their actions and issued apologies in CSA’s press release. The release, however, did not include a statement from Tsolekile.”I would like to apologise to my family, friends, the public who are fans of the game of cricket, my team mates, Gauteng cricket, Lions cricket and especially to Cricket South Africa for my actions,” Matshikwe said in the press release. “I feel ashamed and I deeply regret being involved. I understand that I have to take responsibility and I accept the punishment that CSA has imposed on me. I am truly sorry.”Mbhalati admitted to a “bad mistake”: “I made a bad mistake which I will regret for a very long time. I would like to do all I can to prevent other players finding themselves in the difficult situation I now find myself in.””I deeply regret that at the end of my career, a career that I have devoted to the sport of cricket, my clubs, teams and fellow players, I have conducted myself in a manner that amounts to a contravention of the ethical code of conduct of Cricket South Africa,” Symes said. “In hindsight, I would have conducted myself differently. I regret any hurt or inconvenience that I have caused my team, my fellow players, my family and friends and specifically Cricket South Africa.”The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations chief Tony Irish said FICA might assist the players in their recovery process. “If it hadn’t been for education programme, I don’t think the players would have come forward and revealed what was going on,” Irish said. “This investigation would never have happened.”These are human beings, these are players who have gone astray. They are still individuals. They are guys who perhaps need support and assistance in other ways. We will probably look to assist them in that way. This is the best education a player can get – to see what happens when it does go wrong. These sorts of things become huge wake-up calls for players.”

ScorecardSam Billings helped lay the platform for Kent’s victory•Getty Images

Kent progressed to the quarter-finals of the Royal London Cup after they beat an inexperienced Sussex side by seven wickets at Hove. A stand of 103 in 112 balls for the third wicket between Sam Billings and Sam Northeast provided the platform for Kent’s comfortable victory in a match reduced to 43 overs because of rain.Sussex looked well short of a competitive total when they were restricted to 182 for 8. Their innings revolved around two partnerships, one of 68 in 16 overs for the fourth wicket between Harry Finch and Craig Cachopa and another of 50 for the fifth wicket between Finch and Fynn Hudson-Prentice.Sussex, who were already out of the competition, experimented with a young line-up, with Hudson-Prentice (20), Christian Davis (23) and Abidine Sakande (21) all coming into the side. Sakande was making his List A debut, while Hudson-Prentice and Davis had played just five previous matches between them at this level.Almost immediately, Sussex were floundering at 5 for 3 in the fifth over. Matt Coles, generating plenty of pace and bounce from the Cromwell Road end, dismissed both openers in his first two overs. First Luke Wright, surprised by the bounce, edged behind to Billings, who took the ball one-handed high to his right. In his next over Coles shaped one across the left-handed Wells and Billings again took the catch.Davis was then athletically caught by Alex Blake at midwicket off Mitchell Claydon for a duck. But Finch and Cachopa, both cutting well against the shorter delivery, revived the innings until the unlucky Cachopa had his off stump knocked back by one that kept low from Darren Stevens.Finch went on to make 54 from 88 balls and Hudson-Prentice scored a stylish 48 off 54 deliveries but there wasn’t much more batting from Sussex as the impressive Coles finished with 4 for 39.When Kent batted they lost Daniel Bell-Drummond, who was bowled by Ollie Robinson for 14, and Joe Denly, who was given out caught behind off Sakande for 24 after a long consultation between the umpires.But Northeast, with an unbeaten 66 from 77 deliveries, with five fours and a straight six off Danny Briggs, and Billings, who hit eight fours in a fluent 55, made sure there would no slip-up. When Billings was bowled by Davis they required just another 29 runs and they got home with 12.1 overs to spare.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsYasir Shah followed the lead of his captain to give Pakistan the edge after two days of the first Test at Lord’s. Misbah-ul-Haq’s hundred provided the initial inspiration and Yasir backed that up with a virtuoso display to leave England battling for parity, his fifth five-wicket haul in 13 Tests, on a pitch that offered him little assistance, underlining his claim to be one of the most dangerous spinners currently playing the game.It could have been worse for England, with Alastair Cook dropped twice off the bowling of Mohammad Amir on his way to 81. Amir eventually bowled Cook for his first Test wicket since he removed Graeme Swann on the same ground almost six years ago but the spotlight had already begun to shift to his team-mate Yasir. The last legspinner to take a five-for at Lord’s was Mushtaq Ahmed in 1996 – also the last time Pakistan won on the ground.England had been 118 for 1, Cook and Joe Root adding a century stand for the second wicket, before Yasir struck for his first Test wickets outside of Asia. Root, in his first innings replacing Nick Compton at No. 3, looked at something like his dynamic best before trying slightly too hard to force the pace and top-edging a slog-sweep to be taken at midwicket two short of a half-century. It was to prove a costly indiscretion.Pakistan had their first look at England’s reshaped middle-order, an area Misbah had tentatively suggested his bowlers might be able to exploit before the Test, and Yasir in particular liked what he saw. James Vince briefly shimmered on an otherwise dull, cloudy day, before playing back to be lbw to Yasir – DRS confirming it would have clipped leg stump – for a fifth innings without a significant score at Test level; Gary Ballance clipped one four on his comeback but was then beaten by a gently turning legbreak, pushing down the wrong line.Jonny Bairstow bristled with intent as he attempted his latest England rebuilding effort, hammering boundaries either side of the wicket with the vigour of a blacksmith at his anvil, but he too fell to Yasir, attempting to cut a delivery that was too full and seeing it skid on to the stumps.Misbah erred towards defensive fields, as his quicks struggled for containment, but he had a dual-purpose operator in Yasir, who settled into a 15-over spell that yielded 4 for 46 once he had switched to the Pavilion End. Only the occasional delivery spun but Yasir, like an experienced engineer calibrating a favourite piece of machinery, twiddled away at the control panel, imparting drift and subtle changes of pace to leave England scratching their heads at 193 for 6.They were grateful to Chris Woakes, who had earlier taken his maiden Test five-for, battling to the close. Woakes and Moeen Ali negotiated almost a dozen overs but Yasir again changed ends and an appeal that would once have been dismissed as highly speculative gave him his fifth victim. Joel Wilson adjudged Moeen lbw to a delivery spinning in from round the wicket and, with DRS registering umpire’s call on impact in line with off stump and ball hitting leg, Yasir did not have to consider retracting his of joy.Woakes’ 6 for 70 had helped finish off Pakistan with only 57 added to their overnight score before the stage was transported back to 2010, as Amir prepared to bowl to Cook once again. Amir’s first delivery in Test cricket after a five-year ban for his involvement in spot-fixing on this ground was met by a few pseudo-witty cries of “no-ball” from the crowd and it was unceremoniously tucked away into the covers for a single by Cook.Much has changed in the intervening period but Amir’s tightly coiled action caused the England captain just as many problems as it did on their first meeting, when he picked him up three times in five Tests; when Cook dragged on during the evening session, Amir had his moment of release.He had initially struggled with his line and length, leaking 33 runs from six overs before lunch, but gradually became more comfortable as the adrenaline ebbed away. Rahat Ali was generally the most demanding of Pakistan’s left-arm trio and he removed Alex Hales in the second over of the innings, angling a delivery across to have the opener taken at third slip.The England reply had been anchored by Cook, who benefitted from two glaring errors in the field. When he had made 22, Amir slanted the ball in to take the edge, just as he had done as a teenager, only for Mohammad Hafeez to make a mess of a straightforward low catch at first slip. There was further anguish for Amir when he began his second spell during the afternoon, his first delivery luring Cook into a drive as the ball left him, only for the ball to hit wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed on the wrist as he dived to his left.Cook had reached his fifty by that point and went on to pass Sunil Gavaskar’s record as the opener who has scored the most runs in Tests, but a rather less pleasing statistic for England soon emerged. Of the last eight Tests in which Cook has made a 50-plus score, none have resulted in victory (two draws, six defeats).In the morning session, a burst of three wickets in eight balls, including the dismissal of Misbah for 114, saw England wrap up Pakistan’s innings inside the first hour. Having been 282 for 4 shortly before the close on Thursday, Pakistan might have been disappointed to make only 339.Misbah, fresh from becoming the oldest captain to score a Test hundred, began the second day with designs on seeing his side up towards 400 and a secure position from which his bowlers could mount an attack. He could only add four runs to his overnight score, however, before Stuart Broad brought a delivery back to burst between bat and pad and rattle the stumps.That dismissal meant Pakistan had gone from 310 for 7 to 316 for 9, with Woakes removing Sarfraz and Wahab Riaz in the preceding over. Sarfraz had looked in dangerous mood, frequently stepping down the pitch to cut and drive on his way to 25 from 29 deliveries but he gifted his wicket when slapping a short, wide delivery to backward point to give Woakes his maiden five-for.Two deliveries later, Wahab was following Sarfraz back to the pavilion, as Woakes followed up an excellent outswinger with one of the fastest balls of the match, full and ducking in past a flimsy defence to leave off stump flat on the ground. As the crowd applauded Woakes’ achievements, Amir walked out for his first involvement in a Test since the corresponding match at Lord’s in 2010. But this was far from the main event, as Yasir would later prove.

India’s Supreme Court has reserved its judgement in the case concerning implementation of the Lodha Committee recommendations by the BCCI. There will be no further hearing in the case and the two-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice Ibrahim Kalifulla, will submit the written judgement to the concerned parties. The judgement is likely to be delivered before July 21, the date when Justice Kalifulla retires.The hearings in the case concluded on Thursday afternoon (June 30) after senior legal counsel KK Venugopal, representing the BCCI, wrapped up his arguments. Before concluding his defence, which lasted nearly 90 minutes, Venugopal said that the BCCI was happy to implement every recommendation made by the Lodha committee barring “six or seven”. These included: restrictions on ministers and bureaucrats being part of the BCCI and state associations, ‘one state, one vote’, presence of a nominee of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the apex council, and an age cap of 70 years for office-bearers.In May, former BCCI president Shashank Manohar had stated five recommendations the board was opposed to: advertisements between overs during a match broadcast, ‘one state, one vote’, the presence of two members from IPL franchises on the league’s governing council, the formation of an apex council, and a cap on the tenure of the office bearers.Venugopal argued that that there could not be any judicial review of the board’s activities and read out previous judgments to stress his point. He said that the BCCI was not a corporate body, but a society which is a “conglomeration of members” protected under Article 19 (1) (c) of the Constitution of India. The specific constitutional clause relates to the right to form an association and Venugopal said the court must not interfere with that right.The BCCI counsel said that the Indian board had already accepted and implemented most of the recommendations by the Lodha committee, such as: appointments of the chief executive officer and chief financial officer; recruitment of consultants like Pricewaterhouse Coopers to audit accounts of the BCCI and state associations; organisation of cricket camps under the guidance of former India players like Dilip Vengsarkar, Kiran More and Shiv Sunder Das in the north-eastern states under a scheme to develop the game in new areas.However, when Venugopal pointed out that the BCCI had taken action against officials of the Goa Cricket Association, who were arrested for alleged fraud, both the bench as well as amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium stated the board had failed to maintain checks and balances for a long time.Venugopal claimed the BCCI reacted proactively and swiftly as it suspended GCA president Chetan Desai from the board’s marketing committee and association secretary Vinod Phadke from the information and technology committee. Incidentally, Desai, Phadke and treasurer Akbar Mulla, who was also arrested, are still office bearers in the association.Subramanium praised the BCCI for its action but pointed out that it had come a bit late. He told the court the board had done nothing for years, disbursing funds to the state associations without asking what the money was being used for, who was using it and how it was being utilised. Apart from Goa, Subramanium pointed to the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) and Saurashtra Cricket Association as examples of the board’s oversight.”A total of Rs 141 crore has been given to GCA from 2010-11. When Justice Mudgal was appointed (by Delhi High Court to oversee the conduct of the fourth Test against South Africa last year) he could not believe the sorry state of affairs (at the DDCA). In Saurashtra one whole family are the members of a cricket association,” Subramanium told the court.He cited another example of malfeasance at DDCA, where 14 members were listed as staying at a single address that was only 48 square metres in area. “How many members can live in 48 square metres? But from one such address, there are 14 members in the DDCA,” Subramanium said. When Justice Thakur asked whether all 14 members were from one family, Subramanium said that was not the case: “Puris, Walias, Ahluwalias, all under one roof that is only 48 square metres.”Justice Thakur asked whether the big-name auditors like PWC were actually checking what the funds were being used for. “If you are giving Rs 200 crore are there much verifications being done, are there safeguards against misappropriation? If you had a system in place, this [GCA] would not have happened today,” Justice Thakur said. He then suggested that it was important for the board to conduct a “performance audit” and have a robust mechanism of safeguards in place.In fact, a performance audit is one of the recommendations made by the Lodha panel that was appointed in January 2015 by the court – in the aftermath of the investigation into the IPL 2013 corruption scandal – to examine and suggest changes to the functioning of the Indian cricket board.Venugopal said the BCCI had also taken action against associations like the Bihar Cricket Association and the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association recently by cutting off their funds. Nalini Chidambaram, the counsel for Cricket Association for Bihar, the original petitioner in the IPL 2013 corruption case, countered Venugopal and said the board had punished the Bihar Cricket Association by “actually giving them funds worth Rs 50 lakh”.Justice Thakur responded to Venugopal’s defence by saying, “Someone has swindled you. How is the BCCI claiming credit? There was no fact-finding mission set up. Now since May 10, you have been seeking utilisation certificates but what happened before that? Why were you sleeping all these years? Why were utilisation certifications not sought? You were disbursing funds without the utilisation certificates.” The chief justice added that by stopping funds the BCCI was hurting the interests of the game and the players, without allowing them to “flourish”.The court was also shown an interview of BCCI president Anurag Thakur where he said that if the Lodha committee recommendations were adopted, it would set the BCCI back by 20 years. “Send Test cricket back by 20 years,” the chief justice remarked, in response.Over the last few months, the Supreme Court has been critical of the board’s reluctance to adopt the Lodha recommendations. The judges have slammed the BCCI’s method of disbursing funds to state associations and also rebuffed arguments made by the state associations and the board against the Lodha panel recommendations, which were made public in January this year. A month after the report, the Court also set the BCCI a deadline to make its stance clear on the recommendations or deal with the possibility of having the court implement it for them.

West Indies captain Roston Chase has described his side’s capitulation against Australia in Jamaica as “heartbreaking” and “embarrassing”.West Indies were bowled out for the second-lowest total in Test history at Sabina Park to lose the third Test and concede the series 3-0 in the process.Chasing 204 to win on the third day, West Indies were bowled out for 27 in 14.3 overs to set a host of new and unwanted records. The total was just one run better than New Zealand’s Test-record low of 26 in 1955 but it was 20 runs short of West Indies’ previous worst total of 47. It was the first time in Test history a team recorded seven ducks in an innings and the six runs made collectively by West Indies top-six batters was the lowest in any innings in Test history.Related

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Mitchell Starc also took the fastest Test five-for ever, claiming the first five wickets of the innings in just 15 balls after picking up three wickets in the first over.Speaking after – at both the post-match presentation and the press conference – Chase was despondent.”It’s disappointing,” Chase said. “We’ve been putting ourselves in positions to win games, and then we just lay down and not put up a fight in the last batting innings. It’s quite heartbreaking, because I think we did it in all three Tests, and we’re not really learning from our mistakes. So that’s something we have to really look at.”Obviously being bowled out for less than 30 is quite embarrassing.”Chase thought the target of 204 was achievable and did not offer any excuses in regards to the surface, despite no batter in the match reaching 50. It was only the seventh time since 1900 and the third time since 1981 that no player had scored a half-century in a Test with at least two completed innings.”I thought it was realistic,” Chase said. “I mean, the wicket was a good wicket, still a good batting wicket. I didn’t think there was too many devils in the wicket, like the last two games where the ball was rolling or bouncing inconsistently. So yeah, we thought 204 was quite gettable. But then, obviously, with the start and stuff being [11 for 6] or something like that, it’s very difficult to really get those runs from there.”It capped off a horror series with the bat for West Indies’ new-look line-up. They posted scores of 190, 141, 253, 143, 143 and 27 across the series. Brandon King was the only West Indies batter to score a half-century, posting the highest individual score on either side with 75 in Grenada. He was also the only West Indies batter to average more than 20 for the series with 21.50, discounting Anderson Phillip making 10 and 11 not out in his only Test in the series in Grenada. Australia had four batters average more than 30, but Travis Head was the only one to score more than 200 runs and average more than 32 thanks to his twin half-centuries in Barbados. Head, Cameron Green and Usman Khawaja were the only players in the series to face more than 300 balls across six innings.Brandon King surveys the wreckage after becoming the third dismissal in Mitchell Starc’s opening over•AFP/Getty Images

Chase did note that the pitches were tough overall for the batters but he did not want to take away too much from the performance of his bowlers.”I think the pitches were very tough,” he said. “I don’t want to say they were too in favour of the bowlers, but they were very tough because, as you can see, this is probably the first series I’ve ever played [where] no batter got a hundred for each side. So that’s something that I’ve never really seen in a Test series. So that just goes to show how dominant the bowlers were.”Chase conceded that West Indies faced a huge challenge to rebuild from here. They do not play Test cricket again until October and face entirely different conditions in India when they do.”We need to really take a deep look at ourselves as batters,” Chase said. “The next series from here is quite a while. So we have time on our side. So I think that’s what we need to really do, really have a look at our batting this series and see where we can improve and how we can put 300 run totals on the board.”Obviously India is going to be different conditions, probably more spinner-friendly. So I think if you can have some batting camps around playing spin bowling and stuff like that, I think that will be ideal for us going into those conditions.”

Yorkshire 376 for 5 (Wharton 78, Bairstow 72, Luxton 71, Bean 57, Lyth 47) vs Surrey Jonny Bairstow completed a punchy 72 off 90 balls during less than a session’s play possible on day two between his Yorkshire side and Surrey at Scarborough.Yorkshire are handily placed on 376 for 5 from 110.1 overs in this 10th round Rothesay County Championship fixture which has seen just short of a day wiped out by the weather.The White Rose county started today, at 1pm following a wet outfield, on 282 for five, with Bairstow on 19 and Matthew Revis yet to score.They went on to complete a fifth-wicket partnership of 88, which Bairstow aggressively led before miscuing Indian spinner Sai Kishore to deep mid-on.Despite sunshine for a good portion of the morning, umpires Nigel Llong and Russell Warren were concerned about the condition of some problem areas, including both bowlers’ run-ups, following some heavy rain late on day one and into the evening.Rain then arrived to prevent any play beyond 2.35pm. The umpires called things off at 4.40pm.Yorkshire started well. Bairstow twice drove Dan Worrall through the covers for four as the score ticked beyond 300.Shortly after, he swept left-armer Kishore for six en-route to a 68-ball fifty, his sixth of the Championship season and third against Surrey after two in the defeat at the Kia Oval in mid-May.By that stage, Yorkshire had moved to 334 for four in the 100th over.For large parts of this season, 35-year-old Bairstow has been reserved at the crease in Championship cricket.During the early stages of day two, however, he was noticeably aggressive.And while he had success, it also contributed to his downfall as he miscued an attempted loft over the top against Indian left-arm spinner Sai Kishore and holed out to deep mid-on, leaving the score at 364 for five.Revis had reached 34 and Will Sutherland six by the time the rain swept across this North Marine Road ground, and no further play was possible.Bairstow, whose late father David’s ashes are scattered here at North Marine Road, is awaiting the birth of his second child. He may have to leave this game at any point over the next three days should his partner go into labour.

Impressive innings from imports Heather Knight and Chamari Athapaththu and savvy bowling from Hannah Darlington have helped Sydney Thunder avenge an early season WBBL loss to Hobart Hurricanes.Three days after Hurricanes won by 31 runs in Hobart, Thunder scored a 33-run victory in a match reduced to 17 overs a side after rain delayed the start at North Sydney Oval by 30 minutes on Thursday.Related

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Athapaththu (38 off 29) and Knight (48 off 28) helped the Thunder amass 146 for 5. Hurricanes smashed 18 off their first seven balls, but lost 5 for 13 in the last few overs.Darlington claimed the big wickets of Lizelle Lee and Heather Graham and Athapaththu completed a good all-round effort by taking 1 for 11 off three overs of tidy spin, dismissing England star Danni Wyatt-Hodge.England captain Knight, who missed the first game between the two teams, played some handsome shots and added momentum in the second half of the innings.She struck 14 off the last three balls of the one power surge over bowled by Molly Strano, lofting the first over long off and adding two fours in the same area. “It was really nice when you start a competition to hit the ground running and I thought ‘Atta’ was brilliant as well,” Knight told . “We managed to get in a bit of a partnership there and it set up things at the end.”Athapaththu, who was out for a first-ball duck on Sunday, was dropped at deep midwicket on 5. Her innings included sixes over deep midwicket and long off before she fell to a remarkable one-handed low diving return catch by Strano off a fierce drive.”I didn’t have much time to think about it, it was a tracer bullet, so pretty happy it just stuck,” Strano said.In reply, Lee clubbed boundaries off the first two balls of Hurricanes’ chase and three in the over then Wyatt-Hodge belted a six over backward point off the first ball of the second over.Thunder struck back with Athapaththu having Wyatt-Hodge caught at backward point. Nicola Carey, who scored a 50 in last weekend’s game, then chopped a delivery from Shabnim Ismail onto her stumps, a ball after the South African quick struck her on the helmet.Lee couldn’t maintain her early impetus and was adjudged lbw the first ball after the mid-innings break, though if she had used DRS, she would have been reprieved.A brisk fourth-wicket stand of 43 between Graham and Elyse Villani gave Hurricanes hope before they were dismissed in successive overs to trigger a decisive collapse.

Mason Crane, the legspinner who played a single Test for England, has signed a three-year contract with Glamorgan. He is a product of the Hampshire youth system and has spent his entire professional career under contract with them, but has enjoyed a successful spell in Cardiff this season after moving on a season-long loan.Crane, 27, is Glamorgan’s leading wicket-taker in both the County Championship (24 at 42.87) and the T20 Blast (17 at 16.94) this season, and said he has “loved every minute” of his time at the club. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity to make this move permanent,” Crane said. “I’m very excited for the next chapter and the years to come.”Grant Bradburn, Glamorgan’s head coach, said Crane had been “an outstanding addition” this season and that his success has been “testament to the culture our players have welcomed him into.” Bradburn said: “We feel very fortunate to have the quality of Mason here at the club and we look forward to building more success with him as part of our Glamorgan family.”Related

• Crane: 'I just want to play and feel like an integral part of a team'

• Glamorgan sign Crane on loan, Hamza for Championship

Crane made his professional debut for Hampshire as a teenager, making Kumar Sangakkara his first victim. He quickly rose to prominence, playing two T20Is for England against South Africa in 2017, and found himself in the Test squad for an Ashes tour later that year as the second spinner behind Moeen Ali.He was handed an unexpected debut at the age of 20 at the SCG and took a single wicket for the cost of 193 runs. Since then, he has struggled for regular opportunities due to injury and loss of form – particularly in first-class cricket – though he remained an important part of the sides that won the Royal London Cup (2018) and T20 Blast (2022).”I would like to thank everyone at Hampshire for an amazing journey over the years,” Crane said. “We have created some memories together that will last forever, but now is the time for me to start a new chapter. Thank you also to the fans for all the support and I wish everyone associated with the club all the best for the future.”

Northern Diamonds bowled Lancashire Thunder out for just 61 – the lowest total in the four-year history of the Charlotte Edwards Cup – on the way to a five-wicket victory with 6.2 overs to spare against their arch-rivals at Durham’s Seat Unique Riverside.Scotland left-arm seamer Rachel Slater returned a superb three for 12 from four overs bowled straight through with the new ball, while opener partner Lizzie Scott also struck twice added to two wickets for the off-spin of Erin Burns in a final group clash which started with neither side able to qualify for Saturday’s Finals Day.Having almost perfectly made use of helpful bowling conditions, the Diamonds slipped to 37 for four in this helter-skelter contest. But Thunder had left themselves with too much to do, and their former batter Rebecca Duckworth steered the hosts over the line with an unbeaten 21.Both sides finished this competition with three wins from their 10 matches. Diamonds have won their last two and Thunder have lost their last two.Given the Diamonds are hosted by Yorkshire as a region, this was the first of two Roses T20s in as many nights, with the men’s teams facing off at Headingley in the Vitality Blast tomorrow. And the first blow was struck by the White Rose county in emphatic fashion.Diamonds got off to a near-perfect start, beginning with the correct call at the toss.Captain Hollie Armitage elected to bowl on a green pitch which offered obvious seam movement and also prodigious swing for Slater and Scott, the latter playing her first game of this season’s T20 competition.Thunder slipped to 19 for four inside the opening five overs, losing key trio Emma Lamb, Australian Katie Mack and in-form Seren Smale, whose 88 not out in their defeat at Central Sparks on Friday represented – at the time – the highest score by any batter in this competition.Scott had Fi Morris and Mack caught, the latter brilliantly by a diving Katherine Fraser at backward point, and left-armer Slater bowled Lamb and Smale.Unfortunately for Thunder, things got worse quickly, and 13 from Tara Norris batting at number nine proved to be their highest score. Only three batters reached double figures as a procession of batters came and went on a sunny North East day.Captain Ellie Threlkeld was run out from cover at the striker’s end before debutant all-rounder Grace Johnson chipped Slater to mid-off – 24 for six in the seventh.Kate Cross was bowled by Australian Burns before, considering the circumstances, the riches of back-to-back boundaries through the covers for Norris off former Thunder seamer Sophia Turner took the score to 50 for seven in the 11th.But it was only a brief respite. Norris was bowled on the pull at Scotland off-spinner Katherine Fraser before Liberty Heap was stumped off Katie Levick’s leg-spin.And when Sophie Morris chipped Burns to cover, Thunder were all out inside 15 overs for a record low total.Left-arm spinner Morris and new ball seamer Cross then both struck twice apiece to give Diamonds something to think about at 37 for four after eight overs, 25 runs still needed.England’s Cross trapped Emma Marlow lbw and had Bess Heath caught behind to finish with figures of two for 14 from four overs.Duckworth’s unbeaten 21 represented the highest score of the match.