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Sam Curran named as Surrey T20 captain

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Sam Curran’s credentials as a potential England white-ball captain have received a boost with his promotion to lead Surrey’s men in this year’s Vitality Blast.Curran, who has represented Surrey since U15s and first captained a Surrey side at U17s, was England’s player of the match and tournament when they won the T20 World Cup in 2022, but has been out of favour since the 2023 World Cup. He was not selected for Brendon McCullum’s initial white-ball squads this year, including the recent Champions Trophy in which Jos Buttler’s tenure as England captain ended.He captained Surrey for three Blast fixtures in 2023, standing in for Chris Jordan, whom he is now succeeding full-time. He has led Punjab Kings on a total of 11 occasions in the Indian Premier League in 2023 and 2024. This year he also captained Desert Vipers to the final of the recent ILT20.Curran has scored over 4,000 T20 runs and made his first T20 century in last year’s Vitality Blast against Hampshire at the Kia Oval. With the ball, he has over 250 T20 wickets with his left-arm seam and swing.He was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2019, and has represented England more than 120 times across all formats since making his debut in 2018.”I am deeply honoured and proud to have been appointed Surrey’s T20 captain,” Curran said. “It is a privilege to lead such a great group of players and to continue representing this iconic club.”I look forward to leading our team and will do everything I can to live up to the standards and expectations that Surrey prides itself on.”I am very determined to deliver trophies and try to replicate what has been achieved in the County Championship the last few years to make the Members and fans proud.”Surrey’s High Performance Cricket Advisor, Alec Stewart said: “I’d like to thank Chris Jordan for his three years as captain of the T20 side. He led the team to consecutive appearances at Finals Day and will remain a key part of the side on and off the field. CJ is one of the most senior players in the team and is greatly respected by everyone at the Club.”This is the right time for Sam to take over as the captain with where he’s at in his career. It’s a great opportunity for him to put his mark on the team and help to take us that one step further to deliver silverware. Sam has shown his leadership qualities already both at Surrey and in the IPL and he will bring a huge amount to the role.”Surrey’s first Vitality Blast fixture at the Kia Oval this year is on Thursday, June 5 when they take on Hampshire in a double-header matchday.

Delhi Capitals choose to bowl against Royal Challengers Bengaluru

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Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel won the toss and had chose to chase against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.He confirmed that Faf du Plessis, who missed DC’s previous game due to a groin strain, was fit to take back his place at the top of the order, which meant a move back to No. 4 for KL Rahul. Du Plessis replaced Sameer Rizvi in DC’s bowling-first XI, with Abishek Porel likely to come in as Impact Player for the chase. Axar also confirmed that his injured finger, due to which he bowled just one over in Chennai, was also fine.”My finger is fine, protecting it a little better, but will see, might even bowl four overs,” Axar said. “Faf is fit, so Sameer Rizvi is out. KL will bat in the middle order. The spinner’s role is also very important. We have two legspinners, and in the middle overs have told them to go for wickets.”Rajat Patidar said he had wanted to chase as well, while confirming an unchanged RCB side. Suyash Sharma or Rasikh Salam come come in as Impact Player when they bowl second.”Definitely wanted to chase,” Patidar said. “The surface is pretty hard and will try to put a good total on the board and put them under pressure. There has been a bit of planning as well, but I always back my instincts. It is important to win matches at home and have the momentum going.”DC are unbeaten so far in the tournament. They started with a one-wicket win against Lucknow Super Giants before beating Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings comfortably. RCB have won three of their first four games, but their only defeat was in their first home game of the season, against table-toppers Gujarat Titans.Royal Challengers Bengaluru batting-first XI: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Tim David, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Yash DayalDC Impact Player options: Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh.Delhi Capitals bowling-first XI: 1 Jake Fraser-McGurk, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 KL Rahul (wk), 4 Tristan Stubbs, 5 Ashutosh Sharma, 6 Axar Patel (capt), 7 Vipraj Nigam, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mohit Sharma, 11 Mukesh KumarDC Impact Player options: Abishek Porel, Darshan Nalkande, Karun Nair, Sameer Rizvi, Donovan Ferreira

Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet seal second WPL title for Mumbai Indians

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Mumbai Indians 149 for 7 (Harmanpreet 66, Sciver-Brunt 30, Kapp 2-11, Jonassen 2-26) beat Delhi Capitals 141 for 9 (Kapp 40, Rodrigues 30, Sciver-Brunt 3-30) by eight runsMumbai Indians (MI) won the Women’s Premier League (WPL) title for the second time in three seasons, successfully defending 149 for 7 to consign Delhi Capitals (DC) to a runners-up finish for a third season in a row.Nat Sciver-Brunt, who became the first to 1000 runs in WPL, and Harmanpreet Kaur, who tallied 300 runs in a season for the first time, were central to MI’s batting even on Saturday, adding 89 for the third wicket to lift them from 14 for 2. Harmanpreet continued her fine striking form to hit a 36-ball fifty that dragged MI to a respectable total.DC crumbled early in response to their 150-run chase but sprung back to life thanks to Marizanne Kapp’s late, smart hitting. She hit 40 off just 26 balls and added 40 off 29 balls with Niki Prasad for the seventh wicket. That assault brought down DC’s equation to 23 off 12 balls and then 14 off 6 when Prasad hit Hayley Matthews for a six. But there was Sciver-Brunt at the end, like she was there at the start. As a result, DC came out to be second-best again, their eight-run loss likely to sting them the most.Related

  • DC's Batty bats for his team, says 'no mental block' in squad despite another finals defeat

  • A Harmanpreet masterpiece blows Delhi Capitals away

It was the fifth game in a row – fourth at the Brabourne Stadium this season – that a team batting first won. It was only the fourth time in the WPL that a target of 150 or less was successfully defended, three of them have seen DC on the losing side.

A Kapp-ital act, almost!

Sciver-Brunt celebrated vociferously after clean bowling DC captain Meg Lanning. Shabnim Ismail couldn’t be stopped after she trapped Shafali Verma, DC’s leading run-getter this season. Amelia Kerr outfoxed Jess Jonassen, Saika Ishaque got the better of Annabel Sutherland. DC were in all sorts at 4 for 44 and soon, Jemimah Rodrigues fell after a sprightly knock, leaving them 66 for 5. Sarah Bryce’s run-out left them at 83 for 6 inside 13 overs. Surely it was curtains for DC?Not until Kapp was in the middle. She was not going to let her frugal spell of 2 for 11 off four overs go to waste. She blasted a Sciver-Brunt half-tracker over deep midwicket for half a dozen before bringing her wrists into play to clip one behind square on the leg side. She then hit two fours off successive balls off Hayley Matthews before going 4, 6, 4 off Ishaque to leave DC needing a gettable 35 off 24 balls. When Prasad, batting at No. 8, scythed Ismail through backward point to end the 17th over, the equation came down to 29 off 18.Marizanne Kapp goes on the attack•BCCI

The partisan crowd at the Brabourne Stadium suddenly cheered every Kapp boundary. But Sciver-Brunt earned the loudest cheer when she had Kapp flat-bat one straight to Matthews at long-off. Nothing quite stings like a dashed hope; Lanning’s blank expression said it all.

Kapp, Pandey and the new-ball spell

DC opted to bowl on what was a fresh surface. On a balmy Mumbai evening, Kapp and Shikha Pandey got the new ball to swing around. Matthews couldn’t score from five of the seven balls she faced off Kapp. After bowling a few balls shaping away from the right-hander, Kapp got one to go straight on and rattle Matthews’ stumps. It was the 11th time Matthews was dismissed by Kapp in women’s T20s.From the other end, Pandey also did not let the off-colour Yastika Bhatia off and built up the pressure. In a bid to cut loose, Bhatia drove one Kapp delivery towards cover, where Rodrigues took a low catch tumbling forward. That double strike meant MI finished the powerplay on 20 for 2, their second-lowest total in the phase in the WPL.

Harmanpreet rescues MI with sublime fifty

Like the previous two WPL finals, it looked as if the team batting first would end up with a below-par total. DC were calling the shots with the ball; Kapp finished her quota in a single spell to give them early control. That did little to fluster Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet. They targeted their bowlers to help MI pick up pace, and how. MI scored just 28 off 2 in the first eight overs; in the next five, they added 59. Each of those five overs went for over ten.Harmanpreet Kaur blazes away•BCCI

It is not often Sciver-Brunt plays the second fiddle but such was Harmanpreet’s silken touch. A pull off Annabel Sutherland, that travelled over deep backward square leg for a six, started a style of play we have come to see of Harmanpreet in WPL 2025. She then took apart Jess Jonassen, a bowler who has got her number in T20Is, in the 11th over, carting her for three fours in a row. She welcomed the offspin of Minnu Mani with what was one of the shots of the evening – a whip that was all wrists through square leg off the back foot. She scored her third half-century of the season to pull MI out of trouble. MI scored 70 in the seven overs between the first and second timeout.

Late strikes not good enough for DC

With dew not expected much in Mumbai, DC brought in N Shree Charani, an extra spin option, in place of Titas Sadhu. That she was preferred over Radha Yadav spoke volumes of the trust DC placed in her. And she seemed to have repaid it in her second over. After a 12-run opening over, she ended the dangerous third-wicket partnership of 89 between Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet before slipping in a six-run over.Sutherland then had Harmanpreet hole out to deep cover as MI collapsed from 102 for 2 to 118 for 6. Yet, MI managed to score 25 off the last two overs to get close to 150. DC picked up 5 for 45 in the last five overs; that effort wouldn’t have been all that bad on another day.

Parag bemoans 'a lot of small errors' after RR get hit by knockout punch

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Rajasthan Royals (RR) were guilty of “a lot of small errors,” according to their captain Riyan Parag, after they faced a heavy defeat against Mumbai Indians (MI) that knocked them out of the playoffs race IPL 2025.Coming into the game, RR needed a win to stay alive, but they were outclassed in all departments. Parag hopes for a better showing in the remainder of the season.”I think we’ve done a lot of things right, we’ve done a lot of things wrong,” Parag said after the game. “We want to focus on the things we’ve done right. A lot of mistakes, a lot of small errors, I think we’ve got to focus on how to not make them again, focus on the good as well.Related

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  • Stats – Mumbai Indians' first win in Jaipur in the IPL since 2012

“We’ve had a few close matches, so hopefully the next three games when we get opportunities like we have in the first 10-11 [11] games of this season, hopefully we can do it better.”Despite RR conceding 217 for 2 after bowling first, they were in with a chance given the opening partnerships between Yashasvi Jaiswal and the 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi in the last few games were 166, 52 and 85.That wasn’t to be as Deepak Chahar got Suryavanshi for a two-ball duck. Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah then ran riot to reduce RR to 62 for 5 at the end of the powerplay. Parag took it upon himself and the middle order for not delivering but maintained a positive attitude for the future.”We’ve been getting good starts, but it’s up to the middle order – myself, Dhruv [Jurel] – for us to step up in the middle overs when we lose wickets in the powerplay, [we] couldn’t just do it. But we still back ourselves if another situation comes next game, I think we should be up for it.”

Brook calls on England to forget the past after crushing opening victory

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Harry Brook has urged England to forget the past after they began life under their new captain with an emphatic 238-run win over West Indies in Thursday’s first ODI at Edgbaston.It was close to the perfect performance, albeit one against a visiting side who were wayward enough with the ball to concede 400 for 8, and never in the hunt to chase it down. They eventually capitulated to 162 all out, with No.11 Jayden Seales top-scoring with 29 not out. But for England, there was plenty to nourish them as runs and wickets were spread around, with four half-centuries, including Brook (58) and top-scorer Jacob Bethell (82) and three wickets apiece for Saqib Mahmood and Jamie Overton as all five bowlers registered dismissals.Victory ended a run of seven straight defeats, the side’s worst run of form since 2000-01, when they lost 11 in a row. While undoubtedly a relief for Brook and head coach Brendon McCullum to start this new chapter with a victory, the captain insists the team’s previous travails must be cast from the mind, and encouragement taken from this all-round dominant performance, no matter the gulf between the two sides or how small the sample size.”It’s a new era,” Brook said. “Like I’ve said so many times, we’re trying to forget about the past, only focus on what’s ahead of us, and take one game at a time. We’ve done pretty well today so we can take that confidence going forward.”[It is a] Very good start. To get 400 after being put in and bowl them out for 162 was a pretty exceptional start from the boys. Hopefully we can top that.”Brook was particularly enamored with the tempo of England’s innings, a previous sticking point given the lack of exposure to the 50-over format for many of the squad. Ben Duckett and Jamie Smith, in his new role as opener, got the innings off to a strong start, with England 90 for 1 after the opening 10 overs, allowing them to operate at a cruising speed of 6.43 runs an over in the middle 30 overs.Brydon Carse takes the plaudits after a special take in the deep•AFP/Getty Images

That offered Bethell and Will Jacks the platform to launch in the final 10 overs, combining for 98 off 44 deliveries for the sixth wicket, taking the game well beyond West Indies’ reach. Brook credited Bethell for an approach conducive to this longer white-ball format. The 21-year old was 26 off 30 when Buttler got out in the 41st over before striking 56 off his next 22 balls.”The boys up top started beautifully and set the template for how we wanted to play and how we want to play for the rest of the series,” he said. “The tempo we batted with throughout the innings was pretty much spot on. We have a lot of depth in our batting, which gave the opportunity to Beth and Jacks to go out there and do what they did.”I think that’s the way everyone should play in ODI cricket – you’ve got a lot longer than you think. I got out with 20 overs to go and I felt like I was sat watching for about three hours. You can give yourself 10, 15 or 20 balls to get in and then you can soon catch up. “I think he (Bethell) was on about 40 from 40 balls (38 off 39) and he ended up striking at 140 or 150. That’s the type of game it is and you can catch up very quickly.”Meanwhile, West Indies head coach Daren Sammy lamented a lack of discpline from his bowlers.Shai Hope’s decision to bowl first looked sound at 12:30pm local time, with a bit of moisture in the air and the odd cloud in the sky. However, Sammy felt his side ended up chasing the game with their tactics and field placings, unable to keep a lid on matters after the opening Powerplay.”It’s good when batsmen play out of their skin, but when you know you have a plan and you’ve not really given it a chance to work, that’s the most annoying thing,” Sammy said.”Our bowlers were not discplined enough. It’s a wicket that requires you to be straight and use the square boundaries from a straight line. Our skills were not on par in any of the Powerplays. Not to start. We were chasing the game from early – 90 runs in the first 10, you always find yourself on the defensive. We were playing catch-up from then.”

Kamindu, Athapaththu the biggest winners at Sri Lanka Cricket Awards 2024

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Kamindu Mendis and Chamari Athapaththu took home the night’s biggest awards, being named the men’s and women’s cricketers of the year, respectively, as Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) held its awards night on Monday.The SLC awards, nominally an annual event, was being held for the first time since 2017, and feted those who had contributed to Sri Lankan cricket for the 2024 calendar year.Kamindu’s record-breaking year, unsurprisingly, made him the best Test batter after he struck 1049 runs at 74.92 over the 12-month period in consideration, comfortably beating Dinesh Chandimal’s 724. Internationally, only four batters – Joe Root, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ben Duckett and Harry Brook – struck more than Kamindu during this period but none played as few as his nine Tests, the next lowest being 12.The two best batter awards in the men’s white-ball category were split between Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka, with the former’s 628 runs at a strike rate of 127.64 pipping Nissanka’s 622 at 138.53 for the T20I award, while Nissanka returned the favour in the ODI category as his 694 runs at an average of 63.09 outgunned Kusal’s 742 at 53.00. Nissanka also became the first Sri Lankan to score a white-ball double-hundred in this period, when he took apart Afghanistan during an unbeaten 210 off 139 in February 2024.The night’s biggest winner, however, was Athapaththu, who bagged six awards in total, including women’s cricketer of the year. She swept the batting, bowling and allrounder awards for T20Is in a year where she scored 720 runs – second only to Smriti Mandhana – and picked up 21 wickets in the format. In ODIs, her 458 runs at 65.42 along with nine wickets in as many games, meant she was named the best batter and allrounder in the format too. Only Kavisha Dilhari’s 17 wickets across eight ODIs – earning her the best ODI bowler award – prevented an Athapaththu clean sweep.Chamari Athapaththu almost swept the awards for women•SLC

There was more variety in the men’s awards. In Tests, Prabath Jayasuriya was named best bowler for his 48 wickets across nine Tests, making him the joint-fourth highest wicket-taker in Tests for the calendar year. He beat out Asitha Fernando, who had 37 wickets in the same period.Dhananjaya de Silva was awarded best Test allrounder for his 710 runs and six wickets across ten Tests, though he faced minimal threat on that front with Milan Rathnayake, with just four Tests under his belt, his only competition.In the white-ball category, Wanindu Hasaranga came away with three honours, securing the best bowler award in both T20Is and ODIs after taking 38 and 26 wickets in each of the formats, while his 179 runs in T20Is meant he was also named best T20I allrounder.In ODIs, men’s national team skipper Charith Asalanka picked up the best allrounder award; his 605 runs at 50.41 were only bettered by Kusal and Nissanka, while his economical contributions with the ball where he picked up ten wickets at an economy rate of 4.78 – only behind Maheesh Theekshana – saw him play a pivotal role in a year that saw Sri Lanka rack up a 12-3 win-loss record in the format.Janith Liyanage, who made his ODI debut in January 2024, was named emerging player of the year following an impressive 12 months in which he struck 462 runs at 46.20 and helped shore up Sri Lanka’s middle order.Kamindu Mendis was named the Men’s Cricketer of the Year at the Sri Lanka Cricket Awards 2024•SLC

On the domestic front, women’s domestic cricket was honoured for the first time at the SLC awards with performances in the Major Clubs Women’s Invitational Tournament up for recognition. Allrounder Rashmi Silva was named best bowler, while Harshitha Samarawickrama picked up the best batter award. Nilakshika Silva was named best allrounder.In the men’s domestic category, Chamika Karunaratne was named Player of the Tournament in the Major Clubs Men’s T20 Tournament, while Akila Dananjaya took home the best bowler award and Pawantha Weerasinghe was named best batter.In the Major Clubs Men’s 50 Over Tournament, Dilshan Munaweera, Krishan Sanjula and Thanuka Dabare, were named best bowler, best batter and best allrounder respectively, while in the Major Clubs 3-day Tournament Dilum Sudeera and Sahan Kosala were named best bowler and best batter with Ravindu Fernando named Player of the Tournament.A total of 46 awards were presented during the ceremony, including match referee of the year and umpire of the year, which went to Pradeep Jeyapragash and Chamara de Zoysa respectively, as well as several lifetime achievement awards.Many present and former cricketers were in attendance, with Sri Lanka’s sports minister Sunil Kumara Gamage the guest of honour.

Gurbaz, Charles 60s and Pretorius three-for carry Amazon Warriors to GSL 2025 title

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A batting show headlined by three innings that were very different from one another, and a combined bowling effort where all the key men contributed something of note took Guyana Amazon Warriors, the hosts, to the Global Super League title in Providence on Friday night. They vanquished Rangpur Riders, who had won the title in its inaugural season, and a target of 197 might have seemed achievable, but not after a powerplay of 32 for 3.It started with the run-out of Ibrahim Zadran in the second over, followed by Dwaine Pretorius picking up the first of his three wickets – Soumya Sarkar – in the fifth, and Moeen Ali chipping in with the big wicket of Kyle Mayers in the sixth.The fightback came courtesy Saif Hassan and Iftikhar Ahmed, who put together 73 runs for the fourth wicket in 44 balls, but another run-out, this time of Saif, triggered another slide. This time, they went from 102 for 3 to 126 for 8 between the 13th and the 17th overs, and there was no coming back from there.Masterminding the dominance were Pretorius, with the wickets of Azmatullah Omarzai and Iftikhar, who top-scored with 46 from 29 balls, and Imran Tahir, who sent back Nurul Hasan and Khaled Ahmed.

Mahidul Islam Ankon threw his bat around to score a 17-ball 30, but it was too little and too late to prevent Amazon Warriors from taking the title.For Amazon Warriors, Gudakesh Motie also picked up two wickets and the only frontline bowler who didn’t get a wicket, Akeal Hosein, conceded just 24 runs from his four overs.Earlier, after Amazon Warriors had opted to bat, a partnership of 121 runs in 70 balls between opener Johnson Charles and No. 3 Rahmanullah Gurbaz set them on their way. The two got together in the fourth over after Evin Lewis had been felled by Khaled, and batted through to the end of the 15th before Charles retired out on 67 from 48, with 11 fours and a six.Gurbaz fell almost immediately after for a 38-ball 66, studded with six fours and four sixes, and the finishing kick came from Romario Shepherd, who slammed three sixes and a four in scoring 28 not out from nine balls.

Somerset ride into quarter-finals on back of Tom Kohler-Cadmore 90

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Tom Kohler-Cadmore smashed a brilliant half-century to propel Somerset to a convincing 95-run victory over Essex Eagles at the Cooper Associates Ground and guarantee the runaway South Group leaders a place in the quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast.In scintillating form beneath the Taunton floodlights, Kohler-Cadmore staged a breathtaking innings of 90 from just 39 balls, striking eight fours and seven sixes and dominating stands of 88 and 55 with Will Smeed and Tom Abell for the second and third wickets respectively as Somerset ran up an imposing 225 for 6 after Essex had won the toss. Smeed scored 32, Sean Dickson weighed in with 28 not out and, amid the carnage, Mohammad Amir emerged as the only Essex bowler to escape punishment, the Pakistan international returning stand-out figures of 3 for 22 from four overs.Undermined by overseas bowlers Matt Henry and Riley Meredith, who claimed 4 for 21 and 2 for 22 respectively, the Essex chase came up well short as the visitors were dismissed for 130 in 14.1 overs, Noah Thain top-scoring with 38. This latest victory moves Somerset 12 points clear of nearest rivals Surrey, while Essex remain rooted to the foot of the South Group after suffering a ninth defeat in 11 games.Tom Banton looked as though he meant business, plundering three boundaries at the expense of debutant Charlie Bennett to move to 15 in quick time, only to then chip Amir to mid-on in the third over as Somerset lost their first wicket with 21 on the board. There was no loss of momentum though, Kohler-Cadmore and Smeed taking 16 off the next over, sent down by Thain, while Bennett again proved expensive when switching to the River End and Paul Walter conceded 19 off the sixth as Somerset raced to 67 for 1 by the end of the powerplay.Essex turned to spin in an attempt to stem the flow, but Kohler-Cadmore continued to trade in boundaries, smiting a brace of sixes off successive deliveries from Matt Critchley and then straight hitting Luc Benkenstein for another to raise a blistering 24-ball half century in the grand manner.The visitors did little to help themselves, Bennett dropping Smeed on 20 at deep midwicket off the bowling of Critchley as the eighth over haemorrhaged 20 runs. Smeed had contributed 32 to a stand of 88 from 44 balls when he hit Benkenstein to long-off as the home side reached halfway on 114 for 2.There was no let-up in the scoring rate, Kohler-Cadmore applying further pressure by hoisting Benkenstein for a towering six over long-off as the Essex bowling wilted in the face of heavy firepower. Kohler-Cadmore was within 10 runs of what would have been a magnificent hundred when a loss of concentration saw him hit Simon Harmer high to long-off to afford Essex overdue relief.Critchley removed Abell for 20, but there was precious little breathing space for the visitors, Dickson and Lewis Gregory picking up the cudgels in a stand of 28 from 12 balls. Dickson was still there at the end, unbeaten on 28 made from 17 balls.Required to score at 12.5 an over, Essex made a decent enough start, Walter taking Craig Overton for a six and a brace of fours in a first over that yielded 15 runs. But Meredith redressed the balance, clean bowling the swinging Michael Pepper with 28 on the board in the third.Somerset struck another blow in the next over, Ben Green taking a startling diving catch at long-on to send back Jordan Cox and give Henry a wicket on his final appearance before returning to New Zealand, while Meredith accounted for Charlie Allison. Henry then struck twice in three balls, removing Walter for 24 and Benkenstein without scoring to reduce Essex to 48 for 5, their prospects of pulling off an unlikely victory in tatters before the powerplay had even ended.Critchley was then run out by Abell’s direct hit and Lewis Goldsworthy had Robin Das held on the deep midwicket boundary with the score 81 for 7 as the home side exerted a vice-like grip on proceedings. Only Thain attempted to carry the fight to Somerset, the former England Under-19 international crashing a four and four sixes in a defiant innings of 38 off 17 balls. His dismissal – caught by Henry at long-on off the bowling of Overton – signaled the end of meaningful Essex resistance.

Pakistan's home series against Ireland postponed to 2027

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Pakistan’s home series against Ireland has been postponed to 2027 due to scheduling concerns. The white-ball series, which comprises three T20Is and three ODIs, will no longer be held in its current September-October window. While it was initially expected to be moved further out in the season, ESPNcricinfo has learned it will instead be removed from this home season altogether, and moved to the next one, with both boards looking at alternate dates in 2027.The series, which would have been Ireland men’s first visit to Pakistan was initially announced in May 2024. At the time, it was expected to take place in the early part of Pakistan’s home season in 2025. When the PCB released its official season schedule, the series against Ireland was slotted in for September-October. At the time of writing, that remains the official schedule for the series on the PCB website.However, that window has become increasingly congested for Pakistan, who are currently playing a white-ball series against West Indies. At the end of this month, they take part in a tri-series involving UAE and Afghanistan.Related

  • Cricket Ireland confirms Pakistan white-ball tour in 2025

  • Pakistan, Afghanistan and UAE to play T20I tri-series in Sharjah ahead of Asia Cup

More significantly, the Asia Cup, the schedule and status of which was increasingly uncertain following a brief skirmish between India and Pakistan in May, was announced last week; it runs from September 9 to 28. With South Africa touring Pakistan for two Tests in early October, the window for the series against Ireland shrunk untenably.”We wanted to balance content and planning better across the two seasons,” PCB’s international cricket department told ESPNcricinfo. “It made more sense for us both to spread the fixtures further out as we already have substantial content leading into Asia Cup and then the World Cup.”Pakistan have a busy white-ball schedule this season with the T20 World Cup early next year. They have made little secret of their desire to play as much T20 cricket as possible, initially increasing the number of T20Is to a home series against Bangladesh at the expense of ODIs, before scheduling concerns resulted in their scrapping.They were also understood to be keen to turn the ongoing series against West Indies to be T20-only, though ESPNcricinfo understands there were other considerations behind that move. In addition, the T20I series against Afghanistan will now be a tri-series, adding further short-form fixtures to their calendar.Ireland do not have a fixture clash around the time the series was set to be played, though ESPNcricinfo understands the decision to postpone is mutual.

MLC Season 4 pencilled in for June-July 2026

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The fourth season of Major League Cricket (MLC) will be held from June 18 to July 18, 2026. Like the previous edition, the six-team competition will feature 34 games in all.But even with the Season 4 dates now out, there is no public confirmation from USA Cricket (USAC) on whether it has revoked the termination of its contract with American Cricket Enterprises (ACE), the owners of the league.The confusion has left USA players concerned, as recently stated by Corey Anderson, who is the operational director of USA Cricketers’ Association, which is not recognised by USAC.Since the third season in 2025, MLC has opted for a window in June-July that ensures no clash with other global franchise competitions, allowing for a bigger pool of talent to tap into. Originally a 19-match tournament in 2023 that expanded to 25 matches in 2024, the competition has been a 34-match event since 2025. MLC is set to avoid a clash with the Hundred for the second successive year. The Hundred’s dates have not been publicly confirmed but ESPNcricinfo understands it will run from July 21 until August 16.”Season 3 showed that demand for top-tier cricket in the USA is real and accelerating,” Johnny Grave, MLC chief executive, said in a statement. “MLC is winning new fans, followers and viewers throughout the USA and around the world. We’re delivering on our promise to grow the game across the USA and build relations with new and existing commercial partners.”According to MLC, ACE is now targeting ten international standard venues by 2030 with investments upwards of US$ 150 million committed.The six teams participating in the event are Los Angeles Knight Riders (owned by Knight Riders Group), MI New York (Indiawin Sports), San Francisco Unicorns (Anand Rajaraman, Venky Harinarayan), Seattle Orcas (GMR Group, Satya Nadella, S Somasegar), Texas Super Kings (Chennai Super Kings, Anurag Jain, Ross Perot Jr) and Washington Freedom (Sanjay Govil). The MLC is also planning to add two more teams by the 2027 season, with a move to Canada also being explored.The 2025 edition was won by MI New York, their second title in three seasons, defeating Washington Freedom by five runs in the final.