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A depleted New Zealand attack – effectively reduced to just two-and-a-half frontline bowlers – was made to toil as a defiant West Indies rearguard stretched the contest into a fifth day on an increasingly docile Hagley Oval surface.Forced off the field on day three by an eye infection, Shai Hope returned with sunglasses under his helmet to compile an unbeaten 116. It followed his first-innings 56 and marked his second century in three innings, a seamless extension of the defiance he showed while stonewalling India for long periods in New Delhi in October.If Hope was the fulcrum, Justin Greaves was the anchor beside him. He reined in his instincts to play a composed, almost uncharacteristically restrained hand to finish 55 not out off 143 balls. His unbroken fifth-wicket partnership with Hope was worth 140 as New Zealand’s attack toiled under the blazing Christchurch sun.Related

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Nathan Smith did not come out to bat and spent the entire innings off the field with a side strain. When Matt Henry left the field after the 35th over – later heading to hospital next door for scans – with West Indies 92 for 4, New Zealand may have hoped to finish off the game quickly.But with his bowling resources rapidly thinning, Tom Latham – already standing in with the gloves due to Tom Blundell’s torn hamstring that ruled him out of not just this Test but the next – was left to lean heavily on Rachin Ravindra and Michael Bracewell’s part-time spin around pacer Jacob Duffy. On a surface that only got easier to bat on against the old ball, Hope and Greaves settled in and applied themselves admirably.Having begun with positive intent, Hope was tested periodically with the short ball, Duffy setting a square leg halfway to the rope along with a short leg and fine leg for the pull. Hope mostly swayed and ducked out of harm’s way, and on the rare occasions he was tempted into the shot, he did well to keep it down. He brought up his fourth Test century off 139 deliveries.Duffy employed a similar plan to Greaves, whose natural game is far more instinctive. But to his credit, Greaves appeared to take a cue from Hope, choosing restraint instead. He played only when the ball was at his body, using his height to ride the bounce and fend safely. While he was a lot more enterprising against spin, the fundamental of his knock was crease occupation.Justin Greaves played a composed knock of 55 not out off 143 balls•Getty Images

Hope and Greaves laid down the template for those who perished prior to their arrival. Tagenarine Chanderpaul and John Campbell were put through a stern new ball test by Foulkes and Henry as they repeatedly tested both their edges in an engaging first spell. Chanderpaul’s propensity to shuffle across got him into trouble more often than not, and was out to a short ball that he inside-edged to the keeper for 6 off 45 balls.Campbell – out an over earlier – was taken out by Foulkes as he jabbed at an away-swinger with no feet movement as Bracewell took a superb low catch at second slip. In the overs prior to his dismissal, Campbell wore a blow on his boot as he smashed one back off an inside-edge, making him groan in discomfort. This may have eventually had a hand in his dismissal.Alick Athanaze never got going, and the frustration of being unable to score had him attempt a pull, only to be rushed into the stroke by Bracewell. He only managed to toe-end a pull to mid-on. And when Roston Chase fell in eerily similar fashion to his dismissal in the first innings – nibbling at a Henry away-swinger while being rooted to the crease – West Indies were collapsing swiftly and were 72 for 4.A four-day defeat loomed until Greaves and Hope dug in to give West Indies some hope even as New Zealand’s tired attack wheeled away in the hope of a mistake. That wasn’t to come, as West Indies took the fight into the final day even though hopes of scaling down the 531-run target they were set seem just a pipe dream for now.Earlier in the morning, New Zealand surprised many by choosing to bat on. Perhaps this was to give their bowlers more rest on a placid surface, considering the slew of injuries. Kemar Roach picked up three of the four wickets to fall, finishing with figures of 5 for 78 to take his wickets tally to 290.

South Australia secured a Sheffield Shield double against Tasmania, beating them for the second time in four weeks.After winning in Hobart last month, the reigning champions backed it up by completing a comprehensive 10-wicket win at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.Even without captain Nathan McSweeney (Australia A) and star quick Brendan Doggett (Ashes duty), SA proved too strong for Tasmania at home. The hosts claimed a first-innings lead of 231 after centuries to Jake Lehmann and Liam Scott powered them to 426.Related

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Tasmania, missing Test opener Jake Weatherald and allrounder Beau Webster, were skittled for just 195 on day one. They didn’t fare much better in their second innings, but at least were able to force SA to bat again.Tim Ward (66), captain Jordan Silk (46) and a solid contribution from allrounder Nikhil Chaudhary (42) helped Tasmania to 260. Nathan McAndrew ended Ward’s resistance when he nipped one between bat and pad.Jordan Buckingham was the star with the ball, collecting 4 for 49 and 4 for 58. On the third day he trapped Ruwantha Kellapotha lbw with a full toss and had Nikhil Chaudhary pulling down the leg side.SA had no problem chasing down the minuscule target of 30, with Mackenzie Harvey and Henry Hunt completing it in six overs.A win was vital for SA, who entered this round in fourth spot on the ladder, just behind Tasmania. After a drought-breaking title win last season, SA started slowly with three-straight losses, but are in striking distance of another final berth going into the BBL break.

Steven Smith projected a sense of calm sitting in front of a huge media throng as Australia’s captain on the eve of a home Ashes series.He’s been there and done this many times before. But this is a little different. That Smith was sitting there as the stand-in captain was not plan A for Australia.That they are playing without two of their big three fast bowlers, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, in a home Test for the first time since 2022 was definitely not plan B.That they have picked two players, Brendan Doggett and Jake Weatherald, to debut in the same Test for the first time since 2019, and a seventh different opening partner for Usman Khawaja in 16 Tests, was not even plan C.Australia are unsettled and vulnerable. But while there is a popular belief, at least externally, that England must win in Perth to have any chance in the series, there is no sense that Australia feel Perth is make or break. The lessons of last year’s loss to India in Perth before winning the series 3-1 are fresh in their minds.”I think you want to try and win the first Test match and get yourself ahead of the game, I suppose, or the series,” Smith said on Thursday. “But I think either way we look at last summer, we lost the first Test match and we were able to claw the series back.”We’ve got a lot of belief in that change room, if the result doesn’t go our way this week, that we can turn it around. We saw it last year. So ideally, we play well this week, and we’ve got potentially Patty on the table next game. Josh, I don’t know, but I think we’ll see how this week pans out.”Steven Smith: There’s always so many words said before the [Ashes] series•Getty Images

Australia have learnt some clear lessons from 12 months ago. Despite their public protestations after copping a shellacking from India in Perth that caused a firestorm of criticism from home fans, they knew internally they had been undercooked going into that series.Related

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Every member of the squad bar Khawaja played the most recent Sheffield Shield round to prepare for the opening Test, something that didn’t happen last year. Every member of the chosen XI bar Travis Head and Mitchell Starc have played at least two first-class games in the last month, which again was not the case last summer. Perth golf courses have been frequented this week, but quantifiably less often than in the training period last year.The hype has been unprecedented. On another scale to last year, even with the inflation that India can bring. But for Smith, entering his ninth Ashes series as a player and his fifth on home soil, it has felt like par for the course.”It’s pretty standard,” Smith said. “I’ve been involved in a few now, and there’s always so many words said before the series. But for us, I think it’s about just ignoring the outside noise, concentrating on our processes, what we do well as a team and trusting and backing that throughout. It’s exciting that we’re starting tomorrow. Everyone’s been raring to go for the last few days of training and even before that.”Australia have maintained their own bubble. There were no leaks to the media of the initial Ashes squad. There was no leaks of the XI until Thursday morning, which was a pretty good achievement given the binary nature of the choices the selectors had.Even the public pontifications on how Bazball will fare in Australia have been left to ex-players, the media and the punters. Australia’s current players have consistently spoken kindly this week about the quality of England’s team and the brand of cricket they play.There were moments in the 2023 Ashes in England when Australia did look “rattled” in the field as England’s Bazballers swung momentum violently at times as only they can.The proof will be in the pudding, but Smith certainly portrayed a sense that Bazball is not “in their heads” as the Barmy Army’s song suggests.”I think it’s just playing the tempo of the game that needs to be played at each certain time,” Smith said. “I’ve no doubt throughout this series, there’s going to be periods of the game where a few of their batters get off and they score some runs quickly. And for us, it might be about being a little bit defensive in those moments. And then finding the moments where we can attack a bit more and just playing the game, really, that’s in front of us, and not letting it drift too far before we implement the plans that need to be played at that certain time. I guess that’s as simple as I can put it right now.”There are as many unknowns about Australia as there are about England ahead of this series. But it is clear Australia are not gripping the steering wheel tight in Perth. The result will be the result. Reinforcements are almost certain to come soon given how good Cummins looks in the nets.It might be the calm before the storm. But even if the storm comes, an understrength Australia appear prepared for it.

Glamorgan 261 and 348 for 7 dec (Northeast 132, Carlson 108) beat Lancashire 137 and 318 (Wells 102, Harris 61) by 154 runs Glamorgan extinguished any hope of a record-breaking run-chase from Lancashire as they wrapped up a vital 154-run victory at Emirates Old Trafford which keeps them on course for promotion from Rothesay County Championship Division Two.After a delay for rain, in which 20 overs were lost, the hosts were faced with scoring 247 runs with five wickets in hand off the 76 remaining overs but with Marcus Harris at the crease accompanied by nightwatchman Tom Bailey, the Red Rose still held ambitions that a win could be salvaged from a game in which they had been dismissed for 137 in their first innings.It took just 45 minutes before lunch for Glamorgan to make huge strides towards the victory with Bailey bowled by a brilliant Asitha Fernando inswinging yorker for 16 to make it 259 for 6, with all-rounder Chris Green following 18 balls later, top edging a sweep to Kiran Carlson off Ben Kellaway for 9 to leave the score 270 for 7.With Harris remaining, Lancashire still harboured a glimmer of a chance, and the Australian reached a battling half-century off 89 balls. But when Harris was out for 61, caught at short leg by Carlson off the impressive Mason Crane, the game was well and truly up, with Tom Hartley and George Balderson left with an almost impossible task.Hartley, who had scored his maiden first class century in the previous match, could not repeat his heroics and was out bowled Kellaway, who finished with 3 for 82, for 5, to leave skipper James Anderson joining Balderson in the middle.The England bowling great brought out a few trademark reverse sweeps to elongate proceedings with Balderson also swinging his bat to good effect as the last pair put on 25 for the final wicket.The final act came at around 2.20pm when Anderson missed a sweep to hand Crane his third wicket of innings to finish with match figures of 9 for 126 and leave Glamorgan celebrating a first win at Emirates Old Trafford since 1993.For Lancashire it is a defeat which sees them further adrift in the Division Two promotion race with the result leaving the Red Rose 38 points behind a gleeful Glamorgan with three games remaining.

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat against Afghanistan in their Asia Cup clash in Abu Dhabi.Bangladesh captain Litton Das said the pitch looked a bit on the slow side, despite the Abu Dhabi surface having been better for batting recently. Rashid Khan said Afghanistan would have liked to bat first as well.Bangladesh made four changes with Saif Hassan, Nurul Hasan, Taskin Ahmed and Nasum Ahmed coming in. Mahedi Hasan, Pervez Hossain Emon, Shoriful Islam and Mahedi Hasan missed out. Afghanistan, meanwhile, named an unchanged XI.Related

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A win for Afghanistan On Tuesday will take them to the top of the Group B points table.Bangladesh: 1 Tanzid Hasan Tamim, 2 Saif Hassan, 3 Litton Das (capt & wk), 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Nurul Hasan, 6 Jaker Ali, 7 Shamim Hossain, 8 Nasum Ahmed, 9 Rishad Hossain, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Taskin AhmedAfghanistan: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Sediqullah Atal, 3 Ibrahim Zadran, 4 Gulbadin Naib, 5 Karim Janat, 6 Azmatullah Omarzai, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan (capt), 9 Noor Ahmad, 10 AM Ghazanfar, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi

Rahmat Shah, the Afghanistan batter, is “most likely” out of the ongoing ODI series against Bangladesh because of a calf injury, according to team physio Nirmalan Thanabalasingam. Rahmat braved the injury to try to bat after Afghanistan had lost their ninth wicket in Saturday’s second ODI, after having retired hurt earlier, but he could stand at the crease for just one ball.Thanabalasingam ran out to help Rahmat, who by then couldn’t even stand. Later, the paramedics took him out of the ground in a wheelchair.”He unfortunately succumbed to his injury so he is out now,” Thanabalasingam said. “We will do the all the right things in terms of imaging and stuff tomorrow. He is going to be out for some time, I think.”Rahmat initially felt discomfort when he was trying to take a single in the 15th over after having walked out to bat at his usual No. 4. It was an innocuous looking shot, but his turn on the heel might have affected his calf. He was batting on nine at the time, and struggled to walk properly as he went off the field.Afghanistan struggled without Rahmat, who made an invaluable half-century in the first ODI, which made him the first Afghanistan batter to reach 4000 runs in ODIs. Rahmat’s absence meant regular middle-order wickets, with only Ibrahim Zadran holding things together.When Rahmat came out to bat again, it was met with applause from the Afghanistan fans at the venue in Abu Dhabi. It, however, lasted just one ball. Rishad Hossain sent in a googly that Rahmat missed, and the ball hit him in the abdomen. He was down immediately. Mehidy Hasan Miraz helped him get up but he was not able to continue as Afghanistan’s innings ended at 190 in 44.5 overs.

Former England batter Dawid Malan says he is looking for a “fresh challenge” after being released by Yorkshire following six seasons with the club.Malan, 38, came through at Middlesex before joining Yorkshire in 2020. He captained the club in the Blast last season, but despite leading the way with 365 runs at a strike rate of 156.65, could not prevent them from finishing second-bottom in the North Group.During his time at Headingley, Malan was Yorkshire’s second-leading run-scorer in T20, with 1642. He also scored 2014 runs at 54.43 in first-class cricket.”I have enjoyed six happy and successful seasons with Yorkshire, but feel now is the right time for the club to make a fresh start,” Malan said. “I am grateful to the general manager of cricket Gavin Hamilton and head coach Anthony McGrath for allowing me to seek a new challenge elsewhere.”Malan, who last played for England at the 2023 ODI World Cup, has extensive experience of the global T20 circuit, featuring in the PSL, BPL, SA20 and, most recently, the Nepal Premier League.He has also started to explore a media career, commentating on BBC radio during the summer.Hamilton said: “Dawid has been a consistent run-scorer across all formats, and will always be welcome at Headingley. We thank him for his very significant contribution in recent seasons, and we wish him well for the future.”