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Surrey 433 (Smith 138, Burns 79, Clark 78, Helm 6-110) and 78 for 2 (Jacks 45*) beat Middlesex 238 (Simpson 60, Holden 55, Abbott 3-37, Overton 3-45, Lawes 3-57) and 272 (Stoneman 72, Bamber 46*, Abbott 4-60) by eight wicketsWill Jacks struck a swift unbeaten 45 as Surrey motored to a comfortable eight-wicket victory over neighbours Middlesex inside an hour on the final morning.The LV= Insurance County Championship front-runners needed only 11.1 overs to chase down a modest target of 78, completing their second derby success of the season and a first red-ball win at Lord’s for 26 years. Middlesex, who remain second from bottom in Division One, have now lost four of their last five Championship fixtures.”We were pretty clinical, I think, over three and a bit days,” Rory Burns, Surrey’s captain, said. “There are a few bits we could have tidied up on but, if you’d offered us that before the start of the game, we’d have taken it. Particularly after getting inserted on the first morning, to put up 433 as a batting group and then back that up by making them follow on – and the way we went about it – I think it’s a big feather in our caps.”I thought Jamie [Smith] played beautifully [in the first innings] and Jordan [Clark] was in pretty good nick as well. The way he came in and played was excellent, to get ourselves up to that sort of total was brilliant.”It’s a tough shift, any time you make someone follow on – I think we had about 150 [overs] in the dirt there, back to back. To take 20 wickets and keep being quite relentless over that period is a massive effort. Getting a wicket second ball [today] is always handy. The weather probably had a part to play in our chase as well, we were looking to get it done as quickly as we could.”With rain forecast for later in the day, Surrey were keen to secure the result as quickly as possible after bowling their hosts out for 272, with seamer Sean Abbott returning figures of 4 for 60.Abbott took only two deliveries to finish off Middlesex’s second innings when play resumed, banging it in short to last man Tim Murtagh, who could only fend it off into the slip area and Dom Sibley took the catch.That left Ethan Bamber stranded on a career-best 46 not out and Surrey with 78 to score – just five more than the target they chased to complete a nine-wicket victory against Middlesex at the Oval in May.First-innings centurion Smith was promoted to begin the chase with Burns, but he lasted just two balls on this occasion before clipping Tom Helm tamely into the hands of midwicket. Helm picked up a second wicket, his eighth of the match, when Burns attempted a paddle from outside off stump that was neatly taken by Murtagh at long leg, but Jacks maintained momentum by clouting Bamber over the cover boundary.Tom Latham also struck a maximum off Helm before hitting the winning runs off Mark Stoneman to finish unbeaten on 21.

The Ashes are still alive. England’s batters clinched a three-wicket win in a white-knuckled run chase at Headingley, led by Harry Brook’s 75 on his home ground before Chris Woakes and Mark Wood took them across the line.Australia, who would have sealed a first away Ashes win since 2001 with victory, struck regularly on the fourth day to leave England in serious trouble at 171 for 6. Mitchell Starc was the spearhead, taking two wickets either side of lunch – including the middle-order engine room of Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow.Brook and Woakes added 59 for the seventh wicket, England’s highest partnership of the match, before Starc’s fifth wicket – Brook top-edging to cover – gave Australia another sniff. But Wood, whose five-wicket haul in the first innings set the game up for England, joined Woakes and iced the run chase.Wood hooked Pat Cummins over fine leg for six, then cleared his front leg to blast Starc through cover and take the requirement down to single figures. With four to win, he survived a top-edged swipe off Starc, Alex Carey unable to cling on after scrambling back towards the boundary rope and diving at full stretch onto his front.Then, with scores tied, Woakes opened the face and scythed Starc through point for four, holding his arms aloft in celebration before embracing Wood. The pair’s all-round exploits over the last four days have kept England alive in the series: they are two-one down heading into the fourth Test at Old Trafford on July 19.There is a nine-day break before the start of that Test, one for which both teams will be grateful after another exhausting, exhilarating day which saw both teams let control of the game slip from their grasp. Australia were behind for much of the game but it took until Brook’s partnership with Woakes for England to assert their dominance on the chase. Even then, there was a twist – but it came late enough for them to scrape home.Mitchell Starc made crucial breakthroughs either side of lunch•AFP/Getty Images

England needed a further 224 runs to win at the start of the fourth day but lost a wicket in the fifth over of the morning: Ben Duckett was smashed on the shin by Starc, falling over to the off side. His review could not save him, with ball-tracking projecting that the ball would have crashed into his leg stump.Unexpectedly, it was Moeen Ali who walked out at No. 3, after Brook had deputised for the injured Ollie Pope in that role in the first innings. The experiment did not last long – Starc ripped out Moeen’s leg stump with a 90mph/144kph rocket – but gave the illusion of extending England’s batting line-up and crucially, allowed Brook to return to No. 5.Related

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Joe Root traded boundaries with Zak Crawley either side of drinks but never settled, and a change of ball in the 19th over brought a wicket in the 20th. Crawley crunched Mitchell Marsh through the off side with a trademark cover drive, but Marsh’s next ball was a fraction shorter and drew the outside edge.Brook played positively from the outset, spanking Scott Boland through cover-point for consecutive boundaries, but his stand with Root was a brief one. Cummins dug one in short, angling down the leg side, which Root attempted to pull but gloved through to Alex Carey. It was not Cummins’ best ball but extended his remarkable dominance in his head-to-head battle with Root.Stokes, no stranger to a Headingley run chase, calmly worked his first ball away through the leg side for four but was strangled down the leg side in the second over after lunch, flicking Starc through to Carey to fall for just 13. Starc smiled wryly, exerting his considerable influence on a second successive Test.Bairstow joined Brook, who had reached 42 after a handful of false shots early in his innings, but did not last long. He inside-edged his sixth ball for four, past his leg stump, then chopped his eighth onto his middle stump, beaten by Starc’s movement back into him; after 78 on the opening day of the series, Bairstow has added 63 runs across his next five innings.Jonny Bairstow looks back after dragging a drive onto his stumps•AFP/Getty Images

Australia sensed an opening. They were four wickets away and Woakes hardly exuded calm early on, regularly playing and missing and picking up boundaries via both edges of the bat. But with Cummins reluctant to introduce Todd Murphy – who bowled only two overs on the last day – Australia were reliant on their three main seamers.Brook brought up a 67-ball half-century, his second in successive Tests, but both batters continued to keep Australia’s fielders interested, particularly when facing the short ball. Top-edges looped up tantalisingly without going to hand, and ball regularly beat bat before the drinks break.Brook crunched boundaries away through point off Cummins and the lesser-spotted Murphy, but was rushed by Starc’s short ball and spooned a catch to cover via the top edge, trudging off with 21 runs still required. But It took England only 14 balls to knock them off.Murphy’s brilliant parry on the midwicket boundary denied Woakes a certain boundary, but Wood – fuelled by adrenaline – took on Cummins’ bouncer and swiped him into the Football Stand for six. When Wood crunched Starc through cover, England were close; when Woakes slashed him through point, they had their first Ashes win in four years.

A handful of Pakistan players are waiting to hear if they will be permitted to play in the inaugural season of Major League Cricket in the United States in July.Imad Wasim and Azam Khan – who do not hold central contracts with the PCB – have agreed deals in principle to play for Seattle Orcas, whose backers include GMR Group, the co-owners of Delhi Capitals.Two other players, who are national team regulars in both white-ball formats and are centrally contracted, have also been in talks with another franchise but are waiting to hear from the PCB whether they will be granted No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) to play in the tournament.ESPNcricinfo understands that MLC’s organisers have been in talks with the PCB in recent weeks to discuss the potential participation of Pakistan players. The PCB are thought to be evaluating the league and exploring the specific terms and conditions upon which NOCs may be granted. There are some suggestions that the PCB could ask for a fee in the region of USD$25,000 in exchange for an NOC. There is some anxiety from league organisers as to whether Pakistan players will be granted visas, though that is not believed to be a serious obstacle.Related

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A more pressing obstacle to their potential participation will be the nature and, indeed, fate of Pakistan’s July commitment in Sri Lanka. That series is currently a two-Test World Test Championship series which overlaps with MLC – the league takes place from July 13-30 at Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas. There is speculation that series may turn into an ODI series as preparation for the World Cup. If so the two centrally contracted players will likely not be able to play in the US as they would be required to appear for Pakistan.Any appearance by Pakistani players would be significant because they have missed out on the two other big leagues launched in the UAE and South Africa, both with significant IPL franchise ownership. The ostensible reason for their absence from the ILT20 and the SA20 was because of a busy international home season for their top players. But there were also suggestions at the time that IPL franchise owners were reluctant to pick Pakistani players because of strained political ties between India and Pakistan – Pakistani players have not featured in the IPL since the inaugural season.Four of the six MLC franchises have investors who own or co-own IPL teams, while Cricket Victoria and Cricket New South Wales have stakes in the other two.Each franchise has a salary cap of $1.15 million and several leading international players – including Quinton de Kock and Anrich Nortje – have signed deals worth up to $175,000.Each team will only play five group games in the inaugural season, though MLC is likely to expand in future years.

In a game of high drama where both sides kept landing punches at each other with neither backing off, Sunrisers Hyderabad pipped Delhi Capitals to arrest a three-match losing streak on a low, slow pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.At one stage, Capitals were on track to gun down a 198-run target when Mitchell Marsh and Phil Salt put together 112 in just 11 overs after David Warner fell for a second-ball duck.Then one wicket led to another, and before Delhi could realise, Sunrisers had clawed back courtesy the guile of Mayank Markande, who picked up 2 for 20. Sunrisers now have three wins in eight games to Capitals’ two in eight, which keeps them rooted to the bottom of the points table.

Abhishek’s powerplay salvo

Back to open the innings after a game in the middle order, Abhishek Sharma began positively, lofting Ishant Sharma for two successive boundaries in the opening over. Mayank Agarwal’s dismissal to a short ball gave Ishant some joy in his second over, but Abhishek wasn’t in a mood to slow down. He took Ishant for four boundaries in the seamer’s third over, hitting 43 in Sunrisers’ 62 for 2 after the first six.The reverse scoop, Heinrich Klaasen way•BCCI

Capitals’ comeback

The next four overs belonged to Capitals as they conceded just 21. Marsh left his mark on the game during this phase by taking pace off, the short boundaries notwithstanding, and allowing batters to force the pace on a surface where the ball was holding up. Two balls after he had Aiden Markram picking out deep midwicket, Harry Brook toe-ended a pull to the edge of the ring, Axar Patel the catcher on both occasions.

The Klaasen kick

After Abhishek raced to a 25-ball half-century, Heinrich Klaasen got into the game by taking apart Mukesh Kumar as the 11th over went for 24. Abhishek began it with two back-to-back fours and Klaasen finished it with a monstrous six down the ground off a legcutter. Axar, though, proved difficult to get away as he varied his pace and angles to finish with 1 for 29 from his four overs, the reward being the big wicket of Abhishek for a 36-ball 67. It could’ve been far more impressive if Klaasen hadn’t belted him for two sixes to end his spell. A 53-run stand between Klaasen and Abdul Samad off 33 balls and some late runs from Akeal Hosein helped Sunrisers muscle 62 off the last five overs.Mitchell Marsh and Phil Salt’s 112-run stand had kept Capitals in the contest•BCCI

Warner falls but Marsh fires

Sunrisers couldn’t have asked for a better start; Bhuvneshwar Kumar got Warner to chop on second ball of the chase. But Marsh and Salt raised the half-century of their partnership in just 29 balls by going after Hosein’s left-arm darts. Sunrisers tried to get overs out of spin seemingly in a bid to negate dew, but Hosein was far too short and the batters helped themselves to a nice spread against the short square boundaries.After five overs, ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster pegged Capitals’ chances of victory at 19.43%, but after seven, this figure had jumped to 45.68%. The reason for that partly was Marsh’s take-off against Umran Malik. Malik kept bowling short and into the body for Marsh to get inside the line and simply help it to beat long leg twice for sixes in a 22-run over. Salt opened and closed that over with two bludgeoning fours of his own against the short ball. That put Sunrisers under the pump.

Markande leads spinners into it

Markande used the slowness of the pitch to string together dots before dismissing Salt with a return catch that he just managed to hold on to. It was a big wicket considering Salt’s maiden half-century had set the tone for the chase. Then seven balls later, Manish Pandey ran down the track only for Abhishek to shorten his length and beat him in the air and off the pitch.It was now all on Marsh to see Capitals home, but that wasn’t to be as Hosein hit back superbly after the early onslaught by dismissing him. After being walloped out of the ground on the previous delivery, he bravely tossed it up for Marsh to go again, except this one gripped and turned and Marsh sliced it to Markram. That, right there, was the game for Sunrisers. Axar muscled a few towards the end, but the middle-order slowdown after the Salt-Marsh stand proved to be the difference.

It was a shortened game at the Gabba, and Australia made short work of it. After persistent rain and lightning delayed the start by nearly three hours and reduced the game to a seven-over shootout, Australia inflicted a crushing 29-run defeat upon Pakistan. Glenn Maxwell, who struggled in the preceding ODI series, blasted his way through the innings with 43 off 19, before Pakistan slumped to 24 for six in the first four overs before finishing with 64 for nine.Mohammad Rizwan called correctly at the toss and unsurprisingly put Australia in. But the hosts had a clarity of purpose from the outset, looking to hit a boundary off every ball, aware that wickets didn’t really matter as much. Shaheen Shah Afridi was plundered for 16 off his first over to set the tone, and though Haris Rauf’s tight first over had Maxwell flailing, the tide would turn soon.Maxwell deployed the reverse slog expertly, using the bowlers’ pace to get his shots away. Afridi was spectacularly dismissed over third man for six, before he ripped into Rauf, his ODI tormentor, smashing 19 off his second over. When he holed out to Abbas Afridi, Tim David and Marcus Stoinis picked up the baton, with Stoinis’ 20 off Naseem in the final over seeing Australia surge to 93.Xavier Bartlett stuck twice in his first over back for Australia•Getty Images

Pakistan began the innings with Sahibzada Farhan biffing two boundaries off the first two balls, but that’s as good as the chase got for the visitors. Spencer Johnson got him two balls later. It began a remarkable passage of play where five wickets fell in 12 balls for eight runs. Mohammad Rizwan sliced Xavier Bartlett to backward point for a duck, and Usman Khan sent one down deep third man’s throat later in the over.Babar Azam – who came in at number three – miscued a half-volley down to long-off off Nathan Ellis’ first ball, with Irfan Khan joining him two balls later. When Salman Ali Agha, debutant and vice-captain, skied one off Ellis, Pakistan were staring down the barrel of an enormous defeat, despite the heavily curtailed nature of the game.But Pakistan managed to restore some respectability to the scoreline in the final three overs, primarily when Haseebullah Khan and Abbas managed 18 off the fifth over. Wickets would continue to fall, though, with Ellis snaring Haseebullah for his third wicket. When Adam Zampa came in to bowl the final over, Shaheen managed to smear one over long-on for six, but in an innings characterised by clumps of wickets falling quickly, that Zampa signed off with consecutive wickets of his final two balls was a fitting end.

West Indies allrounder Jason Holder will miss the upcoming two home Tests against Bangladesh starting at the end of the month to continue his shoulder rehabilitation. Offspinner Kevin Sinclair, meanwhile, returns to the side after recovering from an injury that made him miss West Indies’ last Test series, against South Africa at home in August.Right-arm quick Anderson Phillip also returned to the side, having last played a Test in December 2022 in Australia. Phillip is coming fresh on the back of a few wickets for Trinidad & Tobago in the domestic 50-over competition, which followed his county stint for Lancashire that he ended with a match haul of nine wickets against Worcestershire in September end.Fast bowler Alzarri Joseph also returned to the Test fold after he was rested for the South Africa games because of his “considerable workload” at the time. He is currently playing the T20I series against England after featuring in the ODIs against them, although he was suspended for the first two T20Is.Joseph was the vice-captain before he missed the South Africa series and the selectors had named Joshua Da Silva as Kraigg Brathwaite’s deputy in the interim. But even after Joseph’s return for the upcoming series, Da Silva has been retained as vice-captain in the latest 15-man squad.Making way for the returnees are the spinning duo of Gudakesh Motie and the uncapped Bryan Charles. Motie, too, is playing the white-ball games against England, but is not part of the Test side after two unimpressive outings against South Africa. He picked just three wickets in the two matches, including his wicketless showing in Port of Spain. Charlies, the offspinner, has been left out after he didn’t get a Test debut in the South Africa series.The two Tests will start on November 22 in Antigua and on November 30 in Jamaica. Before that, Brathwaite will also lead a CWI Select XI, from a squad of 13, for the two-day warm-up against Bangladesh for November 17 and 18 at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua.

West Indies Test squad

Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), Joshua Da Silva (vice-capt), Alick Athanaze, Keacy Carty, Justin Greaves, Kavem Hodge, Tevin Imlach, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Mikyle Louis, Anderson Phillip, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Kevin Sinclair, Jomel Warrican

CWI Select XI squad

Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), Justin Greaves (vice-capt), Ryan Bandoo, Daniel Beckford, Navian Bidaisee, Joshua Dorne, Nathan Edward, Chaim Holder, Tevin Imlach, Jordan Johnson, Jair McAllister, Shaaron Lewis, Kimani Melius

Transgender women who have gone through male puberty will be excluded from Tiers 1 and 2 of the ECB’s new women’s county competition, as well as the women’s Hundred, after the ECB chose to bring its eligibility policy into line with that adopted by the ICC in 2023.In a statement, the ECB acknowledged that the transgender issue was a “complex area” in which it was “impossible to balance all the considerations”, but cited concerns about player safety at the sport’s elite level in explaining its new position.The clarification comes ahead of the relaunch of women’s domestic cricket in 2025, and brings the English game into line with other elite sports in the UK, including swimming, cycling, athletics, rugby league and rugby union.The policy will not, however, be extended to the grassroots game, nor to Tier 3 of the county competition, which at this stage will comprise teams from the ECB’s national (formerly minor) counties, but which will be subject to promotion and relegation from higher tiers from 2029 onwards.”Considerable time has been taken to reach this policy position,” the board said in its statement. “The ECB recognises that transgender participation is a complex area, with many strongly held views, and it is impossible to balance all the considerations.”We want everyone to feel included and welcome in our sport, and believe the position reached strikes an appropriate balance by ensuring fairness in the elite game while ensuring inclusivity at a recreational level, with specific safeguards in place to manage disparities and ensure safety.”Related

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The ECB’s previous policy had permitted any player who identified as female to compete in professional club and England pathway teams, so long as they had written clearance.In November 2023, the ICC tightened its eligibility policy at the culmination of a nine-month consultation with its stakeholders, and stated that it had based its findings (in order of priority), on “protection of the integrity of the women’s game, safety, fairness and inclusion”.The most prominent player to have been affected by the rule-change was Canada’s Danielle McGahey, who featured in the ICC Women’s T20 Americas Qualifier in September 2023, but acknowledged soon afterwards that her career was over.The ECB added: “Having considered wide-ranging views gathered during the consultation, as well as in consultations conducted during 2023, and the relevant science and medical evidence, the ECB has decided that from 2025 it will adopt the same approach as the ICC for women’s professional domestic cricket. This provides consistency, given that a primary purpose of the top end of the domestic structure is to produce international players.”The detailed policy will now be developed over the coming months, in consultation with stakeholders, and is due to be formally in place in time for the 2025 domestic season. It will apply to Tiers 1 and 2 of the new women’s domestic structure from 2025, as well as the Hundred women’s competition.”

By the time Josh Hazlewood fronted the cameras for his press engagement, the sun finally emerged over Optus Stadium in a welcome sight for the ground staff after unseasonal damp weather hit Perth just days before the first Border-Gavaskar Test.WA Cricket head curator Isaac McDonald has been striving to produce a fast and bouncy wicket that emulates last summer’s Australia-Pakistan Test, where the pitch deteriorated as the match wore on with rearing deliveries contrasted by balls that crept low on big cracks.But McDonald’s plans have taken a turn due to intermittent rain in recent days. Up to 5mm of rain is also forecast on Thursday – match eve – although clear conditions are expected through the Test match.”Yesterday, we pretty much lost the whole day of prep with it [pitch] being under cover,” McDonald told reporters on an overcast Wednesday morning. “We saw the forecast early on, and we started prep a little bit earlier than we normally would.”Related

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Wet weather in Perth this deep into spring is unusual, with the famously warm Western Australia capital usually almost totally dry from November through to April. But the unexpected rain has forced McDonald to adapt.”It’s been quite conditions-based,” he said. “At the moment, we’re leaning towards rolling it a bit more on top to get that firmness, and that happy medium between bat and ball. [It] would be nice if the sun pops out, but we’re really comfortable as a curating team.”McDonald said 8-10mm of grass would be left on a pitch that he didn’t believe would deteriorate like last year’s surface.The Optus Stadium pitch has been under cover because of unseasonal rain in the lead-up to the India Test•Getty Images

“I don’t think this weather is going to make this pitch fall apart,” he said. “There’ll be some deterioration. Grass will stand up during the game and offer that variable bounce. But in terms of big-snake WACA cracks, unfortunately, I don’t think the weather’s going to get us there.”Hazlewood had been almost unplayable against Pakistan last year, as he relentlessly targeted the cracks late on day four to finish with 3 for 13 from 7.2 overs in the second innings. Pakistan were routed for 89, and that capped off Australia’s fourth win in as many Tests at the 60,000-seater ground.”I love playing in Perth. The wicket is always a nice one to bowl pace… [it’s] bouncy and a few cracks potentially,” Hazlewood told reporters amid the sunshine on Wednesday afternoon. “I think the conditions suit us. We’re probably more used to it with that bounce and pace.””I love playing in Perth. The wicket is always a nice one to bowl pace… [it’s] bouncy and a few cracks potentially” – Josh Hazlewood•Getty Images

With Australia’s XI settled after the selection of new opener Nathan McSweeney, the focus in this prolonged series build-up has shone on India, whose line-up is largely unknown despite them having started their preparations in Perth over a week ago.”There are no real secrets behind those closed doors. We have seen a lot of them, we play with them all the time, [and] we play against them,” Hazlewood said. “It’s going to come down to bowling in that area, and batting with patience and trying to outlast them.”While the make-up of India’s batting order remains to be seen, Hazlewood and his fellow bowlers won’t have to come up against the formidable presence of Cheteshwar Pujara, who ground down Australia’s attack in India’s famous series victories in 2018-19 and 2020-21.”I’m pretty happy that Puj isn’t here. He’s obviously one that bats time, [and] makes you really earn his wicket every time,” Hazlewood said.”[But] there’s always young, fresh guys coming into the Indian team that they’re under so much pressure to perform with so many guys nipping at their heels all the time. Whoever they pick in that XI, they’re unbelievable players. It doesn’t really matter who they pick; they’re all great players.”Australia had last won a Test series against India in 2014-15, when Hazlewood had made his debut in the second Test in Brisbane. He underlined the length of Australia’s barren run against India in the format, and said his side were looking forward to end that.”There’s only a couple of us from that series when we won 2-0…. everyone’s really determined [to win this time],” he said. “It’s one that we need to tick off as a group. I think the added fact that it’s a five-Test series, it’s going to be a bit more gruelling. If you win a series against India, in any part of the world, you know you’ve earned it.”