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ScorecardOpener Alex Davies made Lancashire’s second-highest individual score in List A cricket as his side defeated Durham by 192 runs in their Royal London One-Day Cup match at Emirates Old Trafford.Davies hit 147 in his team’s 314 for seven in 50 overs and that proved to be far too many for Durham’s batsmen who replied with 122 all out in 31.1 overs.In terms of runs, this represented Durham’s second worst defeat in List A cricket. It is exceeded only by the county 193-run loss to Sussex at Hove in 2009.Jon Lewis, Durham’s coach, was scathing about his team’s display. “I can’t defend a lot about that, it was pretty poor from the start,” he said. “We seem to be surprised by the intensity and accuracy that one-day cricket requires.”At one stage, however, it seemed the visitors might be chasing an even more intimidating total as the in-form Keaton Jennings helped Davies bring up Lancashire’s first hundred runs inside 14 overs.The pair eventually broke their county’s first-wicket record in List A cricket against Durham and had put on 175 in 28.2 overs when Jennings made room to whack Nathan Rimmington to leg but was bowled for 73.Karl Brown then added 51 with Davies but the determination of Durham’s bowlers not to be overwhelmed on a warm Manchester afternoon was rewarded when four wickets fell for 12 runs in 3.3 overs.Brown skied a slog off James Weighell to Michael Richardson running in from mid-on, and some nifty footwork from the same bowler ran out Liam Livingstone for two. Dane Vilas chipped a catch back to Ryan Pringle and when Steven Croft edged Weighell to Stuart Poynter, Lancashire were 238 for six in the 40th over.A measure of reconstruction rather than all-out acceleration was required but Jordan Clark managed to add 56 in eight overs with Davies before the opener was caught at short third man by Mattie Potts when attempting a reverse ramp off Rimmington.Davies had batted for all 14 balls of his side’s 50-over allotment and had hit 16 fours and one six in his 137-ball innings. Rimmington bowled Joe Mennie in the final over to finish with three for 64. Weighell returned figures of two for 59 while Ryan Pringle bowled as well as anybody for his one for 51 off ten overs. Clark ended the innings on 48 not out off 34 ballsDurham were left to reflect that their daunting target could have been 50 runs greater they not checked Lancashire’s progress so effectively early in the final quarter of the innings.However, at no stage in their innings did the visitors threaten to get close to their distant goal. The procession of Durham batsmen back to the pavilion began in the third over when Paul Collingwood came down the wicket to Tom Bailey but was smartly stumped by Vilas when the wicketkeeper noticed that Collingwood was very slow to regain his crease.Mennie’s then had both Ryan Pringle and Graham Clark leg before for 15 and eight respectively, these dismissals being bridged by that of Richardson, who was bowled off the inside edge for one when attempting to cut Bailey.That left Durham on 32 for four and although Will Smith and Tom Latham attempted a limited recovery with a 30-run stand the game was all but lost.Smith was bowled for eight when attempting to scoop Livingstone and Latham was leg before on the back foot to the same bowler for 26. The final four wickets were taken by the spinners Matt Parkinson having Poynter and Potts caught in the cordon and Weighell being brilliantly taken at midwicket by a diving Livingstone off Stephen Parry for 23.The match ended when Rimmington blasted back a return catch to Parry in the 32nd over. Five Lancashire bowlers took two wickets, the most economical being Bailey with two for 16.

Allrounder Grant Elliott, who starred in New Zealand’s historic win in the 2015 World Cup semi-final, has quit all forms of cricket after finishing his stint as the captain of Birmingham Bears in the Vitality Blast in England. After finishing sixth in the North Group in the T20 tournament and not being able to qualify for the quarter-finals, Elliott announced his retirement on his Instagram account on Tuesday evening.”Started in Johannesburg finished in Birmingham,” his post read. “I remember being 12 and writing down my life goals. To play in a World Cup, play international cricket and play county cricket. 27 years on and I have loved every minute of it. Thanks to all the memorable people I have met that have made this journey special. To family and friends who have given me unwavering support despite all the sacrifices I have had to make that have impacted them.”This game is a special one but it doesn’t define us. Looking forward to the future with great excitement and sharing a drink with those selfless players I shared a change room with.”Elliott’s form this year in the Blast was highlighted by his bowling performance, being the leading wicket-taker of his team with 19 scalps from 14 innings with an average of 19.57 and economy rate of 7.91. With the bat, he managed only 80 runs in 10 innings.Elliott, 39, had signed with the Bears last year when he retired from international cricket and signed a Kolpak deal to play in the T20 tournament only. He had earlier retired from ODIs in 2016, two days after New Zealand were knocked out of the World T20 by England in the semi-final.He continued as a T20 specialist to represent Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League, Chittagong Vikings in the Bangladesh Premier League, Wellington in New Zealand’s domestic T20s (Super Smash), and was part of the World XI squad that toured Pakistan almost a year ago for three T20 internationals.Born in Johannesburg, Elliott began his first-class career more than 20 years ago, in South Africa in 1996-97. He then moved to New Zealand in 2001 in search of new challenges and made his international debut for New Zealand in 2008. He played five Tests, 83 ODIs and 17 T20Is. His six off Dale Steyn in the dying moments of the rain-curtailed 2015 World Cup semi-final will probably be the highlight of his career. He top-scored with 83 in the final too, against Australia, but New Zealand finished runners-up.

Eoin Morgan admitted Kuldeep Yadav “exposes” a weakness in England’s game.Kuldeep, the left-arm wristspinner, claimed 6 for 25 as England were thrashed by eight wickets with 59 balls remaining at Trent Bridge.But despite the margin of defeat, Morgan played down the significance of the result. Suggesting that Kuldeep offers such unique challenges that it will rarely damage England, Morgan also reasoned that England would rather confront such challenges now, a year ahead of the World Cup, when they still have the opportunity to find solutions.”He is very good and there is no getting around that,” Morgan said. “He exposes an area of our game that we need to improve on and I think that is a good thing and a healthy thing.”Considering there is only one left-arm [wristspin] bowler in the world it is not a huge concern. You play against one team and he happens to be very good, he is not any old left-arm [wristspinner].”We have played great cricket for the last six months and not come up against anybody like this so it is a chance to improve on this area however long it might take between now and the World Cup.”You have to give credit where it is due, he did bowl well and we need to clarify our plans and commit to them and just be better.””This was definitely a more useful experience than beating Australia. Finding yourself coming up against something that is rare, it is like facing a right arm leg spinner who is very good, you don’t come against many of them but when you do you need to adapt and think on your feet, so it is always a good challenge.”Morgan also claimed that the surface at Trent Bridge provided some assistance to Kuldeep and suggested the pitch at Lord’s – where the second ODI is to be played on Saturday – will prove less helpful for him.”The two grounds we’ve played at have offered more turn than other grounds,” Morgan said, referring to Kuldeep’s five-wicket haul in the T20 match at Old Trafford. “I think Lord’s will be similar to Cardiff [where Kuldeep finished wicketless] in that regard so the shift will be important.”But that doesn’t paper over the fact that we need to get better at playing him.”England received a further blow with the news that a scan has shown that Alex Hales has a side strain sustained while batting in the nets the day ahead of the Trent Bridge ODI. He is expected to be out of action for three or four weeks and will not, therefore, feature for England in the rest of the series.Dawid Malan, who was called up as cover for Hales, will remain with the squad for the ODI at Lord’s on Saturday.Sam Curran, meanwhile, has been released by England to appear in Surrey’s T20 Blast match against Sussex on Friday. He will rejoin the squad ahead of Saturday’s ODI.

Steven Finn is set to take charge of Middlesex’s Royal London campaign this summer, after being announced as Dawid Malan’s official stand-in for a tournament that clashes with the forthcoming two-Test series against Pakistan.Malan is a near-certainty to be named in England’s Test squad on May 15, the first to be convening by the new national selector Ed Smith, after impressing during England’s winter tours of Australia and New Zealand, and making his maiden Test hundred in the third Test at Perth in December.Finn himself could be an outside bet for a call-up, having been named as a replacement for Ben Stokes during the Ashes only to be forced to withdraw with a knee injury after the first day of training.He has, however, a wealth of white-ball experience under his belt, having made his List-A debut for Middlesex back in 2007 against Glamorgan.He has gone on to make 49 List A appearances for the county, as well as featuring in 69 ODIs, in which he has claimed 102 wickets at 29.67.”I am delighted to have been asked to captain the side in Dawid’s absence,” said Finn. “Having played at Middlesex since the age of 15, I am extremely proud to have been given this opportunity and we can hopefully move the side forward in white ball cricket and achieve success in this year’s competition.””Steven is at the stage in his career where he is very keen to take on greater responsibility,” said Angus Fraser, Middlesex’s director of cricket. “With the expected absence of Dawid Malan with England, he is highly likely to get the opportunity to guide the club through most of our Royal London One-Day Cup group games.John Simpson, the wicketkeeper-batsman, will be Finn’s vice-captain throughout the competition.”John is in a similar position to Steven and the pair will have the brain and experience of Eoin Morgan to help guide them,” said Fraser. “These opportunities are great for the development of both players and I look forward to watching them at work.”

ScorecardAt 4.20 this afternoon Tim Ambrose played an innocuous ball from Ben Brown into the on side. The bowler fielded it, Paul Baldwin called over and Warwickshire declared. The game ended in a draw and the players shook hands. Receiving particular congratulations, perhaps, was Dom Sibley, who had batted through the day for 144 not outThe handshakes marked two events, one of them specific to the moment, the other curiously timeless. They confirmed Warwickshire’s promotion and they brought the first-class season at Hove to an end. The first of these had been certain for hours barring the intervention of God or Jofra Archer. This draw leaves Jeetan Patel’s side equal on points with Kent, who have won two matches more. Whichever side takes more points from next week’s game between the sides at Edgbaston will be Second Division champions.And across England cricket is softly drawing down its blinds. All the counties are playing next week but there are matches at only nine grounds, of course. Most of the season’s serious work is done. Monday afternoon in Brighton seems suddenly distant with its warmth and careless leisure: the aroma of cannabis in North Laine; beach volleyball near Kings Road; the glittering water. Then there were catamarans drawn up on the shingle, their names a curious confection of aggression, fondness and titillation: Tiger, Ethel, Seymour Butts.

Time now to earn the right – Gillespie

Jason Gillespie, Sussex head coach: “We’ve had a couple of losses in the past month but we feel some progress has been made. I wanted to give some young guys the opportunity to show what they can do and they’ve done that. Now I’ve got to find the balance between giving lads games of cricket and earning the right to play first-class cricket. We’ve got to find the right balance between potential and performances. It’s a difficult balancing act but we’ll get there. The lads have played the game the right way, been positive and looked to win games.”

Some mornings this week there have been floodlights, mild air and the churn of the Channel glimpsed through the great arcade of trees on Selborne Road. Today, though, the atmosphere was not so clotted and the sun was in generous attendance. Only the temperature reminded one this is autumn. “Seaward the water / Is satin, pale emerald, fretted with lace at the edges / The whole sky rinsed easy like nerves after pain,” wrote Alan Ross in his poem, “Cricket at Brighton.”Sussex supporters were presented with three wickets as rewards for their loyalty this sparkling day. In the fifth over of the morning Will Rhodes shuffled much too far across his crease and was leg before to Ollie Robinson for 88. Then Ian Bell suffered bruising to his right thumb when hit by a ball from Robinson and had to retire hurt.Out strode Jonathan Trott, a batsman who had spent over five hours earlier this week scoring his seventh career century against Sussex. “Jesus Christ!” exclaimed a blasphemous Sussex adherent with a passing knowledge of the Book of Hebrews. “The same yesterday, today and for ever more.” But his fears were misplaced on the two latter counts: Trott made only 8 before clipping Chris Jordan to Harry Finch at midwicket and he is retiring next week in any case.Despite these two dismissals and one injury, the game was soon ambling quietly towards stalemate. In the afternoon session Robinson sent down some fairly respectable off-spin and Sussex used three wicketkeepers, albeit not all at once. Phil Salt and Michael Burgess bowled their maiden spells in first-class cricket. The flagpoles bent in the breeze and some players’ caps blew off. The game drifted into late afternoon and the over rate was plus 12 at one stage. A draw could have been agreed at teatime and perhaps it should have been.Sibley spent the rest of the day filling his boots which, if his feet are in proportion to the rest of him, was some achievement. He put on 168 for the third wicket with Sam Hain, who had made 90 when he chased a wide one from Salt and edged a catch to wicketkeeper Harry Finch. The ecstatic Salt raced off like Mick the Miller but was eventually mobbed by his equally delighted team-mates. If you had told the uninitiated that the cricket had a gentle, addictive beauty about it, they might have called for an unmarked van and a straitjacket.

Former New Zealand fast bowler Heath Davis has come out as gay. He is the first male international cricketer from his country to do so.In a documentary series for called “Scratched: Aotearoa’s Lost Sporting Legends”, Davis opened up about his sexuality and the “lonely” experience of living separate lives on and off the field until he moved from Wellington to Auckland.”The first tour to England [in 1994], I was starting to discover myself, was going to a few bars and things privately to see what life was… well, you are on the other side of the world, no one is going to know you,” he said. “I left that part of my life there. There was a lot of that, just keeping your personal life separate.”It was lonely. Going to saunas and seedy places to get sex because you didn’t want to be seen and that sort of stuff. I had systems and people in place where I could talk about these things but I didn’t feel comfortable.”Davis, renowned as one of the fastest bowlers New Zealand has ever produced, but who struggled for control, played five Tests and 11 ODIs between 1994 and 1997. After being dropped by New Zealand for the last time in 1997 following a tour of Australia, Davis opted to move to Auckland.”All the stars aligned to move,” he said. “Everyone in Auckland knew I was gay; in the team it didn’t seem to be that big an issue. Maybe some of the young ones if you’re sharing a room with them or something, but just petty s**t. Things I thought might have been issues weren’t really. I just felt free.”Davis moved to Brisbane in 2004 and in 2009 had to have part of his foot amputated after a forklift truck accident.Overall, in his Test career, he took 17 wickets in five matches with a best of 5 for 63 against Sri Lanka and claimed 11 wickets in ODIs.Former England wicketkeeper Steven Davies became the first male international cricketer to publicly come out as gay in early 2011.

Abu Dhabi will host the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier from September 18 to 25. The top two teams taking part in the eight-team event will qualify for the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup, which is set to be held in South Africa.The eight teams taking part in the Qualifier have reached the tournament via different routes. Bangladesh and Thailand, who took the two spots reserved for the bottom two teams from the previous edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2020, are also the highest-placed teams on the ICC Women’s T20I rankings behind the eight automatic qualifiers for the World Cup.Scotland (Europe), Zimbabwe (Africa), United Arab Emirates (Asia) and United States of America (Americas) won their respective regional qualifiers, while Papua New Guinea qualified as the highest-ranked team from the East Asia Pacific region, since that regional qualifier had to be scrapped due to the Covid-19 pandemic.Ireland, meanwhile, were the highest-ranked team from the regional qualifiers to not win their respective tournament.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The teams have been divided into two groups, with Bangladesh, Ireland, Scotland and USA in Group A and Thailand, Zimbabwe, PNG and UAE in Group B. The top two teams in each group will go through to the semi-finals, with the winners of each semi-final progressing to the final and next year’s World Cup.All matches in the Qualifier will be played at the Abu Dhabi Cricket & Sports Hub, which houses both the Sheikh Zayed Stadium and the adjoining Tolerance Oval.Hosts South Africa, as well as Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies, have all qualified automatically for the World Cup on the basis of their T20I rankings.

Thailand have confirmed their place in the semi-finals of the Women’s Asia Cup for the first time, after Bangladesh’s last league game against UAE on Tuesday morning was washed out. Bangladesh – the defending champions and hosts – needed two points to finish fourth and take the last available semi-final spot, but they got only one point from the abandoned game and ended in fifth place.While Bangladesh won only two out of six games, Thailand won three: they defeated UAE, Malaysia, and most significantly Pakistan by four wickets to finish on six points.Thailand’s success at the Asia Cup has been powered by their openers Nannapat Koncharoenkai and Natthakan Chantham, and the captain Naruemol Chaiwai who usually make up the top three in their batting line-up. With the ball, left-arm spinner Thipatcha Putthawong is among the top five wicket-takers with eight scalps.Until 48 hours ago, Bangladesh looked set for a semi-final place to try and defend their Asia Cup title. They needed two points from their last two matches, but they lost to Sri Lanka in a rain-shortened match, where they failed to chase 41 in seven overs. With two overs left in the chase, Bangladesh were 27 for 2, needing 14 to win off 12 balls, but they lost four wickets in the penultimate over bowled by Inoka Ranaweera and eventually suffered a four-run defeat. On Tuesday against UAE, Bangladesh had the opportunity to bounce back and earn two points but rain ruined their chances.Thailand will now play table-toppers India in the first semi-final on Thursday morning, while the second semi-final will be played between Pakistan and Sri Lanka on Thursday afternoon.

Dilshan Madushanka, the left-arm seamer, has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup, after sustaining a quadriceps tear on the eve of Sri Lanka’s first match of the tournament. The ICC’s Event Technical Committee has approved Binura Fernando as Madushanka’s replacement in the squad for the remainder of the tournament.Madushanka was seen hobbling away from practice on Saturday and was soon sent to get an MRI scan, which confirmed the injury.Having made his international debut in the recent Asia Cup, Madushanka had impressed through the course of the tournament, taking six wickets and maintaining an economy rate of 7.75 across six matches.Having brought lively pace and swing to the powerplay overs, as well as variety at the death, he had perhaps become Sri Lanka’s second-choice quick, after Dushmantha Chameera. He was likely to be in the XI for Sunday’s first-round match against Namibia.Binura has played nine T20Is and four ODIs for Sri Lanka, taking 10 and two wickets in the formats respectively. He made his international debut for Sri Lanka in 2015, in the first T20I against Pakistan in Colombo. His last T20I was the third match against India in Dharamsala in February 2022.The other seamers in the Sri Lanka squad are Lahiru Kumara and Pramod Madushan.Despite their recent Asia Cup victory, Sri Lanka must play the first round of the World Cup, where they play UAE and Netherlands in addition to Namibia, in order to qualify for the main draw.

Billy Godleman and Luis Reece scored their first County Championship hundreds of the season to put Derbyshire in a commanding position on the second day of the LV=Insurance match against Leicestershire.On a day of records at the Incora County Ground, Godleman, 158 not out, and Reece, 116, shared an opening stand of 251 to severely dent Leicestershire’s chances of ending their winless run in the Championship.The bottom club in Division Two endured three tough sessions in the field, taking only two wickets as Derbyshire closed on 356 for 2, a lead of 107.Leicestershire went into the day knowing they had to make early inroads with a ball that was only 16 overs old but a limited attack rarely looked like taking a wicket.Even Chris Wright was out of sorts by his standards and the lack of pressure on Godleman and Reece allowed them to settle in and accumulate steadily throughout the morning session.The closest Leicestershire came to breaking the stand was when Godleman, whose previous highest score in the Championship this year was 43, tried to hit Callum Parkinson over the top but the ball dropped just out of reach of the fielder running back from mid-on.By lunch, Derbyshire had added 89 runs in 32 overs to move to 146 without loss, only the fourth century stand between Godleman and Reece in six seasons of opening together.Although a dry, hot summer has favoured batting, the pair have struggled in the Championship but on a good pitch and faced with increasingly threadbare bowling, they made sure of ending the season on a high.Reece pulled Ed Barnes for six to bring up the 200 stand in the 62nd over which was Derbyshire’s fifth double-century partnership of the season, a record for the county.Five overs later he reached his century which came off 205 balls and Godleman needed one ball fewer to complete his, which gave the pair another entry in the county record books.It was the 16th instance of both openers scoring 100 in the same innings, the third time they have achieved the feat, equalling the Derbyshire record held by Kim Barnett and Peter Bowler.The next milestone passed was Derbyshire’s highest first-wicket stand against Leicestershire of 233, set by Denis Smith and Albert Alderman at Chesterfield in 1937, and it came as a surprise when Reece was dismissed two overs before tea.He chipped back a return catch as he went to drive Rehan Ahmed’s leg spin but there was no respite for the visitors as Brooke Guest joined Godleman to set another record.When Derbyshire reached a third batting point, they had scored 300 in the first innings of every Championship match at Derby this season for the first time in the club’s history.When the light improved enough for Leicestershire to claim a second new ball, Roman Walker had Guest caught behind for 40 but Godleman reached his 150 before the close on the day he passed 10,000 first-class runs.