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• Maro Itoje keen to reach ‘another level’ after England secure quarter-final spot

  Maro Itoje has emerged from a difficult period of his career confident that he can reach new levels of performance as England progress deeper into the World Cup.

  Itoje revealed during this year’s Six Nations that he had been suffering from an underlying health issue – the details of which are undisclosed – that had impacted his conditioning.

  It explained the below-par displays being delivered by one of England’s world-class operators as, although he held his own on the field, he was not the dominant force that had taken the game by storm.

  But having benefited from the fitness work completed during squad’s World Cup training camp, there was evidence in his starts against Argentina and Japan that the 28-year-old second row is on the rise once more.

  “I don’t think one is ever fully happy, no-one is every fully content with anything, but it’s definitely better being able to express myself physically,” Itoje said.

  “During that period where it was a little bit more difficult to do that, it was a little bit more challenging.

  “I had issues going on in the background which affected my ability to exercise and perform.

  “And once we were able to get all those things aligned, I was able to naturally have a response from the training that I was doing.

  “Having a beneficial response from the rigorous activity has allowed me to perform and play better.

  “There’s no top player across any sport – whether that’s rugby, football, basketball, whatever – who has a plain sailing career, or a career that goes exactly how they wanted it.

  “You can speak of any of the greats and they will probably say ‘I wish I didn’t do that’, or ‘I wish I’d done that differently’.

  “I guess that whole period for me was my version of that, where I had something structurally wrong and I didn’t know it was structurally wrong until I was quite deep into it.

  “To be able to persevere through that period and finally get a fix for that was great. But I personally still feel there’s a lot more to go and a lot more that I can contribute in a positive manner for this team and in this tournament.”

  England have reached the quarter-finals as Pool D winners with a match to spare after Japan toppled Samoa on Thursday night.

   

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  It continues encouraging progress through the World Cup that began with victory over Argentina despite all but three minutes of the match being played with 14 men because of Tom Curry’s red card.

  Itoje excelled amid England’s act of defiance against their closest group rivals, who were routed 27-10 in Marseille, but the two-time Lions tourist insists there is more to come.

  “It’s funny because people after the game thought I’d played well. I thought I played alright, I don’t think I played as well as what people were telling me,” he said.

  “And that’s probably because I know where I can be if I’m properly firing on all cylinders.

  “The games have been a step in the right direction for me but I’m not satisfied with that, I think there’s another level for me to get to.

  “So hopefully Samoa and by God’s grace the rest of the tournament will be an opportunity for me to express that.”

• England captain Jos Buttler believes India are favourites for World Cup

  Jos Buttler believes the weight of history suggests India are clear-cut favourites to win the World Cup on home soil despite England’s considerable experience of the conditions.

  Staging the showpiece in recent years has come with a distinct advantage as the last three editions – India in 2011, Australia in 2015 and England in 2019 – have all been won by the host nation.

  England may be double world champions, but even a side that turbocharged the white-ball formats have fallen short in India, losing keenly contested ODI and T20 series both in early 2017 and spring 2021.

  While Buttler is bullish about England’s fortunes, he rates an India side that have won 14 of their last 16 ODI series on their own patch as well as the Asia Cup earlier this month as the team to beat.

  “The clear favourites are India,” Buttler told the PA news agency. “You only have to look at the past few World Cups – England won in England, Australia won in Australia and India won in India before that.

  “History tells you that it’s quite advantageous to be the home nation and they’re obviously a brilliant team. In their own conditions, India are fantastic. I certainly see them as favourites.

  “We’re going out there to try to win a World Cup – we don’t see ourselves as defending champions. It’s very much a new tournament and we know it’s going to be tough because there are some top, top teams.

  “But we know we’re a really good team, a dangerous team, we’ve got a lot of experience in the group and we back ourselves.”

  England have arrived in Guwahati ahead of three warm-ups which will act as final preparation for the tournament opener against New Zealand – a rematch of the 2019 final – in Ahmedabad next Thursday.

  Their 15-strong squad contains eight members of the side that went all the way four years ago, while Gus Atkinson is an outlier as the only one who has not featured in the Indian Premier League.

  A number of others including Buttler, an IPL regular since 2016, have substantial knowledge of what to expect in India which England’s limited-overs captain hopes they can exploit.

  Speaking to promote England’s official kit supplier Castore extending its ‘summer of sport’ campaign to highlight key occasions such as the World Cup, Buttler said: “It gives you a sense of familiarity.

  “A lot of the cricket grounds we’ll play at, guys will have played there and know the surroundings. They will understand the pitches and conditions, more so than if they’d not been there before.

  “There’s a lot of other teams that have that advantage as well with guys playing a lot of IPL cricket, it’s been around for quite a few years now so everyone’s accustomed to playing in India in that sense.”

  Jofra Archer will be England’s only travelling reserve as he completes his rehabilitation from the latest stress fracture in his right elbow that ruled him out of the entire summer schedule.

  He will not be ready to make his return until at least the latter stages of the tournament, raising the prospect of him making a dramatic comeback if injury strikes one of England’s quick bowlers.

  While England are cautious over rushing back the bowler who was entrusted with the super over that led to them being crowned world champions for the first time, Buttler is delighted to have Archer in tow.

  “He’s someone who will go on and have so much impact for England,” Buttler added. “Everyone is hopeful this will be the end of his injuries and we can see him back on the park more consistently.

  “He’s such a superstar, you want to see these guys perform, he’s someone who puts bums on seats.”

  :: Jos Buttler was speaking to promote Castore, the official kit suppliers of the England cricket team, investing in an extension to its national brand marketing campaign. For more information, visit https://castore.com

• Rahmarack stars with the ball as Windies Women defeat New South Wales by four wickets at Wilson Park

  The West Indies Women got their tour of Australia off to a winning start with a four-wicket victory over a New South Wales (NSW) Women's team at Wilson Park.

  Karishma Ramharack had the NSW ladies spun tightly in her web of off-spin and were restricted to posted 105-9 from their 20 overs. Ramharack finished with figures of 3-12. Captain Hayley Matthews supported with some wizardry of her own taking 2-7 from her two overs.

  NSW skipper Sammy-Jo Johnson was the top-scorer with 28 with Hannah Darlington making 24.

  Shemaine Campbelle led the West Indies Women's run-chase posting 33 from 34 deliveries which included five boundaries. Skipper Matthews was next best with 24 off 27. Aaliyah Alleyne 19 not out and Zaida James 15 not out took the visitors home to victory in 17.5 overs.

  Head Coach Shane Deitz was pleased with the team's first outing since arriving in Australia four days ago.

  “It's good to get the first win on tour. I think we've got a lot of areas we need to improve on, especially getting used to batting on these wickets with some extra pace and bounce. Overall, I think we played generally good all-round and it's going to put us in a good position to play on Sunday,” he said.

  The ODI series against Australia is West Indies’ fourth fixture in the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-2025 after playing New Zealand, England and Ireland.

  Each match provides West Indies with opportunity to win valuable points to climb the Championship table where they currently lie ninth of 10 teams.

  Following the Australia Series, West Indies Women will play four three-match ODI series over the next two years. At the end of the cycle, the top five teams in the ICC Women’s Championship will book berths in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2025 along with hosts India.

  The remaining teams will have to go through the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier.