Steve Smith fell 11 runs short of a century in what might be his final innings for Sussex as he was upstaged by teenager James Coles in the LV= Insurance County Championship clash against Glamorgan at Hove.
In his valedictory match for Sussex before linking up with Australia for the World Test Championship final and the Ashes, Smith was on course for a ton until he was rapped on the back pad by James Harris.
Umpire Martin Saggers raised his finger as Glamorgan celebrated, with Smith seeming aggrieved having been potentially outside the line – the option of reviewing is not available in the championship.
Having turned his overnight 68 not out into 89, Sussex were firmly in the ascendancy and 19-year-old Coles’ 138, his maiden first-class hundred, plus a belligerent 73 in 64 balls from Fynn Hudson-Prentice lifted the hosts to 481 all out and a considerable 358-run first-innings lead in the Division Two game.
Glamorgan, skittled for 123 on the opening day, fared better second time around as they went to stumps on 118 for one although they sit 240 behind overnight and face a battle just to make Sussex bat again.
In Division One, leaders Surrey were grateful for lower-order half-centuries from Sean Abbott and Gus Atkinson (55) as they seized the upper hand against Kent at the Kia Oval.
Surrey stumbled to 180 for six in response to the visitors’ 278 but free-flowing innings from Abbott (78 off 88 balls) and Atkinson (55 off 44 balls) lifted them to 362 all out.
Kent then lost three wickets in in the last three overs of the second day to fall from 78 for one to 80 for four at stumps – still trailing Surrey by four runs at stumps.
Northamptonshire’s batting woes continued as they were shot out for 56 at Hampshire, with Keith Barker taking four for 13 and two wickets each for Mohammad Abbas and Ian Holland.
After being asked to follow-on, Northamptonshire, who have been rolled for 72 and 63 this season, closed on 50 for two to trail by 261 after Hampshire were all out for 367 in the morning at the Ageas Bowl.
Middlesex are in strife against Somerset at Lord’s after being bowled out for 175, with Matt Henry taking five for 45 and Lewis Gregory and Jack Leach collecting a couple of wickets apiece.
After being asked to follow-on, Middlesex ended the day on 81 for one to sit 148 behind. Somerset earlier converted their 325 for six into 404.
Matthew Montgomery capitalised on Ben Duckett’s absence with an unbeaten 130 to underpin Nottinghamshire’s 326 for five against Essex at Trent Bridge.
The efforts of Montgomery, in the side because Duckett has been rested ahead of the international summer, plus knocks of 57 from Ben Slater and Joe Clarke helped Nottinghamshire establish a 28-run lead.
In Division Two, a day after 22 wickets fell at New Road, Leicestershire’s 180 all out – where Joe Leach took five for 41 – set Worcestershire 271 for victory. They closed on 26 for two.
Durham slow left-armer Ajaz Patel claimed five for 93 to reduce Gloucestershire to 255 for nine in response to their opponents’ 445 at Bristol.
Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory
Joe Root hit a record-breaking century as England edged closer to sealing their series victory over Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Root, who equalled Alastair Cook's record during the first innings of the second Test, made 103 from 111 balls for his 34th Test ton.
England resumed on 25-1 at the start of day three, with Root leading the way for the hosts and the crowd rose as one when a sweeping four completed his landmark century.
He helped his nation set their opponents a target of 483 after they were 251 all out.
As the light faded over Lord's, so too did Sri Lanka's momentum in their record-attempting chase, with Gus Atkinson and Olly Stone claiming Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka respectively.
Play was eventually halted due to bad light, and called off to be resumed on Sunday with the tourists at 53-2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (three) at the crease.
Data Debrief: Root revels on record-breaking day
Day three of the second Test belonged to Root, whose century was also his quickest in Test cricket.
Adding to his 143 in England's first innings, he registered two tons in a match for the first time, while becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat in a Test at Lord's.
Root also joins Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in scoring 5,000 Test runs in two different decades, while closing the gap on Cook's all-time England tally (12,472) to just 95.
If that was not enough for him, he also took the catches for both of Sri Lanka's wickets, making him the first England player to reach 200 in Test cricket.
Last Hurrah: Dwayne Bravo to call time on CPL career after this year's edition
Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo says this year’s edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will be his last hurrah as he announced his retirement from the tournament on Saturday.
Bravo, who represents the Trinbago Knight Riders, made the revelation on his Instagram account hours ahead of the franchise’s opening contest against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Basseterre, scheduled for 7:00pm.
“It's been a great journey, and I'm looking forward to playing my final professional tournament in front of my Caribbean people," Bravo said in his post.
“TKR is the place where everything started for me and will end with my team,” he added.
The 40-year-old’s post all but indicates the end of a decorated professional career, as he retired from international cricket in 2021 after the T20 World Cup and also announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) a year later after being part of four title-winning Chennai Super Kings campaigns.
Bravo, known for his flair and skillful batting and bowling, is currently the CPL’s highest wicket-taker with 128 scalps in 103 games at an average of 22.40 and economy rate of 8.69.
In fact, Bravo is the leading wicket-taker in all T20s, with 630 scalps in 578 matches. He has also scored 6,970 runs with the bat.
No doubt the electrifying Trinidad and Tobago stalwart will go down as one of T20's early legends, having played seven World Cups in the format, winning two titles, as well as over 15 franchise league titles. He is the first bowler to get to 500 T20 wickets.
CWI targets domestic T20 competition in 2025 to identify Caribbean representative(s) for 2028 Olympic Games
Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dr. Kishore Shallow says plans are already afoot to host a domestic T20 competition next year to determine the Caribbean representative(s) for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Shallow, once again welcoming cricket’s return to the Olympic Games, pointed out that his administration is already in dialogue with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) hierarchy to stage the domestic competition in 2025.
Cricket, which last featured at an Olympic Games in 1900, was always set for a long-awaited return to the global multi-sport showpiece, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year confirmed it and four other sports—baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, and squash—for the LA Games.
“To add cricket to the agenda in the next Olympics is certainly going to be something tremendous, as we did in the Commonwealth Games a couple years ago when we had one of our teams representing the females. We at the time chose our original women’s tournament, and the winner at the time was Barbados, so they represented the region,” Shallow said.
“We anticipate something similar will be done unless they tell us all the teams can come and participate, which would be ideal, but it is unlikely for that to happen,” he added.
Shallow also explained that the CPL champions cannot represent the region at the Olympic Games given that the tournament is franchise-based and involves players from other parts of the world.
As such, he revealed that he has engaged CARICOM leaders regarding plans for a domestic T20 competition from which the winner or top finishers would secure the coveted Olympic Games spot(s).
“We have been in discussion with CPL for them to fund a domestic T20 tournament starting next year. I think Miles Bascombe and his team have already scheduled a window for that next year in 2025. Once we are able to have that tournament, then we can use that to determine which team or teams will participate in the Olympics on behalf of CWI,” Shallow shared.
“We can’t use the CPL as it is now because it’s franchises. But in the domestic tournament that we’re having, which will still have a commercial model to it but not to the extent of CPL, but that will more than likely be territories instead of franchises, so we will be able to identify teams,” he noted.
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