James Fuller took four wickets as Hampshire completed their fifth win of the LV= County Championship season against Nottinghamshire to close the gap on leaders Surrey.
Tom Moores flayed tired bowlers in the evening with 81 to threaten just the chance of a remarkable upset but became the first of five final wickets to fall in 90 minutes as Hampshire completed a 116-run victory.
Matt Henry followed up his T20 Finals Day heroics with five wickets to set up a nine-wicket victory for Somerset over Northamptonshire.
Henry finished with figures of five for 73, taking eight wickets in the match after Northamptonshire were bowled out for 224 in their second innings.
Somerset duly knocked off the 54 runs required inside 11 overs before lunch to continue their winning ways, with Tom Lammonby powering six boundaries in an undefeated innings of 30.
Middlesex’s batting frailties were ruthlessly exposed by London rivals Surrey as the reigning champions closed in on a big win at Lord’s.
Aussie seamer Sean Abbott, Jamie Overton and Tom Lawes claimed three wickets apiece as the hosts crumbled from their overnight 179 for five to 238 all out in their first innings.
Following on 195 behind, stand-in skipper Mark Stoneman led the resistance with 72 as Middlesex reached 272 for nine, a lead of only 77.
Harry Finch batted for almost five hours in recording a valiant century as Kent prevented Essex from claiming victory inside three days.
Essex, looking for a fourth-successive win to put pressure on Championship leaders Surrey, endured a frustrating day in the field as Finch led the way in partnerships of 93 and 72 with Ben Compton (39) and Joey Evison (56 not out) in his 114.
Kent finished the day on 265 for seven – 14 runs ahead with three wickets in hand.
Lancashire are hoping for kind weather on the last day of their match with Warwickshire after they took charge on the third day at Edgbaston.
After bowling the home side out for 212, for a first-innings lead of 115, Lancashire closed a rain-shortened third day on 182 for six – 297 ahead as Keaton Jennings constructed an unbeaten 64 (174 balls).
Josh Tongue claimed the three remaining wickets inside 18 minutes as Worcestershire wrapped up a 100-run win over Leicestershire in Division Two.
The victory enabled the Pears to move level on points in the table with Leicestershire as both counties chase promotion.
Tongue, who was released from the England squad at Old Trafford to rejoin his county team-mates, took five for 29 – his best return of the season – as Leicestershire were dismissed for 137.
Yorkshire tried their utmost to force victory over Sussex inside three days but 58 apiece for opener Tom Clark and wicketkeeper Oli Carter helped thwart them.
Yorkshire advanced their first-innings reply to 364 for eight declared, meaning Sussex started their second innings 148 behind. And they closed on 236 for seven, a lead of 88.
England fast bowler Matthew Potts paraded his batting credentials as Durham piled on the runs against Derbyshire at Derby.
Potts scored 64 and shared an eighth-wicket stand of 110 from 113 balls with Brydon Carse, who made 80 on a day of stoppages.
The Division Two leaders secured maximum batting points for the sixth time this season before they were bowled out for 575, with fast bowler Sam Conners claiming five for 115.
That gave Durham a lead of 132 but Derbyshire responded strongly in their second innings to close on 89 without loss – 43 behind – with Luis Reece 54 not out.
Billy Root fell two short of a century as Glamorgan blitzed their way to maximum batting points on the second day of their match with Gloucestershire at Cheltenham.
Kiran Carlson (76), Root (98) and Chris Cooke (86 not out) helped the visitors extend their first innings from an overnight 152 for two to 450 for six declared on the fast-scoring College Ground.
By the close, Gloucestershire had moved to 134 for one in their second innings, Chris Dent leading the way with 61 not out.
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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