An unbeaten 41 from 18-year-old Jaydn Denly in a solid sixth-wicket stand alongside his uncle Joe helped guide Kent to a draw in their Vitality County Championship match at Essex.
After a rain delay, Essex declared on their overnight 257 for four, setting Kent a victory target of 375.
Essex seamer Jamie Porter cut into Kent’s top order before first-class debutant Jaydn Denly and his uncle ate up 16 overs while putting on 51 runs before the latter was out for 39.
Kent, whose batters wore black armbands to mark the death of former England spinner Derek Underwood, steadied the innings from 65 for five and, following another rain break, finished on 164 for seven.
At the Oval, Surrey fell short in a run chase against Somerset as the match also ended in a draw.
Chasing 209 in 19 overs, openers Dan Lawrence and Jamie Smith (45) put on a stand of 90 to set up the prospect of a first win of the season for the champions.
However, three quick wickets in nine balls all but ended Surrey’s challenge as Kasey Aldridge picked up two in the 12th over.
Lawrence was unbeaten on 53 from 34 balls when the players shook hands with five overs left, Surrey at 123 for five.
At the Utilita Bowl, Nick Gubbins batted out the final day as Hampshire secured a draw against Lancashire.
Gubbins crafted an unbeaten 69 to end any chance of a Hampshire collapse, while James Vince and Tom Prest were equally stubborn in their resistance as the hosts finished on 179 for four.
Matthew Potts scored his maiden first-class century to help Durham earn a draw on their return to Division One action against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
Warwickshire began the final day scenting victory as their newly-promoted opponents, following on, resumed on 12 for two and still 169 behind.
But stubborn batting, led by nightwatch Potts (149 not out), saw Durham close on 293 for six and earned them a draw after their first match back in the top tier against Hampshire was abandoned without a ball being bowled last week.
Nottinghamshire’s game with Worcestershire ended in a draw after the final day’s play at Trent Bridge was washed out.
In Division Two, Derbyshire earned a draw at Glamorgan on the back of a superb unbeaten stand from Luis Reece and Brooke Guest.
Derbyshire had an improbable target of 401 to chase as they resumed in Cardiff on 40 for one.
The early dismissals of David Lloyd and Wayne Madsen gave Glamorgan hope of victory, but those were the last wickets to fall.
Reece ended unbeaten on 91, with Guest 72 not out as the pair took Derbyshire to 225 for three.
Ollie Price’s career-best 147 and a century from James Bracey helped Gloucestershire to an unlikely draw with Yorkshire in Bristol.
The pair shared a fifth-wicket stand of 199, Bracey making 102, as they rescued the hosts from 97 for four overnight, chasing 498 to win.
Yorkshire’s attack was left frustrated on a placid pitch as Gloucestershire closed on 405 for six.
Heavy rain and blustery winds ruled out any play on the final day between Northamptonshire and Middlesex, leaving Middlesex’s Leus du Plooy four runs short of a double century.
Frequent heavy showers also ended an prospect of a positive result between Leicestershire and Sussex.
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.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
