David Bedingham smashed 138 from 99 balls as Durham took a stranglehold on their Vitality County Championship Division One clash with Worcestershire at Kidderminster.
The home side had been bowled out for 184 as Ben Raine, Matthew Potts and Paul Coughlin claimed three wickets each to give the visitors a 60-run first-innings lead.
Bedingham’s knock, which included 13 fours and eight sixes, and 75 from skipper Scott Borthwick helped to increase that advantage to 379 by stumps on day two as the promoted side reached 319 for five.
Bowlers Craig Overton and Migael Pretorius staged a remarkable 139-run partnership to put Somerset in a commanding position against Nottinghamshire.
The pair came together at 314 for eight and remained at the wicket until the South African fell for 77. Overton was then left stranded on 95 when last man Shoaib Bashir was dismissed for a duck with the score on 454.
Nottinghamshire, who made 193 on day one, were 38 for one in their second innings as they reduced the deficit to 223 runs.
Earlier Somerset opener Sean Dickson had added just two to his overnight score of 70 and Tom Banton contributed 83, with Calvin Harrison’s four for 93 the pick of the bowling.
Fletcha Middleton and Nick Gubbins put on an unbeaten 124 for the second wicket as they attempted to drag Hampshire back into touch with Warwickshire at Southampton.
Gubbins had reached 67 and Middleton 61 by stumps with their side 140 for one after the visitors were finally bowled out for 455, thanks in large part to England spinner Liam Dawson’s haul of five for 146 in 40.1 overs.
Rory Burns and Dom Sibley forged an opening stand of 147 as champions Surrey closed to within 59 runs of Kent’s first-innings total on day two at Canterbury.
Sibley will resume on 87 from a total of 185 for one after Tom Lawes and Cameron Steel each took three wickets as the home side were bowled out for 244.
Skipper Tom Westley hit 81 to help Essex take control of their showdown with Lancashire at Chelmsford.
Having resumed on 68 for one in reply to the visitors’ 146, the hosts made 377 with opener Dean Elgar going for 79 and George Balderson taking three for 75, and the Red Rose county finished the day on 10 for one in their second innings, a deficit of 221.
In Division Two, Leicestershire opener Marcus Harris plundered a double-century as Derbyshire were left with a mountain to climb.
Harris’ 214 was the backbone of a mammoth total of 574 for seven declared in which Peter Handscomb and Ben Cox hit 68 and 69 respectively.
The hosts’ response then got off to a dreadful start with Harry Came, Luis Reece, Wayne Madsen and Brooke Guest all falling cheaply as they limped to 54 for four by the close.
Tom Alsop’s 84 and an unbeaten 75 from Cheteshwar Pujara helped Sussex reach 267 for five as they ate into Gloucestershire’s first-innings total of 417.
Danny Lamb and Jack Carson had both taken three wickets as Zafar Gohar’s 60 and 45 not out from Zaman Akhter eased the visitors past 400 at Hove.
Yorkshire face a fight to set a competitive total after a challenging second day against Middlesex at Lord’s.
Having seen the hosts take an 87-run first innings lead thanks to half-centuries from Leus du Plooy and Josh De Caires, they ended the day on 216 for seven in their second – Toby Roland-Jones and Ryan Higgins claiming three wickets each – and will resume 129 ahead.
Ricardo Vasconcelos’ 166 not out left Northamptonshire in a dominant position at Glamorgan.
The hosts were 314 for two at the close, 43 runs ahead with Ben Sanderson having taken five for 92 as the Welsh side, for whom Colin Ingram scored 82, had been dismissed for 271.
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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