Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley wasted little time getting back into the groove for England with a century stand against Ireland at Lord’s in what proved to be a near-perfect first day to an eagerly anticipated Test summer for the hosts.
Both openers scored fifties and played true to the aggressive ‘Bazball’ style that has taken the nation by storm since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over the red-ball team last summer.
England finished the opening day of this one-off Test on 151 for one and only 20 runs behind Ireland, who were dismissed for 172 at the start of the evening session thanks to Stuart Broad’s first five-wicket haul at Lord’s in 10 years.
Broad ripped through Ireland’s top order during the first hour with a trio of scalps to reduce the tourists to 19 for three before Paul Stirling played fire with fire in an entertaining knock of 30.
Ireland opener James McCollum backed him up with 36 and all-rounder Curtis Campher chipped in with 33, but Broad would not be denied his chance to go on the Lord’s honours board and finished with five for 51 off 17 overs after good support by Jack Leach and Matthew Potts.
All eyes were then on Crawley, who kicked off an enormous two months for England with a punch through cover for four off his second ball.
It was a sign of things to come with the fifty partnership brought up after 7.2 overs and Duckett happy to cut away to the boundary on his first Test innings on home soil.
After a slight lull of 28 balls without a boundary, Crawley produced four fours from his next six balls but three were via the inside edge with the heavily scrutinised Kent batter not as fluent as his fellow opener.
Duckett beat his partner to a half-century off 53 balls with two runs down to third man during a milestone 16th over that also saw Crawley reach fifty, from 39 deliveries, with a sumptuous cover drive.
The hundred partnership was also brought up in that Mark Adair over but, in the next, the opening stand was ended when Ireland Test debutant Fionn Hand produced a stunning caught and bowled to see off Crawley for 56.
Nottinghamshire’s Duckett remained undeterred and finished the day 60 not out after England’s new vice-captain Ollie Pope helped himself to a breezy 29 not out at a sun-soaked Lord’s.
England’s start to the day had not been smooth sailing with their arrival from the team’s Kensington hotel delayed by five minutes due to Just Stop Oil protesters but once Stokes had put Ireland into bat, Broad quickly set about trying to get his name on the honours board.
In the absence of rested duo James Anderson and Ollie Robinson, the Nottinghamshire seamer relished the chance to lead the attack and produced a fine opening spell of three for 14 from five overs.
Broad had to wait until his 14th delivery to make the breakthrough but Peter Moor was pinned in front lbw for 10 and his next over produced even more drama.
Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie edged to second slip, where Crawley took an excellent low catch diving to his left and Harry Tector followed his skipper back to the pavilion two balls later.
Tector inexplicably flicked straight to Potts at leg slip, which saw Broad produce his trademark shocked face in celebration but he was denied a hat-trick opportunity when an lbw decision against Stirling was overturned on review after ball-tracker showed it was missing leg stump.
It enabled Stirling to lead a mini-recovery and he put on 45 with opener McCollum, but Leach ended the fun of the former Middlesex batter for 30 after another attempted sweep flicked off his glove and gave Jonny Bairstow a simple first catch behind the stumps since replacing Ben Foakes.
After making it to lunch on 78 for four, Broad ended McCollum’s hard-fought 36 off 108 deliveries when he edged to Joe Root at first slip before Campher took the fight to England despite being hit on the helmet by England debutant Josh Tongue.
It saw Ireland make it through a second session but Broad claimed his 20th Test five-wicket haul after tea when he hit the top of Adair’s off-stump.
Leach had provided able support and finished with three for 35 after the dismissals of Lorcan Tucker and Campher before Potts brought the tourists’ first innings to an end when Hand edged behind to Bairstow in the 57th over.
Inglis hails 'hard to stop' Stoinis after ruthless knock
Josh Inglis lauded "hard to stop" Marcus Stoinis as Australia signed off their T20I series against Pakistan in style, claiming a whitewash.
The hosts raced to a seven-wicket victory with almost nine overs remaining in Monday's third match.
After Australia's bowlers had limited Pakistan to just 117 runs, Stoinis ensured they signed off their final white-ball assignment in style, with his unbeaten 61 doing the damage.
Only twice has he bettered that knock in T20Is – versus New Zealand in 2021 (78) and against Oman at the World Cup earlier this year (67*).
"It's been a great week. We've had a lot of fun as a group," Inglis said. "It's been really nice.
"When Stoinis is going like that, he is really hard to stop. One of those sixes was probably the biggest I've ever seen!"
Stoinis, who was named player of the match, added: "Nice to score some runs on a beautiful wicket but credit to the bowlers who kept the total down.
"Yeah, I actually told [Haris] Rauf that this is the first time any of us got the better of him! No, he's a brilliant bowler, bowled well this series."
During their white-ball tour, Pakistan won the ODI series, their first time doing so in Australia in 22 years, but got whitewashed in the T20Is.
Despite the heavy loss, captain Agha Salman chose to focus on the positive effect the experience will have on their young players.
"I think in the middle overs, we didn't capitalise on the start," he said. "But lots of positives.
"The way Usman [Khan] batted, the way Jahandad [Khan] bowled. These youngsters will come good.
"It's obviously a big achievement winning the ODI series, but we could have done much better in the T20Is."
Salt century gives England winning start to West Indies T20 series
Phil Salt hit a superb century as England drew first blood in their T20 series against West Indies, with a commanding eight-wicket victory at the Kensington Oval.
Salt's unbeaten 103 off 54 balls was the highlight for the tourists, who successfully chased down their target of 183 with 19 balls to spare.
The West Indies endured a difficult start and were reduced to 18-3 and later 117-8, with Saqib Mahmood (4-34) and Adil Rashid (3-32) doing the damage.
However, the hosts managed 65 runs in the last 5.2 overs to finish at 182-8, with Gukadesh Motie knocking 33 off 14 balls along the way.
Salt kick-started England's chase with 50 off just 25 deliveries taking them to 73-1 after six overs, with Will Jacks (17) dismissed with the final ball of the powerplay.
Jos Buttler's first match after four months out lasted just three minutes, as the skipper was caught by Motie for a golden duck.
However, it proved a false dawn for West Indies, with Salt and Jacob Bethall (58 from 36 balls) safely steering England to victory.
Data Debrief: Salt completes hat-trick of hundreds as Bethell makes historic half-century
England put their disappointing ODI series behind them, making history with the highest T20 chase at the Kensington Oval.
Salt was the hero with his third T20I century, all of which have come against West Indies in the past 12 months.
Bethell also made history on Saturday. Aged 21 years and 17 days, he become the youngest England player to score a 50 in a T20I.
Asalanka leads Sri Lanka to ODI series win over West Indies
Sri Lanka wrapped up the ODI series against the West Indies with a five-wicket victory in Pallekele.
The hosts successfully chased down their opponents' total of 189, giving them an unassailable 2-0 in the three-match series.
Sri Lanka controlled the early powerplay - Asitha Fernando (3-35) and Maheesh Theekshana (3-25) took two wickets apiece to leave the tourists at 31-4 in the ninth over.
Wanindu Hasaranga (4-40) then claimed three of his four wickets as Roston Chase, Romario Shepherd, Hayden Walsh and Alzarri Joseph were all dismissed in the space of 14 balls.
However, Sherfane Rutherford (80 off 82 balls) and Gudakesh Motie (50 not out) steadied the ship to take the Windies from 58-8 to 189.
Although Joseph claimed Avishka Fernando (9) in the fourth over, Nishan Madushka and Sadeera Samarawickrama both chipped in with contributions of 38 to get the hosts to 112-4.
Skipper Charith Asalanka (62 not out) led the charge thereon, while Kamindu Mendis (11) comfortably got them over the line with 34 balls remaining.
Data Debrief: Rutherford-Motie historic stand proves academic for tourists
West Indies were looking to level the series, but their hopes were not aided by Sri Lanka's impressive bowling.
Rutherford and Motie did their best. Their partnership brought 119 runs, which is their nation's highest ninth-wicket stand in ODI history, breaking the previous record of 85 between Yannic Cariah and Alzarri Joseph.
However, it ultimately proved in vain as the hosts secured the series with a game to spare.
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