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• England captaincy honour ‘out of the blue’ to face South Africa – Fran Williams

  Fran Williams admitted being asked to be captain of the England team for their upcoming series against South Africa came “a bit out of the blue” as preparations continued for the opening game on Tuesday.

  The Loughborough Lightning player will lead the Vitality Roses in their tri-series against the SPAR Proteas, which begins on December 5 in Manchester followed by two games on December 9 and 10 in Nottingham.

  Working in a wider leadership group alongside Eleanor Cardwell and Imogen Allison, Williams will lead the team for the first time and revealed that while receiving the captaincy was unexpected, she was looking forward to the opportunity.

  “(It was) a bit out of the blue, I was having a catch-up meeting with Jess (Thirlby) our head coach about something completely separate and not relevant to leadership roles and captaincy,” Williams told the PA news agency.

  “Then at the end of the meeting she asked if I’d want to be captain, if I’d take on that honour and I said ‘I don’t have to think about it, I’d love to do that opportunity’.

  “Then I walked away and thought ‘gosh that’s actually a big deal, maybe I should have thought about this a bit more!’.

  “There’s nothing better than being able to represent the team and it’s just such an easy role to take on when you’ve got a group and a squad like we have who are so willing to get stuck in, always seeing the positives, want to jump on board and get involved in as much as possible.”

  December’s fixtures will be England’s first games back on home turf since winning silver at the Netball World Cup over the summer, where they fell to a 61-45 defeat against Australia in the final.

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  Williams played a pivotal part in the tournament, providing a vital interception in the dying minutes of their semi-final against reigning champions New Zealand and reflected on a “history-making moment” reaching the final.

  “I think at the time and in that moment of the final it was obviously devastating,” Williams said.

  “To lose against Australia particularly when – bearing in mind it was a tight game – we’d beaten them only a few days before.

  “However, when I look back now, I have nothing but pride for the way we performed this summer as a Roses squad. Not just players but all the staff and the journey we’d been on to reaching that historic final and getting our first-ever silver medal at a Netball World Cup, it was still a history-making moment.

  “Not just the final result but also the memories I have with that team. Not just in the prep camp before, but the years before leading to us being able to do that is what I’ll take away from the experience the most.

  “It’s so exciting to see where we could end up in four years’ time. Now I’ve got that springboard and motivation from being that close in the summer to really want to go for it those next four years.”

  There are plenty of new faces in the Roses squad for the South Africa series with five players preparing to make their home international debuts and Williams was looking forward to the “new opportunities ahead”.

  She added: “We’ve got a fresh-looking squad, new opportunities lying ahead and whilst it’s so important we carry those stories and lessons learned from the summer and make sure we’re all on the same page and everyone – even if you weren’t there – gets to learn from what worked well in the summer to get to that point and what we could do better to get us over the line in that final in four years’ time.

  “There’s also the opportunity to create our own memories and our own history with a new squad.”

• Mitchell Johnson: Does David Warner deserve to sign off from Tests on own terms?

  Mitchell Johnson has launched on astonishing broadside at David Warner, questioning whether his former Australia team-mate deserves to sign off from Tests on his own terms.

  Warner has been Australia’s linchpin opener for over a decade and key to their World Cup triumph, but he expressed his wish to retire from Tests at the end of their series against Pakistan in Sydney next month.

  He has been named in their squad for the first match in Perth, starting on December 14, despite averaging 28.9 in his last 25 Tests, amassing just one hundred – albeit a double ton – in that time.

  But Warner was criticised for trying to organise his own farewell by former fast bowler Johnson, who thinks the 37-year-old is undeserving of one, pointing to his role in the 2018 ball-tampering saga.

  In his column for The West Australian, Johnson, who represented Australia 256 times in all formats, wrote: “It’s been five years and David Warner has still never really owned the ball-tampering scandal.

  “He has a decent overall record and some say is one of our greatest opening bats. But his past three years in Test cricket have been ordinary, with a batting average closer to what a tailender would be happy with.

  “Now the way he is going out is underpinned by more of the same arrogance and disrespect to our country. As we prepare for David Warner’s farewell series, can somebody please tell me why?

  “Why a struggling Test opener gets to nominate his own retirement date. And why a player at the centre of one of the biggest scandals in Australian cricket history warrants a hero’s send-off?”

  Johnson, who played 26 Tests alongside Warner including the 2013/14 Ashes in which the former left-arm fast bowler terrorised England, also censured Australia’s selectors.

  George Bailey, Australia’s chief selector and another former team-mate of Johnson, was accused of being too close to some players.

  “The handling of Warner in recent years, who played with Bailey in all three forms, raises the question of whether Bailey was simply too quickly out of playing and into the job and too close to some of the players,” Johnson added.

  Responding to Johnson’s critique, Bailey told a press conference: “Ultimately, we still think (Warner) is in our best 11 players to win the first Test.”

• West Indies “A” have mountain to climb after South Africa “A” dominate day three of second unofficial “Test”

  West Indies “A” will have it all to do on Saturday’s fourth and final day of their second unofficial “Test” match against South Africa “A” if they want to go 2-0 up in the three-match series.

  Friday saw the West Indians end day three 134-5 off 41 overs, needing a further 308 runs for victory on day four at Buffalo Park in East London.

  Zachary McCaskie hit a 90-ball 50 to top score for the West Indies, so far.

  Tevin Imlach (16) and Kevin Sinclair (15) are the batsmen at the crease.

  Off-spinner Dane Piedt ended the day with 3-57 from 14 overs.

  Earlier, South Africa began day three 65-1 with a lead of 209 runs and continued to drive the West Indies further back through some excellent batting.

  Tony De Zorzi (34) and Raynard Van Tonder (20) were the batsmen at the crease at the start of the day.

  De Zorzi fell pretty quickly for 37 and that wicket brought Keegan Petersen to the crease to join Van Tonder.

  Van Tonder was able to score his second half-century of the game with a 74-ball 56 before he fell in the 39^th over with South Africa “A” cruising at 139-3.

  Petersen carried on, batting beautifully on his way to an unbeaten 112 off 134 balls, following up his 67 in the first innings.

  Khaya Zondo (49) and Ruan De Swardt (29*) also provided excellent contributions as the hosts declared on 297-4 off 71.3 overs, setting the West Indies a target of 442 for victory.

  Full Scores:

  South Africa “A” 298 off 97.2 overs (Keegan Petersen 67, Raynard Van Tonder 50, Tony De Zorzi 44, Ruan De Swardt 42, Akeem Jordan 3-43, Shamar Joseph 3-57, Kevin Sinclair 2-53, Jair McAllister 2-64) & 297-4 dec. off 71.3 overs (Keegan Petersen 112*, Raynard Van Tonder 56, Khaya Zondo 49)

  West Indies “A” 154 off 47.2 overs (Zachary McCaskie 62, Dane Piedt 5-28, Tshepo Moreki 3-66) & 134-5 off 41 overs (Zachary McCaskie 50, Dane Piedt 3-57)