England chased down New Zealand's target of 104 for the loss of just three wickets in the fourth T20 at The Kia Oval to continue their unbeaten summer.

 

Having opted to bat, New Zealand failed to set a defendable total, posting only 103-8, with England spinners Sarah Glenn (4-19) and Sophie Ecclestone (2-16) tearing through their batting line-up after the powerplay.

I am hoping that Bess Heath gets a game behind the stumps for the 5th match. If England are really serious about the what if scenarios for the tournament in Bangladesh, they need to think about the possibility of Amy Jones being unavailable through either injury or illness. I don't think we have explored that possibility yet.

Clean sweep for the England Women against New Zealand. Bit underwhelming from New Zealand, not too sure about the quality of Georgia Plimmer. I don't know if she is just having difficulty getting used to the international environment and the different sorts of pitches, but I am surprised they stuck with her at the top of the order. Highlights for New Zealand was Melie Kerr's 43 and Fran Jonas picking up a 4 wicket haul. Last night was England Women's 200th T20 international.

 

Start of the England Men's second Test against the West Indies today. Hope the West Indies can make more of a game of this.

Rocky Flintoff, the teenage son of former England all-rounder Andrew, hit a century for England Under-19s on the third day of the second Test against Sri Lanka.

 

Resuming on 82 overnight, the 16-year-old reached the landmark in the first hour of the morning session, making three figures from 176 balls with eight fours and two sixes.

 

The teenager was dismissed five balls later, departing for 106 to leave his side 454-7 and holding a first-innings lead of 301.

 

He is the youngest player to hit a century for England Under-19s.

England have won the series, just need to make it a clean sweep as the 3rd test starts on Friday from Edgbaston.

 

Glad to see that West Indies put up more of a challenge this time.

Successful day for the Oval Invincibles in the Hundred today. Both teams won.

Ollie Pope says England's batters will be "ruthless" with their run-scoring as they eye a Test series whitewash against West Indies - and reckons they could even score 600 in a day.

 

England are 2-0 up after they followed up victory by an innings at Lord's with a comprehensive 241-run win at Trent Bridge last week.

 

The win in Nottingham was the first time England scored 400-plus in both innings of a Test match with totals of 416 and 425.

England take the third Test against West Indies by 10 wickets to win the series 3-0.

Also worthy of note is that Joe Root has 12,000 + test runs.

Not a bad start under Ollie Pope in the first test under his leadership. I must admit I think the media is making too much of his lack of experience where the leadership is concerned. They have overlooked the fact that Joe Root (former captain) is part of the team still and would be a good sounding board should he need it.

Couple of squad announcements.

 

For the Men's white ball series against Australia. Notable omissions are Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow and Chris Jordan. New faces in the squads here.

 

T20 squad: -

 

Jos Buttler (Lancashire, captain), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Jacob Bethell (Warwickshire), Brydon Carse (Durham), Jordan Cox (Essex), Sam Curran (Surrey), Josh Hull (Leicestershire), Will Jacks (Surrey), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Dan Mousley (Warwickshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Phil Salt (Lancashire), Reece Topley (Surrey), John Turner (Hampshire)

 

ODI Squad: -

 

Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson (Surrey), Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Josh Hull, Will Jacks, Matthew Potts (Durham), Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Jamie Smith (Surrey), Reece Topley, John Turner

 

For the Women's series against Ireland. Kate Cross will be the captain for this series. Some talent from the Under 19 World Cup included here. Couple of returns to the England fold for Villiers and Wong and a chance for Beaumont to impress in the T20 format.

 

T20 squad: - Kate Cross (captain), Georgia Adams, Hollie Armitage, Hannah Baker, Tammy Beaumont, Mahika Gaur, Ryana MacDonald-Gay, Charis Pavely, Paige Scholfield, Seren Smale, Bryony Smith, Mady Villiers, Issy Wong.

 

ODI squad: - Kate Cross (captain), Hollie Armitage, Hannah Baker, Tammy Beaumont, Georgia Davis, Lauren Filer, Bess Heath, Freya Kemp, Emma Lamb, Ryana MacDonald-Gay, Paige Scholfield, Bryony Smith, Mady Villiers, Issy Wong.

 

T20 World Cup squad: - Heather Knight (captain), Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Danielle Gibson, Sarah Glenn, Bess Heath, Amy Jones, Freya Kemp, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Linsey Smith, Danni Wyatt

 

 

That was a dramatic finish in the County Championship top of the table clash between Surrey and Somerset. Surrey, playing for a draw, collapsed from 95-3 to 109 all out with Somerset taking the last wicket with less than five minutes left. It's great that all county matches can be watched live on youtube. Somerset are now just eight points behind Surrey with two matches left to play.

Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has retired from all forms of cricket after a groin injury curtailed the final season of his career.

 

The 40-year-old, the leading T20 wicket-taker in history, had planned to retire at the end of the current Caribbean Premier League campaign.

 

However, after sustaining a groin injury, the Trinbago Knight Riders player has decided to finish immediately.

 

"My mind wants to keep going, but my body can no longer endure the pain, the breakdowns, and the strain" Bravo said in a post on Instagram.

 

 

Day two's play in five County Championship games has been abandoned due to rain - three of them for the second day running in the season's final round of fixtures.

 

The Durham-Kent, Worcestershire-Lancashire and Essex-Surrey matches in Division One and the Leicestershire-Derbyshire and Sussex-Middlesex games in Division Two were all called off.

 

The game at Leicester was abandoned an hour and a half before play was due to start, rapidly followed by Durham's game with Kent at Chester-le-Street.

Harry Brook became the first England batter for 34 years to hit a triple-century in Test cricket on an astonishing fourth day against Pakistan in Multan.

 

Brook, Joe Root and England broke a host of records, then the visiting pace bowlers were irresistible in charging to what looks like certain victory in the first Test.

 

Brook’s 317 is the sixth score in excess of 300 by an England man and his partnership of 454 with Root, who made 262, was the fourth-highest for any wicket in the history of the game.

 

A total of 823-7 declared is also the fourth-highest ever and England’s largest since 1938.

That was a remarkable day's cricket. England should be able to wrap up the win tomorrow.

Jacob Bethell has shown enough on England's white-ball tour of the West Indies to suggest he is ready to make his Test debut in New Zealand later this month, says Adil Rashid.

 

Bethell has been one of England's standout players in the Caribbean and played an eye-catching innings to help the tourists to victory in the first T20 of the series on Saturday.

 

The 21-year-old scored an unbeaten 58 as England chased down a challenging 183 with eight wickets to spare.

 

Bethell was a surprise inclusion in England's Test squad to tour New Zealand and is seen as the reserve batter in the squad but, if called upon, leg-spinner Rashid is confident the Warwickshire youngster will shine.

India has informed the International Cricket Council it will not travel to the Champions Trophy, according to hosts Pakistan.

 

Ongoing political tensions mean the two countries have not played each other outside of men's major tournaments since 2013, while India have not played in Pakistan for 16 years.

 

Pakistan are due to host a global event for the first time since 1996 in February and March next year, the eight-team, 50-over Champions Trophy.

 

But the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said the Board of Control for Cricket in India has told the ICC the India team will not cross the border.

 

"The PCB has received an email from the ICC, stating that the BCCI has informed them that their team will not travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025," said a PCB spokesperson. "The PCB has forwarded that email to the government of Pakistan for their advice and guidance."

Reece Topley has been ruled out of the remainder of the T20 international series against West Indies with a knee injury.

England Women have bounced back from their World Cup exit and are currently winning the South Africa series 2-0. One more to go before 3 ODIs and a Test match.

 

Danni Wyatt Hodge has become the first English woman to reach 3,000 runs in the T20 format.