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The BCCI has shifted the Ranji Trophy quarter-final between Haryana and Mumbai from Lahli, Haryana’s home venue, to Kolkata, a neutral venue. The development has affected the travel plans of both the teams – the game is scheduled to start on Saturday – and taken the “hosts” by surprise, since the BCCI hasn’t provided Haryana with a reason for the switch officially.Mumbai were due to arrive in Lahli on Wednesday morning. The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) is now making arrangements for them to fly out to Kolkata by Wednesday evening. Haryana, like Mumbai, are expected to reach Kolkata late on Wednesday. “Yes, we have received a communication from BCCI that our quarter-final against Haryana will be played at the Eden Gardens,” MCA president Ajinkya Naik told PTI.ESPNcricinfo understands that the weather in Lahli has been clear over the past few days, and the Haryana Cricket Association was confident of hosting the match at the Bansi Lal Stadium, which had hosted all their three home games this season. ESPNcricinfo reached out to a senior HCA official, but they chose not to comment on the issue.Related

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Like Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, too, won’t enjoy home advantage after their quarter-final against Kerala was shifted from Jammu to the MCA Stadium in Pune.In this case, though, the shift came about because the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), it is understood, was concerned about the ground conditions following a harsh winter and conveyed the same to the BCCI.JKCA had been keen on hosting the game in Mumbai or Ahmedabad but were informed that those venues would be unavailable, and a decision was made to host the game in Pune instead.The other two knockout games – Vidarbha vs Tamil Nadu and Saurashtra vs Gujarat – would be played in Nagpur (Civil Lines Stadium) and Rajkot (Niranjan Shah Stadium) respectively, as per the current norms where the group toppers are recognised as the host teams.Vidarbha’s 40 points owing to six outright wins in seven games are the most by any team in the group stage this season. Gujarat, meanwhile, have the third-highest points (32), behind J&K’s 35.

India and Mumbai batter Shreyas Iyer, the second-most expensive player in the player auction, has been appointed captain by Punjab Kings for IPL 2025. The announcement was made on Sunday night on reality TV show Big Boss, where Iyer appeared as a guest alongside PBKS team-mates Yuzvendra Chahal and Shashank Singh.Related

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“I am honoured that the team has reposed its faith in me. I am looking forward to working again with coach [Ricky] Ponting,” Iyer was quoted as saying in a release. “The team looks strong, with a great mix of potential and proven performers. I hope to repay the faith shown by the management to deliver our maiden title.””Shreyas has a great mind for the game. His proven capabilities as captain will enable the team to deliver,” PBKS head coach Ricky Ponting said. “Shreyas has a great mind for the game. His proven capabilities as captain will enable the team to deliver. I have enjoyed my time with Iyer in the past in IPL, and I look forward to working with him again. With his leadership and the talent in the squad, I am excited about the seasons ahead.”Iyer, 30, is among only eight captains to have won the IPL, a feat he accomplished by leading Kolkata Knight Riders, whom he led from 2022 to 2024, to the title last year. PBKS, who had the strongest purse at the mega auction for IPL 2025, outbid Delhi Capitals, another franchise on the lookout for a captain, to bag Iyer for INR 26.75 crore (USD 3.18 million approx). For a few minutes, Iyer was the most expensive player in IPL history. But Lucknow Super Giants picked Rishabh Pant for INR 27 crore (USD 3.21 mn approx) to make him the most expensive buy at an IPL auction.PBKS will be Iyer’s third franchise in the IPL after DC, with whom he made his debut in 2015, and KKR. Midway through IPL 2018, DC appointed Iyer as their captain and made the playoffs in each of the next three seasons including a runners-up finish in 2020. He also led Mumbai to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy this season, and finished fourth among the tournament’s leading run-getters with 345 runs, including a century, in nine innings at a strike rate of 188.52 and an average of over 49.

Iyer will reunite with former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who was appointed PBKS head coach for four years. The pair had a successful partnership as coach-captain for DC, which Ponting said was a key factor behind PBKS bidding so fiercely for Iyer at the auction.Ponting also dropped strong hints about appointing Iyer as captain after the mega auction. “I wanted to work with Shreyas,” Ponting told after the auction. “I’ve worked with him before and he is a great guy and a great player. He’ll be a great leader for our team if we decide to go that way, which I’m pretty sure we probably will. And obviously, he was the championship-winning captain last year. So there are lots of great things about bringing him to Punjab.”

Pat Cummins’ five-wicket haul capped Australia’s dominance in the pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval as they leveled the series on the third afternoon with a statement win. The end was nigh for India when Mitchell Starc struck in the first over of the day with a perfectly pitched delivery to have Rishabh Pant nicking behind for his overnight score of 28. India folded for 175, a little over an hour into the first session. Needing 19, Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney knocked off the runs within four overs before the first interval.India were in danger of conceding an innings win when Cummins was banging one bouncer after another. R Ashwin, Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy all fell to short balls from the Australia captain. Much to the delight of the Adelaide crowd, their hero Travis Head pulled off a tumbling catch to dismiss No. 11 Mohammed Siraj, who had become public enemy No. 1 after giving Head a send-off on day two.Related

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Australia, though, didn’t need Head with the bat in their second innings as Khawaja and McSweeney applied the finishing touches for them.Australia’s 295-run drubbing in Perth drew some hot takes, which surprised some of their players, but they produced a near-perfect response in Adelaide to achieve parity and set things up beautifully for the rest of the series.Cummins, who didn’t look sharp enough with the ball in the first Test, was back to his best in the second. After having hit the top of Rohit’s off stump with the pink new ball under lights on Saturday, Cummins dragged his lengths further back with the older ball, which wasn’t swinging or seaming as much under natural light. He had Ashwin gloving behind and Rana popping up a catch to gully with a nastier bouncer.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Reddy stood up to Cummins and hooked a throat-high lifter over square leg for six, despite two men out on the leg-side boundary. But when Cummins angled one across him from around the wicket next ball, Reddy ramped it straight to fine third.Reddy finished with 42 off 47 balls – it was the third time in four innings that he had top-scored for India in his maiden Test series. The hosts ended up facing only 81 overs across both innings, which contributed to the shortest pink-ball Test in Australia and also the shortest between the two teams.The Adelaide crowd of 33,184 had more reasons to cheer about when their adopted son McSweeney creamed a brace of fours in the slim chase and then when their favourite son Head bagged the Player-of-the-Match award.

Alzarri Joseph, the West Indies fast bowler, has been suspended for two matches for his unsanctioned departure from the field during the third ODI against England, in the wake of a disagreement with captain Shai Hope.Joseph issued a public apology in the aftermath of the incident, acknowledging that “my passion got the best of me”, adding that he had “personally apologised to Captain Shai Hope, my team-mates and management”.”I also extend my sincerest apologies to the West Indies fans – I understand that even a brief lapse in judgment can have a far-reaching impact, and I deeply regret any disappointment caused.”During the fourth over of the innings in Bridgetown, Joseph was unhappy with a field placement and could be seen remonstrating with Hope. Off the fourth ball, Joseph removed Jordan Cox caught behind, but did not celebrate with his team, instead immediately returning to his mark. At the end of the over, Joseph left the field unannounced and went into the dressing room, forcing West Indies to begin the fifth over with only ten fielders on the pitch.”Behaviour like that is unacceptable on my cricket field,” Daren Sammy, West Indies’ head coach said to TalkSPORT after play. “We will be friends…but in the culture I’m trying to build, that’s unacceptable. We will definitely have a chat about that.”Joseph returned to the pitch for the beginning of the sixth over, but did not resume bowling until the 12th. He bowled two more overs, before leaving the field again after two misfields off his bowling saw England gain two runs through overthrows. He returned later to bowl two more in the middle overs and his remaining three in the death.Joseph finished the match with figures of 2 for 45 from his 10 overs after dismissing Cox and Dan Mousley.”Alzarri’s behavior did not align with the core values that Cricket West Indies upholds,” Miles Bascombe, CWI Director of Cricket, said. “Such conduct cannot be overlooked, and we have taken decisive action to ensure the gravity of the situation is fully acknowledged.”Sammy, who was appointed as West Indies head coach in May 2023, is widely credited for his man-management abilities, and has convinced several players, such as Andre Russell and Evin Lewis, to return to the international game.”I pride myself on having the difficult conversations,” Sammy said. “But in a way that everybody understands what is needed to be done. To see guys going out there and slowly progressing in the right direction makes me proud.”There’s still a lot of work to be done, but it’s one that I’m quite passionate about.”West Indies won the ODI series 2-1 and the five-match T20 series begins on Saturday, with Sammy hinting that some of the star names who were absent from their recent series against Sri Lanka, such as Nicholas Pooran and Akeal Hosein, are set to return.”We’ve got a couple of senior players who were not in Sri Lanka that we expect to be back,” Sammy said. “Our T20 team is our most successful team and our most settled team. So, yes, we incorporate some new guys to give them that exposure, but our T20 team normally picks itself.”This story was updated at 12am GMT following Joseph’s suspension

Western Australia 465 (Inglis 122, Whiteman 102, Connolly 79, Neser 5-68) and 263 for 6 dec (Marsh 94, Wildermuth 3-38) drew with Queensland 367 (Clayton 85, Labuschagne 77, McDermott 68, Gannon 5-57) and 120 for 1 (Khawaja 64*, Labuschagne 35*)Mitchell Marsh smashed 94 as a specialist batter before the Sheffield Shield match between Western Australia and Queensland petered out to a draw on a sedate WACA surface.Set 362 runs off 62 overs, Queensland never went for the target and the match ended when the captains agreed to call it off midway through the final session on the last day.Opener Usman Khawaja looked in fine touch and finished 64 not out to ensure Queensland avoided any late nerves. Captain Marnus Labuschagne tuned up for the Test summer with an unbeaten 35 on the back of his 77 in the first innings.With Test allrounder Cameron Green facing a long stint on the sidelines due to a back injury, a number of players in the match were under the spotlight. Test aspirant Matthew Renshaw made an untimely double failure after edging behind to Matthew Kelly on 15 having scored just six runs in the first innings.WA counterpart Cameron Bancroft, another possible option to open for Australia if Steven Smith shifts down the order, fared even worse after making a pair earlier in the match.”He’s [Bancroft] so resilient. He’s been through so much in his career. He’ll be fine,” WA captain Sam Whiteman said after the match.Batting at No.4, Marsh top-scored in WA’s second innings of 263 for 6 dec after rescuing his team from a top-order collapse. He also scored 13 in the first innings, but did not bowl in the match.”Mitch is in for a big summer. His workloads are going to be managed very carefully by Cricket Australia. We are hopeful we might see Mitch with ball in hand for the next Shield match,” WA coach Adam Voges said after play on day three.Allrounder Aaron Hardie, who looms as a like-for-like replacement for Green, missed the match due to a quad injury but is likely to return for WA’s next Shield match against Tasmania starting on October 20 at the WACA.Quick Lance Morris sustained a minor quad injury during training and is pushing to be available for the One Day Cup game against Tasmania on 25 October.With WA resuming on 106 for 3, a lead of 204, there was intrigue over how they would approach the situation. Marsh had mostly been watchful late on day three, but was in a trademark aggressive mood as he reached his half-century with a push that rocketed to the boundary.Fringe Test quick Michael Neser threatened by targeting a crack, but Marsh was unperturbed as he put the foot down. His most belligerent shot was smashing a short delivery from debutant Tom Straker that thudded into the ground’s famous grassbanks.Marsh tried to reach his century with one mighty blow, but mistimed and holed out much to his chagrin as he threw his bat in the air.Wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis backed up his first-innings century with a quick-fire 48 to claim Player-of-the-Match award. His confidence was obvious and he toyed with legspinner Mitchell Swepson, who had the last laugh but struggled to have much impact across the match.The pitch flattened considerably after tough early conditions when WA lost the wickets of Bancroft and Jayden Goodwin off the first two balls bowled by Neser, who was Queensland’s standout bowler with six wickets for the match.”Phenomenal bowler and I was very happy how he started the season,” Labuschagne said of Neser, who could also be in the Test mix.

Harmanpreet Kaur is “quite confident” with the India squad at her disposal for Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 because of the experience they bring. As many as 12 of India’s 15 squad members have prior experience of playing the tournament. Only Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana and S Sajana are making their first appearances at a World Cup, having come through eye-catching performances in the Women’s Premier League.”If I talk about this team, we have a few players who have been playing for a long time and they know their roles really well,” Harmanpreet said at the pre-departure press conference in Mumbai. “I can say that this is the best team we are going for a T20 World Cup with.”Pooja [Vastrakar] is doing well and Renuka [Singh] is supporting her really well. She [Renuka] is someone who is always giving us breakthroughs. Arundhati [Reddy] is someone who can always come and bowl a few overs for the team and bat in the deep. I can’t compare our bowling line-up with other teams because every team has its own positives and negatives, but I’m quite confident in my team. I know what they are doing and what they are capable of.”Related

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India played T20Is against Australia, England, South Africa and Bangladesh, apart from the Asia Cup, in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup. While they lost the series against England and Australia, each by a 2-1 margin, they won 5-0 in Bangladesh and tied the series against South Africa 1-1 after one game was washed out. The surprise result, though, came at the Asia Cup, where Sri Lanka beat them in the final to win their maiden title.”During the Asia Cup, we played really good cricket, if I talk about the entire tournament,” Harmanpreet said. “It was just one odd game that day when things didn’t go according to the way we wanted. We sat and discussed how we wanted to work on our shortcomings in the camps and where we can improve if next time these kinds of situations arise.”The Asia Cup, in July, was India’s last outing before the World Cup. Since then, they had a couple of camps while a few players played in the Hundred and the Women’s Caribbean Premier League. Head coach Amol Muzumdar said that the camps were designed with a focus on specifics and that the lack of game-time should not hamper India at the World Cup.”We had a fitness camp which happened at the NCA and fitness and fielding camp,” Muzumdar said. “That was specifically done for those two areas and the skills [aspect] were not touched. The entire 15 days were delegated to fitness and fielding.”Later on, we had a ten-day skills camp, where there were not just the net sessions but the players played almost five games in ten days. So if you ask for game time, we have ticked that box. We played some very competitive games. There were different oppositions, there were different skill sets that were chosen for those particular games.”In 2020, India lost to Australia in the final•AFP via Getty Images

India finished runners-up at the T20 World Cup in 2020 and lost in the semi-finals in 2018 and 2023. They also narrowly lost the gold medal to Australia at the inaugural Commonwealth Games in 2022.In a bid to deal with pressure better, the players have had sessions with sports psychologist Mugdha Bavare. In the past, Harmanpreet has spoken about how Bavare helped her overcome mental fatigue, and the sessions in the camp last month have helped the players, she said.”When you talk [to a psychologist] personally, you know what you are talking and the areas you want to focus on,” she said. “But when it comes to the team, it is important that everyone opens up so that as a team we can work together and help the player as needed. We had a few sessions where we talked to each other about how we wre feeling and how we wanted to go about it. With Mugdha’s help, there were a lot of sessions after which we felt well and then after executing it on the ground, we felt better. She is really working hard on us, and so far, it is really helping us.”

‘We will reveal our No. 3 closer to opening game’ – Muzumdar

Muzumdar was also guarded on the No. 3 spot, which has been in focus in recent times. Since Jemimah Rodrigues’ shift down to No. 5 in April, India have tried Yastika Bhatia, D Hemalatha, S Sajana and Uma Chetry at that spot. Hemalatha got the longest run, batting at No. 3 in seven of the 12 games India played since April. With Bhatia’s return, though, things are a bit unclear.”Ever since I’ve taken over, we have had some tough series against good teams – England, Australia, South Africa, Bangladesh, and then Asia Cup. So, I think the preparation has been fantastic,” Muzumdar said. “As far as the top six is concerned, I think they’re the best in the country.”I know for a fact that in T20, the No. 3 sets the game up. We have identified [our No. 3] but we will reveal that only closer to our opening game.”The World Cup was moved to the UAE after the anti-government protests in Bangladesh. Muzumdar said while the change in the venue did put a spanner in the works, India were well-equipped for the challenges.Harmanpreet and Amol Muzumdar speak to the media before departing to the UAE for the T20 World Cup•PTI

“We had specifically gone to Bangladesh in May and played five T20Is to get used to conditions. I think conditions [in UAE] would be like what we have over here in India,” said Muzumdar, who was the batting coach of Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2020, which was held in the UAE around the same period. “It is just that start of the season, I think there will be a little bit of bounce on the surfaces in Dubai especially.”Humidity will play a part over there. There will be a lot of heat over there, hot and humid. But I think we’ll have to go there and just assess the situation, assess the ground conditions first. We do have three games in Dubai and then one in Sharjah. We will have to really go there, feel the pitch, and then decide how and which bowlers and what combination we need to play.”For Harmanpreet, it will be her ninth T20 World Cup, having played in every edition since the inaugural one in 2009. She said she would tap into that experience to handle the pressure.”I’ve played so many World Cups and that experience and atmosphere is totally different to any bilateral series or any other tournament,” she said. “I’m going with the same excitement as I had when I was just a 19-year-old. I just want to go there and enjoy myself. I know now I have so much experience with me.”I know what the pressure is like and how I’m going to handle it. [It is about playing] with full freedom and just not thinking about what is the result. But if I go there and play freely and enjoy my cricket, I know I can change a lot of things.”

Kamindu Mendis’ second-innings 113 for Sri Lanka in their defeat to England in Manchester left him with a batting average of 92.16. It is the second-highest in Test history among players with more than 500 runs, and he explained at Lord’s ahead of Thursday’s second Test that it owes to a simple mantra: “Do basic things, and try to keep calm.”Kamindu made his debut against Australia two years ago, deputising for Dhananjaya de Silva on account of a positive Covid test. He made 61 in an innings win but had to bide his time for another opportunity, eventually returning to the side earlier this year and making twin hundreds against Bangladesh in Sylhet.”I knew that the batting was packed, but what I tried to do was to do as best as I could in the chance that I had,” Kamindu said on Tuesday. “I had to exit the team after that, but I don’t see that as a mistake. You have to take various decisions to balance a team, and I came into that side only because Dhananjaya had Covid. When he returned, I had to make way. That’s fair.”Related

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During his two-year absence, he remained part of the set-up as a squad player and said he had benefited hugely from that experience. “Even though I didn’t get to play, I was in the squad and travelling with the team, pretty much every tour,” he said. “Going on so many tours with experienced players on those tours also helped me play well in my first few innings.”Kamindu edged Chris Woakes behind for 12 in the first innings in Manchester, but made 113 in the second and enjoyed partnerships of 78 and 117 with Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal respectively. “In the first innings, I wasn’t able to score runs. The conditions were challenging,” he said. “It was colder than we expected. We did as well as we could as a team.”I had a lot of support from the others when I went to bat, both Angie and Chandi aiya. I have to mention Chandi in particular, because him playing through that finger injury and putting up runs was vital for the team. He was a big support to me too, to get to 100, and their experience really helped me. They shared what they knew with me in the middle.”He revealed that he has a simple philosophy underpinning his batting – “I do basic things, and try to keep calm in the middle” – and brushed off questions about his average. “What I wanted was to do what I could on the day for the team. That’s really my only goal: to give as much to my team as possible, whether on the batting front, bowling front, or via fielding.”Kamindu had never been to England before this tour, and said that he will fulfil a dream this week: “From when I was little, I had a dream to play a Test at Lord’s,” he said. “It’s not just my dream, I think every player has that target. I’ve been able to get there. If we can win this match, it’ll be even more valuable to us.”

England wicketkeeper-batter Lauren Winfield-Hill has joined Guyana Amazon Warriors for the third edition of Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL).Amazon Warriors have also drafted in former West Indies Under-19 captain Ashmini Munisar, offspinner Sheneta Grimmond, uncapped allrounder Realeanna Grimmond, left-arm spinner Kaysia Schultz and Nyia Latchman along with Jamaican seamer Kate Wilmott.The three WCPL franchises had done most of their recruiting previously through retentions and pre-signings. Last week, Amazon Warriors had announced the signing of allrounders Chloe Tryon from South Africa and Erin Burns from Australia.Meanwhile, defending champions Barbados Royals drafted in wicketkeeper Rashada Williams and batter Trishan Holder from their squad of last year and added seam-bowling allrounder Shabika Gajnabi, seamer Cherry Ann Fraser and batter Djenaba Joseph – who were all with Amazon Warriors last year.Related

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Trinbago Knight Riders drafted Kyshona Knight, Anisa Mohammed and young wicketkeeper Shunelle Sawh from their squad of last year. Batters Jannillea Glasgow and Chedean Nation, who were with Royals in WCPL 2023, moved to TKR for the upcoming season.This year’s WCPL will be held in Trinidad from August 21 to 29, with all seven matches to be played at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.

Squads

Barbados Royals: Hayley Matthews, Chamari Athapaththu, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Laura Harris, Georgia Redmayne, Chinelle Henry, Afy Fletcher, Aaliyah Alleyne, Qiana Joseph, Rashada Williams (wk), Trishan Holder, Shabika Gajnabi, Cherry Ann Fraser and Djenaba Joseph.Guyana Amazon Warriors: Stafanie Taylor, Shabnim Ismail, Karishma Ramharack, Shemaine Campbelle (wk), Natasha McClean, Shakera Selman, Chloe Tryon and Erin Burns, Ashmini Munisar, Sheneta Grimmond, Realeanna Grimmond, Kaysia Schultz, Nyia Latchmann and Kate Wilmott.Trinbago Knight Riders: Deandra Dottin, Meg Lanning, Jess Jonassen, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shikha Pandey, Kycia Knight (wk), Shamila Connell, Zaida James, Samara Ramnath, Kyshona Knight, Anisa Mohammed, Shunelle Sawh, Jannillea Glasgow, Jahzara Claxton and Chedean Nation.

It didn’t come around with a final dot ball or a wicket or a final scoring shot. The fans didn’t get to celebrate in the stands. There was no drama. After about five hours of hard work from the ground staff, it was during a fresh shower that it was finally decided there wasn’t going to be a match in Lauderhill on Friday. And with that, amid almost no fanfare, USA qualified for the Super Eight.USA will take it whatever way they get it, but they came wanting to play cricket. “As a cricketer, me coming to the ground today, and the boys coming to the ground today, I think that you don’t want to leave home and not play cricket,” the USA vice-captain Aaron Jones said. “That’s for me personally, I want to play. But at the end of the day, the rain… it’s nothing that we can control. So we are grateful that we got to the Super Eights. But we left the hotel this morning thinking about playing cricket, we wanted to play cricket.”Jones is not one for doing cartwheels. “Yeah, definitely we are celebrating,” he said. “Everybody’s happy right now. Obviously qualifying for the Super Eights is a big thing, so everybody’s happy right now.”Related

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• Washout in Florida takes USA through to Super Eight

Of course, the qualification didn’t come around just because there was no play on Friday, leaving Pakistan no chance to draw level with USA let alone going past them. They qualified because they beat Pakistan and Canada, something Jones at least had warned the world about when he said USA were not there just to make up the numbers.”Yeah, I definitely believed that earlier this year when I spoke about it,” Jones said when reminded of his comments. “To be honest with you, a lot of people don’t really pay much attention to US cricket. So probably the whole world don’t already know how much talent we have here and how good the players that we have here are. I think that could be a little advantage to us, but definitely I think that on any given day, once we play proper cricket, we believe that we can beat any team in the world for sure.”USA will now get three big matches in the Super Eight, facing West Indies, South Africa and possibly England. Their prize money will jump by at least $150,000. The biggest boost will hopefully be more interest in cricket in the country after such an impressive showing in their first T20 World Cup. Especially given how this automatically qualifies them for the next T20 World Cup too.”It’s a big thing for us to be honest,” Jones said. “Over the last couple of years, we’ve been speaking about playing in the World Cup, playing more games against the Full Member nations and stuff like that. And here we are doing it right now. And obviously qualifying for the Super Eights is really good. Not only for us right now in the moment but I think we’ll qualify for the 2026 World Cup as well so I think it’s a big thing for us. Not only for us but the fans around America as well. We really appreciate them for sure and not only for the fans but for the younger generation in America as well.”Even their rivals Canada have been rooting for USA because this brings the spotlight on the whole of North America. “I saw them last month in April, those guys were working really hard and I’m happy for them, how they qualified,” Shreyas Movva, the Canada wicketkeeper said. “It’s a motivation for us going into the next tournaments that USA have done it so we can do too.”Jones himself will be going back to the land of his birth, Barbados, to play two of the three matches. “It’s really good for me to go back home,” Jones said. “I’m really happy right now. I think I’ll get a lot of support for sure, especially in Barbados. So definitely looking forward to it.”

South East Stars 118 for 4 (Scholfield 50*, Grewcock 2-18) beat Sunrisers 116 for 8 (Miller 39*, Jones 2-13, Stonehouse 2-17) by six wicketsPaige Scholfield continued her rich vein of form as South East Stars cantered to a six-wicket win over hosts Sunrisers at Lord’s to remain unbeaten in this season’s Charlotte Edwards Cup.The South African-born allrounder – currently only able to bat because of an ongoing niggle – and who had made two half-centuries already in the campaign, made her third in finishing 50 not out, reaching the landmark with the winning hit, her eighth four.In truth, the chase for 117 was not an arduous one, Sunrisers having earlier been restricted to 116 for 8, Emma Jones with 2 for 13 and Alexa Stonehouse with 2 for 17 the principal wicket takers, while teenage starlet Tilly Corteen-Coleman got a wicket with her first ball of the game for the second time in the tournament. Flo Miller produced the only resistance with 39 not out from 45 balls.Sunrisers were soon in trouble. Shortly after steering the first boundary of the innings through third, skipper Grace Scrivens slashed one from Stonehouse straight to point.Corteen-Coleman bowled Alice Macleod and Sunrisers’ leading scorer in the tournament Jo Gardner then spooned Stonehouse to Sophia Dunkley at cover to depart for only 1.Mady Villiers sparkled briefly with two fours and a five from an overthrow in her 14, but when she chipped Jones to Phoebe Franklin at midwicket the hosts were in disarray at 27 for 4.That they mustered any sort of score was largely down to Miller, who played the only of innings of substance, sending a full toss from Franklin to the fence before later pulling a short one from Jones down to the Tavern boundary.Others came and went. Jodi Grewcock contributing to her own downfall with a sloppy piece of running which saw her run out by Corteen-Coleman’s direct hit, while Jones picked up a second wicket with a caught-and-bowled to see the back of Eva Gray.Dunkley (24) was quickly into stride, caressing one through the covers in the opening over of the Stars’ reply before dancing down the pitch to strike the spin of Villiers back over the top.Skipper Smith, scratchy at first, caught the mood, twice depositing short balls from Gray to the midwicket boundary. However, both departed in the same over from Grewcock, Dunkley stumped by Amara Carr as she again ventured down the wicket, while Smith nicked one through to the keeper.Jones, promoted to four, should have departed in the next over, only for two fielders to collide meaning a simple catch at mid-on was grassed. The Cambridge University student of veterinary surgery failed to profit from the life, holing out in the deep soon afterwards.Stars, though, were ahead of the rate and simply needed a steady hand on the tiller and not for the first time in the campaign that proved to be Schofield, who swept and pulled with authority in another sparkling knock. And while Phoebe Franklin departed before the end, Stars sauntered home.