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Rain had a major say on the third day’s play of the Sylhet Test. Bangladesh moved to 194 for 4 before play was called off at 5pm local time due to bad light, although play could be extended up to 6pm after rain had washed out the first three hours of the day.The hosts could bat for only 44 overs. They lost three wickets, and added 137 runs. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto, who went unbeaten on 60, reached his half-century during a rearguard fifth-wicket partnership with Jaker Ali.It was Blessing Muzarabani who rocked Bangladesh within the first hour after play started on the third afternoon. He bowled with a slower run-up but often brought up his pace with the short deliveries. Muzarabani tested Mahmudul Hasan Joy with the short ball a few times, before the Bangladesh opener fended one to first slip. Mahmudul made 33 off 65 balls with six boundaries, stretching his lean run of form. He has now played 17 innings without a half-century, the last one coming in Sylhet in November 2023.Meanwhile, Shanto got the ball rolling with some confident shots, before he edged one off Wessly Madhevere when on 26. For the second time in the game though, wicketkeeper Nyasha Mayavo dropped a sitter.Blessing Muzarabani picked up two of the three wickets on the third day•AFP/Getty Images

The third-wicket stand between Shanto and Mominul Haque kept Bangladesh stable, but once again, it was the short ball that rocked Bangladesh. Victor Nyauchi got one to rear up at Mominul, who had little room to move out of the way once he had committed to it. Thankfully for Zimbabwe, though, Mayavo held on to the chance.Shanto and Mominul had added 65 for the third wicket. Mominul made 47 off 86 balls to go with his half-century in the first innings.Captain Craig Ervine then brought back Muzarabani to bowl at Mushfiqur Rahim closer to the tea interval. He bowled nine dot balls in a row to Mushfiqur before finding the outside edge with the tenth delivery. Ervine completed the catch at first slip as Bangladesh were reduced to 155 for 4 at tea.Shanto reached his fifty shortly afterwards with a rousing cover drive off Wellington Masakadza. His fifth-wicket partnership with Jaker is increasingly looking like Bangladesh’s last resort to stay competitive in the game.

What is the T10 Melbourne Invitational?

It is an 11-day T10 tournament that will be played at the Junction Oval in Melbourne between April 7 and April 17. Five teams will play 20 T10 matches with two matches held each day. The top three teams will play in the finals on April 17. The second and third ranked after the round robin will play first and the winner will advance to face the top ranked team in the final later on the same day.

Which teams are playing?

Melbourne Stars, Melbourne Renegades, Sydney Sixers, Sydney Thunder and Adelaide Strikers have selected academy squads of 12-15 players to play a minimum of four games across the 11 days. Stars and Renegades are run by Cricket Victoria who are hosting the tournament. Cricket New South Wales runs both Sydney teams while Adelaide Strikers are run by the South Australian Cricket Association. The tournament has been approved by Cricket Australia.Australia Under-19 star Oliver Peake will play for Renegades in the T10 Invitational•ICC/Getty Images

What is the purpose of the tournament?

Cricket Victoria, led by their chief executive Nick Cummins, has been adventurous in stepping into the franchise sphere beyond functioning as an Australian state association. CV runs the high performance aspect of the San Francisco Unicorns in Major League Cricket. Victoria also sent a team to the inaugural Global Super League in Guyana last year and made the final. Significantly, this T10 tournament has Indian backing and is broadcast into India.It is a forerunner to potentially hosting a T20 tournament that is akin to the T20 Max that is played in Queensland in August and September each year and has become a hub for fringe domestic players to get playing opportunities at the time of year. CV is also in the final phase of gaining approval to build light towers at the Junction Oval so that both international and domestic matches can be played there under lights. Such an addition would allow this tournament to be played at night, and in a better timezone for audiences in the subcontinent.

Are any big name player’s taking part?

There won’t be any big name Australian players representing their BBL clubs. Part of CV’s vision for the tournament is to provide extra playing opportunities for developing players beyond the Sheffield Shield, domestic 50-over cricket, the BBL and the Top End T20 series in the middle of the year.”This is a fantastic opportunity to continue providing important match experience to players right through to the end of the season,” Cummins said.One international name is Netherlands captain Scott Edwards who grew up in Melbourne and lives there part of the year. He has previously been a replacement player for Renegades in the BBL but has yet to play a BBL game for them.BBL regular Sam Harper will play for Melbourne Stars. Former Australian Under-19 players Harry Dixon and Oliver Peake will play for Renegades after making their BBL debuts last season. A number of Victoria players including Campbell Kellaway, Blake Macdonald, Sam Elliott and Xavier Crone are also set to feature while Sixers have selected Steve Waugh’s son Austin Waugh in their 12-man squad.

How can I watch?

The tournament can be watched in both Australia and India. It will be streamed in India via Fancode and can be viewed on Kayo in Australia, who stream all Australian domestic cricket and even some grade fixtures.

Squads

Adelaide Strikers Academy: Aidan Cahill, Hamish Case, Isaac Conway, Josh Kann, Ryan King, Harry Manenti, Deakin Murphy, Tim Oakley, Tom O’Connell, Hayden Schiller, Aubrey Stockdale, Jerrssis Wadia, Jake WinterMelbourne Renegades Academy: Harry Dixon, Dylan Brasher, Oliver Peake, Arjun Nair, Jai Lemire, Scott Edwards, Xavier Crone, Aryan Sharma, Jackson Smith, Michael Archer, Cam McClure, David Moody, Harkirat Bajwa, Mitch Jamieson, Aidam NadeemMelbourne Stars Academy: Austin Anlezark, Max Birthisel, Liam Blackford, Sam Elliott, Sam Harper, Harry Hoekstra, Christian Howe, Campbell Kellaway, Blake Macdonald, Reiley Mark, Jonathan Merlo, Tom Rogers, Douglas WarrenSydney Thunder Academy: Ryan Hicks, Toby Gray, Bailey Abela, Charlie Anderson, Yuvraj Sharma, Riley Kingsell, Peter Francis, Angus McTaggart, Blake Nikitaras, Riley Ayre, Connor O’Riordan, Liam DoddrellSydney Sixers Academy: Brock Fitton, Harjas Singh, Tristan Kennedy, Addison Sherriff, Austin Waugh, John James, Lachlan Shaw, Connor Cook, Jake Scott, Joel Davies, Ryan Gupta, Oliver Patterson

Former England batter Dawid Malan scored a classy 98 through the heart of the day as Yorkshire enjoyed a healthy start to their Rothesay County Championship clash with Worcestershire at Headingley.Malan contributed 12 fours and a six in 133 balls to a close of play 425 for 8 from 96 overs. He steadied a brief home wobble after lunch which included Jonny Bairstow being unfortunate to be caught behind for 7.An Adam Finch short ball seemed to brush Bairstow’s stomach rather than his glove on its way through to wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick, though umpire Mark Newell viewed it differently. The home captain cut an astonished figure as he left the field.At that stage, Yorkshire were 179 for 4 in the 48th over, including opener Adam Lyth’s 67. Worcestershire made an errant start with the ball but improved, though not enough to turn the day in their favour. New Zealand quick Jacob Duffy mirrored his side’s day. He improved markedly to finish with three wickets.George Hill also contributed 63, while four other seamers struck once apiece.This is a clash between a Yorkshire side who lost their opener at Hampshire last weekend and a Worcestershire side who batted out the final 200 overs for a draw at Somerset.Worcester captain Brett D’Oliveira opted to bowl first on a green-tinged pitch with good pace and carry, but they were slow starters as the hosts reached 49 without loss after 10 overs.Lyth shared 55 with opening partner Fin Bean, who was caught at third slip off Tom Taylor for 19.Left-hander Lyth then shared 68 through to early afternoon with second-wicket partner James Wharton, whose eye-catching 44 saw him drive handsomely and take four fours off one Taylor over.Worcestershire tightened up as the morning progressed and eroded Yorkshire’s position of strength during the first half of the afternoon, the White Rose falling from 123 for 1 in the 35th over to 179 for 4 in the 48th.Wharton edged Duffy (3 for 114 in 18 overs) behind – undone by extra bounce and away movement – before Lyth miscued an expansive pull at Matthew Waite’s bustling seam to deep backward square-leg.And when Bairstow fell controversially to Finch, Worcestershire had an opening.However, they encountered Malan in dominant form, including a slog-swept six over deep midwicket off Kashif Ali’s leg-spin.By then, Malan – in only his second first-class match since July 2023 having opted to step away from the red-ball game for a year – had reached his fifty off 66 balls.Yorkshire have some quality batters on their books, including the likes of Joe Root and Harry Brook, who will likely feature at some point during the opening two months of the county summer.But when Malan is on song, he is a match for any of them. He just makes batting look so easy. That six came in the over before tea, where he reached at 75 not out in 270 for 4.Hill edged a swish at Ben Allison behind in the early stages of the evening before the part-time off-spin of Jake Libby ousted Will Luxton, caught at deep midwicket on the slog sweep for 25, with the total on 339 in the 80th over.Duffy then had Malan caught at second slip with the second ball of the 82nd over, the first with the new ball, as Yorkshire fell to 345 for 7.The same bowler also trapped Dom Bess lbw, but Waite was still the standout Worcester bowler with figures of 1 for 53 from 15 overs.If those late wickets provided any doubt over the direction of the day, Jordan Thompson swayed things very much in Yorkshire’s favour with a quick-fire 48 not out from 43 balls. He dominated an unbroken 65 stand for the ninth wicket with Ben Coad (22).

“I missed a full toss. It wasn’t ideal.” This is one of the greatest contemporary batters speaking on a moment that swung the match away from his team.Steven Smith was batting on 73 in the 37th over against India, and seemed set to guide Australia into the death overs. Then he ran at Mohammed Shami, got a full toss at around knee-height, and missed it completely. The off stump was rattled.From there, Australia got 66 runs off the 75 balls available to them. Alex Carey hit 61 off 57, batting with the tail in the later stages. Nathan Ellis tried to crash some late boundaries. But if you are looking for a moment in the match that paved the way for India’s dominance, this is a big one.Related

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“My plan was to try and put the seamers under a bit more pressure, and just rotate the spin,” Smith said after the match. “But I didn’t do it very well. I lost my wicket at probably a crucial stage. Had I batted a little deeper, we could have potentially got up to near 300 or something. Alex was batting really nicely at the other end. It was a disappointing time to get out, but that’s the game sometimes.”Australia only set India 265 for victory. But given this was likely the most batting-friendly surface at this venue for the whole tournament, Smith rued the chance to go big.”I think we had our opportunities throughout to post something up above 300,” Smith said. “We were probably just that one wicket down too many at a few stages throughout the innings. If we extended one of those partnerships a little bit, we’re probably getting up to 290 to 300 and we’re putting a bit of pressure on the scoreboard.Steven Smith was bowled by a full toss•Associated Press

“The square block as a whole, I think, has seen a lot of cricket over the last couple of months. We can see it’s pretty tired and that’s probably the reason why we haven’t seen a score above 300 in the tournament here so far. So we did a reasonable job, but we probably just lacked a couple of those partnerships just dragging out a little bit further.”Australia were also poor in the field. They dropped Rohit Sharma twice, and Virat Kohli was put down on 51. All of these were tough chances, though.”I think when you’re trying to squeeze the game and you’re trying to build a lot of pressure, you need to take those chances when you’ve got 260 [264] on the board,” Smith said. “But that’s the game, it happens. No one means to drop a catch. It’s part of the game.”

Chittagong Kings captain Mohammad Mithun praised his opposite number Mehidy Hasan Miraz after the latter called back Tom O’Connell, who had been dismissed timed out during their BPL match against Khulna Tigers in Dhaka on Tuesday.O’Connell, the Australian legspinner, walked out to bat after the allocated three minutes were up during Chittagong’s chase of 204. Mehidy, the fielding captain, went to the umpire along with several of his team-mates to ask about the delay.The umpires, Raveendra Wimalasiri and Tanvir Ahmed, adjudged O’Connell to be out. As O’Connell started to trudge back to the dugout, Mehidy called him back.Related

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Mithun accepted that the dismissal was legitimate, and said that O’Connell had been taken by surprise as the wickets fell quickly, and he didn’t have enough time to get ready despite batting at No. 7.”I personally feel Miraz did a fantastic job,” Mithun said. “He showed that he has a big heart. It is within the rules for the fielding side to appeal. Credit to Miraz for letting [O’Connell] return to the crease.”The batter shouldn’t be late to the crease, particularly in a T20. He was a little late in getting ready. Probably he was a little relaxed when he was getting ready, maybe he didn’t realise that we would lose wickets so quickly. That’s what made him late. Nothing else.”O’Connell’s turn to bat came when Pakistani batter Haider Ali fell for a second-ball duck. Chittagong were 56 for 5 in the seventh over at that stage. After the timed-out drama, however, O’Connell himself fell for a golden duck, caught at short midwicket where Mehidy took the simple catch off Mohammad Nawaz’s bowling.Khulna went on to beat Chittagong by 37 runs.

Amir Jangoo’s unbeaten 104 and Keacy Carty’s 95 helped West Indies scale a 322-run chase against Bangladesh in St Kitts. They won the series 3-0 after Jangoo became the first West Indian in 46 years to score a century on ODI debut. He guided the side with two rapid partnerships. It is also the fourth time that West Indies successfully chased a 300-plus target in ODIs.Jangoo added 132 runs for the fifth wicket with Carty, and after West Indies lost two wickets in quick succession, he combined with Gudakesh Motie for an unbroken 91-run partnership for the seventh wicket to take them home. Motie remained unbeaten on 44 off 31 balls, hitting three sixes and as many fours. Jangoo’s innings was resplendent with six fours and four sixes.Related

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Bangladesh had posted 321 for 5 on the back of four fifties. Mahmudullah and Jaker Ali added 150 runs in an unbroken sixth-wicket stand, a Bangladesh record. Bangladesh also struck 12 sixes in the innings, their second most in ODIs.Brandon King picked up where he had left off in the second ODI, cracking two fours and a six off Nasum Ahmed in the second over of the chase. His innings, however, was cut short in the same over after a mix-up with his opening partner Alick Athanaze over a non-existent run. Athanaze himself did not last long, getting yorked by Nasum in his next over.Keacy Carty was instrumental in the chase•Randy Brooks

Hasan Mahmud then had Shai Hope caught at slip for three before Sherfane Rutherford and Carty stabilised the innings with a 55-run fourth-wicket stand. Taskin Ahmed dealt West Indies a further blow when he dismissed Rutherford for 30.Carty, though, was steady at the other end, already having struck two fours. Afif dropped him on 22 before Carty went after the Bangladesh spinners in the middle overs. He struck Rishad Hossain for consecutive fours in the 18th over, before hammering Mehidy Hasan Miraz for a six and a four in the 21st over. Jangoo hit Nasum for three fours in a short span before lofting Afif for his first six.It was in the 34th over that Bangladesh, perhaps, let the game slip. Jangoo had miscued one off Rishad, only to see substitute fielder Parvez Hossain Emon drop the chance while running back ffrom mid-off. Rishad did dismiss Carty next ball, with Soumya taking a low catch at point, but Jangoo’s miss came back to haunt them.Immediately after Roston Chase’s dismissal, Jangoo slogged Mehidy for his second six, before Motie and Jangoo struck Mahmud for a six each in the 43rd over. They struck one four each in the following over bowled by Taskin, before the pair completed the chase.Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Soumya Sarkar added 136 runs for the third wicket•Randy Brooks

The day could have belonged to Bangladesh given how they batted. After a disastrous start, having lost both Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das in the third over to be reduced to 9 for 2, Soumya and Mehidy resurrected the innings with a 136-run stand for the third wicket. Alzarri Joseph hurried Tanzid with a bouncer with the left-hander top-edging a pull. Litton’s horror run in ODIs continued when he edged a wide one to King at first slip.Mehidy was positive from the outset, hitting five boundaries in the powerplay. Soumya, who was dropped on nought, opened up after the powerplay. He played the upper-cut against Romario Shepherd for a six, before pasting Chase and Motie for a six each in consecutive overs.Shortly after Soumya was dropped for a second time, on 45 by Jangoo, Mehidy struck debutant Jediah Blades for a four a six. Soumya added a four to take 16 runs off the over, before getting two more fours off his next. Soumya was on a roll when he struck Motie for his fourth six, but fell next ball when the left-arm spinner trapped him in front. Soumya’s 73 came at a run a ball, including six fours and four sixes.Six overs after Soumya’s dismissal, Rutherford’s accurate throw from point found Mehidy short at the striker’s end as he fell for 77 off 73 balls. Rutherford then had Afif Hossain caught at the midwicket boundary for 15, as Bangladesh again lost two wickets in quick succession.But Jaker and Mahmudullah dominated the end overs. After having added 96 in the first ODI, they bettered it this time. After Jaker struck his first two fours, Mahmudullah crashed Motie down the ground for his first six, before hitting Chase for his second, over long-off.Jaker joined the party when he slammed Shepherd over cover and then Mahmudullah dragged Rutherford from outside off over square-leg for six. Bangladesh scored 59 runs in the last four overs to push their total past 320, but it was not enough on the day.

India captain Rohit Sharma has admitted after a forgettable and India’s first ever 3-0 whitewash at home that he was “not at my best” as both captain and batter, and that his team “failed as a unit” because they made “lots of mistakes.”Chasing 147 to get any possible WTC points from a series already conceded, India crashed and burned to 121 all out against the spin of Ajaz Patel and Glenn Phillips.”Definitely, you know, something like this will be a very low point in my career, you know, having lost three games at home,” Rohit said at the post-match press conference. “And, yes, we, I fully take the responsibility for that as a captain and as a leader as well. I have not been at the best of my abilities right from the start of the series. And yeah, with the bat as well, I’ve not been good enough.”Related

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For a while, when Rishabh Pant was counterattacking with a 57-ball 64, there was hope for the hosts. But before that it was 29 for 5, and after Pant fell, to a contentious third-umpire’s decision, it all unravelled quite quickly. Rohit looked back on the series as a whole and felt let down by his own decision making.”Right from the start, I said it. You know, I made a decision about batting first on that Bangalore pitch, which was not right,” he said. “And certain tactical errors also, which didn’t go my way. You obviously take chances with those decisions. Sometimes it comes off. Sometimes it doesn’t. And this time around, it didn’t come off, the certain decisions that I took. So, yeah, I was not at my best of my leadership. And probably cost us the series as well.”Rohit’s poor series coincided with an excellent one for Tom Latham – who assumed full-time captaincy of the team just last month – and his men.”New Zealand played better than us throughout the series,” he said at the presentation. “There were lots of mistakes that we made throughout the series, and we have to accept it.Virat Kohli has also been going through a lull•AFP/Getty Images

“The first and the second Test, we didn’t put enough runs on the board in the first innings. And we were very much behind the game. This game, we got that 30 [28]-runs lead and we felt that we were a little bit ahead of the game. That target was chaseable. All we had to do was a little bit of application, which we failed to do as a unit.”Questions about Rohit’s own batting form have been cropping up this series. Apart from a 52 in the second innings of the first Test in Bengaluru, he has managed scores of 2, 0, 8, 18 and 11. On ESPNcricinfo, Sanjay Manjrekar also spoke about Rohit’s captaincy, and what he called T20 tactics in a Test match.In this chase in Mumbai, Rohit hit two fours in a run-a-ball 11, but fell when he couldn’t get his favourite shot – the pull – right against Matt Henry.”Look, when you’re chasing a target like that, you want runs on the board as well. And that is something that was there in my mind,” Rohit said. “It just didn’t come off. When it doesn’t come off, it doesn’t look that great. There are certain ideas, certain methods that I go into bat with. Sometimes it doesn’t come off, and this series it hasn’t come off, which I am very disappointed with.”The other senior batter in the side – Virat Kohli (93 runs in six innings) – has also been going through a lull, which has forced a need for serious introspection. India will be facing the reigning Test match champions Australia in just over two weeks’ time.”Obviously, it’s [his and Kohli’s lack of runs] a cause of concern without a doubt,” Rohit said. “If the batters are not performing, that is a cause of concern. But what’s done is done now. I think as a player, as a captain, as a team, we all have to look forward and see how we can correct what we didn’t manage to achieve here. There is a good opportunity for us to go and do something really, really special in Australia.”But right now, it’s just trying to understand what we didn’t do right [against New Zealand], what are the things that we need to do better as a team. We made a lot of mistakes, so I think those mistakes need to be addressed and something that we will talk about. And then moving forward, when you land in Australia, I think it’s important to just focus on that particular series, the first Test match. You know, it’s a five Test match series, so it’s important to break down those Test series, those Test matches and focus on one Test and then just take it from there.”As always, there were positives. In the batting department as well, where the younger players – Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, and Washington Sundar showed, at various points, that runs could be scored on tough pitches.”Those guys showed how to bat on these surfaces,” Rohit said about the younger lot. “You have to be slightly ahead, and be proactive when you’re playing on a pitch like that. Which we all know. Which we have discussed many a time in the last three or four years. We are aware of what we need to do. It’s just that, this was an unfortunate series where it didn’t come off. We tried to do certain things, it didn’t come off. Which is why we lagged behind in the series.”

Stumps After the first day’s spotlight shone firmly on Australia’s Test hopefuls, India Test squad member Abhimanyu Easwaran and reserve Mukesh Kumar had contrasting fortunes before B Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal led an India A fightback on day two in Mackay.Trailing by 88 runs on the first innings, India stared down the barrel at 30 for 2 after the wickets of skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhimanyu. But Sai Sudharsan and Padikkal steadied the ship with an unbroken 178-run partnership as batting became easier on a surface that flattened out as the day wore on.They learned the lessons from India A’s disastrous first innings of 107 when a number of batters nicked off. Sai Sudharsan and Padikkal demonstrated patience and judged the full lengths well as they closed in on centuries. They waited to pick off the bowling, which was more wayward than on the opening day.Both batters used their feet well to offspinner Todd Murphy, who did not threaten and had figures of none for 54 from 17 overs. His struggles reared just before stumps when a delivery slipped from his fingers and landed near the square leg umpire.Devdutt Padikkal scored 80 in an unbroken 178-run stand with B Sai Sudharsan•Getty Images

It was a terrific recovery from India A after the wickets of Gaikwad and Abhimanyu, who each had double failures for the match. Gaikwad could only tentatively poke at a length delivery from quick Fergus O’Neill and edged to second slip where Cameron Bancroft demonstrated why he is one of the country’s best fielders, with a sharp catch low to the ground.Abhimanyu is seen as a contender to play in the early part of the Test series given the uncertainty over Rohit Sharma. But he was all at sea against the new ball with O’Neill producing rampant movement.Abhimanyu was fortunate to have survived on 2 after edging quick Jordan Buckingham to third slip only for the delivery to be deemed a no-ball. The pressure was building on Abhimanyu, who attempted to play more positively and also scampered for tight singles on a couple of occasions. But he pushed his luck after dashing off for a quick run only for the athletic Buckingham at midwicket to throw down the stumps leaving the diving batter just short of his ground.India’s recovery appeared to have had a setback when Padikkal on 31 drove O’Neill straight to Nathan McSweeney at short extra-cover only for the delivery to be called a no-ball.Cooper Connolly played positively, hitting five fours in his 37•Getty Images

Padikkal had medical treatment on his legs late in the day, but fought through as India A eyed setting a tough target with the focus soon to shift once again to those Australia A batters hoping to partner Usman Khawaja in the first Test.India A’s revival was started by Mukesh. He bowled unwavering spells and nipped the ball both ways to finish with 6 for 46, while quick Prasidh Krishna unfurled canny changes of pace, which has served him well in white-ball cricket, to claim a three-wicket haul.Australia A resumed their first innings at 99 for 4, trailing by just eight runs, with skipper McSweeney having a golden opportunity to boost his bid for first Test selection. McSweeney had survived through to stumps on a madcap day one after the early dismissals of Test candidates Bancroft, Sam Konstas and Marcus Harris.He once again showcased dogged defence and good judgment to leave deliveries outside his off stump. After a slow start to the day’s play, it took 17 deliveries until the first runs were scored when Cooper Connolly flayed a boundary through the off side.Connolly, 21, decided to counter-attack and quickly passed McSweeney after smashing 22 runs in an eight-ball whirlwind. His ability to shift gears is a reason why Connolly has risen in the ranks quickly and is seen as a contender for the Test tour of Sri Lanka early next year.Mukesh Kumar finished with innings figures of 6 for 46•Getty Images

In a contrast to many batters so far in this match, Connolly drove with ease and underlined why in Western Australian cricket circles he has been compared favourably to former Test batter Shaun Marsh. He appeared set for his fourth half-century from six innings in his first-class career before a tame dismissal on 37 when he mistimed a delivery from Mukesh to square-leg.It led to the quick wickets of Josh Philippe and McSweeney, whose dedication to defence was finally broken when he was caught at gully after being lured into driving a full delivery from Nitish Kumar Reddy.Reddy was able to find late movement that deceived McSweeney to highlight an impressive performance of 1 for 14 from seven overs.Australia A led by just 29 runs at the fall of McSweeney’s wicket before Murphy hit a breezy 33 to frustrate India A. It was left to Mukesh to finally wrap up the innings as he clean bowled Brendan Doggett for his fifth wicket and then picked up Murphy – who was the fourth batter in the innings to fall in the 30s.

India A bounced back from a first-round defeat to record a 186-run win over the Shreyas Iyer-led India D to remain in contention to finish on top of the table heading into the final round of the 2024-25 Duleep Trophy.Having set India D a target of 488, they were made to toil for 82 overs to earn an outright, with Shams Mulani and Tanush Kotian playing key roles with the ball, picking up seven wickets between them. Mulani was named Player of the Match for his four wickets in the match along with his crucial first-innings 89 that helped India A set up the game.Resuming on 62 for 1, Bhui drove the innings and brought up his 18th first-class hundred, but none of the other batters managed to play out time. Iyer and Sanju Samson, both of whom missed out in the first innings, made 41 and 40 respectively.Bhui and Yash Dubey put on 100 for the second wicket as India D’s pursuit to secure a draw received a massive leg up. But the run out of Dubey followed by Devdutt Padikkal’s dismissal on 1 off Shams Mulani set them back.Iyer and Samson were typically adventurous and batted with flair, at no point looking to rein their natural game. Iyer became Mulani’s second victim when he was bowled. That wicket opened the floodgates for his Mumbai team-mate Kotian to get into the thick of things. Kotian ended up with a four-for as he sliced through the lower order to seal victory in the final session.India A’s other notable performers included 32-year-old Railways batter Pratham Singh and Hyderabad batter Tilak Varma, both of whom slammed hundreds to set up a declaration late on the third day.

London Spirit won a low-scoring contest against Welsh Fire by three wickets to secure their first win of The Hundred men’s competition at Lord’s.Liam Dawson and Nathan Ellis claimed three wickets apiece as Fire could manage just 94 for nine, with Dan Worrell’s first 10 balls of the game all dots to set the tone.Matt Henry claimed three quick wickets to give Fire hope, but Dan Lawrence kept a cool head in a nervy chase with an unbeaten 29 which enabled Shimron Hetmyer to freedom muscle an unbeaten 30 and steer the hosts home with 13 balls remaining.Tom Kohler-Cadmore was unable to score off Worrall’s opening 10 balls and departed soon after when Andre Russell held a good catch running backwards off Olly Stone.Worrall got his reward to remove Luke Wells, who hit the only two sixes of the innings, and Dawson bowled Joe Clarke as Jonny Bairstow could only watch on as he faced just two of the first 35 balls.The England man got away a couple of boundaries when he finally got the strike but was bowled swiping against the line to give Ellis his first wicket.From there Ellis and Dawson put on the squeeze, conceding just 26 from their 40 balls combined. World Cup winner Dawson showed all his skill on the two-paced surface, returning three for 10, as Fire limped to a score that was never likely to be enough.The Welsh side needed early wickets and Henry provided them prising out Michael Pepper, Ollie Pope and Adam Rossington to leave Spirit 25 for three.Haris Rauf, who would later be on a hat-trick, had Ravi Bopara caught behind before Lawrence and Hetmyer settled home nerves in a 46-run stand.After doing the heavy lifting Lawrence skied a catch off Rauf, who bowled Russell next ball, and Hetmyer rode his luck after being dropped while Bairstow missed a tough stumping.The West Indian remained and crunched a six to finish the game and get the Spirit’s campaign up and running.Meerkat Match Hero Dawson said: “Tonight was a very big game for us after losing the first two. To get over the line will give us a huge amount of confidence. I have started nicely – it was a nice pitch to bowl on to put the ball in the right area and let the pitch do the work. It got a little bit tight in the end.”Spirit captain Lawrence said: “Hopefully we can get a roll now and keep performing like that. The mistake I made was trying to get the game done as soon as possible. I was just trying to stay in and take calculated risks.”