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Quinton de Kock struck his fourth T20 century – a superlative knock on a night where only two other batsmen made more than 30 – as Cape Town Blitz countered Nelson Mandela Bay Giants’ bonus point win on Friday with one of their own. This means that Blitz are now six points clear of the Giants at the top of the table. On the flip side, AB de Villiers’ Tshwane Spartans registered their fourth loss in six games, and will wonder how they managed to lose by 60 runs, having reduced Blitz to 101 for 8 at one point after electing to bowl.The pitch had bothered Quinton de Kock and Janneman Malan early on with its two-paced nature. But not to the extent it would cripple all the batsmen that followed the two openers, who still managed to strike at nearly ten an over during their 83-run stand. The introduction of spin through Jeevan Mendis’ legbreaks brought the dismissal Spartans were searching for. Pinch-hitter Andile Phehlukwayo was bowled by fast bowler Corbin Bosch next over and it was swiftly followed by two wickets in two balls by Sean Williams – Farhaan Behardien and Asif Ali both out after being beaten in flight by the left-arm spinner.And it just didn’t seem to stop. Batsmen fell rapidly against both pace and spin with the pitch showing a dramatic change in nature, and in five overs, Blitz crumbled for a collapse that read 8 for 18.But the return of Lutho Sipamla seemed to have encouraged de Kock, who had taken the bowler for 16 off 4 in the sixth over of the innings. In his third, the 15th of the innings, he hit him for a six and a four off consecutive deliveries. This gave him momentum going into the next over, where he spent the first four balls dismantling Mendis: a six over long-off to start, followed by boundaries at deep extra cover, deep backward square and wide long-on. In two overs, Blitz had moved from 101 for 8 to 133 for 8, and suddenly Spartans knew they were in for a brutal assault. Having galloped from 67 to 86 in five balls, de Kock didn’t take too long to bring up his hundred, a powerful drive wide of mid-off sealing that milestone for him in the 18th over.He fell in the 19th over with the score 158. And it wouldn’t have gone past 160 if Andrew Birch hadn’t overstepped first ball of the 20th. The seamer had managed to get Nandre Burger to sky a leading edge to third man, but his front foot landing ended up costing Spartans a further 12 runs in damage as Blitz remarkably managed to bat out their last 6.1 overs without being bowled out.De Kock’s innings would have encouraged Spartans, nonetheless. It showed that the runs were there to be had, and that Blitz may have well made more if their middle order had chipped in. However, they soon realised that the struggles they caused were more than cosmetic. Even while facing the new ball, strokemaking seemed almost impossible for openers Gihahn Cloete and Dean Elgar. The few boundaries that did come were not all controlled shots, and quite a few of them came off edges.In fact, it got so bad by the time the spinners came on, that No. 3 batsman Theunis de Bruyn couldn’t find the boundary a single time in the 17 balls he faced. When he pulled Mohammad Nawaz to long-on, Spartans were striking at less than seven per over at the halfway stage.Any hopes of recovering from those depths were squashed in the following over, with Malusi Siboto rattling de Villiers’ stumps. It was symptomatic of the pitch: de Villiers got an inside edge onto thigh guard that deflected onto the stumps. Like most other batsmen on the pitch, de Villiers simply couldn’t come to terms with the slowness during his 10-ball innings.Nawaz turned the screws further with his third wicket in the next over and finished with 3 for 14 in his three. There was little Spartans could do to recover, having gone six overs without a boundary after the eighth over of the innings. Attempts at aggression were futile in the end, and Burger used that to round off an impressive first game of the season with figures of 3 for 19.

Why is this hearing significant?This hearing has the potential to end the bizarre situation where the BCCI has not carried out the Supreme Court’s orders on reforms. On July 18, 2016, the court approved the reforms recommended by the RM Lodha Committee and directed that they be implemented by all state associations; it subsequently amended certain reforms at the request of several state associations. To date, though, not a single member association of the BCCI, nor the parent body itself, has implemented the recommendations in toto.The CoA has now recommended that the BCCI conduct elections within 90 days from the court’s ruling and has requested, in its status report, that the court approve a timeline for elections.Why has the BCCI failed to hold elections?To conduct the elections, the states and the BCCI first need to comply with the new constitution, which was registered last August. That means they have to agree unconditionally to all reforms. Not one of the 34 state associations of the BCCI was fully compliant at the time when the CoA submitted its status report on October 27 last year. The CoA identified seven states as being “non-compliant”, while the rest fell under the “partially compliant” and “substantially compliant” categories.ALSO READ: CoA asks Supreme Court to suspend voting rights of non-compliant statesWhat are the contentious reforms?Although the state associations have set the ball rolling, many have dragged their feet on key reforms such as the cooling-off period, disqualification criteria, and selection panels. The most significant reform that BCCI members want the court to re-examine is the nine-year tenure limit set for office bearers in the new constitution. The members have suggested that as per the original order of the court in 2016, the office bearers’ tenure at BCCI and state associations was distinct, giving office-bearers a potential cumulative life of 18 years. However, under the new constitution, that limit has been reset to a cumulative nine years – whether at state level or at the BCCI or both.What can the court do to enforce its order?Follow the CoA’s recommendation of barring errant state associations from their voting rights in the BCCI elections and also withholding their funding.Diana Edulji and Vinod Rai emerge from a CoA meeting•Getty Images

Anything else the BCCI members want to pursue?Several BCCI members want the CoA’s reign to be brought to end. But that will only happen if they conduct elections. Nonetheless, the members want to make the court aware of the deep divisions and distrust within the two-member CoA comprising Vinod Rai, the former Comptroller & Auditor General of India, and Diana Edulji, the former India women captain. Their motive? Some members feel that would allow them to regain control of the BCCI despite being forced to implement reforms unconditionally.The issues that have split the CoA
The Rahul Johri sexual-harrassment allegations
The hiring of the India women coach
The Hardik Pandya-KL Rahul chat show controversyHow does the divide in CoA really matter?It matters because the CoA’s squabbles have now spilled over to the cricket arena and are in danger of affecting India’s World Cup preparations. Take the controversial TV-show comments of Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul: Rai and Edulji agree the players ought to be penalised, but have differed strongly on how to go about it. Both players have now been suspended and are out of the ongoing ODI series in Australia and are set to miss the limited-overs tour of New Zealand as well. The BCCI’s legal team recommended that the players be suspended pending an inquiry with the Ombudsman being the final adjudicator. Both Rai and Edulji want the court to give directions on the appointment of an Ombudsman, a position the BCCI has not filled since late 2016.Any other matter of interest?The court is also likely to hear a petition, filed by whistleblower Aditya Verma, to make public the findings of the ad-hoc committee that handled the sexual misconduct allegations against BCCI CEO Rahul Johri. The CoA will submit the findings in a sealed envelope but Verma has petitioned the court to ask the CoA to make the findings public.And, finally, who is conducting the hearing?At least three chief justices have presided over the case stretching back five years. On Thursday the bench will comprise Justices SA Bobde and AM Sapre.

Joe Root admitted it was a relief for England to finish a tough Test series on a high, following England’s 232-run victory in St Lucia, but admitted that his side would have to reflect on “some important lessons” going into a “very important summer”.”I think it was a really important week for this group, to play in the manner we have,” Root said. In particular, he cited the performances of Mark Wood with the ball and Ben Stokes with the bat, as well as a more disciplined batting display from a top three that may not have made compelling cases for future selection, but who played their parts in blunting the new ball and freeing up England’s middle order to play with less pressure.Root himself led from the front with his 16th Test century, as he bounced back from a tally of 55 runs in his first five innings of the series, but with Test cricket now on hold until July 24, when Ireland arrive at Lord’s as a curtain-raiser to the Ashes, many of the team’s unresolved issues will be put on the back-burner until after the World Cup.Nevertheless, by responding to their heavy defeats in Barbados and Antigua with a hefty win of their own, England showed an ability to knuckle down and bat for time, rather than just the pursuit of quick runs that had been their downfall in the early exchanges of the series.”I think at times, individually, in our approaches to managing different conditions and situations in the game, we can manage those periods a lot better,” Root said. “This week was a great example of that. We got a decent start in challenging conditions, and managed to build on that, get to a very good score and managed to hammer it home in the second innings.”We feel like we are improving as a team and we’ve got some important lessons to learn, and plenty to think about ahead of a very important summer.”The manner of England’s win appeared also to answer the call from their coach, Trevor Bayliss, who has been stinging in his criticism of the team’s “lack of mental discipline” in the first two Tests, and had called for a greater show of “guts and determination”.”I think that depends on your definition of gutsing it out,” Root said. “The guys have worked really hard on this trip, it’s not down to a lack of effort. At times, maybe, we’ve been thinking the wrong things, and not quite getting the gameplans right or executing them. It’s about learning and improving on this trip.”One clear lesson that England were taught was the importance of selection – with Wood’s stunningly quick spell in the third Test making the pace-light line-up in Barbados (where Sam Curran and Adil Rashid were preferred to Stuart Broad and a fourth frontline quick) look especially wrong-headed in hindsight.”We found something [here] that’s worked throughout this series,” Root said. “It’s a shame we didn’t come across it a little bit earlier. But credit to the Windies, they played really well in those first two Test matches and outperformed us. Perhaps we could have gone in with a slightly different balance but we’ve got that knowledge if we come here again in the future.”Wood bowled beautifully,” Root added. “I don’t think I’ve ever stood as far back as that before. I’m trying to nurse a hole in my hand from that first [catch] I managed to cling on to. It’s a great story. To go away, work how he has with the Lions and find really good form. To produce what he has done this week he should be really proud of that.”Ben Stokes pulls through the leg side•Getty Images

Asked if Wood should have been selected sooner in the series, Root said: “It’s easy to say that now when you see him unleash himself and bowl with that pace and freedom. The enjoyment too, you always feel you’re getting the best out of Woody when he enjoys himself on the field. Hopefully he can harness that and take it forward.”Given Wood’s long history of injury problems, Root admitted that he would need careful management to retain his edge as a fast bowler, and conceded he had a lot to learn about such things after Wood himself said his spell in the first innings had been “two overs too long”.”When there is a bit more pace in the wicket we might have be smart about how we use him,” Root said. “And how we go about things at the other end. It is a learning curve for me, I am by no means the finished article as captain. I’m always looking to improve, but to have another option to go to, to have variation, is so important.”Another man who seemed back to his free-flowing best was Stokes, whose vital first-innings fifty had been triggered by a return to an off-stump guard that had served him well against New Zealand in 2015, but who was also aided by a change to the balance of England’s team. He didn’t bowl a single ball in the first innings, having been over-relied upon in Barbados and Antigua, and seemed liberated to be the player England needed in a given situation, rather than constrained by too much responsibility.”Ben’s approach this game is more of what he’s about,” Root said. “He’ll openly admit that, in the last year or so, he’s found things difficult and maybe gone too far the other way when wickets have been quite challenging.”It’s great to see him come and play in the manner that he did in this game. When he’s firing and playing in that manner, it puts pressure on the opposition and gets the best out of himself, and he’s great for the team to bat around as well.”The one player who appeared to lose out in St Lucia was Keaton Jennings, whose return to the top of the order ended with a bizarre dismissal off his thigh pad, a moment which seemed to signal that the end of the line had finally come.Root, however, insisted that nothing can be taken for granted, especially with more than five months between now and the Ireland match for all the Test specialists to make good runs in the County Championship.”He can come again,” Root said. “There’s a few things he’ll want to work on and improve, but you don’t become a bad player overnight, he’s got two Test hundreds. He’ll go away and look to consistently get better. He’s got a very good attitude, he’ll go to Lancashire and keep working at his game.”

Bruce Yardley, the former Australian spin bowler, coach and commentator, has died in far north Western Australia after a prolonged fight with cancer at the age of 71.Starting his cricketing life as one of many swing and seam bowlers in WA, Yardley found his niche after converting to off-breaks spun idiosyncratically from his right middle and ring fingers, first earning Test selection in the summer of 1977-78 during the World Series Cricket split that spirited away a host of Australian players to Kerry Packer’s breakaway competition.Not immediately successful for Australia, Yardley gradually improved as a bowler generating turn and bounce from a long, angled run-up and high action, while also smiting the intimidating West Indian attack for a memorable, 29-ball half century in a Test at Barbados in 1978 – a tour on which he was also called, once, for throwing in the tour match against Jamaica.The following season he turned out for Graeme Yallop’s “lambs to the slaughter” against England, and notably took the old ball for the start of the second innings of the final Test of the series at the SCG, as Yallop stretched the game’s laws by opting not to take a new ball, much to the indignation of his opposite number, Mike Brearley.Yardley returned to state ranks when Packer and the Australian Cricket Board reached a compromise ahead of the 1979-80 season, having toured India ahead of the home summer.A season later, however, Yardley returned as the nation’s No. 1 spinner, and enjoyed three summers in the national spotlight from 1980 to 1983.The most striking of these was 1981-82, when he plucked no fewer than 38 wickets in six home Tests against Pakistan and the West Indies, winning a cult following for the quality of his bowling and the infectiousness nature of his celebrations, his fielding at gully and his pesky lower order batting. These feats earned him the crown of International Cricketer of the Year, and he also winkled out 13 New Zealand wickets in three Tests across the Tasman.Yardley was to fall out of favour with the national selectors in 1983 despite taking seven wickets against Sri Lanka in his final Test, and retired from the game in 1985, though he returned to represent Western Australia in 1989-90.Following the end of his playing days, Yardley coached both close to home for Midland Guildford in Perth club cricket, and further afield as the national team coach of Sri Lanka from 1996 to 1998, where he was a noted advocate for Muttiah Muralitharan and a defender of his bowling action in contrast to many of his countrymen.He also coached and commentated internationally, before battling cancer back home in Western Australia, where he died at Kununurra District Hospital.”Bruce was a significant figure in Australian cricket, contributing in many ways on and off the field,” Cricket Australia’s chief executive Kevin Roberts said. ​”As a player, it took him more than ten years of persistence playing First-Class and Premier cricket to find the art of off-spin, earning him a Test debut at the age of 30.​”Bruce’s bowling dominates his career highlights with 126 Test wickets, holding the mantle as Australia’s most successful Test off-spinner before being surpassed by Nathan Lyon. He was also an excellent fielder and handy batter, holding the record for the quickest Test fifty for 38 years.​”Off the field, Bruce had an infectious personality and was regarded as one of the best spin-bowing coaches in the world, coaching Sri Lanka and mentoring the greatest Test wicket-taker of all time, Muttiah Muralitharan. On behalf of the Board and staff at Cricket Australia, we acknowledge Bruce’s outstanding contribution to Australian cricket, and our thoughts are with his family, friends and many of those in the cricketing community who knew him.”

A plan to involve Younis Khan, Pakistan’s highest run-scorer in Test cricket, in the country’s Under-19 coaching set-up has fallen through after the former captain and the PCB failed to reach an agreement. One of the sticking points, ESPNcricinfo understands, had to do with finances, while the other was with the job profile, as the PCB had proposed Younis only be a mentor and a coach, but he wanted a say in selection as well.The proposal to bring Younis into the system following his retirement two years go was initiated by Ehsan Mani, the PCB chairman, who wished to have a modern cricketer to work with the youngsters, somewhat along the lines of the role played by Rahul Dravid in India, though he is also the coach of the India A side. The idea was to try and develop the new lot of junior cricketers early on in their journey towards the top tier, unlike in the past, when coaches from the domestic level have been given charge, that too usually months before an Under-19 World Cup.The choice of Younis wasn’t a straightforward one, as he has had a frayed relationship with the PCB over the years. And it’s believed that various senior PCB officials had expressed their reservations, some even refusing to deal with Younis directly.PCB managing director Wasim Khan eventually had a number of meetings with Younis, but it came down to a question of money – Younis’ demand was too hefty for the PCB. There was also the other factor: Younis wanted to be involved in selection affairs, which the PCB didn’t want. The last meeting was over three weeks ago, and the two parties parted ways after that.Neither Younis, nor the PCB agreed to comment on the matter, but the board did confirm that they had been in talks.

Worcestershire are closing in on an innings victory after enforcing the follow-on and taking four second-innings wickets in their Specsavers County Championship match against Leicestershire at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road.Seamer Charlie Morris dismissed Ateeq Javid, Paul Horton and Mark Cosgrove to reduce the Foxes to 31 for 3 in their second innings after acting Worcestershire captain Ben Cox had decided to bowl again, having dismissed them for 302 in their first innings, a deficit of 251.A fourth-wicket partnership of 93 between Hassan Azad, making his home championship debut, and Colin Ackermann threatened to frustrate the visitors, but shortly before the close Azad, having reached a second half-century in as many games, could not keep down a brutal lifting delivery from Josh Tongue, gloving a simple catch to Daryl Mitchell at gully.Resuming on 180 for 4 in the morning session, trailing by 374 and still needing another 224 runs to avoid the follow-on, Leicestershire quickly lost Chris Wright, the nightwatchman clipping a leg stump half-volley from Ed Barnard straight into the hands of Hamish Rutherford at midwicket.Harry Dearden looked in good form in going to 13, but attempted to hit a full delivery from Wayne Parnell through the leg side, missed and was given out leg before.Parnell then took his second wicket of the morning when Javid, having battled his way to 69 off 217 balls, drove airily at a delivery outside off-stump and edged to first slip, where Riki Wessels took a two-handed catch to his right.Tongue had Lewis Hill caught behind after a stand of 48 with Tom Taylor, with Taylor and then Ben Mike then going in short order to Tongue (who finished with 4 for 46) and Barnard (3 for 40) respectively.Morris made quick inroads into the home team’s second innings, bowling Javid with a lovely delivery that came back to hit the top of off stump, before Horton, playing across the line, went leg before. A three-day victory looked in prospect when Cosgrove unaccountably drove a simple catch to Tom Fell at cover before scoring, but Azad, who looks a real find for the Foxes, and Ackermann dug in to ensure the match went into a final day.

Akhtar Sarfraz, the former Pakistan and Peshawar batsman, has died aged 43 after a battle with colon cancer. He passed away at the Shaukat Khanum Memorial cancer hospital, which was built by Imran Khan, in Peshawar.A left-hander, Sarfraz played four ODIs between December 1997 and October 1998, scoring 66 runs in four innings. He had a more successful domestic career – 5720 runs in 118 first-class games and 2636 runs in 98 List A games – which spanned over a decade. His last competitive game was for Peshawar in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in 2007.After ending his playing career, Sarfraz worked as a regional coach and then served as a selector for the Pakistan women’s side between 2018 and 2019.PCB chairman Ehsan Mani paid tribute to Sarfraz, saying, “The PCB is shocked to hear the sad news of Akhtar’s passing. It is very difficult to accept and comprehend if you lose someone from the cricket fraternity, particularly as young and lively as Akhtar who was admired, respected and loved by everyone.”It’s tragic that death cut short his life at such a young age, but he will live in our memories for a very long period. On behalf of the PCB, I want to extend my deepest condolences to Akhtar’s family and assure them that in these difficult times, we stand firmly with them.”

“Baffling.”That was the word former India captain Sunil Gavaskar used to express his disappointment with the Indian team management’s decisions ahead of, and during, their World Cup 2019 campaign. India had topped the league stage of the tournament, but lost by 18 runs against fourth-placed New Zealand in a thrilling semi-final.Matt Henry and Trent Boult had reduced India to 5 for 3 in their chase of 240, but there was some surprise about MS Dhoni’s batting position, with the most experienced member of the team coming in at No.7, with all of Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya sent in ahead of Dhoni.Dhoni didn’t walk out even when India became 24 for 4 in 10 overs, with Jimmy Neesham taking a spectacular one-handed catch to send back Karthik. The general expectation was that the situation was ideal for Dhoni’s experience and calm, but it was Pandya who came out to join Pant.Both young players put their heads down in a 47-run stand for the fifth wicket, playing with confidence and composure. However, Pant went for the slog-sweep against Mitchell Santner, with the bowler having built up pressure through tight bowling, and was caught at deep midwicket. Pandya was out to a similar shot, as the asking rate mounted.Gavaskar felt that Dhoni should have been the one to join Pant when the fourth wicket fell, since he could have settled any nerves that Pant, as a rookie, might have felt.”At that stage (24 for 4) you did not need two players playing in the same mould,” Gavaskar told on Thursday, the day after India’s defeat. “Both (Pant and Pandya) are attacking players. It could have been an MS Dhoni coming in at this stage and talking to Rishabh every second delivery.”He would have assessed from the non-striker’s end what exactly Rishabh Pant is feeling: is he getting a little impatient? You have sent two people whose natural game is to go bang-bang, and at that stage, with the ball doing all kinds of things and the pressure being there, four wickets gone – you wanted somebody to hang in there. That was baffling.”When India’s captain Virat Kohli was asked why Dhoni walked in at No. 7, the lowest he has batted in the tournament, he said the role Dhoni had been given some games into the tournament was to be there at the end. “Well, he’s been given that role after the first few games of being in a situation where he can, if the situation’s bad, control one end, like he did today,” Kohli said. “Or if there is a scenario where there are six or seven overs left, he can go and strike.”Gavaskar pointed to Ambati Rayudu as one batsman who would have had the ability and experience to handle the situation following the top order collapse. Rayudu had been on the list of standbys for India’s World Cup squad, but wasn’t called up despite two men being rendered unavailable through injuries, following which he announced his retirement from all cricket.Rayudu had batted 14 times at No.4 since his return to the Indian ODI squad last year in the Asia Cup, but he wasn’t called up to the team, with Pant flown in when Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out and Mayank Agarwal included when Vijay Shankar had to exit.”Let’s face, there have been a lot of baffling decisions over the last couple of years. Ambati Rayudu for example – he should have been brought here,” Gavaskar said. “Why and how can you explain to me you bring in a Mayank Agarwal? He hasn’t played a single ODI as yet. He just came before the Sri Lanka game, the last league game, (so) you want to him to make his debut in a semifinals or a final in case a slot was open? Why not bring in an Ambati Rayudu, who is your standby? Very disappointing to see what happened yesterday.”VVS Laxman, too, was critical of the selectors and the Indian team management for preferring Vijay Shankar over Rayudu in the original squad. “Yes, Vijay Shankar can contribute with the ball (too), but what about the experience the Indian middle order required?” Laxman said. “Who is that batsman at No. 4? It has been musical chairs: 13 players have been tried and tested, but they have not been given enough opportunities. In a semi-final ultimately, those kind of decisions will affect the team, which it did.”MS Dhoni smashed a six late into the chase•AFP

Gavaskar said the Indian fans deserved answers to some of the rationale behind the decision-making. “Last year you say we found our No. 4,” he said, referring to when Kohli had anointed Rayudu as the man to fill that spot. “So what happens to that No. 4? He is now left out of the original squad. Then when you have the opportunity when Vijay Shankar gets unfortunately injured, you bring somebody else in. This is something nobody can understand. The Indian public is entitled to answers – what is the thinking behind this (selections).”It is not the selection committee’s decision. It is the team management which has been asking these things. We are not saying you are wrong but at the moment what we are seeing didn’t work out, so we need to know.”Gavaskar said even someone like Ajinkya Rahane could have been an option at No.4, given his sound technique. Rahane had been tried at that position earlier, but was dropped, and Gavaskar felt the batsman was given confusing messages.”You have tried Ajinkya Rahane. He was your middle order batsman for such a long time. Suddenly you are only going to consider him as an opening batsman because in the middle overs he is not a finisher, he does not take runs, whatever, whatever excuses we heard,” Gavaskar said.”In those conditions in Manchester, what did you need? Somebody with technique. Somebody who could have been around to see that period off and then eventually leave the field open for a Hardik Pandya or even a MS Dhoni.”

Twelve days after his heroics in the World Cup final, Jofra Archer made a highly impressive return to action with two wickets as Sussex Sharks tied with Surrey in a Vitality Blast thriller at Hove.The 24-year-old showed no ill effects from the side injury which troubled him throughout the World Cup during four hostile overs, bowled in three spells at a cost of 21 runs, during which he picked up the wickets of Aaron Finch and Surrey’s top scorer Ollie Pope, who was dropped on 16, for 43.Fifteen days after removing him for a golden duck in the World Cup semi-final, Archer had Finch well caught on the square-leg boundary by Delray Rawlins. He returned in the 14th over with a superbly disguised slower ball to dismiss Pope, who had just hit four boundaries in an over off Danny Briggs and appeared to be guiding Surrey to victory.Archer had bowled in the nets under the supervision of England’s medical staff earlier in the day and could now be in the Ashes squad when it is named on Saturday.A 6000 sell-out crowd had given Archer a standing ovation when he went out to bat earlier in the evening and they were treated to a thrilling finale. Surrey looked favourites with 29 needed off the last five overs with five wickets in hand but Tymal Mills dragged Sussex back into contention when two searing yorkers accounted for Tom Curran and Ryan Patel in the 18th over.Then off the final ball of the 19th Rikki Clarke holed out to long-on leaving ninth-wicket pair Gareth Batty and Imran Tahir with the task of scoring 12 from the last over from David Wiese, who was bowling his only over of the night.Wiese conceded singles off the first two balls then Tahir stylishly uppercut a full toss for six. One run came off the next two deliveries, leaving Batty to score three to win off the final ball. He drove to long-on and the pair scrambled back for a second after Sussex missed with two throws at the stumps, either of which would have run him out had they been on target.Earlier, Sussex had finished on 144 for 8 which was something of a disappointment after skipper Luke Wright and Phil Salt had smashed 50 in the first four overs.Salt, dropped by Curran off his second ball when on nought, hit 27 off ten balls including successive sixes off Jade Dernbach. But the Sharks were never the same when he holed out later in the same over and it needed an unbeaten 76 from skipper Wright to get them to a competitive total.Sussex only managed six boundaries after the sixth over with Wright unable to go onto the offensive because wickets were falling too regularly at the other end. Veteran offspinner Batty had figures of 3 for 8 at one stage while only Ben Brown got into double figures. Wright hit 14 off Jordan Clarke in the 18th over and finished with 76 off 59 balls including a six and nine fours.

Yorkshire Diamonds overseas star Jemimah Rodrigues hit a brilliant half-century as Kia Super League finalists Western Storm finally surrendered their unbeaten record, losing by five runs in a rain-affected contest at the Cooper Associates Ground.Rodrigues struck 60 from 27 balls, accrued 10 fours and two sixes and dominated a match-winning third-wicket stand of 79 in 45 balls with Hollie Armitage as Diamonds posted 104 for 4 in 10 overs after being put into bat.Victorious in their opening nine games and desperate to retain their 100% record, Storm refused to go down without a fight. Fran Wilson and Sophie Luff took the chase down to the final ball in a spirited unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 76, only for experienced seamer Beth Langston to hold her nerve in a thrilling finale.Internationals Lauren Winfield and Alyssa Healy afforded Diamonds’ innings crucial early momentum in a first over which yielded 19 runs, offspinner Claire Nicholas uncharacteristically conceding four boundaries.But England seamer Freya Davies effected a turnaround in fortunes, removing both in the space of five balls in the second over to reduce Diamonds to 21 for 2. England’s Winfield skied a top-edged pull to wicketkeeper Rachel Priest, who then demonstrated safe hands when Australia’s Healy was hurried in the act of driving.New batsmen Rodrigues and Armitage sought to redress the balance, staging a revitalising partnership for the third wicket. They particularly targeted off spinners Heather Knight, Deepti Sharma and Nicholas, advancing the total to a handy 55 for 2 at halfway.Indian teen star Rodrigues timed the ball sweetly, smiting two sixes and eight fours in raising a 21-ball 50, bringing more or less constant pressure to bear on the Storm bowlers. Rodrigues was threatening to carry Diamonds to a truly imposing total when she finally fluffed her lines in the face of nagging line and length from Davies, mistiming a drive and holing out to mid-off in the final over.The only Storm bowler to escape punishment, Davies finished with admirable figures of 3 for 7 off two overs, frustrating Yorkshire’s attempts to accelerate at the death.Prepared to play second fiddle, Armitage proved the perfect foil to the more forthright Rodrigues, contributing 19 from 21 deliveries before being run out off the final ball.Storm’s reply was halted in its tracks as key batters Priest, Smriti Mandhana and Knight all departed inside five overs, Diamonds reducing the hosts to 23 for 3. Priest never looked comfortable under the floodlights, hitting Linsey Smith to deep midwicket for 7 to spark the slide.Mandhana chipped Leigh Kasperek to cover in the next over and Knight followed her back to the pavilion soon afterwards, dismissed in near-identical fashion to afford Diamonds all the encouragement they needed.Charged with the unenviable task of rebuilding an innings that had stalled in it’s infancy, Wilson and Luff made a decent fist of chasing. Throwing caution to the wind, the fourth-wicket pair combined feverish running between the wickets and clean hitting to sow seeds of doubt in Yorkshire minds.Needing 14 runs off the final over, Storm hopes were revived when Langston no-balled twice. But the home side were unable to take advantage of the subsequent free hits and came up agonislingly short at the death. Wilson hit an unbeaten 45 from 20 balls, while Somerset-born Luff finished on 31 not out from 18 deliveries.