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Zimbabwe had as many as three debutants in the Boxing Day Test against Afghanistan in Bulawayo. One of them, opening batter Ben Curran, went on to score 68 on day one, while the other two debutants were pace bowlers Trevor Gwandu and Newman Nyamhuri.Curran reached his half-century off just 54 balls, and hit 11 boundaries during his stay of 74 deliveries. After the day’s play, Sean Williams, who ended unbeaten on 145, felt Curran’s approach helped set the tone for Zimbabwe, who ended up scoring 363 at 4.27 runs an over.”I think it’s huge. That intent and those partnerships going forward, it’s amazing,” Williams said. “The intent one batsman shows, allows the other batsman to score. It’s like, he ends up benefiting from your intent. And that’s what we want in the team.”Related

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Williams said players like him, Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza have been “around for a long time”, and that Zimbabwe wanted the incoming debutants to just have “clear minds”.”It’s kind of like going back to grade one again, and it’s actually really refreshing as a senior to go back and review all of those things that you used to do in a team meeting – taking notes, doing this thing, analysing, [and] checking your videos,” he said. “Things like that, these younger guys, we’re encouraging them to do.”Zimbabwe entered the Test series on the back of defeats to Afghanistan in both the T20I and the ODI series with their batting coming under criticism. But Williams, and half-centurions Curran and Ervine, helped Zimbabwe dominate the opening day of the first Test in what was a turnaround of fortunes for the hosts. Williams put that down to having “clear plans”.”Going into training, coming to a meeting, and being absolutely clear on what you need to do,” he said. “Keeping that good ball out, but scoring off the bad ball. And that’s the intent that we’re after from all of us… Every bowler bowls bad balls. But you have to put them away and you have to be brave enough to be able to try to put them away.”

Who’s playing

Mumbai Indians (MI) vs Gujarat Giants (GG)
Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, 7.30pm IST

What to expect: two wounded teams eyeing a final spot

Even though both Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians come into the eliminator after losing their last league games, Mumbai look a little more wounded. They lost their first home game at Brabourne Stadium in the WPL on Tuesday, they dropped four catches in the game, leaked a lot of runs in the field, and they are playing non-stop cricket at the end of the tournament. The eliminator on Thursday will be their third game in four days after back-to-back matches to start the week and should they make the final, it will be four games in the span of six days for Mumbai.Giants have no such issues. The margin of their loss to Mumbai on Monday was just nine runs after Bharti Fulmali’s blazing finish, their Indian players are stepping up at the right time to take some of the load off the overseas stars, and their run of three straight wins before heading to Mumbai would have given them bundles of confidence.Except they have never beaten Mumbai. In these three seasons of WPL, Mumbai boast of a 6-0 record against Giants but going by their last clash, the next contest may not be as lopsided as this stat suggests. One of the factors behind Giants’ rise in the points table was their middle-order batting led by captain Ashleigh Gardner and Deandra Dottin, even if they struggled to find the perfect opening partner for Beth Mooney. Giants have been the slowest starters in the powerplay this WPL (run rate 5.97), but then they pick up fabulously in the middle overs with a scoring rate of 8.81 (better than anyone else), and have been the second-best finishers at the death (10 per over) behind only Royal Challengers Bengaluru.Related

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• Priya Mishra spins her way into the spotlight

• The rise and roar of Kashvee Gautam

• Harmanpreet adds more aggression to her game

Going by this WPL’s trends, what could possibly decide the match will be Giants’ middle overs, when they will be looking to press the pedal but will be up against the mighty bowling of Mumbai – the best bowling side in that phase. Amelia Kerr, their star bowler in the middle overs, might have leaked plenty of runs on Tuesday, but had all the catches been taken off her bowling her figures might have been different. Her ability to excel under pressure – as was seen in the T20 World Cup last year – could be on display again on Thursday.Going into the toss, both captains would be relieved to know which way the coin falls might not matter too much: while teams have still been opting to chase, the tide has turned at the end of the league stage with teams batting first winning the last three games. Before that, only two games had been won batting first out of 17.While Mumbai will be eyeing their second final in three years after losing to RCB in the eliminator last year, the onus is on Giants to not make this year’s final match-up a repeat of what we saw in 2023.

Form guide

Mumbai Indians LWWLW (last five matches, most recent first)
Gujarat Giants LWWWL

Team news

Both teams went unchanged into their last league games but will be concerned about their opening combinations. If Giants haven’t found anyone to partner Mooney, Mumbai’s strategy to promote Kerr to the top hasn’t worked in three attempts.Gujarat Giants (probable): 1 Beth Mooney (wk), 2 Kashvee Gautam, 3 Harleen Deol, 4 Ashleigh Gardner (capt), 5 Phoebe Lichfield, 6 Deandra Dottin, 7 Bharti Fulmali, 8 Simran Shaikh, 9 Tanuja Kanwar, 10 Meghna Singh, 11 Priya MishraMumbai Indians (probable): 1 Hayley Matthews, 2 Amelia Kerr, 3 Nat Sciver-Brunt, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Amanjot Kaur, 6 Yastika Bhatia (wk), 7 G Kamalini, 8 S Sajana, 9 Sanskriti Gupta, 9 10 Shabnim Ismail, 11 Parunika Sisodia

Players to watch: Harmanpreet Kaur and Beth Mooney

Harmanpreet Kaur loves playing Giants. She averages nearly 79 against them, scores at a rate of 171 and has four half-centuries against them. Harmanpreet’s tally of 315 runs is the most a batter has accrued against Giants. She has not been at her consistent best this season and, in the absence of solid batting options after her, another big score against Giants would give her a lot of confidence potentially going into a final.A big-match player like Beth Mooney will be crucial for Giants•BCCI

Beth Mooney has been Giants’ only hope at the top of the order for large parts of the season. Fortunately for them Harleen Deol has come good at No. 3 lately, but Mooney has done the heavy lifting to give them steady if sedate starts. RCB’s openers showed on Tuesday that you could go after Mumbai’s top bowlers too, and Mooney could take a leaf out of Smriti Mandhana’s book. She has two half-centuries this season, not even close to her best, and she’ll be itching to get a big one against Giants’ nemesis in the eliminator.

Key stats

• An average of nearly 70 combined with a strike rate that’s touching 153 is largely unheard of in WT20s, but such is Nat Sciver-Brunt’s purple patch this time. She currently has the Orange Cup and became the first batter to cross 400 runs in a WPL season. If she scores another 80 on Thursday – her highest score in the WPL – she will become the first player to reach 1000 WPL runs
• Ash Gardner is the top run-scorer (559) and the top wicket-taker (25) for Giants in WPL history
• There are three allrounders this season who have over 200 runs and more than five wickets so far, all from Mumbai and Giants: Sciver-Brunt, Hayley Matthews and Gardner
• Kerr and Matthews lead the wicket-taking charts so far this WPL with 14 scalps each. Giants’ top wicket-taker is Kashvee Gautam with ten

Salman Nizar was the hero for Kerala as they entered the Ranji Trophy semi-final only for the second time in their history. They got there having batted out the entire final day of an absorbing contest against Jammu & Kashmir that went into the last 30 minutes with all results possible.J&K needed four wickets, while Kerala simply needed to bat time to ensure a draw was enough since they’d taken a one-run lead. Nizar was unbeaten on 44 off 162 balls, Mohammed Azharuddeen 67 off 118 balls. The seventh-wicket pair batted out 42.4 overs to grind J&K’s attack to dust on the final day. Kerala are set to face Gujarat in the semi-final on February 17, while Mumbai will take on Vidarbha in the other semi-final.As important as Nizar’s second-innings rearguard was, it was his first-innings 112 that set the game up for Kerala, taking them from the brink to giving them the lead that eventually proved massive. Nizar marshalled the lower order, putting together 81 with No. 11 Basil Thampi to help steal the lead after J&K had Kerala tottering at 200 for 9 after they’d posted 280.Related

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Nizar’s unbeaten century underpinned Kerala’s fight, but Jalaj Saxena’s 67 was equally impactful. Saxena resurrected a floundering innings from 11 for 3 as J&K seamer Auqib Nabi, also the season’s second-highest wicket-takers, made the ball track on a greenish Pune deck. Saxena counter-attacked his way to a half-century, in which he drove, cut and pulled imperiously.Saxena’s dismissal had the potential to prove game-changing, but Nizar stood up, like he did in the must-win final league game last week against Bihar when he hit a century to swell their first-innings total.File photo: Salman Nizar and Sachin Baby played crucial knocks in the second innings•KCA

Kerala began the final day on 100 for 2, still needing 299 for victory. But it was clear from the beginning that they weren’t after the runs. Sachin Baby and Akshay Chandran put together 58, but batted together for 43 overs in the process to frustrate J&K in their victory march.The tide turned just before lunch as J&K’s spinners made massive inroads. Chandran was out caught at short leg by Shubham Khajuria. Soon after the break, they were fully in the ascendancy when they lost two wickets in two overs. Sahil Lotra, the offspinner, had Baby jab at one that turned and bounced, while Saxena was out looking to drive left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq.Having hit him through the covers off the previous delivery, he looked to repeat the shot, but was lulled in superbly by Mushtaq as he dragged his length back and had Saxena edging to first slip. When Aditya Sarwate was out looking to hoick Mushtaq over the infield, it seemed the end was nigh.But Nizar and Azharddeen showed resilience and grit in stonewalling J&K’s attack for a better part of the last three hours to secure a draw.J&K would look back on their first innings lapse with the ball, especially when they allowed Kerala’s last pair to get away as a turning point. Despite that, they bounced back to post 399 for 9 in the second innings, thanks largely to captain Paras Dogra’s century. The 40-year-old, in his first season as J&K captain, hit his first century after a prolonged barren run of form – he hadn’t scored a single half-century prior to this game.Those efforts in the end were only a consolation in the end as J&K’s second entry into the knockouts in the last five years ended in a heartbreak. That they’re bowing out without having lost a single game this season will make their exit even tougher to digest.

Yashasvi Jaiswal has switched states and will move from Mumbai to Goa for the 2025-26 domestic season. It is learned that the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) found it “surprising” when Jaiswal wrote to them about the transfer but issued a no-objection certificate (NOC) immediately.Goa Cricket Association (GCA) secretary Shambu Desai confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that it was GCA which approached the India opener, who is counted among the best players in both international cricket as well as IPL where he plays for Rajasthan Royals. “We are developing a good squad for Goa and want to get the best talent available and hence we approached him (Jaiswal) recently,” Desai said.Jaiswal, 23, has represented Mumbai since his Under-19 days and is one of the most sought-after players from the younger crop. He made his first-class debut for Mumbai in 2019 and has since played ten first-class games for them, scoring 863 runs at an impressive average of 53.93, which includes four centuries, two fifties and a highest score of 181 against Uttar Pradesh in 2022.In the 2021-22 season, he had smashed hundreds in three successive innings in Mumbai’s run to the final, where they lost to Madhya Pradesh. He has also scored 1296 runs across 25 List A games for Mumbai at an average of 58.90, along with 648 runs in 28 T20s at a strike rate of 136.42.Jaiswal last played for Mumbai against Jammu and Kashmir in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season where he managed scores of 4 and 26. He was due to play in Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy semi-final against Vidarbha in February, but was ruled out after injuring his right ankle during training ahead of the game. Jaiswal follows in the footsteps of Siddesh Lad and Arjun Tendulkar, both of whom made a switch from Mumbai to Goa during their careers.Jaiswal made his India debut in July 2023 against West Indies where he thrashed 171 in his maiden innings and also added 209 against England the following year. While Jaiswal is a regular feature in India’s Test and T20I squads, he has only played a solitary ODI so far. More recently, he was excluded from India’s Champions Trophy squad but was part of the list of non-travelling substitutes.The 23-year-old is currently playing in the IPL where he is part of the RR side. He’s had a tough start to the tournament managing scores of 1, 29 and 4 in the three innings. RR next play Punjab Kings in an away fixture in Mullanpur on April 5.Goa won the Ranji Trophy Plate League in 2024-25, topping the table with five wins out of five, and beating Nagaland in the final.

Rajasthan Royals won the toss and chose to bowl against Mumbai Indians in their IPL 2025 fixture in Jaipur. Coming into this game from the high of their 14-year-old opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi scoring a match-winning century, they had to deal with a significant setback. Sandeep Sharma, one of their key players, has been sidelined with injury (broken finger), much like their regular captain Sanju Samson (abdominal strain) leaving the team under-strength at an important time.RR need to win all of their games to stay in playoff contention. Riyan Parag, who is standing in as captain, confirmed another change as well with Wanindu Hasaranga (niggle) out for Kumar Kartikeya. He preferred to chase because he expected some dew later in the night.Hardik Pandya felt the same way. He will be leading MI at a ground where they haven’t won since 2012 but they are on a hot streak, they kind they often get on during the business end of the IPL. Should they turn five wins in a row to six on Thursday, they will go top of the table. Pandya also confirmed an unchanged XI.MI batting-first XI: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ryan Rickelton (wk), 3 Will Jacks, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Hardik Pandya (capt), 7 Naman Dhir, 8 Corbin Bosch, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Jasprit BumrahMI’s Impact Player options: Karn Sharma, Raj Bawa, Reece Topley, Robin Minz, Satyanarayana RajuRR bowling-first XI: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Vaibhav Suryavanshi, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Riyan Parag (capt), 5 Dhruv Jurel, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Jofra Archer, 8 Maheesh Theekshana, 9 Kumar Kartikeya, 10 Akash Madhwal, 11 Fazalhaq FarooqiRR’s Impact Player options: Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Kunal Singh Rathore, Yudhvir Singh, Kwena Mphaka

While the opinion might be divided whether Karun Nair should be in the India XI for the first Test against England starting June 20 in Leeds, the batter strengthened his case with a stroke-filled century on the opening day of the unofficial Test between India A and England Lions in Canterbury. Cuts, upper cuts, steers, punched drives, pulls, inside-out drives and several reverse sweeps – Nair exhibited all those strokes while easing his way to his 24th first-class century, which he made big to end the day unbeaten on 186.Nair walked in early in the morning after India A opener and captain Abhimanyu Easwaran was trapped plumb for 8 in the sixth over by left-arm fast bowler Josh Hull. As a cloudy and slightly nippy first hour cleared way for a picture-perfect sunny afternoon, Nair warmed up to the conditions and the bowling. It was not Nair who was in focus until Yashasvi Jaiswal played an erroneous stroke about half hour before lunch. Jaiswal, who has a penchant to make big centuries, showed all signs of having a good first day on this long England tour, before he decided to attempt a wild slog against a length delivery from Eddie Jack.Karun Nair and Sarfaraz Khan added 181 for the third wicket•Getty Images

Nair, who was on 26 at lunch, along with Sarfaraz Khan, snatched back any psychological edge the Lions, who had elected to field, might have momentarily gained from Jaiswal’s wicket. Both batters did not let go any scoring opportunities which came frequently as the inexperience Lions bowling – a total of six Test caps among them – showed throughout. Nair has a compact base in his stance and utilised a lot of wristwork in his batting. That allows him to score easily on both sides of the pitch, but most of his runs on Friday came in front of square on the off side.Nair especially took advantage of the vast empty pocket between point and mid-off as the Lions seamers tried to lure him to go for his strokes expecting the ball to seam away and take an edge. Sadly for Lions, Nair kept lunging forward to punch cover drives and square drives. And when the ball was short at an innocuous length, Nair swiftly got on the back foot to steer, cut and upper cut to pick easy boundaries.There was the odd lapse in concentration, too. On 62, Nair lashed hard to cut at an angled delivery from Hull, but was lucky to get away without nicking. On 89, he did nick a seaming delivery from Ajeet Singh Dale, but Emilio Gay dropped a sitter at second slip in the over before tea. Nair returned from the break rejuvenated and celebrated the landmark soon after, calmly raising his bat towards the dressing room and the healthy crowd that filled the St Lawrence Ground. With the volume of runs he has scored for Vidarbha, the team he moved to as a professional a couple of years ago, Nair had convinced the selectors and Indian think tank to include him in the 18-member Test squad for the five-Test series.Dhruv Jurel added an unconquered 177 with Karun Nair for the fourth wicket•Getty Images

Nair, 33, has played six Tests, the last of which came in 2017. In his third Test, against England in Chennai in 2016, he became only the second triple-centurion for India. It was his maiden century. With the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the selectors believed Nair can lend the experience if he is picked in the XI during the England series, which is the first for India in the new World Test Championship cycle (2025-27).While India are likely to blood Tamil Nadu left-hand opener B Sai Sudharsan in the top order, Nair is understood to be looked at for the No. 6 position in case India play an extra batter alongside Ravindra Jadeja at No. 7. Nair showed he can not just play a big innings but also be compatible with his batting partners: a 181-run third-wicket partnership with Sarfaraz was followed by an unbeaten 177-run alliance with Dhruv Jurel.On first day of India’s long summer in England, Nair did himself no harm by grabbing the limelight quietly.

Worcestershire 456 for 3 (Hose 266, Libby 137*) vs HampshireAdam Hose provided retribution to Hampshire for snubbing him as a youngster by scoring 266 – the highest ever score by a visiting player at Utilita Bowl.Top-order batter Hose played for Hampshire at Under 13 and Under 17 levels, having been born and raised on the Isle of Wight, but never progressed into the professional ranks.He returned with an epic second career Rothesay County Championship hundred during a mammoth 395-run third-wicket stand with acting captain Jake Libby.Libby scored 137 unbeaten runs of his own on a lifeless wicket with a joyless Kookaburra ball as Worcestershire ended day one on 456 for 3.Worcestershire have not had a good time batting this season. They came into the match with the fewest batting bonus points (three), had only passed 300 on three previous occasions – twice in their second innings – and only two centuries had been made by their batters.They also came into this match on the back of a shellacking by Surrey at Visit Worcestershire New Road last week.By the end of the day, they had four more batting points, two more centuries, and well over 100 runs more than they had managed in two innings against the defending champions.Libby, once again leading in place of the injured Brett D’Oliveira, couldn’t wait to bat having won the toss.Despite some morning overheads, the air was warm, the pitch looked flat, and the Kookaburra ball was expected to offer next to no assistance to the bowlers.All that proved correct – and the number of centuries would be doubled by 19:00 BST – but not until Hampshire had a little glint of optimism.New Zealander Henry Nicholls was tested outside his off-stump throughout his runless 12-ball innings, before chasing a wide James Fuller delivery to edge behind.Kashif Ali was punchy in his 44 off 38 balls, and particularly tucked into Scott Currie, before he was lbw stumbling over a straight delivery from Fuller.At 60 for 2, things felt even, but from then, and for the next five-and-a-half hours, it was anything but.The sunbathing crowd – including a gathering of past Hampshire players including Barry Richards and oldest living Hampshire cricketer Dennis Baldry – had just Libby’s stoicism and Hose’s perpetual run scoring to watch.Once Hose found his rhythm, he bypassed each one of Hampshire’s plans with gusto.A short-pitch effort, saw pulls and hooks to the boundary. A defensive idea with an umbrella field saw punchy drives down the ground. Everything Hampshire’s beleaguered bowlers tried resulted in runs for Hose.Other than an incredibly tricky short leg chance on 69, he raced through the milestones – 50 in 74 balls, 100 in 126, 150 in 178, 200 in 208 and 250 in 240.The more runs he got, the harder and further he hit the ball – one of his seven sixes causing injury to a spectator some 10 rows back at long on.Hose was eventually dismissed on 266 – scuffing the ball to gully to give debutant Dom Kelly his first Championship wicket – in the penultimate over of the day.His score surpassed the 243 scored by Phil Jaques for Yorkshire on this ground in 2004, and sat just one run behind Zak Crawley’s marathon for England and John Crawley and Michael Carberry’s triple-centuries in scores by anyone at the Bowl.Hose did play one first-team match for Hampshire, a non-first-class three-day game against Cardiff MCCU – ironically, one of his opponents in that fixture was Libby.With him on this occasion, runs flowed like a tap.Libby isn’t one for showy shots, at his best when he occupies the crease – he has the second longest County Championship innings by minutes to his name to demonstrate his stickability.He offered the Hampshire bowlers even less hope than Hose, scoring at his own pace to reach his second ton of the campaign in 219 deliveries.”It has been a great day,” Hose said. “We have had a tough couple of months from a group and batting perspective so to have a big partnership with Jake and score some runs was a satisfying feeling.”In the past, I have gone into my shell and put a higher price on my wicket as opposed to today, I just saw the ball and reacted with my natural instincts. Fortunately, today it worked.”It was my first double-hundred so it’s cool getting the runs here. It is a long time since I left this club as a teenager, so there isn’t much on that front. It is about trying to put as much pressure on with the bat as we know it could potentially be a tough couple of days with the ball.”

Two senior officials of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), secretary A Shankar and treasurer ES Jairam, have resigned from their positions citing “moral responsibility” for Wednesday’s stampede at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)’s IPL 2025 victory celebration. KSCA president Raghuram Bhat accepted their resignation in an emergency meeting of the managing committee.*Bhatt declined to respond if the KSCA was responsible for the stampede, saying he would address the media at an appropriate time once the court hearings and the findings of the one-person panel appointed by the Karnataka government were concluded.During the event, planned to celebrate RCB’s first IPL title win in 18 attempts, 11 people died, and several others were injured.Related

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• RCB senior official Nikhil Sosale granted interim bail by Karnataka High Court

In the communication to the KSCA on Friday night, Shankar and Jairam wrote: “Due to the unforeseen and unfortunate events that have unfolded in the last two days, and though our role was very limited, but owing moral responsibility, we wish to state that last night we have tendered our resignation to our respective posts as secretary and treasurer of the KSCA.”The Bengaluru Police filed a first information report (FIR) against the RCB franchise on Thursday. In the FIR, which has been seen by ESPNcricinfo, the police have said that they had denied RCB permission to conduct the event at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, around which the stampede occurred. RCB were listed as the first accused in the FIR, along with DNA Entertainment, the franchise’s event partners, and the KSCA, which is in charge of the stadium.On Friday, the police confirmed the arrest of Nikhil Sosale, the marketing and revenue head of RCB, acting on the directive of newly-appointed police commissioner SK Singh, who took over after his predecessor was removed from the post by Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah in the wake of the incident.1:15

Gambhir: We should never have roadshows

Later in the day, the KSCA filed a writ petition, in which they argued that the FIR against them was a “knee-jerk” reaction by the police, done under pressure from the state government.The KSCA further stated that the incident was an accident caused by an unexpected rush and crowd surge, and that no intent or motive could be attributed to the petitioners. It emphasised that gate and crowd management were not the KSCA’s responsibility, but that of RCB’s, the event organisers, and the police.The counsel defending KSCA had also raised concerns over the arrest of Sosale, claiming it indicated a targeted approach. Sosale has challenged his arrest, and approached the Karnataka High Court, according to Bar and Bench, an Indian legal news platform.RCB has yet to issue an official statement following the arrest. On Thursday, however, the franchise announced a compensation of INR 10 lakh for each of the deceased, and pledged to cover the medical expenses of those injured in the incident.* 1400 GMT, June 7, 2025 Updated after the meeting

Phil Salt shrugged off an enforced change of bat to blaze 80 from 57 balls and power Lancashire Lightning to a win that lifted them above Northamptonshire Steelbacks in the Vitality Blast North Group table.The England white-ball international, playing his first game since winning the IPL with Royal Challengers Bangalore a month ago, had to call for a replacement bat after umpires Simon Widdup and Rob Bailey inspected his original blade early in the Lancashire run-chase.But it made little difference as Salt and Jos Buttler (54 from 42), making his first Blast appearance in two years, pummelled the Steelbacks bowling with a stand of 123 from 86 to set up victory.Earlier, paceman Saqib Mahmood became only the second Lancashire bowler to take a Blast hat-trick, capturing the last three wickets to finish with four for 49 as the Steelbacks – who have now lost three in a row – were bowled out for 177.Opting to bat first, the Steelbacks handed a Blast debut to New Zealander Tim Robinson, who slashed successive boundaries off James Anderson’s first over before the next delivery straightened to send his off stump flying.Anderson (two for 24) then had David Willey caught at short third man off a thick edge and the home side were three down when Ricardo Vasconcelos skied Mahmood’s first ball to mid-on.Having got away with two miscued hooks, Ravi Bopara (32 from 25) launched a rebuilding job alongside Justin Broad (30 from 18) and Northamptonshire’s innings appeared to be back on track until both fell in quick succession.Broad was bowled swinging at Jack Blatherwick before Bopara pumped Chris Green’s full toss to short cover, but Lewis McManus (30 from 24) regained momentum, bludgeoning successive fours as Mahmood’s third over went for 16.McManus shared a stand of 54 with Saif Zaib (32 from 19), whose run-out was the first of four consecutive wickets as Mahmood’s brace of yorkers removed Ben Sanderson and Lloyd Pope before George Scrimshaw was caught in the deep.Lancashire’s reply was held up after a single over while the umpires inspected Salt’s bat – and ordered its replacement – and they soon lost Keaton Jennings, caught paddling Willey to backward square leg.Buttler looked in good touch, smashing Willey and Broad for straight sixes and milking the spinners during the post-powerplay overs.There was a close call for Salt when he pulled Bopara to deep midwicket, but Zaib was slow to make ground and the opener responded by punching six over long-off and hooking Scrimshaw for another to bring up his half-century from 37 balls.Buttler was one ball faster to his 50, but Lightning faltered when he was bowled attempting to reverse sweep Pope and Sanderson’s crafty spell of one for 28 removed Salt, holing out off a low full toss.Scrimshaw took two wickets in the 19th over to leave Lancashire needing 11 from the last, but Luke Wells hammered Luke Procter for successive sixes to clinch victory with three balls to spare.

The BCB has brought in Alex Marshall, Julian Wood and Tony Hemming as the three new appointments after its meeting in Dhaka on Saturday. Wood will come in as a specialist batting coach for three months. He is a power-hitting specialist who recently worked with Sri Lanka Cricket.Marshall has been appointed as a consultant for the board’s anti-corruption department, for one year. Marshall was the ICC’s anti-corruption unit general manager until September last year. BCB’s media committee chair Iftekhar Rahman said they want Marshall to “enhance” the board’s anti-corruption unit.Rahman also said that the BCB has appointed the ICC’s integrity unit to oversee the BPL’s anti-corruption operations.The BCB’s anti-corruption unit is currently investigating corruption allegations from the BPL and Dhaka Premier League of the 2024-25 season.The BCB has also brought back Hemming, who recently resigned as the PCB’s head curator. Hemming had taken up the Pakistan role after being BCB’s curator from July 2023 to July 2024. Hemming’s appointment brought the question of whether Gamini Silva, the Shere Bangla National Stadium curator, will continue in his role. Rahman said that Gamini was given a one-year extension.”Tony Hemming has been appointed head of turf management for two years,” Rahman said. “All our international venues and curators will be under him. He will also undertake the process of training Bangladeshi curators. All the board directors had a lot of interest in bringing him back.”Hemming is one of the best curators in the world. Maybe he had a good experience with the BCB in the previous occasion, that’s why he agreed to come back. The turf management will run as Hemming will want. Time will tell if Gamini will stay or not. He has been given a 12-month extension.”Meanwhile, the BCB introduced Mymensingh as the latest first-class team. It will replace Dhaka Metropolis, which was introduced in 2011 to make it an even number of teams in the first-class competition.”Mymensingh is one of the country’s newest divisions,” Rahman said. “They will play in the NCL first-class tournament from the coming season. They will replace Dhaka Metropolis. Mymensingh will play all divisional tournaments though we can’t accommodate them in the upcoming NCL T20s as the schedule has been made. Mymensingh will play in the T20 tournament from the next edition.”