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Ruaidhri Smith, a 21-year-old uncapped allrounder, has been named in Scotland’s 13-man squad to face Afghanistan in Edinburgh, in a two-match ODI series in early July. Wicketkeeper-batsman Craig Wallace and right-arm pacer Brad Wheal earned recalls to the Scotland side.Smith, who first appeared for Scotland as an 18-year-old in the 2013 Yorkshire Bank 40 tournament, has played 14 first-class matches, picking up 28 wickets and scoring 260 runs at an average of 20. He has also played nine List A matches and four T20s. Wallace played his only ODI for Scotland against Canada in July, 2012. While he didn’t get to bat, he was busy behind the stumps, with a catch and a stumping, as well as assisting in three run outs. Wallace has also played eight T20Is and last turned out in Scotland colours in June last year, against Ireland. Wheal made his ODI debut against Honk Kong in Mong Kok and took 1 for 44 in 8.1 overs. He debuted in the shortest format four days later against the same opposition and took 3 for 20 in four overs in just his second game to help his team defend 161.The trio apart, Scotland’s squad has a number of experienced players, with the 10 remaining squad members all having played in the World T20 in March-April in India. Preston Mommsen will lead the side, with Kyle Coetzer serving as his deputy. Scotland will, however, miss the services of some players with county commitments, but head coach Grant Bradburn was upbeat about the squad of players in his charge.”After a lean period of national fixtures, the squad are looking forward to coming together for the first time since the ICC World T20,” Bradburn said. “Despite some local and county players being unavailable for consideration for this series, we have brought together a very strong, exciting side on the back of impressive individual performances in domestic, regional and county cricket.”Scotland and Afghanistan face off in the first ODI on July 4, with the second and final game taking place two days later, on July 6. Both matches are scheduled to take place at the Grange Cricket Club in Edinburgh.

There are five wicketkeeper-batsmen in Sri Lanka’s squad. Kusal Mendis and Kaushal Silva bat too high in the order to take up the gloves, it is thought. Niroshan Dickwella has not played since 2014. Kusal Perera is yet to arrive in England. So it is the most established batsman of the lot – Dinesh Chandimal – who has begun the last four Tests as designated keeper.Chandimal’s keeping and his batting position have become something of a dilemma for Sri Lanka. His average as a wicketkeeper-batsman – 50.82 – is much better than his average of 35.31 as specialist batsman. His returns also suggest he is much more effective at No. 6 than in the top five, averaging 85.57 in nine innings there, in comparison with an overall average of 45.18.But with no other batsman staking a claim on the No. 4 batting position, which Chandimal has occupied over the past four Tests, Sri Lanka have decisions to make ahead of the Lord’s Test. Do they play Chandimal in the position he has been most successful, or keep him at No. 4, where he appears more likely to contribute than any other candidate? There is then the question of whether he should have the gloves if he bats at No. 4. In Sri Lanka’s first three innings of the series, he was batting by the 12th over, raising concerns over fatigue.”For the last few months I have batted at four and before that I have batted at six or seven when I kept wickets,” Chandimal said. “If you take the statistics, I have done well at No. 6. But it really doesn’t matter where I bat. We’ve got to look at what the team’s requirements are, what the captain and the coach feel, and you need to adjust accordingly.”Chandimal is the only Sri Lanka batsman to make a century on this tour, and is only one of two players to have scored a hundred in England – the other being Angelo Mathews. He said he was halfway to his tour goal, with two innings remaining in the series.”I set myself a challenge when I left Sri Lanka, which was to score two Test hundreds in England. It’s a massive challenge to play here at this time of the year. The good thing is that we had adequately trained before the Test match.”The real feel on our first day of training at Chester-le-Street was 3 degrees celsius. You can’t simply take that kind of cold. I remember going out to bat at practice and I couldn’t grip the bat. Even after batting for 15 minutes or so, you don’t get the feeling that you are holding a bat. They were tough conditions. I can’t forget the 163 I scored against India at Galle last year, because that was a special knock and contributed to a win, but I take satisfaction from having batted well in these conditions as well.”Sri Lanka had had a long team conversation following the second day of the Chester-le-Street Test, which they ended at 91 for 8 after England had hit 498 for 9 declared. Chandimal said the mood had been sombre, and that plans to negotiate the series’ top wicket-taker, James Anderson, had been hashed out.”We spoke a lot on playing James Anderson. The way we were batting tentatively – had we continued, we would have been dismissed anyway. So the game plan was to let Anderson also think rather than get settled down and make things difficult for us. Some adjusted by taking guard on the off stump, and some came a foot out of the crease to negate his swing.”Whatever we worked on we were able to get the results in the second innings. That helped us to gain some confidence. I think guys like Kaushal Silva needs to be given lot of credit. I thought Angelo Mathews and Kusal Mendis batted brilliantly too.”

Another New Zealand-West Indies game, another last-over finish, another heartbreak for West Indies.For the longest time, the stars seemed to be aligning for West Indies. After Shai Hope’s unbeaten 69-ball 109 took them to 247 for 9 in the rain-reduced 34-overs-a-side contest, the visitors would have fancied their chances. And they were in this, particularly when New Zealand found themselves at 194 for 5, needing another 54 runs off 29 balls. But then, as it has so often happened in the white-ball leg of this tour, Mitchell Santner came clutch and took New Zealand to a five-wicket win, giving them an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.With the equation coming down to 40 off 18 deliveries, Santner took on Matthew Forde, who, by then, had gone at only four runs an over. Santner carted Forde for 4, 6, 4 to take 18 runs off the 32nd over. Santner then smashed Shamar Springer for four and six in the second-last over, leaving New Zealand eight runs to win off the 34th.Related

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It could still have been anyone’s game, but Jayden Seales bowled a chest-high no-ball, which Tom Latham calmly glided over the wicketkeeper. Then Santner fittingly sealed the chase with a crash through extra cover as New Zealand prevailed with three balls to spare. Seales was distraught, flinging his cap to the floor, sinking to it himself, and needing help from several of his team-mates to come off the field.As has been the case all through the series, the second ODI ebbed and flowed all the way through. Chasing 248, Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra found the going tough on a treacherous Napier surface. But once the duo settled down, the runs started to flow. They added 106 runs off 99 balls, New Zealand’s first century opening-wicket stand in ODIs in 74 innings since February 2020.They were quite scratchy early on, though, against some tight West Indies bowling. Forde got the ball to move both ways as Conway played out a maiden first up. Ravindra got going with a couple of runs before Conway got off the mark with a crisp square drive through point. There were a couple of very tight leaves, while both batters were beaten several times outside off with the exaggerated movement as New Zealand squeaked to 13 for 0 after five overs.Conway took the attacking route when he thrashed Seales through point, while Ravindra deposited him over deep midwicket for the first six of New Zealand’s innings. Romario Shepherd was introduced into the attack right after the powerplay, but was unable to stem the flow of runs.Rachin Ravindra had a century opening stand with Devon Conway•AFP/Getty Images

Ravindra, by now in full flow, pulled Forde over cow corner before Conway went after Justin Greaves, pulling him over deep square leg. Springer was dumped over the leg side fence twice in an over as New Zealand started catching up. Ravindra reached his sixth ODI fifty in style by slog sweeping Roston Chase for six.However, Ravindra fell soon after, when, in a bid to up the scoring rate, he sliced Greaves to backward point, where Chase timed his jump to perfection. Will Young, short of runs, came in at No. 3, and failed to inject any momentum into the chase. He was beaten multiple times, and fell 14 balls into his innings, slog sweeping to deep square leg.Mark Chapman came and went as the hosts lost three wickets in a hurry. Conway, meanwhile, stood firm and continued to rack up boundaries regularly. He reached his fifty off 54 balls, and stepped on the accelerator with the required rate climbing. Just when it seemed Conway would break his century-drought, he fell for 90, thrashing a cut off Springer straight to point.With the required rate now past ten an over, Latham and Santner joined forces. They took their time to settle in, targeting the short square boundaries on both sides. It wasn’t until the 31st over, with the required rate in excess of 13, when Santner flipped the switch, and, along with Latham, took New Zealand over the line, helping them register their 11th straight bilateral ODI series win at home.Earlier, West Indies captain Hope showed his class as he single-handedly propelled his team from 130 for 6 in 24 overs to 247 for 9 in 34, on the way notching up his 19th ODI century.Shai Hope made 109 not out off 69 balls•AFP/Getty Images

The match, supposed to start at 2pm local time, was delayed by close to three hours due to rain and a wet outfield. When the toss did eventually take place, Santner, with a smirk on his face, had no hesitation in bowling first. From the outset, it was clear that batting would be hard work. Kyle Jamieson got the ball to move heaps as West Indies played out three maidens in the first four overs.After multiple wafts and across-the-line attempts, Ackeem Auguste pumped Matt Henry straight over his head in what was the first commanding shot of the day in the fifth over. But West Indies soon lost John Campbell, whose difficult innings was ended by Jamieson. He got a length ball to move away from off stump, and Campbell, looking to flay him across the line, only managed a thick leading edge that nestled into deep third’s hands.West Indies, having managed just 18 runs in the reduced powerplay of seven overs, targeted Blair Tickner, brought into the side in place of Jacob Duffy. Auguste first clubbed him over his head before Keacy Carty sliced him over point for four more.Carty’s innings was, however, short-lived as he fell soon to Jamieson, whose opening spell read 5-2-12-2. West Indies continued to go after Tickner as Hope got into his groove. He first hooked Tickner to the vacant deep midwicket fence, and then laced him through covers to bring up 6000 ODI runs. Among his compatriots, only Viv Richards has got to this mark quicker, by one innings (141 vs 142).Nathan Smith made an impact with the ball•Getty Images

West Indies lost Auguste soon, with his attempted pull spooning straight up for Jamieson to take a catch running back from midwicket. That didn’t impact Hope and the incoming Sherfane Rutherford, who refused to curb their aggressive instincts. Hope pulled Santner deep over midwicket, while Rutherford thumped Nathan Smith twice into the stands to get West Indies moving again.However, two quick wickets got New Zealand back into the game. Santner first got rid of Rutherford while Smith breached Chase’s defences with a peach of an indipper that decked back to castle his off stump. While Greaves also fell relatively early, Hope continued on his merry way.He reached his fifty off 42 balls, and just went up a gear. At 130 for 6 after 24 overs, Hope took charge and belted the bowlers all across McLean Park. He got decent support first from Shepherd, who pumped Henry for two sixes in three balls, and then dumped Tickner over deep midwicket.Once Shepherd fell, Forde took Jamieson to the cleaners, thrashing him for three fours and a six. Hope moved through his 90s in a flash, crashing Henry for back-to-back fours before reaching his first ODI century against New Zealand with the straightest of straight hits in the final over of the innings. Arms aloft, he soaked in the applause, finishing with 13 fours and four sixes. But it wasn’t enough.

Marnus Labuschagne credited Steve Smith’s influence for helping him rebuild his game after he was dropped from the Australian Test team.Labuschagne took a major step towards reclaiming his berth for the first Ashes Test by top-scoring for Queensland on Monday in their Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania at Allan Border Field.Related

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While his 160 was not perfect, Labuschagne clearly won round one of the informal Shield bat-off for top-order spots ahead of the Ashes opener from November 21 in Perth.After a mammoth first innings of 612, Queensland were well-placed at stumps on day three, with Tasmania 62 for 1 in their second innings and trailling by 171.Labuschagne was dropped for the Test series in the West Indies after Australia’s World Test Championship final defeat to South Africa in June. While he starred in the Bulls’ Shield opener, on the other side of the country incumbent Test opener Sam Konstas notably failed again for NSW in their match against WA.Labuschagne said after Monday’s play that Smith had loomed large in his thinking after he lost his Test berth.”It’s always nice to score a hundred and to get the team in a position where we can win the game on day four, it’s always a good thing,” Labuschagne said. “I felt good out there. It felt like I was reading the conditions well. I took the game on at certain times.”I feel like I’ve really stripped it back and my focus is just scoring runs – it’s not really too technical … just what I need out there to score runs. The nice thing is, over the last six or seven years, I’ve played with one of the best players in the world and learned a lot from him.”So having a technique that’s adjustable and something that I can just use, rather than work out what’s the exact, perfect way to play – just going back to find a way to score runs.”Labuschagne also scored a domestic one-day century last month.National selector George Bailey was present in Brisbane as Labuschagne flourished after taking 12 balls to get off the mark.His big innings was not flawless – he was dropped on 61 and nearly blew his century with a wild swipe on 98. Labuschagne went down the wicket to spinner Nivethan Radhakrishnan and wicketkeeper Jake Doran could not take the chance. It was either a dropped catch or a missed stumping. The ball ricocheted off Doran’s glove and landed clear of Jackson Bird at first slip.Soon afterwards, Labuschagne brought up his 33rd first-class century with an all-run four. Labuschagne hit 17 fours and two sixes and only faced 206 deliveries.Queensland took control with their huge first innings, with opener Matt Renshaw also putting his hand up for a Test recall and current opener Usman Khawaja impressing.The pick of the Tasmanian attack was legspinner Nikhil Chaudhary, the Indian-born allrounder who plays for the Hobart Hurricanes in the BBL. Making his first-class debut, he finished with 5 for 108.He found out only two days before the match that he was playing. “Nothing can get better than having a five-for on debut,” Chaudhary said.

Cricket Ireland (CI) hopes that India’s men will tour for a white-ball series next summer on their way to England.India will travel to England for five T20Is and three ODIs from July 1-19 next year, and ESPNcricinfo understands that CI officials have held discussions with their BCCI counterparts over a potential visit before that tour begins. India’s men have toured Ireland three times for short T20I series in the past seven years (in 2018, 2022 and 2023) and attracted strong crowds at Malahide on the outskirts of Dublin.Paul Stirling, Ireland’s captain, said on Tuesday that he was “disappointed” that his side had played so little home international cricket this summer, and described them as “underprepared” to face England in their ongoing T20I series. Brian MacNeice, CI’s chair, said after Friday’s washout in Malahide that he had met players and staff to address their concerns.Related

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“I opened the meeting by saying, as far as I’m concerned, the quantum of cricket that we’re playing in ’25 isn’t good enough to prepare you guys to play international cricket and to be competitive at ICC tournaments,” MacNeice said. “I’m not hiding from that.”We mapped out our views and thoughts on what the schedule for ’26 and ’27 looks like, and I wanted to get their input not just on the international schedule, but also the domestic schedule… It was a really positive session yesterday. There’s more work to be done, honestly, but it was a good session.”Sunday’s third T20I against England will be Ireland’s ninth and final home men’s international of the 2025 summer, with four of the first eight lost to weather. Their slimline fixture list is, in essence, the result of the high costs they incur while converting club grounds into international venues and the relatively low value of their broadcast rights deals.”[The players] understand the challenges that we’re facing and some of the reasons why we had what we had, but they also are very clear about what we’re trying to achieve. I think they’re fully bought into that,” MacNeice said.Per the ICC’s Future Tours Programme, Ireland are due to host New Zealand (one Test), Bangladesh (three ODIs and three T20Is) and Afghanistan (one Test, three ODIs and three T20Is) next summer. “There’s still a couple of variables that have to be figured out before we lock in the final schedule, but we’ll be hosting Test cricket here next year,” MacNeice said.MacNeice also said that Ireland’s new stadium project at Abbotstown on the outskirts of Dublin is “very much on track”, and said that he has held positive meetings with senior ECB officials this week around the 2030 men’s T20 World Cup, which Ireland, England and Scotland will co-host.He confirmed that he would be “very supportive” of a proposal for a two-division World Test Championship featuring Ireland, and said that the process of hiring a new chief executive to replace Warren Deutrom is going “really well”, with the hope of making a recommendation for his successor to the board in late October.MacNeice was appointed chair of the board for the planned European T20 Premier League (ETPL) on Thursday, with Deutrom becoming the league’s director. The ETPL was due to launch in 2025, but its inaugural season was postponed to 2026 after it struggled to find buyers for franchises.

Warwickshire completed back-to-back Metro Bank One-Day Cup wins with an emphatic 79-run victory over Kent at Rugby School.The Bears posted 283 for 9 largely thanks to Ed Barnard (60) and Kai Smith (58). On a pitch offering some turn, they coped most capably with a spin attack led by Matt Parkinson who bowled beautifully for his 1 for 36 from 10 overs.Kent replied with 204 all out, only ever partially recovering from the early straits of 19 for 3. Jaydn Denly hit 52 and Harry Finch 50, but legspinner Tazeem Ali followed his 5 for 43 against Northamptonshire on Sunday with 5 for 54 as Kent succumbed to their third defeat in three games in the competition.In front of another excellent crowd at Rugby, Warwickshire chose to bat, seeking a stronger start than in their first two group games when they had collapsed to 38 for 7 and 32 for 4. They got it as openers Barnard and Rob Yates (46) added 97 in 14 overs before Yates drove Joey Evison to cover.Ed Barnard top-scored with 60•Getty Images

Kent’s spinners reeled the run-rate back in by taking wickets. Barnard posted a polished 52-ball half-century, passing 2,000 career List A runs in the process, but overbalanced on a sweep and was stumped off Denly. Zen Malik drove Denly to cover, Hamza Shaikh fell to a superb catch by his England U19s colleague Ekansh Singh at deep mid-wicket off Jack Leaning. Alex Davies lifted Parkinson to long-off, supplying the legspinner with a well-deserved wicket.At 179 for 5, Warwickshire needed rebooting and Smith and Vansh Jani (42) delivered with a fluent partnership of 79 from 64 balls. Again, Kent hit back well towards the end as Fred Klaassen had Smith caught behind and Grant Stewart trapped Michael Booth and Jani lbw in the same over.Kent’s reply started badly as they lost three wickets in four balls to lurch to 19 for 3. Ben Dawkins was caught at cover off Barnard who bowled Evison first ball. Chris Benjamin, facing his former team-mates, also bagged a golden duck when he edged Ethan Bamber and wicketkeeper Smith took a fine diving catch.Denly and Finch rebuilt with an assured stand of 91 in 88 balls but both perished soon after reaching their half-centuries. Denly sliced Tazeem to short third man and Finch skied an attempted big hit at Adam Sylvester.Sylvester marked his List A debut with an excellent first spell of 1 for 7 in five overs, and his accuracy throttled the pursuit in tandem with Tazeem’s potency. Tazeem hit the stumps of Leaning and Stewart and, after Booth bowled Singh 42, returned to remove Parkinson and Michael Cohen in four balls and follow his maiden five-for in the previous game with another match-shaping performance.

Ben Stokes, England’s Test captain, has vowed he has “blood, sweat and tears” left to give to the team, after being ruled out of all cricket for three months following a recurrence of his torn left hamstring during the third Test against New Zealand last month.Stokes, 33, was forced to leave the field during day three of England’s 423-run defeat at Seddon Park earlier this month. He pulled up after the second ball of the 56th over of New Zealand’s second innings – his 13th, and third of the day – immediately feeling the back of his left thigh after delivering a bouncer that Rachin Ravindra pulled for four.It was the same hamstring he tore in August while batting for Northern Superchargers against Manchester Originals in the men’s Hundred, which kept him out for two months. After undergoing a scan on his return to England, the recurrence of the tear was confirmed by the ECB on Monday afternoon, with Stokes set to undergo surgery in January.The extent of Stokes’ injury was flagged earlier this week when it was confirmed he had been omitted from England’s 15-man squad for the Champions Trophy in February. The ECB said he had not been considered on medical grounds, having not played for England’s ODI team since their elimination from the 50-over World Cup in India in November 2023.