Jasprit Bumrah's 5 for 7, Ajinkya Rahane's ton headline India's record win

West Indies were blown away by Jasprit Bumrah’s five-wicket haul, falling to 100 all out in what was effectively under a session’s worth of batting as they went down by 318 runs, the visitors’ biggest away win by runs. In the process, Bumrah became the first bowler from Asia to take five-wicket hauls in Australia, England, South Africa and the West Indies, in only his 11th Test. The win gave India a 1-0 lead in the two-match series and 60 points in their inaugural World Test Championship match.India had set the hosts a target of 419 after declaring on 343 for 7 with Ajinkya Rahane registering a century and Hanuma Vihari scoring a brisk 93. West Indies, in reply, lasted only 26.5 overs.ALSO READ – Sidharth Monga: Bumrah perfects the outswinger, his latest weaponBumrah’s spell was built around hitting the stumps, specifically the off stump, whether the batsman was right- or left-handed. He did this four times, all against West Indies’ recognised batsmen, on the back of fast-moving deliveries.Left-hand opener John Campbell tried to drive Bumrah through the off side but only managed to offer a wide passage for the ball to swing in late and knock the off stump over. It was a fiery stamp on the game from Bumrah, who had looked off-colour in the first innings because of a stiff back. As if to add further strength to that bounceback, Bumrah produced a repeat of the ball to Darren Bravo, smashing his off stump in much the same manner off what turned out to be the last ball of the second session, with West Indies on 15 for 5 after nearly 113 overs in the field.It had all started with Kraigg Brathwaite’s wicket in Bumrah’s first over. A loose prod at a wide outswinger was Brathwaite’s downfall, with the thin edge carrying conveniently through to the keeper. Debutant Shamarh Brooks was in early, as a result, but minutes after Bumrah’s inswinger rattled Campbell’s stumps, he was the victim of a big inswinger from Ishant Sharma and was trapped in front of leg stump as he fell over trying to flick.Jasprit Bumrah is swarmed by his team-mates•Getty Images

Bumrah could have had a fourth before tea – India bowled only 45 balls for the five wickets they picked up in that session – but the edge he induced with an outswinger to Shimron Hetmyer was dropped at third slip by Virat Kohli. Kohli was visibly relieved in the very next over as Hetmyer chased an outswinger from Ishant and Rahane held on to it safely at gully.West Indies had reshuffled their batting order, possibly because of Roston Chase’s 38 overs and two innings of wicketkeeping for Shai Hope. They were both pushed a spot down from the first-innings order, but found themselves in the middle after only 7.3 overs in the chase, trying to salvage something for the hosts.Bumrah was having none of it. While the wickets of Campbell and Bravo came from full swingers, he deceived Hope off the surface. Bumrah was barely short of a good length in the second innings, and this meant he could straighten one from middle stump past Hope’s outside edge. West Indies had only just got past the lowest Test total ever – 26 by New Zealand – at that point.An exasperated Jason Holder showed no signs of putting up a fight, swatting a short ball straight to backward square leg to be dropped by Vihari off Ishant, then pulling Ravindra Jadeja for four from a good length two overs later. He could only get as far as the second ball of Bumrah’s next over – an outswinger from middle stump that squared him up before taking out off stump. That was Bumrah’s fifth wicket.Moments after an ironic applause when West Indies made it to 50, Mohammed Shami bowled a peach that left Chase from a good length and took his off stump.Kemar Roach, among the best bowlers in the Test, albeit with little fortune, proved a thorn with the bat as well. He struck five sixes, including three off one Jadeja over, as he put together West Indies’ highest partnership of the match for the last wicket with Miguel Cummins. From 50 for 9, the pair took West Indies to 100 in under seven overs. Six cleanly-struck sixes helped that cause, but Ishant had Roach top-edge a pull 20 minutes from stumps as India sealed the win, which took Kohli past Sourav Ganguly’s 11 for most away wins as captain, and on par with MS Dhoni’s 27 wins overall.Ajinkya Rahane celebrates his hundred•Associated Press

West Indies’ batting was far removed from India’s effort earlier in the day. Having begun the day 260 ahead, they stretched the lead to 418 on the back of Rahane’s 102 and Vihari’s 93.Rahane’s hundred was his tenth in Tests, and his first since August 2017. It’s a milestone that has eluded him for a while, so when he did manage to find it with a tuck behind square, the relief was telling. Rahane smiled, stretched his arms as he acknowledged the dressing room, and then fell to his knees and rested his head on the bat to take a moment. It had been a long time coming.The man to take charge for India in the second session was Vihari, though. Aside from his driving, he also played the shot of the day, a ramp off Shannon Gabriel that went for six over the third-man boundary. On a slow pitch, it was also fitting that such a shot came from a man who had been in the Caribbean with the India A team since the start of the month.In the push for a declaration, Vihari was given the time to pursue his hundred even after Rishabh Pant holed out to deep backward square-leg. Vihari swept a ball from wide outside off past midwicket to get into the 90s, but fell shortly after, trying to pull Holder and getting himself cramped to edge the ball to the keeper down the leg side.The run to the declaration had been set up in a first session where Rahane oozed patience once again. His first-innings fifty had its moments of nervousness and fidgeting, but on Sunday, he barely provided a chance. Starting the day on 53, he made full use of West Indies’ reliance on spin and generous fields – point and long-on were perennially out – and continued to build his innings around singles and twos. When the partnership approached 100, even he couldn’t resist stretching his arms and creaming a Holder delivery wide of mid-off on the rise. It was Holder, though, who eventually held the catch at mid-off as Rahane tried to chip Gabriel. That ended the stand on 135 for the fifth wicket, adding to the 82 they had put up in the first innings to save India the blushes.It was one of the few moments of cheer for West Indies, who had begun what turned out to be a humiliating day, when Kohli fell in the second over of the day for 51 by handing a catch to extra cover off a leading edge.

'We felt a bit like we got the Ashes stolen' – Justin Langer

“The art of competing, I’d learned from track, was the art of forgetting, and I now reminded myself of that fact. You must forget your limits. You must forget your doubts, your pain, your past.”Adam Gilchrist once penned a book called Walking To Victory. For Justin Langer, a more appropriate title might be Reading For Victory. Like a bowerbird, he pulls quotes, observations and stories from all over sport, business and life to inform his coaching of the Australian team and to provide him with examples and experiences to throw at his players. One of his recent reads has been Shoe Dog, the memoir of Nike’s founder Phil Knight, and the above line can be found within its pages.Knight’s story, while ending with Nike’s domination of the global market for sporting footwear, includes plenty of failures, wrong turns and false dawns. It goes a long way toward demonstrating that even the most successful individuals or organisations tend to fail a lot more often than they succeed, even if the ultimate success may be larger than the many individual failures that led to it. In his assessment of Shoe Dog, Bill Gates lauded it for uncovering the non-linear nature of long-term success.Gates wrote that the memoir is “a refreshingly honest reminder of what the path to business success really looks like. It’s a messy, perilous, and chaotic journey riddled with mistakes, endless struggles, and sacrifice. In fact, the only thing that seems inevitable in page after page of Knight’s story is that his company will end in failure”.Being able to face the knockdowns and defeats then continue forging on towards the final goal is a pretty relevant message for Langer and Australia this week, having lived through the trauma of Headingley. For all but the final hour of the Leeds Test, the tourists were set to record a famous victory of their own, claiming the Ashes without the services of their best batsman Steven Smith. The intervention of Ben Stokes, the staunch support of Jack Leach, and a good degree of tightening up by the Australians added up to a memorable finish but also a sequence that left Langer and his team feeling not just pained, but ill.As Langer reflected, this was all the harder to take for the fact that Australia’s preparation for this Ashes campaign, over a period of several years since their failure to retain the urn here in 2015, has been rigorous, attentive to the lessons of the past and with very little expense spared. The return of Steve Waugh for the final two Tests of this series, having originally been slated only to be working with the team for Edgbaston and Lord’s, is yet another example, but there are others like the use of Dukes balls in the Sheffield Shield and the Australia A tour run parallel to the World Cup.Justin Langer outside the Australian team hotel•PA Images via Getty Images

There has been tactical and cultural humility, too, dovetailing a more considered approach to playing English conditions – shut down the scoreboard in the field, leave the ball diligently with the bat – with the wider change in attitude and outlook charted by Cricket Australia in the wake of last year’s Newlands scandal. Knowing all these details intimately, and having taken such a major role in their planning and execution, it is little wonder Langer was close to bereft at the moment Stokes carved Pat Cummins through the covers to level the series at 1-1.”The main challenge, the biggest one, is that you know how much work’s gone into winning this Ashes series,” Langer said. “It’s been huge, from the preparation, the Australia A stuff, the selections, everything that’s gone into it, and it was that close, we were that close. That’s the toughest part of it, we were that close, and we let an opportunity slip. Therefore, when you let an opportunity slip you can dwell on it or you can use it as fire to make sure it doesn’t slip next time.”Everyone in that change room, probably a lot of Australians felt it, but felt completely sick after that. I actually felt physically sick after it, and then I went back to my room, I wasn’t sure whether to cry my eyes out or smash my hotel room. For most people it’s just a game of cricket, but when so much goes into it, it means a lot. You do take it personally because I know how much work’s going into it.”That was the biggest part of losing last week, that we felt we were so close and we let it slip. You never like to let opportunities slip in your life. That’s ok, we’ll make sure we learn from it, we’ll learn a lot of lessons from that, short term and long term, and hopefully we can do it better next time.”Justin Langer at a fielding session•PA Images via Getty Images

How Australia do it better is a fairly straightforward question. They need more runs – Langer pointed to the fact that Australia seldom lose a Test match when they score more than 300 in their first innings – and a tad more composure with the ball at vital times They must also remember their strengths, whether it be greatly improved catching at Headingley, or Nathan Lyon’s strong record of creating chances when bowling to Stokes, even if none were able to be turned into victory in the third Test.”It was a tight game alright and we’d rather be on the other side of it,” Langer said. “For most of the game we played pretty good cricket. Still have to bat better, we haven’t got 300 in the first innings yet. Every time we’ve got 300 we’ve at the very least won the Test match in the first innings over the last 20 Test matches. It’s a huge focus batting well in the first innings.”The last week of coaching has probably been one of the most challenging weeks of my coaching career after what happened at Leeds. That said, as challenging as it has been, it’s been awesome. I’ve loved this last week of coaching, because you can sit back and feel sorry for yourself or put it under the carpet or you can work out ways to make sure we are up for the first ball of the next Test match.”Asked about those many written and verbal lessons about coping with failure, in the context of this Ashes series, Langer returned to another of his stories: that of how, as a child, Muhammad Ali had his bike stolen and used the pain of the experience to help fuel his legendary boxing career. Forgetting is vital to an athlete’s mindset, but so too, at times, is remembering.”The champions all have had times of adversity. Whether it’s in business, sport or life,” Langer said. “The ones who come back from it – think about Muhammad Ali getting his bike stolen.”We felt a bit like we got the Ashes stolen the other day. And to England’s great credit, that’s what they did. They won that Test match , so we felt a bit like it’d been stolen from us. Now we’ve got to work out what we’re going to do, and use that as fire.”We’re not going to feel sorry for ourselves and let it slip. The great players and great teams – in business and life – they have their ups and downs but they always fight back from it. You wouldn’t see one champion player, one champion team, one champion business that hasn’t done that.”Vital, too, will be a sense of equilibrium and peace about the results to follow. Having done all the work, the preparation and tried to choose the right teams for Old Trafford and The Oval, Langer and his team will also have to let things go, and acknowledge that days like Stokes’ at Headingley can happen in sport.As Knight put it: “Hard work is critical, a good team is essential, brains and determination are invaluable, but luck may decide the outcome.”

Marcus Trescothick to retire at end of County Championship season

Marcus Trescothick is to retire from professional cricket in September after 27 seasons as a Somerset player.The 43-year-old former England opener has announced his decision following a disappointing start to the current County Championship campaign, which saw him left out of the team after scoring 88 runs in eight innings. But Trescothick remains available for selection and would like nothing more than to crown his illustrious career by helping leaders Somerset to a maiden Championship title.”It has been an incredible 27 years and I’ve loved every minute of it,” Trescothick said. “However, everything has to come to an end eventually.”I’ve been discussing my future with the club and my family for a while and we felt that now was the appropriate time to make this announcement in order for the club and I to put plans in place.”There’s still a lot of the season left and I’ll be doing everything I can to put in performances for the second XI in order to force my way back into contention for the first team.”Marcus Trescothick bats as another season draws to a close•Getty Images

Since making his debut in 1993, Keynsham-born Trescothick has proved himself one of the best players the county has ever produced, breaking numerous records and playing in 76 Test matches and 123 one-day internationals for England.Those numbers would be even greater, but for the stress-related illness that led to him returning home from an Ashes tour in 2006 and announcing his retirement from international cricket in March 2008.A legend with Somerset supporters and, with a stand named after him at his beloved County Ground in Taunton, Trescothick can leave the stage assured of a place in the club’s history books alongside the great Harold Gimblett.While Gimblett will retain his record as having scored the most first-class runs for Somerset, Trescothick boasts the most first-class centuries, with 52, and the most List A runs, with 7,374.In first-class cricket, he has scored 19,654 runs for the county, at an average of 41.11, and holds the record for the number of catches with 445.His international career began with a one-day international against Zimbabwe in 2000 and he went on to score 5,825 Test runs at an average of 43.79, along with 4,335 one-day runs for England at 37.37.As a member of the 2005 Ashes-winning team, he was awarded the MBE. He played in the 2003 World Cup and established himself as one of the most feared opening batsmen in the game.Named Somerset captain in 2010, having helped the club win the 2001 C&G Trophy and the 2005 Twenty20 Cup, Trescothick led the team for the next six seasons.Announcing his forthcoming retirement, he said: “The club, the members and the supporters mean so much to me. There are so many memories that I will cherish forever and Somerset will always hold a truly special place in my heart.”Twenty seven years is a long time, but it’s gone incredibly quickly. I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to do something that I love for that length of time and I’m extremely grateful for all the support that I’ve received throughout this remarkable journey.”Somerset director of cricket, Andy Hurry said: “Marcus Trescothick is one of the finest players that this country has ever produced and his record on the field of play speaks for itself.”His passion and enthusiasm for the game of cricket is infectious, and his work ethic is phenomenal. He is the absolute personification of what a professional sportsman should aspire to be.”Whilst his playing record is there for all to see, what you can’t measure is the positive influence that he has behind the scenes. He leads by example in everything that he does, and the way that he goes about his business is second to none.”Trescothick plans a future in coaching and media work. He is a Mental Health Ambassador for the Professional Cricketers Association and has taken a leading role in helping fellow players fight the sort of illness which cut short his international career.

Phil Salt assault launches Sussex into the ascendancy

Sussex supporters know by now not to spend too long away from their seats when Phil Salt is going about his business; whatever the young batsman does with a bat in his hands, it tends to happen quickly.His scores coming into this game were informative. Among his 13 innings this season were seven dismissals in single figures. But there was also a 137 off 106 balls that included six sixes in a 50-over game against Kent. To that can now be added the 122 in 104 balls with which he swung this match in the favour of Sussex, decisively they will hope.He is an explosive, all-or-nothing kind of player, not unusually for someone of 22 years old in the modern game. Some coaches and captains might find him infuriating. Sussex are in no hurry to see him change and quite happy to give him his head even against the new ball in the Championship.”He might have a crazy dismissal one day then win you a game on his own the next, so as captains and coaches we have to let him play his own game,” the Sussex skipper, Ben Brown, said following Salt’s call-up to England’s T20 squad earlier this month.Until then, Salt had not been selected in an England squad of any kind, not even at Under-19 level, which is slightly odd given the meticulous work that goes into the ECB’s talent identification processes, supposedly to ensure that the progress of no qualified player goes unmonitored, and that anyone with obvious talent is exposed to some kind of international cricket as soon as possible.Salt made 355 runs in the Vitality Blast last season, which is clearly his most effective arena, but he has such a good eye that if can survive the first dozen overs or so against the red ball he can produce an innings such as this one, which had echoes of the 148 he made at Hove last August to open a pathway to victory against Derbyshire.He got away with a fair few indiscretions in this one, picking up an early boundary with a slice over the slip cordon before an inside edge off Brett Hutton just before he reached fifty came within a whisker of his off stump.When the ball came out of the meat of the bat, though, it invariably went a long way. Jamie Overton, Nathan Buck and Luke Procter took it in turns to suffer, and when stand-in captain Adam Rossington turned to Rob Keogh, Salt went after his offspin from the off, smiting him through cover and over his head for back-to-back fours before hauling the next delivery over deep midwicket for six. That one cleared the bank of seats and sailed out of the ground, coming to rest in someone’s back garden, presumably.The only bowler he wasn’t able to get away to much gain was Hutton, in the game as an unprecedented second concussion substitute after Luke Wood was unfit to resume following the helmet strike he suffered against Chris Jordan on the second evening.Salt made the unfortunate Keogh watch the ball disappear into the distance a couple more times before it all came to a predictable end just before tea when another vigorous swing of the bat against Overton sent the ball directly upwards. As he began to run, he knew even before the ball started to drop that he may as well head straight for the pavilion.”At the end of the day, if you strip it back, it is just a ball coming down at you and you have to hit it,” he said.”Obviously, in four-day cricket you have to show the bowlers more respect but I don’t see much of change in the way I approach the game in different formats, apart from that mental switch.”Sussex had not been nearly as far ahead as they had hoped when Northamptonshire’s first innings ended, largely because of Buck, who had only once before passed fifty in 122 first-class innings but showed that he actually possesses a decent repertoire of strokes, particularly square of the wicket.His partnership with Procter, most of it against the second new ball, added 70 for the ninth wicket, taking Northamptonshire past the follow-on score and on to claim a third batting point. Ben Sanderson’s late support enabled Procter even to stay around long enough to claim a fourth.It left Sussex still 54 in front, but with a need to score quickly to manoeuvre themselves into a position from which they might dictate the way the contest played out. Salt completed that part of the plan, and half-centuries in the final session from Brown and Stiann Van Zyl have given them a big enough advantage to declare overnight, or at least early in the final day, although taking 10 wickets on this pitch will be a test.

South Africa in a spin despite holding trump card in Imran Tahir?

Do South Africa want a turning track at Edgbaston or don’t they? Against New Zealand, is spin an opportunity or a threat?On one hand, they have Imran Tahir, easily the most fearsome of the spinners in either squad – his average of 24.28 is at least 10 better than that of Mitchell Santner, the New Zealand spinner with the best numbers. On the other hand, their middle order has proven incontinent in the face of high quality spin during this tournament. In the match against India, they lost four wickets to legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal, one to left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav, and essentially surrendered the game in a four-over period in which they lost three batsmen.Tahir, at least, seems to be in wicket-taking form. Although he was unsuccessful against India, he had taken two wickets apiece against England and Bangladesh, before running through Afghanistan – his googly flummoxing several batsmen – as he claimed 4 for 29. The tawny colour of the Edgbaston surface suggests there could be some turn on offer, and if there is, Tahir is best-placed among the potential participants in this game to exploit it.”Imran has been a star for this team,” spin coach Claude Henderson said. “He has proven to world cricket how well he can perform, even when he is under pressure. He is in a good space, he is bowling well, and he is excited. This is his last World Cup, but he is loving every minute still, which is amazing. He’s got great passion and what an example he is for any young cricketer.”ALSO READ: Ngidi’s return to fitness a boost for South AfricaBut how will their own batsmen fare, if there is turn to be had here? Although they were successful in denying Rashid Khan a wicket on a green surface in Cardiff, South Africa’s record against spin over the past two years is not encouraging. Their team average against spin over the past two years is 35.97, which places them seventh out of the 10 sides at this World Cup. New Zealand, meanwhile, are up at fourth with an average of 40.35 against spin in the same period.”We chat a lot about playing spin, because spin bowling has had a big effect on the one-day game,” Henderson said. “It might be that at Edgbaston that’s the case, because of the slowness of the wicket. It’s also a case of confidence. We played some good cricket against Afghanistan, and had some good practices. We’ll be staying positive.”Against wristspin, South Africa’s numbers over the past two years are even worse. They average 25.21 against legspinners and left-arm wristspinners through this period. They are worse only than Sri Lanka and Afghanistan out of teams at this tournament. Should the conditions allow, perhaps New Zealand will consider deploying legspinner Ish Sodhi for the first time in this World Cup.”Ish Sodhi is a good bowler, and he has showed in the past that he can also take wickets,” Henderson said. “We definitely don’t underestimate him. Santner is a good spinner as well. It’s nice to have Imran but from a batting point of view, our preparation is knowing exactly what we are going to face and understanding the conditions.”

BCCI-CA conflict leaves female stars in limbo

Conflict between Cricket Australia and the BCCI has left Australia’s female players confused and fuming about their absence from the list of players taking part in the IPL exhibition series due to take place in India next month.The announcement from the BCCI on Thursday that no Australians would be taking part in the exhibition tournament, a year after Meg Lanning, Alyssa Healy, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt and Beth Mooney all featured in the inaugural match, arrived with players still unsure about whether or not they would be travelling to India for the event.ESPNcricinfo understands that the decision not to include Australian women in the tournament is part of a wider disagreement between the two boards that also featured the BCCI’s insistence on CA honouring a touring commitment to play men’s ODIs in India in January next year, leaving Australian broadcasters angry about an absence of one day cricket on the home calendar while also taking the nation’s best players overseas in the midst of the Big Bash League.CA is believed to have been non-committal about the availability of women’s players for the IPL exhibition for some months, alongside negotiations about the men’s ODI series. However, as the world’s most powerful board put its foot down over the men’s ODI series, the CA chief executive Kevin Roberts broke from annual leave to travel to India for last-minute negotiations about the women’s IPL tournament – talks that now appear to have come to nought.”CA has never said the players will be unavailable. We have been working with the BCCI on this and assisted them with activating the visa process earlier in the week,” a CA spokesperson said. “We confirmed yesterday that the players would be released and able to participate in the tournament that commences on 6 May.”There was no indication at that time that there were any problems with this and the BCCI were grateful for the support of the women’s IPL. As was the case last year we are very supportive of the Women’s IPL and look forward to seeing some great games ahead of the Women’s Ashes.”The Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) indicated on Friday that the three players slated to take part – Lanning, Healy and Perry – were still eager to do so if an agreement can be reached between CA and the BCCI.”The Women’s T20 Challenge in India is a good opportunity to grow and develop the global interest in women’s cricket,” an ACA spokesperson said. “In speaking with the players we know they have been preparing to go and are still keen to play. To have no Australian players in the tournament would be an opportunity missed.”Last year’s first exhibition match was not without its troubles, with some disquiet about the nature of the contracts offered to the players to take part, including their terms and conditions. This year CA had been working to negotiate contracts collectively on behalf of their players, before the breakdown in talks that has led to their absence from playing lists named by the IPL.Australia are the reigning T20 World Cup champions after winning the global tournament in the Caribbean late last year, with Lanning, Perry and Healy arguably the world’s best players. CA’s development of the WBBL has been unashamed in its focus to be the world’s biggest women’s event, taking the place that the IPL occupies for the men’s game.

Essex face daunting task after Sam Northeast's timely reminder

Sam Northeast has not given up on finally earning an England call-up and his towering 169 for Hampshire against Essex would have done his chances no harm ahead of a huge summer of international cricket.At 29, Northeast has not featured in the England system since U-19 level – apart from briefly representing the Lions in the Caribbean a year ago. But, while extremely humble and level-headed about his prospects of representing his country, as with most players, the lure of higher honours is undeniable.”It’s sort of just in the back of the mind, you’ve got to always have that goal, it keeps you going,” Northeast said. “But the most important thing is just to score runs for Hampshire.”If anything comes down the line, that would be a bonus but it’s just nice to score runs and nice to get off to a good season.”Resuming on his overnight score of 94, Northeast needed just four balls to bring up his 22nd first-class century and second since joining Hampshire from Kent before the start of last season.He bettered his previous best for Hampshire of 129, scored against Surrey a year ago before a finger injury hampered his debut season for the county in which he played 10 matches and averaged 25.05.”It was a strange year in many ways last year but I feel a lot more settled this year and hopefully it’s going to be a great year for me and the club,” Northeast said.”It’s just important in any season to get up and running and it’s nice to score a big hundred early and hopefully that gives me a bit of confidence to go on and have a big summer, but the important thing is it set us up quite nicely in this game.”Nineteen wickets isn’t going to be easy but hopefully we can make early inroads tomorrow and get in a winning position.”Northeast had hinted at his good form by scoring 118 against Oxford University in a pre-season warm-up and on the real stage he was flawless. He brought up his 150 with a boundary off Simon Harmer and on the next ball delivered a fifth bonus points as Hampshire reached the 400-mark.England World Cup hopeful Liam Dawson brought up his half-century moments later as he and Northeast pressed on towards a record fifth-wicket partnership for Hampshire against Essex of 165.It was Ravi Bopara who broke it when he hit Northeast on the pads with the last ball before lunch. Northeast faced 255 balls for his score, which included 23 fours and a six, as he anchored an innings in which four batsmen passed fifty.Dawson reached 64 before Matt Quinn was rewarded for some tough toil with his wicket, caught behind by stand-in wicketkeeper Will Buttleman, replacing Adam Wheater, who injured his thumb on the opening day and is expected to be out for six weeks.Dawson made his ODI debut against Pakistan in 2016 and played just two more during England’s tour of Sri Lanka last October before being ruled out with a side strain but some handy T20 performances in Bangladesh and Pakistan, along with his latest knock on English soil, cannot have hurt his chances of selection for the World Cup.At the end of the first day’s play, Hampshire’s feeling was that 450 would be a good first-innings total on this flat pitch. They more than achieved their aim, thanks largely to Northeast and Dawson building on some fine work by James Vince, Aiden Markram and Rilee Rossouw on the opening day.Alastair Cook, playing his first Championship match since retiring from international cricket and receiving a knighthood, caught Tom Alsop off the bowling of Harmer for 24, although the former England captain then dropped Gareth Berg on 20.That small blemish mattered little with Bopara holding onto a catch at deep square leg to dismiss Berg for 33 off Harmer and Hampshire immediately declared at 525 for 8.Fidel Edwards, Hampshire’s leading wicket-taker last season, made an early breakthrough in the fourth over of the Essex innings when he bowled Nick Browne for 1, but Cook and Tom Westley saw their way to an early close due to bad light.

Joe Root, Jason Roy hit centuries, lead England to 171-run win in warm-up

If England required any extra inspiration ahead of what could be a momentous summer, the sight of three true greats of West Indies cricket being honoured between innings of this game showed, perhaps, what might be achieved.While it may be stretching a point to suggest England’s players could finish their careers with reputations quite as high as these three – Sir Everton Weekes, Sir Wes Hall and Sir Garfield Sobers really do represent the best of the best – it is probably fair to suggest that winning the World Cup would ensure this team’s place in their nation’s cricketing folklore. Like Weekes and co. it may prove a success that sustains even 50 years after their careers have finished. Whatever they achieve in the rest of their lives, it would probably be mentioned in the first sentence of their obituaries.This match – against the not especially catchily named University of West Indies’ Vice-Chancellor’s XI – represented England’s first List A game in a run of white-ball cricket that now lasts until mid-July.It’s hard to know what to read into such games. A few weeks ago, England annihilated a strong-looking side in two warm-up games ahead of the Test series; it didn’t prove an especially accurate indicator of their readiness.But the fact that Jason Roy and Joe Root both made centuries – the former from 78-balls; the latter from 74 – the fact that the spinners took wickets, that Mark Wood bowled with pace and Chris Woakes returned to action with a well-controlled spell, all boded well. The crushing margin of victory – 171 runs – underlined the chasm between the sides.There was some modest bowling and there were some dropped catches. Roy was missed on 45 and Root on 77, but the manner in which both of them managed to score freely on a sluggish wicket was encouraging. Jonny Bairstow, while not quite as fluent, took advantage of being dropped on nine to make 46 and later completed two neat stumpings.Alex Hales missed out, however. Only playing as Jos Buttler had been rested, Hales was unable to apply pressure on any of the incumbents as he clipped one to square leg without scoring. Eoin Morgan, meanwhile, was run out responding to Root’s call, Ben Stokes pulled a long-hop to long-on and Moeen Ali was bamboozled by Obed McCoy’s excellent slower ball.There might be just a little concern over Liam Plunkett, though. He did not, by any means, bowl poorly and came back pretty well after an expensive start. But he appears to be struggling to generate the pace that once seemed to come fairly easily and, without it, those back of the length cutters do not offer quite such sharp variation. He will be 34 by the time the World Cup starts and, with the likes of Tom Curran and, indeed, Jofra Archer – pushing for selection, his position as an automatic selection may be in some jeopardy. He goes into this series with just a bit to prove.Wood’s selection is not certain, either. But here he showed the value his pace can offer by first hitting Kjorn Ottley with a short ball and then dismissing him flapping at another one. Later Wood also had his brother, Yannick Ottley, caught hooking a short-ball to deep square leg.Woakes’ return was also encouraging. He has endured a frustrating tour, missing all three of the Tests due to a long-standing knee problem, but showed his value here by bowling a tight new-ball spell and then returning to nail yorker after yorker. He might be the most irreplaceable bowler in this England side.Meanwhile, an England supporter who was hit in the face by a six hit by Moeen – they had tried to catch it, only for the ball to burst through their hands – was said to be no more than uncomfortable by the end of the game. The England team doctor was among those to offer assistance at the time, with the amount of blood causing some alarm. While the spectator will have quite a bruise, they are not understood to have sustained a serious injury.

Fired-up West Indies aim to extend England's Caribbean shutout

Big Picture

It’s happening again, you know. England’s impressively woeful record in the Caribbean is in serious danger of another four-year extension, after one of the most outstanding team performances ever put together in West Indies’ long and illustrious history.It’s not often that a spell of 5 for 4 in 27 balls can be overshadowed in the final analysis of a glorious Test win. But such was West Indies’ collective brilliance in Barbados that Kemar Roach’s finest hour was only the third-most stunning statistical feat of the game, behind Jason Holder’s wonderful double-hundred and Roston Chase’s web-weaving eight-for in the fourth innings.Throw in the gut-busting efforts of Shimron Hetmyer (whose first-innings 81 was arguably – arguably! – the most agenda-setting performance of the match), Shane Dowrich’s share of a record-breaking 295-run stand on that incredible third day, and some brilliant but under-rewarded old-school fast bowling from Shannon Gabriel and Alzarri Joseph in particular, and the net result was a performance that England – in a glorious, throwback-to-the-1980s fashion – simply found too hot to handle.Make no mistake: even allowing for the shifting sands of the Test game, and the increasing propensity for teams, of all nationality, to fold like badly-erected beach umbrellas when the pressure is cranked up and the prospect of salvation is lost, this was a battering – with bat and ball – that could hardly have been bettered by Viv Richards and Malcolm Marshall, or Brian Lara and Curtly Ambrose.From an England perspective, the Barbados post-mortem zeroed in on two key shortcomings. The selection of the wrong team, with Sam Curran’s inclusion ahead of Stuart Broad and Adil Rashid’s anonymity as the second spinner, left them toothless at crucial moments of both innings, most spectacularly when Holder and Dowrich started teeing off in the second.But pitch mis-readings can happen. The less-forgivable shortcoming was England’s fatuous, almost blasé, attitude to their tour match at the 3Ws Oval. CWI had hoped for a proper four-day contest, not least to justify pulling so many players out of domestic competition. Instead, England insisted on two two-day warm-ups, glorified nets sessions against opponents who were visibly less than thrilled to be used in such a capacity. It provided, you suspect, further fuel to West Indies’ fire when it came to the main event.Stuart Broad walks out of the England dressing room•Getty Images

England will not make either mistake again. Broad, with his shorter, Richard Hadlee-inspired run-up, is sure to play at Antigua, while England are sure to have the match readiness for this second Test that they so palpably lacked for the first. But having blinked first in a three-Test series – and let’s face it, it was more of a bout of narcolepsy than a momentary nodding-off at the wheel – England face a massive challenge to get their series expectations back on course.For starters, there’s the Antigua factor – an island synonymous with some of West Indies’ most towering feats in the past, particularly against England. From Richards’ 56-ball hundred to Lara’s twin world records, and more recently to a pair of epic rearguards in 2009 and 2015, it’s an island where England have never yet tasted victory.Admittedly, the actual venue has shifted in recent years from the legendary ARG to the less-storied stadium in North Sound, and there has to be a first time for everything. But if West Indies can come close to matching the intensity they displayed in Barbados, it will be a challenge for England simply to stay with them, let alone better them.But whatever transpires, this series has already confounded expectations, and revived memories of past West Indian glories that, all too often in a troubled couple of decades, have threatened to consume rather than inspire their current and coming generations. Barbados was a performance around which the whole of the Caribbean was proud to rally. Bring on the next instalment.

Form guide

West Indies WLLLL (completed matches, most recent first)
England LWWWW

In the spotlight

How does any player follow up a performance quite like that, let alone a young captain who is, at long last, starting to get the respect his talent and dignity have earned? Jason Holder produced a Test match for the ages in Barbados, smoking a quite brilliant double-century – his first in front of his home fans – while bowling with brilliant, understated control, and marshaling his resources with a deft touch. In the course of his endeavours, he rose to become the No.1 allrounder in Test cricket – West Indies’ first such incumbent since the matchless Garry Sobers. His challenge this week is to lift his side to do it all again, and secure a series win that Sobers himself would have been proud to play a part in.Joe Denly looks on during a net session•Getty Images

England confirmed on match eve that Joe Denly will complete a remarkable journey to Test recognition – one that stalled way back in February 2010 but was unexpectedly revived in a Man-of-the-Match display of legspin in a one-off T20I in Sri Lanka before Christmas. At the age of 32 and 321 days, he will be the oldest batsman to debut for England since Allan Wells in 1995 (not that he’d want to emulate that particular England career…) Opening the innings will be a stiff challenge for Denly, whose return to recognition stemmed from his middle-order contributions for Kent over the last two summers. But he’ll have streets of experience to fall back on, and who knows, his wristspin might be a handy option for Joe Root too.

Team news

Why change a winning formula? Assuming there are no lingering fitness worries from Barbados, then West Indies are set to name an unchanged XI. That said, Gabriel was troubled by a bruised toe during the second innings at Bridgetown, while Joseph has been prone to back stiffness on his return from a stress fracture. Dowrich, who handed the wicketkeeping duties over to Shai Hope after picking up a niggle during his batting heroics, is fully recovered and ready to resume his role.West Indies (probable): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 John Campbell, 3 Shai Hope, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Roston Chase, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Shane Dowrich (wk), 8 Jason Holder (capt), 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Alzarri Joseph, 11 Shannon GabrielKeaton Jennings has paid the price for his terrible display in the first Test, with Denly to make his Test debut, almost ten years on from his first appearance in England’s one-day set-up. Broad is also slated for a comeback, with England seemingly committed to a solitary spinner this time around – Adil Rashid has been left out of a 12-man squad, with Jack Leach coming into contention. Moeen Ali’s bowling was scarcely any more economical than Rashid’s in Bridgetown, while his pair spoke of a batsman whose form has fallen off a cliff, and Leach is an option who is sure to provide control. Ben Foakes was fearing for his place after a double failure in Bridgetown, but both he and Sam Curran have credit in the bank after their first taste of defeat in an England shirt.England (possible): 1 Rory Burns, 2 Joe Denly, 3 Jonny Bairstow, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Ben Foakes (wk), 8 Sam Curran, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Jack Leach, 11 James Anderson

Pitch and conditions

Two days out from the Test, there was still a fair amount of live grass on the wicket, but with a bit of a haircut and another day of Caribbean heat, it ought to be a fairly dry surface come Thursday morning. It might prove to be a touch quicker than in 2015 but in essence, it is a good batting wicket.

Stats and trivia

  • England need to win this Test to have any hope of improving a woeful series record in the Caribbean, in which they have won a solitary series (in 2004) in their last nine attempts since 1968.
  • After his scores of 4 and 22, Root’s Test average has dipped below 50 for the first time since August 2014, when he scored an unbeaten 149 against India at The Oval.
  • If they are reunited with the new ball, James Anderson (570) and Broad (433) will become only the third bowling partnership to take the field with a combined 1000 Test wickets behind them, after Glenn McGrath (563) and Shane Warne (708), and Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Chaminda Vaas (355).
  • Ben Stokes passed 3000 runs at Bridgetown, making him the fifth England allrounder to complete the 3000 runs and 100 wickets double, behind Ian Botham, Tony Greig, Andrew Flintoff and Broad.

Quotes

“We’re definitely still the underdogs in this series. We’re ranked eight and they’re ranked two or three.”
“It’s a very determined group of players who have had a bit of pride dented last week and know that’s not a good enough performance for what we’re capable of. This is our first opportunity to put things right.”
Joe Root believes his side are ready to bounce back

'I feel I am still dreaming' – Tamim Iqbal after BPL final heroics

His unbeaten 141 in the BPL final against Dhaka Dynamites became an out-of-body experience for Tamim Iqbal. He said that he needed a little more time to fully grasp the enormity of his knock, one that contained a Bangladesh record 11 sixes and ten fours, and which turned out to be 70.85% of Comilla Victorians’ total in the final.It was such a one-man show that Tamim not only gave the Victorians a good start, he also built partnerships, held it together in the middle overs and then had to slog all the way through to the last over. The rest of their batsmen contributed only 47 runs off 59 balls.Parts of Tamim’s innings were truly unique to his style of batting. He has 20 international hundreds, and has figured out how to go about run-scoring in Tests and ODIs, in different circumstances. But this involved pacing an innings and never dropping off in his strike rate, which ended up being 231.14 after facing 61 balls.Tamim said that the plan to treat one bowler – Sunil Narine – with respect paid dividends. He batted at a 246-plus strike rate against Rubel Hossain and Andre Russell, and then despite having a more defensive mindset against Shakib Al Hasan, went after him for 30 runs off 10 balls.”To be honest, I feel I am still dreaming,” Tamim said. “I still don’t know how I batted. I think I can explain better after I see the highlights. At one stage I got very pissed when [Anamul Haque] Bijoy got out. I had to calm myself down and start again. I am sure that when I see the highlights, I can say it better.”I honestly never thought I’d play such a knock but I think I planned it really nicely. I didn’t want to give a wicket to Shakib [Al Hasan] and [Sunil] Narine, who were Dhaka’s most successful bowlers. I hardly took any risk against Narine apart from one six. It was an unbelievably good wicket so I backed myself against the pacers.”To remain in a positive state of mind for the duration of the tournament, Tamim said that he adopted Mashrafe Mortaza’s mantra of continuously telling himself that he will win. “I get tensed before a game, especially when the responsibility is with me,” he said. “So I decided to be positive all the way. You know owners can be emotional but not for a minute did I tell them that we will lose. The credit goes to Mr Mortaza.”Tamim said that his innings would also be a lesson for the rest of the Bangladeshi cricketers that on a big occasion, someone among the locals can do the job. “A Bangladeshi did the job in a big occasion in the BPL. I think this is the best achievement from today’s innings. Normally an overseas player does the job on the big day in previous occasions.”I hope my innings inspires the others from Bangladesh. They don’t need to wait for others to do it. We can also do it.”Tamim’s wait for the BPL trophy is now over, having gone through several disappointments and some controversies in the past editions. “It was very personal,” he said. “I always wanted to win a cup. The monkey is off my back.”

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