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Essex’s Championship challenge foundered at The Kia Oval a few days ago and as spectators gathered again at Chelmsford, the air was thick with inquests. It was thick with humidity, too, which is about as close as it has got to raining in these parts this summer, and in that atmosphere, Nick Browne reminded everyone of his worth with his second hundred of the season.Somerset, who find themselves part of a West Country bottom two, had imagined they were catching Essex at a good time with their title ambitions over – although an even better time would have been with Simon Harmer absent with South Africa for the upcoming Test series against England. As it was, Browne supervised a successful Essex day, batting the entire day for 129 out of 281 for 3.Chelmsford remains parched. It gets roughly half the annual rain that falls upon the likes of Manchester and Cardiff in an average summer. The outfield at the River End of the ground is in a terrible state, worn and bumpy with drainage ditches clearly visible. Field in this area at your peril.Centuries have tended to come this season from Essex’s more celebrated opener, Alastair Cook, who has made four of their 10 in the Championship this season. Browne, a big, lumbering sort, often guarded in his strokeplay, is not really designed to wrest attention, but he is the most wholehearted of cricketers. They remain an opening partnership to be reckoned with and he played well.Browne told blithely how he and Cook used to keep a tally over the season about who got out first before it was abandoned for his own good. “It is always hard to get out after him,” he said. “We used to have a little competition but I always seemed to lose it because he is too good.”How many England players as distinguished as Cook will remain true to county cricket in the future? Nearly four years have passed since he bowed out of Test cricket against India at The Oval, but he appears to have settled back into Championship life with equanimity and he looked untroubled in making 44 before Peter Siddle cut one back to have him lbw, the third time he has dismissed him in the Championship this season.The extension of Marcus Trescothick’s career in county cricket with Somerset felt like a prolonged farewell tour with the Taunton crowd outpouring its gratitude for every extra season, almost every extra run. Trescothick’s presence at Somerset was heartfelt, of course, because of the mental health issues that had ended his England career prematurely. Essex’s ties with Cook, while just as strong, are perhaps more understated; less emotional. Both, though, might be figures from a different age.Related

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With England now pulling around 30 players out of county cricket from an early age to feed a never-ending international schedule, and with the future county fixture list once again awash with uncertainty, it invites questions whether club loyalties of the best players can possibly remain as strong in a changing landscape. Then you think of Joe Root and imagining him settling back with Yorkshire many years from hence and maybe for some it remains perfectly possible. Perhaps it is not the nature of the competition, but the nature of the man.Essex’s opening pair are easy to tell apart: Cook, willowy and contemplative, accumulating quietly, rarely drawing attention to himself; Browne, more hunched and thick-set and capable of occasional moments of pugnacity, his speciality the sort of punched drive through extra cover, off Siddle that brought him a most diligent hundred. He had sweated it out for 13 balls on 99, including a play-and-miss against Kasey Aldridge, one of the few times his outside edge was beaten. Siddle, who has also played at Essex awarded it a fist-bump of respect.During the morning, Somerset had an injury scare for Craig Overton, who has been released by England to play in this match. He limped away from an over after having problems with the footholes, and also missed part of the morning session after jarring his shoulder in the field.All Somerset’s wickets on an unresponsive pitch came in the afternoon session. Tom Westley drove at Overton, back with no long-term damage, to be caught at slip, and Dan Lawrence slumped in disbelief when he cut the last ball of the afternoon session, a wide long-hop from Matt Renshaw, an occasional offspinner, to slip. Renshaw finished off a wearying day by bowling Browne a bouncer off a few paces which he duly ducked underneath.Paul Walter had his aggressive moments for an unbeaten 57, never more so than when he lofted Jack Leach for a straight six during 27 unrewarding overs for England’s premier spin bowler. Few anticipate that Harmer will be as unproductive as the game progresses.

Northern Superchargers 164 for 3 (Wolvaardt 90*) beat Manchester Originals 160 for 3 (Dottin 68*, Lee 40) by seven wicketsDeandra Dottin produced some of the finest hitting seen in either edition of the Women’s Hundred but her efforts were trumped by Laura Wolvaardt, whose perfectly judged 90 not out took the Northern Superchargers to a seven-wicket victory with one ball to spare at Clean Slate Headingley.Wolvaardt batted through the Superchargers’ innings and faced 49 balls, hitting 13 fours and two sixes as the Leeds-based side overhauled the visitors’ 160 for three to secure a victory that keeps their chances of making the knockout stages of the competition very much alive. By contrast, the Originals’ hopes of making further progress hang by the slimmest of threads.But such an outcome seemed unlikely when Dottin, who was playing her last game in this year’s Hundred before going back to captain Trinbago Knight Riders in the inaugural women’s Caribbean Premier League, hit five fours and six sixes, including three in a row off Linsey Smith, in her 30-ball 68 not out and shared in the 74-run partnership with Sophie Ecclestone that enabled the Originals to post a formidable score.And the Originals’ innings had begun in sprightly fashion when Lizelle Lee took at least one boundary of each of the first five sets and made 40 of the 57 runs she put on with Emma Lamb when she top-edged an attempted drive off Katie Levick and was caught by the wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy.Lamb soon followed for 14, although it took a brilliant catch running in from long-on by Alice Davidson-Richards off Heather Graham to remove her and that dismissal was in sharp contrast to the departure of Ami Campbell, who was run out for 7 when she was dozily strolling back into her crease and was beaten by Hollie Armitage’s sharp throw and Healy’s quick thinking.The score was 86 off 38 balls when Campbell had to stroll back to the dugout but that was only a prelude to the astonishing hitting of Dottin. At the other end Ecclestone was not quite outshone – she whacked three successive fours off Jenny Gunn – but her unbeaten 24 was overshadowed by her partner’s remarkably clean hitting.Undaunted by their stiff target, the Superchargers began very positively with Healy hitting six fours in an 18-ball 25 before she was caught at mid-off by Lea Tahuhu off Kate Cross. Lamb’s excellent throw then ran out Bess Heath for three but Superchargers’ skipper, Armitage regained the initiative with a 20-ball 24 before being bowled by Lamb.Meanwhile Wolvaardt was coolness personified even when 75 runs were needed off 40 balls and 55 off 25. In company with Graham, she put on an unbroken 55 in 24 balls and the winning runs were scored off Dottin, whose day was spoiled when her last over contained a front-foot no-ball and thereby a free hit.

Andrew Gale and Rich Pyrah have agreed compensation with Yorkshire after winning their case for unfair dismissal.Gale, the former captain and head coach, and Pyrah, who spent more than a decade on the Yorkshire playing staff before becoming bowling coach, were among 16 members of staff abruptly sacked last year in the wake of Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.They were subsequently part of a group of former Yorkshire employees who won a preliminary employment tribunal hearing in June.Yorkshire’s accounts revealed that the club had set aside £1.9 million for compensation and legal affairs, with Gale set to receive a six-figure settlement, according to the .A Yorkshire statement said: “On the December 3 2021, the Yorkshire County Cricket Club Limited took the decision to dismiss its coaching and medical staff. The club has acknowledged that its dismissals of that group of employees was procedurally unfair.”After meaningful dialogue between the club and the legal advisers acting on behalf of Andrew Gale and Richard Pyrah the parties can confirm that acceptable terms of settlement have been reached.”The financial terms of the settlements are confidential and no further public statement will be made about the terms.”Yorkshire have also reportedly agreed an out-of-court settlement with Ian Fisher, the club’s former strength and conditioning coach.

Aaron Finch has conceded there was “no excuse” for his painfully slow innings against Sri Lanka in Perth which heaped the pressure on Australia’s run chase until they were rescued by Marcus Stoinis.Finch could barely contain his frustration as he crawled to 31 not out off 42 balls in Australia’s seven-wicket win on Tuesday night. The match will be remembered for the Stoinis fireworks display at the death, with the allrounder cracking an unbeaten 59 off 18 balls.But Finch’s scratchy performance did not go unnoticed, with former Test star Mark Waugh labelling it “torturous”.At one stage, Finch had scored four of 15 balls. During a stretch of play in which he was totally bamboozled by paceman Lahiru Kumara, the 35-year-old quipped to the umpire: “Happy to take any ideas if you know how to hit that”.Related

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Things only got slightly better for Finch as his innings wore on. He was dropped on 23, was lucky to survive a series of bottom and inside edges that only narrowly missed his stumps, and he shouted a frustrated “oh my god” at the death following yet another mistimed shot.Finch’s innings – at a strike rate of just 73.81 – was the slowest of any consisting of 40 or more balls in men’s T20 World Cup history.”Obviously my innings was unusual, it was poor,” he said. “I just couldn’t hit the ball…they bowled a hard length, it was tough. It’s such a big ground you feel as though it’s hard to just stand and deliver, especially with a bit of extra bounce and when the ball’s seaming slightly you feel it’s just not quite as easy to hit the middle of the bat, but that’s no excuse for the way I played, but it was nice to get the two points.”Aaron Finch could never get going•AFP/Getty Images

The under-fire Finch, who retired from ODIs last month, has passed 50 in just one of his past 18 innings in official international matches, averaging only 11.88 in that time across all formats.Finch’s most recent score of note came in a warm-up match against India last week, when he made 76 off 54 balls. Stoinis praised Finch for seeing out the win until the very end.”That new ball was doing a lot. From what I could see from the boundary, it was definitely the hardest time to bat,” he said. “It was just important that he saw that through and was there to hit the winning runs.”However, Waugh argued that Finch’s innings made it very difficult for him to be retained as an opener for the England match on Friday and called for Cameron Green, who is now in the squad as a replacement for Josh Inglis, to be recalled in place of Pat Cummins and partner David Warner at the top.”I’d bring Cameron Green in and I’d bring him in for Pat Cummins, and I’d let Cameron Green open the batting,” he told radio station . “That’s the one change I would definitely make. I know it’s a bit of a gamble, it leaves your bowling a bit short.”But I think Cameron Green can bowl four overs as good as any of the other bowlers at the moment. Aaron Finch’s innings was torturous. I don’t think he can open the innings in the next game. If he plays, I don’t think he can open.”

Lauren Bell followed her star turn in England’s successful ODI campaign with a three-wicket haul as West Indies’ batting struggles carried over into a heavy defeat in their first T20I and Danni Wyatt reeled in an easy target with an unbeaten half-century.Bell, who took a crucial 4 for 33 as England thumped West Indies in their second ODI on Tuesday, was rested for the third match, another resounding win as the tourists swept the series 3-0. But she returned for just the third T20I of her career and ended with 3 for 26 from her four overs to help contain West Indies to just 105 for 7.West Indies were thumped by more than 100 runs in each of their 50-over matches, bowled out in all three with a highest total of 165. After slumping to 19 for 3 inside the first five overs in Antigua on Sunday, they never recovered and Wyatt was positively brutal in taking England to victory by eight wickets in just 12.4 overs.Bell backs upEngland could scarcely have hoped for a better start. Bell had a hand in the first two dismissals, bowling Aaliyah Alleyne for her maiden T20I wicket with her fifth ball, the 11th of the match after Katherine Brunt had opened the bowling in her first international since the Commonwealth Games bronze-medal playoff in early August. Bell then held on when Kycia Knight chipped Nat Sciver straight to mid on in the next over.Hayley Matthews tried to ramp Brunt and lost her off stump and, despite a couple of chances going begging, England continued to keep West Indies under immense pressure. Heather Knight had Under-19s batter and debutant Djenaba Joseph stumped by Amy Jones to make it 38 for 4 after eight overs. Rashada Williams, West Indies’ top-scorer in the ODIs, steered Bell to backward point and set off for a run, foolishly challenging Wyatt’s arm as she threw down the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Next ball, Shemaine Campbell scooped Bell straight down Lauren Winfield-Hill’s throat at mid-on and the hosts were in disarray.Run-outs the only way for WISophia Dunkley continued the opening partnership she forged with Wyatt after Tammy Beaumont was dropped from the T20I side during the English summer and, while she managed just three runs off the first nine balls she faced, four boundaries off Chinelle Henry in the third over had her cruising. That was until a messy run out after she skied Cherry-Ann Fraser to midwicket and ran halfway down the pitch before turning back and, despite wicketkeeper Kycia Knight fumbling the throw-in, Campbelle managed to gather running in from the slips cordon and fired onto the stumps as Dunkley dived in vain.Winfield-Hill, playing her first T20I since February 2020 after losing her ODI spot early this year and her ECB central contract for the coming season, was put down on nought by Matthews diving full-stretch to her right at slip. Having come in at No. 3 with teenage allrounder Alice Capsey back home after breaking her collarbone in the first ODI, Winfield-Hill managed a run-a-ball 15 before she was removed by Cambelle, throwing in from backward point for another run out, West Indies’ only mode of dismissal as their bowlers went wicketless.Wyatt seals winDespite those hiccups, Wyatt had England in complete command. From 51 for 1 after the powerplay, including her six off Matthews in the third over, she swung Fraser through the midwicket region for back-to-back fours to move into the 30s. Wyatt brought up a 29-ball fifty with a six off Karishma Ramharack and she sent Shabika Gajnabi over extra cover to the rope to draw within three runs of victory.Fittingly, Wyatt hit the winning runs to finish unbeaten on 59 off 34 balls with a strike rate of 173.52. It followed her half-century in the opening match of the one-day series and rounded off a successful stay for the visitors in Antigua. The tour now moves to Barbados for the remaining four T20Is from Wednesday.

Benjamin Manenti has fallen short of a maiden first-class century, but the spinner’s boundary-laden innings lifted South Australia back from the brink on day one of their Sheffield Shield match against Queensland in Brisbane.Manenti cracked 88 as South Australia were bowled out for 272 just before stumps on day one at the Gabba.Easily the Shield’s fastest scoring side, South Australia scored their runs off 80 overs after a rain-hit afternoon.New captain Jake Lehmann was the other main contributor with his quickfire 65 coming off just 58 balls.But Manenti was the star with 15 boundaries in his 101-ball knock.It was a third half-century in four innings for the No. 8 who is fast making a case to be considered an allrounder.South Australia looked in deep trouble with Lehmann’s dismissal leaving the visitors at 6 for 111 after being sent in to bat by Queensland.Wicketkeeper Harry Nielsen also made an important contribution down the order before being dismissed late in the day for 47.Michael Neser (3 for 60) and Xavier Bartlett (3 for 54) were the chief wicket-takers for Queensland.The latter dismissed Manenti after a flashing drive was caught in the gully.South Australia lined up without Wes Agar, the Shield’s leading wicket-taker before this round of games – he is being rested ahead of next Wednesday’s One-Day Cup final against Western Australia.The second-placed Queensland went into the penultimate round fixture sharing the No. 2 spot on the table with the in-form Victoria.

Earlier this week, Lahore Qalandars coach Aqib Javed told ESPNcricinfo about how other teams in the PSL prioritised power hitters, while Qalandars wanted to go for the best bowlers. Here, Multan Sultans demonstrated to them the value of power hitters lower down the order, as Kieron Pollard and Tim David dug deep against an imperious Qalandars bowling showing to post 160. Sultans then went about taking apart the defending champions’ batting line-up in astonishing fashion, with Sheldon Cottrell blowing away the top order as Qalandars folded for 76, the third-lowest total in PSL history. It sealed Sultans’ place in the PSL final for the third successive season – the first team to do that – while Qalandars drop down into Friday’s eliminator to keep their title defence intact.Chasing a total down against Qalandars’ bowling line-up has become the most daunting challenge in the PSL, and Sultans were sensible enough to be flexible. They won the toss and batted first for the first time this season, and just the fifth time in their history. But they tend to pick these moments well; they won three of the previous four.Related

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That victory seemed anything but assured for much of the first innings, with Qalandars at their imperious best with the ball, stifling Sultans in the first 15 overs. The average first innings score this season here was 193, but it became obvious fairly soon the Sultans wouldn’t get anywhere near that. They managed just 46 in the powerplay, and while Qalandars hadn’t picked up any wickets, it didn’t seem as if they needed to.Haris Rauf, at his fearsome fastest, struck the first blow, though the ball he cleaned Usman Khan up with was a slower one. Zaman Khan got rid of a scratchy Rilee Rossouw cheaply, a huge wicket, particularly given Rossouw’s imperious record against Qalandars. Rashid Khan prised Mohammad Rizwan out with a wrong’un to reduce the Sultans to 90 for three, and Qalandars only tightened their grip on the game.Sheldon Cottrell celebrates with his signature salute after a top-order wicket•PCB

It was a sensational lower order counterattack from Pollard that dug his side out of a hole, though it wasn’t without its chances. Sam Billings dropped a skier fairly early on in the onslaught, with Shaheen Afridi and Hussain Talat missing chances to get rid of him. In the meantime, he was grinding through the gears, pushing up Sultans total to a defensible level, never more so than when he powered three sixes off Shaheen in the penultimate over; the 20 the Qalandars captain conceded made it his most costly PSL over. It also brought up a 33-ball 50 for Pollard, winning him the Player-of-the-Match award.Haris hit back with a scintillating final six balls, hitting speeds in excess of 150 regularly and cleaning up both Pollard and Khushdil Shah. It saw just six runs scored and clawed a bit of momentum Qalandars’ way, turning the task over to the batters.But Cottrell, newly arrived at the PSL, wrenched the game out of Qalandars’ hands before they’d even had the opportunity to get the chase off the ground. A double-strike in his second over, making prodigious use of inswing to the right-handers, put paid to both Mirza Baig and Abdullah Shafique, while Anwar Ali from the other end seamed one beautifully to knock back the top of Fakhar Zaman’s off stump. Cottrell wasn’t done with the ambush yet, returning to dispatch Shaheen with a wild swing off the second ball he faced finding Usman Khan at cover.There was more trauma about to be inflicted on a shell-shocked Qalandars. Pollard, their tormentor in chief with the bat, saw two wickets fall in his first over, sloppy running catching Talat out before a sensational running catch from Abbas Afridi brought the curtains down on Sikandar Raza.Qalandars’ thoughts were already turning to Friday’s eliminator. Billings and Rashid fell in quick succession, before a few lusty blows from David Wiese and Rauf gave a packed, partisan home crowd something to cheer for. It was to be ephemeral, however, with Abbas Afridi delivering the knockout blow as Haris feathered one through to the keeper.Sultans were thrashed in last year’s PSL final by this very opposition. But this was a step towards ensuring they might not even need to meet them at that stage one more time.

Middlesex claim they have recovered £100,000 in ¬unauthorised payments made to their former chief executive Richard Goatley, but declined to comment after an eight-month investigation by Metropolitan Police concluded that “no criminal offences could be identified”.Goatley, who continues to deny any wrongdoing, had lodged a personal injury claim against Middlesex in April 2024, claiming that the club had been pursuing a campaign of harassment against him. In 2021, he suffered a stroke during a committee meeting at Lord’s in 2021, and had been forced to resign due to ill health.Middlesex went on to record a loss of £952,000 in 2021, with their net assets shrinking from approximately £2 million to £179,000. In part this was due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, although the club’s pensions contributions were also wrongly paid for 12 months, which was claimed to have caused a further £350,000 deficit in their books.In 2023, under the leadership of Goatley’s successor Andrew Cornish, the club was placed into “special measures” by the ECB, having been fined £50,000 for financial irregularities and handed a suspended points deduction.In May 2024, shortly after his High Court filing, Middlesex reported Goatley to the police, alleging that about £70,000 in unauthorised expenses had been paid into his personal bank account.In a statement, a Met police spokesperson acknowledged that Middlesex had made allegations of fraud against Goatley, adding that the “nature of the alleged offences were complex and required careful consideration”.”After a thorough and detailed assessment, officers decided on Wednesday 29 January that no criminal offences could be identified,” the spokesperson continued. “The case will be reopened should further investigative opportunities become available.”In a statement, Goatley said he had always maintained his innocence, adding that the police’s finding were “welcome” and came as “no surprise”. He confirmed that he will be continuing his civil claim against Middlesex. The club continues to deny any wrongdoing.Responding to the developments, Middlesex said they were pleased to confirm the recovery of the missing funds after a “lengthy and challenging process”, adding that they comprised £57,000 of cheques paid into Goatley’s bank account and a further £43,000 of ineligible payments made into his pension fund.”We are grateful to the bank and insurance company involved in ensuring that these payments were refunded to the club,” the statement continued. “We have no comment to make on the decision that the Metropolitan Police have reached and their reasoning for doing so.”This story was updated on December 1, 2025, following a clarification of the timeline of events

Both the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Rajasthan Royals had come into this game knowing it was not just must-win, but they needed to win it with a big margin to get some playoff security. Both teams showed the intent to go hard, and maximise their chances, but it was the Knight Riders who came out smiling at the end, having romped to a 60-run victory that vaulted them from last place in the points table to fourth, and knocked the Royals out.The margin of the win meant their net run rate had lifted to -0.214, within touching distance of the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Delhi Capitals, with all three teams on 14 points. A big enough loss for either of those two, when they face off on Monday, could see the losing team slip below the Knight Riders, an important cushion should qualification come down to net run rates. The first game on Sunday had already seen the Kings XI Punjab crash out with a defeat to the Chennai Super Kings, smoothening the way further for the Knight Riders.Intent was shown before the game itself, when the Knight Riders included a still not fully fit Andre Russell for this match. The thinking was evident: with the season on the line, you need one of T20’s best players in the XI.Eoin Morgan led the way with the bat, while Pat Cummins was devastating with the ball, as the Knight Riders won crucial passages of play handsomely. Morgan had come in at 74 for 3, after a double-wicket over, and paced his innings to a nicety. He expertly picked the bowlers to target, and bludgeoned his way to his highest IPL score. The unbeaten 68 off 35 he scored was also his first half-century of IPL 2020. The Morgan blitz took the Knight Riders to 191 for 7, a total well in excess of what they looked like getting more than halfway into the innings.Pat Cummins sent back Ben Stokes and Steven Smith in the same over•BCCI

The Royals innings began at breakneck speed but their unravelling was equally swift. The first five legal balls brought 19 runs, the next 4.1 overs produced 18 for 5 – four of those wickets going to Cummins. It was only the fourth time ever that a bowler had taken four or more wickets in an IPL powerplay. In seven of their last eight games, the Knight Riders had gone wicketless in the powerplay, and as if to revert to the mean, they got five on Sunday. Morgan took the aggressive option and bowled Cummins for three overs in the powerplay, and was amply rewarded for it. Cummins shrugged off those 19 runs he conceded first up to eventually end with 4 for 34.Archer at one end, runs at the otherThe match began in familiar fashion for the Royals. Jofra Archer was quick, hostile, accurate at one end. The runs leaked from the other. Archer’s first spell read 2-0-3-1 but the Knight Riders still had 55 for 1 in the powerplay, with Shubman Gill in his new avatar as an aggressive opener leading the way. Gill carted the other bowlers around as the Knight Riders shrugged off the first-over dismissal of Nitish Rana to continue to hit out against all bowlers save Archer, with the rest offering ample waywardness in line and length.Steven Smith also erred in giving Shreyas Gopal the fourth over, when pace might have been more suited and with the Royals having enough options. Gopal’s over went for 17 runs and the control Archer had given them first up disappeared. Later on, Smith would also call on Gopal when Russell was new to the crease – again with pace options available since the Royals had six frontline bowlers – and that over went for 21 after a middle-overs lull.Tewatia strikesRahul Tewatia continued to enhance his reputation as one of the stars of this tournament with a canny spell in the middle overs that dragged the Royals into the game for a while. He didn’t rip the ball a great deal, but kept it flat and on difficult-to-hit lengths. He also kept it out of the strike zone of the batsmen, denying them room to free their arms. He struck twice in the ninth over to get a fluent Gill and then the promoted Sunil Narine for a duck. Later on, he took the important wicket of Dinesh Karthik, who chipped tamely to short midwicket, finishing with 3 for 25 in his four overs, bowled on the trot. When he was done, the Knight Riders had been reined in to 100 for 5 in 13 overs after a quick start.Eoin Morgan was at his explosive best•BCCI

Morgan’s blitzHe had been busy at the crease since his entry, though he had to temper his aggression against good bowling by Tewatia, while also setting himself up for launching in the death overs. Still, Morgan hadn’t let a scoring opportunity go, looking to attack even through the middle overs. The re-entry of Gopal for the 14th over opened the sluice gates, as Morgan smashed two fours and two sixes. Russell then showed some of his prime hitting form, even taking Archer for a six after an edged four. Though Russell was out for an 11-ball 25, Morgan stayed on, taking down England team-mate Ben Stokes in a massive 19th over that yielded 24 runs.Cummins runs through the top orderThe first ball of the chase was picked up for six over fine leg, the second was a big wide down leg. Stokes hit an audacious ramped six off the fourth and suddenly the Royals were flying. They were brought thudding to earth rapidly though. Cummins ended his first over with Robin Uthappa flicked to deep backward square leg, and from that point on, the Knight Riders stayed on top.Stokes was taken behind when Karthik leapt to his left to pluck the ball out of the air in one of the catches of the season, Smith was bowled off the inside edge and Riyan Parag was too late on a short ball that got big on him to glove it behind. In between, Shivam Mavi moved one off the seam to have Sanju Samson poking it behind.Jos Buttler fought for a while, and Tewatia tried to do what he could, but 37 for 5 in five overs, the Royals needed a miracle, and that didn’t materialise.

The South Africa squad has returned a full set of negative Covid-19 results, meaning the ODI series against England will start on Sunday after the tour was thrown into doubt by the positive test that was announced shortly before the first ODI was due to start in Cape Town on Friday.”Cricket South Africa (CSA) is pleased to announce that the entire Proteas team has returned negative results from the COVID-19 tests that were conducted yesterday evening in Cape Town,” a CSA statement said on Saturday morning.The entire South Africa squad was retested on Friday evening following the confirmed case which brought into question the safety of the biosecure bubble both teams are in. CSA said it had looked into the possibility of a breach at the team hotel and was satisfied protocols were being followed.If there had been further positive cases emerge from this latest round of testing it is highly likely that the tour would have been called off.”There is a cause for concern and England has expressed a concern. England are questioning the confidence they have in the bio-secure environment and rightfully so,” Dr Shuaib Manjra, CSA’s chief medical officer, said on Friday. “If there has been a player who tested positive in the last week, they have cause for concern and we respect that concern.”This test surprised us because we have confidence in the integrity of the bio-secure environment. Further tests indicate that this is a more recent case that occurred within the bio-secure environment. So clearly there seems to be some kind of breach which we have investigated in great detail to try and determined where this happened.”The matches will now take place on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday, with England flying back to the UK on Thursday.South Africa’s first attempts at hosting cricket in a biosecure environment have so far encountered several setbacks. Two players, understood to be Andile Phehlukwayo and David Miller, tested positive in the build-up to the T20I series, and the team’s intra-squad warm-up match had to be cancelled.A third positive result when the squad was tested before the ODIs led to the postponement of the opening match an hour before it was due to start, and raised the possibility of the tour being abandoned.CSA has confirmed that the player who tested positive on Thursday was removed from the squad and not retested. No replacement has been called up, leaving South Africa with 17 players to select from for the three ODIs.