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Cameron Bancroft’s chances of Ashes selection strengthened after finishing the first day against South Australia unbeaten on 161. He improved his chances further, showing an ability to bat long, en route to his highest first-class score (228*) on the second day.His 351-ball innings, which included 22 fours and three sixes, carried Western Australia to 514 for 7 before captain Mitchell Marsh declared the innings.Jake Weatherald, 23, began South Australia’s response with a stunning 152, off just 160 balls, also his highest first-class score. He struck 27 fours and a six to cut South Australia’s deficit by half before he was caught off David Moody. South Australia finished the second day at 322 for 6, a further 192 runs behind Western Australia.Tom Cooper (34) and Callum Ferguson (33) chipped in with cameos, before Alex Carey (26*) and Joe Mennie (21*) carried South Australia to stumps. Moody finished with figures of 3 for 84.

David Warner feels his style of captaincy is an extension of Steven Smith’s ethos, as Australia look to his leadership to reverse their trend of losses in India. Standing in for Smith, who injured his shoulder during the final ODI in Nagpur, Warner captained Australia in their nine-wicket defeat in the rain-affected first T20I in Ranchi. He stressed that the team was trying its best to win every game.”From my point of view, it’s about following on from what Steve’s values are and the standards of the team and what we do to respect him,” Warner said ahead of the second T20I in Guwahati. “I try to follow down the same key messages to the guys so we’re preparing as best as we can to go out on the field. We’re doing our best and that’s all I can do to the best of my ability. It’s up to the player to follow directions.”Despite Australia’s loss, Warner’s leadership came in for praise from different quarters. Opener Aaron Finch thought Warner’s experience of playing and leading in India was put to good use. “It can be quite refreshing when another skipper comes in who doesn’t have to worry about the off-field stuff quite as much as the regular skipper does,” Finch said. ” did a fantastic job under the circumstances. Dave’s obviously played a lot and captained a lot over here in the IPL. He knows the opposition very well, he’s very calm under pressure the majority of the time. He’s a fantastic leader. He’s the vice-captain of the country for a reason.”Former India batsman VVS Laxman, who mentors the IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad – which Warner captains in the IPL – felt the opener was a more aggressive leader than Smith. On the subject of captaincy, Warner said it was “great fun” but came with its share of responsibilities.”From where I stand, it’s my mind, Steve’s mind, different players’ minds, we’ve all got minds of our own,” he said. “When you’re out there and you’re not captain, you don’t have the pressure on yourself to keep thinking all the time. I can just sit back and say I’d have done this, I’d have done that but the difference is you’re not captain. The ideas everyone brings to the table, you say that to the captain and bring in some ideas and that’s what we do to help each other out because it’s a tough job when you’re out there.”I think if you ask each individual, you have a sense of responsibility no matter what. It’s not just me but everyone, who puts that captain’s cap on. You’ve got a responsibility, you’ve got to lead your troops. It’s great fun, we enjoy it, but I enjoy going out there and winning games for my country and whichever team I’m in front of. And if I’m leading, I’m doing it to the best of my ability, even more than you normally would just to get the guys in the right direction as a leader.”And despite the team’s frequent middle-order collapses, Warner said he couldn’t afford to worry about them. “I don’t look too much into because if you get out early, then there’s a collapse in the middle after a partnership,” Warner said. “Everyone becomes frustrated with why it happens. No one means to get out.”There are always reasons about why it [collapse] happens. People talk about pressure, people talk about having two batsmen in and two batsmen get out. We have to play like the way we know and that’s the brand of cricket we bring to the table. You can’t worry about a collapse going to happen. No one is worried about that at all. We have to keep backing ourselves 100%. We know that when we do well we do very, very well.”

Younis Khan was almost as famous during his playing career for his fractious run-ins with the PCB as for his batting ability, and it appears his grievances with the board haven’t ended with his retirement. In a lengthy interview with a local television channel, Younis rebuffed an offer from PCB chairman Najam Sethi to attend a farewell event to honour three recent big-name retirees: Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, and Younis himself.”I don’t think this farewell matters now,” Younis said in an interview with . “What is the use after Misbah and I retired in May this year? In other countries, former captains or stalwarts are given farewells within days of their retirement. I don’t see the use of this farewell now and I’m not after any money. Someone from the PCB called me and invited me and said I would receive a handsome amount but I have decided not to go because whatever I have seen in the PCB or have gone through when I was playing is not something I can forget.”The board has been keen on a farewell for some time, but now looks to have been given the cold shoulder by at least two of them, with Afridi also reportedly unlikely to attend. There were earlier plans of a farewell for Afridi, but that was shelved after the T20I series against West Indies in 2016 did not materialise. And while Younis and Misbah had looked the picture of contentment upon their retirement after a last-gasp series win in the West Indies, it appears – at least in Younis’ view – that had little to do with the PCB.”For me nothing is more important than pride and respect. I don’t think the board has treated many players with the dignity and respect they deserved,” he said.Over the years, Younis has expressed his unhappiness with the board over a number of matters. The latest seems to centre around his contractual status immediately after his retirement. While his contract was set to expire at the end of June, he said his salary for the last 45 days was deducted because he retired on May 14. “I informed the board about this [my contractual situation] but I never expected them to deduct the amount. It is not a sign of respect for a senior player. They also did the same with Misbah.”A number of his grievances had to do with incidents strewn across his playing career that he believed showed the lack of respect the PCB afforded its senior players. “There are so many examples,” he said. “Ask Inzamam (ul-Haq) who is chief selector now. Was he not stopped at the Gaddafi stadium main gate? Ask Misbah, was he not told during a Pakistan camp at the stadium that he can’t bring his car into the stadium?”There are so many incidents and they hurt. At one time there were no LCDs, refrigerators or phones in the rooms at the NCA where the players stayed. All the facilities were for administrative block.”Pakistan is due to host a World XI side at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore for three T20Is in the upcoming week, with the farewell event was tentatively planned in between the games.

Dean Elgar could have been dismissed for a duck off the second ball he faced in the second innings at The Oval. He was rapped by Stuart Broad on the pad, replays showed it pitched in line and was clipping but not enough to overturn Aleem Dar’s on-field decision, had England reviewed. Elgar survived.Elgar could have been dismissed for 9 off the 15th ball he faced. He edged James Anderson to Keaton Jennings at the third slip. The chance was low, Jennings shelled it and Elgar survived.Elgar might have been dismissed for 73 off the 114th ball he faced. He followed a Broad delivery down the leg side and England only half-appealed, though replays seemed to suggest the faintest of edges. Elgar survived. That is how Test cricket goes.Elgar was hurt when he had 33, off the 56th ball he faced, when Toby Roland-Jones hit on him on the hip. He was hurt before that, in the field, when Jonny Bairstow drove a delivery back to him, causing a bleeding and later bruised finger, and he was hurt after that, when he had 77, off the 122nd ball he faced, a short ball from Ben Stokes smashing into said bruised finger.That’s how Test cricket the way Dean Elgar knows it goes. And that is why he could at least reflect with satisfaction on an eighth Test hundred after South Africa’s defeat at The Oval.”I prefer not getting hit, to be honest, but you have to take the blows. It puts me in a different mindset. It’s like the challenge is a little bit more. I guess only an opening batsman could see it that way,” he said afterwards, sometimes looking straight ahead, most of the time staring at the bandaged finger that he will keep covered up until after the Old Trafford Test. “I haven’t taken this off yet and I’m not going to.”He is also not going to have an X-ray on it to determine how bad the damage may be. “That’s a waste of money. Let’s not go that way.”Though the medical committee will have the final word on Elgar’s availability – and they seem to be fairly lenient given the state with which they let Vernon Philander take the field – Elgar has declared himself “ready” for the decider, which is tailor-made for his approach. England’s attack is on the up, South Africa have their backs to the wall and Elgar wants to prop them up just as he did at The Oval. “It’s something that gets me going, chirping and stuff like that that is something that really gets me going. I enjoy that,” he said. “England are a big huff-and-puff bowling attack and when they are on top they are definitely going to bring their mouths as well.”Admittedly, “if the shoe was on the other foot I’m sure we’d be doing the same,” Elgar said. But for now South Africa have to accept their underdog status.It is not just the England team’s on-field chatter that they have to contend with, but partisan crowds, bigger than any South Africa experience at home, who bring all the fun of the fair with them. Despite the vocal support for the home team – and by implication, the joy when the visitors put a foot wrong – Elgar is enjoying the crowds as much as anyone. “It’s brilliant, that’s why you play the game. As a kid you witness that on TV and you hear the crowd singing the person’s name – you have to try and put it on your side as well, get motivated. You almost have to be a little more stubborn, tighter in your game plan, so you can use it in your own game.”The atmosphere was particularly rowdy when Stokes was at his finest, on the fourth afternoon. Stokes took out Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis in consecutive ball in a fiery spell which Elgar survived.”It’s a great occasion facing a guy like that,” Elgar said. “He’s a big-match player and he’s going to come hard, it’s a great battle playing against him. That’s what makes Test cricket so special still. People can’t say the game is dying when you have support like that happening, it seems to happen more when two big Test nations are playing against each other. It’s brilliant for the individuals. That’s what makes Test cricket so much better than any other format.”Later Stokes struck the body blow and Elgar survived, then swiveled his way to some of his finest pulls. And much later Stokes was at first slip when Elgar became the first victim of a Moeen Ali hat-trick and though he was both dismissed and hurt, it was still Test cricket the way he likes it to go. “It’s a freaky game, you will never be better than this game. There will always be a script written by someone else.”

ScorecardFile photo – Luis Reece made his best score in T20 of 97 not out•Getty Images

Luis Reece left his mark on his former county with a T20 best unbeaten 97 from 55 balls as Derbyshire beat Lancashire by 35 runs in the NatWest Blast game at Derby.Reece hit 10 fours and four sixes and with Daryn Smit who made 42 from 20 balls added 77 in seven overs to take Derbyshire to an imposing 211 for 5. Liam Livingstone threatened to chase that down by smashing five sixes in an 18-ball 44 and Karl Brown made 41 but the Derbyshire bowlers hit back to end a run of two defeats in the North Group as Lancashire finished well short on 176 for 9.The visitors had elected to bowl first but Reece struck the ball cleanly from the start, driving Ryan McLaren straight for six and pulling him for four as 59 came from the first five overs.Reece dispatched Jordan Clark over the midwicket boundary and drove Matt Parkinson for a third six before Stephen Parry removed the dangerous Wayne Madsen who missed a reverse sweep in the ninth over.Derbyshire were well placed at 103 for 3 at the halfway point of the innings and although Gary Wilson was stumped charging at Parry, Reece drove Parkinson for his fourth six after reaching 50 from 26 balls. Arron Lilley also had Alex Hughes stumped in the 14th over but Lancashire’s bowlers could not exert any sustained pressure and Smit joined Reece to take Derbyshire past 200.Both batsmen improvised well with Smit plundering three consecutive fours from Junaid Khan as 62 came from the last six overs to leave Lancashire facing a tough chase under the lights.Livingstone moved into overdrive from the off, pulling and cutting Matt Henry for three sixes and two fours in the second over which cost 26 and he clubbed Hardus Viljoen over the ropes at midwicket from the last ball of the third.Imran Tahir was driven for a fifth six but Madsen’s offspin ended the onslaught when Livingstone skied a drive to long on where Hughes took a well judged catch. Brown picked up the baton by pulling Madsen and Tahir for sixes before he played on to Matt Critchley and the legspinner Derbyshire hopes soaring in his next over when Jos Butler failed to clear long off.Dane Vilas was run out when he was stranded at the same end as Lilley who kept Lancashire believing by driving Tahir for six but after Steven Croft drilled the South African high over the long-off boundary, Henry returned to york him.When Lilley drove Ben Cotton to cover in the next over, Lancashire were fading fast and Derbyshire comfortably closed out the game.

Graeme Cremer conceded Zimbabwe’s batsmen may have been too eager on the sweeps and reverse sweeps during the second ODI on Sunday, even though those strokes had proved productive during Friday’s record chase. Sri Lanka’s best bowler Lakshan Sandakan, meanwhile, had come prepared for that tactic from Zimbabwe, which goes some way to explaining his match figures of 4 for 52.Zimbabwe had been 67 for 1 before the spinners came into operation in Galle, and prompted a collapse that cost the visitors five wickets in the space of 10.3 overs. Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl all fell attempting to sweep or reverse sweep.”Maybe with the wicket, we should have adjusted, should have hit the ball down the ground a bit more,” Cremer said after the seven-wicket defeat. “I thought the wicket was a little bit different from the pitch for the first game, and we didn’t adjust early enough. At one stage we could have batted off the overs – 230 could have been a decent score, but we lost too many wickets in the middle.”Sandakan, playing his first ODI since March, employed several strategies to counter Zimbabwe’s sweep-happy batsmen. Early in the innings, he overcame Hamilton Masakadza’s reverse sweep threat by firing deliveries on a leg-stump line. Later in the innings, the dip he achieved also made him a difficult bowler to play across the line.”We identified that they were sweeping us, and we tried to change the field, slow the ball up a bit and change our lengths,” Sandakan said. “We didn’t try too many changes, but length and pace was important and it worked for us today. We also bowled wicket to wicket – a little straighter – to stop some of those shots.”While Sandakan had made the more telling blows to the opposition innings, debutant legspinner Wanidu Hasaranga knocked out Zimbabwe’s tail with a hat-trick in his third over. After the match, captain Angelo Mathews said he had not known much about Hasaranga, which suggests Cremer and the Zimbabwe are likely to have been even less enlightened on the threat he posed.”To get a hat-trick on debut that something special,” Cremer said of Hasaranga. “He looked a little bit nervous when he started, which is understandable. But credit to him when he stuck at it, and credit to the skipper having faith in him to keep him on. To clean up the back end of the innings was excellent.”Sandakan also lauded the 19-year-old’s poise. “When someone is debuting, he is under pressure. He managed the pressure well and bowled his googlies, flippers and leg-spin nicely.”

Angelo Mathews, Sri Lanka’s captain, hailed his players for defying expectations after their seven-wicket victory over India at The Oval kept alive their hopes of a Champions Trophy semi-final. He dedicated the performance to Sri Lanka’s supporters, who made their presence increasingly felt as the game went on, as well as the victims of last week’s flooding in the country.India had looked in control after posting 321 for 6 but Sri Lanka, led by dashing half-centuries from replacement opener Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis, overhauled the highest successful Champions Trophy chase to set up a virtual quarter-final against Pakistan on Monday.”It was a very important game for us,” he said. “You know, no one really expected us to win. That took a lot of pressure off ourselves, and we just went out there, expressed ourselves and you can see what we can do when we play with a lot of freedom.”That’s our trademark, papare,” he said of the band playing enthusiastically in the stands for much of the game. “They come wherever we play. The Sri Lankan people like to have fun. It was very pleasing for us to give them a win because we had some terrible times in the recent past, especially with losing a lot of lives for floods, and we are very grateful that we could give them a smile.”It was like playing a World Cup Final. It was so noisy and a great atmosphere. We all know that all the Indians travel, and they’re right behind their team. I must thank all the Sri Lankan supporters that came out here. Even though it was little numbers, it was fantastic support for us. We really thank all of them.”Angelo Mathews swivels into a pull•Getty Images

Mathews had sat out Sri Lanka’s opening fixture – a heavy defeat against South Africa – due to a calf injury but contributed an unbeaten half-century on his return to help his team over the line. When asked about criticism aimed at himself and the coach, Graham Ford, for recent performances, he said he had been glad to be able to front up.”It’s always the coach and the captain. Today, once again, Kusal Perera’s call [to retire hurt] was also crucial. As a captain, I had to send him in, and it would have been a few bullets fired at me if it hadn’t gone too well. But that’s what we are there for, to take crucial decisions at crucial times, and it doesn’t matter if it fails. But, yeah, there is a lot of responsibility on the coach and the captain. So we do our very best out there, and we get the boys to do their very best, and we get the boys to try really hard, that’s what we look for.”Mendis was named Man of the Match for his innings of 89 off 93 and Mathews said that he and the team had benefited from speaking to Sri Lanka’s previous No. 3 before the match. “He [Mendis] met Kumar Sangakkara to get a few batting tips, and he’s the king, and we all look up to him. We all get advice from him, all the batters. He taught us a lot of good things on how to play on these tracks. Yesterday the guys met him and took a lot of advice and went out there and implemented it.”Sri Lanka’s victory left all four teams in Group B on two points after two games. Pakistan pulled off a surprise of their own when beating South Africa at Edgbaston on Wednesday and Mathews warned about taking preconceptions into the final round of matches.”It doesn’t matter if the opposition respects us. We are out to do a job, and we don’t really think about what the opposition think,” he said. “I mean, no one really expected us to win today as well, but we knew underneath that we had the talent and we had another opportunity to beat a fantastic team, which we did.”We don’t want to think too far ahead. We just want to take one game at a time. Now it’s done, and we look forward to the next game. It will be the same plans, go out there, no expectations. Go out there, play with a lot of freedom. You know, if we play good cricket, I’m certain that we can beat any team.”

Bangladesh have recalled Shafiul Islam to their 15-man squad for the Champions Trophy. There was no place for wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan, pace bowler Subashis Roy and allrounder Shuvagata Hom, who were all part of Bangladesh’s most recent ODI series in Sri Lanka.Nurul and Subashis, however, have been included in the preliminary squad that will undergo a training camp in Sussex from April 26 to May 6 and also play in a triangular ODI series in Ireland that begins in mid-May. Shuvagata is the only player to miss out on both squads. Chief selector Minhajul Abedin said his omission was due to English conditions requiring fewer spinners.Shafiul, the 27-year old fast bowler, last played an ODI against England in October 2016, after which he suffered a hamstring injury during the Bangladesh Premier League. He has taken 63 wickets at 36.41 in his 56 ODIs. Minhajul said that Shafiul was always part of the selectors’ plans but had to be sidelined due to the injury.

Bangladesh squad for Sussex camp and Ireland tri-series

Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Subashis Roy, Sunzamul Islam, Nurul Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Shafiul Islam

Nurul and Subashis didn’t play any ODIs in Sri Lanka, with both having played during Bangladesh’s previous series in New Zealand.Apart from Subashis and Nurul, the middle-order batsman Nasir Hossain has also been included in the squad for the Ireland tri-series. Nasir had last played for Bangladesh against England in October last year, after which he missed out on tours to New Zealand, India and Sri Lanka. He had recently been part of the BCB’s Emerging squad, and made a hundred in the Dhaka Premier League.Shakib Al Hasan, who is currently playing the IPL in India, will join the squad on May 4. ESPNcricinfo understands, meanwhile, that Mustafizur Rahman will return to Bangladesh on April 25 and join his team-mates in Sussex thereafter.

Pakistan might be playing their first T20I series in six months, but limited-overs captain Sarfraz Ahmed feels they are well-prepared to take on West Indies, given they’ve arrived in the Caribbean fresh off the Pakistan Super League. In the four-match series, Pakistan will be fielding new-look XIs, with a brand new opening combination and a couple of high-profile old names returning, and Sarfraz said he was “optimistic” about these changes.”It’s an important series and the first match will set a tone for the series,” Sarfraz said on the eve of the first T20I in Bridgetown. “PSL is an advantage as the boys are coming through playing T20 cricket. Many players who performed have been rewarded. I think it’s a good sign that PSL is happening and players who are performing in domestic are being selected. [Legspinner] Shadab [Khan] did well, so did [left-arm pacer] Usman [Khan], so it’s good to have top performers such as these boys coming through; this event is helping us unearth talent.”The change at the top of the order was prompted by a less positive event; Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif have been charged by the PCB for alleged breaches of its anti-corruption code in the PSL. Sarfraz said the team was not letting this get to them. “Morale of our team is very good and boys are working hard,” he said.Two contenders to fill their spots are two returning big names: Kamran Akmal, who last played in 2014, and Ahmed Shehzad, who last played a year ago. These two, too, owe their comeback to their performances in the PSL. Kamran, in fact, has been solid overall in domestic cricket in the three years he has been away from international cricket. He was the top-scorer with 1035 runs at 79.61 in the recent first-class domestic tournament and was the leading run-scorer in the PSL with a tally of 353. Before that, he scored 480 first-class runs at 60 and 576 List-A runs (topping the domestic One-Day Cup charts) at 72 in 2015-16, and 900 first-class runs at 52.94 in 2014-15.”We are all impressed with Kamran’s performance,” Sarfraz said. “The way he had been scoring runs continuously over the last two years is outstanding. With his recent form in the PSL, I am optimistic that he can carry his form here and contribute and win it for Pakistan.”Like his counterpart Carlos Brathwaite, Sarfraz is hoping the mixing of players at the T20 leagues will give his side an advantage. “Four to five senior players have been playing their league [the Caribbean Premier League] in the West Indies and this is an advantage. It’s a good thing for us that these boys can easily adjust in these conditions.”