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There are times when cricket is defined by tumbling stumps, frenzied tension and the arcs of Eoin Morgan’s sixes. And there are those days when maiden overs, skilful leaves and the patience of saints are more than enough. These three sessions at York were notable for the latter and they offered almost perfect satisfaction to the spectators sitting under the wonderful white poplars on the far side of the ground, even as most of them yearned for the fall of visiting wickets. They will not forget this day at Clifton Park and neither will Rob Yates, a 19-year-old Warwickshire batsman who fell one short of a maiden fifty after over three hours in which his every stroke proclaimed a determination not to yield.Yet just as the evening crowd were ready to applaud the first major achievement of Yates’ career, his moment was stolen by a cricketer 16 years his senior whose value to Yorkshire appears to increase with every match he plays. In the morning session Steve Patterson’s 60 had helped his side post 259, which most thought a competitive score on a pitch offering bounce and carry. Yet deep in the evening session it seemed that Yates and Dom Sibley’s 101-run stand for the second Warwickshire wicket would erode that advantage much as water wears down stone. But Patterson is also a patient man.Yorkshire’s captain brought himself back for his third spell of the day at the City End. In his fourth over he bowled Sibley off the inside edge for 60 when the opener played an ungainly defensive shot outside the off stump. Six overs later the left-handed Yates pushed at a ball slanted across him and was caught at slip by Tom Kohler-Cadmore. Adam Hose survived his first ball before immediately playing around an in-ducker and falling leg before. By the close Matt Lamb had perished in the slips off David Willey, thus completing the loss of four wickets for 27 runs in ten overs. The day ended with Warwickshire on 192 for 5, the new ball due early in the morning and both sides hoping tomorrow’s weather forecast is wide of the mark.Yet if our cricket ended with Yorkshire’s cricketers suddenly buoyed by the fall of wickets, its heart had been dominated by the stand between Sibley and Yates, two young batsmen in a top order suddenly devoid of seniority. Indeed, many familiar figures at Edgbaston – Jonathan Trott, Keith Barker, Boyd Rankin – are suddenly absent and a Bears top order lacking Ian Bell is like a plate of eggs royale without salmon. The old solidities, the old pedigree are missing and in this context the batting of Yates and Sibley assumes fresh significance.Their partnership blunted Yorkshire’s attack and it even quietened the 380 corporate hospitality guests, although almost nothing could silence the stentorian auctioneer during the intervals, when he boomed out like Brian Blessed addressing the partially hearing.Sibley’s innings was replete with the defiance Edgbaston supporters have come to expect. The opener’s nine championship innings before today had yielded 426 runs including two centuries and his powerful flourishes though the leg side were also par for his course. Yates’ effort, by contrast, turned fresh earth. The 19-year-old had managed only 90 runs in seven visits prior to this match and his innings today offered encouragement even as it ended in disappointment. Yet Yates still needed the luck that fortifies any young cricketer. Most notably this came in the form of the straightforward chance dropped by Adam Lyth off Patterson when he had only a single to his name.Thus reprieved he went on to cut Willey over the slips and cover-drive Jordan Thompson for fours, but the quality of Yates’ batting consisted more in the good balls he defended or simply let go. To watch his mid-afternoon duel with James Logan, Yorkshire’s 21-year-old left-arm spinner, was to see two young cricketers at important stages of their development. And you may be assured most of the crowd realised it.For if the cricket at Clifton Park might be dismissed as slow in this 17-sixes-a-pop era, it prompted no discontent among the thousands on the ground for whom such contests are custom-built delight. They had enjoyed the morning’s play, too, when for nearly 90 minutes Patterson and Logan had batted with the prudence of Yorkshiremen squirrelling a few quid away in their building society accounts. Regular accretion was preferable to risky punts.This was no boisterous, end-of-term thrash but a considered alliance between batsmen who trusted each other during their 48-run stand for the ninth wicket. Only three boundaries had been struck, none of them in front of the wicket before Patterson lost his off stump when trying to cut Oliver Hannon-Dalby. He had made 60, which was only his fourth first-class fifty, but he had batted like a skipper who knew the value of his runs and a bowler who would have to defend the total he was compiling. And deep in the evening Patterson was doing precisely that.

Brisbane Heat have continued their recruiting bonanza for this summer’s BBL signing England young gun Tom Banton.The explosive right-hander, who has been recently called up to England’s T20I squad for the tour of New Zealand, becomes the fourth overseas signing for the Heat behind AB de Villiers and Afghanistan spin duo Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Zahir Khan.Under BBL rules only two overseas players can play in any team at one time but additional replacements are allowed to be named.Brisbane Heat will split their four overseas players across two halves of the tournament. With de Villiers set to stay in South Africa for Christmas, Banton is likely to play the first eight games before he is likely to be needed for England’s white-ball tour of South Africa in February. Zahir Khan will also play the first half of the tournament with Banton before de Villiers and Mujeeb Ur Rahman replace the pair for the second half.If the Heat make it that far, de Villiers and Mujeeb will also play in the finals.Banton, 20, was the second leading run-scorer in this season’s T20 Blast in England, tallying 549 runs at a staggering strike-rate of 161.47. He made four half-centuries and a blistering 51-ball century against Kent.He has experience playing club cricket in Australia in Perth and has played alongside Heat batsman Matt Renshaw for Somerset.Banton’s recruitment is another coup for Heat general manager Andrew McShea and new coach Darren Lehmann. The latter spent part of the winter in the UK and said Banton’s form was irresistible.”He was the talk of English cricket during their season,” Lehmann said. “Outside the Ashes, Tom was the player that a lot of people were really excited to be watching, and with good reason.”He’s a lovely striker of the ball and has that wide and varied range of shots you need to make the most of the early overs in the Power Play or to accelerate the scoring through the middle and back half of an innings.”The prospect of pairing him alongside some of our young batsmen like Max Bryant, his mate Matt Renshaw, and Sam Heazlett is pretty enticing, that’s for sure. But we know Tom will also benefit from playing and being around the likes of Chris Lynn, Joe Burns, Ben Cutting, and Marnus Labuschagne as he takes steps to expand his skills and experience in Australian conditions.”He’s joining us for the first half of the tournament but we’re hopeful he will have some time to catch-up with AB de Villiers at some point as that would be a great opportunity as part of his experience with the Heat.”Banton was thrilled with the opportunity to play in the BBL.”If you had asked me at the start of the summer would I imagine it going like this, I would have probably had a laugh and suggested you weren’t serious,” Banton said. “I was blown away when it was announced last week that AB was coming to join the Heat so what was already going to be a huge experience just got bigger.”I’m really looking forward to coming to Brisbane and seeing what Queensland has to offer after previously playing club cricket in Perth when I was younger. I’ve watched a fair bit of the BBL at home and it is a quality competition with so many outstanding players. I can’t wait, to be honest.”The news comes just a day after the Melbourne Stars announced they had signed South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn for a six-game stint at the start of the tournament.

India are set to host New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka and South Africa over the next nine months as part of the 2021-22 home season, for a total of four Tests, three ODIs and 14 T20Is spread from November 2021 to June 2022.Stretching a jam-packed home season to June is a rare occurrence considering it is month of extreme heat and the onset of monsoon in different parts of India. But it is a direct consequence of the IPL becoming a 10-team tournament from the 2022 edition as two new franchises will be announced in October by the BCCI.The home series announced were all part of the Future Tours Programme (FTP) for the 2018-23 cycle, but the final schedule has come with one change: Sri Lanka will now play two Tests instead of three, as originally planned, and three T20Is in February-March 2022. The Tests will start on February 25 (Bengaluru) and March 5 (Mohali), and the three T20Is on March 13 (Mohali), March 15 (Dharamsala) and March 18 (Lucknow).The tours of New Zealand and West Indies remain as scheduled.Only three days after the T20 World Cup final on November 14 in Dubai, New Zealand will play the first T20I in Jaipur, followed by two more on November 19 (Ranchi) and 21 (Kolkata), and then the two Tests starting November 25 (Kanpur) and December 3 (Mumbai).ESPNcricinfo Ltd

West Indies are slotted to play three ODIs on February 6 (Ahmedabad), February 9 (Jaipur) and February 12 (Kolkata) and as many T20Is, on February 15 (Cuttack), February 18 (Visakhapatnam) and February 20 (Thiruvananthapuram).Only five days after that series ends, Sri Lanka will play the first Test in Bengaluru.South Africa will play five T20Is in June 2022, covering for the ODIs that were abandoned last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. That three-match series had to be postponed after the first ODI in Dharamsala, which had been abandoned because of rain. The BCCI has now decided to replay that tour as a T20I series on June 9 (Chennai), June 12 (Bengaluru), June 14 (Nagpur), June 17 (Rajkot), and June 19 (Delhi).Between the Sri Lanka and South Africa series, the BCCI will also slot in the IPL, this time with 10 teams, which could further extend the duration of the tournament. Also, soon after New Zealand leave India in December, India are scheduled to tour South Africa for three Tests, three ODIs and four T20Is; that tour will go on from December 17 to January 26, without taking travel and quarantine dates into account.The 14 T20Is and another T20 World Cup in Australia next year mean India’s next T20I captain after Virat Kohli will have his hands full. India will also play another three T20Is, along with as many ODIs, in England next summer.

On the win: ‘We had the belief that we could get them out in those 60 overs’
“Super proud of the whole team, the way we stuck to our plans in this Test match after being put in. Our performance with the bat was outstanding. The pitch didn’t offer much [to the bowlers] in the first three days to be honest. I think the first day was most challenging [for the batters], after that it was quite difficult for the bowlers to gain anything from the track but I think the way we played in the second innings, after being put under pressure this morning, Jasprit and Shami, was absolutely outstanding.”We thought 60 overs to go, we could have a crack at the result, and we had the belief that we could get them out in those 60 overs. I think the bowlers were just outstanding and what happened in our second innings, right at the end with the bowlers, a bit of tension on the field [and needle between the teams] really helped us and really motivated us to finish this game.”On lower order’s contribution with bat: ‘They have that desire in them to do the job’
Just to applaud what Jasprit and Shami did… It takes a lot of character and heart to play under those circumstances as bowlers who don’t get much to bat, and just putting their hand up for the team when we needed it most, it was something that we were really proud of and we want to let them know. They were charged up and both took the new ball and got us two breakthroughs as well, which were very crucial for us.”When we were our most successful in Test cricket for a year and a half, our lower order was contributing big time and that’s something that we went away from a little bit when we play away from home. So that was one of our focuses, the batting coach has really worked hard with the boys and they are putting in the hard work. Most importantly when they walk out to bat, they believe that they can stay there and give some runs for the team. I think that belief was missing [before]; we were practising but now they have that desire in them to do the job for the team and we know how priceless those runs are and that proved to be the case even today as well.”Comparing this victory to the 2014 Lord’s win: ‘What happened on the field really charged us up’
“I was part of the winning Test match last time when I was a player under MS [Dhoni]. That was pretty special as well, Ishant bowled an outstanding spell. In that game, we put them under pressure on day four itself.”But this one, to get a result in 60 overs, when we all thought let’s just have a crack at what we have in front of us… It’s quite special and especially when someone like Siraj is playing for the first time at Lord’s and bowling the way he did, [it] was outstanding. As I said, what happened on the field [the verbals] really charged us up and gave us that extra motivation to finish the game off.”On the timing of the declaration: ‘I thought anything under 55 doesn’t sound right’
“It was more a case of ‘what’s the number of overs we are comfortable with’. I thought anything under 55 doesn’t sound right, I don’t want to walk off the field later thinking ‘what if we had four or five more overs left with us’. We decided, okay, 60 is our mark, and we are going to have a crack at them in 60 overs but, as I said, the crucial breakthroughs with the ball were the right start for us and we carried on from there.”We have three more games to go, our aim is five Test matches. We are not going to sit on our laurels after this match and just take it easy. If at all, we going to get more intense and more precise in what we do in the next three games.”

South Africa have confirmed their tour to Sri Lanka for three ODIs and as many T20Is during September. All six matches will be played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, with the series starting with the first ODI on September 2 and ending with the third T20I on September 14.”We are delighted to have another tour confirmed for the Proteas men’s team with the ICC T20 World Cup just around the corner,” CSA’s acting CEO Pholetsi Moseki said. “Playing against quality opposition in the sub-continent is the best way for our team to prepare for this event and we are grateful to Sri Lanka Cricket for accommodating us during this time of the year where schedules are highly condensed.”

South Africa’s tour of Sri Lanka

• First ODI: September 2

• Second ODI: September 4

• Third ODI: September 7

• First T20I: September 10

• Second T20I: September 12

• Third T20I: September 14

The last time South Africa played a bilateral series in Sri Lanka was in 2018, which included five ODIs and a solitary T20I apart from two Tests. While South Africa had won the ODI series 3-2, Sri Lanka took the only T20I on the tour. This time, they would be playing three T20Is, which would mean better preparation for the T20 World Cup in the UAE in October.”With an ICC white-ball world event in each year of the next three, game time is golden for every team and we are looking forward to watching our team play as they continue to add to the building blocks of their 2021 T20 World Cup preparation”, Moseki added.The teams had also faced off earlier in the year when Sri Lanka played two Tests in South Africa, where the hosts triumphed in both matches in Centurion and Johannesburg.

The first-ever women’s Hundred draft took place on Thursday evening, with each team making between four and six picks to fill out their squads having earlier retained between two and four players from their 2022 cohort.Welsh Fire, picking first, tried to sign Sophie Devine and Danni Wyatt, only to be thwarted by Birmingham Phoenix and Southern Brave respectively, who used their Right-To-Match cards to keep hold of their players. Eventually, they made Sophia Dunkley their first pick.Each team will fill out their squad in an open-market process before the tournament starts on August 1, with two teams – London Spirit and Birmingham Phoenix – both in the market for a third and final overseas player. Here is how the squads stack up for now.

A brilliantly-measured partnership between Jordan Cox and Jack Leaning steered Kent Spitfires to a 16-run win over Middlesex in their Vitality Blast match at Canterbury.The hosts were wobbling on 47 for 4 before Cox and Leaning both made 64, helping them recover to 178 for 8, despite a hat-trick for Chris Green, who took 5 for 32.Luke Hollman countered with a high-class 51 off 33 balls, but the visitors lost wickets too frequently to seriously threaten the hosts and finished on 162 for 8.Middlesex’s decision to field after winning the toss initially seemed vindicated when Blake Cullen took wickets with the last two balls of the third over, after he’d been hit for 13 off the previous four by Daniel Bell-Drummond, before the Kent skipper skied the fifth and was caught by Eoin Morgan at mid-off for 15.Joe Denly slashed at the next ball and fell to a diving catch by John Simpson for 10 and in the next over Ollie Robinson edged Steven Finn and was caught behind for 8, leaving Kent on a modest 42 for 3 at the end of the powerplay.Green had Alex Blake stumped off a wide for six, but Cox and Leaning responded with a cleverly-paced stand of 123, marked by smart running between the wickets and a well-timed acceleration that saw the last five overs produce 64 runs.Green’s final over saw Cox caught by Max Holden, a two, a six and then a hat-trick. Leaning was caught by Morgan, Darren Stevens stumped off his first delivery and Milnes caught by Bamber.Middlesex’s reply got off to a disastrous start. Stevie Eskinazi was caught behind off Denly for 4 and Paul Stirling skied James Logan’s first delivery to Blake for a duck. Holden got a bottom edge to Stevens and was caught behind for 10, Simpson played a horrible shot to Leaning and was caught by Cox for 4 and Eoin Morgan cut Stevens to Bell-Drummond and was out for 27.Stevens then bowled Green for 16 and although Nathan Sowter offered some late resistance with an unbeaten 31, when Fred Klaassen had Hollman caught by Blake off the final ball of the penultimate over, it left Middlesex needing 25 off six, a task that finally proved beyond them when Cullen holed out to Milnes and was caught by Blake for 4

The weather forecast is bleak beyond contention yet the cricketers are still practising in their morning nets. Most days in the summer and many in the winter you will find them there or indoors, preparing not merely for the next few hours but for the next game, the next week, the next season. They say Tom Graveney had a net every day of the season; an artist ensuring he could still draw a perfect circle. And here are Graveney’s heirs on a ground he once called home. One feels strangely honoured to watch them on this dull Sunday morning when there’s not a hope in hell of three sessions’ play…But it was not just professionalism and a hard-earned distrust of meteorology that informed the players’ warm-ups at the County Ground. There remains every chance that both these counties will qualify for Division One of the County Championship in late summer. If so, they will not meet again in another West Country derby but will play only the other four teams in the top division. However, they will carry through half the number of points they gained in the two matches they have played against each other in the conference stage. This meant that when Craig Overton pinned Tom Smith with the seventh ball of the day the bonus point Somerset gained for taking three wickets will be worth half a point at the sharp end of the summer, always provided, of course, that Gloucestershire also qualify for the top division.And Somerset’s bowlers were not finished. Two balls after Smith departed Tom Lace was strangled down the leg side, which, to judge from his reaction, was more or less what the former Middlesex batsman would have liked to have done to Steve O’Shaughnessy the instant he saw the finger go up. Next over Kraigg Brathwaite clipped Josh Davey very low to short midwicket where Tom Abell took a good catch to his left. The trap could not have been more obvious had Somerset’s captain carried a large sign round his neck with the words: “This is a trap” written upon it. Baldrick would probably have considered the ruse beneath his dignity. Either way, Gloucestershire were 21 for 5, Somerset needed one more wicket for another point and nobody needed to visit the moral maze to guess which team welcomed the rain that began a few minutes later.Related

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In truth they were the lightest showers, psiloi compared to the hoplites that rolled in later. The umpires went out to the talk to the ground staff, although maybe O’Shaughnessy was just keeping out of Lace’s way, and cricket began again at noon. Only eight balls could be squeezed into this session but even they were significant. Ian Cockbain played on to the last of them, thus giving Somerset their fifth bonus point of the match and Overton his fourth wicket with the new ball, a fact that Chris Silverwood will have noted with interest. There was little to detain any of us thereafter. An early lunch was called and the abandonment was announced at 3.10. Having beaten Somerset at Taunton, Chris Dent’s side will take 16 points into Division One compared with their opponents’ 9.5, always providing both teams get that far.But a very wet game did produce one undisputed victor: Gloucestershire have not just accommodated spectators on these extraordinary days; they have made them welcome and that warmth has extended to the media and the rest of cricket’s caravan. Any necessary regulation has been light touch and enforced with the greatest good humour. As much as the spectators who turned up to watch the match, the Gloucestershire staff who made it possible for them to do so are a credit to the game.