England thrash West Indies by nine wickets: second women’s T20 international – as it happened

Nat Sciver-Brunt’s reactionHappy days! The bowlers set the game up beautifully. When you’ve got someone only two games into their career who is begging to bowl four overs straight through, it’s a dream. Em was on a roll and it seemed a shame to take her off.Cricket’s a funny game, isn’t it? I lasted two balls on Wednesday and tonight I get a first-ball boundary.We set a high standard with our fielding in the first game but I’m pretty sure we topped that here tonight

Sciver-Brunt inspires England to wrap up T20 series win over West Indies

Forget Bondi to Coogee – England are queens of a different seaside town. On Friday night at Hove they sealed their T20 series against West Indies with a nine-wicket win, thanks to a three-wicket haul by new-kid-on-the-block Em Arlott and a captain’s innings of 55 not out from their new skipper, Nat Sciver-Brunt.The 27-year-old Warwickshire seamer Arlott, having been handed her England cap just 48 hours previously, apparently impressed Charlotte Edwards, the new coach, so much on debut that she was promoted to open the bowling from the Sea End. She subsequently sent down a consecutive four-over spell of such accuracy that it yielded just 14 runs, despite three of the overs being inside the powerplay.“I was told: ‘You’ll have one in the powerplay and go from there and adjust,’” Arlott said

Crocombe skittles Hampshire as Lancashire toil again – as it happened

High spring hangs over this final May round of Championship cricket, the international summer pulling eyeballs away, the lack of rain leaving parched pitches.A good crowd collected on the apple-green benches sitting around the Grace Road boundary. They saw Lancashire get off to a steaming start thanks to Keaton Jennings and Luke Wells, but then fold in familiar fashion to patient Leicestershire bowling. Logan van Beek removed the two openers either side of lunch, finishing with three for 38, while Josh Hull found some devil in the dirt. Leicestershire lost two evening wickets, but Rehan Ahmed and Lewis Hill saw the day out

‘My happy place’: Shoaib Bashir’s delight after taking historic 50th Test wicket

Once again Shoaib Bashir excelled in an England shirt where he has struggled elsewhere, the 21-year-old taking three of the 11 Zimbabwe wickets to fall at Trent Bridge – more than he managed across three matches for Glamorgan in this year’s County Championship – to become the youngest player to claim 50 Test scalps for his country.So far 54% of the deliveries in Bashir’s first-class career have been sent down in a senior England shirt, leading to 72% of his wickets. “It’s different times of year, different opposition, batters play you differently,” Bashir said of his comparative success in internationals. “I walk into this England team and I feel 10ft tall because of the backing I get, and that makes a massive difference. I feel like I’m very well backed here

Sam Cook strikes early but he’s still in a race against time to convince England | Andy Bull

Finally getting his chance after a decade in county cricket, medium pacer needs to make an impact in Zimbabwe’s second innings to prove he deserves his placeThe slower you bowl, the faster people are to make up their minds about you. Which means that if you work at Sam Cook’s pace, the margins are pretty slim. There have been plenty of English bowlers round about Cook’s 80mph who got only a summer of Test cricket, some who were allowed only a single series, a handful who were given just the one Test.England used to make a tradition of picking a new one every spring, so you’ll probably find that bloke in the tracksuit teaching the colts how to bowl at the club down the road had a gig opening the bowling for their country once upon a summer.By the time Cook was five balls into his debut, people were already wondering exactly where his Test match career was leading

Bennett scores Zimbabwe’s fastest Test century before England regain grip

There were a few sideways glances during the first day of Zimbabwe’s first Test match in England for 22 years, followed by calls for cricket’s longest format to adopt a two-­division structure. After a flogging like the one their players had just ­suffered across three sessions, ­perhaps this was to be expected.But on day two, cheered on by some wonderful pockets of support, the tourists mustered a pushback. First came an improved showing with the ball, England losing three for 67 to declare on 565 for six, followed by something of a fairytale century from the opener Brian Bennett. Though bowled out for 265, and closing on 30 for two following on, Zimbabwe had given their hosts a far stiffer outing