Worcestershire stumble again despite Allison five-for

Four late wickets for Surrey saw them take control of the Rothesay County Championship clash at Visit Worcestershire New Road, as Worcestershire ended day two 69 for 4, still trailing by eight-runs.Ben Allison led the way for the hosts, with his 5 for 44 helping restrict Surrey to 291 all-out, Dom Sibley top-scoring with a measured 73.With a lead of 77, Surrey’s seam-bowling attack ensured the day belonged to them with another potent display.Nathan Smith and Matt Fisher collected two wickets apiece, as Worcestershire’s top four were ripped apart in a devastating evening session that put the visitors well in control.Surrey added 40 to their overnight total, but shortly after Ryan Patel had brought up an elegant half-century, Allison made the breakthrough for Worcestershire as he hurried the left-hander with a back of a length delivery that was chipped straight to Jacob Duffy at mid-on.Rory Burns joined Sibley, as the pair continued Surrey’s batting dominance, bringing up their 100 in the 35th over.With Sibley easing his way to a measured 132-ball fifty, Worcestershire’s seamers offered little in the way of opportunities, as lunch arrived with the visitors in total control at 147 for 1.The home side struck twice in quick succession upon resumption, however, when Duffy drew an edge from the bat of Burns for 34, followed up three overs later by the industrious Matthew Waite, who produced a gem of a delivery to see the back of Sam Curran for just 8.Worcestershire had seamer Allison, their standout bowler on the day, to thank for a vital three-wicket burst, that swung the momentum of the afternoon and checked the visitors’ progress.After ending Sibley’s 184-ball knock, he then claimed the wickets of Will Jacks and Mitchell Santner in successive overs, as the home side reduce their opponents to 197 for 6.As a result of Santner’s frustration at his dismissal, Worcestershire were awarded five penalty runs and saw their total rise to 214, with confirmation the New Zealand international had been charged with two separate Level One offences.Dan Lawrence came together with Jordan Clark, as Surrey raced into a lead of 52 when tea was taken. Lawrence continued his fine four-day form, passing fifty early in the evening session, but failed to capitalise as he edged a rising Tom Taylor delivery shortly after the new ball was taken, departing for a well-made 52.Taylor was consistent throughout, claiming more two wickets late on, before Allison returned to complete his five-wicket haul as Surrey were bowled out for 291.With 17 overs left in the day, Smith wasted no time exposing the hosts top-order batting frailties, as he dismissed both Gareth Roderick and Henry Nicholls inside his first two overs.Fisher picked up where he left off in the first innings, nicking two wickets for himself as the top four departed, leaving Worcestershire still short of parity and well behind in the contest.

Dale Benkenstein leaves Lancashire as Steven Croft takes over as head coach

Dale Benkenstein is the latest casualty of Lancashire’s disastrous start to this season’s County Championship, as it was confirmed by the club that he has left his position as head coach by mutual consent.Steven Croft, Lancashire’s former captain, has taken over the role in an interim capacity, with the club yet to record a victory in seven attempts this season as it sits just one point above rock-bottom Kent in the Championship’s second division.Benkenstein, 50, was appointed as head coach in December 2023 when Glenn Chapple stood down following seven years in the role. However, he oversaw the club’s relegation from the top flight last summer, and has been unable to oversee an upturn in their fortunes in this season’s first block of first-class fixtures.Although the return of James Anderson had given the team a short-term lift, with a dominant display in a drawn contest against Derbyshire, the nadir came at Grace Road last week with an innings-and-three-run loss to Leicestershire, this season’s unlikely pace-setters at the top of Division Two.That was Lancashire’s second crushing loss of the campaign, following a three-day defeat to Northamptonshire earlier in the month that led to the resignation of Keaton Jennings as the club’s red-ball captain.Prior to that, the club hierarchy had issued a public apology for the team’s performances, with Mark Chilton, director of cricket performance, describing their form as “not acceptable”, and adding that Lancashire would “make necessary changes” to improve the situation.Now, with the club’s attention switching from the Championship to their T20 Blast campaign, which begins against Worcestershire at Old Trafford on Thursday, Lancashire have opted for a clean slate.”Following a difficult start to the season, we feel that now is the right time to make a change, as we look to improve our on-field performances,” Chilton said.”After relegation at the end of last season, results have not improved so far this year and after much consideration, both Dale and I feel the team will benefit from a change in direction.”We would like to thank Dale for his hard work and commitment during his time at the Club. He leaves Lancashire Cricket with our best wishes for the future.”Croft was a key member of the last Lancashire team to win the County Championship in 2011, and also captained the side to victory in the T20 Blast in 2015. Having retired from all forms of cricket last season, he is set to take over the club training from Tuesday, and will be supported in the role by William Porterfield, Craig White and Karl Krikken.”Steven is a Lancashire legend, highly respected in the dressing room and has been working incredibly hard on his coaching career for several years,” Chilton said.”More recently, he has coached within our Second XI and Academy and has also joined a couple of England Under-19s tours, working with some of the brightest prospects in the country.”I’d like to thank Steven, along with the other coaches, for stepping into the role at short notice ahead of our Vitality Blast opener tomorrow evening.”

Chameera replaces Mohit as DC opt to bowl against unchanged LSG

Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Axar Patel called correctly at the toss, and opted to bowl against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Lucknow. Axar was wary of the dew setting in later in the evening.LSG captain Rishabh Pant said that he would have preferred to bowl first too. He expected the pitch to start slow, and become better for batting later in the evening. While LSG were unchanged – tearaway quick Mayank Yadav is in their Impact Subs list – DC made one change by bringing in Dushmantha Chameera for Mohit Sharma.This is Chameera’s first game of the season and his first competitive fixture since February, when he played for DC’s affiliate team in the UAE’s ILT20, under coach Hemang Badani.Faf du Plessis wasn’t yet fit to return to action for DC. They might call up Donovan Ferreira or Jake Fraser-McGurk as an Impact player when they chase later in the evening.Lucknow Super Giants: 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Mitchell Marsh, 3 Nicholas Pooran, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), 5 Abdul Samad, 6 David Miller, 7 Shardul Thakur, 8 Digvesh Rathi, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Prince YadavImpact subs: Ayush Badoni, Mayank Yadav, Shahbaz Ahmed, Matthew Breetzke, Himmat SinghDelhi Capitals: 1 Abishek Porel, 2 Karun Nair, 3 KL Rahul (wk), 4 Axar Patel (capt), 5 Tristan Stubbs, 6 Ashutosh Sharma, 7 Vipraj Nigam, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Mukesh KumarImpact Subs: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sameer Rizvi, Donovan Ferreira, Madhav Tiwari, Tripurana Vijay

Rauf and Raza break United's winning streak to give Qalandars big win

Lahore Qalandars became the first team to beat Islamabad United in nearly 14 months, snapping a PSL-record ten-match winning streak, beating United by 88 runs. Qalandars, who were also the last side to beat United before this streak, had the path paved for them by a near-perfect T20 batting performance. Each of the top six scored between 22 and 44, four boasting strike rates in excess of 145, as they posted 209. It was followed by a professional bowling performance that picked up enough wickets at regular intervals to ensure – one partnership aside – that United’s response would not be a serious attempt at a chase.United made five changes to a side that had won each of their first five matches, but Qalandars came out hungrier. Mohammad Naeem has struggled for fluency all season, but signalled a shift with three boundaries on the trot against Ben Dwarshuis in the fourth over, which Fakhar Zaman followed up by with a pair of sixes against Naseem Shah. The team nature of the innings was epitomised by Fakhar launching Jason Holder for a six off the final ball of the powerplay, one ball after a superb bit of fielding saw Naeem run out.Hunain Shah, one of the players brought into the side, couldn’t stem the flow at the end of the powerplay as Abdullah Shafique helped himself to three boundaries in the over, but then again, no United bowler, barring perhaps Imad Wasim, could. Imad deceived Fakhar in the flight to send him back for a brisk 44 off 30 before striking again in his following over to remove Shafique.Sikandar Raza added the finishing touches to Lahore Qalandars’s innings•PCB

But Qalandars’ middle and lower order is becoming one of their strengths, and Daryl Mitchell, Sam Billings and Sikandar Raza took turns making United pay. Mitchell plundered 18 off the usually electric Holder while Billings helped himself to three sixes off five deliveries as United’s fielding discipline fell apart. The irrepressible Raza topped it off by ransacking Dwarshuis’ 19th over for 21 and Holder’s last for another 16 as 96 came off the final six.United are the last side to give up a pursuit of a large total, but the partnerships they usually put together in such situations never looked like forming. A 69-run stand between Andries Gous and Salman Agha offered a glimpse of United’s ability and mindset in games of this nature, keeping Qalandars honest as the asking rate was kept within the realms of possibility. But once Raza darted one through the defences of Agha in the 12th over, the mess it made of his stumps foretold United’s impending fate. Four balls later, Haris Rauf struck to remove Azam Khan, the first of four wickets for Qalandars’ quickest bowler.When he got Gous playing down the wrong line, he had sent United’s most established threat packing after an entertaining 27-ball 41, and unlike Qalandars, United couldn’t get the rest of their batters chipping in to burrow their way through to the total. Raza picked up another couple as the innings began to disintegrate, and when Rauf coaxed Naseem into carving one straight down third’s throat to wrap the game up, United had lost their last nine for 41.The magnitude of the win took Qalandars up to second place, with the team they had so thoroughly vanquished still sitting comfortably up top.

Pakistan face patchwork New Zealand in first test of their new T20 era

Big picture: Change in the air for Pakistan

For the longest time, they were inseparable at the top of the order for Pakistan in T20Is. Then, with questions about strike rates and maximising powerplay value cropping up, the team management tried putting some distance between them in the batting order. They found their way back up, together. But now, with just under a year to go for the next T20 World Cup, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are out altogether.This signifies a shift in approach for Pakistan, perhaps triggered by the failure to make an impact at their own Champions Trophy, though that was an ODI contest.Pakistan have opted for three dashers at the top. With Saim Ayub still unavailable, Pakistan have a likely top three of Mohammad Haris, Omair Yousuf and the uncapped Hasan Nawaz – all three have a reputation of being aggressive batters.Related

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  • Pakistan in NZ: Babar-Rizwan dropped for T20Is

Salman Agha, Pakistan’s new T20I captain, has emphasised the need to improve their intent and approach and the need to play “fearless” and “high-risk cricket”, saying that the squad has players that have displayed that brand of cricket in domestic games.The new-look Pakistan line-up will start off facing a difficult test against a strong New Zealand outfit, even though they are missing key players who are away on IPL duty. There is a formidable bowling attack, with Will O’Rourke, Ben Sears, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi and Jacob Duffy all set to test Pakistan’s inexperience.Key batters are missing, too, in the team led by Michael Bracewell, one of New Zealand’s best performers in their run to the title round at the Champions Trophy. But Finn Allen is back, as are Tim Seifert and Jimmy Neesham. Daryl Mitchell hasn’t gone anywhere. And Mitchell Hay, Mark Chapman and Tim Robinson are hardly pushovers. At home, they will think of themselves as favourites, with or without a Rachin Ravindra or a Devon Conway or a Glenn Phillips. If anything, the changes will give them a better idea of the make-up of the World Cup squad next year.

Form guide

New Zealand LWWWL
Pakistan LLLWWHave Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan played their last T20I?•Associated Press

In the spotlight: Finn Allen and Mohammad Haris

Since his 137 against Pakistan in January 2024, Finn Allen has failed to cross 50 in nine T20Is. In fact, he crossed 25 only twice in this period, with a high score of 32. He turned out for Perth Scorchers in the BBL, but his form there was also indifferent, as he got just 181 runs from ten innings. Allen, despite not being centrally contracted, wants to play the T20 World Cup next year, but he knows he must turn his form around and marry his explosiveness with consistency. Last year, he scored 275 runs in the five-match T20I series against Pakistan, so there may not be a better team for him to face to get going again.Omair Yousuf has played just six T20Is – three in the Asian Games and three in Zimbabwe. Hasan Nawaz has only three PSL games under his belt, and didn’t get a game last season. That makes Mohammad Haris the most experienced player in Pakistan’s new-look top three and the onus will be on him to break the shackles and play the new aggressive brand of cricket the team management is aiming for. It’s also a comeback series for Haris, whose last international game was in September 2023.

Team news: The return of Jimmy Neesham and Finn Allen?

Neesham, Seifert and Allen are back in New Zealand’s squad, and Neesham and Allen are likely to start. Sears and O’Rourke are expected to lead the fast-bowling attack, along with Jacob Duffy, who was the highest wicket-taker in New Zealand’s last T20I series, against Sri Lanka.New Zealand (probable): 1 Finn Allen, 2 Tim Robinson, 3 Mark Chapman, 4 Daryl Mitchell, 5 James Neesham, 6 Mitchell Hay (wk), 7 Michael Bracewell (capt), 8 Ben Sears, 9 Ish Sodhi, 10 Will O’Rourke, 11 Jacob DuffyApart from Nawaz, Pakistan might also hand a debut to Abdul Samad, who was picked despite having no PSL experience. Shadab Khan is back in the side and should lead the spin attack alongside Abrar Ahmed.Pakistan (probable): 1 Mohammad Haris (wk), 2 Omair Yousuf, 3 Hasan Nawaz, 4 Salman Agha (capt), 5 Abdul Samad, 6 Irfan Khan, 7 Shadab Khan, 8 Shaheen Afridi, 9 Haris Rauf, 10 Abrar Ahmed, 11 Abbas AfridiFinn Allen is explosive. Can he also be consistent?•Sarah Reed – CA / Getty Images

Pitch and conditions

The match will be played at Hagley Oval, and is part of a double-header with New Zealand taking on Sri Lanka in a women’s T20I there earlier in the day. On an average, teams score at around eight runs an over at the ground, and last year, the two T20Is between these two teams were low-scoring affairs, with New Zealand first chasing down 159 and then Pakistan bowling the hosts out for 92 in their defence of 134.

Stats and trivia

  • Shaheen Afridi has 33 wickets against New Zealand, the most for him against any country by a big margin (13 against South Africa is his next best). His 13 wickets in New Zealand are also the most he has in any country apart from Pakistan and the UAE.
  • Finn Allen has hit 31 sixes in just nine T20I innings against Pakistan, the most by any batter. He is also just 134 runs away from becoming the the fourth batter from New Zealand to score 500 runs against Pakistan in T20Is.
  • Mark Chapman is the only batter to score 500 runs or more at a 150-plus strike rate against Pakistan in T20Is. He is one of only 10 batters to achieve such a feat against an opponent in T20Is.

Quotes

“We’ve probably had a bit more of focus on ourselves. With a few new young players coming into the Pakistan side, there is a bit of unknown. But I think as long as we know what we are trying to do, that’ll be good enough for anyone that comes up against us.”

'It will always be there' – Botha warns Kuhnemann after suspect action report

Former South Africa offspinner and current Queensland and Brisbane Heat coach Johan Botha believes Matthew Kuhnemann will always wear the stigma of having his action reported regardless of whether he is cleared or not when he undergoes testing in the coming weeks.Kuhnemann, who plays under Botha at Heat, was reported by match officials for having a suspect bowling action during Australia’s second Test against Sri Lanka in Galle last week.Related

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Botha had problems with his bowling action throughout his career and said Kuhnemann faces a difficult road ahead even if he is cleared.”It is a long process and unfortunately either way if you get cleared or not it will always be there,” Botha told SEN in Brisbane. “Guys think it’s a one-off and you get rid of it. That is not how it is. It is a bit of a process. For now he will have to bowl at a very similar speed and revolutions as he did in the Tests. Nothing gets changed now.”He needs to try and prove himself not guilty and from there on if it is a ball or so over 15 degrees he will obviously have some work to do, then a long process starts. It never goes away because there is always someone in the crowd, someone in the opposition, or a match referee who wants to have a say or wants to feel a part of it.”Unfortunately this will be part of it now. It is never the guy who gets 0 for 100. It is the guys who get wickets and affect games. They are the ones under scrutiny. Guys want to have a look at it and try and find fault.”Kuhnemann has never been reported previously in an eight-year professional career, including when he first played ODI cricket for Australia in Sri Lanka in 2022 and when he made his Test debut and played three Tests on the 2023 tour of India.Johan Botha has his action tested in 2006•Getty Images

Botha added it is possible his action came under scrutiny at the back end of the second Test because of fatigue.”He bowled quite a lot balls in the Test series. As you get tired your action gets put under pressure,” Botha said. “I know he likes to bowl. He bowled quite a lot during the Big Bash. He went to Australia training when they were at the Gabba during the Big Bash.”I’d be interested to see when the umpires thought or the match referee thought it was not as clean as they would have liked it. And I would guess it could be later in the game. When you start getting tired, the ball is older and softer and you have to try and generate a little bit more pace. Whereas with the new ball it obviously comes off the wicket a bit quicker so I don’t think you need to force it so much.”Botha said his own experience had taught him that it is hard to recognise problems in your own action. He was first reported soon after his debut Test in January 2006 and was subsequently banned from bowling by the ICC. Another examination in August that year found his action to be illegal once again and he was cleared to bowl only in November.In 2009, following an ODI against Australia in Port Elizabeth, Botha was reported once again and this time the ICC ruled that his action while bowling the doosra was illegal and he was banned from bowling it. His other deliveries, however, were found to be within permissible limits.Botha was again cited in 2013 while playing an Australian domestic 50-over match for South Australia. He was once again tested and was cleared entirely.”I’ve looked at my stuff over the years and it doesn’t feel like it looks at times,” Botha said. “There’s a whole lot of different things. It’s a big process.”Hopefully for Kuhney’s sake it’s just a little hiccup and it’s nothing serious. I really thought in the last couple of days about things I did to change it which I might pass onto him. But I think for the first bowling test you’ve got to go and bowl as close to as you did in the Test match. There’s no use trying to change things now. That could make it worse.”Kuhnemann will now have to undergo independent testing at an ICC-accredited centre with Brisbane the likely location. Bowlers are permitted 15 degrees of flex in their elbow during their bowling action but anything more than that is deemed illegal.Kuhnemann is still available to play Sheffield Shield or Dean Jones Trophy (Australia domestic 50-over games) matches while undergoing testing but he cannot play in international matches during the process. He did not play in Tasmania’s 50-over clash with Victoria on Thursday.

ICC rankings: Boland, Bumrah, Bavuma and Babar make gains

Scott Boland has entered the top ten of the ICC’s Test bowling rankings for the first time after taking 21 wickets in three Border-Gavaskar Trophy Tests.Averaging 13.19 in the series, Boland broke into the top ten after a match haul of 10 for 86 at the SCG, which sealed the series 3-1 in Australia’s favour and earned him a Player-of-the-Match award. He has moved up to joint-ninth after climbing 29 positions.Jasprit Bumrah, who topped the wicket-takers’ chart at the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with 32 wickets at 13.06, remains the No. 1 Test bowler, adding one rating point and going up to 908, improving on the record for Indian bowlers.

Full rankings tables

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Pat Cummins and Kagiso Rabada have moved up to No. 2 and No. 3 respectively, while Josh Hazlewood has fallen just out of the top three. Marco Jansen rounds up the top five for Test bowlers.

Bavuma, Pant, Babar rise among Test batters

South Africa’s big batting performance in the second Test against Pakistan, where they scored 615 in the first innings, has seen their key batters move up the Test batting charts.Temba Bavuma’s 106 has taken him three places up to a career-best No. 6. Ryan Rickelton’s 259 has lifted him 48 positions to 55th, while Kyle Verreynne’s 100 has seen him move up four spots to No. 24.For Pakistan, Babar Azam (No. 12) inched closer to the top ten after scores of 58 and 81.Rishabh Pant, meanwhile, has regained his place in the top ten among Test batters, after hitting 40 and 61 in India’s defeat in Sydney. He moved up three places to No. 9 while his team-mate Yashasvi Jaiswal remained at No. 3 behind world No. 1 Joe Root and second-placed Harry Brook.

Keshav Maharaj ruled out of Pakistan ODIs due to adductor strain

South Africa left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj has been ruled out of the remainder of the ongoing ODI series against Pakistan. According to a media release, “scans revealed a left adductor strain”, with Maharaj having suffered the injury during warm-ups ahead of the first ODI on Tuesday.South Africa have named Bjorn Fortuin as a like-for-like replacement for Maharaj for the second and third ODIs against Pakistan.Maharaj had limped off just before the toss for the first game, and was last moment replaced by pace-bowling allrounder Andile Phehlukwayo in South Africa’s XI. The release further stated that Maharaj will be returning home to Durban “for rehabilitation and will be reassessed ahead of the first Test against Pakistan”.Maharaj’s injury adds to an already lengthy list of missing bowlers for South Africa. The hosts are already without Anrich Nortje (fractured toe), Gerald Coetzee (groin), Lungi Ngidi (hip), Nandre Burger (lower back), and Wiaan Mulder (broken finger). Moreover, Maharaj recently bowled South Africa to a final-day win against Sri Lanka in the second Test in Gqeberha, bagging 5 for 76 to trigger a batting collapse.In Maharaj’s absence, South Africa have spin-bowling options in Dane Piedt and Senuran Muthusamy to choose from for the Test series against Pakistan.Those with an outside chance of making it to the side include batting allrounder Neil Brand, who bowls left-arm spin, and had toured New Zealand earlier this year; legspinner Shaun von Berg, who also made his debut on the same tour; and left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, although he had last played first-class cricket in 2021.The first Test of the two-match series against Pakistan begins in Centurion on December 26. South Africa are one win away from making it to the final of the World Test Championship, where they are currently placed at No. 1 in the points table.

7 all out! Ivory Coast collapse against Nigeria to record lowest men's T20I total

Ivory Coast have entered the record books for the lowest total in a men’s T20I, rolling over for just 7 in a 264-run defeat to Nigeria in an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub-Regional Africa Qualifier Group C game on Sunday in Lagos.Batting first after winning the toss, Nigeria rode on Player-of-the-Match Selim Salau’s 53-ball 112 (retired out) and half-centuries from Sulaimon Runsewe (50 in 29) and Isaac Okpe (65* in 23) to put up 271 for 4. It was carnage after that. Left-arm spinner Isaac Danladi and left-arm quick Prosper Useni picked up three wickets each, right-arm quick Peter Aho got two, and Sylvester Okpe got one, with one batter run out, as Ivory Coast were dismissed in 7.3 overs. Opener Ouattara Mohamed was the top-scorer with 4 from six balls. The batters’ scores read: 4, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0* and 0.This was the first instance of a single-digit team total in a men’s T20I, and beat the earlier lowest total in the format, 10 all out, which has been recorded twice: Mongolia vs Singapore in September this year and Isle of Man vs Spain last year.The 264-run win also made it to No. 3 in the list for largest victory margins in men’s T20Is. The leader there is the 290 runs Zimbabwe beat Gambia by last month, followed by Nepal’s 273-run win over Mongolia at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September 2023.The win was Nigeria’s second in as many games in the group, and Ivory Coast’s second loss in as many games – they had been bowled out for 21 to lose by 168 runs to Sierra Leone in their first match. Nigeria are top of the six-team table, while Ivory Coast are bottom.

Shimron Hetmyer named in West Indies ODI squad to face England

Shimron Hetmyer has been handed a recall to West Indies’ ODI squad for the three-match series against England, which starts in Antigua on Thursday. Hetmyer replaces Alick Athanaze in the squad as the only change from the touring group that has just returned from Sri Lanka.Hetmyer last played ODIs in December 2023, when he was part of the team that beat England 2-1. He missed the Sri Lanka tour for personal reasons, having recently finished fifth on the run-scorers’ list at the CPL.Athanaze had been one of the incumbent openers, but lost his spot to Evin Lewis for the third ODI against Sri Lanka, in Pallekele. Lewis, making his first ODI appearance in more than three years, made an unbeaten 102 from 61 balls as West Indies finished the series with a consolation win on DLS.Shai Hope will captain the group, which also includes 17-year-old batting prodigy Jewel Andrew, who made his debut at the end of the Sri Lanka series.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

England have already arrived in the Caribbean for their third limited-overs tour since 2022. They will be led during the ODI leg by Liam Livingstone, with Jos Buttler continuing his rehab following a calf injury that has kept him out since July.”Playing against England always provides a new challenge and reignites a rivalry that the players and the people of the Caribbean are eager for,” Daren Sammy, West Indies head coach, said. “Somehow, we West Indies always find a way to raise our game when we face England.”This rivalry goes back for decades, and after defeating them last year at home for the first time in a long time in an ODI series, we’re ready to face the challenge of a strong England squad again. It’s always special to play at home, where the local support brings energy and passion to every match. With our sights set on qualifying for the ICC Men’s World Cup in 2027, we’ve selected a balanced squad that will no doubt push and compete with one of the best teams in the world.”Antigua’s Sir Vivian Richards Stadium will host the first two ODIs, before the series moves on to Barbados. It will be followed by five T20Is, played at the Kensington Oval and the Daren Sammy National Stadium in St Lucia.West Indies ODI squad: Shai Hope (capt), Jewel Andrew, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Matthew Forde, Shimron Hetmyer, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Gudakesh Motie, Sherfane Rutherford, Jayden Seales, Romario Shepherd, Hayden Walsh Jr

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