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England have rejected the contention of Australia’s coach Matthew Mott that only one team went into the women’s Ashes Test match with genuine intent to win it.While the England coach Mark Robinson and the captain Heather Knight kept their counsel on the eve of a tour match against the Governor General’s XI in Sydney ahead of the final Twenty20 leg of the series, spin bowler Danielle Hazell was adamant that the visitors were very much of the mindset that they were trying to win the Test at North Sydney Oval.Mott had argued that England’s scoring rate on day one of the match, having won the toss and batted on a pristine surface, had been slow enough to suggest they were more interested in averting a defeat that would have handed the Ashes to Australia with three T20 matches remaining. Hazell said that England’s approach was to treat the T20s – all of which they must win in order to wrest the urn from Australia – as a trio of knockout matches. As World Cup winners this year, it is a neat idea.”No, any game of cricket you turn up to you want to win,” Hazell said when asked whether England had been mainly concerned with keeping the series alive. “We’re very clear that that’s what you need to do in the game, whether it’s a Test match, a one-dayer or a T20, whatever game you’re playing you come out there to win and the series has set itself up this way and it’s all we have to do now.”He [Mott] is entitled to his opinion, that’s the way he viewed the game and that’s what he thought happened. We came out of the game with a draw, we know now exactly what we have to do, it’s a quarter-final, a semi-final and a final for us and we need to go out there and perform really well.”The Australian opener Nicole Bolton said Mott’s remarks were indicative of two opposing sides who were not particularly friendly. “I think that’s part and parcel of an Ashes series, it wouldn’t be the Ashes without a bit of a slanging match,” she said. “There’s no love lost between these two teams, we fight really hard, we play a really hard brand of cricket, so it just goes to show how important these T20 games are in the context of where the series is at.”Bolton, who will lead the Governor General’s XI against the English tourists but was not chosen in the Australian T20 squad, said adjustment from one format to the other would be the trickiest part of the series’ final round. “The way this series is formatted is quite tricky,” she said. “The good thing is I think both sides play a lot of limited-overs cricket.”That adjustment into 20 overs will be different coming off a Test match, where I think some of our scoring rates weren’t even 50, but both sides have got such quality batters that anyone can take the game away so it’ll be really interesting to see who steps up.”Australia have lost the services of the young fast bowler Lauren Cheatle, who pulled up sore ahead of the Test match. And though she was rested for it, her back has not healed enough to be included in the team for the T20s.”Lauren’s had to go and get some scans and they’re waiting on those results, but to have a young fast bowler go down like that it is disheartening,” Bolton said. “I know she’s put in such a lot of work to get herself back in a position to bowl for Australia, so she’ll be sorely missed.”

Tier-1

Khulna Division and Rangpur Division played out a tame draw in a rain-affected match in Rajshahi.Batting first, Khulna were bowled out for 218 runs with Anamul Haque and Nahidul Islam hitting half-centuries. Ariful Haque and Suhrawadi Shuvo took four wickets each.Jahid Javed’s century then became the foundation of Rangpur’s 317 for 9 in 80.4 overs. He struck 14 fours and two sixes in his 115 off 217 balls. Dhiman Ghosh chipped in with 69 off 68 balls.Trailing by 99 runs, Khulna batted out 33 overs on the final day to finish on 141 for 1 before the umpires called off play at 1.50pm due to rain. Mahedi Hasan was unbeaten on 88 with 15 fours.Rain interruptions on the third and fourth days also limited the match between Barisal Division and Dhaka Division to a draw in Khulna.Dhaka were bowled out for 250 in the first innings. Rony Talukdar (68) and Mohammad Sharif (58) struck fifties while Salman Hossain took four wickets.Barisal took a 49-run lead in the first innings with Nuruzzaman (68), Sohag Gazi (73) and Shamsul Islam (56 not out) hitting half-centuries in their total of 299 runs in 102 overs. Shuvagata Hom took four wickets.When play was called off at 1.30pm due to rain, Dhaka were 110 for 3 in their second innings.

Tier-2

Rain wiped out the first day’s play in the match between Rajshahi Division and Sylhet Division, after which only 212.3 overs were possible in the rest of the drawn match.Pace bowler Delwar Hossain took 4 for 72 as Sylhet were bowled out for 221 runs in the first innings. Abul Hasan made 60 off 96 balls with eight fours and a six.Mizanur Rahman’s 143 anchored Rajshahi as they made 370 for 7 in reply. Mizanur hit 24 fours and a six in his innings that spanned little over four hours. Junaid Siddique contributed 89 runs, while Sylhet pace bowler Abu Jayed took four wickets.Imtiaz Hossain then struck 108 off 160 balls including 14 fours and four sixes as Sylhet finished their second innings on 151for 2The match between Chittagong Division and Dhaka Metropolis was also drawn but of the four games, it lasted the longest on the final day in Chittagong.Dhaka Metro declared their first innings on 369 for 9, with Mehrab Hossain jnr missing out on a century by six runs. His 94 included seven fours and a six. Mohammad Ashraful (66) and Asif Ahmed (64 not out) also made fifties while offspinner Iftekhar Sajjad took 5 for 91.Chittagong were bowled out for 261 runs in 131.1 overs. Sazzadul Haque and No 10 Wahidul Alam hit fifties as a late order rally helped Chittagong recover from 144 for 6. Ashraful took three wickets for 65 runs.Shamsur Rahman then blazed five sixes and eight fours in his 67-ball 102 that put Dhaka Metro in further control as they declared on 165 for 3 in 21 overs, setting Chittagong 274. However, with the day’s start pushed to 2.10pm neither side had a realistic shot at a win.Still, Dhaka Metro took six wickets in the 49 overs as Chittagong scored 97 runs. Nihaduzzaman and Shykat Ali took two wickets each.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) have announced the removal of the women’s management – coach Vasbert Drakes and his assistants Ezra Moseley and Stuart Williams – that oversaw a poor World Cup campaign in England, where they finished sixth among eight teams.CWI hopes to set up a new management support structure ahead of the home series against Sri Lanka starting on October 4. In the interim, former West Indies A coach Hendy Springer will take over the role with former batsman Gus Logie set to assist him.”The process will start with the search for a new head coach and an interim management team will be in place for the short term,” a CWI release stated.West Indies only managed wins against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, sides that finished below them, at the World Cup. West Indies also slumped to their second-lowest total in women’s ODIs, when they were bowled out for 48 against South Africa.An 18-member squad will be selected for a conditioning camp from September 25 to October 4, after which the squad for the home series will be picked.

Live scorecard and ball-by-ball commentarySouth Africa battled back valiantly on an increasingly capricious pitch to give themselves a fleeting chance of chasing a sub-300-run target, only for Moeen Ali to throw caution to the wind, and sixes into the stands, in a blistering counterattack that has surely put the destiny of the series beyond any reasonable doubt.By the time a long-threatened rain shower forced an early close, Moeen had overcome a circumspect beginning to clobber his way to 67 not out from 59 balls. It was a remarkable knock in an innings where only Joe Root, with 49, had looked anything approaching fluent, and it had taken England’s overall lead to 360 runs – far beyond anything ever chased on this ground before – with two wickets still standing.However, the early stages of Moeen’s innings had not been entirely promising, in keeping with England’s overall performance in their second innings, which – Root’s effort aside – had showcased all too many of the weaknesses that have prevented them from attaining any real consistency in their Test cricket over the past 18 months. Much of the debate centred around the continued shortcomings of Dawid Malan and, especially, Keaton Jennings, whose latest failure has left his place in the side all but untenable.With 110 runs in his first seven innings of the series, including a highest score of 48, Jennings knew he needed to make an impression to prevent the chorus of doubters from becoming deafening. And hard though he battled in England’s second innings – even with the cushion of a 136-run lead to assuage the pressure a touch – he rarely looked settled at any stage of his 63-ball stay. He was dropped on 0 before he had scored, Dean Elgar leaping to his left at third slip but failing to cling on, and though he found a degree of fluency in reaching 17 not out at lunch, the manner of his dismissal was limp in the extreme.Facing up to the energetic Kagiso Rabada, Jennings lined up the cut as the bowler dropped short, but misjudged the line to catastrophic effect. Hashim Amla accepted a simple looping edge at first slip as if standing in the outfield for catching practice, and Jennings departed with the look of a man who knew that the bailiffs were circling to call in his borrowed time.Moeen Ali struck three sixes as he reached 67 not out before the rain arrived•Getty Images

Malan scarcely made much more of a telling impression. As the newer selection, he may yet have more time on his side, but his tally after four Test innings stands at a ropey 35 runs, and today’s innings of 6 from 15 balls never convinced. Half of those runs came from a horribly miscued pull against Rabada that could have been caught by a diving Temba Bavuma at backward point, and two balls later, he fell victim to an impressive spell from the left-arm spinner, Keshav Maharaj, who found some sharp turn out of the rough to take the glove, onto the knee-roll and into the hands of short leg.England, by that stage, were 72 for 4, having lost the Essex pairing of Alastair Cook and Tom Westley before lunch, both of them caught in the gully as they aimed loose drives at the hostile Morne Morkel, who finally earned his just desserts after a luckless spell in the first innings.Root, inevitably, made the going look simpler than most, as he chivvied the singles and negated the threat of Maharaj in particular, who found less purchase off the pitch when bowling the straighter line to the right-hander, and was comfortably thwarted by some judicious slog-sweeps when he opted to go round the wicket later in his spell. But, having marched to the brink of his second fifty of the match, Root pushed loosely at Duanne Olivier, and was bowled for 49 via an inside edge.Ben Stokes battled valiantly, channelling his success on the subcontinent to ride out the threat that Maharaj in particular was posing on a pitch with variable bounce. But he led a charmed life in his 23, including a stinging drop from a diving Heino Kuhn at short midwicket and a curious non-appeal from Morkel when he appeared to feather an edge to the keeper on 5. However, with tea approaching, Olivier was rewarded with a second scalp, as Stokes pushed too hard outside off, and was well snaffled by du Plessis at third slip.Enter Moeen, though not the Turbo-charged version of the final hour. He all but chopped onto his stumps first ball, and after tea, England scarcely looked like changing the pattern of their innings. Jonny Bairstow lacked the fluency of his first-innings masterclass, taking 25 balls to get off the mark before holing out to his 30th, well caught at fine leg by Rabada to give Olivier his third wicket of a fine and aggressive spell, and before the new batsman, Toby Roland-Jones had faced a ball, Moeen had survived another near-miss – dropped at slip by Elgar, whose elbows jolted the ball out of his grasp as he dived to his left off Maharaj.But that reprieve appeared to flick a switch in Moeen’s mindset, and his attitude to Maharaj thereafter was one of selective disdain. While mindful of the threat he still posed out of the rough, Moeen trusted his eye and his long levers, sweeping with intent – conventional and reverse – and drilling high and hard with the spin for three vast sixes, the second of which was caught on the player’s balcony by a gleeful Bairstow as he brought up his fifty from 49 balls.Roland-Jones, who has showcased a keen eye in his brief career to date, kept him company in a 58-run stand for the eighth wicket before Rabada induced a top-edged pull to a diving Maharaj at deep midwicket. But Moeen was by now motoring, bashing Rabada back over his head for four off what would prove to be the day’s penultimate delivery. He would have backed himself to keep cracking on, much as he had done in similar circumstances in the first Test at Lord’s, but – with two days to come and South Africa’s heads beginning to droop – his intercession has surely been decisive.

Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer and vice-captain Con de Lange were yearning for divine intervention during Malcolm Waller’s late surge that took their first-ever ODI against Zimbabwe down to the wire. Their prayers were answered when Waller, in his attempt to strike a sixth six, found Chris Sole on the deep square leg boundary – some may say literally. It ended Waller’s innings at 92 off 62 balls as Scotland prevailed by 26 runs via the DLS Method to pick up their first ODI win against a Full Member.”When that ball was going to deep square off Waller, I was just praying for it to land inside the ropes because he hadn’t hit many inside,” Coetzer told ESPNcricinfo. “He hit them all over the rope or even out of the ground. Then, when that last one went up, just over the moon; really, really over the moon, really chuffed for the guys. You could tell by the emotions and the celebrations from the guys, we’re obviously really happy with the day.”Waller had struck a series of sixes straight down the ground and to the east boundary, including one extraordinary cut with the wind at his back that sailed 30 yards over the point boundary, into the adjacent tennis courts. Zimbabwe entered the last three overs requiring 38 with two wickets in hand. After a lengthy chat, left-arm spinner de Lange was brought on, and Waller drove his second ball for a straight six out of the ground. But three balls later, in trying to hit one through the wind, Waller’s slog hung up in the stiff breeze for Sole to take the catch.It was controversial as video footage appeared to indicate Sole’s foot came in contact with the boundary rope before quickly coming off. Waller initially stayed on the field while Zimbabwe’s bench protested; the umpires conferred before sticking with the call that it had been a clean catch. Waller said another six there would have made the last two overs manageable, especially with at least one needing to be bowled by a medium pacer.”With this wind, we knew you have to target the one side where it is,” Waller said. “When they brought the spinner on in the third-last over there, I felt it was a good chance for me to bang a couple of boundaries, even though the wind was coming. I was probably looking to go straighter. I knew that if I could put the spinner under a lot of pressure and get two or three sixes in that over, they would definitely be under a lot of pressure with two seamers left. Ten an over against seamers, I think is pretty comfortable on here.”De Lange said he felt tense at the start of the 41st over despite having already taken four wickets, and prayed for the wind to help keep the ball in play.”It was quite nerve-wracking. I must be honest because the one that went for six, I missed the length slightly, and then that one hit the length, trying to get him to hit into the wind, and then I was just praying for the ball to come down inside the rope and it was taken,” de Lange said. “That’s why we all play cricket. That’s what you grow up as a kid dreaming towards, beating Test nations.”Our victory is probably a result of belief that we can do really well, can compete and beat the big boys. So to win, just everyone’s emotion afterwards, as soon as that last catch was taken, that relief is a fantastic feeling.”The controversial catch aside, Waller felt Zimbabwe had tripped themselves up early in the chase with needless run-outs on a good batting track. Hamilton Masakadza had battered Scotland in the Powerplay and looked set for a big score before he was run out, responding to a call for a tight single from Solomon Mire, in the 11th over for 38. It ended the opening partnership at 55.”We’ve been following a couple of games that have been played here, and obviously they have been high-scoring,” Waller said. “So we knew it is a decent batting track, and I think on average, guys are looking at 280-290. So when they posted that score, we were confident and felt if we had wickets in hand and had a good start up front that we’d be able to chase it down or get close to it towards the end.”When you’re chasing a big score like that, you don’t want run-outs. You’re going to get run-outs in games, but it’s crucial not to lose your wickets like that. I think we got off to a really good start with Hamilton and Mire, and we were definitely going along and putting them under pressure. But then just silly run-outs definitely put a damper, and then a couple of quick wickets after that definitely holds you back when you have to go at six-seven an over.”Over the course of the day, Scotland had been the side to hold their nerve under pressure. They were tested at the start, where they were limited to four runs off the first four overs. But Coetzer, who was composed to begin with, unleashed his array of drives and cuts later in the Powerplay en route to his fourth ODI ton that set up a defendable total. Coetzer hoped that the win, Scotland’s first in ODIs over a Full Member after 23 losses, will influence other Full Members to schedule fixtures against them.”I hope it will prove and put a case forward to giving us more opportunities, and this is what we’ve been waiting to do for a little while,” Coetzer said. “We’ve taken a little bit longer than other teams have, but we’ve now got a strong squad of players and we hope that we could still keep on challenging and maybe play some of the other Test-ranked teams. It’s definitely made a statement today.”

Australia’s players are willing to compromise on a major financial sticking point that lies at the heart of their ongoing pay dispute with Cricket Australia (CA). As the board’s nine directors met in Brisbane on Thursday, the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) opened up a potential path for more productive talks, by indicating they are open to a redefinition – and reduction – of the revenue they are entitled to share in.That led to a reciprocal response from CA, who have expressed their own willingness to be “flexible”. In a negotiation period that began last November and has been the most divisive and bitter in 20 years, this may be a significant step forward ahead of the June 30 deadline by which the parties must find agreement.CA has repeatedly claimed that the ACA is seeking a share of all revenue in the game for professional players, including from such areas as sponsorships of grassroots competitions and junior registrations. The claim was made explicit in a briefing note distributed to media last week, which said:”A proportion of revenue from the sponsorship of grassroots cricket programs has to be distributed to elite player payments. Under the ACA’s new proposal, a guaranteed 22.5% of all CA and the states and associations revenue means the players would receive 22.5 cents of every dollar spent by parents on a junior registration fee.”However, the ACA have now confirmed that the players’ flexibility over the next pay agreement extends to being “open to a discussion of what is in and what is out of shared revenue streams.” The position was conveyed in a letter to the CA chairman David Peever last month.A narrower definition of agreed revenue may be the first building block of a deal between the parties. It would remove the impending risk of a major industrial relations battle, in a year when Australia are scheduled to play a home Ashes series after tours of South Africa, Bangladesh and India.”The players have always had and still do have flexibility,” the ACA president Greg Dyer said, striking a far less confrontational tone. “There is room to move to modernise this partnership. The ACA can discuss new models of revenue sharing, and how we can collectively manage risk.”A CA spokesman said the board was also prepared to be flexible. “CA believes there is still time to conclude an MoU by 30 June and reiterates its preparedness to be flexible in negotiations,” he said. “CA urges the ACA to spend more time at the negotiating table and less time writing press releases in order to begin making progress towards a resolution.”Less than a month remains before the expiry of the current MoU, with CA threatening that all players out of contract will be unemployed should the ACA not agree to discuss its current pay offer. A key plank of the offer is the replacement of revenue sharing with fixed wages for players, with only international players entitled to any of the game’s “blue sky” above that, while state player contract levels are effectively frozen over the next five years.CA’s tactics have included efforts to put space between the ACA and the players, including the team performance manager Pat Howard’s attempts to deal directly with all contracted players by email. Howard recently offered multi-year deals to the top five CA-contracted players – Steven Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins – under the board’s new terms, an approach that was quickly rebuffed.The allrounder Moises Henriques, who is also part of the ACA executive, said the association was working closely with the players, and that they were willing to be flexible in the interests of reaching an agreement with CA.”We’re a part of the decision-making process, in strategy and how we play it … and the ACA are just a representative agent of the players,” he said. “Really, the decisions get made by the players and the ACA acts on their behalf.”It’s not like we [the ACA] are going to do anything the players don’t want to do. Coming to an agreement would be the best way forward. What we’ve got to worry about is that agreement being made as quickly as possible. Maybe CA may have to give a little bit, we may have to give a little bit, who knows. But the players know we need to get to an agreement. Guys want to play international cricket, guys want to play state cricket. The players want it sorted and I am sure CA do as well.”

ScorecardFile photo – Gary Wilson made a handy start to his Derbyshire career•PA Photos

Gary Wilson marked his first-class Derbyshire debut with an impressive half century on a day of fluctuating fortunes against Northamptonshire in the Division Two County Championship match at Derby.Wilson, the former Surrey wicketkeeper batsman, showed excellent judgement to score 72 from 104 balls but three wickets from Nathan Buck ensured the honours were shared when rain forced an early close with Derbyshire 219 for 6.”It was important that we fought hard and I think it was a pretty even day,” Wilson said. “It will be an important first hour in the morning and if we can battle on and get as close to 300 as possible, I think we’ll be in a good position.”When I came to the wicket they had just gone ‘bang, bang’ so we had two new batters at the crease but we knew that if we absorbed some pressure and could counter a little bit we would be in a good position if we managed to come through that.”It could have been better for both teams as the initiative changed hands several times on a cool, overcast day when the County Ground floodlights were needed from the start of play.The overhead conditions probably persuaded Northants to bowl first and there was certainly enough to suggest it was the right decision as the seamers went past the bat numerous times.Ben Sanderson was the pick of the attack and was unlucky not to dismiss Luis Reece early on when the former Lancashire batsman, one of four Derbyshire debutants, edged just short of Ben Duckett at first slip.Both Reece and skipper Billy Godleman displayed good temperament to bat deep into the first session before Sanderson deservedly broke through when he got one to lift on Reece who was caught off the shoulder of the bat at fourth slip.Reece made only 19 but importantly for Derbyshire he batted for 95 minutes to take the sting out of the bowlers although Sanderson gained another reward for his morning’s work when he moved one back just enough to trap Godleman lbw for 33.The game appeared to have taken a significant shift towards Northants when two wickets in six balls early after lunch reduced Derbyshire to 114 for 4.Rory Kleinveldt had struggled for a consistent line in the morning but he found enough away movement to have Wayne Madsen caught at second slip for 12 before Buck pinned Shiv Thakor lbw with the first ball of the next over.For the next 25 overs it was about Wilson and Daryn Smit who also played soundly on his debut before he was squared up by Buck who then had Wilson lbw playing across the line before bad light and rain ended play.”I thought we bowled well as a unit and put the ball in the right area although maybe a bit too short but we’ll be happy if we bowl them out under 250,” Buck said.”It did a bit this morning but it still swung all day, we kept the ball in good condition, and we caught well again today. Four quick wickets in the morning and we should be alright.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAugust 2006 to March 2017. That’s five months shy of 11 years. And in that time, South Africa have only lost one Test series away from home. With a 1-0 win over New Zealand, not only was that record safe, it was made better. So what if they needed a little help from a little rain (51 mm, according to Met Service predictions)? They’ve deserved it. Few teams in the history of cricket have been such indomitable travellers.Inherent in that is praise for Kane Williamson’s team too. They were stripped of three of their biggest match-winners – Ross Taylor (16 centuries), Trent Boult and Tim Southee (a combined 394 wickets). They lost the toss. They conceded a total of 314 and then took a lead of 175. At stumps on day four, they were five wickets away from beating South Africa for the first time in 13 years.And then, there was no more cricket. Overnight storms spilled over into the playing hours, and Faf du Plessis, who was at the crease even as his colleagues succumbed to the fatigue of spending 162.1 overs on the field, was denied the chance to add to his many blockathons. He had seen his side careen to No. 7 in the ICC rankings at the start of the summer. “A dark time,” he called it at the post-match presentation. On the April 1 cut-off date, du Plessis will be confirmed as the captain of the No. 2 team in the world. With a bumper season at home coming up later in the year, he and his men could easily think about going one better.