Sports
England sweep series 3-0 after Wood finishes off West Indies resistance
Mark Wood’s breathtaking post-lunch spell netted him a five-wicket haul and put England on the brink of another comprehensive victory over West Indies, which they sealed inside three days at Edgbaston.
Whereas his relentless rockets at Trent Bridge had jaws on the floor but yielded just two wickets for the match, his mastery of a reverse-swinging ball in the hour after lunch accounted for all five remaining West Indies wickets for 19 runs in the space of 39 balls. Wood ended with 5 for 40 from 14 overs, his fifth five-wicket haul in Tests, to add to his 2 for 52 from West Indies’ first innings.
The burst obliterated the efforts of Mikyle Louis and Kavem Hodge, who both scored half-centuries, as West Indies were left with a paltry 81-run lead.
The run-chase was perfectly poised for England to Bazball their way to victory, especially with Ben Stokes opening in place Zak Crawley, who had left the ground for scans after injuring his finger while fielding. Stokes struck a staggering 57 off 28 balls as he and Ben Duckett, with 25 off 16, mowed down the target in 7.2 overs without loss for a 3-0 series sweep.
England reached fifty off just 26 balls, equalling their team record posted at Trent Bridge. On this occasion, Stokes scored 41 of those runs. Duckett, seemingly tired of playing the supporting role after he was key to the fastest-fifty record in Nottingham, struck four boundaries in one Jason Holder over.
Stokes, meanwhile, notched the fastest Test fifty for an England batter and joint third-fastest overall, off just 24 balls, and hit the winning runs, swinging a waist-high full-toss from Kraigg Brathwaite for six through backward square-leg, emphasising the one-sided nature of the series despite some encouraging passages of fight from West Indies.
It was Stokes who had initially got the ball reversing in the morning session and he deployed Wood and Gus Atkinson – who had already claimed two wickets for the day – to good effect in the afternoon.
With West Indies five wickets down and just 57 runs ahead, Joshua Da Silva hadn’t moved off his lunch-time score of 2 when he was rapped on the pad by a reverse-swinging yorker delivered at 90mph, umpire Adrian Holstock unmoved by Wood’s emphatic appeal and the batter surviving England’s review on umpire’s call. But Da Silva added just three more runs when Wood had him irrefutably out with a full ball moving in past the bat to strike low on the back leg in line with middle stump.
A short while later, Wood’s reversing yorker ripped out Alzarri Joseph’s middle stump and West Indies were 162 for 7 with England scenting victory.
It was sound justification for Stokes keeping Wood on for a rare sixth over on the trot and the move paid huge dividends with three wickets falling in the over.
Wood struck first ball to remove West Indies’ remaining recognised batter, Hodge getting a thick edge on a late-reversing rocket to be caught behind by Jamie Smith.
Then Wood sent Jayden Seales’ off stump tumbling for a three-ball duck to continue the procession, which he ended with another late reverse-swinging delivery which Shamar Joseph edged to Harry Brook at second slip.
Louis and Hodge had steadied West Indies from 53 for 3 with a 72-run stand off 78 balls for the fourth wicket.
They came together after Shoaib Bashir had accounted for Alick Athanaze, who managed to add ten runs for the day, including a four off Wood through third slip, where Brook got his hands to it but couldn’t hold what would have been a spectacular catch. Five balls after the reprieve, Bashir clipped Athanaze’s front pad with a ball that slid under his attempted sweep.
Hodge gave West Indies cause for optimism based on his century at Trent Bride and he delivered with his second Test fifty. He struck back-to-back fours off Wood, one swung through midwicket and the other with a beautiful drive.
Louis brought up his half-century with a slog-swept six off Bashir and he helped himself to another maximum off Bashir’s next over, clearing the boundary at long-off.
While Stokes was getting the ball to reverse swing, he got Louis fending at one that pitched on a length outside off stump and edging to Crawley at second slip.
Crawley was in the same position when he dropped Holder, on 12 at the time, off Stokes, injuring his finger in the process, but Atkinson removed Holder at the end of the next over with an inswinger that struck the front knee roll, the batter’s review failing when ball-tracking ruled it was umpire’s call on hitting leg stump.
Brief scores:
England 376 in 5.4 overs (Jamie Smith 95, Joe Root 87, Chris Woakes 62, Ben Stokes 54; Alzarri Joseph 4-122, Jayden Seales 3-79) and 87 for 0 in 7.2 overs (Ben Stokes 57*, Ben Duckett 25*) beat West Indies 282 in 75.1 overs (Kraigg Brathwaite 61, Jason Holder 59; Gus Atkinson 4-67, Chris Woakes 3-69) and 175 in 52 overs (Mikyle Louis 57, Kavem Hodge 55; Mark Wood 5-40) by ten wickets
There will be no auction for this year’s Lanka Premier League, Sri Lanka Cricket has announced, with a player draft set to take place instead on March 22.
The sixth edition of the LPL had originally been slated for early December 2025, but was postponed on account of ensuring the readiness of venues for the 2026 World Cup set to be co-hosted by Sri Lanka and India. The league has since been scheduled to take place from July 8 to August 8, which is the SLC’s preferred window.
This will be the first time since 2022 that a draft system is being utilised in the LPL, with both of the past two seasons hosting player auctions.
“During the draft, franchises will select both Sri Lankan and overseas players for the upcoming season of Sri Lanka’s premier domestic T20 tournament,” an SLC media release confirmed.
The inclusion of a sixth team had also been mooted prior to the competition’s postponement, however there have been no developments on that front since. Each of the first five editions of the LPL saw five teams representing Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Dambulla and Jaffna compete.
Earlier this year, Jaffna Kings – formerly the longest-standing franchise, having joined in the tournament’s second edition – and Colombo Strikers were terminated by SLC for “failure to uphold contractual obligations.” As a result, the LPL currently has no franchise owners with a history stretching back beyond 2024. New owners for both the Jaffna and Colombo teams are yet to be announced.
[Cricinfo]
Sri Lanka’s leg-spin spearhead Wanindu Hasaranga has warned rivals not to write off the hosts ahead of the World Cup, after his four-wicket burst in the final T20I against Pakistan helped Sri Lanka square the three-match series on Sunday.
Hasaranga’s spell turned the game on its head and restored belief in a side that has blown hot and cold. Speaking after being named Player of the Match and Player of the Series, the leg-spinner said Sri Lanka, buoyed by home conditions, remain very much in the hunt for a semi-final berth.
Under head coach Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka have made steady strides over the past 18 months. There have been a few distractions recently like changes in selectors and captaincy among them, but the dressing room, Hasaranga insisted, is quietly confident.
“We know the conditions and we’ve grown up playing in these conditions,” Hasaranga said. “If we use them well, we can have a major impact. Players need to identify their roles. Once that happens, we can put on a good show.”
Sunday’s decider was reduced to 12 overs a side after rain delayed the start by more than two hours, but Hasaranga felt the shortened contest still offered valuable lessons.
“Today we looked good,” he said. “We’ve been lacking a bit of consistency in recent years. In a World Cup, you have to minimise mistakes and keep moving forward.”
Bowling with a wet ball tested the spinners’ skills and patience, but Hasaranga viewed it as useful match practice rather than an inconvenience.
“It was challenging with a wet ball,” he explained. “But it’s good these things happen before a World Cup. It prepares you for all kinds of situations. I even spoke to our batters about what deliveries they’d prefer to face, and that input helped when we went out to defend.”
Sri Lanka now enjoy a week’s breather before hosting England with Hasaranga keen to see his side peak at the right time.
“When this series started, we had six games leading into the World Cup,” he said. “Rain in Dambulla meant things didn’t always go to plan. As a team, we wanted winning momentum. There are only a couple of games left now and we need to be firing on all cylinders when the World Cup begins.”
Sri Lanka had stumbled in the opener, losing by six wickets after being bowled out inside 20 overs, while the second match was washed out without a toss. A 14-run win in the final game, however, ensured honours ended even.
Rex Clementine
in Dambulla
It will be a four-way battle for the top post of Sri Lanka Athletics as fresh nominations for the election of office bearers closed at the Sports Ministry on Monday. Former president Sunil Gunawardana, Bimal Wijesinhge, Sugath Kumara and Prasanna Indika are the nominees for the post of president and they are subjected to objections.
This is the second time the Ministry of Sports called for nominations after different stakeholders successfully challanged the earlier niminations alleging that there were errors in the process.
Informed sources said that this time too the Ministry of Sports has left enough room for allegations as it announced the names of the nominees without waiting for the nominations sent by post.
”There was a fundamental error as they did not wait for nominations sent by post. They informed the stake holders by post. Some member federations had received the letters only on last Thursday. They were in a mighty hurry to announce the names of the nominees soon after the nominations closed,” a source close to athletics told The Island.
Following are the nominees for various posts of Sri Lanka Athletics.
President: Sunil Gunawardana, Bimal Wijesinhge, Prasanna Indika, Sugath Kumara
Vice President: Prasanna Indika, Lal Chandrakumara, Lt. Col. G.N. Jayathilaka, Irangani Rupasinghe, Jagath Silva, G.J. Siyamudali, Prasanna Aluvihare
Secretary: Dr. Dhammika Senanayake, Sameera Perera, Madawa Herath
Asst. Secretary: Sameera Perera, Aloy Wickramasinghe (RF)
Lanka Premier League draft set to take place on March 22
Trump to meet Venezuelan opposition leader Machado at the White House
Festival advance for government officers to be increased
Providing underutilized lands/properties to suitable investors for optimal utilization.
Implementation of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy
Expressions of Interest called to develop selected locations within the Pelawatte Sugar Factory premises
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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