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West Indies will welcome back Akeal Hosein, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran and Andre Russell for their T20I series against England after they were named in a 15-man squad for the first two games, to be played in Barbados on Saturday and Sunday.The quartet missed West Indies’ previous T20I fixtures, in Sri Lanka last month, for personal reasons. Hetmyer was then recalled for the ODIs against England.The squad is otherwise largely the same as that which lost 2-1 to Sri Lanka. Alick Athanaze, Andre Fletcher, Fabian Allen and Shamar Springer were the players to drop out, while the uncapped Terrance Hinds kept his place. Matthew Forde comes in as cover after Alzarri Joseph received a two-match suspension for walking off the field in the third ODI.Related

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Romario Shepherd was fit to be included despite having to depart mid-over in the deciding ODI against England after suffering from cramps.”The T20 team is our most settled team with lots of experienced players,” West Indies head coach Daren Sammy said. “However, the difficulty will be picking the XI, as every single player is challenging for a spot. As we face a very good England team, I am confident that the selected squad will continue to play a brand of cricket that allows us to win games, and this ‘Rivalry’ series.”After the Barbados leg, the teams will move on to St Lucia, with West Indies due to confirm their squad for the remaining three games.

West Indies T20I squad for first two T20Is vs England

Rovman Powell (capt), Roston Chase, Matthew Forde, Shimron Hetmyer, Terrance Hinds, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd

Harry Brook’s scintillating maiden ODI hundred led England to victory over Australia at Chester-le-Street, a seemingly daunting chase handled with some comfort before the rain arrived to produce a 46-run margin on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern. England’s first win in the format since December kept the series alive with two to play, whilst also ending Australia’s 14-game winning run stretching back to the 2023 World Cup.Brook’s inexperienced side looked to be in trouble after failing to contain Australia with the ball despite helpful conditions early on, Alex Carey’s unbeaten 77 leading the cavalry charge in the second half of the innings. England then stumbled to 11 for 2 in the fourth over, Mitchell Starc removing both openers in the space of five balls.But a stand of 156 between Brook and Will Jacks, who made 84, flipped the chase on its head. Although Jacks and Jamie Smith were both bounced out by Cameron Green, Brook was joined by Liam Livingstone in another pulsating stand that brought the requirement down to 51 from 74 balls, at which point the weather closed in.Brook walked off unbeaten on 110 from 94 balls, with 15 boundaries, having become the youngest England captain to score a century in ODIs. Australia were without a key member of their attack, with Adam Zampa missing through illness – they also opted to rest Travis Head – but this was nevertheless a hugely encouraging performance and a vital demonstration of what England’s new-look batting line-up could achieve after two costly implosions at Trent Bridge and Headingley.Australia’s greater nous had appeared likely to determine the result shortly after the innings break. Faced with making what would have been the second-highest successful chase at the Riverside – after the 311 overhauled against the same opponents in 2018 – England started badly, Phil Salt chipping Starc’s eighth ball to midwicket and Ben Duckett edging a drive to be caught at backward point.Alex Carey scored his second successive half-century•Getty Images

Both Jacks and Brook were quick to show glimpses of what they could do, even amid the wreckage. Jacks clipped his fourth ball, from Hazlewood, serenely back down the ground to long-on, while Brooks’ fifth, a slightly overpitched delivery from Starc, disappeared through extra cover.By and large they batted watchfully at the outset, occasionally attempting to play with the bowlers’ lengths such as when Jacks advanced to thrash Hazlewood through the off side. England were 45 for 2 at the end of the first powerplay – Australia had been 41 for 1 – and began to open up as Mitchell Marsh shuffled through his bowling options. Brook slapped Glenn Maxwell’s first ball over the head of mid-off, then did the same to Matthew Short with an even bigger hit that sailed all the way.Brook went to a 54-ball fifty in the same over, his first since taking up the captaincy as cover for the injured Jos Buttler. The hundred partnership arrived two balls later, before Jacks brought up his own half-century, from 55 balls, as the volume levels in the home crowd began to increase. The atmosphere only became more raucous when Starc’s sixth over was ransacked for 19, his third-most expensive in ODIs: Jacks driving and pulling fours before Brook capped the over with a lofted drive over cover.The momentum was now with England and, although Jacks fell via an uppercut to deep third before Jamie Smith’s top-edged pull ended up in the hands of deep backward square leg, Brook was unperturbed, back-to-back fours off Starc taking him to three figures for only the second time in List A cricket.Livingstone had by then already struck two of his first seven balls for six and, with the threat of rain in the air, sped England ahead of the DLS requirement with another flurry of boundaries, the result well beyond doubt by the time heavy rain arrived.Will Jacks celebrates after dismissing Marnus Labuschagne•Getty Images

Australia, having been inserted, were indebted once again to Carey – only in the side after an injury sustained by Josh Inglis during the T20I series – as he top-scored for the second game in a row. After Steven Smith laid the foundations with his first fifty of the series in testing conditions, Carey and the lower order cut loose to add 104 from the last 10 overs, with Aaron Hardie showing his power in a career-best 44 off 26 that included twice putting Jofra Archer into the stands.England only struck once during the first powerplay but there was something there for the seamers, as Brook had hoped at the toss. Short, partnered by Marsh in the absence of Head, was caught hooking Archer to deep backward square leg, two balls after hitting the same shot for six. Matthew Potts then thought he had removed Smith lbw, only for ball-tracking to show the delivery would have cleared leg stump on review.Marsh battled through powerplay while taking several blows to the body but fell straight after, Brydon Carse using home-ground knowledge to locate a nibbly Riverside length and straighten one through to Jamie Smith off the outside edge. From there Australia looked to rebuild, with the third-wicket pair of Smith and Green largely employing low-risk shots during a stand worth 84, seeing off the frontline seamers before looking to target spin, in particular the fifth-bowler combination.Jacob Bethell and Jacks leaked boundaries initially but, with Australia beginning to look well placed, both spinners struck in quick succession. First Green smacked Bethell to Jacks at straight mid-on, the fielder having just been moved back from a close-in position, then Marnus Labuschagne got in a tangle looking to scoop Jacks and popped a simple catch to the keeper.Australia were suddenly 132 for 4 and grateful for Smith’s stickability as went on to a 71-ball fifty, reaching the mark with his fifth boundary. Brook then went back to Archer and he finally won a duel with Smith, taking his wicket for the first time in international cricket as Carse pulled off a brilliant running catch at deep square leg.At 172 for 5, the innings could have fallen away but Carey put on rapid half-century stands with Maxwell and Hardie to tip the game back towards Australia. Hardie’s aggression from No. 8 stood out as 55 runs flowed from the last four overs to put England under pressure. But Brook, with the bat, had a worthy response.

Ajinkya Rahane and Peter Handscomb staged an outstanding match-winning partnership of 120 as Leicestershire beat Gloucestershire by four wickets on the Duckworth/Lewis/Stern Method at Bristol’s Seat Unique Stadium to book a quarter-final berth in the Metro Bank One Day Cup.Chasing a revised target of 196 in a contest reduced by rain to 36 overs a side, the Foxes registered their fifth win in six games in Group B with 14 balls to spare, the fourth-wicket pair of Handscomb and Rahane scoring 65 not out and 62 respectively.Having already raised two hundreds in the competition this season, Handscomb reaffirmed his rich vein of form, the Australian mustering five fours and two sixes in a superbly-judged innings off 70 balls, while Louis Kimber contributed a quickfire 28 in 18 balls to put the outcome beyond doubt as Leicestershire recovered from 19 for 3 to win with something to spare.Put into bat on a used pitch beneath low cloud cover, Gloucestershire struggled to build partnerships and came up short on 192 for 9, Cameron Bancroft top-scoring with 36.Leicestershire took full advantage of the damp conditions, seamer Tom Scriven claiming 3 for 37 from seven overs and Liam Trevaskis and Alex Green weighing in with two wickets apiece in a disciplined performance with the ball.Victory helped defending champions Leicestershire secure a second-place finish in Group B and their reward will be a home quarter-final tie against Hampshire at Grace Road on Friday in a repeat of last season’s final.Their confidence high on the back of four wins in five matches, Gloucestershire were buoyed by an opening stand of 50 between Bancroft and Miles Hammond in 10.4 overs. But things changed quickly following the introduction of Scriven, who bowled Hammond for 19 to spark a decline which saw the home side lose seven wickets for 95 runs in 18 overs.Gloucestershire’s cause was further hindered by the return of rain, the elements forcing the players to leave the field with the score on 55 for 1 after 12 overs. When play finally resumed, a further four overs had been lost and the situation now required urgency on the part of Bancroft and new batsman Joe Phillips.Leicestershire made the most of favourable circumstances to assume control thereafter. Bancroft had advanced his total to 36 from 51 balls when, no doubt frustrated by lack of progress, he chanced his arm against Scriven, attempting an expansive on-drive and falling to a brilliant diving catch by Handscomb at mid-on.Teenage seamer Green then had Phillips, who had scratched 10 from 32 balls, held by Rahane at mid-wicket to reduce the hosts to 76 for 3.The defending champions continued to turn the screw, slow left armer Trevaskis luring dangerman Jack Taylor into an ugly shot, Gloucestershire’s captain holing out to short fine leg for eight. Scriven accounted for James Bracey for 18, the left-hander falling to another fine catch at mid-on by Handscomb, at which point Gloucestershire were 109-5 and in danger of falling short.With 11 overs in which to make an impact, Irish international Curtis Campher announced himself with two successive sixes at the expense of Green, only to be caught at the wicket off the bowling of Roman Walker after raising 21 from 14 balls, a score matched by Ben Charlesworth when he was bowled by Trevaskis.It was left to Graeme van Buuren and Tom Smith to pick up the pieces, Gloucestershire’s veterans deploying all their considerable knowhow to stage a restorative alliance of 32 in 6.1 overs for the eighth wicket. Green had van Buuren held in the deep for 17 in the penultimate over, Smith finishing on 27 not out from 23 balls.A Gloucestershire bowling unit denuded by injury and call-ups to The Hundred and England Lions, nevertheless made the perfect start, Josh Shaw striking with his first and fifth deliveries to remove Ian Holland and Lewis Hill without scoring. Fellow seamer Dom Goodman got in on the act in the sixth over, Sol Budinger miss-timing a pull shot and holing out to mid-on as the Foxes slipped to 19-3, requiring a further 177 to win at 5.8 an over and already heavily dependent upon Rahane and Handscomb.Leicestershire’s fourth wicket pair saw off the new ball bowlers, punished the occasional poor delivery during tight spells from Campher and Smith and took advantage when Gloucestershire, short of seam options, sought recourse in Charlesworth for the first time this season, to stage a 50 partnership in 10 overs and put pressure back on the home side.Rahane was first to his half century, attaining that landmark via 59 deliveries and bringing up the 100 partnership in the process, while Handscomb required seven balls fewer to realise 50 as the required rate came down to five an over for the first time.Having accrued 7 fours and a brace of sixes, Rahane was looking to accelerate when his 76-ball innings came to an abrupt halt, Hammond taking a catch at short extra off the bowling of Smith to afford Gloucestershire the breakthrough they so desperately needed. But Kimber promptly smashed 23 in one over from van Buuren, helping himself to 3 sixes and a four, to effectively quash any prospect of a West Country revival.

Stumps Bangladesh won what could be an important toss and made excellent use of the new ball in favourable conditions to take out three early wickets, but half-centuries from Saim Ayub and Saud Shakeel ensured Pakistan ended a truncated first day on an even keel.The fourth-wicket pair put on an enterprising 98 to rescue Pakistan from 16 for 3, and when bad light brought play to a close, the home side were breathing a lot better at 158 for 4. Ayub, playing just his second Test, rode out a difficult early period against the new ball before blossoming to score his maiden half-century. Shakeel, promoted to vice-captaincy, continued his impressive rise in the Pakistan cap by becoming their joint-quickest batter to 1000 Test runs, getting there in his 20th innings to match Saeed Ahmed, who got there in 1959.Both Ayub and, in particular, Shakeel, brought a proactive approach to handling Bangladesh’s seamers, often shuffling out of their crease to disturb their lengths and narrow the extent of movement they were able to generate.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

By stumps, Bangladesh had broken the partnership between the two left-handers, with Hasan Mahmud coaxing Ayub to drive at a ball angled across him that wasn’t quite full enough for the shot. It was his second wicket and similar in conception to his first: relentless good lengths forcing the batter into a risk against a rare, seemingly driveable ball.This was Bangladesh’s only success of a 20-over post-tea session, as Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan steered Pakistan to stumps with an unbroken partnership of 44 for the fifth wicket.With their partnerships, Ayub, Shakeel and Rizwan may have exposed one structural shortcoming in Bangladesh’s attack. Unlike Pakistan, who went into this Test match with four frontline seamers, Bangladesh picked three seamers and two spin-bowling allrounders.The offspinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz, introduced at the start of the 14th over with two left-handers at the crease, bore the brunt of a calculated counterattack, conceding 24 in four overs. He didn’t bowl badly, but with no real help for the spinners this early in the contest, Ayub and Shakeel went after him, using their full reach to sweep him clinically off a good length.It took until the 39th over for Bangladesh to call on their second spinner, and Pakistan were just as ruthless against Shakib Al Hasan, with Rizwan sweeping him for back-to-back fours in his first over. Together, the two spinners conceded 36 in six overs.The express quick Nahid Rana, picked ahead of the more experienced Khaled Ahmed, was expensive too; on a pitch that rewarded old-fashioned line and length, Bangladesh used him as an enforcer, and it didn’t quite come off on the day, as he went for 48 in 10 overs.Shoriful Islam celebrates with Hasan Mahmud after getting rid of Babar Azam•PCB

The other two quicks, however, enjoyed a productive day, particularly with the new ball. Shoriful Islam and Mahmud hammered away on a good length in conditions where the ball swung, seamed and occasionally lifted off damp areas on the pitch. Both beat the bat regularly in the early overs, and Bangladesh didn’t have to wait long before the breakthrough came.It came via a wide outswinger from Mahmud, not quite a half-volley, that Abdullah Shafique chased after being kept to just two runs off his first 13 balls. His drive turned into an aerial slice, and Zakir Hasan grabbed it spectacularly, throwing himself full-length to his right at gully.The left-armer Shoriful tested both Ayub and Pakistan captain Shan Masood with his line in the fifth-stump channel, mostly swinging the ball away from the left-handers but getting the odd one to nip in off the pitch. One of these nip-backers sent back Masood, though in contentious circumstances. Masood pushed forward to defend – bat and pad fairly close together – and the ball kissed one or both on its way to keeper Litton Das, who appealed vociferously for caught-behind. Though he wasn’t given out on the field, Bangladesh had their man ruled out on review, with TV umpire Michael Gough ruling that a spike on Ultra-Edge was evidence of ball on bat, though there seemed to be a chance that it had missed the inside edge and brushed the flap of the pad instead.Having had that bit of fortune going their way, Bangladesh had another soon after, when Babar Azam fell for a duck to an innocuous delivery, tickling an off-target inswinger from Shoriful down the leg side, into the left glove of an acrobatically diving Litton.

Southern Brave 139 for 5 (Vince 73*) beat Welsh Fire 97 (Mills 4-16, Briggs 3-14) by 42 runsSouthern Brave made it four wins from five in the Hundred this year by thrashing Welsh Fire at Sophia Gardens.James Vince’s match-winning 73 from 50 balls in the first innings set Fire 140 to win, and the home side never threatened to reach the target. The Brave ended the night top of the table.Jofra Archer missed his second game of the competition, with the ECB managing his workload closely, but the Brave cruised to victory regardless.”It was nice to get the win,” Vince said. “Batting first, we found it quite tricky. but at halfway you never quite know until both sides have batted. The way we bowled throughout, but particularly up front, was fantastic and proved it was reasonably tough out there.”The Fire won the toss and elected to field first, but the Brave’s batters worked well in partnerships with Alex Davies, Leus du Plooy and Kieron Pollard all supporting the in-form Vince’s superb 73 not out, which included seven fours and three sixes.A Chris Jordan cameo in the final 10 balls featured a 98-metre six, before he fell to the last ball, skying David Payne and being well caught by David Willey.Overseas quicks Haris Rauf (2 for 22) and Matt Henry (1 for 20) were the standout bowlers for Welsh Fire, with the home side hoping conditions under the lights might favour a big chase.Danny Briggs celebrates a breakthrough with his captain

But Luke Wells and Jonny Bairstow struggled to get opening bowlers Akeal Hosein and Craig Overton away, with just 29 scored from the first 30 balls and the bowlers making life difficult with significant swing.Both opening batters then fell in quick succession as the Brave took control, with Tymal Mills (4 for 16), Danny Briggs (3 for 14) and Jordan (2 for 19) running through the Fire’s batting order to seal a very comfortable victory.”Our bowlers have dovetailed really well: Akeal and Craig with the new ball and then CJ and Tymal through the back end,” Vince said. “They’ve done it so many times and we are in nice rhythm at the minute. The bowlers have been fantastic and I think the batters did a good job on that pitch as well.”