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A rearguard from Dimitri Mascarenhas and the lower order kept table-toppers Surrey from securing victory as Hampshire battled against an innings defeat on the third day of the Frizzell County Championship match at The Oval.Mascarenhas’ 94-ball undefeated 75 stood between the hosts and a third-day success as he and firstly Nic Pothas (24), Shaun Udal (18) and James Hamblin, with whom he shared a stout 56 for the ninth wicket ensured the game went into the final day.But Hampshire still trail by 83 runs after Surrey furthered their overnight 410 for 5 in double quick time – smoting 166 runs in just 27.3 overs with Alistair Brown continuing in his typical vain with 135.Aided by 89 from Jonathan Batty and some resistance from the tail pushed the game further over the horizon. But not before Shaun Udal picked up an unwanted Hampshire record by becoming the second bowler in the club’s history to concede 200 runs in an innings, following Alec Kennedy suffering 202 runs in 1919 at Lord’s.Udal’s figures of 4-213 in 47 overs was the pick, although Lawrence Prittipaul bowled tidily for 2-43 in 13.3 overs.Trailing by 386, it was a case of Hampshire batting for five session to save the match and a 51-run start through Jason Laney and Neil Johnson set them on their way.But the introduction of Pakistani off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq was always going to be crucial and he made significant inroads as the batsmen were guilty of making starts to their innings but failing to push on.All the top four batsmen reached 28 or more before succumbing to Saqlain – bar Jason Laney who fell to James Ormond’s second delivery of off-spin as he reverted from his normal medium-fast.In fact, in a strange piece of cricket, he bowled medium-fast at Will Kendall but off-spin to Robin Smith all in the space of an over on a regular occurrence when the pair were together at the wicket.Saqlain reduced Hampshire from a comfortable 142-2 to 167-6 but as he tired, Mascarenhas and the lower order took charge and staved off defeat as bad light brought an early close to play, despite Surrey claiming the extra half-hour. The all-rounder smashed two huge sixes off consecutive Ian Salisbury deliveries and seven crunching fours in his saving 75 not out.And, as the players left the ground, the rain began to fall. The forecast for Sunday 25th August is not of the highest quality, so Hampshire may still gain something other than a loss from this game.

Somerset have won their way through to the last four of the English Schools Cricket Association Under 13’s competition, and travel to Oundle School in Northamptonshire in August to play in the semi finals.On their way to the final stages Somerset Under 13’s have beaten Dorset, Hampshire and Devon, and despite losing to Cornwall still finished top of the west regional group.In the quarter finals they played against Wales at Usk on Sunday. Batting first the hosts were all out for 108, with Ben Rudge taking 4 for 12, including the hat-trick, and Jack Cooper 2 for 15. In reply Somerset stormed to their target for the loss of just one wicket, with James Fear making an unbeaten 51, and Jack Cooper 27.The final stages at Oundle take place over the weekend of August 24th and 25th. On August 24th Somerset will play the winners of the northern group, and if they are successful on Sunday they will play in the final. If not they will be in a play off for third and fourth place.Team Manager John Davey told me: “We are absolutely delighted to have won through to the last four of this prestigious competition. All of the boys have played well and they are all looking forward to it.”

Lincolnshire failed to take the last two wickets which would have completed victory over Buckinghamshire at Grantham after making the visitors follow on.Chasing Lincs’ first innings score of 373 for seven – in which Richard Howitt was unbeaten on 153 – Bucks were bowled out for 165 and finished the second day on 41 for two in their second innings.Looking for early wickets on the morning of the third day, the Lincs bowlers were defied by Locke and Atkins who both hit half centuries and took the score to 145 for two at lunch.But in the second session, the introduction of Howitt to the attack brought immediate success with three wickets falling to the part-time bowler for just 11 runs.Bucks again dug in, Batty and Ward – playing in his first Minor Counties game – adding 71 before Howitt stuck again to dismiss Batty for 39. Two wickets for David Pipes brought hopes of a Lincs victory but Ward went on to make 63 not out and help Bucks to 298 for eight at the close of the match, giving the home side 12 points and the visitors seven.Howitt finished with four for 60 off 26 overs while Pipes took three for 73 off 18.

George Linde, the South African allrounder, will join Kent on a two-year deal.Linde, 30, has represented South Africa in all formats, taking four wickets on Test debut before recording his Test-best figures of 5-64 against Pakistan last February, the last of his three Test appearances.South Africa’s domestic four-day cricketer of the year for 2021, Linde took 23 wickets with his left-arm orthodox spin at 20.95, and scored 322 runs at 46.00 in five CSA four-day domestic series matches for Cape Cobras. He has also played 100 T20 matches in his career, scoring 904 runs at a strike rate of 138.43 and taking 105 wickets at 22.93, with an economy rate of 7.3.”This is an exciting opportunity for me to play county cricket for the first time in my career,” said Linde, who will be available to play all formats for Kent. “I’m really looking forward to wearing the Kent shirt with pride and to make my own mark on this club’s history.”Paul Downton, Kent’s Director of Cricket, said: “We are delighted to have signed a player of George’s calibre for the coming two seasons.”We have long identified the need for an experienced, high quality spin bowler to balance our side in all formats, and the fact that George is an accomplished left-handed middle-order batter makes his addition to the squad even more exciting.”His first-class record is excellent with 211 wickets at 24.00 and 2287 runs at 30.00 in 58 matches – his white ball performances have also been just as impressive. We believe that George will make us a more competitive side as we aim to compete on all fronts next season.”

Christmas came early for USA on Wednesday afternoon at the Broward County Stadium as Gajanand Singh and Sushant Modani’s 110-run partnership was the gift that kept on giving to the small but vocal crowd that chanted for the home side throughout a remarkable 26-run win over Ireland. On a day that was historic from the start with USA hosting a Test nation in a bilateral series for the first time, the home team decided to put an exclamation point in the history books by marking the occasion with their first-ever T20I win over a Full Member.Dressed in Ireland’s neon green T20I jersey, Barry McCarthy looked primed to play the role of the Grinch after taking three wickets in a powerplay that reduced USA to 16 for 4 after the hosts had won the toss and chosen to bat first. McCarthy nabbed USA captain Monank Patel second ball of the match pushing with hard hands at a back of a length ball edging behind to Neil Rock. Dot ball pressure led to an impetuous charge from Xavier Marshall playing around a length ball to be bowled for 4 in the third over. Debutant Ritwik Behera was defeated trying to sweep Simi Singh to go leg before for a four-ball duck. McCarthy was then given a third over in the powerplay and rewarded captain Andy Balbirnie by inducing a false flick off the pads from Ryan Scott to deep square leg for 8.Related

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But just when it looked like USA’s stockings were about to be filled with coal, Gajanand and Modani came to the rescue with a record-breaking stand, producing a new high for USA for any wicket in T20Is. The pair initially focused on soaking up pressure and seeing off the early storm as no boundaries were scored from the sixth through the 11th over when USA inched along to 56 for 4. But Gajanand’s slog sweep over wide long-on for six off Simi Singh in the 12th was a harbinger of the merry power-hitting to come as USA plundered 132 runs off the final nine overs. Up to that stage, USA had only scored two boundaries but finished the second half of their innings with eight fours and nine sixes.The left-right combo of Gajanand and Modani also caused match-up problems against Ireland’s bowlers who struggled to deal with the traditionally strong crosswind in Lauderhill that blew to the east grandstand on Wednesday. Gajanand scored all but one of his five sixes to the east side, bringing up a 35-ball half-century with an edge to the third man boundary. The partnership finally ended when Gajanand bottom edged a half-tracker from legspinner Ben White that was well held by Rock for 65.Modani soldiered on with a fresh left-handed partner in Marty Kain, adding another 38 in quick time for the sixth wicket. After originally being included in the ODI squad only, Modani made the most of his T20I debut that came about as a result of a Covid outbreak in the USA squad by bringing up a 38-ball half-century. He fell one ball later to make it 164 for 6 with seven balls left, driving to long-off to give McCarthy one more wicket at the death in a spell of 4 for 30.Gajanand Singh flicks one of his five sixes over backward square leg•Peter Della Penna

In recent years during the Samuel Plummer era as pitch curator in Lauderhill, 180 has traditionally been a par score. Mark Adair’s fateful 20th over resulted in USA going well past that magic number thanks to Kain, who flicked two fours and two sixes in a 23-run frame. With the wind blowing strongly to Kain’s leg side, Adair misfired badly off the first four deliveries with the field set for wide yorkers. Instead, he fed Kain on his pads and saw the ball disappear over the east side rope on each occasion as Kain’s unbeaten 39 off 15 took USA to a commanding 188 for 6.Compared to USA’s paltry powerplay score of 26 for 4, Ireland got off to a far more confident start in the chase behind the typically belligerent hitting of Paul Stirling, who muscled six boundaries inside the first four overs. But after Balbirnie fell into a short ball trap at deep square leg to Ali Khan in the second over, Stirling succumbed to a nip-backer from left-arm medium-pacer Saurabh Netravalkar to fall for 31. Despite being in a solid position at the end of the first six with the score 54 for 2, Ireland’s middle-order struggles from the T20 World Cup continued to rear their head in Florida as the innings struggled to regain any momentum.Lorcan Tucker ended with an unbeaten 57 off 49 balls after entering at No. 3, but was scoring at less than a run a ball for the majority of his knock. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals at the opposite end as the fall of Curtis Campher on a charge gone awry to left-arm spinner Nisarg Patel ended Ireland’s best partnership of the day for 33 runs making it 74 for 3 in the 10th. By the time death overs specialist Khan took the ball for the 19th, Ireland needed 51 off 12 balls. A yorker from Khan cleaned up William McClintock for 9 to put a stamp on the performance as USA’s franchise T20 star ended with 2 for 30.While the result may be a sign that Ireland’s prolonged form funk from the 2021 T20 World Cup is not going away anytime soon, it’s also a warning to next year’s T20 World Cup Qualifier field set to be contested in Oman and Zimbabwe that USA will not be content to wait for a free berth as co-hosts in 2024 to make their T20 World Cup debut.

Big picture

Chris Gayle made a triple-hundred in Galle, Brian Lara hit 351 runs in one match in Colombo, and 688 in that three-match series, but this has to be one of cricket’s more surprising facts: West Indies have never won a Test in Sri Lanka. Partly this is down to their not having played on the island in their roaring 1980s – Sri Lanka too weak to attract them then perhaps, and too volatile geopolitically to have had a consistent touring schedule anyway. But still, since 1993, these teams have met eleven times in Sri Lanka; they have drawn just four of those games – three on a severely rain-affected tour in late 2010.Related

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On paper, this doesn’t seem like the West Indies team to improve that record, but it is clear this is an improving team. Their batting, for one, looks better than it did in 2016, when they last toured Sri Lanka. On their most-recent trip to South Asia, West Indies had pulled off a chase for the ages, debutant Kyle Mayers hitting 210 not out as West Indies hunted down 385 in Chattogram. They won the second Test, in Dhaka, too. In the next series, against Sri Lanka, in the Caribbean, they established substantial first-innings leads in both matches, even if they would eventually peter out to draws.Sri Lanka aren’t quite ripe for the plucking; Tests are still probably their safest format. But there is a little instability around this outfit that could hypothetically make them vulnerable. This series sees the return of several senior players – including Angelo Mathews – who had felt slighted during the months-long contracts standoff the players were involved in, with the board. This is also Mickey Arthur’s final Test series as coach, and the likes of batting coach Grant Flower, and bowling coach Chaminda Vaas, aren’t guaranteed their positions into next year either.As both matches are due to be played in Galle, spin is likeliest to decide the series. How will these flawed teams use it? How will they play it? On that front, Sri Lanka would seem to have a significant edge, particularly after West Indies’ tour match in Colombo was rained out.

Big picture

(completed matches, most recent first)West Indies LWLLD
Sri Lanka WDDDL

In the spotlight

Kyle Mayers may have created more buzz this year, but West Indies’ most consistent batter, by a slim margin, has been their captain, Kraigg Brathwaite. In 2021, he has hit 556 runs at 34.75, and given most of his 16 innings have come against the brand new Dukes ball, these are laudable numbers. But does he struggle against spin bowling, on turning tracks? He had one outstanding tour of the UAE in 2016, but even with his 328 from that series, his numbers in Asia (average of 28.87), lags behind his career stats. If he can spend substantial time at the crease (in his trademark shades-and-helmet), West Indies will likely make a bigger impact than they did in 2016, when they lost 2-0.66, 118, 244, 75 – so read Dimuth Karunaratne‘s last four Test knocks. The problem is, the most recent of these came way back in May, so it’s not as if you can say he comes into the series in form. Rarely does a home Test series pass by without a serious contribution from him, however, and he is especially good at Galle, where he has produced exceptional innings on tough pitches. West Indies’ bowlers will be desperate to neutralise him early.Dimuth Karunaratne has been Sri Lanka’s most consistent batter in recent Tests•AFP/Getty Images

Pitch and conditions

The surface is likely to be spin-friendly, but with the amount of rain that’s been around in all parts of the country, the pitch is unlikely to start out very dry. Given the northeast monsoon is still in operation, expect frequent rain interruptions, particularly in the afternoons.

Team news

Sri Lanka had thought about giving Charith Asalanka a debut, but it appears that they will go in with a bowling-heavy side instead, fielding two legspinners – Lasith Embuldeniya and Praveen Jayawickrama, in addition to offspin-bowling allrounder Ramesh Mendis (Dhananjaya de Silva is also there to contribute with his offbreaks).Dinesh Chandimal is likely to keep wickets, with Niroshan Dickwella suspended for a year over breaking Covid protocols in England.Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne (capt.), 2 Pathum Nissanka, 3 Oshada Fernando, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Dhananjaya de Silva, 6 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 7 Ramesh Mendis, 8 Suranga Lakmal, 9 Lasith Embuldeniya, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Praveen Jayawickrama.Jeremy Solozano, the Trinidad opening batter, could also be in line for a debut, as Brathwaite’s opening partner. With Roston Chase capable of delivering half-decent offspin, West Indies will also have to decide which of their other spin options – offspinner Rahkeem Cornwall, or left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican – plays. They could field them both, but that would mean their only serious seam options are Kemar Roach and Jason Holder.West Indies (possible): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite (capt.), 2 Jeremy Solozano, 3 Nkrumah Bonner, 4 Roston Chase, 5 Jermaine Blackwood, 6 Kyle Mayers, 7 Rahkeem Cornwall, 8 Jason Holder, 9 Joshua da Silva (wk), 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Jomel Warrican/Jayden Seales

Stats and rivia

• This is West Indies’ second World Test Championship series in the new cycle. They had won one Test and lost one against Pakistan in August, giving them 12 points. For Sri Lanka, this is their first series in the new cycle.
• Kraigg Brathwaite averages 25.75 in four innings in Sri Lanka – his third worst average in host countries, after India (where he averages 19.91), and Bangladesh (21.16).
• Dimuth Karunaratne averages 51.36 in Galle, and averages 47.52 as captain. His career average is 38.62.
• Across conditions, West Indies have won just one of the seven most-recent Tests between these sides. Sri Lanka have won three of them.

Moeen Ali has leapfrogged his team-mate Ben Stokes to be ranked as England’s leading allrounder, following his triumphant performance in the first Test against South Africa at Lord’s.Moeen’s second-innings haul of 6 for 53 completed career-best match figures of 10 for 112, as South Africa were bowled out for 119 on the fourth day to succumb to a 211-run defeat. That effort followed a vital 87 from 147 balls with the bat in the first innings, as Moeen helped add 177 for the sixth wicket with Joe Root and drive England towards a healthy total of 458.His efforts meant he became the fifth-fastest player to reach 2000 Test runs and 100 wickets, as well as the first for England to score a fifty and record a ten-wicket haul in the same match since Ian Botham in 1980.

Latest ICC Allrounder Rankings

1 Shakib Al Hasan (Ban) 432 pts
2 Ravindra Jadeja (Ind) 422 pts
3 Ravi Ashwin (Ind) 413 pts
4 Moeen Ali (Eng) 384 pts
5 Ben Stokes (Eng) 319 pts

As a consequence, Moeen has achieved career-best batting, bowling and allrounder marks in the latest ICC player rankings, and is now considered the third-best allrounder in the world, behind Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan and India’s Ravindra Jadeja, with Stokes back in fourth place.Joe Root, who marked his first Test as England captain with a notable victory, is now ranked as the second-best Test batsman in the world, after leapfrogging his New Zealand opposite number Kane Williamson in second place thanks to his first-innings 190.Root had entered the Lord’s Test trailing Williamson by 32 points, but now leads him by eight points. Australia’s captain, Steve Smith, remains 53 points clear in top spot, on 941 points – the fifth-highest ranking ever recorded.England’s wicketkeeper, Jonny Bairstow, entered the top ten for the first time after his fighting fifty in England’s second innings at Lord’s, while Alastair Cook, the former captain, rose two places to 11th with his 69. Moeen is England’s fourth-highest ranked batsman, in 21st place.In the bowling table, Moeen’s ten wickets mean he has climbed nine places to enter the top 20 for the first time, while South Africa’s Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel gained one place each to sit 10th and 13th respectively. The table is headed by Jadeja, with his India team-mate Ravichandran Ashwin second and Rangana Herath of Sri Lanka third.

Warwickshire will build on the success of last season’s T20 double-header by once again scheduling fixtures for Birmingham Bears’ men’s and women’s teams on the same day.The concept, successfully implemented for the latter stages of the men’s and women’s World T20 tournaments since 2009, proved popular when Warwickshire trialled it last season, and they will be repeating the concept at Edgbaston on Sunday, July 16.Birmingham Bears men will face Leicestershire Foxes at 2.30pm, followed by Birmingham Bears women against Sussex women at 5.30pm.”It’s essential that we continue to build on the success of the women’s team from last season, when we came very close to winning the NatWest Women’s T20,” said Ashley Giles, Warwickshire’s director of cricket.”Playing at an international venue, in-front of a big crowd is an invaluable experience for the development of this team and I’m delighted that we’re able to secure this second Double Header Day. Whilst we’re hungry for success, we’re also committed to growing the women’s game and hopefully the day can inspire many more women and girls to get involved in cricket.”Captained by Marie Kelly, Birmingham Bears women finished second to Kent in the NatWest Women’s T20 in 2016.

New Zealand will not seek a quick fix after losing their first home Test in the summer and confirmed they will not make any changes to the squad ahead of a must-win Test in Hamilton. The same group that lost to South Africa in three days at the Basin Reserve will be expected to step up at Seddon Park, with Ross Taylor unavailable as he continues to struggle with a low-grade calf tear sustained in the first Test. Trent Boult is a “work in progress” after picking up an upper-leg injury and there is no space for legspinner Ish Sodhi, who was being touted to play on what is expected to be a slow surface.”We’ve got 100% faith in the fact that we’ve got what we think are the best group of Test cricketers in the country,” Gavin Larsen, New Zealand’s selector said. “It’s about getting into Hamilton, getting the covers off, having a look at the pitch, having a look at some balance, thinking about what transpired down here in Wellington and about the best way to beat a very good South African team. I am very confident the coach and captain will come up with the right XI on the day.”The selection conundrums lie in the lower order and the bowling attack, with all eyes on whether Boult will return to lead it. Boult sat out the second Test but returned to bowling and should be fit which will lead to yet another change in the make-up of New Zealand’s bowling. They have plenty of choice with four seamers – Boult, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner and Matt Henry, two specialist spinners in Jeetan Patel and Mitchell Santner, who is also regarded as one of the three allrounders alongside Jimmy Neesham and Colin de Grandhomme – but have yet to find the perfect combination.In Dunedin, New Zealand opted for two spinners and two seamers, leaving out Southee to make room for Patel. In Wellington, Southee returned but Boult’s injury saw them look past Matt Henry and include de Grandhomme, who sat out the first Test because Jimmy Neesham was preferred. In both instances, New Zealand tried to give themselves batting depth but both times they were disappointed.Neesham scored 7 in Dunedin and 15 and 4 in Wellington; de Grandhomme managed 4 and 0 at the Basin Reserve and Larsen expects more from both of them. “The allrounders will be the first to admit that their run output hasn’t been enough. The reason we play a couple of allrounders was to stiffen up the batting and it didn’t quite transpire that way down at No.8. There is work to do and we must get run production through that area,” he said.More so because runs are not coming at the top, where Tom Latham has 24 runs in the series and after scoring 0, 2 and 0 in the ODIs. Without any viable replacements, Latham’s position is not in any real doubt, though. He spent Monday in the nets with batting coach Craig McMillan working on the technical glitch that has seen him nick off in his last three Test innings, and Larsen tips him to come good in Hamilton.”He is a classy player, a great individual and part of our leadership team. He is in a rut and he is battling a bit with his form but we believe he has got the character and the work ethic to work himself out of this rut,” Larsen said. “If there were a number of candidates around the country who were absolutely shooting the lights out and putting in front of the selectors really compelling reasons that we needed to consider them and pick them, we would have had that conversation. But as you know, there aren’t a lot of openers out there shooting the lights out.”Tom Latham’s poor form spilled into the Tests from the ODIs•AFP

Neither are there that many other batsmen breaking down the door in other positions. Colin Munro was considered a front-runner to step in for Taylor but New Zealand opted for someone with more first-class experience in Neil Broom. Broom had a forgettable debut after falling for a four-ball duck in the first innings but his 20 in the second dig showed Larsen some good signs that he could develop into a Test batsman.”In the first innings, he was really unlucky. He got a real peach of a delivery, a jaffa, and that can happen,” Larsen said. “In the second innings, I thought he got his innings underway really well. It was testing against the ball that was moving around. Vernon Philander bowled extremely well to him and he navigated that successfully so it was disappointing when he nicked off for 20. Again, it was to a good one so we have faith that Neil will do the job at No. 4.”Broom probably only has one more Test to prove that because once Taylor is ready to play, Larsen confirmed he would slot back into the XI. “His (Taylor’s) experience and his class is just so evident and he would have been straight back into the unit,” he said. But New Zealand will have to wait nine months to see Taylor in whites again.Their next Test assignment is scheduled for December when they host West Indies. That may put extra emphasis on the result of the Hamilton Test and so, they need to recover from Wellington as quickly as possible and commit to an overall improvement. “We need more runs, the bowling needs to be tidied up and I just want to see a greater fight which I think is a hallmark of the good Black Cap teams,” Larsen said.They also need their coach Mike Hesson, who laid low with an illness, back on his feet. Hesson was unable to attend the third day’s play or address the media post-match but is on the mend. “He is not flash. He suffered. He is looking a shadow of his former self. I think he has lost a couple of kilograms,” Larsen said. “But he is a fighter and a damn resilient character.”If New Zealand are to share the series spoils, they need to be those things too.

Trinidad & Tobago beat Leeward Islands for the second time in round-robin play, handing the host side a five-wicket loss at Coolidge on Sunday in a match that decided first place in Group A. T&T will now face Jamaica in the first semi-final on Wednesday while Leewards have to go up against Group B winner Barbados on Thursday to decide the other finalist.Leewards were bowled out for 189 in 48.1 overs after choosing to bat first. Their batting struggle was set in motion almost from the start when captain Kieran Powell, who entered the game as the tournament’s leading scorer with 509 runs, suffered his first failure of the tournament when he was caught behind off Shannon Gabriel for 1 in the third over. Gabriel wound up taking two more to finish with 3 for 40 while fellow medium pacer Ravi Rampaul took 3 for 27 from his ten overs to keep Leewards tied down. Five batsmen crossed 20 for Leewards but none made more than Jermaine Otto’s 38.Evin Lewis got the T&T chase off to a typically aggressive start, top-scoring with 47 off 23 balls, dominating a 57-run opening stand with Kyle Hope that spanned 7.4 overs. Lewis fell to Rahkeem Cornwall, who did his best to slow T&T’s victory charge by taking 3 for 40 in ten overs but Denesh Ramdin (31*) and Imran Khan (38*) produced an unbeaten 54-run stand for the sixth wicket to take T&T to the target in just 34.1 overs.Kent scored their third win of the tournament, signing off the Regional Super50 with a six-wicket win over West Indies Under-19 at North Sound. West Indies battled through their 50 overs to post 191 for 8 but Kent managed to haul it down with 5.1 overs to spare.West Indies were 20 for 4 inside of eight overs after choosing to bat first thanks to three wickets from Calum Haggett’s opening spell. Captain Kirstan Kallicharan did the lion’s share of the work to rebuild the innings coming in at No. 6 and wound up facing more than a third of the deliveries in the innings to grind out 47 off 110 balls. He added 63 for the fifth wicket with Shamar Springer to repair the early damage done by Haggett and lasted until the 44th over before Keemo Paul took over and produced a furious finish to the innings, hitting six sixes in his 72 off 57 balls before falling on the final ball of the innings.Kent’s reply got off to an assured start thanks to a 50-run opening stand between Daniel Bell-Drummond and Adam Ball. The run rate slowed after the Powerplay though and by the 18th over it was 64 for 2 with two new batsmen at the crease. Sean Dickson and Adam Rouse kept the junior bowling attack at bay with a 104-run third-wicket stand to steer Kent towards the target. Dickson made 53 before he fell in the 43rd over with 24 left to win and ended as Kent’s leading scorer at the tournament with 202 runs. Rouse was able to stay at the crease until the end, finishing 61 not out off 105 balls to ensure Kent would leave Antigua on a winning note.