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Brendon McCullum has been ruled out of the remainder of the Caribbean Premier League because of a hand injury. McCullum was batting on 26 during Trinbago Knight Riders’ chase when he was struck on the left arm by Barbados Tridents’ pacer Wayne Parnell, forcing him to retire hurt. Australia allrounder Dan Christian is set for his CPL debut after being named as McCullum’s replacement.”CPL over for this year, unfortunate. Been a ride with Knight Riders brothers! Many thanks to all for your support! Luck team!” McCullum said on Twitter, sharing a picture of his x-ray.McCullum scored 335 runs, including three half-centuries, in 10 matches this season. He led Knight Riders’ charge with his 91 off 62 balls to clock up 208 in the previous match against Jamaica Tallawahs, the joint-highest score of this season’s CPL.Christian led Nottinghamshire to the NatWest Blast title last week, hitting 356 runs at a strike-rate of 153.44 to add to 11 wickets in 16 matches. Earlier this year, he was part of the Rising Pune Supergiant side that finished as the runner-up in the IPL.”Losing an iconic figure like Brendon to injury is clearly a massive loss to the team, but in Daniel we have a proven match-winner who has just led a side to a T20 title in England,” Knight Riders’ coach Simon Katich said. “We hope that he can make it two trophies in two weeks with us in Trinidad.”Though Knight Riders fell 16 runs short in their chase against Tridents, they sealed their semi-final berth and were on top of the table with eight wins from 10 matches.

Wayne Madsen was again Derbyshire’s trump card•Getty Images

Wayne Madsen and Imran Tahir inspired Derbyshire to victory as the Falcons crushed the Worcestershire Rapids by 48 runs at Derby to secure a place in the NatWest T20 Blast quarter-finals for only the second time.Madsen scored 55 from 42 balls, his fourth 50 of the season, to take the Falcons to 146 for 8 and then took a wicket with his second ball as the Rapids slumped to 39 for 5.Hardus Viljoen struck twice in five balls to take 2 for 20 and with Tahir claiming 4 for 17 the Falcons sealed a place in the last eight for the first time since 2005 as the Rapids were routed for 98 with 26 balls to spare.Madsen, thrilled at finally reaching a quarter-final, said: “I actually thought we were 20 or 25 short and we knew we had to bowl really well and that’s exactly what we did . I’ve been waiting nine years for this. It means the world and hopefully it’s just the start and we’ve got a few more big games to come.”The Falcons had started badly, losing Billy Godleman and Luis Reece in the first fours overs and after Matt Critchley drove Mitchell Santner for six, he miscued a pull to mid on.At 31 for 3, a lot rested on Madsen and he responded by driving Pat Brown for three consecutive fours and pulling Joe Leach for another in the Rapids skipper’s first over which cost 13.Callum Broderick was caught at backward point reverse sweeping Santner and when Alex Hughes dragged a long hop from Brett D’Oliveira to deep square leg, the Falcons were 78 for 5.The Rapids were bowling tightly and Madsen and Daryn Smit had to rely on placement to keep the board ticking over until Smit was stumped coming down the pitch to D’Oliveira in the 16th over.The big over the Falcons needed came in the 18th when Matt Henry and Madsen pulled Alex Hepburn for sixes but two run-outs in the last over kept them to under 150.Madsen was the first Derbyshire player to pass 500 runs in a T20 season and he struck an early blow with the second ball of the Rapids reply when Leach was bowled trying to cut.Joe Clarke took two fours off Madsen and then pulled Ben Cotton’s first two balls for boundaries but when he went for another big shot, he only skied a catch to point.Viljoen landed two big blows in the sixth over when he beat D’Oliveira for pace and then pinned Ben Cox lbw with his fifth delivery and the Rapids were in deep trouble when Santner chopped on Tahir’s first ball.The visitors never recovered from losing three wickets in seven balls and a fifth consecutive defeat was inevitable when former Derbyshire batsman Ross Whiteley found the hands of Madsen at long on.

Lord’s will break with tradition at Sunday’s Women’s World Cup final by allowing the Bharat Army, India’s fan group, to bring a drummer into the ground.Instruments, such as the trumpet played by the Barmy Army’s Billy Cooper, are usually banned at Lord’s, but – after consultation with the ICC – the MCC have made an exception for the final. As such, the terms and conditions of ticket sales for ICC events differ from those applied by the MCC at other matches.ESPNcricinfo understands that the ICC and MCC considered the Bharat Army’s request for a number of instruments but decided to allow only one , a traditional Indian drum, into the seating area. No horns and vuvuzelas will be permitted, however.Along with the unfamiliar sound of rhythms filling the air above St Johns Wood, there will also be a sea of colour rarely seen around the stands as the ICC will distribute flags, also banned at most matches at Lord’s, to the fans. The flags will be split evenly – half representing India and the other half England.

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.

Scorecard”There will be days and days and days like this,” says Susan Traherne at the end of , the film David Hare adapted from his own stage play. Susan is wrong; that final scene is a flashback and we know that her later life will be filled with unhappiness. All the same, as spectators watched Kent’s bowlers press hard for victory over Sussex on the third evening at Tunbridge Wells it would have been easy for them to echo Susan’s blamelessly optimistic sentiments as she looked over the French countryside. The ovations that greeted Matt Coles’ two early wickets and Joe Denly’s two late ones were also outpourings of pleasure from people grateful to be watching their sport at one of English cricket’s other Edens. And surely there will be more Sundays like this?Such assumptions are dangerous. As reported in the on Friday, this game was nearly moved to Canterbury because of concerns about both the outfield and the pitch, the latter having flooded because of inadequate covering by employees of Tunbridge Wells council, the body which “owns” this ground. Hours of work by Kent’s groundstaff and members of the Tunbridge Wells club saved the Festival but it was a close-run thing and the county’s officials are clear they will not go through such a shemozzle again.All of which may not have troubled some of those who had seen Kent’s batsmen do much as they wished with Luke Wright’s bowlers in the morning session. Sean Dickson had made 74 when he was leg before on the front foot to Danny Briggs. The batsmen looked down at his leg and back at the stumps when Peter Hartley gave his decision; perhaps he was regretting all those Friday afternoons when he dozed off during geometry lessons.Daniel Bell-Drummond seemed set for a hundred when he inside-edged an attempted square-drive on to his stumps and departed with 90 runs against his name. At that point Kent were 188 for 2 but the real entertainment was to come as Denly and Sam Northeast scored 70 runs in 35 minutes before lunch. The crowd enjoyed this, too, although their pleasure was alloyed somewhat by the need to protect their strawberries and Sancerre from cricket balls travelling at ferocious velocities. Denly cleared the rope three times in successive overs as he and Northeast sought to pile up the sort of lead that would allow them to set very aggressive fields while giving Sussex nothing but a draw on their dance card. Thirty years ago the picnics may have been more modest – Scotch eggs and Blue Nun, perhaps – but no one doubted that the Tunbridge Wells festival would continue, rather as it had since 1901.Northeast and Denly brought up their century partnership in 72 balls and the declaration was applied 20 minutes after the resumption. Sussex were challenged to score 504 to win and one or two Kent supporters may have pledged that they would breakdance in the Pantiles if Darren Stevens and his congregation of bowlers allowed this one to slip.Immediately the self-respect of the Sevenoaks faithful, not to mention the ambience of Tunbridge Wells’ most stylish quarter, seemed secure. Harry Finch was leg before to a full delivery from Coles in the third over of the innings; ten minutes later Luke Wells played too early at a delivery from the same bowler and gave an shin-high return catch to the Maidstone mountain. Poor Wells, his misery seemed beyond conception. He dropped his bat, bowed his head in his hands and took longer to leave the ground than a substituted Premier League footballer when his team is winning 1-0 and there are moments to play.Two balls later Chris Nash could offer his sympathy. His foot movement restricted by Adam Rouse’s decision to stand up to the stumps, the Sussex opener had his off stump knocked back and its bail broken by a good ball from Stevens which nipped away a shade. Sussex were then 8 for 3 and we were wondering whether we might be home before evensong.It did not turn out that way. Partly this was because Wright hit Stevens’ more attacking deliveries for eight boundaries in 38 before he nicked a leg-side catch to Rouse off James Harris. More persuasively, however, it was explained by Stiaan van Zyl and Michael Burgess’ obduracy, the pair batting for 30 overs and deep into the evening session as they sought to make Kent fight for their points. Van Zyl’s shot selection was particularly impressive and he had made 78 off 134 balls when he was judged caught behind off Denly’s part-time legspin. To say that he was not pleased by Hartley’s decision does little justice to his apparent ire.Next over, Chris Jordan collected a pair when he gave a gentle return catch to Denly and, once again, a three-day finish threatened. But David Wiese and Burgess batted stoutly through the final 11 overs and Burgess in particular will have gained more than 44 runs from his 157-minute innings. Kent’s victory, though, should be confirmed at some stage on Monday and one could wish that the future of cricket at the Nevill was as certain. One hopes, indeed, that the banks of dark asperatus cloud which encircled this sacred place in the late afternoon did not symbolise something.There is clearly a need for all parties to talk and to do so soon. More responsibility should be given to Steve Niker and his staff at the Nevill; they would break their backs to ensure that the festival continues. It would be easy to demonise the local authority but they have pressing financial priorities and may wish to delegate to people who actually know something about cricket outfields and pitches.On the other hand, Tunbridge Wells council may be under the misapprehension that they own this blessed plot. They do not; rather, they are the guardians of one of the finest cricket grounds in England and they are properly charged with the task of ensuring that the Nevill’s full glory is available to the next generation. Kent, meanwhile, are doubly blessed: “God or whatever means the good” has granted them the use of the St Lawrence and Nevill grounds; they must honour such gifts and do whatever they can to stay at both venues. Tunbridge Wells is a demi-paradise and we have seen so much good cricket this weekend. Surely there will be days and days like this?

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.

Calling his client a “clean athlete”, Kingston lawyer Patrick Foster has said he “disagrees” with the one-year ban imposed on West Indies allrounder Andre Russell by an independent anti-doping tribunal on Tuesday. The tribunal found Russell guilty of failing to file his whereabouts three times in 2015. Under the World Anti-Doping Agency code, three misses within one year amounts to a single failed dope test.Immediately after the three-member tribunal delivered its verdict in Russell’s home town Kingston, his lawyer Foster issued a media release, stating there was a “possibility” of an appeal being filed.”Mr Russell and his legal team are carefully reading and reviewing the ruling as regards the next steps and the possibility of an early appeal of the decision of the Panel’s ruling,” Foster said. “While we respect the ruling, we respectfully disagree with it and are very disappointed that the Panel saw it fit to impose a one-year ineligibility period.”During the hearings that took place last year, Russell’s legal team had contested the allegation levelled against the player that he was “grossly negligent” about filing his whereabouts despite several reminders. That allegation was made by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) through a case filed last March.Just as he had stressed during the hearings, Foster said on Tuesday that his client has never violated any doping rules. “Throughout his career as an international and domestic T20 cricketer, Mr. Russell has been tested on many occasions by various anti-doping agencies/bodies in several countries pursuant to WADA guidelines and he has never registered an adverse analytical finding.”Foster pointed out that the tribunal itself in its ruling seemed to have agreed with Russell’s conduct. “We note that in the ruling, the Panel states that they believe, ‘…in the instant case the Respondent athlete as per the evidence heard, has not displayed a pattern of last minute Whereabouts Changes or other conduct which raise a serious suspicion that the athlete was trying to avoid being available for testing….’ This aspect of the Panel’s decision we wholeheartedly agree with.”Foster said that Russell would continue to adhere to the rules even as he decides his next step on whether to challenge the verdict.”Mr. Russell is a clean athlete who seeks to uphold the integrity of Cricket. He respects and makes every effort to be compliant with the rules of sport generally, cricket and to comply with anti-doping rules and procedures. Our client will continue to cooperate fully with JADCO and WADA.”

Sri Lanka allrounder Thisara Perera was fined 15% of his match fee while Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc received an official reprimand for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct in separate incidents during the second ODI in Colombo on Wednesday.Perera was fined for his reaction after dismissing David Warner in the second over of Australia’s chase. He was found to have breached article 2.1.7 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which deals with “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman.” Perera finished with returns of 3 for 33 off five overs in Sri Lanka’s 82-run victory.The incident for which Starc was reprimanded took place after the bowler, having finished an over, threw the ball towards Dinesh Chandimal at the striker’s end, despite the batsman not attempting a run. Starc was found guilty of violating Article 2.1.1, which deals with “conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game”.The charges were brought by on-field umpires Michael Gough and Raveendra Wimalasiri, third umpire Aleem Dar and fourth umpire Ranmore Martinesz.