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Tom Abell raised his bat to the Somerset dressing room then breathed a sigh of relief. His unbeaten hundred against Surrey at the Kia Oval was an overdue return to form and an innings that offered his side some reassurance after a miserable run with the bat dating back to the end of last season.Somerset’s totals this season have made for grim reading: 180, 135, 109 and 154. Since the start of the divisional phase of last year’s Championship, they had passed 200 only twice in 12 completed innings and lost six games in a row for the first time since the 1960s. They have played on some challenging pitches, but the statistics are grisly enough to make even England’s top order wince.Abell has worn the look of a wartime leader throughout that run, fronting up with his brow furrowed as the local media demanded answers after each collapse. His own form had disintegrated: across his previous 14 first-class innings, including two for the England Lions against Australia A, he had managed only 109 runs at 7.79.After the drought came a deluge: Abell surpassed that tally in a day in the south London sun, whipping Surrey’s seamers through midwicket when they attacked his stumps and driving elegantly through extra cover if they strayed too wide. When he walked off at the close, he had 121 of Somerset’s 283 for 6, a scoreline which vindicated his decision to bat first on a green, but slowish pitch.Abell had looked in complete control until he reached the 90s, when his poise briefly deserted him. On 95, he edged Jordan Clark just short of gully; on 97, he watched Ollie Pope fling himself to his right at second slip but fail to cling onto a thick outside edge; on 99, he heard Ben Foakes and Reece Topley plead for a leg-side strangle, then saw Martin Saggers shake his head.When he tucked Topley off his pads to reach 100, Abell acknowledged the applause from his team-mates, embraced Josh Davey, and took a deep breath that exuded reassurance rather than rapture. This was only his second first-class hundred since August 2020, and served as a reminder of his quality, to himself more than anyone.”I’ve obviously been in a pretty tough place for the last couple of weeks, really,” he said at the close. “I was desperate, particularly as captain, to lead from the front with my batting and I’ve not been satisfied with my performances.”I’ve been batting, really searching for something. I felt like I’ve not been in a great place with my batting so the main emotion was just relief, to be honest. I appreciate the love from the boys as well up there. It meant a lot to me.”Related

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Abell has been discussed in some quarters as a left-field candidate for England’s Test captaincy, a suggestion which has mainly served to highlight the paucity of options. His recent run of form underlines the obvious problem with handing the role to someone who is not sure of their place – how could anyone survive the scrutiny that would fall on their batting as well as their leadership? – but his leadership credentials are obvious and he has served Somerset with distinction.The thought emerged when he was compiling a 103-run stand for the fourth wicket with James Hildreth that these might be the two outstanding uncapped batters of their respective generations. Hildreth’s dismissal, when he slapped the final delivery with the old ball – a wide, non-turning offbreak from Will Jacks – to backward point for a flashy 54, perhaps underlined why the selectors have never called.That was the first of three wickets in 22 balls, a sequence which brought Surrey back into the game after a day of hard graft: Clark had Steven Davies caught behind, looking to drive his second ball to the cover boundary, while Topley, the pick of the attack, was rewarded with a cheap wicket of his own as Craig Overton cut a short ball to point.Sam Curran, returning to professional cricket after an absence of more than six months that saw him miss the T20 World Cup, the Ashes, two Caribbean tours and the ongoing IPL, was limited to 10 overs, with an abundance of caution over his comeback after a stress fracture in his lower back. He bowled tightly, probing in the off-stump channel, but went wicketless.Curran was one of six seamers – including Ryan Patel’s medium pace – that Surrey used on the first day, as they went in without a specialist spinner for the third consecutive game. The fact that Gareth Batty, the erstwhile president of the Spinners’ Union, is their head coach makes the decision particularly intriguing; Daniel Moriarty and Amar Virdi have bowled 54 wicketless overs between them for the second XI this week, but must feel disheartened about the make-up of this attack.

Rob Key, the former Kent captain turned Sky Sports commentator, has confirmed he is in the running to become the new managing director of England men’s cricket, but concedes that the “lifestyle” of the role may be the deciding factor as he weighs up the pros and cons of taking on such a high-profile vacancy.Key, 42, played 15 Tests for England between 2002 and 2005, with a highest score of 221 against West Indies at Lord’s in 2004. He made his name, however, as an outspoken and popular captain at Kent, whom he led for a total of nine seasons up to his retirement in 2015, and took that same independence of thought into his subsequent commentary career.His candidature has emerged from left-field, but according to the Evening Standard, the paper for which he writes a regular column, his name is in a shortlist of interviewees that includes Marcus North, the former Australia batter who is currently Durham’s director of cricket, and Ed Smith, Key’s contemporary with Kent and England, who lost his job as national selector last year.Related

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Key responded coyly about the role when quizzed on-air by his co-commentator, Bazid Khan, during the fourth day’s play of the Lahore Test, and joked that his desire to play golf would be the deciding factor.”There’s a lot of speculation around… there’s a lot of jobs up for grabs in English cricket,” he said. “A fair few people have been asked, a fair few people are going for these jobs. The thing I have is that you have to weigh up how much golf you can get in doing some of these. For me, the lifestyle thing is the big issue.”In May 2020, Key was hospitalised after suffering a transient ischaemic attack, or mini-stroke, and though he has recovered fully from his illness, he conceded at the time that he would “need to look into why it happened at my age”.The appointment of a new managing director promises to be one of the most crucial elements of English cricket’s so-called “red-ball reset”, following the sacking of Ashley Giles from that role in the wake of England’s 4-0 Ashes defeat.Andrew Strauss, Giles’ predecessor, has returned to the role in an interim capacity, and last week announced a high-performance review of the professional game. However, after stepping down to care for his two sons amid the tragic death of his wife, Ruth in 2018, Strauss himself is not expected to put himself forward for the full-time return.”I haven’t considered that really,” Strauss said last week. “I’ve got unique personal circumstances that makes doing that role difficult and quite frankly there’s always value in getting a new perspective and new views. Nothing ever stays the same or goes backwards. I’m certain there’s going to be some good candidates for this role.”Other potential candidates include two current ECB employees in Nathan Leamon, the England white-ball team analyst, and Mo Bobat, the influential head of performance. One high-profile name who would appear to be out of the running, however, is Alec Stewart, the director of cricket at Surrey, who has reportedly also opted out for family reasons.The ECB advertised for the role on March 14 with applications due by March 27. The recruitment process is being led by consultants at SRI Executive, and the job specifications suggest than “international and/or first-class county playing experience” is “desirable”.

Yorkshire 269 for 4 (Lyth 118*, Brook 82) lead Warwickshire 244 (Burgess 96, Patterson 3-43) by 25 runsAnybody who witnessed last week’s Roses match, and reflected upon the favourites to win the Championship season, would feel that it was a strange old world if Yorkshire were to find themselves ahead of Lancashire when the first raft of fixtures ends on Sunday evening.Yet that is a potential outcome after Lancashire, dominant in the Roses match and strongly fancied to take their first title since 2011, suffered a first-innings collapse against Essex at Old Trafford and Yorkshire moved into a position of strength against last year’s winners, Warwickshire.Strong first-innings batting performances have been at the heart of Yorkshire’s season and they remained wedded to the task at Headingley, driven to 269 for 4, and a lead of 25 when rain caused a premature halt 17 overs early, by the England call-up Harry Brook and a batter whose England days have passed and who now must stave off retirement as long as he can, Adam Lyth. New and old in harness in a fourth-wicket stand of 159 in 43 overs that began cagily but gradually took the game away from Warwickshire with deceptive ease.It is a rare occasion when the dismissal of Joe Root, who was out for 8 when he edged a late-swing delivery from Henry Brookes to the wicketkeeper, leads to such a positive outcome.It was a poignant stand in many ways (this is new Yorkshire after all, where hearts are open and emotion encouraged), because Brook’s uncomplicated ambition dovetailed with Lyth’s more complex determination to keep his career on the rails. He has been a loyal and skilful pro, but he had 140 runs at 18 in a season of high scores and on the first day had brought groans from the crowd with two dropped slip catches, and had been stung enough to respond.For nearly six hours, including an hour on the first evening, he set his season to rights. It was a player who knows him best, Will Rhodes, once of the same parish, who restrained him most, also the left-arm spin of Danny Briggs, but otherwise he milked the offside with relish whenever the opportunity presented itself.Whereas Brook’s innings are an outpouring of talent, Lyth was a worthy old pro, buckling down. He just avoided falling at short leg, off Briggs, on 87, and after his century was achieved, he was nearly run out on two occasions by Alex Davies as fatigue took hold. The rain which fell at 5.30pm must have felt blissful as it fell upon his forehead. He dedicated his innings to his wife, Lily, who has suffered a year of illness but who is reportedly over the worst. Life still happens outside the confines of professional sport.Brook has only failed to reach 50 once this season, and he had 82 to his name when he edged an excellent outswinger from Oliver Hannon-Dalby to first slip. He is a much less fretful figure than he was this time last year, which is a bit of a shame for those who self-indulgently like to see a bit of eccentricity in their cricketers, but a proof of his growing maturity. A Test debut will not be long delayed. As Lyth remarked: “Nobody is hitting the ball better than Harry”.Brook is the leading scorer in Division One with 840 runs at a remarkable average of 140. With his departure, probably went another season – this one of six games and benign surfaces – where nobody has seriously challenged Graeme Hick’s 1000 runs by the end of May, last achieved in 1988. Ben Compton (like his cousin Nick before him) has also come within wondering distance, but the feat is now distant enough to be dubbed by Wisden as one of the “quaintest pursuits” in English cricket. Shift the Championship to later in the season, where it should reside, and it may never be mentioned again.He has doubtless played more soundly this season; there were more play-and-misses here than he has been accustomed to as the ball continued to swing. He goes to Lord’s for the first Test in the knowledge that he will be the batter omitted, but he has a new management team to impress at close quarters and, anyway, he is only a calf strain away from a Test debut.Yorkshire’s season of batting consistency is entirely out of character with recent seasons and all the more creditable considering the racism debate that sullied the club in the close season (and that, if you care to scratch the surface, still exists). Lord Kamlesh Patel is a temporary chairman and does not really have the time, or indeed the circumstances, to continue for much longer. Darren Gough, still based in the south, probably remains an equally short-term hit as director of cricket. The appointment of a full-time chief executive remains in abeyance. And occasional tensions rear their head – a life member was reportedly barred from the ground this week after a contretemps with racist overtones and emails are still circulating about the minutiae of AGM legality that are best left unread. People really do need to attend to their courgettes.The ECB’s inquiry is also proving to be as slow as was Yorkshire’s and, as much as the county deserves to know if it will face a points penalty – players and coaches have a right to know if they are pressing for the title or avoiding relegation – decisions that should be made quickly for the good of the game are nearly always made slowly because somewhere, on behalf of someone, the lawyers are taking their shilling. Charges might be laid within a few weeks, although charging a new set-up committed to change for the perceived failures of the regime no longer in power would seem to possess dubious logic.That Yorkshire are holding body and soul together during all this is a tribute to their coaching staff, led by Ottis Gibson, their captain Steve Patterson, whose maturity in the face of adversity has never been more needed, and a playing staff who have got on with the job. They have only won once this season. It is not the done thing for a Yorkshire Championship crowd to cheer, but if they win again, and move above Lancashire in the table (still quite an ask against the draw specialists of Division One) during such a testing season, then the optimism and resilience of youth deserves commendation from every corner.

Mohammad Amir will play for Gloucestershire in the T20 Blast after signing as a replacement for Naseem Shah.Amir, 30, played two County Championship games for Gloucestershire earlier this season when Naseem was injured and will make his T20 debut for the club against Somerset on Friday night, subject to PCB clearance.Naseem, the 19-year-old fast bowler, returned to Pakistan earlier this month when his father fell ill and while his condition has improved, he will not return to Bristol due to “a hastily arranged Pakistan Cricket Board training camp,” according to Gloucestershire.Naseem played only four games in his time at Gloucestershire due to a shoulder injury which he suffered on debut. “He has shown incredible dedication and work ethic, despite some small issues meaning he couldn’t take the field as much as he and we would have liked,” Steve Snell, Gloucestershire’s performance director, said.”It has been great to see him develop as a young man – his English has improved immensely, which is something he should be very proud of. He is a very popular member of the squad, and we very much hope to see him back playing in Bristol in the years to come.”We’re delighted to welcome Mohammad back to the squad. He’s a proven international performer and to have his experience available to us for the remainder of the Blast tournament will be invaluable.”Just over halfway through the Blast, Gloucestershire sit fourth in the nine-team South Group and are well-placed to qualify. They will be without David Payne, the competition’s leading-wicket taker, for their next three games due to his involvement in England’s ODI series in the Netherlands.

The disappointment wasn’t amiss in coach Russell Domingo’s voice after the end of the second day’s play. West Indies led by 106 runs after going up to 340 at stumps, but it was a far cry from being reduced to 132 for 4 shortly before lunch as the visitors were buoyant after inflicting a sudden batting collapse.The home side lost four wickets for 32 runs, three of those for one run in the space of 12 deliveries. But Kyle Mayers and Jermaine Blackwood responded with a dominating 116-run fifth wicket stand that took the sting out of Bangladesh for the remaining two sessions. Mayers reached his second Test century while adding another 92 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket with Joshua Da Silva.Domingo said that Bangladesh have been giving up similar great positions in the recent past, mostly due to their habit of trying to get wickets rather than doing what was working for them during a good time.”It is the story of our Test match cricket at the moment,” Domingo said. “We are good for one session and then we have one really bad session. Guys were not patient. They couldn’t string together enough tight overs like we did in the first session. They were searching for wickets, bowled a few soft balls, came around the wicket when it should be over the wicket. They just made basic errors by not being patient enough. It was very disappointing the way we bowled after lunch.Related

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• Kyle Mayers' 126* powers West Indies to big lead

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“The message is always to bowl dots, building pressure, stay in control of the run-rate. As soon as you go looking for wickets, you just bowl too many soft balls. Being patient, being disciplined are the sort of messages that we try to emphasize. We do it for one session but we can’t do it for another session.”But the discussion went back to Bangladesh’s underwhelming first innings score of 234. They have failed to reach 300 runs in nine out of ten completed innings this year.”There are some serious questions with bat and ball at the moment,” he said. “It was not a 230 all out wicket. If it weren’t for a 30-run partnership in the end, we would be 190 all out. We are just not good enough at putting performances together with the bat. West Indies are showing us why they are better than us. They have managed to build partnerships and withstand the pressure. They just bat long – that’s the bottom line.”Domingo said that the Bangladesh batters should learn from the West Indies batters, particularly Mayers who has now scored two centuries in as many series, particularly when his team was in big trouble. “There’s a lot of players searching for form, searching for runs. The only way to get through it is to bat for long periods of time. Lot of 30s and 40s, the odd 50. Nobody is doing what Kyle Mayers is doing.”His big 126 is the difference between getting 230 and 400. They chased down 400 against us in Chattogram. He got a 200. But we are not getting those big scores. It is a big lesson for the boys. Test match is hard. When you are not batting as well, teams will punish you,” he said.

Trent Rockets bounced back from Monday’s defeat at Birmingham Phoenix to make it four Hundred wins from five with a 25-run victory over the Oval Invincibles after Alex Hales had set the night up with some characteristic pyrotechnics in front of his home crowd.Hales’s stunning 59 off 29 balls packed four sixes and six fours and a strike rate of 203.44 to give Rockets the platform to post a challenging 181 for 4, backed up by leading run scorer Dawid Malan’s 38 off 29 and consolidated by skipper Lewis Gregory combining with Colin Munro to add 41 off the last 19 balls.Despite Jordan Cox countering with an unbeaten 61 off 33, Invincibles couldn’t recover from losing their first three wickets for 32 in 35 balls with South African left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi finding a notable degree of turn in taking 2 for 21.Tabraiz Shamsi celebrates the wicket of Jason Roy•ECB/Getty Images

After Rockets were put in, Malan had the six counter ticking from ball four but spent the next 40 largely admiring his teammate as Hales delivered an extraordinary display of his clean hitting skills.Hales, who survived an lbw review first ball, took a particular liking to Sam Curran, plundering three of his four maximums off the left-hander, whom he hammered for 20 runs in one set of five. He had gone past 10,000 career short-format runs in the previous set and looked unstoppable. His fourth six – off Sydney Thunder teammate Mohammad Hasnain – sailed over the roof of the Fox Road stand and into the Nottingham night as his fifty came up off just 22 balls.But after he’d gone for 59, picking out the fielder on the midwicket boundary as Hasnain took his revenge, Rockets lost some momentum and it needed Gregory and Munro’s enterprise at the death to set the Invincibles a testing chase.In between, Malan’s 29-ball 38 had ended when Jason Roy grabbed a very low catch in the covers that needed an umpire review to confirm, Tom Kohler-Cadmore miscued to point and Daniel Sams flicked one straight to deep square leg.The test facing the visitors soon became bigger still. Will Jacks was fresh from his brilliant unbeaten 108 not out last time out but Sam Cook had his number on this occasion, denied his wicket on an lbw review in his first set and watching him survive a top-edged pull before bowling him with a perfect yorker.Roy at least avoided another duck but on 20 from 17 ran into a ripper from Shamsi that knocked back his leg stump. Shamsi had Billings leg before with one that fizzed through three balls later.Curran built himself a start but perished for 27, getting away with a steepler that Tom Moores inexplicably spilled only for the wicketkeeper to redeem himself next ball with a stumping that won instant forgiveness from bowler Samit Patel.It wasn’t the best of nights in the field for the Rockets, with Cox shelled at short third on 32 and Sunil Narine on 16 by the ‘keeper – a difficult one this time – in the same Luke Wood over, but with 66 needed from 20 balls despite Narine launching a free hit over the rope at wide long on, the winning line looked too far away for the Invincibles, despite Cox hitting three sixes.

Big picture

Two years after they played the T20I World Cup final in front of 86,174 fans at a packed MCG, Australia and India will square off in the gold-medal match at the Commonwealth Games 2022.The setting is perhaps a little less intimidating, but Edgbaston will likely be sold out to its 25,000 capacity. This is a rivalry that is fast gaining ground as the second biggest in women’s cricket after England vs Australia.Having laid their hands on every trophy of significance in the game, Australia are overwhelming favourites. For India, it’s another shot at trying to win a major global crown, five years after they came closest to winning one, at Lord’s at the 50-over World Cup final against England.Related

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The core of both squads remains the same as it was in 2020. Australia may have aged a bit, but their never-say-die spirit, as was evident in their jailbreak in the tournament opener, makes them a formidable force in any conditions.India’s is largely a young team learning the ropes of big-match play. After the emotional high of beating England in a tense semi-final, they will need to quickly channel the anticipation, and subdue nerves that playing Australia can often elicit.India have backed their strengths of batting first and putting opponents under scoreboard pressure. Australia nearly wilted in the first game but found a saviour in Grace Harris, who played a match-turning knock in her first game in six years.Much of India’s success has been down to Smriti Mandhana’s aggression at the top, followed by Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma finishing off games. Can Sunday be Harmanpreet Kaur’s turn to rise to the occasion against her favourite opponents?The 171* she made in the 2017 semi-final was pathbreaking in every way. Another impact performance to deliver a win here could spur a revolution. Purely given the novelty and the fascination India attaches to gold medalists, a win on Sunday could be as big, if not bigger, than a World Cup win.

Form guide

India WWWLW (last five matches, most recent first)
Australia WWWWWTahlia McGrath has been so good as an allrounder that she’s keeping Ellyse Perry out of the XI•Getty Images

Players to watch

India are blessed to have three quality allrounders in Deepti, Pooja Vastrakar and Sneh Rana. Deepti has lent much needed batting depth and has been Harmanpreet’s go-to bowler to restrict run-flow, while Rana has been the banker. Vastrakar’s inclusion has given the team the balance they missed when they played Australia in the opener. She is a useful medium-pacer and can wield the long handle down the order. This is firmly a team that is carving out an identity that isn’t always superstar centric.Alyssa Healy knows a thing or two about turning up and slaying nerves in crunch games. But since that T20 World Cup final in 2020, where she blew India away with a stunning assault, her form hasn’t quite been the same. She has passed 25 just once in 16 innings and averages a shade over 10. Sunday is as good an opportunity as any to once again remind the world of her prowess.

Team news

The only question dilemma India may have is between picking a makeshift wicketkeeper who offers batting depth in Yastika Bhatia or an out-and-out wicketkeeper in Taniya Bhatia. The spate of run outs under pressure on Saturday made it amply clear it helps to have a proper wicketkeeper in crunch moments.India (possible): 1 Smriti Mandhana, 2 Shafali Verma, 3 Jemimah Rodrigues, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Deepti Sharma, 6 Taniya Bhatia (wk), 7 Sneh Rana, 8 Pooja Vastrakar, 9 Radha Yadav, 10 Meghna Singh, 11 Renuka SinghShe has bowled plenty in the nets lately, but game time remains elusive for superstar allrounder Ellyse Perry. Barring an injury or a late change owing to short turnaround time, it’s likely she may have to settle for watching Australia’s entire CWG campaign from the bench. Moreover, Meg Lanning has gone in with the same XI in all of their four games in the tournament.Australia (possible): 1 Alyssa Healy (wk), 2 Beth Mooney, 3 Meg Lanning (capt), 4 Tahlia McGrath, 5 Rachael Haynes, 6 Ashleigh Gardner, 7 Grace Harris, 8 Jess Jonassen, 9 Alana King, 10 Megan Schutt, 11 Darcie Brown

Pitch and conditions

Forty overs of cricket would have already been played on the surface by the time the final comes around, with the bronze medal playoff between New Zealand and England having finished. On Saturday, the adjacent surface, prepared similarly with an even grass cover that aids consistent bounce, remained good for batting right through. Expect more of the same on Super Sunday.

Stats and trivia

• India have lost only two wickets in the powerplay across four matches, the fewest by any team in the CWG
• India’s powerplay scoring rate of 8.73 is by far the fastest among all teams in the tournament.
• Since March 2020, Alyssa Healy has managed just 140 runs in 16 T20Is at an average of 10.76 and strike rate of 84.84.

Wicketkeeper-batter Natasha McLean and offspinner Sheneta Grimmond have returned to the West Indies Women’s ODI side, having been picked in the 17-member provisional squad for the three ODIs against New Zealand from September 16 to 22 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. The squad also included Under-19 uncapped left-arm quick Jannillea Glasgow.Newly-appointed captain Hayley Matthews will lead the side for the first time. This will be West Indies’ first series in any format since they lost the semi-final to eventual champions Australia in the ODI World Cup in March earlier this year.West Indies will be without a few senior players this time, such as Anisa Mohammed, Deandra Dottin and Kycia Knight. While Anisa took a six-month break from cricket earlier this month, Dottin announced a sudden international retirement during the Commonwealth Games last month.Performances in the inaugural Women’s 6ixty and CPL were taken into consideration while picking the squad, a CWI release said. Grimmond took 2 for 22 for Trinbago Knight Riders in the victorious CPL final and claimed another four wickets in her 6.2 overs in the 6ixty. Glasgow also represented Trinbago Knight Riders in the two tournaments but she barely got chances to bat or bowl.Grimmond last played for West Indies in Pakistan in November last year, whereas McLean’s last international game was a T20I in September 2020, and her last ODI was in November 2019. McLean has the experience of 30 ODIs to her name and Grimmond has seven.”The New Zealand series is very important on the women’s cricket landscape not only because it starts a new cycle, but also because it is part of the preparation leading towards the T20 World Cup in South Africa,” lead selector for women’s cricket Ann Browne-John said. “With a few senior players unavailable at this time, for different reasons, like the experienced Anisa Mohammed, Kycia Knight and recently retired Deandra Dottin, the selectors were still able to get a blend of senior and developing players including Under-19 player Jannillea Glasgow and returning players Natasha McLean and Sheneta Grimmond. Ultimately, we believe that captain Hayley Matthews, in her first series, will have a promising squad of players to start building with.”Allrounder Mandy Mangru, 22, and left-arm spinner Kaysia Schultz have also joined the players in Antigua for a ten-day training camp led by head coach Courtney Walsh. Mangu and Glasgow were handed development contracts when CWI had announced the annual retainers in June.CWI said a match-day squad of 13 players will be selected ahead of each ODI. The ODIs will be followed by five T20Is from September 25 to October 6, which will also be played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.The ODIs will be part of the new Women’s Championship cycle in which both West Indies and New Zealand are yet to play a game.ODI squad Hayley Matthews (capt), Aaliyah Alleyne, Shemaine Campbelle (wk), Shamilia Connell, Afy Fletcher, Cherry Ann Fraser, Shabika Gajnabi, Jannillea Glasgow, Sheneta Grimmond, Chinelle Henry, Kyshona Knight, Natasha McLean (wk), Chedean Nation, Karishma Ramharack, Shakera Selman, Stafanie Taylor, Rashada Williams

South Africa will complete their 2023 ODI World Cup qualification process with five games at home early next year, against England and Netherlands.Those matches, along with a full tour by West Indies – two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is – are the only men’s internationals for the 2022-23 summer, during which the SA20 will get underway. The 33-match SA20 league will kick off on January 10 and is likely to end on February 4, with the three ODIs against England squeezed into six days between January 27 and February 1, which ESPNcricinfo understands will be after the group stage and before the knockouts of the SA20.Related

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The three T20Is against West Indies and two ODIs against Netherlands will be played from March 25, which could clash with the IPL and leave South Africa forced to field second-string XIs.Both the England and Netherlands series were postponed during waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, with England cutting short their December 2020 tour after positive tests in the South African camp, and Netherlands leaving the country in November 2021, following the discovery of the Omicron variant.If you’re wondering why CSA has insisted on playing the England matches – apart from the financial benefit of hosting England – despite the crammed calendar, the England series is crucial to South Africa’s chances of qualifying directly for the 2023 World Cup. They are currently in 11th place on the table, outside the automatic qualification zone, and only have eight matches left to play: three against India in an ongoing series, three against England, and two against Netherlands. They are forfeiting three ODIs in Australia, which were scheduled for mid-January, in order to have all their top players available for the start of the SA20, which is the CSA’s focus at the moment.With the SA20 taking place at the country’s headline venues – Cape Town, Paarl, Johannesburg, Centurion, Durban and Gqeberha – the England ODIs will be played in Bloemfontein and Kimberley, cities which do not have SA20 franchises. Newlands, Boland Park and St George’s Park will then be used for the Women’s T20 World Cup, which will be played in South Africa in February 2023, so the West Indies Tests will take place at the Wanderers and SuperSport Park, which will also host the T20Is. The ODIs will be played in East London and Potchefstroom, and the Netherlands matches, including the pink-day ODI, will be held in Benoni and Johannesburg.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

That leaves Durban’s Kingsmead as the only major venue that will not see international cricket this summer and extends a long drought for the coastal venue, which has not hosted the national side since before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.”We are trying to spread the game around and make sure some of the venues that didn’t host much cricket in the pandemic get games,” Pholetsi Moseki, the CSA chief executive, said. “We are also trying to secure more matches, and if we get them, Kingsmead will definitely get some games.”ESPNcricinfo understands there is some talk of a T20 visit by India to South Africa in the 2022-23 summer, which has yet to be confirmed. But there is no indication of more Test matches. South Africa host only two Tests in the 2022-23 summer, partly as a result of the men’s national team being away over the festive period. They will play three Tests in Australia from mid-December to early January, for the first time since the 2008-09 series.

After his New Zealand side fell short of the T20 World Cup title for a second year running, Kane Williamson’s future in the format will likely be the source of renewed debate, particularly the question of whether he will be the person to lead the team at the 2024 event in the Caribbean and the USA.There seems little doubt that he will captain the side in the ODI World Cup in India next year – New Zealand’s next opportunity to end their wait for a major limited-overs trophy – but the T20 position may be a more vexing issue.Related

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It had already been bubbling away for much of this year ahead of the tournament in Australia as Williamson struggled for fluency on his return from an elbow injury. He ended the event with a respectable return, his 178 runs making him New Zealand’s second-highest scorer although his strike-rate remained a regular theme.His run-a-ball 40 against England came in for particular scrutiny but he responded with 61 off 35 balls against Ireland. In the semi-final against Pakistan he made 46 off 42 deliveries, attempting to nurse his side through from a tricky start, before falling trying to accelerate. He only struck two boundaries although one was a crunching pulled six over the leg side.Williamson came into the World Cup on the back of a strong innings in the tri-series final against Pakistan and is actually on the brink of his most prolific international year in the format, although his overall strike-rate is 119.00 for 2022, following a figure of 117.32 in 2021.Like a number of teams involved in this tournament there is only a short turnaround before New Zealand are back in the field again with a T20I series against India starting on November 18. It would seem unlikely that any major decisions are taken that quickly.Kane Williamson was uncharacteristically animated as the semi-final began to slip away from New Zealand•AFP/Getty Images

“I certainly love playing in all the formats,” Williamson said. “There’s a lot of cricket, and so that needs to be managed a little bit. It’s a changing landscape with players all around the world at the moment, and we’ve seen it in our camp as well. After these sorts of events you sort of sit down and give yourself a chance to reflect and sort of look at what’s coming up.”The changing landscape referenced by Williamson particularly relates to Trent Boult whose New Zealand future now faces uncertainty following his decision earlier this year to opt out of his central contract. Colin de Grandhomme also recently retired having decided to take up a BBL deal with Adelaide Strikers. New Zealand Cricket has shown adaptability and pragmatism when it comes to the IPL but could be vulnerable to the expanding franchise world.Boult has a BBL deal with Melbourne Stars from mid-December followed by an ILT20 deal with MI Emirates meaning he won’t be available for the tour of Pakistan.However, he remains available for selection and could feature against India, but it was indicated when he made the decision that post this World Cup would be the starting point for the new relationship. He had another good tournament with eight wickets at 18.50 and an economy rate of 7.40 although his two wickets in the semi-final against Pakistan came too late to make a difference. It might have been a different story if Devon Conway had held a first-ball edge from Babar Azam.Boult has previously stated his ambition to play the ODI World Cup next year and hopes to add to his 78 Tests.Beyond the limited-overs visit by India this month, New Zealand’s home season includes two Tests against England in February, then a three-format tour by Sri Lanka in March and early April. As has been the case in previous seasons, the matches late in their summer will likely be missing players with IPL deals.