England and India moved to Lord’s for their second Test. The first one was an unfortunate draw for India, who only needed 157 more runs to win when rain wiped out all of Day 5 at Trent Bridge. The Men in Blue put the hammer down yesterday after England put them in to bat, finishing at 276/3. Day 1’s action featured a 127* for KL Rahul, and he and Virat Kohli combined for 117 runs before Kohli perished on a slip catch by Joe Root on an Ollie Robinson delivery. England have fought back this morning to get Rahul at 129 and have restricted India to 364 all out thanks to Jimmy Anderson’s 5-fer.
The Hundred Men’s Competition has crystallized into the top three teams: Birmingham Phoenix, Southern Brave, and Trent Rockets. Birmingham and Trent face off tomorrow at Trent Bridge to determine who takes over first place from Southern, but each of the three teams will have another game after that to try to win the regular season and an automatic berth into the finals. The remaining two teams will play to determine the regular season winner’s opponent in the final. Oval Invincibles could win their last two and get in the playoff with or without some help, and Northern Superchargers, with only one fixture left, are also still mathematically alive but will almost definitely need help to finish in the top 3.
On the Women’s side, Southern Brave have clinched the automatic berth in the final with 12 points, 5 more than their nearest competitors, Invincibles, Superchargers, and Rockets. London Spirit have two fixtures left and still have a chance to move on.
Pakistan and West Indies started a Test yesterday in Kingston, Jamaica. Fawad Alam led Pakistan with 56 runs en route to a total of 212. Jason Holder and Jayden Seales each took three wickets. West Indies are starting their reply this morning and have already dropped the wickets of Kieran Powell and Nkrumah Bonner for ducks.
The Royal London Cup quarterfinals (they are called that despite featuring only six teams) are set. Glamorgan, Surrey, and Yorkshire move on from Group 1, and Durham, Essex, and Gloucestershire advance from Group 2. Essex hosts Yorkshire on Saturday and Surrey hosts Gloucestershire on Sunday. The winners advance to face either Glamorgan on Monday or Durham on Tuesday in the semifinals. The finals will be at Trent Bridge on Thursday, August 19th.
Week 3 of Minor League Cricket has Irving Mustangs playing Chicago Catchers at Moosa Stadium here in the Houston area on Saturday immediately followed by Austin Athletics and St. Louis Americans. Irving returns to Moosa on Sunday to play Chicago Blasters and Michigan Cricket Stars in back-to-back games. It’s a brutal schedule for poor Irving in this record Texas heat.
