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Joe Root admits he was shocked by his first experience of Test cricket in Australia but has promised he will be much better prepared when England return for the Ashes at the end of the year.Root, England’s newly appointed Test captain, went to Australia in 2013-14 as a 22-year-old with a growing reputation as England’s finest young batsman. But by the end of the series he had been dropped, England had been defeated 5-0 and he concedes he was “caught cold” by the hostility of the experience.Greeted by abusive crowds, even more abusive opponents and an excellent fast-bowling attack led by Mitchell Johnson, Australia provided a far from gentle welcome. And while Root managed 87 in the second innings in Adelaide, it was the only time he reached 30 and he was dropped, with a series average of 27.42, after the fourth Test.”That first Test match at Brisbane, when I walked out to bat, I think it did it hit me quite hard,” Root said. “It was like I walked into a conservatory door: I was not aware at all that it was there.”For large periods of that trip, I was spending my time and energy working on things that other people said I needed to work on; getting forward; a bigger stride; getting into the ball. But in reality, they were bowling 95mph bouncers, so it was pointless.”But I will be slightly more aware this time. I won’t be caught cold. I know what to expect from what can be quite a hostile environment.”Root is determined that other young players – and Haseeb Hameed would appear to be a prime example – should not be similarly exposed this time.Joe Root: “I won’t be caught cold in Australia”•BRUT Sport Style

“I think it’s very important that the guys that haven’t been there get a good idea of what it can be like,” he said. “They shouldn’t be afraid of it. They should try to embrace it and enjoy it. It’s not always easy to enjoy it, but that tour is a great opportunity for this team.”I think I’ve done all my learning from that tour already. I came back from it and thought: just strengthen all the things that have served you very well for long periods of time and slowly but surely work on the rest of it. From that I gained a lot of confidence. It was a really good way, from being in quite a difficult spot, of feeling good again.”If England are to win in Australia, Root knows that he will have to score heavily. So, odd though it may sound, he says the piece of advice he has most taken to heart since he became captain, is to ensure his own game is in order.”I’ve had a lot of people provide quite similar advice,” he said. “But the one thing that’s really stuck out is ‘just make sure you look after your own game and concentrate on scoring as many runs as possible.'”That might come across as quite selfish. But I think it’s going to be very important for me, mentally as well, to put in the work and set the right example when the opportunities arise.”He doesn’t have to look far to find examples of talented young batsmen who appear to have thrived with the responsibility of leadership. Steve Smith, in particular, has batted exceptionally well in recent times, with Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson also highly impressive.”They are great examples of taking that responsibility and making it a real asset to their games,” Root said. “It’s a good opportunity for me to do exactly the same. Over the last couple of years my consistency has been fantastic. But between 50 and 100 there have been far too many occasions when I have got out.”On a few occasions I have been got out, but the majority of the time it has been a lapse of concentration and that’s not good enough. I’m going to have to make sure that moving forward I set a really good example by going on and trying to make sure I make the most of those good starts and be a little bit more ruthless.”In the past, the more responsibility I’ve been given, I’ve generally responded well to it. Hopefully that will be the same.”Root has enjoyed success in home Ashes series, but his maiden tour of Australia was another story•Getty Images

Root is also confident that, while his England will play tough cricket – “There have occasions in the past when we probably have folded a little too easily,” he admitted – they will be able to retain good relationships with their opponents.”I don’t think there was too much bad blood in our series against India,” he said. “There were a few of our guys who were quite passionate and vocal and Virat and a few of his guys were the same. If you understand and respect that and you don’t take it too far and make it personal then I don’t know what the issue is.”There’s nothing wrong with going and having a beer after the game. It is quite nice actually, if someone has really laid into you for five weeks and then you go up to them with a beer and make them feel really uncomfortable. It’s quite good when you can ask them some difficult questions like ‘how’s the missus? How’s the kids?’ And see how they respond to it.”It is good that we are open to that as a side and hopefully other teams are as well.”Joe Root and James Anderson were speaking on behalf of BRUT Sport Style, the new fragrance from men’s grooming brand BRUT

New Zealand have to become better at reacting to pressure situations ahead of the Champions Trophy according to their coach Mike Hesson. In the deciding ODI against South Africa at Eden Park they limped to 149 all out which led to their first home series defeat since 2014.The Auckland performance followed being turned over for 112 in Wellington earlier in the series, and though the collapses came against an impressive South Africa attack, and were balanced against a match-winning first-innings in Christchurch and the Martin Guptill-inspired chase, there was a sense of vulnerability outside of the big three in Guptill, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor.Hesson hinted that there had been an honest appraisal in the aftermath on Saturday’s defeat, but said the fact the team had pushed South Africa, the No. 1 ODI side, close was a commendable effort.”You don’t want to state the obvious but sometimes you have to. When we were under pressure the way we responded wasn’t where were wanted to be,” Hesson said. “I thought we were in a bit clumsy with the bat, some of our decision-making under pressure – from some exceptional bowling – was disappointing.”It was a heck of a series and a bit of a ding-dong battled against the world No. 1. Wellington was quite different in terms of the surface, that was more nip, but we got put under pressure by a good side and weren’t able to deal with that. We’ll need to improve in terms of soaking up pressure which two or three times this summer we haven’t done as well as we’d have liked.”New Zealand had beaten Bangladesh and Australia on home soil this season and their last series reversal at home was against South Africa in 2014. They have now only beaten South Africa in two out of ten bilateral one-day series, but they did bring an end to their 12-match winning run which had been formed on the back of home whitewashes over Australia and Sri Lanka.”This was a lost opportunity, that would be a fair reflection,” Hesson said. “But most people will acknowledge that we’ve gone toe-to-toe with the best side in the world which many haven’t been able to do for a long time. We fell at the last hurdle, but all in all we’ve played some pretty good cricket.”New Zealand’s next one-day cricket is a tri-series in Ireland during May before the Champions Trophy in which they will be missing the IPL-based players. Hesson said that those matches would be important in answering some lingering questions, topping the list being who will take the keeping gloves between Tom Latham and Luke Ronchi.Hesson all-but guaranteed they would both be in the squad, and praised the pair’s work behind the stumps, but there is a curse on New Zealand’s glovemen in terms of runs: not since Ronchi’s unbeaten 170 in early 2015 has their wicketkeeper reached an ODI fifty.”Both Tom and Luke are highly likely to be involved. The series in Ireland will be crucial to get a pecking order,” he said. “I’ve been delighted with the wicketkeeping of both, but no doubt both are short of runs and that’s something Tom and Luke are well aware of, probably more than anyone. It’s not long ago that Tom was a really good performer for us at the top of the order. We know they are high quality players but have had a tough period.”

Sridharan Sriram, the former India left-arm spinning allrounder, will mentor Australia’s legion of slow bowlers on their upcoming Test tour of India. Sriram has worked with Australia’s spinners on previous occasions, including on last year’s tour of Sri Lanka and in the World Twenty20 in India earlier in 2016, and he was also engaged for the tour of Bangladesh that was ultimately postponed.Sriram will travel with the squad to Dubai on January 29 for their training camp at the ICC Academy, and will then work with the side through the four-Test tour that follows. Australia have picked four specialist spinners for the series – Nathan Lyon, Steve O’Keefe, Ashton Agar and Mitchell Swepson – as well as spinning allrounder Glenn Maxwell.”Sri has worked with us on a number of occasions now all across our pathway system and he is currently in Dubai with our Under-16 team providing his expertise on sub-continental conditions,” Pat Howard, Cricket Australia’s executive general manager of team performance, said.”He knows our players very well and has a wealth of knowledge on the conditions that our players will face in India.”Sriram’s presence on the India tour has been preferred to that of spin consultant John Davison, who has a good working relationship with Lyon but travels only sporadically with the team.Australia have also called on England left-armer Monty Panesar to help them prepare for the India series. Panesar has been playing club cricket in Sydney this summer and is set to travel to the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane this week to offer spin advice.

Odisha bowled Maharashtra out twice on the second day to win by an innings and 118 runs, and win with a bonus point, in Wayanad.Odisha batted for 2.4 overs and folded for 319, having begun the day on 311 for 9. Maharashtra’s Anupam Sanklecha (5-75) took the last wicket to complete yet another five-wicket haul – his fourth in three games.In reply, Maharashtra struggled against Odisha’s medium-pacers – Suryakant Pradhan (4-34) in particular – as they were bowled out within 26 overs for 94. Basant Mohanty and Deepak Behera took three wickets each. After being asked to follow on, they fell to 45 for 7, before an eighth-wicket partnership of 55 between Vishant More and Sanklecha delayed their embarrassment; they eventually folded for 107. Biplab Samantray took a career-best 4 for 34, while Pradhan added a further 3 for 36 to his match haul.With their twin collapses on a tricky wicket, Maharashtra lasted only 376 balls across both innings – a record low for the past ten seasons among matches in which they were bowled out twice.Table-toppers Karnataka conceded the first-innings lead for the second match in a row, thanks to Saurashtra batsman Prerak Mankad’s maiden first-class century in Patiala.Karnataka removed Sheldon Jackson early in the day, reducing Saurasthra to 34 for 3 in response to Karntaka’s 200 all out on the first day. But the overnight batsman, opener Snell Patel, put on 72 with Jaydev Shah(39) to stabilise the innings. He then put on 57 with Mankad, to bring Saurasthra to within five runs of taking the lead, before falling to Abrar Kazi (2-66) for 87.Mankad struck at a strike-rate of nearly 80, and finished the day unbeaten on 100 off 126; in contrast, his partner, Kamlesh Makvana batted 119 balls for his unbeaten 30. The pair’s 101-run partnership took Saurasthra to 297 for 6 at the end of the day. Karnataka captain Vinay Kumar took 4 for 43.Jharkhand bounced back from an early collapse on the day to skittle out Assam for 126 in Vizianagaram. Medium-pacer Rahul Shukla, playing his first first-class game since February, took 4 for 48 for Jharkhand.Jharkhand were 251 for 4 when the day began. Having survived the opening hour, overnight batsman Ishank Jaggi fell seven short of a century, when he was dismissed with the score on 276. Medium-pacer Krishna Das (4-65) removed Ishan Kishan shortly after, and triggered a collapse that had Jharkhand fall from 291 for 5 to 316 all out.In reply, Assam suffered two collapses – 4 for 18, and 5 for 26 – on either side of a 29-run stand for the sixth wicket to be bowled out for 126. Pallavkumar Das (30) and Arun Karthik (27) were the only batsmen to get past 25.Left-arm spinner Manan Sharma scored an unbeaten 82, his career best, to help Delhi overcome a first-session collapse and move into the lead against Vidarbha in Chennai.Delhi, who had bowled Vidarbha out for 183 on the first day, lost four wickets within 19 overs of the second day to be reduced to 74 for 5. Medium-pacer Rajneesh Gurbani (4-62) did the bulk of the damage, before Lalit Yadav (3-79) removed Nitish Rana (27) and Delhi were reduced to 102 for 6. But Manan and Milind Kumar (37) put on 63 for the seventh wicket to bring Delhi close, before an unbroken partnership of 72 for the eighth wicket between Manan and Vikas Tokas (28*) took them past 183 and to 250 for 8 at stumps.

Anupam Sanklecha followed up his first innings seven-for with seven more wickets in the second innings, finishing with match figures of 14 for 94 to help Maharashtra beat Vidarbha by an innings and three runs in Kolkata, their first victory this season.Needing nine wickets to win at the start of the third day, Maharashtra picked up three wickets within the first five overs as Vidarbha slumped from 150 for 1 to 154 for 4. Sanklecha took two of them and returned to finish with 7 for 69 for the innings.Shrikant Wagh, batting at No. 8, remained not out on 69. His stand of 73 with Akshay Karnewar (23) for the seventh wicket was the only significant partnership in Vidarbha’s innings.Saurashtra crumbled in their second innings and were bowled out for 144, resulting in an innings-and-46-run defeat to Jharkhand in Agartala. The win lifted Jharkhand to the top of group B. Legspinner Samar Quadri took four wickets, while Ashish Kumar took three to wrap the match up before tea.Prerak Mankad, who scored 96 in the first innings, top-scored again with 40. Saurashtra’s biggest partnership was a 38-run seventh-wicket stand between Mankad and Jaydev Unadkat. This was Saurashtra’s second consecutive loss. They are yet to win a match this season.Ishank Jaggi was declared Man of the Match for his knock of 173, which led Jharkhand to 477.File photo – Karnataka’s KL Rahul celebrated his return to the Indian Test squad with a ton against Rajasthan•AFP

In Vizianagaram, KL Rahul struck a 131-ball 106 to help Karnataka set Rajasthan a target of 525. In response, Rajasthan finished the day on 118 for 6. Karnataka are four wickets away from their fourth consecutive win.Rahul’s fellow opener Ravikumar Samarth, and Mayank Agarwal scored 55 and 63 respectively. Rahul added 98 and 86 for the first two wickets en route to his 12th first-class century. Incidentally, all three scored fifties in the first innings too, and remained the only players to make half-centuries in the match. Rahul has been added to India’s squad for the Visakhapatnam Test.Rajasthan lost their first four wickets for 26 runs before Salman Khan (39) and Chetan Bist (24) added 41 for the fourth wicket before the latter was dismissed by Vinay Kumar, who finished the day with three wickets.Govinda Poddar hit a career-best 225 as Odisha finished the third day on 459 for 7 in Hyderabad, leading Assam by 158 runs.Poddar’s overnight partner Subhranshu Senapati was dismissed in the day’s first over. Poddar was joined by Biplab Samantray, and they added 163 for the fifth wicket. Their partnership lasted 50 overs and saw Poddar cross his previous best score of 153. His innings lasted 364 balls, and contained 21 fours and two sixes.Samantray completed his fifth first-class century before being dismissed for 103 (215b, 7×4) two overs before stumps. Arup Das took three wickets.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKraigg Brathwaite scored 67 before falling lbw to Mohammad Nawaz•Getty Images

Declaring at lunch to give themselves five sessions to bowl West Indies out, Pakistan took emphatic strides towards an unassailable 2-0 lead, picking up four wickets even as their bowlers derived little help from a still placid Abu Dhabi pitch. Chasing 456, West Indies were 171 for 4 at stumps, with only one of the four wickets coming off a wicket-taking ball. Their hopes weren’t entirely extinguished, though, with Roston Chase and Jermaine Blackwood seeing them through to stumps with an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 47 in 17.2 overs. This was the pair that was together at the start of the fifth day when West Indies saved the Jamaica Test against India in August.The amount of time Pakistan gave themselves to take ten wickets indicated that they expected plenty of hard toil in excellent batting conditions. There was no swing available to the new-ball pair of Rahat Ali and Sohail Khan, and it took Misbah-ul-Haq only six overs to turn to spin from both ends.There was not much help on offer for the spinners either, but Yasir Shah did not have to wait too long for his first wicket. Having faced only three balls from the legspinner, Leon Johnson tried to sweep him, and ended up dragging the ball onto his stumps, off the flap of his pad. The ball pitched outside leg stump, so Johnson may have felt the shot was on, but he was probably playing the shot Yasir wanted him to play, given all the fielders waiting around the bat for a top-edge or a bat-pad.The same was the case when Darren Bravo chased away from his body to try and cut Rahat, back for a second spell, in the 19th over, while making no attempt to keep the ball down. He middled the ball, and it may well have rocketed to the boundary had he placed it a few feet either side of the fielder at point, but the choice of shot played right into Pakistan’s hands.Usually so selective with his attacking strokes, Kraigg Brathwaite also came out looking to go after the bowling. Early on, he drove Sohail on the up through cover point, and later he stepped out to Zulfiqar Babar and launched him for a six over long-on and slogged him, against the turn, for a four through midwicket. The wicket of Bravo, however, forced him into a change of approach: having made 41 off 54 balls till that point, he made 26 off his next 78 balls, before falling in the 14th over after tea. Mohammad Nawaz, unused until the 41st over of the innings, struck in his third over, getting the ball to skid on to beat Brathwaite’s attempt to work him into the leg side off the back foot.By then, Marlon Samuels had also departed to an aggressive shot, stepping out to Yasir, looking to drive him against the turn, and ending up scooping back a return catch. Samuels had scored 23 off 61, looking secure enough while defending and making a conscious effort to get behind the line while defending off the back foot. But ever so often he got himself in trouble by taking a risk – slashing and missing against Sohail, hitting over the top against Zulfiqar.Blackwood’s approach at the crease was much like that of Samuels, and he lived on the edge to reach 41 by stumps. He was lucky to survive when he went for a big hit against Yasir in the last over of the day and ended up skewing the ball in the air but into a vacant part of the covers. Chase, at the other end, was calmer and more secure, only troubled when Yasir got the odd ball to rip past his defensive bat.With Pakistan already 342 ahead at the start of the day, West Indies had set defensive fields against Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq, hoping to limit the damage the batsmen could inflict upon them. In their desire to plug the boundaries, West Indies allowed a steady stream of easy singles; Shafiq and Azhar added 50 in the first 69 balls of the day, despite hitting only three fours in that time. Then Azhar, chasing away from his body, nicked to wide slip, falling for 79 and giving Miguel Cummins his first wicket of the match.By then, Pakistan’s lead was nearly 400. The declaration was to come very soon, but Pakistan gave few clues, with runs coming at a reasonable clip without the batsmen really forcing the pace. Shafiq hit a couple of gorgeous shots as he approached his fifty, whipping Jason Holder between midwicket and mid-on, and then getting to the landmark with a deft late-cut off Roston Chase. At the other end, Younis Khan punched Holder past his left hand and all the way to the straight boundary. By the time Pakistan declared, the two had put on 63 at 3.81 runs per over while barely breaking a sweat.

Former Queensland legspinner Cameron Boyce is set to make his debut for Tasmania during the Matador Cup next month, after being named in the Tigers’ 14-man squad for the tournament.Boyce and fellow Queenslander Simon Milenko signed with Tasmania earlier this year and both are part of the Matador Cup squad, which will be captained by Tim Paine. George Bailey is the only Tasmania player in Australia’s ODI squad in South Africa and thus is unavailable for the Matador Cup, while James Faulkner is out due to injury.The squad features two players yet to make their List A debuts: the batsman Beau Webster, who was called into Australia A for two first-class games this year, and the fast bowler Cameron Stevenson. Tasmania coach Dan Marsh said he was pleased with the mix of youth and experience in the squad.”We are looking forward to seeing the start of our debutants journeys with the Tasmanian Tigers,” Marsh said. “We have had a big focus on our skill development this pre-season with [Alex] Doolan, [Jackson] Bird, Stevenson and Webster all putting in some good performances in the trial matches.”Tasmania squad Tim Paine (capt), Xavier Doherty, Ben Dunk, Dominic Michael, Alex Doolan, Jake Doran, Ben McDermott, Beau Webster, Simon Milenko, Hamish Kingston, Cameron Stevenson, Jackson Bird, Andrew Fekete, Cameron Boyce.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIt seemed the only thing Dale Steyn’s angry eyes did not have power over was the weather. While the grey clouds gave him swing, and he controlled it so well that South Africa’s total of 263 assumed excellent proportions, they also brought rain which allowed only 22 overs to be bowled on the second day at Kingsmead.New Zealand were 15 for 2 at lunch and they stayed 15 for 2 when play was called off at tea time.The day had begun a little late with South Africa’s tail batting. Trent Boult designed a beauty – away swing that almost bowled Kagiso Rabada around his legs. Tim Southee, playing his first Test in South Africa, kissed the top of leg stump. The man he dismissed, that old pro Steyn, took four balls when New Zealand batted to make clear his having played no Tests in eight months would only serve to embellish his legend. It was a fast-bowling fashion show in Durban.Martin Guptill was distracted by a bevy of outswingers before one moved in and struck the front pad. Steyn whirled around, his veins popping and spit flying in appeal. Umpire Richard Illingworth calmly shook his head in response.”Crack it open, boy,” leered the slip cordon. Tom Latham found himself ganged up on. Then he was sucked in by one that pretended to be a half-volley.Steyn had watched Latham playing with extreme care, making sure his bat didn’t stray too far from his body and committing himself to a shot as late as possible. But a batsman’s instinct is to score runs and that instinct flared up when the second ball of the seventh over was pitched wide. Latham fished outside off. Steyn bagged him, tagged him and would have instagrammed him if he was allowed to.Guptill’s front pad and Steyn’s inswing went out on a second date right in front of middle stump. The romance was so compelling that even umpire Illingworth had to give his blessing.Steyn’s first spell read 6-4-3-2. After a point he felt he was getting too much movement and began bowling cross-seamers to have a better chance at snatching the outside edge. He was on 408 wickets and needed 14 more for the South African record.Into this walked Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, their averages of 10.75 and 11 in South Africa hanging over them along with the dark clouds. They had only played three matches in this country, but they were New Zealand’s two best batsmen. Regrouping on day three with them at the crease may just be the best of a bad situation for the visitors.New Zealand will need some luck though because overcast conditions are forecast on the third day as well and South Africa have an attack capable of exploiting them. Vernon Philander, coming back to Test cricket for the first time since injuring his ankle in November 2015, bustled in to string together balls on a good length and jerk them this way and that. There was one delivery that came down perfectly straight, pitched a few inches in front of Taylor’s front foot and seamed away so sharply it seemed like a freakishly quick legbreak.The stage was … wet after the break. Gloomy conditions – despite the floodlights – meant New Zealand were confined to their dressing room, which they wouldn’t have minded. It was safe indoors, and the All Blacks were thumping the Wallabies in the Rugby Championship.It wasn’t rain that kept the players out for the rest of the day. For the most part the light just wasn’t good enough, leaving the 2543 people at Kingsmead, approximately one-tenth its capacity, equally frustrated. Helpfully, play was called off with an hour remaining for them to scramble and catch the start of the Springboks’ Championship campaign.The outfield in Durban had been relaid in June and a few chunks did come out when fielders slid to retrieve the ball. With more rain expected at night, there was concern over whether it would be ready in time for play to restart tomorrow at 10 am.

ScorecardFile photo: Jade Dernbach had an outstanding night•Getty Images

It was always going to require something inspired for Surrey to defend their Aaron Finch-filled 154. But, through a combination of waspish fielding, fine bowling – with Jade Dernbach to the fore in both disciplines – and canny captaincy, they did just that – by a whopping 15 runs, all but ending Somerset’s hopes of progressing. After a staggering stall in Surrey’s innings after Finch’s fireworks, Somerset – strangled by Surrey – put on a clinic in how not to chase.Dernbach, having taken a wicket in both his early overs and also pulling off a magnificent direct hit to dismiss Jim Allenby, was recalled to the attack by Gareth Batty and entrusted – as he always is – with closing out a tight game with his chicanery and craft. The equation was 33 required from 24 balls, and five Somerset wickets still standing.These last 12 Dernbach deliveries – always just wide enough of line, always just awkward enough of length, and never remotely readable of pace – went for eight, with his last ball deceiving Lewis Gregory, who was caught on the midwicket fence. As Tom Curran – who bowled a brilliant over between Dernbach’s two – stood atop his mark for the innings’s last, the game was won.It was Sam Curran’s tight opening over and Ben Foakes’s outstanding diving catch of Johann Myburgh – off Dernbach’s bowling – that set the tone for Surrey’s excellent defence. Against the new ball, Mahela Jayawardene was in sublime form, flicking beautifully to leg and placing perfectly on the offside but, after Dernbach bowled Peter Trego, he fell to Batty’s first ball.Batty quickly identified that, with 63 scored from the first six overs, the spin of he and Zafar Ansari would be vital. Both finished with figures of 1 for 20, with Ansari’s wicket also vital, Roloef van der Merwe bowled slogging. With the wind sucked from Somerset’s sails – although Alex Barrow and Gregory shared a chancy 43 to give them hope, Batty turned to Dernbach and his protege, the older Curran.If Dernbach sealed the deal, it was Finch who set Surrey’s win up. South London on a Friday night is as close to the Twenty20 Finch knows as England can offer. Before a roisterous sellout crowd of 25,500 – there were, as now seems mandatory, variations of “Will Grigg’s On Fire”, and the Iceland slowclap – Finch began the night in ominously ravenous form.By the time Surrey had 50, for the loss of just Jason Roy, who bunted Josh Davey to mid-off, Finch had 44. There was a cut four, before Lewis Gregory was pulled for six, lustily pumped through cover for four, then flicked to cow for six more. Jamie Overton was the victim of another violent triptych: a sensual six towards long-on, a beastly cover drive, and a finessed guide to third man.Yet when he went, a couple of balls after reaching 50, bowled off the pad by Max Waller – who Finch admitted on TV after that he had never seen bowl, Surrey lost their way horribly. There were all the hallmarks of the grim stall: a 12-over wait for a boundary (Tom Curran and Ben Foakes scrambled one each late on), and there were no more sixes; there were two run outs, with Rory Burns’s so farcical that the third umpire was required to decide whether he or Dom Sibley should go. Sibley failed to kick on, adding five to his score before slapping to long-on, Chris Morris top edged to be caught and bowled, while Zafar Ansari pulled straight to the man in the deep.In the Curran brothers, on the day they were called up by England Lions, Surrey found a pair of patient, dinky accumulators, who ensured their innings went the distance. Sam, productive to third man, was run out cleverly by the leaping wicketkeeper Barrow going for a silly second, while Tom lost Foakes to a brilliant catch at backward square-leg from Peter Trego in the final over.It should never have been enough, but Dernbach – after a lengthy spell on the sidelines – is back. The nature of his job often make his failures memorable, but there remain few better at closing out a game. At 30, and having seen – not to mention copped – plenty, he is now a wily old operator with more to give than most acknowledge. Somerset had no answer.

The WICB has agreed to release captain Jason Holder, batsman Darren Bravo, allrounder Carlos Brathwaite, legspinner Devendra Bishoo, and wicketkeeper-batsman Denesh Ramdin for the Caribbean Premier League, starting June 30, which is four days after the tri-series final in Barbados. They can remain with their franchises until July 11, ten days before West Indies’ first Test against India in Antigua.WICB announced a confirmation of the India tour last December, but they released the full itinerary only last week. A possible clash of dates with the CPL had been one of the main reasons for the delay.According to the WICB policy, the head coach and the national selectors had final say in determining whether their players would be free to participate in the CPL. It is understood that head coach Phil Simmons had no objections with his men playing the tournament’s initial stages, provided they returned in time to prepare for the four Tests against India, which are the only Tests in West Indies’ home season.Damien O’Donohoe, the CPL chief executive, welcomed the WICB’s decision and said that the players’ availability would would be a “tremendous boost”.”Our thanks to the West Indies Cricket Board, coach and chairman of selection committee for facilitating the release of the players for the opening weeks of the CPL,” he said. “It’s a tremendous boost for the competition and I have no doubt that each of the players will be motivated to add great value to their squads.”Ramdin, who is part of the onging tri-series against South Africa and Australia, was announced as the replacement for injured fast bowler Fidel Edwards, for St Lucia Zouks. Edwards had suffered a fractured ankle in the lead up to the final day of Hampshire’s County Championship match against Yorkshire at Headingley in April.