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Cricket Australia has named an 18-man National Performance Squad for the upcoming quadrangular one-day series in Queensland, featuring teenage carrom-ball spinner Arjun Nair.New South Wales allrounder Sean Abbott is the most experienced member of the group, which will take on Australia A, India A and South Africa A in a tournament in Townsville and Mackay during August.Nair, 18, is an emerging spinner who played two matches for New South Wales last summer but is particularly notable in Australia for his varieties. Although yet to make his List A debut, he will have the chance to show off his short-form talent in the four-team series.In May, a 24-man Australia A squad was named for a winter campaign set to include four first-class games against South Africa A and India A as well as the one-day series, although specific groups for the one-day and four-day matches were to be confirmed closer to the games. Three men named in that squad – Matthew Renshaw, Sam Heazlett and Mitch Swepson – will play for Australia A in the first-class games and for the NPS in the one-day series.”All of these players have some degree of state experience as part of the Australian Cricket Pathway and this is just another step up in their development,” Greg Chappell, CA’s national talent manager, said of the NPS group. “Selection in this squad pays tribute to the hard work that these players have put in and acknowledges that performances are noted and rewarded in the current Pathway system.”The squad will be coached by Graeme Hick and Ryan Harris. Hick said the quadrangular series would provide valuable experience for the players, many of whom have had just a taste of state cricket.”Although the team’s success won’t be measured by win-loss ratio, we still expect this side to be competitive and with the talent in the team, a victory along the way isn’t out of the question,” Hick said. “Alongside the Australia A squad, these players are the future of Australian cricket and we are excited to see the progress they make in this important tournament.”National Performance Squad Sean Abbott, Hilton Cartwright, Kyle Gardiner, David Grant, Sam Grimwade, Sam Harper, Sam Heazlett, Clint Hinchliffe, Josh Inglis, Caleb Jewell, David Moody, Arjun Nair, Tom O’Donnell, Matthew Renshaw, Matthew Short, Mitchell Swepson.

ScorecardHarry Gurney was in the wickets for Nottinghamshire•Getty Images

Keaton Jennings hit the last two balls of the match from Harry Gurney for six and four to bring Durham a two-wicket victory under the Duckworth / Lewis method.Durham had to chase a revised target of 252 from 37 overs and Gurney had all but secured Nottinghamshire’s win by dismissing Michael Richardson with the fourth ball of the last over when nine runs were still needed.Michael Lumb’s third successive Royal London Cup hundred proved in vain as Nottinghamshire’s blazing start to the competition was halted at Chester-le-Street.It spoilt the excellent effort of Gurney, who had five for 42 until a full toss was launched over mid-wicket by the left-handed Jennings, who then drove the final ball between mid-off and extra cover.Richardson almost took Durham to the line with a List A best of 65 off 56 balls, while Paul Collingwood’s 69 off 65 was also crucial.In a match interrupted five times by drizzle, Nottinghamshire may have had cause to regret choosing to bat as they totalled 274 for 5 in 42 overs.Lumb made 105 to take his aggregate to 422 at an average of 140.66, but with hindsight the visitors would have felt they did not go quickly enough in reaching 124 for 1 after 25 overs.The innings reached a crescendo with 48 off the last four as Samit Patel made 40 off 25 balls and Dan Christian thrashed 57 off 43 before he was run out off the last ball of the innings.Durham raced to 32 without loss after four before being halted by the only break in their innings.Gurney knocked out Mark Stoneman’s middle stump with the third ball on the resumption and quickly struck twice more.Collingwood joined Phil Mustard on 54 for 3 and dominated a stand of 74 before the wicketkeeper was lbw for 45, trying to sweep Patel.Collingwood swept to a 40-ball half-century by cutting Jake Ball for his sixth four and when Richardson pulled a Patel long hop for six Durham needed 105 off 15.They had the target down to 62 off eight when Collingwood was superbly caught by Brendan Taylor at long-off for 69 off Patel.But Richardson kept going until three balls from the end, when he holed at deep mid-wicket off Gurney. It looked all over, but Jennings had other ideas.

Match Facts

July 5, 2016
Start time 6.30pm (1730GMT)Tymal Mills steams in during a net session•Getty Images

Big Picture

England return to the format that provided heartbreak earlier this year when Carlos Brathwaite grabbed the World T20 from under their noses. But the game moves on and judging by the way they played in the one-day series against Sri Lanka, their belief with the white-ball remains undimmed.A one-off T20 at the end of a tour feels a lonely fixture but there is added spice to this game with England on the verge of unleashing Tymal Mills, the Sussex left-arm quick, who is purely a T20 player these days due to a congenital back condition and is making a fine stab and forging a career from it.If Sri Lanka thought they were peppered in the Test and ODIs from England’s quicks – especially Liam Plunkett in the one-dayers – then they had better make sure chest pads, arm guards, and other assorted protective equipment is securely in place at the Ageas Bowl.This is their last chance to take something from a dispiriting tour. Angelo Mathews has looked a more forlorn captain the longer the trip has gone – exasperated by repeated failings in his team – but insists he has the stomach to continue leading them. Whether that decision is taken out of his hands on return home remains to be seen.The format has not provided much solace for Sri Lanka amid their struggles. England knocked them out of the World T20 and they have won just three of 13 T20s they have played in 2016 – and only one of those against a Full Member. They may as well go out swinging and see if it provides a change in fortune.

Form guide

England LWWWW (completed matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka LLLWL

In the spotlight

He left England’s best batsmen hopping around the Centurion Park nets. He has roughed up Chris Gayle. And just when the batsmen are camped on the back foot, he has confounded them with a slower ball. You dare not take your eyes off Tymal Mills when he is bowling. He admits it won’t always go well – as a career economy rate of 8.10 attests to – but this season he has produced four-over spells of 3 for 15 and 1 for 15 off four oversKusal Perera will likely be in the firing line early against Mills. He hasn’t quite managed to translate the promising form he showed in the Lord’s Test, and then with a century against Ireland in Malahide, but that is not surprising given his enforced absence of six months after the erroneous drugs suspension.

Team news

Trevor Bayliss wants Mills in the final XI and though he is not the sole voice in selection it would seem perverse to name Mills in the squad and not give him a game. Liam Dawson, the Hampshire allrounder who was in the World T20 squad, has been confirmed to make his debut while Dawid Malan, the Middlesex left-hander, could make it three new caps. Alex Hales, Joe Root and Moeen Ali have all been rested.England (possible) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Dawid Malan, 3 James Vince, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Jos Buttler (wk), 6 Liam Dawson, 7 Adil Rashid, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 David Willey, 10 Liam Plunkett, 11 Tymal MillsDhananjaya de Silva could replace Upul Tharanga who is not part of the T20 squad.Chaminda Bandara was given his ODI debut in Cardiff and though he went for 83 there isn’t much to lose playing him in the T20 where left-armers have proved particularly effective. Suraj Randiv, the offspinner, could also come into the equation.Sri Lanka (possible) 1 Kusal Perera, 2 Danushka Gunathilaka, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal(wk), 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Seekkuge Prasanna, 7 Dhananjaya de Silva, 8 Dasun Shanaka, 9 Chaminda Bandara/Suraj Randiv, 10 Nuwan Pradeep, 11 Suranga Lakmal

Pitch and conditions

The pitches at the Ageas are normally excellent for international cricket, offering pace for both bowlers and batsmen to work with, although the recent wet weather could make things tougher this time for the groundsman. The forecast is for a dry and mild evening.

Stats and trivia

• England played their first T20I on this ground, against Australia in 2005 when they won by 100 runs by bowling out Australia for 79.
• James Vince, who plays for Hampshire, has batted four times in T20Is and has not scored fewer than 22. He was Man of the Series against Pakistan in the UAE.
• The Ageas Bowl is comfortably the fastest scoring T20I venue in England with runs coming at 9.07 over its three games. Worldwide, of grounds to have hosted three or more T20Is, only Mumbai and Pune have seen runs come quicker.
• The highest score in T20Is was made on this ground: Aaron Finch’s 156 in 2013.

Quotes

“I saw him at a practice in South Africa when he bowled to the boys and again the other night against Kent and it was impressive stuff. Good to see some batsmen ducking and weaving. I’d love to see him play, I won’t be the sole selector but from my point of view it would be great to see someone like that charge and give it everything.”
“Hopefully quite a number of our players have grown as cricketers even though we haven’t had the results we wanted. Although we’ve come second I think there has been some progress.”

Ben Stokes has undergone surgery to address a cartilage tear in his left knee after pulling up injured during the first Test against Sri Lanka.The ECB said that “full details on his rehabilitation will be confirmed in due course” but if the problem has not developed into a more serious injury then it should be around six weeks. That would leave him on track to return for the Test series against Pakistan which starts on July 14.Stokes felt his left knee lock up while bowling on the second afternoon of last week’s Headingley Test, and though he returned to the field to bowl four more overs, he played no part in the closing stages of England’s commanding innings-and-88-run victory.With Stokes suffering a knee problem – which he tweeted last night that he has managed to play through until now – it will bring back uneasy memories of the latter stages of Andrew Flintoff’s career. It was a torn meniscus in his knee that hampered Flintoff and, while there is no indication that Stokes’ injury is as serious, it will be a concern for England that such a young player has been hit by such an injury.The second Test against Sri Lanka will be the first that Stokes has missed since being recalled against West Indies in April last year and is a blow to Durham, his county, who have struggled to sell tickets for the match and would have still been hoping for some late interest with the presence of a local star although the club tweeted on Tuesday that it was experiencing a rush of interest in tickets.Chris Woakes, the Warwickshire allrounder, has been called into the squad to replace Stokes and is now likely to slot straight into the team having taken 9 for 36 for his county yesterday before leaving to join England in Durham.

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat against Afghanistan in their Asia Cup clash in Abu Dhabi.Bangladesh captain Litton Das said the pitch looked a bit on the slow side, despite the Abu Dhabi surface having been better for batting recently. Rashid Khan said Afghanistan would have liked to bat first as well.Bangladesh made four changes with Saif Hassan, Nurul Hasan, Taskin Ahmed and Nasum Ahmed coming in. Mahedi Hasan, Pervez Hossain Emon, Shoriful Islam and Mahedi Hasan missed out. Afghanistan, meanwhile, named an unchanged XI.Related

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A win for Afghanistan On Tuesday will take them to the top of the Group B points table.Bangladesh: 1 Tanzid Hasan Tamim, 2 Saif Hassan, 3 Litton Das (capt & wk), 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Nurul Hasan, 6 Jaker Ali, 7 Shamim Hossain, 8 Nasum Ahmed, 9 Rishad Hossain, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Taskin AhmedAfghanistan: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Sediqullah Atal, 3 Ibrahim Zadran, 4 Gulbadin Naib, 5 Karim Janat, 6 Azmatullah Omarzai, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan (capt), 9 Noor Ahmad, 10 AM Ghazanfar, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi

Gloucestershire 404 for 9 dec (Phillips 136, Hammond 71, Bancroft 58) drew with Middlesex 445 (Williamson 153, Hollman 60, De Caires 58, Du Plooy 57)Gloucestershire’s Joe Phillips hit his maiden first class century as the rain-ruined Rothesay County Championship Division Two match with Middlesex ended in an inevitable draw.After the third day washout, a still wet outfield prevented any play until 1.25pm, with a minimum of 68 overs left in the game. Resuming their first innings on 54 for 1, a deficit of 391, Gloucestershire extended it to 400 for 9 by stumps, 21-year-old Cornishman Phillips making 136 from 182 balls, with 19 fours.Miles Hammond contributed an attractive 71 and Cameron Bancroft 58. But there had been too little time on a placid pitch for the teams to conjure a decisive outcome and both had to settle for 15 points.Following an early lunch at 12.45pm, Phillips and skipper Bancroft played confidently on a pitch still proving surprisingly straightforward to bat on considering it was shaved at both ends.Unbeaten on 11 at the start, Phillips had a scare on 34 when advancing down the pitch to offspinner Josh De Caires and edging between wicketkeeper and first slip for four. It was a rare moment of anxiety for Gloucestershire as Bancroft was first to his half-century, off 104 balls, with nine fours.The experienced Aussie was looking in prime form and it was a surprise when, with the total advanced to 126, he was bowled off a bottom edge aiming to pull a boundary off left-arm seamer Noah Cornwell.By then Phillips was treating the sparse crowd to a range of sweetly-timed strokes off front and back foot, a single to deep cover off Luke Hollman’s legspin taking him to fifty off 92 deliveries, with five fours. Two more boundaries followed from fierce pull shots in the same Cornwell over.Ollie Price was soon looking equally at home on the two-tone coloured surface. A glorious square drive for four off Ryan Higgins took Truro-born Phillips past his previous best first-class score of 80, made on the same ground against Worcestershire in 2023.By tea, he had moved to 96 and, with Price unbeaten on 33, Gloucestershire were 209 for 2, still trailing by 236. A looping full toss from Sam Robson gave Phillips the chance to strike the boundary that brought up his century off 145 balls. It was his 15th four and he raised a clenched fist in the air to celebrate.Price departed soon afterwards for 34, caught behind top-edging a sweep off Robson’s leg-breaks. The dismissal meant a first bowling point for Middlesex on a day their promotion hopes suffered a damaging blow with Glamorgan’s victory over Lancashire.Phillips and Hammond took Gloucestershire to 250 and a batting point. With more bonus points up for grabs, neither team wanted to shake hands on the draw.Using his feet well to attack the spinners, Phillips continued on his merry way, while Hammond also went on the attack at every opportunity. Their entertaining stand of 66 in 12.1 overs ended when Phillips holed out to long-on off Higgins.Cheltenham-born Hammond, who often flourishes at the Festival, advanced to smack a straight six off De Caires as Gloucestershire progressed to a second batting point, losing James Bracey cheaply, caught at mid-on off De Caires with the total on 299.Hollman earned Middlesex a second bowling point when having Graeme van Buuren caught at slip. But Hammond moved to a fluent half-century off 63 balls before Zaman Akhter was seventh man out, caught at backward square leg sweeping a ball from Hollman with eight overs remaining.A Hammond six off Hollman took Gloucestershire to a third batting point before he fell aiming to clear long-on off Higgins. With three overs remaining, Middlesex took the second new ball and Cornwell had Matt Taylor caught behind to give his side maximum bowling points.There was still time for a Josh Shaw six off Higgins as he and Todd Murphy helped the hosts reach 400 in the very last over. Both teams could feel happy at the end of a thoroughly entertaining final hour.

Marnus Labuschagne’s long-time batting mentor has cautioned him against over-training ahead of the second Test in Adelaide and be less rigid in his gameplan as he attempts to emerge from what is the most serious batting slump since he became an international cricketer.While collectively Australia’s top order is underperforming, Labuschagne is the one squarely in the spotlight after two ugly innings at Optus Stadium. On the first day he laboured to 2 off 52 balls before missing a straight delivery from Mohammed Siraj and on the third evening left a delivery from Jasprit Bumrah that would have smashed the stumps.Related

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The twin failures left Labuschagne with 123 runs from his last 10 innings of which 90 came in one knock against New Zealand in March. Overall this year he is averaging 24.50 in Tests to follow a 2023 where that figure was 34.91 having been above 60 in three of the previous four years.Labuschagne was already back in the nets while the opening Test drew a conclusion in Perth on Monday and was expected to train individually before the squad links back up a day earlier than planned in Adelaide.”I’d probably just half what he usually does. Just try and clear it up a bit,” Neil D’Costa told ESPNcricinfo. “Keep working on reacting more, not having such rigid plans. Every batter goes through this. Almost everyone around 30 years old – I don’t know why it’s that number – seems to have this glitch. He’s a guy we all know, he loves playing cricket. He never leaves a stone unturned. He’s super fit. Does he overthink things? I don’t know, possibly everyone does.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“When someone gets to the stage where they are the No. 1 player in the world, they are going to become a target. He couldn’t keep going. He’d be averaging 80. At some stage, I don’t want to say it had to happen…it happens to a lot of players. They try a bit too hard and like [Virat] Kohli you have to keep trusting yourself, trusting your processes, trust what you do. Go back and find a way the next day.”Labuschagne’s lack of positivity at the crease came under significant focus after his first innings. “The manner that he’s been playing, for me it’s such a negative mindset, and he has been for a little while,” Aaron Finch said on . “What that does, when you’re coming up against great attacks – Jasprit Bumrah is as good as we’ve ever seen, Siraj a very good fast bowler – it just allows them to settle in, you’re not putting much pressure on them, so their margin for error becomes huge.”D’Costa, who has already spoken with Labuschagne since the Test, believed he was within his rights to think he could leave the delivery from Bumrah. “That ball was 8.3 metres [from the stumps], that’s going over the stumps all day, every day,” he said. “It just hit the top of the stumps. With a millisecond to make a decision, he saw the length and let it go and it skidded. Are we going to lose sleep over that? I’m not. Would you like him to score runs, absolutely.”Marnus Labuschagne left a lot of balls in the first innings…and fell leaving one in the second•Associated Press

Labuschagne’s two lbw dismissals in Perth come amid a period where a tendency to be caught playing away from his body had crept into his game which D’Costa partly attributes to him working on his white-ball batting.”If you look at how he plays, he lets a lot of balls go. He always has,” he said. “Think maybe he was working really hard at being a one-day player so for a little while he lost that. And he started nicking. Let me tell you, they [India] bowled so well. They knew exactly he wanted that ball on leg stump. They did not bowl there. If anything, they bowled wide. This team is really well prepared. They executed very well.”After the defeat, captain Pat Cummins acknowledged Labuschagne’s difficulties would be a focal point in the days ahead.”Marn, along with quite a few guys in the team, didn’t have the week we would have wanted,” he said. “It’s no secret how hard the batters, particularly Marn, works in the nets. He’s always trying to find those small marginal gains. This week will be a lot of conversation with the coaches around his approach and what he could be doing differently.”

South Africa 271 for 9 (Rickelton 91, Stubbs 79, Adair 4-50, Young 3-45) beat Ireland 132 (Dockrell 21, Williams 4-32, Fortuin 2-28, Ngidi 2-35) by 139 runs Career-best ODI scores from Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs respectively and career-best List A figures of 4-32 from Lizaad Williams helped South Africa crush Ireland by 139 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.Rickelton and Stubbs put on a 152-run partnership in the middle of two mini-collapses to help South Africa get to 271 before Williams’ three-for in an eight-over opening spell left Ireland five down inside 14 overs. Ireland eventually only got to 132.South Africa got off to a watchful start, with Rickelton doing a majority of the scoring early on. He cut Mark Adair through point for a boundary off the first ball of the match before hitting a couple of cover drives off Graham Hume and Adair.In between, Hume induced the outside edge from him but was dropped by wicketkeeper Stephen Doheny.But Adair got the breakthrough in the seventh over, when he changed tactics and banged one in short. Tony de Zorzi got a top edge as he looked to pull and was taken at deep backward square.Temba Bavuma was then given out lbw first ball as a length ball jagged in from outside off, but was reprieved as he reviewed and ball-tracking showed the ball going over middle stump.But it was short-lived relief for the South African captain, as Craig Young got another inducker to beat his defence and crash into the stumps.Two wickets in two overs became three in three as Adair ended his first spell by getting Rassie van der Dussen to edge to second slip.Once the first powerplay ended, spin came in and that led to more chances. Stubbs tried to reverse-sweep Andy Mcbrine but hit it straight to short third where Craig Young shelled a catch in the seventeenth over. One ball later, Rickelton lofted debutant legspinner Gavin Hoey down the ground and just cleared long-on, who was standing a few yards inside the ropes and had to track back.Hume came back into the attack in the 22nd over, and was launched over long-on by Stubbs as he brought up a half-century stand with Rickelton.Rickelton brought up his maiden ODI half-century off 74 balls in the 26th over and immediately put his foot down on the accelerator.Hoey bowled a couple of half-volleys and Rickelton first lofted him down the ground before slog-sweeping him over midwicket. When Hoey shortened his length, Rickelton adjusted to steer it past the wicketkeeper for a boundary in what was an 18-run over.Stubbs brought up a 62-run fifty in the next over, before Rickelton slapped Campher through backward point for another boundary to bring up the century stand. While the first fifty runs of their partnership took 73 balls, they took just 39 balls to get the next fifty.Stubbs then came down the ground to Craig Young for a six over long-on that brought up 150 for South Africa in the 30th over, before Hoey was swept behind square by Rickelton next over.Even as Stubbs hit McBrine and Adair for boundaries, that was the last one Rickelton hit. After facing ten balls without a boundary, Rickelton tried to go after a full and wide delivery from McBrine but ended up dragging the ball on, falling nine runs short of a maiden ODI century.File photo: Lizaad Williams ended with 4 for 32•ICC via Getty Images

That dismissal sparked another mini-collapse as Adair combined with Balbirnie for two wickets in his next two overs. Stubbs pulled the fast bowler to Balbirnie at short midwicket before Phehlukwayo was done in by a slower ball and ended up spooning it short cover.A slower ball brought about another wicket as Wiaan Mulder was early in his attempt to pull Young and holed out at deep midwicket.Young then had his third when Williams skied his pull to deep midwicket, as South Africa lost five wickets for 38 runs.Bjorn Fortuin took South Africa past 250 as he hit Young for two boundaries before pulling Hume to midwicket for a 34-ball 28. Ngidi then hit a four and a six to take South Africa to 271.Ngidi continued giving South Africa momentum when the chase began, as he got Paul Stirling to chop on.Balbirnie and Curtis Campher then rebuilt for Ireland, adding 35 runs including top-edged sixes from both batters, before Williams drew an inside edge from Balbirnie that hit the stumps.Harry Tector brought out two gorgeous drives, one through point and one down the ground, off consecutive balls from Williams before he was trapped in front next ball.Williams then got one to stop on Campher, who was early into a shot and ended up offering a simple catch to cover.Debutant Ottneil Baartman then had his maiden ODI wicket when he got one to jag in and go through Doheny’s defence. George Dockrell and Adair hung around before the latter got a feather edge off Ngidi in the 21st over.Four overs later, Dockrell chopped on off Mulder before Fortuin trapped Hoey in front next over to ensure all of South Africa’s bowlers got on the wickets column.Williams returned to complete his quota and bounced McBrine out in his final over before Fortuin had Hume caught at mid-off to wrap up the win.

England are anticipating empty stadiums at October’s Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, but believe that their upcoming training camp in Abu Dhabi will mitigate the impact of the late change in venue from Bangladesh to Dubai and Sharjah.The ICC confirmed last week that the tournament will no longer be played in Bangladesh after weeks of civil unrest which prompted the prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation. England’s squad did not change as a result of the shift but they are expecting a difference in conditions in the UAE – not least off the field, with attendances likely to be low.”It’s going to be a bit different,” Heather Knight, England’s captain, said. “There definitely would’ve been bigger crowds in Bangladesh, having played there in 2014 in the World Cup. We actually got some really good crowds, particularly in Sylhet… It’s become the norm for us to have people around. It is something we’ll talk about, but it’s a World Cup: it shouldn’t take too much to get up for that.”Related

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England will play their first three fixtures at Sharjah Cricket Stadium (16,000 capacity) and their final group match at Dubai International Stadium (25,000). Neither venue managed to attract big crowds for games which did not involve India or Pakistan during the men’s T20 World Cup in 2021, nor do they regularly stage women’s international cricket.”Some people thrive off the noise and the energy from the crowd, so [it’s about] making sure, individually, that everyone is prepared for potentially what we’re going to get. I don’t think, suddenly, there’s going to be a big rent-a-crowd. But it is what it is, and obviously safety and things like that are probably the most important things,” Knight said.While England have spent the past 18 months planning for a tournament in Bangladesh, doubling down on a spin-heavy strategy, Knight backed the ICC’s decision to shift the venue. “It’s obviously a shame for the Bangladesh team that they’re not going to have a home World Cup,” she said. “But I think it’s probably the right decision… the conditions will be slightly different, but not hugely.”England will arrive in Abu Dhabi on September 13, three weeks before their opening World Cup match, for a training camp. “[That is] the bit that’s a big advantage for us,” Jon Lewis, their head coach, said. “We’ve asked them to prepare wickets that are similar to what you would expect in the two stadiums, so by the time we get to the tournament itself, we think we’ll be really ready.”Dubai and Sharjah have only sporadically hosted women’s T20Is: Sharjah has staged 10 – most recently in 2017 – and Dubai only five, all between UAE and Namibia a year ago. It means that England are relying on data from men’s matches in their preparation, and are wary of going into the World Cup with too many preconceived ideas about conditions.”There’s obviously not been a huge amount of women’s cricket there, so you’re going off men’s stats,” Knight said. Lewis expects the toss to play a major role in floodlit games, as in the men’s T20 World Cup three years ago: “It will be a factor,” he said. “There are some subtle differences in terms of the wickets in Sharjah and the stadium in Dubai.”Lewis and Knight confirmed that England would have selected the same squad even if the tournament had stayed in Bangladesh, and played down concerns that they are one seamer light. “I don’t feel like we are,” Lewis said. “The thing that may be trickier for the spin bowlers is gripping the ball with some dew… but we do know that spin is really effective in the women’s game in general.”Lauren Filer was the only player to feature in England’s home T20Is this summer to miss out on selection, though will travel to Abu Dhabi for next month’s training camp. She was edged out by Linsey Smith, the left-arm spinner, who Lewis suggested covered more bases: “In the Powerplay, she’s a really effective bowler, and then she can bowl through the middle and the death.”Knight described Filer as being “really unlucky to miss out” and was impressed by her performances during the Hundred, despite her only taking six wickets in eight matches. “She bowled brilliantly without taking the wickets that she deserved,” Knight said. “But the squad we’ve picked gives us the most flexibility around potential conditions that we might face.”

England sealed their domination of New Zealand via Maia Bouchier’s maiden international century and Sophie Ecclestone’s five-wicket haul to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in their three match ODI series.Ecclestone’s 5 for 25 from nine overs was instrumental in bowling New Zealand out for a sub-par total for the second game in a row – this time they were bundled out for 141 in 41.5 overs – and Bouchier saw England home with 25.3 overs to spare.Only four New Zealand batters, led by Amelia Kerr’s 43, reached double figures, but, as in the opening match of the series in Durham when they were all out for 156, it didn’t look like nearly enough. England’s bowlers kept New Zealand hemmed in, sending down 10 maidens between them, and Amelia faced 10 deliveries in seven overs for her last three runs.Early incisions by Kate Cross and Lauren Filer had New Zealand floundering at 10 for 2 in the sixth over.Ecclestone was introduced to the attack in the 12th over but it wasn’t until the 18th that she broke a sedate partnership of 46 in 72 balls between Sophie Devine and Amelia, her beautifully flighted delivery luring Devine well down the pitch, then dipping and turning to beat the bat as Amy Jones whipped off the bails.Maddy Green had faced 28 balls for her four runs before doubling her score by lofting the penultimate ball of Cross’ allocation to long-on. Green had reached 30 off 48 when Charlie Dean pinned her on the pad with one that turned sharply from outside off stump to end a 58-run stand with Kerr.Her dismissal brought Brooke Halliday to the crease, the standout performer with her half-century in an otherwise poor display by New Zealand’s batters in their nine-wicket defeat last Wednesday. But Halliday couldn’t repeat her innings after she was undone on 6 attempting to sweep an Ecclestone delivery, which clattered into off stump.Ecclestone made it two wickets in four balls and three for the match when, next over, she bowled Lauren Down for a duck with an excellent ball that turned past the bat and crashed into the top of middle stump. That ended Down’s first international appearance since giving birth to daughter Ruby in January before it had begun.Amelia faced 86 balls for her score, passing 2000 career ODI runs in the process, but her innings was otherwise uneventful, her dismissal via a return catch to Dean coming amid a collapse of seven wickets for 27 runs in 10.4 overs. During that time, Ecclestone also removed Izzy Gaze and Molly Penfold.It was Alice Capsey who took the last wicket when she had Jess Kerr caught slog-sweeping to deep midwicket by Nat Sciver-Brunt for 14 with only her fifth delivery of the day.Maia Bouchier celebrates after reaching her maiden international hundred•Getty Images

Tammy Beaumont survived New Zealand’s review when she was adjudged not out lbw on the first ball of the run-chase, Jess striking the pad with one that moved in but was shown to be tracking down the leg side.As in Durham, Beaumont and Bouchier broke the back of the target, this time via a 73-run partnership in 80 balls. Bouchier took charge here, even more so once Beaumont was run-out by the finest of margins for 28. Bouchier struck Amelia to cover, where Suzie Bates gathered and threw the ball back to the bowler to catch Beaumont short despite the dive.Bouchier was on 42 at the time but unfurled five boundaries in eight balls in the aftermath of Beaumont’s dismissal, four of them off one Devine over. She smashed another off Amelia through the leg side moments before Heather Knight despatched Halliday for the only six of the match, over deep square leg. Knight perished on 9, spooning Halliday straight to Amelia at midwicket.Bouchier was on 92 when she was given not out attempting to pull a Jess delivery, which rapped the back pad low down and New Zealand’s review was turned down on umpire’s call, keeping the century on the table.Bouchier skied the next ball and it dropped short of long-off as she and Sciver-Brunt scampered two and two singles took her past her previous best, 95, scored in the third ODI against Sri Lanka last September.With four more runs needed to win, Sciver-Brunt blocked the remaining four balls of Penfold’s over – one of them a full toss – to give Bouchier the strike. Bouchier tucked Jess’ first delivery to backward square leg and ran two more. Then, after a dot ball prodded towards point, Bouchier struck the next into the space through midwicket and took off for the two runs she needed to reach her ton and complete England’s victory.