South Africa 9 for 2 (Shami 1-0, Umesh 1-4) trail India 497 (Rohit 212, Rahane 115, Linde 4-133) by 488 runs It's difficult to see this Test match developing any differently to the previous two in this series. India have done what they did in Visakhapatnam and Pune, piling on the runs, although they declared when the total was under 500 in Ranchi. South Africa have done what they did at those venues too, by bowling inconsistently, conceding heavily and then being handicapped in response. At 8 for 2, this is their worst start yet and, barring something truly special, it appears only a matter of time before they are whitewashed. Watch cricket on ESPN+ India v South Africa is available in the US on Hotstar and ESPN+. Subscribe to ESPN+ and tune in to the Ranchi Test. Rohit Sharma, the star of India's innings, enhanced his reputation further after scoring two centuries in his first Test as an opener in Visakhapatnam. Rohit doubled up in Ranchi, to become the third double-centurion in the series for India, surpassing 500 runs for the series. He also took his batting average at home up to 99.84, just above Don Bradman's 98.22. Shining alongside him were Ajinkya Rahane, who brought up his first hundred at home since 2016, Ravindra Jadeja, who added a second half-century at No.6 and Umesh Yadav, whose 31 off 10 balls allowed Virat Kohli to declare in time to let India's quicks loose on South Africa's openers.

With the men's squads for the Hundred largely settled following the first player draft in British sporting history and the women's squads beginning to take shape, we take a look just who makes up the eight teams in the new 100-ball competition, to be played in July-August 2020. But, a few things first ... Who picked the squads? The head coaches went into the men's player draft armed with their wish lists, compiled in consultation with their team analysts and backroom staff. They had two windows of 100 seconds each per round - there were seven rounds - in which to make their picks. Each side had already chosen or been allocated one England Test player plus two 'local icons' who had spent the 2019 season with a county in their catchment area. Who entered the draft? A fairly comprehensive list of domestic and overseas players put their names forward, with teams allowed to choose a maximum of three overseas players. So are the squad complete then? Not quite. Each team can award a £30,000 contract (the minimum salary band) to one more 'wildcard' player following next season's Vitality Blast. What about the women's squads? With no player draft for the women, teams are selected by their respective head coaches. Each team has already signed two England-contracted players and one 'marquee' pick, announced on the night of the men's draft. Teams have until the end of May 2020 to finalise their squads.

Despite a solid platform of 93 for 2 in the 16th over, Hong Kong suffered a middle-order collapse at the back-end of their first innings to finish with only 116 for 7 in their 20 overs against United Arab Emirates. In response, UAE made swift work of the target, chasing it down with 29 balls to spare and eight wickets in hand. The margin of victory lifted UAE to the top of Group B, although that may just be temporary. UAE's chase was spearheaded by the 93-run second-wicket stand between opener Chirag Suri and No. 3 Rameez Shahzad. After their captain Rohan Mustafa fell in the fourth over, the duo combined to strike nine fours and four sixes in their 67-ball stand to sniff out any hope of victory that Hong Kong may have had. Shahzad's 37-ball 54 was his highest T20I score, while Suri's 43-ball 44 brought the opener back into form, something UAE were missing from him at the start of the tournament. Hong Kong pacer Kyle Christie took both UAE wickets, but his dismissal of Shahzad in the 15th over was a mere formality. Three deliveries after the dismissal, Suri found the boundary to seal their second win in three games. That UAE had to chase only 117 was thanks to their varied bowling attack. Junaid Siddique set the tone with the new ball in the first innings, conceding only nine runs in his two overs. With the run-rate hovering below six, openers Ahmad Abbasi and Nizakat Khan perished to left-arm spinner Ahmed Raza and medium-pacer Waheed Ahmed respectively inside 12 overs. A brief recovery then followed, with Kinchit Shah (30) and the captain Aizaz Khan (19) upping the scoring rate, but with both set batsmen falling in the death overs, their new batsmen failed to generate the momentum needed to put a total that would appear challenging. Mustafa's spell of 2 for 17, including two wickets for only two runs in the 20th over, made him the game's most economical bowler. The result meant that Hong Kong's chances of qualifying for the semi-finals took a big blow while UAE's win has only strengthened their shout for a final-four spot.

Straighten against the angle, beat the outside edge, hit the top of off stump. You'd usually be lucky to see three such deliveries in a series, but we saw three on Monday itself. Who did it best? Was it Umesh Yadav to Faf du Plessis in the first innings, because the batsman seemed to be in a pretty good position to play the ball, and was still left clueless? Was it Ravindra Jadeja to Heinrich Klaasen, because of the trajectory and the length, which drew the batsman forward and still left him far, far away from the pitch of the ball? Or was it Mohammed Shami to Zubayr Hamza in the second innings, because, well, because of that Mohammed Shami seam position? If you relax the qualifying criteria a little, there was also Umesh to Quinton de Kock in the second innings, which went past the left-hander's outside edge to hit off stump without deviating against the angle, and Shami to du Plessis, a jaffa like all the other balls, turning the batsman around and hitting his back pad. For India, it wasn't just a 16-wicket day, rare as those are, but also one filled with memorable deliveries, especially from the fast bowlers. It's been written about before that India's quicks have outbowled South Africa's through this series, and on Monday, Umesh and Shami perhaps hit their peak. There isn't much that a batting team can do against this kind of bowling. You can nitpick at the footwork - or lack of it - that contributed to some of these dismissals, but do remember how well the fast bowlers used the bouncers to push the batsmen back. ALSO READ: Umesh and Shami revel in toss advantage Except, well, isn't this a challenge top-order batsmen know very well, and one they deal with through their careers? South Africa's batsmen, in particular, have grown up facing fast, hostile bowling all their lives. And yet. Most teams come to India prepared to face a lot of spin. South Africa are no exception to this, and in their very first innings of the tour, in Visakhapatnam, they showed how alive they were to that challenge by playing proactive cricket and using calculated risks to try and put the spinners off their lengths. Hamza, playing his first Test of the series, looked at ease against spin in the first innings, his footwork light and decisive, and his strokeplay emphatic, until he was dismissed attempting to cut Jadeja off his stumps. It was clear that he too had prepared extensively to deal with India's spinners. But as comfortable as some of South Africa's batsmen - and even their lower order - have looked against the spinners, they've all been undone time and again by pace.

Australia's tour of the West Indies, which begins with the opening ODI in Antigua on Thursday, is a chance for them to explore the depth they have available ahead of a home season which will place significant demands on the players. Though the core of the squad is similar to the one that retained the Ashes, there are new faces in Heather Graham and Erin Burns while there will be an opportunity for those who had a fringe role in England to have more game time with 14 players on the trip. This tour, which includes three ODIs and three T20Is, continues a hectic period for Australia's women cricketers coming just a month after they completed the Ashes tour and is followed shortly after they return home with ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka. They will then be involved in the first standalone WBBL, running from mid-October to early December, before international cricket resumes at the end of January with a T20I tri-series involving England and India which acts as preparation for the T20 World Cup in late February. The season then concludes with a tour of South Africa. It all adds up to an unprecedented workload for the players - something coach Matthew Mott has acknowledged is likely to require rotation - and this series in the Caribbean will be an opportunity to further expand the pool of players Mott and captain Meg Lanning feel comfortable calling on. With Nicole Bolton and Elyse Villani out, there are also fewer top-order batting options than were available in England which will put more onus on the likes of Lanning and Alyssa Healy while also allowing the allrounders to play a leading role with the bat. "We'll definitely need to have another allrounder given the balance of the squad but those players can be genuine bats at times; Nicola Carey, Heather Graham, Jess Jonassen, they can all bat extremely well and would fit into our middle order really well," Lanning said. "We aren't too worried about that, we think it's a great opportunity for them to come in and play some good cricket but at the same time it's important our top order will do the job." While there are Women's Championship points on offer for the ODIs - which go towards qualification for 2021 World Cup - the T20Is, which follow are a further opportunity to hone skills ahead of next year's T20 World Cup where Australia will be defending champions on home soil.

Australia women 8 for 281 (Lanning 73, Mooney 66, Haynes 56, Prabodhani 2-46, Ranasinghe 2-76) beat Sri Lanka women 124 (Siriwardene 30, Gardner 2-9, Vlaeminck 2-14, Jonassen 2-17) by 157 runs An all-round team effort from Australia earned them a 157-run victory in the first ODI against Sri Lanka at Allan Border Field. Three of the Australian top five posted half-centuries, with Meg Lanning's 73 the top score, before five bowlers shared the wickets. Given the high standards set by the Australians, they will be disappointed no one was able to convert into three figures with Rachael Haynes and Beth Mooney also falling when set to push for a century. With the ball, Ellyse Perry set the tone with a wicket in the opening over while Tayla Vlaeminck again stood out with her pace and Ash Gardner collected 2 for 9 from nine overs. Sri Lanka enjoyed a moment of early success when they removed the in-form Alyssa Healy for 8, three days after her world record T20I innings of 148 not out. This time, Healy got a leading edge which was well taken in her follow through by Achini Kulasuriya. The innings was then set on course by a second-wicket stand of 126 in 21 overs between Haynes and Lanning. After the two had played themselves in, a standout feature was their footwork to the spinners and Lanning, who reached her half-century off 47 balls, collected 12 boundaries to have a century for the taking. Having removed Lanning, Sri Lanka then enjoyed a good period as wicketkeeper Anushka Sanjeewani took an excellent catch to remove Haynes when she advanced down the pitch. Perry, who had precious little time in the middle during the T20Is, passed 3000 ODI runs before being run out when her bat bounced in the air before crossing the crease, and Gardner was caught at square leg after confirmation from the third umpire that Shahikala Siriwardene had just got her fingers under the ball.

Australia women's nine-wicket win in the final ODI over Sri Lanka women at Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Wednesday was a world record - their 18th win in a row in the format, surpassing the run by the team led by Belinda Clark between 1997 and 1999. Meg Lanning, the captain of the record-setting team, was modest at the post-match press interaction, but conceded that it was a "very special" achievement. "It's a special group to be a part of, especially over the last couple of years, probably since that 2017 World Cup [they lost in the semi-final to India] - it was a turning point for our group and we really did change a few things around, and we needed to, to be in the position we are now," Lanning said. "Everyone's put in a lot of hard work to get to this point, and to be able to get the record off the Belinda Clark team is certainly very special because there have been some amazing cricketers who have come before us. "We speak a lot about making sure we look back at the past and understand what has come before us, because they certainly laid the foundation for where we are today. It's important that we recognise that." "The WBBL prepares you extremely well for international cricket, it gets you in front of crowds, on TV, and the style of cricket is great as well. I've got no doubt that that's lifted the ability within our team"Alyssa Healy The latest win was as commanding as you'd expect from this team. First, Nicola Carey and Jess Jonassen kept things tight and Georgia Wareham and Megan Schutt picked up a couple of wickets each to keep Sri Lanka to 8 for 195 despite Chamari Atapattu's 103. Then Alyssa Healy came out to bash an unbeaten 76-ball 112 and, with Rachael Haynes hitting 63 and Lanning 20 not out in 11 balls, the target was crossed in 26.5 overs. The series was wrapped up 3-0, and the lead at the top of the Women's Championship table over England has now stretched to eight points (from one fewer game). "It's something we have made a bit of a habit of, of finishing off series really well," Lanning said. "I know there's been a lot of talk in the media about the record, but I can honestly say that within our group, we haven't really spoken about it. We go into every game to try to win it. So it was no different today. So to finish it off in style was a great effort. We spoke about making sure we do that because we do sort of split up now as a group [for the Women's Big Bash League]. I thought everyone did a great job, the bowlers especially, and Midge [Healy] and Rach with the bat." Adding a bit of flavour to the record-breaking win was Clark's presence at the Field. Healy joked, "She just turns up at the opportune times! It's the end of the series, and hey, there's Belinda!" Lanning, meanwhile, pointed out that Clark had set yet another target for the team: "She sent me a message saying that her team only lost two games out of 33, so we need to keep going. So we've got one record, but we need to make sure we keep going. So we're under strict instructions." Not just that, there's one more record up for the Australians to target: the most ODI wins in a row, irrespective of gender, which currently stands at 21 in the name of the Australia men's team, achieved between January and May 2003 under Ricky Ponting. That has to wait, though, because of the WBBL, as Australia next play ODI cricket in March in South Africa. "We'll give it a crack," Lanning promised

Picture this: You're driving to the airport from your home in St. Kitts with two plane tickets in your inbox. One ticket will take you through Miami, then on to Los Angeles for a USA national team training camp and potentially a central contract. The other ticket will take you through Miami, then on to Toronto for the Global T20 Canada and a gateway to franchise T20 cricket. What would you do? It was a dilemma faced by 27-year-old Hayden Walsh Jr. one morning in late July. Three months later, he is preparing to play for Barbados Tridents in the CPL final as the tournament's leading wicket-taker. It doesn't take a genius to figure out which path he wound up taking. "Trust me, it never occurred to me before that I would be in this position," Walsh Jr. told ESPNcricinfo on Friday from Trinidad ahead of the CPL final against undefeated Guyana Amazon Warriors. "I never would have told you I would be the leading wicket-taker this year. I thought I would have a good year in CPL, but not this great. It was just about trying to get into the starting XI and trying to cement a place but I did more than that." But if not for a twist of fate, his incredible tournament for the Tridents might never have happened. By the time he got to the airport and checked in on that July morning in Basseterre, he still wasn't sure which way he would go. "I left St. Kitts with two seats on the plane," Walsh Jr. said. "When I got to Miami, I had to decide whether I was going to go to the L.A. gate or the Toronto gate." *** When Hayden Walsh Jr. was first drafted into the USA team in November 2018 for WCL Division Three, everything was a breath of fresh air. No longer was he buried in the Barbados franchise set-up behind two West Indies spinners in Jomel Warrican and Ashley Nurse. "Barbados has nine players on the West Indies team and I would literally play three out of ten games a year," he told ESPNcricinfo in March while on tour in Dubai with USA to play their maiden T20Is against UAE. Since making himself available for USA, he was getting opportunities not just to bowl but to bat higher up in the middle-order as well and was making the most of those opportunities to became a very dependable player for USA on their march to ODI status at WCL Division Two in Namibia this past April. In February, he had asked to be released from his Barbados first-class contract. As far as he was concerned, he had pushed his stack of chips to the center of the table and was going all-in with USA. "I'm looking forward to a USA contract once we get ODI status," Walsh Jr. said. "I'm actually looking forward to a USA contract at the end of Division Two, once we qualify."

That brings us to the end of round 4, and despite the fact we didn't get as many results as we'd like, we got some notable performances. The nature of the pitches mean they all came with the bat. Rizwan's hundred means he pushes his case for the Test series against Australia, while Shan's almost certainly seals his place as Pakistan's first choice red ball opener. Asad Shafiq got some runs he badly needed, but not too much joy for the bowlers, or for Sindh, who slumped to a huge defeat at South Punjab's hands.

Stumps Queensland 153 all out & 5 for 186 (Burns 52, Labuschagne 48, Copeland 2-39) lead New South Wales 9 for 288 dec (Warner 125, Bertus 53, Gannon 5-94, Neser 2-56) by 51 runs A fighting half-century from Joe Burns helped Queensland hold off New South Wales' charge to victory momentarily on a rain-affected third day at the Gabba. Only 63 overs were possible on the third day after the game was delayed due to the rain that had fallen overnight. The Blues declared their innings closed on their overnight score to lead by 135 runs. The Bulls second innings started cautiously and they lost Matt Renshaw lbw to Trent Copeland with the total on 22. Copeland trapped the left-hander on the front foot from around the wicket despite Renshaw getting a good stride forward. Usman Khawaja made an elegant 24 with four boundaries before being undone by Sean Abbott. The right-arm quick angled in from around the wicket and nipped one away to scratch the outside edge as Khawaja was half-forward. Burns and Marnus Labuschagne steadied with a 56-run stand and all but erased the lead. But after reaching a patient half-century, with just four boundaries, Burns was tempted into driving Copeland only to edge it to second slip where Steve Smith held a comfortable catch. That sparked a mini-collapse as the Bulls lost 3 for 32. Harry Conway continued his form from the first innings to take his tally to seven wickets for the match. The first was fortunate with Charlie Hemphrey strangled down the leg-side. The second was a superb piece of bowling, finding the edge of Sam Heazlett with one that angled in and nipped away late. Labuschagne held firm making a composed unbeaten 48 to steer the Bulls to stumps alongside Jimmy Peirson who remained on 21.

When most of us think of CPL star power on the domestic player front, the first names that roll off the tongue are of Andre Russell, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy, Sunil Narine and the like. But this year's tournament has suggested that a change of guard maybe on the cards, with none of those big names taking part in the final, to be played between perennial bridesmaids Guyana Amazon Warriors and a resurgent Barbados Tridents. In past years, the Amazon Warriors have fallen short after building their team around overseas stars like Rashid Khan, Martin Guptill and Chris Lynn. Most of their additions during draft time in 2019 may have flown under the radar, but coach Johan Botha has cultivated incredible chemistry to produce the most remarkable winning streak in CPL history, currently standing at 11 matches. Yes, the Amazon Warriors have their share of established talent. Captain Shoaib Malik has provided metronomic consistency in the middle order with 313 runs at an average of 78.25. Imran Tahir's manic sprints have shown few signs of slowing down with each wicket celebration, leading the team with 15 scalps. Chris Green has been miserly and incisive with his new-ball offspin. Nicholas Pooran, Sherfane Rutherford and Shimron Hetmyer have provided the muscle and flair to give them the late kick when needed. ALSO READ: Amazon Warriors' perfect ten, and other remarkable T20 streaks But their improbable record is equally due to the contributions from a number of unheralded and often underappreciated players. Brandon King was taken in the ninth round of the 2019 draft in the traditional US$ 15,000 slot but he is the tournament's leading scorer with 453 runs. Romario Shepherd was taken a round later in the US$ 10,000 position but has needled opposition batsmen with 12 wickets to stem momentum in the middle overs. Chandrapaul Hemraj lasted until round 13 in a US$ 5,000 slot, yet has been a handy foil for King at the top of the order and has also chipped in with key overs of left-arm spin in the powerplay, like the 3 for 15 to plough through the defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders. The Tridents' record has a few more blemishes, but their formula to reach the final has not been much different. Johnson Charles, discarded by West Indies in 2016, has powered their starts with a team-leading 376 runs. In the same vein as Malik, Tridents captain Jason Holder has been a source of inspiration not just with his 14 wickets, third-highest in the tournament, but for shrewd bowling changes and some special fielding, especially at long-on and long-off in the slog overs. Though the management misfired with their first overall selection at the draft in the form of Alex Hales, who has yet to score a fifty, coach Phil Simmons has made wise decisions in his choice of replacement players after the draft. Shakib Al Hasan's nuggety knocks and tidy spells have been a late-season bonus. JP Duminy has been a reassuring presence in the middle order and fired the tournament's fastest fifty against the Knight Riders. Harry Gurney's variations have thrown big-hitters out of sync at the death. The Tridents' bargain shopping has trumped the Amazon Warriors' by some distance too. Raymon Reifer, who iced the semi-final against the Knight Riders by trapping Seekkuge Prasanna for his tenth wicket of the season, was taken in round 14 for US$ 5000. The Tridents mined a diamond in the final round with their US$ 3000 ICC Americas pick, taking USA's Hayden Walsh Jr., who is not only the tournament's leading wicket-taker with 21 in eight matches, but has been the event's most electric fielder. Just ask Pollard, who fell victim to a momentum-shifting run-out by Walsh Jr. on Thursday night. Saturday night might not be as raucous an occasion at the Brian Lara Academy without the host franchise involved. But there's no doubt it will be a memorable one as the Amazon Warriors pursue perfection while the Tridents try to pull off an upset.

Andy Flower has left the ECB after 12 years at the organisation. Flower, who led England to their first men's ICC tournament win in 2010 and their first away Ashes win since 1986-87 later in that year, was first employed as Peter Moores' assistant coach in 2007. He became head coach in 2009, and after stepping down following the disastrous 2013-14 Ashes campaign, took up a role as 'technical director of elite cricket', giving him responsibility for the England Lions team. An ECB statement said that Flower had left "to pursue other opportunities", and he said that he would still be based in England. Flower described his time at the ECB as "a real privilege", and picked out the World T20 win in 2010, the away Ashes win, and victory in the 2012-13 series in India as three highlights. Flower also gave his backing to new England coach Chris Silverwood. "I'm really happy for Chris that he's getting the chance to lead England and I think he's going to do a great job," he said. "I also want to wish Mo Bobat, the new performance director, all the best in his new role." Flower hinted that he was more likely to return to the game with a coaching role at a T20 franchise than in the international game. "I haven't had a sustained break for quite a long time," he said. "I will still be based in England and I will continue to watch English cricket very keenly - it has a very bright future."

Stumps Western Australia 337 and 2 for 148 (Shaun Marsh 74*, Mitchell Marsh 51*) lead Tasmania 397 (Paine 121, Jewell 52, Richardson 3-58) by 88 runs Tim Paine's century, only his second in his 125th first-class appearance, helped Tasmania edge ahead of Western Australia in the first-innings exchanges across at WACA, as they finished on 397 in response to the home side's 337. By close of play on the third day, though, the Marsh brothers Shaun and Mitchell had both hit half-centuries to put their team 88 runs in front. The day began with Paine and Caleb Jewell in the middle and Tasmania 5 for 217, still 120 runs adrift. The two of them stretched their partnership to 80 runs, Jewell hitting his maiden fifty at this level along the way, to keep them in the race but when Joel Paris sent back Jewell for 52, they were still well in arrears at 6 for 256. Paine was in his stride by then, but lost Sam Rainbird and Jackson Bird cheaply, and it took debutant Lawrence Neil-Smith's solid, and obdurate, support for Paine to not only get to his own landmark but also haul Tasmania in front. The two of them held firm for almost 37 overs, adding 111 runs together, before Paine fell miscuing a pull off Jhye Richardson. Paine made 121, scored off 208 balls with 13 fours and a six. Australia's Test captain had last made it to three-digits in a first-class match back in October 2006, when he was just 21, and it was an innings that promised big things as he went on to hit 215 in what was his fifth first-class outing, also at the WACA. It has taken him almost 13 years and 120 matches to get there again. Interestingly, Justin Langer, coach and confidante to Paine in the senior Australia men's team now, was opening the batting for Western Australia in that match. No.11 Riley Meredith hung around for 23 balls but scored not a run before Ashton Agar accounted for him, leaving Neil-Smith unbeaten on 39, scored over 150 balls. That made it an excellent debut for the 20-year-old, who had returns of 3 for 81 in the first Western Australia innings. He was back trapping Sam Whiteman lbw for 16, after Bird had jolted Western Australia with a first-ball strike to dismiss Cameron Bancroft, caught by George Bailey, to leave the scoreboard at 2 for 36 after 15 overs. But Shaun Marsh and captain Mitchell Marsh, Nos. 3 and 4 respectively, then proceeded to add 112 runs in 28 overs in their unbroken third-wicket association to open up the game again. Both of them scored at a healthy clip. Shaun got to his half-century first, and ended the day on 74 from 146 balls, with nine fours and a six, while Mitchell scored relatively quicker, his 51 coming from 79 balls with nine fours.

Sanju Samson's career-best 212 not out, the highest individual score in Vijay Hazare Trophy history, was the headline as Kerala took on Goa in an Elite Group A game in Alur on Saturday. It was Samson's maiden List A century - he has two T20 hundreds and nine in first-class cricket - and when he doubled it, it became only the eighth instance of an Indian scoring a List A double, five of which have come in ODIs: three by Rohit Sharma, and one each by Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. Those aside, there is Shikhar Dhawan's 248 for India A against South Africa A in Pretoria in 2013 and Karn Veer Kaushal's 202 for Uttarakhand against Sikkim in last season's Vijay Hazare Trophy, the first time a double was scored in the tournament.

Sanju Samson's career-best 212 not out, the highest individual score in Vijay Hazare Trophy history, was the headline as Kerala took on Goa in an Elite Group A game in Alur on Saturday. It was Samson's maiden List A century - he has two T20 hundreds and nine in first-class cricket - and when he doubled it, it became only the eighth instance of an Indian scoring a List A double, five of which have come in ODIs: three by Rohit Sharma, and one each by Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. Those aside, there is Shikhar Dhawan's 248 for India A against South Africa A in Pretoria in 2013 and Karn Veer Kaushal's 202 for Uttarakhand against Sikkim in last season's Vijay Hazare Trophy, the first time a double was scored in the tournament.

South Africa 275 (Maharaj 72, du Plessis 64, Philander 44*, Ashwin 4-69), Yadav 3-37) trail India 601 for 5 dec (Kohli 254*, Agarwal 108, Jadeja 91, Rahane 59, Pujara 58, Rabada 3-93) by 326 runs Keshav Maharaj and Vernon Philander, the lead spinner and senior seamer of the South African squad, were picked to do a job with the ball. But the pair frustrated India in the opposite discipline with a ninth-wicket partnership of 109 runs, South Africa's third-highest in the series, and may have staved off an innings defeat. Watch cricket on ESPN+ India v South Africa is available in the US on Hotstar and ESPN+. Subscribe to ESPN+ and tune in to the Tests. Virat Kohli will able to sleep on whether he wants to put South Africa in again, 326 runs behind but he will have plenty to consider. His bowlers were in the field for 105.4 overs and South Africa's lower-order showed they are capable of making India work for their wickets. Kohli may also be wary of batting last on a surface that is taking more turn, even if there is only an outside chance that India will need to chase a target. Either way, they sit in prime position to seal the series in the remaining two days and have asserted their dominance over a South African side whose quality remains in question. South Africa's top-order were beaten at their own game as India's seamers reduced them to 53 for 5. Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami maintained a slightly fuller length and bowled to attacking fields, whereas South Africa's bowlers had erred on the side of too short and too wide, and the difference brought wickets. Nightwatchman Anrich Nortje was dismissed in the third over, caught at fourth slip and Theunis de Bruyn, who looked confident on the front foot for much of his 30 runs, ended up stuck in his crease, uncertain whether to move forward or back to Yadav delivery and was caught behind.

This hasn't been a uniformly terrible tour for South Africa's batsmen. Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock have both scored hundreds, and Faf du Plessis has made a couple of fifties. The lower order has stuck around to the extent that South Africa, on this tour, have achieved two of the five longest ninth-wicket partnerships ever seen in India. But it has been a nightmare tour for South Africa against the new ball, and Temba Bavuma, their No. 4, isn't shying away from that. "Look, from the guys at the top, the top-order batters, the guys who are entrusted with scoring the bulk of the runs, it does kind of hurt," Bavuma said at the end of the third day's play in Pune. "It does dent your ego when you're seeing the lower order go out and fight it out to do what you're really playing to do. Watch cricket on ESPN+ India v South Africa is available in the US on Hotstar and ESPN+. Subscribe to ESPN+ and tune in to the Tests. "The boys are trying with the bat and I think, looking forward, looking at the second innings, there's a lot of confidence we can take in the fact that it's not all demons out there. We can actually bat. We've just got to find a way to dominate with the bat, as much as India have done so. "I don't have the answers as to where it's going wrong. The obvious one is that we're not able to put up partnerships. We haven't been able to absorb and sustain the pressure that the Indian bowlers have put on us for a consistent period of time. "And that's obviously something that we'll be trying to rectify. We're going to have an opportunity now in the second innings, whether India decide to bat again, whether they decide to [enforce the] follow-on, we're going to have an opportunity as batters to really stake our claim." In three innings on this tour, Bavuma has made 18, 0 and 8. He knows a lot more is expected of him. "I can understand all the criticism and all the flak that is coming my way," Bavuma said. "Like I've always said, as a batter your currency is runs and that's what you're judged according to. And when your performances are not at the level that we're so accustomed to as South African batters, people are going to come hard. "The South African public, the fans, are very proud and they're used to a higher standard of cricket. Us as sportsmen represent the South African country - that's the pressure we deal with. From my side as a player, it's not as if I am going out there and trying to nick balls and trying to miss straight ones.

Below the West Stand of the MCA Stadium in Pune are two cavernous rooms accessed via the same staircase. One is the press-conference room. To get there, you have to pass the other room, which is usually locked shut. You can't see what's inside, but you can smell it. Dogs. Some twenty guard dogs, employed by the Maharashtra Cricket Association to assist the stadium security staff. Watch cricket on ESPN+ India v South Africa is available in the US on Hotstar and ESPN+. Subscribe to ESPN+ and tune in to the Tests. Test cricket is supposed to feel, and perhaps even smell, like 11 Rottweilers tearing into a piece of steak sitting four feet from the stumps. At its fiercest, this intensity should communicate itself to the spectators. For the best part of the first two days of the Pune Test, the cricket didn't feel like that. And then, an hour from stumps on day two, someone went and let the guard dogs out. "Look, if I could speak on the pitch itself, it was quite similar to what you would get back home in South Africa. I honestly felt that it was quite suited to our strength as a bowling unit"Temba Bavuma This was a pitch with a healthy tinge of green in it. For the first time since the Kolkata Test of 2017, India were playing three fast bowlers. The pitch for that Test was made to order, to help India prepare for the tours of South Africa, England and Australia that lay ahead. India probably didn't request this one in Pune - they surely weren't going to try that when the series was still alive, and not against South Africa's fast bowlers. In any case, it wasn't a green top in quite the same way. It was far better to bat on, and in his pitch report, Sunil Gavaskar suggested the grass was only there to help bind the soil and prevent it from breaking up too early. South Africa's quicks had first use of the pitch, and though there was enough seam and bounce to keep them interested for at least the first half of the first day, they didn't worry the batsmen unduly. Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje ended up with combined figures of 81-14-259-3 as India ran away to 601 for 5 declared.

Picture this: You're driving to the airport from your home in St. Kitts with two plane tickets in your inbox. One ticket will take you through Miami, then on to Los Angeles for a USA national team training camp and potentially a central contract. The other ticket will take you through Miami, then on to Toronto for the Global T20 Canada and a gateway to franchise T20 cricket. What would you do? It was a dilemma faced by 27-year-old Hayden Walsh Jr. one morning in late July. Three months later, he is preparing to play for Barbados Tridents in the CPL final as the tournament's leading wicket-taker. It doesn't take a genius to figure out which path he wound up taking. "Trust me, it never occurred to me before that I would be in this position," Walsh Jr. told ESPNcricinfo on Friday from Trinidad ahead of the CPL final against undefeated Guyana Amazon Warriors. "I never would have told you I would be the leading wicket-taker this year. I thought I would have a good year in CPL, but not this great. It was just about trying to get into the starting XI and trying to cement a place but I did more than that." But if not for a twist of fate, his incredible tournament for the Tridents might never have happened. By the time he got to the airport and checked in on that July morning in Basseterre, he still wasn't sure which way he would go. "I left St. Kitts with two seats on the plane," Walsh Jr. said. "When I got to Miami, I had to decide whether I was going to go to the LA gate or the Toronto gate." *** When Hayden Walsh Jr. was first drafted into the USA team in November 2018 for WCL Division Three, everything was a breath of fresh air. No longer was he buried in the Barbados franchise set-up behind two West Indies spinners in Jomel Warrican and Ashley Nurse. "Barbados has nine players on the West Indies team and I would literally play three out of ten games a year," he told ESPNcricinfo in March while on tour in Dubai with USA to play their maiden T20Is against UAE. Since making himself available for USA, he was getting opportunities not just to bowl but to bat higher up in the middle-order as well and was making the most of those opportunities to became a very dependable player for USA on their march to ODI status at WCL Division Two in Namibia this past April. In February, he had asked to be released from his Barbados first-class contract. As far as he was concerned, he had pushed his stack of chips to the center of the table and was going all-in with USA. "I'm looking forward to a USA contract once we get ODI status," Walsh Jr. said. "I'm actually looking forward to a USA contract at the end of Division Two, once we qualify."

Australia Women 1 for 196 (Healy 112*, Haynes 63) beat Sri Lanka 8 for 195 (Atapattu 103, Wareham 2-18, Schutt 2-44) by nine wickets Alyssa Healy continued her prolific run-scoring form by plundering a 71-ball hundred on her way to an unbeaten 76-ball 112 as Australia surged to a record-breaking 18th ODI victory in a row with a nine-wicket hammering of Sri Lanka. Chamari Atapattu's 103, her fifth ODI hundred and her second century of the tour following her T20I ton in Sydney, anchored Sri Lanka's effort but the next-best score was 24 and they could still only post 8 for 195, which proved way short of giving Australia a challenge. A 3-0 series result was nothing less than expected, but Australia's ruthlessness was impressive. Healy and Rachael Haynes, who backed up her maiden ODI century with 63 to take her tally to 237 runs in the series, cruised towards the target - although both were dropped in the same over off Achini Kulasuriya - before Haynes was out sweeping with 37 runs needed. Healy raced off the blocks in the chase and Australia's fifty came up in the sixth over. She should have been dismissed on 68 but the chance was spilled at deep midwicket and Haynes was then given a life on 39, but even if held it's unlikely the result would have differed. Healy's third ODI hundred, which have all come in the last two years during which time she has averaged 57.15, came with captain Meg Lanning alongside her and a match-winning six was a fitting way for Australia to set their new record, surpassing the 17 wins in a row they managed between 1997 and 1999 under the captaincy of Belinda Clark. For the first time in the series, Sri Lanka were able to set a target and there was a promising foundation at 1 for 68 before Harshitha Madavi was smartly run out by Healy's direct hit as she ran around from behind the stumps after a badly misjudged single. They slumped to 5 for 87 as Georgia Wareham struck twice, but Atapattu held firm. She added 49 with Ama Kanchana and 47 with Oshadi Ranasinghe, bringing up an impressive hundred off 120 deliveries, to put a seal on a tour where she has been head and shoulders above the rest of Sri Lanka's batting.

Australia Women 2 for 308 (Perry 112*, Healy 58, Gardner 57*, Mooney 56) beat West Indies Women 8 for 157 (Kyshona 32, Wareham 2-29) by 151 runs A gritty century from Ellyse Perry in the stifling Antigua heat helped Australia secure the three-match ODI series against West Indies 2-0 with a crushing 151-run win. The simplicity of the scoreline concealed a day of drama. Australia captain Meg Lanning was withdrawn from the match moments before the toss following back spasms, forcing a hasty cap presentation to debutant Erin Burns, while Beth Mooney was forced to retire hurt late in Australia's innings due to heat exhaustion. But despite Rachael Haynes, the designated vice-captain, taking over the reins, normal service resumed after Australia won the toss. Alyssa Healy continued her sparkling form, clubbing a 33-ball half-century as she put on a 56-run opening stand with Haynes inside the first ten overs before the stand-in captain fell for 13 off the penultimate ball of the Powerplay. Perry, elevated to No. 3, was slow to get going and got a reprieve early before her supreme fitness carried her to an unbeaten 112 from 118 balls, her second ODI century and her fourth for Australia in all formats, to anchor the innings as Australia made their second successive score of 308 [they made 4 for 308 in the first game]. "At the start, I was probably a little bit mentally AWOL," Perry said after the match. "I was probably lucky, to be fair, after getting dropped early, but that seemed to sort of pick me up a little bit." After Healy holed out off Chinelle Henry for 58, Perry got great support from Mooney and Ashleigh Gardner. Mooney ground out 56 from 81 balls in a 129-run stand with Perry before the heat got the better of her, and she was forced to retire at the end of the 42nd over. It gave Gardner just 48 balls to make an impact and she did more than that, hitting six fours and three sixes in a 23-ball half-century to equal Meg Lanning's record for the fastest fifty by an Australian woman in ODI cricket. She finished on 57 not out off 25 balls and watched Perry smack the last ball of the innings to the cover-point fence. The pair made 86 runs in the last eight overs of the innings. "Obviously it was a real shame with Meg going down just before the game but I guess that sort of gave other people an opportunity and everyone slid up," Perry said. "I really enjoyed my time out in the middle today but I think there was some great contributions, Midge (Healy) at the start and for Ash to do what she did, that's what she's capable of and what we know she's capable of, so that really got us up over 300 to get a great total on the board."

The CWI interim selection panel has replaced the injured Kycia Knight with Britney Cooper for the third and final ODI of the series against Australia, on Wednesday in Antigua. Knight had injured her lower back during the opening overs of the first ODI of the series in Coolidge, where Australia thrashed West Indies by 178 runs. Knight did not bat in the West Indies chase as a result, and did not feature in the second game. After "examining the scans" done on her, the CWI medical panel ruled Knight of the third ODI. Cooper joined the team in Antigua on Monday in preparation for the final game even as West Indies trail the series 0-2. Cooper last played an ODI in June in England but her single-digit scores in the series led to her omission from the original ODI squad against Australia. In six international innings this year - two ODIs and four T20Is - she has scored only 57 runs so far with a high score of 20. West Indies are also without their regular vice-captain Hayley Matthews, who had been withdrawn from the series just hours before the start of the opening ODI, due to disciplinary issues. The exact nature of her breach of the code of conduct is not known yet.

Australia women's nine-wicket win in the final ODI over Sri Lanka women at Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Wednesday was a world record - their 18th win in a row in the format, surpassing the run by the team led by Belinda Clark between 1997 and 1999. Meg Lanning, the captain of the record-setting team, was modest at the post-match press interaction, but conceded that it was a "very special" achievement. "It's a special group to be a part of, especially over the last couple of years, probably since that 2017 World Cup [they lost in the semi-final to India] - it was a turning point for our group and we really did change a few things around, and we needed to, to be in the position we are now," Lanning said. "Everyone's put in a lot of hard work to get to this point, and to be able to get the record off the Belinda Clark team is certainly very special because there have been some amazing cricketers who have come before us. "We speak a lot about making sure we look back at the past and understand what has come before us, because they certainly laid the foundation for where we are today. It's important that we recognise that."

Australia Women 1 for 196 (Healy 112*, Haynes 63) beat Sri Lanka 8 for 195 (Atapattu 103, Wareham 2-18, Schutt 2-44) by nine wickets Alyssa Healy continued her prolific run-scoring form by plundering a 71-ball hundred on her way to an unbeaten 76-ball 112 as Australia surged to a record-breaking 18th ODI victory in a row with a nine-wicket hammering of Sri Lanka. Chamari Atapattu's 103, her fifth ODI hundred and her second century of the tour following her T20I ton in Sydney, anchored Sri Lanka's effort but the next-best score was 24 and they could still only post 8 for 195, which proved way short of giving Australia a challenge. A 3-0 series result was nothing less than expected, but Australia's ruthlessness was impressive. Healy and Rachael Haynes, who backed up her maiden ODI century with 63 to take her tally to 237 runs in the series, cruised towards the target - although both were dropped in the same over off Achini Kulasuriya - before Haynes was out sweeping with 37 runs needed. Healy raced off the blocks in the chase and Australia's fifty came up in the sixth over. She should have been dismissed on 68 but the chance was spilled at deep midwicket and Haynes was then given a life on 39, but even if held it's unlikely the result would have differed. Healy's third ODI hundred, which have all come in the last two years during which time she has averaged 57.15, came with captain Meg Lanning alongside her and a match-winning six was a fitting way for Australia to set their new record, surpassing the 17 wins in a row they managed between 1997 and 1999 under the captaincy of Belinda Clark. For the first time in the series, Sri Lanka were able to set a target and there was a promising foundation at 1 for 68 before Harshitha Madavi was smartly run out by Healy's direct hit as she ran around from behind the stumps after a badly misjudged single. They slumped to 5 for 87 as Georgia Wareham struck twice, but Atapattu held firm. She added 49 with Ama Kanchana and 47 with Oshadi Ranasinghe, bringing up an impressive hundred off 120 deliveries, to put a seal on a tour where she has been head and shoulders above the rest of Sri Lanka's batting.

Australia women 8 for 281 (Lanning 73, Mooney 66, Haynes 56, Prabodhani 2-46, Ranasinghe 2-76) beat Sri Lanka women 124 (Siriwardene 30, Gardner 2-9, Vlaeminck 2-14, Jonassen 2-17) by 157 runs An all-round team effort from Australia earned them a 157-run victory in the first ODI against Sri Lanka at Allan Border Field. Three of the Australian top five posted half-centuries, with Meg Lanning's 73 the top score, before five bowlers shared the wickets. Given the high standards set by the Australians, they will be disappointed no one was able to convert into three figures with Rachael Haynes and Beth Mooney also falling when set to push for a century. With the ball, Ellyse Perry set the tone with a wicket in the opening over while Tayla Vlaeminck again stood out with her pace and Ash Gardner collected 2 for 9 from nine overs. Sri Lanka enjoyed a moment of early success when they removed the in-form Alyssa Healy for 8, three days after her world record T20I innings of 148 not out. This time, Healy got a leading edge which was well taken in her follow through by Achini Kulasuriya. The innings was then set on course by a second-wicket stand of 126 in 21 overs between Haynes and Lanning. After the two had played themselves in, a standout feature was their footwork to the spinners and Lanning, who reached her half-century off 47 balls, collected 12 boundaries to have a century for the taking. Having removed Lanning, Sri Lanka then enjoyed a good period as wicketkeeper Anushka Sanjeewani took an excellent catch to remove Haynes when she advanced down the pitch. Perry, who had precious little time in the middle during the T20Is, passed 3000 ODI runs before being run out when her bat bounced in the air before crossing the crease, and Gardner was caught at square leg after confirmation from the third umpire that Shahikala Siriwardene had just got her fingers under the ball.