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Zimbabwe 210 (Masvaure 74, Gumbie 49, McBrine 3-37, McCarthy 3-42) vs IrelandA wicketless first session gave the impression that Zimbabwe would dominate the first ever day of Test cricket in Northern Ireland, but Ireland took all ten wickets in just over 40 overs to vindicate Andy Balbirnie’s decision to bowl first on an overcast morning.Barry McCarthy’s relentless eight-over spell after lunch denied Joylord Gumbie a half-century, left Dion Myers looking clueless, and set up a 65-run session where the visitors couldn’t get away. Curtis Campher blew hot and cold but dismissed Prince Masvaure, the top scorer with 74, allowing Andy McBrine to run through the lower half of the middle order.Zimbabwe had their share of soft dismissals, and the risks their batters took, particularly after tea, backfired as they lost their last six wickets for 17 runs. A second spell of rain came amid the change of innings and took out about half an hour, which was enough for the umpires to call stumps.Zimbabwe had the upper hand going into the evening session despite losing three wickets in the afternoon. The sun had peeked out, and Sean Williams was off and running. Campher was bowling the odd beauty, but it was an innocuous back-of-a-length ball going down leg that strangled Masvaure.Williams continued to take on McBrine despite Masvaure falling, and hit two fours. The offspinner did create a chance in the 59th over, but McCarthy, running back from mid-on, spilled it. But Balbirnie was rewarded for keeping McBrine on as he turned one away to have Williams edge to slip.An adventurous first-ball swipe from Clive Madande, trying to pump the spinner down the ground, found mid-off. A bouncer from Mark Adair had Brian Bennett edge a pull to the wicketkeeper as Zimbabwe lost two wickets with the score on 193, and the next on 194. The bowling duo took another wicket each before McCarthy closed out the innings. McBrine, who started the session with the ball, bowled 11 straight overs and took 3 for 32.Prince Masvaure scored 74•Cricket Ireland

The initial damage was done after lunch. Gumbie and Masvaure, Zimbabwe’s openers, had batted through a session, softened the new ball and were inching towards a hundred stand. But Gumbie, who went into lunch unbeaten on 49, fell after facing 11 dots as he clipped a leg-stump half volley from McCarthy to Campher at square leg. Four balls later, a brief rain break forced players off the field.Masvaure was getting off strike as the bowlers strayed down leg often. A flick to fine leg was what brought up the opener’s fifty, even as Dion Myers took 14 balls to get off the mark. But Myers pulled Adair for two fours amid leaving balls with exaggerated rotations.But McCarthy bowled a legbreak, angling the ball in before straightening it off the pitch, to Myers to hit the top of off stump. He took two wickets and gave away 14 runs in an eight-over spell. Craig Ervine couldn’t get going, and the first aerial shot he played was a pull that went straight to McBrine at deep-backward square leg. Masvaure, who made 35 in both sessions, was solid all the while.Thick grey clouds, a bit of grass on the pitch, and lush outfield. The conditions couldn’t have been better for the seamers in the morning. But Gumbie and Masvaure saw off the new ball. Gumbie’s early movement across the crease to work the ball leg side resembled Steven Smith’s batting style and allowed him to score off balls in and around the fifth-stump line. Masvaure was more orthodox but just as compact to help see off McCarthy and Adair’s new-ball spell.There were a few nervy moments in the first hour. Gumbie was hit on the pad while offering no shot off McCarthy in the second over but was saved by the bounce. He edged Adair to deep third for four off the next over, fended one that reared off the pitch over the slips in the eighth, and was beaten by a jaffa that straightened off a full length in the 11th.But Gumbie, who hit the first six fours of the innings, was often able to cover the line and duck under the odd bouncer. The tension built up by Adair and Young’s consecutive maidens was dissipated in the following two overs where Masvaure drove overpitched balls. The let-off balls between the good ones allowed Zimbabwe to turn strike and go into lunch unbeaten. But loose batting and luck combined to wreck Zimbabwe’s advantage as they lost all ten wickets for 113 runs.

Leicestershire Foxes shaded a close-run North Group contest with Worcestershire Rapids to pick up their second win from four matches in the Vitality Blast.England’s Rehan Ahmed took 2 for 27 and held a vital catch to and a potentially match-winning innings of 37 off 16 balls by Ethan Brookes, with Scott Currie taking two for 22 and debutant left-arm spinner Lewis Goldsworthy, on loan from Somerset, one for 17 after Matthew Waite had earlier hit 40 from 35 as the Rapids, needing 12 off the last over, fell five short of their target.That came after the Foxes had recovered from 119 for 5 in the 16th over to post 176 for 8, Ben Cox (29 off 21) and Ben Mike (24 off 11) building on Rishi Pate’sl 48 from 42 after Louis Kimber had hit 25 off 16 earlier, with the wickets shared between Nathan Smith (3 for 39), Adam Finch (3 for 43) and skipper D’Oliveira (2 for 24).On the same pitch used for a double-header on Friday, Worcestershire opted to bowl and were rewarded with wickets in the second and third overs as Sol Budinger, aiming for midwicket, was caught at short third man, and Peter Handscomb at deep third man off an uppercut as Adam Finch banged one in short and wide.Louis Kimber led an aggressive response with four boundaries in his 16-ball 25 but was caught at long-off as Brett D’Oliveira ended a stand of 48 in 33 balls. The Foxes were 78 for 3 from 10 but suffered another setback as D’Oliveira beat the advancing Wiaan Mulder and Gareth Roderick executed a stumping.Disciplined bowling by the Rapids made acceleration difficult and 114 for 4 from 15 overs was not promising, but the Foxes managed to up the tempo in the last five, adding 62 runs, a good return even at a cost of four wickets.The loss of Patel, holing out to wide long-on, looked a potentially serious blow but Cox struck 29 off 21 balls before he was caught behind and while Rehan Ahmed and Lewis Goldsworthy fell cheaply, the former failing to clear long-on and Goldsworthy grabbed one-handed in his follow-through by Smith, Mike’s two fours and a six off Finch’s last three deliveries in a 17-run 19th over, followed by 15 more off the last, ensured a competitive score.At 55 without loss from six from their batting powerplay, Worcestershire had their noses in front. Yet their progress was checked by spinners Goldsworthy and Rehan, who conceded only 27 in the next five, with the latter bowling D’Oliveira (32 from 25) on the reverse to end a stand of 70 in 55 balls.The Rapids surged when Josh Cobb twice cleared the legside boundary in thumping Ben Mike for 21 in an over but two wickets in three overs left them with a target of 57 from the last 30 balls after Waite had skied Scott Currie to square leg and Goldsworthy – making his debut on loan from Somerset – had Adam Hose stumped.Two big overs from Brookes, who hit sixes off Mulder and then Hull, brought it down to 28 from 18 but Rehan kept it in the balance by bowling Cobb (34 from 35) off an inside edge and after Rehan had taken a fine catch at deep cover to help Currie remove Brookes the requirement was 12 off the last six balls.Hull marred an otherwise fine last over with a no-ball but had Taylor well caught by Currie at mid-off before, with six needed, Ed Pollock swung in hope at the last delivery and missed.

Samad Fallah, Maharashtra’s highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy, has formally announced his retirement. The left-arm swing bowler picked up 272 Ranji wickets for Maharashtra, and 287 first-class wickets overall, in 78 matches, at an average of 28.48.Fallah also took 75 List A wickets and 62 in T20s. He was instrumental in delivering Maharashtra their only silverware at the senior level since 1940-41, picking up a match-winning four-wicket haul in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (T20) in March 2010.Fallah’s last official match was a Vijay Hazare Trophy (50-overs) game for Uttarakhand in March 2021. Having moved to Uttarakhand for the 2020-21 season, he returned to Maharashtra and made himself available for selection in all three formats, but didn’t get a chance to resume his career.Related

• The free jazz of Samad Fallah's bowling

Now 39 and head coach of Nashik Titans in the Maharashtra Premier League, Fallah has made his retirement official. Fallah traced an unusual path to professional cricket, never playing any representative age-group cricket, and making his way into club cricket via eye-catching performances in tennis-ball tournaments. He made his Maharashtra debut at 22 and immediately made an impact, picking up a match-winning second-innings six-wicket haul against Himachal Pradesh in November 2007. He quickly established himself as the leader of Maharashtra’s attack, picking up 20-plus wickets in every Ranji season from 2007-08 to 2014-15.As he reached his peak, Maharashtra built one of the best seam attacks in Indian domestic cricket, with Fallah, Anupam Sanklecha, Domnic Muthuswami and Shrikant Mundhe combining to lead the team to the Ranji final in 2013-14 and the semi-finals in 2014-15. Fallah’s high point came in the semi-final in Indore in January 2014, when he picked up 7 for 58 on the first morning to help bowl Bengal out for 114.The unconventional trajectory of Fallah’s career found expression in his bowling too. He enjoyed long spells of nine or ten overs, and seldom marked a fixed run-up, preferring to begin his run from wherever his mood took him. He constantly varied his angle and approach to the crease too, sometimes even running in zigzag to try and unsettle batters.At the time of retirement, Fallah is the second-highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy among left-arm fast bowlers, with only Jaydev Unadkat (316) above him. Hiralal Gaekwad, whose Ranji Trophy career stretched from 1941 to 1963, picked up 278 wickets, but he bowled a mixture of left-arm spin and seam.

Pakistan thundered to victory in the final of the tri-series, their attack blazing through the last nine Sri Lanka wickets for 30 runs, before their batters carried them without major drama to a target of 115. The victory came in the 19th over.Earlier, it had been three-wicket hauls for Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Nawaz, and two wickets for Abrar Ahmed, that had seen Pakistan produce the definitive passage of the game – the second half of Sri Lanka’s innings.Sri Lanka had been 84 for 1 in the 11th over when Nawaz had Kusal Mendis caught athletically by Babar Azam, on the boundary. They would nosedive spectacularly from there, losing wickets to spin mainly, but pace too, until they were all out for 114 in 19.1 overs.The chase was low-tempo, but mostly smooth. Openers Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub put on 46 together. Babar then produced a steady 37 not out to guide the team home in plenty of time. They never hit a high gear. But they didn’t need to.Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up 3 for 18 as Sri Lanka collapsed in a heap•Associated Press

Sri Lanka’s epic plunge

How do you go from a 64-run second-wicket partnership to 114 all out? Let Sri Lanka show you how.The spinners drove the collapse. After Nawaz dismissed Mendis, Abrar and Ayub ran riot, Abrar having Kusal Perera and Pavan Rathnayake caught attempting big shots within three balls of each other. Ayub had Sri Lanka’s top-scorer Kamil Mishara caught, before Nawaz came back to rattle the stumps of Janith Liyanage and Wanindu Hasaranga.To give you an idea of how quickly wickets were falling, Sri Lanka had seven consecutive partnerships worth six runs or fewer.

Babar keeps coming back

A score of 37 not out off 34 isn’t exactly stellar T20I material, but in the context of having to guide the team to a low target, Babar’s innings was sensibly-paced. It may not deter his critics exactly, but it might hold them off.In a stretch in which Babar has been suggesting that the best version of himself might be back, it was also significant that he had such a good outing in the field in this match. The catch to dismiss Mendis was a nicely-judged overhead take, balancing to keep himself inside the boundary. The catch to dismiss Mishara was taken on the run, coming in from the straight boundary, diving forward. To get Rathnayake, he leapt up inside the circle to hold the catch with outstretched fingers.Kamil Mishara struck a quick half-century to keep Sri Lanka going•Getty Images

Mishara sets a foundation

Although Sri Lanka would fail spectacularly to build on it, their young opener Mishara had set a launching pad with his 59 off 47 balls. He had a powerful aerial game inside the powerplay, his three sixes in that phase coming in the arc between long off and deep midwicket. After the field went back, he settled into a rhythm of singles. With this being his second successive half-century, Sri Lanka are likely to persist with him.

Fast bowler Henry Thornton proved to be the proverbial thorn in India A’s flesh as he put Australia in control of the second unofficial Test in Lucknow.Batting at No. 11, he scored an unbeaten 32 in a 91-run partnership for the tenth wicket with Todd Murphy, who made 76, before taking a four-wicket haul that helped Australia A take a 226-run lead in the first innings.”We were just having a fair bit of fun up there and it’s a good challenge against some really good bowlers to see kind of where your skills are at,” Thornton said after the second day’s play. “It was a pretty simple game plan. If they missed, we were just kind of trying to hit the ball for four and it came off today.”After toiling for 13.2 overs on the second morning to separate Australia A’s last pair, India A lost KL Rahul cheaply – caught behind off Will Sutherland. Thornton struck three blows after lunch, dismissing N Jagadeesan (38), Devdutt Padikkal (1) and India A captain Dhruv Jurel (1) in successive overs. Murphy, who scored his maiden first-class fifty earlier in the day, accounted for Nitish Kumar Reddy with his offspin as India A slid to 75 for 5.B Sai Sudharsan offered resistance with a steady half-century at No. 3 and added 51 with Ayush Badoni (21) for the sixth wicket. But two more wickets in five balls left India A reeling at 127 for 7.B Sai Sudharsan scored a steady half-century•Tanuj/ Ekana Cricket Stadium

Prasidh Krishna joined Sai Sudharsan and hit a four and a six before he was struck on the helmet by Thornton’s bouncer in the 39th over. He was in the middle for three more overs before walking off with a suspected concussion. He was replaced in the XI by Yash Thakur as the concussion substitute. Sai Sudharsan helped India A inch closer to 200 before Murphy trapped him lbw. Two balls later, Gurnoor Brar was run-out to end India A’s innings.”We had a simple plan, put energy on the ball, bash the top of the stumps,” Thornton said. “I felt like I was in the game bowling that length. So it would be interesting to see what happens in the second innings. Hopefully it starts to spin and it brings Murph (Murphy) and Rock (Corey Rocchiccioli) into the game.With over two days left in the game, Australia A opted to bat again instead of enforcing the follow-on. But they lost three batters before stumps, with Mohammed Siraj, Brar and Manav Suthar picking up a wicket each. Sam Konstas fell for his first single-digit score in the series, following his century in the opening game and 49 in the first innings. His opening partner Campbell Kellaway did not last long either. Suthar, who picked up a five-for in the first innings, struck with his fifth ball to dismiss Oliver Peake. Captain Nathan McSweeney offered resistance to end the day with Australia A ahead by 242 runs.

Pakistan top-order batter Fakhar Zaman has been ruled out of the third T20I and the upcoming three-match ODI series against West Indies after sustaining a left hamstring strain during the second T20I in Lauderhill. Khushdil Shah replaced him in the playing XI for the third T20I.The injury took place in the 19th over of West Indies’ innings when Fakhar was chasing a ball in the outfield. A subsequent medical assessment by the team’s support staff confirmed a mild strain to his left hamstring.The PCB confirmed that immediate treatment and initial management were provided, and Fakhar will now fly back to Pakistan on August 4, the day after the final, deciding T20I. His rehabilitation will continue under the supervision of the PCB medical team at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore. The PCB are yet to confirm if a replacement player will join the ODI squad.Fakhar got starts in each of the first two games, but found himself unable to kick on in either, getting scored of 28 and 20.The injury to Fakhar, 35, bears uncanny resemblance to a knock he picked up at the start of the Champions Trophy earlier this year. Off the second ball of the opening game, he hared off in pursuit of a cover drive before pulling up in discomfort; he was ruled out of the tournament the following day. At the time, he was himself a part of the squad to replace Saim Ayub, who, too, was injured chasing after a ball to the boundary six weeks earlier in South Africa, and spent three months on the sidelines.The T20I series in Florida is tied at one apiece. The three ODIs will take place in Trinidad.