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Stuart Broad confirmed that he has held talks with the ECB, as the board launched its search for Alastair Cook’s successor as Test captain, but insisted he has “not specifically” thrown his hat into the ring for the role.Speaking to reporters at Buckingham Palace after receiving an MBE from Prince Charles, Broad said that he backed Andrew Strauss, the director of England cricket, to make the right appointment, after it emerged that the frontrunners for the role – Broad, Joe Root and Ben Stokes – had all held meetings with Strauss and James Whitaker, the chairman of selectors, on Thursday.”I’ve played for England for a long time, over ten years, so as a senior player you are going to share views and talk to coaches and hierarchies about how the team moves forward,” said Broad.”It’s important that players who’ve been involved, and who you see leading the team forward in the next few years, are consulted.”When he was captain, Andrew Strauss was one of the best decision-makers I’ve ever played with and, now he’s moved into the top of English cricket, I’m sure he’ll consider all options and malke a very sensible and good decision.”While Root remains the overwhelming favourite to lead England in their next Test series, against South Africa in July, there are legitimate concerns about the workload on both him and Stokes, two players who are deemed indispensable to England in all three formats.And that could yet be a reason to hand the Test captaincy to Broad, 30, a senior player with established leadership qualities (he was England T20 captain for three years until Eoin Morgan succeeded him in 2015), but who has played only two limited-overs matches since the 2015 World Cup.Moreover, with England’s defence of the Ashes fast approaching in November, Broad’s proven appetite for the heat of battle in Australia – where he has recently completed a successful stint with Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash – could be another reason to entrust him with the captaincy.

Broad sympathy for de Villiers

Stuart Broad believes that AB de Villiers has made a wise decision to postpone his return to Test cricket until after this summer’s England tour, as he seeks to regain full fitness after a long-term injury lay-off.
Broad, who has dismissed de Villiers ten times in Test cricket, more than any other bowler, admitted he would miss “testing himself against the best”, but said that de Villiers had to do what was right for his long-term career.
“He needs to get it right, because what people don’t realise when cricketers get injured, it’s not just the physical pain that it can cause you, it’s the mental strain of actually getting up every day and playing through pain.
“It’s like playing with a headache every day, and it wears you down over a period of time. I’d always encourage any cricketer who has had long-term niggles to make sure the body gets right, so it would certainly be wrong of me to encourage AB to come over and play through an injury that has hampered him for a little while.
“But if he does have a change of heart come July it’d be lovely to see him at Lord’s. The lunches are still as good.”

Not only has he produced series-winning spells in each of England’s last three home Ashes series, most memorably with his 8 for 15 at Trent Bridge in 2015, he was also one of the few players to emerge with his reputation enhanced on the disastrous whitewash tour Down Under in 2013-14, finishing as England’s highest wicket-taker with 21 scalps.Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Broad recalled how the events of that tour helped to “make him as a cricketer”, most notably during the opening exchanges of the first Test in Brisbane, where a local newspaper, the Courier-Mail, instigated a vendetta against him as a consequence of his refusal to walk for a catch at slip during the Trent Bridge Test in 2013.Throughout the contest, the paper referred to him only as “the 27-year-old medium-pacer”, and encouraged the crowds to let him know what they thought of him, but after claiming first-innings figures of 6 for 81, Broad walked into that evening’s press conference with a copy of the paper under his arm.”That really helped make me as a cricketer,” Broad told ESPNcricinfo. “It made me quite a steely character, made me know how to deal with crowd pressure, put it to one side and work on your performance.”It was an experience for sure, I played there in the Big Bash against Brisbane, and got a bit of crowd interaction but certainly not as much as in an England shirt. To walk away with that sort of reaction but with a six-for was a pleasing feeling. I told myself I can deal with everything that’s thrown at me externally and still deliver a good performance.”Obviously the Test didn’t go our way but I know I am a competitive bloke, I thrive in competitive situations, and there’s no better situation than an Ashes series away from home, and it’s a hugely exciting challenge for us.”We’ve got a lot to get through but we are building a team that can challenge Australia in Australia. I spent some time there and there’s no doubt they are formidable in their own conditions, but we have players of the likes of Root and Stokes, Jos Buttler’s such a dangerous talent with the bat, and Moeen Ali too.”These are guys who are delivering on the big stage, plus a few senior guys who’ve been there and done that. We are growing as a team and this will be an exciting Test team to follow over the next few years.”Stuart Broad had to endure hostility from the fans and the media during the Brisbane Test in 2013•Getty Images

Despite speculation that he might be in line for a return to the ODI squad for the forthcoming tour of the Caribbean, Broad was last week overlooked in an unchanged squad, and appears to recognise that county cricket will be his priority for the foreseeable future, as he readies himself to face South Africa, Test opponents that England have not beaten on home soil since 1998.”I’ve got a great period now with no Test cricket until July,” Broad said. “I haven’t had that for about eight or nine years, so I’m looking forward to the next period of time, doing my pre-season with Notts, heading over to Barbados, and setting high standards for myself come July.””South Africa are always a tough team, that’s what made winning in South Africa so special,” he added. “I’ve played in two series against them at home, they beat us in 2008, when I got dropped towards the end of the series, then Hashim Amla got a triple at The Oval [in 2012] and they beat us in that series too.”They are always great competitors, very skillful in our conditions, and that makes this summer a huge one. It’s important for us to get back to winning ways after a tough tour of India. Everyone expected that – five back-to-back with no warm-ups was going to be tricky – but England in our own conditions, at grounds that we are used to and where we have very good records, should encourage us to really take South Africa on.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBrisbane Heat’s asking rate had climbed very high by the time Andrew Tye’s hat-trick came•Getty Images

Brisbane Heat became the first victims of Cricket Australia’s selection policy, choking on a run chase of 157 against Perth Scorchers that their big-hitting opener Chris Lynn would normally have devoured for breakfast.Instead, having created the sensation of this tournament by forming the opening pair known as the Bash Brothers with former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, Lynn was a spectator after being picked for Australia’s ODI series against Pakistan.It was a stark reminder of how uncomfortably these two forms of limited-overs cricket currently coexist in the Australian summer schedule. The unstoppable side of recent weeks was bowled out for 129 in the last over, finished off by an Andrew Tye hat-trick as the pace-change specialist finished with 4 for 22.In Lynn’s absence, the Heat could not create a sense of threat at the top of the order. His opening replacement, wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson, lasted all of three deliveries before left-arm menace Mitchell Johnson slanted a ball across him that took the edge to a well-placed Ashton Turner at slip.Johnson’s next over had Sam Heazlett miscuing a straight hit to Ashton Agar at mid-off, and from this unaccustomed position of disadvantage, McCullum skied a straight hit to mid-on one ball after pulling Jhye Richardson into the square-leg stands.From there the mounting run rate kept the pressure high, and wickets fell regularly. Test opener Joe Burns and former Adelaide Striker Alex Ross put on 43, but when Burns tried to force the pace, Agar grabbed a brilliant catch running back towards long-on.Michael Klinger held another running catch to get rid of Nathan Reardon, giving the microphone-wearing Scorchers captain the chance to chat breathlessly to Australian coach and selector Darren Lehmann as the latter moonlighted in the television commentary box, curious given Klinger is vying for national T20 selection.While Ross attempted to bat through the innings with a 40-ball 39, he got very lucky in the 12th over when his reverse sweep against Agar rolled back solidly into the stumps. Like a home-series umpire, the heavy Zing bail was unmoved.Nonetheless, Agar’s four overs for 18 runs were instrumental in slowing Heat’s chase, which looked over long before Tye could snuff it out.Earlier, Klinger had played to perfection the role Ross was attempting, batting through most of the innings for 81 in a knock that combined consolidation and counterattack.Conditions were trying: opening partner Shaun Marsh slashed a catch to third man, then Sam Whiteman hooked another, two overs after being struck a vicious blow to the head by English speedster Tymal Mills. Under a rare use of the concussion substitute rule, Cameron Bancroft entered the fray to keep wicket when Heat batted.Young legspinner Mitchell Swepson bowled his four overs unchanged for 22 runs, picking up the normally silky Ian Bell at long-on and the destructive Ashton Turner off a top edge.Around that damage, Klinger muscled sixes and fours down the ground and over midwicket, including one that Burns caught but carried over the rope. Klinger was finally out with seven balls left in the innings, and recent Test selection Hilton Cartwright could not ice the innings with 13 from 17.The Scorchers total shouldn’t have been enough, but the Lynn-less Heat were not able to keep up, loosening their hold on top spot with Sydney Sixers level on eight points, and Melbourne Stars on six with a game in hand.Perhaps as significant as the loss, though, was news that McCullum now faces suspension for a slow over rate, a punishment that Heat has indicated an intention to protest. They had better. To lose one Bash Brother may be regarded as misfortune. To lose two begins to look like carelessness.

Parthiv Patel has made a scathing assessment of England’s spinners after India reached 146 for 1 on day two on a pitch that offered ample help for them. All 11 wickets on the first two days have fallen to spinners, with several balls turning sharply, but India made a confident start in reply to what looked like a daunting total of 400, given the conditions underfoot.After the first day’s play, R Ashwin had said he expected the pitch to become better for the batsmen on days two and three before disintegrating for good. Batting certainly seemed easier as M Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara batted out the first wicketless session of the Test on the second evening, but Parthiv felt that was purely down to quality of the bowlers.”More than the surface, I think the quality of our bowling is far better,” Parthiv said. “Our bowlers get definitely more revolutions on the ball than what their spinners are doing. And obviously, we vary our pace very well. We have deceived a lot of players in the air, rather than just waiting for the help off the wicket. I think there’s definitely a lot of difference in the quality.”Asked what is it that the India spinners have done differently, Parthiv said the England spinners had been “exposed” in Mohali.”We have definitely tried to spin the ball more than what they have tried to do, for sure,” Parthiv said. “That’s what even I felt in the last game also. Last game, the way our bowlers bowled in Mohali, where there was no turn and you could see how they bowled in Mohali when we were batting second, where they actually got exposed because there was no help in it.Parthiv, left, believes England were outclassed by India’s spinners•AFP

“And we definitely have traditional bowlers who can vary their pace brilliantly. That’s what [R] Ashwin, Jaddu [Ravindra Jadeja] and Jayant [Yadav] have been doing. That’s why we have kept them quiet. As you know, on a red-soil wicket, it is very, very difficult to contain the scoring rate, and we did that in the second session [on day one] and that is the reason we got wickets in the third session.”England coach Trevor Bayliss had asked his players to bat positively coming into the Test, but to do so they had to take a few risks, which resulted in a collapse on the first evening. Parthiv felt India didn’t need to do so because a release ball was always around the corner with England’s spinners.”That is definitely one of the reasons,” Parthiv said, when asked if the India batsmen need not take risks because they can expect loose balls. “We don’t have to go over the top and try and play a sweep or a reverse sweep because we know that a bad ball is coming soon.”There is certainly some truth to what Parthiv said about the spinners of both sides – and there’s no doubt that Jake Ball, England’s No.10, rode his luck in helping Jos Buttler take England to 400 – but this press conference also seemed a conscious attempt at a psychological blow.Behind the babyface of Parthiv is a cheeky wicketkeeper, who as an 18-year-old got under the skin of Steve Waugh with his sledging. You could imagine he was doing the same when asked about his Mumbai Indians team-mate Buttler’s effort, full of restraint, that has kept England competing in the Test.”I think, honestly, he was very lucky yesterday,” Parthiv said. “There were a lot of balls when there were inside-edges, and [some] missed [the] stumps by a very little distance, but I thought he batted well today. When you don’t have any pressure, you tend to play well. Once wickets fell, he had to play with the tailenders and he played his game. I would love to see him defending a few in the second innings if it turns and bounces.”There was half a cheeky smile on his face as Parthiv said that.

Both matches on the opening day of the Bangladesh Premier League 2016-17 were abandoned without a ball being bowled in Dhaka. The only match-related action was the toss at the first match, where Rajshahi Kings opted to bowl first against Comilla Victorians. Twenty minutes after the toss took place, however, the ground was covered and the match ultimately called off at 4.50pm.The second match, between Khulna Titans and Rangpur Riders, was abandoned at 9.25pm local time after the ground was inundated.Unseasonal showers, caused by a depression in the Bay of Bengal, had affected Dhaka and different parts of the country over the past 24 hours. The weather was clear for three hours on Friday morning but the rain returned 10 minutes before the first match and did not relent.Popular local singer Ayub Bacchu held his concert under umbrellas between the two scheduled matches but there was no more fun for the crowd at the Shere Bangla National Stadium.Rain is also forecast for Saturday, with two matches scheduled in Dhaka.

West Indies 148 (Taylor 56, Hartley 4-31) beat England 110 (Dottin 4-19) by 38 runs
ScorecardDeandra Dottin sealed victory for West Indies•WICB Media/Athelstan Bellamy

West Indies women drew level in their five-match one-day series against England, thanks to a dramatic fightback in another low-scoring contest at Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica.After batting first, West Indies made 148 all out from 50 overs – one run fewer than England’s winning score at the opening fixture on the series on Saturday.England’s slow left-armer, Alex Hartley, took 4 for 31 in 10 overs to give England the upper hand, with Stafanie Taylor top-scoring with 56. In reply, England’s captain Heather Knight made 26 and Natalie Sciver 27, as England reached 107 for 4 in the 37th over.However, they then imploded in spectacular fashion, losing six wickets for three runs to collapse to 110 all out with sevenovers left unused. Deandra Dottin claimed the last four wickets for figures of 4 for 19.”Dottin came on and had a magnificent spell,” England’s Laura Marsh told the BBC. “It’s unfortunate really. We played really well for the first half but credit goes to Dottin because she’s won the game for them. We put ourselves in a brilliant position, the bowlers did a great job. We fancied chasing that score so we’re pretty disappointed.The teams now relocate to Kingston for the final three matches of the series, starting on Friday at Sabina Park.

It isn’t often that a team can say they have dominated Australia but South Africa believe they can. They inflicted a 5-0 ODI whitewash at home on Steven Smith’s side – albeit one with a depleted bowling attack – and rate themselves highly as they head to Australia for a three-Test series.”To beat Australia the way we did, really convincingly and not giving them a sniff, will leave a bit of a scar on them mentally,” Faf du Plessis, who will captain South Africa in Australia because AB de Villiers is injured, said. “I also appreciate that a Test team is a different team, and probably a more mature team, but if we can start really well in that first Test match to remind them that we are in the same space as a Test team, we will have a really good tour.”South Africa won their previous two Test series in Australia, but circumstances then were different to what they are now. In 2008-09 and 2012-13, they were fresh off victories in England, and while they were ranked No. 1 on their last trip to Australia, South Africa are now in fifth place after a difficult 2015-16 season.Du Plessis was quick to point out that Australia were also not the force of old, and not just because they recently lost a Test series 3-0 in Sri Lanka.”When I first started playing against Australia, the guys were the toughest team to play against because of their personalities. They were guys that competed by being verbal,” du Plessis said. “If you look at the Australian team now, their personalities have changed. They don’t have those aggressive guys that are at you the whole day, swearing the whole day. We play a similar brand of cricket now. We are very competitive but we respect each other’s personal space.”Australia had never lost an ODI series 5-0 before•Gallo Images/Getty Images

That was not always the case during the five ODIs in South Africa, though it was mostly the home team driving the banter. In Port Elizabeth, Matthew Wade ran into Tabraiz Shamsi during a single and words were exchanged, while Imran Tahir laid into David Warner in Cape Town for reasons unknown to everyone. Tahir is not in the Test squad but Shamsi is and has answered du Plessis’ call to boss the opposition with body language.South Africa are already doing that through pre-series bluster focused on the momentum they will take into the Tests. Several ODI players who are also in the Test squad, such as Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy, have performed well and du Plessis believed that would boost them ahead of the Tests.”Confidence definitely plays a role,” he said. “The most important thing for me is that the players are in form. No matter what the format, if you are in form you feel confident and that is something amazing to take over to Australia.”Their recent performances against Australia, and the talk ahead of the team’s departure, meant South Africa had created an expectation and du Plessis tried to manage it.”People’s expectation will be of us going there and dominating Australia again but that’s not the case. We’ve had an amazing series, which has been the highlight of a lot of our careers, but we go to Australia on a blank slate,” he said. “The guys are confident but it’s not just going in guns blazing and thinking we can dominate them. We will have to earn that right again.”South Africa’s first Test in Australia will begin in Perth on November 3, before they travel to Hobart for the second from November 12. The final match of the series – beginning in Adelaide on November 24 – will be South Africa’s first day-night Test.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:10