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Afghanistan came surging back into the Test on day three, first polishing off the Sri Lanka tail quickly, before Ibrahim Zadran put up big stands with Noor Ali Zadran and Rahmat Shah, as he completed a valiant maiden Test century.Ibrahim and Shah remained unbeaten at the close, which means Afghanistan have nine wickets left as they seek to wipe out the 42 runs remaining in their deficit, and establish a lead that will test Sri Lanka. The surface had not yet begun to take ripping turn, and remained excellent for batting. But Afghanistan do have two spinners in their attack – albeit very inexperienced – who may be able to exploit what assistance there is.Sri Lanka will rue their missed chances. Ibrahim had been on 39 when he came down the pitch to smash a Prabath Jayasuriya delivery straight back to the bowler, who let it burst through his fingers and on to the boundary for four. The easier of the chances came to Nishan Madushka at short mid on when Ibrahim was on 63. This was again struck hard, but at a catchable height near his head. He got his hands up, but couldn’t quite wrap his fingers around the ball.Related

• Karunaratne's next target: 100 Tests, 10,000 runs and Usman Khawaja

• Chamika Gunasekara concussed out on Test debut after blow to the head

Sri Lanka’s bowlers were largely disciplined, even if they could not coax life out of a pitch that had become good for batting. Asitha Fernando was the best of them, delivering some excellent bursts of short-pitched bowling, as well as some outstanding fuller deliveries, one of which yielded the only Afghanistan wicket to fall – that of Noor, for 47.But the day belonged to Ibrahim. He had his outside edge occasionally beaten with the new ball and was scoreless for 14 deliveries, but once he got moving, he kept a steady tempo. His first runs were via a glance to the fine leg boundary, but early in his innings he was mostly strong in the arc between cover and mid off. Between the boundaries, which came principally off full and slightly wide deliveries, there was a substantial diet of singles all around the wicket. Ibrahim took 84 balls to get into his 30s. During his 106-run partnership with Noor, the primary goal seemed to be to bat time.The half-century came off the last over before tea, and in the evening Ibrahim consolidated. He was hitting boundaries through long on and midwicket now. Sri Lanka attempted all sorts of catching men to try and lure a mistake, but aside from that dropped chance on 63, Ibrahim found ways to progress without taking risks. He was mostly only trying to hit fours off the bad deliveries – usually ones that were overpitched. He got to his hundred – the fourth ever for Afghanistan – off the last over of the day.Asitha Fernando removed Noor Ali Zadran•AFP/Getty Images

Noor’s innings, in contrast to Ibrahim’s was troubled, but he nevertheless stuck it out for 136 deliveries and fell only three runs short of what would have been a maiden fifty on debut. He was particularly uncomfortable against Asitha’s burst of bouncers soon after lunch, but he survived it narrowly, and it would only be in the third session that Asitha would get him out, pinging him in front of leg stump with a fast, full delivery. Noor made the majority of his runs behind the wicket – a reflection, partly, of how short Sri Lanka bowled to him.Rahmat, who got to 46 off 98 before stumps, and was part of a 93-run unbeaten partnership with Ibrahim, made all but 11 of his runs on the offside. He was strong down the ground, especially, finding thre of his five boundaries there.Sri Lanka’s attack was upset by a blow to Chamika Gunasekara, who in the morning was hit on the head, seemed to suffer the effects a few overs after he was hit, and was taken off the field and to further tests in hospital. Kasun Rajitha, who replaced him as concussion substitute, was the most expensive of Sri Lanka’s bowlers on Sunday, going at 4.30 across his 10 overs.The others were more disciplined, even if only Asitha seriously threatened to take wickets through much of the day. Jayasuriya will be especially disappointed he has nothing in the wickets column after delivering 32 overs, though nine of those were maidens.Early in the day, Afghanistan had claimed three wickets for 39 to close out Sri Lanka’s first innings at 439. The most important wicket of the morning was the first – that of Sri Lanka’s last recognised batter Sadeera Smarawickrama, who edged Naveed Zadran to gully.The two next wickets were not long in falling. Naveed hit the top of Jayasuriya’s off stump before, next over, Nijat Masood bowled Asitha Fernando first ball, with Asitha having come in after Gunasekara retired hurt.Naveed’s take for the innings was 4 for 83. Masood and Qais Ahmed claimed two wickets apiece.

England’s men face having to pick two separate squads for international cricket next summer after their three World Cup Super League ODIs against Netherlands were rescheduled for June. The tour had originally been due to take place in May 2020 but was a casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic.The matches, to be played at the VRA ground in Amstelveen, will take place on June 17, 19 and 22 – in the gap between the second and third New Zealand Tests at Trent Bridge and Headingley.There is already a large degree of separation between England’s red- and white-ball squads, with a handful of players – such as Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer – used regularly across all three formats. England have greater depth in limited-overs cricket, and beat Pakistan 3-0 earlier this year after having to select an entirely new squad due to a Covid outbreak.

England tour of the Netherlands

• 1st ODI – June 17, Amstelveen

• 2nd ODI – June 19, Amstelveen

• 3rd ODI – June 22, Amstelveen

The ECB came under fire last week after pulling out of planned men’s and women’s tours to Pakistan, citing player welfare issues. But there have been few other attempts to address an overloaded playing schedule.The board is understood to have already reached an agreement with the BCCI to stage the postponed Old Trafford Test next summer, following India’s early withdrawal from their tour over Covid fears.England men’s fixture list for 2022 leaves little room for manoeuvre, with three Tests against New Zealand in June, followed by ODI and T20I series against India and a full South Africa tour, which concludes in mid-September.Netherlands are bottom of the World Cup Super League, having seen much of their programme wrecked by the pandemic. They have only managed to play one series out of six since the qualifying process began, beating Ireland 2-1 in June to collect 20 Super League points. England are top with 95 points from 15 matches. The top eight teams will qualify directly for the 2023 World Cup.

Northern Superchargers kept their slim qualification chances alive, becoming the first team to score 200 runs in a Hundred game thanks to a remarkable boundary blitz by John Simpson at a raucous Headingley.This was the first trans-Pennine derby in the men’s Hundred after the reverse fixture in Manchester was washed out, and Originals seemed completely overawed by the occasion, dropping four catches and misfielding countless times with the Western Terrace taking great pleasure in every error.Steven Finn became the first man to concede 50 runs in a Hundred game, despite bowling only 15 balls of his allocation of 20, as Superchargers added 78 off the final 25 of their innings. Their batting performance was even more impressive on account of the fact they were missing two key men – Adam Lyth and Harry Brook – following positive Covid-19 tests.The chase was a walkover: Originals needed a flying start but managed 40 for 2 from the first 30 balls, at which point David Willey threw the ball to Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Adil Rashid who squeezed the life out of the middle order. Carlos Brathwaite hit three sixes, top-scoring with 21, and Ben Raine mopped up at the death to finish with 3 for 15.The result means Superchargers are still in with a sniff of qualifying for the knockout stages, with another must-win game against Birmingham Phoenix on Tuesday, while Originals will need to beat Trent Rockets and hope several other results fall in their favour.Stunning Simpson
Simpson did not look like an automatic pick in the Superchargers side at the start of the season, coming off a T20 Blast season in which he averaged 14.30 with a strike rate of 126.54 and with Tom Kohler-Cadmore provided an alternative option with the gloves.But he has played three excellent innings in the Hundred already, taking Rashid Khan down against Trent Rockets, finishing the game against Oval Invincibles with a huge straight six, and now teeing off to underpin the highest total in the competition. After making his England ODI debut against Pakistan last month, he is having a memorable summer.He came in with Dane Vilas set at the crease, and following an impressive cameo of 27 off 14 from Jordan Thompson, but with limited batting to come beneath him at 106 for 3 after 65 balls. He got up and running with early boundaries off spin, launching Tom Hartley for an 87-metre straight six, but cashed in at the death against the seamers.He was on 40 off 19 heading into the final 10 balls after a couple of fours off Lockie Ferguson, with his long-time Middlesex team-mate and close friend Finn in his sights. He pounded his first ball 90 metres over midwicket, then pulled four more away to bring up the joint-fastest fifty of the competition. At that point, Finn imploded, unsure whether to stick to his short-ball plan or try to land yorkers.A half-volley disappeared through extra cover, a waist-high full toss was edged through third man, a leg-stump full-bunger was clipped away for four, and a top-edged pull was parried over the rope, as Finn’s set of five cost an eye-watering 29 runs.There was an irony in Simpson’s success in what was billed as the Battle for the North. He was born in Lancashire, and put on 90 in 34 balls with Vilas, their club captain and a £125,000 signing for Originals in the initial draft in October 2019. As the partisan crowd chanted “Yorkshire, Yorkshire!”, you sensed it was lost on them.Original sin
It is hard to think of a sloppier performance in the field from a professional side than Originals’ effort in Leeds. Calvin Harrison took a superb catch, off-balance on the midwicket boundary, to dismiss Chris Lynn after consecutive early sixes, but a pair of drops during Carlos Brathwaite’s first set of five set the tone for a woeful evening.Phil Salt was the first culprit, running back from behind the stumps and pulling rank on Matt Parkinson at short third man, only to take his eye off the ball and watch it spill over the rope off his gloves, before Parkinson, two balls later, let one straight through his hands at short fine leg off the left-handed Willey.Those problems spread like a virus through the team, with countless misfields on the boundary through the middle phase of the innings. There were two more drops at the death: a slow over-rate had forced Tom Lammonby into the inner circle, and he could only parry a Simpson pull over the boundary running back over his shoulder, while the backpedalling Parkinson missed his opportunity to make amends at short fine leg.

Mitchell Starc took a five-wicket haul as he and Josh Hazlewood dismantled West Indies in the opening ODI to give Alex Carey, who had earlier played a key hand with the bat, a winning start as Australia’s ODI captain.Carey, standing in for the injured Aaron Finch, had formed the backbone of Australia’s innings with Ashton Turner in a fifth-wicket stand of 104 in 19 overs before Hayden Walsh Jr sparked a late collapse with a career-best five-wicket haul.However, Australia’s 252 – which was adjusted to a target of 257 after three rain interruptions cut the match to 49 overs – quickly looked imposing as Starc and Hazlewood got to work with the new ball to leave West Indies in a heap at 27 for 6. Starc took three wickets in his first spell and then returned to end the aggressive rearguard of Kieron Pollard. Pollard hit a 41-ball fifty, but the West Indies captain had been left with far too much ground to regain.Starc, whose form had improved through the T20I series, removed Evin Lewis first ball with a low return catch from a leading edge and then produced a trademark inswinger to castle Jason Mohammed. Hazlewood then showed off his skills with a superb one-handed catch to his left off his own bowling to snaffle Shimron Hetymer’s leading edge – the pitch, where the ball was going through the top, proved tough to drive on.Mitchell Starc ripped through the West Indies batting line-up•CWI

Nicholas Pooran became Starc’s third wicket when an lbw decision was upheld with the ball trimming leg stump and Hazlewood kept pace with his new-ball partner as Darren Bravo drove carelessly to point, when some circumspection was needed, and then Jason Holder hooked to long leg.At six down inside eight overs, the match was heading for a very swift finish but Pollard counterattacked against Adam Zampa, with Alzarri Joseph providing solid support in a seventh-wicket stand. Mitchell Marsh broke through when he knocked back Joseph’s off stump before Starc returned to add the finishing touches with his eighth five-wicket bag.For only the third time since 1980-81, Australia handed out three ODI debuts in the same game with Josh Philippe, Ben McDermott and Wes Agar given their caps. For South Australia quick Agar – his brother Ashton handed him his cap – it was a first international appearance. Agar ended up delivering six tight overs after the early damage inflicted by Starc and Hazlewood.Philippe and McDermott were paired at the top of the order – the last time Australia had two new openers in the same ODI was also the last time they fielded three debutants, against Sri Lanka in 2012-13 – and they made a strong start led by Philippe who dominated the scoring. Philippe twice cleared the ropes in the first ten overs, the first a pull off the slightly wayward Sheldon Cottrell and then a clean strike down the ground off Mohammed, before undoing his good work when he chopped on trying to give himself room against Akeal Hosein.The in-form Marsh set off in positive fashion before glancing a catch down the leg side that wasn’t given on field but was overturned by DRS – Marsh knew his fate and was walking off when the review was called.Hayden Walsh Jr had career-best returns of 5 for 39•CWI

On a surface where the ball was occasionally going through the top from the quicks and offering some turn for the spinners, timing wasn’t always easy and Australia’s innings became harder work against good spells from Hosein, who bowled his ten overs straight through, and Joseph. Moises Henriques’ difficult 24-ball stay ended with a top-edged a sweep to short fine-leg and when McDermott – who had only faced 48 balls in 25 overs – nicked the deserving Joseph to slip, Australia were 114 for 4.By then Carey had already opened his boundary account with a slog-swept six off Hosein and after a second rain break, he took consecutive boundaries from Mohammed’s part-time offspin.Turner was given a life on 12 when he pulled Cottrell towards long leg but Mohammed could not hold a low chance as he ran in off the boundary. That was in an eight-over period where Australia did not find the boundary against some tight bowling from Walsh Jr and Joseph.Carey began to kick things on when he brought up his fifty with a flat six over long-off, which was followed next ball by a scooped four off Holder. Turner then started to find his range with back-to-back sixes off Holder – the first a strong blow over wide long-on followed by a top edge over the keeper – before another rain interruption.Walsh Jr had been held back until the 29th over by Pollard but then conceded barely three an over for the majority of his spell. In his eighth over, Carey missed a sweep to lose his leg stump and Turner top-edged to deep square one short of his fifty, which was followed by Starc and Matthew Wade picking out fielders deep on the leg side in a five-wicket haul that took 16 balls to complete. But in the end, though, Australia had more than enough.

England cricketer-turned commentator Ebony Rainford-Brent has become an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to cricket and charity.Rainford-Brent was recognised for her work with the African Caribbean Engagement (ACE) Programme. The organisation was founded in January 2020 to engage young people from African and Caribbean heritage in cricket following a decline in the number of Black British professional players.She also spoke powerfully of her own experiences of racism alongside Michael Holding in a programme aired during Sky Sports’ coverage of the first day of the first Test between England and West Indies last summer.”You never imagine the day you hit your first ball that you’ll get this sort of recognition,” Rainford-Brent told Sky Sports, with whom she is commentating on the ongoing second Test between England and New Zealand at Edgbaston.”It’s been an incredible year. Everything from working on the ACE Programme, my broadcasting career and the feature with Michael Holding, which shows the direction of travel. I’m really honoured and hope to continue to use my platform for good.”Rainford-Brent said she turned off her social media in anticipation of a backlash against the video on racism in cricket and society with Holding. But she described the positive response to the piece as “mind-blowing”.”It showed me that the world is ready to talk about these sorts of issues,” she told Sky.In addition to her commentary work for Sky and the BBC, Rainford-Brent is chair of the ACE Programme set up by her club, Surrey. The initiative has been awarded a £540,000 grant from Sport England and has expanded to work with communities in London, Birmingham and Bristol. She is also a trustee of the Chance To Shine charity.Rainford-Brent, 37, played 22 ODIs and seven T20Is between 2001 and 2010. She was part of the England side that retained the Ashes and won the World Cup and World T20 in 2008-09.Also recognised was Ian Nairn, former captain of the England Physical Disability team, who was awarded an MBE. Nairn led his team to their first ever global Physical Disability Cricket tournament in Bangladesh in 2015; they reached the final of the Physical Disability World Series in Worcester in 2019 in his last series in charge.Chris Edwards, England Learning Disability captain, and William Craig both received a British Empire Medal.ECB chief executive officer, Tom Harrison, said: “Cricket has an incredible power to connect communities and improve lives, and all of those honoured today have embodied that work throughout their careers.”Ebony is an inspiration who has broken down barriers throughout her career and inspired countless people to get involved in cricket. We’re proud to be supporting the ACE Programme she helped to establish, which is doing such important work in giving opportunities to young Black cricketers.”Ian and Chris are both outstanding role-models. They have represented their country on the highest stage to great effect and they deserve to be recognised on a national scale for their outstanding service.”We’re proud of all those involved in cricket who have been honoured today, and on behalf of the whole game I’d like to say a huge thank you – and congratulations.”

ScorecardFile Photo – Tamim Iqbal struck seven sixes and nine fours in his 136-run knock•Getty Images

Bangladesh batsmen made a roaring start to their tour of Sri Lanka, as Tamim Iqbal reeled off a rapid hundred, with Mominul Haque and Liton Das also contributing with unbeaten half-centuries.The Sri Lanka Board President’s XI does not feature a particularly strong attack, given that the country’s second-string bowlers are currently engaged in the Sri Lanka A team. However, a score of 391 for 7 will, nonetheless, have the visiting batsmen approach the Galle Test with a measure of confidence.Tamim’s 136 off 182 balls (retired out) came after a few modest performances on tours of New Zealand and India, during which he scored only one half-century in six Test innings. Perhaps, it is because of this brief stretch of indifferent form that he was not retired out earlier. In any case, Tamim struck seven sixes and nine fours in his innings, and forged a 143-run second-wicket stand with Mominul, following it up by a 75-run partnership for the third wicket with Mushfiqur Rahim.Mominul’s 73 (retired out) also came at a brisk pace – off 103 balls – and featured 10 fours. Towards the end of the day, Liton struck an unbeaten 64-ball 57 in what was an important knock for the wicketkeeper-batsman, as he would be taking the gloves from Mushfiqur and, as such, will feature in the XI for the first Test.Meanwhile, Mahmudullah, who finds himself in competition with Sabbir Rahman for a lower-order position, may not have done enough with his 73-ball 43 to definitively win over the selectors’ favour.Chamika Karunaratne, the 20-year-old Tamil Union seam bowler, returned the best figures for the hosts, taking 3 for 61. If the Board President’s XI bat tomorrow, Dinesh Chandimal’s innings will be of particular interest in light of him having failed to cross fifty on the recent tour of South Africa.

Barbados secured a one-wicket win in a low-scoring Group B clash against Jamaica at the Kensington Oval, to keep their unbeaten streak intact in the competition so far.After Jamaica were bowled out for 190, Barbados lost half their side for 83, before recovering through late contributions and eventually limping past the finish line with two overs to spare. They rode on a vital 40 from Shane Dowrich who came out with the score on 62 for 4; by the time he fell, caught behind in the 38th over, Barbados were eight down and still needed 48. The ninth-wicket partnership between Ashley Nurse and Kemar Roach knocked off 42 of those runs, with Nurse calmly seeing the side to the win and finishing on 21 not out. Jamaica’s new-ball duo of Jerome Taylor and Reynard Leveridge took five wickets between them, while Nikita Miller impressed with 1 for 22 in 10 overs.When Jamaica batted, after winning the toss, they were in an early wobble at 27 for 3. Jermaine Blackwood held up his end for 40, but his wicket left the side at 97 for 6. They recovered through a seventh-wicket partnership of 77 between Rovman Powell, who top-scored with 74, and Damion Jacobs, who struck 31. Powell’s knock, which came at a strike rate of 93.67, included three fours and six sixes. He was the eighth man to be dismissed, seven balls before Jamaica were all out. Barbados’ new-ball duo did the bulk of the damage with Roach and Jason Holder snaring three wickets each.ICC Americas continued to languish at the bottom of Group B after conceding a five-run win via the Duckworth-Lewis method against Guyana, their third defeat is as many matches. In a match reduced to 45 overs a side at the start, ICC Americas rode on contributions from the middle order to put up 220 for 7. In reply, Guyana were 212 for 4 with nine to get off as many balls when bad light forced the match to be called off. Guyana were found to be four runs ahead of the target at that stage and picked up their second win.ICC Americas got into a solid position of 120 for 2 in the 31st over after being invited to bat, before Alex Amsterdam and captain Nitish Kumar, who top-scored with 66, fell in quick succession. Timroy Allen (37) and Srimantha Wijeratne (27) got off to starts at No. 5 and 6 but the side could not finish strongly. bowler Ronsford Beaton took 4 for 28 in nine overs for Guyana.Guyana were reduced to 29 for 2 by the 11th over of the chase but they got back on track through a third-wicket stand of 131 between opener Assad Fudadin (54) and captain Leon Johnson (78). The batsmen fell in successive overs, but Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Chris Barnwell struck unbeaten 20s to see their team through.

ScorecardFile photo: Chadd Sayers took his match tally to nine wickets at stumps on day two•Associated Press

Chadd Sayers continued his demolition job against Tasmania after the two Jakes – Lehmann and Weatherald – set up a hefty South Australia total of 481 on the second day at Adelaide Oval. Weatherald had scored his maiden first-class hundred on the first day of the game and Lehmann registered his fifth on the second day, moving to an unbeaten 129 as South Australia dominated.The morning began with South Australia on 2 for 222, and Weatherald added 25 to his overnight 110 before falling to the part-time bowling of Beau Webster. But Lehmann steered the remainder of the innings and compiled a series of partnerships with the lower order that would have frustrated Tasmania, whose debutant Cameron Stevenson finished with the 4 for 114.Tasmania’s first-innings deficit was nearly 400 after they had been skittled for 98 on the opening day, and their second innings in fact started in even worse fashion. Sayers, who had collected 6 for 32 in the first innings, struck twice in the first over of the innings to dismiss Jordan Silk and Webster, and then added the wicket of Ben Dunk as Tasmania collapsed to 4 for 18.By stumps they had recovered a little, at 4 for 57, with George Bailey on 20 and Dominic Michael on 16, but an innings victory for South Australia appeared a formality. Sayers also needed only one more wicket to complete his second ten-wicket game in first-class cricket, his first having come the last time he played against Tasmania, in March.