Cricket news round-up – 22 May: Archer in England’s World Cup squad, Sri Lanka win ODI Series

England have named Jofra Archer, Liam Dawson, and James Vince in their World Cup squad; Sri Lanka won the ODI series against Scotland 1-0 with a win at Edinburgh; and at Belfast, Afghanistan levelled their series against Ireland.

England include Archer, Dawson, Vince

ECB Chief Selector Ed Smith announced England’s 15-member team for the upcoming World Cup. There have been three changes to their initial squad. Smith mentioned how tough it was for the selectors to exclude some names.

Expectedly Jofra Archer has made it to the final team and replaced David Willey. Archer’s good show against Pakistan in the recently concluded series has helped him seal his spot. Liam Dawson, who has been prolific for Hampshire, has replaced the underperforming Joe Denly. And James Vince has replaced Alex Hales, who was dropped for using recreational drugs.

England Squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Jos Buttler (vc & wk), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

Afghanistan level series

Mohammad Shahzad slammed an 88-ball 101 to help Afghanistan put up 305/7 against Ireland at Belfast. Shahzad was supported well by Rahmat Shah (62 off 90) and Hashmatullah Shahidi (47 off 48), while Najibullah Zardan (60 off 38) hit out towards the end.

Ireland started losing wickets at regular intervals in response. Paul Stirling (50 in 56) provided the only resistance as Ireland were all out for 179. Afghan captain Gulbadin Naib led the rout with 6/43 from 9.2 overs.

Sri Lanka secure much-needed win

A solid top order helped Sri Lanka post 322/8 against Scotland. Avishka Fernando (74) and captain Dimuth Karunaratne (77) added 123 for the first wicket. Then Kusal Mendis scored 66 in 56 balls while Lahiru Thirimanne got 44. For Scotland, Brad Wheal took 3 wickets and Safyaan Sharif 2.

Following a burst of rain, Scotland’s target was revised to 235 in 34 overs. Matthew Cross (55 off 71) and Kyle Coetzer (34 off 44) started well, but allowed the asking rate to climb. After that, only George Munsey (61 in 42) put up some resistance. Nuwan Pradeep scalped four wickets and Suranga Lakmal two. Sri Lanka won by 35 runs.

Sri Lanka won the two-match series.

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Region Final

Match 7: Namibia scored 167/7 against Uganda thanks to Karl Birkenstock (59 off 28) and Christi Viljoen (33 off 30). Then Viljoen delivered again, with 4/15 from 4 overs, as Namibia won by 42 runs.

Match 8: Botswana bowled out Nigeria for 119 despite Abiola Ayannaike’s 33 and Isaac Danladi’s 37. Adithiya Rangaswamy took 4 wickets. But it turned out to be enough, as Botswana were themselves bowled out for 108 despite three scores in the twenties. Okpe and Danladi picked up two wickets each.

Match 9: Kenya put up 141/5 against Ghana, thanks to a half-century from Rakep Patel and some decent scoring by the middle order. Then Ghana were bowled out for 88 as Pushpak Kerai took 3 wickets with Shem Ngoche and Lucas Oluoch 2 each.

County Championship updates

Somerset are sniffing victory as the 17 wickets on the first day was followed by 19 wickets on the second. Craig Overton took 5 wickets to give Somerset a 74-run lead. Overton top-scored as well, with 36 after Somerset was 78/7 against debutant Liam Norwell (7/41). But Warwickshire collapsed again. Chasing 239, they are 103/at stumps.

Gloucestershire need just 53 runs with 9 wickets in hand after bowling out Durham for 132; five Durham batsmen got ducks.

Thanks to Richard Gleeson’s 4 wickets, Lancashire have Worcestershire on the mat, at 149/9, after taking a 29-run lead despite Wayne Parnell’s 5/47.

Both Hampshire and Surrey secured handy leads against Nottinghamshire and Kent respectively. Notts captain Steven Mullaney scored a century, while Kyle Abbott, Fidel Edwards, and Keith Barker took 3 wickets each. For Kent, Sean Dickson scored a century but they lost their last 8 wickets for 67 runs as Gareth Batty, Ricky Clarke, and Sam Curran took 3 wickets each.

Sussex finished their first innings with 422 and expected to take a first-innings lead as Northamptonshire are still behind by 180 runs with 4 wickets in hand. For Sussex, Ben Brown finished with 156 and Chris Jordan with 166.