Cricket news round-up – 29 May: India, West Indies win warm-ups, Steyn out of first match

India and West Indies won the final warm-up matches; West Indies Women took a 2-0 lead in T20I series against Ireland; and Dale Steyn will miss the World Cup opening match for South Africa.

India return to winning ways

India won their final warm-up against Bangladesh by 95 runs. Virat Kohli’s 47 and hundreds from KL Rahul (108 off 99) and MS Dhoni (113 off 78) helped them post a mammoth 359/7 on board. Rubel Hossain took 2/62 and Shakib Al Hasan 2/58.

Liton Das (73 off 90) and Soumya Sarkar (25 off 29) started off well in response. But apart from Mushfiqur Rahim’s 90, there was no contribution from the middle order. Kuldeep Yadav got 3/47, Yuzvendra Chahal 3/55, and Jasprit Bumrah 2/25.

West Indies thrash New Zealand

The other warm-up match saw West Indies score 421. After a solid base from the openers, Shai Hope slammed 101 in 86 balls to start with. Jason Holder (47 off 32) and Andre Russell (54 off 25) did the rest. Trent Boult took 4/50.

A struggling New Zealand found some solace in a 120-run stand between Kane Williamson (85 off 64) and Tom Blundell (106 off 89). However, Ish Sodhi (39) was the only other batsman to provide some resistance. Carlos Brathwaite took 3/75 and Fabian Allen 2/47. West Indies won the match by 91 runs.

West Indies Women take 2-0 lead

West Indies Women scored 157/6 in the second T20I against Ireland. Hayley Matthews (33), Brittney Cooper (20*), and Stacy-Ann King (34) were the contributors. Captain Kim Garth finished with 4-0-22-3.

Later, Garth was instrumental with the bat as well. She scored an unbeaten 51 but couldn’t finish the job. King finished with 4-0-15-2 and Afy Fletcher 4-0-20-2. West Indies Women are now leading the 3-match series 2-0.

World Cup updates

Dale Steyn will be unavailable for South Africa’s opening World Cup match against England at The Oval on Thursday. He is still recovering from the shoulder injury and likely to make a comeback in the third game.

Coach Ottis Gibson said, “He’s not far away but not ready yet. We think with a six-week tournament there’s no real need to force the issue.”

County updates

Surrey suffered a middle-order collapse against veteran Jeetan Patel (4/53). Only Ben Foakes (57*) put up some resistance. Warwickshire now lead by 131 runs with 10 wickets intact.

Once Essex were all out for 313, Kent crawled to 182 in 88.2 overs. Daniel Bell-Drummond was the highest scorer with 28. Simon Harmer (3/72) and Peter Siddle (3/29) shared 6 wickets.

Hampshire took a lead of 54 over Yorkshire based on Sam Northeast’s 50 and James Fuller’s 54*. Ben Coad took 4 for 41.

After bowling out Warwickshire for 156, Middlesex moved to 195/2.  A century from Dawid Malan helped them to take a lead of 260.

Ben Brown carried on his good form from last week. His second consecutive century took Sussex to 420 and a lead of 234. After an early loss in the second innings, Nicholas Selman and Marnus Labuschagne took Glamorgan to a deficit of only 97. They still have 9 wickets in hand.

Grace Road may witness a low-scoring thriller. After Leicestershire were bowled out for 120 (Tony Palladino 5/29), Derbyshire shuffled to 160/8 in their second innings and currently lead by 179 runs.

No play was possible due to a wet outfield at Cheltenham between Gloucestershire and Lancashire.