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South Africa’s Dewald Brevis blasts 41-ball century to level T20 series against Australia

  • Batsman hit 12 fours and eight sixes in unbeaten 125

  • Hosts made 165 in vain chase of 219 in Darwin

Dewald Brevis lit up Darwin’s Marrara Oval with a blazing century to help South Africa to an imposing 53-run victory over Australia in the second Twenty20 match.

The 22-year-old Brevis scored an unbeaten 125 from 56 balls with 12 fours and eight sixes, propelling South Africa to 7-218 before Australia struggled to 165 in front of another noisy near-capacity crowd on Tuesday night.

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South Africa beat Australia by 53 runs: second men’s T20 international – as it happened

An explosive century from Dewald Brevis was too much for Australia as South Africa level the series 1-1 in Darwin

Maxwell to continue, the young Pretorius top edges a sweep, it swirls over fine leg… and dropped! Zampa was circling under it like a puzzled shark, never looked set, and as it comes down he’s craning his neck to work out the angle of the drop. His head isn’t in position, and he spills it. Maxwell is not happy, with two runs conceded as well, and he’s even less happy next ball when Pretorius puts him on the roof. Huge sweep shot, bounces off the corrugated tin. But Maxwell’s mood improves after a single, as Markram skips down, laces an off drive, but hits it flat and straight at mid off. Owen takes the catch.

4th over: South Africa 35-1 (Markram 18, Pretorius 1) Ben Dwarshuis finishes the over tightly, only one run from it along with the wicket.

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Tim David and Josh Hazlewood shine as Australia sink South Africa in first T20

Australia have dominated South Africa’s largely unknown batting lineup to secure an unlikely victory in the first match of a three-game Twenty20 series in Darwin.

South Africa lost by 17 runs in at Marrara Oval on Sunday, bowled out for 161 after Australia were dismissed for a disappointing 178 from the final ball of an innings rescued by Tim David’s 83.

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Australia beat South Africa by 17 runs in first men’s T20 international – as it happened

Australia battled back from a dreadful start n Darwin to win the first of three T20 matches

5th over: Australia 60-3 (Green 25, David 18) So the run rate’s up and the wickets are falling. David doesn’t mind the latter, he maintains the former, thrashing Corbin Bosch’s first ball over backward point for four. It was full and wide but David has the reach to fetch what Travis Head couldn’t earlier. Bosch, tall and blond and built, looks annoyed, bowls the next into leg stump, and has David hitting to his outfielder at deep backward. That’s more the plan. No plan is containing Green though, who makes it look so easy slotting another six over long on. He’s 24 off 7 balls! Then races a single. He’s six foot seventy-three but he’s also quick enough. One ball to come, and David drives it over cover for six!

Oh boy. Three down and they’re going at 12 an over. The ground DJ is playing Chappell Roan. Hot to Go.

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Chris Woakes may risk rehab over shoulder surgery in bid to be fit for Ashes

  • England bowler ‘waiting to see extent of the damage’ first

  • Recurrence a chance he’d be ‘willing to take’ to make tour

The England bowler Chris Woakes has not given up on playing in the Ashes this winter after he revealed rehabilitation rather than surgery on his dislocated shoulder is being considered.

Woakes produced an astonishing display of bravery in England’s six-run loss to India in the fifth Test of a thrilling series earlier this week when he decided to bat at No 11 with his arm in a sling after a dislocation of his left shoulder on day one of the match.

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When Paul Terry went out to bat for England with a broken arm

Chris Woakes put his body on the line against India, following an example set in 1984 against West Indies

By That 1980s Sports Blog

It was an image that dominated the back pages. When Chris Woakes walked down the steps at the Oval on Monday, the crowd stood to applaud this noble deed. With his left arm in a sling and inside his jumper, Woakes arrived at the crease with England requiring 17 runs to win the final Test against India.

With Woakes suffering a dislocated shoulder, Gus Atkinson (or extras) would have to get England over the line. England fell short, the sheer will and skill of Mohammed Siraj helping India to win the Test and deservedly draw the series. Woakes’s bravery jogged the memories of those of a certain age. The circumstances were very different from the tail end of England’s innings at the Oval, but in July 1984 another England batter arrived on the scene sporting the Woakes look. Paul Terry could probably relate to Woakes’s pain.

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Next up, the Ashes – and England will need Ben Stokes at his all-round best | Ali Martin

England’s batting lineup looks settled for the trip to Australia, but their fast-bowling stocks were stretched against India and the captain can help ease the burden

The England-India epic that ended up like two weary prizefighters trading blows will live long in the memory – a 2‑2 classic for which the players on both sides deserve immense credit. Not that Mohammed Siraj, still hitting 90mph on the speed gun on the 25th day, showed weariness. If anything, he could well hold the key to solving the world’s energy problems.

Plaudits in particular go to three men who stepped up bravely when other sports would have simply subbed them off: Shoaib Bashir bowled with a broken left hand at Lord’s; Rishabh Pant batted with a broken foot at Old Trafford; and then Chris Woakes, Horatio Nelson armed with a Gray-Nicolls, followed him in folklore at the Oval. Don’t be fooled by the white flannels and the stoppages for tea – Test cricket is a brutal sport.

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England 2-2 India: player ratings for the Test series

Ben Stokes, Joe Root, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj were the stars in an exceptional series

By the 99.94 Cricket Blog

Ben Stokes: 304 runs at 43.4; 17 wickets at 25.2
It is no exaggeration to say that a magnificent series like this is the product of how Baz McCullum and Ben Stokes have reinvented English Test cricket, a change comparable to Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque’s revolution of European art a century ago.

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India beat England by six runs to draw series in thrilling finale to fifth men’s cricket Test – as it happened

Chris Woakes was sent out in a sling as England lost to India by six runs at the Oval in a wild finale to the series

Siraj is signing autographs. Intensely.

“Bought my son a day five ticket several weeks back,” you clever man David Adam, “and he’s been watching the whole match hoping for wickets to stop and rain to start. As much as yesterday’s crowd were rightly gutted not to see the conclusion, I’m selfishly delighted that my son will get his first taste of Test cricket this morning, even if it’s only half an hour. Surely the series deserves to end with a third ever tied test? Siraj sending an spectactularly unsporting bouncer down at Woakes?”

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Yorkshire and Glamorgan wins shake up tables: county cricket – as it happened

Yorkshire routed Sussex to move away from relegation danger while Glamorgan earned a rare win at Old Trafford

The groundstaff are peeling back the covers here, an inspection at 11.45. Rain also at New Road, Cheltenham and Northampton.

Paul Edwards, sitting next to me at OT, is purring about watching Dan Lawrence. He references Pinter, That beautiful evening Compton made 70 – “I’d never seen anything to compare it to until Lawrence made 78 off 77 balls at Scarborough. And again, his 88 off 116 balls at the Riverside. Magnificent.”

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Nottinghamshire v Somerset, Durham v Surrey, and more: county cricket day three – live

They’re up and running at Chelmsford and Canterbury – where Kent – buttressed by Ben Compton - had an unexpectedly good Wednesday against Leicestershire.

Fifty for Revis – who the Yorkshire cognoscenti consider to be the best of the batting bunch (though I feel I’ve written that about various others in the top five over the last few years). The Yorks lead is currently 113 and you’d think they’ll bat till tea if they last the course.

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Star attractions absent as scheduling stymies blockbuster Test finale

With England looking to win the series and India still able to share the spoils, the loss of three headliners at the Oval is suboptimal

Much like the Dude in the Big Lebowski during his various moments of confusion, it was impossible not to repeatedly blink upon seeing England’s XI for the fifth and final Test against India that starts on Thursday. Four changes, including the loss of Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope’s return to the captaincy, took a few moments to process.

“I don’t want to eat my words but the likelihood I won’t play is very unlikely,” said Stokes after the stalemate at Old Trafford. While that quote needed scanning a few times, so did the gnarly right shoulder he was seen prodding and poking during what was a chastening failure to claim an unassailable 3-1 series lead. A grade-three tear to “a muscle I can’t pronounce” was the upshot, Stokes confirmed on Wednesday, and his summer is now frustratingly over.

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‘The risk was way too high’: Ben Stokes ruled out of fifth Test with India

  • Shoulder tear likely to need seven weeks of rehab

  • Ollie Pope will lead England while Jofra Archer is rested

Ben Stokes has been ruled out of the final Test match of England’s international summer with a grade-three muscle tear in his shoulder, sustained during the drawn fourth game against India at Old Trafford. Ollie Pope will captain the side in his absence as England seek to defend their 2-1 lead and complete a series victory.

Recovery from a muscle injury of such severity is estimated to take between six and 10 weeks, though England’s medical team have estimated Stokes’s likely recovery time at around seven weeks. England are due to arrive in Australia for the start of their Ashes preparations in just over 14 weeks, with their captain optimistic that he will have fully recovered in time for a potentially career-defining series.

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