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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details (Viewers in the Indian subcontinent can watch highlights of the Test here)The entire third day of the Newlands Test was lost to rain, although there might not have been too many people complaining as a result considering Cape Town is in the middle of a severe drought. The showers began on Saturday night and returned in full force in the morning. There were a brief few moments after lunch when it seemed like play could have been possible, but even as the groundsmen were preparing to peel the covers off, the weather turned.Days four and five will now feature 98 overs each, but play will begin at the usual time of 1030 local. At present, South Africa are 65 for 2 – leading India by 142 runs – with Hashim Amla on 4 and nightwatchman Kagiso Rabada on 2 at the crease.

Not only is David Warner intent on captaining Australia at every opportunity, the opening batsman has also flagged the possibility of a career in politics once he retires.Warner has been known to interact a little more often with political leaders than most members of the Australian side, famously fronting then Prime Minister Tony Abbott to commit federal government funding for the redevelopment of Heffron Park, near his childhood home in public housing in Matraville.Now, following his influential public role in the 2017 pay dispute between Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers Association, Warner has said he is interested in looking towards making a difference in politics following his playing days.”After cricket, I wouldn’t mind doing something,” Warner told . “One thing that has been embedded in me since a young age is that I grew up in a housing commission. As a kid, I had to do everything at home with my brother just because my parents worked all the time. So whether it was dishes, ironing – all the normal things you do at home. Once I was able to go and work, I went and worked because we needed that money coming in to pay the bills. Me and my brother both paid a bit of rent when we were younger and I just liked looking out for anyone who was close to me.”During the dispute, it was a tough situation, you had your employers who were going up against our union and the players. So, I thought I needed to have a stance somewhere because at the end of the day, I want to play cricket for my country but for us to get a result or something in the middle – a happy medium – we had to fight for that. I am a believer in what I believe in. So, that was our belief, to get what we wanted. I sit back now and go, ‘I probably regret how the situation was played out in the media.’ And we do as players.”But, if you believe in something you are going to have to fight for it and I wasn’t going to stand down because we needed someone out there to speak about it. You can sit back and do what you like but you don’t get anywhere unless someone speaks up and does something.”Warner’s brand of cricketing leadership was on display during the recent T20 triangular series won by Australia over New Zealand and England. He said that his desire to lead the national team wherever possible would fuel him to take part in every T20 series when the full-time captain, Steven Smith, is rested.”I just like having responsibility and if there is anything that I can do to help anyone, whether it is here at the cricket or even if it is down at the beach or something,” Warner said. “If it is something that I can help with and someone needs help, then it is something I’ll be hand up for. That’s just the person that I am. And obviously standing in for Steve there are big shoes to fill. He needs his rest.”Playing all three forms for Steve is like playing six or seven different forms with having the responsibility of being captain of all three forms. So, he definitely needs his break from time to time and I am obviously going to put my hand up as a senior player to do that role.”I feel it is important we do have a senior player playing in all three formats, or one of us staying back and playing the T20 format, because you need to keep your core team values and how we are as an Australian unit. You need to have that experience there too for the guys who are coming through.”

Offspinner Jalaj Saxena claimed all six wickets to fall in Rajasthan‘s first innings, putting Kerala in command in Thiruvananthapuram. It was Saxena’s third conseuctive five-wicket haul in Thiruvananthapuram, having also taken 11 wickets in the opener against Jharkhand. Rajasthan finished the second day struggling at 134 for 6 in response to Kerala’s first-innings total of 335. Rajasthan’s situation may have been a lot worse without Dishant Yagnik’s 62.With Kerala resuming on 232 for 3, Rajasthan took the remaining seven wickets for 103 runs, thanks primarily to left-arm spinner Mahipal Lomror’s 4 for 51. Sachin Baby added 40 runs to his overnight score of 38.Patient fifties from Priyank Panchal and Manpreet Juneja helped Gujarat take the first-innings lead against Jammu & Kashmir in Surat. Gujarat ended the second day ahead by 15 runs with six wickets in hand. Resuming on 15 for no loss, Samit Gohel (37) and Panchal (61) added 56 runs in 21.1 overs, before left-arm spinner Aamir Aziz had Gohel caught behind.Panchal and Parthiv Patel then added a 45-run, second-wicket stand, but both fell in quick succession to legspinner Manik Gupta. Juneja and Rujul Bhatt (34) then put Gujarat on top with a 103-run partnership in 39 overs. Juneja ended the day unbeaten on 66 off 148 balls.Ishank Jaggi’s 17th first-class resurrected Jharkhand from 60 for 4 and put them in a position for an outright win against Haryana in Ranchi. Jaggi, who struck 14 fours and a six, in his unbeaten 127 was ably assisted by Ishan Kishan’s 155-ball 83. The pair added 190 runs to ensure Jharkhand secured a first-innings lead of 103 with four wickets in hand.Medium-pacers Ajit Chahal and Ashish Hooda left Jharkhand’s top order in tatters with four wickets in the space of 24 runs in the morning session. Haryana next tasted success towards the end of the day, when Kishan was caught and bowled by Ashok Sandhu.

As he prepares for his third Test in Cape Town, Nathan Lyon cannot have more conflicting memories of any other venue in the game.In 2011, he was playing the fourth match of his career when he top-scored at No. 11, amid Australia’s razing for 47 on an incomprehensible second day. In 2014, he had a ringside seat to Michael Clarke’s battering by Morne Morkel, David Warner’s twin centuries and Ryan Harris’ heroics in the final half-hour to secure the match and series for Australia.This time around, the Australians are seeking to forge ahead in another seesaw encounter with South Africa, and Lyon is hopeful Steven Smith’s team will be able to emulate the feats of four years ago, rather than the ignominy of three years prior.”It was one of the most exciting Test series, especially coming off the Ashes and the way we played at Centurion and then them bouncing back at PE,” Lyon said. “To come here and the way it planned out with Ryan Harris basically bowling with one leg and bowling Morne with about two overs to go was exceptional.”They are the type of moments that you sit here and look back on your career and weigh them up as some of the best games you’ve been part of. They’re the ones you want to play, they’re the ones you do pre-season for, where you win on the last day, last hour and to see Ryno (Harris) do that after Pup (Clarke) scored his brilliant 100 and I think Davey (Warner) scored one [in each innings] as well, they’re the type of games and series you want to be a part of and games you want to put your hand up and be a part of.”From the vantage point of 2018, it is difficult to picture exactly how young in the game Lyon truly was in 2011, for he was not only in his second Test series but less than a year into his first-class career, having been plucked from the Adelaide Oval ground staff to be part of South Australia’s Twenty20 squad, and from there playing in the Sheffield Shield and then with Australia A.The whirlwind was rather reflected in the tumble of 23 wickets on day two of the Test, including the eye-popping scoreline of 21 for 9 in Australia’s second innings when Lyon walked to the middle. “You’ve got to be pretty good to top-score for your country,” he quipped. “I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum, obviously when you get bowled out for 47 it is not the best feeling, but we came back a couple of years later to win the way we did was exceptional.”It happened pretty quick to be honest, I think I walked out to bat when we were 9 for 21 in the 11th over, I’m not usually padded up in the 11th over or trying to pad up in the ninth. It was a little bit different. It’s another story in my career, some days you have your day out and big Vernon Philander did that day.”Nathan Lyon top-scored with 14 as Australia collapsed for 47•AFP

Usman Khawaja, another member of that squad, recalled the panic of the moment, even as it related to fetching batting gloves for members of the playing XI. “I remember that when we got South Africa out in that first innings and went to bat in that second innings, it was Pat Cummins and Trent Copeland who were doing 12th with me,” he told . “And I just said ‘boys, I did my gym session earlier in the day, go do your gym session now, I’ll take care of this, we’re batting. This’ll be easy.'”At Cape Town, the Twelfthy sits right down the bottom and there are about 70 stairs to climb. Every time there was a wicket I would run up those stairs. A couple of times I ran up the stairs to get someone’s gloves and by the time that I got up there they were out so I had to put the stuff back down and grab the other kit. It really was unbelievable.”It is always a good reminder to myself and I think to anyone that the game is never won and you can never get too far ahead of yourself. Even in my head I thought that we had a lead of about 200 and even if we got 150 that is game over; it is very hard to chase 350 in the last innings. And we were obviously 9 for 21. You never get ahead of yourself in this game and that very much reminded me of that.”This week, Lyon will be hoping to play a part in generating a similar tumble of South Africa wickets, in a series where he has oscillated between rapid breakthroughs – Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla in his first over of the series, Elgar and AB de Villiers in the second innings at Port Elizabeth – and longer, more barren spells.”I don’t know what he’s trying to do hitting me through square leg twice,” Lyon joked about his two caught-and-bowled dismissals of Elgar. “But it’s another good challenge you always have with different cricketers around the world. I bowled five balls and got him out twice but I also bowled 20 overs in the first innings and couldn’t get him out once, so it’s a challenging one but it’s a good challenge, it’s Test cricket.”You’re bowling to the best batters in the world so it’s a great challenge whether left-hander or right-hander. I’ve enjoyed it because it’s different conditions to what we’re used to at home, we know they play some really good cricket, they beat us at home last time, their unit’s a strong side. I’ve enjoyed the challenge, if I challenge myself against the best players in the world I’m doing my job and pretty happy with it. So to come up against the likes of AB and Faf [du Plessis] and these guys and Hashim it’s the challenge you want.”Undistracted by the Kagiso Rabada saga, Lyon said the Australian bowlers had taken some heart from the way they troubled the South Africa top order in their chase for a meagre 101 to win at St George’s Park. “If I’m being honest, if you give us another 100 runs it’s game on,” he said. “I know the bowling unit took a little bit out of that last innings. I know I took a little bit out of it.”There are a couple of little things that we can hopefully put into play for a certain number of their top-order batsmen. PE was pretty disappointing but I think we played about 40%, if I’m being honest, and we got pretty close to them. The way I’m looking at it, if we play to our full strength, it should be a good result.”More 2014 than 2011.

More than half a million viewers tuned in to watch the third women’s Ashes ODI on television, in the strongest sign yet of what Cricket Australia’s chief executive James Sutherland has called the game’s “single most significant growth opportunity”.The audience for the third ODI, won by England at Coffs Harbour on Sunday October 29, peaked at a national audience of 512,568 on the Nine network’s main channel during the afternoon session, with an average of 312,787, after programmers chose to move the match from the digital channel 9Gem, where the first match of the series attracted a peak afternoon audience of 281,394.In a telling reminder of the importance of free-to-air deals to expand cricket’s audience, the peak figure was greater than the 467,000 viewers recorded nationally across Britain for Sky’s coverage of the final day of the first men’s Ashes Test in Cardiff in 2015.At the same time, it provided further evidence for CA to press ahead with plans to make October a month for standalone women’s fixtures, such as the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in 2020 and also the Women’s Big Bash League, which is under consideration for movement to a separate time slot from the men’s tournament that takes place in December and January.”Cricket is an incredibly popular sport – but the sports and entertainment market is extremely competitive and changing all the time. To ensure cricket’s sustainable future as a mainstream sport, we can’t afford to take anything for granted,” Sutherland told ESPNcricinfo. “We strongly believe that growing cricket as a sport of choice for women and girls is our game’s single most significant growth opportunity. It is an extremely important initiative within our recently adopted five-year strategic plan.”In recent seasons we have seen the WBBL played in front of large crowds and drawing strong TV audiences on Network Ten. The competition is the best women’s league in the world. For us domestically, it not only provides clarity on the pathway to our national team, but exposes the tremendous depth of female talent in this country. We will continue to explore our scheduling to enable our women’s matches to attract the highest possible levels of fan support.”Earlier this year, the ICC approved our request to separate the Women’s World T20 event from the men’s – and so the women’s event to be played in February-March 2020 will precede the men’s event which will be in October-November. Just as we have with the World T20, we are looking to find discreet windows in the calendar where we can promote the women’s game so as to attract ever higher audiences at match and on TV.”Entering into CA’s next round of domestic broadcast rights negotiations, the television pulling-power of the women’s game is a significant change in the value of any prospective deals, much as the creation of the BBL in 2011 impacted on the 2013 contracts signed with Nine and Ten.The purchase of the BBL rights by Ten in 2013 for about A$20 million a season over five years was considered a gamble at the time, but the tournament’s consistently strong broadcast audiences have now raised estimates of the tournaments rights value to as much as three times that amount. Just as CA was able to convince broadcasters that domestic cricket could be a viable option for free-to-air television, the governing body is now hopeful of doing likewise with the women’s game.”Following on from the hugely successful World Cup in England, we are seeing women’s cricket continue grow in popularity and we are delighted to see cricket fans’ appreciation of the women’s game reflected in ever increasing crowds and TV audiences,” Sutherland said. “The Nine Network’s broadcast of the ODI series has been outstanding, and to see the final ODI match televised on the main channel attracting a very significant audience was further indication of the growing appetite for the women’s game.”It is especially pleasing to see our Australian team attracting the support they have during this women’s Ashes series. This public support has been reflected in the exceptional media coverage including the outstanding access through the free-to-air broadcast on Nine.”At the same time, strong television audiences are likely to aid CA in another goal – that of growing female participation numbers of in the game. “In the short term for the rest of this summer, we’re all about providing the platform to ensure we keep pushing the fantastic story of this squad and their performances in the Ashes,” Sutherland said.”There is no doubt that their feats and growing profile is inspiring the next generation of girls to play and love cricket. Female participation numbers will be up strongly again this year, with huge growth expected in the number of girls teams at school and club level.”

Hampshire look set to be one of the main beneficiaries when the ECB announce their major match allocation next week.They are expected to be awarded one of the most coveted games in the schedule – an Ashes Test in 2023. While the club hosted their first Test against Sri Lanka in 2011 and a second against India in 2014, the opportunity to host a Test against Australia would represent the culmination of many years’ work – and many millions of pounds of investment – for the club’s benefactor, Rod Bransgrove.While it is not anticipated that Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl ground will host any other Tests during the period, it is likely it will be given a couple of international T20 fixtures each year and confirmed as the base for one of the teams in the new T20 competition scheduled to start in 2020.The allocation – which will account for major matches staged in England and Wales from 2020 to 2024 – was originally scheduled to be announced on February 14, though it is possible that deadline could slide if the ECB board demand more explanation before ratification.

England fielding coach

The ECB is understood to have offered the job of fielding coach to the former Sussex batsman Carl Hopkinson. He is currently Sussex Academy coach.

There could also be good news for Lord’s in the allocation. While the reduction in England’s Test programme (they will play six Tests per summer from 2020 rather than seven as is the case at present) looked likely to harm them, confidence within the MCC remains high that they will continue to host two Tests a year. In summers where a team plays five Tests against England – a scenario that is currently only relevant to India and Australia – Lord’s would host one match in that series and a further Test against a side outside the ICC’s Test Championship. Lord’s is also likely to be confirmed as a host for a new team in the T20 competition.The other likely host venues for the new T20 competition are The Oval, Edgbaston, Trent Bridge, Cardiff, Manchester and Headingley though it is possible a few games will be played at other venues including Bristol and Durham.The remainder of the Tests will be split between England’s traditional Test grounds. With Durham no longer eligible to host Test cricket as part of a raft of penalties imposed on the club following their financial problems and Cardiff understood not to have applied to host any Test cricket during the period, the competition for the remaining three Ashes games will be limited to Edgbaston, Trent Bridge, The Oval, Old Trafford and Headingley.But with the ECB having altered the process by which games are allocated, it is the grounds with the largest capacity – The Oval, Old Trafford and Edgbaston – which are best placed to win the fight to host those Ashes Tests in 2023.Whereas clubs used to bid against one another – sometimes being seduced into over-spending in their desperation to host games – they now apply for packages of matches on the understanding that ticket sales (but not catering or hospitality revenues) will be shared with the ECB. For the most popular games, such as Ashes series, that revenue share is understood to be 50% of ticket sales.

Sunil Narine’s bat chips off at the bottom as he meets a full toss outside off•Getty Images

Dhaka Dynamites blew away Rajshahi Kings by 99 runs to confirm their place in the BPL playoffs. The result also means that Rajshahi has to win their last game and wait for other results to go their way to remain in the tournament.Dhaka rode on fifties from Joe Denly and Sunil Narine to pile up 205 for 5 in 20 overs. The pair added 129 runs for the opening stand with Narine top-scoring with 69 off 34 balls, an innings which included four fours and six sixes. Denly was more sedate, making 53 off 54 balls.Newcomer Qazi Onik, who took a four-wicket haul on his BPL debut in the previous game, was hammered for 52 from his four overs, taking two wickets.Then it was Shakib Al Hasan’s turn to delight the Mirpur crowd, as he took the big wickets of Lendl Simmons, Mushfiqur Rahim, Luke Wright and Samit Patel to finish with figures of 4 for 8. Mosaddek Hossain (2 for 9) and Shadman Islam (2 for 3) took two wickets each. Out of the four Rajshahi batsmen who got to double-figures, Patel’s 28 was the top score.

ScorecardWesley Madhevere took three wickets and struck an unbeaten half-century•ICC/Getty Images

Namibia’s decision to bat backfired on them to such an extent that they began their innings losing two wickets in two overs and then were bowled out for 113. With the score on 4 for 46 in the 13th over, and Eben van Wyk gone for 24 – it would become the highest score of the innings – they shifted focus towards lasting the full 50 overs. Zimbabwe didn’t mind. They used eight bowlers, and all of them conceded less than 4.5 runs per over. Nkosilathi Nungu, Dion Myers and Wesley Madhevere picked up two wickets each.The chase began in exciting fashion with opener Gregory Dollar and No. 3 Myers falling before the score reached double-digits. But Madhevere put an end to the mini-slide, hitting 47 off 38 balls, with seven fours, and Zimbabwe got to their target with seven wickets and 183 balls to spare.

The ICC has confirmed its Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has opened an investigation in Sri Lanka, less than 48 hours after 40 top cricketers petitioned Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to launch an inquiry into corruption allegations.On Friday, SLC confirmed it had received a letter signed by national players, including captains Dinesh Chandimal and Upul Tharanga, urging the board to probe the “baseless allegations” the players claim were made by former cricketer and selector Pramodya Wickramasinghe. The board, however, stopped short of stating it would launch the probe, and merely recounted the current players’ dismay at having their integrity questioned. But the ICC itself has now publicly established ACU officers have recently visited Sri Lanka in relation to an investigation.”The ICC Anti-Corruption Unit works to uphold integrity in cricket and this includes conducting investigations where there are reasonable grounds to do so,” Alex Marshall, the ICC’s General Manager – ACU, said. “There is currently an ACU investigation underway in Sri Lanka. Naturally, as part of this, we are talking to a number of people.”There have been rumours in Sri Lanka about the nature of play in a particular international match for several weeks, but no evidence of any sort has been produced, or even pointed to.And while some present cricketers claim Wickramasinghe made wild allegations against them, Wickramasinghe himself has more recently suggested that he was only making note of allegations that were already in circulation.Nevertheless, Wickramasinghe has been cast as the source of these allegations. SLC said the players had expressed “profound shock and displeasure at a former national cricketer and selector making such serious allegations,” and that SLC should “initiate an immediate inquiry by summoning Wickramasinghe in fairness to their good names that have been slandered by such diabolic [] allegations.”Whatever the case, it is uncommon for the ICC to comment on ongoing ACU investigations as they have on this occasion.

ScorecardFile photo: Shabnim Ismail picked up three wickets to bowl South Africa to their first T20I win against West Indies•Getty Images

Shabnim Ismail’s three wickets in seven balls and Dane van Niekerk’s two in an over helped South Africa Women defend 125, which seemed a sub-par total, and claim their first-ever Twenty20 win over West Indies Women. South Africa’s victory, which comes two weeks after they achieved the same feat over England, bodes well ahead of the World T20.On a slow, spin-friendly surface in Durban, West Indies restricted South Africa and would have fancied their chances of taking the early honours, but the hosts’ attack was up to the task. Ismail was instrumental in reducing West Indies to 16 for 4, before Deandra Dottin and Stacy-Ann King put them back on track. They shared a fifth-wicket stand of 72 but van Niekerk removed them both to take South Africa to a historic win.Ismail set the tone with an early strangle. She gave away just two runs in her first over against a watchful West Indies opening pair. Moseline Daniels, her opening partner, was more generous and pitched the ball up, but Ismail showed the way with the short balls. She had Stafanie Taylor caught at midwicket, attemping a pull, and followed it up with a fuller one, inducing an edge from Hayley Matthews, who was caught behind. Ismail stuck to the fuller length for the hat-trick ball, but it was defended.Ismail could not stay out of action. She took a catch at mid-on off debutant Odine Kirsten to send Kyshona Knight on her way before returning to dismiss Kycia Knight. South Africa would have already sensed an improbable victory at that stage, but had Dottin to deal with.Dottin took a liking to Kirsten and was strong down the ground as she started to claw West Indies back. She found an able partner in King, who was circumspect up front, and then began to pierce the gaps and threatened to take the game away.The pair took West Indies to within 38 runs of victory before van Niekerk struck. She broke through King’s defence to give South Africa some hope. Dottin holed out at the end of the over, and then all South Africa had to do was contain.Shemaine Campbelle and Shaquana Quintyne kept West Indies in the hunt by finding the fence in each of the last three overs, but left themselves too much to do. They needed 20 off the last over, but Ismail conceded just eight runs to seal the win.West Indies were disappointed after they dragged South Africa back from 39 without loss in the first five overs. Van Niekerk and Trisha Chetty took advantage of some loose bowling early on, but Anisa Mohammed ended their charge. She removed the openers in her first over, forcing them to rebuild.Three boundary-less overs followed and South Africa lost their captain Mignon du Preez to reach the halfway stage at 59 for 3.Lizelle Lee sensed the urgency to accelerate and opted to take on the spinners. She shared a stand of 48 runs, the highest of the innings, for the fourth wicket with Marizanne Kapp and set South Africa up for a strong finish. But she did not stick around to do it herself and was dismissed in the 16th over. South Africa lost three wickets for 24 at the death to finish with a total they may not have been confident of defending, but eventually did.