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Alex Hales has paid credit to the England management and selectors after his comeback century in Barbados. He was named Man of the Match in the final ODI of a series England won 3-0 after being a peripheral figure since the end of the English season.Having been dropped from the Test side, he then opted out of the limited-overs series in Bangladesh due to security fears and was reduced to a cameo appearance in India due to injury. With Sam Billings making two half-centuries in four innings as his replacement at the top of the order, it was possible that Hales might have had to wait for a return.But while Hales admits his decision to miss the Bangladesh tour was “a risk,” he has been gratified by the management’s belief in him and their decision to draft him back into the side as soon as he his hand had recovered. Hales was not originally deemed fit for selection for the one-day series in the Caribbean, but completed his rehab with the tour party in Antigua and was officially added to the squad a couple of days before the final game in Barbados despite not having played a warm-up match.”It was encouraging that they stuck with me,” Hales said. “It was obviously my choice not to tour Bangladesh and it gave the opportunity for other people to come in and do well. That was a risk I knew I was taking and the injury then came at a bad time for me.”I missed the boat in India. I ran myself out in the first ODI in India and then batted with a broken hand in the second one. Karma didn’t treat me very well. It’s been a tough winter.”But the team have backed me and stuck with me and hopefully I’ve repaid their faith.”It was his maturity that impressed most in Barbados. Put in on a tricky surface, England managed only 39 from the first 10 overs but then accelerated as conditions eased and the spinners were called upon. Perhaps reassured by the belief shown in him by the team management, Hales demonstrated the confidence to bat through the demanding period and score what he termed “ugly runs” before conditions eased and the runs started to flow.”It took a while to settle,” he said. “Me and Joe Root knew it would be tough against the seamers but we took our time and there were some ugly runs amongst it. We had a plan to be ultra-aggressive against the spinners and that plan worked for us. We wanted to put them under pressure. Then, the longer we got ourselves in, the easier the seamers became.”It was noticeable, too, that Hales allowed himself a sustained celebration upon reaching his century.”When you spend time away from international cricket it makes you realise what you’re missing out on,” he explained. “I tried to use the time off wisely, working on my fitness and batting with a small cast on my hand.”It’s a huge honour to represent England and when you have time away from that it makes you cherish what you’ve got. Playing for your country, playing in front of all these people… it’s special. I was emotional, yes. It was a combination of everything and to come here and score a hundred having not played a lot of cricket throughout the winter is an incredibly special feeling.”He has not given up on Test cricket either. While he accepts that his chance has gone as an opening batsman – he has averaged 27.28 in his Test career to date – he believes a recall to a middle-order position, a role he says has he has always favoured, remains a possibility.”The plan next summer is to try and score as many runs as I can in the middle order,” he said. “Obviously depending on how many games I play for Notts that may be hindered a bit. But I’ve got something set out for the next six months and that’s a good plan for me.”The middle order is somewhere I’ve always eyed up. But in my younger days at Notts, when you’ve got Mark Wagh, Stephen Fleming, David Hussey and Samit Patel there, it’s quite tough to get into that middle order. So I had to open to get into that Notts team and it became the same with the England team. They had Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen; the opening spot was again the place to target.”So throughout my career I’ve had to bat at the top of the order to make the step up, but now I’ve had that taste and not done as well as I would have liked to it gives me something else to focus on. I’m going to give it everything this summer and see what happens.

Gurkeerat Singh Mann led Punjab to a clinical, five-wicket win with a brisk 91 off 86 balls in their chase of 197 after Haryana had reduced them to 75 for 4. It was Harbhajan Singh’s figures with the ball – 10-0-33-4 – that put Punjab in a position of strength by bowling Haryana out for 196 in the penultimate over. After Siddarth Kaul removed Shubham Rohilla for a 12-ball duck, Nitin Saini and Chaitanya Bishnoi put on 68 for the second wicket in 109 balls, the biggest partnership of the innings. Punjab’s bowlers provided regular breakthroughs thereafter, led by Harbhajan, who had four batsmen lbw. Punjab’s chase got a steady start through U-19 opener Shubman Gill and Mandeep Singh, who added 47 in 81 balls. Legspinner Rahul Tewatia took three wickets and Harshal Patel had Yuvraj Singh bowled to pull Haryana back. Gurkeerat and Nikhil Chaudhary added an unbeaten 71 for the sixth wicket, of which the latter added 14.At the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, Assam aced their chase of 216 against Railways to register a four-wicket win with 12 balls to spare. After being asked to bowl, Assam restricted Railways to 215. An 85-run third-wicket stand between Akash Verma and Pratham Singh – after Railways were reduced to 8 for 2 – was the only phase in the game that Railways dominated. Arup Das took three wickets, while Pritam Das, Amit Verma and Swarupam Purkayastha claimed two scalps each. Handy contributions from Assam’s top order – Pallavkumar Das (44), Arun Karthik (42), Verma (35) and Riyan Parag (32) – ensured there wasn’t much trouble in the chase.Akshay Karnewar, an ambidextrous bowler, led Vidarbha to a comfortable seven-wicket rout of Odisha with figures of 4 for 21 from 10 overs. Odisha chose to bat, and were given a steady start by Govinda Poddar’s 68-ball 58. However, a score of 87 for 2 in the 23rd over quickly turned to 162 all out in the 46th over as the Vidarbha bowlers took control of the game. No other batsman scored more than 30. After a stable base, Vidarbha’s chase was never in doubt. Jitesh Sharma struck a 71-ball 70 before he was lbw off Rajkishan Patel. A patient 30 from Ambati Rayudu took Vidarbha home with 59 balls to spare.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIn a nutshellA clinical all-round showing by Peshawar Zalmi ensured they would avoid last season’s heartbreak, seeing off Karachi Kings to qualify for the PSL final. In a resounding performance at the Dubai International Stadium – spearheaded by a superlative hundred from Kamran Akmal – Peshawar never really let Karachi within touching distance of the target of 182, starving them of runs in the first six overs, and ensuring not even a stirring Chris Gayle and an explosive Kieron Pollard could rob them of a spot in Lahore.Peshawar looked ready for the occasion from ball one – which Akmal smashed for four – with the openers making up for the horror start in the first playoff loss to Quetta Gladiators. Kamran and Dawid Malan put on a classy 97-run stand to set a solid foundation to push toward a 200 total. Akmal seemed to get better as the innings wore on, no bowler able to subdue the diminutive keeper’s power hitting as sixes flew off his blade and he roared towards the PSL’s first century of 2017 and second in the two-year history of the competition. Accurate death bowling, particularly from Mohammad Amir, meant only 21 runs came off the last three overs, but the 181 that Peshawar put up was more than enough to handle for Karachi.Where the match was wonA chase of 182 on a pitch friendly to the batsmen wasn’t impossible, but a hopeless start for the Kings surely made it so. Leading scorer Babar Azam falling for 1 wasn’t ideal, but Gayle’s mystifying approach would have maddened Karachi fans more than anything else. He scored 2 off his first 15 balls in what could only be called a solipsistic performance: one man’s quest to get his eye in oblivious to the demands of the asking rate.It placed pressure on batsmen at the other end; Kumar Sangakarra and Shoaib Malik fell in the Powerplay attempting to kick on, and by the time Pollard arrived, Karachi found themselves at 34 for 4 in the ninth over. It was a deep hole, and in the end, too deep even for Gayle and Pollard to dig their team out of.The men that won itKamran seems to have found a new lease of life at 35 years of age, and Peshawar have benefitted richly from it this PSL campaign. His form was obvious from the very start, the wicketkeeper batsman guiding the first two balls for two elegant offside boundaries. He picked the bowler’s lengths exceptionally early, and was particularly devastating against the spinners, taking on any full-length deliveries and launching them straight down the ground. He seemed unplayable towards the latter stages of the innings, Ravi Bopara’s medium-pacers coming in for particular punishment.When he ended his innings, Kamran had become the highest scorer of the PSL, and his century in the biggest game of the tournament so far, coupled with the form leading up to it, has made him harder and harder to ignore for the national side. For Peshawar, at the moment, he is simply indispensable.Who’s playing the final?The struggles the PSL has faced in trying to organise the final in Lahore have been well-documented, particularly with regards to the availability of foreign players for the showpiece occasion. Peshawar, however, experienced an ill-timed injury today to one of their biggest domestic stars. On the first ball of the tenth over, Pollard smashed a ball to cover. As Shahid Afridi attempted an improbable catch, it burst through his fingers, splitting the webbing on his right hand.Blood streamed down his index finger as he rushed off the field, and though Peshawar have plenty of reasons to celebrate today, the last thing the PSL needs is the absence of its biggest local superstar and unfortunately that is the case. Afridi was pictured after the match with his hand heavily bandaged and has been ruled out of the final.Moment of the matchIf any player deserved to carry his bat through a T20 innings, it was Kamran today. But what he perhaps deserved more was the overwhelming adulation he received when he was run out in the final over of the innings.A packed Dubai crowd rose as one, his trudge back to the pavilion met with thunderous applause. Even the Karachi players joined in the ovation, most coming up to the Peshawar opener to shake his hand as he made his way off. Kamran, never one as comfortable with stardom as some of his Pakistani teammates, looked genuinely humbled at the respect he got, even if it was no more than he had earned.Where they standThis was a virtual semi-final, and Karachi’s loss eliminates Sangakkara’s men. Peshawar go through to the final, to be played against Quetta Gladiators at the Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday.

Despite Sri Lanka slumping to a second big defeat in the ODI series against South Africa, coach Graham Ford found a silver lining from their performance in Durban. Surprisingly, it was in their batting, even though Sri Lanka have yet to post a total over 200 in the series.”I was quite excited with what I saw today. Unfortunately none of our batsmen converted starts but they certainly showed they have got the talent to play at this level and to make an impact at this level,” he said. “I feel when I look at the number of games so many of them have played and the ages of some of them, if they are looked after and shown the right kind of support, in time, they could be a very good Sri Lankan side.”Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella and Dhananjaya de Silva are 22, 23 and 25 respectively and between them have played just 40 ODIs. None of them had been to South Africa before this trip and the experience they will gain from facing the moving ball on surfaces with good bounce and carry is something Ford hopes will put them on the right path for the future.”For some of the guys it’s a bit of a jolt to come and see how tough it is to play in foreign conditions and to play in South Africa,” Ford said. “From that point of view, it’s got to be a learning opportunity. If we are realistic and we look at the players we’ve got and the ages and the amount of games they have played, it is about learning and it is about improving. At times we’ve shown improvement, at times I have hoped for more improvement. On tonight’s performance, I was quite excited about what I saw.”With less than six months to go before the Champions Trophy in June, where Sri Lanka will face South Africa in the group stage, Ford knows his team needs to develop fairly quickly. “It’s pretty clear there is a lot of improvement that needs to take place. From what I saw from some of these young batsmen, they showed they can handle this sort of bowling attack,” he said. “Conditions in England might not suit them as much as today’s conditions so we will have to do a bit of thinking about balance of side and the way we can try and disrupt them in those conditions but we will have to improve a lot in all three disciplines.”For now, Sri Lanka have to find to find a way to deal with South Africa over the next eight days. They will play three more matches, all must-win, all without regular captain Angelo Mathews, whose absence Ford admitted has been felt. “In white-ball cricket, Angelo is a fantastic allrounder. He is the leader of the group so it is a setback but if I look at where we are at, it gives us a chance to groom a couple of other guys in the set-up and hopefully it will pay us back down the line.”As a result, Sri Lanka will look to the only other members of their squad who have toured South Africa before, stand-in skipper Upul Tharanga and senior batsman Dinesh Chandimal, to lead the resurrection.Chandimal’s form, in particular, has been worrying. He scored 85 runs in six innings in the Tests at an average of under 15, 33 runs in the three T20s and 22 and 36 in the two ODIs. But Ford has noticed the steady increase in Chandimal’s contributions and suspects that something bigger and better is on the horizon now that the wicketkeeper-batsman has recovered from the thumb dislocations that sidelined him late last year.”In recent weeks, he has started to look a lot better, started to time the ball and shown he is not far away,” Ford said. “He started this tour a little under-done because of that serious finger injury but we all know what a capable player he is. He will get one score score hopefully in the next game and hopefully he won’t look back.”

Rajshahi Division fought back from a first innings deficit to beat Sylhet Division by 151 runs in Bogra.Abu Jayed’s six-wicket haul helped Sylhet bowl out Rajshahi for 204 in the first innings, after which they took a 15-run lead through Abul Hasan’s 59 at No 9. Farhad Reza took five wickets while Mamun Hossain took four for Rajshahi, who in reply batted much better in the second innings.Farhad Hossain struck his 12th first-class century to help Rajshahi to 344. Farhad, who struck nine fours and four sixes in his five-hour effort, added 90 runs for the fourth wicket with Junaid Siddique, who struck 78.Tasked with 330 to win, Sylhet were bowled out for 178 on the fourth afternoon. Only veteran Rajin Saleh remained steadfast, unbeaten on 75 as the rest collapsed around him.Left-arm spinners Sunzamul Islam and Saqlain Sajib took three wickets each for Rajshahi. Farhad was adjudged the Man of the match.Rangpur Division dismantled Chittagong Division by 10 wickets after Suhrawadi Shuvo’s all-round show put them ahead in Sylhet.Rangpur posted 450 batting first, with Shuvo’s 121 helping them recover from 190 for 6 on the first day. He added 102 for the seventh wicket with Ariful Haque, who chipped in with 52, and another 130 for the eighth wicket with Alauddin Babu, who made 64. Shuvo made 121 off 204 balls with 14 fours, lasting more than four hours at the crease.Shuvo then took three wickets to help Rangpur bowl out Chittagong for 182 in the first innings. Seamer Mohammad Saddam also picked up three wickets while offspinner Mahmudul Hasan took two wickets.Rangpur enforced the follow-on, after which Chittagong made 297 in the second innings, leaving Rangpur with just 30 to win. Seamer Ariful took four wickets while Babu and Shuvo took two each. For Chittagong, Yasir Ali scored their only fifty of the match, an 86-ball 58.Rangpur took just 5.2 overs to knock off the target.

Don’t expect major changes in the South Africa XI when they play their first day-night Test in Adelaide in a week’s time. Early indications show they are not looking to shake up the batting line-up but there may be a spot for chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi, who was seen practising alone with the pink ball in the indoor nets in Hobart during the second Test.”I don’t think we are going to change much. It’s important that we maintain the stability of the squad and the structure of the starting XI,” Linda Zondi, South Africa’s convener of selectors, said. “We’ve picked the squad based on what we feel will be the right combination. We are fortunate that we’ve got so much variation. If we feel Shamsi will play a role, we will definitely choose him but [Keshav] Maharaj has done well. It’s a nice problem to have. It boils down to the case of the decision to be made and we will see the conditions on the day.”Statistical evidence does not help Shamsi’s case either. He only bowled three overs in the pink ball warm-up match in Adelaide and was South Africa’s most expensive bowler in the next practice game, a regular red-ball fixture. Neither was he part of the South Africa A side that played two unofficial Tests against Australia A in winter. However, evidence from India’s Duleep Trophy shows that wristspinners can have success with the pink ball. Kuldeep Yadav, a chinaman bowler like Shamsi, led the wicket-charts and Yuvraj Singh said he saw batsmen struggle against wristspinners.Australia’s batsmen had a hard time against Shamsi in the ODI series in South Africa, which Zondi will be aware of. Vernon Philander is nursing a sore shoulder from his collision with Steven Smith, and concerns remain over Morne Morkel’s match-readiness. With those factors and a ball that wears quickly, South Africa may surprise by picking two spinners in the starting XI.The pink ball could also force a different thought about the composition of the line-up, perhaps with a push for more aggressive players upfront to maximise scoring chances. Quinton de Kock, or even Rilee Rossouw, whose form against Australia in the ODIs earned him a spot in the Test squad, would seem likely candidates given Stephen Cook has yet to find his stride on this tour. Zondi, however, indicated such drastic measures won’t be used.”You need to back players, it’s very important. A player shouldn’t walk into a match knowing ‘This is the last game that I’ll be playing’,” he said. “If you look at Stiaan van Zyl, there was a time when he was really struggling and we needed to back him and we did. You need to give players enough opportunity. That’s something we want to maintain. Yes, there will come a time when you’ve crossed the line but we’ve got to be fair in terms of saying we’ve given a guy enough chances and only then look another way.”Van Zyl, a regular middle-order player who has since signed a Kolpak deal and taken himself out of the Test equation, was given the job of opening the batting when Alviro Petersen retired in 2014 but was not able to fit in. In eight innings between January and December 2015, van Zyl managed only 156 runs at 22.28, which included South Africa’s nightmare tour of India late last year. Yet, the selectors stuck with him for the return series against England at home. He was dropped only after he had failed over a full calendar year and was replaced by the in-form Cook, who scored a century on debut against England in Centurion.Cook has spent more than a decade in the franchise structures and was among the top ten run-scorers for seven seasons before being given an opportunity, and it is expected that his future will not be decided on two poor Tests in Australia, especially as South Africa are strong everywhere else. “When you look at the different roles and the structure of the side, we’ve got enough combinations in the middle order with bowling allrounders as well, so even if the challenge remains upfront, it’s only fair that we give whoever we pick a good run,” Zondi said.Another factor in Cook’s favour is that South Africa do not plan on experimenting excessively, despite the series being won. They’re chasing a whitewash and a consistency to carry into the home summer and the series in New Zealand, as they look to climb the rankings again. “From a selection point of view, we try by all means to make sure we sustain and maintain the continuation of the side,” Zondi said. “It’s about guys understanding and having awareness of their roles in the side. The more they understand their roles, the better for the team and the better for us as we are moving forward.”

ScorecardNitish Kumar’s half-century and two wickets in a momentum-shifting bowling spell led Canada past USA by 34 runs in the opening 50-over contest of the 2016 Auty Cup in Woodley Park on Thursday. In his first match as Canada captain, Kumar arrived in the fourth over with the side at 20 for 1, after being put in to bat on a moist pitch, and teamed with Srimantha Wijeratne for a 104-run second-wicket partnership that laid the platform for the score of 239 for 8.Kumar had some help from USA’s poor fielding performance that allowed the side to flourish early. Kumar was dropped twice – on 2 and 11 – by wicketkeeper Akeem Dodson in his innings of 60, while Wijeratne, who top-scored with 66, enjoyed three lives – he was put down by Steven Taylor at slip on 28 and 45, and then Dodson missed a stumping on 59.Taylor did his best to stall Canada’s momentum with the ball and, after nabbing Kumar and Wijeratne, he burrowed through Canada’s middle order to claim a career-best 5 for 47. Shehan Kamileen was teased into a edging a wider delivery, while Nikhil Dutta and Junaid Siddiqui were both given out leg before playing across the line.Legspinner Timil Patel built pressure at the other end to aid Taylor, ending with 2 for 35. Both strikes came in the 37th over – a double-wicket maiden – that swung the momentum USA’s way. Hamza Tariq sent a leading edge back for a return catch off the second ball before Dilon Heyliger fell three balls later, flicking around his pads.Canada slipped from 152 for 2 to 183 for 8 by the time Taylor and Patel had ripped through the line-up but USA’s inability to see off the tail cost them badly. Varun Sehdev and Satsimranjit Dhindsa added an unbeaten 56-run stand for the ninth wicket. An injury to Srini Santhanam, who had consistently troubled Canada and had two chances put down off his bowling, also dented USA’s bowling effort. Santhanam hurt his shoulder throwing in a relay from the boundary in the 20th over, having just finished his sixth over in a spell of 0 for 30. He was off the field for the rest of the innings.USA sprinted toward the target early on thanks in part to Canada’s wayward start with the ball – four leg byes and five wides in the first over – an early sign of things to come. The 32 extras bowled by Canada ended up as the second-highest contributor to USA’s score. USA reached 45 in the fifth over as opener Abdullah Syed began by driving Dhindsa to the cover rope, then slashed him over third man for six in the second over before being caught down the leg side off Cecil Pervez for 12.Opening batsman Fahad Babar motored along to 35 off 32 balls before the introduction of spin halted his and USA’s overall progress. While Babar managed to keep Canada’s spinners out, his middle-order partners could not. Kumar brought himself on in the 14th over and clogged up runs at his end. The pressure saw USA add 10 runs and lose three wickets over the next seven overs to slip from 80 for 1 in 13 overs to 90 for 4 in 20 overs.Alex Amsterdam played down the wrong line and was pinned lbw by Kumar for 14. Taylor ran himself out for 1, with Babar on strike, as Kumar made a diving stop at midwicket off Dutta and then calmly threw to the bowler, with the batsman giving up. Dodson then edged Kumar to Siddiqui at slip for 5, giving the Canada captain figures of 2 for 6 with two maidens in his first five overs.Babar eventually brought up his half-century off 71 balls in the 27th over and appeared to have found a willing ally in Nicholas Standford to get USA’s chase back on track. Standford slammed Siddiqui’s legspin over the on side for six and four in the 23rd over but, five overs later, he edged behind off Dhindsa while attempting a cut.Babar’s patience ran out, too, and he gave his wicket to Siddiqui, charging down the track for the first time in the 38th over and edging a slog to Tariq for 63. USA needed 74 off the last 12 overs but that was too much for the tail. Jessy Singh and Danial Ahmed were both caught on the boundary to wrap up the innings in 47.2 overs. Pervez was brilliant in his second spell, taking 2 for 11 and two maidens in five overs to finish with 3 for 38 in 10.

ScorecardEd Joyce made 92 to lead Sussex’s reply before a mid-innings collapse•Getty Images

There Luke Wright was, wandering slowly from the field, strangled down the leg-side off David Masters, the sixth of six wickets to fall for just 49. Harry Finch, with a broken thumb, would only bat if absolutely required, so Wright’s big plan to haul Sussex back into the game looked in tatters, with just the bowlers left to bat.That plan, for the first half of the day, had been going so well. First thing, Chris Jordan, a little luckless yet also a wee bit wayward on day one, bowled with verve and pace to dock Essex’s meek tail, picking up four wickets for five runs, as just 21 was added to the overnight score.Then, for an hour each side of lunch, Ed Joyce batted with grace and class in the company of the more watchful Chris Nash to reach 124 without loss. Barely a bat was beaten, hardly an appeal uttered in anger. Joyce was in total control; he drove with precision, flicked crisply to leg and cut and pulled with elegance. When 100 came up, he had 72 and a fourth Championship century of the season – and 46th in first-class cricket (it is his stated aim to reach 50 this season) – seemed a formality. Nash, capable of scoring at such a lick, blocked away in awe.Then, unplanned, came afternoon drinks. On a warm afternoon, Essex’s fielders were beginning to look beleaguered – and perhaps beguiled by Joyce – regrouped. The tight line, and perhaps a little nip, of Masters, with the first over of the break, caught Nash napping, and James Foster took a fine catch low to his right. Next over, Luke Wells appeared to nick off to Graham Napier, but – with Essex incredulous and fielders delivering a volley of abuse to the batsman – the umpire adjudged it was arm, not bat. It mattered not, as next ball Wells pulled a bumper straight to fine leg. Send-offs – needless to say – followed.Another couple of overs on and it was Joyce out hooking, while David Wiese came and went for a breezy 13, which included two fine straight drives, before he edged the impressive Tom Moore – who sage judges in these parts say is playing for his future at Essex – to the lone slip. After tea, Wright’s wicket immediately followed that of Ben Brown, through his stroke early and caught at mid-on, and 124 for 0 had become 173 for 6.Then Jofra Archer, who bowled with such promise on day one, joined his mentor – and the man who arranged for him to come from their native Barbados and play in southern England, Chris Jordan, in the middle. While they made a scratchy start, they both settled and, on a pitch with wonderful carry, the Essex seamers – Ryan ten Doeschate appears to have inherited his clubmate Alastair Cook’s distrust of spinners – tired once more.Jordan and Archer – which sounds rather like a Hello! magazine cover in the noughties – went tit for tat. Jordan pulled beautifully on the front foot so Archer – who enjoyed the majority of the strike – handsomely cover drove, before standing tall to wallop Porter for six over square-leg. They moved to 50 in consecutive balls in Dan Lawrence’s solitary over and, by stumps, the partnership – all stylish, swashbuckling fare – was worth 118, and the lead had been eroded to just 67. Wright needn’t have looked so hangdog after all.”Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant,” enthused their coach, Mark Davis, “we had got ourselves in a really good position through the openers, and from there, you hope to have a proper day with the bat, and get 500. But that didn’t prove to be, we lost a few, then those two came together – what an amazing partnership, and it got us back in the game.”Jofra came in in a tricky situation but is a pretty fearless cricketer with bat and ball. He’s not fazed by the occasion, or by playing his first few games in this country. You can’t really instill that in players. He’s not just a bowler, he’s an allrounder and we are really excited to have him in our ranks. He’s had a great week, he’s very driven and is quick learner. CJ knows him very well, he’s the one who got him over in the first place, they know each other well. He’s always said how good he is. He could be a superstar for us.”Jordan’s excellence with the bat – and as a leader, too, perhaps – was matched by his early showing with the ball. Ashar Zaidi had one too many swish and was caught behind, while nightwatchman Porter was trapped plumb in front. Masters’ nick made it four in 13 balls, then Moore’s stumps went flying. With the dangerous Napier, playing his final game on his home ground, left stranded, Jordan – not for the last time – had got his team out of trouble. Much more work lies ahead for Jordan, but thanks in large part to he and Archer, a thrilling contest awaits.

ScorecardRavi Bopara’s all-round excellence kept Essex alive in the tournament•Getty Images

On a night when one campaign would be reignited and another shelved, Essex trampled all over Kent in front of their own fans for a derby hammering that soured a truly exceptional night of revelry. It was standard English T20 fare: ale in the air, kids playing in the array of green nooks that Canterbury has to offer and unhindered sun cheering even the most straight-laced Kent fan lamenting a season in which a side that promised so much has delivered so little.Before the match Ravi Bopara was not entirely sure what Essex needed for a quarter-final spot. Having called the toss correctly, he assumed winning every match might do it. Opting to bat, both he and Tom Westley notched their first half-centuries of the competition to post 190. A turn with the ball, removing Alex Blake and then running out James Tredwell with a direct hit, showed that Bopara was at least up to scratch with the short-term needs if not the bigger picture. He’ll be pleased to know that they now sit in fourth, with their fate in their own hands.With a plethora of English talent on show, Andy Flower was present to soak in an evening when the ground was bursting at the seams with a crowd that pushed the 6,000 capacity to its limit. There was not a seat nor a patch of grass spare on the bank. Standing space, too, had to be earned. The food village at the Nackington Road End was a sweaty mosh-pit of pad thai at the interval. Flower opted for the sedate order of the Sainsbury’s next to the ground.As it happens, he would have made all if not most of his notes of praise during Essex’s innings, as Kent Spitfires’ chase stuttered every few boundaries. Sam Northeast, with 994 Championship runs and, now, over 403 in the T20 Blast, was snipped after 12 balls at the crease, just as he was starting to threaten a thrilling star turn. The returning Lions fared no better: Daniel Bell-Drummond gifting David Masters a high return catch before Sam Billings, given a WWE-style fanfare when he strode to the crease, made a more sombre return walk after just two balls for Masters’ second.Westley shone brightest, coming in during the fifth over and batting right through to the end for 74 off 49 balls. It was typically Westley – a wrist-heavy affair that was more kiss-kiss than bang-bang. He took a particular liking to Darren Stevens, at times allowing deliveries to sit up, on a pitch that responded well to variety, to find gaps on both sides of the wicket.The half-century came off 33 balls, by which point, in the 15th over, Bopara had just 12 from 17 balls. A post-fifty acceleration from Westley allowed his captain the chance to settle before thrashing 15 off the 20th over, bowled by David Griffiths. Bopara’s own half-century saw him redress his stodgy start with 31 off the last 15 balls. Together, they put on 119.Tonight also marked the return of Matt Coles. Since being made unavailable for selection after an indiscretion during the Championship game against Glamorgan in Cardiff last month, the rumour mill has been turning. It is familiar territory for Coles, who is Kent through and through but will find it harder to command the goodwill of a fan base starting to lose their patience with him.News of Coles’ return to the side had not reached those at the ground until the toss, many of whom had already sussed his presence, a spitting burly figure throwing down stumps with Kagiso Rabada in the warm-ups. Brought on after four overs, he conceded consecutive boundaries off his first two balls back but finished the over with the wicket of Nick Browne – caught well by Rabada at deep midwicket- before undoing Dan Lawrence with a change of pace.A penny for Flower’s thoughts: it was he who ejected Coles from a Lions tour in 2013, along with Ben Stokes, as his visit to the camp in Australia coincided with their drunken misdemeanours. Stokes has made his peace by becoming one of the game’s most exciting allrounders as Coles battles on to find his.He needs time to get back to where he wants to be – in cricket and in life. In so many ways, it is hard not to look at Coles and, even considering the self-inflicted nature of his misdemeanours, label him “unlucky”. As one member of that 2013 Lions tour put it: “it’s not that Colesy got drunk – it’s that he got caught”.

A side normally known for its seam prowess, South Africa, now have a record-breaking spinner to boast about too. Imran Tahir’s 7 for 45 against West Indies are the best figures by any bowler from his country in ODIs.While picking up that haul, Tahir also became the quickest South African to 100 wickets. The legspinner has played 58 matches, one fewer than Morne Morkel who held the previous record.Tahir was able to do his job without worrying about keeping the runs down thanks to his team-mates putting up 343 for 4 in 50 overs. “I had the freedom to bowl whatever I wanted to because the boys put a decent total on the board, especially on a track like this,” he said. “They put us in a position where the bowlers could do whatever they want to do and try to attack and that’s what we did and things went well for us.”South Africa posted the only score over 300 in the Caribbean tri-series so far to silence criticism about their long tail, but it did not always look like it would be enough.West Indies were racing along at 58 for 0 after six overs when Tahir was introduced. His over, full of sliders and googlies, was the first not to include a boundary and his next one produced a wicket – Andre Fletcher caught at deep midwicket. It underlined Tahir’s ability to be effective even against big-hitting batsmen with the field restrictions in place.”They [West Indies] are attacking players and we know that. When someone attacks you, there is always an opportunity and that’s what I look for,” Tahir said. “The West Indian boys can chase anything. It is a big challenge as a spinner to play modern day cricket, where you have to have five players in the circle. Thanks to technology, you can sit and see the opposition’s mistakes and try to learn from them. It’s very challenging as a spinner but it’s good as well because that makes you perfect.”After his initial breakthrough, Tahir was brought back in the middle overs, a period when he has controlled proceedings for South Africa over the last two years. On Wednesday, he removed Marlon Samuels, West Indies’ match-winner when they chased 266 against Australia, for 24.It is unusual for South Africa to play two specialist spinners but they have done so in every match of this series – and once even fielded three. The combination of Tahir and left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi has helped the balance of their attack and showed that they do posses bowlers who can exploit slower surfaces.”He is a very good talent,” Tahir said of Shamsi. “I’m very happy to see him bowling like that. I’ve been working with him for a long time. He is a brother to me. We played together for a few years in domestic cricket and it’s really nice to see him doing what he is doing.”In a country that has lacked for spin-bowling role-models, Shamsi will have few better teachers than Tahir, who broke the back of West Indies’ chase and then returned to feast on the tail. He got rid of Jason Holder and Carlos Brathwaite off successive balls and Kieron Pollard later in the same over to take his second career five-for, and then topped up with two more wickets to end with figures better than any South African so far.”I feel really proud. I will take that any day,” Tahir said. “I’m just really pleased. When things like this happen, you feel good about yourself and all the hard work you’ve done in the nets.”