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Opener Rishi Patel, with his first century of the season, and nightwatcher Scott Currie, led the fightback as Leicestershire’s batters fought to save the game on the third day of the Vitality County Championship match against Gloucestershire at the UptonSteel County Ground, Grace Road.The two batted throughout the morning without being parted, and although Patel was bowled shortly after lunch, Currie remained unbeaten in the afternoon session, reaching a maiden first-class half century.Currie was finally dismissed shortly after tea, one of four wickets to fall as Gloucestershire maintained their hopes of enforcing victory on the final day. But they will need all ten wickets in Leicestershire’s second innings as Patel, in company with Marcus Harris, saw the home side through to the close without being parted after the visitors enforced the follow on.Patel demonstrated a determination to be positive from the off after Leicestershire resumed on 133 for 5 on a cloudless morning in the East Midlands. Having made a painstaking 51 from 136 deliveries the previous evening, the 25-year-old played a series of glorious straight drives in adding 24 to his score from the first 16 balls he faced before settling back into his innings – at least until he was on 86, whereupon he hit the legspin of Ed Middleton for four, four and six off consecutive deliveries, the century coming off 203 deliveries and including 13 fours and two maximums.Only once had there been a real rush of blood, a mighty swing and miss against Middleton. Bracey took off the bails and appealed, but Patel’s back foot had – just – remained in his crease.At the other end, Currie was unmoveable, the only time he looked at all likely to get out coming when he twice tried to cut Middleton through the off side, missing on both occasions. Solid and impressively determined defence saw him go to lunch unbeaten on 19, made from 119 deliveries.Having delayed taking the new ball for a couple of overs after the break, Gloucestershire had almost immediate joy when they did so, Matt Taylor producing a peach of a delivery to remove Patel’s off stump.That was the only moment of celebration in the session for the visitors, however, as Ben Cox picked up where Patel had left off, scoring at a run a ball, while Currie did nothing different, defending his wicket against all-comers and just occasionally unfurling a classy attacking shot. Having passed his previous first class best of 44, he went to his 50 off 182 balls, having hit five fours, and continued to play in exactly the same exemplary manner until tea.Gloucestershire needed a quick breakthrough after the interval and it came first ball, Cox leg before to Middleton after missing a sweep. Currie too was given leg before on the back foot to Taylor soon afterwards, and Ben Mike missed a slog at an Ollie Price delivery which turned a touch and hit off stump. Price only needed two more deliveries to dismiss last man Josh Hull, leg before on the back foot.

The South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) would like the national men’s team to take a uniform approach to taking a knee but has criticised Cricket South Africa (CSA) for mandating it, and for doing so during a global tournament.Speaking at the Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) hearings, SACA CEO Andrew Breetzke said CSA has caused a “crisis” in the national team after Quinton de Kock sat out of the match against West Indies when he refused to follow the mandate to take a knee. Breetzke is currently “managing” the situation with de Kock.”My preference would be that there was a uniform approach to taking a knee,” Breetzke said. “From a SACA perspective, I would like to see the team take a unified approach to taking a knee, but at the same time I am not going to force anyone to take a knee.”Related

• South Africa are not perfect, but they are starting to get comfortable about it

• 'I am not a racist' – Quinton de Kock apologises, will take the knee

• Why did Quinton de Kock refuse to take a knee?

• 'I believe de Kock is committed to an antiracist agenda' – CSA chairperson Lawson Naidoo

• Bavuma: Team 'taken aback' at de Kock's refusal to take a knee

Breetzke said that despite a CSA statement that said the team’s different postures in showing anti-racism gestures created “unintended perception of disparity or lack of support for the initiative”, the national side has had extensive discussions around the Black Lives Matter movement.”This team has had more culture and diversity engagement than any other team has had,” Breetzke said. “They have had the hard conversations, around diversity, players’ understanding of Black Lives Matter, players’ understanding of taking a knee and what it means to be in a team with people of different backgrounds.”He was of the opinion that CSA should have held more conversations with the team before the players left for the T20 World Cup and not informed them of the instruction to take a knee five hours before their second group-stage fixture.”This issue should have been dealt with a while ago and not at an ICC event, where it is a crisis,” he said.While CSA has noted de Kock’s decision not to take a knee, they await a report from team management before deciding on future steps. The news from the South African camp is that de Kock remains “very much a part of the Proteas team and has not been sent home as some reports have incorrectly stated”, according to a statement sent out on Tuesday morning. de Kock is yet to release a statement but it is “being finalised and will be shared as soon as possible”.

AB de Villiers was left to get six off the last two balls. They were both full tosses but he failed to hit them as he usually does and so the Sunrisers Hyderabad were able to savour victory by four runs.

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With 13 needed off the last over, bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, de Villiers drilled the fourth ball for six, but fell short in the end. The defeat means Royal Challengers’ chances of finishing inside the top two are all but over, as the eliminated Sunrisers pinched their third win of the season following contributions from pretty much all their bowlers, and Jason Roy and Kane Williamson.Harshal’s hot run continues
Harshal Patel was introduced just after the powerplay ended, with the Sunrisers sitting pretty at 50 for the loss of one wicket. His first over went for eight – including a boundary from Roy, who pulled him to deep midwicket – and he was taken off after that.By the time he returned for the 12th over, Sunrisers had managed to maintain the momentum, with Roy and Williamson having added 67 runs together. But two balls and three runs later, Harshal foxed Williamson with an offcutter that landed bang on a good length, and took off to strike the top of middle stump.Sunrisers lost track once that 70-run stand was broken. They made just 50 runs off the last eight overs. There were five wickets as well. Two of those went to Harshal, taking his tournament tally to 29. Brought back to bowl two of the last three overs, he beat Wriddhiman Saha with a lack of pace too, as another offcutter landed in the hands of long-off. And off the final ball of the innings, he went for a slow, dipping full-toss to Jason Holder, who found long-on with his slog.Malik pushes the speed gun
Umran Malik, brought on as a short-term replacement for the Covid-positive T Natarajan, attracted eyeballs with his ferocious pace and accuracy. Like Harshal, he too started immediately after the field restrictions were lifted; but contrastingly, he beat the batters with his extra pace. Malik began by hitting 141kph, and conceded just a single off his first four deliveries. The fifth one produced a wicket, KS Bharat caught behind off a searing short ball.Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck in the first over•BCCI

Malik continued to work the speedgun, cranking it up to 153 kph. His first over cost just a single. His second just five. Williamson took him off at that point and brought him back with the Royal Challengers needing 29 off the last three. The pressure was on but Malik was able to handle it well, finishing with 1 for 21 off his four overs.Maxwell’s Big Show
Glenn Maxwell arrived at the crease with Royal Challengers at 38 or 3 in the seventh over. While Devdutt Padikkal at the other end was taking his time, Maxwell got stuck into Rashid Khan, launching the second ball he faced – and the first from the legspinner – over deep midwicket for six. That was followed by another maximum over long-on off a tossed-up ball as well as a four two balls later, when he hoicked Rashid to deep midwicket again.Maxwell dominated pace as well, pulling Siddarth Kaul for four, and also stealing another four off the inside edge off Holder. He tried attacking Bhuvneshwar in the 14th over, but tight lines from the bowler meant Royal Challengers could manage just six runs.Then the game changed as Maxwell was run out for 40 off 25. It happened when Padikkal tapped the ball to cover and the batters set off for a non-existent single. Williamson was standing pretty close in, and swooped on the opportunity, his acrobatic direct hit catching the batter well short.

A stellar run of recent form has pushed South Africa batter Lizelle Lee to the top of the ODI batting rankings for the second time this year. With 762 ranking points, Lee is jointly atop the women’s batting rankings along with India captain Mithali Raj.Lee currently has two fifty-plus scores on South Africa’s ongoing tour of the West Indies, including an unbeaten 91 in the first ODI. Before her move atop twice this year, she had first topped the women’s ODI rankings in June 2018.Meanwhile, Lee’s team-mate and medium pacer Ayabonga Khaka gained a spot among the bowlers to move to No. 7 after grabbing four wickets in the first two ODIs against West Indies, which came at miserly economy rate of only two runs an over. Equally impressive was allrounder Dane van Niekerk, whose four wickets in the first two games came at an economy of 1.85, thus pushing her up a spot to No. 7 among ODI allrounders.Also, in the T20I rankings, England legspinner Sarah Glenn moved over to the second spot among bowlers after four wickets in the recently-concluded home series against New Zealand, while the visitors’ offspinner Leigh Kasperek climbed up seven places to sit at No. 15 after bagging six wickets on the tour, where she was the leading wicket-taker in her side’s 1-2 defeat.And runs in the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifiers saw Zimbabwe’s Modester Mupachikwa moved up to No. 20 among batters after scoring 133 runs in four innings, with her captain Mary-Anne Musonda gaining 14 places to be rise up to No. 52.

Southern Brave have signed Archie Lenham, the 17-year-old Sussex legspinner, as a last-minute replacement for the injured Liam Dawson and included him in the squad for their winner-takes-all fixture against Oval Invincibles on Monday night.Earlier this summer, Lenham became the first player to make an appearance in the T20 Blast who was born after the competition’s inception in 2003 and went on to take ten wickets in nine group games with an economy rate of 7.71. His father, Neil, and grandfather, Leslie, were both former Sussex players.Lenham is the fourth frontline spinner in the Brave squad after Danny Briggs, Jake Lintott and Max Waller – who was unavailable for their last game against Welsh Fire after becoming a parent – but is in contention to make his debut against Invincibles as a surprise late pick.Dawson was ruled out of the competition last week after fracturing a finger on his right hand when Phil Salt hit a ball straight back at him during the no-result against Manchester Originals at Emirates Old Trafford. “Hopefully back to normal in 4-6 weeks,” he tweeted.The winner of Monday night’s game will join Trent Rockets and Birmingham Phoenix in the knockout stages of the men’s competition, with the loser eliminated.

Worcestershire’s Daryl Mitchell has been elected as the new chairman of the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA). He succeeds Mark Wallace, who steps down after four years having completed the maximum two terms.Mitchell has already flagged the ECB’s plans for a new city-based T20 competition to be introduced in 2020 as a major issue to be tackled by the PCA under his chairmanship.”There is going to be big change ahead, not just for English domestic cricket but also on the world stage. These are interesting times,” Mitchell said.”There is talk of a franchise Twenty20 competition and it would be good to be involved in the discussions surrounding that. It’s important that the questions of our 400-plus members about how it will all work are answered and that was the crux of my manifesto.”Mitchell won a ballot of current county players ahead of four other candidates: Graham Onions, Paul Horton, James Hildreth and Steven Crook. He will serve for the next two years, with the appointment due to be ratified at the PCA’s annual general meeting on Tuesday.”It was pretty competitive and there were some really good lads who went for it, so to be elected by your peers from other clubs is very pleasing,” Mitchell said.”It’s a prestigious role and it has been done very well in recent years by Vikram Solanki, who I know from his time at Worcestershire, and then Mark Wallace, who has done a fantastic job over the last four years. It’s a big role and a big honour and I’m looking forward to the challenges ahead.”I have been involved with the PCA as a county representative since 2009 so I know about the fantastic work that they do. I have enjoyed being involved as a representative so this is the next step really. I want to try to get involved at the coal face of the organisation.”Mitchell, 33, has been a Worcestershire player for over a decade and served as captain until the end of last season, when he was removed from the position in acrimonious circumstances.He is the third Worcestershire player to become PCA chairman after Tim Curtis (1989-96) and Solanki (2009-13) and he will link up with another former county team-mate, David Leatherdale, the PCA chief executive who previously held the same role at New Road.”Daryl has been a PCA county representative for more than seven years and has a wealth of knowledge of the county game at all levels,” Leatherdale said.”He is undoubtedly held in high regard by players across the whole country as today’s appointment shows and, combined with his experience as the players’ representative on the ECB cricket committee, he will bring a great deal to the role of PCA Chairman. I very much look forward to working with Daryl again over the coming years.”Mitchell takes charge in the PCA’s 50th anniversary season. Wallace, the former Glamorgan wicketkeeper, last week announced his retirement to become a PCA Personal Development Manager.

Batsman Chirag Suri, who became the first UAE player to win an IPL contract last month, has not been named in the national squad for the first of two ODIs against Ireland, which will be held on March 2.Suri, who was picked up by Gujarat Lions for his base price of INR 10 lakh (approximately US $15,000) in last month’s auction, was a part of the UAE squad in the Tri-nation ODI series against Hong Kong and Scotland in January but did not play a game. His last appearance for UAE was a List A match against England Lions in December. He is yet to play an ODI or a T20I for UAE.Wicketkeeper Saqlain Haider and batsman Usman Mushtaq, who, like Suri, were part of the Tri-nation series squad but did not get a game, are also not part of the squad against Ireland. Batsmen Rameez Shahzad and Laxman Sreekumar have been recalled to the 14-member team. Both Shahzad and Sreekumar last played an ODI for UAE in August last year, although Shahzad featured in the Desert T20 Challenge earlier this year.The squad will be led by Rohan Mustafa, with Shaiman Anwar named as vice-captain. The second match of the series will be played on March 4.UAE squad: Rohan Mustafa (capt), Adnan Mufti, Ahmed Raza, Amjad Javed, Ghulam Shabber, Imran Haider, Mohammad Naveed, Mohammad Qasim, Muhammad Usman, Qadeer Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar (vice-capt), Zahoor Khan, Rameez Shahzad, Laxman Sreekumar

Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:32

#PE: Should Herath be SL’s batting coach?

South Africa made inevitable progress towards the victory in Cape Town that would bring them a Test series win against a Sri Lanka side whose batting naivety has become more apparent as the series progresses. Four down at stumps, with their victory target merely a dot on the horizon, Sri Lanka can be expected to lose heavily on the fourth day and go to Johannesburg 2-0 down with one to play.As Sri Lanka’s batsmen floundered for a second time, there was reason to conclude that South Africa’s first-innings lead of 282 would have been ample for an innings win. As it was, they had eschewed the follow-on on the previous day and instead the declaration came at 224 for 7, 75 minutes into the afternoon session.A lead of 506 was impregnable. Well, not quite impregnable. There was always the slight possibility that a Russian cyberattack could send cricket scoring systems across the world haywire and Sri Lanka could emerge, somewhat sheepishly, with a win with two sessions to spare. The reality was somewhat more prosaic: 130 for 4 by the close of the third day, with the captain Angelo Mathews and his deputy Dinesh Chandimal hoping to save face on the morrow.While South Africa’s bowlers picked off Sri Lanka a second time, Board representatives were arranging a meeting with Kyle Abbott’s agent, hoping to arrest his planned international retirement to join Hampshire, thereby making it one of the few occasions when it could be fairly observed that the administrators had a tougher job than the players. As for Abbott, the fates have playfully decreed (so far at least) that he remains wicketless.

Consistent SA openers and SL pace success

• 3 Consecutive Tests at home in which South Africa’s openers have scored two 50-plus scores. There have been only ten such instances since readmission from 121 home Tests.

• 23 Number of wickets taken by the fast bowlers of Sri Lanka in this Test series – the most in any series for Sri Lanka against South Africa.

• 410 The highest score by Sri Lanka in the fourth innings of a Test, made against Australia in Hobart in 2007.

There was a recognisable quality to Sri Lanka’s dismissals, their limitations skilfully exposed, which emphasised South Africa’s authority all the more. An inexperienced top order must learn the hard way while seasoned batsmen such as Chandimal and Upul Tharanga plug gaps lower down. The demands are high, perhaps unfairly so for some.Dimuth Karunaratne had departed by tea, shrewdly set up by Vernon Philander before an inswinger drew an airy drive and rattled into his stumps through bat and pad.Kusal Mendis is just as likely to end up as Sri Lanka’s wicketkeeper-batsman as a Test No. 3 (although Kumar Sangakkara managed both). He replaced Kusal Perera at first-wicket down here, but he has batted skittishly and failed twice. After a top-edged sweep against the left-arm spin of Keshav Maharaj in the first innings, he succumbed to a catch at third slip as he drove on the up in Philander’s fifth over. On this pitch, so early in the innings, it was a liberty.Kaushal Silva has a stubborn streak, but the short ball looks capable of unsettling him and when Kagiso Rabada upped his pace in his second spell, a venomous rising delivery was fended to short leg. Dhananjaya de Silva is only in his seventh Test, so could be forgiven perhaps for walking off for a debatable lbw decision in Rabada’s next over, but had his captain, Mathews, at the non-striker’s end, thought to suggest a review, the ball would have been shown to be sailing past leg stump.It was not all delight for South Africa. Hashim Amla would have liked to have walked out to bat for his 100th Test at the Wanderers next week with his reputation reasserted. Instead he will take guard with continued chatter about his form after a duck before lunch.Amla’s sequence without a half-century now stretches to 10 innings, his latest failure coming with a fifth-ball nought in an otherwise dreary phase of the Test of little consequence in which South Africa, resuming with a lead of 317 and all wickets remaining, engaged in some cricketing arithmetic for more than three hours as they totted enough runs for a fail-safe declaration. And then some.Presumably Amla might now join those malcontents who thought, with good reason, that South Africa should have enforced the follow-on and sought to wrap the game up in three days. After all, only three sides have ever lost a Test after putting the opposition back in and, having dismissed Sri Lanka in 43 overs, South Africa’s bowlers were hardly in need of recuperation.At least it would have spared Amla that sinking feeling when he pushed routinely forward to an excellent delivery, seaming away around off stump, from Suranga Lakmal and felt the nick that was heading inexorably to the wicketkeeperAs ducks go, it was a highly respectable one. But it was still a duck. It will not quieten the discussions about how Amla tends to get caught on the crease, his graceful footwork no longer quite decisive enough. Only big runs will do that, and everybody presumes they will come. The only time he has had a sequence of failures as long as this was a year ago – and then he shot back with a double hundred against England in Cape Town. Jo’burg, on a historic personal achievement, might relight his fire.Lakmal has had a good series and he matched the admirable standards that had brought him five wickets in Port Elizabeth, finishing with 4 for 69. He brightened Sri Lanka’s morning with a double-wicket maiden. Five balls before he dismissed Amla, he accounted for Stephen Cook, a regulation slip catch for Karunaratne. JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis followed. Nuwan Pradeep reappeared after his thigh strain but was out of luck.Dean Elgar, in trim after his first-innings hundred, seemed suited to such a morning. A measured tread with little pressure to talk of was right up his alley and another half-century was bagged. But the appearance of Rangana Herath’s left-arm slows drew from Elgar an unexpected friskiness. He advanced down the pitch to a guileful third delivery which beat him in the flight. If he had not been caught at slip, he would have been stumped. Even on the most inconsequential mornings, satisfaction can be found and Herath, who looks capable of coping contentedly with mornings when nothing much happens, had drawn as much pleasure from it as anyone.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMeg Lanning brought up her century off 94 balls•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

Meg Lanning equalled Charlotte Edwards’ record of nine ODI hundreds, the most by a woman, with a quickfire 134 to script Australia’s win against South Africa in the second ODI by 66 runs by the Duckworth-Lewis Method in a rain-hit encounter in Canberra. Lanning and Ellyse Perry, who scored a career-best 95*, put on 224 for the third wicket as Australia put on a competitive 278. A rain break in the chase revised South Africa’s target to 241 from 38 overs and they eventually fell short when rain ended the match with their score on 5 for 119, when they should have been 186.Lanning found herself out in the middle early after electing to bat. Opener Elyse Villani fell in the sixth over, and her partner Nicole Bolton followed in the next over as Mignon du Preez took a stunning one-handed catch while leaping to her right at backward point. Australia were reduced to 2 for 27 and it brought Lanning and Perry together.Lanning dominated the partnership, bringing up her century off 94 balls, while Perry ambled to her fifty off 90 balls. The duo pushed the score past 250 during their 236-ball partnership before medium-pacer Ayabonga Khaka (3-55) took a return catch to dismiss Lanning for a 122-ball 134 that included 20 fours. Perry scored her last 45 runs off 39 balls to overtake her previous best of 93* that she had scored in the previous game on Friday. Her 95* off 129 with seven fours helped Australia to 4 for 278 in their 50 overs.Australia kept things tight at the start of South Africa’s chase, opening with left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen in combination with Perry, and then throwing legspinner Kristen Beams into the mix after 11 overs. Perry broke the opening stand in the second over, Jonassen struck in the fifth over and Beams trapped du Preez lbw for 9 to reduce them to 3 for 45. Opener Suné Luus was still at the crease, but the slow start and the interference of rain in the 19th over meant that South Africa were well behind the revised target when play resumed.Luus scored an unbeaten 60, her personal best and second straight fifty, but two more wickets fell and a second spell of rain in the 32nd over ended the game with South Africa well short of the par score.

ScorecardMichael Neser returned career-best List A figures of 4 for 41 to extend Queensland’s unbeaten run•Getty Images

Queensland maintained an unbeaten run towards the knockout stages of the Matador Cup with a dominant victory over South Australia at the WACA Ground.The Bulls’ win was founded on a disciplined display on the field, restricting the Redbacks to a mere 9 for 199 from 50 overs, with no SA batsman able to pass 50.Michael Neser was central to Queensland’s ascendancy, claiming four wickets, including those of Callum Ferguson, the SA captain, and Tom Cooper in the same over.Others also played their role, not least Jason Floros, the Queensland captain, and Mitchell Swepson, the 23-year old legspinner, who were parsimonious, and had combined figures of 2 for 65 in 19 overs.Queensland’s chase had plenty of momentum throughout, meaning the Redbacks could never apply much pressure even though Kane Richardson and Cameron Valente were able to share five wickets between them.Marnus Labuschagne made the only half-century of the match, his well-struck 73 taking the Bulls home in the company of Floros, who has excelled thus far as a new captain.