England were counting the cost of their worst ever World Cup campaign after they flopped to a fifth defeat in six games against hosts India.
Despite a rocky history in one-day cricket the defending champions of 2019 have plumbed new depths over the last four weeks, racking up their most losses at a single tournament and an unprecedented sequence of four-in-a-row.
A 100-run thrashing in Lucknow, where they were skittled for a paltry 129, leaves them rooted to the foot of the table in 10th place and on course to embarrassingly miss out on the 2025 Champions Trophy.
It has emerged that places at that event, a ‘mini World Cup’ of sorts, will be awarded to hosts Pakistan and the seven best finishers in group stages of this event rather than being allocated on ICC rankings. As it stands, merely scrambling to eighth place will require a mighty turnaround in fortunes over the next three games.
For a side widely credited with revitalising the 50-over format over the last eight years, that would cap a remarkable fall from grace.
Losing to the table-topping hosts in front of 50,000 bombastic fans at the Ekana Stadium was no surprise – head coach Matthew Mott even billed the opposition “raging favourites” – but this was an opportunity missed.
A much-improved bowling and fielding performance, their best of the tournament to date, had restricted India to 229 for nine, but a top-order collapse left a hole they could not climb out of.
Between the penultimate ball of the fifth over and the first ball of the ninth, England lost their top four for just nine runs as Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami ran amok. Between them the seam duo were a cut above England, sharing combined figures of seven for 54.
England began their chase with an air of misplaced confidence, tearing 30 off their target in less than five overs before things fell apart.
The architect of their downfall was the impeccable Bumrah, who had already started to get the ball talking before he claimed two wickets in two balls.
Dawid Malan was the first, slashing at width that was not there and dragging down his own stumps to stop the growing momentum in its tracks. For his next trick, Bumrah removed the linchpin Root for a golden duck.
Sizing his target up with a wicked delivery that tailed in on a full length, he thumped the front pad as Root shuffled across. It looked plumb lbw, but Root called for DRS.
UltraEdge showed a tiny disturbance as the ball passed the inside edge but TV umpire Ahsan Raza upheld the dismissal leaving Root pointedly waving his bat towards the big screen replays.
Stokes has bailed England out of worse dilemmas, but this time he could only exacerbate it.
Unable to get to grips with a high-class examination from India’s seamers he departed to an ugly swipe after a runless 10-ball cameo. Resolving to slog his way out of the mire, he cleared his front leg to a precision inducker from Shami, losing his composure, his balance and two of his stumps in one dreadful moment.
The stands exploded in celebration, with Kohli leaping high and punching the air with joy. Bairstow was next in line, bowled by Shami via two separate deflections to leave England 39 for four.
Buttler’s lean spell continued as he was wildly outfoxed by a ripper from left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav, hunched over his bat as he took England’s last hopes with him. Liam Livingstone top-scored with a modest 27, but the contest was already over settled as India applied the finishing touches inside 35 overs.
England, who surprisingly went in with the same XI that had been roundly hammered by Sri Lanka three days earlier, at least showed some fight in the first innings.
They bowled with control, kept producing chances and were visibly sharper in the field. Were it not for a captain’s knock of 87 from Rohit Sharma, that may well have been enough.
But his steadying hand, allied to a handy contribution of 49 from Suryakumar Yadav at the back end, bought India’s attack enough breathing space.
David Willey was the standout, claiming three for 45 including star man Virat Kohli for a nine-ball duck. Willey bowled every delivery to the master batter, tying him up with a nagging line and length before drawing a frustrated hack to mid-off.
That moment drew an instant, deathly silence from the massed thousands wearing replica ‘Virat’ shirts, with Willey flexing his biceps and filling the void with his own roar. He followed up with timely dismissals of KL Rahul (39) and Yadav, while Woakes and Adil Rashid also turned in encouraging performances.
With India losing four for 49 in the last 10 overs, it was hard to see what more England could have done to set up the chase but a limp batting display saw them bowled out for their lowest World Cup total since the inaugural edition in 1975.
Pooran stars as LSG condemn Mumbai Indians to last place with 18-run win
Nicholas Pooran starred to help the Lucknow Super Giants close out a disappointing 2024 Indian Premier League season with an 18-run win over the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday.
LSG piled up an imposing 214-6 from their 20 overs after being put in to bat by Mumbai.
Captain KL Rahul scored a 41-ball 55 to cap off an indifferent season with the bat by his standards before Pooran, who has been one of LSG’s standout players this season, scored a brilliant 75 off just 29 balls including five fours and eight sixes.
Marcus Stoinis and Ayush Badoni also had solid contributions of 28 and 22*, respectively.
Nuwan Thushara was the pick of the Mumbai bowlers with 3-28 from his four overs while Piyush Chawla ended with 3-29 from his full quota.
Despite 68 from skipper Rohit Sharma and 62* off just 28 balls from Naman Dhir, Mumbai fell short of their target reaching 196-6 at the end of their 20 overs.
Sharma’s knock at the top of the order lasted 38 balls and included 10 fours and three sixes while Dhir hit four fours and five sixes in his innings.
Ravi Bishnoi and Naveen-ul-Haq took 2-37 and 2-50 in their four over spells.
This win means LSG will end the season sixth with 14 points from as many games while Mumbai, five-time champions, will finish last having recorded only four wins in their 14 games for eight points.
Full scores:
Lucknow Super Giants 214-6 off 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 75, KL Rahul 55, Nuwan Thushara 3-28, Piyush Chawla 3-29)
Mumbai Indians 196-6 off 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 68, Naman Dhir 62*, Ravi Bishnoi 2-37, Naveen-ul-Haq 2-50)
Edwards to defend UFC Welterweight title in rematch against second-ranked Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 in Manchester
Jamaican-born British Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight Champion Leon Edwards now has a date and an opponent for his next title defense.
The 32-year-old will try to fend off number two-ranked Belal Muhammad in the main event at UFC 304 set for July 27 at the Co-op Live in Manchester, England.
Edwards will enter the fight in the midst of a 12-fight unbeaten streak while Muhammad is unbeaten in his last 10 contests.
The pair fought previously at UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Muhammad on March 13, 2021 in Las Vegas. That bout ended in a no contest after an accidental eye-poke by Edwards in the second of five rounds rendered Muhammad unable to continue.
After than unfortunate fight, Edwards went on to defeat fan favorite Nate Diaz by unanimous decision in the main event at UFC 263 in Glendale, Arizona on June 12, 2021.
His next fight proved to be his crowning moment as he secured a spectacular head-kick knockout of Kamaru Usman to claim the UFC Welterweight title at UFC 278 in Salt Lake City on August 20, 2022.
Heading into that fight, Usman was on a 20-fight win streak and was the number one pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. The Nigerian also had a win over Edwards back in 2015.
Edwards then went on to defeat Usman again, this time via unanimous decision, in their trilogy fight at UFC 286 in London on March 18, 2023 before defending his belt for the second time with another unanimous decision win over Colby Covington at UFC 296 on December 16 last year.
Muhammad has also been on a tear since that eye-poke.The 35-year-old recorded unanimous decision victories over legends Demian Maia and Stephen Thompson at UFC 263 and UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs Daukas, respectively, to close out 2021.
He then secured a third consecutive unanimous decision win, this time beating Vicente Luque in the main event of UFC Fight Night: Luque vs Muhammad 2 on April 16, 2022.
At UFC 280 on October 22, 2022 in Abu Dhabi, Muhammad won performance of the night for his knockout win over Sean Brady and in his last fight, he defeated former title challenger Gilbert Burns via unanimous decision at UFC 288 on May 6, 2023 in New Jersey.
Sri Lanka Women to host West Indies for three ODIs and three T20Is next month
Sri Lanka will host West Indies for three ODIs and three T20Is from June 15-28, Sri Lanka Cricket announced on Thursday.
The tour will primarily serve as preparation for the T20 Asia Cup, which will also take place in Sri Lanka, for the hosts. That tournament starts on July 20.
As for the West Indies, they just concluded a month-long tour of Pakistan where they dominated both ODI and T20I series.
This will be the regional side’s last competitive action before the ICC Women's T20 World Cup set for October 3-20 in Bangladesh.
The last time these two sides squared off in a bilateral series was back in 2017, where West Indies swept Sri Lanka across both T20Is and ODIs.
The West Indians have dominated Sri Lanka in T20Is with a head-to-head record of 18-4 whereas in ODIs, the contest has been much closer with West Indies leading 18-14.
The ODI series will be played from June 15-21 in Galle and is part of the ICC Women's Championship, which serves as a pathway to the 2025 ODI World Cup.
West Indies are currently seventh on the Women's Championship points table and Sri Lanka eighth. Top four teams, apart from hosts India, will get a direct qualification.
The T20Is will be held in Hambantota from June 24-28.
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