West Indies all-rounder and current Tornadoes Women captain Stafanie Taylor scored 61* but could not prevent her team from going down by six wickets to Spirit Women in their FairBreak Invitational T20 fixture at the Kowloon Cricket Club in Hong Kong on Tuesday.

Taylor won the toss and elected to bat first, scoring her 61* off 48 balls and hitting 10 fours in the process to help her team post a respectable 150-4 off 20 overs.

Stere Kallis and Dane Van Niekerk also provided valuable contributions of 37 and 28, respectively.

Their total, however, proved to be not enough in the end as Spirit Women needed only 15.4 overs to reach 155-4. Captain Nicola Carey led the way with a magnificent 28-ball 84* including seven fours and seven sixes. Natthakan Chantham also made 35*. Aliya Riaz took 2-15 from three overs for the Tornadoes.

Taylor’s Tornadoes finished last in the six-team table with two points from five games.

Trinidad & Tobago got their fourth consecutive win of the 2023 CWI Rising Stars Under-15 Championship when they comfortably beat Jamaica by six wickets at Coolidge on Monday.

The Jamaicans, who have only managed to score over 150 once in four matches, saw their batting woes continue when they were dismissed for just 102 in 34.4 overs. No Jamaican scratched 20 as Yasir Deen (3-18 off nine overs) and Alejandro Kassiram (3-20 off six overs) were the chief destroyers for T&T.

The chase was a simple one thanks to a second consecutive fifty (50) from Brendan Boodoo and 23* from Zane Maraj. T&T needed only 30.4 overs to reach 106-4 and complete victory.

At the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, defending champions Barbados rebounded from back-to-back losses with an eight-wicket win over the Windward Islands.

Akobi Critchlow-Byer took 4-18 from his 10 overs and Javed Worrell claimed 3-18 from seven as Barbados dismissed the Windwards for 112 in 40.1 overs.

Barbados then faced only 20.2 overs to reach 113-2, completing the easy win. The successful chase was led by Gadson Bowens’ 45* and Oliver Gooding’s rapid 14-ball 25.

Guyana used an excellent bowling effort to complete a huge 101-run win over the Leeward Islands at the Liberta Sports Club.

Guyana used valuable contributions of 28 from Razam Koobir and 22 each from Dave Mohabir and Shane Price to post 154 off 36.5 overs batting first.

Kunal Tilokani took 4-21 off his 10 overs while Jaheem Clarke took 3-21 off seven for the Leewards.

The chase then went horribly for the Leewards with three of their top four batsmen being run out and two more falling to leave them 32-5 in the 12^th over.

Eventually, they were dismissed for 53 in 28.2 overs as Arun Gainda ended with 3-13 off seven overs.

The fifth round takes place on Wednesday with Barbados facing Guyana at the Liberta Sports Club, Jamaica taking on the Windward Islands at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium and the Leeward Islands facing leaders Trinidad & Tobago at Coolidge.

Nicholas Pooran smashed the joint-third fastest 50 in Indian Premier League history to help the Lucknow Super Giants to a stunning one-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday.

Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell all made half-centuries at the Mangalam Chinnaswamy Stadium as Bangalore set Lucknow a seemingly daunting target of 213, but Pooran's incredible 62 off 19 deliveries led the Super Giants to an improbable win.

Lucknow won the toss and put RCB in to bat first, before openers Kohli (61 from 44) and Du Plessis put up 96 for no loss until the former was dismissed with the third ball of the 11th over.

Maxwell came in for Kohli, and he (59 off 29) and Du Plessis (79 not out) went on to plunder 115 from just 50 balls before Mark Wood (1-32) took the Australian batsman's leg stump out of the ground with the penultimate ball of the innings, as Royal Challengers finished with a formidable 212-2.

The Super Giants' chase took a huge blow within three balls as in-form danger man Kyle Mayers was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj without a run on the board, and Wayne Parnell (3-41) took the wickets of both Deepak Hooda and Krunal Pandya in the fourth over to leave Lucknow's hopes seemingly hanging by a thread.

However, Marcus Stoinis gave them a chance with his 65 off 30 and Pooran made the fastest half-century in this season's IPL before he was finally caught by Shahbaz Ahmed off Siraj's (3-22) bowling.

Lucknow would go on to win in remarkable fashion, needing one off the final delivery of the innings when Harshal Patel missed the stumps while trying to mankad the non-striker.

Harshal would eventually bowl the last ball, and though his delivery beat Avesh Khan, wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik fumbled as the Super Giants batsmen completed the run to secure an extraordinary victory.

Bangalore's big three all fire in defeat

The Royal Challengers' top three batsmen all played excellent knocks with Kohli, Du Plessis and Maxwell accounting for all but one of their team's runs, excluding extras.

It was only the fifth time in IPL history that each of a team's top three all made half-centuries and the first time Bangalore had achieved that feat. However, their efforts were still not enough to get their team over the line.

Pooran innings changes the game

The Super Giants' hopes looked slim after Stoinis and KL Rahul fell within three balls of each other, but Pooran's introduction swung the match back in their favour.

He went at a strike rate of 326.31, smashing four fours and seven maximums to set up his team-mates to go on and win the game.

Former West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin returned to form with an excellent display to help the Barmy Army Women secure a narrow 17-run win over Warriors Women in their FairBreak Invitational T20 game at the Kowloon Cricket Club in Hong Kong on Sunday.

First, Dottin smashed an impressive seven sixes as well as three fours on her way to a top score of 69 off 48 balls to help the Barmy Army post 163-6 from their 20 overs after losing the toss.

Bangladesh’s Rumana Ahmed chipped in with 37 as Scotland’s Kathryn Bryce took 2-24 off her four overs for the Warriors.

Dottin’s form with the bat then carried over to the bowling crease where she bowled three economical overs, conceding just nine runs and picking up a pair of wickets including that of current West Indies captain Hayley Matthews who made 28.

Bryce top scored with a 26-ball 45 as the Warriors were dismissed for 146 from their 20 overs.

Shikhar Dhawan's remarkable unbeaten 99 proved in vain as Rahul Tripathi helped Sunrisers Hyderabad to their first Indian Premier League win this season with an eight-wicket victory over Punjab Kings.

Punjab captain Dhawan, who was dropped twice by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, fell agonisingly short of three figures against his former side, blasting the last ball for six to drag the Kings to 143-9 in Hyderabad.

Mayank Markande had rattled through the Punjab batting line-up with an incredible 4-15 through the middle overs before Dhawan contributed to 52 of the 55-run last-wicket stand with Mohit Rathee (1 not out).

Sam Curran (22) was the only other Kings batter to hit double figures as Marco Jansen (2-16) and Umran Malik (2-32) impressed, although the Sunrisers allowed Punjab back into the game after they were 88-9.

Hyderabad made a stuttering start to their chase as Harry Brook fell for 13 when bowled by Arshdeep Singh (1-20) before Rahul Chahar (1-28) removed Mayank Agarwal (21) to leave the hosts 45-2 after 8.3 overs.

But Tripathi stepped up with an expert 74 from 48 deliveries, combining with Sunrisers skipper Aiden Markram (37 not out) in a vital 100-run partnership to see Hyderabad over the line with 17 balls left.

Bhuvneshwar sets early tone for Sunrisers

Bhuvneshwar (1-33) dismissed Prabhsimran Singh leg before wicket with the first ball of the match to set the tone, albeit his erroneous catching efforts afforded Dhawan two lifelines later in the Kings innings.

Veteran star Bhuvneshwar has dismissed an opening batter 55 times in the IPL, the most by any seamer in history and third among all bowlers (Ravichandran Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh have 61 each).

Non-existent support for remarkable Dhawan

Dhawan was left without support despite his incredible effort. He accounted for 69.2 per cent of his side's total, the second-highest percentage of a team's runs in IPL history when batting first (after Brendon McCullum scored 158 not out in Kolkata Knight Riders' 223 versus Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008).

Opener Dhawan smashed 12 fours and cleared the ropes five times in his well-crafted 66-ball innings, becoming the leading run scorer in the embryonic IPL batting charts after taking his tally to 225.

Rinku Singh hit five successive sixes in the final over of a remarkable Indian Premier League game to lift Kolkata Knight Riders to victory over Gujarat Titans.

The heroics came after a stunning hat-trick from Rashid Khan gave Gujarat command as they attempted to defend 204-4.

Rashid's dismissals of Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Shardul Thakur seemingly left KKR's innings in tatters, and they needed 29 from the last six balls.

Umesh Yadav hit a single off the first ball of the over, putting Rinku on strike and setting the stage for him to lift the Knight Riders to an incredible three-wicket win by bludgeoning Yash Dayal in a sensational display of batting that will live long in the memory.

A half-century from Sai Sudharsan (53) and Vijay Shankar's unbeaten 63 saw Gujarat set a testing target.

Venkatesh Iyer then played the lead role for much of the chase, with his 83 helping KKR to 154-3 in the 16th over. 

But he was caught at long on, off the bowling of Alzarri Joseph, and Rashid ripped through the middle order in a magnificent 17th over.

Rinku was the pillar of the middle order that remained, and he gave KKR a glimmer of hope with 10 runs from the final two balls of the penultimate over.

The target still looked likely to be beyond KKR, but Rinku snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in a spectacular finale, completing an astonishing turnaround by pummelling Dayal over long on.

Rashid hat-trick in vain

Gujarat's loss was their first in the opening three games of the season, but Rashid could hardly have done more to aid their cause.

He had Russell caught behind from a googly before Narine hit out to deep midwicket, with Rashid then returning to the googly to complete his hat-trick by trapping Thakur lbw.

Rinku to the rescue

Rinku was the hero for KKR, but he got a big assist from Dayal with some below-par death bowling.

His full toss-laden final over got the treatment it deserved from Rinku, who hammered maximums over long off, deep backward square leg, and his final two over long on as he finished off an historic rescue act.

Rinku's 30 runs is the most by any batter in the 20th over of an IPL game in a run chase, while his five sixes over the ropes saw him tie Ravindra Jadeja for the most in the final over of any IPL innings.

Brendan Boodoo starred with 82 as Trinidad & Tobago beat Barbados by 17 runs for their third win in as many games in the CWI Rising Stars Under-15 Championship at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Saturday.

The Trinidadians made 235-8 off their 50 overs batting first. Boodoo was supported by contributions from Christian Lall (25) and Dimitri Ramjattan (22). R’Jai Gittens was the best bowler on the day for Barbados with 2-61 off eight overs.

Then, despite 65 from Gadson Bowens and 61 from Raphael Lovell, the defending champions were restricted to 218 all out off 49 overs.

Boodoo, Yasir Deen and Darrius Batoosingh all took two wickets apiece to lead the charge.

At Coolidge, the Windward Islands secured a 29-run win over Guyana. Tyler Venner top-scored with 45 as the Windwards were dismissed for 174 off 50 overs. Guyana captain Dave Mohabir led the way with 3-19 from his 10 overs while Shane Price and Adrian Hetmyer took 2-49 and 2-36 from 10 overs and five overs, respectively.

In reply, Guyana was then restricted to 145 off 40.3 overs with Razam Koobir (39) and Navin Boodwah (35) leading the way.

Jorden Charles took 4-31 off 8.3 overs and Theo Edward took 3-19 from seven for the Windwards.

The Leeward Islands beat Jamaica by six wickets at the Liberta Sports Club in the day’s other game.

Jamaica was bowled out for 117 in 26.2 overs batting first. Amoree Jones took 4-20 off five overs while Krishna Girdhari and Lythe Brown took two wickets, each.

The Leewards then needed only 33.1 overs to reach 119-4 thanks to 31* from Lawshorn Bergan and 23 from Matthew Miller.

Ryan Lyttleton finished with 3-36 off 9.1 overs for the Jamaicans.

The fourth round of matches take place on Monday with Jamaica facing Trinidad & Tobago at Coolidge, the Leeward Islands battling Guyana at the Liberta Sports Club and the Windward Islands facing Barbados at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.

Ajinkya Rahane scored the fastest half-century of the 2023 Indian Premier League on his Chennai Super Kings in a seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians.

Mumbai were restricted to 157-8 after they were put in at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday, Ravindra Jadeja taking 3-20 with support from Mitchell Santner (2-28) and Tushar Deshpande (2-31).

That was not enough to give them a first win of the tournament, as Rahane struck 61 off only 21 balls and faced just 19 deliveries to reach his half-century on his home ground before CSK reached their target with 11 balls to spare.

The Indians were going along well at 61-1 at the end of the powerplay, but lost their way after Ishan Kishan (32) followed captain Rohit Sharma (21) back to the pavilion.

Santner had Suryakumar Yadav caught behind and Jadeja took a sharp catch off his own bowling to remove Cameron Green as Mumbai lost four wickets for only 12 runs.

Hrithik Shokeen added 18 in quick time after a brisk 33 from Tim David and Jason Behrendorff struck an early blow in the run chase by bowling Devon Conway for a duck.

Rahane then took centre stage, taking the Mumbai attack apart with great timing and placement to put CSK well on course for victory by the time he fell to Piyush Chawla.

Mumbai, who were without Jofra Archer, were unable to recover from Rahane's onslaught, with Ruturaj Gaikwad making an unbeaten 40 as the Super Kings made it two wins from three matches.

Rahane destructive on debut

CSK were missing Ben Stokes, reportedly due to a heel injury and the unwell Moeen Ali but Rahane proved he still has so much to offer on the big stage.

Snapped up by Chennai after being released by Kolkata Knight Riders, the 34-year-old looked like a man eager to prove a point as he struck three sixes and a further seven boundaries in a brilliant knock.

Jadeja spins the game in CSK's favour

India all-rounder Jadeja was excellent with ball in hand, turning the game in CSK's favour by seeing the back of Kishan, Green and Tilak Varma.

He bowled nine dot balls and was hit for just one boundary in an excellent display of spin bowling.

Jos Buttler scored 79 from 51 balls to lead Rajasthan Royals to a 57-run victory against Delhi Capitals on Saturday.

An opening partnership of 98 from Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal from just 8.3 overs gave the Royals a foundation to build from, eventually setting the Capitals a target of 200.

Three wickets each for Trent Boult and Yuzvendra Chahal then reduced Delhi as they could only muster 142-9 from their 20 overs.

Buttler and Jaiswal set the tone before the latter was caught and bowled by Mukesh Kumar for 60 from just 31 deliveries.

Delhi gave themselves hope of causing a batting collapse as Kuldeep Yadav removed captain Sanju Samson for a duck, before Rovman Powell bowled Riyan Parag for seven to reduce the Royals to 126-3 as the run rate began to slow down.

Buttler continued to keep the scoreboard ticking along with Shimron Hetmyer (39 not out), though, before also being caught and bowled by Mukesh.

Boult dismissed Prithvi Shaw and Manish Pandey for ducks as the Capitals slipped to 0-2 inside the first over of their reply.

After Rilee Rossouw was out for 14, David Warner and Lalit Yadav started to finally allow Delhi to get a foothold in their innings before the latter was bowled by Boult for 38.

Warner started to quickly run out of partners before finally succumbing himself for 65 as the Capitals struggled to ever threaten the target to give the Royals their second win to go top of the Indian Premier League, while Delhi suffered their third loss from three outings.

Buttler storms the Capitals

It was a mature knock from the England white-ball captain, who hit 11 fours and one six, though he did have a lucky moment when he was dropped on 18 by Anrich Nortje.

He briefly sat atop the IPL's list for most runs in the early stage of this year's competition (152), only for Warner (158) to overtake him in Delhi's reply.

Warner landmark no consolation for Delhi

The Australian is the third batsman to score 6,000 runs in IPL history and the fifth to score 2,000 runs for the Capitals in the competition, and is only the second to score 2,000+ runs for two teams (also Sunrisers Hyderabad) after Shikhar Dhawan for the same two teams.

However, the Capitals have won just one IPL game from the last 14 times they have chased a target of 200 or more, which was a seven-wicket win when chasing Gujarat Lions' score of 208 in May 2017.

Lucknow Super Giants bounced back to winning ways in the Indian Premier League as they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad in a five-wicket victory on Friday.

The hosts recovered from their 12-run loss to Chennai Super Kings on Monday with an excellent all-round performance at BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium.

Having lost the toss and been put into field, a ruthless bowling attack led by Krunal Pandya's superb 3-18 off four overs seriously restricted the visitors.

Despite solid knocks from Anmolpreet Singh (31) and Rahul Tripathi (34), the loss of captain Aiden Markram (0) and Harry Brook (3) saw the Sunrisers labour to 55-4 after nine overs.

The Super Giants continued to keep the overall runrate to a soft 6.05 per over, ultimately holding their opponents to a final total of 121-8, the lowest score of the IPL season so far.

A sharp start with the bat in response from openers Kyle Mayers (13) and KL Rahul (35) suggested Lucknow's subsequent chase would be something of a formality.

Wickets for Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1-19) and Fazalhaq Farooqi (1-13) sparked hope of a top-order wobble though, with Deepak Hooda (7) caught and bowled by the former.

But backed for a 55-run third-wicket stand by Pandya (34), Rahul steered his side to the brink of victory, with Adil Rashid (2-23) and his late scare not enough to derail their score of 127-5.

Pandya turns screw early on

With Singh and Tripathi both offering strong resistance, it was imperative the Super Giants cut off the rest of their top order threat before they could get going.

The former's dismissal, immediately followed by Markram's duck in a devastating two-ball spell, saw Pandya get his side firmly on top in this game.

Rashid reinforces credentials

There has not been too much doubt over the England man's place in the national white-ball set-up ahead of this year's World Cup defence.

Nevertheless, his blistering late stint, where he claimed Rahul and Romario Shepherd in consecutive deliveries, will do him no harm as he pushes to cement his spot.

At the Liberta Sports Club, Trinidad & Tobago got their second consecutive dominant win with a seven-wicket triumph over the Windward Islands on Thursday.

In a match reduced to 20-overs-per-side due to rain, the Windwards, who comfortably beat the Leewards in their first game, were bowled out for 71 in 18.2 overs.

Only first game centurion Earsinho Fontaine (23) and captain Theo Edward (14) were able to get double figures as the Trinidadian bowling effort was led by Yasir Deen who took 3-9 from four overs and Brendan Boodoo who ended with similar figures.

With the bat, T&T needed just 11.5 overs to reach 75-3 with Zane Maraj and Christian Lall finishing 18* and 7*, respectively. Earlier, Boodoo top scored with 21 while Darrius Batoosingh got 16.

At the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium, Guyana got their first win when they defeated Jamaica by 15 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.

The Guyanese were bowled out for 121 in 42.2 overs in their turn at the crease. Romario Ramdeholl led the way with an unbeaten 54 as Nicoli McKenzie took 4-25 off eight overs and Demarco Scott 3-21 off 10.

A rain delay with Jamaica 13-0 early in their reply meant they ended up needing 112 off 33 overs for victory.

They ended up being bowled out for 96 in the 33^rd over. Tyson Gordon Jr made 23 while Joel Williams finished 19* as Dave Mohabir and Dhanesh Persaud took two wickets, each.

At Coolidge, the Leewards beat Barbados by four wickets via the DLS method.

Batting first, Barbados was restricted to 129 in 41.4 overs. Seth Smith top-scored with 23 and Jakeem Pollard made 19 against Kunal Tilokani’s 4-17 off seven overs and four balls and 3-19 off seven overs from Amoree Jones.

Due to lengthy rain delays, the Leewards’ target was reduced to 78 off 20 overs. They successfully reached 78-6 off 18 overs thanks to 18* from Matthew Miller.

The teams will next be in action on Saturday with the Leeward Islands taking on Jamaica at Liberta Sports Club, Trinidad & Tobago facing Barbados at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium and Guyana facing the Winward Islands at Coolidge.

Kolkata Knight Riders picked up their first win of the Indian Premier League season with a crushing 81-run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday.

After falling to defeat to Punjab Kings in their opening fixture, the Knight Riders hit back in style at Eden Gardens against an RCB side that beat Mumbai Indians in their opener.

The hosts recovered from a slow start that saw them 89-5 at one point thanks to half-centuries from Shardul Thakur (68 runs off 29 balls) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (57 off 44).

Rinku Singh's 46 off 33 balls saw KKR reach 204-7 from their 20 overs, which RCB did not come close to chasing down after losing Virat Kohli (21) off the bowling of Sunil Narine.

Varun Chakravarthy took the big wicket of top-scoring Faf du Plessis (23) a few balls later en route to finishing with 4-15, while Suyash Sharma (3-30) also impressed for Kolkata.

KKR are back in action against Gujarat Titans on Sunday, while RCB are up against Lucknow Super Giants the following day.

Winning feeling returns

KKR needed a response and they got it, with this their 17th IPL win against RCB – only against Punjab Kings (20) have they won more times against in the competition.

Bangalore were left with too much to do and struggled to find any momentum thanks in large to the bowling of Chakravarthy, with the visiting side restricted to 123 runs in 17.4 overs.

Sunil shines on milestone occasion

Narine was playing his 150th game for KKR in the competition, becoming the first player to do so for the franchise and the seventh overall for a single team.

He marked the occasion with a couple of wickets at the expense of 16 runs, including that of Kohli in what was a big breakthrough for KKR.

Australia national selector George Bailey says there are no guarantees David Warner will face England in the Ashes.

Warner's place at the top of the order in the Test side is under threat after he failed in all four innings against India in February before his tour was cut short due to injury.

Head coach Andrew McDonald stated that Warner is fully in Australia's plans for the World Test Championship final at The Oval early in June, which is followed by the battle for the urn with Ben Stokes' side.

Yet Bailey stressed that the 36-year-old is not a certainty for the five-match series against England.

He said: "We're three formats across all of those contracts. Trying to fit that in is first and foremost, the job. But I think Dave, like any player is, is at the mercy of selection.

"The Ashes is a huge series. And we'll be looking to pick our best team. We're going to have to have our best team playing incredibly well too, to challenge England over there the way they're playing."

Australia could make changes to their squad after the second Test against England.

Bailey added: "We'll have more information on how the team's going, the results of the first couple of Ashes Tests, what the brand of cricket looks like and an opportunity to review any changes that will need to be made.

Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris and Matt Renshaw are alternative options to open along with Usman Khawaja.

Bailey said: "I agree with [Western Australia coach] Adam Voges, he said post the [Sheffield Shield] final that he thinks Cam Bancroft is batting as well as he's ever seen.

"I think we'd agree with that as a panel as well, so really excited by the form that he's in and really glad he's over in England playing.

"Matt was putting a really compelling case at the top of the order as well early on in the year for Queensland then by virtue of being away in India didn't get much of an opportunity in the back half of the year.

"Not being rude to Usman or Dave, but there's no doubt those two are probably closer to the end than start of their careers, so we are going to need some depth and needing all three of those guys performing really well for us. Hopefully they make our decisions incredibly challenging over next little while."

New Zealand's ODI captain Kane Williamson is set to miss this year's ICC World Cup after scans confirmed he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) fielding in the Indian Premier League.

The decorated 32-year-old batsman underwent scans on Tuesday having sustained the injury to his right knee fielding in the Gujarat Titans' season opener against the Chennai Super Kings on Friday.

Williamson, who returned to New Zealand following the incident, will likely miss the World Cup in India in October and November given the significant rehabilitation timeframe for an ACL injury.

"I look forward to doing what I can to support [New Zealand coach] Gary [Stead] and the team over the next few months," Williamson said in a New Zealand Cricket statement.

"Naturally it's disappointing to get such an injury, but my focus now is on having the surgery and starting rehab.

"It's going to take some time, but I'll be doing everything I can to get back on the field as soon as possible."

Williamson averages 47.83 across 161 ODIs with 13 centuries and 42 half-centuries, with his absence at the World Cup to be a major blow for the Black Caps. Tom Latham is the leading candidate to take over as captain at the World Cup.

"You take Kane the player for a start, but then Kane the leader and the person he is within our group as well, it's a huge spanner in the works for us," Stead said.

"We haven't given up hope that he might be right but at this stage it does look unlikely. Our first thoughts are with Kane at the moment, it's a tough time for him, it's not an injury you expect…it hits you pretty hard."

New Zealand were beaten in the 2019 World Cup final by England in a dramatic super over on the boundary count back rule. Williamson was named Player of the Tournament in 2019, making 578 runs in 10 games.

Punjab Kings fended off a Rajasthan Royals fightback after a stunning spell from Nathan Ellis had teed up a five-run win that saw them start the 2023 IPL with back-to-back victories.

Both teams had enjoyed opening wins, and this match too could have gone either way despite the Kings appearing to be in complete control thanks to Ellis.

After Punjab captain Shikhar Dhawan did the heavy lifting with 86 not out to see his side finish on 197-4, Ellis (4-30) took a series of vital wickets to slow the Royals' response.

Luck was initially on the Australia bowler's side as an inside edge looped up off Jos Buttler's pad for a smart catch for 19.

Sanju Samson carried the scoring burden, making 42, before he too departed off the bowling of Ellis, who also accounted for Riyan Parag (20) from his next delivery, then bowled Devdutt Paddikal (21) later in the same over.

A deep Royals line-up still contained Shimron Hetmyer (36 off 18) and impact player Dhruv Jurel (32 not out off 15), and the pair combined for a quick 61.

But even with Ellis' allocation up, Hetmyer had himself run out in the final over as Sam Curran (0-44) just about kept the batting side at bay.

Chahal's slow progress

This was not a night IPL veteran Yuzvendra Chahal will reflect on particularly fondly, even if it saw him edge closer to the tournament's wickets record.

His figures of 1-50 were damaging – Punjab scoring easily despite some fine fielding, including from Buttler – but the wicket of Jitesh Sharma was his 171st in the IPL, moving ahead of Lasith Malinga and now trailing only Dwayne Bravo (183).

Electric Ellis excels

Both teams named unchanged XIs, meaning Ellis was preferred to 99-wicket Kagiso Rabada. The Australian had only five IPL wickets to his name prior to this match.

Ellis significantly added to that tally, however, his spell turning the tide and providing a reminder of the talent that saw him take a hat-trick on his T20I debut in 2021 – even if Curran's contribution was still required to get the job done.