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• Charles returns home to welcome party after CPL triumph with St. Lucia Kings
  St Lucia's batting star Johnson Charles returned home to a hero's welcome party on Saturday, as the island celebrates the milestone accomplishment of its franchise St Lucia Kings in copping a maiden Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title.

   

  Charles was met by Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre and other government and cricket officials at the George FL Charles Airport, but a previously planned motorcade will be held at another time.

   

  As for the rest of the celebratory plans, Sports Minister Kenson Casimir explains that a Welcome Committee will be organizing the celebrations.

   

  “There's been a lot of discussion and we did have a flyer circulated in terms of celebration for Johnson Charles but we really felt that we needed to ensure that we do this properly, that we have proper sit-down with stakeholders and a proper date scheduled because we definitely don't want to cheapen who Johnson Charles is to St Lucia,” Casimir shared.

   

  The original plan involved a concert at the Derek Walcott Square at 2:30 pm, similar to the concert held for Julien Alfred on September 27th.

   

  However, Casimir revealed that this event and other activities will be pushed back to coincide with the arrival of English cricketers to the island.

   

  “We've decided that we are going to schedule the celebration concert and some of the other activities for Johnson Charles to be in tandem with the tour of England to the West Indies. We are aware that England will be touring the West Indies in November and so the organising committee will sit and opine and ensure that we have the proper setup,” he explained. 

   

  Casimir says the Ministry of Sports owes a debt of gratitude to Charles, who currently holds the highest run rate in CPL history.

   

  “His performance he is currently the CPL’s leading run scorer which means he is St Lucia's best ever cricketer at the Caribbean Premier League and we want to have something that you know shows our appreciation to him," the Minister ended.
• Samson stars as India claim clean sweep over Bangladesh in T20I series

  Sanju Samson's stunning maiden century set India on their way to a 133-run victory over Bangladesh on Saturday.

  Bangladesh had no answers in the chase and fell short as India secured a clean sweep in their three-match T20I series with a comfortable win.

  India could not have got off to a better start despite Abhishek Sharma's dismissal for four, as Samson stormed to his century, plundering 111 from just 47 balls.

  Suryakumar Yadav (75), Riyan Parag (34) and Hardik Pandya (47) pushed them further towards their total, even as Tanzim Hasan Sakib (3-66) tried to slow them down.

  The hosts finished on 297-6, and Bangladesh's hopes of a quick start in their own innings were cut short as Parvez Hossain Emon was caught on the first ball.

  Ravi Bishnoi (3-30) and Mayank Yadav (2-32) impressed in the field for India, stunting Bangladesh from building any momentum even as Towhid Hridoy kept them ticking forward with his unbeaten 63.

  However, Liton Das (42) was the only other player to score higher than 15 and the tourists slumped over the finish line knowing they would get nowhere near India's total.

  Data Debrief: Quick off the mark

  With his maiden century in men's T20Is, Samson became the seventh India batter to score a ton as an opener. In fact, his strike rate of 236.2 is second only to Rohit Sharma (274.4 v Sri Lanka) among India batters when scoring a ton in the format.

  Samson brought up his century in just 40 deliveries, making him the fourth fastest to do so in men's T20Is among batters from full-member sides and the second fastest among India's batters after Rohit (35 balls v Sri Lanka in December 2017).

  He hit 11 fours and eight sixes in his knock, leaving Bangladesh with a mountain to climb from the very beginning. 

• Brook has everything to become England's 'best ever', says Anderson

  Harry Brook has all the attributes needed to become England's best ever batter after his sensational knock against Pakistan, so says James Anderson. 

  Brook became the first England batter in 34 years to score a triple-century when his side thrashed Pakistan by an innings and 47 runs in their first Test of the three-match series. 

  In the same Test, Root scored 262, and in doing so he passed Alastair Cook's previous England best of 12,472 career runs, placing him fifth on the all-time list. 

  Brook's career-best knock of 317 took him to 1,875 runs in 19 Tests and 31 innings ahead of the second encounter in Multan that starts on Monday. 

  The 25-year-old has a chance to become the fastest Englishman to 2,000 Test runs, beating the 22 matches and 33 innings of Herbert Sutcliffe in 1928.

  And Anderson, who is England's all-time leading wicket taker in Test matches, showered praise on Brook, likening him to Kevin Pietersen. 

  "He's on the way to being in the top three that I've played with," Anderson said on his Tailenders podcast. 

  "It's Root, Pietersen and him. He's definitely got all the attributes to overtake them.

  "He's just got everything. Without trying to big him up too much because he's still really early in his Test career.

  "I do think that he's got the perfect amount of each of those two and that's what will make him the best that we've ever had."

  Pietersen scored 8,181 runs when his 104-Test career ended in 2014, 170 fewer than Brook has managed after 19 Tests as a comparison.

  England's stunning 823-7 declared was their highest total in Test cricket since 1938 as they took a 1-0 series lead against Pakistan on Friday.

  The 556 England conceded in Pakistan’s first innings was the highest total any team had overturned to then go on and earn an innings victory.

  Brook and Root shared a partnership of 454, England’s highest of all time for any wicket and the fourth-highest by any Test pair.

  "The thing that's really similar between Joe and Harry is that they love batting," said Anderson. "They literally couldn't care less what format it is. They just want to bat.

  "They want to have fun doing it. As much as Harry's the younger player and will be learning loads from Rooty, I still think Rooty learns from him as well.

  "Joe's one of those sorts of players that wants to keep developing and bettering himself, and he does watch other players and try to add bits to his game.

  "I'm sure he's doing that with Harry."