England’s Test summer failed to get off to the best start after the team bus was delayed by five minutes on its way to Lord’s by Just Stop Oil protesters.

Jonny Bairstow posted a photo on his Instagram story on Thursday morning, which showed Just Stop Oil protesters and police officers in front of their team coach in the middle of a road in Kensington by England’s hotel.

Bairstow’s caption read: “If we’re a bit late, it’s not our fault.”

However, there was no delay to proceedings on the opening day of the one-off Test against Ireland with the four-day contest getting under way at 11am as planned.

Just Stop Oil protesters were able to disrupt the Gallagher Premiership final at Twickenham between Saracens and Sale last weekend.

Two men wearing Just Stop Oil T-shirts invaded the pitch midway through the first half and threw orange paint powder onto the field before being removed by security staff.

A similar incident occurred at the Crucible during the World Snooker Championship in April.

Robert Milkins’ match against Joe Perry was interrupted when a man wearing a Just Stop Oil T-shirt jumped on to table one and tipped orange powder over the cloth.

Amid the threat of potential protests this week at Lord’s, the MCC said it has enhanced its security measures in some areas for this match.

“We look forward to welcoming players and spectators to the first international Test match of the summer at Lord’s. Their safety and security is the highest priority for MCC,” an MCC spokesperson told the PA news agency.

“We have a number of ground regulations that help us achieve that; including not entering the playing area or demonstrating.

“Whilst protests would disrupt the game, we have a number of security measures in place, some visible, some less so to deter this. In some areas we have enhanced those existing provisions ahead of this summer’s schedule.”

England’s Test summer failed to get off to the best start after the team bus was held up on its way to Lord’s by Just Stop Oil protesters.

Jonny Bairstow posted a photo on his Instagram story on Thursday morning, which showed Just Stop Oil protesters and police officers in front of their team coach in the middle of the road.

Bairstow’s caption read: “If we’re a bit late it’s not our fault.” Day one of the one-off Test between England and Ireland is set to start at 11am.

Just Stop Oil protesters were also able to disrupt the Gallagher Premiership final at Twickenham between Saracens and Sale last weekend.

Two men wearing Just Stop Oil T-shirts invaded the pitch midway through the first half and threw orange paint power onto the field before being removed by security staff.

A similar incident occurred at the Crucible during the World Snooker Championships in April.

Robert Milkins’ match against Joe Perry was interrupted when a man wearing a Just Stop Oil T-shirt jumped on to table one and tipped orange powder over the cloth.

England begin their red-ball campaign with a four-day Test against Ireland at Lord’s before the Ashes gets under way on June 16.

Jimmy Adams is out as Cricket West Indies Director of Cricket and the regional government body has commenced a search for his replacement.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) announced on Wednesday that the recruitment process for a new director of cricket has begun as the role will become vacant at the end of June when Jimmy Adams' contract expires.

Adams, who played 54 Tests and 127 One-Day Internationals for the West Indies, has been in the role since January 2017.

“We are extremely grateful for the leadership and contribution that Jimmy has made over the past six and half years," said CWI CEO Johnny Grave.

"He has overhauled our High-Performance structure, especially with respect to Coach Education and Development, Sport Science and Medicine and most recently with the launch of our Academy based at the Coolidge Cricket Ground (CCG) in Antigua. I have no doubt that Jimmy will continue to contribute to the game, particularly West Indies Cricket.”

Meanwhile, CWI President Dr. Kishore Shallow, lauded Adams for his contribution to West Indies Cricket.

“Jimmy has always served West Indies Cricket with passion and distinction. His composed demeanor and professionalism have inspired many positive outcomes over the years," said Dr Shallow.

"One of his legacies would definitely be the commencement of a coaching revolution in the region. On behalf of the CWI Board, we wish him a favorable future path.”

 Adams said serving West Indies cricket has been a privilege.

“It's been an honour to have been involved in the ongoing evolution of CWI," he said.

"I have had the privilege of working with some amazing people across the organization and am grateful for all the support they gave me over the past six plus years. I wish everyone all the best going forward especially in light of the various challenges that exist both regionally and globally.”

Under the leadership of Jimmy Adams as Director of Cricket, CWI started a Coach Education & Development Department that created a new set of CWI coaching courses and accreditations that has seen over 1,000 new certified coaches in the region; launched the Men’s Academy, based at CCG in Antigua; started an U19 Regional Women’s Tournament, Women’s ‘A’ Team series and the Women’s Caribbean Premier League and established a Sports Science & Medicine Department to drive a fitness culture.

He also implemented a new Selection Policy that included appointing separate Women’s and Youth Selection Panels as well as established the High-Performance Coaching Group.

The St Kitts & Nevis Patriots have retained d big hitters Evin Lewis and Andre Fletcher for their 2023 campaign in the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

The Patriots will also retain middle-order batsman Sherfane Rutherford, all-rounder Dominic Drakes as well as fast bowler Sheldon Cottrell and wicketkeeper/batsman Joshua da Silva. The Patriots have also brought in Oshane Thomas who was transferred from the Barbados Royals.

The tournament gets underway on 16 August with the final taking place on 24 September. There will be matches in Barbados, Guyana, St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago.

The overseas players and draft picks will be announced during the Republic Bank CPL draft show which will be broadcast at the end of June.

West Indies ‘A’ took full control of the third and final unofficial Test against Bangladesh ‘A’ on Wednesday on the back of strong performances from their batsmen and bowlers at the Syhlet International Stadium.

Carrying on from their overnight score of 320-6, the West Indies eventually scored 445 all out. Their bowlers then combined to reduce the hosts to 157-7, still 288 runs behind with only three wickets remaining.

The hero of the day was Kevin Sinclair, who scored 60, the sixth half-century of the innings to help push the West Indies ‘A’ past 400 runs. Sinclair was 22 not overnight in a 60-run partnership with Raymon Reifer, who failed to add to his overnight score of 56.

With only two runs added to the team score, Reifer was out caught behind off in the second over the day to Shoriful Islam but Sinclair and Akeem Jordan put on 87 for the eighth wicket that took the score to 407 when Jordan, who has been showing off his potential with the bat, was dismissed by Mahmudul Hasan Joy for 47.

Ten runs later, Sinclair’s stay at the crease ended when he was trapped lbw by Nasum Ahmed, who also snared Veerasammy Permaul in similar fashion for 18 to end the lower-order resistance. Anderson Phillip was not out on 13 when the innings ended after 116.2 overs

Nasum Ahmed finished with figures of 5-133 from 38.2 overs. Shoriful Islam took 2-80 and Musfik Hasan 2-59 in support.

Bangladesh ‘A’ struggled with the bat as Sinclair took 2-51 and Phillip 2-36 ripped through the line-up that offered little resistance.

Captain Saif Hasan was the top scorer with 32 and opener Zakir Hasan was run out for 29. Nurul Hasan contributed 28 but the hosts were unable to establish any significant partnerships while trying to cope with the visitors’ attack.

Atr stumps, Tanzim Hasan Sakib was not out on 17 with Nasum Ahmed at the other end on seven.

Power hitter Shimron Hetmyer and the stylish Shai Hope are among the nine players retained by the Guyana Amazon Warriors for the upcoming Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League season set to get underway in August.

Along with Hetmyer and Hope, the Amazon Warriors have also announced the retention of fast bowler Odean Smith, all-rounders Romario Shepherd an Keemo Paul, spinner Gudakesh Motie as well as Chandrapaul Hemraj, Matthew Nandu and Junior Sinclair.

The overseas players and draft picks will be announced during the Republic Bank CPL draft show which will be broadcast at the end of June.

The tournament gets underway on 16 August with the final taking place on 24 September. There will be matches in Barbados, Guyana, St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago.

England captain Ben Stokes has no concerns over his ability to bowl in this summer’s Ashes.

Stokes’ long-standing left knee issue caused him problems during February’s tour of New Zealand and his recent time at the Indian Premier League proved fruitless.

All-rounder Stokes played only twice for Chennai Super Kings and sent down just one over for 18 runs during his IPL stint but ahead of this week’s one-off Test with Ireland at Lord’s, the 31-year-old is confident he can have an impact when the Ashes begins on June 16.

He said: “Yeah, look the knee is in much better place than it was in Wellington.

“I’ve been over in India for the IPL and these last eight or nine weeks I know I have got myself in a position where I can’t say I regret anything.

“I have got myself into a place where I feel like in a 2019, 2020 space in terms of my own body and fitness. I have definitely given myself the best opportunity (to bowl this summer).

“We know what it is (the problem) and now it is about managing it.”

Ireland all-rounder Curtis Campher will see his dream become a reality when he steps out to play in this week’s Test at Lord’s.

Campher has already played three Tests for Ireland this year and made a century against Sri Lanka in April but is desperate to feature at the ‘Home of Cricket’ against England.

The prestige of the four-day fixture has been scrutinised since it was revealed the visitors’ star bowler Josh Little would not be involved, while Cricket Ireland’s high performance director Richard Holdsworth labelled the second red-ball meeting between the nations as “a special occasion” but not a “pinnacle event”.

But Campher told the PA news agency: “Anyone that has played cricket would be lying if they say they don’t dream of playing at Lord’s.

“It will be an amazing thing to play England in a Test match at Lord’s. It is massive and a real historic venue, with all the history behind it.

“To be a part of that is really, really cool and just to be a Test-playing cricketer is a massive thing. To be part of history, no-one can take that away from you.

“Everyone is buzzing for the week of Test cricket.”

The journey of Johannesburg-born Campher to this point has been recounted many times with an exchange with his now agent Niall O’Brien during a match in 2018 able to speed up the process of the 24-year-old going on to represent Ireland.

Campher always held an Irish passport, due to his grandmother being from Northern Ireland, and had ambitions to play club cricket during the South African winter months once his studies stopped.

Yet in the summer of 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, he found himself fast-tracked into the senior international set-up and handed his debut in an ODI series against England.

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“I was happy to just carry water but before I knew it I was playing the first game versus England, so it has been an amazing three years,” Campher said.

Back-to-back fifties in losing causes provided a glimpse of what was to come from the all-rounder before Ireland ended the three-match series with victory over the world champions after Kevin O’Brien hit the winning runs.

O’Brien has since followed brother Niall into retirement after a stellar career and, while Campher is too modest to acknowledge any type of passing of the baton, he has taken plenty from one of Ireland’s all-time greats.

Campher added: “It was nice to rub shoulders with Kev for the few years I played with him.

“He has done so much for Irish cricket, the contributions he made were immense so if you can have half the career Kev has had, you’ve had a flipping good career!

“Kev is very calm, very relaxed and tries to simplify things. I have tried to take on that approach myself.”

O’Brien memorably crunched a remarkable 63-ball innings of 113 against England at the 2011 World Cup that propelled Ireland to a first ever victory over their rivals.

While Campher may be in the infancy of his own international career, he already appears to have the same panache as the previous all-rounder in the XI.

After arriving on the scene with scores of 59 not out and 68 against England, he has continued to save his best for the big occasion with four wickets in four balls during a T20 clash with Netherlands at the 2021 World Cup and last year’s tournament saw an unbeaten 72 down Scotland.

Campher also followed in O’Brien’s footsteps by scoring a Test century for Ireland earlier this year and knows what any notable achievements this week would mean.

“England are a class act but if I can contribute and help the team in any way, that would be a bonus,” he said.

“Everyone does look to want to be up on the honours board but that is too far to look.

“If it does happen, it happens, but if not life will still go on.”

A key feature of Campher’s strong form over the past 12 months has been enjoyment being at the forefront of his mind, but that should not take away from his determination.

So high is the belief of the Munster Reds player that he had privately targeted reaching three figures for Ireland long before he reached the milestone.

He is also acutely aware he has won two of his four meetings with England, most recently at the T20 World Cup in October.

Campher said: “A few of the lads have joked about how, since some of us made our debuts (in 2020), we’ve played England four times and won two and lost two.

“They said if we can keep that record going, we’ll have a pretty good careers!”

Chris Woakes pointed to misfortune suffered by the injured pair Jofra Archer and Olly Stone as one of the reasons he finds himself in contention for Ashes selection this summer.

Archer was ruled out of contention with a stress fracture to his elbow sustained playing for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, while Stone will miss at least the first Test with a hamstring injury.

Woakes had himself missed over a year of first-class cricket following knee surgery before returning to play for Warwickshire earlier in the summer.

The 34-year-old has been recalled to Brendon McCullum’s England side for the match against Ireland at Lord’s which begins on Thursday – his first home Test appearance since he featured against the West Indies in June 2020.

The seamer took six for 17 on his last appearance against Ireland back in 2019 and is hoping another strong performance could kick open the door to Ashes selection.

“If you’d have asked me a month or two ago whether I’d even be in this squad – probably not, really,” said Woakes. “Looking at the pool of fast bowlers that were available, you stick Jofra (Archer) and Olly Stone in the mix as well, I might not have been. Their misfortune means I’m here.

“But that’s the game, isn’t it? Injuries happen and things do change quite quickly. All part of my prep this summer was to miss IPL, play some county cricket for Warwickshire and try and get myself in the space where, if I was to get the call, then I’m ready. Thankfully it’s worked out nicely for myself.”

Lord’s has been a fruitful ground for Woakes, playing host to his only Test hundred against India in 2018 as well as being the setting for three five-wicket hauls.

After a year in injury limbo, he spoke of his gratitude at being having given the chance to put himself in contention for the Ashes – the first Test of which is at Edgbaston in June – and an opportunity to banish memories of the 4-0 series defeat in Australia during the 2020-21 edition.

“I suppose (it has been limbo) in a way,” he said. “Last summer wasn’t nice, because I tried to put the surgery off. I didn’t want to have it until it was a last resort, but it did get to the stage where it was last resort.

“It wasn’t serious surgery, but you never know how you’re going to come back from it, especially as it was the front knee, bowler’s knee.

“Thankfully, the surgeon did a good job, I’ve healed nicely and it’s pretty good. It was a tough summer but the winter well from a white-ball perspective so I’m looking forward to this summer.

“Without a shadow of a doubt (there were dark moments), you go through days when you’re injured and you see cricket going on, not just England, any cricket with Warwickshire as well, you want to be a part of that.

“I think the older you get and the more cricket you miss, you think it’s an opportunity missed. To miss a whole summer was not ideal, and there are moments where you do get a bit dark, not overly dark.

“But it’s that feeling that you’re losing valuable time to be playing cricket, making memories and making the most of your career.”

Half-centuries from Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Joshua Da Silva and Raymon Reifer have put the West Indies “A” in a solid position after the first day of their third four-day “Test” match against Bangladesh “A” at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Monday.

The tourists currently find themselves 320-6 off 82 overs after winning the toss and batting first.

Chanderpaul led the way with 83 off 160 balls, hitting nine fours and a six in the process. The 26-year-old also made 83 in the first game.

Da Silva, the Captain, was much more proactive for his 82. His knock came off 94 balls and included 12 fours and a pair of sixes.

Alick Athanaze also chipped in with a well-compiled 59 off 66 balls including seven fours and two sixes while Reifer ended the day 56* off 90 balls including six fours and a six. Kevin Sinclair (22*) is currently partnering Reifer in the middle.

Nasum Ahmed has, so far, taken 3-92 off 26 overs for the hosts while Musfik Hasan has taken 2-50 in 13 overs.

West Indies “A” lead the series 1-0.

Ravindra Jadeja was the hero as the Chennai Super Kings beat the Gujarat Titans by five-wickets in the final of the 2023 Indian Premier League at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday

The Titans, after being put in to bat by the Super Kings, made an imposing 214-4 off their 20 overs.

Sai Sudharsan made an extremely composed 47-ball 96 for the Titans including eight fours and six sixes while Wriddhiman Saha made 54 off 39 balls earlier.

A prolonged rain-delay with CSK 4-0 after just three balls meant that, upon the return, they needed a revised target of 171 in 15 overs.

CSK’s formidable opening pair of Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad continued their excellent form this season, putting on 74 for the first wicket before Gaikwad went for a 16-ball 26. Conway, who top scored for the Super Kings went, soon after, for a 25-ball 47.

In the end, an unbeaten 22-run partnership between Shivam Dube (32*) and Ravindra Jadeja (15*) handed Chennai their fifth IPL title, putting them alongside the Mumbai Indians at the top of the pile.

The match came down to the last two deliveries, with Jadeja facing pacer Mohit Sharma needing 10 to win.

He hit the fifth ball of the final over for a straight six before clipping the final ball down to the fine leg boundary to secure the win.

Sharma tried his best with the ball, taking 3-36 from his three overs while Noor Ahmad took 2-17 from his three.

Brendon McCullum is excited about the “magic” that could occur in the Ashes and has promised England will not move away from their aggressive approach at the first sign of danger.

England begin an eagerly-anticipated summer with a one-off Test against Ireland at Lord’s on Thursday, but already much of the discourse is around the upcoming series with Australia.

After a string of poor showings both on home soil and Down Under, the script book was ripped up this time last year when Rob Key, managing director of men’s cricket at the England and Wales Cricket Board, decided to pair captain Ben Stokes and head coach McCullum together to revitalise red-ball cricket in this country.

The results were devastating with ‘Bazball’ taking the nation by storm with run-rates going through the roof, draws being discarded and the pressure of losing taken away, but the perennial question throughout England’s run of 10 wins from 12 Tests has been, can it be taken into the high-pressure stakes of an Ashes series?

McCullum said: “It’s a challenge, but it’s an exciting challenge.

“The more that’s at stake, the more it’s important to keep it simple and relaxed, to do what gives you your greatest chance.

“At the first sign of trouble you can’t run away from it, or at the first sign of all the eyeballs in the world watching you, you can’t run away from what’s been most successful for you.

“That’s when you should be at your clearest, keep things as simple as possible and that will be the message right throughout.”

Former New Zealand wicket-keeper McCullum is no stranger to battles with Australia, but modestly and perhaps unfairly suggested he was only good enough to scrap against teams wearing the baggy greens.

That is not the case for his England side, the 41-year-old insists.

“I’m not as good as these guys are, so you always felt like you were scrapping for something rather than being able to go toe to toe with them (Australia),” McCullum added.

“The ability to go toe-to-toe with a good side is where the magic happens.

“I think we’ve got the quality in our team and they’ve got the quality in their team to be a heavyweight contest so I’m excited about that.

“There’s so much excitement about what’s coming and there’s so much uncertainty for everyone and that’s where I think the real magic has the opportunity to come out. so we’re just excited about it.”

England’s ‘Bazball’ approach has been heavily debated since it arrived on the scene and at its height, Stokes’ side were scoring at 5.50 runs per over in Pakistan during the winter.

Whether or not that can be replicated remains to be seen, but McCullum does feel they should only get more consistent with time.

“To be fair, there’s some stuff we did last year that I didn’t really think was achievable but the guys were able to do it,” he admitted.

“If you are present and clear of mind, you’re able to make good decisions because you’re not worried about the outcome as such, you’re just able to adapt to what’s required.

“There will be periods where we’ll have to absorb pressure. It may also be that we’ll be able to put the handle down a bit more and achieve what we did last summer. We’ll just wait and see.”

A key part of England’s philosophy is a relaxed environment and spending quality time together, which occurred on Sunday when the team linked up for the first time – since the New Zealand series in February – for a round of golf at the Grove in Hertfordshire.

After facing Ireland this week, England will have 11 days before the Ashes opener at Edgbaston on June 16, but that will not be spent exclusively together, with a mixture of days off, training and some “quality time” arranged before the battle for the urn begins.

McCullum stated: “I think it’s a good build-up, I think it’s perfect.”

One man not set to be involved is Ben Foakes after he was left out of the Ireland Test in favour of the fit-again Jonny Bairstow, who will don the gloves and try to replicate his stunning 2022 form where he hit six hundreds.

“Well, I mean he’s an incredible player,” McCullum said of Bairstow.

“He’s a rare commodity and he’s able to do some things that other people just can’t.

“I think if he’s able to recapture even a glimpse of the form which he showed last summer, then our side does look really, really strong.”

England head coach Brendon McCullum is confident James Anderson and Ollie Robinson will be fit for the first Ashes Test but has confirmed they will play no part against Ireland this week.

The five-match series against Australia begins on June 16 but England have fitness concerns over a number of their bowlers.

Robinson suffered an ankle issue for Sussex earlier this month and Anderson strained his groin while on Lancashire duty while injury-hit pair Jofra Archer and Olly Stone have experienced elbow and hamstring problems respectively already this summer.

England begin their eagerly anticipated summer with a four-day Test against Ireland at Lord’s on Thursday and while two of their key bowlers will miss out, they should be fine for the Ashes opener at Edgbaston.

“Yeah we’ve got a couple of niggles so we’re just monitoring those at the moment. I guess every team that goes into a series has got a couple of little things that you need to work through, but pretty confident we’ll have a good squad to be able to pick from,” McCullum insisted.

On Robinson and Anderson, he added: “For the first Ashes Test, I think they should be fit.

“They won’t be fit for this one against Ireland. We’ll just have to monitor it over this next sort of while, but we’ve got some great options right throughout the squad.

“When I first took over this job, people said there wasn’t much depth in English cricket and I disagree with that completely.

“I think there is an immense amount of depth and we’ve got plenty of good options throughout the squad.”

Wasim Khan, the International Cricket Council general manager, accepts the landscape of the sport has changed as he urged countries and franchise leagues to find a way to “coexist”.

Jason Roy last week became the first England player to cancel his national contract, an incremental deal worth between £60,000 and £70,000 per year, to pursue an opportunity in Major League Cricket in the United States, where he has reportedly been offered around £300,000 for two seasons.

There has been speculation about the Indian Premier League offering annual contracts while the relevance of bilateral cricket keeps cropping up as internationals are crammed into an already busy programme.

Khan admitted there is no putting the genie back in the bottle as the proliferation of domestic T20 competitions continues but he feels international cricket can live alongside these leagues.

“Obviously the way the schedule is structured now and the emergence of these leagues, there has to be a way for us to coexist,” said Khan, the former chief executive of Leicestershire and Pakistan.

“Nothing is going to be removed so we are going to have to coexist moving forward.”

The growing unease about the possibility of elite talent putting club before country in future hangs over cricket ahead of the final of the World Test Championship happening next week at the Kia Oval.

Khan, who expects “full crowds” for at least the first four days of the contest between India and Australia, thinks the format still holds some relevance and revealed the 12 full member nations have elected to keep hold of the World Test Championship for the next eight-year cycle.

“The members have signed up for the next eight years,” said Khan. “We’ve heard some of the top stars from around the world continually talking about the importance of Test cricket.

“We know that the emergence of these leagues does put pressure on the schedule but we’re confident that at least for the next eight years that continual context will be provided for red-ball cricket.

“It’s important we continue to find an opportunity to coexist, to ensure our schedules moving forward provides something for everybody.”

Ricky Ponting suggested earlier this month the ICC has a role to play in making sure players from smaller nations are well-remunerated in Test cricket so they do not go down the franchise route.

Khan confirmed the former Australia captain’s assertion the issue had been brought up in a Cricket Committee meeting but was taken no further.

“It was perhaps a misquote,” said Khan. “It was raised initially within the ICC Cricket Committee as a discussion point but there was certainly nothing taken forward around payments to players.”

Khan, though, believes it is up to the boards of individual countries how much they pay players, pointing out all full member nations will receive a substantial increase on previous earnings during the new rights cycle from 2024-27.

“The distributions the members will be receiving in the next cycle will be greater than what they received previously,” added Khan. “The payments they pay players is purely down to the members.

“If there are player associations there, they will certainly be negotiating with those, but where there’s not, it’s down to the boards – and particularly with the key players within those boards – to decide what the payment structure looks like moving forward.”

Somerset made it three wins from three at the start of the Vitality Blast after Tom Banton’s belligerent fifty helped them see off Glamorgan by four wickets at Taunton.

Glamorgan lost regular wickets and were all out for 153 in 19.4 overs, with slow left-armer Roelof Van Der Merwe taking three for 24, while Lewis Gregory and Peter Siddle each collected a couple of scalps.

Banton helped Somerset off to a flyer by putting on 69 in 5.3 overs alongside Will Smeed, who was out for 28 off 14 balls, while there were also cameos from Tom Kohler-Cadmore (19) and Tom Abell (22).

Banton’s 54 from just 28 balls contained nine fours and one six to break the back of the chase, with Ben Green and Craig Overton sealing a win with 5.1 overs to spare in front of a near full-house crowd.

Alex Lees’ brilliant career-best 90 from 53 balls helped secure back-to-back wins for Durham and extended Yorkshire’s winless start to the season with a 28-run victory at Headingley.

Captain Lees blended timing with power against his former club to lead Durham to a commanding total of 217 for three, with Ollie Robinson also thumping an unbeaten 64 from 30 deliveries.

Adam Lyth bristled with intent at the outset of the chase with 24 off eight balls but Yorkshire’s pursuit fizzled out and they finished on 189 for seven, with Ben Raine taking three for 27.

Tom Alsop’s unbeaten 51 off 42 deliveries and a classy 28-ball 48 from Michael Burgess swept Sussex to a five-wicket victory over Surrey off the penultimate ball at the Kia Oval.

Sussex veteran Ravi Bopara rolled back the years with three for 18 as Surrey were skittled for 148 after 19.3 overs, where Sunil Narine top-scored for the hosts with 29 off 18 deliveries.

Sussex slipped to 56 for four in the 11th over before a 77-run stand in 47 balls between Alsop and Burgess put them in the driving seat. They still needed 10 from the final over but Alsop got them home.