Kavem Hodge scored his fourth first-class hundred but it was the Leeward Islands Hurricanes who ended day three of their fourth-round fixture against the Windward Islands Volcanoes with a 128-run second innings lead at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba on Friday.

The Volcanoes started the day 206-2 with Alick Athanaze and Kavem Hodge at the crease on 105 and 85, respectively.

The pair, who came together with the Volcanoes 10-2, brought their third-wicket partnership up to 246 before Athanaze’s knock was brought to an end on 128.

It was quickly 256-4 when Sunil Ambris only lasted one ball.

During the innings Hodge brought up his fourth first-class hundred, reaching 125 by the time lunch came around.

His partner at lunch was Justin Greaves who was on four as the Windwards were 298-5 off 75 overs, trailing the Hurricanes by 84 runs.

After the break, The Windwards lost the wickets of Hodge for 137 and Tevyn Walcott for 17 to be 314-6 in the 81^st over.

Justin Greaves had to leave the field when he was on eight after being struck on the helmet by a Jeremiah Louis bouncer. He would later return to the crease when the Windwards were 348-9.

On the stroke of tea, the Windwards innings ended on 353-9 off 95 overs, with them just 29 runs short of a first-innings lead, after Shermon Lewis retired hurt after apparently feeling ill on the field. Greaves was left stranded on 12.

Louis took 4-46 while Cornwall took 4-102 for the Hurricanes.

At stumps, the Hurricanes reached 99-5 off 39 overs. Montcin Hodge has, so far, faced 114 balls for his 45.

Earlier, Preston McSween removed Kieran Powell and Akeem Saunders for four and 11, respectively, to have figures of 2-26 off six overs so far.

Neither Kieron Pollard nor Andre Russell were picked up during the The Hundred Player Draft took place on Thursday, March 23. The successful short-format competition is in its third season and is set to bowl off on August 1 and conclude on August 27.

Despite their power-hitting prowess and propensity for being on winning teams in T20 franchise cricket across the globe, neither player was considered to be good enough for any of the eight Hundred teams.

They were not the only big names to be overlooked as two of the best batters in the world - Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan – were also overlooked by the teams’ selectors.

However, Sunil Narine had much better fortune. He was picked up by the Oval Invincibles and is the only West Indian player in The Hundred for the third season.

Nat Sciver-Brunt scored an unbeaten 72 to lead the Mumbai Indians to the final of the inaugural Women’s Premier League after a 72-run win over the UP Warriorz in the eliminator at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai on Friday.

The Indians batted first after losing the toss and posted 182-5 in their 20 overs.

Sciver-Brunt’s knock 72* lasted only 38 deliveries and included nine fours and two sixes.

Amelia Kerr and Hayley Matthews also made valuable contributions with 29 and 26, respectively, against 2-39 from Sophie Ecclestone.

The Warriorz reply was a tame one as Kiran Navgire, with 43, was the only meaningful contributor as they were bowled out for 110 in only 17.4 overs.

Issy Wong led the way with the ball for the Indians with 4-15, including a hat trick, while Saika Ishaque took 2-24 from 2.4 overs.

The Mumbai Indians will now play the Delhi Capitals in the final at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday.

A new era will start for both South Africa and West Indies when Aiden Markram and Rovman Powell lead the sides in the opening Twenty20 International match of the series on Saturday.

Markram this month replaced Temba Bavuma as captain, with the Test and one-day international skipper axed from the T20I squad.

The opener at SuperSport Park will also be the first T20I since Rob Walter took over as white-ball head coach and comes on the back of a 1-1 ODI series draw with the Windies.

Markram was given the honour of captaining his country in only his third ODI back in 2018, when Faf du Plessis was absent along with other senior players.

The batter felt that opportunity came too soon and believes the experience he has gained since then should stand him in good stead.

He said: "I was quite fresh back then. I was very hard on myself, and always wanted to do well and we know this sport, it doesn't always work out that way."

Markram added: "Being with the legendary team the Proteas had at the time, I paid attention to how Faf managed to marshal his troops.

"That is something I looked up to and strived for probably without him knowing, it was just through me observing from the side."

It will also be a special weekend for Powell in Centurion, where there will be a double-header before the series ends with a contest at JB Marks Oval Potchefstroom on Tuesday.

Powell was selected as the man to replace Nicholas Pooran, who stepped down after the T20 World Cup in Australia last November.

South Africa will be looking to take the momentum from a record-breaking series-levelling ODI win over the Windies in which Heinrich Klaasen was the star of the show.

Klaasen struck 119 off 61 balls as the Proteas chased down their victory target of 261 in just 29.3 overs in Potchefstroom, becoming the first team to score 250 or more to win in under 30 overs.

De Kock set to move level with De Villiers

Wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock is set to go joint-third on the list of the highest appearance-makers for the Proteas in T20Is, as he is currently one behind AB de Villiers' tally of 78.

De Kock has enjoyed facing West Indies in the shortest format, scoring half-centuries in each of his past three knocks.

Windies away form must be addressed

West Indies have won only one of their past 15 T20Is on tour, that coming against Zimbabwe last October. 

Facing South Africa could present a good opportunity to address that poor record, as the Proteas have lost four multi-game bilateral T20I series at home – that is their longest losing run in this format.

Opener Zachary McCaskie fell eight runs shy of a maiden first-class hundred as the Barbados Pride hold a 37-run lead over the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force after day two of their fourth-round fixture at the Queen’s Park Oval

At lunch, the Pride were 108-3 off 40 overs. Zachary McCaskie and Shane Dowrich were the batsmen at the crease on 71 and two, respectively.

McCaskie carried on after lunch and looked set for his maiden first-class ton before he fell for 92.

At tea, the Pride were 222-6 off 72 overs. Roshon Primus and Akeem Jordan were the batsmen at the crease on 38 and 22, respectively.

Shortly after tea, Primus brought up his fifty before being dismissed for a 71-ball 53.

Eventually, the Pride were bowled out for 271 in 85 overs, a first innings lead of 68 runs.

The Red Force were 31-2 in their second innings at stumps, trailing by 37 runs with Darren Bravo (20) and Brian Charles (5) at the crease.

Opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul and wicket-keeper/batsman Tevin Imlach notched late half-centuries as the Guyana Harpy Eagles ended day two of their fourth-round fixture against the Jamaica Scorpions with a 301-run second innings lead at Providence.

The hosts began the day 268-9 off 86.3 overs.

Harpy Eagles captain Leon Johnson carried on from his overnight 142 to finish 150* as Guyana were bowled out for 278 off 88.1 overs.

Marquino Mindley ended with 3-34 while Ojay Shields and Derval Green both ended with two wickets.

The Scorpions endured a horrendous start to their reply losing half of the team for just 24 runs inside six overs and three balls.

Eventually, they found themselves 64-9 in the 18^th over before a39-run 10^th wicket partnership between Derval Green and Nicholson Gordon meant they entered the lunch break 103-9 off 27 overs.

The pair added 12 more runs after lunch before Green fell for a top score 42 as the Scorpions were dismissed for 115 in 35.5 overs.

Nial Smith ended with 5-39 while Veerasammy Permaul and Ronsford Beaton took 3-22 and 2-22, respectively.

Mindley then led a Scorpions fightback before tea as he grabbed four quick wickets, including that of Leon Johnson, within the first 12 overs of the Harpy Eagles second innings.

The score at tea was 37-4 with Tagenarine Chanderpaul on 14 and Tevin Imlach yet to get off the mark.

After tea, Chanderpaul and Imlach continued on to leave the Harpy Eagles 138-4 at stumps, a lead of 301 runs with Chanderpaul on 60 and Imlach on 50.

Windward Islands Volcanoes captain Alick Athanaze and Leeward Islands Hurricanes all-rounder Kofi James both got centuries on day two of their fourth-round fixture at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba on Thursday.

The Hurricanes began the day 271-6 off 90 overs with Karima Gore on 87 and James on 61.

Gore went on to make 93 off 198 balls including 13 fours and a six.

At lunch, they reached 338-7 off 116 overs with James on 96 and Jeremiah Louis on 18.

After the break, James carried on to bring up his maiden first-class ton before he was the second-to-last man to be dismissed, falling for 107 off 248 balls. Jeremiah Louis also made a valuable contribution with 45 as the Leewards declared their innings on 382-9 off 121.5 overs.

Shermon Lewis took 3-76 for the Volcanoes while new ball partner Preston McSween provided good support with 2-68.

At tea, the Windwards were 65-2 off 15 overs with in-form batsmen Kavem Hodge and captain Alick Athanaze at the crease on 33 and 21, respectively.

Athanaze and Hodge continued after tea, with the former bringing up his second hundred of the season, bringing his overall tally past 500 for the season. Hodge also brought up his third fifty of the season.

At Stumps, the Volcanoes were 206-2, trailing the Hurricanes by 176 runs with Athanaze and Hodge on 105 and 85, respectively.

Chaim Holder’s five-wicket haul has put Barbados Pride in control at stumps on day one of their fourth-round West Indies Championship match at Queens Park Oval on Wednesday.

Holder was the spearhead of the Barbados attack taking 5-71 as the Red Force were bundled out for 203 in 75-3 overs. At the close, Barbados were 40-0.

Jason Mohammed spared the Red Force blushes with his score of 55 but other than Tion Webster, who contributed 46 and Joshua Da Silva 32, the other batters failed to show. Darren Bravo who has two hundreds and a 95 in the competition so far managed only seven as Trinidad crawled to 76-3 from the first 33 overs.

Jair McAllister also got in on the wickets taking 3-31 as the hosts struggled to find runs.

At the close, Barbados trail by 163 runs with all wickets intact.

Zachary McCaskie is at the crease on 21 while Sheyne Moseley is unbeaten on 19 at the other end.

Half-centuries from Kieran Powell, Karima Gore and Kofi James steered Leeward Islands Hurricanes to 271-6 at stumps in their fourth-round West Indies Championship match against Windward Islands Volcanoes at Toruba on Wednesday.

Powell scored 75 and shared in a fourth-wicket stand of 42 with Jahmar Hamilton that helped rescue Hurricanes from 51-3 after Monctin Hodge (6), Akeem Saunders (0) and Devon Thomas were all back in the hutch within 17 overs.

The Leewards slipped again from 93-3 to 121 -6 as Hamilton (12), Powell and Rahkeem Cornwall 14 fell in relatively quick succession before Gore and James came together mounting an unbroken stand of 150 that took the Hurricanes to close of play.

Gore, an American, will resume on Thursday on 87 while James will pick up from 61.

Preston McSween 2-42 and Kenneth Dember 2-66 were the primary wicket takers for the Windwards.

West Indies captain Shai Hope and fast bowler Alzarri Joseph have made big strides in the ICC Men’s One-Day International plyer rankings, announced on Wednesday.

Following the recent series in South Africa, Hope has moved up two places in the batting to 12th position. He made a match-wining 128 not out – his 14th ODI century – in his first match as captain which the West Indies defeated the home side at Buffalo Park in East London.

 Joseph made a giant leap of eight places to 11th spot after the two matches. He bowled with genuine pace and penetration and took 3-53 in East London which was followed up by 3-50 in the next match at JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom. He now has an impressive record of 93 wickets in 56 matches at an average of 27 runs per wicket and strike rate of just under 31. Left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein is the other West Indies bowler in the Top 20. He took 3-59 and 2-49 in the two matches to break into the top tier.

 West Indies and South Africa played to a 1-1 result in the series. The first match was washed out, West Indies won the second by 48 runs while the Proteas won the third by four wickets.

The series now moves to Centurion for the first T20 International which will be played at SuperSports Park on Saturday. First ball is 2pm (8am Eastern Caribbean/7am Jamaica

India captain Rohit Sharma backed Suryakumar Yadav after he suffered a hat-trick of golden ducks in the ODI series loss to Australia.

A 21-run Australia victory on Wednesday saw the tourists leapfrog India at the top of the 50-over rankings, with the series defeat India's first at home since 2019.

Suryakumar's display highlighted the hosts woes, facing just three balls over the course of the series without getting his bat to any of them.

He was trapped lbw by Mitchell Starc both in India's opening win and Australia's dominant subsequent response in the second match.

There was therefore immense pressure on Suryakumar ahead of the decider in Chennai, and he was bowled by Ashton Agar.

But the batter retained the support of skipper Rohit.

"He played only three balls in the series. I don't know how much you can look into it. He got three good balls," Rohit said after the match.

"Today [Wednesday] I didn't think it was that great a ball. He just chose the wrong shot. He should have, maybe, come forward. He knows best.

"He plays spin so well, which is why we wanted to hold him back and give him that role of last 15 to 20 overs.

"But it's really unfortunate that he could only play three balls in the series. That can happen to anyone. The potential, the quality is always there. He's just going through that phase right now."

Steve Smith's gamble to bat first in Chennai paid off as Australia's 21-run victory over India clinched their ODI series and the number one ranking.

Australia headed into Wednesday's third and final match with the series level at 1-1, looking to end India's best ever seven-series winning streak at home.

Brave captaincy from Smith was required to do that, with Australia batting first on a dry and soft surface and scoring 269.

No touring batsman was able to build on a strong start, but the same was then true of the India line-up – Virat Kohli leading the way on 54 but out cheaply – as their target proved just beyond them.

The two innings followed similar patterns, with Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh combining for 68 before the former was caught for 33 three balls after being dropped.

Marsh went on to score 47, but Smith was unable to contribute as he departed for a duck, while each of the next five batters passed 20 but did not reach 40.

It left Australia with a competitive score but one India would have been confident of matching after their own opening stand of 65.

Even after a pair of wickets, the home side rallied to 146-2 with Kohli in fine form.

But Adam Zampa (4-45) and Ashton Agar (2-41) worked through the middle order, meaning Kohli's surprise departure to the latter – picking out David Warner at long-off – represented a blow that ultimately cost India.

Australia bookend India's winning run

Australia's win in the second ODI had snapped India's nine-match winning run in home ODIs, and another sequence was ended on Wednesday.

This was India's first defeat in a multi-game ODI series at home since Australia beat them 3-2 back in March 2019.

Kohli's needless departure

After sharing a 69-run partnership with KL Rahul that set India back on track after two wickets, Kohli looked set to play a part in another strong stand for the fifth wicket.

But after combining for 34 with Hardik Pandya – who scored 28 of those runs off 20 balls – the great batsman gave Warner a simple, vital catch.

Australia's Josh Hazlewood has moved to the top of the ICC's ODI bowler rankings for the first time in his career after Mohammed Siraj slipped to third. 

Siraj conceded 37 runs off just three overs in India's 10-wicket loss to Australia on Sunday, which caused the paceman to slump behind Hazlewood and New Zealand's Trent Boult.

Mitchell Stark took 5-53 in that rout, equalling the record number of five-wicket ODI hauls by an Australian bowler.

Hazlewood's rise to the top of the rankings comes despite the 32-year-old having not played in an ODI since November, while his last appearance in any format came in January.

However, he is expected to be back playing for this year's Ashes series in England, which commences on June 16 at Edgbaston.

Meanwhile, Kane Williamson has moved up four spots to second in the Test batting rankings behind Marnus Labuschagne. 

Williamson scored a remarkable 215 runs in New Zealand's victory over Sri Lanka in their two-match series, which the Black Caps won 2-0.

The Delhi Capitals have advanced to the final of the inaugural Tata Women’s Premier League after a five-wicket win over the UP Warriorz at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday.

The Warriorz made 138-6 off their 20 overs after being put in to bat by the Capitals. Talia McGrath made 58* and captain Alyssa Healy made 36 against 3-26 off four overs from off-spinner Alice Capsey.

Meg Lanning (39), Capsey (34) and Marizanne Kapp (34*) then led a successful Delhi chase as the finalists needed just 17.5 overs to reach 142-5.

Pacer Shabnim Ismail took two wickets for the Warriorz.

With the league phase of the tournament now complete with all teams having played eight games, the Capitals, after finishing top-of-the-table with 12 points, are automatically into the final.

The Warriorz will have an opportunity to meet them there when they take on the Mumbai Indians, who finished as runners-up in the league phase, in the eliminator on Friday.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mumbai also finished the league phase with 12 points after a four-wicket win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Sr DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai.

RCB made 125-9 from their 20 overs after losing the toss. Ellyse Perry and Richa Ghosh both made 29 for RCB as Amelia Kerr continued her good form with the ball with 3-22 from her four overs for Mumbai. Nat Sciver-Brunt and Issy Wong also took two wickets each.

Kerr then completed a fine all-round performance with an unbeaten 31 while Yastika Bhatia made 30 and Hayley Matthews 24 as the Indians reached 129-6 in 16.3 overs.

The eliminator will be held at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy on Friday while the final will take place at the Brabourne Stadium on March 26.