Ben Stokes has hit back at Steve Harmison’s criticism of England’s Test preparation for the forthcoming tour of India.

Ex-England seamer Harmison, a former Durham team-mate and close friend of Stokes, believes that arriving in India just three days before the start of a five-match series is a recipe for disaster.

He claimed the tourists would “deserve to get beat 5-0” without spending longer acclimatising to conditions, drawing a curt response from the England captain.

Stokes replied to a video of Harmison’s comments, saying: “Good job we’re going to Abu Dhabi for a training camp before we go to India for even more training before that 1st test then isn’t it.”

England, who lost 3-1 in their previous Indian tour on spinning pitches, do not have any warm-up fixtures scheduled but hope to tune up for the series opener on January 25 with a week-long workout in the United Arab Emirates.

Harmison suggested that approach was insufficient, telling talkSPORT: “If England go in three days before they deserve to get beat 5-0, they really do.

“I’m an old man, that’s what they’ll say…times have changed, but preparation hasn’t changed. I love this new approach, I love Ben Stokes and (head coach) Brendon McCullum. But I’m sorry, going three days before…you’d never do that for an Ashes series.

“You’d never go to Australia three days before the Gabba, so why go three days before Hyderabad? For me it stinks, it absolutely stinks.”

Stokes, meanwhile, is racing to be fully fit for the first Test.

He underwent surgery on his longstanding left knee injury at the end of November and has been chronicling his rehabilitation with a sequence of videos on Instagram.

England are not expecting him to feature as a bowler but even having him available to bat pain-free would represent an improvement on recent times.

Posting from the gym on Wednesday, he wrote: “massive progress for the week”, “muscle symmetry coming back” and “finally able to get into the flexion needed for a spin on the bike, for something normally so easy it was very pleasing to be able to do [it] today”

West Indies left-arm spinners Gudakesh Motie and Akeal Hosein continued their ascension in the ICC Twenty20 rankings, following strong performances in the decisive contest of their recently-concluded five-match series against England.

The curtains came down on the highly entertaining series at the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium in Trinidad and Tobago last Thursday, where West Indies clinched a 3-2 victory. 

This achievement was attributed to the prowess of Motie and Hosein, whose spin and accuracy restricted England to 132, before the batsmen completed the four-wicket win in the final over.

Hosein's two for 20 from his four overs in the match, resulted in his move two spots up to an all-time high of fourth on the list. He surpassed the Sri Lankan pair of Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana.

Meanwhile, Motie, with his three for 24, jumped 75 spots and entered the top 100 for the first time at 91st. Pacer Alzarri Joseph, who did not play in the last two matches of the series, is ranked at 19th, and fellow pacer Jason Holder is ranked at 26th, but no other West Indies bowler that featured in the series appeared in the top 100, as out-of-favour seamers Obed McCoy, Sheldon Cottrell, and Odean Smith are ranked 51st, 77th, and 85th respectively.

On the batting side, former West Indies white ball captain Nicholas Pooran and opener Brandon King, who achieved an all-time high placing of sixth during the series, are the highest ranked batsmen at 12th and 13th respectively.

Captain Rovman Powell, who achieved a career-best 23rd ranking during the series, is ranked 30th, while left-handed opener Kyle Mayers is 36th and fellow opener Johnson Charles is 51st. Sherfane Rutherford (71st), Shai Hope (89th), and Shimron Hetmyer (98th), are also in the top 100.

Dean Elgar began his farewell series with an accomplished unbeaten century to put South Africa ahead of India on day two of the first Test at Centurion.

Elgar will retire from international cricket after next week’s clash in Cape Town and offered a fitting reminder of his qualities with a polished 140 not out – his first Proteas ton in nearly three years.

The 36-year-old occupied the crease for 66 overs, facing 211 deliveries and cracking 23 fours to lead his side to 256 for five. That put South Africa into a narrow lead of 11, with the tourists having earlier been bowled out for 245.

KL Rahul, resuming on 70 overnight, completed a superb century of his own as he scored 31 of his side’s 37 runs in the morning session. He was last man out, bowled by debutant Nadre Burger, having almost single-handedly kept India competitive.

With Elgar holding firm at the top of the order and captain Temba Bavuma absent with a hamstring injury, India successfully chipped away Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi and Keegan Petersen to leave the hosts 113 for three.

But another newcomer, Durham batter David Bedingham, helped South Africa press ahead with an elegant 56 in his maiden Test innings. He put on 131 alongside Elgar, who brought up his 14th hundred, before being cleaned up by Mohamed Siraj.

Kyle Verreyne followed as Prasidh Krishna opened his account as a Test bowler before bad light brought an early finish.

Shane Warne became the first bowler in Test history to claim 700 wickets when he dismissed England’s Andrew Strauss in Melbourne on this day in 2006.

The Australia leg-spinner went into the fourth Test of the Ashes at his beloved Melbourne Cricket Ground on 699 wickets, having revealed in the build-up that he would be retiring from international cricket at the end of the series.

Warne fittingly reached yet another milestone in front of a Boxing Day crowd of 89,155 with a sharply turning leg-break which spun into the stumps of England opener Strauss.

He went on to dismiss another four batters that day, claiming what would be the 37th and final five-wicket haul of his illustrious Test career, as the tourists collapsed to 159 all out.

“As it turned out, whoever writes my scripts is doing an unbelievable job,” said Warne.

“I’ve just been sitting there since we started batting just shaking my head – I can’t believe it happened to be honest. It was a pretty amazing day.”

Warne would go on to finish with 708 wickets in 145 Tests as Australia sealed a 5-0 whitewash over England.

He died aged 52 in March last year from a suspected heart attack in Thailand.

President of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board Azim Bassarath believes the West Indies have set up an excellent platform for a strong challenge at next June’s ICC World T20 in the Caribbean.

The Cricket West Indies vice-president commented in light of the Caribbean cricketers’ exciting 3-2 victory over defending World Cup champions England in the T20I series which ended on Thursday with a four-wicket win for the home team at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.

The home team also triumphed 2-1 in the five-match ODI rubber which preceded the T20s.

“The win was not surprising, since March the West Indies have been performing well having beaten South Africa and India in white ball cricket,” said Bassarath.

He said the men in Maroon clearly showed they were hungry for success and obviously enjoyed playing as a unit under Darren Sammy.

“Their superlative string of wins against very good competition augers well for the future with the T20 World Cup on the horizon, in front of their home crowd,” said the TTCB boss.

Bassarath also welcomed allrounder Andre Russell who distinguished himself on his return to the West Indies set-up after a lengthy lay-off.

He said Russell brought new energy into the team and looks like he’s enjoying his cricket having experienced a very rewarding T20I series against England.

In the first match which the home team won by four wickets, Russell took 3 for 19 and scored an unbeaten 29 from 14 balls to cop the Man of The Match award.

In the second match he scored 14 runs from 10 balls, and a poor bowling performance in which his four overs scored 66 runs as the West Indies won edged out a ten-run win.

In the third match, he scored just eight runs and took one wicket as England won by seven wickets. In the next game, he kept the innings alive with 51 runs from 25 balls after he took one wicket but the visitors levelled the series 2-2 with a massive 75-run victory.

Finally, in the fifth and deciding match he took two wickets for 25 runs and scored three runs as the Caribbean team won by four wickets.

Bassarath said Russell’s contribution was telling and that he was also was very influential in the team’s dressing room helping in strategizing especially for the fifth match.

Trinidad and Tobago Red Force coach David Furlonge said he will be having a conversation with Darren Bravo before the end of 2023 as the local franchise puts things in place ahead of the West Indies Championship season early next year.

Bravo captained the Red Force in the recent CG United Super50 Cup staged in Trinidad and emerged as the leading batter as the hosts clinched the title with an unbeaten run.

However, after being overlooked for the WI One-Day International squad for the recent home series against England, which the West Indies won 2-1, the 34-year-old announced that he was stepping away from the game “just for a bit”.

Furlonge confirmed Bravo’s decision to take a break, explaining that the stylish left-hander, who is contracted by the franchise, has taken his vacation entitlement and wasn’t due back until next year.

However, with plans already being drawn up for the next four-day tournament, Furlonge said he will have to speak with Bravo before the new year to see where the player is at.

After Bravo’s initial announcement on social media in late November, the Red Force coach, who is also chairman of the senior selection panel, was optimistic that the middle order batter would be available for the red-ball regional tournament.

However, it was reported that Bravo was contacted by Cricket West Indies director of cricket Miles Bascombe about going on next month’s Test tour of Australia but he declined the offer.

Meanwhile, Furlonge said: “He (Bravo) is not due back until next year but I will have a conversation before that.”

“We will need to know where we are at because we will have to name a captain who will be involved in selection and preparations for the four-day tournament coming up,” the Red Force coach continued.

“I will have to meet with him soon to get an update. He is still basically on vacation. He has not said anything about the four-day as yet. From a team point of view, we will want to know if he is available or not because he is the captain,” Furlonge added.

Bravo captained the Red Force in the previous West Indies Championship season and finished the season with 446 runs from five matches which included two centuries and one half-century.

The only other batter to score more runs than Bravo in the four-day competition was Alick Athanaze with 647 runs.

The Red Force finished fourth on the six-team standings with the Guyana Harpy Eagles clinching the first-class title, the Windward Islands Volcanoes coming in second and the Barbados Pride placing third.

The Leeward Islands Hurricanes finished fifth and Jamaica Scorpions were last.

West Indies ODI Captain Shai Hope is looking forward to his first ever Indian Premier League (IPL) stint.

The 30-year-old Bajan was picked up by the Delhi Capitals at last week’s IPL Player Auction in Dubai for INR 75 Lakh (USD 90,500).

“I’m extremely delighted to be joining the Delhi Capitals family for my first ever IPL experience,” Hope said.

“I’m looking forward to creating lots and lots of memories with them,” he added.

Hope, over the last few years, has emerged as one of the best batsmen in the world in the One-Day-International format.

Since his debut in 2016, Hope has amassed 5132 runs in 121 matches at an average of 51.32 including 16 hundreds and 25 fifties.

In his last series against England, Hope became the joint-fastest West Indian, alongside Sir Viv Richards, to reach the 5000-run mark in ODI cricket.

Until recently, his form in the shortest format of the game was always questioned, with many critics pointing out his inability to score quickly enough as a top-order player.

He has had a resurgence in the format since being dropped from the West Indies T20 side after some lean returns in the team’s 1-4 home series loss to India from July-August 2022.

Since then, Hope has had some excellent results in the format. He represented the Khulna Tigers in the Bangladesh Premier League from January-February this year, scoring 223 runs in seven innings at an average of 37.16 and an impressive strike rate of 136.80. He had a highest score of 91*.

Hope also played in the Pakistan Super League for the eventual champions, Lahore Qalandars, appearing in only three games and scoring 67 runs at a strike rate of 131.37.

It was Hope’s form in the 2023 Caribbean Premier League (CPL), however, that earned him a recall to the West Indies side and, quite possibly, his maiden IPL contract as well.

Hope scored 481 runs in 12 innings for the Guyana Amazon Warriors to end the season as the tournament’s top run-scorer. The Amazon Warriors went on to win their maiden CPL title.

He scored those 481 runs at an average of 53.44 including four fifties and a first T20 hundred, 106 against the Barbados Royals.

Hope then made his return to the West Indies T20 squad, producing scores of 45 and 22* against India in August before scoring 122 runs in five games to help the West Indies secure a 3-2 series win over defending World T20 Champions, England, earlier this month.

Having enjoyed three-consecutive series victories since taking over as West Indies Twenty20 captain, Rovman Powell credits the Caribbean’s side’s success under his leadership, to the overwhelming support of teammates and staff.

Powell, who was appointed in February following the sudden resignation of Nicholas Pooran, has so far guided West Indies to T20 International triumphs away to South Africa, as well as home wins against India and more recently England.

The accomplishment not only ensured West Indies ends the year unbeaten in a series, but more importantly, serves as a solid platform on which they can build ahead of the 2024 T20 World Cup to be hosted jointly by the Caribbean and United States.

“I think I just have a good bunch of guys around me. I have a very good support staff and the guys respect me and they trust me and trust my judgement. And also, I try to lead from the front. I think as a captain once you lead from the front then naturally guys will follow,” Powell said after West Indies topped England 3-2 at the end of a five-match series in Trinidad and Tobago.

Despite being young at heart at 30 years old, Powell boast extensive captaincy experience. He led Jamaica Tallawahs to the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title last year in his third year in charge full-time, and also captained Jamaica to the Regional Super50 title in 2022. He has previously deputised for West Indies in three One-day Internationals (ODIs) and one T20I.

A month after taking the reins, Powell saw West Indies to a 2-1 series win over South Africa, and they followed that up with a 3-2 victory over India in August.

With their latest success coming against reigning World champions England, Powell said it provides a significant boost in confidence, as West Indies continued their preparation for next year’s T20 showpiece.

Powell has won eight of his 13 matches in charge while averaging 36 with the bat – well above his career average of 25.

“It also gives us confidence [and] confidence for me personally. I try to lead and lead from the front. Once I’m doing what I have to do as a batter first, then the captaincy will take care of itself,” the soft-spoken Jamaican shared.

“I realise as a captain once you’re doing your job, then your decision-making becomes sharper, you don’t second guess yourself when you come under pressure,” he added.

Meanwhile, Powell’s compatriot Andre Russell, also endorsed his leadership.

“I support him a hundred per cent. As the captain, even though he looks up to me, I’m not going to tell him ‘Ok, you need to do this, and you have to do this.’ I respect him as a leader and he’s been doing tremendously so far for the team and for himself,” Russell said.

“I think the confidence he has as a captain and as a player batting-wise, then working with his instinct, [making] bowling changes, making crucial decisions. He managed us as bowlers very well, so hats off to him for that. I don’t need to say much to him – he’s doing a good job,” the electrifying all-rounder added.

Former West Indies captain Kieron Pollard will join the England coaching team for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

Pollard becomes part of the England set-up specifically as an assistant coach for the June tournament.

The 36-year-old from Trinidad and Tobago will provide expertise of Caribbean conditions with the competition being co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States.

Former Somerset all-rounder Pollard helped the West Indies win the T20 World Cup in 2012 and has played a record 600-plus matches in the format.

The ninth edition of the T20 World Cup will be held between June 4 and June 30 next year, with the final to be staged at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.

England will defend the title they won for the second time in Australia 13 months ago in a tournament expanded from 16 to 20 teams.

England’s Tom Curran has failed in his attempt to have his four-match ban in Australia’s Big Bash League overturned after being charged with intimidating an umpire.

The bizarre incident occurred on December 11, when Curran was warming up ahead of the Sydney Sixers’ game against Hobart Hurricanes in Launceston.

Cricket Australia’s code of conduct commissioner Adrian Anderson found that the 28-year-old, who last played for England in 2021, became involved in a disagreement with an umpire while going through his run-up.

The match official instructed Curran not to run on the pitch and stood next to the stumps to block his approach after he attempted to continue.

Anderson found that Curran “attempted to perform a practice run up and run at pace straight towards the umpire, who stood in the bowling crease facing Curran. The umpire stepped to his right to avoid the risk of collision”.

Australian broadcaster Channel 7 later posted footage on X, formerly known as Twitter, which showed the umpire advising Curran he could not use the match surface for warm-ups, and the player then bounding towards him before both men moved to avert impact.

Curran and the Sydney Sixers denied the offence and appealed against the suspension.

But the Big Bash League announced on Sunday that the appeal had been “dismissed, with the original sanction to stand”.

Andre Russell pledged to arrive at next year's T20 World Cup "looking like a UFC fighter" after his comeback series for West Indies culminated in a four-wicket win over England in Thursday's decider at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad.

Russell returned to international cricket having last represented West Indies at the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE.

The 35-year-old was not in the regional team’s plans for last year's T20 World Cup in Australia, when selector Desmond Haynes said that West Indies had "moved on" from him, but won a recall after confirming his availability.

He was West Indies' leading wicket-taker in the series, largely bowling at the death, and scored at a strike rate of 169.35 with the bat.

"It means a lot, to be honest, getting the call-up to come back and to join the West Indies team," he told TNT Sports.

"I've been working for the last two years, waiting on a call-up. I'm just excited to be back and have a win," Russell said, highlighting the role that Daren Sammy has played in his return.

"The coach has been backing me a lot. I'm so happy. I feel like I've won a big, big championship with just a series win, that's how much it means to me."

Russell arrived in the Caribbean immediately after playing in the Abu Dhabi T10, and said that the long-haul flight across the world had affected his performance after impressing in the series opener.

"I was coming from Abu Dhabi where it's a big time difference," he said.

"Flying back into Barbados I tried to stay up as late as possible to make sure that I get enough sleep so that I can [be] fresh for the game.

“When I got to Grenada, I just couldn't sleep. I start feeling sleepy at 6am in the morning, which would be the time that I would sleep in Abu Dhabi. Fans won't know that, but I still get the pressure and the backlash and all of that. It just makes me stronger. I love my Caribbean fans and I know they are passionate about the game, and when we're messing up, they will be on our backs.

I want to make sure that I do the necessary recoveries, drink a lot of coconut water and get my body right - massages, and all of that. That's what I did to really be able to come in the last game, bowl three overs for 30-odd runs [37] - and then today was exceptional from all the bowlers."

Russell hopes to be part of West Indies' squad for the T20 World Cup in June, when they will attempt to become the first men's team to win the trophy for a third time.

"I'll be in better shape, to be honest: I'll be looking like a UFC fighter," he said. "This series win means so much. It [makes me] want to push myself to the limit."

He is due to play in the ILT20 and the IPL early next year, and said: "I have a lot of cricket to play and that's good. When you're playing cricket and in competition, your body is active and you're not just sat at home waiting for the World Cup. We are definitely going to give some teams a good, good run for their money in the World Cup."

Former West Indies captain Kieron Pollard is set to start a new chapter in his decorated cricketing career, as he is expected to join reigning Twenty20 World champions England as a batting consultant ahead of their title defence in the Caribbean and the United States, next year.

According to media reports, Pollard, 36, is expected to impart knowledge of Caribbean conditions and pitches to the England, for the showpiece tournament scheduled for June 4-30.

With the region notorious in recent years for its low, slow pitches, conditions are expected to play a key role in the tournament, and, as such, Pollard's experience of same, will be an asset for England.

The Trinidadian's appointment is expected to flawless, as he is already acquainted with current England captain Jos Buttler with whom he played during a couple of stints with county Somerset, and others, who he would have rubbed shoulders with, in franchise tournaments.

Pollard, who retired from international cricket last year, after a T20 series away to India two months prior. Still, the powerfully built player continues to feature in the global short-format franchise leagues, recently leading New York Strikers to victory in the Abu Dhabi T10.

His vast experience in the T20 format, will also be of value to England, as Pollard has 123 One-Day International and 101 T20 International appearances under his built. Overall, he has featured in 537 T20s, scoring over 12,000 runs, with 300 wickets from his part-time bowling.

Pollard was at the helm when West Indies copped the T20 World Cup title in 2021, to go along with the 2016 title won by a Darren Sammy-led team which he was a part of.

Jamaica Tallawahs, the 2013, 2016 and 2022 Caribbean Premier League champions, will not feature in the tournament's 2024 season and will be replaced by a new franchise based in Antigua and Barbuda.

Kris Persaud, a Guyanese businessman based in Florida, owned the Tallawahs franchise but has sold it back to the CPL.

"The owners were left with no option but to sell the Tallawahs back to CPL as they could not find a way to operate the team sustainably," a CPL spokesperson told ESPNCricinfo.

The three-time CPL champions will be replaced by a not yet named Antigua-based franchise in 2024.

The island hosted a franchise named Antigua Hawksbills in the first two CPL seasons, but they won only three matches and were replaced by St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in 2015.

Daryll Matthew, the minister of sports in the Antigua and Barbuda Senate, revealed plans to host a franchise in 2024 earlier this week. "We can expect very easily and conservatively to generate approximately US$6 million per year by simply having a CPL franchise based in Antigua and Barbuda," Matthew said, as reported by the Antigua Observer.

The CPL intends to relaunch a Jamaica-based franchise in years to come.

"The CPL remains committed to having a team based in Jamaica, but this will be in 2025 at the earliest," a spokesperson said.

"In 2024, there will be six teams taking part in the CPL with franchises based in Antigua & Barbuda, Guyana, St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago," they added.