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Mahela Jayawardene, the former Sri Lanka captain who sits on the ICC cricket committee, has confirmed that a recommendation has been made to reduce the margin of umpire’s call on the Decision Review System (DRS) which would lead to more batsmen being given out lbw.Speaking to ESPNcricinfo after the first day’s play of the third Test at Lord’s, Jayawardene, who attended the latest meeting last week after being appointed to the ICC cricket committee in May, revealed that the proposal is to reduce the margin by half. If the change is approved, only 25% of the ball would need to be hitting the stumps in order to overturn an on-field not out decision, instead of the current 50%.That would have meant Jonny Bairstow being given out on 56 in England’s first innings against Sri Lanka at Lord’s. Instead, when Sri Lanka reviewed S Ravi’s not out decision, a verdict of “umpire’s call” was returned, with Hawk Eye showing the leg stump being struck by just fractionally less than 50% of the ball.”We sat in the cricket committee last week and we decided that the 50% rule should be reduced to 25%, so that recommendation will probably go in and it’s something for the stakeholders and ICC to take up,” Jayawardene said.”Even the MCC rule book says if it hits any part of the wicket it should be given out, so you are going away from all that with the 50% rule.”Jayawardene added that it was unfair for teams to lose a review when an lbw decision is so close to be being overturned. Research has shown that up to 80% of umpire’s calls that currently remain on-field would be given out under the adjusted protocols.”That argument has been there for the last three or four years when captains are losing reviews so that is another reason the reduction came into play,” he said. “If you take 25% out, I think the stats say that 75-80% of the umpire’s calls decisions would be given out. When umpires are considering benefit of the doubt I think 25% is okay, but 50% is too much.”Jayawardene’s erstwhile Sri Lanka team-mate Kumar Sangakkara expressed his dissatisfaction at the current functioning of the DRS for lbw reviews, in the wake of Bairstow’s reprieve. “High time the ICC got rid of this umpire’s call,” Sangakkara tweeted. “If the ball is hitting the stumps it should be out on review, regardless of [the umpire’s] decision. With the umpire’s call, technology is used as an excuse for the umpire making a mistake. Technology should ensure the correct decision’s made.”If the umpire wants a comfort zone, give him a margin of 20%,” Sangakkara added. “If anything more of the ball is hitting it, his decision can be overturned.”The recommendations by the cricket committee will be discussed at the ICC’s annual conference in Edinburgh at the end of the month, as part of a wider debate around the implementation of DRS.The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has produced detailed research on the Hawk Eye and Hot Spot technology used for the DRS. There is a desire to bring in universal application of the DRS to avoid the current situation whereby differing levels of the technology are used around the world. India still refuses to use the system in bilateral series.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details2:21

By the Numbers – Key stats from the cracker at Trent Bridge

Liam Plunkett thrashed a six from the final ball of an incredible game to secure a tie between England and Sri Lanka in the first ODI of the Royal London series at Trent Bridge.When Plunkett, England’s No. 10, came to the crease, his side still required 52 to win from the last 26 balls. And, in the face of some impressive death bowling, it seemed the equation had become overwhelming when the asking rate rose to 30 from the final two overs.But Plunkett and Chris Woakes both scooped boundaries in a penultimate over that realised 16 and, after the pair scampered seven from the first five balls of the last over, it left England requiring six from the final ball to secure the tie.Nuwan Pradeep, until then impressively consistent in his ability to nail his yorkers, dropped a few inches short only to see Plunkett open his shoulders and unleash a fierce drive back over the bowler’s head and into the pavilion.It may be little consolation right now for a Sri Lanka team that appeared to have this game in their grasp on several occasions but perhaps, in time, they will reflect with joy on their part in a wonderful match and a superb advert for the 50-over format. And maybe they will, in time, smile at this reminder of the endearing absurdities of this great game: hours of unstinting effort and copious heroic performances by both sides resulted in the same conclusion as if the rain that has afflicted these parts had never relented.The dramatic finale was set-up by a record-breaking stand between Woakes and Jos Buttler. Coming together with England reeling at 82 for 6, Buttler and Woakes added 138 – the highest seventh-wicket stand conceded by Sri Lanka in ODI cricket and second-highest overall – from 149 balls to give their side realistic hopes of a victory that looked impossible an hour or two earlier.This was not the flamboyant Buttler to which we have begun to become accustomed. Instead of counter-attacking from the start, instead of premeditating or attempting to unleash the full array of his strokes, he came to the crease with his side struggling at 30 for 4 and played himself in while ensuring the run rate remained just about within reach.His first boundary – a drive that flew agonisingly close to Farveez Maharoof at mid-off – did not come until his 17th delivery and his final strike rate of 93.93 was some way under his career rate of 117.23. Instead this was a more mature Buttler who combined his large repertoire of strokes with swift running and astute shot selection.But when Buttler was brilliantly caught on the long-on boundary by Dasun Shanaka – timing his leap perfectly and somehow managing to keep himself from toppling over the rope – for a well-paced 93, England still required 67 from 7.3 overs and it appeared their charge had lost impetus.David Willey, who had swung wildly and made contact rarely, was unable to sustain the momentum and when he went – a wicket only confirmed after numerous reviews by the TV umpire concluded that Maharoof had not over-stepped – it appeared England’s final chance had, too.But Woakes, with a maiden half-century at either List A or ODI level, sustained the charge. While there were only two boundaries in his first 50 runs – and only four in his entire innings – he ran with such speed and made contact so often that England just about kept themselves in the hunt. After Woakes was joined by Plunkett, the pair took nine from the 47th over, 10 from the 48th and 16 from the 49th to leave 14 required from the last.For a man who may not have played had Ben Stokes been fit, it was a fine effort. Woakes not only gained the Man-of-the-Match award, but also set a new record for the highest score by a No. 8 or lower in the history of ODI cricket. Unruffled by the demands of the chase or, apparently, the fuss made of him afterwards, he demonstrated the composure and softly-spoken steel that have long been recognised by the England management as the sort of qualities they want in the side. We may look back on this performance – completed, as it was, by two wickets and a mature spell of bowling – as Woakes’ coming-of-age moment.Until Woakes and Buttler intervened, it seemed that Angelo Mathews’ experience would prove the difference between the sides. Mathews followed his calm innings of 73 with the wickets of Jason Roy and Joe Root in the opening six overs of the England innings.While conventional wisdom has it that aggressive batting and fast bowling hold the key to success in modern limited-overs cricket, here it was Mathews’ almost risk-free accumulation and wicket-to-wicket medium-pace that proved valuable.Coming to the crease with his side three down within the first nine overs of the match, Mathews reasoned that his side would be better served by a period of consolidation instead of attack. Dinesh Chandimal and Mathews added 64 for Sri Lanka’s fourth wicket but, with Adil Rashid’s nicely controlled spell costing just 36 runs, it took them 16.5 overs. When Chandimal fell top-edging a sweep, it seemed Sri Lanka may struggle to set a competitive score.Sri Lanka were, therefore, grateful for the impetus provided by Seekkuge Prasanna. He contributed 59 of a 68-run fifth-wicket stand with Mathews, thrashing a 24-ball half-century containing 48 runs in boundaries in the process. At one stage he thumped 44 from 12 deliveries, including four sixes in five deliveries from Moeen Ali and Plunkett, as Sri Lanka plundered 49 in three overs. Eoin Morgan, having chosen to go into the game with the extra batsman in Jonny Bairstow, must have wished he had an extra bowler to call upon.Their final total still looked a little under par on a good batting surface – remarkably good bearing in mind the awful weather that had afflicted the region over the last 10 days – and with a short boundary on one side but, with England four down within the first nine overs of their reply, it seemed it would be more than enough.But with Mathews forced to leave the pitch in the early stages of England’s reply with a recurrence of a hamstring strain, Sri Lanka were forced to make up not only his overs but, perhaps, some of the calm his experience might have provided to his team-mates. Their fielding wilted under pressure and, as England grew in belief, so Sri Lanka started to look rattled.In the end Plunkett provided the memorable finish this fine match deserved. This England side – with its apparently fragile top order and somewhat thin bowling attack – is flawed, certainly. But they don’t know when they are beaten and they seem to be playing with more belief and conviction by the month. The next few years promise a great deal more entertainment.

Sussex have agreed a short-term deal for South Africa allrounder David Wiese to appear in the NatWest T20 Blast. Wiese, who was part of his country’s World T20 campaign before joining Royal Challengers Bangalore for the IPL, will play two games for Sussex before the arrival of Mustafizur Rahman.Wiese has only played once so far in this year’s IPL but he has spoken to Sussex’s Chris Jordan, who was signed by RCB last month, about the opportunity to play at Hove. Sussex already have Ross Taylor as one of their two overseas signings.”I am really excited to be joining Sussex and taking part in the NatWest T20 Blast campaign,” Wiese said. “I have always wanted to play county cricket and from speaking to Chris Jordan here in the IPL and my discussions with Mark Davis I have heard a lot of very good things about the club.”Wiese, 31, made his international debut in 2013 and has played 20 T20Is and six ODIs for South Africa. A tall, powerful batsman and medium-pace bowler, he has a T20 strike rate of 150.30 with the bat and has taken 99 wickets at 22.17 in his career to date. He is expected to be available for Sussex’s two home Blast games next week, on June 1 and 3.Sussex’s head coach, Mark Davis, said: “It’s great to have David joining us fresh from the IPL. He is an accomplished cricketer in T20, having played a key role for South Africa in the format. He can bowl at any stage of the innings, and is a hard-hitting batsman, which makes him a valuable cricketer and we look forward to him being an asset to us whilst he is here at Hove.”Bangladesh seamer Mustafizur is expected to be given some time off to rest before making his trip over after the IPL, where he has been in fine form for Sunrisers Hyderabad, who alongside RCB are in contention to reach Sunday’s final.

Pratika Rawal did not open India’s chase against Bangladesh after hurting her knee and ankle while fielding during the first innings of their final league game of the Women’s World Cup in Navi Mumbai.”The BCCI Medical Team is closely monitoring her progress,” the board said in a statement.The injury occurred off the final ball of the 21st over in a rain-hit game in Navi Mumbai, when Bangladesh batter Sharmin Akter swiped Deepti Sharma across the line. As Rawal ran towards her left from cow corner, her foot appeared to get stuck in the turf and her ankle twisted as she fell to the ground. While the ball went to the boundary, Rawal winced in pain and held her ankle. Though a stretcher was sent out for her, she got up with the physio’s help and hobbled off the field. Amanjot Kaur filled in as Smriti Mandhana’s opening partner in Rawal’s absence.The match between India and Bangladesh began two hours after the scheduled time due to rain and was initially reduced to 43 overs a side. But another spell of rain delayed play for two more hours with Bangladesh on 39 for 2 in 12.2 overs. The match eventually resumed at 8.05 pm local time as a 27-overs-a-side contest. However, there was a drizzle even minutes before the restart.Bangladesh dragged themselves to 119 for 9 in their 27, and India – with a revised target of 126 – were cruising at 57 for no loss when another spell of rain forced a washout.Rawal, 25, is the second highest run-scorer at the World Cup, behind Mandhana, with 308 runs at an average of 51.33 in six innings. She had scored a century in the previous game against New Zealand, which India won by 53 runs to seal their spot in the semi-finals.Shortly after the Rawal injury, her team-mate Radha Yadav also seemed to get her foot stuck trying to stop the ball at point in the 25th over. But she gathered herself up and bowled the next over.India were going to finish fourth in the league stage irrespective of the result against Bangladesh and will play table toppers Australia in the second semi-final on Thursday in Navi Mumbai.

Suryakumar Yadav, the India captain, withdrew an appeal against Junaid Siddique on Wednesday night in Dubai despite the batter being given out by the third umpire.The incident took place in the 13th over of the UAE innings. Siddique was beaten while attempting a pull off Shivam Dube, and was found outside the crease when wicketkeeper Sanju Samson collected the ball and under-armed a direct hit to the stumps at the striker’s end. As soon as he missed the ball, Siddique seemed to point towards the towel that Dube appeared to have dropped while delivering the ball.Even as the square-leg umpire referred the decision to third umpire Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Suryakumar walked up to the umpire at the bowler’s end to have a chat, and withdrew the appeal after he saw the replays on the big screen. The third umpire had declared Siddique out by that stage.Related

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Siddique was out one legal ball later, when he toe-ended a slog off a Dube slower delivery to Suryakumar at mid-on to leave UAE 55 for 9. It was Dube’s third wicket; UAE were eventually bowled out for 57, which India overhauled in 4.3 overs.On ESPNcricinfo’s Time Out show, Aakash Chopra suggested that Suryakumar’s decision was based on the match situation at the time, which was heavily in India’s favour.”It’s event-specific in my opinion, it wouldn’t have happened if [Pakistan’s] Salman Agha was playing on 14th [of September] and the game is in the balance, and he’s just roaming around, he [Suryakumar] won’t do that,” Chopra said. “It was a good throw, presence of mind from Sanju to hit the stumps.”If he was [outside the crease], it should be out, in my opinion. But opinions may vary. The problem is the moment you bring in ethics and generosity, it opens a can of worms: ‘oh, you did this today, why are you not doing the same thing tomorrow?’ Why go down that route?”Will you do it? If that’s the case, it’s like walking. You nick it and you walk. But the day you do not walk, that’s the day that decides which side of the divide you are on and that’s when you look like a hypocrite. I’m not saying SKY is going to do it again, or not do it again. But if it is within the rules and the umpire has given it out, just stay out. That’s it.”India went on to pull off their fastest chase in men’s T20Is, in terms of overs left – eclipsing the 6.3 overs’ chase against Scotland at the T20 World Cup in Dubai in 2021.

Sachin Tendulkar has hailed the efforts of some of the India players who played a key role in the five-match Test series against England that ended 2-2 after a heart-stopping finish on the final day. Tendulkar heaped praise on “unbelievable” Mohammed Siraj, talked about how KL Rahul tightened his game around off stump with “precise footwork”, how Yashasvi Jaiswal showed a lot of character and maturity during his twin hundreds, and how Shubman Gill remained “calm and composed” as a captain.Apart from the high-octane finish and the inaugural Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy being shared, the series saw a number of twists and turns, dramatic face-offs and some extraordinary individual efforts, such as Rishabh Pant and Chris Woakes walking out to bat with injuries. Pant played four of the five Tests and scored two centuries and three half-centuries, the last of them with a fractured right foot to average 68.42 with a strike rate of 77.63.”The sweep shot that he played, he likes to get under the ball to scoop it with some elevation,” Tendulkar said on Reddit. “People think he has fallen, but it is intentional so that he can get under the ball. The secret to play those shots is to be able to get under the ball. So it’s a planned fall, he doesn’t go off-balance. All that depends on the length of the ball.”Related

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While calling Pant’s strokeplay and the “punch” he adds to them a “god’s gift”, Tendulkar said, “There were occasions where people felt he doesn’t have to play that shot, it’s not the right time, but someone like Rishabh should be left alone. But when he’s looking to save a match, he has to have a different approach, like in the last 15-20 overs of a match. But he has figured out [how to approach an innings] depending on the match situation.”

Gill was ‘so much in control’, Rahul played some ‘magnificent shots’

The two batting stalwarts for India in this series were Gill and opener Rahul, who racked up 754 runs and 532 runs respectively with six hundreds between them. Tendulkar pointed out both batters had “precise footwork” on the challenging conditions in England. Gill’s series aggregate was the second-highest tally of a captain, only behind Don Bradman’s 810 in 1936.”He was extremely consistent as far as his thought process was concerned because it reflects on your footwork,” he said of Gill. “If you’re not clear in your head, your body doesn’t respond accordingly, and his body was responding brilliantly. He looked so much in control, he had so much time to play the ball. The most important thing I noticed was the respect to a good ball where the tendency sometimes is to push the ball on the front foot, even if it’s not close to your foot. He was able to defend there and consistently defend well on the front foot. His front-foot defence was solid.”On Rahul, who scored more than one hundred in a series for the first time in a Test series, Tendulkar said: “He was terrific, possibly one of the best I’ve seen him bat. The way he was defending close to the body, he was leaving in a completely organised manner, he knew exactly where his off stump was and which balls to leave. I got the feeling sometimes he was able to frustrate the bowler, that where should they bowl to him if he’s letting so many balls go. So he got the bowlers to come back to him, and when the ball was in striking range he played some magnificent shots. I thought he looked in that zone, calm and composed.”4:04

How do you move on from such an epic series?

Siraj ‘doesn’t get the credit he deserves’

Among the bowlers, Siraj impressed Tendulkar. Siraj was the only bowler across both teams to play all five Tests and sent down 1113 balls in all, 361 more than anyone, and led the wicket-takers’ list with a haul of 23. He had to do the heavy lifting in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah in two Tests.”Unbelievable. Superb approach. I love his attitude. I love the spring in his legs,” Tendulkar said. “For a fast bowler to be constantly in your face like that, no batsman will like it. And the approach he had till the end on the last day, I could hear commentators also saying he bowled around 90mph (145kph) on the last day after having bowled more than 1000 deliveries in the series. That shows his courage and big heart.”The way he started on the last day was remarkable and he has always been instrumental, playing a key role whenever we need him, whenever we want him to deliver that knockout punch, he’s been able to do that consistently in the past, and so was the case in this series. The way he picked all those wickets and performed, he doesn’t get the credit he deserves.”

Jaiswal was ‘a treat to watch’

Rahul’s batting partner Jaiswal ended the tour with a century at The Oval, just like he had started at Leeds in the first Test. He scored two more half-centuries in between and drew particular praise for his century in the fifth Test, where he stitched a crucial century stand with nightwatcher Akash Deep. Jaiswal finished the series with 411 runs at an average of 41.10.”I was impressed with Yashasvi’s mindset. He’s a fearless batsman and he knows when to accelerate, when to see through a phase, and when to go to the non-striker’s end. He scored a hundred on a difficult track in the first Test where the ball moved around a bit, not as much and not for as long as we expected, but he played an important role there.”In the last Test he scored a magnificent hundred on a difficult track. Before that the tracks weren’t as challenging, but the last one was a difficult one to bat on. He showed a lot of character, maturity and determination. The way he was guiding Akash Deep…a batter’s responsibility is not to score his own runs, it’s also how you build partnerships. He played a role in how to motivate Akash Deep. All in all, a fantastic series for Yashasvi, a treat to watch.”

West Indies’ pace bowlers surged under lights on the second day at Sabina Park as the Test moved at a breakneck speed, with Australia stumbling to 99 for 6 amid a torrid working over in some of the toughest conditions imaginable.Sam Konstas’ miserable series ended with a duck, leaving his Test prospects for the Ashes in jeopardy. Cameron Green, on the other hand, played outstandingly for an innings worth far more than the 42 on the scoreboard, although he could have been run out on 14. By the close of another hectic day, which saw 15 wickets fall, Australia held a lead of 181 which was already considerable in the conditions, but West Indies had given themselves a glimmer.Related

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Earlier, West Indies had been dismantled for 143, with Australia’s bowling sharing the success. Scott Boland, who replaced Nathan Lyon in the XI, finished with three wickets. Australia took a first-innings lead of 82, but it also meant they started their second innings at the beginning of the final session, as the lights took full hold.The passage of play when West Indies took the new ball was electrifying. Konstas wasn’t able to get off the mark as he jabbed at a short-of-a-length delivery from Shamar Joseph and was caught in the gully. It left Konstas, who had been billed as the future of the top order, with 50 runs in the series at 8.33.Usman Khawaja managed to take his balls-faced tally in the series to over 300 – a not-inconsiderable achievement given the conditions – but inside-edged a big drive against Shamar Joseph into his stumps, making it all six dismissals for the series from around the wicket.