Kent seamer claims maiden five-for under the Canterbury lights as Middlesex sufer dramatic collapse to 54 for 9

Matt Roller at Canterbury25-Jun-20181:33

Nash’s ton gives boost for Notts

ScorecardGrant Stewart, Kent’s burly Western Australian seamer, took five top-order wickets under the Canterbury lights as Middlesex collapsed to 54 for 9 in another setback for their promotion push.Stewart, only playing thanks to the absence of Matt Henry (rested ahead of Saturday’s Royal London Cup final) and Darren Stevens (who struggles to pick up the pink ball), had taken four wickets in as many games in his first-class career to date when he took the new pink ball; two hours later, he had his maiden five-wicket haul.The pink Dukes, thought to hold together better than its Kookaburra equivalent, swung late in the fabled ‘twilight period’ after the sun disappeared behind the Frank Woolley Stand. Stewart jagged the ball back into the left-handers, and moved it sharply away from the right-handers’ edges, ripping the heart out of Middlesex’s top six in their response to Kent’s 241 earlier in the day.Malan questions pink ball policy

Dawid Malan, Middlesex captain, questioned the use of pink Kookaburra ball in Division One and a pink Dukes ball in Division Two, contending that Division Two batsmen potentially faced a much tougher challenge against the swinging ball in twilight.
“I can’t quite understand why the two divisions are using different balls.” he said. “It’s still county cricket and we have guys out here with aspirations to play international cricket, so to have different balls seems strange as we don’t do that in red-ball cricket.
“It doesn’t make a lot of sense. It was doing so much at the end there that we actually did quite well to nick a few.”

Middlesex’s batsmen came and went in a hurry. First, Sam Robson’s horror season continued. Four years ago last week, the right-hander made his England debut in the Lord’s Test against Sri Lanka; here, he pushed apologetically at a Stewart away-swinger and he failed to pass 20 for the ninth time in 11 innings this campaign.When the umpires took the players off soon after, with the low sun behind Stewart’s arm rendering the ball impossible to see, it looked as though the Canterbury faithful were set for a floodlit farce: the lights were on, but nobody was in the middle.But after the resumption, with the shadows lengthening, Stewart steamed in with menace and purpose. Next to go was Max Holden, stunned that a ball pitched well outside his off stump had fizzed back in, before Dawid Malan – who struggled against the pink ball in England’s day-night Ashes Test last winter – edged a similar delivery to Sean Dickson at slip for a duck. At 19 for 3, Kent were on the charge.Stewart soon had two more. Stevie Eskinazi, the only man to make double-figures in Middlesex’s effort, prodded at a ball which hit the seam, before debutant George Scott was cleaned up. Harry Podmore’s dismissal of Hilton Cartwright was sandwiched between Stewart’s fourth and fifth, and Ivan Thomas skittled James Harris to leave Middlesex reeling at 54 for 7.Calum Haggett got in on the act in the penultimate over, as John Simpson edged through to the keeper, before bowling Ravi Patel with the day’s final ball: the collapse was six wickets for 10 runs, and Kent were in dreamland.The visitors had hoped that last week’s remarkable turnaround at Leicester would prove the catalyst for change in a season that had promised so much and delivered so little; but with the prospect of another day in the heat looming over them, already it will take a monumental effort to save this game.Grant Stewart celebrates his maiden first-class wicket•Getty Images

For Kent, the final session completely changed their outlook after they had been frustratingly short of their best for the previous two.In his first Championship appearance of the season, following an underwhelming stint with the Chennai Super Kings and some drinks-carrying for England, Sam Billings won the toss and chose to bat. It looked a poor decision: Tim Murtagh and Harris started well with the new ball, the latter trapping Dickson leg before in the first half-hour.But the innings was one of loose shots, with the in-form pair of Heino Kuhn and Joe Denly both failing to kick on after getting in. Billings himself led the way in this department: after a high-elbow, hold-the-pose drive through extra cover for four before lunch and a kiss-the-surface punch down the ground off Murtagh, the runs dried up for him after the interval.”Go on then,” Murtagh’s fourth-stump line said to the captain, “do something stupid.” Billings duly obliged, and chipped to short cover for 17. Dragging himself off the field to the members’ silence, he could not have envisioned the scene four hours later: Billings barely able to conceal his Chesire-cat grin, as Stewart led the sides off with Kent in complete control.

Surrey still have a chance of qualification, but Royal London Cup hopes have been extinguished north of the Thames

ECB Reporters Network03-Jun-2018
ScorecardTom Curran celebrated his latest England call-up by keeping alive Surrey’s Royal London One-Day Cup hopes at the expense of Middlesex at Lord’s.While his younger sibling Sam enjoyed being part of an England Test win at Headingley, Curran was named in the national squad for the upcoming ODI series against Australia.And the 23-year-old underlined his potential in the white-ball format with a match-winning 4-33 as the men from south of the river restricted the hosts to 234 all out – a target they made with some comfort thanks to Ben Foakes’ 86.Alec Stewart’s men will still need to beat Glamorgan in the last round of games and rely on favours from elsewhere if they are to make the knockout stages.For Middlesex those hopes are already over, a third successive defeat meaning their promising start to the competition ultimately came to nothing.Middlesex skipper Steven Finn opted to bat under cloudless skies at Lord’s, only to see Nick Gubbins bowled off the inside edge by Morne Morkel with only eight runs on the board.Stevie Eskinazi played more freely than in previous games, hoisting a big six over mid-wicket, but departed in Rikki Clarke’s first over courtesy of a thin edge through to Foakes.Curran then took centre stage, striking twice in an over when first Eoin Morgan and then Hilton Cartwright gave Foakes two more victims behind the timbers, leaving Middlesex 78-4.Paul Stirling raised his 50 amid the slump and found an ally in the shape of wicketkeeper John Simpson in a stand of 45, but the mini-revival was snuffed out when the latter drove Gareth Batty (1-33) into the hands of Clarke at backward point.And hopes of a sizeable target all but vanished when Stirling (67) chipped Will Jacks to mid-off.The fact the hosts saw out their overs was down to cameos from Nathan Sowter and Tom Helm, the latter bowled by Curran off the final ball of the innings.With a total short of par Middlesex needed early wickets and Finn obliged, trapping England man Jason Roy lbw in the first over.England discard Mark Stoneman and Jacks progressed with few alarms until an almighty mix-up saw the former comfortably run out.And the incident seemed to be playing on Jacks’ mind when he sent an ugly swipe off Finn into the hands of James Franklin at mid-off seven balls later.At 44-3 the game was in the balance, but Rory Burns and Foakes, who’d shared an unbeaten century partnership to beat Middlesex 12 months ago, pieced together a stand of 89 with increasing confidence.Such was their control it was a surprise when Burns was bowled by Ravi Patel attempting an ill-advised scoop, but with no scoreboard pressure Foakes and Ollie Pope (57 not out) produced a 98 stand.And although Foakes perished with four needed, the visitors eased home with 11 balls to spare.

ScorecardYorkshire edged through to the Royal London Cup knockout stages for the fifth year running by beating already eliminated Northamptonshire at Emerald Headingley. The Vikings claimed a fourth successive North Group win by chasing 242 with four wickets in hand and an over remaining.On a tense final day in North Group, they had to be satisfied with third place and an away tie in the play-offs, missing out on a home semi-final eliminator tie by not reaching their target in 41 overs in order to better Nottinghamshire’s net run-rate.In fact, they nearly missed out all together by slipping to 134 for 5 with David Willey out for 71. But Gary Ballance and Jonny Tattersall, who made a maiden county half-century in his second attempt to make the grade at Headingley, went a long way to clinching the win with a calm 87-run stand for the sixth wicket inside 14 overs. Ballance made 66 off 61 balls and Tattersall 52 not out off 51.Yorkshire now travel to Chelmsford to face Essex next Thursday for the right to advance to the semi-finals.Willey, who was outstanding against Lancashire earlier in the week, starred with bat and ball against his former county, also taking 3 for 24 from 9.5 overs as Northants were bowled out for 241.In pursuit, Yorkshire slipped to 14 for 2 early in the fifth over of their reply as Adam Lyth and Tom Kohler-Cadmore were both caught behind off Kleinveldt and Hutton. The hosts then stuttered as Rob Keogh’s offspin (2 for 26 from 10 overs) tied them down.Willey was fast out of the blocks. He hit four of his first six balls for four, hit Kleinveldt for two leg-side sixes in the 10th over and reached 50 off 42 balls in the 17th over as the score advanced to 85 for 2. But shortly afterwards Keogh made two crucial breakthroughs, getting Joe Root caught behind reverse sweeping for 18 and Che Pujara lbw as the score slipped to 102 for four in the 25th over.A workman on Headingley’s new stand takes a breather•Getty Images

When Willey miscued Saif Zaib’s left-arm spin to long-on eight overs later, Yorkshire nerves were jangling. But Ballance and Tattersall held it together, reaching fifties to the delight of the 2000 strong home crowd before the former fell with 21 needed.Willey had claimed two of the first three wickets as the visitors, who elected to bat, fell to 23 for 3. He had Ben Duckett caught behind and Ricardo Vasconcelos at first slip before returning at the death to get last man Ben Cotton caught at mid-off, but Yorkshire made things more difficult for themselves as Northants recovered from 101 for 6.Debutant Charlie Thurston, 21, was the Northants standout with 53 off 62 balls. Thurston shared partnerships of 42 and 46 for the seventh and eighth wickets with Rory Kleinveldt and Graeme White, who finished 41 not out.

Scotland coach Grant Bradburn made clear his disappointment with the Future Tours Programme, and asked the ICC to consider rewarding Scotland’s recent performances

Peter Della Penna21-Jun-2018A week after Scotland scaled new heights by becoming the first Associate team to beat the No. 1 ODI side in the world, a cold dose of reality has brought them back to earth. It comes in the form of the FTP schedule release through 2023. Scotland are nowhere to be found in that.The paucity of fixtures and funding is nothing new for them. But it’s something that coach Grant Bradburn hopes will be one of many areas that will be reconsidered by the ICC administrators going forward, ahead of next week’s ICC annual conference in Dublin.”It’s incredibly sad to see that FTP come out,” Bradburn told ESPNcricinfo. “We’re fully aware that the FTP didn’t just get drafted after our victory against England. Clearly it’s been in the pipeline for some time. Our players hope that the statement that was made with the win against England, and the [wins over Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan] over the past 12 months, force the ICC into reviewing their investment and continuing to see value in their investments so far in the top Associates.”According to Bradburn, his players have come to grips with their failure to qualify for the 10-team World Cup in 2019. He also said that calls for Scotland and other Associates to get more opportunities should not be viewed as a knee-jerk reaction to their win over England but instead as a recognition of their consistent performances since the start of 2017 that has seen them beat four Full Members and tie a fifth in a T20I, against Ireland, during the recent tri-series.As part of the T20I tri-series win, Scotland also notched two dominant wins over Netherlands. Netherlands are now guaranteed 24 ODIs against Full Members over the next three years in the FTP cycle and the ODI League while WCLC runners-up Scotland get none.”Number one, we hope they review that decision for the 2023 World Cup,” Bradburn said. “Number two, and most importantly for us, is that we do hope the ICC continue to invest in us.”The campaign against England, Pakistan, Netherlands and Ireland, we framed it strategically. It’s not a matter of chucking games in here or there. We would love the ICC to give us the ability to plan just like they do the Full Members by putting out the FTP schedule, which is great for them because they can now plan. Unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury.”Unlike the funding distributed to Full Members, Scotland and other Associates have to pinch pennies on shoestring budgets to maximise their efforts both domestically and internationally. Cricket Scotland’s core funding from the ICC as an ODI status Associate is US$1.5 million. However, Bradburn said they successfully appealed for a US$250,000 per year funding boost for 2017 and 2018, which enabled them to play more matches and improve their on-field performance, culminating in the win over England.Scotland celebrates after Mark Watt’s first wicket of the match•Peter Della Penna

“That extra $250,000 enabled us to do extra things like the Desert T20 Challenge, like the tri-series that we’ve just been to in Holland and the preparation in Pretoria before the World Cup Qualifier and also the second trip to Dubai that we had in January before the World Cup Qualifier, which was just fantastic,” Bradburn said. “It was excellent and appropriate preparation for us, and we feel we spent the money wisely. If we had the same or just a little bit more, we could do so much.”What’s on many of our minds is, ‘Wow! Look what we’ve done with $250,000. Imagine if that was $500,000’. And that’s not even a fraction of what the lowest Full Member receives on an annual basis, which is around $9 million per year. So for Cricket Scotland to receive more funding is an absolute must and we just hope that the ICC, when they gather around their table next week, have taken note of the performances and we hope that they are pleased with their investment and continue to see benefits in investing in the top Associates.”The last of Cricket Scotland’s US$250,000 supplemental funding boost for 2018 was spent on the recent tri-series, meaning they have no more money to arrange bilateral fixtures with other Associates. It also means they are short of funds to access facilities they have invested in for the national team’s training camps. Bradburn does not want to see all the momentum that Scotland have built up over the last year and a half go waste when qualification for the 2020 World T20 is just around the corner.”We’ve got a great facility in La Manga, Spain that Ireland and ourselves have invested in but right at this point in time we can’t afford to go there,” Bradburn said. “We’ve only been there once in the last two years and it was just brilliant. It’s such a great training base, a place where we develop our future Scotland internationals and also play games but we can’t afford to go.”As opposed to pleading for money every year, it would be nice for the ICC to turn around and say, ‘Okay, here’s a sum of money per year for the next four years. Go play in a programme that sees you guys continuing your rise toward Full Membership.’ That would be brilliant. But right now we need to apply to the ICC through our chairman Tony Brian who has done a brilliant job pleading our case. We have to apply every time and we’re hoping there might be an answer next week but that answer might not come until the next ICC meeting in October.”At the moment, the best case scenario is that in the last quarter of this year we get confirmation of some funding and can put some cricket in place for November and December which prepares us for the start of 2019. Clearly T20 is going to become more important over the next couple of years with World Cups confirmed in 2020 and 2021. So we would love to be able to position ourselves to continue to get better at that format of the game especially and have a little more funding to continue to improve.

West Ham United forward Jarrod Bowen has been linked with a move away from the London Stadium, and journalist Ben Jacobs has now provided an update on his future.

Is Jarrod Bowen leaving West Ham?

Bowen has been touted for a move elsewhere for quite some time, with reports from earlier this year suggesting that West Ham were braced for a potential summer exit, having been on the radar of fellow Premier League side Liverpool.

The forward's contract is set to expire in the summer of 2025, and the Hammers' board has been keen to tie him down to a new contract, but he could be viewed as a replacement for Mohamed Salah, as the Egyptian's Liverpool contract is set to end in the same year.

Earlier in the summer, it was reported the Englishman was close to agreeing terms to remain at the London Stadium, with only the minor details needing to be ironed out, but talks have presumably stalled, as there has been no progress on that front.

As such, there is lingering doubt over the 26-year-old's future with the Irons, and Jacobs has now suggested he may be forced to seek a move to boost his chances of playing for England.

In an interview with GiveMeSport, the journalist said: "Bowen is obviously content enough that he stands a chance, just by being at West Ham, to fight and get into the mix for Euro 2024. Otherwise, he would have probably pushed a little bit harder to go last summer, so I don't think England's a factor in this.

"Even though he made the England squad for the last World Cup, although he was injured and that might have been a key factor, his opportunities were still more limited at Leicester compared to now going forward at Spurs. That might be at the back of Bowen's mind as well."

How many times has Jarrod Bowen played for England?

The right-winger is still on the fringe of the Three Lions squad, having only made four appearances for his country, all of which came in the UEFA Nations League back in 2022, and he was not included in Gareth Southgate's most recent squad.

Southgate has faced criticism for being biased towards players at "big clubs", with James Ward-Prowse also being snubbed earlier this month, so despite the manager's reassurances, Bowen may feel he needs to move elsewhere if his international career is to blossom.

With the England international's contract set to expire in the summer of 2025, David Moyes has a big decision to make in the upcoming window, and potentially next summer, as there is a risk of losing him for free if he does not pen a new deal.

With any luck, West Ham's positive start to the season will convince Bowen to sign a new deal, and Moyes will be hoping the "incredible" winger keeps up his current form, having scored three Premier League goals already this season.

The Committee of Administrators has ruled that the BCCI can press criminal charges against players found to be indulging in age fraud

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jul-2018The Committee of Administrators (CoA) has ruled that players submitting false and tampered-with birth certificates as part of the age-verification processes for BCCI tournaments will now be banned for two years and could also face criminal action from the BCCI.At a meeting in Delhi in May, the CoA deliberated on the existing penalties for such an offence and decided that with a due mechanism to identify such fraud, the ban period should be doubled from the existing one-year period. Age-fudging is a prominent feature in India’s domestic system, particularly in age-group cricket, where parents and even coaches encourage the practice despite the risks of being found out. The loss of two years of top-level cricket, along with the danger of legal charges, the CoA hopes, will serve as a deterrent to any such attempts by players.Under the Indian legal system, it is a criminal offence to provide false birth certificates. The BCCI has now decided to adopt the same penalty wherever applicable. “Players who are found [after a proper enquiry] to have submitted false/tampered birth certificates will be banned from all BCCI tournaments for two seasons,” the CoA said as per the minutes of the May 18 meeting. “BCCI may also initiate criminal action against the concerned player and/or any other person responsible for submitting false/tampered birth certificates.”The decision comes almost three years after the current coach of the India Under-19s and A teams, Rahul Dravid, had called for a regulation at the state and academy levels to stop the “scourge of overage players” in his MAK Pataudi lecture, adding that age-fudging was just as bad as fixing.”The truth is that the player who has faked his age might make it at the junior level not necessarily because he is better or more talented, but because he is stronger and bigger. We all know how much of a difference a couple of years can make at that age. That incident will have another ripple effect: an honest player, deprived of his place by an overage player, is disillusioned. We run the risk of losing him forever,” Dravid had said during the lecture.At the time, bone-density tests were the only measure of determining a player’s age. A centralised database of birth certificates, Dravid had said, would be the way to tackle the issue.

West Indies are set to visit Bangladesh in November and December this year for their first full tour of the country since 2012. There will be a two-day practice match before the tour kicks off with two Tests. Three ODIs and three T20Is follow.

Tour itinerary

• 1st Test, Nov 22-26, Chittagong

• 2nd Test, Nov 30-Dec 4, Mirpur

• 1st ODI, Dec 9, Mirpur

• 2nd ODI, Dec 11, Mirpur

• 3rd ODI, Dec 14, Sylhet

• 1st T20I, Dec 17, Sylhet

• 2nd T20I, Dec 20, Mirpur

• 3rd T20I, Dec 22, Mirpur

West Indies’ visit means Bangladesh will have a packed home season, with Zimbabwe touring in October and the Bangladesh Premier League scheduled in January. The November-December window had been left empty due to the general elections scheduled in the country at that time, but, as things stand now, the West Indies series will happen alongside the elections.The last match West Indies played in Bangladesh was during the 2014 World T20. Their last bilateral tour of the country was in 2012-13. West Indies had blanked Bangladesh 2-0 in the Test series then, but the home side fought back to take the ODI series 3-2, while West Indies ended the tour with victory in the solitary T20I.The two sides are currently playing each other in the West Indies, where the home side brushed Bangladesh aside 2-0 in the two Tests but the visitors came back to win the first ODI of the ongoing three-match series. The teams will also play three T20Is.

The teenager has the talent and commercial appeal to become the face of the Catalan club but can he succeed where past prodigies failed?

In 2006, a young player out of the Barcelona academy signed a deal with adidas. The agreement, reportedly worth around $500,000 per year, felt like a hefty investment for a 19-year-old. After all, the player hadn't yet played a full season of professional football. By the end of the previous season, he had scored six goals and added three assists. He only had 11 top-flight starts to his name.

That deal, for that player, Lionel Messi, proved to be a bargain for Adidas. Now, 18 years later, another La Masia graduate has done the same thing. Lamine Yamal, another right-winger out of the Barcelona academy, penned a long-term agreement to be one of the faces of adidas' global football brand. He will be the only other player in the world to wear Messi's exact boots – adding a visual link to a spiritual connection that has been drawn between the two for some time.

And though it will lead to immense pressure on the teenager, it is an ideal arrangement for the Balugrana. Since Messi left, the Catalan club have lacked a central marketable star – a world class presence who can not only change a game but also sell shirts in spades. Yamal, the newly minted face of adidas, can be that player.

adidas partnership with Lamine Yamaladidas partnership with Lamine YamalThe adidas deal

Yamal's deal was announced in a very modern way. A brief video showed Yamal, sitting on his childhood bed, clad in all-adidas gear, smiling at the camera. The alarm clock next to him beeps, and shows the time "3:04" – a reference to the area code he grew up in. Yamal laces up Messi's boots, and is then shown running onto a football pitch. He throws up his signature celebration, before breaking out a series of tricks and flicks.

It's comparable to the ad Jude Bellingham, another young star, recently featured in for the famous brand. This was a well-thought-out thing, something meant not only to curate an image but also highlight a burgeoning talent.

The company explained their choice, too.

"Adidas is proud to confirm Lamine Yamal joining the adidas family as of today, wearing the X Crazyfast; perfectly suited to his agile and explosive style of play on the wing. Lamine grew up in Rocafonda, 40 minutes from his club’s training ground, and remains proud of his roots in the area," it said in a statement.

"The partnership announcement film that has been posted on adidasFootball channels in collaboration with Lamine celebrates his football journey and connection to the 304, Rocafonda’s area code," it added.

The exact terms of the deal have not been made public. But the video alone shows that this is a serious commitment to an exciting talent. And Yamal deserves it, too.

Advertisement(C)GettyImagesThe search for Messi's successor

There is a prevailing sense that the Blaugrana have been searching for a player like Yamal for some time. The idea of a 'new Messi' has long haunted the halls of La Masia, Barcelona's famed youth academy. At times, it seems like an obsession.

He comes from a long-line of supposed Messi successors – most of which have been unequivocal failures. Bojan, Messi's contemporary at the club, burned out fast – and later admitted that the comparisons to the world's best left a serious mark on his mental health. Giovani Dos Santos and Riqui Puig received much the same treatment – and never delivered on the promise.

The closest thus far has been Ansu Fati. He seemed an ideal replacement. Fifteen years younger than Messi, but a similarly exciting player, he was given the No.10 shirt when the Argentine reluctantly left for PSG in 2021. But that, too, proved to be too much for the teenager, who, four knee surgeries later, is struggling to make the grade at Brighton.

GettyYamal up to the task?

Yamal, it would seem, is the closest thing the Blaugrana have developed to a viable replacement.

The positional similarities are here: Yamal is a left-footed right winger. The skills are, too. Yamal can beat a player with his dribbling prowess and find the bottom corner with an angled shot.

He also has just enough swagger about his game to wow the Barcelona faithful without overplaying in key areas.

The stats – five goals and four assists in all competitions – don't jump off the page. But superstardom stretches beyond numbers. It's about the intangible qualities. Yamal has them.

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GettyA godsend for boring Barcelona

It's something that the current Barca squad is missing all over the pitch. A cursory glance at the starting XI shows a number of very talented and likeable footballers – but no global megastars. The word 'Galactico' is only used in a different major sporting city in Spain.

Still, players of that same stratospheric talent are hard to come by. The Blaugrana have always had at least one. Messi and Neymar were there at the same time. Before them were Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff.

This iteration of Barca – outside of burgeoning star Yamal – doesn't really have one. Robert Lewandowski will go down as a legend of the game. But his fame doesn't stretch beyond football; and he isn't one for massive ad campaigns, either. Pedri, Gavi and Frenkie de Jong are all midfield artists, but share the same issue.

Ronald Araujo, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Jules Kounde and Ilkay Gundogan all have social media presences – almost all footballers do these days. Still, none of them are impactful enough to make waves beyond football fan communities. You'd struggle to find a kid on the streets of Catalonia aspiring to be a tidy French full-back.

It is ironic that this all comes just nine months removed from a season of immense success. Barca coasted their way to a first Spanish top flight title since 2019 last season, claiming La Liga by 10 points. But the manner in which they won didn't catch the eye. This was an excellent defensive team that only let in 20 goals all season. They scored 15 fewer than in the 2020-21 campaign, a season in which the Blaugrana finished third. Put more simply: this version of Barcelona is boring.

That the visitors failed in their quest can be explained by the team-spirit and collective will of a Kent team who are enjoying a lovely season

Paul Edwards at Tunbridge Wells23-Jun-20182:01

Kent squash Warwickshire’s hopes of record chase

ScorecardIf you are attempting to beat a 93-year-old record which was set, in part, by the future Baron Aberdare of Duffryn, your efforts could have no finer setting than Tunbridge Wells. Hosting county cricket at the Nevill Ground appears not to be a priority for its owners, the local council, but this sacred field has long been ennobled by cricket lovers. And when they gathered, on a morning of high clouds and sweet scents, spectators wondered if they might see Warwickshire score 519, thus achieving the highest successful fourth-innings pursuit in the history of the County Championship, a mark set when Middlesex scored 502 to beat Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 1925.That the visitors failed in their quest, albeit by only 73 runs, can be explained by the team-spirit and collective will of a Kent team who are enjoying a lovely season. And perhaps that determination should now be matched by the executives responsible for keeping four-day county cricket at Tunbridge Wells. If the will is strong enough, the aim can invariably be achieved.Such longer-term considerations must of necessity be far from the minds of the Kent players as they reflect on their fourth Championship win in six games, a victory which leaves them only eight points shy of Warwickshire at the top of the table. But the will of Joe Denly’s players needed to be very strong indeed on a Saturday when the growing humidity reflected the match’s progress towards its climax. Not until Denly ended the game by taking three wickets in six balls, the first two of them lbws, did wickets fall in clumps; and until Adam Hose was ninth out for 65,  his team retained a sliver of hope.That hope was rather stronger at the start of the day, when Warwickshire resumed needing 290 to win with nine wickets in hand. But a game we had expected might be decided by one of its matinee idols eventually starred a cricketer who has served his time in repertory. While on Middlesex’s books, Harry Podmore went out on loan to both Derbyshire and Glamorgan. They are both fine counties but they were not places where Podmore could hang his hat. Now at Kent, the seamer  is hoping to play in next Saturday’s Royal London Cup Final at Lord’s and has probably helped his chances by returning career-best match figures of 8 for 110 in this gameHarry Podmore made key breakthroughs•Getty Images

Podmore took the two wickets to fall in the morning session and both were significant. Having made his first century of a tough season, Dominic Sibley nicked him straight to Heino Kuhn at slip and departed for 112. Two overs later Jonathan Trott edged the same bowler to Adam Rouse, whose delight when he hurled the ball into the air probably reflected his relief that his dropping of Ian Bell on 148 an over or so earlier might not be too expensive in the broader sweep of things.Ah yes, Ian Bell at Tunbridge Wells. Sometimes this game writes its own poetry. Even in a first half hour marked by nothing more than diligent accumulation and the odd alarm. Bell was as easy on the eye as one remembered from his great seasons. Few players invest a forward defensive shot with quite so much grace and precision. The ECB can negotiate broadcasting deals until their flipcharts fall off the walls but if England’s middle-order comprised Bell, James Vince and James Hildreth, BBC4 would cover Test matches.And thus it was when Bell was leg before to Ivan Thomas in the seventh over of the afternoon that Warwickshire’s chances diminished markedly. Bell had batted for a minute over six hours and stroked 24 fours in his 172 runs. But the ball jagged back and pinned him; and in that moment the game turned. Perhaps Kent’s players knew it, for their joy was illimited.Warwickshire lost three more batsmen in the afternoon session and took tea on 414 for 7. Five overs after Bell’s dismissal Tim Ambrose had his off stump knocked askew by a fine ball from that Stakhanovite labourer, Matt Henry. In the next hour Keith Barker and Jeetan Patel fell to slip catches. At no stage did Warwickshire crumple but their grip on the game was loosening.Less than an hour after tea and just when some spectators were pondering the time and overs left in the game, Denly deployed his legspin. He bowled 19 balls and three of them took wickets. Middlesex’s record was safe. One hopes the future of county cricket at Tunbridge Wells is even safer.

Cristiano Ronaldo's late efforts were not enough to save Al-Nassr, who were eliminated from the AFC Champions League by Al-Ain on penalties.

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  At 1-0 down on aggregate and with home advantage on their side, the onus was on Al-Nassr to make a strong start in front of an expectant crowd. But the hosts were haunted by a familiar face in the first-half, with Soufiane Rahimi adding to his decisive goal in the first leg by scoring a scintillating first-half brace. Three goals down on aggregate mere minutes from the break, the writing appeared to be on the wall – until Abdulrahman Ghareeb's effort in first-half stoppage time gave Al-Nassr life. The 26-year-old winger turned home from close range after Sadio Mane had capitalised on some bizarre decision-making from Al-Ain 'keeper Khalid Eisa.

  Hope turned into optimism in the second half when Otavio helped make it 2-2. Eisa was again at fault as he somehow managed to turn the ball into his own net from a tight angle from the Portugese's shot. Al-Nassr pushed late in regulation time and should have gone ahead earlier than they did. Another mistake from Eisa saw him spill the ball directly into Cristiano Ronaldo's path mere yards from goal, but the Portuguese somehow fired wide. His blushes were spared moments later when Alex Telles' cross-cum-shot from a free-kick bamboozled Eisa, who again didn't cover himself in glory as Al-Nassr made it 3-2 to take it to extra time.

  The home side's efforts to push for a winner turned on its head when substitute Ayman Ahmed was sent off for a rash challenge following a VAR review. Mere minutes later Al-Ain scored again through Al Shamsi, but this time it was Al-Nassr 'keeper Raghed Najjar who was at fault. He clawed at a tame cross and fumbled it onto his own bar, leaving an easy tap-in for the substitute. The topsy-turvy tie wasn't done there, though. Ronaldo finally had his say, scoring a penalty in the 118th minute to make it 4-3 on the night and send the game to a shoot-out. However, those efforts weren't enough as Otavio missed the vital spot-kick, as Al-Ain progressed 3-1 on penalties.

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• DID YOU KNOW?

  Monday's defeat means Al-Nassr are knocked out of the AFC Champions League at the quarter-final stage for the first time since 2018-19.

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  THE MVP

  While Otavio missed the crucial kick, this was Rahimi's match – and tie. The Moroccan forward scored the vital goal in the first leg and his brace in the second should have put Al-Ain in cruise control headed to the semi-finals. But Eisa's errors proved costly and the away side had to do it the hard way, as Rahimi's fine individual efforts were cancelled out as Al-Nassr nearly completed a memorable comeback. With eight goals to his name in the competition – one behind Ronaldo after his late effort on Monday night – Rahimi has emerged as one of the AFC Champions League's standout performers this term.

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• THE BIG LOSER

  What a horrible night for the goalkeepers. Ronaldo's miss was a dreadful one but it was handed to him on a plate by Eisa, who had a game to forget for Al-Ain. He rushed out of his goal for no apparent reason for Al-Nassr's first, leaving himself horribly out of position, before turning home a completely misdirected shot by Otavio for a dreadful own-goal. Eisa also should have reacted quicker for Telles' strike for Al-Nassr's third, even if it was well hit through a crowd of players.

  That said, Eisa was ultimately let off the hook – unlike Najjar. The Al-Nassr goalkeeper made some good saves in the match but choked at the crucial moment. He snatched at a seemingly harmless cross in extra time and was unfortunate for it to bounce kindly off the bar into Al Shamsi's path. Not one he'll want to see back, and he couldn't make amends in the penalty shoot-out.