Back to Africa today for the next qualifiers for the men's T20 WC. Botswana host Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Mali, Rwanda & Sierra Leone. Top 2 advance to the regional qualifier. Kenya should make it, rankings and home advantage suggest Botswana will join them, but Rwanda have a chance too.

Women's Emerging Nations trophy to change from being the top 8 Associates, to 5 lowest rated full members (SL, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ireland and Zim) and 5 top rated associates (Scotland, Thailand, UAE, PNG, Netherlands). Excellent news for those 5 teams, but bad news for next tier of Associates.

What happens when owners of men’s clubs put that over the women’s club!

Some impressive chasing going on in the first round of the Blast. Think teams are going to have to reassess a par score from last season.

The WINNER of the Rathbones Cricket Book of the Year is... Victory in Australia, @rwhitehead2.bsky.social (@bloomsburysport.bsky.social) #CTSBA26 #ReadingForSport

🗞️🙌 Huge news! The Afghanistan Refugee Women’s Team will be embarking on a tour of England this summer, the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced today. 🔗 Read more on the ECB’s website here: www.ecb.co.uk/news/4507358... #HerGameToo

this time last year, sussex bowler faye mullins was having chemotherapy treatment for hodgkin lymphoma. now, she's back with the team and just ran the london marathon interview about how it all happened and what the road back to cricket looked like 👇 daisycutterzine.wordpress.com/2026/05/21/f...

my "my house got shot up bc i was using my position to fix cricket matches for the mob" t shirt is raising etc etc.

That was pretty good by England to be honest.

Tilly Corteen-Coleman is having a terrible start to this match.

CSA put less than 1,600 tickets per day on sale for the Cape Town Test against England, which sold out within minutes. 39% of tickets have been reserved for tour groups while 41% are tied up in hospitality, complimentary, stakeholder and service allocations srkl.in/63327B7jC4R

Most scenic ground in Shropshire is a high bar, but can confirm that Acton Scott is very scenic.

Injured captains being quite the theme for this World Cup. Not quite sure why Ireland announcing their squad when they've got one more weekend of their domestic T20 to come, but perhaps they've given up trying to find if Sophie Reid has an Irish passport.

And we're underway! Writers in Whites had a double-header book launch, with a cricket match in Oxford on Sunday and a pub event in Vauxhall on Monday. Somewhere between 150 and 200 people came to one or the other - there was lots of enthusiasm and goodwill. I'm tired and very happy.

My book - The Women in Whites: A History of Women's Cricket in England - is coming out on 1 June 🎉 I'm holding a virtual launch at 7pm BST on Wednesday 3 June to celebrate. I'll be chatting about the book & happy to answer questions about it too! For the Teams link, please reply below or DM me 😊

Nat Sciver-Brunt's hopes of being involved in the Women's T20 World Cup look increasingly bleak.

'Babette de Leede: The Data Analytics student leading the Netherlands into the Women’s T20 World Cup 2026' #T20WorldCup revsportz.in/babette-de-l...

I spent even more of my doctorate here than I did at Sophia Gardens. This is a ridiculous bit of cultural vandalism. It might be a bit lower in the Richter Scale of Cultural Vandalism than some other things happening in the UK university sector at the moment but it still should be fought.

I spent even more of my doctorate here than I did at Sophia Gardens. This is a ridiculous bit of cultural vandalism. It might be a bit lower in the Richter Scale of Cultural Vandalism than some other things happening in the UK university sector at the moment but it still should be fought.

4 balls into the West Indies Championship final they had to stop playing because of a dangerous pitch. Real shame for Caribbean cricket that the basic bits of administration keep failing.

Potential Tier 3 over Tier 2 win in the County Cup where Oxfordshire and Italy's Emilia Bartram is putting Gloucestershire to the sword.

Papua New Guinea on the verge of a crushing win over Vanuatu. This gives them a huge NRR advantage over Japan, even if Japan can beat them in the final game.

Seems a very low DRS adjustment for the White Ferns target, but good practice for England bowlers.

Let’s not forgot today is Suzie Bates final ODI game -183 Matches- 4th all time -5970 runs- 4th highest ODI (23 runs to over take Charlotte Edwards to go 3rd) -13 100s & 37 50s -HS 168 -38.02 Average with 79.41 SR - 83 W @ 34.13, Best figure 4-7 - 94 catches What a career from Suzie

Pakistan stick with what they know, recalling Iram Javed and persisting with Diana Baig despite her drop off in performance. None of the top 5 wicket takers in their domestic competition make the squad. But recent performances, and Fatima Sana's hitting give them reason for optimism.

Men's T20WC Europe Sub Regional Qualifier A, begins today, hosted in Cyprus, with Croatia, French Cricket*, Jersey and Switzerland also in Group 1 and Austria, Guernsey, Malta, Slovenia and Sweden in Group B. To progress to the regional qualifier teams need to win their group, then win the final.

This is a must read, emphasising both the personal impact that the French cricket scandal has, and also the ICC's abject refusal to act as a governing board should do in response. I have some reservations about Cool Runnings being called Rasta Rockett in France, mind.

Fatima Sana brings up a blistering, world record 15 ball fifty. This is the fastest recorded fifty in any women's international format, and the joint fastest recorded across all of women's T20, List A or First Class cricket. #PAKvZIM youtube.com/watch?v=tiks...

15 ball 50 by Fatima Sana against Zimbabwe. Brutal stuff.

This is a must read, emphasising both the personal impact that the French cricket scandal has, and also the ICC's abject refusal to act as a governing board should do in response. I have some reservations about Cool Runnings being called Rasta Rockett in France, mind.

Cricket Canada's ICC funding has been frozen with a six month deadline to get its governance issues resolved. This piece also notes that Canadian international Dilpreet Bajwa is under ICC Anti-Corruption Unit investigation after a suspicious play in a T20I.

'The younger girls would race to get the smallest shirt from the men's kit bag.' A new south Wales women's cricket team has become the first in the region to play in kit made for women — just as the Women's T20 World Cup heads to Cardiff. 🏏

Mysteriously this appears able to go ahead despite the conflicts in the Middle East that have necessitated postponing the women's FairBreak tournament scheduled for the same time.

💥🙌 The records keep tumbling… With less than a month to go until the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup commences, ticket sales have already surpassed 145,000 - becoming the highest-selling edition of the competition. 👏 Have you got your tickets? 🎟️ : tickets.womens.t20worldcup.com #HerGameToo

Zak plays, but no Asa Tribe for Jersey in the European sub-regionals, as he prioritises playing for Glamorgan and ambitions of playing for England. To be honest, Jersey probably should comfortably qualify for the regional qualifier without him, but he'd very much be crucial for them there.

Excellent news to see the Barbados Tridents are back and with their blue kit too. The whole switch to Royals in the same year Barbados became a republic was a spectacular failure to read the room. It's taken way to long to correct it but now it has.

Felt a bold call on comms when the Surrey commentators were describing Maitlan Brown as the overseas pick of the season yesterday. Jess Jonassen sending them a message today (and possibly the Aussie national selectors too) as she rolls through the Hampshire middle order.

If selected in the XI, Gay will be the 9th male player to represent England after previously playing for an associate side. The others are Hick, Reeve, Dougie Brown, Gavin Hamilton, Joyce, Amjad Khan, Eoin Morgan + Boyd Rankin. All but Hick, Reeve + Morgan eventually returned to their previous team.

On the field at Lancashire, with the game reduced to 42 overs. Charis Pavely has been released from England to play for Warwickshire.

#acscricket is taking over the website of ‘Women’s Cricket History’ & we are delighted that we will be able to maintain & enhance this wonderful historical record of women’s cricket via womenscrickethistory.org #RafNicholson #AlisonMitchell #NickFriend1 #cricketcounts

'Don't understand it, but it looks fun': cricket bowls Japan over. Curious spectators clutching rulebooks watch as a batsman smacks a six into the sand and weeds surrounding Japan's brand-new cricket ground, four months before it hosts matches at the Asian Games u.afp.com/SRfn

No big surprises in the Australia WC Squad. Hamilton picked ahead of Brown, King makes the squad. The really difficult choices will be trying to pick an 11 from a squad where everyone has a reasonable claim to being first choice, and those with the weakest claim have (c) or (vc) after their name.

PNG win by 2 wickets, as Nao hits the last ball for 4 against Samoa in the MT20 EAP qualifiers. With Japan looking a bit shaky with the bat, these two have looked the strongest teams so far, so a huge win for PNG.

No big surprises in the Australia WC Squad. Hamilton picked ahead of Brown, King makes the squad. The really difficult choices will be trying to pick an 11 from a squad where everyone has a reasonable claim to being first choice, and those with the weakest claim have (c) or (vc) after their name.

Extract from 'Here and Now' in which Diana Edulji, Shubhangi Kulkarni & Sarah Potter are interviewed during India's match against West of England. They discuss the lack of interest in women's cricket in England compared with India, and some of the controversies that arose during the tour.

Big news in English women's cricket: Beth Barrett-Wild leaving the ECB after the T20 World Cup. Has been seconded as tournament director in recent times, but an administrator who's made a huge impact - both with Project Darwin and the Hundred.

Thrilling spell from Nahid Rana wins the test for Bangladesh over Pakistan. Tremendous batting from Shanto too.

No result in the first 50 over game between SL A and NZ A, after SL made 217/7 in 42 overs. Kayley Knight the pick of the Kiwi bowlers, as she continues to look a bit unlucky to miss out on selection for the full squad.

South African squad confirmed, with Ismail and van Niekerk both in, with Reyneke and Meso representing the next generation. They are definite contenders. Wolvaardt (capt), Brits, Ismail, Nadine de Klerk, Dercksen, Jafta, Kapp, Khaka, Luus, Meso, Mlaba, van Niekerk, Reyneke, Sekhukhune, Tryon.