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Rajat Patidar, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain, has resumed batting following a recovery from a finger injury on his right hand that needed ten days to heel. He had picked up the injury while fielding against Chennai Super Kings on May 3.Patidar started with mild throwdowns before testing his entire range of batting movements as RCB resumed training on Thursday evening, two days ahead of their clash against KKR. With a little bit of taping, he strode out to the nets and batted for over 30 minutes, seemingly unhindered by the right hand. Patidar didn’t, however, field or take catches.If Patidar is deemed fit to play, it will come as a massive boost for RCB in their quest to finish in the top-two. RCB are currently second on the points table with eight wins in 11 games, and need at least two wins to assure themselves of a top-two finish – something they’ve never achieved since 2016.Related

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Patidar’s availability will also somewhat cover up for Devdutt Padikkal’s absence at No. 3. The left-hander has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament with a hamstring injury, with the franchise bringing in Mayank Agarwal, primarily an opener, as his replacement. They also won’t have the services of Jacob Bethell for the playoffs due to international commitments.Patidar’s form has somewhat tailed off after a sensational start – 23 is his highest score across his last five innings. So far this season, his first as captain, Patidar has hit 239 runs in 10 innings at a strike rate of 140.58. His most-recent half-century, a 32-ball 64 in a winning cause against Mumbai Indians, came more than a month ago.

Corey Rocchiccioli, the Western Australia offspinner, has signed a short-term deal to play for Warwickshire in the County Championship. Rocchiccioli will be available for four Championship games over the next six weeks and said he “jumped at the chance” to play overseas during the Australian winter.Rocchiccioli, 27, has thrived in red-ball cricket over the last two years: since the start of the 2023-24 season, he has taken 84 wickets at 27.65 in the Sheffield Shield, second only to South Australia’s Nathan McAndrew. He joins Warwickshire for the Championship rounds this year that will feature the Kookaburra ball, rather than the Dukes.”We are very excited about welcoming Corey into our squad through June and July,” Ian Westwood, Warwickshire’s head coach, said. “He is a proven performer in Sheffield Shield cricket, and with his experience of the Kookaburra ball, we know he will make an impact for us.”Rocchiccioli said: “I’m really excited to play at a prestigious club like Warwickshire. I jumped at the chance to play when Westy and Davo [captain Alex Davies] rang me. I’m really excited to learn and grow in English conditions and hopefully contribute to some strong wins along the way.”Australia’s selectors have signalled their interest in Rocchiccioli, picking him for Australia A teams to face India A and the England Lions last summer. He is one of several potential successors to Nathan Lyon, along with Matthew Kuhnemann and Todd Murphy, who has agreed a deal with Gloucestershire for the same block of Championship fixtures.Elsewhere, Northamptonshire signed Tim Robinson, the New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter, on a short-term deal. Robinson, 23, will be available for two Championship matches and four Blast fixtures and replaces Matthew Breetzke after his selection for South Africa’s Test squad to face Zimbabwe.

Surrey joined Somerset at the top of the Vitality Blast South Group after cruising to a 48-run win over Sussex Sharks at the Kia Oval.Sussex themselves could have gone top with victory but an understrength side missing three of the team that had only lost one of their first six games never threatened a target of 211 and were dismissed for 162 in the final over when top scorer Danny Lamb was bowled by Chris Jordan.Although this season’s leading run-scorer, Jason Roy, failed to add to his 265 runs after falling for a second-ball duck, Dom Sibley (45), Will Jacks (43) and Sam Curran (38) made good contributions before 20-year-old left-hander Ollie Sykes thrashed 44 off 18 balls – including three sixes in an over from left-arm spinner James Coles – as 66 from the last four overs took Surrey to an imposing 210 for 6.Without the injured Harrison Ward and Tom Alsop, scoring at 11 an over looked a tall order for Sussex, even more so when Reece Topley picked up two wickets to quickly reduce them to 14 for 3. Lamb made a career-best 49 and left-hander Tom Clark scored 45 but slow left-armer Mitch Santner spearheaded an impressive performance by Surrey’s attack with 3 for 26.Openers Jacks and Sibley added 52 in the first five overs after Surrey had been put in. Jacks was caught at deep midwicket trying to hit Tymal Mills for a third six in the over.In the next over Roy was held at deep extra cover off left-armer Brad Currie but Sibley and skipper Sam Curran had little difficulty adding 61 from 44 balls for the third wicket before Sussex took three wickets in 15 deliveries to check Surrey’s progress.Sam Curran was caught and bowled by Coles off a leading edge, Sibley clipped Henry Crocombe to deep backward square and in the next over Nathan McAndrew claimed his 14th wicket in this season’s Blast when Laurie Evans holed out to deep midwicket.But Sykes soon wrested back control for Surrey, hitting four sixes and two fours in an impressive display of ball-striking as his sixth-wicket partnership with Tom Curran yielded 50 runs from 21 balls.Sussex needed to make a good start but instead lost three wickets in the first three overs. Debutant George Thomas, signed from Somerset in the winter, lost his off stump to Topley’s sixth ball which Thomas played around, Dan Hughes dragged a widish delivery from Tom Curran onto his stumps and Topley struck again courtesy of a superb diving catch in the deep by Sykes to remove Coles.Clark and skipper John Simpson gave Sussex hope with a stand of 62 from 35 balls for the fourth wicket but the experienced New Zealander Santner had Clark and Simpson (21) caught on the leg-side boundary by Jacks in successive overs. Santner picked up Jack Carson in his final over and Topley finished with 3 for 34. Lamb’s 49 from 34 gave Sussex some solace on a night when they were well beaten.

Match abandoned The last league match of the Global Super League (GSL) 2025 was replete with rain interruptions, and eventually inclement weather had the final say.A downpour in Guyana in the morning delayed toss by 45 minutes. Nurul Hasan called right and Rangpur Riders opted to bat – despite the weather around – but had to wait more because rain returned. The game began 90 minutes later than scheduled time as a 17-over contest.Central Stags opened their bowling with spinners from both ends and pegged back Riders twice inside the powerplay: Soumya Sarkar holing out off offspinner Angus Schaw second ball and Ibrahim Zadran falling to left-arm spinner Jayden Lennox. The heavens opened up again and this latest stoppage meant the game was further reduced to 14-overs-a-side affair.Upon resumption, fast bowler Blair Tickner broke the back of the Riders middle order. He accounted for Mahidul Islam Ankon, Iftikhar Ahmed and Nurul Hasan to leave Riders reeling at 66 for 6. Schaw and Lennox returned to mop up the tail as the Bangladesh Premier League side folded for a mere 79. Which was when another spell of heavy rain forced abandonment.Riders are already in the final with Stags finishing third in the season.

Trent Rockets 113 for 4 (Scrivens 34, Wellington 1-15, Capsey 1-16) beat Oval Invincibles 109 for 7 (Lanning 45, Gardner 2-10, Gordon 2-21) by six wicketsTrent Rockets won a must-win game against Oval Invincibles at The Kia Oval to keep alive their slim qualification hopes in The Hundred.Both teams were coming into the match off the back of defeats and a loss would have spelled the end of Rockets’ campaign but, having won the toss and elected to bowl first, they’d have been delighted at the break to have limited the hosts to just 109 for 7.It was a curious innings for the home team who seemed to struggle to adapt to the surface, never able to kick on in terms of run-rate and kept in check throughout by the Rockets’ spin trio of Kirstie Gordon, Alana King and Ash Gardner.Meg Lanning top-scored with a 35-ball 45, and she put on 47 for the second wicket with Alice Capsey (15), but Rockets would have been the happier of the two teams between innings.They got off to a strong start in their run chase with Bryony Smith and the recalled Grace Scrivens putting on 51 for the opening wicket, and despite a few blips – losing Nat Sciver-Brunt and captain Gardner – they were comfortable enough in hauling in Invincibles’ total with 16 balls to spare – Jodi Grewock and Heather Graham adding a late flourish to finish the game in a hurry.Rockets’ next game is at bottom-placed Welsh Fire, a huge chance to keep their qualification hopes alive, while for Oval Invincibles they’ll need to reverse their slump at Headingley on Saturday to keep themselves in the fight.Meerkat Match Hero Scrivens said: “I’m happy to get the win. I was really glad to be back in the team and to help contribute. Obviously, I would have liked to have finished it off, but I’m happy.”I think Bry played her [Marizanne Kapp] really well. She obviously sat deep, used the bounce and the wicket and the square, so I thought it was a really good option for her. I thought it was a really good pitch, I thought they were under-par, and I was happy when we chased them.”

Captain Rovman Powell led the way, smashing an unbeaten 41 off 17 balls, as Barbados Royals secured their first win in CPL 2025. Despite that, Royals remained at the bottom of the points table and David Wiese’s St Lucia Kings remained at the top along with Nicholas Pooran’s Trinbago Knight Riders. Currently, only net run-rate separates Kings and TKR.After they were asked to bat first, Royals didn’t start well. They lost Quinton de Kock to left-arm fingerspinner Khary Pierre in the third over and by the end of the powerplay, they had managed only 39 for 1. Tabraiz Shamsi, the left-arm wristspinner from South Africa, then stifled Royals even further by taking out Brandon King (42), Kadeem Alleyne (39) and Sherfane Rutherford (16) in his four overs which cost Kings only 26 runs.When Powell joined Chris Green, Royals were 120 for 5 in the 16th over. Powell then teed off, lining up Alzarri Joseph for two sixes and a four in the 19th over. In the final over of the innings, bowled by rookie Delano Potgieter, Powell and Green combined to take three fours and a six.Green wasn’t done just yet. He struck with the new ball, dismissing Johnson Charles and Roston Chase. Wicketkeeper-opener Tim Seifert raced to 24 off 13 before he was bowled by Jomel Warrican. Tim David, one of the most dangerous finishers in the world, then threatened to take the game away from Royals until Daniel Sams interneved and cut his innings short on 44 off 28 balls.David’s dismissal left Kings at 94 for 6 in 12 overs, needing 98 off 48 balls. Cameos from Wiese and Joseph got Kings closer, but Royals finally wrapped up their first victory this season and kept their hopes of making the playoffs alive.