England Test captain Ben Stokes was seen training with his county Durham after not getting picked in the squad for their second Test match against New Zealand, which begins on Wednesday, June 17. This comes after the all-rounder, along with Gus Atkinson, was involved in a nightclub brawl following the Three Lions’ victory in the first Test at Lord’s.

The pair broke a midnight curfew and were involved in a brawl with a rugby player in the early hours of Monday morning, and are currently under investigation from the England and Wales Cricket Board, which will see them miss the second Test. 

Due to the suspension, the 35-year-old was present at Chester-le-Street on Saturday for Durham’s County Championship Division Two game against Derbyshire. According to BBC Sport, Stokes bowled before the start of the day’s play and was also seen batting with batting coach Dale Benkenstein, along with his fellow England teammate Emilio Gay. 

Despite the ongoing investigation, there are no restrictions on Stokes and Atkinson playing domestic cricket, making them eligible for selection for Durham and Surrey, respectively, for the next round of County Championship games, which commence on Friday, June 19. 

In the aftermath of the incident, there were reports surrounding Stokes’ international future. However, those suggestions seemed to have cooled, with his involvement in training with Durham on Saturday, June 13. However, there is still no guarantee whether the talismanic all-rounder will return as captain of England’s Test side, with the ECB keeping all options open. In his absence, Joe Root has been given the captaincy on an interim basis for the second Test at the Oval.

According to the aforementioned source, the outcome of the investigation is not expected to come out before the start of the second Test. However, with there being just a three-day gap between the second and third Test, one can expect the findings to become public from June 21 onwards. 

India returned to white-ball cricket with an emphatic seven-wicket victory over Afghanistan in a rain-affected game in Dharamshala in the first ODI on Saturday, June 13. The Men in Blue have taken a 1-0 lead in this three-match series and can seal the trophy when they play the second match in Lucknow on Wednesday, June 17. 

Talking Points: 

1. Rahmanullah Gurbaz shows his white-ball prowess in Dharamshala

Despite his struggles in the only Test match, Rahmanullah Gurbaz showed why he is one of Afghanistan‘s best batters in white-ball cricket. In a game that was virtually a T20, Gurbaz scored an excellent 102 off just 51 deliveries, striking at 200. The right-handed batter scored eight fours and the same number of sixes in his amazing innings. 

2. Indian debutants bring sunshine on a damp day

India gave caps to two bowlers in Gurnoor Brar and Harsh Dubey, and both had an excellent day out on an overcast day in Himachal Pradesh. Both Brar and Dubey ended the game with three wickets each, with the former ending with much better figures of 3 for 27. 

3. Shubman Gill brings his IPL form to Indian colours 

Shubman Gill had an excellent IPL season with the Gujarat Titans, scoring upwards of 700 runs. The right-handed batter brought that outstanding form to international cricket, ending up as the Men in Blue’s best performer. The skipper scored an unbeaten 84 at a strike-rate of 127.27 to see his side through. 

Who said what?

Hashmatullah Shahidi – Afghanistan Captain:

“Yeah, it was a tough game. I think back-to-back wickets was the reason. I was feeling that when Gurbaz was playing, I was feeling that if we scored 220, 230, that might be a good target, but we gave some back-to-back wickets and after that, we were short of almost 30 runs, I think. (What was the thinking when you were batting?) I think in my mind, I was trying to target the left-arm spinner because the boundary was also shorter that side. But I think Gurbaz played really well, but after that, we did some mistakes. It started for me and then other batsmen. That’s why we were like 30 runs short. (Anything with the ball you could have done differently?) Well, the wicket was also, to be honest, a little bit flatter, but we were not that much disciplined in our bowling as well. So hopefully we learn from this and we come back stronger into the next match.”

Shubman Gill – India Captain and Player of the Match:

“I mean, it was kind of a T20 game, I think the way we started and then they pulled the game away from us. Gurbaz batted brilliantly, the way he got his century was brilliant. But I think the way we pulled back in the middle overs and the death overs was brilliant. Honestly, I think it was a brilliant wicket to bat on. It was, as the match went on, even when we were bowling, there was a little bit of grip for the spinners. When they were bowling, the ball was coming on pretty nicely. (Talks about the slip catch) No, I definitely caught the ball, practicing a lot, taking a lot of slip catches and even, you know, before the match, I was talking to a friend, he was that I haven’t really taken like a really brilliant catch in my international career so far, one-handed and very happy to get that catch. (Talking about the run-out) He saw the replay, he said it’s fine. Even in the last match that we played against Afghanistan, T20s, he got run out there as well. (What do you think about the debutants today) Very impressive, upfront, how Gurnoor bowled, brilliant pace and the way he was swinging the ball, the kind of length he bowled consistently and even Harsh as well, after I think in the first over, he went for 16-17 runs and the way he pulled the game back, trusted himself and kept tossing the ball up. It was very impressive. I think the middle overs in one-day games is very crucial, if you can keep, as a bowling group, if we can keep building pressure in the middle overs and keep creating opportunities and same when we are batting, if we can keep rotating the strike, keep batting at a healthy run rate, 6-6.5, without losing too many wickets, then you can really set up the game in the death. So these are the key points that we discuss in team meetings, how can we keep creating opportunities in the middle overs as a bowling group and when we are batting, how can we, keep really pumping on the runs.”

Scotland have been forced into making a last-minute change to their 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup squad following the injury to legspinner Abtaha Maqsood. This comes just a day before their opening game of the tournament against Ireland at Old Trafford in Manchester.

Maqsood picked up her injury in the Scots’ last warm-up before the showpiece tournament against Pakistan on Tuesday. The 27-year-old will be a huge miss for her side due to her pedigree in the shortest format of the game. As things stand, she is her nation’s highest wicket-taker in T20I cricket, having taken 73 scalps from 78 matches at an economy rate of just 5.63.

Scotland have called up 29-year-old Hannah Rainey as an injury replacement. The right-arm seam bowler last represented her nation in November 2025 and has recently been applying her traits with Yorkshire in the Tier 1 system of English domestic cricket. She recently played two T20 Blast games for the White Roses, taking two wickets against Durham. 

Rainey has 41 T20I caps under her belt, taking 25 wickets along the way at an economy of 5.39.

“The whole playing squad and coaching staff are absolutely gutted for Abtaha. She’s such an important member of our squad and will be a great loss to us both on and off the pitch during this tournament. We wish her all the very best in her recovery and hope to see her back on the field soon. Hannah now comes into the squad, and we are delighted to welcome her into the group. She obviously has plenty of experience, and this is a great opportunity for her as we head into an exciting few weeks,” Scotland head coach Craig Wallace said via ESPNcricinfo. 

Despite missing Maqsood for the rest of the tournament, Scotland do have other quality bowlers in their ranks who can flourish in the spinner’s absence. These include star all-rounder Kathryn Bryce, Katherine Fraser and Priyanaz Chatterji, to name a few.