Ben Stokes shared his candid opinion on the pitch used for the first Test between England and New Zealand at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground in London last week. Alongside prodigious swing, the two-paced nature of the surface tipped the scales heavily in favour of the bowlers, as they had the batters dancing to their tunes.

The match would have gotten over inside three days if not for the rain. England scored 140 and 226 in their two innings, while the Kiwis managed 113 and 138. The tourists lost the match by 115 runs as England emerged victorious in the 150th Test match at Lord’s.

England captain Stokes said that such pitches won’t help in the progress and sustainability of the longest format of the game.

According to BBC statistics, it was the lowest balls-per-wicket ratio recorded in England since 1907. Of the 40 wickets that fell in the contest, 24 came either bowled or lbw, highlighting the challenges posed by the pitch.

“I get asked a lot about the future of Test cricket and what we need to do to keep it growing,” Stokes was quoted as saying by India Today after the match.

“As someone who loves Test cricket, my one thing to say is: is this something that will benefit Test cricket going forward? I don’t think so,” he added.

Stokes urged the curators to make more balanced surfaces where a fair battle between bat and ball can be witnessed.

“If there wasn’t any rain, the game’s going to end early. Is that what we want to end up doing? You sort of want to find somewhere in the middle,” he said.

The second Test is scheduled to be played at the Kennington Oval in London. New Zealand are 0-1 down and will look to bounce back strongly. Another defeat for them would make the third Test in Nottingham inconsequential and severely dent their chances of reaching the World Test Championship final.

The new Melbourne franchise is almost set to be named ‘Melbourne Rangers’ after Cricket Victoria decided to merge the two Melbourne teams into one from the 2026-27 Big Bash League.

Earlier in the week, news had emerged that the two teams from Melbourne would be merged, with Cricket Victoria (CV) looking to sell the second stake in their team amid the hovering debate around private investment in the BBL.

As reported by ESPNcricinfo, CV applied to trademark ‘Rangers’ with the Australian government body which manages intellectual property rights. The name is a nod to the ‘Bushrangers’, the former name of the Victoria team. The club are also set to play in Victoria’s navy blue colours. The paperwork for the same was filed on June 4 with an expected response timeline of September 3. The trademark would cover multiple uses such as jerseys, playing kits, branded material, digital content and apps.

The Stars have been chosen as the anchor franchise for the merger, with the Renegades possibly still existing for the 2026-27 season in ‘caretaker mode’, provided the license for the franchise is not sold or new owners are not ready for a full takeover ahead of the start of the WBBL in October. All available options on the sale still rely on states voting to proceed.

The news of the merger between the two Melbourne franchises became significant news as the club informed staff of their decision on the afternoon of June 2. The next few days saw CV and Cricket Australia engaged in measures of damage limitation. Meetings were convened hastily with other states, where CA were asked to explain the decision. CA CEO Todd Greenberg admitted the timing of the announcement was not ideal, with Nick Cummins, the Victoria CEO, stating that he was looking after his staff due to the uncertainty over the hybrid privatisation model. 

CA’s initial plan was to prioritise the whole tournament, but objections from New South Wales and concerns from Queensland and South Australia saw the process take a pause, with CA giving the freedom for states to choose how they wanted to go about it. 

CV, who turned in favour of the privatisation model despite early uncertainty have always been expected to offload the Renegades. CA were notified of the plans, but hoped all announcements would be held on until the further stages of the process.

Meetings involving state CEOs are set to commence in the following week, with June 15 marked as a key date, when the chairs will vote on the states and their plans to go ahead with private investment.

Young batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi continues to make headlines following his historic selection to India’s T20I squad. The 15-year-old prodigy, who enjoyed a breakthrough IPL 2026 campaign, recently opened up about a memorable interaction with his childhood idol, Virat Kohli, after the IPL final.

Sooryavanshi emerged as one of the biggest stars of the season and was named the Most Valuable Player of IPL 2026. The left-handed batter’s remarkable performances throughout the tournament earned widespread praise, and his post-final meeting with Kohli quickly became a talking point among fans on social media.

The interaction took place after Royal Challengers Bengaluru secured their second consecutive IPL title at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on May 31. While Sooryavanshi was present to collect his Orange Cap and other individual awards, he also got the opportunity to share a brief but unforgettable moment with the former India captain.

Reflecting on the encounter in a video circulating online⁠, the youngster admitted that meeting Kohli felt surreal.

“To tell you the truth, when Virat bhaiya (brother) put his hand on my shoulder… I used to be an RCB fan before. Actually, I was a very, very big fan of Virat Kohli. So when he put his hand on my shoulder and started talking to me, it actually felt like a dream. The way he spoke, it didn’t even feel like he was actually Virat Kohli,” Vaibhav said to Rajasthan Royals.

The teenager further revealed that Kohli’s words went beyond simple congratulations, with the veteran taking time to guide him about the road ahead.

“He spoke to me like an elder brother, explaining what I was doing well, what more I could do, what I should focus on, where I should direct my attention, and what I should aim for in the future,” he continued.

Having already established himself as one of the brightest young talents in world cricket, Sooryavanshi now faces an even bigger challenge as he prepares to don the Indian jersey.