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Kashif Ali cashes in as Worcestershire maintain their winning run
Worcestershire 183 for 7 (Kashif 69) beat Leicestershire 150 for 9 (Patel 42, Brown 3-25) by 33 runs
Kashif, the first product of the South Asian Cricket Association to sign a pro contract with a first-class county, again demonstrated his potential with a sparkling 69 as Worcestershire recovered from 30 for 3.
Leicestershire reached 70 for 1 in the 10th over and looked to have laid the foundations for a worthy pursuit of a 184 target.
It means the Rapids have won their opening three games while in contrast the Foxes have been beaten in their opening trio of fixtures.
Mir has ended his brief and successful spell at New Road and will return to playing league cricket for Colwyn Bay, but will be replaced by Mitchell Santner who flies in tomorrow after being part of the Chennai Super Kings IPL squad.
The Rapids got off to a shaky start after captain D'Oliveira opted to bat.
Bracewell lasted only three balls before he was trapped lbw by a full-length ball from Naseem Shah when working to leg.
D'Oliveira took a stride down the wicket in the next over from Wiaan Mulder and only succeeded in nicking through to keeper Harry Swindells
Jack Haynes immediately went on the offensive with four boundaries in Shah's second over before was lbw deep in his crease to Mulder.
Kashif mixed some wristy strokes with sheer power as he and in-form Adam Hose set about rebuilding the innings.
They added 45 when Hose, who had top-scored in the wins over Northamptonshire Steelbacks and Yorkshire Vikings, tried to slice Callum Parkinson over the off side and fell to Colin Ackermann's catch running back from cover.
A pull for six and a delightful cut to the ropes in the same over from Reehan Ahmed enabled Kashif to complete a 33-ball half century.
Shah's return to the attack brought about Kashif's downfall when he found the hands of deep backward square.
In the same over, Ed Pollock was run out first ball by Ackermann's direct hit from mid on.
But Mir profited from being dropped being he had scored to plunder an unbeaten 32 from 15 balls and Ben Cox struck a typically breezy 28 as Worcestershire recovered from their early troubles.
When Leicestershire batted, Bracewell struck an early blow when Sol Budinger clubbed a delivery straight to Hose at deep mid wicket.
But Nick Welch scored freely and crucially Leicestershire kept wickets in hand, losing only one in the powerplay.
D'Oliveira brought himself into the attack and made a double breakthrough in the space of four balls.
Welch was pouched at long on by Haynes and Ackermann was bowled via an inside edge and his pad.
Rishi Patel hurried to 42 but, having hit the previous two deliveries from Mir for four, he gave his wicket away when charging down the pitch and being stumped.
The Pakistan leg-spinner's final over of his current spell at New Road also yielded a wicket when Arron Lilley was leg before aiming a blow over mid wicket.
Mulder and Rehan Ahmed fell cheaply to end Leicestershire's last hopes and then Pat Brown wrapped up the tail as he showed more encouraging signs of returning to his best form.
Matt Taylor holds his nerve as Gloucestershire edge home by two runs
Gloucestershire 181 for 9 (Hammond 59, Cullen 3-38) beat Middlesex 179 for 6 (Eskinazi 54, Price 3-21) by two runs
The left-armer conceded just four, with former Gloucestershire all-rounder Ryan Higgins needing three off the final ball and attempting a paddle shot that led to him being run out for 24.
Eskinazi, Middlesex's captain, did not disguise his annoyance. "I think we probably played almost the perfect T20 game, especially an outground T20 game, up until 12 balls to go. When you're four down, with two of your most senior players at the crease, 12 off 12 - you probably win that game 999 times out of a thousand.
"It stings for sure. I don't think I've ever seen that before, not with people as senior as that at the crease and I don't think the guys need me to tell them how much it hurts the team. It's going to be a tough one to bounce back from. I'm very disappointed."
Asked to bat after losing the toss, Gloucestershire began briskly with Grant Roelofsen taking 18 from Tom Helm's second over, but the opener's knock of 34 from 19 came to a tame end when he patted Higgins' half-volley to mid-off.
Higgins, playing against his former county for the first time since his return to Middlesex, was expensive overall - as was his dropped catch at long-on when Hammond, with just nine to his name, took on Hollman.
Joe Cracknell pouched the catch, his third of the innings - and a routine one by comparison with the second, when he raced from deep midwicket to long on and dived for a spectacular one-handed grab that removed visiting skipper Jack Taylor.
Cullen also claimed the wicket of the big-hitting Marchant de Lange to finish with three for 38, while Martin Andersson took two for 30 as Graeme van Buuren's unbeaten 28 from 19 nudged Gloucestershire above 180.
Middlesex kept up with the required run-rate of nine at the start of their pursuit, with Cracknell sweeping Tom Smith's first delivery to the boundary and bisecting the leg-side fielders perfectly to collect four more off David Payne.
He and Eskinazi scored freely as they accumulated a partnership of 78 from 48 but Cracknell, having reverse-swept Smith for four, was lbw for 42 from 28 attempting to repeat the shot later in the over.
Eskinazi began to impose himself on the Gloucestershire spinners, pumping van Buuren over long-on for two sixes, but Ollie Price boosted the visitors' prospects with a single over of off-breaks that accounted for both Max Holden and Pieter Malan.
De Lange backed up Price's double strike in the next over, firing one through Eskinazi's defences to take out his middle stump, but Hollman and Higgins stopped the rot with their spirited counter-attack.
Hollman took two fours off Matt Taylor in quick succession and thumped Payne back down the ground for another to reach 39 from 19 before he was bowled by Price, who recorded his best T20 figures of three for 21.
David Willey wills Northants to comeback victory at third attempt
Northamptonshire 152 for 4 (Zaib 37*, Willey 31, Lynn 31) beat Derbyshire 151 for 6 (Madsen 57, Guest 49) by six wickets
The word on the streets, however, had long been that Willey had been promised considerable authority at Northants once he walked out on Yorkshire in protest at the mass sacking of staff. It was not as much what was done as the way it was done that was at issue.
Willey comes in to his own on demanding days like these. For Derbyshire and Northamptonshire this was assuredly a working Bank Holiday, the sort of exacting surface that should have players claiming a day in lieu for the extra effort required, not to mention Mick Lynch calling a wildcat strike in protest and Amazon docking pay because the score wasn't mounting quickly enough.
That was encapsulated by Derbyshire's bowling Powerplay. They had leaked scores in the high 70s in their first two games so to restrict Northants to 29 for 1 was quite a change of tone. But it was all to no avail. They now have three defeats on the bounce and a repeat of last year's quarter-final appearance - at which point they imploded against Somerset at Taunton - does not look likely.
Northants, though, give Willey something to work with. His stand of 64 with Chris Lynn was growled and grimaced rather than purred, but they have a dangerous top six. The inclusion of left-arm legspinner Freddie Heldreich for the first time this season also gave them more variety with the ball.
Heldreich struck with his first delivery, bowling Anuj Dal who failed to hit him out of the ground, and did a decent job, even if Wayne Madsen did twice loft him over the ropes. A shoddy piece of fielding at fine leg, however, will not have to be repeated too often if he is to please his new taskmaster.
Derby was at its most inviting: a warm and sunny Bank Holiday, a tree-lined ground that belies its basic reputation of old, and a decent, convivial crowd. That local tastes would not be easily satisfied, however, was apparent when Derbyshire lost four wickets for 49 by the eighth over - Luis Reece and Haider Ali both failing with straight hits as the pitch revealed its true nature, and Leus du Plooy playing all around one from James Sales before Heldreich made his entrance.
Madsen and Brooke Guest responded with a knowing stand of 92 in 70 balls from a perilous position of 49 for 4 in the ninth. It never quite felt enough; it was just that because it was Madsen supervising affairs you felt that it might be.
Madsen assesses pitches as well as anybody around. Data experts could crunch thousands of statistics. Google pitch robots could take soil samples from the surface (it's only a matter of time). All the algorithms that money can buy (in Derbyshire's case about 50 quid's worth) could be put into use. Then when Madsen was informed that 175 would be a winning score, he would chew over the information before adjusting it to 151.
On this occasion, Derbyshire were conservative for too long. Madsen and Guest began steadily, were steady throughout the middle phase and, as the overs ran out, remained steady. The Steelbacks removed Madsen in the penultimate over when he pulled Taylor to deep midwicket and Guest fell in the final over when he lifted Andrew Tye into the hands of long on.
Northants might have dismissed Madsen when he had only a single to his name, Sales failing to produce the accurate throw needed after Reece rejected Madsen's call for a single into the off side. He was also dropped on 40 - the former Derbyshire seamer, Tom Taylor, being the luckless bowler when he clothed one to mid-on but Tye fumbled with an ungainly dive.
Although Northants lost Ricardo Vasconcelos early, pulling to short midwicket, Willey and Lynn old-manned them into a decent position. Derbyshire bowled with spirit, and when Reece removed both batters within three balls - Willey holing out at deep square; Lynn dragging on a wide one - they sensed an opportunity.
But Saif Zaib was reprieved on 14 by Zaman Khan as he slapped the left-arm spinner, Mark Watt, to the edge of the circle, and Northants made light work of a target of 44 from the last six as Zaib, a fine natural talent who has remained in bud for far too long, flowered with the most attractive innings of the day.
David Hopps writes on county cricket for ESPNcricinfo @davidkhopps
INDIANAPOLIS -- IndyCar owner Roger Penske said he is certain series officials will investigate what led to a wheel coming loose during a crash in the Indianapolis 500 and sailing over the catch fence and grandstands before hitting a parked automobile.
"We haven't had a wheel come off in a long time," Penske said. "We were very fortunate we didn't have a bad accident."
The cars are supposed to have a tether that keeps the wheel attached even in the event of a wreck. But when Felix Rosenqvist hit the wall between Turns 1 and 2 in the closing laps Sunday and Kyle Kirkwood launched off the rear of his car into the wall, the wheel went soaring over the fence and the corner of the grandstand before landing in the parking lot.
The wheel traveled about 350 yards before crushing the front of a fan's parked Chevrolet. With a crowd of more than 300,000 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and a full grandstand in Turns 1 and 2, it was fortunate nobody was seriously injured.
"I saw what happened, saw it bounced on top of a building and went and hit a car over there, which obviously is very concerning," said Penske, whose driver Josef Newgarden won the race, giving Team Penske its 19th Indy 500 victory.
Penske closed on the purchase of IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway about three years ago.
"We have tethers on the wheels, and it was a rear wheel that came off," Penske said after Sunday's victory celebration, "and I'm sure the guys at IndyCar will look at it, will determine what really happened."
During the 1987 Indianapolis 500, one fan was killed when a tire flew into the top row of the grandstands. It had come off Tony Bettenhausen's car and bounced off the front of Roberto Guerrero's car before landing among the fans.
During a 1998 race at Michigan International Speedway involving CART, which later became part of IndyCar, Adrian Fernandez crashed and a tire and other parts flew into the stands. Three fans were killed and six others were hurt that day.
The next year, three fans were killed and eight injured at Charlotte Motor Speedway when a tire and other debris flew into the stands during an Indy Racing League event. The race was canceled, and IndyCar has not returned to the speedway.
Those incidents resulted in the development of the tethers that are supposed to keep the wheels attached.
The owner of the Chevrolet that took the brunt of the damage Sunday was Robin Matthews, a race fan from Indianapolis. Her car, which she calls "Snowball," had to be towed because of the damage. She was treated with a chance to kiss the yard of bricks, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway president J. Douglas Boles gave her a lift home.
IndyCar said one person was struck by other debris from the crash but was checked and released from the infield care center.
"I was in this turn," tweeted John Green, an author from Indianapolis. "Hugely relieved everyone appears to be OK. Watching a wheel fly over my friends at 150 miles per hour is not an experience I'm anxious to repeat."
Rosenqvist and Kirkwood also were uninjured in the wreck, though the latter went on quite a ride. Kirkwood went airborne after contact and landed upside down against the wall, skidding several hundred yards as sparks flew from his car.
"That's the scary part," Kirkwood said. "You're upside-down and you're kind of stuck at that point."
DENVER -- With a week off since they last played, the Denver Nuggets are thrilled that their long wait to find out who they play in the NBA Finals ends Monday night.
"It's definitely been a long wait," forward Michael Porter Jr. said after Nuggets practice Monday. "It seems like we haven't played a game in forever, so we just been trying to stay in shape, stay in the gym, and just wait and see."
The Nuggets have been off since eliminating the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals on May 22. They've been working on conditioning and trying to go as hard as they can to simulate playoff tempo when they are on the court.
But it wasn't until Monday's practice that coach Michael Malone said his team worked on things that both the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat do just to be as prepared as possible. Game 1 of the Finals will be played Thursday night.
"It's definitely been a challenge," Malone said of trying to keep his team in playoff rhythm. "... All the practices leading into [Sunday's off day] were about us with a real heavy emphasis on conditioning, pace, purpose and just working on all the things that we need to. And then today we started working on things that both Miami and Boston [do] that we need to be prepared for both offensively and defensively.
"The best thing is we're going to finally know who we play, and that gives us Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday morning to get ready for [our opponent in] Game 1. But I give our guys credit, they have been locked in. The energy's been very good."
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who won a championship with the Lakers in the 2020 bubble, has been trying to keep his team focused on the goal despite the long layoff.
"I'm surprised, our focus is tremendous," Caldwell-Pope said. "Even though we had this long period of time off, everybody still has the same mindset. They haven't faded away. Everybody still has the same energy, they're just ready to play. Feeling a little antsy. I am just ready to get out there."
Malone echoed those sentiments.
"I know I speak for everybody in our locker room," he said. "We just can't wait for tonight's game to be over to finally have some clarity. And so when we wake up tomorrow morning, we know who we're playing, we know who we're preparing for and we can kind of turn the page and really focus in on that."
BOSTON -- Celtics point guard Malcolm Brogdon plans to play in the deciding Game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals against the visiting Miami Heat on Monday night, a source told ESPN's Andscape.
The 2023 Sixth Man of the Year has been dealing with a partial tear in the tendon in his right elbow, an injury that worsened early in this series. After scoring a combined two points on 1-of-13 shooting from the field in Games 3-5, Brogdon sat out Saturday's Game 6 win in Miami.
While Brogdon's forearm is still sore, the source said the swelling and pain has subsided and he feels more confident about being able to make a positive impact. He took jump shots in front of the media at shootaround Monday morning.
In his first year with the Celtics, the 6-foot-4, 229-pound veteran averaged 14.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists in the regular season.
Brogdon, who has played three years each with the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers, has never played in the NBA Finals.
Nick Nurse has reached an agreement to become the next coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on Monday.
Nurse won the 2019 championship with the Toronto Raptors and had a 227-163 (.582) record in five seasons with the team.
The Sixers fired Doc Rivers after Philadelphia once again failed to advance past the second round of the postseason.
MILWAUKEE -- Luke Voit was designated for assignment on Monday by the Milwaukee Brewers, who owe the former home run champion a little more than $1.3 million for the remainder his of contract.
The first baseman hit .221 with a .284 on-base percentage, .265 slugging percentage, zero homers and four RBIs in 22 games. He had just three extra-base hits, all doubles, in 74 plate appearances.
Voit, 32, hadn't played for the Brewers since May 13. He went on the injured list two days later with a neck issue and had been hitting .259 with a .444 on-base percentage, one homer and eight RBIs in eight games during a rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Nashville.
Voit entered this year having homered 20 or more times in three of his past four seasons, including a major-league-leading 22 for the New York Yankees during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
He batted .226 with a .308 on-base percentage, 22 homers and 69 RBIs in 135 games with the San Diego Padres and Washington Nationals last season. After earning $5.45 million last year, he agreed to a minor league contract with the Brewers and opted out before signing a $2 million, one-year deal just before the start of the season.
Voit is owed $1,322,581 for the remainder of this season. The Brewers have seven days to trade him, release him or assign him outright to the minors if he agrees to accept it.
In another move Monday, the Brewers assigned left-handed pitcher Álex Claudio outright to Nashville after he cleared waivers.
CHICAGO -- Marcus Stroman pitched a one-hitter, and the Chicago Cubs beat the major league-leading Tampa Bay Rays 1-0 on Monday.
Stroman (5-4) dazzled in his fourth complete game and second shutout in nine major league seasons. His only other shutout was against the Cubs during his 2014 rookie season with the Toronto Blue Jays.
He set a season high with 105 pitches and matched his high with eight strikeouts. The right-hander walked one in winning his third straight start and helping the Cubs bounce back from a weekend sweep by Cincinnati.
The only hit Stroman allowed was when Wander Franco delivered a clean single to left leading off the seventh. Stroman walked Brandon Lowe and got out of that jam by getting Randy Arozarena to fly out and Josh Lowe to ground into a double play.
The only other Rays runner to reach base was when Luke Raley was hit by a pitch leading off the third. Chicago pitched its sixth shutout of the season.
Stroman raised both arms and got a big ovation when he retired Franco on a grounder to first to end the game, just the third shutout against the Rays this year.
The Cubs got their run in the fourth when Seiya Suzuki led off with a single, took second on a wild throw by third baseman Taylor Walls and scored on Mike Tauchman's sacrifice fly. That was all Chicago needed to come away with the win after getting outscored 25-10 in a three-game sweep by Cincinnati.
Rays rookie Taj Bradley (3-2) was a tough-luck loser in dropping his second straight start, allowing just one unearned run and three hits in 5⅔ innings. The 22-year-old rookie right-hander struck out eight and walked one.
French Open 2023 results: Jack Draper 'hates being the guy who's injured a lot'
Britain's Jack Draper says he "hates being the guy who's injured a lot" after retiring on his French Open senior debut with a shoulder issue.
The 21-year-old's injury problems continued when he was forced to retire early in the second set against Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Draper started to serve underarm in the first set of the first-round match.
"It's difficult. It's extremely tough, tougher than playing and losing. I feel a bit mentally destroyed," he said.
"It's really frustrating. But I will get there. It's just a brutal sport.
"I hate being the guy who is injured a lot."
Draper, ranked 55th in the world, has suffered a catalogue of physical problems in his young career and this is the third successive Grand Slam match where his performance has been affected by injury.
After retiring from his US Open third-round match against Karen Khachanov with a hamstring problem, the British men's number four was compromised by cramping in his Australian Open defeat by Rafael Nadal.
He also retired from his meeting with Spain's world number one Carlos Alcaraz in Indian Wells in March.
"I said to my coach, in the first set, I'm not retiring from another match. I don't want to do this," said Draper, who has retired 12 times across senior and junior matches since 2018.
"Even if I had to play three sets underarm. I don't care I just wanted to play. But there's no point in making this worse.
"I've obviously got to think about the grass [season] round the corner, and hope it settles down before that."
Draper's physical troubles come at a time when British tennis is missing its most successful young player - Emma Raducanu - through injury as the 20-year-old has struggled with a series of niggles that have hampered her progress since her stunning US Open victory in 2021.
She is sidelined for the coming months after wrist and ankle surgeries, having had a similar series of mid-match retirements which have dogged Draper.
Left-hander Draper was beaten 6-4 in the opening set against Etcheverry, needing physio treatment on his serving shoulder and it was no surprise when he retired shortly afterwards.
Draper lost the first game of the second set when he was receiving and decided he could not continue after his next two service points.
At the start of this year he was managing a chronic hip injury - which led to the problem in New York - before hurting his abdomen at Indian Wells in March and again at Monte Carlo in April.
Draper decided to do a training block at the National Tennis Centre in London to build back up physically and returned to match action in Lyon last week.
Speaking to the British media at Roland Garros on Sunday, he admitted he had "no idea" how this fortnight would go as he "figured out" how to get his body right.
But it later transpired Draper "felt a twinge" in his shoulder during practice on Sunday, resorting to underarm serving less than 24 hours later against Etcheverry.
After talking to his team and deciding he would try to carry on, Draper lasted only one more game and trudged off court looking disconsolate.
"I took all the things I needed to go on court, hoping it would settle down. But it didn't. It got worse," he said.
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