It is easy to imagine England's record-breaking bowler James Anderson walking around Dilip Jajodia's cricket ball factory in London's East End wearing the expression of a child in a toy shop.

Jul 31 (OPTA) - Scoreboard at close of play of between Durham and Leicestershire on Wednesday at Chester-le-Street, England Leicestershire 1st innings Mark Cosgrove c Peter Handscomb b D'Arcy Short 18 Harry Swindells Run Out Peter Handscomb 29 Arron Lilley c Jack Burnham b D'Arcy Short 10 Colin Ackermann c Peter Handscomb b Matthew Potts 52 Lewis Hill b Liam Trevaskis 0 Harry Dearden c Graham Clark b Brydon Ca

Jul 31 (OPTA) - Scoreboard at close of play of between Durham and Leicestershire on Wednesday at Chester-le-Street, England Durham Jets win by 8 wickets Leicestershire 1st innings Mark Cosgrove c Peter Handscomb b D'Arcy Short 18 Harry Swindells Run Out Peter Handscomb 29 Arron Lilley c Jack Burnham b D'Arcy Short 10 Colin Ackermann c Peter Handscomb b Matthew Potts 52 Lewis Hill b Liam Trevaskis 0 Harry Dearden

Jul 31 (OPTA) - Scoreboard at close of play of between Worcestershire and Derbyshire on Wednesday at Worcester, England Worcestershire Rapids win by 2 wickets Derbyshire 1st innings Luis Reece c Martin Guptill b Patrick Brown 29 Billy Godleman c Ben Cox b Dillon Pennington 0 Wayne Madsen c Wayne Parnell b Brett D'Oliveira 28 Leus du Plooy Not Out 52 Matthew Critchley c Martin Guptill b Brett D'Oliveira

Jul 31 (OPTA) - Scoreboard at close of play of 3rd odi between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on Wednesday at Colombo, Sri Lanka Sri Lanka win by 122 runs Sri Lanka 1st innings Avishka Fernando lbw Shafiul Islam 6 Dimuth Karunaratne c Mushfiqur Rahim b Taijul Islam 46 Kusal Perera c Mushfiqur Rahim b Rubel Hossain 42 Kusal Mendis c Sabbir Rahman b Soumya Sarkar 54 Angelo Mathews c Mushfiqur Rahim b Soumya Sarkar 87 Dasun Shanaka

England pace bowler Jofra Archer has been omitted from the side for the first Ashes test against Australia starting at Edgbaston on Thursday with Chris Woakes keeping his place after his stunning display against Ireland last week.

England pace bowler Jofra Archer has been omitted from the side for the first Ashes test against Australia starting at Edgbaston on Thursday after failing to recover from injury.

England captain Joe Root has named his side for Thursday's opening Ashes test against Australia.

England have not lost to Australia at Edgbaston in 18 years, but to preserve that record as the Ashes gets under way in Birmingham on Thursday, the hosts will need their middle order to fire amid uncertainty over their top three.

If one English ground was designed to test the backbone of the Australian cricket team it is 'fortress Edgbaston' where the visitors will be offered a red-hot welcome on Thursday.

Australia's returning batsman David Warner poses the biggest threat to England's hopes of regaining the Ashes, according to all-rounder Ben Stokes who says his team mates must pressure the 32-year-old from the off.

Australia coach Justin Langer has confirmed James Pattinson and Usman Khawaja are certain starters for the opening Ashes test in Birmingham.

Jul 30 (OPTA) - Scoreboard at close of play of between Surrey and Kent on Tuesday at London, England Surrey 1st innings Will Jacks c Zak Crawley b Hardus Viljoen 5 Aaron Finch Not Out 36 Ollie Pope c Heino Kuhn b Mohammad Nabi 5 Jordan Clark b Hardus Viljoen 1 Tom Curran c Fredrick Klaassen b Adam Milne 2 Rikki Clarke Not Out 0 Extras 4b 0lb 0nb 0pen 1w