England replace injured Crane with Leach

LONDON: Leg-spinner Mason Crane will miss the rest of England’s tour of New Zealand because of a stress fracture in his lower back and will be replaced by Somerset’s Jack Leach. Crane, who made his Test debut in the final Ashes Test in Sydney in January, rejoined the squad ahead of the two Tests, in Auckland and Christchurch. Left-armer Leach, 26, has taken 116 wickets for Somerset in the past two county championship seasons, the most of any spinner in division one, and impressed during the England Lions’ recent tour of the West Indies. He claimed the best match figures for an England Lions spinner when he took 8-110 against West Indies A in Jamaica last month, surpassing Graeme Swann’s 8-156 against Zimbabwe in 1999.

Pakistan in Jr Davis Cup final

By Our correspondent

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan made it to the final of the Junior Davis Cup, being held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, beating host country 3-0 in the semifinal played Friday. Pakistan won two singles and a double match in one-side affair to earn a place in the final against Pacific Oceania team. The final will be played Saturday. By making it to the final Pakistan team has also earned a place in the Asia Oceania Junior Davis Cup Qualifying round to be held in Kuching Malaysia in April, 2018. The Pakistan team seeded third in the Sri Lanka has made the nation proud by winning all the ties in the tournament so far.

Results: Huzaifa Abdul Rehman bt Kavisha Ratnayake 6-2, 6-2; Muhammad Shoaib bt Chaturya Nilawaeera 6-2, 6-0; Huzaifa Abdul Rehman/M Ahmed Kamil bt Kavisha Ratnayake/Ashen Silva 6-1, 6-2.