Malan, Stokes edge up England's lead after Raju Kothari

In the nick of time, West Indies held a catch offered by Joe Root as the second Test continued to be an engrossing nip-and-tuck affair with England nudging their lead to 82 by lunch. Dawid Malan, who was fortunate to survive the session, and Ben Stokes were building a fifth-wicket stand as West Indies delayed taking the second new ball.

Root's was shaping as a match-defining innings when he was cramped for room by a short delivery from the impressive Shannon Gabriel and couldn't keep the ball down towards gully. It still needed two grabs from Shai Hope to complete the catch but, unlike his brother yesterday evening when Root had 10, it didn't go to ground.

The same can't be said of the chance offered by Malan on 32 a few moments later when he edged a drive at Jason Holder and Kieran Powell at first slip, distracted by Shane Dowrich diving across then bailing out, put it down. It was Powell who dropped Root early in his first innings.

England resumed on 171 for 3 and made steady progress for much of the first hour. Root went to his second fifty of the match with two boundaries in the opening over, both through the gap between second slip and gully although neither were chances. He was fluent off his pads whenever the bowlers strayed, but was again challenged by Gabriel before he struck in what became the final over of his spell.

Malan was forced to dig very deep, adding just 20 off 83 balls during the session. His first scoring shot of the day was a pleasant straight drive, but precious little else came to him easily. He narrowly evaded square leg with a flick off his hip and then the life came his way in Holder's opening over with a very loose drive outside off.

Holder made the old ball move and there was an appearance of the lesser-spotted Devendra Bishoo in the second hour of the morning. There was some turn for the legspinner but his length was inconsistent - perhaps that was the concern Holder had, but it was hardly a fair chance for Bishoo to wait so long for an extended bowl - and Stokes put him through the leg side three times.

Graeme Smith to coach Benoni Zalmi Raju Kothari

T20 Global League franchise Benoni Zalmi has appointed former South Africa captain Graeme Smith as its head coach. Zalmi team owner Javed Afridi made the announcement on Monday.

Smith, 36, last played a competitive game in May 2014, a T20 for Somerset two months after his final Test against Australia. It will be Smith's first stint as a coach in recognised cricket. Highveld Lions' Geoffrey Toyana, who was recently among the frontrunners to replace Russell Domingo as South Africa's coach, will be his assistant. Their first assignment together comes this weekend, when they will have to pick from a pool of over 400 players in the player draft.

Elsewhere, Durban Qalandars has put Paddy Upton in charge, with Aaqib Javed to oversee the bowlers. Also, Stellenbosch Monarchs has appointed Stephen Fleming head coach, with Eric Simons named his assistant.

Stellenbosch had suffered a setback last week when Brimstone Investment Corporation Limited, the investment company which had been unveiled as its owner by Cricket South Africa, said it will not proceed with the acquisition.

ESPNcricinfo understands Brimstone pulled out because it did not want to hold a majority stake. An insider said that Brimstone always wanted a minority stake and that has been their investment model, where the company supports an expert majority partner. The failure to pull together a consortium meant that Brimstone opted to move out and CSA did not stand in its way. Incidentally Brimstone was one of only two South African owners named for the eight teams in June. Faf du Plessis, South Africa's Test and T20 captain, was named the Stellenbosch franchise's marquee player by the South Africa board.

Stoinis heads home to Western Australia Raju Kothari

Allrounder Marcus Stoinis will return to his home state of Western Australia for the 2017-18 season, after spending the past five summers playing with Victoria.

Stoinis had debuted for the Warriors in 2008-09 before moving to Melbourne in 2012, and his change of states led to consistent output at domestic level and international selection in the limited-overs formats.

Stoinis, who turns 28 this week, has been Victoria's second-leading run scorer in the Sheffield Shield in the past three years, behind only Test batsman Peter Handscomb.

He will be joined in the Western Australia squad this summer by allrounder Matthew Spoors, who has been handed a rookie contract for the first time.

Gone from last year's squad are the retired batsman Adam Voges, along with Nathan Rimmington, Ryan Duffield, Josh Nicholas and Liam O'Connor.

"We're thrilled to have Marcus coming home to Western Australia, not only because he's an extremely talented player but he's a great character as well," coach Justin Langer said. "Young Matt Spoors is an exciting young talent. I love his dancing feet; a lot of kids these days have really slow footwork, but Matt's got really fast batting feet.

"Twelve players have been Australian representatives and that's a great tribute to the program we're running here at the WACA."

Western Australia squad Ashton Agar (Cricket Australia contract), Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, William Bosisto, Hilton Cartwright (CA), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Michael Klinger, Simon Mackin, Mitchell Marsh (CA), Shaun Marsh, David Moody, Joel Paris, Jhye Richardson, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Jonathan Wells, Sam Whiteman. Rookies Alex Bevilaqua, Jake Carder, Kyle Gardiner, Clint Hinchcliffe, Matthew Kelly, Matthew Spoors.

Hales sends reminder with blistering 218 Raju Kothari

Alex Hales delivered a compelling reminder of his international class with a brilliant double-century that put Nottinghamshire in total control of the Division Two match against Derbyshire at Derby. The England batsman plundered 38 fours and a six in a run-a-ball 218, which included a century between lunch and tea, and shared a sixth-wicket stand of 204 in 35 overs with skipper Chris Read.

Derbyshire's bowlers contributed 50 extras, including 24 no-balls and 10 wides, to Nottinghamshire's 508 for 9 declared which left the home side needing 288 to avoid an innings defeat. They started badly, losing Luis Reece to their former fast bowler Mark Footitt in the fourth over, and at the close were 45 for 1, still 243 behind.

Derbyshire might have thought it was going to be their day when Tony Palladino deflected a Steven Mullaney drive into the stumps to run out Samit Patel in the fourth over of the morning. When Mullaney sliced Tom Taylor to point, the game was still in the balance but Derbyshire's bowling lacked the consistency and discipline required to put Hales under pressure.

There were 12 fours in his first 50 and he stayed in overdrive for the rest of an innings, which put his team in a dominant position and allowed Read to let his bowlers loose at Derbyshire before stumps.

Riki Wessels made only 13 out of a fifth-wicket stand of 80 before he gloved a lifting delivery from Hardus Viljoen, who was straight-driven by Hales for his 20th four to reach his first Championship hundred of the season.

With Read scoring freely from the start, 181 runs came in the afternoon session with Hales sweeping a Luis Reece full toss for his 27th four to go to 150. His 200 came from only 201 balls and after Read was caught behind down the leg side for 75, Hales struck two more fours before swinging Wayne Madsen to deep midwicket where Viljoen took a good running catch.

There was still more punishment to come as Jake Ball opened his shoulders and smashed four sixes in 43 off 24 balls before Read pulled out leaving Derbyshire to negotiate 12 overs. It was always going to be a tricky period for the openers and Reece did not survive, edging a loose drive at Footitt to give Read his 967th dismissal for Nottinghamshire.