Matt Parkinson will leave Lancashire at the end of the season to join Kent on a three-year-deal. The 26-year-old leg-spinner has found his opportunities limited at his boyhood county, despite starting the season with a five-wicket haul in the first round of this season’s County Championship against Surrey. He then played one match on loan

Ollie Robinson has defended his send-off towards Usman Khawaja, saying he “doesn’t care” how Australia might receive his actions and that he is “here to provide… that theatre of the game”. Robinson removed Khawaja for 141 on the third morning at Edgbaston, knocking back his off stump as he came down the pitch looking to

Moeen Ali has been fined 25% of his match fee and handed a demerit point on his return to red-ball cricket after spraying “a drying agent on his bowling hand” on the second day of the first Ashes Test. Moeen admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by Andy Pycroft, the match referee. “In

Usman Khawaja admitted he had been caught up in the entertainment provided by Bazball, but added that ultimately it doesn’t matter how a Test match is won while England continue to insist the end-game is not something they are concerned with. Khawaja has experienced both sides of England’s approach over the first two days of

Stuart Broad believes England ended the second day in a “really positive” position on an Edgbaston pitch that he described as one of the slowest he has encountered in his 94 Test matches on home soil and a “nightmare” for a fast bowler. Ben Stokes, England’s captain, publicly requested “fast, flat wickets” for this summer’s

Jonny Bairstow admitted that the occasion and atmosphere at Edgbaston are “what we live for” as professional cricketers, after marking his first innings for England in nearly ten months with a run-a-ball 78 on a frenetic opening day of the 2023 Ashes. Though Bairstow made his return to the Test team against Ireland at Lord’s

For DeFreitas to Slater in 1994-95, will we one day be reading Cummins to Crawley 2023? The first ball of an Ashes series has long held a degree of mystique, and today’s long-awaited opener was no exception. Here’s how ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentary has covered those moments since the start of the epic summer of 2005

Big picture: Enter the Ashes paradox At what stage will it all begin to matter? Will it come when the teams line up for the national anthem, when the passion of the Hollies Stand seeps through the implacable demeanours of an England team that has been trained in the art of un-think? Will it come

Dan Lawrence will leave his home club Essex at the end of the season after agreeing a shock move to Surrey on a three-year contract. Lawrence, the spare batter in England’s Ashes squad, grew up in Chingford and has played for Essex’s first team since the age of 17, having previously represented the county’s age-group

The move comes as a surprise given England’s stated desire for “fast, flat wickets” this summer, leaving them without a genuine fast bowler in the side – though Wood is likely to come into the side at some stage in the series. Ben Stokes, England’s captain, has previously signalled his wish to hit Australia with

Southampton’s Ageas Bowl will host a Men’s Ashes Test for the first time in 2027 following the announcement of venues for England’s home international matches from 2025-31. The Ageas Bowl, which hosts its first Women’s Ashes ODI on July 16, will also stage its first Women’s Ashes Test in 2031, with the 2027 edition to

“Stokesy messaged me with a question,” said Moeen Ali. “‘Ashes?'” “I hadn’t heard the news on Leachy [Jack Leach] at the time. So I just said ‘LOL’, thinking he’s taking the mick.” Just a couple of things to unpack there. A 35-year-old man using “lol” is one of them, even if that’s more common than

Moeen Ali has revealed that he cancelled a family holiday in the Cotswolds to make himself available to play in the Ashes – but will miss Wednesday’s training session at Edgbaston in order to collect his OBE. Moeen was awarded an OBE for services to cricket in the Queen’s Birthday Honours last year, which he

Moeen Ali is viewing his return to Test cricket as “a free hit” and revealed he might not have come out of retirement for the Ashes had Ben Stokes not been the England captain positing the question. Speaking at Edgbaston, ahead of Friday’s first Test against Australia, Moeen was phlegmatic, even self-deprecating about his merits

Steven Finn believes that Josh Tongue‘s success since he dismissed Steven Smith at New Road last month proves that “English cricket as a whole” benefitted from Smith’s short stint in the County Championship. Smith’s three-match contract with Sussex prompted fierce debate within the county game around the merits of enabling Australian players to tune up

Ollie Pope has backed Zak Crawley to make an impression in the Ashes, believing the England opener can strike a run-a-ball hundred against Australia’s much-vaunted attack. Crawley remains a point of contention in a team that has won 11 out of their last 13 Tests under Ben Stokes’ captaincy. He’s been a constant selection since

Are England better-equipped to face Australia now than they were a week ago? Graeme Swann believes they are, following Moeen Ali‘s decision to reverse his retirement from Test cricket and fill the vacancy created by Jack Leach‘s lower-back stress fracture. “I think it makes us stronger,” Swann, a three-time Ashes winner during his England career,

Moeen Ali has reversed his retirement from Test cricket and been added to England’s Ashes squad after answering an SOS call from the team’s management. Moeen confirmed to ESPNcricinfo on Monday night that he had been asked to consider a potential call-up following an injury to Jack Leach, who went for scans after England’s 10-wicket

Like a fine wine, has Stuart Broad mellowed with age? That would appear to be the impression on the eve of his ninth Ashes campaign, with his admission that he doesn’t mind when or how he is deployed in the coming five Tests against Australia, just so long as he plays his part in an

Moeen Ali is considering a return to Test cricket for the Ashes. The offspinning allrounder, who retired from the format at the end of the 2021 summer, confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that he has been approached by the England management to answer a mayday call after Jack Leach was ruled out of the five-match series with

Ben Stokes has implored Ollie Pope to take his new role as England’s official vice-captain “as seriously as I did” as concerns around Stokes’ fitness linger ahead of the first Ashes Test on June 16. Stokes reiterated before England’s 10-wicket win over Ireland at Lord’s that he intends to play a full part in all

From the bright lights of the IPL to the ‘Kiss Me Quick’ hats of Blackpool, Jos Buttler is set for quite the scenery change on Wednesday when he plays his first home match of the summer for Lancashire in the Vitality Blast against Worcestershire at Stanley Park. Buttler, fresh from two months at the IPL

The last time England won the men’s Ashes, Joe Root walked away with the Compton-Miller Medal as the player of the series. It was also the last time he played Australia without the burden of captaincy. Back in 2015, Root’s 460 runs at an average of 57.50 helped England to a 3-2 scoreline to regain

The shock news that Jack Leach has been ruled out of the Ashes is a significant blow to England’s preparations, depriving them of a spinner who has flourished under Ben Stokes’ leadership, and who has bought into the so-called “Bazball” ethos with his willingness to bowl to attacking fields, and accept the risk of some

England spinner Jack Leach has been ruled out of the men’s Ashes after scans revealed he had suffered a lumbar stress fracture. Leach developed “low back symptoms” during the Test victory over Ireland at Lord’s and he will now miss the entire series against Australia. Leach was among in the 16-man squad for the first

When Sue Redfern walks onto the field in Bristol on Sunday as the first woman to stand as an umpire in a Vitality Blast match, she will do so hoping to make more than another significant step in her groundbreaking career. She wants to make way for women in cricket, including herself, to break free

Ben Stokes met Josh Tongue for the first time when the England squad gathered in London on Monday ahead of this one-off Test against Ireland. Less than a week on, Tongue has imprinted himself as permanently on his skipper’s heart as on the Lord’s honours board. With five for 66 in the second innings to

Andy Balbirnie, Ireland’s captain, praised the character that his team had shown in digging deep on the third and final day of the Lord’s Test, and forcing England to bat again when an innings defeat had seemed to be on the cards overnight. But, he added, Ireland’s eventual ten-wicket loss had “not been preparation” for

England have announced an unchanged squad for the first two men’s Ashes Tests. The 16-man party, which includes Worcestershire seamer Josh Tongue who was drafted in as bowling cover for the one-off Test against Ireland currently taking place at Lord’s, will report to Birmingham ahead of the Edgbaston Test starting on June 16. The announcement

Stat-padding days are hard to come by, even for an England team that plays a lot of Test cricket. But on Friday at Lord’s, it seemed everyone who made it out to the middle were able to touch up their personal statistics at the expense of a willing but lacking Ireland attack. Ollie Pope registered