What would the late, great Shane Warne have made of it all? A deep point in position for Australia’s first delivery of the series? A first-day declaration with Joe Root in full flow? Two batters stumped on the opening day of the Ashes – the first time that’s happened since Lord’s in 1890? Everywhere you

Ben Stokes‘ decision to declare England’s first innings at 393 for 8 after 78 overs, with Joe Root unbeaten on 118, “came as no surprise” to their players. That is according to Jonny Bairstow, who said that forcing Australia’s openers to survive four overs on the first evening represented “a shot to nothing” for them.

Australia 20 for 0 trail England 393 for 8 dec (Root 118*, Bairstow 78, Crawley 61, Lyon 4-149) by 373 runs The first day of the 2023 Ashes started with Zak Crawley lacing Pat Cummins through cover for four, ended with Australia’s openers seeing out four overs following an opportunistic declaration, and hardly paused for

Yorkshire have brought in Australia A seamer Mark Steketee on an initial four-game deal to bolster their LV= Insurance County Championship attack. Steketee, 29, will be available for Yorkshire’s next game in Division Two, against Gloucestershire at Headingley starting on June 25, and three other fixtures during July – although the club have said there

Warwickshire have ramped up security levels to mitigate the threat of activists running onto the Edgbaston pitch and disrupting the first Ashes Test, and have also prepared a spare pitch that will be used in the event that the playing surface is damaged. Just Stop Oil, a coalition of environmental action groups, have disrupted a

Ben Stokes has declared himself fit to bowl in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston after training with a heavily-strapped knee on each of England’s three training days. Stokes was due to bat at the start of England’s nets session on Thursday but pushed his slot back in order to bowl around four overs on

Can you plan for Bazball? We are about to get a proper idea. The concept has been around for a year now and has had only a couple of blips – one by the narrowest of margins in New Zealand – but newly-crowned world Test champions Australia appear to be the team best equipped to

Of the England players arriving into this Ashes riding the crest of England’s nu-wave, Harry Brook is probably at its very peak. Which explains the confidence he has in stating the faster Australia bowl, the quicker they will get sent to the boundary. “Obviously they might have a little bit of extra pace, but if

Steven Smith is expecting England to try some “different stuff” against him during the Ashes but is confident his problem-solving skills will stand him in good stead. Smith comes into the series on the back of the 121 he made against India in the World Test Championship final, where he looked in excellent touch, although

An ICC working group has recommended that no more than four overseas players, including those retired from international cricket, should feature in playing XIs in T20 franchise leagues. It has also recommended that playing XIs include a minimum of four local players, and that boards be paid a 10% release fee for allowing their players

Moeen Ali‘s return to Test cricket as a late-notice injury replacement for Jack Leach will present England and Ben Stokes with “a challenge” in the Ashes, according to Australia’s coach Andrew McDonald. Leach’s lower-back stress fracture, diagnosed last Sunday, prompted England to ask Moeen if he would consider reversing his retirement from Test cricket. He

Ahmedabad, which boasts of a stadium that seats over 100,000, is set to host the blockbuster India vs Pakistan clash on October 15 in the ODI World Cup later this year. England and New Zealand, the teams that contested the thrilling tied final in 2019, are set to meet in the tournament-opener on October 5,

There is surely nothing more Scott Boland can do to become one of the first-choice names in Australia’s attack. So far throughout his stellar eight-match career, which has brought 33 wickets at 14.57, Boland’s opportunities have all come because of the absence of others. However, in the aftermath of securing the World Test Championship final

Pat Cummins, Australia captain: “We made the most of [losing the toss]. We were certainly going to have a bowl. But yeah, the way Travis [Head] and Smithy [Steven Smith] put on the partnership, we saw a little bit of comfort after a pretty nervy morning. He [Head] has been brilliant throughout this whole campaign.

Unlike the two white-ball trophies which, although built towards in the years beforehand, happen entirely over a month or six weeks, the World Test Championship is a two-year marathon towards the final. Rohit Sharma said he would like a best-of-three series while admitting the schedule would not allow it, but unsurprisingly Cummins was quite happy

Australia 469 (Head 163, Smith 121, Siraj 4-108) and 270 for 8 dec (Carey 66, Jadeja 3-58) beat India 296 (Rahane 89, Thakur 51, Cummins 3-83) and 234 (Kohli 49, Lyon 3-41, Boland 3-46) by 209 runs India fought hard for six sessions starting with the third day to give themselves some hope on the

Tweeting a front-on angle photograph of Cameron Green taking the catch down to his left at gully, Gill captioned it with two magnifying glass emojis followed by a facepalm emoji. That sentiment was echoed somewhat by Mohammed Shami later, who suggested the occasion of this final warranted more rigour in the decision-making. Gill was on

India 296 and 164 for 3 (Kohli 44*, Rohit 43) need another 280 runs to beat Australia 469 and 270 for 8 dec (Carey 66, Labuschagne 41, Starc 41, Jadeja 3-58, Shami 2-39, Umesh 2-54) Under bright skies and on an Oval pitch that seemed to ease out against all expectations, India’s batters set up

Steve Waugh has warned England they are set to be exposed by Australia in the Ashes if they don’t have a back-up plan for when all-out attack doesn’t come off. England’s ‘Bazball’ revolution in the past 12 months has revived Test cricket in the country, and prompted the most anticipated Ashes series in 17 years.

Australia 123 for 4 (Labuschagne 41*, Jadeja 2-25) and 469 lead India 296 (Rahane 89, Shardul 51, Cummins 3-83) by 296 runs India hung in admirably on the third day of the WTC final through fighting runs from Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur and a better bowling effort than in the first innings, but by

Hazlewood was withdrawn from Australia’s World Test Championship (WTC) squad after it was decided he was not quite ready following his truncated IPL, from which he returned home with some side soreness although he was later cleared of any injury. He was said to be “very close” to being available and is on track for

As Steven Smith struck his 31st Test hundred against India on day two of the World Test Championship final at The Oval, England vice-captain Ollie Pope could only but admire the Australian’s class. Ominous signs ahead of the Ashes? No doubt. But for a player with a Test average of 59.55 in these conditions –

This World Test Championship final is Australia’s 20th Test match in the two-year cycle. Four of their players have appeared in all the games. Travis Head has been part of 18 of them. One of his absences was due to Covid in Sydney during the 2021-22 Ashes, but the other was when he was dropped.

The ICC has been preparing a back-up pitch at The Oval for the World Test Championship final, as a precaution against the threat of potential disruptions by activists from Just Stop Oil. The move to prepare another pitch is to guard against a worst-case scenario and the strip that will be used for the Test,

Australia hope to become the first team since England in 2010-11 to win an away Ashes series this summer, and have ramped up their attempts to do so by adding Andy Flower – the mastermind of that success – to their backroom staff. Flower, a three-time Ashes-winning coach with England, has joined the Australia squad

Big picture – final flourish for Warner, Starc, Ashwin, Kohli, Pujara? Is it world cricket’s most prestigious match? Or is it a final that should be more than a one-off contest but cannot be, thanks to the constraints of a calendar that is squeezing Test cricket to the margins, awkwardly positioned between two events that

There were times when Pat Cummins thought playing one more Test was beyond him, but as he prepares for his 50th game, the Australia captain hopes he can double that tally before his career finishes and aims to feature in all six on this tour of England. In the World Test Championship final against India,

Rarely before has a group of players faced such a short turnaround from an IPL straight into a Test match in England but that is the challenge facing players from both India and Australia ahead of the World Test Championship final at the Oval with former Australia all-format allrounder Shane Watson describing the transition period

Josh Hazlewood has lost his race to be fit for Australia’s World Test Championship final against India. He has been replaced in the squad by Michael Neser. This makes Scott Boland a favourite to make the XI for the match, which starts on June 7 at The Oval. Hazlewood, who picked up side soreness at

David Warner would like to see the World Test Championship (WTC) final played as a three-Test series instead of a one-off game. Australia take on India at The Oval from June 7, the first step in a big six months for them as they challenge for the Test title, the Ashes and then the ODI