Secondary-school teachers will be trained to become cricket coaches, under plans unveiled by the ECB to reinvigorate the sport’s participation levels in state-sector education. The initiative was announced at Lord’s on Wednesday as part of an update to the ECB’s Inspiring Generations strategy, following on from last year’s Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC)

England have added Jordan Cox and Rehan Ahmed to their white-ball squads for their upcoming Caribbean tour, which starts next Thursday. Both players are with England’s Test team in Pakistan, with Cox due to fly home after the first day of the series decider in Rawalpindi ahead of the white-ball squad’s departure for Antigua on

Pakistan’s national bureau of statistics hosted its inaugural ‘Data-Fest’ conference this week, 10 minutes away from England’s hotel in Islamabad. Under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, this England set-up has shown minimal interest in numbers but there is one figure that stands out ahead of their series decider in nearby Rawalpindi: 101.25, Harry Brook’s batting

Big picture: Rawalpindi? Rawalspindi… Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Has a team ever taken Mike Tyson’s famous aphorism more literally than Ben Stokes’ England? Their jutted-jaw attitude to risk and reward has served up a glut of remarkable Test matches in recent years, but in Multan last week, their

Dale Steyn will work with some of England’s most promising young fast bowlers in South Africa next month, ESPNcricinfo can reveal. Steyn will be part of Andrew Flintoff’s coaching staff in his first tour as England Lions head coach, along with his former international team-mate Neil McKenzie. Steyn, who took 439 wickets in his stellar

England’s men do not play another Test in Asia for more than two years after Rawalpindi. It will therefore act as a decider in more ways than one, not only dictating the result of a gripping three-match series in Pakistan, but also informing long-lasting judgement on just how well equipped, or otherwise, Ben Stokes and

England will field a three-pronged spin attack on a Rawalpindi pitch that Harry Brook believes has been “raked” by local groundstaff in an attempt to bring Pakistan’s spinners into play. Rehan Ahmed has been recalled and will play alongside Shoaib Bashir and Jack Leach, with Gus Atkinson also coming into a side in which both

Jos Buttler‘s return as England white-ball captain has been delayed by at least three more matches, after he was ruled out of next week’s ODI leg of their tour of the Caribbean due to his long-standing calf injury. Buttler, 34, has been plagued by the injury for four months, and has not played a competitive

Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants are among the IPL franchises that have submitted bids expressing interest to buy teams in the ECB-run Hundred. ESPNcricinfo has learned that the GMR Group, recently unveiled as the new owner of Hampshire cricket, and Avram Glazer, co-owner of Manchester United Football

Jack Leach believes that being dropped by England during their home summer enabled him to fall back in love with cricket, aided by an unexpected phone call from Ben Stokes in the aftermath of a Test win. Leach is the leading wicket-taker in England’s series in Pakistan with 14, but had only played two Tests

Saqib Mahmood insists he “still has an ambition” to play Test cricket for England, despite committing to a white-ball deal with Lancashire for the next three years. Mahmood, 27, made two Test appearances in the Caribbean in March 2022, claiming six wickets at 22.83, but has been beset by injury in recent seasons, including consecutive

Not quite vindication just yet, but certainly relief. That was the tone Pakistan captain Shan Masood tried to strike after Pakistan had skittled England out for 144 in Multan. It gave them their first home win in four years, and on a personal note, Masood his first Test win as captain. “This was a very

Pakistan 366 (Ghulam 118, Ayub 77, Leach 4-114) and 221 (Salman 63, Bashir 4-66) beat England 291 (Duckett 114, Sajid 7-111) and 144 (Noman 8-46) by 152 runs It had been a long time coming for Pakistan, but the conclusion was swift. Noman Ali and Sajid Khan combined for the second time in the match

The range of viable investors in the Hundred teams is “way broader and bigger” than anticipated ahead of Friday’s first-round deadline for bids. That is according to the ECB’s senior leadership team, who defended the Hundred’s projected valuations of overseas broadcast rights on Wednesday by insisting: “We are confident in our product”. The ECB sent

Lunch Pakistan 366 and 43 for 3 (Ghulam 5*) lead England 291 (Duckett 114, Sajid 7-111) by 118 runs Pakistan pushed their lead above 100 but wickets continued to tumble as the second Multan Test became a trial by spin. Seven fell during the morning session, as Sajid Khan claimed a seven-wicket haul before Shoaib

David, a former left-arm spinner who played 10 Tests and 97 ODIs, is the second Indian woman after Diana Edulji to be included in the ICC Hall of Fame. “It is truly an honour to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, something that I consider to be the highest recognition available to anyone

Pakistan 358 for 8 (Jamal 37*, Noman 29*) vs England England’s bowlers enjoyed a productive first hour on a hazy second morning in Multan, but were thwarted by a ninth-wicket stand of 49 between Aamer Jamal and Noman Ali, as Pakistan stretched their first innings by 99 runs for the loss of three more wickets,

Cricket Australia has unveiled the dates for the 2025-26 Ashes series in Australia with the Gabba set to host the day-night second Test while Adelaide will host the third Test as a day game under a new agreement to have the pre-Christmas Test for the next seven years. CA confirmed that Perth will host the

Toss West Indies chose to bowl vs England Hayley Matthews, playing in her 100th T20I, asked England to bat first in a winner-takes-all (except for some unusual circumstances where both teams could advance) clash of the final group-stage match of the T20 World Cup. The team that triumphs in the match will advance to the

Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat first vs England Jack Leach made the early running for England on Multan’s re-used pitch, claiming two wickets in the first hour of Pakistan’s innings to confirm both team’s suspicions that this surface would prove more conducive to spin bowling than had been the case throughout five

Anya Shrubsole says that England’s victories in the white-ball leg of last year’s Ashes will have proved to the players that they are capable of ending Australia’s stranglehold on the Women’s T20 World Cup. Shrubsole, 32, was England’s matchwinner at Lord’s in 2017, famously claiming figures of 6 for 46 to defeat India by nine

It is rare for the same venue to stage back-to-back Tests, and using the same pitch twice in a row is believed to be unprecedented. James Anderson, England’s fast-bowling consultant, thought it would be outlawed by the ICC, but their regulations only stipulate that the host board and ground authority must prepare the “best possible

Big picture: Rip up the script, and go again The fans have been out in force in Multan this week, but not, as might be justified, to protest against the failings of a Pakistan team that has now lost six Tests in a row. Instead, they’ve been whirring away at either end of the heavily-watered

England 113 for 0 (Bouchier 62*, Wyatt-Hodge 51*) beat Scotland 109 for 6 (Kathryn Bryce 33, Ecclestone 2-13) by ten wickets England have gone top of Group B at the women’s T20 World Cup with a game to play after demolishing Scotland by ten wickets in Sharjah. By chasing down a modest target of 110

England want to arrive in Australia next winter with a “battery” of fast bowlers and James Anderson believes the list of candidates for that tour is “growing and growing”. Anderson has worked as their fast-bowling coach since he was ushered into retirement in July and said on Sunday that he is excited by the emergence

England 823 for 7 dec (Brook 317, Root 262, Duckett 84, Crawley 78) beat Pakistan 556 (Masood 151, Salman 104*, Shafique 102) and 220 (Salman 63, Jamal 55*, Leach 4-30) by an innings and 47 runs From the unthinkable to the inevitable. Pakistan became the first team in Test history to lose by an innings

England are bracing to play on “result wickets” for the remaining two Tests of their tour to Pakistan after winning by an innings on a lifeless pitch. The groundstaff in Multan, which will also stage the second Test of the series, were watering a fresh strip barely an hour after England completed their win on

Joe Root believes that Harry Brook‘s triple-century in Multan is the first of many “monster scores” in his Test career – and hopes that Brook will one day surpass him to become England’s all-time leading run-scorer. Root and Brook spent 86.1 overs batting together in a partnership worth 454, breaking the world record for the

Pakistan 556 and 152 for 6 (Salman 41*, Atkinson 2-28) trail England 823 for 7 dec (Brook 317, Root 262, Duckett 84, Crawley 78) by 115 runs It was a day four that England had dreamed of and Pakistan feared, and one this docile Multan pitch probably did not deserve. A first Test that was

Root acknowledged the landmark with a wave of his hand – and then his bat – to England’s players and coaching staff, who stood to applaud him on the dressing-room balcony at the Multan International Cricket Stadium. He started this tour 70 runs behind Cook’s career aggregate of 12,472, and went clear of him by