Category: Cricket

Cricket News

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Stephen Fleming to be appointed England Test coach after impressing ECB

  • New Zealander will succeed Brendon McCullum

  • Likely to start on South Africa tour in December

Stephen Fleming is expected to be named as England’s Test coach, after impressing the England and Wales Cricket Board in a series of interviews over the past two weeks. The 53-year-old would work alongside his predecessor, compatriot, former teammate and friend Brendon McCullum, who remains in charge of the white-ball teams.

Fleming stood down as head coach of the Indian Premier League franchise Chennai Super Kings – as well as their subsidiaries Joburg Super Kings in South Africa’s SA20 and Texas Super Kings in America’s Major League Cricket – this month. That announcement was made after CSK finished eighth out of 10 teams in this year’s IPL, following on from a last-place finish in 2025, but also less than 24 hours after McCullum was sacked by the ECB as Test coach.

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Justin Langer has not heard from ECB about England job but could be tempted

  • ‘Everyone looks at all opportunities,’ says Australian

  • He is sceptical new Test coach can work with McCullum

Justin Langer says he has had no contact from the England and Wales Cricket Board about coaching the men’s Test team, and expressed scepticism over whether the proposed structure of having the new red-ball coach operate alongside their predecessor, Brendon McCullum, who remains in charge of the white-ball sides, can work.

The 55-year-old, who played 105 Tests for Australia and coached them between 2018 and 2022, was an early frontrunner for the England job after McCullum was sacked this month. But preliminary interviews have now been held with the candidates favoured by Rob Key, the ECB’s managing director of men’s cricket.

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Australia back opener Jake Weatherald for home Test series against Bangladesh

  • Cummins, Hazlewood and Lyon named in squad after injury

  • Darwin hosts first Test on 13 August with second in Mackay

Opening bat Jake Weatherald has retained his spot in Australia’s men’s Test squad for the looming series against Bangladesh.

Despite a middling Ashes campaign last summer, Weatherald has been named in the 13-man squad which is bolstered by the return of a trio of big guns.

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England’s white-ball success risks baking in a divide with future Test setup | Ali Martin

Finding a candidate to lead the red-ball side is no easy task, with Ben Stokes gone and Brendon McCullum still around

As England’s men scatter for the Hundred, ready to pull on new colours, ingratiate themselves with their new paymasters and use the word “exciting” repeatedly, the management above them could be forgiven for letting out a sigh of relief.

Not that everything is shipshape going into their month-long recess. Far from it. Test cricket is king in this country, No 1 across all age groups and demographics – as per Richard Gould, chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, in his Ashes review in March – and in that regard the first half of the season still goes down as a bit of a shambles.

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Garry Sobers was the greatest of all time, a cavalier in an era of roundheads

West Indies legend, who has died aged 89, was cricket’s finest all-rounder, delivering victories with style and grace

Cricket nuts like an argument. Who is the best fast bowler ever? The best spinner? The best wicketkeeper? The best slip catcher? They – oh all right, we – can spend hours discussing the candidates. But the best all-rounder?

That does not take any longer than the debate over the best batter; here we have to concede even in the presence of our Australian friends the supremacy of Don Bradman. The best all-rounder is universally agreed to be Garry Sobers. The other contender, WG Grace, lived so long ago that we are reduced to guesswork. So Sobers it is.

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Sir Garry Sobers, West Indies cricketing great, dies aged 89

Sir Garfield Sobers, the great West Indies cricketer widely regarded as the finest all-rounder in the sport’s history, has died aged 89. His death at his home in Barbados only 11 days shy of his 90th birthday was announced by Cricket West Indies on Friday, with the simple line: “A great innings has come to an end. In our hearts, now and forever, Sir Garfield Sobers.”

The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, paid tribute to Sobers in a post on social media and said that Friday has been declared a day of national mourning – flags will be flown at half-mast and no official functions will take place.

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Langer leads shortlist to become next England Test coach after Flower rules himself out

  • Zimbabwean informed ECB this week he is not interested

  • Langer due to lead Manchester Super Giants in Hundred

Justin Langer is believed to have moved to the top of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s shortlist of potential coaches of the men’s Test team, after Andy Flower ruled himself out of the running for the position on Friday.

Less than a week after Brendon McCullum was sacked as red-ball coach Rob Key, the managing director of men’s cricket who is leading the ECB’s recruitment process, has made significant progress in his search for a replacement.

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