Category: Cricket

• Wicketkeeper-batter left out after difficult Ashes series

• Injured fast bowler Archer included along with Tongue

Jamie Smith has been dropped from England’s T20 World Cup squad, but the injured Jofra Archer and uncapped fast bowler Josh Tongue have both been included.

Test performances in Australia are hardly the most obvious metric for a short-form tournament taking place in Sri Lanka and India in February, but Smith’s dramatic loss of form in the Ashes may be a factor in his omission.

• Wicketkeeper-batter left out after difficult Ashes series

• Injured fast bowler Archer included along with Tongue

Jamie Smith has been dropped from England’s T20 World Cup squad, but the injured Jofra Archer and uncapped fast bowler Josh Tongue have both been included.

Test performances in Australia are hardly the most obvious metric for a short-form tournament taking place in Sri Lanka and India in February, but Smith’s dramatic loss of form in the Ashes may be a factor in his omission.

More moments to savour, following reviews of 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024

Peter Moores grew up in Macclesfield, a northern town that would not feel out of place in Surrey. Maybe that upbringing bred his ability to fit in, find a way to communicate and always be of one’s place, regardless of where that place may be.

The old rivals have clashed in eight of the 27 Tests to finish inside two days – these are the tales behind the six matches played before the current series

To put in context the surprise that greeted the two-day Boxing Day Test just gone, consider the rarity by arithmetic. The match in Melbourne was Test number 2,615, and was two-day Test number 27. You don’t need a calculator to see that’s roughly 1%. And yet we’ve had two such matches in the current Ashes series, plus another in Australia three years earlier. We’ve had half a dozen two-day Tests worldwide since 2021. What gives?

Nine two-day Tests – fully one-third of the total – happened in the 1800s, when pitches could become swamps or shooting galleries. The next few mostly involved weak teams in their early years of development. Australia and England each dished one out to South Africa in the tri-series of 1912, and the South African team was little stronger when ripped up by Clarrie Grimmett and Bill O’Reilly in 1936. Australia also bashed up a new West Indies team in 1932 and New Zealand in 1946.

• Morris was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2022

• Glamorgan lead tributes to ‘fine human being’

Hugh Morris, the former England and Glamorgan batter who went on to hold senior positions with country and county, has died at the age of 62.

Born in Cardiff in 1963, Morris became Glamorgan’s youngest ever captain at the age of 22 before returning to the role later in his career, leading them to the Sunday League title in 1993, their first trophy in 24 years.

• Australian backs Ashes rival over video controversy

• ‘I reached out to Ducky to see if he was going alright’

Travis Head has revealed he sent a message of support to his Ashes rival Ben Duckett after the England batter found himself on the end of a social media backlash.

Unverified footage appearing to show an intoxicated Duckett in a tetchy late-night conversation with a fan during the team’s mid-series break in Noosa placed an unwanted spotlight on the opener.

• Packed MCG finished with three full days to spare

• Ground curator Matthew Page at centre of the storm

England’s two-day win in the Boxing Day Test is set to deliver a huge financial hit to Australian cricket that could reach a reported $10m (£5m). That is the expected loss in revenue after the match on an excessively bowler-friendly surface at a packed MCG finished with three full days to spare.

A sell-out crowd of more than 90,000 was due for day three, including a travelling English contingent of up to 20,000, and the lack of play on Sunday will lead to an avalanche of refunds as well as lost sales in merchandise, food and drinks.