Category: Australia Cricket

Former fast bowler called head of cricket James Allsopp a ‘grade coach’ and said selector George Bailey lacks gravitas

Cricket Australia has boycotted player interviews with the ABC, furious with the national broadcaster over former Test quick Stuart Clark’s criticism of selector George Bailey and head of cricket James Allsopp.

Clark created headlines on Monday when he criticised the Australian setup in his role as an ABC commentator, labelling Allsopp a “grade coach” and suggesting Bailey was just a yes-man without gravitas to stand up to players and coaches.

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• Steve Smith defends allrounder but refuses to confirm his place in side

• Beau Webster and Todd Murphy in the mix to face England at the SCG

Steve Smith has launched an impassioned defence of Cameron Green but can’t guarantee the out-of-form allrounder’s place in the XI for the Ashes series finale.

Australia’s stand-in captain insists all options are on the selection table for the fifth Test, including using both allrounders Green and Beau Webster at the SCG and leaving out spin for the third time in four starts.

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• Adam Gilchrist gives update on friend and Australia teammate

• Former cricketer remains in serious but stable condition in hospital

Former Australia Test cricketer Damien Martyn is showing “positive signs” while in an induced coma after being diagnosed with meningitis, according to friend and former teammate Adam Gilchrist.

Martyn was admitted to Gold Coast hospital after falling ill on Boxing Day, where he remains in a serious but stable condition. Meningitis is inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord.

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• Cummins, Hazlewood and David named for India and Sri Lanka event

• Matt Kuhnemann included in spin-heavy 15-player team

Matthew Kuhnemann is in line for a World Cup debut after being included as the biggest surprise selection in Australia’s squad for the T20 World Cup.

As expected, Australia have named superstar pacemen Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, as well as swashbuckling Tim David, despite injury concerns.

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• The 54-year-old was admitted to hospital on Boxing Day

• Martyn played total of 67 Tests between 1992 and 2006

The former Australian Test cricketer Damien Martyn has been admitted to hospital and placed in an induced coma after being diagnosed with meningitis.

The sporting community is rallying around the 54-year-old, who “is in for the fight of his life”, according to the former AFL player Brad Hardie, who revealed Martyn’s condition on 6PR on Tuesday.

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• Match referee says pitch ‘too much in favour of bowlers’

• Shortened Test could cost Cricket Australia up to $10m

The MCG pitch where England beat Australia inside two days in the fourth Ashes Test has been rated ‘unsatisfactory’ by the International Cricket Council.

Head curator Matthew Page admitted he was in a “state of shock” at how the penultimate match of the series unfolded on a surface that had 10mm grass left on, producing lavish movement for seam bowlers.

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• Australia coach Andrew McDonald guarantees veteran will play at SCG

• 39-year-old’s future beyond series finale against England still in doubt

Australia coach Andrew McDonald has guaranteed Usman Khawaja will play at the SCG, but is unsure if it will be the veteran’s last Test.

After turning 39 earlier in December, Khawaja’s future will continue to be a talking point until he announces his retirement.

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• Both teams bowled out on day one in Melbourne

• Cook: ‘It’s been too heavily weighted towards the bowlers’

Some of the biggest names in Ashes cricket have attacked the state of the MCG pitch after a record crowd saw 20 wickets fall on a Boxing Day blowout in Melbourne.

An official crowd of 94,199 broke the attendance record at the country’s biggest sporting venue, eclipsing the 2015 World Cup final and setting a new high watermark for this historic rivalry.

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Lilac Hill warmup, Alex Carey’s glovework and Pat Cummins’ control of Joe Root are key parts of the story

It’s not a complete exaggeration to say that Australia won the 2025-26 Ashes on 15 October 2024. That was when Cricket Australia announced the schedule for the series: Perth first, Brisbane second. Starting the series on the bounciest, most Kryptonicious pitches in Australia – and the only major venues where England haven’t won a Test since 1986-87 – was a masterstroke, especially as Australia also had a day-night advantage at the Gabba. By the time England reached more batting-friendly climes, many of their batters already had scrambled brains.

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• Australian captain: ‘I doubt I’ll be playing in Melbourne’

• Spinner set to miss final two Tests with hamstring injury

Australia captain Pat Cummins could join spinner Nathan Lyon on the sidelines for the rest of the Ashes.

Lyon is expected to be ruled out for the last two Tests against England after suffering a hamstring injury in Adelaide on Sunday. And Cummins is unlikely to feature in the fourth Test in Melbourne from Boxing Day, while he is also doubtful for the Sydney finale from 3 January.

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• Australia captain lives close by and takes his kids to beach ‘all the time’

• Players to wear black armbands and join moment’s silence in Adelaide

Australia captain Pat Cummins has said the tragic events at Bondi beach ‘hit home pretty hard’ as they unfolded on Sunday night just down the road from his home in the neighbouring Sydney suburb of Bronte.

As the cricket world prepares to pay tribute to the victims of the Bondi beach terror attack when the third Ashes Test gets under way in Adelaide on Wednesday, Cummins and England captain, Ben Stokes, revealed the profound impact the massacre had on them and their teammates.

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• Former fast bowler says attack has gone past his group from early 2000s

• ‘The Australian public won’t recognise how good they are until they’re gone’

Brett Lee has labelled Australia’s current bowling attack as the country’s greatest ever, declaring that Pat Cummins’ side have now surpassed his group from the early 2000s.

Australia’s attack will take one step closer to being reunited in Adelaide this week, with Cummins and Nathan Lyon back in the team alongside Mitchell Starc.

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Ahead of the third Ashes Test, Geoff Lemon looks back at some of the surprising stories born of the iconic South Australian cricket ground

As England’s team approach the third Ashes Test, it’s tempting to link their tour so far with the Adelaide rollercoaster launched in 1888. Then you realise it’s not accurate because a rollercoaster has to offer some ups as well as downs. Still, perhaps the players can find inspiration in some of the stories of the past that took place at this very ground.

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• Paceman has struggled with hamstring and achilles issues

• ‘It’s really flat for him,’ says Australia coach Andrew McDonald

Australian fast-bowler Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the remainder of the Ashes series amid hamstring and achilles tendon injuries.

Injuries have thwarted the reliable right-arm quick in recent years and had forced him to watch from afar as Australia took a 2-0 series lead at the Gabba last week.

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Brendon McCullum’s regime may be unravelling but there is rarely any suggestion of what to do next and how the team can be improved

Overprepared. Overconfident. Overblown. Over there. And now just over. We know how this goes from here, don’t we? We know this cycle.

The days since England’s defeat in Brisbane have boiled down to a real-time competition to become the hate-click boss, to describe in the most sensual, eviscerating detail the depth of England’s badness, not just at cricket, but at the molecular, existential level.

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