Category: Australia Cricket

• Australia captain is on track to feature at Gabba next month

• But paceman may need to rest during final three Tests

Australia captain Pat Cummins is back bowling multiple overs on a reduced run-up and has targeted returning to the team for the second Ashes Test against England, a day-nighter in Brisbane starting on 4 December.

The fast bowler has been sidelined by a lower-back issue since July and has already been ruled out of the series opener in Perth, where he will be replaced as skipper by Steve Smith.

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The line-up for the Perth Test appears to be locked in after a question at the top of the order was answered and the dominoes tumbled further down

In the end, there were few surprises. Even the most forgone conclusion of an Ashes squad will still create weeks of speculation one way or another, but answering one question at the top of the order has knocked over the other unresolved ones, tipping like dominoes as we make our way down the list.

Barring injury, the only new player in the eventual XI will be Jake Weatherald, the 31-year-old Northern Territorian who in cricketing terms became a South Australian and then a Tasmanian, earning his place over severals seasons of unflashy consistency and a willingness to counterattack. Weatherald would not have made the squad if he were not going to open the batting, which means that Marnus Labuschagne, who was always going to make the team one way or another after getting his run-scoring groove back, will bat three rather than moonlighting at the top.

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England need to turn volume up and lean into tone of exceptionalism that continues to annoy their rivals

A few weeks ago there was a wave of newspaper interviews with the stepson of the king, Tom Parker-Bowles. These seemed at first glance to be about absolutely nothing at all, froth and chatter, a wincing man in a tweed hat talking about how he makes Sunday lunch. Why was this happening? Scanning the text for meaning, the clouds finally cleared. He was launching a cordial.

You might say, do we need … a cordial? What is a cordial? A way of ruining water. A drink that isn’t actually a drink. But this is to miss the point, and in way that is frankly embarrassing and I feel sorry for you. Because this is not any old cordial. It’s not the kind of really crappy cordial you might launch. As Parker-Bowles puts it, devastatingly: “Look, we have Belvoir and Bottlegreen. But they use concentrates. Why can’t we make a really high-end British cordial?”

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Lord Beefy has ruffled feathers with his comments on England’s schedule and he has a point – just not the one he thinks he’s making

It was a shock to hear, this week, that Ian Botham had launched a new podcast. But only because I had assumed he already had one. It seemed impossible that the life peer was the last purveyor of strong opinions to have no permanent platform on Acast. Perhaps he has simply been too content to vent: after all, Brexit is a triumph and cricket is racism-free.

But perhaps he was cannily waiting for the dadcasting trend to peak and usher in the age of the granddadcast. This new venture with his old Question of Sport buddy Bill Beaumont will, undoubtedly, appeal to a certain demographic (myself included) who grew up watching the pair josh with each other across a perennially indulgent David Coleman.

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• Right-hander hits second straight Sheffield Shield ton for Queensland

• Place in Australia’s Ashes team all but assured with knock of 159

Marnus Labuschagne appears certain to return to Australia’s team for the Ashes, his fourth century in five innings making a compelling case to selectors.

Fresh off posting 160 in the opening round of the Sheffield Shield, Labuschagne struck 159 for Queensland at Adelaide Oval on Thursday.

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• England duo trained in nets on injury comeback trail

• Carse insists he’s looking forward to Australia fan verbals

Ben Stokes and Mark Wood are expected to be “raring to go” for the start of the Ashes next month, offering England a timely boost that sits in contrast to Australia’s ongoing concerns over the fitness of Pat Cummins.

As the two seamers with prior experience of playing Test cricket in Australia, Stokes and Wood are central to England’s plans this winter. Stokes missed the fifth Test against India with a shoulder injury, however, while Wood sat out the entire English summer following knee surgery back in March.

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• Australia captain to learn this week whether he will be fit for opener

• Star quick says he is ‘less likely than likely’ to face England in Perth

Pat Cummins has admitted he is unlikely to play in the Ashes opener, conceding a return to proper bowling is still some time away.

Cummins is expected to learn this week whether he will be able to feature in Perth on 21 November, with officials conceding the quick is facing a narrow timeline.

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Australian batter, an evangelical Christian who believes this is all written out in advance, may force his way back for the Ashes

Marnus Labuschagne carefully spreads butter on both sides of a slice of white bread. “That’s the key,” he tells the camera as he brings down the lid of his sandwich grill. “Boom. Then you get it crisp on both sides.” He lifts the lid to reveal a golden square of pure toasted goodness, the melted cheese happily bubbling away inside. “So this is the trick of the trade,” he announces. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

Already, I sense, a glaze of ennui is beginning to form across your eyes. The red lights of sportswriting pretension are flashing wildly. You’re probably aware that Labuschagne scored 160 for Queensland this week and is being feverishly talked up for an Australian Test recall before the Ashes.

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• Australia’s injured captain may not be in all five Tests starting November

• Konstas and Labuschagne score centuries in bid for selection

Australia’s injured captain Pat Cummins will play a “significant” part in the Ashes but may not feature in all five Tests, coach Andrew McDonald says.

McDonald concedes uncertainty remains around Cummins amid the skipper’s back injury. But he dismissed speculation Cummins could miss the highly anticipated Test series against England starting on 21 November in Perth.

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• Australia captain to miss home white-ball series against India

• Mitchell Starc retires from T20Is as squad named to tour New Zealand

Australia still expect Pat Cummins to be available for the first Ashes Test, even as the captain deals with stress in his back.

The star quick will miss the upcoming T20 tour of New Zealand and back-to-back home white-ball series against India due to lumbar bone stress.

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• 3rd ODI: Australia, 2-431, bt South Africa, 155, by 276 runs

• Travis Head hits 142, one of three home centurions

Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh and Cameron Green smashed blistering hundreds as Australia steamrollered South Africa by 276 runs in the third and final one-day international of the series in Mackay.

South Africa had already clinched the series, leaving the 50-over world champions to play for pride in the last match. Australia’s opening pair set the tone with a 250-run partnership between player-of-the-match Head (142) and Marsh (100), before an incendiary unbeaten 118 from Green powered Australia to a mammoth 2-431.

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• South Africa 277; Australia 193 | SA win by 84 runs

• Josh Inglis knock can’t mask another batting failure

Australia have slumped to a seventh defeat from their last eight ODIs, suffering a 84-run loss against South Africa in Mackay that allowed the Proteas to take an unassailable 2-0 series lead.

After being crushed by 98 runs in Cairns on Tuesday night, Australia again struggled batting under lights as the recent 50-over retirements of Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell were laid bare.

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• First ODI: South Africa 296-8; Australia 198 | SA win by 98 runs

• Hosts lose six wickets for 29 in Cairns collapse

A career-best haul from veteran spinner Keshav Maharaj has inspired South Africa to a crushing 98-run win over Australia in the first ODI in Cairns.

With Australia cruising at 0-60 chasing the Proteas’ 8-296, Maharaj wreaked havoc during a stunning spell as the hosts lost 6-29 in 55 balls at Cazaly’s Stadium.

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• Third T20i: Australia, 173-8, bt SA, 172-7, by two wkts

• Maxwell’s 62 gets hosts home with one ball to spare

Australia’s Glenn Maxwell produced an unbeaten half-century in a tense chase to help the hosts edge out South Africa by two wickets in the third and final T20 international in Cairns on Saturday. Maxwell’s unbeaten 62 off 36 balls helped Australia chase down 173 with one ball to spare at the Cazalys Stadium, completing a 2-1 series victory in style.

After 18 overs, it was a run-a-ball target for Australia with Maxwell in the middle. The South African bowler Corbin Bosch (three for 26) claimed two wickets and kept Maxwell away from the strike. Needing 10 off the last over from Lungi Ngidi, Maxwell took six from the first four balls before reverse-sweeping for four to seal Australia’s dramatic victory.

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• Simpson played 62 Tests over more than two decades

• Australia’s first full-time coach helped guide team’s re-emergence

The former Australia cricket captain and coach Bob Simpson has died in Sydney aged 89. He was an influential figure in Australian cricket for more than four decades as a player, captain and coach. He also made his mark on the game as a law-maker, referee and commentator.

Simpson first pulled on the baggy green cap of the Australian Test cricket team in 1957, and made a comeback to captain Australia aged 41 after the game was thrown into crisis by World Series Cricket in 1977.

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