New Zealand v England: final men’s T20 abandoned – as it didn’t happen

England’s T20 series against New Zealand finishes on a rather damp note but the tourists claim 1-0 win

Here we go! That’s tough on the two Tims, who had made a rollicking start.

After three balls: NZ 8-0 (Seifert 8, Robinson 0) Wood’s first ball is an inswinger that swings all the way to the square-leg boundary, with an easy nudge from Tim Seifert. The second ball is a dot, and the third is another four – a full toss, thumped through the covers. But then …

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Winter is coming: England’s cricketers fly out for long tour that will decide Ashes and World Cup

Four decades ago Mike Gatting lamented 30-game schedule and while improvements were made, players will be weary of gruelling season ahead

A meteorologist would say that England’s winter will start this year at midnight on 1 December; an astronomer would point a few weeks later to the 21st, perhaps even the moment at precisely 3.03pm when the northern hemisphere is tilted furthest away from the sun, the least sun-kissed moment of its least sunny day. But a cricket fan might go a little earlier, perhaps as soon as next Saturday at about 7.15am. Leaves might still be clinging to trees as yet unbothered by frost, but that is when the national side is scheduled to play its first fixture of a hectic touring schedule, and by the time it all ends the Ashes will have been decided, a World Cup will have been won, and it will be spring.

For the players involved in all formats, these moments will bring a combination of excitement and perhaps also a bit of dread. The T20 squad departed for New Zealand on Friday, with the four men among them who have also been selected for the Ashes – Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse and Zak Crawley – knowing that only injury will bring them home within the next three months (and even then for no more than 10 days, before they depart again this time for Sri Lanka and from there a T20 World Cup in India).

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Harry Brook admits Pat Cummins’ absence could boost England’s Ashes chances

  • Injured Australian captain set to miss at least Perth test

  • Brook expects Stokes to play all five Tests in Australia

Harry Brook believes Pat Cummins potentially missing the start of the Ashes would play into English hands but warned that Australia’s depth in pace bowlers means any replacement should not be underestimated.

With just six weeks to go until the first Test in Perth, the fitness of Cummins remains a major talking point following the detection of a lower back stress injury earlier this year. According to some reports, his entire series could even be in jeopardy.

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Jos Buttler: ‘A big burden has been lifted – I wasn’t the same leader after the 2023 World Cup’

The England white-ball veteran on his post-captaincy career, his Ashes struggles and the recent death of his father

Another summer is over and, for Jos Buttler, life and cricket feel more precious than ever. The fleeting nature of both has been accentuated by the loss of Buttler’s father, John, after his unexpected death in August. The 35-year-old will soon talk movingly about grief and acceptance but, first, he reflects on his venerable place in white-ball cricket after England’s international summer ended in a low-key series in Ireland.

Buttler opened the batting and Jacob Bethell and Rehan Ahmed, who followed him at three and four in the opening match, are both 21. But he had proved his sustained brilliance a few weeks earlier when, against South Africa, he hit 83 off 30 balls in a blistering knock that helped England to become the first team to pass 300 in a T20 international.

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Farewell the Wizard: Chris Woakes could cast spells but let his cricket do the talking | Ali Martin

Warwickshire all-rounder always put the team first and hit the heights for England with an enviable Test career and two World Cup wins

As suspected at the time, Chris Woakes bravely walking out to bat at the Oval in August, arm in a sling, crowd on their feet, was his final act as an England cricketer. Grimacing through the agony of a dislocated shoulder, it made for front page news and a fitting, albeit unwitting, exit.

Few Test careers get endings such as Stuart Broad’s mic‑drop at the same ground, or the sentimental farewells laid on for Jimmy Anderson or Alastair Cook. But this one suited Woakes: full circle at the scene of his Test debut 12 years earlier and still putting the team first.

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Chris Woakes retires from international cricket to end 15-year England career

  • ‘The nicest man in cricket’ closes 15-year England career

  • Dislocated shoulder ruled him out of winter Ashes tour

Chris Woakes has announced his retirement from international cricket, bringing to a close a near 15-year England career that delivered two World Cup wins and an abundance of memories in the Test arena.

The 36-year-old had been eyeing a spot on this winter’s Ashes tour as the senior pro among England’s fast bowlers, only for the dislocated shoulder suffered during the fifth Test against India this summer to rule him out.

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Rob Key insists Brook’s England promotion is not ‘scheme’ to oust Pope

  • Key all but confirms Woakes’ international career is over

  • Brook replaces Pope as vice-captain for Ashes series

Rob Key has all but confirmed Chris Woakes has played his last game for England and insisted Harry Brook’s promotion to vice-captain for the Ashes is not “an elaborate scheme” to oust Ollie Pope from the team.

Speaking a day after naming a 16‑man squad to take on Australia, Key, the team director, clarified the selections – not least the late switch in deputy for Ben Stokes – and confirmed Woakes missed out because of the dislocated shoulder sustained during the final Test of the summer.

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Dickie Bird’s humour and love for cricket made him an unlikely icon of his sport | Vic Marks

While he could be funny, he was also firm and players knew where they stood with umpire who became as famous as them

Dickie Bird may well have been the most consistent, the most famous and the most loved umpire in cricket history and yet when he pitched up at the grounds of ambitious county teams in the 1970s and 80s there would often be groans in the home dressing room.

Dickie’s presence was bound to enliven the game but it would also make it harder to win. Dickie was a cautious umpire, who required certainty before he raised his finger to send a batsman back to the pavilion (often with a bellowed “That’s Out”). To win games, which usually meant taking 20 wickets, the bold captain would prefer one of the more cavalier umpires on the circuit, who might later boast of his hundred victims by the end of May, to be officiating.

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England lay down gauntlet after naming five 90mph seamers in Ashes squad

  • Wood, Archer, Atkinson, Carse and Tongue lead attack

  • Will Jacks gets nod over Rehan Ahmed as reserve spinner

Already the quickest scoring team in Test cricket, England will hit Australia with their fastest bowling attack in a generation – perhaps all time – after announcing their 16-man squad for this winter’s Ashes.

A late curveball from Rob Key’s panel is the inclusion of Surrey’s Will Jacks, offering an attacking option with the bat and serving as the reserve spinner to Shoaib Bashir. Otherwise the squad is largely as expected, including confirmation that Harry Brook, not Ollie Pope, will be vice-captain to Ben Stokes when the first Test begins in Perth on 21 November.

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Potts in contention for England’s Ashes squad as Woakes faces race to be fit

  • Chris Woakes a risk after dislocating shoulder

  • Rehan Ahmed also in frame as second spinner

Matthew Potts could be handed a spot in England’s main Ashes squad when Rob Key and the selectors finalise their plans for Australia. While the head coach, Brendon McCullum, has said to expect few surprises after a settled period for the Test side, Jamie Overton’s withdrawal from first-class cricket – plus uncertainty over the fitness of Chris Woakes – does mean there are final decisions to be made this week as regards the seamers.

The core of this group picks itself, with Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue all considered bankers – none are expected to play the final round of the County Championship – and optimism that Mark Wood is on track for a return after undergoing knee surgery in March.

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England beat Ireland by four wickets first men’s T20 international – as it happened

The remarkable Phil Salt fell just short of another century as England chased 197 down with 14 balls remaining

1st over: Ireland 7-0 (Stirling 5, Adair 1) Luke Wood takes a couple of deliveries to get going. His first ball is a wide; his first legal delivery is larruped to the cover boundary by Stirling.

The rest of the over is better. An inswinging yorker is well defended by Stirling, who then inside edges past the stumps.

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Salt and Buttler put egos aside to thrive as England’s all-action heroes

Duo are the most productive T20 openers, with Salt’s goal to be ‘best in the world’ after record innings against South Africa

As he reflected on his epic individual contribution to a thrilling and historic win for England against South Africa on Friday, Phil Salt spoke about being inspired to ever greater heights by the people around him. “The mentality that we’ve had from when I started playing for England to now, we’re always trying to push things forward,” he said. “Always trying to take, you know, the next step in the game.”

But over the past few years most of the steps taken by the white-ball side have been backwards. It is the Test team under Ben Stokes that have produced the thrills, while in shorter formats there has been a succession of spills. Jos Buttler, by general acclamation England’s greatest short-format player, stood down as captain in February after three years that started with victory in the 2022 T20 World Cup but came to be characterised by failure.

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Records tumble as England thrash South Africa by 146 runs: second men’s T20 international – as it happened

England pulverised South Africa at Old Trafford, with Phil Salt walloping 141 not out in a record score of 304 for two

5th over: England 88-0 (Salt 32, Buttler 54) Rabada returns to the attack and is monstered down the ground for six by Buttler. Three successive fours take Buttler to a quite exhilarating 50 from 18 balls. He waves his bat to the ground, then snaps his head back to salute his late father.

The second of those three fours tempted mid-on, who dived in an attempt to take a low catch but was beaten by the dip on the ball.

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‘I had a lighthearted crack at Steve Smith’: James Vince on the Ashes, sandpaper and his T20 Blast record

As he bids for a fourth Finals Day title, Hampshire’s captain is enjoying a new life in Dubai as a T20 freelancer with few regrets over his England career

Finals Day beckons for James Vince this Saturday and to call it familiar territory would be an understatement. This is Hampshire’s 11th appearance at the T20 Blast’s annual jamboree – a record they share with Somerset – and their captain is the only man to play in every one.

However, Hampshire’s relationship with Finals Day is one of extremes: three titles, in 2010, 2012 and 2022 – a fourth would be the outright record – and seven times on the first bus home after a semi-final exit. “We have never lost a quarter-final either,” says Vince, in a freewheeling chat over the phone that spans his new freelance life, England and even sandpaper.

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England v South Africa: first men’s T20 international – as it happened

South Africa won by 14 runs (DLS) on a wet and wild evening at Sophia Gardens

“Shame (but very predictable) about the current weather,” says Alfie Sparrow, although his email is actually about something else. “I’ve just moved into London, living in Tooting with some old uni mates. I was wondering if any readers have local cricket club recommendations? Played alongside Bas de Leede growing up in the Netherlands, winning 3 national titles in our age group. Wish I could say I was still near his quality but that’s far from the case – just after a friendly club for next summer.” Hope you find one.

My girlfriend has very tentatively started to get into cricket,” reports Charles Aspden. “And we discussed potential telly programmes which would further entice her in. In true Alan Partridge fashion, she wants to see ‘Tea with Amol Rajan,’ a show somewhere between Bake Off and Grandstand. Amol travels the country to try the best and worst teas around the village, county and international grounds, interviewing the local eccentrics and giving tea ladies up and down the country some of the plaudits they deserve.”

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