Category: England National Cricket

• Vaibhav Suryavanshi, born in 2011, joins Rajasthan Royals
• Will Jacks and Sam Curran among England players sold

Jimmy Anderson went unsold in the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction on Monday, while Indian teenager Vaibhav Suryavanshi made history by becoming the youngest player ever to secure a deal.

Suryavanshi was sold for 11m rupees (around £104,000) to the Rajasthan Royals, who are coached by the former India captain Rahul Dravid. The 13-year-old – who was born in March 2011, during India’s winning 50-over World Cup campaign – made headlines recently when he smashed a 58-ball hundred for India Under-19s against Australia U19s in an unofficial Test match in Chennai.

Continue reading...

England’s record-breaking batter is set for his 150th Test and says he will play for as long as he loves the game

“I know this one,” Joe Root says with a little grin as he confirms the latest milestone he will reach in Test cricket on Wednesday when England play New Zealand in Christchurch. “It will be my 150th Test. We’re fortunate to play so much Test cricket compared to other nations, so you can rattle them up rather quickly. But I’ve had to work hard and overcome different challenges along the way, so I’m very grateful to have had so many chances.”

A minute earlier Root had been uncertain when I asked him if he knew what it would mean were he to score another 625 Test runs. A modest and generous man, Root thought hard and then admitted he had no clue. The answer is that, once those runs have been accumulated, he will become the second highest scorer in Test cricket. He will overtake Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting and trail only Sachin Tendulkar.

Continue reading...

England want their best fast bowler primed for Australia but the IPL’s financial power might hurt those preparations

Jofra Archer has sensationally re-entered the Mega Auction and people on the internet are annoyed. You’ve got to hand it to the Indian Premier League. It is relentlessly inventive in its language, even if the direction of travel is always towards exhaustion by superlatives. So a six becomes a HyperWang Mobile Attack Maximum, a good catch the Standard Cement Super Happy Sex-grab Of the Day. By the same process, what could possibly be better than an auction? A big auction? A very big auction? No. Only a Mega Auction will do.

To be fair this really is a Mega Auction. Scheduled to take place from Sunday into Monday, the IPLMA will see 1,054 players whittled down to just over 100 available slots, offered up on this occasion in disruptive, schedule-defining three-year contracts. For the players at the centre this is basically your life, your pension, your future. Kneel before Zod, muscular Kiwi impact all-rounder. We own you now.

Continue reading...

• Anxiety issues curtailed former batter’s playing career
• Rob Key states ambition for future English head coach

Marcus Trescothick has revealed he wants to become England’s head coach on a permanent basis after learning to cope with his mental health problems. The former England batter is serving as the men’s white-ball interim head coach during the West Indies tour before Brendon McCullum steps up from his Test role to take charge in all formats from January.

“Previously I thought I wanted to be a head coach, but taking the reins for the two series against Australia and here versus the West Indies has confirmed to me that I would like the opportunity to do it at some point,” Trescothick told the Mail on Sunday. “I’d love to have an opportunity, when the time comes.”

Continue reading...

Shai Hope and Evin Lewis power West Indies to victory in a thrilling run-chase t0 breath life into the series

If you spot Jos Buttler, Jamie Overton and Marcus Trescothick in black armbands and wonder why, it is in memory of long-time Somerset supporter and fundraiser Mary Elworthy, who died yesterday aged 90. RIP Mary.

West Indies: Shai Hope, Evin Lewis, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Rovman Powell (c), Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Roston Chase, Gudakesh Motie, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Obed McCoy.

Continue reading...

The country’s greatest bowler on why his wife, Daniella, is still mad at England, how the game saved him from loneliness growing up and what could be next

“I’m not getting too dark here,” Jimmy Anderson says quietly as we return to a time when he was a solitary boy in Burnley, “but I remember sitting in my room thinking: ‘I wish I wasn’t me. I wish I was someone else.’ That’s not a great place to be at 14. I didn’t fit in at school or have a group of mates. The biggest thing for me then was the feeling of being lonely.

“I didn’t have close friends. We didn’t play cricket at school. I was seen as a bit of an odd person who liked cricket. Why would you like cricket when you can play football and these other amazing sports? I did play them, but obviously not to the same level as cricket. I just felt like an outcast.”

Continue reading...

Jos Buttler flames West Indies with scintillating innings in Barbados to carry England to a seven-wicket victory

Out come the players, Archer is drying his hands in the dust – and off we go.

Terrance Hinds has just been handed his first West Indies cap at the ripe age of 32. And very pleased he looks too.

Continue reading...