Category: Cricket

• Captain labelled a ‘Cocky Complainer’ on arrival in Perth

• Article critical of Stokes and McCullum’s positive tactics

Australian media gave Ben Stokes a scathing welcome to the country in the buildup to the Ashes. A picture of the England captain pushing a trolley laden with luggage at the airport was accompanied by the headline “Baz Bawl” on the front page of the West Australian newspaper.

“England’s Cocky Captain Complainer, still smarting from ‘crease-gate’, lands in Perth early thinking dopey “BazBall’ can take the Ashes,” read the subhead in reference to an incident in the last series when Jonny Bairstow was controversially stumped. The article went on to criticise England’s tactics under Stokes and the head coach, Brendon McCullum, describing it as “carefree and careless thrash batting”.

• Root also among 14 players committed to national team

• Bethell and Archer among the other notable inclusions

Ben Stokes has signalled his desire to play in the 2027 Ashes at home after signing a new two-year central contract with England.

Aged 34, and having sustained hamstring and shoulder injuries in the past 12 months, there was a school of thought that this winter’s Ashes – less than three weeks away – could be the Test captain’s swansong.

Fast bowler says England have confidence and belief as he prepares for what could be his final series against the old foe

“My dad would be Australia and I’d be England,” Mark Wood says with a wry smile when remembering his first Ashes Tests as a boy in his back garden in Ashington, Northumberland. “I’d try to copy Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick, Matthew Hoggard and, later, Jimmy Anderson, who I’d go on and play with. My dad, who didn’t do the actions so well, had to be Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne. He was most proud of his Gillespie but his Warne wasn’t great.”

Wood snorts at the idea that his dad, Derek, might have let him win most of those matches. “No, no, no. It was proper cricket. You had to give each other lbw and every time I hit my dad in the leg he’d be going: ‘No, that’s going over’ or ‘That’s down the leg side.’ I was like: ‘Dad, that was plumb.’ I had to get my DRS right.”

In his candid new book, the former England fast bowler talks about the lasting mental turmoil that ended his 2013-14 Ashes tour

“I couldn’t get the words out because I was crying,” Steven Finn says as he remembers how, hunched over a microphone, he stared at the last lines he was meant to read aloud for the audio version of his raw and revealing new book. Emotion clogged his throat after he had belonged to three Ashes-winning England squads, while never feeling he fulfilled his immense wicket-taking talent, and having ended up lost and broken on the 2013-14 tour of Australia.

Finn tried again but stifled crying choked his reading. He looked up and nodded at the encouraging producer. His mouth almost crumpled but, this time, he got through it.

• Bowler resumes running but will not make series opener in Perth

• 32-year-old says he ‘expects to return to bowling shortly’

Pat Cummins is officially out of the first Ashes Test as he continues his recovery from a stress injury in his back, with Steve Smith to reassume the captaincy of Australia in the series opener against England next month.

Cummins has not bowled since Australia’s 3-0 series defeat of West Indies in July and had been in serious doubt for the match in Perth on 21 November. After months of speculation over whether he would recover in time, Cricket Australia on Monday finally confirmed that the quick would have to sit out the game at Optus Stadium.