‘Carelessly squandered’: Wisden scolds England’s tumultuous Ashes tour

  • Series defeat in Australia ‘a chance so blithely spurned’

  • Indian dominance and Starc’s sacrifice recognised

The latest edition of Wisden is ­unsparing in its criticism of England’s Test team, describing their Ashes defeat in Australia as a “wing-and-a-prayer” campaign that ended up “feckless, reckless and legless”.

Published this Thursday, the sport’s longstanding bible has a strong Indian flavour to its awards. Haseeb Hameed, captain of title-winning Nottinghamshire, is the sole Englishman among the five ­players of the year, with Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja and ­Mohammed Siraj recognised for their roles in last year’s memorable 2-2 Test series draw in England.

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Surrey v Leicestershire, Essex v Somerset, and more: county cricket, day four – live

Updates from 11am BST start across the grounds
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And the third! Aitchison on a hat-trick. A huge smile at the top of his run gets huger as Bailey plays inside the line and loses his stumps. Lancs 147-8. Mitch Stanley comes out, dropping his helmet and generally getting dressed as he does.

Second ball does it! Coughlin trudging back after a corking ball from Aitchison has him edging behind. Lancs 147-7, the lead 124.

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