Fourteen of the 18 teams involved still have hopes of winning this competitive and unpredictable tournament
This article is from The 99.94 Cricket Blog
Continue reading...Cameron Green plays lone hand as Australia batting woes worsen in West Indies
Third Test, day two: Australia 225 and 99-6; West Indies 143 at stumps
No 3 batter hits 42 not out after Sam Konstas falls for a duck
Australia’s selectors have four Sheffield Shield matches to sort their openers for the Ashes, after the team’s top order crumbled under lights in Jamaica.
The tourists went to stumps on night two at Sabina Park at 99-6 in their second innings, leading West Indies by 181 but with the game firmly in the balance.
Continue reading...Lord’s was the scenery: art and beauty of West Indies’ historic first win 75 years ago | Barney Ronay
The Victory Test against England has been immortalised in calypso song but is going unremarked during this series
“So at Lord’s was the scenery / Bound to go down in history.” Why isn’t Lord’s cricket ground marking the diamond anniversary of the Victory Test? We are now almost exactly 75 years on from West Indies’ deeply resonant first win at motherland HQ, two years after the first Windrush crossing, hats in the air, Rae and Stollmeyer, cricket, lovely cricket, a rush of blood in the dry yonic centre of the great colonial game, all of that.
It would be wrong to say Lord’s carries no trace of this occasion. Wander around its fragrant perimeters during the India Test, past the gated lawns, the scrolling bars and food courts, and you might spot an embossed brick in the wall of historical moments, just down from Wangfrott Major taking the inaugural village cup and the opening of the media centre: 1950 West Indies win their first Test at Lord’s.
Continue reading...Sports quiz of the week: Wimbledon, Euro 2025, PSG v Chelsea and the Open
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Continue reading...Archer back to face India at Lord’s as Wood makes surprise bid to return in fifth Test
Archer only change for third Test as Tongue drops out
Fellow pace bowler Wood targeting final Test at The Oval
Jofra Archer will start his first Test match in more than four years after being named as the only change in the England team to face India in the third Test at Lord’s on Thursday.
Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse are both retained after the defeat to India at Edgbaston which squared the series 1-1, with Josh Tongue making way for Archer.
Continue reading...The Spin | Dear cycling: a letter and a warning from cricket’s golden free-to-air summer in 2005
The last Tour de France on ITV is a stark reminder of the final terrestrial Test summer
Dear cycling, hello from 2005. It’s dusty back here, piles of unloved pagers, a cityscape of VHS towers and chest freezers packed with Turkey Twizzlers.
It’s been a strange sort of summer – switchbacking in mood. On 6 July, London won the rights to hold the 2012 Olympics, a last-minute heist from under the Parisian nose; the next day terrorists murdered 52 people on the London transport network. The country was in a state of high alert, but the Australian cricket team, who had landed in early June, stayed to play in the Ashes. I’ll always be grateful for that decision – it turned out to be not only our last summer, but also our greatest.
Continue reading...Jofra Archer’s return gives England a headache with India series on the line | Ali Martin
The fast bowler may be underdone but the national side can’t afford to ignore him – the question is who makes way
Tradition usually dictates that after a batting lineup fails in the manner that England’s largely did on a flat one at Edgbaston – four ducks among the top six, just two men passing 50, 157.4 overs batted to India’s 234 – a bowler or two must pay the price.
Given the short turnaround, and with admittedly some merit after shipping over 1,000 runs in a home Test for just the second time in history, this will come to pass at Lord’s on Thursday. All signs point to Jofra Archer’s return. A risk? Undoubtedly. After four years of injury struggles and a slow burn of a comeback in the white-ball formats, a mere 18 overs of priming in county cricket feels instinctively skinny.
Continue reading...Jofra Archer poised to make England Test comeback against India at Lord’s
Brendon McCullum calls for pitch with pace and bounce
Injury-plagued bowler last played for Test team in 2021
Jofra Archer is poised to make his long-awaited comeback in the third Test against India this week, with Brendon McCullum, the England head coach, calling for Lord’s to deliver a pitch that has pace, bounce and sideways movement.
Archer, 30, joined the England squad at Edgbaston last week but was held back from what became a crushing 336-run defeat by Shubman Gill’s tourists. And now at one-all in the series, England’s seam attack seems likely to be refreshed amid a strong hint from McCullum that this means Archer’s return.
Continue reading...Australian openers fail to fire again as West Indies fight back in second Test
Sam Konstas out for a duck, Usman Khawaja makes just two runs
Sam Konstas and Usman Khawaja’s fledgling opening partnership is on shaky ground after Australia’s openers were again dismissed cheaply against the West Indies. Australia slumped to 12-2 at stumps on day two of the second Test in Grenada, leading by just 45 after bowling the Windies out for 253.
Konstas was left shattered after he was out for a duck, playing on to his stumps from a Jayden Seales delivery. The 19-year-old, in just his fourth Test, looked better in the first innings with 25, after scores of 3 and 5 during the opening match of the series in Barbados.
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Continue reading...Carey and Webster half-centuries steady Australia after more batting woe in West Indies
Second Test, day one: Australia win toss and make 286 at stumps
Tourists had slumped to 93-4; Steve Smith dismissed for three
Wickets tumbled either side of Alex Carey and Beau Webster’s 112-run stand as Australia were dismissed for 286 at stumps on day one of the second Test against the West Indies.
Alzarri Joseph’s 61-4 helped restrict Australia, who are gunning for an unassailable 2-0 series lead in Grenada. The tourists were clearly struggling at 93-4 at lunch but Webster (60) and Carey (63) combined to restore some order in the second session as the tourists reached 209-5 at tea.
Continue reading...County cricket: who cares for records when almost every match is a draw?
The Kookaborra ball should be sent to space after Surrey scored a record 820 runs but only drew with Durham
This article is from The 99.94 Cricket Blog
Continue reading...Steve Smith returns for second West Indies Test after quick recovery from finger injury
Josh Inglis loses his spot to make way for returning No 4 batter
Pat Cummins says Smith won’t be back in the slips ‘too often’
Steve Smith will complete a rapid return to Test cricket, just 20 days after suffering a nasty compound dislocation of his finger.
The batter will bat at No 4 in Australia’s second Test against the West Indies in Grenada, starting at Friday midnight AEST.
Continue reading...Yorkshire thrash Essex, Surrey and Notts held to draws: county cricket day four – as it happened
Alex Lees scored 156 for Durham as the runs piled up at the Oval, while Lancashire finally won a Championship match in 2025
Plugged into the Lancs live-stream. Jimmy in long sleeves polishes and polishes the precious Kookaburra. Madsen carefully plays Balderson back. A maiden. Derbyshire 175 for three.
A wicket at Taunton (Dickson lbw Patterson-White, Somerset 18-2); rain at Canterbury – where Justin Broad, unbeaten on 122, was yesterday watched by his dad Neil who won a silver medal alongside Tim Henman in the men’s doubles at the 1996 Olympics. And play due to restart soon at York.
Continue reading...‘No denying it’: Michael Hussey’s verdict on Sam Konstas struggles … and what Aussies must do with Cameron Green
Former Australian batter Michael Hussey has called for fans to be patient with the Test side’s new-look top order following last week’s unconvincing performance during the Frank Worrell Trophy series opener against the West Indies.