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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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England beware: terminally obsessed Marnus Labuschagne has gone back to basics | Jonathan Liew

Australian batter, an evangelical Christian who believes this is all written out in advance, may force his way back for the Ashes

Marnus Labuschagne carefully spreads butter on both sides of a slice of white bread. “That’s the key,” he tells the camera as he brings down the lid of his sandwich grill. “Boom. Then you get it crisp on both sides.” He lifts the lid to reveal a golden square of pure toasted goodness, the melted cheese happily bubbling away inside. “So this is the trick of the trade,” he announces. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.

Already, I sense, a glaze of ennui is beginning to form across your eyes. The red lights of sportswriting pretension are flashing wildly. You’re probably aware that Labuschagne scored 160 for Queensland this week and is being feverishly talked up for an Australian Test recall before the Ashes.

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Sporting sisterhood struggles to overcome nationalistic diktats as India face Pakistan | Emma John

If the two captains fail to shake hands at the Women’s Cricket World Cup it will deliver another blow to ping-pong diplomacy

It is mere years that women in the subcontinent have been taken seriously as cricketers. For generations, they faced scorn, disapproval, ostracism – even the threat of violence – to pursue their passion. Now India is hosting a World Cup in which the prize fund is $13.8m (£10.3m) and the home nation’s players will become national treasures if they secure their first tournament victory.

It would, then, be a travesty if this weekend’s talk focused on their male counterparts. And yet, when India face Pakistan on Sunday, comparison is unavoidable. And not because the home side are highly favoured to triumph, but because they are not expected to shake hands with their opposition. Handshakegate, if we must call it that, will have a fourth instalment.

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The five county cricketers of the year

A player can only make the list once. View the previous winners: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017

By 99.94 Cricket Blog

At 19, after that fairytale series in India when he became the youngest debutant ever to open for England, the teenage lad with the Bolton accent and winning smile faced two of the hardest jobs you can have. First, he had to grow up in public, a task almost too cruel to wish upon any kid. Second, he became the latest vessel for the hopes of English cricket.

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The Spin | County Championship 2025 awards: the final word on the season

A bumper year for the unfancied East Midlands when Surrey were surprisingly knocked off their gilded throne

A memorable County Championship finished in the most dramatic fashion, with Durham falling down the stairs and losing all their clothes while crashing out of Division One on the final day of the season. The Spin has picked her jaw off the ground, and dusted down the awards for a summer to remember.

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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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The Spin | Cricket and a custom-made diplomatic row over missing handshake

#Handshakegate between India and Pakistan reflects a sporting history dotted with moments when the clasp of palms stood for something

It is seen on village greens and in Test arenas alike. It is there at the start of the game, just after the coin toss, and it is there at the end when the final run is struck or wicket falls. According to research from the University of Dundee it should last between one-and-a-half and three seconds, just long enough to reassure both participants, but not so long as to feel overbearing.

In the tapestry of the sport it is less consequential than the colour of the captain’s socks or what the home team has laid out for tea. And yet its absence is instantly conspicuous, sometimes enough to spark controversy, fines or even diplomatic fallout.

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Tributes to Dickie Bird as Nottinghamshire edge towards County Championship title

A minute’s applause was held at Bird’s spiritual home, Headingley, on the first day of the season’s last round of fixtures

David Hopps is at Headingley, where Dickie Bird’s death will leave a huge hole:

“It’s hard to exaggerate how fond, and in many ways protective, Yorkshire cricket was of Dickie Bird. The county has marked his passing this morning with a minute’s applause (a full minute - that must be worth 10 minutes anywhere else in the country!) and the players are wearing black armbands.

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