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Cricket News

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Abbott ruled out of first Ashes Test as Hazlewood cleared to join squad in Perth

  • Fast bowlers were both assessed for hamstring injuries

  • Green does not bowl on day two of Sheffield Shield game

Josh Hazlewood has indicated his hamstring scare is not serious and he will join the squad as planned after Australia suffered a double injury concern just nine days out from the first Ashes Test.

It is not such good news for fellow quick Sean Abbott, who along with Hazlewood left NSW’s Sheffield Shield game with Victoria on Wednesday for a hamstring scan after bowling in the first session.

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Gabba downpour hands India T20i series victory over Australia

  • 5th T20i: India, 52-0 (4.5), wash out. India win series 2-1

  • Storm scuppers final match to ruin Australia hopes

India have won the T20 international series against Australia 2-1 after the fifth and final match was washed out at the Gabba. The sold-out crowd will receive a full refund as the fixture did not reach the stipulated cut-off of six overs.

Lightning in the vicinity of the ground initially forced the players off after India made the most of shocking fielding by Australia to race to 0-52 in the opening 4.5 overs. A storm then rolled in, accompanied by steady rain, to ensure there was no further play.

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Australia caught in spinners’ web as India win fourth T20 by 48 runs

  • Hosts fail to capitalise on good start chasing 168

  • Last nine wickets go for 52 in Gold Coast

India’s spinners trapped Australia in a web of despair to secure a 48-run win in the T20 international on the Gold Coast to take a 2-1 series lead.

India made 8-167 after being asked to bat on Thursday and Australia were tracking nicely at 1-67, but spinners Axar Patel (2-20) and Varun Chakravarthy (1-26) sent the required run rate skyrocketing as the pressure built on the hosts.

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Pat Cummins targets return in second Ashes Test but doubts remain beyond Brisbane

  • Australia captain is on track to feature at Gabba next month

  • But paceman may need to rest during final three Tests

Australia captain Pat Cummins is back bowling multiple overs on a reduced run-up and has targeted returning to the team for the second Ashes Test against England, a day-nighter in Brisbane starting on 4 December.

The fast bowler has been sidelined by a lower-back issue since July and has already been ruled out of the series opener in Perth, where he will be replaced as skipper by Steve Smith.

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‘Baz Bawl’: Australian media stoke Ashes rivalry with welcome for England’s Stokes

  • 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”.

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Australia keep options open with Ashes squad selection containing few surprises | Geoff Lemon

The line-up for the Perth Test appears to be locked in after a question at the top of the order was answered and the dominoes tumbled further down

In the end, there were few surprises. Even the most forgone conclusion of an Ashes squad will still create weeks of speculation one way or another, but answering one question at the top of the order has knocked over the other unresolved ones, tipping like dominoes as we make our way down the list.

Barring injury, the only new player in the eventual XI will be Jake Weatherald, the 31-year-old Northern Territorian who in cricketing terms became a South Australian and then a Tasmanian, earning his place over severals seasons of unflashy consistency and a willingness to counterattack. Weatherald would not have made the squad if he were not going to open the batting, which means that Marnus Labuschagne, who was always going to make the team one way or another after getting his run-scoring groove back, will bat three rather than moonlighting at the top.

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Ben Stokes signals 2027 Ashes readiness by signing new two-year central contract

  • 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.

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Mark Wood: ‘We’re going to the Ashes with an Australia blueprint to put their batters under pressure’

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.”

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India make light work of depleted Australia bowling attack to level T20 series

India have levelled the Twenty20 series against Australia, sharing the blows with the bat for a five-wicket win with nine balls to spare in Hobart.

The hosts posted 186-6 on Sunday night on the back of an explosive 74 from 38 balls from Tim David batting at No 4 and a Marcus Stoinis half-century.

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Three weeks to the Ashes? Unleash the Bazball alpha-bears, Australia just loves them | Barney Ronay

England need to turn volume up and lean into tone of exceptionalism that continues to annoy their rivals

A few weeks ago there was a wave of newspaper interviews with the stepson of the king, Tom Parker-Bowles. These seemed at first glance to be about absolutely nothing at all, froth and chatter, a wincing man in a tweed hat talking about how he makes Sunday lunch. Why was this happening? Scanning the text for meaning, the clouds finally cleared. He was launching a cordial.

You might say, do we need … a cordial? What is a cordial? A way of ruining water. A drink that isn’t actually a drink. But this is to miss the point, and in way that is frankly embarrassing and I feel sorry for you. Because this is not any old cordial. It’s not the kind of really crappy cordial you might launch. As Parker-Bowles puts it, devastatingly: “Look, we have Belvoir and Bottlegreen. But they use concentrates. Why can’t we make a really high-end British cordial?”

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T20 international: Mitch Marsh hits quick-fire 46 as Australia beat India by four wickets

  • All-rounder helps hosts into 1-0 series lead in Melbourne

  • MCG holds minute’s silence for teenager Ben Austin

A lethal spell from Josh Hazlewood has propelled Australia to an emphatic four-wicket Twenty20 win over India in front of 82,438 fans at the MCG.

After the opening game of the five-match series in Canberra was washed out on Wednesday night, Australia went 1-0 up with a commanding performance.

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India’s Shreyas Iyer recovering in hospital from lacerated spleen horror injury

  • Vice-captain fell awkwardly while taking a catch against Australia

  • Iyer to remain in Sydney hospital ‘to evaluate his day-to-day progress’

India batter Shreyas Iyer suffered a lacerated spleen and was admitted to hospital in Sydney after falling awkwardly while taking catch in the third one-day international against Australia, the country’s cricket board (BCCI) says.

Iyer was injured on Saturday while taking a catch to dismiss Alex Carey, the 30-year-old clutching his side and grimacing in pain after tumbling to the SCG turf.

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