Tag: England

England ace batter Joe Root has shut down the noise ahead of the 2025  Ashes in Australia, stating that his side is ready to ‘bring the urn home’.

England’s ace batter Joe Root has shut down the noise ahead of the 2025 Ashes in Australia, stating that his side is ready to “bring the urn home.”

Root has 39 Test hundreds to his name; however, the batting maestro is yet to score a ton in Australia. He has nine fifties and has a decent average of 35.68 in 14 Tests.

The Three Lions have not won the Ashes since 2015, and their last Test series victory in Australia dates back to 2010-11.

Speaking on the much-anticipated series, Root admitted to the Ashes drought and sees this time around as a great opportunity.

“It does feel like a long time, and it’d be nice to put that right and bring the urn home. I just see it as a great opportunity for the group,” Root said.

“There’s no other way to look at it, really. It’s a beautiful country, it’s a great place to go and play cricket.

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Joe Root has been under the spotlight from former Australian cricketers, who have highlighted his record in Australia, including Matthew Hayden, who has issued a bold statement.

Hayden had stated that he would “walk nude” around the Melbourne Cricket Ground this summer if Root does not scratch his Australian century itch.

“Just soak it all in and expect a little bit of ‘abuse’ or ‘banter’. It could be six weeks that live long in the memory if we get it right.” “At the end of the day this tour is not about me,” Root continued.

“They are going to say what they want to say anyway, so why bother worrying about it?

“When we look back in five years’ time no-one is going to remember what Matthew Hayden said to me, or Greg Blewett, or Mark Waugh, whoever it is,” Root remarked.

“If I am scoring runs and scoring heavily it gives us a great opportunity to win a series out in Australia and that is the main focus,” he concluded.

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GUWAHATI: On a day when England needed somebody to stand tall, Heather Knight rose to the occasion with a gritty unbeaten 79* run that helped them overcome a spirited Bangladesh challenge in the eighth match of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 here at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

England eventually managed to chase down a partly 179-run target, huffing and puffing to victory by four wickets with 23 balls to spare.

The Three Lions started the chase on a shaky note as opener Amy Jones was trapped lbw after scoring one in the first over.

Bangladesh dealt the second blow in the form of Tammy Beaumont as Marufa Akter got her second wicket. As a result, England were 29-2 in 6.1 overs.

The tigers continued to mount pressure with tight bowling; however, Heather Knight stood in their way. She formed a string of vital partnerships that eventually saw them over the line.

First, she added a 40-run stand with Nat Sciver-Brunt, who scored 32 from 41 balls with the help of five fours.

Bangladesh had a hold of the match with a double strike in the 18th over. Brunt and Dunkley were removed for nought in quick succession. The slide continued as two more wickets fell in a short span of time.

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Consequently, England were reduced to 103-6 in 29.3. Yet they survived courtesy of Charlie Dean and the Knights’ match-winning partnership of 79* runs.

Dean remained unbeaten on 27 from 56, striking two boundaries, whereas Knight’s masterful knock included eight fours and a six.

For Bangladesh, Fahima Khatun picked up three wickets.

Earlier, England capitalized on the decision to bowl first and, courtesy of Sophie Ecclestone’s three-wicket haul and impressive bowling performance, bowled out Bangladesh for a modest total of 178.

Opener Rubya Haider was sent back on the last ball of the fourth over, whereas skipper Nigar Sultana also perished in the next over, which slumped them to 25-2.

England kept checking Bangladesh with economical bowling and regular wickets in the middle overs.

Sobhana Mostary remained the top-scorer for Bangladesh with 60 from 108 balls with the aid of eight fours. She was involved in a string of partnerships that provided some respite before Rabeya Khan’s brisk knock lifted them out of trouble.

She struck six fours and a maximum on her way to 43 from 27 balls.

For England, Sophie Ecclestone remained the standout bowler, picking up a three-wicket haul. Alice Capsey, Charlie Dean, and Linsey Smith took two wickets each.

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GUWAHATI: Linsey Smith’s three-wicket haul helped England women rout South Africa women in the fourth match of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025, giving them a flying start to their campaign here at Barsapara Cricket Stadium on Friday.

Set a meagre 70-run target, England romped to victory by 10 wickets in 14.1 overs.

After a miserable batting display, the Proteas had little to celebrate with the ball either. England’s openers wrapped up the chase with ease, as Tammy Beaumont struck three fours in her 21* from 35 balls, while Amy Jones’ score of 40* off 50 deliveries was laced with six fours.

Earlier, the four-time World Cup champions capitalized on the decision to field first and bowled out South Africa for just 69 runs in 20 overs. This was Proteas’ second-lowest total in the marquee event.

Notably, South Africa’s previous lowest total in a World Cup match also came against England in Cuttack, back in 2013.

Linsey Smith made early inroads with the new ball and tore through the Proteas top order. She removed Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits in the second and fourth over, respectively, both batters being dismissed for five runs.

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After losing early wickets, South Africa could not arrest the slide and were further dented by regular dismissals. Following Smith’s spell, Nat Sciver-Brunt and Lauren Bell chipped in with the ball and broke the backbone of South Africa’s batting lineup.

Sinalo Jafta top-scored for South Africa with 22 from 36 balls with the aid of three fours in an otherwise shambolic batting display.

In England’s all-round bowling display, Linsey Smith stood tall and was excellent with the ball, picking up three wickets in her four overs while giving away just seven. Nat Sciver-Brunt, Sophie Ecclestone, and Charlie Dean bagged two wickets each.

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England all-rounder Chris Woakes has called time on his international career after missing out on Ashes 2025 selection.

Woakes’ last appearance for England came against India in the fifth Test at the Oval, where he dislocated his shoulder. However, the pacer still came out to bat with a sling in his armpit.

Following the injury, the pacer was in a race against time to be fit for the Ashes; however, he was left out of the squad, which drew a curtain on his career.

The right-arm pacer took to his social media handle and announced his retirement, expressing pride in representing the Three Lions in a career spanning 15 years.

 

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“The moment has come, and I’ve decided that the time is right for me to retire from international cricket,” Woakes said in a statement.

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“Playing for England was something I aspired to do since I was a kid dreaming in the back garden, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have lived out those dreams.

He thanked his teammates with whom he shared the field with the greatest pride while confirming that he will continue to play county cricket.

Representing England, wearing the Three Lions and sharing the field with teammates over the last 15 years, many of whom have become lifelong friends, are things I’ll look back on with the greatest pride.”

Chris Woakes played 62 Tests for England, picking up 192 wickets at an average of 29.61. In ODIs, Woakes appeared for England 122 times, scalping 173 wickets. He also played 33 T20Is and has 31 wickets to his name.

The all-rounder remained a vital cog in England’s 2019 ODI World Cup and 2022 T20 World Cup triumph.

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LONDON: The England Cricket Board (ECB) on Tuesday named a 16-member pace-heavy squad for the Ashes tour to Australia with Harry Brook replacing Ollie Pope as vice-captain.

Alongside Ashes, England have also named IT20 and ODI squads for the white-ball tour of New Zealand, which precedes the Ashes.

The squad features five 90mph seamers: Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, and Josh Tongue. Among the notable inclusions is the recall of all-rounder Will Jacks, whose last appearance in the longest format came against Pakistan in 2022.

The 26-year-old, who will provide England with an attacking option with the bat, is picked ahead of Rehan Ahmed, Liam Dawson, and Jack Leach.

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Besides the inclusion of Jacks and the change of Ben Stokes’ deputy, the squad is largely as expected.

The decision to change Pope as vice-captain was looming since Brook took over the captaincy reins from Jos Buttler in white-ball cricket. Notably, Pope has captained the Three Lions five times in the absence of Ben Stokes in the past five months.

England Test squad vs Australia:

Ben Stokes (captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (vice-captain), Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood.

England T20I squad vs New Zealand:

Harry Brook (captain), Rehan Ahmed, Sonny Baker, Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Brydon Carse, Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Luke Wood.

England ODI squad vs New Zealand:

Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, and Jamie Smith replace Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley, and Phil Salt from the T20I squad.

New Zealand fixtures (all D/N):

T20Is: October 18, 20 (both Christchurch) and 23 (Auckland).
ODIs: October 26 (Mount Maunganui), 29 (Hamilton), and November 1 (Wellington).

Ashes fixtures:

1st Test: November 21-25 (Perth)
2nd Test: December 4-8 (Brisbane, D/N)
3rd Test: December 17-21 (Adelaide)
4th Test: December 25-29 (Melbourne)
5th Test: January 3-7 (Sydney)

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Australia skipper Pat Cummins said Friday he hoped to play in all five Ashes Tests against England but conceded he will need to see how his back injury holds up, local media said.

Pace spearhead Cummins has been ruled out of the October white-ball series against New Zealand and India with “lumbar bone stress”.

The 32-year-old has not bowled since the Test tour of the West Indies in June-July, and no firm date has been set for his return.

Cummins said Friday that although he hopes to be part of the Ashes, he would need to “wait and see”.

“There are no hard and fast plans yet,” the skipper told reporters.

“I’m still doing a bit of gym and keeping things kicking over, but with this kind of injury, it’s rest and then we’ll build back and kind of work back from the Ashes,” he said.

“Still really hopeful to be able to be part of the Ashes. But it is a little bit of a wait-and-see.”

Pat Cummins told reporters he aimed to play in all five Tests, but conceded a decision would have to be made closer to the time.

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“It’s honestly too far out to say. But the aim at the moment is to try and be ready for all of it,” he said.

Cummins has suffered severe back issues several times over the years, including a flare-up in 2018 that kept him out of action for a full off-season.

Australia coach Andrew McDonald said this week he was confident Cummings would play a key part in the Ashes.

But he acknowledged to SEN radio that the uncertainty around Cummins “is not ideal”, but it was an “overreaction” to say the skipper would not play.

“It’s not ideal. I’m not going to sit here and say that it’s ideal,” McDonald told the radio station.

The first Ashes Test against England in Perth starts on November 21.

Australia retained the Ashes in England in 2023 after the series ended in a 2-2 draw.

They enjoyed a 4-0 sweep of England at home in 2021-22. Cummins was the leading wicket-taker with 21 scalps at an average of 18.

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England coach Brendon McCullum has left open the possibility of Harry Brook replacing Ollie Pope as vice-captain during the upcoming Ashes tour of Australia.

Pope officially took on the role in May 2023 after securing his place as England’s number three in Test cricket, and has since led the team five times when inspirational skipper Ben Stokes has been absent through injury.

Stokes is back training following a shoulder problem, but his coach at county side Durham, Ryan Campbell, was “not 100 percent sure” the all-rounder would feature in all five Tests against Australia, with England bidding for their first Ashes series win since 2015.

Doubts have been raised about Pope’s tactical acumen, with England white-ball captain Brook regarded as a more proactive leader in the field.

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And should Stokes be ruled out of a Test during the Ashes series, which starts on November 21 in Perth, the 26-year-old Brook could now be asked to lead England in red-ball cricket as well.

McCullum, asked Sunday whether Pope will take up his usual role as Stokes’ deputy in Australia, replied: “We will work on that one. We will chat about that over the coming days as we finalise our Ashes squad.

“I think it’s a pretty easy squad to pick. We don’t need too big a squad, but we have a very settled group of batters, a cartel of fast bowlers, and Shoaib Bashir as our frontline spinner.”

The former New Zealand captain, speaking after England’s third and deciding T20 against South Africa in Nottingham, which was washed out without a ball being bowled, added: “I think it’s no secret Harry Brook is emerging as a leader within English cricket, so that’s something we need to work out.”

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Phil Salt hit his highest T20I score and quickest century by an England batter in a T20 international as the hosts hammered South Africa by 146 runs to level their three-match series at 1-1 during a record-breaking evening at Old Trafford on Friday.

Opening batter Salt’s astounding 141 not out was the cornerstone of England’s mammoth 304-2.

It was the first time in a T20 international between two Test-playing nations a side had reached 300, with India having come closest previously, scoring 297-6 against Bangladesh in Hyderabad in 2024.

South Africa, faced with a colossal chase, unsurprisingly lost early wickets and were dismissed for 158 in under 17 overs, with skipper Aiden Markram’s 41 their top score.

An elated Salt told Sky Sports: “That was really good fun. A personal milestone, but the fact we got 300 and won by such a big margin, I can’t have asked for much more.”

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Only Zimbabwe, with 344 against the Gambia in October last year, and Nepal, who amassed 314 when playing Mongolia two years ago, have made more at this level.

Jofra Archer took 3-25 in three overs after the England express quick did not feature in the Proteas’ series-opening win in a rain-shortened match in Cardiff on Wednesday.

Salt’s 119, the existing England record at this level, had been at the heart of his country’s previous highest T20 total of 267-3 against the West Indies in Trinidad in December 2023.

The 29-year-old, out for a golden duck in Cardiff, turned the tables in style with a remarkable 60-ball innings featuring 15 fours and eight sixes on his Lancashire home ground.

His fourth T20 hundred — no other England batter has more than one — came off 39 deliveries.

It was also the quickest century in any format by an England batter, surpassing Liam Livingstone’s 42-ball effort in a T20 against Pakistan at Trent Bridge in 2021.

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CARDIFF: Marco Jansen and Corbin Bosch took two wickets apiece as South Africa beat England by 14 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method in a rain-marred first T20I here on Wednesday.

Bad weather reduced what should have been a 40-over contest at Sophia Gardens to just 12.5 in total.

England, chasing a revised 69 in five overs for victory, finished on 54-5 as they failed to keep pace with a daunting run rate of nearly 14 an over against a quality attack.

Jansen (2-18) and Bosch (2-20) did the bulk of the damage in an England innings where only Jos Buttler (25) passed 20.

Earlier, several South African batsmen made quickfire 20s in a total of 97-5 in 7.5 overs after Brook won the toss.

South Africa captain Aiden Markram struck 28 off 14 balls, with two fours and two sixes, although he was dropped in the deep by Phil Salt.

Donovan Ferreira, the player of the match, hit three sixes in his 25 not out and Dewald Brevis made 23.

Fast bowler Luke Wood was only playing after the hosts decided against risking Jofra Archer in the wet conditions following the express quick’s four-wicket haul in England’s record 342-run win over South Africa in the third ODI at Southampton.

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But Wood had opener Ryan Rickelton caught behind for a golden duck in a haul of 2-22.

“It feels like madness, but you can think about things. It was swinging about with the new ball, but you need one or two guys to make a cameo and you can reach a good score,” said Markram who led the Proteas to a 2-1 ODI series win, at the presentation ceremony.

England captain Harry Brook added: “We can’t read into that too much. We didn’t execute as well as we could have done.”

Both Salt, who holed out off the very first ball of the chase to the returning Kagiso Rabada, and Brook were out for ducks.

In between Jacob Bethell, fresh from his maiden professional century at Southampton, made seven before he skyed Jansen to cover.

Buttler kept England in the hunt before he was caught behind, off Jansen’s last ball of the fourth over.

England now needed 26 off six balls and Bosch, who dismissed Tom Banton with the opening delivery of the last over, ensured they never really got close, with South Africa going 1-0 up in this three-match series ahead of Friday’s second T20 at Old Trafford.

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South Africa suffered the heaviest loss in ODI history as England dismissed the tourists for just 72 in a 342-run victory inspired by Jofra Archer’s blistering bowling and Jacob Bethell’s maiden hundred on Sunday.

Chasing 415 to complete a clean sweep of the three-match series, the Proteas surrendered in humiliating fashion in 20.5 ignominious overs in Southampton.

It was the biggest winning margin in the history of the ODI format when batting first, surpassing India’s 317-run victory against Sri Lanka in 2023.

South Africa narrowly avoided beating their lowest ODI total of 69 against Australia in 1993.

England’s previous biggest margin of victory was a 242-run success against Australia at Trent Bridge in 2018.

After Bethell smashed 110 from just 82 balls and Joe Root reached a typically efficient 100, Archer set about demolishing the South Africans.

The pace bowler finished with impressive figures of 4-18 in nine overs as he removed four of South Africa’s top five batsmen.

It was the kind of fearsome form that underlined why England are so keen to keep Archer fit for the Ashes series in Australia later this year.

Beaten by seven wickets in the series opener at Headingley before losing the second game at Lord’s by five runs, England managed to save face thanks to their record-breaking performance in the final match.

England’s fifth-highest ODI total of 414-5 was more than enough to see off South Africa.

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Jos Buttler’s 62 not out and 62 from opener Jamie Smith added to the run spree alongside the precocious Bethell and the prolific Root.

Bethell’s vibrant innings featured 13 fours and three sixes as the 21-year-old showed why England have been so keen to fast-track him in all formats.

He easily surpassed his previous career-best score of 96 in a Test match against New Zealand in 2024.

Bethell, who will become England’s youngest captain in an ODI series against Ireland later this month, fell for one against South Africa at Headingley.

But he hit 58 from 40 balls at Lord’s, having been moved up to number four, and maintained that form to prove his point with an even more dynamic display on Sunday.

The Proteas’ chase got off to a disastrous start when Aiden Markram was caught behind off Archer in the first over.

Wiaan Mulder also perished for a duck in the next over as he lofted Brydon Carse to Harry Brook.

Under a suddenly leaden sky that favoured the bowlers, Archer strengthened England’s grip, inducing an edge from Ryan Rickelton that left the tourists reeling on 6-3.

Proving unplayable with his potent combination of pace and bounce, Archer had Matthew Breetzke ducking into a caught-behind to end his bid for a sixth successive ODI half-century.

Archer’s blitz wasn’t over as he dialled up the pace to over 90mph and had Tristan Stubbs caught in the slips by Will Jacks.

South Africa had slumped to 18-5, and England showed no mercy, and Adil Rashid took three wickets to ensure they finished a difficult series on a memorable note.

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