Tag: England

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is mulling options for a maiden tour of Nepal in the next FTP cycle.

England could become the biggest international team to tour Nepal, with the ECB exploring the possibility of a T20I series in the 2027-31 international cycle.

The development comes after Nepal’s impressive performances in recent times, including a series win over the West Indies for the first time in UAE.  However, they are yet to host a Test-playing nation for a full international tour.

England and Nepal played for the first time at the T20 World Cup in February, with the former winning the thriller on the final ball.

After a closely fought encounter, Nepal skipper and CAN secretary Paras Khadka held discussions with ECB officials regarding the future of Nepal cricket.

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It is worth mentioning that the ECB has been working on the international calendar for the next cycle with several other boards. The final schedule has yet to be confirmed and depends on the ICC’s decision on the new World Test Championship (WTC) format.

Although England’s international schedule is already congested, the board is seriously considering a brief men’s tour of Nepal.

The series could likely take place before England’s white-ball assignment in Asia, such as India, and serve as valuable preparatory ground.

The England cricket team is set to host Australia for the Ashes in 2027, while Pakistan and New Zealand are also expected to tour for white-ball series in June and September, respectively.

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The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is reportedly exploring the possibility of hosting Pakistan for a five-match Test series during the next cycle of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC), marking what could become a historic revival of a long-format rivalry.

According to reports, the proposed series would take place in the upcoming WTC cycle, which begins with England’s home Ashes next summer.

If finalised, it would be the first five-match Test series between the two countries since 1992, when Pakistan secured a memorable 2-1 series victory over England away from home.

The development comes amid a significant shift in the ECB’s scheduling strategy, with the board reportedly moving away from the traditional model of reciprocal home-and-away tours.

Reports suggest the ECB has already opened discussions with both South Africa and Pakistan regarding potential five-match Test tours of England in the coming years.

At the same time, England’s future away tours to nations such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh could reportedly be reduced to a single Test match alongside white-ball fixtures, which are viewed as more commercially beneficial for host boards.

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The proposed changes are linked to the ICC’s plans to expand the WTC structure to include all 12 Test-playing nations, with Ireland and Zimbabwe expected to join a unified division for the first time.

Under the new model being discussed, single Test matches would carry WTC status, removing the current requirement of a minimum two-match series for championship points. That adjustment could pave the way for England to play a Test in Zimbabwe for the first time since the 1996-97 tour.

The ECB is understood to support the idea of one-off Tests, believing the format could help smaller cricketing nations remain active in red-ball cricket while also allowing major boards greater flexibility in arranging marquee series.

Internal ECB research has reportedly shown that Test cricket continues to be the most popular format in England across all age groups, encouraging the board to pursue longer home series similar to those regularly played against Australia and India.

The board has already proposed a five-Test home series against South Africa in 2032, with plans to repeat the arrangement in 2036. Pakistan are reportedly being considered as an alternative option should those discussions not materialise.

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LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is reportedly in discussions to host an ODI tri-series featuring England and Sri Lanka later this year, sources revealed on Tuesday.

According to early indications, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has agreed in principle to take part in the proposed series, which is being planned for the October-November window.

However, final confirmation from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is still awaited before the schedule is formally locked in.

If finalised, the tri-series would add another high-profile limited-overs event to Pakistan’s packed international calendar, with discussions ongoing over venues and match timings.

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As per the ICC Future Tours Programme (FTP), Sri Lanka are already scheduled to tour Pakistan later this year for a multi-format assignment, which includes three T20Is followed by a two-match Test series.

The T20I leg is expected to be played in October, potentially serving as a lead-in to the proposed tri-series. The Test series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka is then likely to follow in November.

For the unversed, Pakistan featured in two T20I tri-series, one involving UAE and Afghanistan, and another on home soil featuring Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Pakistan went on to win both events, first defeating Afghanistan in the final in August 2025 in the UAE, and later overcoming Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi in November to lift the second tri-series title.

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LONDON: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have officially revealed England’s new white-ball kits for the 2026 season, drawing inspiration from the team’s iconic designs of the past.

The newly launched collection includes One Day International (ODI), T20 International (T20I) and training kits, which will be worn by England’s men’s, women’s and mixed disability teams during a packed home summer that also features the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026.

Blending nostalgia with modern design, both the ODI and T20I shirts carry a retro theme influenced by England’s colour-blocked kits from earlier eras.

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The T20I strip revives the classic red and blue palette reminiscent of the mid-2000s, while the ODI kit features a refreshed blue pattern. Both designs incorporate an engineered rib collar, adding to the vintage aesthetic.

The kits were introduced through a promotional video titled ‘We’re All In’, which features current England stars alongside former fast bowler Darren Gough, who played a key role in England’s first-ever T20I against Australia in 2005 and finished his international career with nearly 500 wickets.

ECB’s Head of Commercial Partnerships, Ben Bradley, expressed enthusiasm over the unveiling, highlighting the significance of the design direction in a major year for the sport.

“It’s always a really exciting day to unveil our new kits for a season, and I’m delighted with what we’ve worked on alongside Castore,” Bradley said.

“The retro design of the white-ball kits reflect the legacy of IT20 and ODI cricket in what is a landmark year for women’s cricket, particularly, and I’m sure our fans will enjoy being a part of that this summer.”

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England Test captain Ben Stokes has said he feels “quite lucky” to be alive after being hit in the face by a cricket ball.

All-rounder Stokes suffered a broken cheekbone after being hit by the ball during a net session while he was coaching academy players at his county side Durham in February.

Stokes underwent surgery and is set to play in two first-class County Championship games next month, but he revealed the incident could have been so much worse.

“I copped one straight in the face,” the 34-year-old told the England and Wales Cricket Board.

“Pretty nasty but, funnily, probably the best result of a bad situation, to be honest. Just a couple of inches one way or the other, I might not be here doing this interview, if I didn’t turn my head round.

“All things considered, although I had pretty major facial surgery to sort it out, it was a bit of a mess under here (cheekbone), I’ve got out quite lucky. So pretty thankful for that.”

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He added: “Obviously it set everything back about a month, five weeks, with getting back to where I wanted to be to play at the start of the season for Durham, but just had to sort of quickly go back to the drawing board and put a plan together to get me ready to play a couple of games for Durham before the Test summer starts.

“At the back end of all that now but it was a pretty scary situation. Thankfully still here and everything’s all right.”

Stokes is expected to be fit to lead England in the first Test of their home season against New Zealand at Lord’s starting on June 4 as they look to recover from their woeful 4-1 Ashes humiliation in Australia.

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England Test captain Ben Stokes will be sidelined for the first month of the county season as he recovers from a cheekbone injury sustained in a training accident.

Stokes suffered a broken cheekbone after being hit by the ball during a net session with his Durham team-mates last month.

The 34-year-old said that his subsequent surgery was a success, although his photo on Instagram, showing a badly swollen and bruised face, revealed the extent of the horrific injury.

The prolonged rehabilitation process means that Stokes has had to delay his return to action.

The all-rounder, who has not played since the final game of England’s Ashes series thrashing in Australia in January, was originally hoping to make his comeback against Kent in Durham’s first round of County Championship fixtures next week.

But he now looks likely to sit out the first four matches of the domestic campaign before preparing for the New Zealand Test series by facing Worcestershire and Kent in May.

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“He was going to play the first game; he’s been training so hard to be ready. But he won’t play in that, obviously. We have to wait for the specialists to clear him,” Durham coach Ryan Campbell said.

“Unfortunately, it’s made a change, the accidental bump. He is pencilled in for Worcester and Kent, and I think it will just be those two, to be honest.

“He has got to recover from the facial injuries and then have to build up again. It is a long, old summer, and he will have that mapped out but is keen and ready to go.”

Campbell believes Ben Stokes was lucky to avoid further damage given the nature of the grisly injury.

“It was so, so much worse than you’d think. The ball was hit so hard, we are just lucky he got away with it,” he said. “The initial whack was bad. If it hits him in the eye, it could have been different. That could have been horrific.”

“His cheekbone worked the way it is supposed to: it caved in and looked after the rest of him. It is a bit scary, but a reminder to all of us to keep our eye on the ball.”

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Ben Stokes reckons the past three months have been the “hardest period” of his time as England captain, but is determined the current leadership group can oversee a revival in the Test team’s fortunes.

Earlier on Monday, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Richard Gould, confirmed that Stokes, managing director Rob Key, and coach Brendon McCullum would all remain in their posts despite the team’s 4-1 loss on their five-Test tour of Australia, which concluded in January.

Key denied suggestions that Stokes and McCullum had fallen out in Australia, despite the pair offering contrasting messages during a desperately disappointing series loss.

Stokes, in an emotional Instagram post, said he was determined to learn from his mistakes following the lowest period of his near four-year spell as England captain, with Key and McCullum still the right men to be alongside him.

“Being England captain is the greatest honour a player can be given, and I do not take it for granted,” Stokes wrote.

 

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A post shared by Ben Stokes (@stokesy)

“It has its highs, and it has its lows; it makes you want to smile, it makes you want to cry. It completely and utterly consumes you and feels like it’s the only thing in your life at times.

“The last 3 months has without a doubt been the hardest period of my captaincy journey, it’s tested me in so many different ways, and I’m sure every other captain has gone through this as well.

“Baz (McCullum), Rob and myself have the passion and desire to take this team forward, we are going to give you everything we have, we know we made mistakes along the way and we have learnt from those mistakes, you learn more from failure than success.”

In addition to England’s poor performances on the field, there were reports of excessive drinking by players on a break, raising concerns about the dressing-room culture.

Revelations followed that vice-captain Harry Brook had been involved in an altercation with a nightclub bouncer on the pre-Ashes visit to New Zealand.

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A midnight curfew has since been enforced, while the ECB are trying to recruit a new national selector after Luke Wright resigned for family reasons.

Ben Stokes has not played since suffering a groin injury in the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney in January, but is set to feature for Durham in the County Championship ahead of this season’s home Test programme.

England have three Tests against McCullum’s native New Zealand in June, followed by a trio of matches against Pakistan in August and September.

“We all appreciate every single person who supports us. We do what we do for many reasons but one of those reasons is to bring our supporters and fans happiness and a sense of pride and we will aim to do those things as much as we can in the future,” Stokes said.

“See you all in June for the start of the Test Match summer.”

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Jos Buttler is refusing to accept his England career is over despite admitting he had a “poor tournament” at the recent T20 World Cup.

Widely regarded as one of the outstanding white-ball batter of his generation, Buttler managed just 87 runs in eight innings at the tournament as England reached the semi-finals before losing to co-hosts and eventual champions India.

“Obviously I had a poor tournament, which is disappointing,” Buttler, who remains on an England and Wales central contract, said on his ‘For the Love of Cricket’ podcast with former England fast bowler Stuart Broad.

“But I have been playing some of the best cricket of my (career) in recent years, so hopefully I can get back to playing my best.

“I certainly have ambitions (to play for England again), but no longer being a captain, I am not a selector and whatever, so what will be, will be.”

Buttler, 35, is set to play for Gujarat Titans in the upcoming Indian Premier League and hopes time away after the World Cup “up the mountains” in France with his family will leave him feeling reinvigorated.

“I couldn’t have been further away from cricket, which for me at the time was just perfect,” said Buttler. “It is exactly what I needed.”

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“Obviously the tournament didn’t go personally how I would have liked it to go, and I just felt like I needed some space from cricket and not to think about the game, and I could not have been further away from cricket where I was in that week.”

Buttler, a member of England’s 2019 one-day international World Cup-winning team and also the skipper for their T20 triumph in Australia three years later, stated that he is starting to reflect on his performance.

“It was really refreshing –- I really enjoyed it, a complete sort of release, and slowly but surely, I would say at the start of this week, (I am) just starting to reflect a bit and have a few thoughts about what is important to me and my cricket, and why it probably didn’t go quite as I would’ve liked.

“There’s elements that I actually don’t really know exactly. For all your best intentions and hard work and efforts to perform, it just didn’t work, and sometimes that is OK as well.

“That is something I have had to realise. It wasn’t for a lack of effort, it just didn’t quite happen,” he concluded.

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Kyle Walker announced his retirement from international football on Tuesday after winning 96 caps for England and featuring at five major tournaments.

The 36-year-old was part of the sides that reached the European Championship final in 2021 and 2024.

But the former Manchester City defender has been a shadow of his former self since joining Burnley this season, making selection for the upcoming World Cup unlikely.

“I am sad to be making this decision, but I’m also very proud of what I’ve achieved with England,” said Walker, whose last appearance for his country came in a friendly against Senegal in 2025.

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“To represent my country at five major tournaments, to get to the finals that we’ve reached and to be surrounded by this England team, especially the players and the managers that I’ve had the privilege of working under, has been a great honour.

“But today is the time that comes to an end. It’s good for me to have a little bit of closure to my career on the international stage.”

Walker is the 10th most capped England men’s player of all time.

The English Football Association said a tribute will be made to his international career at a fixture after the World Cup.

“I know all England fans will join me in congratulating Kyle on an incredible international career,” said England manager Thomas Tuchel.

“I was always aware that he was one of England’s greats who fully embraced the highest honour of representing his country.

“An international career spanning 14 years and five major tournament is testament to Kyle’s dedication.”

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MUMBAI: Several teams participating in the T20 World Cup 2026 are set to leave India over the weekend on charter flights arranged by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after being stranded due to disruptions in air travel caused by the ongoing military conflict in the Middle East.

According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, England, South Africa and West Indies were among the sides unable to depart the country following their elimination from the T20 World Cup.

England, who suffered a semi-final defeat against India on Thursday, are scheduled to leave Mumbai on Saturday evening aboard a charter flight bound for London.

Meanwhile, South Africa and the West Indies will depart from Kolkata on a separate charter flight.

Both teams are expected to travel to Johannesburg first before the West Indies squad continues onward to Antigua. While the exact departure time is yet to be finalised, both teams are expected to leave on Sunday.

South Africa and the West Indies have remained in Kolkata since their exits from the tournament.

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South Africa were knocked out after losing to New Zealand in the first semi-final on March 4, while the West Indies have been in the city since their defeat against India in their final Super Eight fixture on March 1.

West Indies head coach Daren Sammy even took to social media to highlight the delay, posting “Day 6” on his X account on Saturday, a reference to the number of days the team had been waiting to travel after their last match.

Some members of the South African contingent will have a tight turnaround after leaving India.

Team management members, along with players Keshav Maharaj, Jason Smith and George Linde, are scheduled to travel to New Zealand on Sunday for a limited-overs tour that begins on March 15.

Zimbabwe also experienced travel delays after playing their final match of the tournament on March 1, though parts of their squad were able to depart India on March 4.

The ongoing T20 World Cup, which began on February 7 across venues in India and Sri Lanka, will conclude on Sunday with the final between India and New Zealand in Ahmedabad.

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