Tag: England

Defending champions England have announced a 15-member squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 on Tuesday, featuring fast bowler Jofra Archer.

The 20-team tournament is scheduled to be played in the West Indies and the United States of America (USA) from June 1 to 29.

“Jofra Archer has recovered from his right elbow injury and is named in the squad. Archer’s last appearance at this level came over a year ago in England’s tour of Bangladesh in March 2023,” England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) press release stated.

The right-arm fast bowler was instrumental to England’s ICC World 2019 triumph, however, he has been struggling with injuries since then.

He has represented England in 15 T20Is, taking 18 wickets, before spending last year on the sidelines owing to the above-mentioned elbow injury.

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Meanwhile, all-rounder Chris Woakes was dropped in favour of fellow all-rounder Chris Jordan, who last represented England in September 2023 against New Zealand.

Uncapped left-arm spinner Tom Hartley, who claimed 22 wickets during his first Test series against India recently, also earned a call-up for the T20 World Cup.

Jos Buttler will lead the squad, who will play in the T20I series against Pakistan, which will kick off on May 22 before departing for the Caribbean.

Meanwhile, England will commence their T20 World Cup defence against Scotland in Barbados on June 4.

England T20 World Cup squad

Jos Buttler (c), Phil Salt, Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali (vc), Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Tom Hartley, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Reece Topley

READ: South Africa announce ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad

Pakistan pace bowler Hasan Ali has reached England to represent Warwickshire County Cricket Club in the upcoming season of the County Championship.

Hasan Ali’s contract was renewed ahead of the 2024 season after playing for Warwickshire and Birmingham Bears last year.

On his arrival at the Edgbaston Cricket Stadium, the right-arm pacer was warmly welcomed by the players and coaching staff of the Warwickshire team.

“I have reached my second home,” said Hasan Ali. “I was excited to be here and finally I am here.”

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The 29-year-old pacer shared his excitement to rejoin his teammates at Warwickshire before departing from Pakistan.

“Looking forward to joining my team Warwickshire for the county season. Here’s to a brilliant season together boys! Remember me in your prayers, everyone,” he posted on his official X (formerly Twitter) account.

Looking forward to joining my team @warwickshireccc 🐻 for the county season. Here's to a brilliant season together boys! Remember me in your prayers everyone 🫶🏼#YouBears pic.twitter.com/LtAPbfORAL

— Hassan Ali 🇵🇰 (@RealHa55an) April 12, 2024

Hasan Ali took 33 wickets across formats in his first season at Warwickshire last year.

Prior to that, he represented Lancashire in the previous edition of the County Championship and took 25 wickets at 20.60 in his debut season.

He has played 24 Tests, 66 ODIs and 50 T20Is for Pakistan, picking a total of 240 wickets across three formats.

READ: West Indies women’s team reaches Pakistan for ODI, T20I series

WELLINGTON: New Zealand Cricket (NZC) on Tuesday confirmed venues for the three-match Test series against England, scheduled later this year.

The first two of the three World Test Championship matches will be played at Hagley Oval, Christchurch, from November 28 and at the Basin Reserve, Wellington, from December 6.

The third and final Test will be at Hamilton’s Seddon Park beginning December 14.

There were capacity crowds for the first three days of both of New Zealand’s recent home Tests against Australia and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) hope the five-day games against England will also bring in fans in huge numbers.

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“In the past, there’s often been a lot of talk in New Zealand about the popularity of Test cricket – without that translating into ticket sales or viewership numbers,” NZC chief executive Scott Weenink said.

“The difference over the past summer, and in terms of the upcoming Tests against England, is that the interest is being converted to bums on seats and is driving record viewership numbers.

“We’re looking forward to that continuing over the upcoming summer, and to welcoming the England team and their fans to the Tests, and of course all the Kiwi-based supporters as well.”

New Zealand v England schedule

First Test: Nov 28-Dec 2, Hagley Oval, Christchurch

Second Test: Dec 6-10, Basin Reserve, Wellington

Third Test: Dec 14-18, Seddon Park, Hamilton

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England allrounder Ben Stokes has confirmed today that he does not wish to be considered for selection ahead of this summer’s ICC T20 World Cup 2024, which will take place in June in the West Indies and the United States of America (USA).

The England Test captain’s primary focus is to get fully fit to bowl not only for the summer of Test cricket, which includes two three-match Test series against West Indies and Sri Lanka respectively but for all cricket in the future.

“I’m working hard and focusing on building my bowling fitness back up to fulfil a full role as an all-rounder in all formats of cricket,” Stokes said commenting on his decision.

“Opting out of the IPL and the World Cup will hopefully be a sacrifice that allows me to be the all-rounder I want to be for the foreseeable future.

“The recent Test tour of India highlighted how far behind I was from a bowling point of view after my knee surgery and nine months without bowling.

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“I’m looking forward to playing for Durham in the County Championship before the start of our Test summer.

“I wish Jos (Buttler), Motty (Matthew Mott) and all the team the best of luck in defending our title.”

England’s ICC T20 World Cup 2024 defence will start on 4 June against Scotland at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.

Notably, Ben Stokes hit the winning run in the final of the ICC World Cup 2022 against Pakistan to help England lift their second T20 World Cup title.

They will then play group matches against Australia, Oman, and Namibia in Barbados and Antigua before qualification for the Super 8s and knockout stages.

READ: Dinesh Chandimal flies back home midway through the Chattogram Test

DHARAMSALA: Ravichandran Ashwin took a five-wicket haul in his landmark 100th Test as India hammered England by an innings and 64 runs in the fifth match to seal the series 4-1 on Saturday.

England’s James Anderson reached 700 Test wickets early in the day to be just the third bowler to achieve the feat, but the tourists were never in the game.

Off-spinner Ashwin returned figures of 5-77 to help bowl out England for 195 inside three days at the picturesque Dharamsala stadium, overlooked by snowcapped Himalayan mountains, after India posted a mammoth 477.

He rocked England’s top- and middle-order after the tourists began their innings 259 runs behind and lost five wickets for 103 runs by lunch.

Jonny Bairstow, also in his 100th Test, attempted to take on the spinners and hit Ashwin for three sixes but finally fell lbw to Kuldeep Yadav after his 31-ball 39.

At the stroke of lunch, Ashwin bowled skipper Ben Stokes for two, taking down the star all-rounder for the 13th time in Tests.

Joe Root resisted with his 84 and was the last man to go. He was dismissed by Yadav as India celebrated and the players shook hands.

Ashwin finished with nine wickets in the match and his 36th five-wicket haul in a career which began in 2011.

Skipper Rohit Sharma did not take the field due to a “stiff back”, with fast bowler deputy Jasprit Bumrah in charge and taking two wickets of his own.

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Earlier, Anderson got Yadav caught behind for 30 to become the first paceman and third bowler overall to the 700 mark, after spinners Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka (800 wickets) and late Australian great Shane Warne (708).

The 41-year-old held the ball aloft to the crowd as teammates gathered around him and England fans stood to cheer.

It ended Yadav’s stubborn 49-run ninth-wicket overnight stand with Bumrah.

Spinner Shoaib Bashir soon wrapped up the innings in the fifth over of the day when he got Bumrah stumped for 20, completing the 20-year-old’s second five-wicket haul in his debut series.

Rohit (103) and Shubman Gill (110) set up the huge victory on the second day with a 171-run second-wicket stand to put the England bowlers on the back foot.

Rookie batsman Sarfaraz Khan (56) and debutant Devdutt Padikkal (65) also made useful contributions in India’s sole innings in response to England’s 218.

India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 57 and remained the leading batsman in the series with 712 runs, including double centuries in matches two and three.

Yadav made his left-arm wrist spin count with his own five-wicket haul to bundle England out on day one after the visitors elected to bat first.

England won the opener by 28 runs in Hyderabad with their attacking “Bazball” style of play, which came under fire by the critics in the next three losses after they suffered regular batting flops.

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DHARAMSALA: England’s pace bowler James Anderson claimed his 700th wicket in Test cricket during the fifth Test against India here on Saturday.

The 41-year-old pacer got Kuldeep Yadav caught behind on the third day to reach the elusive milestone and became only the third bowler to do so.

He is also the first pacer to take 700 Test wickets, only behind spinners Muttiah Muralitharan (800 wickets) of Sri Lanka and the late Shane Warne (708 wickets) of Australia.

Anderson started the series with 10 wickets away from the coveted landmark and acheived the feat in his 187th Test. Meanwhile, Muralitharan took 113 Test matches.

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The pacer is currently the oldest active player in international cricket, making his debut in 2003 against Zimbabwe at Lord’s.

He bowled Mark Vermeulen to take his first wicket in Test cricket and has taken 700 wickets at an average under 27 with 32 five-wicket hauls.

Meanwhile, Anderson’s historic 700th wicket was followed by Jasprit Bumrah’s dismissal at the hands of Shoaib Bashir to bowl India at 477.

England, who started their second innings trailing by 259, were 103-5 at lunch on day three at the picturesque Dharamsala stadium.

Ravichandran Ashwin, in his landmark 100th Test, took four wickets including skipper Ben Stokes, who was bowled for two at the stroke of lunch. Joe Root was batting on 34.

READ: Rohit, Gill hit tons to stretch India’s lead against England

India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will return to the team for the last Test against England in Dharamsala, confirmed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday.

Bumrah was rested from the fourth Test, which India won by five wickets and clinched the series with an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.

Meanwhile, top-order batter KL Rahul remained unavailable for selection due to a quadricep tendon injury and is currently in London to consult with doctors.

“The BCCI medical team is closely monitoring him and coordinating with specialists in London for further management of his issue,” Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.

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The BCCI also shared an update about the injured pacer Mohammed Shami who missed the Test series owing to a heel injury and underwent surgery recently.

“He is recovering well and will soon head to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to commence his rehabilitation process,” Shah said of Shami.

India’s squad for the final Test

Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep

READ: Cameron Green century steers Australia to 279-9 in first New Zealand Test

RANCHI: Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took five wickets as India bowled England out for 145 on day three of the fourth Test here on Sunday to set up a chase of 192 to clinch the series.

India reached 40-0 at the stumps, needing another 152 to win their third straight match and the five-Test series. Skipper Rohit Sharma was unbeaten on 24, with Yashasvi Jaiswal on 16.

Opener Zak Crawley earlier top-scored with 60 but the rest of the England batting faltered against India’s spin, with Ashwin returning figures of 5-51 and Kuldeep Yadav 4-22.

England lost regular wickets to end their innings in the final session, leaving it up to the bowlers to level the series and send it to a fifth Test decider in Dharamsala.

India’s bowlers did their job after wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel hit 90 in the morning session to reduce the hosts’ deficit after they began the day on 219-7.

Ashwin took the new ball on a pitch with cracks and variable bounce and struck in consecutive balls to remove Ben Duckett, caught at short leg for 15, and Ollie Pope, lbw without scoring, as England were reduced 19-2.

Root, who scored an unbeaten 122 in the first innings, put on 46 with Crawley before Ashwin and India reviewed an lbw appeal, with tracking software indicating the ball pitched just in line and would have hit Root’s leg stump.

Crawley raised his fifty but was bowled by Yadav, who turned one sharply with his left-arm wrist spin.

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Yadav then removed Ben Stokes just before tea when the England captain was undone for the second time in the match by a ball that barely bounced ankle high and was bowled off his pad.

Jonny Bairstow fell on the first ball after tea and the innings folded soon after. Ben Foakes fell for a 76-ball 17 off Ashwin.

England spinner Shoaib Bashir took his first Test five-wicket haul to help bowl India out for 307, giving the tourists a lead of 46 going into their second innings.

India were rescued in the morning session by Jurel, who put on a 76-run eighth-wicket stand with overnight partner Yadav.

Veteran fast bowler James Anderson broke the stand when Yadav, on 28, played on to give the veteran seamer his 698th Test wicket.

The 41-year-old is now two victims away from becoming just the third bowler to take 700 wickets in Tests, after Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and the late Australian great Shane Warne (708).

Jurel, who made his debut in the third Test in Rajkot, hit six fours and four sixes in his 149-ball stay and picked up his maiden Test half-century.

Bashir, 20, who missed England’s win in the first Test due to a visa issue, trapped debutant Akash Deep lbw for his fifth wicket and kissed the ground in celebration.

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England batsman Joe Root said Saturday he was glad to return to form in India with his unbeaten 122, admitting his poor “execution” earlier in the tour had weighed on him.

Root registered his 31st Test century in the fourth Test in Ranchi to pull England out of trouble after managing just 77 runs in the first three matches.

The former captain guided England to 353 all out after the tourists had slipped to 112-5 in the first session on Friday.

Root batted for more than six hours and faced 274 balls in a display that marked a temporary departure from England’s attacking “Bazball” style.

“It was nice to finally get some runs in this series,” said Root, who has 11,692 runs over 139 Tests.

“It felt like it’s been a long time coming, it’s been a lean series individually for me. You pride yourself as a senior player… to try and make contributions that put you in positions to win games,” he told reporters.

Root was severely criticised after England’s third Test loss in Rajkot for sacrificing his wicket to an impetuous reverse scoop shot off Jasprit Bumrah.

His wicket triggered an England batting collapse and the tourists lost their second successive Test, with India now leading the five-match series 2-1.

“Certainly the execution of the shots has weighed on me,” said Root. “Not necessarily the selection but the execution, I’m better than that.”

He said he was briefly tempted to bring up his century in Ranchi with a similar shot.

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“It was a fleeting and selfish thought that left my mind very quickly,” Root said. “On that wicket, it wasn’t a great option, so no.

England have won 14 Tests out of 21 since skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, nicknamed Baz, took the reins.

Root said their attacking strategy was “not about being aggressive all the time”.

“That’s not what we try to do as a team. We try to bring the best out of each other and bring the best out of this group of players,” he said.

“It’s not about being arrogant. Bazball is a word that’s used a lot but that’s your word, that’s not how we look at it,” Root said.

England’s 434-run defeat in the third Test was their worst since 1934.

However, Root praised Stokes, who succeeded him as captain in 2022, and McCullum for instilling fearlessness in the team.

“There isn’t any sort of fear of failure with how they go approach it,” he said.

“Shane Warne used to say so what if you get hit for six — you’ve got another chance, you’ve got another opportunity and if you take a wicket, the game looks very different.

“And that’s something Ben’s brought into the way we approach things out there in the field. You’ve got to take wickets to win games of Test cricket,” Root said.

READ: Mohammad Amir comments on his comeback to international cricket

England spinner Rehan Ahmed will leave India because of “personal reasons” and will not return for the rest of the series, confirmed by the country’s cricket board on Friday.

“He will not be returning to India and we will not be naming a replacement,” England Cricket said in a statement.

The 19-year-old played the first three matches and took 11 wickets with his leg spin but was replaced by fellow spinner Shoaib Bashir for the fourth Test in Ranchi.

Earlier this month, Rehan Ahmed, also had an issue while returning to India after the team’s 10-day break in Abu Dhabi after the second Test.

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Ahmed had a single-entry visa that expired once he left for a mid-series break to the United Arab Emirates and was initially stopped at the airport before being granted a temporary entry permit while authorities resolved the issue.

England, led by Ben Stokes, is currently trailing the five-match series 2-1 after they won the opener.

India’s Virat Kohli had opted out of the series due to personal reasons and on Tuesday announced the arrival of his second child, a boy, with Bollywood wife Anushka Sharma.

READ: England unveil Playing XI for fourth India Test