Cricket news

• Ashes 2025-26: player-by-player guide to England and Australia squads

  17-11-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Visitors have their strongest Ashes squad in years but face an Australian team brimming with experience Continue reading...
  
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• Australia v England: fifth Ashes Test, day three – live

  05-01-2026 23:33 via theguardian.com
  Over-by-over updates from Sydney Cricket Ground
  Play starts at 10am local at the SCG/11pm GMT
  Live scorecard | The Ashes top 100 | Email RobHello and welcome to live coverage of day three at the SCG. There’s a big first session comi- ah, I can’t be bothered. Sure, the first session will shape the rest of this match, and may tell us whether Travis Head is going to make a third matchwinning century of the series, but it’s impossible to escape the end-of-term feeling that has per
  
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• Ben Stokes unlikely to face reprimand for sweary Ashes spat with Labuschagne

  05-01-2026 14:23 via theguardian.com
  England captain told Australia batter to ‘shut the fuck up’Root defends Jamie Smith’s widely derided dismissalIt was hard to know whether it was a message to Australia or his own bowlers as Ben Stokes signed off from a frustrating second evening in Sydney by swapping words out in the middle with Marnus Labuschagne.Seemingly reacting to something said by Labuschagne as the hosts made a rapid reply to England’s 384 all out, Stokes was heard saying “shut the fuck up&rd
  
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• Ben Stokes unlikely to face reprimand for Ashes spat with Labuschagne

  05-01-2026 14:23 via theguardian.com
  England captain clashes Australian batterJor Root defends Jamie Smith’s dismissalIt was hard to know whether it was a message to Australia or his own bowlers. Ben Stokes signed off from a frustrating second evening in Sydney by swapping words out in the middle with Marnus Labuschagne. Seemingly reacting to something said by Labuschagne as the hosts made a rapid reply to England’s 384, Stokes was heard saying “shut the fuck up” at the end of the over he had just bowled. He
  
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• Australia ignoring spin forgets that good bowlers are good bowlers | Geoff Lemon

  05-01-2026 12:43 via theguardian.com
  Why is a middling back-up seamer suddenly better than a quality spinner, whatever the conditions? When Shane Warne called his biography No Spin, it wasn’t a recommendation. Speaking for the dead is unacceptably presumptuous, but his record in life was loud and clear in backing his guild. Teams should always give themselves the option of spin bowling was his common contention.Nor is allegiance of style the only factor. His old teammate Jason Gillespie, as pure a paceman as they come, had th
  
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• Anatomy of an Ashes brain-fade: Jamie Smith and the shot heard around the world

  05-01-2026 12:28 via theguardian.com
  England’s meek concession of the series is a waste of talent and this stroke sums up the structural failureNo doubt someone, somewhere, in some fevered corner of the internet will come up with a counter view. If the universe of cricketing hot takes really is infinite, then logically there must be a feed, a page, a platform where a voice is saying, Jamie Smith and The Shot: on second thoughts.You might think this was a bad shot, perhaps even the Worst Shot. You might think all surviving foo
  
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• Centurion Root eyes next Ashes series down under

  05-01-2026 09:55 via bbc.com
  Joe Root says he would "love" to be part of England's next Ashes tour in 2029-30, when he will turn 39 years old.
  
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• Root hits 160 but Head leads Australia's response on day two

  05-01-2026 09:21 via bbc.com
  Joe Root hits 160 as England are bowled out for 384 in their first innings of the fifth Test with Australia closing day two 218 runs behind, as they finish on 166-2 at stumps, with Travis Head unbeaten on 91 in Sydney.
  
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• '2/10' - how England's bowling unravelled in Sydney

  05-01-2026 09:19 via bbc.com
  Why England's bowling performance on day two of the fifth Test is an alarming hint to the future.
  
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• The Ashes: Root’s resolve, Smith’s shocker and Australia start well

  05-01-2026 09:01 via bbc.co.uk
  We hear from Joe Root who scored his 41st Test century and Australia bowler Scott Boland
  
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• Daily Ashes Debrief: Vaughan & Tufnell react to day two in Sydney

  05-01-2026 09:00 via bbc.co.uk
  Alex Hartley and guests react to the day's play.
  
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• Australia 166-2 after England reach 384 on day two of fifth Ashes Test – as it happened

  05-01-2026 08:43 via theguardian.com
  Head steers hosts to within 218 runs of England’s first innings total after Root amasses his second century on Australian soil47th over: England 223-3 (Root 78, Brook 83) Here comes England’s spectre. Brook pulls his first ball, splendidly stopped on the rope by Webster. Pancakes his fifth in a not altogether convincing way, but gets away with it.46th over: England 217-3 (Root 77, Brook 79) With Brian Draper’s Jerusalem being sung by men in white T-shirts with a printed MCC tie
  
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• Root hits masterful century for England before Head leads Australia fightback

  05-01-2026 08:39 via theguardian.com
  Fifth Ashes Test; day two: Australia 166-2, England 384Root makes 160 but hosts’ opener helps reduce lead to 218The Richies were out in force for the final time on the second day at the Sydney Cricket Ground, an entire block decked out in either cream, bone, white, off-white, ivory, or beige. Bathed in sunshine, flags fluttering over the two heritage-listed pavilions, the backdrop for Joe Root’s 41st Test century was absolutely marvellous.This has not been the case for Root here over
  
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• Head hits back after Root 160 in Ashes finale

  05-01-2026 08:12 via bbc.com
  England's Joe Root makes a sublime 160 before Australia opener Travis Head replies with an unbeaten 91 on day two of the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney.
  
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• 'He can bat in Australia!' - Root hits sublime 160 for England

  05-01-2026 06:12 via bbc.com
  Watch the best shots of Joe Root's first innings as he scores an impressive 160 to help England to 384 all out against Australia on day two of the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney.
  
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• Root receives standing ovation as sublime innings comes to an end

  05-01-2026 05:15 via bbc.com
  Joe Root's excellent first innings comes to an end as he's caught and bowled by Michael Neser for 160, to leave England on 384-9 on day two of the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney.
  
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• 'Brainless' Smith wicket 'sums up' England's Ashes

  05-01-2026 04:35 via bbc.com
  England wicketkeeper Jamie Smith's dismissal by Australia part-timer Marnus Labuschagne is called "one of the worst" ever in Tests and "completely brainless".
  
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• Bangladesh withdraws from T20 World Cup matches in India amid growing tensions with neighbour

  05-01-2026 03:03 via theguardian.com
  Bangladesh was scheduled to play three cricket matches in Kolkata next month, but concern about players’ safety has spikedBangladesh will not play their Twenty20 World Cup matches in India, with the country’s cricket board saying they are concerned for the safety of their players amid growing tensions between the countries.Bangladesh were scheduled to play three Twenty20 World Cup matches in Kolkata next month, with the 7 February to 8 March tournament being co-hosted by India and Sr
  
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• 'One of the worst dismissals I've seen' - Smith gifts wicket to Australia

  05-01-2026 02:57 via bbc.com
  Jamie Smith gifts his wicket to Australia as he's caught for 46 off the bowling of part-time bowler Marnus Labuschagne, as England fall to 323-6 just before lunch on day two of the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney.
  
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• Ex-Australia batter Martyn wakes up from coma in 'miracle' recovery

  05-01-2026 01:12 via bbc.com
  Martyn, who played 67 Test matches from 1992 to 2006, was diagnosed with meningitis late last month.
  
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• Brook falls short of century as Australia get early breakthrough

  05-01-2026 00:46 via bbc.com
  Harry Brook falls short of his first century in Australia, as he adds just six runs to his overnight score before being caught for 84 by Steve Smith to end a 169-run partnership between Brook and Joe Root, leaving England on 226-4 on day two of the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney.
  
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• Australia v England: fifth Ashes Test, day two – live

  04-01-2026 23:13 via theguardian.com
  Over-by-over updates from Sydney Cricket Ground
  Play starts at 10am local at the SCG/11pm GMT
  Live scorecard | The Ashes top 100 | Email TanyaHello to all those who haven’t run out of steam. Rain and bad light, and perhaps the light touch of administrative caution, drew an early curtain on day one, but England finished firmly on top. For the first time this series, England’s two Yorkshiremen, king and pretender, took the sword to Australia in the way we always dreamt they might.Root
  
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• Damien Martyn awake from coma in ‘unbelievable’ recovery from meningitis

  04-01-2026 20:40 via theguardian.com
  Cricket veteran in good spirits and hopeful of moving out of intensive care as recovery continuesDamien Martyn is awake and talking, one week after being placed into an induced coma in a Gold Coast hospital with meningitis. The 54-year-old has been able to talk with friends and family, including ex-teammate Adam Gilchrist, and is said to be overwhelmed with the support offered.“It’s been an unbelievable turn of events in the last 48 hours,” Gilchrist said in a statement. Contin
  
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• Bangladesh refuse to travel to India for World Cup

  04-01-2026 13:36 via bbc.com
  Bangladesh will not travel to India for the T20 World Cup next month "under current conditions" and request their matches be moved elsewhere.
  
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• England big guns cut loose to highlight folly of Australia’s bowling choices | Geoff Lemon

  04-01-2026 11:06 via theguardian.com
  Playing without a spinner is one thing, but Webster and Green are only good enough to be the fifth bowlerIn the end, it was a relief. Not to say that a lot of Australians would exactly have been tuning into the Sydney Ashes Test hoping to hear that England were doing well, but at least seeing a couple of sessions yield a score of 211 for three felt normal. The run rate was trending towards the adventurous, but it was a day within the accepted frame, and that is a template that not many days this
  
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• Jacob Bethell’s place remains a puzzle as gifted batter is let down by stop-start approach | Barney Ronay

  04-01-2026 10:45 via theguardian.com
  The No 3 has been belatedly shoved into this role in the Ashes after a summer starved of proper cricketOne down. Devilish gamble on Aussie plonk (5, 7)Would Douglas Jardine have cheated at the crossword? No he would not. Or rather he would, but only in a way that still technically complied with the current rules of crosswords, while also causing a violent crossword-based diplomatic incident. Would Mike Brearley cheat at crosswords? No. He would instead ask the crossword why it feels it needs to
  
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• Jacob Bethell’s place remains a puzzle as gifted batter is let down by England’s planning | Barney Ronay

  04-01-2026 10:45 via theguardian.com
  The No 3 has been belatedly shoved into this role in the Ashes after a summer starved of proper cricketOne down. Devilish gamble on Aussie plonk (5, 7)Would Douglas Jardine have cheated at the crossword? No he would not. Or rather he would, but only in a way that still technically complied with the current rules of crosswords, while also causing a violent crossword-based diplomatic incident. Would Mike Brearley cheat at crosswords? No. He would instead ask the crossword why it feels it needs to
  
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• Head? Stokes? Starc? Pick your team of the Ashes

  04-01-2026 10:18 via bbc.com
  Australia have retained the Ashes, but who makes your combined team of the series?
  
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• Harry Brook urges England to make most of ‘good wicket’ after series-best score

  04-01-2026 09:36 via theguardian.com
  ‘We’re in a very good position,’ says batter after day oneBrook and Joe Root help England reach 211 for threeHarry Brook may have played like a man without a care in the world en route to a freewheeling 78 not out on a rain-shortened day one of the Sydney Test, but at close of play he was reassuringly phlegmatic on the topic of his own batting output during the live part of this Ashes seres.“We’re in a very good position, three down at the end of play and hopefully
  
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• England should stick with 'frustrating' Crawley - Vaughan

  04-01-2026 09:08 via bbc.com
  Former captain Michael Vaughan said Zak Crawley "frustrates the life out of me", but England should persevere with the opener.
  
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