Cricket news

• ‘I made mistakes on TV, he made his on a field’: Panesar strikes back at Smith’s Mastermind jibe

  20-11-2025 18:47 via theguardian.com
  Captain launches attack on former bowler’s quiz answersEx-Test player later urges England to use it as ‘ammunition’Steve Smith, Australia’s acting captain, has confirmed his team for Friday’s opening Ashes Test – but saw his team announcement was overshadowed by an extraordinary verbal attack on Monty Panesar after the former England spinner suggested Ben Stokes and his touring team should try to upset him by rehashing the infamous sandpaper ball-tampering con
  
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• ‘I wish I’d faced these poor modern teams’: world’s oldest living Test cricketer on decline in standards

  06-01-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  Neil Harvey, 97, the last surviving Bradman Invincible, blasts the Bazball experiment from his La-Z-Boy armchair Twenty five kilometres north of the SCG, the world’s oldest living Test cricketer is sitting in his La-Z-Boy armchair and watching the Test. Neil Harvey was once the youngest of Bradman’s Invincibles; now he’s 97, his old cricketing buddies gone. His body is a little worn around the edges, but mentally he’s astute.Harvey was Australia’s sweetheart, the se
  
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• Majestic Smith passes Hobbs to leave only Bradman clear on top of Ashes mountain | Geoff Lemon

  06-01-2026 12:54 via theguardian.com
  The great Australian batter was typically twitchy before passing his latest personal milestone in SydneyThere was a time, while Steve Smith was at the height of his batting prowess, when “best since Bradman” was used with confidence. The thing about that line is that even when the recipient has dominated for years, it gets applied too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career-lasting two decades. Lots of players reach the top for a time, no other has stayed as long. Smith wa
  
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• Cricket Australia boycotts player interviews with ABC after Stuart Clark criticises team setup

  06-01-2026 11:55 via theguardian.com
  Former fast bowler called head of cricket James Allsopp a ‘grade coach’ and said selector George Bailey lacks gravitasCricket Australia has boycotted player interviews with the ABC, furious with the national broadcaster over former Test quick Stuart Clark’s criticism of selector George Bailey and head of cricket James Allsopp.Clark created headlines on Monday when he criticised the Australian setup in his role as an ABC commentator, labelling Allsopp a “grade coach”
  
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• Bethell admits ‘tired’ England need to ‘graft’ after hitting Ashes wall in Sydney

  06-01-2026 11:04 via theguardian.com
  ‘It was a tough day but that’s what it’s about’Player suggests spin may now play a part in TestEngland hit the wall on day three at the Sydney Cricket Ground, or at least the latest in a series of walls, at the end of which Jacob Bethell admitted mental and physical fatigue was understandably, playing a part. There were dropped catches and some scattergun bowling lengths as Australia batted all day to reach 518-7, 134 runs ahead on first innings.“This is proper Test
  
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• Conscript Potts is England’s paratrooper fighting a lonely Ashes war in Sydney | Barney Ronay

  06-01-2026 10:39 via theguardian.com
  While England’s batting always gets to hog the limelight, this tour has also been lost in in the bowling fade-outsForty-five minutes into a quietly overcast morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts came into the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began running through his variations.His first ball was wide and smashed through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short and wide and hacked over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was short and straight a
  
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• Australia v England: fifth Ashes Test, day three – as it happened

  06-01-2026 08:38 via theguardian.com
  Australia 518-7 at stumps with a lead of 134 runs on England’s first innings total after centuries from Head and Smith36th over: Australia 167-2 (Head 92, Neser 1) “It’s at least possible we’ll see the traditional England management shakeup after the Ashes,” says Ben Mimmack, “so who in the current squad do you think would welcome a change and who won’t? These are my guesses:“(Like the) Status Quo: Crawley, Duckett, Stokes, Carse, Archer, Wood, Jac
  
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• Australia v England: fifth Ashes Test, day three – live reaction

  06-01-2026 08:26 via theguardian.com
  Australia 518-7 with a lead of 134 runs after centuries from Head and Smith36th over: Australia 167-2 (Head 92, Neser 1) “It’s at least possible we’ll see the traditional England management shakeup after the Ashes,” says Ben Mimmack, “so who in the current squad do you think would welcome a change and who won’t? These are my guesses:“(Like the) Status Quo: Crawley, Duckett, Stokes, Carse, Archer, Wood, Jacks, Atkinson, Fisher. Continue reading...
  
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• Smith and Head hit centuries to help Australia grind England into the dust

  06-01-2026 08:25 via theguardian.com
  Fifth Ashes Test; day three: England 384. Australia 518-7Host captain on 129 not out following Head’s 163 from 166They do these things well here in Australia. They honoured the victims and first responders of the Bondi atrocity fittingly on the first day of this fifth Test, and on the third the Sydney Cricket Ground became a sea of pink to once again generate welcome funds for the McGrath Foundation.Out in the middle, however, Australian charity was in far shorter supply. Across three sess
  
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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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