England

Harry Brook‘s abundant talent and simple technique mean he could be on track to replicate the worldwide, all-format success enjoyed by Virat Kohli. That is the “massive shout” that Ben Stokes, England’s Test captain, made after Brook’s second-innings hundred set up a 26-run win over Pakistan to seal the series with a game to spare

Ashley Noffke, the former Australia allrounder, has won the race to become women’s head coach at London Spirit in the Hundred for the 2023 season. He was among the contenders to replace Lisa Keightley as England women’s coach and is understood to have been interviewed for that position, but was beaten to it by Jon

England 281 (Duckett 63, Pope 60, Abrar 7-114) and 275 (Brook 108, Duckett 79, Abrar 4-120) beat Pakistan 202 (Babar 75, Shakeel 63, Leach 4-98) and 328 (Shakeel 94, Imam 60, Wood 4-65) by 26 runs Raw pace in a raw match situation. It’s the weapon for which England have been crying out throughout their

Kemp was not involved in any of the three ODIs during England’s 3-0 clean sweep of the West Indies and has been suffering with back pain. “England Women’s all-rounder Freya Kemp has been ruled out of the rest of the West Indies series with back pain limiting her cricket,” an ECB statement said. “Kemp will

Tea Pakistan 202 (Babar 75, Shakeel 63, Leach 4-98) and 136 for 3 (Shafique 32*, Imam 25*) need another 219 runs to beat England 281 (Duckett 63, Pope 60, Abrar 7-114) and 275 (Brook 108, Abrar 4-120) England took three big strides towards a famous series win in Pakistan, with James Anderson, Ollie Robinson and

A humble Jack Leach was in disbelief at achieving 100 Test wickets, regarding the feat as more than he felt he’d ever achieve and something he did not think “would ever happen” on the day he became the 49th England bowler to pass the milestone. The left-arm spinner took 4 for 98 on the second

ESPNcricinfo revealed this week that Jayawardene’s promotion from head coach to head of global performance at Mumbai Indians had prompted him to step down from his position in the Hundred, and Brave have moved quickly to secure a successor. Fleming, the former New Zealand captain, has won four IPL titles with Chennai Super Kings and

Pakistan 202 (Babar 75, Shakeel 63, Leach 4-98) trail England 281 (Duckett 63, Pope 60, Abrar 7-114) by 79 runs England surged into command of the second Test on the second morning at Multan, picking up Pakistan’s remaining eight wickets for 95 including a pre-lunch flurry of three for none in six balls, as Pakistan

Gary Ballance, the former England batter, has been released from his contract with Yorkshire, after requesting the chance for a fresh start to his career following the damaging revelations that emerged during the club’s racism scandal last year. Ballance, the former club captain, played 23 Tests, as well as 16 ODIs, between 2014 and 2017,

Ben Duckett described Abrar Ahmed as “basically a legspinner who has a good googly” and hinted that England will look to go even harder against him in the second innings, after the Pakistan debutant took 7 for 114 in 22 overs on the first day in Multan. Duckett, who made 63 off 49, was the

Gary Ballance has agreed a two-year contract with Zimbabwe Cricket, which should see him playing international cricket for the country of his birth five years after he played the last of his 23 Tests and 16 ODIs for England. Ballance, 33, was this week released from his contract with Yorkshire – with the stipulation that

Big Picture Harder, faster, better, stronger. England have taken the Daft Punk approach to reviving their Test fortunes, not to mention reshaping the format as a whole. But how can you raise the bar after scoring close to 1000 runs at well above a run a ball, then crowbarring out the 20th wicket to secure

Richard Thompson, the ECB chair, has acknowledged that the scale of English cricket’s problem with discrimination is likely to prove “challenging for the sport” when the full findings of the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) are published early next year. However, writing in the introduction to the ECB’s 12-month review into its game-wide

At around 1pm at Multan’s Ramada Hotel, a handful of England players (those who weren’t off to play golf with head coach Brendon McCullum) were milling around as a group of Pakistan players were getting a tune-up at the onsite barber. Meanwhile, Ben Stokes was holding court. It was, for all intents and purposes, a

Bouchier, who turned 24 this week, has played 14 T20Is since making her debut in September 2021 – including all five matches at the Commonwealth Games – but missed out on a central contract and was left out of the initial 15-player squad for the five-match T20I series. But she has now been added to

In bygone eras, English quicks would have turned their noses up at the Rawalpindi pitch, regarding it as a great injustice. An underwhelming tinge of beige, offering no movement off the straight, slagged off by the host’s own chair at lunch on day two. Barely worthy of their effort, especially without a trusty Dukes in

Immediately after England’s winning moment, Hussain described the result as “one of the greatest Test-match victories you’ll ever see”, and praised Stokes’ performance as captain. “I do not think I’ve seen a better week of captaincy than what we’ve just seen from that man,” he said. “They had to get everything right to go 1-0

Anderson has won 79 Test matches, the most of any England player, but said that this victory – with minutes to spare on the fifth evening – was among the best due to the placid nature of the pitch, which required bowlers on both sides to “dig deep”. “It’s probably one of the best wins

Ben Stokes hailed the selflessness of his reinvigorated England team after an extraordinary performance in the first Test in Rawalpindi, in which they overcame a bout of pre-match sickness, an unforgiving pitch, and some stout last-day Pakistan resistance to seal what he described as “one of England’s greatest away Test wins”. In front of a

Lunch Pakistan 579 and 163 for 3 (Shakeel 63*, Rizwan 42*) need another 174 runs to beat England 657 and 264 A half-century to debutant Saud Shakeel and some punchy strokes from Mohammad Rizwan kept Pakistan on track despite England claiming the wicket of Imam-ul-Haq on an intriguing final morning of the first Test in

Lunch England 657 and 46 for 2 (Crawley 24*, Root 4*) lead Pakistan 579 (Babar 136, Imam 121, Shafique 114, Salman 53) by 124 runs A five-wicket haul to Will Jacks on debut, a damage-limiting fifty for Agha Salman and then two quick strikes by the hosts on a Rawalpindi pitch where dismissals have come

England and Pakistan have promised a fight to the finish in the first Test at Rawalpindi, in spite of the turgid nature of the pitch, with both Joe Root and Abdullah Shafique insisting that their teams will be pushing for victory over the final two days of the game. England reached the close on day

Pakistan 181 for 0 (Imam-ul-Haq 90*, Shafique 89*) trail England 657 (Brook 153, Crawley 122, Pope 108, Duckett 107) by 476 runs With a mountain to climb, Pakistan openers Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique harnessed up and shinnied towards England’s monster first-innings total on the second day of their contest in Rawalpindi. After Harry Brook pressed

The Rawalpindi pitch on which England racked up a world-record 506 runs on the first day of the first Test was “embarrassing”, according to PCB chairman Ramiz Raja. Terming Pakistan as living in “the dark ages of pitch preparation” owing to a decade-long hiatus of Test cricket in the country, Ramiz said it would take

Perth Scorchers have suffered a major blow to their BBL title defence with Australia allrounder Mitchell Marsh and England batter Phil Salt both ruled out of the entire BBL due to injury. Marsh will miss three months of cricket after undergoing keyhole surgery on his troubled left ankle. He has carried the ankle problem for

The 2023 programme of domestic cricket in England will feature an expanded Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and regular T20 double-headers involving men’s and women’s teams in the Vitality Blast and Charlotte Edwards Cup. With discussions about the future of the county schedule ongoing, there will be no changes to the LV= Insurance Championship, which will

A decision as to whether England’s first Test in Pakistan for 17 years can get underway on time will be taken at 7.30am local time on Thursday morning, two and a half hours prior to the scheduled start, after a sickness bug swept through their camp on the eve of the match to cause upheaval

The first Test between Pakistan and England in Rawalpindi will start as scheduled today after the visitors passed a medical assessment on the morning of the match. However, changes are expected to the playing XI that England had announced 48 hours ahead of the match. The prospect of the Test being delayed arose on the

Ben Stokes has left the door open for a possible U-turn on his ODI retirement for England’s defence of the 50-over World Cup next winter. The allrounder, currently in Pakistan captaining the Test side on their first tour of the country in 17 years, retired from one-day cricket in the summer to focus on the

England and Pakistan officials are in discussions about a possible 24-hour delay to the first Test in Pakistan, after 13 to 14 members of the England squad – including half the 16-man playing pool – were struck down by illness on Wednesday. The issue is thought to be a virus or bug rather than food