The 2023 Ashes is set to be one of the most exciting in history, with a resurgent England taking on Test champions Australia.
Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have led England to 11 victories in 13 matches since their appointments as captain and coach last summer, while Australia cemented their status as the best five-day team in the world by thrashing India by 209 runs in the World Test Championship final.
Here, the PA news agency picks out five key stats ahead of the five-match series.
Travball
Freed up by Stokes’ and McCullum’s ultra-positive mindset, England’s batters account for seven of the eight fastest strike rates among players with more than 500 runs to their name since the New Zealander was installed as coach on May 12, 2022.
Australia batter Travis Head is the only non-Englishman in the list, with his strike rate of 83.75 runs per 100 balls ranking fourth behind Harry Brook, Ben Duckett and Jonny Bairstow.
Stokes described Head as “so hard to bowl to” in the previous Ashes in Australia, in which he scored 357 runs – the most by anyone on either side – from just 415 balls faced.
He has maintained that form ever since, most recently in a trademark counter-attacking innings of 163 from 174 deliveries against India.
Head’s performances have seen him climb to third spot in the Test batting rankings, behind countrymen Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith.
Joe Root is the highest-ranked England batter in sixth.
The last time three batters from the same team were first, second and third in the Test rankings was in December 1984, when Gordon Greenidge, Clive Lloyd, and Larry Gomes from West Indies were at the top.
All out attack
While England’s cavalier batting under Stokes and McCullum has attracted lots of attention, their bowlers have been equally destructive by dismissing the opposition in 25 consecutive innings.
This is their longest run since 1978 and 1979, when England bowled out 26 successive opponents in a sequence that brought series wins against Pakistan and New Zealand, plus a 5-1 Ashes success in Australia.
The wickets have been shared among 14 players during the current run, with veteran seamers James Anderson and Stuart Broad – as well as the injured Jack Leach – leading the way on 45 apiece.
Anderson has the best overall figures having claimed his scalps at an average of 17.62, ahead of Ollie Robinson who has 27 wickets at 21.25.
Matthew Potts has chipped in with 23 victims, ahead of captain and Durham team-mate Stokes on 20.
Then comes a bit of a gap to Root on nine wickets and Mark Wood – who has only played two Tests under Stokes and McCullum – on eight.
The overlooked Rehan Ahmed and Will Jacks took seven and six wickets in Pakistan respectively, while Josh Tongue claimed a five-for on debut against Ireland at Lord’s.
Jamie Overton (two), Brook (one) and Matt Parkinson (one) have also contributed, while there have been five run-outs and one retirement through injury.
Stokes fitness worries
Stokes’ bowling capability remains somewhat shrouded in mystery ahead of the first Test.
England’s captain has been recovering from a troublesome left knee and – despite insisting he is ready to bowl – has sent down only nine overs in six Test innings so far in 2023.
He also bowled only one over for Chennai Super Kings in this year’s Indian Premier League and was described by coach Stephen Fleming as “batting cover” during the second half of the tournament.
Stokes’ all-round abilities are key to the balance of England’s side, particularly given his preference for fast, flat pitches which could result in bowlers having to get through lots of overs.
Meanwhile, Australia all-rounder Cameron Green – who is playing in an Ashes in England for the first time – has enjoyed a promising start to his Test career.
He has lost only three of the 21 matches he has played in.
Indomitable Lyon
Nathan Lyon has played a remarkable 98 consecutive Tests for Australia, the joint-sixth longest run in history.
The 35-year-old off-spinner – who took four for 41 to help dismiss India in their second innings and clinch the World Test Championship – has not missed a single game since sitting out the opening two Tests of the 2013 Ashes in England.
While Lyon is unlikely to break the record held by former England captain Sir Alastair Cook (159), he is already out on his own among bowlers.
All-rounders Garry Sobers (85), Kapil Dev (66) and Ian Botham (65) have been surpassed, although India’s Dev can consider himself unlucky not to hold the bowlers’ record having missed only one Test in his 131-match career.
Lyon’s omnipresence is in stark contrast with his opposite number Moeen Ali, who is returning to red-ball cricket after nearly two years away as an emergency replacement for the injured Leach.
Moeen admitted this week that he has “never been able to hold an end up” and the stats back this up – his economy rate of 3.61 runs per over is far worse than Lyon’s 2.92.
However, he has a better strike rate than his Australian counterpart, taking a wicket every 60.7 deliveries compared with Lyon’s 63.7.
Absent friend
This will be the first Ashes series since Shane Warne’s sudden death in March 2022.
Warne will be forever synonymous with the urn, having taken more wickets against England than any other player in Test history (195).
The Australian introduced himself to Ashes cricket in 1993 by dismissing Mike Gatting with his very first ball. The delivery – which pitched outside leg and clipped the top of off – was subsequently dubbed the “ball of the century”.
Warne went on to claim 129 Ashes wickets in England at an average of 21.94, compared with 66 scalps at 25.81 in his native Australia.
He won 24 of the 36 Ashes Tests he played in, losing seven and drawing five.
Two of those defeats came in 2005, which was arguably Warne’s greatest Ashes performance despite him finishing on the losing side.
The leg-spinner claimed 40 wickets at an average of 19.92, including six in both innings in the fifth Test at the Oval as Australia tried unsuccessfully to prevent an England series victory.
Imlach puts Harpy Eagles’ West Indies Championship success down to togetherness- “We had different players stand up at different times”
Togetherness was the main reason for the Guyana Harpy Eagles successful defence of their West Indies Championship title according to skipper Tevin Imlach.
The Harpy Eagles recovered from a draw and a loss in their first two games to win their final five games on their way to winning their second straight title.
“We had different players stand up at different times which is very important,” Imlach said in an appearance on the Mason & Guest radio show on Tuesday.
“You never want to rely on one or two players. We have a lot of depth in our batting and we have three very good spinners that would’ve played for the West Indies already in Gudakesh Motie, Veerasammy Permaul and Kevin Sinclair,” Imlach added.
Sinclair and Imlach finished third and sixth on the top run scorers list with 508 and 485 runs, respectively.
Sinclair made one hundred and two fifties and finished with an average of 63.50 in his seven games while Imlach, who missed the first two rounds of the tournament while on West Indies duty, made two hundreds and three fifties in his five games and finished with an average of 53.88.
The Harpy Eagles also had two more batsmen cross the 300-run mark in Kevlon Anderson (332) and Tagenarine Chanderpaul (323). Kemol Savory narrowly missed out on joining this club after finishing with 289. Chanderpaul and Savory also both scored a century, each, this season.
It was also a collective effort with the ball for the champions. Permaul led the way with 29 wickets in seven games followed by pacer Nial Smith who finished with 20 wickets from four matches.
Motie and Isai Thorne followed with 19 wickets from five and six matches, respectively, while Kevin Sinclair took 13 wickets in seven games and Ronaldo Alimohamed took 12 wickets in six outings.
This season was also Imlach’s first captaining the Harpy Eagles in the four-day format after taking over from the retired Leon Johnson who led Guyana to six regional four-day titles.
“It was challenging,” Imlach said about filling Johnson’s shoes.
“Big shoes to fill obviously with Leon Johnson retiring but it was good. It is much different when you play with these guys and when you’re in a leadership position because you have to be the one making the calls that they may not necessarily always like. These players want the ball in their hands at all times and want to make a difference so sometimes it is difficult. It’s a good learning experience. I’m learning about them and they’re learning about me as well,” he added.
Imlach was also a member of the West Indies Test squad to Australia in December last year. He said that despite not getting a game, he took some things from his net sessions down under into this first-class season.
“It was very good. It was different to what we are accustomed to in the Caribbean. The pitches are a lot bouncier and the ball tends to seam around a bit more. I didn’t manage to play in the games but I spent some time in the nets and it was good. It was fruitful. I learned a lot that I took into this season,” he said.
Imlach's next assignment could be as part of the regional side to take on England in three Tests from July 10-30.
Nortje makes international return for South Africa's T20 World Cup squad
Anrich Nortje earned a recall to South Africa's fold as he was included in the Proteas' 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup.
Nortje has been in action in the Indian Premier League, but has not played for South Africa, who will be captained by Aiden Markram, in nine months.
While he has taken seven wickets in six matches for the Delhi Capitals, Nortje has gone at 13.36 runs per over, but has been given the nod due to his pace.
"Anrich has got another month before the World Cup starts so I have no doubt he'll hit his straps," South Africa coach Rob Walter said.
"It's good to see that his speed is up. The one thing Anrich has that separates him from others is raw pace. There's not many guys who can bowl 150kph and he can. Pace is an X-factor."
Lungi Ngidi has missed out, though he is a travelling reserve.
Quinton de Kock has not not been in good form, but has made the cut due to historical performances. He is no longer under contract at Cricket South Africa (CSA) and retired from ODIs last year.
"Quinny, we've seen him do it time and time again for us," Walter said.
"Reeza [Hendricks] has been a star performer for us in T20 cricket, was a standout in this domestic CSA T20 challenge again, and Ryan Rickelton has had two outstanding competitions really where he's played the brand of cricket that we're looking to play.
"And then we're going to have Markram and that'll be the top order. It's mostly a performance-based decision and from Quinton's point of view is just a real knowledge of what he's capable of."
Rickelton and Ottniel Baartman have been standout performers in the SA20 this year, and could earn their maiden T20I caps.
South Africa did not make it out of the Super 12 stage at the last World Cup in 2022.
Three big players, Temba Bavuma, Rilee Rossouw and Wayne Parnell, have missed out compared to the squad for that tournament.
The Proteas start their World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka on June 3, after playing a warm-up series against West Indies.
South Africa squad:
Aiden Markram (capt), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs.
IPL: Stoinis key for LSG as they rise to third after seeing off Indians
Marcus Stoinis starred for Lucknow Super Giants as they edged to a four-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians to move into third in the Indian Premier League.
Mumbai's chances of another high-scoring innings were dented early on as Ishan Kishan's low lob was taken by Mayank Yadav before Suryakumar Yadav was caught behind and walked after a successful Lucknow review inside the first three overs.
The Indians struggled to get going, and even Nehal Wadhera's 46 from 41 balls and Tim David's unbeaten 35 off 18 were not enough to drag Mumbai over the 150 mark as they finished their 20 overs on 144-7.
Having been left out of India's T20 World Cup squad, Lucknow captain KL Rahul managed 28 before he was dismissed in the fourth over.
But thanks to Stoinis' heavy lifting, as he plundered 62, including seven fours and two sixes, LSG looked set to cruise to victory.
The momentum stalled, though, when Stoinis was caught out by Tilak Varma, but Nicholas Pooran and Krunal Pandya eventually saw them over the line with just four balls left to play with.
Data Debrief: Another happy away day for Stoinis
This is the third game in which Stoinis has passed 50, and he has enjoyed another high score away from home after reaching 124 in LSG's trip to Chennai Super Kings.
Despite making an early exit, Rahul (406), is now up to fourth in the race for this season's orange cap, although Virat Kohli continues to set the pace with 500 runs.
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