Joe Root says the England bowlers must be "braver" after Australia won the second Ashes Test at the Adelaide Oval by 275 runs to take a 2-0 series lead.
Jos Buttler made 26 from 207 balls before he stepped back onto his own wickets and Chris Woakes top-scored with 44 as the tourists put up an admirable fight on the final day.
However, it was always likely to prove fruitless and they were eventually bowled out for 192 in the final session.
Jhye Richardson (5-42) claimed a maiden five-wicket Test haul on his Ashes debut, showing Australia's strength in depth in their bowling ranks in the absence of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
Cummins is set to return to captain Australia for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne after missing out in Adelaide due to being a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case.
England's' shortcomings with the bat have been plain to see, but skipper Root wants to see the bowlers change their approach to give them a chance of getting back into the series.
Asked about England's plans, he said: "I think when you look at ball in hand in particular, I don't think we've bowled the right lengths if we're being brutally honest, we needed to bowl fuller.
"As soon as we did in that second innings, we created so many chances and we made it hard work. We need to do that more, we need to get the ball up there, be a bit braver because when we do we make life difficult.
"That's one of the frustrating things, we did that four years ago and we didn't learn from it – we've made mistakes throughout the game that we made last week, whether it be no-balls, missed chances, we just have to be better. We have to learn those lessons quickly ahead of next week."
England will ponder making changes in Melbourne, with fast bowler Mark Wood expected to return.
Root said during the post-match presentation: "Of course someone like Woody, he's always going to offer something, that extra bit of pace he has and hopefully he'll be raring to go for the rest of the series."
Despite England having a mountain to climb, Root believes they can pull off a remarkable fightback and challenged his fellow batters to step up.
Asked if he believes they are capable of winning the series, he said: "Absolutely, you have to be. I think, I'm convinced we have got what we need to win over here, we just need to be better and we can't keep making the same mistakes.
"Guys need to get themselves in, get past that first 20-ball period and then get greedy.
"We need to leave better on occasions as well and manage certain passages of play better, but we're more than capable of doing that and we've shown it in small pockets that we can we've just got to do it for longer, and as I said, do better."
Roach’s grabs second innings 6-46 as Surrey defeat Warwickshire by nine wickets
A six-wicket haul from Kemar Roach propelled Surrey to a nine-wicket win over Warwickshire on day four of their County Championship Division One clash at the Kennington Oval in London on Monday.
Roach took figures of 6-46 off 14 overs to restrict Warwickshire to 209 all out in 59 overs in their second innings, leaving Surrey needing only 89 to win.
Dom Sibley with 46* and Rory Burns with 30 then led the way as Surrey reached 89-1 in the 23rd over.
Earlier in the game, Warwickshire made 343 in 102.5 overs in their first innings thanks to an excellent 108 from Ed Barnard.
Roach also took 2-81 in the first innings in support of Jordan Clark and Sean Abbott who took 4-64 and 2-51, respectively.
Surrey then replied with 464 in 111.4 overs thanks to 155 off 179 balls from Jamie Smith as well as half centuries from Dom Sibley and Sean Abbott.
Full scores:
Warwickshire 343 off 102.5 overs (Ed Barnard 108, Jordan Clark 4-64, Sean Abbot 2-51, Kemar Roach 2-81) & 209 off 59 overs (Rob Yates 52, Ed Barnard 44, Kemar Roach 6-46)
Surrey 434 off 111.4 overs (Jamie Smith 155, Dom Sibley 64, Sean Abbott 50*, Craig Miles 5-43) & 89-1 off 22.4 overs (Dom Sibley 46*, Rory Burns 30)
Matthews wins third ICC Women’s Player of the Month award
Hayley Matthews has been named as the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for April after spearheading the West Indies’ success in Pakistan across both ODI and T20I series.
Matthews celebrates her third ICC Women’s Player of the Month award after previously winning in November 2021 and October 2023.
Her most recent success comes thanks to an array of eye-catching all-round performances resulting in 451 runs and 12 wickets across both shorter formats.
The West Indies began their tour of Pakistan with three ODIs, and skipper Matthews set the tone early with a dominant display in the opening encounter, blasting an unbeaten 140 from atop the order and following up with three wickets for 17.
More success followed with Matthews replicating her heroics in the third fixture, scoring 141 in 149 balls and taking two wickets for 26 in another comfortable victory to seal the ODI series sweep.
When the attention turned to the subsequent T20I series, the 26-year-old reinforced her position as the top-ranked Women’s T20I allrounder.
Back-to-back half-centuries in Karachi and six wickets at an average of 10.50 told the tale of her series, as she inspired the tourists to another emphatic 4-1 series triumph.
“I am really happy to win the award again. These performances resulted in the team’s success and that’s the most important thing for me as captain,” Matthews told ICC.
“To win in Pakistan was always a big goal. I wanted to perform well and contribute to the team’s success so to be able to have performances and get the results, that was really good and showed that the hard work and the concentration in Pakistan paid off.
“Being able to set some new records and achieve some new milestones as well was good for me so I’m extremely happy. We have confidence and we will take this with us going into the tour of Sri Lanka and look to secure more crucial points in the ICC Women’s Championship.”
Republic Bank CPL launches broadcast talent search
The Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) have launched a region wide talent search to find a presenter for their broadcast of the 2024 season. The CPL Talent Search is open to all Caribbean residents and the prize for the winner will be a contract to be a pitch side presenter for this year’s event.
This groundbreaking initiative will be searching for the next sports presenting super star from within the region with training on offer for the winning participant so that they can hone their talent and use this amazing opportunity as a springboard to a career in broadcasting. This is one of the many CPL initiatives that look to develop the next generation of Caribbean talent, but this is the first time that the focus will be on the CPL broadcast which was watched by 853.5million viewers in 2023.
Those wanting to submit a performance into the contest can do so by sharing them in front of the camera presenting or interviewing someone on social media with the hashtag #CPLTALENTSEARCH.
Paul Pritchett-Brown, CPL’s Head of Production, said: “We are really looking forward to seeing the submissions from the next generation of broadcasting talent from across the region. This is an amazing opportunity to showcase your skills in front of the camera and we are hopeful that we will get a lot of submissions as we search for the next on screen talent.”
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