Australia’s two-wicket victory over England in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston ranks alongside some of the greatest matches played between cricket’s oldest rivals.
Here, the PA news agency highlights some key stats from an incredible game.
Culture clash
A big part of the allure surrounding this match and the rest of the series relates to the styles of cricket that both teams play, which could hardly be more different.
Australia play tough, attritional cricket designed to grind down their opposition, while England have adopted an ultra-aggressive style under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, aimed at generating results – whether that be a win or a loss.
This clash of ideologies was on full display in Birmingham.
Australia and England scored a near-identical number of runs (668 compared with 666) and lost the same number of wickets (18), but Pat Cummins’ side faced 1,252 deliveries compared with England’s 866.
Australia were happy to bide their time, scoring at a rate of 53.35 runs per 100 balls on average, while Stokes’ men looked to force a result by striking at 76.91.
The difference in approach was embodied by the teams’ key batters – England’s reverse-ramping Joe Root faced just 207 balls for his 164 runs across both innings, while Australia’s stoic Usman Khawaja scored his 206 runs from 518 deliveries and became the 13th player in history to bat on all five days of a Test match.
Ebb and flow
Australia’s win was especially thrilling because of the way the match seemed to swing back and forth throughout.
Just seven runs separated the sides after the first innings, in which England surprisingly declared on 393 for eight and Australia lost their last four wickets for 14 runs to be bowled out for 386.
The drama went up a notch in the second innings, however, as both teams repeatedly threatened to get ahead before losing a wicket.
Eighteen of the 19 second-innings’ partnerships reached double figures but only four passed 50, with the highest being Australia’s opening stand of 61 between Khawaja and David Warner.
Similarly, 19 of the 21 batters scored 10 or more runs, with only Zak Crawley (seven) and Steve Smith (six) falling in single digits.
Redemption
Australia captain Cummins and spin bowler Nathan Lyon were key figures in the thrilling Edgbaston victory, having also played a central role in a heartbreaking defeat at Headingley in 2019.
Cummins conceded the winning runs four years ago as Stokes led England to an unlikely win, while Lyon missed a crucial run-out chance in the penultimate over.
This time, the pair inspired their side to victory with an unbroken partnership of 55 from a perilous position of 227 for eight when Alex Carey – the last recognised batter – was dismissed.
Cummins and Lyon had already performed heroics with the ball to limit Australia’s target to 281.
They took a combined eight wickets for 143 runs from 42.2 overs in England’s second innings, compared with two for 121 from 24 overs by Australia’s remaining bowlers – Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland and Cameron Green.
Arsenal have been forced to pull their new home shirt from shelves while a “design error” is corrected by kit manufacturer Adidas.
The authentic home shirt, with a retail price of £110, has been made temporarily unavailable and Adidas has said supporters who had already purchased the 2023/24 jersey will be refunded.
The shirt honours Arsenal’s ‘Invincible’ season 20 years on from when Arsene Wenger’s side went unbeaten throughout an entire Premier League campaign.
Within the design, the outcome of the 38 results is detailed with a row of W’s and D’s to highlight the wins and draws from across the season.
However, the authentic shirt – that which is worn by the players on a matchday – only carried 32 of those results and has since been removed from sale.
“The 2023-24 Arsenal home authentic jerseys are temporarily unavailable while a design error is being corrected,” Adidas said in a statement to the PA news agency.
“We are working closely with the club and our partners to ensure restocked jerseys are available as soon as possible, and are offering full refunds to fans who have already bought one.
“This design error falls short of the standards we set ourselves as a brand, and we apologise to the club and its fans.
“The replica ‘fan’ version of the home jersey is unaffected and widely available now.”
The ‘fan’ shirt is the same design but is a cheaper option for supporters, retailing at £80 through Arsenal’s official club shop.
VAR has been given a massive thumbs-down in a new fans’ survey published on Wednesday.
Almost two thirds (63.3 per cent) of supporters said they oppose the use of VAR, with only 26.8 per cent saying they were absolutely or somewhat in favour of it. The National Supporters Survey was commissioned by the Football Supporters’ Association and covered 9,645 fans, running online in March and April.
Only one in 20 (5.5 per cent) of fans who had experienced the technology being used in stadiums rated their experience of it as good or very good.
The survey also found overwhelming support for the introduction of an independent regulator for English football, with 88.2 per cent of those surveyed agreeing on the need for the regulator to ensure the game is run more sustainably.
The negativity towards VAR in 2023 contrasts with the 2017 FSA survey – prior to VAR’s introduction – which found 74.6 per cent of fans favoured the use of video referees to support on-field officials with game-changing decisions.
More than three quarters of match-goers (79.1 per cent) and two thirds of TV viewers (65.4 per cent) now rate their experience of VAR as either poor or very poor.
Almost 92 per cent said decisions were taking too long to make, while 80 per cent said fans should be able to hear discussions between the
VAR and the on-pitch referee.
Referees’ chief Howard Webb is determined to provide greater transparency around VAR in the English game, within the bounds of what is allowed by the laws of the sport.
He appeared on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football programme on May 15 to talk through how a number of decisions from earlier in the season had been made, and often how complex these decisions can be and why time is needed to ensure accuracy.
He also pointed out that, under the game’s current laws, the conversations between referees and VARs cannot be broadcast live.
FIFA trialled a system where referees communicated the final outcome of VAR decisions to fans in the stadium and those watching on television at the Club World Cup in February, and is considering continuing the trial at this summer’s Women’s World Cup.
While Webb’s MNF appearance was a one-off for last season, it is understood this could become a more regular feature next season. Professional Game Match Officials Limited is also in ongoing dialogue with FSA representatives.
Fan support for independent regulation was overwhelming, with almost nine in 10 supportive of such a body being established.
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said earlier this month that the Government’s consultation response on the White Paper for football governance would be published this summer, but it is not expected that a regulator backed by statute could be up and running until the 2024-25 season at the earliest.
Fans clearly feel the need for action on the way the game is run, with only 37.8 per cent saying they felt optimistic about the future of football.
FSA chairman Malcolm Clarke said: “Football has said for years that it can regulate itself. The findings from our survey show that it has become apparent to the overwhelming majority of fans that it cannot, and that independent regulation is required to safeguard the future of our clubs, and the game itself.
“Football clubs can’t continue to be allowed to mark their own homework, and so we will be pressing the Government to make sure what the regulator laid out in their White Paper becomes a reality.”
Fans are also concerned about the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.
One in five (21.7 per cent) fans said they were attending fewer games because of the rising cost of living, and almost a third – 31.9 per cent – had reduced their matchday spending on items such as food, drink and programmes.
The survey also found nine in 10 supporters favoured an away fan price-cap in the EFL following the announcement of its new record television deal with Sky Sports.
Having the right mindset begins with identifying what you want. Without a clear picture of what winning looks like you'll never know if you're on the right path, which means you can't course correct. West Indies Head coach Darren Sammy knows this all too well, which is why he is hoping the team can align a success mindset with proper execution to achieve their goals.
In fact, Sammy pointed out that players are already aware of the direction he wants to go with the regional outfit and believes the ongoing ICC World Cup qualifiers represents the perfect place to start consistently improving the quality of their play and, by extension, maintain some semblance of respect for themselves.
West Indies, who are hunting one of two places to the 50-over World Cup in India in October, won their opening game against United States by 39 runs at the qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe.
Prior to that, they registered a 3-0 series sweep of United Arab Emirates, followed by warm-up victories over the same opponent, as well as Scotland.
"I am quite happy with the way we are going the six games that we have played we have taken steps in trying to play the brand of cricket that we want to play. So, it's about sticking to our guns and the plans we put in place and committing to the execution," Sammy said.
"In the first (qualifying) game against USA we got the win that we needed, it was a great start to the tournament, but we have so much more in the tank. The guys weren't happy with the way they played which is good sign for us, we keep challenging ourselves and it's still a work in progress trying to find the identity of our cricket moving forward but I was pleased with the victory," he added.
It is obvious why Sammy took pleasure in the win given what is at stake, but where the overall performance is concerned, the former captain and all-rounder, who took over the reins late last month, was left with a mixed bag.
This, as West Indies, a two-time world champion, recovered from the early loss of openers Brandon King and Kyle Mayers, with four players hitting half-centuries in their 297 all out in 49.3 overs.
Johnson Charles top scored with 66, while Jason Holder (56), Roston Chase (55) and captain Shai Hope (54) all did some damage, while Nicholas Pooran also chipped in with 43 runs.
Gajanand Singh had an unbeaten 101 off 109 balls, with eight fours and two sixes, for the US team, but it wasn't enough to overhaul West Indies total.
"I listened the captain's post-match interview and ideally, you would want one of them to score big hundred, but he was happier that performances came from different batsmen in the group. You look at Brandon King who has been playing well, didn't get a score and Kyle Mayers didn’t get a score so it's a good sign for us that as a group, even though we were under pressure, we came back strongly.
"Ideally you would want one of those (batsmen) to convert (50s) into hundred and we as a team celebrate the milestones after. But the guys are preparing well, they are hitting lots of balls and they understand the direction the team wants to go in as a batting unit," Sammy shared.
"Again, I say it's early days but once the mindset is to get to what we want to do as a team, I believe you will see improvements in the days to come. So again, it's a work in progress and with the ball we created a couple opportunities, but we dropped a few catches that could have affected us in the bigger scheme of things," the St Lucian noted.
West Indies are currently second in Group A on four points, two behind Zimbabwe, who defeated Nepal and Netherlands in their two fixtures to date. Sri Lanka, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Scotland and Ireland are contesting Group B.
However, West Indies are set to square off against Nepal on Thursday and if the confidence exuded by Sammy is anything to go by, then another two points is already in the bag for the regional side. Nepal currently occupies third position on two points, following victory over US.
"Nepal is a team that is on the rise, and they have been playing good cricket, so again we respect all our opponents, but we focus on the things that we do as a team or the direction and brand of cricket that we want to play. Whenever we bat that new ball, we have to make sure the opposition don't get too much ahead when the new ball comes.
"I thought we could have had more intent (against US) because that's one of the things we have been talking about as a batting group...intent to score and when I say that it's not necessarily looking only for boundaries but looking for scoring opportunities and when you do get the good balls, you can still get the rotation of strike going. It all boils down in our preparation which we have been doing well and I have full confidence and belief in the men that they will go out and do themselves and the region proud," Sammy declared.
On that note, he shared his views on the effects of the early start which he expects the top order, in particular, to better navigate on this occasion, if they lose the toss and are asked to take first strike.
"We knew it, anywhere in the world a 9:00am start will pose a challenge with the new ball to the batters, so whoever wins the toss will most likely want to bowl first. But our focus as a batting group is to understand the challenge that the new ball poses and making sure that the opposition doesn't get on top of us," Sammy reasoned.
"Our skills will come into play but as you have seen in all the games, once we survive that new ball period, there are plenty of runs on offer and for us as a batting group, it is just to limit the damage or the threat that new ball poses up front. But again, the way the guys have prepared, I expect the challenges to be met with good consistency and good skills from my men," he ended.
Five-time Wimbledon singles champion Venus Williams has been awarded a wild card for next month’s championships.
Williams, who played mixed doubles at the All England Club last year, has not played in the singles event since 2021 but rolled back the years on Monday to beat Camila Giorgi at the Rothesay Classic in Birmingham days after her 43rd birthday.
Williams competes sparingly these days and only played her first tournament since January at a grass-court event in the Netherlands last week before heading to Birmingham.
Her gutsy 7-6 (5), 4-6 7-6 (6) victory over Giorgi in more than three hours on Monday represented a first win over a top-50 opponent since 2019.
Ten singles wild cards have been handed to British male and female players, including Liam Broady and Katie Boulter, while Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina will be involved in Wimbledon after she missed last year’s tournament due to her pregnancy.
Former world number three Svitolina gave birth in October but made the quarter-finals at Roland Garros last month in her first grand-slam since becoming a mother.
Svitolina made the last four at Wimbledon in 2021 and could encounter more Russian and Belarussian players in SW19.
She was booed at the French Open after not shaking hands with Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka following her quarter-final exit.
British hopefuls Jodie Burrage, Harriet Dart, Katie Swan, Heather Watson have also been given wild cards.
In the men’s singles Ryan Peniston has received a wild card, along with fellow Britons Arthur Fery, Jan Choinski and George Loffhagen, with the trio set to make their main draw debuts at Wimbledon.
Belgian David Goffin, the world number 124, has been handed a wild card following his run to the quarter-finals in 2022, where he lost in five sets to British number one Cameron Norrie.
The All England Club has one more women’s singles and two more men’s singles wild cards to hand out.
Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Tahiyra is the star name among seven fillies declared for the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot on Friday.
Dermot Weld’s filly was brilliant in winning each of her two starts as a juvenile last season and was a hot favourite to secure Classic glory in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket.
She was narrowly beaten by the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Mawj on the Rowley Mile, but went one better in the Irish equivalent and with Mawj not lining up for the rematch due to an unsatisfactory scope, Tahiyra is odds-on to claim a third Group One victory on the penultimate day of the Royal meeting.
Aidan O’Brien’s Irish Guineas runner-up Meditate does take on the Weld runner again, as does Jim Bolger’s Comhra, who finished third as a 150-1 shot in the Curragh Classic.
There was only a short head between Sounds Of Heaven (Jessica Harrington) and Queen For You (John and Thady Gosden) when first and second in a Listed event at York last month and they renew rivalry.
Mammas Girl (Richard Hannon) and Remarquee (Ralph Beckett) complete the septet.
Little Big Bear will be all the rage to see off 13 rivals in the Group One Commonwealth Cup.
Last season’s champion juvenile floundered in a soft ground 2000 Guineas, but showed his true colours when dropped back in trip on a sounder surface in the Sandy Lane at Haydock last month.
Chief among his rivals is Roger Varian’s Sakheer, who also reverts to sprinting after seemingly having his stamina limitations exposed in the Guineas.
It is a similar story for the Beckett-trained filly Lezoo, who won last season’s Cheveley Park Stakes but weakened late on in the 1000 Guineas on her reappearance.
Noble Style (Charlie Appleby) and Shaquille (Julie Camacho) also feature.
Carla’s Way (Simon and Ed Crisford), Soprano (George Boughey) and Jabaara (Varian) are among the leading contenders for the curtain-raising Albany Stakes, while Derby runner-up King Of Steel (Varian) heads a six-strong field for the King Edward VII Stakes.
Arrest, a disappointing Derby favourite for Frankie Dettori, takes him on again.
Frankie Dettori has yet to decide whether he will appeal a nine-day ban he picked up on the first day of Royal Ascot.
The 52-year-old was adjudged by the stewards to have caused interference shortly after the start on Saga in the Wolferton Stakes on Tuesday.
Owned by the King and Queen, Saga went on to finish fifth with the ban compounding a frustrating afternoon for Dettori, who filled the runner-up spot on three occasions.
The suspension is due to run from July 4-12, meaning he will be unable to ride likely favourite Emily Upjohn in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown on July 8.
He would, though, be free to ride at Newmarket’s July Festival as he chases one of the few remaining Group One gaps on his CV, the July Cup.
“I’ve got to consult my legal team and we’ll decide whether I’m going to appeal or not,” Dettori told ITV’s The Opening Show.
“I’m glad that nobody got hurt. It’s one of those things, the bend comes very quickly after the start and it can get very congested at that point in the race, but I haven’t had chance to go through it properly yet.
“I’ll talk to my lawyers today.”
England’s Joe Root has leapfrogged Ashes rivals Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head to top the Test batting rankings.
The Yorkshireman’s performance in scoring a combined 164 runs – 118 not out and 46 – at Edgbaston in the first Test defeat to Australia propelled him five places up the International Cricket Council’s rankings.
Labuschagne dropped two places to third after making just 13, including a first-ball duck in the first innings, with Head falling to fourth despite a first-innings half-century.
Edgbaston man-of-the-match Usman Khawaja, the fourth Australian in the top 10 along with Steve Smith, moved up two places to seventh after scores of 141 and 65.
England’s next-best performer is Harry Brook, who rose five spots to 13th on the back of scores of 32 and 46.
James Anderson retained his place as the second best bowler in the world, despite a disappointing display in Birmingham, while Ollie Robinson moved into the top five with five wickets in the first Test.
Meanwhile, following a thrilling final day at Edgbaston, England and Australia have both been fined 40 per cent of their match fees and deducted two World Test Championship points for slow over-rates.
Despite serving up a breathless finale in which the tourists snatched a two-wicket victory on a see-saw fifth evening, both teams have been punished for failing to get through their overs quickly enough.
Captains Ben Stokes and Pat Cummins pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanctions, so there was no need for formal hearings, the ICC said.
As the match was the first in the new WTC cycle, that means England’s reward for the attacking tactics that moved the game towards its dramatic conclusion despite long rain delays is to sit on minus two in the table.
Australia picked up 12 points for their Cummins-inspired win, so drop back to 10.
All 22 players have also lost 40 per cent of their match fees, which equates to around £6,000 for the English contingent.
Lauren Filer will make her England debut in the one-off Test that marks the start of the multi-format Women’s Ashes after being preferred to fellow seamer Issy Wong.
England have announced their XI, 24 hours out from the start of the Trent Bridge match, with 32-year-old batter Danni Wyatt set for her Test debut after making 245 international white-ball appearances.
Despite being wicketless in a warm-up against an Australia A side last week, England have seen enough from Filer to nudge her ahead of the highly-rated Wong for the five-day fixture.
Filer has taken eight wickets in four matches in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy in 2023 and five in the Charlotte Edwards Cup, and the 22-year-old is set to be thrust into the biggest test of her career.
She was one of two uncapped players named in England’s Test squad with head coach Jon Lewis praising her as a “genuine wicket-taking threat with good pace and swing” and offering a “point of difference”.
Bowling all-rounder Danielle Gibson will have to wait for her first England cap, with the hosts choosing to bolster their batting as they go in search of a first series win over Australia since 2014.
Wyatt has registered in excess of 4,000 runs in the shorter formats in an international career that started in March 2010 – including a 56-ball T20 hundred against Australia in Canberra in November 2017.
She made a quickfire 37 off 46 balls for England A in a practice match against a full Australia side last week.
Team GB’s first male artistic swimmer is thoroughly satisfied to have earned the respect of friends who once asked why he did not just play football like everyone else.
Ranjuo Tomblin is one of 12 British artistic swimmers hoping to top the podium at the European Games this week in Krakow, but the 17-year-old knows he will be making history no matter what the result.
When he and Beatrice Crass slip into the pool for Thursday’s mixed duet technical event, Tomblin will also be making his milestone senior debut with Team GB.
“Definitely my friends at the start were like, ‘Oh, why are you doing that? Why aren’t you doing football, you know, the generic sports?'” he said.
“But as I’ve grown and developed and I’ve got a few medals in the bank, they definitely more respect what I do, now they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s a really cool thing you do’.”
Tomblin’s ambitions to erase stigma and stereotype around his chosen sport, once known as synchronised swimming, extend well beyond his circle of friends.
Artistic swimming is, like a duck gliding smoothly across a lake, an illusion of effortlessness when in reality it is anything but. Asked about the biggest misconception people hold, Tomblin’s answer comes immediately.
“That it is easy,” he said. “It’s not easy. A lot of people just think it’s having a play about in the water. It’s really not.”
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Training comprises working on everything from strength and conditioning to flexibility, knee extensions, toe points, breath-holding, swimming, stamina and timing.
Consider the feeling of, as American synchro coach Joyce Lindeman once put it, “running a marathon while holding your breath”.
Also it is set to music, and you are judged on how good you look doing it.
Tomblin spent nearly a decade in gymnastics and it was only by fluke that the woman coaching his “normal” swimming lessons at Atlantis Flamingos also happened to be the synchro coach.
Hearing about his gymnastics background, she asked if he wanted to give artistic swimming a go.
“I immediately loved it. It’s really grown from there,” said Tomblin, though he admits there was an adjustment period, adding: “It definitely did feel a bit weird, especially with the first team I joined.
“There were no boys, it was full of girls and it was a bit awkward and it was hard to make friends, but I feel like after I joined the national squad everyone’s really lovely. We’re all good friends.”
A landmark December 2022 World Aquatics decision paved the way for male artistic swimmers to compete at next summer’s Paris Olympics, which will now allow up to two men in the eight-athlete team event.
Tomblin won silver at the inaugural male free solo event at the 2022 LEN European Junior Championships as well as bronze alongside Cass and, while he is certainly open to the possibility of the team event, mixed duet – appearing for the first time at a European Games – is Tomblin’s speciality.
Mixed duet is not on the programme for Paris, but December’s announcement allowed Tomblin to be cautiously optimistic that his event could feature at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
“When I first heard that, I felt really excited and hopeful,” he said. “Because now they’re like, ‘Oh there’s loads of boys so let’s let them in the Olympics’… then hopefully that will lead towards the mixed duet going into the Olympic Games.”
While records will fall and champions change, there can only ever be one person who does something first, and Tomblin is delighted by the role he could play in ensuring he will not be the last.
“It would mean so much to me,” he added. “I’m working so hard because I’ve seen males older than me, like (Team USA’s) Bill May. I look up to him and he inspires me so much. I’d like to inspire someone – that would feel really nice for me.”
England are waking up to defeat in the first Test against Australia for the third Ashes series in a row.
The tone of the game may have been different, with Ben Stokes’ side making most of the running across five enthralling days to set up a finish, but the end result was the same as 2017, 2019 and 2021.
Australia held the urn aloft in each of those series, flexing their muscles in matching 4-0 wins on home soil and retaining after a 2-2 draw on tour four years ago.
England will now need to overturn a 1-0 deficit with four games to play, but what should they do to make that happen?
Keep the faith in ‘Bazball’
Defeat against their bitter rivals will hurt, but now is not the time to rip up a playbook that has delivered 11 wins from 14 Test matches under Ben Stokes’ captaincy.
In particular, England have proven that their ultra-aggressive batting style can hurt an Australia attack who hoped they would be immune.
They scored at a rollicking 5.03 an over in the first innings and kept it up at 4.11 on a trickier surface in the second and landed important blows along the way.
Scott Boland went around the park for the first time in his Test career and Joe Root’s reverse ramps will have tested the egos of the Australian quicks.
Fix Moeen’s finger or find a replacement
There was always going to be an element of risk in summoning Moeen Ali out of international retirement when Jack Leach went down with a stress fracture.
The 36-year-old last played first-class cricket almost two years ago and his lack of conditioning came back to haunt England when his right index finger blistered then burst open.
He found it difficult to grip and rip the ball from that point onward and was able to offer just seven overs on day five as part-timer Joe Root picked up the bulk of the work.
If the medical staff are confident they can rectify the situation in the coming days Moeen should get another chance at Lord’s, but if there is a chance of history repeating then Surrey’s Will Jacks looks like the next man in and should be called up.
Dial down the declaration addiction
For the second game in a row England have lost a Test match after declaring eight down in the first innings.
New Zealand edged them by a single run in Wellington back in February and now Australia have snuck across the line.
Stokes’ penchant for calling an early end to his side’s run-scoring has been a fascinating facet of his captaincy and at times has worked brilliantly – including three Tests ago in Mount Maunganui.
But pulling out after just 78 overs, the earliest ever declaration in the Ashes, may have been slightly too radical. Root was racing along on 118 not out and it would not have taken him long to score enough runs to alter the final outcome.
Rally around Bairstow
By choosing to drop Ben Foakes, a player Stokes has frequently described as the best wicketkeeper in world cricket, England opened themselves up to criticism. But with Harry Brook undroppable after a prolific winter and the star performer of 2022, Jonny Bairstow, fit again, Foakes was the fall guy.
Bairstow is an experienced gloveman but put down at least three chances that he would have hoped to take, racking up a tab that his dashing 78 in the first innings did not fully clear.
Those who advocate a Foakes recall at Lord’s can think again, with the squad already announced and Bairstow going nowhere.
For now they need to get behind a player who thrives on confidence and certainty over his role. Neither he nor England can afford any more costly slip-ups, but showing faith might be the best way to avoid them next week.
Let Wood make his mark
One thing England lacked in their XI at Edgbaston was outright pace, a quality Mark Wood brings in abundance. With Jofra Archer and Olly Stone both out injured, he is the only man available who can routinely clear 90mph.
He is best used in short, sharp spells and concerns over Stokes’ ability to share the workload may have played a part in him missing out in the first Test. But on a Lord’s pitch that can play flat, he might be just the tonic.
Wood was England’s most impressive performer Down Under in the 2021-22 Ashes and already has Australia’s respect.
After an unusually quiet outing, record wicket-taker James Anderson could be in line to stand down but it might also be possible to lean on Root’s spin and choose a four-strong pace cartel. Either way, it feels like Wood is a game breaker they cannot afford to overlook.
England and Australia have been fined 40 per cent of their match fees and deducted two World Test Championship points for slow over-rates in their thrilling Ashes opener at Edgbaston.
Despite serving up a breathless finale in Birmingham, where the tourists snatched a two-wicket victory on a see-saw fifth evening, both teams have been punished for failing to get through their overs quickly enough.
Captains Ben Stokes and Pat Cummins pled guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanctions, so there was no need for formal hearings, the International Cricket Council said.
As the match was the first in the new WTC cycle, that means England’s reward for the attacking tactics that moved the game towards its dramatic conclusion despite long rain delays is to sit on minus two in the table. Australia picked up 12 points for their Cummins-inspired win, so drop back to 10.
All 22 players have also lost 40 per cent of their match fees, which equates to around £6,000 for the English contingent.
Mark Ramprakash expects Mark Wood to return to the England line-up for the second Ashes Test at Lord’s.
Australia won the opening game of the series by two wickets on a dramatic final day at Edgbaston as the hosts failed to break a 55-run match-winning ninth-wicket stand between Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon.
Former England batter and batting coach Ramprakash, who played 52 Tests, reckons the bowling attack will be given serious consideration by coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.
“By and large, England will be happy they played the brand of cricket they wanted to,” Ramprakash, 53, told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“The only thing is, they have asked for quite flat wickets which are batter-friendly which can, to a degree, negate England’s greatest bowler in Jimmy Anderson, who only took one wicket in the game.
“His form will perhaps be a bit of a concern going forward to Lord’s and they will have to make a call on selection.
“It was a big thing for Moeen Ali to come back in but, with the amount of overs he bowled, he ripped the skin off his spinning finger and that impaired his performance in the second innings and that is something they will have to look at very closely.
“I expect Mark Wood to be seriously considered because England need some pace in their line-up.
“It is just injecting a bit of life. If Moeen is struggling, what variety do England have in their attack if the wicket is flat? I do expect Wood to come back in.”
Miami Dolphins star wide receiver Tyreek Hill is being investigated on allegations of assault and battery after an incident at a Miami Beach marina, the Miami-Dade Police Department confirmed Tuesday.
Hill allegedly hit a marina employee on the back of the head during an altercation Sunday, according to multiple media outlets in South Florida. No charges have been filed.
The Dolphins released a brief statement Tuesday in acknowledgement of the investigation.
“We are aware of the situation and have been in contact with Tyreek, his representatives and the NFL,” the Dolphins said in the statement. “We will reserve further comment at this time.”
Acquired from the Kansas City Chiefs in March of 2022, Hill signed a four-year, $120million contract extension with the Dolphins.
In his first season in Miami, Hill was selected to his seventh career Pro Bowl after accumulating 119 catches for 1,710 yards and seven touchdowns.
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