84 m. ago Champions Trophy: Records tumble as Australia condemn England to agonising defeat

England’s one-day problems continue despite notching the highest total and individual score in competition history

Politics

99 m. ago Champions Trophy: England still have 'optimism and belief' despite damaging Australia loss

Josh Inglis ensured England’s one-day struggles continued in Lahore despite Ben Duckett brilliance

Politics

6 h. ago Inglis inspires Australia to record win over England despite Duckett hundred

Group B: Australia 356-5 bt England 351-8 by five wicketsHighest successful run chase in ICC tournament historyThey say good things come to those who wait and after nearly three decades without a global tournament in their city, the people of Lahore saw their patience rewarded. A good number are too young to remember the 1996 World Cup but they will not forget Australia’s five-wicket win over England in a hurry.Set 352 to win this Group B encounter after Ben Duckett’s sublime 165 from 143 balls – the highest individual score at a Champions Trophy – Australia wobbled initially. Travis Head and Steve Smith were wiped out for single-figure scores during a fiery new ball burst from Jofra Archer and Mark Wood. Continue reading...

Politics

10 h. ago England set Australia 352 to win Champions Trophy opener after Duckett hits 165 – live

Over-by-over updates from Group B game (9am GMT)Get in touch with Tanya here | Sign up to the SpinOH MY GOOD GOLLY WHAT A CATCH! Alex Carey has pulled off a blinder to get rid of Phil Salt!1st over: England 12-0 (Salt 10, Duckett 0) Yep the wicket and outfield look like the sort a batter would drool over. England get twelve off the first over as Salt bunts down the ground for four and then flicks off his pads in real style for SIX! Flamboyant from the opener. Continue reading...

Events

25 h. ago Rangers takeover: Key figure breaks silence to lift lid on 'constructive' talks

Ex-chairman hopes brokering deal can be his Ibrox legacy

Politics

33 h. ago Unfamiliar faces: who has a chance to shine for Australia at Champions Trophy? | Martin Pegan

Six players with minimal international experience are at the tournament in Pakistan and can expect to play a role Fewer than three months have passed since Australia’s Test team was seen to be in crisis as an ageing side that had shoehorned in a first debutant in almost two years was dismantled by India in Perth. A dramatic turnaround for a 3-1 series victory, followed by a clean sweep in Sri Lanka, went a long way to justifying selectors’ steadfast faith in the proven performers. Presenting baggy greens to five debutants across seven matches was an added bonus while suggesting the selectors might have had a much grander plan in mind all along.Planning around Australia’s white-ball sides has been much more haphazard. Opportunities have been handed out to emerging talents and second-stringers while frontliners have been on personal or parental leave, injured, or simply rested with eyes on bigger, more lucrative prizes. In the past 18 months alone, Australia blooded enough ODI players...

Politics

35 h. ago Jos Buttler determined to rediscover form with bat in Champions Trophy

In 33 ODIs since being appointed permanent white-ball skipper in June 2022, Buttler averages 33.13.

Politics

35 h. ago Champions Trophy 2025: Jos Buttler backs Jamie Smith to thrive at three against Australia

The wicketkeeper-batter has been promoted to back up openers Phil Salt and Ben Duckett

Politics

37 h. ago 5 key talking points as England prepare to face Australia in Champions Trophy

Brendon McCullum’s reign as England’s white-ball coach got off to an inauspicious start with T20 and ODI series defeats in India.

Politics

47 h. ago Champions Trophy 2025: Australia’s second tier up against it in absence of bowling big three | Geoff Lemon

Their attack has a distinctly Sheffield Shield flavour to it but the main thing in the two-times winners’ favour is the relative weakness of their groupFor a long time, a strange situation continued in Australian cricket. Through a one-day World Cup in 2023, through a T20 World Cup in 2024, through a Test summer that sat between them, and through the lead-ups and warm-ups before all of the above, the same three fast bowlers showed up almost all of the time. Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Patrick Cummins, in aeternum.Things don’t work that way. Fast bowling is a horrifically taxing art, and the mad operators who pursue it across any level of the game share a gruesome delight in cataloguing their lifetime’s injuries, discarding sneakers and peeling back socks and rolling up trouser legs to show you toes bent sideways or lurid half-moons of scars around ankles or knees. At the top level, fitness and availability are sporadic, and that’s before you come to the changes driven by each fo...

Politics

50 h. ago Jamie Smith to bat at three in England's Champions Trophy opener against Australia

Wicket-keeper to come in ahead of Joe Root, Harry Brook and Jos Buttler

Politics

54 h. ago Jamie Smith at No 3 for England’s Champions Trophy opener against Australia

Joe Root moves down to No 4 in batter-heavy lineupSmith has batted first-drop just once in his List A careerIt was as if they could not wait to share the news, England naming their XI for Saturday’s Champions Trophy opener against Australia well in advance of the toss and springing a surprise too. Jamie Smith is back from a calf injury and will keep wicket but, more eye-catchingly, he will bat at No 3.The team emerged as Jos Buttler’s side trained under lights at the Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday evening and, on the eve of a major tournament, represents something curve-ball. Talented but inexperienced, Smith has batted first-drop just once in his List A career at Surrey, while Joe Root, England’s record centurion in ODI cricket, has moved down a spot. Continue reading...

Politics

63 h. ago Travis Head says ‘I’m going to have my work cut out’ ahead of England clash

The opener is not under-estimating Australia’s first opponents in the Champions Trophy.

Politics

3 d. ago England hopeful over Champions Trophy fitness while NZ crush Pakistan in opener

Duckett, Archer and Smith all likely to be fit for AustraliaYoung and Latham hit tons in 60-run win for Black CapsEngland begin their Champions Trophy campaign against Australia in bustling Lahore on Saturday and, while recent results have set alarm bells ringing, there is growing optimism that a previously lengthy injury list is at least beginning to ease.So much so, in fact, that Jos Buttler, the captain, and Brendon McCullum, the head coach, may even be able to select from a fully fit squad for their Group B opener, with all 15 players taking part in their first training session at Pakistan’s National Academy on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Sport

3 d. ago Calcutta Cup classics: our writers pick their most memorable showdowns

As England prepare to host Scotland on Saturday, relive some of the most compelling clashes between the old foesThat bonkers 38-38 draw in 2019 clearly has to be up there. But the world’s oldest international fixture takes on a different complexion in even-numbered years. Edinburgh’s cold, malty air, the walk down past Haymarket (before the trams), the distant hills, the lone piper on the Murrayfield roof the pre-match mood always recalls the glorious tartan-tinted newspaper intro from years back. “Can we do it? Aye, I think we can.” Even as a kid, watching the great Andy Irvine from afar, and then subsequently as a uni student in Edinburgh, the most memorable matches always involved England being sent homeward to think again. So I’m choosing the 2000 game, my Calcutta Cup debut as – pinch me – the Guardian’s rugby correspondent. The weather was utterly atrocious and a strongly fancied England side, hoping for a first grand slam since 1995, were flushed away by a slithering splashdo...

Politics

3 d. ago Jofra Archer set to face Australia in England’s Champions Trophy opener

Archer missed the final two ODIs against India due to a cut on his right hand.

Politics

4 d. ago The tournament that refuses to die: Champions Trophy back for more

Favourites India come into tournament on sour note after refusal to play in Pakistan gives superpower tactical edgeAs the ICC Champions Trophy resurfaces in Pakistan this week, nearly eight years since the last one, folks will be forgiven for a few double takes, for feeling a bit like Ian Wright reuniting with his old teacher in that lovely viral clip, jaw dropped to the floor and gasping: “You’re alive! Someone said you were dead!”Although did anyone seriously think the Champions Trophy was toast? They say cockroaches and microbes would survive a nuclear apocalypse but there is every chance international cricket’s 50‑over tournoi would also spring up in the wasteland, glowing with radiation but still ready to stick its presumably mutated winners in those Miami Vice-style white blazers and deliver that sweet, sweet broadcast money. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago US reveals three key developments from Russia talks in bid to end Ukraine war

United States and Russian officials have met in Saudi Arabia for talks over Ukraine, with both sides emerging to say that they have agreed on three key areas which they will work on

Events