23 h. ago Ben Stokes’ waning influence with the bat on display in England’s soggy defeat | Andy Bull

Captain was bamboozled by Jadeja’s bowling before falling to Washington Sundar in crushing second Test loss to IndiaIt was raining hard in Birmingham on Sunday morning. A weight of great black clouds broke over the city while it was feeling its way into the day. On the streets people pressed themselves together under the cover of bus stops and awnings: revellers off to the Queens Heath pride festival, heavy metal lovers making their way home after Black Sabbath’s farewell gig at Villa Park the previous evening, and cricket supporters bound for the ground, most of them with last-minute tickets, split between anxious Indian and wry English fans, the only people in the city who were happy enough to be getting wet.The bad weather was about the only way England were going to get out of this match with a draw. A team who have spent three years learning how to do the improbable were in no position at all to attempt the unremarkable and bat out the match, even after the rain had washed out ...

Politics

69 h. ago Hothouse kid Jamie Smith starts as he goes on and changes Test in 20 minutes | Andy Bull

England’s keeper came in on a hat-trick, hit his first ball for four and never stopped battering India’s bowlersIt started in the worst possible way. By the second over of the day England were 84 for five, five hundred runs and a thousand miles behind. Their best batter, Joe Root had just been caught off the ninth ball of the morning, and their captain, Ben Stokes, who has worked so many miracles for them before, had been caught off the 10th, done by a wicked, lifting delivery, nasty, brutish and short, which brushed off his glove on its way through to the keeper.The bowler, Mohammad Siraj, was on a hat-trick, and here comes England’s No 7, Jamie Smith, 24 years old, playing his 19th Test innings. Continue reading...

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3 d. ago India bat England into submission as Stokes’ threadbare attack drags its feet | Andy Bull

An unforgiving pitch and some uninspiring bowling gave Shubman Gill’s tourists an inch and they took a mileThe sun shone, the wind blew, the grass grew, and India batted. And batted. And batted. They batted on so long that summer’s roses had budded, bloomed and withered again before they were finished. Excited little kids who had taken seats in the family stand first thing in the morning left it as jaded pensioners in the evening.It was even rumoured that a man who had come up from London to catch the end of the innings was able to use the newly finished HS2. Among all their other achievements India’s batsmen even silenced the Barmy Army, so that by the very end the volume in the Hollies Stand was reduced to the sort of somnolent hum usually heard at Lord’s. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago England’s unlikely win a beautiful reward for approach under Ben Stokes | Andy Bull

By standards of their most entertaining team in decades, this was one of the more humdrum of stunning victoriesNow, I know what you’re thinking. Truth is I’ve thought the same way myself. India scored five centuries, their fielders dropped six catches, and missed two other opportunities besides. Their best bowler took an important wicket off what turned out to be a no-ball; Chris Woakes, the man leading England’s attack managed one wicket in the match; Josh Tongue, their big strapping quick, only dismissed one member of the opposition’s top six, and that was when he had already scored a hundred runs, and Shoaib Bashir gave up the large part of 200 runs. Oh, and England put the opposition in, and conceded the best part of 500.And at the end of it all, they won. And this time the No 11 didn’t even have to bat. It was a match which they might well have lost. Maybe they should have. But it was also a match which any number of England sides before them wouldn’t even have tried to win. In...

Events

1 week ago Ben Stokes loses his magic touch but will still believe in an England special | Andy Bull

Captain tried everything but could not stop Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul driving India into control of the TestThe trouble with captaining by magic is that sooner or later there’s going to be a moment when you reach into your hat and instead of pulling out a rabbit you come up with a fistful of silk lining. We’ve become so used to seeing Ben Stokes conjure up something extraordinary when a Test match is on the line, whether it’s a blizzard of sixes, a tumble of wickets, a spectacularly acrobatic catch, an intuitive decision to put an unorthodox fielder in just the right position, it was a surprise to watch him scrabbling around trying to make a breakthrough as India batted on, and on, and on, through Monday afternoon.England looked well in this game when Rishabh Pant walked to the crease, and looked well out of it when he left again, four hours and 118 runs later, on the far side of a 195-run partnership with KL Rahul. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago Jasprit Bumrah turns the series into two – when he’s bowling and when he’s not | Andy Bull

Crawley had no chance, Duckett was castled, Pope was dropped and Brook was lucky. All in a day’s work for a master fast bowlerYou could see the weather coming at Headingley, there were billows of grey rain clouds out to the south, creeping slowly up towards the back of the Football Stand. And you knew something wicked was on its way in England’s innings, too.The rain arrived right around the time it was supposed to begin, when Jasprit Bumrah was there waiting for them at the far end of his run, tossing the ball from one hand to the other, wearing a forbidding grin. England’s openers, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, were so slow walking out to join him in the middle that it felt as if they were hanging on word of a last-minute pardon. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Tendulkar v Anderson: two master craftsmen who gave more than anyone to Test cricket | Andy Bull

If the Pataudi Trophy had to be renamed then the rivalry between India and England’s two most-capped Test cricketers was worthy of the switchSpring 2006 and India are batting against England at the Wankhede in Mumbai. The series is all square, one Test each with one to play. England, batting first, have made an even 400, thanks in large part to a century by Andrew Strauss and 88 from his Middlesex teammate Owais Shah, who is making his debut.It is just past tea on the second day and India’s openers are already gone, bounced out by Matthew Hoggard. Sachin Tendulkar is at No 4 and England’s captain, Andrew Flintoff, has just thrown the ball to his first-change bowler, Jimmy Anderson. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Bavuma’s brave team make giant leap for South African Test cricket | Andy Bull

With World Test Championship win, the Proteas have made a strong case for Tests to gain greater prominence at homeSouth Africa lost their shot at winning this World Test Championship in 2022, when their board announced the team were going to play 28 games in the next four years. They lost it for a second time during the spring of last year, when they packed their reserve team off to play a series against New Zealand because their centrally contracted players had to stay back and play in a franchise tournament.They lost it a third time when the team were bowled out for 138 on Thursday morning and they lost it a fourth when they let Australia’s tail put on 134 runs for the last four wickets, leaving them needing 282 to win. Finally, after they had just about run out of ways to lose, they won. Continue reading...

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3 w. ago South Africa v Australia: World Test Championship final cricket, day four – live

South Africa chasing a target of 282 to win at Lord’sPlay starts at 10.30am BST / 11.30am SAST / 7.30pm AESTRead the latest edition of The Spin | And email GeoffWho’s nervous? I’m nervous, on their behalf. The batters in next will have spent the evening telling themselves that they’re relaxed, but I’m sure there are thoughts flittering around, mostly that they would all really like to not be required. Australia need to turn that screw right away to have a chance.Then there was Andy Bull, who pondered the slips and the turn of fate that saw Steve Smith’s horrible hand injury. Continue reading...

Sport

3 w. ago Markram and Bavuma steer South Africa to verge of stunning WTC upset against Australia

Day three: Australia 212 & 207; South Africa 138 & 213-2Opener hits century and Bavuma bats on through injuryHeartache and South African cricket have not so much gone hand in hand over the years as been married and had a litter of kids. But provided they eke out the last 69 runs of what would be an epic run chase on day four, divorce papers can be issued and the World Test Championship mace will be theirs.At the end of a gripping third day Australia were left praying that South Africa’s habit of imploding at global events – yes, yes, the old chokers tag – might return in the morning. Guided by a sparkling unbeaten 102 from Aiden Markram, and the captain, Temba Bavuma, hobbling through a hamstring injury to finish on 65 not out, the Proteas had reached 213 for two at stumps in pursuit of 282 to win. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Heartache turns to hope as South Africa seek to shake ‘chokers’ tag in WTC final | Daniel Gallan

The Proteas choking when it matters most is a tale as old as the country itself as history again weighs heavy on their World Test Championship hopesA South African cricket fan’s standout World Cup catastrophe will depend on when they were born. Baby boomers cite the time, back in 1992, when Brian McMillan was left needing 22 runs off one ball after rain in Sydney washed away any hope of a chase. Millennials are forever haunted by Alan Donald’s dropped bat in that tied semi-final in 1999. Gen Zs must still be wondering how Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller failed to get over the line with 30 needed off as many balls in last year’s T20 final.The Proteas choking when it matters most is a tale as old as the country itself. Longer, in fact, if you consider that Nelson Mandela was elected president two years after this story began. And throughout it all, one antagonist has loomed largest. Continue reading...

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