15 h. ago Alastair Cook and Becky Ives make best of TNT Sports’ shonky Ashes production | Barney Ronay

Presenter Ives was breezy, while Cook fronted everything like the last ceremonial horse of some dying cavalry unitYou know what they say. Never judge a pitch until both teams have batted really badly on it. You know what they say. Over here you bat long, bat hard, bat short, bat soft. You know what they say, the Ashes in Australia is all about a hybrid maverick production with a fan-first identity.Given the brilliance of the basic entertainment on day one in Perth, it was easy to forget that England’s Baz-facing tourists aren’t the only setup with a brave new philosophy in play, out there disrupting the norms, and in need, above all, of a decent start. Continue reading...

Society

16 h. ago Ashes: England great urges side to open up 'scars' in Australia's batting

Tourists’ fast bowlers unsettle hosts with hostile attack on first day of Ashes

Politics

17 h. ago Michael Vaughan sees ‘scars’ on Australia batters as England fight back in Ashes

Former Australia coach Justin Langer called visiting captain Ben Stokes ‘a fit-and-strong freak’.

Politics

20 h. ago Why Usman Khawaja didn’t open batting for Australia in first Ashes test as unknown rule enforced

England benefitted greatly from an Australia miscommunication which saw Usman Khawaja not as part of their opening batters in the first Ashes test

Politics

21 h. ago England’s batting decimated by Mitchell Starc on opening day of the Ashes

The tourists were bowled out for just 172 in 33 overs in Perth.

Politics

22 h. ago What Mitchell Starc did in the Ashes spoke volumes as England collapse amid Steve Smith jibes

England won the toss and opted to bat at the Perth Stadium on the opening day of the Ashes series

Politics

22 h. ago The bizarre reason why Usman Khawaja didn’t open the batting for Australia in first Ashes Test

Marnus Labuschagne joined debutant Jake Weatherald in the middle for the start of Australia’s innings after bowling out England for 172

Politics

51 h. ago SIR JAMES ANDERSON: This is how I'd get each of Australia's batsmen out

SIR JAMES ANDERSON: No matter how much you try to block out the noise as an England cricketer, you are always aware of its presence in an Ashes series. Especially one hosted in Australia.

Politics

59 h. ago England urged to win 'gladiatorial' Ashes battle and become legends

England face the biggest challenge in cricket - but former star Steve Finn believes Brendon McCullum's men have what it takes to win the ultimate prize in Test cricket

Events

61 h. ago England hero fires Ashes warning to 'favourites' Australia ahead of opening Test

Former England star Steve Finn warns Australia that Ben Stokes and his England team won't make the same mistake as previous sides have when battling for the Ashes Down Under

Events

62 h. ago Guterres and Lula to push negotiators at COP30 as deadline looms

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are jumping into the United Nations climate talks as they get to crunch time

Events

4 d. ago Tartan Army fans vow "this is our time" ahead of crunch Scotland v Denmark match

An unlikely Belarus draw in Denmark means it all comes down to 90-plus minutes at Hampden Park to set up three weeks in North America next summer.

Politics

4 d. ago Mind guru Gilbert Enoka: ‘England are about to go to war, and I want to be in the trench with them’

The mental skills coach famous for the ‘no dickheads’ policy coined during 21 years with the All Blacks now faces his and Brendon McCullum’s acid test in the Ashes“We’ve got a smooth lake at the moment,” Gilbert Enoka says, relaxing in the bar of England’s team hotel in Perth a few days before the battle for the Ashes gets under way. “But the series is going to start and then there’s going to be really, really choppy water in terms of what we actually have to sail. All I want is to help the guys develop structures that can help them be reliable when those waves come.”Enoka is the mental skills coach most famous for instigating a “no dickheads” policy during his 21 years in the All Blacks dressing room, and a man whose path to the pinnacle of team sport is as remarkable as the impact he has had since getting there. He spent much of his childhood in an orphanage before moving back in with his mother, who had settled with a new partner Enoka describes as “alcoholic, dysfunctional”. At ...

Events

7 d. ago Will your pay peak at 47? What you need to know about lifetime salary shape: ANDREW OXLADE

Understanding your lifetime salary 'shape' is a valuable piece of the puzzle when making financial decisions that will affect your future.

Economics

9 d. ago Perfect solution for ancient Aussie Ashes team as they get ready for battering

Your Daily Star has found the ideal solution for Australia's old and knackered cricket team ahead of the Ashes series starting - an inflatable Zimmer frame and walking stick

Politics

1 week ago Welcome to the Guardian’s 100 best players in the history of the men’s Ashes

This week we will be publishing a run-down of our 51 judges’ greatest Ashes cricketers in the buildup to this year’s series opener on 21 November. Here’s how we did itMark Waugh or Steve? Greg or Ian Chappell? Will it be England’s sepia-tinted Sydney F Barnes, the grumpy and moustachioed Jimmy Anderson of his day, or Australia’s Sidney G Barnes, an eccentric batter in the 1948 touring Invincibles?Does Ivo Bligh’s place in Ashes folklore merit inclusion even if his 10.33 batting average wouldn’t get him in a village XI? Where do you place the legend of WG Grace in an all-time reckoning? And how do you weigh up Don Bradman’s astonishing statistics against the era in which he batted? Continue reading...

Sport

2 w. ago Missing Outback boy's transgender grandmother greeted Mail reporter with a pump action shotgun... as we reveal little Gus could have gone missing SIX months ago

Up a remote gravel track near the dusty outback town of Belalie North in South Australia is a little house that time forgot.

Events

2 w. ago Former Australia bowler hits back at Stuart Broad’s Ashes claim and takes aim at England’s batters

Broad has described the hosts as ‘probably the worst Australian team’ in 15 years

Events

2 w. ago Mark Wood: ‘We’re going to the Ashes with an Australia blueprint to put their batters under pressure’

Fast bowler says England have confidence and belief as he prepares for what could be his final series against the old foe“My dad would be Australia and I’d be England,” Mark Wood says with a wry smile when remembering his first Ashes Tests as a boy in his back garden in Ashington, Northumberland. “I’d try to copy Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick, Matthew Hoggard and, later, Jimmy Anderson, who I’d go on and play with. My dad, who didn’t do the actions so well, had to be Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne. He was most proud of his Gillespie but his Warne wasn’t great.”Wood snorts at the idea that his dad, Derek, might have let him win most of those matches. “No, no, no. It was proper cricket. You had to give each other lbw and every time I hit my dad in the leg he’d be going: ‘No, that’s going over’ or ‘That’s down the leg side.’ I was like: ‘Dad, that was plumb.’ I had to get my DRS right.” Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Jamie Overton insists England’s series loss in New Zealand will not affect Ashes

Overton was a shining light against the Black Caps amid England’s batting collapses, with attention turning to next month’s Ashes series.

Politics