11 h. ago Ben Duckett thrilled as Ollie Pope silences questions about his England place

Pope hit a magnificent hundred.

Politics

12 h. 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

12 h. ago England fight back against India as Ollie Pope repays faith with sparkling century

Jasprit Bumrah claims late wicket of Joe Root as hosts close day two of First Test at Headingley on 209-3, trailing by 262

Economics

12 h. ago Ollie Pope century silences critics as England fight back against India

Pope’s unbeaten century led England to 209 for three at stumps in reply to India’s 471.

Culture

15 h. ago England stage fightback against India after Rishabh Pant’s stylish century

Pant became India’s third centurion of the innings with a swashbuckling 135.

Politics

41 h. ago Why Ben Stokes chose stats over tradition in controversial decision to begin Test series

On a glorious day at Headingley, Stokes opted to follow the stats by bowling first at the start of the England v India Test series

Politics

64 h. ago Jasprit Bumrah explains why he resisted India Test captaincy temptation

On eve of England v India series, the bowling sensation explains his stance on the captaincy after Virat Kohli’s retirement

Politics

4 d. 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

7 d. 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...

Politics

7 d. 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

9 d. ago South Africa v Australia: World Test Championship final cricket, day two – live

Updates from the second day of the WTC final at Lord’sRead the latest edition of The Spin | And mail GeoffHello from London. The day dawns sunny here, though who knows which way it will turn – Lord’s atmospherics are often a game of snakes and ladders. So too can be Test cricket, as South Africa found yesterday: racing up the ladder of the Australian top order, sliding back thanks to Steve Smith, ascending again to bowl them out for 212, then having a serious slip of four wickets before stumps.They didn’t fall all the way back to the bottom, but they will if David Bedingham and the captain Temba Bavuma go quickly this morning. Rung by rung it will need to be for the South Africans, at 43 for 4. Continue reading...

Sport

4 w. ago Sean Williams seizes rare Test chance as Zimbabwe show love and pride in defeat | Andy Bull

Veteran’s 88 was full of crisp cuts, punishing pulls and swingeing sweeps – delighting the visitors’ dancing, singing and chanting fansOn 11 June 1890 a column of three hundred colonialists crossed the Shashe River to begin the annexation of Mashonaland on behalf of Cecil Rhodes’ British South Africa Company. They brought cattle, horses and wagons, rifles, revolvers and field guns, a searchlight, a steam engine, tents, food and water. Each man carried a slouch hat, a spare shirt and pair of socks, a water bottle, a sewing kit, a belt, a bandolier, a hundred rounds of ammunition and a hand axe. And, of course, this being a very English endeavour, in among it all someone packed a bat and ball.So the first game of cricket in what would become Zimbabwe was played just over a month later, on 16 August, between the Pioneer Column’s A Troop and B and C Troops, on a patch of land at Providential Pass at what would become Fort Victoria. Nobody knows who won. “Probably A Troop,” wrote one of ...

Politics