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The Ashes
England captain Ben Stokes is on track to be fit for the start of the Ashes series against Australia and he'll have a new vice-captain Down Under in Harry Brook. England's 16-man squad for the Ashes was announced on Tuesday and will be led by Stokes, who has been recovering from a shoulder injury that ruled him out of the final test of the home series against India this summer. The first test of the Ashes is in Perth from Nov. 21 and Stokes is expected to be available, England said. Brook, England's recently appointed captain in the white-ball formats, will take over as vice-captain of the test team from Ollie Pope, who kept his place in the squad. Among the pace options is Mark Wood, who returned to the squad following his recovery from a left knee injury and Matthew Potts, who last featured at test level in December against New Zealand. Shoaib Bashir has recovered from the finger injury sustained during the India series and is the only specialist spinner selected. Batting allrou
England batters are making merry on "pretty flat" pitches at home but the Ashes series later this year will throw an altogether different challenge when Ben Stokes-led side visits Australia, warns batting stalwart Steve Smith. The ease of batting in the ongoing India-England has become a topic of debate and Smith believes the British batters shouldn't get too used to batting-friendly pitches. The two teams have managed to score more than 500 runs in an innings at least once and have consistently put on board runs in excess of 400. "Their (England) batters are going to be challenged a little bit differently to the wickets they have had over in England for a while, which have looked pretty flat and good for batting," Smith was quoted as saying by BBC Sport. "The wickets in Australia in the last three or four years have been very tricky for top order batters. It is going to be a good challenge for them. But it's going to be a wonderful series." As part of preparation for the Ashes, S
England's female international cricketers will be paid the same match fees as their male counterparts on the back of record attendances and viewing figures for the Women's Ashes played over June and July. The move toward abolishing the pay gap between male and female players in England had already been recommended in a report by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket, which was published two months ago and highlighted deep-rooted discrimination in the English game. That report said the average salary for England Women players was 20.6% of what players in the men's team received for limited-overs games. A total of 1,10,00 people came to watch the drawn Women's Ashes series between England and Australia, with crowds of around 20,000 at several of the limited-overs matches. More than 23,000 tickets were sold for the five days of the test at Trent Bridge. Broadcast viewing figures of 5.3 million were double those in 2019. The pay increase will take effect immediately, starti
Premier Australian batter Steve Smith has revealed that he was nursing an injury for the better part of the Ashes series, having wounded his wrist during the Lord's Test. The 34-year-old had torn a tendon in his left wrist during the second Test at Lord's after making a match-winning 110 in the first innings. "I did it at Lord's. I don't actually know the moment, it was when we were in the field. It wasn't until that night I was like, 'Geez, what have I done here, it's a bit sore'," Smith told 'Fox Cricket'. "I played the next game and then I had a cortisone before Old Trafford. I got back (to Australia) and I was like, 'Still not quite right. I still can't do a lot of things properly'. "I had another scan. There was a small tear in the tendon as well as a couple of other things." After winning the opening two Tests, Australia looked on course to register their first Ashes series win in England since 2001. However, the hosts staged a remarkable comeback to draw the rubber. Despit