6 minute readSomewhat unusually, this first Test of the 2025/26 Ashes is in Perth. There’ll therefore be much talk about Australia surrendering the supposed advantage of kicking things off at the ‘Gabbatoir’ in Brisbane. Australia have certainly won a lot of first Ashes Tests at the Gabba, but our personal feeling is
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2 minute readThere’s a lot of focus on Test cricket that’s going to happen, but elsewhere in the world Test cricket is actually already underway (or has recently finished). India v South Africa Over in Kolkata, a pretty big match: the reigning world Test champions versus the sport’s biggest nation at one
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2 minute read“I hear you’re England’s spin bowler now, Joe. How did you get interested in that type of thing? Should we all be England’s spin bowler now? What’s the official line?“ England’s perfunctory ‘tour match’ against England Lions is underway and all is becoming clearer, team selection-wise. Ollie Pope appears to
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3 minute readA few more weeks of England players walking through airports and we’ll have a full XI of new nicknames. After kicking off with Cocky Captain Complainer last week, the West Australian has now seen fit to greet Joe Root by renaming him ‘Average Joe’ because his record in Australia is
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2 minute readOur book, The 50 Most Ridiculous Ashes Moments, has now been officially released. You can (and should) buy it – it’s very funny. We can say that without being immodest because for all you know we might be solely referring to the bits co-author Dan Liebke wrote. (We’re not. Our
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2 minute readRight. Looks like we’re properly underway when it comes to people talking bollocks about the Ashes, so we may as well start reporting on it. If you write a book about the Ashes with an Australian, one of the things you both notice is that you tend to have very
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3 minute readIndia’s World Cup win seems to have ushered in visions of a new era of endless dominance for the winners. Alex Hartley and Ian Bishop both used the word ‘scary’ in reference to the team’s potential – but honestly, what’s to be scared of here? These expectations for the future
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2 minute readYou do wonder why England didn’t stick with the ‘bowling South Africa out for 69’ ploy that had served them so well in the group stages. Quite possibly, they tried, but for some reason Laura Wolvaardt wasn’t inclined to go along with it this time. For a sense of how
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6 minute readaka The Vaughan Supremacy As we’ve already told you (multiple times) we’ve got a book out, co-written with Dan Liebke: The 50 Most Ridiculous Ashes Moments. In it, we count down exactly what that title promises. But of course there have been far more than 50 ridiculous moments in the
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3 minute readWe love Sophie Ecclestone, but today’s misfortune feels very on-brand. Rightly or wrongly (but probably, if we’re brutally honest, more rightly than wrongly) Ecclestone became the public face of England’s fitness and fielding frailties when she refused to do an interview with critic Alex Hartley during last winter’s Ashes. Since
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