Latest news with #BenStokes
News18
an hour ago
- Climate
- News18
IND vs ENG, Leeds Weather Live Updates: Will Rain Hinder Shubman Gill's Captaincy Debut?
India vs England, Leeds Weather Today Live Updates: Hello and a very warm welcome to News18 CricketNext's weather coverage of the first Test between India and England at Headingley. First days are always crucial in England, and this one is particularly important. It's not just the inauguration of the new Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy but also the start of a new era of Indian cricket, under the 25-year-old Shubman Gill. For England, too, it's a high-stakes moment with Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum hoping to kick off the third World Test Championship cycle on a winning note to build towards a first final. But England has seen several such moments get washed out by rain. What about today? According to the chances of rain for the three sessions are quite low, almost negligible. However, the fun of playing cricket in England is that the weather here is quite fragile — it's randomly sunny and suddenly overcast, which tends to affect how the ball behaves. We'll keep you updated about all the happenings here!
India.com
2 hours ago
- Sport
- India.com
Ben Stokes just FIVE wickets away to become first England skipper in 51 years to reach rare milestone
Ben Stokes 5 Wickets and 254 Runs Away from Becoming First England Captain with 2,000 Test Runs and 50 Wickets The five-match Test series between England and India will begin on June 20, in Leeds at Headingley. England captain Ben Stokes is about to make history in the home Test series. Captain Ben Stokes has to take five wickets to reach 50 Tests as the skipper. It will make him the 3rd England Test captain to do so. Stokes has 45 wickets at an average rate of 29.95 in 33 Tests in his captaincy. England had Ray Illingworth as the first to do so. He took 51 wickets out of 31 Tests that he led. He had a bowling average of 35.96 as the captain. He also had a five-wicket take. This is followed by Bob Willis in the first position with 77 wickets in 18 Tests as England captain. The bowling average of Willis is 21.59. He has also taken three fifers as captain. To reach 2,000 Test runs as captain, Ben Stokes requires 254 more runs too. Stokes will be the first Englishman to have made 2,000 runs and take 50 wickets as Test captain. Another milestone will be in pursuit by Ben Stokes. To get to 7,000 Test runs, he will require 272 runs. The all-rounder will be the 13th England to accomplish the long-form of the game.
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
TEST MATCH BREAKFAST: How England continue to break the mould - and when we could FINALLY see Jofra Archer back in the Test side
Test Match Breakfast takes a look at some of the biggest issues around cricket ahead of England's huge first Test against India at Headingley, which will begin a make-or-break year for the hosts. This morning, RICHARD GIBSON discusses England's increasingly untraditional selection approach and when we could realistically see Jofra Archer back in the Test squad - providing he comes through unscathed when Sussex travel to Durham. England roll back the years Thursday was effectively a dress rehearsal for the main stanza of the international summer and Headingley readied itself with last-minute testing of the electronic advertising around the boundary and its two giant screens. It involved re-runs of Ben Stokes ' brilliant match-winning Ashes hundred here six years ago on loop. It was all there: sixes flying into the stands, the dramatic drop at third man, Nathan Lyon's desperate LBW appeal after Australia had needlessly burnt their reviews, and the panoramic shot of the pandemonium on the western terrace in unison with Stokes celebrating as a cut for four off Pat Cummins sealed the extraordinary one-wicket success. Mercifully, India were not subjected to pre-match mind games, the footage being turned off as they started practice at 1.30pm. Sri Lanka's ambidextrous secret weapon Despite its scheduling less than a week after the World Test Championship final was decided with South African victory at Lord's, this five-match series is not the first of a new two-year cycle. That accolade belongs to Sri Lanka v Bangladesh, a two-match showdown that began with ambidextrous spinner Tharindu Rathnayake bowling with both arms for the hosts on its opening day in Galle. Having begun with a concentration of off-spin, Tharindu switched to slow left-arm for his 96th delivery and then alternated between the two styles in Bangladesh's 495 all out. All three of his wickets were claimed with offies, though. Archer's realistic return date Jofra Archer has not played a Test match for more than four years, but will try to prove his fitness for a return this summer in Sussex's County Championship fixture at Durham starting on Sunday. Archer, 30, has been limited to white-ball cricket over recent years due to a collection of elbow, hand and back injuries, but England captain Ben Stokes revealed his enthusiasm to end his exile when he revealed: 'He's been absolutely desperate to put the white shirt back on. Randomly, a couple of times, he would just message me: Zim?' That, an ambitious reference to making a comeback in last month's innings win over Zimbabwe. Come through at Chester-le-Street, however, and facing India in the third Test at Lord's will be realistic. England continue to smash the mould England have shown an increasing disregard for traditional selection values during the Bazball era, having plumped for Shoaib Bashir on the back of 10 first-class wickets at 67 runs apiece and then picked Jacob Bethell, a player without a professional hundred, to bat in the pivotal position of No 3 in New Zealand. However, identifying Eddie Jack as someone they wanted to integrate into the Test environment before he had made a County Championship appearance took things up a level. Fast bowler Jack, 19, joined up with the Test party in Leeds on Monday, but did not stay on to train as planned after it was decided some Vitality Blast games for Hampshire would be more beneficial. Some things never change Although England's five-match series versus India has been re-branded the Anderson–Tendulkar Trophy, after two of the iconic cricketers who graced it in the past in Sir Jimmy Anderson and Sachin Tendulkar, the Pataudi Medal will be presented to the winning captain next month in a nod to its traditional name in this country. 'The rivalry between our two nations has always been something special, full of history, intensity and unforgettable moments,' said Anderson. 'To be recognised in this way is a real honour.' Tendulkar added: 'For me, Test cricket embodies life – you give your best, and if things go wrong, it gives you another day to regroup, think, unlearn, and bounce back. 'And now, as I share this recognition with my on-field challenger and an off-field gentleman James, I hope that the world celebrates the essence of Test cricket even more - allowing it to traverse boundaries yet untrodden.'
Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Sport
- Telegraph
Shubman Gill wants India to dominate – Ben Stokes will have other ideas
Shubman Gill can never be accused of lacking confidence. Gill, the new India captain, has his nickname 'Prince' stamped on his cricket bat and he is going to need that self-assurance when he comes face to face with Ben Stokes over the next six weeks. Under Stokes and Brendon McCullum, England have carved out a new style and, for all its ups and downs, Bazball achieves one thing; it rattles opposing captains. Pat Cummins, Rohit Sharma and Tom Latham have all spoken in the past about how they have had to reconsider their tactics and respond to the way England, and Stokes, challenge their thinking. Holding your nerve and staying calm is easier said than done when face to face with England on the charge. Cummins's eyes were spinning like a fruit machine at Old Trafford two years ago as England went on the rampage, and that image will remain with England as they prepare for the Ashes this winter. Gill will require a stiff backbone in his first series as captain, leading one of the world's most scrutinised sports teams, as they embark on the challenge of winning a series in England for the first time since 2007. Gill has inherited the No 4 position too, which in itself would be enough responsibility for a 25-year-old to handle without the burden of leadership. The role has been held by Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli since the early 1990s, before Gill was born, let alone picked up a cricket bat for the first time on his father's farm in the Punjab. Gill comes to the job with a Test average of 35 and much to prove away from home. He averages 29 outside of India and 31 against pace, which will be what England will throw at him in Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue. But it is the ultimate challenge, and Gill is relishing it. He has the world at his feet. Whether he can seize the moment will become clearer over the next five Tests. 'Hopefully we find ourselves in a position where he might scramble his own mind but we will not go out there purposely to put pressure on a new captain,' said Stokes, but he knows from his time playing in India the pressure Gill is under. On the For the Love of Cricket podcast this week, England's Jos Buttler said: 'I don't think we can quite understand the level of interest and the stardom that these guys have. You see it around the IPL [Indian Premier League], you're aware of it, but actually living that yourself… I think they say the Indian Test captain is like the third or fourth most influential person in India, behind the prime minister etc – so you really are put up on that pedestal. It's going to be a huge job for him.' 'I want to be the best batsman in the series' The first question of Gill's initial captain's press conference was about his 'coronation moment' and whether he had grasped the 'enormity' of the responsibility thrust upon him. If the job can be likened to the prime minister's office then Gill has a politician inside him. He straight-batted every question while saying all the right things. Sitting back in his chair and exuding calmness, he acknowledged the 'biggest honour' a player can have by captaining India in Test cricket and identified winning a five-Test series in England as a bigger achievement than lifting the IPL title. He shrugged off any thoughts he will walk to the crease with a target on his back now he is captain. 'I want to play as a batsman and dominate opposition and be the best batsman in the series. That is what I am trying to look at.' Buttler played under Gill for Gujarat Titans in the IPL and believes his captaincy will be a mix of Kohli's hot-headedness and Rohit's level-headedness. Kohli was never a tactical genius, but he gave an edge to India that has permeated through to the next generation; Gill sledged Jonny Bairstow and James Anderson in the last series against England and has been known to upset umpires in the IPL. Gautam Gambhir, the coach, is a 'prickly character' to quote Ricky Ponting, and he will expect his young captain to be punchy and reflect the self-confidence of Indian cricket. Gill has consulted both Kohli and Rohit about captaining in England and will lean on Gambhir for advice. Together they want to build a team where players 'feel secure and valued', giving them a longer rope, which will involve shutting out the noise and resisting the pressure to change tack when things inevitably go wrong at some stage. A captain is only as good as his bowling attack and in Jasprit Bumrah, Gill possesses the ace. To average 19 in Test cricket in the modern era of bigger bats, aggressive batsmen and flat pitches makes Bumrah a true great of the game; a bowler who can take wickets on any surface at any stage of an innings. Bumrah captained India in Australia when Rohit was unavailable, but the job went to Gill on a full-time basis because of workload fears. Bumrah will play at least three Tests against England, and how Gill uses him will determine whether he has the puff left for a fourth. 'He is young and energetic, he has his own thought process, and that is how it should be. If he needs anything from me, I will always be there for him,' Bumrah said about Gill this week. The pitch at Headingley is green but dry underneath, and, with sunny weather forecast, the groundsman is leaving the grass on it to try to prevent it breaking up for as long as possible. It is not going to be the seaming paradise on which Anderson and Ollie Robinson rolled India for 78 in the first innings four years ago. That series ended with India going home due to a Covid scare while 2-1 up. When they came back a year later to finish off the series, England had been rejuvenated by Bazball and romped to victory at Edgbaston. This time it is India and Gill's chance to show they are the team setting the agenda, and trying to spark new life into their Test team. 'Our side is not experienced but doesn't have any baggage coming to England, because not all have been here before. That could make a difference,' Gill said.
New York Times
4 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Crunch time for Bazball: Is it now or never for England's cricketing revolution?
It is the ultimate examination of the most exciting and dynamic brand of Test cricket that has arguably been played. Five Tests against India, starting today at Headingley (Friday), and then another five in Australia this winter will decide if England truly have reinvented cricket's longest and most traditional format, or whether the high-octane, high-risk methods of captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, will fall short of providing the big series victories they need to validate their Test revolution. Advertisement These two series will define the legacy of Stokes and McCullum, and their style, known as 'Bazball', like nothing that has come before in three highly entertaining and largely successful years in tandem. England may have beaten India spectacularly at Edgbaston, Birmingham, in the heady early days of their reign in July 2022, in what was the final Test of a series postponed from the summer before because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and enjoyed a dramatic drawn home Ashes series against Australia in 2023. But if Stokes and McCullum are going to be regarded as the greatest as well as the most fun of them all, they need to add a series victory against India or Australia — preferably both — to their CVs over the next seven months. 'There's always a different buzz when you come up against India and Australia, purely because of how big the series are,' said Stokes on Thursday in the Leeds sunshine as he contemplated the challenges ahead. 'We know what these series mean, but defining my career as England captain isn't something I sit here and think about. 'If that was the way I felt and that was what I was bothered about, then it would be utterly selfish, and that isn't me. I tend not to worry about what people are going to say about me and the job I've done when it all comes to an end.' Plenty has been said about the way Stokes and McCullum have gone about their business, because England have been playing Test cricket their own pioneering way in recent years. A way that is more adventurous and attacking than any side in history, with only Steve Waugh-captained Australia two decades ago, who were known for their positivity — as well as their huge amount of success — coming anywhere near. After being thrown together by the England team's new managing director, Rob Key, Stokes and McCullum took a team that had become passive and dull under the captaincy of Joe Root, winning just one of 17 Tests, and transformed them. Advertisement In their first summer together, England won six out of seven Tests, successfully chasing down what traditionally would have been difficult targets four times, and scored runs during their first year up until June 2023 at 4.65 per over. The peak of Bazball, to date, arrived in December 2022, when England smashed 506 for four in 75 overs at a rate of 6.75 on the first day of their series against Pakistan in Rawalpindi, becoming the first side to score more than 500 runs in a day of Test cricket. They were not afraid to defy convention in other ways, too. Stokes made the earliest first innings declaration in Ashes history in the first Test of the 2023 series, calling England in after 78 overs with his best batter, Root, unbeaten on 118. The idea was to have four overs at Australia before the first day ended, but England failed to take a wicket and ended up losing that thrilling Edgbaston match by two wickets in the final overs of the fifth day — a dampener on the funkiness of Bazball. It could be argued England have been a little more conventional since an Ashes series they almost certainly would have won after being 2-0 down but for the torrential rain that sentenced the fourth Test in Manchester to what is still the only draw in the Stokes-McCullum era. And Stokes spoke of "adapting better" in the difficult moments. "Sometimes, when we've been behind the game, we've not given ourselves the best chance of getting back into it, and that's an area we've looked at," he said. But England under the pair will never take the defensive option and Stokes goes into this pivotal series as the most successful England captain to have led the team in more than 30 Tests, winning 20 of his 33 games in charge at a success rate of 60.6. The man at the top of English cricket, ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) chair Richard Thompson, is delighted with what he has been watching. "They've taken the oldest format pretty much of any sport and, to some extent, reinvented it by playing in a far more attacking way, with bat and ball and tactically," Thompson tells The Athletic. "They have made some incredibly bold calls and Ben's direct ability to make players believe they can win is extraordinary. I saw Adam Hollioake do that at Surrey, but Ben has taken it to another level. There are nuances that Baz (McCullum) brings in around that, too. "Sky Sports has seen a real uplift in a younger audience watching cricket since this started. It's so exciting. Take last year. We had a really wet, miserable summer, and we were competing with the Olympics for attention. Commercially, we weren't playing the strongest opposition in the West Indies and Sri Lanka, but it sold like crazy, and India this year sold out every Test within days. Advertisement "If you look at any pictures of Test cricket in the 1970s, invariably, there were very few people there. The 1950s and 1960s were huge, but there was a period when Test cricket was really dying. Look at it now." The praise is vindication for the decision of former England batsman and Kent captain Key to give up a burgeoning broadcasting career with Sky to take on what had proved a poisoned chalice with the national men's team. "When we started, English cricket was in a pretty low place and I'm incredibly proud of what those two (Stokes and McCullum) have achieved and the way they've gone about it,' Key tells The Athletic. "You've got established players, and a lot at the start and middle of their international journey, and Ben and Brendon are maximising their potential. "Look at the games we've won and the style they've gone about their cricket. You want players to be positive and play in a way that will be more enjoyable for them. And I don't think the team have realised that potential yet because they can get better and better. That's what I'm proudest of." The term Bazball — McCullum's nickname is Baz — was coined by the English journalist Andrew Miller in 2022 and quickly stuck, but it is still one that the players and management themselves reject. "I don't have any idea what 'Bazball' is," McCullum said in a radio interview that same year when it became clear the label was not going away. "It's not just all crash and burn." Key agrees. "I remember when I first saw that term. Brendon said, 'Where's this Bazball come from?'. I said, 'What's going to be funny about this is what they are praising us for at the moment, they will ask us to defend at some point. They're going to ask us to defend this term that we never came up with in the first place'. "To us, it's just about creating an environment players can thrive in, not Bazball. I just believe you've got more of a chance to succeed if you think positively, if you see the opportunity, if you look to score runs and then survive after that. In the simplest terms, the brain works quicker, you're more alert, and you can make better decisions if you think positively. And that's in defence and attack. "At times in English cricket, we feel the danger and the trouble. There have been times when we haven't even bought a raffle ticket — we don't even have a go. We die wondering sometimes. I wanted a team, and a captain, who would risk failure to succeed." A fascinated observer of the Bazball revolution is Sussex coach Paul Farbrace, who was assistant England coach under Peter Moores and then Trevor Bayliss, and a leading figure in kickstarting the England one-day revolution that peaked with the 2019 World Cup success. "It's very easy to talk about playing without fear and consequence and putting on a show, but doing it is the hardest thing to achieve," says Farbrace. "Getting a player to play without fear and anxiety is the greatest thing any coach can do, and I'm full of praise for Stokes and McCullum for the way they've allowed their players to go and play. "They are consistent in terms of the personality and character of the players they want in their team. They don't care what the public perception is of how and who they pick. They choose who they think are the best to play their way. "There have been times when it's been frustrating. Take the Lord's Test against Australia in 2023, when (Australia spin bowler) Nathan Lyon limped off (on day two) and it felt that was the time for England to go and grab the game, but they all got out trying to pull the short ball. It was an opportunity where they had to play the situation rather than keep on doing it their way. Advertisement "So they've polarised opinion, but, ultimately, they have provided great entertainment and they've got more people watching Test cricket." Key insists the suggestion that England are somehow evangelical in their approach may have been exaggerated. "We're getting a bit too carried away with ourselves if we think we're the people who are going to save Test cricket," he says. "We just want it to be fun, enjoyable and have a team people want to come and see. 'Sport is escapism. People want to come and see unbelievably talented players doing things they can't do themselves. Our job is to create an environment where those talented people can thrive and have a story along the way that captures the imagination." But England have had an effect on the wider game. The overall scoring rates in Test cricket have risen since 2022, while even in England's County Championship, there is a push towards positivity, with fewer points awarded for drawn games from the start of the 2023 season and maximum batting points only available to teams who score at a rate of more than four an over. "The game in general has moved forward as a result of what England are doing," says Farbrace. "People are trying to be more positive because they know that if they want to play for England, this is how they are going to have to play. If you are just going to occupy the crease for a period of time, you might not be selected. "It has been a frustration for some when they've seen players get picked who haven't really done anything in county cricket. For instance, Jacob Bethell was chosen when he hadn't scored a hundred, and there might have been players like Joe Clarke at Notts (Nottinghamshire) and others looking at that thinking, 'What do I need to do to play for England?'. "Shoaib Bashir was picked after Stokes saw him bowl six great deliveries on a social-media clip. "But a lot of people who have scored lots of runs and taken lots of wickets at county level haven't been successful with England, and what this regime is saying is, 'We will pick players who we think can play the game at the highest level the way we want it played'." The one major setback of the Bazball era was England's 4-1 series defeat in India early in 2024, which makes the following five matches against the same opponents and then the Ashes from November to January even more important. Bazball has to be seen to work against the best. "We all know — and they know — they're going to be judged on the next six months," says Farbrace. "This is the defining moment for them. Every England team ultimately gets judged on an Ashes series, and the fact we haven't won one since 2015 and not won away since 2011 makes this winter the real test of what they are doing. Advertisement "Everything hangs on the Ashes, and this India series will be a barometer of where they are and whether they're ready for it. If they can win against India and get a lot of confidence from it, then anything can happen in Australia." Key prefers to play down the significance of England's next 10 Tests. "These two series will define us for other people, but for us, not at all," he says. "This is the most exciting year of the time we've been doing this, but there's so much more than just two series for us. "Everything we've done doesn't come down to this. It doesn't mean we haven't done some good stuff before this. I don't think the next year will define my career and my life, but it will be another incredible story to tell." 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