Latest news with #SamCook
India Today
12 hours ago
- Sport
- India Today
Jacob Bethell, Sam Cook to leave England squad after India Test snub: Report
England batter Jacob Bethell and pacer Sam Cook are reportedly set to leave the England squad midway through the ongoing five-match Test series against India. The duo, both overlooked for the third Test at Headingley, will now return to play in the County Championship for Warwickshire and Essex who had been in contention for a place in the playing XI, was left out in favour of Ollie Pope. The 21-year-old, who enjoyed a strong Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 campaign with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, had carried that form into the limited-overs series against West Indies, scoring 82 in the first ODI and contributing impactful cameos of 23*, 26 (10), and 36* (16) in the T20I series, which England won 3-0. However, according to BBC, he will now head back to Warwickshire to maintain his red-ball rhythm, as his wait for a fourth Test cap vs IND, 1st Test Day 1: Updates Meanwhile, Sam Cook has also been released from the England squad after missing out on a place in the Headingley XI. England opted to bring back experienced seamer Chris Woakes, who returned from an ankle injury that had sidelined him since December last year. Woakes' return meant there was no room for Cook, who had been hoping to add to his solitary Test has been in impressive form in County Cricket for Essex and was seen as a promising option with the ball. But with England favouring experience for the crucial Headingley clash, the 27-year-old will now shift focus back to domestic cricket in hopes of earning another national players will look to continue their strong domestic performances as they wait for another opportunity at the international won the toss and elected to bowl first in the Headingley Test. India got off to a strong start, with openers KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal dominating most of the first session. However, Brydon Carse broke the momentum by dismissing Rahul, and Ben Stokes followed up by removing debutant Sai Sudharsan for a duck, shifting the momentum just before lunch on Day 1.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
The new-ball burst that showed why England rate Sam Cook highly
New red ball thrust into his hand by Ben Stokes, Sam Cook took a moment to steady himself. Breeze blustering at his back from the Radcliffe Road End as he settled at the top of his mark, the seamer inhaled and exhaled, releasing the nerves, readying the seam sinews. A bowler's approach can be a lonely trek at times, forced to plough a lone furrow and till and toil, but this could hardly have been a kinder start to a Test career, four slips and two gullies waiting, a mighty total already on the board. Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, and onwards into the gather. Up, down, limbs whirling into work. Down came the delivery to settle the nerves; Cook on the money, as he was always likely to be. Advertisement Around Trent Bridge, glances flashed to the speed gun, eager eyes wondering what the radar had registered. Such had been the discourse around what a seamer of supreme skill couldn't do rather than what he could that much of the focus on his first formative strides in Test cricket was always going to be on the velocity rather than the venom – 81mph was solid enough. Sam Cook (left) took the new ball alongside Gus Atkinson (Getty Images) The Nottingham assembly cooed approvingly as he warmed to his work. Three boundaries in his first over suggested a rude awakening but the drawing of two inside edges promised more, and with his 14th ball, it arrived. Ben Curran propped forward to a ball that wobbled down and seamed away, a friendly peck of the outside edge smooched safely by Harry Brook at second slip. Cook was up and away. This was perhaps a perfect Test for the Essex bowler to prove his worth, a placid pitch but callow opposition making early inroads key. Under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, England's radar love has rivalled that of Golden Earring, a preoccupation with pace borne from a desire to build a seam unit capable of winning in Australia. Cook is an oddity among recent debutants in his mastery of the softer skills; the twin scalpels of swing and seam prodded more gently at the batter but no less damaging. Where others have been picked on potential, the 27-year-old has forced his way in on a weight of wickets and a reputation in the county game as a top-order torturer. Advertisement The speed gun may show one thing but the simple statistics evidence a consistent new-ball threat. Stokes trusted his ability, Cook the first England seamer to take the opening over of an innings on debut since Martin McCague in 1993. His early scalp of Curran was the standout moment of a six-over initial burst that saw him beat both edges of the bat with relative regularity, a few outswingers mixed in alongside the wobble-seam ball used to extract Zimbabwe's opener. Overall figures on the day of 1-76 from 21 overs across two innings perhaps showed, though, that the margin for error is slim at his sort of speed - and his pace did dwindle slightly later in the evening. Sam Cook showcased his skill but England could not make significant inroads (Getty Images) If Cook's debut feels overdue at the age of 27, it is partly due to the stocks that England have now really developed. When James Anderson was told he was surplus to requirements last summer, so began a sort of hot-housing to germinate the seam saplings that McCullum and Stokes hope will grow into match-winners against India and, particularly, Australia. It is a process that has so far worked well, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse sailing relatively smoothly so far, with a fit-again Josh Tongue making his return here, too. An attack of absentees would include Chris Woakes – back playing for Warwickshire – Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Carse, with the likeable Matthew Potts left out, too. Keeping all fit and firing will be key but England hope they finally have the stable of horses required to compete in Australia. Cook could yet come to offer them something different. Woakes is of a similar speed and skill yet has endured a wretched record overseas, loquacious at home with Dukes in hand but struggling to get the Kookaburra ball to talk. By contrast, the Essex man was the standout tourist Down Under with the England Lions in the winter, eschewing franchise offers to press his case in red-ball cricket. Australian surfaces of late have offered more to bowlers of his style than in the past, with the recent success of Scott Boland – a touch quicker and taller but with a similar modus operandi – perhaps giving him his best hope of a prominent Ashes role. There is plenty more to come in this Test and beyond before then but Cook is off to a rock-solid start.
Daily Mail
05-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
England star recalled following three-year absence for first Test against India... just one week after he broke his finger
Jamie Overton has been recalled to England's Test squad following a three-year absence for the opening match of five against India at Headingley. Overton, 31, won his only previous cap in Leeds three years ago, scoring 97 from No 8 in victory over New Zealand and is named in a 14-strong group despite breaking his right little finger on one-day international duty last week. With Gus Atkinson ruled out through a right hamstring injury, Essex's Sam Cook has been retained following his Test debut against Zimbabwe last month. Josh Tongue and Chris Woakes are also included and will be given the chance to get extra miles in their legs, after their recent injury returns, by featuring for England Lions against India A in a four-day match starting at Northampton on Friday. England's hierarchy are keen to ensure their seamers are match-ready for the Leeds contest - the first of five games in just over six weeks. Tongue won his third cap against Zimbabwe after taking 15 wickets in three appearances for Nottinghamshire on his comeback from a year-long lay-off with injuries while Woakes is also recently returned, playing just one Division One game for Warwickshire since damaging his ankle at the start of 2025. ENGLAND SQUAD FOR FIRST TEST AGAINST INDIA Ben Stokes (Durham) Shoaib Bashir (Somerset) Jacob Bethell (Warwickshire) Harry Brook (Yorkshire) Brydon Carse (Durham) Sam Cook (Essex) Zak Crawley (Kent) Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire) Jamie Overton (Surrey) Ollie Pope (Surrey) Joe Root (Yorkshire) Jamie Smith (Surrey) Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire) Chris Woakes (Warwickshire) If they come through unscathed, they will join Overton, Cook, Brydon Carse, Shoaib Bashir, and England captain Ben Stokes in the bowling unit. Jofra Archer, meanwhile, will be asked to prove his readiness for a first Test outing in more than four years - potentially for the third match at Lord's - in Sussex's two Championship games at the end of June. Warwickshire's Jacob Bethell returns after missing the innings win over the Zimbabweans due to Indian Premier League duty with champions Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The Guardian
24-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
England v Zimbabwe: men's cricket Test, day three
Update: Date: 2025-05-24T09:07:52.000Z Title: Preamble Content: Morning everyone and welcome to the third day of the men's international summer. Anybody old enough to remember when Test cricket was a slow process? This match is moving fast even by modern standards. The first day was all about runs, as England piled up 498, including 200 after tea. The second day was all about wickets, 14 of them spread across three innings. Even Brian Bennett, who bagged the headlines with his fearless hundred, found time to get out twice. The upshot is that Zimbabwe need another 270 runs to make England bat again. And England need another seven wickets to wrap up an innings victory. It could be all over by lunchtime, as long as the rain holds off. Even in a Test mismatch there are plenty of sub-plots. Can Ben Curran, already the only member of his talented family with an international century, make one in a Test? Can Sam Cook use the grey skies to show that medium-fast bowling can still make an impact? Can Shoaib Bashir keep taking just enough Test wickets to stay in the team, or is he just keeping a place warm for Jacob Bethell? Can Sean Williams continue to rattle along at two runs a ball? We shall see. Play starts at 11am BST, weather permitting.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Sam Cook strikes early but he's still in a race against time to convince England
The slower you bowl, the faster people are to make up their minds about you. Which means that if you work at Sam Cook's pace, the margins are pretty slim. There have been plenty of English bowlers roundabout Cook's 80mph who got only a summer of Test cricket, some who were allowed only a single series, a handful who were given just the one Test. England used to make a tradition of picking a new one every spring, so that you'll likely find that bloke in the tracksuit teaching the colts how to bowl at the club down the road had a gig opening the bowling for England once upon a summer. Related: Bennett scores Zimbabwe's fastest Test century before England regain grip By the time Cook was five balls into his debut, people were already wondering exactly where his Test match career was leading. He had conceded three fours back to back to back, one spat off the inside edge of Brian Bennett's bat, the second squirted away through square leg, the third driven, with crisp precision, through cover. Cook doesn't have any great pace through the air, he isn't a strapping six-foot-something, so can't make the ball shoot from back of a length, he doesn't offer an awkward angle, or have an unusual action, and he doesn't bat worth much of a damn, either. But he does have 321 first-class wickets at an average of 19, and coming on for a decade's worth of experience in county cricket. Question is exactly what that's worth to the coaching regime running this England team, who, as a rule, prefer to pick a bowler they believe could succeed in Test cricket over one who's already shown that he can in the championship. After a lifetime on the circuit, Rob Key seems to have come out of it as an apostate, as if, having seen it from the inside, he knows the county game too well to put very much trust in it. And while Brendon McCullum swears he wants to live where his feet are, they seldom seem to be at a county ground. England picked Josh Hull last year even though he had taken only 16 wickets at an average of 63 each. Shoaib Bashir is still the first-choice spinner even though he dismissed just three people in the four games he played for Glamorgan this year. And Zak Crawley has tenure at the top of the order even though he hadn't scored a hundred in 12 months. Picking Cook, then, is a much as England have done to offer a fillip for good old county cricket, even if you suspect the truth is that the selectors were more impressed by his performances for England Lions during their tour of Australia in the winter than the ones he put in for Essex during the summer before it. He took 13 wickets there, including 3-58 against Australia A, which won him an audition for the one slot England keep open for a medium-fast bowler. He will be competing for it with Matty Potts and Chris Woakes, who was written off as too slow for Test cricket himself during his debut game against Australia at the Oval back in 2013. Ben Stokes certainly set Cook up to make a success of it. He gave him the first over, which was the first time in more than 30 years that an English captain had trusted a bowler playing his first game to open the innings (the last was, ah, Martin McCague, which didn't seem like the best omen). Stokes set Cook a game field, too, of four slips and two gullies. Cook's sixth ball was his first good delivery, it was a couple of feet shorter, and a couple of inches wider, and whistled past Bennett's bat. In his second over he got a similar delivery to fly off Bennett's edge, low past second slip. And in his third he got his first wicket, when he got the ball to straighten off a length. It took Ben Curran's edge and was caught at second slip by Harry Brook. Cook was utterly overcome in the moment, and ran off screaming towards Brook. He had been waiting a long time for his first. He may yet end up waiting a while for his second, too. Because his second and third and fourth spells came and went without him picking up anyone else, there were a couple of could-have-beens, a few nearly-but-not-quites, most obviously when he got Bennett to edge the ball waist high through the empty third slip area, but that was it. If anything, Cook seemed to be bowling too full and too straight too often, as if he was searching for the wickets rather than waiting for them to come. He was trying too hard, which is understandable in the circumstances. Medium-fast bowling is a game of patience, but it must be hard to bide your time when you know you might have so little of it to work with.
