Latest news with #BenStokes
The Independent
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
England vs West Indies LIVE: Cricket score and updates from West Indies in England 2025
Follow live coverage of England vs West Indies from the West Indies in England 2025 today. The ICC Test Championship sees nine teams compete across a two-year cycle of matches before a two-team final decides the winner. The inaugural competition was won by New Zealand after a thrilling victory over India in June 2021. The 50-over World Cup is far older and has been competed for since back in 1975. Australia are the record winners having run out victorious on five occasions (1987, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2015). England took the 2019 crown after a dramatic Ben Stokes-inspired super-over win over New Zealand at Lord's. The shortest form of the game sees teams compete in Twenty20. The newest format has been an instant global hit with a number of hugely-lucrative competitions massively popular all over the world. Australia are reigning world champions having taken victory in the 2021 tournament. Follow all the latest live coverage of today's match in the live blog below: England vs West Indies Follow live coverage of England vs West Indies from the West Indies in England 2025 today. The ICC Test Championship sees nine teams compete across a two-year cycle of matches before a two-team final decides the winner. The inaugural competition was won by New Zealand after a thrilling victory over India in June 2021. The 50-over World Cup is far older and has been competed for since back in 1975. Australia are the record winners having run out victorious on five occasions (1987, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2015). England took the 2019 crown after a dramatic Ben Stokes-inspired super-over win over New Zealand at Lord's. The shortest form of the game sees teams compete in Twenty20. The newest format has been an instant global hit with a number of hugely-lucrative competitions massively popular all over the world. Australia are reigning world champions having taken victory in the 2021 tournament. 31 May 2025 11:00
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Jacob Bethell gets Harry Brook era off to a flying start... and gives England a selection headache as he shows his class in crushing West Indies win
The prospect of omitting Jacob Bethell from next month's first Test against India was already looking awkward for England's selectors. After his scintillating 82 from 53 balls in the first one-day international against West Indies, it felt downright perverse. Almost exactly a decade since the white-ball reset under Eoin Morgan began with a total of 400-plus and a crushing win at Edgbaston, the reign of Harry Brook got going in almost identical fashion, with Bethell central to an all-round effort that included half-centuries for Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Brook himself. It added up to a 238-run triumph, by 52 their biggest against West Indies. Amid the satisfaction and relief at ending a run of seven ODI defeats, Bethell's brilliance confirmed the tangle England have got themselves into by allowing him to stay at the IPL, rather than insist on his return for last week's Trent Bridge Test against Zimbabwe. In his absence, Ollie Pope apparently made himself undroppable by scoring 171. And while success in one format does not guarantee it in another, the class of Bethell's innings — careful at first, then casually dismissive — recalled his debut Test series in New Zealand before Christmas. As he crashed 63 off his last 27 balls, it was hard to avoid a suspicion: if England don't pick him at No 3 against India, they will be delaying the inevitable. With the Ashes round the corner, it is a luxury they can scarcely afford. The situation has been complicated by Ben Stokes 's praise for Pope after Trent Bridge, and his insistence that when he said Bethell would return to the Test team, he meant to the squad, not necessarily the playing XI. Whether Stokes feels quite so definitive now is another matter. Neither will Bethell's chances have been hurt by the fact that Brendon McCullum — now head coach in all formats — had a ringside seat, nor that he took a wicket with his left-arm spin. 'We were well on top when I walked out,' said Bethell modestly. 'When I'm in, I can hit a lot of balls to the boundary, so I'm not too fussed about taking a few balls at the start.' As for the IPL, he had only praise, despite playing only twice for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. 'I learned a lot,' he said. 'I found that experience very beneficial. I feel a better player than I was two months ago.' That, at least, was music to the selectors' ears. West Indies, in fairness, were a good fit for English hopes of rejuvenation, having arrived on the back of an underwhelming 1-1 draw in Ireland. Even so, Brook and McCullum will be thrilled to have hit the ground not so much running as sprinting. 'It's a new era,' said a grinning Brook. 'We're trying to forget about the past.' As for the future, thoughts turned inevitably to Bethell: 'He's going to have a very long England career if he keeps on batting the way he does. He can bowl, he can field. To have a player like that in our side who is only 21…' After England were put in, the early skirmishes included a powerful 24-ball 37 for Jamie Smith in his first innings as opener, a 10-over powerplay score of 90 for one, and a 34-ball half-century for Duckett, who is in the form of his life. Root eased to 50, before edging a drive off Jayden Seales, while Brook hit Justin Greaves over mid-off, then scooped his next ball over fine leg for six more, only to carve Seales to deep point. When Jos Buttler – back in the ranks for the first time since his resignation – fell for 37 and Will Jacks for a murderous 39, England seemed determined to do it in cameos. All the while, Bethell took stock, nurdling 19 from his first 26 balls. Then he took West Indies down, swinging left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie over midwicket for six, pulling Alzarri Joseph for six more, then clubbing Matthew Forde over long-on. As the bowling disintegrated, he pulled Joseph for his fourth six and plonked Seales down the ground for his fifth. A first senior hundred beckoned, but he lost the strike, then edged a slash at Seales, pausing only to acknowledge the applause of a full house. England's total was, by 39, the biggest in an ODI not to include a century. West Indies' pursuit of 401 was a shambles, after Saqib Mahmood struck three times in his first six overs, including the prize wicket of Shai Hope, brilliantly caught one-handed by Brydon Carse as he backpedalled at square leg. That was part of a superb fielding display in which Brook moved his men around cleverly and held five catches – equalling South African Jonty Rhodes's ODI record for an outfielder. Jamie Overton picked up three wickets after briefly leaving the field with an injured finger, and it said everything about the tourists' haplessness that Seales top-scored from No 11.
The Independent
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
The making of Harry Brook: ‘We had to replace our nets — he'd worn the old ones out'
When Harry Brook pulled off his wonder catch in England 's first Test of the summer, Ben Stokes was left open-mouthed in amazement. It's not the first time England's new one-day skipper has elicited that kind of response. 'It was October, dark and pouring down with rain – you always stop to see what's going on and I could see this silhouette running up and down the pitch, stopping for some star jumps, press-ups and then carrying on again,' says Dave Cooper, director of cricket at Burley-in-Wharfedale. 'It was a 14-year-old Harry Brook. He had been told he wasn't fit enough – how many people of that age choose to go out and do something about it, particularly in the Yorkshire winter! It's what sets him apart.' Last month Brook returned to the club to formally open the club's new net facility. 'We had to replace them - he had worn the other ones out,' laughs Cooper. It was more than just a ribbon-cutting exercise, though. Brook's links to the Airedale & Wharfedale Senior Cricket League Premier Division side are lengthy and enduring. 'He phoned me up in April and said 'Coops, I want a net with a bowling machine, could you cut me a strip on the square?',' says Cooper. 'So, at 7.30am on the Saturday morning, we were looking on the Bradford Council website to check out their noise abatement policy to see what time we could have a roller going. Turns out it was 7am, so if anyone had complained we were within the rules!' The noise surrounding the unassuming Yorkshireman hasn't shown any sign of quietening since he made his county debut while still at school in June 2016. Now, less than a decade on, the 26-year-old will lead England out for the opening match of their white ball series against West Indies at Edgbaston on Thursday. Like England's Test captain, Ben Stokes, Brooks isn't a man with an enormous amount of captaincy experience. But that's not to say that this is a man who doesn't understand the intricacies of leadership and tactics. 'I ran the West Yorkshire team for 13 years and at various points, Harry was in my squad,' says Cooper. 'Did I ever make him captain? No, but that's not to say that he couldn't have done a very good job. 'I think his first experience of captaincy was with England under-19s, but Harry is from a cricketing family. His dad [David] was a top player and you'll have heard that story of when he got that triple hundred for England against Pakistan in Multan, his main aim was to get past 210, which was his dad's top score in a league match for Burnley in 2001. At one stage, Harry wasn't even the highest run scorer in his own family! 'If you go into the club house, where there are now two of his England shirts in glass cases, you'll also see the captains board and there's Tony Brook his grandad, who was captain in the '70s and then his uncle, Richard, who was captain for 13 years on the trot and his other uncle, Nick, who was captain of the club for two or three years as well. 'You can imagine the conversations around the tea table. I remember Tony being very vociferous in his criticism of England's captaincy, spitting feathers over a lack of a short leg or a bowling change. Harry would have been sat on the sofa as a kid listening to this. You pick things like that up, absorbing information and seeing the game at a higher level because of his family's links with the sport.' Few could have imagined that young Harry would one day land one of English cricket's most prestigious jobs. Although Martin Speight, head of cricket at Sedbergh School during Brook's time there on a scholarship, did have an inkling that here was a teenager with a special talent. 'He came to us at the age of 14 and you could see that he had something,' says Speight. 'I said to our head of hockey, Mark Shopland, that Harry was going to the top. So, he put £100 on him playing for England at odds of 100-1. I wish I had too.' While Speight honed the finer points of his batting technique, the teenage Brook spent hours working on his fitness. During his time there he took part in the fabled Wilson run, a 10-mile killer across the fells of Cumbria. 'He had broken his hand on an England under-19 tour of India but he still insisted on doing it,' says Speight. 'I think he ended up completing it in something like one hour 40 minutes, which trust me is a brilliant effort.' The irony of Brook's time at the school was that after a series of near-misses in national finals with him in the side, Sedbergh eventually won it in 2018, Brook was absent. 'He was playing for Yorkshire,' laughs Speight. This white ball series against the West Indies will be Brook's first challenge on the road to the 2027 World Cup. After putting in the hard yards in the rain and wind of a Yorkshire village, England will hope his brand of captaincy will be a breath of fresh air.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ben Stokes targets No 1 spot in world Test rankings: ‘One more place to go'
England under Ben Stokes have never lacked ambition, but they go into a defining period of Test cricket with one in particular in mind: to become the first England side in 15 years to take top spot in the International Cricket Council's rankings – officially the best in the world. 'If we win what we've got coming up, the likelihood is that we will be at the top of that leaderboard,' Stokes said. 'There's no doubt in my mind we have the ability to be that team.' The ICC's latest annual update placed England at No 2, behind Australia, with five-match series against India this summer and the Australians in the winter to follow the one-off game against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge that starts on Thursday. Related: Bazball's moment of truth arrives in year that will define era of McCullum and Stokes England last took the No 1 ranking in August 2011, on their way to beating India 4-0 at home, before losing it against South Africa the following summer. The possibility of repeating that feat has been discussed by Stokes, the coach Brendon McCullum, and the England and Wales Cricket Board's managing director of men's cricket, Rob Key. 'When the rankings came out, I did send Baz and Keys [Rob Key] a text saying: 'We've got one more place to go',' Stokes said. 'Baz uses this phrase a lot: 'We're starting from a place of strength.' For us to be able to build on that, and everyone knows that we've got improvement to do. It's very exciting that we are where we are as a team at the moment. Everyone understands and knows we've definitely got another level to go to.' One word in particular was to the fore as Stokes laid out the path ahead for England on the eve of their first game of the summer: 'The word I love and what I've tried to instil in this team is 'dominance' and 'dominate',' he said. 'Whatever situation we find ourselves in, that's the word I want to be at the front of our heads. I want this team to dominate series, to dominate days, dominate every session. It's not always going to happen like that, but that's the mindset I want us to go out with every single day, so everything is aimed towards winning.' News of a fresh injury setback for Jofra Archer, whose damaged right thumb has ruled him out of the forthcoming ODI series against West Indies – for which Lancashire's Luke Wood has been drafted in – and the England Lions game he was hoping to use as a springboard into a summer of red-ball cricket, is fresh evidence that plans can go awry. The Lions squad was announced and Stokes himself may join it depending on his performance against Zimbabwe, his first competitive action since December, when he tore his hamstring in Hamilton. 'It will just be how I feel at the end of this, if I feel I need any more game time before we head into India,' he said. Stokes insisted the Zimbabwe game was 'our sole focus at the moment'. But he will not be alone in thinking ahead to the India series, which starts at Headingley on 20 June – particularly after the captain said one of the batters in this game will be making way for Jacob Bethell once the 21-year-old, who returned from his debut series in New Zealand in the winter with three half-centuries and an average of 52, returns from the IPL. 'If you talk about nailing down a position, Beth has done himself the world of good by the performances he put in there, with being part of our plans going forward,' Stokes said. 'Obviously he's going to be back in the UK for that India series, so I think you can put two and two together.'
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ben Stokes hits out at speculation over centurion Pope's England status
Ben Stokes criticised the speculation about Ollie Pope's position in the England team, insisting parts of the media were pursuing 'an agenda' against him. On the eve of England's victory inside three days, the captain was asked about the chances of Jacob Bethell, away playing in the IPL, returning for next month's series against India. 'If you talk about nailing down a position, Beth has done himself the world of good with the performances he put in [in New Zealand over the winter],' Stokes said. 'I think you can put two and two together.' His comment was widely interpreted that Bethell would return to the starting XI, but after Pope, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett all scored centuries as England cruised to victory by an innings and 45 runs Stokes said he 'made it pretty clear' that Bethell was guaranteed no more than 'coming back into the squad'. 'That was written to suit an agenda that was being said away from what is in the team,' he said. 'It is unfortunate that you say something and it can get twisted. I made it very clear to Popey the night before this Test that is not the case. He's my vice-captain and he's been incredible. 'Popey knows how much I value him, not only as a player but also as a leader, as a vice-captain. He's someone who I lean on a lot out there. He's very good in particular when I'm bowling, about a few things that are a lot easier to miss when I've got my bowling head on. So, just a big misinterpretation.' Shoaib Bashir posted career-best figures of six for 81, finishing with nine in the match as England coasted to victory with more than four sessions to spare. 'He's got some unbelievable natural ability, his height and how much he puts on the ball and his ability to be able to change from square seam to upright seam, the skill is undoubted,' Stokes said of the 21-year-old. 'The big progression with him is building towards a dismissal more and not getting a bit too giddy. That was the word he used out there. It's scary to think about the start to his career that he's had. To be where he is now, it's super, super exciting. I can say it's impossible for him not to get even better than what he is now.' England's progress was slowed by half-centuries from Sean Williams and Sikandar Raza and by Ben Curran's 104-ball 37, all three among Bashir's victims. 'On that first day we weren't really up to par,' the Zimbabwe captain, Craig Ervine, said. 'With our big quicks we didn't get enough in the right area – when you can do that, especially in these conditions, you ask a lot of questions and unfortunately we didn't do that, which made it difficult to control the scoring. 'Our goal was to not let them score too quickly, otherwise we knew we were going to be under pressure especially after day one and knowing the way England like to go about their batting. Then from a batting perspective guys really fought hard, we got ourselves into decent positions and couldn't really kick on from there. 'What you want as a player group is to be able to go back home from this having learned something that you can take with you, that can improve you as a player. There's a lot of knowledge guys have gained since we've been here.'
