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Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Dawson to play first England Test in eight years
Spinner Liam Dawson will play his first Test in eight years after being named in the England team to face India at Old Trafford on Wednesday. Left-armer Dawson, 35, returns as the replacement for off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, who suffered a broken finger in the thrilling third-Test win at Lord's. Pace bowler Chris Woakes keeps his place, holding off the challenge of Gus Atkinson. England are 2-1 up and will win the series if they take the fourth Test in Manchester. They have not won a five-Test series since 2018. Hampshire's Dawson will win his fourth Test cap, his third coming against South Africa in July 2017. England have played 102 Tests since Dawson last appeared. Only six other players in history have gone more Tests between caps. While Dawson will provide reliable slow left-arm, he also boosts England's lower-order batting. He owns 18 first-class hundreds and his average of 35.29 outstrips opener Zak Crawley. Part of the squad that won the 2019 World Cup, his international career appeared to be over. After fleeting appearances in white-ball cricket in 2022, he went more than three years without another call-up. At the beginning of this summer, he said he was "realistic" about his England prospects, only to receive a recall for the T20 series against West Indies in May. He now gets his chance in the Test side, leap-frogging fellow left-armer Jack Leach, who was part of England's squads during the winter and has a central contract. "He brings experience and guile," batter Harry Brook told BBC Sport. "He's very skilful. "He's been around the block, played hundreds of games and he's a great bloke. He's very competitive and he's a very good player. "He was very nervous before his T20 comeback and I'm sure he'll be nervous this week. I'm sure he'll let his experience and skills take over." England XI for fourth Test v India: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer. Woakes has struggled to make an impact in the first three Tests, though did have his most successful match at Lord's, taking four wickets. He gets the nod over Atkinson partly because of his record on this ground. The 36-year-old averages almost 37 with the bat and 17 with the ball in Manchester. Atkinson was put through a fitness test at Old Trafford on Monday. He has not played professionally since injuring his hamstring in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe in May. He was deemed fit enough to make a Test comeback if required, but given the other options in the squad and the fact Atkinson has played only one day of club cricket in two months, there was no need for England to take a risk. England will now seek games or him to play elsewhere, yet he is not in the Surrey squad to play Yorkshire in the County Championship, beginning on Tuesday. Any slim chance that fellow pace bowler Mark Wood could return for the fifth Test following knee surgery is now over. Wood is instead targeting the white-ball matches against South Africa at the end of the summer. India will make at least one change to the side beaten at Lord's, after all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy was ruled out of the rest of the series with a knee injury. Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant batted in the nets on Monday and looks to have recovered from the finger injury that hampered him in the third Test. There is yet no decision on Jasprit Bumrah. The star pace bowler was set to play only three of the five Tests and has so far featured in two. Following a week of rest between the third and fourth Tests, the tourists must surely be tempted to unleash Bumrah in order to keep the series alive. India have never not won any of the nine Tests they have played in Manchester, dating back to 1936. England have lost only two of the 20 Tests they have played on this ground this century. India's Reddy misses remaining Tests due to injury 'A Day for Thorpey' to celebrate England batter Get cricket news sent straight to your phone
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
England recall Dawson to squad for fourth Test
Spinner Liam Dawson is in line to play his first Test for eight years after being called into the England squad for the fourth Test against India at Old Trafford. Left-armer Dawson, 35, is recalled after off-spinner Shoaib Bashir was ruled out of the rest of the series with a broken finger. Advertisement Dawson's selection means fellow left-armer Jack Leach, who has an England central contract, has been overlooked. Leach was replaced as England's first-choice spinner by Bashir last year, but still played three Tests in Pakistan and was part of the squad that toured New Zealand over the winter. For Dawson, this is a hard-earned call-up and reward for some outstanding form in domestic cricket. The Hampshire man has been named the Professional Cricketers' Association player of the year in each of the past two seasons. Part of the England squad that won the 2019 World Cup, he was overlooked by England for three years before making his international return in the T20 series against West Indies earlier this summer. More to follow.
The Independent
09-07-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Jofra Archer returns to England side for third Test against India
Jofra Archer will make his long-awaited Test comeback at Lord's this week – four and a half years on from his last appearance. With a litany of injury problems finally behind him, Archer has been named in England's XI for the third Rothesay Test against India. Captain Ben Stokes confirmed Archer's return in place of fellow quick Josh Tongue in the only change to a side beaten by 336 runs at Edgbaston. Lord's holds happy memories for the 30-year-old, who delivered the World Cup winning super over at the home of cricket in 2019 and returned later that summer to produce an electrifying Test debut against Australia. His sensational spell to Steve Smith went down as an instant Ashes classic, with the batter floored by a 92mph bouncer that led to Marnus Labuschagne becoming the format's first ever concussion substitute. Archer has been treated with kid gloves by the selectors after previous setbacks and he has already played nine white-ball games for England this year. One County Championship match for Sussex, in which he bowled 18 overs and took one wicket, and a week of training with the side in Birmingham have convinced them he is now ready to go. He rejoins an attack in need of a cutting edge, with India's batters piling on big runs in the first two Tests. The tourists have scored seven centuries, led by skipper Shubman Gill's remarkable tally of 585 runs in four innings. Tongue drops out despite being the top wicket-taker in the series with 11, but Brydon Carse and Chris Woakes have both been retained.
The Guardian
20-06-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
India's Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal make tons to leave England toiling in first Test
India slightly snuck into the country four weeks ago, dribs and drabs getting an 'A' tour underway before the bulk of the first-teamers landed and started playing intra-squad cricket. The delayed finish to the Indian Premier League commanded eyeballs initially, then the World Test Championship final last week. All told, it was a soft launch. But on the opening day of the summer's marquee series, the tourists announced themselves with a flex of their muscles. Centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal, 101, and Shubman Gill, 127 not out, had driven England to distraction and taken India to 359 for three. Gill's first outing as captain had proved an unqualified success and no one was talking about the absences of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. A chastening start for Ben Stokes and his men, therefore, albeit not unfamiliar territory as regards their initial tormentor. Jaiswal notched up 712 runs against them in India last year – including two double hundreds – and his image was practically burned on to their collective retina by the end. Might his first Test match encounter with the Dukes ball see a change of fortune? The answer, it transpired, was no. But then Jaiswal is a player who likes to make a strong first impression, having compiled a century on debut in the Caribbean, one in his first Test in Australia, and now one on arrival in England. It was some knock, too – the first by an Asian opener at Headingley, no less – as he left diligently, cut ferociously and drove through the covers with panache. Indeed, until Stokes castled him after tea with an inswinger that nipped away, Jaiswal's chief concern was bouts of cramp in his forearms as he cruised into the 90s. Even then, despite a couple of delays with the physio and obvious pain, he moved to 99 with a flurry of fours off Brydon Carse before a pinched single brought up Test century No 5. While Jaiswal moved through the gears – 96 balls for his half-century, only 48 more to double it – Gill started fast and then bedded in. And at 5.44pm, as he caressed Josh Tongue through the covers for four, he became the first Indian since Virat Kohli 11 years ago to make a century in his first innings as captain. Gill's celebration, a punch of the air and guttural roar, was in stark contrast to the serenity that got him there. At the other end was his vice-captain, Rishabh Pant, who finished unbeaten on 65. The responsibility of being Gill's new No 2 had dampened none of the mischief, either, Pant dancing down the pitch to Stokes second ball and clobbering him back over his head for four. In the final over, when thoughts might have turned to safety, he summed up the day as a whole by swatting Chris Woakes for six with a jaw-dropping swivel pull. This being Headingley, so often a scene of the absurd and a ground where the past six Tests have been won by the side bowling first, England will refuse to believe they are snookered. By the same token, sticking a team in under clear skies and seeing them lose only three wickets across three sessions was clearly suboptimal. Both captains wanted to bowl first, however, and the modern way – certainly the Stokes and Brendon McCullum way – is not always to do so with an eye on skittling a side cheaply. Against New Zealand at Trent Bridge three years ago, for example, Stokes inserted, saw the tourists rack up 553, and England won by five wickets. India scored 418 at Edgbaston that same summer after being asked to bat first and lost by seven. Of greater concern was the fact that Stokes was the best of the quicks on show, not simply his figures of two for 43 from 13 overs but by way of obvious threat. Carse flickered at times, even if his solitary removal of KL Rahul before lunch came via a lazy waft, but Tongue was largely scattergun and Woakes found precious little movement. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion If there was one relative success among the frontliners it was probably Shoaib Bashir sending down 21 overs with little assistance from the surface and holding his own. With an economy of 3.1 under the overall run-rate of 4.2, the off-spinner had performed a day one role some thought beyond him. Drift was his friend, even if no chances materialised. It had not taken long for the total at stumps to look possible, India dominating the early exchanges and getting to within touching distance of lunch when Rahul's error on 42 opened up an end. The removal of Sai Sudharsan almost immediately, strangled down leg off Stokes for a four-ball duck on debut, might have appeared a bit fortunate when India walked off at 92 for two but there was clearly a plan behind it. This was pretty much the only one that came off for England, however, Jaiswal and Gill putting on 129 for the third wicket in an afternoon of toil for the bowlers. Had Carse not overstepped, Jaiswal would have been lbw 43 when a yorker hit boot and then bat. And had Ollie Pope hit the stumps with a shy from midwicket, Gill would have been run out for one. Ifs and buts count for little, however, and India have unquestionably arrived.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Michael Vaughan pinpoints how England can beat India in five-Test series
Former England captain Michael Vaughan has laid down what he thinks is the key to success in the upcoming Test series against India. Ben Stokes' side host the visiting India in a five-match series which starts on Friday 20 June, at Headingley in Leeds. Advertisement It comes after England beat Zimbabwe in a one-off text match, now entering the first series of the summer against an India side without a clutch of their top stars. Vaughan, 50, who was the Test captain between 2003 and 2008, is part of the new four-person presenting team at The Overlap and Betfair's new Stick to Cricket show. Alongside England favourites Sir Alistair Cook, Phil 'Tuffers' Tufnell and David 'Bumble' Lloyd, Vaughan will host the new weekly show which follows the Stick to Football podcast led by Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and Jill Scott. Sir Alistair Cook is also a part of the new Stick to Cricket show (Betfair/Stick to Cricket) Speaking at the launch, he said: 'England's record against India here in the UK in the last three times they've won 4-1, 3-1 and they were 2-1 down and they came back the year after and drew 2-2. Primarily, beating India at home, England have bowled to take the top of off-stump better. Advertisement 'So, that's all I'm talking to the team about. Make sure that you try and press them on that forward defence. That's all you need to do. Keep pressing them on the forward defence, and I reckon they snick off.' After opening the series at Vaughan's former home ground, England face India at Edgbaston, Lord's, and Old Trafford, before rounding off at The Oval. Betfair are set for a big summer and winter of cricket, launching a new show with The Overlap: Stick to Cricket. Don't miss the first episode next week, where the team will be reviewing the opening test of the series between England and India.
